?Buoyant? ?enid sinclair?

Iris stood frozen in the corner, watching as the group of people dressed in cloaks tied Wednesday to a chair.

"Who dares breach our inner sanctum?" One of the cloaked figures said, trying to sound mysterious.

"You can take the mask off, Bianca."

Bianca sighed, and pulled off the hood and mask she wore, and turned off the projector that they were using to shine a light in Wednesday's face.

Iris moved behind Wednesday trying to untie the rope that bound her hands to the chair. One of the knots came loose, and she began to work on another one.

"Wait, I preferred you with it on." Wednesday told her as soon as the projector was off.

"How did you get down here?" Xavier asked, Iris having not realised he was there. She had done at least a third of the knots. Honestly, whoever tied this needed more practice. Iris could've made a knot this tight with one knot.

"Rowan showed me." Wednesday replied, "Left pocket."

She gestured with her eyes to her pocket, and Xavier walked forward, sticking his hands in her pocket. Iris momentarily froze, the rope appearing to just float in the air, but luckily Xavier wasn't paying too much attention to what was going on behind Wednesday.

He lifted out the piece of paper that had a drawing of Wednesday on it, as well as the broken building behind her. "I tracked the watermark from the page down to the Poe statue. Then I solved the riddle."

Iris noticed how she was careful not to say 'we', so as not to imply that she was here. She finally managed to at least loosen the knots enough so Wednesday could sip her hands out when she wanted.

"Wait, there's a riddle, I thought we just snapped twice." One of the guys asked. 

"Well, aren't you the brightest of the bunch?" Wednesday said sarcastically.

"The Nightshades are an elite social club." Bianca said, "Emphasis on elte."

Iris was really starting to hate her.

"We have roof parties, camp-outs, the occasional midnight skinny dip..." Yoko said.

"And Yoko's an amateur mixologist." Another member said.

"She makes a killer virgin mojito. It can get pretty wild." Ajax, who Iris had only now realised was here, said.

Iris didn't know why she hated him, but anytime she saw him in the corridor, she just felt this overwhelming hatred towards him. Maybe it was that stupid beanie he wore 24/7.

"Wow, do you guys even have a bedtime?" Wednesday said, "Last I heard, the Nightshades had been disbanded."

"Yeah, the group kind of lost its charter 30 years ago after some normie kid died." Xavier told her. Iris also didn't like how he looked at her sister. 

"But, we have a lot of wealthy alumni." Of course they were a nepotism group, Iris thought, "So Weems looks the other way as long as nobody makes any waves." Yoko told them. 

"Someone like Rowan?" Wednesday asked a little too eagerly for Iris' liking.

"We booted that loser last semester." Bianca told her, a confused look on her face, "Question is, what are we gpnna do with her? Only members are allowed in this library."

There was a silence as they all looked eachother, hoping that someone would give an answer.

"I say we invite her to pledge." Xavier said, and Iris nearly groaned before stopping herself. She was beginning to feel very tired, as she had never used her powers for this long, "She is a legacy."

He pointed at the painting of their parents, and everyone turned to look at it.

"After the crap she pulled in the Poe Cup, there's no way in hell." Bianca yelled, "We wanna talk about not maing waves? She's a tsunami."

"Just because I beat you at your own game?" Wednesday teased, "Let me save you the trouble. I'm not interested in joining."

"You're seriously turning us down?" Yoko asked.

"Can you believe it?" Wednesday said, sarcasm lacing her monotone voice.

"Untie her." Bianca ordered Xavier. That was when slipped her hands out of the knot that Iris had loosened, holding it up proudly.

"I freed myself five minutes ago."

She rather harshly grabbed the photo that Xavier held, walking slower than normal towards the exit so Iris could keep up without making too much noise.

"Do you want a matching black eye?" She threatened the boy who was standing in their way. She shoved the rope against his chest, before climbing up the stairs past him.

As they walked up the stairs, Iris turned visible again amd turned to the group and said, "It's amateurs like you who give kidnapping a bad name."

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794 words

thought it would be fun if iris revealed herself like that aha