▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 ━︎━︎ 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐊𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 Auradon, the first thing Ilaria, Mal, Evie, and Carlos did was try to call Doug, Ben, Dizzy, and Jane, but none of them picked up. Ilaria's worry grew inside her like a wildfire. Not knowing where Ben and Doug were was starting to kill her. Evie glanced around at all of the sleeping people, a deep frown on her face. "They're asleep. Everyone."

     Mal sighed. "I can't get Ben."

     "I can't get Doug either." Ilaria mumbled.

     "Or Dizzy," Evie added.

     "Or Jane," Carlos said. "The signal's out."

     Celia's eyes were instantly drawn to the large school. "Is that Auradon Prep?"

     Carlos gave her a small smile. "Yeah. And when everyone wakes up, you're going to love it."

     Ilaria crossed her arms, walking around the sleeping students as Mal attempted to call Ben again. She glanced over at Harry, rolling her eyes as she watched him try to steal money from one of the sleeping people, Jay was quick to intercept. Harry pointed his hook at him. "Think I'm scared of you, Jay?"

     In unison Mal and Uma called out, "Guys!"

     "Mmm. Delicious." A familiar voice grabbed their attention.

     Carlos instantly walked towards the dog, a breath of relief falling from his lips. "Dude!" When he noticed the dog licking the remains from someone's hand he sighed. "Dude, really?"

     "What?! It wasn't me, I swear! Okay, it was me."

     The group all approached the dog as Carlos asked, "Hey, do you know what happened here?"

     "Yup. Audrey showed up. She put everybody to sleep. And then she turned some of them to. . ."

     "Guys." Evie interrupted him, having walked up to a statue. Only, it wasn't a statue, it was a girl. "Hannah turned to stone."

     They all walked to Evie and Jay clenched his jay. "Alright. Everybody stay on their toes."

      Uma turned, looking at Mal. "Look, since we're here, let's check the school."

     Mal shook her head. "No. Audrey went straight for the crown, so, I think it's safe to assume that she's gonna go for Ben and his castle next. That's where we'll go."

     Uma stepped towards her. "Says who?"

     Mal stepped closer to her. "Says me."

     Uma pursed her lips and nodded. "Says you. And that's supposed to mean something to me?"

     "Guys," Evie interrupted.

     Ilaria crossed her arms over her chest. "We have more important things to worry about than your little spat."

     Mal glanced between the couple before nodding. "To the castle." Mal lead the way and they all followed her. They made it to the castle and Mal began calling out for Ben, but received no response. Dude was trotting in front of her, his nose sniffing in the air before he let out a laugh and turned a corner, claiming it was that way. Mal sighed. "Ben could be asleep anywhere."

     "Or turned to stone," Celia added.

     "Okay." Evie whispered, covering Celia's mouth with her hand.

     "Ben!" Mal yelled.

     Dude stood at the end of the hall. "I got a scent. Very pungent cologne. Easy to track. Follow me people!"

     Carlos nodded. "That's great Dude."

     "FYI, I give great cuddles too."

      They all started towards the dog and Gil smiled. "Really? I never had a pet growing up. Well, except for the Elk head in dad's man cave, but that wasn't--"

     "Hold up." Uma came to a stop, her eyes focused on the wall beside her. "What's this?" They all turned and noticed five lines scraped into the wall, along with a painting that the bottom had been sliced off of.

     Carlos stepped forwards. "Uh. . . any chance this was already there."

     "No." Ilaria easily answered. She'd walked these halls for years, she would've noticed something like that. "I guess someone wanted to decorate." She shared a worried look with Evie before looking at Dude as he told them to follow him. They listened. They rounded another corner before coming face to face with two giant wooden doors. Mal pushed the doors open, calling out for Ben again as they were led into the large room that had armored knights lining the walls.

Evie stepped up onto the platform in the middle of the room and Ilaria joined her side, watching Mal and Uma as they continued walking forwards. Evie jumped down and Ilaria chuckled, jumping down after her. Evie smiled at her, grabbing her hand and slinging their hands back and forth as they followed after Mal and Uma.

     "I bet you lost some sleep thinking about me on the loose." Uma started.

     Mal's lips curled in amusement. "No. Dragon's don't really lose sleep." Mal came to a stop and so did the others. "I wonder what fried octopus tastes like." Uma laughed.

     Evie intervened. "Okay. Why do we not do this?"

      Uma looked at Evie. "We're celebrating our differences." Ilaria rose a brow.

     Harry spoke up. "I believe we're being challenged."

     Uma held up a hand, ignoring him. "Let's split up and look for Audrey."

     Mal scoffed. "That makes absolutely no sense. Unless you give me my ember, she's going to spell you."

     "Girls!" Harry shouted, grabbing their attention. "We have a situation here." They followed his eyes only to find the armor stand in front of them moving. Then it began to talk in Audrey's voice.

     "Do you like a prince, Mal? How about a knight in shining armor? Or knights."

      Suddenly, all of the knights in the room began to move, all of them pointing their swords at the group. Ilaria swallowed, her hand tightening around Evie's as they slowly began to back up.  Instantly, they all made a run for the door but two knights quickly blocked them. Ilaria let out a breath. "This was not on my to-do list."

They all grabbed extra swords that were hanging on the walls. Mal and Uma stood on the platform and the rest of them surrounded the two girls, watching every side and preparing for an attack. The knights attacked all at once and Mal and Uma jumped down while Ilaria grabbed Evie's hand, moving her towards the platform. Evie stepped up and they all fought off the knights. Ilaria gripped the sword in her hand, the sound of metal to metal clashing echoing in the room. She shoved the knight away from her but another one came at her. She ducked under its swing, sending a kick to its chest before clashing her sword against its own, maneuvering the swing so that the sword flew from the knights hand.

She turned her head, watching as more knights came in from the sides, shields in one hand and a hammer-like weapon in the other hand. She glanced towards Carlos, watching as his sword flew from his hand. Celia was quick to slide a shield towards him and Carlos grabbed it, using it as a sled to move himself away from the line of fire. He snatched his sword back up and started fighting again.

     The knights all gathered at one end of the room and they all turned to face them. Thye moved in sync, slowly marching towards the group as one. Mal and Uma shared a look before they both hit their sword against the knight who was standing at the front. Electricity ran through them and for a moment the knights all froze. Mal was quick to take a stand on the platform, her eyes glowing green as she spoke a spell. "Suit of armor strong and true, make this metal bust a move!"

Mal raised her hands, moving her hips back and forth and smile when the knights copied her. Uma went next, doing her own move, followed by Carlos who held his arms back and stomped his foot. Before they knew it, the knights were following their every move and then they crumpled into a heap on the floor. The boys all instantly began cheering and Ilaria chuckled, tossing her sword to the side.

     The four girls even cheered and Uma had a wide smile on her face. "Yeah! We did that! That's what I'm talki―︎" She went to high five Mal and Mal almost did the same but both of them froze and instantly pulled their hands to the side. Jay and Harry did a chest bump before they all came to the realization what they were doing.

     Evie's smile slowly began to fall. "No." Evie stood in the middle of Mal and Uma, Ilaria at her side. Jay and Carlos took a stand beside Mal as Harry and Gil took a stand beside Uma. "Guys, come on! This was so great! We were a team. We worked together. Come on." She went to grab Mal's arm but Mal threw up her hand. Evie turned to Uma, slightly grazing her arm. "Come on." Uma scrunched up her face and moved away from her touch.

     Evie let out a sigh before she smiled and placed her hands on her hips. "You know what we should try?" Ilaria closed her eyes, preparing herself for what Evie was going to say. "An icebreaker."

     "Oh, Evie." Ilaria sighed. "You know I hate those."

     Evie smiled wide and turned to Uma's side. "You say something you really like about the other person, okay? I'll start." She glanced between the three, watching as Harry tried to avoid eyes contact. She narrowed her eyes. "Harry." The pirate let out a sigh. "Great accent." Harry glanced at her in surprise. "Now you go."

     Uma looked past Evie and to Mal. "Is she always this perky?"

     Evie looked at her. "Oh, it wasn't really your turn, but thank you."

     "Okay. Evie." Mal reached forwards, grabbing Evie's arm and pulling her towards her. She grabbed Evie's hands. "I love you."

     Evie smiled. "I love you."

     Mal continued, "I love this energy, but we are very short on time. Audrey clearly knows we're here and we need to get out of here, asap."

     Uma shook her head. "Alright, where does this cheerleader bunk down? Even if she's not there, we might find some sort of clue."

     Ilaria crossed her arms. "Actually, she's still in the dorms. Because of summer school." Ilaria let out an amused giggle. "God, I hate her."

     Evie placed a hand on Ilaria's shoulder. "We know, honey."

     Harry let out a laugh. "What? Summer school? Summer school! No wonder she wants revenge." Ilaria pressed her lips together, trying to hide her amusement.

     "Okay." Mal interrupted. "I need you guys to go find Ben. We will meet back at Evie and Ria's in two hours, okay?"

     "Sounds like we're going with my plan. I'm just sayin." Uma said.

     Mal shook her head. "It was kind of the obvious plan."

     "Uma said it first," Gil taunted.

     Uma nodded. "Right. So my plan."

     Mal rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

     They all walked out and Evie continued to stand there. Ilaria hooked her arm into Evie's. "So close."

     "I know right!" Evie sighed, beginning to follow after the others.

     "You know, maybe after all this is over, they'll put their differences aside and realize we're all better off together." Ilaria tried.

     Evie smiled at her. "I love how optimistic you are." Her smile fell. "But you're never optimistic. Are you sick?"

     Ilaria scoffed, nudging her in the side. "I'm just trying to make you feel better. Is it working?"

     Evie pressed a kiss to her cheek. "A little." Ilaria chuckled.