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Jax, Saoirse, Jukes, Cyrus, and Quinn sat around the table in Jax’s cabin and Quinn recounted how she got to the Isle in as much detail as she could. When she had finished, they all sat in silence for a few moments and she could not help but remember Mark’s warning: getting back will be a lot harder.

“Well, getting into the harbour area will be much harder now; Maleficent has upped security since…” Jukes trailed off, but Harper’s name echoed in the silence. “But she doesn’t know about our secret entrance.”

“Yet,” Cyrus amended. “We should do this as quickly as we can because it’s bound to be discovered sooner or later.”

Jax nodded. “You can use the tunnel, we can cause a distraction. How you get on the ship will be on you.”

“This Mark fellow,” Saoirse said. “He will be able to help you from the other side?”

“Only if we get a message to him somehow, then he could cause a distraction on his end,” Quinn agreed.

“What about that kid who caused a power outage in Auradon City for half an hour?” Cyrus asked. “He might have the tech.”

“The de Vil kid?” Jukes said. “He’d probably be able to send a message, but I don’t think he would do it or keep his mouth shut about it.”

“Carlos de Vil?” Quinn asked and they nodded. “He might for me.” They all looked at her in surprise and she shrugged. “He owes me a favour.”



“You want me to send this message to this cell number in Auradon?” Carlos asked. “And not tell anyone?”

Quinn and Jax nodded. They sat in the back of Jafar’s Bargain Shop, where Carlos had a box of electronic trinkets, which he fiddled with as they discussed the plan.

“Do you know how many people would love to send messages to Auradon? How much money I could make if they knew I could do it?”

“We’re not saying you can’t tell anyone you can send messages, just not about this specific message,” Quinn insisted.

Carlos regarded them both, considering it for only a moment before nodding. “Alright, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

And so it was sent out: “I’m coming back. Next Saturday. Need a distraction. Down with John.”

“Down with John?” Jax asked.

“So he knows it’s me,” Quinn said. “It’s a thing the Merry Men used to say.”



Time moved more quickly than Quinn wanted. In the flurry of preparation, she managed to pull Cai aside and tell him everything she could remember from her first aid classes. In the weeks he had spent by her side caring for the sick, he had kind of become her protégé.

The kids were on their way toward recovery, and their quarantining had meant no one had fallen ill since Corinna. She was also doing much better and although they told her it was not her fault that harper died, Quinn could tell she felt guilty about it. No one in any other gang had died of whooping cough that they knew of, so there was hope that this year’s cases were not as serious.

She and Jukes got a drink the day before, sitting at a table in the back rather than their normal spot at the bar so they would not be overheard.

“What do you think you’ll miss the most about this place?” Jukes asked.

Quinn thought for a moment, then grinned. “Being able to drink, obviously.” She held up her beer. “I’ll have to wait another year to be allowed in Auradon.”

“Damn,” Jukes said, clinking their bottle with Quinn’s. “It’ll be rough.”

Quinn smiled. “But seriously, I’ll miss the people: the whole Crew, you, Nia, Nabil, Hugo, Clove –”

“Jax,” Jukes interrupted teasingly.

“Yes,” Quinn said, smile soft. “And the little Powder Monkeys: Jade, Corinna –” There it was again. Harper.

“We’re all going to miss Harper,” Jukes said quietly.

Quinn nodded. “I’m doing this for him as much as every other kid on this island.”

“To Harper,” Jukes said, raising their bottle. “May we all be willing to do anything to save our friends.”

“To Harper,” Quinn echoed.

•••

Crewmembers were stationed all around the edges of the harbour with fireworks they would ‘lose control of’ as soon as they saw the signal. Jax and Quinn stood at the end of the tunnel that led into the warehouse nearest the water. Quinn had said her goodbyes to everyone but Jax and knew she could not stall any longer.

“In a few minutes, you have to start down the tunnel. Then I’ll wait five minutes before I signal the others,” Jax explained, even though they had gone over the plan about a million times before. “The fireworks should give you about ten minutes, so you have to move quickly.”

“I know, Jax,” she said.

“Do you have everything?” he asked.

“Dagger, sword,” she said, patting the hilts on her belt respectively.

“And do you have –”

“Jax,” Quinn interrupted. “I have everything I need; I checked like five times before we left.” She took his hands in hers. “It’ll be fine.”

“Hey, blind arrogance is my thing.”

Quinn smiled. God, she would miss him. “Not blind arrogance,” Quinn said. “Confidence, in both myself and the Crew.” She took a breath. “I guess we have to say goodbye now.”

“Not goodbye. More like, see you later,” Jax amended.

“We don’t know how much later it’s gonna be,” Quinn said. “I’m gonna miss you.”

He grinned. “Who wouldn’t?” His face turned more serious. “I love you and I believe you can do this.”

Quinn smiled. “I love you too.” And when he kissed her, all she could think was how much she hoped that he was right and that this would not be their last time together.

And then it was go-time. A quick hand squeeze, a sharp nod, and she was off down the tunnel, watch on her wrist counting down the five minutes. She had only been down the tunnel once before since supply runs were not her usual detail, but Saoirse had drawn a detailed map of the warehouse and Jukes had taken her up to a tall building nearby, from where they could see the layout of the harbour.

In two minutes, she had reached the end of the tunnel and listened for a moment to make sure no one was on the other side before removing the plank of wood that covered the hole. The warehouse was dimly lit, but her eyes were already accustomed to the darkness of the tunnel. She put the wood back over the entrance of the tunnel – marvelling how well it blended into the wall – before surveying the warehouse. According to Saoirse’s map, there was a side door that led to a narrow walkway that the ship would pass by as it left for Auradon. She would have to get on board while it moved past.

Quinn slunk between stacks of crates and piles of burlap sacks, a hand of the hilt of her sword. Just as she spotted the door, she heard footsteps and wedged herself between two crates. The stops grew louder and Quinn barely dared to breathe as a troll passed right by her hiding place. She did not move until his footsteps retreated so far that she could no longer hear them. She looked down at her watch; the distraction would start in less than a minute, meaning the ship would be passing by soon.

She peered out of her hiding place and – seeing no one – scampered for the door. As her hand touched the handle, she heard the first of the fireworks go off. She heard trolls roaring and running in the direction of the sound. She tugged the door open and stepped out into a narrow wooden walkway, letting the door close behind her.

The planks creaked under her weight and for a terrifying moment, Quinn was afraid they might collapse, but they held. She heard the roar of the ship’s engine and looked to her right. It was not moving too quickly yet, having just cast off, but Quinn knew she only had about a minute to plan her way onto it.

She regarded the churning of the water around the hull apprehensively. There was no way she could get on from the water; she would be pulled under. There were three sets of ladders attached to the side of the ship – one in the front, one in the middle, and one near the back. She would just have to hope she could make the jump.

If anyone was up on the bridge, they would see her on the first two, which left only the third ladder. She would only have one chance at this.

Fortunately, it was not the first time she had done something like this. All the Sherwood kids had basically grown up in the trees, so regular old tree climbing grew boring. To entertain themselves, they had to think up more and more interesting ways to get through the trees every summer; they also got more and more dangerous, until someone fell, and they all got in trouble.

One summer, it was tree-hopping. Sam Scarlett – one of the eldest Sherwood kids, and also the most daring – had started it. In the beginning, they would just make short jumps between close branches, but of course, the distances got farther and farther, with fully planned out courses and routes to get from place to place the fastest. By July, they had figured out a way to bend branches to fling people even further.

Quinn had joined in enthusiastically and though she was never able to jump quite as far as the older kids, her size was to her advantage for tree-flinging however, since she could go farther than the others. She had been just too young to grasp the danger, so there was nothing quite like flying through the air, arms outstretched for a tree branch barrelling towards you.

Unfortunately, one day Marian saw her flying through the air and put an end to it all – although a lot of kids still used the tree-hopping routes to get places faster.

But now, she saw the danger. It was a long way down to the water, which whirled threateningly beside the ship. Quinn watched anxiously as she watched the first and second ladders bass by. The figures in the bridge seemed to pay her no mind, just a VK hanging around the harbour. The bridge passed by and Quinn prepared for the jump.

The ship had started to turn, the bow curving away from the side, which brought the stern closer. Quinn bounced on the balls of her feet as it neared.

When the ladder was nearly across from her, she jumped, arms out. She hit the side with a louder bang than she had expected, a rung knocking the wind out of her. She managed to hold onto a rung, knuckles paling as she found a foothold.

Gasping in a few breaths, she hurried up the ladder and hopped onto the deck quietly. Through the fireworks that were still going off, she thought she might have heard a triumphant whoop.

She ran, half-crouched, down the deck until she found a door to the hold. Before she went down, she looked back at the Isle, which looked very much the same as it did when she first arrived over a year ago on this same ship. Nothing had really changed about the island, but she saw it differently now. There was Jukes’s favourite outlook spot, the clocktower of Frollo’s chapel, and she could just see the mast of the Jolly Roger.

And of course, she was different – in so many ways she did not want to think about it right now.

So, with a last look back, then a glance at the approaching lights of Auradon, Quinn slipped into the hold.

•••

Mark’s diversion of dogs, cats, and rats, stampeding the harbour worked remarkably well. Quinn – clad in the loose pants, shirt, and cap from her previous crossing – was able to slip off the ship unnoticed. At the edge of the nearby clump of forest where she had said goodbye to Mark, she waited in the dark, eyes peeled.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and in a moment her sword was out, flashing in the moonlight.

“Hey, it’s me!” Mark exclaimed, stepping back quickly. “Don’t decapitate me.”

Quinn breathed a sigh of relief, sheathing her sword before hugging him. “It’s good to see you, Mark.”

“I’m just glad you got over okay,” Mark said. He held her at an arm’s distance. “You look different, stronger.” He noticed a scar on her arm and raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, that’s old,” Quinn said quickly. “And of course I look different, it has been a year.”

“Well over a year,” Mark said. “I was starting to worry you’d never come back.”

If not for the quick succession of whooping cough and Harper’s death, she probably would not have, Quinn realized guiltily. “So, did you train all those small animals for just such an occasion.”

“No,” he said with a grin, leading her to a clump of bushes where she saw the silhouettes of two horses waiting for them. “You remember Peggy Piper from school?” She nodded. “Well, I suggested it might be fun to collect the small animals from the area and lead them on a tour around Auradon City. It just so happened that the route passed through the shipyards at the right time.”

“What a happy coincidence,” Quinn said with a smile.

They had reached the horses and Quinn immediately recognized one as her own. “Onyx!” she exclaimed. “Hey, buddy.” She stroked his velvety nose and buried her face in his mane.

“We could probably get going before anyone investigates where the animals came from,” said Mark.

They mounted their horses and disappeared into the night.

•••

“So, why did you decide to come back?” Mark finally asked. “Life on the Isle didn’t suit you?”

“It did, it’s just...” Quinn sighed. “the kids there need help.” She looked at him. “And I can help them more from over here than over there.”

Mark shook his head. “How can you help them from here?”

“I don’t have a full plan yet, but I want to change the public perception of VKs, and eventually get them the help and resources they need.”

“Like what?”

“Like actual medical care, for a start,” Quinn said. She paused for a long moment, the only sound being the horses’ hooves on the gravel road. “How’s my dad?” Quinn asked finally.

“He’s holding up,” said Mark. “He’s worried for sure, and he blames himself for you leaving.”

Quinn sighed. “I know that leaving was kind of selfish, but maybe now something good will come out of it, with the VKs.”

The sun began to rise as they entered Sherwood Forest and Quinn breathed in deeply. She had missed the scent of the dirt and leaves and grass and pine needles so much. She closed her eyes, hearing the leaves rustle in the slight breeze and the soft thumps of the horses’ hooves on the path.

Quinn heard a twig snap somewhere to the right and her eyes snapped open, hand automatically reaching for the dagger on her belt.

“Quinn?” Mark looked concerned. “What is it?”

Frowning, Quinn shook her head. You’re safe here, she told herself, but that did not relax her very much. “Nothing,” she said, looking straight ahead again. “It’s fine.”

She knew that he was still looking at her worriedly, but ignored it. Maybe she had changed more than she realized.

They neared the village and Quinn spurred Onyx to a gallop, skidding to a halt in front of the tree that held their home.

Home.

“Dad?” Quinn called as she jumped off and sprinted towards the house. “Dad, I’m back!”

The door was open by the time she got there and Quinn threw her arms around Dad’s neck before he had a chance to say anything.

He held onto her tight. “You’re safe,” he breathed. “Thank goodness you’re safe.”