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“That one took me a while, but after staring at the word for an hour, I realized there was something familiar about it. It’s Saturday, spelled backward! And two-three-five-nine is 23:59 in knight time, or 11:59 at night in royal time. So just before midnight this Saturday, there will be an Anti-Heroes meeting at the Castle Across the Way. ‘Be there’ is obvious. They’re telling their members to be there.”
“You think?” teased Evie.
“Saturday night, right before midnight. Hold on,” said Mal. She grabbed a book from behind her desk. “It’s a moon calendar; I was using it to try to figure out what the notes were saying about the moon. Look at this—the end of the old moon, or moonset, is on Friday before midnight, and the new moon rises on Saturday at 11:59. The young moon is Sunday, which is too late. I think the notes are connected to this Anti-Heroes club. Someone wants us to go to this meeting.”
“So we were right,” said Evie. “Evil Queen, Jafar, Cruella, and Maleficent are behind it somehow. Mal said her mom goes by moon dates.”
“You guys really think it’s them?” asked Carlos quietly. He had gone a bit pale again, thinking of having to face his mother. He wouldn’t be able to hide behind a computer or an invention this time, and he truly wasn’t looking forward to going back to being her much-malign
ed personal servant. He was just starting to enjoy a life that didn’t revolve around fluffing furs and fixing wigs.
“Yeah, they must have sent those messages to tell us to go back to the island so they can humiliate us at this Anti-Heroes thing, don’t you think?” said Evie.
“I love how they’re using our ‘bad example’ to recruit members while also telling us to go back and join them,” said Mal.
“That sounds exactly like something they would do,” said Carlos. “They probably have something awful planned for our homecoming.” He shivered at the thought.
“Plus, who else would be planning a meeting in Evil Queen’s castle?” said Mal. “It has to be them.”
“True. And Evil Queen probably took Maleficent’s spot the second she swooped off the Isle,” said Carlos thoughtfully. “You know they fought over who would get to lead the Isle of the Lost when they were first banished there.”
“They sure did,” said Evie. “And that’s why we were exiled to the Castle Across the Way!”
“Actually, you didn’t invite me to your birthday party, and that’s why you guys had to move,” reminded Mal. “I was only six years old.”
“That wasn’t my fault,” Evie protested. “And you almost let me fall asleep for a thousand years!”
“What’s past is past, let bygones be bygones,” said Jay, entering the room. “What else did I miss?”
Mal nodded. “Jay’s right; sorry, Evie.”
“I’m sorry too,” said Evie. She stared at the screen again, at the giant red Xs written across their faces. Ugh, red did not look good on her complexion.
Carlos brought Jay up to speed on what they’d discovered so far about the Anti-Heroes group on the Dark Net. They looked at the picture again.
“We need to be at that meeting so we can find out what they’re planning, and that way we can stop it like we did last time,” Mal said, a serious look on her face.
“Fine, let’s go, I’ll start packing,” said Carlos, who was dreading it but wanted to get it over as quickly as possible. Like ripping off a Band-Aid. It would be easier to confront his mother sooner rather than later, before he had a change of heart.
“Hold on,” said Jay. “Not so fast. Let’s think it through. You know what Fairy Godmother always says.”
“Don’t run in glass slippers?” joked Evie.
“Look before you leap, the slow turtle always wins the race,” said Jay. “Oh, and it’s always best to be home before midnight.”
Jay smiled at his friends and rubbed his palms. He loved when a plan started to come together. It reminded him of his life back on the Isle, when he would figure out the best way to nab the least rotten banana from the fruit stands. “We can’t leave just yet,” he repeated.
“Why not?” Carlos wanted to know, even though he looked relieved to hear they didn’t have to sneak out of town right then.
“For one, you and I have a tourney game on Saturday, and we can’t let the team down,” he said. “If Ben doesn’t make it back from wherever he is, and we leave, they’re down three starters; there’s no way they have a chance against the Lost Boys. They need us.” He looked meaningfully at Carlos. “I know you weren’t at practice today, but we’re counting on you to be ready by game time.”
Carlos sighed. “Right.”
Jay turned to Mal and Evie, who both looked skeptical. “You guys understand, we’re part of something bigger here than just us. We’re part of Auradon now,” he told them. “You know we are.”
“Yes, but—” Mal tried to argue.
“Besides,” he interrupted with an apologetic smile. “We don’t want this Anti-Heroes group to think we’re onto them. What do you think will happen if news gets out that the four of us are suddenly missing from school? We need to go back, but on our own terms. We can’t let them know we know.”
