“You know about the VK program? And the Auradon Prep roundtable tomorrow?”
“Yes, yes, yes, we received the royal proclamation and heard about your…shall we say, ineffective balcony announcement,” said Lady Tremaine, sniffing. She picked up the application form that Mal had placed on her desk and read it out loud: “‘Mal and King Ben ask you to be truthful and sincere, and to always speak from the heart.’” The steely-eyed professor looked over at Mal through her pince-nez glasses. “Where on earth do you think you’ll find students who will act that way? Not here.”
Mal flushed. “We need to find them, to unite our divided kingdom.”
“Good luck,” said Lady Tremaine drily.
“I know there are students at this very school who have the courage to join us in Auradon. I was one,” said Mal. “I just didn’t know it back then.” She tried to sit straighter and project some kind of authority. Ben always seemed to be able to command the respect of the room in his council meetings. Why couldn’t Mal convince just this one person to take her seriously?
Lady Tremaine drummed her fingers on her desk. “The Mal I knew excelled at evil pranks; the Mal I knew spelled a boy to force him to fall in love with her. The Mal I knew is just biding her time to rule the kingdom.” She winked. “That is what you’re doing, isn’t it?”
Mal was about to protest when she nodded. If she couldn’t beat ’em, she would at least pretend to join ’em. In the end, she just wanted to make sure the kids came to the discussion tomorrow and had access to the applications, even if she and Lady Tremaine couldn’t see eye to eye. “Exactly.”
“Excellent. I will be happy to find such students to send you tomorrow,” said Lady Tremaine.
• • •
Coach Gaston was running doomball drills when Jay interrupted to talk about the new VK program. Gaston looked the same as he always did: dark-haired, aggressively handsome with his swell cleft of a chin, and still as large as a barge. “You want me to talk to the kids about going to school in Auradon?” he asked, scratching his incredibly thick neck. “And send them to some event you have planned tomorrow?”
“Would you, Coach?” asked Jay.
Gaston shrugged. “What do they have in Auradon that’s so great, anyway?”
“For starters, they can have five dozen eggs for breakfast if they want,” said Jay, who knew the way to Gaston’s heart was through his breakfasts.
“We have that here,” said Gaston. “Rotten, of course, but you get used to the taste.”
“Right,” Jay said with a sigh. “I’ll leave the forms here, just in case.”
• • •
Madam Mim was in between teaching classes in alchemy when Carlos arrived. “Shut the door!” she screeched when he entered. “You’re letting in too much sunlight! Bah! I hate sunlight!”
“Okay! Sorry!” said Carlos. “How are you, Professor?”
“As bad as can be,” moaned Madam Mim. “Ever since they closed off the Catacombs I’ve been terribly hungry.” Madam Mim used the old tunnels to poach sheep and wildlife from the farms surrounding Camelot. She had quite a large appetite when she was in her dragon form. She narrowed her eyes suddenly. “Weren’t you one of the kids responsible for shutting them down?”
“W-well, um…” Carlos stammered. Then he shook his head. His mother might be terrifying, but he wasn’t going to let himself be intimidated by Madam Mim. “Sorry about that,” he said. “But that’s not what I’m here to talk about today.”
“Then what’s this all about? That Auradon program, is it?” Madam Mim sniffed.
“Yes! Would you mind distributing these forms to your students? And reminding them that four of us from Auradon Prep will be taking questions tomorrow during study hall?” He deliberately didn’t call it a roundtable, so as not to upset Madam Mim with bad memories of Arthur and his knights.
“I suppose I could,” said Madam Mim, taking the stack of papers from him. “Although why anyone would want to stay in Auradon for that long, I don’t know. It’s always sunny there.”
• • •
Evie had always been Mother Gothel’s favorite student during her time at Dragon Hall; Evie had excelled in her Self-Interest, Selfishness, and Selfies classes. Mother Gothel was trying out another age-defying skin cream when Evie found her in the faculty lounge.
“Evie! Your skin! It’s glowing!” said Mother Gothel jealously. “What’s your secret?”
“Fresh air, exercise, and a healthy diet,” Evie replied with a smile.
“Bah!” said Mother Gothel. “Who wants to do that?”
“Try it, you might like it,” said Evie cheerfully. She set a bunch of applications in front of her former professor. “I wanted to drop these off with you, to give to your students. Did you hear about the VK program?”
“Who hasn’t?” said Mother Gothel, curling her lip. “You know we’re all gossips here on the Isle.”