Luke arrived at his bedroom to find Xavier and Ajax playing console games. Since the Hyde attack, Xavier and Bianca had broken up. Bianca’s siren friend Sara also did not advance her relationship with Ajax, and they stopped seeing each other now that Xavier and Bianca were separated.
Luke had stopped seeing Gia and ended his Casanova days. It didn’t last long. Breaking up with Gia was harder than he thought. The girl cried, and it was awkward, but Luke stood his ground. He liked her, but nothing more than that.
He made a promise to Enid that he wouldn’t be with girls, he barely knew just for sex, plus he was looking for them to replace Enid. Now Enid told him that she doesn’t mind fighting the Spellmans and her parents’ opinion, so if she gets strong enough she’ll come back to him. “What are you guys playing?” asked Luke, opening a mini-bar and grabbing a cold soda. “Call of Duty,” replied Xavier, concentrating looking at the screen.
“Did you get better or are you still as bad as ever?” asked Luke, sitting on a couch. Ajax chuckled slyly at the comment.
“Shut up. Now that I don’t have to stand next to Bianca like a lapdog all the time, I can improve my gaming skills,” Xavier said with a smile.
“Good for you,” said Luke, taking a sip of his soda.
“You broke up with Gia too, didn’t you?” asked Ajax curious.
“We were never anything, but you could say yes. It was awkward. I had to have done it on a cell phone,” Luke grimaced.
He didn’t understand how Gia could cry so much. They had only known each other less than two months. He almost felt some guilt, but on second thought, he shouldn’t feel guilt. He didn’t even have sex with her. So he didn’t take advantage of his popularity and fame like a classic womanizer would who after having sex with one girl dumps her to move on to the next.
“Breaking up over a cell phone is cowardly,” Xavier said, though he doubted Luke cared about other people’s opinions.
“Anyway, the three of us are single now. We can do what we want and when we want. Let’s play all night! Tomorrow is Saturday,” Xavier said thinking about having a video game marathon.
“I’m in,” Ajax said, and Luke nodded. He was due to meet Wednesday late at night, so it would be best to stay awake until that time.
The hours passed, and the boys played a plethora of video games while eating junk food and drinking soda. Unlike normies, their bodies were better, so they should not give importance to junk food.
If a normie needs 3000 kcal a day to gain weight and be fat, an average outcast would need twice as much. It is rare to see fat outcasts. Eugene is one of them, although his belly is no big deal.
‘Still thirty minutes to go,’ thought Luke, who was leaning back on the couch.
Xavier and Ajax were sleeping soundly. It was half past four in the morning. They had been playing for hours.
‘Come to think of it, if Rowan already belonged to the Nightshade Society they must be part of it too’ Luke thought, looking at his two friends.
He wasn’t upset that they didn’t tell him. It’s supposed to be a secret society, you shouldn’t tell people no matter how much they are your friends. Since they were both here it meant they wouldn’t have a meeting. So he has a free hand to infiltrate with Wednesday.
Ten minutes before the agreed time Luke came out of the bedroom as stealthy as possible and headed to the place they agreed on with Wednesday.
A silhouette that was camouflaged by the shadow was already there. Thanks to his domain, he could sense it, or he would have stopped to wait for it without realizing it was there.
“Your stealth is amazing, huh?” said Luke truthfully.
“I know. I’m more amazed at your ability to see me right away,” replied Wednesday, looking at Luke with narrowed eyes. Although she hadn’t wanted to disappear her presence completely, it was rare for someone to have spotted her right away when it was nighttime.
“I’m perceptive. Come on. Gotta get to the main quad,” Luke said, starting to walk.
In a few minutes, they reached the quad which was a pentagon surrounded by walls and walkways. In the center was a fountain with a large dead tree. On one of the walkways nearby was a statue of Edgar Allan Poe.
“Is the entrance hidden behind the statue?” asked Wednesday, and Luke nodded.
“Clasic,” said Wednesday, not at all astonished.
“This is one of the entrances. It leads to the Nightshade Society library. It’s the only one I know of,” said Luke.
“Aren’t you a member?” asked Wednesday with a raised eyebrow.
“Of course, I’m not. The society is no longer of any use at all since it disbanded thirty years ago when a normie was killed. Now it’s a harmless club for social events and crap like that,” Luke replied with a grimace. He’d never get into this stupid club.
“I see,” Wednesday said. Inwardly she shared Luke’s view. She wouldn’t join this kind of club either.
Without another word, Luke snapped his fingers twice. The bird his great-great-grandfather was holding lowered its wings and shifted its position. The statue began to slowly back away. ‘The mocking smile is the same,’ Luke thought with a grimace looking at Edgar’s statue. When he explained things to him he always had that mocking smile.
Luke and Wednesday began to descend the spiral staircase. On the descent, they noticed a large number of paintings. Different members of the Nightshade Society.
Finally, they reached the secret library. Luke used his cell phone as a flashlight. Wednesday used a normal flashlight, as she did not own a cell phone.
“My mother’s critical eye,” Wednesday muttered, looking at a picture of her parents.
“How do you know it’s critical?” asked Luke. He heard Wednesday’s murmur as they were in a completely silent place.
“I know her. I know,” Wednesday said dryly.
“Do you get along with her badly?” asked Luke, knowing the answer.
“I don’t want to talk about the relationship I have with my mother with you. I have enough to do with the therapist,” said Wednesday, starting to look for the book on the shelves. Luke was surprised by this. He didn’t think Wednesday was attending therapy in Jericho. He thought that since she came early to Nevermore she wouldn’t be forced to go to therapy. “Are you going to therapy? I doubt you’re doing it because you want to,” commented Luke, who also started looking for the book from which Rowan tore out the page. In this case, his photographic memory was of no use to him in finding the book. In the series, they didn’t show the specific bookshelf.
“I’m going against my will. By order of the school court. Having been to seven different schools is not a good curriculum and they think I’m in trouble,” Wednesday said with a slight
grimace.
“Seven schools a great record. I was only expelled from three. I got saved from the therapist though,” Luke said, feeling for some reason respect for Wednesday.
“Only three? I thought you’d have a better record,” Wednesday said. By better she meant having more expulsions like her. Each expulsion was like a medal and a triumph for her.
“I would have been expelled from more schools, but I had to restrain myself. I lived in a normie orphanage. I didn’t know about the outcast world and that other beings with powers existed. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself and have them do experiments on my body,” Luke justified himself.
“Then you should have acted meticulously, so you wouldn’t get caught,” Wednesday said.
“You got expelled from seven schools, and you’re talking about acting meticulously?” asked
Luke.
Before Wednesday could respond to his failure, Luke continued speaking, “Easier said than done. In the plans I made to get back at the bullies, you have to be very careful if you don’t use your powers. There are eyes and cameras everywhere,” Luke said.
“It’s true. Cameras are a nuisance. I got caught many times because of the recordings. If I had used my powers, I wouldn’t have had that problem,” said Wednesday, agreeing. They both talked about the best practical jokes they pulled in normie schools. Wednesday’s looked like attempted murders. Luke’s were practical jokes that at first seemed like attempted murders but lowered in intensity because he didn’t know what world he was in.
Time passed in the darkened room, as they flipped through books and talked about topics that others would consider weird and social misfits even for outcasts.
They had more in common than they thought: attempted murder, hating people and school,
etc.
‘Why am I talking so much?’ thought Wednesday, surprised at herself. Before she could dig any further into that strange feeling she found the book she was looking for.
“Here it is,” Wednesday said, and Luke walked over to her. They looked at the open book on the page Rowan tore out. There was another drawing.
It was of a man on his back with a hat and a raised cane. Wednesday opened the drawing she got from Rowan and put it in its place.
With the drawing at 100%, you could see the full perspective. Wednesday and Luke were facing this man, who was pointing his staff at them. Although Luke was sitting on one of the
shattered columns.
“A pilgrim… Do pilgrims still exist today? Besides, the only one who could give us a fight would be Crackstone. He who made deals with demons.” said Wednesday, looking at the
drawing.
‘Us?’ thought Luke, a little surprised to be included with her.
“Crackstone died hundreds of years ago. Even though he had demonic powers maybe he’s still alive and this one waiting to be revived or something,” Luke commented vaguely. “Could be,” Wednesday nodded. She thought about that possibility as well. As the eldest of Addams’s daughters, she knew a little about demons. She wasn’t an expert, but she knew it was the most forbidden subject in the outcast society, and she loved taboo subjects. “So, the next step is to learn more about Crackstone, or do you have a better idea?”” Luke
asked, yawning.
“No. That’s what I had in mind. We should do more research on Crackstone and his connection
to the demons,” Wednesday said, closing the book. It was odd that she agreed with someone else’s suggestion, but she also thought that was what they should do.
“I don’t recommend you steal the book. They have a way of tracking you. I already stole two books last year, and they found me,” Luke suggested.
“Mm, then I’ll do this,” said Wednesday, ripping out all the pages of the book in one fell swoop. With her ponytail of hair, she pulled them together so they wouldn’t get separated and tucked them away in her uniform. She left the cover in the same place. “That can work too…” said Luke with a strange expression. It didn’t occur to him to steal that way. Rowan did it with a page, and nothing happened to it, so the method worked.
Then they went back to the surface. It was already dawn, “We’ll talk soon,” Wednesday said quickly disappearing and leaving Luke alone on the spot.
‘At least she said goodbye to her form. That’s a breakthrough…’ thought Luke, yawning and
going back to his bedroom.
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Link: [email protected]/Nathe07