“Um, right,” Agatha said as Sophie draped white fur over her. “Listen, I thought I knew the route, but—”
Dot shoved in under the fur. “Oooh, toasty,” she gushed, hogging the coat. “Hester and Anadil have ice in their veins, but I’ve had enough, thank you. Tried eating chocolate snow but that just made me colder. How far are we from the gates? We aren’t going to be there by the time Dovey checks in!”
“I don’t understand why Dovey can’t see us in her crystal ball whenever she wants,” said Sophie, snatching back the fur.
“Because her ball is broken,” grunted Anadil, shoving under the coat.
Everyone looked at her.
“I have limits to bodily pain. Not like Hester,” Anadil soured, her frozen rats nuzzling the fur. “That girl took a knife in the stomach from Aric and didn’t cry.”
“Aric. What a creep,” Dot shuddered.
“But why is Dovey using a broken ball?” Sophie pressed.
“When we interviewed a fairy godmother in Foxwood for School Master, she said that to make a crystal ball, a seer has to take a piece of a fairy godmother’s soul and meld it with a piece of their own,” Anadil explained. “That means every fairy godmother can only use the crystal ball made for her. Dovey told us hers was broken for years, but apparently Merlin helped her fix it.”
“Useless pots, broken balls, and wasn’t her wand a bit musty too?” said Dot. “Maybe Pollux was right to petition for a new Dean.”
“I have 100% confidence in Dovey as Dean,” Agatha refuted. “Besides, this is our quest. It’s not like she can save us through a crystal ball.”
“She could at least tell us if we’re going the right way,” Anadil said, giving Agatha a dubious look.
“Well, snowstorm or not, those lovebirds are doing just fine,” Dot chimed.
Sophie leered back at Hort, deep in conversation with Nicola. “If that’s love, then I’m a pink leopard. She’s a first year who hasn’t had her fingerglow unlocked, thinks she knows everything because she’s read a few books, and wants to spend her life making casseroles at a pub. And she’s wearing sheepskin booties. They’re not even shoes.”
Agatha frowned. “What happened to not being a snake?”
“With you, darling. With everyone else, I’m still me,” Sophie breezed.
“In any case, they aren’t the lovebirds I was talking about,” said Dot.
The girls followed her eyes to Bogden and Willam, far behind. Bogden was short and dark; Willam, tall and fair. They weren’t conversing. They weren’t even looking at each other.
“Such a joker, Dot,” Anadil snorted.
Dot just whistled merrily.
“All right, enough’s enough,” Hester snarled, shoving under the coat too, lips blue and cheeks frozen, glaring daggers at Agatha. “The Storian is writing our fairy tale, our lives are on the line, and instead of winning that tale, we’re lost in a blizzard—”
“TOURS! AVALON TOURS! RIGHT HERE!”
For a moment, the girls blinked dumbly, each thinking they’d imagined the voice they’d just heard.
“DISCOVER AVALON AND ITS SECRETS! BEST TOURS IN TOWN!”
Sophie pulled the coat off them and the girls squinted through snow at a tiny hut fifty yards ahead with a dome of dead palm fronds over a lumpy white table. As they approached, they read the sign: AJUBAJU TOURS
Now serving over 50 Kingdoms,
from Avalon to Zagazig!
Maps: 1 silver piece
Guided Tours by Ajubaju: 3 silver pieces
* No weapons Allowed on Tours
Ajubaju, it turned out, was a blubbery balding beaver, sweating like a spigot even though it was below freezing.
“Cold? Lost? Confused? Then you have come to right place! I am Ajubaju, otherwise known as #1 best top tour guide in all the Woods!” he tooted in a clipped voice. “Many famous people love Ajubaju: Aladdin, Robin Hood, Peter Pan. . . . See my reviews!” He grabbed a scroll from his stand littered with newspapers, held it open for a half-second, teeming with unreadable script, then stashed it, scattering newspapers to the snow. Agatha glimpsed a few headlines: MORE TROLL ATTACKS IN FOXWOOD
Council Appeals to Camelot for Help
BLOODBROOK KING KIDNAPPED
Nevers Petition Camelot for Good–Evil Alliance
TERROR IN NUPUR LALA!
Locals Demand King Tedros Intervene!
The beaver kicked these under his hut. “Ajubaju knows all about Avalon! Do you know you are near home of Lady of the Lake? Do you know she is maker of Excalibur? Do you know she hides King Arthur’s body in her lake and not only that, she is most pretty lady in the Woods? I wish my wife look like her but my wife look like me.”
Hester nudged Agatha. “It’s like Dot turned into a beaver.”
Dot spun to her: “You know what you’ve turned into? One of those tiny yapping dogs who thinks it’s scary when all the other dogs think it’s pathetic.”
Hester gasped.
“. . . Ajubaju can offer you hand-drawn map with gold leaf and ink of hummingbird that shows best parts of Avalon and is exclusive souvenir for you and your family!” the beaver gibbered. “But may I recommend for such beautiful ladies and gentlemen the full five-star guided tour experience, complete with buffet lunch and 50% off your next booking, rules and restrictions apply. Guided tours are available at 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., and oh, lucky for you—” He glanced up at the sky unconvincingly. “It is one of those times. Mmm, if there’s three witch girls, then blond girl with girlfriend in bandana, then two sweet boys, then boy who looks like weasel with lovely lady in pink . . . so 9 total at 3 pieces each . . .” Ajubaju pulled out a broken abacus and jangled colorful beads around, losing a few along the way— “Can’t you just tell us which way it is to the castle?” Agatha said, exasperated.
“That would be the same as giving you map, which is 1 silver piece, so 9 silver pieces since 9 of you will benefit,” Ajubaju replied.
Sophie shunted in front of Agatha, scowling at the beaver. “Listen, Abracadabra. We don’t have silver pieces. And even if we did, how do we know you won’t just take our money and run? I don’t remember you here the last time we were in Avalon.”
The beaver didn’t flinch. “Ajubaju in demand all over Woods. Surprised students of School for Good and Evil do not know, but I hear there is new Dean not as good as before.”
Sophie’s eyes darkened.
“With bounty on Guinevere and Lancelot, many people came after coronation to find them, since this is where fugitives hid last time. Except Avalon Island is very big! Bounty hunters need directions to Lady of the Lake castle. Prime opportunity for business,” the beaver barreled on. “But now not so many as before. Will go to my family in Eternal Springs. Warmer there.”
He paused, staring at Sophie. “If you don’t have silver pieces for guided tour, I’ll take fur coat.”
“Over my dead body!” Sophie spat.
“And for the map?” Agatha jumped in.
The beaver looked at Nicola. “One of her shoes.”
“What do you want my shoe for?” Nicola asked, startled.
Ajubaju bit his lip. “To put something inside.”