The School for Good and Evil #2: A World without Princes (45 page)

The Storian carved the final, unmistakable letter, and the storybook closed, falling softly into the grass with barely a sound.

Agatha slowly raised her eyes to see the School Master leering at her, his arm around Sophie.

“One . . .” he smiled.

The two schools above the Forest suddenly rotted vulturous black, neither one distinguishable from the other, both darker, scarier than the Evil of old—

“Two . . .”

The gap in Halfway Bridge instantly healed, and boys and girls charged at each other, weapons drawn, accelerating towards war—

The School Master grinned at Agatha. “Three.”

Agatha instantly started to shimmer, about to disappear.

“Wait!”
Tedros screamed into his gag—

“It's sending me home!” Agatha shrieked to her prince, her body fading faster. “Sophie's kiss! It's sending me back home—” She whirled to Sophie, hearing a town clock toll. “Sophie, help me stay! Take my hand and help me stay!”

But Sophie stayed by the School Master's side, her eyes welling.

“He chose me, Agatha,” she said softly. “And you didn't.”

Agatha cried out in horror, her body almost translucent now—

“I do believe I owe your friend a favor,” School Master smiled, prying off Sophie. “After all, Agatha did try to take
my
true love.”

The School Master pulled Tedros' sword off the ground. Terrified, Tedros thrashed under his binds.

Agatha gasped in shock—

“Fitting,” the School Master mused, inspecting Excalibur. “Dying on your father's sword.” He raised it high over the prince and stabbed, eyes flashing red—

“
NO
!” Agatha screamed, splintering to light—

As the blade split open Tedros' shirt, Agatha seized her prince's hand, and the sword slashed through thin air, Tedros shimmering safe in Agatha's arms.

Vanishing home with her prince, Agatha watched the School Master sneer at her and clasp Sophie in his cold, stone grip as they floated off the ground, receding towards his tower in the sky. Sophie and Agatha locked eyes one last time, but neither screamed for the other.

Once true loves, two girls now pulled apart like strangers, each in the arms of a boy, Good with Good, Evil with Evil . . .

Both of their wishes granted.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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SOMAN CHAINANI
's first novel,
The School for Good and Evil
, debuted on the
New York Times
bestseller list, has been translated into languages across six continents, and will soon be a major motion picture from Universal Pictures. As a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University's MFA Film Program, Soman has made films that have played at over 150 festivals around the world, and his writing awards include an honor from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference. He lives in New York City. You can visit Soman at www.somanchainani.net.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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IN THE FOREST PRIMEVAL

A SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL

TWO TOWERS LIKE TWIN HEADS

ONE FOR THE PURE

ONE FOR THE WICKED

TRY TO ESCAPE YOU'LL ALWAYS FAIL

THE ONLY WAY OUT IS

THROUGH A FAIRY TALE

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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T
HE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL #2: A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES
. Text copyright © 2014 by Soman Chainani. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Iacopo Bruno. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-0-06-210492-2 (trade bdg.) – ISBN 978-0-06-233135-9 (international ed.)

ISBN 978-0-06-234072-6 (B&N ed.)

EPub Edition January 2014 ISBN 9780062302021

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FIRST EDITION

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