Chapter Text
A feeling is a wish – a hope, a plea
For all the twisting, churning, burning pain -
I am certain, emotion is not reality
Reality is before us, and affective is within
I can be mad enough to kill or jealous to steal,
Yet a feeling does not constitute a sin
Once I professed, I wanted to care more
And as I allowed myself to do so,
I have found my heart frequently aching – sore
How to balance the truth with what my spirit insists,
How to experience a spectrum of feeling,
Gauge my own reaction, is the problem that persists
…And this is why I need to go back to therapy.
X
Wednesday didn’t fully understand how her body processes worked when she was in the ether, but there must have been more to it that was physical than she originally realized. Her mouth was dry, but her palms were giving off a rare, clammy sweat as she folded and unfolded her fists.
“I’ve…made a mistake,” She finally decided, staring past Dr. Kinbott to the blank wall behind her.
“Wednesday Addams, admitting she made a mistake! I think I’ve missed a lot. This is a great place to start.” Dr. Kinbott gave her genuine smile and a sweep of her hand in an effort to get Wednesday to take a seat.
Staring out of the corner of her eye as Dr. Kinbott made herself comfortable, on the edge of one of the pristinely white chairs, Wednesday stiffened her shoulders. “I shouldn’t have come.”
“You’re troubled, Wednesday – and…not in the way that I knew you to be,” She said softly. “I can see it – on your face. There’s not this…sheen of indifference that used to come before every other emotion you tried to hide. Can you answer a question for me?” Wednesday flickered her gaze up again. “How long has it been?
Looking down at a remarkably interesting patch of carpet fibers, Wednesday calculated, “About sixteen months.”
“Time works very differently here, then. It hardly feels like it’s been a few days.”
Wednesday stared at her fingernails, noting the polish starting to chip near the cuticle of her left pinky. She tried to distract from what the doctor said about her emotional tells by focusing on the mystery of the ether. “It passes by quickly for me, too – when I visit…others. What feels like minutes can actually be hours.”
“If that’s the case, I suppose we shouldn’t waste any time.”
Wednesday could practically bore an emergency exit into the wall with her fierce, unblinking gaze as she stared just a touch beyond her left ear at the yellow wall behind her. The symmetrical windows brought in a bright, somehow natural light – a strange phenomenon on the other side. She almost wished that she had more time to simply explore the ether itself…perhaps writing a list of questions for her granny, who’d spent so much time there would be helpful –
“Before I ask you more about yourself, Wednesday…I’m wondering if I could selfishly ask you about…what happened?” Dr. Kinbott wondered. Wednesday managed to snap out of her thoughts, looking at her once again, despite the way it made her stomach churn.
She swallowed, giving a tiny bob of her head, reversing the ‘session’ with a question of her own. “Did you determine that Tyler was a Hyde, or – someone capable of the violence in Jericho?”
“I was starting to put pieces together myself,” She admitted. “I didn’t have a concept of what a Hyde could be. But…” She closed her eyes. “Wednesday – now that I am dead, I can finally speak about something that I couldn’t, for a long time. I have a feeling; Tyler was not fully responsible for his actions – with the ability to transform or not. I’m not exactly sure how the Outcast abilities work, but there is someone else -”
“You mean to tell me of Quinton Bridger,” Wednesday stopped her before she could waste too much time. “He’s dead. I murdered him.”
Dr. Kinbott opened and closed her mouth. “Perhaps…you could spare a few minutes to tell me the story then. Tyler was this…Hyde, you say. A violent shapeshifter…whom I believe might have been under control of Quinton, then?”
“Indirectly,” Wednesday explained. “He couldn’t have unlocked him, because it requires a trusting relationship, and Quinton wasn’t capable of creating those. But he was the mastermind behind everything that’s happened in Jericho, and the Outcast world at large, since 1984. His people had connections well before that and had been running a well-orchestrated plot from the inside of the Outcast Network to see to it that certain types of Outcasts no longer exist. There have been dozens of Outcast subtypes that have gone extinct, and it wasn’t natural selection – it was pure oppression, a near genocide. Long story short – Quinton was using the Gates family prejudice to cover up his own dirty work. Laurel Gates, aka, Marilyn Thornhill – the Normie botanist at Nevermore, was the one who was controlling Tyler.”
Dr. Kinbott looked like she could be a little sick. Wednesday glanced to the side. “It would take me forever to explain the details – but he’s…presently held at Springwater.”
That made her gaze water. “How…did you get to the point where you were able to kill Quinton, without his power impacting you?”
“Sheer dumb luck, my family, and my friends. With the knowledge that he’d never receive true justice for all the crimes he committed in front of a court of law, were what allowed me to put a knife through him…a host of times,” She muttered. “Quinton had kidnapped and mentally tortured, then buried alive my girlfriend. We found her just in time. When it came down to it, he was going to kill Larissa Weems or myself – he was completely unhinged. He didn’t even have a soul anymore. There was no shred of light or goodness left in him. He was almost being…split – from the human condition, into just pure evil and hate. I had no intention of committing murder that night. I was going to try to send his soul to the nether, the dark side of this space – but it became apparent, Quinton didn’t have a soul to send. We were trapped with him in an underground tunnel – where there are hundreds, if not thousands of Outcast bodies buried, all victims of his rhetoric and years of Network abuse against the people they were supposed to protect. When he stabbed Larissa…I went into a blind rage and returned the favor in an impulsive decision, on behalf of the fifty-seven personal victims of his that I was aware of.”
There was a long beat as Dr. Kinbott drew meaning from everything Wednesday was saying in her most even cadence possible, regarding the entire event. She hadn’t expected to confess to being a murderess around her dead therapist, at least not right away, but it sort of felt freeing. More so, when Dr. Kinbott gave a sincere, “Thank you, then. For bringing the real perpetrators of my death to justice, Wednesday.”
She gave a rare blink, having expected something about violence not being the answer to solve her problems. With a furrowed brow she chided, “There is no way you think it’s acceptable that I committed a homicide.”
“On the contrary, Wednesday,” Dr. Kinbott said, putting a hand on her own knee, leaning forward just a little. “I commend you for doing what had to be done. If I’d had the nerve, or ability to stab him myself, when he was putting me through what he did – I would have. I knew I couldn’t be the only one, when he had the power of my confession dangled over my survival.”
She felt her mouth twist into a familiar sneer that threatened to release tears. “I don’t need to be appeased by everyone in my life for what I’ve done!” She said as she stood up abruptly, turning around crossing her arms, her heartrate pulsing in her ears with frustration. “You are allowed to think that it’s unacceptable. I’m not going to turn around and kill everyone who thinks that what I did was wrong!”
Dr. Kinbott gave her a quiet moment before approaching, standing a little bit behind her. “I have a feeling, much like myself, the people in your life who have had this conversation with you already aren’t living in fear of you, Wednesday.”
“You did!” She turned around, sending her a hurt glare, sure it was shining with more emotion than she ever wanted to release around the woman. There was tension she felt from what happened the last time that she’d seen Dr. Kinbott, that had stuck with her in misplaced ways and only been let out in moments of pure frustration around Josie – back when she’d still been just Dr. Zypher to her. “You were going to call the judge and tell them to institutionalize me!”
Dr. Kinbott dropped her shoulders. “And I regret saying that to you. I…I confess, I was not qualified, at least, I didn’t have the experience to help you. I didn’t know what to do with you. The only other client I’d ever had who…worried me the way that you did that day, was Tyler. And it became pretty evident why, within moments after you left.” She took a breath. “I’m very sorry, Wednesday. For making you think that for even a moment – you should have gone to a place like that.”
She blinked against her will, unable to hold the harsh stare any longer. She knew the small muscles in her face were betraying her with emotion that was bubbling right at the surface.
“I might not know all of the details, but I know what you were like trying to solve a mystery when I was alive. I’m certain you gave much of yourself to be able to put all the pieces together, regarding Quinton…what you’re telling me about the Network…Wednesday, it sounds like you revealed a centuries-old conspiracy. By putting an end to it all, you have saved potentially thousands of lives from hate and cruelty. It’s those very traits I worried about, for you, that led to you solving the problem. I’m sorry for misjudging you, Wednesday.” Hearing a little breath from behind her, Wednesday felt Dr. Kinbott standing a little bit closer. “I’m not certain if you only said it in jest, to mollify my concerns, but…you said, one of the last times we saw one another, that you were approaching the half-hug stage. Is that true? Because a little bit of touch can release oxytocin, and reduce levels of cortisol to make you feel -”
Wednesday cut her off by turning around, rolling her eyes and leaning forward a little. She certainly wouldn’t come forward first to initiate the embrace but welcomed one upon her.
Dr. Kinbott put a hesitant hand between her shoulder blades, stepping almost professionally to the side and giving her the half-hug that Wednesday had once tried to placate her with. It was a surprisingly unhelpful touch, and Wednesday let out a sound like a sigh, twisted, and hooked her arms around Dr. Kinbott’s middle, while she folded her into the more proper hug. “You have accepted so much love into your life, Wednesday. I can feel it. Yet, you’re…bothered, maybe even hurt, by something that seems like it may have been beyond your control. Will you tell me about what’s really upsetting you? What you came here for?”
“There are more confessions of things bothering me than we certainly have time for in this space today.”
Dr. Kinbott pulled away and she felt herself sour. The woman was dead, she didn’t need to adhere to a code of conduct of any kind, and if Wednesday was going to be honest, she needed to be able to recognize the love and trust that the other party had for her. She led her to the sofa, sitting beside her. If Wednesday were with any of the other women in her life, she’d likely have just curled up and let them hold onto her until she was willing to make her confession. But…maybe –
Maybe there was some power in not being so emotionally attached to everyone she trusted. Wednesday recognized the importance in opening herself up, and did not regret that with Enid, her mother, Dr. Zypher turned big sister figure Josie, even her Aunt Larissa (though sometimes that was challenging). Wednesday could not have navigated her junior year if she’d been as closed off to feelings and people as she had been when she was Dr. Kinbott’s client. But – by not being so close, it was possible that Dr. Kinbott could be a little bit more objective when listening and giving follow-up. The therapist might have advice that could be more readily applied to her situations than the people who loved her the most, simply because she had no skin in the game.
She could tell Dr. Kinbott about the myriads of angst, fears, and horrors she had and endured since they last saw one another. She could lay out why she thought her future was so uncertain, her jealousies, her sense of inadequacy…but, without fear that Dr. Kinbott was saying over-the-top or unrealistic platitudes to try and move her to a specific objective or simply out of her discomfort. If anything, Dr. Kinbott would probably suggest that she sit with discomfort sometimes and explain how it could help.
“We certainly don’t have to touch on all the tricky subjects today. What if we pick one of the myriads of concerns that you have, and just focus on that? If you find it helpful, to have come here to let out some of what you’re holding in, you can always come back.”
Wednesday was quiet for a long minute. She knotted her fingers together over her knee, sitting up straight and trying to find something interesting in the room to look at.
When too much time must have passed in silence, Dr. Kinbott shifted just a little, turning slightly more towards her. “I know you don’t like to talk. But – save the background. Don’t give me the full context. Perhaps, just start with the core of the problem, and we can expand on it together with why it is a problem. You said you have a lot that troubles you, but what was the final trigger that brought you here today? We can start with that one, since it was big enough that you had this idea to visit.”
With the permission not to have to give the entire backstory, but let it unfold through the actual therapeutic process, Wednesday shocked herself as she confessed, “I have deeply rooted apprehension towards physical intimacy.”
Dr. Kinbott nodded. “That is in line with what I knew about you. Though, as you demonstrated, you have actually embraced physical touch, and you mentioned having a girlfriend, so I am surprised to hear that apprehension is still something that you’d use to describe your feelings towards it. I am under the impression that this is bothering you, and that you’d like to move past it.”
“Yes,” She said in a way that was like a breath of relief.
Dr. Kinbott wondered, “Wednesday, you don’t have to go into specifics, but it would be helpful to know - did something happen in your life that led to you harboring this…uneasy feeling?”
“Not to me,” She was quick to say. “But…to you, and many others – I have seen in my visions. I have been forced to endure the horrific acts that not only Quinton forced on women, but his coworkers at the Network, and people like him who came before.”
There was a moment of quiet. As Wednesday expressed what she had seen and learned, she realized – it was possible that Dr. Kinbott had never been able to reveal to anyone the full extent of what had happened to her. She could have repressed the memory for years, and Wednesday might’ve reopened a wound in an attempt to heal her own.
“I’ll go,” Wednesday said, rising fast as she untangled herself from her tight clench.
“I…think we should talk about it,” Dr. Kinbott spoke from behind her. “It is something that due to whatever that terrible man did to me, I couldn’t talk about in life. I wanted to – but apparently, I had a will to live that was stronger than my wish to see him brought to justice. Perhaps, though – it was…so long ago, when I first started, at Springwater…maybe if I’d have endured the pain, and my life had ended then, I would not have had to put so many others through such intense suffering.”
Wednesday turned around, seeing the way that her therapist was taking a turn to stare at her own lap. She didn’t know what to say to her other than, “Time is a gift that I have come to cherish deeply. Time played a fascinating role in all of this. And in time, the Outcast world will be made right, and things will be fairer for us. I wish they could have been fairer for you.” She blinked again with a sigh, managing to look at Dr. Kinbott in the eyes once more. “I’m sorry, Dr. Kinbott. I wish you hadn’t been so entangled in this Outcast conspiracy. It wasn’t fair to you. We need Normie allies. You were a remarkable one. And your life was unjustly taken too soon due to the entanglements of the Outcast world. I regret how hostile and challenging I previously was. I wish you could know me as I am now, rather than who I was before.”
Dr. Kinbott stared right at her, almost disbelieving for a split-second. Wednesday knew better than to take it personally – she wouldn’t have believed it herself sixteen months prior, if someone had showed her a vision of herself in the present summer month. She sat herself on the cushion again, tilting her head a little as Dr. Kinbott gave a small apology of her own. “I’m a little bit overwhelmed, by your apology, and your statement of how you viewed me. Thank you, Wednesday,” Her voice was tight, like she was trying not to cry. She let out a deep breath of her own and nodded. “I think that it might do well to unpack the topic you brought up, a bit more, if you want to keep talking about it?” She gave one curt nod. “Have you…had to stop intimate activity with your girlfriend, or have you not made it that far?”
“Enid respects my boundaries,” Wednesday stated with a neutral face. “We haven’t had to stop, because she doesn’t push me any further than I want to go.”
“Well, that’s amazing news. Not everyone has such a respectful partner, who would be able to put their own wants aside. Has Enid expressed any interest in taking things further than you have?”
“She is ready only when I am, she says,” Wednesday tried not to let her cheeks flare up. As embarrassing as it was, she already felt like – it was easier to talk to Dr. Kinbott and expect a more honest response, because she’d never properly met Enid. She didn’t have any projections to place on her of what she thought Enid would or would not want or do. “But I am not ready.”
“Wednesday, despite what any media might want you to believe, not all teenagers have sex. In fact, reports from a few years ago suggested that less than half do.”
That statistic was relatively surprising.
“The very idea of virginity is very different across cultures, religions, and in individual morality. I believe it should only have the importance that you want it to have. Not your school, not your parents, not your peers. It’s as important as it is to only you, because it is your body. You get to decide what you do with your body – within reason, of course, but especially in this area.”
“But that – is what has unsettled me so deeply about all of this,” Wednesday felt herself start to get emotional again. “Because so many people – multiple of which, I knew personally, they didn’t have a choice.” She looked up and to the side. “I don’t know if she would want me to discuss this, but I suppose there isn’t anyone for you to go and share it with…”
Dr. Kinbott offered a closed lipped smile. “It would be against my code of ethics to speak of what happens in session, regardless – unless there is a court-mandated order, of course.”
Wednesday gave a visible swallow before regaling the tale of her mother and Garret Gates, how she had also found sex to be an intimate, personal thing between one person she loved – and feared what Garret would do to her, so engaged far before either of them intended to.
“And after that awful monster took Enid,” Wednesday looked up, her eyes shining, “I assumed…he would do the worst to her…and somehow – by only the miracle of time, he didn’t have enough – his body was…crumbling, and he didn’t have the physical stamina to fight her in that way…Enid did not have to go through that type of physical assault by him.”
With that, a tear rolled down her cheek and Wednesday felt another bout of shame as it did. “But – when we couldn’t find her…I was so worried that…I couldn’t function. For hours – I blacked out in fear. And…helplessness, and horror – knowing, that I hadn’t been able to…engage with her that way – and thinking he would violate -” The sound that came out of her, Wednesday could never have predicted. An audible sob left her throat as twin tears released at the same time. She covered her face with her hands – having needed to cry about it for some time.
Dr. Kinbott was maintaining the professionalism that Wednesday needed. She wanted to be swooped up and held and cuddled and coddled – but she’d had that, and it hadn’t helped. Dr. Kinbott sat with her legs perpendicular to hers, an arm behind Wednesday on the oddly-shaped sofa, holding the physical space for Wednesday to let out the soft cry of a sound that she needed to. The feelings were welcome, Dr. Kinbott had told her that from day one. She’d just never felt like she could have them, when they were living clinician and patient.
“When…you blacked out,” Dr. Kinbott wondered, “Do you know what happened to you?”
“I was escorted to the police station. I came to – Aunt Larissa, she was there…” Dr. Kinbott perched a brow beneath her fluffy bangs as Wednesday used the familial title. “You missed a lot,” Wednesday groaned, looking up. She bit her lip, recalling what she’d been lugging around for some time as she’d reflected on the fall. Opening her backpack, she pulled out the journal from the start of her junior year. “I can leave this with you. It will catch you up on summarizing events. It’s an extremely concise summary of my thoughts at the time. If I went through every unsufferable detail, it would be something like…an over the top, excessive narrative around one million, four hundred thousand words or so, if I had to guess. Thankfully, I know how to condense things for my memory. And, for my previous psychologist, I guess.” She rolled her eyes a little as Dr. Kinbott took the book with a gentle thanks, setting it beside her.
“What happened with your Aunt Larissa, at the police station?”
Wednesday pushed her sleeve up, revealing her blood sugar monitor. “It turns out that about fifty percent of my moods and meltdowns could be attributed to untreated hypoglycemia. Aunt Larissa was feeding me to try and re-connect me with my human nature,” Wednesday grumbled, there was so much to explain. “I…believe that when we knew one another in life, I was often stuck in a state of depersonalization or derealization. It comes and goes in waves – nothing like another Raven I know but…it has had a significant impact on my life.”
She could hear Larissa’s words in her ear as she remembered what she’d said, “Eat, Wednesday – drink, please, before you attempt anything metaphysical, take care of your physical.”
“I was able to do some divination work I didn’t know was possible to offer strength to Enid, but my soul traveling through dimensions like that – it made me sick and exhausted. I threw up and fell asleep before I could do any more worrying. Nothing brings me back to the fact that I am quite mortal like throwing up and having seizures.” She rolled her eyes. “When I woke up, I was even more concerned. I did another feat of divination – I was here, in the ether. I communicated with spirits I’d met before. They helped me locate Enid…and the wait between knowing where she was an actually getting to her was the most agonizing moments of my life.”
Wednesday felt tears welling up again – supposing, she hadn’t really spoken much about it. Everyone had been there, seen it all, the night it went down. She hadn’t had to summarize the events. “When we pulled Enid out of a coffin…she was naked – which, was why I assumed she had been assaulted,” She whispered, thinking about what she’d looked like… “She wasn’t breathing – her heart wasn’t beating and…I’ve never…I’ve never been the person that I was in hysteria, from pulling the lid off the coffin to hearing them say she had a pulse. Even after…I…I wasn’t well. My father grabbed me, so the EMS team could work, my uncle sat on me, held me down so I would stop attacking everyone around me. It was Aunt Larissa who got me settled. She laid down, across from me, in the dirt, she held my hands and managed to get me to breathe. When she knew I wasn’t going to run or hurt anyone, she put me in her arms and held me…oh, I…also had a concussion…she was just rubbing the back of my head, where I’d hit it, and narrating everything going on in a very soothing tone. She got me steady again so that I could be more cooperative and go with Enid to the hospital. When we were there, the doctors told us there was no sign of sexual assault, and…it was the greatest relief I’d felt other than when I heard her pulse was back. The murder was about fourteen hours after that.”
“What I’m hearing…is a lot of reflection,” Dr. Kinbott said, crossing one leg over the other as she thoughtfully met Wednesday’s eyes, passing her a tissue from a never-ending box in the ether. Wednesday wondered if her body cried on the other side. “You’ve analyzed the event many times, and you have been very mindful about how you reacted to it. It’s obvious from this one conversation, Wednesday – how much work you have done on yourself over the last sixteen months. I don’t think I ever heard you speak so much in all of our sessions combined, as you just shared with me in that one story – let alone, connected your thoughts to feelings and events…what you did, which parts of those events were not such great reactions…how others helped you – how you let them help you! Wednesday…I’m so proud of you,” Dr. Kinbott said with bright, shining eyes. “And I think that with everything you told me – the frustration you have towards yourself, regarding your hesitation towards intimacy, when you love someone so much, you’d obviously go through hell itself to get them back…I understand, where that frustration is coming from.”
Wednesday let out a breath of relief. No one had told her that – everyone had just been promising that it was okay to take her time, that it would happen when she was ready. No one had said it was okay to be mad about it!
“I want to get past it and not just for the sake of sex. I don’t ever want to do it just to do it. I want that time with the person I love the most to be meaningful, because – as I said, it’s a meaningful act to me.”
“Absolutely,” Dr. Kinbott said. “My suggestion for you, is to not pressure yourself – because it sounds like you’ve already communicated your wants and needs, and have a partner who respects and expects them. That should be a given, but many people don’t have that in their relationships. Don’t push yourself to go all the way – but consider if there is…something new you could explore, that feels right. Can you try a new place to be in one another’s company, is there…you know – a body part you haven’t had touched that seems like it could be comfortable? I think you know yourself well. Maybe you can examine if there’s something else you’d be willing to try – when, and where.”
Wednesday was sure she was beat red in the face, but gave a firm nod. “I hope you don’t find this a rude ask, but – who have you been seeing that you’ve been able to make such tremendous growth in your own psychology?”
“I was forced to endure another round of therapy, from a set of Outcast twin psychologists hired by Nevermore. I was truthful to them because I realized that I would have to be in order to finally lose the court mandate, but I was not honest. Everything was surface-level. I tried to go back, after everything happened with Larissa.” She gestured to the journal. “But I mostly just used it as an excuse to not attend other requirements that I was too overwhelmed by at the time. Oh,” She paused and rolled her eyes. “Since then, I’ve been medicated as well. For both my seizures and…anxiety. It turns out I’m more than just perpetually suspicious of everyone around me. Begrudgingly, I must say – it helps.”
“Hey, if you can’t make your own neurotransmitters, store-bought are fine,” Dr. Kinbott winked. “Classic psychology bumper sticker inspiration.”
“My new mentor that was assigned to me by Nevermore last fall…Dr. Zypher – Josie, to me now, she’s been adopted by my family as my big sister…she pushed me to being in touch with my feelings, helped me identify that the relationship I wanted with Enid was more than friendship, and was even one of the bridges to help me get to my mother, as well. Understanding her past has helped me tremendously. We’re quite close now. And, helping Larissa Weems get her life back – we shared a magical consequence that helped as well. There have been a lot of extraordinary women in my life who I let in enough to help me hopefully become one as well.”
“I think you are well on your way,” Dr. Kinbott promised her with a bright smile. “I’m not sure if this was very productive. I don’t know that I was really able to give you much feedback – at least, probably not what you were looking for tonight…today?”
“Probably tomorrow by now,” Wednesday assumed.
“Either way…Wednesday, I think this was a really great start to something that may help you reveal the answers you are looking for to yourself. But I’m not sure if this is actually a healthy coping mechanism to offer, speaking to your dead therapist?”
Feeling herself deflate, she knew it translated to her face. “But I can’t find a living one that I am able to put my trust in.”
Dr. Kinbott smiled a little. “Building a trusting relationship was something I wanted to be able to do with you. I’m not refusing to see you here, again. But I would prefer if you talked to your parents about it? Maybe Enid, or someone else you care about, too? Just…gathering some opinions of those on the other side would make me feel more comfortable. And – I want you to also do a little bit of work on figuring out timing between this world and yours, to make sure you don’t lose too much of it. Would you be willing to do those things, before coming back sometime?”
She nodded. “I have a neurology appointment on Friday. Provided they don’t have to remove my brain to place into a jar for study, and that my living loved ones approve, perhaps I return early next week.”
“I will have no concept of when that will be,” Dr. Kinbott said with a little chuckle. “But I’ll be here. I’ll be waiting. I do hope to see you again, Wednesday.”
She gave a sharp gaze towards her journal that was on the sofa, hoping she’d successfully get it back – feeling like leaving such a personal item behind was another huge demonstration of her growth and ability to trust others over the last year. With a deep exhale and letting her eyelids flutter shut, Wednesday let herself be taken back to her body.
X
Wednesday came-to in the physical realm to the lingering smell of cigars, a tight grip around her shoulders and middle, and a gurgle in her stomach. Blinking her eyes open just into slits, she glanced around – identifying herself in the den, snug in her father’s hold while he lounged in the reclining chair that he’d clearly fallen asleep watching Normie television on – a black and white episode of Mr. Ed about to come to an end.
Craning her neck a little, she squinted at the grandfather clock – the dark of the room giving away that it was nearly two in the morning.
She groaned, squeezing Gomez’s hand after uncurling hers from the tight x-shape it was in over her chest. He opened his eyes with a snap and a little suck of air through his nostrils, staring down at her with a mildly concerned sort of love. “My scorpion, it’s been hours. Are you alright?”
Nodding, she let him part her bangs, feeling for a fever with the back of his wrist. He brought his lips down to push a kiss there, shaking his head. “You were feeling a little feverish for about an hour, I put towels on your neck and ice under your arms. I apologize, for the intrusion of your person. But you were unresponsive to any attempts to bring you back, so I brought you in here to keep an eye on you but…it seems I fell asleep. My apologies.”
She felt fairly out of it – between her vision earlier, her physical response, then something close to twelve hours having passed in the ether, she didn’t know if she had anything to say. Gomez chuckled as another episode of the show started and he gave her a playful bounce, singing along, “A horse is a horse, of course, of course, and no one can talk to a horse, of course, that is of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed!”
“Father, please.”
“Oh, you used to love it when I made the nuckelavee talk to you.”
“You leave my demon rocking horse out of this,” She said with a little smirk at the memory of trying not to smile at her father’s antics when she was small. “Enid said it’s the one thing in this house she doesn’t like. I don’t want it going to any future little Addams.”
“Ah. If there shall be any blessed – we will craft them only the most stunning of Black Beauties.” Wednesday’s stomach gave an embarrassing growl and her father chuckled, giving her a final squeeze. “Let’s find ourselves a midnight snack and you can take your medications before heading to bed proper.”
Sliding down to her feet, which felt like gelatin, Wednesday felt the full forces of her blood sugar levels being low as she almost lost her footing. Her father caught her, taking her elbow as she stabilized herself. “Easy, storm cloud.”
If she weren’t so hyper-aware of her mood being hunger and exhaustion related, Wednesday could’ve let him have it.
“Please tell me you’ve received word on Emiliana’s surgery?”
“More than that,” He promised, escorting her to take a seat in the kitchen, pushing a banana into her hand after peeling it hastily, preparing something from the refrigerator. “There has been a host of news that you will find intriguing this evening.”
Obliging as she took a bite of banana, Wednesday chewed slowly and waited for him to dispatch what had happened. “Well, start with that – as someone living with a similar condition, I feel a sense of urgency around all medical procedures related to my fellow Raven.”
As Gomez reheated whatever had been for dinner, he brought over her phone from his pocket. “Check your messages. Josephine, Enid, and Pugsley all have news.”
Opening a message from Josie, he revealed a photo of Emiliana. Her left was eye swollen completely shut, but the right open in a half-slit, holding her pink, Beanie Baby poodle to her chest with a trace of a smile. There was sicky residue from tubing on her face, a large bandage on the left side of her head.
Reading the message, she felt her heartbeat in double time in just a flitter of hope.
I hope you’re feeling a bit better. I’m sorry there wasn’t much more any of us could do to help today.
Em was out of surgery around 8:30 tonight – took a lot longer than expected, but she did great! Everything went better than Rodman expected.
Full details on the medical stuff another time – but Dr. Rodman’s experimental poking around and standard fluid drainage system went well.
She woke up around 10, crying and asking for Brigette. Thank you so much for being so thoughtful. She’s snuggled in with her now, fast asleep.
I hope you’re able to rest, eat up and take care of yourself. Don’t feel pressured to come up here! Em would obviously like to see you, but she’ll understand.
Wednesday decided to give the message a heart to acknowledge it. Yawning, she thanked her father when he brought her over the very late supper, managing to poke around at it as she glanced at her other missed messages.
There were eighty-four in the Nightshades group chat. She opened it to clear them, then immediately went back to the previous screen, trying to hide a smile as she saw Enid’s series of selfies. She was standing outside the New York City Public Library with the lions, looking nervous, then giving a thumbs’ up, walking behind a librarian, and then walking out with a small stack of books and a big smile.
My first solo mish, success! Mama called and told me what happened. I’m sorry, Wednesday. I’m going to keep my noti’s on and my phone as loud as it will go. Please call me before you go to sleep? I’ll do my best to wake up! I’m sorry in advance if I sleep through it.
She made a bob of her head – she’d try to call before lying down.
Finally, there was Pugsley, who sent a picture of himself and Eugene in a very familiar location.
Hey, sis!
We finished up the study with Dr. Gallor! He brought us back to Jericho and said we can stay and help with the second part of the work (the boring stuff) in the lab until Sunday!
But GUESS WHAT? I actually detected a ley line! When we drove near the Gates mansion on the way into town, I felt like I was going to get car sick. That wasn’t it at all! I was sensing the energy! Dad said he thinks that I’ve unlocked the family power! Isn’t this so cool? I can sense all kinds of mystical and paranormal stuff now! Of course that doesn’t mean I’ll know what to do with it – but that’s what we’ve got you and mom and granny for!
In a picture, he was standing with Eugene, looking like complete dorks with twin smiles as they fed the snakes in the herpetology lab. In the next, they were working on insect taxidermy in the entomology office. Finally, they were at dinner with the entire Gallor family, with Owen, Larissa, Holly, and the senior Gallors and Owen’s parents as well.
Feeling a wash of pride for her brother, and relief that he’d somehow accomplished his goal (though she couldn’t deny, she was worried about him sensing any kind of energy near that house), Wednesday nodded as her father was trying not to ramble on in his joy for his children at such an early hour, spectacularly failing until a pair of arms covered in a slinky, sheer nightgown covered his shoulders. He was silenced by the presence of his wife, kissing his jaw as her nighttime braid fell over her shoulder. She whispered something into his ear and he smirked, nodding.
Wednesday tried not to watch in disgust as he kissed her in return, giving a dramatic bow to his daughter before heading up the stairs. Wednesday looked at her mother with tired eyes as she tried to ask how she was feeling in nonverbal ways. Replying by pushing her leftovers away and looking up at her with permission to mother, Wednesday waited to be taken care of.
Morticia softened even more. She moved to the counter, taking a carafe and pouring a cup of water, opening a drawer filled with Wednesday’s health necessities, taking out the medication she needed. Wednesday popped the pills in her mouth and sighed. “Can we talk, tomorrow? I require a permission slip, of sorts.”
Though her tired gaze sparkled with curiosity, Morticia merely bobbed her head. “In the morning, whenever you’re ready. Let’s get to bed. I can’t imagine how much energy you’ve expelled today.”
She escorted her daughter up to her tower bedroom – the trek one of those that nearly made Wednesday regret wanting to be up so high.
Inside, she found the sight of two snakes twisted on the bed, Piper and Altair eager to be snuggled up for the night. Forgetting that she was snake-sitting, Wednesday gave them both a pet to the top of their heads, then almost laughed at the sight of Augustus bopping his snout in forlorn exclusion from his tank. Deciding he’d be warm enough in the cuddle, she let him out to twist up with the other two while Morticia passed Wednesday one of her oversized nightshirts. Slipping it on and brushing her teeth, she let her mother snap the rubber bands out of the bottom of her hair, untwisting the braids with her fingers, running them through long locks repeatedly until her daughter was finished.
When she sat on the edge of the bed, Wednesday eyed the spot beside her. Morticia took the invitation, sweeping her arm around her in a hug that Wednesday melted against. “I love you,” She softly reminded her. “Call Enid, I’m confident she will hear the ring.”
Nodding, Wednesday allowed her to pat her back. Just as she was about to leave, Wednesday caught her hand. Morticia looked back at her with gentleness, crouching in front of her, wondering, “What is it?”
Unable to look her in the eye, Wednesday stared at the small, silky hair tie that held her braid together. “I love you, too.”
That made her mother smile. She pecked the top of her head before disappearing, dark colors fading into the hallway as she closed the door behind her.
Wednesday moved a charger to be closer to her bedside table, plugging in her phone. She made herself comfortable, turning on a reading light on the nightstand, then dialed out to Enid.
It only took about three rings before the sleepy voice of her girlfriend came through. “OhEmGee, Wednesday,” She said so groggily. “You’re up. That was a long ass trip in the ether, and after a seizure – I’m not so sure it was -”
“I’m okay,” She promised. “It was fruitful. Successful, one might even say. Worth the energy expended.”
“Oh,” Enid turned on a light, rubbing her eye, staring at her on the screen. “How are you feeling, physically?”
“I’m merely tired. I hardly even have a headache, actually. Enid, tell me more about the library. What titles did you obtain? What was it like interacting with the librarians? Who -?”
“Wednesday, honestly,” Enid sighed, looking genuinely sad for a moment as she rolled over on her pillow, propping the phone up on another. “You had what I’m assuming was one of those awful visions…and then a seizure, and then you spent half a day, almost, in the ether. Please?”
“But I’m okay. I’m…I went to therapy,” She said with a reluctant sigh. “I…visited Dr. Kinbott.”
Enid blinked at her, as if she weren’t sure about what she said. “You…went to Dr. Kinbott’s therapy session…um, in the ether?” Wednesday gave a small nod. “You have had how many offers from the twins – or to see someone else, but you’re going to go with the woman that you wanted nothing to do with in life, once she’s dead?”
Feeling a little blindsided that she didn’t immediately have Enid’s support, Wednesday knit her brows together. “At least I talked to someone about it! And I didn’t have to burden you with -”
“Wednesday, you’re not a burden!” Enid argued, almost glaring.
“I know that, but…I actually found it quite constructive. I thought this would be a remarkable compromise for everyone’s wishes for me. I’m…confounded by your reaction.”
Enid’s lip curled and she shook her head. “I’m not like – mad at you! I just…I don’t know that seeking therapy from the dead is a solution for not wanting to talk about your visions.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this when we’re both tired,” Wednesday said by way of making an excuse to drop it. She hadn’t anticipated for one moment, not having Enid’s support behind what she’d done. If she couldn’t get her girlfriend to go along with the idea of retaining Dr. Kinbott as a psychologist, how could she even begin to convince her parents?
“I’m sorry,” Enid sighed, rolling over and clutching her Build-a-Bear to her chest, biting her lip. “I think…I’m projecting – that I’m not there to help and comfort you…and that you can get that from someone who’s not even with us.” Wednesday stared at her for a long minute before deciding to go with a slow nod, reaching for her plush bunny that Enid had made her, giving a sigh when she lifted it along with a white and black snake, followed by a pure-white and pied one settling on her chest as well. Enid giggled at the sight. “I really wanna be with you.”
“The feeling is incredibly mutual,” She muttered, wishing more than anything that the snakes were her girlfriend.
“I just want to kiss you and rub your back and snuggle you. I want to wrap myself around you while you sleep. I hate that you’re dealing with something and I can’t be there to hold you through it.”
Thinking that was also a problem, Wednesday merely acknowledged, “At least you’ll be with me on Friday. Will you please tell me about the library?”
Enid rubbed her eye again. “It was good! The librarians were super nice – I’m sure that’s like, a job requirement, or something. Aunt Larissa had already spoken to them quite extensively, it seemed, and they were actually pretty excited to be able to help us out! They took me down to this room in the basem*nt, that had like – a weird temperature to preserve old books. Totally cool – you’d have loved it. And, you can also go sometime! I didn’t take all the Outcast books, there’s literally hundreds there. Eventually, they said we’ll get them up at the Network, but for now, they let me actually take some of the Werewolf books, and I started reading one from the 1960s, just before everything happened to Anika, so it’ll be interesting to see what academic Werewolves were saying while all that was going down.”
Impressed with Enid’s thoughtfulness, Wednesday trying not to be jealous that she’d gotten to spend time in a setting that she would’ve given up just about any little pleasure to be in. It was hard to not feel envy while Enid was probably hardly even excited by the microfilm scanners and special humidity-controlling machinery to keep the old papers undamaged during a New York Summer, while she’d been tortured with the worst kind of visions.
Trying not to let that seep through, she wondered, “Will you bring one to me on Friday!”
“For sure! I took six books, figured – we could get them into our possession now, and then I can always go back before next week when this all wraps up!” She yawned, looking exhausted. “I’m literally so tired. I’ve learned so much, and I’m so grateful to be here – but this is really putting intense in intensive and I’m exhausted. I look forward to taking what I learned and practicing at a more sane pace in the Caves and music room for the rest of the summer. Ugh, I so cannot wait to be there with you, Wens.”
“Wens?”
“Hush, I’m sleepy,” She whined, turning into her bear. “My words are sloppy.”
“You may use a monosyllable nickname when you are sleepy. Permission, granted.”
“Awe!” Enid giggled, her eyes closing. “Hey…do you want to fall asleep with me?”
Wednesday gave a little smirk under the stuffie that she was half-hiding her face behind, sure that her eyes lit up just a touch. “Will you wake me up when your alarm goes off?”
“What a role reversal!” Enid tiredly nodded. “I’m gonna turn off the light. I love you.”
Clicking her own, Wednesday settled down, unable to see her on the screen. Knowing she was there in the dark beside her was a great comfort as she whispered the phrase in return, looking forward to having her arms around her in just a few days.
X
Wednesday didn’t go to the hospital the next day.
After hearing from Josie that Emiliana had a challenging night – in both pain management and confusion, she decided for her own mental health, it might be best not to visit until after her own appointment on Friday. She felt a twinge of anticipation, in becoming too discouraged by Emiliana’s state. She’d verbalized that, and Josie assured her that was a mature decision. Wednesday wasn’t so sure.
Thankfully, her parents were quite supportive of whatever she thought was going to get her to go for the checkup without them having to drag her to it.
After an outdoor meditation with her granny on the back porch when breakfast and that decision was wrapped, Wednesday found Morticia and Gomez in her father’s study, writing up something for Pugsley. She observed as they worked together to put finishing touches on a custom order, and Wednesday was curious as she deduced that they were ordering her brother a suit, of all things.
“What does he need that for?”
“Tradition,” Gomez smiled. He held up his sleeve, where the same style of cufflinks that they were ordering for their son were present. The shiny clips had been present for her entire life, that she could remember. He had a few other pairs with different engravings on them, but the everyday initial of the family name was his standard. “These cufflinks are more than decorative flair or fashion statement. Silver is the most highly conductive metals on the planet. With low resistance, it provides an additional boost to the Addams family power of detecting natural, metaphysical energy sources.”
Curious about that, Wednesday approached, examining her father’s wrist thoughtfully. “Very practical. How are you going to convince my brother to wear a monkey suit?”
Morticia winked and turned a small sketchbook around of something she’d created – a little rectangular bracelet, not too different than the medical alert one she’d had made for her. “A backup – I can hardly see my boy wearing a dress shirt outside of uniform until his mid-twenties, at best.”
“Once he begins to take over more of the family responsibilities, I’m sure he’ll want the full mantle of tradition,” Wednesday said without any bitterness attached to it. She was genuinely feeling positive towards the decision she’d made earlier in the year to have the family legacy follow her brother, instead of herself as heir apparent.
“It’s not just about the family responsibilities,” Gomez said softly, removing the order form from an old catalogue Wednesday was surprised still even came in the mail as a choice. “Our family has not dressed this way out of tradition, but because it provides an outward representation that we are to be taken seriously. Being different does not mean that we are not capable of any other feats. There was a time, when you were younger – when your uncle was entangled with the wrong folks, that a team of bankers and lawyers attempted to come after us due to our differences. We did not allow that to happen. Still – with so much against us, we’ve tried in some ways to be easier on the public eye.”
Wednesday glanced down at her prim little black dress with a large white collar folded over it – fully impractical for a day around the house or meditating outside. She’d picked the outfit to project her maturity to her parents while having yet another potentially challenging conversation with them. Supposing that was in line to what her father was alluding to, she gave a small nod. Overall, she agreed with the sentiments. Public perception had proved its unfortunate place in her life. Anything she could to do be taken more seriously without having to work so hard – she was willing. “I’d like to speak to you both, regarding the choices I made in the ether yesterday and how to move forward regarding them. Do you have time?”
“Darling, we always have the time for you,” Morticia floated over to the couches in the room, and after he rang a small bell, summoning Lurch to take the order into town, Gomez joined her as well. Wednesday stood in front of them with her hands clasped together, putting into words what she’d done the night before.
“Plenty of people in my life have thought that I needed therapy for a long time. Mother, you in particular, seemed to be exceptionally opposed to the idea. I now suspect it is because of what you were told would be good for me in toddlerhood, during my nonspeaking years.”
Morticia swallowed, looking at her daughter with a thoughtful, but almost misty gaze already. “I believe we’ve rehashed this recently…When I felt like I didn’t know what was best for you, and our allies within the Network were just as confounded, I sought out the Normie doctors as a last resort, only-”
“I don’t think you made the wrong decision,” Wednesday explained. “But it didn’t have the effect that anybody hoped. I believe that no matter what has or is happening in my brain, my spirit is always going to manifest itself to the top – and at the time, all my small soul wanted was a fight and to be in control, in any way that I could. That fight for control has obviously persisted over the years. Outside of counseling and social work through the school, or as outside services required by the school for my continued inclusion in public academia, you never forced me into treatment anywhere, which I appreciate.” Morticia nodded.
Gomez smiled. “I knew that you’d grow into yourself, into your feelings, in your own time.”
“And that is true,” Wednesday acknowledged. “I am grateful to the two of you – for never involuntarily having me further psychologically examined in my youth. However, now that I have grown into my feelings, as you put it, father…I have found that there is something to be said about having someone who can help me process them and know what to do with them in a productive way.”
Morticia blinked a few times, not quite understanding. “Darling, do you want to see a psychologist?”
“Not a new one,” She explained. “Developing enough a relationship with someone that I can trust, who can understand what I’ve done and why I had to do it would be impossible with any Normie doctor on this planet, I fear. However, there is one who is no longer with us, whom I already managed to develop some level of relationship with, who I had perhaps not given a proper chance to trust in my previous state.”
“Dr. Kinbott,” Her father said, making the connection to the funeral card she’d needed the day before.
Wednesday explained her trip to the ether, how she’d been able to express what her largest difficulty expressing was the day before – how she’d managed to actually let it out. Morticia looked almost a little offended and Wednesday wasn’t surprised.
Thankfully, Gomez understood what she was getting at. “This is nothing against you, querida. Quite the opposite, if I understand our Wednesday correctly?”
She nodded, grateful for the backup. “Indeed. Mother, you and I have become so close that unfortunately – for something like this, you’re too biased to help me accurately get through the pain. When I want to be held, I can come to you, or Enid – Josie, even, sometimes Emiliana, though that’s usually against my will. Even Larissa helped a few times in the spring, Holly, too. But…all that to say – it’s as I told you last night. I love you. And sometimes, when you love someone, it’s hard to separate love from the problem. Seeking an outside professional seems more in line with certain areas that I require additional processing time with. This will not only spare all of us pain, but hopefully, help me arrive at conclusions faster than I could on my own.”
Morticia shifted in her seat with a sigh. “I suppose this is a very mature request that you’re making. And, I’m surprised you are asking for permission at all. You’ve grown tremendously. However, my concerns would be twofold; the first of which being time. Each time you enter the ether to speak with the dead, you are gone for an exceptional period of real-world time.”
“I know,” Wednesday eyed a suddenly interesting floating finger in a jar on her father’s shelves, unable to recall which uncle it had been from.
“Perhaps that is something we can attempt to work on together, in light seeking exercises. You haven’t achieved the ability to bring your body with you into the ether, yet – and I do fear you being detached from it for such lengths of time. It’s not very safe, darling – at least, not alone.”
She gave a nod.
“My other worry is that you become attached to working with Dr. Kinbott – but, what if she moves on, darling?”
Wednesday unlaced her fingers, letting them wiggle at her sides for a moment as she considered that. “It seems like the spirits who have completed their business can choose to linger in the ether or stay. Anika said she could move on, but she is waiting for Genie – who…never mind.”
“Also…” Morticia tilted her head, standing up and starting to pace in front of the open window in the study. “Dr. Kinbott must’ve had a significant amount of spiritual energy herself, to be a Normie sustaining a corporeal body in the ether. That’s incredibly rare – and it makes me question her abilities.”
“She was not a closeted Outcast,” Wednesday clarified. “But an ally to us. You know she was one of Quinton Bridger’s victims. Maybe…being under his control for so long, it gave her an ability to sustain more of the energy work.”
“Another mystery for you to solve then,” Morticia sighed. She lifted a hand, the bell sleeve falling slightly, revealing her elbow as she brought her fingers up to her cheek in a thoughtful pose. “I just…hope you don’t become a stranger, visiting those of us who care so dearly for you and your feelings – relaying them to this deceased clinician.”
“I’m not going to let her cuddle me, mother,” Wednesday promised, stepping forward and letting Morticia do just that.
“Please,” Morticia teased her, running a hand along the back part of her braids. “Once Enid is back – you’ll hardly want anything to do with your mother, anyway,” She sighed playfully. “You know – I always hated clashing aesthetics, but our wolf has brought just the right amount of color into our lives and I believe I miss her as fiercely as you do. In a different way, of course – but I’m finding myself growing just as antsy for this artistic opportunity of hers to end as you.”
Glad that she’d changed the subject, Wednesday sighed, hugging her middle in return. Gomez approached and scooped both of his Addams girls into a fierce embrace, kissing his wife obnoxiously and making Wednesday gag before dropping to the floor and scurrying away before she could experience any additional display of affection. She headed to the stairs, putting her hands on the bottom step and gave a hum, closing her eyes and calling for the snakes. Sure enough, they came wiggling down the banister in delight. “How about a nature walk…or slither, babies?”
They were delighted to follow, gliding their bodies behind her along the trails until Wednesday arrived at the lake on the property. Sometimes she wished that the creature in the middle weren’t so hard on human pleasures – she missed the little paddle boats that the family had given up on leaving docked on the water. Three snakes settled themselves into her lap and she smiled, taking some deep breaths. She wanted to visit Dr. Kinbott again – tell her the news but knew that she shouldn’t lose herself to the ether in that way in the same twenty-four-hour cycle. She’d for sure send her body into some sort of crisis, and that was the last thing she needed.
Wednesday stared over the water, trying very hard to identify her feelings in that moment. She wished she’d brought a journal out; it was always easier to write them than to actually feel them. Closing her eyes, she tried to picture her heart, smirking a little to herself when Enid was the only thing that came to mind at first. As if giving her a gentle wave in her mind, Wednesday cleared her away, trying again.
Emiliana came up next, earning her frown. She didn’t want to consider her just yet – she was honestly too caught up in the thought of experiencing her own medical complications to want to think about her fellow Raven in that moment.
Finally, she pictured her brother, beaming at her in the photos she’d sent. Sighing, she opened her eyes – at first, thinking that the exercise hadn’t been fruitful; all she’d done was to think about the people she loved…
…Well, perhaps that wasn’t all true. Wednesday considered the tender desire for affection and closeness that she felt, regarding Enid. She wanted to be wrapped up in the love she had for her, as a physical extension of it. In terms of Emiliana, Wednesday had a nagging fear and a lingering anxiety, both for her recovery and what could be uncovered by the doctors for herself on Friday. When it came to Pugsley, Wednesday felt enormous pride, that he’d finally unlocked the family power he’d been so hoping to one day achieve. Deciding that last one was going to be the easiest to address, Wednesday set the snakes in the grass, offering, “Chase me!” And dashed back up to the house, wanting her phone.
She dialed Pugsley while walking back and forth in front of her divination shelf. He picked up on the first ring. “Are you okay?!” He asked in a desperate breath.
“Yes…?”
There was a sigh of relief. “Okay, good – you freaked me out! You haven’t called me in months!”
That really shouldn’t have been overly surprising – they lived together, what would she need to call him for? Wednesday simply began. “It was late when I came-to from the ether last night. I apologize for not responding to you. I do want to offer you a very sincere congratulations, brother. You have been waiting for your power for a long time, hoping to represent the Addams family in the traditional way, like father. The universe has granted you this wish. I hope that you train hard and use it wisely. Perhaps, we will find ourselves working together one of these days.” She let a beat pass as Pugsley seemed to be shocked into silence on the other end of the line. “I’m proud of you.”
There was a dramatic sniff, he really was his father’s boy, and Wednesday rolled her eyes. “Well don’t go blubbering. Don’t be pathetic.”
“Sorry, sorry. It’s just…hearing those words from you? They sound even better than coming from mom and dad.”
Wednesday felt her heart flutter a bit.
“Well, I mean them,” She said, catching herself feeling again. “I am sincerely grateful that the universe is passing on the legacy through you. I believe you are more than an adequate representation of all things that the Addams family stands for. I look forward to supporting you in the future when the mantle is yours to shoulder. I will be the sister you deserve.”
She could practically hear him mopping his face before replying, “You’ve already been a supportive sister. You’ve made sure I had what I needed. I only hope I can do the same for you in return. Hey,” He was nearly beaming through his tone. “Eugene is going to come stay with us for about a week while his moms extend their vacation! We’ll both be home on Sunday. Isn’t that cool?”
“So cool,” Wednesday replied, knowing that he just wanted to switch subjects to avoid any further sniffling at her. “Tell him that if he’s coming to the house, he has to go through initiation. Just to scare him a little.”
“Ohh, should we pull out the summer trials? Or take him down to the playroom first?”
Smiling, glancing at the picture of everyone in the Nightshades that Enid had insisted on putting up on top of her shelf, she decided, “You’re the host.”
As he finished rattling off all the things they hoped to do, Wednesday did need to stop him there before she became irritated and lost interest in conversing with her brother. “Hey, don’t get yourself too worked up for Friday, okay? I just…I have this feeling – I sense the energy of the universe, telling me everything is going to be fine.”
Wanting to tell him not to be so precocious, Wednesday decided to send him into shock one more time that late morning, as she’d already pushed her family so far over the edge with surprising them with her improving, affective malleability, she said once more, “I’m proud of you, Pugsley. I love you, brother.”
With a tight, choked voice and a sob, he promised, “I love you, too!”
Riding the wave of compassion and experiencing a surprising warmth, she opened the Nightshades group chat that she hadn’t participated in all summer. (Or school year, except for emergencies.)
Greetings Nightshades,
I would apologize for not responding, but I didn’t want to, and I’m not sorry.
I hope the summer holiday is proving to be both productive and restful for you all.
As months soon turn into just weeks until our reunification, I implore you to take the following request seriously…Begin to think of agenda items for our first encounter back to the reality of the work we have ahead of us. I have had multiple revelations yet learned very little at the same time this summer.
I anticipate we will have an acute volume of work to pour ourselves into right away.
Take care in the meantime,
Wednesday
Snapping a picture of Augustus, who had a match in his mouth as he wiggled himself into a small basket of divination dice, Wednesday let out a breath as she hit the send button, doing her best to follow-through with the wishes that everyone had for her. As she’d spoken more to Goody, Genie, Anika, and Dr. Kinbott that summer than any of her other friends, she considered her mother and Enid were right, it was important that she not give up on the living in exchange for productive relationships with the dead.
X
Wednesday had a small bag ready to go on the edge of her bed. Three snakes looked up at her with what she could only describe as distress. “Grandmama and Lurch will both be here if you need anything. I fed you last night. Altair, you can let GusGus out whenever he wants, so long as you promise to keep him warm at night. And stay out of the playroom! You have no business down there.”
Mama take us to hospital before with you! Altair pleaded.
“This is different. You’ve already asked, and I’ve already given you a reasonable answer with a justified explanation. You’re staying here. You can enjoy an afternoon in the tree out front, you can ask for a heat lamp, you can even try and sneak another pinkie. But you are not coming to the hospital.”
“Excellent parenting,” Hester laughed from the doorway, coming to give each snake a tender rub to the top of their head. “You three behave. I’ll be back tonight and if you stop your pouting, I’ll let you stay with me if Wednesday can’t come home.”
She wasn’t expecting to. Though she didn’t have any actual procedures, Wednesday had a sinking suspicion that Dr. Rodman was going to want to monitor her sleep as he’d casually mentioned in the spring. Her bag was packed for a weekend stay as she was feeling uncertain about her neurological health.
“Are you ready, Wednesday?”
As she’d ever be – Wednesday was at least ready to see Enid when she was due to arrive. Things worked out where she was getting another little break anyway in the grueling intensive schedule, they were all getting Friday evening until Sunday morning off of practices for rest. Wednesday was relieved knowing Enid could be by her side for most of the testing.
To block out as many negative thoughts as possible, Wednesday decided to put her headphones on, letting music blare as loud as she could tolerate to drown out her own negativity. Gomez and Morticia tried to fuss over her, but she refused to allow it – needing to get into the right mindset her own way.
She listened to music from the playlist she shared with Enid the entire ride there, in the waiting room, and in the triage space where she was getting her identification bracelet and updated weight, height, and blood pressure captured. When told she was moving to a regular room, she finally folded the headphones up and tucked them in her backpack, blinking when she realized she’d been so tuned out from the world that she’d lost her parents. Only her granny was at her side and when Wednesday was about to question why when being escorted down the hall, she heard a distinct, clipped, proper British voice that could only belong to one person.
Trying not to let a gasp catch in her throat, she dashed forward, spotting both her mother and father already in the room, talking to Larissa Weems.
She was a six-foot four vision in a summer outfit, looking like she’d taken a touch of inspiration from her botanist-inclined wife in a muted white skirt with pale yellow flowers, a silky white, short sleeve blouse tucked into it, and strappy, low summery heels giving her another inch of height. Her hair was twisted up as always, and she wore her usual makeup with a small, tan designer bag on her elbow as she turned her attention to the dark cloud darting into the room.
Wednesday didn’t match her smile. Even though Larissa didn’t share any stream of consciousness or feeling with her anymore, she knew, acutely that even though she hadn’t flicked a muscle, the older woman knew she was overjoyed to see her. Dropping her bag on the end of the bed, Wednesday hurried across the floor, standing in front of her with eyes that she hoped read gracious.
They must have, as Larissa hunched down and folded her tight. Returning the embrace with her arms around her middle, Wednesday let out a breath of relief that the maneuver hadn’t resulted in a fresh vision.
She pulled back quickly, wanting to ask her rapid-fire questions that she knew would cause Larissa to roll her eyes, but ended up just stuck – taking in the ethereal person in front of her. It was around July, the year before, when her mind started to truly cave in on itself in disbelief that she was dead. How Wednesday was grateful for that suspicion – and that she’d followed through. “Not that I am displeased, but why are you here?”
“A very sad call from Emiliana, earlier in the week was what led to my arrival. Knowing you were also coming to undergo testing which you historically have not performed well during…I also forced Holly to accept an invitation from some of the professors in town here. She’s talking shop now – she was quite frustrated not to be able to bring you with her when she realized you would also be near campus.”
Finding a little smirk, Wednesday imagined Larissa sending her shy and nearly bumbling genius of a wife to the wolves of the hard science building. “I’m thankful you were able to come.”
A nurse stepped in and asked to finish up with getting Wednesday settled, and Larissa gave her a knowing grin before stepping out with her father. She complied without hesitation, hopeful to be able to ask Network questions and perhaps get a gauge from Larissa, the only other living person she’d trust to ask about Dr. Kinbott.
Wednesday let her mother tie the back of her hospital gown together – wishing it weren’t necessary but not about to argue with anyone. She’d well-learned her lesson, that cooperating was the fastest ticket out. Once she was changed and asked to sit up on the edge of the bed with her arms out, a phlebotomist came and took more of Wednesday’s blood than she was expecting, having her follow it up with an awful, pulpy orange juice that left a sour taste on her tongue. She let Morticia answer the questions the nurse wanted to confirm in the system about her medications and any reactions, along with any additional seizure activity to add from her monitor. Once the intake was finally completed, they were asked to hold tight before Dr. Rodman would arrive and likely order a host of scans.
She took deep breaths, trying not to scowl when her mother pulled her plush bunny out – feeling embarrassed that she had it in the first place. Just when she was about to shove it back, Larissa and her father appeared again, apparently – her presence had been much requested down the hall. Following them down, feeling just the slightest bit shaky from the amount of blood that had been taken, she found herself outside of a physical therapy room, where Josie was holding Emiliana’s hands as she was trying to get to walking again. “There she is, I told you…”
Seeing her fellow Raven, Emiliana managed to find the motivation that she needed to walk, supported, to the door. Knowing exactly what she wanted, and potential vision be damned, Wednesday dared to wrap her up in a hug, which she ended quickly, wanting to see her face.
The bruising and swelling she’d seen in the pictures from late Tuesday night had gone down fairly significantly on the left side of her face, her eye much more open than she’d recalled seeing it in weeks. “I have been difficult,” She said in a full, English phrase. “Josie said you did not want to see me.”
“Don’t take it personally,” Wednesday insisted. “I usually don’t want to see anyone. My presence is a present, and now you have me. Finish your tasks, I’m waiting for a brain scan. I’ll come see you later.”
“Bossy, bossy,” Emiliana rolled her eyes, half her hair flopped over on the right side of her head, looking relatively clean, like she was probably receiving better care in the hospital than she usually took of herself. “Josie, come – help me to the wheel.”
Josie winked at Wednesday in thanks, and Wednesday observed for just a moment as a physical therapist helped get Emiliana onto a piece of equipment that was supposed to help improve her coordination. Hoping that wasn’t something she’d have to endure again anytime soon, Wednesday gave an awkward wave before heading back to her room.
Thankfully there, Larissa engaged with her in the way that she really needed someone to until her girlfriend arrived. She sat with her on the edge of the bed, her long legs well touching the floor, while Wednesday’s feet dangled. “Enid is bringing me one of the Werewolf books from the library. Thank you for assisting in a seamless transfer of knowledge.”
She gave a small nod and smile. “I find myself eager to have the collection where it belongs. Allison, our historian – she’s working tirelessly at trying to re-catalogue everything currently in our possession to determine what was written by biased or unbiased authors. It seems a fair amount of some of our material was specifically selected and inserted into the library by Quinton, and a small team of fact-checkers is using older, known and trusted sources to compare information to, along with checking in with those actual populations to see what sort of truth or myth may be present in our library.”
With a roll of nervous energy in her gut, Wednesday wondered, “Would the Faceless Outcasts happen to be heavily featured in those concerns?” Larissa’s furrowed brow replied for her. “I’ve…been having visions.”
“Yes, your father called me – explained the names that you discovered from the vision within a vision, that our dear Emiliana couldn’t have read herself. I’m grateful for that, much pain as it caused you.” Wednesday acknowledged her with a small nod. “Did you have any others?”
Wednesday was hesitant to reply, but quietly expressed, “They’re just…flashes. I don’t know if they’re from the past, or the future but…I think that someone was imprisoning them.”
Larissa swallowed visibly. “You might’ve guessed but – my predecessor at the network didn’t exactly leave me an excellent paper trail – and though I have the photos from his apartment, I haven’t had much luck obtaining any of the evidence that was in that excuse of an office room there. I’ve requested it through the court to be given to the New Network – but was denied due to not having an official board yet in this reconstruction era. Knowing that, I might’ve fudged the truth when it came to the out-of-town Normies in the New York Library, as I didn’t want to have to wait until next spring for formal elections to have someone more official than I request literature.”
Wanting to shout that she would be their official president anyway, Wednesday merely nodded. “There’s little that you could do that I would think is wrong or has bad intentions.”
Larissa’s grin was almost infectious. “You certainly didn’t feel that way about me in the beginning, my dear. But – I do believe that just as your perspective shifted, so did mine. I appreciate the trouble you’ve taught me to get into for the sake of a good cause.”
Leaning her head against her arm affectionately, Wednesday wondered, “Where am I supposed to go for an herbal soak when I have a meltdown on campus if you have a new apartment?”
“Let’s talk about Nevermore arrangements on another day – at a better time,” She said with a little chuckle. “I don’t need you all bent out of shape over the changes that are going to transpire. Believe me, I wish that there was something I could do to make time move go faster and have all accommodations prepared on time and reestablishing order – but unfortunately, it’s all quite a work in-progress.”
Wednesday didn’t like the sound of that, but agreed to her withholding information until she was in a better place to receive it. “You gave me the gift of time, Aunt Larissa, didn’t you remember to keep some for yourself?”
She had another small laugh as she tucked a hand around Wednesday, squeezing her. “When we leave here tomorrow, Holly and I are headed for a few more stops against her will to meet with other intellects and pharmaceutical heads, but then we are going to steal time for ourselves. Very important, you know. She is itching to get back to that cottage of ours and I’m ready to be there, too – take a month to not answer my emails.”
“You’ll still answer my phone calls?”
“Always,” She whispered and then stepped away as Dr. Rodman arrived for his first official session with Wednesday, both her parents following behind, Morticia with her little spectacles on and a black, leather journal out – ready to record notes.
Dr. Rodman started with a review of the previous data – Wednesday’s seizures had been largely controlled since the spring, with her watch having picked up a few potential optic lobe seizures, which correlated to the timing of visions, along with the larger one she’d had in the hospital earlier that week. He reviewed her brain scans from November, February, late March and April, demonstrating very little change over time – a good thing, he professed. After going on for a while about the effectiveness of medication, he laid out his hypothesis.
“I truly believe that you did not have a seizure disorder prior to your power manifesting. I also believe that Emiliana likely has one as well – hers have just been the nonconvulsive variety. I haven’t been able to put her through the same sort of testing as you for safety reasons – but I believe that if I apply this theory, it is likely that the Raven brain responds to the external trauma of receiving such a powerful, horrific vision by responding in the only way it knows how.”
“So I don’t need to continue taking medication?” Wednesday wondered.
“I don’t think that’s wise,” Dr. Rodman refuted. “I think that the fact that you’ve only had one major convulsive seizure, despite many visions in the same amount of time, is enough to prove a static level of effectiveness.”
“But just you said, this isn’t the same as Normie epilepsy.”
“Correct, but using Normie treatments are likely preventing additional seizures. At this time, I’m don’t think I want to to try weaning you off of it to chance that it might not be the solution. Morticia?”
She looked up from her journal. “I agree,” She said and Wednesday slumped, dropping her shoulders a little bit. “Darling, the list of side effects are largely ones that you already had prior to the medication starting. I don’t think it’s caused you harm, I believe it’s prevented additional harm from coming.”
Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something insulting, Wednesday stared at her brain scans on the screen again. “Are you going to do more of those today?”
“Yes, and I’d like another EEG. Best practice is every six months during the start of a diagnosis. You haven’t had one since November – I’d say you’re due.”
She tried not to fuss. “What else?”
“EEG, MRI, and CT, all to make sure we’re looking at the same thing. Otherwise, I’m not going to recommend new Normie interventions. In fact, at this time, I have little to offer, but to turn you over to the experts. If my theories are correct, what we need to do is work on exploring further divination techniques and enhancing your psychic abilities to be able to withstand onslaughts of horrors from the universe.”
Well, that sounded simple enough.
The doctor ran Wednesday through his usual motor assessment, which of course, since she hadn’t been symptomatic since Tuesday morning, she passed as expected. After, he proclaimed, “I’ve already ordered the tests – they’ll be beginning within the hour. I’m still waiting on your blood work back. We’ll go from there this afternoon. I might have one more test I want to order if these come through normal enough. Let’s see what we’re working with!”
He disappeared and Morticia closed up her notebook, removing her glasses before coming to sit beside her daughter. “I thought we’d moved past you wanting to be off the pharmaceuticals? While I’d always prefer to be able to treat you at home, I am happy to hand you off to the professionals when it matters the most, darling.”
“I know. I just…thought I could be less attached to this side of the Normie world. I know, from my visions, this is a lifelong thing, I just didn’t know what components would be.”
“Perhaps you and Holly could get to work sometime this year, looking for a more natural treatment, or possible prevention, in the plant world,” Larissa offered, her heels clicking as she approached Wednesday. “Much the same, the potion has held up wonders, but it certainly will be more convenient when it’s in pill form. I’ll be making the switch myself, much as you all have done such lovely work on the brewing.”
Morticia agreed. “I appreciate that the world of science is both moving forward and appreciating the past with this development from the flower child. Oh,” She smiled suddenly. “Speaking of development – allow me to get out of the way,” She moved from the end of the bed.
A blonde, colorful blur appeared in the doorframe and Wednesday felt her heart start to beat in triple time in anticipation. She hadn’t sensed Enid’s presence, and was genuinely surprised as she was a lot earlier than she said she would be.
Enid darted over to Wednesday, dropping her backpack and diving in for a hug, knocking her backwards onto the mattress with her unexpected weight.
It felt so good.
Wednesday rolled to the side, gripping her tightly, wanting to look at her. Enid had on a little blush of embarrassment from engaging her in such a way, but Wednesday only wanted more, not caring who was in the room to see. She kissed her soundly, surprising her by being the one to initiate it.
Enid let a sigh out through her nose as they kissed, gripping Wednesday’s hip before pulling away, resting their foreheads together. “I’ve missed you so much. This whole ‘week between kisses’ is so not working for me.”
Wednesday imagined Larissa rolling her eyes across the room, who waited years between them with her own partner. “It’ll have been worth every lost kiss to see you light up the stage next weekend.”
There was practically cooing in the background and Wednesday hid her face into Enid’s neck before Morticia approached them, earning Enid’s delighted hug next, not having seen her in nearly two weeks. “We were just about to have Wednesday escorted into the lab for an EEG. I distinctly recall that being…quite challenging, six months ago when we last had one, until you were able to get in the room with her. Might we have a repeat?”
“In defense of myself, I’m not traumatized, hysterical, nor suddenly receiving someone else’s acute anxiety disorder through some magical permeable membrane,” Wednesday grumbled, playfully shooting Larissa a look. “I promise to be better behaved. You won’t need to pin me down.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Morticia argued with a wink.
Enid was biting her lip, holding back a joke and Wednesday had a feeling she knew what she was thinking, which alone, made her flush as they were escorted down the hallway. Given the department was specialized for purely neurology studies, they didn’t have to travel across the hospital to access the majority of the testing.
Wednesday mentally prepared herself with some deep breathing as she sat in a chair while having the electrodes adhered to her scalp. While it wasn’t pleasant – she had accepted far more touch into her life than she had the last time she needed one, had her physical privacy invaded quite thoroughly by the repeated trips to the hospital, and generally matured. She was as still as she could make herself out to be, holding Enid’s hands as she sat on a wheely stool directly in front of her. About three minutes in, she started having a staring contest with her, and had Enid not been so giggly, she genuinely might’ve actually won.
It wasn’t long before she was on the bed, with Enid beside her, playing music on her phone like she had the first time Wednesday had the uncomfortable test. She handled it much better – not getting fussy or angry once despite the prodding and stickiness in her hairline, or general boredom that such procedures evoked.
She was just as well behaved for the CT and MRIs as each one took place, and Wednesday very wrongfully hoped she was done for the day when Dr. Rodman had a more request for testing. “Without triggering a vision, and to be honest, the last time you had one – we didn’t pick up what we hoped we might, I’d like to use the same equipment we use for a sleep study, much like an EEG, to measure your brain waves while you are in the ether. Given my new hypothesis in treating your seizures has nothing to do with Normie intervention, we can measure the progress over time using the same testing materials to see if advanced psychic training makes a difference.”
Wednesday stared at her mother, who gave a nod. She shrugged. “How long do you want me there? I generally don’t have much control over time when I’m in the ether. It feels like just minutes pass in there, but generally – it’s been hours, and so far, no one has been good at bringing my spirit back to my body.”
“What if we go together – not to talk to somebody?” Enid suggested from where she was perched behind her on the mattress, having been scrubbing glue from electrodes off her hairline. Wednesday was miffed that there would be more. “We could come up with the setting together – we’ve never been gone too long doing that!”
If it meant extra time with Enid…
“Great – I’d like it if you went under for up to two hours.”
Morticia offered a gentle, almost longing smile. “You could take her to the old Frump property – meet the horses that used to be there?”
Nodding at the idea as it was easy enough to visualize, Wednesday agreed, first actually listened to her body and wondered, “Can I have something to eat?” Her mother and the nurse were all too delighted to arrange for a meal for the couple. “Actually, Dr. Rodman?” Wednesday caught him before he dipped out of the room, suggesting, “What if you hooked Enid up, too? Compared both of our brains going to the same place? I feel like that could give you baseline data. She’s not a psychic-inclined Outcast, and I suspect you’d see more stable brainwaves from her.”
“You just don’t want to have sticky hair on your own!” Enid teased her, nuzzling her shoulder. The doctor seemed to like that idea, stepping out to have it all ordered. A short time later, Wednesday’s room was quite crowded, as her parents, Enid, Larissa, along with their neighbors from down the hall, were all eating together at tray tables or off their laps. Emiliana was in a wheelchair with a tray, propped up and kept into position with a variety of belts and pillows. Wednesday was curious about her prognosis – but still, wanted to keep her interactions regarding her health minimal in order to deal with her own.
(She was finally learning to follow the airplane rule, and she suspected those in the room with her were grateful for simply looking out for herself.)
Hugh was entertaining the group with stories of Josie and Emiliana at Nevermore, Larissa chiming in, and everyone was in good spirits as they finished up before Emiliana waved Wednesday over to her. “I am respecting your space…but after…will you come play with Brigitte and I?”
Finding a kind and sincere smile, she nodded, squeezing her hand watching as she lit up a little bit before Josie thanked her and wheeled her wife down the hall to her own space, while Wednesday and Enid were led to yet another special testing room.
In similar fashion to the morning (Wednesday was just slightly miffed that she was going through it again and they hadn’t been more practical in their scheduling), Wednesday allowed the medical staff to apply electrodes to her head, watching with amusem*nt as Enid, changed into a blue hospital gown in solidarity, was getting her own installed. They were going to look like quite a pair afterwards, and she didn’t fight when Enid requested a selfie together. “Girlfriends who get brain scans together, stay together,” She said in jest before everything was properly hooked up some time later, and a hospital bed was converted to be folded up slightly on each side, guard rails popped to catch them if they fell.
“This is going to be a little bit trickier without candles,” Wednesday said as she placed crystals from her emergency kit in formation to help her intentions, though she didn’t have the strength to argue with the employees about their open flame policy. “But you’re strong, Enid. I know we can do this, together – we create our own light.”
Morticia approached to violate the rule, lighting an incense cone with a little tilt of her head, against a nurse’s will, letting the sage smell waft over them.
“Enid, I want you to picture us, outside in the field on the solstice. The light source is the bonfire. I will guide us from there since you don’t have the setting to draw from.”
She nodded, the wires bobbing, making her giggle. “This feels funny.”
“It looks funny,” Wednesday promised, leaning forward and kissing her right in front of her mother, earning an adoring sigh from her as she closed her eyes and tumbled in – holding onto Enid’s hands.
Sure enough, they were both in the field on the Addams family property. “TBH, we can totally just stay here and make out on the blanket,” Enid said in a giggle.
Wednesday raised a brow. “I don’t know that I trust our bodies in the physical world while we engage in that sort of behavior. Close your eyes and come with me,” She said, transporting them again – figuring the dimensional hopping within the ether would be good data to have on her brain waves – as that was what tended to make her the most physically ill, knocked out and exhausted.
Opening her eyes once more, she squeezed Enid to her as she looked at the small house in the middle of farmland. The lower Midwest always reminded her of Dorothy in Oz before the tornado – the gray landscape that had haunted that little girl (and her own mother) but had always delighted Wednesday. “This was where granny, and all my great grandmothers before her grew up, starting in the late 1880s. There isn’t documentation of the house before then, anyway – the Frumps may have been here much longer than that. It’s a place full of great magical energy. The readings my father was able to gather on it when he first came helped him truly tap into understanding his power.”
“That’s amazing! All from different generations of women, just living on this land?”
“The power of positive thinking,” Wednesday said sarcastically. “I’m only half joking. Somehow, despite drought conditions and the Great Depression, they always managed to turn nothing into something here, using their magical influence.”
“That’s so cool that you come from this,” Enid said, looking out in the back and, front, and to the left of the house – surrounded by farmland. To their right, was a huge pasture. Wednesday gave a whistle with her fingers and was pleased when from seemingly nowhere, her favorite black horse appeared.
“This horse isn’t with us in the physical world anymore. None of them are – Uncle Tic should never have been left in charge of the land.”
“Amazing how it thrived for hundreds of years until they left a man on it,” Enid said sardonically, and Wednesday held back a snort.
Wednesday reached a hand forward, stroking the horse’s snout. “This is Wicked Annabella. My mother named her after The Kinks song. She doesn’t have an evil bone in her body, I promise.” Wednesday swung her leg up to stand on the fencepost, pleased to see that the horse had come with reins in the ether. She wasn’t a natural at riding, but could manage so long as she had something to hold onto. She sweet talked to the black beauty, wishing she was about five inches taller, balancing well enough on the wood to swing her legs up and over the horse’s back.
“Oh, um…” Enid bit her lip, pushing her fingers together in embarrassment. “I’ve never ridden a horse before. I’m not sure. I’m cool to just admire her!”
“Enid,” Wednesday said with a gentle disapproval. “Get on this horse with me.”
She squinted. “I’m nervous.”
“It’s okay. You’re going to hold onto me the entire time. I’ll have her go slow. I promise, Enid. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I’m not sure you control Wicked Annabella that way, but…” Enid sighed, pulling herself up on the fence, her own balance better than Wednesday expected, though after all the extended dance class – that made sense.
She was wearing her nerves on her trembling hands as Wednesday awkwardly guided her onto the back of the horse, where she clutched her middle entirely too tight. “Enid…thank you,” She said, looking over her shoulder with a smile. “You’re going to do great and have fun. Hold on, just not too tight. I love you.”
“I love you toooo-!”
She squealed at the end, gripping Wednesday’s waist and burying her face in her neck when Wednesday gave a little kick and Wicked Annabella trotted off. It was almost a painfully slow start, but Wednesday kept her in control, ready to feel the impossible wind from the ether in her braids, smirking as Enid finally lifted her head up off of her to look up. “Okay…okay not so bad.”
“I was about to say – you’re the one who drives heavy machinery without fear.”
“I’m not worried that the car is going to kick me back,” Enid argued with a touch of a whine, her fingers curling around Wednesday’s hospital gown as they went a little faster. “We should have considered a change of clothes.”
“It’s okay, there’s no one here to see us. Hey Enid?” She said, tilting her head back, stealing a quick kiss. “I love you. I’m thankful you sacrificed time in your intensive to be here with me. And, I just…I just want to clarify – I didn’t seek out Dr. Kinbott because I don’t trust you with my feelings. It’s just that there are some, that are so…heavy, I don’t want to have you shoulder the burden. You love me so completely, that you might absorb some of that – and I don’t want to paint your light with my frightening dark.”
Enid nodded against her shoulder. “I understand. The only thing that I think I’m really, honestly worried about is you losing time in the ether with her if you’re going frequently. But I think that – what Dr. Rodman said, it can totally help, you know? Advanced training to be more efficient with your time here…maybe there’d even be a way to someday get yourself into the ether during a vision, maybe that could protect your body from the side effects?”
“That’s a curious idea,” Wednesday reflected. “My mother didn’t exactly respond well to our initial family therapy session. But perhaps, if I make it multi-generational, invite my granny, too – they could come up with a way to assist me.”
Enid nearly cuddled her as the horse started to gain speed. “If you think we ever need couple’s therapy – for any reason, just know – I am so down. I don’t ever want anything that happens, or stray feelings to get in the way of what we have.”
“Good to know,” Wednesday replied, starting to regret the ride as she just wanted to push her back in the grass and kiss her – thinking Enid’s original idea was a remarkable brainchild and she regretted having her give it up. She gave the reins a little maneuver, getting Wicked Annabella to move faster around the pasture to at least make it a meaningful ride before getting back to the start. Enid looked confused and Wednesday slid off the horse, reaching a hand up for her to follow, before tugging her body close for a long, slow kiss – daring even, to dip her tongue between her lips, not caring at all if their bodies got awkwardly close in the real world or not.
Enid winked. “Do you think they’re going to let you out tonight, so we can…take this home?”
“With any luck. Come on, let’s get to the other side and find out.”
X
Wednesday opened her eyes in the hospital testing room on her side, cuddled into Enid’s chest, both of them sticky with electrodes. She blinked her eyes open slowly, almost content to stay there – despite the conditions.
Her mother chuckled, and her granny looked on fondly from where she lingered nearby – likely at the ready in case the readings indicated something dangerous occurred, and the two needed to get out of the ether. “Excellent work,” Granny stated with a grin. Morticia tucked a hand against Enid’s cheek as she made to reach for a hug from her, but Wednesday was not moving to let her up.
Morticia squeezed her hand and assured them, “The machine captured two hours’ worth of data. You’re free to go home for the night, after you spend some time with Emiliana, Wednesday – she’s desperate for your attention, if you please.”
Giving a little sigh, but fully understanding – and knowing how supportive of herself that Emiliana had been during her multiple hospitalizations that year, Wednesday let her mother start to work the sicky probes out of her hair. She dressed herself before kissing Enid’s cheek to tear out of the room, promising to be as quick as possible.
Emiliana was in the process of waking up from a long afternoon nap. Josie was on the edge of the bed, leaned over, stroking her non-puffy cheek, sweet talking to her. “You’re doing so well. I’m proud of you, for being so cooperative. Let’s have a nurse get you to the bathroom and then I’ll read you more -”
“No books - Wednesday,” She said smiling a little bit weakly, glancing at the door. Josie had a shy little look on, having been caught being tender. “Play doggie divination with me?”
“First, do all the things you need to do,” She said, not wanting to override Josie’s rules. The redhead nodded, pressing a button to call for the nursing staff to help. They arrived to help Emiliana in the bathroom, and while inside Josie wrapped Wednesday up in a hug. “I heard you were marvelous today.”
“I was just operating with my frontal lobe instead of my primal brain. I haven’t been in the hospital under very neutral conditions. This has been a different experience for me.” In response, Josie gave a tired little chuckle and Wednesday wondered, “How is she, really?”
“She’s alright, honest. Awkward and clumsy – but getting there. Physical therapy and speech therapy are already doing wonders. She’s cooperative, I think she just wants to get out of here.”
Emiliana came out and was seated in a chair, all propped up with pillows and a weighted blanket on her lap before the staff gave her a forty-minute window until she needed to eat dinner. Thinking that was a reasonable amount of time to spend with her, Wednesday pulled up a chair and brought over the little ‘dog house’ she’d made for her, opening it up and watching as Emiliana methodically used the fine motor skills she was regaining to set it all up. She spoke, at length, the entire time – explaining what her plans were for her stuffed animal to enact world domination through divination arts.
Wednesday just watched fondly as she coped with her childhood trauma in such a unique way, positioning everything just so before setting Brigitte in the middle of it and grinning wildly. Her smile wasn’t nearly as lopsided anymore – whatever work Dr. Rodman had done inside her brain was taking effect.
It was having the exact opposite effect that Wednesday had anticipated upon seeing Emiliana. She thought she’d be discouraged – unwilling to go through anything related to her own neurology to see the Raven twenty-four-years her elder in a horrible state.
But she wasn’t.
Emiliana was healing. The miracle of the time that they lived in was on her side – she wasn’t suffering the way so many Ravens of the past did before they ended their lives.
Wednesday knew her eyes were getting a misty sheen to them and tried to blink it away when Josie crouched in front of her from where she’d been observing the two from across the room. Emiliana stopped her rambling about the potential use of seashells in her the pink poodle’s readings to look at her curiously. “I’m relieved,” Wednesday said, letting Josie squeeze her hands. “That Emiliana is okay. And in being alright,” She started and looked at her with watery eyes, though she refused to cry in the hospital that day, “I know that I will be okay, too.”
“Oh, baby bird, of course you shall! I am the pig of guineas! You are going to be the story of success! Long may you reign as queen of the Ravens.”
“Not a title I want, or think I earned, only – by happening to be born in the right decade. I’m grateful that you are well. I’m extraordinarily thankful that we are gifted with more time with you here, on this plane,” She spoke softly, reaching over to initiate a hug with Emiliana. Despite her state, she pulled her little bird into her lap to attack her cheeks in her usual obnoxious kisses, making Wednesday flail at her playfully.
Josie rolled her eyes, tugging Wednesday away from her into her own hug. “You always gotta push it too far,” She giggled at her wife before offering Wednesday a smirk. Dinner arrived and Wednesday took the chance to distribute a nice hug to Emiliana, who curled against her snugly. “I’ll be back on Monday,” She said in a promise.
“Will you bring me a few bird bones for Brigitte’s collection?”
“Of course,” Wednesday said seriously before leaving the room, finding Enid in the family waiting room – though the others were absent. “Hey! Everyone else headed to get a table down the street.” She held up a key. “They went with Aunt Larissa; I’ll drive us!”
“Can we kiss passionately in the vehicle for ten minutes first?” Wednesday wondered with delight.
“Duh! Why do you think I insisted they go ahead?” Enid snickered and they gathered up their things – both still with sticky hair, but they’d take care of it for one another in the bath later that night.
Unable to help her wide, real smile, Wednesday took her hand and they left through the elevator, finding the family car where Gomez had left it that morning. She tugged Enid into the backseat by her shorts’ overall strap, slamming the door and trying not to smile too hard into the kiss, failing when she gripped the back of her head, griping at the residue there. “It’s fine,” She insisted, not wanting Enid to worry about it, just to put her hands on her waist –
“I love you,” Wednesday whispered between half-breathless kisses, her hands wandering up and down Enid’s sides in a way she wasn’t sure she’d ever given into so freely before without needing to be worked up herself first. If she didn’t have a shred of decency, she’d slip her overalls right off her shoulders and take off her little pink t-shirt and just look at her for a minute. However, Wednesday never intended to treat her girlfriend that way in public -
Though as Enid pulled her on top of her lap and slipped a hand up her back, running up and down her spine while she kissed her with tongue, Wednesday wasn’t so sure about that.
She started to feel a little bit dizzy from all the kissing in the heat, suggesting, “Can we turn on the air?”
“Yeah,” Enid carefully set her on the seat, turning the key over in the ignition before returning, hovering over Wednesday after pushing her down with a…wolfish grin. “Hey – someday, when we’re ready for this – I am so going to make you into a Chappell Roan song.”
“What?”
“You know – that girl you had me listen to the one song, Picture You?” Wednesday blinked and Enid leaned forward, giggling against her stomach. “You haven’t listened to the whole album, huh?” She sat up, rubbing Wednesday’s thigh. “I’m going to make you listen to Casual and watch you blush like crazy some time. But,” She pecked her three times quickly, then between the eyes, on each cheek, her jaw, then sucked just few seconds on her neck before pulling away. “For now we should get to the restaurant. The sooner we get there, the sooner we get to spend like, a whole day at the house doing wolf research and kissing each other.”
Groaning as her body heat left her, Wednesday at least agreed, letting Enid drive them just a mile and a half away to park next to Larissa’s Rolls-Royce. The fancy Greek restaurant waitress led them to the back in a more private area with a circular table, where Holly was speaking in low tones with animated hands and wide eyes to her father, not realizing who was behind her. Taking full advantage of sneaking up on her, because it was fun and she hadn’t properly tortured anyone that day, Wednesday whispered, “Boo!”
Holly startled, jumping and letting out a squeak before putting a hand over her heart and cursing lowly, rolling her eyes and looking seven different kinds of annoyed. Wednesday smirked and caught Larissa shaking her head with the slightest bit of amusem*nt beside her. Taking the open seat beside Holly in contrition to let her talk at her for the duration of the meal, Wednesday unfolded her napkin and placed it in her lap as she sat down, reaching right away for the pita and saganaki in the middle of the table. “You’re cheeky for someone fresh out of the hospital. I distinctly recall a much demurer version of Wednesday the last few times that happened,” She muttered.
“I haven’t been recently forced to witness atrocities, in person, anyway - nor performed extreme feats of divination,” She said as she pouted, realizing she probably wouldn’t get away with having wine with dinner. “It seems to have a marked improvement on my mood and threshold to tolerate violating procedures I don’t want to consent to.”
“Speaking of procedures, have you been checking your email? I’ve sent you a host of articles about the potential use of…” She trailed off when Wednesday noticed Larissa squeeze her leg under the table. “Anyway, you should check your email.”
“Noted. How was Princeton?”
Holly waved a hand. “Fine, fine, save for all these buffoons who want me to come and lecture on their behalf. I’ve literally written the paper; all they have to do is present it!” She said with wide eyes.
“Holly, I believe it is your passion that your associates see in you, when discussing the topics most dear to your heart,” Gomez commented, chuckling as he adjusted his arm around the back of Morticia’s chair, where her mother was politely sipping her wine. “I’m sure they would be capable of sharing your discovery with their students, but it is your fiery delivery they would lack.”
Larissa gave her a perched brow that said I told you so. Holly just flushed, reaching for the pita, which surprised Wednesday – as she was fairly sure she’d never seen her eat anything unless it was in conjunction with an excessive number of vegetables. “Now that you’re finished with your courses, you should spend time engaged in other important, academic work.”
“I will be,” Wednesday assured Holly after a bite while Enid was practically nomming on the bread beside her – clearly in a very happy place between the brief make out in the car and the Grecian carbohydrates. “However, my next step in my summer research program will be following the recommendations of my doctors in addition to the findings Enid and I make regarding a certain Werewolf organization.”
“Sure, have no fun at all this summer, that’s fine,” Holly muttered and Wednesday just smirked while Morticia quietly asked about Emiliana, and she explained how well she was doing, particularly with her speech.
Hester smiled from where she had been quietly sipping her wine beside Enid, offering, “I wanted to tell you – I’ve seen plenty of visions from the start of this upcoming school year that featured her right as rain, her usual spirited self. I knew she’d be fine.”
“A modern miracle – neuroscience. We’ve all experienced the beautiful union of both our sacred, Outcast arts and the scientific wonders in the last year, and I for one, could not be more grateful,” Larissa said, tipping her glass back.
The meal carried on – but when it wrapped, there was one thing that Wednesday wanted to talk to her surrogate aunt about that she’d like not to speak of in front of the others. Giving her eyes and gesturing to the window, Larissa gave a small nod. “Would you excuse Wednesday and I just a moment, I’ve a small question to ask her regarding our former psychic link,” Larissa said by way of an excuse – and Wednesday was always so grateful for her social decorum.
Stepping onto the sidewalk, Larissa said, “I assumed that meant you wanted to speak in private?”
Wednesday nodded. “I did something very impulsive this week that I want to confess to you and seek your opinion on. I’ve already received my parents’ hesitant blessing, and begrudgingly – Enid’s, but I feel like your thoughts on the matter actually mean more to me in this case.”
“I’m not sure if I should be honored or insulted, but go ahead,” Larissa said as they walked at a slow pace on the path behind the restaurant, where there were trees thickened up between buildings.
“You ought to know I don’t think too highly of others – if I’m wondering your thoughts on something, they matter a great deal to me.” Wednesday took a breath explaining, “I needed to speak to someone after witnessing yet another series of vicious attacks on women like the one you assisted me in recovering from when I learned about Imogen Zypher.” Larissa looked at her with a dash of empathy, clearly recalling what that day was like. “It’s very difficult for me to speak about or talk about with the people I love. When Josie suggested I talk to her therapist, I shut her down – but not the idea. When I arrived home, I went into the ether…to speak to Dr. Kinbott.”
Larissa gave a surprised expression, pausing her walk. “How were you able to make contact with Valarie? You wouldn’t have had any of her personal possessions…?”
“I had one of her funeral cards – Enid had saved it, put it out on Dia de los Muertos. Do you remember?”
Giving a soft sort of nod of recollection – she’d been a spider then, but clearly – it’d been a significant moment in Wednesday’s life that Larissa had participated in. “I recall. I suppose I must know, how…how is she, in death?”
“She…has accepted death, for certain. But she hasn’t moved on. I don’t think it’s like – unfinished business, the way that Anika’s spirit was so angry and unable to cross over. It’s more like…she’s just in the in-between. Lingering between this world and the next. She was…kind. She always was, and at the time that I knew her in life – I couldn’t discern kindness from insincerity.”
“Can I ask, what made you think to go to her, after all this time? What sparked the idea in your mind?”
Wednesday bit her lip. “You are aware, she was one of Quinton’s victims. That hasn’t been settling right with me since we found out. I had wanted to do something to address it in March when it was discovered – but time wasn’t on our side. I had been entirely too stressed to even figure out what I could do or why I’d do it. So…when I had that vision on Tuesday – I just thought that…” Wednesday confessed, “I already had some established relationship with her, but I don’t love her. That’s what I needed. Someone to talk to that I could be honest with, who wasn’t going to cuddle me on their couch. Don’t get me wrong, that’s been paramount to my character development. But it wasn’t what I required to cope with that vision on that day.”
“I can understand that,” Larissa said softly. “Do you think you were successful, in that…ether-based therapy session, then?”
Nodding, Wednesday explained, “Dr. Kinbott heard me express feelings and speak more in one period than I likely did in any of our previous sessions combined.”
“I’m pleased that it turned out, then. What…what exactly are you hesitant about with all of this?”
She confessed, “I think…I am at a point where I might be ready for regular sessions, of my own free will. In the way that Josie suggested, to help me deal with all the darkness without bringing down someone that I love or holding it in. But I can’t just go to any therapist off the street. I’d like to continue to meet Dr. Kinbott in the ether.” She watched out of the corner of her eye and was a little bit annoyed that Larissa didn’t have a single reaction – not a twitch of a muscle near her mouth nor a flutter of her lashes to indicate that anything that might come out of her mouth wouldn’t be compete honesty. That was annoying.
Wednesday waited with near bated breath until Larissa expressed, “Part of me thinks that it might not be the greatest idea – relying on the dead to help you navigate your social-emotional domain. However, knowing you as I do – I recognize that trust is the hallmark of all of your successful relationships. And you’re correct, you couldn’t simply walk in off the streets and tell an average Normie doctor what’s happened. And, crazy as they drove me in their youth, and remarkable at their work as they are today, the brothers Lochlan up at Nevermore really don’t strike me as the type of doctors you could form strong bonds to. They’re men, anyway,” Larissa whispered and winked. Wednesday got a bit of a smile at that. “I suppose I’d like to know what are your concerns, in pursuing a client-doctor relationship with your unfortunately deceased therapist?”
Explaining that the loss of time was her greatest concern, Wednesday added another. “I’m…concerned with the general implication that I need to seek out the dead for validation of my feelings. I also risk growing attached to someone who could move on at any time.”
“That is very realistic. Wednesday…I’m sure Dr. Kinbott herself expressed this to you, but I cannot stress how proud I am for all of the growth you’ve made. It’s tremendous, what you’ve accomplished – the change within you, in such a very short period of time.” Larissa put a tentative hand on Wednesday’s back, clearly not trying to set off a vision (if only it were that simple). “Despite your worries, my opinion is that you ought to go for it.”
“Really?” Wednesday would have expected the last of the people she told about her idea to agree with her would be Larissa.
“Absolutely,” She said with her certain sort of way. “It may not be conventional, but my dear – what about you is?” Wednesday tried to hide a smirk. “So long as Valarie is okay with it, then I think you should give it a go. Perhaps, once a week or every other week, in our timeline – you don’t want to find yourself becoming…well, I’m not sure addicted is the right word – but reliant, I suppose, on seeking all of your emotional support from the dead.”
Nodding and agreeing with that, she was ready to return inside when Larissa warned her, “But I also strongly suggest…” She smiled as an idea clearly formed within her. “You said that Imogen and Anika are still in the ether as well…maybe connecting all three of them would prevent Valarie from experiencing some sort of despair with you being the only one that she interacts with prior to moving on. I think, unfortunately, they all have a commonality.”
Almost blinking away tears at the thought of actually being able to meaningfully help all three of them even though they were dead, Wednesday gave a deep nod, thinking she’d need to somehow match Dr. Kinbott up with a Beanie Baby, too, so she didn’t feel left out upon meeting the others.
“Do you happen to know her favorite animal? Dr. Kinbott?” Wednesday asked out of left field.
Larissa actually let a small smile spread across her cheeks. “I do, funny enough. Mice and rats.” Wednesday stared like she didn’t believe her, but Larissa gave a chuckle. “I think the reason will astound you when you ask her for it. My only other advice in the matter is, as the good doctor said today, continue to train with your mother and grandmother. I cannot stress the importance of ensuring your psychic skills are sharp as you continue to advance in other ways.”
“Of course,” She agreed. “Thank you, Aunt Larissa, for not…thinking I’m crazy for this.”
“Well, crazy is a relative term, Wednesday. You are full of some unconventional schemes and every now and then a half-baked, impulsive idea, but I do not think that having sessions with Dr. Kinbott in the ether is among them. You’ve earned Larissa Weems’ stamp of approval on that one,” She said, playfully making a marking gesture with her fist.
Wednesday nodded. “I’m very glad you came today. I recognize, I wasn’t the only reason you made the trip, but I appreciate that you were here for me as part of it.”
“I’d say always, my dear, but so help me – I best not be seeing you for the next month and a half. You stay out of trouble, missy. I am not leaving my cottage to dig you out of it.”
X
Wednesday was trying not to let out purr-like sounds as Enid massaged shampoo into her hair, humming along to the music that was playing on her phone before Wednesday turned around and swapped positions, returning the favor.
Enid was actually able to let out little wolfish noises of pleasure as she scrubbed her scalp, making sure none of the glue would be present when they left the tub. They’d been soaking for almost too long; the water was cool and both of them were ready to rinse off and enjoy the rest of the first of two nights together.
Wednesday sat on a small stool while Enid ran the blow dryer over her hair after she had a black robe on, staring as Enid wore one of her oversized, bleach dyed shirts. It was cute, seeing her legs sticking out from it, Wednesday thought, trying not to stare as she took the damp out of her long locks, marveling at the length when properly pulled and dried instead of twisted wet into braids. She fluffed it up after, putting a hand on each of Wednesday’s cheeks, kissing her soundly on the mouth before swapping places, again – making the happiest coos as her hair was played with and made dry.
After they brushed their teeth, Wednesday turned out the lights in the room, including Augustus’ terrarium lamp, as the boy had refused to sleep after granny had offered her bed to all three snakes much earlier in the day. Hardly believing that hadn’t been a week ago, she did genuinely feel tired after such a full eighteen hours between the driving, the hospital, time in the ether, and dinner with Larissa and Holly. However, Wednesday was far from ready to sleep.
On the drive home, she’d come up with a simple way to push her own boundaries, and hopefully show Enid that she was seriously working on overcoming issues that she had regarding intimacy. The conversation with Dr. Kinbott earlier in the week hadn’t revealed anything to her, not really, but it had made her feel better, regardless. Knowing that half their peers also weren’t out romping around every night also made her feel less like she wasn’t meeting expectations. Wednesday had strong opinions on those of society, but didn’t want to drag things out too much for her girlfriend, either. Working up the confidence, Wednesday watched Enid getting comfy on the mattress, snuggling down into the covers and looking at her with a giggle. “Are you coming, or do you just want to imagine how cozy this is?”
“I…want to try something first that I hope…is not too forward or utterly embarrassing.” Wednesday tried to project confidence, fighting for her very life against the flush that was creeping over her chest, up her neck and threatening her cheeks. Enid pushed the covers off her and sat up, looking serious. “If you are not comfortable with this idea, please say so – you know I would never wish for you to do something you don’t actually want to on my behalf.”
“Wednesday?”
She stepped forward to the mattress. “I’d…like it if you would…” She closed her eyes for a moment, breathing before opening them and stating in a breath – not rushed, but not quite an even tone, “I’d like if you’d take my robe off of me. Then, if we could lie down together…with me, completely nude, outside of the tub.”
“OhEmGee, Wednesday, of course I’m comfortable with that,” Enid had a sweet smile on, twisting her legs to sit on the edge of the mattress. She held her by the hips, batting her lashes up at her prettily. “I am all about taking slow steps to up your comfort-level, you know that.” She leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her sternum where her robe dipped a little bit. “You know I try very hard not to ogle you when we’re sharing a bath or a trauma shower, so – I’m excited to just…look at you, okay?”
Feeling herself take on a new level of trust with her nod of her head, she knew, instinctively, Enid would want to hear her consent as well. “Yes.”
“Perfect,” Enid smiled and let up on her hips, instead, let her fingers wander to the little knot of a tie in front, untangling the soft fabric from itself. As she did, the robe started to separate, and Wednesday fought every instinct in her bones to hold it together. She struggled to keep her fingers loose at her sides, trying not to close them into anxious fists. “You’re alright,” Enid whispered, sensing her struggle. She stood up, running her fingers from Wednesday’s wrists, over the fabric, up to the seams covering her shoulders. With a sweet slowness, she pushed the top down, letting it fall naturally down Wednesday’s back. As she shifted on impulse, her elbows caught it in the crease before the robe could fall all the way to the floor. Enid gave her an encouraging expression, not staring at her nakedness yet, keeping their eyes locked together instead. She put a hand on Wednesday’s uncovered side, rubbing up and down, drawing her in by closing the distance between them with a long, slow kiss.
Her heart was like a jackhammer in her chest as she could feel the fabric of the long nightshirt Enid wore against her – chest, breasts, belly, thighs…trying not to feel shy – it was just the human form, everyone had one…She had looked at so many photos of dead bodies over the years; Wednesday knew every body looked different and that there wasn’t inherent shame to he held relating to it. Her hesitancy was different than the stigma of being seen in the nude – it was all about trust and the very distinct level of intimacy she wanted to reach.
Wednesday took a breath as Enid pulled back to finish pushing the last bit of her sleeves to the ground. It fell without sound and Wednesday let her eyelashes flutter against her orbital bone as she needed to reduce every sense at that moment –
…Except touch.
Enid held her hands and then wondered, “Are you okay with me holding you tight?”
“Yes, please,” Wednesday replied – feeling like that would be easier than being stared at.
It felt good, having Enid wrap one arm snugly, just above her backside, her opposite hand splayed across her naked back. “You often hide behind so many layers and fabrics, that I occasionally forget how small you are. I love the size of you, and how strong you are – even though you’re literally the smallest person I know,” Enid started and Wednesday felt a near shiver up her back as she spoke into her neck before pushing long hair off of it to place a few gentle kisses there, continuing to hold her for a long minute.
Finally, Enid pulled away. It was just the faint glow of moonlight from the sheer curtains that covered the tops of the windows that allowed her body to be seen in the dark, but with Enid’s enhanced vision, Wednesday was sure she’d be able to take her all in. Again, trying her hardest not to hide herself, Wednesday let Enid sit on the edge of the bed and hold her hips, giving her a once, then twice over.
She’d been exceptionally shy about…the hair on her lower half. She had a feeling that if society’s beauty standards wanted her to shave it all off her legs and armpits, it was probably expected that she get rid of it off her private area, too…and maybe someday – when she and Enid would be more ready to…engage with one another there, she might – if that’s what Enid thought they should do…but until then, she just tried to keep the dark hair neat and tidy – knowing it stood out against her pale skin, feeling herself flush again as she stressed about it, about not meeting Enid’s expectations, damn society’s-
“Hey,” Enid promised, leaning forward and kissing between her exposed ribs. “You’re doing really great,” She said, giving her compliments in a way that made her suppress another shiver. “I know this isn’t easy. I’m so…I’m so happy you trust me like this…can I…you can of course say no – but can I touch your thigh?”
Wednesday gave a bop of a nod and Enid lowered a hand from her hip down, rubbing a line along her smooth skin, sighing and looking up at her with a new expression after she took in the view from below Wednesday’s midsection. “I don’t shave mine all the way either. Don’t think it’s weird. Most Wolves actually think it’s totally gross to shave it all.”
A beat of relief washed through her and Enid kissed even lower on her – just above her belly button, and Wednesday couldn’t hide her twitch at that – how low it was. She shivered – in a good way, kind of wanting it to keep going but… “I’ll stop here,” Enid promised, squeezing her thigh with a little pressure. “You’re pretty, Wednesday. And you are so much more in touch with your feelings than you think you are; I can feel you working through this, it’s like – electric. You are so full of raw energy – power…but you’re delicate, too. I’m really glad you trust me, to give me this…this…”
“Vulnerability?”
“Exactly that,” Enid agreed, standing up and looking down with the just two inches of height between them, bringing her fingers up near Wednesday’s breasts, which she’d more than discovered already, but with the full picture – they probably looked different, in context – maybe?
“You’ve not only been vulnerable to new feelings, but to this – new experiences, this summer…I’m really in love with you. I’m really, really in love with you, and I love how you’re sharing yourself with me. I do have one pervy request, though.” Enid bit her lip, and Wednesday stared at her questioningly. “Can I stare at your butt for just a minute?”
Unable to help her embarrassed smile, Wednesday turned around, crossing her arms, having no idea what Enid would find so exciting about that. She heard a little sigh, and felt a careful finger run from the base of her spine up, making her whole body feel like it’d been shocked. “Alright,” Enid promised, hugging her nude form from behind, kissing her neck, her shoulder, then her cheek. “Will you come lay down with me like this? Just for a little bit. We should cover you up before we go to sleep, I don’t want to wake up to be teased and tortured by anyone in this house because you’re nakey.”
Agreeing with that, Wednesday took another nightshirt from the top of what was apparently, their shared drawer in the dresser that also housed bathing suits and undergarments. Putting what she needed near her pillow, she let Enid get comfortable first, but then shook her head. “Do you…want to take off your top, too?”
It was flung across the mattress in seconds, making Wednesday almost laugh. Enid had on a pair of purple panties, and…
…the light lavender had the faintest dark spot creeping up the middle as she took her topless form in. She felt herself just about sent to Mars, as she realized the naked form of her alone, must have been enough to turn Enid on, pretty significantly.
Though she could have been flustered by that, too, Wednesday actually felt like flattery was a better way to take it.
Enid glanced down and winked. “I’ll…keep these on for the sake of not having to change the sheets. I’m…very much attracted to you, Wednesday,” She said, unabashedly.
“I suppose I am very grateful for that.”
“I’m very grateful for you opening yourself up to me like this,” Enid said as she drew Wednesday close to her again, pulling her flush to be on top of her. She groaned in Wednesday’s ear when they were skin-to-skin.
Wednesday worked very diligently on not letting herself be overly stiff, trying to find just the right place to put her arms and legs so it wasn’t weird between them –
“Here,” Enid suggested, lying on her back. She put Wednesday’s head on her shoulder and chest, tucked one of her knees up in an L-shape over her thigh, and let the other be straight beside her. Adjusting her arms so one was on her hip and the other tucked a little bit under, Wednesday let herself be held in the most…somehow – the safest way possible, despite being the most exposed she’d ever been.
They just laid together – Enid stroking up and down Wednesday’s back, she drawing circles along her hip and thigh. It felt so right, so good…
…Wednesday could hardly believe how nervous she had been for something that was so natural.
She pulled herself onto her knees, sometime later, wanting to look at Enid again. She let her eyes wander over her chest, allowing her hand to follow them, making her nipples rise into pebbles, goosebumps appear all over her skin. She giggled as Wednesday’s hand traveled lower to her stomach, near the waistline of her underwear. “Careful,” Enid whispered.
Retracting and smiling, Wednesday leaned down into a kiss, their small breasts touching, the pressure feeling so right. She slipped her tongue into Enid’s mouth, proud of herself for how bold she was acting, taking the lead as she put one of her legs between Enid’s, her knee brushing against the wet spot that was there, making her let out a little moan.
Not sure how long it would be before she could really go all the way – Wednesday had a feeling, it wouldn’t take Enid long to get there at all.
She smiled into another kiss, before finally pulling away. Glancing at the time, she gave a tired sound. “It’s almost two o’clock. We should go to sleep before the witching hour draws near.”
Agreeing, Enid asked for a minute to…take care of herself. Wednesday almost asked if she could watch, but didn’t quite have those sorts of guts, yet. Her girlfriend kissed her, winked, then disappeared into the bathroom. Wednesday pulled on underwear of her own and then her shirt, lying impossibly still, hearing soft moans coming from behind the closed door of her bathroom, followed by a little breath and sigh of relief before the faucet turned on, Enid clearly in need of cleaning herself up just a bit before coming to bed.
It was her turn to be completely naked – winking at Wednesday as she found a clean pair of panties from the drawer, about to pull them on before she turned, making sure Wednesday could see – she was a little bit hairy, too – it was no big deal, and it never needed to be.
As Enid pulled her top back on and crawled into bed, she pulled Wednesday to her completely, kissing her long on her lips, her neck, her shoulders and then just cupped her cheek. She looked her in the eye before promising, “That was amazing. I love you. I’m…so surprised, and happy you were able to give me this night. I loved every second of it. Thank you, Wednesday, for trusting me this much.”
“Always,” Wednesday nodded, rolling over to cuddle into her again. “Thank you for being patient with me.”
“Always,” Enid promised in return.
X
Wednesday glanced at Enid out of the corner of her eye, feeling remarkably different at breakfast. Augustus tapped her chin with his tail in his questioning way, trying to sense if she was alright.
She was – more than alright.
Perhaps it was a little bit ridiculous to feel so over-the-moon for the simple act of sharing intentional nakedness with her girlfriend, but Wednesday felt like it was worth making a big deal about, quietly – to herself. Pride wasn’t the correct word – more like…relieved. She’d been mocked many times, from both immature classmates and even the people she loved, about being uptight, prudish, and conservative. She might always prefer a prim dress with sharp collars and a lack of branding, but to know she was capable of losing the outer layer that kept her real self hidden away – at least, to be able to expose herself to one person…
“Wednesday?” Her mother finally called for her attention when she must’ve been entirely too stuck in her reflective thoughts. Practically shaking her head and giving a few blinks to clear them, she gave Morticia her eyes. Trying not to let her cheeks flare up, she gave a small shrug to her mother’s concerns. “They didn’t give you anything new yesterday…did you girls sleep well, last night?”
“We did!” Enid piped up, the right hand that was resting on the table coming to cover Wednesday’s knee with a little squeeze.
Her worried look shifted into a knowing one and she was trying not to smirk. Wednesday couldn’t look at her – the last thing she could handle would be someone teasing her.
“What’s on your agenda today, ladies?” Gomez wondered, leaning back as he finished his meal.
“We’re going to read through some of the Werewolf books I got at the library,” Enid explained.
“Additionally, we ought to begin our meditative training in the ether,” Wednesday said, shooting Morticia a stare in defiance of the slightly taunting one still on her features.
“You only have twenty-four hours with your girlfriend before we have to send her off again,” Morticia claimed, waving her hand dismissively. “I say we start tomorrow. Enjoy your day together. You’re welcome to any of the cars if you’d like to go anywhere, you know. I recognize that Wednesday is a homebody, but Enid – you’ve hardly been around town at all on either of your long stays with us here in Westfield. There are boutiques and small shops downtown you might find something in your less-limited color palate. Wednesday always claims to be up for an afternoon of torture.”
Enid tried not to look too excited at the prospect of shopping. That certainly hadn’t been a part of Wednesday’s plan for the day, but if she could hold a bag for her while she tried on a short dress and tried not to give herself too much praise in the mirror…
“We can go wherever the heart leads,” Wednesday insisted. Enid gave an excited squeak, finishing her sausage and fighting eagerness.
“Perhaps we go for a sunset cruise this evening?” Gomez wondered and Wednesday nodded, trying not to smile too much at the thought of being on the sailboat with her girlfriend. Even if her parents were there – it would still be a nice way to wrap up the day.
Moving on, Enid joined Wednesday for a brief morning meditation before they were dressed properly for a day in town and sailing. Wednesday fought every instinct to put on a sailor dress and selected something that was just a little more mature and casual (for her), a short-sleeve black shirtdress with a thin, white leather belt around the middle of it. If she were willing to go out into her hometown without her hair in braids, she’d have likely been able to pass for an actual teenager, even.
Enid, naturally, looked like cotton candy in a flouncy pair of pink cotton shirts with a blue tank top tucked in and a cropped, quarter zip sweatshirt that went to her elbows matching the bottoms. She braided the top sections of her hair and added complimentary butterfly clips and Wednesday thought – even though she was wearing baby pastels, she also looked like her peers’ definition of cool.
They headed up to their tower study first, Enid taking out three books from the library that she’d lugged around for the last day. Wednesday was surprised by how thick the one tome was, though she hadn’t ever seen another Werewolf text outside of the textbooks at Nevermore. “Before we start,” Wednesday said seriously, “Dr. Zypher had made it clear to me back in the fall,” She emphasized, demonstrating the difference in all their relationships back then, “I was not to get involved with Werewolf studies. She said that Werewolves are a closed society, and that we are grateful that some have opened up themselves to participate with the rest of the Outcast community, and that we needed to respect their wishes.”
“Well that sounds like Nevermore, particularly, Old Network, propaganda,” Enid said with a bit of a -v in her brow as she stared at the top selection. Wednesday was surprised that she could describe the situation that way. “It sounds like talking points that someone else would have made. Josie certainly doesn’t agree with that.”
Wednesday tried to make her point. “I know – but that doesn’t mean I’m trying to disrespect an entire community. I’d be incredibly enraged if I discovered someone outside of our Seer or perhaps general psychic community was investigating the Frump family potions and spell guide. What business would anyone else have being involved?”
Enid ran a finger over the edge of the book in the crease of the spine. “But Wednesday, no one in the Frump family was trying to kill one another because they found a few members of the pack to be unworthy of their name.” She bit her lip. “It…I don’t know – maybe it makes me a bad Werewolf, but since I’ve been on the outside of a formal Werewolf pack, when I look into the community, I see one that needs help. Having outsiders step in might be…critical, at this point.”
Feeling a twist of dread inside of her, Wednesday tried not to compare apples to oranges, but couldn’t help herself. “It’s reminding me a bit of the US government and Bureau of Indian Affairs,” She tried, not sure how familiar Enid was with the longstanding history between the agencies. “It’s…trying to advocate for policies that promote self-determination and tribal sovereignty but also expecting everyone to conform to the-”
Her girlfriend backed up a little, looking out the window. “Well – then consider me a whistleblower, then,” She turned around, eyes full of determination. Again, Wednesday was surprised she could vocalize it in near political terms so well. “Anika came to me. I might have accidentally summoned her in my frustrations over my own Clan business that related to me being on the edge of my pack. But she came to me for a reason, Wednesday.” She took a pause, her fingers twisting together in front of her for a moment before expressing, “Anika, like me, would have been killed by her own kind, one hundred and twenty years ago at birth. That tradition – against Runts, only changed because Normies were finding out and Werewolves didn’t want to be seen as the brutal as they’d always been painted as. I think that alone goes to show, a little outside pressure can help a cause.”
Wednesday rubbed her thumb over her own knuckles of her left fist. “Right, right…”
“And, if you’re using the government logic, in the United States, we have documents that give us the right to life.”
“Okay, that’s a very dangerous talking point right there -”
“I mean, not being murdered?” Enid popped a brow. “I well know the difference between a fetus and a human or Outcast baby, thanks, Wednesday,” She said with a little eyeroll. “Werewolves would have babies and slaughter them if they didn’t meet expectations. I feel like that’s pretty different than having an abortion.”
“Yes, it is,” Wednesday confirmed for her potentially hot-headed take.
“So – like, wrong or right, whether or not colonization should have happened or not, that was hundreds of years ago and all the Werewolves living here today, were born onto this land as it is with these laws – so, they need to follow the laws of the land, including not murdering their pups just because they’re small! So yeah, Wednesday – it’s okay that Normies or other Outcasts got involved to right a wrong.”
“There are so many academics who write about the forcing of western ideals onto already established groups and it all gets cloudy and convoluted in my head, so this is hard to talk about. I do agree – there are moral right and wrongs…We should do what we can…The Network should be involved in problematic Outcast affairs.” She muttered, glancing to the side, looking up with a sigh. “But still…who watches the watchmen?”
“That blue superhero guy? Since when do you watch HBO? And what does that have to do with all this?” Enid was almost starting to look exasperated. She obviously hadn’t anticipated Wednesday having any kind of ethical hesitation in pursing her girlfriend’s cause. She wanted to – but, she had some hesitancy with what she was about to discuss. She’d already taken justice through fate into her own hands once…
“It was actually a graphic novel, from when my father was in middle school…The phrase means, that…the people above, in charge of protecting those below can be as corrupt as the people they are imposing their will and values on. Everyone has hypocrisy in them, and the people at the top are no exception.”
Enid sat down on the edge of the window seat, looking outside. “I don’t think that we, you and I, are responsible for any of that, Wednesday. I don’t think we’re going to solve all of the world’s problems by doing this. But it’s important to me that I step back into my culture to tell the people who raised me that they are wrong, and that the values they hold are going to be the very end of them if they continue to keep them up.”
“Right, I think you should. I just don’t know that I, a psychic, should speak to your clan and council about what they’ve done wrong.”
“I need your voice,” Enid said softly. “Mine isn’t loud enough, it’s not articulate enough, and it’s not well-grounded in logic and facts and figures. It’s all feelings and explosions of them.”
“You are proving yourself wrong right now, as you are putting this all into extremely intellectual terms, Enid.” She flushed and Wednesday sat beside her, feeling like she was walking on broken glass around the topic, and on eggshells around her girlfriend. Usually, she’d have been up for either challenge – but on that Saturday in the late morning, it just didn’t feel good. “You told me the day we met, that your followers like your voice.”
“Speaking up to the Werewolf Council is going to be pretty damn different than running a high school gossip vlog.”
She shrugged. “But is it? Your perspective on Nevermore helped make me interested in things at the school. Your actions the night of Crackstone, your selflessness – you imprinting on me? You changed my heart, Enid. Don’t think that your voice and actions don’t have power.”
“Okay, but you loved me already, you just didn’t know it,” Enid said as she brought a hand up to catch tears before they could fall. “These people have been taunting or hunting Wolves like me for generations, centuries. Righting that wrong is going to take more than me, I know it is.”
“Well, that’s why you’re bringing the entire New Network with you for support,” She said softly, reaching for her hand as it tried to stop another tear as she started to understand Enid’s point of view a little bit more. Wednesday did need to be there, in support, as backup – as the incredible power she yielded, as a reminder of it. But still, it was Enid she wanted to take on the cause. “You can cry. This is hard. This is impossible work. But we’ve already done the impossible…” She sighed, “Together. We’ve done the impossible together…I understand your point,” Wednesday sighed as it all made sense and Enid softened immediately upon recognizing her realization. “Let’s start reading. The more information that I have, the better I can determine my role in all of this and be here for you however you need me to.”
Enid leaned forward and pulled her into a tight hug, which Wednesday returned. Wednesday warned her, “Ethics are hard, when not everyone shares the viewpoint and perspective that you have. Morals seem obvious on the surface, but…once you start to unpack them, the reality around us makes much harder to keep them afloat, sometimes. Dedication to a cause can leave you feeling cynical or contemptuous, when you feel like not everyone is working as hard as you, or doing all they could be.”
“This is why you should be on the Network board when you graduate,” Enid said softly. “You understand what it takes to make it all happen!”
“My role will not be on the Network board but…” Wednesday found just a little smirk. “Maybe I watch the watchmen, then.” Enid tilted her head and Wednesday tried not to laugh. “Someone has to keep President Weems from getting too big of a head and complacent in her place of power again. I am going to the thorn in her side for all of her ruling days at the Network. That is a much bigger role than a secretary or VP, I think.”
Enid giggled and squeezed her hands before taking the book she’d already started off the desk surface. “So, here I’ve got this lovely book published just before Anika went to Lycan Conversion Camp – and I’ve already made a few notes of what she talked to us about. It’s pretty vague – but I’m also only about halfway through, because – theater school is a time-occupying thing.” She took a breath. “Anyway, this is like – mega secret-revealing stuff, it’s no wonder the Werewolf Council made sure it was Normies who had copies of this info and not the packs and clans or the Network!”
She turned the book with a sheet of looseleaf notebook paper in the middle towards Wednesday. Unfolding it, she tried to hide her smile that Enid had finally appreciated her notes-taking style, and applied it to her own work. She had main points, summary statements, and page numbers. Wednesday was proud. In glittery, pink ink, she realized, “It seems like the Werewolf Council became aware of a faction of their own ‘betraying their kind’ in the late 40s…this is just after World War Two.” She said, trying to think, paling – not wanting to even start to investigate if Outcasts had been a targeted group there as well. “It seems like…oh,” Wednesday raised a very curious brow, flipping to one of her page numbers. “…The potions from the LYKOS defectors were actually created and sanctioned by the United States government?!”
“Crazy, right?!” Enid said with wide eyes. “Certainly never read about this in history or health class in Normie school,” She sighed. “It’s like some real Capitan America sh*t. Basically, the government wanted Werewolves to fight in the war, due to their already enhanced strength, but they feared losing their military control over them during the full moons. They collaborated with a group called Bridge to Catharsis to create injectables that sergeants would distribute to the Werewolves to keep them from shifting.”
“Bridge to Catharsis,” Wednesday whispered, taking a black pen from her own desk and circling it. When her girlfriend didn’t immediately react with the same level of intensity that she did, Wednesday clarified, “Enid, Catharsis means purging, particularly for purification.” She blinked and Wednesday emphasized, “Bridge…do we know anyone whose name sounds like that who also had a goal of purging what he didn’t like for the sake of a more hom*ogenous Outcast world?!”
“OhEm-effing-Gee,” Enid whispered, here yes growing wide. “You think – Bridger…it would have had to been his family, we know they were terrible too…Quinton’s father, or grandfather, maybe?”
“It makes sense,” Wednesday’s eyes were taking in information at an unprecedented speed – tapping into that IQ that was once measured as off the charts. She internalized the text and took pictures of each page in her mind, summarizing, “If we correlate this with what we know about the Bridger family intentions, it makes sense that they would try to go through a channel the Werewolves already didn’t trust, which would be the US government. This would have created an even greater mistrust between the leadership, and then…” She shook her head, connecting, “Whoever got their hands on the potion – pharmaceuticals, whatever it was, they then created a rift between their own kind. Quinton’s family knew exactly what they were doing.”
“Do you think it’s possible that Quinton was the one who gave Anika the potion at Nevermore in the first place?” Enid asked with a gasp. “Mr. Mingan – who was stoked to hear from me, btw – he sends you well wishes, anyway – he had never heard of this – about potions and stuff, and I don’t think he was BS-ing me either.”
Wednesday drew her hands along her facial features. “It’s…something we shouldn’t rule out. It would make sense that the Bridger family had enough connections inside of Nevermore at the time, that they were the ones who were acting as the so-called Degenerates to create a whole new class of them.”
“The sheep in wolf’s clothing,” Enid whispered, an anger obvious on her flushed cheeks. “But…I wonder when that would’ve faded out? Ugh, sometimes I wish I could talk to my dad…find out of there was any talk of that in the early 80s around campus.”
Offering her a sympathetic look, Wednesday suggested, “It’s been a long time since you heard from Hunter. Maybe he is aware of any of this? Maybe it’s come up in his research?”
“You know he’s not likely to talk about any of that over the phone,” Enid said, disheartened.
“I’m sorry, Enid,” She muttered, wishing things were different for her…but also, selfishly – she liked that her family was Enid’s pack.
“Well…either way, I haven’t talked to him since April. I’ll send a text. Maybe he’ll at least want to say hi and I can fill him in that we have new information – maybe he’d want to meet up.”
Wednesday let out a breath as a new beat of concern washed through her. “If…the US government helped create something with Outcasts, that stopped a Werewolf from shapeshifting – that means they must have been aware of the power of traditional, or Outcast medicine blended with pharmaceuticals.” She blinked a few times, staring at Enid. “Do you think that this has just been buried for so long – kept under different names and confidentialities that the current administration had no clue any of this happened? Otherwise, I’d think that Holly’s discovery…wouldn’t be being taken so seriously.”
Biting her lip, Enid gave a shrug. “Well, it’s kind of like…what I mentioned earlier. What happened in the past happened. We can’t change it. But we’re here now, and we can try to learn something from it…”
“While we apply today’s knowledge and values to it, I know,” Wednesday sighed. “I guess…that’s why I knew I had to kill Quinton,” She whispered.
Enid snapped her gaze up, obviously surprised at the directional shift in the conversation. “You didn’t have a choice, Wednesday.”
“Yes, true,” Wednesday nodded. “It was kill or be killed. My personal philosophy for many years manifested into action. But also – I wanted to,” She whispered, admitting that darkness that threatened her. “I wanted to, once I knew what happened to Genie. And then…I softened, a little bit – thinking that would make me no better than him or the monsters that came before him. I really didn’t set out to do it that night, Enid – you know that.” She nodded, her eyes intense as she stared at her without blinking. It was unnerving to be on the receiving end of that. “But when Quinton didn’t have a soul for me to send to the nether…I realized that not only did I have to kill him, but I also wanted to. There was no way that with his power, the justice system would have stood a chance against him. I…I justify what I did in many ways. But part of that homicide was just my desire to see him pay – like he would have in the olden days.”
Enid drew her knees to her chest, rubbing the top of one. “I’m starting to feel icky, Wednesday. I…I don’t see you as a killer. I think you did the right thing. You or Larissa, or possibly – both of you would have died if you hadn’t gotten to kill Quinton first. Hell, had I had the strength, had my wolf tapped in to get out a little sooner, I’d have done it myself! But…Wednesday,” She groaned. “I don’t know if you should tell anyone other than me that you wanted to kill him, okay?”
She swallowed, again…for the third time in a week – she was experiencing a reaction from Enid that she wasn’t expecting.
Wednesday was so used to having her full support, for Enid to go along with anything, that discovering her girlfriend had limits was…frustrating, in the least and discouraging at the same time. Maybe…it was another conversation to be had with Dr. Kinbott instead.
Still, she wanted to clarify her point. “My mother wanted to kill him. My father wanted to kill him. For what he’d done to the Outcast world, for what he’d done for generations, for how he’d tortured people we knew, for what he did to you. I don’t think it’s wrong that I wanted Quinton dead, specifically because I knew there was no other way for justice to be served. I tried to do that, Enid, I tried to find the solution where I didn’t kill him! But one didn’t exist, at least – not that I could find before he’d kill me.”
“Okay,” Enid sighed. “I…this is all really hard, Wednesday,” She said in almost a whine, sweeping a hand down to her books. “This is why I need your voice. I don’t…I don’t know mine well enough, and you’re so certain -”
“I’m not,” Wednesday argued. As Enid relented just a little bit, budged in her expression, Wednesday felt like she could put it into words to make her more at ease with her confession. “I’m not more certain, and I’m not more confident than you. I simply…I simply see the world in black and white, and you see all the colors that I’ll never be able to. It’s important for us to do this upcoming work together because it’s with one another, we get to see the entire spectrum. We might not always fully agree with where to land on an issue, but we can talk about it. We have to be able to talk about this stuff with each other, no matter how icky it feels, no matter how uncomfortable. It’s in discomfort that we find a way to make meaning and can start to change. Look at what we’ve already uncovered!”
Enid leaned forward and Wednesday scooped her arms under hers for a tight hold around her back. “It’s never going to be easy. It’s not going to feel good. But we’re here for each other, to restore that. I promise. I’m…I’m sorry for making you feel differently about me – I hope you don’t see me different, now -” She started to express her fear that perhaps her confession had been too much, but Enid refuted it.
“No, of course not. It’s just a lot to take in, I guess. I think if I sit with it long enough, probably – the ride back to school tomorrow, it’ll make sense to me, too. It…almost makes me wish that more people had the courage you do – so this would’ve ended a long time ago,” She said as she pulled away. “But they didn’t. It didn’t. And it’s our job to keep learning what happened then, to make it right now. So long as I have you with me, Wednesday – I know that I can speak up.”
“And as long as you want me to be there, to be part of this – then I will be. It seems like my people – the psychic community, might’ve been more involved than I could have ever considered. It makes sense, if Quinton was a non-shifting Outcast-type, psychic supremacist, then he had to have more than just the people he manipulated with his power at his side. Enid!” She said suddenly, considering her vision from several weeks past and the one she’d had at the hospital, “The Bridge to Catharsis – the faceless people, I saw being tortured in the vision. It could be them!”
Enid let out a loud breath and looked outside again. “And of course, Aunt Larissa’s not at the Network HQ for a few more weeks…and -”
“I don’t think things would be in that plain of sight. It’s probably like she told me – half of it is behind evidence vaults that the US government is withholding access to until there’s an official Network president with a new mission and vision. But I think that what we need is right in front of us,” She said certainly. “This information was kept out of the Network for more than one reason, it seems, and we’re going to find it as we continue to research.”
X
Wednesday was hiding a smile as she leaned against a wall outside of a dressing room stall. She had a pink and white chevron bag hanging off her elbow with a little bakery logo – nothing inside for her; she’d sooner eat worms that put anything as sugary as Enid’s cupcake selection in her mouth. Still, after a very emotionally charged night filled with steps towards intimacy, and morning involving major discoveries in the Conspiracies of Their Lives – a damn near soap opera, she was happy. Genuinely, eternally – Wednesday was so happy to be out with Enid, treating her to whatever she wanted. Cupcakes? Of course, something sweet for her sweetheart. A very tacky picture frame made with crushed sea glass for Enid to put a photo of them at the beach in later in the summer? Naturally, to be able to look at her captured in time in the water for all of their days. Dress shopping in an upscale, preppy boutique? As long as it brought out her eyes, Wednesday would buy her any outfit Enid wanted.
She felt extremely at ease, purposeful, as she waited for Enid to come out with the last selection she had on a hanger. The first two dresses were fine, but Wednesday thought the last number would really be more of a refined look for…well – she didn’t know what Enid would wear it to – everything in the store was impractical, but if she liked it and looked nice – who was Wednesday to tell her no? They spent so much of their time together doing practical things, school things, things related to their power – that it was sometimes easy to forget that they were teenagers in need of a shopping spree. A day date of spoiling her girlfriend felt like her gift time was being put to excellent use.
“Okay, I don’t know…this might be – too much, Wens.”
Hm. Wens, again?
Not commenting on it, she argued, “I’ll be the judge of that.”
“Well, I’d have to either get like – a push-up bra or take in the sides a little bit, I’m not quite busty enough for this but…”
Enid opened the door and stepped out to the triple view mirror and Wednesday pushed off the wall, at her side in a second, looking her up and down.
“In the best, least insulting way – you look like a bubble,” She commented as she marveled. Somehow, the fabric had enough metallics, layers of tule, and a unique polymer that was almost transparent, giving the exact sort of rainbow hue of a translucent bubble in the sun, over a short, silvery slip-dress. It ended above the knee in the front but had a train in the back that shifted color each time Enid moved just slightly, reflecting different spectrums of the light. It was strapless, cut with a dangerous sort of V that went between her small breasts – the top stuck out just a little bit – but Wednesday didn’t think she needed anything extra or to sew it. The way it stood up, the points really gave a contrast to the soft bubbly look.
Enid looked incredible.
If she paired it with a silver heel, and a statement necklace, she would look like she belonged on the red carpet.
“You’re beautiful,” Wednesday said as she stood up beside her, matching her height in her bare feet and she in her boots, kissing her cheek in the mirror before really looking at Enid with her in the reflective surface. “You’d stand out in this, no matter where you wore it. It shows off your legs, and your waist and I don’t think you need anything to fill it out – I like the way it sits on you,” She gestured to the chest.
Enid’s cheeks pulled one of the pinks out of the transforming fabric as she adjusted her stance just a little bit, looking at it on the side. “You’re sure? You like this one better?”
“It’s far more mature, and way more unique than the other two.”
“Yeah, but…why do I need it, where would I wear it?”
“To dinner, with me,” She said as if it were obvious.
Enid giggled. “I don’t think we have anywhere this fancy to go.”
“What about to one of our dances? We should make every effort to attend them all as seniors – crisis-pending, of course.”
“I mean…maybe…I could probably put together a bubble-inspired masquerade mask for the Halloween one…” She shrugged. “Too short for Yule or Prom, but maybe the Rave’n.”
Kissing her flushed cheek, Wednesday suggested, “You earned yourself a performance solo in the showcase next week. You were going to wear that itchy-looking rainbow sequin dress, but…what about this, instead?”
That made her cheeks widen in a bright smile. “Yeah, yeah, okay! This is way better for a showcase. Mhm. Okay, fine, you’ve convinced me.” She squeaked, giving Wednesday a hug in it. “I’m sold. Well, your sold – you have the money, but, anyway – I love it. I really do. Thanks, Wednesday.”
Taking her hand and leading her back to get changed, Wednesday took the other two dresses back to the boutique owner as Enid handed them to her, explaining, “We’ll be taking the other one.”
The blonde woman at the register could’ve very well been a distant relative of Enid’s – her hair in similar spirals with braids on the sides…maybe it was a trend. “Sure thing. Hey, you and your gf are totally cute. I love the whole black-cat, golden retriever trope.” Wednesday raised a brow and the older teen giggled, ringing up the couture item that she’d taken the tag off of a ribbon before handing to Enid to try on. “Sorry – I speak in brainrot. I just mean, you two with your clashing aesthetics are a great pair. And you know, you did say that you weren’t here to look for anything for yourself, as you were ‘confident we can’t suit your taste,’” She said with air quotes back at her to repeat what she’d said when entering. “But if your girl is going to be all dolled up in that, I’m sure she’s going to be seeing you after the show. You kind of want to match her energy. And this is a nice look, but something more…hmm…exclusive, might suit you, too, don’t you think?”
“I don’t require new garments,” She tried to insist, but when Enid came out with the dress on her arm, and her little backpack on and saw that the shopkeeper had pulled out two (likely the only two in store) black dresses and put them on a rack, she gave a giddy clap of her hands. She passed the dress for purchase over before taking them both, thanking the worker, and pushing Wednesday into a dressing room with them. “You like to see me suffer,” She quipped, ready to put on the short black dresses to prove she’d look ridiculous in them.
As she very well expected, the first one was atrocious. Months ago, she’d have fought against letting Enid see, but for dramatic effect, she threw open the door and made her double over in a giggle fit.
Awful, chiffon fabric was split into curl-like strips, draping awkwardly from the neckline down to just above the knee with zero shape. “I look like a gothic jellyfish.”
Enid covered her mouth in amusem*nt as Wednesday turned around, looking at the back in disgust, shaking her head – unable to grapple with how a designer thought it could be flattering on anybody. “No offense Wednesday, but you somehow look even shorter in that. It might be the most unflattering dress I’ve ever seen – I don’t think anyone should be allowed to wear it!”
“This should be burned to spare some poor, angsty teen the embarrassment when her mother brings clothing home for her just to try it in a bizarre attempt to send her to a school function just to take photos for her own, gratuitous social media account.”
“You know, I don’t know that was anyone’s intention when putting this dress together, but it really is awful,” The clerk said with a chuckle from the doorway. “I’ll see if my boss will let me either mark it seventy percent off or rag it out.”
“The dust doesn’t deserve to be wiped up with the likes of this monstrosity,” Wednesday said, lifting it up and letting it flap a little before shaking her head and returning to try on the other dress.
It already looked better on the hanger. The dress was about the same length as Enid’s, to the knee, and also had a little bit of tule, but it was a softer material. The silky slip of an all-black dress beneath had little silver stars patterned on the outer layer beneath the breastbone, with a neckline she approved of in a high cowl that came to the clavicle, the same shiny material as underneath the dress, leaving her cool as she pulled it on. The waist was sinched with just the slightest rouching, and a pattern of tiny to small silver, metal stars decorated the bottom hem. She bit her lip – not having anticipated appreciating it at all, let alone…wanting it.
Whether she wore it to Enid’s showcase, or again – they could wear them also to one of the more casual dances at Nevermore, Wednesday wanted to curse as she found herself liking something against her will, influenced into participating in the economy that day on her own behalf.
“You okay?”
She nodded before remembering Enid couldn’t see. Unable to reach the final back hook, she held it up and asked, “Can you close me up?”
Enid stepped in and quickly did the fastener, obviously trying to save the full picture. When she finished the last little metal closure, she sucked in a little breath, let it out in a mellow sort of coo, and pulled her hands together near her cheek. Her eyes were sparkling in something that was such a pure representation of Enid in Wednesday’s heart, she had to step around her to keep from feeling overly emotional at the display of Enid’s dulcet display of her emotions. She stood in front of the mirror again, fully approving of the fit of the dress. Enid was at her side, staring at her in love and desire and Wednesday just nodded down to her. “I’ll get it.”
Unable to take her gushing, she put a finger to her lips when Enid opened her mouth to comment. “Don’t be too nice to me, I can’t take such public humiliation.”
“Okay,” Enid giggled, sighing as she stood beside her, holding her hand leaning her head against her shoulder. “Can I just tell you that you’re pretty without you thinking it’s an insult to your intelligence?”
“I guess.”
“Good. You’re gorgeous, Wednesday. And…I’m so picturing, hm…” She took both of her braids into her hands, twisting them up into as high of a bun as she could get them before dropping them and patting her back between her shoulder blades. “I’m piercing your ears tonight.”
“What?”
The employee giggled, caught Wednesday’s leer in the mirror, then disappeared with her hands up, not about to find herself in a lover’s quarrel.
“Yup, I’m doing it. You’ve gotten away with limited accessories for too long. If you’re going to wear an updo, you need earrings. It’s simple! And, I have a perfect pair of dangly star earrings that would go with this.”
“The last thing I need is for an earring to snag on something during an investigation or a monster chase and have me ripping it out of my earlobe, delaying my work or causing me to stumble and -”
“Oh, please,” Enid rolled her eyes. “Won’t it be fun, letting your girlfriend put needles in you? That seems so up your alley.”
Flushing and almost whining, Wednesday muttered, “It takes weeks to heal – I wouldn’t be able to wear them anything beyond a stud to the showcase -”
“You’ll be wearing this dress more than once, trust me,” Enid said with a wink.
“Why do you want me to get my ears pierced?” Wednesday griped, holding her lobes suddenly, feeling them turning red in embarrassment for being focused on.
“Because, you’re cute and I want to get my cute girlfriend earrings that match with her outfits. You have learned to enjoy wearing jewelry over the last year!”
“I have tolerated it out of necessity,” She said, staring at the chain with her -W and Genie’s spacecraft on her neck beneath the cowl, and then her wrists – the right side that had the beaded bracelets that Enid made for her, and the left that was her seizure measuring device. Her gaze traveled up to her glucose monitor, and she forced herself not to be upset that that was visible in the dress. “I’ve already got a lot of accessories on. I don’t need to be tacky.”
“Earrings aren’t tacky! You’ll look nice!” The store worker said, unable to help herself as she butted in.
“It’s like a grand display during the gilded age -”
Enid stood in front of her with a knowing smirk, a determined sheen in her eyes, and her arms crossed. “You’re afraid it’s going to hurt, aren’t you?”
“Enid, I’ve been stabbed. Multiple times.”
“Yeah, but, you didn’t know those were coming. Big dif, anticipating your little gf with no piercing experience putting needles through your ears to a dagger you didn’t see coming.”
Growling a little, Wednesday promised her, “I can handle the pain.”
“Great!” She perked up. “I saw a jewelry shop down the street – we’ll get you something silver.”
Thinking about what her father said, about silver being a conductor of energy, Wednesday just groaned, returning to the dressing room to put her arrival outfit back on, but…also not fully disputing Enid’s plan. She’d thought about it, when she watched Morticia loan Enid heirloom earrings at the Yuletide, thinking that spark of jealousy could fade if she’d just consent to the girlish tradition of having her ears adorned with jewels.
Enid likely hadn’t expected her girlfriend to be as thoughtful in her decision making about what she was going to wear in her earlobes for at least six weeks. She was torn between a tiny, simple silver ball, a little black diamond, and Enid did find little silver stars, though the teenager with a face and earful of piercings did warn Wednesday – it might be hard to sleep in them for her first time, as the little points could catch on the pillowcase whenever she rolled over.
Always one for a risk, and deciding the silvery stars were the final straw to break her anti-ear-piercing camel’s back, Wednesday took all three pairs, with the intention of starting with the stars, but wanting to have more neutral ones to switch into when the holes healed.
Enid was going on about piercing care and what exactly she was going to do to keep Wednesday from getting an infection. Confident that after the last year, Wednesday could care for her lobes herself, she just let her talk as she drove them home. Morticia was curious about their purchases – but considering she’d get to see the full effects less than a week from that moment, Wednesday hid the dresses and decided to see how long it would take her to notice that she had her ears pierced in the morning.
After packing an easy picnic-style dinner, Wednesday, Enid, Morticia, Gomez and Lurch set out to sail. Wednesday hid her amusem*nt of Lurch in his traditional sailor’s suit, something that she was pretty sure he donned by choice – not that her father had instructed him to wear. He looked dapper in the black and white, classic outfit.
At the docks well before sunset in the midst of July, they loaded up the boat and motored out before Wednesday helped with the black sails and they were off around the bay, with Gomez leading them at first while Morticia sat in a sunhat and glasses (over the top, large, fashionable, yet entirely dramatic) at his side.
Wednesday pulled Enid to the front of the boat, sitting behind her and manipulating them so she was between her legs curled up in a backwards hug. Enid leaned her head back to Wednesday’s shoulder, and they rode with their music playing quietly from Enid’s AirPods, one in each of their ears.
The first hour was like magic. Wednesday kept sneaking kisses to Enid’s cheek, burying her fingers in windswept hair, squeezing her tight…she could’ve spent every night for the rest of the summer on a sailboat with her.
Unfortunately, Wednesday’s blood sugar alarm indicated that she should’ve eaten the snack her grandmama tried to push on her before leaving the house. Sighing, she let them be called from their romantic little spot to the hull of the boat, where Gomez distributed food to all his girls. Wednesday knew that her favorite sandwich was packed and didn’t hesitate to dig in, while Enid was spending just as much time asking a dozen questions a minute about sailing that her father was just too happy to answer.
Morticia was picking at her dinner between looking for something she’d pulled out of storage beneath the seat, flipping through a box until she smirked. “Let’s see if this old girl still has it in her,” She said with a certain sort of snark that Wednesday associated with her mother.
But she wasn’t mad at her about eight seconds later, when the speakers swelled with a familiar piano tune. She smirked at Morticia who was trying to hide her amusem*nt and act like she hadn’t picked the cassette tape on purpose to earn Wednesday’s attention. As the Styx started to play an entirely cliché song for where they were, Morticia took a bite before explaining to Enid, “Before Wednesday would talk, she would tell us that she wanted to go sailing by heading to the music room and playing this song on the piano.”
Trying not to flush, Wednesday wished for a moment that they weren’t sailing, as she just wanted to badly to dance to the soft beat before losing herself when the tempo would change and additional instruments came in.
Morticia and Gomez burst into the song as it began to rock, both loudly singing over the water – fully unable to help themselves, “A gathering of angels, appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said. They said, come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me.”
Enid made silly little wave like movements with her arms, able to not be completely embarrassed by her parents’ behavior. If she wasn’t fazed, Wednesday supposed she shouldn’t be either, letting herself give into interpretive dances with her arms, lying out across Enid’s lap, making her giggle and kiss her upside-down, even if she tasted like a sub sandwich.
When the song faded out to the next one after a click (Gomez must’ve recorded songs off a gramophone years prior to have it portable for the boat), Wednesday knew her mother and father were going to get gross to the Mamas and the Papas. Taking Enid’s hand and the rest of their dinner back up to their spot in the front of the sailboat, she finished, trying not to hum along. Enid sighed as she really paid attention to it. “This is how I’ve felt being away from you, all throughout my intensive,” She admitted, “Each night before I go to bed, my baby,” She sang in a goofy tone, likely as not to let Wednesday think she was using that nickname for her. “I say a little wish out to the universe, for you – for your peace, and happiness, and that you’ll think of me, and we can be together soon.”
They stayed on the water just until nightfall, where Gomez and Lurch tied everything up after sending the ladies back to shore. Morticia was about to open the back door when Enid’s phone started playing a K-Pop tune in her bag. Surprised, she opened it with wide eyes. “Oh…I guess Hunter actually decided to reply to my message from earlier,” She said before biting her lip and answering, putting it on speaker. “Hey…hang on, big bro.” She gestured to the door handle, obviously not wanting to speak in public. Morticia let her in and Wednesday was swift to follow her before they closed themselves in.
“Hey, where are you, Enid?”
“Well – this weekend I’ve been all over the place, at the moment I’m in New Jersey with Wednesday’s family at their house – by noon tomorrow I need to be back to NYC for the last week of my summer theater program I’ve been doing.”
“Oh. That’s cool, uh, I guess…if that’s what you want to do?”
“Well, duh, I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t like it,” She said with an eyeroll.
“So – got your text. My pack has been pretty much on the downlow since everything happened with your Network.”
“My Network?” Wednesday didn’t like his implication any more than Enid did.
“You decided to be part of that mess, yeah – the one that was actively trying to take out wolves, yourself included?”
“Woah, woah, woah! That is not what we talked about in the spring!” Enid said in an alarmed tone. “You know what happened! That Quinton guy – the president, he manipulated everyone around him!”
“Of course he did,” Hunter said in a low tone. “You’re doing okay from that ordeal, still?”
“Yeah, no thanks to you! You never even tried to stop by or check in on me, would you have even called, if I hadn’t texted you?”
“Look – a lot is going down, Enid. A lot.”
“Well, tell me about it! How am I supposed to know, Hunter?”
“You’re the one who left the culture behind, you can’t be mad when you’re left behind in the news, too.”
“I…okay, what’s going on with you? You’re talking crazy.”
Wednesday reached over and pushed the mute button on Enid’s phone for a moment, looking her straight in the eyes. “He’s talking like he’s been radicalized.”
“What?! What does that mean?”
Keeping calm, Wednesday explained, “The discovery that the Network was behind anything to do with Werewolves, even if it was something they themselves did or did not perpetuate, is sending him over the edge. He’s mistrustful. Whatever packs or clans he’s running with have gotten to him.”
“Wednesday – I…I need an ally already in the community! I thought that…Hunter, his wife’s clan, they were supposed to be…”
Her eyes were welling up in tears as Hunter was on a sharp-toned tirade on the other end of the line. “Look at me. Do not let him know that he’s upset you. I think…okay, it’s a longshot, but see if he’ll come see you on Friday.”
“What?!” Enid asked, exasperated and overwhelmed.
Morticia agreed, slipping over to put a motherly hand on Enid’s back. She melted into her side, looking ready to cry. “Easy, sweet girl. Wednesday’s right – he’s not thinking clearly. Hopefully, seeing you could change that. Invite him on Friday night, and…maybe we can work a little magic.”
Wednesday glanced at her mother, already formulating potions and considering spells in her mind.
“Okay, okay.” She sniffed and took a breath. When Hunter gave a beat of a pause, Enid unmuted and suggested, “Hunter? It…seems like it’s been a long few months for us both. Look – I’ve been mostly hanging out with Normies lately,” She said, her confidence spiking in her gaze as she quickly found a character to play. “They’re so caught up in their own nonsense, I guess I sort of got lost in all that, too. I don’t want to forget what really matters. Hey,” She suggested. “Friday, I have a showcase, in NYC. I’ll text you the address. I’m performing a few numbers, and then…maybe we can go out after and talk? Even if…we have some disagreements between us, we should still talk. I miss you.”
There was a rumbling and the sound of a toddler in the background. “Look. If I tell you what’s going on, you can’t go running back to the Network!”
“Hunter, there isn’t a Network to run back to right now,” She calmly explained, “Everything is in limbo and experimental and in negotiations. Even if there was, they’re pretty much off-duty for the summer.”
“Glad to know they’re always there to take care of Outcasts in need,” He grumbled sarcastically.
“I promise, whatever information you’re willing to share, I’d like to hear it. And, I’ve been doing research – old stuff, that was kept out of Network hands. I met a Gorgon in NYC who hooked me up with some real underground stuff that was intentionally kept out of the Network.”
“Such as?”
“Come on, Hunter, if you’re not willing to talk on the phone about this, then neither am I. Come see me on Friday.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
With that, the line went dead. Just as Gomez and Lurch arrived, Enid’s eyes welled up with tears, but she didn’t shed them. “Nope, nope, nope. It’s been a good day – and I’m not going to cry, and I’m not going to let him ruin it for me.”
Morticia filled her husband in and Gomez looked ready to hunt down her brother down himself. “If he tries anything to hurt you, Enid – I swear-”
She smiled up at him sweetly. “I don’t think he’d hurt me, physically. Just…it’s a lot. I think Wednesday’s right, unfortunately. He’s been brainwashed so many times, he doesn’t know what the truth is anymore. He needs help, not more hurt.”
Gomez nodded. “You’re so wise, mighty wolf.”
She smiled as the hearse took off, crossing the floor to sit beside him. He put an arm around her and she curled in, letting him push a kiss to the top of her head. “You’re very wise, dAddams,” She returned affectionately, and he couldn’t help his smile as he leaned his head against hers.
Once they arrived home, Wednesday took Enid on a short night walk to make sure she wasn’t shoving her feelings down her throat. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Enid nodded, offering Wednesday a hand to hold as they strolled through the dark orchards. “I am. I…was just so shocked. The last time we were together, and then talked after my kidnapping, I thought…things were okay between us. I guess, I should’ve figured not, when he never came to visit.”
Feeling again like she wanted to apologize for the despicable state of her girlfriend’s family, Wednesday tried but Enid kissed her cheek, eyes not sparkling with unshed tears nor chin betraying her with a quiver. “I promise, I’m not upset, because I do have a family. Wednesday, I have the Addams family,” She squeezed her shoulders, shaking her head. “And they care about me more than my pack ever did. They’ve accepted me, for exactly who I am, and I don’t have to change me to fit in here. I feel safe, respected, and loved. That’s what I need. That’s what I have. Don’t apologize for giving me that.”
Relaxing, Wednesday wondered, “If…you ever want to talk to Dr. Kinbott about it, I can help you get there?”
“That’s sweet, but for right now – I’m okay. Ask me again on Friday, if Hunter does or does not show up. Maybe I’ll need therapy after that,” She giggled. “Hey…I hope this walk wasn’t just a delay tactic. We’re piercing your ears, tonight!”
Thirty minutes later, Wednesday was lying on the bed of nails in the playroom, feeling like the pressure against her back would neutralize the sensation that would be going through her ear. She and Enid had sterilized everything, and she’d pre-treated her lobes using one of the Frump pain potions after marking where she was going to put the holes with marker dots to Wednesday’s approval. Wednesday had tried to be too tough for numbing the area, but Enid insisted – she was the one putting the needles through her, and didn’t want to be responsible for botching it because Wednesday flinched. Confident she wouldn’t, Wednesday had to be obnoxious and prove she could take the pain in other ways.
“I’m not doing this to you on here. I’d sooner pierce your ears while you’re sitting on the demon horse – no, Wednesday! Ugh, fine, this is super manageable,” She grumbled as Wednesday plopped herself on her nuckelavee rocking horse, trying to smile evilly. Enid pushed over one of the out of service electric chairs so she was at the right height. Unrolling everything from the sterile gauze she’d brought it all down in, she leaned forward. “Full disclosure, I haven’t actually done this before, but I’ve seen the Parent Trap with Lindsay Lohan like, seventeen times, so I think I’ve got it.”
“Just remember, if I’m permanently disfigured, it’s you who will be looking at me for the rest of my life. I can cope with being hideous. Can you be seen with me?”
“Ugh, I love Beauty and the Beast,” Enid teased back, and then without warning, held up a cork to the back of Wednesday’s left ear and shoved a needle almost all the way through her lobe. She was so numb that she didn’t react in the slightest (not that she would have, regardless, of course), feeling only pressure. Enid gave it a moment and then did the other side in the same way, before returning to the first, pushing the eye of the needle all the way through the freshly created hole and adding the star stud all but simultaneously, struggling just a touch to poke the back of the earring through the last tissue layer on Wednesday’s ear, but managing, twisting the backing on and immediately applying a disinfectant, before repeating the action on the other side. “OhEmGee, I killed it,” Enid said with a smug look, clapping after she wrapped the needles up to properly dispose of them. “Go wash your hands,” Wednesday reminded her, nodding to the sink in the corner of the room that had a number of cobwebs around it.
Fully unfazed by such Addams family-typical home anomalies anymore, Enid followed the direction and scrubbed her hands while Wednesday opened Enid’s phone, checking her ears in the front camera. The lobes were red and just a touch puffy from the needles and accepting a foreign body into her own, but they looked symmetrical and well placed. The little silver stars stood out but weren’t overbearing.
Enid stood in front of her with a little shiver. “You’re cute. That horse thing? Still the creepiest part of the house. I don’t like it.”
“Don’t worry, I told father. He promised to have a regular black beauty like Wicked Annabella carved for any future Addams heirs.” When she said it so casually again, she had a feeling her face went as red as her swollen ears.
“Oh, you’re so not getting out of that, this time,” Enid said as she bent over, wrapping her fingers around the handles of the nuckelavee. “I’ve tried to have this convo with you more than once and you always weasel your way out of it. Well today, I’m a leech, and I’m latching myself onto you until you reveal the truth.”
“Beautiful analogy,” Wednesday tried to deflect.
“Eep, nope!” Enid stood up for a moment, tapping her chin. “I know. Look – let’s go skinny dipping in the hot springs and have a heart-to-heart on this subject, real quick. We’ve already faced down so many demons today, how hard could talking about kids be?”
She followed like a wounded puppy after placing the sharps in the biohazard container in the back of the playroom, entering the hot springs with a sigh as the heat immediately melted into her, making her bangs go frizzy. Enid stripped without hesitation, sinking into the water with a sigh, winking an expectant eye open. “Well, are you coming?”
Bobbing her head, Wednesday took off her belt, then undid the buttons on her shirt dress, letting it fall to the stone, cavern floor before peeling her bra up and over her head carefully, not wanting to catch on her new earrings. Wednesday tossed her panties down into the pile of her clothes and took a deep breath – ready to face the conversation she’d dreaded for at least seven months, by that point. Enid watched her with a grin as she slipped into the water, pulling her close and kissing her soundly, admiring her ears. “You look nice. I like the stars. Thank you for humoring me,” She said, kissing her twice more before putting a hand on her middle and wondering, “Tell me about your wishes for family in the future.”
“I…want whatever you want,” Wednesday tried. “I know it’s conventional for wolves to have big packs. I don’t know…how we’d do that. There are moral and ethical implications to adoption, but I certainly don’t like the idea of a random man being a sperm donor.”
“Agreed, though I’m not sure I’ve heard about the ethical implications of adoption, but something tells me that’s more of the big world stuff that we talked about this morning and my brain will totally short-circuit on if we try another big conversation like that.”
“I…have heard, through science now, they’re possibly doing bone marrow babies, for lesbian couples. It’s complicated and I haven’t followed up with how successful it could be, but I imagine – in ten years’ time, if it’s been successful - that technology could be a mainstream option.”
“Wednesday,” Enid giggled, leaning forward and kissing her with a few quick, almost torturous pecks. “I just want to know, if having babies is something you’re interested in, like at all? Not the how to get one part.”
“It’s more about the reality – for me…I’d want more facts and figures…” She closed her eyes. “Maybe. It’s a maybe, for me. A year and a half ago, hard no. Buat at the time – I also said I’d never be a wife, either. You’ve changed everything that I thought I wanted out of my life and I don’t want to take anything off the table, including a family expansion, with you.”
Enid put a hand on the back of her head and kissed her slowly, dipping her tongue in her mouth. Wednesday wrapped her arms around her neck, pushing her closer to the wall of the hot springs, returning the kiss and putting a leg over her thighs, continuing to push her own comfort zone.
Though she had no intentions of telling anyone else how far she’d come, Wednesday just knew everyone whom she’d mentioned her intimacy issues with would be proud of her for overcoming some of her hesitations.
Enid put a wet hand on her cheek, eyes a little glassy. “I want everything with you, Wednesday. I want this life to be full – and if that means we fill it with some Addams heirs someday, then I want that, too. And if it can’t happen, or if we change our mind because of different circ*mstances, that’s fine, too. But I want to be open to everything with you.” She leaned forward, kissing her lips, her jaw and down her neck, attaching her mouth to her shoulder, the juncture of it and giving a hard bite. An incredibly hard, surprisingly painful bite. Wednesday opened her eyes wide as a strange sort of pleasure and hope filled her – was it…was it a mate bite?
Feeling a puncture to the skin, followed by a dribble of blood rolling along her shoulder, she looked at Enid as she pulled away, her fangs visible before retracting them and smiling. “Does that mean…?”
“It means, you’re my promised mate,” Enid said with a vow and a sparkly gaze. “We’d have to go all the way – for a full one, but…until then,” She brought her thumb forward to Wednesday’s skin, surprising her by gathering up the blood on her thumb and sticking it in her mouth with a wink. The girl who’d passed out at a picture of blood when she met her, actively brought hers forward and playfully removed it. “There’s no one else on this planet for me to commit to, and now – anyone will be able to see that. You’re going to have a mark.”
So looking forward to that, Wednesday nodded. “Would…other wolves know?”
“So – we’d have to be formally mated for them to smell it, but anyone who sees that, wolf or not, is going to know.”
Deciding she might just need to wear looser collars, Wednesday leaned forward, tasting the slightest trace of copper from her own blood in Enid’s mouth, feeling so much more complete and losing all her insecurity about not being enough for her that she’d started the summer with.
X
Wednesday was in her usual mood after losing Enid, fully pouting in a chair at the train station. Morticia wasn’t even trying to talk to her, knowing full well better as they waited for Pugsley and Eugene, set to arrive only thirty minutes after Enid had departed. Lurch was posted near them, lingering diligently. Wednesday was trying not to take out her attitude on her loved ones.
She had on her headphones, listening to the song that Enid was going to be singing for the showcase. It wasn’t a very technical song, but she had a feeling that because she could relate to the lyrics, Enid’s performance of it was going to be stunning. She didn’t know Lea Michele, why Enid had growled her name, nor what her Spring Awakening was, but Wednesday did sincerely think Enid was going to do a lovely job in the song without any key changes, so long as she kept the tempo.
Finally, she pulled her headphones down after the third listen, having had enough, kicking her foot a little to catch Morticia’s attention. “Can I have a snack?” She asked in a grumble.
Her mother was holding back a laugh by the way she pressed her lips, opening the small sinch sac she had in her lap, passing over a green pouch with a cartoon dinosaur on it. “Glad to see you catching your moods before taking it out on your dear mother.”
Sucking up the applesauce and staring at the little yellow figure on the front, she was about to make a sarcastic comment about the gross misinterpretation of them over time and how she hoped to one day see their true form in an apocalyptic vision. Thankfully, before she could stir up any more trouble her mother sat up straighter, giving a little wave with her fingertips as a set of rowdy teenage boys appeared with their duffle bags and backpacks on, all cheerful smiles that made Wednesday grimace.
She practically flinched when they dropped their luggage beside her, opened their arms and in tandem, called her name enthusiastically. Without permission, they folded her into a hug, which knocked her head back in her seat.
The visions were quick flashes in succession, going from Eugene to Pugsley, back and forth for entirely too long for rapid sequences, all of which, involved them being tortured by horrible classmates at school.
Pugsley, getting shoved by three boys off the top of a playground corkscrew, falling to the ground with a thunk while they laughed above him –
Eugene, having his long, curly hair hacked with blunt, classroom scissors by a nasty little girl, while two boys sat on him while he kicked and tried to yell for help –
Her brother, being targeted in a nasty game during physical education, an entire group of twenty or more ganging up on him in a soccer net with just a pair of oversized gloves on, trying to dodge fast-attacks from all the soccer balls being kicked at his head in a nearly planned, cruel fashion –
Glasses, snapping in half, and Eugene looking up at them with a quivering lip as a bully dropped them to the ground in front of him, holding one half in each hand with a sniffle –
Pugsley – looking up at a whiteboard full of pig drawings attached to the board with magnets, OINK OINK ADDAMS written in red at the top in dry-erase marker –
Eugene, being held down in a t-shape while older boys flipped and performed skateboard tricks over him, smacking their wheels into his back –
Pugsley, doubled over in pain and trying not to wretch after a bowling ball was shoved into his gut, knocking the wind out of him at some sort of field trip –
Eugene, half the size of the other boys, lifted up and tossed into the dumpster with the nastiest laugh –
It went on, and on and on. Wednesday saw at least two dozen horrible incidents between the two boys, before finally coming up.
“Boys! Leave…her…alone,” Wednesday heard her mother chastise and assumed that Pugsley and Eugene backed off with sheepish expressions. She groaned, leaning forward and pushing her hands against her eyes, having wished she could’ve blocked out the visions as she was…
“Wednesday…damn, Wednesday?”
“Oh my god…Wednesday, what?” Pugsley whispered, approaching when they all realized –
She was crying.
Giving a blind swat with one arm to keep them away, she kept the other firmly rooted over her eyes, refusing to move it, despising that it was happening at all, but worse yet – that she was being brought to tears in public, in the middle of the train station –
“Pugsley, your hooded sweatshirt, yes – thank you,” Morticia said sternly, plopping the oversized hood on top of Wednesday’s head, giving her shade to unfurl a little and finish letting out the tears without as much light from the station’s ceiling windows cast on them.
She was warm, from the vision, and spiraling feeling she had of watching her brother…brothers, Eugene was like a second brother to her, being attacked, teased, and relentlessly bullied during moments when she hadn’t been there to protect them. There was a massive weight of shame that anchored her to the chair, unable to move as a few more tears trailed down her cheeks while she bent over, watching one go so far as to splash onto the cement floor.
With a few deep breaths in and out, she managed to convince herself to stop the hysterics, at least. Adjusting herself in the sweatshirt, even though it smelled like boy and dirt, she pulled her arms into the sleeves, letting it hang off her almost comically. Keeping her head bent low, she crossed her arms while standing up. “Let’s go.”
In the hearse, her mother let her be alone in the corner, pressed up against the glass, not looking at any of them, while she took a few even breaths of her own and started to talk…well, listen to the boys jabber, excitedly. It was mostly nonsensical – Wednesday couldn’t follow it. She wanted to talk to them, wanted to hear what they’d discovered, but couldn’t bring herself to pay enough attention to their words.
Once home, she tore off the hoodie and stomped out to the orchard without a word, walking up and down the rows, finding thick, broken branches and breaking them against the tree trunks in an attempt to remove frustration. When the feedback into her muscles wasn’t enough, she didn’t give a damn about the dress she had on with no shorts underneath from looking presentable to kiss her girlfriend goodbye, Wednesday climbed up as far as she could in the tree, trying to breathe in and out her anger.
Still, it was hardly enough. She was halfway up when she heard a familiar whistle of her father. “Hey, little viper? Won’t you slither down the tree for me?”
Somehow, despite her weary sort of despondent irritation, Wednesday knew that Gomez would be the one to understand what she was experiencing the most. Letting the leftover adrenaline fuel her, she dare-deviled her way down the three, jumping and hanging on from branch to branch on the way down until she was on her feet in front of him, sure her eyes were red and blotchy. Gomez tucked an arm over her. “Would you like me to set up the archery boards?” She shook her head. “Hmm…” He stroked his mustache and started to wander. “How about we grab the diving gear, go wrestle the sea monster?” When she gave another negative, he let out a hearty laugh. “You know – I told Fester before the solstice, if he didn’t get his time machine off of the back forty, I was going to get rid of it myself. He doesn’t think I’d really do that to him. Do you want to blow it up with me?”
There was a shred of a smile that flickered on her lips and she agreed. “Let’s go get the dynamite.”
Fifteen minutes later, Wednesday was staring at a rusty old Ford Maverick with a disbelieving glance. “This is Fester’s time machine? He said he’s actually used it!”
“Well, he drove it here at one point, probably thirty-three years ago…so, he’s used it…was trying to apply his electro-magnetic power to it to drive into a different timeline. He saw Back to the Future once or twice and ran with it, I think. That bastard was too cheap to get a used DeLorean and not invested enough to find and steal one.”
Wednesday tilted her head a little bit. “Wouldn’t it be more fun to try to get it running and drive recklessly in it before we blow it up?”
Gomez gave a belly laugh. “I like the way you think. Go get the toolkit, let me see what I might need to do to this rust bucket.”
She returned with his requested materials and two helmets, not trusting the safety features if they flipped, having a feeling they’d be projected from the car. Gomez was already fiddling around in the engine, his jacket and dress shirt neatly laid over the sticks of dynamite, down to his black undershirt. “Gracias,” He said with a smile. “You’re going to have to hover creatively once I get her going – the critters have torn up the passenger seat and the floor’s well gone from water damage.”
“I’m up for the challenge,” She promised, indebted to his distractions.
They spent the next hour working on fixing up the engine, which was when Eugene and Pugsley found them, looking at Wednesday with horribly guilty expressions. She ignored their attempts at providing her with an apology and said stiffly, “If you two want to go ripping through the fields and top out when we push eighty, you need helmets and ear protection, for when we blow it up after.”
Pugsley and Eugene looked at each other and gave a twin, “Awesome!” Before dashing back towards the front of the property. Gomez chuckled. “You’re a good sister, Wednesday. Why were you so upset with them when you came home?”
She swallowed thickly, knowing enough time had passed and she was kept busy enough to tell the tale without falling out into another round of tears. “I wasn’t upset with them. I was upset with myself, for failing to protect them. I recognize, I wasn’t there – but that doesn’t make me feel any less guilty.”
Gomez turned around against the hood of the Maverick, crossing his arms and leaning a little bit. “Failing to protect them from what?”
“Children – kids at school, bullies, of the worst kind,” Wednesday said, looking down at her filthy hands, stained with grease. “I saw a series of no less than a dozen incidents each – of others being extraordinarily cruel to Eugene and Pugsley. I know…that I didn’t even know Eugene…and I know, Pugsley was too ashamed to admit that he was unable to defend himself, he wouldn’t have wanted to appear weak in front of me, but if he’d just come to me, I’d have known what was happening to him, and I could have done something about it!”
Gomez listened with an attentive gaze as her pitch increased. His right leg started to shake, and as she finished, he opened his arms, slapping his thighs. “And you think I feel any less horrible, for also not being able to do anything about this? My own son?”
Wednesday grappled with that, unable to look at him as it looked like he was going to experience an emotion next. She couldn’t deal with that.
“There is nothing more important to me, than defending this family,” He hissed. “And to know I haven’t done that…”
“Same,” She whispered. Looking back up at him, the tears in his eyes made her want to sob fresh ones all over again.
“I…I’m glad it wasn’t you – trying to pick them off before you did…the consequences you enacted once you knew…Wednesday, we might’ve lost you to the system.”
She soured, “And that excuses all the abuse my brother endured, because of what could have happened had I been able to defend him sooner?” She seethed, turning around. “Talk about Addams family children who need therapy! I only saw twelve flashes! Just twelve instances of times when people were cruel to him, who knows what he was dealing with?”
Gomez sucked in a breath, and the visage of Pugsley and Eugene racing came back into view. “He knows, unfortunately,” Gomez was careful, likely not wanting to show that he’d been upset in front of the boys. “Eugene knows. And…it seems like together – they’ve…developed a kinship. A brotherhood,” He smiled, looking down at his feet as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I didn’t give Pugsley a brother, of my own blood. But – he found one anyway – because you invited him into your sisterhood, Wednesday – you invited him into your life, and by doing so…Pugsley made a friend – who also needed a brother, and a big sister to rescue him every now and then.” He clapped a hand on Wednesday’s shoulder, tugging her to his side, kissing the top of her head. “I love you. I thank you, for caring about your brother…your brothers so much. I’ll talk to him…them, tonight. For now,” He slapped the hood of the cars when the happy boys dashed in front of him, both out of breath. “Are you ready to tear up the yard?”
“Mom said she’s going to hang us all by our toes if we come back without any fingers. I’m not really sure what good that’s going to do – but, here,” Pugsley passed protective, leather gloves to both their father and Wednesday, his hand gently touching his sister’s. He pulled away with a grimace. “I’m sorry – oh!”
Wednesday yanked him to her in the tightest hug imaginable before slugging him and wrestling him to the ground, smirking as he was caught off guard. “I really should have seen that coming.”
“Well, I didn’t see the vision you gave me coming, you scoundrel. You made me cry! In public! Both of you,” She said, tugging Eugene down to the grass and practically managing to twist them both up in knots. “Don’t ever let anybody except me be mean to either of you, ever again. Understand?”
“Got it,” Eugene said in a surprised breath and Pugsley stuck up his thumb, which Wednesday snapped her teeth at.
“No, don’t! I don’t want to get reamed by mom again!”
Smirking, she let the boys up and tugged on the gloves, the helmet, and plopped the aviator-style goggles down from the top of it. “Let’s ride.”
With that, she spent the next hour trying not to squeal in pure, chaotic bliss, as Gomez taught the boys how to joyride through a field. They each got their turn to test out spinning out, doing donuts, and jumping over ditches, but when her father took the wheel, the real fun began. Wednesday was hovering awkwardly over the completely rotted-out vinyl seats and keeping her feet up as best she could, unable to keep the smile off her features as her father put the pedal to the metal. Gomez effectively trashed the car while managing to keep them all in it before the hood started to smoke entirely too much. They worked together loading it up with the dynamite, putting on noise-cancelling headphones and getting a good distance away. Gomez handed Wednesday the detonator. “You’ve had a difficult day, my darling daredevil. You do the honors.”
Smiling with teeth, she slammed the button, watching with a heart refilled with adoration again as they watched the car explode up in the air, raining down in pieces of charred metal. The amount that they’d placed gave them ten full series of blasts, each one bringing her right back to the high she’d been on, so happy the night before.
“Spirits, Wednesday!” Morticia gasped as she stepped into the parlor, her hands flying up near her ears with a twitch of her nose. “You’re filthy!”
“I was having fun,” She said, shrugging her shoulders, sure that there was near mask around her eyes from the dust kicked up during the reckless driving, on top of the grease and mud she was coated in.
“Well – go get in the shower, you’re overdue for lunch and if you are up for it – I’ve drafted an outline for what we should try to mitigate some of your time in the ether.”
Wednesday did love an outline and a plan. With a nod, she hurried up the stairs, then back fifteen minutes later. She stopped halfway down the steps with clean hair twisted up in a towel wearing a simple, scoop-neck tank top and linen pants – ideal for time spent in the lotus position.
She glanced at her mother, then up towards her room, indicating, “You want me to dry your hair for you?”
Bobbing her head, knowing it wouldn’t dry in the July humidity while they sat outside, Wednesday watched Morticia fight a smile at getting to mother her as she moved slowly up the stairs (did she need such a tight dress in the summer, honestly). Wednesday plopped herself at the vanity in the bathroom, where Morticia reached to undo the towel in her hair when her eyes trekked downward and she sucked in a breath of surprise. She cleared her throat, raising her eyebrows, popping a hand on her hip, meeting Wednesday’s gaze in the mirror. “Someone had a good night last night.”
Wednesday brought her hands up, blinking as she touched her earrings. “Oh. Enid said she wanted to pierce my ears, so -.”
She gave another gasp before bending down to examine them. “Funny enough, that is not what I was referring to but…” Morticia turned the chair, examining the little star studs. “She did a magnificent work. I’ve wanted to pierce your ears for years, darling girl, I have so much jewelry from the family to give to you that wouldn’t work without the complete set! Oh, this opens up a whole new world for me,” She blinked dreamily – managing to make it about her. Wednesday rolled her eyes and Morticia shook her head a little. “Funny enough, these,” She gestured to her lobes, “Were not the puncture wounds from your girlfriend I was referring to.” She gazed at her neck and Wednesday went beat red. “I…thought you were just recently struggling with all that again, and I’m so happy for you, Wednesday. You deserve to be loved on, however you’re comfortable with -”
“It’s not…” She covered it up, unable to meet her gaze. “It’s not a full mate bite ritual. That involves…all of it, and I’m not quite ready for that yet, but I’ve…opened up in other ways. Physically and emotionally.”
“Either way,” Morticia pulled her fingers away, examining the bruising and little holes there. “It’s completely lovely. I’m happy for you. Now, I’ll stop before you become one with my chair. I’d hate to have to say excuse me every morning while I sit on you and baking powder my nose.”
Finding her little smile again, Wednesday let out a breath of relief while Morticia started to dry her hair. She closed her eyes, letting the soothing sensations of the heat and gentle pull at her scalp relax her. When she put the blow dryer away, she asked if she could pull it up into a slightly different style instead of braiding it. Granting her permission, Wednesday watched her create a neat, lace-like French braid all along her scalp behind her bangs. She clipped it, then took the bottom half, braiding it almost upside-down in a similar way, before drawing it all up in a thick bun, twisted around itself. “I know you don’t like to think of yourself this way…” Morticia paused to kiss her temple. “But you really are a pretty girl, like your mama. Darling,” She said while Wednesday rolled her eyes. “Will you tell me about your vision? What did you see of your brother? What can we do to stop it?” She asked in a whisper of a sad hiss, obviously feeling guilty that something might happen to Pugsley.
“Unfortunately, nothing – I saw visions of the past. He and Eugene…being bullied in their younger years,” She dropped her gaze. “I already told father about it. I’m going to talk to both of them tonight. I promise. You can discuss with him later, but – let me address it first, please?”
Morticia had a hand curled over her heart, her dark gaze swimming in concern. “Wednesday…”
“Mother,” She warned her. “I will take care of my brother. You may follow-up. But allow me to be a big sister. You need to be my mother – come, teach me a new meditation technique after you feed me.”
“There’s the demanding, darling doll I always knew,” She said with a breathy laugh, relaxing a touch. “I trust you, darling. Indeed – you’re well past your lunch hour.”
Wednesday spent the next few hours with her, pouring through her ideas, written in a beautiful cursive script. Adding just a bit of her own feedback in a few aspects she personally wanted to do more growth in, Wednesday agreed to the prescribed course of divination activities for the next few weeks. Her mother also wanted to run an experiment, something she’d never considered before. On the back porch, they sat with a grid of Citirne in an attempt to promote her time management skills, Morticia thought to try a unique technique. She brought an hourglass from the largest of the family libraries. “This runs for two hours. My theory is – the sands should fall for the same length of time, even if it only seems to be minutes passing. Let’s see if this is effective – and if it’s not, I’m going to do my best to bring out of the ether organically after two hours have passed in our world.”
Finding that to be a potentially appropriate solution, Wednesday requested the funeral card for Dr. Kinbott – figuring she could in the very least, let her know that their sessions were approved by her family and Larissa, in the time she had.
Entering the ether took just a bit more time that day. Assuming that her visions, efforts to demonstrate emotional vulnerability, and the adrenaline ups and downs she’d had that day were to blame, Wednesday focused on her breathwork before pressuring herself to slip into the other world.
“Mama, I need a cadence, please,” She said, using the term specifically to keep the mood light – demonstrate that she wasn’t feeling hostile for not having immediate success.
“Of course,” She said, likely folding her legs behind Wednesday, wondering, “Might I touch your back?”
“If you think it will help me focus on the light.”
Morticia started to hum, a low tone, then dragged her fingers back and forth along Wednesday’s shoulder blades for a moment before tapping in a distinct pattern, instructing her, “Breathe in – one, two, three…” Her finger pressed against Wednesday’s loose-fitting top. “And out, visualize your breath spinning in a spiral, like a snail’s shell, or the coils of your snake…” She swirled her finger over her spine, making Wednesday follow the pattern in her mind as best she could.
She repeated the directions thrice before Wednesday found herself opening her eyes in Dr. Kinbott’s office yet again, immediately flipping over the sand timer in her lap, setting it beside the therapist. “My mother said I can be here – but we’re exploring ways of controlling my time in the ether.”
“Well…hello to you, too, Wednesday,” The woman greeting her, looking her up and down. “You look…different! It’s a good different, I just…for a moment, I thought another spirit had appeared…did you – did you have your ears pierced the last time you were here?”
“No,” She said quickly, realizing the updo that her mother had pulled her hair into, the sleeveless top she’d worn for the miserable heat, and her earrings – it was a little out of the character that the doctor had seen previously. “And it’s only been…five days – in my time, not – sometime in the future, if that’s what you were thinking about.” She watched the sands fall for a moment, feeling like the pace was quicker than usual – perhaps, it would work. “I want to say – since we are limited due to this experiment – I will figure out more time, in the future – but, first, my parents gave their blessing for you to treat me. Not without some concerns, but we’re already addressing one,” She gestured to the hourglass. “Two, Larissa Weems also thinks it’s a good idea, and it seems like she misses you. Three, discussing my vulnerabilities regarding physical intimacy allowed me to take further steps in exploring mine, and while I don’t want to go into detail, I appreciate that this space was useful in assisting my processing of that…challenge, and I look forward to unlocking new pieces of my personality with you in the future.” She looked to the side – a little bit embarrassed by that confession and simply letting herself ramble on like Enid.
Dr. Kinbott brought her hands off her knees, holding her fingertips together. “That’s great! I’m so happy to hear that things went well for you – and that you were able to…follow up on all that on your own. I know you said time is short – but -”
“I don’t want to make this about me today,” She argued. “I have a question for you, and you can answer honestly no, yes – or tell me you require time to consider it. I’ve got a few…spirit friends. One was named Anika, she was murdered in Jericho in the ‘60s. The other is Imogen, her life was taken at Springwater in the ‘80s. Both of them unfortunately – were victims of Quinton,” She let out a breath. “And they have found great solace in one another. I’m wondering, perhaps, if you would like to be connected to them. They’re both perpetually teenagers, but given what they went through, I find they both have some maturity beyond their years. I think it would also do them good, to have something like clinical sessions, or just…another friend – an adult here, they could trust.”
“Wow,” Dr. Kinbott blinked, her usual smile still on, though it was closed-lipped and her eyes were a little…tired after listening to the idea. “That’s…a lot to take in.”
Feeling her impulse control kick in as her manic rambling wore off at the way Dr. Kinbott phrased her response, hoping she hadn’t made her psychologist completely uncomfortable, Wednesday clarified, “You don’t have to. You can forget I mentioned it.”
“That’s not what I mean, Wednesday. I…not to make this about me, but…since you were here, I think…I think I’ve become…more aware, that I was even in this space? I…like you said – time – it doesn’t…it doesn’t move the same here, but…now that I’ve had contact with you – another soul, maybe it’s just because you’re a living one, I’ve like – awoken my consciousness a little bit. This probably doesn’t make sense…”
“No, it does,” Wednesday said, shrinking – feeling that nagging sensation to escape, like perhaps she’d caused harm by entering the space. “I didn’t mean to…make your journey here challenging, I just -”
“Please,” Dr. Kinbott raised a hand. “Don’t blame yourself! You couldn’t have known, I didn’t know. We’re in uncharted waters here, and we’ve got to explore together. I think…you know – maybe having another spirit would be helpful. Do you know where they are?” Wednesday glanced at the sand timer, thinking she still had three-quarters of the time left, only a half hour had passed (though it felt like three minutes, not thirty).
“I do. I…let’s see if I can bring you to them. It’s been fairly simple for me to move about the ether, how successful have you been?”
“Well,” She confessed, standing up, moving to the window. “I haven’t. Again, I…don’t know that I was…fully awake yet, until I saw you. I…tried to go downstairs, after you left but…I found myself back up here.”
Wednesday swallowed.
“So…that could be, unfortunately, because you’re a Normie, maybe…you don’t have the inclination to move through time and space the way that many Outcasts can. And, maybe you weren’t even fully aware of the ether, for that reason, too.”
Dr. Kinbott made a rare maneuver of tucking her hair behind her ear, a sign that she was a little bit nervous. Wednesday had only seen her really lose her cool once, and was slightly hesitant to want to experience that again. She kept herself rooted to the couch, eyes back on the hourglass. “I guess, I should be thanking you then. If you hadn’t had the idea to come here, I might not…ever have been able to process here, and ever move on.” Wednesday glanced back up – her eyes were brimming with unshed tears. “Thank you, Wednesday, for seeking me out. Yes, I’d love to meet the other two girls – if you’re able to bring them here, that is.” She shot a look at the sand timer as well. “Maybe another day? I don’t want you to lose any of that valuable time.”
She nodded, again – wondering how her bodily functions were operating, as her mouth felt desert-dry before she managed, “I would also like…permission – to…take something of yours, that had been taken from you before, so I know where it is.”
Tilting her head, Dr. Kinbott indicated she should say it. “Your crescent moon necklace. It was taken from you, upon your death…used to plant evidence on Xavier – which is ultimately my fault; I put the idea in Tyler’s head…” She sighed. “I imagine it is still in evidence lockup in Jericho. I can make a phone call. My mother – she gave me this necklace, as protection,” She gestured to the W on her neck, “This one, is Genie – Imogen’s. I use it to reach her quickly here. Enid has Anika’s heart charm. Long story…but they’ve been powerful conductors. It might be easier for me to access you here – than it is with the calling card.”
Dr. Kinbott drew herself closer. “My mother gave me that necklace, when I was going through a hard time of my own,” She said with a sigh. “It was after my internship at Springwater – I was falling apart at the seams, and I couldn’t tell anyone why.” Her voice as just slightly broken at the end and Wednesday leaned a little closer, indicating she’d be okay if Dr. Kinbott needed to touch her. “My mother got me the moon, to remind me that we all go through phases. She said, what we can’t see, because it is hidden from us – at one point, we will be able to see again, just like the moon. Knowing that I’d find myself again helped. I think that would be a lovely reminder, Wednesday. I’d be honored if you wanted to wear my charm.”
At that, she had to be the one to initiate the contact. Dr. Kinbott was surprised, putting an arm around her shoulders in a little breath of shock as she placed her forehead on her upper arm. “Your girlfriend, Enid…I remember her. Larissa once had me do…sort of like – a speed dating, but for therapy, with a group of students she was worried about. I just asked them some questions and learned that she was a Werewolf…or – wanted to be.”
“She is now,” Wednesday added. “She transformed for the first time – for me, to save my life. She imprinted on me – and we bonded. Though our relationship is much more than that, it certainly helped bring us closer.”
“Well, I can tell. Werewolves are notoriously touchy-feely. She must have really worked you over, for you to be able to accept and initiate so much physical contact,” Dr. Kinbott said in just the slightest of teases.
“Why didn’t you end up taking Enid as a client? Surely you didn’t think she had things to work through?”
“Her mother refused to allow her services,” Dr. Kinbott said, staring out the window. “She said terrible things – about mental health, her own daughter…I…was shocked, quite honestly. I hope that Enid’s mother doesn’t have her claws as deep into her, now that you’re around.”
“She doesn’t have them at all,” Wednesday said proudly, sitting up. “Enid was all but rejected, so she withdrew herself from the pack. She’s not a lone wolf, though. She’s my wolf – my mate, I am her pack. The entire Addams family, all our friends – we are all Enid’s pack. That said – we’re going to spend a significant amount of time trying to make things better for other Werewolves coming up this fall. She’s going to get a chance to stand up to her own mother, and mine will see to it that she does.”
Dr. Kinbott nodded. “I believe we should talk about that some time – your relationship with your mother. When I knew you, it was rocky at best. It seems like there’s been improvement there, too.”
“I’m more dependent on my mother’s love now than I ever was as a child. I regret not accepting her care and desire to nurture me sooner. It’s been almost as much of a switch in my life as anything else, having her regular presence, there for me however I need her.”
“I’m happy for you,” Dr. Kinbott sighed, then gestured to the hourglass. “Just a few more moments, then. Please, don’t rush back on my account. Do your work, of working on understanding time here. When you’re ready, I’ll be here for you.” She said, standing up with a wink.
With that, Wednesday grabbed her hourglass as the last of the sands fell, blinking her eyes open, waking up stretched out on the back porch couch, her head in Morticia’s lap. Groaning, she sat up. “Was that two hours?”
Morticia hit an old-timey stopwatch and nodded. “To the second. Excellent, darling. We’ll continue to practice. I’ll find you a longer hourglass; I believe if you enter at night and simply find yourself asleep in bed, there shouldn’t be too much of an energy expense or consequence. Why don’t you go get some water, take a break. Your granny wants to see you for her own ideas to add to the list.”
Appreciating the offer to pause the studies, Wednesday went to the kitchen, downing a glass, finding her phone in her backpack. Responding to a text message from Enid, she decided to be cheeky about it, even though what she wanted to do embarrassed her to the very core.
Looking around the house for an appropriate, private space where no one would laugh at her, Wednesday found herself in the rocking chair in the library, where the light was pouring in. Taking her phone and flipping to the front-facing camera, she sighed at the sight of her reflection, but adjusted her bangs anyway – like a true, teenage girl, she thought – a character right off a modern television program. She positioned herself so that her bitemark would be visible in the photo, the light catching it in just the right way, also – as she looked at it after wanting to die, just a little, her eyes had a very light brown appearance that almost looked edited. She was used to seeing them so dark and lifeless in the dim lighting of her bathroom, it was a little surprising to almost think…
Wednesday looked at the picture of herself, wondering if it was self-absorbed to think she actually looked pretty in it?
She thought Enid was pretty, she reflected, and she would never want Enid to think of herself as anything less than that. As she weighed the thought of conceitedness, she supposed she wasn’t flaunting the picture on an insipid social media account for the attention of strangers. It was okay to like her appearance. She liked her hair up off her neck, though was sure it would give her a headache halfway through the day and need to return to her braids. Until then, she brushed off her sense of entitlement and inadequacy (what a juxtaposition), hitting send without a second thought.
Next, in the quiet of the library, she dialed someone who was either going to be very surprised or very annoyed to hear from her.
“Addams?” The line picked up after just one ring – shock, for sure but also, concern, was in his voice. “You alright?”
Almost flattered that Officer Galpin’s first instinct upon her call was to be worried that she needed help, she promised, “Yes. I’m fine. I’d get right to the point, but I’m told that’s rude. How are you? How’s Jericho?”
“City’s fine. Quiet as sh*t without you and your friends…most’a the staff’s even gone for the summer. Only thing keeping this entire place from shuttin’ down is the god-awful tourists in the damn LARPING land over at Pilgrim World. Bunch’a nuisances, but – we’re alright. Actually just saw your brother last week with the Ottinger boy. He make it home okay? You’re sure you’re alright?”
“Yes,” She promised, trying not to smile, at least – keeping it out of her voice. “Pugsley and Eugene are both home. We’re well, here in New Jersey. Actually, I don’t know if you heard, but Emiliana? She had quite a medical incident, I just saw her in the hospital the other day after brain surgery. She’s recovering, better than she even expected, but it’ll be some time before she’s fully back to normal.”
She could see him stretching back in his chair. “Yeah, I heard, I saw her – after she’d had an MRI. She was real off. Honestly, I had cornered her, thinkin’ she was using – hoping she’d ‘fess up to me, since she’s tried to call me out on my sh*t before. She hit me,” He chuckled. “Lucky I know her well enough not to take her in for assaulting an officer.” Wednesday rolled her eyes, surprised when he continued. “I’m glad to hear she’s doing better. Maybe I’ll call that Josephine, if she’d pick up, tell her I’m thinkin’ ‘bout her. Honestly – I do, she’s so…different, working on the close of that Quinton case with her was like something else entirely, and the time we’ve spent together in the tunnels. I guess I care about her a bit.”
Thinking Officer Galpin was a little lonely, she decided to spark one more question before asking him to steal from evidence for her. “How’s Tyler? Any…movement on that letter I wrote for the judge?”
“Actually – yeah. Uh, Tyler’s alright, he’s…sh*t – he’s got a lot of feelings. What you did to him, removing all the dark and evil, that was a good thing, but the boy’s emotional as hell. It’s a good think I’ve grown as a person otherwise I’d call him a pansy.”
Wednesday winced. “Yeah, good thing, you’re so nice now.”
“Watch it, Addams. Anyway,” He sighed. “Judge has him doing the clinical trial of that shapeshifting potion in pill form. If it holds while provoked and he’s incident free and continues to be cooperative, going to all his sessions, getting a good daily score, they’re probably going to let him be on home-bound rehabilitation come the fall sometime. The judge is talking to each of the families whom he impacted individually, so far - they all agree that it wasn’t his real fault, so long as he’s monitored pretty intensely. So…I suppose, I really owe you a great big thanks, you know. For everything.”
“Great, I know exactly how you can repay me,” Wednesday said, unable to keep the smirk out of her voice with that.
“Awe, sh*t – I should’a known you want me to do something I’m not supposed to. What is it?”
“I’m not asking you to conceal a murder weapon in a haunted jewelry box. I just need you to take something from evidence storage and send it to me.”
“Oh, that’s all?”
“I’ve recently paid a visit to Dr. Kinbott, in the ether.”
“Valarie?”
“You know many other Dr. Kinbott’s that your son violently murdered?” She asked in the driest voice possible, earning a sucked in breath from the officer. “She’s resuming her clinical sessions with me, from the other side.”
“Christ on a cracker, you know that you can just print out a whole list of psychs from your insurance company, right?”
“It doesn’t match my aesthetic. Anyway, it’s a bit of a challenge to call on her with the method I’m currently using. I require something of hers that is personal, portable, and easily accessible. She said I could have her moon-shaped necklace. I believe it should still be in lockup. I can tell you the box number.”
“Yeah, I bet you can,” He groaned. “I know where that’s at. I’ve combed through all that junk’a time or two. I’ll send it out.”
“Thank you,” She said softly. “Honestly – I mean this sincerely, it’s good to talk to you, Officer Galpin. I look forward to resuming our mutually beneficial partnership as your unofficial Outcast gumshoe come the fall.”
“I’d say I don’t feel the same, but – that’d be a lie. You’re a good kid. Keep your nose clean for the next few weeks, hear me? I’ll call your dad – tell him you’re asking me to steal on your behalf.”
“He’d just be disappointed that I didn’t hop a train and break in to do the work myself,” She argued. “Goodbye.”
Smiling to herself, she shook her head, then looked down at her phone, where Enid had sent her a series of emojis that made her heart soar.
X
In the evening, Wednesday knocked on Pugsley’s door, surprised there wasn’t a repulsive odor wafting out from under it. She suspected Lurch had worn a biohazard suit and blessedly, cleaned the disgraceful mess with the anticipation of Eugene staying in Pugsley’s bunkbeds.
“What’s the password?” Pugsley asked in a silly voice, probably expecting Lurch, where they had a silly game of groaning back and forth to create complicated codes.
“Wednesday,” She said, kicking the door open without knocking it down, making both boys inside squeak and drop their video game controllers.
“Holy sh*t, is that your sister?” Wednesday heard the familiar voice of Ajax and sucked in a breath. “Yo, Wednesday – what is up?!”
“You – up my nerves. I need you to end this trivial round well before the fortnight – I require my brother and Eugene’s undivided attention.”
“Yo, the season is ending this week – we gotta -”
“The season of summer is going to end for all of you when I freeze you into an eternal winter.”
“Pft,” Ajax’s voice rang out on the speakers. “You don’t have ice powers. Hell is other people and they haven’t frozen over yet. Maybe work on that.”
She groaned, and Pugsley gave a quick, “But you’re not currently on the receiving end of her icy stare. Bye, Ajax, good luck not getting blown apart!”
He turned everything off and Wednesday gave a curt nod. “Thank you. Please follow me.”
The boys looked at one another before chasing Wednesday up to the tower, moving with far more animation and excitement than the moment called for. “I actually get to see you room?”
“You haven’t willingly let me in without threatening to dismember me in ages!”
Wednesday stood outside her door with a little warning. “Don’t touch my divination tools, or you’ll end up cursed.” She sighed, finding her kindness, and genuine reason for wanting the boys up in her space. “We’re going to talk in my library. Well – I’m going to talk, and you’re going to listen, at first, then…I’ll open up the floor for discussion.”
She led them up the last flight of steps, ignoring Eugene’s questions and little gasps of wonder at all the unique items in her space. “You have a whole library?! Wow! Pugsley, how come you didn’t luck out?!”
“He took my nursery. I took the tower.” Wednesday swept a hand to the two chairs in front of the window, and the boys took the invitation to sit. Wednesday stood in front of them, about to speak, when Eugene adjusted his glasses, looking at her inquisitively.
“Woah, is that a Werewolf hickey?!”
She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in through her nose, exhaling through her mouth so that she didn’t push him through the glass behind him. “It’s a…love bite. Moving on -”
“Ah, no, no, no! What’s a love bite?! Is it a secret Werewolf mating ritual? Are you and Enid married now?!”
Feeling her chest flush, Wednesday gave her brother and pseudo brother a pointed look. “No.”
“They’re practically betrothed,” Pugsley teased, crisscrossing his legs in the seat. “They’re as in love as my mom and dad, which is pretty gross. I’d like to find a girlfriend, but I don’t think I’d be as into it as fast as you two!”
Eugene wrinkled his nose. “Kissing’s cool. But yeah, not so sure I’d be into the whole biting necks thing, is it like a BDS-”
“Finish that acronym and I’ll -”
He held up his hands, giving her a little cringe of an expression. “Sorry, sorry. You’re easy to tease, sometimes. I don’t mean anything by it. I’m happy for you! It’s awesome that you and Enid already found your person! I wish I could pick one. Deja’s real nice, she scares me sometimes, a little bit like you do, to be honest, and I’m not so sure that’s something I’m looking for in an LTR. That’s long-term relationship,” He clarified, as if the other two in the room couldn’t have figured it out.
“What a problem to have,” Pugsley chuckled.
“I told you, I can totally chat with Abs on your be-”
Wednesday cleared her throat and they gave a mirrored look of putting a hand behind their head, practically becoming twins after the two-week trip together. “Sorry!” They said in unison.
“You two must be sharing a brain cell these days,” Wednesday sighed. She sat on the edge of her desk, letting her legs dangle. “We can discuss…romance at a more appropriate time…I cannot believe I am about to say this, but perhaps…I can be of some assistance on the matter.” Pugsley brought his palm up to his face to cover his smile, but quickly withdrew it when she explained, “I want to speak to you, about what happened at the train station.”
“Sorry for just totally glomping you like that,” Eugene apologized. “Pugsley said he always gives you at least one big hug when he first sees you or is about to leave you -”
“The enthusiastic embrace was not the actual issue. I had…awful visions, in conjunction with it.” The two slumped.
“I mean, I figured, when you blacked out and went backwards all stiff.”
“At least you weren’t seizing,” Pugsley offered.
“Yes, it was…a mildish vision – I tend to only have the incorporated seizures when my mind is struggling to process what I’m seeing.”
“Like what?” Eugene wondered and Wednesday looked to the side. “Nevermind – that’s…I don’t want to make you upset. And I feel really badly, that we did earlier. I mean…I’ve only seen you cry like that – what, that night with Enid? Oh!” He winced. “Sorry, I probably shouldn’t bring that up either.”
Wednesday stared straight ahead out the window. “I can talk about it. It’s…it’s important to talk about things that make me anxious, upset, or afraid,” She said by way of hoping to set an example for them. “When it’s a future event, it’s best that I keep as much under wraps as possible, so that others don’t attempt to interfere with a certain outcome. However, when it’s a past event, particularly, past…terrible things that have happened to people I love…I…I sometimes address them.”
Pugsley cringed. “Is…that what happened today?” She nodded. “What…what did you see?”
Looking to the side, she confessed, “I saw no less than twelve individual sequences, of the two of you, my brothers,” She said, ardently, “Being hurt, harassed, and bullied by other people.” She swallowed thickly. “Eugene, I know – that I didn’t know you then. There wouldn’t have been anything I could have done. But…Pugsley, why didn’t you tell me?!” She asked, her voice both a yell and a whisper at the same impossible time, her throat burning with furious anger.
Her little brother assumed a pose suddenly – one that she used often, to close herself off. He drew his knees to his chest, while Eugene just looked at his lap.
Wednesday swallowed and practiced her breathwork before continuing. “That you were hurt, so repeatedly and there was nothing I could do about it! That you didn’t tell mom or dad? Pugsley, why?!”
“Because,” He let out after a moment of charged silence passed by. “I knew you’d do something to them that was ten times worse. And I was really worried about you getting in trouble,” He whined. “You already had to move schools so many times, and…I was worried that…I was worried that you were going to get sent away. And then you did! Exactly what I feared, you found out I was getting beat up and you beat them up so much worse and…I lost you. I would have rather been hurt every day and got to be close to you than have you sent six hours away.”
Feeling her eyes prickle again, Wednesday drew her hand over her face, holding them back forcefully.
Quiet was cast over the room again, and she lost track of time until Pugsley dropped his knees, leaning forward. “Will you come give me a hug?”
She nodded, sliding off the desk and wrapping her arms around his shoulders hiding her face there. He smelled – not like fungus or hot chips…but… “Are you wearing cologne?!”
“Oh, yeah! Dr. Gallor’s fiancé took us to this fancy shop, he said that it would help us with the ladies, we both picked something that would represent us. I’m Fireside Honey Whiskey, Pugs is Oakmoss and Sandalwood. Kind of boring, but he doesn’t smell like ass anymore!”
“The whole daily shower thing is helping. I’ve dropped my online fungus competition. It probably wasn’t worth winning anyway, I’m pretty sure the judging is rigged. If you can’t sniff the feet – how do you really know how bad it is?”
“You’re repulsive,” Wednesday sighed and held on longer, until she finally let up, then looked at Eugene, giving him a separate embrace, deciding she liked his smell just a little bit better.
Staring at them both again, she re-centered herself, needing to end the dramatic scene so that they could do something productive together. “All this to say, what I saw impacted me today. I hate knowing what’s happened to you in the past, that I wasn’t aware, that there was nothing I could do to prevent it. I know I’m often detached, and I’m mean to you, because it’s fun. I’m your sister – I’m supposed to be. And Eugene, you’re practically my brother, so…I mess with you in the same way. But…if someone now, or in the future, is ever even looking at you funny, I want you to do something about it. Whether you take a fist to their nose, dox them online, decimate them with public humiliation, or come to me – I don’t care. You are not going to suffer in silence alone, ever again. Do both of you understand me?”
They nodded together. Wednesday perched her brow and they both replied, “Yes, Wednesday.”
“Good. Because I love you,” She said sharply. “And no one gets to mess with my brothers except me.” Letting out a breath, she wondered, “Who’s ready to do research on the potential human rights violation of the US government on Werewolves during World War II?”
They blinked at her. “Allow me to rephrase. You’re going to join me in doing research. I have an outline prepared of central questions I have regarding this topic, and I’d like you to do some reading to see if you can answer any of these.”
Eugene looked at Pugsley, “Did she used to make you play school when you were little?”
“No, she usually just took me to the playroom and singed off my eyebrows one at a time. I’m not sure what form of torture is easier, honestly.”
Smirking, Wednesday sat down in at her desk, eyeing the boys after pretending to read for a moment, finding they’d surrendered, turned to the marked pages of the book, and started to read – Pugsley even started to scribble down notes within the first ten minutes.
It was a test, of course – she’d already completed the reading and knew the answers, but wanted to determine their potential usefulness in an information-gathering task that didn’t involve breaking and entering shenanigans or investigating perilous caves. Unfortunately – she already knew how that would end up if she sent them unsupervised.
Managing to read on in her own work, she collected their assignments after an hour, discovering they’d taken the task seriously. “You pass,” She said with a beam of pride at them both. “Congratulations. You are both hereby inducted into my research society.”
“Do we get a prize?” Pugsley asked dryly and Wednesday lifted up a finger, opening a drawer, rifling through a little tin. Pugsley opened his hand, probably thinking he was getting a rare coin, but she actually just returned to him something that was his in the first place. “A tooth?”
“Yours. Baby left, upper incisor. Lost, nineteen May, 2014. I pushed you down the bottom steps, and you smacked into the railing. Mother was furious, I don’t know why – the blood spatter was perfect. I got a prize and she got to test a new potion she’d been working on to help cauterize wounds. I thought it was a win/win, personally. But, I’ll return it to you as a symbol that you can once again, be trusted.”
“So you held onto my tooth because you couldn’t trust me before?”
“I held onto your tooth because it was the first one you lost, and I knew you were going to try to give it to the ‘tooth fairy,’ but we have a long-standing policy against allowing fae into the house. I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t trust you. And as my visions demonstrated, I was correct. Not only did you admit them to me, but you have promised that you would stand up for yourself more in the future, and you proved yourself with this task. So yes, I’m returning the tooth because I trust you now.”
“Well if Pugsley gets a tooth, what do I get?”
Wednesday tapped her chin before opening another drawer, removing a little mint tin, with cicada shells inside. “Periodical cicadas, Brood X – 2021. I collected them on a walk after I found that metal tin discarded near the trash. I thought they may be useful in divination. I was wrong. You may have them.”
“Emiliana-core,” Eugene whispered. “Sick. I’ve always hoped someone would give me trash with unwanted exoskeletons skeletons inside.”
“I am so happy to fill each of your wishes. Boys,” She smiled at them, giving a small bow of her head. “You are dismissed. Tomorrow after your morning exercises with father and I have my mid-morning meditation, we will convene in the dining nook and I will offer you a genuine research task that I don’t already have the answers to.”
“Uhh, your dad is gonna make us work out? Eugene wondered.
“Yeah, but…it’s not what you’re thinking,” Pugsley chuckled. “He’s probably just going to have us work out the worms from near the trail to feed to the moles in the cave. They’re sort of trained to run errands for us in the caverns beneath the city, but they’ve become so dependent on the Addams family that they’d probably starve without us. It’s called worm grunting. It’s slightly backbreaking, but totally gross and almost fun. You’ll love it!”
Loving them, despite their disgusting, juvenile behavior, Wednesday escorted them down from the library, where she entertained Eugene (and Pugsley, who correctly stated – he hadn’t been invited up in forever) by answering questions about the divination tools, even reading their tarot for them before selecting each a charm and crystal for luck. Giving them both a blessing with protection oil, and inviting a group hug between them, Wednesday sent her brothers off, feeling surprisingly rejuvenated from her miserable discovery of them that morning.
X
After returning to the hospital the following day to visit Emiliana again, who was walking almost completely unsupported and able to see out of both eyes, even if the left still looked like someone had sucker-punched her, Wednesday was nearly…optimistic. Josie had pulled her aside, seeing a change in her that wasn’t just related to the hairstyle she’d once again allowed her mother to twist up, along with her ear piercings. Shrugging (she’d worn a higher-necked collar to avoid attention to the bite), she tried to play it off like she’d been very reflective. While it wasn’t untrue, it wasn’t the whole truth, and there was something…exciting about having a little secret regarding her body, and the intimacy she shared with Enid, that the entire world didn’t need to know.
Dr. Rodman shared the findings of the dual brain scan from the trip to the ether with Enid. There were major differences between their brainwaves, and he was going to take a week or so to code and summarize each of the findings and what they could mean. Knowing that divination-based EEGs were a new science he’d invented that day, she wasn’t expecting much, but did find it interesting, in the least, that there was visible proof of how hard her mind was working when she was in the ether.
She spent her mornings working on time in the ether with her mother, and afternoons at the lake, the archery grounds, or playing remarkable hiding games with Pugsley and Eugene. Finding herself having a surprising amount of fun with them, she hoped Eugene would stay just a little bit longer than the scheduled week – she wanted to be able to tag team with her girlfriend once she was home, against the boys.
After dinner, Wednesday was enthralled in reading in her father’s office while Eugene and Pugsley were kept busy by with research from her, a task from Gomez, or entertained by him as he put on one kind of show or another. She sat curled up in a chair in the corner, sometimes pretending to be less engaged in his storytelling than she really was. Morticia was watching with heart eyes, but sometimes looking back at her daughter with knowing ones.
The week was nice, despite missing Enid fiercely. She was so busy preparing for the showcase, that they’d hardly even spoken. A few times when Wednesday had called at night, she was so knocked out, she hadn’t heard the phone ring. Not taking it personally (as she was genuinely looking forward to seeing her perform), she woke up on Friday feeling like the overly excited starfish in the talking fish movie that Emiliana made her watch. Smirking, she utilized a feature on her phone she’d never used before, sending a moving picture version of the little pink sea star to Enid.
She gave it a like before replying: AH!!!!!!! I LITERALLY CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU IM GONNA KISS YOU IM GONNA HUG YOU AND IM NOT GONNA LET GO!
Her heart was completely burdened with the ache of knowing that it was still going to be almost twelve hours before she’d be able to do that, but Wednesday got herself up. She stripped the sheets on the bed and swapping them with clean ones from the closet so that it would be fresh for them when they arrived home in the early hours of morning.
There were a fair bit of divination tools that had created a mess on her altar: wax drips from burning candles, ash from an incense stick and dried petals. Mindfully, she began to tidy the space, taking all the supplies into a jar to properly dispose of later, cleaning the surface and leaving it empty – hoping to fill it with intentions she set with Enid. Remembering what she’d picked up from the pharmacy the day before, Wednesday opened her backpack, taking out an envelope with pictures of she and Enid taken since her initial departure from the home in June that she’d had printed. Needing frames, she crept down the stairs, not wanting to get caught up in a conversation just yet.
She opened a study door stealthily – the ghost of her Aunt Minerva often frequented the room, and would draw attention to her with wailing if she wanted Wednesday out. Not seeing any visible spirit or sensing one with a prickle on the back of her neck, she entered, opening a cabinet door that held old picture frames and tchotchkes that weren’t on display. She let out a breath, flipping through gilded frames, trying to find one that didn’t have any relatives in it – she wasn’t trying to smite herself with a host of bad luck by removing their likeness.
When she found two empty ones, she decided that would be enough (though she’d printed five pictures – that was probably excessive…it was hard to pick, Enid looked so happy and lovely in each of them -)
“Wednesday, what are you doing?” A gruff voice wondered from the doorway. Glancing up to see her grandmama, Wednesday closed the cabinet, holding the empty frames with a small flush. In an old, summer day-dress with a practically ruffly collar and her hair in braids, she felt small and young in front of her – not like the mature girlfriend she hoped to appear when transforming for the show.
“I’m…doing something innocuous.”
“You’re not trying to claim family heirlooms in secret, are you? They’re divided up very intentionally. If you want something now, I can give you one of my shrunken heads, but don’t -”
Holding up the frames, she gave her paternal grandmother a near smile. “Just borrowing two empty picture frames. I’ll keep them here at the house, if you want.”
She let out a gagging sound and rolled her eyes. “I’m sure they’re for disturbing photographs of you and Enid. Ugh, Wednesday, you disappoint me. I had strong hopes that you wouldn’t turn out as hopelessly devoted as your father!”
Wednesday struggled not to smile wider as she lowered her arms. “I’m sorry, grandmama. I didn’t mean to turn out this way. I tried to stop it – but love was like an oncoming train, and I was tied to the tracks. I accepted my fate and have been effectively mutilated by the throes of romance.”
“You sicken me. Come, show me your photos. I must inspect them prior to allowing you to place them in these delicate frames. You might crack the glass if they’re too grotesque.”
Realizing her grandmama was looking for an in to spend time with her, Wednesday more than willingly brought her up to her tower. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she took the pictures into her hands – flipping through the two of them at the Fourth of July picnic on Enid’s campus, together on the roof during the fireworks, even if the lighting was tragic, she liked the view of the explosions above them. After that was a photo that Morticia took of the two of them hooked up to the electrodes in the hospital, together downtown in a selfie near the bakery, and finally, together at the train station, Enid had turned to kiss her when Morticia took the picture. “You are both insulting and inspiring,” The old woman finally said with a chuckle.
“Grandmama, did you love my grandfather?”
She lifted a shoulder. “We didn’t marry for love, so much as expectation, in the forties. I fell in love with the idea of this family and all it represented. I wanted to be part of such an Outcast legacy, so in that way, sure. But…once his drinking started to hurt the family…I fell out of love. I didn’t think that anyone who professed ‘til death would be actively trying to kill themselves with poison in such a way, while the rest of us were watching him wither away into a fraction of himself. I might’ve enjoyed torture, in my youth – but he became cruel. There is a difference. Learn it.”
Bobbing her head, Wednesday said, “I’m fortunate, to have been raised by my father.”
“Gomez always was the brightest of the boys,” She said, running a finger under her nose as her eyes were telling a story that did not match the indifference in her tone. “Don’t tell him, but I am proud of him – for all he endured, to bring forth the best of the Addams we have had in all the time this house has withstood the test of time. You and your brother are going to surpass a legacy of high expectation and allow us to truly become less cast out in the new millennia.”
Swallowing any feelings she had attached to that, she let her grandmama pick the pictures. She chose the one from the hospital, stating it fit family tradition, and the kiss at the train station. She didn’t give a reason for that selection, before hobbling away.
Placing the pictures on display, one on her fireplace mantle, the other on a nightstand, Wednesday brought herself to breakfast, where Lurch passed her a plate with a grunt and she thanked him with a nonverbal response, sitting at the little nook in the kitchen, continuing to read about Werewolves. (The texts hadn’t brought anything else to light like she anticipated, but she was pouring through each page, regardless.)
Wednesday settled in for another day of the same, that week – meditating, spending time with the boys. She adjusted her afternoon to wash her hair and let her mother style it one last time that week, though she still refused makeup. After letting Augustus help her with the hooks on the back of her dress, she kissed his snout, telling him he could come – the neckline of her dress would allow him to be easily concealed in public, and it wasn’t an overnight affair.
He delighted in an out-of-town adventure, asking if he needed a backpack. Assuring him that he did not, she tied her boots and gave herself a glance in the mirror. Hoping Enid liked the outfit all pulled together, (and – she’d been right, the little silver stud stars in her ears did complete it) Wednesday tried to practice her best patience until the show.
They arrived at the theater just early enough for Wednesday to be anxious on Enid’s behalf. She knew that her girlfriend was talented – but the house was packed, expected to be at capacity, and she’d likely never performed on a formal stage for so many before. The university theater was significantly larger than Nevermore or Jericho Community College.
Taking a seat as close to the front as she could get, Wednesday let her parents and brothers slide all the way over so she could be as center as possible. Her father was rambling about various theatrical performances he’d seen to Eugene and Pugsley, while she stood up, eyes stalking the room for any evidence that Hunter would arrive. She highly doubted his presence, yet…part of her wanted to have hope. Enid deserved to be respected, even if they weren’t on the same page.
When the house lights flickered, she sighed, taking her seat, glancing at the program. Finding Enid’s name repeatedly, she felt herself flutter – Enid had earned two solos – one for a monologue and one for singing. She had three group dances, two choral performances, and a full skit scene as well. With pride radiating through her, Wednesday sighed a little. Damn Enid’s brother for not showing up for her – but, she glanced down the row, watching Josie sneaking in with a wave, along with Mr. Mingan, surprisingly – her Werewolf advisor. One more faculty member appeared as well; Wednesday held back a smirk at the sight of her father boisterously greeting Mr. Elpizo, their mythology teacher and Nevermore drama club advisor. She was more than supported. Knowing her friends like Yoko and Divina, particularly, would’ve made the trek if they had their own way of travel and lodging, she was sure they’d already sent their luck and well wishes.
Enid had all the family she needed right there.
Her granny put an arm around the back of her seat. “I can sense you’re tense, darkling. Relax. She’s going to do incredible.”
As the lights went down and the crowd gave an opening round of applause, the orchestra swelled and the curtains parted. Everyone was wearing a variety of numbers – the big opening act was a full musical theater performance, singing, dancing, a few acted out scenes. Enid wasn’t heavily featured, but looked cute in her little townsperson outfit, and when she hurried offstage to change halfway through, Wednesday knew it was because she had a small group dance number next. Faculty introduced the showcase after a sweeping round of applause, earning remarks about how impressed the staff were with such an incredible group of young thespians in their midst. After the discussion, Enid appeared in center stage, and Wednesday discovered it was yet another musical theater number - a show she wasn’t familiar with (at the upbeat tap dancing, of course). Still Enid nailed the dances, the exaggerated faces, and sang live without being breathless. Wednesday was impressed.
She struggled not to get on her feet and push the people in front of her out of the way to give her an embrace at the end of each time she was on stage. Her group scenes made Wednesday smile, but also – feel a bit of annoyance, as she just wanted to see her on her own. When she finally got the chance, Enid’s first solo was her monologue – something written by the faculty, which Wednesday hoped meant a higher quality than the last original production she’d been forced to take on (she’d never forget the sight of Enid in a bad, emo wig with thick black eyeliner).
Sure enough – it seemed like highly trained professionals at the university level knew what they were doing. Enid’s nearly two-minute performance was about being desperate to fit in – a character she knew entirely too well. Her expressions, the way she hit her lines with a different cadence, let herself burst into tears at the end – it was worth the standing ovation that she earned. Suffering through a few more group songs and dances, then even more monologues, Wednesday tried not to get fidgety. Enid’s solo was the last one before the finale (another group performance). She came out in the dress that they’d bought together and she looked…stunning. The way the iridescent, bubble-sheen material hit under the stage lights brought Enid to every single person’s focal point as she was able to deliver a lovely, near-delicate performance, once again, the material was practically suited for her. It was devastating, moving – almost haunting. The repeating line, “…Mama who gave me, no way to handle things – who made me so sad…” was practically twisted, to hear her sing about. But Enid hit her notes, wore the look she needed to, and was completely gorgeous on top of it.
For the finale, a faculty member came up as Enid moved right back to a set of stands that had been placed on the stage to stagger the group. She was the only one not wearing a program-issued shirt and matching bottoms, standing out beautifully. “For our closing tonight, we always allow the students to vote, and year after year, theater kids are unable to get through this production without being…theater kids. Here’s Finale B, from of course, RENT. We’re sorry,” He joked, stepping off to the side as the music started. Enid was looking out at the crowd, and visibly caught Wednesday’s face, her smile widening as she got ready to sing again. She was practically giddy as a few solos and a quiet swell of duets started off the song. Wednesday really tuned in as she stayed staring straight at her, finding herself…actually growing a small lump in her throat. Enid was practically singing straight to her soul, “I die without you,” then looked up at her director one last time for the closing, “No day but today!”
The last moment of the intensive production at the university was met with a long, standing ovation. Wednesday grumbled when she couldn’t see in front of her, wishing she was willing to disrespect the theater to stand on her chair – she wasn’t done looking at her girlfriend.
Thankfully, everyone sat as it was far from over. The faculty had awards to present, and while the names of each of five were listed, the individuals receiving them were not.
Wednesday couldn’t lie – she’d been bored by many of the other performances throughout the show, but that didn’t make them bad. The other students vying for spots at the school someday were incredibly talented. Most of them likely had at least ten years’ worth of formal training, while Enid couldn’t even halfway read music until the winter, and had only performed in school plays until spring. She wanted to think that Enid deserved it all – but Wednesday had a firm grip on reality and knew, the awards were not likely to go to somebody who hadn’t had the resources to perfect their craft like the rest of them.
Stealing herself to prepare not to march up to the faculty members with violence, Wednesday watched the first four awards be given out, all of which came with early admissions decisions in addition to the prestigious titles – standout in a group number, best monologue, best musical solo, best dance performance. Wednesday politely clapped – sure that even though she felt like they had an unfair advantage, that didn’t mean those who were recipients didn’t deserve them.
“Finally, this year, we are pleased to present a Rising Star Award. This coveted title is only awarded once a season, and some summers, our Intensive programming director and faculty elect not to distribute one. This most sought after prestige grants automatic admission to the university, upon transcript approval, and direct admission into our university theater program, provided the student meets the minimal grade point average requirement upon their graduation, also comes along with a generous academic scholarship.”
He cleared his throat, looking at the students behind him. “The Rising Star is not the most polished student on stage; that would defeat the purpose of such a title. The Rising Star still has a way to go, opportunities to seize, and resources to tap into. We want to provide this student with those opportunities and resources because we see their immense potential. We also have a policy for this very unique award, of using a rubric to consider personal qualities within this student that we feel represent the best of us – who we want to be portrayed as to the world. We want someone with a sunny outlook on things – who sees the world as a glass half full. This is a cutthroat industry to be attempting to get a foot in the door, and if you can’t continue to smile despite being disappointed, you’re not going to make it. We want someone who is willing to express vulnerabilities. It’s important to be able to admit flaws, and it’s equally as important to be able to express what you need to improve them. Finally, the student that we choose can represent the good that the theater community can do when presented with an opportunity to do so, because of an innate draw to this person’s natural glow.”
As he finished speaking the reason for the award, Wednesday almost rolled her eyes – as every trait that he’d listed was the exact opposite of herself, which was why her eyes went wide instead, just before he announced, “Congratulations to our Rising Star, Ms. Enid Sinclair!”
Enid blinked before gasping, looking completely shocked. She glanced to the person beside her, who Wednesday recognized from the cafeteria, hugging her arm as she asked, ‘Are they serious?’
“Enid, yes, we’re serious. You’ve more than earned it.” Wednesday watched the interaction take place. Applause echoed through the room and she found herself on her feet as Enid approached, accepting the award with a face full of questions. The director merely chuckled, whispering something to her. She found her smile again, taking a small plaque and certificate, finding the Addams family in the crowd, looking at them all with a dopey sort of gratitude, then realizing that some of the Nevermore faculty was there, she waved, tapping the director again, pointing to them. “Family and friends of all award recipients, please remain in the house – everyone else, the directions for how to begin the dismissal of students from our program are printed on the back.”
Wednesday was grateful she wasn’t going to have to fight the entire audience to get to Enid. Instead, she waited for the end of the aisle she was on to clear out, before dashing past her family and faculty, sprinting up the steps on the side of the stage, and attacking Enid in a hug.
She squeaked, throwing her arms around her in return, pulling back to look at her, up and down, giving another happy sound. “I knew these earrings would look so cute with this outfit – and your hair up! OhEmGee, Wednesday, you look so amazing in this -”
“If you say one more nice thing about me when you just won early admission to an Ivy League School and into the program of your dreams on a scholarship because of your pure talent and potential, I’m going full Phantom in here and bringing that chandelier down. Enid. Enid,” She repeated, Staring at her, almost feeling emotional again like she did during the performance. “I love you. I’m so proud of you.” She swallowed thickly, holding her shoulders, whispering, “You deserve this.” Leaning in for a kiss, she felt the sticky feeling of the lipstick Enid had performed in, working through it as Wednesday poured just how much she felt a magnificent honor on her behalf, just igniting her like a flare.
She pulled away to look at her again, and Enid giggled, her eyes wet with unshed tears as it seemed like she was probably only just beginning to process the good news as Wednesday laid it out for her. Taking her thumb to Wednesday’s lips, she wiped off the pink lipstick that transferred before yanking her back in for a hug.
They embraced in the moment for almost a minute before Wednesday felt her cheeks flare as the director spoke Enid’s name, and Wednesday became acutely aware of the full public display of affection she’d put on, center stage – under bright lights – for everyone still lingering in the audience to see. Her mother, Josie, Pugsley, Eugene and even granny were all capturing the moment in pictures and video and she slumped off stage to wait in the wings while Enid needed to take pictures with the faculty who’d awarded her, by a university photographer. “And, could I have Enid’s family and loved ones come up as well, please?”
It was a bumbling mess of an affair, sorting out the Addams family – like something straight out of a 60s TV sitcom, attempting to get her parents, granny and brother to follow simple directions. Wednesday just let herself be tugged right to Enid’s side, while the photographer took a family photo, then one with the Nevermore staff in it as well. Enid let everyone distribute their congratulator hugs and flowers from the men, who’d brought them. She was overwhelmed and tickled – her cheeks flushed, trying to grapple with what she’d won.
There was a bit more hubbub as Morticia and the Nevermore staff spoke with the director about next steps to secure her admission, while Wednesday just held Enid’s hand and her award in the other while she cradled her flowers – as bright as she was. Enid asked Wednesday quietly, “Will you step out with me? I want to be alone with you for just a minute.”
“Of course,” She replied softly, thanking Pugsley and Eugene when they took Enid’s flowers and Gomez her awards, kissing the side of her head as he congratulated her yet again before winking them off to steal a moment of privacy, telling them the family would meet them out there in just a few minutes.
Enid brought Wednesday out to the atrium, which was almost empty, tugging her into a corner behind a pillar, with a full giggle until she paused, wrapping her arms around her neck again, cupping her cheek. “I love you always, but this dress really was a winner.”
“Me? Enid, the way that you…the way that you…” Wednesday had to blink, overcome a bit as she tried to gather herself to express just how proud she was. “You were the star. You didn’t need to rise. You made it. And…I can’t express in words, how – how I…”
Enid’s eyes welled up in tears as well, and Wednesday shook her head, taking a turn to touch her face. “I don’t generally stress appearances, but – you look too pretty to cry right now.”
Giving a giggle of emotion instead, Enid just held her one more time as she sighed. “This almost doesn’t feel real. I almost – why me? You don’t think it’s because I’m a Werewolf, do you?”
Wednesday lifted a shoulder, “I’m sure that was a factor, true – but…when your director was reading off the traits they look for to make a selection, I almost got mad because I felt like he was saying everything that was opposite of my nature, like he was calling me out – but then I realized, the opposite of me, is you. You are the sunshine, you are my optimist, you give me hope and have made me smile more in the last year than I ever did in my life until this point. You are the rising star, Enid. I promise. This wasn’t a D&I initiative. You earned it.”
Enid just nodded, letting out a deep breath, grinning from ear to ear again, about to lean in, when a voice caused her smile to slip completely. She went from blushing and glowing, to pale – like someone had snuffed her light right out.
“Hey, kiddo.”
She turned slowly, and Wednesday immediately gripped her hip, coming to stand a half a pace in front of her. Standing just eight feet away from them was the sunken-in figure of Mr. Sinclair. Glancing back at Enid as she slipped into a state of rage, Wednesday felt herself about to react on wicked impulsivity that she hadn’t lost herself to since the night in the tunnels.
