#descenso

It’s easy enough to do. The classroom is arranged in rows and rows of chairs, and you’re in the back where nobody can see you. The students to your left and right are halfway between awake and comatose anyway, so even if they noticed you heading out, they would attribute it to a dream and not say a word.

At last, you’re out in the hallway, closing the door slowly in front of you. Some of the rooms here are old, but luckily the hinges are well oiled and the oaken door shuts with nary a squeak or groan of the timbers. You let out a quiet sigh of relief. You’ll have about half an hour or so before you have to get back, but that’s plenty of time to enjoy yourself.

Or so you think, until you turn around and find yourself face to face with another student. You let out a surprised squeak, not anticipating the fact that there would be anyone here but you. The boy himself looks just as stunned as you are, his brown eyes opening wide as he leans away involuntarily.

A second later, you realize you recognize the boy. His shock of white hair is already a dead giveaway, the dark roots just starting to frame his face. A red, white, and black jacket slung casually around his shoulders only cements what you’d already started to believe. This is Carlos de Vil, one of the few villain kids in the school, and you’ve nearly run straight into him.

The two of you stand there for a moment, neither of you saying a word, until you remember yourself and extend a hand in greeting. If all else fails, you might as well go along with the typical norms, right? “I’m Y/N, I don’t think we’ve really met before.”

Carlos stares at you for a second before taking your hand. His fingers are warm, his smile crooked at the edges. “I’m Carlos, but I think you already knew that.”

You shrug. “I wanted to be nice.”

His hesitant smile becomes a grin. “I can see that. Out of curiosity, why are you out of class? I didn’t take you for the type to skip school.”

For some reason, this makes you straighten your shoulders. “You don’t know that about me.”

Carlos smirks. “I know enough. You’re Y/N L/N, rumored to be one of the sweetest kids here. Everyone says you’re the only one who might actually have the favor of Queen Leah, which is practically impossible. My bad for thinking it’s strange that you’re skipping class.”

You roll your eyes, but can’t hold back a smile. “Maybe I was going to study on my own time. Not everything I do is bad.”

Carlos takes a half step forward, evidently curious. “What are you studying?” He says the last word in finger quotes, as if he still doesn’t believe you.

You gesture around the halls. “Exploring. The grounds are way bigger than anyone thinks, and I know for a fact that there has to be something here, something good. Maybe some secret passages or something.”

Carlos’ eyes come alight. “Secret passages?”

You grin. “I think so. It seems like there should be some, right?”

Carlos nods slowly. “I think you might need an explorer partner. Who knows, maybe some of those secret passages are dangerous.”

You raise an eyebrow, unable to put a stopper on your smile. “Dangerous?”

Carlos inclines his head gravely, faking a serious expression. “Extremely dangerous. I’d better come with you.”

You laugh. “I think that’s alright with me. It’s not just because you’re trying to skip class too, right?”

Carlos shakes his head, starting to walk off down the hallway with you. “Of course not. I have an extremely good reason for exploring.” Judging by the way his eyes linger on you when he says it, you think you might know what that reason is, and you’re not entirely sure that you mind it.

You decide to start your journey in some of the quieter parts of the grounds, where you’re least likely to encounter teachers out prowling for renegade students. The two of you wander around statues and fountains, intricate mosaics detailing scenes from fairy tales and stepping stones through beds of flowers.

At last, Carlos tugs on your arm, pointing at something in the distance. “Look at that. We have to check it out.”

You follow his gaze and feel your eyes widen. Carlos is staring at what appears to be a long line of hedges, although there’s a gap in the middle. In fact, you can see rows of tall hedges beyond it, as if-

“Is that a maze?” You ask, but even before the words come out you’re certain of it.

Carlos rubs his hands together excitedly. “It has to be. I didn’t know the school had one of these.”

You walk towards the maze entrance, eyeing the tall hedges. “Neither did I. Do you have any idea what’s inside?”

Carlos shrugs. “Your guess is as good as mine.” He casts you a teasing grin. “You sure you’re not scared to find out?”

You give him a look, striding past him into the maze. “Absolutely not.”

You can hear his laugh behind you, and a smile of your own rises to your face. Maybe this little jaunt is shaping up to be better than you’d thought.

The maze is larger than you’d originally thought, and seems to go on forever. It has the strange combination of seeming both lost in memory and well maintained, something that shouldn’t make sense and yet somehow does. The hedges are carefully preserved, not a single leaf or twig out of place, yet you have the feeling that no one has been here in a very long time.

A silver-gray fog starts to descend around the corridors of the maze as you and Carlos travel further inside, and the chill of it makes you press closer to his side. You tell yourself that you’re only sticking by him because of the temperature, although you can’t deny that a rush of delicious excitement spreads through you when he takes your hand, also with the same seeming untroubled calm.

You have no idea how long you’ve been walking, but you’re certain that you’ll have to come across the middle of the maze at some point. You can sense that you’re getting closer, as if there’s something there pulling you towards the center with invisible hands. At last, after you’re about to doubt that the maze is even solvable, you turn a corner and find yourself in the most beautiful garden you’ve ever seen in your life.

There is a particular beauty in something that’s been lost to time, and it hangs about this place. Flowering vines sweep across arbors and trellises, with pink and purple blooms delicately turning their heads in every direction. Emerald green leaves poke out from beneath daffodils as bright as the sun, and spill out of their flowerbeds to parade across the ground. Wildflowers as vibrant as gemstones cover the ground in colorful waves, giving the impression that a dozen treasure chests have upended themselves upon the ground.

You must have gasped at the sight of it, because Carlos is somehow able to tear his gaze away from the gardens and stare at you instead, as if you’re his reward for solving the maze instead of the scene around you.

He smiles now, and if he laughs it doesn’t feel mocking. “Have you never seen a garden before?”

You reach out to poke him in the shoulder. “Not one like this. Come on, you can’t tell me that this isn’t gorgeous.”

Carlos smiles. “It is,” he says, although you have the feeling that he isn’t entirely talking about the flora.

The two of you wander around the center of the maze for a while, bending underneath branches laden with blossoms and stepping carefully around ferns that seem to curl up as if to touch the sun itself. You’ve never seen a place quite like this before, and you don’t know that you ever will.

Some part of you wants to stay here forever, making quiet jokes with Carlos as if you’ve known each other your entire life, but the progress of the sun over the sky says otherwise and soon you find yourself bidding a reluctant farewell to the place and heading away. You’re still supposed to be in class, and it would be nice to get there before you get caught.

The return trip through the maze is much faster, as if the sprawling corridors of hedges are content to let you leave now that you’ve passed their test. When you finally step back out of the maze and back into the grounds of Auradon Prep, you’re surprised to see that it’s barely been twenty minutes or so. You could have sworn that you’d spent hours in there, but scarcely any time has gone by.

Yet it’s still just enough time to steal the rest of your afternoon away from you, and as you draw closer to the doors of the school, you realize that you don’t entirely want to say goodbye to Carlos and turn away as if nothing had ever happened. Despite the short amount of time you’ve spent with him, you feel as close to Carlos as any of your other friends, if not closer.

Carlos appears to be thinking the same thing, because he pauses with you a few paces away from the door to your classroom, a wistful look on his face. “This was fun, you know. We should do it again soon.”

You glance over at him, a playful look on your face. “How soon is soon?”

Carlos shrugs, although the gesture seems a little too casual. “Depends on how soon you think soon should be, I don’t mind. Soon can be very soon.”

You laugh, and a moment later Carlos laughs too. “I think that sounds good to me. Same time tomorrow, maybe?”

Carlos’ eyes brighten, reminding you of the sun shining over that garden of yours. “I’d love that.”

It really is time for you to go, but neither of you seem fully willing to let the other person turn around and leave. Carlos taps his fingers nervously against his leg, like he’s trying to talk himself into doing something, then seems to give up and leans forward to kiss you on the cheek, darting away just as quickly.

His cheeks turn a soft red, and the color deepens when you kiss him back. Carlos opens his mouth as if to say something, but can’t quite muster up the words to describe how he’s feeling. “I-you-”

You grin. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” you repeat, and start to head back to class.

You can hear Carlos calling after you as you go. “Tomorrow sounds great!”

Although the thought of returning to the same stifling classroom had seemed impossible before, it’s somehow bearable now. Maybe it’s because you know you only have a few minutes left, or maybe it’s because you know what awaits you the next time you slide into your seat. Regardless, the image of a certain white-haired boy refuses to leave your mind, and you have a feeling that he’s thinking the exact same thing as you. You’ll be able to see Carlos soon, and you can’t wait until then. Who knows what you’ll discover next?