“Oh, right,” said Jay with a sheepish smile. “What are we going to do about that?”

Mal grimaced, thinking hard. “We’re going to be gone for less than twenty-four hours. How about we all pretend to catch some sort of bug that keeps us in our rooms, and we can post things online about how sick we are, when in reality we’re actually running around the island. Isn’t that what our online feeds are for? To convince people you’re doing something that you’re not?”

“I don’t think that’s what they’re for, actually,” said Carlos.

“No, it’s perfect,” said Jay. “We all get the flu. No one will want to be near us, then. Everyone will leave us alone.”

“Evie, can you set up our accounts so that the posts show up automatically? We won’t be able to update them ourselves from the Isle,” Mal pointed out.

“Of course,” said Evie. “I feel like I’ve been training my whole life for this.” She batted her eyelashes jokingly before looking serious again. “So we’re taking off on Saturday night for sure?”

“For sure,” said Carlos, who had turned a bit green. “What are you smiling about?” he snapped at Jay, who was leaning back, arms behind his head, looking like he hadn’t a care in the world. “Aren’t you scared?”

“Totally, but I sort of expected something like this would happen,” Jay replied.

“What do you mean you expected something like this to happen?” demanded Carlos, who was practically pulling out his black-and-white hair at the roots at the thought of returning home so soon.

“I just did,” Jay said, and stopped to consider why he felt that way. He had grown up on the Isle of the Lost, scrounged for food in the garbage, survived goblin-made coffee, and his favorite snack was still stale popcorn. Even after living in Auradon, he would always be a bit skeptical of happily-ever-after. And honestly, he’d been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since the Coronation.

“I don’t know, because it can’t be this easy, right? We win one battle against Maleficent and it’s over?” he told them. “No way; haven’t we learned by now that there are always monsters hiding under beds, or in the closet, or, um, escaping from island prisons? Monsters who are related to us even.”

“You think our parents are monsters?” Evie asked, her voice faint.

“Well, we all know mine certainly is,” said Mal. “Fire-breathing dragon and everything.”

They all laughed. But Jay was still thinking of what he’d said about their parents. Was Jafar a monster? Jafar might take things to the extreme, but he was also just Jay’s slightly overweight, pajama-wearing dad, who dreamt of gold and riches beyond his wildest imagination. A man driven by greed who thought only of himself wasn’t much of a monster on an island without magic. But what would happen if Jafar was able to get his magic back? Like Maleficent, Jafar had a powerful magical staff, a cobra that could hypnotize and manipulate those who came under its thrall. Who knew what he would be capable of doing then? But Jay already knew that answer. It’s what had landed his father in the Isle of the Lost in the first place.

So no, Jay wasn’t surprised that their parents were up to something new, and while he was frightened, he also knew that it didn’t matter if all of them were scared. If it was true that this Anti-Heroes movement was growing on the Isle of the Lost, and that their errant parents—Jafar, Evil Queen, and Cruella de Vil—were behind it, he and his friends were the only ones who could stop them. “As Mal said herself, Maleficent is definitely a monster, but we took care of Maleficent, didn’t we?” he said. “So we can handle this, whatever it is.”

“But what if Maleficent is part of it too?” said Evie worriedly. “What if she’s not completely harmless like we think she is?”

“Maleficent almost roasted us all alive,” Carlos reminded them.

“And who knows what my mom, Jafar, and Cruella have in store for us,” said Evie. “I’m not sure I really want to find out.”

“Come on, guys. We can handle anything. We can handle Maleficent,” Jay said staunchly. “Right, Mal?” He elbowed their fearless leader.

Mal elbowed Jay back, almost a shove. She was clearly just as terrified as the rest of them, but she had decided, like Jay, to keep it under control. “Yes, of course, Jay’s right. We can handle this. We will handle this.” She took a deep breath and stuck out her hand, motioning to the others to do the same. One by one they each put a hand on top of hers.

“For Auradon,” she said.

“For Auradon,” said Jay, slapping his hand down.

“For Auradon,” whispered Evie, adding hers gently.

They all turned to Carlos, waiting.

“For Auradon,” he said finally, and very reluctantly put his hand on top.

It was done. They were afraid of their parents, but they would move forward regardless. Mal always pulled them together, and Jay could feel the relief that now filled the room.

Jay’s plan for getting them transportation back to the island was simple. They would leave Auradon as they entered it, in the royal limousine, which also held the remote control that opened the invisible dome and let down the connecting bridge with a click of a button.

But if the four villain kids were going to leave Auradon Prep without being noticed, then they couldn’t leave looking like themselves; that much was clear. They didn’t have family or friends in the other kingdoms, so there was no reason for them to leave school before winter break. They would have to be creative. Thankfully, being creative was not a problem for Evie.

“Leave that to me,” she’d told the team the night before. “I’ve got this handled. If you get the wheels, Jay, I’ll make sure no one knows it’s us in the royal limousine.”

But for now, she still had time for regular life. After class, Evie headed to the grand ballroom, where tomorrow’s Castlecoming dance would be held, for the last planning meeting. The annual tourney game and dance was a traditional affair, celebrating school alumni returning to their old stomping grounds, when good ol’ princes and princesses regaled everyone with tales of the pranks pulled back in their day—stealing the Auradon mascot, for instance, or the time they glued the classroom furniture to the ceiling, causing Fairy Godmother to exclaim something a little more colorful than “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!”