We wind up in one of the castle hallways that lead to the dormitory turrets. A group of pixies fly by, but they’re moving so fast, I can’t pick anyone out. One pixie with a mischievous smile hangs back, bobbing in the air like a hummingbird.
“The ball is over! Go back to your room and go to sleep!” says one with a mischievous smile. Those pixies—what tricksters they are!
I look around, trying to get my bearings. There’s a wishing well in an alcove to the right and several mirrors dotting the hallway, along with some of Olivina’s aspirational signs. This one has a gleaming glass slipper on it.
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“Prue can block Milo the Magic Mirror from seeing you in the halls, but you need to get to Olivina’s private quarters ASAP.”
Heath is holding his ear and listening to the same message I just received. “How do we remember which hallway leads to Olivina?”
“It’s easy! It’s to the right.” Raina spins around and frowns. “Or maybe it’s to the left.”
The three of us fan out. Tara isn’t helping at all.
“Any clue where it could be?” I ask, thinking again of her wand.
She blinks rapidly and won’t look at me. “No. I’ve only been up there once.”
I’m no mind reader, but I’m pretty sure she’s lying. What if this is another one of her traps like that day she found us in the forest? What if she’s already tipped off Olivina that we’re here? What if the two of them have been planning this moment all along? “Maybe your wand knows the way,” I say lightly.
“My wand?” Tara repeats, blinking again. “I don’t think so. I don’t know a spell for finding hidden rooms.”
“Are you sure?” I press. “Because I think you do know.”
“Devin? What’s going on?” Heath asks.
“Prue says stop fighting and find it!” Kira tells me.
But I can’t hold back my feelings any longer. “I want to know why the wand Tara is carrying has an O on it. Aren’t wands engraved with their owner’s names? Tara’s has an O, which, if you ask me, stands for Olivina.” Raina audibly inhales.
“It doesn’t,” Tara insists, but she’s looking at her feet.
I won’t let her hurt my friends. “I don’t believe you. I think you’re leading us into another trap!”
“Everyone calm down,” Heath locks eyes with me. “Tara, can you explain where you got that wand, please?”
“What does it matter?” Tara throws her hands up. “It’s not like anything we do here is going to change Enchantasia!”
“Change happens when people take action!” I say.
“Olivina is the one who makes all the decisions, and she’s not going to give that power up!” Tara argues.
“We can’t sit here and do nothing!” I insist. “We need to be the change this kingdom needs.” Brynn is standing behind Tara and gives me a silent fist bump to the air.
She exhales, the anger from a moment ago gone. “Sometimes you can’t make people change, no matter how much you want them to. This is a fool’s errand.” She throws down her cap. Brynn swoops in and picks it up. “And I don’t want to be part of it.” She starts walking away.
“What is going on here?” Kira shrieks.
“Fine! Run away. You’re good at that!” I look at the others. They look uncomfortable. “What? She’s been so standoffish and afraid to face Olivina for so long. Well, you know what? I’m afraid too, but I’m here, trying to make a difference. Trying to get my life back and save everyone else unknowingly caught under her spell. I can’t just sit by in silence!” I suddenly become aware of the fact that the others are all staring at me. “Her wand is really Olivina’s. I’m sure of it!”
“Why would she have her wand?” Heath says.
“I don’t know, but she does.” I stare at her retreating figure. “If she wants to live her life alone, then let her. She’s not helping us anyway.”
“The important thing right now is to find Olivina’s office.” Raina walks around looking at every detail of the architecture. “Aha! Now I remember. We need to find the glass slipper!”
“The glass slipper?” Heath repeats.
“Yes! It’s one of her most famous wishes, so she keeps a reminder of it in the castle to help her get where she most wants to go—and at RA, it’s her own office.” Raina peers under a table. “Now where would one be in the hallway? I’m sure it’s not just out in the open, or princesses would be trying it on all day long.”
“Perhaps I can help.”
Professor Pierce is standing right behind us. He looks exactly as I remembered. We, however, look nothing like our real selves.
“You’ve been spotted! Abort!” Kira yells, tugging on my earlobe.
“Good evening, Professor,” I say and curtsy like a good princess, or, in my case, lady-in-waiting, would, hoping he thinks we’re visiting students. The others bow or curtsy as well.
Professor Pierce smiles. “I was wondering when you’d all turn up. I didn’t expect it to be so soon. Well done.”
I feel panicked. “Pardon?”
“Sometimes those who hide in the shadows offer the brightest lights,” he says coyly. “Hello, young Devin.”
I freeze. “I…”
Raina grabs my arm. “Actually, this is my potential lady-in-waiting. You see, I’m Princess Scarlet from a nearby kingdom, and I’m considering coming to this school.”
He holds out his hand to shake her free one. “It’s good to see you too, Raina and Heath. Brynn, I suggest you head back to the banquet before Clarissa gets too wound up about not being able to find you and alerts Hazel.”
Brynn’s eyes widen. “Good idea.” She gives me a hug. “Stay safe, miss!”
“You too,” I tell her and look back at the professor. “How did you…?”
His eyes sparkle. “A good prince can always see through to the truth.”
“Red said something about that,” Raina says. “Why would you hide being royal?”
He blushes slightly. “I don’t talk about it much. It’s part of my agreement with the fairy godmother. I was once under Olivina’s tutelage just like you were. I, too, was told I had a promising future in this kingdom as a prince who would sit on the royal court. But when my vision for Enchantasia didn’t match the fairy godmother’s, I found myself on the outs. I tried to change the way things worked at this school, but one voice wasn’t strong enough to tip the balance.”
I feel sad for Professor Pierce. How lonely it would have been to go on this journey alone.
“She didn’t banish you?” Heath asks.
Professor Pierce pursues his lips. “I discovered some information that Olivina didn’t want made public. In exchange for my silence, I was allowed to stay here, under her watch, and teach. I’ve made peace with my decision, but I’ve always been disappointed in myself for not speaking up when I had the chance.” He looks at me. “But when I met you and your friends, I thought, ‘Maybe these are the children who could do what I couldn’t.’ Which is why I put you in touch with our friends in the woods. How are they?”
“Good. I think they miss home, but Tara likes it in the woods,” I add.
The professor looks puzzled. “Tara? Ah, yes, I remember Red Riding Hood mentioning her, though I’ve never had the opportunity to meet her myself.”
Heath and I look at each other. “You don’t know Tara personally? I thought you would have had her as a student,” I say. “I think she was taught privately. She was supposedly Olivina’s favorite.”
Professor Pierce frowns. “I usually know all our students. I do remember a Corden and Prue, who were both banished last year.”
“We met them,” Heath explains. “They’re the whole reason we got this far today.”
The professor ponders for a moment. “I remember Prue being very talented at working the castle’s mirrors and Corden had exceptional taste, but I don’t remember Tara.”
More warning bells go off in my head. How could one of the most popular professors at this school not know Tara?
“But if it’s Olivina you seek, I fear you may have missed your chance,” the professor says. “She is already on the way to the ball.” He raises his right eyebrow. “Unless you’re hoping to visit her quarters when she is not there.”
“Professor Pierce?” A mirror down the hall lights up, and everyone jumps. It’s Milo the Magic Mirror, who is Olivina’s spy. “Is that you I hear? There is an issue with my connection this evening, and I can’t get you in view. Olivina is concerned there is a problem and would like to confer with you at once.”
Professor Pierce holds a finger to his lips. “Of course, Milo! I’ll be right there.” He looks at Raina. “You always knew your Royal Academy rules better than anyone.” Raina blushes. “And you’re correct—you need to find a glass slipper to enter Olivina’s quarters.” He gives her a look. “So I must ask you: Where is a princess most likely to leave a slipper behind, knowing it will be found?”
Raina lights up. “On the main staircase, of course, where it will be seen!”
He bows slightly to her. “You are correct. I look forward to you returning to class soon. All of you. Good luck.” With that, he slips down the hall and out of sight.
“Here!” Raina says, pointing to the main stairs that lead to the classrooms on the second floor. She searches around wildly for a slipper. I don’t see one, and neither does she. “It has to be here,” she says to herself. “Then again, Olivina wouldn’t want us all finding it, or students would be stopping by daily, which is why…” She spins around and squeals, pointing to a statue on the staircase. “She’d place it in a pumpkin!” She rushes over to the statue, lifts the lid to the ceramic pumpkin, and pulls out a tiny glass slipper. She presses her thumb to the heel, and a doorway behind us appears. A large gold O is engraved on the shimmering silver door. It’s the entrance to Olivina’s quarters!
“Raina, I don’t tell you this enough, but you’re brilliant,” Heath says.
She shrugs and steps through the doorway. “I know. Now hurry. We don’t know how long that doorway will stay open.”
“There’s something I still don’t get,” I say as we rush toward the door. “Sasha and I found letters to Tara in our dorm room when we were students, so we assumed she was also a student at some point. Snow knows her, so she had to be. But Professor Pierce tutors everyone. Why wouldn’t he remember her?” I duck as a pixie flies dangerously close to my head. I can’t stop thinking there is part of the puzzle I’m missing. Why was Tara so afraid to face Olivina? And where did she just run off to? “Do you think Logan and Sasha are okay?” I ask.
“They’re fine,” Heath says, stepping through the doorway. “They’re together. We have to do what we came here to do.”
I know Heath’s right, but I can’t get rid of this feeling something is wrong. “Tara is friends with Prue. Are we sure we can trust her?”
“Hey!” Kira tugs on my ear. “I love Prue.”
I forgot she was even in there. “I just mean…” I hold my chest. My heart is beating fast. I can’t put my finger on what feels wrong.
Heath extends his hand back through the shimmering door, which seems to be fading. “This is our one shot to take Olivina down. Let’s finish this, and then we’ll learn the real story. Okay?”
I hesitate, staring at his outstretched hand for a second, then grab it. He pulls me through the door as it starts to crackle and disappear. For a moment, I feel icy cold and see nothing but darkness, but then the world comes into focus, just like a mirror making a connection. We’re in Olivina’s rose-scented office, which is filled with pink and purple furnishings and lots of gold accents. A wall of mirrors is projecting a live feed of every inch of the castle, but I don’t see Tara on any of them.
“Prue says Olivina is almost done with her speech,” Kira tells me. “She wants to know where Tara is, and why this is taking so long. She said, ‘Maybe she should have just been here herself because when you want something done right you—’”
“Shh!” I scold Kira. “I’m thinking. Which mirror is the one we’re supposed to hack?”
Raina keeps her eye on the door. “Being in here feels creepy. Pick a mirror, and be fast!”
My eyes trail from one mirror to the next—looking at the ballroom, the rose garden, Marta working in the Royal Underground, even the Enchanted Garden where I see workers bewitching pumpkins into coaches. Finally, my eyes land on one mirror that is a reflection of the room. It’s the only mirror that appears to be an actual mirror.
“There!” I yell and go straight for it. I pull the tiny pink jewel out of my pocket and hold it up. Prue did an impeccable job of making it look exactly like the other jewels on this frame. Olivina will never know it’s there. “Pry one out so we can stick in this jewel and get out of here,” I tell Heath, my palms beginning to sweat. I’m getting nervous too. Lily flicks her tongue over and over again, saying, Hurry! Hurry!
“Already on it.” Heath wedges a small letter opener between the jewel and the frame. I can see the sweat on his brow.
“Quickly!” Kira tells me. “We don’t have much time. She could be back any minute.”
“I know,” I hiss, watching Heath work. My heart is still beating wildly. “Raina, you stand—”
Lookout was the word I would have said, but I don’t get a chance. A gust of wind blows through the room, sending Raina, Heath, and me flying backward, the all-important jewel tumbling out of my hands. I hit my head on Olivina’s desk when I tumble and instinctively grab it, wincing at the pain. I can’t focus enough to get up.
Olivina has her wand aimed at my heart. “Hello there, Devinaria. I think you already know each other.”
My head is throbbing, but I manage to lift it to see who she’s talking about.
It’s Tara, and she’s standing beside Olivina as if it’s exactly where she belongs.