Nevermore Academy was an old building.
And like all old buildings, it was filled by shadows even on the brightest of mornings. Shadows born of an architecture conceived for protection and secrets. There was no place in Nevermore where the light dominated with total fullness. Everywhere, in every room, there would always be at least that secluded, isolated corner, forever submerged in shadows.
Something that was to be welcomed by a large sector of its student body, those creatures of the night with dark habits popularly known as teenagers. That a significant percentage of them were also vampires or members of other nocturne lineages certainly helped.
True, vampires didn't really have a problem going out in the sunlight (as long as they did not forget their shades), but that doesn't mean they enjoyed it. So for many of them Nevermore was an ideal place.
Yoko Tanaka had certainly always appreciated it, walking down the hallway of Ophelia Hall, always full of a shadowy chiaroscuro, avoiding the bright reflections of the windows as she made her way to the stairs that would take her to the only room in the tower of the building.
Originally, the vampire should not be in Nevermore right now. On this second day of spring break she should have been with her girlfriend on her way to Europe for a visit to Rome, but fortune played bad cards. Divina had to attend to a family emergency and the trip was cancelled. The new plan was that Yoko would wait for her in Nevermore, where they would meet before the weekend prior to the end of the vacation for an impromptu short road trip.
So Yoko had at least three or four days ahead of her at Nevermore without Divina's company. Three days of loneliness and boredom in an almost empty Academy. Obviously, she could only solve it by pestering her favorite couple. Enid and Wednesday were good company for entertaining shenanigans.
Well, Enid was good company. Wednesday was more of an acquired taste.
Now, Yoko honestly liked the little goth with homicidal tendencies. In general, Yoko tended to like people who were honest with themselves and didn't give a fuck about what others thought about them. But despite that, Wednesday was a master of social distancing and building personal walls. Their relationship was cordial, but Yoko knew she was not on the Addams' list of true friends. If Wednesday held her in any regard, it was mostly because of Enid.
The vampire could live (unlive?) with that. Being on the list of people tolerated by Wednesday Addams was already a remarkable achievement. Wednesday's list of true friends at Nevermore had only two people, Enid and Eugene. Or maybe three, although there were days when the relationship between Wednesday and Xavier Thorpe seemed almost more sibling-like than anything else. Well, and there was also the rivalry with Bianca to consider. There was at least genuine respect in that.
And Enid was certainly in a category of her own, of course.
Yoko arrived at her destination deep in thought and not registering the multiple voices conversing inside the room.
Feeling mischievous, the vampire decided she would fling open the door to deliver a resounding "good morning" to her best friend and her roommate. She wasn't expecting to find the couple doing anything really inappropriate at that hour of the morning, but if that was the case she could at least have a funny anecdote on her hands, assuming Enid managed to keep Wednesday from assaulting her with a stake or a string of garlic.
So that's what she did. Yoko Tanaka opened the door to Enid Sinclair and Wednesday Addams' room with a hearty greeting.
"Enid! Wednesday! Surprise good morning! I hope I didn't catch you doing anything that-- WHAT THE FUCK!"
What happened next, Yoko never remembered in detail because of the shock of the vision of what appeared to be three Wednesdays before her eyes.
One of the figures in the room exclaimed "An undead fiend!" and before she realized what was happening, Yoko was on the floor, restrained by a rope that seemed to have come out of nowhere, at the mercy of the three remarkably similar individuals. Two of which seemed to have fallen into a sort of debate. Poor Thing tapped his fingers frantically on Enid's desk trying to attract attention, but he was being ignored.
"...check under the bed, there must be some stake that..."
"...scientific opportunity! We have a vampire on display..."
"...maybe taking the leg out of a chair and sharpening it..."
"...we shouldn't kill her, not without studying her first..."
"...some garlic somewhere..."
"...analysis results..."
Yep... Yoko was not being reassured by the turn the conversation was taking. The third of the bewildering Wednesday's doppelgangers ("Why did they look so much like...?") and seemingly the youngest, approached her and leaned over to look Yoko straight in the face with a friendly smile.
"Hi! I'm Friday, what's your name?"
"Yoko!" exclaimed a voice from the doorway.
All present turned to look at the entrance to the room, where Enid Sinclair and Wednesday Addams had just made their presence known. At the same time Thing tapped out something that might sound like "Whew!" before dropping palm down on the desk.
Wednesday Addams' face looked unperturbed, but there was something akin to a sort of restrained amusement in her gaze. Enid in contrast was holding her hands up as if she were about to bring them to her head, with an expression of mixed surprise and panic.
Yoko, despite the awkwardness of her position and still with slight traces of nervousness dancing through her head, could not suppress a comment at the sight of the new arrivals.
"Wednesday! Enid! I disappear for a couple of days and you're already in the explosive breeding phase, I see."
Enid's face was flushed with redness that made her look like a tomato. With a snarl, the wolf woman advanced toward Yoko and with her claws extended began to cut the rope.
"She's a friend, girls," Enid said addressing the occupants of the room, "Though spouting bullshit like that might just as well degrade her to an embarrassing acquaintance."
"Aaw, I love you too, wolfie."
"Tanaka," intervened Wednesday, "what are you doing here?"
"Well, we had a change of plans over the break and I won't be able to meet up with Divina until the weekend," the vampire explained as she stood up with Enid's help. The rope fell cut into pieces at her feet. "Since I didn't feel like making an unexpected visit home I decided to stay at the Academy and thought I'd surprise you guys this morning, but... Well, this," she finished, pointing to the three variants of Wednesday.
"These are my cousins," said Wednesday, "Woe Addams, Needler Addams and Friday Addams."
Friday greeted effusively. Needler offered a feint of a subdued smile. Woe merely folded her arms and fixed her murderous gaze on the vampire.
"Your cousins...," said Yoko, in an incredulous tone.
"They're going to spend a few days with us here for...er...family stuff, yes," said Enid. It wasn't that Yoko could tell the lie. It's that it looked like Enid had a neon sign pointing "LIAR" at her head.
"Ok, your cousins," Yoko repeated looking at Wednesday and the girls, "What the hell Addams, does your family have a clone factory or do all the young girls in your family cosplay you?"
"Take whichever option is more soothing to your troubled intellect," replied Wednesday.
"I proposed a clone factory once but they wouldn't let me," muttered Needler in a crestfallen tone.
"How did the conversation with the principal go?" asked Woe with a tone of seriousness that pervaded the room and cut off any further hint of conversation outright.
"Acceptable," replied Wednesday, "We will be provided with extra mattresses for you. It is safer for this room to remain your primary accommodation. Otherwise, we were just getting ready to pick you up to go down for breakfast and to begin discussion on the next steps to proceed..."
"Your girlfriend talks about a family visit like it's a military operation," Yoko whispered to Enid as the various Wednesdays chatted amongst themselves, "But seriously now Enid, what's going on?"
The werewolf woman grimaced adorably, a sign of frustration and that deep down inside she was arguing with herself.
"I can't tell you, it could be... well, I hope it's not dangerous, but you know..."
"It's one of those, isn't it?" asked Yoko, "One of those quests that falls on the two of you whether you want them to or not."
"I'm afraid so... I'm sorry, Yoko. I want to tell you more, and I will when it's all sorted out, but for now..."
"Okay, okay, I understand," the vampire said resting her hand on her best friend's shoulder and pushing her aside, "But if you need help don't hesitate to ask for it. How's the situation? Kooky or spooky?"
Kooky and spooky were a sort of codewords to refer to the seriousness (or lack thereof) of a situation that the group had adopted after the stalker incident. Kooky implied something complicated, puzzling, strange or without clear explanation. Spooky encompassed all of that but added a warning of serious real danger.
The whole thing was corny as hell, but it had been Enid's idea so no one had objected.
"Honestly? Altogether ooky," replied Enid.
Yoko let out a sigh and gave one last glance at the other occupants of the room, "Yeah, I think I get the idea... Cousins. Yeah, right," she said, "I think I'll retire for the moment. If you go down to the quad I'll see you there, and I stand by what I said again. Don't hesitate to ask for help if needed okay?"
Enid nodded with a smile and Yoko made to leave the room. She was ready to wave goodbye, only to suddenly find herself face to face with Wednesday.
"Tanaka."
"Uh... yes?"
"I couldn't help overhearing the last snippet of your conversation."
"Ah, well, you know... anything for a friend," the vampire replied with a half-smile showing a hint of a fang and shrugging her shoulders.
Wednesday gave a nod.
"Thank you, Yoko."
"Oh... you're welcome. Wow, this morning is turning out to be quite an experience," laughed the vampire, leaving the room with a final gesture to the Addams 'cousins', "See you around little terrors. Try not to blow up Nevermore during your stay. And thanks for the impromptu bondage!"
Yoko Tanaka left the room with a hearty giggle, ignoring the reproachful "Yoko!" shouted by Enid as the door closed behind her.
"She seemed nice. I like her," said Friday.
"I wonder if she would give me samples of her blood if I asked," Needler pondered.
"I can get you her blood without you having to beg for anything," added Woe.
"Girls, no one is going to take anyone's blood," said Enid, "Well, what do you say we go downstairs and get some breakfast and give you a tour of the Academy, hmm?"
The response to Enid's proposal was indeed affirmative. After a few minutes to clear the room, the group prepared to leave.
They were a peculiar sight in the halls of Nevermore.
Friday and Needler walked in front, taking note of everything they saw. The former with genuine amazement, the latter with analytical interest.
Woe walked behind them, steady and expressionless. But for some reason Thing had chosen to perch on her shoulder. Almost imperceptibly, this had caused some relaxation in the aggressive girl's posture.
Wednesday and Enid closed the march, their eyes fixed intently on the girls. As always, they walked side by side. They never held hands, except on rare or special occasions. But their bodies were almost glued together and their steps followed the same rhythm.
Enid couldn't help a certain blush on her cheeks as the idea that they were like a couple caring for their young danced through her mind.
"Focus, Enid," whispered Wednesday to her left, "I can almost smell the saccharine in your thoughts."
The she-wolf's only response was an adorable "Eep!"
Yoko was right about one thing. That morning was going to be quite an experience.
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