Fairest of All (Whatever After #1) by Sarah Mlynowski Read Free Book Online

Snow. We have to fix her story. It’s not fair! Why should Snow have to clean and cook for the dwarfs when she should have her own palace? Why should Evil Evelyn get away with her evil behavior? And what about the prince? If we don’t fix Snow’s story, she’ll never meet him and she’ll never fall in love and live happily ever after.
    “I’m sorry we interrupted Evil Evelyn yesterday,” I tell her.
    “Oh, don’t worry,” Snow says. “I’m sure my stepmother will try again. She’s tried three times already.”
    “Why do you keep letting her in?” Jonah asks.
    She looks at her hands sadly. “I don’t know. I guess I keep hoping it’s not really her. That she doesn’t really hate me that much. My dad used to say that you have to believe the best in people.”
    “Of course you should believe the best in people,” I say. “But not when they’re trying to kill you. But you’re right. Evil Evelyn will definitely try again. In fact, she’s probably yapping it up with her mirror right now, asking who the fairest of them all is. When the mirror says it’s you, she’ll start plotting a new plan to kill you.” An idea explodes in my mind like a firework. “Wait, that’s great news! Yay!”
    “Um, yeah,” Snow says. “Yay.”
    “Not yay that she’s going to kill you. Yay that we’re going to fix your story. See, she’ll probably put on another disguise and then come over. And this time we won’t interrupt. We’ll let her poison you.”
    “We will?” Jonah asks uncertainly.
    “Yes! That’s the point, right? Snow gets poisoned, you don’t barge in asking for an apple, and the story goes on as planned.”
    “But how do you know she’ll use poison again?” Jonah asks. “The first time she didn’t use it. She tried to lace her to death.”
    True.
    Snow shivers. “And then there was the plan to eat my lungs and liver.”
    “Your stepmom has some serious issues,” I agree. “But she did use poison the last two times. So hopefully she’ll try it again.”
    “She is a fan of poison,” Snow says.
    “Exactly. So as long as it’s poison again, that’s what we’ll do. Snow will eat the poison, she’ll fall down, the dwarfs will put her in the box, the prince will find her and save her, she’ll come back to life —”
    “And they’ll live happily ever after!” Jonah says.
    Whew. I feel much better now. Everything will continue as normal. It’s a perfect plan. I am such a good planner. I bet you have to be a good planner to be a judge. So you can plan people’s punishments and stuff.
    “When do you think she’ll come?” Snow asks.
    I flip my pillow to the cool side. “Good question. When did she come last time?”
    “Today,” Snow says.
    “No, before today.”
    “Yesterday.”
    “And the time before that?”
    “The day before yesterday.”
    “Perfect,” I say with a yawn. “Then I bet she’ll come tomorrow.” Excellent. We’ll take care of everything tomorrow.
    First: We fix Snow’s story.
    Second: We figure out how to get home.

a ll the dwarfs are at work when I hear a knock at the door. I’m not sure what they do, but they seem very dedicated.
    “That’s her!” I whisper, and put down my spoon. I’m not crazy about my breakfast, anyway. Snow’s porridge is no Lucky Charms.
    Snow turns even whiter than normal. “Maybe I shouldn’t get it.”
    I place my hands on my hips. “You have to! That’s the plan.”
    Jonah tugs on my arm. “When can we go exploring?”
    “Not now, Jonah,” I whisper.
    “I know. But when?”
    “Shush! When we’re done.”
    “But I don’t want to be poisoned,” Snow whines. “I think I’d rather just live here. And stay un-poisoned.”
    “I bet you won’t even feel it,” I say, even though I have no idea if that’s true. The story never said anything about the poison hurting, did it?
    I peek behind the curtain, expecting to see the old woman from yesterday, but instead, there’s a young girl standing there. She’s