Wednesday

Chapter 1: The Nightshades

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"Let's assess, shall we?"

Wednesday was tied to a chair and had a black bag over his head.

"Bag over my head for optimal disorientation, wrists tied tight enough to cut off circulation, and no idea if I'm going to live or die. It's definitely my kind of party."

Someone ripped the bag off of Wednesday's head, and he was face to face with a bunch of people in robes wearing bird masks, and a projector shining in his face.

"Who dares breach our inner sanctum?" A deep, distorted voice asked.

"You can take the mask off, Bianca." Wednesday told her.

Bianca huffed and pulled down her hood and took her mask off, and so did the rest of the group.

"And just like that, my hopes were bashed against the rocks of disappointment. My foe was no psychotic killer. More like a bunch of high school clowns."

Bianca turned off the projector, and Wednesday could see more clearly. He noticed that Xavier was also part of the group, as well as Ajax and a bunch of other teenagers.

Wednesday stared at Bianca. "Wait, I preferred you with it on."

Bianca sneered at him.

"How'd you get down here?" Xavier asked.

"Rowan showed me." Wednesday replied. He gestured to his coat. "Left pocket."

Xavier reached in his coat pocket and pulled out the drawing from the book.

"I traced the watermark down to the Poe statue. Then I solved the riddle." He explained.

"Wait, there's a riddle? I thought we just snapped twice." The siren that Thing punched said.

"Well aren't you the brightest on the bunch." Wednesday told him sarcastically.

"The Nightshades are an elite social club. Emphasis on elite." Bianca explained.

"We have roof parties, camp outs, and the occasional midnight skinny-dip." Yoko chimed in.

"And Yoko's an amateur mixologist." Another added.

"She makes a killer virgin mojito. It can get pretty wild." Ajax smiled.

Wednesday looked at them all, unimpressed.
"Wow. Do you guys even have a bedtime? Last I heard, the Nightshades had been disbanded."

"Yeah, the group kinda lost its charter 30 years ago after some normie kid died." Xavier explained.

"But we have a lot of wealthy alumni, so Weems looks the other way as long as nobody makes any waves." Yoko said.

"Someone like Rowan?" Wednesday asked.

"We booted that loser last semester." Bianca scoffed. "Question is, what are we gonna do with him? Only members are allowed in this library."

Xavier glanced down at Wednesday. "I say we invite him to pledge. He is a legacy." He gestured to the picture of Wednesday's parents.

Bianca looked at Xavier like he was crazy. "After the crap he pulled at the Poe Cup, there's no way in hell. We talk about not making waves? He's a tsunami."

"Just because I beat you at your own game? Let me save you the trouble. I'm not interested in joining." Wednesday confessed.

"You're seriously turning us down?" Yoko asked in disbelief.

"Can you believe it?"

"Untie him." Bianca ordered.

Wednesday pulled his hands out from behind his back, and held the rope in front of him. "I freed myself five minutes ago."

He stood up and grabbed the paper back from Xavier and went to leave, but the siren with the black eye stood in front of him.

Wednesday just stared at him. "Do you want a matching black eye?" He asked, shoving him aside.

Wednesday walked up the stairs but stopped halfway and turned back to the group. "It's amateurs like you who give kidnapping a bad name."

And with that, he continued up the stairs, out of the hidden library.

...

Wednesday sat at his desk, flipping through the book he had taken from the library. He stopped at the page that showed the other half of the drawing.

"There were so many threads to my investigation, I could weave a burial shroud. I still have no idea how Rowan mysteriously rose from the dead. Or why that monster is prowling the woods."

Wednesday took out the drawing and placed it next to the one on the book, to complete it. The finished drawing showed Wednesday facing off against a pilgrim in the quad, and the area around them was on fire.

"But right now, nothing intrigues me more than this book. If I'm going to be responsible for Nevermore's demise, the question is, why am I sharing this apocalypse with a pilgrim?"

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