After the fire, Agatha was locked in her room for two days, allowed out only to use the toilet and accept meals of raw vegetables and prune juice from scowling fairies. Phoenix was temporarily placed in a room with Kiko and two others, as if Agatha’s reckless stunts were contagious.
On the third day, Phoenix was eating lunch alone when she overheard the news that Agatha was going to see Professor Dovey about her actions. Phoenix’s eyes widened. It wasn’t Agatha’s fault!
She jumped up and ran back toward the school, ignoring the curious looks she was getting. She had to tell Professor Dovey Agatha wasn’t at fault!
Up close, Professor Clarissa Dovey, with her silver bun and rosy face, looked even more comforting and grandmotherly. Agatha couldn’t have wished for a better executioner.
“I’d prefer the School Master handle these things,” Professor Dovey said, flipping papers under a crystal pumpkin paperweight. “But we all know how he is about his privacy.”
She finally peered up at Agatha. She didn’t look comforting anymore.
“I have a school full of terrified students, two days of classes to make up, five hundred animals whose memories must be erased, a classroom wing that’s been eaten, a treasured menagerie reduced to ash, and a headless gargoyle buried somewhere underneath all this. Do you know why this is?”
Agatha couldn’t get words out of her throat.
“Because you disobeyed Pollux’s simple order,” Professor Dovey said. “And nearly cost lives in the process.” She shamed Agatha with a look and went back to her scrolls.
Agatha glanced through the window at the lakeshore, where Evers were finishing lunches of roast chicken dolloped with mustard, spinach and Gruyère crepes, and flutes of apple cider. She could see Tedros re-enacting the menagerie scene for an enthralled audience, sporting his black eye like a badge of honour, however, Phoenix was missing from the scene. Agatha was disappointed she couldn’t have one last glimpse of her cheeky room-mate
“Can I say bye to my friend at least?” Agatha said, eyes welling as she thought of Sophie stuck in the School for Evil. She turned to Professor Dovey.
“Before you...kill me?”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“But I have to see her!”
Professor Dovey looked up. “Agatha, you received a first rank for your performance in Animal Communication and rightfully so. Only a rare talent can make a wish come to life. And though there are different accounts of what exactly happened on the roof, I would add that any pupil of this school who would risk their life to help a gargoyle...” Her eyes glistened and for a moment so did the silver swan on her dress. “Well, that suggests Goodness beyond any measure.”
Agatha stared at her, tongue-tied. The door opened quickly. Phoenix stood, eyes wide. Agatha and Professor Dovey stared at her in surprise.
“Please don’t blame Agatha!” Phoenix blurted. “She was just trying to grant the wish of a scared little boy! I’ll take blame for the fire, with my phoenix powers and everything! Just please don’t punish her! She’s a good student, she’s trying!”
Agatha stared at her, whereas Professor Dovey smiled.
“While I would have preferred you knock, Princess Phoenix, I appreciate you sticking up for your friend.” Professor Dovey said. “But you needn’t worry, Agatha isn’t being punished, and I daresay Tedros might have gotten a little of what he deserved.”
Phoenix relaxed and let out a sigh of relief before beaming at Agatha.
“But if you disobey another teacher’s direct order, Agatha, I guarantee you will fail. Understood?”
YOU ARE READING
Fire Princess
FanfictionYears ago, once her fairytale had ended, Rapunzel married a prince who's entire family possessed the powers of phoenixes. That same power was passed onto her children. This is the story of her daughter, Phoenix of Firebirch, who attends the School f...
