Hades's attempt to escape the Isle of the Lost shook everyone to their core. Because the event was being televised live, everyone back at Auradon could see what exactly had gone down: when he had stuck his hand through the barrier and attacked Ben and the VKs, and when Mal transformed into a dragon to fight him off. Even when he had been pushed back inside and returned to being powerless within the barrier, the citizens of Auradon still felt unsafe.

The silver lining to this was that Ben, Mal, Evie, Carlos, Jay, and the new batch of VKs still managed to make it back safely. They were a bit on edge, but unharmed nevertheless. Because of the commotion that went down, majority of the crowd that had originally been waiting at Auradon Prep dispersed, leaving only a handful of people left, including Meredith and Jane, Fairy Godmother, King Beast and Queen Belle, Doug, and a lone cameraman.

Although they were the only ones remaining, they still tried to make the new VKs' arrival as memorable as possible. They waved their little flags and banners and plastered on bright smiles as the purple limousine rolled back into the driveway of the dorm building. Meredith bounced on the balls of her feet, eager to see if Carlos was alright after that whole fiasco.

At long last, the limo finally pulled to a stop and the doors opened, revealing a mixture of old and new faces: the original VKs and the new ones. When Meredith spotted the flash of white, black, and red, she couldn't hold herself back anymore.

Carlos had just stepped out of the car when somebody rammed into him at full speed, flinging their arms around him.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. He was quick to react, stabilizing himself in his place before the two of them could teeter backwards. The glimpse of fiery red hair that he caught and the warm, familiar feeling of her body against his was enough for Carlos to recognize that it was Meredith. "Hey."

"Are you okay?" Meredith asked as Carlos wrapped his arms around her frame in return.

"I am."

"Did Hades hurt you badly? And Jay and Ben? How about Mal?" she rambled.

"I'm fine — we all are," Carlos reassured, nuzzling closer to her. Eventually, he felt Meredith relax and let out a sigh of relief, and then the two pulled away to get a better look at one another.

"Are you sure?" Meredith asked unsurely, glancing at him up and down.

"Yes, I promise," Carlos insisted. "He just... threw us off, that's all."

Because Meredith had been so worried about Carlos, she barely paid mind to what was happening around her. However, everyone else felt more or less the same as she did — concerned and frantic. She scanned her surroundings, seeing King Beast and Queen Belle checking over Ben and Mal for any injuries; Doug and Evie were sharing a word as well, with both Dizzy and Celia next to them; and Jane and Fairy Godmother were speaking to Jay, who had the Smee twins in tow.

"You gave us all a fright," Belle said, glancing at the VKs before her.

"We seriously need to do something about this," said Beast with a frown. "Up the security, change some policies, work on —"

"Dad," Ben interrupted gently. "Not now, please. We'll talk about it later."

Beast paused and shared a look with Belle. With a sigh, he nodded and gave in, realizing that it would be inappropriate to talk about such matters in front of everyone else.

"You're right, son."

"Why don't we let the kids get settled in, yes?" Fairy Godmother chirped, trying to lighten up the mood. "I'm sure they must be excited to explore Auradon."

"Wonderful idea," Belle agreed. "I'm sorry to cut this celebration short, kids. We'll have a proper lunch and tour for you all very soon."

Dizzy, Celia, and the Smee twins merely nodded. They were stoked to finally be in Auradon, but after what happened with Hades, they weren't quite sure how to react just yet.

"Ben, Mal, follow us, please," Beast urged, he and his wife already striding away from the group. Before obeying, Mal turned to Evie.

"Take care of them, alright?" she said. "I'll update you as soon as I get back."

"Leave it all to me," Evie responded, grasping Mal's hand in a comforting manner. "Now, go."

Mal whispered a quick "thank you" to her best friend before rejoining Ben. The two of them walked hand in hand after Beast and Belle, undoubtedly to discuss the unexpected turn events of that happened that day.

"Well, you heard 'em," said Jay. "Let's get you all settled in!"

"Where are we going?" Celia asked.

"To my little castle," Evie said in a sing-song voice. At those words, Celia and Dizzy exchanged giddy looks and squealed a little. "Mer, Jane, are you coming with us?"

"Of course!" Jane said enthusiastically.

"Wouldn't miss this for the world," Meredith smiled. With that, everybody started piling back into the limousine.

"Tell me how everything goes, sweetie," Fairy Godmother told Jane before she could leave. "Call me if you need any help or there's trouble, or —"

"Yes, mom, I got this," Jane said loudly before her mother could ramble. "I'll see you later, okay? Love you."

Jane was the last to enter the car, sliding into the spot next to Evie who was already in deep conversation with Celia. Jay was back at the driver's seat, and Squirmy was at the passenger's seat this time around. Meanwhile, Squeaky was seated in between Carlos and Meredith, and Dizzy on the latter's other side.

"Is this your real hair color?"

Meredith turned to her right to find Dizzy staring up at her with big eyes, looking genuinely curious.

"Who, me?" Meredith replied dumbly.

"Yes, you, silly," Dizzy giggled. "I'm Dizzy Tremaine, by the way."

"Oh," Meredith chuckled, slightly abashed. She extended a hand out, which Dizzy took and shook happily. "Meredith of DunBroch. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You weren't this nice to me when we first met," Carlos observed, folding his arms over his chest. Meredith elbowed him, making him cough.

"I'm trying to make a good impression here," she huffed, causing Carlos to chuckle. "In my defense, I was much more... narrow-minded before. I've changed since then."

"Uh, Carlos, I know she's your girlfriend and all, but I was talking to her first," Dizzy emphasized, shooing the boy away. Carlos raised his hands up in defense, while Dizzy once again faced Meredith expectantly. "Well?"

"Oh, right. Yeah, this is my natural hair color."

"I love it! What do you think about changing it up a bit, though? Nothing too extreme, but I have an idea!"

Meredith was vaguely reminded of that time when Mal had offered to do a bunch of their schoolmates' hair, back when she and the other original VKs started going to Auradon Prep. It was a little sketchy given that she had used magic, which is why Meredith wasn't interested back then. But she had heard from Mal and Evie that this girl was a talented stylist, so she couldn't help but be tempted.

"What do you have in mind?"

"I'm sure strawberry blonde would suit you perfectly!" Dizzy gushed.

"What exactly is that?" Meredith said in confusion.

"I guess you could say it's technically still in the red shade, but lighter and with a tinge of pink — right now, yours is like a really vibrant copper. I can tell you just had a fresh haircut, too, so this would be a subtle change to match that, but it'll make such a statement at the same time."

Meredith had to admit that she wanted to see for herself how that would look like. She had never dyed her hair before because red was a difficult color to work with in the first place, but what better time than now to try it? Besides, she couldn't say no to Dizzy and all her enthusiasm, either.

"Okay," she agreed, which Dizzy responded to by jumping excitedly in her seat. "Why not?"

♚ ♚ ♚

The following day was bright and sunny, and the weather was breezy — just perfect for a fresh start. Although the Hades incident was still fresh in everyone's memories, and Mal and Ben had a lot of work to do regarding that, the new VKs at least got to settle in and were ready to start their new lives in Auradon.

Staying true to her promise of helping the original VKs with handling the kids, Meredith had gone straight to Evie's new home first thing that morning. She greeted Evie, who welcomed her inside happily, and then made her way out to the patio where Jane and Celia were already busy doing something. Meredith walked over to them with a curious expression on her face, wondering what they were up to.

"Oh, Meredith!" Jane noticed her first. "Come over here!"

"Hey," Meredith beamed at the two of them. "What are you doing?"

"Celia's going to tell me my fortune!"

"Really?"

"Mhmm," Celia said with a mischievous smile. "My predictions are always correct."

"Well, let's see it, then," Meredith urged. Celia flashed her deck of cards. Jane seemed to be taking this very seriously, pondering for a long time on what card she should pick.

"This one? Actually, no, I... uh, this one!" Jane finally decided, snatching one out from the deck with the image of a tall man. She handed it to Celia who covered her eyes.

"Don't show me," the girl said dramatically. She closed her other hand over the card, and after a couple of seconds, opened her eyes and stared at Jane. "You're going to meet a tall, handsome, stranger.

"Ooo," Meredith teased, nudging Jane. "I wonder who it'll be?"

"Yeah, who is it?" Jane asked eagerly. In response, Celia merely stuck out her hand, signaling that she'd need another payment for a second reading. "But I already paid you."

"Her services aren't free," Meredith said, which Celia smirked at.

"You got that right," Celia pointed out. "I like you."

The two girls giggled together at that while Jane fumbled for her wallet to get more money, giving in to the temptation of getting another fortune-telling session from Celia. At the sound of their laughter, Carlos, who was on the other end of the lawn perked up. His eyes landed on Meredith, who seemed like she was having a good time with Jane and Celia. He smiled fondly at the sight, and he would've kept staring at her if not for Jay, who had previously been practicing some acrobatic skills, stepping right in front of him.

"You're making googly eyes at her," Jay said with a hint of humor. It didn't help that the Smee twins, who were seated on either side of Carlos, nodded in agreement.

"And I can sense a change in your heart rate!" Dude added from where he was sitting on the grass. Carlos's face grew warm at all of their teasing.

"I can't help it, alright?" he said defensively. At that very moment, Meredith also looked up and spotted Carlos there. She grinned and waved at him from afar, which Carlos returned with that same dopey smile that his friends had just been teasing him about.

Meanwhile, Meredith was planning on crossing the lawn to talk to Carlos and the others. But just before she could even step foot on the grass, someone came skipping out the door and calling her name.

"Meredith, you're here!" It was Dizzy, clad in a cute, patterned dress and looking even happier than she did yesterday. "Are you ready for your makeover?"

"Oh, we're doing that today?" said Meredith in surprise.

"Well, if not today, then when? Now, come on!" Dizzy grabbed her wrist and began pulling her back inside the house. Meredith stumbled along, not expecting the younger girl to be so strong and enthusiastic. She supposed she had no choice but to go with the flow and have her hair dyed that day.

Carlos watched in amusement as that happened, and he had to force himself to look away before he ended up making "googly eyes" again.

"Hey, guys," he began. "Do you have any ideas on what gift I can give Meredith?" He already talked to Jay about this countless times, and actually ordered a couple of things impulsively, but maybe the Smee twins and Dude had something else up their sleeves.

"Is it her birthday?" Squeaky said in a small voice.

"Well, no."

"Valentine's?" Squirmy piped up.

"Uh, not that, either."

"Then what's the gift for?" they asked innocently.

"Oh, no real reason, actually," Carlos chuckled shyly. "It's just... we've been together for a while now, and I just want to show how much I appreciate her."

"Just get her some treats!" Dude chimed in.

"Sorry, Dude, but she's not a dog. I think it'll take more than treats for something like this," Carlos patted his head.

"Fine, then, don't accept my suggestions," Dude said, running off to who knows where.

"Anything else?" Carlos asked the three boys remaining. "I'm lost!"

"You really love her, don't you?" Jay teased.

"W-what?" Carlos spluttered, turning red. "I... well, I guess — no, yeah, but not like —"

"I was joking, man, relax," Jay reassured when he saw how flustered his best friend was getting. "Just make her something. I know Meredith, too. She's a little indifferent and looks like she's got everything planned out already, but she actually wants something made specially for her, by you."

"Wow," Carlos said, impressed. "That was very... perceptive of you."

Finally, Carlos actually had something concrete in mind to do after Jay's surprisingly helpful words. He already placed a bunch of items in his cart during his panicked online shopping spree the other day, but now, he knew exactly which one of them to purchase and how to make it more personal and meaningful for Meredith.

"What are you gonna do without me?" Jay said smugly, sitting down on the small space left on the bench. Carlos's gaze then moved onto the tourney stick Jay was holding, which he used earlier when he was practicing some moves. Now that his previous issue was more or less solved, he couldn't help but let his thoughts drift to another problem: the fact that his best friend was leaving and going to college very soon.

"Hey, are you uh, are you really set on Sherwood Forest University?" Carlos asked. "Because, you know, it's really far away and all they have is trees, right?"

"Well, yeah, but the Arrows have won the tourney for the last three years, you know? All I care about is the game," Jay confessed.

"You talk tough, but you're gonna miss us — mostly me," Carlos said jokingly. Admittedly, though, he was just projecting his own feelings. He was truly going to miss his friends. Evie and Mal would be staying in Auradon, but they would be busy with their own careers and responsibilities. And then there was Jay, who was really going to move away from the city for at least four years.

"Oh, mostly me," Jay mocked him.

"Yeah, mostly me!" Carlos insisted with a chuckle. "Who else are you gonna miss?"

"Get outta here!" Jay slapped him on the arm as they laughed heartily. But then, the laughter died down, and there was an awkward pause. Eventually, Jay murmured, "Yeah, you're probably right."

"There it is," said Carlos triumphantly, the two of them falling into yet another round of chuckles.

"Come on, let's teach these boys some tourney basics, yeah?" Jay suddenly suggested, not wanting the atmosphere to turn sentimental.

"Yeah, let's do it," Carlos agreed, pushing himself up to his feet. "Come on, boys."

Before he could follow Jay, the Smee twins latched onto Carlos's arms, their grips so tight that it felt like their whole lives depended on it.

"Ow," Carlos complained.

"Hey, no holding — first rule," Jay told them before walking off. The Smee twins didn't listen, though, still holding onto Carlos stubbornly.

Carlos gave in with a heavy sigh, seeing no way out of this. He basically carried them with one arm each, struggling with every step he took.

"Come on, no holding, remember?" he tried. "How are you guys so strong?"

As expected, both Squeaky and Squirmy didn't budge one bit. Too focused on dragging them along and bearing their weight, Carlos couldn't do anything as Jay made fun of him and documented his struggles, his laughter ringing throughout the air. Carlos let him be, secretly glad that he could at least spent a little more time with his best friend.

A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry for yet another overdue update ahhh I've got a lot going on so it's been hard to squeeze this in :( I hope y'all are still enjoying this book though!! And once again, thank you all for reading and supporting me <3