The gun fired, and the boats lurched forward. Water slapped rhythmically against the hull as Enid rowed with bright, almost puppy-like enthusiasm, while Wednesday's strokes were clean, steady, and mercilessly efficient.
After a few moments, Enid sneaked a breathless sideways glance.
"Hey, Wednesday… you don't—like, like Ethan, right?"
Wednesday didn't bother looking up. "No. I regard him solely as a puzzle. A mildly irritating one. You may continue your emotional flailing uninterrupted."
Enid's ears perked. "So you don't mind if I… maybe make a move on him?"
"You may do whatever you wish," Wednesday replied, voice flat as the lake. "I'm not blind to your feelings. Your face turns into a feverish rainbow every time he walks by."
She paused mid-stroke, eyes narrowing. "But consider this a warning. He may be more than you can safely handle. I suggest pursuing someone… less volatile."
Enid nearly missed a row. "Wednesday! Seriously—where else am I supposed to find someone who's handsome, sweet, and actually understanding? He's like the perfect supernatural starter pack."
"You forgot 'arrogant.'"
Enid shrugged, puffing out a breath. "I mean… boys can be a little arrogant sometimes."
"His arrogance," Wednesday corrected, "is not 'little.' It is architectural. Foundational. The load-bearing beam in a very poorly constructed house."
Enid puffed out her cheeks. "You're overthinking it."
Wednesday opened her mouth—no doubt preparing to eviscerate Enid's optimism with a single, surgical sentence—
But she never got the chance.
A violent CRACK slammed against their boat.
Another team's bow rammed into their side, jerking the Black Cats' boat hard to the left. The impact sent all four girls lurching as water splashed up and over the edges.
Enid yelped. "Hey! Watch it!"
They scrambled to stabilize the boat, oars scraping and clacking as they fought for balance. The rival team sped past, shouting something rude and triumphant as they tried to pull ahead.
Wednesday shot Enid a look, and Enid immediately understood.
Conversation paused.
The Poe Cup came first.
***
Ethan stood among the cheering crowd, arms folded, expression bordering on bored. He already knew how this little spectacle would unfold.
Wednesday would win. She'd reach Crackstone's crypt, trigger that vision of her ancestor Goody Addams, and the mystery surrounding Jericho would twist itself one layer deeper.
Predictable… but still mildly entertaining.
He was only halfway through a yawn when something sharp jabbed between his shoulder blades.
Ethan froze.
Instinctively, he reached back and plucked out the object—a mangled syringe, its needle bent and crushed as if it had tried to pierce something far harder than flesh.
"What the hell…?" he muttered, examining the ruined injector.
Then he noticed the content inside. Recognition flickered.
Nightshade poison.
His jaw clenched. Even with his regeneration, that was not a substance he cared to test. And the fact that someone had slipped close enough to stab him—without him sensing a thing?
That pissed him off more than the poison itself.
His eyes flared red for a heartbeat—just long enough for the couple beside him to edge away nervously.
Ethan swept the crowd with a cold, measured stare.
Nothing. No lingering presence. No suspicious heartbeat. Whoever had done it was careful—and quick enough to disappear before he turned.
But he didn't need a face.
He already knew.
There was only one person in Jericho petty enough, reckless enough, and idiotic enough to use Nightshade poison on him.
Laurel Gates.
"That bitch," Ethan muttered.
He slid the broken syringe into his pocket, his expression sharpening into something colder… hungrier.
So Laurel wanted to get rid of him early?
How adorable.
"It seems I should pay her a visit," he murmured, amusement curling through the words. "And remind her what happens when you try to pick a fight with a monster."
***
In the Botanical Sciences teaching room—just the greenhouse, warm and humid even in daylight—Marilyn Thornhill was seething.
Her plan had been simple: get close, inject the Nightshade, let the freakish vampire collapse somewhere discreet. Especially after learning how easily he overpowered Tyler, she couldn't risk letting him live.
But instead—
"What the fuck is he made of?!" Marilyn hissed, slamming her hands on the workbench.
The metal needle lay snapped clean in half when she tried to inject him, like it had hit stone instead of skin. "It didn't even pierce him!"
She'd bolted the moment the needle snapped, slipping out before he turned around—leaving the Nightshade vial there in her rush. Sloppy, but unavoidable.
Still, she wasn't worried. That outcast animal can't find her as she retreated too fast for anyone else to notice her presence.
Marilyn pressed her palms against her temples, breathing hard.
She had to kill him.
If that guy stayed alive, he would become more than an inconvenience.
He would become a threat.
A thorn straight through her entire plan.
And she couldn't afford any more surprises.
Then footsteps came.
Soft at first, then echoing unnaturally through the greenhouse, as if the walls themselves were carrying the sound.
Marilyn froze.
"You know…" a cold voice drifted through the humid air, calm enough to be terrifying, "I wanted to leave you alone. Let you finish whatever pathetic little scheme you're running."
The voice sharpened.
"But you just had to mess with me."
A shiver ripped down her spine. She spun around—no one. Empty aisles, silent plants, nothing but the faint hiss of the sprinklers.
"Up here," the voice snapped, flat and venomous. "Look up, you dumb bitch."
Her breath hitched as she slowly tilted her head back toward the greenhouse glass—
—and her blood ran ice-cold.
Ethan was walking on the ceiling.
Upside down.
Hands behind his back.
As if gravity simply did not apply to him.
His eyes glowed red, not with rage, but with something worse—amusement.
Then he jerked his neck in a quick, unnatural twitch, the kind that felt wrong just to witness.
A smile crept across his face, sharp and humorless.
"You," he whispered, voice echoing like a threat carved into a bone.
"are so screwed."
*****
A/N: The Patreon version is already updated to Chapter 36, so if you'd like to read ahead of the public release schedule, you can join my Patreon
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