Freddie's Shadow Cards

  Freddie had assumed the other VKs would instantly welcome her into their little group as soon as she arrived in Auradon. But lately it seemed like Mal was avoiding her, and although Evie was always nice to her, she was usually busy with all her new clubs and classes.

  “You seem a little stressed out,” Evie went on. “You should try to relax. Stress is horrible for your complexion.”

  “So is Audrey,” Freddie mumbled.

  Evie laughed. “Don’t let Audrey get to you.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Freddie replied. “She happens to like you.”

  “She tolerates us,” Evie said, correcting her, as she gestured between Mal and herself. “I wouldn’t say she likes us.”

  “Don’t worry, the feeling is mutual,” Mal said with a dark laugh, and for a moment, Freddie wondered if the joke was a sign that Mal was opening up a bit. But then Mal shut her locker door and said, “I gotta go help Ben work on his tour speech. See you later, Evie.” Then she rushed off, not even bothering to say another word to Freddie.

  Lately Mal had been preoccupied, helping King Ben, her boyfriend, prepare for some big upcoming royal tour of Auradon. He was going to visit all the towns in the kingdom and give important speeches. Apparently, it was a pretty big deal, as he was a new king and he had to make a good impression on his subjects.

  “Don’t worry about her,” Evie said after Mal had left, clearly reading Freddie’s conflicted expression. “Mal’s just stressed out about the tour.”

  “She’s mad at me. I can feel it.”

  “She’s not mad,” Evie said cautiously. “She’s just…being extra careful. She can’t afford to get in trouble right now. She has to make a good impression. As Ben’s girlfriend.”

  Freddie pretended to be shocked. “Me get someone in trouble? Where could you possibly have gotten such an outrageous idea?”

  Evie raised an eyebrow and they both laughed.

  It felt good. Freddie hadn’t really laughed with anyone since she and CJ had come back from their treasure chase. But then, a second later, Freddie remembered what had just happened in the chapel, and her smile instantly fell.

  “What’s wrong?” Evie asked.

  Freddie sighed. “I just thought things would be easier here than on the Isle of the Lost.”

  “And they’re not?”

  Freddie scoffed. “Not really. I mean, Audrey is basically a villain in a pink dress. She could give your mother a run for her money.”

  “Don’t let her hear you say that.”

  “Who? Audrey? Or your mother?”

  Evie snickered. “Both.”

  Evie took her handheld mirror out of her bag and used it to reapply her bright red lipstick. Technically, the mirror was magic, just like the one her mom, the Evil Queen, had. But Freddie knew Evie rarely used the magic part anymore. Magic was frowned upon in Auradon, and in addition to being one of the smartest kids in the school, Evie had become quite the rule follower lately.

  “Hey,” Freddie said, motioning toward the dorm. “Wanna come to my room and hang out? We can make curse dolls of Audrey.”

  Evie giggled, putting the mirror back into her bag. “As fun as that sounds, I’m late to my sewing club. We’re making all of the costumes for Ben’s entourage for the tour! But maybe later?”

  Freddie slouched. “Sure,” she replied, trying not to sound as disappointed as she felt. “Maybe later.”

  I miss CJ, Freddie thought, heading into the dorm.

  As she climbed the stairs to her room, she wondered if it had been a mistake to stay there while CJ was off pillaging and plundering on the high seas. Maybe she should have set sail with her best friend after all.

  She only wanted to be at Auradon Prep so she could sing. And so far, that was proving to be much more difficult than she’d thought it would.

  When she reached her dorm room, she collapsed onto her bed with a sigh and stared at the empty bed where CJ had slept during the week she’d stowed away there, wreaking havoc on the school with all her pranks. The fake pirate ship sail CJ had fashioned out of a sheet was still strung across the four posts of the bed.

  Freddie smiled at the memory of their first day there, when CJ had come in with her red pirate coat and crocodile-skin boots, ranting about how much she hated the decorations.

  But Freddie’s reverie was interrupted a moment later by a knock at the door. “Mail delivery!” a girl said sarcastically from the hallway.

  Confused, Freddie frowned at the door.

  Mail delivery?

  She never got mail. Who would send it to her? Everyone she knew was trapped on the Isle of the Lost without any way of communicating with the rest of the kingdom. And even if they could communicate, villains weren’t exactly known for writing letters.

  She scooted off the bed and opened the door to find Jordan standing in the hallway in her dramatic blue harem pants and gold jacket. Jordan was the Genie’s daughter, an AK, but Freddie didn’t mind her too much. For an AK, she was actually pretty cool. She was snarky and always quick to tell off anyone who got in her face. But she was usually too busy with her überpopular Web show to bother much with Freddie.

  “This was delivered for you while you were gone,” Jordan said dismissively, gesturing to a strange object in her hand. “Please take it. It really doesn’t go with the lamp decor of my bedroom.”

  Freddie tilted her head to get a better look at what Jordan was holding.

  What is that? she thought. It almost looks like a…

  “Duh, it’s a bottle,” Jordan snapped, shoving it into Freddie’s hands. “And not the ‘genie in a bottle’ kind of bottle. The other, boring kind of bottle.”

  “Yeah, but why was it delivered to me?” Freddie asked.

  “I don’t know,” Jordan said impatiently. “I’m not a messenger service.” Then she spun on her gold heels and disappeared down the hallway.

  Freddie chuckled. She liked that girl more and more every day.

  Freddie closed the door and carried the bottle to her bed to examine it more closely. It was made out of a thick dark glass and had a cork stuffed into the opening. The glass was opaque, but she could tell by shaking the bottle that there was something inside.

  A message?

  In a bottle?

  Who would send me a message in a…

  But before she even had a chance to finish the thought, the answer became obvious to her.

  “CJ!” she said, eagerly removing the cork and shaking out the contents. A small rolled-up piece of paper fell onto her bedspread. Freddie eagerly unfurled the message and read her best friend’s messy handwriting.

  Freddster!

  What’s up, old chum? I’m writing you this message from the mighty seven seas! Well, one of them, anyway. I was halfway across the ocean when I realized I forgot to tell you about the little gift I left for you. I brought it over from the Isle of the Lost because I thought it might come in handy at some point, but then I buried it under the bleachers of the tourney field and completely forgot about it. By the way, have you figured out how tourney is played yet?

  Anyway, just in case you need a little (wink, wink) help, it’s there waiting for you.

  Have fun in Pretty Pretty Princess Land! Don’t let those ruffle queens change you too much, okay? And remember, if you ever change your mind, I could always use a first mate on the ship. Just kidding. Partners for reals. For life.

  Insincerely,

  CJ

  Freddie was so overjoyed by the message she could hardly contain herself. She jumped off the bed and ran out of her dorm room, not even bothering to shut the door behind her.

  By the time she reached the tourney field, she was out of breath again, but she didn’t care. She was far too excited to find out what CJ had left for her. If her friend had taken the time not only to hide the gift but also to send Freddie a message about it, then it was probably something really evil.

  And Freddie could use a little evil in her life right then.

  The Fight
ing Knights tourney team was in the middle of practice when she slyly made her way to the bleachers. As usual, Jay, Jafar’s son, was in command of the entire field, running the ball all the way to the goal without being tackled once. Meanwhile, Carlos, Cruella De Vil’s son, who was decidedly less skilled at tourney, stood off to the side with his scruffy little dog, Dude, watching the action with a sour expression on his face.

  Freddie felt kind of sorry for Carlos. Jay was always getting all the attention on the tourney field. She often forgot Carlos was even on the team.

  Before anyone could notice her, Freddie ducked under the bleachers and started to look around. But she had no idea where CJ could have buried the gift. The bleachers were huge. She could be digging all night.

  Then, after walking around for about five minutes, she noticed something on the ground under her feet, and her mouth curved into a knowing smile.

  Someone had drawn a very faint skull and crossbones in the dirt.

  “X marks the spot,” Freddie whispered with a smirk.

  She dropped to her knees and started digging. After a while it felt like she had been digging forever. Her hands were getting tired, her fingernails were caked with dirt, and she’d ripped a hole in her purple tights. For a moment, surrounded by all the mess, she felt almost like she was back on the Isle of the Lost.

  Then her hands made contact with something hard. Eagerly, Freddie dug faster until she had completely uncovered a small wooden box. She tried to open the lid but it was locked. Then she noticed the small keyhole in the front.

  She held up the box to examine the lock.

  “Psh. Child’s play,” she mumbled.

  Freddie had been picking locks since she was a little girl. She could pick this lock in her sleep—something CJ definitely would have known.

  Careful to keep the box hidden, Freddie carried it back to her dorm room and rummaged around in her drawers until she found a hairpin. She straightened it out and inserted it into the lock, wiggling until the mechanism disengaged and she heard a soft click.

  Then she slowly opened the lid and let out a gasp when she saw what CJ had placed inside.

  Lying in the wooden box was her old deck of Shadow Cards! They were the ones her father had given her on her tenth birthday. They were supposed to show you the path to your deepest desire, but they’d never worked on the Isle of the Lost, where magic was banned, so she’d never been able to test them out.

  But Freddie knew they would certainly work in Auradon.

  She couldn’t help laughing. It was as though her best friend knew exactly what she needed exactly when she needed it.

  And right then, more than anything, Freddie definitely needed a little magic.

  Dad told me I’d be able to use the cards someday. And that day is today.

  I mean, how hard could it be?

  Freddie fanned the cards out on her bed and stared at the creepy, shadowy images depicted on their faces. Slithering snakes, and horned monsters, and a half man, half beast. She grinned wildly. She hadn’t seen the cards in years; it was like a piece of her childhood was coming back to her.

  Each card was different but fascinating in its own way. Just looking at the images on the cards made something light up inside Freddie. Like a flame. A long-lost power.

  She could almost feel the magic in the cards come to life.

  She bit her lip and tried to remember everything her father had told her over the years about Shadow Cards. She knew they could tell you where to go and what to do to find your deepest desire. But how did they work? What was she supposed to do with them? Just shuffle and pick one?

  It was worth a shot.

  She gathered up the cards, gave them a quick shuffle, and spread them out again, this time facedown so all the creepy images were hidden.

  She took a deep breath and spoke as clearly as possible.

  “How do I get into the Auradonnas?”

  Then she passed her hand over each card, waiting for something to happen. A feeling? A sense? A pull?

  But she felt nothing. That small flicker that had come over her when she first spread out the deck was suddenly gone.

  She grabbed one of the cards at random and turned it over, frowning at the image.

  It was a picture of a pig sleeping in mud.

  Not super helpful.

  What was she supposed to do with that?

  With a frustrated sigh, she gathered up the cards again. She was definitely missing something, missing a step. But what?

  And how would she ever figure it out? It wasn’t like she could walk up to Headmistress Fairy Godmother—or any of the faculty there—and say, “Hey! Can you teach me how to use these black magic Shadow Cards that my villainous father gave me?”

  They’d kick her out for sure. And then she’d never get to be Auradon’s most famous jazz singer.

  She shuffled the cards twice and then fanned them again, facedown, as she tried to think of what to do.

  Then she noticed what was on the back side of the cards. She hadn’t really looked closely at them before. On the front side, all the cards were different, but on the back they all had the same design: a swirling gold border with a strange-looking symbol in the center. As she leaned in to get a closer look, she realized the symbol was actually the outline of two hands facing away from each other. In the palm of each hand was a large black eye.

  “What does that mean?” Freddie asked her shadow, which was seated beside her on the bed, formed by the soft light of her bedside lamp. “A hand with an eye in it? Like the hand can see something? Like it knows something?”

  The thought made her (and her shadow) jump as a memory flooded back to her. The nursery rhyme from her childhood! The one her father used to sing to her when she couldn’t fall asleep.

  Masters of the Shadow Land,

  I call upon your knowing hand.

  I offer you this sinner’s song

  To guide the path I walk upon.

  Maybe it wasn’t a nursery rhyme. Maybe it was some kind of shadow spell!

  Excitement burst inside Freddie’s chest as she quickly reshuffled the cards and spread them out again on her comforter. She closed her eyes, and her hand hovered a few inches above them as she carefully recited the rhyme. “Masters of the Shadow Land, I call upon your knowing hand. I offer you this sinner’s song, to guide the path I walk upon.”

  Freddie opened her eyes to witness an incredible sight. Her shadow was no longer just a shadow. It was moving—all on its own! It seemed to be shriveling up, becoming smaller and smaller, until it was just a long, squiggly line, like a snake made of smoke.

  Then the snake slithered along the surface of her bed. Freddie fought the urge to jump back.

  “Where are you going?” she asked it.

  The answer soon became obvious as the shadow snake veered left and headed straight for the center of her bed.

  The cards! Freddie thought with sudden realization.

  Her shadow was moving toward the cards!

  As soon as it reached them, Freddie felt the cards awaken. It was like a buzz of electricity running through her. Like her own shadow had given the cards life.

  The snake proceeded to slither across the back side of each card, touching them one by one.

  Freddie sucked in a breath and waited. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do next, but it became evident when the shadow snake formed a question mark across the backs of the cards.

  It was time to get the answer she needed.

  Freddie cleared her throat and asked, “How do I get into the Auradonnas?”

  The cards responded quickly. Freddie let out a tiny gasp as she watched a bouncing ball of purple light materialize over the deck and jump from card to card before finally coming to rest on a single one near the middle of the deck. The card glowed in response, as though absorbing the light right into its surface.

  With her heart hammering, Freddie reached out and flipped over the card.

  On the front was a picture of a stree
t. Freddie frowned in confusion. She didn’t recognize the street and there were no street signs or landmarks to guide her.

  “Am I supposed to go to that street?” she asked the card. “But how do I know where it is?”

  Then, suddenly, the picture on the card came to life. The street started to move. It was as though she were floating above the road, traveling down it, until she started to recognize some familiar landmarks.

  A castle.

  A chapel.

  A field.

  It’s Auradon Prep! Freddie realized. That’s the tourney field! I was just there.

  The moving picture crossed the field before coming to a stop outside a small store, which Freddie immediately recognized as the Mad for Tea tea shop. She had visited it several times with Mal, Evie, and the gang.

  She stared intently at the card, waiting for it to reveal more, but the image was frozen on the tea shop.

  Freddie was thoroughly confused.

  A tea shop?

  How is that supposed to help me get into the Auradonnas?

  Almost as soon as the question entered her head, she remembered something about the tea shop: it was owned by Ally’s parents.

  And Ally was the captain of the Auradonnas.

  Freddie sat up straighter and stared at the picture again.

  Could the card really be telling her to go there? Maybe to try to convince Ally to let her into the group. But that seemed impossible. Ally was too scared of Audrey. She would never stand up to her.

  But Freddie knew from listening to her father talk about his lost profession as the shadow man that Shadow Cards never lied. They could be tricky when they wanted to be, but they always told the truth—which meant Freddie had to listen to them if she wanted to get what she asked for.

  Freddie gathered up the cards and retied the string around them. As soon as she did so, she felt her shadow slide back into place beside her, like someone had draped a cold blanket around her. She hid the deck safely in the pocket of her dress. She knew she’d have to be very careful with the cards. They were dark. And they were magic. If Fairy Godmother found out she had them, she’d take them away instantly and maybe even expel Freddie for having them.