That night they flattened Radley's house first, with a boulder lobbed over the trees, then the crooked clock tower, which tolled broken moans as screaming villagers fled through the square. Soon whole lanes went up in splinters as parents clung to their children in wells and ditches, watching rocks fly across the moon like meteors. When the blitz ended at four in the morning, only half the town remained. The trembling villagers looked out at the theater, illuminated in the distance, the lights on its red curtain rearranged:
Y/N OR DIE.
Sophie stirred on the pew behind me, mumbling about the connection between poor sleep and pimples. Banging around in the dark, she lit a candle that streaked the hemlock rafters with bronze glow. Then she did a few bumbling yoga moves, nibbled on an almond, rubbed her face with grapefruit seeds, trout scales, and cacao cream, and twirled to Agatha with a sleepy smile. "Morning, darling, what's our plan?"
But hunched in the windowsill, Agatha just stared out the broken glass, and then Sophie did too, at the leveled town, the homeless masses picking through rubble, and her severed statue head gaping at her from the church steps.
Sophie's smile slowly vanished. "There's no plan, is there?"
CRACK!
The oak doors shivered as a hammer bashed away a padlock.
CRACK! CRACK!
"Assassins!" Sophie cried.
Agatha leapt up in horror.
I whirled to the door, clutching the dagger Agatha had smuggled me in my hand.
"The church is hallowed ground!" Agatha cried.
Boards snapped; screws loosened and clinked to the floor.
We backed against the altar.
"Hide!" Agatha gasped, and Sophie ran around the lectern like a headless chicken. But I was still beside Agatha, frozen, gripping my weapon—
Something metal slipped into the door.
"A key," I whispered in horror. "They have a key."
I heard the lock catch.
The door crashed open, and I spun to the dark threshold. Through weak candlelight, a hunched black shadow slunk into the church.
My heart stopped.
Then it began to beat very, very wildly.
But it wasn't possible. He was dead.
But now the School Master was creeping towards me, shadow straightening up, very much alive. My heart thundered against my ribcage—
"The situation has become untenable," said a voice.
Not the School Master's.
Agatha peeked through her fingers.
The Elder with the longest beard was standing before us.
Something shot through me, and it took me a moment to recognize it as disappointment.
It took a moment more for it to be replaced with confusion.
Disappointment? Why would I be feeling disappointed?
"Y/n must be moved to safety," said the younger Elder behind him, doffing his black top hat.
Sophie poked her head out from behind the curtains.
"And she must be moved tonight," said the youngest at the rear, stroking his meager beard.
"Where?" I asked.
YOU ARE READING
Never After (School for Good and Evil x Reader)
FanfictionBOOK 1 OF SGE x READER SERIES *** "Is there a reason you're talking to me right now?" he asked. "Or are you just trying to get me out of the way?" I scowled, all nervousness falling away. "If I wanted to do that, you would have been long gone by now...
