Chapter Text
"You’re a clever wolf.” Her voice had rang out, quiet in its begrudging defeat, hopeful if still, typically, cynical. “I’m sure you can work it out."
It had been revolving around Enid's head ever since she had pulled her pants back up. The jacket was in her hand, fisted as she frowned to herself. She left it at the tent, found the others and joined for a bonfire sing-along, but she barely looked at Bruno as he charmed people with the guitar across his lap.
She looked at Ms Capri, who stared at Enid when she thought the young wolf wasn't looking. She wondered what the woman was thinking, if she would be able to understand her mind a little better. She was older and experienced, a werewolf like Ms Capri could have the answers she needed.
When she stepped away, Enid followed, giving a half-smile to the pack as Bruno started his rendition of Riptide after a moment of hesitation, and she found the teacher standing over the food.
"Ma'am?"
The teacher looked up from the steak puffs she was preparing and smiled in the way teachers do to their students. Welcoming, warm, not emotionally attached.
"Enid, can I help you with something?"
The wolf smiled awkwardly, looking around and clicking her fingers together, nodding slowly.
"I… have a question."
"I like those." She beamed, "What about?"
Enid picked at the skin of her fingers, which was a bad habit only encouraged by her healing factor, making it such a non-issue. She pouted and looked down, breathing out slowly with a slight hesitation. "Is it… normal, for a wolf to be... vocal?"
"… As in a pup?"
"No, in your head." She tapped her temple, grimacing at the confused look on the teacher's face. "Not like, I'm insane or anything."
She may have laughed a little too hard under Ms Capri's slightly uncomfortable wince, but the teacher didn't move or brush her off. Instead, she laughed, just as gently, and lowered her bag of steak puffs. "Try explaining again, Miss Sinclair."
Enid took a breath and glanced around to make sure no one could hear them, and she replied in a quiet voice, "… My wolf is pretty vocal around certain people."
It was true, she was. At first, it was manageable. Silent grumbles and growls before she had her first change, a response to whatever thing Ajax had done to annoy her, or whenever her mom was cruel. It was fine, though; she could ignore it.
But then she shifted, and her wolf was loud. Rumbling in the presence of anyone who so much as made her huff, which seemed to be everyone.
All but one. The person who had accepted her with the same unjudgemental vapid uncaring she gave everyone, far before the wolf ever existed. Back when all she had were claws.
Ms Capri nodded, rustling the packet in her hand. "Our wolves are very sensitive to how we feel, Miss Sinclair. We as a species have a split mindset. The human side, who is aware of social ques and what is or isn't acceptable, and the wolf, who honestly couldn't give less of a damn."
She laughed a little to herself, and Enid frowned in thought. "What does that mean?"
Ms Capri controlled her smile and held her hands in front of her, with nothing but empathy and well taught understanding rolling off her in waves.
"That you are feeling the same thing as your wolf, she just doesn't feel a need to hide it." The teacher smiled kindly and shrugged a shoulder. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but you were a late bloomer too, correct?"
Enid rubbed her arm. While she had now changed, it was still an awkward and embarrassing part of her life to think about.
"Yeah, I first turned at the end of last semester. Under The Blood Moon, which was… so fun."
The smile slowly fell off Ms Capri's face, "… The Blood Moon?"
"Yeah. Is that… bad?"
She shook her head, laughing in a way which felt too forced to be genuine. "No, not at all! It's interesting, most young werewolves just wouldn't risk their first turn being during The Blood Moon, is all."
Enid swallowed nervously. "Risk?"
"It's a powerful moon to turn under, Enid." The teacher told her seriously. "There are several dangerous things, changes which could have happened. But you seem to be alright considering!"
The laugh sounded a little forced, probably to soften the blow of what she had said, and Enid matched it with a trailed-off sound, subtly placing her hands in front of her lap, just in case.
"Yeah, I guess I am. Sorry, I'm gonna get back to the fire." The wolf trailed, turned around to do just that.
"Miss Sinclair?" She paused and turned back to the teacher, whose arms were crossed in front of her chest, fingers pushed against her cheek as she gazed after her.
"Yeah?"
"What compelled you to turn so late?" She asked, the flicker of the fire touching her skin even from here, decorating her face and hair in a wash of memorising colours. "What caused you to shift on The Blood Moon?"
Enid rubbed her arm, seemingly nervous, but her chest was full of pride. She loved thinking about it, how she had taken on a huge threat and kept Wednesday safe.
So she answers with a half smile, lopsided and as charming as Bruno wishes he was with his guitar. "Do you know what happened last year? With the Hyde?"
Ms Capri smiled wider, and did a good job of making it seem genuine. "How could I not?"
"Well… he was a threat." She shrugged, stepping back with her hands in her pockets. "A threat I removed."
Ms Capri lowered her hand, and Enid seemed to miss the look of shock on her expression as she felt an even bigger wave of personal pride, her wolf grumbling contentedly in her head. She had saved Wednesday; she had been the hero she had always dreamed of meeting.
"You stopped a Hyde on your first shift?"
"Yep!" She clicked a finger gun at her, then realised she was a teacher and dropped it with another awkward laugh. "Got the scars to show for it, too. G'night, Ms Capri!"
Enid turned back to the fire and bounced after her, smile slipping as she rolled her teacher's words through her head. The wolf felt the same as she did; she just didn't hide it like she did. What could that mean?
"You’re a clever wolf.” She heard once again as she joined the others, unaware of narrowed eyes following her with a bag of crushed steak puffs in hand. “I’m sure you can work it out."
And she would. Of course, the actual zombie attacking the camp, and then Wednesday's parents, broke that concentration for a while, but after finding out her friend was okay, and definitely giving her the silent treatment, she allowed herself to think.
"Hey, do you wanna get out of here?"
Enid looked up from her phone, which had a blank screen and at Bruno. He had a cute smile, his hair ruffled a little in that way she liked. Liked? Hm.
This was day two of no Wednesday, and Enid felt her skin itch at the thought. She shook her head and stood from the fence they were leaning on. "No, I think I'm gonna head back to my room for a bit."
"Do you want us to come?" Someone asked as they all stood, and all looked at her. Expecting, waiting. What's next?
Enid shook her head, and they sagged back. "Nah, it's all good. I'm kinda feeling being alone right now."
They nod their understanding and don't follow.
Enid finds Thing and they have a catch-up, she does his nails, and he shows her a new ointment he's been working on. It's nice, she didn't realise how much she missed him.
"Have you spoken to Wednesday today?" She asked, as the girl was gone before they got back. She imagined fighting a zombie would be something she would love to talk about, if she even wanted to talk to Enid. Thing shrugged and tapped away.
"Yes, she is busy."
Enid nodded, catching her bottom lip in her teeth, trying, and failing, to act nonchalant. "She got that case still?"
Thing paused, looking through the nail polishes she had available, with a magazine with designs and colour coordination opposite, laid out before them.
"Yes."
It's like a ball of lead in her stomach. Burning with jealousy and a queasiness she hadn't expected to feel with Thing.
"Urgh… Why hasn't she asked me for help?!" Enid whined, falling back on her bed and covering her eyes, while Thing kept the nail polish steady. "She's gone to that little psycho, Agnes. And even Selene for help. I feel kinda left out, Thing!"
Thing picked his colour, a nice bloody red and black, and pushed it towards her.
"I don't know why. She still talks about you a lot." He then seemed to shrug. "Well. A lot by Wednesday standards."
Enid frowned and held out her hand, extending her left ring claw so he could top it up, which he was quick to do, "… She does?"
There was only a moment of hesitation, and Enid felt like it was full of a silent judgment. A disbelief that this had to be spelt out to her like it was.
"… Yes."
She finished his nails and sat on her bed, staring at Wednesday's perfectly tucked-in sheets, and she thought for a long, and thankfully uninterrupted, moment. "Thing?"
He turned to her, pausing on rolling some new hand cream up a ramp. "Yeah?"
Enid bit her lip. She was nervous to say it, to put to words the thoughts she had been mulling over since the camp, and for much longer. Since her wolf first burst from her skin to save her one true friend.
After all, there was only one reason she could think of that a person would avoid their friend with benefits like this.
"Would… Would you know if Wednesday liked someone?" Asking spat acid in her throat. "You know, like… Likes someone?"
"I would know," He tapped, flexing his fingers thoroughly. "Even if she didn't."
Enid chewed on her bottom lip, staring at the bright pink bottle in her hand and waving her hand, which was still drying. She had to ask, it was… Kinda killing her a little. "Does she?"
He froze. Lowered the hand cream until it rolled down the ramp, and she looked at him. He seemed concerned, as much as four fingers and a thumb could be.
Thing quickly rolled onto his side, shifting into a fist and sticking up one thumb. Enid swallowed. Yes.
Enid felt her world pause, if for a moment. Maybe it was the nail polish in her hyper-sensitive nose, or the fact that Wednesday liked someone.
It made sense. She was barely around Enid anymore, and she had felt too awkward to use the necklace since their argument. Is that what she meant? About being smart and figuring things out? That she was... Done?
When did this all get… "Thing?"
He tapped twice, and she ran a hand down her face with a whine. "I just want you to know that it's so confusing being a girl."
He did his best version of a nod and tapped out a single word in response. "Girl."
Enid groaned and buried her head in her pillows. She fell asleep by the time Wednesday came back, still in her clothes, but when she woke up, the comforter was over her shoulders, and her shoes were on the floor.
She would think about this later.
Which she would have a lot of time to do, since, once again, Wednesday Addams was all but gone from her life. Enid only saw her in passing lately, in the halls, vanishing into dark corners with that redheaded psycho glued to her side. From what she had seen, she was nervous about something. But again, wouldn't say what.
"Just talk to her."
Enid didn't look away from her friend, who sat a little way from them, bouncing her knee as the other girl didn't even say hello. "She must have seen me, right?"
She turned to Bianca, who looked just as tired of this as the other Nightshades present. "Right?!"
Bianca gestured vaguely with her soda can. “I thought you two were past your fallout phase.”
"… What?"
The Siren shrugged, and tried to seem uninterested, when in actuality the idea of new, interesting gossip too tempting to ignore. "When you didn’t talk for, like, three days."
The wolf laughed, a little too forced, possibly, and rubbed the back of her neck. "No, we're… I don't know."
The group around the table share a side eye, and they all turn to look at Kent meaningfully. He knew what he had to do, the risk he had to take for the sake of something good to whisper about. He nodded sagely, and leaned forward over the bench.
"… Did you do something?"
"No!" She snapped, and Kent shrank back into his seat. "Why does everyone assume that I’m the one who did something?"
"Because if it were Wednesday, then she would have apologised." Bianca shrugged, receiving a wide eyed look of betrayal from the wolf.
"You think Wednesday Addams apologises to people?"
"Not to people, no." She sipped her soda. "But you're a weird soft sport for the little masochist."
"… I am?"
Bianca dragged her eyes to her, now slightly annoyed if the twitch in her eyebrow was any insight.
"… I can't with how blind you are." She shivered, "Go talk to her."
"I don't-"
"Your knee-bouncing has already knocked over three sodas, Enid. If you don’t move, I’m going to start throwing them."
Enid huffed and shot to her feet, marching over to her friend with a little stomp and a decent sized strop to try and get her to talk.
She got about sixty seconds of her attention before Wednesday is shouting at her to get down, then Thing is taken by crows, and a robed person runs away.
Enid catches Thing, holding him in her palms as her elbows quickly heal, and she looks at him full of concern. Any anger and frustration aimed towards Wednesday was temporarily gone; the fear of losing Thing was greater than that.
"Are you okay?!" She asked, and he was shaking; he was scared, but he squeezed her hand tight. Thank you.
Later, Enid paced their dorm room, chewing her nails, adrenaline long since gone. She was still waiting for Wednesday to come back, so she could make sure she was safe.
And then yell at her, probably. Loudly.
The door creaked open, and Wednesday entered as fluidly as she so often did, like she walked on a shadow, or at least commanded it enough to follow. Enid crossed her arms, striding over from their window and raising a brow at her.
Wednesday must have noticed she was in some kind of trouble, at least enough to drop her shoulders slightly, and let the door shut behind her. "Enid."
"Wednesday." She replied, tone as clipped as her so-called friend's was, and the woman opposite walked closer, leather boots heavily clipping on the floor, scraping along it as she got closer.
It was the longest she had looked at Enid for a while; she almost blushed and cleared her throat when she remembered she was mad about that. So instead she narrowed her eyes, threw out her arms so they slapped against her sides, and she clenched her jaw.
"What's going on?" She asked, and Wednesday raised an eyebrow, as emotionally blank as ever.
"I am not entirely sure what you mean."
Enid felt her eye twitch, her lip raised, and a fang flashed at her. It was almost enough to distract Wednesday, but not entirely.
"We… argued in the woods!" Enid snapped, "I think? And then we just stopped talking. Friends work things out, Wednesday."
She watched her dark eyes roll, and she followed their motion to her own, dark side of the room, pacing almost silently, despite the heavy shoes. "Ah. That word again."
Enid followed her, short steps stomping as she felt the spark of an argument blazing. "We are friends."
"I am painfully aware." Wednesday mused, picking up a briefcase she had under her bed and opening it, rifling through notes written in fine ink. "But my avoidance has little to do with you."
She snapped the leather case shut, and Enid pointed at her with an honest to god, ah-ha!
"So you are avoiding me!" Enid accused. "And ignoring me, for no reason!"
Wednesday looked at her, exhausted with the conversation, sure, but not one to back down when she felt so readily right.
"For a very important reason." She replied with an almost tired glance. "Something far more dire than your feelings being bruised, Enid."
"Oh, really?"
Wednesday met her gaze and almost flinched when she changed, becoming the vision of herself standing opposite her own grave, gripping her tight, covered in her own blood, glaring with hatred.
"I die because of you!"
She swallowed and blinked a heat away from her eyes. "Yes. It is more important. Simply put."
And she tries to leave, to walk past Enid to the door, who is only flabbergasted enough to let her get a few steps away before she grabs her sleeve, holding it tight and turns her around and pokes an accusatory finger against her chest. Wednesday stepped back from the shock of it, and Enid followed.
"But you still take off my shoes and tuck me in when you get back to the room." She asked, bitterly, and Wednesday's eyes narrowed in thought, her chin jutting up in defiance.
"The cold is something only I enjoy. I merely prevented your discomfort."
Enid laughed, but it was something bordering on bitter. "So I get this nice side of you when I'm asleep, but not when I'm awake?"
Her friend tried to walk past her to the door, out of the glare from the rainbow window, but Enid matched her step to the side. "That is where you are mistaken, Enid. I do not possess a nice side."
The wolf groaned, almost growled, and threw out her hands. "Yes, you do, Wednesday! I think, anyway. Even if you don't show it."
"I take my reputation as heartless very seriously," Wednesday replied, only to get another firm, but gentle poke on her chest.
"That's not you."
Wednesday seemed to pause, eyes widening for a moment. "Being angry at me seems to have devolved into a series of unwanted compliments. How novel."
Enid clicked her fingers into a gun at her. "Thanks for reminding me that I'm mad."
"… Drat."
"It just sucks, okay!" Enid groaned, throwing out her arms, so loud, so bright, so Enid. "We had this… thing between us and it just…"
Her fingers rested on the thin chain of the necklace, which felt heavier than ever. Was it worth it? All their intimacy and stolen moments, to fall into this? Strangers who shared a room, ghosts in close proximity?
Did… Did Wednesday regret it?
"I do not regret it." She seemed to read her mind with her response, which wouldn't be surprising. "Nor do I wish to end it. The deal, that is."
She sagged with a mixture of relief and sizzling anger. It had left as soon as it had arrived, her sadness overwhelming it at an almost alarming rate. "Then why are you avoiding me?"
Wednesday walked past her, towards the window, and Enid let her, turning around to find her at a desk, searching through her drawer for something.
"Because my case will soon be solved." She replied, pulling out some more papers and something which looked suspiciously like a hunting knife, which was hidden by the time she turned to the wolf. "And when it is, you may once again have my undivided attention."
But… the drop of annoyance sparked in her stomach again, and she rolled her eyes with a soft scoff. She reached out, taking Wednesday's hand and tugging her closer, scowling at her fingers as she played with them mindlessly.
"Your case." She mumbled, stretching her hand up against Wednesday's, until their palms touched and she laced them together. "Which you're solving with Agnes and that vampire."
"I have not needed Selene since the camp," Wednesday confirmed, clenching her own fingers around Enid's and tugging her close. The wolf looked up and met her gaze. "Nor have I spoken to her."
Jealousy roiled in her gut. "Needed her?"
"In the case, Enid." Wednesday huffed, relaxing her grip, but Enid didn't let go. "Your jealousy has reached truly cosmic proportions."
She grumbled, her teeth baring as her hand tightened, and Wednesday pulled away from her with a single, harsh tug. "I don't even know what all that means."
"It means," Wednesday repeated, her voice dipping to the same sarcastic level as Enid's, clenched fists in a rare, but not exactly for the wolf, display of annoyance. "Try thinking for once."
Enid bared her teeth and moved. She grabbed her hips and backed her up until she was pushed against the wall, slowly letting go to slide her hands around to the wooden beam and grip it tight, keeping Wednesday in place, at her mercy, and herself in the firing line.
Blue eyes looked from black to her lips, a rumble of glee in her throat. "I'm more about action than thought."
Wednesday hummed, her hands moving slowly to grasp around her neck. Cold against hot. Ice freezing fire as she clutches at her soft, scarred skin. "That explains your mounting consequences."
And Enid moved. She pulled Wednesday towards her, and their teeth clashed together, because this is what they were. Messy. Intense. Fuelling with motion over communication, feeling lying dead at their feet as they do their best to ignore it. To move.
Wednesday takes her tongue and captures it in her mouth, teeth sharp and making the wolf grunt, before she releases her and pushes them both back into warmth. They break, for a panting wet second, but it is only for a second, and they are at each other once again.
Enid's hands blaze trails up her spin, claws running along fabric and teasing a cut she would never let happen. Never rip Wednesday's clothes. Why? Because Wednesday wears Prada.
Wednesday holds her face in her hand, pulling her close as Enid drags her by the waist. Gods, it had been a while. A few days, but still. She missed her taste, her touch. The way she whined in the depth of her throat, so quiet ordinary people wouldn't hear it, as Enid nipped and sucked on her lips, her tongue.
She earned this closeness, Enid thought as she ran her tongue along Wednesday's mouth, cutting it on the fang and feeling the other woman shake against her. She moaned against her lips, breaking away with a string of spit and blood as she moved to the side, looking up at dark blue eyes and closing her own as she leaned back in.
"Enid…"
Her words are stolen by a wet sound, a moaning tongue pushing back inside her lips and making her shiver, throb, ache.
She lifts her, feeling dizzy as Wednesday's legs slip gently around her waist, hands moving up to continue to disrupt her hair, tugging and clawing her nails through it until they're pushed against the window.
Wednesday groaned at the cold touch and then tugged at Enid's hair, insistently. She leans back, away from her mouth, guided by a firm hand as Wednesday leans her neck back, and the other woman doesn't need to ask, to command. Enid knows and pushes forward.
Her teeth nip at her neck, retracted to a human length, and the blunt pain makes Wednesday's breath shake. Enid groans, her tongue running along her throat between her jaws, and she sucks. She sucks and she soothes and she sucks and Wednesday holds her closer. Whispering as her hips unknowingly grind, Enid feels herself harden in her tights.
A hand cups one of Wednesday's breasts, she grinds forward, and wonders if she could come from this, too? Could she make Wednesday come apart from bruising her neck and groping her breasts? She had to find out.
Enid moves away, lower, pushing her lips against the gap between Wednesday's collarbones, nosing the necklace to the side and biting at her skin. It is awkward, but she is determined, and she gets a good, sucking grip on her skin.
"You're so…" She groans with a mouthful of flesh, grinding up, pulling Wednesday closer as the other woman's heart races, her head tilted back, staring at the ceiling as the wolf moves them, thrusts against her as gravity does the rest, and she aches for her friend.
A part of her, weaker, less determined, wonders… Why was she even unhappy in the first place? What had the wolf done?
Then, with the brush of her tongue and the heat of her breath, she remembers. The conversation on the bus. The immediate rebuff of her importance as soon as she had achieved her climax.
Bringing him up. Bruno. A man who had done nothing more than fancy after a woman she seemingly had grown to share an interest in.
She looks down, past the wolf mauling her neck, and she closed her mouth, clenching her hair, as lips suck a third bruised hickey high up under her ear, and she tugged. "Stop."
Enid immediately pulled back at the word, looking up, and she stared at her, pupils blown wide, her thighs raised and pressed against her thigh. She is breathing heavily, halfway to ruin already, hair in her face, and Wednesday found herself with the urge to brush it out of the way.
She instead pushed her shoulder, and the wolf let her go, feet sliding to the floor with a heavy sound. Her neck throbbed, and she was certain the stares that followed her would yet again become more judgmental or curious. Certainly more jealous.
Who had Wednesday Addams kissed? Who had she let mark her like this?
No one found the logic to question Enid in all this, but then again, this is something she was thankful for. Enid exhaled, looking between her eyes, and not moving back. Her hands remain on her hips; they burn and ache almost as much as her neck throbbed.
"Did…" Enid swallowed. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Do you need me?" Wednesday cut in, firmly aware of the barely restrained girth against her leg. She wondered if Enid's tights would be able to keep her in place, or if they would be torn and in the trash come morning.
The wolf exhaled, smiling a little, so the point of her fang was on display in a way that almost made Wednesday forget her plans together. "Always, Wednesday, I-"
"Right now, Enid."
The wolf blinked and shook her head. "Oh, no, no I… I can go…" She winced. "Without?"
Wednesday nodded and removed her traitorous hands from around Enid's neck, ignoring the fact that her fingers had been slowly and methodically playing with the hairs at the bottom of her neck.
"Good." She stared into the space beside them. "Because we are not alone."
Enid raised a brow. "We aren't?"
A face appeared next to her own, wide, unblinking blue eyes staring at her. Enid's heart skipped, and pale lips pulled into a wide, unnerving smile. "You aren't."
Enid screamed, turning around and throwing an arm over Wednesday, shoving her behind the wolf as she pressed them both back against the window, her claws out, when Agnes just appeared in front of her.
"What the shit?!"
Agnes hummed, way too amused for her liking, and dragged her wide gaze to Wednesday.
"I’d congratulate you on your secret relationship, but that would require this to be a secret."
Wednesday remained as equally unblinking. "Not a relationship."
"How long have you been there?!"
Neither even looked at Enid as she wailed.
"It isn't?" Agnes asked, tapping her fingers together. "How dramatic."
"Why are you here?!" The wolf pointed an accusatory finger at the girl, who once again, didn't even more.
"To some. Perhaps." Wednesday lamented. "You would withhold your congratulations?"
"In fact how often have you been in here?!"
Yet again, not even a glance was cast her way.
"Oh, true." Agnes mused, pursing her lips and shrugging slowly. Weirdly slow. She was so weird. "I was only assuming it was a secret. Anyone with half a brain could put two and two together."
Enid grabs her shoulders, twisting the girl around and shaking them to stare wide eyed at her. "How much have you seen?!"
For once her wide globes for eyeballs shrank to amusement, smirking at the one up she seemed to have.
"Don't worry. I normally leave before things get…" She purposefully trailed off, looking at Wednesday, and then, once more, back to Enid. "Interesting."
Enid felt as though she would die. "And when is that?!"
Agnes pursed her lips, pretending to think. "Sometime around…" she smacked them, "And… mm.” She sighed dramatically.
Enid froze, her stomach plummeting. The dread felt disturbingly familiar and reminded her of the time her dad had found her vibrator in her room, back when she needed one, and tried to have a variation of the talk.
I'm glad you're healthy, sweetie. He had said, in a way so painstakingly understanding, it felt like a shot to her chest.
Enid hadn't touched the thing for a year after that. And now? The same paralysis.
In fact, she is frozen like she had lost a staring contest with a Stoner, and Agnes steps out of her statue-like grip, staring unblinkingly ahead.
"… I think your wolf is broken."
"Perhaps." Wednesday agreed, when Agnes felt something cold press against her stomach. She looked down and saw the gleam of Wednesday's knife resting against her stomach. One shift and it would cut.
They hold each other's gaze, the silence as taunt as a wire.
"… Never enter our room without knocking again."
"Even if there isn't a sock on the door?" Agnes asked, laughing lightly, nervously, and Wednesday unsurprisingly doesn't share her amusement.
"Who has time for such trivial symbolism?" She asked, and the redheaded girl slowly nodded.
"… Understood."
The knife slid away with a silent sound, and the woman glanced to the side. She saw Enid's flushed face, eyes wide and staring at her. Without glancing, Wednesday stripped off her heavy black sweater and tossed it towards her roommate.
Enid caught it instinctively, pressing it against her lap. Dignity restored. Barely.
"Now. Onto the plan."
She crossed to her desk, pulling open the drawer and rolling out a yellowed map. The words Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital stamped the top. This was the first Enid had heard of it.
"Indeed," Agnes replied, sliding up next to Wednesday and staring at the map with a matching intensity. "The raid should be executed flawlessly."
The sweater hit Wednesday squarely in the chest. Or would have if she didn't catch it with one hand, eyes lifting to find Enid stomping closer, jealousy radiating off her in waves.
"You have a plan to storm the mental asylum?"
Wednesday lowered her sweater, and Agnes raised her hand, a single finger pointing to the ceiling. "The correct term is psychiatric hospital."
"Whatever," Enid snaps at the child, her attention entirely on her friend, "Were you even going to tell me?"
Wednesday felt as though she had been caught off guard, and her throat was suddenly dry. "If the need arose."
"And it didn't?!"
Wednesday and Agnes share a look. "Perhaps it will," She lied. "We are still planning."
In truth, she wanted Enid nowhere near this mess. She wanted her far away, in an Academy full of people who could protect her, if they had to.
"I die because of you!"
The woman casts her gaze to their split window. Colour and grey. "Wednesday, if you-"
"Enid."
Her voice alone stops her. Enid sat back on her feet and scowled, arms crossed as jealousy rolled in her gut, and she watched them talk. A strange cold logic passed between the two, traded back and forth like chess moves, while she stood on the outside.
Enid wasn't used to being a second thought. And it started to grate on her.
"And what about me?" She burst out, finally. "What's my part in the plan?"
Wednesday doesn't answer, which is almost an answer in itself. She had a plan, yes, one already thought out with her new best friend, apparently. One which was foolproof and didn't need or even include Enid.
She felt her lip curl up, still aching from her touch, and the throb was a reminder of why this made her so angry. Her jaw clicked, and dark eyes watched her with silent surprise.
"… Do you even want to be my friend anymore?"
Wednesday looked briefly toward Agnes, who was quietly savouring the tension, swallowing nerves she usually didn't allow herself to feel, and she answered.
"That has never been in question."
She crossed her arms, raised her brow and narrowed her eyes. "Then give me something to do."
With one final exhale, Wednesday did just that, and Enid is involved in the plan. It filled her with a sense of being wanted she had no idea existed until she thought Wednesday had no need for her, and it kept her warm with the knowledge she would help her friend. She would keep her safe.
But then, Wednesday was hurt. And suddenly, petty jealousy didn't seem to matter anymore.
Because she was hurt. She was hurt bad, thrown through a window on the second floor, cracking painfully against gravel as the Hyde roared his victory.
She wouldn't wake up.
Enid knew it was possible for Wednesday to get hurt, of course she did, but she didn't think it would happen. Not now. Not now, she had turned, and she was big and strong. I could keep her safe, but she didn't.
She had failed. The shatter of glass was met with the smell of copper. The smack of her body against the ground.
Fear as the Hyde was riddled with bullets. As the police she had called tried to stop the bleeding. The bleeding. Too much blood.
She didn't remember watching the ambulance drive off, nor Ms Capri of all people appearing out of nowhere, not questioning why or how they were there, and instead taking Enid and a quietly crying Agnes to the hospital.
Enid held out her hand for the other girl. She took it without much thought. Both looked out of their window, and they drove to the hospital, where Mr and Mrs Addams were already waiting. "We just knew, sweet thing," her mom had said, tears in her eyes but a kind smile on her face.
They sat there for hours until a doctor came to get her family. Enid remained still, with Agnes and a bad cup of coffee, not even twenty sachets of sugar could save.
"I should have stopped him."
It was the first thing she'd said in a very long time. Agnes sniffed, wiping at her face. Enid wondered if she was tired; it was pretty late, and she was just a kid. "The full moon was a week ago; there wasn't anything you could have done."
Enid stared at the floor, and the wolf in her head snarled in her ears. She can't help but disagree. She could have done something, taken the hit, caught her friend. Anything.
She heals faster, after all.
They must have fallen asleep in the plastic chairs and are shaken awake by Mr Addams. He tells them that Wednesday was in a coma. The words were simple, but his voice trembled. Still, he smiled, tears spilling freely down his cheeks. He insisted their chauffeur would drive them back to the Academy, then joined them outside to wait, cigar in hand, smoke curling into the cool night air.
"I'm sorry." She managed to say through tears choking her throat, and he shook his head, waving his cigar with utmost candour.
Gomez shook his head, waving his cigar with a flourish that made the gesture almost theatrical "Whatever for, my dear? Perhaps you know the cause of the bruising on her neck, not caused by the Hyde?"
He was trying to tease her, she thought. Maybe make her smile, but the wolf couldn't manage it. Not a curl of her lip or feeling of awkwardness. Hollow, that is how she felt.
"She was hurt." Enid whispered, "We could have stopped her from going, from doing something so dangerous."
"Stopped her?" He chuckled softly, though his eyes gleamed with sorrow. "My precious storm cloud has never been one to wait for anyone’s permission. Wednesday is… inevitable. She does not ask the world to move for her. She bends it to her will."
Enid sniffed, staring at the ground. "But she almost died."
He sighed, smoke curling like a ribbon from his lips. "And yet, she lives. Because you were there, you called for help. Because you stayed. You gave her something even 'Tish and I could not; loyalty which defies reason.”
He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We owe you both a great debt, Miss Sinclair. And you owe yourself the grace of forgiveness. My daughter survives not in spite of you… but because of you."
It is enough to start her crying again, and she doesn't stop for hours. The room feels empty without Wednesday there, her typing on the desk, the scuff of her shoes.
Thing is gone too, obviously at her friend's side. It's too silent, and all she can do is think.
"You’re a clever wolf.” Enid groaned into her hands, leaning her back against the window of their dorm and doing her best to hold herself together. “I’m sure you can work it out."
Her chest ached, and her mind raced. She barely slept and paced when her legs were jittery, and eventually found herself walking the grounds, avoiding security and crawling back into bed in the early hours.
She was the first out of the Academy gates that morning, catching a bus to the hospital before class started, for once not wanting to be around as the gossip hit every other student and the rumour mill began.
I heard she jumped off a building to be with her ghost lover.
I heard she actually killed someone this time, and this is a big cover-up.
I heard she tried to burn down a hospital to make more ghosts to talk to.
For the first time that Enid could remember, she logged out of her social media apps and turned off the notifications, after telling Yoko she would be gone for a few hours, but would be okay.
She is outside the hospital and in the waiting room when the doors open to the public at 7, and is standing outside her room one minute after visiting hours are announced. Mrs Addams makes her so nervous, like she can read right through her, but she smiles and welcomes her in with a flourish. Enid sat in the free chair on the end, the farthest away from her friend, and she finally looked at her.
Wednesday is in bed; she is darker than usual, probably due to the extra blood running through her veins. She can smell it; her scent is different. Medical and… Odd. Not Wednesday, but she's okay. She's there.
Enid swallowed and listened to the conversation around her. Thing made his way to her at some point and rested on her lap, holding her hand as the family talked. Enid didn't move, but was smiling when spoken to, unable to look away or think about much else than the guilt gnawing at her over the sight of Wednesday in the bed.
She looked so small.
Eugene came to visit at lunchtime. He brought some bugs for the Addamses to eat, which did succeed in making Enid close her eyes for a few moments, and he sat next to the wolf with an awkward smile.
"It's an inside joke." He told her, waving the empty jar, which made Pugsley beam and look slightly more himself than he had been for the past few hours, "Which they take kinda literally."
Eugene stays and talks to him and remains for the rest of the day.
They go home after visiting hours end, and the next morning, she arrives with Eugene in tow, bright and early. They're both surprised when Bianca appeared at the bus stop on day three, but don't attempt to question her.
On day four, Enid finds herself alone with Wednesday for the first time. Well, sort of alone. As she had left to go to the bathroom and had come back to the room empty, apart from Mrs Addams asleep at her side, holding Wednesday's limp hand was in her own, despite being in her signature sleeping position.
Enid sat next to her at the head of the bed, for the first time since the incident. The cut on her chin seemed smaller. The one on her nose had stopped bleeding for two days now, too.
Better. She was doing better, and it flooded her with relief. Her wolf grumbled in her head, still unhappy, but better, and Enid sagged against the bed.
She didn't think as she leaned forward, her voice soft as she whispered into her ear.
"…I'm so sorry, Wednesday."
Enid then pushes her lips against her cheek. Fast and soft, before anyone could notice, before Enid could make herself think about how stupid this was to do.
It's not like a movie. Her heart rate doesn't change, she doesn't blink awake and smile at the sight of her. She is cold, and still, and there.
"You’re a clever wolf. I’m sure you can work it out."
She stood from her seat and left, making for the bathroom once again, so lost in her own head that she didn't notice knowing eyes as they watched her leave, a small smile full of a mother's adoration spreading into place.
Enid can't go back to the hospital after that, not because she doesn't want to, but because the Academy fell into a genuine lockdown after another Hyde sighting near the walls, with the threat of the zombie still on the loose, too.
So she stayed within the confides of the building, she paced, and she wrestled with this feeling.
Her chest ached the longer she was away from Wednesday. Even when they were fighting, they saw each other every day; she had her scent to find comfort in and sleep to. She had her touch and her words and her kisses. But now?
Her wolf was so loud and so upset, and Enid was too. The Pack tried, but they didn't get it. Bruno even knocked her shoulder, which caused a dizzying throb of outrage she was surprised by and had to swallow, smiling as he held out his cell.
"Why don't we send her a photo for when she wakes up? Of us and the Pack!"
Her eye twitched, either at his bold optimism or assumption that Wednesday would want a photo of him and the others on her cell, even though she was pretty sure her friend didn't have one. Her wolf wanted to snap it in half, but her human side prevailed.
"I'm good."
He doesn't push, and the feeling festers like a rash on her heart. It aches. She aches. She misses Wednesday, and she is tired of trying to ignore why. She took this feeling to the fencing room and followed the sound of a sword slicing through the air. Her heart was racing, but she needed to talk. She needed help, she needed-
"Bianca!"
The Siren lifted her mask, and her training partner fell back with an exhausted gasp. She raised an eyebrow at Enid and knocked her wrist to the side at the boy who was panting from their duel. "Go take a breather."
He ran off to do just that, leaving the two of them in the room. Bianca seemed warier than usual, her sabre hilted on her belt, but she kept her wrist over it. Easy to grab, for whatever reason, she may feel she has.
"Are you okay?" She asked, "Did something happen at the Hospital?" And Enid was fine, she really was, until Bianca asked that question. Then tears stung her eyes, her nose twitched, and her lips pulled down as she shook her head.
"I am so freaking confused!"
The slight crack in her voice was all she needed, and Bianca crossed the room to her side, holding her as she cried and fell to her knees in the Siren's arms. She listened as she talked, slowly brushing her hair and humming a soothing melody as Enid revealed their secrets.
How she had changed, how Wednesday had offered to help. How it was so easy for so long, until it wasn't. That she thinks Wednesday may like her as more than a friend, how she might feel the same way.
Now she was hurt; it was all too real. All she could think about was her friend, and this feeling racing through her mind. "You’re a clever wolf. I’m sure you can work it out."
That's when Bianca scoffed, leaned back and took Enid's chin in a pinched grip, shaking her a little.
"Your little friends-with-benefits arrangement was doomed from the start, Enid." She huffed. "You two were never just friends."
Enid swallowed, wiping her hand across her cheek with a warm palm. Bianca watched and felt as though she understood the feeling. A boy she once thought she loved. A request she could not believe he would ever make.
She held Enid's hand, and her wet eyes looked at her. "You started as strangers, pretended to tolerate each other, and somehow landed in this… emotionally confusing purgatory."
Enid sniffed. "What're you saying?"
The Siren grinned and shoved her shoulder with a short, bemused laugh.
"That you're down bad, Enid. And I think you have been since you first set eyes on that walking corpse." She then grimaced and scratched her head. "Actually, that… Probably isn't appropriate right now."
Enid groaned and covered her face with her hands. "I really messed up."
Bianca shrugged, leaning back on her hand, looking around the dark fencing room and messing with the hilt of her sabre. "Yeah, kinda. I mean… You were just sticking to the rules you had set, until you weren't."
"Until I wasn't…" Enid groaned, her mind wandering to Selene, how everything had been so simple before people started to show an interest in her friend. Of course, before it was manageable, people would look, but Wednesday would never care. But that changed, and she didn't… like that.
"Jealousy is a bitch." Bianca mused, looking away for a second with a soft sigh. "No wonder you were so mad. I had no idea you were this close to mauling the Academy's favourite Fang."
The wolf looked up, feeling utterly miserable. She missed Wednesday. Gods, she missed her.
"What do I do, Bianca?" She asked, feeling pathetic as she did, and the siren, thankfully, took pity on her.
"Well…" Bianca was slightly bemused, and she had a faint smirk returning. "Step one? Figure out what you want out of this. Friendship, or something more."
Enid held her knees tighter, rolling it around in her head.
"And step two, find some way to win her approval back."
She scratched her arm, pouting as she looked up at the Siren who had an endless patience, but was slowly reaching the end of her tether.
"How do I even begin to plan how to do that?"
She laughed and shrugged, checking her nail.
"Well, if what I've seen of the Addams family is anything to go by, there’s usually one tried and true method for getting back into their good graces."
Enid sat up, hope sparking in her chest. "And that is?"
"… How do you feel about grovelling?"