[Enid POV]
When I woke up, Ajax was gone. The inflatable mattress lay deflated in the corner like even it couldn't stand the weight of what had happened last night. For a moment, I just stared at the empty space where he'd been and wished I could erase the memory along with it.
I had hoped it would be simple. Just a night out with a friend. Laughs at the arcade, stupid games, nothing heavy. But Ajax ruined it. He had to open his mouth, had to spill that confession, had to make everything complicated.
And the worst part? It wasn't new. This happens all the time now. Boys suddenly looking at me differently. People staring like I'm something rare, something they want. Now that I've wolfed out, now that I'm finally whole, suddenly everyone notices me. Suddenly everyone decides I'm worth falling for.
But where were they before?
Where were they when I was drowning in my own skin? When every full moon was a reminder of my failure? When I smiled so hard it cracked just to cover the panic of not being enough? No one was there. Not a single hand reached out for me.
Except his.
Percy was the only one who saw me sinking and decided I was worth saving. He stretched his hand into the dark and pulled me out, piece by piece, until I could breathe again. That's why no one else can matter. My heart already belongs to him, and there's no space left for anyone else.
I shoved the memory of Ajax's words down, dressed quickly, and headed to the courtyard for breakfast.
The sun cut sharp over the stones, casting long shadows. I sat down with Divina, Yoko, and a few others, tray balanced in my lap. Yoko grinned, leaning closer. "So? How was your first hang out with a male friend?"
I forced a smile, stabbing my toast hard enough to send crumbs flying. "First and last."
"Oh? Don't tell me he fell in love with you." Divina arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
Heat prickled on my cheeks. I shoved the toast in my mouth so I wouldn't have to answer.
Divina smirked as if she knew she'd guessed right. "Typical. Smile at a boy, be a little nice, and they fall in love like puppies. Honestly, most of them are pathetic enough to fall in love with a pillow if it winked at them and had a hole for their dick."
Yoko, who sat nearest, snorted into her juice.
Divina's gaze snapped at her. "Why are you laughing? You're just as depraved. Remember last time, when we were out with Percy, and you actually asked if he'd be okay being the father of our future child?" Her smirk deepened as Yoko choked on her drink. Then she looked back at me, eyes glittering. "He said sadly no… But maybe you could say some nice words for Yoko to Percy."
Why do I even hang out with them…
Before I could think of a deflection, the sharp click of heels sliced through the courtyard chatter. The sound alone was enough to silence everyone. Miss Thornhill emerged, sunshine smile plastered on her face, but her steps were too precise, too deliberate. And trailing behind her, his head bowed was Ajax.
My stomach twisted.
She stopped right in front of me. "Enid Sinclair," she said loudly, voice carrying across the courtyard. "I must remind you that curfew exists for a reason. This morning, I found Ajax leaving your room. I understand you're young and curious, but there are rules for your safety. Exploring new things can wait until you're older."
Every eye in the courtyard snapped toward me.
The silence lasted just long enough for my face to catch fire. Then the whistles began.
"Nice one, Ajax!" someone yelled, and the whole place erupted into laughter.
I wanted the ground to open up and eat me alive.
I slammed my fork down. "It's not true!" I snapped, but my voice cracked in the middle, and that only made them laugh harder.
One of Ajax's so-called friends leaned across the table, grin as nasty as his breath. "If I knew all it took was one date to get you to spread your legs, I'd have asked sooner. So… you busy tonight?" He laughed, joined by a chorus of howls.
My stomach churned. My claws ached to rip his smirk off his face. I turned to Ajax, eyes burning. "Is this your revenge? Because I turned you down?"
His face twisted, eyes wide, shaking his head. "No! Enid, I…" He fumbled with his phone, as if to prove something.
But before he could finish, every single phone in the courtyard buzzed at once.
A storm of notifications. Screens lit up like fireflies.
Divina gasped behind me. "Oh my god, Enid…"
My hands shook as I pulled out my phone. And then the world ended.
Photos. Dozens of them.
Me and Ajax at the arcade, frozen in that awful second. Him stumbling, me catching him, our faces too close. His lips tilted toward mine, my hand against his chest. Frozen in still frames, it didn't look like an accident. It looked like passion, like we were devouring each other under the neon glow.
The courtyard erupted again. Whistles. Laughter. Jeers. "Sinclair's isn't satisfied with just one dick!" "Poor Perseus, doesn't even know he's getting cucked!" Another chimed in, "Perseus's girl Ajax, huh? Savage."
I glanced at Ajax, my chest twisting. So, you did it… this was your plan all along?
The walls closed in. My skin burned. My vision blurred. Claws tore through my fingers, breath coming ragged.
Not here. Not now.
I bolted.
I didn't stop running until the courtyard noise was gone, swallowed by the forest. My chest heaved. My body trembled on the edge of shifting, my wolf screaming to break free, to rip something apart.
I leaned against a tree, sliding down until the bark dug into my back. My phone still buzzed in my hand, those cursed photos glowing on the screen. Thornhill's voice replayed in my skull, syrupy sweet and poisonous: young and curious… exploring new things…
I wanted to scream. I wanted to tear the world apart. I wanted to rip those smug grins off their faces. But mostly, I wanted to disappear.
Because what hurt worse than their laughter was the thought of Percy seeing those photos. Seeing me with Ajax. Thinking I'd cheated him after he gave me his trust.
It didn't matter that it wasn't true. People believe what they want to believe. And Percy… he wouldn't. He couldn't. Not with Thornhill's voice still echoing in everyone's ears, not with evidence splattered all over every phone in school.
I sank to the ground, clutching the fabric of the sweater against me like it could shield me from the weight pressing down on my chest. My heart thrashed against my ribs.
I pressed my fists against my eyes, but the tears still leaked out. My throat closed, choking me. "Everything is fine," I whispered. "Smile Enid, everything will be fine."
A soft thump on my head made me flinch.
I froze. Slowly tilted my gaze up.
A cat sat there. Or at least, something shaped like a cat. Its body shimmered with black ink, its eyes hollow and glowing like tiny moons. It purred soundlessly, then leapt down, landing with a splatter that left no stain. It tilted its head at me, tail curling.
My breath caught.
Percy's cat, Garfield.
The cat stared at me and then it turned, padding silently through the trees. After a few steps it looked back, like it was waiting.
I pushed myself up from the ground, legs shaky, sweater still clutched in my fists.
My foot lifted, ready to follow.
But the moment my shoe touched the earth, my heart squeezed. I didn't want to go. Every instinct screamed at me to run in the opposite direction, to hide, to avoid seeing Percy's face twisted with betrayal. I could survive Percy's temper, maybe even his cruelty. But if he looked at me with sadness, with disappointment, I knew I would shatter.
The lie I'd been clinging to cracked apart, and before I could stop myself, I spun on my heel and bolted in the opposite direction. Branches clawed at my arms, the forest blurring around me as if I could outrun Percy's gaze, outrun the cat, outrun the weight pressing down on my chest.
Suddenly, I slammed into something solid. Arms closed around me before I could hit the ground. I froze, breath catching as a familiar scent washed over me.
I couldn't bring myself to look up at him. My forehead pressed against his chest instead, as if hiding there could make the world disappear.
Tears burned my eyes again. My throat locked up. What could I even say? It's not what it looked like? That was every cheater's favorite excuse. And there were photos now, false proof painted in pixels.
"It's not true," I whispered, voice breaking. Then I laughed bitterly. "But who would believe me..."
"I believe you," he whispered against my hair.
The dam inside me broke. Tears spilled hot down my face, soaking into his shirt. I clung to him, my fingers curling against the fabric, careful not to tear it even though every nerve in me screamed to shred something.
He held me like nothing had changed. Like he hadn't just seen the whole school laugh at me. Like he hadn't just been handed a stack of photos that screamed betrayal.
I should have been happy that he believed me, that he trusted me, but sadness flooded me like a tide.
Because instead of doubt, instead of anger, he gave me trust. The love I feel like I damaged. Trust I wasn't sure I deserved.
I pressed my face against his chest and whispered, broken, "I am sorry."
He only held me tighter, his voice steady, almost tender. "Don't be."
And that was the thing about Percy. He didn't just keep me from drowning. He made me believe, even for a moment, that maybe I could swim.
[Wednesday POV]
Enid's shoulders shook against Perseus's chest, her tears staining the black fabric of his shirt.
And then, like a curtain falling between tenderness and tragedy, he moved. Slowly, Perseus drew a knife from his coat, before he buried it deep between her ribs.
Enid convulsed, her hands still clutching his shirt as if even betrayal could not sever her grip. Crimson spilled over his chest, blooming across the black like a grotesque flower. She never fought back; instead, her lips curved in the faintest smile, as if she had received some kind of pardon and she whispered, "I love you," with her final exhale slipping free in a choke of blood.
Perseus held her as though he could hold back death itself. Tears slid down his face, his voice breaking in soundless grief. He had struck believing that she had betrayed him, that love had turned to poison. But as her body slackened in his arms, as he heard her last words, truth cracked through him. She had never betrayed him. She had loved him, utterly, fatally, enough to clutch him even as life left her.
And when he understood that, when the weight of his error crushed him with the inevitability of gravity, Perseus did the only thing left to lovers in tragedies. He turned the blade inward.
It was almost Shakespearean in its cruelty. A final duet of ruin, a scene that might have pleased even Romeo and Juliet.
THE END
I stopped my fingers from striking the typewriter keys and looked at the paper, filled with black letters.
This is how some people wished it had ended: neat, tragic. Sadly for them, they had miscalculated two things.
The door of our room opened. Enid stepped in, alive.
First, they underestimated Perseus, whose thoughts move in dimensions they cannot even name, and whose obsession is the foundation of his genius.
They assumed Perseus could be blinded by emotion, that he would trust fabricated evidence over the person he loved. That is laughable, because he sees truths where others drown in lies and with his obsession, I can assume that Enid and I are always under the eyes of his creatures.
I turned my eyes to Enid. She looked shaken, but there was a steadiness in her gaze. I held her stare until she shifted uncomfortably.
"Where are the keys to the car?" I asked.
Wordless, she slipped her hand into her pocket, pulled them free, and pressed them into my palm. I took them without ceremony.
I stepped toward the door, pausing at the threshold. Without turning, I said, "Follow me. It's time to recontribute to the local ecosystem." My voice fell like a verdict.
Second, as I walked and my footsteps echoed down the hall, they believed a carefully timed scandal could split the relationship between Perseus and Enid and so leave me exposed.
Time, however, does not obey their neat calendars. Time is a traitor to plans. It slackens at the wrong moment and accelerates at the right one. The clock they set to break us instead marked their own undoing.
I used to savor the slow unraveling of liars like a gourmand sampling course after course. The delicious mystery of clues to pry loose, hypocrisies to showcase, elegance in the precise ruin of reputations. But time has no mercy, and neither does Perseus.
So I need to act fast, because I can't allow a stain on my curriculum of flawless mystery solving and murder.
And if anyone was going to enjoy the art of torture and death, it would be me.
************
Author Note:
Yeah yeah I know, I always said I was against earning money and all that. But I was chatting with a reader about Patreon and donations and he pointed out: "It's like tipping a waiter after a good experience."
That made me stop and think, there's actually some logic behind it. So, I decided to share a link. But before you consider it, here are three points:
1) No special rewards. Sending me money won't unlock extra chapters or hidden perks. It's simply a way of saying: "Good job, author, it was enjoyable. Here's a coin for you."
2) Only if you can. If you're short on money or simply don't feel like it, please don't tip! Just read, enjoy the story, and use the money to improve your life! :)
3) How I'll use it. The money will be spent on gambling... joking. Honestly, if I can earn enough for a pizza, I'll be more than happy. Hahaha
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