carpexdiemm05

[carpexdiemm05]

Never After (SGE x Reader) - Chapter 3

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I wasn't sure why six wolves needed to punish Sophie instead of one, but I assumed it was to make a point.

They bound her to a spit, stuffed an apple in her mouth, and paraded her like a banquet pig through the six floors of Malice Hall. Lining the walls, new students pointed and laughed, but laughs turned to frowns when they realized this freak in pink would be one of their bunk mates. The wolves towed whimpering Sophie past Rooms 63, 64, 65, then kicked open Room 66 and flung her in. Sophie skidded until her face smacked into a warted foot.

I hastily slipped inside the room before the wolves could slam the door on my neck.

"I told you we'd get her," said a tall girl with greasy black hair streaked red, black lipstick, a ring in her nose, and a terrifying tattoo of a buckhorned, red-skulled demon around her neck. The girl glared at Sophie, black eyes flinting. "She even smells like an Ever."

"The fairies will retrieve it soon enough," said a voice across the room.

I swung my head to an albino girl with deathly white hair, white skin, and hooded red eyes, feeding stew from a cauldron to three black rats. "Pity. We could slit its throat and hang it as a hall ornament."

"How rude," said a third.

I turned to a smiley brown-haired girl on the bed, round as a hot air balloon, chocolate ice pop in each stumpy fist. "Besides, it's against the rules to kill other students."

"How about we just maim her a bit?" said the albino.

"I think she's refreshing," said the plump one, biting into the ice pop. "Not every villain has to smell and look depressed."

"She's not a villain," the albino and the tattooed girl snapped in unison.

Sophie wriggled from her ropes and stood, scanning the dorm. A moment later, she gasped. "Where's the mirror?"

"Let me guess," the tattooed girl snorted. "It's Bella or Ariel or Anastasia."

"It looks more like a Buttercup or Sugarplum," said the albino.

"Or a Clarabelle or Rose Red or Willow-by-the-Sea."

"Sophie." Sophie stood in a cloud of soot. "My name is Sophie. I'm not a 'villain,' I'm not an 'it,' and yes, I clearly don't belong here, so—"

The albino and the tattooed girl were doubled over laughing. "Sophie!" the second cackled. "It's worse than anyone could have imagined!"

"Anything named Sophie doesn't belong here," the albino wheezed. "It belongs in a cage."

"I belong in the other tower," said Sophie, trying to stay above their cattiness, "which is why I need to see the School Master."

"'I need to see the School Master,'" the albino mimicked. "How about you jump out the window and see if he catches you?"

"You all have no manners," snarfled the round girl, mouth full. "I'm Dot. This is Hester," she said, pointing at the tattooed girl. "And this ray of sunshine," she said, pointing at the albino, "is Anadil."

Anadil spat on the floor.

"Welcome to Room 66," said Dot, and with a swish of her hand swept the ashes off the unclaimed bed.

Sophie winced at moth-eaten sheets with ominous stains. "Appreciate the welcome, but I really should be going," she said, backing against the door. "Might you direct me to the School Master's office?"

"Princes must be so confused when they see you," said Dot. "Most villains don't look like princesses."

"She's not a villain," Anadil and Hester groaned.

"Do I have to make an appointment to see him?" pressed Sophie. "Or do I send him a note or—"

"You could fly, I suppose," Dot said, pulling two chocolate eggs from her pocket. "But the stymphs might eat you."

"Stymphs?" asked Sophie.

"Those birds that dropped us off, love," garbled Dot as she chewed. "You'd have to get past them. And you know how they hate villains."

"For the last time, she's not a villain," I said, folding my arms.

The three witches blinked, as if noticing my presence for the first time.

"Who are you?" Anadil asked hostilely.

"Y/n," I replied. "And there's obviously been a mix-up here. I mean, there were three of us children kidnapped this year. Not two. So if you could just point us in the direction of the School Master's office, it'd be very appreciated."

Hester scowled. "Are you. . .friends with this pink thing?" She nodded at Sophie.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes."

"Are you sure we can't kill the princess?" said Anadil.

I stepped forward. "There will be no killing so long as I'm around."

"Then leave."

"Where in the woods do you come from, loves?" Dot asked, diffusing the argument.

"Who the hell knows," I muttered.

"I don't come from the woods," Sophie said impatiently.

Three girls gaped with identically confused expressions.

"What do you mean you 'don't come from the woods'?" said Hester.

"We come from Gavaldon," Sophie said. She sounded close to tears.

"You three seem to know a lot about this place, so I'd be thankful if you could tell me wher—"

"Is that near the Murmuring Mountains?" asked Dot.

"Only Nevers live in the Murmuring Mountains, you fool," Hester groused.

"Near Rainbow Gale, I bet," said Anadil. "That's where the most annoying Evers come from."

"Sorry, I'm lost already," Sophie frowned. "Evers? Nevers?"

"A sheltered Rapunzel locked-in-a-tower type," Anadil said. "Explains everything."

"Evers are what we call Good-doers, love," Dot said to Sophie. "You know, all their nonsense about finding Happily Ever After."

"So that makes you 'Nevers'?" said Sophie, remembering the lettered columns in the stair room.

"Short for 'Nevermore,'" Hester reveled. "Paradise for Evildoers. We'll have infinite power in Nevermore."

"Control time and space," said Anadil.

"Take new forms," said Hester.

"Splinter our souls."

"Conquer death."

"Only the wickedest villains get in," said Anadil.

"And the best part," said Hester. "No other people. Each villain gets their own private kingdom."

"Eternal solitude," said Anadil.

"Sounds like misery," said Sophie.

"Other people are misery," said Hester.

"Gavaldon . . . is that by Pifflepaff Hills?" Dot said airily.

"Oh, for goodness' sakes, it's not near anything," Sophie moaned. She held up her schedule, "SOPHIE OF WOODS BEYOND" at its top. "Gavaldon's beyond the woods. Surrounded by it on all sides."

I glanced down at my schedule. At the top, however, was only my name. There was no "of woods beyond" attached to the end.

Just Y/n.

Not even a last name.

"Woods Beyond?" Hester was saying.

"Who's your king?" asked Dot.

"We don't have a king," Sophie said.

"Who's your mother?" asked Anadil.

"She's dead," Sophie said.

"And your father?" asked Dot.

"He's a mill worker. These questions are quite personal—"

"And what fairy-tale family is he from?" Anadil asked.

"And now they're just plain odd. No one's family is a fairy tale. He's from a normal family with normal faults. Like every one of your fathers."

"I knew it," Hester said to Anadil.

"Knew what?" said Sophie.

"Readers are the only ones this stupid," Anadil said to Hester.

Sophie's clenched her fists. "I'm sorry, but I'm not the stupid one if I'm the only person here who can read, so why don't you look in the mirror, that is if you could actually find one!"

I ran my fingertips across my lips in thought.

Reader.

Why didn't anyone here seem homesick? Why did they all swim towards the wolves in the moat instead of fleeing for their lives? Why didn't they cry for their mothers or try to escape the snakes at the gate? Why did they all know so much about this school?

"What fairy-tale family is he from?"

My eyes found Hester's nightstand. Next to a vase of dead flowers, a claw-shaped candle, and a stack of books—Outsmarting Orphans, Why Villains Fail, Frequent Witch Mistakes—was a knurled wooden picture frame. Inside was a child's clumsy painting of a grotesque witch in front of a house.

A house made of gingerbread and candy.

"Mother was naive," said Hester, picking up the frame. Her face struggled with the memory. "An oven? Please. Stick them on a grill. Avoids complications." Her jaw hardened. "I'll do better."

My eyes shifted to Anadil. A bracelet made of little boys' bones was clasped on her roommate's wrist.

"Does know her witches, doesn't she," Anadil leered. "Granny would be flattered."

The poster above Dot's bed showed a handsome man in green screaming as an executioner's ax sliced into his head.

WANTED: ROBIN HOOD

Dead or Alive (Preferably Dead) By Order of Sheriff of Nottingham

"Daddy promised to let me have first swing," Dot said.

I looked at my three bunk mates in newfound clarity.

They didn't need to read the fairy tales. They came from them.

They were born to kill.

"A princess and a Reader," Hester said. "The two worst things a human can be."

"Even the Evers don't want her," said Anadil. "Or the fairies would have come by now."

"But they have to come!" Sophie cried. "I'm Good!"

"Well, you're stuck here, dearie," Hester said, plumping Sophie's pillow with a kick. "So if you want to stay alive, best try to fit in."

"No! Listen to me!" Sophie begged. "I'm Good!"

"You keep saying that." In a flash, Hester seized her by the throat and pinned her over the open window. "And yet there's no proof."

"Hey!" In a flash I was across the room, yanking Hester away from Sophie, who fell to the floor with a gasp.

I gripped Hester's shirt and shoved her up against the wall. "Stay away from her."

Hester struggled. "Who do you think you are?"

"I said. . ." I slammed Hester's head against the cinder and she yelped.

My eyes flashed. "Stay. Away," I repeated in a low voice.

Something had changed. Hester's eyes widened and she nodded rapidly.

I released my grip, and she slumped against the wall, gaze still trained on me.

I turned to Sophie, who threw a hand over her mouth.

"What?" I asked.

Anadil and Dot's jaws were dropped. They looked almost. . .terrified.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Your eyes," Sophie whispered. "They're glowing."

A commotion clamored outside the room, and the girls' heads swiveled to the door. It flew open with a crack and four wolves thundered in, grabbed us by the collars, and hurled us into a stampede of black-robed students. Students rammed and elbowed each other; some fell beneath the herd and couldn't get back up.

"Where are we going!" Sophe yelled.

"The School for Good!" Dot said. "For the Welcomin—" An ogreish boy kicked her forward.

As I watched another student take a tumble, I clung to the wall even more.

***

Each school had its own entrance to the Theater of Tales, which was split into two halves. The west doors opened into the side for the Good students, decorated with pink and blue pews, crystal friezes, and glittering bouquets of glass flowers. The east doors opened into the side for Evil students, with warped wooden benches, carvings of murder and torture, and deadly stalactites dangling from the burnt ceiling. As students herded into their halves for the Welcoming, fairies and wolves guarded the silver marble aisle between them.

I followed Sophie, grumbling, as she moved to the aisle seats, trying to get the attention of the Good fairies. I opened my mouth to tell her it was useless, but a hand yanked the both of us under a rotted bench.

Agatha tacked us in a hug.

"Agatha!" I gasped. "You're here! And. . ." I surveyed her outfit. "You're wearing pink."

"I know. It's horrible. Listen, I found the School Master's tower! It's in the moat and there's guards, but if we can just get up there then we can—"

"Hi! Nice to see you! Give me your clothes," said Sophie, staring at Agatha's pink dress.

"Huh?"

"Quick! It will solve everything."

"You can't be serious! Sophie, we can't stay here!"

"Exactly," Sophie smiled. "I need to be in your school and you need to be in mine. Just like we talked about, remember?"

"But your father, my mother, my cat!" Agatha sputtered. "You don't know what they're like here! They'll turn us into snakes or squirrels or shrubbery! Sophie, we have to get back home!"

"Why? What do I have in Gavaldon to go back to?" Sophie said.

Agatha blushed with hurt. "You have . . . um, you have . . ."

"Right. Nothing. Now, my dress, please."

Agatha folded her arms.

"Then I'll take it myself," Sophie scowled. But right as she grabbed Agatha by her flowered sleeve, she stopped cold. I listened, ears piqued, trying to hear what Sophie did.

It was then that Sophie took off like a panther. She slid under warped benches, dodged villains' feet, ducked behind the last pew, and peeked around it.

Agatha and I followed, exasperated. "God," I said. "I don't know what's gotten into yo—"

Sophie covered my mouth, and it was then I heard the sounds. Sounds that made every Good girl bolt upright. Sounds they had waited their whole lives to hear. From the hall, the stomp of boots, the clash of steel—

The west doors flew open to sixty gorgeous boys in swordfight.

Sun-kissed skin peeked through light blue sleeves and stiff collars; tall navy boots matched high-cut waistcoats and knotted slim ties, each embroidered with a single gold initial. As the boys playfully crossed blades, their shirts came untucked from tight beige breeches, revealing slender waists and flashes of muscle. Sweat glistened on glowing faces as they thrust down the aisle, boots cracking on marble, until swiftly the swordfight climaxed, boys pinning boys against pews. In a last chorus of movement, they drew roses from their shirts and with a shout of "Milady!" threw them to the girls who most caught their eye.

In the decayed pews, the villains booed the princes, brandishing banners with "NEVERS RULE!" and "EVERS STINK!" (Except for weasel-faced Hort, who crossed his arms sulkily and mumbled, "Why do they get their own entrance?") With a bow, the princes blew kisses to villains and prepared to take their seats when the west doors suddenly slammed open again—

And one more walked in.

Hair a halo of celestial gold, eyes blue as a cloudless sky, skin the color of hot desert sand, he glistened with a noble sheen, as if his blood ran purer than the rest. The stranger took one look at the frowning, sword-armed boys, pulled his own sword . . . and grinned.

Forty boys came at him at once, but he disarmed each with lightning speed. The swords of his classmates piled up beneath his feet as he flicked them away without inflicting a scratch. Sophie gaped, bewitched. I hoped he'd impale himself. But no such luck, for the boy dismissed each new challenge as quickly as it came, the embroidered T on his blue tie glinting with each dance of his blade. And when the last had been left swordless and dumbstruck, he sheathed his own sword and shrugged, as if to say he meant nothing by it at all. But the boys of Good knew what it meant. The princes now had a king. (Even the villains couldn't find reason to boo.)

Meanwhile, the Good girls had long learned that every true princess finds a prince, so no need to fight each other. But they forgot all this when the golden boy pulled a rose from his shirt. All of them jumped up, waving kerchiefs, jostling like geese at a feeding. The boy smiled and lofted his rose high in the air—

I saw Sophie move too late. I ran after her but Sophie dashed into the aisle, leapt over the pink pews, lunged for the rose—and caught a wolf instead.

It gripped her hair and pulled, dragging her back to Evil. Sophie screamed. "Hey!" I launched myself at the wolf and wrapped my arms around his neck. Then I pulled. Hard.

He wasn't fazed. He reached behind and grabbed me, yanking me around to his front. Sophie was long gone by now.

I writhed as the wolf's enormous hand closed over my throat. My feet shot out, catching him in the stomach, and I was dropped to the floor, coughing.

His claws dug into my upper arm like knives. I screamed, kicking to get away from him, but that only made his claws tear into my skin even more.

Then I bit his other arm. The bitter taste of his blood filled my mouth and he yelled, releasing me.

I breathed heavily and scrambled away from him, but my arm began to itch. I looked down where the wolf had sunk his claws into me.

The wounds were stitching themselves up until the skin was clean and pristine once more.

My lips parted in shock. I swiveled my head to Agatha, who was staring at me with her jaw dropped. Then I was being dragged away again, this time by three wolves.

"Hey!" I wriggled and struggled, but their grip was too strong.

I locked eyes with the blond boy across the room. He was staring at me, baffled.

Then the doors to the theater slammed shut, leaving me to be taken down the hall by the wolves. 

[carpexdiemm05]

Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader) Masterlist

Also read on Wattpad!

COMPLETED

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapte 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

Chapter 72

Chapter 73

Chapter 74

Chapter 75

Chapter 76

Chapter 77

Chapter 78

Chapter 79

Chapter 80

Chapter 81

Chapter 82

Chapter 83

Chapter 84

Chapter 85

Chapter 86

Chapter 87

Chapter 88

Chapter 89

Chapter 90

Chapter 91

Chapter 92

Chapter 93

Chapter 94

Chapter 95

Chapter 96

Chapter 97

Chapter 98

Chapter 99

Chapter 100

Chapter 101

Chapter 102

Chapter 103

Chapter 104

Chapter 105

Chapter 106

Chapter 107

Chapter 108

Chapter 109

Chapter 110

Chapter 111

Chapter 112

Chapter 113

Chapter 114

Chapter 115

Chapter 116

Chapter 117

Chapter 118

Chapter 119

Chapter 120

Chapter 121

Epilogue

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Of Wit and Wile (Harry Hook x Reader) Masterlist

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ONGOING

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

[carpexdiemm05]

Whispers of Fallen Stars (Wish x Reader) Masterlist

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ONGOING

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

[carpexdiemm05]

Hidden (Nod x Reader) Maserlist - Epic 2013

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COMPLETED

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Epilogue

[carpexdiemm05]

Ebb and Flow (Twilight x Reader) Masterlist

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ONGOING

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

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Whispered Vows (Mistborn x Reader) Masterlist

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ONGOING

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

[carpexdiemm05]

One True Queen (SGE x Reader Book 2) Masterlist

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ONGOING

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

[carpexdiemm05]

Never After (SGE x Reader) - Chapter 2

Also read on Wattpad!

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I woke to the most brilliant pair of blue eyes I'd ever seen.

And a hand clapped over my mouth.

The sheets of my bed twisted as I writhed, trying to get out of my captor's grip.

"Shh," he said into my ear. "You belong with the others. Now sleep."

As he lifted his fingertip to brush my temple, I was forced to do just that.

***

When I woke for the second time, I was hacking up bucketfuls of water.

I leaned to the side and coughed until the last bits of moisture were dispelled from my lungs. My throat burned.

"Y/n!"

Then Sophie was there, throwing her arms around me and sobbing into my shirt.

"Wha—Sophie?"

"Oh, Y/n, you're okay!"

I gripped her upper arms and pulled her away from me enough so I could see her face. "What are you talking about?"

Her crying eyes were nearly frantic. "I don't know! All I saw was you dropped into the moat and then one of the wolves threw you onto shore but you weren't waking up for the longest time!" She pressed her hands to her tear-stained face and sobbed. "And Agatha's here but she was dropped into the School for Good! Oh, there's been a terrible mistake, they've mixed us up! I'm supposed to be where she is!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down." I shifted to sit up more, wincing as my soggy clothes grated against my sand-crusted skin. "What do you mean? They've mixed what up?"

Sophie cried some more. "Don't you see? We've been taken to the School for Evil."

Something gripped the back of my collar and hauled me to my feet. I came face to face with the snout of a large gray wolf. Its breath stank of rotting carcass.

He pushed me into a line. I stumbled, nearly slipping on wet sand, but the soles of my boots found traction at the last second.

A pack of wolves stood—on two feet—in bloodred soldier jackets and black leather breeches, snapped riding whips to herd students into line. If any dawdled, a wolf delivered a swift crack, so I kept an anxious pace. I spotted Sophie a few heads in front of me, her golden locks making her stick out like a sore thumb.

The tower gates were made of iron spikes, crisscrossed with barbed wire. Nearing them, I saw it wasn't wire at all but a sea of black vipers that darted and hissed in our direction. I swallowed and breezed through. The rusted words held between two carved black swans over the gates read:

THE SCHOOL FOR EVIL EDIFICATION AND PROPAGATION OF SIN

Ahead the school tower rose like a winged demon. The main tower, built of pockmarked black stone, unfurled through smoky clouds like a hulking torso. From the sides of the main tower jutted two thick, crooked spires, dripping with veiny red creepers like bleeding wings.

The wolves drove the children towards the mouth of the main tower, a long serrated tunnel shaped like a crocodile snout. The tunnel grew narrower and narrower until I could barely see the child in front of me. I squeezed between two jagged stones and found myself in a leaky foyer that smelled of rotten fish. Demonic gargoyles pitched down from stone rafters, lit torches in their jaws. An iron statue of a bald, toothless hag brandishing an apple smoldered in the menacing firelight. Along the wall, a crumbly column had an enormous black letter N painted on it, decorated with wicked-faced imps, trolls, and Harpies climbing up and down it like a tree. There was a bloodred E on the next column, embellished with swinging giants and goblins. Creeping along in the interminable line, I worked out what the columns spelled out—N-E-VE-R—then suddenly found myself far enough into the room to see the line snake in front of me. For the first time, I had a clear view of the other students.

One girl had an overbite, wispy patches of hair, and one eye instead of two, right in the middle of her forehead. Another boy was like a mound of dough, with his bulging belly, bald head, and swollen limbs. A tall, sneering girl trudged ahead with sickly green skin. The boy in front of me had so much hair all over him he could have been an ape. They all looked about my age, but the similarities ended there. Here was a mass of the miserable, with misshapen bodies, repulsive faces, and the cruelest expressions I'd ever seen, as if looking for something to hate. One by one their eyes fell on Sophie and they found what they were looking for. The petrified princess in glass slippers and golden curls. The red rose among thorns.

I clenched my jaw.

We needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

I followed the line into a sunken anteroom, where three black crooked staircases twisted up in a perfect row. One carved with monsters said MALICE along the banister, the second, etched with spiders, said MISCHIEF, and the third with snakes read VICE. Around the three staircases, I noticed the walls covered with different-colored frames. In each frame there was a portrait of a child, next to a storybook painting of what the student became upon graduation. A gold frame had a portrait of an elfish little girl, and beside it, a magnificent drawing of her as a revolting witch, standing over a comatose maiden. A gold plaque stretched under the two illustrations:

CATHERINE OF FOXWOOD

Little Snow White (Villain)

In the next gold frame there was a portrait of a smirking boy with a thick unibrow, alongside a painting of him all grown up, brandishing a knife to a woman's throat:

DROGAN OF MURMURING MOUNTAINS

Bluebeard (Villain)

Beneath Drogan there was a silver frame of a skinny boy with shock blond hair, turned into one of a dozen ogres savaging a village:

KEIR OF NETHERWOOD

Tom Thumb (Henchman)

Then I noticed a decayed bronze frame near the bottom with a tiny, bald boy, eyes scared wide. A boy I knew. Bane was his name. He used to bite all the pretty girls in Gavaldon until he was kidnapped four years before. But there was no drawing next to Bane. Just a rusted plaque that read:

FAILED

I looked at Bane's terrified face and felt my stomach churn. What happened to him?

I gazed up at thousands of gold, silver, and bronze frames cramming every inch of the hall: witches slaying princes, giants devouring men, demons igniting children, heinous ogres, grotesque gorgons, headless horsemen, merciless sea monsters. Once awkward adolescents. Now portraits of absolute evil. Even the villains that had died gruesome deaths—Rumpelstiltskin, the Beanstalk Giant, the Wolf from Red Riding Hood—were drawn in their greatest moments, as if they had emerged triumphant from their tales. The other children gazed up at the portraits in awed worship.

Then, another portrait caught my eye. One of a boy grinning maliciously, clad in a tunic made of autumn leaves, hovering fifty feet in the air.

PETER OF MOAT BRAE

Pan (Villain)

I furrowed my eyebrows. What? No, that couldn't be right. Peter Pan was a hero. A boy who had slain Captain Hook and saved the Lost Boys from a lifetime of misery at the hands of Hook's crew.

One of the wolves shoved me forward. "Move along," he growled.

Turning the corner into a wider corridor, I saw a red-skinned, horned dwarf ahead on a towering stepladder, hammering more portraits into a bare wall. The frames on this wall held familiar faces. There was the dough boy I had seen earlier, labeled BRONE OF ROCH BRIAR. Next to him was a painting of the one-eyed, wispy-haired girl: ARACHNE OF FOXWOOD. I scanned the portraits of my classmates, awaiting their villainous transformations.

Then I saw the frame under his hammer. My own face smiled back at me.

I narrowed my eyes. I'm really considered to be Evil? Their standards must have dropped tremendously.

A dark-skinned hag with a massive boil on her cheek thrust a sheet of parchment into my hands, which outlined my schedule.

An ogre then dumped a ribbon-tied stack of books in my hands.

Best Villainous Monologues, 2nd ed.

Spells for Suffering, Year 1

The Novice's Guide to Kidnapping & Murder

Embracing Ugliness Inside & Out

How to Cook Children (with New Recipes!)

A spotted satyr threw a musty black fabric around my neck—the school uniform, a dumpy, tattered tunic that sagged like shredded curtains.

A scream drew my attention immediately. Across the way was Sophie, struggling against a wolf's hold.

"You don't understand!" she screamed. "It's all a mistake!"

The wolf bent down to her level and snarled.

"There are no mistakes."

[carpexdiemm05]

Never After (SGE x Reader) - Chapter 1

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Foreword

Just a quick A/N before you get started:

1. This story is NOT edited as of January 2023

2. I don't own SGE plot or characters

3. Some lore is used from Lost Boy by Christina Henry

4. Description is taken straight from Soman Chainani's work

5. Will be based on SGE books 1-6

6. Characters are aged up to 18+

Enjoy!

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Tonight, the children of Gavaldon writhed in their beds. Each knew that if the School Master took them, they'd never return. Never lead a full life. Never see their family again. Tonight, the children of Gavaldon dreamed of a red-eyed thief with the body of a beast, come to rip them from their sheets and stifle their screams.

Not that I cared. I was indifferent to the whole thing. In my eyes, it was simple—those taken had the ability to transform their lives into ones worthy of the fairy tales we readers devour here in Gavaldon. And if they didn't, well, that was on them. The School for Good and Evil was just another opportunity for some. Fate was what you made it.

I inhaled deeply. From my position on the roof, I could feel the morning breeze much clearer than had I been sitting on the ground instead. I always liked being in high places. It made me feel relaxed. Detached from the rest of the world. Free, even.

My nose scrunched when aromas of rose and cucumber curled beneath it. A glance at the cemetery gates revealed Sophie, dressed in pink like always, pushing them open. She made her way across the dark tombstones and decaying branches that decorated Graves Hill until she reached the porch steps.

It was then that I slid off the roof, landing right in front of the girl.

She screamed and stumbled backwards. Upon hearing my laugh, however, she regained her composure and scowled. "Y/n."

I shrugged, grinning. "Sorry."

She sighed and brushed imaginary dirt from the front of her dress with one hand, the other clutching a basket. "Is Aggie home?"

"Yes, Agatha is inside," I said pointedly.

Reaper chose this moment to slink across the front porch, stopping right at the doormat. Sophie shrank back.

I rolled my eyes and lightly kicked him along. "Move, cat. You're in our way." After I had a clear path, I rapped on the door.

"Go away," came a gruff voice.

"Agatha, it's me."

"Oh. Sorry. I thought it was Sophie coming by for another visit." The door swung open, revealing a girl with a dome of black hair in a hulking black dress. Her bulging ladybug eyes narrowed when she spotted the blonde behind me.

"And you would be correct," I said, smiling bitterly.

I never really. . .liked Sophie. I didn't dislike her, really, either. She was just rather annoying sometimes. When I was in her company, more often than not I found myself subject to complaints of anything and everything.

Some might call me insane, but I preferred being around Agatha. She didn't talk of shallow things and, when you got to know her, you'd find her to be quite funny.

Besides, I was around her all day, what with me being her adoptive sister and all. I didn't really know much about myself besides what Callis told me—I was left on her doorstep as a baby with a note telling her my name and nothing else.

The click of Sophie's heels dragged me back to the present. "I thought we'd all go for a walk," she said.

Agatha leaned against the door. "I'm still trying to figure out why you're friends with us."

"Because you're both sweet and funny."

"My mother says Y/n's bitter and I'm grumpy," said Agatha, "So one of you is lying."

She reached into Sophie's basket and pulled back the napkin to reveal dry, butterless bran biscuits. Agatha gave Sophie a withering stare and retreated into the house.

"So we can't take a walk?" Sophie asked.

Agatha started to close the door but then paused. I could see the gears turning in her head.

Eventually she sighed. "A short one." Agatha trudged past us both. "But if you say anything smug or stuck-up or shallow, I'll have Reaper follow you home."

Sophie ran after her. "But then I can't talk!"

After four years, the dreaded eleventh night of the eleventh month had arrived. In the late-day sun, the square had become a hive of preparation for the School Master's arrival. The men sharpened swords, set traps, and plotted the night's guard, while the women lined up the children and went to work. Handsome ones had their hair lopped off, teeth blackened, and clothes shredded to rags; homely ones were scrubbed, swathed in bright colors, and fitted with veils. Mothers begged the best-behaved children to curse or kick their sisters, the worst were bribed to pray in the church, while the rest in line were led in choruses of the village anthem: "Blessed Are the Ordinary."

Fear swelled into a contagious fog. In a dim alley, the butcher and blacksmith traded storybooks for clues to save their sons. Beneath the crooked clock tower, two sisters listed fairy-tale villain names to hunt for patterns. A group of boys chained their bodies together, a few girls hid on the school roof, and a masked child jumped from bushes to spook his mother, earning a spanking on the spot. Even the homeless hag got into the act, hopping before a meager fire, croaking, "Burn the storybooks! Burn them all!" But no one listened and no books were burned.

Agatha gawped at all this in disbelief. "How can a whole town believe in fairy tales?"

"Because they're real," Sophie said.

Agatha stopped walking. "You can't actually believe the legend is true."

"Of course I do," said Sophie.

"That a School Master kidnaps two children, takes them to a school where one learns Good, one learns Evil, and they graduate into fairy tales?"

"Sounds about right."

"Tell me if you see an oven."

"Why?"

"I want to put my head in it. And what, pray tell, do they teach at this school exactly?"

"Well, in the School for Good, they teach boys and girls like me how to become heroes and princesses, how to rule kingdoms justly, how to find Happily Ever After," Sophie said. "In the School for Evil, they teach you how to become wicked witches and humpbacked trolls, how to lay curses and cast evil spells."

"Evil spells?" Agatha cackled. "Who came up with this? A four-year-old?"

"Well, the faces of the missing Gavaldon children illustrated in the storybooks is evidence enough for me," I chimed in.

"I don't see anything, because I don't read dumb storybooks."

"Then why is there a stack by your bed?" I asked.

Agatha scowled. "Look, who's to say the books are even real? Maybe it's the bookseller's prank. Maybe it's the Elders' way to keep children out of the woods. Whatever the explanation, it isn't a School Master and it isn't evil spells."

"So who's kidnapping the children?" Sophie asked.

"No one. Every four years, two idiots sneak into the woods, hoping to scare their parents, only to get lost or eaten by wolves, and there you have it, the legend continues."

"That's the stupidest explanation I've ever heard."

"I don't think I'm the stupid one here," Agatha said.

Sophie clenched her fists. "You're just scared."

"Right," Agatha laughed. "And why would I be scared?"

"Because you know you're coming with me."

Agatha stopped laughing.

"Either you or Y/n."

My gaze moved past Sophie into the square. The villagers were staring at us like the solution to a mystery. Good in pink, Evil in black. The School Master's perfect pair.

But who knew which of the witches were to be left behind.

"No," I said, shaking my head, aiming for nonchalance. "We're not close enough to either of the two extremes to be taken."

"Let's go," said Agatha.

I turned. Her eyes were locked on the mob.

"Where?"

"Away from people."

***

As the sun weakened to a red orb, three girls, one beautiful, one ugly, and one in between, sat side by side on the shore of a lake. Sophie packed cucumbers in a silk pouch, while I flicked lit matches into the water.

Sophie threw me a look.

"What? It relaxes me," I said.

Sophie shook her head and tried to make room for the last cucumber. "Why would anyone want to stay here? Who would choose this over a fairy tale?"

"And who would choose to leave their family forever?" Agatha snorted.

"Except me, you mean," said Sophie.

We fell silent.

"Do you ever wonder where your father went?" Sophie asked.

"I told you," Agatha said. "He left after I was born."

"But where would he go? We're surrounded by woods! To suddenly disappear like that . . ." Sophie spun. "Maybe he found a way into the stories! Maybe he found a magic portal! Maybe he's waiting for you on the other side!"

"Or maybe he went back to his wife and pretended I never happened."

I chuckled. "And maybe he's with my dad, warning him never to go back to Gavaldon unless he wants to reclaim the bitter child he abandoned here."

Sophie bit her lip and went back to cucumbers. "Callis is never at home when I visit."

"She goes into town now," said Agatha. "Not enough patients at the house. Probably the location."

"I'm sure that's it," Sophie said. "I don't think a graveyard makes people all that comfortable."

"Graveyards have their benefits," Agatha said. "No nosy neighbors. No dropin salesmen. No fishy 'friends' bearing face masks and diet cookies, telling you you're going to Evil School in Magic Fairy Land." She flicked a match with relish.

Sophie put down her cucumber. "So I'm fishy now."

"Who asked you to show up? Y/n and I were perfectly fine alone."

"You always let me in."

"Because you always seem so lonely," said Agatha. "And I feel sorry for you."

"Sorry for me?" Sophie's eyes flashed. "You're lucky that someone would come see you when no one else will. You're lucky that someone like me would be your friend. You're lucky that someone like me is such a good person."

"I knew it!" Agatha flared. "We're your Good Deeds! Just pawns in your stupid fantasy!"

Sophie didn't say anything for a long time.

"Maybe I became your friend to impress the School Master," she confessed finally. "But there's more to it now."

"Because I found you out," Agatha grumbled.

"Because I like you guys."

I flicked another match.

"No one understands me here," Sophie said, looking at her hands. "But you two do. You see who I am. That's why I kept coming back. You're not my good deed anymore, Agatha. Y/n." Sophie gazed up at us. "You're my friends."

I cocked my head at her declaration, pleasantly surprised.

Agatha's neck flushed red.

"What's wrong?" Sophie frowned.

Agatha hunched into her dress. "It's just, um . . . I—I'm, uh . . . not used to friends."

Sophie smiled and took her hand. "Well, now we'll all be friends at our new school."

Agatha groaned and pulled away. "Say I sink to your intelligence level and pretend to believe all this. Why is either Y/n or I going to villain school? Why has everyone elected us the Mistresses of Evil?"

"No one says you're evil, Agatha," Sophie sighed. "You're just different."

Agatha narrowed her eyes. "Different how?"

"Well, for starters, you two only wear black."

"Because it doesn't get dirty."

"You don't ever leave your house."

"People don't look at me there."

"For the Create-a-Tale Competition, Y/n's story ended with Snow White eaten by vultures and Cinderella drowning herself in a tub."

"I thought it was a better ending," I defended.

"Agatha gave me a dead frog for my birthday!"

"To remind you we all die and end up rotting underground eaten by maggots so we should enjoy our birthdays while we have them. I found it thoughtful."

"Agatha, you dressed as a bride for Halloween."

"Weddings are scary."

Sophie gaped at her.

"Fine. So I'm a little different," Agatha glared. "So what?"

Sophie hesitated. "Well, it's just that in fairy tales, different usually turns out, um . . . evil."

"You're different, too, Sophie," I said. "You dress like the fair maiden in a fairytale. You spend hours grooming yourself. You act as if you're already the princess of some faraway kingdom even though the closest you've gotten to going anywhere else outside this village is tasting the berries collected from the forest."

Sophie didn't say anything for a long time. My gaze softened. "Why is it you want to leave here so badly? That you'd believe in stories you know aren't true?"

Sophie met my gaze.

"Because I can't live here," Sophie said, voice catching. "I can't live an ordinary life."

The tenor-tolled clock sang darkly in the valley.

I stared at the blonde for a moment longer. Then I stood, dusted off my pants, and headed home, wanting to get this night over with.

[carpexdiemm05]

Never After (SGE x Reader) Masterlist

Also read on Wattpad!

COMPLETED

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

[carpexdiemm05]

Masterlist

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Never After (SGE x Reader)

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Of Wit and Wile (Harry Hook x Reader)

Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader)

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