and hole in the Woods until they do.”
Agatha and Sophie turned to each other, panicked—
They knocked heads, sending Agatha reeling into the lamp, which rattled against the wall.
Agatha rubbed her skull. “I thought we couldn’t affect things inside the crystals,” she said, eyeing the lamp askew. “I thought we were ghosts—”
“Aggie,” Sophie croaked.
“Mmm?” Agatha said, turning.
Sophie wasn’t looking at her. She was looking ahead, her face milk-white.
Through the slit in the bed’s curtains, Rhian was staring right at them.
So was Japeth.
“They see us,” said Sophie.
“Don’t be an idiot. They can’t see us,” Agatha scoffed.
Japeth bolted to his feet, teeth bared.
“They see us,” Agatha gasped.
Hundreds of scims flew off the Snake’s body, ripping straight for the two girls’ heads—
But Agatha was already falling backwards into darkness, her best friend screaming and holding on for dear life.
20
HORT
The House at Number 63
Hort tried to ignore the posters, but it was impossible when there was one pinned to every single orange tree lining the Rue du Palais.
WANTED
All Current Students & Teachers of The School for Good and Evil
REWARD: 60 Gold Pieces for Each Soul, Dead or Alive
BY ORDER OF
KING DUTRA OF FOXWOOD
Kids their age in prim Foxwood School uniforms loitered by the trees, just out of school, guzzling glass bottles of orange soda and sharing gummy chews and sugar sticks.
“How we supposed to tell one of those School of Good and Evil stiffs from a sorry sop on the street?” asked a red-haired boy, inspecting the poster.
“They got that glowing finger,” said a girl, reapplying lipstick in a pocket mirror. “The one they use for spells.”
“For sixty gold smacks, I’ll make my own finger glow and turn myself in,” a dark-skinned boy said, eyeing Hort as he passed.
Hort picked up his pace. The boy was right. For sixty gold pieces, Hort would turn in his own mother. (If he knew who his mother was. Anytime he’d asked his dad, he’d got a grumble or a slap.) Hort glanced at his girlfriend, walking with him, expecting her to be just as alarmed by the high price on their heads.
“The boys in this kingdom are all so handsome,” Nicola marveled at the well-dressed crowd on the Rue du Palais, Foxwood’s tree-lined thoroughfare of shops, inns, and pubs, leading up to the king’s palace. There seemed to be a uniform here, even for non-students: women wore solid dresses in a spectrum of colors, while men wore tailored suits in the same unpatterned shades. The sum effect made Hort feel like he was at a paint shop, trying to pick the perfect hue. Nicola ogled two passing boys, muscles barely contained by their suits. “Seriously, every single one looks like a prince.”
“You can have ’em,” Hort grumbled, picking at his new blue pants, wedged up his bottom. “Foxwood is known for good-looking blokes, who are boring, brownnosing, and can’t think for themselves. Just take Kei and Chaddick. Both from Foxwood, both pretty-faced sidekicks, working for twits. Nic, there’s a lot of people here. Maybe we should wait until dark—”
“Tedros is not a twit and Chaddick is dead. Have some respect,” Nicola chided, walking faster in her new beige dress. “And we can’t wait until dark because we need to get inside the Foxwood School for Boys and look for Rhian’s files. Rhian told Tedros he was a student there.”
“But Merlin tried already and couldn’t find any files for Rhian,” Hort pointed out, itching at his hair. “I say we poison the Foxwood king instead. Robin said he was the first coward to burn his ring, plus if we kill him, no one can pay the sixty gold pieces for our heads.”
“We are not killing a king who has nothing to do with our mission,” Nicola retorted. “Reaper told us to find out about Rhian and his brother’s past. And Rhian told Tedros he was a student in Arbed House. We have to at least check it out.”
“I thought Rhian went to the Foxwood School for Boys.”
“Arbed House is in the Foxwood School for Boys. It’s a dormitory,” Nicola said impatiently. “Didn’t Tedros explain all this to you?”
“Tedros and I had a conversation once,” said Hort. “I spent the whole time farting silently, hoping it might suffocate him.”
Nicola side-eyed him. “Arbed House is where parents in Foxwood hide their children who they fear are Evil. So Evil they’re afraid the School Master might kidnap them. No parent here wants a famous villain as a child. So Dean Brunhilde magically conceals these wayward children from the School Master so he