James pushes me through and the door slams shut behind us.
“Hurry,” he says, “this isn’t going to hold them for long.”
“James, you have to stop this,” I plead. “Listen to them! They’re scared!”
The entire club has dissolved into shrieking chaos, and we are part of the tide.
“Get out of my way!” He looks behind him and the watch I gave him begins to tick. It gets louder and louder until I want to scream to make it stop. Everyone can hear it and now there’s just a wave of panicking kids, swarming and trying to get out of Wonderland any way they can. My thoughts are swarming too.
“James, they’re going to get hurt!” I scream over the ticking. “Someone is going to get trampled!”
His face stays unreadable and he pushes through the crowd, holding me with one hand, throwing people to the side with the other.
“James,” I plead, saying the only thing I think will get through to him. “These are Legacy kids. They’re our kind.”
This stops him, and he tightens his grip on me. “So softhearted,” he says right in my ear. Then he rears back and says, “Freeze!”
Everything stops.
The crowd does what they’re told. They freeze, confetti and balloons in midair. And the ticking has stopped. Wonderland is frozen in place.
“Tick tock!” he says, and the music and screaming start up again as we rush out onto the street. He pulls me off my feet and we bound over a taxi and across the street, heading straight for Miracle. I don’t even scream anymore. I’m either going to survive this or I’m not.
“They’re coming,” he says.
Sure enough, more of Kyle Attenborough’s goons are right behind us, and James is swaying from side to side to avoid them. I scream as I hear whizzing just next to my ear.
“Darts,” he says. “More harmful than a bullet for me now.”
We make it to Miracle before the first dart hits him. He groans and lets go of me.
“Stop shooting!” I scream. “If everyone will just calm down I can help. They’ll listen to me.”
There’s a moment of stillness. James gasps beside me. A dart protrudes from his hand.
“Just stop,” I say, putting my hand up. “We can talk. We can do that, can’t we?”
Ursula has disappeared into the lake, James is standing beside me, an arm slung over my shoulder, while Maleficent has climbed onto a fire escape. She raises her hand and says, “Come, pet.”
In a huge swoop of movement, Hellion descends from the sky and lands on her shoulder. It’s glorious.
“Pet,” she croons. “Oh, my pet. You’re here.”
One of the men looks up at her, trying to take advantage of her distraction, and before he can do anything she hurls blue light at him. She hits him and he is singed and within seconds has disappeared. Any chance of a compromise or negotiation is gone as the men double down, shooting up at her. Even in the midst of the chaos and noise, she tromps up and vanishes from view, Hellion cawing angrily.
They turn their attention back to me. “Don’t move, miss,” one of them says.
“You don’t understand! They’ve been missing. They’re victims.”
“I understand perfectly, miss.”
James jerks upward, raising his hands, and the men pelt him with darts as he gets between them and me, using his body as a shield. My throat is so hoarse from screaming that I hardly make a noise as I drop to my knees.
One keeps his gun trained on me. “Miss, if you move again, it’ll be the last you see of this night.”
The street is suddenly quiet as some of the men follow Mally and the rest head for the lake, leaving only one behind.
I am focused on James. His eyelids flutter. “Don’t close your eyes, James. Please!”
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” he wheezes. “I wanted you to be proud of me. I was going to find magic and bring it home to you.” He laughs weakly. “They tried to make a magic pill for Narrows, but it doesn’t work on them.” His laughter whinnies into the night. “It backfired. Mally and Ursula got stronger than them. Ursula escaped. They can’t control us, any of us, and they never will.”
I let my fingers slip across his lips. “It’s okay,” I say. “I’m going to take you home. We’re going to figure this out and you’ll be better and it’ll be like none of this ever happened.”
“They already would have reversed it if they could have.” He is struggling now. “Let me go, Mary Elizabeth. I love you but this is what I want.”
“I love you, too,” I whisper.
“He’s not going anywhere except back in the cage, if he’s lucky,” the man who has been listening nearby says. “It’s true what he said, you know. They have to be put down.”
“Put down?” I say, laying James’s head carefully onto the pavement and getting to my feet. “He’s a person with a life and friends and dreams. And your stupid boss did this to him in the first place. Don’t you have a family? People who care about you? Well, he’s my family. He’s almost all I have and I’m not going to let you—”
There’s a crackling noise and the explosive pop of more shots being fired. Something is rising out of Miracle, and it’s so huge I have to adjust my eyes to see it right, but everything else in the Scar stops completely, except the sound of a helicopter circling overhead. There are no moving cars. The street has emptied out.
Ursula is the size of a building and she is slowly emerging from the water, soaking everything in sight. The ground rumbles so hard I have to hold on to the side of the closest building, and the security guard starts shooting, but he’s already falling.
“ENOUGH!” she says, and the ground shakes. “Oh, you poor, unfortunate souls. You have no idea who you’re dealing with!”
THAT’S PLENTY OF TERRIFYING FOR ME. I HAVE TO remind myself multiple times that this creature slopping its way out of Miracle about to destroy everything in sight is my best friend. Maybe she’s not in the healthiest headspace right now, but every problem has a solution, right?
Just as I’m thinking I’ll be able to fix all this, a helicopter goes careening down to the closest building, where it crashes through some high-rise windows and explodes into flames.
No, not a helicopter.
“That’s a dragon,” I say to no one. “It’s a dragon.”
And it is. Not that I’ve seen one in person, but this enormous flying lizard can’t really be anything else. It lets out a cry that pierces the air so loudly, a man trying to cross the street crouches down and covers his ears. Hellion, bringing up the rear, flaps his wings and attacks an officer who has just pulled into the scene and has a gun trained on the dragon, which breathes fire onto the street a couple of blocks away. I hear the sound of screams and explosions as the big glass building begins to shake.
“How is there a dragon? What is going on?” I say to no one in particular.
The goon is hurt and looking a lot less like a goon and a lot more like a guy in need of medical attention. He reaches up. “That’s what’s left of Mally Saint,” he says. “You don’t understand. You have to kill them. They’re going to destroy everything. Everyone you love.”
“They are everyone I love.”
But I know it’s true when I see the horns spiraling from the top of the dragon’s head. The dragon that was once a cold, mean girl flaps around above us as Ursula swings her many tentacles until every last one of Kyle Attenborough’s men is either dead or temporarily no longer an issue.
“Kind of badass,” I say to no one in particular.
Sirens blast in the distance, heading this way. Ursula spins in a circle, and when she doesn’t see anyone left to fight, she blasts into blue light again, steps out of Miracle, and gracefully shrinks to her normal size. Maleficent makes one more circuit in the air before descending next to Ursula. She transforms into her human form, horns rising from her head and adding at least another foot to her imposing height. Hellion swoops down and takes his place on her shoulder. Maleficent wastes no time. S
he kneels down by James and gives me an accusing stare.
“Why did you let them do this to him?” Something about the way she says this makes me want to step on her head, but she seems genuinely upset, and I don’t want to provoke another fire-breathing dragon episode, so I resist, even when she runs the back of her hand down his cheek.
“His hand,” Maleficent says. She raises it, and where the poison has seeped out of the dart, the hand is turning black.
“Well, get rid of it!” Ursula shouts.
“I don’t know how to remove a limb,” Maleficent says. “I might disembowel him instead.”
“He’s going to be dead real soon if someone doesn’t take it off. Here,” Ursula says. “I’ll do it.”
“I will,” I say. “I’ll do it.” I run to the ax in a nearby store window and break the glass, then go back over to where they are. I see it perfectly, exactly where to make the cut on the swiftly shriveling hand.
Ursula crouches and holds him still. “He’s not going to be passed out for long,” she says.
I swing high and bring the ax down, severing James’s hand from his arm and stopping the poison from traveling through the rest of his body. The black thing that was his hand rolls off to the side.
He screams as I take off my belt and loop it around his arm as tightly as I can. Maleficent magics a bandage. “I’m impressed,” she says.
Bella comes around the corner with Kyle Attenborough in tow. “Here you are. I got this guy,” she says proudly. “I mean, you guys did some of the work for me, but still.”
But I can’t focus on her. All I can see is James unconscious, handless, a shell of who he has always been. I can’t even cry.
“You’re making a mistake,” Kyle says. “I’m not the one who should be in handcuffs. They are!”
Ursula is watching him like he is some kind of sea worm, her lip curling.
“You think I’m the bad guy here? Look around. I’m not the one destroying the city,” he says.
“You were first,” Maleficent says. “You and your greedy friends. We’re simply defending ourselves.”
“Why couldn’t you leave us alone?” I say. “We were fine.”
“You were bored and resentful and greedy,” Kyle says.
“Shall we?” Maleficent says to Ursula.
“Wait,” I say. “You can’t leave. Where are you going to go? Everyone in Monarch is going to be looking for you.”
Ursula takes my hand. “We have plans. We’ve had so much time to think about what we’re going to do next. They’re not going to give up on bottling magic, which means all Legacy are in danger. We’re going to beat them to it, make an army of Legacy kids. It’s going to be beautiful. We’ll be restored to our former glory and everything will be the way it was, only better. We’ll all have a common goal. No more high school, no more Narrows encroaching on our territory, no more rules, no more doing what the city tells us to. We’re going to be in charge. Instead of being their minions, they’ll be ours. We’ll make them pay in flesh for every single thing they’ve ever done to us.”
Nothing in the history books ever said anything about this before. The occasional evil wizard would appear, sure, but the citizens of the Scar were basically good people trying to make ends meet and raise their kids.
“This isn’t what the Scar is about,” I say.
“It is,” Ursula says. “Come with us,” she tries one more time. I glance back at Bella, who is holding Kyle Attenborough in handcuffs, watching us.
Maleficent rolls her eyes.
“I can’t,” I say.
She drops my hand. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, Mary Elizabeth. I’m sorry not to be some ideal person, but you heard him. I’m not going to let myself get put down. And I’m not going to let these jerks take over the Scar and use us like we’re lab rats. We’re going to get them before they get us or anyone else.”
“That’s…evil.”
“Their fault,” Ursula says. “We’re their creation. But I guess you’re right. We’ll be the villains and you’re going to be the heroine of this story, like you always wanted.”
Maleficent appears behind Ursula and takes her by the elbow. “Let’s go. We don’t have much time.”
“You look good as a dragon,” Ursula says to her.
“You look good as a giant octopus,” Maleficent says.
Ursula looks down at James. “What do we do with him?”
The sirens give way to slamming doors and the sound of footfalls.
“Take him.” Much as I don’t want Mally or Ursula to think I approve of what they’re doing, I don’t want James falling into Kyle Attenborough’s hands or even the chief’s. I honestly don’t know whom to trust. “Please, just take him with you. I’ll find you when it’s safe.”
Ursula hugs me. “It’s never going to be safe again,” she says.
And then she picks James up like he’s limp seaweed and throws him over her shoulder.
“Wait!” I cry out. I go over to him and kiss his pale cheek. “Come back to me,” I say. “Come back.”
I feel tears dripping down my cheeks.
You’re going to have to choose between your head and your heart.
I understand it now. James is my heart and so is Ursula, and they’re both so far from me now I’ll never get them back.
With a single flourish from Maleficent, James is gone. Ursula’s gone. And they’ve taken my whole life with them.
“You’re a stupid girl, you know that?” Kyle says to me. “You think you just saved the city, but you have murdered every one of its citizens, letting them go like that.”
A couple of officers I don’t know round the corner into the alley.
“We’ve got it,” Bella says. “Perp is under control.”
“Hey, it’s that intern kid,” the female officer says, eyes bouncing from me to Kyle until she’s certain there’s no threat. She lets her gun fall to her side.
“Isn’t that Kyle Attenborough?” the man says.
Kyle sneers at me, as best he can with his hands zip-tied behind his back. “Magic is back,” he says. “And not only is it back, but it is in the hands of the evilest creatures ever to exist. Congratulations.”
“That’ll be enough out of you,” Bella says, lifting him to his feet to take him to the squad car.
Bella tells me she’ll meet me at the station to officially book him into custody, and when he’s out of sight, I allow myself to tremble as I sit on the curb. The sign to Wonderland is still flashing, and pieces of broken glass and bodies are strewn everywhere. Medics have begun to collect Kyle’s men one by one and put some into ambulances, while others are covered in blankets, a signal that they will need to be collected for the morgue.
My friends did that. The love of my life did that.
My phone vibrates in my pocket and I answer it automatically, without looking at who’s calling.
“Mary Elizabeth, is that you?” It’s Dr. Tink, sounding even more perky than usual. I don’t answer, but it doesn’t seem to matter. “Oh good. I’ve penciled you in for tomorrow at eight a.m., okay? Don’t stand me up or I’ll have to report you. See you then?”
“I think that would be great,” I say, looking at the destruction all around me. “I have a lot to tell you.”
Magic is back.
Magic is back.
Magic is back.
TO JOCELYN DAVIES, MY EDITOR, FOR THE excellent mindmelds, for giving me the opportunity to explore and reimagine the universe of my childhood, and for encouraging me every step of the way. You’re a dreamy editor. Writing for Disney was something I wished upon a star for many years ago, and it has been granted by you. Thank you, many times over.
Thank you to the team at Disney who brought this book to life, including Phil Buchanan, Guy Cunningham, Sara Liebling, Lyssa Hurvitz, Seale Ballenger, Tim Retzlaff, Elke Villa, Dina Sherman, the entire sales team, Kieran Viola, and Emily Meehan. Thanks to Joshua Hixson for the gorgeous cover.
My agent
, Emily van Beek, for your constant assured presence and grace. Obviously I wouldn’t be who I am without you, and I love you.
My children, Lilu and Bodhi: The two of you are still and always making my dreams come true, simply by existing, but even more, every day, by being the remarkable humans you are. I got so lucky to be your mother and have you both as my best friends.
My husband, Chris, you’re a stone-cold miracle. Thank you for supporting my juggling, my ambition, and for listening when the fears get the better of me. I hope I’m half the partner you are.
My colleagues and students at Taos Academy Charter School: You make life exciting and beautiful and you are all filled with magic. I thank you so much for giving me a second home.
My parents, thank you for giving me life and for instilling in me from a very young age the importance of books. You may be responsible for everything that has come after.
My siblings, all the love. #oneofsix
My dearest Nancy Jenkins, who forces conversations about good and evil that make their way into everything I write.
All my friends, writers and non, who make life colorful and adventurous, thank you.
Last, thank you to Disney for imagining a world that has been such a pure joy to play in and such rich characters. I spent my childhood obsessing over your creations, and so this project has satisfied a particular, persistent itch. It has been a blessing and a pleasure and a little bit of fairy dust, too.
I believe in magic. I believe. I believe.
About the Author
Estelle Laure is the author of critically acclaimed books for young people, including Mayhem and This Raging Light. Her books have been translated into twelve languages, and she also works as an editorial consultant and educator. She can usually be found under a cat, a dog, or a child. She lives in Taos, New Mexico, with her family. Visit her online at www.estellelaure.com.
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