NOTE: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED IN THE SENSE THAT I CHANGED THE CLUE
It was the day of the Poe Cup race, and I headed over to the tent where Xavier's dorm was getting ready. They themed their boat after the Edgar Allen Poe poem Cask of the Amontillado. Xavier asked me to help with the face paint, so I stopped by the art shed to get some extra brushes. Before I walked into the tent, I shouted "Is everyone in there decent?!", to which a chorus of "yes" gave me my answer. I enter the tent with a cup full of brushes in my hand. Xavier was painting Ajax's face, and looked over to the entrance "Hey El." he grinned. "Hey. I got some extra paintbrushes. Who do you want me to start on?" I set them down on the table in the tent.
"Thanks. Also, I already did Logan's, so that leaves Blake." He said, turning back to Ajax. I nodded and got to work.
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It had been 10 or so minutes, and I finished Blake's facepaint. He left the tent, leaving it just me and Xavier. Ajax had left a bit earlier, Xavier having finished with his face paint. Xavier was now trying (and failing, might I add) to do his own face paint. Wiping my hands on a spare rag, I walked over. "You know, you can just ask me to paint your face for you," I told him.
"Yeah, but I wanted to try and see how hard it actually is. Apparently, very hard is the answer." He replied, setting the brush down. I pulled over a chair and sat across from him, picking up the brush and dipping it into the red paint. "This probably won't be super great since we have, like, seven minutes, but it will be better than whatever you were trying to do."
Xavier laughed.
I turned his head slightly, finishing the mouth part of the facepaint. I set the brush down, having finished. "And I think that's it."
He smiled "Thanks, El." he stood up.
"Don't forget this." I also stood up, handing him his jester hat. "I'll save you some food."
Xavier took the hat "I'll see you at the end, hopefully not soaking wet." We both exited the tent, and he put the hat on, it covering his hair that he had put in a bun earlier. I walked back to the crowd and watched as the race started and the teams took off.
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Long story short, Ophelia Hall won, and the canoe for The Cask of the Amontillado ended up sinking on the way back from Raven Island. The canoe for The Pit and the Pendulum crashed into one of the red buoys and split in half, and spikes from The Black Cat slashed holes in The Golden Bugs just as they were about to reach the shore. I was holding Xavier's coffee, my hands keeping it from going cold, and walked over to Xavier. " I got your coffee." I held it out to him.
"Thanks, El." he smiled, taking the coffee in one hand while drying off his hair with a towel.
"Sorry that you guy's didn't win."
"It's fine. At least we weren't last like last year."
"You also got paint in your eye last year. Bad omen."
He laughed, sipping his coffee "That, too."
I looked around to see if anyone was in earshot, then asked "Do you know when the next Nightshades meeting is?"
He shrugged "Next week? Not sure."
"Hm. I'm gonna try to sort out the next part of the puzzle box.
"Good luck. Let me know if you find anything."
"Will do." I turned around and headed back to the school.
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I picked up the metal box from off my desk and heard a click. Looking at the lid, I tried to open it, but it didn't budge. Setting it down, I put my thumbs on the little crevices on the sides.
It clicked again.
"Hm.." I took a peek in the stone combination box that this one came out of and saw a little piece of paper taped to the bottom. Taking the paper out, I unfolded it and turned on my lamp. On the paper was:
2422200815181605 = Key
"That's not helpful," I muttered, putting the paper in my pocket. My phone buzzed, and I checked the text:
Nightshades Group Chat
TheBiancaBarclay: Emergency meeting. We found Wednesday in the library.
Cup_OGreekYoghurt: How'd she get in there?
YourFriendlyNeighborhoodFireNymph: omw
ThatArtistThorpe: Same
SirenDude: ^^
Shallowaters: Ill get Yoko.
I turned off my phone and went over to my bed, pulling a key from under the pillow. Getting back to the desk, I opened the locked drawer on the top right and pulled out a folded cloak and my raven mask. Tucking those in my blazer, I headed to the Poe statue to find out what Wednesday Addams was doing in the Nightshades Library.
Another Chapter! Hope you enjoyed.
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Candlelight| Xavier Thorpe
Fanfiction"You don't understand what you do to me, Xavier." Elliot comes from generations of Nymphs, a lot of them going to Nevermore. She is no different. As soon as she had started showing signs of being a Fire Nymph, she had been pre-registered to Nevermor...
