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Yen Sid had told her the total opposite of the poisonous thoughts that now filled her brain.
She stared at the mirror and the image of her friends deserting her. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true. Maddy had betrayed Mal, but Mal had never betrayed Evie. Carlos and Jay were like her brothers. The three of them would always be there for her.
“You’re wrong!” she cried to the mirror. “My friends are here! They’re waiting down there! Waiting for me!”
She stepped away from the mirror, holding the apple in her hand. “I’m not alone! I am far from friendless! I am surrounded by my friends, and I will return to them!”
The mirror shattered and Evie screamed. Suddenly she was on the ground, looking up at the faces of her friends.
“What happened?” she asked.
“You fell,” said Carlos. “All the way down, and we couldn’t wake you.”
“We thought you were going to go to sleep forever, or at least until we could get Doug to come and wake you up with true love’s kiss.” Mal smirked.
“You okay?” said Jay, helping her up.
Evie nodded, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and tossing back her hair. “I’m awake, at least!” she announced with considerable flair.
“Did you get it?” asked Mal. “The talisman?”
In answer, Evie showed them the golden apple, which was whole once more, but no longer shining. “It totally messed with my head, but I purged the poison from my body and mastered the talisman. Yen Sid was right, we’ve got to be careful with these things…they’re tricky.”
“What did it do?” asked Mal, curious.
Evie shook her head and placed the apple in her handbag. “Let’s just say I knew you guys wouldn’t leave me here alone.”
Mal rolled her eyes. “Well, one more minute and we might have,” she joked. “But then who’s going to make my Auradon Prep prom dress?”
“Hey, guys,” Jay interrupted. “Look at this.” He and Carlos were standing in front of a doorway carved into the tree trunk.
“That wasn’t here before,” said Carlos.
“And look—the lake is draining!” said Evie. The tiny islet began to shake.
“Now that Evie has the Fruit of Venom, this place is self-destruc
ting!” said Mal.
“Do we open it?” said Jay.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” said Mal, looking around as the ground rumbled beneath them. It felt like the whole island was about to crumble.
“Let’s go, that thing is heading over here,” said Carlos, scanning anxiously for any sign of the snuffling beast.
“Open it!” yelled Mal.
Jay threw open the door, and a blazing light shone from the darkness. “It looks like a desert in here!” he told them, stepping inside. Evie and Carlos followed behind.
Mal waited by the entrance, her eyes on the lake, or what was left of it, ready to defend her friends from the mysterious creature in the tunnels.
But the monster never appeared, and so Mal followed her friends through the door in the tree.
The first thing Jay noticed when he stepped through the tree was how hot it was. He had been shivering in the damp cavern, but now he was almost sweating. Instead of a wet cave, he was standing on a golden desert plain.
Evie followed, but as she crossed the threshold, her knees turned to rubber and she stumbled. Jay caught her and helped her through. “Whoa. That poison must still be working.”
She nodded. “I’ll be fine in a minute.”
