The Violet Witch - The School for Good and Evil

14) Be Careful

Evelynn stirred awake, burying her head into her arm as she shifted uncomfortably. As her eyes adjusted to the light however, she noticed her suspiciously feminine hands.

Suddenly Evelynn remembered where she was, she shapeshifted back into a boy as quickly as she could, panic clawing at her chest as she slowly sat up and turned to face Tedros.

She released a sigh of relief, he had his back to her, his shoulder lifting with gentle breaths. He hadn't seen her.

However Evelynn's stare lingered a little too long, she longed to reach out and touch his arm, to hold his face and feel his hands pull her close, tightening on her waist-

"Evan."

Evelynn's eyes darted to the sound of the voice, Sophie was looking at her, judgement clouding the emerald green of her eyes.

Evelynn tightened her jaw, glancing down at her hands. "Yeah?"

Tedros turned in his bed, awoken by their voices.

Sophie's blank stare was unbroken, she looked annoyed, jealous, bored. It was hard to tell, especially on her new, unfamiliar face. "We should leave," She continued, "Lessons start soon. Breakfast."

Evelynn gave her a puzzled look, her abrupt sentences sounded strange.

"You should go." Tedros said, Evelynn glanced at him in surprise, his eyes piercing into her's "Breakfast is important."

She didn't expect the morning to be so full of awkward silences.

"Okay."

Sophie got up first, crossing her arms as she waited for her roommate. She looked annoyed about something.

Evelynn stood up uncertainly, trying not to stare at Tedros for the 100th time. She could feel his eyes on her, and it was making her nervous. "Um, do you want me to get you some more food?"

He leaned back on his hands, assessing her with his gaze. "If you want to risk getting caught and punished, go ahead. But, why would you do something like that for someone you hardly know?"

Evelynn hesitated, severely confused. Why did he suddenly appear to be interrogating her? "I- I'll see what I can do, but if it's risky I'll leave it."

Tedros nodded, his gaze unwavering and confident.

Evelynn walked out as quickly as she could, shaken by his change in energy towards her.

Sophie followed, she'd been gifted with the key to the dungeon after 'defeating' Tedros at the combat lesson, a privilege apparently only awarded to the highest ranking student.

When Sophie and Evelynn returned to the cell however, waiting for their next lesson to start, Tedros was facing the wall, his head bowed and his arm trembling slightly.

Evelynn frowned, tentatively stepping closer. "Are you okay?"

Tedros's shoulders tightened, he gripped his tattered trousers in his hands. "Leave me alone."

Evelynn scanned his face, there were bruises along his jaw, one on the exposed part of his back. His hand still tremored with pain, weakness.

She tried to hide her horror, who did this? Her eyes darted to Sophie behind her, who looked extraordinarily torn.

"It was Aric's punishment, Tedros was ranked last." She mumbled.

Sophie's words dropped like a bomb.

Evelynn wanted to react with common sense, but it was too late. The fire was lit.

This was Sophie's fault. This was those stupid boys' faults. Hort's fault. Aric's fault. Sader's fault. Chaddick's fault.