royal limousine flying blue-and-gold Auradon flags was waiting for them when they walked out of Dragon Hall, and a group of students were milling about, gawking at it. Mal felt a bit self-conscious at the sight of the luxurious vehicle, but tried not to show it. They had already picked up their trunks from the hideout, so they were ready to go. All they had to do was open the barrier and call up the bridge, and they would be back in Auradon in no time.

“Home, Jay,” Mal said to her friend with a wink as she climbed into the limo. Jay slid into the driver’s seat, grinning.

“Finally,” said Evie, climbing in next to her.

“Ditto,” said Carlos.

“Let’s blow this joint,” said Jay, honking the horn. “Isle of the Get Lost.”

Mal nodded. “I’m glad we’re on our way. I have this weird feeling that we need to be back in Auradon as soon as we can. I might even have Ben cancel the rest of my official visits. I want to be on guard,” she said, a determined look on her face.

“It’ll be fine. You’re just spooked because we’re back here,” Carlos said. “Evil lurks in every corner on the Isle. Really, I think I just saw Claudine Frollo over there.”

“Nah, Mal’s right. It’s good we’re heading back now. Besides, we have to get ready for graduation,” said Jay.

“Graduation!” cried Evie. “Finals are coming up! And I still have to make all the caps and gowns!”

Jay was about to roll up the window when they saw Celia emerge from a manhole cover, top hat first.

“Oh, hi,” she said, nonchalantly, as if she often emerged from subterranean levels.

“Hey, what’s up?” said Mal. She stared at Celia. There was something odd about her, but she couldn’t quite place it.

“Everything okay?” called Evie.

“I think so,” said Celia. “You guys are fine, right?”

“We are,” said Mal. She still wasn’t sure what had happened the night before, but she knew she had faced and survived some sort of danger.

“Good.” Celia leaned over to talk to Evie through the window. “That last card I told you about?” she said. “When I read your fortune?”

“Yes?” asked Evie warily.

“It doesn’t just mean disaster. I mean, it doesn’t mean disaster at all. It just means change,” said Celia. “Sorry I made it sound like a bad fortune.”

Evie brightened. “Change, huh? So change is in my future?”

“Pretty much,” said Celia.

“Well, I am graduating in a few weeks,” said Evie. “So there’s going to be a lot of change happening.”

Celia yelped. “I was right? I predicted it correctly? That’s so cool!”

Evie laughed. “You did. Thanks, Celia.”

Celia rewarded Evie with a huge smile. Then she turned to face all of them. “Headed back to Auradon now?” she asked wistfully.

Mal nodded. “Yeah.”

“But we’ll be back,” said Evie.

“Soon,” added Carlos.

“We promise,” said Jay.

“I hope so,” said Celia, tipping her hat to them.

They waved to Celia until she was just a dot on the horizon and the car was speeding on the bridge back to the mainland. Carlos raided the treats in the limousine, happy to find it was still stocked with as much chocolate and candy as always. Mal looked out the window as the island grew smaller and smaller in the distance.

“I’ll call it. This was a success,” said Carlos. “We got the applications out. Now we just wait to see them come in.”

Jay smiled at them in the rearview mirror. “They will. Dr. Facilier was practically drooling at the thought of VK Day.”

“To villains!” said Carlos with a cackle. He put out his hand. “Come on, make the pile,” he said to Mal and Evie.

One by one they put their hands on top of one another’s. Jay met their eyes in the mirror and nodded.

“The Isle of the Lost will always be home,” said Evie. “It’s where we’re from.”

“But we’re also from Auradon now,” said Mal. She had grown up a child of the Isle of the Lost, a mean-spirited, selfish little sprite, but now she was a defender of Auradon, a lady and a dragon. She wasn’t only Maleficent’s daughter or King Ben’s girlfriend. She was also just Mal.

“I’ll always be just Mal,” Mal murmured.

“‘Just Mal’?” asked Evie. “That’s more than enough.”

They took back their hands and beamed at each other. As long as the four of them were friends, anything was possible. The future was waiting.

“It was weird,” said Mal. “There seemed to be something off about Celia.”

“What?” asked Evie.

“Didn’t you notice?” said Mal thoughtfully. “For a minute, it almost looked like she had no shadow.”