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  ALSO BY MELISSA DE LA CRUZ

  DESCENDANTS

  The Isle of the Lost

  THE BLUE BLOODS SERIES

  Blue Bloods

  Masquerade

  Revelations

  The Van Alen Legacy

  Keys to the Repository

  Misguided Angel

  Bloody Valentine

  Lost in Time

  Gates of Paradise

  The Ring and the Crown

  Copyright © 2016 by Disney Enterprises, Inc.

  Cover design by Marci Senders

  Cover art by James Madsen

  Hand lettering by Russ Gray

  All rights reserved. Published by Disney • Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information address Disney • Hyperion, 125 West End Avenue, New York, New York 10023.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Control Number: 2016932666

  ISBN 978-1-4847-7629-2

  Visit www.DisneyBooks.com

  and www.DisneyDescendants.com

  Contents

  Title Page

  Also by Melissa de la Cruz

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Disney’s Descendants

  The “Good” Life

  Chapter 1: Tale as Old as Time

  Chapter 2: Fighting Knights

  Chapter 3: Scorch in the Stone

  Chapter 4: Never Read the Comments

  Chapter 5: Tangled Web

  Chapter 6: Maleficent Dearest

  Chapter 7: Friends of the Round Table

  Chapter 8: X Marks the What?

  Chapter 9: Plans Within Plans

  Chapter 10: Energy = Magic Squared?

  Chapter 11: A Wish Is a Dream Your Heart Makes

  Chapter 12: Castlecoming Queens

  Chapter 13: Ticket to Ride

  Chapter 14: My Boyfriend’s Back

  Anti-Heroes

  Chapter 15: Isle Sweet Isle

  Chapter 16: Gothic Style

  Chapter 17: Terrible Two

  Chapter 18: Pirate’s Booty

  Chapter 19: The Mists of Auradon

  Chapter 20: Bargain Bin

  Chapter 21: Frenemies

  Chapter 22: Needle in a Haystack

  Chapter 23: Down the Rabbit Hole

  Chapter 24: Warm Welcome?

  Chapter 25: One More Fairy Tale

  Chapter 26: Anti-What?

  Chapter 27: Anti-Heroes’ Secret

  Chapter 28: The Sorcerer’s Apprentices

  Chapter 29: Double Trouble

  Chapter 30: Seeds of Temptation

  Chapter 31: The Rescuers

  Chapter 32: Unfair Fight

  Chapter 33: Serpent’s Scales

  Chapter 34: Underwater Epiphany

  The Four Talismans

  Chapter 35: Underground Lair

  Chapter 36: Fruit of Venom

  Chapter 37: Sand Snake

  Chapter 38: Golden Cobra

  Chapter 39: Metropolitan Labyrinth

  Chapter 40: The Ring of Envy

  Chapter 41: Dragon’s Nest

  Chapter 42: Dragon’s Egg

  Chapter 43: Which Witch?

  Chapter 44: Wizards’ Duel

  Chapter 45: Happily Ever After, for Now at Least

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  For Mattie,

  my hero

  And the

  C.H. Class of 2025,

  Go Vikings!

  “I’ve got the most

  brilliant idea!”

  —Prince Ben,

  The Isle of

  the Lost

  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 presen
ted 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.

  Mal gave a dismissive wave. “Everyone’s just glad my mom didn’t turn them all into dragon toast.” She nodded toward the guarded, double-locked doors at the end of the room that led to Maleficent’s new prison. “Not that I blame them.” Joking helped assuage some lingering guilt about her mother’s behavior; not all transfer students had to deal with things like having their parents try to destroy everyone at their new school.

  Where was the new student manual for that?

  “All thanks to you,” Ben said with a serious look on his face. “We didn’t stand a chance otherwise.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll figure out how you can all pay me back later,” Mal said airily. She couldn’t help but smile. “Although another rousing vocal performance in front of the entire school where you happen to mention your ridiculous love for me might just do the trick.”

  Ben smiled broadly. “Done! There’s a tourney game this weekend for Castlecoming. I’ll practice my dance moves.”

  “I can’t wait.” Mal laughed, tucking a strand of her bright purple locks behind her ear.

  “Sure you won’t be too embarrassed to be my date at the dance after?” he asked, beginning to hum the catchy melody.

  “Yeah, I’ll probably have to hide my face behind one of Mulan’s masks,” she said, then the floor underneath their feet suddenly began to vibrate and the whole room began to shake. Mal grabbed her books before they fell to the floor, and Ben gripped the edge of the table, trying to keep it steady.

  “Another earthquake,” Mal said. “That’s the third one this week!” Out of habit, she looked over her shoulder again at the door to Maleficent’s prison. Until recently, Mal had only felt the ground rumble like that when a great big dragon stomped around during the Coronation attack, so Mal couldn’t help but associate earthquakes with her mother.

  “Heard it’s happening all over, not just Auradon City,” said Ben with a frown. “But it’s a natural phenomenon, don’t worry. Tectonic plates rumbling underneath the ocean and all that.”

  “Well, I wish they’d stay still,” said Mal. “They make me queasy.”

  “At least they go away quickly,” said Ben.

  Unlike some people, Mal thought, forcing herself not to look back at the prison door.

  There were no aftershocks to this one thankfully, and an hour later Mal had already forgotten about it. Ben began to put his books away in his satchel and she glanced at the clock. It wasn’t time for the dinner bell yet. “Leaving already?” she asked. “King duties?”

  “Yeah, I have to cut the ribbon at the opening of the new Sidekick Recreation Center. Don’t want them to feel overlooked.” Ben shrugged into his blue blazer with the embroidered royal beast-head crest on its right-hand pocket.

  “Don’t you mean kick the ribbon?” Mal teased, but Ben didn’t laugh back. She knew he took his royal responsibilities very seriously, and he meant to be a king for all of Auradon—sidekicks and villainy offspring included.

  “Text you later?” Ben tugged at a lock of her hair.

  “Not if I text you first,” she promised.

  Mal did a little more work, but stopped when she heard her phone buzz in her backpack. Thinking it was Ben, she picked it up, but it was a text from an unknown number instead. Strange. She clicked it open and read the message.

  Go back where you belong.

  Excuse me? she sent. What’s this all about? She looked around suspiciously, but the library was full of Auradon students diligently working on their Virtues and Values term papers on computer terminals or else absorbed in their Kindness and Decency reading. This week’s assignment was Snow White’s How to Keep a Happy Home for a Family of Seven (Dwarfs Optional).

  Mal looked back down at her phone, waiting to see what would happen next, a pit growing in her stomach. There was no reply for a long time, then the little wand at the bottom of her screen began to show sparks, which indicated that the recipient was typing a reply. Finally it appeared on her screen:

  You must return to the Isle of the Lost at once! Before the new moon rises!

  Who is this? she texted back, more irritated than scared.

  You know who I am.

  I’m M…

  There was no more. Just “M.” Who was M? Mal stared at the screen. Who demanded that she return to the Isle of the Lost? And why did she have to return before the new moon rose? And when would that be, anyway?

  Mal could think of a few M’s in her life, but there was only one M that mattered the most. The big one. Maleficent. Could her mother be communicating to her through text? She might be sitting in her lizard-size prison right now, but she was still the greatest evil fairy who had ever lived. Anything was possible, she supposed.

  Of course Maleficent would want Mal to go home. Her mother had only planned to escape the Isle of the Lost because its invisible barrier kept her from her magic. She despised Auradon and its pretty forests and enchanted rivers. If Maleficent had succeeded in her vengeful plot, the entire kingdom would be as gloomy, dark, and wretched as the Forbidden Fortress by now. In other words, darker than anything her friends at Auradon Prep could imagine….

  That was not something she could ever let happen.

  Mal read the mysterious text again, apprehension making her heart beat faster. She collected her things, determined to find her friends so they could help her figure out what was going on.

  Mal had a feeling that her sweet life in Auradon was about to turn rotten.

  Jay was used to dodging angry shopkeepers and furious bazaar merchants as they watched their precious wares disappear into the hands of the fast-moving thief in the red beanie and purple-and-yellow vest, so playing tourney was much easier than that. At least he didn’t have to dodge rotten tomatoes and threats of dismemberment as he zigzagged his way to the goal, trying to
keep away from the red-and-white-striped painted “kill zone” in the middle of the field. It was a perfect afternoon for practice, the sky a cloudless blue, the trees bordering the field lush and green. The stands were empty save for a few students hanging out with friends or doing homework, and the cheerleaders in their yellow T-shirts and blue skirts were having their own practice by the sidelines.

  When the ground beneath him began to shake, Jay ignored it and ran left, caught the puck in his stick, and ducked past the loaded cannons, tumbling as he whipped the puck right into the net. He raised his arms in victory, skidding to a stop on his knees just as the rumbling vibrations ceased. A slow, satisfied smile grew on his face. His long dark hair was plastered to his forehead and neck, and sweat drenched his uniform. Earthquakes didn’t scare him; nothing could stop him from running as fast as he could toward a goal.

  All his life, he’d had to use his fleet feet and lightning-quick reflexes to nab items to fill the shelves of his father’s junk shop, at the expense of others. But here at Auradon Prep, his talents got him a coveted varsity spot on the tourney team, and Jay was getting so used to riding his teammates’ shoulders at the end of every victory that the novelty had almost worn off. Aladdin’s son, Aziz, even teased that Jay should lay off the pumpkin juice a little or else he’d get too heavy to carry.

  The cheerleaders practicing on the sidelines screamed Jay’s name in appreciation. He jumped up and doffed his helmet to them, causing the girls to giggle and shake their pom-poms even faster.

  Jay was walking over to the sidelines to grab his water from his gym bag when he noticed a crumpled piece of notebook paper among his things. What was this? He opened it up. In purple ink, someone had scrawled, Run back to where you came from! Return to the Isle of the Lost by moon’s end!

  What was that all about? And what about the moon? Huh?

  “Hey, man, good play,” said Chad Charming. The golden-haired, pampered son of Cinderella usually wasn’t very nice to Jay, but maybe there was more to this handsome prince than a headful of carefully coiffed hair. Chad held out his hand. Jay took it, albeit suspiciously.