MAXINE

Part 3

Tedros laughed. Agatha didn't.

"Might as well show you Snow's house along the way," Uma said, forging up the trail. "Princes occupied it after the Boy Eviction, until the School Master returned and the girls begged all the boys to come back and help protect the kingdoms. Turns out all it takes to bring enemies to peace is a bigger enemy. Probably hasn't been anyone here in weeks, then. I used to have sooo many friends at Cottage White, you know—sheep, pigs, even horses! Always wanted to bring my classes here to talk to them, but Clarissa said the animals in the Blue Forest were perfectly adequate for lessons. She's never liked field trips. Thinks the students spend all their time kissing behind trees." Uma fluttered ahead. "A bit true, I suppose."

As Agatha watched her go, Tedros slid next to his princess. "Just hear me out. I don't mean to say you're not as good friends with Sophie as I am—"

"You barely know her," Agatha fired.

"Can you listen for two seconds without trying to eat me?" Tedros shot back.

Agatha fumed quietly.

"Look, both of us know you're her best friend. That you're the one who's spent the most time with her," said Tedros. "But you don't understand why Sophie took his ring in the first place. Sophie just wants to be loved, okay? She's willing to embrace the darkest Evil, all so that she doesn't end up alone. I know how much pain is inside her, because she told me. Pain she would never confess to you, because she doesn't want you to see it."

"You think Sophie's more honest with you than with me?" asked Agatha.

"It's more complicated than that. Sophie thought I loved her once, Agatha. She thought I was her prince. You told me yourself: all Sophie ever wanted was a happy ending that looked just like ours. If you talk to her, she'll never destroy that ring. She'll compare herself to you and all those feelings will come up. She'll feel like a third wheel to you and me. She'll feel alone."

"And let me guess: only you can make her destroy his ring," Agatha needled.

"Yes," Tedros said fervently. "Because I can make her see that if she comes with us, she'll still have a chance at true love one day, even if it isn't with him. I can make her see how beautiful and vibrant and alive she is . . . how soft and clever and fun and . . ." He smiled, lost in his memory of her. "I can make her feel loved in a way you can't."

Agatha took in her prince's glazed smile as he stared off in space. He used to look at her the same way once. Now he was talking about another girl with that very same look.

Tedros blinked out of his trance and saw Agatha burning pink.

"I rescue her alone. Got it?" she said, shoving past him and trundling up the path, before she stopped and glowered back. "And if you ever dare faint anywhere near me, I'm not catching you!"

Tedros snorted. "Princes don't faint!"

Agatha gritted her teeth and stormed ahead, until she caught up with her teacher.

Princess Uma gave her a look and glanced at Tedros, muttering to himself a ways behind. "Ever Afters always look so easy in storybooks, don't they?"

"Sometimes I feel like he needs a real princess," murmured Agatha.

"Have you been a ghost all this time and I haven't known it?"

"You know what I mean. I feel like deep down, he wants someone pretty and bubbly and who treats him like a prince." Agatha peeked up at her teacher. "Someone whose kids won't look so interesting."

"I had a prince with shiny hair and a small nose like me and who I always put first," Uma replied. "Ever After wasn't any easier."

"You had a prince?"