dug past Tedros’ jacket, and from its folds, pulled out a dusty orb the size of a coconut, blemished with scratches and a long, jagged crack in its blue-tinted glass. Manley held it up to eye level. “Look at that! It doesn’t work! What about Uma? Can you make it work?” He shoved it in front of the princess. “Alas. No. Emma . . . ? No. Sheeba? No. Castor? Yuba? Aleksander? Rumi? No, no, and no. Like I said, completely, utterly worthless—” He thrust it at Agatha, clocking her in the nose—
The ball lit up.
Manley dropped it in shock, but Agatha caught it, raising the crystal towards her face. The sphere glowed wintry blue, like luminescent ice, as she gazed into its center, a silver mist brewing inside.
“Guess I should have tried holding it still,” she breathed.
Teachers gathered around her, thunderstruck.
“Impossible,” Manley croaked.
But now the mist was taking shape, snaking towards Agatha from the ball, as her sweaty palms left streaks on the glass.
“Dovey couldn’t have named her as her Second!” Professor Anemone sputtered. “The girl wasn’t born when the ball was made!”
Slowly the mist inside the crystal congealed into a phantom face that pressed against the scratched-up glass, peering at Agatha through eyeless sockets. The phantom’s face was foggy in texture and flickered every other second, as if suffering from a magical glitch, but the closer Agatha looked at the face, the more it seemed to shift between the features of Professor Dovey and the features of someone else familiar . . . someone who she couldn’t quite pin down. . . .
Then it spoke, its low, metallic voice glitching too, so Agatha had to string together the words.
“Clear as crystal, hard as bone,
My wisdom is Clarissa’s and Clarissa’s alone.
But she named you her Second, so I’ll speak to you too.
So tell me, dear Second, whose life shall I cue?
A friend or an enemy, any name I’ll allow,
Say it loud and I’ll show you them now.”
Agatha opened her mouth to respond—
Suddenly, she felt the ball ripped out of her hands and the orb went dark.
“Wait,” Yuba the Gnome mulled, the crystal hooked on the end of his staff. He dangled it in front of his brown, leathery face, studying its battered surface. “Clarissa is in Rhian’s dungeons. He could know we have her ball. He could have forced her to teach him its secrets so he can lure Agatha to her doom.” The gnome turned on his former student. “So how do we know it isn’t the king who wants you to use the crystal? How do we know this isn’t a trap?”
The faculty quietly considered this.
So did Agatha.
Then shadows rushed through the room, followed by a sunburst, and they all turned to see the sky changing out the window. Lionsmane’s tale about Hristo was fading and in its place, a new message appeared.
Celebrate! Rogue Agatha has been caught! Yet another enemy of Camelot, brought down by the Lion. Scoff at all other reports. There is only one army: the Lion’s Army. And it is made of you: the people of the Woods! Live under the Lion and you will be safe forever.
“Further proof he’s trying to tempt Agatha out of hiding,” Yuba said sternly. “By lying about her capture, he’s daring her to show her face.”
“But look . . . there it is again . . . ,” said Agatha, highlighting the message with her glow. “First letter of every sentence. C-R-Y-S-T-A-L.” She turned to Yuba. “It’s Sophie. I’m sure of it.”
“And I’m sure it’s the king,” the gnome refuted.
“I know Sophie.” Agatha held firm. “I know my friend.”
“We cannot risk our students’ lives on a hunch, Agatha,” Yuba attacked. “All logical evidence points to this crystal ball being a trap. As a student, you always gave Sophie the benefit of the doubt, privileging emotion over reason, while endangering both others and yourself. Sophie may be your best friend, but real friendship is about knowing the limits of that friendship, not foolishly believing it will always be there to save you. That is what got you in all this trouble to begin with. You blindly trusted Rhian as a friend and have paid the price. Rhian knows your instincts all too well. Follow them and you’ll end up dead with your prince.”
Agatha could see the teachers nodding, clearly siding with the gnome. Yuba shoved the crystal ball back in Dovey’s bag—
Suddenly a row of fairies whizzed into the office, glowing around Princess Uma’s head and unleashing a