fter the meeting, the four of them split up—Evie to see if she could find the remaining members of the Anti-Heroes Club and convince them to apply, Jay to follow up with Coach Gaston after practice, Carlos to scout some locations for the Auradon Prep posters, and Mal to take a few pictures of the island to show Ben how things were faring there. Except Mal didn’t take a camera with her. She didn’t want to alarm her friends, but she was truly worried about Celia’s warning. She decided to do a security sweep of the island to see if there was any place in the invisible barrier that might have been weakened by Uma.
As she walked around the island, Mal checked her pocket to make sure she still had the remote that opened the barrier and called up the bridge to the mainland. She felt a little spooked that this one small key could open up the island just like that, but that was the way its magic worked. Ben trusted her with it too. Still, though she had never worried about it before, she found that she kept making sure it was there.
So far, nothing seemed amiss on the island. There were no signs of any illicit magic around, and while she did find a trail of tentacle slime, it only led to Ursula’s cottage, where Ursula was watching her “stories,” aka the soap operas she watched on an old DVD player. The old sea witch was annoyed to see Mal at her doorstep.
“What do you want?” she rasped.
“Oh, hey, I was just wondering—Uma hasn’t been around, has she? You haven’t seen her?” asked Mal.
“No, last I saw her was on the news when she was blasting you with her magic!” Ursula laughed. “Good for her!”
“Um, yeah,” said Mal. “Okay, just wanted to check.”
“What do you want to see her for, anyway? Thought you guys weren’t friends anymore,” said Ursula suspiciously.
“Oh, nothing,” said Mal. “Just curious is all.”
She backed up, hoping Ursula wouldn’t take a swipe at her with her tentacles. Ursula closed the door with a bang.
• • •
Mal was heading away when she realized she had no idea where she was going or where she had been. That was odd, wasn’t it? It almost felt like she was daydreaming. She was standing on the sidewalk, a confused look on her face, when she bumped into Carlos.
“Hey, Mal!” said Carlos. “What’s up? You all right?”
She shook off the weird feeling. Maybe she was just spooked to be back on the Isle of the Lost. Too many bad memories. “Yeah, I’m okay. What are you up to?”
“Oh, just figuring out the best places for the posters. I thought we should put up some Auradon Prep billboards too. Really inundate the place.”
“Cool,” said Mal.
“What about you? What are you doing so far from the hideout?” asked Carlos.
“Nothing,” said Mal. She couldn’t remember. What had she been doing? Maybe it wasn’t important—that’s why she couldn’t remember.
“Well, I’ve got to check out a building over there. I think we can paste over your old ‘Down with Auradon’ signs,” said Carlos apologetically. “See you later.”
“Yeah, see you back at the hideout,” said Mal. “Be careful.”
“I will,” promised Carlos.
• • •
Carlos watched Mal walk away. She seemed a bit off, but maybe she was just concentrating on something. She was Mal, and she could take care of herself. He didn’t have to worry, did he?
Like Mal, Carlos hadn’t been completely straight with the gang. Sure, he was scouting locations for posters and billboards, but he was also testing a system he had invented. Part of the graduation surprise he and Jane had cooked up. It had mostly been Jane’s idea, but Carlos was the technical part of the operation.
He took out his phone and opened the new app he’d put on it. He studied the screen and grinned as it began to work.
Excitedly, he texted Jane.
C-DOG: I think your surprise is going to work!
JAAAAANE: If you’re texting me, it sure is! How’s everything over there?
C-DOG: Okay. Glad we’re going home soon. Isle kids don’t really get the appeal of Auradon.
JAAAAANE: Maybe we need to make a bigger deal out of them.
C-DOG: ?
JAAAAANE: Like a day to really celebrate the villain kids.
C-DOG: Oh like a VK Day!
JAAAAANE: Yes!
C-DOG: Evie will LOVE that idea. You’re a genius! ☺
JAAAAANE: Okay I have to go. See you soon!
C-DOG: Counting down the minutes!
She sent him a heart. Carlos looked at it for a long time, then put his phone away.
• • •
If Mal had noticed Carlos was being cagey earlier, she didn’t give it much thought. She was too worried about the strange gap in her memory. She was walking through the bazaar, lost in her thoughts, when she bumped into Harriet Hook.
“Hey, Harriet,” said Mal.
“Mal!” said Harriet. “Oh, I heard about your roundtable at study hall. My sister, CJ, kept bugging me to go, but I had a big test, and you know the Queen of Hearts threatens to chop off our heads if we fail.”
“It’s okay,” said Mal. “You probably know all about Auradon from CJ.”
Harriet gave Mal one of her rare smiles. “So, how did it go?”
Mal shrugged. “Not our finest hour,” she admitted. “We couldn’t get anyone to realize how great it is. Maybe they didn’t want to hear it. Not everyone will get to go, after all.”
“That’s never stopped a determined bunch of villains before,” said Harriet.
“You’re right,” said Mal. “Maybe we have the wrong approach.…Thanks!”
“No problem,” said Harriet.
Mal began to walk away, but Harriet stopped her.
“Mal?” Harriet said. “You were headed that way,” she said, pointing her fake hook in the opposite direction.
Mal startled. “I was?”
“Yeah. I’m the one going this way.”
“Oh,” said Mal. “Thanks!”
Mal twirled around, trying to hide her embarrassment. What was going on? Why was she acting like this? And why did she have a feeling it had something to do with Uma?