“Hey,” said Mal.
“Oh, hello, Mal—tell your mother I send my love, darling,” Cruella said, gesturing with her vapor cigarette and then turning to glare at Jay. “And you, tell your father he ripped me off with that lamp he sold me—the thing doesn’t work.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Jay saluted.
“Well, what are you all standing here for? Didn’t you hear me? My baby’s dirty, darlings! It’s absolutely wretched! I can’t live another minute until you give my baby a bath! Now, scram!”
Evie thought they would be stuck at Cruella’s forever, but at long last the car was clean, and the foursome arrived at Dragon Hall in search of a map that would hopefully show them where the Forbidden Fortress was hidden on the island. Carlos’s compass would help, but if Jafar was right about the island being much bigger than they thought, they would need to be pointed in the right direction first.
Evie still wasn’t sure why she had agreed to go with the group. She knew Mal was being false, but part of her was interested in the adventure. After being cooped up in a castle for ten years, she was curious to see the rest of the island.
The school was dead as a ghost town that Saturday afternoon; only a goblin crew had arrived to clean the halls and mow the grass around the tombstones. The four villain kids walked in and descended into the gloom of campus. The hallways were lined with overgrown ivy that seemed to be multiplying by the second, snaking around old portraits of evil villains nobody could name anymore. Evie could’ve sworn their eyes followed her as she trotted past.
They found Dr. Facilier at his desk, staring into an empty crystal ball.
“Ahh, if it isn’t my least-favorite student,” he said when he saw Mal.
“Relax, Dr. F, I’m not here to fill your top hat with crickets again.”
“What a relief,” he said coldly. “How can I help you?”
“We need to get into the forbidden library,” Mal said. “The Athenaeum of Secrets.”
“Ah, but there’s a reason it’s called the forbidden library—because students are expressly forbidden to enter,” he said sternly.
Evie thought Mal would give up, but instead Mal hopped up on Dr. Facilier’s desk, cool as Lucifer. “Yeah, about that,” she said, plopping down a pack of tarot cards. “Entrance fee?”
Dr. F picked a few up and held them under the dim reading light beside him. “The Major Arcana. Impressive.” He pocketed the tarot set and studied the four students in front of him. “What exactly are you looking for in the library?”
“A map of the island,” said Mal. “And make it quick, will you? I haven’t got all day.”
The giant spider guarding the door moved away as docile as a cat when Dr. Facilier tickled its belly. The door to the Library of Forbidden Secrets opened with a rusty squeak, and Dr. F escorted the four of them through.
Tall, teetering bookshelves housed tattered, waterlogged leather-bound books, covered with twenty years’ worth of dust, as well as beakers and vials filled with strange-looking liquids and potions. As Dr. Facilier scurried down the dingy corridors before them, moving through the rows of bookshelves and muttering under his breath, they were only able to make out the faint outline of his glowing candle, casting shadows against the library walls.
“You know he’s got bat poop for brains, right? This could all be for nothing,” Jay whispered.
Mal shot him a look.
“Just saying,” said Jay.
“It’s worth a try,” Evie said from behind them, stopping briefly to untangle herself from a cobweb. “Otherwise, we’ll just be wandering around in the dark, like we are now.”
“Yeah, it couldn’t hurt,” agreed Carlos. He was holding his machine protectively under his jacket.
“Aha! Here we are,” Dr. Facilier announced, stopping in front of a row of cases. He pulled out a yellowing rolled-up piece of parchment from one of the dusty shelves. He smoothed out the paper and placed it on a lopsided worktable while the four of them gathered around.
“Um, there’s nothing there,” Evie pointed out, her voice small. It was true, the map was blank.
“Well, it was written in invisible ink, of course,” Dr. Facilier said as if everybody knew this. “How’s a secret supposed to stay a secret, otherwise?”
Without warning, and to the shock of everyone around, Mal grabbed him by the collar and pushed him up against one of the bookcases, which caused several of the vials to fall and shatter to the floor. “Why, you little rat, have you forgotten who my mother is and how she can have you and everyone on this filthy island…”
“Mal!” Evie said in a shocked tone. “Stop it!” She put a hand on Dr. Facilier’s trembling arm. “Let me handle this.”
Mal turned to her. “Let you what?”