(Third Person P.O.V)
"This...is unexpected," Wednesday's voice flows out at a level that can only be heard by the only other individual with enhanced hearing, like hers. Despite her words, she did not sound surprised in the least.
"Do you think they know we're coming?" Enid answers back, slightly sounding both timid and excited, somehow, at the same time.
The group of five, Wednesday, her family, and Enid, stood at the unopened door that leads outside of the academy, where just on the other side, the Sheriff and his posse have the area practically surrounded.
"Go retrace our steps. Tell me if you catch any scents that should not be. We will find another way out. Track us after." Wednesday relayed her orders, to which Enid nodded her head like a true professional and then ran off to be awesome.
Wednesday stood there for a moment more. Listening to the varied remnants of low chatter amongst the sheriff's outside.
She was able to infer a lot and deduce more.
They knew they were in the academy, how? Unknown. However, they were not allowed entrance to search the buildings, why? Weems is not a complete fool. They were waiting for them to make their exit, waiting with the belief that they would have to leave at some point, otherwise they would be found by the staff. However, she did not see or hear any clue where she and her family were visibly standing at the entrance that the staff was looking for them, why? Weems is not a complete fool.
While she may seek to hinder Wednesday in her extracurricular pursuits, such as righting past wrongs or solving murders, unless absolutely necessary, she would not throw the Addams to the wolves, so to speak. No matter how much she "disliked" Morticia.
Those were the thoughts that flittered through Wednesday's mind in the span of two breaths once she was done listening.
Now, it was time to move.
'Even if Weems does not actively pursue, that does not mean that should she cross our path, she will simply turn a blind eye.'
With that last thought, she turned from the door, faced her family, and began to walk past them, taking the lead as was in her nature.
"This way is blocked. We need to find another."
However, once she finished her sentence, she stopped walking, as she stood beside her mother, who was stationary waiting for her to walk past.
A feeling of dread began to make its way up from her stomach in an all too familiar way. While her instincts urged her to keep walking and search out an exit on her own, she knew that it would be unwise. Especially, when there was a better option.
She closed her eyes for a brief moment to allow herself to take in a breath and release it quickly. Dispelling the phantom pain that shot through her body, as she looked to her left, in the eyes of her mother.
"Perhaps....you know a way out that will not have us seen." She gritted out through a barely clenched jaw, as she allowed herself the thought of how she had truly matured from the person that she once was. That was, right up until her mother donned that classic smile of hers. Then, she felt it all the more, and fuck all if it was not an annoying feeling.
"Of course, dear," Morticia said, sounding pleasant to all ears but one. "I know a few ways that would lead us out and away, with no one the wiser." Then, she started forward, this time. "I'll lead the way."
'Fucking annoying.'
(Enid P.O.V.)
There's that smell again. The one that led to Ms. Thornhill's class. It crossed the path we took only minutes after we passed. Were they following us? Without me hearing them? Freaky.
But then it just disappears, completely.
Freakier. Do they think they're Drac!
Everyone has a scent. Something that's unique to them. Some I like, some I don't. But since the upgrade, scents tell me a lot more than they used to when I could barely call myself a wolf.
This one however, tells me nothing but bad. Nothing complex, or complicated. Just bad, in a weird way.
I should smell more people, then maybe I'll be able to figure out why this one is so, let's go with nasty.
For now though, I can't pick up any other scents, so I guess that means we weren't tracked completely, as far as I can tell.
Well, that sucks.
[Hey, Drac! Can you hear me?]
[*chuckle* I can hear you, indeed, Enid. What can I do for, gorgeous.]
[I came across a scent in the school that doesn't smell right, then it completely disappeared. Any idea what it is?]
[I can think of a few things that can accomplish what you described. Where did the go in the building?]
[I first caught it in the dorm. Then, I followed it to Ms. Thornhills class. Then, I smelled it again when I was tracing our steps to see if we were followed as we were leaving the school. It was on the path we took, a few minutes after we passed. What'd you think?]
[Well, I think...that you should get Wednesday and investigate that scent in your free time. It should be enlightening to you both, and most importantly, it should provide a lot of fun to you both.]
[Oooo, when you say it like that, I kinda have to check it out! Where are you anyway?]
[Out hunting some quarry of my own. Nothing more than pests, to be clear, but plentiful and slippery, so it is slightly time consuming. However, you should know that I am always one thought away for my pack.]
[Hehehe well aren't I special. I'll think of you often. Think ya soon!]
[Mhmhm, yes, think you soon, Enid, happy hunting.]
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(A/N: Additional chapters are on patreon.com/TheGreatestHunter. Check it out.)
(3rd Person P.O.V.)
'Well, for all her faults, deviousness, and love for me, sometimes she can be quite...useful.' Wednesday thinks as she looks at her mother's back, expertly navigating the corridors and halls of the academy, as if she had just walked them the day before and not years ago.
The confidence in her step, despite lacking Wednesday's ability to hear around corners is...expected.
It took them far longer than Wednesday would have liked to reach an exit that led out towards the lake that they used during the Poe Cup, which her senses told her was devoid of annoyances for at least a mile, she concluded as she strained her senses beyond the door leading out.
They stood there for a moment.
No one of her family asking her why or how she could devise the cleared surroundings of their route as they waited.
Sometimes, she truly appreciated their natural ability to adapt to strange.
It did not take long, less than a minute, for Enid to rejoin the group, and then they were on their way. Running, no. Walking, yes. Strolling, I would say.
As they strode along, Enid prattled on to Wednesday about her discovery of the strange scent to her nose caught, and how it not only crossed their path, but also seemed to vanish into thin air.
It would not be a lie to say she was not intrigued.
Especially once she learned that Vlad said that it would be "fun" for them to look into it.
If she knew Vlad, which she did, than anything that he deemed "fun" in regards to the actions concerning others, usually meant something along the lines of dangerous, unique, or important. Either way, her interest was acquired.
She added the mysterious scent to ever-growing list of tangled webs, and she had to wonder just how such a small town housing a single academy for others could hold so many mysteries, all since her arrival.
Was she special? Was she the cause? The proverbial domino that set events in motion that led to one chip after another falling into action.
She knew she was connected somehow.
The fact that she was not yet dead told her that much.
Why else would the monster allow her to track it as she has been? Killing her would have been most efficient, and it has been shown that the monster has no problem killing.
However, it did not.
Something in its eyes, that first night she saw it, after it finished shredding Rowan, told her that it would not hurt her.
She wanted to know why.
Goody had warned her, that day she won the Poe, that she had a part to play.
But what was it?
Then, there was the burning of the innocents by Joseph Crackstone, that she was shown.
How did that connect with her part in Goody's play.
He is long dead. And the dead do not simply come back to life to stir up nonsense...is what she would like to say. However, recent events have proven otherwise.
Is that it? Is Joseph Crackstone an undead of some sort and planning something? Could he be behind the man behind the monster, or could he be the monster?
Unknown.
Then, there was Xavier Thorpe and Tyler Galpin.
She would be a fool to not see how they look at her. Watch her. Whenever they think she cannot see.
It is the same way everyone looks at Vlad when they think he can see...and they can see him.
They are interested in her.
Why?
Her mind supplies an answer. However, that answer is not good enough. They hardly know her, just as she hardly knows them.
Perhaps, that should be remedied.
They have an interest in her. The monster has an interest in her. Goody has an interest in her. And unknown scents follow her path.
So far, everyone that she knows, that has taken an interest in her has been playing a game of some sort. A game in which she is woefully playing catch up.
Is it a mere teenage crush that the two boys are experiencing? Or are they players in the game?
No stone should be left unturned.
Just like no grave should be left undug.
"Garrett Gates," her mother reads out the name that is etched into the grave in front of which they stand.
If it were before, she may not have heard the undercurrents of apathy and slight repulsion in her mother's tone. However, she heard it now. Though, based on the tales of the past, the boy deserved no remorse wasted over his corpse.
"So, who shall do the honors?" Wednesday asked, as she looked around the group.
"No thank you, I'll just stay over here." Enid was the first to fire a quick response from where she stood a few feet away.
"You have your fun, dear." Her mother supplied next, as she checked her nails for some reason.
"It has been a long time since we have exhumed a body as a family," her father spoke with nostalgia. "However, I am not exactly dressed for it. I'll leave it to you kids." Fair enough.
She turned back towards the grave. Pulled out a shovel from the sack that she carried with her. And then another.
She handed one to Pugsley and took the other in her hand.
Despite their success with shaking off the fuzz earlier in the day, they were currently exposed. They had to move fast.
"Keep an ear out, Enid. We're exposed and I don't like it. Pugsley, dig." It didn't need to be said, but Pugsley only works fast if he is given a prompt command. It is one of his worst traits, among the many. As well as one of his best. Not many can follow others promptly from those more capable.
"Want to tell me about Wednesday growing up?" Enid asked cheerily after being silent for a few minutes, as she ambled up beside the elder Addams.
Both of whom looked quite pleased at the opportunity to share war stories about their eldest. However, before they could begin the walk down memory lane, faster than either of them could think to evade, Enid had jumped backwards and flipped backwards a few feet away, practically silently landing in a spot that was not occupied by the clump of mud that took over her previous standing area.
Her head whipped to the grave that was far more along than it should have been, with a look of innocence. As if she had not just attempted to commit pry into her friends past, right in front of her. The indecency.
Wednesday continued her digging, as if she did not just hurl dirt with pin-point accuracy. However, the message was clear to all. Talk and die...or at the very least, require a trip to the cleaners. Either way, there would be consequences that none were willing to pay.
Grave digging in silence, it is.
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(A/N: Additional chapters are on patreon.com/TheGreatestHunter .)