“Still here? Go and tell your friends to leave this place forever,” ordered Cruella.

“No,” said Carlos. “Not without that ring.”

Gathering the last of his courage, he tackled his mother and struggled for the ring, finally pulling it off her finger and placing it on his own.

He felt the rush of power from the talisman shoot through him.

Cruella cackled with glee. “Go ahead, then, use it on me. Destroy me. With that ring you can obliterate me forever. Tell me to throw myself off this roof and I’ll do it. Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what you have always wanted?”

Carlos felt the ring throb in his hands. He could destroy his mother, rid the world of another villain, and stop having nightmares once and for all.

“Do it!” Cruella cackled. “Do it, boy!”

He raised his hand, pointing the ring right at her. Then he dropped his arm down with a sigh. “No, I can’t. I’m better than that,” Carlos said, turning on his heel and heading for the elevator. I’m better than you, Mother. No matter what you’ve always told me.

Suddenly he was standing outside the House of Horrors, and Jay, Mal, and Evie were looking at him, concerned.

“What happened?” he asked.

“You came out of the building in a trance,” said Mal.

“The ring…” Carlos muttered. He opened his fist. The jewel had turned a dull green, its power abated for now. “It wanted me to destroy her,” he said. “But she wasn’t actually there. It was just a vision, just the ring trying to scare me, to make me mad.”

“Yep, sounds about right,” said Jay. “These talismans must get more power that way.”

Carlos nodded and put the ring away in his pocket. Three down. One Dragon’s Egg to go.

They looked around for a hidden doorway, but found none. “We could try this,” said Carlos, motioning to the revolving door that led back to the House of Horrors. “It’s the only door around here that’s open. It might be the only way out of here. And from the looks of it, the city is melting!” He yelped as the sidewalk beneath them began to crack.

“Let’s go!” yelled Mal. She rushed through the revolving door, and the rest of them hurriedly did the same.

When she pushed through the door, Mal wasn’t in the House of Horrors. She wasn’t even in a city anymore. Instead, a dark, foreboding mountain loomed in the distance. Lightning crackled in the sky and vultures circled above.

“Maleficent Mountain,” she said, when the rest of the team arrived. “Over there.” According to the map, Doom Crag lay at the very top of the mountain, where a dragon had made its nest.

“Ouch, that looks like a climb,” said Jay.

“You guys know the drill. Only I have to go,” said Mal. “Don’t worry.”

“No,” said Carlos. “We’ll all go. Remember what the professor said? You don’t have to do this alone.”

“But this is my talisman,” said Mal. “And all of you had to get yours alone.”

“We’re going with you,” said Evie. “At least until the talisman stops us. No arguments.”

“You’re not getting rid of us,” said Jay. “That’s how this whole ‘having friends’ thing works, remember?”

“Fine,” said Mal. “Let’s go, then.”

They trudged through the dead land, air thick with smoke. Sizzling green slime bubbled through cracks in the dirt, and they helped each other over the acrid puddles. Mal soldiered on as Evie groaned and complained that her head still hurt from the poison, and Jay was subdued, probably thinking of the riches he’d rejected. Carlos was definitely still shell-shocked from seeing his mother; real or not, that woman was terrifying.

They were united in their silence. The Dragon’s Egg was the greatest of all the talismans and its mistress would have the forces of hell at her command.

“You know, the Dragon’s Eye in the scepter isn’t an actual eye. It just looks like one. It’s really a dragon’s egg,” said Mal.

“Why isn’t it called the Dragon’s Egg scepter, then?” asked Carlos.

“Duh, because Dragon’s Eye sounds way cooler,” said Jay.

“Yeah, I guess so,” said Carlos.

“So is there a dragon here?” asked Evie, looking around fearfully.

“Let’s hope not,” Carlos said.

“You guys can wait here,” said Mal. “The mountain won’t let you any closer than this.”

She began to climb, reaching for a foothold and pulling herself up.

But when Jay put a hand on the mountainside, it didn’t push him away, and it didn’t reject Carlos or Evie either. When Mal looked down, she was slightly disappointed to find they were climbing right behind her.

Is it because the talisman thinks I’m weak? she wondered.

With that disconcerting thought, she kept climbing, her friends right behind her.

When they reached the top of Doom Crag, they discovered the dragon’s nest was the size of a small boat. Its burned and blackened branches were twisted and packed tightly, and there was no sign of an egg anywhere. Mal began to search, getting down on her knees, and the rest of the team did the same, combing through every inch of the foul space.

“It’s not here,” said Mal, frustrated.

“It has to be,” said Evie.

“Maybe they got here before us and found it. Cruella, Jafar, and Evil Queen, I mean,” said Jay. “They are supposed to be wandering around down here in the Catacombs, right?”

“Maybe that’s why we were all able to climb the mountain,” said Mal. She’d scratched her palm on the way up, and she pinched it, trying to stop the blood. “Because the talisman’s gone.”

“No!” said Carlos. “It has to be here. If they’d found it, this mountain wouldn’t be here. Remember what happened in the other places? They started to disintegrate once we recovered the talismans. Keep looking.”

Mal searched again, but bumped into Evie, who fell back on Carlos, who tripped over Jay. “There’s not enough space for all four of us,” Mal complained. “You guys need to leave. You’re not helping. Maybe it won’t show itself to me because you’re all here,” she said crossly.