resting his back along the wooden polished wall. his hands resting flat in his lap, the soft humming coming from idalia as she concentrated on perfecting her green double-winged eyeliner. while cassius was trying his hardest not to move as he painted his nails. the color was a soft green, to match his distressed pastel green sweater.

the door to cassius' dorm opened and closed shut. before he could even greet his returning roommate, the gorgon flung himself onto cassius' bed.

"shit!" cassius hissed out.

his hand lifting the nail polish bottle off the bed. cassius narrowed his gaze down at ajax who sent him a sheepish smile in return.

"oops?"

idalia chuckled at the duo from her spot at cassius' desk. watching through the mirror as cassius gently set the nail polish back onto his bed. continuing where he left off.

"are we all going to carnival tonight?" ajax asked, rolling around to find a comfortable spot on cassius' bed.

"can you not sit still for two seconds?" cassius huffed.

"its not my fault your bed is as hard as stone"

"says the boy who can actually turn himself into stone"

cassius found himself rolling his eyes as ajax playfully shoved his shoulder. "i will kick you off the bed, don't test my patience 'jax"

"noted" ajax raised his hands in surrender, a playfull smirk resting on his lips.

fixing the green beanie that rested on his head from feeling the snakes starting to slither out, ajax let his eyes wonder. realizing not soon after that the three of them, cassius, idalia and himself, were matching in their clothing.

ajax was sporting his signature beanie but in green, a soft green nike sweatshirt with blue jeans and a pair of white converse. idalia wore a pastel green blazer paired with a white fitted crop, distressed high waisted blue jeans and a pair of white nike air max's. cassius' look was subtle but it was stylish, he wore a white fitted tank, a pastel green, distressed sweatshirt paired with three silver necklaces, blue jeans, a black belt with chains and white vans. cassius also had silver rings on nearly every finger, making the color of his nail polish pop.

"hey" ajax lightly tapped cassius' thigh with his index finger. "we're all matching"

cassius let his eyes roam over ajax's outfit, his own and then idalia's. shaking his hair out of his eye as he went back to finishing his nails. a gasp made both cassius and ajax jump. luckily, cassius was already done with his nails, blowing on them to make them dry faster.

"what the h—"

"did i tell you guys about the fight i saw today?" idalia spun around in her seat, her long brown hair falling over her shoulders, her ocean eyes wide.

with furrowed eyebrows, cassius responded.

"no?"

"okay, so i was at the weathervane earlier and i also noticed a certain spooky, kooky, wednesday addams"

"wednesday was able to go outside? is weems okay? she does know that wednesday will try to escape every chance she gets right?"

"thats the thing" idalia smirked. "she actually escaped from weems radar"

"how the hell did she do that?" ajax furrowed his eyebrows.

"remains a mystery" idalia shrugged before continuing. "she's a wild ride, she fixed an espresso machine, got hit on by tyler, and beat up three normies all of which happened under 20 minutes"

cassius paused for a quick moment, his mind stuck on the familiar name falling from idalia's plump strawberry tinted lips.

"tyler... as in tyler galpin?"

in the back of his mind, cassius could hear a cello being played, unknowingly blocking it out as blurry and murky images of tyler galpin flashed through his mind. each picture only lasting for a split second before moving on to the next.

"yeah, why?"

cassius shook his head, attempting to shake the normies crooked smile out of his head. a shiver going down his spine at the thought of the older boy. "no reason, when should we head out?"

idalia noticed cassius' attempt to change the subject. the gears in her head turning. taking in her best friends lack of eye contact and the quiet shuffling towards his dresser once he finished his nails. she noticed the shaky breath he let out, his eyes closed as he gripped the nail polish bottle in his hand tightly.

"cass—"

"i'm ready now, let's head out"

ajax and idalia shared a knowing look. they had known cassius long and well enough to know the signs. cassius was about to have a vision. and no one, not even cassius, knew when it was going to start.

the only thing cassius knew was that tyler galpin was the trigger.