There were plenty of things to love about the Boiling Isles. For instance, the feeling of being immersed in the Middle Ages, with the old-style architecture, clothing, and life-threatening horrors, mixed with the comparable comfort of modern technological advances such as scrolls to mimic cellphones, staffs that were like personal cars that could fly, and simpler things like running water and indoor toilets. Not to mention the fact that there was literal magic just emanating from the ground you stood on, and from all witches who lived here. Yes, there were many things to love about the beautiful and immaculate Boiling Isles.
One-eyed birds with razor-sharp teeth that perched outside of your window at the break of dawn screeching bloody murder while slamming their head into the glass, on the other hand, not so much.
"Nyughhh." Luz groaned. Her eyes were glued shut by small crusts that formed in the corners, which she continued to squeeze closed. She was face down on her mattress, her head covered by a large fluffy pillow. "Why meee…" She groaned in a raspy voice.
The bird's screeches persisted, sounding like they were somehow getting louder with each burst. It hopped horizontally a few times before pecking at the window and letting out another ear-piercing screech. At least it stopped slamming its full body against the panes.
"That's it!" Luz looked over to Amity, who was now sitting upright next to her with a scowl on her face, leering at the bird. Her cheeks were tinted red, the same shade she occasionally was while looking at Luz, but there was a much more menacing aura surrounding her. "That glinthawk is dead meat!"
She conjured up a quick spell circle, covering her fist with abomination goo which hardened while erecting spikes that protruded forward. She aimed the glinthawk with murderous intention.
"No!" Willow yelled from the doorway. She was breathing a little hard for so early in the morning, and the yellow tank top she had on was darkened from what could only be sweat. She also sported a pair of forest green running shorts and black athletic shoes with a white trim that had since faded into a brown tinge from their copious use. Her hair was tied back in tight pigtails which waived behind her, following her startled movements.
"I don't take kindly to unwanted visitors when it's barely daybreak!" Amity protested, swinging her attention back to the perched glinthawk. She cocked her fist and aimed at the little cretin, who she could have sworn eyed her back, challenging her to take the shot.
That bird was dead.
Before Amity knew what was happening, Willow rushed over and grabbed her by the goo-covered hand, pulling it away from the window. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough to stop the fist from firing. The hardened abomination glove's spikes degraded during the pull, but still shot off and was sent careening right into Hunter's resting cheek.
"Agh!" His eyes shot open as he let out a cry of pain. His eyes were darting around the room, searching for anything to give him a clue as to what was going on. "What in Titan's fucking name was that for?!" His cheeks were flushed darker than Amity's, with just as much rage beneath them. Though, more accurately, one cheek was flushed solely with anger, while the other was colored from anger and blunt force trauma.
"Oops…" Willow went over to him and placed an equally heated hand on his inflamed cheek. Apparently Amity was fast enough to remove the gauntlet's spikes after being pulled, though not quite fast enough to remove it entirely.
Hunter grunted and jerked his head away from Willow's fingertips. "I don't need your pity!" He yelled at her, muttering a few curses under his breath.
Willow's expression shifted quickly: concern, surprise, confusion, anger, finally settling on indifference. "Fine." She stated curtly, clearly attempting to cover up the hurt she felt from only trying to help him. "Writhe in your pain without any help. See if I care."
She pushed herself away from him, twirling around en pointe, and headed back over to her bed where she flopped down to untie her shoes.
"Why is everyone so loooud?" Gus groaned as he turned himself face-first into his pillow, turning up its edges to block out the early morning noise.
"I think Amity was gonna kill a bird?" Luz looked to Amity for confirmation, but only saw the side of her head, the girl's gaze instead fixated on the window which currently lacked their avian "friend."
"So she screamed at it first?" Gus questioned, his voice muffled as he continued to lay prone. "That makes no sense, Amity."
"I wasn't the one who screamed!" She answered, her golden eyes darting to Hunter, who was simmering in the corner, unfazed by the conversation around him. Her gaze softened the slightest bit before returning to the window.
"Well, it doesn't really matter now," said Willow, now untying her braids. "Eda and Lilith are up and making breakfast for everyone. They wanted me to get you guys up and moving anyway."
"Well, I guess it was all meant to be!" Luz let out a small chuckle which quickly died out as she made eye contact with Hunter, who now appeared to be determined to keep quiet. No objections there.
Gus wrapped his arms underneath his pillow then flipped himself onto his back, his head now covered by his dreamily fluffy head support. He let out an impressively loud yawn. "It's still meant to be bedtime. If Willow is done with her morning workout routine, I should still be asleep for another hour." He shifted slightly under his covers and covered a bit more of his torso.
Willow frowned. "Augustus Porter!" She commanded, "you'd better get up right now, or so help me your bed is taking a one-way trip out the window."
That seemed to get his attention, as Gus was now sitting fully upright. His pillow had catapulted across the room and was now on the floor. Both of his eyes squinted in the beaming sunlight coming into the room, and he scrambled to cover up his not-so-beefy, yet well-toned, chest.
"Woah! Gus!" Luz said with a beaming smile plastered onto her face. "When did you get so ripped?"
His face flushed as he tugged at the strewn duvet in front of him.
Amity flashed a glance to Gus, then Luz, then to the wall next to Hunter.
"Well... um, thanks, Luz, first off," she winked back at him. "And uh, it's actually Willow's workout routine. Though I do mine later on in the day. Gotta get my beauty rest, ya know," he smiled at her.
Willow finished unbraiding her hair and was now running her fingers through it, trying to get any large tangles out.
Luz was curious as to what Willow's workout routine was for Gus, seeing as hers seemed much too intense for anyone who wasn't already shredded. But before she could ask anything about it, there was a loud growl from the corner of the room.
Everyone looked over to Hunter, who had his head turned away from the group and was staring intently at a dark splotch on the wall. Unfortunately for him, his darkening cheeks and deepening scowl only further confirmed what had happened seconds before, as his stomach once again let out another rumbling growl, which seemed to echo throughout the room.
Nobody moved. They only stared at him.
"Whatever. If I'm hungry, my stomach growls. I'm a witch too." He muttered the last part trying to will away their fixated eyes.
"You'll be lucky to even get the scraps," Amity said while pushing herself to her feet. "Don't forget, you're still a prisoner. Not part of this group." She pointed an authoritative finger at him.
Hunter rolled his eyes before Amity summoned another abomination to carry him down, "like I'd want to be part of your little b-" And once again his face was half lodged inside the goop of the abomination's chest, gagging on the purple sludge that found its way into his mouth as he was so rudely cut off. Amity gestured for the abomination to follow her as she headed out of the room, followed by the other teens.
"Willow waived the rest of them out. "I'll be right down," she said. "I need to clean off first," she said, pulling on her sweatstained tank top.
"Sounds good!" Luz chirped as she bopped out of the room. "Don't take too long!"
"Okay, okay. I think I can make this one." Eda stood across the room from the frying pan which sat on the stove above a medium flame that crackled below it. In her hand, pinched between her forefinger and thumb, was one egg from a large pack that she and Lilith picked up from the market earlier that morning while almost all of the kids were asleep. Eda was staring over the egg, lining up her sight with the pan seemingly so far away from her. She flexed and extended her knees and throwing elbow, aimed true towards the stove, a few times. With one last pop, not just from her knees,as she stood up straight, she let the egg fly in an arch towards the searing hot pan. The egg landed with a loud crack inside the black cast iron as the egg then began to sizzle.
"Yes!"
"No!"
King wiped his paws over his eyes as he flopped back onto the floor. "I can't believe I just lost 50 snails on an egg toss that you couldn't even get when you were standing right in front of the pan!"
"Heh." Eda twirled another egg confidently on her finger, the golden canine in her mouth glimmering brightly against the incoming sunlight strewn across the kitchen from the window. The egg wobbled slightly on her fingertip and Eda scrambled to snatch it up before it found its way to the ground.
"Guess you're just unlucky with your bets!" She grinned.
"No way! You hustled me!" King yelled defiantly, an accusatory claw pointed at Eda. "There's no way you could've made that shot unless you missed the first one on purpose!"
"I did no such thing!" Eda gasped, feining hurt. How could King possibly think that she, his adoptive mother, could ever stoop so low as to hustle one of the most important people in her life?
"Admit it!" King demanded, his claw still outstretched towards her.
Eda glanced back and forth between him and the empty wall next to him a few times before forcing out a rushed answer. "Fine I hustled you."
"Aha!"
Lost in their conversation, neither Eda nor King remembered what they were originally in the kitchen for, and it certainly was not for burning precious eggs.
Lilith rushed over to the overcooked egg surrounded by bits of shell. She removed the frying pan from the burner and began picking out the casing.
"Like we have the money to waste on food and pointless bets with one another…" She mumbled while scraping the charred contents onto a plate with a large pile of eggs and slivers of snapmaw hide. Overall, this breakfast smelled fairly appetizing, especially when considering their monumental lack of resources. Hopefully the children would like it too. She smiled to herself.
There was a cluster of thumping noises which ruminated from the stairs, calling the attention of the two witches and King of demons.
Down hopped Luz from the second to last stair as she landed with a thud on the floor. Without missing a beat, her head tilted back as she took a few short whiffs of the scents which filled the room. Eggs, slightly charred, her favorite bacon substitute: snapmaw hide, and the best scent of all which tied everything together: love. She let out a heavenly sigh as she opened her eyes to the sight of Eda, Lilith, and King staring profoundly at her.
"What?" Luz asked.
"You're being weird!" King answered after nobody else took the initiative. Eda and Lilith looked at him, then at each other, silently agreeing with him.
"How am I being weird? Can't I enjoy the smell of a nice warm breakfast made by my loving family?" The shine from her pearly whites and angelically innocent look could blind anyone who dared to glance in her direction.
Well, almost anyone.
"Eugh!" King shuddered before scampering up Eda's leg, onto her back, and into her long, disheveled silver hair.
Amity was next to come down next to Luz, brushing her hand with Luz's as she passed. The faint redness on both their cheeks went unnoticed by the other, but not by Eda, whose lips barely pulled up in an unnoticeable smile.
"I'm with King on that." Eda agreed, choosing not to jump on the opportunity for ridicule. Just this once. "This is made with cream and butter, not love. It'll probably kill you a lot faster than love would, too. Hmm…" She tapped a finger to her chin and muttered, "maybe I should develop a spell to inject people with butter. Or better yet, lard. Play the long game…"
"Oh, man! I smell eggs, slightly overdone! I love when they've got that nice crispy layer to them." Gus hopped past Luz and Amity, making a beeline for the piles of eggs, drool almost seeping out of his mouth.
"Just make sure you save some for everyone there, Goops." Eda said.
Lilith rolled her eyes from her spot in front of the sink, cleaning up some dishes that were used as they made breakfast. She's known Gus for less than a day and already committed his name to memory. If that was some kind of a running joke between them, by the looks of Gus. it was fairly one-sided.
As Gus filled his plate, an awkward Luz and Amity approached behind him.
They spoke simultaneously.
"Go ahead."
"You first."
Luz could feel the blush creeping up her cheeks, but had no idea how to make it stop. If only she could be less awkward around Amity, maybe there wouldn't be a gut-wrenching feeling whenever she did anything around her. She felt like she was acting weird all of the time. Surely if the same circumstances happened with Gus, Willow, Eda- or literally anyone else, she would just laugh about it and continue on. But it was different with Amity.
It was always different with Amity.
"Please, Luz," Amity spoke again, snapping Luz out of her train of thought. "You go ahead. I'm used to being last to get food anyway."
Her smile was warm and genuine, but Luz couldn't help but feel sad at the implication behind her words.
Amity gave an encouraging push against the small of Luz's back, still smiling brightly at her, and nodded.
With a moment's hesitation, Luz sighed and then smiled softly at her friend.
Friend.
Without digging too much into that thought, she grabbed the spoon that Gus left sitting on the plate and started piling up eggs and hide. After grabbing a hefty portion, still leaving enough for the others, she turned around and handed the plate to Amity with a cocky grin.
Amity's ears pinned downward for a moment as she looked at the plate, her mouth slightly agape. Her amber eyes darted from the breakfast to the stunning woman holding it out to her. There was no way the entirety of her face wasn't beet red by now. She hesitantly accepted the plate and muttered a very quiet "thank you," before heading over to an open seat on the couch near Gus, who was sitting in the armchair next to it. She ran a hand through her intermixing green and brown locks, brushing them away from the front of her face as she stared absently at her food.
Luz looked over at Amity while she was readying her plate. Smooth as butter, she thought, grabbing a fork for herself and one for Amity as well, since she just walked off without grabbing one. Hopefully that was a smooth move.
Luz walked over to the couch and held out one of the forks to Amity, who still seemed to be preoccupied with the color of her eggs. Or maybe the consistency. She was really focused on them, no matter what the reason.
"Here, I grabbed you a fork. I didn't see you grab one."
"Huh?" Amity asked as she directed her attention towards Luz and then to the fork in her outstretched hand. "Oh. Oh! Uh, thanks, Luz."
Amity accepted the fork with a smile that looked just a little too forced to Luz. It almost seemed as though she was hiding something from her. Hopefully it wasn't anything bad, like disdain towards her because Luz had given her a fork; possibly and wrongfully implying that Amity was not intelligent enough to remember to get one.
Amity stabbed a small pile of clumped eggs and popped lit into her mouth.
"Not that I think you wouldn't remember to get your own utensils or anything!" Luz let out an anxious single laugh as Amity chewed.
Her face became questioning; her brows furrowed, and her nose scrunched as she glared down at her breakfast.
Oh no. The heavy, rampant pounding in Luz's chest, one which she knew all too well, was once again beginning to set in. Apparently, she said the wrong thing. By saying that she was not implying anything bad, did she accidentally assume that Amity would have thought bad of her, and that upset Amity because it made her seem like she was just an angry bitch? No way! ...Right? She was definitely a bit flustered before, but she wasn't mad at her. Then again, maybe Amity was thinking about something different at that point and now had her mind back on Luz, who Amity was annoyed with because she could do things herself, like get a stupid fork, and did not require any assistance, and, in fact, would reject notions of help because they were insulting and demeaning.
Her friendship with Amity was over. Everything was going to come crashing down before her very eyes. Right here, right now. The waiting was tearing her apart; if Amity was going to throw her to the curb, it needed to happen now! Right now!
Amity leaned in a little bit toward Luz and whispered, "these eggs are terrible." She jabbed another forkful and regretfully shoved it into her mouth. Her face contorted once more in the same fashion it had just been in, albeit with a small smile once they made eye contact.
Luz's jaw dropped open just slightly. Amazing. Amity didn't care about some stupid utensil. It didn't even seem to be on her mind at all! Instead, all that visible disgust that Luz had so certainly thought was directed towards her, was actually for the food which Eda and Lilith had made. And now that she mentioned it, these eggs did look a little more black than they probably should. Like bits of charcoal were mixed in with the eggs themselves.
Luz heaved a heavy sigh, and with a blossoming smile whispered back to Amity, "well, Eda really couldn't ever get the concept of cooking eggs down for some reason. She usually resorted to making the eggs cook themselves, which I always thought was a bit cruel…"
Amity giggled. The small wrinkles around her eyes looked like the cutest expressions of joy. Her lips curled just slightly behind her hand which was covering her mouth. That alone was currently ripping a hole through Luz's chest, and she wanted nothing more than to keep that feeling up until she keeled over from whatever beast would eventually kill her here. That is until she stopped giggling and looked right into those beautiful Amber eyes she could just swim in for days. Luz felt like Amity was peering through her entire person, past all of her physical and emotional barriers, searching deeper than even Luz herself was aware existed. She felt completely bare, fully exposed to the prying eyes before her. Yet, for some reason beyond what she was able to comprehend, she felt fully protected, as if no force in the world could harm her.
"I don't think you should let Eda know that," Amity suggested, breaking the seemingly endless silence.
"Oh… Uh, yeah. Nah," Luz dismissed her with a wave, "I would never tell her that. She'd probably end up throwing me into the basement's pit to rot with the decaying mice that Hooty only half digests."
Amity's eyes widened; her face looked positively green and ready to heave. "I think my appetite has officially left." She placed the half-eaten plate of food on the table.
"You gonna finish that?" Gus asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin. His plate was on the armchair of his seat, looking like it had been taken directly from the cabinet.
"Uh, no. Go ahead, Gus." Amity handed him the plate and he accepted joyously, digging right in where she had left off.
"Scho," Gus asked with a mouth half full of eggs, "wheref Willow?"
"Good question," Amity replied, leaning back into the couch, thoroughly ignoring his lack of etiquette, which didn't bother her in the least. Nope. "I thought she was coming down behind us."
"She said she needed to clean up first," Luz said. "Not sure how long that'll take though."
Gus swallowed. "Well if she doesn't come down here soon, all the food's gonna be gone! And I'm not about to pass up perfection on a plate!"
"Oh, I think there'll be plenty left over for her," Luz said, smiling at Amity, who was smiling right back.
The sweet tone of an alluring melody carried throughout the second-level halls of the cabin on the outskirts of Gastrow. While there was plenty of gabbing going on downstairs, Willow strolled back to her shared room clothed up for the day. Her black ankle-high boots clacked on the wooden floorboards as she whistled her joyous sing-song tune. She wiped a few stray fuzzies from her tight dark green pants with even darker floral patterns embroidered up and down the outside of the pant leg and adjusted her form-fitting dijon colored short sleeved tee, which had some wet spots on the shoulders thanks to her draping hair which had yet to fully dry.
With her towel over one shoulder, she opened the door to the shared room and immediately stopped whistling. She had completely forgotten that the so-called right-hand man to the emperor was tied up in the corner, looking as expressionless as ever. He could be mistaken for a wall with how plain he looked. Willow conjured up a makeshift drying rack from braided vines and tossed her towel over it. She took a few steps towards Hunter, who had every intention of pretending she wasn't even in the room.
Fine. She'd start.
"I have one question for you," she plainly stated.
He didn't even twitch his jaw.
"Why are you doing this?"
He remained motionless, more concerned with what the brown-stained floorboards looked like.
"Why are you hunting down Eda? Why are you working for that monster who is trying to control the entirety of the Boiling Isles? The same one who is willing to cut everyone down to form a new society that'll do nothing but obey his every command?" Willow crossed her arms and stared at him intently.
Hunter's eyes darted up to meet hers, and for a split second Willow thought he was going to answer. Unfortunately, before that hope even fully formed in her mind, he gave a dismissive growl and promptly returned his gaze to the floor.
Willow sighed. It was a long shot, but she had to give it a go. "Well…" she paused for a moment, "I hope you know what you're really getting yourself into. And if you ever want to talk, just... let me know, okay?" She said with a small smile.
Hunter grunted. It was some sort of affirmation, at least. But he kept his lips sealed tightly together, refusing any more complex communication. It would have to do. For now.
"Okay. Thank you." With that, Willow was out the door and down the steps. It only took her a minute to grab a plate, fill it with some of the objectively terrible food that she could smell even upstairs, not that she would ever complain about someone else making her a meal, and take it back up to Hunter.
He looked at the plate, the eggs, the snapmaw hide, then back to Willow.
"It's not poisoned," she assured him.
Hunter commented after a few moments. "I'm not worried about poison," he said, his nose scrunched up and lips pursed together. "It looks inedible."
Well, at least he was talking now. Must be the "food."
"Yeah, Eda's known for her potion-making abilities and supreme spellcasting. I don't think either of those were involved in the making of this… meal."
Hunter snorted, never taking his skeptical gaze away from the plate.
Willow looked him up and down. He looked worse for wear, almost like he hadn't slept or eaten properly in weeks. Who could honestly say, besides him, what exactly the right-hand man of the emperor does? She assumed that it would be various types of missions, each one likely more difficult than the last, all of which would push him through nonstop trials and tribulations involving the highly likely outcome of dismemberment and/or death.
That or giving public speeches.
Willow shuddered. The speeches would be the worse of the two. No question.
"As nice as that looks," Hunter said, pulling Willow from her thoughts, "I can't eat it. Tied up and all." And to emphasize his point, Hunter wiggled a little in his chair, causing the oak legs to clack quickly against the wooden floor.
"Yeah, I thought about that. Didn't really know how to address it besides this." Willow twirled her finger in the air and as the green spell circle was completed, skinny vines with needle-like tips came crawling up behind her from the makeshift foliage beds everyone used last night. Almost everyone. Most of them lingered in the air as though a gentle breeze were levitating them, while a few shot down in Hunter's direction.
He let out a squeak as he turned his head away and scrunched his face into his neck, forcing his eyes tight together in the process. A moment passed, and then another, and he was still alive and not writhing in pain. He hesitantly creaked open the eye closer to Willow, as though looking at the vines would cause them to resume their charge into his chest.
To his astonishment, and relief, the vines did nothing of the sort. Instead, they hovered in front of him, each with a piece of egg or hide skewered onto them. They floated calmly in the air, still swaying to and fro. His mouth hung slightly agape as he tried to make sense of what was happening.
Willow saw the opportunity and gave a flick of her wrist toward the ground. Mimicking its master's movements, one of the vines skewered with egg darted into Hunter's open mouth.
He made a muffled noise of apprehension, wiggling himself backward with his eyes wide open at what had happened. Then he started to chew, slowly and cautiously, and after a few rhythmic motions of mastication, he stopped and stared at Willow, his eyes wide.
He swallowed.
"Did you just feed me?" The look of confusion was incredibly similar to someone getting slapped in the face out of nowhere: utter bewilderment.
"Well, yeah. You're all tied up and you need to eat... Especially with how sickly you look," she muttered the last part but Hunter didn't seem to take notice. "And I don't trust you enough to untie you so that you can feed yourself."
"Uh-huh." Hunter looked like he was having a seizure with how he remained motionless, just staring at her. After a few moments he finally spoke, "you could've just put the plate on a vine and had me feed myself. Like in a fairy pie eating contest…"
Willow shrugged. "Yeah, but then I wouldn't have a small stock of sharp vines pointed at you to unleash at any moment if somehow you manage to distract me and free yourself. This way I can turn you into a religious man if you try anything." She said with a smile.
Hunter arched an eyebrow then glanced back at the vines still over his head, peacefully floating there as though his meager life meant nothing to them. "Okay, I'm still confused. What's religion have to do with this?"
Willow giggled, "'cause then you'd be holy." She snorted then laughed, her eyes scrunched up so small and cute while her hand covered her mouth. "Like, full of holes!" She was now delving into a full-on laughing fit, hunched over, arms covering her abdomen. Her hysterics quickly escalated until she was gasping in between laughs.
Hunter stared at her with not a single emotion perceptible and flatly requested, "please stab me."
"And there it was…." Luz sat back on the sofa and glanced around at all the faces surrounding her: Amity, Gus, Eda, King, Lilith, all equally confused given she never quite finished her joke.
"What was it?" King finally asked after a few moments of silence.
Luz snorted, "I can't tell you. You're not a monk!" She pulled her heels under her glutes as she rocked backward, cackling.
"But…" Amity hesitantly started, "we're listening to the story, so why would we need to be monks to know what it is? You're even the one who told the story and you're not a monk… I think."
"What's a monk?" King whispered into Eda's ear.
She just shrugged her shoulders and let out a confused hum.
Luz's laughing fits died out to giggles then quickly stopped altogether. "Ams, that's the whole point of the joke." She smiled warmly at her.
Amity's face heated up, and she turned away from Luz to look at her lap, stray strands of hair now covering the sides of her face.
A few footsteps and creaking floorboards emanated from the stairs as Willow trotted down them. She rounded the corner and greeted everyone with a warm smile before going to grab some now room-temperature breakfast. She walked over to where everyone else was gathered and then sat down in one of the open seats.
As Willow started to dig in, Eda quickly snatched her plate. Willow looked up at her, partly confused and partly ready to toss hands. It was a long morning, after all, and she deserved something to quiet her grumbling stomach. Even if it did look like a piece of charcoal.
Sensing the impending objections, Eda stuck up a finger. "Hold that gripe," she said. With a twirl of her finger, a small red dome covered Willow's plate and began radiating heat.
Eda smirked as she saw the rising anger flush away from Willow's face. Eda had a feeling that the poor young girl was having a rough morning, what with feeding that bratty prisoner and all. The least she could do was heat her plate of food up.
After a few moments, Eda twirled her finger once more and the small dome dissipated, now allowing the steam to rise from the uncovered plate. The smell of fresh, charred eggs and snapmaw hide once again filled the air with a tantalizing aroma. Or so Willow imagined, trying to replace the burnt scent plaguing the room with a more pleasant one.
"Thank you," Willow smiled at Eda, who just waived her off.
"No big deal, Willow."
As Willow began to dig into her breakfast, Eda stood facing the group and clasped her hands together, accidentally knocking one hand from her wrist. "Whoops!" She quickly bent over and scooped it up, twisting it back into place at the end of her forearm.
A few stifled giggles came from the group.
"Yeah, okay. Settle down, brats." Eda motioned for them to be quiet, which, aside from the occasional clank and chew from Willow, was duly followed. Eda cleared her throat. "As you all know, today's the day we start our attack plan. Luz, King, and I will be heading to Carpas, while the rest of you head back home to gather supplies and continue reconnaissance on the castle."
Heads nodded from all in the circle, even King, who was now perched comfortably on Luz's lap.
"Now, if anyone needs any further clarification on what you're supposed to be doing, or what others should be doing, now's the time to ask." Eda looked around and met the gaze of each member before her, each without speaking up. "Alright then. You're all still able to contact the other members with raven phones since I got some burners from the market-"
"Stole some burners from the market," Lilith interjected.
"Same thing," Eda shrugged. "So call if you absolutely need to, and make sure you work out with your group everything you'll need and need to do when you're back, or preferably, since you'll all still be together, on the way there. So, I'll ask one more time before I end my time on the soapbox: any questions?"
Once again, she was met with silence.
"Great! The less public speaking I have to do, the better." Eda flopped down in the closest chair and slumped comfortably into it, her head resting not-so-comfortably halfway down against the backrest while her upper back curved into the bottom cushion.
The teens picked up their previous conversation with a murmur.
"Just be glad you're speaking to people you know," Lilith told Eda. She sipped on a cup of warm "tea" as Luz called it, brushing a few of her black hairs out of the way. It was fairly delectable for only being some kind of hot leaf juice. Though Luz had scolded her for calling it that. It must be a sacred delicacy in the human realm.
"Yeah, I guess," Eda mumbled. The public speaking wasn't so bad. After all, she had come to make a living selling human goods and potions, both of which required her to make her presence well known to the community in a very vocal way.
It was more the topic itself which had Eda's stomach flipping itself into knots. They were finally planning the downfall of Emperor Belos, and as much as she didn't want to admit it, he was going to be a very tough opponent. While she considered herself the greatest witch on the Boiling Isles, Belos was no one to mess around with, even as far as she was concerned. After all, he was able to become emperor and lord his power over all the citizens of the Boiling Isles, claiming near absolute obedience. That wasn't something one could just chalk up to a fluke and pretend never happened.
That being said, she had come a long way too. While almost everyone else her age was stuck into a magic specialty, Eda constantly trained in all forms of magic. She was a self-made expert in each of the eight differentiated covens, excluding the Emperor's Coven itself of course, as it was a Bad Girl's Coven wannabe. Her spells had the power to rock the underground, her speed could outmatch even the most experienced professional flyer derby player, and her charm could melt anyone she flirted with into a pile of easily moldable putty. She was the whole package and more. But the same question still resonated inside of her, just as it did every other time she thought about taking on the Emperor.
Will it be enough?
Who's to say that Belos had shown his true power before? Could he be hiding behind a wall that is meant to project an insignificant fraction of what he is truly capable of? Had he been able to develop spells that have never been seen before? Spells that could tear a witch to shreds before she could even lift a finger? Was he saving them to use on the first person who dared to challenge him? Pose a threat to him? Has anyone else actually challenged him at all, and more importantly, lived to tell the tale? So many variables. Such little certainty. And no room for error.
The only certainty she had was right in front of her. This rag-tag group of misfits and weirdos who have all somehow clung to one another like a lifeline in the endless boiling sea. They'd made a home with one another and it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever had the pleasure to be a part of. Whatever would happen, it will not have any effect on them.
No room for error.
"What do you say, Edalyn?" Lilith asked, snapping Eda from her transient state.
"Huh?" She blinked at her sister.
Lilith frowned, no doubt annoyed with being ignored. Not that it was Eda's fault for being so thoroughly lost in thought. "I said, now that everyone has had some breakfast, we should get ready to leave. The longer we're sitting around here, the more risk our plan is at to fail. If we are to divide and conquer sufficiently, we need to set ourselves up for success," she stated in a tone much like a teacher reiterating an important school lesson.
"Yeah, yeah. I gotcha, teach," Eda waived her off, pushing herself to an upright position and then leaning forward onto her clasped fists. She took another good look at Luz and King who were wrapped up in the bright conversation with the other witch protégés.
"Alright brats, listen up!" Eda called as she pushed herself up off the chair, grabbing the teen's attention. "We're heading out within the hour. Go and grab everything you might need from your room, and make sure to check out the other rooms that aren't my bedroom for anything else which might be useful. If you're questioning something, you can bring it to me or Lily and we can figure out if you should take it. Understood?"
A uniform head bob came as affirmation.
"Okay, good. And make sure someone brings the Golden Dipstick down too. I may not like him, but the last thing I need is a corpse stinkin' up the place when I come back here."
"Don't worry, Eda. I got him." Willow assured her.
Eda smirked. "Wouldn't say that quite yet, kid."
Willow raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, the gears so clearly spinning in her mind.
"Forget it," Eda disregarded it with a wave. "Dismissed!"
Murmuring and clattering ensued as the teenagers grabbed their plates to wash. Willow had given hers to Gus and headed up the stairs before the others.
"So, what's the first thing you guys are gonna do once Belos bites it?" Luz asked eagerly as she started to scrub her plate.
"Oh, I know!" Gus pounced on the question as though he were just waiting, eagerly, for the question to be asked. "I'm going to put on the biggest theatrical production of how Belos came to power, how he ruled with an iron fist, assuming I get some juicy info from our attack on his castle, I'll put in all the horrible misdeeds he's performed and ordered, and finally I'll end it with the mighty heroic attack on his fortress! Heros victorious! Freedom to the Boiling Isles!" He bellowed the last parts out as though he were announcing an action thriller movie.
Luz and Amity exchanged looks, then turned their focus back to Gus.
"Wow," they said in unison, then smiling and giving each other fleeting glances.
"You already put some serious thought into that one?" Luz asked, her cheeks slowly returning to their normal bronzed color. She rinsed her plate off and made room for Amity to start on hers.
"You know it! If there's one thing that I am, it's a showman. People are gonna come from far and wide to see the magnificence which are my works of illusionist art!" He spread his arms out like a rainbow to emphasize his point.
Amity smiled as she scratched at a particularly difficult piece of food attached to her plate. "I bet it'll be great, Gus. After all, you-"
"GUYS!" A loud shout from Willow echoed from upstairs into the kitchen.
Thunderous, rushing footsteps quickly followed as Willow practically vaulted herself down the stairs and into view of everyone. No one dared turn their attention away from her.
"Hunter's gone!"
Well, welcome back to everyone who's still interested in reading this little work of mine. It's been almost 6 months since I last uploaded, so I hope you're all doing well! Between finals, graduation, job hunting, and the holidays, I haven't really had time to work on this. But like I (think I) have said before, I've got no plans on giving this up until it's over. So thank you to everyone who reads, enjoys, and reviews this, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
-G
TheFranninator: I have that feeling too!