As Ember, with Thing on her shoulder, waited outside this shed in the woods she had followed Xavier to, she felt very uncertain. More than she had ever been in her life.

She had tracked the boy from Botany and ended up here, in the middle of the woods. The only thing standing was a shed, and that was where Xavier was just now.

"We have to do this," Ember told the hand on her shoulder. "Xavier doesn't get those scratches from fencing. He's hiding something."

And, as if on cue, Xavier came out of the shed. Thing melted back into Ember's backpack as she watched him cross the clearing the shed was in and go into the woods.

Ember then sneaked out from her hiding place and headed towards the shed door, sneaking in neatly and shutting it behind her.

She became aware of her surroundings immediately, as soon as she pulled the light switch.

She was in a room, with hundreds of canvases around her. And the majority of them showed the monster.

The same one Ember had on her notice board.

"I suppose every artist needs a mused," Ember said to Thing, remembering Enid talking about Xavier as the 'tortured artist'.

She then held up her two pictures of the monster. A perfect match.

"Xavier, you just became that much more interesting."

She turned off the light, put her own pictures in her pocket, and left the shed. She shut the door quietly, and was about ten paces from it when she heard a voice behind her.

"Ember?"

Xavier's voice.

Ember turned to see him. He had come round the side of the shed, and hadn't seen her exit.

"Xavier. Hello," Ember said, as he walked towards her.

"What are you doing?" He questioned her.

"Nothing," she said immediately. Her default answer. "I just saw you come out this way. What is this place?" She looked to the shed.

"It's kinda my... private art studio," Xavier said. "I cleared it out and fixed it up so Weems let me use it."

"How very entrepreneurial. I would love to see inside," Ember was challenging him. She knew there was no way he would show her. "Why don't you give me a tour?"

Xavier looked down. "Uhh... not right now. It's a total mess."

"How convenient for you," Ember found herself saying. "But wouldn't you like to show me around? I'm not easily fazed."

"Maybe another time," Xavier shook his head. "Why were you looking for me?"

Ember was suddenly lost for words. She was opening her mouth but nothing was coming out. Then, finally, she got her act together and said. "I-I- wanted to go over Ms Thornhill's homework assignment."

Xavier took this in. "She didn't give us homework, remember?" He told her. "Why are you really out here?"

Ember stayed still, not knowing what to say.

Xavier, meanwhile, smirked. "Is this about a certain dance that makes you want to cough up your guts, perhaps?" He asked, referring to what Ember had said earlier in Botany. "I'm all ears," he grinned. Ember thought, for a second, that it was maybe... genuine.

Either way, she was just stood there, with no idea of what to do or say.

Sometimes intentions melt in the face of unexpected opportunity.

She looked Xavier up and down, surveying his smile and his posture.

This was my chance to get up close and personal with a potential serial killer. How could I refuse?

"Are you really going to make me ask?" She eventually decided to say. "This isn't the kind of torture I enjoy."

"Oh, well, then absolutely," Xavier grinned.

Ember looked around as if someone (who wasn't there) was going to help her. She had never done anything like this before. "Will you..." She started, looking up at the boy. Her voice trailed off, however, and she had to try again. "Would... would you possibly consider going to the Rave'N dance with a certain..."

"Would-" Xavier's face was in a 'thinking' pose. Ember sighed, swallowing her pride and getting her words out. "Would you go to the dance with me?"

Xavier chuckled. "Yes, Ember. I would love to go to the dance with you," he smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."

And as Ember turned round, and muttered to herself, she was only sure of one thing.

"Neither did I."

❣︎❣︎❣︎

"Oh my god! Ember Addams is going to the Rave'N! With Xavier Thorpe! Has the world turned upside down?" Enid squealed. She and Ember were meeting in the middle of their bedroom, the latter on the monochromatic side, the former on the coloured.

"You know what you need now?" Enid finished.

"A knife in the heart," Ember answered honestly.

"A dress!" Enid answered her own question.

"I already have one," Ember told her roommate.

"Not that one you showed up here in?" Enid asked, scrunching her nose up. "That was a fashion emergency not even lightning could resuscitate! Thing, back me up here," she added, turning to the hand who gave her a thumbs up. Ember gave him a snide look.

Enid shrugged, then enthusiastically went off. "You need something that screams, 'first date, stand back bitches, I have arrived'! And I know just the place!" She squealed, grinning widely.

❣︎❣︎❣︎

'The place' turned out to be a shop in Jericho that Ember and Enid went to (or rather, Enid dragged Ember to) the next time they were in town. This was the next day, as there had been a trip organised for dress and suit buying and stuff.

"What kind of dystopian hellscape is this?" Ember asked honestly, as she looked at the shop. It was painted pink, and had fake flowers everywhere. Two pale pink dresses hung in the windows.

Meanwhile, Enid was squealing. "Our first roomie shopping spree! The dance committee's suggesting all white to match the theme, but that's not gonna fly with us."

"I'm going in red or black," Ember replied. "But I'm not going here anyway. I have far more pressing business than to worry about a dress for a dance I don't want to attend."

Enid looked sadly at her. "But I thought we were bonding..."

"I feel I'll only slow you down," Ember said. "You're a gazelle. I'm a wounded fawn. Cut me loose and go run with the pack."

Enid sighed. "Alright then!" She said, heading towards the door of the dress shop. "See ya later!"

Ember sighed, walking along the street away from the house, she was going to go and see Sheriff Galpin to talk about the monster. But then Thing snuck out her backpack and onto her shoulder, tapping her.

"I'm going to see Galpin, I'm not stop-"

But it was then that Ember did stop. She had never been infatuated with anything or anyone before, but when it came to this dress, she didn't know. It was in the shop window of Uriah's Heap, where she should've done her volunteer assignment on Outreach Day. And it was just so... her.

It was dark red with black lace and embroidered skulls over the top of it, and the top of it had some laces tied down to the waist.

"Hey, Ember."

Whilst staring at the dress, Ember had not noticed Dr Kinbott come out of the store. The therapist followed the girl's eyes and said. "That dress will certainly turn some heads."

"And I hope they'll be executed afterwards," Ember replied. Then a question. "Are you collecting more exotic yet pointless trinkets for your office?"

"Those are souvenirs from my travels," Kinbott answered. "That's how I step outside of my comfort zone. Speaking of which, are you going to the Rave'N this weekend?"

"So even normies get excited about a dance they're not invited to," Ember sighed. "But I'm not required to answer your questions out in wild, am I?"

"Well, I look forward to talking all about it at our next session," Kinbott gave a tight-lipped smile.

Ember took that as her cue to leave. So, giving the dress in the window one more look, she walked away.

❣︎❣︎❣︎

About five minutes later, she layed down the drawing of the monster on the sheriff's desk and said. "We both know there's a monster out there. If we're going to stop it, I think it's time we both put our differences aside and work together."

She didn't know what she was thinking, but she did know that she was surprised when he raised his eyebrows and looked at her. "And this is your stake for me to deal you in?"

He then took up a square bit of paper that Ember couldn't see and looked between it and Ember's then sighed. "I'm sorry, you gotta do better than that. You got some nice detail, though," he added, handing Ember back her drawing.

She took it, folded it swiftly and angrily and said. "I didn't draw it."

"Then I need to know who did," the sheriff said.

"Unless we're swapping information now then I'm not at liberty to say," Ember wasn't giving up that easily.

Sheriff Galpin sat back in his seat at his desk. "Why would I share information about an ongoing murder investigation with a high school kid?"

"Because I go to Nevermore and you don't," Ember had her answer on her lips. "Don't you want eyes and ears behind those ivy coloured walls?"

The sheriff still wasn't buying it. "Listen, Velma, why don't you and the Scooby gang stick to your homework and leave the investigating to the professionals."

" 'Professionals' who still haven't found the monster yet, I presume," Ember bit back, taking this as the time to leave.

"Hey, Addams?" She was surprised when the sheriff called her back. But she turned. "Let me see that sketch again."

Ember sighed, unfolding the sketch and bringing it out her pocket. She handed it to the sheriff.

He studied it for a second. "Person who drew this. They your suspect?" He asked.

Slowly, Ember gave a nod.

"Well, when you bring me some concrete evidence, maybe we'll talk," he told her.

"Or you'll bash your head against the concrete, instead of seeing it as proof," Ember retorted back, taking back the sketch and folding it, putting it in her pocket again.

She walked out the building, onto the street and round the corner into a close, and who should she run into but-

"Don't wanna ask what trouble you're in now," Tyler smiled.

"Nothing that's going to get the better of me," Ember replied. "Your father's in particularly frustrating form today. Avoid."

"Yeah, welcome to my world," Tyler muttered. Then a subject change. "You guys have the, uh, Rave'N coming up this weekend, right? It was all the buzz at the Weathervane."

"I must be the only one not obsessed with this stupid dance," Ember said under her breath.

Tyler's eyes lit up. "So you're... not going?"

Ember considered lying, but in the end, she decided to tell the truth. "Actually, I was forced to ask someone as an act of self-preservation."

Tyler's eyebrows furrowed. "Sure, that- happens, I guess. So, who is it?"

Ember didn't even consider- "Xavier."

Tyler's whole head drooped, and his eyes filled with something Ember could describe as... pain? "Got it. Hope you two have fun."

He walked past her, and Ember turned to face him. "I'm not sure why you're upset."

"That's kinda the problem," he was... angry? But why? "I mean, call me crazy, Ember, but you keep giving me these signals."

"It's not my fault I can't decipher you're emotional morse code," Ember recited off, flaring up now.

"Then let me spell it out," Tyler said, looking straight at her. "I thought we liked each other, but then you pull something like this and I don't know where we stand. I mean, are we in the 'more-than-friend zone' or just a pawn in some game you're playing?"

"I've just got a lot on my mind right now," Ember answered, swallowing the lump in her throat. "I need to prioritise."

Tyler understood this, his eyes changing emotion. "Right. Well I guess I know where I come on that list. Just... give me a call if I ever move up."

And with that he was gone, Ember left behind. Thing crawled up on her shoulder.

"Not. One. Word," she breathed to him, sending him back down to her backpack.

She watched Tyler go, somehow thinking that maybe whatever he was talking about was actually the truth.

❣︎❣︎❣︎

Ember out the sketch of the monster back on her notice board, which was now in the Hummers' shed. Eugene was standing next to her, as she told him. "Enid wouldn't let me keep this in our dorm."

Eugene smiled. "No worries. Mi colmena es su colmena," he told her, looking closer at the sketches of the monster. "I assume this is the creature that's been rampaging in the woods."

Ember turned to him, eyes wide. "You've heard about it before?"

"Rumours," Eugene shrugged. "Mr Fitts banned me from bug hunting until further notice. Claimed a bear was on the loose, which I knew was a lie. Didn't match their hibernation schedules.

"Speaking of monsters with sharp claws..." He went on, and Ember had an idea of what he was going to ask. She was right. "Could you give this to your roomie?" He gestured to a jar of honey in his hands. "Put in a good word for me? I hear she's still sans date for the Rave'N-"

"Eugene," Ember said meaningfully.

The boy sighed. "I know the chances of her asking me are next to zero, but I don't care. I'll keep putting myself out there until Enid finally... sees me."

"And if she never does?" Ember checked. She still didn't get romance.

"She will," Eugene smiled affirmatively. "I'm playing the long game. My mums say people will appreciate me when I'm older. I know they're probably just trying to make me feel better, but-"

"They're definitely trying to make you feel better," Ember said very bluntly. "Listen, people like me and you, we're different. We're original thinkers, intrepid outliers in this vast cesspool of adolescence. We don't need the inane rites of passage to validate who we are."

"So... you're not going to the Rave'N either?" Eugene asked.

Ember's eyes flitted to the side. "Actually I am," she said. "With Xavier."

Eugene was shocked. His eyes and mouth sizes increased tenfold. "What, like, Xavier Thorpe? Seriously?"

"It's not like I like Xavier," Ember said, thought she felt a sort of odd sensation just then, as if lots of blood was rushing to her cheeks. She ignored it, however. "I just have ulterior motives. Sketches are the only I have as a lead right now to try and stop this thing."

Eugene suddenly looked to one of these sketches; one portraying the monster standing in front of a few circles. It looked like a... cave? "That circle..." he said. "I think I know where that is."

Ember pounced. "Show me."

Fifteen minutes later, they were standing in the woods, in front of a cave that looked very like the one in the picture.

"It's definitely a match," Ember said, looking from the paper to the real life version. Then she went to Eugene. "What were you doing out here when you found it?"

Of course, she wasn't expecting a normal answer. "Collecting specimens. This place is ground zero for horny gypsy moths. So... you think it's in there?"

Ember didn't know, but she wasn't going to let that on. "Only one way to find out."

She and Eugene walked up to the mouth of the cave. Looking in it. The latter shook his head and scrunched up his nose. "I'm not a huge fan of enclosed spaces."

Ember looked at him. "I'm claustrophobic," he told her.

So Ember would be going this alone. How she liked it. "If you hear an ear piercing scream, there's a good chance I'm just enjoying myself."

And then she walked off into the cave, leaving the bee-obsessed boy behind her. Naturally, he followed her in seconds, handing her a torch and turning one on himself.

"This is definitely its layer," Ember said, seeing bones and skeletons of all types littered on the floor.

"Are those... human?" Eugene asked her.

"No, I think it's got a taste for venison," Ember said, picking up a deer skull with the antlers still attached. She inspected it, seeing if there was anything-

"Check this out."

She turned to see Eugene looking at a pair of manacles on the wall. They looked like they were for holding a... human.

"Yahtzee," Ember muttered, looking down. Directly below the manacles was a single, sharp claw. "Concrete proof. And hopefully not the kind the sheriff will bash his head against," she picked up the claw, looking at it in the torchlight.

She had finally found some evidence.

❣︎❣︎❣︎

Xavier's painting shed was the next stop on the list. She needed a DNA match to prove he was the monster.

"I won't be long," she told Thing at the door. "I just need to find something to match against the claw's DNA."

Thing gave a nod of the severed wrist and walked off on his fingers to keep a look out.

Ember, meanwhile, had entered the shed, and was now turning the light on to be greeted by the hundreds of monster paintings again.

She sighed, taking a dry paintbrush and digging through the bin, trying to find something.

She did. A cloth, covered in blood. She hurriedly picked it up and put it in her bag, ready to go out-

Just when the door of the shed opened and Xavier stepped in.

Ember turned round, adjusting the straps on her bag as he looked from the pictures to the girl in red in front of him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"How do you know what the monster looks like?" Ember posed another question. This one more interesting. "Or are these all just self portraits?"

Xavier took in what this mean. "You think it's me? I saved your life!"

"So did the monster," Ember said. "Twice now, it's spared me when it had its chance. Or was that you the night when Rowan was killed?"

"You are so out of line right now!" Xavier snapped.

"I'm just trying to uncover the truth," Ember said. "And your art seems to have a recurring motif."

Xavier looked everywhere but her. "Yeah," he then braved her stone cold gaze. "This creature's been haunting my dreams for the past couple weeks. I tried to block it out but I- can't. So I just... come in here and paint it."

He gestured to a picture. A full body of the monster. "And when I was painting this one, the claws reached out of the canvas and took a swipe at me. That's how I got these scratches."

"I thought you were able to control your ability," Ember said, plainly suggesting that Xavier had been the reason for the monster swiping out.

But the boy just shook his head. "Not when it comes to this thing."

"Maybe it's your guilty conscience," e
ember suggested harmlessly.

"Okay, I told you I'm not the monster, Ember!" Xavier shouted, narrowing his eyes.

Ember took out the picture Eugene had recognised, with the monster out in front of the cave. "So you just happened to draw pictures of it, down to the location of its layer in the woods? Those are some pretty vivid dreams."

Xavier wasn't stupid. From looking to the picture in Ember's hand and how she knew so much about the canvases in the room, he could tell. "You were in here. Before, when I caught you outside. That's the only reason you asked me to the Rave'N, isn't it? Trying to cover! Well, I thought you liked me! Actually liked me, like- like there could be more stuff after the Rave'N. But I guess that's not happening now!"

Ember was speechless.

"You are unbelievable-"

"It's nothing personal," the girl finally found her tongue.

"No, it never is with you, is it?!" Xavier yelled. "I mean, do you even care about anything or anyone at all, Ember?"

Ember looked down, not able to speak.

"Get out!" Xavier yelled, pointing to the door.

Ember left without complaint. But for Xavier, there was still a part of him that liked her, and wanted to go to the dance with her.