I stopped by the mail room after dinner and found a letter from Geoff and a package from my parents. I took them back to my residence hall and curled up on my bed to read.

Geoff had been sent back early from the camping trip with a broken leg. He had fallen down an abandoned mineshaft, but he was resting and feeling good. The accident hadn't dampened his spirits one bit.

"The ladies-in-waiting love a man with an injury," he wrote. "I still don't know what the princess looks like, though. She's always wearing a veil to keep her skin pale, but I'm beginning to think she might have a mustache (I hope the guards don't go through our mail and read this)."

His favorite class was the one on dragons. For someone who had talked of nothing but killing one, he sure did write a lot about how cute the babies were. "We saw one in the mines but couldn't stay long, just in case the mother came back and fancied filet de man-flesh."

I had written to him about the glass shoe dreams I'd been having. His response: "Talk to a dwarf. They're grumpy, but they know everything about the mountains and I hear there's some kind of special glass that they mine. Come visit and we'll try it out."

I folded the letter, feeling a wave of homesickness for him. I made up my mind to ask Maud if we could go to Citria after our next mission, since I wasn't about to pass up seeing my best friend at knight school and maybe learning more about this special glass.

Mom and Dad had sent only a brief note ("Hope you haven't forgotten your old parents. Love you!") with a notepad of Mom's shoe sketches and a small pouch of gossamer powder from Dad. He had probably included it for the four little pumpkins he had given me. Three of them were too heavy to carry around, but I kept the smallest in my bag, for luck. I tucked the gossamer powder beside it. Good old Dad, I thought affectionately. When would I ever need to grow a pumpkin on my travels?

The next morning, I hopped back into the carriage with Maud, Alfonso, and Muffet. It seemed we were to be a permanent traveling team.

"Valentine didn't really want me to go," the cat said, curling up beside me. "But she's been so busy that I thought I'd be of more use to you."

Maud was enthusiastic about my request to go to Citria. "Grandma Lin is friends with some dwarves who run a tavern there. I could deliver her letter to them and you could go see your friend."

"Are you sure that's okay? I don't want to take a day off so soon."

"You're entitled to a break. And anyway, I'm going to make you earn it." She smiled. "A very interesting wish came into C.A.F.E. when you were out yesterday."

"Oh? Does it sound valid?"

"Well, that's for you to find out." Maud pulled an envelope out of her pocket and handed it to me. "I signed you up because I knew you'd want to go. The wish happened to be made by one Princess Cynthia of Indigo."

I sat upright. "The queen's stepdaughter? The one who's been so sick, she hasn't left Indigo Castle in ten years?"

The fairy godmother nodded. "Although, going by her wish, she certainly doesn't seem to be sick now."

Curious, I pulled a slip of paper out the envelope.

I wish to leave Indigo to see the world and find adventure and make something of myself.

I read it again. And again. Both Muffet and Alfonso crowded around to see what had struck me dumb. "Maud," I said slowly. "I could have made this wish myself. In fact, I'm pretty sure I did."

"Seems like serendipity, doesn't it?" Maud said brightly.

"And you want me to be the one to see if Princess Cynthia really needs a fairy godmother," I said, growing more excited by the minute.

She nodded. "And if she does, it will be you. I thought it would be a grand idea to make that your certifying exam. We need to start early," she explained. "December will be busy. I have to prepare for my defense in front of the Council, so I'm counting on you. What do you say?"

I didn't hesitate. "I say yes. One hundred percent."

Muffet looked at me with awe. "You're going to be a real fairy godmother, Noelle. Just think of all the strawberry yogurt you'll be able to buy me."

"That's pretty much the only reason I agreed to this assignment," I told him.

Maud laughed. "That settles it. We'll take care of our client in Heliotropia and stop quickly in Citria. Then it'll be back to headquarters for me and off home to Indigo for you."

"And Noelle will probably also want to go back to the Tented Market at some point," the cat remarked, giving me a sly look.

Alfonso caught Muffet's eye and made a strange ribbit.

"Why?" Maud asked.

"Don't listen to them," I said hastily. "I don't need to go there. For any reason."

The cat and frog had just broken into odd noises that sounded like wheezing laughter.

My trainer chuckled. "Oh yes, Muffet told me about your new friend. Kit, was it?"

I glared at the cat, who gazed innocently back at me. "There's nothing wrong with making new friends, Noelle," he said.

My face must have been as red as it felt, because Maud tactfully changed the subject.

Everyone but me fell asleep on the two-hour journey east to Heliotropia. I was too keyed up to sleep, thinking about my new assignment . . . and about Kit, if I could admit that to myself. I did want to go back to the market. I had never really liked any boy in Indigo. At least, not in the way I liked Kit . . . and thought – no, hoped – he liked me. I remembered how his hazel eyes had twinkled down at me, and the warmth of his hand on my arm . . .

Beside me, Muffet snorted and I jumped, my ears burning, but he merely rolled over and continued snoring.

I decided to write home to take my mind off Kit's smug grin. I thanked my parents for the package, but didn't quite know how to explain that I had just helped my trainer avert a crisis in Viridian involving waltzing goblins and a subterranean death trap. So I stuck to basics. "I'm having a good time." "I miss you guys." That sort of thing.

It was early afternoon when we arrived in Heliotropia, an ivy-covered kingdom filled with deep, shady woodlands. The castle was beautiful and more along the lines of Irisia Palace, with pinkish stones that glimmered in the sun.

"Are there twelve princesses here, too?" I asked warily, as we pulled in front.

Maud giggled. "The king and queen have three children. A pair of small twin boys and a daughter, Daphne, who is my client."

Alfonso hopped onto the ledge by the window and began knocking his legs against the wall, his eyes bulging even more than usual. He paced back and forth.

"What's wrong with Alfonso?" I asked. "He's been acting weird all day. He hasn't even glared at me once."

On cue, the frog turned and glared at me, but only for a few seconds before resuming his odd behavior.

"He's just happy to be here," Maud said, unconcerned.

A girl with long black hair came out to greet us. She looked about eighteen and had a round, plain face. I couldn't help noticing that she had very chapped lips, which she kept biting.

"Maud! What took you so long?" she demanded. "I've been dying of boredom. Do you realize it's been over six months since you've checked on me?"

"Apologies, Your Highness. I've been busy," Maud said. "Allow me to introduce my companions. This is Noelle, my trainee, and our friend Muffet. And of course, this is someone you know very well." She pointed to Alfonso, who had hesitated on the ledge before hopping out by the princess's feet. They stared at each other.

"It's the frog you had with you last time," Daphne said. "So what?"

"Daphne, this is Alfonso," Maud said gently. "Remember?"

"Look, Maud, I know you think you're being kind by trying to give me a pet frog named after my true love," said the princess tearfully. "But you are not helping! I'm not over him."

My trainer sighed. "Daphne, you must accept that this is he. Not a pet frog. Not a wild frog. In fact, not a frog at all."

Muffet and I let out gasps of horror.

"He's not a frog?" I repeated.

"Sure looks like one to me," the cat chimed in.

Alfonso looked at us indignantly, drawing himself to his full height. Because it was all of five inches tall, it was not as intimidating as I'm sure he hoped it would be.

"I'm sorry to have kept you both in the dark, Noelle and Muffet, but I had to maintain confidentiality. At least until I found a cure," Maud said. "And now I really think I have. I've got three solutions I whipped up back at headquarters. Daphne, if you're willing, I will have you try them out."

Daphne looked confused. "What do you mean, you'll have me try them out? There's nothing wrong with me."

Alfonso made a pleading sound in his throat and made as though to hop onto her shoe. It was a bad move. Startled, Daphne cried out and flailed her leg.

I plucked him off the ground quickly. I wasn't a big fan of him myself, but I wasn't about to watch my trainer's heart break into a million pieces when he was killed by dropkick.

But what was all that about him not being a frog?

I looked down at him and saw that he was visibly upset. A large tear welled up in one of his yellow eyes.

"You would be kinder to poor Alfonso if you knew what he had been through," Maud said reprovingly. "Why don't we sit down somewhere and I'll explain everything. Daphne, perhaps we can do that in the garden?"

The princess gave a grudging nod and signaled to a footman to take care of our carriage, before leading us into the trees behind the castle, complaining the whole way.

Muffet and I exchanged glances, both wondering why Maud had been saddled with all of the whiny clients. She didn't seem to mind Daphne's shrill voice, however, and neither did Alfonso.

"I'm pretty much a prisoner inside these gates," Daphne was telling the fairy godmother. "My parents won't let me leave, for fear I'll get kidnapped like my darling Alfonso." She bit her flaky lip. "Mother's praying that I'll forget him and meet someone else, but how am I supposed to do that when they've trapped me in here?"

"I'll do what I can, but you have to listen and cooperate," Maud said in a stern voice.

We arrived at a pretty clearing in the woods, with wooden benches and a wishing well made of cream-colored stones. Neat rows of pink and white roses surrounded the well.

The princess hadn't seemed to me like the type to get her hands dirty, but she bent down to look tenderly at her flowers and reach for a pink gardening spade. People who like to grow things can't be all that bad, I thought, thinking of Dad.

We all sat down and Maud began her story.

"One year ago, my client, Prince Alfonso of Caraway, went missing. His parents thought he had run away at first, but he hadn't taken anything with him. He was also a very happy young man who was in love with Princess Daphne here."

The princess sniffled, but remained silent.

"It wasn't long before I began to suspect foul play. I consulted with Grandma Lin and we discovered evidence suggesting that the prince had been kidnapped by witches."

"Witches?" I repeated. "You think it was the work of more than one?"

"Witches rarely operate alone. They like to form covens and pool their powers. In fact, there's a coven known as the Murder that is the largest crime organization in the world. They wear black crow feathers, hence the name, but that's a story for another day."

Muffet crept close to me, his fur standing on end. "Witches are the cruelest creatures in the world," he murmured. I could feel his little heart pounding.

Maud lowered her voice. "Poor Muffet is still ashamed about his past. You see . . ."

"No, I should be the one to tell my own story," the cat interrupted, his whiskered face full of remorse. "You want to know what I was? Well, I'll tell you. I was a witch's cat. I belonged to a member of the Murder."

He looked so sad that I hugged him. "It's all right, Muffet. I don't think any less of you."

"I loved my owner more than anything, Noelle," he said, his eyes full of tears. "I would have done anything for her. I thought she loved me, but she was just using me. She needed me because her spells called for different cat parts. Whiskers. Claws. Hair. What's next, eyes?" He shook his head. "She broke my heart."

Even Daphne seemed moved by the story. "So how did you end up with Maud?"

"I met Maud's grandmother, Lin Chu, when she came to rescue a princess kidnapped by my owner. Madam Chu spared my life and gave me a second chance," Muffet said. "When she took me back to C.A.F.E., Valentine adopted me and I've been there ever since."

"Grandma Lin helped rescue Alfonso, too," Maud chimed in. "She successfully led Team Six, C.A.F.E.'s most elite witch-fighting godmothers, on an infiltration of the coven. They fought off two dozen witches and brought Alfonso's kidnapper to near death. But she stayed alive long enough to cast one last spell." She gestured to his frog form. "Once Alfonso was restored to me, I made the case my own pet project. Excuse the pun."

"So that's why you were looking for linwood bark at the Tented Market!" I said, and she nodded.

"So what did you mean earlier about trying the solutions on me?" Daphne demanded, nervously tossing her spade from one hand to the other. She glanced at Alfonso, though it was with more curiosity now than disgust.

"We-ell, you see," Maud said slowly, "many antidotes work best when applied warm. And some you have to administer with certain feelings in order to have them take full effect. It's not like chewing mint leaves on an upset stomach or . . ."

"Just get to the point," the princess snapped, still tossing her spade.

Maud was silent for a moment. "You have to put linwood balm on your lips. And then you have to kiss him." She flicked her head at Alfonso.

Daphne's arms gave an involuntary twitch, sending the spade higher than she had intended. It flew over her head and into the well. We all heard the loud splash as it hit the water.

It was all too much for the princess, who burst into tears. "That was my favorite spade," she sobbed. "Alfonso g-gave it to me. To match my pink roses."

Before anyone had a chance to respond, Alfonso flung himself into the well.