“What about my knife?” I asked, knowing that I’d feel safer if I could have it at the ready.

“Summoning it shouldn’t be a problem,” he replied. “That’s not really a spell anyway, since the knife is always with you. You’re just activating it. Just don’t summon any demon guides or cast any reincarnation spells, okay?”

We both smirked at the irony of it. Just a few weeks ago I was struggling to use enchantment to blow out a candle and now we were talking half-seriously about me performing serious A-grade magic.

“Well, you never know,” Nox said, shrugging. “Anyway, if you do need to use magic that you think will set off the alarms—and I don’t recommend it—it will be pinned to your location. So get the hell out of there before anyone can find you.”

“I’ll do my best,” I said.

“The Emerald Palace,” he said, turning his attention back to the scrying pool and pointing to a small square buried in a complicated grid of interconnected shapes. “These are your private quarters. You’re three floors down from Dorothy and . . .”

Suddenly I wasn’t paying attention. My stomach began to lurch. Something was happening to me.

I had almost forgotten the spell Mombi had cast. The enchantment was beginning to take hold.

The map of the palace in the scrying pool had disappeared and my reflection replaced it.

At least—I thought it was me. It was hard to be sure. My face was no longer my own. I was turning into Astrid.

My eyes shone back at me, no longer their familiar brown color but now the bright blue of a swimming pool.

Then my pink hair was a radiant, corn-silk blonde.

I stared at my reflection, trying to make sense of it.

I hadn’t noticed back in the war room, but it turned out that Astrid was pretty. She was definitely prettier than me. Her nose was a bit bigger, yes, but in a way that made her face more interesting. She had a small, heart-shaped mouth and a perfectly symmetrical oval face with high cheekbones and a chin that was neither too prominent or too simpering.

I was still trying to get used to my new face when I realized the rest of me was changing, too. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience: my skin felt like it was being ripped apart as it stretched to make room for my new bones. It turned out Astrid was tall.

When I instinctively put a hand to my cheek—just to make sure that it was still there, I guess—I noticed that my fingers were now long and slender. It looked like I’d had a manicure recently, too.

“Call me old-fashioned,” Mombi said, admiring her own handiwork, “but I liked the pink hair better.”

I barely heard her. I turned to Nox, suddenly feeling scared, suddenly unsure if I was really ready for any of this.

His face looked ashen for a minute, but then he swallowed hard and smiled. “Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re still Amy.”

When I looked back into the pool, I couldn’t say that I agreed. There was no trace of the old me. I was no longer Amy Gumm.

A short time later I was wearing the maid’s green uniform I’d seen on Astrid earlier.

After I had put it on Glamora surveyed me, twirled a fiery tendril of hair around her finger in thought, and finally nodded in approval. I couldn’t help feeling proud of myself. “Remember what I’ve taught you,” she said. “Astrid may be among the lowliest of the servants, but she knows what forks to use; she knows the steps to the dances. Being a maid is only one step removed from being a princess. Don’t do anything to remind them you’re neither.”

She grabbed my shoulder with one hand and placed the other on my spine, jerking me upright. “Watch your posture. Dorothy can’t abide a sloucher, and neither can I. Walk around like that and you’ll be fired in a week. Or worse.”

I looked into the scrying pool mirror one last time. Like Mombi, I missed my pink hair. And while I knew I wasn’t Amy Gumm anymore, I didn’t feel like Astrid either.

I was still looking at myself when Mombi spoke up. “Enough of this. It’s time for you to go.”

She reached into her robe, pulled out something that looked like a pebble, and dropped it into the pool. I leaned over to watch as it rippled in concentric circles and then began to glow. When I looked up, Mombi was already gone.

“She’s always been awful at good-byes,” Glamora said sadly. “But I’ll say one: Good-bye, darling. You’ll be fabulous.” She opened her arms and pulled me into a deep hug. It was nice of her, but I think we both knew she wasn’t Gert.

After a moment, she let me out of her embrace. “I’ll let the two of you say your farewells in private,” she said, blowing me a final kiss before leaving.

It was just me and Nox now. I’d never seen him so quiet. He was staring at the scrying pool, which was showing the map of the palace again.

“I have a list of Dorothy’s likes and dislikes and schedule. Memorize it and then destroy it.” He held the list out toward me. When my hand grazed his, he grabbed on tight.

He closed the gap between us without taking a step and his mouth closed over mine before I could speak. He was kissing me. I closed my eyes and let go of everything except him for a few seconds. I had never kissed a boy before so I had nothing to compare it to. But I was sure that whatever it was like, kissing Nox had to be different.

Because Nox was different. Power and magic flowed between us like when he’d first showed me what magic was. But it wasn’t magic at all this time. It was something completely human. Things we couldn’t or wouldn’t say with millions of words were all there, all at once. Everything we shared and everything we were was contained in this single perfect moment.