CJ's Treasure Chase

  CJ brightened. “Yes! Exactly. We need to do something.” A moment later, her mood darkened again. “But what?”

  Freddie looked as stumped as CJ felt. They both glanced around the lake and noticed a small red fox perched on the opposite shore, lapping at the water.

  “Maybe we should drink from it,” Freddie suggested.

  CJ looked into the crystal-clear water and saw a blanket of moss at the bottom. She shrugged. “No worse than the water back on the island, I guess.”

  “I think this might be cleaner.”

  They both laughed and leaned forward to scoop some water into their hands. It felt tingly on CJ’s skin, like tiny fireflies were floating in it. She looked at Freddie, who looked back at her.

  They both shrugged and took a sip. CJ braced herself for the horrible sludgy flavor she endured every time she drank water on the Isle of the Lost. But she was surprised. The water tasted fresh. Clean. Even kind of invigorating. She wondered what drinking from an enchanted lake in Auradon would do to a VK like her. Did it have long-term side effects? Maybe that was what ultimately did Mal in. Maybe the whole time she’d been under an enchanted spell from that lake.

  “It’s good,” Freddie said, mirroring CJ’s surprise. “Like really good.” Freddie bent over for another sip.

  CJ pulled her back. “Let’s not risk it.”

  They both turned toward the map, which was still lying on the rock beside them. CJ waited again for something to happen.

  But again, she was disappointed.

  “Hmmm,” Freddie said. “Maybe drinking it isn’t enough. Maybe we need to, like, you know, get in it.”

  “Ugh. No,” CJ said, immediately shooting the idea down. “I’m not getting in there.”

  It was a well-known fact that very few people on the Isle of the Lost could swim. Growing up with a magical barrier keeping everyone landlocked allowed very few opportunities for childhood swim lessons. In fact, most of the kids there were secretly terrified of the water.

  Not CJ, obviously. Pirates were born with an affinity for water.

  “It doesn’t look that deep,” Freddie said, prodding. “It’s not like you’re going to drown.”

  “Of course I won’t drown,” CJ grunted.

  “Then what are you so afraid of?”

  CJ kicked at a nearby pebble. It flew off the rock, plunked into the lake, and immediately sank to the bottom. CJ could almost picture herself as that pebble, sinking to the bottom like an anchor.

  She abruptly stood up. “Nothing. I’m not afraid of anything.”

  Freddie stood up, too. “Me neither.”

  “Great. Then you go first.” CJ motioned toward the water.

  “No, no, you. I insist,” Freddie replied with her velvet voice. “This is your treasure hunt. You should really do the honors.”

  CJ stared into the sparkling abyss, trying to summon the strength to jump. “Together?”

  Freddie nodded. “Okay.”

  “One…two…”

  On three, the girls jumped, both letting out screams as their bodies—clothes and all—penetrated the water’s surface, sending ripples throughout the entire lake.

  CJ flailed helplessly, her arms feeling as useless as a dead squid’s tentacles. She cried out, “Help! Help! I’m drowning! I’m…” But then she tucked her legs under her, and her feet made contact with the bottom of the lake. She stood up. The water barely came to her waist. “I’m…standing,” she finished in surprise.

  Freddie laughed. “You should have seen you. ‘Help! Help! I’m drowning!’” She pitched her voice up in a mocking impersonation of CJ.

  CJ splashed water toward her. “I do not sound like that.”

  Freddie splashed water back. “You went all damsel in distress there for a second.”

  CJ let out a scandalized gasp. “You did not just call me a damsel in distress.”

  “Uh,” Freddie said, swaying her hips, “actually, I think I did.”

  CJ, laughing, cupped her hands, dipped them in the water, and flung them toward Freddie. It was a direct hit. Her silky black hair was soaked.

  After she’d gotten over the shock of being waterlogged, Freddie pressed her lips together and sought her revenge, gathering an even larger handful of water and sending it flying toward CJ. It splashed over her head, drenching her wild ponytail so she looked like a dog after a bath.

  “Oh, you’ll regret that!” CJ said, moving toward her friend.

  Freddie screamed playfully and tried to get away, but it was hard to run in the water, and she ended up falling face-first into the lake. CJ cackled with delight. But Freddie used the opportunity to fill her mouth with water, and when she resurfaced, she sprayed it all over CJ—and the rock behind CJ, where the map lay.

  The smile from their game washed right off CJ’s face. She spun around, her eyes widening in panic when she saw the droplets of water on her precious map.

  “What did you do?” she screeched, wading toward the rock as fast as she could. Her thick red pirate coat billowed behind her in the water, slowing her down.

  “I’m sorry,” Freddie said, sounding genuinely apologetic as she made her way over.

  But CJ held out her hand to stop her. “Don’t come any closer,” she growled. “You’ve already done enough.”

  Careful not to get any more water on the page, CJ leaned forward to assess the damage. Had Freddie completely ruined it? Was the ink bleeding? Could they even still read it?

  She let out a small gasp.

  “What?” Freddie asked, moving up behind her. “Is it bad? Is it really bad?”

  CJ didn’t answer. Transfixed, she reached out and took hold of the yellowed paper in her wet, slippery fingers.

  Freddie sucked in a sharp breath when she finally saw what CJ had been staring at. “The map,” Freddie said, paddling awkwardly through the waist-high water to get a closer look. “Something’s happening to it.”

  All this treasure hunting is what I’ve always dreamed of.

  And having Freddie as my sidekick isn’t so terrible.

  CJ and Freddie huddled, dripping wet, around the map, watching it transform.

  “Leaping frogs!” Freddie exclaimed.

  “Believe me now?” CJ said, bumping Freddie with her shoulder.

  But it didn’t take long for CJ to recognize that something was wrong. The last time she had watched a new section of the map unlock, it had been revealed in a sort of sweeping motion, like someone was pulling back a curtain. This time, however, only small, random pieces of the map were appearing, like there was a hitch in the magic. It wasn’t a smooth, gradual unveiling. It was more like someone was splatter-painting with the ink.

  Like someone was sprinkling drops of…

  “Water!” CJ said with a sudden burst of inspiration. “It was the water!”

  In a split-second decision, she held the map firmly between her fingers and submerged the entire thing in the lake.

  Freddie’s eyes nearly popped right out of her head. “Are you crazy? You’re going to destroy it!”

  But CJ was two steps ahead of her, because when she withdrew the soaking-wet paper, she could see that her theory was correct. It was the water that was magic. It was the water that unlocked the new area of the map!

  “Whoa,” Freddie marveled as they both watched the new landscape unfurl before them.

  CJ held her breath, hoping that this time the picture would be complete, that all the pieces would reveal themselves and the dotted trail would finally end at the location of the treasure.

  The map expanded far and wide, revealing a tall mountain to the north and more forest to the east. Then the invisible artist started to travel south, painting small towns and villages along the way, reaching the southern peninsula of the kingdom and a large cove that Freddie instantly recognized.

  “The Bayou d’Orleans!” she exclaimed, pointing at the C-shaped curve in the coastline. “That’s where my dad’s from.”

  “Oh, good,” CJ grumbled. “We ca
n go say hi to Mr. and Mrs. Frog.”

  She bit her lip and focused hard on the map. The ink had nearly covered the entire piece of paper. What had once been the vast yellowed nothingness of her childhood was almost completely filled in now. The only part that was still missing was an area in the northeast corner of the map.

  “C’mon. C’mon,” she urged, tightening her grip on the water-soaked paper.

  But then, to her grave disappointment, once again, the magic seemed to just run out. The artist stopped mid-stroke, leaving another gaping hole in the picture.

  “What’s up there?” CJ asked desperately, turning to her friend. She tapped her finger brusquely on the top right corner of the map, directly above the Bayou d’Orleans. “What’s here?”

  But Freddie just stared blankly back at her. “I don’t know. Dad only talked about the bayou. Not what was beyond it.”

  “But you’ve been taking Auradon Geography.”

  “Yeah,” Freddie replied scornfully, “for a week. Auradon is a big place and we didn’t get that far.” She bent her head to study the newly transformed map again. “But I do know what that is.” She pointed to a small village southeast of Auradon Prep, in a region labeled Auroria.

  CJ squinted at the name of the town, which had been scrawled there by the invisible artist. “‘Briar’s Hollow,’” she read aloud. Then she turned back to Freddie. “Why would I care about some shrimpy little village called Briar’s Hollow?”

  Freddie rolled her eyes. “Because of that.” She moved her finger half an inch up, and CJ finally understood. The dotted trail. It had extended again, from the place they were standing—the Enchanted Lake—winding across the countryside and stopping in the center of the Auroria region, right next to Briar’s Hollow.

  “So you learned about this town in geography?” CJ asked, feeling excitement beginning to bubble up inside her again.

  “No,” Freddie said.

  CJ was confused. “Then where?”

  Freddie groaned. “From Audrey. She talks about that village all the time. You know, Princess Aurora’s daughter. Briar Rose. Briar’s Hollow. Get it? Apparently, this town was where the woodcutter’s cottage was. The one Briar Rose grew up in when she was hiding from Maleficent.”

  “Coward,” CJ muttered.

  “Exactly,” Freddie agreed. “Audrey said a little town sprung up in those woods after it was revealed that the princess had been living there for sixteen years. It’s mostly inhabited by fairies now.”

  CJ shuddered at the word and practically gulped. “Fairies?” she echoed, hoping her voice wasn’t shaking.

  If it was, Freddie didn’t seem to notice. “Yeah. The girl wouldn’t shut up about it.” She transformed her voice into a high-pitched mouse-like squeak to impersonate Audrey. “Fairies helped raise me. I have relatives in Briar’s Hollow, where the fairies live.”

  CJ couldn’t help snickering at the impression. “You sound just like her.”

  Freddie sighed. “I think maybe I’ve been hanging out with AKs too much.”

  “So you admit coming with me was a good idea?”

  Freddie pursed her lips. “Okay, I admit I am having a little bit of fun.”

  CJ cocked an eyebrow. “A little bit?”

  Freddie just splashed her with more water.

  “Hey!” CJ warned, raising the map above her head. “Be careful. You’re going to get it wet!”

  They both looked at the drenched map that was dripping water into CJ’s hair and burst out laughing.

  We’re making progress.

  I think?

  The girls walked back through the forest and across the bridge to the road.

  “So,” CJ said, buckling her helmet, “which way to Briar’s Hollow?”

  “Well, I was thinking,” Freddie began, looking thoughtful. “If we’re going to get fairies to help us, we’re going to have to—”

  “Hold up,” CJ interrupted, feeling another shudder run through her. “Who said anything about fairies helping us?”

  It was one thing to ask her best friend for help; it was quite another to ask pixies.

  Freddie sighed. “You know, for a pirate’s daughter, you’re not very observant.” She grabbed the map from CJ’s hand and began to unroll it, spreading her own hand across the surface to remove the wrinkles.

  “Whoa, whoa!” CJ said, grabbing the map. “Easy there. Only the captain gets to handle the treasure map.”

  Freddie shot her a look.

  CJ sighed and gave the map back to her. “Yeah, yeah, partners,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Whatever.”

  “Look,” Freddie began, tapping on the part of the dotted trail that led to Briar’s Hollow.

  “Be careful!” CJ said, lunging forward to push Freddie’s hand away. “It’s not one of your shadow cards. This thing is super old. And look—you already got it dirty.”

  Freddie scoffed. “I did not.”

  “Yes, you did. Look.” CJ pointed to a small smudge of dirt at the end of the dotted trail. She tried to lightly brush it away with her hand, but it wouldn’t come off. So she went at it with her fingernail, scraping the tattered paper. “What is with this dirt? Why won’t it come off?”

  “You’re going to rip it,” Freddie said, pulling the map away from CJ’s merciless fingernail. “Just leave it.”

  CJ crossed her arms. “Fine.”

  “As I was saying,” Freddie went on, “we need a fairy to help us because of this.”

  Freddie aimed her fingertip at a small section of the dotted trail and held the map up so CJ could see it better.

  CJ felt a charge of exhilaration when she saw what Freddie was talking about, followed immediately by embarrassment that she hadn’t been the one to see it first. She was supposed to be the pirate, not Freddie. Why hadn’t she noticed the tiny words scrawled just under the dotted trail?

  It was exactly the way the first message had been written, in cursive handwriting positioned alongside the curving path. And as CJ twirled her hair and squinted to read it, she knew instantly what it was: another clue. Just like the one that had led her to the museum.

  In the tale of Rose, you might recall,

  The fairies helped the bad to fall.

  When magic shrinks the big to small,

  You’ll see the final clue of all.

  “What does it mean?” CJ asked. She didn’t expect Freddie to have an answer. She’d simply been thinking aloud in an attempt to figure it out herself.

  But Freddie replied. “It means we need to find a fairy to shrink the map.”

  “What?” CJ panicked. She grabbed the map from Freddie, hastily rolled it up, and stuffed it safely into her pocket. “No way. I’m not letting any glittery pixies near this thing.”

  “It’s what the clue says to do,” Freddie argued. “‘When magic shrinks the big to small, you’ll see the final clue of all.’ What else could that mean?”

  “I’m not letting a fairy cast a spell on my map.”

  Freddie shrugged and examined her fingernails like she was checking them for chipped polish, even though she wasn’t wearing any. “That’s fine. Whatever. I mean, it’s your treasure hunt, right? I guess we’ll just go back to Auradon Prep and forget the whole thing.”

  CJ gritted her teeth. Her father had always told her never to trust fairies. It had been ingrained in her just as deeply as her fear of ticking clocks and crocodiles. How could she possibly risk letting a fairy cast a spell on her map?

  But did she really have a choice? The clue might have been written somewhat cryptically, but it was pretty clear what it was directing them to do.

  She heaved a sigh and tossed her leg over the bike. “Fine. So we’ll go to Briar’s Hollow and find a fairy to shrink the map. Come on.”

  Freddie shook her head. “Nuh-uh. We’re not going looking like this.”

  CJ peered down at her damp clothes. “Like what?”

  “Like VKs! This isn’t Auradon Prep, where we’re sort of tolerated. The rest of the count
ry hasn’t exactly gotten on board with King Ben’s proclamation to let VKs into Auradon. They still don’t trust us.”

  “So what do you propose we do?” asked CJ.

  Freddie nervously scratched her face. “I don’t think we have much of a choice. We’re going to need to disguise ourselves.”

  CJ definitely didn’t like where this was going. “As what?” she asked sharply.

  Freddie blew out a long breath. “As Auradon kids.”

  These clothes are definitely not conducive to climbing up a rigging.

  Who wears this stuff?

  CJ scowled at her reflection in the mirror. “Is this really how AKs dress?”

  She and Freddie had driven all the way back to Auradon Prep after Freddie had insisted on returning Ben’s Vespa before he realized it was gone. And they’d been able to steal some jelly doughnuts from the kitchen for a snack. Now they were standing inside a small clothing shop in downtown Auradon. It had been closed when they’d arrived, but the door was unlocked, so they’d just entered and helped themselves.

  “Yes,” Freddie said. “Trust me. I’ve been hanging out with those people long enough to know that this is exactly the kind of thing they would wear.”

  CJ was sporting a pink-and-blue-striped poofy dress (CJ despised anything poofy), a green belt with gold stars on it, a turquoise vest, and purple high heels with daisies on them. CJ much preferred her crocodile-skin pirate boots with the hook-shaped buckles, but Freddie had insisted that floral was much more Auradonian than hooks were. To make matters much worse, Freddie had also attached little pink bows to the entire ensemble, making CJ look like she’d just survived an explosion in a ribbon factory.

  “I feel like maybe we went a bit…overboard,” said CJ.

  “We’ll blend right in,” Freddie assured her, stepping into view in the mirror and bumping her hip against CJ’s. Freddie’s outfit wasn’t much better. She had dressed herself in a yellow-and-blue plaid dress with a pink kimono over it and white knee-high socks with pink ruffles. She’d also replaced her tiny purple top hat with a headband covered in bluebirds. She looked as ridiculous as CJ.