It's a new day and with it, comes new challenges. I was still peacefully sleeping in my bed. Eugene already got up and was headed downstairs for breakfast. After twenty more minutes of good sleep, it was interrupted with the door of the dorm slamming open.
The sudden noise woke me up albeit very slowly. I sat up on my bed very groggily and I saw in my blurred vision, both Enid and Wednesday with their eyes wide open.
I yawned and asked, "..what's up? I'm still sleepy."
Getting no answer from both of them, I didn't realize they were looking at my bare chest since I was still half-asleep.
The minds of both Wednesday and Enid were blown away when they saw Y/N's chest, forgetting what they came up for.
They both thought, "Those rock-hard abs as well as those perfect pectoral muscles. It looked like some sculptor carved the very muscles out of marble for the gods to admire."
Both girls felt their blood rush up to their faces. Wednesday couldn't help but bite her lower lip while imagining being under them while Enid was huffing and licking her lips thinking of ways to mate with Y/N as her eyes start having heart-shaped pupils. Unbeknownst to their thoughts, Y/N was still out-of-it and thought that they were waiting for him to get ready.
Seeing as I'm up now, I tell the girls to sit tight and wait till I finish a quick shower. I headed to the bathroom and closed it after I entered. Enid immediately went straight for the bed while hugging the blanket I had just left while Wednesday was more calmer and sat on Y/N's bed feeling the warmth on the sheets.
Both girls looked at each other and Enid said to Wednesday in a hushed tone, "This stays between us, ok?"
Wednesday nodded and replied, "As much as I want to continue "THIS", we have to get back on track and ask Y/N what happened after we were incapacitated."
Enid agreed but she looked at Wednesday slyly and said, "So... Do you like Y/N? Like like him? Cuz you know I really really do like him."
Wednesday was stunned by the sudden question. She stayed quiet and thought of the first time she had seen Y/N to that first comment, standing up for her against Bianca, to speaking out for her and her father from the sheriff at the Weathervane and finally rescuing both her and Enid last night.
She can confirm that she does have feelings for Y/N. She never thought she would open up her frozen black heart to anyone else after Nero's death.
She felt if she does not acknowledge this, she may regret it for the rest of her life.
So Wednesday looked back up to Enid and dully said, "I do like him. In that way. I will continue to know Y/N better as I'm curious more about him."
Enid's eyes lit up and excitedly said, "That's great! That means we'll be together with Y/N forever. I wanna be with him forever and leave a mark on him."
She then looked to Wednesday and seductively raised her eyebrows and said, "Maybe you can leave a mark on him too~"
Wednesday looked at Enid with a dull face with a hint of blush and replied in a very tiny voice, "..maybe.."
After five more minutes of the girls talking, Y/N stepped out of the shower wearing his black uniform like Wednesday.
I walked towards the girls and asked, "So how come you guys came up to my room?"
Both Wednesday and Enid looked at each other and then to Y/N and replied, "To find out what happened last night."
I figured this was gonna happen but since I plan to find some evidence later. I best tell them the plan without outing Principal Weems yet. I recounted the events that happened after I found them and how they were unconscious after beating the creature away.
I told them that I found Principal Weems in the festival panicking when she saw you and Enid were unconscious. She didn't know about Rowan and was only concerned about you girls' safety and helped get the two back to Nevermore. I brought you both to your beds and had Thing kept an eye on you since you had an exciting night.
After listening to Y/N's story, Wednesday wanted to bring the authorities to search for Rowan's body and verify to them that there is a monster running around killing people. Enid agreed with Wednesday's plan. I suggested they talk to Principal Weems about it, so they can better coordinate with the local authorities. They both agreed and pulled Y/N towards the Principal Weems' office.
As soon as they arrived in front of the Principal's office, they saw Rowan walking out of the room in perfect condition. Both Wednesday and Enid were shocked to see Rowan alive and in one piece.
Well that threw the girls' plan on having to the local authorities involved. I, on the other hand, narrowed my eyes and found the same magical signature as Principal Weems. I'm guessing she's a shapeshifter and appearing like Rowan would ease the pressure on the school for Rowan's murder. Wednesday tried to talk to Rowan but he just told her not to bother him and leave him alone. Wednesday tried to insist but Rowan ran away without giving her a chance.
I said, "That was weird. Seeing as I saw him dead on the ground when I got to you guys. Something is up."
Wednesday and Enid agree and ask if he can help keep an eye on "Rowan" while they find Principal Weems to talk about what they experienced that night minus the part Rowan was about to kill them.
I left the two girls for a while before finding "Rowan'' in Ms. Thornhill's car.
"Rowan" transformed back to Principal Weems and said, "Mr. Ashborn, I have made arrangements with Rowan's parents and they're willing to keep the murder of their child a secret until solid evidence can be produced. Oh and do be a dear and inform Ms. Addams to come to my office after? She needs to pick up an extracurricular activity to join."
I agreed and replied, "Alright, I'll let Wednesday know and keep her safe while she tries to find some clues on the matter. I'll inform her of our plan after the Poe Cup. I'm sure I'll have some evidence by confirming some suspicions I have."
With all that said and done, we separate and go do our own investigations. I have classes today so I'll be busy till afternoon so I'll just check on that shadow seed I left behind that person who was tailing me last night.
The classes came around and after a while, classes ended. I told Wednesday that Principal Weems was looking for her to join a club. I recommended her Eugene's Nevermore Hummers club. It was quiet and isolated except for the bees' buzzing so she could leave and investigate without alarming Principal Weems.
I went and saw people making their own boats on the clear field behind Nevermore in the afternoon. It's been a while since I left Wednesday to go to see Principal Weems. I also spotted Enid and her friends painting what looks to be a black cat on the front of the boat. Wednesday just happened to chat with Enid. I guess Wednesday already sorted things out with Principal Weems.
"What a coincidence," I thought.
I walk towards the girls and they spot me. Enid started waving her hands excitedly while Wednesday gave a standard hello. Enid ran and hugged me proclaiming her smile towards Y/N. I just hugged back and smiled to Wednesday.
I looked at Enid and said, "Getting ready for the Poe Cup? You guys better win, I'll lend you guys a hand when the other teams start playing dirty, okay?"
The girls working on the boat cheered that Y/N's willing to help them win the Poe Cup. They thought that the Poe Cup was a sure-win now.
With assurance from me, Wednesday told Enid that she'll find Xavier Thorpe after class for some answers since he and Rowan were roommates before.
Seeing as Ms. Thornhill's class is starting soon, I start heading over there. Interesting enough, I sense the Shadow Seed I left on that stalker person last night. I entered the greenhouse classroom and sat on one of the chairs.
Soon more students trickled in and I saw Xavier sitting across behind me sketching a spider on his notepad and Bianca keeping her distance from me. After a few more minutes, I see Wednesday entering and heading to one of the plants in the back. By the way she started talking to one of the "plants", I'm guessing she's talking to Thing.
The trail from the shadow seed is gradually getting closer to the classroom location. That person should be here soon. After watching the confrontation between Wednesday and Bianca, that "person" finally arrived.
Surprise is the word I would put it since it was Ms. Thornhill arrives and the Shadow Seed is being released from her shadow.
I thought, "Now that's interesting. Why was she stalking me when I left Ophelia Hall? This mystery is getting deeper. I'll need more information before I finalize my thoughts."
I send a signal through my shadow to the Shadow Knights to keep an eye on Ms. Thornhill and share what she does and where she goes. I'll need everything about her at all times. I will not let any suspects go until I find what's going on.
Ms. Thornhill started class and Wednesday found a seat next to me while I turned to look at Xavier with a hint of disdain, which angered him. Class proceeded as usual and both Wednesday and Bianca were going toe-to-toe with answering plant biology. I just slowly kept to my thoughts and time went by quickly.
Wednesday pulled me aside after class and asked, "Y/N, will you come with me to where Rowan was killed? There might be clues there."
I replied, "Alright, let's change to our casual clothes and meet up in front of Ophelia Hall."
Wednesday nodded and agreed to meet up after. I didn't waste time and went upstairs to my dorm room to change and grab a drink from the fridge in the room. After chilling for a bit, I headed down and went to Ophelia Hall. I see Wednesday waiting for me. I smiled and greeted her. She let out a small smile in return.
As I saw that smile, I thought, "Wow.. I did not expect that smile. It looks good on her."
We started heading out of Nevermore and headed to Rowan's murder scene. It took about fifteen minutes of walking till we got to the location. Once we got there, we hid beside the tree because we saw Sheriff Galpin with a hound dog sniffing around the area.
I whispered to Wednesday, "The sheriff might be looking for more evidence with the recent manslaughter of hikers in the area."
She understood but being close to Y/N led her face to be red and it didn't help that I whispered into her ear. After refocusing and calming down, Wednesday told me to stay still until the sheriff passes. I nodded and agreed with Wednesday.
After watching Sheriff Galpin leave, both Wednesday and I left our hiding spot. She started looking around for anything that belonged to Rowan. As she was looking around, I saw a shadow ready for extraction from some blood-stained glasses with some patches of blood on the grass.
I motioned to Wednesday I found Rowan's glasses. Wednesday hurried over and touched the glasses, in doing that she froze up and fell down. I caught Wednesday before she hit the ground. I was worried about what happened to her.
I thought, "What's causing her to freeze up and faint like this?" Before I could think of an answer, she woke up from my arms gasping for air.
Wednesday hurriedly said, "Rowan was the one who made that griffin statue fall over us. He also had a fight with Xavier before heading to a dimly-lit library underground. He planned on killing me and Enid but that monster came and killed him. I also saw a symbol of a skull in the middle of a flower."
Wednesday blurted out with all the information she saw but I looked confused as I don't know what just happened to her.
I calmed her down and told her, "Slow down. Slow down. Talk to me slowly and tell me what happened to you? You just froze up and fainted after you touched Rowan's glasses."
Wednesday looked troubled but resolutely replied, "I get visions from time to time. It comes and goes whenever I touch something or someone. The last time I had a vision was when I bumped into Rowan and saw that he died in that forest and it came true. I went after him to stop the vision from happening."
I looked at her in surprise but smiled and said, "You must be a very powerful seer albeit a bit untrained. Is it a special trait of your family?"
Wednesday took a breath and exhaled and explained, "I do not know if the visions run along the family but my mother did give me this obsidian necklace. She informed me that ancient Mayans used it to conjure spirits. It must have had an effect on me because the visions had gotten frequent recently."
Returning to visions she saw, I remember that library. She must've been talking about the Nightshade Society. I saw the same symbol on the floor of that library.
I turned to Wednesday and said, "I think I know what library you're talking about. I actually found it when I was roaming around during the first day we met. Apparently, it's called the Nightshade Society. We can go there tonight if you'd like. I still need to find a book about monsters to find what kind of creature I fought off that night."
Wednesday agreed to the plan and was about to leave but I stopped her. She looked at me to see why I stopped her.
I looked back at her and said, "How about we ask Rowan what he knows?"
Wednesday is a little shocked on how we can talk to Rowan when he has already died.
I told her to watch carefully and allowed the shadow to resonate with my power and said, "Arise."
A shadowy silhouette emerged from the blood stains on the ground and kneeled down to me and proclaimed, "My liege."
Wednesday looked at me shocked with her mouth open, so I just smiled and gently closed her mouth and said, "Let me get that for you."
Wednesday just realized what just happened to her but she was bright red under her pale skin, no longer concealing her growing feelings for Y/N.
She looked at Y/N and said, "I want to talk to you after the Poe Cup with Enid beside me but for now, let's ask Rowan's shadow some questions."
I was surprised by her resolute response but nodded and told the new Shadow Servant to answer what questions Wednesday had and learned that in the ripped painting Wednesday had two parts.
One still in the library of the Nightshade Society and the other in her hand. Apparently Rowan's mother predicted that Wednesday was going to destroy the Nevermore so he wanted to kill Wednesday to make sure it doesn't happen.
The other person in the painting still in the library was Joseph Crackstone, the founder of Jericho. After everything is said and done, more questions pop up after the old questions are answered.
I told Wednesday we should explore the Nightshade Society later when night falls and she agreed. I dismissed Rowan's shadow and told Wednesday to come over. She walked towards me and put my arm around her shoulders while I activated Shadow Exchange to head back to my dorm room. Wednesday was shocked to see that they had returned to Nevermore so quickly.
I then told her that a Shadow Knight is now keeping an eye on the crime scene in case someone starts snooping. I left another shadow to anchor for a safe location to bring myself or Wednesday or Enid in the room for the future.
Wednesday had become numb at this point to all the surprises Y/N had given her. From the moment he revealed his power on that balcony that night to now had shattered her whole view of outcasts and gave her a new perspective on how big the world really is.
Seeing as it is not too dark now, I told her we should grab some dinner and continue to the library when it's past curfew.
Wednesday stared at me and agreed to head to the cafeteria. On the way there, we met up with Enid and asked her to join us. She was happy to join as well and told her the situation we found.
Enid said that she couldn't join in the investigation too much because of the upcoming Poe Cup so apologized.
I patted her head and said, "No need to apologize, Enid. Just focus on winning the Poe Cup and come find me and Wednesday when it's done. We won't turn down your help."
Enid happily responded, "We'll be sure to win and make you proud of me!!"
Enid smiled sweetly and hugged Y/N hard making Wednesday on the side make a bitter face but quickly hid it. Wednesday was a little jealous with the close interaction between me and Enid but she'll get her chance.
After eating dinner, we separated from Enid and headed to the Edgar Allan Poe statue and entered the secret passageway. We got down to the hidden library and saw that Wednesday started looking for the book she saw in her vision.
I just released some Shadow Knights to stay hidden and keep watch while me and Wednesday find what we were looking for. I started to look around as well and bookshelf after bookshelf and I still couldn't find a book about monsters. After a while I stood in front of a painting by the stairway and felt a faint magical signature behind the painting. I took down the painting only to reveal a safe with a combination lock.
Thinking of a solution yet nothing came to mind, I thought, "Seems like I have to brute force it open."
After making my decision, I summoned my dagger and jammed the dagger into the lock, penetrating through like butter. I grabbed hold of the handle and opened it. I saw a book inside and took it out. It reads, "Faulkner's Diary".
Before I got the chance to open it, the Shadow Knights informed me that other people had entered the passageway and were sneaking in with masks and burlap sacks. I put the diary inside the Shadow Storage and was about to remind Wednesday but she was already sacked with her hands tied behind her back.
Another was trying to sneak up on me, only for me to dodge and grab ahold of the hand and I threw the person on the floor with my knee on the person's back while pulling his arm behind. The others were shocked and gave up trying to be mysterious.
They discarded their disguises and showed some students I recognized, which were Bianca and her crew, Yoko, and Ajax. I pulled off the mask from the person I subdued and it was Xavier.
At this point I'm not even surprised and walked over to Wednesday to take the burlap sack off and untied her only to see it untied already.
I chuckled and said to her, "Looks like you didn't need my help getting free."
Wednesday gave me a look and appreciated the gesture.
Bianca said, "Why are you two here? This library is off-limits to non-members."
I gave her a dull look and replied, "I found this place a few days ago and thought it was abandoned plus I told Principal Weems and she didn't mind I found it."
Seeing that Bianca couldn't find a way to retort back, Xavier spoke up, "We should let Wednesday join. After all, she is a legacy."
Wednesday looked to her left to see a picture of her mother Morticia and her father Gomez in their younger years.
Wednesday answered, "Let me save you the trouble. I'm not interested in joining."
She walked towards me and took my hand and headed towards the stairway. I was shocked by her and before I got the chance to register what just happened, she already led me outside hand-in-hand. Wednesday was very decisive and seemed much more straightforward with her actions.
Laughing in my mind, I thought, "I'm liking her more and more. I don't know when both Wednesday and Enid took root in my heart but I like this feeling seeing as I was alone when I got to this world."
Wednesday and I finally got to Ophelia Hall. She had a red hue on her face when she looked back at me. I'm assuming she was either nervous or felt accomplished from the whole ordeal.
I smiled looking at Wednesday and said, "Is there something you want to say to me?"
Wednesday panicked but she couldn't get the words she wanted to say out of her mouth so I continued, "Think and be sure of your feelings. I can probably tell what you're thinking or feeling about. I feel the same coming from Enid. Not that she hides it at all. So when you're ready, I'll be here for your answer."
I took Wednesday's hand and brought it up to my lips lightly kissing her knuckles. Wednesday couldn't believe what she just heard and saw. Her brain is not registering what happened to her just now but her heart had slowly thawed as her feelings, which she thought were nonexistent to her, for Y/N rose. Her face was in shock as the blush started climbing to the tips of her ears turning it beet red.
I lowered her hand and let go while sending her farewell, "Good night Wednesday and sleep well tonight~!" I then walked away heading towards my dorm room. As I got into my room, I got ready and used Shadow Exchange to train with Igris again for the night.
My skills are constantly being polished and less flaws are appearing from my fighting style as the fight goes on with Igris. I then ask a few knights to join in to increase the pressure of the training as sparks of steel clashed.
The fighting went on for another two hours before ending for the night. I looked up to the sky and wondered what will happen after this investigation finishes and apprehended the perpetrator.
I recount the clues and possible suspects in my head. So the first one is Tyler Galpin who had the same madness signature as the monster and Ms. Thornhill for stalking me when I left Ophelia Hall that night.
Seeing as Outreach Day is tomorrow and the Poe Cup competition is the day after, there's a good chance to check Tyler at the Weathervane to see if he's bruised up and had the Shadow Seed on him. I'll deal with Ms. Thornhill later as she doesn't look like she's involved in the whole Rowan incident but I'll keep an open mind.
I sighed and murmured, "I'll see what I can find tomorrow but for now, I should probably get back and sleep."
With that thought, I left the training area in the forest and Shadow Exchanged back to my dorm room. I took a quick shower and got ready for bed. Another day and night in Nevermore. Nothing really phases these outcasts at all.
The mysteries of the manslaughters around Jericho are slowly unveiling itself. The raven and the wolf are slowly getting closer to the Shadow Monarch. Will they be a blessing or a curse?