The Ever After

Chapter One: A Sack of Beans

MAY ELLEN BIRD, AGE TEN, OCCASIONALLY glanced at the brochure her mom had taped to her door that afternoon, and scowled. SAINT AGATHA'S BOARDING SCHOOL FOR GIRLS WITH HIGH SOCKS. A few minutes ago May had taken her black marker and written the word "socks" over what had originally been the last word of the headline. Judging by the photos of girls in stiff plaid uniforms plastering the brochure, girls with "high prospects" was not nearly as accurate.

The woods watched silently through the farthest east window of White Moss Manor as May tried to concentrate on her work. And sometimes, looking up from the curious project strewn across her desk, chewing on a pencil, May watched them back.

Skinny and straight, with short black bobbed hair and big brown eyes, May ran her fingers over the objects before her—a clump of black fur, a lightbulb, a jar, a book titled Secrets of the Egyptian Mummies, and some wire. Occasionally May swiveled to gaze at Somber Kitty, who laid across her bed like a discarded piece of laundry. His belly faced the ceiling and he eyed her lazily.

Neither May nor Somber Kitty knew it, but passing squirrels and chipmunks thought the cat was decidedly ugly. He had huge pointy ears and a skinny tail, and he was mostly bald, with just a little bit of fuzz covering his soft skin. His mouth was turned down in a thoughtful frown—an expression he had been wearing ever since May had gotten him three years before, on her seventh birthday.

May had disliked him immediately.

"He's bald," she'd said.

"He's a hairless Rex," her mom had replied. "He's interesting."

"He looks depressed."

"He's somber."

May's mom had then explained that "somber" meant "sad," which also meant "melancholy." So that was the one thing they both agreed on. The cat was most definitely sad. It was almost as if, from the moment he had set his tilty green eyes on May, he had sensed her disappointment in him, and sympathized.

May had not wanted him, of course. Her first cat, Legume, had died when May was six, and she had resigned herself to a life of grief. She knew there could never be another Legume, which, by the way, is another word for "peanut." She'd insisted on wearing black ever since.

But her mom had insisted on another pet. "You spend too much time alone," she had said with big, brown, worried eyes, even bigger and browner than May's. Mrs. Bird had long ago given up trying to get May to bring home friends from school.

"Why don't you invite Maribeth over?"

"She has the chicken pox."

"Claire?"

"She's only allowed out on Presidents' Day."

"Mariruth?"

"Leprosy. It's so sad."

Finally one afternoon May had stood in her mom's doorway, crossed her arms, and announced that she would accept a cat as long as it was a black tiger.

She got stuck with Somber Kitty.

Noticing her watching him now, Somber Kitty opened his mouth and asked, "Mew? Meow? Meay?"

"That's my name, don't wear it out," May replied.

Knock knock knock.

May's mom poked her head into the room.

"So what do you think?" she asked hopefully, smiling. "It looks like a great school, doesn't it?"

May crossed her arms over her waist and looked toward her bed. "Maybe if you're a nun," she offered thoughtfully.

The smile on Mrs. Bird's face dropped, and May felt her heart drop too.