POE Prophecies

Changing the future was never meant to be easy. My name's Aidan Grey. I'm a twelve-year-old student at P.O.E. Academy, where we don't just study Edgar Allan Poe's works—we decode them. His stories are more than literature; they're riddles and warnings. Prophetic clues are cleverly buried in every line. Find the right words, and you might change someone's fate. The academy says kids like me aren't ready to handle something so unpredictable.

Trust no one. My name's Aidan Grey. I'm a twelve-year-old student at P.O.E. Academy, where we study the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Since joining a super-secret study group, I’ve learned new things and met new people. But something doesn’t smell right, and it’s not last week’s leftover sandwich in my book bag. I’ve got a hunch that there’s more than meets the eye to this Vincent guy. So what if he has a powerful Kindred and can move about a room like a ghost? He’s friends with my cousin, and my cousin should be expelled for things he’s said about The Prophet.

I won’t give up without a fight. The Prophet had an ugly little surprise in store, and now it haunts me, threatening my future at P.O.E. Academy. There are unspoken risks, and I’m not referring to Lenore’s “accident” this time. Everything I’ve been working toward could vanish in an instant. After what happened to Theo, we need to tread carefully. I wish that were our only concern. After some serious digging and nights without sleep, we think we’ve finally uncovered the place where Disbelievers have been recruiting students. We plan to sneak inside, gather some intel, and then get out.

My name’s Aidan Grey. I’m a twelve—hold up—nearly thirteen-year-old student at P.O.E Academy, and I study the works of Edgar Allan Poe. My birthday is around the corner, but it’s hard to be excited with all this crushing anxiety. Anxiety over what, you ask? Well, it’s not because final exams are coming, and it’s definitely not because of the horrific incident at the Archives—although that, too, has me on edge. Something even more unnerving has been happening.

The school year is almost over, and I’ve got a few projects to wrap up before I can relax and enjoy the break. Thanks to a clumsy mishap, I’m all out of holiday cheer. We’ve also gotten more bad news about Theo, but I’m determined to help. I’m not sure if it will change things. It’s hard to tell if our destiny is really our own, or if we’re being pushed down a path by an outside force.

Seeing is believing. Why couldn't winter break be an actual break? My schedule's been packed with emotionally and mentally draining events for weeks. Lenore's birthday. Poe's birthday. A visit to the Prophets for Disaster Mitigation Center. I'm exhausted! On top of that, I learned that modern prophets don't work the way I had once thought, and the revelation has left me confused and full of spite. Shouldn't others' tragedies be approached with empathy? Isn't that what Poe deserved and what he would have wanted for us all?

I promise I haven’t gone rogue. New classes have started, and I’m already bored. Lenore and I are finally working regularly with Professor Grendel again, but something feels... off. It’s as if life has sped up, but we’re going in circles. The Disbelievers are still out there, destroying The Prophet’s work, and we aren’t moving fast enough to stop them. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more frustrating, Bertrand asked me a very serious question. I wanted to say no. But then Vincent had a plan—and for some reason, I said yes.

Time is running out. One of us is in danger, and we have less than twenty-four hours to change their fate. If we fail, it won't just be one future on the line-it'll be all of ours. But we can't ask for help; no one can know about this. Not even Professor Grendel.