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“Recogni
ze this?” he asked. “Artie loaned it to me; he thought I might need it.”
“Excalibur!” cried Carlos, who recognized the sword from Auradon’s history books.
“The one and only,” said Ben, still facing Madam Mim. “The most powerful sword in Auradon. You know what it can do.”
“So I suggest you save yourself the pain, Mim,” said Merlin, who had gotten out of the cage by turning into a caterpillar and was now back to being a wizard.
The purple dragon snorted as Ben pressed the blade against its chest. Finally, it turned into a fine purple mist, and Mim was a hag once again, her shoulders slumped. “I’ll miss Auradon so,” she said. “The sheep were tasty.”
“But alas, Auradon is not the place for you,” said Merlin. With a wave of his wand, Madam Mim was sent back to the Isle of the Lost.
“Say hi to Maddy for me!” said Mal.
“We need to close this tunnel so that no one else can use it to escape into Auradon,” said Ben.
“My thoughts exactly,” said Merlin, and with another wave of his wand, the passage behind them was closed forever with an impenetrable wall that no one and no magic would ever be able to breach. “There, it’s permanently sealed. No one from the Isle of the Lost will ever be able to use it again.”
“Let’s go home,” said Ben, reaching for Mal’s hand.
“Sounds like a good plan,” said Mal, squeezing Ben’s hand tightly. “You guys ready?”
The other three nodded.
“About time,” said Jay. “We’ve got class tomorrow.”
“And homework tonight,” said Carlos.
“I hope our feeds updated correctly,” said Evie. “Right now we’re all supposed to be in bed, sneezing from the flu.”
“Did someone say Sneezy? I’m Grumpy,” said Grumpy.
“Merlin?” asked Ben. “Do you mind giving us a lift? Just this once?”
“If you could send me back to the Enchanted Wood,” said Grumpy, “it would save me a carriage ride.”
“I’ll be heading back to Camelot myself,” said Merlin as he shook everyone’s hands.
“You make a good king, Ben,” said Merlin. “And you were right in the end, we didn’t need magic to capture the dragon. Only diligence and courage, as you have shown.”
“Thank you,” said Ben. “That means a lot, coming from you. Although we did need magic to send her back to the Isle of the Lost, and to close that passage. And to go home.”
“Details, details,” said Merlin with a smile. “Who reads the fine print these days?”
“Will you give this back to Artie for me?” asked Ben, handing Merlin the sword.
“With pleasure,” said the old wizard with a smile.
“Bye, Merlin,” said Mal, and the rest of the group waved.
“Can we get going already?” asked Grumpy.
Merlin rolled up his sleeves. “Return everyone here to where they need to be,” said the wizard. Raising his wand for the last time, he sent them all back to where they belonged.
It was Sunday afternoon when they returned to school; the practice fields were quiet and empty, and students were taking advantage of their free time to read under the trees or lazily throw Frisbees across the lawn. Mal blinked at the sudden brightness and serenity, a stark contrast to the dark mine they’d just left. She was still holding the Dragon’s Egg tightly in her hand. She was about to put it away when she noticed something—at the edge of the purple was just a hint of green.
The Dragon’s Egg births a weapon. The most powerful talisman. Mal shuddered and stuffed the egg back in her pocket for now.
