The Lady's Secret (School for Good and Evil)

The Plan

Sophie was looking up at the sun, nearly setting. It was going to get dark soon and they needed to find Kiko. She looked back down.

Sophie shrieked as Bogden's face was just inches from hers.

Professor Sader was correct, it was right under her nose.

"Oh my goodness, why would you do that?" she yelped.

"He thought it would be funny... blah blah blah! Now, what's really important: we know how to find Kiko!" William informed her.

"You do?" Sophie gushed. "How?"

"Well, we were trying to find her and Bogden reminded me that a crystal ball could help you find someone-"

"And you called me dumb for the idea!" harrumphed Bogden.

"Anyway, we knew that Professor Anemone made a crystal ball to check up on Agatha and all you guys after Dean Dovey's broke. Then we remembered that Anemone made Agatha her second! Bogs and I thought we could sneak into Camelot Castle and ask it where Kiko was," William continued.

"I'm going there right now to have a girls day with Agatha!" Sophie blurted. The boys gave her odd looks before she rolled her eyes, "Come on!" she exploded, taking off across the courtyard.

As soon as Sophie reached the grand foyer of the School for Good, she stopped to take a breath, while waiting for William and Bogden to catch up. The three of them bolted to the front of the school and grabbed at the door of the first carriage that pulled up. Sophie demanded that the driver take them to Camelot in his flying horse carriage just like Agatha had told her to.

The inside of the carriage was very nice, with leather seats and a magically refilling snack bar.

"It's a good thing we left when we did," Sophie hummed, "Now we have ten minutes to search for the crystal ball before Agatha even gets to the castle!"

Sophie looked out the window as she put her hand in her pocket, touching the cold metal surface of Lionsmane. She pulled her hand out of the pocket to reach for the window, and her dress started to sag from the weight of the pen.

Slowly, she rolled the window down and stuck her head out, letting her long hair fly loose through the sky.

For the first time in a long time, Sophie felt free as the cold twilight air whipped her face, leaving her cheeks and nose red from the frigid night. She smiled mindlessly, as if time had stopped.

But then something else happened.

A black object zoomed past her at lightning speed, so fast Sophie almost didn't see it.

Almost.

Her eyes tracked the thin mass through the air, trying to figure out what it was.

Quickly, it lunged for the flying horses.

Not the horses.

The horses' reins.

It sliced through them causing the horses to be cut loose from the carriage. The driver tried to call the animals back, but it was useless as they were already flying away into the night sky as the carriage plunged towards the ground.

Sophie looked at the object in the sky, smooth, sharp, and matte black. She couldn't put her finger on what it looked like, but it was terrifying.

That's when she realized her pocket wasn't sagging anymore. Frantically she reached her hand into her dress, the carriage still free falling through the evening sky. Her hand grasped cold metal and she let out a sigh of relief.

In that moment reality caught up with her; they were about to crash right into the middle of a field.

The carriage smashed into the grass, denting the side of it. Sophie's vision went cloudy as she looked around for William and Bogden. Her head throbbed as she got up. The carriage had landed sideways, so she reached up to get the door handle.

It swung open and the three of them climbed out. Bogden was limping, his body leaning on William as they walked. Sophie's hand was still in her pocket clutching Lionsmane's smooth surface.

She kept her hand on the pen the entire time as they walked away from the wreckage. She kept her hand on the pen the entire time because she didn't want her theories to be true.

♠ ♠ ♠

Sophie was well known throughout Camelot- actually, throughout the entire Endless Woods- for being Queen Agatha's best friend, but sometimes that could come in handy. Sophie, William, and Bogden had gotten through the castle. Sophie didn't need a disguise; everyone knew she was allowed in the castle. But William and Bogden needed Sophie's credibility.

Sophie's first idea had been to say the two boys were her bodyguards, but that was quickly discarded when she got a good look at their slender, bony figures. They decided on royal mouse catchers and everyone believed the lie the moment it came out of Sophie's mouth.

Once they got through security checks, they sprinted up the staircase and around the corner to the queen's chambers, only to see two guards standing in front of the big double doors.

Sophie stuck her hand out to stop William and Bogden from going any farther, but instead of stopping they slammed right into her hand.

"Ouch..." Sophie whispered, rubbing her forearm. "Stay back!" she scolded the boys, as she pointed to the guards. "Put on your royal mouse catcher faces."

"Right," Bogden said giddily.

Sophie felt her pocket start to sag. Lionsmane was heavy and started pulling her dress down. She rolled her eyes as she went to pull the pen out, still overwhelmed by their experience in the carriage. She put her hand in the pocket of her dress.

It was empty.

Sophie felt around the entire pocket and there was nothing. Her heart skipped a beat, and she reached for it again, terrified that her suspicions could be true.

Her hand lunged for the pocket again, grabbing frantically at the empty cloth. This time it was there. Sophie pulled it out and inspected it on her palm.

The pen looked exactly the same. It had razor sharp edges, and a smooth surface, the name 'Kiko' still carved onto it with rough handwriting, almost like it was burned onto the side of Lionsmane. Sophie decided that she was delusional and the first time she put her hand into her dress pocket, the pen had been there the entire time. Although, she could have sworn it wasn't, but she had it now and that's all that mattered.

Sophie took a deep breath and stepped forward. The guards trailed to the side, about to open the doors to the Queen's Chambers for her when they saw William and Bogden. The guards gave them weird looks, "Who are you?" the taller one hissed.

"Royal mouse catchers!" William responded, trying to take another step forward and into the chambers.

The guards stepped in front of the doors, "You don't look like mouse catchers," the shorter one countered.

"We most certainly are!" Bogden sounded too defensive. Sophie inwardly cringed and she knew the boys weren't going to be allowed inside.

"Are they with you?" the shorter guard asked, turning to Sophie. His expression was so suspicious that Sophie knew she was never going to be able to change his mind about the fact that Williama and Bogden weren't actually mouse catchers. If Sophie wanted to get in and find Kiko, she was going to have to send William and Bogden out of the castle.

"No, they aren't with me," Sophie said definitely, as if it were an act of treason to even think she could be associated with them. "Throw them out of the castle."

"Yes, miss Sophie," the guards chorused and they started dragging away the betrayed faces of her so-called mouse catchers.

Sophie gave an apologetic glance their way and mouthed the words, find a carriage. She opened up the big double doors and the hallway flooded with light before Sophie quickly slammed the doors shut again.