“Yes, we have to neutralize them,” agreed Mal. “But how?” Where could they find magic powerful enough to purge the talismans of evil? And she still had to figure out how to hatch her Dragon’s Egg. She’d peeked at it this morning, and it was definitely starting to glow green at the edges.

“Shall we ask Merlin?” said Carlos.

“The three good fairies?” said Jay.

“Neverland, for sure,” said Evie.

But Ben surprised them. “No, I think the person we’re looking for is right here.”

“Fairy Godmother,” said Mal. “Of course!” It was her magic that had collected all the villains of the land and trapped them in the Isle of the Lost in the first place. The most powerful sorcerer in Auradon was their chubby-cheeked middle-aged headmistress, who preferred to teach children how to live without magic, but she would know what to do.

“She’ll be back from Cinderella’s ball by the end of the week, and we’ll consult her then. For now, keep an eye on those things,” said Ben.

“And we still don’t know where our parents are,” reminded Jay. “We saw signs of them in the Catacombs, but they still haven’t turned up.”

But Mal had a theory about where they could be. “Evie, will you do the honors?” she said, motioning toward the Magic Mirror.

“You think it’ll really work this time?” Evie asked.

Mal nodded encouragingly.

Evie held up the Magic Mirror. “Magic Mirror in my hand, show us where the villains stand!”

The mirror swirled, cloudy and gray, and then…

There they were: Evil Queen powdering her nose back at her castle, Cruella de Vil pawing through the racks of fur coats for just the right one, and Jafar inspecting a device a goblin had just brought into the shop.

“But how did they get back there?” asked Evie, who sounded as if she didn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

“Merlin, right?” Ben guessed, turning to Mal. “They must have been somewhere in the Catacombs nearby when he cast the spell.”

“Yeah, I think they were following us out of the tunnels,” said Jay. “And they must have overheard us talking. They knew we’d found the talismans.”

Mal nodded. “Then Merlin sent everyone back where they belonged, and it must have returned them to the Isle of the Lost.”

“If they’d been down there for so long, I wonder why they never found the talismans?” asked Evie.

“Maybe because they didn’t have a map?” said Carlos. “Yen Sid said you could be lost down there forever. It is called the Endless Catacombs.”

“Hold on, what’s that Jafar’s got in his hand?” asked Mal, leaning in for a closer look.

“It’s the remote that turns off the dome and lets down the bridge,” said Carlos with a groan. “That goblin must have found it in the ditch!”

“Wait—it’s broken, though, look, it’s cracked in half,” said Jay.

“But once it’s fixed…” said Evie nervously.

Once it was fixed, there was no need to explain what would happen next, thought Mal. The villains would be able to leave the island, and now that they knew who had their talismans, nothing would stop them from heading back to Auradon to take what was theirs.

More than ever, she, Evie, Jay, and Carlos would have to destroy the talismans while Ben prepared the kingdom for a showdown with their enemies on the Isle of the Lost. Ben looked confident, but Mal and her friends weren’t as hopeful. They knew how twisted their parents could be, and what they were capable of, and no one would sleep well that night.

“I’m not worried,” said Ben. “In Auradon, we can count on our heroes to protect us.”

“I don’t feel like a hero,” said Carlos.

“That’s okay,” said Mal with a rueful smile. “Remember what the professor said? We’re the villains you root for in the story.”