Mystery Man: Pt. 1
A/N: remember that Y/N Ashcroft’s hair is orange, so I apologize if that isn’t accurate to whoever is reading this. Y/N also has a younger sister named Kathryn, AKA Kat for short.
WC: 1,388
Pt. 2
~~~
“Do you really have to wear that mask? It’s embarrassing.” My little sister, Kat, groans. I chuckle. “Of course I do. Father wore it every day at school when he went here. I need to carry on the tradition. Plus, I look awesome.” I smile, and Kat sighs.
Before Father died, he enrolled Kat and I into Nevermore Academy, a school for outcasts. Mother just dropped us off near the front gate. Her boss called her, and when anyone from her work calls, it has to be confidential.
Kat and I have to walk down the long dirt path leading to the school. Kat clears her throat, cutting through the silence that previously filled the air around us. “Do you know why Father enrolled us? I don’t think I was ever told why…” Kat asks, and I shrug in response. “I wasn’t told either. I’m sure there was a reason, though. Everything he did was always some small move in a bigger game of chess.” I reply, and Kat nods in agreement.
“Yeah.” Kat says, and silence surrounds us once more. We walk the rest of the way to school without saying anything.
~~~
“Alright, here are your schedules. Divina and Enid are just outside the room. Y/N, Enid will be giving you a tour of the school, and Divina will do the same for Kat. Welcome to Nevermore!” The principal, Ms. Weems, informs us. I walk out of the room and am immediately bombarded by a phone being shoved into my face. The camera flashes, which practically blinds me for a second. “Oof, this is definitely… not flattering. Anyways! I’m Enid Sinclair, and I will be your very own tour guide!” A much shorter girl says. She has short, blonde hair with pink, purple, and blue streaks of dye in it. She’s very bubbly, maybe a bit… too bubbly, for my tastes. She’s wearing the bright purple Nevermore uniform under an orange and pink striped sweater.
“Uh.. hello to you, too..” I say, scratching the back of my neck awkwardly. Enid smiles widely, grabs my hand and excitedly skips down the hall. She stops at a window overlooking what looks to be a courtyard. It has a fountain in the middle and picnic tables arranged in a circle. “That right there is the quad. It’s where we eat lunch and dinner and such. A lot of students spend their free there as well.” Enid explains, and points at a table with a group of teens all sipping from blood bags. “There are four main social groups here. The fangs, the furs, the stoners, and the scales. Those people over there are the fangs, AKA Vampires. I’m sure you’ll fit right in with them.” Enid says, turning back to look at me. Her eyes seem to drift down to my mouth for a second. “And why is that? I’m sure I could fit in with the furs as well.” I reply, raising an eyebrow at her.
“But aren’t you a vampire?” She asks, and I nod. “A bit of both. My mother is a vampire, and my father was a werecat.” I say, and she smiles. “Woah! That’s awesome.” She replies. I nod. Enid turns back to the window and points at another table. The students there are howling. “Those are the furs, AKA Werewolves… or in your case, werecats.” Enid points at another table. The students are all wearing beanies covering their hair. “Those are the stoners, AKA Gorgons. I wonder how many times they’ve accidentally stoned themselves…” Enid then points at someone sitting on the fountain. She has her hand in the water. “And, typically theres more than just one, but that right there is Bianca Barclay. She’s a scale, AKA a Siren. She is also the closest thing Nevermore has to a queen bee.” Enid explains. Before I can respond, she grabs my arm again and skips down the hall. Every now and then she points at a classroom from my schedule.
Eventually, we reach my dorm room. “Welcome to your new home for the school year. I hope it’s a good one. Also, I don’t think I caught your name…?” Enid asks. I open the door and walk through it, but before closing it behind me, I look at Enid one more time. “Makes sense, ‘cause I never threw it.” I smile slightly, and shut the door behind me.
~ENID’S POV~
I stand there, confused. Who is this new student? I’ll be honest, his whole “Mystery Man” gimmick is kinda hot. I bet he’s super cute underneath that mask.
I shrug and walk down the hall Mystery Man and I entered in. As I’m walking, I pass Divina walking down the hall with her arm around the shoulders of a girl with red hair. She’s obviously flirting with her. I give her sneaky thumbs up and a smile, and she smiles back.
That girl looked a lot like Mystery Man. Well, I don’t know for sure, since half of his face was covered up by his mask, but she has the same color hair as him. Maybe they’re related?
~~~
“Where have you been off to?” Wednesday asks as I walk toward my side of the dorm. “I was giving the new guy a tour. Y’know, he seems right up your alley. He’s a total mystery. He even wears a mask!” I answer, and Wednesday doesn’t respond, she just nods and continues what she was doing before, which was type away at her typewriter.
“What’re you writing?” I ask and flop down onto my cozy bed. She ignores me. “Wends! I asked you a question…” I say, and Wednesday suddenly gets up and stomps toward me. “Say another word and i’ll skin you and use your pelt as paper.” Wednesday warns, and I show her my claws. “Not if I skin you first.” I smile, and she just huffs and stomps back over to typewriter and resumes writing.
~Y/N’s POV~
It’s the middle of the night and I can’t sleep. I feel super hot and i’m sweating like crazy. I get up to go get a cup of water, but I immediately fall to my knees. I had a feeling I was going to transform soon, but I didn’t know that it’d be this soon. Ugh.
As I feel my bones break into shape, I groan in agony. The pain is unbearable every time I shift. Father would always say that i’d get used to it as I grow older, but i’ve been shifting since I was thirteen and I’m still not used to it.
I feel my tail grow and my fangs get even bigger and sharper, and my hands turn into paws and my fingers turn into razor sharp claws. I feel my ears move from the sides of my head to the top of it, and my fur starts growing in.
The shift is finally complete. I walk over to my mirror and look at myself to make sure nothing is wrong. I look how I usually do when in my tiger form. I walk up to my door and carefully turn the knob to open it. Last time I shifted I accidentally broke down my door. I don’t wanna make the same mistake.
I run out of my room and down the hall, trying my best to drain my energy enough so I can sleep. I assumed the halls were empty, but they clearly weren’t, because I see another tiger zooming about. I meow to get Kat’s attention, and she immediately gets ready to pounce. I hiss, but that doesn’t stop her from tackling me. We wrestle for a bit before I am able to get the upper hand and she hisses. I back off. I always win the fight, at least when it comes to Kat.
Kat sits down and I walk up to her and grab her head with my paw to keep her in place while I lick her fur. She got pretty dirty from the fight. However, she slaps me and I back off. I glare at her one last time before running back to my dorm, grabbing the handle with my tail to close it behind me. I hop onto my bed and curl up to rest, and quickly drift off to sleep…
To Be Continued
