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the weight of words Murray Sinclair sat silently. He had always been taciturn: it was a trait that had been exacerbated with time, but one he didn’t mind. Too many people out there spoke too many words, all without saying anything. Sometimes, he would imagine those words had weight, as though they were physical things that could be measured and held. In his imaginations, he would imagine that these physical incarnations of language had fields of gravity, mass that pulled and pushed at each other, at the world at large.He imagined how those words weighed down the world, how they pulled at reality around them. How many people have been tugged by words, swayed and warped, twisted from their paths and their natures? These extraneous vocalizations, filling the world, encumbering it, making the world twisted and different than what it should be. He imagined the world being drowned in the weight of worthless words.It was only in his imagination, but even then, Murray could not and would not contribute to the mass of unnecessary vocalizations. Even if it was only his personal decision, if only he would ever heed this creed, than that would be enough for him.But even if he would not, that didn’t mean his wife Esther held herself to the same beliefs. Esther was a woman who felt the need to vocalize, who wanted to express. Murray loved his wife: her quick movements, her bright eyes, even her nervous fidgets. Esther was a woman who yearned to spring into action, to take control and forge ahead.In many ways, it was the part of her that he found most endearing. In many ways, it was the part of her that caused the most harm.“She looks so thin,” Esther murmured, looking into the courtyard. “Murray, do you think they’re feeding her right?”Murray didn’t mention that Nevermore academy was one of the premier facilities for outcasts, housed a large population of werewolves, and no doubt were amply skilled at the upkeep and care of their population. Gently, softly, his hand grazed the back of his wife. She nodded quickly, accepting the touch. He could feel her calming under it.“Still, she looks so thin. You don’t think it’s something silly like dieting? She needs to eat, she needs to keep herself healthy,” Esther’s words were precise and fast, the staccato of a typewriter rapidly and quickly piercing the quiet between the two of them. Around them, other families were murmuring and talking, getting ready to meet their children with varying degrees of cheer.Murray’s hand gently rested on Esther’s back again, this time lingering. She arched her back into it, but didn’t stop speaking this time.“It would be better if she’s well fed,” Esther continued her rapid-fire murmuring, though Murray could tell from long exposure and experience that it wasn’t to anyone but herself at this point. “If she’s well fed, it should be easier for her to wolf out, and safer. Less likely for anything to go wrong. Oh, do you think she wolfed already? Maybe she did, and just didn’t tell us. Oh, what if that’s the case?”Esther’s hand was on her chin again, covering her mouth. Her fingers were white as she bit her knuckle, her jaw clenched. Familiar with his wife’s tendency to spiral, and aware of all the symptoms from long exposure, Murray tapped his thumb against her back, a silent reminder of his presence.Enid looked fine, as far as he could tell. His daughter had always been slight of frame, but her posture was impeccable. He was never sure where she had picked up her habit of maintaining a straight back, the measured way that she moved her hands. Esther was always a quick mover, nervous hands flighting about, back slightly hunched as she unconsciously prowled. Murray stood straighter, it was true, but he was never as expressive with his body as Enid was. She certainly didn’t get it from her brothers. Murray could see the boys all casually lounging and splayed. They reminded him of a litter of puppies piled all over each other, and probably always would: Dylan and Evan, Rhys and Morgan. They were all fine young men, rambunctious yet earnest. Liable to splay and spread, the four tending to take up a room, to fill it with awkward limbs and excited chatter.Enid could compete when she needed to, usually at the dinner table, but for the most part she tended to be self-contained, to slot herself in easily with unassumed grace into whatever spaces were available.Esther continued to mumble to herself, quieter now, just the stream of consciousness that she tended to emit when she was focused on something. She wasn’t spiraling now, Murray knew the signs of that well, so he simply continued to offer his support with the quiet touch of his hands.Finally, the parents were given permission, and Esther slipped forward, maneuvering through the crowd of parents with the unconscious grace of a predator, leaning forward even more as she hunted. Murray followed after, moving with the flow of bodies, and letting himself be swept along as he caught up.The boys found them almost immediately, rushing up in an unruly mess. Murray couldn’t hear the actual conversation, but could see Esther’s rapid questions, and the boys’ immediate responses. The four stumbled over each other verbally as well, the entire conversation most likely a cacophony of voices speaking over each other. He could hear groans and complaints as Esther circled each one, sniffing quickly as she did: Murray could already imagine the cries of ‘you’re embarrassing me’, or ‘I’m not a pup anymore, mom.’ Scenting like that was most often used when caring for the young or those who weren’t able to always vocalize if something was wrong. He could also imagine Esther’s stern chastisement of, ‘you’ll always be pups to me’.No matter how much they complained about their mother being overbearing and protective, they still took it in good grace. Murray knew the age, how they could still be happy about being cared for even if they felt they had to protest that they were old enough to take care of themselves.In sixty years, if Esther was on her death bed and the boys were all grown up and grandparents of their own, she would still be trying to mother them. That was just the way Esther was, and Murray knew it.Esther slipped easily into her role of matron for the boys. As he watched he could see her relaxing, the tightness of her jaw easing, the nervous movements of her hands slowing. He also saw the moment, almost imperceptible, when the tension returned.Murray tracked her eyes to where Enid stood, knowing that Esther was watching her too. Enid was talking with one of her friends, a smaller girl with dark hair and a black variant of the uniform. Murray noted in amusement the way they both stood straight backed, their posture impeccable, a contrast in light and dark colors. He wasn’t certain who this new girl was, but the ease with which the two spoke to each other definitely indicated familiarity. He was happy for his daughter. It looked like she had found a good friend, just from the brief observation he made of the two of them interacting. With bemusement, he watched as the two exchanged words, gave each other bracing nods of encouragement, and separated, crossing paths as they both made their way to their respective families with the resignation of youth anticipating the humiliation of family interaction.He highly suspected whoever the dark girl was, her reluctance was most likely misguided. He wished that he could say Enid’s at least was.Esther’s jaw was clamped again, her fingers were flexing rhythmically. He could just make out another stream of consciousness being muttered under her breath. This time, his hand on her back wasn’t enough to bring her back.Esther was spiraling again. If there was one sure stressor, one element which nearly always had the ability to push her over the edge, it was the well-being of her daughter.“Enid, you look pale. Have you been waxing?” Esther blurted, the first words to her daughter easily mistaken for criticism, and Murray suppressed a wince.“Two seconds,” Enid noted, tone resigned. “A new personal best for you, mother.”“Oh, let me take a look at you,” Esther pressed on, but Murray could tell from the way her fingers sped up that she knew she had made a mistake. Murray watched as she gracelessly tried to move past it, trying to pressure the interaction onwards. Esther circled Enid, sniffing more thoroughly than she had with the boys, brow furrowed as she analyzed the scent. “You look anemic… have you been getting enough red meat?”“And strike two,” Enid muttered. Murray had to agree, but at this point he also knew that there was no stopping it. Esther was focused now, trying to make sure her daughter was fine and that the worst hadn’t happened, and at this point she was speaking more to herself than she was to the girl in question.Murray braced himself. At this point, it had all the earmarks of a particularly bad session in the making. ***Scene Break*** Esther at a meal table was always a figure that Murray watched closely. She tended to flutter, more like a bird than a wolf, when it came to serving food. She would move from person to person, slipping more food onto each of their plates. Morgan protested as Esther increased the helping of broccoli he had skimped over, and Rhys groaned as she added more potatoes to his. But it was her own plate that Murray always made sure to keep an eye on. Esther was animated, and engaged. Her fingers flit from her silverware to the air as she gestured. With the boys present, her normal tension when interacting with Enid was eased, and conversation flowed.He watched as Esther cut her steak, thick and red the way most werewolves preferred it. She cut it into even pieces, as she checked with Dylan about his grades, assuring him he was smart enough and he just needed to apply himself and he would raise them in no times. She moved the pieces here and there, always with quick, jerky movements as she comforted Evan who had just had a bad break up.The fork would bring potatoes and broccoli from the plate to her mouth. It would slip pieces of steak from her plate to whichever of the boys she was speaking too, placing more and more of her portion, her share, to whoever she was mothering.A piece was delivered to Enid’s plate so easily that Murray was certain the girl hadn’t even noticed it.“Well now, Enid,” Esther began, her tone concerned, her expression focused. Murray knew exactly what topic Esther was going to bring up, and he braced himself for the upcoming storm. Enid apparently did as well, judging by how her expression closed down. “How have you been feeling?”“I’ve been feeling good,” Enid replied carefully. “I have a new roommate who is… well she’s a lot but she’s sort of nice even if she doesn’t want to be.”“Not your roommate,” Esther shook her head. “Have you, you know…?”“Oh, ah, Ajax and I haven’t really defined our relationship,” Enid blushed slightly, and Esther sighed again. She shook her head, and most likely didn’t even notice how much Enid was trying to avoid the topic that Esther was trying to broach.“Have you wolfed out yet?” Esther insisted, leaning forward, her posture leaning forward and her gaze focused, her hunter stance.Enid winced, and Murray suppressed a sympathetic one of his own.Esther knew, already. Her scenting earlier would have made it obvious that Enid still hadn’t had her first change. Esther would have known, of course, but it didn’t stop her. Her body was taught with tension, tension Murray could identify as worry and fear but Enid would have less experience identifying.“No, no I haven’t yet,” Enid looked away, ashamed.Because of that, she missed how the tension in Esther’s body released and the wave of relief that swept her features quickly, so fast if you didn’t know to look for it you would miss it. Another piece of her steak was deposited on her daughter’s plate without Enid ever noticing. Esther’s plate was mostly empty by now. If someone hadn’t been watching they might have assumed that she had finished eating it herself.Murray had been watching. Out of the heaping servings she had started with, he knew that Esther had only had three bites, mostly of the potatoes and with a little broccoli. She hadn’t eaten a bite of the meat at all.She never did. Murray still didn’t know how she had managed to keep it a secret from the children for as long as she had.“Well that’s disappointing,” Esther mentioned, trying to conceal the relief, knowing how much the lack of change had been wearing on Enid and not wanting to show her happiness that it hadn’t happened yet.“That’s me,” Enid muttered, hearing her mother’s words, taking them as disapproval. “The big disappointment.”Murray could see the way Esther’s jaw clenched, the realization that she had just hurt her daughter with her careless words. He could see her trying to find some way to undo the hurt, see the thoughts racing through her mind as her hands clenched and unclenched.He could see the way she forced herself to smile, how she tried to move the conversation on. He watched as both his daughter and his wife concealed the stings from the wounds they had inflicted on each other. ***Scene Break*** As Esther sat on the Nevermore grounds outside the facilities, she took in the sights of the other families: vampires and sirens, gorgons and psychics. Parents and children, talking mingling, laughing, living. She wondered what her own family looked like to them. The boys were roughhousing, tossing a frisbee and wrestling intermittently. Murray had somehow located marshmallows and was roasting them quietly by the fire. Her daughter sat next to her, and the two had somehow managed to maintain a conversation that had been going on for at least five minutes at this point.If any of the other happy families looked at them, they would probably think that they were just as happy a family.Esther swallowed bile, and couldn’t stop herself from feeling like the biggest imposter the world had ever seen.She looked at her husband, at Murray. His face was calm, with maybe the hint of a smile beneath that beard of his. Calm, that was what Murray was: a rock, a pillar, an object un-swayed by the upheavals of the world, a foundation that she would be lost without. She didn’t deserve him. No matter how much she tried to find a reason, something redeeming about herself, she always came up with nothing. Yet for some reason he stayed, and Esther wasn’t so proud that she wouldn’t take that, wouldn’t treasure his presence, no matter how undeserved.The boys had turned out well, but in truth she sometimes felt like they raised themselves. She’d lost track of the number of times they had come to her with their problems, and how lost she felt when they presented them. But they were smart, clever, and even if she did nothing but smile at them, tell them it will be alright, just be there for them for a moment, they eventually found their own solutions, came up with their own answers. And they would smile at her and thank her, and she would wonder just what she had done to deserve those smiles and thanks.It helped that the boys had each other. Dylan and Evan had been her first litter, Rhys and Morgan the second a year later. Esther knew the average werewolf litter was three pups at a time, but she had been happy with the smaller number. Litter members were close, siblings the same age to share things with, a family member and friend to grow up with. A loving husband, four happy boys, and a beautiful daughter.That was Esther’s life, her lie: a husband she didn’t deserve but treasured anyway, her sons that would be fine even without her, and…And Enid. The one member of the family that Esther truly believed she needed to help. Enid, who she tried her best to help.Enid, who she only ever seemed to make things worse for.Her little Enid. Esther remembered the day she had been born: alone, no litter to grow with her. A runt. Runts were often smaller, less healthy, more prone to complications during their terms, and Enid had been no exception. Even if they were carried to term and survived, they were often pitied by other wolves. Litter members were almost always close friends, confidants, built-in support groups. Runts on the other hand would have to face the world alone, by themselves.It wasn’t uncommon for runts to have other issues as well. Some of those issues were very, very dangerous. Esther feared for her daughter.Esther wanted to protect Enid. She wanted to cradle her from all that might harm her, to shield her from the dangers Esther feared awaited her, to do everything that was within her power to prepare her.“I have a present for you, Enid,” Esther declared, getting it out through her nerves, trying to smile through the anxiety. The conversation had been going well. Esther knew that sometimes she didn’t always have the right words, that sometimes she couldn’t make her intentions come out the way she meant for them to. But it seemed to be going well, and she tried to seize that momentum, hoping it would sustain her as she handed over the envelope.Esther held her breath as Enid opened the package, her eyes wide in anticipation. Then Enid’s expression soured, her eyes widening in incredulity as she reviewed all the brochures that Esther had painstakingly gathered, and Esther knew she had ruined it, just like she always did.“You want to send me to werewolf conversion camp?” Enid demanded; voice high pitched in outrage.“But honey, it would be for the best,” Esther tried to explain, tried to get her daughter to see what she meant by the offers. “I mean, your cousin Lucille went to one, and they had her wolfing in no time!”The camps were isolated, and private. There were good ones and there were bad ones, and Esther had worked hard to root out the bad ones when she investigated them. The reputable ones were staffed with medical personnel to be on hand if anything did occur.“Just think,” Esther tried to continue as Enid began to shake her head, biting her lip as she did so. “You could finally be normal!”Enid’s face closed in, and Esther knew she had done it again: she had chosen the absolute worst choice of words she could.She just wanted the opportunity for her daughter to be able to indulge in her birthright, to have the same choices and abilities as her peers, to not be held back by a cruel biological quirk. She wanted Enid safe as she came into her own, wanted her cared for and protected as her talents bloomed. The camps did have a high success rate. They knew what to look for, they knew the potential secondary conditions. They knew how to keep the worst from happening.And the camps… if they could help Enid access her wolf without her needing to…Without her having to…“I can’t believe you!” Enid looked close to tears as she stormed away. “Why can’t you just love me for who I am?”Just like always, Esther couldn’t find the right words in time. Just the wrong ones.“Oh, where’s Enid going?” Dylan asked grinning brightly as he jogged over balancing a plate. “One of my buddies with the furs had some extra burgers, and I made sure to snag a few!”Esther’s stomach was already roiling from the emotions of the confrontation with Enid. The sight of a tray of freshly cooked burgers only made the upheaval worse. She suppressed the nausea and managed to force a smile and take one from her son.A fitting penance.From the fire, she could see Murray’s watchful eye on her as she forced herself to bite into cooked meat. ***Scene Break*** Murray knew it was coming. He had seen as Esther had taken the bite of the hamburger their son had innocently brought over. He had seen Esther’s face, scrunched in concentration, her forehead paled and beaded with sweat as the day had come to a close. He had watched her skin grow more and more pale as they drove to their hotel room at the end of the day.The moment they had made it back to their hotel, Esther’s composure broke and she stumbled to the bathroom at speed. Murray followed in time to pull her hair back as she collapsed in front of the toilet, retching and vomiting. He gently patted her back as she voided herself, heaving until only a thin stream of bile was coming out, but still her body sought to eject content it no longer had. Finally, as Esther whimpered softly, cradling the bowl, he judged her finished. Without a word, he went to their travel bag, and pulled a large bottle of mouthwash that he returned to her with, along with her tooth brush.“Thank you,” she whispered, pushing herself to her feet. Her clothes had managed to remain unsoiled, but her hair looked wild and her face was still grey.Pursing his lips, Murray went back to their travel bag and the mini-fridge included in the room. He returned to his wife in time to catch her spitting mouthwash into the sink.Silently, he placed the large bag of trail mix on the counter outside the bathroom. It was rich with peanuts, granola, M&Ms and raisins. Next to it, he put a small bottle of smoothie, thick with blended fruit.Protein, grains, sugars, fruit: a meal meant to meet the most basics of dietary requirements. Murray always made sure to have some nearby for these situations.“Not now, Murray,” Esther groaned, a hint of whimper in her tone, the sound more canine than human.“Eat,” he told her gently, and she wilted. Obediently she took the bag and with a grimace began to fill her stomach. She needed it. With how little she had at lunch, combined with her attack just now, her body would need nutrients.“We should tell her,” he broke the silence, giving his wife a concerned look.“Tell her? Enid? Tell her what? That her mother is a failure of a wolf who can’t even stomach meat?” Esther snapped, regaining some of her composure, her tone waspish. He ignored it with the ease of practice: Esther was always short after one of her episodes.Murray shook his head in response.“Tell her what might happen when she finally wolfs,” he corrected.“No!” Esther immediately snapped, her head also snapping to pin him with a glare. A low growl peaked in her throat. “We are not telling her that, because it’s not important and it will never happen. Enid will wolf out just fine, in a safe place, and not… not…!”Words failed her, and instead she just shook her head violently. Murray raised an eyebrow at the unfinished bag of trail mix. Still growling but obedient, she continued to eat.“You’ll see,” she growled between bites. “You’ll see. The camps will work. She’ll doesn’t have to know about this yet, and she’ll won’t have to worry about it for a long time. The camps will work. She’ll never… she’ll never…”‘Never be like you,’ Murray completed the sentence quietly as his wife trailed off, grabbing the smoothy and drinking it deeply. ***Scene Break*** “I’ll just wolf out on my own timeline, not yours.”Murray’s heart couldn’t decide if it was breaking from the swell of pride it felt for his daughter, or for the empathy it felt for his wife.Either was true. Maybe both were.He was proud of his daughter. Proud of her for being able to stand up for herself, proud of her for being willing to face her own issues, proud of her for being so confident and willing to accept herself.But those words, that decision, was a knife in her mother’s heart.He could see the way Esther’s jaw clamped, see the way her frustration built. Her hands were clenching again, and he knew there was nothing he could do to stop her spiraling. Esther did too, and she flashed a fast attempt at a smile, more a grimace than anything else, before taking her leave. She was hunched over, in huntress mode, falling back on the old habits and patterns that had been… forcefully impressed upon her so long ago.He knew he would have to keep an eye on her, make sure she was eating. He knew she would need comfort, need him to provide it.He wanted to follow her, to be there.But Enid was sitting just as forlornly. Straight backed, with careful poise, hands clasped in her lap.Hands which were gently shaking, the obvious attempt to conceal the movement visible in how they clutched at each other, how she sought to cover them with her sleeves.Enid had steeled herself for this, had defied her mother, had shown her bravery even as Murray could see the trembling mess she was trying to conceal.Despite himself. Despite how this complicated things, despite what ramifications might come from Enid truly discovering her wolf on her own, Murray was proud of her.If only both mother and daughter could see just how alike they truly were.“I’m proud of you, kiddo,” he simply told her, and Enid beamed up at him, her smile wide and brighter, her relief at his approval so heartwarming that even behind his beard he was sure his smile could be seen.He was caught off guard by her sudden hug, so forceful it reminded him more of a tackle from one of his sons. But he stood firm, and returned the hug.Maybe it made him a bad parent, as he compared the way his boys slouched away to the way his daughter skipped, but he knew that he had a favorite child. Or maybe it was a right reserved solely to the fathers of daughters to not have to make that choice:Maybe that choice had been made long ago the moment he had a daughter in the first place.Whatever the case, Murray allowed himself a moment to enjoy the scene.Then he braced himself, and made his way to their car, and where his wife waited him.Esther had sat herself in the passenger seat, and she had worried her finger fiercely while she had waited. Her teeth were sunk into her index finger, and blood dribbled down the finger, down her chin, onto her shirt and her skirt. Her eyes were closed, and she was shaking, barely noticeable but there to his experienced eye.Slowly, Murray put an arm over the shoulder of Esther. She sank into his embrace, and the trickle of blood fell on him as well. The dark flannel they both wore was admirable at covering up the stains.“Murray,” Esther whispered through clenched teeth. “Murray, it will be alright, won’t it? Enid will be alright, won’t she?”He knew what she was asking. He knew what she wanted to hear. He knew that to give her blanket assurances would be to lie, that there was no way for him to predict the future, no way to ensure that the worst didn’t happen, that what his wife feared wouldn’t come to pass.“It will be fine,” he lied. He said it as though he believed it, he said it as though it was certain, as if it was uncontroversial, as if his declaration was irrevocable. He lied, but it was with the knowledge that the best lies, the ones that were clung to and believed in, could sometimes become the truth. ***Scene Break*** Four weeks later, as Murray worked in his office, his phone gave an electronic beep, the sound of a text coming in. At first, he paid it no mind. But it was followed again, and then again. A frantic deluge of notifications bombarded his phone, coming so fast that the prior notification noise would pause and reset to interrupt itself as a new message came in before the sound could be finished.Pulling his reading glasses from his head, he checked the first one. His eyes narrowed, and he began to scroll through them, flicking from one to another, new messages arriving even as he checked the old.There had been an incident… no an attack. Fire, and confrontation. A message from one son, followed from another, repeated by a third, a new one, confirmation of an old one…Even as he scanned, he pushed himself upright, his chair scrapping on the floor as he turned to the door of his office intent on finding his wife.Esther beat him to it.“Murray,” she hissed, sliding through the door in her rush. Her hair was disheveled, and she was wearing a bathrobe over her night clothes. “Murray, are you reading this?!”He nodded, grunting as Esther invaded his study. She was moving restlessly, gliding through the room with the ease of knowledge as she avoided the furniture to pace relentlessly. Murray sat himself, Esther’s presence assuring him she was aware and nearby. He propped his phone beside his workstation, and even as he kept an eye on the still incoming stream of texts, he began typing on his computer quickly and with the ease of long practice. Tab after tab of news channels were opened, breaking reports speed read. “There was an attack on Nevermore,” Esther continued, eyes flicking as she summarized. “Some sort of demon… an undead? Magic user and an outcast… The school was evacuated, but some casualties… how bad is it, some injuries, but no deaths… besides the attacker? The boys… Evan, fine, Dylan, fine, Rhys, fine, Morgan… Morgan, are you… no, Morgan fine! Enid…”A fierce growl erupted from Esther’s throat, and Murray gave her a glance. Her hair was bristling, standing up like the wolf she was. Her shoulders hunched, and her claws were growing slowly. “Enid, Enid is… Enid, you never put your phone down where the hell are you!?” her tone had dropped by an octave, and a low growl was starting to echo from her chest independent of her voice. Murray felt his own growl starting, a deep and unavoidable noise as his own worry began to peak. His fingers flew across the board, pulling up the news reports, searching for posts, researching, trying to find anything ANTYHING TO SHOW HIS DAUGHTER WAS FINE…!“She’s safe!” Esther nearly howled, and Murray felt his breath catch, and then began to slow. “She’s safe! Morgan found her! She…”Esther froze midstride, the action causing her to stumble, and she barely caught herself on a nearby chair.“She’s wolfed out,” Esther whispered, sheer dread in her tone. Murray also froze.“She’s okay?” Esther began to mutter, speaking more to herself then to him. Her fingers flew across the screen, returning messages, making inquiries. “She’s okay, she has to be okay, of course she’s okay, but what if she’s not okay, how can I tell if she’s fine, Morgan, answer your damn text, Evan, you too, Rhys don’t you dare joke at this time, Morgan says she’s okay but says she was in a fight, Dylan stop making jokes, answer the question, what happened, did she… did Enid…”Murray watched the texts as much as he watched his wife, darting back and forth as he tried to keep up with the reports of his children as well as the reports of the news.“She got into a fight, oh goddess, she was fighting, who was she fighting…. Not people, not normies! She was fighting something… something big… something called a hyde, what’s a hyde, Murray what is a hyde!?”Murray was already typing even as he interpreted her stream of conscious. Enid had wolfed out, and been in a fight with something. It wasn’t human, thank the gods, but it was an outcast or creature he had never heard of before, something called a hyde.Google was a fantastic investigative device, but when it pulled up nothing relevant his credentials as a professor in some of the more specified and private archives got him more.Finally, as Esther continued to pace restlessly, continued to keep him updated on the incoming messages, he managed to find a match.“Esther,” he spoke, and she was beside him almost instantly, her earlier listless pacing a lie as she used her preternatural senses to leap, nearly literally, across the room. He angled the screen so she could see the article he had found.“Hyde, hyde, transformative, monster, enormous, dangerous, lethal…” Esther summarized, not bothering to complete her thoughts before she moved on to the next ones. “Dangerous… Enid is fine, she is already fine, they fought, it held her off… transformative! It’s a person, oh it’s a person, Enid fought it and it’s a person, Enid won, what about the hyde, the hyde, Murray what about the hyde!”Esther was panting, hyperventilating, her phone clutched to her breast with one hand and the other in her hair tugging and pulling, fisting and unclenching rhythmically. Murray typed swiftly, accurately, and when he found the answer, he let loose a breath of relief he hadn’t realized he had been holding.He showed the screen to Esther, one hand already coming to rest on her hip.“Tyler… Tyler Galpin, arrested for aid in an attack, previously unknown outcast, species ‘hyde’…” Esther’s stream of conscious stalled out as she finished reading the police announcement from the town of Jericho.Murray was glad he had his hands on her as she sagged, nearly collapsing to the floor as the tension released from her body and he had to support her.“He’s alive! Enid fought him when she turned, and she didn’t kill him! He’s not dead, and she didn’t… she didn’t…!” Esther was sobbing, and hyperventilating, and exulting all at the same time. Murray clutched her to him, and she clutched back, grabbing as her body shook with relief.“She’s not like me,” Esther sobbed, and Murray stiffened. “She will never be like me. She’s perfect. Oh, Murray, she’s so perfect…”‘You’re perfect,’ he didn’t say out loud. Instead, he drew his wife into his lap, and held her as she sobbed in relief. He knew saying those words would be meaningless, that even in her best state Esther would have disagreed, would have argue, would have doubted. But he believed them, and he tried to show it as he held his wife as she sobbed tears of joy.‘No matter what, you’re perfect.’
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the great sparklewar Enid was absolutely losing her mind, and she was determined that if it went, she was taking everyone else’s with her. “Morgan, put on your damn pants,” she hissed, slapping her brother across the head. “No one cares about your stupid boxers! Evan, I swear if you leave your fishing gear in the doorway than I’m going to treat it like it’s part of the door and step on it! Dylan! Dylan, don’t you dare! I hid that family album on purpose and you are not stealing baby pictures to leave around the house!”“But you were so cute,” Dylan teased pursing his lips up and making cooing noises. He laughed as she growled at him in warning, and while he put the album away, Enid noted that she saw no signs of him putting the purloined baby pictures of her away.She would hunt them down later. Wednesday must never know. Wednesday must never see…Wednesday would be here any minute! “Enough,” Enid stamped her foot, hands on her hips and a growl loud enough to startle even her coming from her chest.Had that really come from her?! Oh, so freaking cool! No, focus Enid. Rage now, pride later!“You!” she snapped, pointing at Morgan, “will remain fully and properly clothed to a standard that you could be seen in public in…”“But it’s so humid,” Morgan complained. It wasn’t like he was indecent or anything, but he definitely tended to walk around the house in his boxers and a muscle tee. “It’s not like there’s any girls around or anything to get mad about it…”“I’m a girl! I’m mad about it!” Enid snapped. The byproduct of being one of two of the double X chromosomes in a house full of boys was that sometimes the boys forgot she wasn’t a boy at all! Ugh! This was so frustrating. “And there will be another girl around, and she doesn’t need to see your stupid chicken legs!”“I don’t have chicken legs!”“And you!” Enid snapped at Evan who immediately put his hands up in surrender. Surrender not accepted! Take what’s coming to you! “You will keep all your hunting and fishing stuff in the closet where it belongs! If, and it’s a big ‘if’, Wednesday wants to go hunting than you can bring it out but until then it’s just a tripping hazard!”“Aye, aye, ma’am!” he playfully saluted, and she narrowed her eyes in a glare even as he dutifully began packing his rods. “And you!” Enid narrowed her eyes as she turned on Dylan who tried his best to look innocent. “Yoooouuu. You will not go out of your way to try and embarrass me in front of my guest!”“But you’re our little sister! I reserve the rights of brotherhood! Embarrassing you in front of your friends is a sacred tradition!” Dylan immediately protested, grinning widely.“Rights revoked! There are no brother rights! I’m not a brother, I’m a sister, and I invoke sister rights! You will not embarrass me in front of Wednesday! I will make a good impression on her. You all will make a good impression on her! She will be so impressed that she will be impressed about how impressed she is! Do I make myself clear?!”Enid was panting in her anger, fists curled and claws released as she glared, the growl from earlier reappearing as she sought to cow her unruly brothers through sheer force of will.Which did not appear to be working as they exchanged amused looks and chuckles. This was not the appearance of being cowed! Cower damn it, cower!Despite the lack of appropriate cowering, she at least managed to see signs of compliance as Morgan rolled his eyes and headed back to his room and Evan continued to pack. Dylan was trying to look innocent, which put him right at the top of her list for now, while Rhys…“What?” she demanded as Rhys leaned forward, carefully stroking his chin, and giving her a serious look.“So… you want to impress your girlfriend that bad, huh?” he finally asked.Enid went red from sheer and utter rage and absolutely nothing else! She stuttered from the force of her rage, not because she was embarrassed!“W-Wednesday is not my girlfriend! She’s my roommate, and my friend, and yeah I think she’s cool and I don’t want her to think my family is stupid and I want her to think that I’m cool but I want all my friends to think I’m cool so that’s not so strange and there’s nothing going on between the two of us even if she lets me hug her and no one else can touch her and she is really pretty and tiny but that’s just a platonic sort of admiration thing which is completely normal and not at all romantic….!”Rhys waited patiently until Enid had to take a deep breath and then interrupted.“Gay,” he deadpanned.“Gay,” Evan agreed from the closet he was storing his gear in.“Gay,” Dylan nodded immediately.“Gay!” Morgan shouted from the hallway that led to his room.The noise that Enid emitted was a growl. It was not a whine. It was a growl that was a great deal higher in pitch, true, and dragged on, and might have been embarrassed in origin, but it was most definitely meant to be a fearsome noise of intimidation despite how it might have resembled that of a puppy begging for treats.To prove its intent for intimidation Enid decided that strangling her brother would be adequate, and she launched herself at Rhys who had begun this whole stupid and completely wrong thing, not that there was anything ‘WRONG’ wrong about it but it just wasn’t right for her and Wednesday at the moment…Rhys playful laugh as he fought to keep her hands off his throat was once more showing a distinct lack of appropriate cowering! Why was no one cowering?! She was five feet three inches of pink sparkly death and rage, and she deserved to be feared!“Ah, attempted fratricide. There is nothing quite as pleasing as the effort to diminish your family line’s ability to continue itself.”Enid froze.“If you require assistance, my checked baggage includes a number of useful devices that I can share with you.”Yup. Still there.Blue screen! Press standby and volume up and hold for three seconds! Choose reset! Functionality resumed!“Willa!” she yelped cheerfully, leaping to her feet and quickly turning her back on her dead-to-her brother. Nervously, she straightened her blouse and skirt, surreptitiously sneaking a tug on her tights to ensure they weren’t out of place. “You’re here! It’s great to see you again!”“Gay.” She heard Rhys whisper, in a voice which was hopefully too soft for Wednesday to hear.With the accuracy of years of practice, her foot shot backwards and solidly impacted with his shin. His swear immediately afterwards was much louder.“An impressively spiteful kick,” Wednesday noted clinically. Vast experience gained from surviving nearly an entire term with the smaller girl let Enid catch the ever so slight upturn of her lips which indicated amusement.Enid reviewed her options: try to appear cool and totally chill and awesome immediately when Wednesday appeared? Denied. Offer excuses and blame the whole thing on her brothers? Uncool. Ignore the whole thing as though it had never happened? Best course of action.“So how was your flight? Did you have any trouble locating my dad?” Enid chirped, skipping over to stop directly in front of the other girl. Enid raised her arms expectantly. Wednesday rolled her eyes slightly, before pursing her lips in consideration.“Three seconds,” she finally allowed, and Enid squee-ed and leaned in to complete the hug. “My flight was woefully deprived of terrorists, gremlins, engine failure, or other such interesting events. Your father was waiting as expected upon my arrival. There was no event in reclaiming my baggage.”“So, totally boring?” Enid confirmed.“Depressingly so,” Wednesday confirmed back. Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Enid, this has far exceeded three seconds.”“I’m counting in my head,” Enid denied. “Just really, really slow. I’m almost halfway through two right now. Should be at two and half in just a bit more.”“I did not account for temporal relativity when I allowed this physical gesture,” Wednesday growled. “In the future, I shall have to be more explicit in my conditions for physical contact.”“And three!” Enid smirked, releasing the goth as she sensed the shorter girl’s patience reaching its end.Murray brushed past the two, carrying Wednesday’s luggage, and Enid thought she could see a small smile on her dad’s face. “So this is your… friend?” Rhys interrupted, and Enid glared, catching his totally-inappropriate-and-highly-incorrect suspiciously placed pause.“Yes, everyone this is my FRIEND Wednesday,” Enid growled. Wednesday perked a little, glancing with interest as the growl was literal. Turning to her with a smile, Enid continued. “Wednesday, you met my dad already, these are my brothers: Dim, Dumb, Dope, and Dead!”“I’m guessing I’m ‘Dead’,” Rhys snorted.“Oh! Dibs on ‘Dim’. It sounds way more international,” Dylan chimed in easily. “Like ‘dim-sum’, and stuff.”“One, two, three, not ‘Dumb’,’ Evan chanted quickly.“Shit,” Morgan swore softly, knowing that since the proper claim conditions had been met, he was now stuck with the name ‘Dumb’ while Evan claimed ‘Dope.’“A charmingly forward naming selection appears to have been employed upon their births,” Wednesday noted, giving no indication that she did anything less than fully believe the names she had been given. “Dim, Dumb, Dope, Dead, I am Wednesday Addams. It is dreadfully distasteful to make your acquaintances.”“Same.”“Word.“Yo.”“We’re really just going to play this out, aren’t we?”“Anyway,” Enid continued, forcefully moving the situation on. She moved to interlock her arm with Wednesday, paused the obligatory wait period to allow for permission before proceeding. “Come on, Willa! Let me show you around the house!”The sooner she got Wednesday away from these idiots the better! ***Scene Break*** The tour of the house did not take long. The home itself was a two story four bedrooms, with a kitchen, dining room, living room, and attic, with probably the most interesting part being the attic her dad had converted into a study. However, Enid was determined to make it as interesting as possible. She knew Wednesday liked to research and investigate, so in order to show off how much she could do the same Enid had made sure to get as much of the local history as she could.And since stories like, ‘this is where Ethan once broke his wrist trying to balance on a railing’, ‘here was where Morgan snuck back home drunk on his first wolf out and marked every corner of the room’, and ‘Rhys once tickled me until I peed my pants here’ weren’t the kind of stories that a) would interest Wednesday and b) were the kind of things she wanted Wednesday to know, instead she resorted to talking about the history of the neighborhood.And what stories she had! Potrero Hills was a neighborhood with a history dating back to the 1800’s and with its past involvement with the Mexican-American war, the creation of the first transcontinental rail road, ship construction during World War Two, and its involvement in the civil rights movements Enid was sure she had plenty to keep Wednesday occupied.And you know, appear smart and knowledgeable about the past and stuff. Wednesday like to talk about her own ancestors and family history, so obviously she would like someone who could do the same, right? And her family being totally boring could be completely ignored if she just talked about other interesting things, right?But at least her house was huge (by San Francisco standards) and near all the really cool stuff in the city, and to top it all off was only an hour away from the Golden Gate National Recreation Area which was like THE best wolf out area in a hundred miles!“Your childhood domicile resides in an area of some notoriety,” Wednesday noted, and Enid beamed at the compliment. “The Russian Sectarian Cemetery dates back to 1928, you say? I should like to see if its dreariness is comparable to cemeteries which already exceed a century in length.”“We can absolutely check it out!” Enid assured her, happy that she had tailored some of the info she had shared to match Wednesday’s more specific interests. Then she thought for a moment about what Wednesday actually said.“Er, but no grave robbing,” she corrected herself quickly. “There are like, laws and stuff about that, and it’s not like with your house’s private cemetery…”“Laws are made to be circumvented,” Wednesday noted, and Enid made her own note to hide her family’s shovel when she had a moment. “And this is my room!” Enid made sure to inject extra cheer as she opened the door and stepped aside so that Wednesday could get the full impact for her first impression.From the way Wednesday recoiled in physical pain and judging from the swiftly hidden expression of sheer terror, Enid could already tell she liked it!“It is… quite opulent,” Wednesday noted, slowly. Enid kept her smile steady, and Wednesday visibly made an effort to try to find some other words to describe the domicile. “And… shows the intensity of a very narrow aspect of the spectrum…” Enid’s smile twitched. “And… displays numerous conservation of light principles based on the…abundance of reflective material…”Enid’s smile was only barely being held through sheer will power before Wednesday realized Enid was suppressing a laugh. The small goth narrowed her eyes in sudden realization.“You’ve initiated a ruse in order to cause me discomfort for your amusement,” she accused, and Enid couldn’t stop herself from bursting out into laughter.“Yes, as the kids would say, ‘I’m fucking with you’,” she confirmed, holding her arms against her belly as she shook with her laughter. “I promise you, there aren’t normally that many sparkle streamers! I just put them up for when you got here!”Two weeks ago, when Wednesday had confirmed she would visit, Enid had made it a point to grab as many obnoxious posters and streamers as she could get her hands on: her room currently looked like a cotton candy delivery truck had impacted with a glitter factory. Multi colored streamers hung from her ceiling (which she had just taped up) and brilliantly glaring posters had been added over her walls (her actual posters had actually also strayed a little too far into the color spectrum so she had rolled them up and put them in the closet for safety during Wednesday’s stay). It had taken her hours to get everything set up, and the payoff had been priceless. She only wished she had her phone out in time to record Wednesday’s face when she first saw it!“I underestimated your capability for malicious intent,” Wednesday did not grumble like normal people did, but if she did that Enid was sure the other girl would be pouting at this point. “This is diabolical in its execution and detestable in its depravity.”“Ah, don’t be mad Wednesday,” Enid cheered her as she skipped into her room. “You can’t tell me it wasn’t funny!”“I was unaware that your appreciation of the suffering of others had advanced so much,” Wednesday was still ‘not grumbling’ as she gingerly followed Enid in. “I am devasted, yet impressed that I had imparted such abundant cruelty to you as effectively as I have. The feeling of pride I’m experiencing is unexpected.”“No pouting!” Enid cheered her up. She reached for the second part of her plan. After all, it was important for both parties to be able to laugh at a practical joke afterwards, otherwise it was just mean! She held up a garbage bag she had prepared for the occasion. “Now, do you want to help me rip it all down? We have a firepit in the back yard we can burn it all in afterwards!”Enid lived for the way Wednesday’s eyes lit up at the offer, and the shorter girl eagerly took the offered bag.“Your thoughtfulness is appreciated,” she noted, and Enid grinned at the dark fervor that Wednesday turned to the offending streamers around her.“I am pretty awes-EEEK!”Enid’s original intended sentence was interrupted as a firm an unexpected grip latched onto her ankle, freaking her out enough to cause her to trip and stumble. Frantically kicking, she shook her leg, launching whatever had grabbed her into the air as her claws elongated and she tried to track her attacker…And was able to identify a severed hand launching through the air only to be caught in the waiting arms of an ever so slightly smirking Wednesday.“Thing!” Enid half cheered, half screamed as she identified her attacker. The hand waived at her cheerfully. “I am so mad at you! And happy to see you! But also mad! Why would you…!?”As though expecting her question, Thing just pointed at Wednesday.“It seems we both had surprises planned,” the short seer declared. Enid’s eyes narrowed in outrage.“You got mad when I planned a prank, even though you already had one set up?” the werewolf demanded, her breathing finally getting under control.“It is now classified as preemptive self-defense rather than an initial strike,” Wednesday noted.Oh, that girl! Slowly, deliberately, Enid straightened. Meeting Wednesday’s eyes in challenge, she reached up and tore down a particularly vibrant pink glitter streamer. Holding it between her hands and pulled taught she began to advance on Wednesday.Wednesday almost immediately recognized her intentions and took a step back in apprehension. Her eyes narrowed in challenge and she tossed Thing onto the pile of luggage Murray had already deposited in the room.“Thing, fetch me my foil. I must defend myself.” ***Scene Break*** The Great Sparkle War ended inconclusively. Enid was absolutely sure she qualified as drawing first blood, but Wednesday contested that color induced allergic hive reactions didn’t qualify as ‘drawing blood’. Enid really thought ‘first blood’ was more about whoever injured the other first, and Wednesday had definitely looked pretty injured after Enid got the first four streamers around her!Still, the battle was over, and both sides had acknowledged the prowess of the others and adjourned for brownies and lemonade over a hearty bonfire of rainbow detritus. “This is an unexpectedly mournful diversion,” Wednesday noted in a tone that others might think was dry but Enid recognized as appreciative. “Unexpected? Mean!” Enid puffed her cheeks, watching as the shorter girl took another handful of glittery paper in her black-nitrile-glove covered hands. Wednesday’s eyes narrowed in malice as she tossed it over the burning logs that served as the base for their bonfire.Enid could imagine her cackling as the colored paper turned black and crisped. If, you know, Wednesday would do something as emotive as ‘cackle’.It would have been adorable though. If it did happen.“I must admit,” Wednesday continued after a pause to savor the harmless destruction, “I anticipated your family being bigger.”“Bigger?” Enid repeated raising an eyebrow. “Willa, I have four brothers. With me and my parents this house has seven people in it! The line to the bathroom in the morning takes forever! I have to wake up at like five am in order to make sure I’m the first one in and have time to do my makeup!”The difference between boy and girl preparation time in the morning was entirely different. Enid was convinced that all the boys needed was a quick hosing in the back yard and they would be fine. She DESERVED two and a half hours to get ready, no matter how much they might protest!“Fortunately, the jet lag will have me prepared for early rousing,” Wednesday noted. She cocked her head and continued. “I had been under the impression that werewolf families tended to be extended and communal. My understanding was of a multigenerational compound like structure housing an entire family colloquially known as ‘The Pack’. It seems my assumptions were incorrect.”“More like outdated,” Enid snorted. “Yeah, that would have been the norm in like the 1800’s. But that was back when werewolves had to keep themselves away from the normies for their own protection and stuff. Families would just stick together and make a community, yeah, but even the normies did that. Once we, you know, didn’t have to worry about being hunted down and murdered in our sleep, werewolves were able to spread out and get their own space.”A fact that Enid was infinitely glad for. Just dealing with sharing space with her brothers was a big enough pain, what would it have been like with even MORE?She might never have been able to shower in peace again!“I have heard the term ‘pack’ being used from other while in Nevermore?” Wednesday prompted, defending her original impression. Enid shrugged, and tossed a handful of glitter powder onto the fire. It caught fire dramatically and drew a microscopic smile from Wednesday at the pyrotechnics.“Well, yeah, there are still some that do it that way, but those are like super traditional families and stuff,” Enid shrugged. “Or like, the family itself would be spread out but still meet up regularly for reunions and things, and they just call themselves a pack despite being all over the place. Werewolves tend to have pretty big families and all.”“You do have a rather impressive number of older brothers of similar age,” Wednesday pointed out dryly. “Your parents must have been obscenely busy in their production. Please keep them away from my parents in case the inclination is contagious.”“Eww, no, seriously: ew,” Enid scrunched her nose up and suppressed a dry heave at the thought of her parents being… ‘obscenely busy’. Nope. Just nope. “No, that’s not it. Werewolves just have a much higher chance of multiple births and all. Like, in the old days they used to call them litters, which is a super old term and kind of politically incorrect these days…”“So your brothers are fraternal twins?” Wednesday frowned slightly, though Enid could tell it was the frown she got when she was actually super interested in something and was concentrating. “Given their closeness in age, they are quadruplets?”“Oh god no,” Enid shuddered at the thought. Even given her… rocky relationship with her mother, Enid wouldn’t wish THAT on anyone. “Though some werewolves have that many… no, Evan and Dylan were the first twins, and Morgan and Rhys the second set.”“Who?” Wednesday prompted, and Enid grinned.“Whoops! I mean Dope and Dim were the first and Dumb and Dead the second!”Wednesday nodded seriously at the correction, and Enid actually had a moment where she considered if the shorter girl genuinely thought those were her brothers’ names. Then Enid decided that if that was the case it was hilarious and awesome and she would do everything she could to support that conclusion.“If I am speaking out of turn or broaching a topic which is sensitive, then please be advised that I am not doing so maliciously,” Wednesday began, and Enid blinked. Awww! Wednesday was trying to be nice! She’s so sweet! Enid grinned encouragingly as the other girl continued. “But you do not appear to have an additional sibling…”“Oh!” Enid blinked for a second and then realized what Wednesday was awkwardly asking. “Oh no, I never had a twin or anything like that, so no worries. I was a single birth. It’s how like even though it’s normal for normies to have only one at a time, sometimes they get two or three? Well, it’s like the opposite for werewolves. Single births aren’t common, but they aren’t really rare. It’s not really polite, but back in the day they used to call werewolves born alone ‘Runts’. It’s kind of a rude thing to say though, so don’t actually use the word.”Wednesday relaxed slightly, and Enid realized she had been genuinely worried she was broaching a childhood trauma like a death of a sibling or something.The very fact that Wednesday didn’t just bull through and instead tried to make sure Enid was okay first was super caring and gentle for her!Enid knew that it was kind of weird that she didn’t have twin of her own, but honestly, she was kind of okay with that. Like, how much worse would it be if she had to fight with a sister for the bathroom, or what if she had a brother and had to share a room with them all the time? Ew!“You appear to get along well with your family,” Wednesday noted, and Enid grinned.“Okay, yeah my brothers are the jerkiest jerks to ever grace the idiot pool, but they’re not bad, you know? And dad might not talk much, but he’s super supportive!”“I had noted that trait,” Wednesday supplied dryly. “It is rare to meet someone even less loquacious than Lurch, but your father appears to be vying for the title.”“Oh yeah, totally,” Enid agreed, laughing a little forcefully. She was thankful that Wednesday was used to her randomly checking in on her cellphone for updates to her socials as the werewolf brought it out and used it to discreetly check the definition of the term ‘loquacious’. The spelling took her three tries but she finally pulled it up, and continued with more confidence. “Yeah, he doesn’t say much, but he does things, you know? Like always making sure we have our things, or snacks or things, or just hugging us when we need it and stuff.”And it was true. Murray Sinclair was NOT a talker. Like, sometimes Enid genuinely worried about whether or not he had a condition or something. When he had a question, sometimes he would actually point at words in a newspaper or a book rather than just asking it. Or if he had to tell them something he would actually use his phone to send a text even if they were right there! But when he did speak it was almost always something super important or supportive, so Enid knew that he was weird but definitely still cared.“I noticed that you failed to list your mother amongst the collection of bearable relatives,” Wednesday pointed out. Enid winced, and the other girl continued. “I remember your disagreeable comments on family day in regards to her nature. I assume nothing has changed in the intervening time frame?”“Ugh!” Enid declared, dramatically flopping backwards off the log she was sitting on. “If you can believe it, I think it might actually have gotten worse!”It had been six weeks since the first time she turned and all the crazy/dangerous stuff that had shut down Nevermore. That was six weeks she had been home and in close confines with the rest of her family, and she loved her family, but there were some things you just couldn’t talk about with them, and at this point she was feeling like she was about to burst with all these stupid feelings!“Before I turned, it was always like I was never good enough,” Enid vented, still dramatically flopped upon the ground. “I would do my best and try to get good grades or like show how much I was participating in class and stuff. But it was as though nothing I ever did mattered. ‘Oh you got an A, but did you wolf out yet? No, oh that’s disappointing’ or ‘It’s good that you’re on the soccer team, being fit is important for being able to wolf out. Have you… oh that’s disappointing’. It’s like everything was all about wolfing out, and every time I didn’t, it would just make her more disappointed in me…”Just as dramatically as she had originally flopped, she sat back up, wrapping her arms around her knees as she stared at the fire. Wednesday offered her a clump of streamers, and Enid took them with a quick smile, throwing them into the fire.“We used to do things together, you know, mother and daughter and all,” Enid sighed as she watched the crepe paper burn. “When I first started learning how to do nails, she would sit with me while we watched the YouTube tutorials and stuff. But when I didn’t wolf out like my brothers, suddenly the stuff we used to do was a waste of time or something. ‘Oh, dear, should you really be worrying about your nails when you haven’t wolfed out yet?’ or ‘dear, fashion isn’t something you should be thinking about, you should be thinking about wolfing out!’ Like, hello, Mom, I get it, you think wolfing out is so much more important than spending time with your daughter, you don’t need to say it every time!”Enid’s throat felt hot, and she felt a stinging in her eyes. She wasn’t about to cry, not yet, not seriously, but she recognized the pre-cry symptoms. She sniffed, reigning the impulse back in with the ease of long practice. Ugh, how embarrassing. Crybaby Enid, being a little crybaby. Why don’t you cry a bit, crybaby, she scolded herself in her head. Even though she’d cried before in front of Wednesday, she glanced out of the corner of her eye to see if the other girl had noticed.She found Wednesday staring at her, her lips pursed slightly as though she wanted to speak up but was holding back. Enid blinked, and cocked her head to the side in an unasked question. Wednesday immediately jumped on it.“I have been previously advised that I am not proficient at the act of cheering people up,” the shorter girl admitted immediately. It took an experienced eye to interpret her expression as being apologetic. “I would normally consider that to be one of my more successful traits, though it leaves me lacking in situations like this. My initial response is to offer to incapacitate your mother through the use of horrific and scarring force. Would you consider that sufficient consoling?”Enid half giggled, half hiccupped. That was just so Wednesday.“No, brutally maiming my mom wouldn’t help, but it’s sweet of you to offer,” Enid told her, rubbing the back of her hand against her eye quickly and smiling as Wednesday performed the equivalent of sagging in relief. “And it was a much better attempt at cheering me up then before! Thanks Willa!”“I am not biologically equipped for positivity,” Wednesday grumbled. “The morbid, macabre, ghastly, and unwholesome are my more typical persuasion.”“And you do it great!” Enid hurried to support her. “I mean, not the positivity, but those other ones are right down your alley!”“Thank you, Enid,” Wednesday appreciated her support. “Though you mentioned further deterioration in your relation with your mother since you acquired your more brutal and murderous form?”“UGH!” Enid emphasized her annoyed vocalization even more, grabbing another handful of pink streamers and starting to tear it into little pieces that she fed into the fire. “I don’t know, I always sort of thought when I finally wolfed out that would be it? Like it would fix everything, and things would be perfect, you know?”“Perfection is a dismal end goal,” Wednesday observed. “Decay is something I find preferable.”“And there’s the old Addams charm,” Enid grunted, feeling nostalgic to the time she had poured out her heart to Wednesday only to be told ‘we all die alone’. It actually made her grin a bit. “But no, you’re not really far off. Right afterwards, when I got home it was like she didn’t believe me. She was all like, ‘well it’s good it finally happened, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves’, or ‘let’s wait and see in case it was just a fluke, dear’! And I’m thinking, okay, yeah, it’s taken a while, so maybe she doesn’t believe me, or maybe it was just a lucky break or a onetime thing and I’m not gonna wolf out again…”It had been nerve wracking. She had been so PROUD when she came home after wolfing out. And she had wanted her mother to be proud as well. But it was like Esther just couldn’t or wouldn’t believe, and the longer she had heard her mother’s noncommittal and underwhelming snipes, the more Enid began to worry that just maybe it had been a one-time thing, or a mistake. Like, what if she could only really change under a blood moon or something? She had looked it up, those happen once every three years!It was compounded by the ways her brothers had all cheered her, talking about the things they did when they were wolfed out, and Enid realized that she couldn’t really REMEMBER much of the blood moon at all! She was sure she had changed, one hundo percent, and she remembered seeing Wednesday and the fight with Tyler, but the whole thing was just so FUZZY and that wasn’t like how her brothers talked about it all, and oh god what if something was wrong with her still and nothing had been fixed at all and she was still going to be a disappointment to her mother and…By the time the next full moon arrived Enid was about to snap from all the worry. She had been a nervous wreck when they had been driving out to Golden Gate National Recreation Area. And then she had turned and it… was… AWESOME! No! better than awesome! It was AMAZE-AWESOME!Okay, yeah it was sort of gross when she was changing and stuff, and even though it didn’t hurt it looked like it should hurt and that sort of made it hurt anyway even if it really wasn’t. Yeah, that had sucked. And afterwards, yeah, when she had like changed back and was naked and stuff with all her brothers and her parents around was sort of ‘ick’ but it was like weird but like the normal-weird that there really wasn’t any way around and she was just going to have to get used to once a month and stuff.But all the stuff between those two had been the best! Werewolves were like some sort of weird magic/biology thing that didn’t quite work right, so a werewolf’s size didn’t really depend on how big they were beforehand. The largest werewolf Enid had ever known was actually her mother, which was probably why she was so toxic obsessed with Enid’s own wolf come to think of it, but Enid had been the same size! Maybe even bigger.She may have, low key, made up for some bullying that her brothers had given back when she was a kid and they had all been bigger than her in their human forms. Which was totally normal, maybe just push them down a few hills, that sort of thing.Anyway! She had never felt so strong, so in control! It was the most amaze-awesome thing in the history of amaze-awesome things!“But you did?” Wednesday’s voice interrupted her thoughts and Enid blinked and looked at her to find the shorter girl giving her an exasperated look. “You stopped talking and stared into space. I had hoped it was a seizure but there were no accompanying palsy or foaming. It was disappointing.”“Oh, no, I just had a moment where I went into my own headspace to update my Enidgram account!” Enid shot back, and enjoyed the way Wednesday’s eyes furrowed in confusion. Totally revenge for the whole ‘loquacious’ thing! “But yeah, I wolfed out no problem. This kitty is legit wolf!”“Your use of metaphor is atrocious,” Wednesday told her, but Enid could see the little tug on her cheek which meant she was actually super happy for Enid.“So yeah, I wolfed out again, and now I’m like, finally, my mom will have to believe that, right? And like, NOW everything will be perfect but it’s…” Enid sighed. “It’s still not perfect. It’s like she can’t decide what to do with me now that I’m not a disappointment. Sometimes when I come into a room, she’ll like get all quiet and then she’ll make up some excuse or something and leave! Or she’ll do something which looks like it’s nice, but then she’ll make it mean somehow. Like ‘oh Enid, here’s some brownies. Just make sure you’re watching your figure’ or ‘oh dear, I see you did your nails, too bad about your choice of color’.”Enid grabbed for something to burn, only to come up empty and she gave a glance to confirm that the bag had been finished. With a huff, she let her hand fall to the ground.“I just don’t know,” she finally whimpered, an actual canine vocalization rather than a metaphorical description of her tone. “What is actually going on? Is she mad about something? Is there something wrong with my wolf? Or does she not like me, like, personally or something? Or did I do something else that I don’t know I’m doing to make her mad?” Enid was as large and powerful as her mother now. Was that it? Was her mother intimidated or worried about Enid somehow usurping her place in the family or something? Or did Esther just not like Enid, consider her an unwanted child or a mistake or something? Maybe it was Enid’s fault somehow, something she was doing and if she could just figure it out than everything really would be perfect?Enid started slightly as something touched her hand, and she looked at it to see Wednesday’s. The seer had reached out and was tentatively resting a finger on hers. Enid glanced up to check and Wednesday’s face was pinched, a slightly pained look on it.“I doubt my ability to provide comfort, but have been advised that touch may sometimes grant the emotion?” Wednesday offered, and if it was anyone else then Enid would have called her tone ‘shy’.Oh, hell! It totally was! Wednesday was trying to help her and she was being super shy about it! That alone was enough for Enid to beam a megawatt smile at the other girl. Slowly so not to spook her, Enid wrapped her fingers with the offered hand.“Thank you Wednesday!” This time, Enid really did feel actual tears. This was huge! Wednesday Addams herself had INITIATED PHYSICAL CONTACT! She did it to try to make Enid feel better! That alone, made her feel as though the moon had risen, and she was howling at it!“I do not know what it is that is causing your mother to act like this,” Wednesday continued. “The list of potential ailments is long, and while I have memorized most psychological and physical disorders for the purpose of research and enjoyment…”Enid had to suppress a snort because she really, really thought that was actually possible, and the mental image of Wednesday in front of an encyclopedia of plagues or something was sort of cute.“…but I’m certain whatever affliction assails her it is her own. I cannot see any way in which you might be responsible for her actions.”“Wednesday,” Enid gushed, convinced that she had managed to up the wattage of her smile.“You are wholly inoffensive, incapable of malice or the infliction of lasting harm, and so harmless as to be completely disregarded on a whole as any sort of danger, either physical or psychological…”“Wednesday,” Enid sighed, feeling a great deal less complimented than she had a moment ago.“The most offensive thing about you would of course be your musical taste and fashion palette, and while they are certainly offensive in their own way, if even I can learn to bear them without resorting to homicidal impulses or violence then certainly other must be able to as well.”Yeah, there went most of the good feels. Enid narrowed his eyes at the other girl who genuinely looked as though she felt she had paid a compliment just a second ago.“Are you calling me basic?” Enid had to ask after she was sure that Wednesday was done speaking and the other girl was giving her an expectant look. Wednesday blinked, and looked confused by her question. “…Yes?”“Wednesday, just shut up. You still suck at cheering people up.” Wednesday made to remove her hand from Enid’s, and in return Enid clenched tighter. “No, leave the hand. It’s mine now.” ***Scene Break*** Murray put a gentle hand on his wife’s back. There have always been rumors and legends about werewolves. Many of them were false, exaggerations by the ignorant or lies by the bigoted. However, excellent physical senses were not one of the false traits of his species. Being able to hear a conversation several yards away from a cracked open door was well within their range.Murray had only shown up at the back door in time to catch the end of his daughter’s confession to her friend. Esther must have been listening to more of it. His wife was frozen by the back door, a tray full of brownies and a pitcher of lemonade in her hand. She had most likely been going to deliver the additional refreshments when she had heard their conversation and stopped.Her knuckles were white, her eyes pressed closed, and her lip was clenched tight enough to draw blood between her teeth.‘Does she not like me?’ ‘Did I do something wrong?’Murray could see the words striking his wife more deeply than any knife or bullet could. Barely suppressed tears were threatening her eyes.It had been happening more and more recently. Murray would watch unobserved from the corner of a room or listen in from the other side of a wall. He would be the knowing witness of Esther as she tried to reach out to their daughter. Sometimes she would spiral, and stop herself before she even tried as she lost her nerve. Other times she would make the effort, but her way of speaking her mind too quickly would have her blurt out the wrong thing, Enid would be hurt by it, and Esther would try to bull through it like she did when she knew she made a mistake and wanted to make up for it but didn’t know how.He had really hoped that with Enid finally safely changing things could be different, things might change:: and they were. But you can’t change habits built up over years in just a week or two. Esther was trying, and she was making progress, but was she making it quick enough? Could she change before all the mistakes and hurts built up and became a wall too much to surmount?“We need to tell her,” Murray muttered softly, having a much better idea of what volume to use that wouldn’t be overheard by the rest of the household than Enid did.“No!” Esther hissed immediately, eyes snapping open. Quickly, she rubbed the back of the hand holding the lemonade against her eyes, clearing the moisture, and then against her lip, cleaning the blood. A fast jerk against her dark flannel concealed the presence of both, the dark fabric absorbing the moisture, concealing the stain. “She doesn’t need to know yet!”Murray disagreed. It wasn’t just because he was worried about the relationship between mother and daughter, about the two women he loved most in the world. Enid may have passed the hurdle they had both dreaded. But it wasn’t something that would go away. Someday, Enid might find herself where Esther is right now, and she would need to know so she could be prepared as well.Esther wanted to delay, wanted to put it off until it was necessary. But even she agreed that Enid would need to know someday. Murray thought she was ready. Esther didn’t want her to ever have to be.The stomping of feet alerted the two of them of the approach of one of their boys. Esther gave herself another brush, before plastering a weak but genuine smile as she cocked her head to the door just as Evan popped his head into it.“So Rhys just spied on Enid and her friend, and apparently the two of them spent like twenty minutes bombarding each other with pink glittery streamers,” Evan grinned. “He says it was the gayest thing he ever saw. We’re trying to think up some way to screw with Enid without blowing her chance with her definitely-not-a-girlfriend. Got any ideas?”“Evan Sinclair! You’re not actually thinking of trying to tease your sister about this, are you?” Esther sighed, rolling her eyes. “You need to let the two of them take it at their own pace. You wouldn’t like it if Enid interfered with your own dates, would you?”“But moooooom,” Evan whined. “What about brother rights?”“Brother rights do not include… Murray!” Esther began before blanching as Murray had pulled out his phone, brought up a website and showed it to Evan. Evan took one look at it, and his eyes lit up.“Dad, you’re a genius!” he yelped and turned to run after his brothers, shouting about how he had just had the perfect idea.“Murray Andrew Sinclair,” Esther began, narrowing her eyes and rounding on him, before he showed her the screen he had shown Evan. She blinked, cocking her head to the side as she pursed her lip. “Actually, that would be quite a nice date for the two, there are plenty of diners and it’s in the safer part of town, and with all the historical sites around there it’s perfect for a tourist’s first time…”Murray shrugged, doing his best not to let his own grin get past his beard. It was a father’s prerogative to embarrass their little girls, after all.His ears twitched as Esther began to list to herself all the nice things they could do with the idea he had presented, more of a stream of conscious then anything that required responding too.For just a moment, he was sure he had heard something: a pattering, like fingers being drummed on a table…
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the story of our people After their terribly ruined moment… okay, not like actually terribly ruined or anything, actually it had been fun, and Wednesday had been sweet, but in the end Wednesday was still Wednesday so it actually made complete sense for it to end like that… anyway, after the good-moment-that-couldn’t-have-lasted-forever-anyway was over, Enid had led Wednesday back to the now less toxically colorful room so the two of them could set it up for Wednesday’s stay.Space was still kind of hard to find in San Francisco so it wasn’t like Enid’s room was super big, so it wasn’t like they could put a second bed in there for Wednesday, but it did have more than enough floor room for two sleeping bags!Enid wasn’t going to sleep on her bed while her bestie was sleeping on the ground, and if they were BOTH in sleeping bags it was even more like a sleepover that she totally was old enough not to want to do so this was just a super lucky coincidence!“OMG, this looks so much like back at Nevermore,” Enid giggled, taking in the way the room had ended up: Enid’s sleeping bag was bright orange and red with pink highlights and sat nearest her bed which still had her colorful sheets on it. Wednesday’s was right next to it and was, obviously, a completely black one where even the internal lining was black and was next to where all her luggage, also completely black, was stacked.“I was surprised that you hadn’t set up the same atrocious window film that you had in our dorm room,” Wednesday admitted, giving the unadorned window a cursory glance.“Oh, that’s cause that stuff leaves a really annoying film on the window, so Mom and Dad didn’t want me to use it in the house,” Enid admitted. “It takes forever to clean off and is a real hassle.”“But you had no issue doing it to the Nevermore facilities?” Wednesday crooked an eyebrow.“Yup! I’m not the one who’ll have to clean it up, so it’s fine!” Enid grinned.“Your lack of consideration to the trouble of others is another unexpectedly sadistic side of you,” Wednesday nodded her head as she spoke. “I approve.”“Now I know I did something wrong,” Enid gasped dramatically, and Wednesday gave her another dry look. Ignoring it, Enid made her way to her closet, opening it up and stepping aside so Wednesday could take it in. “So, I made sure to keep some space open for you if you had anything you needed to hang up. I could make some space in the drawers as well, if you need it, but I wasn’t sure if you were one of those weirdos which need to unpack their suitcases even if they’re only staying in a place for a few days, or if you’re one of the normal ones who are cool just camping out of their cases instead…”“Your objectivity on the difference between the two is telling,” Wednesday snarked at her, but Enid made no apologies. “I do have some things I need to hang up, but for the most part I am comfortable keeping my belongings packed: it’s useful at times when you need to leave quickly to avoid law enforcement.”“Okay, not even going to try to unpack that one,” Enid muttered. “Well, I’ll go check on how long we have until dinner, okay?”“That is acceptable.”It was a task that only took a few minutes, and when Enid returned with a timeframe it was to find Wednesday seated primly in her chair, one hand on her chin as Thing signed quickly to her.“Oh, Thing!” Enid chirped, realizing that she hadn’t actually seen the hand since the beginning of the Great Sparkle War. The hand cut whatever it was saying off (something about secret passages?) to waive at her and sign a greeting. “Where have you been, little guy? We totally had extra brownies ready for you!”Thing hopped once, his fingers wiggling excitedly before turning to point accusingly at Wednesday. “I was having Thing perform necessary reconnaissance,” the seer admitted, narrowing her eyes as Thing signed something derogatory at her. “And yes, it was necessary to ensure there were no secret efforts to try and capture, torture, and kill us. These are standard things to check for in a new place, and you know that Thing.”“Did you seriously just imply that maybe I had invited you over just so I could like kill you or something?” Enid asked, folding her arms and giving the other girl a disbelieving look. “I think that if I were going to do that, I would probably have done it back at Nevermore? Like, you know, when you kept wandering out into the forest and I could have blamed it on the monster that was already killing people?”“So you have considered eliminating me,” Wednesday nodded, looking pleased. “I also have considered several ways to dispose of you and use the corpse to shift the blame onto another.”“I’m… just going to take that as you thinking about me and that being sweet,” Enid rolled her eyes. “Anyway, dinner is just about ready, so we should be heading down so we can claim the good spots at the table! Mom always puts the meat at the foot of the table, and if we sit too far away from it there’s no guarantee we’ll get any of it after my brothers finish fighting over it.”“Should I bring my foil if battle is necessary?” Wednesday asked hopefully.Enid genuinely considered it for a second. Finally, she shook her head.“No, I think the table is too narrow, and even if you did stab something you really wouldn’t have the space to pull it out properly?” Enid offered. Wednesday nodded.“Then the switch blade it is.”“Please don’t stab my brothers,” Enid whined, before she paused. “Unless they really, really deserve it.”“No promises.”“Anyway, Thing, you’re invited too!” Enid made sure to invite the hand, and it sagged slightly and wiggled a no. “Ah, why not? I would love for you to meet my family too!”“Thing has not yet completed his investigation into the infrastructure of the house,” Wednesday glared at the hand. Enid pursed her lip, about to come to Thing’s aid when Wednesday continued. “Also, he has agreed to keep his presence secret so that he can be utilized in subversive warfare against your brothers if you are so inclined.”Enid gasped, hand coming to her mouth in joy as she beamed at the hand.“Oh Thing, you would help me do that?” she asked, anticipation at just what could be accomplished with the use of a stealthy, intelligent, severed hand when it came to punishing her brothers. She still hadn’t forgotten their earlier sassing, and she was sure that they would probably do something to deserve it soon anyway so it really wasn’t her being a bad person if she was getting ready to get back at them preemptively. When Thing flashed her a thumbs-up she squealed and picked him up by his thumb and pinky so she could spin him around excitedly. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Thing! We are going to scare the crap out of them!”“The ones who manage to escape the switchblade, anyway,” Wednesday added. ***Scene Break*** Dinner at the Sinclair house was at the very least rambunctious at the calmest of times. Enid had been inwardly cringing about how the meal might proceed. Luckily, it seemed that today would most likely not end in physical violence. The Sinclair family didn’t really have much premeal traditions, no saying grace or thanking any particular deity. Once everyone was assembled the family would wait until Murray simply nodded and then it was a rapid pace flurry of grabs as it was every wolf for themselves. Tonight, it seemed that out of deference to the guest, Wednesday was allowed to serve herself first. Once she had a plate, there was a brief escalation as Enid competed with the boys for the best piece of roast. Before she had wolfed out, Enid used to wait until the worst was over, focusing on the side dishes and moving in for the meat only once it wasn’t a hazard to life and limb.She had always thought her brothers were just being ridiculous, but man, once she had wolfed out she suddenly got it.Wolfing was hungry work!The first fifteen minutes were dedicated to actually eating. The only one who really talked at all was her mom, tutting at one participant or another. She was always adding more to everyone’s plate, even Enid’s. Esther hesitated before including Wednesday to a lesser extent. The seer had raised an eyebrow, staring at the extra portion as though she was trying to determine the reasoning behind its sudden appearance.“So, Wednesday,” Evan chimed in, rubbing some gravy off his chin with the back of his hand. “Have you ever been to San Francisco before?”“Not yet,” Wednesday answered primly. “It was always on my list of intended destinations though. My uncle has spoken fondly of Alcatraz before. He mentioned that his incarceration there was one of the most challenging.”“Incarceration?” Evan repeated, blinking. “Wasn’t Alcatraz closed in ’63?”“Yes,” Wednesday nodded, raising an eye brow at the accuracy of the date. “He had to provide for his own padlocks. He claims it allowed him to tailor the straightjacket to the least comfort possible. When he was finally discovered, howling in the halls, he had to escape and swim to shore still wearing it.”“Wait, so your uncle broke into Alcatraz in order to lock himself up, just so he could escape it as well?” Evan sounded impressed. “Hardcore.”“Dude,” Dylan muttered to him. “Dude, we totally have to break into it on a full moon sometime.”“We’ll talk later,” Evan muttered back, giving an obvious glance at their parents.Murray looked resigned. Esther looked as though it was only the company present which was keeping her from lecturing the two.“No breaking into national monuments to wolf out,” she told them with a resigned sigh.“Well, if you’ve never been here before, there are a bunch of places you have to check out,” Morgan chimed in with his mouth still full, grinning. He swallowed, and went on in a much clearer voice. “Did you know that San Francisco is considered the mecca of modern werewolves?”Enid was instantly suspicious. There was no reason for her brothers to be so interested in Wednesday which wasn’t suspicious!“Is that so?” Wednesday furrowed her brow. “I was not aware that the city was of particular significance to the lycanthropic.”“Oh, definitely,” Morgan confirmed. “It all dates back to the civil rights movement. Let me tell you the story of our people!”“Only if you want to,” Enid hurriedly interrupted. “I mean, not everyone is super interested in that kind of history…”“It has never been an area of heightened interest to me before, however if an opportunity to be educated is present, I would not be averse to participating.”“Cool,” Dylan took over, gesturing with a steak knife as he did so. “So, like, a lot of this dates back to the 1800s. Outcast discrimination is something which pretty much every species had at some point. When the United States was first kicking off, a lot of outcasts tried to escape the prosecution at home by coming over here.”“To extremely limited effect,” Wednesday noted darkly, and Enid grimaced.Yeah, considering they had just had to save the school from a genocidal zombie pilgrim warlock, the move probably hadn’t worked as the original immigrating outcasts had hoped.Enid narrowed her eyes at her brothers, trying to figure out their end game with this story time, but then she realized something.Wednesday was actually leaning in, and looked interested! Wednesday loved morbid tales, and finding out about things, and learning about history!This was a chance to impress Wednesday!“So, it all dates back to the Indian and Outcast Appropriation Act of 1851,” she immediately chirped in, watching as Wednesday turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. “So, the laws were super racist and stuff, and basically said ‘we think the Indians are all savages and should be kept all in one place’, but it also went on to say that ‘some outcasts like werewolves were also savage and should be kept in the same places’!”“What hideously depressing logic,” Wednesday noted, and Enid grinned in agreement until she caught Rhys making a kissing face at her behind Wednesday’s back.“Yeah, it was sort of a crappy move,” Evan chimed in, and Wednesday turned back to face him.With Wednesday’s back turned, her grin immediately bared teeth at Rhys and she mouthed, ‘I will kill you slowly’ to him.“So the Amerind tribes were suddenly all forced from their land, and to add insult to injury, were suddenly forced to share that land with a bunch of outcasts that had nothing to do with them,” Morgan chimed in. “Werewolves originated in Eastern Europe and were all basically settlers out here as well. Some of the tribes were okay with them, but a lot of the tribes hated them just as much as they hated other white people.”“You all seemed exceptionally well educated on this topic,” Wednesday noted, and Enid could totally tell she was impressed despite herself.“Dad made sure we learned all about it growing up,” Rhys confirmed, and Wednesday turned to give Murray a raised eyebrow.“Oh, he didn’t actually tell us out loud,” Enid interpreted her curiosity. If she were to have a guess her dad probably hadn’t spoken a single word in Wednesday’s presence. “He would have us read, and then he would take us out to a bunch of historical sites and whoever could tell him about it would get snacks and candy and stuff thrown at them!”“An apparently successful teaching method,” Wednesday noted dryly.Murray nodded. With well practiced moves, he flipped a piece of roast from his plate to each of his children, oldest to youngest. Each of the boys in turn caught it directly out of the air with the ease of well practice.Enid snatched her own out of the air with her teeth easily, chewing happily. For some reason it always tasted better when her dad was the one who gave it to her! Then she realized she just caught a snack out of the air like a dog in front of Wednesday and that was approximately negative seven hundred cool points.Whimpering slightly, she chewed the bite of roast, refusing to look at Wednesday. Enid was sure the other girl was doing that smirky thing she does sometimes when she saw something she thought was silly. Enid finished the roast though.“So, werewolves were originally mostly stuck on those reservations, until 1934 when the Indian and Others Reorganization Act was passed,” Dylan picked up the history lesson, casually picking his teeth with the steak knife he had been using earlier. “That was the one which gave the Native Americans sovereignty on their lands. Well, once they had it, a whole lot of the tribes used it to kick all the werewolves off their lands. ““White people aren’t the only ones who can do crappy things,” Evan chimed in. “Suddenly there are literally thousands of werewolves evicted from their homes, some of them with just the clothes on their backs.”“And I assume the newly vagrant werewolves participated in the depression era westward emigration prevalent at the time?” Wednesday supplied offhandedly. Enid blinked in surprise, forgetting her embarrassment to look at Wednesday and find her waiting expectantly. “I have a great passion for things which involve depression. And I enjoyed the classic novel The Grapes of Wrath. Though I was younger at the time and thought the implications of the ‘ghost of Tom Joad’ implied a literal specter.”“Man, you’re good,” Evan nodded, impressed.A sudden streak of grey went towards Wednesday, and she reared back like a cobra to snap forward, trapping it between her teeth. It was a piece of roast, Enid realized, and she turned to stared at her dad.Murray simply nodded his head, miming soft applause for Wednesday’s contribution as Wednesday neatly chewed and swallowed the piece.“I appreciate your hospitality,” she told the older man.Rhys leaned back in his chair so he was out of Wednesday’s sights and mouthed, ‘She’s a keeper!’Also leaning backwards, Enid responded with, ‘Die in a fire.’“So, the west coast is basically being flooded with werewolves at the time,” Rhys picked up the story. There was something about his tone which made Enid’s eyes narrow. It sounded… too innocent. Suspiciously innocent. Not really innocent at all. “And yeah, werewolves were good day laborers so a lot of them worked the fields and stuff, but a lot of them also were looking to settle. And San Francisco at the time had another emerging community that was really open and inviting and welcomed them in.”Enid saw the jaws of the trap she hadn’t even suspected closing.“The LGBT community,” Rhys concluded, smiling innocently.Oh, Enid was going to kill him.“Though back then it was just called the gay community,” Evan chimed in, and Enid could see in his eyes that he had been in on it.“The 30’s was right around the time that the gay rights movement was starting, and the werewolf civil rights movement began alongside it. The two were basically sibling movements,” Dylan contributed. Enid recognized him as another traitor.“Both gay and werewolf rights kept organizing and strengthening. In ’61 Jose Sarria became the first openly gay elected official in the country, and in ’62 Larry Talbot became the first openly werewolf official right beside him,” Morgan nodded with great dignity. The dignity of a traitorous traitor who traitored her!‘You are all dead to me,’ she mouthed from behind Wednesday’s back.“There’s just so much werewolf history here in the city, and as Enid’s ‘friend’…” Enid could practically hear the air quotes there! “…we hoped you would be interested in some of the werewolf culture here, so we pitched in to get you these.” Rhys went on. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two trolley tickets. “A lot of historical sites are located just a few stops by trolley, so we wanted to give you these tickets so you and Enid can hang out there and see them.”Enid immediately identified the two tickets to The Castro, and flushed with a sudden and new murderous mortification.If San Francisco was once called ‘The Gay Capital of the U.S.’, then The Castro was the ‘Gayest Neighborhood of San Francisco’, the most openly gay district that celebrated its openness wholeheartedly. Yes, there were definitely plenty of werewolf relevant historical sites there as well, but that was not the point!“I find your offering to be both thoughtful and welcome,” Wednesday said politely, and Enid felt herself writhe a bit at the genuine interest in her voice! Oh, that wasn’t fair! How was Enid supposed to get out of taking her strictly and totally platonic friend to a gay village when the friend sounded so earnest and interested in the werewolf history also present!? Enid saw Wednesday about to turn and immediately composed herself and put on a happy beaming smile as the seer gave her a (for Wednesday) hopeful look. “Is this an acceptable location for us to visit?”“Absolutely, Willa!” Enid gave in immediately. Behind Wednesday’s back she could see all her brothers grinning at her. Enid found herself giving a genuine smile in return, an act which caused them to glance between each other in surprise.Oh, surprises were something they definitely had coming. Enid and Thing were going to be very busy in the upcoming days!“Thank you Dope, Dim, Dumb, and Dead,” Wednesday added politely, and the four laughed while Murray and Esther looked on in confusion. ***Scene Break*** “I believe your parents to be involved in a conspiracy that you might unwittingly be a pawn of, and that your mother is attempting to kill me.”“That’s nice, Wednesday,” Enid told her offhandedly as she finished getting the toothpaste on her brush. She chalked up a private win as she managed to get the toothpaste to do that little swirl thing that they always do in commercials.The two were preparing for bed and had already changed into their pajamas. Enid had chosen a set of soft sleeping shorts and a comfortable tee. Wednesday was wearing the cutest nightgown that Enid had ever seen! It was light green and had tiny cats being hung from their necks from the moon! “I have not yet uncovered the nature of the conspiracy, but based upon the conversation Thing overheard it is something which might be of a dangerous nature to you. While your father is apparently seeking to inform you of your perilous station, your mother seems insistent on keeping you uninformed,” Wednesday added. “I believe it most likely to involve some horrendous family curse or other blood line related impending doom. It may very well end in your demise. I have yet to ascertain if there is a time limit, but judging on the conversation I believe there might be one.”“Waaa, ‘ur ‘ein ‘erious?” Enid gaped around her toothbrush. Wednesday gave her a dull look, and Enid furiously hastened her dental care. After making sure she had gotten her molars (which were so much sharper now and really caused wear and tear on the brush) she spat and tried again. “Wait, you’re being serious?”“As I said, while Thing was investigating for potential oubliettes, he overheard a conversation between your parents. While both your parents were distressed, your father mentioned something about there being a need to tell you something. Your mother denied the statement, and indicated that there was some time frame which had not yet expired.” Enid backed away from the sink, and Wednesday dutifully took her position. The shorter girl began to mechanically clean her teeth while Enid gaped at her.Okay, what?Also, Enid noted that Wednesday somehow had a black toothbrush, with black bristles, and was using black toothpaste. At least… Enid really hoped it was toothpaste. Even the foam it was making was black!“Okay, first of all Wednesday, there isn’t always some huge mystery or secret or evil master plan for you to uncover,” Enid toweled her face as she started listing all the reasons that her roommate was being ridiculous. “Like, we live in suburbia. My dad is a lecturer at the community college, and my mom is a housewife. The most exciting thing that happens around here is when our car breaks down, which is actually not really that exciting because it happens all the time. The most terrible and evil thing that my mom really does besides all the negging is yoga, because, like, she gets so into it and all new age and stuff and it’s just like, ‘ick, mom, that stuff isn’t real’. I know magic really is, but it has nothing to do with essential oils.”Enid turned back after her exasperated rant to find Wednesday staring at her like SHE had just said something ridiculous.“Your father is a lecturer?” Wednesday repeated, and even with Wednesday being Wednesday and having basically two active facial muscles no matter what her mood, Enid could read her disbelief. “I have yet to hear the man utter a single syllable. How does he maintain a career as a lecturer?”“PowerPoint,” Enid shrugged. “Lots and lots of PowerPoint. And embedded news clips. He’s actually really popular.”“I am an Addams. The strange and the outrageous is an everyday occurrence to me. And yet you have managed to surprise me, Sinclair.” Wednesday narrowed her eyes in suspicion as the two left the bathroom, Dylan immediately darting in after the two were through the door. “Well played, wolf. Well played.”“But yeah, there is nothing at all like some sort of super-secret family curse that’s about to turn me into a weasel or something,” Enid concluded as they made it back to her room. “I can’t even guess why would you think so.”“As I said, Thing had managed to overhear an incriminating conversation between your parents,” Wednesday repeated, and Enid glanced at Thing to see him nod his fist in agreement. He rapidly flickered through some hand symbols, and Enid raised an eyebrow. “’We need to tell her’, and ‘She doesn’t need to know yet’ are both really ambiguous,” Enid pointed out, flipping out her sleeping bag and taking her laptop from her desk. “It could be about anything, like maybe they have some sort of surprise planned for us, or what if mom is pregnant again and they need to move me in with some of my brothers? Which, I absolutely hope isn’t the case because that would be the worst! That would be bad, like ‘I might have to run away and live in the park’ bad.”“If such a situation were to develop, I would speak with my family about the availability of any room,” Wednesday assured her.“Ah, thanks Willa!” Enid beamed at her, pulling up her streaming service and scrolling through what was new. “I mean, you tend to overreact. Like at Nevermore. I mean, yeah, you ended up being right, but you sort of went at it like it was a big conspiracy before you had any evidence that it WAS a big conspiracy, which let you find the conspiracy, but normal people wouldn’t immediately think, ‘oh, conspiracy!’, you know? Not like, ‘oh I heard something mysterious so it must be a bloodline curse that’s about to kill Enid!’”“I’m not basing my hypothesis solely around the conversation,” Enid knew Wednesday would never ACTUALLY pout, but if she could she would be right then. “There is other evidence. For instance, Thing has determined that there is no evidence of any other member of your family besides your immediate.”“That’s not completely weird though. I mean, I remember when I was still a kid, I think I asked dad about why we didn’t have grandparents, but he just mentioned they had passed away, and I guess it’s kind of mean, but I never really saw it as important that we didn’t really have anyone out there?”Maybe it was just because Enid learned about it when she was young, but her immediate response to learning that her grandparents were already passed away had been to simply file the information away and never really go back to it? Like, when she learned she was too little to actually process it in anyway other than, ‘ah, that’s sad’, and her little Enid mind had put it aside as not important, and as little Enid became big Enid it just never occurred to her to go back to the original topic? Besides, the werewolf community in San Francisco was thick. The species as a whole was very community minded, and Enid had been raised in the thick of it. There were plenty of close family friends: friends of her parents that she called aunts and uncles, children her age that she called her cousins. Actual biological relation just never seemed important.“Besides the lack of grandparents, Thing and I have found no evidence of any sort of additional family. As you described before, werewolves have large households, with multiple births being common. Yet there is no evidence of any aunts or uncles, or of any cousins,” Wednesday countered, narrowing her eyes. “So what, that has to mean there’s a bloodline curse or something?” Enid snorted. “Maybe they just don’t get along? I mean, it’s sort of rude to bring it up, but a lot of werewolves move to San Francisco to get away from judgmental or traditional parents.”San Francisco had a large werewolf population due to the mass emigrations, true, but it wasn’t like EVERY werewolf had to come here back then. Some had settled near the reserves they had been forced on to, or gone to other parts of the country. Some of the reservations had actually had good relationships with the werewolves they had been forced into with and the werewolves were actually considered part of their tribes now. The older families, the ones who still called themselves ‘Packs’ were usually super old school and liked to live traditionally in communal houses and without much technology. It wasn’t really uncommon for a wolf who liked being able to get service for their phones or just wanted some privacy in their lives to leave the pack, and not every pack took kindly to that.Enid could totally get that. If she had to live without Instagram, she might run away too!“Additionally, while Thing was investigating the attic, he discovered a layer of soundproofing around the office,” Wednesday folded her arms, and Enid had to snort at how huffy she was getting about having the holes in her deduction pointed out. “It is an unusual security measure to have, especially for a simple professor at a community college.”“Do you have any idea how loud five werewolf pups can get?” Enid countered. “Especially when they’re seven or eight? I’m sure dad just wanted to be able to get some peace and quiet while he was working.”“It is still suspicious,” Wednesday insisted. “When Thing searched the office, he was unable to find anything duplicitous. Every family has some kind of secret to conceal.”“Thing searched my dad’s office? Rude! And isn’t not finding anything supposed to mean that nothing is there? So, the lack of anything suspicious is a reason for it being suspicious?” Enid rolled her eyes, and finally settled on a true crime documentary for the evening. She knew that Wednesday loved stories of actual murder, and if it was a documentary than Enid was less likely to get scared like she would with normal horror movies. “Face it Wednesday: not every mystery is a big huge conspiracy or ancient blood curse or something. Flinch in the face of the Sinclair Family Normality!”“An Addams does not flinch,” Wednesday muttered. Enid offered the bowl of popcorn she had prepared earlier, and the seer dutifully took a piece for herself. “And why did you think my mom specifically was trying to kill you?” Enid asked, around a mouthful of popcorn of her own.“At several times during the meal she moved food directly from her plate to mine,” Wednesday informed her. “I had assumed that she had used the more effective method of poisoning her own plate and then transferring it to mine in order to ensure selective exposure. However, given your father’s own disposition for sharing his food, I acknowledge that the assumption of an attempted murder by your mother to perhaps be wishful thinking. My personal arsenic supplies are low and I miss the tingle.”“Shut up and watch the show.” ***Scene Break*** If anyone were to ever ask Enid why she woke up later that the night, she would absolutely insist it was because she had to go the bathroom, and definitely not because even a documentary about a murder was enough to trigger a nightmare for her. Enid was a strong and proud werewolf! Yes, she might pass out when exposed to sufficient blood and gore, and yes, crime scene photos might qualify for that, but she was still a strong and proud werewolf, damnit!So when she rolled over to check on Wednesday, for reasons which absolutely did not involve making sure the seer was around in case they were about to be attacked by some ghost-faced masked killer, and discovered that Wednesday’s sleeping bag was empty, Enid decided that Wednesday also must have had to go to the bathroom, which meant Enid’s chances of being attacked on the way there were greatly diminished.Except for, you know, if Wednesday was the masked killer in the first place. The possibility for that was not zero.However, after Enid checked both the bathrooms and still hadn’t located Wednesday, maybe just a little she was starting to get a tiny bit maybe nervous. When a search of the family room and kitchen revealed nothing, and a quick peek outside also had no results, Enid nervously made her way up to the attic.Nervousness which was entirely justifiable and not in any way something to be ashamed of! Enid HAD been attacked by a monster in a house before! It meant the odds of it weren’t zero either, and thus was a valid thing to be concerned about!However, upon checking the attic Enid did in fact find Wednesday. And when she did Enid couldn’t help but gape.“Wednesday Friday Addams, tell me you are not personally searching my dad’s office for proof of some blood curse!” Enid whisper-screamed as she took in the sight of her friend and roommate rummaging shamelessly through her father’s work desk.Wednesday froze at her interruption, not moving a muscle from where she was hunched over an open drawer. Several stacks of paper had been removed and probably studied and were still spread across the desk. “I’m unable to think of any reasonable excuse which would refute that insinuation,” she finally answered stiffly.“O. M. G,” Enid sighed, sinking her head in her hands. Honestly, she was only a little surprised, and was more surprised that she was able to muster even that much amount of surprise, considering how well she actually KNEW her roommate. “Wednesday, you have a problem. You’re addicted to mysteries. Like addicted as in you need help: a support group or something.”“If you allow me time to complete my search, I’m certain that I would have enough supporting evidence to back my deduction,” Wednesday countered. “The saddest part, is I feel like I should have anticipated something like this?” Enid admitted. “Maybe if I had, I could have made up some conspiracy and put a bunch of clues out for you, and then when you put it all together, there would be like a nice surprise for you? Like a box with a note that says ‘Congratulations’ and shoots confetti into the air! It would have been a fun thing to do together. Oh! Maybe an escape room! But would that make me some sort of enabler?”“I do not accept diversionary mysteries as an adequate use of my time,” Wednesday sniffed. “Most escape rooms have no actual danger of death or dismemberment, and when I bring my own, they bar me further entry and refuse to return my reservation fees.”“Ah, that sucks! You should always check for return policies when you make an appointment, Wednesday,” Enid nodded in commiseration. “Oh, and breaking into my dad’s study in secret and tossing it is super not-cool and a total violation of my trust.”“…I offer my apologies for being caught in this situation.”Enid nodded at receiving the apology and started to walk into the office to help her friend put everything away, then she paused.“Wednesday, the way you phrased that makes it sound like you’re apologizing for being caught, not for actually breaking in,” Enid deadpanned.“I meant what I said.”“You’re impossible!” Enid rolled her eyes, but found herself suppressing a smile. It was such a Wednesday thing to say that she couldn’t help but want to giggle at her roommate. “We are putting everything away, and then we are going to bed, and then we are going to seriously talk about this in the morning.”Enid had made it three steps into the room when a creaking noise from behind made her remember her totally and absolutely not ridiculous concern about knife wielding murderers and she ‘eeped’, spinning around to find…Murray Sinclair standing at the doorway to his office.“Oh my god, dad, do not sneak up on people like that!” she panted, very happy that she had used the bathroom earlier. Like, no! Just no!Murray looked around the room, taking in the site of Enid clutching her chest and Wednesday still hunched over his office drawers, and just raised an eyebrow.“So, dad, I know this looks really bad,” Enid began, raising a hand as she tried to find some way out of this situation which wouldn’t result in a grounding and early return home of Wednesday. “But you know, Wednesday has a serious problem, and she doesn’t mean anything by it…”“I have always favored confrontation as a method of resolving situations,” Wednesday interrupted, straightening and folding her arms as she leveled an imperious glare at Enid’s dad. It was probably way less intimidating than she intended it to be, considering she was still in those adorable pajamas. “So, a confrontational interrogation is acceptable to me. I will ask directly: are you responsible for a conspiracy to conceal information which might represent a danger to your daughter and family?”“Wednesday, you do not…” Enid began, both exasperated and frustrated at her friend’s inability to admit she was wrong, though yes, her stubbornness could be kind of cute in its own way…Any further train of thought for Enid was cut off as her father simply nodded to the accusation.“What?” Enid whispered, blinking. She wasn’t sure if it was the fact that there really was a secret or that Wednesday had actually been right that put her more at a loss for words.Wednesday blinked, and at any other time Enid would have laughed at how nonplussed her friend looked. The smaller girl shook herself slightly, and recovered.“And does this conspiracy involve violence? The death of kin? Theft, poison, or other perfidiousness? A curse which transfers through the bloodline and resulting in horrendous devastation?” Wednesday pressed on, capitalizing on the easy confession she had already received. She actually sounded a little hopeful as she continued listing grizzly fates.If Enid wasn’t still reeling from the fact that her family actually HAD a dark secret, she would have groaned at her roommate’s persistence. Instead, she only gaped as her father nodded again.What. The. Hell!?Murray stepped into the office, and shut the door behind him as he did. Wednesday stiffened, one hand sneaking behind her back to where she probably had a weapon or something.“And now that we know, do you think to silence us?” Wednesday accused, and this time Murray shook his head.He simply pointed down, indicating the rest of the house, and held the finger up to his lips to indicate quiet.“You don’t want to wake up the rest of the house?” Wednesday hazarded, cocking her head to the side as she puzzled over his meaning. Then she straightened, leaning forward in interest. “Which means you intend to reveal the entirety of the conspiracy, and do not wish for the other conspirators to know of your confession?”Murray shrugged briefly, nodding as he did so.Wednesday was quiet for a moment, and when she next spoke Enid was sure the other girl’s tone was petulant.“This is somehow the quickest investigation I have ever participated in, but simultaneously the least satisfying.”Normally, Enid would have, like, a whole lot to unpack with that statement, but now, she was, kind of busy freaking out about how her normal everyday life and family was apparently built upon death, murder, and a foundation of lies!“Dad,” she whispered, trying to figure out just how to express herself, a super hard task when SHE HERSELF DIDN’T KNOW HOW SHE FELT. “What… what’s going on? Why…?”Why did the family have secrets? Why did he agree when Wednesday had been listing all those super violent things? Why was he ready to tell her? Why was he telling her now and not before?Murray’s eyes were soft, and he rested a gentle hand on his daughter’s shoulders, and despite herself Enid immediately felt safer with him nearby.“Because you’re ready to know,” he told her.Enid knew her dad. She had spent her entire life with his rare and soft-spoken words, and she never could understand how he could say so much despite saying so little. Enid was the opposite, and even in her thoughts she always needed so many more words to get what she intended across. With those five words Enid knew that Murray thought she was mature enough, that she was strong enough, and that she was ready for whatever secrets had been kept from her.And knowing that he felt that way was almost enough for Enid to feel that way as well.She took a deep breath, and nodded, regaining her composure. Then she frowned and pursed her lips.“We’re not part of some secret society or something, are we? Because I CANNOT go through that again.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
of the dead When Murray had woken to the soft sounds of someone in his study, he had half suspected what he was going to find there. Enid had plenty of stories about her ‘friend’, and most of them centered on how she couldn’t seem to keep herself out of trouble when her curiosity was pricked.He wasn’t certain just what had pricked it, but as he made his way to the office and was immediately confronted, he didn’t hesitate.Murray truly believed that Enid was ready to know the truth, more than that she needed to know. Esther disagreed, she had made her own beliefs clear, but Murray believed she disagreed for all the wrong reasons: she wanted to shelter Enid, and the boys as well, to let them grow up without ever finding out the truth. Murray on the other hand believed that the sooner they found out, the sooner they could deal with it, the sooner they could understand it.For the boys, it could wait. For them it would just be something academic, something they had to keep an eye out for in the distant future. Murray would most likely broach it with them once they reached their majority. For Enid, it was something she had been dealing with for years.So when he saw the chance, when Wednesday had accused him of the existence of their secrets, he took advantage of it.He had been preparing for this conversation ever since Enid showed signs of being a late bloomer, so he was ready for it. With sure steps, he moved to one of the bookcases and pushed it aside.“We have a secret family safe?” he heard Enid mutter in disbelief as he revealed a small safe set into the wall behind the shelf.“I had not suspected a concealed lockbox,” Wednesday sounded mildly surprised. “Those hidden by shelves are typically revealed by scuff marks on the floor.”Without looking up, he tapped his foot twice against the feet of the shelf, drawing attention to them.“I see,” Wednesday sounded impressed. “Yes, those are adequately covered to prevent scuffing in the case of movement. A simple method of overcoming a classic weakness. I presume the contents within are evidence documenting the family’s secrets.”Murray felt a moment of amusement, dry though it was, when he pulled out a lockbox from the safe that had a piece of paper tapped to the top of it that read ‘Family Secrets’. It had been half a joke when he first put it on there, but even he had to concede that the timing was a bit of prop humor that usually was beyond his reach.“Oh, come on,” Enid whined throwing her hands in the air. “Really, dad?”He placed the lockbox on the coffee table, before returning to the book shelf he had moved earlier. With practice and ease, he selected the required tomes he would need for the upcoming conversation. Then he sat on the couch in front of the collected material and patted the spot next to him. Enid took a seat, slowly, looking between him and the supplies with trepidation.However, when Wednesday moved to join them, he held up his hand to stop her. The small girl seemed surprised and he brought the same hand down to tap the word ‘Family’ on the lockbox. Then he pointed to the door expectantly.The girl may have given him the opportunity, but this wasn’t her secret.“I am to be excluded from the explanation?” she asked, her tone flat. “That is unacceptable. I was the one to uncover its existence, so that would mean I have a right to its details.”Murray just shook his head, and tapped the word ‘family’ again.The girl seemed to understand. Expression deadpanned, she turned to Enid. Surprisingly, his daughter laughed lightly.“Wednesday, please stop giving me puppy dog eyes!”Murray checked the shorter girls face and found it still as expressionless as it usually was. “Oh, for the love of… stop pouting!” Enid groaned. No, Murray confirmed. Still no difference in Wednesday’s expression that he could perceive. But he trusted his daughter to know her friend.“You’re ridiculous. You know that just because you figured out it was there doesn’t mean you have a right to my family’s apparently dark and terrible past, right?” Enid confirmed, rolling her eyes. Finally, she threw up her hands. “Okay, okay! Just stop giving me that look, alright?”Well, if the two of them actually did develop a relationship, Murray could at least be certain that they would be able to communicate. Enid could apparently read her friend like an open book.“Dad, I know it’s family stuff, but would it be okay if Wednesday stayed?” she turned pleading eyes to him, and he frowned slightly. “It’s just, if it’s as bad as you make it sound like, then I might need some emotional support…”Murray heaved a brief sigh, and finally indicated the space next to Enid. He was looking for it, and he just barely caught a twitch of Wednesday’s mouth, and she promptly and immediately sat herself.He was just about to begin when his head snapped to the side, searching a corner of the room.This time he was certain of it: all day he had been hearing a soft noise, like something scampering through the house. He had thought mice or other vermin, but could not identify the scent when he investigated. Just then, he had heard it again, from the corner of the room.“Thing, it appears we will not need an ambush,” Wednesday spoke up. “There is no need to conceal yourself.”So, Wednesday knew whatever it was that was in his house. Murray’s eyes narrowed slightly, and then widened as what appeared to be a… severed and stitched hand… climbed out from behind one of the chairs?What the hell?Before his disbelieving eyes the… hand… climbed up the table with the ease of long practice, and perched itself on its severed wrist to…. waive at him? Really?“I should have known Thing was here,” Enid sighed, and Murray noted that she seemed to recognize… it. “Dad, this is Thing. He’s a member of the Addams family, and gives the absolute best neck rubs.”The hand… Thing… leaned forward as though offering to shake. Murray did not take it up on the offer, and leaned in instead to smell it…Seriously. What the hell?The hand wilted as though disappointed that he hadn’t returned the gesture.“Now that we have all gathered, perhaps the explanation can commence?” Wednesday pointed out. Enid rolled her eyes, apparently getting something out of her otherwise deadpan tone.“You are such an addict for secrets,” his daughtered muttered. “You really need help for that, Wednesday.”Putting aside his daughter’s banter, he took a deep breath, braced himself, and began.He pulled the first book, thumbed the tab he had placed in it years ago, and opened it to a specific section. He tapped it, and leaned back as the two girls leaned in.“’Werewolf integration and interactions with indigenous Amerind tribes’?” Enid read out loud, her face scrunched up as he began his stories. “Dad, what is this?”“It appears to be a list of Native American tribe reservations which had werewolf populations associated with them during the time before they were granted sovereignty,” Wednesday stated, her eyes moving with impressive speed as they darted over the page. Murray nodded, and Enid sighed.“Dad, I know all of this already,” she complained. “You had me reading about this sort of stuff when I was ten.”“It is a topic I am less familiar with,” Wednesday admitted, speed reading as she did so. “Well, I can summarize it for you,” Enid told her, giving the page in front of her marginal attention. “So, when the werewolves were all stuffed on reservations, there were a bunch of different reactions to them. There were some of the tribes who just didn’t care at first, but got along anyway. They were all like ‘oh, the white people screwed you over too? I guess you can’t be that bad!’ and they either let the werewolves alone or in some cases even made peace and married them and stuff.”Murray reached out and tapped the applicable note in the text. Wednesday’s eyes immediately snapped down to them and continued skimming. The Cherokee and the Illinois were the two most notable tribes. Both of the tribes lived in the old woodlands, were used to being hunters and appreciated those who knew how to navigate the forests. Werewolves were creatures that took well to the woods, who were built and able for the hunt. “Interesting,” Wednesday noted, leaning back as she apparently finished the entry with impressive speed in Murray’s opinion. “In this situation the tribe and the pack intermingled, becoming one people?”“Yeah, well, it wasn’t that good for everyone,” Enid continued, sighing. “Because there were some tribes that did NOT like the werewolves for a lot of different reasons. The Native Americans had some really nasty legends, and the werewolves got associated with some of them. It was like they were suddenly being forced to live with their version of the boogey man, and it freaked them out.”Again, Murray tapped the relevant entries. There were several different tribes, several different legends: the Sioux and the Micmacs for instance both had legends of the flesh-eating monster, the Wendigo, a beast that possesses another and causes them to crave the flesh of humans. Werewolves didn’t have that same hunger, but the fact that a werewolf changed into a hybrid human/wolf form matched a portion of the legend made the two people suddenly forced to cohabit the same land very, very wary of each other. When the reservations were granted independence, the tribes and the packs split up with no love lost, but no lingering resentment either.“For some of the tribes though, it was really, really bad,” Enid concluded, her tone droning as she recited her lessons from memory. “Like, in the Midwest, it is just not safe for a werewolf to go. The Outcast racism there is still a major thing.”Murray tapped again, and Wednesday was again a diligent student. “The Navajo?” she cited, and Murray was starting to get better at identifying her expressions. “I am not well versed on the tribes, but I understand that they are typically a peaceful people?”Murray tapped the specific entry.“The Skinwalkers?” Wednesday repeated, and Enid sighed.“Yeah, so the Navajo have this monster that they are really scared of, the Skinwalker,” Enid elaborated. “And when I say scared, I mean really, really, absolutely terrified of. It’s like this big bad voodoo witch doctor who can change their shape into an animal and kills people. And oh look, werewolves also change their shape so…”“Is there any truth to the association?” Wednesday asked, and Murray shook his head. He indicated a specific section that he had highlighted previously and she dutifully followed his direction.Murray was actually beginning to appreciate the small girl as a student. If only all of his classes were this diligent.“So yeah, Skinwalkers are actually real, but they’re really, really rare,” Enid explained out loud. “They aren’t a race, like sirens or gorgons. They’re complete psychopaths, so I guess they were more like Crackstone?” Wednesday made a noise of understanding, and Enid continued. “But it’s not like that really matters. The Navajo are scared of the Skinwalkers, which is apparently actually smart considering how bad they really are, but the werewolves that were stuck with them just got all the blame.”“The text indicates that there are continued incidents of violence?” Wednesday noted, and Murray tapped the bottom of the page where the footnotes were. Wednesday followed his direction dutifully, but then her brow furrowed. “You are indicating a small box full of black dots. I don’t see how this is evidence…”“Wednesday, that’s a QR code,” Enid sighed, though she sounded amused. “You use it with your phone to look up things. Ugh, where did I put my…”Murray pointed at his desk where his own phone was charging.“Thing could you…?”Murray watched as the severed hand scrambled over, leaping from table to chair to desk, before grabbing the phone and flicking it with impressive accuracy to his daughter.Seriously, what the hell?“Dad, could you unlock this please?” Enid asked him, and he dutifully presented his face. With the ease of her generation Enid pointed the phone at the code and his phone chimed as it loaded and Enid offered it to Wednesday.“This is…?” Wednesday began, holding the appliance between two fingers as though it were something dirty. “It looks like it’s an archive of articles,” Enid explained, taking the phone and putting it on the table in front of Wednesday, showing the smaller girl how to scroll through it. “Oh wow, some of these are pretty recent too…”Murray made it a point to collect those articles. All of them.“These articles all list incidents of violence on werewolves in the four-corner region,” Wednesday noted, sounding intrigued. “I had not realized that persecution was still so prevalent in that region.”“Yeah, it sucks, but there are some places where it’s just not safe for a werewolf to go,” Enid grumbled. “Did you know that some of those places still have anti-werewolf laws! Like, places where it’s illegal for a werewolf to be in town after sundown and stuff? It’s like the civil rights movement never made it there at all!”Murray tapped the article again.“This is where your mother and I grew up,” he said.Enid turned, and gaped at him. It didn’t surprise him. Not once had either he or Esther ever spoken about this.“Wait, I thought we were from San Francisco?” Enid asked, tone shocked. Murray shook his head.Taking a deep breath, closing his eyes, and bracing himself, Murray began to speak. ***Scene Break***
1990, Del Muerto, AZ.
‘Of the Dead,’ Murray translated in his head as the beaten down pickup truck trundled its way into town. ‘A really fitting name.’Some might think that a place with a name as ominous as Del Muerto might deserve its name due to some sort of terrible history: like some sort of battle or horrific tragedy. If the place actually had that kind of event, then Murray wouldn’t have disliked the town so much.Instead, Murray thought Del Muerto deserved its name because it was nothing more than a giant dead end. It was an ‘only one’ town in the end: only one gas station, only one convenience store, only one bar. Del Muerto was a pit stop in the ass end of nowhere, where only people who were going nowhere ever visited, and if you lived there than nowhere was your inevitable end goal.Murray hated Del Muerto. His brothers on the other hand loved it.“How many freak outs do you think we’ll get today?” Ronan cheered, grinning as he gripped the steering wheel with one hand and dangled the other out the window. “I’m aiming for six,” Conall grinned back, taking advantage of his window seat to lean his head perilously out the window.“Or, you know, we could be polite and just get the groceries without causing a scene,” Murray sighed, keeping his own elbows tucked in from where he was sandwiched between his litter mates. “What’s the point of that?” Ronan laughed at the very thought. “They already hate us, so no point in trying to change that.”“Yeah, better to just lean into it,” Conall agreed. “I mean, it’s not like they’re ever going to do anything about it.”Sometimes, Murray could admit to being jealous of his brothers. Their open willingness to cast themselves as absolute cliches of werewolf hooligans was almost inspiring. Conall howled as the truck pulled into the grocery store, and Ronan snapped a quick growl at a passing patron. Dusty jeans, dirty t-shirts, and old boots, Conall and Ronan had no trouble looking like ruffians, and as much as Murray might wish it, it wasn’t an act. The Muerto Pack had a long history in the area, and most of it was bad. The town knew it all, as well, and he could see the way eyes narrowed and jaws tightened when the three passed. Del Muerto was a small town, a spot to cater to ranchers and farmhands and their families. Most of the houses were places for wives and children to live, while the men spent days or even weeks on the ranges watching the cattle. One of the men at the bar spat, a stream of tobacco splashing on the packed earth. Murray could see the way they muttered to another. Even if he couldn’t hear it, Murray could make out the words from the movement of the man’s mouth.‘Wolfers.’ It was just one of the many derogatory names that the local ranchers called them by. Wolfers, Mutts, Dogs, thieves, cattle-killers. A stream of unimaginative insults, made by simple men to express their simple scorn.Not that Murray could really blame them, all things considered. He wished that he could change things, that he could show that werewolves weren’t just dirty animals, weren’t snarling creatures to be feared and avoided, weren’t thieves or robbers that deserved hatred.Unfortunately, that just wasn’t the type of pack that he was born into.Murray didn’t much care to make the grocery run, but it had somehow become his specific chore. It was most likely due to the fact that he was one of the few members of the pack that had manners. It wasn’t a trait that was looked kindly on in the pack itself. Courtesy held second place to strength, dominance rituals and displays of superiority were the standard for the pack. Something that didn’t lend itself well to the mundane task of standing in a grocery line and paying at the register.Murray made it two steps past the door, before he came to a halt. Internally, he sighed. Externally he simply stood. Blocking his way was a whole new flavor of racism.“You are not welcome here.” The speaker was Navajo, though what he was doing off the reservation and in town was anyone’s guess. “Naaldooshi.”Another slur. It was almost funny, but Murray felt he could identify just who was insulting him based on their preferred slur. ‘Naaldooshi’ was a Navajo phrase. It came from ‘Yee Naaldooshi’, which meant ‘those who walk on four legs’. But without the ‘yee’ it simply translated to ‘animal’.“Ain’t no sign that says otherwise,” Conall stepped past Murray, flashing his teeth. “So, if you have a problem, well, that makes it a personal one,” Ronan added.“I love personal problems,” Connal smiled, all teeth. “I like solving them. Personally.”Sadly, in this situation his litter-mate’s reaction was probably the right one. The chance of this encounter escalating to violence was suddenly much higher when it had just been a bunch of annoyed town folk.If Murray were to make a diagram of the local influences, it would have three major organizations. The first were the ranchers: typically white land owners who have been raising cattle for generations, descendants of the original settlers that had made their way out during the land rush back in 1889. Entrenched, wealthy, and organized they held a lot of power, political or otherwise, in the area.Something to note was that they absolutely hated werewolves. Maybe it was a legacy of back when they had to defend their flocks and herds from genuine wolves, there was a deep tradition in the area of werewolves being unlucky. That would have been the group at the bar. Favorite racial slur was ‘Wolfers’.The second organization would be the Navajo tribe. Del Muerto bordered their reservation, though the town itself had little to no value to them directly. With sovereignty over their territory and their amassed wealth and organization they too had a lot of influence in the area too.Something to note about them were that they too absolutely hated werewolves. Sixty years ago, when they had gained independence, their first move had been to order the werewolves off their land and to never come back. Favorite slur was ‘Naaldooshi’.And the third organization, would of course be the werewolves themselves. Though many of the pack had left when they were told to several families who had been living on the land for centuries, as far back as the ranchers, refused. They had set up their homes, made them defensible, and refused to leave.Something to note about them was that they hated both the other groups as well. Favorite slur was ‘Normie’.That was the Muerto Pack: a group of angry compound dwelling squatters.The ranchers hated them because they thought the werewolves were cattle thieves and bad luck.The Navajo hated them because they refused to leave their land, and because they were shifters who changed into animals, just like their legendary Skinwalkers.And again, if Murray was being honest, the Pack hated both the groups back, but it was mainly because the pack was a backwards congregation of angry uneducated hillbillies who thought the world owed them and it was their right to take what was owed.The man who had been confronting Murray narrowed his eyes, but stepped out of the way, and Murray nodded at him politely as he moved to do his shopping.Ronan and Conall both growled as they passed.Once the Amerind had left, they exchanged winks at each other, laughing as they did so. “Let’s make this quick,” Murray told the two, and they elbowed him good naturedly but departed so they could get their supplies. The supply run was mostly for things the Pack itself couldn’t make or grow on its own: canned vegetables and fruits, some grains and wheat to supplement their own. Murray specifically made sure to stock up on oranges and lemons, the citrus fruits being one of the most important items on the list. The pack tended to have meals heavy in meat, which didn’t do much for vitamin C. Scurvy wasn’t an unknown ailment for the Muerto Pack. Nutrition was also something that the pack rarely paid attention to. Thus, it was again something Murray had been made part of his responsibilities.Responsibility for the pack’s money was a scrutinized role. He made sure to buy on discount when he could, and to make sure he was always choosing the cheapest option. He would need to keep a copy of the receipt, though there was probably only one or two other members of the pack who cared to actually read it.And it was because of the lack of freedom to spend the money for personal things that Murray used a distraction provided by Ronan to slip a magazine under his shirt, tucked between his waist band and back. It was a practiced move by now. Even if Ronan and Conall didn’t share his love of reading, they were litter mates. Helping each other was just natural for the three.As they brought the supplies back to the truck, Murray noticed how the Navajo from earlier was standing at the bar, talking with some of the ranchers seated about it. There was normally no love lost between the two groups, but judging from the way both sides kept looking back at them, it appeared they had found common ground.‘Look at that’, Murray sighed. ‘Shared hatred can really bring people together.’“Let’s get out of here,” Conall was still laughing, in boisterous spirits for obvious reasons. “I don’t know,” Ronan laughed as well. “Maybe we should stick around for a bit. I don’t really think we were welcomed that well, you know?”“Well, guess we’ll have to have them make up for it, won’t we?” Conall shot back with an outrageously exaggerated grin. “Bain said he had an eye on the herds. Might be time for an asshole tax.”As they drove away, Murray wished he could disparage the ranchers and the Navajo for their hatred of his people, but in the end how could he?The ranchers hate the werewolves and call them cattle thieves because that was exactly what they were. The pack was always picking off their cattle, scaring and herding them until they crossed onto tribal lands where the ranchers couldn’t retrieve them.The Navajo hated the werewolves because they were an armed group of squatters, that would get violent if they ever attempted to evict them, who used their tribal lands like bandits.In the end, Murray had to agree: if he hadn’t been born into the Muerto Pack, he would hate them too.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
a traditional man “You’ve got to be shitting me,” Enid groaned. Murray reached out and tapped her nose lightly, and she huffed. “Crapping me. You have to be crapping me. You’re telling me that our family, that the Sinclairs, used to be what? Survivalist nutjobs squatting in compounds on tribal lands and robbing the local people?”Murray heaved a deep sigh, nodding as he confirmed. Absently, he rubbed his throat. His explanation had been terse, but it was still more then he had spoken collectively in probably months. His throat almost felt raw from disuses, and he felt tense. He began to count his breaths, using the box breathing method to try and relax himself. “A noble profession,” Wednesday added, nodding slightly to Enid. His daughter turned to give the other girl a disbelieving look. “My own ancestor, Ubel Adams, served with the Hessians and was a bandit of some notoriety, before he was beheaded by an angry mob in 1778. When that made him worse, they also cremated him and buried his ashes under a church.”Murray found his own eyes meeting Enid’s and for a moment father and daughter shared a perfect understanding: What the hell? The… hand… tapped the table rapidly, and when it had their attention began a quick flurry of what looked like signing, combined with rapid tapping, and a few exaggerated twirls.Was it… communicating? Is that what was happening? Murray doubted his conclusion immediately, but then Wednesday nodded and turned an expectant eye to Murray.Murray looked back at her. Then at the hand. Then tilted his head to the side and looked at his daughter.“Oh, right. Thing was asking if that was the source of the curse,” Enid hurriedly spoke up, translating the gestures. “He wanted to know if a Navajo shaman cursed our family? Is that what happened…?”Enid trailed off looking very nervous. At her side, Murray noted that Wednesday had perked up slightly, and the look she was directing him was almost hopeful.He shot that hope down with a quick shake of his head. Enid looked relieved, though Wednesday seemed disappointed. Reaching out, he opened a second book to a well tabbed page. He tapped the section header.Wednesday immediately leaned over to dutifully read the next section out loud.“A history of werewolf colloquialisms and their uses,’” she cited, and Murray flipped ahead several more pages and tapped on a specific entry.“’Runts: Single birth litters. The historical folk lore and modern medical analysis.’” Murray’s hand slipped down and tapped another highlighted section in the actual text, and rather than read the entire paragraph out loud Wednesday’s eyes darted as she began to read it silently.“Dad, is this really important?” Enid whined, looking uncomfortable. “I mean, I already know about it, but it’s not like it’s a big thing, right? I’m a runt, and I’m just fine, and it’s not a bad thing to be a runt? It’s just bad luck is all, right? You told me that yourself.”“According to this text, that is not correct,” Wednesday noted, forehead wrinkling as she pursed her lips, eyes still darting. “It states that due to werewolf biology fraternal siblings are the standard. It declares that single births are most often the result of complications occurring during the pregnancy.”“What?” Enid gasped, looking between her friend and her father.Murray had thought long and hard about this day. He loved his daughter, and wanted to shield her from painful things. Esther had complications when she was carrying Enid. The pregnancy had been hard, and he didn’t even want to count the number of times they almost lost their daughter. But how do you tell your child how dangerous their birth had been? Was it even necessary? If they made it to delivery, if they were born healthy and raised happy, then what was the point of ever letting them know how close they might have come to never even having a chance?It was because Murray had thought so hard on it, that he knew just what he wanted to say to his daughter.“You were our miracle,” he told her, putting an arm around her shoulder and squeezing her to him. Enid yelped, and had that particular look that only a teenage girl could ever get: they were absolutely happy to be shown how much they are loved, and absolutely aggrieved that it was happening in front of someone else.“Dad, Wednesday is watching,” she whined, and he just squeezed her again, before letting her go. She was still flushed, but looked like she was fighting back a smile. “This text indicates that single births have a higher instance of potential complications,” Wednesday continued, still pursing her lips. “It also indicates a higher level of potential congenital disorders in successful births. Is there any evidence to support this claim or is it simply a legacy myth from less educated times?”Murray pursed his lips, fighting back a smile. He was just starting to get used to the smaller girl’s expressions, and he judged that this one was ‘defensive’. It appeared she was worried about how this would affect Enid’s state of mind.“Yeah, dad, you said it was all old-fashioned garbage…” Enid began, but Murray cut her off.Reaching forward, he flipped the page.Enid blinked, staring at the page in confusion. Wednesday on the other hand leaned in, squinting as she took in the row upon row of small letters and attached numbers.“This is a very thorough statistical sampling,” she finally declared after several minutes. Murray could judge her well enough at this point to note that she was impressed. “The writer of this book must have been well researched.”With a small smile, Murray thumbed the page and closed the book so the two girls could see the cover.“Author… M. Sinclair?” Enid gaped, blinking. “Dad, you wrote this?”Murray nodded.“A published researcher?” Wednesday definitely sounded more impressed and gave him a respectful look. “You are impressively accomplished.”Murray shrugged, and opened the book back up to the research.“So, what does this all mean?” Enid finally asked, looking between him and the texts. Nervously, most likely without her even noticing, her thumb had traveled to her mouth, and she was worrying one of her claws. Esther had the same nervous habit. “Like, I’m normal, right? There wasn’t anything wrong with me when I was born? I would definitely have noticed something like that?”Gently, he tapped one specific entry.“It would seem a statistically high number of single births experience late blooming,” Wednesday breathed, understanding reaching her eyes.“You mean, that’s why I had so much trouble wolfing out?” Enid also seemed to understand, and had a look of revelation on her face. Murray knew just how worried her daughter had been, just how much her delays in transforming had worn on her. “Why didn’t anyone ever tell me?!”Murray also knew why they hadn’t told her before.Flipping the pages to another article, he tapped it.“’Late Blooming: a diverse factor in werewolf puberty’,” Wednesday noted. Without waiting her eyes immediately began flicking through the previously highlighted areas.“There’s an article on late blooming?” Enid demanded, voice high as she stared between the page and him. “And you wrote it? But I thought no one knew why late blooming happened!”“Apparently not,” Wednesday noted, pursing her lips thoughtfully. “It seems the condition is not as uncommon as you believed. According to this, one in seven werewolves will experience some form of late blooming. Diverse causes have been identified including and not limited to hormonal deficiency, poor nutrition, lack of exercise, insufficient body weight, stress…”“Wait, it’s common?” Enid’s voice was high pitched in outrage. “It’s common and there are treatments? Why didn’t anyone tell me! I thought I was a freak, and a disappointment, and in the end, it was just something which we could have cured at any time! Why!?”Murray pulled over a black envelope, and Enid frowned, grimacing. It seemed she recognized it, and she hunched over as Murray pulled out the brochures she remembered.“The conversion camps?” she scowled.“The ones your mother approved,” he confirmed, before flipping them open and indicating the highlighted areas. Dutifully, Wednesday took the various brochures, reading through them.“This camp boasts of its available nutritionists, as well as it’s dietary prestige,” she noted. She flipped to the next one. “This one indicates an exercise regime and personal trainers.” She flipped again. “This one seems specialized in diagnostic medicine.”Murray nodded. Esther and he had vetted every one of these camps, going over their brochures and websites with intense scrutiny. Each of these camps had a very high success rate, and each one specialized in different forms of late blooming. They had hoped that by covering the spectrum, they would be able to find something which might work for Enid.Something which would have kept her from going through what her mother had to.They had made sure each one was safe before they would even consider allowing Enid to attend.“I’m surprised at the sheer diversity of the number of camps available,” Wednesday finally admitted. “I had been under the impression that late blooming was a rare and more negatively received condition. Enid had previously indicated that failure to wolf out could result in expulsion from the community.”Murray brought the text over again, tapping the appropriate places.“I’m just so confused right now,” Enid whispered, hugging herself as she hunched over. Murray put an arm over her shoulder again, hoping to comfort her. “I mean, you make it sound so common. But then why would mom make such a big deal of it? Before I wolfed out, she was always so focused on it. I thought I was just a big disappointment, and that she would get rid of me, but it’s not?”“It appears there is a great deal of variance in the treatment of late bloomers,” Wednesday noted. “Expulsion was once the traditional method; however, it is considered an outdated practice rarely utilized in modern times. Furthermore, expulsion from some packs does not preclude the joining of another. Apparently, San Francisco has a very high population of late bloomers from such families.”“So, you wouldn’t have kicked me out?” Enid whimpered softly. Murray squeezed her tightly.“Never,” he told her. He felt her melt against his side, and she buried her nose into his side as she sniffled.“This article is fascinating,” Wednesday noted. He wasn’t sure if she was ignoring the scene next to her as a curtesy to Enid’s feelings, or if she was just genuinely overwhelmed with academic interest on the subject. “Apparently the werewolf trait is passed down to the next generation even if both of the parents are latent their whole lives.”That… that hand tapped the table briefly, and when Wednesday looked at it, it pointed at Enid. The smaller girl turned and only just seemed to realize Enid’s emotional condition. “Ah,” Wednesday began, pursing her lips. “I apologize for not noticing your distress, Enid.” Slowly, robotically, she reached out and patted Enid’s shoulder. It was the most confused and nervous that Murray had seen the other girl. Even when she had accused Murray of preparing to silence her, she hadn’t appeared this nervous. “There, there?”Enid made a noise between a giggle and a snort.“Was that an adequate attempt at consolation?” Wednesday asked hopefully.“Better than earlier,” Enid told her. “But you should stop now while you’re ahead.”“Yes, of course,” Wednesday immediately stopped, and resumed sitting, her hands in her lap and staring straight ahead. Then Enid’s own hand crept to hers, and Wednesday immediately laced her fingers with it, holding it.“I told you this hand belongs to me,” Enid mumbled.“If you wish, I can have it removed so you can always access it?” Wednesday offered.Murray blinked, genuinely unsure why such a ridiculous offer was made so convincingly. Was she being serious?“Part of what makes it good is that it’s still attached to you,” Enid told her immediately. Wednesday nodded.Oh. Okay, yeah, Murray realized it had been a completely serious offer. What the hell? He felt like he should be shocked by it, but then he stared at the OTHER hand, which was giving a thumbs up from the table, and questioned whether maybe he had missed some new trend among the kids these days?“I just don’t understand,” Enid finally mumbled, still sniffing into his flannel pajamas. “Mom was always so harsh about it. Like it was so important, like the fact that I hadn’t wolfed out was some failure or something. Why? Why would she be like that?”Murray was silent for a moment. Then he took a deep breath.“Your mother was a runt and a late bloomer too.”“What?” Enid snapped up, staring in shock at him as he revealed the truth. “She was… she was like me too?”Leaning forward he indicated a line in the text book.“’Traditional actions for late bloomers who did not present by a suitable age was exile’,” Wednesday read out loud.“Your grandfather was a traditional man,” Murray concluded.“But… but I mean, this is a lot to take in. I mean, so, my mother was like me, and my grandfather was like my mom, and made a big deal about wolfing out?” Murray could see his daughter struggling to organize the facts she was being presented. “But he wouldn’t have, right? I mean, you and mom just said you wouldn’t have to me…”Murray shook his head, expression serious. He tapped the page again, indicating the same line Wednesday had just read.“Your grandfather was a traditional man,” he repeated.The hand… okay, Murray was slowly starting to get used to it… started a flurry of gestures, taps, and snaps again. Both of the girls turned to it. So did Murray, but where he got absolutely nothing out of the flurry of activity, both the girls straightened, apparently understanding it again.“Yes, Thing, you might be right,” Wednesday nodded seriously. “Learned behavior and conditioning might result in behavior such as Enid’s mother displayed.”“So you think just because… my grandfather who I never met, was always threatening her with it, she just sort of thought that was okay?” Enid had narrowed her eyes. “But shouldn’t she know better? I mean, she must have wolfed out at some point. She must have known how bad it could be, so why would she do something which would just make the whole thing more stressful? Wasn’t stress one of the things which could cause late blooming?”And that was the crux of the matter. Everything up to now was not the secret he had felt he needed to tell Enid. All of this, was just what was needed for her to truly understand the secret.For the first time, he reached to the lockbox labeled ‘Family Secrets’. Wednesday’s eyes immediately widened and she leaned forward eagerly. Enid on the other hand leaned backwards, nervous.The first item that Murray withdrew was a pile of brochures for more camps. Holding them for a second, he took a deep breath.“The ones we would never send you to,” he explained, and handed them to Enid.“More conversion camps?” she frowned, glancing through them. Murray had highlighted the important parts, and as Enid glanced through her eyes started to widen. “These brochures seem to emphasize more traditional methods of treating late bloomers,” Wednesday noted, taking several of the brochures and reviewing them. “Though these methods seem more extreme than the previous ones.”“Extreme?” Enid’s voice was high pitched as she stared at her friend. “Wednesday, this one advertises the use of extreme corporal punishment! It advertises about its flogging for god’s sake!”“And this one seems focused on psychoactive drug therapy,” Wednesday pursed her lips. “This one… seems to indicate mandatory exposure as a method of treatment? It reads like an exhibitionist camp flier…”“Dad, these are horrible!” Enid turned to him, cringing and holding the pamphlets away from her as though she was afraid they would grow teeth and attack.Murray tapped the pamphlets, in the places where they all advertised their ‘traditional’ methods. Then he tapped the text, where it again labeled exile as ‘traditional’.“Your grandfather was a traditional man,” he repeated once more, voice quiet.“What does that even mean…!” Enid began, and Murray could see the exact moment when her eyes widened, dilating. Could see the moment she stopped breathing, and a hand came to her mouth in shock.See the moment when she understood.“I see,” Wednesday nodded, pursing her lips, and looked considering. “It would appear your mother was systematically tortured in her youth. How enviable.” ***Scene Break***
1990, Muerto Pack Compound.
Murray had mixed feelings about the Muerto compound. On one hand, it was a representation of degeneracy and violence, a crude outpost carved into stolen land and populated by a tribe of violent survivalists. The inhabitants were borderline barbarians, espousing right makes right and encouraging violent confrontation as a method of resolving differences. Gender roles were similarly archaic, with the women conditioned to a role of submission bordering on subservience, expected to raise children and run households. It was considered worryingly lenient to allow the women folk to wear shoes by some of the more stubborn families.On the other hand, it was home. The only home Murray had ever really known.Though unlike others, it wasn’t the only one he wanted to know. However, he knew better then to voice that desire.Murray had wanted out for as long as he could remember.“Good run?” Murray’s father, Whelan growled out as the van pulled up to the communal hall. The Murray pack had multiple buildings to house the different families in it, but there were some buildings meant to service the pack as a whole: eating facilities, meeting halls, shower facilities.No library though. A shame. Murray would have like at least that much. However, reading was not something strongly encouraged in the pack.“Would have been if it wasn’t for all the normies,” Conall yelped back. Whelan smiled slightly, pleased with the answer. He whistled, and Murray’s mother and several of his sisters came and began to unload the truck.Murray made to help, and received a glare and a growl from his father. Food handling was women’s work, after all. It was barely acceptable that Murray was the one shopping for it, but Whelan didn’t trust those outside the pack around pack women.He slipped a pair of oranges out of the sacks when his father’s back was turned. He concealed them with the ease of practice.“Tonight’s moon will be a fierce one,” Whelan told the boys as they followed him away from the truck. “The shaman says it will be a blood moon. Liam is preparing for challenges.”By ‘shaman’, Murray interpreted ‘town addict’. The pack itself had no actual magic user or wiseman. However, years of close contact with the local tribe had allowed some traditions to rub off. In this case, the use of peyote for ‘religious’ reasons. The so-called shaman was simply the one most experienced with the cactus growth and preparation. Because of that, the pack gave him respect, and tended to believe him when he made things up. “Sounds fun,” Ronan chimed in. “Maybe I’ll give him a challenge of my own!”Whelan cuffed him over the back of the head, hard but not punishingly so. Liam was Murray’s eldest brother, and was a strong contender for future Pack Alpha. He was also a psychopath, and Murray wanted nothing to do with him. Liam had been from a smaller litter, just him and one other. When Murray had been a young pup, the two brothers had fought for dominance, and Liam had killed his own litter mate. Murray couldn’t even remember his dead brother’s name. Whelan had prohibited anyone from speaking it, calling the dead sibling too weak to be spoken of.“Bain says the hunting tonight will be good,” Whelan continued, nodding across the road in his direction.Bain Cairban was a large werewolf, and the packs best hunter and tracker, the current pack Alpha. Strong and lean, he was called ‘Bain’, which meant ‘white’, because of the shock of white in his otherwise dark hair. He had earned it during a challenge, when his contender had struck his forehead hard with rock. Bain had still won the fight, but the injury had caused the hair to grow in white ever since. Even in his wolf form, the mark remained.“Heh, we sure we want to trust what Bain has to say?” Conall laughed, and Ronan smiled as well.“Bain is still the best hunter,” Whelan told him, though it looked like he too was smiling, though he tried to conceal it. “Even if he has other failures.”“Like insisting that runt of his will turn?” Ronan snorted. “Face it, Bain’s Blame is bad blood.”“The shaman thinks that tonight there might be a chance,” Whelan snorted, though he didn’t seem to care one way or another. “But if his spawn doesn’t turn, then a counsel will be called.”Murray felt his jaw tighten slightly at the conversation. He had held back, trailing behind his family. As the conversation turned to vicious gossiping, he slipped away. ***Scene Break*** It was easy enough to sneak out of the compound. Regardless of the guards which made their way around on patrols, it wasn’t forbidden to leave and return. When one of the guards saw him leaving, they simply waived him off.Murray traveled until he was out of sight of the compound, and then began the long loop around to his actual destination.A mile out of the compound, standing alone in the open, was a decrepit shack. As he made his way towards it, his ears picked up a scuff, rock grating on rock and sand shifting. He made no indication he heard the noise, and pretended to be surprised when two hands grabbed him from behind.“Gotcha!” a voice giggled in his ear. “Gotcha this time Murs! Admit it, you had no idea I was there!”“No idea at all, Esther,” he greeted, and the arms around him shifted into a hug.One of the arms raised up, playfully threatening his neck. “You’re not just saying that? I was actually able to hunt you this time, wasn’t I? If I was, then that means I’ll have to be able to wolf out! I have to! I did everything right this time! They told me it would work this time!”Murray nodded in dishonest confirmation, and the arms released him. Esther Cairban, daughter of Bain Cairban, called Bain’s Blame scornfully by the rest of the compound, skipped into view, laughing as she did so. He took in her appearance cautiously, checking her over.Thin. So thin. She still had some muscle on her, but she was so lean she bordered on dangerous. The only clothes on her were a tattered and stained set of overalls, that barely covered her modesty from all the holes. He ignored it. The pack didn’t look down on nudity, seeing as it was unavoidable around full moons. Clothes were worn for practical reasons: to cover the body from exposure. Her exposed arms and face were always red and peeling these days from the beating of the harsh desert sun.“Got you something,” Murray told her, pulling the two oranges out and tossing them to her. She yelped, fumbling the two fruits before managing to catch them both. She looked at them, and she pursed her lips.“Mur, I’m not sure… I mean, I didn’t hunt these,” she stammered.“You can’t hunt fruit. And you need them,” Murray told her. Any kind of fruit or vegetable, but it was better if it was something high in vitamin C. “I mean, I guess I can hide them or something and then stalk them later,” Esther reasoned with herself. “I mean, it’s not hard to hunt fruit in the first place? So, if I eat them afterwards, it won’t mean I didn’t eat anything I didn’t hunt, right? So that can’t be a bad thing? But how can you hunt fruit? Do you need to drain the blood and skin it later? But you do need to skin an orange, so I guess that would work?”Murray nodded, smiling slightly as Esther’s chatter rolled over him. Whenever she was nervous, she tended to speak her mind without a filter. She did that when she was happy, too. And when she was sad. And for most emotional states in between, truth be told.To Murray, Esther’s default setting was recognized as ‘chatter’. At least, that had been the case once. Now it was only when they were alone that the old Esther seemed to make an appearance.Murray and Esther had grown up together. Born in the same moon, the two had been childhood friends, roughhousing and tumbling in the dirt with the rest of the pups. Esther had always been bolder than other girls her age, something which made her father proud. ‘No mere birther’ he had used to say about his daughter. ‘The hunter’s blood is in her’.Murray wasn’t sure when it developed, but in time Esther and he had grown close. She was always rambunctious, getting into trouble left and right, and somehow, he always found himself being drawn in by her, her partner in crime, who she used to impishly shift the blame onto whenever it looked like they were about to get in trouble.Murray hadn’t minded. He was always a quieter boy, but he didn’t mind adventures when they were being led by Esther. He was always following her lead, until it was Murray’s turn to take the lead and had his first wolf out before hers.Esther had made such a big deal out of Murray’s first change when he was twelve. Mainly about how he had changed before she did. She had roughed his hair afterwards, telling him to enjoy the head start while it lasted.But month after month, the lead kept lasting.Twelve was a bit early to have a wolf out, but it wasn’t outrageously so. Murray had been the first of his litter, but Ronan and Conall had wolfed out on the very next moon. By thirteen, most of the children had their wolf outs as well, but there was no shortage of stragglers. But by fourteen, only Esther had remained unchanged.Her father was no longer boasting about her. The shaman had said something about how Esther needed to be more aligned with her inner beast. At first that had been little things, like forcing her to eat more meat. Then it had been forcing her to hunt her own meat. Esther had learned fast, but that was when she had started becoming more and more lean.Then came not being allowed to eat anything but meat, then just the meat she caught herself. That was when Murray had begun to start worrying. By fifteen, Esther still hadn’t wolfed out, and Murray had begun to make sure to supply her with fruits and vegetables to try and help her diet.It was also the age that Bain had driven his daughter out of the compound, forcing her to live in the shack so she would be more in tune with nature, alone. He had also taken most of her clothes, the shaman proclaiming that the more animal like she lived, the more likely she would turn.She had been left, dangerously exposed both to the elements and to potentially hostile interlopers. Bain had said that if she couldn’t survive either, then it would be her own fault for not changing.Six months ago, Bain disappeared on the day before a full moon. After the full moon, when Murray had checked in on Esther it was to discover lash marks up and down her back. Esther had explained that Bain was trying to help the transformation by stimulating her survival instinct. She had ensured him that it would have to work, that it would be worth it.It didn’t. And before every moon afterwards, the lashes had reappeared.That was when Murray had first made a decision. This was the first full moon after Esther had turned sixteen. For the last month, the shaman had been proscribing her low doses from the peyote he cultivated. To make her more animal like, to lower her barriers with her wolf, he claimed. For the last month, Murray had been forced to look after her as her eyes were wide and dilated, as she saw things that weren’t there. He had to make sure she ate at times too. They had lowered the doses for the last few days, and she was more rational they she had been for weeks, but her eyes were still dilated. It was what made Murray certain of his decision.This was Esther’s last chance, tonight. If she didn’t wolf out, then she would be banished.Murray hadn’t told anyone. Not even his own litter. Note even Esther herself. But if she was banished, he would be leaving with her.“Come on in!” Esther chirped as she held swept into the shack. It had no door, and no furniture. The walls barely kept out the wind, and the roof barely kept out the rain. “Now whip it out! I want to look at the pictures!”With a small smile, Murray reached behind him and tugged the stolen magazine he had taken from the grocery store out of his waistline. “What’s it say, what’s it say?” Esther demanded, taking the magazine and studying it with innocent glee.There were hardly any books or prints in the compound. Only Murray ever actually seemed interested in them. But in order to ‘get her in tune with her beast’ Bain had not allowed her to look at a printed word in nearly two years. Esther could barely remember how to read at this point.The magazine itself was titled, ‘The Patriot’. It was a conservative rag, and the articles it typically published were pieces of hate, decrying all the decadent and unclean that were supposedly ruining the great country of America: the liberals, the gays, the outcasts. The articles themselves were how this organization or another had trumped and overcame this heinous piece of litigation, or that terrible attempt at ruining the country. Murray took something else from it though: the fact that they had to take action at all. It meant there was opposition.Somewhere out there, people were fighting to make life better, even if someone hated that and tried to tear it all down. People were still trying.So, Murray lied through his teeth.“It’s San Francisco,” he said, ignoring the caption which proclaimed ‘Filthy Beast Thinks It Can Own Business?’ and focused on the picture itself, a proud werewolf standing in front of a bar that they owned. “It’s talking about how great life is for werewolves there!”“Amazing,” Esther whispered, leaning in to trace the werewolf. “Look at him. He looks so clean!”“Yeah,” Murray agreed, flipping the magazine open. The article spoke about how not only was the upstart a werewolf, but also disparaged their ethnicity, as well as mocked their sexuality. “It’s talking about how special he is, and complimenting him for it.”The article had a picture of the owner in their wolf form, cropped to make it look terrifying to the normal readers.“He’s so strong too!” Esther exclaimed, not even realizing the photo was supposed to be negative. She took in the sight of the bar owner’s claws and whistled. “I can’t wait until I have claws like that! This time for sure!”Murray hummed in agreement, turning the page again. The new article mocked a werewolf rights march as being a baying pack of beasts. Murray just traced the picture depicting dozens, no hundreds of protestors, all marching together. They looked so happy, so healthy. They were probably smart too, having had a chance to actually go to school, not just try to teach themselves from stolen and damaged books like he had.“It says that these are all werewolves, fighting to make things better for everyone,” he told Esther, and she sighed happily, flopping backwards and gazing wistfully into the air.“I want to go to San Francisco someday,” she admitted. “I mean, do you think I would be able to fit in? Once I wolf out? I bet when I do wolf out, they’ll be happy to have me! I can hunt really well at this point, and I don’t take up much space. Do you think they’d like me?”“They’d love you,” Murray told her, his voice soft. ‘Like I do,’ went unspoken.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
perfect storm Enid had curled up, her arms wrapped around her legs as she sank her chin into them. Murray had one hand around her shoulders, and she hadn’t let go of Wednesday’s hand yet.“I just can’t believe it,” Enid whispered, her shock evident. “I mean, he was her dad, right? Why… why would he do something like that?”Murray just shook his head. His other hand came up and he massaged his throat again. The last round of explanations had left him feeling even more drained. A tap on the table in front of him drew his attention. The hand… the hand had apparently somehow managed to bring an entire glass of water and placed it next to him on the table? What the hell? How!? It would have had to gone all the way down to the kitchen, filled a glass, somehow brought it up here, and then lifted it on to the table?This was beyond ridiculous, Murray decided.The hand indicated he should take the glass. Slowly, honestly unsure if he should or not, he did. He sniffed it, just to make sure, before taking a sip. “She… mom was his daughter,” Enid looked up to Murray. “No one should do something like that to their daughter…”Murray knew that Enid was hoping he had some sort of explanation, some reason that would explain cruelty, but the truth was something Murray already knew: cruelty needed no reason. To some, cruelty was reason all its own.Enid turned to Wednesday, as though entreating her friend for an answer, and for the first time Murray didn’t need help identifying that the other girl was uncomfortable.“Enid, I feel… I am not a valid person to ask that question to,” Wednesday admitted, her tone unusually hesitant. “I have personally left my home so that I could winter in the wild without shelter, in order to hibernate with the bears on our family land. I also voluntarily expose myself to the elements insufficiently protected for enjoyment. My brother and I regularly indulge ourselves in violence on each other. We consider it our bonding time.”Murray paused. How many times this conversation was he going to have to repeat himself: what the hell?“Oh, right,” Enid giggled, though Murray had no idea why. “You’re an Addams.”“Correct,” Wednesday nodded, as though that explained everything. “Many of our traditions or our rites of passage are things which outsiders might consider terrifying. I am not one who can cast denunciations at the practice of others.”Enid frowned at that, though she was taking in the words of her friend and considering them.“But I can state that my actions were always ones I chose, and met with the approval and aid of my parents and family,” Wednesday continued. “They saw fit to assist me in my endeavors, and looked out to ensure that any missteps were not lethal in nature. They… supported me.” It looked like acknowledging that support had cost Wednesday personally. Murray suppressed a good-natured sigh at teenage girls, and the prickly relationships they shared with their parents.“Your grandfather most likely did what he thought to be best for his daughter,” Wednesday admitted. “Even if that belief was misguided. But regardless of why he did so, the results of his actions must be judged independently of his intentions. He hurt your mother. The research indicates malnutrition and stress are two major factors in exasperating late bloomer syndrome and his actions caused both of those to be inflicted on your mother, as well as physical violence. For that alone, regardless of the reasons why, there is no need to forgive or indemnify him. It was his prerogative to do what he believed in. It is yours to do as you believe in. If you hate him for what he did, then that is your right, and you are justified in doing so.”Murray was surprised at the depth of the other girl’s insight. Enid glanced at him, as though to see his reaction to Wednesday’s judgment, and he simply nodded.Gods knew, he hated Bain Cairban plenty of times. Even decades later, he still felt the slow, boiling cauldron of fury at what that man had done to Esther. “I must ask,” Wednesday turned to address Murray directly, and he raised an eyebrow, “is it true that Bain Cairban is dead? Earlier, in discussion with Enid she mentioned she had been told as such. However, based on your story it would not be impossible that he and the rest of the pack are alive and you simply claimed otherwise after your escape in order to prevent confrontation. If he is alive, I could offer the services of my uncle? He has experience in the removal of adverse persons.”And she was being serious. Murray actually considered it a bit heartwarming, that this girl would care so deeply for her friend that she would offer an assassin for her.But it also needed to be said: what the hell?Murray shook his head. Wednesday considered the response for a moment, before pursing her lips.“No, as in you do not need the services of my uncle?” she asked, and he shook his head. “Because the individual in question is truthfully deceased.”This, he nodded.“What happened, dad?” Enid whispered, giving him a wet look. “Did you manage to get mom and yourself out? You said you had brothers… are they still out there?”Murray closed his eyes, and prepared himself. It was here. He had practiced for this moment for months, maybe even years. But now that it was here…“Brace yourself, Enid,” Wednesday declared. “Judging from your father’s expression the worst has not yet been revealed.”“Oh, god, it gets worse?” Enid gulped. Murray opened his eyes and nodded.Reaching forward, he again opened the ‘Family Secrets’ lockbox. He began withdrawing a series of reports and newspaper articles. Some of them were reprinted on standard paper, and others were the actual articles, yellowed and stiffed with age.“’Massacre at small town Del Muerto’,” Wednesday began glancing through them, eyes narrowing as she read the titles. “’Prominent land owner suspected of hate crime’. ‘Violence in the Navajo nation’. ‘Most brutal werewolf attack in recent recorded history’. ““’Eighty-seven bodies, more expected’?” Enid also was reading them now, eyes wide as she took in the sheer extent of the carnage being reported on. “A pogrom,” was all Murray said. Wednesday nodded once in understanding, eyes darting through the reports.“Pogs-what?” Enid repeated, confusion warring with dread.“A pogrom is the organized massacre of an ethnic group,” Wednesday recited as though she were reading a dictionary. Her eyes turned to Murrays. “The pack was attacked, I take it? Angry mobs with pitchforks have frequently plagued outcast settlements. The Addams have several such recorded for posterity in our private records.”“Oh shit,” Enid swore again, and Murray frowned slightly. “Crap. Oh crap. Wait, they really came? Who, the ranchers? The Navajo?”“Both,” he answered softly.“It appears that the pack responded with its own savagery,” Wednesday seemed interested as she read deeper into a particular article. “This report that many of the bodies were missing organs or limbs. It even implies that some had been partially eaten.”“Ew, like, no, werewolves don’t actually eat people,” Enid declared immediately, shaking her head as she looked green around the cheeks. “It must have been wild animals, like coyotes or bears afterwards that found the bodies or something?”Enid looked to Murray for support of her assertion.She was met with stone faced silence. Then Murry took a deep breath.“Esther’s first wolf out.” ***Scene Break***
1990, Muerto Pack Compound.
Esther was nervous, quiet and shifting from foot to foot as she stood in the middle of the compound grounds. The rest of the pack was gathered around her. Murray could hear some of the jibes, the scorn, the laughter. If Murray could hear it, then he was certain Esther could as well. He could see her biting her lip, flushed with shame, but face set with grim hope.She had done everything that everyone had told her to. Eating what they told her to, living where they told her to, dressing like they told her to, taken blows like they told her. She had spent the last month drugged like they told her to.It had all been so that she could finally join the pack, finally wipe the shame clean, to clear the disappointment from her name. Murray could see the desperation in Esther, desperation to finally wolf out and to be welcomed back by her father and the pack.As moonrise came, clothes were shed, most stripped off and tossed aside without a care be it man or woman, young or old. Murray folded his carefully and put them aside. Esther dropped her overalls, and stood in the eyes of all, fists clenched with nerves and tension. Murray could trace her ribs, count the scars on her back, see the fresh wounds as well.When the moon was risen, cracks and groans echoed through the air. Screams and grunts morphed, turned guttural, changed into howls.Murray recovered from the change, rising to his paws as the rest of the pack did so as well and saw…Saw Esther. Human and naked, collapsed to her knees, hugging herself and crying.“No, no, not again, not again! I have to wolf out, I have to! I did everything right!” she sobbed. But it changed nothing. She remained human, surrounded by beasts beneath a blood red moon.Only one wolf approached her, a large black furred wolf with a patch of white on its snout: Bain Cairban.“Dad, please, daddy, please…!” Esther sobbed, but Bain was done. He struck her once, and she fell to the ground. Then Cain angrily threw his long claw to the side, towards the shack. A gesture of dismissal.“No, please,” Esther just kept repeating as her father turned his back on her. Dropping to all fours Bain loped from the compound, the rest of the pack following. “I did everything you told me! You promised it would work! You promised!Only Murray hesitated, turning back to Esther. Ronan nudged him, urging him to keep up.Murray felt strangely at peace. Tomorrow, the pack would gather, and Esther would be banished. Tomorrow, he would leave as well. He would never have to deal with the toxic minds and filthy souls of this wretched place again.He would miss Ronan and Conall. He might even once in a while miss his father, Whelan, though not as much. He would flat out be glad to get away from Liam. He hardly knew his sisters, or even his mother.But he loved Esther. And that was enough for him to leave.‘I’ll be back for you soon, Esther,’ Murray told himself. Tonight, tonight would be his last night with his litter though. He didn’t think it was wrong to want to spend it with them.So, he turned and joined the hunt for the last time. ***Scene Break*** Pack hunts were brutal things. Many would compete against each other: eager to get the first or largest kill, snapping and fighting to prevent another from making the same. Murray didn’t have much interest in the posturing or bragging rights on normal moons, much less now that he had decided to leave the pack anyway. So he held back, playfully nipping at Conall to encourage him ahead, tussling with Ronan for fun. Whelan growled, annoyed at his lack of commitment. Murray just let his tongue sag, panting calmly.Whelan snapped at him, indicating that for his insolence Murray would eat last. Murray chuffed in laughter at the censure, and Whelan growled at him again.The cattle that they had stolen didn’t last long, the fat steers and cows being torn apart by the pack of werewolves in minutes. Murray watched with indifference as the pack glutted itself. When Whelan finally acknowledged Murray, jerking his head towards the leftovers, Murray took his time, sniffing for the best remains.And it was because of his choosiness, that he was able to make out a smell which made him freeze. Buried beneath the blood, in one of the stomachs of a more whole carcass, he smelled a scent which made his hackles rise. Near him, chewing on a flank Ronan sniffed at him in curiosity. Instantly, Murray snapped out, striking Ronan’s snout and causing him to recoil with a yelp, dropping the meat. Whelan immediately growled, but in response Murray just dropped his nose sniffing deeply, eyes urgent. His father’s eyes narrowed, and he leaned in and smelled the meat as well.It was Whelan’s turn for his eyes to snap open. Immediately, he threw his head back and howled a warning.Aconite. Wolfsbane. The cattle were fat with it! They must have been fed it within the last two days…!Aconite was dangerous to normal humans and animals. The cattle were big enough that they must have not yet been affected by the symptoms, and most humans would be able to live through low doses. There would have only been trace amounts of its toxin within the blood and flesh of the cattle…However, against werewolves it was incredibly potent! Even as Whelan howled a warning, Murray saw others starting to shake, whimpers splitting the air. Some of the younger pups, the ones who had only begun wolfing were convulsing. Murray realized that there was no way the cattle had access to enough aconite for a herd that size to be so exposed by accident. They had been fed it on purpose.Even as he realized it, the first round of fire began. From upwind, in the direction of the edge of the plantation, gunfire was coming down. In the red moon, Murray could make out a mob of ranchers, long rifles armed and aimed, shouting between each other as they advanced on the stricken pack.No, that was insane! This was Navajo land, and it was illegal for them to enter it. If the tribe found out they would be…Then the second wave of fire occurred. Behind them, from within the tribal lands. Murray realized what had happened the moment he identified the second group as being composed entirely of Navajo.A trap. The pack, having spited the two sides for decades, had finally gathered enough malice for them to unite. The ranchers had volunteered the cattle, poisoning them before letting them be stolen, and in return the Navajo had allowed them onto the lands, joining them to eradicate their mutually hated foes.Next to him, Conall had eaten too much, and was stumbling as he tried to right himself. Murray would never know if it was deliberate or just a lucky shot, but as he watched a rifle bullet struck Conall in his eye. A shower of warmth and gore settled on Murray, and he stared, frozen as his brother, his litter mate died in front of him.This was real. This was happening.Ronan didn’t howl, he screamed as he saw his other brother fall. Whelan clutched his chest in pain, a howl of rage as he mustered the wolves near him that could move. He snapped at Murray, but despite what had just happened, Murray only felt cold.Cold, still, unnaturally rational, his thoughts raced.The entire pack, everyone who could shift, was here. Meaning the compound was unguarded. The only ones who remained were the young, the pups.If the ranchers and the tribe were truly dedicated to eliminating the pack, then they would be in danger too! Them… and Esther.His father was snapping, demanding that they attack the foes in front of them, but Murray snapped back, pointing his muzzle towards the compound.He could tell when his father understood his fear, and Whelan only hesitated for a second before he turned and snapped at Ronan, and Liam as well. Liam immediately growled at Murray and Ronan, a command to follow him, and the two obeyed immediately, racing away from the battle, towards the compound.Murray would never be able to remember the run. He was too focused on squeezing just a bit more speed, just a little faster, just a little quicker. Esther, Esther was still human. What would the attackers do? Would they spare her, thinking she was no threat? Would they even find her, if she was back in the shack? The orange sky drew a howl from Liam and Ronan. It was almost unnoticeable in the red light of the moon, but since he was looking for it, he could identify the light cast by an enormous fire.The compound was in flames. The realization might have been what distracted all three of them. They never noticed the ambush.Ronan took the brunt of the attack, multiple rifles flashing in the dark. Ronan’s body jerking as he fell, mid-step. Murray felt several hit him as well, but he rolled with the impact away from the attack. He was injured, one of his arms felt numb, but his other limbs seemed to work.Liam went down but rose immediately and turned towards the attack. He tried to charge, and was peppered with fire again. Flash lights were being turned on, aimed at him as he continued to try and attack.Murray held his breath, and backed away from the lights. It was pointless to attack head on, but Liam was always direct, always accepted challenges. He had never lost one before. Which might be why he thought he could win this one.“Dumb Wolfer,” Murray could hear one of the attackers, a rancher, laugh. “You know, I’ve always wanted a wolf skin rug,” another declared. Liam tried, one last time, and a blast to his chest finally sent him to the ground.Murray had a cold moment of certainty. The pack was poisoned, and being assaulted from both sides by forces dedicated to their death. The compound was on fire, probably had enemy reinforcements in it. And Liam and Ronan were both too far gone.It was just him. And at that moment, the only thing he could think of was Esther. Getting to Esther, making sure she was safe.Murray’s last sight of Liam was as the ranchers came in. One in particular was wielding a long skinning knife.His arm burned, but he was able to make good speed as he circled the flaming compound. His heart ached, when he saw that not every building was burning yet. But the one which was burning brightest was the communal hall, where the pups slept during full moons. Some part of him hoped, prayed, that the attackers had been kind enough, that they hadn’t been so hateful, that they had removed the pups first. But he could see by light cast by the fire that armed men, more Navajo, were in the compound spreading the fires.He ran as fast as he could, stumbling when his arm gave out from his weight. He clenched his jaw shut, silencing any whimper through sheer force of will. He had to be quiet, as quiet as he could, he couldn’t be caught, he had to hold it back. He was past the compound, hoping to put distance between him and it, when his heart sank.Esther was running towards him. She must have seen the fires and came racing. But doing so took her from the safety of her exile. It meant she would be found as well.“Murray…? Murray!” Esther identified him immediately, and her eyes widened in shock and fear. “Murray, what’s going on!” He tried to waive her away, to indicate she should be quiet, that they should try to escape, but instead Esther just saw his wound and shrieked again, shocked and worried for him.Even as they close in on each other, Murray hoping to grab her and run, the wind shifted. He smelt the one behind him. Hyper focused, he heard the cock of the rifle’s hammer.He instantly threw himself in front of Esther. The bullet struck him in the lower back. He fell. Esther tried to grab him, to support him, but he was too big, and the most she could do was slow his fall.“Murray, no, not you, I can’t lose you, Murray, please, talk to me…” Esther was babbling hands darting over his body, coming away wet with blood. He could only grit his teeth, determined not to yelp, not to scream, not to worry her any more than she already was…“A human?” one of the tribesmen who were burning their home asked, tone uncertain.“A Skinwalker,” another disagreed. “They walk out of skins now, but they are like the others.”“Murray, noooo-!” Murray rolled himself over, protecting Esther, even as her scream started to change, even as it started to deepen, to transform to a howl. The shot this time hit him in the shoulder, and he kept himself from grunting. The pain distracted him from Esther beneath him.By the time he realized she was changing, she was already done. He barely realized it as he was pushed aside, as something darted past him, until he heard a choked noise, followed by a short scream. A spray of something warm hit him, and he managed to roll, to turn and found…Esther was beautiful. Her wolf was magnificent, enormous, powerful, lithe. He felt his breath catch when he took her in.And then he saw the two bodies, one with its neck snapped in Esther’s new, long, powerful arms.The other was clenched by its throat between her teeth. With a shake of her head, she threw it to the side.Murray saw the way her jaw clenched, the way her throat moved as she swallowed. He didn’t want to believe what it meant.Esther turned to Murray, and leaned in, sniffing, a quiet whine in her throat. He looked into her eyes, and for a moment they were Esther’s eyes, curious and bright, kind.Then a crack from a rifle came from the distance, and the eyes changed. They became maddened, infuriated, vessels for hatred and rage.Howling, Esther threw herself towards the village.Murray, hovering on the edge of consciousness, grit his teeth against the pain, and tried to follow her. ***Scene Break*** Murray had been lucky. The shot to his back had missed his spine and though it hurt, the thick muscle of the wolf had managed to keep it from penetrating too deeply. He wasn’t certain why the attackers hadn’t used silver bullets. Maybe they thought the aconite would be enough. More likely, they were simply too poor to be able to afford that much silver ammunition.The bullet to his shoulder was bad as well, but it was on the same arm that was already injured. He would be in pain for a while, but he had worse before. He knew he would be able to recover.It still caused him to move slowly though. Too slowly to catch up with Esther. But he was able to follow her path.He just had to follow the screams. And the bodies.By the time he had made it back to the compound, he was just able to catch a glimpse of Esther as she finished the invaders. Their bodies were ravaged. Throats were ripped open, limbs torn off. More than once, he had found bodies with bites taken out of them. Chunks of flesh he couldn’t find discarded anywhere nearby. He forced the thought from his mind, forcing himself to focus on simply catching up to her.After she had cleared the compound, she had followed the scent of the pack, tracking it. Murray tried to keep up, but he simply couldn’t move fast enough.But he could keep track by the bodies.Human and werewolf.Most of the human bodies were ripped apart, and considering they had been fighting werewolves, already immense creatures with great physical strength and natural weapons, and maybe not all of them were because of Esther.But the werewolf bodies were mixed. Some of them had obviously been shot, and in a sickening wave of nausea Murray realized that the attackers hadn’t all been joking about making rugs of them: some were partially skinned before the humans doing it were killed.But many of the werewolves were also torn apart, wounds only another wolf could leave on them.Murray couldn’t believe Esther had done it. At least, not on purpose. Esther was awkward but kind, nervous and sweet. He couldn’t stop thinking about the way her eyes changed, about the rage that was laying there.Maybe it was the drugs she had been taking. Maybe the blood moon had something to do with it.Maybe, Murray knew in his darkest thoughts, maybe it was the years of laughter and cruelty, laying in the dark and festering…It was moon-fall when Murray finally caught up to Esther. He only had a moment to take in the sight before the change began to reverse, the end of his time as a wolf and the return of his time as just a man.But he had already seen it.“Murray,” Esther muttered, her voice distant, confused. “Murray, is that you? Where… where am I?”Murray wanted to say anything, to stop her from seeing, but he couldn’t think of the words, couldn’t force anything out.So he couldn’t stop it as Esther looked down. If a werewolf dies in their wolf form, they remain in it. So Esther was able to take in the large, black furred wolf she was perched on, the one with a patch of white on its snout. The wolf with savage bite marks, chunks of flesh missing. The body of Bain Calbrain, her father.He could see the confusion, until her hands touched her face and found them smeared with blood. He could see her grimace as she realized the blood was in her mouth, down her throat.He could see when she realized what she had been doing to her father’s corpse.She vomited immediately. She kept vomiting, as he got close to her, slipping his good arm under hers, dragging her to her feet. She was still dry heaving as he led her away from the carnage. ***Scene Break*** “What are we going to do, Murs?” Esther finally whispered. It was hours later, midday by that point. She had been quiet, withdrawn as he led her back to town, as he washed and dressed her. She had sat, silent and staring into the distance as he had made his way through the town, searching the unburnt houses, collecting any money or supplies he could fine.They had to go. They had to go now. There was no telling what was going to happen, not after what went down the night before. He had no idea how this would be seen, what this massacre would cause, but he knew that he didn’t want Esther to have to go through any part of it. He had always intended to slip away. Now he was doing just that, albeit under slightly different circumstances.Murray tried to open his mouth, to explain his thoughts to Esther, but even when he opened it, even when he tried, no words came out.So he held up the car keys to the old battered truck his family owned. “We leave?” Esther asked, the years of familiarity between the two enough for her to understand him, even without words. “But… but where will we go?”Murray held up the magazine he had stolen just the day before. He pointed at the cover.“San Francisco?” Esther asked, and he nodded. She seemed to shrink into herself. “Do you think they’ll be happy to have me?” she asked, tears slipping down her cheek as she whispered her question. “Do you think anyone will ever be happy to have me?”Murray reached down, cupping her chin. He wanted to tell her he’d always be happy to have her, that anyone would be, that she was perfect and beautiful. But despite what he wanted to say, no words would come out.So without words, he simply leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. She blushed, hunching up and looking away in embarrassment.“Okay,” she agreed softly. “Let’s go to San Francisco.” ***Scene Break***
Present
The room was silent. Murray was grateful for it. His throat felt like it was about to close, and he had a thin layer of sweat on his brow.The hand waved at him. It seemed to be with purpose. Then, it made a twirl and produced… a thin black handkerchief? It tossed it to him, and Murray caught it reflectively.What the hell?“What happened?” Enid finally asked in a whisper. “What happened to her?”“Was it the cumulation of the drug regime she had been placed on, mixed with the continued scorn of her oppressors, resulting in a terrible blood thirst that could only be quenched by consuming her enemies?” Wednesday hopefully supplied. Enid grimaced, and gave her a look. Wednesday appeared to realize that her anticipation could maybe be considered negative by other people. “I’m simply seeking to satisfy my scientific curiosity.”“Wednesday…” Enid began, tense. “Not the time. Really not the time. Unless…”She turned to Murray, perhaps hoping that he had an explanation for what her mother had done. Unfortunately, Murray could only shrug helplessly.Leaning forward to brush aside the articles and pull the text books back, he turned back to the ‘Runt’ article. Wednesday obediently leaned forward, and he directed her gaze as appropriate.“’Observed congenital conditions prevalent in single born’,” she read, and began to list the ones that Murray tapped. “Albinism, dwarfism, sexual disfunction, gigantism, compulsive atavism…”Murray tapped on the last two again, blaming his fat fingers for the first three.“Gigantism and compulsive atavistic behavior,” Wednesday repeated, pursing his lips. “You mentioned Esther’s wolf form is unusually large. Atavism would refer to potential feral reversions?” “Wait, my wolf form is actually really big as well,” Enid noted, sitting upright. “Mom’s the only werewolf I’ve ever seen that’s around the same size…”Murray flipped again, this time coming back to the article on ‘Late Bloomers’. Again, Wednesday followed his directions.“’Symptomatic behavior occasionally displayed after late bloomer presentation’,” she announced. “Initial hormonal aggression, amnesia of the initial experience, delirium…” His finger trailed down to the bottom of the article, one sentence he had highlighted and underlined three times. “Initial shifting is a traumatic experience and can cause physical or mental impairment as the body adjusts. While following changes will see those symptoms diminish or cease…”This time Murray turned the pages to a new section.“’The blood moon and its effect on lycanthropy’,” Wednesday continued. “’it is unknown if it is due to the additional gravitational effects caused by the eclipse, or if mystic phenomenon plays a role, however many werewolves have indicated erratic or unusual behavior while shifting under its influence…’”“God, it’s like the perfect storm of shifts,” Enid realized, rocking in place as she worked her way through it. “I mean, she’s drugged to her teeth, surrounded by people who she hates, with her first transformation, as a runt, and a late bloomer, under a blood moon while being attacked?”“Any one of those factors could lead to complications,” Wednesday nodded, and Murray thought she sounded contemplative. “It is impossible to discern which specific trait led to her berserk state of mind in her first turn…”Murray sighed, and nodded. Wednesday regarded him for a moment, and then seemed to realize something and sat up straighter. She glanced between Murray and Enid, frowning.“And that is what caused you to be concerned that Enid might experience the same,” Wednesday declared. At his side, Enid froze, a sharp inhale the only noise.“Earlier, you did not deny my accusation of concerns about a blood line curse,” Wednesday continued. “While this situation is depressingly lacking in scorned warlocks or murderous shamans, there are enough similarities that both yourself and Enid’s mother were concerned that she too might be subject to the same state. Both Enid and her mother were single births and late bloomers. While it is apparent that there are many others who suffer the same conditions, you had proof of the possibility with Esther’s first turn.”Murray saw Enid turn to him, eyes wide, and he sighed, and nodded to confirm the deduction. “Enid has previously described her relationship with her mother as being less negative, until it was apparent she was a late bloomer. Afterwards, Esther demonstrated increasing concern over her late bloomer status.” Wednesday continued, sounding as though she was simply finishing a puzzle out loud, and seeing how all the pieces fit. “The continued concern eventually escalated to the proposed attendance of the camps: they were attempts to isolate the reasons for her late blooming, and allow her to transform through other methods then violence.”Murray nodded again, arm still around his daughter who was looking even more pale.“Like mother, like daughter,” he said simply.“But, dad, that’s crazy!” Enid choked out, her breathing quick as she bordered the line of panic. “I already wolfed out right, and nothing bad happened? I’m not going to go crazy or anything, right?”Murray leaned forward, and pulled the final piece from the lock box.The arrest report of Tyler Galpin.Murray could hear Wednesday’s sharp inhalation.“Enid…” she began, and for the first time Murray heard hesitation and even worry in her tone. “I believe you already have.”“What do you mean?” Enid demanded, her voice breaking.“The way you turned… It was also under a blood moon,” Wednesday listed. “And it was in order to protect me. According to your father, your mother also changed under those two circumstances. And immediately afterwards, you fought Tyler in his hyde form. Fought him fiercely enough to beat him, despite his own experience with his form, his madness, and his strength. How much do you remember of the fight?”“Nothing,” Enid whispered. “Or like almost nothing. I remember seeing you, and then Tyler, and I had to stop him… it was all blur…”Murray tapped the report, drawing Wednesday’s attention to some specific details, and she immediately took them in and understood them.“Enid, during the fight Tyler was wounded several times. Though they were not in danger of being lethal, they were quite severe. You pass out at the sight of blood. It seems unlike you to hurt someone so egregiously.”“So, what, I’m a danger whenever I wolf out?” Enid whimpered.Murray immediately shook his head, pulling her tight for a moment.“Second time was fine. Only the first.”Esther had never reacted like she had that first night. Her second wolf out she had been panicked, terrified that she might hurt someone again, that she might be driven so deeply in rage that she would consume flesh like she had that first night. She had insisted she be locked up, that she be immobilized. However, once she had changed, she discovered she had none of the blood lust or rage she had the first time. She had never had it again. It was only the first. Enid’s second moon had been the same way for her.“Alright, so I’m fine, I’m going to be fine,” Enid was recovering her calm, her breathing starting to slow. “I mean, I’m going to be fine now, but I could have not been. Dad, why didn’t anyone tell me this BEFORE I had my first wolf out? I mean… I could have really hurt someone…”Murray leaned forward, flipped the textbook back a few pages, and tapped one word.“’Stress’,” Wednesday read, already nodding slightly as she connected the dots. “Regardless of their worries being proven right, they had no certainty beforehand. Your mother and father had no way of knowing just what factor had contributed to your mother’s first change. If they had told you this story, you would have panicked, and the worry and stress might have been enough to cause the very thing they were seeking to avoid: a self-fulfilling prophecy.”Murray nodded and Enid bit her lip, understanding the reason but not agreeing with it.“I, I just can’t wrap my head around it,” she finally admitted. She hunched over, her hands closing into fists, including the one still holding Wednesdays. The shorter girl didn’t seem to mind it. “I mean, didn’t you have me go to those lycanthrope specialists? Shouldn’t someone have been able to know if I was going to go crazy on my first shift?“It feels like someone should have known, or been able to do something! Despite everything, the most anyone could do was worry and hope, but shouldn’t someone have known for sure, or do a test of something?”Murray grimaced, wishing he had an answer for her, wishing he had the words to comfort her. But even if speaking wasn’t so hard for him, he didn’t have anything to comfort her with. Late blooming, single birth side effects; the truth was that they were far more studied now but no more than thirty years ago they were still trying to be treated with methods that hadn’t changed for hundreds of years.And even if they had progressed far in the last years for standard causes, what about the non-standard? They had tried hard to make sure Enid would wolf out by treating common causes, but in the end, it had still happened through physical danger and a blood moon.Was it just coincidence? Was there some reason for it? Despite everything, despite how far they had come, lycanthropy was still at its core a mystic phenomenon. There were some things science just couldn’t explain.“Enid,” Wednesday began, tone speculative. “I believe that these texts are your father’s attempt to do just that. They are exceedingly well researched and organized. They are particularly noteworthy when the author began their educational history as a homeless fugitive from an intellectually stifling survivalist compound.”Enid turned wide eyes to Murray, and he nodded.It had been hard, when they first started. The battered truck they had used originally had barely managed to make it to San Francisco before breaking down. They had abandoned it where it failed, and finished the trip on foot. For a time, they had been homeless and living on the streets without any form of ID or without knowing anyone.But Murray remembered. He knew there were organizations out there for werewolves, support groups to help them, and with dogged persistence he found them. With their aid they had gotten IDs, found work, and even managed to use the funds they had taken from the compound to purchase a tiny, ratty apartment for themselves.Esther had struggled at first, but finally got a job at a very forgiving vegan diner as a waitress. They had scraped and saved, earning bit by bit. Step by step, Murray progressed from day laborer working on his GED to janitor working on his Bachelors, to TA working on his Masters. Together they had simply persevered. And through it all, Murray had worked to try to understand what had happened on that blood moon, to make some sense of it.None of it was easy. It was made so much harder by the psychological scars they both lived with. After what Esther had done, what she remembered from her first shift it was no surprise that she would battle with anorexia and bulimia for years. There were times when Murray had nearly had to force her to eat, to keep herself healthy. She was much better now, but to this day the sight of any kind of meat would make her nauseous, and any attempt to actually eat it would cause her to vomit.Murray had his own scars. His inability to even force himself to speak immediately afterwards had initially meant his employers thought he was a mute. He was originally diagnosed with dysarthria. However, once his jobs offered healthcare he was instead diagnosed with selective mutism. After treatment, he could speak again, but he was never comfortable talking in crowds or for long periods of time.By the late 90s, they had saved up enough to purchase their current house. Potrero Hills used to be a cheap residential area, something which many werewolves, artists, and LGBT members took advantage of, and the Sinclairs purchased this house with the intention of be able to build a family. It had taken years before they were financially able, years more until they were physically ready.And now Murray and Esther had a house, steady income, beautiful boys, and a lovely daughter.And a remaining shadow cast by their past, and hinted at in the future.“The lingering question I continue to hold,” Wednesday continued, arms folded again and her eyes narrowed, “is the disagreement over the timeframe of the revelation. If the danger had passed, then why was Esther still reluctant to share this information with Enid?”“Was it an age thing?” Enid asked, still hunched over her legs. “Did mom just want to wait until I was eighteen or something, or did she just not think I could handle it? Have you already told my brothers?”“When they’re older,” Murray shook his head. Someday he would have to have this conversation with the boys as well, but for them it was much less pressing. It could wait until they were more mature, more able to deal with the implications of what had happened. For Enid, there were implications much more immediate. And a more immediate need as well.“Then why now?” Enid pleaded.Murray took a deep breath. It was getting harder and harder for him to keep going. He was exhausted, mentally and physically from the strain of speaking so much, and he was having trouble catching his breath. For all his treatments progress, for all that he reclaimed, the very act of speaking still took a toll on him.“Like daughter, like mother,” he managed to get out.“You said that already,” Enid groaned, but Wednesday cocked her head, considering. Finally, the girl nodded to herself.“Enid, I believe that your father was referencing when you might become a mother, and if you ever have a daughter,” she noted.“Oh shit,” Enid swore, sitting up violently. “Shit! You think if I ever have kids…?”Murray ignored her vulgarities and shrugged, again, helplessly unable to deny the question.“You indicated that you would discuss this with all of your spawn, but that for Enid it was more important.” Wednesday noted, studying him carefully. “Is it acceptable to surmise from that statement that you believe a risk is there for all of your children, but that you have concluded its higher for Enid and she deserved to know the risks sooner?”Murray was incredibly grateful at this point that he had allowed the other girl to stay. Her astuteness was proving invaluable for finishing the story.He nodded at the conclusion.“Okay, I cannot decide if I’m happy that you believed in me enough to tell me all this, terrified at the thought of what it means for the future, or mad that you didn’t wait after all,” Enid groaned. “I mean, I never really thought about kids before or anything. I’m only sixteen, and I am NOT ready to have pups. But now I don’t know if I’ll ever want to even think about it!”“It is nothing to be concerned about at the moment,” Wednesday told her, patting her leg with her free hand. “It has already been shown that strides are being made in understanding the underlying principles. There’s no reason to think that more won’t be made in the future. And the condition itself only seems dangerous if no reasonable precautions are taken.”“And what would you consider a reasonable precaution, Wednesday Addams!” Enid snapped at her.“Assassins could be hired to endanger them or a close relation on a blood moon, with adequate sacrifices on hand to satiate their blood lust on afterwards?” Wednesday added, sounding disturbingly hopeful.Enid stared at her, blinking. So did Murray. What the hell?“Alternatively, wait until a blood moon, inject them with sufficient adrenaline to simulate a life-threatening situation, and have individuals on standby with industrial strength sedatives when they change.” Wednesday did not sound nearly as excited by that option.“Wednesday, I’m not sure I’ll ever figure out how your brain works,” Enid finally decided. Though she did turn to Murray with a hopeful look. “Do you think that would work, dad?”Murray shrugged, and held up a hand to give a tentative thumbs up. It did address the similar factors between Esther and Enid: the blood moon, and violent situations. And sedatives did work on werewolves…A contemplative silence settled on the room. Murray turned over the options for the future, considering them. If he were to guess, Enid was trying to take in everything that had been revealed to her, and Wednesday… was probably thinking about assassins? Maybe? And Murray had no idea what the hand was thinking about… He was pretty sure it COULD think at this point, but HOW was still something he just couldn’t wrap his mind around.Finally, the silence was broken by snort from Enid.“You know, the weirdest thing about this all, is it means that all these years, mom was trying to look out for me,” she muttered pensively. “I mean, I always thought she thought of me like a disappointment, like she was holding me being a late bloomer over me and judging me and stuff. But instead, it was her worrying about me, and trying to keep me from, you know, not murdering a whole bunch of people and…” she swallowed, looking green as thought about it, “…and doing other stuff.”“A missed opportunity,” Wednesday muttered wistfully. Enid reached out and slapped the back of her head lightly, chuffing slightly.“I mean, what am I supposed to do now?” Enid murmured. “I mean, I guess I have to apologize for misunderstanding all these years…”“Enid,” Wednesday cut her off, and this time her tone was stern. “Enid, regardless of her reasons, her actions hurt you. No matter her intentions with her actions, they caused you pain.”“But...” Enid began, biting her lips, and Wednesday shook her head.“Even if she did so in an attempt to protect you or assist you, the results of her actions must be judged independently to her intentions,” Wednesday continued. “And that does not automatically engender forgiveness. To forgive is to condone, and it is your choice whether to do so, not some obligatory social obligation you must provide upon learning her reasoning.”“Wednesday,” Enid groaned, hunching over again. “But…” She turned to Murray, as though hoping he would disagree with the other girl’s impassioned speech.Murray bit his lip, unable to meet her eyes. Slowly, reluctantly, he shrugged.Wednesday was not wrong. For years he had watched, painfully from the sidelines. Esther had done her best, but that didn’t mean that she hadn’t always made the best decisions on how. He believed in and loved both of his ladies, his wife and his daughter, and he wanted what was best for both of them, for both of them to be happy, but he wasn’t blind to the fact that their actions had hurt each other over the years.“Your mother isn’t perfect,” he acknowledged. “But she tried.”And that, was the crux of it. It was why he wanted to tell Enid this story sooner, rather than later. He wanted for Enid to be able to understand Esther, to see that her mother wasn’t trying to hurt her, that it wasn’t that Esther didn’t love her, but that she didn’t always know how to show that love.Enid looked conflicted, but a sudden furious tapping drew her attention and the attention of the rest of the room.The hand again. Once they were looking at it, it began another furious combination of gestures and taps, continuing…And continuing…And continuing…?After ten minutes of furious motion, Murray had no idea what it was trying to say and could only stare at it, perplexed.He noticed that he appeared to be the only one who had no clue what was going on.“Oh Thing,” Enid started to tear up, sniffing. “Oh, that was beautiful! I… I had no idea you felt that way!”Murray was mildly disturbed when she swept the severed appendage up into a hug, cradling it fiercely. “While I disagree with some of your points, I find myself unable to refute your eloquence…” Wednesday sounded reluctantly impressed. “Perhaps it is fine to allow that woman a chance…”From where it was held in Enid’s arms, the hand saw Murray looking at it and gave him a thumbs up.Slowly, not really sure what he was doing, Murray returned the gesture.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
only human Enid had slept late the next day. Considering how late they had all been up, how much of an emotional roller coaster she had found herself on, she felt she deserved it. After she finally woke up, Wednesday had requested that they use the tickets her brothers had bought for them, which was how Enid found herself walking with Wednesday down the avenues and streets of The Castro.Morbidly, it turned out that having an existential crisis was enough to block out the panic that leading her strictly platonic friend (who she loved but not loved like that, not that that would be wrong, but anyway, yeah, they were close and that was perfectly normal) through the gay village. As they made their way through the neighborhood, taking in the various stores and sights, Wednesday had insisted they follow the Furs Honor Walk. The Castro had two Honor Walks, the Furs for the werewolf civil rights movement, and the Rainbow for the LGBT movement. As they followed the sidewalk, stopping so that Wednesday could read the various plaques and monuments set in the sidewalk, Enid felt as though she was there for the very first time.She had seen them all before. Enid had spent plenty of time in the city, seen a lot of the tourist sites and a lot of the underground places that only real residences knew about. Her dad had led her and her brothers on this walk himself, the five pups spilling all over each other to be the first one to blurt out a fact and get a piece of candy tossed to them. Because of that Enid could recite a lot of the history from memory.But this was the first time she had ever really felt connected to it. To hear about the oppression and suffering of werewolves past, to hear about the triumphs and progresses that have been made had always felt academic to her, just something which was important but not immediately relevant.But it was relevant, Enid realized. It wasn’t something from the distant past. Her own parents had lived through horrific examples of misplaced tradition and racial persecution. Even now, there was probably dozens of werewolves out there who weren’t able to live a life like hers, happy and proud of who she was.It was humbling. It spurred a deep, almost overwhelming love for her family: her quiet but supportive father, her idiotic but not really that bad brothers…And her mother… Her mother who had always seemed so judgmental in Enid’s eyes, who had always seemed like some stern and implacable figure who she could never please and was always disappointed in her…Her mother who had been in the same situation that Enid had, but so much worse. Who had been trying so hard to make sure Enid never had to experience what she had…It was a strange realization: that her mother was only human. It’s normal for children to look up to their parents, to think that they were unflappable, to think that they knew what they were doing. Enid had always thought that Esther knew what she was doing, that her actions were purposeful, and that her results were intended.The realization that her mother wasn’t like that, that she made mistakes, made Enid wonder what mistakes she herself might have made over the years. What had she misunderstood, what had she interpreted wrong?Esther was a person, and as a person Enid realized she didn’t know her mother very well at all.“You appear deep in thought.” Enid started a bit, and turned to find Wednesday studying her frankly. “It’s an unusual appearance for you.”“Being deep in thought?” Enid managed to get out, grinning wanly.“Or in any thought at all,” Wednesday corrected, but even as Enid squeaked in outrage, she could see the small upturn to the shorter girl’s lips.“Mean,” Enid pouted, feeling a grin of her own start as well. “Would you like to rest for a moment?” Wednesday asked, head cocked slightly.“I guess, maybe?” Enid offered back. Wednesday nodded, and led them both to a coffee shop on the corner of the street. “Please, have a seat,” Wednesday told her as they entered. “I will place the order for both of us.”“Thanks, Willa,” Enid told her gratefully, and made her way to a window seat. She looked out the window, and tried to gather her thoughts, but they just kept seeming to flutter away from her. Even Wednesday placing a cup in front of her wasn’t enough to fully pull her from her thoughts. Enid sipped the offered beverage absently, smiling at the taste of coffee, chocolate, and caramel. Wednesday certainly knew her tastes by now, that much was for certain.“I have been advised that sometimes when a person experiences or witnesses an event that greatly impacts their life, it is often times beneficial for them to discuss it with someone afterwards,” Wednesday noted, sipping her dark drink. “Given your own propensity for vocalizations, I suspect this would be an efficient method for you to utilize as well.”“Wednesday Addams,” Enid began, the corner of her lips quirking slightly. “Are you asking me if I want to talk about it?”“Yes, that is my intention,” the seer admitted, shifting slightly in her chair. “That is, if you are so inclined.”Despite herself, Enid couldn’t stop herself from beaming a smile at her best friend. Oh, Wednesday was just so sweet, and considerate, and cute! This was basically the Wednesday way of offering to let her talk about her feelings, but also insisting that it was only if she wanted and was ready to!“I guess I was just thinking about my mom,” Enid admitted, shrugging slightly. “I mean, what do you do after you just find out something terrible happened to someone in your family a long time ago and you only just found out?”“Applaud?” Wednesday offered cautiously, and Enid leveled a dry glare at her which caused her to adjust her answer immediately. “I mean, I’m not entirely certain. When my father was arrested for murder, I had to confront my own mother about a terrible family secret as well. However, I was graced with an immediate problem to solve afterwards, and was able to work through the event together with her. It was cathartic enough for me to process the situation adequately.”“I’m not sure that would work for me,” Enid admitted, sipping her cup. Absently, she reached out with her free hand, and Wednesday looked at it for a moment, before taking a deep breath and offering her own in return.Good. Enid was getting more and more serious about that hand belonging to her now. A comfort hand. An emotional support hand. Like Thing, only more Wednesdayish.“I did not believe it would,” the seer admitted. “However, it was the only relevant or similar example I had readily available. Though if you do desire a joint confrontation, I could have my necromantic supplies shipped over handily. It may provide some sort of closure to reanimate and then personally re-terminate with prejudice your grandfather?”It said a lot about Enid’s developing tolerance for weirdness that she actually considered the option for a moment. “No thank you, Willa,” Enid declined the offer, and Wednesday shrugged slightly. Sipping her coffee, Enid struggled to verbalize the track her train of thought had been following. “I think… I think I need to talk to my mom.”“About her experiences?” Wednesday prompted, and Enid shook her head. Then paused, and shrugged. Then slumped.“No, not about… about what happened,” Enid decided. “I don’t think… I don’t think I’m ready for that, or that she’s ready for that, for that matter.” If those kinds of things had happened to her, if Enid had done what her mother had done, then Enid wasn’t sure she would ever be willing to talk about it. Well, maybe to a therapist but to her hypothetical-if-she-ever-had-one daughter?Yeah, Enid didn’t even know if she knew how to not know how she would handle that kind of a talk.“I think I just need to talk to her,” Enid went on. “Like, I don’t really know anything about my mom. What kind of things does she like besides yoga and new age stuff? Why does she do the things she does, not just what she does, or why I think she does it? I guess I have to get to know her better.”“Bonding,” Wednesday noted, crinkling her nose. “How deplorable. Are you certain you cannot acquire this knowledge surgically, perhaps via lobotomy?”“Wednesday,” Enid giggled. The seer shrugged.“That was how I deepened my knowledge of my uncle,” Wednesday defended.“Do… can I ask you to be there too?” Enid tightened her grip on Wednesday’s hand, nervous. Maybe it wasn’t the coolest thing in the world to ask your best friend to be there while you try to bond with your estranged mother, but if there was anyone around who Enid thought could help keep her grounded, it would probably be the tiny tyrant terror in front of her.At the request, Enid could see the actual physical shiver that went through Wednesday’s body as her face scrunched up in distaste. Enid hurried to explain.“It’s just, I’m worried that I might overreact or misread the situation, and you’re such a good investigator that you would absolutely be able to figure out if I’m misunderstanding something, or be able to question my mother if she says something which sounds mean to find out if she’s actually being mean, and since you’re so good at finding out the truth and all it would just seem like a natural thing for you to be able to…”“Enid, breathe,” Wednesday told her, eyebrow twitching. “So, you wish for me to assist in your… maternal bonding… under the basis of my interrogative abilities being able to determine the true… intentions of your mother.” Enid nodded immediately and Wednesday twitched. “Are you certain that we cannot simply resort to the lobotomy option?”“Willa! Oh, thank you!” Enid could not stop the beaming smile as she identified the other girl’s capitulation. Her other hand came out to join the one already grasping the seer’s hands. “Oh, thank you, thank you!”“I would tell you not to make me regret this,” Wednesday grit out, though she also brought her other hand up to pat hers. “But I already do.”“Excuse me,” a new voice interrupted their conversation, and Enid blinked in surprise as she turned to find one of the baristas smiling at them. “I’m so sorry for interrupting,” the employee went on quickly, holding up a polaroid camera, “but you two are such a cute couple that we were hoping to put you on the wall!”“In shackles?” Wednesday asked hopefully, and Enid patted her hand, confused by the question until the barista pointed towards one of the walls. On it there was a large sign proclaiming ‘Out and Proud!’ and beneath it were dozens upon dozens of pictures of happy couples all smiling at the camera.Same sex couples, Enid noticed, color beginning to rush to her face as she realized that Wednesday and her were still holding hands, leaning in, and hey, yes, they weren’t actually a couple because they were really just best friends and roomies, and yes, Enid really did like Wednesday a lot, but oh, my, god, this other lady thought that they were together as in ‘TOGETHER’ together and was totally absolutely completely misreading the situation…!“What would we gain from participating in this quaint custom?” Wednesday asked, cocking her head to the side as Enid sputtered. “I have some tickets to a small pride march happening this weekend,” the barista indicated, and Wednesday nodded slowly as Enid tried to remember how to speak.“Pride is my favorite of the cardinal sins,” Wednesday admitted. “Though it and ‘Wrath’ frequently vie for first place. Enid, would this be an acceptable destination this weekend?”Enid sputtered, unable to properly reject the idea. Afterall, Wednesday really seemed interested, as in interested in the march she meant, and Enid did owe her a favor for just agreeing to help with her mom, but okay, wow, did Wednesday not realize what they meant by ‘Pride’, or did she recognize and actually agree, and okay, maybe, just maybe, hear her out, maybe Wednesday might actually also be a little bit interested, though that ‘also’ didn’t necessarily mean that ENID was interested but maybe….!?Enid was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t even realize she was nodding furiously until Wednesday returned her attention to the hopeful barista.“Very well, please proceed,” the seer ordered and the employee beamed a smile and lifted the camera.As the flash of the polaroid highlighted Enid’s incredible blush, she realized that she was going to have to find some way to make sure her brothers NEVER FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS!!!!! ***Scene Break*** Enid was doing her absolute best not to hyperventilate, but it turns out ‘not hyperventilating’ is not one of her outstanding abilities.She could do this, she reminded herself sternly. She can do this, all she was going to do was go down and talk to her mother, and maybe find out something about her, and no, her mother wouldn’t unsheathe her judgey claws, but what if she did, and oh god, she wasn’t sure she could do this, no, no she could not do this, she didn’t want to do this…!“Breathe, Enid,” Wednesday told her, and Enid felt one of Wednesday’s hands touch her back briefly. It felt really nice, supportive and encouraging without being overwhelming, and despite herself Enid felt her panic recede. It was after dinner, and the boys had mostly returned to their rooms at this point, and were probably plotting totally uncool ways to make fun of the fact that she was capable of maintaining a completely healthy and platonic friendship with a beautiful girl while they couldn’t even get dates. Dad was in his study doing dad things.This was the time of the night where her mom would be just finishing up puttering around the kitchen: filling the dishwasher, organizing her utensils, and listening to some weird Tibetan flute music that she was into.Normally, Enid would have been updating her blog and checking her socials, but today, she was currently remembering how to breathe while clutching a modest hand bag and looking to Wednesday for support.“If this goes poorly, we can always return to the lobotomy option,” Wednesday reminded her, and Enid snorted at her bestie’s definition of support.‘Big girl time,’ Enid reminded herself. ‘You’re a fearsome werewolf. A beast which hunts the woods. You can do this.’So, she took a deep breath and forced herself forward.“Hey, mom,” she said, probably a bit too loud, and her cheerful tone felt a little forced. “Wednesday and I were about to do some manis, and we wanted you to join us! Can I do your nails?”Esther’s initial reaction to the invitation was to freeze, her face pinched as she turned slowly to her daughter. It was a reaction that made Enid’s heart sink a little. This was normally what Esther looked like when she came into a room, gave her daughter one look, and walked right out…“I would advise against flight,” Wednesday spoke up, her tone flat. “Your daughter desires this strongly, and if I have to endure this insipid tradition, then I wish for others to suffer as well.”The declaration seemed to catch Esther by surprise, and she glanced at Wednesday briefly, before biting her lip and smiling painfully at Enid.“Well dear, if you really want to,” Esther allowed, and Enid noted the way she was still biting her lip. Enid realized that she was biting her own lip as well, trying to steady her nerves…Was… was her mother nervous too? About what? About spending time together?“Oh, this is so exciting,” Enid nervously chattered as the three set up the dining room table with the supplies that Enid had brought down. “How long has it been since we all did our nails like this? I mean, we’ve obvi never done it all together like this, but I mean how long since any of us have done our nails together like this?”“Never,” Wednesday helpfully supplied. “This marks the end of a successful trend.”“Four years,” Esther herself spoke quickly nearly interrupting Wednesday as she chimed in the moment the seer was done speaking. “Since you were twelve. The last time we were watching that video about cuticles and you were having so much fun pushing them down that you accidentally cut yourself…”She cut herself off abruptly, but Enid felt shock as she realized that her mother was exactly right. Enid herself could remember the video, a YouTube how to. After she nicked herself, Esther had comforted her and wrapped a small rainbow band aid over the wound. It was one of the last memories of her and her mother spending time together without the looming shadow of Enid’s wolf out hanging over them.The fact that her mother remembered was daunting. In Enid’s head Esther’s focus on her wolfing out had been the core of their interactions for so long that the memories of how they had been before had seemed dimmed, unimportant somehow. But if her mom still remembered them so clearly…Feeling cautiously emboldened, Enid continued, trying to maintain the mood. She held up various bottles in various colors.“So,” she began, nerves still making her speak a little faster than she normally did, “I have a whole bunch of different colors. Now, I know Wednesday is only going to need, black, and maybe red if she’s feeling like a risk, I wasn’t certain what colors you would want, mom. I was thinking maybe pink and blue…”“Oh, dear, are you really certain about those colors?” Esther asked quickly. “I mean, I’m certain they would like fine, if you’re certain, but would those really be the best?”Enid flinched, unable to suppress years of instinctive response to her mother’s negging, and Esther cut herself off immediately. And here it was again, Enid realized, despite everything, despite trying to reach out to her, she still just wasn’t going to be enough for her mother…“Why would you think they might not be the best?” Wednesday’s voice cut through Enid’s spiraling mood, and both Enid and Esther turned as though they had forgotten the other girl was there.“Why?” Esther repeated, tone uncertain.“Why would pink and blue not be acceptable?” Wednesday inquired with a matter fact tone. “What is your reasoning for finding dissatisfaction with them?”“Well,” Esther began, and Enid realized she was biting her lip again, gnawing on it fiercely. “Before, Enid dear, you always said that pink and blue range to far in the pastel, and since nail art is supposed to be eye catching it was better to use bolder colors, and I just remembered how against them you always were so I was worried you might have been choosing them against your better judgment, and wanted to be certain you knew that I would be fine with whatever colors you wanted…”Esther cut herself off abruptly, and Enid found herself staring at her mom with slightly widened eyes. Enid had known for a while that, well, maybe just a little she could sometimes come down with a case of verbal diarrhea: that when she was nervous or excited, she would end up just word vomiting all over the place. It was something that always embarrassed her just a bit.To think that she and her mother had that in common…Enid found herself smiling at her mother. Esther, who Enid realized didn’t look offended, and instead looked nervous, tentatively smiled back with a slightly relieved expression.“Considering the intensity of your fascination with colors,” Wednesday turned to Enid, “I assume you have an explanation for your choice?”“Well, yeah, bold used to be super popular,” Enid began explaining, “but nail art has come a long way, and now it’s more about the statement than the contrast…” ***Scene Break*** From the stairwell across from the dining room, Murray listened as his wife and daughter had one of the longest conversations between the two of them that they had in years. It was stuttering, trailing on and off, one or the other cutting themselves off at one point or another. Esther would realize she had said something which could be misinterpreted and cut herself off abruptly, or Enid’s nerves would cause her to trail off slowly as she second guessed herself.Strangely, it was the third girl, her daughter’s friend Wednesday who would provide the opportunity for the conversation to begin: questioning Esther’s intentions for her statements and providing her the opportunity to explain the thoughts behind them, or prompting Enid to continue so she could reach whatever point she had originally been trying to make.Though Murray wondered if Wednesday even realized what she was doing: her comments always seemed to stay in line with her… somewhat quirky demeanor. It wasn’t perfect, but none of them were. What mattered was they were trying, and for what felt like the first time in years, it seemed like they were making progress.Quietly, as to not disturb them, Murray made his way up the stairs, to his office. Opening one of his drawers, he pulled out a half full bottle of fine scotch and one of the tumblers that he kept up in his office for special occasions. He felt like the current situation deserved a little celebrating.Pouring himself several fingers, he was about to take his first sip when he heard a familiar drumming noise.Turning, he saw the hand… its name was Thing, Murray remembered, perched on the coffee table. Tentatively, it waived at him.Murray stared at it for a moment, considering, before he finally made up his mind about how he felt about the mobile disembodied appendage.Slowly, he pulled out a second tumbler, and poured a generous amount into it as well. He placed it on the desk near him, and tapped the desk in invitation.Thing’s fingers flapped excitedly, and it scurried over. Plopping down next to the glass, it picked up the liquor and offered the cup towards Murray. Nodding, Murray tapped the glass with his own in cheers.And so, quietly, the two passed the night in contemplative silence as the women they loved talked below.