章 106: Marilyn uncovered
Marilyn Thornhill walked through the hallways of Nevermore. She wore a colorful sweater, and black glasses, and had a kind smile on her face, even though no one saw her.
The students were already in their dormitories. Principal Weems had asked her to come to the office for a meeting about an important upcoming club competition that would be held at Nevermore in the next few days.
Marilyn used a friendly façade with her false identity, which she hated, as she despised outcasts to the core. It was because of them that her family had fallen apart. However, in recent days, she has been in a good mood.
She only needed two more mutilated pieces to have almost everything ready for the ritual to resurrect her ancestor. Once she sent her Hyde to kill two more people and obtained the remaining two pieces, her next target would be the goth girl.
She needed her blood to open the sarcophagus where Crackstone lay. Luckily for her, everything would be ready by the night of the lunar eclipse, which was just a month and a half away.
The funny thing was that she received help from outcasts. They had helped the Hyde in his killings, mostly by distracting the police officers. They were quite bothersome. Because of them, she had to plan the murders more carefully compared to the earlier ones.
Marilyn reached the door and knocked twice. "Come in," a voice on the other side called out. She opened the door and entered Principal Weems' cozy office, where she sat at her desk, drinking tea while reading several papers laid out before her.
The lighting in the room was dim. A large fireplace stood majestically, its fire crackling softly, providing a warm and relaxing glow. A wooden lamp sat atop the desk.
"Please, have a seat," Larissa said, gesturing with her hand.
"What brings you to call me, Principal? Is it about the upcoming club dates?" Marilyn asked, sitting down on a comfortable leather chair.
"It's not about that. I want to talk about something else," Weems said, setting aside the report she had been reading and looking at Marilyn.
Out of the corner of her eye, Marilyn glanced at the papers on the desk and noticed her photo. It seemed to be information about her.
"About what exactly?" Marilyn asked, feeling a sense of unease.
"As you may be aware, there is a serial killer in Jericho. There are already four victims and one missing person who is most likely dead," Larissa began in a serious tone.
'Tyler's friend. His body was never found. It must have been the work of those two annoying psychics,' Marilyn thought.
When she found out that Luke was leaving Nevermore, she wanted to use that day to kill him with the new strength of the Hyde. However, she hadn't anticipated that Wednesday would go with him. So, she canceled the mission. She didn't want to kill her by mistake. Her blood needed to be fresh for the ritual.
So, she decided to carry out another murder. Thanks to Tyler, she knew Jonah and his friends' schedules. She knew they stayed late at Pilgrim World, the perfect targets if they missed the bus and had to walk back along the dark road.
What she hadn't expected was for Luke and Wednesday to attack the Hyde at the last moment, preventing him from taking Jonah's arm. She didn't understand why those two had stayed so long at Pilgrim World. It seemed like they knew what was going to happen.
"Everyone is aware. It's a tragic situation. There's a lot of fear in Jericho," said Marilyn, her expression full of fear. Her acting was quite good.
"Mm… Because of this serious situation, I decided to investigate the staff at Nevermore thoroughly. It would be disastrous if any of the teachers were killing normies. It wouldn't help our community," Larissa commented.
"I understand. Background checks should be done on new teachers. Do you want my help?" Marilyn asked. This year there had been a couple of new hires. As for Marilyn, she didn't think Larissa was referring to her. She was a normie with no powers and had been teaching at Nevermore for several years. Her background was flawless.
"I don't need your help. You're here to answer my questions. I've investigated your history thoroughly and found several inconsistencies. Answer honestly," Larissa said gravely, picking up several papers and beginning an interrogation.
Luke had told her that Marilyn's identity was false. Her real name was Laurel Gates. He said he knew this because he had seen it in the memories he extracted from the faceless one during Marilyn's first meeting with the hooded figures. Wednesday had also observed it when Luke extracted the memories the other day.
Larissa had the means to investigate people's histories thoroughly. She had connections, and money, and was the principal of the most important academy for outcasts.
The story Marilyn had created was good, but if you looked closely, you could see the gaps and inconsistencies within it.
Marilyn couldn't answer Larissa's tricky questions. Within ten minutes, her background had been exposed as false. As for her real identity, Larissa hadn't yet found solid evidence proving that she was Laurel Gates, the youngest Gates daughter who was supposedly dead.
The two-meter-tall hooded figure had claimed that she was Laurel Gates. There wasn't concrete proof yet, but it wouldn't take long to find it.
"So... you conclude that I'm the murderer?" Marilyn asked indignantly. They couldn't accuse her of such charges based solely on having a false identity, though she wouldn't admit to that.
'Yes, you are,' Larissa thought. Luke had shown her an audio recording of the faceless one, Deacon, speaking with Marilyn after assisting the Hyde in a murder. The faceless one had a brief conversation with her, reminding her to kill Luke Poe. That was why they had helped her and given her the drug. She had responded that her next target would be the Poe boy.
'The only thing I don't know is your true identity,' Larissa thought. It was highly likely she was Laurel Gates. Luke had provided solid evidence, though he hadn't told Larissa that he had read Marilyn's mind. He had only mentioned it to Wednesday to discuss the blood ritual. It wouldn't be good for Larissa to know he had secretly read the professor's memory.
"It's a possibility. For now, you'll be under indefinite surveillance. I'll be in contact with the outcast police," Larissa said.
"What?" Marilyn said, confused. She hadn't thought she would be placed under house arrest in an instant.
"You can't do that—"
"Falsifying your identity is no minor crime. For now, you'll be under surveillance and won't be able to leave your personal quarters at Nevermore. You should already know that when you joined, the rules for outcasts are different, especially in such a delicate situation as the one we're living in," Larissa said.
Marilyn abruptly stood up from her seat. She couldn't be placed under surveillance. If they investigated her story any further, it would be the end of her. They would discover that she was Laurel Gates and that her family had a deep resentment against the outcasts in Jericho. She could fool the normies in Jericho, but not the outcast society.
Furthermore, she would miss the eclipse, and there would be no more murders. Her guilt would only increase with each passing day that the murderer wasn't found.
From one of her pockets, she took out a needle filled with poison. This poison was deadly. It only took seconds to kill a person once it entered the body. Even for outcasts, they might last a few more seconds before succumbing to the call of death.
With great speed, she lunged to stab Larissa in the neck, but just as she was about to make contact, her body was stopped by an invisible force. The needle remained just a few centimeters from Larissa.
From a dark corner of the office, a flash could be seen. Two people emerged, walking toward the desk. One of them was a tall boy with almost blonde brown hair, holding a camera, and he had been the one responsible for the flash.
Beside him was a short girl, pale, with an expressionless face.
'Luke, Wednesday?' Marilyn thought, glancing at the two students she knew very well.
"Another piece of evidence. This photo turned out great. Your murderous intentions are clear on your face, and that venomous needle looks quite threatening," Luke commented with a slight smile.
"When did they...?" said Marylin, beginning to panic. As a normie, it was impossible for her to detect Wednesday's stealth, even if they were in the same room.
"You should teach a class on deadly poisons," Wednesday remarked, looking at the venomous needle with interest.
"Now, are you 100% sure, Principal?" Luke asked, placing the camera on the desk. He took the needle from Marilyn's hand—it would serve as evidence or perhaps as a gift for Wednesday.
"Yes... there are no more doubts. You can extract her memories," Larissa said, sighing. On one hand, she was glad to have caught the person controlling the Hyde. On the other hand, she felt disappointed in Marilyn. She had considered her a normie friend and had never imagined she would try to kill her.
"That's good," Luke said, removing a silver ring from Marilyn's index finger. It was a mind-protecting artifact, and while it only made the process of entering her mind more difficult, it was better to get rid of it. Nevermore had given it to her.
"Luke, wait," Wednesday said.
"What's wrong?"
"Can you show me that mental torture technique?" Wednesday asked.
'I can't say no when you make that curious face,' Luke thought. He then looked at Larissa. He needed her authorization to torture someone in her office.
"Do what you want. She's a murderer," Larissa said mercilessly. Marilyn lost her last hope. Seeing Luke approach, she wanted to tremble, but she couldn't. Luke's telekinesis kept her frozen like a statue.
Luke extended his index finger and placed it on Marilyn's forehead. In an instant, the normie felt excruciating pain. Luke released his telekinesis.
In a matter of seconds, Marilyn was convulsing on the floor of Larissa's office. Wednesday crouched down and watched every reaction of the normie with curiosity and fascination.
"She passed out. You should use less power against normies. They should suffer more for the torture to be effective," Wednesday said.
"I'm still getting used to calibrating the power," Luke said, examining his finger as if it were some kind of gun.
'What a strange couple...' Larissa thought. She would consider Luke and Wednesday the most terrifying students at Nevermore. Additionally, she noticed that Luke's sadism had increased since he met this girl.
"Let's end this once and for all," Luke said, sitting on the floor. Edgar had already come out of the collar, ready to guide Luke. As for the torture, it didn't seem like a big deal to him; he knew better methods.
Luke extracted three memories again, which were projected and visible to Wednesday and Larissa. He could have brought the outcast police agents here, but he decided not to. It was almost certain they wouldn't let him act this way.
This case belongs to the outcast police. They wouldn't allow a teenager to interfere and experiment with the mind of the murderer. So, he decided to show them the memories to them later.
The memories he extracted were older, which complicated the process, although Marilyn's mind was simpler than Deacon's. In these memories, he had everything he needed: Marilyn's true identity and her history, how she controlled the Hyde, and information about the ritual to revive Crackstone through Goody Addams's Book of Shadows.
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