Sylphrenia was sleeping in her room when the dream came. Mal and Evie had left after unpacking, and hadn't returned, so Syl had gone to bed, uninterested in their business.
The dream was unusual in itself, because Sylphrenia almost never dreamed. If she did have a dream, they were disjointed and confusing. Scraps of memories that never made sense. This dream was different. It felt real.
She was standing by in the hall where Ben's coronation would be. It was decorated in the classic blue and yellow colors of Auradon, with all of the benches and chairs set up. Syl could smell the scent of the flowers hanging on the balcony and shivered. It was almost like she was here in real life.
As she turned around, surveying the room, the dress that she was wearing swirled around her legs. It was heavy and a dark blue, looking nothing like she owned. Sylphrenia just stared at it. This dream was unnatural. Only one thing could explain it: magic.
Sylphrenia once again looked around the room, tying to take in every detail to find out what the dream was trying to tell her. The hall looked exactly as it should, but the only different thing was that every seat was empty, except for a throne in the middle of the room.
She froze, staring up at the glowing figure sitting upon the throne, looking regal. It seemed not to see her, but she could feel no malicious intent from it.
"Hello?" Sylprenia called out to the figure, taking a chance and making herself known.
There was no answer, and once again it seemed to not see, but suddenly she couldn't move. Sylphrenia tried to struggle, but it was no use. She had never felt like this before, and it was claustrophobic, making her feel trapped. Panic rose up in her, but she tried to remain calm. Her gaze strayed back to the figure, and what she saw would have made her gasp if she hadn't been frozen.
Dark tendrils of magic started to creep out from around the throne, twisting and writhing. Sylphrenia struggled even more, trying to move, but the darkness didn't reach for her, and instead entwined themselves in the glowing figure. Syl saw it jolt they touched it, before slumping down, dimming and becoming tainted with gray. The edges of the room became dark, and the room became cold, trailing up Sylphrenia's bare arms and sinking through her dress. The darkness slowly spread, making the once bright hall gloomy. Sylphrenia tried to look at her, but she couldn't move her neck, only being able to stare at the figure.
Sylphrenia felt her magic well up inside her and pushed it out, trying to free herself, but her magic seemed blocked. She pushed again, but the barrier staid firm. The darkness slowly crept toward her, making her frantic and started pushing her magic harder, trying to let it break free. Sylphrenia knew it was merely a dream, but it seemed so real.
Suddenly, purple magic billowed out from behind her, causing Sylphrenia to freeze, but this magic felt different the dark forboding tendrils that were sinking deeper into the glowing figure. Where the purple smoke touched her, Sylphrenia felt warm and fuzzy, and everything smelled like chocolate chips. Sylphrenia wiggled her fingers, and found that she could move again, but as she realized this, the purple magic enveloped her, and she could no longer see.
Sylphrenia jumped, and tried to move, following the row to get to the figure on the throne, but bumped a chair and fell, landing on her knees and feeling her dress flow out onto the ground behind her. Pain shot through her knees, and she scowled, looking up and getting ready to push herself up, but as she did so, the purple magic started to recede, and Sylphrenia could see again.
The darkness had disappeared, taking Sylphrenia's nervousness with it. In the center, on top of the throne was the glowing figure, now with glowing veins of purple running through it. Sylphrenia narrowed her eyes, everything coming together.
"Interesting," Syl said, standing up, and brushing her dress off. "Hello Mal."
Mal's voice echoed through the room. "You knew?"
Syl snapped awake, and unconsiously rolled over to look over at her clock. It was 1:13. Sitting up, Sylphrenia saw that Mal and Evie were both in their beds, sleeping peacefully.
Sylphrenia narrowed her eyes at the outline of Mal in her bed, her shoulders rising and falling peacefully as she slept. Dark tendrils, Mal's mother was Maleficent. A pure figure on a throne, Ben, one of the nicest people ever to grace Auradon would be crowned king.
Sylphrenia smiled ruefully. She had wondered why the villains had allowed their children to come to Auradon. And now it made sense. This was their opportunity to break out of the Isle of the Lost. And their children would help them.
The only way to break out of the Isle was to use a Fairy Wand. The most accessible: the Fairy Godmother's wand. And it was being kept in the Museum of Cultural History. Sylphrenia stared at the two girls, thinking. Mal and Evie had disappeared after they had finished unpacking. Was it possible that they had tried to break in? It was quite possible. They were the children of villains after all, and Sylphrenia was sure that they would have no qualms about breaking in somewhere.
Should she tell the council? Sylphrenia was required to, by fey law. Her mother had made the laws, and Nimue would have told on them in a second. But Syl was reminded of the second bit of the dream. The purple smoke that would banish the darkness.
Sylphrenia frowned. It was quite possible that the villain kids would pull through. After all, this was Auradon, a place of opportunity. But visions were often unreliable. If things went wrong, it would be her fault. Sylphrenia sighed, resting her head on her head, trying to decide what to do.
"Ugh!" Syl yelled out frustratedly before slipping out of her covers and standing up on the floor, her feet touching cold stone. Evie rustled in her bed and Sylphrenia froze, looking at her, but the girl merely turned over and sighed, becoming still.
At last, Sylphrenia made up her mind, and with a twist of green magic, she disappeared with Mal's voice still echoing through her head. "You knew?"
Sylphrenia arrived at the Museum of Cultural History. She shivered, before realizing that she was only dressed in her pajamas. She scowled. She had always hated the cold, and always made a point of staying inside when winter came.
Trying to be quick, the girl strode through the dark, sticking to the side of the building and trying to stay unseen before coming to the doors. Sylphrenia looked around, and when she didn't see anyone, she strode inside. The doors opened obediently for her, she blinked for a second at the brightness of the building.
Sylphrenia moved quickly, not taking in any detail as her bare feet hit the cold stones. The scared guard rose from the front desk, his face pale and confused. "Excuse me miss. You shouldn't-"
Syl snapped her fingers and his face went blank. His eyes were empty, and although he was looking at her, she knew he could no longer see her. She moved around the still man and went to the computer. It was still boxy and looked as if it hadn't been updated for years. Sylphrenia hated technology. Avalon never had it, and even Camelot, one of the biggest kingdoms on the continent never had it, so she never had truly using technology. Phones were hard, and Sylphrenia hadn't even tried to use a computer. Magic was the easiest way she could access what she wanted.
Syl waved her hand, and the computer brought up the footage from the security cameras. Sylphrenia leaned down, staring down at the footage. All was quiet, and she became unsure. Perhaps they hadn't come to the museum. She was just about to turn away when she saw they creeping down a hallway. Sylphrenia narrowed her eyes. They must have done something to the guard, but they had been careless with the video camera, not that anybody checked the old feed.
A sudden wave of panic gripped her as she realized that she hadn't checked if the Fairy Godmother's wand was still there. Quickly, Sylphrenia clumsily grabbed the computer's mouse, and experimentially rolled it, seeing the arrow move along with it. She moved it down to the room with the wand and clicked it. A big version of the video popped open, and Sylphrenia watched Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos enter the room.
Sylphrenia watched as she was Jay slip through the railing and reach out to grab the wand. Her eyes flickered across his face before she saw him be launched back by the force field. She saw their faces fill with fear before running out again. Sylphrenia sighed, relieved. The wand was safe for now.
Moving the mouse again, Sylphrenia was able to get back to the screen with the footage of the villain kids breaking in. She waved her hand and watched as their figures faded before completely disappearing. She smiled, satisfied, before scrolling through to find the footage of her, and completely erasing herself from the video feed as well.
Her mission complete, Sylphrenia waved her hand one last time, and the computer shut off. She let a smile grace her face as she straightened up, spinning to face the guard. She slunk around him, her face narrowed in concentration before turning to face him, staring into his lank face.
Sylphrenia slowly rose her hand, palm out toward the man. Green magic began to pulse around it, causing ripples of green magic in the air. She saw the man focus on her hand and the green magic pulsing from it.
"Tonight was normal. You never saw me. Any disturbance that happened never happened. Everything was perfectly fine," she said, speaking slowly. The man's eyes flashed dark green, and Sylphrenia saw that the spell has worked as he nodded slowly and sank down into his chair. She saw him blink, and by the time he had opened his eyes again, she was gone.
The next morning, Sylphrenia woke up as Evie and Mal were getting dressed. The covers were warm, and she was still tired from her nighttime adventure, but she forced herself to get up, slipping out into the room, which was cold from the Autumn air that promised that winter was coming soon.
"Good morning," Sylphrenia told her roommates shortly, and left to the bathroom to get ready.
"Hi Syl!" she could hear Evie say as Sylphrenia splashed cold water on her face, trying to fully wake herself up. It was a little shocking to have someone call her something other than Sylphrenia, but she sort of liked it.
Mal just grunted, not looking particularly happy, which Sylphrenia knew was from her failure to get the wand.
By the time Sylphrenia was done getting dressed, Mal and Evie were ready as well, and were looking unsure as what they had to do next. "Do you want me to show you where the dining hall is?" Syl asked, deciding to help them out.
"That would be great," Evie said brightly before Mal could say anything. "Can we pick up the boys too?"
"Sure," said Syl. She was glad, as she wanted to keep an eye on all of them. Especially Mal.
She lead them out of the room and into the hall, which was nice and warm, courtesy of the school's heating system. Sylphrenia hated living in a castle, which was usually cold, and the windows in her room let in a lot of cold air, so having the heater working put her in a particularly happy mood.
As they walked to the boy's dorm, Mal and Sylphrenia stayed quiet as Evie kept a long stream of conversation going, gushing about everything from Syl's clothes to the decorations in the castle, to the people that they passed.
At last, they arrived at the room, Mal looking slightly annoyed. Syl went to knock on the door, but Mal just pushed past her and opened the door, walking in. This must have been a normal experience, because Evie, who was unsurprised, followed. Sylphrenia hesitated for a second before following the girls.
The boys' room was significantly different than the girls', with wooden walls and blue decorations, rather than full pink, and Sylphrenia liked them much better than her rooms.
"What's up?" Syl heard Jay was as they walked in. "Hey beautiful," he said when he saw Sylphrenia, quickly smoothing down his hair and flashing her a smile. He received a glare in return, and his smile dropped, causing hims to fiddle with the beanie in his hands. "Too early?" Sylphrenia ignored him and looked away, toward the girls, who were standing in the middle of the room.
"Are you guys ready yet?" Mal snapped, and Jay shrugged as Carlos came out of the bathroom, tugging on his jacket as he did so.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Carlos told them as Evie walked over and straightened his jacket.
"Come on, then," Mal told him, leaving the dorm. The others quickly followed her, and Syl was the last one out. The others followed Mal, but as Sylphrenia shut the door, she realized that they were going the wrong way.
"The cafeteria is this way," she told them loudly.
They all quickly turned back to her and followed her the other way, but Sylphrenia caught Mal's murderous face as they followed her. Syl didn't say anything, but knew that the others were keeping quiet to not get Mal too mad. Sylphrenia bit her lip, trying to think of what to say that would diffuse the tension, but she knew that the reason Mal was mad was because she didn't have the wand.
She decided she should try to make conversation as she had seen Ben do. He always seemed to know the right thing to say, but Sylphrenia did not share the same ability. "What's your first class?" she asked.
"Something called Remedial Goodness 101," Carlos piped up.
"Oh. So we share the same class. Watch out, it is boring." Syl said.
The conversation died out, and they walked quietly to the cafeteria. At last, they reached it, and Sylphrenia stalked inside, the villain kids at her heels. She heard them suck in a breath as they stared into the room.
The cafeteria was one of the largest rooms at Auradon Prep. Six long wooden tables took up the majority of the space, with chairs that looked like thrones on each side of a table. One side of the room was also covered with smaller tables covered in tablecloths and mounds of food. Sylphrenia saw the others' eyes go wide at the stacks of pancakes, sausages, eggs, bacon, toast, bagels, scones, donuts, and every breakfast food ever thought of.
Immediately, the villain kids rushed toward the food, not noticing how the hall became quiet when people realized that they were there. The other students stared at the four kids, now piling food onto their plates, and whispers broke out among the crowd. Sylphrenia scowled at them and followed the others to get her food.
By the time Sylphrenia had gotten her food and found a table, the hall was once again full of talking and laughter. The four Isle kids, instead of talking, were shoveling their food as if they would never eat again. Sylphrenia sat down next to Evie, and took a bite of her toast, deep in thought about the dream she had the night before. The other villain kids continued to shovel their food in as she looked at them.
"Are you going to eat that?" Carlos had looked up at her, done with his food, and was pointing to her slice of toast.
"No, go ahead," Syl told him, pushing the plate toward him and frowned.
Why wasn't she telling on them?
They were some of the first people that she had... well liked. Evie was genuinely nice, Mal was blunt, but that was refreshing. Carlos seemed to be happy all of the time and, well, every girl in Auradon Prep had already realized that Jay was cute.
Did she want to become friends with them?