Carlos's Scavenger Hunt Read online

  But before he could reach the headmistress, Fairy Godmother went on. “And the items that nabbed the win for Carlos’s team were…”

  Carlos stopped and listened curiously.

  “The violet-gold pixie fork for twenty-five points, the hazelberry for twenty-five points, the puppet made of wood for five points, the slipper made of glass for five points, and the Auradon Prep gym T-shirt from at least twenty years ago for fifteen points, making a total of seventy-five points!”

  Carlos gaped at Fairy Godmother. Something was wrong. She’d made a mistake. They didn’t get the old gym T-shirt. They’d never even tried to get that one. He pulled out his phone and stared at the pictures again. And that’s when he noticed something unusual. Along with the other photos, Carlos had accidentally uploaded the picture of Henry and him to the Auradon Prep server. His finger must have accidentally clicked it in his haste to select all the photos.

  But that still didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t a picture of an old Auradon Prep gym T-shirt. It was a picture of Carlos and a random kid at the train station.

  Carlos’s thoughts stopped short as he stared at the picture on his phone. With his thumb and forefinger, he pinched the screen, zooming all the way in on Henry’s shirt.

  RAD REP

  Carlos had assumed it was some kind of band. But now, as he zoomed in farther, he could see that there were more letters. Or rather, there were empty spaces where letters used to be. Like they’d been worn off over the years. Like the shirt was…

  Old.

  If he squinted, he could almost see the faded outlines of the letters that had worn off.

  AURADON PREP

  Carlos suddenly remembered something the boy had said to him after they’d found him on the platform. “My daddy went to Auradon Prep a long time ago. I can’t wait until I can go.”

  The shirt! It belonged to Henry’s father. That’s why it was so big on him!

  They’d found an old Auradon Prep gym T-shirt! They just hadn’t known they’d found one! Which meant, Carlos realized with delight, that helping that boy hadn’t cost them the hunt, it had won them the hunt!

  Turns out I didn’t need that old dog collar after all. We won, and I proved I had what it takes to be a leader. But I couldn’t have done it without my team.

  The sun was shining. The sky was blue. The sound of trumpets and drums could be heard from miles away. Fairy Godmother said the magic word and two hundred colorful balloons were released into the air, flying higher and higher until they were nothing but specks of confetti in the sky.

  Carlos followed them with his eyes before turning back to the courtyard, where the whole school had gathered for the celebration.

  It was finally the big day of the stone unveiling ceremony.

  The names Carlos, Jane, and Evie had been carved into one of the giant diamond-shaped paving stones in the courtyard, and now it was going to be unveiled. Carlos had been waiting for this moment for over a week. Ever since Fairy Godmother had called their names at the end of the annual Auradon Prep Scavenger Hunt. He still couldn’t believe they had pulled off that win. It felt like a dream to him. A wonderful fairy tale dream.

  Carlos supposed that’s what life in Auradon was all about. There were no screaming mothers or scary back alleys you had to run through to get home. This really was the place where dreams came true. Carlos’s certainly had. He’d finally proved to everyone that he had what it took to lead a team to victory. But most of all, he’d proved it to himself. He’d always known he was meant for great things, but there had still been that voice in the back of his mind—the voice of his mother—telling him he couldn’t do it. It wasn’t possible. He’d always be a sidekick, never a hero. And without even knowing he had done it, he’d listened to that voice. He’d trusted it. It’s what had led him to use the dog collar in the first place, instead of just trusting himself and his teammates. Carlos would still be the nice guy who his friends looked to for help. And that was fine. More than fine. That was great. But it didn’t mean Carlos couldn’t also be the guy his friends looked to for leadership. In fact, Carlos had learned that maybe the two things were related.

  “And now,” Fairy Godmother began in a regal, ceremonial tone, “we are pleased to unveil the stone commemorating the champions of this year’s Auradon Prep Scavenger Hunt!” She gave the signal and the sheet that covered the stone was lifted gracefully from the ground.

  Carlos held his breath. Of course, he knew exactly what the engraving would say, but he was still so anxious to see it. And, of course, to see the reactions on Jane’s and Evie’s faces when they saw what he had done. They had no idea what was coming.

  The veil was lifted. The stone was made visible to all. And everyone in the courtyard let out a simultaneous gasp of surprise. They’d never seen anything like it. And that’s because it was the first of its kind. While all the other stones in the courtyard listed a team captain (marked with the initials TC), and two team members (marked with the initials TM), Carlos had told Fairy Godmother that he wanted something different.

  He stared down at the stone and smiled contentedly to himself. Different was definitely what he got. The stone read:

  CARLOS

  JANE

  EVIE

  “What did you do?” Jane asked. She looked both delighted and confused at the same time.

  Carlos shrugged, playing innocent. “I had them carve our names into the stone.”

  Evie shook her head. “I don’t get it. Where are the titles? Team captain and team members?”

  Carlos stood between his teammates and put an arm around each of their shoulders. “The titles don’t matter. We worked hard. All of us. And we won. Together.” He looked to Evie, then to Jane. And he smiled the smile of a champion. “The rest is just details.”

  GET ALL THE BOOKS IN THE SCHOOL OF SECRETS SERIES!

  CJ’S TREASURE CHASE

  FREDDIE’S SHADOW CARDS

  ALLY’S MAD MYSTERY

  LONNIE’S WARRIOR SWORD

  CARLOS’S SCAVENGER HUNT