Xavier was her next stop, she hated to admit. But she needed to find out what these gates were, and where they were. So she went to his art shed, entering it with Thing.
"I need your help," she said, taking the gates picture out her pocket. "Don't gloat," she added, as he smirked.
"What, d'you want some drawing lessons?" Xavier asked, still grinning, as he came forward and took the picture from her hands. "Your line work's a little shaky."
"You might be a self-appointed expert, but I was in a rush, and you can still see plainly what the picture presents," Ember said coolly. "But I saw it in a vision, if you're asking. Do you recognise it?"
"Still trusting your visions, then?" Xavier asked, looking the picture up and down.
"I was never not," Ember said. "But I chose to ignore you. Your argument was logical, if not impressive."
A smile that Ember couldn't place came onto the boy's face. "And you came that close to complimenting me..." he sighed, clicking his tongue. "Well, I have seen these before. Look."
He gestured to a picture he had obviously drawn. It was like a better version of Ember's. But this was drawn by Xavier's hand, so it was a lot better. It was the exact same pair of gates. The exact same.
"When did you draw this?" Ember asked Xavier, folding up her copy.
"Couple days ago," the boy answered. "I started having those dreams again, like before."
"Was the monster in them?" Ember found there would be no point accusing him on this visit.
"No, but... I could feel it, in the shadows," Xavier sighed. "You know, kinda... lurking in my mind."
"So do you know where this is?" Ember asked.
"Yeah, it's the old Gates mansion," Xavier shrugged. "I pass it when I go running."
"Gates?" Ember turned to him. "Like-"
"The guy your uncle was accused of murdering was their son, yeah," Xavier sighed. "Why?"
Click, click.
Ember turned to see Thing, holding a cloth that covered a canvas in the corner. He soon pulled it off.
The painting on it was her.
It was her paying her violin. The whole painting was black except her outfit, which was blood red.
Ember's eyes widened and she went over to look at it. Xavier, meanwhile, was sighing, his cheeks going red and looking down.
Ember walked round and took in the picture. To be honest, it was probably the most work anyone had ever put into painting her, but she didn't think about that.
"Okay, listen..." Xavier stood up and went to stand next to her. "I had... such a good time at the dance, but after it... you just... you didn't speak to me or even acknowledge I was there. I couldn't forget about you, no matter how much I wanted it. So I... started painting and... this is what came out."
He raised a hand over her left shoulder, using his telekinesis to enchant the picture. Ember started to play the violin, there was even the sound of it. "I can hear you up there, playing. I can tell how you get lost in the music... I feel like it's the only time, and I mean the only one, I get to see the real you."
Ember looked round at him.
He wasn't looking at her.
She didn't blame him.
❣︎❣︎❣︎
Ember found the Gates mansion easily, matching the gates to the ones in the picture and the ones in the vision. The house behind them looked abandoned, but it wasn't derelict or falling apart. And the most interesting part, was that the padlock on the chains holding the gates shut, was unlocked.
This is where Garrett Gates lived. The boy my uncle was accused of murdering. The sheriff told me his family died, along with their legacy of hate.
Ember was intrigued, and she didn't let stuff like that pass easy. So, taking one of the gates, she swung it backwards, allowing herself onto the path that lead up to the house.
But ghosts don't kill the living.
Goody showed me this house for a reason. I need to unlock it's secrets, or die trying.
She turned her head slightly, looking for any followers as she walked in through an archway to the front door. She went up to it and went to pick the lock-
It was already open.
And a torch glare was coming from inside-
Ember ducked out the way and behind the arch, heading behind a bush as she saw who had just come out the house. Mayor Walker was coming towards her, having just locked the door again.
He climbed down the steps and down the dirt path to the gates just as Thing climbed up onto Ember's shoulder. "I need a distraction," she told him, and he gave a nod, climbing down.
"Sheriff, pick up your damn phone, it's Noble."
Ember's eyes widened as she turned and saw the mayor pacing, on his phone, leaving the sheriff what Ember presumed was a voicemail.
"Listen, I might have figured out who's behind all this," the mayor definitely had Ember's attention now, as she saw Thing, pelting a small rock at him. "It's a long shot, so I'm gonna have to lay it out for you. We'll do it over pie at the Weathervane, like the old days."
I have to follow him and find out what his theory is, Ember thought, as Thing pelted another pebble at the mayor.
And with that, whilst the man's back was turned, Ember ran. She snuck out the gates and opened the boot of the mayor's SUV, jumping in. Thing also crawled in, and got up, then Ember shut the boot, and was enveloped in darkness.
"See you soon," the mayor finished, shutting off his phone and going over to his car.
Here we go, Ember thought, as he started the car and drove off.
They arrived in Jericho about five or ten minutes later, and the sky was darkening by then. Ember felt the mayor pull into a parking space.
She saw him get out and then sat up, seeing him cross the road, the sheriff sat in a booth at the cafe, watching his friend approach-
Crash!
Ember gasped. Because, from nowhere, a blue Cadillac with no registration plate had come round the corner, running the mayor over before speeding off.
"NOOOOOO!" Ember heard the sheriff yell as he ran out of the cafe, and the police sirens as a car started and came round the corner.
The blue Cadillac, however, had gotten away, the person driving it unseen from the glazed windows.
"DON'T MOVE!" The sheriff shouted again, as he ran out onto the road where the mayor lay, unconscious.
Ember weighed up her options, and decided that not many people would see her if she emerged now. So, looking to Thing, she forced the boot open and jumped out, running round the car to see the mayor, who's head (mouth dripping blood and drool) was in the sheriff's hand.
"CALL NINE ONE ONE!" The sheriff bellowed, as Ember walked towards the unconscious mayor, eyes wide. "GET AN AMBULANCE!"
Then his eyes came to rest on Ember, who was standing before him and his friend, a shocked look on his face.
❣︎❣︎❣︎
As the sirens wailed outside, the sheriff and Ember sat in a booth in the Weathervane. The exact booth that the mayor would've been sitting in if he wasn't in his current situation.
It had been about half an hour since the mayor had been hit, and since then, Ember had given about fifteen statements, and not been told anything in return.
"He's alive," the sheriff said, running his hands through his almost non-existent hair. "I'll take you back after I get your statement."
"I already gave it to your deputy. And your PA. And ten more of your clients," Ember said monotonously. "Blue Cadillac with no number plate."
"Yeah, I know," the sheriff sighed, getting a recording device from his pocket, turning it on and sliding it over the table to her. "I want a better one. What were you doing in the back of the mayor's SUV?"
"I saw him coming out of the Gates mansion," Ember saw no point in lying.
"The Gates mansion?" The sheriff was scoffing. "What the hell were you doing there?"
"House hunting," Ember spoke, her tone laced with sarcasm. Again, no point in lying. "I overheard the voicemail he left you. I was intrigued."
The sheriff then took his turn. "Back when the mayor was sheriff, he used to have a lot of wild theories on cases that he couldn't solve. So... we'd dissect them over pie, sitting right back there in that booth," he gestured to the booth two behind where they were sitting. "Most of the time they went nowhere."
Ember didn't see it as a lie. "Call me old fashioned, but when someone is run over on their way to give the police key information, it usually means they were on to something. And all signs point to the Gates family and that house."
"The Gates family," the sheriff was just making this a joke now. "How? They're all dead, every last one of them. And I don't believe in ghosts."
"Maybe. You. Should." Ember spoke firmly, pressing 'end' on the recording device and flicking it back across the table to the sheriff. He caught it as she stood up, pulling her bag onto her back and leaving the cafe.
❣︎❣︎❣︎
"How do you manage to end up at the centre of every bad thing that happens here?!" Weems paced in front of the fire as Ember sat in her office.
"I would call it luck," she said.
"As of now, the school is on full lockdown, and your off-campus privileges are revoked until further notice!" Weems shrieked, still pacing.
Ember's eyes widened. This meant she couldn't investigate the Gates house tonight.
But when did she ever let rules get in the way of her investigation?
❣︎❣︎❣︎
Ember had had to consult Wednesday with her plan, but her cousin was more than happy to be involved in it. So, stage one was starting in a couple of minutes, but for now, Ember was on the typewriter, writing. Well, she was until Ms Thornhill came into the room.
"Ember... I just heard about what happened Mayor Walker. Are you alright?" She touched a hand to Ember's shoulder, and the girl shrugged her off. "Are you alright? I... I can't imagine witnessing something like that."
"I don't believe in trivial things like bucket lists, but if I did have one, something like that would be on it," Ember told her dorm mum, turning to her after sliding the typewriter along. "You can tell the warden I'm still in my cell."
Yes, this was another part of the plan. Thornhill had to see Ember keeping to the rules.
Before she broke every last one of them.
"Principal Weems is only looking out for your best interests," Thornhill said reassuringly. "You could've been seriously hurt, or worse."
Ember sighed. She could and maybe would be, but it wouldn't stop her from pursuing the case.
"Oh, how goes the novel?" Thornhill changed the subject.
"Viper's investigation has been thwarted on several fronts, but she's plotting her next course of action," Ember answered. Recently, Viper's story had become not too unlike hers.
"Sounds intriguing," Ms Thornhill smiled. Then she pulled out a book. "I saw this on my bookshelf and thought of you."
She pulled out Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Ember took it.
"Mary Shelley wrote it on a dare when she was only nineteen," Ms Thornhill said.
"I know," Ember said. "She's both my literary hero and nemesis, and I have two years and three hundred and sixty four days to beat her. So, once I'm finished with Wednesday's novel, I'm on to writing my own. Somehow, all these weeks of writing her's has made me want to start mine."
Ms Thornhill adjusted her glasses. "Well, I think it's very smart that you're focusing on literary monsters, and leaving whatever real ones might be out there to the authorities."
How could I be so stupid? Ember thought. " 'No man choses evil because it is evil. He mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks'. Mary Shelley wrote that line to describe people like Weems, who do bad, perhaps evil, things, under the guise of protecting the greater good. Did she put you up to this?" She asked her dorm mum, holding up the book she had just given. "Encourage me to pursue other interests?"
Thornhill shook her head. "No. But she will expel you if you continue to defy her."
Ember was not concerned. "So you're only looking out for my best interests?"
"Always," Thornhill smiled. "I think we're a lot alike."
"We aren't," Ember said immediately, handing over the book. "I don't need your help or your pity. I already have a 'doting' aunt and a therapist. And that's enough torture. Even for me."
Thornhill took it, giving a dejected sigh and leaving the room.
Ember watched her go.
Stage one was ready to begin.
❣︎❣︎❣︎
Basically, the plan was to double double cross both Enid and Tyler. Wednesday and Ember had worked hard at this plan, and as she and Wednesday headed down to the payphone in the quad, they knew it was a long shot.
But hopefully, it would work.
So Wednesday put money in the phone, dialled the number, and called Tyler. Ember stayed beside her, only barely hearing the conversation.
"Hello?" Tyler's voice came through the other end of the phone.
"I've reconsidered your offer," Wednesday said coldly.
"My offer?" Tyler laughed.
"The not-a-date dinner," Wednesday replied. Clearly this had been a part of their conversation earlier.
"Really?" Tyler seemed surprised. "That's great. Uh... when are you free?"
"Pick me up outside the Nevermore gates at eight," Wednesday said, conferring with her cousin. "Cut your lights."
Then she slammed the payphone into its holder and didn't look back.
"Stage two?" She looked to Ember.
"On it," she nodded.
❣︎❣︎❣︎
At five to eight, Ember and Wednesday started stage two, which was convince Enid to come out with them on a 'night out'. Hopefully, they'd have her convinced and down to Tyler's car at eight and off to the Gates mansion.
Oh, yes. That's where they were going. Not on a date. Not on a hang out. But on a very dangerous, perhaps fatal, ghost investigation.
"I've been thinking about my less-than-enthusiastic response to your surprise soiree," Ember said at five to. "And I must admit, I regret not showing my gratitude towards you more appropriately."
Enid, who was lying face down on her bed, got up and looked at the two girls. "You really mean it?"
"Take the win, Enid," Ember said irritably. Then she went back into her 'playing it dumb' voice. "If only there were a way for us to get off campus and have a little birthday redo," she said, whilst Enid smiled. Ember began to pace. "Just three best friends.
"Too bad the school is on lockdown," she left the subtle comment, her and Wednesday going to stand by the window. Enid joined them as well. "Would you look at that full moon..."
"Oh!" Enid's eyes went wide. "What if I say I'm about to wolf out and get a pass to the lupin cages? And say you two volunteered to lock me in!"
"My deviousness has finally rubbed off on you," Ember said. Enid chuckled. "Thing?" She turned to look at the hand. "You know what to do, right?"
A thumbs up was the answer.
Stage two? Check. Ember and Wednesday were leaving the dorm in a high fly just when Enid had to ruin it.
"Oh! We should wear our snoods! I mean, soz I didn't make you one Wednesday, but come on, Ember! It's a girls' night out!"
Ember's eyes widened. "Oh, I- I believe I left mine at fencing," she said, actually thinking that she had. She had been engrossed in fencing, fighting both Ajax and Xavier, and winning both.
"Actually, you left yours at the Weathervane," Wednesday spoke up, taking the piece of knitting out of her pocket. "Tyler had me bring it back."
She handed Ember the red snood, saying to Enid. "Believe me when I say, I do not mind you didn't get me one."
Enid shrugged. "It's fine. I'll treat you to one on your birthday!"
Wednesday's eyes widened.
❣︎❣︎❣︎
Tyler didn't know what he was expecting, but it was something along the lines of Wednesday getting into the car next to him.
Ember did. "Let's go."
"Uh... what the- what the hell?" Tyler asked, as Wednesday and Enid climbed in the back. Wednesday wore a smirk.
Enid a confused expression. "Wait... he's our Uber driver?"
"Wait, hold up, Uber driver?" Tyler asked, turning to Wednesday. "I thought we were going on a date!"
Enid looked to Ember. "I thought this was a girls' night out!"
Ember and Wednesday just kept their eyes front. "There's been a change of plans," they said in unison.
"Okay, but respectfully, what the fuck?" Enid asked. "You can be so annoying sometimes!"
Tyler just frowned. "Okay, what's up with the weird matching scarf things?"
"Don't ask," Ember still looked to the front. "Just drive."
And, thankfully, he did.
❣︎❣︎❣︎
They arrived at the Gates mansion ten minutes later. Neither Tyler nor Enid said anything as Ember and Wednesday got out the car, but instead followed them out to the gates.
The gates Goody had shown Ember. The gates Xavier and Ember had each drawn. The gates with the big sign, PRIVATE PROPERTY, behind them. And the Gates mansion.
"You seriously wanna go... in there?" Enid asked, as Ember took a step towards the gates. "This place is creepy AF."
"I do not know what that means, nor do I want to," Ember said, she and Wednesday walking forward to try to undo the padlock on the chains that held the gates together.
"Okay, this isn't what I signed up for," Tyler, too, seemed scared.
"Ditto!" Enid sighed.
"I didn't want to celebrate my birthday by going on a night out or a surprise party," Ember said plainly, working at the chains with her tools. She turned to her two scared companions. "I want to do this."
The chains came apart easily at a knock and she set about untangling them from the fancy gate.
"Then you should'a said so," Tyler looked hurt. "You didn't have to trick us."
"Actually, we did," Wednesday said, shoving the gates open as Ember managed to untangle the chains. "We would never have got a ride out of the school if you weren't in on the plan."
"I-" Tyler seemed shocked.
"Listen, if you want to go, you can," Ember laid it all out. "But we're gonna check out the garage."
And she and her cousin walked on unflinching, whilst their two companions looked at each other with scared looks.
But eventually, they decided to go.
They were going to help their friends.
Even if it meant possible danger and a slim chance of death.