When the dorm room door was pushed open, Enid Sinclair was sitting on her bed painting her nails—a bright pink. Sunlight slanted in through the window, illuminating her short golden hair streaked with pink and blue, making her look like a moving rainbow.
"Wow!" Victor whistled, "I like your taste!"
Enid looked up and froze. Her eyes darted between Wednesday and Victor, finally settling on the black head poking out from Victor's shoulder.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice at least three octaves higher than Wednesday's.
"I'm Victor! This is Venom!" Victor pointed at himself, then at Venom, "We're your new roommates!"
Enid looked at Wednesday: "Is he serious?"
Wednesday nodded: "Unfortunately, yes."
"Hey!" Victor protested, "We're super fun!"
Venom nodded: "Especially when he goes crazy."
Enid blinked, then suddenly broke into a brilliant smile: "Alright."
She jumped off the bed and extended a hand: "I'm Enid Sinclair."
Victor shook her hand with exaggerated enthusiasm: "Victor Black! By the way, you smell like strawberry chocolate—Venom said it!"
"—I did not say that!"
Wednesday walked to her own bed, set down her luggage, and said coldly: "If you plan to chat all night, I'll nail your tongues to the wall."
Victor and Enid fell silent simultaneously.
Venom muttered quietly: "She's crazier than we are."
Victor nodded: "I absolutely love her."
Enid looked at Wednesday, then at Victor, and suddenly laughed.
"You guys are really interesting." Enid began to look forward to the upcoming academy life, though she soon regretted it.
As Wednesday took out the first hammer from her suitcase, Victor was sitting on the windowsill gnawing on a suspiciously shaped piece of chocolate.
"Wow," he mumbled, chocolate crumbs falling from the corner of his mouth, "Are we demolishing the house?"
Wednesday didn't answer. She just silently arranged nails one by one on the head of her bed, as if performing some dark ritual.
Enid Sinclair stared blankly, finally snapping out of it when she saw Wednesday splattering black paint on the wall.
"Wait!" Enid's scream nearly shattered the glass, "That's my wall!"
"It *was*," Wednesday replied without turning her head, "Now it's a Gothic art installation called 'The Raven's Funeral'."
Victor jumped down from the windowsill, hopping excitedly between the two like an excited crow: "Venom! Look! It's an art war!"
Venom emerged from his shoulder, observing both sides with interest: "The left side looks like melted rainbow candy, the right side looks like crushed cockroaches... I vote for Wednesday."
"Traitor!" Enid grabbed a pink cushion and threw it at Venom, who swallowed it in one gulp.
"Hey! That was a limited edition unicorn cushion!"
Wednesday continued her renovation project, replacing the originally pink curtains with black lace and nailing several specimen bats onto them. Victor leaned in, his nose almost touching a bat's wing: "Are these real?"
"They were alive last week," Wednesday said calmly.
Enid gasped: "You can't just—"
"I can," Wednesday finally turned around, holding a pair of gleaming tailor's scissors, "Do I need to demonstrate how to cut a rainbow?"
Victor suddenly jumped between the two, holding a piece of chocolate in each hand: "Ceasefire agreement! Enid, try this 85% dark chocolate—bitter and sweet like Wednesday's soul! Wednesday, try this strawberry-flavored one—yes, the vulgar pink kind you despise."
Both pieces of chocolate hit his face simultaneously.
When Principal Larissa arrived upon hearing the commotion, the dorm had been clearly divided by a line: on the left was Enid's "Exploding Rainbow Unicorn" themed zone, on the right was Wednesday's "Vampire Tomb" themed zone. As for Victor... "Why am I assigned to the area by the bathroom door?" Victor protested, squatting on a bed-sized area while Venom helped him tape the words "Victor's Territory" on the floor with black tape.
"Voting result," Enid waved the hand she and Wednesday had suddenly raised in unison.
"And it's closest to death here," Wednesday added, pointing at the noose decoration she had just hung on the bathroom door.
Venom patted Victor's head: "Look on the bright side, at least we're closest to the chocolate stash."
It pointed at the toilet tank—stuffed full of various chocolates.
"That's my emergency stash!" Enid screamed.
Wednesday, unusually, curled the corner of her mouth: "Now it's war spoils."
Victor looked at the fuming wolf girl on the left, then at the gloomy goth girl on the right, and suddenly grinned: "Venom, I think we're going to love it here."
"Provided you survive tonight," Venom said, looking at the "Territorial Convention" both girls had simultaneously raised—the first rule prominently stating "Victor is prohibited from making noise after midnight."
Principal Larissa Weems stood at the dorm room door, her gaze sweeping over Victor who was squatting on the floor making his bed.
"Why is your 'territory' by the bathroom door?" Larissa raised an eyebrow.
"The result of democratic voting," he said seriously, "And it's closest to death here." He pointed at the noose decoration Wednesday had just hung on the bathroom door, "See, they even prepared a gallows, how thoughtful."
Larissa took a deep breath, as if silently reciting a mantra of "this is a relative, cannot kill."
"Enid, give them a tour of the academy," she warned before turning to leave, "Don't let Victor near anything flammable."
"—or any living creatures," Wednesday added.
Enid jumped up with a giggle, her golden short hair looking like a dancing flame in the sunlight: "Let's go! First stop—the Quad!"
The Quad was the central square of Nevermore Academy, surrounded by Gothic spired buildings, paved with ancient bluestone slabs, with a raven statue standing in the center.
"Why is it called the Quad?" Wednesday asked coldly, "It's clearly a pentagon."
Enid blinked: "Uh... because of tradition?"
"Tradition is meant to be broken," Wednesday stared at the ground, "For example, there are at least three corpses buried under this slab."
Victor suddenly lay flat on the ground, pressing his ear to the slab: "Venom! Quick, listen! The bones are singing!"
Venom poked its head out from his shoulder: "All I hear are your brain cells wailing."
Right then—
"Wow! New faces!"
A tall boy wearing a beanie walked over.
"Ajax Petropolus," he extended a hand, his smile bright, "Gorgon. Don't touch my beanie unless you want to turn into stone."
Victor immediately became interested: "A Gorgon? Like Medusa? Is your hair—"
"—snakes, yes," Ajax said helplessly, pointing at his beanie, "They have a bit of a temper."
"So cool!" Victor reached out to lift his beanie, "Let me see!"
"Wait! Don't—"
Enid and Wednesday simultaneously took three steps back.