Sour Candy Kisses

The Usurper from the Wilds 20-21

"Ruggie didn't cause these accidents by himself. Most of Savanaclaw was probably in on it too. Like you said, someone would have noticed if he was near the targets and also mimicking their actions. I believe he escaped notice by surrounding himself with a wall of his dormmates." Jack explained what was happening and I wrote down the details, I was still beyond pissed that he was just going to let this happen.

"The whole dorm was in on it? But why?" Deuce questioned and Ace walked over, throwing his arm over Deuce's shoulder.

"Well, duh. How well they do at the Spelldrive tournament could make or break their careers. If that's their motive, well, it isn't hard to understand where they're comin' from." Ace laughed, his arms still over Deuce's shoulder.

"Selfish, attention seeking whores...." I mumbled under my breath, causing them to turn their head towards me, Jack let out a growl, baring his fangs at Ace and Deuce.

"Dude! Don't bare your fangs at me! I'm just connectin' the dots!" Ace jumped back, throwing his hands up in mock surrender.

"Hmmph. If they're not willing to show what they;re capable of now, what does the future even matter? I'm most disappointed with our housewarden, Leona Kingscholar. He has incredible talent, but he refuses to even use it!" Jack growled, still baring his fangs, he began to spit as he talked, truly showing how frustrated he was.

"Yeah, for as lazy as that guy is... He seemed insanely strong." Grim put his paw on my leg, seemingly trying to get me to bend down and pick him up, but I still couldn't because my plan hadn't come into action yet.

"Right?! Why would you possess such power and not even hone it? I despise guys like him! The way he played when I saw him three years ago... it blew my mind. That was the reason I came to this school. I thought if I joined Savanaclaw, he and I would be tearing up the Spelldrive field together." Jack blabbered on, growling and huffing.

Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and a breath in my ear "yo, y/n. He's pretty harsh when he talks about his own housewarden, but I'm starting to think..." Ace whispered in my ear but I cut him off.

"He actually really respected and admired him..." I whispered back, nodding at Ace who nodded back and took a step back.

"All these "accidents" are just an incidental part of the plan. They're hunting bigger prey here.... Malleus Draconia, the Diasomia hosewarden. He possesses monstrous power. He led Diasomnia to victory two years running. He's the reason we were knocked out of both tournaments without scoring a single point. The older dorm members won't ever forgive that." Jack shook his head, I wrote down the 'bigger prey' and Malleus part but nothing else.

"Without a single point...? For a dorm that usually wins the tournament, that had to hurt." Deuce shook his head and Jack nodded.

Jack rubbed the back of his head. "You know it. Our greatest moment of shame— broadcast to the whole world in real time. The upperclassmen want to redeem themselves, but the way they're doing it is despicable." Jack huffed, shaking his head.

"So this all comes together on the day of the tournament." Ace hummed, looking at me before looking back at Jack.

"Yep. And that's why I need to stop them!" Jack growled.

I wonder if they've noticed Riddle and Cater yet?

"I believe I've heard enough." Riddle walked up, if they hadn't noticed him yet, they've noticed now, Cater followed in.

"Hello, Housewarden Rosehearts. Cater." Deuce nodded, Ace jolted around, and Jack stiffened up, Cater and Riddle walked to my side.

Riddle crossed his arms with a sigh, shaking his head before bringing his hands to his hips. "I cannot allow such an important tradition to be tarnished by personal grudges." Riddle closed his eyes as he spoke, a look of disappointment on his face.