“Great. We look forward to settling this issue once and for all,” said Charlie. “We know you’ll do your best.”
Ben nodded. He meant to be a king for all his subjects, which meant keeping the interests of the villagers from Stone City in mind as well as the grievances of the people of Agrabah when he made his final decision. He hoped they would abide by it.
“We need to steal a boat from the dock,” said Jay. “How else are we going to get out into the ocean?”
“Steal? No way!” said Mal, who was leery of embarking on a plan that might get them in trouble, especially while Ben was away. They’d been in Auradon for a few months now, and no one looked at them as villains anymore. They were just regular students like everybody else. She hoped they could solve this the Auradon way and not resort to tactics they’d learned on the Isle of the Lost.
“We’ll just borrow one,” suggested Evie. “Right?”
“But who do we know that owns a boat?” said Jay.
“Um, Ben does,” said Carlos. “He has the royal fleet at his command.”
“And we only need one boat,” said Evie.
“Okay, let me try him,” said Mal, taking out her phone. Borrowing a boat sounded like an excellent, Auradon-approved idea. Ben would surely allow them the use of one of his boats, and, as Evie pointed out, they only needed one. Mal dialed his number, but instead of ringing, the line gave her a busy signal. She typed a text instead. But it bounced back as well. “Hmmm. I can’t get through. He’s over at a village near the Great Wall,” she said.
“Yeah, they don’t have good signal in the outer provinces of Northern Wei,” said Carlos. “I doubt you’ll be able to get ahold of him in time.”
“Like I said, we’ll just steal one, and once we’re done with it, we’ll bring it right back,” Jay insisted. “There’s no other way.”
Mal crossed her arms and put away her phone, frowning. “I guess not.” She still didn’t like the sound of it, but there didn’t seem to be another alternative. Goodness is as goodness does, Fairy Godmother liked to say, and Mal thought that if their intentions were good, that counted for something. Right?
“There really isn’t any other way for us to get out there,” Evie said reluctantly.
“Not unless we turn into mermaids,” said Carlos, shrugging.
“Great!” said Jay, clapping his hands together. “Let’s go!”
“But we have to be really careful that we don’t get caught,” said Mal, as they hurried out of the cafeteria together.
Jay shook his head. “Come on, it’s me! Just a few months ago I was the best thief on the Isle of the Lost. And did I ever get caught?”
They all had to admit the answer was no.
Jay almost felt nostalgic as they made their way down to Belle’s Harbor that night. Getting past the guards stationed at the entrance to the royal marina was easy. They had done enough slinking and scurrying around in the shadows on the Isle of the Lost that they were experts in hugging walls, crouching, and scampering when someone was looking the other way. They ran down the gravel path toward the water, coming to a stop right at the gate before the dock.
“It’s locked,” said Mal, tugging on the handle.
“Not a problem,” said Jay with a smile, as he held up his trusty pin. He was enjoying being able to indulge in his old bad habits once more. But as much as he twisted and turned and shook the pin inside the lock, it wouldn’t open. “Huh,” he said. “That’s never happened before.” He removed his beanie in frustration.
“Let’s just climb over it,” said Jay, already scampering up the iron mesh. The rest of them tried to do the same, but the gate was too tall, and the steel cut painfully into the palms of their hands. Even Jay had to quit halfway up the gate.
Carlos slid down with a yelp, and Evie almost twisted her ankle trying to get a foothold.
“This isn’t going to work,” said Mal, trying to stop the bleeding on her knuckles.
Jay kicked at a pebble, frustrated.
Mal looked around to make sure there was no one around. “Step aside, I’ll just spell it open.” She removed her mother’s trusty spell book from her pack and paged to the right incantation.
“Toad’s breath and vampire’s tickle, open up this door a little!”
The gate swung open an inch, and Mal smiled.
“Nice work,” said Jay, pushing the door open. “After you, ladies.”
Evie looked concerned as she stepped through the gate. “Mal, you’re really using that spell book more than you should.”
“I’ll stop after today, I promise,” said Mal, as Jay and Carlos followed after them and ran ahead to check out the different kinds of boats.
“Which one do we want?” asked Jay, as there were sailing and motor vessels of all kinds. He rubbed his hands in glee at all there was for the taking. There were cabin cruisers, sleek sailing catamarans, fishing trawlers complete with outriggers, and even a hydroplane.
“I don’t know, just something that will get us there fast,” said Mal.
“How about this one?” asked Jay, whistling at the sight of the crowning glory of the royal collection, a fancy two-hundred-foot yacht complete with a helicopter pad on the top deck.
“We’re not taking that,” said Mal.
“Why not?” Jay asked, annoyed. He was already picturing himself in the captain’s seat, and he would bet there was a sweet royal Jacuzzi up there.
“It’s the royal yacht,” said Mal. “It’s saved for only special occasions. Ben would kill us.”
“Fine,” he said, sulking.
“Hey guys, how about this one?” Carlos called from farther down the dock.
They rounded the corner and found Carlos grinning from a sleek black speedboat with the royal insignia on the side. BEAST’S FURY was carved in gold on the stern.
“It looks fast,” said Jay, hopping on.
“Faster than a pirate ship, hopefully,” said Mal. “Uma cannot have that trident. Who knows what she’d want for it!”
“She’ll want to get off the island for sure,” said Evie.
“And we cannot have her rampaging around Auradon,” said Mal. “Think of the trouble she’d stir up.”
“Just one problem,” said Jay, glancing around the dashboard of the elegant boat. “We don’t have the keys to this thing.”
“Again, not a problem,” said Mal, consulting her spell book once more. “Hmmm, what kind of spell do you think would work? Key-making spell? Boat spell?” She flipped through the pages. “Oh! How about this one? My mom’s notes said she used it all the time before she came to the Isle to turn on the microwave when it didn’t work.”
Mal held her hand up and pointed to the boat. “Lizard’s tongue and demon’s spawn, make this blasted thing turn on!”
The boat’s engine purred to life. Jay grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.
“Just one problem,” said Carlos. “None of us actually know how to drive a boat. And I’m not sure there’s a spell for that.”
“Hmm, maybe not,” said Mal. “But let me check.”