Jay POV
Back at Auradon Prep, Jay and Carlos walked down the hallway to their dorm room. Jay had spent the drive back to the school worrying about Syl and thinking about what he could have done to make sure she hadn't been taken. When they had arrived, Carlos had stopped told him to stop worrying and to start doing, so Jay was trying to keep his mind off Syl while they completed their mission. Worrying wasn't going to help her at all.
As they walked to their dorm, Dude bounded toward them, obviously excited that they were finally back.
"Sorry I'm so late," Carlos whispered to Dude. "Ben and Syl got taken."
"Why's our door open?" asked Jay. He could have sworn that they closed it before they left.
He and Carlos entered the room and found Chad printing on the 3-D printer.
"Are you kidding me?" yelled Carlos.
Chad jumped and looked up. "I knocked," he explained.
Carlos held out his hand and looked at Chad until Chad gave him the copy of his room key. Then Carlos canceled Chad's print job, pulled the object from the tray, and handed it to Jay.
"What is it?" Jay asked Chad, confused.
"A Chad action figure," said Chad proudly. "Minus the head," he added.
"Sounds like an improvement," mumbled Carlos. He moved around the printer and quickly programmed it to make the sparkling silver wand from a photo on his phone.
As the wand began to appear, Chad peered at it curiously. "Why are you making Fairy Godmother's wand?" he asked.
Carlos looked at Jay. "Umm... why are we making the wand?"
"Ben and Syl have been captured!" said Dude.
"What?" shouted Chad. He did a double take. "Dude can talk?"
Carlos looked at Dude. "I was stalling," Carlos said from the side of his mouth.
Dude wagged his tail. "I thought you forgot," he said.
"You can't tell anyone," Jay told Chad. "Their lives depend on it."
Unknown to them, Lonnie, who had dropped by to ask Jane about her Cotillion dress, had heard the whole thing. She gasped and sprinted down the hall.
Chad furrowed his brow. "If something were to happen to him..."He smiled at the boys. "You know...what I'm saying..." He waggled his eyebrows.
"Something bad, I get it," said Carlos, rolling his eyes.
"God forbid," said Chad, feigning concern. "Who do you think might be next in line to be king?"
Jay looked at Carlos. "Is it me, or is that in really poor taste?"
As Chad left their room, Jay made sure to slam the door behind him. Carlos quickly punched some numbers into the printer, and the machine whirred to life.
Carlos and jay had fallen asleep waiting for the 3-D printer to produce the wand.
They sat side by side in chairs, and Carlos's head rested on Jay's. Jay lifted his head, smacked Carlos, calling out his name, and stood up from his chair.
"Huh? What?" Carlos jerked awake, saw the wand, and bolted up.
It looked exactly like the Fairy Godmother's wand. It sparkled as if it were full of all the power of the real thing.
Carlos lifted it up. "Not bad," he said.
"Yeah," Jay said with a nod. He took the fake wand and turned to Carlos.
"Let's go," they said in unison, moving to the door.
Dude bolted up from his doggy bed on Carlos's bed.
Carlos turned to him. "No, Dude. You stay," he said. "I'm serious. Stay. I love you , buddy. We'll be back before you know it!" He followed Jay out of the dorm.
They ran down the hall and exited into the night.
As soon as they cleared the front steps of the building, they bumped into Doug.
Jay hid the replica wand behind his back quickly before Doug could see it.
"Hey! Have you seen Evie?" Doug asked them.
Jay and Carlos exchanged a long look.
"She... went camping," lied Carlos, Jay nodding in agreement.
"Evie 'I Want to Live in a Castle'? Sleeping on the ground with no place to plug in a hair dryer?" Doug narrowed his eyes at Carlos, then analyzed Jay's poker face.
Jay and Carlos burst into laughter, shrugging.
"You know how spontaneous she is," Carlos told Doug, making light of Doug's concern. He laughed again, and he and Jay backed away from Doug. They had only taken a few steps when Lonnie stepped out from behind a stone column, carrying a quiver of swords in one hand.
"You guys will need this," she said confidently.
"What? We don't need to have swords at the... Waffle Hut," Jay fibbed nervously.
Lonnie raised her eyebrows. "You guys are going to the Isle to rescue Ben and Syl, and you guys will need swords if you need to fight anyone. Besides, Syl will want this." In her other hand, she held up a silver trident that shimmered in the light.
Jay and Carlos looked at each other before Carlos grabbed the swords and Jay grabbed Syl's trident.
"Thanks," Jay said.
"It was the least I could do. I wanted to go with you guys, but two kids from Auradon already got taken. I don't need to be the third. Just... get Syl back. She's one of my best friends. All right?"
Jay looked at her seriously. "I'm going to do everything in my power to bring her back."
Lonnie smiled at both of them before nodding and walking off. Turning back, she looked at the two boys. "Be careful, yeah?"
Jay and Carlos both nodded before heading to the limo. They needed to hurry if they were to meet Mal and Evie back on the Isle.
Mal and Evie were waiting in the noxious alley outside the rusty pipe tunnel when the royal limo rolled up in front of them, and Jay and Carlos got out.
"I'll grab the swords," Jay told Carlos, racing to the trunk.
Mal and Evie approached the boys as Jay opened the it, revealing Dude, who peeked up from a blanket.
"And Dude," Jay added, surprised.
"I told you to stay!" Carlos said to the dog.
"I flunked obedience class," said Dude matter-of-factly.
Jay smirked and rolled his eyes. "Great. And he can still talk."
Carlos lifted Dude from the trunk. "Lucky I love you. Come on."
Jay slammed the trunk shut.
"Oh, let me see," Mal said, and Carlos handed the fake wand to her. "Wow." She looked it over closely, then handed it back to Carlos. "This is great. Thank you so much." Then she turned to her friends. "Al right, are we ready?"
Everyone nodded solemnly.
"Yeah." Evie held up Mal's backpack, which Jay knew contained the smoke bombs they had made in Dizzy's salon.
"Let's do this." Mal purposefully turned and led her friends into the pipe tunnel.
Carlos turned back to Dude, pointing the fake wand at him. "Stay! I mean it!"
Dude, who was seated beside the limo, wagged his tail.
Then Carlos vanished into the pipe tunnel to catch up with his friends.
After traveling through the tunnel, Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos came out of the cliffside and marched across a bridge that connected the pipe to the pier. Mal was leading, followed by Evie, Jay, Lonnie, and then Carlos.
They walked down the steps, passing pirates who strolled by or fished or hung up clothing on lines to dry. Wooden signs that said things like HOOK'S INLET, THIEVES' MARKET, and MISERY ROCK pointed every which way, and alligator infested waters frothed below them in the dark mist. The pirate ship was waiting.
Syl POV
Everything was dark as Sylphrenia slowly woke up, confused. She sat up and looked around, taking in the shabby kitchen and the smashed teacup. Her eyes narrowed as she remembered what happened. Morgan had drugged her!
"Morgan! You said you would help me!" she called out, but there was no reply. The house was empty.
Syl put her hand on the ground to push herself up, but a sudden pain caused her to hiss and draw her hand back. A long slice along her palm revealed blood. Golden blood. Syl was shocked. Her glamour should have made it look red!
This time, she stood up, and looking where she was sitting, she could see what had cut her. Shards of magic glamour littered the floor. Syl felt her face frantically. She could feel her face, with nothing in between.
Scared, Syl rushed out of the kitchen into the hallway where she had seen a small mirror. There, she could see what she already knew deep down. A perfect person looked back, marred only by a thick burn spiraling around her neck. Her glamour was gone. Broken. Morgan had ripped it off. But why?
Syl headed back to the kitchen, fighting panic. If she showed up, her friends would be able to tell the difference, even though it was very small.
She stared at the shards of magical glamour strewn across the floor. She had to try to use magic. If she didn't, then she would have to do something to make herself look more... human.
Syl stretched her hands out, blood still dripping down her palm. She closed her eyes and concentrated. It was still for a minute before the pieces of glamour quivered on the ground. Syl's eyes flicked open, having changed color to pure gold. She turned her hands to face each other, and the pieces of glamour moved together in front of her. The small pieces merged together and formed solid chunks of magic.
Straining with the difficulty of performing magic in the Isle, Syl gestured for the glamour to come to her. They came, and she could feel them mold to her face, arms, legs, torso, everything. They created a protective layer. A shield.
As she sighed in relief, Syl spotted something that she had not seen before. A piece of paper sat on the table.
She neared it, and as she got closer, she saw that it had her name on it.
Slowly, Syl sank down into the chair and grabbed the paper. Opening it up, she read the message that Morgan had left her.
Sylphrenia,
I apologize for the tea, but I had to be sure that my actions could be justified. You should know that they were. I did this for Camelot. For my family. If it sacrifices you and me, then that is a price I am willing to pay.
What you want to know is dangerous. I would not suggest looking into it deeper. You have friends in Auradon. If you pursue this, you risk losing all you hold dear. You would be selfish to try to find out what is going on. It does not pertain to you. Not anymore.
If you still wish to know, I cannot stop you. To obtain your lost memories, you must perform a sleeping curse. You have friends to help you cast it. If you care about anyone in this world at all, it is imperative that you do not attempt to do it.
Tell Maddie and my husband that I love them.
I doubt that you or they shall ever see me again.
Morgan le Fay
P.S. Your friends will soon be needing your help. I suggest you find them as soon as possible.
Icy terror gripped Syl's heart. Her friends needed her help. After she had just left them. Resolving to ponder the letter when she had left the Isle, Syl jumped up out of her seat, shoving the letter into her vest pocket and zipping it up.
She ran out of the house quickly, knowing that nothing else was left for her there. Once she was outside, she could hear something that she hadn't been able to hear when she had been inside: sword fighting.