Escape from the Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz

Author:Melissa de la Cruz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2019-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

verywhere Mal went in Dragon Hall, it was like her old life was mocking her. She had her work cut out for her to convince everyone that she was straight and true, that was for sure. It was hard for them to believe she was really Mal of Auradon now. To them, she would always be Maleficent’s rotten little spawn. Or worse, if they did believe she was good, they were disappointed in her. That much was clear when she went to meet with Lady Tremaine, who had once taught her Advanced Evil Schemes. The evil stepmother was less than thrilled to see her best student fall into the “clutches of good,” as she put it.

“Oh, Mal, how far you’ve fallen,” sighed Lady Tremaine. “And now you’ve corrupted my little Dizzy as well.”

“I’m proud of Dizzy,” said Mal. “She’s a great kid.”

Lady Tremaine waved her hand dismissively. “I suppose I should rest my hopes on my other grandchildren. I know why you’re here.”

“You know about the VK program? And the Auradon Prep roundtable tomorrow?”

“Yes, yes, yes, we received the royal proclamation and heard about your…shall we say, ineffective balcony announcement,” said Lady Tremaine, sniffing. She picked up the application form that Mal had placed on her desk and read it out loud: “‘Mal and King Ben ask you to be truthful and sincere, and to always speak from the heart.’” The steely-eyed professor looked over at Mal through her pince-nez glasses. “Where on earth do you think you’ll find students who will act that way? Not here.”

Mal flushed. “We need to find them, to unite our divided kingdom.”

“Good luck,” said Lady Tremaine drily.

“I know there are students at this very school who have the courage to join us in Auradon. I was one,” said Mal. “I just didn’t know it back then.” She tried to sit straighter and project some kind of authority. Ben always seemed to be able to command the respect of the room in his council meetings. Why couldn’t Mal convince just this one person to take her seriously?

Lady Tremaine drummed her fingers on her desk. “The Mal I knew excelled at evil pranks; the Mal I knew spelled a boy to force him to fall in love with her. The Mal I knew is just biding her time to rule the kingdom.” She winked. “That is what you’re doing, isn’t it?”

Mal was about to protest when she nodded. If she couldn’t beat ’em, she would at least pretend to join ’em. In the end, she just wanted to make sure the kids came to the discussion tomorrow and had access to the applications, even if she and Lady Tremaine couldn’t see eye to eye. “Exactly.”

“Excellent. I will be happy to find such students to send you tomorrow,” said Lady Tremaine.

• • •

Coach Gaston was running doomball drills when Jay interrupted to talk about the new VK program. Gaston looked the same as he always did: dark-haired, aggressively handsome with his swell cleft of a chin, and still as large as a barge.

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