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The Last Ever After

Soman Chainani
Contents (82)
  1. Epigraph
  2. Contents
  3. PART I
  4. 1
  5. The Master and the Queen
  6. 2
  7. After Ever After
  8. 3
  9. The New or the Old
  10. 4
  11. Death at an Execution
  12. 5
  13. A Princess Returns
  14. 6
  15. A Forest No Longer Blue
  16. 7
  17. Evil Is the New Good
  18. 8
  19. When Good Rescues Go Bad
  20. 9
  21. The Worst Evers Ever
  22. 10
  23. The Missing Thirteenth
  24. 11
  25. Appointment with the Deans
  26. 12
  27. Find the Spy
  28. 13
  29. Too Many Boys
  30. 14
  31. Where Wizards Go to Think
  32. 15
  33. The Magician’s Plan
  34. 16
  35. Edgar and Essa
  36. 17
  37. Missions Impossible
  38. 18
  39. Tedros in the Sky with Chocolate
  40. 19
  41. Old School Reunions
  42. 20
  43. Last Stop on the Fairy Dust Express
  44. PART II
  45. 21
  46. Peer Pressure
  47. 22
  48. Everything Old Is New Again
  49. 23
  50. Two Queens
  51. 24
  52. Who Do You Belong With?
  53. 25
  54. The Scorpion and the Frog
  55. PART III
  56. 26
  57. In Darkness Comes a Queen
  58. 27
  59. Rebel Hearts
  60. 28
  61. Who’s Helping Who
  62. 29
  63. Failed Assignments
  64. 30
  65. Apologies and Confessions
  66. 31
  67. Spies in the Stymph Forest
  68. 32
  69. The Meaning of Evil
  70. 33
  71. An Unexpected History Lesson
  72. 34
  73. The War of All Things
  74. 35
  75. Never Ever After
  76. Excerpt from The School for Good and Evil #4: Quests for Glory
  77. Back Ads
  78. Books by Soman Chainani
  79. About the Author
  80. Credits
  81. Copyright
  82. About the Publisher

Epigraph

Now, in their love, which was stronger, there were the seeds of hatred and fear and confusion growing at the same time: for love can exist with hatred, each preying on the other, and this is what gives it its greatest fury.

T. H. White, The Once and Future King

IN THE FOREST PRIMEVAL

A SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL

TWO TOWERS LIKE TWIN HEADS

ONE FOR THE PURE

ONE FOR THE WICKED

TRY TO ESCAPE YOU’LL ALWAYS FAIL

THE ONLY WAY OUT IS

THROUGH A FAIRY TALE

Contents

PART I

1

The Master and the Queen

It is natural to doubt your true love when you do not know if he is young or old.

He certainly looks young, Sophie thought, peering at the lean, shirtless boy as he gazed out the tower window, bathed in faded sunlight. Sophie studied his hairless white skin and snug black breeches, his thick spiked hair the color of snow, his tight-veined arms, his glacier-blue eyes. . . . He didn’t look a day more than sixteen. And yet somewhere within this beautiful stranger was a soul older than sixteen—much, much older than sixteen. For the last three weeks, then, Sophie had refused his ring. How could she bond herself to a boy with the School Master inside of him?

And yet the more Sophie looked at him, the more she couldn’t see the School Master. All Sophie could see was a fresh, ethereal youth asking for her hand, with sharp cheekbones and full lips—more handsome than a prince, more powerful than a prince, and unlike Prince You-Know-Who, this boy was hers.

Sophie reddened, remembering she was all alone in this world. Everyone else had abandoned her. Every desperate effort to be Good had been punished with betrayal. She had no family, no friends, no future. And now, this ravishing boy in front of her was her last hope for love. Panic burned through her muscles and dried out her throat. There was no choice anymore. Sophie swallowed and slowly stepped towards him.

Look at him. He’s no older than you, she soothed herself. The boy of your dreams. She reached shaking fingers for his bare shoulder . . . until she suddenly froze in her tracks. It was only magic that had brought this boy to life, she thought, pulling her hand back into her sleeve. But how long does magic last?

“You’re asking yourself the wrong questions,” came the smooth voice. “Magic thinks nothing of time.”

Sophie lifted her eyes. The boy didn’t look at her, his focus on the sallow sun, barely a force through the morning fog.