Just as Principal Weems was about to herd the two troublemakers out of the café, Sheriff Galpin seemed to remember something. His brow furrowed, and he turned back to Victor.
"Wait, Mr. Black," his voice carried an official, interrogative weight. "Where were you last night between 10:00 PM and 2:00 AM? And this morning between 6:00 and 8:00?"
Victor blinked, spreading his hands with a look of utter innocence. "In the dorm, respected Sheriff. Nevermore Academy, luxury single suite... er, well, actually a triple room."
He pointed to Wednesday. "My good roomie Wednesday Addams can testify. I was asleep all night; she definitely knows I didn't go out."
He thought hard for a second. "Oh right! Our other roommate, the lovely little wolf girl Enid, can also prove it! She can testify that this morning I was discussing the feasibility of squid ink pasta with chocolate sauce with them..."
"Co-ed dorms?" a male customer eavesdropping nearby couldn't help but gasp in a low voice. His face showed a complex mix of shock, envy, and a trace of admiration that said, You guys play hard at that school.
Several other customers exchanged suggestive glances.
The Sheriff's face darkened even further. He automatically filtered out the nonsense and the reactions of the bystanders, seizing onto the key information: "In the dorm all night."
He stared at Victor, seemingly judging the veracity of his words, especially eyeing Venom, who popped out again to nod in agreement.
"There have been three murders nearby recently," Sheriff Galpin lowered his voice, his tone heavy.
"The victims were... torn apart. The traces at the scene suggest the killer might be a creature similar to a giant bear or... some other large beast."
His gaze pointedly swept over Venom's grotesque form.
"Whoa! A beast!" Victor covered his mouth dramatically, then patted Venom on the "head." "Hear that? He's talking about you! Next time you vandalize public property, keep it down. Don't let people mistake you for a killer bear."
Venom cooperated by baring his teeth and making a "super fierce" face.
The Sheriff's corner of the mouth twitched. Clearly, he wasn't getting any useful information.
He took a deep breath, seemingly crossing Victor off the suspect list for now—or perhaps just deciding that questioning him was a waste of time.
Finally, he turned his gaze to Wednesday, who had remained silent and cold throughout, as if this entire farce had nothing to do with her.
"Miss Addams," his tone became complicated, carrying a scrutiny and... an imperceptible wariness. "I know your father, Gomez Addams."
He paused. His voice wasn't loud, but it hit the floor like a block of ice:
"He is a murderer."
Having said that, he didn't look at anyone else. He turned and led the still-pale Tyler out of the café, leaving behind a room of eerie silence and countless probing stares.
Principal Weems' face darkened instantly, but she recovered quickly.
She shot a stern glance at the whispering customers. Her powerful presence immediately restored a superficial calm to the café.
Victor put away his hippie smile, and Venom quietly retracted.
He looked at Wednesday.
Wednesday stood there, expressionless, as if the Sheriff's final sentence was just irrelevant wind.
Only in her bottomless eyes did a bone-chilling glint flash by extremely quickly.
Her hand, holding the suitcase, gripped the handle until her knuckles turned even paler.
"Let's go," Principal Weems' voice broke the silence, leaving no room for argument.
Wednesday took the lead. Her black figure resolutely cut through the gazes filled with lingering curiosity, speculation, and a hint of fear, and walked out of the café.
---
The night breeze was cool on the rooftop of Nevermore Academy.
Wednesday Addams sat alone in the shadows, playing her cello. The impassioned melody flowed out—it was Paint It Black.
Every scrape of the bow against the strings seemed to tear a hole in the night, releasing some suppressed, turbulent emotion.
Enid Sinclair sat nearby, hugging her knees. Her ears twitched slightly, and she couldn't help whispering to Victor, who was fiddling with two potted plants next to her:
"This song... it sounds like she's forcefully suppressing something, yet also trying to break free from something. Is she in a bad mood?"
Victor was holding a small watering can, carefully watering the plants on the windowsill—"welcome gifts" delivered last night by the dorm mother, Ms. Thornhill.
One was for Wednesday: a strikingly large, eerie Black Dahlia.
The other was for Victor: a tomato plant hanging with a few green, unripe fruits.
"Probably because the prison break failed," Victor shrugged, keeping his voice low.
He looked at the Black Dahlia, feeling it matched Wednesday's temperament perfectly, then looked at his own slightly goofy tomato plant and sighed.
The atmosphere was oppressive. He didn't know what to do, so he just watered mechanically, as if that could liven up the heavy air.
He wanted to do something to alleviate the uncomfortable vibe. Just then, a long, wild wolf howl came from the distant forest, piercing the night sky.
Victor's eyes lit up. Finding a topic, he turned to Enid and asked, "Hey, it's a full moon tonight! Aren't you going to transform?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he wanted to smash the watering can into his own face. Talk about stepping on a landmine!
Sure enough, Enid's head drooped. Her short blonde hair seemed to lose its luster.
She fiddled with her fingers dejectedly, her nails instantly extending and retracting. "You know... claws... that's all I've got."
Her voice was muffled, carrying a barely detectable tremor. "I've tried countless times, but I just can't fully transform... I'm scared. If this keeps up, I'll be abandoned by the pack, become a lone wolf, and eventually... eventually die alone."
She poured out her deepest fear to Victor.
"Wow, Vic," Venom mocked unceremoniously in his mind. "You are a master at lightening the mood. Truly elite level."
Victor turned red, holding his breath. He scratched his head and ears for a long while before finally squeezing out a sentence: "It—it's okay! I'll keep you company! You won't be alone!"
Enid jerked her head up. Two blushes instantly flew onto her cheeks. Her eyes darted away, blinking rapidly, and her fingers nervously twisted the hem of her shirt. "Who... who wants you to keep them company..." Her voice was as thin as a mosquito's.
Now, the atmosphere hadn't eased; instead, it had become weirder and more ambiguous.
"Beautiful!" Venom applauded silently inside him. "You successfully upgraded the awkwardness to pink awkwardness!"
Victor scratched his head anxiously, his eyes darting around. Suddenly, as if struck by an idea, he slapped his thigh! "Right! Gifts!"
He turned and pulled Venom out. Reaching into the symbiote's body, he rummaged around and first pulled out a gigantic, brilliantly colorful, even sparkling Rainbow Unicorn plushie. It was almost half the height of a person. He shoved it directly into Enid's arms.
"Here! For you!" Victor grinned. "A token of friendship! Doesn't it match you perfectly?"
Enid was stunned by this sudden, overly vibrant gift. Hugging the foolishly smiling unicorn, the blush on her face deepened. She instinctively buried her face in the unicorn's soft mane and mumbled, "Thank you..."
Victor then turned to Wednesday, who was still playing the cello, and shouted, "Don't worry! There's one for you too!"
Saying that, he pulled another identical, blindingly bright Rainbow Unicorn out of that pocket dimension and waved it enthusiastically at Wednesday.
The cello music stopped abruptly.
Wednesday looked up, staring expressionlessly at Victor and the incongruous rainbow monster in his hand. Her red lips parted, her sharp tongue showing no mercy:
"If your aesthetic sense is as tragically damaged as your brain, I suggest you jump off the roof immediately. perhaps you will get a chance at reincarnation."
"Just kidding! Lightening the mood!" Victor immediately stuffed the Rainbow Unicorn back into Venom's body and laughed awkwardly. "Actually, Venom wanted that one. He can't sleep without hugging it at night."
"Bullshit!" Venom roared, waving his tendrils angrily. "You're the one who wants to sleep with it! You even named it 'Little Rainbow'!"
Victor quickly covered Venom's "mouth" and reached into the symbiote's body again.
This time, he carefully cupped his hands and brought out an exquisitely crafted, hyper-realistic miniature guillotine model. It had a wooden structure, a metal blade that glinted coldly, and even a tiny prisoner doll fixed underneath.
"This," Victor offered it to Wednesday like a treasure, "is a replica of the one that chopped Louis XVI. Perfect scale, and the blade really drops! I even added a little mechanism—press the button and there's a simulated cha-chunk sound and a little red liquid..."
Wednesday's gaze was instantly captivated.
She put down her cello, walked over, and took the miniature guillotine. Her fingers carefully traced every detail, checking the sharpness of the blade and the grain of the wood.
"A crude imitation," she critiqued verbally, though her tone had softened considerably.
"I stopped playing with such basic models when I was five."
But her hands held it firmly, showing no intention of returning it. She carefully tucked it into her small bag. "However, it has some collectible value."
She paused, looking away, and said quickly in a voice that was almost inaudible: "Thank you."
The atmosphere miraculously softened.
Wednesday even felt that the night air was no longer quite so suffocating.
She looked at Enid, blushing as she hugged the Rainbow Unicorn, and Victor, who had gone back to grinning foolishly while fiddling with his tomato plant. Suddenly, she felt that perhaps... staying in this asylum of an academy wasn't completely unbearable.