Fall of the School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Author:Soman Chainani [Chainani, Soman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2023-03-03T00:00:00+00:00

7.

Rhian startled awake, bumping his head against the cell wall. His arms were still suspended from chains, tingling with nerves deprived of blood. A further reminder that he’d lost his immortality, his body no longer immune to unpleasant sensations. He must have shouted himself to sleep, he surmised, his throat raw from raging after his brother made off with Midas and left him here alone.

But now he heard the sounds of what had woken him. Footsteps, tramping down the tunnel, two heavy pairs, closer, closer, until out of the shadows a figure appeared, bald, dark, muscular, poking at the gold statue that blocked his path into the dungeon cell.

“Is that Dean Humburg?” the figure said, almost to himself. “That can’t be good.”

“Hephaestus! That’s you, isn’t it?” Rhian cried, bright with hope. “You came back . . . You can help me!”

The Everboy turned, staring at the Good School Master quizzically through the open door, before he was flanked by a sturdy young man in a wide-brimmed hat, who Rhian instantly thought looked familiar.

“Where’s your brother?” growled the man in the hat, who Rhian now recognized as the Pirate Captain, who’d come to school and conspired with Hook to kidnap students to Neverland—Hephaestus included.

“Rafal’s not here,” Rhian said, turning cold. “Come to steal more students, have you?”

The Pirate Captain shoved past Humburg, giving the gold-turned Dean a disturbed glance, before he stepped into the cell, casting shadows over the prisoner. “Hook and I have come to save your school from that ass-headed Neverland twit who believes he is the one true School Master.”

Rhian hesitated. “James is here too?”

“Here to kill our mortal enemy and restore you and your brother to power before Peter Pan kills you both and turns your Woods into a forest of slaves,” said the Pirate Captain.

In a split second, Rhian did what he did best: assess the situation with a hawk’s speed and find his advantage. His face softened, his tone warming up. “You mean restore me to power. I’m afraid that my brother Rafal is in league with the Pan now. That is why he is free and I am chained up here. Like Pan, my twin also believes in the prophecy of the One. And he believes if the Storian doesn’t choose him, then it will name Peter the new School Master. So he’s cozying up to your mortal enemy to hedge his bets.”

“Your brother is working with Pan?” Hephaestus said, surprised, stepping next to the Pirate Captain.

“Predictably Evil, as you might expect,” Rhian sighed.

The Captain peered down at Rhian. “And you’re saying that you don’t believe in this prophecy of the One?”

“I believe in the balance between Good and Evil. I believe in the bond of love between my brother and me that has kept this school thriving for hundreds of years,” Rhian answered decisively. “But until I can make my brother see reason, I am the only School Master you or anyone in the Woods can trust.”

Hephaestus and the Captain glanced at each other.

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