Welcome to The Night

Dead Ends

"How about poison in her food?" Hester spat.

"She doesn't eat," said Anadil, tramping with her through Malice Hall. "How about poisoned lipstick?"

"They'll lock us in the Doom Room for weeks!" fretted Dot, lumbering to keep up.

"I don't care how we do it or how much trouble we get in," Hester hissed. "I want that snake gone." She threw open the door to Room 66 to find Sophie sobbing on her bed.

"Um, snake's crying," Anadil said.

"Oh dear, Sophie whats wrong?" Fieri said concerned walking up to rub her back.

"Are you okay, love?" Dot asked, suddenly sorry for the girl she was supposed to kill.

Blubbering, Sophie poured out everything that happened in the School Master's tower. ". . . But now there's a riddle and I don't know the answer and Tedros thinks I'm a witch because I keep winning challenges and no one understands the reason I keep winning is that I'm good at everything!"

Hester was ready to strangle her right there. Then her face changed. "This riddle. If you answer it . . . you go home?" Fieri frowned, She didn't really want to go home, she was having a decent time here.

"This riddle. If you answer it . . . you go home?"

Sophie nodded. "And we never have to see you again?" said Anadil.

Sophie nodded.

"We'll solve it," her roommates pounced.

"You will?" Sophie blinked.

"You know how badly you want to go home?" said Hester.

"We want you to go home more," said Anadil.

"Well, at least you believe me," Sophie frowned, wiping tears.

"Guilty until proven innocent," Hester said. "It's the Never way."

"I wouldn't tell any of this to an Ever, though. They'll think you're mad as a hatter," said Anadil.

"That's what I thought, but who lies about breaking so many rules?" Dot said, failing to turn her swan crest to chocolate. "Really, this bird is incorrigible."

"What's the School Master like?" Hester asked Sophie.

"He's old. Very, very old."

"And you actually saw the Storian?" Anadil asked.

"That strange pen? It wrote about us the whole time."

"It what?" said the three girls at once, Fieri got startled from the yelling and accidentally yanked on the braid of Sophie's hair.

"But you're in school!" Hester said.

"What can happen in school that's worthy of a fairy tale?" said Anadil.

"I'm sure it's just a mistake, like everything else," Sophie sniffled. "I just need to solve the riddle, tell the School Master and poof, I'm out of this cursed place. Simple." She saw the girls exchange looks.

"Isn't it?" "There's two puzzles here," Anadil said, eyeing Hester

. "The School Master's Riddle." Hester turned to Sophie. "And why he wants you to solve it."

"He could be using it for his own gain." Fieri puts out, and the four girls wave her off and continue their conversation.

"So let me get this straight," Sophie said. "There were two School Masters first. And they were brothers."