From the WHIMSICAL MIND of TIM BURTON
THE SHYISH STUDENT meets WEDNESDAY THE TV SERIES
NEVER MORR: A HIGH SCHOOL AU
WE OPEN in the HEAD OFFICE of NEVERMORE ACADEMY, where ZAGREUS NYX, a pale, thin boy with a head of thick, bristling black hair, stands before the desk of the tall, blonde principal, LARISSA WEEMS.
WEEMS: I'm afraid I know of no outcast community in Scotland that fits what you've described, Mr. Nyx. Is there any chance that Hogg's Wharf near Aberdeen might have featured in your recollections?
WEEMS slides a postcard across the desk labelled 'GREETINGS FROM HOGG'S WHARF'. The sepia photographs show a gloomy, rainy fishing village with a ramshackle, sea-beaten pier.
ZAGREUS: (hoarsely) No.
WEEMS: (affecting wistfulness) How unfortunate. Perhaps we will find out when the rest of your memories return. In the meantime, you need a safe place to stay and continue your education.
ZAGREUS: I know. I'm safer here than anywhere else.
WEEMS: (smiling indulgently) Rest assured that Nevermore was founded to be a sanctuary for
all outcasts, whatever their origins or abilities. The Academy has funds set aside to cover cases such as your own.
Zagreus nods politely.
WEEMS: You'll be pleased to know you won't be the only student joining mid-term this year, thanks to the
incomparable Miss Addams. And if you need a place to practise your creed, don't hesitate to ask—the Academy has no shortage of
macabre iconography to spare.
ZAGREUS: Thank you, Ms. Weems.
WEEMS: And Mr. Nyx? Stay out of trouble.
-
ROWAN LAWLOW, a short, nerdy boy with a nervous, maniacal energy, is conversing with ZAGREUS NYX in the CENTRAL QUAD, in which many oddball students are socialising.
(V.O.) ZAGREUS: After the attack, I was ready to rest eternal in Morr's Garden, my duty fulfilled. But fate had other plans for me. Once again, I found myself stranded in a strange new life, surrounded by enemies disguised behind friendly faces.
ROWAN: Not keen on the school cliques, huh?
ZAGREUS: (tentatively) I met a werewolf once. I didn't envy him. And I think wherever I'm from had… a bad history with vampires.
ROWAN: (smirking) Transylvania? You wouldn't be the first.
ZAGREUS: Maybe.
ROWAN: Look, you'll see what Nevermore is really about. It's not about fangs, or claws, or levitating things, or any of that stuff! It's about finding your people, no matter who you are.
ZAGREUS: (turning away) I had them once. Now I only have my faith and my magic.
ROWAN: I get it. It's hard being an outcast among outcasts.
He pauses.
ROWAN: Trust me, we'll be good roommates.
-
ZAGREUS sits in a botany classroom inside a greenhouse full of EXOTIC PLANTS. The bespectacled, red-haired teacher, MARILYN THORNHILL, gestures animatedly as she teaches. While other students dawdle and fidget, Zagreus listens with rapt attention. Her speech is silent as JAUNTILY MACABRE MUSIC plays.
(V.O.) ZAGREUS: As always when lost I threw myself into my studies. My hopes of returning home were dimmer than ever, but knowledge made the passage of time bearable. But before long, I came across a mystery that hit closer to home than I could have ever imagined.
As ZAGREUS LEAVES CLASS, an older GREY-HAIRED GIRL trips over a BLACK CAT and runs into Zagreus, knocking his belongings to the floor. As the two scramble to pick up the mess, she introduces herself.
GIRL: Rats! I'm so sorry.
GIRL: My name's Maude. You must be Zagreus, the new boy.
RONNIE, a black cat, approaches Zagreus and meows approvingly.
MAUDE: Don't mind Ronnie. He adopted me back when I showed up here. He's our unofficial mascot in Ophelia Hall, but he can be troublesome sometimes.
WE SEE MAUDE'S SHADOW momentarily flicker and bifurcate, moving sinisterly of its own accord.
The pair are distracted by a sudden clattering noise. THING, an ANIMATED SEVERED HAND, is scuttling along the floor.
ZAGREUS: (alarmed) Undead!
MAUDE picks up a small rock from the nearby quad and hurls it at THING. It misses by far, clattering harmlessly on the corridor tiles. RONNIE hisses, his ears flattening against his head.
THE PAIR CHASE BREATHLESSLY after THING, but their exertion proves futile as he flees past the colonnade and into the quad, scuttles up a drainpipe, and disappears.
ZAGREUS: (panting) That's not… normal here, is it?
MAUDE: (softly) No.
She claps Zagreus on the shoulder.
MAUDE: (with false cheer) Take care. I'll see you around.
WE FOLLOW MAUDE back to her dorm in Ophelia Hall. The door creaks shut and she checks furtively that her roommate YOKO is still absent. On her dresser sits a TALL BLACK HAT from Pilgrim World. From a locked drawer she withdraws a LETTER in neat cursive handwriting, sighing despairingly. It reads:
Prepare a report on the person and relationships of Wednesday Addams. Encode it using the cipher you have been given. A visitor will arrive at the academy in two weeks' time; give them the report.
