The Lady's Secret (School for Good and Evil)

Who is Who?

"Tristan...no," Kiko was gasping through tears. William and Kiko were sitting next to Tristan who had fallen to the floor. He wasn't breathing.

"What happened?" Sophie gasped as she knelt down beside them.

"He's not moving, Sophie!" William said, voice breaking.

All of a sudden, Tristan jerked. It was a small sudden jerk, but everyone saw. Then it happened again until Tristan was writhing on the floor.

"What's happening to him?" Kiko screamed, while tears flooded William's face.

Then Tristan's hair gradually went dark, starting at the roots and going up, until his auburn hair wasn't auburn anymore. It was a dark brunette, cropped short. All at once, his freckles started disappearing, his skin going completely milky pale, like porcelain. His body was changing too, he wasn't scrawny anymore, but instead tall and slender. He was almost finished transforming and it was becoming clear to them that this was not Tristan. Sophie made an audible gasp as the boy lifted his head up. A head with a face she recognized.

No.

It couldn't be.

He was dead.

The boy stared up at them with a wicked look in his eyes, scims returning out of thin air.

"Who is who?" Japeth asked.

♠ ♠ ♠

Sophie stared in astonishment as Japeth looked up at them. All of a sudden the snake was on his feet and scims had flown off his body to point one at each of them. They all stayed quiet, knowing that if they made a sound they would be stabbed clean through.

Sophie couldn't believe it.

The Snake was back.

Japeth was back.

She couldn't let anyone find out, or she would never be trusted again, much less by her own best friend, who spent months trying to take down the Snake. The Snake who she had just brought back.

Then, Sophie came to a realization: The Snake still wanted to kill Agatha and Tedros and be the One True King

And bring Aric back.

Aric.

"You know, you four really are as dumb as you look," Japeth turned to Kiko and gave her a disgusting scowl. "and lovesick." He tore his eyes from Kiko and moved them to Sophie. For a sliver of a second his eyes seemed to calm, then they turned stone hard.

Sophie realized it was because she was still wearing Evelyn Sader's dress. His mother's dress.

"Witch of the Woods Beyond, we meet again," Japeth snarled, as he took in Sophie's dress. "My bride..."

Sophie sneered, "I-"

"Be quiet," Japeth demanded, as his scim tore closer to Sophie's heart.

Her words were quiet, but he still heard. "You need me if you want to be the One True King."

It was all she had to say, because Japeth knew of the prophecy. One brother would marry her and the other would become king- and Japeth had pretended to be Rhian, so he would marry her as Rhian and become the king as himself. He really did need Sophie, though she was sure he was never going to admit it.

He reeled around, his face inches from hers, and spat in her face. Sophie knew better than to reach her hand up to wipe it away, so she stayed with Japeth's saliva dripping down her cheek.

He turned to her, "You must all still be looking for answers as to how I am here, aren't you?"

He looked at his small audience, who stayed completely still, trying not to trigger the scims, knowing it was certain death.

"AREN'T YOU?" Japeth roared. Slowly Kiko nodded her head, followed by William, Bogden, then very reluctantly, Sophie.

"You really are that dumb, I bet if your beloved Aggie were here you wouldn't be in this mess, would you?" the Snake mocked as he said Agatha's name.

"Well, as you know I am the son of Rafal. Greatest sorcerer there was... until he got swept up in love and died from it. With you," he pointed a long bony finger at Sophie. "I have his blood, wizard blood," he continued. "I, in the case that I didn't survive, tore my soul in half, keeping one half with me, and putting one half," he pointed to his own chest. "inside of Lionsmane. The reason my one last scim didn't disappear," he gave a loving, but eerie look at Lionsmane. "was because the half of my soul inside of my pen lived on, even though I was gone. Then, I used the power that coursed through my veins, in my blood, to transform myself into your dear Tristan, almost too easy. For my plan to work however, I needed human blood to touch the surface of Lionsmane. So I faked Tristan losing power inside the pen, to make you more frantic to figure out what I meant. Luckily, there was one smart one," Japeth glared at Sophie. "more or less. You can all thank the Witch of the Woods Beyond for figuring out Tristan's riddle and bringing back me, the real One True King."

The Snake was already lunging towards them about to attack, but then stopped, seeming to remember something as a devilish smile spread across his face.

"But you do owe me something..." he started. "Something I have given to you, and now you must return the favor."

The four of them stared at Japeth in shock, disbelief, but mostly fear. None of them had any idea what this snake could be talking about, and waited for him to elaborate. He didn't.

Instead of explaining, Japeth ordered his scims, one by one, to take more blood from their captors. The scims did as they were told, each pricking their prisoner's finger and flying back to Japeth. Rather than acknowledge his scims as they flew back to him, the Snake pulled out one last razor sharp eel, and pricked his own finger, drawing blood at the slightest touch. All five scims circled around... nothing. The scims were now soaked through with blood, moving on its own, as it had when Kiko and William had pricked their fingers just minutes ago. Then the scims started to grow, with veins and flesh added to them.

"I have given you the gift of life for your darling Tristan, for when you first saw the boy, it really was him," Japeth spoke.

Now the scims were moving in a faster circle, still not circling anything in particular. They were moving rapidly, growing new bones.

"I have given it to you, and now you just gave it to me," the Snake gestured at their pricked fingertips.

The scims were moving so quickly now that Sophie couldn't tell them apart. Then they stopped, or should she say it stopped. The 5 original scims had melded into one, now forming a body, just as it had when they thought Japeth had been Tristian. As far as Sophie could tell it was a boy; he was of a medium height, no one would call him short, but he definitely wasn't tall, he was packed with muscles, and his face was set with a cruel scowl. Slowly this mystery boy started growing short, spiky, black hair then opened his gleaming, murderous violet eyes.

Sophie's heart dropped.

This is what Japeth wanted.

This is who Japeth wanted.

He was back.

Aric.