"Yeah, sure." He drew up a quick spell circle and summoned a lucent cyan table in front of Willow. With another flick of his wrist he made two similar colored gloves appear around Willow's hands. "You want some pieces too?"

"Sure! One for each of us if you don't mind." Willow answered as she opened and closed her hands, admiring her new temporary gloves as Gus conjured up some small figurines.

"Oh! Can you put me in an Azura costume?" Luz asked with sparkles in her eyes and hands clasped together.

"And I want to be fifty feet tall!" King chimed in, now fully immersed, hopping onto Gus' shoulder. He side eyed the small demon a glance, but King just pleaded more for the height boost.

"Yeah, you'll all just look like you do now." Gus deadpanned before popping everyone else up.

Luz spit out a raspberry at Gus, who could only chuckle back at her. He learned over towards Willow, "you can make walls and simple stuff with those gloves too. My mom loves using them when she gets into fights with out neighbors. Says it's the pettiest things, like erecting a giant fake wall, which brings her joy in such times."

Willow giggled at him. She knew his mother quite well, especially over the past few years when her, Luz and Amity would go over to hang out some days after school. She and his mother had found similar interests in plant life, and even though she was an oracle, she had quite the knowledge of vegetation.

They would exchange information on the most up to date ways of caring for houseplants to the point where every few days Willow would get a message on her scroll from Gus' mother asking for her thoughts on some green additions to the house, different soil types, or even asking for some help in growing and maneuvering her current greenery layout. She was almost like the mother Willow never had; something she rarely ever considered with both of her amazing dads vigilantly there for her.

"So what's the play, Willow? I'm all ears." Eda broke Willow out of her train of thought. The young witch cleared her throat.

"Right. Well, I've done some research and I found this enchantment that may be powerful enough to defeat the Emperor. However, every source I found kept denying its existence, saying that it's only a myth and that something that powerful isn't just lying around in some temple or something waiting to be found…" She said dejectedly.

Lilith muttered something to herself, unaware that in doing so she had drawn the attention of all the others. Her eyes darted around the ground for a moment before she looked up and came to the stark realization that she was being watched. "Um… Why are you all staring at me?" She smoothed a hand over her already perfectly seamless dress.

"Because you're being weird and mumbling to yourself. Probably about something that Speckles was just referring to." Eda jabbed a thumb towards Willow.

Lilith cleared her throat and shifted her weight from one foot to another, barely enough for anyone to take notice. "Well, she is right about one thing," questioning glances were all directed towards her. "It is real. However, getting it will not be so easy."

All eyes were on her, and Lilith continued to stay silent. Before long, Eda had enough of her extensive cryptic pause and pressed her on.

She huffed. "Okay, I'll bite. Why won't this be easy, Lily?"

Lilith began twirling a strand of her hair around her index finger. "As you may have assumed, the Emperor's Coven is well aware of this enchantment. So much so that for a while, I was assigned to locate and destroy it. Emperor Belos would not heed such a threat to his authority; he wanted it eliminated, with all traces of its very existence wiped from all knowledge bases. Even if the enchantment itself were to be destroyed, having confirmation that such power to dethrone the emperor existed could easily be the tinder used to spark a fire of revolution." She dropped her hair and twirled her thumbs together, her eyes fixated on the ground.

"So what?" Eda waived a hand dismissively. "I'm sure your perfect little nose sniffed it out and destroyed it for his skinny royal ass."

"That's just the thing. I did find the enchantment, as I knew I would, but I was met with an… unfortunate conundrum, at the time." No eyes were off of her as everyone hung off of each word Lilith spoke. She sighed and ran her long, agile fingers through her silky smooth raven-colored hair. "It was in the middle of one of the most deadly battle arenas on the Isles…"

"Carpas…" Eda whispered, her eyes wide open and mouth slightly agape. Lilith nodded back.

"Carpas?" Luz questioned. "I've never heard of that place." Amity leaned slightly towards her.

"Carpas is the biggest underground witch dueling arena on the Boiling Isles. Everyone knows it exists and where it's at, but nobody ever goes anywhere near it. Not even the Emperor's Coven."

Luz furrowed her eyebrows. The fact that the most powerful coven on the entirety of the Boiling Isles elected to stay away from this one place was baffling. The Emperor could be ruthless, evident by his plans to march on the citizens of the Boiling Isles. So why would he directly avoid a place which houses an item that could permanently dethrone him?

"I know what you're thinking, kid." Eda spoke up. She had just pulled a chair from the kitchen and plopped herself down, crossing her arms as she got comfortable. "Why not just go in and take it? He's strong, his coven is strong, hell, even the flunkies that follow him from other covens are strong. But here's the thing: he's not the only strong witch on the isles."

"Correct." Lilith acknowledged.

"What that antler-headed aristocrat doesn't want you to know is that there was one other witch who posed a threat to him, and still technically does."

"Not that she would be able to beat him in a fight, but the traps she can set would be inescapable. And they specifically target anyone with his discipline of magic under use. Why do you think no one from the Emperor's Coven was able to get it."

Eda shrugged nonchalantly, "I dunno. I figured it was because none of you had the skill for it." A small smirk came onto her lips at the small jab. A jab which reluctantly did not resonate with Lilith.

She grabbed a strand of her raven dyed hair and began twirling it around her other finger. "I've sent so many men there to die trying to retrieve that stupid piece of parchment." She sneered and eventually sighed, placing her head into her palms, "I can't believe some of the horrors I've enacted in the name of following orders."

The room was deadly silent as no set of eyes dared to peer away from the eldest Clawthorne sister. They knew they should probably look away, but seeing one of the Boiling Isles most feared, respected, and powerful witches on the cusp of breaking down wasn't something which could easily be ignored.

Eda gently placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, making Lilith's breath hitch at the point of contact. She gently glanced up towards Eda, her normally composed face scrunched up with a single tear flowing down her cheek.

"Look, Lily." Eda's mouth twitched up for a moment before she changed to a more sympathetic affect. "I'm not going to pretend what you've done for decades now wasn't shitty. Because it was." Lilith turned to face her curled up fists which were now atop her knees as Eda continued. "But what matters now is that you put that part of your life behind you and start looking forward. Forward to what you can do to right some of the wrongs you were a part of. I mean, take it from me, everyone screws up!" She snorted, alone. "But it's what you do with the knowledge you gain from those screw ups that show your true colors; who you really, truly are."

No longer were the assorted eyes of the room focused on Lilith. All attention: visual, thoughtful, and emotional, were all undivided towards Eda.

"You're not going to feel better overnight, but I know that throughout these next few days, when you help us foil that cocky grey haired goon's plans, you'll sleep a little better at night. And from the way you look, you could use all the sleep you can get!" Eda snorted and cackled much to the dismay of her sister.

"Still using humor to deflect serious conversations, I see." Lilith crossed her arms and Eda ceased her cackling.

"Oh please. Like you've never done anything like that before, Miss I'm so perfect." Eda mocked. Lilith's cheeks flushed as she pouted and puffed out her cheeks.

"Do not start with me!"

"Or what? You gonna taddle to mom?" Eda prodded, a knowing smirk blatantly plastered on her face.

Amity leaned in close to Luz and whispered, "is Eda always like this when we aren't around?"

Luz shrugged her shoulders and carefully whispered back, avoiding talking too loudly and draw attention to herself; something she would kick herself for, since losing out on this great Clawthorne squabble would be nothing short of a tragedy. "She can still be grouchy, mocking, and cocky, just like usual, but it's never been to this extent before. I love it!" She let out a silent squeal.

Amity just shook her head and smiled. Something about her infinite optimism was just infectious. And seeing the source of such joy was something she needed to be a part of.

"Well when I was nine I broke your Isle Girl doll on purpose and said it was your friend Beads!" Lilith yelled, her nose almost poking Eda's.

"What?!" Eda snapped her head towards her sister. "I gave her the cold shoulder for months after that! She almost quit being friends with me altogether before I had the sense to just talk to her about it!"

Lilith crossed her arms and looked away, her eyes closed to match her snooty pose. "Well I can't help it if you were still immature at that age."

"I was seven!" Eda gritted her teeth. "I swear, you-" she had jabbed a boney finger into Lilith's chest.

"Okay!" Willow called out from her position on the couch. Luz groaned at her spectacled friend; she was enjoying that. "As much as this arguing is fun to watch, I don't think that it's getting us anywhere."

"Yeah. Plus I still have to concentrate to keep the table and the gloves active for other people to use, so if we could just address that stuff so I don't have to keep focusing on them and twirling my fingers, that'd be great." Gus continued to turn sky blue spell circles in front of him like he wasn't even focusing on them at all.

Eda let out a small grunt, begrudgingly accepting a truce for now. Not that she wouldn't bring it up again soon enough to bother her sister after this little meeting was through.

Lilith also accepted a temporary truce with a curt humph of acknowledgment.

"Okay, great!" Willow clasped her hands together with a smack. "So, back to getting the scroll. I believe the best team for that would be Eda, Luz and King. Eda, you're the strongest one here, save Lilith who I have a better role for her to fill, so since this is something that needs strength, you should be the muscle that goes to Carpas."

Eda clicked her tongue and shot finger guns at Willow. "Couldn't agree more. I think giving 'ol Belos the finger by getting in there would make for some great fun!"

Amity's eyes dilated and shot towards Luz, who was fixated on Eda. Amity could see the determination flaring up in her eyes. Typically Luz was more of a carefree girl who preferred to joke around and have fun in a lighthearted way, but there were always times in the last four years that she has known her that those happy go lucky vibes dissipated and were replaced by fiery determination when people truly needed her. It was one of the many things that Amity had come to really admire about her; something which she herself strove for after seeing in hopes to better herself as a witch in general.

"You can count on us!" Luz called out, a smug smile beaming towards her friend.

"Yeah! I'll topple anyone who opposes us! While they look me dead in the eyes I'll relieve their heads from their bodies, drinking in the cries of agony they'll scream out like banshees from the torturous misery which they would so happily trade their lives to cease!" Kings gradually crescendoing speech had stopped all other trains of thought. Everyone focused on him with bug eyes, though he couldn't quite understand why. He simply tilted his head and let out a small weh.

Eda was the first to speak. "After this is over, I really think you should see a therapist." It wasn't the first time she brought up therapy, and it likely wouldn't be the last time either. King huffed back at her.

Willow cleared her throat, grabbing everyone's attention. She placed Gus' illusion gloves on and manipulated an image of the Emperor's castle on the table. "Anyway, those three will be together to find the scroll, while Gus, Amity, and I head back to Bonesborough to start stocking up on supplies for our invasion into the castle itself. It's incredibly well protected, as we've seen many different times from our tours there, so that'll be a job in and of itself. The only caveat to that is that we don't know the easiest way to get in-"

Lilith raised her finger and opened her mouth to begin speaking, but she was cut off.

"-which is where Lilith will come into play. We need your expertise on the castle to find the path of least resistance into the inner sanctum where Belos will be. Or wherever will be best to get him. Your call."

Lilith nodded. "He typically stays in the throne room, which is oddly unguarded. I always insisted on him having guards posted around the area, but he never listened to me. Instead, I believe he was more spiteful, and deliberately posted less guards there starting the day after I suggested it. And it's not the first time he's done that either. I remember this one time I just asked him how he was feeling, and he told me I would be much better if your incessant ramblings were directed towards the ground." She grumbled in a low, mocking tone, moving her hand along with the words she said like a puppet.

Eda snickered. "Oh man, I remember you mocking dad like that a lot too! He would get so mad for some reason. That voice really got to him!"

Lilith smiled back at her. "Yes, it certainly did. He was such a calm man most of the time, but he did not care for my mocking tone."

"My mom doesn't even care for my regular tone…" Amity muttered, crossing her arms. She then spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "So, what kind of stuff do we need to break into the castle?"

Lilith hummed and puckered her lips. She had seen every inch of the castle, as it was her job to know everything about the Emperor's Coven, from members to activities, to even their stronghold's layout with secret exits and entrances. However, not once did she think about the possibility of using her knowledge base to break in to the castle. Mostly because it was never an issue to get in before. She did have a few ideas though, though they would need flushed out before any further initiatives were taken.

"Well, for starters, there's a protective shield which encases the entire property, engulfing everything with its indestructible barrier."

"So how do we break through it?" Amity asked.

Lilith moved a stray hair from in front of her face. "Well, that's the thing. You can't break through it. It's indestructible, after all." She stated matter of factly.

"Well it's still a spell, right?" Eda asked. She leaned forward, a bit more serious than before.

Lilith hesitated for a moment. She could see where Edalyn was taking this conversation, and she had half a mind to steer it away from that endpoint. A point in which she would most likely come out looking foolish or incompetent, both of which made her gut drop and churn. She was supposed to be the perfect witch: strong, confident, intelligent, intimidating, graceful, and above all, especially to Emperor Belos, loyal. And loyalty meant obeying orders, completing tasks perfectly, and not overstepping your bounds. She was the perfect witch, and after all, Belos made her his coven leader for a reason. Unfortunately, such high regard meant nothing now that she no longer was influenced by his word. And thus, her reign as the pinnacle of magical achievement had ended.

"Yes," Lilith reluctantly acknowledged, "while it is a powerful barrier, it is still a spell." Eda began to open her mouth, but Lilith cut her off before she could even squeak a sound out. "And before you ask, no. I do not know where the spell is being cast and maintained from. Nor do I know anyone besides the Emperor who does know. He kept some things hidden so well that not even his most trusted advisors had the knowledge. He was very secretive, and I could not ask him about it specifically. I have heard others do so, all of whom were ended with immediate termination." Her gaze focused on the floor once more as she once again grasped for and fiddled with some stray strands of hair.

"Great. So we're still shit out of luck there." Eda cracked a few of her knuckles one by one on her one hand then the other. "Is there anything useful you can help us with?"

Lilith scoffed. "I at least confirmed the existence and whereabouts of that scroll for you."

"Ooo, wow." Eda mocked dismissively. "You said something was true after I already knew it was. So helpful, Lily."

Lilith gritted her teeth, deeply frowning at Eda. "Well I didn't see you trying to get that scroll before!" She bit out.

"I didn't need it before!"

"Well you didn't need any better protection than before, but look at you now! On the run and dragging not only one innocent teenager into the mix, but four." She gestured to the four young witches. "Your carelessness and inability to see and plan for future events has led you to the point where you're scrambling to outrun a nearly impossible to defeat enemy! You don't need a lot of things now, but you'll certainly wish you had them when Belos has a knife to everyone's throat!"

Eda's face was flushed and brimming with rage on the cusp of boiling over. Lilith had gone too far setting forth a scenario where the kids die from her actions. She had everything under control! Sure, the Emperor's Coven somehow found out where she was hiding after so many years. It was bound to happen eventually, right? There's only so many places on the Boiling Isles to hide. But suggesting that she hadn't planned for something bad to happen? That she wouldn't have some kind of backup plan in place just on the off chance that she was found so that her family was safe and secure? She crossed a line. Nobody. Nobody, says that she doesn't care about her family! Not even her own sister!

Luz saw the bubbling rage inside of Eda. After so many years of living with the older woman, she had grown accustomed to when she should intervene on affairs which may or may not involve her. She gave herself the green flag on this one.

"I think that's enough pointing fingers, you two!" Luz called out. She saw Eda's eyes flicker towards her then back to her sister, not decreasing in intensity. "We have one part of our problem to solve right now, right? The scroll."

Eda grunted in acknowledgment.

Luz clasped her hands together with a beaming smile. "Great! So now all we need to do is grab that, and it'll be one step down! Maybe we should focus on that while Lilith, Amity, Willow, and Gus focus on figuring out a way into the castle?" The hopeful tone in her voice wavered only slightly with the long pause before Eda even moved.

Eda let out a growl so low it was almost inaudible. "Fine." She bit out, then brought up a long, slim finger pointed up towards Lilith's head. "But by the time we get back with this stupid scroll you'd better have a way to fix this bullshit. Got it?"

"I'm nothing without my cunning, Edalyn. You will have your entrance to the castle by the time you return."

"Great!" Willow jumped in, attempting to nip any more snide comments in the bud. "So you three will go do that, Lilith will figure out how to get into the castle and let Gus, Amity, and I know what we'll need as far as supplies once were inside so we can stock up! The four of us can also route the castle and get our points of entry and exit for each room up to and including the throne room. Easy peasy!"

"Alright, kid. Sounds good to me." Eda nodded.

"And to me, as well." Lilith agreed, giving Eda a quick side glance after she spoke.

Everyone else nodded and gave mumbles of agreement.

Eda clasped her hands together, "now that that's settled, I've got a bottle of Apple Blood with my name on it!" She made her way over to the kitchen in search of her next bottle of finely aged liquor.

"Me too!" King jumped up from his in and out nap with gusto.

Eda only snickered as she heard the crescendoing patter of the little demon drawing closer.

"Eda, I'd like some too!" Luz called out, getting a thumbs in response as Eda held up the found bottle in her other hand.

"Is that from mother's secret stash?" Lilith inquired, catching a glance of the bottle in Eda's hand.

"Well duh. You think I wouldn't be able to find anything she hid from us as kids?" She asked, placing a few glasses on the table in front of her.

"Does that mean you only found it now?" Lilith questioned back, a small grin forming at the corner of her mouth.

Eda stopped in her tracks and pivoted her head towards Lilith. "You mean to say that you've found this stuff before?"

Lilith grinned fully, smugly, really, and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back slightly in the process. "Of course. What do you think I did while you and mother went off to the market?"

"I dunno. Read like some kind of fun sucking bookworm, mostly." She turned her attention back in front of her and popped the top off her bottle, filling up the multiple glasses in front of her.

Lilith huffed and sat a little straighter in her seat. "Well I didn't always read. I also found a bunch of your boyband posters you-"

"You what?!" Eda snapped, making the younger witches and King of Demons snicker and chuckle. She couldn't have known…

With Eda prodded, Lilith couldn't help but double down. "Yes, the one with Partialout Woodpond covered in hearts and glossy kisses~"

"Lily!" Eda screeched, her face turning bright red like a perfectly ripe tomato, and nails breaching the outer layer of skin in each of her palms as she slammed them down on the table with a thud. The glasses rattled together as the fragrant liquid sloshed up towards the lips of their containers.

All the young witches were trying their hardest to not break out into a full on roar. To think that one of the most formidable forces in all the Isles used to have a poster of the then hottest boyband, covered with adoring kisses; it wasn't something which could be easily forgotten.

"So!" Luz clasped her hands together, drawing the attention of Lilith and about half of Eda's attention, probably less if she were being honest with herself. "I think we should all take a moment to appreciate what we have here. It won't be too long before we set out on our separate journeys to put a stop to Emperor Belos, and I think that we all know the risks associated with each of our undertakings."

Nods came from the room. A half nod from Eda, who was still angrily eyeing her sister.

"So," Luz continued, taking a glass of Apple Blood that Eda had poured. One of many, it seemed, what with enough glasses filled and being passed out for everyone to toast. "To those of us willing to stand up and fight for what's right!"

"Here here!" Everyone called back, including Eda.

"To those of us who will battle the odds and come out victorious!" Luz called a little louder, raising her glass even higher which caused some of the Apple Blood to spill over and onto her hand.

"Here here!" Everyone called louder.

"To those-" Before Luz was able to complete her pep talk there was a thud from the roof, followed by a shrill scream then a thud from outside one of the windows.

Eda was the first to dash over to the source of the commotion, flinging the windows open so fast that they almost shattered against the side of the cabin. There was some rustling coming from a bush right outside.

"What is it?" Luz asked as her and the rest of the current inhabitants of the Clawthorne summer home raced up behind Eda, trying to get a peek outside.

Eda hushed them as she scanned the foliage for signs of movement.

"Maybe it was a giant rat bear?" Gus postulated, attempting to give some sort of explanation as to why whatever was big and dexterily adept to get on to the roof would let out such a high pitched screech before causing an undeniably loud crash into the bushes.

"No." Lilith answered almost immediately. "The rat bear's hibernation patterns would place it in slumber around this season. Plus they frequent more suburban areas. Not strictly rural, wooded locations such as this." She waived one of her long pale fingers in a circle, gesturing to their surroundings.

"Maybe it's another witch…" Amity offered, grazing against Luz's arm. A faint blush crept over her cheeks with the contact, though unnoticeable by everyone else.

Willow nodded as Eda answered, "I agree, kid." Eda hopped out the window with the grace of a lynx and started rummaging through the bush, intent on catching her prey.

"Get off of me!" An angry high-pitched voice cracked at Eda.

She pulled up another witch who looked to be about Luz's age, maybe a year or two older. He had golden spiked hair that was shaved on its sides, scarlet red eyes, and a scar over his right cheek and chin. He was gritting his teeth together as he tried to wiggle from Eda's grasp, the gap between his top two teeth showing off as he jerked around.

Eda held a firm grip on his sleek white cloak, refusing to let him squirm free. Eda gave him a solid jerk back and forth before pinning him against the side of the house. She barred one arm across his neck and cast a set of bright orange claws on her other hand. She folded her fingers together to form one large point with the claws which she thrusted dangerously close to his jugular vein.

"You'd better start talking, pip squeak." Eda growled. Though "pip squeak" stood almost half a foot taller than the top of her fluffy hair, she continued to stare him down, or more accurately, up.

The young man coughed to clear his throat, likely an attempt to bring his voice down an octave or two before he started talking. "I am the Golden Guard. Right hand witch to the almighty Emperor Belos, ruler of the Boiling Isles. I am currently with four of the Emperor's Coven's top trained assassins, surrounding this," he paused for a moment and looked at the cabin, "downtrodden hovel." He cocked a smug grin, "so if you all want to continue living, I suggest you surrender."

Eda faltered, if only for a moment, before she applied more force against him with her barring arm and pressing a single claw to his skin. "Careful not to show your hand, kid. Your little friends won't be able to make it to you in time if my hand slips." She pressed a bit harder, earning a grunt from the Golden Guard.

The Golden Guard sneered, letting out a gruff grunt. "You think I'm actually alone?" He asked, glaring into Eda's golden eyes as if he was testing her; prodding to see what she was made of.

She accepted his test. However, she never actually got to answer before a voice from the window piped up.

"I do." Called Lilith nonchalantly. She was now leaning out the window, propped up on her forearms, hands out the window, with her pale white nose barely beyond the siding of the cabin. "You've always worked alone, like some kind of wanna be lone wolf searching for his next unsuspecting prey. The number of times I've heard you deny mission collaboration, even with heads of the nine covens, is astronomical."

He bit the inside of his cheek, keeping the movement unnoticeable. "And what makes you think I wouldn't have changed my mind, trying to capture the one witch who managed to evade Lord Belos' grasp for decades?" He managed to spit out like it was the most obvious course of action. Which to his credit, it was. "Contrary to popular belief, I actually know my limits and when I should bring some backup." A confident smirk reappeared on his lips as his eyes flickered between the Clawthorne sisters, both of whom remained unamused.

Luz, Amity, Gus, and Willow all exchanged worried glances seeing as none of them had the faintest idea if anything coming from his mouth was true.

Luz broke eye contact with the others and refocused on the Golden Guard. She knew who he was supposed to be; an incredibly talented witch who joined the Emperor's Coven at the young age of 15, holder of the highest posted mission success/failure ratio across all covens, and above all else, right hand man to Emperor Belos himself. On paper he was a force to be reckoned with, but he essentially captured himself with the amount of effort Eda had to put in to restrain him. So why was he here and so… unimpressive?

"And contrary to your beliefs, Hunter," Lilith prodded, now getting a death glare from the Golden Guard.

Hunter?

"You're not as sneaky as you think." He raised a questioning eyebrow to Lilith, clearly unsure where she was going with that statement. Lilith grinned mischievously, a clear look of superiority in her eyes, "you followed me here on your staff, trying to stay out of eye contact by skimming the clouds. I just feigned ignorance and let you follow me, since I knew you would be all alone in an attempt to recon our hiding place."

"Now hold on!" Eda protested, her arm still snugly pinning Hunter's back to the house, "weren't you just out helping me protect the house? How'd he even get past all that?"

Lilith tilted her head to the side just slightly, her lips puckering up just barely enough for nobody to take notice, and her bright blue eyes evaded Eda's prodding yellow ones. "Well, I may have been undoing enough spells of yours so that he would feel the cabin was protected just enough so that it seemed like we were actually guarding it, but not enough to the point where he couldn't get in so we couldn't capture him, like the little rat that he is."

Eda gritted her teeth, completely blocking out Hunter who was mumbling something about being good enough to not require a handicap. "Why in Titan's name would you think that I wanted this brat here?" She yelled back at Lilith, still ignoring Hunter, whose protests only went noticed by the younger witches surrounding Lilith. Not that they acknowledged them.

"I never said you did." Lilith answered curtly. "But I thought it best to have a source of information about the most recent activities of the Emperor's Coven. Ones that I'm sure were not shared with me." From the tone in her voice it was clear that Lilith still has lingering resentment towards Belos for not trusting her enough to tell her about highly classified information. Even though, apparently, he was right not to do so. But that didn't matter.

Eda kept her gaze on her sister for a moment before eyeballing Hunter. She gave him a quick up and down, her mind throwing scenarios of what may have happened if their cabin were at full shields. They could have repelled the Golden Guard, if only for him to return with a great number of forces to overpower them. He could have powered through their defenses anyway and they may have ended up in this exact situation anyway. Or it may have even been possible that the traps could have captured him without her having to get her hands dirty. That last one would have been nice.

After what seemed like hours of consideration to her, and a few dragging moments to everyone else, Eda sighed, staring down the Golden Guard once more. She retracted her spell claws from his neck and drew another spell circle, producing golden shackles around Hunter's ankles, wrists, and neck.

"Is this one really necessary?" Hunter complained, attempting to scratch and remove his fortified glowing necklace, to no avail.

"Yes. It is." Eda said sharply, tugging at one of his chains and lurching him forward to round the cabin and get him to the front door. "Now unless you want a red rubber ball banded to your mouth on top of this, I suggest you follow my orders."

Hunter's eyes widened, if only for a moment, before he blew a short raspberry, slouching back into his cool demeanor. "Like you'd have the red rubber balls to make good on that threat."

Eda reluctantly ignored the bait and turned the front door handle, swinging it inward and coming face to face with the peanut gallery she had just left at the window. She tugged at Hunter from his side to get him in the doorway, then gave him a good shove through. He stumbled a little bit, almost tripping on the bunched up carpet right inside the entrance. He gave a quick look around to the furniture, decore, and general ambiance which surrounded him and gave a whistle.

"This place is so much nicer than I imagined. Thought it would look like some kind of cave where they keep all the wild pixies. And smell even worse." His face was plastered with a devilish grin.

Though small in numbers and general threat levels, when in large groups, pixies are able to grab a fully grown witch, or even demon, to drag off to their lairs. Those lairs are usually never emptied of meals past, so running into one could leave you smelling like not-so-freshly rotting corpses. A sort of "aging" process some of the pixies tend to enjoy.

"Keep it up and you'll wish you were with pixies." Eda monotonously threatened. Hunter looked as though he were about to give a snippy comeback, but he bit his tongue at the last moment with a grunt of indifference.

"Now stay put. I'll be right back." Eda ordered as she walked down into the basement.

Hunter turned his head away from Eda's disappearing body and turned towards the others. It was like he was an animal at the zoo, tied up for the amusement of tourists who wanted to see something exotic in their backyard. Five sets of eyes bored into him, all with different expressions attached to them, ranging from bored indifference to utter bewilderment.

A sneer came across Hunter's face. "Take a picture. It'll last longer." He said. But none of the expressions changed aside from Lilith who only rolled her eyes. After a moment which felt like a lifetime to all involved, Eda returned with a chair, a roll of strong tape, a large flood light, and a large vial containing a glowing black liquid. She placed the chair down then piled the other supplies on top of it, clasping her hands together.

"Alright!" She called enthusiastically. "Who wants to be part of their first interrogation?"


A/N: So I hope you all enjoyed the latest installment! Till next time.

-G

TheFranninator: Oh I'm not far away from giving that ring a proper showcase, believe me. It's gonna be fuuun! And thank you for the reviews!

Mr. Spinner: Well I already have some preliminary steps taken towards that, so stay tuned! Also, I appreciate the reviews!