Chapter Text
Going to a boarding school far from home was not something one quickly got used to. But after some encouragement from her dad to look for some new horizons, Enid started at Nevermore Academy. It was different from the school their pack had, for one it wasn’t exclusive to her family and others from the same pack.
Here there were loads of outcasts, from all different backgrounds. There were the fangs, some of whom had been at the school since its inception. The furs, other werewolves who had been send by their parents to explore the wider world and meet others outside of their packs. The Sirens, enjoying the calmer years of their lives before they went off into fame and fortune. Stoners, who honestly just seemed to be having a good time whenever she encountered them. The largest group still, where the psychically gifted students, ranging from those who received the gifts of Apollo. To those who could move objects with their mind, and everything in between.
It was in this group of teenagers that Enid found herself at the start of the schoolyear. She had driven across the country with her dad. Haven gotten her license the year before, they had switched off every other day for the trip. It where some of the most one on one time she had had with him ever, she realized when they had turned in around the third day of the trip.
The motel in Lincoln wasn’t anything special but having a walk around town and visiting the state capital with her dad showed her how much he valued their time together. With all her brothers at home there barely was a moment of silence, at all hours of the day and night someone was up to something. Even Enid herself wasn’t counting herself out of the situation there, whenever she was in their company she talked. Less to make herself be heard, but more in fear of not being forgotten in the sound.
But besides her dad, she didn’t need to be loud to make herself be heard. Whatever conversations they had, be it short or long he saw her for who she was. Now calmly stalking through the halls of a big old building holding a pamphlet with information on it in hand they were enjoying their time together. It might also have something to do with his promise for ice-cream after.
With only one day of driving so far Enid was nearly recovered to take on the wheel again tomorrow. Nearly eight hours of driving a day was needed to get to Jericho in time for term to begin. Though they had a day or so to play with if they wanted to drift off the direct route.
“Would you look at that,” Her dad said, pulling her from her daydream about dancing strawberries and ice-cream. Looking where he was, Enid noted the large world map that took up the whole wall of the hall they were in. From all over she could see small pins with different colors stuck in countless countries.
Looking over to the plaque affixed to the bottom of the map, she could read that the colors represented the year that migrants emigrated to the city. Blue for the current, yellow for last year, grey before that, and so on. As far as Enid could make out, the map had been an ongoing art installation since the early seventies. With a large group of green and brown pins stuck in the area around Vietnam and neighboring countries.
“Looks nice,” she commented as her dad let the silence settle in again. Reading something on his pamphlet that probably explained more than what she had just made out from the plaque. It was a nice project she decided, it showed where people came from even if they now lived in this city.
Moving onto the next hall, there was a couple of pieces setting the history of the city and state. From before the founding of the country, to the granting of statehood all the way up to semi recent times. It probably omitted some of the darker moments in its history Enid though as she looked at all the positive accounts they were claiming.
But with a last hall containing a rotating exhibition of modern art, she and her dad walked out into the cooler prairie evening. It had cooled significantly since their stop around noon to grab a bite but still wasn’t anywhere Enid would have liked the weather to be.
“I think I’ll take the ice cream now, rather than after dinner,” She said as she let out a sigh. Her dad smiled and gave her a nod. Walking over to where they had parked their car, a breeze of air came and brought the illusion of more cool air around her. Something that was replaced minutes later with the coolness of the strawberry ice cream she was eating. Thankful to the gods that she didn’t get brain freeze as she shoveled the cold substance down.
With the last rays of sunlight slowly creeping over the buildings surrounding the park they are in, they pack up and find someplace to eat. While she hasn’t shifted yet, her wolf heritage did cause her taste to be on the blue side of cooked. Still some, but not exactly raw, unlike her dad. But as they had the previous couple of days, they found a place that agreed to make what was essentially not cooked food for them.
“So, how are you enjoying the trip?” her dad asked her when the waiter walked off with their orders.
“It’s a bit long,” Enid said as she stretched out, “but seeing the landscape chance before your eyes really makes it worth it. Like, yes obviously we could have just flow over in a couple of hours but then we wouldn’t have had the chance to visit uncle Morgan and aunt Edith.”
“It’s true, but sometimes you have to take things slow.”
“Yeah, I’ll probably look back on this far more fondly in like a week when my but isn’t cramped up from sitting in a car for like fifty hours though. But I do enjoy spending time with you dad! It’s been great and visiting the small places along the way really make it worth the time.”
“Good to know kiddo,” he responded as the first plate of meat came out of the kitchen. It was wonderful how quick one could get their food when it didn’t need to be cooked. Or nearly didn’t need to be cooked in her case. The fries they served with it were also great, something that wasn’t a given Enid had noticed in the short time they had been traveling.
Clearing the rest of the meal in comfortable silence, with some comments about the things they had seen earlier in the day and plans for the road ahead they were content to just spend time in each other’s company.
Back at the motel, her dad left her to read as he walked out for a smoke. She knew he was just doing it here cause her mother would have complained about the smell for days if he did it back home. It also wasn’t the healthiest thing in the world, but being a werewolf came with some perks. Rapid regenerative abilities where more than capable to repair the damage the cigarettes were doing to his insides.
Picking up where she had left her book, she was excited to find out what was up in Canaan house. The book had been a parting gift from her brothers, well from Caiden, but he assured her they all pitched in for it. Somehow, she doubted that fact, but she was still touched that they had gotten her something.
The book had sucked her in almost immediately that she hadn’t heard her dad return to the room, but with his flicker of the lights he told her that it was time for bed. It was her turn to drive the following day and it wasn’t something you could do while tired. Putting the book down with a glance at the page number she turned in for the night.
The following days were similar, waking up in a motel. Grabbing a bite to eat around town and then off to the highway, driving for three to four hours. Then stopping for lunch if they could find a place or eating whatever they had taken with them from breakfast. Eventually pulling into the next town where they either found a hotel or friends to stay with. Miles rolling under the wheels of the car as they drove east.
With a short stop at the shores of lake Michigan when they left Chicago, and another at the Niagara Falls, there was only the road. Hundreds of miles of concrete and asphalt that had been strung across the country. Leading all the way from her hometown of San Francisco to the small and calm town of Jericho located towards the center of the state. Surrounded by forest on all sides and the northern end of the Appalachians not too far away it was about as different from where she came from. No ocean in sight and space to breathe made her almost fall in love with the place at first glance.
As her dad directed her to follow the road out of town, she did fall in love with the forest surrounding Nevermore Academy. The amount of green here reminded her off the national parks up in Oregon and Washington they used to visit when she was younger.
The Academy in and off itself was a rather imposing structure, dating from a time where not everything was made out of sheetrock and wood. Its dark stone walls gave off a castle like energy Enid decided as they parked the car next to some others.
From there it was a nice discovery that the insides didn’t follow the gothic look as much, here there was much more warm colors in use. From all kinds of wood that was used to make the floors and the wallpapers that made sure to capture all the light that came through the windows, it felt much more homely.
Getting pointed in the right direction by one of the last years students, her dad and her found the headmistresses offices. Being told to wait inside as she would be right there, gave her a moment to center herself again. She had dreaded the moment she would actually be here but seeing it in person was far more agreeable in her mind. Looking at the details that had been sculpted around the fireplace, as her dad had taken a seat and was picking through the local paper, they had picked up in the coffee shop in town.
It was like this that they met headmistress Larissa Weems, an imposing figure who towered over her and her dad. With her paperwork already send ahead some time ago, only a couple of formalities were left to sign. With her dad doing the bulk of that work in the office Larissa already took Enid on a short tour of the campus, with being such a late arrival before the inception of the schoolyear only a couple of dorms were still unoccupied.
“Usually, we try to pair up our students, so they have someone to spend a year with. But currently we are at an odd number of female students which leaves this up for an interesting opportunity for you. You have a choice to make for where you want to spend the schoolyear, either you can take one of the rooms down this hallway,” she motioned to the doors to the right side of the building they were walking in. “Or you can take a special dorm room that is still open,” she gave Enid a slight smile with that.
Leading her down the hallway to a staircase that led up to another floor, Enid found herself in a rather spacious attic with a large circular window looking out over the forest beyond. As headmistress Weems pushed open the window and lead her out to the balcony that was attached to the dorm room. Without having seen the other room she fell in love with the space, already making plans to add some color to the room and the window she picked it to stay for the year.
It also meant that for the first time in a long time she got a room all to herself that wasn’t adjacent to her louds as anything brothers next door. Returning to the office her dad was wrapping up the papers, it probably would have been quicker if he had just skimmed though it. But that wasn’t her dad’s style, as pack leader it was up to him to check everything as fully as he could.
Loading off her stuff and carrying it up to her new room, she was excited to start her new schoolyear here in Nevermore. Sharing a hug with her dad, “You got this kiddo,” and off he went, now on his own down to new York to pick up one of his brothers to drive the car back to San Francisco. Now on her own, she walked back inside of the Academy and up to her room.
Starting to unpack and put her clothes away in the walk-in closet that was attached to the attic. Upon reflection it was a rather massive space for just one student, but she took it in stride. Exploring a bit more she found an attached bathroom and other walk-in closet on the other side of the room. Pointing to the fact it was most likely build as a two-person suite. Not that she was complaining.
Stringing up fairy lights and some rainbow curtains on the left side of the room. There still was a second bed in the attic but she couldn’t be bothered to drag the cast-iron bedframe over to hers to make a double bed. Not that the bed was small by any means. Quickly putting the sheets on the matrass and around the duvet, it already felt a lot more like her room back home.
She had a feeling that she was going to enjoy her time here, she thought as she pulled out a couple of her plush animals that had been taken along for the journey. She probably would go get more in town when they were allowed to visit. It was kind of a silly hobby she had realized but they were soft and cuddly, and it made her happy. All of which meant she would continue to get more if she pleased.
Quickly scouting where the outlets had been installed, she was happy to find an ethernet port as well. Meaning she wasn’t going to suffer the slow Wi-Fi. Plugging in her laptop and phone before she dropped on the bed. Closing her eyes for a moment she focused on her surroundings, with her heightened senses she could hear the rustling of the leaves from the forest outside. The sounds of footsteps on the floors below and the quiet chatter of other teens who were also attending Nevermore. One set of footsteps caught her attention as it ascended the stairs to her room, sitting up she got up out of bed right as someone knocked on her door.
“Come in!” she called out as she straightened her sweater back down.
Watching the door open she was greeted by a redhaired woman who was donned in a green overall, and wide blue glasses. Carrying a tall green plant with purple flowers at the top in a brightly colored plant pot.
“Good evening,” she greeted Enid, “I’m Ms. Thornhill, your dorm mom. Sorry, that I wasn’t here to give you the proper welcome, but the botanical conservatory has been a hassle to get back in order over the summer.”
“It’s all right Ms. Thornhill, the headmistress was so kind to give me a tour of the place.”
“That’s nice of her, but if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask. I’m here to make sure you guys feel as much at home as possible!”
“I’ll be sure to do that!” Enid responded as she already started to take a liking to the woman.
“I also have a small gift from my conservatory, when I read your personal statement, I thought of this plant in particular as a perfect gift for you.” She said as she placed the plant on the desk next to the big round window.
Having a closer look at the plant she noticed the tag that was set into the plant pots soil. “Aconitum variegatum?” she read out loud, after sounding the words out several times in her head. Cause why did they have to name scientific stuff in Latin of all languages.
“Yes!” Ms. Thornhill said, “It’s European Monkshood, better known by its more famous family name of wolf’s bane.”