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There was something going on down here. She could feel it in the darkness, in the pinpoints of light, in the way her cards hummed in her hands.
Hades. It had to be Hades. He still had some kind of power down here, magic that was getting in through the cracks. She could feel it vibrating in the air. Not enough magic to escape from the Isle of the Lost, but enough to do some kind of harm, she was sure. Even a little magic can cause a lot of problems. That’s what her dad always said, with that evil grin of his.
Celia put a hand to the nearest crack in the wall. It was so deep that the light coming through was almost blinding. Little dust motes filled the air, and Celia felt her cards tremble in her hands. Magic. Celia could barely comprehend it, but it had to be true. How else had Uma been able to get in and out of Hades’s lair without being seen?
If there was magic on the Isle of the Lost, what kind of mischief was afoot?
hey had been looking for Mal for what felt like hours, following her boot tracks, and now Evie was beginning to really worry. They had questioned every person they’d bumped into on the street—goons, thugs, witches, and goblins alike—but no one had seen Mal. They had walked the length of the island, from Hook’s Bay to Troll Town to Doom Cove, using the Ricketty Bridge to get across the coastline. But there was no sign of her. And the last boot print they found had been several blocks away.
It was as if Mal had suddenly disappeared. “Guys, I think we need to call the palace and let Ben know that Mal’s missing,” said Evie. “We can’t keep it from him. What if something terrible has happened to her?” If something terrible really had happened, Evie would never forgive herself.
“We can’t. At least not yet. We’d have to go back to Auradon to tell him, which means leaving Mal here,” said Jay. “Remember? There’s no signal on the Isle. It’s completely cut off.”
Carlos was about to say something when Jay interrupted him. “Hey, look, the Slop Shop’s open,” he said, as they walked past the storefront. “Come on, let’s ask if she stopped in here.”
They walked into the goblin-run establishment. A few of Maleficent’s minions had retired from their lives as henchmen to run a coffee shop. “Well, look who’s back,” said the head goblin barista as he polished some cups. “What are you guys doing here?”
“We’re looking for Mal,” said Carlos. “Have you seen her?”
“I thought you were here for that Auradon business,” said the goblin cagily.
“Well, yes, but—” began Jay, but the goblin cut him off.
“Trying to get more kids to apply to Auradon Prep, huh?” he said. “What about goblins?” He wiped the counter with a dirty rag, making the surface even dirtier.
“Um…” said Carlos. “No, not yet, sorry.” Jay picked up a plastic-wrapped scone that was hard as a rock. Evie gave him a look, and he set it back down.
“Our dwarf cousins said they’d put in a good word for us with the king. Guess they forgot about us,” complained the goblin, shaking his green head.
“Okay, focus,” said Evie with a strained smile. “Have you guys seen Mal? Did she go this way?”
“Yeah, she was here. Not in the shop, but I think a couple of demons mentioned that they saw her outside. Pain! Panic!” he called. “Come over here.”
Two short demons ambled over. One was slurping a Sloppacino with a green straw. The other one was wearing what looked like slightly scorched plastic sandals with Hercules’s face on them. “What’s up?” Pain asked.
“Didn’t you say you saw Mal?” asked the goblin.
“Yeah. She was talking to herself.”
“What?” Carlos demanded.
“I know, I thought it was weird too! It was like she was talking to someone who wasn’t there,” said Panic. “Totally freaky.”
“She looked like she was in a dream state, like sleepwalking,” said Pain. “The way they do in the River Styx. Like they’re dead—you know, when they float around all dead-eyed. That’s what she looked like.”
Evie looked alarmed. “Did you wake her?”
Pain and Panic shook their heads vigorously and hopped up and down. “Of course not! Are you kidding? Wake Mal? She’d curse us!” they protested. “Who would do such a stupid thing? Not us!”
“You guys, Mal really isn’t like that anymore. Trust me,” said Evie. “She wouldn’t harm a fly…or a demon.”
“Well, we weren’t going to take any chances,” said Pain stubbornly. Panic nodded vigorously.
“Which way was she going?” asked Carlos.
Panic pointed east. “Kind of down thataway, toward the harbor.”
• • •
