"I'll definitely pay you back. This is much better quality than my mother's and the one I lost before."
(Something like this should be worth a good amount of money.) (Bianca)
Bianca held the delicate medallion in her hands, a dolphin touching its tail in a circle, attached to a chain, now a necklace.
"Don't worry about the money, what really costs is the labour and knowledge. When you want to release your siren voice, just cover the dolphin's eyes, you no longer need to take it off every time."
William told Bianca about her new necklace.
"That will be convenient. By the way, are you and Enid together?" Bianca asked without taking her eyes off the medallion.
"Yes, I thought everyone already knew?" William was surprised by Bianca's unexpected question. It was no secret that he was with Enid most of the time.
"There are rumours, but neither you nor Enid have said anything about it," said Bianca.
"I thought you told all your friends, Enid. Didn't you post all our photos together on your social media?" asked William.
William looked at Enid sitting on his lap as he continued his conversation with Bianca. Enid was writing on her blog about the fight between Bianca and Elizabeth from Puck Hall. Bianca had given her permission to do so, as rumours had already begun to circulate around the academy.
"You don't like to draw attention to yourself, right? I thought we'd keep our relationship between our friends." Enid put her mobile phone aside.
"I never planned to keep our relationship a secret. You can post whatever you want." William rested his chin on Enid's shoulder.
"Thanks for the charm, William. I think I'll leave you two alone." Bianca stood up. She had been sitting on Yoko's bed.
"You can call me Will, and I'll see you later." William was on Enid's bed. It looked different from the last time he was here, much more colourful and fluffy, from colourful pillows to lights and hanging decorations.
"A moment ago you were very affectionate. What's going on now?" William held Enid's waist, planning to tickle her if she continued not to answer.
The Nevermore uniform consisted of a long skirt that came up to the chest and was fastened with straps. Otherwise, William would be touching Enid's belly directly.
Enid remained silent.
"Well, you leave me no choice." William tentatively touched her with his fingers before starting to tickle her, unleashing a torrent of laughter from Enid's lips. She pushed William onto the bed, and they ended up hugging and lying next to each other.
"I wanted to mark my territory. You're mine," Enid whispered softly, still not looking at William's face.
"Gulp."
William's throat felt dry. He was so close to her, he could feel her warmth and softness. Enid had taken off her blue blazer, and her bun was now slightly loose. From his position, Will could see her collarbone. He only had to unbutton a couple of buttons to see a little more skin.
"Click."
Yoko entered the room, walked over to her desk, took something from it, and left quietly. She was used to how affectionate they both were.
"Don't go too far, you're still very young," (Yoko)
Two pillows hit the door just as Yoko was closing it.
Midnight Octagonal Courtyard.
"So who summoned me here at midnight?"
William stood in the middle of the courtyard in complete darkness. The darkness did not bother him. A note that had been slipped under his door summoned him that same night to the courtyard just in front of the statue of Edgar Allan Poe.
As he finished speaking, several hooded figures emerged from behind the pillars supporting the stone arches and surrounded William in a circle.
One of them advanced menacingly towards William.
"You want to play with me?"
William changed into his large Grimm form, and all the figures dressed in black recoiled in fear. William advanced towards the hooded figure.
The hooded figure backed up until his back hit the wall. William exhaled, blowing the hood off the figure's head. The frightened Kent had closed his eyes.
"I told you it wouldn't work. It takes more than that to scare Will." Xavier removed his hood and advanced towards William.
"Your nose is thinner than a werewolf's." Ajax also removed his hood, followed by Divina, Bianca, Rowan, Yoko, and a couple of older students unknown to William.
"I'm sorry if the joke went too far, Kent." William returned to his human form and apologised to the merman.
"So what's going on?" William shrugged his shoulders.
"We want to show you something." Bianca walked towards the nearest corridor, followed by the rest of the young people, including William.
The whole group stopped right in front of an old, rather ancient bronze statue.
"We are the Nightshade Society. This is the secret entrance to our base." (Bianca)
"And why are you telling me all this?" (Bianca)
"We want you to be part of it. You just have to solve the riddle and open the door." (Bianca)
(Why does William have to solve the riddle? You let Kent and your friends in without them having to solve the riddle.)." (Xavier) A trace of annoyance arose in Xavier.
The statue was of Edgar Allan Poe, the famous novelist, an old man holding a book in his right arm and a raven spreading its wings in his left. William easily climbed up the statue; the book contained a series of phrases.
The opposite of the moon
A world between ours
Two months before June
A self seeding flower
One more than one
Its leaves weep to the ground
It melts in the sun
Its beginning and end never found
Every rule has one
(Sun,Nether,April,Pansy,Two,Willow,Ice,Circle,Exception...Snap Twice) (William)
William's memories of the television series were somewhat vague at this point, but the riddle was quite simple and took him less than a minute to solve.
After snapping his fingers twice, the bronze raven seemed to come to life, spreading its wings and flapping them a couple of times. The large statue moved aside, revealing an underground passageway.
"Perfect, now you're one of us," Bianca applauded before descending the stairs.
The Nightshade Society hall was a large underground space with a domed ceiling. Dozens of paintings and photos decorated the walls, photos of former members of the Nightshade Society. The floor had a striking white engraving of a skull covered with petals around it.
"They're your parents, right?" Xavier showed her a picture in a gold frame. Catherine and Uriel Stone were sitting next to each other, their names written underneath.
"They never told me about this." William looked at the picture with a smile; they looked just as happy as they did now.
The Night Shadows were founded by Goody Addams in the 17th century. They fought against society and sought peace for all outcasts, but now they were just another social club for rich kids in Nevermore.
(I'm not interested in their club, but their library is a different matter.)
William quickly turned his attention away from the photos and focused instead on the large bookcases covering the walls, filled with old books written by former members of the society.
(No, no, no, no... Interesting.)
William ran his fingers over the black-covered books, nothing too interesting until he came to a book titled "How to Find Unusual Beasts" written by Ned Escala.
"Bianca, can I borrow this book?" (William)
"Go ahead, just bring it back later." (Bianca)
"So, to celebrate the new member joining the Nightshade Society," Ajax brought an apple pie.
"Yoko told us you like sweets." (Divina)
"Enid told me you like desserts" (Yoko)
"So that incident with the child traffickers a few months ago, was that you?" Yoko asked the question everyone wanted to ask, even Xavier had never seen William's Grimm form.
"It was just a little test of strength, nothing important" William continued to deal with his slice of cake.
Someone among them swallowed hard, probably Kent.
"Don't worry, I'm different from a werewolf. I have complete control over myself."
To prove his point, William changed into a fluffy black cat and was immediately lifted off the ground by Yoko, who began to squeeze him.
"Can you be a rabbit?" Now it was Divina who was squeezing William in her rabbit form.
"Now how about a snake?" William just snorted at Ajax's request. It was one thing to be touched all over by girls' hands, but quite another to be touched by boys' hands.
"Was that contempt?" Ajax asked Xavier, who was laughing at William's treatment of the Gorgon boy.
The meeting did not last long. After a few more minutes of chatting about their activities, the group split up, each heading for their dormitories.