Once upon a time, after all the happily-ever-afters, when all the fairy tales were supposed to have ended, came a new beginning when the teenage children of the most evil villains in the land were sent from the remote Isle of the Lost to the majestic kingdom of Auradon.

As you surely have heard, Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos, the descendants of Maleficent, Mistress of Darkness; Evil Queen, infamous for her sleep-inducing apples; Jafar, grand vizier of avarice; and Cruella de Vil, harridan extraordinaire, were sent far from home to learn how to be good.

After childhoods spent learning to be just the opposite, the villains, being villains, had other intentions.

Mal and her friends were tasked by their evil parents to fetch Fairy Godmother’s wand and use its power to return the villains to their former glory and rain vengeance on their enemies.

However, after arriving in Auradon, these young villains were soon flummoxed by the friendliness of the natives and the abundance of sugary treats in this new land. They found themselves struggling between carrying out their sinister mission and enjoying their new, deliciously cookie-filled life.

Were they falling in love with Auradon while plotting its demise? Mal was certainly falling for someone—the handsome prince of her dreams, Prince Ben, whom she’d spelled into falling in love with her, only to realize she didn’t need magic to capture his heart. Ben was as smitten as she was, and there was more to him than his brilliant smile, for he also had the heart of a king.

When the time came for Mal and her friends to make their move on Fairy Godmother’s wand during Prince Ben’s Coronation, it was not Mal who grabbed it and caused the chaos that followed, but Fairy Godmother’s own daughter, Jane. As the invisible barrier over the Isle of the Lost shattered, magic returned to the villains in full force, allowing Maleficent to escape. The evil fairy turned into a fire-breathing dragon, terrorizing all of Auradon, determined to claim the wand as her own.

But Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay stood together, and it was Mal who won the battle and wielded the wand. In the end, her power for good was greater than her mother’s talent for evil.

Mal and her friends are back at their studies at Auradon Prep…and Maleficent is now a tiny lizard, reduced to the size of her heart.

And this is where our story begins….

“Like all

dreams, well,

I’m afraid this

can’t last forever.”

—Fairy Godmother,

Cinderella

If Mal had to pick what she liked most about Auradon, it would be hard to choose just one thing. She could probably spend a whole day cataloging everything that didn’t stink about her new school. For one, it wasn’t housed in a smelly, damp dungeon like Dragon Hall back in the Isle. For another, it was a surprise to find she actually enjoyed learning about a variety of subjects instead of just plotting evil schemes. She was particularly fond of her art classes, where she happily painted canvases full of mysterious foggy landscapes and gloomy dark castles instead of the peaceful sunsets and still lifes of fruit favored by the rest of the class. Why anyone would want to paint something as boring as a bowl of fruit, Mal would never understand.

She was sitting at a long table in the great room in Auradon Prep’s library, a cheerful, bright space with high ceilings and banners with the school colors hanging from the ceiling. Mal was trying to do homework for a change, but was too distracted by the people-watching as students kept filing in and out between classes. Plus, her Goodness Appreciation essay was putting her to sleep. So she looked out the floor-to-ceiling library windows instead, at the manicured lawns where she played croquet (well, made fun of people playing croquet might be more accurate) and the patch of shady oak trees where she and her friends often ate lunch.

Yeah, life in Auradon was good; better than an unexpected makeover before midnight, or an endless feast presented by dancing plates and cutlery; better even, than being invited to a baby princess’s christening.

“Happy?” a voice asked, snapping her out of her uncharacteristically dreamy reverie.

She blushed and smiled across the table at the handsome boy who smiled back at her from behind his swoop of golden-brown hair. “What makes you say that?” she asked.

“You look…positively delighted,” Ben said, tapping his pencil on her nose to show he was teasing.

She raised an eyebrow. “I was just thinking what a scream it would be to glue a fake nose on Pin,” she said, meaning Pinocchio’s son, who was a nervous first-year.

Ben chuckled, his eyes shining. He was a good sport.

Okay, so if Mal had to pick what she liked most about Auradon, she would probably have to admit it was the boy sitting across from her. Ben, son of Belle and Beast, was not only the kindest person she had ever met, but was easy on the eyes (um, make that very easy) and smart too. More importantly, while Mal was the polar opposite of Auradon’s many perfect princesses, he liked her anyway. This made her feel as warm and cozy as her favorite beat-up patchwork leather jacket, which was much more her speed than ruffles and sequins. While she’d rocked a ball gown for his Coronation, she was glad she didn’t have to wear one all the time. Talk about itchy.

Ben smiled and went back to doing his homework, and Mal tried to do the same, except she kept getting interrupted by friends who came by to say hello when they saw her in the library.

“Hey, Mal! Love your outfit today!” said Lonnie with a big smile. Ever since she’d learned the truth of the villain kids’ deprived childhoods on the Isle of the Lost, Mulan’s daughter was especially sweet.

“Mal!” cried Jane. “Will you stop by later and help me with my Fair Is Fair homework? I can’t get the equation right.” Jane was often nervous about doing things correctly, especially after the disaster she’d caused at Ben’s Coronation. It was a lot to live up to having Fairy Godmother as your mother, especially when she was also the headmistress of your school.

“Thanks, and sure!” said Mal. “Anytime!”

“Look who’s so popular,” teased Ben, when the girls were out of earshot.