"The enemy is a woman, and she seems to believe she has some kind of legitimate reason to act specifically against me."
Wednesday's voice echoed in the room, the rest of the occupants in an attentive silence. The old cardboard used for research, charts and photographs (affectionately nicknamed 'the murderboard' by Enid) had once again made an appearance in the dorm room of Ophelia Hall. No pictures this time, just paper notes strung together in a makeshift sketch on which Wednesday had jotted down what little they had clear.
"Here's what we know," she said, as she pointed to different spots on the board, "This woman, not a Nevermore student but possible former graduate given her obvious knowledge of the Academy, accessed the Nightshade Society library some undetermined time in the last two weeks."
"Where she stole a book of advanced magic, specifically interdimensional magic, with which she brought the rest of us here," added Woe, gesturing to the other variants of Wednesday with a gesture.
"Something that, I daresay, was not her purpose. No, her intent was hostile towards me, but something went wrong in the process and that brought all of you here."
"Do we have any idea what she might want to do initially?" asked Enid raising her hand.
"No need to raise your hand, mio sole," said Wednesday.
"It is impossible to determine what spell she performed specifically. We can't even deduce it from the book of warnings," Needler began to explain with some frustration, "I have a theory that she may have tried to displace Wednesday elsewhere, but got the opposite result."
"Ha! Well, she must be pulling her hair out," remarked Yoko.
"Given her gratuitous attack on Enid and what I saw in my last vision, it's obvious she's operating under a certain level of desperation. She's unbalanced," Wednesday added.
"And why did we all show up next to Miss Enid?" asked Friday, still holding Pup in her lap. The younger variant said nothing but listened to everything very intently.
"That's the part that escapes me, I can't think of any reason why she's the constant. Nothing concrete at least," said Wednesday.
"Your explanation last night sounded super romantic to me, but it's true, I doubt it's anything along those lines...", Enid said with a slight blush on her cheeks.
"Regardless of her initial intentions and the mechanics of the spell," said Woe, "You claim to be certain from your last vision that the final confrontation will be tonight."
"I saw Enid and I in the quad, facing her. Enid was semi-transformed and seemed unable to move, as if she was under some kind of paralysis," explained Wednesday, "I was right in front of our enemy, with her wand pointed at me with a spell ready to fire, but instead of attacking me she seemed to be spewing expletives. I couldn't make out the words."
"Oh! Monologue!" exclaimed Yoko.
"Oh, yeah, like your stalker, remember?" said Enid, "I'm sure that witch is one of those types of people who will go off on a whole rant about why she did what she did and so on..."
"That might play in our favor," mused Wednesday, in a thoughtful pose, "And it fits in with my counter-offensive plan..."
"Which is?" asked Woe.
"My instinct tells me that the intruder will penetrate Nevermore tonight with the intention of coming directly here, to our dorm," explained Wednesday.
"Because we are her targets," Enid said, a slight growl reverberating in her voice.
"Which gives us the advantage of surprising her if we show up directly at the quad to await her."
"In the open?" asked Yoko, "Wouldn't it be better to ambush her?"
"In the vision it is clear that Enid and I confront her directly, without ambush."
"But..."
"Because it's obvious that we are the bait," said Wednesday, then pointing to her counterparts, "They will be the ones to carry out the ambush."
Enid stood up, "Uh... Weds... A word?"
"Yes? What is it?"
Enid approached her girlfriend and, after giving a sidelong glance to the other Wednesdays present, whispered in her ear, "You're not suggesting that the girls engage in combat against that madwoman, are you?"
"I understand your desire to protect them, querida, but you're missing something very important," Wednesday replied, also whispering.
"What?"
"They're Addamses. All of them. Look me in the eye and tell me you believe just for a moment that if we tell them to stay out of this they'll obey."
Enid frowned. Concern was evident on her face, but there was also a certain resignation, "No, they wouldn't. They're you," she said, sighing, "And I hate how your argument makes so much sense, I'm starting to think too much like you."
"Well, I've always been told I'm a corrupting influence," Wednesday whispered, bringing her voice close to Enid's ear. Something in her tone sent a pleasant shiver down the she-wolf's spine.
"I don't mind being corrupted by you," replied Enid, turning her head slightly to look Wednesday directly in the eyes and...
"AHEM!"
The two lovebirds separated suddenly, directing their gazes to the other occupants of the room, who looked at them with different expressions. The attention call had come from Woe, who was watching them with her arms crossed and a stern look in her face.
Needler for her part merely raised an eyebrow, "Your mating behaviors are notoriously similar to..."
"They're like Mother and Father," interrupted Pup with a small laugh, to which Friday responded with a nod, smiling.
Yoko just grinned from ear to ear, with Thing on her shoulder gesturing with his fingers.
"Yes, Thing," said the vampire, "At this rate we're going to have to start carrying around a spray bottle of water to douse them with when they get like this in public."
"My apologies for...," began a mortified Wednesday with a slight red flush to her cheeks.
"Yes, that... heh heh heh...," Enid mumbled, blushing to the tips of her ears.
"I would just like to point out that despite your whispers we heard everything," said Needler.
"We Addamses are creatures of acute senses," Friday added. The pink-clad counterpart rose along with Pup. The little girl advanced steadily to stand in front of Enid.
"Miss Sinclair," she said, with an expression of serious determination on her small face, "Give me your hand, please."
Enid gave her a puzzled look, but the she-wolf agreed with a slight shrug and a smile. She held out her hand for Pup to take, "Uh, sure kiddo, but I don't understand whAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
Enid flew.
“Ooof!”
Or more appropriately, she was thrown over Pup's head as the little girl grabbed the lycanthrope's hand and flung her through the air with a flick of her wrist. In barely a second, Enid was flat on her back on the ground, with a bewildered and slightly pained expression.
"What? But what...? But..." she mumbled.
Yoko began to laugh hysterically.
"Excellent form," Wednesday commented, impressed, "Father must have started training you very young."
"As soon as I learned to walk!", Pup answered throwing a smile at her older counterpart, before leaning over and looking a still laying Enid face to face, "I'm sorry Miss Sinclair. But I just wanted to make it clear that we can defend ourselves."
"It's been made clear, Pup," the she-wolf said, with an incredulous smile, "I'm sorry I underestimated you," she added, as she sat down on the floor. She looked at all the other Wednesdays, "All of you. It's just..."
Friday moved forward with haste and hugged Enid, "We know. You care. Even Woe understands."
"Don't involve me in this gratuitous display of sentimentality, please."
“See? She said please," Friday said as she helped Enid up.
"What was that, Pup?" the werewolf asked, "I know Wednesday knows multiple martial arts, but I've never seen her do anything like that..."
"Judo, Addams version," clarified Pup.
"Indeed," Yoko added, "It was unlike anything I've ever seen of judo in my life."
"I too am capable of similar acts against enemies of greater size and strength than myself," Wednesday explained, "It is one of the first forms of combat I learned and I think it is correct to assume that all of you are familiar with it at the very least," she said, as she turned to the other variants.
Woe, Friday and Needler nodded at the same time.
"Okay, okay...," Enid said, "We follow your plan then. We meet that crazy lady at the quad, play bait, buy time by getting her to spout her self-centered speech and hopefully clearing up why this is all happening and then the girls catch her by surprise. Am I missing anything?"
"Erm... Are you certain you guys don't want extra hands? I'm sure if we warn the others...", Yoko began to say.
"I have a mission planned for you and the rest of the Nightshades, Tanaka. And for Eugene, too. But the central confrontation will be between us and her," Wednesday said, before turning to Enid, "I'll prepare possible strategies with my other selves and I also need to talk to Principal Barker. I will need you to go with Yoko first so you will do the following..."
Wednesday began to explain in detail the preparations for that night. The day had only just begun and yet the atmosphere was already charged with anticipation of what was to come. In a few hours they would finally be face to face with the person responsible for the mystery of the last two days, and perhaps they could get answers.
And if that witch really believed she could do any real harm to Wednesday or, worse, to Enid, the Addams knew that she, that all of them, would put her in her place.
In the slowest, most excruciatingly painful and expeditious way possible.
§§§
"She wants us to do what?" asked Bianca, her voice echoing in the main room of the Nightshade Society's hidden chamber.
"Damage control, basically," Yoko replied.
"The plan is for each of you to warn the students of the danger. You Bianca, to the scales. Ajax with the stoners. Yoko with the fangs. And me with the furs," Enid said, "Spread the word and get it passed on to the rest of the students outside the larger cliques. Wednesday thinks the dorms will be secure and should be a safe zone. Basically, we want to avoid that someone ends up accidentally getting in the middle of the confrontation."
"But we must stand on lookout and if anything goes wrong start an evacuation," Yoko said.
"Woah, it's like Crackstone all over again," said Ajax, worried.
"At least with spring break the presence of students at the Academy right now is much lower," clarified Bianca, "That makes things easier."
"Uh... What about us?" asked a timid voice.
Enid and the Nightshades turned their gaze to the one who had spoken. A nervous Eugene, accompanied by Lenore. The young lycanthrope looked around in awe muttering a continuous "Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh..."
Bianca sighed, "Enid, Yoko, I have nothing against Bee Boy, but seriously, these quarters are only supposed to be for members of our group."
"Hey, I'm not a Nightshade and you don't have a problem when I come here," Enid said.
"Because you're Addams' girlfriend and that makes you a walking exception."
"OH MY GOSH!"
"Lenore, calm down."
"Oops...sorry, Eugene."
Shaking her head, Enid turned to the two members of the Hummers, "Eugene, you're our insurance. You'll cover the perimeter of the entire Academy with your bees. If that witch tries to escape..."
"Ah, provide her with the Thornhill treatment. Understood," said the young beekeeper, with a smile that would have filled Wednesday with pride. Eugene was already an honorary Addams, too, no doubt.
"What about me?" asked Lenore, subtly shy, "How can I help?"
Enid looked at the young werewolf and approached her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "You'll come with me to warn the rest of the school pack," Enid said, "And when I'm in battle alongside Wednesday, I'll leave it up to you to be the watcher to keep them safe and help them evacuate if anything goes wrong."
Lenore looked at Enid with obvious reverence.
It was a little spoken fact that over the past two years, beyond her reputation as one of Nevermore's saviors, Enid Sinclair had never officially become an official member of Nevermore's pack of lycanthropic students but that despite this the vast majority of them, especially the younger ones like Lenore, considered her to be one of the main leadership figures of the fur community at the school.
Needless to say, the youngest she-wolf nodded enthusiastically at the plan Enid had just described. Enid for her part could not suppress a smile at her enthusiasm...
...and then she heard it.
The snapping of fingers.
The sound of air displaced.
"What the f...!" exclaimed Bianca. Everyone else had expressions of alarmed surprise and bewilderment on their faces. Enid turned, coming to see the wisps of white smoke and the newly materialized figure before them.
Pale, dark eyes, long hair pulled back in pigtails.
Plain dress of a dark blue color. Legs covered in pink stockings. Black shoes.
And in her hands a shovel that seemed stained with traces of dirt and something that to Enid looked like it could only be coagulated blood.
The newcomer Wednesday Addams was young. She must have been about twelve or thirteen years old. Somewhat older than Friday but decidedly younger than Needler and Woe. She looked around and at the group in front of which she had appeared with a faint hint of controlled surprise on her face.
"Well, this is certainly an unexpected development," she said, "My name is Wednesday Addams. By any chance can you tell me where I am?" she asked.
And she smiled.
Enid instantly tensed. She had learned to read her Wednesday, and by extension her counterparts. Even Woe, who was notoriously expressionless, almost as much as Wednesday in her first year.
That smile... it seemed friendly. At least as exuberant as Friday's. But Enid recognized the danger signs instantly. How the smile did not reach the eyes with a manic gleam.
It was a smile sharp and ready to slice and devour if its owner did not receive a satisfactory response. The smile of a shark.
Or worse, the smile of an Addams ready to maim.
NOTES
Preparations for the final battle begin... And the last Wednesday enters the scene. Finally, I've opted for the one from the 1992 cartoon, in my opinion one of the most interesting incarnations because it has an almost perfect balance of elements from pre-Christina Ricci versions but also features the influence of her and the 90's movies.
The result was a Wednesday who has the capacity for social interaction outside of her family (her friendship with N.J. Normanmeyer proves it), who can be friendly and cordial, who loves her family and is pretty much responsible for saving the day in most crises. But she also exhibits the usual macabre tastes, destroying Pugsley in multiple ways is her favorite hobby, and she is violent and perhaps one of the most physically aggressive incarnations.
With this, official adaptations of Wednesday that have been left out of the story are the one portrayed by Nicole Fugere in the Addams Family Reunion direct-to-video movie and the 1999 TV series, and the one from the Broadway musical. My apologies to any of their fans.
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