No, she told herself. I’m right. CJ is in there. I heard her.
Ally stood up straighter and took a deep breath. “CJ Hook is back!” she announced to the crowd. “She stole my cake! And Jane’s mother’s watch! And ruined the Spirit Weekend banners.” Ally turned back to Freddie and pointed at her. “And Freddie has been hiding her in her dorm room!”
A collective gasp rose from the group.
Ally expected Freddie to confess. To bow her head in shame and admit to the allegations. But she didn’t. She just rolled her eyes and sighed. “Ally! This is ridiculous. CJ is not here.”
“Well, then open your door and let us take a look for ourselves,” Ally countered.
Freddie chuckled, like she knew a secret. “Fine,” she said, much too casually for Ally’s liking. Freddie took out the key to her dorm room, slid it into the lock, and turned. She opened the door and several students pushed their way inside behind Ally, all eager to be the first to spot the infamous CJ Hook.
But the room was empty.
“Where is she?” someone asked.
“Maybe she’s hiding!” someone else said.
“Yes!” Ally cried out. “She’s hiding. Search the room!”
Freddie snorted with what looked like amusement as several students began to search under the bed and in the wardrobe and behind the curtains. But with each passing second, Ally was growing more and more anxious.
Where was CJ? Had she climbed out the window?
Did she already leave?
“Ally,” a gentle voice said, and Ally felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see it was Evie. “I don’t think CJ is here.”
“Of course she’s here!” Ally snapped. “I heard Freddie talking to her yesterday! She was talking about how she had big plans to terrorize Auradon Prep and that she had stolen something valuable!”
Freddie began to cackle with laughter. “Is that what this is about?” she asked, her annoyance replaced with amusement. Freddie walked over to her desk and pulled out a tablet. “Yes, I talked to her yesterday,” Freddie went on, swiping her fingertip across the tablet screen and then turning it around to show the group. “On video chat.”
Video chat?
Ally took a step toward Freddie, dread blooming in her stomach as she looked at the tablet. A moment later, CJ’s face filled the entire screen.
“Ahoy, mateys!” CJ’s voice came crystal clear through the tablet’s speakers. “Having a party without me? I’m offended.” Then she hooted with laughter. “Actually, no, I’m not. Auradon Prep is such a bore compared to the excitement of Camelot Heights.”
Camelot Heights?
“I mean, just look at this adorable little town. Overflowing with places to loot.” CJ turned the camera away from her face and panned it around, zooming in on a nearby building. The sign on the front read:
CAMELOT HEIGHTS JEWELERS
Ally’s chest squeezed with panic. CJ was in Camelot Heights? But that was on the other side of the kingdom, more than a day’s journey from Auradon—which meant there was no way CJ could have been there to ruin the signs the previous night.
The dorm room was silent, but Ally’s mind was reeling. She immediately replayed the conversation she’d overheard the day before.
“You’re going to get in trouble.”
“Relax, Freddie. I’m disappointed in you. Auradon Prep has really turned you into such a softy. Look what else I stole.”
“That looks really valuable!”
“Exactly. Pretty wicked, huh? So easy to steal, too. The people around here are way too trusting.”
It had definitely been CJ’s voice, but had she ever actually said she was in Auradon?
No. She hadn’t.
“Well, I’d love to stay and chat,” CJ said, “but pirate duty calls!” CJ’s finger extended toward the camera, and a moment later, the screen went dark.
Ally felt her breathing grow shallow. She couldn’t be wrong about this. Not again. Not in front of everyone!
“So the valuable thing she stole…” Ally began.
“It was a necklace,” Freddie explained. “From some poor old lady. And I convinced her to return it.”
“Not Fairy Godmother’s watch?” Ally asked, needing confirmation.
“No,” Freddie said.
Ally tapped her forehead, trying to focus her scrambled thoughts.
Freddie set the tablet down on the desk and scowled at Ally. “I can’t believe, after everything we’ve been through together, you would think I’d do something like this.”
“And I can’t believe that you would yet again accuse the wrong person,” Mal said, stepping up to stand next to Freddie.
“And I can’t believe I let you drag me into this!” Jane cried.
Ally suddenly felt very small, like she’d drunk one of those Wonderland shrinking potions and was now the size of a leaf.
Her stomach clenched. She hadn’t solved the crime. She’d failed. Again. She’d let her obsession with solving the mystery and satisfying her curiosity cloud her judgment—just as her mother once had long before, when she’d followed a white rabbit in a waistcoat down a rabbit hole.
Ally took a sheepish step toward the door. “Whoopsie!” she said brightly, trying to lighten the mood. “My mistake!”
But it didn’t work. The energy in the air was heavy and angry. Ally could feel it pressing down on her shoulders. “Did you know,” she said, forcing lightness into her voice, “that ‘mistake’ is actually an anagram for ‘a kismet’? Which means ‘meant to be’! Isn’t that curious?”
No one said anything, and Ally felt like the silence was drowning her. So she kept talking. “Although, another anagram for ‘mistake’ is ‘meat ski,’ which is kind of funny, because, honestly, what’s a meat ski, right? Is it a piece of meat that skis?” She was hoping for a laugh. A smile. Anything. But all she saw were stony, disappointed faces staring back at her. And the face that looked the most disappointed of them all belonged to Jane.
Whoopsie, indeed, Ally thought.
This was by far the worst “meat ski” she’d ever made.
I could feel the animosity rising off everyone like steam. It was more uncomfortable than a tea party without finger sandwiches.
“Please, let me explain,” Ally said to the small group that remained in Freddie’s room. After it was revealed that CJ wasn’t there, most of the students had wandered down to the banquet hall, muttering something about breakfast, except for Audrey, who was ranting about going to back to the carnival grounds to try to salvage what was left of the signs. The only people left in the room with Ally were Freddie, Jane, Mal, and Evie.
“After my cake was eaten and Jane’s watch went missing,” Ally tried to explain, “I thought it was connected. I thought—”
“There’s no connection,” Mal said with a frustrated sigh. “You have to stop trying to turn everything into some giant conspiracy. Cakes get eaten, watches get misplaced, signs get ruined; it doesn’t mean there’s some great criminal at work.”
“Actually,” Evie cut in, pursing her lips, “now that you list everything out like that, it does seem kind of strange that all of this would happen around the same time, doesn’t it?”
Ally’s hopes lifted for a moment. Was Evie taking her side? Was someone actually standing up for her? But then her hopes came crashing back down when Mal said hastily, “No. It’s just a coincidence. There’s no cake-eating, watch-stealing, sign-ruining bandit running amok in Auradon. Someone ate the cake and didn’t want to fess up to it. Dude probably did destroy those signs. And Jane just forgot where she put her watch.”
Ally glanced uneasily over at Jane, who up until then hadn’t said a word. She’d just been silently fuming in the corner of Freddie’s dorm room.
“Isn’t that right, Jane?” Mal prompted.
Jane nodded. “I must have misplaced it,” she said in a near whisper. But even through her soft voice, Ally could tell she was furious.
“See?” Mal said, throw
ing up her arms. “So, no more playing detective. No more accusing people. No more mysteries! Okay?”
Tears welled up in Ally’s eyes but she hastily blinked them away. She didn’t want Mal to see her cry. “Okay,” she whispered.
Mal huffed. “Good. Now let’s go to breakfast. I’m starving.”
Everyone shuffled out of Freddie’s room. Mal, Evie, and Freddie immediately disappeared down the hallway toward the banquet hall, and Ally was left alone with Jane, who wouldn’t even meet Ally’s eyes.
She knew she should say something to Jane. But what? Her mother always told her that you should apologize when you did something wrong. And Ally knew she had definitely done something wrong. So she sucked in a breath and said, “I’m—”
But the rest of the words never came out, because suddenly Jane was crying.
“I can’t believe you did that to me, Ally!” she said through her tears. “I can’t believe you dragged me into one of your silly accusations! I trusted you. I trusted that you knew what you were talking about. And now everyone thinks I’m just as bad as you are.”
“Jane,” Ally tried to say, but Jane didn’t even let her finish. She turned on her heels and stalked down the hallway without even a glance back in Ally’s direction.
Ally slumped and started toward her dorm room but changed her mind halfway there. Instead, she turned and ran out of the dorms. She darted down the paved walkway, past the lockers, and then across the tourney field, where Mal’s beautiful stage and decorations were set up and ready for the concert that afternoon. Ally doubted she would be going to that. No one wanted to see her face around there. She didn’t stop running until she was at the tea shop, the one place where she felt safe. The door jingled when she opened it, waking Dino, who was napping on a couch. He jumped down and came to slink around Ally’s ankles.
Ally scooped the kitty in her arms and collapsed into a large upholstered armchair.
“I don’t know what I was thinking, Dino,” Ally said.
“Meow?” Dino asked with concern.
“No,” Ally answered Dino’s question. “It didn’t go well at all. It turns out I’m not a detective. I’m not a sleuth. I tried to find patterns where they didn’t even exist. I tried to apply Ally logic and it only made things worse.”
Dino looked confused. “Meow?”
“It means logic with a twist. But it doesn’t matter, because Ally logic failed. I failed. I failed everyone—Jane, Mal, Evie, Freddie, Audrey. But mostly, I failed myself.”
Dino tried his best to console her by curling up next to her.
Ally let out a sad laugh. “You’re right, kitty. I didn’t fail you. Thank you for that.”
But even that small reassurance from her friend couldn’t stop the tears from falling. Ally held the cat close to her and buried her face in his soft fur. Normally Dino didn’t like being held so tightly. Normally he squirmed and tried to get loose. But this time, he seemed to understand how much Ally needed him, because he just sat there, purring, letting Ally’s giant tears soak his fur.
Unfortunately, I was wrong twice in less than twenty-four hours. And it seemed that everyone hated me, even my best friend.
Ally fell asleep in the tea shop with Dino cradled in her arms. As she slept, she dreamt. Unlike her mother, Ally didn’t dream of white rabbits and talking caterpillars and red queens. Instead, Ally dreamt of her friends. Jane and Mal and Evie and Freddie and Audrey. She could see all of their disappointed faces spinning around her, like they were on a high-speed carousel and she was stuck in the center.
Jane, whom she’d dragged into this nonsense.
Mal, who had gotten so frustrated with her.
Evie, who had always tried to make her feel better.
Freddie, who she had falsely accused of harboring a criminal.
And Audrey, who was out there right now, trying to fix what was left of her Spirit Weekend banners.
Ally jolted awake and looked at the clock on the wall of the tea shop. She’d only been asleep for thirty minutes, but it was long enough for her to come to a conclusion.
Her mother always told her that if you hurt someone’s feelings, you should apologize. If you break something, you should try to fix it. Ally knew she couldn’t undo what she’d done. She couldn’t un-ask for Jane’s help or un-accuse Freddie of hiding CJ in her room.
But there was one place where she could help.
So Ally stood up, said good-bye to Dino, and headed back toward the carnival grounds. When she arrived, she found the grounds empty, apart from the ruined banners. Audrey had evidently given up trying to fix them. And Ally couldn’t blame her. They didn’t look fixable. All the writing had been smeared and all the carefully painted pictures had turned into illogical messes.
Who could have done this? Ally thought. But she quickly stopped herself before her thoughts went too far down that road.
Stop trying to solve everything. Stop trying to find a pattern. Just help clean up.
So that’s exactly what Ally did. She started picking up the ruined banners and depositing them in the Dumpster. Everyone’s hard work, in the trash.
When she picked up her own banner—the amorphous blue glob—she remembered how Evie and Mal had thought it looked like Ben. Ally blinked and stared down at her paper, trying to see what Evie and Mal had seen. She squinted at the nondescript glob of blue paint, turning the paper in a circle, trying to study it from every angle. But no matter how hard she stared at it, she just couldn’t see what her friends had seen.
Ally had always viewed things differently, even as a child. Her mother told her it was her hidden strength, but now it just seemed like her weakness. She wished she could see things like everyone else. She wished she could see a mural on a wall as just a mural on a wall. Or an eaten cake and lost watch and ruined signs as nothing more than random occurrences. She wished she could see a prince in this blob, but she just couldn’t.
All she saw was a blob.
With a sigh, Ally walked over to the Dumpster and lifted the lid. But just before she stuffed the banner inside, something peculiar caught her eye.
Wait a minute….
Ally squinted at the banner, her vision zeroing in on the bottom left corner of the sign.
What is that?
What had originally looked like just a random splattering of paint—a mishap from whatever banner-ruining escapade had happened there—upon closer inspection, seemed to have a shape.
Are those…?
Ally shook her head. No. They couldn’t be.
But the closer she looked, the more certain she became.
Those were footprints. Tiny footprints. Like those belonging to a small animal of some kind.
Dude? Ally immediately guessed. Was Mal right? Had Dude run through there and demolished all the paintings?
But for some reason, Ally wasn’t convinced. These didn’t look like dog prints. Not at all.
What kind of creature left prints this shape? Ally quickly pulled out her phone and did a search. As she waited for the results, she felt bread-and-butterflies fluttering in her stomach. What kind of animal could she be dealing with? A bear, perhaps? Or a cougar?
Ally was not afraid of cougars. She had met one once in the swamp in the Bayou D’Orleans when she’d gone there with Freddie and Jordan on an epic adventure. But that was a whole other story.
The results appeared on her screen, and Ally let out a loud gasp as the banner slipped from her hands and floated to the ground.
What?
It couldn’t be…could it?
Ally could feel pieces falling into place in her mind. She could feel the familiar sensation of details rearranging themselves into a pattern, like letters of an anagram mixing up to spell a new word with a new meaning.
A gobbled-up carrot cake.
A stolen watch.
Ruined signs.
Everyone said they weren’t connected. But Ally knew in her heart of hearts that wasn’t true. They were connected. By the very thing t
hat left behind these footprints.
Ally let out a giddy yip, scooped up the fallen banner, and took off at a run. She didn’t stop until she was banging on Jane’s dorm room door. Jane opened it and her eyes immediately narrowed. “What are you doing here?” she asked crossly.
“I know who did it!” Ally announced proudly, her face lit up like a firework. “Jane, I solved the mystery!”
That’s why they call it the present, right? I had figured out who was behind all the curious things happening in Auradon. And I had to tell Jane.
“I don’t want anything to do with this.” Jane immediately started to close the door on Ally, but Ally stopped it with her foot and pushed her way inside.
“Just listen,” Ally urged. “Remember when the VKs were joking about a ghost ruining the signs?”
Jane crossed her arms over her chest. “Ally, I’m still mad at you. And I don’t want to talk to you, especially about this.”
Ally continued. “Well, it turned out they weren’t that far off about the ghost.”
Jane took the bait. “Wait. What are you talking about?”
“The culprit! The thief responsible for everything that’s happened around here. It isn’t human.”
Jane looked extremely skeptical, like she didn’t even want to reply. But Ally could tell Jane’s curiosity was winning. They were best friends, after all. If anyone knew how to get Jane’s attention, it was Ally.
“Okay, if it’s not human, what is it?” Jane finally asked.
Ally inhaled deeply. She knew that what she was about to say would seem odd to someone as logical as Jane, but she had to at least try to make her understand. Ally pushed the banner into Jane’s hands. She pointed at the small footprints in the corner. “Look at that. Look at those prints.”
Jane shrugged. “Dude?”
“No. Those aren’t dog prints.”
“Then what are they?”
Ally exhaled slowly and then announced, “They’re rabbit prints.”
Ally's Mad Mystery Page 6