A Crystal of Time (The School for Good and Evil The Camelot Years #2) - Soman Chainani Page 0,137

up there, you meddlin’ bag of bones!” Agatha heard the Sheriff growl from another screen. She turned and spotted him, Reaper, and Guinevere on the dirt floor of the Flowerground hollow, beneath the massive gnome blockade. The Sheriff spat at the cat: “You hear me? I’m a man. I should be first line of defense. Not a buncha gnomes!”

Reaper shook his head, meowing.

“What’d the damned thing say?” the Sheriff snarled at Guinevere.

“Too dangerous,” said Guinevere.

The screens in the throne room went dark.

“Why is the cat keeping the Sheriff from fighting?” Tedros asked, lunging to his feet. “All I know is he can’t stop me. Come on, let’s go!” He dashed for the waterfall and leapt out of the room.

Sophie scurried after him—

Agatha yanked her back. “This isn’t enough, Sophie, and you know it!” she said, holding up Arthur’s letter. “We need Rhian to tell us who his parents are. We need him to confess!”

Sophie paled. “What?”

“Japeth is attacking us, which means Japeth isn’t in the castle,” said Agatha. “We need to go back inside that crystal. The one with Rhian, wounded in his room. He’ll be able to see us like last time. We’ll show him this letter. We’ll make him tell us the truth! All we have to do is magically record it and send it to the entire Kingdom Council!”

“Have you lost your mind!” Sophie hissed. “First of all, Rhian will kill us!”

“He’s mummified in bed—”

“His guards, then!”

“Not if we gag him—”

“Second of all, the crystal hasn’t recharged! You heard Reaper. The connection will only last minutes!”

“We’ll move quickly—”

“And thirdly, if Tedros knew what we were doing, he’d kill us himself!”

“Why do you think I waited until he left?” Agatha said.

Sophie gawked at her.

But Agatha was already hustling out of the room, dragging her best friend behind her.

“IF RHIAN’S TRAPPED in bed, why can’t we just kill him!” Sophie hassled as she followed Agatha into Reaper’s bathroom.

“Because killing Rhian won’t put Tedros back on the throne. We need proof Tedros is the real king,” Agatha declared.

“Rhian confessing Arthur isn’t his dad won’t give us that proof. Nor does it solve the fact Tedros can’t pull Excalibur from the stone. Or the fact people hate him—”

“But it gets Rhian off the throne and gives Tedros a chance to redeem himself,” said Agatha, finding Dovey’s crystal wrapped in towels near the tub, still smelling of lavender. “Maybe once Tedros proves Rhian’s a fraud, Tedros will be able to pull Excalibur. Maybe it was his real coronation test all along.”

“A lot of ‘maybes’ to risk our lives for,” Sophie grumbled.

Agatha turned to her sharply. “Unless you have something better, it’s the best plan we have. The connection won’t last long. I’ll show Rhian the letter, make him admit Arthur isn’t his father, and we jump out before the portal closes.” She snatched one of the vials off Reaper’s vanity, emptied it of cream, and folded Arthur’s letter inside, before sealing it and hiding it in her dress. She slipped into the tub, gripping the crystal ball against her chest, the steamy water making her heart thump faster than it already was. “Just do the spell to record everything he says.”

“Spell? I don’t know a spell to do that!” Sophie flung back. “I figured you knew a spell since this was your rattle-brained idea!”

“You’re a witch!” Agatha retorted. “Supposedly a good one!”

Sophie blushed as if Agatha had questioned her very core. She climbed into the tub, her rug dress absorbing water like a sponge. “Well, there is a mimic spell to parrot back anything someone says, but it’s so elementary, I can barely remember it—”

“Mimic what I’m about to say,” Agatha ordered.

“Oh. Hum.” Sophie bit her lip, before she tapped her thumbs together in a pattern, and her fingertip glowed pink.

Agatha dictated: “I will not waste time in the crystal, I will let Agatha do the talking, and I will leave when Agatha tells me to.”

Sophie opened her mouth and Agatha’s voice came out, but slow motion and an octave too low: “I will not waste time in the crystal, I will let Agatha do the talking, and I will . . .” She squawked like a parrot. “. . . me to.”

Agatha frowned.

“I’ll work out the kinks by the time he confesses,” Sophie clipped, submerging in the bath.

Agatha’s splash unfurled next to her and the two girls held their breaths as Agatha laid the ball on the floor of the basin and gazed into its center. Agatha prepared for the assault—

Blue