by Joan Holub
“Well, my hunch is that E.V.I.L. has Principal R in its clutches,” said Polly.
Red nodded. “It wouldn’t surprise me.”
“Ditto.” Rapunzel’s long, loose braids, which hung nearly to the floor, bobbed up and down as she nodded, too.
“Too bad we don’t have proof of that, though,” said Red. She looked at Goldie. “You know Snow White? Well, she was a member of E.V.I.L. for a while, and —”
“She was?” Polly interrupted, eyes wide.
“Only so she could spy on them,” Red hastened to add. “She wasn’t ever really evil but only convinced Ms. Wicked — her stepmother, that is — that she was on E.V.I.L.’s side.”
“Ms. Wicked wasn’t fooled for long,” said Rapunzel, taking up the thread of the story as she got up and went over to the window to let one of her cats outside. “So then, Snow used her magic charm tiara, which allows her to become invisible, to spy on the society.”
Wow, thought Goldie. Snow’s magic charm tiara can make her invisible? How cool is that? She’d learned about magic charms during her first week at the Academy. Red and Rapunzel and certain other students had them. It was an honor to be chosen by a charm, and most students went to GA for months or years before it happened. Charms had magical powers that only the person they belonged to could unlock.
Goldie went to stand by Rapunzel at the window to watch her cat scamper off toward the river. But her attention snapped back to the group when Red took over the story again. “Spying on E.V.I.L. while she was invisible worked for Snow for a while,” she said. “But then the Society got suspicious. They began cloaking their meetings with a magic spell to prevent outsiders — even invisible outsiders — from getting in to spy.”
By now, Goldie’s mind was spinning. She twisted a lock of golden hair around her finger. “I could get in to spy on E.V.I.L.!” she blurted to the others. “Malorette and Odette invited me to join.”
The other three girls stared at her in surprise. And maybe a hint of sudden suspicion.
“Why?” asked Polly.
“They think I’m evil because of some stuff in my tale, but I’m not. Promise.” Goldie drew and invisible X on her chest with a fingertip, crossing her heart. “I’m on your side. And I’m pretty positive they don’t know where Principal R is being kept, but Ms. Wicked has got to know.” Her eyes shone bright. “If I join the Society, maybe I can get her to tell me where he is.” Spying on E.V.I.L. was sure to make her a hero! Especially if it helped her find the principal.
The other three girls were silent for a moment, as they considered what she’d said. Finally, Red rose to her feet and began to pace to and fro. “You’ll have to be very, very careful,” she cautioned. “Ms. Wicked isn’t easy to deceive. Even Snow, her own stepdaughter, couldn’t fool her forever.”
“And she’s not the only teacher who’s a Society member, by the way,” said Rapunzel. “Ms. Queenharts is, too.”
“Really?” chorused Goldie and Polly. The snobbish Ms. Queenharts taught Comportment, which basically dealt with the subject of etiquette or good manners.
Red and Rapunzel nodded. “And Mr. Hump-Dumpty was a member at one time, too,” said Rapunzel.
“But as far as we know, he’s since dropped out of the group,” added Red.
The egg-shaped Mr. Hump-Dumpty taught the Grimm History of Barbarians and Dastardlies. Goldie had always thought him a good egg, so it surprised her that he’d ever been a member. He was always very fearful, though, so maybe he’d been scared into joining?
“The only student members we’re sure about are Malorette and Odette,” said Rapunzel, moving from the window to sit cross-legged on her bed. “E.V.I.L. members wear masks to meetings, or at least they used to. Which means that even if you do succeed in getting in, it may be tricky to figure out who’s who.”
“Another thing — Ms. Wicked knows we’re good characters and can’t be swayed into joining the Society for real. So if you do join, you’ll need to keep our friendship a secret,” Red added.
Their friendship? So Red considered them friends now? Goldie beamed at her. “Oh! No problem.” Woo-hoo! She wanted to jump for joy. These non-evil girls were starting to like her!
Rapunzel nodded. “It’s lucky that you and Polly are roommates. You can tell her whatever you find out in the secrecy of your room. And then she can report back to us.”
“Tea-tastic idea,” said Polly. Which made the others smile.
“We’ll share whatever you tell Polly and Polly tells us with Snow and Cinda, of course,” Red added. “Even though Cinda is Malorette and Odette’s stepsister, she’s not at all like them. And she’s certainly no fan of E.V.I.L.”
“Okay,” Goldie agreed. Cinda, she knew, was the good character in the tale she shared with her two villainous stepsisters. She, Snow, Red, and Rapunzel were all best friends. If Goldie could make her friendship stick with these three girls, it might spread to include Cinda and Snow!
“And if Goldie can find out where Principal R is being kept, we’ll make a plan to rescue him?” Polly asked.
Goldie nodded along with the others. But at the same time, she was thinking that if anyone was going to make and carry out a plan to rescue the principal, it was going to be her!
When it came time to leave Rapunzel’s dungeon room, the girls all decided that Goldie should go on ahead of Red and Polly so that no one would see them together. “Malorette and Odette would drop you like a hot potato if they thought you were friendly with us good characters,” Rapunzel warned. “And then there’d be no chance of your getting into E.V.I.L.”
Though it hurt a little to think that Malorette and Odette’s offer of friendship was so fragile, Goldie didn’t doubt that Rapunzel was right. If she did become a member of that Society, she’d have to keep her wits about her. A broken friendship would probably be the least of her worries if Malorette and Odette and other members of E.V.I.L. were to find out what she was up to!
“So?” said Malorette.
Goldie jumped about a mile high. Still half-asleep, she hadn’t noticed Malorette and Odette were waiting outside her alcove as she left it to go down to breakfast the next morning.
“Oh! You scared me,” she told them. For a moment she worried that they might’ve somehow found out about her dungeon wanderings last night and were going to confront her about where she’d been and with who.
However, as the three of them started down the stairs together, Malorette brought up another subject entirely. “So you never did say if you were interested in joining our group. We’re recruiting new members and we’d be willing to sponsor you,” she said.
“Sponsor me? What does that mean exactly?” Goldie had been a little afraid the sisters would take back their invitation to join the Society since she’d been less than enthusiastic about membership yesterday. She was glad the offer was still on the table, but she didn’t want to appear too eager.
“It means we suggested your name to Principal Wicked yesterday,” said Odette. “So if you are interested, we’ll take you to a screening interview in her office at lunchtime.”
“I didn’t know it was that hard to get in. Who else is in the Society, anyway?” Goldie asked, carefully keeping her voice casual. It would be great if she could get them to tell her a few names right off the bat.
Malorette shook her head as the girls entered the Great Hall. “That’s strictly on a need-to-know basis. First, there are rules. Steps.”
“Ms. Wicked has to approve you for membership, and then there’s a probationary period,” Odette explained as they headed for the breakfast line.
“Wow,” said Goldie. “Quite a process.”
“Yes, well, we don’t let just anyone in, you know. There have been a few … problems in the past,” Malorette told her. She glanced in the direction of Snow White, who was just passing them with her breakfast tray on the way to sit with her besties — Rapunzel, Red, and Cinda.
A little thrill shot through Goldie to think that those four girls were
quite possibly on their way to becoming her friends, too. She was careful to avoid making eye contact with any of them, though. She didn’t want Malorette and Odette to suspect anything. It was actually kind of dizzying going from hardly any friends at all to sudden offers of friendship from both good and bad students.
Odette stared at Goldie as they took trays and got into the breakfast line. “Well?” she coaxed. “Do you want to meet for an interview at lunchtime or not?”
“Um … sure … why not?” said Goldie. Then, worried she hadn’t sounded eager enough, she added, “I’d love to find out more. It would be grimmawesome or should I say grimmevil to become part of the group.”
Choosing the right level of enthusiasm was tricky. She wanted her interest in joining E.V.I.L. to appear not too lukewarm, not too eager, but just right. She must’ve been convincing because Odette and Malorette both sent her pleased smiles as they split off for breakfast.
During first-period History, Goldie was so anxious about what questions Ms. Wicked might ask in the upcoming interview, that she was pretty sure she didn’t do well on her test. By the time she entered Ms. Blue’s Bespellings and Enchantments classroom third period, she felt super stressed. It didn’t help that a uniformed zebra guard was trotting back and forth at the rear of the classroom, eyeing students through tinted glasses with black-and-white-striped frames.
Huh? thought Goldie. Till now, the guards had only patrolled outside the classrooms. This was something new. And it made her feel even more jittery.
However, her apprehension melted some when Prince Foulsmell caught her gaze. He nodded toward the guard and rolled his eyes, then smiled at her. She rolled her eyes and smiled back.
Ms. Blue tapped her wand and made an announcement right away. “Today we’ll begin creating magic projects as part of a celebration to dedicate a new statue of Principal Wicked. The statue will be erected out on Maze Island in the coming weeks.” Her voice sounded a bit too bright to Goldie, as if she were forcing herself to sound enthusiastic.
Celebratory projects? An exploding cake that splatted frosting on Ms. Wicked’s face sounded just perfect for the occasion to Goldie, but she doubted it would be wise to suggest such a project idea with that zebra guard around.
Foulsmell raised his hand. “Aren’t we going to continue with the Defensive Magic unit we started yesterday?” he asked when he was called on.
Ms. Blue glanced nervously at the zebra guard. It lowered its striped tinted glasses to glare at Foulsmell. “Zzuch zzpells are not needed zzince all izz zzafe and zzecure now,” it said.
Hmph, thought Goldie. She and Foulsmell exchanged disappointed glances. Murmurs swept the class. They weren’t the only disappointed ones. Those bubbles had been fun!
“You’ll find some spells to help you get ideas in Chapter Eleven of your Handbooks,” Ms. Blue said quickly.
What? thought Goldie. Yesterday, Chapter Eleven had been the chapter on Defensive Magic. But when she asked her Handbook to magically open itself to that chapter now, she saw that its heading read “Decorative Magic” instead. What was going on? She checked the Table of Contents, in case she’d remembered wrong. There was no “Defensive Magic” chapter anymore! Returning to Chapter Eleven, she skimmed the first paragraph:
Celebrations of all kinds can be made a lot more fun with magic. From displays that sparkle and light up the sky, to party decorations that can actually move and talk, to amazing foods that tickle the tongue, this chapter provides you with all the spells you will need to ensure that your special occasion — or the occasion of a very special, very, very important person at your school perhaps — is not just special, but magically, sensationally special!
She leaned across the table to speak to Mermily, who was also staring at her Handbook. “Something’s up,” Goldie said. “This chapter used to be …” She zipped her lip when the zebra guard, who’d been keeping a keen eye on Ms. Blue and all of the students, trotted up to her.
“Izz there a problem?” it asked.
“No.” Goldie sent the guard a fake smile and stared back at her book as though it were the most fascinating chapter she’d ever laid eyes on. She couldn’t do anything that might raise the zebra guard’s suspicion of her, she realized. If it reported to Ms. Wicked against her, her plans to gather information from E.V.I.L. would be foiled!
Asking Ms. Blue about the chapter was out of the question, as well. That guard was watching their every move and seemed to be making the teacher as nervous as the rest of them. So instead, Goldie spent the period practicing a dumb spell to create party streamers of various colors that shot up from the tip of her wand to drape themselves in the air. Zzzo boring!
“Hey, Goldie, wait up!” Prince Foulsmell called as they exited class at the end of the period. Out in the hall she was about to drop back and see what he wanted, when Malorette and Odette appeared to escort her to her interview with Ms. Wicked. When Foulsmell caught up to her, the two sisters got in his way, elbowing him aside. Linking arms with her, they steered Goldie down the hall toward the grand staircase that would take them up to the principal’s office on the fourth floor.
Noting that Foulsmell had followed them, Malorette made a face. “I warned you about that puppy-dog prince, didn’t I?” she asked Goldie, not even trying to keep her voice down.
“You weren’t going to hang out with him, were you?” Odette chided her as Foulsmell trailed them. Before Goldie could think what to reply, Odette looked over her shoulder at the prince. “Woof, woof!” she barked at him.
Horrified by this rudeness, Goldie glanced back, too.
With a look of confusion on his face, the prince had halted in mid-stride.
The sisters didn’t let up and also began to laugh. “Git along, little doggie!” Malorette called to him, making shooing motions with her hands.
An embarrassed flush was spreading up his neck to his cheeks. Foulsmell spun around and stalked off in the opposite direction down the hall. It had all happened so fast that Goldie could only watch, speechless with dismay. Instantly, a sick kind of feeling hit her. She could go after Foulsmell and explain, but that would foil her chances of getting into the Society. And foiling E.V.I.L. would be for the greater good of the whole school in the end. Surely Foulsmell would understand if she could tell him what was going on. Which she couldn’t. Argh!
This totally stunk. What they’d done to Foulsmell had been awful, and had hurt his feelings. Not only that, he probably thought she had been making fun of him, too!
“Why were you so mean?” she asked the sisters as they climbed from the third to the fourth floor. “He’s not a bad guy.”
That set the sisters to laughing again. “Exactly,” said Malorette. “Not bad. Which means he’s not our type.”
“Hope you’re prepared for this interview,” said Odette as they started down the fourth-floor hallway. “Because ours was grueling. Remember, Malorette?”
“Yeah. It was a total nightmare.”
Goldie tensed. Worry about the interview suddenly trumped worry about Foulsmell’s hurt feelings. “You didn’t say anything about preparing. What was I supposed to —”
But they had already arrived at the office door. Her companions opened it and gave her a little push inside before following her in. She’d just have to field any questions that came her way the best she could. Gulp!
When the three girls entered the main office, they startled Ms. Jabberwocky, who was in the act of gulping down a hot pepper. A stream of flame shot from the dragon lady’s nostrils, setting a stack of papers on her desk ablaze.
“Oh, frabjous, just frabjous. Not!” she muttered as she grabbed the papers and shook them up and down to put out the fire. In the process, she created a cloud of gray smoke that she quickly tried to fan away. The dragon lady’s odd way of talking and her fondness for hot peppers (and hot sauce as well!) were well known to both students and staff at the Academy.
But not everyone liked it. In fact, within seconds, a scowling Ms. Wicked burst fro
m the door beyond Ms. Jabberwocky’s desk. Once marked as PRINCIPAL R’S OFFICE, it now sported a new brass plate engraved with the words PRINCIPAL WICKED.
“Didn’t I tell you the Academy is now a smoke-free zone?” Ms. Wicked yelled at the hapless dragon-lady assistant. “Unless I direct you to fry something, you don’t fry something! Got it? And if you must eat those disgusting peppers and drink that revolting hot sauce, do it on your breaks. At a distance of at least thirty feet from the wooden drawbridges!”
Ms. Jabberwocky cringed under the tirade. “I know, I know, Principal Wicked. I’m tulgey sorry.”
“Hmph,” said Ms. Wicked. Then, distracted by a small gilt-framed mirror hanging on the side of a filing cabinet nearby, she leaned toward it and began to primp. “There are lots of others who could do your job, you know,” she said as she patted her hair into place. “No one is irreplaceable.” Still scowling, she reached into her pocket, withdrew a lipgloss, and began to apply it.
Ms. Jabberwocky grinned impudently, displaying sharp, scary teeth. Imitating her new employer while her back was turned, she ran a clawed hand over the scales at the top of her head as if to smooth them to controlled perfection. Then she puckered her lips and smacked them together. Goldie had to clap a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. Luckily, Malorette and Odette didn’t notice the dragon lady’s mockery or Goldie’s response. The two sisters had eyes only for Ms. Wicked.
When she finished primping and turned around again, Ms. Wicked finally noticed the three girls standing just inside the office door. Like magic, the scowl on her face vanished and was replaced by her usual charming, but icy, smile. “You should have told me my guests had arrived,” she scolded Ms. Jabberwocky in a lighter tone. “But never mind. Come in, come in, girls.”
