The School For Good and Evil

In surviving fairy tales, Yuba uses a swan-shaped key plunged into their fingers to unlock each student’s magic, which is indicated by a finger glow. Sophie stuns everyone at lunch with a makeover and flirts with Hort to make Tedros jealous. Agatha tries to lecture her, but Sophie ignores her. After Tedros ignores Sophie’s new wardrobe, she takes Agatha’s advice to show him what’s inside and starts a beauty lecture group for Nevers. Sophie’s lecture group grows until Tedros joins. He is fascinated by Sophie’s kindness as shown through her teaching, until he sees her last-place ranking in the School for Evil and stops coming. Sophie’s last-place rank alienates other students, and her group disbands. Agatha confronts her, and Sophie says she stopped studying because they don’t let her fail. That night, Agatha goes to Sophie as a magically transformed, or mogrified, cockroach to help her study.

For the next week, Agatha—as a cockroach—tutors Sophie at night. The lack of sleep takes a toll on Sophie’s appearance; she cites studying as the reason for this when Tedros asks. He promises that if she gets ranked number one, she can ask him anything. Sophie makes progress, but her sleepless nights catch up to her, and she’s ranked lowest again.

Agatha pretends to have the plague so she can be quarantined in her room. Disguised as a cockroach, she accompanies Sophie to her classes. Sophie climbs in the rankings and resumes her lunchtime lectures until she achieves a number-two ranking. Tedros tries to stop himself from liking Sophie, but he can’t. During a “Good or Evil” challenge in surviving fairy tales, Yuba turns the girls into blue pumpkins and hides them for the boys to find. Tedros announces Sophie’s pumpkin with Agatha’s roach clinging to it as an Evergirl. When the pumpkin turns into Sophie, Yuba gives her first rank in the challenge and takes the red F off her dress. Sophie achieves her number-one ranking because of this, and Tedros arranges a midnight meeting with her. Agatha reminds Sophie to kiss Tedros so they can go home.

Disguised as a pink fox and a cockroach, Sophie and Agatha meet Tedros’s navy fox in the forest. Agatha coaches Sophie through their conversation. When Tedros goes to kiss her, Sophie asks him to wait, so he walks her home. Agatha yells at Sophie about blowing their chance to go home. Sophie leaves Agatha, who realizes Sophie doesn’t want to go home.

Sophie and Tedros shock everyone with their romance. When Sophie brings up the ball, Tedros says the Everboys made a pact not to propose until the night before; he promises to ask Sophie to the ball. Back from her quarantine, Agatha watches, knowing the Trial by Tale will doom their romance. The Trial by Tale means the top Evers and Nevers from each school are sent into the forest overnight; the last one standing at dawn wins. Those with the worst scores from the challenge week enter first, while the best scores enter last. If a student is in mortal danger, they drop their handkerchief to the ground and are rescued unharmed. Tedros and Sophie are selected to compete in the Trial by Tale. Hester threatens Sophie with death during the Trial, but Tedros reassures her that they will protect each other. When they win, Tedros assures Sophie she will become an Ever, because she earned the love of a prince. Sophie sees Agatha and tells her to make new friends because Sophie has a prince.

Sophie places last in all the pre-Trial challenges. Tedros is angry with her, and when Sophie returns to her room, her roommates kick her out and threaten to kill her. Sophie goes to Lady Lesso for help, but she closes the door in Sophie’s face; Sophie hears Hester put a bounty on her head for the trial. Sophie kicks Hort out of his room. The next day, Lady Lesso has the class practice murder. She conjures a phantom princess that looks just like Sophie. Sophie turns it into a chicken and throws it out the window, where it plummets to its death. This is the first time Lady Lesso ever felt sorry for an animal, and she gives Sophie another bottom ranking. Sophie is crying when she overhears a teachers' meeting debate about removing her from the trial because of the death threats against her. Professor Sader reminds them of the school’s mission: to protect the balance of Good and Evil. Since Sophie’s presence in the trial doesn’t upset the balance, she will compete.

Agatha watches Sophie try to kiss Tedros at lunch, but he shoves her away. Agatha finds a note from Sophie in her lunch asking for help.

That night, Agatha, as a cockroach, doesn’t find Sophie in her room. Before she leaves, one of Sophie’s roommates sees and recognizes her. Agatha tracks Sophie’s scent to Hort’s room. Sophie meets a human Agatha in the bathroom; she cries and asks for help. Agatha agrees to help Sophie in the trial as a cockroach after Sophie promises to kiss Tedros the first time she gets a chance to do so. Sophie hugs Agatha, and they hear a sound. Sophie sneaks back to Hort’s room, while Agatha turns back into a cockroach. Neither notices the red tattoo in the shadows.

The day before the Trial, the contestants get a day to scout the Blue Forest. Tedros wants Sophie to follow him, but Sophie says she hasn’t earned his protection yet. She tells him she lost the Trial challenges on purpose to prove her love to him. He makes her promise to stay alive until he comes through the gates and leaves her to explore. Sophie and Agatha, as a cockroach, argue about Sophie’s messing up the lines Agatha gave her. Sophie is smacked in the head by a dead cockroach as the insects rain from the Evil Towers. Hester tells Sophie they are exterminating cockroaches after Agatha’s plague scare. Agatha leaves Sophie because Hester knows their plan.

Agatha sneaks into Professor Sader’s bedroom to ask him for help. She finds books about seers and prophecy and wonders if he can see the future. Professor Dovey finds her and punishes her with two weeks of cleaning toilets. Agatha wakes up to Tedros’s screaming at Beatrix; he doesn’t believe her tale about Agatha’s helping Sophie cheat. After Tedros leaves, Agatha sneaks into the library for a book. Suspicious, Tedros follows her. Once she’s gone, he checks the log and sees that she checked out Flower Power: Plant Charms for a Happier World (315). His suspicions of her vanish.

On the night of the Trial, the worst-scoring challengers, Sophie and Kiko, prepare to enter first. After rumors of cheating, giant spiders guard the gates to prevent intruders. Tedros makes Sophie promise not to drop her surrender handkerchief because they are a team. She asks for a kiss for luck, but he says they will kiss after the Trial. Sophie sees the School Master watching in his tower but doesn’t see Agatha. Then, she is flung into the spider gate, and the Trial begins.