"We have arrived," announced Lurch's cavernous voice, silencing any further snippets of conversation.
The reddish color of the sunset sky had begun to give way to a dark violet that heralded the darkness of night as the hearse crossed the outer gate and finally came to a stop before the main entrance of the Addams Family Mansion.
Enid looked at the house with a smile, her lupine instincts feeling the presence of the place as something alive (and it was, in a way...). The werewolf had been there on three previous occasions, and with each visit it became harder to leave the place and not think of the mansion as home.
Dilapidated-looking but surprisingly solid, the mansion crested a hill on the outskirts of Westfield, New Jersey, with only two other old abandoned houses as neighbors. The front featured a large courtyard surrounded by a gate and a decrepit garden full of withered trees adorning the path to the front entrance. The mansion was crowned by a large tower in its central part and from certain angles the glass dome of Morticia's greenhouse in the west wing could be seen. At the rear of the mansion was the family cemetery and crypts, the lake where Pugsley practiced his explosive fishing techniques, and access to the woods.
Even on the sunniest days, a permanent concentration of clouds seemed to darken the sky above it.
One thing that struck Enid on her first visit was that while the mansion presented a respectable size on the outside, its interior was much larger. There was no other way to explain the disparities, the rooms that appeared and disappeared at will, the sheer number of chambers, secret corners and passages that pervaded the place.
The history of the house was also long and complicated.
The Addams mansion was built by members of the main branch of the family on their return to North America sometime around the end of the 18th century. It was unclear whether it had been the Hispanic or the Italian branch of the family as they tended to blend one into the other. It didn't help that both the Adamás and the Adamo's recovered Addams as a common surname on their return after a couple of centuries of not having been used since the days of Goody Addams.
The mansion was the seat of the main branch of the family, destroyed and rebuilt multiple times and, on one rather dramatic occasion, given to the State for use as a mental sanitarium before being returned to the family in the early 1920s. All of this had left a considerable supernatural imprint on the place, although it could be argued that the peculiarities could be traced back to the mere fact that the Addams family was involved from the start.
In her visits to the mansion, Enid had learned far more about her future family than any other Nevermore student.
For centuries, the beings known as outcasts had been categorized according to the legends, stereotypes and prejudices of the normies. It wasn't until Nathaniel Faulkner that an attempt was made to bring some order to who was who, or what was what. Faulkner studied every outcast community during his years of travel and study prior to the founding of Nevermore. He came up with classifications for virtually everyone.
From the large groups that could be proper species such as lycanthropes or vampires, or members of smaller or insular communities, those who had kinship with humanity or none at all, those who were the fruit of divergent evolution or had direct ties to the supernatural, the ancient myths and the Great Beyond, or those who were isolated cases, mutated humans or born with unique abilities that emerged from time to time... Everyone was classified and categorized with clarity by the greatest scholar and advocate of the outcast communities of his time.
All except the Addamses.
Oh, Faulkner tried. Bless him, the poor man tried. But he soon realized that the Addamses were simultaneously something unique and something...common. Though that was perhaps not the appropriate word.
The Addamses, along with other families with whom they shared kinship ties such as the Frumps, the Itts, the Watheleys, the Amors, the Blights and others, were categorized by Faulkner as "human cryptids." They were a genetic melting pot in which anything went in terms of abilities or morphology.
Enid had learned all this on her first visit, in an impromptu history lesson by Grandmama and Gomez, with occasional interventions by Wednesday. There were many gaps in the older knowledge, but the consensus is that the Addams were a very ancient family and had possibly borne many different names throughout history.
The exact origin was not known, but the oldest documents pointed to some undetermined place on the borders of Eastern Europe and Asia as the geographical starting point of the family before settling in southern Europe in the two main branches previously mentioned: the Adamás in the Iberian Peninsula and the Adamo in the Italic Peninsula, which were joined by secondary branches that established themselves as clans of their own, such as the Frump in the Netherlands.
A family initially of human outcasts, with psychics and witches as their main exponents, the Addams grew thanks to their great capacity for acceptance of the strange. Whether by adoption or marriage, the Addams Family was joined at one time or another by members of all or nearly all known outcast species, causing a ticking time bomb at the genetic level and a veritable lottery that caused each Addams to be unique.
"Through my veins runs blood of wolves like yours," Wednesday had once told Enid, "And of Amazon cat people, Scandinavian dragons, Egyptian vampires and other unnamable things that sleep in the crypts of human memory."
It explained many, many things.
§§§
"Wow," said Dora as soon as she got out of the car and pinned her gaze on the mansion, "It's... it's... Theo, is there a word to describe something that is almost identical but at the same time very different?"
"In this context I can't think of any specific ones, sister," his twin replied, "But I think 'disturbingly familiar' is applicable."
"Wait until you meet some other version of yourself," said Wednesday, "That does put things in perspective in the matter of identity crises."
"Hmn, I'll look forward to it," replied Theo.
Dora ignored their words and continued to look at the house with a broad smile. Enid looked at her carefully, and could see that the young lycanthrope's smile was almost identical to her own except for the presence of dimples, a sign inherited from Wednesday... that is, from Friday.
They had begun to move toward the front door as Lurch gathered the luggage. The doorway opened with a dissonant creak and a gust of wind emerged from inside the house, almost as if a giant creature was casting its breath upon them. And there, on the threshold of the newly opened door, stood Eudora Addams, Grandmama.
"Mrs. Addams! Hello!" greeted Enid. Eudora responded with a smile that would make a mirror crack.
"You know very well you can call me Grandmama, loba," the old woman said before settling her gaze on Wednesday and the twins, "Greetings granddaughter... So it's these two that Morticia told me about, hmm?"
"I assume you're aware of everything," Wednesday said, more stating than asking.
"Yes, yes, but we'll have time to talk... Let me look at you two, children," the old woman said, approaching the twins. First with Theo and then with Dora, the old witch hugged them to immediately take their faces with her hands, touch their cheeks and open their mouths. It almost seemed like an impromptu medical examination, but the twins showed no sign of discomfort. On the contrary, they seemed pleased and happy to be the object of the old woman's attention.
"Mmm, there's magic in you boy, and discipline to spare but you fail in experience and patience," Eudora commented, talking to Theo before looking at Dora, "And you... a full-fledged she-wolf, at least you seem to have been fed better than our resident loba," she finished off.
"Duh, we were raised on your breakfasts, Grandmama," retorted Dora.
"Ha! So I'm still alive and kicking in your universe?"
"By now papa Gomez and nana Ticia are convinced that Death will only take you if you ask her to," said Theo.
"Ah, that cowardly Grim Reaper," mused the old woman, "Anyway, let's go in! I'm sure my granddaughter thinks we have a lot to discuss."
"Indeed," replied Wednesday.
They walked into the mansion, accessing the grand entrance hall with the large stairway that led to the upper floor. As usual, the place looked almost like a museum of curiosities. Stuffed animals, strange plants, statues and unexplainable paintings... and in the center, a rug made from the skin of a polar bear. Dora's eyes lit up as soon as she saw it.
"BRUNO!" the young lycanthrope exclaimed, throwing herself on the rug. Instantly, the piece of fur with the stuffed head of the polar bear took on a life of its own and began to growl, trying to turn on itself to bite the intruder though with little success. Dora's only response was lupine growls of equal intensity and a joyous, jovial laugh as she rolled over and wrapped her body with the irate living rug.
Theo merely sighed, though there was a thinly disguised smile on his lips, "There we go...always the same thing since we were five..."
"Aaaw, I think it's very cute," Enid said, "I'm sure deep down your Bruno appreciated this kind of attention."
"Yes, Pugsley always keeps his distance from him, and he ignores me for his own good," added Wednesday, "Smart rug."
The impromptu playtime between Dora and the living rug came to an end when another soft but low growl filled the room and a new quadrupedal figure entered from one of the side wings, immediately attracting the attention of Enid, Dora and Theo.
"KITTY!" all three exclaimed at the same time, running toward the old family pet lion.
Kitty Kat was elderly even by the standards of lions not living in the wild, with nearly four decades under his belt already and nearly blind. That and the familiarity in the scents of the figures who rushed to embrace him were the main impediment to a more effusive response from the animal. Wrapped in the arms of Enid, Dora and Theo, Kitty limited himself to show that expression of resigned perplexity that many cats have when thinking how they went from being an apex predator to having a blonde lycanthrope calling him "fluffy boy".
"Good grief," muttered Wednesday observing the scene. Beside her, Eudora merely let out a loud laugh before turning to Lurch and Thing.
"Lurch, can you be a dear and take the girls' luggage to Wednesday's room?" asked the old woman, "And Thing, check the guest rooms and mark the doors of the most viable ones for our guests. If I know how a pair of teenage siblings think, as close as they are they'll want separate quarters."
Lurch nodded, emitting a monosyllabic grunt as Thing, perched on his shoulder, gave a thumbs-up. The two began their ascent up the stairs.
With Enid and the twins' attention still focused on Kitty Kat, Eudora finally turned her full attention to her granddaughter. A certain air of seriousness seemed to envelop the two women.
"All right Wednesday...barely three months since the last adventure and already you have something new for me. Let's see it."
Wednesday merely nodded wordlessly, extracting the three small test tubes filled with the Shadow Hyde's ectoplasm from her bandolier and showing them to her grandmother.
"The only physical remains of the creature," she said.
Eudora took the vials filled with the grayish goo and brought them close to her face, watching them carefully with her healthy eye, "Mmm, should be enough quantity to track it... the trick will be in how to carry out the transdimensional mobility," the old woman looked at her granddaughter, "It's impossible to say for sure, but if you follow this being's trail I doubt it will lead you to its point of origin at the first try."
"Multiple dimensional jumps," Wednesday said, nodding, "It's something I was dreading."
"It's going to be a pain in the arse, but I think I'll be able to work something out. It's going to take me a while, so you'd best get some rest and relaxation tonight. Tomorrow I may already have something for you, granddaughter."
"Don't you have anything now?" asked Wednesday. Her voice was as monotone as ever, but Grandmama could sense the restrained nervousness in the young woman. Wednesday was worried even if she herself hadn't realized it yet.
Eudora sighed.
"Only conjecture, I'm afraid, Wednesday," the old witch began, "Morticia explained the incident to me in great detail in her call with the crystal ball, but we have no certainty regarding this being beyond what we have already noted."
"It captured Dora and Theo's mother, one of my counterparts who visited us three months ago," Wednesday said, "It's... not an easy thing for me to admit, but I became fond of her to some extent and I feel responsible for the situation."
"I don't think you had anything to do with it beyond also being a Wednesday and thus a target," Eudora replied, "The creature came after you when it attacked you in Nevermore. And even if it is made of shadows, that its form was reminiscent of a Hyde suggests troubling implications."
"A Hyde needs a master. Yes, I believe there is someone pulling the strings behind that creature."
"It's worse than that, mi escolopendra," Eudora said, "This shadow creature... a being of that nature is like a ghost, an apparition, a construct. Is like a summoning. Whoever is the puppeteer pulling its strings I'm sure they have many more puppets available besides this one. And someone capable of something like this, of creating a being with magical means and allowing it to move between universes, is someone with power beyond anything I've ever encountered before."
Wednesday looked at her grandmother. She could see sincere, deep concern in the steady gaze of the old woman but also...Ah, yes, the old anticipation. They were Addamses, after all.
Wednesday smiled. The smile of the hunt, the smile of facing a challenge and relishing at the risk of annihilation itself.
"Would you say the journey ahead of us is going to be extremely dangerous?" she asked.
"Oh, certainly," Eudora Addams replied, returning a crooked smile.
"Exhilarating," said Wednesday.
"Indeed, granddaughter. Indeed."
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