The faculty of the School for Good and Evil had seen many things over the years.
They had seen students pathetic in the first year end richer than kings. They had seen Class Captains flame out by the third year and end as pigeons or wasps. They had seen pranks, protests, and raids, kisses, vows, and impromptu love songs.
But they had never ever seen an Ever and a Never hold hands in the lunch line.
“Are you sure I won’t get in trouble?” said Sophie, noticing them glaring from balconies.
“If you’re good enough for me, you’re good enough for a basket,” said Tedros, pulling her forward.
Phoenix was standing behind them with Kiko, slightly surprised.
“When did that happen?” she whispered.
“I don’t know.” Kiko whispered back.
“I suppose they should get used to it,” Sophie sighed in front of them. “I don’t want any trouble at the Ball.”
Tedros stiffened. Sophie turned bright red.
“Oh...after last night, I just assumed...”
“The Everboys took an oath we wouldn’t propose before the Circus of Talents,” Tedros said, tugging at his collar. “Espada said it’s tradition to wait until the Circus Crowning, the night before the Ball.”
“The night before!” Sophie choked. “But how do we match colours and plan our entrance and—”
“This is why we make the oath.” Tedros took his wicker basket of lamb sandwiches, saffron couscous, and almond mousse from a green-haired nymph. “And one for the lady as well.”
The nymph ignored Sophie and held out a basket to Phoenix. Tedros seized the handle.
“I said one for the lady.”
The nymph tightened its grip on the basket.
“Lamb is hard to digest anyway,” Sophie fretted—
But the prince held on until the nymph surrendered the basket with a grunt. Tedros handed it to Sophie. “Like you said, they better get used to it.”
With that, the #1 Ever and #1 Never, storybook enemies in body and soul, sat hand in hand under a towering oak. Tedros suddenly noticed all the Evers glaring at him, stunned by his disloyalty. Sophie saw Nevers, who she had preached to for weeks about Villain Pride, glower at her, betrayed.
Phoenix looked sad. She looked up at the scoreboard. Her name was number two on the Evers. She glanced at Ravan who sat with Hort. Neither one of them had mentioned how he found her in a tree and stayed up the whole night guarding her.
“To win a Trial by Tale is one of the greatest honours at the School for Good and Evil,” Pollux declared, head back next to Castor’s on their massive dog’s body. With the fifteen Forest Group leaders behind him, Pollux peered down at the students, gathered after breakfast in the Theater of Tales.
“Once a year, we send our best Evers or Nevers into the Blue Forest for a night to see who lasts until morning. To win, a student must survive both the School Master’s death traps and the other side’s attacks. The last Ever or Never standing at dawn is declared the winner and given five additional first-place ranks.” Pollux raised his nose snootily. “As you know, Good has won the past two hundred Trials—”
Good burst into a chant of “EVERS RULE! EVERS RULE! EVERS—”
“ARE STUPID, ARROGANT FOOLS!” Castor boomed, and the Evers shut up.
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Fire Princess
FanfictionYears ago, once her fairytale had ended, Rapunzel married a prince who's entire family possessed the powers of phoenixes. That same power was passed onto her children. This is the story of her daughter, Phoenix of Firebirch, who attends the School f...
