The scene was strangely domestic. Or at least it seemed so to Thing.
It was beginning to get late in the evening and the last rays of sunlight were breaking through the still gray March sky, streaming through the round window in Wednesday and Enid's room. One half of the glass flooded one side of the room with shades of multiple warm colors. The other half was bathed in pale, whitish light.
Friday was sitting on Enid's bed, once again surrounded by stuffed animals. This time the young Addams girl seemed to have opted to omit the more violent tortures and games and was instead simulating a sort of tea party. Although judging by her performance of retching with a stuffed animal in the shape of a fox, the imaginary tea must have had a considerable dose of poison that was claiming the life of the plush animal.
It was in its own way a riveting drama, at least enough to keep Woe's attention.
The teenage Addams was visibly uncomfortable on the more colorful side of the room, but she dutifully attended to Friday's play and Friday's explanations and narration, nodding and offering commentary and opinion when required. There had been a similar situation the day before and Thing was again thankful he didn't have a mouth, for he would surely be smiling at the scene and it would have undoubtedly drawn Woe's ire.
The girl was perhaps the most like his Wednesday, albeit with a distinctly greater amount of anger and irratibility. But the basic behavior patterns were the same. Thing was sure Woe would enjoy torturing her siblings and family, but she would love them just as much even if she didn't express it often, and she would surely protect them with the same visceral violence with which Wednesday had protected Pugsley for years. It was obvious that this pattern of behavior had been extended to her younger variants.
Woe would kill anyone who touched a hair on Needler's and Friday's heads with hostile intent if Wednesday didn't do it first.
For her part, Needler was sitting on the more sober side of the room. Thing was next to her, curiously observing her work. The girl seemed to have gone into a sort of trance, drawing plan after plan of some kind of technological device whose purpose was beyond the comprehension of the living hand. Thing was half convinced it was her way of coping with the emotional vulnerability experienced that morning, seeking to occupy her head. To some extent it seemed to be somewhat successful...despite the manic, feverish gleam in her eyes, every now and then an expression of serene satisfaction would take over the face of the paler Addams as she reviewed her work.
All in all, an outside viewer unaware of the reality of their situations might have thought they were observing a quiet afternoon of games and activities among a peculiar group of sisters. And yet even an outside viewer could have sensed the tension emanating from the last person in the room.
Wednesday Addams had failed to occupy her mind with any activity. Enid was taking longer than she should have and had not responded to her attempts to use her smartphone's infernal messaging system. The young adult was pacing back and forth in front of the dorm room's window, just like a caged panther. In her mind, she counted the minutes. If Enid didn't show up in the next five she would go out looking for her.
And that's when the door opened, slowly. All the occupants of the room turned to see a head full of colorful blonde hair peeking out with a shy smile...
"Hello?" whispered Enid.
Wednesday started to cross the room in a straight line straight towards the lycanthrope.
"Enid! What happened? You weren't responding to..."
But before the Addams could say more, the she-wolf looked at her with an expression that was indecipherable to the rest of the girls but caused Wednesday to stop in her tracks and fall quiet. It was almost as if a silent or psychic message had been transmitted between the two.
Enid sighed and glanced at the rest of Wednesdays, "Total silence...she fell asleep on the way upstairs..."
And she opened the door fully, entering the room at last.
Wednesday noticed the missing sweater, torn pants and bare feet. All signs that Enid had undergone another of her partial transformations. Which in itself was certainly a sign of alarm, that something dangerous had occurred. But all observations and questions receded into the background as her dark eyes fell on the small sleeping figure curled up in Enid's arms, hugging her neck.
The first thing that broke the silence was a gasp of pure delight escaping Friday's lips. This was followed by a remark from Woe expressed in whispers.
"Seriously? At this rate it's like you're collecting us."
Needler merely muttered a quiet "Fascinating."
Wednesday looked at the girl in her paramour's arms, a replica of herself even younger than Friday. She looked up to meet the blue eyes of the she-wolf, who returned her gaze with a smile halfway between joy and resignation.
"Enid?" she asked.
"I called her Pup," said the werewolf, "I explained to her a bit on the way here that there were others like her and that she would need a nickname and... well, you see."
Friday got off the bed and approached Enid cautiously, trying not to make a sound. She stopped between the she-wolf and Wednesday, watching the little girl in Enid's arms with an uncharacteristic solemnity on her usually jovial face.
She merely nodded, silently.
"Good. I'm a big sister now.
§§§
The night came soon.
It didn't take too long to once again prepare a nest of blankets, sheets, cushions and pillows for the girls. Pup continued to sleep like a rock, mumbling only a few words as Enid settled her between the blankets in the center of the room. Friday settled in beside her, taking her new role as an elder sibling extremely seriously.
Enid couldn't suppress the urge to give her a little kiss on the forehead, proud of her.
Woe and Needler (who tried to ask Enid a series of questions regarding Pup before she was convinced to wait until the next morning) also positioned themselves around the newcomer and soon the youngest Addams was sleeping surrounded by three older sisters (and a severed living hand) whose existence she was still unaware of.
Lying on their backs and with their arms folded across their chests like the deceased in a coffin, all of them. Enid had to stifle a laugh. The scene was as hilarious as it was adorable.
She and Wednesday had not yet gone to sleep. Enid emerged from inside the nest of blankets where the girls slept and spotted her girlfriend sitting on her bed, bathed only in moonlight in the darkness of the room.
Enid sat next to her, almost glued to Wednesday. Their shoulders rubbing against each other.
"I'm sorry," she said, "I broke the promise."
Wednesday merely nodded. Her gaze was still fixed on the nest where her interdimensional counterparts rested.
"Another partial wolfing out" she observed.
"You're angry."
"Yes. Enid Sinclair, you have a propensity to throw yourself headlong into danger that will end up causing my hair to end up lighter than Goody's before I'm thirty. You'll understand if I'm a little vexed.”
"Mmm, I bet you'd look great with white hair. You'd be like a wraith."
"Flattery won't do you any good, Enid," Wednesday retorted before settling her gaze on the she-wolf. The sternness in her eyes softened at the young werewolf's suddenly contrite expression.
"Please," she continued, "Tell me what happened."
Enid took a breath, "In my defense, I didn't go looking for trouble. I didn't even find the trail first. They ambushed me. A magical attack."
"What kind of magic?"
"A fireball. Like the ones Miss Deetz described in last year's elemental magic theory lesson. I dodged the attack, and my instinct... well, I didn't fully transform but for a few minutes I was more wolf than Enid and the whole idea of avoiding a confrontation with the intruder disappeared from my mind."
"We already surmised they must be a magic user," said Wednesday, "But elemental magic... that narrows down the list."
"It has to be a witch or a warlock," said Enid, "I only saw a silhouette for a few moments, cloaked in very loose clothing and with their faces hidden. But they were using a channeling object, like a wand. Can't determine much more. I think they must have teleported at the end to sneak away."
"And after that..."
"I came to my senses and decided the safest thing to do would be to retreat. That's when Pup materialized. Just like the others, with the finger snapping sound. I decided to return by making a detour through the woods to hide my own trail in case we were followed. That's why it took me so long to get back."
Wednesday nodded, satisfied with the explanation. There would be time later to ask for more details.
"I've been going through the book of warnings on the use of dimensional spells," said Wednesday, "It's impossible to determine what specific spell was used, but I have a theory that whatever it was, it was a failure."
"Yeah, it doesn't make much sense that someone hostile against us would bring multiple versions of you into this reality."
"Unless it's some kind of distraction."
"Or a masochist," Enid snorted.
Wednesday smiled, and as on so many other occasions, her smile took Enid's breath away. That and it tested her self-control again not to touch the dimples in her girlfriend's face.
And as on many other occasions, it was a fleeting smile. Seriousness returned to the Addams' face, fixing her gaze on Enid again, "I have another theory that I believe has been proven today."
Enid nodded. She had a feeling she knew what Wednesday was referring to. The Addams continued her explanation.
"I thought this revolved around me exclusively, them being my counterparts, but now I realize it was still my ego speaking for me..."
"Wednesday...," Enid began ready to curb another possible self-recrimination session from her girlfriend, but Wednesday silenced her with a gentle shake of her head.
"... but you are part of it too. Woe was the first to arrive and appeared before you when you were alone in this room. I was present at Friday's and Needler's arrivals, but now with Pup once again..."
"It was just me by myself," said Enid with a frown, "I'm the only constant."
"For some reason my dimensional counterparts are drawn to you like moths to light through the barriers of the multiverse."
"That's strangely alarming and poetic at the same time, but... why does it happen, why me?"
"Without knowing what the intentions of the original spell were and what went wrong I'm afraid it's impossible to determine, querida," Wednesday said. The Addams turned slightly, facing Enid straight on and began to gently stroke the werewolf's scarred cheek before moving her hand up to her hair.
Black eyes stared into blue eyes. Shadows reflected in the ocean.
"I can only theorize that my love for you has subconsciously resonated through all realities, making you a focus for any incarnation of myself."
"Weds," said Enid, almost breathless, aware of the blush that had covered her face.
"Yes, mia cara lupa?"
"May I kiss you? Like, right now."
"You may. Always."
And there were no more words for the rest of the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment