One more day of freedom before his mother came home. Carlos surveyed his domain. Considering that it had been the headquarters of a rather epic party earlier in the week, it didn’t look too bad. The Broomba had worked wonders. Then again, the place always was a bit of a wreck, so who would notice?
The iron knight who towered over the staircase was as solid as ever, the draperies just as heavy and dusty, the faded wallpaper and the holes in the walls lending just that ruined touch that other decorators on the island tried to copy, to no avail.
Carlos was enjoying the rare, relative peace in his house when it was shattered by the sound of the front door knocker pounding so hard, he was sure its booming echo could be heard across the entire island.
He opened the door, then slammed it shut when he saw who was on his doorstep. “Go away, Mal—haven’t you done enough?” he yelled from inside the house.
“Open up! It’s important!” Jay demanded.
“No!”
“Carlos!” That was Evie’s voice. “Something happened with that machine of yours the other night. Something big!”
Wait—what? Evie had told them about his invention? But she had promised! He cracked open the door the tiniest bit so that only his left eye was showing. “You told them what happened?” he said accusingly. “I trusted you!”
Evie pleaded, “Come on, open up! I brought you a pillow!”
Carlos opened the door grudgingly. “Fine. You guys can come in. But don’t even think of locking anyone in the closet this time, Mal!” He turned to Evie. “Is it made of goose down?” he asked excitedly. He hadn’t really believed she would bring him one.
“Yup, the vultures who brought it said the goblin who found it swore it’s from one of the Auradon castles,” Evie said, handing him a pillow in a blue silk pillowcase with a royal insignia.
He accepted the pillow and led them into the living room, pushed some deflated black balloons off the couch, and glowered at them. “Well, what did my machine do?” he asked.
Mal raised an eyebrow, and he immediately regretted his tone of voice. “I mean, care to enlighten me?” he asked politely.
“Evie?” prompted Mal.
Evie took a deep breath. “Okay, so the night of the party, Carlos switched on this machine he’s invented—it’s a box that looks for some kind of signal that lets you watch other TV shows—right, Carlos?”
Carlos nodded. “And music, and lots of other things, through radio waves.”
“So when he turned it on that night, it let out this huge blast of light!” she said breathlessly. “And it burned a hole right through the tree-house roof! We saw it go right through the dome!”
Carlos nodded.
“And the TV suddenly came alive with all these colors! And there were a bunch of new shows! Not just the usual Dungeon Deals and King Beast’s Fireside Chats!”
“But how does that prove it broke through the dome?” asked Mal, who looked skeptical, and Carlos couldn’t blame her. He hardly believed it himself.
“Because we’ve never seen those shows before! Which means the signal didn’t come from the relay station on the Isle of the Lost. Which means it had to have come from a forbidden network on Auradon…” said Evie.
“Which means…” Carlos prodded.
“The blast broke through the dome. For a second,” Evie finished triumphantly.
Mal turned to Carlos. “You really think that your machine did that?”
“It might’ve,” he admitted.
“Do you think there’s a possibility it let magic in, and not just radio waves?”
“Magic in? I don’t know. Why? Do you know something we don’t?” There had to be a reason Mal was here. She had to have some kind of angle on this. Mal never paid any attention to anyone unless she wanted something. What did she want?
He could see her weighing her options. Would she tell them? She didn’t know him every well except to tease him, and from what he’d observed so far, Mal wasn’t fond of Evie in the least. Jay might be in on it—he had to be, otherwise he wouldn’t be here.
“Fine. I’ll tell you guys,” Mal said finally. “Jay already knows. But this has to stay between us. And Evie, no hidden backsies.”
Evie put up her hands in protest.
“Okay, so the night of the party, my mother’s raven, Diablo—who’d been turned into stone by the three so-called ‘good’ fairies twenty years ago, came back to life. And Diablo swears he saw the Dragon’s Eye, my mother’s missing scepter, spark to life as well.”
Carlos stared at her, and no one spoke for a long moment.
“But that would mean…” Carlos said, his eyes blinking rapidly as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Magic! That magic had been able to penetrate the dome for a second!” Jay said excitedly. He had been silent until now, looking around Hell Hall most likely to see if he had missed pocketing anything good from the other night.
Carlos himself was still trying to process what Mal had told them. It was one thing to get to watch new television shows, but it was quite another to hear that magic had penetrated the invisible barrier, and that Maleficent’s missing scepter—the most powerful dark weapon in the universe—had been brought back to life.
“Yes,” said Mal. “Diablo swears it’s true. And so now my mother has tasked me with getting the Dragon’s Eye back. Just in case it happens again, the magic returning. So that this time, she’ll be ready.”
Jay coughed. “And so, um, we should get on the road, Mal, before it gets too late,” he said. “You know I hate to miss a meal.”
Carlos could sympathize with that, especially since meals came so rarely.
“Wait a minute. Before we go, I want to see this box of his,” Mal said, motioning to Carlos.
Carlos was about to argue but decided it was wiser to let Mal have her way. “All right,” he said. “Let me go get it.” He ran through the safe way into his mother’s closet and returned with the machine.
He handed it to Mal, who inspected it closely. She shook it, put it up to her ear, and shrugged. It looked just like a regular box to her, nothing special, and certainly not powerful enough to break through the dome.
“Can you make it work again?” she asked.
“I haven’t tried.”
“Try.”
He hesitated for a moment, then fiddled with a few knobs and looked fearfully up at the ceiling. “Okay. Here we go.” He pressed the switch.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Again, nothing.
He shook his head. “Sorry. Maybe it was just a one-time deal.”
Mal crossed her arms, looking stymied. Carlos knew that look—it meant she was about explode. What if Mal thought they were just pulling her leg? Letting her think they had made a discovery, when all along they were just making fun of her? He had to think of something….
“Wanna see the hole in the ceiling?” he offered. If Mal wanted proof, he could give her proof.
Mal thought about it for a minute. “Sure, why not.”
Carlos took them to his tree house, and the four of them inspected the ceiling. It was definitely there, a perfectly round, tiny black hole.
“Rad,” pronounced Jay, bumping fists with Carlos.
Carlos grinned proudly. He was still hugging his new pillow. He was looking forward to trying it out soon. Would he actually sleep through the night for once without tossing and turning?
Mal peered up at the ceiling. “I don’t know how much I believe your little invention actually blasted a hole in the invisible dome, but Jay’s right, we should get going.”
Carlos sighed, unsure of whether to be relieved or distressed. Mal was about to leave the room when the black box on his desk suddenly began to beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Mal turned around and stared at it. “Why’s it doing that?” she asked.
Carlos ran over to check. “I don’t know, but it’s been beeping on and off since it blew a hole in the roof and the dome.”
“Maybe it’s looking for a signal?” said Evie excitedly. “Maybe it senses something.”
“Like what?” he asked, looking down at this invention with something like awe. He never thought it would really work. But if Diablo was right, then this thing of his might have actually broken the magical barrier. And now Evie was hinting at something more? He’d only hoped to get a glimpse of the outside world, not bring magic back into the island.
“Yeah, what do you mean, Evie?” asked Mal.
“Like maybe now it senses the Dragon’s Eye! You said it’s never done this before. Maybe it’s because that’s never happened before. It’s never had anything to talk to,” Evie said, rather astutely.
“You think it could be communicating with the Dragon’s Eye?” asked Mal.
“Like a compass. Or a homing beacon,” said Jay. His eyes gleamed as he studied the machine hungrily, and Carlos put a protective hand on his invention. Jay was most likely already calculating how much he could get for something like it at the shop.
“Could be,” said Evie.
“She might actually have a point,” said Carlos.
“A homing beacon,” echoed Mal.
“I was just guessing,” said Evie. “I don’t know anything about anything.” Carlos wanted to tell her that she was selling herself short, when he realized that he always did the same thing.
“No, you don’t” said Mal sharply. “But you’re still coming with us.”
Evie jumped back. “With you? Where? I agreed to come to Carlos’s, but…” She shook her head and tugged her cloak tightly around her shoulders. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“No way, you have to help us find the Eye,” said Mal. “You’re a natural at this. You’re so good at it. I need help, and you want to help me, don’t you? Don’t you want to be my friend? I want to be yours, Evie.”
“Oh I—I don’t know….”
“Shush! It’s settled. And I’ll take this, thank you very much,” Mal said, reaching for the box.
“No way!” Carlos said, as Mal tried to pull it from him.
Mal tugged it to her side. “Let go, Carlos!” she growled.
He yanked it back. She was not taking it. He’d made it himself!
Mal glared. “I mean it! Let go, or you’ll be sorry!”
Carlos shook his head, trembling all over.
“Fine. You win. Keep the box, Carlos, but you have to come with us if you do!” Mal ordered.
“Come again? Go with you—where?” No way. He wasn’t going anywhere. Especially anywhere dangerous.
Mal told him about the forbidden fortress hidden on the island and where it might be and how they had to find it.
“Nope I’m not going to Nowhere! I’m staying right here,” Carlos said, crossing his arms.
“You’ll do what I say, you little…” threatened Mal.
Carlos opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it. In the end, it was Maleficent who wanted to reclaim her scepter, not just Mal; and if word ever got back to the Mistress of Darkness that he had opposed or hindered the search in any way, he might as well start calling himself Slop, because that’s what he would be.
“Okay fine, I’ll go. But only if Evie goes too,” he said.
“Evie?” asked Mal. “You’re coming, aren’t you, lovely?”
Evie sighed. “Fine,” she said. “Fine. I guess I’ll come. Beats looking in the mirror all day for flaws.”
“So we’re good, then?” asked Jay. “Four of us looking for the Dragon’s Eye?”
“I guess so. And I guess I want to know what this thing really did,” said Carlos. “If it really did burn a hole in the dome and let magic into the island.”
As if in answer, the machine beeped.
Beep!
Mal nodded. “All right, then, let’s go. We’ve got a library to break into and a map to find.”
“Not just yet,” Carlos said, raising a hand. “We can’t go anywhere until my chores are done. And it’s laundry day.”