Chapter 70 Monkey’s Paw: Misha on the Attack

Chapter 70 The Monkey's Paw: Misha on the Attack

"Have you done anything recently that might have made someone hold a grudge against you?" Rebecca asked.

"Have I?"

Everly thought carefully. Her days followed a very regular routine—classes, tennis, and the rest of her time mostly spent in the library. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary seemed to happen... Wait, actually, maybe there was?

"I turned down a guy's confession today. Could he have turned his love into hate, felt humiliated, and wished for me to be disfigured?" Everly paused mid-sentence, then dismissed the idea herself. "That doesn't seem right, because Edward isn't lacking in affection. He doesn't have that deep a feeling for me—he just chose me because I matched him well. Even if rejected, he'd only feel a bit regretful, then quickly find his next girlfriend."

Many student couples around Everly were like that. They weren't in love to the point where they couldn't live without each other—they just thought dating was trendy, and their current partner happened to fit them well enough to maximize that trendiness, so they naturally got together... In short, it was a lot like fast food: quick to pair up, not much substance, but filling.

Someone like Edward wouldn't hold a grudge over a single rejection and want to disfigure her. Besides, a monkey's paw could only grant three wishes. Unless someone hated her to the bone, nobody would waste a wish on something so trivial.

"Could it be one of Edward's female fans?" Misha offered another guess. "You might not have noticed, but news of you rejecting Edward spread across the whole school in no time. Edward has a huge fanbase of girls at school. Maybe one of them has a twisted personality, hated you for this, and wished for you to be disfigured."

Misha's reminder made it all click for Everly.

That made a lot of sense. Edward wouldn't hate her, but those girls obsessed with the school heartthrob might see her as an eyesore. After all, the only thing she'd done recently that could make someone resent her was rejecting Edward's confession.

However, even narrowing the suspicion to Edward's female fans didn't reduce the number of suspects by much. Edward was incredibly popular at school—the girls who liked him could form a line stretching from the school gate to the teaching building.

"So I have to make a list and eliminate them one by one?"

"No need to do that. You know, no wish in this world comes without a price. Even the monkey's paw must take something in exchange for granting a wish—anger, pain, sorrow, despair, or other emotions like that. Often, these things are already produced when the wish is granted, as byproducts of those nasty wishes. But unfortunately, this time it met its match in you."

With that, Rebecca proudly raised a finger and pointed it straight at Everly's nose. "Honestly, you're so full of surprises. You managed to see through the monkey spirit's tricks and even used your identity as the master of the dream to fight back. You're truly worthy of being my apprentice! The first wish failed, and the monkey spirit was injured. I think it won't let this go easily—it might take it out on its master. When you get back to school, keep an eye out for anyone with scratch marks on their face. If you find someone like that, they might just be your culprit."

"Is that so?"

"I think it's quite likely."

"Then that's great."

Everly was dying to find out who was behind this.

Though she'd seemed to easily fend off the ape monster in the dream, the situation had actually been pretty dangerous. If she'd had fewer protective charms on her bed to weaken the ape's strength, or if she hadn't been so sharp and hadn't realized the attack was happening in a dream—if Everly had believed the wounds on her face were real, then upon waking, her body would have had the same injuries. That was the horror of psychic attacks.

To dare mess with her like this—once she found the culprit, she'd punch them square in the face!

Of course, considering the wisher still had the monkey's paw, Everly didn't plan to confront them directly until all three wishes were used up. Otherwise, if the person got angry and used the remaining two wishes on her, she'd be in serious trouble!

So the next day, Everly called in sick and didn't go to school.

She wanted to keep a low profile and let the paw's owner shift their attention elsewhere. Coincidentally, Rebecca had recently gotten some good stuff from a man who'd snuck into America from Xia Country, including a shadow puppet with a really interesting effect. Everly decided to hang out at Rebecca's shop for a few days, which would also let Rebecca help keep her safe.

As for school matters, Everly delegated everything to Misha.

Misha was a very talkative girl—bright and outgoing, with a wide circle of friends and her ear to the ground. She was also good friends with the president of the school's News Club. After just one day at school, she'd already gathered useful intel. She came home excitedly, grabbed Everly's hand, and told her they'd found the monkey's paw's owner.

"Trust me, it's definitely Jessica!"

"Jessica? The Jessica I'm thinking of?"

Misha nodded. "The very one—the amazing Jessica who drove our 'Ice Queen' out of the dorm. After school today, I stopped by the news department and asked some friends there about what's been going on. One sophomore told me that Jessica Brown in their class slept in the dorm last night, and when she woke up this morning, four deep scratch marks had mysteriously appeared on her face, with gross pustules around them. The dorm supervisor found out and immediately took Jessica to the hospital. Strangely, when the supervisor asked if a wild animal had snuck into the dorm and scratched her, Jessica denied it. She said you were the one who did it."

Everly's eyes widened. "Me?!"

Misha clearly found it ridiculous too, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I think she hates you to the core. She refused to give up her black magic research in the dorm from the start, probably just to spite you. After you were forced out, she got insanely jealous over Edward's confession to you and even used the monkey's paw to wish for you to be disfigured... Good thing you'd already moved out and had an alibi. Otherwise, with her accusation, the supervising teacher might have actually suspected you."

"But why does she hate me?!"

Everly felt completely wronged.

She could swear on her life that she'd never been rude to Jessica in any way. Even when advising her to stop her superstitious activities, she'd spoken gently, afraid of hurting the girl's fragile feelings.

Misha shrugged. "Maybe because you're smart, good-looking, and popular with your classmates—so she got jealous."

"That's it?"

"Yep, that's enough. You know, sometimes hating someone doesn't need many reasons."

"..."

Well, Misha had a point.

Everly decided to stop beating herself up and focus on other things instead. "Is Jessica in the hospital now? How's her face? Is there any chance of recovery? Do you think she'll use her second wish to fix the scars?"

Misha shook her head. "I don't know. It got too late, so after getting the info from my friends, I came straight home... If you want to know, I can tag along when the news department interviews Jessica tomorrow."

"Huh?"

"Think about it—'Mysterious beast appears in school dorm, scratches a girl's face'—isn't that a huge story? Because the dorm facilities are so old, students have been calling for a renovation. Jessica's incident could be the perfect catalyst to push the school to improve the dorms. So the news department folks are gearing up to write a big piece and put it on the school paper's front page! They're going to the hospital tomorrow for an interview. Jessica doesn't know me anyway, so I'll go check things out for you."

Everly thought it over and decided it was a good idea.

For certain reasons, her stay at Misha's house wasn't public knowledge, and the two of them acted like ordinary classmates at school with little interaction. So nobody knew Misha was her close friend. However—

"Jessica still has the monkey's paw. Just in case, take these with you." She said this while opening her backpack and pulling out some new items she'd just gotten from Rebecca.

"Okay, I'll be careful." Influenced by Everly, Misha was also cautious by nature. She didn't refuse and accepted the various protective charms and talismans Everly gave her.

The next day, Everly waited anxiously at home. It wasn't until evening, when the city lights began to glow, that Misha finally dragged her tired body out of a taxi.

Thank goodness—Misha looked fine and hadn't suffered any harm.

"You'll never guess what I encountered today!" Seeing Everly waiting at the door, Misha rushed over, grabbed her hand, and eagerly shared the news, her voice brimming with excitement and gossip.

"Hey, girls, dinner's ready. How about we save the sharing for the table? If you don't mind, maybe you could include your Grandpa George and me—we're both curious about how things turn out." Grandma Maryann said with a warm chuckle.

"Oh, dear grandma, of course we don't mind." Misha let go of Everly, stepped forward, and planted a sweet kiss on each of her grandparents' foreheads.

So the conversation moved from outside to the dinner table.

Misha had set out after school with the news club students.

She posed as a photography assistant, sticking close to the student in charge of filming. Together with two others, the group of four took a car to the hospital and, using the teacher's info, found Jessica's ward.

Jessica was throwing a tantrum at the time.

The doctor had examined her wounds and tested the pus from the pustules around them. They told Jessica the pustules were just a fungal infection, easy to treat, but the scratches on her face were too deep—even the best doctor would likely leave scars. If she was concerned, she could consult a plastic surgeon for better options.

Jessica couldn't accept the fact that she'd be disfigured. After the doctor left, she kicked her parents out of the room, flew into a rage, threw the sheets, blankets, and pillows onto the floor, knocked over the cabinet, tore down the curtains, and stomped on them wildly.

*Click.* The news club members happened to arrive at the ward door just then. Through the wide-open door, the shameless photography student couldn't resist raising his camera and capturing Jessica's furious outburst.

Misha was shocked by her classmate's audacity. She quietly shrank back into the crowd.

It turned out that Jessica was someone who cared a lot about her image. Just a moment ago, she was raging like a lioness on the plains, but the next second, when she looked up at the sound and saw the four students led by her classmate Leo, she instantly dialed back her fury, cleared her throat, and flashed a smile that was a bit gruesome, thanks to the scars all over her face.

"Why are you here... Are you here to visit me?"

Leo was too embarrassed to say why they'd really come, so he nodded, feeling guilty.

"Thank you, come on in."

Upon getting a yes, Jessica seemed genuinely thrilled and kept inviting the students inside. Only Misha, walking at the back, noticed that when Jessica's gaze swept over her parents standing cautiously outside the door, her normally gentle look suddenly turned savage and menacing.

"Mom and Dad, why are you standing out there? Come on in too." She coaxed in a fake-sweet voice that didn't match her face at all.

"Oh... okay."

The middle-aged man and woman outside, who looked meek and unassuming, exchanged a glance and walked into the ward.