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“I cannot believe I am holding this meeting, but here I am. And here you are,” Prospero began gravelly, standing at the head of the table. The candle lit in the middle of the table cast long shadows on all of the faces of the participants seated there. Thunder rumbled outside the windows and a chill swept through the air. “It should have been called earlier, to be honest. At least, we are doing it now.”
“Git on with it,” Montresor yawned. “Some of us are missing our beauty sleep.”
Ada giggled at this, whispering loudly to Morella. “He's so gentlemanly, saying this because he wants me to not miss my rest.”
“And some of us really need it,” Montresor continued, smiling a tad cruelly at Ada. “Right, darling?”
“Right!” she piped up, not noticing his back handed words.
Prospero scowled but cleared his throat. “I am sure most of you have noticed Annabel's erratic behavior as of late. Behavior that is greatly threatening our mental stability. We have to do something about it.”
“Why not just wipe her out,” Duke said. “It'd turn things back to normal.”
“We can't do that outside of the challenges,” Prospero said.
“Wasn't a problem for you all when you decided to put me behind a wall,” he tsked, looking at his nails.
“Yes, well I had no part in that and since I'm leading this meeting, there will be no underhanded tactics,” he said pointedly, glaring at Montresor who was chuckling in amusement.
“Now,” Prospero took out a pencil and pad. “Everyone, I want you to tell me something you've noticed. Once we've all compiled the information together, we might be able to come up with a solution.”
No one seemed eager to begin, until Morella raised her hand. “Annabel stopped by mine and Lenore's room one day...”
“Cookies?” Morella held the plate up, examining it. They did smell amazing. “You want to give Lenore cookies?”
“Homemade cookies,” Annabel corrected her.
“Don't you two hate each other.”
“Obviously, its to thwart her,” Annabel assured. “They'll make her gain weight and then she'll be slower on her feet, allowing us to catch her during the trials.”
“Then what are the flowers for?”
“To trigger allergies.”
“And the chocolates.”
“To put her into a sugar coma.”
“And the tear stained letter-”
“It's not tear stained, it's perfume.”
“R-right. I guess I can let you in so you can leave this for her.” Morella said uncertainly. She wasn't sure what Annabel was up to, but these gifts seemed harmless.
“Thank you, you are simply splendid Morella,” Annabel said cheerfully and walked right into the room. Morella, irritatingly stood there, waiting for her to finish up. “You don't need to wait up,” she told her.
“That's alright,” she said, smiling.
Annabel set the items down, hands wringing with annoyance. “Morella, is that Ada?” she asked, pointing out the door. Morella looked over her shoulder and Annabel quickly took this moment to snatch up one of Lenore's possessions.
“No, my bad, I thought it was her,” Annabel waved off, walking out of the room quickly and a bit awkwardly, given the unwieldy lump under her shirt. Morella watched her go, before looking back at Lenore's bed. Had Annabel just stolen Lenore's pillow?
Here Prospero turned to Ada. “What did Annabel do with the pillow?”
She twirled a finger in her hair. “Well...”
“Is that, Lenore's photo?” Ada asked, arched brow, as she pointed to the object in question. It was tapped onto a pillow that was propped by the wall, surrounded by candles.
“Yes,” Annabel said.
Ada looked from Annabel to the pillow to Annabel again. Was this a joke? “...why?” she asked.
“Target practice,” Annabel said. “I put her picture up on the pillow so I can punch it. With my mouth.” And then she leaned in and punched the picture with her mouth, though Ada was certain that looked like a kiss.
“Uh, right,” she said as Annabel squeezed the pillow tight and continued to pepper it with more mouth punches.
“I could hear her punching it at the middle of the night sometimes, and had to tell her to stop because I couldn't sleep,” Ada concluded and Prospero scribbled down more notes.
Montresor turned to Will. “Go ahead, tell them what you know.”
Will shrunk on himself self consciously as all eyes turned on him. At last he spoke. “She uh, wanted me to turn into Lenore...”
“W-why do I have to turn into her,” Will asked, sweating.
“Because you need to. Now stop questioning me and turn into her.”
“Fine,” Will sighed and shifted into Lenore's form, standing uncertainly. Annabel's eyes lit up in joy and she held her arms out.
“Hold me,” Annabel instructed.
“Um,” Will as Lenore scratched the back of his head. “How is this going to help you win against Lenore-”
“I'm feeling her physique for weaknesses.”
So he gave in and hugged her tight to her and they stood there for at least an hour before Annabel finally let go, secretly wiping away the tears in her eyes.
Prospero scribbled this information down quickly. It was shaping up to be very concerning.
“She didn't hug me,” Duke spoke up. “But she did try to get me to do something else...”
“Duke, you're a magician,” Annabel began, giggling. A chill ran down his spine at the semi-deranged look on her face. She looked heavily sleep deprived.
“I was,” he clarified but she leaned into his space.
“Can you make Lenore appear for me? I just need a little chat with her. Promise I'll be on my best behavior.”
There was no way in hell he was going to give up Lenore's position. Not to her.
“How about I do you one better,” he said, putting on a performative smile, and snapping his fingers, he disappeared in thin air.
He could hear her angry scream all the way up to his new spot on the third floor.
“She tried the same with me,” Pluto added in the present moment. “She tried to corner me and get me to tell her where Lenore was by bribing me with cat toys and catnip. I barely managed to escape.”
“Same with me,” Eulalie added on. “Though she told me she'd give me all the dead bodies I could ever want if I did this for her.” Eulalie sighed dreamily. “I've never had such a romantic offer before. But my loyalty to Lenore was stronger so I had to turn Annabel down.” She tapped a finger to her chin. “Do you think Lenore could bring me dead bodies too.”
Pluto and Duke both shot her mildly disgusted expressions. Eulalie did not notice, swinging her feet back and forth happily as she considered this alternative.
“And you, Montresor, anything to add?” Prospero prodded.
“Well...” he trailed off rubbing his chin.
“I could win back your lady love for you,” Montresor said.
“What lady love?” Annabel scoffed, hurrying down the hall and knocking on the walls as if looking for an empty space behind them. As if someone could potentially be hiding in a secret passageway or something of the sorts.
“Lenore. I know something happened between the two of you. And now you're trying to hunt her down for it.”
“I am not. She's my enemy. I have to keep tabs on her.”
“And I am telling you, let me help with that. Enemy or not, I can totally get why'd you want to bang her.”
“I do not-”
“Save your breath. I can smell the desperation pooling off of you.”
Her back went stiff at this before she turned to him with a cruel smile. “Maybe it's yourself that you're smelling, Montresor. Tell me, how many women have you slept with to feel an ounce of belonging? Except it never sticks, does it? The self loathing comes right back in and no matter how much you try to convince yourself you can be loved, you can't be. You ruin everything with your impulsive behaviors, in your desire to come off as strong and not needy.” She leaned in now, all sharp teeth. “Focus on your own self right now, before I find reason to kill you off early.”
Then she walked away, leaving him standing there, toothpick dangling limply from his open mouth.
“...nope, nothing!” Montresor concluded, grinning widely at Prospero who scowled at him for wasting his time.
“What about you, doc,” Montresor goaded, fiddling with his toothpick. “What's your diagnosis.”
“Still uncertain as of now,” he admitted. “Though from a doctor's perspective I can clearly tell something heavy is weighing on her mind...”
“Annabel, are you feeling alright?” he asked her softly.
She gave an almost maniacal laugh. “I'm never better love. Why do you ask?”
He gave her a once over. Annabel's left eye twitched sporadically and uncontrollably. The bags under her eyes were deep and dark, her lips were so dry they cracked, the skin on the back of her hands was peeling, her nails had been bitten down to stubs, and stray strands of her hair fluttered around her face. “No reason...you just seemed a bit distracted.”
“Thinking about school is all,” she laughed before stopping in her tracks. She began to inhale the air deeply before she scurried off.
“Oh, so then that must have been when she came to me,” Berenice piped up, entering her own flashback.
Annabel came hurling around the corner, almost toppling Berenice over. She began to sniff around her, almost viciously. “Where is she. I can smell her,” she growled to herself.
“Girl...are you....sniffing the air?” Berenice asked. “For traces of Lenore's perfume?”
“No,” Annabel laughed. “Why would I want to smell her? She stinks, love.”
Berenice arched a confused brow at this. “I clearly heard you say-”
Annabel grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her lightly. “I am not, looking for Lenore. Not at all. It does not bother me in the slightest that I haven't been able to catch head or tail of her, not even in her own room.” She let go of Berenice and still sniffing the air like a bloodhound, went down the hallway. Berenice shuddered.
“And did she find Lenore?” Prospero asked and Berenice shook her head. “Not that time, no.”
“Where is, Lenore by the way,” he said.
Berenice, Eulalie, Pluto and Duke all exchanged looks with one another. “She's....hidden in the academy. For her own safety and everyone elses.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Duke sighed but relented. “Ever since I was buried in the walls, and she confronted Annabel, she's been acting differently. She's acting deranged, crawling up the walls and brandishing her gun at everyone while making banging motions.”
“So then where is she?” Prospero asked.
“She's staying in our secret hideout in the abandoned hallway for everyone's safety. She herself insisted on it because she didn't want to hurt anyone.”
“Whatever their issue, I think they need to talk it out between themselves,” Berenice suggested. “Clearly, they started it, they know what's going on.”
“Would that be wise?” Pluto asked. “Lenore looked like she wanted to kill Annabel and Annabel doesn't sound much more saner.”
“What if we all stood there while they talked it out,” Eulalie said.
“Not sure if that would do any good. This is a killing competition, isn't it. If they wipe each other out, then things will be easier in the end,” Montresor said.
They all started shouting at each other over the table and Lenore sighed heavily, leaning her head onto Annabel's shoulder so the blonde could stroke a hand through her hair. “Should we tell them we already found each other and made up?”
Lenore smirked. “More like made out.”
Annabel flushed at that. “I suppose that's a double no then.”
“Nah, let them figure it out. It'll give us a little more time to have with each other until we have to go back to pretending to hate each other,” Lenore concluded and the two of them continued watching their friends bicker from their secret spot in the balcony above.