𝕸𝖀𝕽𝕯𝕰𝕽 | 𝖂𝖊𝖉𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖉𝖆𝖞

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖘𝖎𝖝𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓

~

XVI

~

"THAT WAS A DISASTER!"

Aiyla Demir jumped slightly in her seat, holding back a flinch.

Wednesday shot her a look of quiet reassurance.

"The mayor is furious!" Weems continued, voice lower as she paced around the office, "I've lost count of the angry phone calls, emails, people in the town, alumni and parents. They want answers and so do I!"

The two outcasts sat in the headmistress' office, listening to Weems scream at them for their suspected involvement in the incident at the outreach day.

There was no concrete proof that either of them had blew up the statue.

"We would lead the inquisition," Wednesday assured, "But I left my thumbscrews and rack at home, and Aiyla doesn't care much for colonisers."

Aiyla nodded in conformity of her best friend's words.

Weem's right eye was twitching.

She glared at them, so angry that Aiyla could clearly see the blush of anger in the dimly lit room. She was almost dumbfounded for words.

"Miss Addams... you're already on thin ice. Wafer-thin ice," Weems warned.

"I swear on my crow's soul, our hands are clean," Aiyla reminded her, hands in the air in mock surrender, "You have no proof that either of us blew up that statue."

Weems turned on her, and pointed a finger, "You are a convicted murderer!"

Yes, because murdering a statue is such a crime.

"Actually, I'm not convicted," Aiyla corrected, she hummed lightly, "There's no proof to suggest that I committed those murders."

Besides a few witness statements... who were easily silenced.

"I may not have hard evidence, but I see you," Weems argued, "You two are trouble magnets."

Wednesday and Aiyla stood up and glared up at the headteacher. 

"If trouble means standing up to lies...," they chorused.

Weems did the little double take that everyone did whenever Aiyla and Wednesday spoke in unison - it was one of the reasons they loved doing it so much.

"...Decades of discrimination...," Wednesday continued.

"...Centuries of treating outcasts like second-class citizens or worse," Aiyla finished. By now, the two girls were standing directly before Weems, and glaring up at her in a cold and crude manner that made them seem all the more terrifying.

Frustrated, Weems snapped, "What are you taking about?"

"Jericho," Aiyla hissed, "Why does this town even have an Outreach Day? Don't you know its real history with outcasts? The real story of Joseph Crackstone?"