“What kind of power could it have?” asked Uma, confused.
Cook whispered in her ear. Uma listened carefully. When she was done, Uma raised her eyebrows.
“You don’t say,” she said. What Cook had told her was very interesting indeed. “Are you sure that would work? If I found the necklace and put it back together?”
“Absolutely,” said Cook.
“Uh-huh,” said Uma. This was it; her mother’s seashell necklace was the missing link. She knew exactly how to find the trident now. Ursula’s necklace was the answer.
If only she could discover where Yen Sid was hiding it.
“Wow, that’s one brave mermaid,” said Carlos when Mal was done sharing Arabella’s story with him, Evie, and Jay after they’d pulled Jay away from R.O.A.R. practice. They were sitting at a table in the refectory at Jay’s insistence, since he didn’t like to hear bad news on an empty stomach. “I would never even dream of touching my mom’s furs, and she goes and steals King Triton’s trident? That’s insane.”
Jay nodded, his mouth full of food. He swallowed loudly to the consternation of the girls. “I don’t mean to be rude, but why is this our problem exactly?” he asked.
“Arabella’s a friend, and she came to us,” said Mal defensively. “She didn’t know who else to ask for help.”
“Uh-huh,” said Jay. “Because she did something naughty, and we’re from the Isle of the Lost. But the thing is, we have stuff to do in Auradon now.”
Carlos slowly nodded his head. “Jay has a point. You have a packed royal schedule, Mal. You don’t really have time for something like this. Why does it have to be you—us—who have to look for this thing? We didn’t steal it. Plus, don’t forget, exams are coming up.”
“And what about Ben? Doesn’t this fall under his responsibility?” asked Jay.
“Ben’s in Northern Wei negotiating some kind of truce between the Imperial City and Agrabah,” said Mal. “I don’t want to bother him with this.”
The boys still looked a little wary.
Mal put her hands on her hips and scowled. “Okay, this is not the team that returned to the Isle of the Lost and defeated their evil talismans! I’ll tell you why it’s our problem. Because when a friend’s in trouble, what do we do?” she asked fiercely.
“We leave them alone?” joked Jay. He sighed. “All right, all right.”
“Come on, you guys, we all know what it feels like to have done something wrong,” Evie beseeched. “And to feel scared and alone afterward.”
“Of course we’ll help,” said Carlos.
“Yeah, we were just playing, what do you call it, devil’s advocate,” said Jay with a smile.
“But it seems like the best thing to do is to tell Fairy Godmother so she can alert King Triton,” said Carlos. “I mean, right?”
“But Arabella asked us to keep it secret,” said Evie.
“We can handle this ourselves,” said Mal. “Let’s not bring Fairy Godmother into it.” Mal didn’t want to sit around waiting to have tea with the goddesses from Mount Olympus or laughing at the Sultan of Agrabah’s corny jokes again, which took up a lot of her time now that she was the king’s girlfriend. She itched to do something meaningful, to be useful instead of simply decorative. “Are you guys with me?” she asked.
One by one, each of them nodded.
Mal smiled, relieved. “Obviously, first things first, we need to figure out where the trident is,” she said briskly. “Any ideas?”
“That’s what this is for,” said Evie, removing the magic mirror from her purse. She flipped it open and spoke directly into its reflection. “Magic Mirror of seas and skies, show me where the trident lies!”
The mirror turned cloudy and gray and nothing happened. “Is it broken again?” asked Carlos.
Evie shook her head. “It was never broken, it just didn’t work in the Catacombs.” Evie gave it another good shake, and the mirror showed the trident stuck between two rocks under the sea.
“Where is that?” asked Mal, squinting at the screen. “I wish your magic mirror could talk, Evie.”
“It’s only the last shard of the mirror; no audio function, sorry,” said Evie apologetically.
“Looks like it’s somewhere near the barrier. See that shimmering line? That’s the invisible dome,” said Carlos, looking over Evie’s shoulder.
“Which means anyone on the Isle of the Lost could grab it, if they know it’s there,” said Jay.
“But where exactly is it?” asked Mal, her forehead scrunching in dismay.
Carlos took a closer look at the screen. “As far as I can tell, it looks like it’s right by the Isle of the Doomed. The water’s murkier over there. And see those flashes of green in the water? That’s goblin slime.”
Mal nodded. It was the same green color that seeped out of Maleficent’s fortress.
“Those goblins would do anything to get their hands on that kind of treasure. Not to mention the pirates if they knew about it,” said Jay.
“Magic Mirror, is anyone else looking for the trident?” asked Evie.
This time, the mirror’s surface glowed, and showed villain after villain on the Isle of the Lost searching the surrounding waters for the trident. Witches in scuba outfits, pirates diving off docks, hooligans of all kinds swarming the beaches and picking through seaweed, searching.
“Looks like everyone’s looking for it. Word must have gotten out somehow that it’s there,” said Carlos.
“Goblins are terrible gossips,” muttered Mal.
“The worst,” agreed Evie.
Jay only shrugged. He had no opinion on goblins other than that they were fun to steal from.
“It’s still going,” said Evie, as the mirror showed an image of a crowded tavern.
“What’s that?” asked Jay, leaning over for a better look.
“Don’t push!” said Carlos, as they all crowded around Evie.
“It’s Ursula’s Fish and Chips Shoppe,” said Mal, as the mirror zoomed in more closely, until they could make out the blurry silhouette of a figure in the middle of the crowd.
“Who’s that?” said Evie, catching sight of thick, ropy strands.
“I can’t tell yet. One of the pirates, maybe?” said Carlos. The mirror kept focusing.
“It’s a girl,” said Jay decisively. “Those are braids.”
“That’s not a girl. That’s a sea witch,” said Mal, tapping on the screen.
“It’s Uma!” said Jay.
“Uma!” quaked Carlos.
“Uma.” Evie sighed.
“Ugh. Come on. It’s Shrimpy,” said Mal. “It’s always Shrimpy.” She told Evie about her long, nasty history with Uma.
“You know Uma’s mostly mad because you said she was too small to be in our gang,” Jay reminded her.
“But she was too small to be in our gang,” said Mal defensively.
“She’s not that small,” said Carlos. “There was a height requirement?”