Wednesday and I had spent the entire, dreadful morning with Principal Weems and the sheriff.
"How could you miss a dead body?" Wednesday asks the sheriff.
"Because it wasn't there," he tells us, "no footprints, no blood, no sign of struggle. Nothing, nada. My search party looked all night."
Wednesday and I glare at each other.
"Then you must have missed something because we were both there and we both saw it," I said.
"Your search party must have left their seeing-eye dogs at home. I saw that monster kill Rowan right in front of me." Wednesday added.
Principal Weems leads us up the stairs.
"Get a good look at this monster thing?" the sheriff asked us.
"It didn't stick around for a chat," Wednesday told him.
"Maybe it was one of your classmates." the sheriff tells us.
"Sheriff, I find that question offensive." Principal Weems declared.
"That's what you're hoping for, isn't it?" I look at Principal Weems and wink, hinting to her that I've got his offensive accusations under control. I turn to him and stare at him. I make sure not to blink as I continue looking into his eyes for a little more than too long. Then, I look away. "It wasn't one of our classmates. It's nothing I've ever seen before. Its eyes bulged out of its skull and it looked like a naked mole rat." I turn back to him, "Are you trying to tell us that you hope one of the students here at Nevermore is an oversized naked mole rat?"
Principal Weems smiles at me and looks down, blushing. My eyes widen and I look away from her. This cannot be happening.
He gets defensive, "Well I don't care because I've got three other dead bodies in the morgue. Hikers just ripped apart in the woods."
"The mayor said those were bear attacks," Principal Weems stated.
"Well, the mayor and I disagree on that," the sheriff theorized.
"So you automatically assume a Nevermore student is the murderer, even though there's no evidence a crime was even committed?" Principal Weems concluded.
"It's what he's hoping for," I repeated as I looked at her and nodded.
Her eyes softened when she looked at me. She was trying to thank me for being on her side.
"I'm sorry, I forgot you only teach the good outcasts here, right?" he fake-apologized.
Principal Weems sighed and opened up the doors to her office. She motioned for us to six down.
"My guess is Rowan got away," Principal Weems insisted. "State troopers have put out an alert, and I've contacted his family, but they haven't heard from him either." She sits at her desk and looks at me.
I stood up for her and she didn't care to do the same for me. She didn't believe Wednesday and I.
"Dead people are notoriously bad at returning calls," Wednesday continued. I let out a short chuckle, then cleared my throat, obviously not hiding it well. Wednesday even let out a small smile herself.
"What were you two doing out in the woods with him?" the sheriff questioned.
Wednesday and I know how to keep our composure. Her, more than me.
"I heard a noise in the forest and went to go investigate."
"And I followed her. She's my little sister, it's my responsibility," I blurted.
Wednesday turns to me, then turns back to the sheriff. "That's when I stumbled upon the attack."
The sheriff doesn't believe us, still. "Then what happened?"
"Then I ran into Bianca Barclay, and I told her to go for help. Next thing I remember, I was awaking in my dorm," she added.
"And just to be clear, this monster wasn't a bear or some other wild animal?" he asked again.
Was he really this slow?
"I've hibernated with grizzlies. I know the difference," Wednesday said.
"Thank you, sheriff," Principal Weems stands, "I think Miss Addams is done now."
"Actually, I would like to speak to sheriff Galpin. Alone," she answers.
"I'm not sure I can allow that."
The sheriff and the principal go back and forth, but he ended up winning once he said something about a formal statement. Principal Weems walked out, but she didn't realize that I decided to follow her. I had questions that I needed answered. She walks through the halls and I spot the sheriffs deputy. I look over to Principal Weems and she turns into Rowan. She is a shapeshifter. She knew we were right all along. Why is she lying to everyone?
"Hey, kid? Where have you been? Let's take you to the sheriff." the deputy says, guiding "Rowan" to where the sheriff was.
"Sheriff," the deputy calls.
"What?" he asks, annoyed at this interruption.
"You're going to want to see this," she laughs as a fake Rowan walks through the doors. Wednesday is going to go mad when she hears this. But I have to question Principal Weems first after everyone disperses. The sheriff walked out to question the boy and Wednesday left for her therapy appointment. I sat down in a chair in front of her desk, waiting for her to return.
I hear the door open and the sound of footsteps changed to ones in sneakers to ones in heels.
"Hello," I announced so that she was aware of my presence. I turn my head to look at her.
She gasps and puts her hand to her heart. She smiles, acting innocent. "You startled me, Miss Addams," she sits at her desk, "what brings you to my office?"
"Now this is interesting," I tell her.
"What is, please share?" she asked politely and motioned her hand.
"You," I start, "you shape-shifted into Rowan, I saw it." I accused.
She leans over my desk to get closer to my face, "What a dangerous theory you have there, Miss Addams. Although, you have been seeing a lot of things lately." she looks down at her desk.
"I know what I saw. Your attempt to gaslight me will not work." I assure her.
"Hmm, I see," she continued as she looked down at her desk.
"You're not going to admit it? When I tell Wednesday what I saw-" I test.
She cuts me off, "You won't tell your sister a thing you saw."
I knew I had her. "So you admit I did see correctly?"
She sits back down and sighs, "Well I guess you caught me, but you won't tell a soul or there will be consequences."
"You expect me to lie to my sister?"
"I do."
"She will find out eventually." I told her.
"And I expect it wouldn't be from your mouth." She looks up at me.
I turn around and leave. I didn't want to lie to Wednesday for such an extended period of time. All I can do now is hint at things and hope she figures it out on her own. I walk back to my dorm to see Wednesday at her typewriter. She is staring at the corner of the photo that Rowan had. She gets up and grabs my arm.
"Come with me."
"Where are we going?"
"Principal Weems' office," she answered, still grabbing my arm making sure I stay at the same pace as her. She opens the doors to the principal's office and declared,
"I need to speak with Rowan. I can't find him."
Our principal looked at me like I had something to do with this. I only raised my eyebrows and smiled to throw her off. She put her focus back on Wednesday.
"It won't be possible, I'm afraid. He's been expelled."
"For what?" Wednesday asked.
"For being dead?" I said sarcastically.
Principal Weems says, "Never you mind. He'll be on the first train out this afternoon. What were you doing out in the woods with him in the first place?"
"I told you already. I heard a noise and I went to investigate."
Principal Weems scoffs, "That excuse might have placated the sheriff, but you can't fool me. You had a psychic vision, didn't you?"
Wednesday looks over at me with a surprised glare. I shrug.
"I realized you might be having them when we passed by the accident and you knew that poor farmer had broken his neck. Your mother started having visions around your age. They were notoriously unreliable and dangerous. I remember at first, she thought she might be losing her mind. Have you spoken to her about them?"
Wednesday is left silent. This is the first time I've seen Wednesday not have some sort of snarky comeback.
She continues, "Clearly the person withholding information here is you."
"May I go now?" Wednesday asks.
"Not until you've picked your extracurricular activity," she says excitedly, "We want our students to be well-rounded."
"I'd prefer to remain sharp-edged."
It was good to see my sister regain her confidence again.
"I took the liberty of putting together a list of clubs that have openings."
"How thoughtful," Wednesday said sarcastically.
"I'll be keeping my eye on you both," she asserted, "Now you may go." Wednesday and I both go to walk out when Principal Weems continues, "Not you, Thursday. I need to speak with you privately." Wednesday looks back at me and my glare tells her it's okay. Wednesday closes the door behind her. I lean over her desk.
"You really do love talking to me, don't you Weemsie?" I joke.
She looks at me with one eyebrow raised.
"I told her nothing,"I affirmed.
"I believe you," she said.
That caught me seriously off guard. She obviously had believed everything I said earlier as well if she was the one shape-shifting into Rowan. It was nice to have someone assure me that I was trusted, though. Mother has never done that for me. Principal Weems made me feel safe, even though she was forcing me to withhold information from my sister. She probably had her reasons, just like I had mine. I don't plan on breaking her trust. After all, she has mine.
"Thank you," I reply and I walk out of her office.
-----LATER-----
I can't get Principal Weems out of my head. She is a constant, stubborn thought. If she believed that I didn't tell Wednesday about her shape-shifting into Rowan, maybe she'll believe me when I tell her that she should be on our side. Wednesday and I have been trying so hard to uncover this truth and it's really hard when she has been lurking around every corner trying to stop us. The door opens suddenly.
"I had another vision. We need to go to the library." Wednesday said.
I hopped out of bed and followed her to the library with Thing on my shoulder.
"I keep seeing that same purple book," Wednesday explained.
Thing continued looking through the shelves for any books with a purple cover, but there was no luck. Ms. Thornhill walks in and thing hides.
"Is there something I can help you find, girls?" the Normie teacher asks. Wednesday holds up a copy of the watermark of the book.
"It's a symbol from an old student society. The Nightshades." she tells us. Then they go on to talk about class and our mother. Boring. I decided to pay Weemsie a visit, that was sure to be fun.
I knock on the door to her office, then step in. She looks up at me and smiles.
"Hello, what brings you here again today, Miss Addams?"
"I thought maybe you'd let me stay for lunch?" I asked her as I held up a bag of a large assortment of food. "What are you in the mood for?"
"Oh how lovely! What have you got?" she asks smiling widely. Not at me, at the food. That makes me smile, but I quickly stop. She has an effect on me.
"I brought sandwiches," I said. She takes one and takes one bite which is about a third of the sandwich. "Very cute," I announce. Realizing what I said, my eyes widen and I look away from her and into the bag of sandwiches and grab one for myself.
"What is?" she asks with a mouthful of sandwich. I can barely decipher what she is saying. Mayo is dripping down her lip and I stare. She wipes it off quickly, still awaiting an answer.
"How you eat," I smile.
"What about it?" she asked, a bit offended. However, she continues to take another big bite.
"It's just really attractive," I joke. She smiled. "How are you doing?" I ask, trying to break up the silence.
"You care?" Principal Weems sounded surprised as she finished her last bite of sandwich.
I hesitate to answer, "I do."
She smirks at me and playfully pushes my shoulder. "Thursday Addams cares about how I'm doing?"
I stare at her, not amused in the slightest.
"To answer your question, I am good. And not hungry anymore, thanks to you."
"You're welcome," I smirk.
"Oh, and I believe Enid had been looking for you earlier. She said it was an emergency," Principal Weems told me.
"Then I better go. She might need me to give her a mani-pedi," I joke.
Principal Weems smiles, I smile back. This has been the first time where it hasn't felt weird to smile. Smiling doesn't make me feel vulnerable around her. I feel as if I want to spend more time with her, but for now, I need to help Enid with whatever she needs.
(2179 words)