A Crystal of Time (The School for Good and Evil The Camelot Years #2) - Soman Chainani Page 0,78

recover. Let him rest for now.”

“Rest?” Agatha scoffed. “Pirates are trying to kill us. Call the stymphs! We’ll fly somewhere safe—”

“And where’s that?” said a familiar voice.

Agatha turned to Hester, spotlit beneath the glittery aquarium in Sophie’s ceiling next to Hort, Anadil, Beatrix, Reena, and Kiko, all still caked in rubble from Camelot’s dungeons.

“Every kingdom is on Rhian’s side,” Hester argued. “Where can we hide a whole school?”

“Plus, the Snake’s Quest Map is tracking us,” Anadil added, her arm bandaged.

“We don’t even have enough stymphs to get us all out of here,” said Hort.

“And even if we did, the pirates have arrows to shoot us down,” Kiko pointed out.

“We’re trapped,” said Beatrix.

Agatha shook her head. “But . . . but . . .”

“Most of the wolves are dead, Agatha,” said Professor Manley. “Rest probably escaped through the hole in my shield. That sorcerer must have helped the pirates break through; crystal balls can find weakness in any magic.”

“Even more reason for us to get out of here, before another sorcerer comes,” Agatha insisted.

“I sent the fairies to look for help in the Woods. Someone who can rescue us,” Princess Uma advised. “In the meantime, the castle will defend itself against intruders. Our best hope is to hide here until they leave.”

“And if they don’t?” Agatha countered. “We can’t just wait while monsters invade our school!”

“The only way to the tower is Sophie’s catwalk, which is charmed to attack trespassers. Even if Rhian’s men try to break in here, we’re safe,” Professor Anemone said, pulling pillows off Sophie’s gold-veiled bed and laying them under Castor’s head. “For now, the smart move is no move.”

“If I know Sophie, she’s at Camelot, doing everything she can to rescue our friends. She’d want me to do the same for her students, not sit around and hope we don’t die!” Agatha challenged. “What if we mogrify and make a run for it?”

“First years haven’t even learned mogrification,” Professor Sheeks argued, “let alone how to control it under stress—”

“Or what if some of us distract the pirates while the rest of you run?” Agatha hounded, her voice shallowing. “Or what if we use a spell . . . any spell . . . There has to be something we can do!”

“Agatha,” said Yuba sharply. “Remember the first lesson of Surviving Fairy Tales. Survive. I know you want to keep our students safe. But Emma and Uma are right: there is no move to make. Not yet.” Agatha’s eyes followed the gnome’s to the Storian in the corner, halted over the open storybook and its painting of this very scene: the School Master’s tower . . . the children hiding inside . . . the pirates down below. . . . The pen stayed completely still, a gleam at its tip, as if watching Agatha the way she was watching it. “You’re like all the best heroes, Agatha. You think you lead your story,” said Yuba. “You think you control your own fate. That the pen follows in your wake. But that’s not always the truth. Sometimes the story leads you.”

Agatha resisted. “Defeating Evil means fighting for Good. Defeating Evil means action. You told me not to use the crystal ball. You told me not to send first years to Camelot. But that’s how we saved people!”

“At what cost?” said Yuba. “Those left may be in even greater danger than before.”

Agatha felt her stomach hollow. The gnome had spoken her biggest fear: that in her effort to save Tedros and her friends, she’d ensured their doom. She turned to Hester, Hort, and the others who’d returned, waiting for them to reassure her. To tell her she’d done well. But they said nothing, their faces solemn, as if this was a question with no right answer.

Once upon a time, there’d been Good and Evil.

Now they lived in the in-between.

“I say we fight these thugs,” said another familiar voice.

Agatha turned to Ravan, Mona, and Vex stuffed into a corner, along with other fourth years she hadn’t seen since the Four Point, each of them bandaged and bruised.

“Ever since our quests, we’ve been trapped in the infirmary, with nothing to do but read books, search for clues about the Snake, and watch first years do our job,” Ravan grouched, a book under his arm. “This is our school and we have to defend it.”

“If you fight, we’re fighting too,” said Bodhi, crouched with Laithan and the first-year Evers.

“Us too,” said Laralisa with the Nevers. “Between all of us, we have