Merlin smiled. “We charge the school, of course.”

The old heroes eyed each other warily. “Well, which Ever kingdoms are joining us?” asked Jack. “We’d need Maidenvale, Gillikin, and Avondale at the very least—”

“None,” said Merlin.

“What?” Briar Rose blurted.

“None of the Ever kingdoms are joining us.”

The room was very still.

“Merlin,” said Peter Pan. “The School Master is young and strong. He has two hundred old villains who can’t be killed by anything other than fire, along with a school of young students—”

“Leave that problem to me,” said Merlin. “In the meantime, I expect the League to work with our young heroes—Agatha, Tedros, Hort, Hester, Anadil, and Dot—and prepare them as best as you can for the villains they’ll face, given you once battled these same villains yourself. We leave for war one week from tonight.”

“But we’re old bones!” Hansel blustered.

“And they’re young idiots!” said Gretel. “It’s impossible!”

“It’s idiocy!” said Cinderella.

“It’s a massacre is what it is,” said Red Riding Hood.

“The other option is to lay down and die,” said Agatha, launching to her feet.

Everyone turned to her. Tedros gave her a surprised look, as if she had far more courage than him at the moment.

Meanwhile, Agatha felt sweat puddling beneath the crown. She’d stood up before she actually had anything to say.

But then she saw Guinevere in the corner. The old queen nodded at her with a steely smile and Agatha felt her voice again.

“My mother died to let me live,” Agatha said, still watching Guinevere, as if she was feeding her the words. “For most of my life, I made the mistake of thinking she was clueless. I figured she was old and out of touch and couldn’t possibly know how hard it was to be young. Never paid much attention to her, just like me and Tedros discounted all of you when we first came to your cave.”

“Discounted?” Peter heckled. “Your boyfriend called us a retirement home for the about-to-be-dead!”

“Well, you had your own opinions about us, too,” said Agatha. “You thought what my mother did: that young people are careless and thoughtless and have it easy.”

The old heroes grumbled agreement.

“But in the end, my mother knew how to keep me safe,” said Agatha. “She didn’t just save me from death . . . she also sent me to you. Not to a warrior kingdom, not to a young League of Knights, but to a group of legendary old heroes she knew would protect me. And she was right, wasn’t she? That’s why I put my faith in you, no matter how little you have in yourselves or in us. Because I might not have listened to my mother while she was alive. But I’m listening to her now.”

Agatha leveled eyes with the League. “Me and my friends will tell you everything we know about the young School Master and his new school. In return, we need you to tell us how to defeat your old enemies. Let Merlin worry about our plan for war. Our job is to listen to each other, Ever and Never, young and old, no matter how puny our army is. And if anyone doesn’t want to be a part of that army, then leave now and see how you fare in the Woods alone.”