Ophelia woke up from a blissful sleep; she couldn't remember a time she had slept so well. She looked to her side and noticed Gomez hadn't returned and she smiled. She supposed she had to get up and play the dutiful concerned wife. Ophelia got up and put on one of her sisters' black dresses. Whilst Ophelia did not mind how the dress looked on her figure, she didn't like how restrictive the dress was but it was small price to pay.
Ophelia walked out into the corridor only to meet a very concerned Lurch. He pointed to a door where sounds of trains could be heard from. Lurch looked to his mistress to help his master but Ophelia waved her hand dismissively. "You mustn't worry Lurch." She gave the butler a reassuring smile, "It's just a phase. It will pass."
As his mistress walked away Lurch wasn't convinced. His mistress obviously hadn't seen him in this state before, Lurch had. He remembered the house shaking to the foundations due to trains crashing. He remembered serving his master breakfast only to have it untouched by the time he was ready to serve lunch. He also remembered his late employers pacing about the rooms trying to figure out how to get Gomez out of this state. Morticia was their saviour and now she was refusing to help.
In the dungeons Morticia woke up suddenly from a loud noise coming from upstairs. She had hoped that yesterday had been a frightful dream but sadly she was mistaken. The noise that woke her up before came again shaking the foundations of the house. What was going on up their? It sounded like a train of some kind but there were no stations nearby.
Morticia was quickly brought out her thoughts when her sister walked in, still wearing her face. "Good morning sister." Ophelia smirked, "Did you have a nice night? I know I did….."
As Ophelia continued to gloat about her evening with Gomez, Morticia studied her sisters' actions. There was no way her sister had spent the night with Gomez. Morticia knew her husband, if he had done half the things Ophelia had claimed, she wouldn't have been able to walk. Morticia also noticed that it was still morning, most of her more passionate encounters with Gomez usually ended up with Morticia sleeping till midday.
However if Morticia had called Ophelia out on her lie, her sister would become even more desperate. Morticia had to play her part carefully not to arouse suspicion. Once her sister had left satisfied that Morticia was completely devastated, Morticia had checked the door to her cell. It seemed the lock had been enchanted to block spells so there was no use getting out that way. What she needed was a helping hand. Morticia inspected the severed hand in her cell, it wasn't fresh but it hadn't decomposed fully. Morticia decided to use a reanimation spell. She had done it before when she was little reanimating body parts. Unfortunately she had to give the parts back as they had upset her sister. As she chanted the spell the hand had changed into a healthier colour and the fingers began to twitch. That was the easy part; the tough part would be getting the thing to follow simple instructions.
Esmeralda was getting annoyed at her son in laws' behaviour. She could barely concentrate on her books with that racket going on and her daughter was no help. Esmeralda never had thought she would live for the days when the couple would be back to their disgustingly romantic selves.
As the walls shook again smashing one of her prized relics, Esmeralda had decided she had enough. She would force the couple to sit down and have a romantic meal together even if she had to get Lurch to physically drag them to it. Lurch had some reservations.
"Now Lurch," she said, "I know that you don't like the idea dragging you master out of his playroom but you will have to decide which is more terrifying? Interrupting your master whilst he is playing with his trains?" Esmeralda gave Lurch the most evil look imaginable and he had seen evil. "Or me having to sit through one more day of this!"
Lurch was about to answer her when he had noticed something in the corner of his eye. Esmeralda didn't like being ignored, "Why don't you look at me when I'm talking to you?" Lurch pointed Esmeralda to where he was looking at and she noticed a hand scurrying across the floor carrying in its thumb a stick of dynamite.
They had followed the thing down to the dungeon where they heard a voice that sounded like Ophelia. "Thing how is Gomez?" Esmeralda peered inside to see her eldest daughter in cell. The hand who she assumed must be 'Thing' was making all kinds of gestures that her daughter seemed to understand. "Trains?" her daughter queried, "That's all he has been doing?" Thing gave her daughter a thumbs up to confirm that she had been correct. She seemed relieved, "Oh thank you Thing." Esmeralda watched as her daughter picked Thing up. "You don't know how much this means to me and thank you for bringing the stick of dynamite. That is most helpful."
It was at this moment Esmeralda made her presence known. "What are you doing her Ophelia?" She bellowed, "You're supposed to be in Salem!"
"Mama!" Morticia was startled. She didn't expect her mother or Lurch for that matter to follow Thing down here. How was she going to explain what had happened?
"Ophelia never calls me that." Esmeralda looked at her daughter suspiciously. Ophelia usually called her Mother; Morticia was the one who usually used the French term Mama. Then something clicked inside of Esmeralda, she reached into her pocket to retrieve her compact mirror. She looked into the mirror and saw Morticia where Ophelia should be standing. "Morticia?"
Morticia cried tears of relief her mother had found her. "Yes Mama it's me."
Gomez emerged out of the playroom looking a bit dishevelled. He had run out of cigars and went to look for some more in the study. He did not count on running into his wife. "Hello husband." She smiled seductively, "I have not seen you all day."
Gomez still feeling hollow in her presence answered curtly, "I've been busy."
"With your trains?" It was strange to Gomez, he half expected her to be disappointed in him for leaving her alone all day but instead it seemed like she was mocking him. He turned away from her to pour himself a drink from a decanter but something gave him pause. Ophelia seeing this wondered what was going on until she had noticed that the decanter was made of silver and he was looking directly at her reflection. She quickly grabbed the nearest ornament and knocked him out with it.
"How could you be so stupid?" Esmeralda was pacing outside the cell whilst Lurch ripped the cell door of its hinges. "Letting Ophelia getting the better of you like that and I thought I had trained you better than this."
Thing was shaking on Morticia's shoulder he didn't know what to make of this Esmeralda. "I know Mama." Morticia was very disappointed in herself, she had underestimated her sister. "I let Ophelia get into my head, I believed her when she said Gomez wouldn't know the difference."
"Of course he would know the difference Morticia!" Esmeralda said irritably, "You're his soul mate. I should know the signs after all, it did make a fool out of your father."
"Is that why you killed him because he was going to leave you for his soul mate?" Morticia asked not sure if she believed that such a thing existed.
"Of course not, the stubborn fool would never break his wedding vows." Esmeralda didn't want to have this conversation.
"Then why Mama?" Morticia pleaded, "I need to understand the nature of this bond or if it actually exists between me and Gomez."
"Your father was making himself ill." Esmeralda said dejectedly, "He was slowly killing himself without her, but he would never leave me or you girls, so I gave him and his lady friend a way out."
"So you decided to chop him up into pieces and have her burned at the stake?" Morticia smirked.
"Well I didn't want you to think I had gone completely soft dear." Her mother smiled. "The important thing you must know about this bond is that apart you are weak, if this day has shown us anything." Morticia had nodded in agreement. She had just spent the night whimpering in the cell whilst her husband spent the night crashing trains but her mother continued, "However together you are both unstoppable. No force living or dead can break you two apart and Ophelia just made a big mistake for trying."
"What do you mean Mama?" Despite what Ophelia had tried to do to Mortica, she was still concerned for her sister.
"You're bonded to Gomez by soul, the union is blessed by the spirits." Esmeralda said gravely, "By coming between you two she is defying the forces of nature. If Ophelia goes too far there could be terrible consequences for her."
"Then we must find her before its too late." Morticia walked determinedly out of the cell. Somehow she knew Gomez would be fine, knowing about their bond had strengthened her. However could she reach her sister before it was too late or was her sister too lost in her own madness to see reason?