Every villain has her lair. If I were Sleeping Beauty’s daughter, where would I hide? And yes, I know my mother would know the answer to that question. That helps me how?

In Audrey’s dorm room, Uma stretched out on the lavish bed and flipped through Audrey’s journal. She leafed through the pages, reading the private thoughts Audrey had recorded in her loopy cursive handwriting. Ever since Mal arrived at Auradon Prep, Audrey had felt invisible at school. And at home, her family acted like she’d let them down. Uma scanned another page. Audrey was humiliated and heartbroken when Ben publicly declared his love for Mal. Uma had assumed Audrey was some privileged rich girl, but maybe it wasn’t that simple.

Uma was absorbed in Audrey’s journal when Mal and Evie ran into the room out of breath. “She’s nowhere on campus,” Evie panted. They’d checked the cafeteria, searched the tourney field, and even rummaged around in the library. Audrey had left a long trail of pink fog and sleeping students in her wake, but the sorceress herself had vanished.

“Found her diary,” said Uma. “And dang, did you ruin Audrey’s life.”

Mal was starting to feel kind of bad. “Okay, so did you find anything in there we don’t already know, or…”

“She hangs out at Fairy Cottage. You know, where Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather hid her mom from your mom,” Uma told Mal. The pirate leader rubbed her hands together and hooted with evil glee.

“Yes, ha ha ha, the irony is not lost on me,” said Mal.

Uma lifted her head from a poufy down pillow and ran her fingertips along the dreamy silk comforter. It was all so luxurious. “How could anyone with this bed ever be unhappy?” she wondered aloud. Kids on the Isle were lucky if they had a bale of hay to sleep on. Uma herself had spent many a night sleeping on the hard wood planks of her pirate ship.

Evie nodded silently and thought, Note to self: every VK gets a great new pillow and comforter. She added it to her long mental to-do list. Thanks to the future Queen Mal, Auradon would soon be home to every villain kid who wanted to live there. Evie smiled at the beautiful thought. Of course, there was so much to do to get ready for the new students to move into the dorms. Speaking of whom…

Celia had been busy pilfering through Audrey’s vanity, and she swiveled around, proud to model her new image. “Okay, how do I look?” she asked, striking a pose. She wore several gold bangles, three strands of pearls, and Audrey’s signature bluebird tiara. With Celia, more was more.

Evie looked her up and down. “Okay, the bling stays here,” instructed Evie.

“But she’s bad,” Celia said, pouting.

“And we’re not,” replied Evie.

Celia removed the tiara with a disappointed sigh.

Mentoring all the young VKs who’d be moving from the Isle wasn’t going to be easy, but there was nothing in the world Evie would rather do.

Meanwhile, Jay, Carlos, Harry, and Gil trudged down an overgrown path deep in the Auradon forest. They called out for Ben. Dude sniffed around the trees for any sign of the king. Gil, who was in his own little joy bubble, scarfed down tiny red berries directly off a bush. “These things grow everywhere,” he said with doltish wonder, popping another one into his mouth. “Hey, we should play that icebreaker. Um, Jay, I like the way that you can bounce around and jump off things,” he said with a mouthful of fruit and bright berry juice dripping down his chin.

After years of stealing rotting food from rickety stalls and foraging through dumpsters for dinner, Gil was in paradise. “This is free, right?” he asked, plucking off two more handfuls of berries.

Jay found Gil’s attitude refreshing and decided to play his game. “Yeah. I like how you get a kick out of a berry bush,” he told Gil.

Gil looked slightly embarrassed. “I guess you’ve probably seen everything by now, huh? Furry rocks, giant fish. You’re probably used to grabbing lunch off a bush.”

Now it was Jay’s turn to be a little embarrassed. “No—I mean, no, not really,” he said. “I mean, I mainly just use the vending machines at practice. You know, tourney kind of eats up most of my time.”

Harry snorted derisively. “Tourney? That’s a wee boy’s game.”

Jay ignored him.

“You know what would be fun?” Gil said, looking out over Auradon dreamily. “To go rafting down a jungle river,”

“Find a lost civilization,” said Jay, taking a shine to the idea. He’d been in Auradon a while but hadn’t seen much of the country. He let the thought rattle around in his head as he grabbed a mouthful of berries. They were delicious.

“Or maybe a penguin,” said Gil. He’d once seen a clip of the funny little birds while watching reruns on TV, and he liked how they wobbled.

“Well, you find those more on, like, icebergs,” remarked Jay. “But I’d love to see one of those.”

Harry found the cheery tone of their conversation sickening. He sauntered over and sneered. “You guys are killing me.” The swashbuckler glided up to the bush and slowly picked a single berry with his glinting hook. He put it in his mouth, in what seemed like slow motion, and smiled. Much to his annoyance, Jay and Gil were right. The fruit was delicious.

Hoping to save face, Harry pointed his hook down a dark, shadowy forest path. “And PS: the mutt went thataway.”

“Dude, what do you see?” shouted Carlos, running off. They had a king to find. Harry and Gil followed. But Jay hung back for a moment and returned to the simple berry bush. With a new sparkle in his eye, he picked one more. Something felt right about that small act of freedom.

Two hours later, Mal, Evie, and Uma hurried toward Evie’s starter castle, ready to reunite with the boys as planned. Celia raced ahead.

“I hope they found Ben,” said Mal, thinking of how happy she’d be to see him.

As they walked up the path, Uma eyed Evie’s picturesque castle. She was truly impressed. Evie hadn’t inherited the home like the other spoiled little Auradon princesses Uma loathed. Evie’s success was self-made, and Uma respected that. “Nice digs,” said Uma, and she meant it.

“I got a really good deal,” said Evie. She shrugged modestly and downplayed her good fortune for Uma’s benefit.

Celia reached the front door first, threw it open, and bounded into Evie’s living room. Her face fell when she spotted Squeaky and Squirmy tangled up in each other’s arms, deep asleep on a comfy gray couch. Their glasses sat askew on their sweet slumbering faces.

Mal, Evie, and Uma took in the tragic scene. Evie’s heart nearly broke when she saw innocent little Dizzy curled up on the other end of the couch. She was still dressed in her green-and-pink ruffled dress and vintage stone brooch, ready for a party she never got to attend. Instead, she tossed and turned from a bad dream.

Celia reached over and did her best to soothe her buddy. “Don’t worry, Dizzy. We can fix this.” She covered Dizzy with a soft red afghan. “And once we do, they’re going to let all the kids come from the Isle. So happy dreams, okay?”

Evie and Uma smiled at each other, their hearts warmed by hearing their shared VK goal mentioned aloud. Mal looked away, her face covered by a veil of guilt.

The tender moment was cut short by a booming snore that sounded from the next room. The noise startled the wits out of all four girls. Uma followed the thundering sound through the doorway and stepped into Evie’s glass work space, where she discovered Doug sprawled out on an imported area rug. “Who’s the dude?” asked Uma.

Evie ran to Doug and shook him. “Doug. Wake up, wake up.”

“He’s spelled,” said Uma. She turned to Mal, confused. “Is she not a fast learner?”

“She’s emotionally involved, okay?” said Mal.

“In that case, she should be able to wake him up. True Love’s Kiss? Works every time?” said Uma wryly. Her own plot to take over Auradon had been spoiled the past spring by one such kiss between Mal and Ben. The memory still smarted. Uma looked at Evie expectantly and braced herself for the mushy moment.

Evie diverted her eyes. “We haven’t actually used the L-word yet,” she confessed bashfully.

Uma raised her eyebrows. This was going to be good.

Evie looked at Doug adoringly. His head rested on a shagged pillow; his right arm was folded behind his head. She placed her hand affectionately on Doug’s forehead, as if ready to wake him with a kiss. Then she furrowed her brow in a self-conscious expression and straightened back up quickly.

“Can we be alone?”

Uma and Mal exchanged knowing looks, walked out, and shut the door behind them. Then they immediately popped their heads back around the carved-wood doorway to watch. As if they were about to miss the big kiss!

Evie looked at Doug in abject panic. She cared about Doug more than anything. He was kindhearted and funny, and his unwavering belief in Evie was something she’d never experienced before. For Evie, Doug was definitely the one. She thought they both felt the same, but she didn’t know for sure. They’d never actually talked about it. Does he love me, does he not? Do I love him? Is it strong enough? she thought.

What if she kissed him, a real True Love’s Kiss, and he didn’t wake up? She couldn’t bear the thought. But this was Doug and her, and they were perfect together. She stepped outside to think.

With a burst of realization, Evie flew back inside to Doug and kissed him on the lips. But Doug didn’t wake from the spell—or so it seemed. Behind his glasses, Doug opened one green eye, then shut it sneakily, in hopes of getting another kiss.

Evie caught him in the act and playfully swatted his knee. She tried to stay mad but couldn’t. The kiss settled it. What Doug and Evie shared was definitely true love.

Mal smiled at her two friends, super happy for them. Then she looked at the clock with concern. Jay and the guys should have been there by then. She frowned and hoped they hadn’t run into trouble.