“Woodpeckers plan for everything, remember?” said the stranger.
Sophie shined the pearl’s glow, lighting up a familiar girl with brown hair, a pointed nose, and a toothy smile.
She was sucking on a red lollipop.
“Bettina is the name. Executive Editor of the Camelot Courier,” the girl said, sitting up in a tall pastel dress. She honed in on Sophie. “Nice to meet you. I don’t count the last time when you were being mind-controlled by a twin-killing Snake.”
Sophie’s eyes widened.
It was the girl from the press briefing.
The one who knew Japeth was a fraud.
The one who knew everything.
“My mother is the Queen of Jaunt Jolie,” Bettina explained, her voice light and fast. “I figured out quick that Rhian was dead and the Snake had taken his place. My mother didn’t believe me until she went to visit ‘Rhian’ and had a good look at him and realized you were under his control. The Snake demanded her key to the Four Point vault and my mother sent a squirrelly nut to warn me. Nut got stolen by rebels—friends of yours, I’m assuming—but the squirrel found me and relayed my mother’s message. I’d been hiding in Putsi to begin with; it’s easy to disappear here.”
“No kidding. Try finding Willam in a goose flock!” said Bogden. He saw Willam’s stare. “You know, long neck . . . big nose . . . the way you waddle when you . . . Never mind.”
“I was afraid the Snake might win the first test, so I went to see Albemarle, who’d spotted these two with Robin around the bank,” Bettina continued. “So the woodpecker and I forged a plan. He’d enlist Robin to stop the Snake from getting into Vault 41. If his team succeeded, I would help them escape. If they failed, I would stop the Snake myself.” She peered at Sophie. “Woodpecker planned for everything but you.”
Sophie’s head thrummed with questions. “But the Queen of Jaunt Jolie said her eldest’s name was Betty—”
Bettina.
Betty.
Betty who’d been passed over by the School Master.
“Doesn’t need that school or the Storian,” the queen had said. “Betty’s found her own way to tell tales.”
Sophie bristled. “So the Courier knew Rhian and the Snake were in cahoots all along? That they staged the attacks?”
“Why didn’t you do something, then?” Willam attacked Bettina. “If you and your staff were on the run, why didn’t you help us?”
“There is no staff,” Bettina said, her voice hardening. “The rest fled after Rhian put out a warrant for us. Almost got caught myself when I snuck into Sophie’s wedding briefing; luckily I had a mole at Camelot who gave me a hex to escape.”
“So your mother must be on our side too,” Sophie followed. “She can give us her Knights of Eleven!”
“My mother is on her own side,” Bettina corrected. “That’s why she surrendered her key to Japeth, even knowing he’s the Snake. She’ll do anything to protect her family. Regardless of who is king.”
Willam started to ask something, but Bettina waved him off. “We’re wasting time,” she said, pointing at the pearl in Sophie’s palm. “Tedros has to swallow that and find out what the second test is—before the Snake catches us. Which means first we need to find Tedros.”
“First we need to get out of this vault,” Sophie pointed out.
Bettina frowned, as if there wasn’t room for two leaders. “Albemarle put me here to help you escape, remember?”
“But we can’t go through the bank!” Sophie reminded. “The whole Woods will slaughter us!”
“We’re not going through the bank,” Bettina clipped, sucking on her lollipop as she headed for the door. “You’re a Reader, aren’t you?” She glared back at Sophie. “Should have read that first test more carefully.”
OUTSIDE VAULT 41, Willam kept a lookout. “Bogs, we clear?”
“Clear!” Bogden called somewhere far away.
“Make goose noises if we’re not!” Willam called back.
Inside the vault, Bettina and Sophie stood in front of the old birch tree, which looked dull and ordinary, no longer showing any signs of life.
“Last line of Arthur’s clue,” said Bettina. “‘Now go and find it where wizard trees grow . . .’”
“Yeah and I already found ‘it,’” Sophie frowned, holding up the pearl in the vault’s blue light. “Why are we back here? We have the answer. We have the beard. Now we need to escape—something a tree can’t help with—”
“Why do you think this tree is in the Four Point vault?” Bettina responded. “Why do you think Arthur hid his first test here? The War of the Four Point was fought over this tree.”
“This is a wizard tree? The tree that can answer any question asked of it?” Robin asked, assessing it skeptically. “I thought it was just legend.”
“Legends exist for a reason,” said Bettina. “Enough blood was shed over this tree for the Four Point leaders to lock it here forever. But a good reporter always finds the truth.” She stepped towards the tree. “Let me do the talking. Whatever you do, don’t ask it any questions—”
“This is ridiculous,” Sophie poohed, shoving in front of her. “A tree can’t get us out of a bank!” She knocked on its bark mockingly. “Hellllooo, Wizard Tree . . . can you show us a way out?”
“No!” Bettina gasped—
The tree stirred awake, with a groggy shiver. “It’s been a long time since someone asked me a question,” he said, opening his eyes at Sophie. “Ah. You. Well, well. ‘Can you show us a way out?’ Not elegant. Ill-conceived. Poorly phrased. But a question, nonetheless. Ask a Wizard Tree and you shall receive. Your answer awaits . . .”
The tree opened its mouth wide, revealing a hole filled with gooey green moss.
Sophie jumped back.
Outside, a hissy squawk echoed. Like a human pretending to be a goose.
“Bogden’s signal!” Willam blurted. “Someone’s coming!”
Instantly Robin surged towards the mouth of the tree. “Come on!” he said, climbing into the hole, looking behind—
No one was following him.
“Too dangerous!” Bettina said, pointing at Sophie. “The way she asked the question . . . it’s all wrong!”
Bogden stumbled in, red-faced. “Guards! Geese!”
“Hurry!” Robin snarled, prowling through sticky moss and disappearing into the tree.
Willam pushed the girls towards the trunk. “Follow Robin!”
Before Sophie could balk, Bogden stuffed her into the tree like a witch into an oven. Sophie’s face slimed with moss as she jammed through the hot, muggy hole and landed in a cramped passage, forcing her onto hands and knees. She might as well have been blindfolded; she couldn’t see a damn thing, the contours of wood hard under her palms. The air was heavy with a rotten-fruit smell, as if she was trapped in the belly of a troll. Quickly, she hid Merlin’s pearl inside her dress. Little by little, her eyes adjusted, Robin’s outline materializing ahead, the green-feathered thief crawling deeper into the tree. Grunts and thuds echoed behind her, the sounds of bodies landing, and Sophie turned to find three pairs of eyes in the dark.