Never After (School for Good and Evil x Reader)

Chapter 19

One could imagine my surprise when I discovered Agatha the next morning.

Smiling.

"Agatha!" I said, surprised. "You—you look—wow."

Agatha then told me about all that had occurred—seeing Professor Dovey, Dovey tricking her with the fake blonde hair in the Groom Room, her being able to look in mirrors now. Her feeling beautiful.

"Aw," I said, giving her a hug. "You've always been beautiful, Agatha."

I noticed other changes in Agatha as time went on. She didn't gag at the scent of her uniform anymore. She didn't dread washing her face now or mind taking a minute to brush her hair. She got so caught up in Ball dance rehearsals she jumped when the wolves howled to end class. And where she once mocked her Good homework, now she'd read assigned pages and keep reading, entranced by stories of heroines who outwitted lethal witches, avenged their parents' deaths, and sacrificed their bodies, freedoms, even lives for true love.

Even when I had filled Agatha in on what happened with Tedros, her mood didn't dampen. She just nodded, hope in her eyes, and said, "Then we'll find a new way."

Then it was two days before the Ball. The Circus of Talents would take place the next night, and Pollux came round to classrooms, head ferried on the shell of a gaunt turtle, to announce the rules.

"Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye! By order of the School Master of the School for Good Enlightenment and Enchantment and the School for Evil Edifi—"

"Just get on with it!" Professor Anemone yawped.

Pollux glumly explained that the Circus was a talent competition between Good and Evil, where the top 10 Evers and Nevers would each take the stage to present their talents. At the end of the contest, the winner would receive the Circus Crown and the Theater of Tales would magically move to his school.

"Of course, the Theater hasn't moved in ages," Pollux sniffed. "Firmly entrenched by now."

"But who's the judge?" Beatrix said.

"The School Master. Though you won't see him, of course," Pollux puffed. "Now as to attire, I suggest you wear clothes of humble, demure col—"

Professor Anemone kicked his head out the door. "Enough! Proposals coming tomorrow and the only thing you should be thinking about is your prince's face!"

While Agatha was going to classes and learning how to waltz and curtsy and smile daintily, I was scouring the library for answers.

There wasn't much I knew. I did have a theory about my ability to heal, however. Each time I had consumed another's blood, I was healed right away. But it was when I partook from Hester's demon that there were side effects—powerful ones. I wasn't sure as to whether or not that made me fly as well, or if I could fly on my own and never knew it.

But my theory was that the more powerful the creature I take from, the more powerful I become.

There were some holes in my hypothesis, however, because the same thing hadn't happened when I took from the Harpies in the Trial. Maybe the side effects only came about when I ingested blood from creatures that originate from magic.

So. . .I could heal. I could fly, maybe. And. . .

My eyes glowed on occasion. I still wasn't sure what that meant.

And here I was in Good's Library, scouring the shelves for really anything that had the words blood in it.

There wasn't much.

I groaned. If I had been in Evil's library, I might have found something. But I couldn't go back until all this Sophie business blew over.

I rounded the end of one aisle and something on the next caught my eye.

Peter Pan: The Boy Who Never Grew Up.

I frowned and pulled the book off the shelf, running a hand over its glossy cover.

That was odd. Why would Good have a story about a supposed villain in their library?

But as I turned the pages, I realized this wasn't the version Lady Lesso had told in class. This was the version I had read in Gavaldon, a tale about a young boy who was playful and charming and vanquished the terrible, mighty Captain Hook.

This was the version where Pan was a hero.

I stared at the book in my hands. What on Earth was going on? Good said Pan was a hero and Evil said he was a villain. But he couldn't be both.

So which version of the tale actually happened?

And more importantly, why were there stories with different endings written?

***

"Y/n!"

I jolted up from my bed, ready to attack. "What? What is it?"

But Agatha only slammed the door shut and fell against it, hands covering her eyes. "It's awful."

I untwisted from the sheets and shot to my feet. "What happened? What's wrong?" I demanded in a hurry.

"I'm. . ." Her cheeks were red. "I'm having thoughts about. . ." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "Tedros."

Then, if possible, she blushed even harder.

I stared at her for a moment, then exploded into laughter.

"Hey, it's not funny!"

"It's a little funny," I chuckled.

Agatha tried to grumble, but a smile took hold on her face. "You—just—ugh!" She crossed the room, snatched a pillow from her bed, and chucked it. It hit me straight in the face, but that didn't stop me.

Eventually, I calmed down, but there were still remnants of a smile on my lips.

It fell, however, when Agatha explained how she had tried to get across Halfway Bridge but her reflection wouldn't let her through. What her reflection had said.

"Well maybe it will let me back across," I said.

Agatha was shaking her head before I was done speaking. "No. I can't ask you to do that. Maybe if we have no other option, but. . ."

I sighed. "Okay. So. . .Tedros is supposed to be your true love? That's what your reflection said?"

"Yes. It's delusional."

"Or very convenient!" I retorted. "Now you can get a true love's kiss and send us home."

"It won't work, Y/n. It has to be a villain who gets the kiss, remember."

"Right," I sighed, laying back down. "And it didn't work with me, because we never fell in love."

"And there's no way he's going to kiss Sophie now."

The next day, Agatha burst into the dorm with so much conviction the door slammed into the wall, leaving a dent.

"Agatha, what—"

"I know how to get to Evil's side without using the bridge!"