Solo Mission
Wednesday was laying in her bed. It was early in the morning, but she couldn’t sleep. She was turning the pendant between her fingers, trying to find something, anything that could reveal who it belonged to. She tried to find fingerprints on it the day they found it, but nothing turned up, as if the golden palm appeared in the Hive out of thin air.
She cancelled out the possibility of the intruder being a werewolf, since the silver part of the necklace was big enough to leave severe burns after touching a werewolf’s skin. A vampire couldn’t be considered as the possible culprit either, since the sun was shining unusually bright that day, and even though they could stay outside for a little while, they usually avoided being in direct sunlight if they could. That still left her with about fifty suspects at school, and she was itching to get her investigation going. The only thing standing in her way was her peacefully sleeping roommate to whom she’d promised she would wait for with investigating.
Wednesday knew that she was perfectly capable to put a point at the end of this case even if she came to a lull in the investigation at the moment. Her not being able to say no to Enid when she asked her to let her help was a new kind of weakness, and she couldn’t afford to be weak at the moment, so she carefully slipped on her boots, and sneaked out of her room.
There were two people who knew about her joining the hummers and being frie… Acquaintances with Eugene. Bianca and Xavier. Both of them had reasons to be crossed with Wednesday. She threatened Bianca’s queen bee status the minute she set foot in the school, and she rejected Xavier many times when he was following her around like a desperate, pathetic puppy. She did not take anything from them physically, but she did theoretically. Bianca’s reign and Xavier’s pride. Making connection between these and the stalker’s messages might’ve been a far stretch, but right now she didn’t have any other leads to follow.
She made her way towards the gym. She knew Bianca liked to practice fencing early, and considering the time, she hoped she could catch her for a few words undisturbed. The door was slightly ajar, revealing a lean figure in a white fencing suit. Wednesday was concentrating so hard on trying to figure out who the mask hides that she winced when someone spoke up right behind her.
“Addams, I see you decided to rise and pry early today.”
“Yoko. It’s torturous to see you again so soon.”
“Aw, don’t be that way. I’m sure Enid wouldn’t be happy to hear that her favorite brooding goth girl talked this way to her best friend,” teased the vampire.
“I see it failed to catch your attention how unbothered I am by other people’s opinions about me.”
“Okay, fine, I’m leaving you alone. Feel free to come inside and join us when you’re ready. Bianca made me promise to train with her. Lord, she knows how much I hate physical exercise… Sometimes I feel like she’s better at torturing others than you.”
“I think stalking is more her expertise…”
“What did you say?”
“Let’s get inside, I want to have a few words with Bianca.”
Just as the words left Wednesday’s mouth, she felt the buzz of her mobile in her pocket. She got it out just to see another incoming text from the private number of the stalker.
You were smart enough not to keep It in the bee hive, but you should know, nothing’s gonna keep us from Its grace, especially not a wimpy teenage girl. Play a game, why don’t we?
Wednesday had to take a quick second to think. Us? She'd tought the stalker was one person until now, and getting a notification when she did meant that Bianca couldn’t have been them. She was known for being an avid multitasker, but it was impossible to send a text while fencing.
“Yoko, never mind what I just said. Go in, spend some time practicing. Based on our last lecture, you need it.”
“I will be wishing I was dead… Er, deader the whole time. You have a nice day though. And give Sinclair my well wishes.”
Wednesday turned on her heels without a second word, phone still in her hands.
I’m in. Quick warning, there’s no game I haven’t beaten yet, –she replied.
Not a second passed before the three dots indicating the stalker’s typing appeared on the screen. However, they disappeared just as soon, leaving Wednesday on edge about this mysterious game that had the potential to become the big break in her investigation.
She decided not to wait around for a reply like all the stereotypical teenage girls did in Enid’s stupid romcom movies she became a passive watcher of thanks to her roommate’s habit of not using earphones.
Heading towards Xavier’s shed she realized that quite some time had passed since her departure. Enid must’ve been up by now, wondering where she disappeared to. This filled her with unease, but she brushed it off as soon as she neared the entrance of the shed. The padlock was open, so the boy was sure to be found on the other side. During her investigation about the hyde, Wednesday quickly learned that the boy was keen on leaving the door locked whenever he wasn’t here.
The smell of paint filled the room as Xavier was making exaggerated movements with his brush, and Wednesday thought she’d much rather give a two year old a knife than him at the moment.
“Xavier, may I have a quick word with you?”
The boy laid down his brush and turned towards her, running a paint-stained hand through his hair. The black eye Bianca gave him was still visible, but it faded quite a bit from the dark purple color it was on the picture on Enid’s blog.
“You know, for someone who “don’t want anything to do with me”, you seem pretty keen on being in my company,” he said, quoting the girl from a previous conversation they had.
Wednesday knew she had to carefully calculate her next move. She had to compensate somehow for the broken ego of him, and if that meant she had to play the damsel in distress, as much as she hated it, that was what she was going to do. She reached inside her pocket and grabbed the pendant.
“Xavier, the day I came back to Nevermore, I was attacked. The figure was masked and he attacked from behind, so I had no chance to see who it was or to take them down. However, I torn this off their neck. Have you seen anything like this before? If you have, I need you to let me know. I need to find out who it was and what they wanted from me.”
She showed him the pendant. He took it, and while he was carefully observing it, Wednesday looked for any telltale sign of him knowing more than he was telling.
“Is that a Hamsa hand? I don’t know about anyone practicing Muslim on campus.”
“I don’t think it’s a Hamsa hand. If you look at it more closely, the fingers are opened. There are also these weird lines here, see? I’m not sure if they’re just scratches or are intentionally there. And the moon made of silver… It has to mean something, right?”
“I’m sorry Wednesday, I haven’t seen anything like this on anyone before, and I don’t recognize the symbol either.”
As much as Wednesday could tell, he was telling the truth. Or that’s what she thought, until she saw a small, red bump on his upper arm. It looked exactly like a bee sting that caused an allergic reaction not so long ago.
“You should try hydrocortisone on that. I heard that helps with bee stings,” she said.
“Oh, you mean this one? It’s not a bee sting. I was trying to make a sculpture from different kind of wires and one of them stung me. It must’ve been rusty, because it became inflamed quickly.”
“I see. Did you finish the sculpture?”
“Nah, I found out that I’m handier with a paintbrush. Oh, speaking of bees. Have you talked to Eugene already?”
Wednesday didn’t know how to answer that. The boy was suspicious, she couldn’t state that he was innocent yet, so she had to be careful. If she said yes, Xavier would know that she knows about the intruder at the Hive. If she said no, he’d know she was lying because she had already shown him the pendant.
“Yes, I have. Why?”
“Oh shoot. I wanted to ask you to tell him that I’ll be over for honey tomorrow. He’s nice enough to lend me some every month, I use it for my tea. Guess I’ll have to hunt him down myself, right?” he said with a faux grin on his face.
“I guess so. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll head out now. Thanks for the help. Or the lack of it.”
The door closed with a thud behind her back, and she left the scene with a new number one suspect on her list. All signs pointed to Xavier. The bee sting. Asking about Eugene, trying to find out whether she’s been to the Hive or not. Pretending not to know anything about the pendant. It all started making sense. Her solo mission was successful.