Vesper expertly twisted the paperclip until the lock gave away and the door swung open. Vesper didn't bother with the lights. The sunlight streaming through the windows was enough to see.
At first Vesper didn't notice it, but then, there on the podium, was a pen, hovering magically in the air. The pen was silver and long, much, much longer than a normal pen. Its ends were sharp like a dagger.
Vesper knew immediately what the pen was. It was a special, magical pen, named the Storian. The Storian would write down all the fairy tales that ever existed on its own. Right at the moment, the Storian wasn't writing down anything—just lazily dangling in midair.
Behind him, a foot loudly scuffed the floor, followed by an "Ow." Startled, Vesper jumped and whipped around, only to see it was Harvey. It was obvious the Reader was attempting to sneak in, only to prove how inexperienced he was at sneaking.
"Sorry," Harvey apologized.
Vesper's relief morphed into annoyance, then anger. "What are you doing here?" he hissed. "Were you spying?" Vesper realized he had forgotten to close and lock the door after coming in.
"I just saw you sneaking in, and I wanted to see what you were up to," Harvey said with a shrug. His eyes were fixated on the floating Storian. "What's that?"
"You obviously don't know what the consequences here are," Vesper said unkindly, ignoring Harvey's question and walking over to close the door. "Have you seen the Doom Rooms? I heard they chain kids to the ceilings there. But of course, the Reader probably doesn't care about anything but his sheltered life in the Woods Beyond."
Harvey blinked. "This is all a nightmarish dream, isn't it?" he asked.
Vesper gritted his teeth, seething with anger at the Reader's sheer stupidity. Then he marched over, grabbed Harvey's shoulder, and pinched his arm hard, digging his nails into the Reader's skin. "There, is that better?" he asked sarcastically.
Harvey yanked himself out of Vesper's grip. "Why are you acting like this?" he demanded, inspecting the pinch mark on his arm.
"I'm a Never! This is how I'm supposed to act!" Vesper snapped. "Maybe if you—"
The door knob jiggled loudly, then it began to turn. Harvey ducked behind a large box just as the door flew open. Lady Lesso entered, her ridiculously sharp stilettos clicking as she walked. Then she saw Vesper, standing in the middle of the room.
Shock registered on Lady Lesso's face for a moment before she regained herself. "You! What are you doing here?" Then she shook her head. "Never mind. You're supposed to be in class right now. But I suppose I can send you to the Doom Room for sneaking out."
Vesper opened his mouth to argue, but then remembering it was Lady Lesso talking to him, he stopped himself. Blinking hard, Vesper stepped out of the room. Harvey had somehow gotten lucky, while he had to be punished. It was all the Reader's fault.
Lady Lesso escorted Vesper to the Doom Room. As they were walking down the hall, a voice called out to them.
"Wait! Professor!"
Vesper instantly recognized the voice; it belonged to Harvey. Sure enough, when they both turned, the Reader was hurrying up to them.
"It's my fault," Harvey gasped out. "I convinced him to come with me. I broke into the room."
Lady Lesso stared from Harvey to Vesper, her purple eyes gleaming wickedly. "Very well," Lady Lesso agreed, smiling at the thought of sending the Reader to the Doom Room. "The Reader then. How very unsurprising. Vesper, get going on to your next class before I punish you too. Reader, I'm sending you to the Doom Room."
Vesper gaped at Harvey, unsure of what his plan was. Did he want to get himself tortured? Vesper watched for a moment as Lady Lesso dragged Harvey away, then he turned and hurried to his next class.
Vesper wouldn't let himself worry too much about Harvey. It was part of being a Never, after all. Before he came to the School for Good and Evil, Vesper had thought he was Good. Turns out, he had more Evil in him, and the School Master sorted Vesper into the School for Evil. It was unexpected at first, but the more Vesper thought about it, the more it made sense. Vesper never cried or mourned for his mother when she died. Not even when his father disappeared shortly after his wife's death. Other kids avoided him.
Except one, but she was in Good. Nevers and Evers aren't meant to be together. Like water and oil, they would never mix.
Vesper kept walking, mind full of thoughts, when something farther down the hallway made him stop short. From here, it looked like a pile of blankets, but when he walked closer, a gasp escaped his throat.
It was Cairo. Dead and sprawled on the black marble floor. And whatever the cause of death was, it didn't seem natural. What were the chances of a sixteen-year-old dropping dead from a heart attack? No, Cairo didn't die from a heart attack. Because even if he somehow did, that didn't explain Cairo's gouged-out eyes and punctured throat.
Cairo was murdered.
Suddenly, Vesper remembered how Lady Lesso had sent Cairo to the Doom Room earlier that day.
Feeling sick, Vesper took a step back, suddenly aware of Cairo's blood staining the bottom of his shoes. Then he turned and ran.
The Doom Room was worse than what Harvey expected. It was a dark dungeon lit by a single torch. Everywhere, there were swords, daggers, knives, arrows, whips, rods, clubs, ropes, and even guillotines.
Lady Lesso left Harvey there, and just as he thought he was alone, a large, shaggy black wolf wearing a soldier uniform and standing on its hind legs yanked Harvey by the hair.
Harvey restrained himself from making a noise, afraid protesting will only make everything worse. But when he saw the wolf pull him towards a pair of chains connected to the wall, he panicked and struggled.
"No! Don't—"
The wolf clamped the manacles around Harvey's wrists.
Harvey looked up into the wolf's yellow eyes, horrified.
The wolf smiled eerily back, and he held up a jagged knife. Then the wolf pressed the blade of the knife into Harvey's forehead.
A scream ripped from Harvey's throat, and he yanked desperately at his chains. The strong copper scent of his own blood filled the air. Then—
"How about I take over the punishment here, wolf?" a voice said from the shadow.
Whoever spoke, they held authority over the wolf, because then the beastly creature reluctantly lowered the knife.
"Shoo," the voice commanded, and the wolf hurried away with his bloody knife.
The owner of the voice emerged from the shadows, but only slightly. It was a cloaked figure with a crooked shadow—Harvey's heart leapt with recognition. The School Master.
"You were lucky," the School Master said, still not revealing his face. "I stopped yours early. Many others endured worse."
Harvey didn't say anything; he felt tricked. Tricked by the School Master and tricked by Vesper. Blood was dripping down his temple and rolling down his cheeks, mixing with his tears.
The School Master lifted a glowing finger and twirled it. Immediately, Harvey could feel the pain in his forehead ebbing away, the wound closing up.
"I won't punish you any further," the School Master said from his shadow. "I'm here to tell you why you were chosen to come here.
"You see, Pollux was right. It's not possible for someone to be equally Good and Evil, but you changed that. When I went to Gavaldon, I wasn't expecting to see what you had in you, but I saw you were special, and I chose you. I chose only one, because you would represent both Good and Evil.
"For many years, people wondered which side I was on. Whether I was Good or Evil. Many would guess I am Good, but they are wrong. I was gleeful when the dark side took you in. Because I chose only one Reader from Gavaldon this year, the sides became uneven. And Evil, by taking you in, has gained more power than Good."
The School Master stopped there. "I understand you might change in the future. Maybe you would become slightly more Good than Evil or slightly more Evil than Good." Then the crooked shadow lifted his glowing finger once again and twirled it. The manacles binding Harvey's wrists released, leaving bruises in its place.
"You're free to leave," the School Master said. Then he faded away.
Stella was anxious to ditch Bernadette and Hadleigh, who seemed stuck to her like glue. So during lunch, she took her chance.
"Bernadette, I saw Nate staring at you during breakfast. I think he likes you," Stella lied, mentally apologizing to Nate. "You should go talk to him."
"Ooh…" Bernadette brightened and hurried to the unsuspecting Everboy. "Hadleigh, come with me! You're my emotional support."
Stella turned away with a sly smile and began walking towards Indigo. But just as she took her first steps, a Neverboy stepped into her path. Stella almost walked straight into him, but she stopped in time.
"Vesper?" Stella asked, aghast when she recognized the Never. Then Stella quieted her voice. "This is not a good time, Vesper. People can't see us talking."
Vesper's blue eyes blinked anxiously. "I think there's a murderer here, Stella," he said. "Promise me you'll be careful."
"Murderer?" Stella squinted in surprise. "What are you saying?"
"Cairo's dead. Promise me Stella."
"What?"
"Promise."
"I promise," Stella answered. "How do you know Cairo—whoever he is—was murdered?"
"Can't talk now. I love you." Then Vesper was gone.
Stella gaped at the spot where Vesper was just a few seconds earlier. "I love you too," she muttered to herself and continued walking to Indigo.
Stella sat down at the picnic table next to Indigo, who was delicately sipping her lemonade.
"Vesper, huh?" Indigo said, raising her eyebrow at Stella.
Stella reddened. "He wanted to discuss something about our project in Surviving Fairy Tales," she lied.
Indigo frowned at Stella, eyes full of suspicion. Annoyance tinged in Stella. Indigo was always so suspicious of her. It was aggravating. But Stella pretended she wasn't bothered since Indigo had information she needed.
Harvey wasn't there as Surviving Fairy Tales started. Vesper tried not to think much about it, but the image of Cairo's dead body flashed in his mind anyway.
Yuba walked out to the gathered Evers and Nevers waiting for him. His expression was grave, and he signaled everyone for their attention.
"Nevers, I have some bad news," Yuba said, turning to the black-clad group. "One of your classmates is dead."
The Nevers turned to each other and began muttering who the deceased one might be. Not one Never showed any remorse, while the Evers looked horrified.
"Cairo was killed by a stymph this morning," Yuba continued. (So it was a stymph, Vesper thought). "We aren't sure if it's accidental or deliberate, but we do know that all stymphs are currently being investigated to see if they were recently under some spell. For now, all the stymphs are locked away." It wasn't a secret that stymphs hated Nevers, so using a stymph to kill a Never was a very smart cover up. But only an Ever could've done such a thing. Stymphs obeyed Evers.
"I want you all to continue in your groups today," Yuba said. "But students, please don't be reckless."
Stella and Vesper surreptitiously shared a look.
"We still have to decide on a fairy tale," Scarlet said casually, as if no one had just died. "I still think we should do the Little Mermaid."
"We are not doing a death-related fairy tale. Not after this," Stella said miserably. "Can we all just avoid arguing today?"
Scarlet glanced at everyone's glum faces. "Where's the Reader?" she asked.
"His name is Harvey," Vesper said without thinking.
Scarlet glared at him. "Well then, where is he?"
Vesper stared at the grass. "I don't know," he said quietly.
Everyone in the group was suddenly silent. Then Indigo sighed loudly.
"I'll ask Yuba what fairy tale we should do," Indigo said. "Whichever tale he says, we'll do it."
No one argued.
Minutes later, Indigo was back.
"We're officially reenacting Sleeping Beauty," Indigo announced.
"Thank goodness," Stella said.
"Well, that's unfortunate."
Everyone turned towards the voice.
Harvey stood before them, alive and well.
"Where were you?" Scarlet demanded.
"Doom Room," Harvey answered, staring directly at Vesper as he spoke. Vesper shrunk away from Harvey's cold gaze. The only signs that indicated Harvey was recently in the Doom Room were the remnants of dried blood in his hair and on the tips of his eyelashes and the dark, ugly bruises circling his wrists. Otherwise, Harvey looked untouched.
Vesper studied Harvey one last time, this time carefully.
There was a faint, faint line on Harvey's forehead—almost invisible, and Harvey's eyes were slightly red.