Candlelight| Xavier Thorpe

Chapter 12: Outreach Day

I opened the envelope that contained my Outreach assignment and sighed, looking at Xavier and Ajax. "I got Uriah's Heap. That might just be worse than last year." I grumbled

"I might be able to beat that." Xavier said, "I got the Weathervane."
"Same," Ajax said

"Well, at least you guys get free coffee."

"I'll make sure to save you a cup." Xavier grinned

"Thanks." I smiled at him, and turned to Ajax "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure." He said, and they walked a few paces away.

"Trade with me?" I asked

He shook his head "For Uriah's Heap? No way."
"There are only two envelopes for The Weathervane. There's a higher chance Enid might be outreaching there." I offered. He thought about it for a moment "Oh, alright. You owe me one if she's not there, though."

I handed him my outreach assignment "You have my word."

We traded, and that was that.

———————————————————

I walked into The Weathervane and saw Xavier already there. He looked up "I thought you got Uriah's Heap.
"I might have pulled some strings," I replied

"You bribed Ajax?"

I shrugged "Pretty much."

Tyler came from the back room and saw Xavier and I "Oh, so I'm stuck with both of you."

I nodded "Yep. Nice and fun for all of us." I said, the words coated in sarcasm.

"Uniform's in the back." He said, his thumb jerking behind him as he went behind the counter. I went to the back and grabbed one of the uniforms, then went to change in the bathroom. When I came out, Xavier had also changed into his uniform, and we went behind the counter.

The day wasn't that busy, surprisingly, considering there was the whole Crackstone statue thing later. I cleaned up a booth table before seeing Wednesday walk into the Weathervane.

I swear, she's everywhere.

"I thought you got Pilgrim World or something." I said, looking at her.
"I left while my sanity was still intact." She replied monotonously.

"Good idea."
Xavier looked over "You want coffee or something?"
"Actually I'm here for Tyler."

This girl does not listen for sh*t.

I sighed "Did you not listen to what we said yesterday?"
"Who I talk to is my business." She said, and rung the little bell on the counter. Tyler came out of the back a few moments later "You rang?"

I sighed and brought a few empty mugs to the back, putting them in the sink. Xavier joined me a few moments later.

"Wanna duck out of here in a bit?" I asked him, looking over.

"Yeah. The statue revealing is happening soon anyways." He shrugged, taking off his apron and grabbing his clothes before heading to the guys bathroom. I went to the girl's bathroom with my clothes and got changed out of the Weathervane uniform and into the Nevermore uniform.

I met up with Xavier outside of the Weathervane, and we ended up walking around a bit. We had time to kill, so we went walking through the woods, where it was pouring rain. Xavier had his red umbrella shielding the both of us from the rain as we walked.

I looked around, and I saw Wednesday.
It's like the girl is everywhere.

She was crouched over a part of the path where it was super muddy.

Xavier and I looked at each other, sharing a look, and walked over to Wednesday.

She noticed the lack of rain over her head due to the umbrella and shot up, looking at us "What are you two doing here?"

"Just taking a walk in the pouring rain." I looked at her "What about you?"
"I saw the monster here."

Xavier looked around "You saw it here? Do you have a death wish or something?"

"But here's the thing. The monster is human. The tracks turn from monster ones to human ones." Wednesday said, looking back at the ground. The rain had muddled up whatever was there prior. I peered at the puddles, trying to see what she was seeing.

"Wednesday, all I see is mud and water." I deadpanned.

"The rain washed them away."
Xavier made a sound that was between a scoff and a snort. I elbowed him in the side "Be nice."
"I'm trying to keep an open mind." He said

"How big of you." Wednesday looked back at him

All three of us ended up walking along, until we got back to Jericho, while Xavier and Wednesday had an... interesting conversation.

Hey guys! its been a tad, but for some reason I found this chapter really hard to write (probably because I just finished reading Six of Crows and that's all that was on my mind for the past few days), welp, enjoy this chapter!

WC:752