THE WOLF AND HER RAVEN
Things moved swiftly after the girls' departure.
Grandmama went down to the Nightshade Society library before departing. She returned the book of multiversal magic to its place but not before adding a few protective spells on the shelves. She did not explain exactly of what they consisted, merely assuring that "Anyone who tries another idiotic thing with these books is in for a nasty surprise."
After that, the elderly Addams woman conducted her farewells, reminded Wednesday and Enid that the annual Addams Family Ball would be coming up soon and vanished back into another golden portal, mumbling about visiting a coven in Romania for her weekly game of strip poker.
Typical Grandmama.
The rest of the group followed together, agreeing to meet for dinner to discuss what had happened after Bianca, again appointed semi-official spokesperson, informed Principal Barker that normalcy had finally fully returned to Nevermore.
The rest of the evening was a quiet gathering of friends, a constant exchange of anecdotes and commentary on all that had transpired over the past few days, with Yoko telling exaggerated versions of events to Divina that Enid and Bianca were quick to correct ("No, Yoko did not join the fight carrying a flaming sword"), a bit of gossip about what was emerging between Eugene and Lenore, Ajax philosophizing under the influence of mushrooms ("Surprisingly Darwinian," declared Wednesday), etc.
Wednesday noticed it right away but said nothing. Enid was talking to the others, smiling and laughing, apparently being her usual bubbly self. But the Addams could see how the smile, even if sincere, didn't have the usual sparkle. There wasn't the same gleam of vivacity in her eyes. A subtle aura of weariness seemed to have settled over her she-wolf.
The evening ended and everyone retired to their rooms. The walk to the tower at Ophelia Hall was silent for Wednesday and Enid. As always, they walked without holding hands but almost glued to each other. They crossed the threshold of their dorm room and a strange feeling washed over them at the silence of the place. Thing jumped off Wednesday's shoulder, where he had been for the last few minutes, and after gesturing a "Good night," jumped into the Addams' satchel on her desk.
The nest of sheets, blankets and pillows was still in the center of the room.
"Maybe we should put everything back," Wednesday suggested, not taking her eyes off Enid for a moment.
The she-wolf did not react instantly. She only took a couple of steps forward with her gaze fixed on the nest.
"Can we... Can we leave it for tomorrow?" she asked, with a shyness Wednesday couldn't remember hearing in her voice since shortly after they met, "It's just... it still has the scent of them."
Wednesday was about to answer in the affirmative when something on the floor beside the pile of blankets caught Enid's attention. The werewolf bent down and picked it up in her hands. It was one of her stuffed animals, a plush rabbit of a soft pink color, adorned with a pair of long sharp needles around its stitched eyes. A reminder of Friday's games.
A sob escaped Enid's lips as tears began to fall. Wednesday was at her side in less than the blink of an eye, resting her hand gently on the lycanthrope's shoulder and arm.
"Enid..."
"I'm sorry, it's just... Oh, gosh, I'm really selfish."
Wednesday looked at her as if she had said the biggest crock of nonsense ever. Which to her was true, in a way.
"Why would you say such a stupid thing?" asked Wednesday. Her tone of voice might sound stern, but Enid noticed the undercurrent of concern and affection and it further fueled her crying.
"When we were helping Grandmama, preparing the return spell... a part of me... a very stupid part of me wished it didn't work. That they could stay with us. I know it's wrong, I know they had to go back to their families, but, but..."
Wednesday embraced her, drawing her to herself, becoming a firm pillar to support the werewolf's trembling form.
"I miss them, Weds. They were only around for a handful of days, but they were family. They were ours."
Wednesday rubbed her paramour's back before pulling away from her slightly so she could look into her face. She gently stroked Enid's cheeks, wiping away her tears with her thumb.
"First of all, you are not selfish Enid Sinclair," Wednesday said, "A selfish person would have sabotaged the return spell. That you are whipping yourself up so much over a mere longing as human as wishing for the permanence of loved ones does not make you selfish. Believe me, I know quite a bit about selfishness."
"Weds..."
"I can understand the emptiness you are feeling right now as I am experiencing it too. These days I have met other facets of myself embodied in other people. Vivid reminders of how I might have been if my circumstances were subtly different while still being myself," Wednesday continued, "And as you rightly said, despite the brevity of their stay they were family. They were ours. You as a werewolf and I as an Addams know how much weight that carries."
"They were our pack," mused Enid.
"Indeed. So get it through your head that as reprehensible as that idea floating around in your mind was, it's not an indication of who you are, mia lupa. It's just a sign that you're as human and fallible as the rest. But never selfish. You are the very opposite of selfish."
Wednesday took Enid's hands in her own, pulling the she-wolf closer, pinning her gaze into her eyes.
"You are the sun, Enid. You've made me feel."
The tears had stopped, but a sad smile still graced the lycanthrope's face as she leaned forward, letting her forehead rest against Wednesday's.
"I'm going to miss them."
"And they you. You've been the sun for them, too. Needler and Shark found a big sister in you. Friday and Pup basically found a second mother. And Woe... well, I think it's obvious you've been the cause of some serious epiphany for her."
"Oh my, the kiss," Enid recalled, "For a moment there I feared you were going to dismember her."
"How can I blame a version of myself for coming to the same conclusion I did?"
"And what conclusion is that?" asked Enid, softly.
"That you, Enid Sinclair, are the most fascinating creature in all the universes. I would die for you."
"I would kill for you," replied Enid, smiling as she recalled a similar moment on the night they fought Isadora.
"Either way, what bliss," Wednesday finished, before her lips collided with her beloved's in an intense, long kiss that did not cease until they were both breathless.
"How do you feel?" asked the Addams, after a moment.
"Better," replied Enid, "Tired... sorry..."
"Don't apologize. We're going to rest now," said Wednesday, "Tomorrow is the last day of spring break and it will be all to ourselves. We'll go wherever you wish, we'll visit the places you like best around the Academy and Jericho, I'll prepare a feast for you and a nightly serenade that will make the gods weep."
"Sounds like a plan."
"And when the shroud of night's darkness falls, I will hear your howls."
"Uh... but there's no full moon tomorrow."
"I'm not talking about that kind of howling, mio sole."
"Oh?...OH!"
Wednesday Addams. Her father's daughter. In her own way.
THE SHARK
The Wednesday Friday Addams known as Shark returned home in the middle of the family cemetery. And her first impulse was to run to meet her family, still wrapped up in the Wake the Dead game, to tell them in detail what had happened.
One would not have blamed Gomez and Morticia Addams for being skeptical when their daughter began to narrate how she had spent a couple of days in another dimension even though in this one her presence was never missed. But of course, they weren't. They had no problem believing their daughter, in part because they themselves had their own extravagant youthful adventures (Fester aged ten years in a day by getting lost in the Bermuda Triangle) and because they knew their daughter was not given to frivolous lies (subterfuge and cover-up to conceal a crime were another story).
It also helped that Grandmama had no issue confirming that the kind of magic that would have made something like that possible was real. The complicit wink she threw her granddaughter suggested certain implications that the old woman knew more than she was telling, though Wednesday decided not to press the point. Yet.
And Pugsley? A delightful mixture of admiration and jealousy in which Wednesday basked. Her brother became a tireless questioning machine, mostly concerning the other versions of herself. There were some details that fascinated him more than others, however.
"So that version of you had a girlfriend who was a werewolf?!"
"Indeed Brother Pugsley, a marvelous beast! Her intervention was decisive in the final battle."
"Wow... Imagine having a lycanthrope for a sister-in-law," said Pugsley, "Hey, does that mean you're going to get a werewolf girlfriend in the future?"
Wednesday put her hand to her chin, thoughtfully.
"I don't know, I've never really thought about romances that way. Time will tell, I guess," she said, before a toothy smile crossed her face, "There are a lot of monsters out there. Maybe I'll get a dragon boyfriend or girlfriend, for example."
Pugsley shook his head as his sister finished adjusting the straps on the electric chair he was sitting in. Only she would think about getting competitive with another version of herself to see who had the scariest partner.
THE PUP
The Wednesday Friday Addams who would forever be remembered with immense fondness as Pup a universe away, appeared back at home in her mother's greenhouse just in time to assist her in feeding hamburgers to Cleopatra.
While the carnivorous plant delighted in its weekly feast, little Wednesday told her mother all about her journey. Morticia did not doubt her daughter's story for a second. For an instant she felt a pang of worry at the thought of her little girl disappearing without her noticing. But seeing her back there as if not a day had passed, unharmed, safe and clearly happy, the matriarch of the Addams Family squashed her fears like swatting a mosquito.
The story became one of the family's many quirks - remember that day Wednesday was in another dimension? A new source of anecdotes to share with visiting cousins and distant friends. Life went on for the Addams Family with its spooky and creepy moments week after week.
Still, there were subtle changes.
Both Morticia and Gomez noticed that their daughter was more attentive than ever to the family pets. Wednesday had always loved the animals, but seemed to take it more seriously than ever. Especially with Nero, whom she now only took for walks in the family cemetery grounds and woods and not on the streets of town.
Wednesday Addams reached her seventh birthday without knowing the loss of her beloved scorpion, and Nero would be with her for many years to come.
Someday she, too, would know the bitter sides of life, but that first stab of grief would not leave a dent in her character or in her person. The macabre and the terrifying would always be in her heart, but she would never close herself to contact with others, and one day, perhaps, she would meet someone who would not run in fear when meeting Nero or Thing or her spiders.
And if from time to time she tried on more brightly colored clothes than usual, no one in her family ever disapproved of it.
THE MAD SCIENTIST
Parker Needler was a woman on a mission. To get something out of her math homework, no matter how much the numbers seemed like witchcraft to her.
With a grunt, she dropped her head on her desk. Despite her current academic difficulties, the last year had been a marked improvement. Everything in general felt more...relaxed.
She had begun to accept herself without having to fit into the molds pre-imposed by her mother. Hell, even things were better with her mom. They may not have been very close yet, but the woman had stopped being an extreme control freak and that was always a positive for Parker. Although she still couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that the woman was dating Fester Addams.
The Addamses. Everything had changed since she had met the Addams Family. Since she had met Wednesday, her best friend.
Because that's all she's going to be if you don't get your act together, Parker, she thought, What are you waiting for?
Parker stood up abruptly and slapped herself gently on the cheek. Those thoughts had begun to haunt her a few months ago, when Wednesday had invited her to a family celebration that ended with the two of them having an impromptu picnic in the cemetery. Parker wasn't certain when the specific moment was, but she was pretty sure it happened as her eyes focused on how the moonlight shone on her friend's pale skin and a thought crossed her mind like a burning arrow.
Beautiful.
Since that day that idea had nestled in her head and returned in a recurrent and increasingly intense and detailed way, always at the most unexpected moments, especially in the time she spent with the Addams. Which was a lot of time.
A repetitive noise brought her out of her thoughts. Turning around, Parker could see a familiar pale face pressed against her window, tapping it repeatedly as a call to enter.
"Wednesday!" she exclaimed as she opened her bedroom window, allowing the Addams to enter, "You know you can use the front door when you come to visit, don't you?"
"It's the most obvious place to place traps and it's not a risk I intend to take," replied the Addams. Parker laughed at her friend's monotone response...though she noted with interest an almost imperceptible tinge of nervousness in her voice.
It wasn't just the voice, there was something in her posture that...
"Wednesday?" asked Parker, "Is everything okay?"
She received no answer. Not verbally. She only noticed her breath escaping as she was suddenly enveloped in a hug. A hug perpetrated by Wednesday Addams.
Ah, that's it. I've died and this is some kind of hallucination before I see the light of the Afterlife.
But there were no lights from beyond the grave. Just two girls embracing in silence for a moment that neither wanted to end.
"Wednesday...not that I'm complaining, but you and the hugging... Well, this is unusual."
Wednesday let go of Parker, separating from her only a few inches, staring at her intently.
"My apologies. But the last few days of absence I've had a revelation of paramount importance."
"Uh, but I saw you this morning..."
"It's a long and complicated story, Parker, and I'll recount it all to you. But first...first I have to tell you something...," Wednesday said, taking Parker's hand and intertwining her fingers with her's.
Parker Needler didn't know what words would come out from the mouth of her best friend. Correction, from the mouth of the girl she loved. She only knew that the hand taking hers and the intensity of Wednesday's gaze and the strange, soft smile on her pale face marked by a slight blush caused her heart to do a somersault in her chest.
She felt something stirring inside her, more intense than nerves and fear.
It felt like hope.
FRIDAY’S CHILD
Of all the Wednesdays that crossed the multiverse back and forth in that fateful adventure, the one that would be remembered as Friday was perhaps the one that had suffered the least impact on herself. If anything, she had been the catalyst for change in others.
That is not to say that she had not been affected in any way. The subconscious fear of not being reunited with her family had been somewhat present. As much as it pained her to be separated from Miss Enid, Wednesday and the others, Friday longed to return home.
Another aspect was that she had never felt more sure of herself. A hidden part of her had always had a miserable, almost invisible worry about her position in the family. She was cheerful, she was friendly, she liked bright colors. But her adventure had reaffirmed that that didn't make her any less Addams than the rest.
Hell, maybe it made her more of an Addams than anyone else. Woe made that very clear to her in her parting words.
And that led to a significant change, to a decision that was not taken lightly after telling her story to her family (who celebrated the wackiness she had lived through with the usual enthusiasm).
"I think if I make friends I'll let them call me Friday."
Morticia looked at her curiously, but with a sincere smile, "Well, it's your middle name dear. And it's your prerogative to use it as and when you prefer."
The girl nodded. Yes, she was Wednesday Addams, and she would always enjoy the macabre, the dark, her spiders, her decapitated dolls, playing hide-and-seek in crypts, knife throwing with Pugsley, dynamite explosions... Always.
But for her future friends she would also be Friday. Colorful, cheerful, friendly, supportive and lethally protective.
Wednesday's child is full of woe.
Friday's child is loving and giving.
A CHILD OF WOE
The Wednesday Addams known as Woe had seen a part of herself turned upside down, driving her into a state of constant self-evaluation.
The first thing she did, finding herself back in the playroom with her baby brother, was to hug little Pubert. A token of affection that the young child received with pleasure, albeit awkwardly. He knew that his older sister was more inclined to show her affection by tossing knives or other sharp objects.
The next thing she did was to throw him out of the window with the catapult. That was much more normal and calmed his apprehension.
Unlike her counterparts, Wednesday never told her family about her particular multiversal odyssey. Although it was obvious that they suspected or had noticed something. Both Mother and Father had given her significant glances on occasion, Pugsley always seemed to hold back the urge to ask a question, and Grandmama obviously knew something by the way she had winked at her.
Still, she never said anything, and life went on for the Addamses with the usual normality. Well, what can be understood by normal for such a family.
That is, until the day her parents were sitting quietly in the living room by the fire (Gomez cutting out particularly striking obituaries from the newspapers, Morticia preparing a new pair of pajamas for Pubert), when Wednesday approached them with a query.
"Father, Mother, are you familiar with a place known as Nevermore Academy?"
Gomez and Morticia looked up and exchanged a curious glance before returning their attention to their daughter.
"Why, of course," Gomez stated effusively, "It's where your mother was studying when I first met her!"
"You met at a funeral," replied Wednesday.
"Certainly," Morticia replied, "Nevermore Academy is an all-girls school. That didn't stop your father from visiting me on a multitude of occasions during my last year, walking through its walls like a thief in the night."
"A thief in love, cara mia," said Gomez, kissing his wife's hand.
"Oh, I'm sure poor Larissa still has nightmares of you sneaking into our dorm room unannounced," Morticia said, with a nostalgic smile, "If I'm not mistaken she's still there, albeit as part of the faculty."
Morticia looked at her daughter with interest and a certain inquisitive look, "Why all this interest in Nevermore Academy, my child?"
Wednesday was quiet for a moment, before speaking in a calculated and fiercely controlled tone, "I might be interested in attending. As soon as possible."
Morticia, of course, noticed the longing in her daughter's voice anyway and while it raised more questions she supposed Wednesday would speak when she felt ready. The matriarch of the Addams Family smiled at her firstborn indulgently.
"Then I'll make a few calls, and we'll see if a mid-term transfer is possible, my darling."
Wednesday nodded and said goodbye to her parents before retiring to her room. Passing through the dark corridors of the mansion, she remembered other dark stone corridors filled with shadows and secrets. Her mind recalled golden hair and sapphire blue eyes. She was a realist and knew that her hopes guaranteed nothing, there was no assurance that a version of her would be there.
But despite everything she did not fight the smile that surfaced on her face, thinking of the promises of things to come.
Thinking about wolves.
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