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“Heyyyy, so…”
“You’re stuck there, due to the huge storm that rolled in that I told you about a week ago.”
“I knowwww~!”
Wednesday wondered if she was manifesting some new form of pyrokinesis, her glare so hot her eyes felt weird. She had warned Enid about this storm weeks ago, in fact. Not to mention that damnable new school chose an inconvenient location in regards to weather patterns. But, she couldn’t blame Enid. Not this time. Even if she was pissed that she would have to give their daughter the news. That would be no kind of woe the Raven ever wanted to be a part of.
“I can tell Merry if you want?”
“That’s hardly the concern right now, Enid.”
Neither parent would get away with breaking the news gently. Wednesday found out very early on that her daughter was just as facially expressive as her mother, and seeing Almeria’s face crumple in her misery the first time carved deep wounds into the seer’s chest cavity. The Raven was already soft for her Wolf, but she was an absolute pushover for her child. And to think, she wanted another.
“…I may have an idea.”
“Enid, no.”
It was a mix of the school’s fault and Enid’s latest mentee’s bad deal from the universe. Wednesday would burn Nevermore’s new project to the ground and then hunt down a foster family come Spring. Her sunshine wolf would never just bail on someone, and so Enid had tried to make last-minute arrangements – on the 11th hour of the Christmas holidays – to find a place for her mentee Lydia to stay. Even with Addams money, who could have guessed that one couldn’t move an actual mountain.
As Enid rambled on about her plan, Wednesday leaned back in her chair, studying the way her childhood room had transformed. Pictures littered the walls in place of the old array of weapons. Rarely of their friends, mostly just the family and then them together over the years. An entire wall for Almeria, between bookshelves for Her and Her. The overall aesthetic was no longer dark and brooding, lost were the days this place felt like the wailing maw that was her soul. Half of her vision was starting to pulse alongside her heart rate, the room starting to look a little more red.
“No no, it’ll work. She could totally handle the snow, and there are those…”
The courtesy from her wife to whisper about Fester’s safehouses did nothing to stop Wednesday’s right eye from twitching.
“Enid I am so angry right now I can’t even calculate how stupid this idea is! Just. Stay.” It was nearly two entire States’ worth of distance. Granted, not the largest States, sitting southeast of the Great Lakes and needing to head to the East Coast from there. But Wednesday wasn’t about to let her wife endanger herself on a fur-brained scheme. “Please.”
“I’ve got to get started if this will work out. I’ll see you soon, Willa. Love you!”
Trailing off on yelling Enid’s name when she heard the call disconnect, Wednesday was firmly seeing red now. Throwing her phone into the room behind her before she broke it, the seer was quick to ventilate the opposite wall in every sharp she possessed. Not even capable of offering House an apology as he groaned at the sudden assault, the Raven shot out of her chair and paced around her room.
Compartmentalizing, the seer ran the math in her head while the rest of her body was a rageful storm. A few hundred miles could theoretically be done by Enid’s other wolf, but would that hold true with a passenger and her baggage? Her wife could leave her own things behind. The walk-in closet had to be expanded to cover the growing array of outfits and…special items…her sunshine wolf acquired over the years.
And there was the weather to account for. No family member could apply their supernatural driving abilities in several feet of snow. None of them had the blood of a yuki-onna or similar winter fae, far as she knew. Then again, Wednesday had no real idea how that would help. The Raven couldn’t meet her wolf even halfway on this one, and that pissed her off the most.
The rapid pitter-patter outside her room cut through Wednesday’s musings. Without warning, her bedroom door opened, a small child with ash blond hair hanging from the knob. “Mamá!” Having schooled her face of its scowl in the instant she was allowed, Wednesday dropped to her knees with her arms open as the little girl flung herself at her mother.
“Hello, my little starlight. All done making your rounds?” Seeing her mother stop in the entry of her room, the two seers had a wordless discussion as Almeria excitedly recounted her morning with everyone. Unlike her mother, Almeria was allowed in the kitchen, usually mixing pointless things together that Great-Grandmamá didn’t have a use for. Lurch humored her attempts at making him comfier on his Enid-mandated breaks, fluffing up patchwork pillows and trying to dust his room for him. The rest of the Addams men usually played with her, her Uncle Pubert her favorite among them as he took to popping up anywhere in the house to spook her.
Oh, how the Addams family had changed.
Departing with her own storm of thoughts on the matter, Morticia left her baby with her own baby. Sitting back down in her chair, Wednesday balanced the hyperactive girl on her lap, Almeria flailing everything she could to tell her mother about her day. Almeria looked so much like her mother, ash-blond hair that might change as she gets older and the same gelatinous cheeks. Both of them had a ridiculous variety of baby fat in their cheeks, something Wednesday did not enjoy. It wasn’t at all fun getting a solid pinch of it and tugging softly, seeing either girl’s grin grow ever bigger.
The most unique aspect of their first daughter had to be her eyes. Almost as though they stole Enid’s hair dyes, Almeria’s eyes were an explosion of blue and pink. They looked like a snapshot of a galaxy, complete with specks of silver that gave them an honest sparkle. If the phonetics of the other name Wednesday once considered didn’t sound similar to Enid’s low-bred mother, Almeria would have instead been named after what the Raven saw when she first laid eyes upon her daughter. Wrapped up in a blanket Enid had sewn together before their baby was due, Wednesday was speechless when she first locked eyes with her baby girl.
Swirling blue-and-pink eyes, as if they were a living mood ring, were genuinely sparkling up at her. Her little starlight.
Back in the present, Wednesday quietly braced herself to watch those eyes darken when the shoe dropped. As if sensing it, Almeria switched the track on her communication quickly.
“Mamá? Where’s Mommy?”
Sighing through her nose, the Raven gently explained that Mommy might not make it home by Christmas. The way Almeria’s entire body started to fall as she said ‘Oh’ had Wednesday wishing the Earth would open up and swallow her on the spot. Watching her little star try to keep from crying, the seer tucked her daughter into her chest tight. Smelling honey suckle and cookies even without wolf senses, Wednesday winced when she felt the first whimpers spill out of Almeria.
Rocking back and forth mostly for her own sanity, the Raven felt the knives tear through her skin every time her baby girl wailed and pounded her little fists into her chest. Yes, little starlight, Mommy had promised. Yes, we’ll delay Christmas until she can be here. Yes, I’ll let you be the one mad at her.
A few States away, said Mommy was being further dressed down by an irate teenager. Chewing her lip, Enid’s blue eyes traced the familiar pacing of her mentee as the girl fumed. How could she not take Lydia on, even if she wasn’t also a werewolf?
“Just because I’m okay with dying doesn’t mean I want to turn into an ice cube!”
She was almost too much like Wednesday. Like her Raven, Lydia was for the most part just a human. Instead of psychic powers, and Addams weirdness, the girl instead had an innate ability to interact with ghosts and other spirits. Enid quietly likened her to that boy from Sixth Sense.
Explaining the plan again, she hoped to ferry the girl on her back with her luggage thrown into something softer than a suitcase towards one of Fester’s many safe houses. Then another, and another, until they reached home. It would work. Enid had to tell herself it would work. Because risking hypothermia and a quick end via exposure was worth not knowing her precious daughter was devastated. And would further be when she woke up on Christmas to just one mother.
Talking to her inner wolf while Lydia continued pacing, Enid made sure the Bloodwolf knew what the plan was. It would get to stretch its legs after all this time so long as it was moving towards home. With everything set a little over an hour later, the two women were out in the open courtyard of Nevermore’s first boarding school for their kind. None of the staff had stayed this late into the holidays, not even Aunt Weems, if the two chose to have run of the place. One did not.
Shifting first into her normal wolf form, Enid shook her longer limbs out and looked down at Lydia, resigned and burrowed in a few jackets and holding her things in a large travel bag at her side. Nodding, Enid took a few paces out into the snow, needing the space for the next shift. For a moment, Lydia was awed, watching her mentor literally rip out of her current body as an even larger and more menacing wolf emerged from within. Darker than the previous gold fur, the hulking wolf got its breathing under control before turning wild eyes on the girl not far from it.
Before the bloodwolf lowered itself to all fours and then further to let her climb on, Lydia wasn’t quite certain she was being seen as a friend. Far too much like the woman’s wife, Lydia’s heart was racing. Whatever this thing really was, the bloodwolf Enid’s eyes were terrifying.
Feeling like she was attaching herself to a bear, Lydia wedged herself between her bag and the bloodwolf’s back, screaming when the beast finally began running. It took minutes for the layers of jackets to feel like a bad idea, the hulking wolf beneath her radiating so much heat that Lydia was quite certain they were leaving a stream behind them. Disappearing into the white wall of snow falling endlessly, the two hopefully made their way home.
To say Almeria was sad the next day would be underselling it. Great-Grandmamá could barely get a quirk of a smile when she plied the girl with a plate of early treats. Pugsley’s boy Azrael kept her company, but he also seemed to understand she was in a mood. Grandpa Gomez and Uncle Pubert managed to entertain her the most, a small blessing. Sitting with Morticia, Wednesday eventually crawled into her own mother’s lap as the two stayed glued to the phone. Being nearly 30 didn’t matter right now.
Lydia had let them know they had reached one of the safe houses with a quick call, but it’d been hours since. The silence was oppressive. Times like these, Wednesday realized just how much Enid had reshaped the Addams House. She had become everyone’s Sun, and the entire House felt it.
Moving the big feast to when Enid came home, Great-Grandmamá threw together something quick to get them through the night. Excusing herself from overwatch on the phone lines to be her daughter’s emotional support, Wednesday silently admitted that her little starlight was her own emotional support as well. Needing something, the Raven read a book to her baby girl, knowing full well neither of them really cared about it. Feeling Almeria slip away eventually, Wednesday buried her face in the little girl’s hair, whispering as many prayers as she could stomach.
Surely Wednesday Addams could find a way to exact justice upon the Universe for this one.
The older generations of the Addams family were still milling about in the middle of the night, Gomez taking his duty as the would-be Santa of their home quite seriously. It was of course to distract the man from the missing piece of their family. Morticia was at his side as always, in the midst of offering some support when her attention was pulled out into the distance. It was no different for the current matriarch, Great-Grandmamá coming out of the back rooms with Lurch in tow. “What is it, Mamá?” “Magic. Old magic. We’ll be right back. You can both retire.”
Taking off with the family butler, the two puttered into the greater Addams property on a buggy. With everything set for the morning, the House fell silent, ready for another solemn day come morning.
As they were delaying the big day for their Sun, the elder Addams saw no reason to wake early. Still, something pulled little Almeria out of her slumber in Wednesday’s arms. Wiggling free, her lower lip quivered when her other mommy was nowhere to be seen. Trudging out of her parents’ bedroom in her sleep dress, the little blond was aided by House in her quiet journey downstairs.
Woken not long after by a piercing shriek, Wednesday checked the bed for her daughter before tumbling out in a panic. Making haste downstairs, her sleep-addled brain couldn’t yet work out why Morticia was simply leaning against the doorframe of the living room. Smiling softly at her daughter as she came up from behind her, Morticia gestured inside.
Perched on the sofa facing the two seers, Lydia sat awkwardly, hand stroking something neither woman could see. A riotous mess of black hair sat in a bundle atop her head, several ribbons shooting out in any direction they pleased. Hating the taste of the thought that immediately came to mind, Wednesday was forced to admit the girl was wearing the thrift-store version of her usual attire. The ruckus that had otherwise woken the house up was in the sofa facing away from the Addams women, Almeria’s excitement further baffling the Raven still mired in the fog of sleep. Peering over the back edge of the seat, she gasped when her Enid was strewn across the cushions, sleeping through their little starlight’s fervor.
“Lydia, correct? Welcome to our home, and Happy Christmas.” Finding her inner host, Morticia took the open loveseat to the side, giving a warm look to generations of her family before giving their guest her full attention.
“Oh, yes. Thank you, and Merry Christmas.”
“Me? What about me?”
Perking up from on top of her mother, Almeria looked curiously at the teenager she had otherwise ignored. Hiding a chuckle behind her hand, Morticia watched as Wednesday picked up her baby girl. “Our little starlight here is named Almeria, although my wife has taken to calling her Merry from time to time.”
Nodding her understanding, Lydia offered an apology as everyone got settled in. Gentler than the mutt deserved, Wednesday jostled her wife around to find a place on the sofa with her, laying her blond head on her lap before placing Almeria on her firm stomach.
Joined by everyone else not long later, introductions were once again made, the Addams clan silently studying why their guest would always fix her gaze on something they couldn’t see. And her hand was still curled similarly around something right up against her, resting on air.
“So what my sweet girl has been telling us about you is true. You’re capable of freely interacting with the spirits?” Cocking an eyebrow at the curious teenager, Morticia stroked Gomez’s hand in her lap, the two curled up together on the loveseat. Getting an affirmation, the next matriarch of the house smiled softly. “I do hope you exercise some caution, my dear girl. It wouldn’t do to be possessed on a day like today.”
“As fun as that might be, I don't think I'll have to worry about it. Enid’s wolf took care of that when we arrived.” As their guest began the story of their arrival-slash-retrieval by Great-Grandmamá, it was interrupted by a loud yawn from their precious Sun. Curling over as she sleepily pulled a giggling Almeria into her chest, Enid smiled as she rubbed her cheek on black silk. Pale fingers slid over and pinched the woman’s nose, hastening her joining them all in the living world as the Wolf gasped for air.
Shooting up, their Wolf of sunlight blinked away her sleep, confusion marring her features as she took in the fact she was home. Looking at everyone before her baby girl, who was burrowing as close as she could into her chest, furrowing her brows at the fact she somehow had PJs on before daring a look at her wife. Worried more that she didn’t see anger, the Wolf offered a sheepish smile, defensively pulling her body inward. “Howdy. I made it, right?”
Ghosting a sneer, Wednesday nodded, eyes soft as they took in her beloved Wolf and their baby girl. “Yes you did, heart of mine. Happy Christmas.”
The morning unfolded quickly after that. Popping out of the kitchen, Great-Grandmamá instructed Gomez and Morticia to give their guest a tour of the home and help her get situated in a guest room. Enid was made to go upstairs to wash up, filthy and sticky with sweat from her journey home. Keeping Almeria, Great-Grandmamá had nothing for the rest of them, though she did try to invite Wednesday into the kitchen as well, if only to keep the Raven from harming her Wolf. When said blond came back down after freshening up, it was clear she was in the proverbial doghouse, a dark cloud stalking her shadow.
With the feast they had put off heating up for a grand lunch instead, Great-Grandmamá had trays of cinnamon rolls ready by the time everyone reassembled downstairs. In her pink fluffy PJs, Enid hurriedly arranged her array of presents for the family before finding her seat beside Wednesday, their girl tucked in between them for all of five seconds before the festivities began.
Having no need to let Enid serve as ferrywoman for the family, Lydia would not be going without as she looked at her small pile with surprise. All the more thankful for everyone taking her in on short notice, the teenager was beaming when she opened a black-and-pink box to reveal a long stretch of something hand sewn. Tracing fingers across the comical ghosts littered across the stitching, Lydia perked up when Enid spoke up. “It’s a snood.”
As he was closest, Gomez helped the girl figure out the item. Hiding her messy mop of hair in the thick hood, Lydia kept the scarf portion loose around her shoulders. The House was practically sweltering between the fireplace and the radiant happiness the two resident blonds were feeding each other. “We all have one, my dear girl. Well, besides the children.”
“Mmh, they’ll get theirs when they’re older.” Reaching down to ruffle her baby girl’s hair before she slipped out of reach, Enid stayed glued to Wednesday’s side. Almeria and Azrael got the lion’s share of things, their grandparents spoiling the Hell out of them. Neither set of parents saw fit to stop them, either. The manic joy on the chubby little faces of the latest Addams members was a blessed infection.
A hefty lunch feast and several doses of Great-Grandmamá’s spiced eggnog later, Wednesday and Pugsley retired their children to a heavy nap before joining everyone else out front. Certain it was time to get back to the retelling of their journey here, Lydia cleared her throat, twisting her glass of eggnog in her pale hands.
It had started out fine. The pair were making good time, Enid’s bloodwolf tearing across fields and through the forests available to them. They took a small break at the first safehouse, Lydia handling the phone call with the family. Once they resumed, the heat and rhythmic movement of the giant wolf’s body lulled the teenager to sleep. When she had woken hours later, it was to the troubling realization that the great wolf beneath her was starting to flag.
Cringing at having to out her mentor, Lydia watched the blond woman across from her offer a weak shrug in response. The sullen way she spoke and her manner of dress meanwhile had Wednesday silently cringing herself. Enid was right – Lydia was a teenage white Wednsday.
Without letting her know why, Enid’s wolf clearly lead them off-course. With no other recourse, Lydia simply held on, trusting her mentor’s hidden side to do them right. Reaching an odd trio of trees tucked inside a forest nearby, the teenager was at a lack for words when the wolf knocked on one of the trees before collapsing underneath her. Wondering if she couldn’t call someone, Lydia was scrambling for an answer when something massive approached them from behind the trees. Coated in snow, it looked like a yeti. Leaning towards her, Lydia brought her bag in front of her as her only defense, her mentor heaving for air in the snow beneath her. Unable to hear whatever noises it was making over the whistling storm around them, Lydia found she was helped to her feet before the giant thing hoisted up her mentor.
Fidgeting with her glass, Lydia took half a sip of what was left of her glass. Chancing a look around the room, the girl mumbled at first before repeating it louder.
“Barry took us in.”
The ripple of confusion through the room was palpable. Enid still couldn’t answer to any of it, having hazy memories of everything that happened between the campus and the couch at home.
As it turned out, Barry was the name of the bigfoot that found the wolf and its rider at the edge of his property. Letting the panting bloodwolf recuperate inside his cabin, Barry wasn’t even curious as to how he now had guests. The teenager meanwhile had been struggling to figure out how they were suddenly all the way across the country in Oregon.
The two eldest Addams women were nearly having a low conversation amongst themselves, Great-Grandmamá rocking in her chair beside the fireplace. It was unreal that the bigfoot still existed, most of them having been routed by the industrial age. The eldest Addams wasn’t surprised, knowing the old magic would always find a way.
Serving Lydia a completely random assortment of snacks he had on hand, it took most of the day before the giant werewolf picked itself up off the floor and shook its body. Offering a gruff apology, the dark hulk shrank in size as it returned to the golden blond wolf Lydia knew. Realizing the wolf was passed out once more, the bigfoot sighed before thumping his massive hand on the ceiling. Saying something about a passage, it was a few more hours before rapid clicking against the rafters above them let Barry know…whatever it was.
“He walked us out to some of the giant trees on his property, Enid slung over his shoulder, before pointing between a few of them. Then we walked through and were…here.”
With Enid still passed out at her feet, Lydia had been standing alone at the outer edge of the Addams property before seeing Great-Grandmamá and Lurch pull up with the buggy. Once they were loaded up and safely transported home, the giant wolf Lydia had ridden briefly used Enid’s body to pass warning to the ghosts of the house.
“Aye, and for good cause too.” Great-Grandmamá peered across her stitchings at the young girl on the couch. “As I’m sure my children have informed you, there are a great many spirits floating about this house. They shouldn’t mean harm, but a receptive vessel like you needs to be mindful. That little child that’s stayed at your side since you got here already got possessed by a demon once.”
As Wednesday-esque as she was, that got Lydia to pull her hand away from the air beside her. With that, the tale was over, picking up where the family walked downstairs this very morning.
Hearing her daughter start to wake up sometime later, Enid was quick to race upstairs to greet her. It was in part guilt, wanting the precious girl to see her and be sure it wasn’t all a dream. “Hey munchkin.” “Mommy, are you still in trouble?”
Chuckling, the blond lifted the little girl out of bed, tucking her in her arms. “Yes, but I did a bad thing to keep my promise.” “What?”
Turning to look at the quiet Raven observing them from the doorway, Enid grinned before placing a kiss on Almeria’s forehead. “I didn’t listen to your Mamá.” “Is she mad?”
Sneaking up on the little girl, Wednesday wrapped her arms around them both, nuzzling a kiss into the back of Almeria’s head. “No, my little starlight. I’m not mad.” Letting her dark chocolate eyes settle on Enid’s blues, the look was warm in the face of having both of her girls with her. “I’m miserable that we’re all together.”
Ignoring the howl of more wind and snow outside their room for the tinkling that was the little girl’s laughter, the three eventually rejoined everyone else throughout the House. The holidays were proper again, the Raven having both merry and bright at her side.