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“I’m so sorry, I can’t. Doug’s band is playing at the Wishing Well later,” she said with an apologetic smile. “Want to come with?” While Doug was a member of the marching band in the daytime, at night he whistled a different tune. Carlos would usually be happy to join her, except Doug’s music was just a tad too EMO for him. (Extremely Moody Orchestrations, that is.)
“Next time,” Carlos promised, as they fell into step together.
“But do you have time now?” asked Evie. “I’m actually going this way.” She motioned back to the main castle.
“Now?” he asked, following her lead.
“Yeah, I was about to go and find Mal and Ben to talk about the VK program—you know, the initiative to bring more villain kids to Auradon?” she asked, as she opened the doors and they stepped through.
Carlos nodded. It sounded vaguely familiar, although he hadn’t been paying much attention. Mostly he’d been wrapped up in his new relationship with Jane. “Uh-huh?”
Evie led the way to Ben’s private wing of the palace. “I was thinking maybe we should go back to the Isle of the Lost and get more kids interested in applying!”
“We should?” he asked, paling to the roots of his black-and-white hair. Even though they’d returned to the Isle of the Lost before, it always felt like a dicey proposition. In the back of his mind he was always a little worried he’d end up stuck there again, and he really didn’t want to be trapped in his dingy room in Hell Hall.
“Yeah, we should!” said Evie, who seemed very intent on this idea. “That way, they can see Auradon is a great place, even for villain kids. Don’t you think? Because, so far, no one’s applied to the program except for Dizzy.”
“Oh.” That did seem odd. Carlos would have guessed there would be more kids who might want to escape the island. For starters, he remembered the kids from the Anti-Heroes club were pretty keen on Auradon.
“Yeah.” Evie shrugged. “Doug thinks that maybe they’re scared or intimidated somehow. Or maybe they think it’s some kind of trap. You know how it was, back on the Isle. There’s always some kind of angle.”
He certainly did. Carlos drummed his fingers on his chin. He was warming up to the idea. “You know what would help? If we brought peanut butter!”
Evie laughed. “Um, okay. I was thinking we should meet with the kids personally to talk about Auradon. But that works too!”
“Perfect. Let’s find Jay and Mal first, then go talk to Ben,” said Carlos. He always found safety in numbers.
en bent over the paper on his desk, his brow creased as he read the latest safety report from Genie, who kept an eye on all the kingdoms. The news was the same—no sign of Uma or her tentacles. Ben was writing a note advising Genie to keep an eye on the oceans, when the door to his study burst open. He was surprised but happy to find Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos talking excitedly to each other as they made their way to the front of his desk.
“We could tell them about tourney!” said Jay.
“And chocolate chip cookies!” said Carlos. “Oh, and hot showers!”
“We could stress how good the classes are. Pun definitely intended,” said Mal with a droll smile.
“And how nobody locks you up in a tower if you forget your homework!” said Evie.
“Ben! Wait till you hear this idea!” said Mal, coming to perch on the side of his desk.
“What is it?” asked Ben, grinning and leaning back on his chair, glad to have a distraction. It was his duty as king to read every document presented to him and make certain he was prepared for meetings. He liked to be just as informed as his councillors, if not more so. But sometimes, even kings needed a break. “What’s the big idea?”
“You know the VK program?” Evie asked. “The one that’s going to bring over some more villain kids to study at Auradon Prep? Well, I was looking at the applications we’ve received, and aside from Dizzy, there aren’t any.”
Ben raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t heard that it was quite that big a failure. “Really?”
“Yeah, really,” said Carlos, taking an empty seat across from Ben’s desk. Jay took a place by the windowsill, and Evie sat on a chair near to Mal.
“Isn’t that awful?” said Mal. “I think they’re scared to apply.”
“Or maybe they don’t know about it,” said Jay. “The Isle is a little…isolated.”
“So we need to drum up more interest,” said Evie. “I was thinking I could take some photos of us, and we could use them to make posters and put them all over the island. Kind of aspirational! Like, ‘You too could grow up to be Mal!’”
Ben smiled. He was pretty sure Mal was one of a kind, but he understood where Evie was going. “Okay, posters. I like it! Maybe we could put them up all around the mainland too, prove to people that anyone can be a great student here.”
Mal nodded. “We need to show them that everyone can come to Auradon Prep,” she said meaningfully.
“Everyone?” asked Ben.
