It feels good plotting and planning with my friends.

Just like old times. I’ve seriously missed that.

Mal and Evie entered Lady Tremaine’s Curl Up and Dye and crept up behind Dizzy.

She was hunched over her table, which was piled with knickknacks, making a colorful headband. Evie snuck up beside her and tapped her shoulder to get Dizzy’s attention.

Dizzy beamed, jumped up, and hugged Evie. “Evie? Evie! You came back!”

“Oh, my Dizzy,” said Evie, taking the younger girl’s hands in her own.

Mal looked on and chuckled. “It’s so great to see you, too,” she said drily.

“Is it all just like we imagined?” Dizzy asked Evie, wanting to know all about Auradon. “Do they really have closets you can walk into?”

Evie giggled at her earnest questions.

“Have you been in real a swimming pool? What does ice cream taste like?” asked Dizzy.

Evie laughed. “It’s cold and sweet, and if you eat it too fast, it gives you a headache,” she said, stooping low so that she and Dizzy were eye to eye.

“Really?” Dizzy squealed.

Evie nodded.

“I saved your sketchbook for you!” said Dizzy, bolting across the salon.

“You did?” Evie asked Dizzy, looking at Mal. Evie put a hand to her heart.

Dizzy raced back to them, carrying a thick blue book that had a red heart topped with a gold crown on its intricately decorated cover.

“Dizzy!” cried Evie. She sat down in front of the book at the table and beamed.

Mal stroked Evie’s hair affectionately, and Dizzy smiled over her shoulder.

“Oh, my gosh,” said Evie as she opened the beautiful book to a drawing of a short yellow-and-blue dress. There was some lacy blue fabric pinned to the page. “I made this dress out of an old curtain and safety pins,” she said, relishing the memory.

“Yeah! It reminds me of the dress you made for Mal when she met Jasmine,” said Dizzy.

“I spilled curry all over it,” said Mal.

Evie and Dizzy laughed.

“Yeah, I saw that,” said Dizzy.

Mal left them to inspect another table that boasted an assortment of items. After all, they were at the salon for a reason. They needed smoke bomb supplies.

Meanwhile, Evie tapped the dress design with her fingertips. “You’re totally right, Dizzy,” she said. “This was totally the inspiration for that.”

“I knew it!” Dizzy punched a gloved fist up into the air. “You can take the girl out of the Isle, but you can’t take the Isle out of the girl!” She pressed her cheek to Evie’s.

Behind them, Mal picked up a plastic bowl and began to fill it with shower caps. She had an idea, and she was going with it. This just might work, she thought.

Evie closed her sketchbook, and she picked up a shiny metallic accessory and a tiny gold crown. She held the crown against the accessory, creating a hair ornament. “Is this too much?” she asked Dizzy. “Or is this fabulous?”

Dizzy struck a pose and extended her arm. “Hand me the glue gun!”

Back at Auradon Prep, Jay and Carlos walked down the hallway to their dorm room. Dude bounded toward them, obviously excited that they were finally back.

“Sorry I’m so late,” Carlos whispered to Dude. “Ben got taken.”

“Why’s our door open?” asked Jay.

He and Carlos entered the room and found Chad printing on the 3-D printer.

“Are you kidding me?” yelled Carlos.

Chad jumped and looked up. “I knocked,” he explained.

Carlos held out his hand and looked at Chad until Chad gave him the copy of his room key. Then Carlos canceled Chad’s print job, pulled the object from the tray, and handed it to Jay.

“What is it?” Jay asked Chad.

“A Chad action figure,” said Chad. “Minus the head,” he added.

“Sounds like an improvement,” mumbled Carlos. He moved around the printer and quickly programmed it to make the sparkling silver wand from a photo on his phone.

As the wand began to appear, Chad peered at it curiously. “Why are you making Fairy Godmother’s wand?” he asked.

Carlos looked at Jay. “Umm…why are we making the wand?”

“Ben’s been captured!” said Dude.

“What?” shouted Chad. He did a double take. “Dude can talk?”

Carlos looked at Dude. “I was stalling,” Carlos said from the side of his mouth.

Dude wagged his tail. “I thought you forgot,” he said.

“You can’t tell anyone,” Jay said to Chad. “Ben’s life depends on it.”

Little did they know that outside their dorm room, Lonnie, who had dropped by to ask Jane about her Cotillion dress, had heard the whole thing. She gasped and sprinted down the hall.

Chad furrowed his brow. “If something were to happen to him…” He smiled at the boys. “You know…what I’m saying….” He waggled his eyebrows.

“Something bad, I get it,” said Carlos, rolling his eyes.

“God forbid,” said Chad, feigning concern. “Who do you think might be next in line to be king?”

Jay looked at Carlos. “Is it me, or is that in really poor taste?”

As Chad left their room, Jay made sure to slam the door behind him. Carlos quickly punched some numbers into the printer, and the machine whirred to life.