the Coronation to gather numbers on their side, and when they’re ready, they’ll come for Auradon.”
The room went silent at Carlos’s words.
“But, um, it’s just a theory,” said Carlos, to try to lighten up the vibe.
“What’s that?” asked Mal, pointing to the small type underneath each picture:
#AntiHeroesUnite #IRL #CAW #Yadrutas #2359 #BeThere.
“I was about to get to that,” said Carlos. “I cracked the code. I think it’s a meeting invitation. ‘IRL’ is short for ‘in real life,’ which means it’s taking place in the real world, not the online world. ‘CAW’ was harder, but I think it’s the location.”
“C-A-W?”
asked Evie. “But that’s—”
“The Castle Across the Way, your house, yep,” said Carlos. “It looks like that’s where it’s being held.”
“But what’s…Yadrutas?” said Mal, frowning as she tried to pronounce the strange word.
“That one took me a while, but after staring at the word for an hour, I realized there was something familiar about it. It’s Saturday, spelled backward! And two-three-five-nine is 23:59 in knight time, or 11:59 at night in royal time. So just before midnight this Saturday, there will be an Anti-Heroes meeting at the Castle Across the Way. ‘Be there’ is obvious. They’re telling their members to be there.”
“You think?” teased Evie.
“Saturday night, right before midnight. Hold on,” said Mal. She grabbed a book from behind her desk. “It’s a moon calendar; I was using it to try to figure out what the notes were saying about the moon. Look at this—the end of the old moon, or moonset, is on Friday before midnight, and the new moon rises on Saturday at 11:59. The young moon is Sunday, which is too late. I think the notes are connected to this Anti-Heroes club. Someone wants us to go to this meeting.”
“So we were right,” said Evie. “Evil Queen, Jafar, Cruella, and Maleficent are behind it somehow. Mal said her mom goes by moon dates.”
“You guys really think it’s them?” asked Carlos quietly. He had gone a bit pale again, thinking of having to face his mother. He wouldn’t be able to hide behind a computer or an invention this time, and he truly wasn’t looking forward to going back to being her much-maligned personal servant. He was just starting to enjoy a life that didn’t revolve around fluffing furs and fixing wigs.
“Yeah, they must have sent those messages to tell us to go back to the island so they can humiliate us at this Anti-Heroes thing, don’t you think?” said Evie.
“I love how they’re using our ‘bad example’ to recruit members while also telling us to go back and join them,” said Mal.
“That sounds exactly like something they would do,” said Carlos. “They probably have something awful planned for our homecoming.” He shivered at the thought.
“Plus, who else would be planning a meeting in Evil Queen’s castle?” said Mal. “It has to be them.”
“True. And Evil Queen probably took Maleficent’s spot the second she swooped off the Isle,” said Carlos thoughtfully. “You know they fought over who would get to lead the Isle of the Lost when they were first banished there.”
“They sure did,” said Evie. “And that’s why we were exiled to the Castle Across the Way!”
“Actually, you didn’t invite me to your birthday party, and
that’s
why you guys had to move,” reminded Mal. “I was only six years old.”
“That wasn’t my fault,” Evie protested. “And you almost let me fall asleep for a thousand years!”
“What’s past is past, let bygones be bygones,” said Jay, entering the room. “What else did I miss?”
Mal nodded. “Jay’s right; sorry, Evie.”
“I’m sorry too,” said Evie. She stared at the screen again, at the giant red
X
s written across their faces. Ugh, red did not look good on her complexion.
Carlos brought Jay up to speed on what they’d discovered so far about the Anti-Heroes group on the Dark Net.
The room went silent at Carlos’s words.
“But, um, it’s just a theory,” said Carlos, to try to lighten up the vibe.
“What’s that?” asked Mal, pointing to the small type underneath each picture:
#AntiHeroesUnite #IRL #CAW #Yadrutas #2359 #BeThere.
“I was about to get to that,” said Carlos. “I cracked the code. I think it’s a meeting invitation. ‘IRL’ is short for ‘in real life,’ which means it’s taking place in the real world, not the online world. ‘CAW’ was harder, but I think it’s the location.”
“C-A-W?”
asked Evie. “But that’s—”
“The Castle Across the Way, your house, yep,” said Carlos. “It looks like that’s where it’s being held.”
“But what’s…Yadrutas?” said Mal, frowning as she tried to pronounce the strange word.
“That one took me a while, but after staring at the word for an hour, I realized there was something familiar about it. It’s Saturday, spelled backward! And two-three-five-nine is 23:59 in knight time, or 11:59 at night in royal time. So just before midnight this Saturday, there will be an Anti-Heroes meeting at the Castle Across the Way. ‘Be there’ is obvious. They’re telling their members to be there.”
“You think?” teased Evie.
“Saturday night, right before midnight. Hold on,” said Mal. She grabbed a book from behind her desk. “It’s a moon calendar; I was using it to try to figure out what the notes were saying about the moon. Look at this—the end of the old moon, or moonset, is on Friday before midnight, and the new moon rises on Saturday at 11:59. The young moon is Sunday, which is too late. I think the notes are connected to this Anti-Heroes club. Someone wants us to go to this meeting.”
“So we were right,” said Evie. “Evil Queen, Jafar, Cruella, and Maleficent are behind it somehow. Mal said her mom goes by moon dates.”
“You guys really think it’s them?” asked Carlos quietly. He had gone a bit pale again, thinking of having to face his mother. He wouldn’t be able to hide behind a computer or an invention this time, and he truly wasn’t looking forward to going back to being her much-maligned personal servant. He was just starting to enjoy a life that didn’t revolve around fluffing furs and fixing wigs.
“Yeah, they must have sent those messages to tell us to go back to the island so they can humiliate us at this Anti-Heroes thing, don’t you think?” said Evie.
“I love how they’re using our ‘bad example’ to recruit members while also telling us to go back and join them,” said Mal.
“That sounds exactly like something they would do,” said Carlos. “They probably have something awful planned for our homecoming.” He shivered at the thought.
“Plus, who else would be planning a meeting in Evil Queen’s castle?” said Mal. “It has to be them.”
“True. And Evil Queen probably took Maleficent’s spot the second she swooped off the Isle,” said Carlos thoughtfully. “You know they fought over who would get to lead the Isle of the Lost when they were first banished there.”
“They sure did,” said Evie. “And that’s why we were exiled to the Castle Across the Way!”
“Actually, you didn’t invite me to your birthday party, and
that’s
why you guys had to move,” reminded Mal. “I was only six years old.”
“That wasn’t my fault,” Evie protested. “And you almost let me fall asleep for a thousand years!”
“What’s past is past, let bygones be bygones,” said Jay, entering the room. “What else did I miss?”
Mal nodded. “Jay’s right; sorry, Evie.”
“I’m sorry too,” said Evie. She stared at the screen again, at the giant red
X
s written across their faces. Ugh, red did not look good on her complexion.
Carlos brought Jay up to speed on what they’d discovered so far about the Anti-Heroes group on the Dark Net.
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