Ever Never After | The School for Good and Evil Fanfiction

Chapter 6: Temptations

Alma endured another day of wretched princess classes. Her mind wandered to her meeting with the School Master more than once, but each time she caught and reminded herself to pay attention for the sake of her rank. The School Master had evidently not been happy that the Storian was writing about an Ever. Hers was yet another Good tale that wouldn't help the supposed balance.

Or would it?

Sophie told Alma at lunch that she'd unintentionally summoned bees, wasps, and bats to defend herself against Hester's demon-tattoo-come-to-life in class. She'd attempted to summon princess-friendly creatures, an act that had nearly cost Hester's life. The demonstration of such a "talent" had earned Sophie a place at the top of the Never ranks. She needed Alma to remind her that she was Good and that this event had been nothing but a terrible mishap.

Although she spared Sophie's feelings, Alma knew there had been no accident. She didn't believe Sophie, or anyone in this world and beyond, was entirely Good or entirely Evil, but the Nevergirl was holding back, in denial of her darker impulses. Sophie's professor had said that she hadn't seen such Evil in years. What if Sophie were Evil's hope? What if she were the one who would finally restore the balance?

What if Sophie were the villain in Alma's story?

Would they have to fight to the death?

Knowing the Storian, the tale would likely end in Alma's favor, but Alma didn't want to face a villain. She didn't want to fight, and especially not to the death. No, that was what this fairy-tale world wanted. That was what the School Master wanted—entertainment. And Alma wasn't going to give an inch of it. In fact, Alma was going to let Sophie win. She would be no pawn in anyone's story, not even her own.

In Beautification the following morning, Professor Anemone belly-danced into the classroom, wearing a bejeweled bikini top, a long skirt layered with jangling coins, hoop earrings, and tambourine bracelets. She was attempting to teach the Evergirls how to be seductresses and survive tales like 1001 Arabian Nights. Meanwhile, Alma was attempting to survive the sight of her professor trying to be sexy. The older woman's bulging eyes, overdramatic expressions, and wild, lemon-yellow hair didn't help.

Noticing the stifled snickering among the Evergirls, Professor Anemone ceased her belly dance and shared news that received gasps of horror: one of the sugary classroom floors in Hansel's Haven had been scraped. She reminded the young women that sweets would make them fat and lonely and wart-faced, and that the culprit, if found, would be serving two weeks of washing dishes after supper.

Alma had hidden the jarred fairy under her bed and had made a promise to it: more sugar. Now, she didn't think she could hold up her end of the bargain. If she freed it, the fairy would undoubtedly inform the faculty of what she'd done. Maybe she could reason with it. Make a deal.

Or maybe... she could let it loose in Hansel's Haven.

The school would be bound to think the fairy had gone rogue. And the fairy wouldn't remember anything due to the amount of sugar it'd ingest.

Alma had to bite back guilt and follow through with this plan. Being reminded that she had no friends, let alone anyone she could trust, in the Good school was bad enough. She didn't want to wash dishes and, most importantly, sink in the ranks.

When Beatrix was asleep, Alma left the dorm with the jarred fairy and brought it to Hansel's Heaven, keeping more alert and careful than she'd been last time. There, in the corridor, in front of the anti-temptation inscription that flowed across the wall in cherry gumdrops, she unscrewed the lid. The fairy flitted out, took one look at the sweet inscription, and darted toward it.

Alma hurried back to her dorm.

Even in her soft, enveloping bed, she couldn't sleep.

A knock at the balcony doors startled her. Who was on her balcony at this hour?