Ever Never After | The School for Good and Evil Fanfiction

Chapter 12: Promises

To pass the time until bed, Alma decided to read some storybooks. Many of the titles that surrounded her were suggestive of Good tales. Perhaps all of them were. She asked the School Master to direct her to the Evil tales, a request that made him hesitate, as if he didn't believe she was serious. The relevant section was upstairs, small and dusty, dwarfed by two hundred years of Good victories. Alma picked out Finola the Fairy Eater, Ten Dead Princes, and Rabid Bear Rex. Judging by the tiles, they sounded like some of the most amusing, even though they contained true events, but Alma pretended they were works of pure fiction while reading them.

The Evil tales would've entertained the hell out of Fantasia haters, especially the Grimm Brothers. Alma could imagine the explosion of podcasts, memes, and dramatic readings, along with possible competition for the Good tales that had inspired Fantasialand, had these stories found their way to Crescenta. Why hadn't the School Master sent these books instead of the cliché Good crap?

Out of the three books, Alma liked Rabid Bear Rex the most. She didn't like the fact that little girls had been eaten by a bear, but the bear had given the village plenty of warnings to not disturb it. The moral of the story was one that transcended Good and Evil: play with fire and get burned. The tale was such a simple and essential life lesson, but did it have to take a humanlike bear to teach it by committing murder?

The Endless Woods were utterly morally backwards compared to Crescenta. Even the haters would be horrified to know that people in this enchanted realm enjoyed and encouraged murder, torture, and other acts of villainy just for the sake of villainy. Despite their side's winning streak, Evers seemed to accept that wickedness had its place—to keep them in the spotlight. Yet, prior to Evil's fall, Evers and Nevers had been said to have balanced each other out, refining and improving their defenses and strategies and morals, as if this world were a video game, made for pure entertainment.

Alma sensed the School Master's eyes on her. She looked up and met his gaze. He'd been tending to other school matters while she was reading at the table, followed by having checked her tale-in-progress.

"Enjoying the tales?" the School Master asked.

"I like them in theory," Alma said. "Not in practice."

The School Master chuckled. "I do hope the new tales will be just as compelling as their precursors, if not more. How far will adventure and discovery captivate interest without the threat of suffering and death?"

"There will always be the threat of suffering and death," Alma said. "People are mortal. Plus, goals and ideologies will clash. There's no stopping that."

"Mm. I suppose you're right."

He gave his attention back to Alma's tale-in-progress.

After returning the storybooks to their shelf spaces, Alma descended the stairs and stopped midway, looking at the preoccupied School Master below. Was this all he did besides review grades and deans' reports? Stay inside this tower all day and night, reading, reading, and more reading?

Curious to know what was so riveting at the moment, Alma joined the School Master at the Storian's white stone table. Reading the current page in her storybook, one sentence jumped out at her, flipping her stomach:

Little did the School Master know that Alma had plans of her own tonight.

"Interesting," the School Master said without looking at her. "I wonder what plans?"

Alma stepped back. "You need to let me into the Trial. Please. I promised Sophie I would be there for her."

"I told you she'll be fine," the School Master said.