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In her first week at Nevermore Academy, Wednesday Addams never dreamed that she would help her new roommate, Enid, on any school activity. That, however, changed on the night before the Poe Cup: her rival Bianca Barclay, captain of Puck Hall's team, had gloated to her friend Xavier about some kind of plan to defeat Enid's team, the Black Cats. Right afterwards, Enid had informed Wednesday that somebody served garlic bread to her copilot, Yoko Tanaka the vampire, causing her to be sent to the infirmary.
Wednesday suspected that Bianca must have sabotaged Yoko's dinner in an attempt to get back at Enid for making friends with her. Wednesday, for her part, wouldn't stand for this, so she volunteered to become Yoko's substitute on the Black Cats.
Wednesday and Thing then entered her closet, which had her clothes and more supplies than she needed. Additionally, a pair of animated skeletons resided in there, one of which was lying on a wooden chest, holding up some sheet music so that the other, holding percussion mallets, can play on him like a xylophone.
At the time, nobody at Nevermore knew that these skeletons, which had long resided in a closet at the Addams mansion, had accompanied Wednesday to Nevermore. Wednesday usually enjoys listening to their music, though she had another task for them.
"Hello, skeletons?" Wednesday called out.
"Hello, Miss Wednesday," the xylophone skeleton said.
"What do you need?" the skeleton player asked as he stopped playing.
"Enid needs my help," Wednesday said. "Her friend Yoko had been admitted into the infirmary after she was served some garlic bread at dinner. I suspect that Bianca was behind this, for I overheard her boasting that she has a plan to defeat Enid at the Poe Cup."
"What's the Poe Cup?" asked the xylophone skeleton.
"It is a competition between the four halls of Nevermore," Wednesday explained. "Each team is supposed to row a canoe across the lake. Enid is the captain of Ophelia Hall's team, while Bianca's leading Puck Hall's team. When I learned what happened to Yoko, I felt a sudden urge to comfort Enid, who was quite saddened about what happened to her friend. Therefore, I became Yoko's substitute in the Poe Cup, and I plan to retrofit Enid's boat, the Black Cat, with some surprises of my own."
"Yes, Miss Wednesday," said the xylophone skeleton, who got up and set aside the sheet music.
"If you need any supplies, we will provide them," said the skeleton player, who set aside his mallets.
"Give me a box to put the supplies in," Wednesday began.
"Here's a box," said the skeleton player, handing her a cardboard box.
"Get me a handsaw, a hammer, a wrench, a screwdriver, and some screws," Wednesday added.
These were placed in the box.
"Thing," asked Wednesday. "Would you like to join our team as a secret fifth member? I think you'd be useful in operating some of the devices I will design."
Thing gave a thumbs-up.
"Therefore, I will need two levers for Thing," said Wednesday.
"Here's two levers," said the xylophone skeleton, putting them in the box.
"I suspect that one of Bianca's siren friends will be in the water tomorrow," said Wednesday. "Give me a fishing net."
"A fishing net for you," said the skeleton player.
"Six spears," Wednesday said.
"Here's some spears," the xylphone skeleton said. "What for?"
"I'll install them on the boat," Wednesday said. "I'll need six trapdoors to hide the spears with. I'll also need some machinery to activate the trapdoors, extend the spears, and deploy the net."
The two skeletons then placed some mechanical components in the box.
"Some lamps," said Wednesday. "I need to see what I'm doing."
The skeletons put some battery-powered lamps in the box.
"That will be all," said Wednesday. "Thank you, skeletons."
"You're welcome," said the xylophone skeleton.
"Good luck, Miss Wednesday," said the skeleton player.
Thing leaped into the box, and Wednesday left the closet. Enid was feeling a lot better.
"I'll go down to the lake to prepare something… fun," Wednesday said, a mischievous smirk on her face. Wednesday then pulled a sandwich bag out of her pocket and showed it to Enid. "I'll have my breakfast outside tomorrow, since I may be working on my surprise all night," Wednesday explained. "I might even do some moonbathing when I'm done."
"Moonbathing?" Enid asked in confusion. "Like sunbathing?"
"Yes, like sunbathing," said Wednesday. "See you at the Poe Cup, Enid."
"Thanks," replied Enid. "See you tomorrow!"
Wednesday then went down the hallway. A minute or two later, she stumbled on two girls in pajamas. She recognized them as two of the girls who had been painting the Black Cat earlier that day.
"Hi, Wednesday," said one of them. "Thank you for subbing for Yoko. I'm Lenore, and this is my sister, Anna."
"We're gonna be your teammates for tomorrow," said Anna. "I wonder what you're up to tonight, Wednesday?"
"You'll see," Wednesday said mischievously.
Wednesday then made her way to the place where the Black Cat was painted earlier. She set down the lamps around it, and got to work. She installed a fishing net on the bottom of the boat. She then installed three spears on each side of the boat, with flaps to hide them. These spears would be used when the Black Cats ram another boat.
Two levers were installed in the middle of the boat, so Thing can activate these machines.
After several hours of work, Wednesday completed her modifications to the Black Cat. She then laid down to moonbathe. At around three-thirty in the morning, she went to sleep.
At around sunrise (which in Jericho at this time of the year, was just before seven-thirty in the morning), Wednesday awakened and had her sandwich. Her sleep was longer than her usual three hours, and her nocturnality had just proven very useful. She had her sandwich, then made her way back to the school to see Enid before the game.