章 48: Poe Cup I
It was a beautiful day. There was no cloud in sight, and the temperature was pleasant with light winds.
Luke had already changed into the communal costume he would wear with his team. The costume was that of a medieval knight. They were all dressed in the same outfit. Clothes that appeared to be shining armor, able adorned, and a fake sword strapped to the belt.
Eldorado tells the story of a valiant knight who sets out on a quest about a legendary place called 'Eldorado' where the streets are said to be paved with gold and wealth is abundant. That's why they dressed up that way.
Enid had custom-made the costume for each member of the team. She only did it for Luke, as otherwise, she wouldn't help a rival dorm no matter how much her older brother is there.
Just as he was about to go to the river where he would start the race with the others, he got a telepathic message from Veronica.
[Come to the statue of Edgar Allan Poe. I need to tell you something. It will be quick.]
Luke was surprised at Veronica's telepathic message. It had been a long time since they had used their telepathic link. Since they were both Blue Aura users they created a link so that when Luke asked her for a book the message would be sent much faster.
'I had forgotten that the link was still alive,' thought Luke, replying with a simple: Ok.
He didn't know what Veronica would tell him. Ever since she got mad at him that time Sabrina tried to murder him at the gym, they hadn't spoken again.
"I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back," Luke said to Andrew, the team captain. They were already on their way to the river.
At a fast pace, he arrived at the statue of his great-great-grandfather which was the entrance to the Nightshade Society. Veronica was already waiting for him.
Veronica was dressed as a treasure hunter. The name of her outfit was: The Gold-Bug. A well-known poem by Edgar Allan Poe is about the adventure of an individual who finds a coded message stating the location of Captain Kidd's fabulous treasure.
"Nice costume," Luke commented with an amused smile. It was rare to see Veronica in commoner's clothes. She was born in a cradle of gold and always dresses very fancy with jewels, necklaces, and rings.
"The same for you. The last thing you would be is a knight in silver armor," countered Veronica with a slight sneer.
'Since when did she get so good at talking back?' Luke thought.
"Getting to the point, you should be careful with Sabrina. She might try something. I don't know the girls in the other dorm very well, they rarely let a ninth-grader participate" said Veronica.
"Well, you're an exception since the cup has your last name," she added.
"I know. Who knows if she used her red aura to manipulate one of those girls to become one of the representatives of her dorm. Anyway, whatever she tries won't succeed. I already defeated her once. I can do it one more time," Luke said confidently.
He didn't know what method Sabrina would use to attack this time. Whether she would use hags or some dark creature or she would take matters into her own hands like last time. The worst Luke could think of was that she would have perfectly controlled the older female students in that dorm and used them to attack him.
However, the latter is unlikely. To manage in just a few months to get control of three older students she barely talks to would be very difficult for her power level.
Luke had not told Natasha about Sabrina's attack. This was at the request of his great-great-grandfather. According to Edgar, it would not be at all beneficial for the housekeeper to know that there is a killer inside the school.
It would be best to leave Sabrina at the school as if nothing happened and let Luke try to survive her assassination attempts. That was the best form of training or so his wacky great-great-grandfather said.
"It's good that you have confidence... Another thing be careful with Tommy," said Veronica.
"What about your boyfriend? I don't think I've done anything to piss him off. Except threaten his girlfriend with a +18 video," said Luke.
"He's not my boyfriend anymore! We broke up months ago!" said Veronica in an angry tone for some reason.
"Then what?" asked Luke. As far as he knew Veronica didn't tell Tommy anything about him threatening her and having a banned video from when the two of them did it at Nightshade Society.
"You beat up two of his juniors. The video got all over the school. If it wasn't for me stopping it he would have wanted to pick a fight with you. That also made him more upset because it made him jealous that I stood up for you," Veronica explained.
"Jealous...? We're family," Luke said with a grimace. Damn, outcasts should have some shame.
"Well...that's the way it is. Now that I'm done with him he seems to be always angry and depressed. He may seek revenge against you. Be careful. He's a 12th-grade werewolf" Veronica added.
'He's a student in his last year. He must be stronger than that werewolf named Brad. Veronica seems to like seniors,' thought Luke.
Veronica was a tenth grader. That is, Tommy was two years ahead of her. Brad was also a tenth grader, so Tommy should be stronger.
"All right. I'll keep an eye on him. He's Andrew's direct rival anyway. He'll take care of it," Luke said lazily. His assassin was Sabrina. Not some stupid jealous werewolf with his ex-girlfriend's familiar.
"Fine. Let's go or we'll be late," Veronica said, grabbing Luke's arm and walking towards the competition site.
"Hey, if we get there and he sees us together he'll be more furious," said Luke, complaining about being dragged.
"With your great strength, you will solve it," said Veronica sarcastically and without stopping walking.
They arrived at the place, and it was already crowded with students. There were four tents. One was green, one red, one blue, and the last one yellow. A few meters away from the tents was the jetty on the river next to the four canoes each with a different design according to the team name.
Luke and Veronica split up. Each headed for their tent. Tommy seemed to be in his tent so he didn't see that the two of them were together.
Their teams were having their final strategy meeting. Luke arrived just in time as Andrew began to explain how they would go about winning this race and bringing glory to their dorm.
Ten minutes later representatives from all the teams emerged from the tents as motivational music played. It sounded like the orchestra was doing their thing.
'They do give importance to this race...' thought Luke, feeling many eyes on him. It was normal the cup had his last name on it.
He could see Sabrina's team wearing red robes and spooky white masks. It looked like a Halloween costume. Everyone wondered if they could see well with those masks for the race.
Luke recognized Sabrina as she was the shortest of them all and by her blonde hair. The mask did not cover her hair completely.
However, he also recognized another person from Sabrina's team. A girl with blonde hair with pink and blue highlights at the ends.
'Enid?' thought Luke in confusion. He didn't know that Enid was one of her dorm reps. It was already strange for a ninth grader to be chosen as part of the team. Now in Enid's dorm, there were two ninth grade representatives.
Enid in her white mask looked up at Luke and greeted him enthusiastically, [Surprised?] she asked through the mind link.
[Since when are you a representative of your team?] asked Luke.
[Hehe, it was last minute. Sabrina managed to convince the older students. As much as you are my boyfriend, I will show no mercy in the race] replied Enid with a competitive spirit.
Luke heard that Sabrina had something to do with it and had a bad feeling, "Come on Luke," said Andrew, nudging Luke in the back.
Luke reacted and climbed into his canoe. Positioning himself in the middle in front of him was Andrew, and in the back were the other two members of the team that he barely knew their names. They each took their paddle and waited for the signal from Principal Weems, who was standing in front of all the students.
"I want to welcome you to the Edgar Allan Poe Cup. It is one of the proudest traditions at Nevermore and it began 123 years ago." Larissa said enthusiastically. In front of her was a microphone so that representatives from each team could hear her.
"You must cross over to Raven Island. Take a flag from the Crackstone crypt and return without sinking or being sunk. The first team to cross the finish line with their flag wins the cup, bragging rights for a year, and some special privileges. Let the Poe Cup begin!" said Larissa, extending her arm to the sky where she held a gun and fired.
BANG!
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