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The last few weeks had been utterly exhausting for Wednesday.
Thereafter finding, rescuing and changing Enid back, she had to guarantee her safety and, since her misfortune seemed to have no end, the only way to achieve that was to extinguish her status as a lone wolf.
The one plausible and quick solution uncle Fester had suggested was to find her a new family, since the Sinclair clan had completely abandoned Enid as soon as they acknowledged her status as an alpha.
The Addams came to her aid though, and Morticia and Gomez had offered the wolf a shelter and a warm welcome without a second thought. The only complication was that the adoption process would take too long and Enid would be at risk the whole time, so the only other solution was to marry Wednesday now that they were both 18.
It was absurd, of course, but given the urgency of the occasion it had to be arranged, otherwise other wolves would keep hunting Enid down like a sport.
It wasn't a real wedding, though. There was no fancy dinner or huge party, just an act of exchanging rings and signing papers to keep the wolf safe and that would last long enough until Enid had found her own suitable partner and Wednesday would happily let her go.
Or at least that's what the seer had said to her parents after decidedly ignoring the spider colony that took residence at her esophagus the moment she put the black wedding ring on Enid's finger.
All of that had happened in less than a month and Wednesday was in a very much need of a relaxing day, especially because her and Enid were still learning to navigate this new marital status and despite the seer guaranteeing that nothing had changed between them, the wolf would still be awkward around her more than usual.
That's why she invited Pugsley and Lurch to a traditional hide-and-seek game at the family cemetery and was now selecting her weapon of choice. Her brother had predictably chosen the bazooka while the butler got his referee set ready and reminded the Addams siblings of the rules.
They would be hunting each other around the cemetery for 6 hours and whoever hits the other with their selected weapon would get a point, the one with more points would win and could torture the other in the family chamber. Leaving the cemetery before the time had run out would mean defeat. They could use traps and different kinds of armament to incapacitate the target, but the point would only count if the selected one was used.
With one final grunt Lurch asked if Wednesday was ready to start.
“We may proceed”. She said, adjusting the semi-automatic rifle on her shoulders. “And you can give Pugsley 30 points in advantage. I want a challenge today”.
The seer took her position under a red oak tree in the middle of the cemetery and waited for Lurch’s signal. She planned to climb the stem and look for Pugsley in the higher ground, but as soon as she heard the gun shot that indicated the game had started, a rocket hit the tree, setting it on fire and almost hitting Wednesday in the explosion. If it wasn’t for her quick reflexes, the younger Addams would have got one point.
The girl smiled in her most psychotic form. It seemed that her little brother had learned one thing or another in the past year, even if his aim was still awful. But to his infelicity, his actions also gave away his position and with one little adjustment, Wednesday was ready to shoot and make her first point.
After one loud scream from Pugsley, Lurch grunted again through the terrain. The score was 30-1 for the boy.
4 hours into the game and Wednesday was covered in soot but only one point behind, even with the boy doing his best to remain hidden. It was just a matter of time until she secured her victory once again and claimed her reward. She could almost hear the noises of the old rusty gears turning while she stretched her brother’s limbs to establish a new family record.
Less than a minute later, there were footsteps to Wednesday left and she pointed the gun at source of the noise to confirm if Pugsley had decided to change his strategy and was trying to attack her in a kamikaze style, but all she saw through the lens of the telescope sight was blonde hair, with its tips dyed in baby-blue and pink, passing through the graves.
She didn’t even have the time to wonder why Enid was at the cemetery when one of Pugsley’s rockets came from behind Wednesday but missed her entirely, falling over 164 feet away from the seer, blasting dozens of tombs. It would be another pitiful demonstration of her brother’s aim if it hadn’t exploded the place Enid had been, because even if he had missed the wolf, the explosion would still be too much for her.
Wednesday’s blood ran colder than usual and her heart skipped a beat. She dropped her gun and rushed to Enid while calling for Lurch.
She couldn’t see much. There was a huge hole on the ground, a lot of smoke and a multitude of fire outbreaks, the standard result after her brother had used his weapon, but there was no sign of the blonde girl.
Lurch grunted, announcing he had arrived and asking the girl what the urgency was.
“Postpone the game. There has been an accident.”
“What accident?” Pugsley asked after walking from behind the smoke, bazooka still over his shoulders.
“You hit someone but it wasn’t me this time.”
“Who then?”
Wednesday had to swallow dry as an effort to keep her voice steady. “Enid”.
She saw in Pugsley’s eyes the panicking she felt inside but refused to succumb to. She would let herself feel it later when she was sure there was nothing left to do to save her friend, now she needed to act.
The seer was about to tell Lurch to go down the hole and retrieve what was left of Enid’s remains when a series of coughs were heard.
“Guys?... What the hell was that?”
“Enid?”. Wednesday asked, urging Lurch to help the blonde girl get out of where she was.
Apparently, no major damage was done. The wolf was covered in ashes and her clothes had some burnt holes but she seemed to be in perfect health, which made no sense because Wednesday was sure she was too close to the explosion to be so undamaged.
Pugsley moved to hug the wolf as soon as she was standing in front of them, saying he was glad he didn’t kill her. Enid looked quizzically to Wednesday, but the seer dismissed any worries with a subtle shake of her head.
“What were you doing at the cemetery? Did you forget about the game?”. The seer inquired while eyeing Enid up and down meticulously. Despite the evidence being in front of her, it was hard to believe that her friend was left with no injury.
Then Enid moved her hand to scratch behind her head, an ordinary thing for her to do when she was embarrassed, and Wednesday followed the movement, catching the blue eyes that looked so vivid due to the dust covering Enid’s cheeks and hair.
Wednesday held the gaze, admiring how the color wasn’t as deemed as when she found the wolf alone in the Canadian wilderness. She felt proud of herself.
“I didn’t hear any explosions for a while. Thought it was already over”. Enid spoke, breaking Wednesday away from her thoughts and reminding her she had indeed asked a question.
The seer only nodded and moved her eyes down, the intense blue suddenly too much for her to keep looking at. That's when she caught the sight of something blacker than the soot around them, Enid’s wedding ring, still settled on the ring finger of her left hand, an equal to the one Wednesday wore herself, made of black titanium and that carried an unspoken promise the girl wasn’t sure of why she had never thought twice before making it.
The spiders started to crawl around her stomach and up to her chest, the reason was still unknown for the seer, but they kept her from talking and she had to use all her willpower to stop tears from watering her eyes. It was extremely frustrating.
Lurch grunted, breaking the silence and thankfully taking Enid’s attention away from Wednesday. He explained the whole situation to her, giving the seer enough time to compose herself and get the infuriating spiders under control.
They walked back to the mansion and Enid got significantly pale as she understood she was decidedly hit by a rocket and somehow survived with not a single scratch.
“I think I need to lay down”. Enid said as soon as they reached the living room and dropped herself in one of the armchairs. Wednesday rolled her eyes but said nothing once she noticed the wolf was nearly green from her distress.
Thing showed himself almost immediately, his fingers quickly tapping into the black wood floor. Wednesday picked him up and positioned him on her shoulders, giving him full view of an almost passed out werewolf. He tapped in question.
“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll figure it out. Just keep her company, I’ll take a shower then go do some research at the library”.
Thing gave her a thumbs up before jumping in Enid’s lap to comfort her.
--
After a cold freezing shower and many hours at the family library, Wednesday still hadn’t discovered any plausible reason Enid managed to survive the explosion. There was nothing about alpha wolves naturally linked to abnormal endurance or even fire resistance, the examples caused by witchcraft would require complex rituals that Wednesday was sure the wolf hadn't executed, even the century old curses and their side effects didn’t seem to have anything to do with Enid’s newfound ability.
The only one that got even close to an explanation was one of the Addams family curses, the one that would leave the members of the family incapable of hurting each other, but that wasn’t a possibility because it was impossible for Enid to be under such curse since their marriage was artificial, a mere simulation to keep the wolf safe, despite the rings, the signed papers and last-name changes.
Enid could formally be an Addams, even carry the family name on her identification, but for the curse to be activated the person needed to either be born in the family or become part of it through mutual affection, like her mother. So, there was no trustful indicator of why the wolf was still alive.
Wednesday opened yet another old book and resumed her research, calling for Lurch to bring her another cup of coffee. But before the butler managed to come back, the seer had fallen asleep with an opened book on her lap, the fatigue winning the battle after running around the cemetery with her brother. Wednesday didn’t notice either when her eyes closed nor when she started to dream.
The new moon above made it difficult for Wednesday to step through the trees without a flashlight, the last bit of waning moon had come and gone two days ago and now she had to find an unknown beast in the unfamiliar woods relying mostly on four senses rather than all five, but if that was the cost she must pay to try to find Enid, than she would. It was the least she could do.
She had found a trail and from there it was easy to follow. Wednesday didn’t have any expectations to find the monster the townspeople kept talking about before it found her, it was unlikely for her to surprise any large predator that have been living in this forest, what she expected was to become prey but to also have enough capability to capture whatever the creature was and, if the odds were on her favor, maybe it would be Enid and she would be able to help and bring her home.
Her instincts seemed to be proven correct once she reached halfway up the trail. There was a putrid smell of decomposing corpses mixed with a faint one of fresh blood in the air.
It reminded her of her 11th birthday when her father took her to the morgue at midnight so she could use the autopsy kit she was just gifted. Wednesday even managed to help solve an actual murder case that night, even if unofficially, given the fact that the morgue’s director was an old client of her father’s and owed him a couple of favors.
But the pleasant aroma in this case could be the indicator that a predator was nearby, or at least had been around not long ago, so Wednesday followed it, away from the trail’s path and deeper into the middle of the trees, finding a rotting bear not ten minutes later, the blood scent getting stronger at each step.
She took one of the knives from under her sleeves for precaution and held it firmly in her hand, trying to walk as silent as possible with only the wind making noise around her. It seemed like every single creature in the forest knew that particular territory was a dangerous one and had vanished, no longer after, Wednesday understood why. There was a small clearing among the vegetation and a couple of dead animals right in the middle of it, one of them being a large black bear and the other a freshly killed adult moose.
Wednesday took off her backpack and walked closer to the tree line for a better inspection. The dead prey didn’t seem to be used as feeding of any predator, they seemed to have been deadly wounded but were apparently whole, but it hard to tell with the low moonlight.
She clutched the small knife even harder around her fingers as she took careful steps to get closer to the middle of the clearing. Whatever was that killed the animals was probably gone by now and Wednesday wanted to look at the lacerations to see if it was possible to establish what kind of creature had done that. She was a couple of meters away from the bear when the wind stopped completely and the silence became disturbing.
Wednesday stopped where she was, she was almost sure she was being observed but couldn’t tell where from. Before she tried turning around and hiding herself behind the trees again, she heard a growl, then something leaped from the tree line in her direction.
Suddenly she was on the ground, the impact making her lose her breath and drop the knife at the same time. With her eyes closed she could still feel the weight of the beast on top of her, trapping both of her arms with what seemed to be paws, there was saliva dropping on her overcoat and the growling was right next to her left ear. Wednesday waited for the bite, but it never came.
When she opened her eyes, she could see golden-like fur that seemed almost light brown in the nearly dark, cerulean blue staring back at her with sharp fangs. She supposed the odds were indeed in her favor, it almost made her smile.
“Enid?”. Wednesday whispered and she could feel the werewolf on top of her recoil for a moment, as if the name was a thorn stuck under her nails that had just stung again. The growling became louder, challenging the seer to face the consequences of saying it again.
Wednesday was nearly certain Enid wouldn’t hurt her, if she wanted to, she would already have and despite their current positions, her roommate reminded her more of a cornered injured animal than anything else: cautious, wary and ready to flee at any moment. She knew the past days might have been scary for her friend and that she must have relied purely on her instincts to survive.
The thought came to her with a wave of protection, the kind that would cement itself behind her ribs and steal her breath. She was already used to it, Enid had been awakening the sensation on her for a while, even if Wednesday still didn’t understand why. There had been no time to properly evaluate the circumstances due to the recent events of their lives barely sparing them a break.
Still, she thought she would be the only one doing all the protection, the number of abilities she possessed in addition to her exceptional mind making her more dangerous than the general outcast population, but her roommate had proven her wrong after one body swap and did it again during the eventful full moon. Enid had made her understand that in this friendship they protected each other, they trusted that one would do anything they could to keep the other safe. It was exactly what had happened when they fought the Galpin’s at Willow Hill, and now she just needed to remind the other girl this was how it went.
They were a pack after all.
“It’s just me. Wednesday. You’re safe now”. She watched as the giant creature drifted back, freeing her arms but still keeping her in place without actually weighing her down. The mouth also closed and the growling changed to a small throat noise that reverberated through the chest. “Enough, Enid. You may return already”.
Something flicked inside the wolf’s eye and she noticed how they changed to their regular sky-blue color. Enid shook her head and looked down turning it to the side slightly as if in question, then her snout touched Wednesday’s chest and breathed her in.
Soon enough there was a whole werewolf on top of her, fully trapping the seer between itself and the forest ground, while it kept moving its big nose all over her face and hair, hot breaths warmed her skin and loud whines broke the quiet moment Wednesday was trying to preserve.
She tried to use her hands to protect her from the enthusiastic attack with zero to no success and still had to raise her voice to call Enid’s name one time and tell her to stop and other two more for it to cease, her tone completely exasperated.
“Are you done?”. She asked, Enid’s head close enough for the wolf to stare right into her eyes. She made a content noise Wednesday interpreted as a yes. “Great. Now shift back, we need to go home”.
Then another whine came and Enid stopped looking directly at her. The girl was probably saying she wouldn’t be able to, that she was stuck and that there was nothing left to do. But the time was running out and they needed to move fast, there were going to be hunters in the woods by dawn even with Uncle Fester slowing them down, but Wednesday knew it wouldn’t be wise to let Enid know that, it would only serve to make her more nervous. It would also be nearly impossible to go back to New Jersey with a huge werewolf following them. There had to be a way to help her shift back to human form.
“Try to concentrate. You have done it many times already. I’ll be here with you for as long as needed.”
Upon hearing the words, Enid simply made herself comfortable without letting Wednesday out from beneath her and the raven had nothing else to do except acknowledge her fate: she was even more trapped than before, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. Enid’s fur protected her from the cold breeze that was blowing softly again all over the clearing and the wolf had adjusted not to crush her under its weigh, the ground was soft enough to remain lied down even if there was going to be dirty on her hair and clothes and Wednesday could feel Enid’s heartbeat on her own ribcage thanks to their proximity.
It was beating far too fast for someone trying to calm down and Wednesday reached up with both hands and started to run her fingers through the golden fur of the wolf’s neck. It was no news that Enid was a fan of physical contact and Wednesday had already grown accustomed to being the target of her mindless touches and casual affection, even if she couldn’t pinpoint the reason why said touches, coming from her roommate specifically, would not make her feel fretful. It just seemed that Enid was the exception for almost every rule Wednesday had established and, fortunately, was also trustworthy enough for her not to worry about any potential betrayals.
The action perceptibly worked and Enid started to relax, resting her big head on the right side of Wednesday’s and slowly dragging her snout up and down her side from time to time. She got the impression the wolf was trying to make sure they were both indeed there, as a result, the cold nose would touch Wednesday’s hair, disheveling it more than it already was; it would touch her ear, the hot air making her shiver despite being warm; it would also touch the base of her neck, culminating in the elevation of her heart’s speed and the red color spreading all over her pale skin. Still, Wednesday kept moving the soft fur around her fingers and never told Enid to stop, even when she was sure all those sensations should have made her run and never come back. Her friend was more important.
She was almost closing her eyes, the wind blowing stronger than ever and any discomfort slightly forgotten probably due to the prolonged exposure to physical contact, when she heard the first crack of bones. Enid was growling again, only this time it seemed to be out of pain, but Wednesday could see she was shifting into a smaller form.
She remained still, her arms around her friend as the werewolf started to become human again. The growling changed into a hoarse scream and the weight on top of Wednesday slowly started to decrease. Soon enough Enid was back with her blonde and colorful hair and her very much nude body. Wednesday closed her eyes and rested her arms on her sides.
They barely moved and the only audible noises were the cold wind and the sound of Enid’s raged breath. There was still warmth coming from the other girl’s body even after the shifting was completed and Wednesday almost had the conviction it had no connection to the feeling of burning spiders crawling all over her insides or the remaining heat on her cheeks and ear. She sighed and didn’t dare to speak until Enid was breathing steadily.
“I brought you some articles of clothing”.
Enid laughed but it wasn’t authentic, her whole body shook from it, but it still didn’t remind Wednesday of the cathedral's bells announcing the beginning of a funeral. If anything, it was forced, a proper indicator that Enid wasn’t finding anything remotely amusing; and teary, as if she had her eyes full of tears that refused to fall and her throat was restricted with emotion that wouldn’t allow her to speak clearly.
“Thanks, Wens”.
Wednesday made an indignant sound and almost told Enid to never call her that ever again. She decided against it, though, recognizing that her friend was most likely exhausted and not in her better state of mind.
Both changing into a werewolf and shifting back were painful experiences. Wednesday had felt them within her own bones and she almost couldn’t remain standing after. All those days stuck in wolf form sure had left Enid tired beyond comprehension.
“Can you move? It’s getting colder and you might get sick.”
“Just five more minutes, please…”. Wednesday huffed to keep her impatience in check but otherwise continued to be still as a stone, eyes shut the whole time.
She started to mentally count Enid’s heartbeat to keep herself occupied, determining the pulse rate at approximately 95 beats per second, which would take a little bit less than five hundred beats to reach the five minutes her friend had requested. Around the count of 320 heart beats though, Enid started to stir and grumble and, with one abrupt movement, lift herself enough to turn and settle by Wednesday’s side. The warmth was gone almost instantly.
Only then did the raven open her eyes. She proceeded to get up and walk back to the tree line to retrieve her backpack, taking the flashlight, a pink hoodie, jeans and a pair of equally pink all-star from inside before going back to Enid’s side, her head down in respect of the other girl’s modesty, even if she could barely see her silhouette in the dark, silently thanking the cold wind blowing for subside the flush of her cheeks she refused to acknowledge.
The clothes and shoes were dropped by the wolf’s feet who was now sitting still on the dirty ground. Wednesday could feel the palms of her hands itching from the contact with color but paid it no mind, she adjusted the backpack straps on her shoulder and spun around to give Enid as much privacy as she could, turning the flashlight on to search for her throwing-knife as she waited. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find it.
“All dressed”. Enid announced. “But I’m gonna need some help to walk. Legs are weak”.
Wednesday shifted, abandoning the search for her weapon and pointing the light at her friend standing in front of her. She had heard the false enthusiasm in the wolf’s voice, like she was trying to pretend she wasn’t hurting but couldn’t mask it completely, and by looking at her, Wednesday was able to understand why.
Her hair was greased, tangled with knots and with pieces of twigs on it; her usually rose skin was almost as pale as Wednesday’s, with little cuts on her cheeks and eyebrow; the bags under her eyes were darker than they had ever been during Exam’s week at Nevermore; and, it had been weeks, she had visibly lost some weight. There was a bitter taste on her tongue when Wednesday was reminded why her friend was in such state.
She couldn’t duel on it for too long, they had to find shelter, figure out their exact location and call her parents so they could send Lurch to retrieve them, so she closed the distance between herself and Enid with four steps, wrapping her right arm around the girl’s waist to support and waited until her friend had put her own arm over her shoulder to start moving.
It felt like the burning spiders were moving up her sides. Maybe it was from her allergies, maybe it was something else entirely.
“Thank you, Wednesday.”. She nodded once; very much aware Enid wasn’t exclusively talking about their walking arrangement.
“There is a town close by. I suppose we can make it within an hour”. The other girl didn’t reply.
Wednesday woke up with a jolt, half expecting to still be in the forest, only to be gratefully greeted by the ceiling of the mansion's library.
It was already morning, probably past noon considering the angle the light coming from outside was hitting the wall opposite to where she was lying on the couch, a soft black duvet on her lap. The book she was reading the night before was carefully positioned on top of the coffee table nearby, one of the pages marked with a feather.
Clearly Lurch had found her unconscious and did his best to accommodate her, which she was thankful for, despite not being too pleased at the fact that he let her sleep instead of waking her up to continue her research.
His actions led her to the dream that was more like a memory, a step-by-step of the day she found Enid, and Wednesday wished her memories weren't so graphic, so realistic, always reminding her of everything that had happened in those woods when she was trying to forget parts of it, especially the ones she couldn’t understand.
The library door swung open and Morticia walked through the doorstep, the typical smile on her lips.
“So that's where my daughter has been all morning?”. The older seer stated more than asked, pointing out the incredible number of old books and scrolls scattered all around the floor.
Wednesday had to fight the urge to roll her eyes first thing after waking up. “Good morning to you too, mother”. She said getting up and smoothing the wrinkles of her clothes, ready to grab the last book she had yesterday and keep doing the research elsewhere, but her mom was faster.
“Enid told me about the incident.” The woman said while flipping the pages. Wednesday could only wait for her to give the book back. “She also told me you have been searching for an explanation. Found anything yet?”
“No”. Wednesday replied with her hands open, waiting for the book. “But I will eventually”.
As soon as her mother gave her the book back, the seer stepped around her, not waiting for another question before leaving the room, but before she could disappear into the dark corridor, Morticia spoke again.
“Are you sure you haven’t found the explanation, my little raven? Maybe it’s more obvious than you think”.
Wednesday did roll her eyes at that and left before her mom could insinuate another absurd theory. She started to walk again towards her room.
It did cross her mind briefly that Enid might have become immune to Pugsley’s blast due to the Addams family curse, but there wasn’t any explanation on how she could have become a true Addams, so that possibility was discarded.
Firstly, because the person in the family Enid was the closest was Wednesday herself and Goody had already told the seer she was supposed to live a lonely life; Secondly, she wasn’t even sure she was capable of having such saccharine feelings; and Thirdly, even if Wednesday had succumbed to those feelings, Enid would have to feel the same way and then, once they were officially marriage, the wolf would become a true Addams. However, given the fake marital arrangement, that nonsense was out of question, so there had to be another explanation.
Opening the door of her bedroom, Wednesday noticed first thing that some of her belongings were out of place. The cello and its case were on top of her bed, not in the usual place in front of the window, and Enid was maneuvering it as she cleaned the dust from the strings with Thing guiding her through it.
If it was anyone else, there would be another body at the family cemetery within the next hour, but since Wednesday knew that the wolf was still adapting at the new routine at the mansion, always trying to find something for her anxious body to do, she didn’t say anything, opting for letting the other girl just be, only because she knew how aware Enid was of the importance of the musical instrument to Wednesday.
She clicked her door shut and the wolf looked up from the task, blue eyes meeting Wednesday’s tired ones with almost enough spark to start a fire.
“Wens! Thing was just teaching me how to take care of the cello. You want me to let you rest?”. Enid asked, ready to stop what she was doing and leave the room, but Wednesday shook her head no.
“You may stay. I’ll just have a quick shower”.
The other girl nodded happily and Wednesday considered reminding her yet again to never call her with that offending nickname but gave up. She was almost sure it would be useless.
After cleaning herself up and getting dressed, Wednesday left the adjacent bathroom and went straight to her desk, opening the book she had brought from the library. Not five minutes into her research, she felt Enid standing right behind her chair.
“Yes, Enid?”. The seer asked, not taking her eyes from the pages.
“Look, I know figuring out what happened yesterday is super important and that not knowing why I’m still alive is driving you mad, but…You missed dinner yesterday, and breakfast this morning, and it’s past noon already. So don’t you think, maybe you should have a break?”
Wednesday turned to stare at the wolf, the answer “No” already on the tip of her tongue, but she didn’t say it. The number of words that could leave her friend’s mouth in such a small amount of time was always astonishing, but that wasn’t the reason why Wednesday remained quiet. She had a suspicion and was searching for the truth behind the wolf’s eye.
“You’re the one that didn’t allow Lurch to wake me up yesterday.” She accused and Enid sighed. The wolf’s body language giving her away. What a traitor.
“No. I only stopped him from bringing you more caffeine and when I went to look for you at the library, you were already sleeping. I just made sure you would be comfortable.”
Wednesday turned back to her book abruptly. The image of Enid adjusting the seer to her sleeping position and covering her with a duvet, too much for her to handle, especially with the spiders showing themselves once again, this time also leaving a burning sensation on her cheeks and at the tip of her ears.
“There was no need for such trouble”. She answered with her back to Enid, eyes glued to the words, trying to understand them as her heart stumbled inside her chest.
The wolf sighed again, this time more exasperated, but Wednesday paid no mind still trying to make sense out of the annoying body reactions.
“Wens, let’s just eat something before you continue, then?”. Enid spoke and Wednesday noticed a hand on her shoulder. The cold black titanium could be felt through the layers of the fabric of her black shirt. “Please?”.
She was going to concede, but before the seer was able to say anything, her head moved backwards, her spine was strained and suddenly Wednesday wasn’t in her bedroom at the mansion anymore.
It was a cemetery, but not the one they had in their backyard or the one she saw in her vision of Enid’s death, it was one she had never been before, bigger and more luxurious. The letters were golden and carved in the stone in high relief, most likely basked in gold; the paths between the corridors of graves were clean and decorated with white wildflowers.
Wednesday walked around the tombstones once she realized it was a vision, observing everything, trying to see if she would find any familiar name marking the graves, but she couldn’t read them.
She was still trying to decipher the words written in the stones when a teenager, probably a couple of years younger than her, passed through, running towards the center of the cemetery. She followed him closely, stopping only when she saw three other people standing 36 feet ahead, their backs to her. A strange sense of familiarity took over Wednesday and she couldn’t step forward anymore, but the sensation that she knew those three people didn’t leave her.
Upon meticulous inspection, she was able to determine that the people she was seeing were herself, Enid and Pugsley, around 20 years older than they were today. Once she was aware of that, other details caught her attention immediately. Like the way her and Enid were holding hands and the blonde’s hair were longer than she had ever seen, dyed in a bloody shade of red and black half-way through the hair root.
She had to admit it suited the wolf very well, along with her black dress and overcoat.
Wednesday herself had also changed a bit. She was still dressed in all black, wearing what was probably a tailored suit, but had changed her hairstyle to a single braid. Pugsley was also in a tailored suit, but his was a mix of dark green and grey and Wednesday wasn’t pleased to notice that he was even taller than her than he is these days. But at least the teenager she saw running and that had stopped next to her younger brother was shorter than everyone, enough for Pugsley to start messing with his hair.
The group was clearly saying their final goodbyes to someone Wednesday couldn’t identify, she saw herself throwing a roseless twig inside the grave, but it was the following movement that caught her attention, more specifically, the way Enid brought their intertwined fingers to her lips and kissed the back of Wednesday’s hand.
It wasn’t only the movement itself that surprised her, the demonstration of so much intimacy sure was perplexing, still, the sight of the black titanium ring still safely placed on Wednesday’s ring finger was the one truly disconcerting event, because it meant that, even after all this time, they were not only still in each other’s lives but also married.
One quick look at Enid’s left hand and Wednesday could see her ring there too. She was about to convince herself that it didn’t quite mean that they were in an actual relationship, it could be that the wolf simply hadn’t found someone worthy and decided to stay with the Addams, but soon enough the idea was ripped from the seer.
She watched as Enid carefully rested her head on Wednesday’s left shoulder, only for her to see herself placing a soft kiss on top of the wolf’s head, which led the blond girl to lift her head and meet older-Wednesday’s eyes. They looked at each other only for a few seconds before leaning in.
Wednesday closed her eyes.
She sure had seen much more than she had ever aspired to. Even without actually seeing what happened, she could form the image in her head and it was already too much, especially because she could almost feel the softness of the wolf’s lips on her own, heart hammering inside her ribcage.
Luckily when she opened her eyes again, she was back in her bedroom, lying down on the bed with Thing by her side.
He asked if she was ok, but Wednesday couldn’t even bring herself to lie, so she simply ignored him, getting into a sitting position.
“What happened after I had a vision?”
He tapped the mattress, telling her that Enid held her when the vision struck, but since it was taking too long for her to come back, the wolf decided to put her by the bed and go pick something for Wednesday to eat, leaving the seer with him. That was around 11 minutes ago.
Wednesday just nodded. The rush of the vision still made her blood boil, the spiders seemed to be crawling everywhere, the ghost of Enid’s lips preventing her from thinking past the scene she had witnessed.
She grabbed the bed sheets with both hands and closed her eyes again. The image of their older selves kissing conjured itself in her head but Wednesday tried not to falter, she took deep breaths to calm herself down as Thing observed with apprehension.
There wasn’t much left to do, she had to unfortunately admit that her mother had been right; that Enid somehow had walked through the fortresses Wednesday had built all her life and managed to accommodate herself closer than anyone ever could. Perhaps the signs were there all along and Wednesday was, ironically, just too blind to see.
If she thought about it, the blonde was the exception to most of her personal rules. She was the only one Wednesday allowed to enter her personal space; the only one she didn’t mind the physical contact with; the only one that could make fun of her and no death threat would follow.
Enid was also the only one that would leave the seer speechless whenever she called her out on her bullshit and Wednesday would listen to; she was the only one Wednesday trusted with her belongings without the promise of decapitated fingers if anything had a single scratch; she was also the one person, besides her own family, that Wednesday let breath freely after witnessing her rare moments of weakness and sentimentality.
The list would probably keep growing if she insisted on thinking about it, but the truth was already one that Wednesday was unable to deny. She has fallen victim to the same disease her parents had and, even if she refused to behave like them, she still would have to face the music, because Enid apparently felt the same way.
The door of her bedroom opened again, revealing the blonde wolf with a tray and the seer was quick to tell Thing to leave them alone, he hesitated with worry but obeyed, exiting the room and closing the door before Enid could thank him for the help.
Wednesday watched as the wolf turned to her, apprehension all over her face at the sudden exit of the appendage hand, but she was quicker than Enid at speaking.
“I had a vision about you”. Wednesday announced and waited for the way Enid would lose her composure for the following 3 minutes, dropping the tray at the closest desk and imagining all random scenarios, one more dramatic than the other, instead of just listening to what Wednesday had to say.
It was sort of entertaining, she had to admit, especially when one sequence of events that Enid came up with were even more macabre than the other. Perhaps the prolonged exposure to Addams’s had somehow influenced her line of thinking, which was refreshing, but Wednesday didn’t have the time to test the theory. She raised an eyebrow at Enid’s rant and the blonde stopped talking almost immediately, sitting down on the bed in front of the seer.
“Wait. Am I gonna die in your vision?”
“No”. Wednesday replied, already feeling the spiders being summoned in her guts. “We were attending a funeral. However, it was not yours”
The wolf relaxed, until all the spoken words were processed. Enid gripped Wednesday’s hands, the touch made warmth spread all over.
“We?”.
The seer nodded, avoiding the questioning eyes as she tried her best to control her breathing and ordered, without success, that her heart would beat slower.
“I don’t know who the dead were either. All I could conclude was that it will happen in around 20 years”.
“And we’re gonna still be friends by then?”. The surprise and enthusiasm were evident in the blonde’s voice. Wednesday almost smiled and looked back at her. The blue was shining.
“It seems that we are still married, actually.”
Enid’s mouth went agape and her grip on Wednesday’s hands loosened at the words. The entertaining reaction was enough for the seer to lose control over her expression and a minuscule smile appeared in the left corner of her mouth. The blonde shook her head in confusion.
“You don’t seem upset…”
“Why would I?”. Wednesday questioned and now Enid was looking at her like she was an extraterrestrial, which was a great achievement nowadays, considering the wolf was already used to most of her antics. She almost smiled fully at that.
At that point, Enid tightened her grip again and shifted closer before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
“What are you saying, Wednesday?”
When she opened them, the blue seemed hopeful, almost pleading and Wednesday felt the urge to give in and speak only honesty.
“I’m saying that I’m not good at this romantic nonsense and that I’ll never recreate any of those insufferable scenarios displayed in teenager’s abominable entertainment, but I’d still like to court you as it’s supposed to be done”
It was almost in slow motion the way Wednesday saw Enid’s eyes widen, her face turned into a light shade of red as she moved back a couple of feet.
“C-court?!.”
“Yes. If you’d allow me”.
“BUt how? Why? When?”
The seer could sense another emotional breakdown approaching, her firm hold on the blonde’s wrist the only reason why the other girl wasn’t walking in circles in the bedroom, so she decided to answer at least one of her questions.
“It’s been a while, but I’ve just comprehended it now”.
“Just now?”. Wednesday nodded. Enid shook her head in disbelief. “I gave up my life for you and you have only noticed now how I feel?”
The seer scoffed. There was a small smile on Enid's lips and it was slightly irritating. “I’ve told you I’m not good at this nonsense”. The wolf intertwined their fingers.
“May I kiss you?”
It was Wednesday’s eyes that widened this time, followed by a sharp inhale that Enid had noticed without doubt. Still, the girl held the seer’s gaze and waited.
There was a beat when Wednesday noticed the spiders had consumed her whole and now waited in anticipation. Maybe this was what they wanted all along, to be satisfied with the taste of Enid’s lips, and the longer the seer took to realize, the more they tortured her.
Wednesday nodded and when the wolf closed the gap, it was possible for her to understand why her future self would so willingly display this kind of affection in public. It was the first taste, yet Wednesday had already found herself addicted.