“Hi, boys,” said a voice behind them. Everyone spun around to see Uma on the Auradon side of the bridge, looking fabulous in her teen-girl form. She wore fish scale leggings and a pair of aqua cowboy boots with gold crustacean accents. Her clothes were beaded with shells and sea glass. In her hand was the still-lit ember.
Harry Hook sprang to the other side of the bridge. He circled his friend, a wicked smile on his face. “Welcome back,” he said.
“Uma, you swam off and forgot all about us,” said Gil, sounding a little hurt.
“Planning her revenge, no doubt.” Mal stared at Uma.
“It’s not all about you,” said Uma. She’d felt bad about leaving her minions leaderless, but she’d been gone for good reason. “I was looking for a hole in the barrier, to let everyone out. And you know what I found, boys?” Uma threw her arms wide and gestured toward Auradon and the open sea. “It’s better out here than we thought. There’s this thing that looks like a furry rock, called a coconut. And fish so big you could dance on their backs,” said Uma. She pointed at Mal and her friends accusingly and snarled, “And they’ve been keeping it all for themselves.”
Mal didn’t have time to discuss all the ways poor little Shrimpy felt she’d been shorted in life. Audrey was gaining ground in Auradon while Mal stood there listening to the adventures of an octopus. “I need that ember to break a spell,” she told Uma.
“Cast by Audrey, Sleeping Beauty’s daughter,” added Carlos, trying to help.
Uma lapped up this delicious news. “Oooh, the good guy’s the bad guy. I might not give it back. See what happens.”
The pirate captain soaked in the moment of power. She had something Mal desired. Now she just needed to decide how best to use that advantage.
Mal pleaded with Uma. “It’s not the time for games,” she said. “People’s lives are in danger.”
Uma looked at Auradon, the city that was shunning her, and back at Mal, the girl who had caused the shunning. Why should Uma care what happened to them? Weren’t they the very same people who had booed her presence at Cotillion? Uma had made up her mind. “Guarantee me that every single villain kid who wants to get off the island can,” she said.
“I can’t do that,” countered Mal.
“Well, how about now?” threatened Uma. She dangled the still-lit ember over the bridge’s railing, determined to get what she wanted. Enough of this four-at-a-time application process; if Mal wanted the ember, every last villain kid was getting released from their Isle sentence.
Mal looked back and forth among the dangling ember, the girl she called Shrimpy, and Auradon City. She made a choice.
“Deal,” Mal said, knowing she couldn’t possibly keep that promise. “Deal,” she repeated.
Uma eyed Mal skeptically. She had no reason to believe her rival was telling the truth.
Evie jumped in. “Uma, her word is good.”
Mal flinched, pained by the knowledge that she’d lied to Evie as well.
Uma looked hard at Evie’s sincere expression and honest eyes, then opened her gold shell necklace, placed the ember within it, and sealed it away safely. “I’ll still keep this for the time being. ’Cuz if you think I trust you to save the world on your own, think again.” Uma smiled and looked toward Harry and Gil. “This is a job for pirates!” she exclaimed.
Harry and Gil rushed Uma, and together the wretched threesome hooted and roared in triumphant reunion.
Mal grimaced, appalled at the prospect of joining forces with a gang of double-crossing pirates. Jay leaned in and said what they both were thinking. “We can always go back to hating each other when it’s over.”
“Fine,” she said, standing with arms crossed.
Agreement reached, Jay went to Harry and Gil with a menacing stride. They had business to settle. “Where are our bikes?”
“Oh yeah,” said Gil. “We crashed them.” He smiled oafishly at the memory of it.
Harry pantomimed the bikes vrooming along, then meeting a fiery end. How he loved taunting Jafar’s son.
Evie interrupted brightly. “Here’s a thought. We could try being friends. Put our history behind us and celebrate our differences. Yeah?” She pulled out her red wristlet, which contained several blue spheres, and jingled it. “Who wants gum?” she asked optimistically.
Everyone stared at Evie in great confusion. Had she seriously just tried to mend fences with gum?
“Let’s go,” Uma ordered Harry and Gil.
“Uh, no,” Mal said, stopping her. “I’m in charge.” She paused, then gave her own order to the group. “Let’s go.”
With that, the strangely united band of villains started the long walk across the bridge toward Auradon.
Falling asleep during class—totally normal. everyone does it. Well, at least I did it. But during lunch? Now that’s freaky.
The motley crew of villain kids marched over the bridge, hiked along the craggy coast, and wound their way up the road that led to Auradon Prep. The scene that greeted them was shocking. The school’s green lawn was littered with sleeping students.
“They’re asleep—everyone,” said Evie, absorbing the alarming sight.
Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos tried their cell phones, hoping to reach someone who could provide an explanation, but not one of them worked.
“I can’t get Ben,” said Mal, worried.
“Or Dizzy or Doug,” Evie added with concern.
“Or Jane. Signal’s out,” confirmed Carlos.
Celia wandered ahead of the group, turning her head from side to side every few feet. There was just so much to look at. Her jaw fell open when she spotted the most enormous building she’d ever seen. “Is that Auradon Prep?”
“Yeah, and when everybody wakes up, you’re going to love it,” Carlos said with a smile.
“Yes!” exclaimed Celia. With everything that had happened, she’d almost forgotten about getting to go to school. In Auradon. In that beautiful building.
Gil, too, stood in awe of Auradon Prep, which until that moment had been a place he’d only heard about. The lush gardens, the chirping birds, the manicured lawns—it was all more than he had imagined. “It’s all so…”
“Freaky,” offered Jay. It disturbed him to see so many of his classmates spelled into hibernation.
“Green!” corrected Gil, his eyes as big as saucers. “You have leaves on your trees. And what are those colorful things in your bushes?”
“Uh. Flowers,” Jay answered quizzically.
“Flowers are pretty,” Gil gushed. Then his eyes fell on the prettiest sight yet: a large bowl of ripe red grapes that sat atop a picnic table, left unfinished by a sleeping eater. “Cantaloupes!” he shouted, and pounced on the snack. Gil put his hands around the large bowl, lifted it to his mouth, and dumped the whole bunch of grapes in at once. He broke out in a huge dopey grin. What Gil lacked in brains he made up for in pure joy.
Uma raised her eyebrows. “We don’t have any fresh fruit on the Isle, remember?” she said in explanation.
Jay leaned into Gil and patted him on the back. “They’re grapes,” he explained kindly.
“Grapes.” Gil rolled the word over his tongue. “Love grapes,” he said definitively.
As Gil chewed happily on the sleeping student’s lunch, Harry sashayed up to another napper and picked his pocket. It wasn’t like the sleeping kid was spending his money.
“I believe I deserve compensation for my muscles, my wiles, my role in this endeavor,” said Harry, surveying the dozing crowd and deciding which sleeper to steal from next.
Jay flexed his arms threateningly and pounded his right fist into his left palm. “You do: me not squashing you like a bug.” He grabbed the cash from Harry’s hook, shook his head, and put it back.
Harry held his sharp hook to Jay’s throat. “Think I’m scared of you, Jay?”
Jay stuck his face inches from Harry’s and was about to speak when Mal and Uma noticed their first lieutenants battling egos. “Guys,” snapped the impa
tient leaders in unison. Both girls were surprised by their moment of solidarity.
Nearby, Carlos did a double take and broke out in a huge smile. Was that…No, it couldn’t be.
“Mmmmm, delicious,” said a familiar voice.
“Dude?” Carlos cried.
Dude sat beneath a picnic table, eating a hot dog from a conked-out boy’s hand. The mutt was living his best life. Dude looked up, caught in the act, and belched.
“Dude, really?” asked Carlos, trying to stifle a laugh.
“He wasn’t eating it,” the dog barked drily.
Carlos realized the dog might have some answers. “Dude, do you know what happened here?”
“Yeah, Audrey put everybody to sleep. Oh, and then she turned some of them—”
“Guys!” cried Evie. She pointed at a statuesque girl who stood a few feet away from Dude. “Hannah’s turned to stone.” Hannah was frozen in granite, still wearing her marching band uniform.
“All right, everyone stay on their toes,” warned Jay, looking out for the group. The sleeping kids, the stone students—it was all Audrey’s doing. She had to be stopped.
“Look, since we’re here, let’s check the school,” suggested Uma. Harry, Celia, and Gil followed her toward the entrance.
“No,” said Mal, flanked by Evie, Carlos, and Jay. She spoke with authority. “Audrey went straight for the crown, so I think it’s safe to assume she’s going to go for Ben and his castle next. That’s where we’ll go.”
“Says who?” asked Uma, stepping up to Mal.
“Says me.” Mal leaned toward the girl she called Shrimpy.
“Says you and that’s supposed to mean something to me?” asked Uma. She was not about to take orders from Mal.
“Guys,” implored Evie. They had bigger fish to fry. Not that Uma was frying fish anymore. They just had more important matters to focus on, like stopping Audrey.
Uma acquiesced…this time.
“To the castle,” said Mal, satisfied with her small victory.
Take it from me: That whole knight-in-shining-armor thing? It’s way overrated.
The idyllic Fairy Cottage lay hidden deep in the forest in the middle of a beautiful glade with trees that grew high into the sky. Its whimsical rubblestone chimney, wood-framed windows, and overgrown English garden lent to the cabin’s peaceful feel.
The quaint cottage that had once hidden Aurora from Maleficent now had a new resident: Audrey. She stood inside the cheery cottage, among the winsome lace curtains and hand-embroidered wall art, and threw a colossal fit.
With untamed fury, she stared into the orb of Maleficent’s scepter. The magical glass sphere showed Mal, Jay, and the rest of the squad making their way through the streets of Auradon City. Audrey was livid. “How did Mal break my spell?” Audrey screamed. The china teacups that lined the shelves shook with reverberations.
Chad shrugged innocently. “I don’t know,” he said.
“And what is Uma doing here?” Audrey asked. She turned over a glass fruit bowl, emptied the green apples onto the frilly tablecloth, and chucked the bowl in Chad’s direction. Chad ducked nimbly out of the way and fretted. Perhaps he’d made a mistake, joining forces with Audrey. She was out of control.
“Come clean, Chad. Where did they go?” she asked, menacing.
Chad flinched and inched toward the cottage door. “I don’t know. I could go check for you,” he offered, hoping to escape Audrey’s mounting wrath.
“Stay,” boomed Audrey as she tightened her fingers around the scepter.
Chad slumped his shoulders and silently obeyed. Audrey walked toward her little pet and ran her fingers through his hair. She grinned malevolently and turned her attention back to the scepter’s orb and the image of Mal and her friends approaching Ben’s palace. “It’s about to get a little ugly.”
Audrey watched as Mal ran down the grand palace hall, followed closely by the other seven travelers. “Ben could be asleep anywhere,” Mal said, worried.
“Or turned to stone,” Celia managed to squeak out before Evie clamped her hand over Celia’s mouth.
“Ben,” yelled Mal. Her unanswered shouts echoed through the chamber.
Dude sniffed around. “I’ve got his scent. Very pungent cologne. Easy to track. Follow me.”
“That’s great, Dude,” said Jay.
“FYI, I give great cuddles, too,” the dog announced proudly.
Did someone say cuddles? Gil thought. His face lit up with glee. “Really? I never had a pet except for the elk head in my dad’s man cave,” he said.
Uma stared thoughtfully at a series of deep claw marks scratched into the wall. She ran her finger over them. “What’s this?” A framed ancient map that hung on the wall had been cut clean in half.
“Any chance that was already there?” asked Carlos. He looked around the room nervously. The royal-blue curtains were tattered and torn, and the mysterious scratches continued along the corridor for many feet.
“Follow me,” Dude offered, then led the group out of the room and toward the scent he’d detected.
Moments later, the group trailed Dude into the palace’s hall of armor. Sunlight shone through the domed stained glass ceiling, illuminating artwork of the great battle scenes and gallant knights of past reigns. The group approached the grand foyer with great reverence. Silver swords with glistening blades and shields battered from combat hung on the wood-paneled walls. Foreboding suits of armor that had been collected through the ages stood stiffly on platforms.
As the villain squad crept through the majestic hall, Harry inspected all the tempting treasures. His eyes lingered on the more portable items, like a sparkling halberd and antique shield, and he wondered if anyone would notice if a few trinkets mysteriously went missing. He was a pirate, after all, and looting came naturally. As if reading his mind, Jay moved up quietly behind Harry. “I can feel you lurking,” Harry told Jay without needing to turn around.
“Good,” said Jay. He pushed Harry along. Not trusting the seasoned villain, Jay vowed to keep a close eye on him.
They weren’t the only members of the two feuding villain cliques to clash. Carlos had had just about enough of Gil, who had taken an intense liking to Dude. “So you can track, cuddle, and talk? Do you think your puppies would be able to talk, too?” Gil asked, scratching the dog under his chin.
“He’s taken. If you want a dog, adopt a rescue,” said Carlos possessively.
“Ha ha, talking puppies,” mused Dude. He walked over to Celia to be scratched. “He seems nice,” the chatty canine said, oblivious to Carlos’s feelings.
Across the room, Uma and Mal were locked in their own tête-à-tête. “Bet you lost a little sleep thinking about me on the loose,” Uma goaded Mal.
“Nah. Dragons don’t really lose sleep,” Mal countered. “I wonder what fried octopus tastes like,” she added, just to annoy Uma.
Evie stepped between the two girls and threw her arms around their shoulders in a gesture of solidarity. “Okay, why don’t we not do this?”
“We’re celebrating our differences,” Uma said sarcastically.
Clank! Clash! A suit of armor that had stood stiff for centuries on a high wood pedestal clicked its heels and turned toward the group.
“I believe we’re being challenged,” said Harry, his hook dancing in the air. Harry was always itching for a good fight.
Mal and Uma, too busy one-upping each other, failed to heed Harry’s warning. “Let’s all split up and look for Audrey,” Uma told Mal.
Mal balked at Uma’s suggestion. “That makes absolutely no sense. Unless I stop her with the ember, she’ll spell you.” Mal was unsure how much longer she could handle listening to this insipid pirate. Mal was in charge, not Uma.
Harry cleared his throat and interrupted the girls’ competitive confab again. “We have a situation here,” he alerted them. That would prove to be an understatement.
The bewitched knight moved and spoke ominously in Audrey’s voice. The effect was d
isturbing. “You like a prince, Mal. How about a knight in shining armor? Or knights?” The lead knight swung his lethal sword with a swift, authoritative gesture, and the rest of the suits of armor in the long hall magically clinked to life and drew their sharpened swords on the VKs.
Uma and Mal shared a furtive look. Spooked and outnumbered, Mal, Uma, and their friends backed up, spun around, and rushed toward the hall exit. But before they could reach it, two menacing knights stepped forward and blocked the doors. Exiting would not be an option.
Gil grabbed two gleaming swords and handed one to Uma. Jay followed Gil’s lead and snatched several swords, then tossed a blade to Mal with perfect precision. Harry snatched the halberd he’d been eyeing earlier. He had known he’d end up with the coveted treasure somehow.
Uma jumped up onto a tall platform in the center of the hall. “Fall back, let me lead,” Uma shouted to the others.
Mal bristled. She would not be outranked by a puny, gutless pirate. Mal leapt onto the raised platform and, with a confident heft, lifted her sword above her head. This was her fight, her command, and they’d follow her battle plan. “Swords in the air if you’re with me,” Mal declared.
Uma did not comply. She flashed a fake grin, stepped in front of Mal, and whipped around her turquoise hair. She was not about to fall in line.
Evie looked askance at both girls, then jumped between them, planted her hands on her hips, and sternly reminded both sides that at the moment they were all on the same side. And they were gravely outnumbered. The only way to defeat Audrey’s armor army was to set aside their differences—at least until the battle was done.
The enchanted knights marched with military precision and attacked the teens in one swift swoosh. Swords clanged, blades scraped, metal clashed against metal. Three towering soldiers yielding razor-sharp swords cornered Mal and Uma. Without thinking, the girls parried in sync and fought off the first two knights together. Clink! One knight. Clank! Another knight. The third knight lunged at Uma, his sword outstretched. With dragon-fast speed, Mal kicked his foot out from under him, which sent him stumbling to the ground with a crash. Uma looked up, surprised to see Mal was the one who’d had her back. Mal shrugged, then rejoined the melee. The battle raged on.
Descendants 3 Junior Novel Page 7
