Of Giants and Ice (Ever Afters, The) by Shelby Bach

all, which only increases the Character’s peril.”
    Since so many people were talking, I couldn’t hear what elseSarah Thumb told the three travelers, but pretty soon she and Mr. Swallow led them out. Some of the students patted Evan on the back and waved good-bye mournfully, as if they never expected to see the questers again.
    Even Chase sounded sympathetic. “Who knew such a dumb Tale could be so dangerous?”
    “But why ?” I asked. “These are fairy tales we’re talking about. Don’t they all end with happily ever after ?”
    The tallest triplet shuffled his feet. Lena and Kelly looked at each other and didn’t answer. Chase shoved his hands in his pockets, and even Adelaide looked uncomfortable.
    “They didn’t take her,” said one triplet.
    “They don’t take everyone ,” Puss-in-Dress reminded them. “Usually, no one younger than twelve.”
    “Too scary,” said the other two triplets together.
    “But Rory faced a dragon. That shows guts,” said Lena, and if I had felt less nervous, I would have smiled.
    “Must’ve been the other new kid. The boy. He looked freaked out the second he got here,” Chase said, and everyone nodded.
    “Are you going to keep me in suspense?” I asked, half-joking, mainly because I didn’t want anyone to guess I was starting to freak out myself.
    “No.” Puss-in-Dress leaped out of the girl’s lap, her white tail lashing. “Your orientation isn’t over quite yet.”
    “I’ll take her,” Chase said quickly.
    “Me too.” Adelaide’s smile looked way too sympathetic to be real. I wondered if there was any way I could request the feline tour guide instead.
    “You guys go tell Miriam,” Chase added, and Lena watched us go anxiously.
    Adelaide led the way across the courtyard in the setting sun.We came to an old-fashioned door made out of dark wood, black ribbons hanging off its frame and rippling in a wind I couldn’t feel. With Adelaide on the lookout, Chase pulled out a skinny metal tool and picked the lock.
    My heart banged in my chest, and I gripped the hilt of my sword tightly in my sweating hands.
    Finally, the door swung open. “You’re not scared, are you?” Chase whistled a loud cheerful note, and torches flared from bronze fixtures hanging from the ceiling. “It’s just a wall.”
    The wall was made out of marble, five times as tall as I was and as long as the dragon George had killed the day before. It was covered in names, columns of them etched into the stone and gilded, like the markers you see sometimes in national monuments.
    “This is the memorial to the Failed Tales,” said Adelaide gravely.
    Chase scanned the last column. “It looks like seven Characters have died on ‘White Snake’ quests in the past century.”
    A lump clogged my throat.
    “Stop it, Chase. You’re scaring her,” Adelaide said. “Rory, it’s not that bad.”
    But there were so many names—thousands.
    “Most of the deaths in the last few centuries happened in the war,” Adelaide added. “It’s really been so much better since the Director started implementing all of her new policies. She’s the reason why we take Companions on our Tales now. Safety in numbers, she says. Instead of being executed if you Fail a Tale, your Companions help you escape. That kind of thing.”
    “And we rehabilitate a lot of the villains nowadays,” Chase added. “That helps too.”
    That wasn’t comforting. It just made me worry that Rumpelstiltskin could still be a problem.
    “Yes, before the Director started, we lost three out of five Characters. Now, the death rate is . . .”—Chase examined the wall thoughtfully—“less. I’m pretty sure.”
    Then they left me.
    I stared up at the wall, counting names. My gaze stopped at the last column, only half-full, and even though I didn’t want to, it was easy to imagine “Rory Landon” in the same curly letters.
    •  •  •
    I was still stunned when the bell rang again. Time to go home. I walked back out to