"All the boys? Why just the boys?" Carlos complains.

"Why do you think? She just wanted to target Adam." Maira says. "Also, I not sure if she can turn girls into Beasts."

"But why target every boy?" Carlos moans, scratching the back of his neck. And then his arm. And his stomach. And his knee. That fur must be itchy.

"This is her revenge, Carlos." I say.

"Right." Maira says, still clutching her side. "We need to get back. Now. We know Endora was looking for people away from the castle to see if she could use them as ransom and stuff."

"Why do that on top of the Beast thing?" Carlos asks.

"Revenge, remember? She probably wants Ben and Beast to suffer as much as possible." I suggest.

"Right." Maira says. "But we need to get back now. Ellie, would you do the poof thing?"

"Um, I can't really do long-distance very well." I say. "And I can barely transport myself right now."

"Just try it. Please?" Maira asks.

I let out a huff of frustration, making my blue bang flip up for a second. "Fine." I grab Maira's hand and then reach for Carlos' paw, my hand basically disappearing in his. I close my eyes and concentrate, and after a brief burst of cold air, I open my eyes and we're in mine and Brit's room. I grin. Maira lets go of me and runs from the room, Carlos and I following her quickly. We go to Mal and Evie's room to find that Maira was right. Jay, Ben, Arson, and Gil are all twice as big and covered in fur the same color as their hair. Ben kind of looks like his dad's Beast self.

Arson waves.

Mal, Dizzy, Evie, Mahina, Kalia, Brit, and Jane are in there right now. "We're all trying to stick together so that Endora can't grab one of us alone." Mal explains. I nod and slip into the room. Carlos squeezes through the door and closes it behind him.

"Is there any way to get rid of this stupid spell?" Jay asks.

"I don't know." Ben admits, his voice sounding deeper than normal. All if the boys voice's sound growly. "There isn't a rose this time to give a deadline, and she didn't tell us what we had to do like she did with my dad."

"Right." Jay sighs. "He had to learn to love, and someone had to love him. Perfect."

"That can't be the case this time, can it?" I ask.

"I'm not sure it could be, because Mal and Ben are already together, so is Evie and Doug---he's trying to cut his fur off right now---" Dizzy says. "And Carlos and you are an item as well."

Is it possible that Carlos can flush red under all that fur?

"Right." I say.

"I wish she'd done some villain-type monologue." Jay complains. "That makes everything easier."

"Yeah, then they reveal what we can do to fix it." Brit says.

"How'd you guys know where she was? Was she here?" I ask.

"Yeah, we were all in the courtyard between classes, and she showed up hovering above my dad's statue." Ben says.

"So you know what she looks like now?"

"Not exactly." Gil admits. "I mean, nobody ever saw her on the Isle, and today she was wearing a dark green cloak that covered her face. She had a wand, though."

"She had a wand?" I groan. "Great. Wands work way better than normal magic."

"Thanks." Mal says.

"It's true, though." Jane says. "Wands give a more focused magic."

"Carlos, do you know what she looked like?" Ben asks. "Since you knew her on the Isle?"

"Um, no, she always wore a hood there too." Carlos says. "She said she didn't want anybody to see her face."

"That's weird." Gil breaks in, scratching behind his ears. His bandana is still somehow on, but lopsided and hanging off one of his own horns.

"Well, we still know she's wearing a big green cloak." Evie supplies.

"And that half of the population, the male half, will be hiding their faces." Carlos mumbles.

All the girls in the room laugh while the boys nod sadly.

_______________________________________________

Three days later, and we're all either packed into Ben's office or the library. We can't find anything. Since the Enchantress told Beast how to get rid of it last time, we had Fairy Godmother go to the Isle to ask the Enchantress, but she refused point-blank to help us. When FG told her that it was all the boys who got turned, the Enchantress has just told her "Only the caster of the spell can know for sure the cure."

So, since we found out, (which was an hour ago) we've basically been looking for Endora.

Only problem: How do you find a girl who has a magic wand?

With another wand! Yay.

"You're sure this is smart?" Jane checks yet again. "With her magic contradicting mine, you might end up miles away from her still. And even if you got close, I can't guarantee you won't pass out or something after you land. I can feel her power from here."

"So you can track her?" I note.

"No. I can sense her powers, but only the presence of them. Like, I know they're there, if that makes sense." Jane says.

"Not really, but I'll deal." Maria blows a lock of curly hair out of her eyes.

Maira, Arson, Mahina, Carlos and I had been selected to go. Carlos, because he wants to see if he can't convince Endora to lift the spell. Maira, because she wants to punch her in the nose. Mahina, to stop Maira from punching anybody. And Arson and I because we have cool powers.

(No pun intended.)

It had taken a lot of convincing to get Carlos and Arson to agree to leave the dorm room. Finally we promised Maira had a ball that could cover them up (which she doesn't) and they finally left. I don't know why they're so stubborn about not being seen. Every single guy in Auradon is a beast! Does it matter right now?

I nod once again. "Jane, please just do it before one of us bails."

She sighs and raises her wand. FG had used her wand to make Jane her own after Jane had used FG's so well during the attack. Jane's wand is more gold than bluish silver, with a glowing pink ball on the butt of the wand with rose gold spirals tipping at the end. Jane waves her wand and silver sparkles swarm around us. I can feel them pink us up and carry us at speeds we can just barely feel, then stopping suddenly.

It drops Carlos and Arson first, but I lunge for Maira's and Mahina's hands and poof safely down to the ground. I'd found I can do some long-distance ones, but with no more than three people, including myself. Carlos and Arson are facedown on the ground now.

Carlos groans. "My teeth just rammed into my stupid nose." He rubs his gigantic, furry nose. I barely hold back a laugh. I look around where we are.

"Hey, this is the enchanted lake!" I say in surprise. "Well, the woods near it. Why would Endora be here?"

"Well, I figured somebody would come after me sooner or later." Says a voice that I can only describe as sounding honey-covered. I hear a rustle above us and look up. A female shape wearing a deep green cloak is balanced in a tree high above. I can only see her mouth under the shadows, and she's smirking. "I wanted to be somewhere where I'd have the advantage."

"Hate to break it to you, but the enchanted lake is the royal family's." Maira spits. "Same with the woods around it."

Endora's form flickers and disappears. I feel a shift in the air behind me and duck instinctively, rolling and coming up a few feet to my left. I look up to see a tree with a burning hole in it like Endora flung acid at me. I stand up again and find her smirk is wider than ever.

"So, you're not as useless as Uma claimed you were." she says, moving almost like water. Fluid and graceful. She circles me, paying little to no attention to the others. I shake my hands, and blazing fire erupts on my palms. She laughs at that.

"Silly flames won't help you here, Daughter of Death." she flicks her hands and my world turns upside-down. I wiggle around, looking up and seeing that vines are wrapped around my body, trapping my arms against my sides. In one quick movement, I freeze them and break loose, landing hard on the ground.

"Stop playing around!" I insist.

"Oh, I'm far from playing." Endora promises.

"Dor---Uh, Endora, stop!" Carlos yells.

For the first time, Endora sounds surprised. "Carlos? What are you doing here? I didn't mean to make you a beast!"

He looks surprised as well. "You didn't?"

"No! You were supposed to be in Corona!"

"So there's a cure, then?" He asks hopefully. Endora doesn't answer but surveys the rest of our group.

"Arson?" She asks. He nods and waves. "You were supposed to be in Agrabah!" She growls. "Uma said---"

"Uma wants revenge on everybody, so she probably lied to you." I jump in.

Though I can't see her eyes, I can feel her glaring at me. "No kidding."

Mahina steps forward. "So you didn't want to get them?" She asks.

"I didn't want to get anybody but the prissy Auradonians." Endora sniffs. "Is Jay there too? And Gil, I'm assuming?"

"Yeah. They're both there. And very furry." Maira says.

Endears mouth twists down in a snarl. "Uma tricked me. That witch."

"So... You'll remove it?" Carlos asks.

Endora's shadowed face glances towards Maira, Mahina, and I. "I can't."

"Why not?" Arson asks.

"Because I cursed them that way." Endora says. And then her hand reaches up and she pulls back her hood. She has honey-gold hair that curls past her shoulder blades and bright green eyes that sort of feel like lasers reading my every secret. To my surprise, she's actually wearing makeup that gives her a striking, fighter look. She unclasps the cloak and throws it on the ground behind her. She's wearing blue jeans with ripped knees and gold converse. A green jacket is rolled up to her elbows, with a white shirt and the golden silhouette of a rose on it. Her nails are painted gold and green, her right hand holding a long, thin white wand with minuscule gold designs.

She crosses her arms, twirling her wand around. "I cursed Adam and Ben in a very specific way. They'd pay for their mistakes. They never should have put my mother on the Isle."

"But Ben didn't!" I protest. "Neither did the entire male population of Auradon!"

Endora eyes me. "I realize that. But Adam made an unforgivable mistake. My mother saw his future. He was destined to die alone and evil until she changed his story."

"He was scared." Carlos says.

"Well, he shouldn't have been." Endora hisses. Her eyes blaze green like Mal's sometimes do. "My mother made his life the best it could possibly be, like she did with so many others before Adam banished her."

"Can you see the future too?" I ask.

Endora turns to me. "Yes. I can. Why?" Her eyes lose the fire and are replaced with a twinkling that is almost hypnotic. "Wondering what paths are ahead of you?"

Carlos grabs my shoulders and shakes me. The dreamlike quality of Endora's eyes fade away. "Don't look her directly in the eye." Carlos insists.

Endora smiles. "Just a bit of fun, Carlos. But yes, I can see the future every so often. I don't like doing it, though, because it brought nothing but trouble for my mother."

"Is your mom still on the Isle?" Maira asks.

"Yes."

"If we brought her here, would she lift the curse?" Mahina asks.

"I've already told you. It cannot be lifted. It has to be cured." Endora says.

"Cured how?" Carlos asks.

"Well, like my mother, I believe people deserve second chances. Not Adam, of course, but Auradon deserved a chance to redeem itself." Endora says. "So I built in a breaker."

"Breaker?"

"Something I can sense but can't activate." Endora explains. "Even I don't know what the cure is. But it will get rid of my curse."

"Any hints?" I suggest.

"I don't have anything." Endora says. "I know it should sort of reflect my mom's curse, since I used the same spell for this round of beasts."

"So... love?" Mahina guesses.

"Well, like I said, I really don't know." Endora says. "But it would have to be powerful."

Mahina gives a dreamy smile that reminds me of how she was before she came to Auradon. "True love's kiss." She mutters.

Endora nods, like we're talking about something that isn't totally Princess Bride-y. "That could do it. But true love almost never happens. Ever. That's why Uma wanted to use Ben. Because she didn't expect Mal to be his true love. Believe me, when she stormed back to the Isle's barrier, she was so mad she was almost steaming."

"Okay, not to sound like the trolls my aunt Anna went to see..." I say. "But that wouldn't fix everybody. There is no way everybody could find their true love." Plus, I add silently, I want a lass embarrassing cure for my boyfriend.... Because I really don't want to find out he's meant for somebody else. There is no way somebody like him is meant for somebody like me.

Endora shrugs. "Well, it would have to be something as powerful. Like forgiveness, or... Well, no, actually, those are the only two I can think of."

I snort. "Oh, boy. Please don't tell me I have to forgive Chad and Ned to turn them back."

Endora turns her green fire gaze to me. For a second, she's silent. "No." she says. "They weren't turned into beasts."

"They weren't?" Carlos sputters. "But I know for a fact that were at school!"

"They're already the worst form of themselves." Endora explains. "With everybody else, their Beast selves are the bad parts of themselves, the worst qualities. They're literally the worst qualities of themselves."

For some reason, I find that incredibly hilarious.

"What would our bad qualities be, though?" Carlos asks. But when I glance sidelong at him, I can see in his eyes he already knows the answer.

"Only you know that." Endora says. "I can't tell you."

"So... we basically have to find our own cures." Carlos says.

"Great, because we don't already have enough on our plates." Maira complains.

Endora shrugs. "Well, since you guys obviously aren't here to arrest me, I'll be leaving." She gathers her cloak up and raises her wand.

"Wait!" Carlos yells. "I have to know---Why'd you expose Ellie and me like that?"

Endora looks confused. "Expose you?"

"Take those pictures of us on our date here." I say. "And tell the news we were coming back."

Endora's gaze hardens. "I never came to the lake before today. It wasn't me."

_____________________________________

Ta-da!

Hope everybody enjoyed this chapter!

Tomorrow is my last day of summer before I start high school. I'm so nervous.... has anyone else started high school already? Was it bad?

(Also, WHY IS MY SCHOOL SO STUPID??? WHY AM I STARTING SCHOOL ON A FRIDAY ONLY TO GO TO WEEKEND RIGHT AFTER????)

Okay I'm done complaining. Bye!