It was that Sophie was right.
The Lion had done Tedros’ job: not just last night, but now the Lion was heading off the Snake in other kingdoms. He’d swooped in like a hero and beat back the enemy, like she’d tried to—only, unlike her, he’d actually succeeded.
He’d been Tedros’ champion better than she’d ever be.
What would Tedros think of this boy who so effortlessly did what he hadn’t done? What she couldn’t do either? What must Tedros be thinking, going to meet him?
That it’s time he act like a king, the voice inside her retorted. But it’s too late.
No, it’s not, Agatha fired back. He is king. And I’ll help him prove it.
Once she and Tedros were reunited, everything would be fixed. They’d fight the Snake at each other’s side just like they’d once fought Rafal. They’d be a team again, stronger together than apart.
And as for this Lion . . . well, he could fight with them too.
Because having three people in your story always works out well, the voice inside her said.
Agatha squashed it.
Just get to Tedros, she told herself.
“Where are we going to land?” a voice asked. “Nottingham’s landlocked.”
Agatha turned to see Nicola striding purposefully onto the deck, the necklace with Sophie’s gold vial dangling off her fingers.
“We’ll figure it out when we get there,” said Agatha. “Sorry about the takeoff. Everyone okay?”
“Willam puked again and we had to put him down for a nap, which he probably needs since he keeps insisting that he can use tarot cards to communicate with the dead. Meanwhile, Bogden’s creepily sidling up to people and asking everyone if they saw the Lion’s face and whether he’s handsome, as if that matters. Think those two had a little too much lemonade at lunch. Rest of the crew is fine, though a bunch of them are too injured from their quests to come ashore in Nottingham; we’ll have to leave them on the ship. But forget all that,” said Nicola, breathless. “I found something. . . .”
She opened the gold vial on the necklace and poured out its contents, forming the magical Quest Map.
“See anything different?” Nicola asked.
Agatha peered at the Quest Map and its fourth-year figurines, spread across the kingdoms. At first, her eyes went to CHADDICK and MILLICENT, both crossed out and dripping with blood.
TEDROS, meanwhile, was streaking out of Camelot, and was only a short distance from Nottingham, the gateway into Sherwood Forest. His name was red, the way it had been since the first time Agatha had seen the map. The names aboard the Igraine were red too, including AGATHA and SOPHIE, which was no surprise, since the Snake was still at large— Agatha’s eyes widened.
“Hold on,” she said. “Why aren’t these teams red?”
She pointed at GRONK’s quest team in Mahadeva . . . FLAVIA’s team in Foxwood . . .
“More of the Snake’s attacks have been foiled by the Lion in Mahadeva and Foxwood.” . . .That’s what Dovey had said in the dining room.
There was another team turning blue now, before her very eyes . . . JACOB’s group in Pifflepaff Hills, a kingdom west of Mahadeva and Foxwood . . . a kingdom adjacent to Nottingham. . . .
“Look closer,” said Nicola.
Agatha saw it and gasped.
A figurine separating from JACOB’s quest team, headed towards Nottingham.
A figurine in a Lion mask.
But that wasn’t all.
There was a name beneath it.
RHIAN.
“His name is . . . Rhian?” Agatha breathed.
“That’s what you’re focused on? His name?” said Nicola. “Not the fact this Lion boy has suddenly appeared on our school’s Quest Map?”
Agatha goggled at her, understanding. “But that means he’s a student at the School for Good and Evil. . . . That means he’s a fourth year. . . .”
“If there was a fourth year in your class named Rhian, wouldn’t you know who he is? Wouldn’t everyone on this ship?” Nicola asked. “Hort and I asked the whole crew. No one’s heard that name before.”
“But how else could he be on the Quest Map if he’s not a student at the school?” said Agatha.
“Well, whoever he is, the Storian recognizes him. Plus, he’s fixing students’ quests,” said Nicola, watching RHIAN streak away from JACOB’S team, which finished turning blue. “Are you sure you’ve never heard the name before?”
Agatha shook her head, stumped. “‘Rhian’ means nothing to me. Nothing at all.”
“Well, maybe it’ll mean something to his new girlfriend,” said Nicola.
Both of them looked towards the galley, hearing lovedrunk humming from a cabin below.
Agatha thumped on the door.
“Pretend to be talking to me!” she heard Sophie whisper inside. “Maybe she’ll go away!”
“But we don’t even like each other!” Kiko protested.
“Shhh! Just talk!”
“About what! Willam was going to read my tarot cards—he said he could communicate with Tristan from beyond and then you grabbed me and told me you had to show me something in your room—”
“Tristan? Sounds lovely. Tell me about him,” Sophie simpered.
“He’s dead!”
Agatha kicked in the door. “Get out, Kiko.”
“She kidnapped me!” Kiko peeped, fluttering away.
Sophie backed against her bed frame, sheets wrapped protectively around her, the Lion’s rose in her hair. “I know you’re mad he kissed me, Aggie—”
“Tedros is about to meet this Lion, and the Snake may be about to kill them both. I’m not mad about kisses. I want answers,” said Agatha, occupying the edge of the king-sized bed. She scanned the aggressively masculine chamber with a leopard-skin rug, dark wood finishes, and old maritime relics, which now smelled of sweet lavender and was crammed with Sophie’s dresses, beauty creams, and vast array of shoes. It was supposed to be the captain’s quarters, but both Agatha and Sophie knew from the moment they saw it that even if Agatha was captain of this ship, it was Sophie who would be staying here.
“Tell me what he said to you,” Agatha ordered.
“It’s private,” Sophie snipped.
“Well, so is my room, so how about I move you in with Hort?”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Wonder what he sleeps in since you stole his frog pajamas.”
Sophie threw a pillow at her. It missed.
“Look, he said he knows about me from our fairy tale and hasn’t been able to stop thinking about me,” Sophie boasted, tightening her ponytail. “He came to protect me.”
“And that’s all?” said Agatha.
Sophie hesitated.
“Maybe Beatrix has room in her bed,” said Agatha.
“And they call me the witch,” Sophie retorted. “He also said he’s a humble servant of Camelot, come to protect its king and his princess, and that he would fight until his dying breath to make sure the rightful king weds his rightful queen. Happy?”