There the two girls stayed, holding each other, until Merlin finally ushered Agatha and her prince inside. As the carriage rode off, Guinevere and Lancelot riding behind, Sophie waved one last goodbye to her friends. The coach trailed into the dappled Woods towards the shadows of spires, faint over the horizon, before the final wheel vanished into the trees.

Agatha and Tedros were gone.

Standing alone at the gates, Sophie let herself cry, shedding warm, cleansing tears.

It wasn’t goodbye forever. Only goodbye for now.

And if ever the distance was too much to bear, she would just look inside her heart, for Agatha was already there.

“Hmm . . . Maybe your Prince Charming is just around the corner,” said a voice.

Sophie looked up at Hort next to her.

She took in his playful face, well-built body, and adoring grin . . .

“I’m afraid I’ve already found my Ever After, Hort,” said Sophie.

“What? With who?” Hort asked, aghast—

“On my own,” she said, her voice sure and clear. “I’m happy on my own.”

And for the first time, she knew it was true.

As Hort fumbled for words, the bells rang over both schools, summoning the students to their castles. Whispering Nevers gave their new Dean gobsmacked looks as they herded towards the north gates. (“What were you saying about missing her?” Dot ribbed Hester and Anadil, both deathly pale.)

Sophie took a deep breath and hustled after them. “First things first, Evil needs a new look. Enough with black and doom and gloom, when we should be celebrating our edge, our uniqueness,” she said thoughtfully. “We’ll have to weed out underperforming teachers, of course, and encourage Nevers to find their Nemesis within. That’s how we’ll find the best talents for the Circus . . . and a Ball! Let the winning school in the Trial host the Snow Ball. . . . Oh, that’ll cook Good’s goose, won’t it—”

“Sophie!” Hort said, chasing her.

“Mmmm?”

“You aren’t jealous that Agatha gets a boy and a crown and a kingdom and everything else?” Hort pressed in disbelief. “You aren’t jealous that Agatha’s a queen?”

He saw her stop at the gates, faced away as students streamed past.

“A tiny bit, of course,” she said softly. “But then I remember . . .”

Sophie looked back, smiling bright as a diamond.

“I’m me.”

Excerpt from The School for Good and Evil #4: Quests for Glory

THE STORY CONTINUES!

An exclusive preview of Book 4:

A new era begins in the Endless Woods, bigger and bolder than ever before. Welcome to The Camelot Years!

1

AGATHA

The Almost Queen

When you spend most of your life planning your Ever After with a girl, it feels strange to be planning your wedding to a boy.

A boy who’d been avoiding Agatha for months.