Sophie looked skeptical. “So why didn’t you tell me what you were doing?”

Lady Lesso leaned in. “Because I wanted Rafal and the teachers to credit the reversal in their performance entirely to you.”

Sophie stared at her.

“Remember what I told you when we spoke in my office,” the Dean said. “I want you to be a legendary queen. I want you to make Evil great again. And most of all, I want you to be happy. Because you deserve the life I never had. You deserve a love that’s right.” Her eyes sparkled with warmth. “So maybe you don’t see me as a teacher anymore. But I’ll always see you as my student, Sophie. And when you lose your way, I’ll be there in the shadows, your Evil fairy godmother, pushing you towards your destiny like a wind behind a sail. Even when you lose sight of what that destiny is.”

Sophie could see there was more Lady Lesso wanted to say, but she was holding back. Instead, they just gazed into each other’s eyes, Sophie’s throat tightening. It was the first emotion she’d felt in days.

Fairies shrieked through the halls.

Sophie stamped out the emotion, like the embers of a flame. “Well, I don’t need your help,” she said, moving towards the door. “And I don’t need a ‘fairy godmother.’ This is my school, not yours, and if the young students are going to fight with black magic, well, now I’m going to let the old villains use weapons. Only fair, isn’t it? And when you hear the students’ screams, you’ll know it was your doing—”

“Sophie.”

She stopped. “What is it, Lady Lesso?”

“You couldn’t kill Agatha and Tedros when they came to rescue you,” Lady Lesso said quietly. “What makes you think you can kill them now?”

Sophie turned, ice-cold. “The same reason I returned to Evil. A heart can only fight the wind so long before it learns to embrace it.”

Lady Lesso watched her leave, the black train of Sophie’s gown slithering behind her like a snake.

“Well said, my child,” the Dean smiled. She went back to her work. “Well said.”

It wasn’t long before young screams pierced the hallway again, much worse than before.

Sophie had made good on her promise.

29

Failed Assignments

Far away, in the bright sunshine of a safe haven, Agatha brainstormed ways to murder Cinderella.

Merlin had paired her with the abominable princess, just as he’d paired up each of the other young students with an old hero. Agatha knew the wizard was going to team her with that over-rouged hellion, if only because Hester, Anadil, or Hort would have put an axe through her head. (Dot wasn’t an option; Cinderella would have squashed her like a fly.)

Agatha couldn’t appeal the assignment, for Merlin had left the farmhouse after the group’s lunch meeting and hadn’t been seen since. At the outset, Agatha genuinely believed she could learn something from the former princess. First, Cinderella wasn’t as old as the rest of the heroes. Second, they’d both had Professor Dovey as a secret fairy godmother and third, given what she knew of Cinderella’s storybook, hadn’t they each overcome their own self-doubt to find true love?