XJ → Harry Hook [1]✔

Wings and Talons

Mal half-expected the car to be gone when they had arrived at the spot where Ben had parked. They were on the Isle, and even though it was in the middle of the night, a white cloth over a big suspicious looking figure that most obviously had nice wheels was bound to attract a few thieves. However, she was pleasantly surprised.

"Oh thank god the car's still here." Mal said, breathing out a sign of relief.

Ben shot her a look, "You can't drive away a car without car keys, Mal."

"But you can when you hot-wire it," Evie said as she pulled off the cloth and dropped it onto the ground. "And everybody on the Isle knows how to hot-wire an engine like the back of their hand."

Mal rolled her eyes. "Hello? We have to get going!" She barked as she got into the seat in the middle of the car. "XJ could be trying to kill everybody back at school for all we know!"

Ben nodded in agreement, "Okay, you're right. Lonnie, could you get in the back seat with Jay?"

Lonnie nodded timidly. She had been silent the entire time walking back to the car and nobody knew what to say to comfort her. Jane had tried to make friendly conversation with her, but her attempts were futile.

Everybody piled into the car and Ben started the engine. Soon, they were racing down the magic bridge back to Auradon. Nobody was speaking, everyone tense at what they would find when they arrived back at Auradon Prep.

Ben was driving like a maniac. The scenery was whizzing past and they felt like they were on a roller coaster, but none of them cared; the sooner they got to the school, the faster they could shut down whatever XJ was doing before it was too late.

It's funny how time pasts slowly when you want it to do the opposite, and how it goes in the blink of an eye when you want it to last forever.

Harry wanted the days when he was with XJ to last longer, but he messed up and he knew that he would never be able to fix it. He had said that he would try, but he had lied, because there was no point in trying. He wouldn't have to go through the rest of his life with a broken heart, as dumb as it sounded, if he had never gotten together with her.

In fact, he wished that he had never met XJ.

---

They finally arrived at the courtyard of the front of the school and the tires screeched at the sudden stop. Everyone jumped out with no hesitation, but they were shocked.

"The school's..." Mal trailed off, her eyes wide.

"...fine." Ben finished, a stunned look on his face as well.

"I thought we had agreed that XJ was going to do something terrible." Evie said, blinking.

"I think we were wrong." Carlos stated.

"Wait, something's wrong," Lonnie said, speaking for the first time. She squinted her eyes as she stepped forward, trying to figure out what was strange about the school. Her eyes suddenly widened in realization. "The street lights are off."

"What?" Harry asked, frowning as he folded his arms across his arms.

"The school usually has lights on at all times. In the day, this means that there's someone in the school and they're on at night so people who have lost their way can see in the dark, also so they don't walk straight into a wall." Jane explained. "Lonnie's right. This only happens when there's an important event and nobody's around to help anyway."

"An important event?" Ben asked, confused. "What...wait," He suddenly stopped in the middle of his sentence. He turned to everybody else. "I think I know what's wrong."