Suddenly, in the far distance, Agatha glimpsed Aric rushing at Professor Dovey with a jagged knife. The old Dean tried to shoot him with a spell, but the young Dean was coming too fast. He tackled her to the ground, knocking her out cold. Gripping Dovey by her silver hair, he kneeled over her senseless body—

Agatha bleached white. If she tried to shoot Aric from here, she’d have to be dead on-target or she’d hit Dovey instead. She’d barely even managed to hit Hook and he’d been twenty feet away. Instinctively she started dashing towards Aric, fumbling for an arrow, trying to get close enough to get a better shot. But it was too late. Aric raised his knife over Professor Dovey’s throat, about to finish her. Agatha screamed—

From behind, Lady Lesso charged in and dove on top of Aric, knocking him off wounded Clarissa. Agatha choked with relief, but now Aric was on top of his mother, the two of them flailing for the dagger in the dirt. Agatha ran faster, trying to get within shooting range—

As Lady Lesso clasped the dagger, Aric punched her in the back of the neck and surged over her. His mother collapsed onto her stomach, but lurched forward, grappling Aric by the ears. Both flushed red, mother and son fighting for the knife, the gleam of metal swerving from one to the other, until Aric kicked it away. Agatha aimed her arrow from afar, trying to get a clear shot at Aric’s head, but he and Lesso were both crawling madly towards the dagger now, jabbing and elbowing past each other. Lady Lesso swiped the blade first, but Aric leapt on top of her. His mother flipped over, clutching her son by the throat, their faces touching, the knife trapped between them—

Aric’s eyes shot wide as he let out a stunned cry.

Standing over him, Professor Dovey stabbed a broken stymph bone deeper into his back.

Aric’s big muscles went limp and he collapsed on top of his mother, blood seeping out of his mouth.

Lesso shoved her son off her, wheezing for breath. Flat on her back, the Evil Dean clutched Professor Dovey’s wrist and smiled weakly at her best friend.

Agatha dropped her arrow and throttled towards Lesso and Dovey, thankful they were both safe—

Something crashed into Agatha and yanked her behind a tree.

“Where is she!” Hester barked over the chaos. “Where’s Sophie!”

Agatha shook her head. “I don’t know!”

Hester seized Agatha’s shoulders. “Look.”

Agatha followed her eyes through the trees to a fleck of light, half-buried into the horizon.

“Ten minutes. That’s all we have. You have to find Sophie—” Hester commanded.

“Where’s Tedros?” Agatha breathed.

“Merlin’s trying to keep kids alive as long as he can,” Hester said, pointing at the wizard, darting from wounded student to wounded student, treating their injuries with dust from his hat.

“Where’s Tedros?” Agatha pressed.

They heard a high-pitched scream and whirled to see Pinocchio chased by twenty ogres and trolls across the Woods. Just as the villains snagged him, a horde of animals burst from the forest and slammed into the zombies, dislodging Pinocchio from their grip. Princess Uma swung down from a tree and pulled the old hero up to safety in its branches, alongside Yuba and the White Rabbit, while Uma’s animal army fought the zombies below.