Escape from the Isle of the Lost Read online

  “Oh yeah?” Mal said, curling her lip. She wasn’t afraid of them, not now and not ever. “Not if I come for you first!”

  With that, she turned away from them and began running down the pier. If Uma wanted a fight, Mal would bring it to her. She ran to the very end of the dock, determined to fight and vanquish Uma once and for all.

  She leaped gracefully, throwing herself up in the air.

  Then Mal heard a different voice shriek her name, but it was too late to turn around.

  fter trying to warn Mal and her friends, Celia decided to go back down the mine shaft to see what Uma and Hades were up to. Holding on to her hat, Celia ran to the basement tunnels until she reached the one that led to the mine shaft and Hades’s cave.

  She grabbed a torch and hopped onto an old rusty bicycle that was on the train tracks. She began pedaling furiously. Surely Mal would figure out some way to thwart Uma’s plans after Celia had warned her about the danger. Celia hadn’t realized just how much she wanted to go to Auradon Prep until the prospect had been put in jeopardy. She had to get off the Isle and make a name for herself somewhere it would matter. And she wanted to see the world beyond the barrier! There were so many places she had heard of but had never been.…

  One day she would fly to Never Land and meet the pixies and the fairies of the hollow. Or she would tour the castles in the Auroria Priory and see how they compared to the ones in Cinderellasburg. But best of all she would travel to the bayou, to dance with an alligator who played trumpet in a jazz band. After hearing her dad’s stories all those years, she was desperate to get a glimpse of it herself.

  The VK program was her one shot to get everything she’d ever dreamed of. There was no future on the Isle of the Lost. Her cards always said so.

  Her cards…She felt around for them in her pockets and realized she’d dropped them somewhere in the tunnel. She got off the bicycle and began to search, sweeping her flashlight to and fro, but they were nowhere to be found. She’d have to retrace her steps.

  But just then the flashlight sputtered out—she had forgotten to replace the battery! Celia shook it in annoyance. To her surprise, she realized that without the beam, she could see light peeking in through tiny little cracks in the cave walls. She’d never noticed them before, but then, the flashlight had always worked before.

  “Where are my cards?” she asked herself, and, almost like magic, her cards flew to her hand.

  Almost like magic? she wondered. Or magic itself?

  There was something going on down here. She could feel it in the darkness, in the pinpoints of light, in the way her cards hummed in her hands.

  Hades. It had to be Hades. He still had some kind of power down here, magic that was getting in through the cracks. She could feel it vibrating in the air. Not enough magic to escape from the Isle of the Lost, but enough to do some kind of harm, she was sure. Even a little magic can cause a lot of problems. That’s what her dad always said, with that evil grin of his.

  Celia put a hand to the nearest crack in the wall. It was so deep that the light coming through was almost blinding. Little dust motes filled the air, and Celia felt her cards tremble in her hands. Magic. Celia could barely comprehend it, but it had to be true. How else had Uma been able to get in and out of Hades’s lair without being seen?

  If there was magic on the Isle of the Lost, what kind of mischief was afoot?

  hey had been looking for Mal for what felt like hours, following her boot tracks, and now Evie was beginning to really worry. They had questioned every person they’d bumped into on the street—goons, thugs, witches, and goblins alike—but no one had seen Mal. They had walked the length of the island, from Hook’s Bay to Troll Town to Doom Cove, using the Ricketty Bridge to get across the coastline. But there was no sign of her. And the last boot print they found had been several blocks away.

  It was as if Mal had suddenly disappeared. “Guys, I think we need to call the palace and let Ben know that Mal’s missing,” said Evie. “We can’t keep it from him. What if something terrible has happened to her?” If something terrible really had happened, Evie would never forgive herself.

  “We can’t. At least not yet. We’d have to go back to Auradon to tell him, which means leaving Mal here,” said Jay. “Remember? There’s no signal on the Isle. It’s completely cut off.”

  Carlos was about to say something when Jay interrupted him. “Hey, look, the Slop Shop’s open,” he said, as they walked past the storefront. “Come on, let’s ask if she stopped in here.”

  They walked into the goblin-run establishment. A few of Maleficent’s minions had retired from their lives as henchmen to run a coffee shop. “Well, look who’s back,” said the head goblin barista as he polished some cups. “What are you guys doing here?”

  “We’re looking for Mal,” said Carlos. “Have you seen her?”

  “I thought you were here for that Auradon business,” said the goblin cagily.

  “Well, yes, but—” began Jay, but the goblin cut him off.

  “Trying to get more kids to apply to Auradon Prep, huh?” he said. “What about goblins?” He wiped the counter with a dirty rag, making the surface even dirtier.

  “Um…” said Carlos. “No, not yet, sorry.” Jay picked up a plastic-wrapped scone that was hard as a rock. Evie gave him a look, and he set it back down.

  “Our dwarf cousins said they’d put in a good word for us with the king. Guess they forgot about us,” complained the goblin, shaking his green head.

  “Okay, focus,” said Evie with a strained smile. “Have you guys seen Mal? Did she go this way?”

  “Yeah, she was here. Not in the shop, but I think a couple of demons mentioned that they saw her outside. Pain! Panic!” he called. “Come over here.”

  Two short demons ambled over. One was slurping a Sloppacino with a green straw. The other one was wearing what looked like slightly scorched plastic sandals with Hercules’s face on them. “What’s up?” Pain asked.

  “Didn’t you say you saw Mal?” asked the goblin.

  “Yeah. She was talking to herself.”

  “What?” Carlos demanded.

  “I know, I thought it was weird too! It was like she was talking to someone who wasn’t there,” said Panic. “Totally freaky.”

  “She looked like she was in a dream state, like sleepwalking,” said Pain. “The way they do in the River Styx. Like they’re dead—you know, when they float around all dead-eyed. That’s what she looked like.”

  Evie looked alarmed. “Did you wake her?”

  Pain and Panic shook their heads vigorously and hopped up and down. “Of course not! Are you kidding? Wake Mal? She’d curse us!” they protested. “Who would do such a stupid thing? Not us!”

  “You guys, Mal really isn’t like that anymore. Trust me,” said Evie. “She wouldn’t harm a fly…or a demon.”

  “Well, we weren’t going to take any chances,” said Pain stubbornly. Panic nodded vigorously.

  “Which way was she going?” asked Carlos.

  Panic pointed east. “Kind of down thataway, toward the harbor.”

  • • •

  They walked toward the direction the demons pointed, down Mean Street, past the bazaar and Frollo’s house, but the streets were empty. Jay was starting to think that the demons had deliberately sent them the wrong way.

  “Mal doesn’t sleepwalk,” said Evie. “She’s been my roommate for years. I’ve never seen her do that.”

  “They said she looked dead-eyed. You think maybe she was under some kind of spell?” mused Carlos.

  “But if there’s no magic on the Isle of the Lost, how could that be?” asked Evie.

  “Maybe someone figured out how to get past the barrier,” said Carlos, as Jay suddenly stopped and knelt to examine something on the path.

  “Look,” he said, pointing past an upturned barrel to a mark on the dirt road. It was a perfect print of a boot with a serpent coiled around the heel mark. The same prints they had been following all eveni
ng. There was another one not too far away, and then the tracks picked up again. The three of them hurried to follow.

  They followed the tracks all the way to Jailor’s Pier. “The demons weren’t lying after all. She was headed to the harbor,” said Jay. He glanced toward the end of the dock and then broke out into a flat-out run.

  “What’s going on?” asked Evie.

  “There’s MAL!” said Carlos, pointing to the edge of the dock.

  ay froze in place for a moment, then bolted toward Mal, with Evie and Carlos close behind him. Mal was facing toward them, but it seemed like she was arguing with someone. Jay thought he heard her say, “Not if I come for you first.” But what did that mean? Who was she speaking to?

  “MAL! What are you doing?” screamed Evie.

  “MAL!” Jay yelled. He had to wake her up. She was definitely sleeping or dreaming, or something weird was going on. That wasn’t the Mal they knew. He was blaming himself for anything that might have happened; he was supposed to be here to protect his friends. Sure, they could all take care of themselves, but he was the one with the swords-and-shields expertise; he was supposed to try to keep everyone safe. Even Mal, who had never needed any help. But she sure did now.

  Because it was like Mal didn’t—couldn’t—hear them. She turned on her heel and sprinted toward the end of the pier.

  “MAL!” The three of them were screaming now. “MAL, STOP!”

  But it was too late. Mal threw herself off the pier and plummeted all the way down into the sea.

  Jay dived into the water right after her, spinning around in a complete circle, searching for any sign of his friend. The sea was a brilliant shade of blue, which was rare for Isle water. He had expected it to be almost completely murky, but it was crystal clear. He should have been able to spy her the moment he jumped in.

  But Mal was nowhere to be found. It was as if she had jumped into the ocean and out of this world. Suddenly, a great swarm of fish surrounded him, dark as the night, obscuring his vision.

  He could hardly see the hand he held out in front of his face. There were thousands of the little fish, each one twisting and turning, going this way and that, making it impossible to see anything at all. Jay got the feeling someone was trying to stop him from finding Mal. Most likely the same person who had compelled her to jump off the pier.

  Jay held his breath and swam as deep as he could go, but the fish followed, surrounding him like fog, hindering his ability to see. Useless, he thought. Someone was determined to keep him from finding Mal. Jay swam back to shore, gasping for air when he broke the surface.

  Evie and Carlos looked down at Jay from the edge of the pier, panic on their faces. “Where is she?” asked Evie.

  “Couldn’t find her. Just needed to take a breath,” he said. “I’ll go back down and search again.”

  “Hold on,” said Evie. “I’ve been thinking of what Carlos said. About how Mal might be under a spell.”

  “Yeah, it’s like she was enchanted,” said Carlos.

  “A spell?” asked Jay. “Here? On the Isle? Impossible.”

  “I know, but when has the impossible ever been an obstacle for magic?” said Evie. “Someone must have found a way around the barrier and is using their magic against Mal.”

  “If there’s magic here, it’s definitely working against us too,” said Jay. “A school of fish was blocking my vision down there. That’s probably not a coincidence.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think you’ll be able to find her if you dive back down,” said Evie.

  “So what are we going to do about it?” asked Jay, climbing the makeshift rope ladder at the end of the pier.

  “Already on it,” said Evie, as Carlos reached out a hand and helped pull Jay back onto the pier. He shook the water from his long hair and wrung it from his jacket.

  “What’s the plan?” Jay asked.

  “We’re going home,” said Evie. “To my castle. If there’s magic on the Isle, I think I know how to fight it.”

  “Um, your castle is also the home of Evil Queen. I’ve heard she doesn’t like guests,” said Carlos.

  “Where did you hear that?” teased Jay.

  “From Evie,” said Carlos.

  Evie brushed their jokes aside as they walked down the pier. “Oh, don’t worry about Mom. It’s game night, when she plays Apples to Apples with her friends. Actually, I think they call it Rotten Apples to Rotten Apples. Or maybe it’s Poisoned Apples to Poisoned Apples? I can’t remember.”

  “Charming,” said Carlos. “So the castle’s empty?” he asked, looking greatly relieved.

  “Like a schoolroom after last bell,” said Evie. “We’ll be all alone, but we better hurry. Mom doesn’t stay out late. She likes her beauty sleep.”

  al heard her friends calling her name, but it was too late. She had already jumped. She fell straight down into the sea, so deep that a wave of bubbles washed up all around her. She opened her eyes and gasped, fearing she would drown, but no water entered her throat. The person who had led her down there wanted her alive.

  Uma.

  Mal should have known to take Celia’s warning more seriously. She should have known that Uma would go to any length to get revenge. Mal didn’t know how she had done it, but Uma had managed to get back to the Isle of the Lost, and she’d somehow accessed enough magic to lure Mal away from her friends and trap her under the sea. Mal couldn’t believe Uma would stoop so low as to use Dizzy, Gil, and Harry to fool her, though. Actually, it was Uma. Uma might not have gotten the crown she’d always wanted, but she was the queen of reaching new lows.

  Mal tried to swim to the surface, but she discovered she had landed in the middle of a school of fish. They swam around her like a floating wall, keeping her from getting her bearings. When they disappeared she was alone, underwater, and in the dark.

  She kept falling deeper and deeper, until she was at the bottom of the sea, standing on what appeared to be the wreck of some old pirate ship.

  Mal whirled around, and, sure enough, her old nemesis was standing in front of her.

  Uma threw her head back and cackled wildly. “There you are! Exactly where I want you!”

  She was standing across from Mal, but she wasn’t really there. It was as if Mal were looking into a mirror, except instead of seeing herself, she saw Uma reflected back at her.

  Mal pursed her lips and crossed her arms. She wasn’t about to play these games. “Uma, next time you want to talk to me, maybe you can just send a text? You do know they have those waterproof phones now, so even fish folk like you can have civilized conversations with the rest of us.”

  “This isn’t a joke,” said Uma.

  Mal smirked at her old-friend-turned-enemy. “Oh, Uma, maybe you’ve just lost your sense of humor. Defeat has that effect on people.” Mal’s eyes glittered dragon green. She could sense the magic all around, but how was it possible so close to the Isle of the Lost? What had Uma done? And what did she want?

  “She who laughs last, laughs longest,” vowed Uma, as the pirate ship buckled underneath Mal’s feet.

  Uma’s laughing face appeared in every bubble that rushed up around her, mocking Mal.

  The deck cracked in two, a few boards tearing loose, and Mal flew back before they smacked into her. “Nice try,” she said. “But you didn’t really think it would be that easy, did you?”

  Uma seethed. “Let’s try this again, then, shall we?” she said through gritted teeth. With a whirlwind of force, she transformed into her octopus self. Her tentacle arms reached out for Mal, wrapping around her as if they were searching for something. One tentacle darted toward Mal’s pocket.

  What’s she looking for? What does she want? Mal wondered. Then she realized: She’s looking for the key. The remote that would open the barrier and call up the bridge to Auradon. Jay usually carried it as he sometimes drove the limo, but he didn’t this time, because Mal wanted to keep it close to her for safekeeping. It was part of the new security protocols.

  So that
’s what Uma was after. Uma has always wanted the same thing—freedom from their island prison. Freedom to do as she pleased, to rampage and rage and spread her evil and her malice across the innocent kingdoms of Auradon.

  Well, Uma would have to think again. It wasn’t happening—not now, not ever. Especially not if Mal had anything to do with it.

  “Really, Uma?” she said. “You’re never going to beat me. What makes you think you’re going to win this time?”

  “I wouldn’t be so cocky, Mal,” Uma replied. “And let’s evaluate for just a second. Who’s the one with the upper hand here?” She grinned and waved a tentacle in Mal’s face.

  With a sudden burst of energy, Mal twisted away from Uma’s grasp. She felt her eyes flash bright green again, and then she transformed into a great and towering dragon. Her arms became wings, and her fingers sprouted mighty talons. Her teeth turned to fangs, scales replaced her skin, and her long purple hair became a row of fierce spikes down her back.

  Uma sneered and drew herself up again, her tentacles reaching out for Mal, but Mal flew back, using her wings to push herself through the water and narrowly avoiding being caught in Uma’s grasp.

  Uma spun, transformed back into her human form, and lurched away from Mal. Mal swam, chasing Uma, but Uma kept disappearing, changing from a squid to an octopus to a girl, darting into coral reefs and then transforming back into a humongous sea creature. She’s trying to lead me somewhere, thought Mal. But where? And why?

  Then Uma was back on the deck of the pirate ship, appearing suddenly in her human form and wielding a sword. Mal transformed back as well and landed on the ship. There on the ground was a discarded sword, and Mal lunged for it and grasped it in her hands. She faced Uma, her blade raised.

  “So, we’re doing this?” asked Mal.

  “Oh, it’s on,” vowed Uma.

  They battled up and down the deck, steel against steel.

  “Just give me the key,” said Uma. “And I’ll let you go.”