Professor Dovey came out onto the balcony to a hearty greeting from the masses, looking rested, refreshed, and more like her old self. At her side were Beatrix, Reena, and Kiko in three of Guinevere’s old gowns, along with Willam and Bogden, hair combed and smartly dressed in starched shirts that Dovey must have borrowed from Tedros’ closet. Together, they took their place behind Agatha, Sophie, Guinevere, and Merlin.
Tedros waited for the last three members of the crew to emerge.
The archway stayed empty, Excalibur glinting silently from its glass box overhead.
Professor Dovey pulled her wand from her pocket and shot a spell through the archway. A collective yelp echoed, followed by Hester, Anadil, and Dot shuffling onto the balcony in pastel-colored dresses, their hair curled and primped like poodles’.
Agatha gaped at them.
“Dovey said it was a condition for us to go back to our old quest and look for a School Master,” Hester mumbled.
Tedros cleared his throat, returning to the crowd. “Whenever my father had a great victory in battle, he invited the people onto the grounds of the castle to share in that victory. Just as he once brought back the body of the Green Knight for all of you to see, today we, too, have proof that a terrible villain will never harm our Woods again.”
The crowd stirred with anticipation.
“Behold,” Tedros declared, “the Snake is dead!”
Four guards in full knight’s armor and helmets marched through the archway at Rhian’s direction, carrying the Snake’s body on a plank.
The crowd erupted in its biggest cheer yet, as Tedros and Rhian took the plank and raised the Snake’s blood-spattered corpse over the balcony for all the Woods to see.
Agatha saw Rhian make eye contact with Sophie, giving her a loving wink. Tedros, meanwhile, kept his focus on the crowd, not even glancing Agatha’s way.
All the while, Agatha could hear the witches behind her.
“Difference between Evers and Nevers is we don’t showboat for applause,” Anadil grumbled.
“Because what we care about is getting the work done,” said Hester. “Can’t wait to get back to School Master interviews.”
“You sure we can’t convince Rhian to be School Master?” said Dot. “Look at how he is with Sophie. They definitely don’t want to be apart.”
“Dot’s right. Long-distance relationships never work. Plus he’d have a lot more power as a School Master than as a knight,” said Anadil. “Besides, I can’t think of a better candidate, Hester. Can you?”
“He’s already proven he can bring Good and Evil together,” Dot appealed to Hester. “Dovey loves him. And Sophie listens to him. Around him, she’s calmer, nicer, and less of a lunatic. What more could you ask for in a School Master?”
For once, Hester didn’t argue with them. “Maybe we’re at the end of our quest after all,” she said finally.
“Does this mean I have to go back to teaching history?” said Hort.
“Does this mean I have to go back to being a first year?” said Nicola.
The group snickered.
“Dovey’s assigning my team a new quest to be a peacekeeping force near the Four Point,” said Kiko.
“Dovey’s sending me and Reena to help rebuild Jaunt Jolie after what the pirates did to it,” said Beatrix.
“It’ll be strange not being all together anymore,” said Hort. “Coming on this quest felt like school again. Only this time I actually liked you guys.”
“We’ll all be at Agatha’s and Tedros’ wedding, won’t we?” said Nicola.
“That we will,” said Hester.
Silence ensued and Agatha could feel the group’s eyes on her, while she pretended not to be listening.
Sophie had certainly been listening, though, because she squeezed Agatha’s wrist and whispered to her: “As long as they’re not in any of the wedding portraits.”
Agatha gave her a look.
“I’m your wedding planner,” said Sophie. “Clarissa might have made them all look like wet farm animals, but you can be assured I’ll be dressing them myself.”
In front of the girls, the guards reclaimed the Snake’s body from the king and knight and held it off to the side as the ceremony continued.
“And now for our final tradition that comes at the end of every victory. The exchange of gifts between king and knight,” Tedros announced to the people. “In so many of his battles, my father fought alongside his greatest knight, Sir Lancelot du Lac. Lancelot was killed at the hands of the Snake, but his legend will live on.” He looked at his mother. “Not only in the hearts of those who loved him most, but also in the spirit of a new knight. I have a Lancelot of my own in Rhian of Foxwood, a knight who will fight with me for the rest of my life. I may be the Lion of Camelot and your king, but Rhian is my Lion and thus has earned the name as well. Rhian, please address the people you so bravely serve.”
“LION! LION! LION!” the people bellowed.
Tedros put Merlin’s white star under Rhian’s suit collar, so his voice could be heard.
“I do hope Rhian gives Tedros something suitable,” Sophie whispered to Agatha. “You can always judge a man by his gifts.”
Rhian stepped to the balcony. “It is no easy feat to think of a gift for King Tedros of Camelot. So as inspiration, I looked to the gift that Sir Lancelot always gave King Arthur at the close of a winning battle. The knight would kneel before a lady of Arthur’s court and offer his tribute to her. As I stand before Arthur’s son, I, too, would like to offer my tribute to a lady of his court.”
He turned towards Agatha and sank to one knee.
Agatha blushed.
“Oh, Aggie,” Sophie breathed. “How chivalrous—”
“Sophie,” Rhian said, his eyes shifting to her. “Will you step forward?”
Sophie glanced at Agatha, surprised. Tedros looked equally confused.
“Go,” Agatha whispered.
Sophie obeyed and stepped towards the knight.
Rhian looked up at her, his face warm in the sunlight.
“Sophie of Woods Beyond . . .”
He opened his palm, revealing a glittering diamond ring.
“Will you marry me?” the knight asked.
Agatha and Tedros drew the same stunned breath. Merlin and Professor Dovey exchanged wide stares, as did the group of students behind them.
The crowd had gone completely still.
But no one was as shocked as Sophie, who had turned the color of a rose, unable to move.
Then, a light rushed into her cheeks, the moment dawning on her, and she leapt into his arms—
“Yes,” she gasped. “A thousand times, yes!”
In an instant, she was off the ground, as Rhian picked her up off her feet and kissed her passionately.
“I love you, Sophie,” he whispered.
“I love you too, Rhian,” she said, wiping tears. She shook her head, still in a stupor, and looked out at the crowd. “We’re getting married!” she shrieked.
A single hurrah shattered the silence. Then like a wave of love, the mob let loose an adoring cheer, chanting Sophie’s and Rhian’s names as they kissed again and again. . . .
Tedros stepped back between Agatha and Merlin, baffled.
“Lancelot always gave his gift to the king’s queen. A tribute to the queen is a tribute to the king. That’s the point,” Tedros said to the wizard. “But Sophie isn’t the queen. Agatha is.”
Merlin frowned slightly. “Well, not yet.”
“I suppose he just wanted to surprise us,” said Tedros, trying to shrug it off. But still he seemed unsettled.
Even so, Agatha felt a tinge of relief, hearing Tedros reaffirm her place as his queen. The relief was followed by guilt that she was obsessing over her own relationship when her best friend had just gotten engaged.
She saw Sophie make eye contact with her and give her a sheepish, blissful smile as Rhian fit the ring on her finger.
Agatha tried to mirror the same smile back.
/>
“Did you happen to ask what house at school Rhian was in?” Merlin asked Tedros casually.
“Arbed House,” said Tedros, looking at him.
Merlin lowered his glasses. “Arbed House? Are you sure?”
“Think so. Why?”
“Arbed House is where parents in Foxwood send children they want to hide from the School Master. Children they believe are Evil, despite growing up in Good families. And not just Evil. So Evil they’re a threat to the Woods. So Evil they’re too dangerous to be trained as villains. For a large fee, Dean Brunhilde magically conceals them from the School Master so he never comes to know of their existence. While every other child in the Woods has a file at the School for Good and Evil, these children’s files as prospective students simply disappear. Brunhilde never tells the Arbed students this, of course; she does her best to turn their souls Good. Meanwhile, the students never learn they were meant for great Evil all along.”
“But Rhian doesn’t have a drop of Evil in his body. He couldn’t have been sent there,” Tedros scoffed, watching the knight and Sophie still waving to the crowd. “Besides, Dovey checked him and his family out thoroughly. I must have misheard.”
Merlin tugged at his beard, his jaw tensed, as if he was trying to find a solution when he didn’t quite know the problem.
“By the way, whose file did Nicola want you to look at?” Tedros asked.
“Kei’s,” said the wizard. “She wanted to know if he and Rhian were in the same class at the Foxwood School for Boys. But there was no record of Rhian at the School for Boys at all. There was one for Kei, however. He was a student at Arbed House. And it seems he had an interesting roommate.”
“Who?” said Tedros.
Merlin looked at him. “Aric.”
“Lady Lesso’s son? Kei was roommates with that creep?” said Tedros. “Figures.”
Agatha listened to them, a prickly feeling slithering up her spine.
The Snake had been friends with Aric.
Close friends.
That’s what he’d told her and Sophie.
And the Snake clearly knew Kei too, since Kei had acted as his henchman.
Was it just a coincidence that Kei and Aric were roommates?
Or is that how the Snake met them?
Agatha’s heart pumped faster.
Had the Snake been in Arbed House too?
Nobody knew the Snake’s name, after all. Without his name, there was no way to check his file. . . .
But Rhian had been in Arbed House. That’s what he’d told Tedros.
So wouldn’t Rhian have known Aric and Kei as well?
The knight’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts: “Tedros, I believe it’s your turn,” said Rhian, grinning.
Tedros stepped forward and gave his knight a hug to congratulate him. He hugged Sophie too—
But Agatha wasn’t watching them anymore. She was watching the armored guards lift the wooden plank with the Snake’s dead body and carry it off the balcony, back into the castle. As they left through the archway bearing Excalibur, one of the guards glanced in Agatha’s direction. His dark eyes met hers through the opening of his helmet . . . the flesh around them peeling from sunburns.
Agatha’s muscles shot up with adrenaline.
Sunburn.
Dot.
Pirate.
In a flash, she was running after the guards. Sophie intercepted her: “Aren’t you going to say congratulations?”—but Agatha was already shoving her aside, sprinting through the archway.
She chased them down the stairs as the guards looked back and saw her coming. Immediately they moved faster, shuttling the Snake’s dead body to the ground floor and turning the corner into a hall that led from Blue Tower to White Tower—
Agatha jumped stairs, trying to catch up, as Dovey’s bag and crystal ball banged hard against her arm. She could hear Tedros’ voice resounding from the courtyard—
“My dear Rhian, I wish you and Sophie the best for your lives together,” the king proclaimed. “And perhaps more than that, I wish for a double wedding.”
The crowd laughed.
“But now it’s my turn to give you a gift,” said Tedros.
Agatha hurtled off the last steps and onto the ground floor, lunging forward after the guards. She hiked up her dress, slipping on the dusty marble, as she turned the corner into the hall, barreling towards the White Tower—
Agatha stopped cold.
In the middle of the hall lay the wooden plank the guards had been carrying.
The guards were gone.
So was the Snake’s body.
Dread cut through her heart.
Slowly, Agatha looked up and saw the Snake standing at the end of the long, dark hall.
He leaned against the wall, barechested, his neck unbroken.
He watched her through his green mask.
Then he turned the corner and walked away.
Agatha stood there, frozen to the spot, blood pounding in her ears.
The Snake was alive.
Which meant Rhian hadn’t killed him.
Which meant . . .
“What could I possibly gift a knight who has given more to me and my people than I could ever ask?” Tedros’ voice echoed.
Panic hardened to clarity.
I have to get to Tedros, Agatha thought.
I have to get to Tedros now.
She ran back towards the staircase, then slid around the corner and saw a fleet of armored guards, at least twenty of them, walking up the steps towards the balcony. She was about to call out to them, thinking these guards were on Camelot’s side—
Then she saw their boots beneath their steel armor.
Muddy, filthy, black.
With silver tips.
Pirate boots.
Agatha jerked behind the wall before they could spot her.
“My father felt the same way about Lancelot as I do about you,” Tedros was saying. “And he too struggled to find a gift worthy of his knight.”
I can’t get to the balcony, Agatha thought, watching the guards head that way. I have to get Tedros’ attention from below it—
As the last guards climbed the staircase, she scrambled across the ground floor, through one of the doors leading into the courtyard. She flung it open. Sunlight hit her hard as she charged right into the teeming crowd, jostling past men, women, and children.
“So my father offered Sir Lancelot the world instead,” Tedros’ voice boomed above her. “The same gift I give to you today, Rhian.”
Agatha squeezed between bodies, whacking them with Dovey’s bag to get them out of the way, trying to get far enough into the crowd that Tedros could see her.
The clues had been there all along.
The way Rhian had appeared on cue to save them each time the Snake attacked.
The way he had worn the mask of the Lion as if he was playing a part.
The way the terror in the Woods had stopped once the Lion appeared.
The way the Lion had become Tedros’ new knight once the Snake killed the old ones.
The way the Snake had gotten into Camelot before the war had ever begun.
And most of all, that speech the Lion had given about the Snake in the Hall . . .
“He dared us to bring forth a hero. . . . He dared us to sire a king. . . .”
Agatha pushed people aside. Someone shoved her to the ground. But she kept moving—
“Who’s his Eagle . . . ,” Tedros had mumbled in his sleep. “Who’s his Eagle. . . . Who’s the Snake’s Eagle. . . .”
Agatha knew the answer.
The Lion.
The Lion had been in league with the Snake from the beginning. The two of them playing both sides of a story, working towards the same goal.
But this Lion wasn’t just the Snake’s Eagle.
This Lion was the real Snake all along.
Agatha looked up. She was still too far under the balcony, out of Tedros’ sightline.
“My dear R
hian,” said Tedros’ voice, “I offer you anything on this earth that a king can give a man.”
Agatha sprung through bodies. She was almost there—
“I ask for only one thing,” said Rhian’s voice.
Agatha dove forward and spun around. She finally glimpsed Tedros high above her, smiling at Rhian, as if Tedros knew what Rhian was about to ask of him.
“I ask for the key around your mother’s neck,” said Rhian.
Tedros’ smile erased. He looked utterly confused. “You want the key?”
“Tedros!” Agatha shouted.
He didn’t hear her. She jammed through more bodies, trying to get closer to him—
But Guinevere had already stepped towards the knight. “He’s asking to keep your sword safe, Tedros,” she said to her son, before turning to Rhian. “You’ve saved my son again and again. Even when choosing your own gift, you think selflessly of him first when you could have asked for anything in the world. You are worthy of Lancelot’s legacy.” She took the necklace with the glass key from her own throat and held it towards Rhian. “And I can think of no one better to protect Excalibur than you, my child.”
“No!” yelled Agatha—
Rhian took the key out of Guinevere’s hands.
“TEDROS!” Agatha cried.
This time he heard her.
Tedros met her eyes from the balcony and for a moment had a cold expression, as if yet again she wasn’t standing behind him where she should be . . . as if yet again she was coming between him and his duty as a king. . . .
But then he turned and saw Rhian in the archway, already slipping the key into the lockbox.
Tedros spun back to Agatha and, suddenly, he understood. So did Merlin and Guinevere, following the king’s eyes to his princess in the crowd.
In a flash, Tedros leapt for his knight. So did Tedros’ mother and the wizard, but it was too late—
Rhian seized Excalibur with both hands and pulled it smoothly, the blade sliding clean out of the stone without a sound. He turned to the crowd and thrust King Arthur’s sword towards the sun, free at last, the rays of light spearing the steel and spraying across the balcony, blinding Tedros and his court.
For Agatha, everything slowed to half speed. No one seemed to be moving. Not the crowd. Not Tedros nor their friends, who stood there like statues, the sword’s light streaked across them. Not Merlin, Guinevere, or Dovey, who each seemed unable to fathom the sight of a king’s sword in a knight’s hands. And not Sophie, who watched her betrothed brandishing the most powerful sword in the Woods, a dazed smile on her face, before that smile slowly vanished, her eyes moving to Agatha in the mob.