Elias rounded the corner of the main building and immediately saw the crowd.
Students packed the quad, all staring at something on the ground. More were streaming out of buildings, drawn by the commotion. Voices overlapped, rising in pitch.
"Did you see that?"
"It almost hit her!"
"Someone pushed it!"
Elias pushed through the crowd, using his height to see over shorter students.
A shattered gargoyle lay across the cobblestones. Stone fragments scattered in a ten-foot radius. The head had separated from the body, rolled a few feet away, its grotesque face staring at nothing.
And standing near it, supported by Xavier, was Wednesday Addams.
She had a small cut on her forehead, blood trickling down toward her eyebrow. Her uniform was covered in dust and debris. But she was standing. Alive.
Xavier had one hand on her arm, steadying her. His other hand was scraped raw, bleeding. He looked shaken but focused, talking rapidly to Principal Weems who'd just pushed through the crowd.
"It fell right where she was standing," Xavier was saying, his voice tight. "I saw it tipping and just ran. Tackled her out of the way."
Weems's expression was severe. "Anyone else injured?"
"Just us. Minor scrapes."
"Everyone back!" Weems's voice cut through the noise. "Give them space! Miss Thornhill, please escort Miss Addams and Mr. Thorpe to the infirmary. The rest of you, return to your dormitories immediately!"
Students began dispersing reluctantly, still talking, still staring. Ms. Thornhill appeared and began guiding Wednesday and Xavier toward the main building.
Wednesday pulled her arm free from Xavier's support. "I can walk."
"You have a head wound," Xavier protested.
"It's a scratch."
But she let Ms. Thornhill lead her away, Xavier following close behind.
Elias hung back as the crowd thinned. Weems was already on her phone, calling maintenance. Faculty members were ushering students away.
He waited until most people had cleared, then approached the shattered gargoyle.
Up close, it was worse. The thing must have weighed three hundred pounds, easy. If it had hit Wednesday directly, there wouldn't have been anything left to save.
Elias crouched beside the debris, his engineering mind automatically analyzing. The break pattern was wrong. Gargoyles didn't just fall. They were anchored into stone, designed to last centuries. This one had sheared off clean at the base, the mounting point completely separated.
He looked closer at the broken stone. Fresh chisel marks. Faint, but visible if you knew what to look for. Someone had weakened the mounting deliberately.
Elias stood and looked up at the roof. Four stories. The gargoyle had been positioned directly above where Wednesday was walking. The timing had been perfect. Too perfect to be coincidence. Someone had been up there, watching, waiting for exactly the right moment.
His mind went immediately to what he remembered from the show. Rowan. Had to be Rowan. The telekinetic kid with the prophecy obsession, convinced Wednesday would destroy the school. But knowing that and proving it were two different things. He couldn't just walk up to Weems and say "hey, check out this kid with powers, he's definitely the one trying to commit murder." That would raise way too many questions he couldn't answer.
"Damn it," he muttered.
"Mr. Vale."
He turned. Principal Weems was walking toward him, her expression unreadable.
"Shouldn't you be heading back to your dormitory?"
"Just wanted to make sure everyone was okay."
"Miss Addams and Mr. Thorpe are being treated. They'll be fine." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Did you see what happened?"
"No. I heard the commotion and came running. Got here after it fell."
She studied him for a moment longer, then nodded. "Very well. Please return to your dormitory. We'll be investigating this thoroughly."
"Of course."
Elias turned and walked away, feeling her eyes on his back.
He walked past the infirmary on his way back to Ophelia Hall.
The door was open. Through the window, he could see Wednesday sitting on a bed while the nurse cleaned the cut on her forehead. Xavier hovered nearby, still talking, still trying to connect.
Elias paused, debating. He could go in, check on her, try to establish some kind of rapport. But that would be weird. Random roommate of the guy who saved her, showing up to what, offer concern? They'd barely spoken.
Besides, Xavier was already there, fulfilling his hero role.
Through the open door, he caught fragments of the conversation.
"...was my godmother's funeral. We were playing hide and seek. I hid in the casket and got stuck..."
Xavier was telling the cremation story. Again. Trying to remind Wednesday of their connection.
"I remember," Wednesday's voice was flat. "You screamed like a little girl."
"I was about to be cremated!"
"I found it amusing."
"You saved my life."
"I pressed a button."
Elias kept walking before they noticed him.
The dorm room was empty when he got back.
Xavier was still at the infirmary, probably trying to squeeze more conversation out of Wednesday before she inevitably shut him down.
Elias sat at his desk and opened his laptop. Someone had just tried to kill Wednesday in broad daylight, on campus, and they'd almost succeeded. Rowan was the obvious suspect based on what he knew from the show, but Rowan was just one threat. There was also the Hyde lurking in the woods, already killing hikers. There was Laurel Gates disguised as Ms. Thornhill, playing the long game. Who knew what else was out there that the show never revealed.
Staying passive wasn't an option anymore. He needed to accelerate his timeline, get his tech operational fast.
Elias pulled up the blueprint for the AR smart glasses. Studied the design, the component list, the fabrication requirements.
AR Smart Glasses - Mark I
Primary Functions:
Threat detection (thermal imaging, motion tracking) Recording capability (video/audio) Real-time analysis (facial recognition, behavioral assessment) Heads-up display (tactical information overlay) Low-profile design (looks like normal glasses)
Required Components:
Micro-LED displays (2) Processing unit (custom, miniaturized) Sensors: thermal camera, standard camera, microphone, proximity detector Frame (titanium, lightweight) Battery (rechargeable, 8-hour minimum) Custom lens coating (AR-capable)
He started building a shopping list, pricing out suppliers. Most of the specialized components would need to be ordered online. Some he could source locally in Jericho. A few he'd need to fabricate himself once the workshop was operational.
Total cost: about eight thousand dollars. Pocket change.
He started adding items to shopping carts across multiple supplier websites. Set delivery to a PO box he'd need to open in Jericho. Estimated delivery time was three to five days for most items, a week for the specialized components. That meant he could start building in about a week, maybe sooner if he pushed.
Not fast enough.
Elias leaned back in his chair, thinking. He needed something now, not next week. Something he could build with available materials, something simple but effective. His eyes went to his duffel bag, the tools he'd brought, the components he already had. He could build a basic threat detector, nothing fancy, just something that would alert him to danger nearby. It wouldn't be as sophisticated as the smart glasses, but it would work.
Yeah. He could do that tonight.
The door opened.
Xavier stumbled in, looking exhausted. His eyes were red. His hands were bandaged now, the scrapes cleaned and dressed.
"Hey," Elias said.
"Hey." Xavier dropped onto his bed, just sat there staring at nothing.
"Wednesday okay?"
"Yeah. She's fine. Nurse patched her up. She went back to her dorm." Xavier ran a hand through his hair. "That was insane, man. That gargoyle was like three hundred pounds. If I'd been a second slower..."
"But you weren't. You saved her."
"Yeah." Xavier's voice was quiet. "I did."
Silence stretched. Xavier looked like he was processing something heavy.
"Did you see anything?" Xavier asked suddenly. "Before it fell? Anyone on the roof or near the building?"
"No. I was coming from the conservatory. Got there after it happened."
Xavier nodded slowly. "Weems says it was probably just old stonework. Erosion, weather damage, whatever."
"You believe that?"
"No." Xavier looked at him. "Do you?"
Elias met his eyes. "No."
"Someone pushed it. Had to. The timing was too perfect." Xavier's hands clenched. "Someone tried to kill her. On her second day here."
"Yeah."
"Why? She hasn't done anything. Hasn't pissed anyone off that I know of."
Elias couldn't exactly explain that some telekinetic kid with a prophecy complex thought Wednesday was going to destroy the school. That would require explanations he couldn't give.
"Maybe she pissed someone off at her last school," he said instead. "Someone who followed her here."
Xavier considered that. "Maybe. I don't know. It's just... wrong. This place is supposed to be safe. For people like us."
"Nowhere's safe if someone wants you dead."
Xavier looked at him sharply. Then laughed bitterly. "Yeah. I guess not."
Another silence.
Then Xavier asked, "Are you interested in her?"
Elias blinked. "What?"
"Wednesday. Are you interested in her?"
The question came out of nowhere, though maybe Xavier had been thinking about it since the infirmary.
"I just met her," Elias said carefully. "I've barely spoken to her."
"But you find her interesting."
"Everyone here is interesting. It's a school for supernatural beings and outcasts. Everything's interesting."
Xavier didn't look convinced. "She's different though. Admit it."
"Yeah. She's different. So what?"
"So..." Xavier trailed off. Looked away. "Nothing. Forget it."
But the tension was there now, unspoken but present.
Elias stood. "I'm gonna grab dinner. You coming?"
"Nah. I'm not hungry."
"Alright."
Elias grabbed his jacket and headed out.
He skipped the dining hall and went to the library instead. It was mostly empty this time of evening, just a few students studying in corners.
Elias found a quiet section and started researching. Nevermore's history first. Founded in 1791, apparently. Old as hell. Designed as a safe haven for outcasts. Had survived witch hunts, government raids, multiple attempts to shut it down.
He found old yearbooks and flipped through them. There, a photo from the early 90s. Young Gomez and Morticia, standing with a group in front of the school. They looked happy, in love. And standing beside Morticia was a younger Larissa Weems.
Interesting.
He kept digging, found references to the Nightshades, a secret society. No details, just mentions. Apparently it had been shut down at some point but references suggested it still existed underground.
He took notes on his phone, cross-referenced with what he remembered from the show. The world was deeper than what eight episodes could capture. There were layers here, history, secrets the show had only hinted at. If he was going to survive what was coming, he needed to understand this place, really understand it.
An hour passed. Then two.
Finally, Elias closed the books and headed back to his dorm.
Xavier was asleep when he got back. Or pretending to be.
Elias changed quietly, set his alarm for midnight, and lay down. He waited. At 11:45, his eyes opened. He'd barely been asleep, too wired, too restless.
He dressed in dark clothes, grabbed his tool bag from under the bed, checked that Xavier was still out, then slipped out of the room.
The campus was dead quiet. A few lights on in windows, but most students were asleep. Curfew had been at ten.
Elias moved through shadows, avoiding the main paths, making his way to the conservatory. The door was still unlocked. He slipped inside and pulled out a battery-powered work light from his bag, clicked it on. The space looked even better in the harsh LED glow.
Elias set down his bag and got to work.
First, he cleared debris. Dead plants, broken pottery, rotted wood. He piled it all near the door to haul away later. Then he tested the electrical panel. It was old but functional. Some of the breakers were rusted shut and would need replacing, but the main lines were intact.
He set up more work lights, illuminating the space. Found the salvageable workbenches and dragged them into position along the walls. Made a layout in his head. Fabrication area here, electronics station there, tool storage against that wall.
Hours passed without him noticing. He was organizing scavenged shelving when his phone buzzed. 2:17 AM.
Damn. He'd lost track of time.
Elias looked around. The place was still a mess, but it was taking shape. You could actually see the potential now.
He packed up his tools and headed back to the dorm. Xavier was still asleep, didn't even stir when Elias slipped back into bed.
Elias lay there, staring at the ceiling. Wednesday had almost died today. Someone had pushed that gargoyle, someone who wanted her dead. Based on the show, it was probably Rowan, but there was no way to prove it without revealing knowledge he shouldn't have. And Rowan was just the beginning. The Hyde was out there killing hikers, building strength, being controlled by Laurel Gates who nobody suspected. The Harvest Festival was coming up soon, that's where Rowan would attack Wednesday again, where the Hyde would kill him. Elias didn't know exactly when, the show's timeline had been vague. A few days? A week?
He needed to be ready, needed his tech operational, needed to be able to protect himself. And maybe protect Wednesday too, whether she wanted his help or not.
The system interface flickered at the edge of his vision.
[Quest: Welcome to Nevermore]
Objectives:
Establish workshop location: 65% Complete Meet 3 key characters: 2/3 Create your first invention: Planning Phase Complete
Time Remaining: 5 Days, 3 Hours
Five days.
Elias closed his eyes. Tomorrow, he'd place the orders for components, start building the threat detector with what he had on hand, keep working on the conservatory. Tomorrow, he'd start building for real.