☘︎*⚜*☘︎
𝔉𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔡 𝔬𝔯 𝔚𝔬𝔢
☘︎*⚜*☘︎
"Wednesday Addams is impossibly irritating," Bianca huffed, storming into Y/N's dorm and flopping down onto the seat in front of the girl's desk.
Y/N smirked at the sound of her friend's voice and quickly double-checked to make sure that her pendant was on, before returning to the interior of her dorm. She loved waking up a little early to watch the sunrise. Not all the time of course, but now and then, when the sunrise was particularly beautiful, the plants would wake her to watch the sun.
"I'm surprised you're just realising that now," Y/N joked, shutting the window behind her and pulling off her sweater. "What happened this time?"
Bianca turned the chair around to face Y/N as the girl took a seat on her bed. "You know how we had a meeting last night?"
Y/N nodded. She knew who Bianca was talking about. Bianca, Divina, and Kent were all part of an "elite" student society. The three had invited her to join the semester before, promising her wild and exciting times, but Y/N had declined. Virgin mojitos and late-night skinny dips weren't her cup of tea. But that hadn't stopped the three from telling her everything that went on down in the secret room beneath Edgar Allan Poe's statue.
"So we were going down for our meeting last night, and lo and behold..." Bianca trailed off.
"Wednesday was there," Y/N asked. She laughed quietly and got to her feet, heading to her wardrobe to get her clothes for the day.
Today was Outreach Day. A day when the students of Nevermore were invited down to Jericho to mingle amongst the normies. Y/N's least favourite day of the school year. It was one thing for her to head down to the Weathervane for a cup of coffee and to catch up with Tyler when she had a chance, but it was another thing for her to be confined to the town for the entire day, suffering through odd looks from the normies. It was because of her first Outreach Day experience that she had started covering her slightly pointed ears with her hair, and wearing enchanted contacts to hide her bright green eyes.
"Xavier wanted to invite him to join the Nightshades, but he turned us down."
"You mean, like I did," Y/N joked, draping her blazer over her arm.
"You're different," Bianca muttered. "Wednesday is just stuck up. And he said that amateurs like us give kidnapping a bad name."
Y/N laughed. "Does he realise that you're all a bunch of sixteen-year-olds?"
Bianca soon left Y/N to get ready and returned to her dorm to ensure that Divina wasn't sleeping in later than she was supposed to. Once she was ready, Y/N grabbed her bag, threw it over her shoulder, and headed out of her dorm. She met Divina and Bianca on the main floor of their dorm before heading down to the lobby where they found Kent waiting for them. He was still supporting the black eye that Thing had given him the day before, and Y/N pouted at the sight of it.
"Aw, poor Kent," she teased, looping her arm through his. "How does it feel?"
"Better. It's still sore but better."
Y/N stuck her hand into her bag and pulled out a poultice. "Try this."
Kent took it without hesitation and placed it over his eye, smiling at her as the group headed out to the quad where most of the students were already waiting.
But Weems wasn't there yet, so Bianca led their group over to the rest of the sirens, all of whom bid Y/N good morning as she passed them. While she might not have any of her outcasts at Nevermore, the sirens were the next best thing. They understood her plight, as they suffered from a similar power.
"Morning, Y/N," Yìzé called, giving Y/N a high five as she passed him.
"Morning, Yìzé!" Y/N split off from Bianca and her other friends to talk to the boy, who was standing with one of his cousins. "You two ready for Outreach Day?"
"No," Chyou muttered, crossing her arms. "I don't understand why we have to do this."
Y/N shrugged. "I don't know either. I just wish we didn't." She pulled her bag further up her shoulder. "Where are you two hoping to volunteer?"
"Somewhere easy," Yìzé said, folding his arms behind his head. "Last year I had to work at Pilgrim World, which was an absolute pain."
"I don't doubt that."
"I'm of a similar opinion. What about you, Y/N?"
"If I had my choice I would stay at the school, but the Weathervane's a close second."
"Oh, yeah, you're friends with that normie, aren't you? The one who works there." Chyou glanced over at Yìzé. "What was his name again?"
"Tyler," the boy said.
Chyou snapped her fingers. "Right. Why are you friends with him again, Y/N?" She seemed unsure of whether or not Y/N being friends with a normie was a good thing or a bad thing.
Y/N rolled her eyes. "If you two are gonna grill me about my choice of friends, I can go." She gestured over her shoulder to where Divina and Kent were standing, half waiting for her, half waiting for Bianca.
Chyou shook her head. "Sorry. But you should probably go join them. They look bored."
"Aren't we all?" Y/N bid goodbye to the cousins and headed over to Divina and Kent, the latter of whom had removed the poultice from his eye.
"Feel better?" The bruise had nearly disappeared.
Kent nodded and handed her back the poultice. "Thanks for that. What is it?"
Y/N winked. "A little fairy magic."
At that moment, Weems arrived and Bianca rejoined her friends.
"All students will report for their volunteer jobs at 10:00 am sharp, followed by a community lunch at 1:00. As you know this year Outreach Day culminates in a very special event, the dedication of a new memorial statue in the town square, which will also include performances by Nevermore students. As representatives of our school, I trust you will all put your best face forward."
The teachers started going around and handing out the volunteer assignments. Bianca, Divina, and Kent were all assigned to Pilgrim World, which they were all right with, while Y/N was assigned to the Weathervane. She breathed a sigh of relief and as Weem's approached her, she sent the principal a thankful smile. No doubt Weems had made sure she wouldn't be outreaching Pilgrim World again, especially after the fiasco that had happened last year.
"Y/N," Weems said, pulling the girl aside for a moment. "I trust you will be able to find your way down to Jericho on your own, but I ask that you remain by the road. With all of the recent attacks, I don't want you going into the woods by yourself." She glanced down at the pendant around Y/N's neck. "And just in case you miss the welcome ceremony in the town square, I just want to remind you to be..."
"Careful?"
Weems smiled and nodded. "I know what happened last year wasn't your fault, sweetie. But just be a little more careful this time around, okay? Children don't always think before they do something."
"I know."
Weems gently patted her on the shoulder before heading off to lead the rest of the students down to the shuttles that were waiting. Y/N followed after them, but as the rest of the students piled onto the shuttles, Y/N started walking, heading down the road that would lead her to Jericho. It would take her a little longer this time, as Weems didn't want her cutting through the forest, but she knew that with a little magic, she would be able to make it down in time for the welcome speech.
As she walked, using a little bit of magic to move the dirt beneath her feet to push her forward, she thought of the last Outreach Day that she had been forced to suffer through.
☘︎*⚜*☘︎
Y/N stood in front of the general store at Pilgrim World, holding a tray of fudge in front of her. It had only been an hour of handing fudge out to normies, and already she was growing irritated. Constant questions about this and that, none of which she was able to answer, and the constant odd looks she received for her brilliant green eyes, and pointed ears decorated with a starlight cuff that her mother had made for her the past summer.
It had taken her mother weeks to gather enough starlight to melt it down in the town forge. She had broken in one night, and after using her gift to subdue the blacksmith into an enchanted slumber, she had toiled away before the flames, smelting the starlight into a tangle of thin wires for her daughter's ears. But Y/N loved the gift.
She was so lost in thought that she hadn't even noticed one of the normie boys from the high school approaching her with a malicious smirk on his lips. Kent, who had been spending most of the day with her, had been dragged off by their supervisor a few minutes earlier to try and get him to hand out more fudge instead of talking with Y/N and ignoring the tourists, and as Y/N noticed the boy standing in front of her, she desperately wished that Kent hadn't been dragged off. She was still unused to dealing with normies, and today it had been one normie after the next. Most normies would take a piece of fudge and go, but Y/N knew as soon as the boy stepped in front of her that this would be one of the ones who lingered.
"What's your name, freak," he asked, taking a piece of fudge from the tray.
Y/N didn't answer.
"C'mon, I'm talking to you!"
Y/N flinched at the loud and harsh tone.
The normie boy grabbed her arm and shook her. "So you think you're so high and mighty? Just because you're a freak?" His eyes flickered down to the pendant around her neck and he grinned. "So what, you're a siren?" He grabbed the pendant and before Y/N could stop him, he pulled it off of her, the chain snapping as it broke.
Immediately, the damage had been done. The boy stared at her, eyes locked on hers. All malicious intent melted away and his eyes shifted from a pale brown to a dark auburn, tinted with green at the edges. The curse, or rather, Y/N's powers, had already taken hold of him. And for a moment, he seemed to fight it. But Y/N had never met anyone who was able to fight off her powers. His hand slid around the back of her neck and he leaned in. Y/N shoved him away, accidentally spilling the tray of fudge on him and throwing him onto the ground. But that wasn't enough. He was on his feet in a second. But this time, Y/N was ready. She pulled back her fist and sent it flying into the boy's nose. A sickening crack filled the air as the boy stumbled back, blood streaming from the wound. He raised his hands to his nose and his eyes widened when he pulled his hands away to reveal his blood.
Y/N didn't stick around. She stooped down, grabbed the pendant, and ran off, pushing through the crowds of normies and hoping that she was fast enough that her curse didn't affect them. She didn't stop running until she was deep in the woods, and there, she collapsed, falling to the leaf litter and curling up into a tiny ball, sobbing as she clutched her pendant tight to her chest.
☘︎*⚜*☘︎
Y/N shook off the memory. She hoped that nothing like that would happen today. The Weathervane was a quieter place than Pilgrim World, and Weems had promised that she would be spending most of the day in the cafe, so Y/N hoped that today she would be able to avoid any possible incidents. The boy had left Jericho shortly after the last Outreach Day, so as far as she knew, no one in Jericho was still suffering from her curse. But, she could never be sure.
She arrived in Jericho just a short while after the shuttle had arrived, and Y/N smiled when she noticed Divina standing by the shuttle, no doubt waiting for her.
"Don't tell me you're waiting for me," Y/N joked, looping her arm through Divina's as they headed towards the town square where the rest of the Nevermore students were gathering for the opening speech.
"No. I was hoping to skip," Divina answered.
Y/N just rolled her eyes.
They reached the square and they slid into their spots between Kent and Bianca.
"You feeling okay, bug," Kent asked as Y/N sat down beside him.
"A little nervous, but otherwise okay."
Kent gave her a small smile and took her hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "I can talk to Weems about switching with Thorpe if you want me to."
"No. It's okay, Kent. I'll text you if anything happens."
"Make sure you do."
"All right, everyone take a seat," Weems said, calling the attention of the students. "We have a special announcement."
Mayor Walker strode towards the Nevermore students, smiling at them in greeting. "Welcome, welcome, Nevermore Academy. Now, on behalf of the entire Jericho community, we are so, so pleased to have you all here today. Your generosity and hard work are truly... outreachous!"
"That's not a word," Y/N muttered, snickering quietly to herself. Kent poked her in the side, though he was smirking too.
Weems hopped up beside Walker. "Okay, everyone. We'll see you back here at one o'clock for lunch. Enjoy!"
"Not likely," Kent huffed, sliding off the seat and onto the pavement. He turned and offered Y/N his hand.
"What a gentleman," Y/N teased, hopping down with Kent's help.
"You're not gonna help me," Divina asked, glaring at her brother.
"No."
Divina huffed and jumped down, slapping her brother on the back of the head.
Sadly, Y/N soon had to part from her friends as they headed off in the direction of Pilgrim World, while Y/N headed to the Weathervane.
"Xavier," Y/N exclaimed, noticing the taller boy heading towards the door. He turned and gave her a pained smile when he saw her.
"You're volunteering here today too," he asked, holding the door open for her.
Y/N scoffed. "You really think Weems would let me volunteer at Pilgirm World after what happened last year?"
The incident had been all the students could talk about. Only Kent, Divina, Bianca, and Weems knew what actually happened, but the other students were all aware that Y/N had broken a normie's nose, and was nearly assigned community service as punishment. But Weems was there to calm the situation and she had gotten off scott free.
"Right. I forgot about that."
"Curse me for reminding you about it," Y/N muttered, stepping through the door.
Tyler was there to greet them. "Hey. Are you two volunteering here today?"
Y/N nodded, and elbowed Xavier in the side when she heard him groaning beside her. He seemed mildly offended that she had elbowed him but sighed and gave Tyler a look that was half a pained smile, and the other half a cold sneer. No doubt he was thinking about the fact that Tyler had destroyed his mural with his friends last year.
"Well, there are uniforms in the back for you two," Tyler said, gesturing over his shoulder. "You can go get changed and then I'll meet you out here."
Y/N nodded and dragged Xavier off.
"Are you going to be like this all day?"
Xavier scoffed. "You expect me to be nice to him."
"You can at least be civil. Don't make me regret telling Kent not to switch with you."
"I think you'd be doing both of us a favour then."
Y/N rolled her eyes and grabbed the uniform with her name on it. Then, she headed to the staff bathroom to change. She wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of leaving Tyler and Xavier alone in the same room, but she hoped that the presence of customers and other staff would be enough to quell any potential... harmful ideas. Still, she changed as quickly as she could before heading back out to the lobby where she found Tyler standing behind the counter alone. Xavier was nowhere to be seen.
"Please tell me that he didn't run away," she said, dropping her backpack behind the counter.
Tyler chuckled. "No. He just went to change. He should be back soon."
Y/N sighed. "If you two are at each other's throats all day, I'm gonna get Weems to send him elsewhere, and I'll call your father to tell him you're being a nuisance."
Tyler playfully glared at her as she helped herself to a scone and tossed him some money from her pocket. "You wouldn't dare."
"Just try me, honey. Just try me."
☘︎*⚜*☘︎
"Principal Weems."
Y/N glanced up from the espresso machine upon hearing the voice of the mayor. One of the normies that she had purposefully avoided since the incident the year before.
Weems had been the one to repair her pendant and bring it back to her, but the mayor had been the one to call her down to Jericho to tell her the consequences of the boy's actions. He had been kind, but his eyes had accused her of losing control. Not that she had any control to begin with.
Her hands settled on the counter as she waited for the espresso.
"Well, it looks like another successful Outreach Day is upon us," he said, glancing out the window of the Weathervane. "And uh... thank you for your generous donation to my re-election campaign."
Weems' eyes flickered over to where Y/N was standing. She could feel the girl's eyes on her. "Consider it a token of our ongoing cooperation."
Y/N bit her lip and glanced down. The espresso had finished, so she pulled the ceramic mug away and waited for the milk to finish steaming. She felt guilty that Weems had to donate on her behalf. True, it wasn't entirely her fault that Weems had donated so much money, as the whole of Nevermore was a bit troublesome at times, but the tension had only gotten worse after the last Outreach Day.
"Hey."
Y/N glanced up from the machine. Tyler was standing beside her, looking concerned.
"You okay?"
Y/N nodded. "Fine. Just remembering last year." She turned to grab the milk from the machine but stopped. Xavier had been the one to start the latte, and he hadn't mentioned that he had used a metal pitcher for the milk. Y/N slowly moved her hand closer, waiting for the burning. But it never came. She breathed a sigh of relief and picked it up. Steel. One of the few metals that she could touch.
"Last year..." Tyler racked his brain. "I don't remember any incidents from last year. What happened?"
Y/N hesitated for a moment. "I punched a normie, and his family ended up leaving town." She poured the milk into the cup, taking extra care to make a small design on the top. She smiled once she had finished and set it on the counter.
"Oh, now I remember. That was you?" Tyler chuckled. "Never would have pegged you for the type to punch someone."
"Normally I wouldn't."
"Then why did you -"
"Because he didn't give her a choice."
Y/N and Tyler turned to see Xavier standing behind Y/N, glaring at Tyler.
"It's okay, Xavier," Y/N said, gently pushing Xavier away. "He didn't know."
Xavier nodded but continued to glare at Tyler before walking away to clean up some of the dirty dishes left out by the patrons.
Y/N gave Tyler a shrug before continuing to work on the orders. The three fell into a steady rhythm once again, with Xavier cleaning up the tables, Y/N making the orders, and Tyler talking to the customers at the till. Neither Xavier nor Y/N felt comfortable enough with the normies to take their orders.
It was around eleven o'clock when a surprise guest entered the Weathervane, walking to the corkboard at the back of the cafe where people posted about all sorts of stuff. Y/N frowned at Wednesday as he passed her. He wasn't supposed to be in the Weathervane, so why was he here? Xavier also noticed the boy.
"I thought you were supposed to be at Pilgrim World," he said, handing a few dirty cups over the counter to Y/N.
Wednesday turned away from the information board. "I deserted it while my sanity was still intact."
Y/N rolled her eyes as she dropped the dishes into the sink.
"You want a coffee," Xavier asked. "It's one of the many perks of this wonderful assignment."
Y/N snickered. "It's not that bad, Xavier."
"Speak for yourself."
"I am." She smirked over her shoulder. "One day out of the year I get to make coffee for a day instead of attending boring classes." She finished drying a mug and hung it up on the rack above the microwave.
"I'm actually here for Y/N and Tyler," Wednesday said.
For a moment, Xavier said nothing. "I told you he was bad news."
"Twice," Wednesday corrected. "But who I speak to is my business." He turned to Y/N. "Go get Tyler."
Y/N glared at him. "What am I, your lap dog?"
Wednesday stared at her without saying anything.
"Ask politely and I'll help." She crossed her arms and leaned back against the counter.
"Please."
Y/N rang the small bell on the edge of the counter and went back to work. Wednesday stared at her, watching her as she pulled out a blueberry scone from the display case and popped it into the microwave before setting the timer for fifteen seconds. Tyler came out a moment later and Wednesday was forced to turn away.
"You rang," the boy asked.
Xavier scoffed and went to help Y/N. As he walked behind the counter, Y/N pulled him aside.
"It's been a year, Xavier, and he hasn't done anything since."
Xavier glared at her. "He destroyed my mural."
"And I know you well enough to know that you would have destroyed it yourself when you saw it this year. Are you really gonna let this keep stewing, or are you gonna let it go?"
Xavier sneered at her. "Standing up for your normie boyfriend, I see."
Y/N sneered right back. "That's a low blow, Thorpe. You know I don't date, and you know that I don't trust normies. Don't want to admit that you're jealous, fine, that's your choice. But you can at least be civil with him."
"I'm not jealous."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Y/N stepped closer to Xavier. "Keep lying to yourself all you want, Xavier. But you know how I feel about people who lie to me." She pushed past him and snatched a wet rag from the edge of the counter, along with a bucket of sanitiser. It was a little late now, but she found herself wishing that she had taken Kent up on his offer to switch assignments with Xavier. At least he wouldn't have whined and complained all day long like a child.
She finished the first table, and as she was moving on to the second, a cold hand clamped down around her wrist, startling her and causing her to nearly spill the bucket.
"Hey!"
She wasn't surprised to see that Wednesday was the one holding her wrist. Of course, it was. She pulled it away from him. "What do you want?"
"You're coming with me."
Y/N rolled her eyes and continued cleaning the tables. "Why would I do that?"
Wednesday pulled her up from the table so her back was brushing against his front. "Because you're the only one who believes that Rowan was killed in the woods, and I need to know that I'm not losing my mind."
"I'm still not hearing a reason as to why I need to come with you. Where are you going anyways?" She pulled her hand away and turned to face him.
"That's on a need-to-know business."
"Well if you want any chance of me coming with you, you need to tell me. I'm not following you out into the woods with no explanation."
"I just gave you an explanation."
"A brief one. Answer my question and I'll go."
Wednesday took a step closer to Y/N, backing her into the edge of the table. "You like playing games, don't you?"
Y/N smirked. "Maybe."
"And you enjoy irritating me in every single way."
Y/N leaned closer. "Oh, I most certainly do."
The two stared at each other for a moment, ignoring the strange looks they were getting from Xavier and Tyler behind the counter, but after the moment was over, Wednesday pulled himself back. "Let's go." He started walking towards the door.
"I still haven't heard an answer to my question. And there is no way I'm traipsing through the woods in this." She gestured to the Weathervane uniform she was wearing.
"Go change."
"Where are we going?"
Wednesday fought back a groan. "The old meeting house."
"The one in Pilgrim World or the actual one in the woods."
"The real one."
Y/N sighed and glanced over at the table where Weems had been sitting. Both she and Thornhill had left now.
"Fine. Just give me a minute."
☘︎*⚜*☘︎
"If Weems finds out about this, I will be saying that you dragged me out of the Weathervane and threatened me," Y/N protested, stepping over a root that was jutting out over the path that she and Wednesday had been following.
"I would expect nothing less."
"Good."
Silence fell over the two as they moved off the path and into the wild territory of Cobham Woods. Y/N glanced around at the trees surrounding them. Hardly anyone had been out here lately. She could feel the lack of mortal presence as her hands drifted against the leaves and bark. She could count the people on one hand. A man who was currently living somewhere in the woods - Y/N guessed that he was using the old meeting house as a crash pad - and Sheriff Galpin. But Galpin's presence had dulled significantly compared to that of the first man. He hadn't been out here in a while.
"There."
Y/N glanced up from the leaves beneath her feet and breathed a sigh of relief when the meeting house came into view. Tyler had been right. It was hardly a building anymore, let alone a proper meeting house. The skeleton remained, save for the beam that would have stretched across the top to support the roof, along with the front doors and a few of the wooden beams used in the walls, but other than that most had fallen prey to the elements and the years that had passed since its use.
As Wednesday walked inside the ruin, Y/N felt herself being drawn elsewhere. She turned away from the old wooden structure and off to the right, where the fog mingled amongst the trees. It felt as though the forest was calling to her. Moreso than usual. She glanced over her shoulder at the meeting house. Wednesday would be busy for a while. She could probably slip away for a moment or two without him noticing.
Y/N left the clearing surrounding the meeting house and moved deeper into the woods. The leaves and branches cracked underfoot until the dried leaves gave way to lush blades of grass and evergreens. She stretched out her hand and called the hidden foliage from the earth. The plants shot towards the surface as they were called, bursting forth as if spring had come, and following the trail left by the young girl. She walked deeper still until she came to a grove of willows. Willows were not the sort of trees that grew close together, but she and her mother had learned that with a little magical encouragement, the willows would grow wherever they wished, and they could be connected even during the months that Y/N spent at Nevermore.
Y/N pushed away the weeping branches of the willow and smiled at the sight of the familiar stone well in the centre of the grove. Before moving any closer though, she glanced over her shoulder. As she strained her ears, she could hear the sounds of Wednesday searching the meeting house for whatever it was that he was looking for. She wasn't quite sure if he was far enough away to be protected from her curse, so as an extra level of protection, she summoned a barrier of thorns that rushed forth from the ground, forming an impenetrable wall around her. Then, she removed her charm, shucked off her stuffy school uniform, and let it all fall to the ground in a crumpled heap. The forest chilled her body for a mere moment before her school uniform was replaced by a shimmering dress of magic and enchanted willow leaves.
Freed from her confines, Y/N made her way over to the stone well and sat down on the edge. She swung her feet over the edge of the well and as her feet kissed the water below, her reflection started to ripple, moving faster and faster until it was no longer her reflection she saw in the water.
"Hello, darling," her mother said. Her voice was thick and bubbly as if she was submerged in the water. It wasn't quite the voice that Y/N longed to hear, but it would be enough until she could go and visit her mother.
"Hello, Mum," Y/N said quietly. "How are you?"
Her mother sighed. "Bored. But how are you? Any more... incidents?" Her mother phrased the sentence carefully. Neither one liked using incidents as a way to describe the things that happened around Y/N. After all, they weren't her fault. Nor were they the fault of the normies. It was just who she was.
"Not so far."
Her mother gave her a proud smile. "Good."
"Did you find the veil?" Y/N knew that her mother was still looking for the veil. Looking for a way back home. She was always looking, even if her daughter wasn't there to return through the veil with her. Y/N couldn't begrudge her mother if she did return home without her. While she would be allowed into the fairyland for being a half-fairy, she had not been born there. Her mother had, and she missed it dearly.
Her mother shook her head. She paused for a moment and sighed. "But I heard from one of the hedge witches that I might have a chance to find it next month, on the night of the full moon."
"If you do find it..." It hurt Y/N to say the words. "Go."
Her mother's face fell. "I... I will. But will you be able to find it after me?"
Y/N bit her lip and she turned away from the well. "I don't know. Maybe."
"I don't like the idea of leaving you behind while I return to the fairyland."
"And I don't want you confined here if you have a chance to go home. I was born here. I can make my way in this world even as a fairy. The charm doesn't even work on you."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure, Mum. If you have a chance, take it."
"I... I will." Her mother stretched out her hand and Y/N reached out to brush her fingers across the surface of the water. "Never forget how much I love you, my daughter. You are mine, and even if we are apart, you will always be mine."
"I love you too, Mum."
The spell ended and Y/N sat there for a moment, allowing her tears to dampen her cheeks. But as the breeze started to chill her once again as her willow dress fell away, she turned away from the well and made her way back over to her clothes. She slid them on, along with the cursed pendant, and lowered her wall of thorns.
But now what to do? Make her way back to the meeting house to try and find Wednesday? Or go back to Jericho? Her eyes fluttered shut and she strained her ears, searching the forest for any sign of Wednesday. And though she had heard him before, now she could hear nothing but the sound of raindrops starting to fall. Her eyes opened and she turned towards the darkening clouds above, letting out a sigh of relief as they kissed her face, washing away her tears.
There was a part of her that loved this world. The part of her that her father had given her. While her mother still longed for the fairyland, she had been born here. Yes, she wished to live somewhere where she could be free and not have to worry about weak mortals falling prey to her charms, but she loved this world as much as she loved the fairyland of her mother's stories. Her heart was torn in two.
"There you are."
Y/N turned, breathing a sigh of relief when she realised that it was just Xavier and Wednesday walking towards her, the latter drenched with rain and mud. What had happened? How long had she been gone? She and her mother hadn't talked for that long, had they?
"Why did you run off," Wednesday snapped, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to his side. The umbrella wasn't big enough for all of them, so Y/N pulled herself out again. The rain didn't bother her. It comforted her. Being under the umbrella made her feel... confined.
"My mother wanted to talk to me," Y/N said. "The woods brought me to her."
"Your mother," Xavier asked, confused. "I thought your mother never came here."
"She didn't." Y/N didn't offer any more information, but neither of the boys pressed her for more answers.
"Did you find anything in the meeting house," Y/N asked Wednesday.
"I had a vision." Wednesday wasn't quite sure why he was being so honest with Y/N. He had withheld the information from everyone else, so why had he willingly given up the truth for her?
"What was in your vision?"
"That's a need-to-know basis." He would tell her later. When Xavier wasn't around. "And I discovered that the monster is human." He glanced over at Xavier again and scooted an inch away from the boy. He would risk the rain again. He wasn't sure that he trusted the boy. No, that wasn't true. He didn't trust Xavier. Not one bit.
"Human? What do you mean?"
"Footprints. They changed from monster to human."
"Really?" Y/N seemed to ponder the new information for a bit. "That would make sense though. Maybe that's why no one can find it."
The three made their way back to Jericho, where they were greeted by a sunny sky and warm drinks in the Weathervane. They were just in time. Had they been a minute later, Weems might have discovered that all three of them abandoned their posts to go and explore the old meeting house. And while Y/N might have been able to talk her way out of getting punished for leaving, she couldn't say the same about Wednesday or Xavier.
"How busy was it," Y/N whispered to Tyler as they made their way to City Hall where the rest of the town and Nevermore were gathering.
"Not too bad. Everyone was busy with Outreach Day." He slid into a seat on the edge of the Nevermore bleachers, ignoring the stares he was getting from the outcasts. Y/N took a seat next to him and glared at the other students until they turned away.
"Sorry for leaving," she said.
Tyler shrugged. "It's fine."
The conversation ended as Kent made his way up the bleachers towards them, taking a seat beside Y/N and looping an arm over her shoulders. He glared at Tyler over the top of her head but quickly stopped when he noticed Y/N looking at him.
"How was Outreach Day," Kent asked.
"Fine. Wednesday dragged me out to the woods though to look at the old meeting house."
"Bianca mentioned something about that."
"And I got to talk to my mother."
"Really? Did she bring you to the pool again?"
Y/N nodded. Kent, Divina, and Bianca were the only ones who knew how Y/N was able to contact her mother during their months apart.
"How is she?"
Y/N shrugged. "She misses her home. She misses me. I miss her."
Kent squeezed her. "Sorry, bug."
"Why do you call her that?"
The two Nevermore students turned to Tyler, who was glaring so fiercely at Kent that Y/N wondered how soon Kent would find himself six feet under. Or more.
"Excuse me?"
"Why do you call her bug? It's rude."
Y/N sighed. "It's fine, Tyler. Bugs just like me. And I let him call me that. I like it."
Tyler bit his lip and turned away, unable to argue anymore.
Thankfully, the three were spared any more awkward moments as Mayor Walker approached the podium with Principal Weems to start the ceremony.
"Thank you," he said, smiling first to the citizens of Jericho and then to the Nevermore students. "It is my honour to celebrate our town's history, and Jericho's noble forefather, Joseph Crackstone. Now, he believed that with a happy heart and an open ear, that there was nothing our town couldn't achieve. So together as one, our community and our friends at Nevermore Academy, we've built a monument to celebrate his memory. Now, may the spirit of Joseph Crackstone be memorialized for eternity."
The band started playing and Y/N glanced over, snickering when she saw that Wednesday seemed less than thrilled at having been volunteered to perform with the normies. Mayor Walker gave them a few minutes to perform before pressing the button to start the fountain. Everyone started clapping, save for Y/N and a few other Nevermore students. She wasn't about to clap for this man. She had known her fair share of outcast-hating normies, and she wasn't about to clap in celebration for Joseph Crackstone.
"That was kinda pathetic," Y/N muttered to Kent, eyeing the weak water spouts on the four sides of Crackstone's statue.
Kent snickered.
Suddenly, the fountain exploded into a blazing inferno and Y/N screamed, along with many of the people around her. She shot to her feet and summoned vines from the ground, which lifted her off the bleachers and over the edge. Y/N landed gracefully on the ground and started running, pushing her way through the normies and outcasts towards the forest on the far side of Jericho. The forest that would take her back to Nevermore.
"Y/N! Y/N, wait!"
Y/N didn't stop.
"Y/N!"
Y/N continued to run, the fire blazing in her eyes as she dove into the forest, the vines rushing out of the ground to guide her towards the school. She ignored Weems' warnings about not going too far into the woods. All she wanted right now was to get to the school, where she would be safe. She could still hear the burning of wood, and the screams of the trees as the fires raged. She could hear the animals crying out to her and her mother as the fire consumed their homes, caging them against rocks as they stole their breath away, like the horrid hunters that flooded their forest when the fall came in search of game. It had been years since the flames had nearly consumed her, and still, the sight of fire frightened her more than most.
☘︎*⚜*☘︎
Evening had come and with the school still in an uproar about the explosion in the town square, Y/N headed out to the one place where she could find peace. The forest. The forest, which already knew the truth about what had happened and therefore saw no more reason to gossip about such trivial matters. They were more concerned with the fact that a pair of rabbits had just recently produced a new litter that was currently running rampant somewhere to the north. But this gossip was gossip that Y/N welcomed.
As she entered the woods, Y/N was greeted by a doe and her fawn, both of whom gave her a small lick on the palm before moving on in search of food for the evening. A squirrel told her where it had hidden a nut, a chipmunk asked her for a back scratch, and a fox asked her for belly rubs, all of which she gladly tended to before finding a place where she could sit and rest for a moment.
Y/N stared down at the pendant around her neck. She picked it up and twirled it around her fingers, ignoring the dull burning sensation that came from touching the pendant. Gazing at the pendant, she gently brushed her finger over the surface before sliding her hand up to the chain around her neck and slowly slipping it off over her head. And all at once, she felt free. Freer than she had since the start of the school year when Weems had sent her a package with a new pendant to keep her curse at bay.
She set the pendant aside and got to her feet, stretching her arms above her head as iridescent wings unfurled from their place on her back. Wings so clear and fragile that if it weren't for the shimmer that sparkled in the light of the foggy afternoon, no one would have been able to see them. She stretched them out for a moment, lifting them from the ground for a minute to let them stretch, before pulling them back into her being. Her wings could not be out for long. Not when normies were so close.
She let out a sigh as her feet landed on the ground once more, free from the confines of her shoes. She could feel the earth running through her veins, her every nerve electrified as she melted into the earth's warm embrace. She sank onto the forest floor and stretched herself out across the leaves, lying on her side for a moment before rolling over so she was on her back. As her palm pressed against the earth, vines and flowers burst forth, rushing forward to meet her. She hummed contentedly.
But all too soon, the peace was shattered.
A shadow fell over Y/N, and as her eyes flew open, cold hands clamped down around her wrists, pinning her to the forest floor as lips crashed upon hers.
Y/N froze against Wednesday's lips, eyes wide and horrified. She hadn't thought anyone was around! She thought she was safe! She thought she was far enough away from Nevermore that the students would be safe! She hadn't counted on Wednesday wandering around after the disaster of Outreach Day.
She brought her hands up to push him away from her, but just before they settled on his chest, Wednesday caught them. His thumbs pressed against the junction where her palm met her wrist and slowly started to rub back and forth. Y/N tried to pull her hands back but Wednesday only guided them behind his neck. Her fingers curled together instinctively, all rational thought leaving her body as she felt his arms wrap around her waist.
His lips were unrelenting against hers, refusing to part from her for a second. And despite his frosty touch, Y/N's eyes soon fluttered shut as her lips moved against his. Slowly at first, but with every passing second, Wednesday's lips sped up, kissing her with a strange urgency that started to make Y/N's brain go fuzzy and her body go warm.
Y/N wasn't even aware that he had been pulling her up until she felt one of his arms curling around her waist, his fingers working the light fabric of her blouse out from beneath her skirt. She inhaled sharply as she felt the touch of his freezing fingers against her burning skin. Wednesday's hands slid from her waist and trailed up her arms, until one hovered against her neck, his fingers curling around her jaw to tilt her head just so. The other continued a little higher until he could feel her tangled locks. He curled them around his fingers and tugged on them lightly, pulling her head back at an angle.
Their kisses grew more passionate. Wednesday parted his lips and pressed his tongue against Y/N's lips. The thought that he might leave a bruise on her lips didn't even occur to him. Y/N's lips parted by the slightest margin and Wednesday seized his chance, pressing his tongue between her lips. Y/N made a sound that made a shiver run through his body. He was addicted to her. He couldn't pull away. He was drowning in her molten kisses.
But suddenly, hands pressed against him and with surprising strength Y/N pushed him off, throwing him to the forest floor. She scrambled to her feet, ignoring her rumpled clothes and tangled hair as she rushed over to her pendant. She scooped it up and secured it around her neck. Then, she breathed a sigh of relief and set herself right, still refusing to look at Wednesday.
"What did you do to me," Wednesday seethed, wiping his arm across his lips as if repulsed by the fact that he had just spent a solid five minutes making out with the girl.
Y/N let out a sigh and set her hands on her hips before turning to look at Wednesday. "Believe me, it wasn't my intention. You just have terrible timing."
"Oh, you're trying to pin this on me?"
"You think this is my fault?" Y/N's fingers pressed against her palm as anger seared through her body, burning every nerve.
"Well who else would be at fault?"
Y/N paused.
It wasn't Wednesday's fault. Y/N knew that. She couldn't say anything to defend herself. It was her fault. She had been the one to pull off the pendant without being in the safety of her room. Had she kept the pendant on, Wednesday never would have found her, and he never would have succumbed to her powers.
Y/N glanced over at the boy, who was still sneering at her. "Goodbye, Wednesday Addams." And then she turned and walked away.
Wednesday stood there for a moment, contemplating what had just happened.
"What are you?"
Y/N stopped, just on the edge of a shroud of fog. Wednesday wasn't surprised when he noticed her fingers curling and flexing, calling the fog to her, no doubt to hide her from him.
"Tell me what you are and I won't go tell Weems about what happened," Wednesday threatened.
Y/N scoffed and fiddled with her pendant. Her lips curled into an almost cruel smile that had Wednesday's heart pounding in his chest. He forced himself to remain rigid.
"Or I could just pull off this little trinket and drive you mad," she said, the pendant dangling from her index finger mockingly. "It would be so easy to pull this off and watch you succumb. And I would enjoy it."
Wednesday tried not to find the malicious glint in her eye alluring. "You don't have the guts." He forced his eyes away from hers and watched as she fiddled with the charm. As it swung back and forth in front of the skin beneath her neck, he noticed the strange burn mark on her skin. A mark that he suspected had been caused by the pendant.
"And you're not going to tell Weems about what happened. For both our sakes, Wednesday Addams."
Wednesday scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Tell me."
Y/N sighed. "We are called the Fairy Lovers in your world. Fairy muses. To put it simply, I'm a fairy." And before Wednesday could press further, Y/N called the fog to her and it embraced her.
"Y/N!"
The fog dissipated a minute later, and Y/N was nowhere to be seen.
☘︎*⚜*☘︎
I don't believe in mandatory volunteer work, sugar-coated history, or happy endings, but most of all... I don't believe in coincidences.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, one coincidence is just a coincidence, two are a clue, and three are proof.
Rowan's drawing of me and Crackstone happens sometime in the future. Goody Addams' warnings about Crackstone were in the past. And the monster is here in the present.
Three coincidences that I know are connected.
That monster could be anyone. The sheriff thinks that they only exist behind the walls of this school. The truth is, there are monsters everywhere. And sometimes the monsters we least expect are the most dangerous. They don't need teeth and claws to terrify. They hide in the shadows until no one is looking. And then they strike.
But I'm looking now.
And I won't stop until I find the truth.
Y/N listened quietly to Wednesday's thoughts as she lay on her bed, staring up at the morning glories growing above her. There was a part of her that was glad that she could hear what he was thinking, but the other part was a little disturbed. He hadn't thought anything strange as of yet, as most of his thoughts were focused on the monster and Goody Addams, but Y/N knew that soon those thoughts would be replaced by thoughts of her.
Now that Wednesday had fallen prey to her curse, they were both subjected to another level of torment. She would eternally be in his thoughts, both while awake and while asleep, and she would be forever trapped with his voice in her mind.
She cursed and rolled over, hugging her pillow tight as she burrowed her nose into it, trying to block out the macabre thoughts of the teenage boy. How could she have been so stupid? The only place where it was even remotely safe to remove her pendant was in her room. So why had she removed it in the forest?
She knew the answer. She was tired of it. She was tired of being trapped. Yes, the sirens had to quell their powers with their charm, similar to hers, but theirs hadn't left a scar on their skin that would remain with them until the end of time. Y/N's fingers brushed against the scar on her clavicle and she grimaced at the feeling of the imperfect skin.
"Curse you, Wednesday Addams," she muttered. She stretched her hand out over the side of her bed and as she curled her fingers into her palm, a small cluster of lavender blossomed, knocking her out almost instantly.
Sleep would be her only reprieve from the thoughts of Wednesday Addams.
☘︎*⚜*☘︎