The entire way to Lumiere’s Bistro, Evie and Jane couldn’t stop talking about my amazing feat. I’m not going to lie; I’m loving the praise and attention, even if I did have a little help getting it.

When the group arrived at the restaurant and pushed open the door, they nearly crashed right into Jordan, Ben, and Chad, who were coming out, looking frustrated. “It’s no use going in there,” Jordan griped. “Lumiere is not giving out his secret recipe for the gray stuff.”

Jane sighed and started to turn around. “Oh, well. Our little streak was fun while it lasted.”

Carlos grabbed her gently by the arm and spun her back around. “We have to at least try.”

“Didn’t you hear me?” Jordan said. “He’s not giving it out.”

“It’s true,” Ben offered sympathetically. “We tried everything.”

“I haven’t tried yet,” Carlos said smugly.

“Well, good luck,” Chad said sarcastically. “Lumiere is best friends with Ben’s parents, and if he wouldn’t give the recipe to us, he’s certainly not going to give it to two VKs.”

Carlos shrugged, undeterred. “I don’t know, I’ve been known to be pretty persuasive.”

“It’s true,” Jane admitted. “You should have seen what he just did at—”

But Carlos quickly covered her mouth with his hand. “Shhh!”

Jane shot him a strange look. “What? What’s wrong? Why can’t I tell them?”

Carlos didn’t want the whole school knowing that he’d convinced Grumpy to take a selfie with them. It might raise suspicions. And he couldn’t have a bunch of distrustful gazes pointed at him right now. The last thing he needed was to get caught using magic to win the scavenger hunt and get disqualified from the whole thing.

He smiled innocently at Jane. “We can’t be giving away all our secrets.”

Jordan rolled her eyes. “We don’t care about your secrets. We’re going to beat you guys anyway.” Then she, Chad, and Ben hurried off into town.

Carlos reached for the door handle of the bistro.

“Don’t you think we’re wasting our time?” Evie asked, glancing up from yet another message on her phone. “If Ben couldn’t get Lumiere to give up his recipe, what makes you think we can?”

“Now what kind of leader would I be if I let other people tell me what I can and can’t do?” Carlos grinned and walked into the restaurant, just managing to catch the concerned glance Evie and Jane shared behind him.

The bistro was currently closed to diners. The waitstaff was busy setting the tables for dinner, positioning gorgeous china plates between sparkling silver knives and forks, shining up clear crystal goblets, and lighting long tapered candles in ornate brass candlesticks.

As soon as the group assembled inside, Lumiere came rushing out of the kitchen, babbling in his charming French accent. “Oh, no. No, no, no. Not anozer group of scavenger hunters. S’il vous plait, you must go. Allez! Allez!”

“If you’ll just hear us out—” Carlos began to say, but Lumiere was quick to interrupt him.

“Like I told za last group, no one gets my secret recipe for za gray stuff. Not you, not Ben, not anyone.”

Evie crossed her arms. “Why would Fairy Godmother put it on the scavenger hunt list if you’re not going to give it out?”

Lumiere’s expression soured. “Zat, I have no idea. But you’re not getting eet. Eet’s an old family recipe and I won’t have eet floating around all of Auradon.”

“We just need a picture of it,” Jane said. “We promise to delete it as soon as the points are tallied.”

Lumiere chuckled. “Zat’s what za last group said, too. You Auradon students are quite za little negotiators, but my answer ees still no.”

Carlos cleared his throat and pushed his way to the front of the group. “Let me handle this,” he whispered over his shoulder to his teammates. He bowed to Lumiere. “Bonjour, monsieur,” Carlos said with terrible pronunciation. “Lovely bistro you have here.”

“Merci,” Lumiere said tightly, his expression stern.

“We really need that recipe.”

“And I told you—” Lumiere began, but Carlos held up a hand.

“Let me rephrase,” Carlos said, twisting his wrist until he felt the smooth, worn surface of the collar beneath his sleeve. “You will give us that recipe.”

And right as Carlos said the words, Lumiere’s gaze turned glassy. He stared at Carlos, his mouth slightly ajar, his head tilted. “I will give you zat recipe,” he repeated. He snapped his fingers. “Jacques!” he called to one of the waiters. “Bring me za recipe for za gray stuff!”

“But monsieur…” Jacques argued, looking concerned.

“Maintenant!” Lumiere called out. “Now!”

Jacques scurried into the kitchen, returning a moment later with a heavy black leather book. He had it open to a page in the middle, which Carlos could see was a recipe. Jacques handed the book to Lumiere, and Lumiere proffered it to Carlos, his expression still vacant.

As Carlos pulled his phone out of his pocket and snapped the picture of the recipe, he could hardly contain his excitement. This was going to be another twenty points! They were really cruising now. But in his eagerness, Carlos’s phone slipped from his fingers and, for a moment, seemed to be flying through the air in slow motion, tumbling around and around. Carlos dove for it. He couldn’t risk the phone falling to the ground and breaking. They had too many of their photos for the hunt on it and he hadn’t uploaded any of them to the Auradon Prep server yet.

Thankfully, Carlos managed to catch the phone before it hit the floor, but he was not able to catch himself before crashing into a waiter carrying a trayful of water glasses. The tray tumbled over and every single glass of ice water poured right onto Jane, completely drenching her. Jane screamed from the shock and cold.

“Oh, mon dieu,” Lumiere said, rushing forward to help Jane.

“Don’t worry,” Carlos said, reaching her first. “I’ve got this.” He put an arm around Jane’s shoulders. She was soaking wet and shivering. He felt horrible. After all, he was the one who’d knocked into the waiter. Without a second thought, Carlos shrugged out of his leather jacket and draped it around Jane’s shoulders.

“Thank you,” Jane said through chattering teeth.

“C’mon,” Carlos said, leading Jane toward the door. “Let’s get you out in the sun where it’s warmer.”

But Jane didn’t move. She seemed frozen to the spot. And before Carlos could ask what was wrong, he noticed something had caught Jane’s attention. She was staring at Carlos’s left arm.

“What is that?” Jane asked, and Carlos could hear a trace of accusation in her voice.

“What is what?” Carlos asked, confused.

“That.” Jane stretched out her finger toward Carlos’s wrist, and Carlos suddenly felt a chill rack his body, even though, unlike Jane, he was 100 percent dry.

Jane was pointing at the dog collar.