“But we’re headed to Dragon Hall,” said Jay.
“No, we’ll head toward Hell Hall first. I want to talk to Carlos,” Mal decided. “And you’re coming with us, Evie.”
Evie didn’t argue with that. Something big was going down. Something had started, the night that Carlos had turned on that machine. And against her better judgment, Evie wanted to see how it would end.
So, onward to Hell Hall they went; but now the two-some was three.
One more day of freedom before his mother came home. Carlos surveyed his domain. Considering that it had been the headquarters of a rather epic party earlier in the week, it didn’t look too bad. The Broomba had worked wonders. Then again, the place always was a bit of a wreck, so who would notice?
The iron knight who towered over the staircase was as solid as ever, the draperies just as heavy and dusty, the faded wallpaper and the holes in the walls lending just that ruined touch that other decorators on the island tried to copy, to no avail.
Carlos was enjoying the rare, relative peace in his house when it was shattered by the sound of the front door knocker pounding so hard, he was sure its booming echo could be heard across the entire island.
He opened the door, then slammed it shut when he saw who was on his doorstep. “Go away, Mal—haven’t you done enough?” he yelled from inside the house.
“Open up! It’s important!” Jay demanded.
“No!”
“Carlos!” That was Evie’s voice. “Something happened with that machine of yours the other night. Something big!”
Wait—what? Evie had told them about his invention? But she had promised! He cracked open the door the tiniest bit so that only his left eye was showing. “You told them what happened?” he said accusingly. “I trusted you!”
Evie pleaded, “Come on, open up! I brought you a pillow!”
Carlos opened the door grudgingly. “Fine. You guys can come in. But don’t even think of locking anyone in the closet this time, Mal!” He turned to Evie. “Is it made of goose down?” he asked excitedly. He hadn’t really believed she would bring him one.
“Yup, the vultures who brought it said the goblin who found it swore it’s from one of the Auradon castles,” Evie said, handing him a pillow in a blue silk pillowcase with a royal insignia.
He accepted the pillow and led them into the living room, pushed some deflated black balloons off the couch, and glowered at them. “Well, what did my machine do?” he asked.
Mal raised an eyebrow, and he immediately regretted his tone of voice. “I mean, care to enlighten me?” he asked politely.
“Evie?” prompted Mal.
Evie took a deep breath. “Okay, so the night of the party, Carlos switched on this machine he’s invented—it’s a box that looks for some kind of signal that lets you watch other TV shows—right, Carlos?”
Carlos nodded. “And music, and lots of other things, through radio waves.”
“So when he turned it on that night, it let out this huge blast of light!” she said breathlessly. “And it burned a hole right through the tree-house roof! We saw it go right through the dome!”
Carlos nodded.
“And the TV suddenly came alive with all these colors! And there were a bunch of new shows! Not just the usual Dungeon Deals and King Beast’s Fireside Chats!”
“But how does that prove it broke through the dome?” asked Mal, who looked skeptical, and Carlos couldn’t blame her. He hardly believed it himself.
“Because we’ve never seen those shows before! Which means the signal didn’t come from the relay station on the Isle of the Lost. Which means it had to have come from a forbidden network on Auradon…” said Evie.
“Which means…” Carlos prodded.
“The blast broke through the dome. For a second,” Evie finished triumphantly.
Mal turned to Carlos. “You really think that your machine did that?”
“It might’ve,” he admitted.
“Do you think there’s a possibility it let magic in, and not just radio waves?”