𝓢𝓔𝓡𝓘𝓔𝓢 𝓞𝓝𝓔 ❣︎ 9

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Xavier's room was the next place on Ember's investigation. Well, Rowan's old room was what she needed.

Right now, however, it was vacated. Well, not entirely. Xavier was in the shower after a run, but Ember only needed ten minutes to search the place.

So, as she stepped into the room with Thing, seconds after the bathroom door had closed, she wasted no time.

"That purple book has got to be around here somewhere," she said to Thing they came in. "Start investigating."

So, as Thing searched all the books, Ember looked around the room at other clues which would help her investigation. She eventually honed in on Xavier's sketchbook, flipping through it...

Birds... gargoyles... spiders... her.

Ember almost stopped breathing as she turned to a page with a sketch that pictured, undoubtedly, her.

He had captured her plaits, her red uniform, her dark eyes, her sarcastic look, her emotionless face... but why had he drawn it?

Ember didn't spend much time sweating it, grabbing her UV torch out her pocket, she turned the lights out, scanning Rowan's old bed with it, as well as his drawers, furniture and walls. As well as under the bed-

Where she saw finger prints.

And a loose floorboard.

Without hesitation, Ember lunged towards it, taking the floorboard up to find stuff hidden underneath it. One thing amongst it was a mask. It looked like one from a masquerade ball. It was made of pitch black feathers with a sharp nose...

"Rowan's full of surprises," Ember said analytically, studying the mask with her torch-

Just then, a few things happened. The first of which was a knock on the door. The second was Ember diving under Xavier's bed. The third was Xavier, out of the bathroom, switching on the lights and heading towards his door. 

As the door opened, Ember rolled on her stomach, able now to see Xavier, and Bianca, who was at his door.

"You're not supposed to be up here," Xavier said, though he pulled her in, shutting the door firmly behind them.

"Good to see you too!" Bianca said, slightly surprised if Ember could tell right.

"How'd you get past the Housemaster? Use your siren powers?" Xavier wasn't having this, Ember could tell. She remembered what Enid told her about these two dating.

"Would it kill you to not think the worst of me, for once?" She asked him.

"What do you want, Bianca?" Xavier asked, irritated.

"To see how you're doing," Bianca replied.

As Xavier sat on the bed above Ember, Bianca stayed standing. "I'm sorry about Rowan. I know you guys used to be close."

"Since when did you give a damn about Rowan?" Xavier questioned. Ember still didn't like him. But she was happy someone else was standing up to Bianca.

"Well, you're the one that was afraid he was going to do something to Ember," Bianca said. Ember payed attention tenfold now her name was getting mentioned. "Isn't that why you've been following her around like an eager eyed puppy? Or is there something more?"

Xavier got up from the bed. Ember's eyes followed his every move. She noticed him get up and look at his sketchbook, opened on the picture of her. He then closed it immediately.

"Seriously, what do you see in her?" Bianca asked again. "You suddenly have a thing for tragic goth girls who dress like they've been bathing in blood?"

𝓓𝓸 𝓸𝓻 𝓓𝓲𝓮 ❣︎ 𝓔𝓶𝓫𝓮𝓻 𝓐𝓭𝓭𝓪𝓶𝓼Where stories live. Discover now