Indigo was up to something.
The teachers had rewarded all the students—Nevers and Evers both—with a free day, which would serve as the students' break from their piling homework. Indigo knew exactly how to spend her day off, and it wasn't spending time with her friends or even studying.
Indigo set off in the direction of the Library of Virtue. She chose to use her rare break by visiting the scale again. Indigo was fairly sure she was the only student in the whole school who studied in the library during breaks, and if she were correct, then the Library of Virtue should be empty of any students by now. That meant it was the perfect time for Indigo to privately check on the scale. Indigo knew this was unwise, but she decided to risk her chances of getting caught.
Indigo was satisfyingly right. The Library of Virtue was empty, except for the snoring tortoise librarian who was fast asleep next to the library log. Indigo snuck past and headed into an adjoining room made of gold.
Thousands of books lined the high shelves, but Indigo was only looking for one in particular. When she saw the ratty brown book (designed by the School Master to look unappealing so no students were likely to pick it up), Indigo eagerly pulled the spine into position.
A slight, familiar breeze brushed past Indigo as the scale morphed into place. To Indigo's dismay, the unbalanced scale was even more unbalanced than ever. Evil weighed the scale down more than it did the last time Indigo visited. Evil had somehow grown more powerful and stronger in just a matter of weeks.
This meant that Good was growing weaker, but it also meant that Indigo's efforts to fix this problem were futile.
Indigo sighed, frustrated. She studied the scale a bit longer before snapping the book back in place.
"So this is what you've been doing?" an angry voice demanded.
Indigo jumped and whipped around.
It was Huntley. His strawberry blond hair was unusually disheveled and he was glaring daggers at Indigo.
"Huntley," Indigo said, slumping against the shelf in relief. "You know I hate it when you spy on me like that."
"I know," Huntley said. "And you know I hate it when you run off and do things secretly without telling me."
"I don't need to tell you every single detail of how I spend my breaks," Indigo countered. "I don't need to listen to anyone, and I especially don't need to listen to you."
"Fair enough." Huntley glanced at the spot where the scale was moments before. "But what was that? That floating thing…"
Indigo tried to look indifferent. "Nothing," she lied.
Huntley widened his eyes in exasperation. "It wasn't nothing. I saw it, Indie. Stop being so difficult."
Indigo stared at Huntley. "If I don't want to tell you something, don't worry about it, okay? It probably doesn't pertain to you, and you don't need to know."
"That's awfully unsettling," Huntley said indignantly. "Look, Indigo—"
"Indigo?" Indigo interrupted. "What happened to Indie? You never call me Indigo!"
"Okay," Huntley said calmly. "Indie, when we were younger, we'd tell each other everything. And you would promise to never keep secrets from me. What happened to that?"
Indigo wanted to scream. Huntley just wouldn't leave her alone, and that aggravated her. "Maybe if you had more than half a brain, you'd understand that us coming to this school would change things!"
Shock flickered over Huntley's face. "Excuse me?"
"Excuse me." Indigo shoved past him.
"Wait! Indie!" Out of desperation, Huntley grabbed Indigo's arm. "Indie, it's not that hard to just tell me—"
"Only friends call me Indie," Indigo said, her voice dangerously soft. Then she violently snatched her arm back. "Now leave me alone."
Huntley helplessly watched Indigo storm away. "So that's it?" he called after her, his voice breathless. "You end our eight-year-long friendship just because I want to know what you're hiding? Seriously, Indigo?"
Indigo didn't look back, nor did she answer him. All she felt was wicked, burning hatred toward her former best friend. And the worst part was, Indigo couldn't even remember why she was so angry at Huntley. The anger blinded her until she was just groping in darkness.
Night arrived. The soft pitter-patter of footsteps echoed through the corridors of the School for Good.
Stella followed the path Indigo showed her. First Merlin's Menagerie, then Hansel's Haven…or was it Hansel's Haven first?
Soon enough, Stella found herself falling through the portal and onto the Halfway Bridge. Without company, Stella almost chickened out. The dark sludgy water beneath the bridge seemed to overtake everything, and Stella shuddered. But she had promised Vesper she'd meet him here, on the Evil side (Vesper hadn't figured out how to get past the barrier yet), and Stella was unwilling to break that promise.
Stella reached out her hands until she felt the solid barrier. Then her prettier, meaner reflection came into view.
"Good with Good, Evil with Evil, back to your tower before there's upheaval."
Stella cleared her throat. "My darling reflection," she cooed. "You look wonderful today!"
Stella's reflection rolled her eyes. "You are certainly not getting any smarter," she muttered sourly.
Stella sighed. What was it Indigo had said?
"The trick to get past your stubborn reflection is to talk your way through. Find a weakness and pry at it."
Weakness. What weakness did she have? Stella doubted smudged lipstick would count as a weakness.
"Please let me through," Stella begged desperately. "Pretty please with a cherry on top of a triple-scoop vanilla ice cream cone with extra, extra chocolate sprinkles?"
Stella's reflection wrinkled her perfect, dainty nose. "No chocolate syrup? What a disappointment. Just like you."
Stella gritted her teeth. "Well you are me, if that makes sense. I'd say you're even more of a disappointment than I am."
Stella's reflection shuddered. "Darling, your curls have gone rogue," she murmured.
Stella glanced down at her unkempt hair. "So have yours," she replied sweetly.
Stella's reflection widened her eyes and uttered a gasp. Then, it vanished, this time along with the barrier.
Stella silently celebrated. She had managed to get past her reflection without the help of Indigo. Sometimes, that girl acted like she was smarter than everyone else. Perhaps that was true, but still.
Stella walked through the dense fog, momentarily blinded before it temporarily cleared. The School for Evil loomed ominously over her, and Stella felt another need to shudder. Jagged shadows sprawled on the Halfway Bridge, and stone gargoyles posed in grotesque positions. Most of the gargoyles, Stella noticed, looked terrified, and that terrified Stella. Why did it have to look so scared and scary at the same time?
There was a silhouette in the distance, and Stella crept closer.
"Vesper?" she whispered faintly, and her voice carried. The silhouette cleared until Stella could see that it was indeed Vesper.
"Oh, Stella." Vesper smiled, genuinely smiled, and came towards Stella. "Long time no see."
"No kidding," Stella laughed (she wasn't sure why she was laughing. The mere sight of Vesper just suddenly made her stomach tickle). Stella's laugh sounded hideous, like a goat that choked on a yowling cat. But it was her true laugh, not her false-but-princessly giggle. "Why do the gargoyles look like that?" she asked.
Vesper looked up, as if suddenly noticing the gargoyles. "Oh," he said. "Yeah, Lady Lesso told us about those. Apparently, they used to be students."
Students? Stella shivered. The gargoyles seemed to be staring directly at her. "What happened to them?"
"They failed," Vesper said matter-of-factly. "The students failed, and they weren't good enough to graduate, so they were turned into gargoyles. 'If they proved themselves academically useless, we might as well use them as decor,' as Lady Lesso said."
"That's horrible."
"On a brighter note, how's the School for Good?" Vesper asked. "Isn't it so ironic? I actually thought I would be an Ever when I was younger. Until my mother unexpectedly told me she was a witch."
Stella's ticklish feelings quickly faded. "But I really wished your mother hadn't told you that," she said. "Everything would be so much better if you were next to me at school."
"I was fated to find out anyway," Vesper said. Then he sank to the ground. "Sorry, I just need to sit," he reassured Stella when she looked at him with concern. "I mean, all the clues my mother hinted at—her obsession with black cats, her weird stories about princesses being eaten by dragons, and her daily I-don't-like-Stella's."
Stella sat down next to Vesper. "I always knew your mother didn't like me," she said.
"She didn't like anyone." Then Vesper squirmed and ran a hand through his curly black hair, something he only did when he was uncomfortable. "This is so weird," he muttered. "Never in a million years would I have guessed we would meet like this."
"I'm sure we're breaking so many rules right now," Stella agreed.
Vesper examined Stella carefully. "I'm surprised," he said finally. "Aren't Evers really strict about rule-breaking?"
"Vesper," Stella scolded gently. "You know very well the only reason why I'm in the School for Good is because of the Entrance Exam we all had to take. Anyone could have easily lied on that exam and gotten into the other school. But you righteously didn't lie, so maybe you do belong in Good."
"Except, I don't," Vesper said tonelessly. "We took a test at the beginning of the year. I'm more Evil than I am Good. Maybe if I were more like the Reader…" Vesper traced imaginary shapes on the floor. "Maybe if my father hadn't married a witch, I would be in Good."
"Vesper, you're perfectly fine the way you are."
"That's something I prefer to hear from my mother, not you."
Stella brushed the back of her palm against Vesper's cheek. Vesper visibly flinched at the sudden contact.
"If Lady Lesso catches me here, I might as well be dead," Vesper said. "Especially if she catches me out after curfew with an Ever at the forbidden Halfway Bridge."
"I can cover for you," Stella offered.
"Thanks, but you don't know how bad the Doom Room is. Harvey's been there."
"But you risked it for me," Stella said. It wasn't a question.
Vesper nodded. Then Stella leaned in and pressed her lips to his.
It wasn't the first kiss they've shared.
Strangely enough, no one questioned Scarlet about her arm. Not Lady Lesso when Scarlet showed up at her office with a blood-soaked sleeve wrapped around her arm. Not when she showed up to her first class late, or when the teacher excused her tardiness and spared her from the Doom Room. Not even Harvey talked to her, but Scarlet was glad he didn't. Just because he saved her life doesn't mean they become best friends. Scarlet didn't need friends, and she didn't want friends. She had Astrophel and Raven, and they were all she could handle at the moment.
Lunch was in the Clearing, as usual. Evers sat with Evers and Nevers sat with Nevers, as usual. Scarlet took her rusty lunch pail from a grumpy wolf and sat down next to Astrophel and Raven. Even they didn't question her injury.
"Trial by Tale is coming in the upcoming weeks," Raven said when Scarlet sat down. "Lady Lesso is working our butts off."
"I was ready a long time ago," Astrophel bragged. She had a dead squirrel on her plate instead of the usual gray mash. "I caught it this morning," Astrophel explained when Scarlet began eyeing it. "Squirrels' blood isn't as tasty as Evers' blood, but it'll do. For now."
Harvey had walked into the Clearing as Astrophel spoke. Scarlet watched him as he accepted his pail from the wolf. Then, as if sensing he was being watched, Harvey turned, his eyes meeting Scarlet's. Scarlet quickly looked away, reddening.
She was embarrassed—no, she was mortified. It took years for Scarlet to finally master the skill of masking her "vulnerable traits" (examples are sadness, helplessness, grief, guilt, and more), but all it took was a few seconds for all the years' hard work to come undone. And even worse, Harvey had witnessed it all. Now every time she looked at the Reader, the memory would flash through her brain. Scarlet knew her mother would be very disappointed in her.
"Yoo-hoo! Earth to Scarlet!" Raven called. Scarlet directed her attention to Raven. "Scarlet, you are so unbelievably smart. Have I ever told you that?"
"What do you want, Raven?" Scarlet asked dryly.
"You know the homework Lady Lesso assigned us this morning? Well, I wasn't paying attention and I didn't hear what we were supposed to be writing down, and—"
"Wasn't paying attention?" Astrophel asked incredulously. "Raven, Lady Lesso will be furious if she finds out."
"I know, I know. It wasn't my fault! You see, Wally here"—Raven held up a cockroach ("You have another one?" Scarlet sputtered)—"started to eat my feather pen and I was so busy trying to stop him! So…" Raven turned to Scarlet. "You wouldn't mind if I copied off your work, would you?"
Scarlet sighed. "No," she said resignedly.
"Yay!" Raven squealed as Scarlet plucked her homework assignment out of a folder. "Scarlet, you're the worst!" (Translation: Scarlet, you're the best!) "Of course, it's not Wally's fault." Raven nuzzled her cockroach. "Coochie coochie coo."
Astrophel rolled her eyes. "She's so weird."
Meanwhile, on the Ever side of the Clearing, Indigo was absent and Stella wasn't feeling up for Bernadette's shrill giggles and Hadleigh's nonstop gossip chatter, so she scanned the Clearing for another place to sit. Any other place. The constant faking Stella had to force onto herself was getting to her, and she needed a break out of it.
Stella's eyes began to involuntarily sweep the Clearing for Vesper. He was sitting with the Reader—Harvey—and neither seemed to be doing much talking. Without thinking, Stella trudged towards them.
Conversations and titters drastically decreased from both Evers and Nevers as Stella neared the imaginary boundary that separated the two rival groups.
Stella stepped over the boundary.
All noise ceased to a stop as Evers watched, open-mouthed when the popular Evergirl crossed into Never territory. The Nevers looked somewhat delighted, most with wicked sneers and smirks on their ugly (most Nevers are ugly, but not all. Ugliness doesn't define Evilness) faces.
Stella bravely ignored them all and sat down next to Vesper. Even as a Reader, Harvey looked horrified by Stella's decision. Vesper, on the other hand, welcomed Stella with a smile.
The awkward silence continued for a few more moments before a nervous chatter rose from the students, all eyes still on Stella. Even the wolves and nymphs paused to stare.
"That was awfully brave of you," Vesper said.
"They'll get used to it," Stella said doubtfully. "Hello, Harvey," she added, just to be nice.
"Hey," Harvey said quietly. "Listen, I better go. Um, Lady Lesso assigned more homework for me to do."
Vesper frowned as Harvey scrambled to gather his things. As he stood, a slip of parchment slipped from his arms and fluttered to the ground.
"I'll get it," Stella offered. There was a diagram of the human arm sketched out on the parchment, including detailed labels of the different arteries in the arm. One artery—the radial artery—was circled and colored in particular. "Radial artery? That's what you're learning?" Stella questioned.
"Yes—er, anatomy is very fun." Harvey snatched the parchment from Stella and hurried away.
"Don't worry about him," Vesper said. "But it's true. Lady Lesso is making us memorize all the most vital arteries in the human arm. She says it's something we should keep in mind when we're killing our enemies. Severing the radial artery is a simple and less-gory way to kill someone."
"Or a simple and less-gory way to kill oneself," Stella said.
"Stella," a voice said.
Stella and Vesper both turned to look up at the speaker. It was Huntley, and he was also standing in the Never territory. But unlike Stella, Huntley didn't look as if he came willingly.
"Huntley," Stella said, shielding her eyes from the sun.
The weak chatter that had formed immediately died down. All eyes were on Stella and Huntley.
"Stella, why are you sitting with him?" Huntley gestured at Vesper. "If you don't have anyone to sit with, you can sit with me. But you don't have to sit with him."
"I want to sit here," Stella answered coolly. "I wasn't forced against my own will."
"But he's a Never."
"I'm aware," Stella said through gritted teeth.
"And you're an Ever." Huntley sighed heavily. "Nevers and Evers never mix. It's like oil and water. Just come back to the Ever side."
Stella turned to Vesper, who shrugged.
"It's fine," Vesper said, avoiding eye contact. "You can go. It's for the best."
"I'm staying," Stella said loudly and fiercely.
All the Evers, including Huntley, stared at Stella in horror.