A Crystal of Time. Soman Chainani

Agatha whispered.

      She dropped to her knees in the snow and put her face in her hands. She had no wizard, no Deans, no prince, no friends to rely on. She had nowhere to go. No one to turn to. And now Good’s last hope had deserted her.

      She thought of her prince lashed in chains. . . . She thought of Rhian clutching Sophie, his bride and prisoner. . . . She thought of the Snake, leering at her in the castle, like this was only the beginning. . . .

      A burble came from the lake.

      She peeked through her fingers to see a scroll of parchment floating towards her.

      Heart throttling, Agatha snatched the scroll and pulled it open.

      The Lady had given her an answer.

      “But . . . but this is impossible . . . ,” she blurted, looking back at the lake.

      The silence only thickened.

      She blinked back at the wet scroll: a bold, inked painting of a beautiful boy.

      A boy Agatha knew.

      She shook her head, baffled.

      Because Agatha had asked the Lady of the Lake to draw the Snake’s face. The Snake who’d kissed the Lady and left her to rot. The Snake who’d killed Agatha’s friends and hidden behind a mask. The Snake who’d joined forces with Rhian and made him king.

      Only the Lady of the Lake hadn’t drawn the Snake’s face at all.

      She’d drawn Rhian’s.

2

       THE COVEN

       Lionsmane

      Hester, Anadil, and Dot sat shell-shocked in a stinking cell, flanked by fellow quest team members Beatrix, Reena, Hort, Willam, Bogden, Nicola, and Kiko. Just minutes ago, they’d been on the castle balcony for a Woods-wide celebration. Together with Tedros and Agatha, they’d presented the Snake’s dead body to the people and basked in Camelot’s victory over a vicious enemy.

      Now they were in Camelot’s prison, condemned as enemies themselves.

      Hester waited for someone to say something . . . for someone to take the lead. . . .

      But that’s what Agatha usually did. And Agatha wasn’t here.

      Through the cell wall, she could hear the muffled sounds of the ongoing ceremony, turned into King Rhian’s coronation—

      “From this day forward, you are rid of a king who closed his doors to you when you needed him,” Rhian declared. “A king who cowered while a Snake ravaged your kingdoms. A king who failed his father’s test. From this day forward, you have a real king. King Arthur’s true heir. We may be divided into Good and Evil, but we are one Woods. The fake king is punished. The forgotten people aren’t forgotten anymore. The Lion is listening to you now!”

      “LION! LION! LION!” the chants echoed.

      Hester felt her demon tattoo steam red on her neck. Next to her, Anadil and Dot tugged at the pastel dresses they’d been made to wear for the ceremony, along with their prissy, primped curls. Nicola tore off a strip of her dress to re-bandage a wound on Hort’s shoulder that he’d gotten in battle against the Snake, while Hort kicked uselessly at the cell door. Beatrix and Reena were trying to light their fingerglows to no avail, and Anadil’s three black rats kept poking heads out of her pocket, waiting for orders, before Anadil shoved them back down. In the corner, red-haired Willam and runty Bogden anxiously studied tarot cards, with Hester picking up their whispers: “bad gifts” . . . “warned him” . . . “should have listened” . . .

      No one else spoke for a long while.

      “Things could be worse,” said Hester finally.

      “How could it be worse?” Hort shrieked. “The boy we thought was our savior and new best friend turned out to be the most Evil scum on the planet.”

      “We should have known. Anyone who likes Sophie is bound to be horrible,” Kiko wisped.

      “I’m not one to defend Sophie, but it isn’t her fault,” said Dot, failing to turn the ribbon in her hair to chocolate. “Rhian tricked her like he tricked all of us.”

      “Who says he tricked her?” said Reena. “Maybe she knew his plan all along. Maybe that’s why she accepted his ring.”

      “To steal Agatha’s place as queen? Even Sophie isn’t that Evil,” said Anadil.

      “We just stood there instead of fighting back,” said Nicola, despondent. “We should have done something—”

      “It happened too fast!” said Hort. “One second the guards are parading the Snake’s dead body and the next they’re grabbing Tedros and slamming Merlin over the head.”

      “Did anyone see where they took them?” Dot asked.

      “Or Guinevere?” said Reena.

      “What about Agatha?” asked Bogden. “Last I saw, she was running through the crowd—”

      “Maybe she escaped!” said Kiko.

      “Or maybe she was beaten to death by that mob out there,” said Anadil.

      “Rather take her odds than be stuck in here,” said Willam. “I’ve lived at Camelot most of my life. These dungeons are immune to magic spells. No one’s ever gotten out.”

      “We don’t have any friends left to get us out,” said Hort.

      “And given that we serve no use to Rhian anymore, he’ll probably cut off our heads by dinnertime,” Beatrix scorned, turning to Hester. “So tell me, wise witch, how can things possibly be any worse?”

      “We could have Tedros in our cell too,” Hester replied. “That would be worse.”

      Anadil and Dot cracked up.

      “Hester,” a voice said.

      They turned to see Professor Clarissa Dovey thrust her head through the bars of the next cell, her face clammy and pale.

      “Tedros and Merlin might both be dead. The true King of Camelot and Good’s greatest wizard,” the Dean of Good rasped. “And instead of thinking about a plan to help them, you’re making jokes?”

      “Difference between Good and Evil. Evil knows how to look at the bright side,” Anadil murmured.

      “Not to be rude, Professor, but shouldn’t you be the one thinking of a plan?” said Dot. “You’re a Dean and we’re technically still students.”

      “Hasn’t been acting like a Dean,” Hester groused. “Been in that cell the last ten minutes and didn’t say a word.”

      “Because I’ve been trying to think of—” Dovey started, but Hester cut her off.

      “I know fairy godmothers are used to waving away problems with pixie dust and magic wands, but magic isn’t getting us out of this.” Hester could feel her demon searing hotter, her frustration turned on the Dean. “After teaching at a school where Good always wins, maybe you’re in denial that Evil actually won. Evil that’s made itself look Good, which is cheating