A shadow suddenly fell over her.

Sophie looked up at a blue-lit silhouette, extending her arm into the pit.

“Grab on to me!” the familiar voice yelled.

Sophie gaped at Agatha, stunned.

“Hurry, Sophie! Before it closes!”

Instantly Sophie seized her hand, as her best friend started pulling her up to safety . . .

Sophie’s grip slipped and she crashed back down. Petrified, she lunged up, clasping Agatha’s hand again—

Too late. The crack was almost sealed. Agatha would never get Sophie out in time. Either Agatha let go of her or Sophie would be crushed by the sides of the stage—

“Don’t leave me here!” Sophie rasped, holding on to her. “Please!”

Desperate, Agatha looked down at Sophie’s hand in hers . . . the School Master’s ring shining gold on her finger, like the last glow of sun over her prince fighting for his life . . .

Don’t fail me and I won’t fail you, Lancelot echoed.

Agatha wouldn’t.

On a breath, she squeezed Sophie’s hand tight and leapt over the edge into glowing blue mist, pulling her friend back down into the frozen dungeon before it sealed shut above them with a resounding crack.

33

An Unexpected History Lesson

With the ceiling closed and no warmth seeping in from the theater, the dungeon turned lethally cold.

The two girls stumbled to their feet and recoiled against opposite walls, lit by the frosty blue light of the tombs. Each held out her glowing fingertip, trying to catch her breath as they glared into the other’s eyes.

“What are you going to do? Kill me?” Agatha panted, shivering in her black cloak. “Still won’t get you out of this place alive.”

“And you can?” Sophie scowled, fingertip smoking through the frigid air. “You who will do anything to make me destroy my ring? Chase me, bully me, hurt me . . . bet you have a wand in that pocket, ready to hold to my head. Go on. Threaten me, Aggie. Threaten me with life or death. I’ll die rather than destroy this ring for you.”

Agatha went quiet, weak from the stun spell and the cold. She looked past Sophie at the long rows of graves leading into the darkness. She couldn’t help but snort at the irony of it all.

Sophie simmered. “You think this is funny?”

“It’s just . . . this is how Tedros and I started when we came back to rescue you,” said Agatha. “Trapped in a grave.”

“And now you’re here with me, trying to find a way to rescue him,” Sophie snarked. “Always rescuing, Aggie. Always so Good. How could I ever match up?”

“Friendship isn’t a competition.”

“Says the friend who made it one,” Sophie retorted, pointing her fingerglow at Agatha’s heart. “You and your old minions want me to destroy my true love, so you can keep yours. What if I destroy you instead?”