The Four Of Nevermore: What's Within The Trees

☾ 3.3: arrows sharp with speculations ☽

❝ And now it's clear to me; that everything you see ain't always what it seems ❞

Wide Awake ➳ Katy Perry

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Unfortunately for the group, they were unable to catch each other during recess as they all had their own needs to attend to; just as they were finally going to up to each other, the bell rang and the four of then just frowned and groaned before waving each other goodbye. 

"Maybe once we're back at our dorms.." Adam sighs, before he turned to make his way to his class. Passing through the darkened corridor, he catches a familiar redhead passing him by, her phone pressed against her ear as she mumbles something about a "monster in the forest."
Remembering what happened last night, that phrase seemed to have caught the boy's attention as he stopped in his tracks just as the woman went, her concerned yet quiet tone fading away.

"Do i really want to skip class over this?" He hums in thought, weighing out his choices until he just nods to himself, counting up to 5 before he turned to follow Miss Thornhill; He snuck around pillars and walls, peeking his head slightly to make sure she doesn't catch him tailing behind her. He followed her around the school building until she stopped just in front of the Edgar Allan Poe statue, pacing around the same spot. 

Stopping somewhere near the dark, shadowy corridor as he maintained his silence, he leaned towards the edge of the wall to tune into the woman's call.
Miss Thornhill seems to be in distressed, apologizing to whoever's behind the other end, nothing out of the ordinary. But just before the boy could walk away, he hears her exclaim, "Well- I didn't know that she would burn your face off!"

"Wait what?" Adan's eyes widened, going back to where he stood as Miss Thornhill continues; "What do you mean one of them nearly freezed you to death? There's no way those kids have such abilities!"

The boy covered his mouth with both of his hands before he patted the pockets of his uniform, he cussed under his breath when he remembers that he doesn't have his phone. 

"Ugh! look- just keep the ice pack on your face until i think of something. I'll see you after school."

Adam starts to panic when he hears the clicking of heels coming his way, he looks around the place to find the nearest hiding spot; he scanned around the room that had no good option in sight until he noticed a dark corner, hidden in the shadows by the tall bookshelves beside it. Taking his chances, he ran in and tries his best to make sure his body was hidden in between the two bookshelves. 

When Miss Thornhill's heels began to grow louder, he starts feeling as though he was disappearing; almost as if he was blending into the wall behind him as the woman simply walks out of the corridor, giving the boy not a single look as she stormed past him.

Minutes after she was gone, Adam began to worry as he forcefully pulled himself out of the shadows, stumbling out of corner and almost landing face-first on the stone floor. He managed to re-balance himself and get back on his feet, checking his watch,
"Just a few more minutes and it'll be time for extra-curricular activities.." Adam sighed, "I've got to tell the girls about this."

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"Skipping class just to eavesdrop a call?" Ivory smirks at Adam, "What happened to the nerd we met at CB?"

"Seems like Nevermore had already changed him," Vivian giggles with her and Deirdre as Adam fixed his arrow's aim before he pulled and let go of the bowstring, his arrow hitting the first blue circle on the target in front of him. The boy huffs, unsatisfied, "Look- you're funny and all, but hear me out-"

"We're listening, Adam." Vivian nods as all of the girls had their attention on him as he began puts his bow down, turning to his friends to explain Mis Thornhill's call, with the girls' expression slowly fading from playful smiles to looks of worry; After shooting another arrow, Adam mentioned how Miss Thornhill said something about freezing someone to death, Deirdre crossed her arms as she asked; "wait- so she's in contact with the monster we saw that night?"

"Seems it.." Ivory stared down her palms, a smile slowly creeping up her lips, "I'm proud of myself for almost burning its face off."

"Wait guys- do you know what this means?" Vivian gasps as the other three turned towards her in alarm with Adam accidentally shooting an arrow off-course, hitting the dirt beside the target. Vivian queries, "So there's a Harvest Festival that's coming up.."

After earning nods of silence from her mates, she continues, "And you know how everyone in town is gonna go there, right?"

She turned to Deirdre, her face lighting up as if Vivian had telepathically shared her thoughts. Deirdre dropped her hands and pointed at the girl, finishing her sentence; "If Ivory really did leave a burn mark on them, then we might be able to identify the hyde!"

"That is.. if the mark would even appear on its human form," Adam starts, breaking the hopeful tension, "He'd probably appear unharmed."

"How'd you know that for sure?" Ivory raises a brow at him to which the boy simply shrugs, "I mean- there's gotta be a con somewhere, Ives; Vi's idea just sounds too good to be true."

The group gave each other uncertain glances as well as a moment of silence before Deirdre just huffs, "Welp,"

She then walked towards Adam and grabbed his bow as well as an arrow from his quiver, getting into position as she pulled the bowstring after aiming her arrow, "There's only one way to find out." 

The short brunette lets go of her arrow and the group watches as the arrow hits a perfect bullseye.

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【 971 words 】