SGE Fanfic New Chapter!
Just posted chapter seven for my School of Good & Evil fanfic! November is just going to be a month of straight writing lol.
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Penelope’s roommates were celebrating in their room after Yuba’s class. “He’s your True Love for sure!” Arinsoë said, twirling with a pillow around their room.
“I wish my prince had done that,” Dahu sighed dreamily.
Penelope blushed, “Did it really look that romantic?”
“YES!” They both squealed and they all dissolved into giggles.
“He’s definitely going to ask you to the Snow Ball.” Arinsoë said.
“This should make it easier to decide,” Dahu said.
“What do you mean?” Penelope asked.
“You received two roses, and the Wish Fish couldn’t show your greatest desire. Eric saving you and being able to tell when you’re disguised should clear it up now right?” Dahu asked.
Penelope felt her smile fall, “I haven’t had any time to talk to Cedric though, what if he’s my true love but I don’t realize it because I spend all my time with Eric?”
Dahu patted her hand, “You’ll figure it out, Princess Uma said only one prince can fully have your heart, you’ll be drawn to him, he’ll fall in love with you and then we’ll all go to the snowball together.”
Penelope smiled again, trying to reassure herself, everything was going so nicely, she finally felt like she belonged, she had friends, a potential prince, she had her place in life. She would figure out her true love, get her happy ending, and nothing would ruin it.
Not even when she didn’t score within the top five in her beautification class. Or when she performed flawlessly in Princess Etiquette, only to still take a 7th rank. Animal communication was her biggest flounder, as she was unable to procedure any satisfactory whistle sounds. A rusted 20 appeared above her head, and fear began to gnaw in her stomach. Dahu and Arsinoe assured her she would do better in the next class. In a History of Heroism she practically leapt out of seat to answer each question, garnering her only a three.
Her friends comforted her on the way to lunch. “Today’s classes were just a little tricky.” Arinsoë said, squeezing her hand.
“Whistling can be hard,” Dahu said sympathetically, “I can help you practice and you’ll get it in no time!”
Practice… Penelope had practiced for years, she had excelled in every course, mastered the art of being a perfect princess under her mother’s guidance. Every person she encountered proclaimed they had never met a Gooder person. What had happened? She wondered as they walked through the tunnel to lunch.
The truth was nothing had happened to Penelope. She was, and still was an excellent pupil with natural intelligence and grace. She was exemplary, unfortunately, so was every other princess at the school. And when you’re surrounded by the best, someone has to be the worst.
“I am going to vomit,” Narcissus said, watching the princes slowly sidle up to the princesses practically shivering with anticipation to begin courting. It made her heart clench with disgust.
“Um, one of them is coming over here,” Kali said.
A princess with uncharacteristically short hair, soft pink lips, and bright brown eyes, carrying two baskets, walked past the invisible border and was waving at them. No, at Ethel. The three girls snapped their heads to her.
“What is happening?” Havu hissed.
Ethel didn’t answer, looking like she had seen a ghost, as the princess approached. “Hi Ethel!” She said cheerfully as she sat down. “I’m sorry I didn’t come over the first day, I was, well, in shock I guess, and the second day the princes weren’t going to let anyone through.” She shook her head looking slightly exasperated. “But today I made it through! I even got you a basket, the fairies are not happy with me.” She placed it in front of a stunned Ethel.
Kali’s eyes narrowed, “You’re the other Reader.”
The girl nodded her head, “I’m Rose, nice to meet you!”
“Why is your hair so short?” Havu asked.
“Oh,” Her hand touched the soft fuzz covering her scalp, the cut was poorly done, and shorn close to her scalp. “My mother cut it.”
“Was she jealous of your looks?” Kali asked.
“It’s what Gavaldon parents do to their good kids, it’s in hopes of deterring the School Master from taking them,” Ethel finally said.
Rose nodded, “My parents also asked me to be cruel, but I couldn't bring myself to do it,” she laughed softly. “I probably should’ve.” She had a cheerful demeanor, but it felt more like a facade to cover up sadness.
Narcissus picked at her nails, she had heard of Readers of course, but mainly how they could be massive disasters and tended to be unequipped for the School. It had never occurred to her that it was because they were kidnapped. She shooed away the odd feeling those realizations gave her.
“I’m glad you’re here.” Rose said to Ethel.
“You are?” Ethel asked, very surprised.
“Oh no, not because, I mean,” Rose stammered, “Because you’re so headstrong, you don’t let people push you around, it gives me courage.”
Ethel looked down, her eyes getting wet, “I’m glad you’re here too.”
“Oh Ethel!” Rose flung her arms around her. “We’re going to get through this!” Ethel timidly hugged her back
Narcissus felt like she was intruding on a private moment, she and her roommates shifted away from the emotional hug. Across the lawn she could see the other Evers staring in shock, but the two Readers paid no mind to anyone.
The next two weeks found the students settling into a routine. Narcissus, determined to never find herself in the third tier, and needing to compensate for her lackluster performance in special talents, threw herself into her studies. She diligently wrote notes in every class, pestered the professors with questions and read and annotated every chapter before class.
She made her roommates quiz her and would hound professors for advice and study guides after class. While they found her needling annoying, they were excited to a student so wholeheartedly dedicated to their studies.
Her mother was writing multiple times a week, checking her rank status, quizzing her. Other family members were writing to her too, ordering her not to let down the family. Narcissus was turning in satisfactory reports, earning praise for the first time in years. She never included that there were days when she felt like she was failing, when she stayed up for hours because the lessons didn’t stick in head. It didn’t matter as long as she could keep her ranks in the mid-60s. Her only wish was that her headaches would go away.
Ethel struggled in classes but was able to stay afloat with studying, every lunch she and Rose would sit together and pore over their studies, helping to quiz each other much to the shock of both sides. The effort required for her to stay alive meant no outbursts or fights, to the relief of her roommates.
Kali and Havu were excelling in class, battling for top ranks, and the ultimate prize: Class Captain, with a few other high achieving Nevers. Narcissus burned with jealousy watching them succeed while putting in half the time that she was. It seemed that all the studying couldn’t compete with natural skill.
Elsewhere Penelope was finding herself in a potentially dire predicament. She kept trying to study, but academia, which had once been an easy thing, requiring little work, was now arduous. She was managing to stay in middling ranks, purely due to natural talents she possessed heavily compensating for her inadequate study skills. She didn’t understand why it was so difficult for her, but she had to figure it out soon, the challenges were going to get tougher.
Disaster struck two weeks later, during surviving fairy tales. Yuba was instructing them on which leaves could be used for eating, which would kill you, and which didn’t do anything in particular. It was not a particularly exciting lesson to children unaware of their own mortality. Especially when some of the students had been given new slingshots…
Narcissus was diligently scribbling away at her notes, doing her best to accurately sketch each leaf, grilling Yuba about the real colors of the leaf. He was happy to have a student so intently hanging onto his every word. Which is why he didn’t notice the boys taking up target practice.
Several loud cracks snapped everyone out of their focus on the lesson. Everyone turned towards the noise, the guilty party held their slingshots limply in their hands. The students’ eyes tracked the path of destruction to some broken branches hanging by a thread near a nest of sleeping bone stymphs.
“What did you do?” Yuba asked, a scary edge to his voice.
“It’s okay,” one of them answered, “only Nevers can wake them up.”
“That’s not true,” Kali said horrified, staring at the nest.
A bone stymph slowly rose from it, stretching out it’s wings, everyone held their breath as it took them all in. “What do we do?” Ethel whispered; then it let out an ear shattering screech.
Chaos broke loose in the Blue Forest as the sixteen students scattered, everyone screaming, as three bone stymphs launched themselves out of the nest and swooped towards their targets. Yuba waved his staff, attempting to stun the stymphs, but it was hard to strike them while they dipped and dived towards the students. Some of the princes tried using their slingshots to fight the stymphs.
“NO!” The Nevers screamed, the stymphs grew even angrier and one managed to grab a prince in its claws.
Yuba shot sparks from his staff to frighten the bird, succeeding in forcing it to drop it’s prey. A net appeared, catching the student, mostly unharmed. The three birds swooped to dive bomb Yuba, he aimed his staff to take care of them, but was knocked off balance by a fleeing student. The edge of the staff exploded, throwing everyone nearby to the ground.
Narcissus struggled to pull herself up, spitting out blood, a new exit had been created by the blast, a large gaping circle had been made by blasting through the foliage. She heard a screech and saw a stymph, flapping its wings and staring at her intently. Narcissus scrambled off the ground and stumbled through the exit rather than risk ending up in its claws.
“No! Stop!” Yuba frantically called after the few students who went running through the new exit. But it was too late, in an effort to escape the stymphs, some of the students had run into the Endless Woods.
Penelope crashed through the broken branches and shrubbery, desperate to escape the sharpened claws of the stymphs. The light disappeared and she could barely see, but she didn’t stop running until she couldn’t hear the screeching. Even then she kept running, until something finally tripped her and she crashed onto the floor. Penelope laid there, sides heaving, she had never run so far and fast in her life. Her lungs burned and her legs felt like pudding. Her palms stung, she squinted seeing scraped skin and flesh blood oozing from the open wounds. She had never been hurt like this before.
She turned around trying to figure out where in the blue forest she was. A chill ran down her spine as she realized what was missing: blue. Instead of the vibrant shades of turquoise, cerulean, navy, and indigo, there were browns and greens. She wasn’t in the Blue Forest anymore, she realized with a sinking stomach. She was in the Endless Woods. She heard a howl in the distance and frantically tried to figure out which direction she had come from. But it was useless, she was lost.
She shivered and hugged herself walking forward, her eyes adjusted, she wasn’t stuck in a pitch dark forest. She wondered where she was, she wondered when the sun would go down. How was she going to survive? Two weeks of class were not enough for all the dangers lurking in these woods.
Penelope tried to stay quiet as she walked through the Woods, she had never been alone in the forest, she had never been alone, not like this. The forest was too quiet and too full of noise at the same time. She could hear sounds, mysterious commotion caused by unseen things. Were they friendly? Hunger? Indifferent? She wiped her eyes, she’d never been so scared in her life.
“Why am I walking?” She whispered to herself. She couldn’t find which direction she came from, she didn’t know where to go, she couldn’t survive for long. The teachers, she thought firmly, they’ll come find me, they won’t let me stay out here. If the teachers were searching for her, which they were, then it didn’t make sense to keep walking. She just needed to stay put until the search party came for her. She was a princess, she was meant to be rescued.
She sat down and curled her knees to her chest, they’d be here soon, she’d get washed up, and have dinner in the dining hall. Arsinoë and Dahu would hug her and tell her how worried they had been, and tonight she’d sleep in her soft satin sheets and this moment would seem like a dream.
A loud snarl ripped through the calmness of the forest, Penelope scuttled backwards into some bushes as she saw two, maybe three hulking creatures run by, she was glad she had gone unnoticed. She started to hyperventilate, she became less sure of her odds of survival. At least she managed to not become whatever that was’ snack.
A piercing scream rang out, the creatures had found a snack. “NO! Stay back!” A frightened voice called out, Penelope sat up, she knew that voice, it was a student! Penelope ran towards the noise, there they were fifty feet ahead, Penelope stopped behind a tree, taking in the scene.
Two hulking hounds, bigger than any dog Penelope had ever seen were licking their jaws at the prey they had cornered. A girl with white hair in a tattered black dress, gripping a rock, blood running down her arm, and pointing a glowing finger on the other hand. Narcissus. “I’ll do it! I’ll hex you!” She shouted, Penelope hadn’t realized how accomplished of a witch she was, none of them had had their magic unlocked, yet here she was ready to cast a spell. They hung back hesitating in a standoff.
There was a loud caw and Narcissus’ eyes glanced to her side for half a second, one giant wolf took the advantage and lunged at her, slamming her to the ground. It pinned Narcissus' hand with the glowing finger down. She used her free hand to bash the rock against the wolf’s face, the only thing keeping at bay as she tried to wrestle out of a creature three times her size. Its companion hopped around, yowling in excitement. Penelope was frozen, gripping on to the tree. She should do something, or Narcissus would die!
How? A voice inside her argued, you have no magic, no skills! All you’ll do is get yourself eaten, better run away before you’re next. Princesses aren’t warriors.
The voice was right, what was she going to do against two giant beasts? She was a princess, she wasn’t met to fight, she was meant to be saved. She resolved to sneak away, to hide, so she could be rescued by the proper people. She turned away, but Narcissus’ screams still filled her ears, she was struggling, fighting with everything she had. It was a losing battle, she probably knew that, and yet she was fighting. She had more courage than Penelope ever could. No no no NO! She was a hero! She was supposed to help people! It didn’t matter if she was outmatched. She had to try!
Penelope scanned the forest looking for something, anything she could use, finding a couple fist sized rocks she grabbed them and dropped one in her pocket. She stepped out from behind the tree and hurled the stone at the excited wolf’s head, hoping it would hit. It missed, bouncing off the wolf’s shoulder bone, but it got its attention. It turned its head towards the minor nuisance and saw a disheveled girl in a dirty pink dress with golden hair and it pounced. At that moment, Penelope realized she had failed to figure out a way to subdue the wolf after getting its attention. Right before it’s jaw could clamp down on it’s delicious meal she lunged to the side and the wolf slammed it’s head into the tree with a CRACK!
One down, Penelope thought as she watched the wolf fall back in a limp pile. She looked back to see the wolf staring very angrily at her. It growled as it stalked towards, Penelope backed away, wondering if she could pull off the same trick twice. Before it could make a meal out of Penelope there was a small zap, and the wolf dropped to the floor stunned.
Penelope stared at Narcissus in shock, unsure of what to do next. “Run you idiot!” She snapped before taking off into the forest, leaving her and the wolves behind.
Narcissus hadn’t expected a lot of things, she hadn’t expected some stupid princes to awaken bone stymphs. She hadn’t expected to have to run through trees to escape only to find herself in the real Woods. She hadn’t expected when she dropped the ripped cloth she had been using to wipe the blood off her scratched arms, that a Grim Hound would find it. But most of all, she hadn’t expected to be saved from near certain death by a princess.
Now she was sprinting through the woods, trying to formulate a plan. The beasts would soon recover from being stunned and soon be after her trail again. Narcissus didn’t know how to shake them when she was in such unfamiliar territory. She started zig zagging through the forest, right now her best plan was to climb a tree to give her a height advantage for defense. She didn’t stop running, taking in each tree, trying to find one she could climb high to be out of the jumping range of their massive jaws.
She slid to a stop as she heard shouting, through some trees she could see writhing vines, she recognized them, leecher vines, they liked blood. And there was Penelope, tangled in them, struggling to get out. Narcissus saw a solution to her problem, Penelope would likely get out of the vines, they weren’t very strong, just scary. However once she did, the grim hounds would find her, and be set upon her. Once they had feasted on her they would likely be satisfied and not hunt Narcissus anymore.
Yes they’d be satisfied hunting and killing the girl who had overpowered them. Leaving her to be destroyed so she could survive was an easy decision, she was a villain. She should find joy in doing it. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t leave Penelope to the fate she almost suffered. Narcissus ran forward and grabbed the princess’ hand, pulling forward with all her might, yanking her free of the vines. “C’mon!” Holding tight to each other they ran away from the vines, and the familiar howls in the distance.
“How long till we’re far enough away from them?” Penelope asked panting, lagging behind Narcissus.
“Don’t you get it!” Narcissus snapped holding up an arm to blocking branches and weeds from flinging in her face. “They’re Grimm Hounds! Once they have a taste of their prey they don’t stop hunting!”
Penelope stopped running, pulling Narcissus’ arm back, “Then why are we running?” She snapped, “We’re just wearing ourselves out! Then we won’t be able to fight.” Narcissus looked at her, she was right, they were both breathing hard, bleeding, and tired. Penelope pushed her hair out of her face, “Is there anything we can do to escape them?”
Narcissus thought for a moment, “Water. Water will wash away our scent and they'll lose our trail.”
Penelope turned around, searching the forest, “How do we find water?”
Narcissus looked around, no signs of streams, or rivers, if she had been home she would know where to go.
“We’re going to be eaten by oversized mutts and my shoes are covered in mud!” Penelope stamped her foot in frustration.
Narcissus spun towards her, “What did you say?”
Penelope lifted one foot to show the mud covered pink slipper. “My shoes, they’re getting covered in mud.”
Narcissus tapped the ground with her foot, “This ground is softer, water makes mud, there might be a water source nearby!”
“Where ever the ground slopes downward.” The two slide their feet along the ground, feeling for an incline, “This way!” Penelope grabbed Narcissus’ hand and tugged her along. They followed the wet ground as it became muddier and muddier, water starting to lightly splash their feet.
Tiny streams criss crossed and trickled downward, in the distance they could the howls of the hounds on the hunt, they ran faster until they reached a muddy puddle about three feet wide. “That’s mostly mud, there could be a bigger puddle further, but there is enough water, probably.”
“You want me to roll in the mud?” Narcissus decided to skip the debate and shove Penelope into the mud, before jumping in it like a puddle herself. Penelope stood up wiping her face. Gone was the radiant golden hair, the flawless skin, the perfect dress, all that was left was mud.
“That’s good! Let’s go!” Narcissus grabbed Penelope’s arm, “Run through every puddle you see!” And off they went again, ignoring the aching of their legs and the burning in their lungs. They splashed through every muddy puddle and stream, after wading through a shin deep creek they finally stopped running. “That… should… do it.” Narcissus said panting.
Penelope leaned against a tree for support, “What now?”
Narcissus cocked her head, listening for the Grim Hounds, they sounded frustrated, but faint, and not getting closer, she felt relatively confident they lost their trail. She looked to the sky, “It’s getting dark, we need to find shelter. How’s your climbing?”
Terrible, her climbing was terrible! Narcissus discovered Penelope didn’t have the grip strength or calluses needed to handle the rough bark biting into her hands. She had no upper body strength, making it impossible for her to pull herself up. Narcissus ended up needing to boost her up until Penelope could reach the lowest branch and hold on, her legs dangling in the air. Then Narcissus had to climb up, and pull Penelope up. Once they reached a spot in the tree where the limbs split off, leaving some space for the two to stand, she collapsed against a branch.
“Princesses are so weak.” Narcissus moaned.
“Yet Evil still loses.” Penelope said tugging on a muddy lock of hair.
Narcissus stared for a moment, then erupted into giggles, Penelope looked frightened for a moment, then joined in. Narcissus kept laughing until her ribs ached with each breath. She and the princess sat in relaxed silence as the stress and fear were momentarily lifted off their shoulders.
Narcissus watched Penelope idly picked at the mud on her forearm, “What do we do now?” The princess asked.
Narcissus shrugged, “There’s no point in doing anything until it’s daytime, even worse things come out at night.”
Penelope shuddered, “How do we fall asleep?”
Narcissus thought about all the monsters and plants Yuba had mentioned in class, she imagined them creeping up on their sleeping forms, their mouths opening wide with sharp teeth and drool dripping down on them, waking them a moment before their brutal death. Her hair stood on end, “I don’t think we should. Let’s just stay up and maybe we can come up with a plan for daylight.”
