Escape from the Isle of the Lost (Descendants 4)

“Come on, Mal!” she said.

“Mal, do it!” said Hades, joining her.

“MAL! OPEN IT! OPEN THAT DOOR!” they chorused.

hrough the mirror, Mal’s friends watched in horror as she reached for the door handle.

“NO!!!” Carlos screamed, just as loudly as Evie. “MAL! DON’T OPEN IT!!!” He was sure they didn’t want to know what was behind that door. And he was even more certain that Uma was behind this…whatever this was. Maybe Uma was even literally behind it. He wouldn’t put it past her.

“We need to stop her!” yelled Jay.

“The mirror!” said Evie. She ran up to its frame and thrust an arm into it, bracing herself for a shattering of glass. Carlos sucked in his breath, and Jay lunged for Evie to pull her back. But her arm disappeared beyond the glass. Carlos could feel the water as it splashed out from the frame, cool and wet against his skin.

“Hold on, Mal! We’re coming to get you!” Carlos said, as Evie climbed into the mirror and half of her body disappeared through it.

“Evie! Be careful!” said Jay, right behind her.

“Mal!” Evie cried as Mal reached out toward the handle of the door. “Don’t open it!”

But Mal didn’t hear. She just kept walking closer and closer to the door, and finally she pushed it open.

Now Uma stood in the doorway, cackling. She had a gleeful look on her face. “Give it to me!” she ordered, reaching for Mal’s pockets.

Uma was fast, but Evie was even faster. She shoved her entire body through the mirror, through time and space. She became a force in the water that pushed Mal away from Uma as hard as she could.

All of a sudden, Mal shot back up to the surface, away from Uma, out of danger.

Uma screamed in anger and turned around, just as Evie’s entire body fell through the mirror and appeared underwater, on the deck of the ship. Uma’s face darkened. She extended a tentacle, grabbed Evie’s wrist, and began to pull her into the abyss.

“Help!” cried Evie.

Carlos lunged into the mirror, grabbed Evie’s legs, and started pulling her back, so that she was halfway in and halfway out of the mirror. Jay grabbed Carlos and pulled both of his friends backward, trying to drag them back into the castle and out of the water.

Uma was strong, but they were stronger.

Together the three of them pulled with all their might.

They pulled so hard that they went tumbling backward, out of the mirror, landing with a splash on the floor of Evil Queen’s castle.

“Mal!” yelled Evie, jumping to her feet. “She got away!”

“We did it!” Carlos shouted. Jay whooped.

Evie cheered and then glanced around the room. They were covered in seaweed. “Are you guys all right?”

Carlos nodded, trying to catch his breath. “I think so.”

“Yeah, I’m good,” said Jay, getting up from the puddle.

“Um, guys, what just happened?” said Carlos.

“The door…” started Evie, but then her eyes began to glaze over. Suddenly Carlos felt his memory slipping away. He blinked, confused, and touched his soaking-wet hair. What had Evie been about to say to them? And why were they all dripping with water?

“Yeah, what are we doing here?” asked Jay. “Where are we?”

Carlos and Evie stared back at him with matching blank expressions. “I have absolutely no idea,” said Carlos. He felt like he had just woken up from an extremely vivid dream.

“Something with…the Magic Mirror, maybe?” Evie guessed, since they were standing right in front of it.