The Good and the Bad | Descendants

Chapter 17

Every moment of this adventure had already proven to be a little more adventurous than Carlos had anticipated.

This revelation might have been a problem for the average man of science who didn't like to run the tombs and who kept to the labs as much as possible. Sure, Carlos had felt a little seasick on the journey over to the Isle of the Doomed, but he'd been able to hold it down, hadn't he?

If he looked at it like that, he'd already proven himself to be a better adventurer than anyone could have reasonably expected.

That's what Carlos told himself, anyway.

Then he told himself that he'd done better than anyone else in Weird Science would have. He actually laughed out loud at the thought of his classroom nemesis in this current situation, which had prompted Jay to shove him and ask if he didn't think he was taking the whole mad scientist thing a little too literally.

"I'm not crazy," Carlos reassured his fellow adventurers. Piper gave him a look that clearly said she disagreed. Still, willing himself not to yak into the churning sea itself had required more than his share of exhausting determination, and by the time the six of them were back on land and all the way clear of the thorn forest—no worse for wear save for a few scratches and itchy elbows—Carlos was more than glad to find a real path leading up to the dark castle on the hill above them.

Plain old dirt and rock had never looked so good.

Until it began to rain, and the dirt became mud, and the rock became slippery.

At least it wasn't the sea, Carlos consoled himself. And the odds of a person actually drowning in mud and rocks were incredibly slim.

Besides, his invention was now beeping at regular intervals, its sensor light flashing more brightly and more quickly with every step that drew them closer to the fortress. "The Dragon's Eye is definitely up there," Carlos said excitedly, feeling a scientist's enthusiasm at a working experiment. "If this thing is right, I'm picking up on some kind of massive surge in electrical energy. If there is a hole in the dome, it's leaking magic here somehow, different from the Isle of the Lost."

"Maybe the hole is right above this place," said Evie.

"Yeah, I can feel it too." Mal nodded, still moving forward along the path. "Do you guys?" She stopped and looked at them, shielding her eyes from the rain with one hand.

"Um... no?" Piper said, confused.

Carlos looked at her in surprise. "Feel what? This?" He held up his box, and it beeped in her face. Mal jumped back, startled, and Jay laughed. Evan couldn't help but let a small smile appear on his face.

"Whoops," Carlos said. "See what I mean? The energy is surging."

Mal looked embarrassed. "I don't know for sure. Maybe I'm imagining it, but it almost feels like there's some kind of magnet pulling me up the path."

"Bonkers," Piper said.

"That is so creepy," Evie said, stopping to wipe sweat off her forehead with the edge of her cape. "Like, it's your destiny, literally, calling."

"Well," said Carlos, "no, not really. If it were literally calling, it would be, you know, calling her."

Jay laughed.

Evie glared at him. "Okay, fine. Literally pulling like a magnet, only not really, because it's, you know, destiny. Are you happy now?"

"Literally?" Carlos raised an eyebrow.

Jay laughed again, which made Carlos feel good, though he couldn't exactly explain why, not even to himself.

"Don't you guys feel it?" Mal sounded nervous. Nobody said anything, and she sighed, turning back to the muddy path.