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WD - Chapter 128: Last days in Nevermore
🕑 Added 2024-10-20 15:55:59 +0000 UTCMonday, May 12, 2022.
There were only two weeks left before classes ended. This week, all the students were studying like crazy because next week was final exam week.
After that, the Rave'N, Nevermore's annual dance, would take place. Once the Rave'N ended, the students would head home the next day.
It had been an unusual year for the institution. The Poe Cup wasn't held, nor was Parents' Weekend. This was due to the large-scale attack the school had suffered. Everyone knew, thanks to the evidence Luke presented, that the culprits were the Spellmans.
To Luke’s surprise, no one blamed him, nor did he receive any hostile looks. He thought they would see him as someone dangerous, since it was because of him that the school was attacked and many lives were put at risk, but that didn’t happen. The outcasts were very different from the normies.
"Still studying?" Luke asked, closing his laptop after finishing two episodes of a series.
Each episode lasted more than an hour, and when he started watching, Xavier and Ajax were in the same position as now, sitting on the floor with books on their laps in silence.
"Yeah. We have to study over two hundred years of outcast and normie history. Not all of us have photographic memory," Xavier said, lifting his head from his book and looking at Luke enviously. Having that ability would be so useful.
"What if you help us with the exam through the telepathic link we have?" Ajax asked hopefully. He was already bored out of his mind memorizing dates and events that wouldn't be useful to him at all.
"It won't work. They have a device that detects brain waves. They'll know the instant I send a message," Luke said, shaking his head.
"How do you know that?" Xavier asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Wednesday told me. I wanted her to solve all the tedious problems for me during the math test.," Luke replied with a grimace. He wasn't good at math, and having a photographic memory didn’t help much if you didn’t understand how to do the calculations.
"We're doomed," Ajax muttered, sighing as he looked at the hundreds of pages he still had to memorize.
"You have my respect for getting Wednesday to be your girlfriend," Xavier said, giving Luke a thumbs up and looking at him with pride for some reason.
"Mm, I don't know who I respect more. Luke for winning over Wednesday or Wednesday for winning over Luke," Ajax said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"True..." Xavier said, with a contemplative look as he began to debate in his mind who was harder to win over.
"Well, Wednesday has a more pessimistic and closed-off personality than our friend, so the point goes to him for getting her interested in him," Ajax said, tilting his head to the side with his eyes closed.
"Yes, but Luke was in love with Enid, and Wednesday made him choose her. Point for her," Xavier said, and Ajax nodded in agreement.
'These guys...' Luke thought, rolling his eyes.
"Stop talking nonsense and get back to reading. Those pages won’t turn themselves," Luke said, leaving the room.
He started walking through the common room of his dorm. The place was silent, with only faint murmurs in the background. At various tables, groups of students were studying together.
Luke noticed several eyes on him as he headed towards the exit of the dorm. His popularity, so to speak, had reached a new peak. Because of everything: the attack on the blood moon, him killing Atlas and Elliot’s children, and most of all, his three auras.
Less than 10% of students had a double aura. All those students were well-known and had great reputations. Luke became the only psychic student with three auras.
'Too much attention,' Luke thought, annoyed by the attention he was receiving. It was already enough being the last living Poe and a famous writer.
He left the dorm and started walking through the nearly deserted halls of Nevermore. All the students were studying in their dorms or in the central courtyard, which had been remodeled after the battle.
'What to do?' Luke wondered. He had already trained for more than three hours today. Edgar said overtraining wasn’t good.
Two things came to Luke’s mind: go see Natasha, who was now staying at Nevermore until classes ended, or spend time with Wednesday.
He chose Wednesday.
[Hey] he said, sending her a telepathic message.
[What?] Wednesday replied after almost a minute.
[Can I come to your room?] Luke asked.
[Why?] Wednesday asked.
[Do I need a reason to visit my lovely, easygoing girlfriend?] Luke asked.
[I suppose you're bored...] Wednesday said, unfazed by Luke’s compliment. She knew he only did it to tease her.
[Fine. You can come, but keep quiet. I'm busy,] she added.
[Yes, ma'am,] Luke said, starting to march towards Wednesday’s dorm. Because of the location of her room, he could get there from the outside without needing to enter the dorm, which was forbidden.
Wednesday had one of the few rooms with a balcony. Luke could fly and reach it easily, so he didn’t need to sneak into the girls' dorm.
He arrived at the balcony and approached the window, which was already open, so he stepped inside. Wednesday was seated in a chair, typing on an old typewriter. Despite Luke’s footsteps, she didn’t stop typing or even turn her head.
The room was divided into two. One half belonged to Wednesday, and the other to her roommate. Her former roommate had been Enid, but she had changed rooms after everything that happened with Luke.
Luke walked over and sat on Wednesday’s bed, which had completely black sheets, even the pillow was black.
‘Did I stop a friendship from developing?’ Luke wondered, looking over at the bed that used to belong to Enid.
In the series, Wednesday and Enid became best friends. However, that didn’t happen here. Luke didn’t feel guilty since the Wednesday of this world hadn’t really connected with Enid or any other student. She had only connected with him, and that was thanks to the prophecy involving both of them. If the prophecy hadn’t existed, Luke thought he would have never become Wednesday’s boyfriend or even her friend. Before that, they never spoke to each other, even though they shared a group in one of their classes.
Luke took the black pillow, placed it against the wall, and rested his head on it, lost in thought.
He stopped thinking about Wednesday and Enid’s almost friendship and began to think about Ohio, his next destination. He and Natasha had decided to head there, specifically to Shadyside and Sunnyvale. However, they still didn’t know how they would go without running the risk of being attacked by all the Spellmans as soon as they found out they had left Nevermore.
‘This might be my last year at Nevermore,’ Luke thought, feeling a bit melancholic.
To his surprise, it had been two good school years. Several assassination attempts aimed at him, hag attacks, undead enemies, killing several of his mortal enemies, meeting two reliable friends (Xavier and Ajax), and meeting Wednesday.
The only bad and good thing at the same time was the situation with Enid, because although it didn’t seem to affect him on the surface, it did.
‘The good thing is that she’s with me,’ Luke thought as he glanced at Wednesday.
He had told Wednesday that he was going to Ohio to search for the evidence his parents had hidden about the Spellmans, and she agreed without a second of hesitation to go with him.
Wednesday found it far more appealing to head to Ohio with Luke, where it was very likely they would face assassination attempts and confront powerful psychics. She preferred that over staying at Nevermore, where she’d be bored without him and have a normal year.
‘How do we get to Ohio in one piece?’ Luke wondered.
One option was to leave Jericho incognito, traveling as stealthily as possible, but the idea wasn’t very convincing. Natasha, a shapeshifter, had been found and chased; even though it took them a while to locate her, now it was Luke and Wednesday. They weren’t shapeshifters.
Sooner or later, they would be found by the Spellmans, who now had the help of the Kairia clan, a group specialized in tracking and pursuing people trying to hide and remain unnoticed.
The other option was to ask Larissa for help. The headmistress of Nevermore wanted to do everything she could to help Luke, as she had been Sophie’s best friend, his late mother.
Despite Larissa’s wealth and position as headmistress of Nevermore, she didn’t have a large family or the necessary resources to help Luke get to Ohio without being detected by the Spellmans.
They still had to figure out a better plan to get to Ohio.
'What if we ask the Addams for help?' Luke thought. He was certain that Wednesday's parents would want to help them.
Once, Wednesday had told him that her family couldn’t care less about getting involved in other families' feuds, and they loved war, as it meant battles, death, and assassinations.
Luke dismissed the idea. He didn’t know the Addams well enough to ask them for help, and he also wouldn’t tell Wednesday to seek help from her own parents, since she hated asking for their help and preferred to do everything on her own.
Luke’s eyes started to close as he thought about these complicated and boring matters. In just a few minutes, he fell asleep, albeit in a very uncomfortable position.
He slept for quite a while until he slowly opened his eyes again. There was less light than before, and he noticed someone sitting just a few inches from him out of the corner of his eye.
Wednesday was sitting like a statue, staring at him with her deep dark eyes.
“How long was I asleep?” Luke asked, yawning and straightening up a bit. He also noticed a scarred hand resting on his chest—Thing, who had been napping on him. Over time, Luke had become friends with the hand. It was very easy to get along with Thing.
“Almost two hours,” Wednesday replied, still watching Luke in the same position she’d been in since she sat on the bed.
‘That long? How long has she been watching me sleep?’ Luke thought with a strange expression. If she had been free, she could have woken him up, and they could have done something together.
Luke got up from the bed slowly, picked up Thing, and placed him in a corner. The hand was in a deep sleep and didn’t wake up.
“Well, it’s late. I’ll leave before your roommate gets back,” Luke said, walking toward the balcony. He had wanted to spend some time with her, but he was ignored, then ended up falling asleep, and she hadn’t even bothered to wake him. He didn’t blame her; he knew that Wednesday liked doing her things without being interrupted. It was already a lot that she let him stay in her room while she worked on her novel.
“Wait,” Wednesday said, grabbing Luke by the wrist. “We can do something. I’m free now,” she added in her usual flat tone.
“What do you suggest?” Luke asked.
“Fencing practice. Let’s go, move it,” Wednesday said without hesitation, walking toward the balcony.
‘This girl...’ Luke thought, following her.
“You just want to use me as a training dummy to get your revenge,” Luke said, walking behind her.
In fencing class, the final exam would be an actual tournament. Wednesday wanted revenge on Bianca, so she had been training like crazy to perfect her technique. For that, she needed a training partner who was as much of a challenge as Luke.
Luke didn’t mind spending time with Wednesday practicing fencing; what bothered him was that he couldn’t beat her. He could only win if he used his clairvoyance, and that felt like cheating.
“Is your pride hurt because you can’t defeat me?” Wednesday asked in a mocking tone, turning around and leaning against the stone balustrade of the balcony.
“No... but...” Luke replied, unsure of what to say as he stopped near Wednesday.
“You're improving a lot too. I was trained by my father from a young age in duels to the death. Your talent is good,” Wednesday said, placing both her hands on Luke’s cheeks and looking at him intently.
‘Is she encouraging me?’ Luke thought, a bit surprised. It wasn’t as rare anymore for Wednesday to comfort him or show more frequent physical affection.
They stared at each other for a moment, their faces drawing closer until they kissed for several seconds. Wednesday kept her hands on Luke’s cheeks, and he had to lean down slightly due to the height difference.
After that, they headed to the gym to practice fencing. Days passed like that. The exam week arrived and ended quicker than most had expected.
Wednesday helped Luke with math, and he managed to pass with good grades. He didn’t know how his girlfriend was so good at everything, but better for him.
Wednesday achieved her revenge against Bianca. She defeated her in the final showdown. Once again, she challenged her to a military duel: no helmets, no points. Only this time, she defeated her decisively and made her bleed. She almost stabbed both of Bianca's eyes, but Professor Vlad managed to stop her in time.
This made her classmates fear her even more, further isolating her. She cared little about the opinions of others. Besides, she would be leaving for Ohio the following year.
On Friday afternoon, classes officially ended. The students breathed a sigh of relief. There was only one last weekend to spend at Nevermore before heading home.
On Sunday, the Rave'N would take place, which this year had a difference compared to previous years.
The novelty of this year’s Rave'N is that all parents are invited to the dance. Since the Parents' Weekend couldn’t be held, the school decided to invite parents and families to the Rave'N, creating a joint theme with the students. For this reason, this year’s Rave'N is mandatory.
Wednesday did not like this news at all for two reasons. First, she had to attend a stupid school dance, and second, she had to attend that stupid dance with her family.
Luke was indifferent to the news. He had attended the Rave'N the previous year and had a good time with his two friends. He didn’t mind repeating the event. Plus, he would finally get to meet the Addams family. He couldn’t deny that he was excited to meet this peculiar family.
Comments
Khoa Nguyễn
Noiceee, hope this wholesome feeling will keep continue on the following up chapter. However, as now the school arc has come to an end (sooner than I expected), I'm really afraid that this story might fall into the footsteps of others where they start to focus more on the power up of the MC - making him too OP and detached from other. May I suggest you can consider building the backstory of other characters as well, Wednesday perhaps, as you have already given her a new set of power and characteristics.
zain sad
He should expand his influence if he wants to be independent – whether in politics or financially. As they say, with enough money, you can buy influence like a commodity. Why doesn’t he start his own organization or a small army to fight for him? Although he is strong, no one can accomplish everything alone. That’s why it’s necessary for him to build power and influence if he wants to defeat his enemies. They have both – but he doesn’t – which is why he relies on help, even though he doesn’t want to.
shrekk
His popularity had reached a new peak* not pick
Federico chaves
You know author it would be cruel of you not to release the meeting of the parents today in the next 5 minutes
Federico chaves
Oooooo meeting the parents
