It was kind of annoying that the term was ending early, but Enid also understood why. The last few days had been super crazy and the principal was dead and the mayor of Jericho was dead and it was probably better if they all took a step away. Still, she was so going to miss Wednesday and Ajax and everyone she wouldn’t see again until she came back to Nevermore. At least they all had cell phones now, right?
She was sitting in the back of her parents car, pretty much in silence. Her mom had been so thrilled that she’d actually been able to wolf out, which was great, right? Except, no, it wasn’t. Because what if she hadn’t been able to wolf out? Would her mom still have sent her to that horrible conversion camp because she wasn’t good enough the way she was? Of course she would have. Because that was all her mom cared about.
She’d just been writing a text to Ajax when suddenly she realized she wasn’t in the back of her parents’ car anymore. Her eyes widened and she looked around her as she realized she wasn’t in any place she’d ever seen before. It was kind of old and historic looking like Jericho but it wasn’t Jericho at all. Was she having a vision? Werewolves didn’t have visions, did they? She’d never heard about anything like that before.
She was wearing a pink sweater and a pair of jeans, with her super cute pink clog shoes, and it had been perfectly warm enough when she’d left Nevermore. But it was colder here, and she wrapped her arms around herself and wished she had a coat. She closed her eyes tightly, then opened them, and nothing had changed. A little town was going on around her and her parents’ car was nowhere to be found.
Huh.
She started walking down the street, with a little bounce in her step even as confused and unsure as she was. It couldn’t be that bad, right? The town was so cute.
Finally, she stopped in front of a clothing store that had the cutest clothes in the window, grinning broadly until she realized she didn’t have any money with her, then she sighed and kept walking until she saw a man coming in her direction.
“Hi!” She said, waving wildly. “Hi! Hello!” She closed the distance between them, skipping a little as she did. “Hi! I’m Enid. I think I’m lost.”
*** Marcel hadn’t planned on being downtown, but the vampire wanted to swing by and pick up a nice gift for Bex before he went to see her for the evening. Okay, technically, he purchased flowers, got out of the store, looked at them, and realized his mistake. Bex loved flowers, but bringing cut flowers into the house often gave Alyssa a migraine with their incessant chatter…or downright hostility to no longer being in the ground.
He’d just found a lovely frame and exited the store when a blonde started talking…while skipping. If Josh and Alyssa had a child, this would be the result no doubt. Not that he foresaw that happening, given Josh’s preference for men and Alyssa’s preference for asshole vampires.
The vampire did smile though, ever friendly, especially to kids. “Hey Enid. Are you new?” He felt certain a sunshine and lollipop werewolf would be memorable.
She stopped, finally, when he addressed her, but she didn’t stop smiling. Even though he definitely smelled supernatural…this place was just too weird for her to figure that out, though. He didn’t smell like anything back home. That was too bad. It would have been nice to have something familiar here. It was a really weird place. Not that that was bad! Weird could be good.
“I just…I was in my parents’ car and then I was here. OMG, right? And I mean, this town is super cute but it’s not anywhere I know. So…I’m not sure how I got here. I can’t teleport, I’m pretty sure of that.”
She looked up at him, bouncing a little on her feet.
“Can you like…get me back home? Tell me which way to go or something?”
*** Marcel would feel exhausted by the young woman’s train of thought. As an enhanced Original, the vampire doubted many like him exhausted, like there was only one Klaus.
“Oh yeah, the Dome likes to bring people here at random times.” He felt really bad for the words about to exit his mouth. “I’m sorry. There’s no way to get you back home. We’re stuck here and we can’t leave the Dome.” Well, they could for portals and the occasional vacation, but Marcel stuck with the simplest version for now.
“I’m Marcel, by the way.”
Her smile faltered for a moment, and she clasped her hands tightly in front of her, still bouncing on her feet. This time, however, it seemed more anxious than excited.
“But…” There wasn’t really anything he said that she could argue with. “But…” She looked around her, the town looking much less cute if she was stuck here and couldn’t get back to the people she cared about.
“Can…can I get touch with people from home, though? Call them, maybe? Or text? Texts would be fine.” What would Ajax think if she just stopped texting him? And she wanted to get in touch with Wednesday too, and see how she was doing over the break. And would she get to go back to Nevermore ever???
“I have friends who will worry about me! And I have a boyfriend. I can’t just disappear!” She was starting to get more and more anxious. “And what happens if I wolf out here?”
*** Okay, at this rate, Marcel might need bourbon and a hit of the ecstasy he knew Alyssa kept stashed in her purse. Not really, but, he reminded himself that he didn’t harm kids and this particular one showed up as confused as he had back in May.
“I’m sorry. You can’t get in touch with people at home, but the good news is, no time passes there, so they’ll never know you showed up here.” Thankfully a moment later one of the welcoming committee appeared and issued the usual message, complete with who would be the kid’s guardian/s.
“You are not the only werewolf here. I promise. There are plenty of werewolves here, who will be happy to help you if needed.”
She clenched her hands together, worrying her bottom lip. It was good that people back home wouldn’t miss her or forget her, but she was going to miss them. Bad. It could be worse. It could always be worse, but…
The man came and gave her the information, and she took it, looking at it a bit blankly. She’d never been kidnapped before, and it wasn’t something she was particularly enjoying so far. Still, she forced a smile, even if it didn’t completely reach her eyes.
“Okay! Okay, then. Is there a school here like Nevermore, then? For outcasts. Because I guess I’ll still have to go to school since I’m only sixteen. And I guess I can make more friends there?” She was still aching at not getting to see Wednesday in who knew how long, and not being able to see Ajax was going to suck so bad, but she wasn’t just going to wallow in sadness. That wasn’t who she was. This would be…an adventure of its own.
*** “Hey, maybe you’ll get lucky and people from home will show up here. Sometimes the Dome does such things. I have a lot of people from home here.” Even if he missed Davina a lot, he would be lost without Josh and Bex.
“There’s a normal high school here? There are plenty of various humans and supernatural types who attend. Or, you could go the route of your GED.” Marcel required copious amounts of bourbon at this point.
“Somehow, I think you’ll make a few friends. I can introduce you to Alyssa or Kayla at some point, if you’d like. Alyssa is a family friend and Kayla’s guardian…is someone I know from home.” Marcel did not feel like confusing the poor girl with his and Kol’s complicated history. Although, Kayla would probably take one look at this girl and nope the fuck out. “Alyssa would definitely love your whole look.”
“I don’t know if I want to go to a normie high school,” she said, clearly nervous at the idea. She knew how much the normies hated them, even more since they practically burned their school down. I mean…one of the nice things about Nevermore is that we’re all different and weird. And that’s more comfortable, you know?”
She did brighten at the idea of having people from home, though.
“I’d love anyone from Nevermore! Bianca or Xavier or Yoko or anyone!” The bouncing had returned at the thought of that. Of course, she didn’t mention the two people she wanted to see most, as if that would somehow curse her and they wouldn’t show up. “Kayla is my age? Maybe we could be friends! I like making friends. Is she a normie?” It would always hurt a little that Lucas had used her to ruin the Rave’N and that Tyler had tried to kill them all…even though he wasn’t really a normie when it came down to it. Only half. She’d prefer to stay with Outcasts, though, because they hadn’t done half the stuff that the normies had. “And who is Alyssa?”
She wasn’t going to be upset about this. She was going to be brave and strong like Wednesday would be. WWWD, after all!
*** Marcel considered her words, trying to find the right amount of sympathy. “The teachers here are all really good about having supernatural students. You would definitely not be the first.” Or the last.
“Kayla is seventeen so close to your age. She’s human, but her guardian is an Original Vampire, so she’s used to…strange.” Based on what Alyssa told him, she’d handled the whole vampire revelation rather well. “I don’t think she’s going to judge you for being a werewolf.” Kayla might not appreciate Enid’s outlook on life or her clothes, but she wouldn’t judge someone because they happened to be born a werewolf.
How the hell could he describe Alyssa? “She’s the Red Queen from Wonderland. If you see a teenaged looking blonde walking around with white butterfly wings? That’s her. She’s been adopted as a little sister by my girlfriend. Sweet. A little chaotic.” Terrible taste in male vampires. “But definitely not normal.”
The school name finally settled in his brain. “Actually, I think someone from your school arrived here last week? Or maybe two people. I can’t remember.”
She believed him that the teachers might be okay. Adults weren’t always - Mrs. Thornhill for one - but they were older and hopefully wouldn’t be as stupid as kids were about it. But it wasn’t really the teachers she was worried about. It was the kids. And just being so out of her comfort zone. She knew all the gossip about everyone back home, and here she’d have to start anew.
“What’s an original vampire? I mean, I have vampire friends but none that are…original?”
She started bouncing again, she couldn’t help it.
“Wonderland is real!!!? I’ve read the books like so many times and watched all the movies and it just looks so cool!!!! I’ll have to ask her all about it!” She clapped her hands together a little, excited about that idea.
At his last words, though, she froze, looking at him with wide eyes.
“There’s someone else from Nevermore here?” She knew everyone at Nevermore and there were a lot of students, so she couldn’t assume it was Wednesday or Ajax…but there was always a chance, wasn’t there? “Who?”
*** Some of the teachers were refugees themselves, after all. “The Dome has been here almost a decade, so the students are used to refugees and some of the students are refugees.
“In our world, Original Vampires are just that: the first of their kind. All other vampires descend from them. My girlfriend is one of the Originals.” The only female Original given Freya remained a witch.
Oh God. If this girl approached Alyssa with this enthusiasm for the books, the Netherling might lose her shit. “Wonderland definitely exists. We even had a portal back in the late summer…you should definitely ask her about Wonderland.” Marcel loved the enthusiasm. “Maybe don’t ask her about the book itself right away. The book is a bit of a sore spot.”
At the question he tried to recall. “Uh, possibly a goth looking girl with braids? I think?”
***
Enid was still unsure about going to a normie school, no matter what he said about it. She’d never been to one, but she’d read plenty about it on their blogs and while in a lot of ways it sounded like Nevermore, in a lot of ways it didn’t.
She knew a lot of vampires, but hadn’t ever met an Original. She supposed that there had to be a first one, but they’d never told her anything about them. Maybe they just didn’t tell non-Vamps about it. It was possible. They had a lot of secrets, she supposed.
“She doesn’t like the book? Wonderland isn’t like that, then? What about the movies, are those closer?”
She squealed and started actually jumping up and down at that description, so excited to hear that her bestie was actually here! Maybe this place wouldn’t be so bad after all!
“That sounds like Wednesday!!!!”
*** Marcel never attended a school. He grew up a slave boy without a name and then when the Mikaelsons took him in as family, well Elijah and Klaus educated him at home. Not that Marcel felt he lacked an education. Only that it never involved an actual school.
“I think you’d have to talk to her for her opinions about Wonderland, but no, it’s nothing like the book. I’d say the Tim Burton film is probably the most correct?
His ears hurt from the squeal, but at least the girl seemed happy. “Well, I’m glad your friend showed up. If it is the right friend.” The name Wednesday sounded familiar.
“I’ll do that, then. I’ve seen that movie. It was the weirdest but also the coolest in some ways, you know? So dark and creepy…reminds me a bit of Wednesday, you know?” She’d try to contain her excitement when she talked to the other girl…but she probably wouldn’t be able to do a very good job of that. She got excited. She couldn’t help it!
“Well, Wednesday is hard to mistake!” And she didn’t know any other goth girl with pigtails who went to Nevermore. Of course…maybe it was from a different time when she didn’t know anybody there? That was a bad thing to think about and she didn’t want to. She wanted to think that it was going to be good and that if she didn’t have Ajax at least she’d have Wednesday to keep her mind off of things and keep her from pining.
Of course, she’d probably still pine a little. She was pretty smitten by the gorgon.
Happy, and grateful, she closed the distance between them and hugged him tightly.
“Thank you so much!”
*** Marcel’s expression kept changing to varying degrees of what the fuck. “Alyssa’s Wonderland is definitely all of those things.” Which seemed innocuous enough. “It reminds you of your friend?”
The vampire hoped the people the girl wanted to see were in town. Not least of all because they were probably used to her enthusiasm.
“No problem. Do you need me to take you anywhere?” Marcel returned the hug, still confused, but he’d never turn down a hug.
“Yes, it does. A little.” It was hard to explain how. Wednesday wasn’t Alice, by any means, but…well…she’d have to think that out later - why exactly she was reminded of Wednesday by that movie.
“No, I don’t think so. They gave me an address where my guardians were going to be…or I could just message them.” And Wednesday. Definitely Wednesday too.
She pulled back from the hug and smiled at him, waving a little before hurrying off towards a little cafe at the end of the street where she could send her messages.