One True Queen (School for Good and Evil Book 2)

Chapter 1

Hort sighed, setting aside the Royal Rot.

Ever since Lady Lesso had passed in the war and he'd taken the job as Dean of Evil, he'd been severely cut off from the rest of the world. He didn't have time to see his friends anymore with all his work, so he had to resort to reading sub-par magazines to get information.

Right now, all anyone was talking about was if Tedros was king of Camelot or not. According to the Camelot Courier he was, but according to the Royal Rot he wasn't. Both, however, agreed that once Tedros found a way to pull Excalibur out of that balcony, it would be settled and he'd be king once and for all.

Six months later and it was all anyone cared about.

Hort slipped the lid off the vial attached to the chain around his neck and turned the vial upside down, emptying the gold liquid. But instead of falling to the floor, the liquid suspended midair, creating the outline of a large square before it magically filled in with a magnificent three-dimensional map of the Endless Woods. Scattered across kingdoms near and far were dozens of brightly colored figurines, like an army of toy soldiers, each resembling a student from the School for Good and Evil and labeled with their name.

From the Quest Map, it looked like everyone was doing well. Beatrix was in Jaunt Jolie, fighting with Reena and Millicent as her sidekicks. Ravan was in Akgul, plundering the Iron Village with Drax as his henchman and Arachne as his mogrified newt. Hester, Dot, and Anadil were in Kyrgios, continuing their mission to find a new School Master. And Chaddick was in Avalon, which Hort thought was strange. The boy was supposed to be in Camelot working as one of Tedros' knights.

Every single name was in blue, which meant they were winning their quests. His name, too, was colored in sapphire. His quest as Dean was to bring Evil into a new age. Clearly he was succeeding.

A knock sounded at his office door, and he put his map away.

"Come in."

Dean Clarissa Dovey strided in, followed by three witches Hort could never mistake—one tattooed, one albino, and one smelling of chocolate.

"Hester? Anadil? Dot?" Hort stood from his desk. "What are you doing here? The map says you're supposed to be in Kyrgios."

"I'm afraid I have terrible news," Dovey said before any of the witches could reply.

Dovey spilled her map onto Hort's desk.

It took him a moment to realize what he was seeing. When he did, his eyes lifted to Dovey's.

"You lied to me."

On Dovey's map, all his classmates' names were colored red beneath their moving figurines instead of blue like they were on his map.

Dovey sighed. "Hort—"

"I'm a Dean! I'm your equal! But you treat me as if I'm not. . .you give me a false map . . . you make me think all our quests are going well . . . you keep me in the dark on the fact that my friends are failing miserably."

"I know you're upset, Hort, and you have every right to be," Dovey said. "Fairy godmothers don't make it a habit of using magic to deceive. But fairy godmothers also have a duty to protect the greater Good. If you'd known what was happening, it was only a matter of time before word of the older students' struggles leaked through the school and distracted the first years."

Hort glared at her. "If you were so scared of telling me about these failing quests, why are you telling me now?"

Dovey pressed her mouth into a firm line. "Because I need you to lead a quest into the Woods and save your fellow classmates before any more of them die."