Chapter 3 | Grimm Tower

Morning never looked like morning, the skies were a dark grayish blue as Alberick opened his eyes, the room was warmer than his usual dorm as it was heated by these strange fiery crystals, groggy, he rubbed his eyes as he could hear the masters and mistresses shuffling up the stairs one by one waking everyone up.

The room was simple and in the corner laid a table with his uniform, during the weekend he wore a black uniform instead of his usual green or blues, the ladies wore red while the gentlemen wore black, it was a dull color but that never mattered, it was just clothes. 

Taking a moment, Alberick finds himself quickly getting dressed as he hears the mistresses outside squawking like a flock of birds.

 “Did you hear about the new teacher? I heard she was crazed.” 

“Goodness, is that true?”

It was difficult to hear their gossip as they walked down the stairs and past Alberick’s door, but it seemed Evelyn was right, as usual, they were getting a new teacher. 

Better prepare then……..let’s see…..what was it again? He opened his notebook to review the notes he took last night, committing the story, ingredients, and special steps required to memory as best he could, before stepping outside, bag in his arms. 

Stepping onto the stairs, Alberick looked down to see the dark red dress and darker hair of Evelyn at the very bottom, she was immersed in people as she chatted, yet there was one person Alberick didn’t recognize that she was talking to.

The woman had hair as dark as Evelyn’s, skin as white as snow, and eyes the color of pearls, she was a beautiful older woman by every means, she was well dressed and while her voice was inaudible due to the distance, it was certainly soft. 

With a wave and a curtsy, the ladies all departed as all went one way, but Evelyn, instead of heading to where the classrooms would be, went to the library, alone. 

Everyone began walking up the stairs as the classrooms were at the top of the tower inside the crystal crested dome, Alberick among them, yet his thoughts lingered on Evelyn’s whereabouts, he made a mental note to go looking after class, but for now, he prepared himself for her prediction yesterday. 

Walking up every step and into the grand dome, the many tables filled the area, the seating was mixed yet it was customary that ladies sat on one side and gentlemen sat on the other, Alberick took his seat to find not a single lady in the entire classroom which was rather rare. 

As he waited his eyes moved over the wooden rafters that were lined with gold, they were truly a sight to behold, the stained glass made the classroom look frosty as the warm orange crystals and lamps flickered lightly heating the room, before he knew it class was starting and not a single female was in the classroom. 

That’s……..odd……..is this the teacher's work? He recalled Evelyn’s words as well as the mistress's gossip from this morning, perhaps he did need to be careful, if the teacher had the pull to pick and choose her students, whatever today held would be……interesting. 

After the chatter died down, a chime rang through the hall and the doors opened as the woman with dark hair and blue eyes walked in, as she entered and the snow light from outside shined upon her, her hair turned white, it glimmered and glistened as she took it down from the bun it was in. 

Her snowy white hair now slipping down her shoulders as she turns around and smiles at all the gentlemen who look in awe, her eyes sparkling like fresh snow. 

“Well hello students, I’m Professor Snow, though I suppose you say teacher here, do you not?” Her way of speaking was uniquely gentle as if it was a fluffy powder. “It’s wonderful to meet you all.”

Some of the boys blushed as others giggled, she seemed nice and gentle unlike many of the other old hags who were teachers here. Alberick just stared at her, cocking his head to the side, silently analyzing her as she spoke. 

“I will both be teaching you boys here and at your dorm, as many of you may have guessed, I’m a descendant of Snows, a family named after the heroic tale of Snow White, and every generation, their firstborn girl is given the ability to turn as white as snow.” Gesturing to her hair she smiled as she introduced herself, it was strange how honest she was with who she was. 

“And if you're wondering as to why none of the ladies are here, to put it simply, it’s because some knowledge isn’t to be shared with everyone.” Curious glances filled the room the moment she said that, while many agreed, some shook their head in confusion. 

Alberick could hear how Keith would have agreed and how Orion would have fought to see the pretty ladies in the same room with him, which just shows how his mind has been poisoned by those idiots. 

Watching as the teacher grabs a small glowing pen, she begins her lecture on something horribly familiar. 

“Now, which one of you know the story of the poison apple?” Doodling out an apple onto the board it glows a bright green despite the many depictions in the book last night. 

“The poison apple is what is known as a cursed relic, and can only be made by those with evil intentions, it’s a horrible creation that causes one to sleep for all eternity as their inner organs rot away inside them and their flesh stays intact, preserved perfectly for a matter of fact.” Tapping on the board she writes a few dots. 

“To make one you need such ingredients as a Darkinder Mushroom, better known as a Vulture or Sulvan Black mushroom, a Siren's tear, A frog scale, and lastly, the petals of a Rose Eagles Eye.” 

As she speaks the images on the board start to move by themselves as each ingredient is mixed together in the drawing of a cauldron, and then with the image of smoke a green apple appears. 

“Now students, you may be wondering why I’m teaching you this, I do promise it’s all a part of today's lesson, throughout the next week, I will be showing you each why different ingredients can conjure different cursed items and charms, and everything you need to protect a royal against poisons.” Teaching children how to brew cursed items, it’s certainly a strange first lesson. 

A huff left him, as he wondered why they’d teach a flawed recipe, if anything that would leave them defenseless if someone offered them the real thing, nonetheless, he prepared for the lesson, deciding to keep his mouth shut……….or at least that’s what he’d hoped for, yet he found himself raising his hand. 

“Oh, yes? Did you have a question?” Immediately she gestured to Alberick, excited at the thought of getting a question so soon. 

“I did actually, I had heard of a different version of the story when I was no taller than these desks” Words spilled from him, but he really didn’t know what her reaction would be, he braced himself for her reaction soon. 

With a slight tug of her lips and a furrowing of her brow Professor Snow looked, a little off-put, yet she still smiled, she felt as her skin felt cold as she had a feeling she knew what he spoke of. 

“I assume you heard of the apple turning red correct? Well, I hate to inform you that those books were counted as inaccurate long ago.” Taking a deep breath, she put down her pen and grabbed a book from her teaching stand that looked similar to the one Evelyn showed last night, yet, it was different. 

“This series was written by the Snow family, it’s an accurate representation of the story unlike the ones written by the Queens.” Unlike her usual cheery and soft voice, her tone went a bit darker, as if she was prejudiced towards something as simple as literature. 

“The Queens are what we call the descendants of the evil Queen, they all went mad from the mirrors long ago and as such, their knowledge cannot be trusted.” Going off on a little rant she stops and gathers her thoughts. 

“But I suppose that’s a discussion for another time and another teacher as history is not my specialty.”

And with that, she continued her lesson, almost dismissing the entire rant she just had, it felt strange that the Snow’s would supposedly have a better recipe for the poison apple than the makers of it would, which caused many to whisper to each other, this class was filled with the most intelligent students after all. 

A small smile of satisfaction graced his face as he simply continued preparing for her lesson, one thing had been made clear, and even the other students had probably been given an inkling of it, she wasn’t to be trusted, at least not in the way of teaching them correctly, who knew what other secrets she was hiding? 

The thought made the gears in Albericks head turn, and he was sure to pay very close attention to this lesson. 

For the rest of the lesson, she mostly talked more about how she was a professor in another school before coming here, how her lectures would go, and how she would be assisting in teaching at the boarding school. 

And after a while, a boy named Ruth leaned over to Alberick and whispered. 

“I think she was only hired here because she was rich, what do you think?”

Ruth was a clever kid with copper-colored hair and glasses, he had horrible eyesight but a way of reading people like a book, he was probably the only one Alberick was somewhat acquainted with as they both always tended to sit in the middle. 

“Either that or to make sure we don’t learn the real recipe.” He softly whispered back, and kept his eyes on the teacher, wondering how many other kids had started to piece it together, he’d hoped a few at least, and it seemed he wouldn’t be disappointed. 

Ruth placed a hand on his chin as he doodled on his notebook, he figured nothing in today's class would be of importance as the minutes ticked by, and before they knew it her little lecture was over. 

“Now, I’ll see you all on Monday, I can’t wait to teach you all.” A hopeful tone filled with excitement graced her voice as students walked up to introduce themselves, Ruth immediately stood up to go greet her as well, but not for the gentle reason his face portrayed, he spoke a few words, gave a few laughs and then left, rolling his eyes, he was rather picky about who taught him and Alberick had this feeling he planned on skipping classes from now on. 

Standing up, Alberick walked out, gazing around he hoped to catch a glimpse of Evelyn, but to no avail she was probably hidden away within the library, questions bubble up like spring water as the day, slowly passes.

﹒˖˚──﹕✦﹕──˚˖﹒