Scarlet (An SGE Fanfic)

Room 66

Hester

The School for Evil wasn't exactly everything I had imagined. For one, the entrance was quite…anticlimactic. As a child, I had expected each prospective villain to receive a chance to prove their spot in the hierarchy before entering the school. A fight to the death, perhaps? Instead, the stymphs just threw the students into the slimy, smelly moat, flying away with a shrill screech loud enough to bust any young villain's eardrums. Which brought me to my second point: the smell. After living in a cottage made of candy for most of my life, the revolting stench of mold, slime, and poor hygiene was enough to make my stomach turn. Granted, I didn't have the best hygiene either, but the creatures walking in front of me both looked and smelled as if they'd spent their lives in a cave deep beneath the Murmuring Mountains. Honestly, perhaps they had.

I took a deep breath, sneering threateningly at my fellow classmates. Or, rather, sizing up the competition. And the further my eyes traveled down the line of grotesque creatures, the more I was convinced that I would be the one to win the title of Class Captain for Evil. That is, until I reached my dorm.

A thin, bony witch sat on the middle bed, feeding steaming liquid out of a cauldron to three black rats. In my opinion, the girl seemed too pretty to be a Never, albeit sinister, with straight white hair and prominent cheekbones. She looked up after I walked in, her hooded scarlet eyes boring into mine. For the first time since arriving at school, I felt a bit uneasy.

"Hester of Ravenswood?" the girl asked, raising her pale brows.

"Y-yes," I stammered, taken aback. I steeled my sudden nerves, taking a step closer to the girl. "What's it to you?"

The girl didn't flinch. In fact, her expression seemed frozen into one of indifference. It was rather eerie, especially with the rats scurrying around her, hissing in unison.

"I saw your portrait in the hall," she said finally, looking back toward her rats. "My name is Anadil, by the way. Anadil of Bloodbrook."

I grunted, slinging my small bag onto the far left bed and beginning to unpack. I wasn't sure who this girl thought she was, but she was the only person I had met so far who hadn't cowered at the sight of me, the only person who—

The door crashed open once again and a smiley, round faced witch pranced into the room. She looked too kind to be a Never, from her enthusiastic gait to the smile on her face.

"Are you my roommates!" she exclaimed, looking us up and down. "I must admit, you're a bit more sinister than I was expecting–this whole place is, actually–but I'm hoping we'll become great friends!" She flashed a wide grin.

"And you are?" Anadil and I said at the same time. I glanced at her, a bit put off. What, was her talent reading minds?

"Dot of Nottingham, pleased to meet ya!" She set down her ice pops on the nearest nightstand and clasped each of our hands in one of her sticky ones, shaking vigorously. Anadil snatched her hand away, glaring at the newcomer.

"Don't touch me," she hissed.

"Sorry," said Dot, unfazed. "And you are?"

"Hester of Ravenswood," I said, dropping her hand and wiping mine on my uniform.

"Anadil of Bloodbrook," said Anadil, spoon feeding more of the substance in the cauldron to her rats. "You'd best be careful around here, dear. Sweet things like you will get eaten alive." She pulled a lizard from her pocket, looking straight at Dot as she dropped it into the brew.

"Oh please," Dot responded. "Not every villain needs black attire and horrible manners. Who knows? Maybe my charm could lure a prince to his grave." It would have been a decent point if she hadn't burst into a fit of hysterical giggles immediately afterward. "Besides," she continued after recovering. "There's students more 'Ever-like' than me."

I scoffed. "Doubtful."

"No, seriously. I saw her on the way in. Blond hair, pink dress, high pitched voice. Looks like a princess, bu¹t a villain! Who knew!"

"Perhaps it's just lost," Anadil offered. "Or the stymphs made a mistake."

"The stymphs don't make mistakes," I pointed out, adding a derisive laugh. "And with my luck, she'll be in our room."

With impeccable comic timing, the door crashed open and a pink clad girl was flung into the room, tied to a spit and with an apple in her mouth. She slid to a stop at my feet.

"What did I say?" I sneered, barely stopping myself from sneezing at the cloying scent of her lavender perfume. "She even smells like an Ever." Okay, Anadil was right. The stymphs had definitely made a mistake with this one.

"The fairies will retrieve it soon enough," Anadil dismissed. The ghost of a smirk shadowed her face. "Pity. We could slit its throat and hang it as a hall ornament."

"How rude," Dot said from where she had settled on her bed. "Besides, it's against the rules to kill other students."

"How about we just maim her a bit?" Anadil suggested. I smirked, looking down at the terrified princess.

"I think she's refreshing," Dot argued through a mouthful of chocolate. "Not every villain needs to smell and look depressed."

"She's not a villain!" Anadil and I snapped in unison.

The girl wriggled out of her ropes, gazing around the room with her dainty nose upturned. She gasped. "Where's the mirror?"

I barely stopped myself from bursting into full on cackles. "Let me guess," I snorted. "It's Bella or Ariel or Anastasia."

"It looks more like a Buttercup or Sugarplum," Anadil added.

I felt my grin widening. "Or a Clarabelle or Rose Red or Willow-by-the-Sea."

"Sophie," the girl huffed, disturbing a cloud of soot with her pink ball gown. "My name is Sophie. I'm not a villain, I'm not an it, and yes, I clearly don't belong here, so—"

I couldn't hold back my laughter for any longer. I doubled over, overcome by cackles, and almost fell into Anadil.

"Sophie!" I cried once I had somewhat composed myself. "It's worse than anyone could have imagined!"

"Anything named Sophie doesn't belong here," Anadil wheezed, her previous expression of indifference finally broken by the ridiculousness of it all. "It belongs in a cage."

"I belong in the other tower," Sophie said, smoothing her filthy skirt, "which is why I need to see the School Master."

"I need to see the School Master," Anadil mocked, catching my eye. We both broke into another round of cackles. "How about you jump out the window and see if he catches you?"

"You all have no manners," sighed Dot. "I'm Dot. This is Hester," she continued, pointing at me. I hissed, sending Sophie cowering away. "And this ray of sunshine is Anadil." Anadil spat on the floor. Dot swept the ashes off of the last, unclaimed bed, her smile as radiant (and annoying) as ever. "Welcome to Room 66."

Welcome to Room 66 indeed, I thought. I had only been at the School for Evil for a few hours, and already I had met a princess to torment, a kindhearted Never, and a sinister yet eerily beautiful roommate who seemed to be on the same brainwave as I was. I felt my smirk returning. This would certainly be an interesting year.