Escape from the Isle of the Lost (Descendants 4)

“Nice to meet you,” said Celia. “Want to hear your fortune?”

Dr. Facilier smiled proudly. “That’s my girl.” He closed the door, and the four VKs were left in the hallway with Celia.

They all hesitated, but it was clear Celia was intent on reading someone their cards.

“Sure, tell me my fortune,” Evie relented. She could humor the kid, right?

“We’re going to talk to a few more teachers to make sure they tell kids about the Auradon Prep roundtable tomorrow,” said Mal. “I don’t trust Dr. Facilier to get those applications out. Maybe Lady Tremaine can help, since Dizzy really wants to go to Auradon.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Carlos. “Jay, you go find Coach Gaston in PE, and I’ll hit up Madam Mim.”

“I’ll go meet Professor Gothel and catch up with you guys at the hideout after hearing my fortune,” said Evie.

They nodded and went their separate ways.

• • •

Celia led Evie to a quiet desk in the library. She offered the cards to Evie to shuffle. Evie closed her eyes and shuffled them. Celia took the cards back and laid them out in three piles. Then she revealed the top card of each deck. “These three cards represent the past, the present, and the future,” she told Evie. “The first card is the Tower. It means you came from a difficult past. You were trapped and in danger.”

“Pretty much. I mean, I am from the Isle of the Lost,” said Evie. “I was exiled to our castle with my mother, the Evil Queen.”

“Dangerous indeed,” said Celia.

“When I missed our usual Friday face mask, she wanted to murder me,” said Evie with a roll of her eyes. In truth, she did miss her shallow, beauty-obsessed mother just a little bit. Still, she would rather keep her distance while they were on the Isle; it just wasn’t worth it when her mother would never understand the things Evie wanted to accomplish. “On Thursdays we practiced smiling and waving.”

Celia snorted. She pointed to the second card on the table. “The Ten of Pentacles. This is your present. It means you have strength behind you. That you belong to a group of people who have your back. They bring you a lot of luck.”

Evie smiled. “I have an amazing group of friends.”

“And the third card is your future. Oh,” said Celia staring at the card. “It’s dark.”

“It is?” asked Evie nervously.

“Very. This is the Judgment card. It means change, mostly for the worse. This card means disaster is on the horizon. Something terrible is about to happen. Aaaaaaand”—Celia drew out the word, quirking her eyebrows at Evie—“if you want to know how to prevent it, you’ll have to buy another session.”

“Another session! How much was this one?” asked Evie. “I didn’t realize you charged.”

“Of course I do. Nothing’s free in this world.” Celia smirked and named her price.

“Okay,” said Evie, opening her purse and handing over a few gold coins. “But I’m not paying for another one.”

“Really? I don’t advise that. You should really find out how to avoid whatever it is the Judgment has foretold. Or you should at least try to discover who is conspiring against you guys.”

Evie knew a hustle when she saw one. “Nice try, but I’ll take my chances,” she said with a sweet smile.

“Suit yourself,” said Celia, putting her cards away.

Evie shook her head. She was far from superstitious and was highly skeptical that the future could be divined from a few fortune cards. She wondered about Celia’s chances with the Auradon Prep admissions committee. So far, all Evie could see was a trickster through and through. But, of course, that didn’t mean there wasn’t more to Celia—after all, there had been more to Evie and her friends. It was going to be interesting to see if Celia ended up at Auradon, that was for sure.

he same day that Mal and her friends were meeting with Dr. Facilier at Dragon Hall, Uma returned to Hades’s lair. The blue-haired ex–god of the dead was snoring on his couch, a little line of drool dripping from his open mouth. He woke up with a start when Uma cleared her throat.

“You again?” said Hades, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I thought we had a deal. You agreed to leave me alone,” he groused.

“That wasn’t our deal,” said Uma, annoyed. “And did you ever think of doing any housekeeping around here? This cave reeks.”

Hades looked affronted. “I’m sorry my league of demons are more interested in preying on souls than vacuuming. Anyway, did you hear that Mal was spotted on Maleficent’s balcony last night? I thought it might interest you, given our agreement.”

Uma looked furious. “She’s back on the Isle of the Lost, is she?”