Chương 47: Preparation
The first Poe Cup took place in 1897, and from that year on it would be held every year as a school tradition.
This important competition would take place over a week.
The Poe Cup is an annual race on the Jericho River by Nevermore in which four teams compete against each other. Each team represents their dorm, and they select the name of an Edgar Allan Poe poem for their team name.
Each team must choose four students from their dorm who will represent the team which is considered a high honor for the students.
Nevermore contains four dormitories with a large number of students in each dormitory. Two male dorms and two female dorms.
In each dorm, there are students from 9th through 12th grade. Luke is in ninth grade, so he is among the youngest.
Usually, in this very important competition for all students, four representatives are chosen, and they are always from the higher grades. From the 11th or 12th grade.
However, this time there was an exception in the Ravenloft dormitory. Luke was chosen to be part of the team that would represent his entire dorm. A rare occurrence, as usually the younger students are not selected to participate.
Everyone in the dorm agreed that he should be one of the participating members of the race. Everyone except Luke.
Luke didn't like being the center of attention and had little enthusiasm for participating in a race and winning the cup. His school spirit was zero. However, because of his last name, he had to participate.
His last name was in the name of the cup. At the very least, to increase his fallen family's prestige, he had a responsibility to participate. This is what Edgar was telling him, who was very insistent and annoying. Because of him, Luke ended up agreeing to stop bothering him.
His team was called "Eldorado". A poem Edgar wrote shortly before his death. That is before he fought to the death against the Spellman brothers and destroyed a town in the process.
Luke was in one of Nevermore's courtyards polishing and painting his canoe with the other team members and dorm students. It was a team effort.
"Hey, Luke! Hand me the silver paint bucket," exclaimed Xavier. As an artist, he was in charge of the model and was the best at painting.
Luke, who was sitting on a log looking unfriendly made the silver paint bucket start floating towards Xavier.
"Thanks," said Xavier, starting to paint a section of the canoe silver. He then looked at the model and nodded, satisfied with his work.
"What do you think?" asked Xavier.
Luke looked at the canoe which had the appearance of a spooky-looking armored horse. Trying to draw a horse in a canoe was not at all easy. He thought it looked like a very good job, and it was discernible that it was an armored horse and not something else.
"That's fine," Luke said. He wanted to sound more enthusiastic, but couldn't. He was already there hours ago surrounded by enthusiastic and rowdy people. The team leader was one of Enid's brothers, who was in 12th grade.
"Try to sound more convincing," Xavier said with a grimace, though he wasn't angry. He had met Luke during this time, and while he might have sounded half-hearted he wasn't.
"Looks like your social battery is running low," commented Ajax with an odd smile, passing a glass of juice to Luke and Xavier.
"Thanks..." said Luke, taking the glass. He didn't deny Ajax's statement, as he was right.
Luke took the juice, as he watched Xavier and Ajax arguing about the canoe with other students.
'I hope that bitch didn't control Ajax...' thought Luke looking at the gorgon boy.
By bitch he meant Sabrina, who was currently dating Ajax. With her red aura, she could manipulate Ajax's emotions to control him like a slave without him noticing.
Luke doesn't want to have to fight Ajax and the snakes in his head. One foolish mistake and he would be turned to stone, though it's not forever like the Medusa myths (since Ajax isn't strong enough), but, it's long enough for Sabrina to assassinate him.
Most likely in the race for the Poe Cup, Sabrina would try to assassinate Luke. From what the blonde told him earlier she hated being at this school. Most likely, she is impatient and wants to get it over with as soon as possible.
The race is the perfect opportunity, as they must head to Raven Island with the canoes. A perfect place to plan someone's murder. He doesn't know what Sabrina will try, but he must be prepared.
Luke couldn't yet read minds at an advanced level, so he didn't know what plan Sabrina had in mind, but he wasn't too terrified of the Spellman girl's strengths.
'The race may be more fun than I thought,' Luke thought with a slight smile.
"Looks like you're having fun, brother-in-law," said a tall, muscular guy with a big smile. His name was Andrew. Enid's older brother. He was in his last year of school before going out into the real world.
'Brother-in-law...' thought Luke with a strange expression. He was not yet united in marriage to Enid.
"Great day to paint a canoe," Luke said sarcastically. It was a day off from school and homework. He'd rather be in his room playing video games or hanging out with Enid wasting time.
"Haha, that's the spirit!" said Andrew, not understanding Luke's sarcasm and brutally patting him on the back.
"Take this," he added, passing a bag to Luke, who raised an eyebrow not understanding what he needed this bag for.
"What's this?" asked Luke.
"All the materials for the costumes we'll be wearing on race day. I need you to give them to my lovely little sister and have her make them..." replied Andrew, scratching his cheek.
"If you ask her, I'm sure she'll agree. She just has to make a few changes and knit here and there," he added.
"Fine, leave it to me," replied Luke, taking the bag. Enid was very good at making costumes. She had custom-made Halloween costumes months ago.
"I knew I could count on you," Andrew said, patting Luke's back again. He then went to look at the canoe along with Xavier and the others.
'The enthusiasm runs in the family?' thought Luke, straightening his back. Although it was a different enthusiasm than Enid's it wasn't much different.
[Enid, are you busy?] asked Luke, sending a telepathic message to Enid.
[Luke!] Enid said with surprise. She still wasn't used to hearing her boyfriend's voice suddenly in her mind.
[I just finished writing an article for my blog. Are you done with the canoe?] asked Enid.
[Just a few details to go. Xavier is taking care of everything. They just used me to reach things for them with my telekinesis...] Luke replied with a slight grimace.
[Telekinesis is very useful for everyday things. Do you have something to do?] asked Enid.
Usually, she would tell Luke to see her right away since they were both done with what they were doing, but she noticed that it could get pretty intense at various times.
[No, I'm free. Can I come to your bedroom?" asked Luke. He only visited Enid's room a few times. He had to violate the law that men could not visit women's bedrooms. So he wasn't to be caught.
[Yes, sure! Just wait ten minutes for me. I'll let you know when you can come] Enid said enthusiastically ending the 'telepathic call.' Enid was to tidy up her room.
Ten minutes passed, and Enid told Luke that he could now go to her dorm. He had to be careful that the professor in charge of that dorm room didn't catch him. Luckily, he made it safely to Enid's room.
"Come in, quick," Enid said, opening the door and closing it quickly after Luke entered.
'As usual, her part of the room is very colorful,' thought Luke, looking at Enid's colorful bed and all her objects that seemed to be in garish colors.
Enid shared a room with Yoko her best friend. Yoko's part of the room was very minimalistic with simple colors. The room was the same room Enid would share with Wednesday in a couple of years.
"Yoko's not here?" asked Luke.
"No. She must be in Divina's bedroom..." replied Enid.
"They should make it official by now," commented Luke, setting the bag aside and sitting on Enid's bed.
People close to Yoko and Divina had noticed that the two girls were in some sort of secret relationship. They were most likely afraid of others' prejudices since they were two women.
"Yes, we are already in the year 2021. If the outcasts were like normies they would accept her without much trouble. To that you have to add that they are a siren and a vampire," said Enid, getting on top of Luke and interlocking her arms behind his head.
"Two totally different species and both female," Luke commented with a thoughtful look. He had grown accustomed to Enid's approaches by now.
Although it was the year 2021 and same-sex relationships had become more normalized than in the past that was for the normies. The outcasts were more closed-minded on such issues. Especially because of offspring.
It's not the same for a vampire and a vampire to have a baby as it is for a vampire and a siren to have a baby. The bloodline will be weaker. You have to be very lucky for the baby to have genes from both.
Biology works in a very strange way if you ask Luke, but this is what Edgar explained to him and what was explained to him in class.
On the other hand, outcasts take offspring very seriously. Your family might begrudgingly accept two different species marrying, but if people have the same gender, how the hell do they have offspring?
Outcasts have a low population. They can't afford for their sons or daughters to have no offspring. That's the thinking of most outcasts.
Even unlike normies, there are still arranged marriages between outcasts of the same species.
If in the hypothetical case Luke likes people of the same gender would be the end of the Poe bloodline. Would Edgar or another Poe ancestor agree? Of course, they wouldn't.
"Are you in favor of two different species becoming a couple?" asked Enid with some trepidation in her tone.
One of the reasons why she wanted Luke to like her mother was because of this issue. Her mother was a conservative through and through. It was clear that she would never accept Luke in the future. So far she didn't say anything to Enid, as she thinks it's a school romance. Nothing serious.
"Of course it is. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here with you. Besides, I grew up in a normie orphanage. I don't care about the ideals of different species of outcasts," Luke replied after a few seconds. Although his confidence wasn't very high, he managed to hide it.
Luke, although he didn't have outcast parents who could teach and instill these customs in him, he was able to learn them from Edgar. He noticed that his great-great-grandfather thought the same way as the others.
Although Edgar didn't show it in his calm, nonchalant attitude, Luke knew that in the future he would pester him about marrying a psychic to carry on the Poe family legacy. After all, the Poe family was a family of psychics.
As for Luke, he didn't want his bloodline to end because of him, but it's an issue to worry about in the future. He's still young.
"Great! It'll be just us against the world! I don't care what my mother says, we'll get married and have wolf and psychic children!" said Enid with a big cheer and a smile.
'You're thinking too much about the future...' thought Luke, who only nodded with a slightly forced smile.
Time passed, and they chatted about different things while wasting time. Luke told her about the suits they needed, and Enid happily agreed. She wouldn't let her boyfriend have a secondhand suit on race day.
Later, Luke went back to his dorm, and the days passed. The day of the Poe Cup finally arrived.
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