Ever Never After | The School for Good and Evil Fanfiction

Chapter 16: Mirrors

Two days had passed since Agatha had broken into one of the schools with a bang. She was permitted to stay with Alma, a decision that Professor Dovey had no choice but to heed. The School Master had promptly responded to the dean's letter, and he'd also reassured her that he would deal with the Alma-Sophie issue. Alma had yet to hear from him personally, let alone the time to visit him. All she knew was that the barrier between the schools had been altered, ensuring no one could pass. Sophie had snuck Alma a note in the form of a mouse at lunch, informing her of the change. Sophie's attempts to defy it had ended miserably. A wave from the dirty moat had washed her back to her castle and ruined her new dress.

Even with the decline of Good and Evil, the post-Evers, including those at the assigned table, were no less suspicious of Alma, let alone Agatha. She could tell what they were thinking. They knew she'd been sleeping with a witch, and now the witch's other witch friend had arrived by force and was rooming with the princess-witch? Yet classes had resumed and nobody was protesting. Not now, at least.

Agatha wasn't exactly a refreshing roommate. The magically perfumed air in the dorm could barely mask her stench, and she left crumbs from the snacks she'd packed for her journey everywhere. She mostly ignored Alma and would only give brief and cryptic answers to her questions, as if she were dealing with her nemesis. Agatha claimed that she simply didn't trust strangers, a sentiment that her hairless cat named Reaper also shared and exhibited in lingering glares and hisses, but Alma suspected the reason involved Sophie.

By the third night, Alma still hadn't heard from the School Master, and she was considering sneaking out while Agatha and her cat were asleep.

The problem was that Agatha could stay awake all night, reading and eating.

"Do you ever sleep?" Alma asked, lying in bed, craning her neck to look over at Agatha.

Agatha, who was sitting cross-legged on her own bed and eating a bag of potato chips, glared at her. Maintaining eye contact with Alma, she rustled the bag and stuffed a handful of chips into her mouth and chomped loudly.

Unable to contain her frustration any longer, Alma sat up. "What the hell is your problem with me?"

Reaper, who was curled up on the end of Agatha's bed, sprang into a defensive position and hissed. Alma ignored him.

"It has to do with Sophie," Alma said, "doesn't it?"

Agatha stopped chewing for a moment, then continued, and she swallowed.

"What did you do to her?" Agatha demanded.

"What did I do to her?" Alma said, and huffed a laugh. "Well, when two women love each other... You must have some idea."

Agatha crushed the bag of chips in her grip, a blush creeping across her face.

"Oh, I get it now," Alma said. "You aren't just her friend. You're an ex-girlfriend."

Agatha's glare vanished, as if Alma had made the correct guess. Then she scowled.

"Wrong," she said, "but that wasn't what I was asking."

"Then what were you asking?"

Agatha didn't respond, proceeding to eat fragments of potato chips. Reaper sat down.

Alma leaned back against her pillows and crossed her arms, gaze still locked on Agatha's.

"Funny how you expect me to answer your questions, but you won't answer mine," she said. "Why is that, or will you not answer that either?"

"I went through hell to find this place," Agatha said, "and I wasn't going to stop until I found my friend. She doesn't belong here, and she isn't yours. She's coming back with me to Gavaldon."