> The Addams Family Sirens > by Universal Librarian > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 - Seeking Refuge > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "What do you mean, you can't pay us?!" Adagio yelled into her phone.  "I'm sorry, Miss Dazzle, but we just haven't sold enough tickets," the concert organiser replied. "We're going to have to cancel the show." "You can't do this!" Adagio snarled. "We had a deal, you can't just- hello? Hello?! Did he seriously just hang up on me?!" She glared at her phone, then gave a furious huff and tossed it onto the dashboard. Aria raised an eyebrow. "That didn't sound promising." Adagio groaned and let her head thud against the steering wheel. "That's the third cancellation in a row." "We don't have any more gigs lined up, either," Aria grumbled. "You know we're going to run out of money if we don't do a show soon, right?" "We're already out of money thanks to you idiots spending the backup funds on snacks!" Adagio snapped. "What about the money we keep in case we run out?" Sonata asked. "That is the backup fund, you moron!" Aria snapped. Sonata bristled at her. "You're the moron! You spent the money, too!" "You're both idiots," Adagio huffed. "Great. No money, no shows, and no magic." She sighed heavily and turned to frown at the others. "It looks like you two are going to have to try and get jobs again." The other two sirens immediately started shouting out refusals and rebukes, but Adagio wasn't having any of it. "You don't have a choice, unless either of you has a better idea?" Aria grumbled and crossed her arms, but Sonata, worryingly, had a look on her face that could almost be described as thoughtful. "If we need money, why don't we go and find the old family?" She asked. "Not a chance," Adagio said flatly. "Why not?" Sonata asked. "We need money. They have money. And they did say to find them if ever we're in trouble." "It's not that simple!" Adagio looked at Aria, expecting, and quietly hoping, to hear a caustic comment directed at Sonata, but instead she saw a resigned look that didn't bode well.  "I don't know." Aria crossed her arms and blew a strand of hair out of her face. "I mean, I know we haven't seen the other side of the family since we left Equestria, but they did say we should find them if we ever need help."  Adagio ground her teeth together. She desperately wanted to refuse point-blank, but the truth was that they needed money soon or they were going to be in serious trouble. "This is a bad idea." "It can't be worse than having to get ordinary jobs," Aria muttered. "I'll remind you that you said that," Adagio retorted. She snorted and turned the keys in the ignition, bringing the van rumbling into life. "Fine. But remember, this was your idea." The trio stayed mostly silent as Adagio drove to the edge of town; a rare blessing as far as Adagio was concerned. After reaching the edge of town, she kept driving, heading out past suburbs, then farms, and finally into narrow lanes through a heavily wooded area. "Where are you going?" Aria asked. "We need to use a tunnel, preferably one in the middle of nowhere unless you want some moron following us." Adagio pointed at the glovebox. "Fetch my bag and get the black candle out of it." Aria cocked an eyebrow, but did as she was asked. "What do we do with this?" She held up the stubby little candle made of black wax. Adagio fought down a shiver at the thought of what that candle was made of. "Wait until we find the tunnel." Finding said tunnel took a little longer than she had hoped, the sky getting darker as evening slowly fell, but eventually they found one; a dark single-lane opening, ringed with vines, that led through a small hillock. Adagio stopped the van just outside the tunnel. "Okay, light the candle and hold Sonata's hand." "What? Why?!" Aria spat. "Because we all need to be holding onto each other if we want the candle to work on all of us," Adagio explained. "Now just light it and hold Sonata's hand, them hold up the candle towards the tunnel." Adagio waited for Aria to do as she was told, then gripped her wrist with one hand while steering the van with the other, driving slowly through the tunnel. Halfway through the tunnel the candle flickered in a phantom breeze, and a shadow passed over the van. "Looks like it worked," Adagio said quietly. "What do you mean?" Aria asked. "What was the candle supposed to- whoa." The three girls gasped as they drove out of the tunnel and emerged into a quaint little suburb. They looked around in amazement at the charming houses lining the streets. Glancing in the wing mirrors, they noticed with a jolt that the hill and tunnel they had passed through were gone without a trace. The street simply continued on into the distance. "Wait a minute, is this thing magic?!" Aria gave the candle a shocked look, then shifted to glare at Adagio. "You've had magic here in the van this whole time and you never told us?!" Adagio sighed heavily. "It's not Equestrian magic you moron, it's whatever weird magic they have in this world. And you'd better put that candle out before you set fire to your hair." Aria grumbled and put the candle out, while Sonata just stared blankly around at the surrounding houses. Glad that they were finally back to being quiet, Adagio concentrated on driving carefully and looking for their destination. "Keep an eye out for their house. I have a feeling we'll be able to tell the right place just from seeing it." "Isn't it that big one on the hill?" Sonata asked, pointing up to the right. Following her finger, the other two gasped in awe as they spotted a dark mansion built in the middle of expansive grounds atop a low hill. Graves and mausoleums filled the grounds, interspersed with twisted statues and overgrown gardens, while carrion birds swooped amongst the shadows. "That's the place," Adagio said with grim certainty. As they started up the hill, Aria frowned curiously. "You said that candle was weird magic from this world, does that mean that this is another human world?" "Yeah," Adagio replied, thankful to have a halfway intelligent question from one of the others. "When this side of the family left Equestria, they went through a different portal and ended up in this place, instead of that miserable magicless world. They gave me this candle the last time they visited Equestria before they sealed their portal, forever." "So why haven't we come here sooner?" Sonata asked. Adagio grimaced. "You'll see why, soon enough." The girls fell silent as they drove up the hill. The mansion almost seemed to loom over them as they drove closer.  A huge wrought-iron gate was waiting at the top of the hill for them. Adagio stopped the van, but before she could get out the gate creaked open of its own volition. Fighting back a shiver, Adagio restarted the van and drove slowly up the drive, pretending not to notice the gate creaking shut again behind them. Aria glanced in the mirror, clearly seeing it, too. "Uh, those gates aren't electric, are they?" She looked around more carefully now, as if only just noticing the macabre aspect of their surroundings. "These people are distantly descended from our family, right? But… doesn't that mean...?" "It's too late to turn back now," Adagio said grimly. The mansion was even darker and more creepy up close; a testament to gothic architecture and general disrepair. She stopped the van just in front of the steps leading up to the front door. "Remember, this is a whole new world, and we haven't seen any of this side of the family since before we left Equestria. I'm warning you now, they're weird. Keep your eyes open, and be careful."  The three of the girls out of the van, each of them looking uneasily up at the mansion. Adagio fetched something from a box in the back of the van, then turned and straightened up, stepping in front of the others. "Okay. Let's do this." Aria and Sonata followed slowly as Adagio led the way up the steps. She waited at the top for them to catch up, then raised a hand and knocked loudly, not willing to trust the doorbell.  No-one answered. After several long seconds, Aria huffed and crossed her arms. "Seriously? We came all this way and they aren't even here? This is so freaking stup-" Her mouth snapped shut as the door slowly opened with a low, drawn-out creak of straining wood. The creature on the other side of the room could only be described as human using a past tense. He was enormous, well over head and shoulders taller than any of the sirens, with short black hair and a complexion that was rivalled by most month-old corpses. "You rang…?" It groaned in a deep voice. Adagio fought the urge to take a step back, followed by several hundred more in rapid succession. "Er… yeah. We're here to see the family." She held up the item she had retrieved from the van, revealing it to be a small, round amulet made out of dark green stone. It had a stylised gargoyle carved into it.  The corpse creature's eyes widened at the sight of the amulet. It stepped back and held the door open for the girls, bowing slightly as they stepped inside.  The interior of the house was just as grand and dilapidated as the exterior. A majestic staircase dominated the entrance hall, illuminated by an ancient, cobweb-laden chandelier.  "Who is it, Lurch?" The sirens turned to see a breathtakingly beautiful woman coming out of a side room. She had long jet-black hair, and wore a floor-length black dress with a plunging neckline that showed off her deathly pale skin and just a hint of cleavage; an elegant design that was enticing without being entirely salacious. The woman seemed to glide gracefully along the floor rather than walk. She halted and stared at the girls in surprise as she spotted them. "Oh, my…" "Visitors, cara mia?" The man that followed the woman out of the room was her match in every way. Where she was beautiful, he was strikingly handsome. His skin was almost as pale as his companion, and his immaculate hair and narrow moustache were every bit as dark as hers. He wore a perfectly tailored suit of black silk, and he had such an aura, such a presence, that he seemed to draw attention just by entering the room, a stunning feat given the sheer beauty of his partner. "My word…" The man's eyes lit up the instant he spotted the girls. "You must be the Dazzlings." It was a statement, not a question. Adagio nodded anyway and held up the amulet. "I'm sorry to show up unannounced, but your ancestors told us to call on the family if ever we needed help and succour. Well, right now we need both." The man broke out into a manic grin, absolute glee seeping from every fibre of his being. "Say no more, our home is yours!" He strode up to the girls, eagerly shaking and kissing the hand of each of them in turn. Adagio couldn't help but feel a flutter in her heart despite herself. "I cannot tell you how happy I am to finally meet you all! My name is Gomez." He stepped back and held an arm out to the woman, who smiled and glided forward to accept it gracefully. "This is my wife, Morticia, the apple of my eye, the reason for my existence and the one for whom my heart beats alone." Morticia nodded demurely, smiling as Gomez kissed her hand repeatedly. "Later, darling. First, we must finish welcoming our guests." "Of course!" Gomez turned back to them instantly, his face lighting up again. "You must be hungry. Come! A feast for our honoured sisters from afar! We shall give you a welcome worthy of an Addams!' > Chapter 2 - Meet the Addams > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adagio had to hand it to the Addams', they really knew how to make a guest feel welcome. She was sitting at the end of a long table, in the place of honour, with Aria to her right and Sonata to her left, while Lurch was serving up an incredible spread of seafood and well-considered accompaniments. Adagio still wasn't quite comfortable around the towering servant, but at least he seemed to be docile. Gomez had gathered the whole household to greet the sirens. He himself was sitting directly opposite Adagio, clasping the hand of Morticia, seated to his right, while at his left sat a pudgy, bald man with sickly pale skin, clad in what appeared to be a filthy monk's habit.  Two children, a girl and a boy, were sitting together in the middle of the table, between their mother and Sonata. The girl was her mother in miniature, at least physically, and appeared to be in her very early teens. The boy was a little younger, with cropped brown hair, a little leftover baby fat, and was wearing a striped black and white t-shirt with patched black pants. Opposite them sat an old woman dressed like a vile hybrid of a witch and a crazy cat lady, with a bit of old tramp thrown in for good measure. None of the sirens dared to ask about the all-too-alive disembodied hand that had a place set for it next to the old woman. With everyone seated, Lurch placed the last of the food on the table and sat down himself. All of them stared at the sirens curiously, but, thankfully, the silence was broken quickly. "My cherished family," Gomez began. "Tonight we welcome the most honoured guests we have ever had the pleasure of receiving." He held out a hand towards the girls. "The Dazzlings, the long-lost cousins of our ancestors from Seaquestria itself!" The rest of the family stared at the sirens with renewed interest. Being the centre of attention was hardly new to Adagio, but this intense scrutiny still made her a little uncomfortable. Still, propriety had to be observed. "Thank you, Gomez, we greatly appreciate your kind hospitality." "Not at all," Gomez said genially. "You helped our ancestors when no-one else would. It is entirely thanks to the three of you that our first matriarch was able to flee Equestria all those centuries ago, with the courage and strength to live as her true self. Granting you our aid in turn is the very least that we can do!" Adagio managed to plaster an ingratiating smile on her face, though her insides clenched as long-buried feelings stirred. To her relief, none of the assembled Addams's noticed anything amiss. "Now, introductions! You have already met Morticia and Lurch, but this truly disturbing gentleman-" Gomez gestured to the creep sitting to his left, "-is my dear brother, Fester!" "It's an honour!" Fester said in a raspy voice, displaying a grin worthy of any deviant predator. "And these little terrors are our beloved children," Gomez continued, indicating the two youngsters. "Pugsley." The boy nodded in greeting. "And Wednesday."  "Hello," Wednesday said in a deadpan voice. Gomez chuckled at his daughter's muted reaction, then gestured to the last 'people' at the table. "Last but certainly not least, we have Grandmama-" "It's a pleasure, my dears," the old lady said with a creepy smile, revealing a shocking number of rotten teeth "-and Thing!" The disembodied hand reared up on the stump of its wrist and waved enthusiastically. Sonata grinned and waved back. Adagio dipped her head respectfully. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Adagio Dazzle, and these are Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk," she said politely, keeping her typical arrogance out of her voice as much as possible as she gestured to the other two in turn.  "How is Seaquestria, these days?" Grandmama asked as the others turned to their food. "We haven't any news from there in over a century." "Honestly, we have no idea. It was abandoned many years ago." Adagio replied wistfully, spearing a chunk of salmon on her fork. "I imagine the Hippogryphs of Mount Eris would have taken custody of the place after we left." She plopped the forkful in her mouth and felt a delightful surprise on her tongue. "Not bad, fresh from the ocean?" Sonata shook her head. "Nah, river-caught, just seasoned well." Gomez gave her an approving nod. "A connoisseur! We shall have to see if we can satisfy your tastes!" Adagio was glad that Sonata had too much food in her mouth to mention tacos.  "Is it true that it was your job to enslave creatures with your songs and make them drown themselves?" Wednesday suddenly. Aria sighed wistfully. "Man, I'd almost forgotten about that. That was years ago." Her face fell as memories flooded back. "Huh. Things sure have changed." I told you, Adagio thought. The Addams were a goldmine to any who simply had the audacity to ask, and doubly so for the sirens, but they were also a solid reminder of the darkest time the Dazzlings had ever endured. Wishing to spare her fellow sirens, and herself, from thoughts of their own miserable past, Adagio decided that a quick explanation was in order. "As I said, Seaquestria was abandoned shortly after your Matriarch's last visit. The three of us travelled together through the wilderness until we found the pony realm of Equestria." "Ah, very few tales of the ponies have been passed down through our family," Gomez said, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.  "There's not much we can tell," Adagio admitted. "We had had enough by that point, and we decided to use our powers to enslave the ponies and rule over them as queens." Morticia smiled appreciatively. "A worthy goal. Did it not go to plan?" Adagio shook her head. "The ponies had powerful guardians of their own. They found a way to banish the three of us to another world where there was no magic whatsoever. We were forced to get by on what little scraps of power remained to us." "Oh, how awful," Morticia said quietly, looking genuinely sympathetic. "That wasn't the worst of it," Aria grumbled. "Nope." Adagio took a sip of the white wine Lurch had prepared; a very good selection, she had to admit, though Sonata was the better one to ask for that. "After some time, I heard that a thousand years passed by in Equestria, a couple of ponies brought their magic through the portal to that world." She grinned at the memory of Sunset Shimmer's pathetic attempt at intimidation. "It was the chance we had been waiting for. We tried to take their power and regain our original strength."  Seeing the enraptured looks on the faces of those around her, Adagio briefly wondered if maybe she should give true acting a try. She would have to give it some thought. Heaving a theatrical sigh, she continued, "Alas, the ponies had more power than we ever expected. We were defeated once again, and this time our magic was utterly destroyed. We have been trying to get by on our own, working as traveling musicians, but a series of letdowns have left us with no other option but to throw ourselves on your mercy." Gomez sniffed, an actual tear rolling down his cheek. Adagio realized immediately that he had a soft spot for the melodramatic. She'd have to poke that spot whenever she got the chance.  "Fear not!" Gomez called out in a voice filled with emotion. "As you came to our ancestors' aid in their darkest hour, so shall we come to yours! Our home, our wealth, our hospitality, consider them your own! From this moment forth, we are family!" > Chapter 3 - Old Memories > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As far as bedrooms went, Adagio supposed that it wasn't the worst one she had slept in. The three sirens had been given a room together down the corridor from Gomez and Morticia's own. Gomez had called it small, apologizing and promising to have separate rooms prepared for the on the morrow, but the room was still big enough that the girls could easily park their van in there and still have space for beds. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your sense of style and affection for cobwebs, the room was every bit as dark and gothic as the rest of the house.  A king size bed rested against one wall, underneath a wide window that looked out on the graveyard below. A huge ornate wardrobe stood against the opposite wall, though Adagio didn't dare look inside, and several small tables and chests of drawers were dotted around the rest of the room. Everything was either black, gray or, in the case of certain linings and fixtures, a surprisingly shiny silver. The girls' luggage had been brought up by Lurch and placed on the bed neatly. "This place is awesome," Aria said with a grin.  "I figured you would like it," Adagio huffed. Sonata gave the room a cursory look before sitting on the edge of the bed, her expression uncharacteristically thoughtful. "I've been wondering," she said quietly. Aria groaned and crossed her arms. "We don't know if they have tacos in this world, yet. You'll have to ask tomorrow." "I wasn't thinking about tacos!" Sonata snapped, sending a shiver down Adagio's spine. Sonata's mind being occupied by something other than food generally didn't end well for those around her. "I was thinking about the matriarch they mentioned," Sonata said, her brows furrowed. "I remember a lot of stuff from back then, but who exactly was she?" A sudden desire to pull her own hair out flashed across Adagio's mind as Sonata brought up the topic she had least wanted to discuss. "You remember when I asked you to help me smuggle another siren through the Umbra Gate? That was her." The mere mention of the old gateway to the deeps made it feel like the temperature of the room had plummeted. "The one who wanted to see the Abyss before she passed." Aria shivered.  "I always thought she ran out of air down there and died," Sonata said quietly. "Well, she didn't," Adagio replied, her mouth suddenly feeling dry. "I don't know how, but she managed to make it all the way down to the Hadal Deeps." The others' eyes practically popped out of their sockets. "No way!" Aria exclaimed. "The water pressure alone should have killed her, let alone the lack of oxygen! How could she survive without our protective magic?!" Adagio shrugged. "Beats me. I thought she was dead, too, until she turned up again a year later." She let out a dark laugh at the memory. "The Hadal Deeps had changed her, altered her form into something really terrifying. It scared the living daylights out of the other guards. While they all fled in terror, she and I had a little chat about what had happened, and what she had been up to. That's when she gave me that candle." "So she's the reason we have family over here?" Sonata asked. "I kinda always wondered how that happened." "She's the reason why," Adagio confirmed, glad that neither of the others were pushing for details. "She started a family over here, and they used whatever bizarre magic she found in the Abyss and the Hadal Deeps to send letters to Seaquestria." Aria frowned. "Did the Ekklesia know?" Adagio snorted and arched an eyebrow. "Don't be ridiculous. Those idiots thought that one of the old wandering tribes had stumbled across a portal to another world in the wide ocean. They would have lost their collective minds if they knew that the letters were actually coming from the Hadal Deeps." "Does that mean the Addams's have Abyssal magic, too?" Sonata asked.  "I don't know," Adagio admitted. "It's possible that some of the old magic is still in their blood, but it's just as likely that they're just really hardcore goths." Aria smirked. "Hardcore goths with a walking corpse for a butler and a random hand crawling all over the place?" "Maybe they're really really hardcore goths?" Sonata suggested. Adagio chuckled and stepped over to the wardrobe. She pulled it open, grimacing as she spotted cobwebs in every corner, but noted that there was at least enough space for her to hang her clothes. "Either way, we should get some sleep for now. We can start figuring out where to go from here in the morning." The other two shrugged and started getting ready for bed. Just as Aria made to pull her top off, Adagio heard a strange sound from the door, almost quiet enough to be a figment of her imagination. Quick as a flash, Adagio whipped a pen out of her pocket and jammed it through the door's keyhole, earning herself a howl of agony from the other side. "Goodnight, Fester," she said in an icy tone. "Goodnight, girls!" Fester called back in his distinctive rasp. Aria yanked her top back down with a yelp, staring wide-eyed at the door. "W-what the heck! Was that creep spying on us?!" "Wait, someone was watching? Why didn't you say, I would've posed!" Sonata exclaimed indignantly. Adagio just sighed heavily. She slammed the door with her fist, not relaxing until she heard the fading sound of fleeing footsteps in the hallway outside. "Yes, he was spying. Don't worry, Aria, you can kick his teeth in tomorrow. As for you…" Adagio gave Sonata an exasperated look. "Just shut up, get changed, and go to sleep." As her fellow sirens resumed changing, Aria making sure that she was out of sight from the keyhole, and Sonata making sure that she was in full view, Adagio fought the urge to groan and rub her temples. The next few days were going to be exhausting. > Chapter 4 - Breakfast > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gentle sunlight streamed in through the window, accompanied by the soft trilling of morning birdsong, making even the grim décor of the bedroom seem almost charming. It was clearly going to be a beautiful day. Unfortunately, beautiful or not, Adagio doubted that she was going to enjoy it much. For a start, both Aria and Sonata were wrapped around her as if she was an oversized plushie. At least Sonata wasn't drooling this time, and Aria was sucking her thumb quietly for a change, so silver linings. Sighing heavily, Adagio rolled her eyes and settled in to wait for one or other of the idiots to wake up. Or for her bladder to get particularly insistent, whichever came first. Salvation arrived in the form of a low boom from downstairs that shook dust from the ceiling. "Wuzzat?" Aria muttered sleepily, pulling her thumb from her mouth. Sonata moaned and shifted, opening one bleary eye. "Is it breakfast time?" "It will be when you get up," Adagio growled. "Mmm, 'kay." Sonata sat up and stretched, yawning widely.  Aria cracked her eyes open, throwing Sonata a barely conscious glare, then rolled over and wrapped the blanket tightly around herself. Adagio shrugged and threw the blanket off herself, clambered off the edge of the bed and stood tall as she stretched, remembering a second too late to check for potential perverts at the door. She covered herself with her arms and hurried to the door, peeking through the keyhole. It was clear. "If you wore pajamas you wouldn't have to worry about that," Aria spat. "Just get out of bed and get dressed," Adagio shot back. With a groan and a mumbled stream of profanities that would make a sailor blush, Aria hauled herself out of bed and slowly swapped pajamas for proper clothes. Adagio jabbed a pen through the keyhole again for good measure, relaxing when no squawk of pain followed, and started getting dressed herself. Sonata, despite her usual predilection for flaunting herself, was dressed before either of the others. Breakfast was a more powerful lure than anything for the blue twit. When the three were finally ready, Adagio opened the bedroom door, only to yelp and leap back in fright at the sight of Lurch standing motionless in front of it. "What are you doing?!" Lurch just groaned and bowed, then gestured for the girls to follow. "I think he's taking us to breakfast," Sonata said eagerly. Adagio and Aria both stared as Sonata followed cheerfully in Lurch's wake. "Should we follow her, or what?" Aria asked. "You can, I'm going to freshen up, first," Adagio replied. Without looking back, she sauntered off to the nearest bathroom. After dealing with her morning ablutions, Adagio slowly made her way down to the kitchen. Gomez, Pugsley, Aria and Sonata were already there, sitting at the table while Lurch served breakfast to the Sirens.  "Adagio! Good morning!" Gomez called out cheerfully. "How did you sleep?"  "Well enough," Adagio replied. "The only problems I had were the two I brought with me." Aria glared, but kept her mouth shut. Sonata was too busy shoveling food into her mouth to say anything, if she had even caught the veiled barb. Gomez patted the chair next to him, which Adagio accepted gracefully. As Lurch dished up breakfast for Adagio; a mouth-watering selection of bacon, eggs, toast, fried tomatoes, beans, and kippers, Gomez took a sip of coffee and smiled at her. "So, I was wondering if our esteemed guests would be interested in a tour of the grounds this morning, unless you have any other plans?" "We don't have any plans, so a tour would be nice," Adagio replied. "Where are the others?" "Morticia is in the greenhouses, Grandmama is downstairs, Thing is in the music room, and Wednesday…" Gomez glanced around. "I'm sure she's around somewhere." Sonata swallowed a huge mouthful and glanced at Gomez. "What kinda stuff do you have in the grounds?" "You shall soon see," Gomez replied cryptically. "Is it true that you used to kill people?" Pugsley asked suddenly. "Only the annoying ones," Aria replied with a grunt. Adagio hoped that was the end of the conversation, but Pugsley kept staring at her with such an innocently curious expression that she found herself explaining, "Our job, before Seaquestria was abandoned, was to protect it from invaders and thieves. The magic we were given allowed us to effectively hypnotise other beings. We used that magic to… persuade land-dwelling interlopers to enter the water." "It's too bad most of them couldn't breath underwater," Sonata piped up. "Some of them were cute until they turned all bloaty and smelly." "Cool," Pugsley said with a mildly interested smile, as if they were discussing the weather instead of drowned corpses. "What did you do with the ones that could breath water?" Aria shrugged. "Most of the other water-breathers were friendly to us. The ones that weren't were usually made to bleed." "Ah, exsanguination! Delightful!" Gomez said brightly. "Not quite," Aria said with a smirk. "We'd just make sure they bled a little bit, then let our pets do the rest." She grinned maliciously. "Shark food isn't cheap, y'know." Gomez tilted his head. "In this world, it's not too hard to get hold of. Housing a shark, on the other hand, is much more difficult here. Finding a tank large enough for the shark to exercise and explore in a healthy manner is prohibitively expensive, both in terms of currency and physical space." "Otherwise we'd have one of our own," Pugsley said with a nod. Adagio shrugged. "They're not actually that great as guard beasts. They're a lot more friendly than people realise. If they hurt someone, nine times out of ten it's either accidental, or they're curious and don't have any real way of physically interacting other than using their teeth. The ones raised by the Sea Wall were just very well trained, and very protective." "Especially Fifi," Sonata added. "Fifi was awesome," Aria agreed with a grin. Silence fell as the group returned to their breakfast. Adagio was a little annoyed. She had anticipated that this family reunion would dredge up certain aspects of the Sirens' past, but she hadn't expected talking about it to be so… easy. Or nostalgic. Something had changed over the years. "What's up, Adagio?" Sonata asked curiously. Adagio scowled. "Nothing. When are we getting this tour?" "As soon as you have finished breakfast, if you'd like," Gomez replied. "Good." Adagio ate as quickly as she could without dropping her manners, then stood and brushed non-existent crumbs off her clothes. "Let's get going." Sonata looked up in shock. "I haven't finished yet!" "Yeah, what's the rush, Dagi?" Aria added. "I just don't want to be cooped up," Adagio deflected. "I've spent enough time stuck in a tiny space with you two. I want some fresh air." "I'll take you to the greenhouses," a deadpan voice called out. Everyone turned to see Wednesday standing in the doorway. "Mother would like to speak with you." > Chapter 5 - Secret > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Somehow, the only thing Adagio found more creepy than the mansion itself was the girl walking along beside her. Wednesday was utterly silent, with skin that was disturbingly pale. Corpses tended to quickly turn grey, green, or blue, at least in Adagio's experience, but the girl's pallor suggested something a little less… human. "You used to kill people," Wednesday said. It was a statement, not a question, and delivered in such a casual deadpan that the girl may as well have been telling Adagio what the weather was like. "I did," Adagio replied in the same deadpan tone, not giving anything away. Wednesday simply nodded once, as if she had neither expected an answer nor cared what it was.  The two continued on in dead silence. Adagio glanced sidelong at the girl. Wednesday was wearing a plain black dress with matching stockings and shoes, and her expression, just like last night, was utterly devoid of any emotion. "How old are you?" Adagio asked. "Old enough to know what I want to do with my life, but not old enough to actually do it," Wednesday replied. "What do you want to do?" Adagio pressed. Wednesday glanced at her. "Currently? Learn." Another deflective answer. Adagio would have approved if it wasn't so annoying. "Learn what?" Wednesday looked around, almost furtively, then said in an undertone, "We'll discuss it after Mother has spoken with you." "Oh?" Something about the girl's subtly shifty manner intrigued Adagio. She had thought that the Addams were incredibly, disgustingly, tightly knit, but apparently there were things they kept even from each other. Perhaps there were still skeletons in the closet, even with this family. Literally and metaphorically. Adagio's inbuilt gossip radar was pinging like crazy, but she kept her expression carefully neutral. Everything would be exposed in time. The two slowly made their way out of the house and into the gardens. In Adagio's opinion, the garden was even less inviting than the house, with grave markers and macabre tombstones scattered around without rhyme or reason, at least not to a sane mind. Aria was going to love it. "This way." Wednesday led Adagio on a winding path through the grave-garden, towards a huge stately greenhouse. "Mother is inside." Adagio grimaced. From the outside, it looked as if the greenhouse contained very little that was actually green. Tangled messes of dark plants pressed up against the glass and climbed upwards, towering over her head. Circling around to the entrance, Adagio spotted Morticia slowly moving around inside with a pair of clippers, trimming and pruning the plants with the precision and delicacy of a born gardener. It would have looked almost quaint if the plants weren't a mix of brambles, stinging nettles, and a whole host of dark-leaved flora that were most likely poisonous. "You wanted to see me?" Adagio called out. "I did," Morticia replied, not looking away from her charges. "Thank you, Wednesday. May we have some privacy, please?" Wednesday nodded and left, closing the greenhouse door behind her. A faint feeling of fear trickled up Adagio’s spine at being trapped in a room with a lunatic armed with any sort of blade. Only the fact that the Addams' practically hero-worshipped the Sirens kept her from belting out of the greenhouse entirely. Still, Adagio was careful to stay close to the door. After a quick glance to make sure that Wednesday was gone, Morticia turned to Adagio and offered her a hauntingly beautiful smile. “I apologise for pulling you away from breakfast, but there are some things I wished to discuss with you.” “It’s fine,” Adagio replied, waving the apology away with an air of indifference that was completely at odds with her wavering nerve. “What do you want to talk about?” Morticia put her clippers down before answering, to Adagio's great relief, “I understand that you were the one who helped smuggle our Matriarch through the Umbra Gate?”  "All three of us helped," Adagio told her simply. "Of course, but it was you that our Matriarch approached for help, and you alone who she confided in," Morticia added smoothly.  "To an extent," Adagio admitted begrudgingly. She had already figured where this conversation was going, but she had no intentions of helping things along. Morticia gave her a coy smile, as if she saw right through Adagio's façade. "Our Matriarch passed her deepest secrets down to her eldest daughter, and her to hers, and so on through the generations, through family born and found, through every eldest daughter in body or spirit until, finally, those secrets came to me. Wednesday will learn too, in time, but for now I am one of very few living people who know the full truth of that night." "Then you don't need me to fill you in on anything," Adagio said flatly. "Perhaps, but there is something that I absolutely must do." Adagio tensed as Morticia suddenly swept towards her with inhuman speed and elegance. Before she could react, Morticia stopped just as abruptly and sank into a flawless curtsey worthy of a royal court. "Without your help, our Matriarch would never have come to this world, and we outcasts would still be lost, alone and unloved. Thank you, Trierarch Dazzle." Hearing her old title again set a wave of conflicting emotions rampaging through Adagio's heart. Normally, having someone genuflect towards her like this would be expected and enjoyed, but now she just felt hollow and uncomfortable. Unwilling to face the ghosts of the past, she bobbed her head and said quietly, "You're welcome." The weak timbre of her own voice was the last straw for Adagio. She cleared her throat before adding loudly, "I think I'm going to take a walk through the gardens. Let me know if the others start causing problems." "Of course," Morticia said as she straightened up. Adagio turned to the door, but just as she gripped the handle Morticia called out, "One last thing. Does the Lady Dusk know?" "No," Adagio replied instantly. "Neither does Aria." Morticia arched an eyebrow and smiled. "You kept your promise, even after everything." "I don't make promises often, but when I do, I keep them no matter what," Adagio told her firmly. She didn't dare looking back as she opened the door and left, trying to shove down the feeling that she was running away from something. Ω Morticia watched calmly as Adagio practically fled from her.  It was understandable, of course. The secret the Siren bore was one that would have rocked Seaquestria to its very core. Even now, it had the potential to cause havoc among certain groups.  Thinking about it brought a faint smile to Morticia's face. Closing her eyes, Morticia focused on the tiny fragment of Abyssal magic that resided in her soul. Grandmama was far more experienced at manipulating it than Morticia was, but she had enough skill for the task at hand. She teased out the magic, pointed at a dark space under the nearest table, and drew a circle in the air with her finger. The magic felt deliciously like barbed wire grating under her skin as it slowly woke. Morticia took a deep breath to brace herself for the coming experience, then snapped her fingers. The greenhouse shook as a tear opened up in the shadows beneath the table. Exquisite agony blasted through every nerve in Morticia's body, the Abyssal magic feeling like it was flaying her from the inside out while the gash in existence bombarded her with ethereal winds that froze and burned all at once. Through the tear, Morticia caught a split-second glimpse of a reality beyond the reach of space and time before something blocked it out, but even that brief look pushed her limited sanity to the absolute brink. "Te…ke…lili…" A deep voice burbled through the air as a thick black pseudopod reached through the tear. Morticia struggled to gather herself together enough to speak. "I… have… a m-message for… our Matriarch. Tell… tell Cantata, the others… are here." The messenger burbled once more and retracted its tentacle. All at once the spell was broken and the tear in reality disappeared as if it had never existed. Morticia slumped to her knees and sagged against the table. It took her several seconds to realize that the coppery taste in her mouth was her own blood, and several more before she could raise a hand to try and staunch the heavy nosebleed. Her entire body throbbed, a welcome side-effect of the magic, and Morticia allowed herself a wild grin as she slipped into unconsciousness.