Chapter 8: The Scalper's Story
The old dorm room was a ghost in the Nevermore halls, abandoned and forgotten. The door was locked, but Ezra, with a small, focused Null pulse, made the old, rusted bolt turn with a soft groan. The air inside was thick with dust and the scent of old perfume, a sweet, cloying smell that was unsettling in its normalcy.
It was a shrine. The walls were covered in old photographs, their faces blacked out, their eyes scratched out with a sharp, pointed object. In the center of the room, a large, stylized thorny vine was carved into the wall, over and over again. On a small, wooden desk, a collection of dried flowers, all of them withered and dead, sat beside a worn, leather-bound journal.
"This is… tragic," Enid whispered, her voice a soft, sad murmur.
Wednesday walked over to the desk, a strange, haunted look on her face. She picked up the journal, her hands a strange, trembling contrast to her usual cold certainty. Ezra watched her, a knot of unease in his gut. He had a feeling that this wasn't going to be a fun discovery. She opened the journal, her eyes scanning the pages, and a low hum filled the air, the sound of her psychic powers taking in the information. Her face, a mask of cold analysis, flickered with a strange mix of morbid curiosity and quiet horror.
Wednesday's face was a mask of grim horror as she handed the journal to Ezra. He took it, and the old, worn pages rustled in his hand. He read the entries out loud, his voice flat and devoid of emotion, a stark contrast to the tragic story he was telling.
The journal told the story of a lonely, brilliant student. They had a gift for telekinesis, for manipulating the world around them. They were an outcast among outcasts, a loner who found solace in the ancient, sentient plants of the Nevermore grounds. They were recruited by a secret society, a group that promised to make their powers stronger, to make them special. They were told the "psychic rot" was a way to enhance their abilities, to make them a weapon. They willingly went along, a lab rat in a gilded cage.
"I was a fool," Ezra read, his voice a low whisper. The handwriting on the page was a spidery scrawl, full of pain and desperation. "They lied. They used me. The rot… it's not a gift. It's a disease. It's consuming me. I'm a monster now. A host for a monster."
The journal's tone changed. It was no longer a story of hope. It was a cry of desperation. The student had realized they were being used. They were a weapon pointed at their own kind. The final entries were a chilling confession. The Scalper had a plan. A ritual. A way to destroy the "rot," to save themselves and the world from their own cursed power. But the ritual required a "pure" psychic. A host. A vessel to absorb the rot.
And the only pure psychic they knew… was Wednesday.
The last entry was a chilling, desperate plan. It was a map. A map of the Nevermore catacombs, with a specific crypt circled. And a date. Three days from now.
The air in the old dorm room was heavy with the weight of the Scalper's tragic story. Ezra's voice was a flat, low hum of pure, unadulterated anger. They weren't fighting a monster. They were fighting a victim. A victim who had been betrayed and left to rot. A victim who was now a weapon.
"He's going to use you," Ezra said, his voice a low growl. "He thinks he can use you to kill the parasite. He's going to kill you to save himself."
Wednesday was silent, a strange mix of grim acceptance and genuine fear on her face. She was not a tool. She was a person. And she was a target. A target for a man who had lost his mind and his life to a conspiracy that had been there all along.
Ezra looked at her, his voice filled with a quiet, fierce determination. "I won't let that happen," he said, his voice a vow, a promise he intended to keep. "We're going to the catacombs. We're going to nullify his power. We're going to save him. Both of you."
He looked at her, and she gave him a small, almost imperceptible nod. He wasn't just a partner anymore. He was a protector. He was her brother. He was her hero. The Scalper's story was a tragic one. A victim who had become a monster. And now, Ezra had a new mission: to save the monster from the monster within.
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