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“Magic in? I don’t know. Why? Do you know something we don’t?” There had to be a reason Mal was here. She had to have some kind of angle on this. Mal never paid any attention to anyone unless she wanted something. What did she want?
He could see her weighing her options. Would she tell them? She didn’t know him every well except to tease him, and from what he’d observed so far, Mal wasn’t fond of Evie in the least. Jay might be in on it—he had to be, otherwise he wouldn’t be here.
“Fine. I’ll tell you guys,” Mal said finally. “Jay already knows. But this has to stay between us. And Evie, no hidden backsies.”
Evie put up her hands in protest.
“Okay, so the night of the party, my mother’s raven, Diablo—who’d been turned into stone by the three so-called ‘good’ fairies twenty years ago, came back to life. And Diablo swears he saw the Dragon’s Eye, my mother’s missing scepter, spark to life as well.”
Carlos stared at her, and no one spoke for a long moment.
“But that would mean…” Carlos said, his eyes blinking rapidly as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Magic! That magic had been able to penetrate the dome for a second!” Jay said excitedly. He had been silent until now, looking around Hell Hall most likely to see if he had missed pocketing anything good from the other night.
Carlos himself was still trying to process what Mal had told them. It was one thing to get to watch new television shows, but it was quite another to hear that magic had penetrated the invisible barrier, and that Maleficent’s missing scepter—the most powerful dark weapon in the universe—had been brought back to life.
“Yes,” said Mal. “Diablo swears it’s true. And so now my mother has tasked me with getting the Dragon’s Eye back. Just in case it happens again, the magic returning. So that this time, she’ll be ready.”
Jay coughed. “And so, um, we should get on the road, Mal, before it gets too late,” he said. “You know I hate to miss a meal.”
Carlos could sympathize with that, especially since meals came so rarely.
“Wait a minute. Before we go, I want to see this box of his,” Mal said, motioning to Carlos.
Carlos was about to argue but decided it was wiser to let Mal have her way. “All right,” he said. “Let me go get it.” He ran through the safe way into his mother’s closet and returned with the machine.
He handed it to Mal, who inspected it closely. She shook it, put it up to her ear, and shrugged. It looked just like a regular box to her, nothing special, and certainly not powerful enough to break through the dome.
“Can you make it work again?” she asked.
“I haven’t tried.”
“Try.”
He hesitated for a moment, then fiddled with a few knobs and looked fearfully up at the ceiling. “Okay. Here we go.” He pressed the switch.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Again, nothing.
He shook his head. “Sorry. Maybe it was just a one-time deal.”
Mal
crossed her arms, looking stymied. Carlos knew that look—it meant she was about explode. What if Mal thought they were just pulling her leg? Letting her think they had made a discovery, when all along they were just making fun of her? He had to think of something….
“Wanna see the hole in the ceiling?” he offered. If Mal wanted proof, he could give her proof.
Mal thought about it for a minute. “Sure, why not.”
Carlos took them to his tree house, and the four of them inspected the ceiling. It was definitely there, a perfectly round, tiny black hole.
“Rad,” pronounced Jay, bumping fists with Carlos.
Carlos grinned proudly. He was still hugging his new pillow. He was looking forward to trying it out soon. Would he actually sleep through the night for once without tossing and turning?
