Sloane stood pointing at me in triumph. I shivered at the look of hatred on her face, though I knew it wasn't directed at me. She was only enjoying my shame because Maud would suffer, too. I tried to pull away from the prince, but he held on to me even tighter, his expression a mixture of anger and confusion.

"She's a what?" he repeated.

"You've wasted enough of His Highness's evening, Miss Simpkins," Sloane sneered at me. "Get back upstairs with the other fairy godmothers, where you belong."

Several of the Council members had come down the stairs behind Sloane, including Jessaline, who stared at me with wide eyes. To my surprise, she didn't look happy . . . more like stunned, and a little sick. Her gaze darted to Sloane and she moved several feet away from her trainer, then looked at me again, as though telling me she had nothing to do with it.

But I had no time to ponder the mystery of Jessaline, because Sloane was still ranting at Prince Christopher.

"I hope you didn't let her trick you into thinking she was a princess, Your Highness. She's just a country girl pretending to be better than she is." She gave me a look that said, We didn't even need to sabotage Maud. You did it on your own.

"Excuse me," said a new voice. "I would like to speak."

A sallow-faced woman in a cherry-red gown stepped forward, dragging a girl about Cynthia's age with her. Both of them had chestnut brown hair and sour expressions, and I did a double take as I recognized the queen and princess of my home kingdom, Indigo.

"I am Queen Ingrid and this is my daughter, Octavia. Princess Cynthia is my stepdaughter," the woman announced. Her eyes flickered over me with distaste. "This young woman is most certainly not Cynthia."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Sloane said joyously, turning back to the prince. "You see? This proves that Miss Simpkins was lying to you the whole time."

I felt his hand drop from my arm. "Kit," I whispered, looking up at him with pleading eyes, "I can explain . . . it was just a misunderstanding . . ."

"What is going on here?" the king demanded. "Everything was going so well. We were expecting a proposal of courtship any minute."

"She's a fairy godmother who wanted to trick the prince into a betrothal, Your Majesty," Sloane told him. "From the looks of it, it almost worked."

Madam Fairweather gave me a look like thunder. "Is this true, Miss Simpkins?"

I felt cold and clammy all over, except for my burning face. I spotted Geoff holding Muffet over the balcony railing upstairs so he could see. My friends from Trainee Week stood nearby, looking upset and sympathetic.

"It's true," I said in a clear voice, drawing cries of horror and delight from the spectators. They had come for a good show, and I was going to give it to them. "I am a fairy godmother. But I did not pretend to be a princess. It was a misunderstanding." I looked at the prince, who stared at me mutely. "Maud isn't my fairy godmother, Kit. She's my trainer."

He stared at me. "But they announced you as Princess Cynthia . . ."

"I am Princess Cynthia," said a voice from the stairs. There was a ripple of admiration at her beauty as my client approached us, looking less pale. "I told the chamberlain that Noelle was me, because I was afraid. I wasn't ready to rejoin the world after so many years of hiding away."

Her stepmother and stepsister hissed, but Cynthia ignored them.

"Noelle has helped me beyond my wildest dreams," she said, looking at me with such kindness and affection that it brought tears to my eyes. "I'm thankful every day that she is my friend and fairy godmother. She's the kindest, most honest person I know," she added, turning to Kit, "and if you misunderstood her, that is not her fault, Prince Christopher."

The crowd's eyes were glued to her. They pressed in to hear her every word. Even when she was nervous and shy and timid, Cynthia had the gift of drawing people to her. She was a true princess, the kind of girl who deserved the prince.

I turned and looked him in the eyes, tears trickling down my face. "I can't ever be with you because you're meant for a princess, and I'm just nobody," I whispered.

And then I ran.

My heartbeat was rushing so hard in my ears, I couldn't hear anything but the sound of my glass slippers clicking against the marble floor. I sprinted out of the ballroom, my hair flying out behind me, the crowd a blur of colors.

Someone yelled my name, but I ignored them and kept running, blinded by hot tears. My heels pierced the manicured lawn with each step.

I had failed everyone.

I had failed Cynthia by forcing her to leave home and raising her hopes, only to realize I wanted her prince for myself.

I had failed my parents by abandoning them, only to return in shame.

And worst of all, I had failed Maud.

I had destroyed her chances of winning that seat in the House of Godmothers. All of her hard work, all of her studying, had been for nothing. I sobbed, remembering the sight of my poor trainer sick in bed in Heliotropia after working herself to the bone.

I stopped on the lawn, crying so hard I couldn't run anymore. My breaths came out in a wheeze and I pressed my hands to my aching chest, feeling the sharp outline of the glass shoe charm against my skin. Maybe Kit wished he hadn't given it to me now. Maybe he wished he could have it back so he could give it to someone worthy of him.

I kicked at a pebble, hard, and one of my glass slippers flew into the air and disappeared in the darkness.

A strong hand grabbed my arm.

"Noelle, what the heck is going on?" Geoff demanded. "Everyone's going crazy in there!" The worry in his face was too much for me. I threw myself into his arms and wept, my nose hitting his armor painfully.

He hugged me back, patting my shoulder awkwardly with his giant gauntlets. "Come on, now. Don't cry like that. It's going to be okay, you'll see."

"I never should have left Indigo, Geoff," I sobbed. "The only place I belong is on a pumpkin patch in the middle of nowhere."

Something soft and furry rubbed against my bare foot. "Is she okay?" Muffet asked.

"Yeah, I think so. She just needs to go home and rest."

I pulled away and looked up at Geoff eagerly. "Would you take me home? Can we go back to Indigo tonight?"

My best friend frowned at me. "This isn't like you, Noelle. Your parents didn't teach you to run away from your problems. You've always faced yours, ever since we were in diapers. You're a better person than that. You know it, and I know it."

Muffet leaned soothingly against my leg. "Sleep on it. You'll feel better in the morning."

"Your cat friend is wise. Things will look so much worse if you sneak home tonight."

I pressed my palms into my eyes and sighed. "You're right, you're both right. It was a stupid thing to say. I can't abandon Maud. I need to stay and help her if I can. I need to go to the Council and beg them to give her the seat. They shouldn't punish her for my failure."

"That's more like it," Geoff said approvingly.

"And you know, the truth isn't so bad," Muffet added. "How could you know that boy was Prince Christopher? Alfonso and I never would have guessed." He paused. "Side note, the tabloids are going to go nuts about that."

Geoff gave me another hug and slung his arm around my shoulders. "Come on, I'll take you back to C.A.F.E. My horse is parked over here."

But I shook my head and pulled away. "Nah, stay and enjoy the party. I need to move my stupid pumpkin anyway." A thought occurred to me: there was someone else I had abandoned inside. "Could you take care of Cynthia for me? Make sure she has fun, and then gets back to her bed-and-breakfast okay?"

A dreamy look came into his eye. "I will," he promised.

"I'll come with you, Noelle," Muffet said loyally, swishing his tail around my bare foot. "But where's your other shoe?"

"I don't care. Let's go home."

I turned and limped away in the direction of our carriage.

The next morning, I left my residence hall on the C.A.F.E campus feeling like I was going to my own execution. Normally, I enjoyed the view of the park with its bird-filled trees and sweet-smelling flowers, but today I kept my eyes on the pavement. That was how I nearly walked head-first into Jessaline Snapp.

She was standing on the path right in front of me, twisting her hands in front of her. Her long, strawberry-blond hair was as perfect as ever, but again I noticed that she didn't look happy. She wasn't here to make fun of me.

I stared back at her, conscious that my eyes were swollen from crying. "What do you want, Jessaline?" I asked tiredly.

"I . . ." She trailed off, then took a deep breath and started again. "Look, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. For everything that Sloane's put you through. For everything we have put you through."

"This isn't a good time for jokes, okay?" I made to move past her, but she put out a hand and stopped me, rolling her eyes.

"I know you're a terrible listener, but hear me out. I need to say this to you. Everything that happened was Sloane's idea. She's bad news." Jessaline bit her lip. I noticed she was so caught up in her apology, she was chewing off all of her sparkly pink lip gloss without caring. It made me like her the tiniest bit better. "She can't take competition. She'd do anything to sabotage Maud for that seat in the House."

I waited patiently.

"And I'm just as bad as she is because I went along with it." She said the words so fast, they made her a little breathless. She avoided my eyes and looked down at the ground. "I know we've never been friends. I've certainly never liked you. You don't make it easy, after all."

It was my turn to roll my eyes, but there was the start of a smile on my face, too.

"But I just . . . I wanted to say that to you before I went home."

"You're going back to Indigo?" I asked, surprised. "Did they kick you out?" The thought made my gut clench, because in a few moments, I was pretty sure C.A.F.E. would kick me out, too.

Jessaline scoffed. "Of course they didn't kick me out. What a stupid question." Her bottle-green eyes darted up to my face disdainfully. "I'm leaving of my own will. I've had it up to here with this institution. Pairing me with a catty, low-life trainer like Sloane Davis. My parents will definitely not be happy about this."

Now that sounded more like her. I shook my head and sighed.

"I just . . . I don't think anyone should have to go through what you did yesterday. With the . . . with the prince." Jessaline raised both hands in the air, palms facing me. "Okay. I'm done. I've said everything I wanted to say. So stop looking at me like you want to be best friends and have sleepovers and paint our nails together, because it's not happening."

"I'm not looking at you like that," I protested, but she ignored me and pointed a perfect pink fingernail in my face.

"And we're not hugging it out either, so you can forget about it. Bye." She flounced past me back to the residence halls, probably to pack for home. But right before she went in the door, she turned and looked back at me. And she gave me a timid little wave that I returned.

I probably walked the rest of the way to the main C.A.F.E. building with my mouth hanging open in shock. The Snapp-dragon . . . might be a decent person?!

But all thoughts of our conversation flew out of my head when I entered the lobby. I remembered the grim task that lay ahead of me and my spirits sank once more.

Valentine sat at her usual place at the front desk, scribbling away while Muffet curled around her cup of pens. Her sunny smile faded a bit when she saw me.

"Good morning, Noelle. They're expecting you in Meeting Room 5."

"They?" I squeaked.

"Maud and the Council."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Muffet asked.

I shook my head, trying to calm my pounding heart. "No, thanks. I need to do this alone."

Valentine's eyes were full of concern. "Well, join us for brunch when you're done."

"You're sweet to invite me, but I'll probably be going home to Indigo as soon as it's over," I said quietly. Unable to stand their sympathy a second longer, I turned and walked down the corridor to Meeting Room 5.

It was a huge room with no windows, just rows of benches sloping steeply downward to a long platform on which the seven Council members sat. Maud was in a chair facing them, one leg crossed over the other, the pink spikes in her jet-black hair spikier than ever.

The woman at the center of the platform could only be Madam Anastasia Wandwood, the head of C.A.F.E. To her left were Madam Fairweather, D'Aubergine, and Pennywell, all of whom I had met. The other three were unfamiliar to me, but I guessed that the woman who had the same steely gray eyes as Sloane was her grandma, Madam Blythe Davis, the Godmother of Defense.

"Have a seat, Miss Simpkins," said Madam Wandwood. "We've been listening to speeches from our two candidates for the House. Maud just finished hers, in fact."

I sat down beside Maud, who gave me a tiny thumbs-up.

"She also passed the Bar exam with flying colors," added Madam Fairweather, flipping through papers and showing no sign of having witnessed my shame last night. "Her success rate is consistent. She has stellar references from her clients."

"Oh, good," I said, my heart lifting. Maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't let Maud suffer because of me after all. "Please, could I also say a few words on behalf of my trainer?"

"Certainly," Madam Wandwood replied. "That's why you're here, isn't it?"

That was unexpected. "It is?"

"Go ahead and tell us about your experience working with Maud."

I had to clench my teeth to keep my jaw from dropping.

What was going on here? Had I unearthed fairy godmother powers beyond anything I'd imagined, powers that allowed me to wipe their minds clean of last night's events?

I stood and clasped my hands together to hide the fact that they were shaking. My brain felt muddled, but when I opened my mouth, the words came out easily.

I talked about Maud's kindness and work ethic. I mentioned her bravery and her energy, and how she encouraged everyone around her to be their best selves. I described each mission we had gone through together, taking care to mention that she had worked hard enough to the point of falling ill. I told them about what a good heart she had and how she listened to the smallest of my troubles.

The Council listened attentively, and I even saw Madam Wandwood crack a smile when I told them about the dancing goblins of Viridian.

"I have the very highest respect and admiration for Madam Lee. Please, please don't let my mistakes color your opinion of her," I begged.

I noticed a few Council members leaning forward with interest, as though they'd been waiting for me to bring up what had happened.

"Maud set a brilliant example for me. Shadowing her has been a true privilege. I mean that with all of my heart." I looked at Maud, who smiled at me through her happy tears. "I can't imagine anyone who deserves that seat in the House of Godmothers more than she does."

There was a long silence.

Sloane's grandmother, Madam Davis, spoke up for the first time. "That was lovely, Miss Simpkins. Your respect for your trainer is quite apparent."

"I'm glad to hear that," I said. "I hope my respect for C.A.F.E. is also apparent. I wanted to thank you all for giving me this opportunity. I hope to bring back to Indigo everything that I've learned in my time here."

Madam Wandwood raised an eyebrow. "You speak as though you don't plan to remain here with us."

I glanced at Maud, who gave me a small smile. "But I thought . . . well . . . I assumed . . ."

"After what happened last night, you mean," Madam Wandwood said.

"Well, yes. I can only hope that my client will forgive me for what happened." A hard knot of guilt twisted in my stomach as I thought of Cynthia.

Madam Pennywell's eyes twinkled. "She has more than forgiven you, judging by what happened after your . . . hasty exit from the ball. She gave quite a speech in your defense."

I blinked. "A speech?"

"I was surprised myself. I happened to see her fainting spell when she first arrived at the ball. But somehow she found the courage to speak quite eloquently about how much you had helped her." Her eyes slid to Maud. "Not unlike the way you spoke about your trainer just now."

I stared at her, trying to process this. Shy, timid Cynthia had given a speech at the ball in my defense! I had left her there at the crowd's mercy, and she had stayed and defended me!

"She was rather forceful when she spoke to Prince Christopher. He looked quite shocked at being spoken to in that way."

"What did she say?" I asked, hardly daring to breathe.

"Your client told him, in no uncertain terms, that he would be an idiot if he let you go, just because he had a . . . let's see, what were her words? An utterly stupid and ridiculous prejudice against fairy godmothers."

I sat down in my chair, hard. "She talked like that to him? They didn't throw her in the dungeons, did they?" I was prepared to saw through the bars of her prison with my magic wand – no, with my teeth – if I had to. She had defended me to everyone, and most importantly, to Kit.

Madam Wandwood actually laughed. "Your client is quite safe. All that happened was that the prince ran out after you, just as your knight friend came back in and handed him a glass shoe. Yours, I presume?"

"Yes," I said breathlessly. "Where is it now?"

"We assume the prince took it with him when he left the kingdom this morning," Maud told me softly.

My heart sank. "He left? He's gone?"

Madam Davis spoke again, her steely voice amused. "Relax, young woman, it's nothing to do with you. The royal family always goes to the seaside after the holidays. It's really quite a pain, security-wise." She shook her head. "I've had to send quite a few of my people out there to keep an eye on things. I'd be there myself if I weren't here voting for Maud for the House seat."

I gasped. "You're voting for Maud? Not Sloane?"

Madam Davis looked appalled. "Certainly not! My granddaughter is facing disciplinary action. We've heard reports of her encouraging her intern to sabotage the work of others. Never let it be said of me that I have a family bias when someone else so clearly deserves the position."

"And, if you must know, Sloane Davis was never seriously considered for the candidacy. It was always between Maud and one of our senior godmothers," Madam Wandwood broke in. "And Maud has very obviously earned the seat."

I forgot that I was a mere intern facing a Council of her superiors.

I forgot that I was sixteen years old and far from home.

I burst into noisy tears and threw my arms around Maud.

"I'm so happy," I sobbed. "I thought I ruined everything for you. I didn't care what happened to me as long as you got the seat."

Maud hugged me back tightly. "You dear girl."