Wednesday Addams walked across the quad ("It's a pentagon") of Nevermore Academy heading towards her dorm room in Ophelia Hall. Her footsteps echoed in the unusually empty location.
It was March, and her last year at the Academy.
Spring break had begun the day before and the vast majority of students had returned home or embarked on trips with friends for a holiday period full of excitement and excesses. A few students had decided to spend the holiday period in their residences at the Academy under the supervision of a handful of faculty members. Wednesday and Enid had opted for it.
A week mostly on their own, they deserved time for themselves.
The two of them had been through a lot since that fateful day in the middle of the semester two years ago, when Wednesday Addams met Enid Sinclair.
An initially rocky friendship grew as a mystery unfolded involving murder, a monster, false identities, secrets from the past, and revenge beyond the grave. A friendship with ups and downs that slowly but surely developed into something deeper over the next year and a half, again not without its mysteries and challenges: The identity of the stalker (Enid had lost count of how many plot twists that wackiness had), the still unsolved pet disappearances in Jericho, all that drama with Bianca's mother...
And the less said about The Great Christmas Tree Robbery the better.
In the end, the biggest challenge to a romantic relationship between Wednesday and Enid had been themselves. It seemed that everyone knew what was going on between the two except them. The loud "Finally!" exclaimed by Yoko when the brooding Addams and the bubbly lycanthrope formalized their relationship was already considered legendary.
The second major obstacle, and perhaps the most bitter, had been Enid's family. Although Enid's relationship with them had improved substantially since her wolfing out two years ago, the Sinclair matriarch did not approve of the relationship with the Addams.
Angry words were spoken and ultimatums were made. Enid had not been officially expelled from the pack, but for the past six months she had been only in regular contact with her father, one of her siblings and a distant cousin. The rest of her family had cast her aside and the emotional blow had been hard on the usually optimistic werewolf.
Fortunately, she was not alone. Wednesday had been an unwavering pillar of support always by her side. The young Addams still had difficulty expressing her emotions, but she made it very clear from the beginning that she would be there for Enid, forever.
And her word seemed to extend to the rest of her family.
Enid only had face-to-face contact with the Addams Family on a couple of occasions, but Gomez and Morticia already saw her as one of them. It was basically accepted as a fact that Enid would be an Addams someday, even if they were somewhat discreet about it, out of consideration for their own daughter's more reserved nature.
It had been all that recent emotional turmoil that had led them to decide to spend at least one school break in the relative solitude of Nevermore Academy. It was true that some of their schoolmates were still around (Eugene wasn't planning to leave his bees alone), but for the most part they had time to themselves.
Wednesday had gone on a quick foray in search of food for an impromptu outdoor dinner on their room's balcony, perhaps with an improvised cello performance for Enid. If someone had told the 18-year-old Addams a couple of years ago that she would one day be planning romantic evenings with her partner, she would have scoffed in disbelief after wiping the blood off the knife.
The ascent to the highest dorm room in Ophelia Hall was quick, and approaching her room the young Addams couldn't help but feel a sensation of jittery anticipation in her stomach at the thought of looking again at the colorful shape of her paramour.
Enid and some of the others had referred to such a feeling as "butterflies," but Wednesday preferred to think of it as a mass of hungry ants devouring her insides.
She had to fight back the treacherous smile that tried to creep onto her face for no apparent reason. They were becoming more frequent every day at the thought of her cara lupa.
As she approached the door to the room, Wednesday slowed her pace. She could hear voices through the door, muffled so that words could not be distinguished, but loud enough to perceive the tone of alarm in Enid's voice as someone else, in a more subdued and almost indiscernible voice, seemed to respond menacingly.
Wednesday didn't hesitate. She dropped the bags full of food, made sure the dagger hidden in her wrist was ready, and opened the door with a kick.
The situation she encountered was not something she could have predicted, ever.
Enid was on her own side of the room. An area of bright colors, stuffed animals and posters of k-pop music bands. The young she-wolf, as always, was dressed in colors that in an earlier time would have been a cause of revulsion in Wednesday but were now a sign of comfortable familiarity when dressed by the blonde girl. She was standing on her bed, with her hands in the air, claws out, and an expression of incredulous alarm on her lovely face.
The figure on the other side of the room was more disconcerting for Wednesday.
It was a girl, a young teenager, perhaps no more than thirteen or fourteen years old. A dark dress with a white collar, black shoes, a pale face and long, dark braided pigtails. She looked like her spitting image, disturbingly familiar, although differences could also be discerned. The facial features were more rounded and less sharply outlined than Wednesday's. Strangely, and not without some alarm, they reminded her of the face of Laurel Gates.
She also held in her hands one of the crossbows that Wednesday kept under her bed, aiming it at Enid.
No, Wednesday wasn't going to allow that.
"How rude," she said, as Enid and the younger doppelganger focused their attention on the newcomer Addams. A relieved smile graced Enid's face. Suspicious surprise marked the face of her young duplicate.
Without another word, the crossbow was now pointed at Wednesday.
Wednesday entered the room, calmly moving forward and keeping her distance. She began to walk around her younger counterpart as she moved as well, always aiming the crossbow and never turning her back on Wednesday.
Despite the differences in age and facial features, Wednesday recognized in the eyes of the young girl the look of a pure Addams. This was no shapeshifter.
She had a hunch.
"Wednesday Friday Addams," she said, and immediately gave a slight nod inviting the younger one to speak.
"Wednesday Friday Addams," replied the doppelganger. Her voice was similar, but younger and with a more monotone timbre, a more aggressive tone.
"Born on a Friday the 13th?" asked Wednesday, steadily walking in a circle around the doppelganger.
"Born on a Friday the 13th," replied the youngest girl.
"October 2006."
The younger Wednesday blinked for the first time, puzzlement marking her face. When she answered her voice sounded almost uncertain.
"June 1980," she said, as she finally lowered the crossbow.
Enid was still standing on her bed, but with a more relaxed posture as her gaze jumped from one Wednesday to the other.
"Wednesday," she whispered. "What the hell is going on?"
"You're in the presence of two nearly identical selves, Enid."
"Is this some time travel bullshit?" the werewolf asked, slowly climbing down from the bed and positioning herself next to her Wednesday. Her gaze was still fixed on the younger one, but alarm had been replaced by curiosity.
"Not as complicated, but I think just as problematic," Wednesday said, keeping her eyes in her counterpart, "You look like me when I was younger, but our facial features are different. And your height... How old are you?"
"Fourteen."
"I wasn't as tall as you at that age. You are me, but you aren’t me."
"Dimensional travel," snarled the younger one.
"What do you remember before you appeared here?" asked Wednesday. Enid recognized the inquisitive tone in her voice. Her girlfriend's detective side was kicking in.
"I was in my room, preparing the catapult for a play session with Pubert."
"Pubert?" asked Enid, amused.
"My baby brother."
Wednesday raised an eyebrow, "Interesting," she mused, "And after that?"
"Nothing striking," replied the younger one, "I just remember looking away from the catapult for a moment and turning around, and suddenly the room was different and I found myself here, with her showing sharp claws," she finished, as she pointed at Enid.
"I freaked out!" said the lycanthrope defensively, "I had just changed my clothes when I heard a snapping noise behind me and when I turned around she was already there. The claws came out purely by reflex."
"And I, fancying myself faced with some sort of monstrous beast or sorceress, reached for the first weapon I could find," said the younger Wednesday as she handed the crossbow to the older one. She glanced Enid up and down, "Though in retrospect, I can't believe I thought such chromatic vomit could be dangerous."
"Don't underestimate Enid, she could disembowel you with her bare hands," said Wednesday.
"Yeah!" exclaimed Enid cheerfully, only to immediately add more sheepishly, "I'm not in the habit of disemboweling little girls, though."
"What now?" asked the young Wednesday.
Before anyone could answer, the air in the center of the room seemed to twist for a few moments. There was a small explosion of white smoke and, with a sound similar to the snapping of fingers, a new figure materialized in an instant before them.
She was young, younger than Wednesday's duplicate. Maybe ten or eleven years old. A familiar pale face marked by surprise, with long black pigtails at her sides.
Dressed entirely in pink.
"Oh," said the newcomer when she saw before whom she was standing. Then her mouth curved into a friendly smile, something that instinctively made the other two Wednesdays recoil and shocked Enid.
"Hello!" greeted the newcomer cheerfully, "My name is Wednesday!"
A brief silence hushed over the room, broken only by Enid's repetitive murmur, "What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck…"
"Now," said the eldest Wednesday regaining her composure, "I think we're going to look for answers."
The game was afoot.
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