I glance up at the blue mirror. Just two more lines. My brow is perspiring.

“We’re not important, Fairy Godmother,” Sasha pipes up. “We’re just five lowly interns.”

Heath nods and starts shuffling us toward the door. “Thank you for visiting, Fairy Godmother. Enjoy your tour. We’re late for Gangia’s birthday party.”

“Gangia?” Olivina starts to question. “Who is—?”

“Hey!” one of the students looks up. “That scroll on the mirror is written by Sasha Briarwood! Isn’t she banished?”

“What?” Hazel looks from the scroll to our group.

“Sasha!” Olivina’s voice goes up an octave. “How can that be?”

Kira shouts in my ear. “Get out now! While you still can!”

The blue mirror pings loud enough to startle the group; then a parchment flies out of it and hits the conveyor belt. I exhale as I watch Sasha’s story rise up and roll straight for the bright-yellow mirror. Then it disappears in a blast of light.

All that’s left to do is get out of here without being caught.

Olivina’s eyes narrow as she watches us move to the door. “Ogres. How clever. Prue and Corden’s gifts have gotten so much stronger. Hazel, it’s the banished students. Call the Dwarf Police Squad at once!”

“Tara?” Olivina calls. “I know you’re there! Come home! Please! Don’t run!”

“Run!” Tara says, barreling down two RA students on her quest to get past them.

“Seize them!” Hazel spins around, unsure where to go first. “Guards!”

A student behind her bursts into tears as if we might turn them all into a crop of turnips with a wave of our hands. A few start to scream. A buzzer on the door sounds, and I hear an announcement being made about intruders. I look at Hershel’s statue and realize there’s a door right behind it.

“Over there!” I shout. “GO!”

The five of us don’t wait. We dash through just in time to hear it slam firmly behind us.

Chapter 9

The Getaway Plan

“Great!” Tara complains. A siren in the building begins to wail. “You’ve led us deeper into the building!”

“Did you have a better idea? Running toward Hazel didn’t seem that wise either.”

There’s still another doorway ahead of us. Through it, I see ogres singing “Happy Birthday” so loudly they must have missed the announcement. Their door seals shut before they can even ask us what’s going on. We’re trapped in the hallway between both rooms.

“Hey! What are you doing? Hey! We’re on lunch break for Gangia’s party! Open up!” An ogre pounds on the door.

Behind us, we hear banging as well. “You little cretins! You’ve been banished! How did you get into the village? How?” Hazel bellows. “Open the door this instant!”

“My buddy in my ear says there is definitely another exit from this hallway,” Heath tells us. “Everyone look.” We begin patting the walls and removing the parchments, looking for secret exits, but there’s nothing there.

Both doorways are sealed, and there are no windows. The walls are decorated with famous Happily Ever After Scrolls posts from years past, most of which feature Olivina’s smiling face: The coronation of the royal court. The opening of Fairy Tale Reform School. The ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Enchantasia Zoological Institute of Magical Creatures. There is no way to get away from the fairy godmother. We’re trapped.