Return to the Isle of the Lost (15 page)

C
had Charming wasn’t particularly happy to have been woken up at dawn on a Sunday, and was still complaining about it as Ben drove them down the Auradon Coast Highway that morning in the royal convertible. The handsome prince groused that he had been up late from Castlecoming festivities the night before, and what was so important that they had to leave this early?

“Really, old man, why on earth are we going to Charmington? Mom’s going to freak when we get there; you know she likes to have everything sparkling clean for a royal visit,” said Chad.

“I told you, I have an early meeting with the grand duke about the upcoming ball,” said Ben, who wasn’t about to tell Chad about the dragon menace just yet. “And you know the fastest way to get there.”

“Fine,” said Chad, leaning back in the passenger seat. “Keep on this lane and then exit at Belle’s Harbor, then we can take the back roads until you get to the Stately Chateau.”

Ben did as directed, glad that Charmington Cove wasn’t stuck in the past like Camelot, and he could actually drive his own car without the burden of the full royal entourage. If he could have taken his motorbike, he would have, but the sporty coupe was fun to drive too. Plus, he’d been meaning to talk to Chad about something.

“Hey, Chad,” he said. “What’s up between you and Jay lately? Have you been giving him a hard time?”

Chad snorted. “Those villain kids are getting big heads, don’t you think? Strutting around Auradon like they own it. Someone’s got to put them in their place.”

“Their place is in Auradon now,” said Ben angrily. “Look, man, they’re just trying to fit in. Give it a rest, will you?”

Chad squirmed in his seat but he nodded and said he would.

Ben relaxed his hold on the steering wheel, satisfied. As pompous a prince as Chad was, he wasn’t a complete jester.

They arrived at Charming Castle by noon. Chad hollered for his parents, but was told they were out running errands for the upcoming ball and wouldn’t be back till late.

While Chad went up to his room to get some more sleep, Ben met with the grand duke, who was in charge while the royals were away. The duke was polishing his monocle in his receiving room when Ben was announced. He bowed to Ben and offered him a seat on one of the tufted red velvet chairs across the large inlaid table.

“You got my message last night?” Ben asked. “I’m sorry for the rush.”

“Oh yes, Sire,” said the grand duke, his mustache quivering. “As you requested, I sent messengers throughout our kingdom to see if anyone else had encountered such a creature. My men are very thorough, and they understand this is just as high a priority as Operation Glass Slipper. According to your note, we are looking for any sign of a purple dragon, am I correct?” He cupped his mouth and whispered, “Like Maleficent?”

“Unconfirmed for now,” said Ben. “As far as we know, she remains safely locked away in the library.”

The grand duke looked relieved. “When she was turned into a lizard, she did seem quite harmless—cute even, if I can say so, Sire. I hear lizards make good pets.”

Ben was noncommittal and the grand duke remembered the pressing business he had to communicate to Ben. He pulled up a few scrolls. “I received this just before you arrived. Other than the report that Merlin received of a creature spotted off Charmington Cove, it appears there hasn’t been any fire damage or livestock stolen, nothing of that sort. However, there was another incident this morning down by Cinderellasburg.”

“What kind of incident?”

“A creature was spotted in a chicken coop early this morning,” said the grand duke. “However, the farmer reports that the animal did not resemble a dragon. More like a purple snake.”

Snake. Dragon. Lizard. It was all part of the reptilian family, Ben thought. “It could still be related to what I’m looking for; let’s check it out.”

Ben left Chad back at the castle, snoring away, and the grand duke and a team of his footmen accompanied him to the pretty little village that Cinderella had once called home. The farmer and his wife were expecting them, standing nervously in front of their homestead. They bowed and curtsied when they saw Ben.

“I understand you saw a strange-looking snake on your farm this morning?” he asked.

“Yes, Sire, it came out of nowhere and took three eggs from the coop!” the farmer’s wife told them. “Largest snake I’ve ever seen, for sure, and very purple. I screamed my head off.”

“Great fangs too,” said the farmer, shivering. “We’re lucky it didn’t take a sheep…or a cow.”

“Would it be possible to see the coop?” Ben asked.

“Of course, Sire,” the farmer said. “This way.” The couple led them around the house to where a tidy-looking chicken coop stood in the middle of their backyard. Several fat fluffy chickens were pecking seeds on the ground.

The farmer opened the door to the coop and Ben knelt down to look inside. It smelled like straw and feathers, and something not entirely pleasant.

“What are you looking for?” the grand duke asked, lifting his monocle. “I can send the footmen to search.”

“No need,” said Ben as he had spotted something glittering in the nearest nest. He picked it up with his fingertips, careful not to crush it since it was very delicate. “I think I’ve found what I was looking for.”

“What is it?” asked the grand duke.

Ben stood up and held it up to the light. It was a glittering scale. Purple. The exact shade of the dragon he had seen in Camelot. He put it carefully in his handkerchief and slid it into his pocket.

“Thank you, you’ve been very helpful,” he told the couple. “My staff will send you a dozen eggs for your trouble.”

“Thank you kindly, Sire,” said the farmer, tipping his hat.

“Yes, very good, very good indeed, thank you for your quick response,” said the grand duke. “And do let us know if you see it again.”

Ben turned to leave, but the farmer’s wife stopped him. “Please, Sire, there’s a rumor going around that Maleficent isn’t as securely imprisoned as we think. That she’s been attacking Auradon again. Might she have something to do with the snake I saw today?”

“Where did you hear that?” he asked, worried.

“My cousin lives in Camelot Heights, said there’s a purple dragon over in their parts causing havoc and making a mess of everything.”

“Ah.”

“Is it Maleficent?”

In answer, Ben pulled up his phone and showed her the feed from the dozens of security cameras installed around the room that showed the tiny lizard napping on a rock. “What do you think?”

The farmer’s wife didn’t look convinced. “She could be getting out and then coming back in. Crafty, she is.”

Ben had to agree with that. “Let us know if you see the snake again, but please try not to worry. I’ve sent several troops of imperial soldiers to Charmington to keep it safe.”

Ben returned to the castle to pick up Chad and took his leave of the grand duke, who promised to alert him should anything else purple turn up in the area. Chad was in the kitchen petting a brown puppy from Bruno’s latest litter.

“All set, old man?” he asked.

Ben nodded. “Let’s go. I’ll drop you off back at school on my way.”

“Where are you going?” Chad asked as he climbed back into the convertible. “Maybe I’ll join you. I’ve got nothing better to do today but homework. Now that Evie won’t do mine anymore.”

“Neverland.”

Chad changed his tune. “Right. I’ll stay at Auradon Prep, if you don’t mind. One of the Lost Boys is still mad that that I stole his bear costume last time they played us. He brought it up again at the game yesterday, but it wasn’t my fault he never got it back!” The ragtag group was still very fond of their bear, fox, rabbit, and raccoon pelts.

“But it was
your
fault that someone found it and turned it into a rug,” reminded Ben.

Chad sighed. “Yeah, you might have a point there.”

J
ay was hiding by the hedges that lined the road to Evil Queen’s castle when he heard the voices of his friends whispering—or was that bickering?—in the darkness. “Hey,” he said, stepping out from behind the bushes. “About time you guys got here.” It was 11:54, only five minutes before the meeting.

“I broke a heel,” said Evie, who was limping a little. “Sorry. I’m still wearing dance slippers, not hiking boots. I forgot how much walking we have to do on the island. But I’m okay.”

“What were you guys arguing about?” he asked.

“Evie doesn’t trust Maddy,” said Mal, and filled him in on what they’d learned so far from their brief time on the island, mostly nothing good. Evil Queen, Cruella de Vil, and Jafar were still nowhere to be found.

“Mad Maddy? I wouldn’t trust her either; she’s pretty shady,” said Jay. “This is the Isle of the Lost, remember? Isle of the Lost, Land of Lies.”

“Find anything at the Junk Shop?”

“Not a thing,” said Jay, who told them about how suspicious and odd Big Murph had acted, and how Anthony Tremaine had called them turncoats.

“They all hate us,” said Evie, who sounded sad about that fact.

“Yep, we’re totally despised,” agreed Carlos.

“They don’t
all
hate us. Some of them are really scared of me, it turns out,” said Mal.

“Everyone was always scared of you, Mal. That hasn’t changed; come on,” argued Carlos.

“Okay, fine,” admitted Mal. “But now they’re even more scared!” She told them about how her room had been left pristine while the rest of the castle was ransacked. “Apparently it’s because they all think I’ll turn them into lizards.”

Jay guffawed. “You
should
turn the Isle of the Lost into the Isle of the Lizards!”

“Not funny,” said Mal, even though her lips were quirking a little. “And we still have to find out what this Anti-Heroes club is planning.”

“Planning their revenge on us, most likely,” said Carlos.

“Do we have to go to this meeting?” asked Evie.

“Come on, let’s not chicken out now. Maybe they just don’t like sandwiches? Heroes? Get it?” joked Jay.

The rest of them groaned. Mal ignored his wisecracks. “Well, from how Maddy was acting, it sounds like Jafar, Cruella, and Evil Queen are definitely part of it.”

“Looked to me like Maddy is part of it too,” said Evie.

“Oh, definitely,” said Carlos.

“Shhhh!” warned Jay. “Someone’s coming.”

The four of them melted back into the shadows, peeking out from the hedges to watch as a succession of shadowy figures made their way toward the cellar door. “Recognize anybody?” whispered Evie.

“No,” said Jay, who had the sharpest eyesight. “It’s too far and too dark to see.”

“What do we do now?” asked Carlos, trying to push the branches aside so they didn’t tickle his nose.

“We follow them in, isn’t that obvious?” Mal said, mimicking the tone he’d used on them earlier.

“No bickering!” said Evie. “And quiet, or they’ll hear us!”

A few more dark silhouettes made their way down the road toward the castle, disappearing down the stone steps. After a large wave of people, the crowd trickled down to a few stragglers. “Okay, let’s go,” said Jay. “We’ll sneak in after those guys.” He scanned the area. “I think they’re the last ones.”

The four of them crept up from behind, and when the clouds drifted from the moon, they saw that the guys they were following were Harry and Jace. Carlos shrugged his shoulders when his friends turned to him questioningly. Although Jay thought that if the sons of Cruella’s most loyal minions were part of this club, then it probably meant Cruella was one of its leaders.

Harry and Jace disappeared down through the cellar door, which was left open. They waited for a beat then followed right behind. The castle dungeons were cold and damp, and as they made their way deeper and deeper into the darkness, through winding corridors and musty hallways, it grew colder and darker still.

Jay was in the lead, and when he suddenly stopped short, the rest of the group piled behind him, stumbling and pushing into each other. “Oof!” “Ouch!” “Watch it!”

“Where’d they go?” Carlos whispered. “Why’d you stop?”

“I think they heard us,” Jay whispered back. “Everyone, be quiet!” He strained to hear and squinted in the pitch-black gloom. A few moments later, he picked up the sound of Harry’s heavier footsteps. “All right, come on,” he whispered, motioning to his friends to follow him.

“Where are they going?” Mal asked Evie. “This is your castle, right? What’s down here?”

“No idea,” said Evie. “Until today I didn’t even know we had a basement.”

The darkness abated somewhat and they saw Harry and Jace disappear into a room on the left side of the hallway. Jay nodded and the four of them entered right after. Like the rest of the dungeon, the room was completely dark, but Jay thought he could sense people around them. What was going on? He couldn’t help but feel that their sneaky entrance hadn’t been so successful after all.

“Back up, back up, I have a bad feeling about this,” he said, trying to lead them the opposite way.

Too late!

The door immediately shut with a bang behind them.

“Dalmatians,” cursed Carlos. “It’s a trap!” It was just as they feared, the stuff of their nightmares.

From the darkness came a menacing voice. “Operation Welcome Home is a go.”