After an hour and a half Larissa left. In three days, Luke was to meet with a person who would be coming to Jericho to sign the contract. Natasha would also sign as she is his legal guardian.
“It looks like in days you will become a writer. The youngest in the Poe family. Your parents would be proud,” said Natasha with a smile.
“Yeah…” said Luke with a barely visible grimace. He felt no accomplishment for writing Carrie. He had stolen it. He even felt some guilt. What happened to Stephen King in this world? Maybe he was killed by outcasts or something.
“It’s after eleven o’clock now, and your psychic training begins. I was quite lenient and let you get some more sleep,” Natasha commented as she looked at the time.
‘Indulgent you?” thought Luke in annoyance. He just nodded and went to his room to continue his psychic training.
…
Three days passed, and Luke met with the person from the publisher to sign his contract and discuss the final details of his book. Luke had already advanced a lot of work and already had a cover that was Carrie’s original.
He drew a clear sketch, and then a professional would improve it. The editor liked the cover and was surprised at Luke’s drawing ability, although it was not as good as his writing.
Natasha thanks to her attractiveness, a weapon she knows how to use very well, managed to increase the percentage of royalties that Luke would receive. This is the percentage of the income generated by the sales of the book. It is paid quarterly, and usually, a first-time author receives 8%.
Thanks to Natasha he was able to get 12%. She was really reliable. An extra 4% was a great deal.
Once the contract was signed Luke received a juicy $5,000 cash advance. The publisher had high hopes for Carrie and they were betting big on Luke.
He never had that much money in his life. Although they gave it to Natasha since she was his legal guardian, but she handed it over to Luke not caring too much.
Now all that was left to do was to wait about a month for the publisher to produce and print the book. They already had a model ready, it was the one Larissa had given to Luke earlier, so it wouldn’t be long before Carrie would be released.
Nevermore was a month away, so his book will be published around that time. A little later, as they will have to do the promotional campaign for the book.
Luke’s summer continued without much more change. In Jericho, he had no friends so he didn’t get out much. Plus, he had to be careful in case he was attacked by the Spellman psychos. So he wasn’t very good at going out much, even so, there was no sign of enemies.
He continued with his psychic routine being taught by Edgar. Then he had his physical training routine with Natasha, who was merciless and always ended up with his muscles sore and all sweaty.
One day, he had to meet with a publishing employee to talk about Carrie. They met at The Weathervane. This was Jericho’s main coffee shop and where Tyler the unseen Hyde from Wednesday’s series worked part-time.
Luke thanks to his photographic memory was able to accurately recall the entire plot of Wednesday so he already remembered the Hyde boy’s name.
However, Tyler doesn’t work here yet. He is most likely Luke’s age and not yet of a legal age to work part-time. Minimally you have to be 16 years old.
“You want me to set up social media?” asked Luke, looking at the middle-aged man in charge of the publishing house. His name was Josh. He had a big receding hairline, square glasses, and a scruffy beard.
“Yes, yes! It will be key to promoting the book. The essential thing is that you create a profile on Instagram and TikTok. The publisher’s social media will promote the book and make the public go to your social media. It will be very eye-catching thanks to your last name. The successor to Poe. Horror is coming back to the family,” Josh replied enthusiastically. He could already taste Carrie’s success.
Besides the fact that the book was very good, the person who wrote it had the last name Poe, and everyone knew this last name in the literary world. The best part was that Luke was actually related to Edgar Allan Poe. This will make the promotion and sale of the book much more successful.
“Fine…” said Luke without much enthusiasm. He didn’t use social media and didn’t like it either.
“After you create them upload some selfies smiling. I’m sure you’ll attract a female audience your age,” Josh said with a smile.
‘Selfies smiling…?’ thought Luke, putting on a not at all happy expression. That would be normie and he didn’t like the idea at all.
Natasha seeing Luke’s expression held back her laughter, “Yeah, you should take a couple of pictures of yourself. I’m sure you’ll have lots of fans,” Natasha said, teasing Luke.
‘I’m a writer, not an idol,’ Luke thought with a frown. He wasn’t even a writer though. “Not like that. If you always have a frown on your face you’ll get old faster. Smile a little. It will be an important part of increasing book sales. With this, you’ll get a fan base and loyal readers who will start following you. It won’t be your only book, will it?” asked Josh.
Josh’s publisher wanted to continue working with Luke. His writing career was just beginning, and they had great faith that he would grow and get better and better.
“I’ll do it,” Luke said. If taking a couple of selfies would increase the money he would make in the future, he didn’t mind leaving his pride behind and creating social media like a normie.
With this meeting over Luke’s book promotion began. He created his social media and uploaded some pictures of himself, though he didn’t smile. He was a horror writer. His great- great-grandfather was never seen smiling in his photos, and he planned to replicate that.
Thanks to the publisher’s promotion he got a lot of followers. The promotion began before launching the book, which was just a few days away from having all the printed copies needed for its release. To generate expectation.
During the promotional period before the book’s release, Luke got 10,000 followers on Instagram. He never thought the day would come when he would have so many followers. His photos had thousands of likes and many comments.
“How does it feel to be a little famous?” asked Natasha as she ate next to Luke.
“It’s no big deal either. Some people have millions of followers,” replied Luke. He was just
doing it so his book would sell more. He didn’t care about fame.
“Isn’t it dangerous? I mean, now my enemies will be able to see that I have social media,” Luke asked, looking at Natasha. He was surprised that she had agreed to her becoming some sort of public figure.
“It’s the same thing, as long as you don’t be an idiot and post your location in statuses or pictures nothing happens. Just upload smiling selfies,” Natasha replied.
“I don’t upload smiley selfies,” growled Luke.
“Anyway, I’m surprised those Spellman bastards haven’t made a move by now. They should have been aware by now since you signed up for Nevermore many days ago,” Natasha said
with a frown.
“Maybe the demons ate them,” said Luke with a slight smile.
“I hope not. I want to kill them with my bare hands,” Natasha said, angrily and with great murderous intent. Luke looked at her strangely – why were his maid and great-great- grandfather such psychopaths?
…
Greendale.
Among tree-covered hills and bordered by a meandering river was Greendale. A small town in
the United States with less than ten thousand inhabitants.
In a more secluded part of town stood a funeral home with a dark stone facade and tarnished glass windows. Surrounded by tall trees with a gloomy appearance which causes there to always be a permanent fog in the place.
Near the funeral home is a cemetery with moss-covered tombstones. Destroyed statues of angels with suffering faces observe the place with their cold and empty eyes.
Next to the funeral home stands a mansion. With peaked roofs and turrets soaring skyward, the mansion stands out as a monument of decadent opulence and hidden darkness. The grayish stone of the mansion is covered in twisted ivy, which snakes along the walls like bony fingers trying to grasp the unsuspecting.
Inside the mansion in one of the numerous rooms, a conversation was taking place. The room was large and ostentatious.
A plush armchair sat near a fireplace that was burning even though it was summer. A silhouette watched the fire burn. Behind him stood a teenage girl.
“Are you traveling to Jericho tomorrow?” the silhouette asked. Her tone of voice was thick
and husky.
“Yes, I have everything ready,” replied the girl respectfully. She could not observe the man’s face as the back of the armchair covered it.
“You have a mission. You will have the great honor of ending our family’s grudge for once,” said the man with mixed emotions.
“I will do it. I don’t think it will be too hard. That boy lived all his life surrounded by normies. It’ll be a piece of cake,” said the girl with a carefree smile, and without feeling much pressure. “Don’t be overconfident. Don’t underestimate the Poe. Even if it’s the last one on this earth you must finish it as soon as possible. You will have a deadline of one year,” said the man.
“A year? I’ll have to be in that pro-normie academy for a whole year?” the girl asked whining. “You will. You don’t have a choice. If you murder one person and then leave the school, you
will be a suspect,” replied the man in a forceful tone.
“I won’t let them catch me,” said the girl.
“It’s already decided. You’ll be there for the whole year,” said the man without giving any
more room for discussion.
“Fine…” growled the girl under her breath.
“You can go now,” said the man, and the girl left grumbling under her breath.
‘Kids these days,’ thought the man, shaking his head, as he took a sip from a glass of thick
reddish-colored liquid.
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