▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 ━︎━︎ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐞 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐌𝐀𝐋 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 when she said the Isle was completely different. The two girls parked the motorbike before hiding it. Ilaria watched as Mal grabbed a rock, throwing it at a sign. When it hit, the sign moved backwards and a metal gate that was keeping a set of stairs closed off went up. Mal looked at Ilaria who smiled in awe before quickly dropping it and followed Mal up the steps. They entered a large room, spray paint covered the walls covered with Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay's faces along with other scribbles here and there. There were couches and chairs spread throughout the large room and Ilaria couldn't help herself as she spun in a circle.

     She turned to Mal. "What is this place? I don't remember this being here when I was kid."

     "This was our hangout spot." Mal explained. "Somewhere we went to escape our parents."

     Ilaria hummed. "I like it."

     "Listen, I'm going to stop by Dizzy's. Change my hair back." She looked at Ilaria. "Ria, listen to me carefully. I've explained the rules of this place, just. . . just be careful. If something happened to you, Evie would kill me. Actually, I think Ben would kill me too."

     "Don't worry, I'll be safe." Ilaria assured. "Plus, I took this from my room just in case." From her pocket, she pulled out a switchblade. "Hopefully, I don't have to use, but it never hurts to have protection."

     Mal nodded. "Good luck with your mom. You know how to get here now. If I don't see you by tomorrow, I'm going to think something is wrong."

     "I'm sure my mother will try to kill me." Ilaria shrugged. She took a deep breath, sharing one more look with Mal before walking out and going the direction Mal had pointed her towards.

Back in Auradon, Evie had been looking for Ilaria everywhere. She knocked on Mal's door, saying her name as she entered only to stop when she saw the room was empty. A frown fell on her face before she spotted a piece of paper. Quickly she grabbed it, her eyes scanning over the words and a soft gasp falling from her lips. She had to tell Ben.

     Ben sat at his desk, looking over paper work when the knock came at his door. "Ben." Evie's voice grabbed his attention and he looked up at her.

     He smiled at he stood, removing his ear piece. "Evie. Come on in." She fully entered the room, closing the door behind her.

     She ripped off the band-aid. "Mal's gone back to the Isle." Ben's face fell and she approached him, handing him the note. "Ria went with her." Ben took the note, but Evie wasn't finished. "Ben. . ." hesitantly, she held out his ring. The one Mal always wore on her finger.

     Ben took the ring, quickly opening the note and reading it. He folded it back up before crumpling it in his hands. "This is my fault. This is my fault. I blew it. She'd been under so much pressure lately and instead of being understanding, I went all beast on her. I have to go there and apologize. I have to go there and beg her to come back."

     "Ben, you'll never find her." Evie dismissed, a slight desperation of her own in her voice. "You need to know the Isle and how it works, and. . ." She trailed off, watching as he walked over to the window. "You have to take me with you."

     Ben quickly turned to face her. "Yes. Uh. . . are you sure?"

     "Yeah." Evie nodded. "She's my best friend. And Ilaria's my girlfriend. And we'll bring the boys too 'cause there's safety in numbers and none of us is really too popular over there right now."

     "Thank you."

     "But let's get two things straight." Evie interrupted him. "You have to promise me that I won't get stuck there again. I've built a life here with my designs and with Ilaria, I can't lose that."

     "I promise." Ben instantly replied.

     "And there's no way you're going looking like that."

     Ben nodded before he paused. "I don't understand. Why would Ria go there?"

     "All she's talked about since we arrived here was her mom. I think she went there to find the truth. I just wish she had told me. Normally she tells me everything." A small frown fell on Evie's lips.

     "She probably didn't want you to worry."

     "I just hope she's okay."

     "If there's anyone here besides you four that could survive the Isle, it would be Ria. She's strong and she's smart, and that place was her home for a little while. She'll be fine Evie." Ben softly said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Evie nodded her head, knowing he was right.

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 the streets, glancing subtly around her as she went. She kept aware of her surroundings, having already defended herself from being pickpocketed twice. She was growing nervous with each step that she took. It had been so long since she's been here, yet it hadn't changed one bit. A lot of people didn't remember things from when they were really young, but Ilaria did. She remembered everything. The path seemed to change, and people seemed not dare go past where she was walking. She heard gasps and whispers echo around her but she forced herself to keep looking forwards.

She continued down the path, coming to stop when she spotted a bright red house in the distance. That was it, she knew it was. Suddenly, she grew even more nervous. Her palms became sweaty and she was starting to have second thoughts before she tightened her hands into fists and clenched her jaw. No, she needed to do this. For herself. She walked up to the badly painted red house, standing on the door step. Hesitantly she raised her hand to knock only to stop. This was the Isle. People didn't knock. So, with a deep breath, she entered the home.

Back at her hideout, Mal stood there, annoyed. They were here. Ben had tried to come talk some sense into her but she refused to listen. Evie had even tried speaking to her through the monophone that was at the bottom of the steps. Mal had yelled at her to go away. It didn't take long before Jay, Evie, and Carlos came upstairs and Mal had been busy spray painting. Her hair was as purple as it could be and she loved it. The three stood there and told her Ben was missing and that it was Harry Hook who had taken him, claiming if Mal wanted to see him again to come alone.

     Mal stared at them, furious. "If you guys never would have brought him here this never would have happened. What were you thinking?" Her voice raised as she asked the question.

     "He was gonna come with or without us." Evie argued. "We just wanted to protect him."

     Carlos stepped forwards. "Yeah, and we completely blew it."

     "Okay!" Jay interrupted the argument. "Okay, so what are we gonna do?"

     "We are not doing anything." She walked forwards. "This is between Uma and me, and she's a punk. And guess what, now I have to go get him."

     "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Mal you're still gonna have to go through Harry Hook and his wharf rats." Carlos said.

     "Yeah, you're gonna need us." Jay added.

     "Uma said to come alone."

     "Mal, come on." Evie softly said.

     "She said to come alone." Carlos mumbled, looking at Evie. "I know one thing, I'm not going anywhere." He sat down on the couch behind him.

     Jay sighed. "We'll be here when you get back."

     Mal turned to walk away but Evie stopped her. "Mal." Mal turned to look at her. "Where is she?"

     "She went to talk to her mother." Mal answered. "She's supposed to be coming back. But if she doesn't, I'll know Uma has her too." Mal went to walk away but stopped herself. "But if she does come back, she's going to be pissed that you let Ben get taken. I would prepare yourselves." With that, Mal walked out of the room.