Return to the Isle of the Lost (21 page)

The other fairies shifted in their seats and looked uneasy as the slide on the screen showed a group of dwarfs mugging for the camera, their wheelbarrows filled with sparkly diamond rocks. “Look over here,” she said, flying back to the screen and flitting over the cavern floor.

Ben leaned forward and saw that the ground was littered with the same purple scales.

“The dwarfs closed the mining operation soon after. They said they felt the tunnel was haunted even though they never saw anything, but they sensed a strange presence inside it. One of them—I think it was Doc’s nephew—noticed the purple scales and sent a few to the archive.”

“Faraway Cove’s pretty close to Charmington,” said Ben. “And Camelot is directly north of it as well. The dragon must have used these mining tunnels to disappear in and out of sight, which is why Arthur’s men could never catch it. I need to take a team into that mine.”

“The dwarfs sent a map, so you should be able to find the entrance easily enough,” said Faylinn. “I’ll have one copied for you.”

“Hold on, you still haven’t told me—could the scales be Maleficent’s?” he asked.

“I’m sorry to tell you it’s because we don’t know. As it turns out, we don’t have a sample from Maleficent. Prince Philip’s sword was wiped clean after their battle twenty years ago. But if you can send one from the lizard in your library, then we could tell you for certain.”

“Thanks. I’ll have my men send over a sample as soon as I can. This has been really helpful.” He shook Faylinn’s tiny hand with his thumb and forefinger and waved to the rest of the fairies.

“Ben, about this shapeshifting dragon…even if it isn’t Maleficent, it’s still incredibly dangerous. And if it is able to shift in form and size, that means it is capable of incredibly powerful magic. You must be prepared to fight it with similar enchantment. I know the rules of Auradon, so I don’t give this advice lightly,” she said, buzzing worriedly.

“I won’t go alone, don’t worry. I’ll tell Merlin to meet me at Faraway Cove as soon as possible. And he can bring his wand this time.” Ben smiled. “I know he’s been itching to use it.”

Faylinn nodded. “I can imagine.” Seeing the somber look on his face, she buzzed comfortingly by his shoulder. “Remember, when in doubt, think of happy thoughts and you’ll find your way.”

He smiled at the tiny fairy. The happiest thought he could think of was Mal and her friends returning safe from the Isle of the Lost. He hoped it would come true.

“U
gh, the leather is going to shrink,” said Mal, wringing her jacket and trying to dry her hair. She had already vomited up a gallon of water, and was still shaking from the near drowning, not to mention the near-crocodile-dinner experience. But Mal being Mal, of course she didn’t want to show how shaken she was, so she focused on mourning her ruined jacket instead. “What a bunch of dock rats we are,” she said with a laugh. Carlos was similarly soaked to the bone, and Evie was shoeless, her jacket torn. Her bird’s-nest hair could rival any of Cruella’s fright wigs.

“Speak for yourselves,” said Jay, who was dry and without a scratch.

“Don’t worry about the jacket, I can make you another one,” said Evie, running a brush through her hair and trying to make herself look presentable.

“I shouldn’t have run off like that,” said Mal. “I’m sorry. I thought Maddy was my friend.”

Evie patted Mal on the shoulder; her hand made a wet, squelching sound and she withdrew it in alarm. “Oh, uh, it’s okay, we all make mistakes.”

“I didn’t think she would betray me like that,” said Mal. “I really thought she was part of the Anti-Heroes club.”

Carlos was sitting on the ground. He’d removed his shoes and socks in an effort to dry them. He pulled seaweed from his hair. “What do you think Maddy meant when she said, ‘All of Auradon will burn, just like Camelot’?”

Evie shrugged. “Isn’t that what villains do? Threaten?”

“It sounded a little more specific than that, don’t you think?” said Carlos. “How did she know about the fires in Camelot, then?”

“Hang on, she said something about Camelot?” asked Mal.

“Yeah, and didn’t you say that’s where that purple dragon is?” said Carlos.

Mal nodded. “Yeah.”

“Maybe Ben put it on the news,” said Evie.

“Maybe,” said Mal. She shook out her jacket. “Listen, I need to tell you guys something, but we should get cleaned up first, I can’t think with all this wet stuff on me.” She shook her hair and droplets rained all around. “The Junk Shop isn’t far from here, so Jay and Carlos can get cleaned up over there. Evie and I will go back to the Bargain Castle across the street. Meet us there after you get changed.”

The four of them walked back into town, Mal squelching with every footstep, Evie walking in stockings, Carlos simply barefoot and holding his wet sneakers, and Jay practically skipping. The boys crossed over to Pity Lane and headed for Jafar’s while Mal unlocked the door to the Bargain Castle.

Mal turned to Evie with a wan smile. “By the way, thanks for coming after me.”

“You’re welcome. It’s what friends do,” said Evie.

Mal nodded. “Then thanks for being my friend. My real friend.”

Later, when the boys arrived, Carlos was dressed in a purple-and-yellow sweater and shorts that were too big for him. Evie was wearing one of Mal’s old T-shirts, holey jeans, and a pair of Mal’s old boots. The four friends sprawled on the carpet and chairs in Mal’s room. Carlos was even able to get a fire going in the fireplace. They hadn’t slept all night and it was already close to sunrise.

“Mal, what did you want to tell us earlier?” said Carlos, poking the fire with a stick. He placed his sneakers by the grate, hoping they would dry soon.

“The crocs in the bay,” said Mal. “Aren’t they usually by Hook’s Inlet? Why were they all around Doom Cove all of a sudden?”

“Change of scenery?” snorted Jay.

“No, it was like they were guarding something. Something important,” she said, warming her hands by the fire. “I think I know what it is.”

“The entrance to the Catacombs,” said Carlos promptly.

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Mal asked, looking a bit miffed that a little bit of her thunder had been stolen.

“Lucky guess,” said Carlos with a smile. “Seriously, what else could it be?”

“Anyway, when I was underwater, I thought I saw a cave down there. The crocodiles were swimming out of it. It looked like it was their nest.”

“Hmm,” said Jay. “If the crocodiles were coming out, there must be another entrance from the topside. Crocodiles prefer to make their homes on land, not underwater. Also, if Jafar, Evil Queen, and Cruella did go down there, I doubt they swam. For one, none of them can.”

“Perfect,” said Carlos. “Because I sure wasn’t looking forward to getting wet again. My sneakers just dried.”

“We should tell the Anti-Heroes group so they can help us find it,” said Evie. “Yen Sid told everyone to be back at the basement by sunrise, so we’ll go and tell them then.”

“Good idea,” said Jay.

“It’s funny,” said Mal. “If we’re right about this, and that crocodile cave down there is the entrance to the Catacombs, Maddy thought she was getting rid of me, but instead she did us a favor.”

“She helped us instead of harming us,” said Carlos, putting his dry socks back on.

“It’s like Fairy Godmother always says,” said Evie, hugging a purple pillow to her chest.

“Don’t let the stepsisters get you down?” said Mal.

“Goodness works in mysterious ways. Even in the deepest dark, you’ll find a light to shine your way through.”

“All this has

happened before,

and it will all

happen again.”

—Peter Pan

T
he anti-heroes were a hardworking bunch, and by noon had combed the entire beachhead, but hadn’t been able to find anything. Mal was nearly ready to give up on the search for the tunnel’s entrance. After all, she had basically been drowning when she saw the underwater entrance—maybe she’d hallucinated it.

But then, at the very edge of Doom Cove, in a rocky outcropping by the water’s edge, Carlos, along with Big Murph, had found a small hole in the ground, about the size of a rabbit burrow.

“That can’t be it. How would we fit in there?” Evie asked doubtfully. “And if it’s not big enough for us, it’s
definitely
not big enough for a crocodile.”

“We dig?” said Jay, who began to shovel away dirt with his hands. “This is the only thing we’ve seen in hours. We’ve got to try it.” Carlos knelt down to help, and together they were able to make the hole big enough to squeeze through.

Mal knew they didn’t need to worry about more crocodiles bothering them now—earlier, she’d sent Hadie to throw a bucket of rotten meat in the water on the other side of the island to draw them away. But as she looked down at the small, dark tunnel ahead, Mal wondered if they had just traded one problem for another. Still, Jay was right. They had to give it a shot.

“Thanks, you guys,” Mal called to the assembled team. “I think we’ve found the entrance. We’re going in!”

The sweaty group of anti-heroes cheered.

“Ladies first?” said Jay.

Mal nodded and crawled through the hole. She heard Evie struggling behind, and then the boys. After a few feet, the tunnel widened and they were able to walk upright.

“This better be it,” Mal said. “I
really
don’t want to be wandering around down here for no reason.”

But as they continued down the tunnel, Mal realized she actually felt perfectly at home. The cave was dark and wet and filled with furry things that skittered at the edge of her vision. Why do caves get such a bad rap anyway? What’s wrong with a few spiderwebs? she wondered just as she stepped into a giant floor-to-ceiling cobweb. She struggled to push through, only to get more caught up in its lacy white stickiness.

“Don’t spiders have anything else to do?” she asked aloud.

Carlos shook his head and helped pull the cobwebs away. They continued on, but stopped again when Evie shrieked at a tiny rodent that had made the mistake of crawling halfway up her pant leg.

“Just tell it to get out of the way,” Mal suggested. “Didn’t Evil Queen ever teach you how to deal with mice?”