Academy of Legends

Chapter 1: Snow (Broken)

The entire school gathered in the chapel today. I stood in the front pew, amongst the three thousand students and staff of the Academy. My Prince Charming, Henry (who has a lot of brothers, actually) stood next to me, holding my hand. Although we're not officially dating, we went to the start-of-school dance last week and are now labeled a couple.

During the funeral services, though, romance was the furthest thing from my mind. As a girl who's been poisoned by her own stepmother, I knew murder when I saw it. And a student and a teacher shot in the same night was definitely "murder". Professor Marian had always been a favorite of us girls; she taught us sewing and embroidery. And the deceased student, the Greek Theseus, although he had been quiet, had always been a favorite of us girls. He had dark good looks that had broken many a girl's heart.

Now, he will break no one else's heart. I sniffed as quietly as I could, hiding my grief. Theseus's girlfriend, Ariadne, was a wreck. She sobbed through the whole thing, even when she tried to make a speech in Theseus's memory. Her tears turned out to be contagious, and I don't think there were any dry eyes in the chapel. Even Henry, my manly-man, wept.

The march to the school graveyard was heartbreaking. Intended to be in silence, many of us, myself included, couldn't control our tears. And there were several groups mumbling among themselves fearfully. If Marian and Theseus, school favorites, had been killed, then who was safe? Against my will, a shudder of fear ran through my body, cutting through my grief. I made a mental note not to eat any apples as we stopped at the freshly-dug graves.

Those closest to the deceased—Marian's husband, Robin, their closest friend John, and Robin's nephew Will, as well as Ariadne for Theseus—dug the graves in silence. Ariadne could hardly hold the shovel for her shaking hands, and Robin ended up helping her.

Our school principal, Jacob Grimm, invited Friar Tuck to say a few words. I didn't even hear them. I leaned my head against Henry's shoulder, sniffling. Fear and grief battled within me. It seemed so cruel that someone like Theseus, who had always been kind and considerate, had been killed in the prime of his life. It was also horrible that someone would strip Marian of her life as well.

But one question plagued me: who would be next? There didn't seem to be any reasoning behind the two murders that had occurred already. They had just ... happened.

There was one thing I knew, and that the rest of the school knew. Whatever the reason, whoever had been killed, our school would never be the same.

We were broken.