All For Not - Wednesday

Page 23

"What do we have here? The runt of the litter." I settled into the canoe, looking down at the water before looking to my side at the feeling of eyes on me, "for the record, I don't believe I'm better than everyone else. Just that I'm better than you." I ignored Wednesday in favor of nodding at Xavier, officially signaling a challenge had been made. His smirk had me giving one of my own as the announcements went off, my eyes drifting from him and out at the water as I struggled to swallow my saliva in nervousness, "I want to welcome you all to the Edgar Allan Poe Cup."

"This is one of Nevermore's proudest annual traditions, dating back 125 years. Each team must row across to Raven Island, pull a flag from Crackstone's Crypt, and hustle back without sinking or being sunk. The first team to cross the finish line with their flag wins the cup and bragging rights for a year, as well as some special privileges. Let the Poe Cup begin!"

"Go! Go! Go!" Suddenly we were rowing, each team moving ahead, "oh, excuse us! Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!" Xavier's team the Amontillado was in first, after passing us from our right side leaving it with a grin as he looked back for a mere glance. The Black Cats weren't fast enough to stop it, leaving us in second and The Gold Bugs, the sirens in last.

The Pit and the Pendulum team all sat shrouded in purplish black as they came up to our left side, no longer wishing to be third, all the while Enid sat rowing with an aggressive and confident tactic, the cheering behind us wasn't the slightest bit distracting as we each ducked in perfect coordination without a word.

An axed trap pulled from the purple garbed teens canoe next to us and swiped sharply over our heads in a near death experience. Phasing no one, they passed us, switching to second and leaving us in third place for the time being, if only for a short moment.

Their canoe was suddenly drifting at a fast pace towards the buoy in the water, their franticness no use in their current situation as they were forcefully pushed into crashing, the canoe practically popping in half and sinking, each member then forced to swim to stay afloat, each of them upset. "Faster!" And on we went, continuing the rowing motion, "Thing." Wednesday sat before me, stopping for a moment while we had the advantage, pulling out a scoped lens to see further than the rest, "now." The sound of a lever and something rocks inside the boat's underbelly but we keep on, my sister picking her oar back up and pushing through the water once again.

"Let's go. It's over here." Pulling up towards the back, next to the dock we hear Xavier speak to Ajax, both hopping up and running off as we reach the shore. "Stay here and make sure Bianca can't sabotage our boat." As soon as we had docked, Wednesday had hopped out and I followed, she told Enid to stay as well as the rest of us before following after Xavier and Ajax. With a huff I had backed up to the edge of the dock, simply waiting for however long just as Enid sent Thing out on a mission of his expertise, "Thing, I need you to distract a couple of jokers."

I watched with interest as he moved from our side up towards a fallen log before flicking a rock at one of the teens from the team of clown painted faces, only for them to chase after him. Enid taking the moment as her chance to pull her claws out, with a smile on my face I watched, "hey so I saw you and Xavier talking," the smile dropped to a frown as she slashed at the canoe with a smirk on her face, "yes, I challenged him and he complimented my cat ears," it wasn't the full conversation but it was enough for her to scoff, "of course he would, werewolf boys are such dogs I swear."

My brow raised high, "what do you mean?" She paused, turning to look at me as she stood clasping her hands together, "you don't know? Wow, well there was this rumor last year that his mom was a werewolf," she looked away almost far off in thought as one of the girls spoke up, "yeah except it wasn't a rumor, turns out she's a total wolf and he just got a version of his dads abilities." A sigh interrupted her, "a lone wolf and a psychic, kinda romantic if you think about it."