CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:
THE VANISHING ISLE
The bluish-purple beam grew bigger and brighter as the boat neared.
The horizon burst open with citrus light, signifying the start of dawn. The ocean was smooth and flat, and it sparkled like diamonds at the base of the beam.
Bridgette wished she could get a better look, but her restraints wouldn't allow her. All she could do was stand and watch while her awestruck friends pranced about the deck.
She was tired, but now was not the time to doze off. Despite being a prisoner, the Queen of Thieves had waited her whole life for this moment. She wasn't going to miss anything.
Everyone quieted as they approached the massive beam. It was a giant, hollow cylinder with translucent walls of blue, reaching up to touch the fading stars.
Duusu hovered in the centre of the light, smiling.
Bridgette wasn't sure who the expression was directed at, but the twinkling look in the kwami's pink eyes boosted her confidence.
"You have arrived!" Duusu announced in a soft, musical echo.
Then, in the blink of an eye, she shrank into a small, blue speck and zoomed back into the peacock brooch in Rose's hand.
At the same time, the beam of light dispersed, sending a hard wind in all directions.
Not far from the beam's location, a different crew was making their way across the sea.
The magic carpet soared high over the glistening waves with its five passengers. Rena Rouge stood in the centre, keeping it suspended with her magic. Carapace and Alix kneeled behind her, the former holding the latter with one arm and his hood in the other. Ladybug and Cat Noir sat at the front, staring long and hard at their destination.
Suddenly, the beam vanished, leaving nothing but empty sky ahead of the group.
Marinette gasped. "It's gone!"
Nino squinted through his yellow goggles. "They must already be at the isle!" he called over the cacophony of wind and waves.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" Alix shouted from the back.
Alya's mouth formed a tight line, and her forehead was red and sweating from concentration. "Not unless you want go for an early-morning swim!" she spat.
"Just hang on, guys!" Adrien called, his cat-like eyes narrowing at the place where the beam used to be. "We're almost there!"
Marinette nodded. Though her gut still fluttered with worry, she told herself what she told her parents last night: I will find her.
It had taken a lot of convincing on Marinette's part, but Tom and Sabine believed her. Something about their daughters always finding their way back home in the end gave the parents more assurance than anything.
And they would come home. Together.
Hang in there, Sis, Marinette prayed. I'm coming.
The vessel teetered from side to side from the sudden gush of wind, and the crew toppled over across the deck.
Bridgette couldn't help but smirk. She didn't have to worry about falling over. Hawkmoth had tightened her bonds a little too much.
When the water calmed and the thieves gathered themselves back up, they all scrambled to the edge of the boat and peered over.
A thick patch of fog crept over the waves. Other than that, the sea was quiet and undisturbed. Not a single rock or sandbar lay in sight.
"Where is it?" Ivan asked. "Where's the isle?"
"I see nothing," Juleka said, glancing around nervously. "Nothing but fog."
Hawkmoth snapped to Bridgette, his impatience turning to anger in his red-rimmed eyes. "I should've known," he growled. "The Vanishing Isle is nothing but an old myth; a children's tale. It's probably nothing but rocks and seaweed by now!"
He drew his sword in the breath of a second.
"No!" Rose and Mylene cried.
Kim and Ivan formed a barrier between Hawkmoth and their Queen.
The swordsman shoved them both aside without a hitch, knocking the boys to the deck.
Then, he stomped over to Bridgette and pressed the flat of his blade against his apprentice's neck. "I've had enough of your trickery!" he stated.
The Queen of Thieves just smiled, baring her teeth. "Still so quick to judge, aren't you?" she sighed. "Perhaps if you cared to read children's tales, you'd know that the Vanishing Isle never stays in the same place twice." She looked out to the sea. "The isle moves as it pleases, and only comes up when it needs to."
Max blinked incredulously, like he always did whenever he couldn't figure out a problem logically.
Hawkmoth continued to glare at Bridgette. "What are you playing at?" he snarled.
"Watch," Bridgette said as she settled back against the mast.
They didn't need to wait long. The water around the boat began to churn, making it rock back and forth.
Hawkmoth lowered his sword, his cold eyes widening as he glanced around.
The others panicked and grabbed onto whatever rigging or board they could reach.
A loud groan sounded not far from the boat, and an enormous patch of bubbling water started to rise from the sea.
Then... FWOOSH!
Something tall and white burst out of the water, sending out an enormous wave in its wake.
The thieves cried out as they and their little ship got carried away by the rising tide, and water splashed onto the deck.
Another wave soon followed, this time from behind them. And from it grew another white structure – a tower with beautifully-carved columns.
Bridgette gaped as more and more towers shot out of the sea, casting long shadows over the boat.
Then, something slammed against the bottom of the hull so hard; it made Bridgette's bones rattle and sent everyone else onto their backs.
The boat rolled onto its side, and then stopped. But it wasn't in danger of sinking. In fact, the water was gone.
Bridgette immediately knew why. The boat rose higher and higher into the sky, and the sea shrank out of sight. But Bridgette could feel the scraping of rock on wood through the soles of her boots.
They were on the island! They were on the Vanishing Isle!
Bridgette craned her neck so that she could get a better look at her surroundings.
The white towers were gloriously pristine, and water poured out from the open windows like streams of tears. Golden gargoyles adorned the sides, and vines of moss and seaweed stretched along the walls. Everything was carved from marble, from the sleek, stone pathways to the top of the largest tower. Anything that wasn't marble was solid rock. Each tower connected together in some way, making it look like a large citadel, or a palace.
The other thieves tumbled off the ship and onto dry land. Some of them looked like they were going to be seasick.
Panting, Hawkmoth clambered over to Bridgette and lifted his sword again.
She stood absolutely still as the blade came down... and she gasped from the relieved pressure in her arms as the ropes came loose.
Bridgette snickered as she straightened up. "Still think I'm chasing fairytales?" she asked.
Hawkmoth harrumphed as he sheathed his sword and pulled Bridgette's wrists behind her back. "You will lead me straight to the Hand of Midas," he said unkindly, "or I'll start picking off your friends one by one. No Challenge will save either of your necks this time."
Bridgette's blue-and-silver eyes hardened. You will rue the day you found me in the slums, old man. Just you wait.
But she obliged and waited for Hawkmoth to finish tying her hands before stepping carefully off the boat with her former master.
It wasn't until her feet touched the rock when she realized it wasn't rock at all. It was smooth and hollow, with kaleidoscope blues and yellows shimmering along the green.
It was shell!
Bridgette gasped with mesmerized delight, and she looked up just as she heard a high-pitched, cooing sound.
Once the entire white citadel was free from the sea, something smaller burst out of the water in front of it. It looked like dark-green stone, but it had two tiny slits on the front, along with crushing, jagged jaws that could chew whole buildings to dust. Garnet eyes stared out over the sea, drinking in the beauty of the sunrise.
The creature let out another ground-shaking call before settling calmly on top of the surface.
Bridgette had never been so happy to be right in all her life, even if this was the last day she would ever have.
As soon as the team emerged from the shroud of fog, Marinette inhaled with shock.
"Dude!" Nino squeaked.
"Whoa!" Adrien and Alix breathed in unison.
"I don't believe it!" Alya murmured.
Yet there it was for them to see: a beautiful, white palace on the back of a giant, sea turtle!
"The Vanishing Isle," Marinette said as a big smile rose on her face. "It's never in the same place twice!"
"Ha!" Alix barked. "Would ya know it? Bridge was right all along!"
Nino whistled. "Okay... Now I've seen everything," he said, making Alya giggle.
Marinette glanced over the marble towers. The whole place was huge. Her excitement quickly gave way to uneasiness. Bridgette's in there somewhere.
And if the sea turtle never stayed in the same place, Marinette doubted it would remain on the surface for very long. Sooner or later, it would dive back down into the ocean, along with the citadel... and anyone or anything that remained inside of it.
"We don't have much time," Marinette said to Adrien before calling over her shoulder, "Alya, get us in closer!"
The redhead nodded, her white-tipped tails bouncing behind her, and she waved her glowing hands.
The carpet swerved and dove straight for the island.
Bridgette grunted as Hawkmoth shoved her forward.
"Enough sight-seeing!" he snapped to the rest of the thieves. "Keep moving!"
Only Ivan and Juleka dared to give Hawkmoth the evil eye, but they clenched their mouths shut and pressed on.
The open walkway sat along the edge of the palace in a broad ring. Ten-foot-tall statues of jackal-headed warriors stood along the edge every few dozen feet. Each statue held a long spear in his hand, and jade eyes stared down emptily at the thieves as they meandered by.
But the longer Bridgette stared at them, the more nervous it made her.
The jade eyes seemed to glow, and it wasn't from the reflecting sunlight. There was magic here – the Queen could feel it vibrating through the stone under her feet.
Suddenly, Rose screamed.
Everyone looked up to see one of the statues lifting his spear – lifting it – and turning his canine head towards the group.
Bridgette gasped.
The other statues moved as well, each one locking their angry, glowing eyes on their new visitors. Their stone feet stomped along the marble floor as they stepped forward, blocking the thieves' path.
The group raised their weapons, standing back to back.
Bridgette prepared to run towards them. Bound or not, she would not leave her friends to fight alone.
But Hawkmoth suddenly wrapped his arm around her middle and began dragging her away.
"No!" Bridgette yelled, kicking out and squirming.
Kim heard her cry and drew an arrow, aiming it at Hawkmoth's silver skull.
At the same time, one of the stone guardians raised his spear.
"Kim, look out!" Juleka shouted.
The archer heard the spy's warning just in time. He dodged right when the spear came down, missing Kim by a hair-width.
The metal end stabbed into the marble, and the resulting CHTING made Bridgette wince.
The other statues gripped their weapons and stalked towards their human prey.
"Stop!" Bridgette pleaded, fighting harder against her captor. "We have to help them!"
Hawkmoth snorted, as though it amused him to see her begging. "We have other business, in case you've forgotten," he said with deadly calm. "Don't you still want your ultimate treasure?"
"They're our people! Your people!"
"They're a distraction," her old mentor growled in her ear, "one we'll use to our advantage."
"Run!" Bridgette screamed at her friends, her voice going hoarse. "Get to the–"
Any other words were silenced by Hawkmoth's gloved hand, while the other held her bound hands painfully behind her.
"Bridgette!" Mylene cried.
The Queen of Thieves could barely see her braided-haired friend through the ring of statues that now surrounded her friends, all of them sizing up their opponents with meager courage. Bridgette struggled harder and tried to bite down on Hawkmoth's fingers, but he removed them before she could and chuckled cruelly.
"Like I said," the former King of Thieves huffed. "Soft and weak."
There was a small, open alley leading deeper into the tiny city. Hawkmoth wasted no time and pulled Bridgette inside with him as he went through.
Bridgette's eyes began to tear up; not with sorrow, not with pain – with slow, burning, icy rage fuelled by the spark of humanity Hawkmoth had tried to snuff out for the last seventeen years.
He had already taken her from one family. No way in the seven hells was she going to lose another one.