This is how it would end: standing in front of Sophie, willing to kill her . . . wanting Sophie to believe she could kill her . . . so she could help her be Good one last time.

Good and Evil in a single wand stroke.

Love and Hate.

Friend and Enemy.

But all Agatha could see was the Friend.

“I can’t,” she whispered, lowering the wand. “I can’t hurt her.”

The White Rabbit calmly finished his biscuit.

Cinderella snatched the wand from Agatha and shot a blast of light at the rabbit, slamming him so hard against the tree that he was knocked out. The old woman dumped the wand in Agatha’s hands and glared at her.

“And to think, for a moment, I’d mistaken you for a queen.”

She tramped towards the house, leaving Agatha alone.

They weren’t the only team with growing pains.

At first Dot resented being paired with old Red Riding Hood. (“Just ’cause we both like cake doesn’t mean we’ll get along,” she grouched to Anadil.) Things got worse when Red Riding Hood didn’t seem to have anything to teach her.

“Well, you can’t outrun the wolf or beat him in a fight and he won’t fall for any stupid tricks,” mulled Red Riding Hood. “Best if you just do what I did when I was your age and scream for help. Maybe there’ll be a woodsman nearby.”

“That’s your advice? Wait for a woodsman to possibly pass by?”

Red Riding Hood blushed, lost in her memory. “A handsome woodsman, who smells of leather and earth . . .”

“Look, Miss . . . Hood, the second that wolf sees you, he’s going to come for you and try to rewrite your happy ending. I can’t let that happen,” Dot snapped, stifling the urge to bond over their similar taste in men. “If he kills you, the School Master will break the shield into the Reader World. You heard Merlin. Doesn’t need more than one of you heroes dead!”

Red Riding Hood tapped a finger to her lips. “Chocolate, isn’t it? That’s your villain talent?”

“Oh for heaven’s sake, do you know how much energy it takes for me to turn a toad or mouse into chocolate? I can’t possibly turn a whole wolf—”

She saw Red Riding Hood grinning. “Who said I was talking about a whole wolf?”

As her jolly old mentor explained her plan, Dot found herself smiling wider and wider, suddenly realizing why Merlin had paired them in the first place. And indeed Red Riding Hood’s plan was so good that by the time they’d perfected it four days later, Dot was pretending they’d come up with it together.

Meanwhile, Hester had been teamed with Hansel and Gretel, which was as awkward as it sounds.

“You said you didn’t have a problem with them—” Anadil started.

“I meant I can be in the same house without killing them! Doesn’t mean I can train with them!” Hester yelled.

The wheelchair-bound siblings had a similar revulsion to helping the daughter of the witch who’d tried to eat them. (“Does this one cook children too?” Hansel asked Gretel.)