Rise of the Isle of the Lost

by Melissa de la Cruz

  “Jay was,” said Carlos. “I was more of an accidental addition. Coach saw me running away from Dude and put me on the team. I used to be scared of dogs when I got here.”

  Jane giggled. “That’s funny.”

  “See, if I can do it, you can.” He smiled.

  “But you’re, like, brave and all,” she said. “You guys stood up to Maleficent. You can do anything.”

  Carlos tried not to laugh at her assessment. But he had to set the record straight. “No way, I’m not brave. I was scared the entire time. Ask Jay. Or Mal. Or Evie.”

  Jane was surprised. “Really?”

  “Yeah, I’m scared of a lot of things. I’m also scared of heights. And my mom.” He shuddered.

  “Aw, come on, everyone’s scared of your mom.”

  “You got that right.” He turned to Jane and smiled. “But cheerleaders are definitely not scary. Come on, what do cheerleaders do? I’ll help you practice. Aren’t tryouts for the new season next week?”

  Jane nodded. “Yeah. I was thinking of maybe auditioning.”

  Carlos bounced across the field. “Come on, let’s practice flips. I’ve seen you do them in the mascot costume!”

  Jane laughed and stepped out of the rest of the costume, leaving the outfit in a pile on the grass. She was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. “Okay! Let’s do it!”

  She did a bunch of cartwheels and backflips, and Carlos taught her how to do a one-handed cartwheel that he’d picked up from R.O.A.R. training. She taught him the Auradon cheer, and the routine that went with it, and by the end, they flopped together on the grass, red-faced and out of breath. “That was fun,” said Jane.

  “You’re really good,” said Carlos, and he couldn’t stop smiling.

  “You think so?” she asked shyly.

  “So you’ll try out?”

  “Yeah. Why not.” Jane laughed again. She stood up and brushed her knees, her eyes twinkling like stars from her mother’s wand. “Me, a cheerleader…I mean, stranger things have happened, right?”

  “Like villain kids going to school in Auradon?” said Carlos with a smile.

  “I guess so,” said Jane. “Did you ever think you guys would end up here?”

  He shook his head. “Honestly, it’s the last thing we expected. It was a total surprise, and we didn’t even want to go.” He recalled that day so vividly, how their parents had schemed and pressured them into going to Auradon as part of their evil plan.

  Jane didn’t expect to hear that. “You didn’t?”

  “No, I mean, we were raised to believe bad is good, and all we knew was the Isle of the Lost. But our parents were determined to send us here so they could have their revenge.”

  “Thank goodness you guys didn’t do it,” said Jane.

  “Yeah. It’s weird. I never thought I’d be over on this side of the barrier, but it feels really natural now,” he said, thinking of all the good things in his life now that he lived in Auradon. His dog, Dude, for one, and his solid gang of friends for another. Even Jane, he thought. If he’d never moved to Auradon, he wouldn’t have met her.

  “What do you want to do when you get out of here? Auradon Prep, I mean,” she asked, as they left the field and walked onto campus.

  “What do I want to do when I grow up?” Carlos thought about it. “I don’t know. Something with computers, maybe? What about you?”

  “I always thought I’d be like my mom,” said Jane.

  “Headmistress?”

  “No, I meant like someone who grants people’s wishes. But now that magic is discouraged, I guess I have to go back to the drawing board,” said Jane. “Which is totally fine. Although, I was sort of looking forward to suddenly popping up when people are crying and changing everything so that they get their heart’s desire.”

  “You like helping people,” said Carlos.

  “I guess I do,” said Jane. She smiled and blushed, as if she’d revealed too much of herself. “Come on, race you back to the dorms. One, two…”

  But before she even said three, Jane was already running, holding her mascot costume in her arms.

  Carlos yelped and ran to catch up with her, following the sound of her laughter all the way to the buildings.

  Jane had a sweet, lovely laugh, and hours later Carlos discovered he was still thinking about it.

  After saying goodbye to Ben, Mal burst out the library doors and crossed campus, weaving her way through a crowd of students rushing out of their classes, and headed to study hall. Evie deployed the emergency-text option sparingly, so Mal knew it was serious. When she finally arrived back at their room, she found Evie sitting on the bed with Arabella, who was sniffling and wiping her eyes.

  “Mal! Thank goblins you’re here,” said Evie.

  Thank goblins? Things must really be serious if Evie was slipping back into Isle-speak. Mal took a seat across from Arabella and tried to look comforting.

  “Tell Mal what you told me,” Evie said to her friend.

  Mal thought that maybe Arabella, who was new to Auradon Prep, had some kind of first-year problem. The villain kids all had questions when they’d first arrived too: Was it okay to eat as much food as you could from the refectory? (Jay) Could you take as many classes as you could fit into your schedule—or even take two classes at the same time, if you worked really fast? (Carlos, of course.) Evie had wanted to know if they had to wear uniforms (they didn’t), while Mal’s only question was where she could acquire purple spray paint (the art studio). Although it had to be more serious than that, since Evie’d texted SOS.

  “I have a big problem.” Arabella gulped and wiped her eyes. She was shaking. Hmmm. Definitely not the usual freshman drama, thought Mal.

  Evie soothed. “Big problems are Mal’s specialty.”

  “Okay,” said Arabella. She took a deep breath. “Remember when I went to my grandfather’s reception at the Seaside Festival yesterday?”

  Mal nodded.

  “So, um, I did something stupid at the party. I took something that wasn’t mine,” said Arabella, still sniffling. “When he wasn’t looking, I swiped my grandfather’s trident. I just wanted to see if I had enough power in me to use it, like my cousins. I just wanted to prove that I’m one of the king’s heirs too, that I could raise the waves like he did. I figured I’d return it right after.”

  “Okay, so you took his trident…” Mal tapped her chin with her fingers; she could tell where this story was going already. The girl had gotten into some kind of mischief, obviously, but nothing too hard to untangle or fix.

  “But…” said Evie, prompting.

  “But it didn’t work out that way,” said Arabella, miserable. “I didn’t just call up some waves. The trident was so powerful that I called up that huge storm. I lost hold of it, and it flew up into the sky—and when it fell, I couldn’t find it. It washed away somewhere!”

  “So it’s gone?” asked Mal, shocked. That she hadn’t foreseen, although she was relieved to discover that the Dragon’s Egg hadn’t been the reason behind the storm after all. Even though the talisman was gone forever, she was glad it hadn’t caused any more destruction as the result of her delay in taking it to Fairy Godmother.

  “It’s gone.” Arabella nodded.

  “Does King Triton know?” Mal asked. She could only imagine the sea king’s rage when he found out. Mal knew all about what happened when powerful beings were bereft of their magical instruments.

  Arabella shook her head determinedly. “No. I didn’t tell him. I didn’t tell anyone. I was too scared.”

  Mal nodded. “I can imagine.” The sea king’s anger could make the very seas boil with rage.

  “But isn’t he going to find out soon? I mean, it is his trident.”

  “I told him I put it back in the case, which he’s going to return to the museum tomorrow.”

  “Okay.”

  “So I only have until tomorrow night to get it back,” said Arabella. “Before Grandfather finds out it’s missing.”

  “And yo
u haven’t told anybody?”

  Arabella shook her head. “My mom would kill me…and so would all my aunts, of course. I saw it shoot into the air, but no one seemed to notice because of the storm.”

  “They probably thought it was just lightning,” said Evie.

  “So what exactly do you need us to do?” asked Mal.

  “Help me find it?” Arabella said weakly.

  “We have to help her,” said Evie.

  Mal considered it. Arabella should probably tell her family what happened as soon as possible, but Mal understood wanting to take care of something on your own, or with the help of your friends. Speaking of friends in need, Ben was on his way to Northern Wei, and Mal didn’t want to bother him while he was on such an important trip. But she could still rely on the rest of the gang.

  “Evie, let’s get the boys,” said Mal.

  Arabella’s face lit up with hope. “So you guys will help?”

  Mal nodded. “Of course we’ll help. Any friend of Evie’s is a friend of ours.”

  Down by Jailor’s Pier the docks were filled with sloops and schooners, brigs and clippers, vessels of all kinds and shapes, some driven by sail, others by paddle. They crammed the bay, anchor lines stretching in every direction, the boats rocking back and forth as the wind caught this one or that one. A galley with fifty paddles rowed past Uma, the men chanting in time, the oars beating the water. Seagulls filled the air with their shrieks, adding to the cacophony of chants and mixing with the hawkers’ cries from their stalls. Uma crouched on a makeshift raft she’d fashioned from one of the shop’s old tables, a broom handle, and a bedsheet. It was seaworthy enough to sail on the bay for a small race, but would not be able to handle more than that. A great cutter sailed past her, and its wake nearly sent her tumbling overboard. Next to her, Harry was bobbing up and down in a bathtub, using a shower curtain for a sail. The wake half-filled his tub, and immediately he had to bail furiously to keep the thing from sinking. Even empty, the tub barely floated. It hung at water level, and each time it tipped, a bit of water ran into it. All in all, he’d done more bailing than sailing, Uma noticed with wicked glee. It was all he could do to keep afloat.

  “Let’s go over there,” she told Harry, leading them through the assortment of ships. They passed a few goblins on an old junk, one of those ancient boats from Northern Wei, sporting a red sail like the fin of some exotic fish.

  “Check that out,” said Uma, as the junk sailed out of their path to reveal a pair of witches sitting in great buckets rowing with giant spoons.

  “Where do you suppose you get a spoon that size?” asked Harry. “And what’s it for?”

  “Well, it’s for eating little boys,” Uma said, coughing up her best impression of a witch’s cackle. “I think your head would fit nicely on that spoon.”

  “I see your point. Let’s steer clear,” said Harry.

  “Already ahead of you,” she replied, sailing the other way. Neither of them wanted to get any closer to the witches or goblins.

  “Looks like everyone’s after the prize,” said Uma, and she didn’t mean just the pirate ship. The water was full of goblins clad in snorkel gear and thugs flailing around in old fins and rusty scuba apparatuses—all of them looking for the trident, combing every bit of the ocean floor.

  “So many,” said Uma, her heart sinking a bit in her chest. News of King Triton’s trident had gone out, it seemed, and half the island was looking for the golden spear. Uma watched them nervously. Some had maps and others had formed groups. They were drawing grids across the bay and moving zone by zone, covering every inch. They were all as eager to find it as she was, and that worried Uma. The whole island’s gone mad for the trident, she thought, and while I’m trying to win a boat, they’re already combing the sea.

  Next to her, Harry whistled at a goblin swimming by the junk. “Ahoy! What sort of junk are you looking to find?” he asked with a grin.

  Harry must have been hoping the goblin would take him up on the joke, but he received an honest reply. “A trident! Haven’t you heard?” said the green little fellow.

  “That golden thing? I heard the mermen saw it on the other side of the Isle!” Harry said, then winked at Uma. He whispered, “Thought I’d throw them off the scent!”

  “Wonderful,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “There are hundreds looking for the trident, maybe more, and you’ve thrown one off course.”

  “It’s a start,” said Harry, shrugging.

  Over by the edge of the harbor, Captain Hook had finally made his appearance. He sauntered down one of the larger docks, the planks creaking beneath his weight, the wind at his back. He wore his characteristic red jacket and an enormous red hat with an even larger white plume dangling over the brim, swaying this way and that as he walked.

  “Dad really knows how to make an entrance,” said Harry.

  Captain Hook stopped at the end of the dock and stepped onto a soapbox so everyone could see him. All around Harry and Uma, the competition readied itself. Henchmen wrestled with sails, ropes were flung aside or unwrapped from the docks. A great buzz of excitement and preparation built, and Uma stood a little taller in her raft. Hers was one of the smallest boats in the race, but she was confident in her victory. That ship was hers, and so was that trident.

  “How are we even going to get out of the harbor?” Harry replied. “This place is so choked with boats that it’ll be an hour before we sail past any of them.”

  “Mmm,” said Uma.

  Suddenly all oars were in the air and everyone’s eyes darted toward the dock. Captain Hook had raised his hooked hand high into the air to indicate that the race was about to begin.

  Uma gritted her teeth. She was ready. Captain Hook lowered his hand as Smee fired the starting pistol. The race was on!

  A fury of sails and splashing oars overwhelmed the bay. Sailors were yelling, goblins were giggling, witches were gaggling. It was a terrible ruckus, and the water churned, once more filling Harry’s tub and threatening to drag him down if he didn’t bail fast enough. “We’ll never be able to sail faster than those ships on these things,” Harry shouted.

  “Oh, you just figured this out?” Uma said.

  “And you knew that?”

  “Yeah, and that’s why I’m going to beat you,” Uma said as she coiled a rope around her forearm. She’d fixed a noose at the end and she checked it now to make sure it would work.

  Then she threw the rope high into the air. It arched over a diver, past a rowboat full of pirates, and landed soundly on a cleat attached to a small motorboat. She gave it a little tug to cinch the knot around the cleat, but there was no need. The boat’s engine roared to life, and immediately the rope tightened, jerking her little craft forward. If she hadn’t moored the rope to the deck of her raft, it would have been yanked from her hands. Even now it threatened to tear her craft apart. The boards moaned and creaked, but the raft held. Soon she was skipping across the waves, bounding up and down like a magic carpet tethered to a rocket.

  Before she knew it, Uma was out of the bay and on the open sea. She’d chosen the fastest of the lot to hitch on to, and now they were in the lead. There was just one problem: since she was tethered to the goblins and her rope was fairly long, the goblins would likely win the race.

  But only if they make it to the finish line, she thought.

  Behind her, Harry was paddling furiously, still trying to make his way out of the boat-swamped harbor. He smashed right into one of the great galleys. Then he had to wait as more and more ships passed in front of him. By the time Uma caught sight of him again, half the bay was empty. Harry’s shower curtain caught the wind, but it was too late. He was already taking up the rear. Ha!

  But Uma didn’t celebrate long. Harry’s bathtub crashed into the nearest sailing ship, and he quickly abandoned it, jumping onto the catamaran. Since the ships were so crowded together, he was able to hopscotch from ship to ship all the way to the front.

  Uma watched Harry’s progress with nar
rowed eyes until she remembered she had her own problems. There was a tug on the cord and she swung the sail around just in time to catch sight of a pair of goblins gnawing furiously at the rope she’d attached to their speedboat. Once they finished, she was done, but all that gnawing seemed to be going awfully slowly and the knot was cinched too tightly for them to pull it off the cleat.

  And that was when she saw the screwdriver.

  She’d forgotten that goblins were clever folk. While one gnawed at the rope, the other started undoing the screws that secured the cleat. They were both in a race to cut her loose, and sooner rather than later one of them would win.

  But Uma was not quite ready to lose her chance. She pulled on the rope, yanking on it so hard that it knocked one goblin straight into the water. Uma smiled at the little green fellow as she sped past him. She yanked again, this time harder, pulling her raft closer to the goblin craft. She noticed that when she gave it a good pull, the goblins’ boat jerked wildly to one side. So she pulled again as the remaining goblin worked furiously at the screws.

  The two were locked in their own race now.

  He’d loosened two or three of the screws, and the cleat was hanging halfway off the back of the boat. A few more screws and Uma would be set adrift in the water while the goblin claimed the prize.

  Fearless as ever, Uma gave the rope another strong tug, coiling it as much as she could. When it was as tight as she could make it, she let it go, and the rope whipped wildly back into the air, snapping the goblin in the face and sending him tumbling into the water. She cackled as she passed him, just as she realized there was no one left on the motorboat.

  The goblins had tied the steering wheel in place and jammed the throttle into gear while they tended to her rope. This was probably why the boat had veered to and fro when she pulled at it. There was no one to correct the boat’s course. It was hers for the taking.

  If she could reach it.

  The cleat rattled, and one of the screws flew off. It tumbled through the air and landed with a plunk as it struck the water. Only one screw still held the cleat in place, and it was already halfway out of its socket.