The School for Good and Evil #2: A World without Princes Read Online Free PDF

demanded.
    â€œGIVE US SOPHIE.”
    â€œYOU CAN’T HAVE HER,” Agatha scrawled.
    A cannonball smashed through Sophie’s statue in reply.
    Sophie stirred behind her, mumbling about the connection between poor sleep and pimples. Banging around in the dark, she lit a candle that streaked the hemlock rafters with tawny glow. Then she did a few bumbling yoga moves, nibbled on an almond, rubbed her face with grapefruit seeds, trout scales, and cacao cream, and twirled to Agatha with a sleepy smile. “Morning, darling, what’s ourplan?”
    But hunched in the windowsill, Agatha just stared out the broken glass, and then Sophie did too, at the leveled town, the homeless masses picking through rubble, and her severed statue head gaping at her from the church steps. Sophie’s smile slowly vanished.
    â€œThere’s no plan, is there?”
    CRACK!
    The oak doors shivered as a hammer bashed away a padlock.
    CRACK! CRACK!
    â€œAssassins!” Sophie cried—
    Agatha leapt up in horror. “The church is hallowed ground!”
    Boards snapped; screws loosened and clinked to the floor.
    The girls backed against the altar. “Hide!” Agatha gasped, and Sophie ran around the lectern like a headless chicken—
    Something metal slipped into the door.
    â€œA key!” Agatha squeaked. “They have a key!”
    She heard the lock catch. Behind her, Sophie fluttered uselessly between curtains.
    â€œHide now !” cried Agatha—
    The doors crashed open, and she spun to its dark threshold. Through weak candlelight, into the church slunk a hunched black shadow.
    Agatha’s heart stopped.
    No . . .
    The crooked shadow glided down the aisle, flickering in flamelight. Agatha dropped to her knees against the altar. Her heart was rattling so hard she couldn’t breathe.
    He’s dead! Ripped to pieces by a white swan and thrown to the wind! His black swan feathers rained over a school far, far away! But now the School Master was creeping towards her, very much alive, and Agatha cowered against the lectern with a shriek—
    â€œThe situation has become untenable,” said a voice.
    Not the School Master’s.
    Agatha peeked through fingers at the Elder with the longest beard, standing over her.
    â€œSophie must be moved to safety,” said the younger Elder behind him, removing his black top hat.
    â€œAnd she must be moved tonight,” said the youngest at the rear, stroking his meager beard.
    â€œWhere?” a voice breathed.
    The Elders looked up to see Sophie in the marble frieze over the altar, pressed against a naked saint.
    â€œ THAT’S where you hid?” barked Agatha.
    â€œWhere will you take me?” Sophie asked the Eldest, trying in vain to extricate herself from the nude statue.
    â€œIt’s been arranged,” he said, replacing his hat as he walked towards the door. “We’ll return this evening.”
    â€œBut the attacks!” Agatha cried. “How will you stop them?”
    â€œArranged,” said the middle, following the Eldest out.
    â€œEight o’clock,” said the youngest, trailing behind him. “Only Sophie.”
    â€œHow do you know she’ll be safe!” Agatha panicked—
    â€œAll arranged,” the Eldest called back, and locked the door behind him.
    The two girls stood in dumb silence before Sophie let out a squeal.
    â€œSee? I told you!” She slid down the frieze and smushed Agatha in a hug. “Nothing can ruin our happy ending.” Humming with relief, she packed her creams and cucumbers in her pretty pink suitcase, for who knew how long it’d be before they’d let her friend visit with more. She glanced back at Agatha’s big dark eyes fixed out the window.
    â€œDon’t fret, Aggie. It’s all arranged.”
    But as Agatha watched the villagers sift through ruins, glowering bloodshot at the church, she remembered the last time her mother