The Violet Witch - The School for Good and Evil

13) Tedros

The night of Filip and Evan's arrival. Tedros's point of view.

I heard voices from down the corridor.

I leaned back into the wall, dread filling my gut as I waited for another interrogation from Manley.

"Why? Is it bad?"

A voice I didn't recognise.

"You guys are brothers right? That's cool, now you can think of me as a second brother you never had!"

Hort, the weasel had brought two brothers down?

I peered at them from my bed and saw a tall dark haired boy shove Hort against the bars, pinning him by the collar.

"We're not going to be friends, Hort. Friends are a waste of time. Do you want some advice? Stay solo, trust no one. Then you'll never have to lose." I didn't recognise the voice, but I recognised the anger, the kind of rage I was familiar with, and I already had respect for him for shutting Hort up.

"Evan." The other elfish looking boy said his name in a warning tone.

Hort closed the two into the dungeon, snarling a last sentence before he left. "You belong in here."

The two supposed 'brothers' stood silently for a second, I didn't think they could see me clearly because of how dark it was, so I made my presence known another way.

"Why did you do that."

They didn't reply for a while, until the elfish looking boy spoke. "Are you Tedros?"

"Yes."

Evan stepped closer to me, I'd never seen a stranger look at me the way he did, like he was in pain from just the sight of me.

"Who are you?" I mumbled, glaring at him so he'd stop looking sorry for me.

"Evan, I'm from Mount Honora."

I looked at the elf boy next.

"Filip, I'm Filip, his brother."

Evan intrigued me more than Filip did, he seemed kind of weird, but I was so uncomfortable and hungry a weird distraction was a relief. "Why did you do that to Hort."

Evan took a long time to reply. "He was annoying me."

Fair enough. I thought, then stood up, watching them with narrowed eyes.

"Is it true?" I asked, looking at Evan for a reply.

He didn't reply, so Filip spoke instead. "Is what true?"

"The worst of us in the Trial Tryouts gets punished."

Filip shrugged. "That's what the dog said."

I took a step closer to the blond, trying to appear intimidating. Manley might've weakened me by not letting me eat, but he couldn't take away much else. "Then we aren't gonna be friends, are we?"

Filip took a step back, I grabbed his collar, pushing him further and glaring into his green eyes. "I'm making that trial, you hear me?" I hoped the desperation wasn't so obvious in my voice. "Those two girls took everything from me. My friends, my reputation, my honour. I'm not going to let you or anyone else take away my chance at beating them."

I didn't expect Filip to shove me back, unleashing a stream of insults. "Do you wanna know what I see?" He spat, but before he could finish tormenting me, Evan grabbed him and yanked him away from me.

"He can barely stand Filip, it's not a fair fight. Leave it."

Filip shot me a glare, looking defiant.