Woe is afoot

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"Sheriff Galpin, please come this way!" Weems floated through the door.

Galpin turned from staring at me. He stepped back from the ghost principal, "What in the-"

She put her hand up exasperatedly, "I don't have time for you to come to terms with this. I have injured students and endangered schools!" Weems ushered him into the building and out of ear shot.

"Come on, we can go through the side entrance," Ajax said. But I wasn't aware of an entrance to the side of the infirmary. He led us to the outside bench near the patches of roses. Ajax climbed onto the bench and pressed his hand against the raven carving in the wall.

The stone fell backwards and a small tunnel opened up. So the nightshades had more then just a library. He crawled through first and then we followed. The end of the tunnel was in the hallway behind the Fockner's tapestry portrait. Ajax dusted his knees off and waited for us to get through before turning to the infirmary which was four steps away.

There was a crowd of students outside the door. Enid turned around, her eyes red from crying. She sobbed, "It's so bad- the burning..." she broke down and Ajax wrapped her in a tight hug. I pushed my way to the front. They weren't letting students in to crowd the place while they helped the burn victims.

The door was cracked open and I peered through it. A vampire was writhing on the mattress. I could see the smoke sizzling up from their arm. "Make it stop!" They screamed.

I stepped back, "Whoever did this is truly sadistic." I pulled Kent from the crowd. "Go get me one of the dodgeballs," I ordered. He looked as if he might argue, but instead just ran off.

"This is going to make me sick," Eugene rested his hands against his knees, trying to breath.

I patted him on the back, "Puking will help no one and you will end up having to clean it up yourself."

The ominous summoning bell sounded through the school walls. Weems wanted to speak to the students. They hesitantly stepped away from the infirmary and turned to the auditorium.

Xavier hobbled out of the infirmary. Ajax stopped him, "Dude you aren't ready."

The artist face was pale and his breathing was labored. "I can't be in there, Ajax. I can't stand another second of it." His friends stopped protesting and they followed me into the auditorium. Weems stood on the stage with the sheriff.

"Students of Nevermore as well as visiting students, our competitive social weekends is in jeopardy along with your safety. I am pleading with you for full cooperation with Jericho's sheriff, Galpin as he interrogates many of you. When he finds the one behind these attacks, we can go back to enjoying ourselves with no threat of harm!" Principal Weems shouted out at us. The other schools teachers nodded in agreement.

Weems pulled a few students from the crowd and they left the auditorium. Then a few more. The investigation was predicted to take a few hours. Most students turned to their phones, others started playing games. I wanted to continue my own search, but I had left my books with the bees.

Kent came over, "You asked for this, Wednesday." He pulled out the dodgeball. It was a yellow one with an oily sheen on it.

"She's allergic to color," Xavier reminded him.

Enid leaned over from where she was nestled to her boyfriend, "She can still touch it, just not for long period of time. And it will cause discomfort at first, and then pain."

I raised my hand, "I am capable of grabbing the dodgeball. I don't need a diagnosis from the crowd." I picked up the dodgeball. It had so much oil, I was able to scrape it off into the small jar I had on my belt. I would need to get a closer look. I put the dodgeball down nonchalantly, trying to pretend as if my fingertips didn't burn.

"Why do you want that anyways?" Xavier asked, leaning against his chair in front of me to look up at me.

I tucked away the jar, "I don't believe it's just a student prank." I didn't feel the need to give him more information. He frowned.

Sheriff Galpin came back out again with the principal. "Wednesday Addams," Weems announced. She didn't look as if she wanted me to be investigated. Galpin just stared me down.

I stood up. Xavier tugged on my sleeve, "What if he comes after you for revenge!"

"Galpin will beat himself up far more then I. I am a victim in his story. A weird child that was in the clutches of his monster child," I whispered with total conviction. Still, it would be awkward. I hoped to not endure any apologies, pity, or worse; encouragement.

I climbed up onto the stage, listening to my heels echo and mingle with the general conversations. Weems rested ghost hand on my back as if it would actually push me forward.

The sheriff didn't speak to me yet. He was holding his interviews in the prop room for theatre. I sat on a throne chair across the desk. He sat in one too. "Wednesday Addams," he finally spoke, "What do you know about all of this?"

"Your asking my findings?" I asked in surprise.

He filtered papers around, "You've got hunches and ideas. I want to filter through them." So Galpin did feel sorry. He felt sorry for not locking his son up the moment he began to question if he was a Hyde.

Galpin passed a small bottle across the table. "We found this at the dodgeball game. It held the oil." He watched me expectantly.

"You are trying to use my visions? You know they aren't 100 proof. You can't use them legally," I raised an eyebrow. My hand hovered over the bottle.

He cleared his throat, "I trust them Miss Addams."

I reached for it, wrapping my palm around. For a moment, there was only silence. It wasn't working. And then my neck snapped back and I was thrown into a vision.

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