Wednesday's Week

Alive and Woe

The early group was all crowded into the gym. I looked up at the fire alarm sprinklers. They still had a red rust from the prank the normies picked on us at the Raven dance. Enid stood beside me, bubbling with general excitement.

I caught Bianca's gaze. She had her sirens at her side. She did not smile or frown at me. Her hand rested on her shell pendant. "Why are we here?" I asked Enid.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know. They said it was a surprise." I hated surprises. I patted the knife in my sleeve. Combined with the arrow wound in my shoulder and the new cut in my hand, I wouldn't be at my prime. Not that I assumed this school was here to do my physical damage. But it always ended up doing so anyways.

"Welcome early birds!" a familiar voice spoke into a microphone. All eyes turned to principal Weems. She had a transparent sheen about her. We had a ghost for a principal. "I love this school as much as you do and couldn't part from it," she smiled. "As to reward you for your promptness, the staff has concocted a game for tonight. A scavenger hunt!"

Cheers went up through the room. Scavenger hunts were an Addams family special. However ours contained living and dead things I doubt this school has ever seen. Weems continued, "Each item can be found on the school grounds. There are no rules. Each object has a riddle. To find the list of riddles, you must first solve this one.

"Death stole it
Ice preserves it
Held above fire
Lost to the mire"

"Happy searching students!" Weems floated down from the podium.

Enid turned to me, "We should create a group, that way we can brainstorm!" What a horrible idea.

"Wednesday, I bet I can solve it faster than you," Xavier winked before running off.

Enid's mouth flew open. She pointed at me and then Xavier. I had to shut up Nevermores queen of gossip.  "I am going to do this one alone. You've got the other Ophelia girls and I don't do groups."

Before she could protest, I was off, weaving through the crowd. Once I had a hallway to myself, I went over the riddle in my head. Death stole it.

Something dead, easy.
Ice preserves it
Anything trapped in cold or a winter beast
Held above fire
The only fire at Nevermore was the stoves in the kitchen and the fireplaces in the common room and the principal's office
Lost to the mire
What was potentially killed by mud?

The answer came to me. I ran down the hallways. Groups of kids argued with one another and pointed in different directions. I didn't care if any of them followed me.

Principal Weems office was empty of people and ghost. The door was open which was uncharacteristic. I slid inside. No one saw me.

Above principal Weems mantle was a Yeti painting. The last Yeti to exist before their extinction. Most of them died in a mud avalanche. The usual decor on the mantle was swept m away and a box sat there. I opened it and pulled a slip of paper from it. The box itself was stuck to the mantle. I considered throwing the rest of the papers in the fire. But that would be no fun.

I exited her office and opened the piece of paper. 10 riddles. The first one read

"Sick in the head
Brought to the bed
Nine lives
Ten knives"

The first part made sense to me. Either the infirmary or the graveyard. Nevermore had an honorary graveyard. Sadly there were no bodies there.

I turned to the stairs. The infirmary was on level one. Xavier was running up them. He saw the paper in my hands. "How'd you-" he stopped, shook his head and ran back up the stairs.