When he was closer to the gate Luke heard a soft creaking sound. The gate opened by itself slowly.
‘Well. Thanks,’ thought Luke without giving it much thought, as he crossed the threshold. He heard the creak again. The gate closed.
On the path that was now part of Nevermore Academy, he came across columns that had creepy gorgons that seemed to be following him with their eyes.
After about ten minutes of walking, he finally caught sight of the gothic architecture of Nevermore Academy. It was gigantic and very creepy-looking.
“What do you think?” asked Edgar with a smile, looking at the imposing academy.
“Creepy,” Luke said dryly. The school was surrounded by another fence and there was another gate. The bad thing was that this gate was locked and didn’t open automatically when Luke approached it.
He tried to open it manually, but it wouldn’t budge, “What now?” asked Luke.
“Look. There’s someone in there,” said Edgar, pointing toward the inside of Nevermore Academy.
Luke looked through the bars of the gate and sure enough, there was a bald, hunched-over man with his back to him. He had a broom and was sweeping leaves.
The bald man’s clothing was black and dirty. His shoes looked to be in worse condition than Luke’s.
“Hi. Hey you! Hello?” called Luke, raising his voice.
The bald man didn’t flinch no matter how many times Luke called out to him repeatedly. He was still sweeping leaves as if nothing had happened.
“Is this bald guy deaf?” asked Luke in a high-pitched tone.
“Who are you calling bald!” the bald man exclaimed angrily as he turned around and looked at Luke.
“No one. You must have heard wrong. I would never say something like that,” said Luke with an innocent smile.
“I may be blind in one eye, but my ears are in perfect condition,” said the bald man, walking over and looking at Luke through the bars.
‘And why didn’t you turn around when I called you earlier,’ Luke thought with a roll of his eyes.
Luke noticed two bulging eyes looking at him. The eyes were different colors. One was a chestnut color, and the other was a light almost white color. The look of this bald one was creepy. It matched well with the academy’s looks.
“Whatever you say, baldy. By the way, are there any school personnel here today? If there aren’t, how do I contact them?” asked Luke impatiently.
“Sniff, snif, snif…” the bald man sniffed through the bars near Luke, who looked at him in disgust.
“You smell like normie. You better get out of here, kid. You don’t want to get hurt. This school isn’t for your type,” said the bald man, flashing a creepy grin with a couple of teeth missing.
‘Should I break his leg with the rock over there? That way he’ll see I’m a psychic,’ Luke thought seriously.
“Don’t hurt the school staff. Or you’ll be expelled before you start,” said Edgar, noticing the mischievous look on Luke’s face.
‘Tsch,’ clicked Luke’s tongue internally. Just as he was about to demonstrate his psychic powers in a harmless way to let the bald guy know he wasn’t a normie, someone spoke up getting his attention.
“What’s going on here Willie? What’s all the fuss about?” it was a female voice.
Both the bald man and Luke looked at the new person who appeared. She was a very tall woman, about six feet tall. Her hair was blonde (almost white) and she had blue eyes. Her dress was very professional, and she looked very expensive. Very different from the bald guy named Willie.
“Director Weems. Nothing that deserves your attention. Just a normie boy who got lost,” Willie said politely, very different from when he spoke to Luke.
‘A normie boy?’ thought Weems quizzically. It was rare for normies from Jericho to visit Nevermore Academy. Since Jericho citizens are prejudiced about the school and its students. Weems’ goal as principal of Nevermore was to create a world where outcasts and normies could coexist in peace and harmony. So, she was always trying to promote activities that would help this.
Weems with this in mind couldn’t let the normie kid go to Jericho seeing creepy, weird janitor Willie. It could get bad rumors going.
“Hello, boy. My name is Larissa Weems. I’m the principal of Nevermore. You seem to have walked all the way here. Would you like me to give you a lift into town?” asked Larissa as she unlocked the gate with an old key.
Luke was surprised at how polite Larissa sounded and how kind she was to offer to catch him up to town, but there seemed to be a misunderstanding.
“Oh, it’s that brat, Larissa! I thought I looked familiar with that pale blonde gentlewoman,” Edgar said next to Luke, who decided to ignore him, as he couldn’t talk to a ghost right now.
“Nice to meet you, Principal Weems. There’s a bit of a misunderstanding. I’m not a normie. I’m an outcast,” Luke said as he looked at the headmistress, who looked just like she did in the Wednesday series.
“Don’t believe him, principal. This brat likes to lie. I smelled him repeatedly. He has a normie smell,” said Willie.
“At no time did I lie. You’re bald and I’m an outcast,” Luke said with a grimace. This bald guy wanted to look for trouble with him, not to blame him if he was rude.
Before Willie could burst out and start ranting at Luke, Larissa interrupted him, “It’s okay, Willie. Go clean up the backyard. There’s a lot of leaves piled up,” she said.
Willie huffed in annoyance, glared at Luke, and walked off with his broom grumbling. When Willie disappeared, Larissa looked back at Luke.
“You say you’re an outcast. What kind exactly? If I may ask,” Larissa asked curiously.
In the outcast world, there is no taboo about what kind of outcast you are. Unless you are a
Hyde, as you have no control and can murder those around you.
“A psychic,” replied Luke as he looked at a small stone near his shoes.
The stone started to float until it reached the height of his head. He made it spin around him a couple of times. Down, up, drawing a circle until it landed softly on the ground.
“Oh, a psychic with a specialization in telekinesis. Psychics are not very numerous,” Larissa said in surprise.
‘Again with the specialization thing…’ Luke thought, not understanding what she meant.
“You’re not a student here. Did your family send you to a normie school?” Larissa asked
curiously.
Not all outcasts decided to send their children to outcast schools, as there were very few of them. So, if they lived too far away, they would send them to normie schools and teach them about their powers themselves.
“Yes and no. I went to a normie school, but I don’t have a family. I’m an orphan,” Luke
replied.
“What?” murmured Larissa with much surprise.
A psychic in a normie orphanage? This was very odd. Outcasts were in the minority as far as normies were concerned. And psychics were a minority in the outcast community itself. What was the chance of a psychic ending up in a normie orphanage? That’s what Larissa was thinking. Besides, Luke’s abilities showed great control, even though he only lifted a single
stone.
“W-what’s your name?” asked Larissa, and her lower lip quivered. She moved closer to Luke and looked at him more closely.
‘What’s wrong with her all of a sudden?’ thought Luke, surprised by the change in the
headmistress’s attitude.
“Luke,” he replied.
“Your full name,” hurried Larissa.
“Luke Poe.”
“You are her son… No doubt about it, you have her eyes and the same color hair,” said Larissa
in shock as with her hands, she touched Luke’s cheeks.
Luke didn’t know how to react. This situation was not what he had originally expected. He had
in mind that the headmistress would be surprised by his last name, but not so much to the point that she seemed to know his parents and was on the verge of tears.
“Did you know my parents?” asked Luke as best he could since Larissa was inspecting him, checking to see if he was real or a ghost.
“Yes, to both of them. All three of us attended Nevermore in the same year. I was closer to your mother,” replied Larissa, wiping away tears that were about to spill from her eyes.
‘I didn’t expect this,’ Luke thought.
“It looks like the Poe Family will survive. It’s a miracle,” said Larissa happily.
“Follow me. We have a lot of things to talk about. And you most likely have many questions,”
added Larissa, starting to walk in the direction of the academy.
Luke nodded and followed the principal, who had a shocked expression, happy, sad, and many emotions seemed to contain her face.
‘Why didn’t you ever tell me you were pregnant? It’s no use thinking about it. Now I must take
care of her child,’ Larissa thought with determination.
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