The Blight Chronicles: Odalia & Alador

Abomination Weekly

Every second that they had to spend sitting in class felt like torture. They had so much stuff to do that sitting through class felt like a complete waste of their time. Why did they have to sit through a lecture they already know the material for? By the time lunchtime came around they were both so exasperated that Odalia tried bargaining with principal Bump to let them graduate early. Just so that they didn’t have to sit through another lecture. 

She had proposed he give them the most difficult test he could come up with and if they could both pass it with perfect scores they would be allowed to graduate early. Although principal Bump did agree that he believed they would both be capable of such a feat he would not be allowing them to graduate early. Graduation was only a few months away and he saw no reason why he should let them graduate ahead of their class. So he waved them away and told them to try to make the most of their final days at Hexside. 

They both left principal Bump's office reluctantly feeling defeated. They had barely managed to make it through half a day of school. How were they supposed to get through the next three months left until graduation?

“We could drop out?” suggested Alador as they walked down the hallway. “With all the offers we received, we wouldn’t even need a Hexside degree to get into our coven programs.” He had already been contemplating skipping his classes so he could work on his inventions. There was so much that he needed to do. So many ideas that he wanted to try out but couldn’t. It was maddening having to stay seated unable to be productive. He wasn’t sure how long he would be able to go on like this.   

Odalia understood where he was coming from. If she could have her way she would be home working on their contract with Harlow. On top of that now that Alador had to apply for the abomination program several deadlines had to be met and paperwork needed to be completed. Then there were her own deadlines and the constant messages from people that she assumed had seen them at the event.

“I know it’s difficult but it can’t be helped,” said Odalia, letting out a sigh. “Nobody would want to do serious business with Hexside dropouts so we must persevere. Besides, it's nothing we can’t handle.” 

She took Alador’s hand and gave him a reassuring smile. He didn’t look convinced but he didn’t question her and returned her smile with his own. He knew she was right but he didn’t have the patience for waiting so long but still, he would do it for her.

“There you are!” 

They both heard the shout but didn’t react to it and only continued walking hand in hand down the hallway.

“Don’t you dare ignore me, you blights! After the stunt you pulled you should at least have the decency to face me!” growled Darius from behind them. 

“What do you want, Darius?” asked Odalia to humor him though neither she nor Alador bothered to turn and face him.   

“As if you don’t know!” he fumed, rushing to put himself in front of them so he could face them. “How dare you do this to me! Was what you did at Grom night not sufficient? To go so low as to dilute my debut during the abomination competition and steal the spotlight from me. That day was supposed to be mine and you tarnished it. To make matters worse you had the audacity to call it Blight Night to mock me!” 

“Darius darling you’re causing a scene please get a hold of yourself” responded Odalia doing her best to suppress a smile. After what he tried to do to Alador she felt no pity for him and enjoyed seeing him in this miserable state. 

“You don’t look so good,” muttered Alador. The usually well-kempt youth looked completely disheveled. It was so noticeable that even Alador felt it was strange. 

“Don’t give me that! As if you don’t know what I’m talking about!” he shouted as his anger reached a new high. He held up a magazine so that they could both look at it clearly. It was the latest issue of Abomination Weekly which showed both of them on the cover. The image was of the two of them inside the sparks of energy generated by Alador’s gloves. 

“They are calling you the future of the abomination coven!” exclaimed Darius with disdain. “That should have been me but instead they chose you!” 

Odalia knew Darius was right; he should have been the one on the cover of the magazine. It was one of the rewards for winning the abominations competition. Along with that, the student would also get an interview and an article written about them which would be found midway through the magazine.

However, when she took the magazine from Darius and skimmed through it she saw why he was so angry. This issue was entirely about Alador with the exception of the two middle pages which referenced the abomination competition, the students that participated, and finally the winner. At the very bottom of the page, they briefly mentioned Darius though they used the wrong name. They kept referring to him as Dorian and didn’t even bother using a picture from the event for him. Instead, they used a yearbook picture from last year, and under it, they wrote in small bold letters “Congratulations to the Winner” 

Every other page highlighted Alador and his creations. Every page went into detail about each one of the inventions they had taken. There was even a full article just on the Abomibutler even though they had only taken it to help move things around. Whoever had written the article had been at the event and taken note of every word that Alador had said. There was even a section called “Get to know the man behind the abominations ”.

“Alador dear, when were you interviewed?” asked Odalia nervously as she read through the questions and Alador’s answers to them. 

“I don’t know, there were a lot of people asking questions. I just answered them,” he replied absentmindedly as he too read through the magazine. 

Nobody had approached either one of them on behalf of the magazine. Which meant one of their representatives had attended the event and taken an interest in them. They didn’t ask questions to Alador directly, just listened to the questions others in the crowd were asking and recorded the answers.  

“I wish I could take credit for this but we had no idea someone had written an article on Alador,” answered Odalia perplexed. She still couldn't believe this had slipped past her. Even so, there were a lot of people at the event and it would have been impossible to keep track of all of them. And if this individual was just part of the crowd there would have been no way for them to know. A lot of people had taken pictures and asked questions but no one stuck out in her mind.  

“They wrote about you too,” muttered Alador who now had the magazine in his hands.

“Really, what do they say?” she asked, leaning in to get a better look at the article. The article had a picture of just her holding up what would have been Alador’s entree for the abomination competition. 

“Of course, you’re in there too, that's how I know you two planned this,” noted Darius with a glare. “I will never forgive you for doing this to me. I don’t know how you pulled this off but mark my words I will expose you for the hack that you are.” 

He then straightened up to his full height and came face to face with Alador. “And I’ll prove you are not the future of the abominations coven, I am.” he declared with a cold furry before abruptly turning around and leaving the pair with the magazine. 

Neither one of them paid much attention to Darius. They were more interested in the magazine which had referred to Odalia as not only Alador’s partner but his fiance. On top of that, they kept referring to them as Alador and Odalia Blight.