URIAH'S HEAP

Uriah's Heap.

Eliora was staring at the card with a frown and a pout; clearly not hearing Enid and Wednesday's conversation of them talking about their own volunteering places.

Not realising that there were other two boys approaching her from behind; the two boys going to Eliora's sides with their heads peeking through.

"What did you get?" Xavier's breathy voice caused Eliora to jump, now bumping into another being and as soon as Eliora turned around – there was Ajax who was standing with a small smile, waving at her.

Eliora tilts her head to the side, before shifting her eyes towards the two. "Well, a 'hello' would be nice." She muttered.

Xavier shrugs, eyes then falling to the purple card on his cousin's hand. "What did you get?"

"Uriah's Heap. Whatever that means."

Xavier's eyes shifted towards Ajax – who had his eyes widened slightly.

"I got it too!" Ajax waves his card and Eliora's eyes widen slightly before a wide smile is shown on her face.

"Oh my god!" Eliora jumped slightly, standing beside Ajax – she was smiling towards Xavier and Ajax who seemed to notice her excited behaviour causing them to let out small smiles.

"What did you get, Xav?"

Xavier's smiles quickly wear down. "Weathervane." He said it in a whispering voice and Eliora raised a brow towards Ajax. Noticing the quick change of expression.

"What's in Weathervane and.. Importantly what's in Uriah's Heap?" Eliora looked towards the two boys. Just as Xavier was about to explain more, Mrs Weems and the teachers were starting to escort the students out to the bus field.

"Eliora!"

Turning towards where she was called, Enid was gesturing to the ginger haired girl to come. Eliora's attention now turned towards the two boys, with Xavier asking Eliora to join her friends.

Somehow, Eliora hesitated this time – seeing Xavier's expression who looked bothered by something, judging by his small frowns. She then turned towards Ajax who too told her to go and follow Enid and the others.

Ajax watches the girl hugging her cousin – Eliora turning towards him. "See you later."

"Yeah." Ajax nodded, watching the girl running towards her friends. Too cute. Ajax was already looking forward to the volunteering work.

Xavier sighed. "I wanted to exchange with you but seeing her there too, I know I have to give in." He turned towards the gorgon. "You should be thankful, I'm a good wingman."

Ajax smiled, following his best friend who somehow was frowning to his own card.

The bus journey was exciting.

Truthfully, this is her first time going on a school trip – Eliora had dodged school trips in her previous school, with her giving excuses which made her not participate on them. The reason was she knew she would be alone.

Basically she is being outcasted; knowing she isn't as normal as those kids, and outsiders aren't fond of outcasts.

Enid was telling random stories to the girls – mainly to Divina and Yoko as they sat at the back. Somehow Eliora's eyes always met with Ajax; he was sitting on the opposite side, right behind Eliora's row. Both exchanging smiles; more like Ajax trying not to blush hard and trying to calm down his beating hard whenever he made eye contacts with her.

He was listening to Enid's stories, and at the same time he couldn't help but wanting to hear Eliora's voice more. Her voice sounds silvery; clear, , and . Also she had this small grin and the way she raises her brows when she speaks.

This is how observant Ajax is when it comes to Eliora. And he knew he was about to be more whipped for her in the future.

Xavier's attention was towards Ajax – the gorgon had been quiet ever since they sat on their seats. At first they were both talking but ever since Enid and her girls' loud voices and giggles filled the bus, the two boys naturally stop talking as their attention falls towards them.

He had to stop glancing towards Wednesday – because his attention was towards Eliora, who kept on glancing towards the gorgon who was beside him.

Xavier let out small scoffs. Can't they not be more obvious than this? At this rate, Xavier already knew Eliora somehow has feelings for Ajax.

He couldn't be sure that Eliora had a proper crush on his best friend. Only way to figure it out, asking her directly.

Xavier thought it would be easy to get his two closest people to be together – until his gaze shifted to the front; to a girl who was staring directly at Ajax. It seems she saw Xavier's obvious frown that she quickly averted her gaze while pretending to speak to her seatmate while making awkward glances towards Xavier.

And he also noticed another person who was stealing glances towards Eliora who was high-fiving Divina with interested eyes.

That would be none other than Kent.

Not as easy as I thought. Xavier sighed and strangely, his eyes met with Wednesday who coincidentally had her eyes shifted towards him.

"And that's– Uriah's Heap..." Enid lastly pointed to; grimaces after introducing to the different places of the small town. Eliora had this slight grimace expression as she looked around. It's small and nothing interesting to look at; that's because she had seen everything in Paris.

According to Enid, Uriah's Heap is where they store kind of living looking animal figurines – well that is what Enid says.

"I'll be at Pilgrim World if you want to find me." Enid winked towards Eliora, the werewolf's smile dropped the second her eyes waver to the side. This made Eliora follow the sight of the werewolf – to see someone with Ajax, particularly a girl. The same girl during the Poe Cup.

Eliora's gaze then turned towards Enid and for the first time; Eliora saw a deep frown from Enid. She looks pissed.

"Enid.." Eliora called – earning a forced smile from her.

"I have to go!" Enid's eyes fell towards where the pair were. "I heard you will be with Ajax for three hours." Enid wiggled her brows towards the ginger haired one – hearing an annoyed groan from Eliora.

"Enid."

"C'mon! I ship the two of you!" Enid whispered to her side. "And I will do anything to get the two of you together. You and him fit to be together, and for that, I will plan to–

"Okay, missy! Off you go!" Eliora lightly pushes the girl to Pilgrim's World direction – earning giggles from Enid as she skips her way off.

Eliora made her way towards Uriah's Heap, entering the shop and immediately the atmosphere turned slightly eerie. She didn't hesitate to look around although she was starting to get a little scared – seeing how real the animals were.

Don't tell me they are all real. Poor them.

Her eyes fell towards the small animals that looked frozen – showing its sharp parts, like its teeths and claws. Just as she was about to touch it, she heard a small creak right beside her. Eliora gasped slightly the moment she saw the beanie boy – both of her hands automatically placed on her chest.

"Oh my god, Ajax! You could have— Nevermind." Eliora looks at him in disbelief – seeing the gorgon laughing at her shocking state.

"I thought you knew!"

"How am I supposed to know!? I was busy looking around like a good customer I am." She answered sarcastically; Ajax raised a brow, kind of impressed seeing the other side of her.

"You sounded like Xavier at the end." Ajax commented – eyes fell towards the small figurines.

"I am his one and only cousin that he is close with." Eliora whispered; not knowing that Ajax had his eyes turned towards her. Seeing the girl's focus on the font of her which is the small looking mouse with a green looking mohawk.

"Do you think this is real?"

Eliora turned towards him; to catch his gaze – and to see him averting his gaze awkwardly towards where Eliora was pointing at.

"Seems like it." Ajax went closer towards the figurine – and this made Eliora to follow his movement, knowing the both of them were curious.

Eliora's hand went towards the figure and small red streams appeared as her fingers made small waves.

"Cool." Ajax muttered; eyes falling towards Eliora, her eyes turned a pinkish red. Ajax had seen her using her powers and he still sees her as his idol. He likes her powers; Ajax thinks that her powers are special, and not to mention pretty.

However, Ajax learns from Xavier that Eliora actually thinks otherwise. That would be a conversation Ajax would ask in another time with Eliora. Maybe later.

When she blinks, Eliora's eyes turn normal.

"Poor thing. It has been hunted." Eliora turned towards Ajax with a slight frown – Ajax completely caught on to what she meant.

"You're right, in fact a local artist scooped that fella up right here on Route 22."

The two of them turned towards the voice to see a woman standing with two bright combs on her hand. Eliora guessed this woman to be the owner of the shop.

"Hold on– so it's true, they were picked up from somewhere and turned them into figures here?" Ajax's eyes wavered towards Eliora then towards Connie, who then introduced herself as the owner. The older woman looked towards him with a small smile.

"Can't keep them on the shelves forever. Got a whole section dedicated to these beauties." Connie smiled. "Squirrels, skunks, snakes and my personal fave..." She gestured towards what's behind them.

"..family of ferrets at a clambake." The woman smiled tightly. "Too cute."

Eliora smiled awkwardly towards Ajax who seemed to mirror her expression.

"You two want to make yourself useful?" Connie went towards them with blue and pink combs, handing them – then instructing the two kids to brush out the figurines. And with that, Connie left the two of them.

"Well.." Eliora turned towards Ajax, seeing him smiling. He looks excited.

"Let's get this started." Ajax made a fist, somehow encouraging Eliora to do this with excitement and this caused her to giggle at his antics – with Ajax leading the girl on how to do this tasks for three hours.

"Thank you!" Enid smiled widely towards the customers who had taken her fudges from her plates. As soon as they passed her, Enid was looking towards the girl; who was talking to Ajax previously.

Also she had seen her talking to Ajax before the Poe Cup and what's outrageous is that they were talking right in front of the awkward Eliora. Enid had seen everything – it was so obvious that the two of them wanted to speak to one another but they had a barrier right there.

So Enid decided to investigate – with the help of her friends which were Yoko and Divina. Well at first Enid told Yoko, literally everything and when Yoko said she shipped Ajax and Eliora together – they joined forces to make the two become a couple by the end of this semester.

"Goodness, I can't stand doing this beside her." Yoko whispered towards Enid as soon as she approached her.

Until Divina came towards Enid, asking if Ajax has a thing for Eliora vice versa – and the werewolf in the end said yes after explaining what she had seen so far.

And that is how Divina had joined the 'Make Ajax and Eliora together by the end of this semester' force. She also told them about an obvious secret about her brother; which was having a crush on Eliora which everyone knows off by now.

Divina also told some hot tea – and which is finding out that Eliza, the girl who had spoken to Ajax before the Poe Cup and a few hours ago has a huge crush on Ajax. Divina told them that Eliza had been pinning Ajax since the start of school.

Not long, Divina came towards the two girls.

"Enid. We have a problem." Divina said before leaning against Enid's ear as she whispered to her.

Enid had a huge frown on her face upon knowing what Divina had found out.

I didn't know Eliora is a singer. Enid turned towards Divina and Yoko.

"We have to stop her."

"As a token of appreciation," Connie pushed two squirrel figures towards the two with a proud smile.

Eliora and Ajax apparently spent three hours helping Connie in her shop – without complaining. Eliora was amazed to find out that Ajax was somehow interested in these kinds of animal figures though sometimes he finds them creepy yet he listened attentively when Connie was telling the two some interesting facts about some figures.

Eliora took the squirrel figurine from Connir; not forgetting to thank her – with Ajax following her, and with that they exited the shop.

"Here, take it." Eliora handed the squirrel to him the moment they were out. Ajax looks from the squirrel to her.

"What? But, this is one of Uriah Heap's–

"One of Uriah's special collections and wanted by all. Ajax, I'm not interested.. In this one. I actually wanted the mice." Eliora pouted slightly – seeing Ajax's smile widen slightly.

"Really? Don't you think it's weird that I like these kinds of things? I mean, I am considering studying about this in the future. If I told this to the others, they probably would judge me or something – or probably call me weird. That's why I'm planning to tell my boy Xavier. He is the only one who doesn't judge me." Ajax took the figurine from Eliora's hands, with the two walking along the side-path.

Eliora somehow made an abrupt stop; causing Ajax to stop too. The gorgon sees the ginger haired had a small frown as she looks at him – a small smile appears on her face while shaking her head slightly.

He couldn't tell what she was thinking – with him innocently blinking at her nervously.

You're more than that, Ajax. Eliora sighs softly. "I think it's cool that you like antique stuff. It's something unique about you, Aj. Don't be ashamed about it." She turned towards him, giving a small wink to him – with her casually walking away from him.

Ajax's jaw widened slightly, a kind of star struck that it took him a few seconds to process her words before jogging towards her – walking beside her as he looks at her with a wide smile.

With Ajax's lead, they started talking about Outreach Day – both were excited about the event and performances they were going to see, and that includes hearing from Enid that Wednesday would be performing too.

And as they were just conversing as usual, Eliora started to notice particularly the normie kids' thoughts. This is the first time ELiora could hear them so clearly in her mind and sadly, it was about her secret that she had planned to keep during her time in Nevermore.

'She is Aroile? Sadly she is an outcast.'

'Wow for an outcast, she is talented.'

'The fans are gonna be so disappointed.'

'The daughter of Scarlet Witch and an artist, a disaster combo.'

"L-lio?" The gorgon was shaking Eliora's side, his warm touch on her shoulder while slightly shaking her made Eliora's bright red eyes turn normal the moment she blink.

"Are you okay, Lio?" Ajax was following Eliora's gazes, which were towards the normie kids who were walking past them – with some of them snapping pictures of them. Ajax gave them a weird look before turning towards Eliora.

Eliora avoided Ajax's gazes for a while, before turning towards him. "I have to go."

"Lio–

Without hearing his words, Eliora somehow made a run for it before flying off. Ajax wasn't weirded out that she was just randomly flying off, but he was more concerned with how the normie kids were acting.

Not realising that a certain someone was running to find the gorgon and the gingered haired one – Xavier saw Ajax who was frowning deeply, his gaze went downcast. As much as he is concerned with his best friend, his cousin was much more important for now.

"Hey man! Have you seen Eliora!?" Xavier's harsh and hurried voice made Ajax turn towards where the taller one was. He looked like he had run miles.

"She was with me minutes ago, but she flew off." There was a hint of sadness in his voice that Xavier caught. She must have known. Xavier looks around, sighing as he shakes his head.

"What is it? What happened?" Ajax knew something must have happened or Xaiver had found out that the taller one acting rushed.

Xavier quietly showed his phone to him – with the taller one observing the gorgon's reaction.

It was an article, more like Jericho's entertainment breaking news; revealing with pictures as evidence that the famous AROILE is Eliora Eva Thorpe Hawkthorne, also known as the Scarlet Witch's daughter.

Seeing Ajax's eyes widen, before turning towards the front then to Xavier.

"We have to find her."