Wednesday's Week

A Woeful Move

The First contest was swimming. The crowd gravitated to the lake. Every single participant was a siren, including Bianca and Divina. They wore our school colors on their swim suits. Enid pulled us as close to the docks as she could. The murky water would make it hard to watch the participants.

They stood on the deck. Weems blew a whistle. They dived in. Bianca's tale turned silver. Divina was a cold blue. The mermaids went far down into the water.

"We have to catch them reaching the other side!" Ajax yelled us. We ran to the other side of the lake.

It was silent except for the students chattering. "I don't think we will win this one," I spoke.

Enid frowned, "Don't be a downer!"

"Salts cry is a school under water. Bianca and Divina use their legs more than their fins."

From the middle of the lake, two mer-students jumped into the air. They were wrestling each other. I recognized Divina, but the other siren was a stranger. They plummeted back into the water.

"Look!" Someone pointed out. Three of them were close to the end. Bianca and two strangers.

Something dropped into the water. The crowd didn't notice it, but I did. A little gold ball. It trailed down the bank and sunk to the bottom. Not a minute later, a high pitched scream erupted under water. On shore, we covered our ears. The sirens writhed underwater.

"Somebody help!" A student yelled.

I could barely keep from falling to the ground. I inched closer to the water. An arm grabbed me, "What are you doing?" Ophelia mouthed. Plants from her head wrapped around her ears. She held onto me tightly, dragging me away.

It was going to kill those sirens. "Saving them," I yelled. But before I could jump in, Thing did. He dove in, unaffected by the loud noise. Ophelia held me by the waist, not allowing me to chase after Thing. The noise continued. The siren's movements were beginning to become sluggish.

Thing jumped out of the water, the golden ball screaming with him. It fell into the mud, louder now that it was out of the water. I didn't wait to crush it underneath my boot.

The noise stopped.

Ophelia let go of me and I bent down and picked it up. "How curious," I whispered as I rolled it around in my hands. There was mechanical design around it. Someone had created it.

The students ran into the lake to pull out the sirens. Bianca laid on the bank unconscious. Divina could barely move. Their ears bled.

"Move out of the way!" Coach Vlad shouted. He already had 911 on the phone. He pushed back the students.

Xavier stumbled from behind me. Everyone was disorientated, "Do you think it was from the other schools?" I scanned the entire crowd. The only students who didn't participate in this activity was 'Eternal'.

"Please, everyone make their way back to the school! We will be looking into this immediately," Weems appeared. "The perpetrator will be dealt with harshly!"

The students began to file off. Weems gravitated to me. "Give me the ball."

"You are a ghost, remember?" I pointed out. Then I whispered, "Unless you are becoming alive?" Her eyes flashed.

For a moment, I thought she was going to defend herself to me. "Pass the ball to your aunt." Ophelia snatched it from my hand. I had wanted to inspect that closer.

The pocket against my stomach buzzed. I waited for Weems to leave to pull the phone from my pocket. It was the stalker. "I want to play too," the text read. Was this from my stalker? Why had they targeted the sirens?

I looked up, feeling eyes on me. But the forest was empty. I spun and saw no one.

The next two contests were Rock climbing and 'Define the Monster'. Weems and the teachers agreed on not delaying it.

The Rock climbing wall was actually set up on the side of the school. The grips had been put in the side of the stone wall. At the top, there was a bell to ring. "Who is doing this one?" I asked Enid.

"Kent and Ajax," she answered. She held her hands tightly against her back. Her anxiety was palpable. "It's a free climb."

The gothic looking normie stepped up to the line along with seven other students. Coach Vlad blew the whistle. The fake normie's legs and arms stretched out. He past the first few holds and began an incredible climb.

Kent grunted and weaved between a vampire and a siren. "Knock him down," he yelled to Ajax who was stuck lower because of the stretchy kid. Ajax shoved his foot off of the foothold and Kent did the same with his arm. He swung for a moment and they tried to race ahead of him.

Someone bumped into me and I was sent into a vision.

Before me was Tyler. He wore a white jumpsuit and he sat in a padded white room. He coughed into his hands and looked up, "Wednesday, is that you?"

I pulled out of the vision and tumbled to the ground.

Standing above me was Marcus. He looked down at me and tilted his head, "How curious." Marcus leaned down. "Are you okay?" His eyes were green.

I kicked him between the legs. He groaned and stumbled back as I jumped up. This wasn't Marcus. He stumbled back and disappeared into the crowd. Enid noticed me, "What happened?"

"Marcus tried to help me up so I kicked him in the balls." I answered truthfully.

She did not scold me. "Probably for the best."

The climbers reached the top. Ajax was closer to the bell, but the stretchy kid's arm stretched farther and rung it before he could get to it. Ajax pulled himself up into the ledge and frowned.

The students from that kids school cheered loudly. Enid threw her hands on her hip, "That wasn't fair!"

"Of course it was. We are encouraged to use any power we have." I replied back. The Swimming contest was tampered with, we lost the rock climbing. The last thing Nevermore had to win. And I was there to make sure it happened.

I exited the crowd as the students began their decent. I needed to talk to Eugene about strategy.