Wenclair - a New Term at Nevermore

Chapter 38

Sunday dawned and the light made its progressive march across the room until it reached Wednesday and the small stack of completed pages next to her typewriter. Viper had escaped the abandoned hospital by climbing down fifty feet of scaffolding, engaged in a swordfight with the top murder suspect, and taken flight to her second safe house which she was not aware was at that moment compromised.

However, the sudden and rather unwelcome brightness indicated the end of her writing time. It was now 07:17, past her normal breakfast time, but since it was Sunday breakfast began at 08:00. Her parents had texted using their own phones that they would be over at half past eight and so there was nothing scheduled to do between now and breakfast.

Perhaps she ought to go and visit the sunflower? She spared time every evening to do so, but maybe by now she would be able to see the effects of a second magical mixture from the gardening book. Wednesday, therefore, left the dormitory quietly and made her way to the forest. Even the apiary was still and empty, Eugene enjoying the weekend.

It appeared that the late-night witchcraft had made quite a difference, even in only 10 hours. The patch of grass had spread and grown longer and greener and several smaller sunflowers had sprouted around the now impressive plant - almost as tall as Wednesday herself. With beams of light filtering through leaves and branches that reached overhead, the space seemed almost like an idyllic garden. A glance at her watch told Wednesday that she ought to head back to the school building, and so she turned to hike back through trees.

Eugene was at the beehives with his parents at 07:52.

"Hey, Wednesday!", he called. Wednesday stopped walking and turned in his direction.

"Good morning, Eugene."

His mothers wandered over and removed their borrowed beekeeping hats. "It's so nice to see you again, darling!", said one.

"It was so sweet of you to visit Eugene when he was in the hospital.", said the other.

Wednesday arranged her face into what she hoped was more grimace than glare and replied, "Eugene is a valuable asset to our association of colleagues."

The curly-haired boy smiled in light of what was a heartfelt compliment from Wednesday, but his parents were politely confused and turned back to the wooden hut. Wednesday resumed her stride and heard behind her Eugene's voice saying, "Wednesday's a bit odd but that was her being nice..."

The time was now 07:56 and at this rate Wednesday would not be customarily early for breakfast. There was no time - although the occurrence was unusual - to stop and discover why Bianca was hurrying to the Nightshades' library, unsuccessfully hiding a face with red and swollen eyes and wearing mismatched socks.

She walked into the dining hall, the fourth person there. Yoko and her parents (all wearing sunglasses), who were staying in her dormitory with her, were already seated at the table with toast and a quiet conversation. Wednesday served herself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the opposite end of the table, watching the door for arriving people; at 08:19 three people she had not been expecting entered, took food, and sat next to Yoko's family. It was Enid's father, Danielle the toddler, and the youngest brother who looked to be about nine.

Enid herself walked rather less bouncily than usual into the hall at 08:35, but when she saw Danielle her face glowed with joy. Holding a plate of toast and fruit, Enid glanced over at Wednesday, and gave her a little smile before setting herself down next to her little sister. Without the presence of his wife, Wednesday observed, Mr Sinclair talked and joked with everyone at the table, hugged his children, and smiled - it was finally clear where Enid had inherited her personality.