The guard spun in her direction. She could see only the top of his head, but she knew he was heading her way. She hastily rolled up the map and stuffed it, along with the gold key, under the breastplate of her armor.
She scrambled to her feet. If she could just get to the other side of the greenhouse, she could hide behind one of the trees and sneak out while the guard was still searching. But her armor thwarted her once again and she fell onto her back.
The stocky guard stepped into the Golden Afternoon Flowerbed and CJ went rigid again.
“Huh,” the guard said, approaching her. “This one must have fallen over.”
He bent down and started to lift CJ to her feet, grunting from the effort. “Merlin’s beard, this is a heavy one.”
CJ gritted her teeth behind her helmet, resisting the urge to hit him.
She held her breath as the guard hoisted her onto her feet and carried her awkwardly toward the nearest wall of the greenhouse, then set her upright.
“There we go,” he said to himself, brushing dirt from his hands and turning to leave.
CJ let out the breath she had been holding. But as soon as she did, she felt another monstrous sneeze coming on. She peered through her helmet at the guard. He was taking his sweet time strolling back through the garden.
Hurry! She urged him silently. Hurry up and—
ACHOOOOOO!
She nearly toppled over from the force of the thing. The guard spun back around, looking this way and that. CJ knew she was totally fish food now.
Then she heard something in the distance. It sounded like…
A dog barking?
Dude! He was still there!
Keeping as still as possible, she felt around the wall at her back for a door she’d noticed earlier. A moment later, her gloved hand brushed against a latch.
With her heart hammering, she yanked hard on the handle, and a hidden door flew open. Dude zoomed into the greenhouse, yapping his scruffy head off. He was so focused on his entrance he didn’t even see CJ standing there in her knight costume. But he did lay eyes on the guard.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
With renewed purpose, Dude took off in the direction of the guard. The man yelped and started running. CJ grinned and slipped out of the greenhouse, shutting the door quietly behind her.
And that, mateys, is what pirates call docking two ships with one anchor.
I don’t do sidekicks.
But I guess if I’m going to ask anyone for help, Freddie is the best choice.
“So let me get this straight,” Freddie said, staring at the map CJ had unrolled on her bed in their dorm room. “You stole this map from your father’s study; two portions of it have already been unlocked; you found a mysterious key at the museum; and you’re on this wild pirate treasure hunt?”
CJ touched the gold key, which she had hung around her neck on a string the moment she had gotten back from the museum and changed out of that stupid knight costume.
“Yes,” she replied, confirming all the things she had revealed to Freddie. Her gut was churning. She’d never told anyone about the map before, let alone shown it to someone. And here she was with her biggest secret unfurled on her bed while Freddie stood there gawking at it.
What if Freddie really had become an AK? What if she turned her in? What if King Beast confiscated the map, the way he’d confiscated her dad’s precious gold compass, and dragged her back to the Isle of the Lost? Then she really would be lost. She’d be stuck there without a way off the island and without her precious treasure map. And she couldn’t afford to lose her map. It was the only way she was going to get her ship!
No, she thought, trying to assure herself. Freddie would never do that to me.
Would she?
“So,” Freddie went on, “you haven’t been stowing away in my dorm room just to terrorize the school?”
CJ grinned. “No, that’s just been a perk.”
“This whole time you’ve really been searching for some kind of buried treasure?”
CJ nodded once, looking smug.
“And you’ve suddenly decided to tell me this why?”
CJ slumped onto the bed next to the map. “As it turns out,” she began, avoiding Freddie’s piercing gaze, “I sort of, kind of, maybe just a little bit need your help.” She mumbled the last three words, making them nearly impossible to understand.
CJ knew Freddie was smiling. She could practically hear it. “I’m sorry,” Freddie said, taking a step closer. “I didn’t quite catch that last part. What did you say?”
CJ rolled her eyes and scuffed her foot against the floor. “I. Need. Your. Help,” she finally spit out. “There. Happy?”
She braved a look at Freddie, who was beaming.
“Why, yes,” Freddie said, exaggerating her southern accent, “I believe I am quite happy right now.”
“Don’t be so smug.” CJ crossed her arms. “I’m only asking because you know more about the United States of Auradon than I do.” She gestured helplessly toward the map. “I don’t even know what that lake is!”
Freddie leaned forward to examine the map. Her eyes traveled along the path of the dotted trail until it ended at the mysterious body of water.
“It’s the Enchanted Lake,” Freddie said knowingly. “Mal and Ben went there on their first date.”
CJ huffed. If she had just read a little farther in Mal’s diary, maybe she would have figured that out herself.
“So you’ll take me there, right?” CJ asked.
Freddie frowned. “You want me to leave Auradon Prep and risk getting caught and exiled back to the Isle of the Lost just to help you dig up some old box?”
CJ felt her temper flaring and her face growing hot. She grabbed a fistful of the blanket on the bed to keep from exploding. “It’s not just an old box,” she growled through gritted teeth. “It’s a treasure. And I’m going to use it to buy my own ship.”
Freddie crossed her arms. “And what do I get out of it?”
CJ batted her eyelashes. “The extreme satisfaction of helping out your bestie,” she said in her best princess impersonation. “Isn’t that reward enough for an AK?”
Freddie narrowed her eyes at the insult. “I might go to school here, but I am not an AK.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” CJ said out of the side of her mouth as she cast her gaze to the floor.
CJ could sense that Freddie was starting to cave, which meant it was time to drop the anchor. “I mean,” CJ went on, trying her best to sound innocent and not like she was purposefully manipulating her best friend, which, of course, she was, “if you’d rather stay around here all day learning about the history of ruffles instead of helping out your partner in crime, then go ahead. I get it. I really do. You’ve changed. A week at Auradon Prep has transformed you, forced you to see the error in your wicked ways. That’s fine. I’ll just—”
“When would we leave?” Freddie asked.
CJ did her best to hide her triumphant smile.
Hook, line, and sinker.
“Now’s as good a time as ever!” CJ said.
Freddie shook her head. “Nuh-uh. The Neon Lights Ball is tonight. I helped come up with the theme. And my dress is killer. I’m not going to miss it.”
CJ fought hard not to roll her eyes. She was so tired of everyone talking about that stupid Neon Lights Ball. “Fine, tomorrow morning, then.”
“And we’re partners in crime,” Freddie confirmed. “Like you said. None of this captain/first mate nonsense.”
CJ waved that away like it was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. “Of course we’re partners.”
Freddie scrutinized CJ for a long time, as though she were trying to place some Dr. Facilier–style truth spell on her. CJ kept the innocent smile frozen on her face until her cheeks started to burn.
“Okay,” Freddie said with a sigh. “But I’m not going to take orders from you. I’m not your Smee.”
CJ snorted. “I wouldn’t dream of giving you orders.”
Excited, she leapt to her feet, rolled up the map, and stuffed it into her coat pocket. “Now start getting ready,” she commanded. “We leave at dawn.”
Today we cast off for the Enchanted Lake!
If only it came with an enchanted ship.
The next morning, before anyone was awake, CJ crept out of the building. She needed to secure transportation for her and Freddie. And she knew exactly where to find it.
A few minutes later, Freddie walked down the front steps of the castle to find CJ sitting atop a black-and-white motor scooter.
Freddie’s mouth fell open. “Is that Ben’s Vespa?”
“Yup!” CJ replied proudly. “And how wicked do I look on it?” She struck various angry-pirate poses.
Freddie looked skeptical. “Do you even know how to drive that thing?”
CJ waved her concern away. “Child’s play. If I can steer a ship, I can drive a scooter.”
“But you’ve never actually steered a ship,” Freddie pointed out.
CJ scoffed. “Steering ships is in my blood. Besides, you’ve never turned anyone into a frog, but that doesn’t mean you can’t.”
Freddie thought about that. “Actually, I think that’s exactly what it means.”
CJ ignored her friend’s protests. “Hop on!”
Freddie walked around the Vespa, inspecting it like a mechanic. Then she shrugged, swung her leg over the seat, and wrapped her arms around CJ’s red coat.
CJ revved the engine, letting out a loud whoop, and they took off.
CJ loved the feeling of the wind in her face as she drove. It wasn’t exactly a pirate ship, but it was close enough.
“Isn’t this fun?” she called back to Freddie.
But Freddie didn’t reply, and CJ thought she might still be mad about the previous night. CJ had decided to crash the Neon Lights Ball. And Freddie wasn’t too happy about it, because now the AKs knew Freddie had been hiding CJ in her dorm room the whole time. But CJ had grown bored waiting around. What else was she supposed to do stuck in that castle with a treasure map burning a hole in her pocket while Freddie and her new friends danced the night away?
Whatever, CJ thought. Freddie will get over it eventually.
As they drove through the Auradon countryside, Freddie yelled directions in CJ’s ear, but CJ was set on going her own way.
“Why did you even bring me if you weren’t going to listen to me?” Freddie yelled over the wind.
“I’m a pirate,” CJ yelled back. “We have excellent navigation skills.”
“But you don’t even have a compass,” Freddie pointed out. “How do you know we’re going the right way?”
CJ scowled. That was a low blow. Leave it to Freddie to bring up a sore spot like the compass. Freddie knew CJ’s father’s compass had been taken when he was sent to the island. And she knew how painful that had been for him.
“Well,” CJ shot back bitterly, “you don’t have any shadow cards, so you can’t read the future.”
“I don’t need shadow cards to know that we’re going the wrong way.”
“You said the lake is due east from the castle. We’re going east.”
CJ was thankful Freddie remained silent after that. She didn’t even gloat when CJ got them totally lost and they ended up at the Museum of Antiquities, which was north of the castle, not east.
Well, she didn’t gloat much, anyway. CJ tried her best to ignore the “I told you so” look on Freddie’s face after a gardener told them they weren’t even close and pointed them in the right direction.
As they sped down the road under a gorgeous canopy of pine trees, Freddie started to sing on the back of the bike. CJ immediately recognized the song as one Freddie used to sing back on the Isle of the Lost. But CJ had never realized how catchy the song was, and before she knew it, she was singing along.
A half hour later, after they’d sung nearly every song CJ knew the words to, CJ started to notice something odd about their surroundings.
This can’t be right, she thought with a frown as she pulled the bike to a stop. The road had grown narrow, and there was a thicket of trees all around them.
Freddie started to kick off another song, but CJ quickly shushed her. “I think we’re lost again.”
“No,” Freddie said nonchalantly. “We’re here.” She removed her helmet, hopped off the Vespa, and started marching into the trees. “The lake is this way.”
“How do you know?” CJ called to Freddie.
“My magic shadow cards told me!” Freddie called back sarcastically. Then, a second later, she added, “We learned about it in geography. Come on!”
CJ switched off the bike’s engine, removed her helmet, and hung it on the handlebar of the Vespa. “What about the bike?” she called after Freddie. “We can’t just leave it here. Someone will pinch it.”
Freddie laughed. “We’re in Auradon, remember? People here only use the word pinch when they’re talking about cookie recipes.”
CJ glanced one more time at the bike, hoping Freddie was right, before trudging into the woods after her friend.
They seemed to walk forever, and just when CJ was about to smugly point out that this time Freddie had been the one to get them lost, they came upon a long rickety bridge suspended over a great ravine.
As they crossed, CJ glanced over the side at the river running beneath them. In the distance, she could see a gushing wall of tumbling water. She stopped for a moment, mesmerized by the sight. She’d never seen a waterfall in real life, only in her imagination.
Her father used to tell her stories about living in Never Land, back when he was the most evil and feared pirate in the world. He told her about all the vibrant trees and rocky cliffs, the islands shaped like giant skulls and the dangerous coves named after cannibals, the sparkling colors and walls of falling water. But until now, CJ had never believed that a wall could actually be made out of water. It seemed impossible.
“Doesn’t look like the Isle of the Lost, does it?” Freddie said, stepping up next to her to admire the view.
CJ shook her head, unable to tear her eyes away from the magnificent sight.
“Kind of makes you want to stay for a while, huh?” Freddie asked.
That immediately broke CJ out of her trance. “Ha, yeah, right,” she muttered, and continued across the bridge.
“What’s so horrible about this place?” Freddie asked behind her. “I mean, besides the lame AKs?”
“What’s so great about it?” CJ barked in return.
“Well, it’s clean, for starters,” Freddie replied. “And the food is much better. My father used to tell me stories about the food in the bayou. Especially the beignets. Fried pockets of dough dusted with powdered sugar. They sounded so amazing.”
CJ harrumphed. “A true pirate can survive on nothing but seaweed for months. Besides, I don’t have time to think about food. I have a treasure to unbury.”
Freddie laughed. “How do you know this treasure really exists?”
“It exists,” CJ affirmed.
“How do you know?”
“I feel it.”
“You feel it?” echoed Freddie dubiously.
“It’s a pirate thing. You wouldn’t understand.”
Freddie fell silent for a few seconds, and CJ thought she had finally won the argument, but then Freddie asked, “How do you know it’s even still there? What if your dad dug it up years ago, before he was banished to the island?”
They had almost reached the other side of the bridge, but Freddie’s comment made CJ pause. She hadn’t thought about that before. What if Freddie was right? What if it had already been dug up years before? The map, after all, was pretty old. It had been hidden in her father’s study for as long as she could remember. What if whoever had hidden the treasure and enchanted the map had changed their mind at some point and gone back to get it?
What if the whole thing was nothing but a fool’s errand?
CJ hastily shook the thought away and kept walking. She couldn’t affo
rd to think like that. She needed her ship, and that treasure was the only way she was going to get it.
“I just know,” she muttered as she stepped off the bridge and continued onto a dirt path leading into another thick forest of trees. But even as she said it, she wondered who she was trying harder to convince, Freddie or herself.
It didn’t matter, though. Because a few seconds later, all her worries, anxieties, and doubts suddenly evaporated into thin air as she stepped into a clearing and stared at the majestic site in front of them.
There, nestled among the trees and rocks and wildflowers, sparkling the way she’d always imagined the waters of Never Land sparkled, was the Enchanted Lake.
Okay, so this lake isn’t an ocean. But it’ll do!
I wonder if there are any crocodiles in it.
CJ ran all the way to the shore of the lake.
Then she had to slow down to keep from falling in. She knelt by the side of the luminous water, which glittered in the sunshine, removed the map from her pocket, and carefully unfolded it. Freddie knelt beside her and they both stared intently at the page.
“Is it supposed to do something?” Freddie whispered, like she was afraid of scaring off the spirits of the map.
“Shhh,” CJ ordered her. “Quiet.”
“Don’t shush me,” Freddie griped. “You promised no orders. Partners, remember?”
“Shhh,” CJ said again.
They continued to watch the map, riveted. CJ felt her body tingle with anticipation. It had to work. They were at the right spot. This was the Enchanted Lake. So why wasn’t the map doing anything?
She gnawed on her lower lip and waited for it to transform again—for those invisible hands to come alive and start drawing, revealing more and more of the world that held her treasure hostage.
But it stayed exactly as it was. CJ was starting to get really frustrated by the map. It was almost as stubborn as she was.
She collapsed onto her butt with a sigh. “It’s not working.”
“Maybe we’re supposed to do something,” Freddie suggested. “You said when you went to the museum you had to turn over a stone and read what was written underneath. Maybe just being here is only half of it.”