Rise of the Isle of the Lost

by Melissa de la Cruz

  “Oh, too bad,” said Gil, before catching himself. “Wait, no, that’s not what I wanted to ask you.”

  “Well, what is it, then? I’ve got study notes to hand out and quizzes to return to the professor,” said Sophie impatiently.

  “Wanted to know what you’re doing tonight,” said Gil, throwing her his most dazzling smile. He flexed a bicep for good measure.

  “Tonight? I’m refilling the professor’s well. Exciting, isn’t it?” said Sophie dryly. “I’ll be carrying buckets of water all night.”

  “I’ve got a better idea. You, me, and the Fish and Chips Shoppe,” said Gil.

  “Huh? Is that like a date?” asked Sophie.

  “What, you’ve never been on one before?” asked Gil.

  “I’ve been on dates!” said Sophie defensively.

  “Okay then!” said Gil. “I’ll see you tonight!”

  “No. I told you, I’m busy,” said Sophie, turning away.

  This was not going as planned, and Gil began to sweat. Uma would not be pleased if he couldn’t get Sophie to come out tonight. “But you have to go!” he whined.

  “Why?” asked Sophie.

  “Because I really like you?” Gil blurted.

  Sophie stared at Gil. “Really?”

  Gil smiled, then slapped his forehead. “No! I mean yes. I mean, also, Uma’s got something magical that she wants to show you.”

  “Something magical? There’s nothing magical on the island.”

  “Well, she has something,” Gil insisted.

  But Sophie clapped her hands and suddenly looked delighted. “Does she have it? We’ve been looking for it everywhere!”

  Gil had no idea what “it” was, but figured correctly that the right answer was “Yes!”

  Her wan face glowed. “Great! I’ll be there. But she better return it,” warned Sophie. “I need it back as soon as possible!”

  “Okay,” said Gil, relieved it had all worked out. Now Uma wouldn’t yell at him. Uma could be scary when she felt like it, which seemed to be always. “See you there!” he said enthusiastically, hoping that somehow Uma had whatever Sophie was looking for.

  “King Ben is here! King Ben is here!” The villagers of Stone City left their work and dwellings to line the road near where the royal jet had landed. Ben got out and waved to his people, who waved and cheered back. They walked together in a merry parade all the way to the center of town. After hours of sitting, it was a relief to finally arrive at the peaceful valley in the middle of Northern Wei. Like its name, all the buildings and houses in Stone City were made of rock, and the village itself had been built near a giant mushroom-shaped stone. The Great Wall loomed over the north side of the village, casting a long shadow.

  They passed the city gates that led into the greatest pavilion, and followed the cobblestoned path all the way to the front of the structure, where the town’s leaders were waiting to greet them.

  Elder Wong, who wasn’t a gray-bearded official in a smock, but a young man who wore his dark hair in a ponytail and was wearing a natty suit, bowed upon seeing Ben. “Thanks so much for honoring us with your presence,” he said.

  “Charlie?” Ben asked, delighted. “You’re the elder of this village?”

  “Hey, man,” said Charlie, slapping Ben a high five. “Yeah, went home and took on the role. Looks like you did too,” he said, motioning to the golden circlet that Ben wore as his traveling crown.

  Charlie had been a few years ahead of Ben at Auradon Prep, and Ben was glad to find an old friend in unfamiliar territory. Maybe this dispute could be settled easily after all.

  “Hey, Lonnie,” said Charlie. “How’s Shang doing?”

  “Still coaching R.O.A.R. and trying to get that hip-hop record out,” said Lonnie, giving Charlie a hug.

  “Nice,” said Charlie. “Come on in, let’s talk over boba.”

  Ben and Lonnie followed Charlie inside the stone house, which, while ancient and minimal on the outside, was outfitted with the latest gadgets inside. Ben spied a large-screen television on the wall, a roving robot sweeper on the carpet, and a high-end security system with a twelve-camera display. Charlie led them to a small room with a view of the mountains and a portion of the Great Wall.

  Charlie sat cross-legged on the floor in front of a low table that had been set for them with the village’s finest china and silver, and Ben and Lonnie did the same.

  Instead of diving right into the business at hand, Ben and Lonnie regaled Charlie with the latest news from Auradon.

  “Is it true that Audrey’s dating Chad?” said Charlie, shock written all over his face. “Whoa.”

  “Yeah, although I hear Audrey’s changed her mind about him,” said Lonnie with a laugh.

  “Oh no, really?” said Ben, who hadn’t heard that rumor. “Poor Chad! He’ll be crushed!”

  They talked about the Seaside Festival, and Charlie mentioned the Imperial Palace was looking forward to hosting Ben during their Auradon celebration. “I hear they’ve hired acrobats from all over the kingdom,” said Charlie. “Especially the ones who can do tricks with fire.”

  Lonnie smiled. “The fire dancers were always my favorite.”

  “Yeah, I can’t wait,” said Ben. “It’s going to be amazing. Too bad Seaside got rained out.”

  “It happens,” said Charlie.

  “So what’s going on here?” asked Ben, accepting a tall glass of boba from a smiling servant. He sipped the round tapioca balls through the extra-large straw.

  “See up there?” asked Charlie, putting down his glass and pointing out the window. “Those dots in the sky? They’re flying carpets. You think they’d be quiet, right? But they fly so fast they can create a sonic boom. So every time one of them flies over the wall to our side, everything in the village shakes. It’s horrible. Babies cry, things fall off tables, and see that cluster of trees over there? They’re olive trees. They’re planted on the Agrabah side of the wall, and when the carpets fly over, they shake the trees.”

  “Uh-huh,” said Ben.

  “Some of the olives fall over on our side then,” said Charlie. “So we use them. But our neighbors over there say that the olives are theirs, if not for the wall blocking their ability to harvest them. They want their olives back, and, well, we don’t want to give them back. They’re on our side of the wall, fair and square. Plus, the carpets are a nuisance—a huge headache. We’re sick of it. We’ve asked them to ground the carpets, but they refuse.”

  Lonnie raised her eyebrows and looked to Ben, who scrunched his forehead and chewed a bubble of tapioca before answering. “Why do they need carpets? They never use them anywhere else in Auradon,” said Ben.

  “Because of the wall over here. The carpets are the only way to get over it without having to go all the way around.”

  “I see. And you guys eat a lot of olives?”

  “Enough,” said Charlie. “My villagers are doubly annoyed because the branches and leaves of the olive trees shed in the winter, and who has to clean up all the mess? We do, because they fall on our side of the wall. The Sultan’s people don’t offer to clean it up, do they? No, they just want to fly their carpets and eat their olives without any of the work.”

  Ben leaned forward. “And what are you guys doing about it?”

  “So far, nothing yet. Just shouting from opposite sides of the wall. But we’re prepared to do more. We’ve stationed archers on the wall,” said Charlie defensively.

  A servant placed a tray of food in front of them. There was olive bread, olive oil, and a fragrant, olive-scented roast beef. Ben reached for a hunk of bread, tearing the loaf, and bit into a piece, just as the entire room began to shake with a boom from a flying carpet. “This is delicious,” he said. “And I can see why you find the carpets aggravating.”

  Charlie relaxed slightly. “I’m glad you understand the situation. I was a bit worried about the response from Auradon. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to see the king.”

  “Lonnie asked me to take cha
rge personally,” Ben explained.

  “Then we have you to thank,” said Charlie to Lonnie, who bowed and smiled.

  “Ben will do right by us,” said Lonnie. “Won’t you, Ben?”

  Ben wiped the crumbs from his hands with a napkin and rose from the table, grunting a little from the exertion of having to stand from the floor. He was careful not to promise anything without meeting with the other side first. If this issue was going to be resolved, he needed to figure out a fair way to appease both sides.

  “Thanks much for your hospitality,” he said, shaking Charlie’s hand. “I’m meeting with the Agrabah delegation next, and then I’ll get back to you guys.”

  “Great. We look forward to settling this issue once and for all,” said Charlie. “We know you’ll do your best.”

  Ben nodded. He meant to be a king for all his subjects, which meant keeping the interests of the villagers from Stone City in mind as well as the grievances of the people of Agrabah when he made his final decision. He hoped they would abide by it.

  “We need to steal a boat from the dock,” said Jay. “How else are we going to get out into the ocean?”

  “Steal? No way!” said Mal, who was leery of embarking on a plan that might get them in trouble, especially while Ben was away. They’d been in Auradon for a few months now, and no one looked at them as villains anymore. They were just regular students like everybody else. She hoped they could solve this the Auradon way and not resort to tactics they’d learned on the Isle of the Lost.

  “We’ll just borrow one,” suggested Evie. “Right?”

  “But who do we know that owns a boat?” said Jay.

  “Um, Ben does,” said Carlos. “He has the royal fleet at his command.”

  “And we only need one boat,” said Evie.

  “Okay, let me try him,” said Mal, taking out her phone. Borrowing a boat sounded like an excellent, Auradon-approved idea. Ben would surely allow them the use of one of his boats, and, as Evie pointed out, they only needed one. Mal dialed his number, but instead of ringing, the line gave her a busy signal. She typed a text instead. But it bounced back as well. “Hmmm. I can’t get through. He’s over at a village near the Great Wall,” she said.

  “Yeah, they don’t have good signal in the outer provinces of Northern Wei,” said Carlos. “I doubt you’ll be able to get ahold of him in time.”

  “Like I said, we’ll just steal one, and once we’re done with it, we’ll bring it right back,” Jay insisted. “There’s no other way.”

  Mal crossed her arms and put away her phone, frowning. “I guess not.” She still didn’t like the sound of it, but there didn’t seem to be another alternative. Goodness is as goodness does, Fairy Godmother liked to say, and Mal thought that if their intentions were good, that counted for something. Right?

  “There really isn’t any other way for us to get out there,” Evie said reluctantly.

  “Not unless we turn into mermaids,” said Carlos, shrugging.

  “Great!” said Jay, clapping his hands together. “Let’s go!”

  “But we have to be really careful that we don’t get caught,” said Mal, as they hurried out of the cafeteria together.

  Jay shook his head. “Come on, it’s me! Just a few months ago I was the best thief on the Isle of the Lost. And did I ever get caught?”

  They all had to admit the answer was no.

  Jay almost felt nostalgic as they made their way down to Belle’s Harbor that night. Getting past the guards stationed at the entrance to the royal marina was easy. They had done enough slinking and scurrying around in the shadows on the Isle of the Lost that they were experts in hugging walls, crouching, and scampering when someone was looking the other way. They ran down the gravel path toward the water, coming to a stop right at the gate before the dock.

  “It’s locked,” said Mal, tugging on the handle.

  “Not a problem,” said Jay with a smile, as he held up his trusty pin. He was enjoying being able to indulge in his old bad habits once more. But as much as he twisted and turned and shook the pin inside the lock, it wouldn’t open. “Huh,” he said. “That’s never happened before.” He removed his beanie in frustration.

  “Let’s just climb over it,” said Jay, already scampering up the iron mesh. The rest of them tried to do the same, but the gate was too tall, and the steel cut painfully into the palms of their hands. Even Jay had to quit halfway up the gate.

  Carlos slid down with a yelp, and Evie almost twisted her ankle trying to get a foothold.

  “This isn’t going to work,” said Mal, trying to stop the bleeding on her knuckles.

  Jay kicked at a pebble, frustrated.

  Mal looked around to make sure there was no one around. “Step aside, I’ll just spell it open.” She removed her mother’s trusty spell book from her pack and paged to the right incantation.

  “Toad’s breath and vampire’s tickle, open up this door a little!”

  The gate swung open an inch, and Mal smiled.

  “Nice work,” said Jay, pushing the door open. “After you, ladies.”

  Evie looked concerned as she stepped through the gate. “Mal, you’re really using that spell book more than you should.”

  “I’ll stop after today, I promise,” said Mal, as Jay and Carlos followed after them and ran ahead to check out the different kinds of boats.

  “Which one do we want?” asked Jay, as there were sailing and motor vessels of all kinds. He rubbed his hands in glee at all there was for the taking. There were cabin cruisers, sleek sailing catamarans, fishing trawlers complete with outriggers, and even a hydroplane.

  “I don’t know, just something that will get us there fast,” said Mal.

  “How about this one?” asked Jay, whistling at the sight of the crowning glory of the royal collection, a fancy two-hundred-foot yacht complete with a helicopter pad on the top deck.

  “We’re not taking that,” said Mal.

  “Why not?” Jay asked, annoyed. He was already picturing himself in the captain’s seat, and he would bet there was a sweet royal Jacuzzi up there.

  “It’s the royal yacht,” said Mal. “It’s saved for only special occasions. Ben would kill us.”

  “Fine,” he said, sulking.

  “Hey guys, how about this one?” Carlos called from farther down the dock.

  They rounded the corner and found Carlos grinning from a sleek black speedboat with the royal insignia on the side. BEAST’S FURY was carved in gold on the stern.

  “It looks fast,” said Jay, hopping on.

  “Faster than a pirate ship, hopefully,” said Mal. “Uma cannot have that trident. Who knows what she’d want for it!”

  “She’ll want to get off the island for sure,” said Evie.

  “And we cannot have her rampaging around Auradon,” said Mal. “Think of the trouble she’d stir up.”

  “Just one problem,” said Jay, glancing around the dashboard of the elegant boat. “We don’t have the keys to this thing.”

  “Again, not a problem,” said Mal, consulting her spell book once more. “Hmmm, what kind of spell do you think would work? Key-making spell? Boat spell?” She flipped through the pages. “Oh! How about this one? My mom’s notes said she used it all the time before she came to the Isle to turn on the microwave when it didn’t work.”

  Mal held her hand up and pointed to the boat. “Lizard’s tongue and demon’s spawn, make this blasted thing turn on!”

  The boat’s engine purred to life. Jay grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.

  “Just one problem,” said Carlos. “None of us actually know how to drive a boat. And I’m not sure there’s a spell for that.”

  “Hmm, maybe not,” said Mal. “But let me check.”

  “I think that’s probably enough spells for the day,” said Evie delicately.

  “But we’ll need the spell book to get through the barrier, and then to call up the trident,” Mal reminded her.

  “Need what to do what?” a voice called, ju
st as a bright light shone upon them on the shadowy dock, temporarily blinding all of them.

  Mal frantically motioned to Jay to cut the engine, and the four of them froze in place, barely daring to breathe.

  “Who’s there?” called the increasingly familiar voice. “Show yourselves!”

  Mal shielded her eyes and looked up past the light to the person holding the spark. She knew that wand.

  “Oh no! It’s Fairy Godmother!”

  Uma had worked at the Fish and Chips Shoppe her entire life, from when she was so little she could barely see above the counter, until she was old enough to wear an apron, carry a tray, and take an order. She recognized most of their regulars, and when new customers walked in, Uma always paid attention. So when the Sorcerer’s Intern entered on Gil’s arm, Uma spotted her right away.

  She and Harry were whispering by the counter when they arrived. Uma nodded to Gil, who waved back and signaled for Uma to come over. She shook her head. She wanted Gil to talk to Sophie for a little bit, soften her up before Uma went in for the kill.

  Harry slunk away and Uma went back to work, slamming down trays and yelling at patrons who dared not to tip, pointing to the sign—TIP OR ELSE!—that hung by the exit. After an hour, Gil sidled up to the counter that Harry was leaning on and Uma was wiping with a rag. “Are you ready to talk to her yet?” he asked Uma, a desperate tone in his voice.

  “Why, are you out of conversation?” Uma asked.

  “Almost! We’ve been sitting over there forever. I did what you said. She thinks we’re on a date. Keeps asking me about my hobbies and whether I enjoy long walks on the beach. I’ve seen a lot of pictures of her cats,” he groaned. “I told her you wanted to chat now.”

  “Fine. Harry, stay close in case I need you.” Uma squared her hat on her head and walked over to the table, to where a young woman in a red wizard’s robe was seated, sipping bilge and snacking on a side of fried clams. “Hi, Sophie?”

  “Hey, Uma,” said Sophie. “These are great! What do you guys put on them?” she said, motioning to the plate of clams and wiping her mouth with a napkin.