Return to the Isle of the Lost (8 page)

“I don’t think that’s what they’re for, actually,” said Carlos.

“No, it’s perfect,” said Jay. “We all get the flu. No one will want to be near us, then. Everyone will leave us alone.”

“Evie, can you set up our accounts so that the posts show up automatically? We won’t be able to update them ourselves from the Isle,” Mal pointed out.

“Of course,” said Evie. “I feel like I’ve been training my whole life for this.” She batted her eyelashes jokingly before looking serious again. “So we’re taking off on Saturday night for sure?”

“For sure,” said Carlos, who had turned a bit green. “What are you smiling about?” he snapped at Jay, who was leaning back, arms behind his head, looking like he hadn’t a care in the world. “Aren’t you scared?”

“Totally, but I sort of expected something like this would happen,” Jay replied.

“What do you mean you expected something like this to happen?” demanded Carlos, who was practically pulling out his black-and-white hair at the roots at the thought of returning home so soon.

“I just did,” Jay said, and stopped to consider why he felt that way. He had grown up on the Isle of the Lost, scrounged for food in the garbage, survived goblin-made coffee, and his favorite snack was still stale popcorn. Even after living in Auradon, he would always be a bit skeptical of happily-ever-after. And honestly, he’d been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since the Coronation.

“I don’t know, because it can’t be this easy, right? We win one battle against Maleficent and it’s over?” he told them. “No way; haven’t we learned by now that there are always monsters hiding under beds, or in the closet, or, um, escaping from island prisons? Monsters who are related to us even.”

“You think our parents are monsters?” Evie asked, her voice faint.

“Well, we all know mine certainly is,” said Mal. “Fire-breathing dragon and everything.”

They all laughed. But Jay was still thinking of what he’d said about their parents.
Was
Jafar a monster? Jafar might take things to the extreme, but he was also just Jay’s slightly overweight, pajama-wearing dad, who dreamt of gold and riches beyond his wildest imagination. A man driven by greed who thought only of himself wasn’t much of a monster on an island without magic. But what would happen if Jafar was able to get his magic back? Like Maleficent, Jafar had a powerful magical staff, a cobra that could hypnotize and manipulate those who came under its thrall. Who knew what he would be capable of doing then? But Jay already knew that answer. It’s what had landed his father in the Isle of the Lost in the first place.

So no, Jay wasn’t surprised that their parents were up to something new, and while he was frightened, he also knew that it didn’t matter if all of them were scared. If it was true that this Anti-Heroes movement was growing on the Isle of the Lost, and that their errant parents—Jafar, Evil Queen, and Cruella de Vil—were behind it, he and his friends were the only ones who could stop them. “As Mal said herself, Maleficent is definitely a monster, but we took care of Maleficent, didn’t we?” he said. “So we can handle this, whatever it is.”

“But what if Maleficent is part of it too?” said Evie worriedly. “What if she’s not completely harmless like we think she is?”

“Maleficent almost roasted us all alive,” Carlos reminded them.

“And who knows what my mom, Jafar, and Cruella have in store for us,” said Evie. “I’m not sure I really want to find out.”

“Come on, guys. We can handle anything. We can handle Maleficent,” Jay said staunchly. “Right, Mal?” He elbowed their fearless leader.

Mal elbowed Jay back, almost a shove. She was clearly just as terrified as the rest of them, but she had decided, like Jay, to keep it under control. “Yes, of course, Jay’s right. We can handle this. We
will
handle this.” She took a deep breath and stuck out her hand, motioning to the others to do the same. One by one they each put a hand on top of hers.

“For Auradon,” she said.

“For Auradon,” said Jay, slapping his hand down.

“For Auradon,” whispered Evie, adding hers gently.

They all turned to Carlos, waiting.

“For Auradon,” he said finally, and very reluctantly put his hand on top.

It was done. They were afraid of their parents, but they would move forward regardless. Mal always pulled them together, and Jay could feel the relief that now filled the room.

J
ay’s plan for getting them transportation back to the island was simple. They would leave Auradon as they entered it, in the royal limousine, which also held the remote control that opened the invisible dome and let down the connecting bridge with a click of a button.

But if the four villain kids were going to leave Auradon Prep without being noticed, then they couldn’t leave looking like themselves; that much was clear. They didn’t have family or friends in the other kingdoms, so there was no reason for them to leave school before winter break. They would have to be creative. Thankfully, being creative was not a problem for Evie.

“Leave that to me,” she’d told the team the night before. “I’ve got this handled. If you get the wheels, Jay, I’ll make sure no one knows it’s us in the royal limousine.”

But for now, she still had time for regular life. After class, Evie headed to the grand ballroom, where tomorrow’s Castlecoming dance would be held, for the last planning meeting. The annual tourney game and dance was a traditional affair, celebrating school alumni returning to their old stomping grounds, when good ol’ princes and princesses regaled everyone with tales of the pranks pulled back in their day—stealing the Auradon mascot, for instance, or the time they glued the classroom furniture to the ceiling, causing Fairy Godmother to exclaim something a little more colorful than “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!”

Evie said hello to the fellow members of the dance committee and the meeting began. Since the dance was so close, almost all the details had already been agreed upon. The menu had been approved, and Mr. and Mrs. Darling had volunteered to chaperone along with Roger and Anita Radcliffe. Lonnie was going to be the DJ, and would be bringing her own equipment. All that was left was to decide on a theme for the decorations.

“We could do an imperial banquet?” suggested Lonnie.

“How about a sultan’s feast?” asked Jordan. “We could tent the whole area!”

No one seemed to like any of those ideas, least of all Evie, who argued that since it was Castlecoming, the theme of the decorations should reflect the school colors—royal blue and gold.

“Yes, you have a point there,” said Audrey. “But don’t you think pale pink and baby blue are so much prettier?”

“It’s not a baby shower,” Evie mumbled under her breath.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” asked Audrey, pretending not to have heard.

“I agree with Evie,” said Allie. “But can we do something more psychedelic maybe? In Wonderland, we have the most amazing flowers of so many different hues.”

“Mmm,” said Evie, looking around at the lush, cream-colored carpet and exquisite Auradon Prep tapestries already hung on the ballroom’s walls. “Both sound lovely, but I do think blue and gold would be best. It fits the existing color scheme in the room.”

“If you say so.” Allie sighed. “I suppose that is traditional.”

“So we’ll go with a gold balloon banner? And blue velvet ribbons around all the columns?” said Evie, pen poised at the ready.

“Maybe we can have bunches of violets in gold vases?” said Allie. “Violets are actually blue.”

“Perfect!” She smiled at Allie.

“And we can trim the tables with gold leaf,” said Lonnie helpfully.

Audrey frowned. “If you guys really think that’s best.”

Evie smiled. She knew when she had won, and she could be gracious in victory. “Audrey, Lonnie, do you want to come over and try on your ball gowns?” she asked. “I’m pretty much done with them.”

If Mal was famous for helping with hair, Evie’s talents as a fashion designer and seamstress were starting to become legendary. A number of girls had asked if she would make dresses for them for the dance, so when Mal had said they would need to leave Auradon undercover, it had given Evie an idea.

“Ooh, I can’t wait!” said Audrey. “Did you put on the swan bustle like I asked?”

“It was difficult, but I did it,” said Evie with a smile.

“I can’t wait to see mine!” said Lonnie. “Is it red and gold like we talked about?”

“You’ll look like an empress,” Evie promised.

The girls followed her back to her room and Evie handed them their gowns. There was much oohing and aahing over the gorgeous dresses. Audrey’s gown featured pink and blue panels that changed color depending on how she twirled her skirt. “It’s like magic!” Audrey sighed, unable to keep her eyes off her reflection.

“I think Cinderella’s mice are going to be jealous!” said Lonnie, who looked stunning in a traditional imperial column with a pretty lotus print. “Mary’s definitely going to want to hire you when you graduate from here.”

“Thanks, guys,” said Evie with a smile.

After they’d changed back into their school clothes, Audrey wandered over to Evie’s vanity table, which was littered with numerous tiny glass pots filled with different colors. She stuck her finger in one. “What’s this?”

“Oh, just some batches of lip gloss I’ve been experimenting with in the lab. We always had to use expired cosmetics on the Isle of the Lost, so when I got here and discovered I could learn to make my own makeup, I was thrilled. I’ve even been able to enhance them with the right chemical compounds,” said Evie. “Look, here’s one that changes from pink to blue in the light.”

Audrey squealed. “Can I have it?”

“It’s yours,” said Evie.

Lonnie held up a clear gloss. “What does this do?”

“Glows in the dark,” said Evie. “I thought it would be fun when the lights go down during the dance.”

“Cool,” said Lonnie. They crowded around the vanity, picking up tubes and pots and trying every color. Lonnie held up a purple one. “And this?”

“Don’t you hate when your lip gloss disappears in the middle of the day? So I figured out how to make one that never fades,” said Evie.

Lonnie and Audrey nodded in agreement.

“Are you sure I can have this one?” asked Audrey, holding up her blue-pink pot.

“I made it for you, of course,” said Evie. “Which one do you want, Lonnie?”

“The glow-in-the-dark one, thanks. That way everyone can see me smiling up in the DJ booth,” said Lonnie.

“Perfect.”

The girls thanked Evie and left with their dresses. Mal walked in a few minutes later. “All set?” she asked.

In answer, Evie opened the closet door, which held two identical dresses to the ones she had made for Audrey and Lonnie. “Try yours on,” she said. “I want to see if it fits.”

Evie had stayed up way too late the night before, but she’d gotten them done. If they were going to leave Auradon, they would do so disguised as princesses. Lonnie and Audrey often left school to visit their home castles and kingdoms, and no one would question their use of the royal limousine. Jay and Carlos would be dressed as their chauffeur and bodyguard, respectively.

“How’s your mom, by the way?” asked Evie as she zipped Mal up into the replica of Audrey’s dress. “Did she tell you anything the other day?”

Mal shook her head. “Not unless she was communicating by sleeping. I really don’t see how it could be her, but who knows. We’ll just have to assume the worst.” She caught her reflection. Her purple hair framed her horrified face as the dress shimmered in waves of sparkly pink and blue. “Oh, my goblins, I look like such a princess! It’s so…pink…and blue!”

Evie laughed. “That’s the point! Though I have to say, these
really
aren’t your colors.”

Mal stuck her tongue out at Evie. “Any luck with the Magic Mirror?”

“None,” said Evie. “It works perfectly if I ask it to show me anything else. But if I ask to see my mom, Jafar, or Cruella, it’s just cloudy. It’s like they’ve disappeared or something.”

“Let me see,” said Mal. “Do you think there might be a crack in it?”

“It’s already cracked,” said Evie.

“Maybe I can try a spell or two.” Mal grabbed her spell book from the shelf, the one that Maleficent had passed down to her. “Magic Mirror at my command, heal thyself with my own hand!”

The mirror remained the same.

“Magic Mirror, do as I say, show us the villains on the Isle today!” said Mal.

Nothing changed. Evie shook her head. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the mirror at all. I’m starting to believe they don’t want to be found. They’re able to hide from it somehow.”

“But the only way to do that is with magic,” said Mal. “And there’s no magic on the Isle.”

“Or maybe the Magic Mirror is weakening,” said Evie thoughtfully. “Since we’re not encouraged to do magic here, I haven’t been using it as much.”

“What of it?”

“Well, what if magic is like a muscle: if you don’t use it, it atrophies or tries to find somewhere else to go. Energy has to transform, right? That’s what we learned in chemistry,” said Evie. “There’s no such thing as turning something into nothing. It just becomes something else, even if we don’t see it.”