RUFF! RUFF! RUFF!

At the sound of the barking, everyone on the Tourney field stopped what they were doing to jump away from the dog that decided to disrupt their practice. The goldish colored dog practically ran around in chaotic circles, trying to chase something that none of the players could see.

Meanwhile, his owner was too busy texting on her brand new phone to notice his mischief.

FWEET!

At the sound of the familiar whistle, the dog abruptly stopped in his tracks to sit, his barking seized.

"DUDE!" Chad shouted in his most demanding tone. "HERE!"

With no hesitation, Dude calmly walked to the blonde teenager. His teammates gaped at seeing the misbehaving dog being tamed so easily by someone that wasn't his owner. After lifting the dog in his arms, Chad finally noticed the amazed looks given to him. "What?"

"Dude listens to you?" Carlos deduced curiously. "How? He hasn't listened to Jane once."

"My family had a dog before Dude," Chad answered, instinctively scratching the back of Dude's ear. "I learned from having Bruno how to make a dog listen and obey. I wanted Dude to be my dog, but . . . never mind. I'll be right back."

Practically stomping his way toward the sideline, Chad unintentionally roughly shoved Dude into Jane's arms. "Either hold him, or keep him on a leash," he ordered with a harsh glare. "Your negligence is going to get him in trouble."

"He's fine without one," Jane stubbornly insisted as she placed the dog next to her, though she kept one hand on his back to make him stay. "Dude just wanted to run around a bit."

"He interrupted practice," Chad corrected forcefully. "If you're not careful, they will send him back to the Isle if they think he's untamable."

Jane rolled her eyes at the supposed it threat. "That's not going to happen," she argued arrogantly. "If they try to take him away, I'll just st-st-stutter t-to g-get w-what I w-want."

"And they say I'm the spoiled one," Chad bitterly retorted. "I was fine covering for you when we were kids, but now it is just ridiculous—"

"And there's nothing you could do to stop it," Jane interrupted with a sugar sweet smile. "Don't forget, I'm the innocent one."

"Because our parents forced it to be that way on the Isle," Chad argued. "I'm not going to let it be that way here in Auradon."

"Says the guy that wants my mother's wand," Jane retorted snidely. "You are the one that suggested that the six of us steal it, not me."

"But you had mentioned it to me first," Chad reminded, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "Back on the Isle—"

"We're not on the Isle anymore," Jane coolly replied. "If we get caught, I'm throwing you under the bus. They would believe me over you."

Silently fuming at the information, Chad took a deep breath to release his anger. Once he was calm, he grumbled, "If you keep being irresponsible, I will take Dude from you and I will be responsible for him instead."

Jane simply rolled her eyes at the threat while the boy walked back on the field to continue the sport practice. After a couple minutes of struggling with one hand, Jane moved her hand from Dude so she could text easier. Dude stayed still for a few moments until he started barking and running around like a wild animal around the cheer team, who scattered with screams and shouts to avoid the mutt—

Forgetting about the princess they had thrown in the air a split second before.

The Tourney team noticed the harrowing commotion, but only one sprinted into action to save the falling girl. It had to be the fastest that Ben has ever ran before, since he got too Mal with barely any time to catch her. Ben only had enough time to outstretch his arms before Mal landed in them.

Well . . . 'landed' wouldn't necessarily be the correct word to use in this situation. It was more like she plummeted into Ben. Although he managed to keep her from falling on the ground, the two had banged their heads together. That hit and the sudden weight of the princess dropping on him caused Ben to fall backwards, forcing him to hit his head against the ground.

Hard.

There was a collective gasps amongst the cheerleaders, Tourney players, and bewildered bystanders. Everyone stayed where they were, unsure of what they should do. The only exception was Chad, who ran to grab the once again misbehaving dog.

Until Coach Gaston ran over to access the situation, the two laid unconscious next to each other. Mal had her head laying on Ben's shoulder while Ben, unknowingly, was holding her hand in a light grip. If the two wouldn't have had the bleeding bumps on their heads, they would have looked like a couple peacefully napping together.

Coach Gaston attempted to separate them, but a certain someone prevented him from doing so. As Gaston reached to grab Mal, a green light wrapped itself around her body, almost like a warning. Once the coach stepped away, the light disappeared with Mal unconsciously nestling her head into the crook of Ben's neck.

"Jay!" Coach Gaston shouted to the teenager. "Get King Hades. He may be the only one that can move his daughter without getting hurt."


Abruptly, the image vanished, showing Ben's reflection staring back at him in the mirror. Ben couldn't believe what he saw, but he knew it had to be true. The enchanted mirror can only show images that really happened, and nothing that was manipulated. That means Jane was the one to blame for everything—

Not Chad.

"I'll apologize to him later," Ben mumbled under his breath. "Maybe I can talk him out of it. For now . . ."

Ben adverted his gaze toward the clock hanging above the door. There were only a couple minutes before the two adults would return for the mirror. That should be enough time to ask one more question.

"I would like," he began, his voice practically a whisper, almost like he was afraid someone could hear him, "to see Princess Mal."

Strangely, the mirror glowed for a moment, but had yet to show the requested image. After nearly a minute passed, the reflection finally changed to something beautiful, yet horrifying. Before Ben could have a chance to take it all in or process what exactly he was seeing, the door opened. Somehow, the mirror knew King Hades and Gaston had walked in as the image completely vanished within half a second.

"Time's up," Hades forcefully announced as held out his hand, watching carefully as Ben reluctantly returned the mirror. "If you feel well enough, you can leave. Half of the school day is over with already, so I will allow you to not attend your afternoon classes. You can roam the campus, or you can rest in your dorm room if you prefer."

"What day is it?" Ben wondered as he laid a hand against his slightly throbbing head. "You or Coach mentioned something about a few days passing."

"It's Monday," Gaston answered, a questioning eyebrow raised at the boy's phrasing. "You've been unconscious since Friday. You hit your head hard a couple times. I would try to take it easy for a few days. As a precaution, you won't be attending practice or the Tourney game—"

"But I want to play," Ben stubbornly argued. "Can't I at least watch practice and then play a few minutes here and there in the game?"

The adults shared a concerned look before one sighed in defeat. "I will let you play the last couple minutes of the last quarter of the game," Gaston reluctantly decided. "If I see you are struggling or hurting in any way, I will pull you from the game."

"Why can't I start?"

"Because I have no idea who I will let start," Gaston admitted, crossing his arms over his chest to show his irritation. "A lot of players made big improvements during this Tourney season, especially you and Chad Charming, who have been here less than a week. My safest options for starters are the senior boys, a couple juniors, and the team captain—"

"So your three sons can start together," Ben assumed, shaking his head bitterly, although he wished he hadn't done so since his head ached even worse. "I'm going to my dorm room."

Waiting until after the brooding child started walking down the hallway, Gaston turned to give the unsure king a look. "Are we sure he asked for the wand that last time?" he wondered curiously. "That wasn't enough time for him to ask or even see where it was locate—what's with that look?"

Hades continued to narrow his eyes in confusion. "That's not the way to the dorms," the king claimed. "That's the way to the castle."


Ben couldn't believe how easy it was to sneak inside the Royal Family's castle.

With them being such important people, the Isle teenager thought they would have much better security than they had, especially with a child on the way. All Ben had to do was sneak around the perimeter and climb through an unlocked open window. No guards patrolled the corridors so he somehow managed to quickly creep down the halls without getting caught. Everything was smooth sailing when he carefully entered the bedroom—

Until he awoke the dog that laid on the bedside, guarding the ailing princess.

Upon seeing the intruder inside the 'sanctuary', the Doberman leaped off the bed, his mouth bent back in a snarl. As the dog's growl grew louder and louder, the dog grew larger and larger. Within a few seconds he was much bigger than Ben with a second head sprouting from his neck!

Ben backed up until he was completely flushed with the bedroom door. He was trapped! He couldn't possible escape—

"Cerbie," the princess lovingly cooed, raising her head to gaze at the massive animal. "Please don't hurt him. Ben is my friend."

"I am your friend?" Ben repeated in mock surprise, lowering his guard when the dog returned to his 'original' smile size and laid at the foot of the bed. "I didn't know me and you constantly arguing with each other is considered 'friendly'."

Mal allowed a small snicker to escape her lips, as she laid her head sideways on the bed so she could still see Ben. For some 'strange' reason, she laid on her stomach instead of on her back. Although she had a thin blanket covering her back—which wasn't like that in the mirror—Ben wondered if there was anything else covering her.

"From what I hear, I'm the only Auradon student you talk to," Mal teased with a small smile gracing her lips. "Besides, you caught me. You saved me from getting hurt any wors—"

"It doesn't look like it," Ben retorted as he sat on the floor next to her bed. "I know you woke up the same day as the incident, but you look worse than I do. What happened?"

Smile fading away to a soft frown, Mal sighed, reluctant to tell of what transpired. "The stethoscope the doctor used to check my heart had iron in it," she informed. "Dad didn't realize it until the doctor had it on my chest for a few seconds. Now I have a small circular burn because—"

"Iron burns fairies," Ben recalled knowingly. "Back on the Isle, Audrey's grandfather would wake up in the middle of night, half delusional, shouting, 'She's after me! Get the iron!' Or at least, that's what Audrey has told me. I know your mother's injuries healed almost instantly or within a day. Why is it taking longer for you?"

"I am part god," Mal reminded. "That part of me intensifies the pain I feel. Besides, right now I'm more ill than I am injured. This burn will fade away in a couple more days and I'll feel better, just in time for the Tourney game."

"You've dealt with iron before," Ben assumed. "If I were to guess, it's the reason why you have those disfigured lumps on your back; someone used iron to remove your . . .wings."

Instantly paling at the boy's words, Mal sighed in an attempt to hide her fear and worry. "How long have you known?"

"Just today," Ben reassured before the princess could panic about the revelation. "Your father allowed me to use the enchanted mirror for a few minutes as a reward for catching you. I promise, I won't tell anyone about it, but why would anyone—"

"My parents did it to protect me," Mal interrupted as quickly as she could. "They feared that someone with hatred toward our family would steal my wings from me as vengeance. To prevent that, my parents removed it themselves. I was bedridden for a week. I was about three at the time, so the only one that knows about my wings are my parents, Evie, and her mother. Evie makes most of my dresses, but she always has to change the back designs because I can't wear anything without bandages on my back."

"Is that why they're hoping for a boy too?" Ben wondered logically. "They're afraid that if the baby is a girl, she would have wings."

"It's less likely the baby would have wings if he was a boy," Mal reasoned with a small shrug. "Our logic is the baby would have more of Dad's genes if he's a boy, which means he would be more god than fairy."

"And is more likely he would have only blue hair instead of purple," Ben joked, smiling teasingly at the princess.

Mal giggled at the harmless joke, though she noticed something peculiar about the look in the Isle prince's eyes as she did so. They seem to light up every time she laughs. Maybe . . .

"I know I'm the one that fell on you," Mal began, a teasing smile emerging on her lips as well, "but it looks like you are the one falling for me."

Ben wasn't sure if he wanted to deny the claim entirely. In fact, he found himself leaning toward the princess like he was in a trance. Mal raised a questioning eyebrow at Ben placing a gentle hand on her cheek and the way his nose brushed against hers when he got closer. However, she couldn't help swooning at the shy, loving kiss that Ben gave her—

Never noticing that her parents had been watching the whole scene transpire.