Chapter 24: Parents and Directors.

- The distant forest? - Hester repeated.

- Who is your king? —Dot wanted to know.

- We have no king - replied Sophie.

- Who is your mother? - Anadil asked.

- My mother is dead - Sophie said.

- And your father? - Dot asked.

- He works in the mill. But all these questions are very personal...

- Which fairy tale family does your father belong to anymore? - Anadil asked.

- None - continued Sophie without patience - it seems that they will not guess, so I will spare you the neurons, Adam and I are readers.

- I knew - Hester told Anadil.

Sophie imagined that she wanted me to ask her what she knew, but she decided to continue ignoring her, and it seemed that Adam took her example.

Child ready.

Sophie's gaze fell on Hester's bedside table.

Next to a vase with dried flowers, a claw-shaped candle and a pile of books:

How to mock orphans, Why villains fail, Common witch mistakes.

There was a twisted wooden portrait frame.

Inside was a children's drawing of a witch in front of a house.

A house made of ginger and caramel.

- Mom was naïve - Hester said, leaning against the frame. He seemed to strive to remember - An oven? Please, it is better to throw them on a grill, so you avoid complications! - His face took on a sterner expression - I'll do better.

Adam seemed to recognize the tale of where the antagonist in the portrait came from.

- You know I was no longer a saint of my devotion, but now I definitely dislike you - I proclaim the child.

He then moved as far away from the girl as possible and went to hide behind the leg of Aric who was the closest "big friend" he had.

Hesper looked at the boy maliciously.

- I'm sure you would taste good with cookies - I comment, taking a step towards the little one.

- Surely if I took out your organs and stuffed you with sawdust you would be a perfect scarecrow for the window - said Sophie with her most charming and sweet smile, an aura of death surrounded her.

Hesper immediately backed away.

- I told them I was a witch - Dot boasted.

Sophie looked at the girl and then at the poster on her dresser.

- And your friend of mine? - I ask Dot, looks like you're from Nottingham, can he be talking to the princess? - she said calmer.

- In a way - said Dot, swelling his chest proudly.

- Let me guess, your father is the Sheriff of Nottingham.

-Correct! - confirmed Dot.

- And you, my dear friend without color - said Anadil - are the daughter or, because of the antiquity of the story, the granddaughter of the witch of the bracelet of bones.

Anadil clinked her grandmother's bracelet for the girl to see.

- Granddaughter - I clarify proudly - you seem to know about witches, girl.

- I know stories, you can't read about the hero, without reading the villain - Sophie explained.

- My sister's specialty is pirate tales - Adam boasted.

- I told you two pirate stories, and now they are my specialty - Sophie laughed.

Adam shrugged.

- They were the ones I liked the most - said the boy.

***************************************************************************************************

Although the princesses of Purity shared the rooms in threes, Agatha had her own room.

A pink glass staircase connected the five floors of the Purity tower and rose like a replica of Rapunzel's endless hair.

On the door of Agatha's room, on the fifth floor, was a bright sign covered with hearts:

WELCOME, REENA, MILLICENT, AGATHA!

However, Reena and Millicent did not stay long.

Reena, who had captivating olive skin and glowing gray eyes, painstakingly carried her huge trunk into the room, only to find Agatha organizing hers (with the ingredients her mother packs for her) and move back in.

- It seems very bad! - Agatha heard her sobbing—I don't want to die!

- Come to my room - he heard Beatrix say. The fairies will understand—and the fairies, indeed, understood.

They also understood when the redhead Millicent, with an upturned nose and thin eyebrows, pretended to have vertigo and asked for a room on the first floor.

So Agatha was left alone, and that made her feel at home.

However, the room worried her.

From the pink walls hung huge mirrors with precious stones.

There were elaborate murals showing beautiful princesses kissing gallant princes.

Each of the beds had a white silk canopy shaped like a royal carriage, and a glorious fresco of clouds adorned the ceiling mosaics, with smiling cupids shooting arrows of love from the clouds.

Agatha got away from all that as far as she could.

On the other side of the window, he could see the glittering lake that surrounded the Towers of Good and turned into a muddy moat halfway to protect the wicked.

The girls had said it was called Intermediate Bay.

In the depths of the fog, the narrow stone bridge stretched back and forth and connected both schools.

But all that was seen from the front of the two castles.

What was behind it?

Curious, Agatha climbed onto the windowsill and clung to a glass beam.

Agatha tiptoed to the end of the windowsill, stretched her neck to the corner, and was about to fall from the surprise.

Behind the School of Good and Evil was a gigantic blue forest.

The leafy Blue Forest extended a great distance and connected the courtyards of the two schools; It was bounded by high golden gates.

When Agatha returned to her site, she saw something in front of the school, rising from the Intermediate Bay.

It was right in the middle, where the waters were a mixture of mud and crystal clear water.

It was barely visible in the fog...

It was a tall, narrow tower made of shiny silver bricks.

Agatha narrowed her eyes and looked at the tip of the towering tower, but all she could see was a single window hidden behind the clouds.

Then the sun hit the window and saw it against the light: it was the high shadows that had kidnapped them.

At that, he slipped and rushed over the deadly Charity tower.

Shaking his legs, he clung to the window beam just in time and fell into the room again.

Agatha touched her injured rump and looked again... But the shadows were gone.

Agatha sighed, walked away from the window and approached the nearest mirror could not believe what she was wearing, but thanks to a little help from the system she managed to recreate Sophie's work to some extent.

To give herself some confidence, she placed the sunflower brooch that her friend had given her in her hair in the same way she had.

He walked to the door and took a deep breath.