Carlos shook his head. “Nope, you all lose.”
“What?” they chorused. Mal did a double take, Evie looked affronted, and Lonnie frowned and looked as if she were about to go into battle.
But Jane only laughed and motioned to Chad, who was right behind them. Chad was kissing his own hand. “DONE!” he crowed.
“Ben is a king,” said Jane. “The quest is to kiss a prince. And well, Chad is kissing a prince, all right.”
The group groaned in unison, and Carlos handed Chad the trophy and the gift certificate. “Try the gray stuff. It’s delicious,” he joked.
“I don’t think they serve that at Ariel’s Grotto,” said Jane. “I think that’s Mrs. Potts’s recipe.”
“Oh, right,” said Carlos. “Congratulations, Chad!”
Chad screamed in delight and danced around the goalposts, hoisting the trophy up in the air as they all looked on with amusement. The rest of the teams arrived, singing and showing each other the treasures they’d scored.
“Congratulations, everyone!” said Jane. “You are all winners!”
“Midnight eats from Snow White’s Snack Shack?” Carlos suggested, as his stomach was growling now.
A cheer went up from the crowd of seniors, and they all piled back into their carriages, laughing and high-fiving as they went.
Over the late-night meal, they relived the highlights of the quest. Evie and Doug showed off the scratches on their arms from the thorns from the rose garden, while Jay and Lonnie laughed about how loudly Jay screamed when Rajah caught him sneaking away with one of the tiger’s jeweled collars.
When the laughter died down and the crowd at Snow White’s trendy new restaurant began to disperse, Mal cleared her throat and leaned in toward her friends. “So, the Royal Council said we can go back to the Isle of the Lost next weekend to talk to the kids there. Sound good to everyone?”
“Oh! Wonderful!” said Evie.
“Back to the Isle? For sure!” said Jay, who was always up for an adventure.
Only Carlos looked hesitant.
“Carlos?” asked Mal.
“In,” he said with a nervous smile. “Always.”
“It’ll be okay,” said Evie, placing an arm around his shoulder. “This is just what you wanted—for everyone to hang out and make the most of our time together.”
“Right, thanks for reminding me,” said Carlos.
Jane looked a bit worried, but he squeezed her hand. “It’ll be all right,” he said. “Maybe my mom will be at the spa.”
“By the way, it was the best Senior Quest yet! Thanks, you guys, for putting that together,” said Evie to Carlos and Jane.
“Wait till you see what we have prepped for graduation!” said Jane.
“We have something planned for graduation?” asked Carlos.
“You’ll see!” said Jane.
Carlos beamed. Jane was the best. And, actually, her birthday was coming up in a few months.…He’d organize something! She was always doing nice things for everyone else, and he wanted to do the same for her. He’d think of something special—he knew he would.
es, that was definitely rock music coming from under the depths of the sea. Loud, angry rock music. Uma swam closer to the sound. She recognized it. There was only one resident of the Isle of the Lost who liked playing music at those ear-shattering decibels.
She swam around, looking for the source. But all she could see was gray rock, furry with algae and coral. She swam the length of the rock, where the sound was loudest. There. She found a crack, just the smallest crevice. She swam closer. If she could squeeze herself through it, she would be able to get back inside the island. Underground, of course, but still—back on the Isle of the Lost!
Well, she considered, if she could make herself large, she could probably also make herself small. With that, Uma transformed into a tiny squid and slipped through the crack.
When she was back to her human self, she looked around, realizing she was standing on her own two feet once more. It was good to be on dry land again. She was in a tunnel of some sort, an abandoned mine shaft. There were tracks leading deeper underground, where the music was even louder.
Uma followed the tracks all the way down.
All of a sudden, the music was interrupted by the voice of a news anchor from Auradon News Network. “There’s been a formal announcement from the palace. As part of her itinerary around the kingdom, the future Lady Mal will be going on an official visit to the Isle of the Lost.”
Lady Mal.
Hmpf.
Uma kept walking, her rage growing stronger within her, a plan forming in her head. And then she snuck into his little cave, where the god of the Underworld preferred to spend his days now that he was a prisoner on the Isle of the Lost.
Hades was playing air guitar, pretending he was performing in front of thousands of screaming souls. Or fans. Whatever you wanted to call them.
Uma tapped him on the shoulder and cleared her throat.
Hades jumped and almost hit his head on the cave ceiling. “Oh! You! What are you doing here? And what’s your name again?”
“Uma!”
“Uma? Why did I think it was Shrimpy?” he asked, confused.
She frowned at the reviled nickname. No one called her Shrimpy. No one. It made her furious at Mal all over again.
“Hades. You still have that ember of yours, right?”
he night after the Senior Quest, Lonnie suggested that she and Jay go see one of the professional R.O.A.R. games at the Auradon Arena. Her home team, the Great Wall, was fighting against the Summerland Sevens.
Once they arrived at the stadium, they made their way to a private suite that belonged to Coach Yao, one of the Great Wall’s team owners, where a full buffet was laid out. It was complete with burbling chocolate fountains and towering ice sculptures in the likeness of the Great Wall’s best player, Lonnie’s brother, Li’l Shang. Li’l Shang used to coach R.O.A.R. at Auradon Prep, but had turned pro a few weeks ago.
“Great seats,” said Jay, as they filled their plates with an array of delicacies.
“Thanks,” said Lonnie with a wink. “I know the owner.”
Today’s game was tournament-style, which meant pairs of fencers squared off, and whichever team won the most matches won the tournament. The arena showed several matches at the same time. The Summerland Sevens had taken an early lead, with Happy’s eldest son, Hap, scoring the most points by the break. The ferocious dwarf had defeated one of the best imperial players. The Summerland Sevens had the advantage of being physically much smaller than the Great Wall team, which meant there were fewer places to hit them at swordpoint.
But Li’l Shang was up next, against Doug’s brother Derek. Derek was a hulk of a dwarf, with rippling muscles underneath his R.O.A.R. uniform. He came out swinging, slashing his sword to and fro and racking up points quickly. But Li’l Shang came rushing back, and soon didn’t let Derek score another point.
Jay and Lonnie stood and cheered. Jay was so excited he threw his popcorn everywhere. He admired both teams’ grit and finesse. Watching Li’l Shang take a flying leap off the edge of the arena to win the match point was positively thrilling.
The players came to the owner’s suite after the game, and Li’l Shang grinned when he saw his younger sister and his protégé. “I hoped you guys would be here! What’s been going on? How’s Auradon Prep?”