Love Like Winter ❄️ Xavier Thorpe

Chapter 4: She's A Legacy

Soundtrack:

"Do I Wanna Know?" by Arctic Monkeys
"Apocalypse" by Cigarettes After Sex
"umakemenotwannadie" by Palaye Royals
"Six Feet Under" by Billie Eilish

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"The Nightshades?" I ask.

"In the words of Bianca, they're an elite social club with emphasis on elite," Xavier smiles. "It's basically just like a secret group that has meetups. It used to be about protecting outcasts, but some normie kid died a few years ago so we officially disbanded. Now we meet unofficially."

He takes my hand and I follow him out of the shed. We don't even bother putting the futon back because we use it so much. I make sure not to let go of his hand this time through the woods, and I also try really hard not to trip again.

Xavier hands me a masquerade style face mask when we're about halfway there. "Everyone in the Nightshades wears one of these when we meet up."

I take the mask and turn it over in my hands. "You don't know who each other is by now?"

He smiles and shrugs. "It's just a tradition. I'm going to suggest to them that they let you pledge, if you'd be interested."

I've never pledged to join anything before, and quite frankly, I suck at interacting with people. "But, I don't even know how to control my powers yet, if that's what they even are."

Xavier stops walking and stands in front of me. He gently lifts my chin so our eyes meet and he presses his lips to mine. Instant electricity.

"You're the only person I've ever experienced this with, Xavier. What good is it to me if I don't know how to actually use it?" I sigh and shut my eyes.

He takes my hands in his and raises them up, unclasping them and pressing his palms against mine in front of us. The electric tingles between our hands and slowly he pulls his hands away until ours are about an inch apart and I can still feel the sparks. I try to focus my energy to my hands and shut my eyes. A memory from when I was a child flits briefly through my mind and I not only feel the sparks but I hear them crackle and zap.

I hear Xavier wince. "Ow, fuck! Jesus, Princess."

I open my eyes and see him rubbing his hands on his pants. He looks up at me and laughs. "How did you do that?"

I shrug and stammer, "I have no idea. Some memory from when I was a child came into my head and that's when it happened."

"Well, hold onto that memory, Princess. And try to remember what it was if you can," he says while brushing my hair out of my face and then pretends his hands hurt again.

We continue on to the school and run into headmistress Weems who eyes us curiously and then smiles. "Ah, Annamaria and Xavier, where are you two off to this evening?"

Xavier clears his throat. "I was just going to show Anna the library."

"That sounds like a lovely idea," she turns to walk away and then stops. "But, please, don't do anything foolish. Nevermore can't afford anymore chaos."

I follow Xavier, hand in hand, to a statue of Edgar Allen Poe down the hall. We stand in front of it and he snaps twice. The statue makes a sharp cracking sound before receding into the wall, creating a secret passageway.

"Whoa," I say instinctively before Xavier takes my hand again and leads the way through.

We walk down a curving staircase, which has photos all along the walls on the way down. I see a photo of someone that looks a lot like a blonde version of my cousin, Wednesday, various other family photos, and then I see a photo of my aunt and uncle, Morticia and Gomez.