Ever Never After | The School for Good and Evil Fanfiction

Chapter 10: Heartworms

Alma stirred awake with a throbbing headache. She groaned, rubbing her eyes, a blue velvet canopy above clearing into view. She turned on her side, gathering that the room she was in appeared vastly different. Built-in bookshelves made up the walls from bottom to top, filled with colorful titles that shimmered in the light. This was neither the Evil castle, nor the Good.

Then Alma realized.

Bookshelves.

Her heart jump-started with panic, prompting her to sit up.

Alma screamed. The School Master was standing at the foot of the bed, hands behind his back. He didn't react, staring at her icily through his steel mask.

"Good morning," he said. "We have certain matters to discuss."

"W-what?" Alma said. "Where—how did—?"

"Years ago," the School Master began, "a trusted seer told me the name of the one who would finally tip the balance in Evil's favor. You were right about that. You see, it's tradition to take two candidates from Woods Beyond, but when I found Crescenta, I wanted to further secure the prophecy by ensuring my Good choice of student wouldn't be in any way meddlesome. You and Sophie are from extremely different worlds. What would you have in common besides being Readers, I thought? Then, the Storian decides to write about you, and you two form the most unlikely friendship—that is, if you're still just friends."

Alma stared at him, his last words sinking in and twisting her stomach with disgust as she realized what he was implying.

"You—you were watching us?" she said.

"I will ensure your tale ends with Sophie by my side, and Evil victorious," the School Master said. "If you don't want your ending to be tragic, I suggest you work with me, not against me."

"Work with you?" Alma said. "So you can take over the Woods and beyond?"

"No," the School Master said. "I am only trying to restore the balance."

"You really expect me to believe that you don't want to rule everything and get rid of Good forever?"

"Yes. I have a prophecy to fulfill that entails leading Sophie here to me. Only a soul as Evil as mine can help me lift the Storian's punishment on Evil. Together, Sophie and I will have the first Never After that will fly in the face of Good and all its Ever Afters, proving that Evil can love."

"Wait, wait," Alma said. "Professor Sader told you about this prophecy? The same Sader who wrote a book about how Good and Evil are actually bullshit?"

"The past is the past," the School Master said, "and I have a prophecy to fulfill."

Alma bristled, her inner dragon rearing its head.

"So you'd rather keep everyone caged than free us all?" she said. "You know the system is preserved by lies. Your trusted seer even knows this. What makes you think he's really helping you?"

"Because August Sader does not lie, and there is no viable alternative to the system we have now."

"Or you're just too cowardly to consider one, like everyone else in this world."

The School Master's eyes flickered with anger, warning, his hands falling to his sides. But Alma wasn't done.

"Do you actually believe that two Evil souls will restore the balance?" Alma asked. "That much Evil is just going to make Good stronger. You know why? Because, in your world, Evil fights for itself while Good fights for each other. That's literally Good and Evil, one-oh-one."