By now, the three witches considered Agatha a good friend, despite their generally poor abilities to make good friends. Thus one might expect Hester, Anadil, and Dot to grin, wave, or, at the very least, make room for Agatha as she entered Good Hall for History on the last day before the Trial. But as Agatha squeezed next to them in her school uniform, eyes red and sleepless, the witches acted as if seeing their new friend was the worst possible thing in the world. Phoenix looked surprised and nervous to see her too.
“What are you doing here?” Hester hissed. “And why can we see you—”
“She knows,” Agatha hissed back.
The witches spun to her.
“Knows?” Dot blurted.
“How much?” breathed Phoenix.
The double doors flung open behind them and the Dean breezed in, revised textbook in hand, and gave Agatha a puckish smile as she ascended the stage.
“Pleasure to see our Captain has returned from her training. I’m sure it’s been time well spent,” she said smoothly. “I hear Sophie isn’t feeling herself?”
Agatha withstood the sting and glared back at her. “She’s looking for something as we speak.”
All the girls in the hall swivelled to the Dean, befuddled by this exchange.
“Oh, dear. Time is of the essence, with both your lives at stake tomorrow,” replied Evelyn innocently. “Suppose it’s something she can’t find?”
“She’ll find it,” Agatha spat as girls whiplashed back to her. “You don’t know Sophie.”
“And you know her, of course,” said the Dean, eyes twinkling. “Warts and all.”
Agatha bleached white as confused girls in the hall gibbered around her.
“Everything,” Hester gasped. “She knows . . . everything.”
“I think I may be sick…” Phoenix said vaguely.
“Tonight at supper, we’ll have our Trial eve festivities, featuring our play pageant, announcement of the Trial team, and a proper feast to wish our combatants luck against the boys,” the Dean declared from her brother’s old wooden lectern. “But this morning, we still have one history lesson left to prepare us for the Trial—”
“She couldn’t possibly know Sophie’s a boy,” Dot whispered to Agatha, Phoenix and the witches. She saw two butterflies over Anadil’s shoulder and turned them to brussels sprouts. “For one thing, how could she know we used Merlin’s spell—”
“She taught us about Merlin’s spell, didn’t she?” Agatha said, remembering the Dean’s cryptic smile that day. “She practically dared us to find it.”
“Maybe it was part of her plan all along,” echoed Anadil. “Get Sophie and Agatha apart, then hide the Storian so they have to go in the Trial.”
“She could have just locked them up somewhere,” Hester said, shaking her head. “Why go through all this trouble to get Sophie into the boys’ castle?” Her black eyes narrowed, clouding over. “Unless…”
“Did you talk to Beatrix?” Agatha pressured Anadil, seeing more butterflies fly off the Dean’s dress towards them. “She has to tell us where the pen is!”
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...
