Fire Princess

Chapter Forty-Seven

Ravan sat with Vex and Brone one morning at breakfast, eyes glued to the door. Phoenix hadn't come to breakfast for days, and he barely saw her in class, almost like she was a ghost. The mood in the cafeteria was tense, since the teachers were all missing, meaning something was happening.

Then he saw her slink into the hall, her long hair down and framing her face. She collected a small bowl of fruit from the counter before retreating to sit with Reena, Millicent, Beatrix and Kiko in the corner. The light threw her face into sharp relief and Ravan frowned. She was looking paler and paler. Was she getting sick? Or was it because she had to keep her firepower restrained? He watched as she quietly comforted Kiko, inspecting the girl's feathers. The Evergirl had been upset ever since feathers had started to protrude from her limbs. Then there was a flash of light and everyone startled to see what looked like invitations float down.

Your presence is expected at the union of Sophie and Rafal.

Wear your uniform to perfection. You shall be escorted in precisely one hour.

There was a silence as everyone stared at it in surprise. Sophie had returned? Evergirls shared looks before standing at once and hurrying back to their rooms. Nevergirls quickly followed, leaving the Ever and Neverboys to finish their breakfast in silence before moving to their rooms to attempt to make their uniforms neater, not feeling like being punished by Aric.

Alone in her room, Phoenix had neatly stacked the Coven's possessions on their respective bedside tables, as though they'd return any minute, despite being missing for weeks. Phoenix faced the mirror, placed the forest-green beret on her hair, and readjusted the gold swan pin that labelled her a Leader. There was a knock on the door and Kiko peeped in nervously.

"It's time to go." Her friend whispered. "Lady Lesso is waiting for everyone in the hall."

Her eyes filled with tears again as she readjusted her bronze swan pin, labelling her as part of the Mogrification group. Phoenix took her hand and the two marched down to the hall where everyone was arranged into their groups in neat lines. Phoenix glanced helplessly at Kiko before falling into step next to Beatrix.

"Is this everyone?" Lady Lesso's eyes swept across the students, doing a mental count, her mouth a thin line. "Good, let's go."

The students walked in silence across the halfway bridge, despite the glances at each other, hoping to find an answer on why Sophie had returned. Aric waited for them in front of the Theatre of Tales doors in the School for Old, the former School for Evil. He pushed the doors open, and with a sneer of anyone that goggled at him, led them down into ivory pews of polished bone. Aric had a blackened eye and deep claw marks across the bridge of his nose, not to mention the word CREEP had been slashed into his forehead. Phoenix felt a little smug. She wouldn't be offering any phoenix tears for those wounds. Once they were seated, the doors swung open again and there were gasps as everyone finally understood what the School Master had been hiding in the School for Old. Villains from all the old fairy-tales marched in, sending sneering looks at the younger students and jumping at a few to frighten them a little more. All of them were basically zombies, the skin peeling off their frames and staring at the students with soulless eyes. Phoenix's eyes caught on cross-bones some of them wore on their uniforms, except for some of the most famous, including Red Riding Hood's wolf, Cinderella's stepmother, Jack's giant, and Captain Hook, alive despite the bloody sword wound in his chest. Phoenix's eyes scanned the zombies until she stiffened, catching the sight of wild black curls. Right next to Cinderella's stepmother was Dame Gothel. Her parents' murderer. She felt someone take her hand and smiled weakly at Ravan, then was stunned to see him looking a little scared out of his wits.