۫ ּ ִ ۫ ˑ ֗ 𓏲˖ 𑁍 ࣪ ִ ۫ ּ ִ ۫ ˑ ֗
࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ  ✩◿𝓖𝓖◸ 🂱 ࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ
CHAPTER FIVE—
just me and my right hand on a lonely night.

"You can take the mask off, Bianca." Wednesday completely blew the secret society cover, making everyone remove their hoods and Blake to float out of Xavier's body.

"Jesus." he shivered. "That was freezing."

"You're idea." she rose her hands in surrender as Bianca shut the projector off.

"Wait, I preferred you with it on." Wednesday said in return from where she was tied to the chair before them.

"How did you get down here?" Xavier questioned her.

"Rowan showed me." she told him in return. "Left pocket."

Blake rose an eyebrow as he walked over, frowning her eyebrows as Xavier removed a painting from Wednesdays jacket. "I tracked the watermark to the Poe statue. Then I solved the riddle."

"Wait, there's a riddle?" Kent looked around. "I thought we just snapped twice."

"Well, aren't you the brightest of the bunch." Wednesday mocked him.

"There's a riddle?" Blake whispered to Bianca as she gave her a sympathetic pat on the back.

"The Nightshades are an elite social club." Bianca looked at Wednesday in return. "Emphasis on elite."

"We have roof parties, campsite, the occasional midnight skinny-dip." Yoko listed on with a grin.

"Which I sadly can't participate in." Blake sighed as she showed how her hands just passed through her body when she tried to grab her clothes. "A shame for everyone here, truly."

"Agreed." they all said on sync as Blake smiled confidently.

"And Yoko's an amateur mixologist." the girl beside Bianca nodded her head.

"She makes a killer virgin mojito. It can get pretty wild." Ajax gushed with a grin across his face.

"Wow. Do you guys even have a bedtime?" Wednesday asked, completely unimpressed.

"Sadly i'm not able to sleep." Blake frowned with a sad look, Ajax attempted to comfort her with an arm around the shoulder but he ended up stumbling right through her. Xavier rolled his eyes as he walked over to stand with them again.

"Last I heard, the Nightshades had been disbanded." Wednesday ignored his badly Ajax embarrassed himself just now.

"Yeah, the group kind of lost its charter 30 years ago after some normie kid died." Xavier agreed as he nodded his head.

"And he hasn't even attempted to get in touch with me." Blake shook her head in disbelief. "His own sister in christ."

"Okay." Xavier exhaled as he nodded. "Sister in christ."

"But we have a lot of wealthy alumni, so Weems looks the other way as long as nobody makes any waves." Yoko explained to Wednesday from behind her sunglasses.

"Someone like Rowan?" Wednesday asked.

"We booted that loser last semester and let Blake take his spot." Bianca cringed with a shake of her head.

"Initiation was a bitch!" Blake gave a single laugh.

"Yes, thank you for that, Blake." Bianca cleared her throat. "Question is, what are we gonna do with her? Only members are allowed in this library."

"I say we invite her to pledge." Xavier nodded after a second of silence. Blake's shoulders fell just some, considering he hadn't even been the one to invite Blake last semester when Rowan was kicked out. "She is a legacy."

They looked to the photo of her parents on the wall, which made more sense considering Blake's parents hadn't gone here.

"After the crap she pulled in the Poe Cup, there's no way in hell." Bianca explained with a look of pure disbelief. "We talk about not making waves? She's a tsunami."

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

"What? Not a fan of skinny dipping?" Blake frowned her eyebrows.

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

"Can you believe it?" Wednesday match her gossip tone, Blake bit back a smile.

"Untie her." Bianca demanded.

"I freed myself five minutes ago." she tossed the rope, this time Blake couldn't kept the giggles that left her mouth as Bianca looked over at her in betrayal. She went to leave as Kent blocked her. "Do you want a matching black eye?"

She shoved the rope to his chest as he moved, Xavier scoffed as they all watched her walk up the stairs. Wednesday stopped to look out at each of them, over looking all their faces. "It's amateurs like you who give kidnapping a bad name."

"Yeah." Blake looked over at Xavier. "It's amateurs like-"

"No." he rose his finger. "Don't start quoting her. Please, stick to Shakespeare."

"I can stay." Blake met Xavier outside of the school, he'd immediately given her a guilty look knowing she'd be here all alone all day long. "I can."

"No, you go." Blake shook her head as the Nevermore students began to board the busses and prepare for a visit toward the city. "It'll be fun, having the whole school to myself."

He frowned and exhaled drastically. "I'll bring you home a new magazine."

"Okay." Blake smiled. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." he cracked a bashful smile, glancing back at the busses. "Just a couple hours. I left my laptop on with your show on, so you won't be board."

"Can't wait." Blake smiled as he went to board the bus. "Xavier?"

"Yeah?" he looked back, mentally hoping she'd tell him to stay with her.

"Be carful." her gaze softened some, a scared look overtaking her face. "The normies-"

"I know." he cut her off, nodding. "I will. Promise."

Blake blew him a kiss, Xavier threw her one back before he got into the bus. Thing crawled next to her, Blake looked up to see Wednesday nod at her to let her know he could stay. Blake nodded back as a thank you, looking down at him. "Ready?"

He signed back to her, Blake smiled as she turned around and went back to the school were only the two of them stayed. Silent, cold, and lonely. That's all it had been, usually Blake would sink away in Xavier's bed and lazily watch the show he picked for her, but today she was on a mission. Her and Thing went to the lab as he put the button down infront of the microscope.

"Thanks, Thing." Blake leaned closer before she laughed. "That rhymed."

Her eye leaned as close as it could to the microscope without her face passing through it, getting a closer look at the button. "There's a faint trace of something black, but specs of something else...it looks like-can you get my notebook out of my backpack?"

Thing did so for her, laying it down. "Keep flipping until I say to stop."

He kept flipping, Blake watched. "Wait."

He did, her eyes looking down at the page. "It's potting soil, but there's only one place to get it around here."

Thing moved around as Blake nodded her head. "I also wanna know why and how the hell Ms.Thornhill is keeping my body healthy without even telling me."

•

kylie speaks

...are you sure?