A Crystal of Time (The School for Good and Evil The Camelot Years #2) - Soman Chainani Page 0,67

a child, not as a student, but as he is now!”

The ball detonated with lightning and showed Tedros kissing Sophie in a sapphire cave.

“Stupid ball!” Agatha shouted, upending it like an hourglass.

Only now it was showing an eagle flying over a bloodred lake.

“Show me Tedros, you piece of crap! The real Tedros!” She rattled it with both hands like a cheap maraca—

Something seemed to lock into place.

Now inside the crystal’s frame, a silver bubble roved over lush green grass, sun-kissed on a golden afternoon. As the bubble coasted uphill, the grass trembling in its breeze, Agatha could see the edges of a familiar tower overhead, armored guards manning the catwalks with crossbows.

“Wait. This is it,” she breathed. “This is Camelot.”

The bubble slowed, then stopped on a patch of grass halfway up the hill before zeroing in, close enough for Agatha to see ants skittering across the green blades.

“The crystal is telling us this is where Tedros is. His dungeon is under that grass!” Agatha said, emotion straining her voice. She was a layer of dirt away from seeing her prince again. “That’s where they have to do it! That’s where Bodhi and Laithan have to break in!”

For a moment, the Library was overtaken by silence.

Castor’s voice interrupted it.

“IF THEY SHOW UP.”

Agatha’s thought exactly.

Where were they?

The pink-and-blue flare meant they’d safely entered Camelot’s gates. They were supposed to sneak onto the Gold Tower hill and wait for her. The hill was small. It should have been easy to scan the grass and see her bubble the moment it appeared. . . .

Her heart stopped.

Had Bodhi and Laithan been captured by Rhian’s pirate guards? Had her plan to keep them unseen failed? Were they hurt or worse, still . . .

What was she thinking! Letting first years go on a daredevil mission that had the slimmest chance of succeeding? Were her friends’ lives worth killing innocent kids? Would Tedros, Sophie, and Dovey want students dying for them?

This is a mistake, she thought. She was so caught up in trying to save Camelot’s future that she’d borrowed against the school’s. She had to correct course. She’d order the crystal to show her Bodhi and Laithan. Wherever they were, she’d find a way to get them out. Even if it meant losing Tedros. Even if it meant losing everyone else.

She glared into the ball. “Show me Bo—”

A handsome face thrust into the crystal’s frame, spattered with black goo, a shimmery cape held over his head like a shield.

“Sorry,” Bodhi panted, his breath shaking the bubble. “Couldn’t see your bubble in the sunlight. Plus, Sophie’s old snakeskin cape is a nightmare to handle. Thin, slippery, and just the worst. To stay invisible, we had to shuffle under it like one of those dragon puppets. And Laithan has a big behind.”

“I take that as a compliment,” whispered goo-covered Laithan, squeezing in under the cape. “In fairness to my behind, we planned for two of us, not three, so that made things worse.”

“Three?” Agatha said, mystified.

“Hiya,” said a new goo-splotched face, crowding under the cape.

“Hort?” Agatha blurted.

“So I’m sitting in the carriage with Willam and Bogden fending off one of the Snake’s eels,” said the weasel, “and then what do you know, here come two of my former students, raiding the royal carriage like wild men and stunning the driver with a pretty mediocre spell but giving me just enough time to beat that scim to a puddle, and bang on, we’re off and rolling to Camelot. Boys said they’re supposed to invade the dungeons alone—that Sophie’s old cape wouldn’t fit three of us—but no way was I gonna let two first years go without me. I’m a professor. Oh, and Bogden and Willam wanted to come, but those boys are better as lookouts, if you know what I mean.”

“Bogden and Willam?” said Agatha, even more baffled now.

“They stashed the carriage in the Woods near the castle and are waiting there, in case we can’t use the stymphs to escape,” said Bodhi. “No clouds today, so stymphs can’t hide overhead or the guards on the towers would see them. Have no idea where they’ve flown to. We’ll try signaling them once we free the prisoners, but no guarantee they’ll pick us up.”

“A real crystal ball? Sooo cool,” said Laithan, poking at the bubble and distorting it. He searched the frame. “Is Priyanka watching? Tell her I say hi.”

“Professor Anemone is watching, and you should be focusing on your vital mission instead of peacocking for girls!” the Beautification