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The full moon hung low in the sky as quiet finally settled back over Nevermore. Of course, the remnants of the chaos of Crackstone’s attack still clung to its walls along with the soot of the fires and Bianca knew it would remain there in the days to come as suitcases were packed and students were shuttled out by parents. There would be questions and whispers and stares all aimed at a group of students, one in particular who would glide through it steeped in obvious frustration at the attention.
Bianca didn’t worry about Wednesday Addams, not after last night. She admired her courage, knowing she could easily have left the school. Was already on her way safely home when she stood firm on her convictions and returned, standing readily to battle a foe far beyond her abilities. By her side as the dust settled, Bianca had watched her nod to herself and then look out beyond the courtyard, towards the forest where they both knew all of the students stood, waiting on the outcome of the battle, a single word escaping her lips.
Bianca worried about Enid Sinclair.
She pushed off the cement ledge of the balcony and made her way towards the infirmary, steps echoing down the dark hallway until she reached that door – the spot of so much activity only an hour before stood quiet as she turned the knob and entered. Looking into the space, seeing the one occupied bed, Bianca was sadly thankful it was the only one occupied and all other students were back in their own dorm rooms, at least comforted by roommates as they got through this night.
Her vision was sharp in the dim light of that one lamp beside Enid, and she searched out her raven-haired companion, surprised to not find her seated there at her side. They’d been inseparable since their reunion at the gates of the school, that too-long bloodied hug that stunned students and faculty, but also worked to send out a wave of relief over them. Enid’s werewolf had finally emerged and Wednesday’s raven had been triumphant.
“You look like shit,” Bianca told Enid blankly, sighing and looking down at her sleeping face, marred by four ghastly wounds on the left side.
She hadn’t been able to see them at the gates, between being sandwiched into Wednesday’s shoulder and then being whisked away by Wednesday and faculty to the infirmary, Bianca didn’t know the extent of her injuries – the fact that she lay in that bed… Bianca pulled a chair to sit at her side, looking over the bandages that circled her chest and shoulder and she tentatively reached to take her hand surprised by how soft it was.
Head bowing, she could hear Enid’s thirteen-year-old self declaring brightly, “Hi, I’m Enid Sinclair, I’m new here – do you want to be friends?”
She could also hear herself laugh, could remember how she’d looked her over and determined quickly that she’d do nothing for her reputation or her goals at Nevermore, and had waved a hand, scoffing, “No, shoo.”
Bianca remembered the way her face dropped, the way she’d taken a breath and turned, walking towards Yoko, already coming directly to her, frown set on her lips at Bianca. “Hi, I’m Enid Sinclai…”
“Come on, kid, you’ve really got to learn about the cliques here in school,” Yoko had told her, arm coming out around her shoulder, leading her away.
Holding her hand gently, she frowned, telling her quietly, “I didn’t get the chance to tell you it was crazy brave what you did for Wednesday.” She laughed softly. “I mean, you went out there with all of your pink and pizazz, ready to take on anything for her.” Bianca nodded. “Almost died for her – for all of us.”
Watching her chest rise and fall, Bianca stood and began picking leaves out of her hair, setting them on the table beside her. “It was a good race,” she could remember her saying at the finish line of the Poe Cup the year prior, wrapped in an oversized towel, bottom lip shivering.
“Yeah,” Bianca had told her with a tilt of her head, “Of course it was, we won.”
Frowning at the four lines at her cheek, she understood those were Hyde claw marks. Knew that was how close she had come to being torn apart. Her eyes closed. “I’m sorry, Enid. You only ever wanted…” she trailed, looking to her.
“What good is a werewolf who can’t even wolf out,” Bianca had teased, walking along campus with her friends, staring over at Enid, making her way across the courtyard, caught glancing longingly at the students making their way towards the Lupin cages. She’d seen her eyes then, the way they brimmed with tears before she took off running as Bianca had laughed.
“To belong,” Bianca finished. Enid took a long breath and turned her head away.
“And you dismissed her because you didn’t perceive her as powerful,” Wednesday told her calmly, approaching with a plastic bowl half-filled with water, a couple of washcloths draped over the edge.
Nodding, Bianca watched as Wednesday set the bowl down atop a bedside table and sank a washcloth into it, soaking it and wringing it out. “I was so focused on being at the top of the food chain here, I prioritized the wrong things in finding friendship.”
Feeling her judging eyes on her, Bianca looked to Wednesday as she wiped blood from Enid’s shoulder and diverted her attention there. “They gave Enid a mild sedative – for the pain, and to keep her from transforming again while she’s here,” she informed Bianca. “You don’t have to worry that she heard anything you said.”
“I want her to have heard it,” Bianca admitted. “I was an idiot, about the both of you.”
Wednesday nodded, mouth set in a pensive line as she worked to clear Enid’s face of the remnants of blood and dirt there. “They only really cleaned her wounds, werewolves heal quick enough that stitches aren’t necessary,” Wednesday informed her plainly. “She has a few more wounds across her back and shoulder, a set on her thigh and another at her side. Some scrapes and bruises.”
Bianca plucked another leaf from the blue in her hair and saw where the cleaning ended and the dirt began at her neck and she raised a hand, nodding to Wednesday, “Let me help.”
Wednesday dropped a second washcloth in the water and wrung it out, handing it to Bianca, telling her, “She’ll forgive you, without apology, without request. Enid’s heart is too open, too vulnerable, it’s her greatest weakness.”
Wiping at her temple and over her ear, Bianca shook her head, quietly stating, “It’s her greatest strength.” She looked to Wednesday, “Her parents are shit, you know that,” Wednesday nodded. “Most important people in her life and her mother is non-stop degradation and her father just stands by; most people would put up a shield around themselves with parents like that, but Enid takes those hits and just opens herself back up. I used to think she was the dumbest kid, because for every arrow of hate she takes, she just sends out ten filled with love.” Looking to Wednesday, she sighed, “I didn’t get it before, but I think I do now, because it takes a lot more strength to keep getting back up and choosing that than it does to knock someone down. The person who gets her? Gets a shot at even some of that love? They’d be stupid to turn her away.”
Cleaning her washcloth to work her way down Enid’s arm, Wednesday began to ask, “Are you admitting you’re st…”
“Yes, Wednesday,” Bianca interrupted before uttering quietly, “I’m also telling you something.”
Holding Enid’s open palm against hers, Wednesday nodded slowly, but said nothing and Bianca sighed, looking between the two. She watched the delicate way Wednesday cleaned her and the way her eyes snuck quick glances at her sleeping face, a conflict in those dark eyes Bianca understood all too well.
A year later, she stared into those same eyes in confusion in the same infirmary in the same seat in front of the same bed, watching the way Wednesday’s hands clasped and unclasped nervously between her knees, eyes occasionally drifting to her parents and brother being tended to by school staff. She’d expressed concern about Pugsley’s brain and Bianca understood quickly she hadn’t been making some off-color joke about his intelligence, but she was truly concerned.
“They were literally sucking his power out of his head, why won’t anyone listen to me?”
“Wednesday,” Bianca called, waiting for her to look up at her, knowing the look she wore when her mind was heavy with thought. “Where is Enid?”
Her nod was short and Bianca watched her turn away from her, looking to her brother again, watching her parents doting on him. The past few months had proven to Bianca that the family was weird af, but they were definitely the most normal family she’d ever come across at Nevermore. Wednesday dropped off the infirmary bed, anxiously flapping her hands at her side twice before balling her fingers into fists, walking out of the room to the long outdoor hallway beyond it. Bianca rushed to follow, falling into step at her side as she made her way towards her dorm room in Ophelia Hall, eyes darting in random directions occasionally, almost as though searching.
Par for the course, she would have normally stated to anyone asking, but Bianca knew something was terribly wrong as she followed her, asking again, “Wednesday, where is Enid?”
The question quickened her steps up the first set of stairs into the building and Bianca noticed her movements weren’t as fluid as they usually were. Her pigtails bounced as she made her way up the second set of steps and stopped, just at the door, holding the knob in her hand tightly. A small noise escaped her, almost like a whimper, and Bianca stared, wide-eyed, as the hand there trembled ever so slightly before twisting the knob to step into the room, turning immediately to her left and pausing.
“Wednesday?” Bianca asked, a tremor of fear travelling through her.
Her steps were slow, her breaths deep, holding back, Bianca knew, watching her drift into Enid’s side of the room to come to a stop just at her bed, fingers of her right hand touching the colorful quilt there. Bianca closed the door behind her and waited, swallowing roughly, preparing for the worst. Enid was always by Wednesday’s side; Wednesday had been in the tower when it exploded.
“Is she dead?” Her question was simple, quiet, spoken softly as her eyes studied Wednesday’s reaction.
Those dark eyes lifted and her head shook and Bianca felt a touch of relief, but then Wednesday began in a hushed tone, “She’s an Alpha werewolf; she transformed and apparently there’s a good chance she can’t… transform back. She’s out there,” she shook her head and looked back at the bed. “I told Agnes to track her, I’m not sure how I’ll be able to…” her words ended abruptly.
Wednesday Addams, Bianca thought curiously as she took a step closer, in shock?
“You’ll find her,” she told her confidently.
Eyes coming up to hers again, Bianca saw the sparkle of tears in them and she made her way over, close enough to offer comfort, but not close enough to invade her space. She knew there was only one person she allowed there and they weren’t in the room. Wednesday nodded slowly, telling her, “I just have to come up with a plan, I promised I would go after her, gave her my word right after…” Wednesday’s beaths quickened and she sat, bending forward to plant her elbows into her knees and jam her palms into her eyes.
Bianca saw the tear that escaped just before, watched it splatter onto the wood at Wednesday’s feet. “After what?” She prompted, sitting beside her.
“She said I was her pack,” Wednesday admitted, trying – Bianca could see – to control her breaths. “To… her that’s… everything. I have to find her, I have to get her back, I have to bring her home.”
Bianca chanced to place a hand at her shoulder, telling her softly, “Right now the only thing you have to do is shut up and take a breath before you pass out.”
Nodding into her hands, Wednesday took several long breaths and then she cried. Bianca froze, uncertain, but she kept her hand at her shoulder, continuing to offer the support she was allowing until Wednesday suddenly sucked in a breath and sat up, wiping at her dirt covered face and nodding, looking to her and barking weakly, “I’ve got debris in my eyes.”
“If there were ever a time where it was ok for a hardass like you to cry, tonight is it, Wednesday,” Bianca challenged. “The whole gala, your brother kidnapped, your parents in danger, the two Hydes everyone is talking about right now, and Enid turns werewolf and goes missing?”
Standing, Wednesday went to the window, looking out at the world through Enid’s colors, feeling them against her skin as she stared out at the moon. “She did it for me.” Her words were almost silent and Bianca stood, not certain if she’d heard her correctly. “I was buried alive. Agnes broke her out of the Lupin cages – she would have been safe there.”
“Wednesday, you would be dead if she stayed there.”
Her eyes turned and Bianca could see the almost imperceptible nod of her head. The acceptance of the fact that she’d rather be dead if it meant Enid was safe. Bianca’s lips pressed together and she raised a hand to touch a bar of pink and sigh. “I remember when she did this – whole school made fun of her for days, but she was so proud. I don’t think she’d ever expressed herself fully until that day.” Bianca smiled. “Everything got more colorful after that.”
Wednesday bowed her head. “I let her in,” she told her, looking up at her confused expression to remind, “You said, a year ago, that anyone who turned Enid away would be stupid.” She nodded. “She emptied her quiver into my black heart and as much as I fought it, I let her in.”
Bianca took a small breath as Wednesday looked up at her, realizing the confession her friend was making, and she told her confidently, “You’ll find her, Wednesday. She knows you will.”
“She ran scared, she’ll get lost, how will she know I’ll be able to find her?” Wednesday demanded, more fearful, Bianca knew, than angry.
“Because she loves you too.”