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“Nevermore Academy.” Enid pushed the courtyard doors open with a little too much energy. That was it. That’s exactly how Wednesday would describe Enid: too much energy.
From the moment the silvery blonde greeted Wednesday in the Headmistress’s office, Wednesday had been trying to put her finger on just what it was that irked her about Enid Sinclair. It was something about how bright her smile was and how much she bounced when she walked. It reminded Wednesday a lot of being woken up by an insufferable amount of sunshine in one’s eyes.
A table of werewolves to her right started howling, and she turned to glare at them. It was far too early in the day for that kind of rowdiness. Too. Much. Energy. Enid, however, grinned and waved at the group of wolves. Wednesday remembered her introducing herself as a werewolf from California. She wondered if she’d ever howl like that.
“Who is that?” Wednesday ticked her chin at a much calmer group, near the back of the courtyard, particularly the beautiful girl at the head of the table. They didn’t exactly look friendly but they were a lot less off-putting than the pack falling over themselves to get her attention.
“Oh.” Enid’s usually bubbly face fell. Wednesday hadn’t known her very long, but she knew that was uncommon for Enid. “Stay away from them,” the blonde warned lowly.
“But who are they?”
“Sirens.” The look on Enid’s face told Wednesday she expected her to know what that meant. When she didn’t respond appropriately, Enid launched into an explanation, “Sirens have special powers. Persuasion. They can make you do anything they want. Better to keep your distance. You never know what they’ll make you do.”
Wednesday, always the over-perceptive one, caught on quite quickly to the blank space Enid left between her lines. “What did they make you do?”
“Nothing.” Enid shook her head quickly. “I mean, they never used their powers on me.”
Meaning they hadn’t had to use their powers to get her to do anything they wanted. Enid said a lot of words, Wednesday noticed, but she said a lot more with what she didn’t say.
“They’re not allowed to use their powers on other students,” Enid was still explaining. She started to lead Wednesday through the twisting path in the courtyard. “Or on teachers.”
She was done posing her observations as a question. “They still do.”
“Sometimes.” Enid skipped her way around the edge of the fountain. Truly too much energy. “So.” She spun, her hair floating around her face and revealing the bright colors hidden under the blonde strands. “Do you want to take a stab at being social?”
Wednesday considered it. She most definitely did not want anything to do with being social. But she was intrigued by this place, by Nevermore Academy, by its students, and she was certain she wasn’t going to find the best gossip in some book in the library. She considered it. “I do like stabbing.”
“Yay.” Enid took Wednesday’s hands in both of hers, and Wednesday thought it was not possible for someone’s hands to be so soft. She was … not disgusted at being led away by those hands. Not disgusted at all.
And maybe … maybe Wednesday wasn’t disgusted at all by Enid either.