They took one look at the crying Lily Fay, the drowsy Marco holding a knife to William's unconscious body, to a grim-faced Elaine, and to a shell-shocked me. Then they carried Marco and William aboard the ambulance. The police officers detained Lily Fay. Ms. Kali

just beckoned to us to follow her back to school. On the way, Elaine and I chatted.

"That was a brilliant feat of deduction, Nancy. About Morgan, I mean. I never would have figured it out. But it makes sense. You know, her saying she like Lance, but pretended to like William, in order to drive me crazy 'cause I'm the Lady of the Lake, not the Lily Maid, while Morgan really is, but because of her middle and last name, she's mistaken for Morgan. But you're not the Lady of the Lake!"

I never wanted to be. But Ms. Kali thinks otherwise, as she led us to her office.

"I know why Lily Fay and Marco abducted William. Because of that Meg Cabot book, Avalon High, right? But Nolava High really was named as No Lava High, until we decide that it sounded ridiculous and changed it to something obscure. But I myself believe that they might not be wrong. Maybe you should check this out."

Ms. Kali took out a dusty volume and read aloud this following passage:

"This mysterious female gave Arthur his sword, Excalibur. She stole Lancelot when he was a child and cured him when he went mad. She may be a Celtic lake divinity in origin. In Ulrich, the fairy who raised Lancelot is the mother of Mabuz. As Mabuz is probably identical with the Celtic god Mabon, it would seem that the fairy must be Morgan Le Fay who was, earlier, Mabon's mother. Merlin's apprentice, Vivien, may very well have been the Lady of the Lake in the Arthurian Legends and stories. Vivien, sometimes called Nineve, Nimue, Niniane, etc., is best known as the woman who sealed Merlin in a cave or a tree. Despite foreseeing his fate, Merlin was unable to prevent being captivated and captured by the woman Richard Wilbur has called "a creature to bewitch a sorcerer." Vivien is an ambiguous character. Even though Nyneve, who is one of the Ladies of the Lake, deprives Arthur of Merlin's service, she rescues him twice, first by saving him from Accolon who has been given Excalibur by Morgan le Fay to use against Arthur, and then by preventing him from donning the destructive cloak sent to him by Morgan."

"B-but… if Nancy's the lady of the lake, then who am I?" Elaine faltered.

"You're a self-acclaimed Lady of the Lake. In any case, Lance's mother was a friend of Lily Fay's mother, and sometimes Mrs. Morgan looks after Lance, and cures him when he's sick, as she's a doctor. And Vivien, Lady of the Lake, is sometimes known as Nineve, Nimue, Niniane, Nyneve, etc… which might be Nancy, and Nancy's middle name is Vivian. And Nancy's rescued William twice, first by finding him, then by preventing Marco from killing him. Plus, she tried to prevent William from being close with Lily Fay Morgan."

"So… after all, my best friend's a fairy, not me?" Elaine was stunned. I don't blame her. After all, she always wanted to be the Lady of the Lake. Not me.

"Well, yes."

"Then what am I?"

"You're… your own Elaine Harrison. But not the Lady of the Lake or Elaine of Astolat, no."

"And Lance is not… Lancelot?"

"Well, I think he's either Accolon, Morgan's lover, or Lancelot. Although Lance is too vulgar to be such a noble knight, he doubtless will do anything o avenge his best friend's death. But Morgan tried to persuade him to hate William, but he didn't, 'cause he's his friend, so they think he is Lancelot instead."

"But then that means William will go out with her instead…" Elaine burst out of the room in tears.