“Yeah! Whose talent can beat that!”
On the next couch, Sophie buried her nose deeper in Spellcasting for Idiots.
She heard two insect clicks and looked up urgently. Hort puffed his chest and winked. She turned in horror, then saw lipstick scrawled on the floor behind her couch.
“BATHROOM. BRING CLOTHES.”
Sophie despised the Evil bathrooms, but at least they were a safe place to meet. Nevers seemed to have a phobia of toilets and avoided them entirely. (She had no idea what prompted this fear or where they relieved themselves, but she preferred not to think about it.) The door moaned as she slipped into the dim iron cell. Two torches flickered on the rusted wall, elongating the shadows of stalls. As she crept towards the last one, slivers of pale skin peeked through iron slits.
“Clothes?”
Sophie slid them under the stall.
The door opened and Agatha tramped out in Hort’s frog pajamas, arms crossed.
“I don’t have anything else!” Sophie whimpered. “My roommates hanged all mine!”
“No one likes you these days,” Agatha shot back, hiding her glowing finger. “I wonder why.”
“Look, I’m sorry! I couldn’t just go home! Not when I finally got my prince!”
“You? You got your prince?”
“Well, it was mostly me …”
“You said you wanted to go home. You said we’re a team! That’s why I helped you!”
“We are a team, Agatha! Every princess needs a sidekick!”
“Sidekick! Sidekick!” Agatha shouted. “Well, let’s see how our heroine manages all by herself!”
She broke away. Sophie grabbed her arm. “I tried to kiss him! But he doubts me now!”
“Let go—”
“I need your help—”
“And I won’t give it,” Agatha spat, elbowing past her. “You’re a liar, a coward, and a fraud.”
“Then why did you even come?” Sophie said, eyes welling.
“Watch out. Crocodile tears mean crocodile wrinkles,” Agatha sneered from the door.
“Please. I’ll do anything!” Sophie blubbered—
Agatha swiveled. “Swear you’ll kiss him the first chance you get. Swear on your life.”
“I swear!” Sophie cried. “I want to go home! I don’t want them to kill me!”
Agatha stared at her. “Huh?”
Complete with voices and gestures, Sophie hysterically replayed the faculty meeting, failed challenges, and fight with Tedros.
“We’re getting too close to the end, Sophie,” Agatha said, now ghost white. “Someone always dies at the end of a fairy tale!”
“What do we do now?” Sophie squeaked.
“You win that Trial and kiss Tedros the moment you do.”
“But I can’t survive! I have three hours alone without Tedros protecting me!”
“You won’t be alone,” Agatha grumped.
“I won’t?”
“You’ll have fairy godroach under your collar, conjuring you out of trouble. Only this time, if you don’t kiss your prince on cue, I’ll curse you with every Evil spell I know until you do!”
Sophie threw her arms around her. “Oh, Agatha, I’m a terrible friend. But I’ll have my whole life to make it up to you.”
Footsteps echoed down the hall. “Go!” Agatha whispered. “I need to Mogrify!”
Sophie gave her a last hug and, aglow with relief, snuck from the bathroom and back to Hort’s protection. A minute later, a cockroach followed and dashed for the stairwell.
Neither noticed the red tattoo smoldering through shadows.
Per tradition, there were no classes the day before the Trial. Instead, the 15 Ever and 15 Never challengers were given time to scout the Blue Forest. So while unpicked students worked on Circus talents, Sophie followed Tedros through the gates, keenly aware of the chill between them.
Though the rest of the grounds had fallen prey to a slow autumnal death, the Blue Forest glistened, lush as ever, in midday sun. All week, the students had tried to wheedle out of their teachers what obstacles the challengers would face but they professed ignorance. The School Master designed the Trial in secret, giving professors only the power to secure its borders. Teachers couldn’t even watch the contest, since he cast a veiling spell over the Blue Forest for the whole night.
“The School Master forbids our interference,” Professor Dovey mumbled to her class, clearly distraught. “He prefers Trials to simulate the dangers of the Woods beyond reason or responsibility.”
But as the competitors crowded into the Forest behind Sophie and Tedros, none of them could believe that a night from now, this beautiful playground would turn into a hellish gauntlet. Together, the Evers and Nevers herded past the sparkling fronds of the Fernfield, snacking possums in the Pine Glen, the Blue Brook tumbling with trout, before they remembered they were enemies and split up.
Tedros shoved past Sophie. “Follow me.”
“I’ll go on my own,” she said softly. “I haven’t earned your protection.”
Tedros turned. “Beatrix said you cheated to get to number one. Is that true?”
“Of course not!”
“Then why did you fail all the pre-Trial challenges?”
Tears pearled Sophie’s eyes. “I wanted to prove I could survive without you. So you’d be proud of me.”
Tedros stared at her. “You lost … on purpose?”
She nodded.
“Are you insane!” he exploded. “The Nevers—they’ll kill you!”
“You’d risk your life to prove I’m Good,” Sophie sniffled. “I’m willing to fight for you, too.”
For a moment, Tedros looked like he might clobber her. Then the red seeped from his cheeks and he grabbed her in his arms. “When I come through those gates, promise me you’ll be there.”
“I promise,” Sophie wept. “For you, I promise.”
Tedros gazed into her eyes. Sophie puckered her perfectly glossed lips …
“You’re right, you should explore on your own,” her prince said, pulling away. “You need to feel confident in here without me. Especially after losing so many challenges.”
“But—but—”
“Stay away from Nevers, all right?”
He squeezed her hand and sprinted to catch up with Everboys in the pumpkin patch. Chaddick’s sharp voice echoed. “Still a villain, mate. Won’t get special treatment from us. …”
Sophie didn’t hear Tedros’ response. She stood alone in the silent glen, under a blue mistletoe tree.
“We’re still here,” she grouched.
“Maybe if you had delivered my lines like