Then Oliver saw Wednesday suddenly break into a sprint after Rowan.
“Rowan! Stop!” Wednesday called as she disappeared into the woods.
Oliver watched them vanish between the trees.
“Well… there goes the plot correcting itself.”
He had genuinely believed helping Wednesday escape Nevermore would derail the story even further and earn him more Modifications.
Instead, the plot had dragged Wednesday straight back to Rowan anyway.
“…Figures.”
With a resigned sigh, Oliver started jogging after them.
“Well, let’s go save this guy. I’m curious whether fate can actually be changed.”
***
Wednesday chased Rowan deeper into the woods.
The sounds of the Harvest Festival quickly faded, replaced by the rustling of leaves beneath their feet and the wind moving through the trees.
Rowan finally stopped and turned around.
“What do you want? Why are you following me?”
“I don’t have time to explain. But you’re in danger.”
A humorless laugh escaped Rowan.
“I think you’ve got it backwards.”
Before Wednesday could take another step, an invisible force seized her.
Her feet left the ground as telekinesis hurled her backward.
She struck the trunk of a large tree, the impact knocking the air from her lungs.
Invisible pressure held her there several feet above the forest floor, pinning her wrists and shoulders against the bark.
Every attempt to move only tightened Rowan’s grip.
“You’re the one who’s in danger.”
Wednesday tested the invisible restraint once before abandoning the effort.
Panic would accomplish nothing.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving everyone from you.” Rowan reached into his jacket and removed an old, carefully folded sketch.
“I have to kill you.”
“The gargoyle…” Wednesday said, piecing everything together.
“That was you?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s always the quiet ones.”
Rowan unfolded the yellowed paper with surprising care.
“Girl in the picture.”
Wednesday’s eyes shifted to the drawing.
It depicted Nevermore beneath a dark sky, and standing before the academy was a girl dressed in black.
“That’s you.”
“You intend to kill me because of a drawing?”
“My mother drew this twenty-five years ago when she was a student at Nevermore.” His voice carried both grief and conviction.
“She was one of the most powerful Seers the school ever had. Before she died, she told me this girl would come to Nevermore and destroy everything.”
“Rowan,” Wednesday said evenly, despite the pressure around her chest.
“Put me down.”
“No. My mother said it was my destiny to stop this girl if she ever came to Nevermore, because she’ll destroy the school… and everyone in it.”
Wednesday remained expressionless.
“I’ve noticed destiny is frequently used as an excuse by people unwilling to question their own judgment.”
Rowan’s jaw clenched.
“You don’t understand.”
“Correct. I don’t understand how attempted murder became your preferred method of problem solving.”
A calm voice came from behind Rowan.
“So… you were the one who dropped the gargoyle.”
Rowan froze and turned around.
Oliver stood a few meters behind him, expression completely flat, one hand resting casually in his pocket.
“I’ve been looking for you. The idiot who tried to kill me with a gargoyle.”
Rowan instinctively shifted his attention toward the newcomer.
The movement was enough to loosen his grip on the old sketch.
The paper slipped from his fingers and drifted onto the blanket of leaves below.
Before Rowan could react, Oliver was already in front of him.
He seized Rowan by the front of his jacket and jerked him forward.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Smack!
“You psychotic piece of shit.”
Smack!
“I would’ve died if I wasn’t built like a tank.”
Smack!
“You dropped half a building on my head.”
Each strike broke Rowan’s concentration further.
His telekinesis collapsed.
The invisible force holding Wednesday vanished instantly.
She dropped to the ground, landing on one knee.
A sharp cough escaped her as she drew a slow, controlled breath back into her lungs before rising to her feet as though nothing significant had happened.
She bent down and picked up the sketch from the forest floor, brushing a few leaves from its surface.
Her eyes studied the drawing in silence.
There was no mistaking it.
The girl standing before Nevermore…
was her.
A low rustling broke the tension.
Leaves shifted.
Branches creaked.
Wednesday’s attention snapped toward the darkness between the trees.
A creature slowly emerged from the undergrowth.
Its pale, oversized eyes reflected the moonlight.
Its back was unnaturally hunched, its limbs too long, ending in curved claws that dug into the forest floor with each step.
A guttural growl rumbled from deep within its throat as it fixed its gaze on the three of them.
“Oliver.”
“What?” Oliver asked, still glaring at Rowan before releasing his shirt.
Rowan collapsed onto the ground, coughing as he scrambled backward.
Wednesday didn’t answer.
She simply raised a finger and pointed into the trees.
Oliver frowned and turned his head.
“…Huh?”
The creature lunged.
Oliver barely had time to raise his forearms.
BAM!
The impact threw him back several steps, his boots carving trenches through the damp soil before he managed to stop himself.
He looked up.
The creature landed on all fours a few meters away, opening its jaws with a guttural snarl that exposed rows of jagged teeth.
Its claws scraped against the ground as it prepared to pounce again.
Oliver stared at it.
“…Fuck. What the hell is that?”
The monster answered with another deafening roar.
For a brief moment, Oliver’s mind flashed to the smiling barista from the Weathervane.
Tyler…
Yeah…
I’m pretty sure that’s my coworker.
“…You’re uglier up close. Ever considered using a beauty product?” Oliver said, squaring his shoulders as the Hyde lowered itself onto all fours, its muscles tensing for another charge.