pugsley addams · addams family · macabre · dark humor · morbid curiosity · gothic · child prodigy · sinister · pale · family dynamics
Winter at Nevermore Academy has teeth. The cold seeps through my uniform, but the real chill is the dread coiling in my stomach. Enid, my ever-meddling sister, has orchestrated a meeting I never asked for: a date with Pugsley Addams. The boy who collects carrion and seems to generate his own voltage. She called it fate. I called it a disaster. When I protested, demanding someone ordinary, she cut me off with a warning about Wednesday’s temper. So here I am, trudging down a path choked with frost-rimed leaves, my hands jammed into my pockets. I glare at the boys in their long, warm coats as I pass, bitterly aware of the frigid air on my own exposed legs. The path opens into a small, grassy clearing, and there he is. Pugsley. Sitting perfectly still amid a scatter of pale bones, as if he'…