Chapter 4

Another day comes and passes over the Owl House, and its residents (sans Hooty) find themselves busy at work in some way for some reason. Hunter sits on the floor in front of King, who stands slightly higher than him in front of a bulletin board almost completely covered in hand drawn depictions, diagrams and even photographs of various Demons native to the Boiling Isles. King previously mentioned a desire to educate the young Witch boy in the ways of Demonkind and now dawned in a scholar's cap with a bronze colored tassel, he is seeing to just that.

King describes Demons as they have been seen, depicted or known for centuries; as "grim tricksters of the twilight born of sulfur and bone for the sole purpose of creating chaos and misery". He explains the different classifications and the types of Demons that are either sentient like bugs and bipeds, or are wild and feral like beasts (the 3 B's as he calls them). He even goes so far as to explain their weaknesses, which are… well, not a lot. He focuses his first lesson on one Demon in particular; a pink, lanky-limbed creature with large, jagged teeth and sharp, unkept finger and toenails. Its dried, boney body is housed in a jagged, spikey shell on its back that appears to be leaking some unknown tar-like substance. According to King, it's called the "Snaggleback."

King tells Hunter how it hunts for prey in the boiling rain, how it never fails a hunt, how it is likely the strongest, most powerful Demon on the Boili—Is he not listening?! Nope, Hunter isn't even looking in King's general direction, choosing instead to lay back and toss a ball up and down, occasionally hitting one of the wooden beams overhead.

"Hunter!" Shouts King. "As your Demonics' master, might I inform you… that you're supposed to be listening to me!"

The ball hits one of the beams and bounces back to Hunter for him to catch.

"Huh? You say something?" He asks once the ball is once again in is his possession.

"I'm trying to save your life from the most dangerous monsters on the isles!"

"Uh. No offense, King, but I've met those monsters and just barely survived getting eaten, as you can see."

Hunter lifts up his pant-leg and reveals his actual leg, covered in cut scars and impact scars, all overlapping one big burn scar. Rather than look impressed, King just gags. Hunter releases and pats the leg down.

"So I think I know enough." Hunter crosses his arms in confident smugness.

"Oh really? Then I suppose you wouldn't mind a little test." King jumps down to eye-level and stares Hunter dead in the eye, pointing at his nose as he speaks. "The Snaggleback breaks down your door and is now in your home! What do you do?"

"Easy" Hunter gets up and walks to the door. "I lead it to another door, and trick it into jumping back outside and slam the door, like so."

SLAM

"Boiling rain! Everybody stay inside!" Eda looks around the living room, only seeing King. "Hey, where's the kid?"

"He's at the door." King tries to stifle his laughter, but it comes out in small chuckles.

Eda's confusion is gone as soon as she hears groaning from behind the door she just slammed into the wall. She pulls it back to reveal a flattened boy with messy blonde hair and wide-open ruby eyes clinging to the wall like a hieroglyph.

"Ow."

"Whoops." She says, slowly inching herself behind the door. "I'm just gonna… go take care of the house."

Eda closes the door, and not long after it clicks shut, the boy falls from the wall and onto his face. King finally releases his laughs with gusto.

As soon as Hunter is once again able to stand, he walks out the front door to find King under the shade, protected from the boiling rain Eda had mentioned earlier. Speaking of the "Most Powerful Witch", she is currently several feet ahead of them, an amber barrier above her head to protect her from the rain, and a bright ball of magic in her hands.

Hunter looks around, watching the rainfall as it burns everything it touches. He remembers many instances where he was forced to endure the isle's plagues. Being pelted and cut by shale-hail, getting covered in guts that were thrown around by gorenados, and obviously, burned alive by the rain. He's just glad his hair managed to grow back and cover most of the burns. With everything he had been forced to endure, he wonders by what miracle did he manage to preserve his face, ears, and most of his neck. He also thanks his lucky stars his first experience with a painbow was with someone else looking at it… It's the psychological scars that take the longest to fade.

Eda forbids anybody from going outside until the rain clears up, and King decides to add to this with warning to "Beware the Snaggleback", at which, Hunter rolls his eyes. Hooty demands Eda to hurry up. Since he is the Owl House, every drop of rain that hits the building burns him. Soon enough, the spell is complete, and the barrier above Eda's head expands into a bubble surrounding the entire Owl House before reshaping itself to fit snuggly around the building.

"Wow." Hunter says, his tone betraying his astonishment. "That's… pretty cool!"

Eda takes the compliment while King mentions how it's only cool until she gets distracted by shiny objects before pulling out a light-up pen and using it to taunt the dazzled and mesmerized Owl Lady.

"And that's why she's called the 'Owl Lady.'" Says King.

Eda, dazed and weakened by her spell, finds the strength to enter her home with the sole purpose of heading straight up to her bedroom for a little rest and recuperation. After using a small spell to change into an orchid sweater, a blue, ankle-long skirt and a pair of bunny slippers, she instead decides to just collapse onto her couch. She closes her eyes but instead on catching Z's, she catches the gaze of one annoyed teenager.

"Whatever it is, no." She says without hesitation.

"Oh, c'mon, Eda!" Says Hunter. "You promised to teach me magic, but you haven't even taught me one spell yet!"

"Sleep first. Magic after." She mildly but firmly states, pulling the covers over herself.

"Oh well. I guess since Eda's out, what d'ya say we get back to our lesson?" Suggests King, holding up a notepad and clicking his glow-up pen… which triggers Eda into sitting upright.

"Sparkle thing?!"

Suddenly, a plan hatches in Hunter's brain, but since he doesn't have time to find a "sparkle thing" of his own, he just decides to snatch King's out of his tiny hand and hold it right in front of Eda's face.

"Hey!" Complains King.

Eda balances on the tips of her toes, aided by her hands gripping the couch cushion.

"Here's the deal, Owl Lady." Hunter swipes the pen away before Eda can grab it, letting her fall onto her face just like he did earlier. "You get the 'sparkle thing', if you teach me one spell."

Eda groans, finding Hunter's underhanded tactic both admirable… and despicable. Still, she gives in and Hunter swipes the notepad from King, angering him further. Eda begins by demonstrating independent magic, casting a light spell with her bare hand. Hunter focuses intently on her finger as it draws the glowing, yellow circle in the air. He quickly jots down notes of what he's witnessing, alternating between watching and writing as quickly as he can. As soon as the circle is complete, even before Eda can pull her hand away, a small ball of light pops into existence before growing to the size of her palm.

Hunter, enamored by the dazzling sight before him, can't help but stare at it as it drifts closer to his face, allowing him to see the smaller balls of light seemingly in orbit around the larger one. Suddenly and without warning, the ball pops like a bubble, and the smaller lights scatter and fade away, leaving behind an after image, inverted in color, burned into his retinas.

"Woah!" He says. "I think I'm blind."

"Ha!" King mockingly laughs. "That's what happens when you—!"

"Shut up, King! I'm learning!"

King scowls and throws one of his books down before storming off, quietly grumbling curses at the Witchling. Once the proper coloration of the world finally returns to Hunter's eyes, Eda points to him, asking if he knows where magic comes from. Hunter looks back and forth nervously before slowly answering "no", turning his head to hide his embarrassment behind his hair. Eda sighs at his ignorance and informs him about the sack of magic bile attached to the hearts of all Witches. Even going so far as to pull out a diagram for visual reference.

"… Ew, but go on." Luckily, Hunter is already used to the sights of gross, disgusting things.

Eda then explains how larger spell circles make for more powerful spells, demonstrating this by casting an even larger ball of light. Once it too disappears, Hunter tries to cast a spell. Now, he had spent most of his younger years desperately trying to cast magic, but to no avail, but now that he knows where magic comes from, maybe it'll work… NOPE! Nothing. He tries again, desperately trying to focus on feeling the sac of bile on his heart, but still, nothing.

"Why won't it work?!" He asks in frustration.

"Hold on." Eda leans in close before pressing her ear into Hunter's chest. The boy blushes madly at the embarrassing display, silently begging that King can't see his face as Eda pulls her head away and shakes away the exhaustion. "Well! That explains it."

"What?" Asks Hunter.

"Is he a lost cause?!" Asks King, almost sounding hopeful, jumping onto Hunter's shoulder.

"You don't have one." She says.

"'One' what?" Hunter asks.

"A bile sac. Usually you can hear it sloshing around with every heard beat, but I couldn't hear anything. So I guess that means you don't have one."

"What?" Hunter's irises shrink in his distressed shock.

"I knew it! Lost cause!" King shouts triumphantly, but Hunter doesn't hear him as he presses his palm into his chest, feeling his own heartbeat.

"King, stop it! He's not a lost cause!" Eda's words come as a shock to the two of them.

"I'm/He's not?!" They shout in unison.

"Relax, kid. The first witches of the isles didn't have sacs, either. Back then they cast magic a different way."

"How!" Hunter jumps to his feet, dropping the notepad and pen, and throwing off King.

"WEH!" Exclaims the little demon-pup-thing upon hitting his back to the ground.

Eda pulls away as he leans in expectantly, darting her eyes back and forth, trying desperately not to look into his as they seem to suddenly grow bigger.

"Uh… I don't know."

Hunter's face drops.

"What?!"

"I didn't finish school! So, I never found out how they cast magic." She looks down as sees Hunter deflate like a balloon. Eda gets it; this was his one chance, but she doesn't have the answers he needs. So, instead, she offers some words of encouragement. "Hey, kid, don't worry about it." Hunter looks up. "You're smart. You're… creative." Hunter looks quizzically as Eda's eyes start to lose focus. "You'll… figure… it…" And then she falls, "oooouuuuuut." right on top of him.

As Hunter screams in distress (his voice muffled by Eda's chest), kicking his legs and flailing his semi-trapped arms, King just laughs.

"Hooty, come check this out!" He calls to the door, which then promptly opens.

Hooty stretches his head in to see and then laughs along with him.

After about half-an-hour of laughing, Hunter is freed, and he and King are then seen carrying the sleeping Owl Lady to her room, Hunter holding up her main body bridal style, and King carrying her snoring head, which got knocked off when trying to carry her up the stairs. Hunter opens the door and is understandably shocked to see that Eda's bed is actually a bird's nest. I mean, she off-handedly mentioned having a nest before, but Hunter just thought she was being metaphorical.

Hunter carefully lowers the lumbering body onto the dry twigs, feathers and mud, all while King just casually tosses in Eda's head. Somehow, that didn't wake her up, which made King chuckle before running away, at which, Hunter rolls his eyes. After placing her head back onto her neck, Hunter makes his way downstairs.

As King goes through his own work, Hunter reads and rereads his notes, as though the answers would somehow come to him.

"She said Witches did magic differently. So clearly there's something I'm missing."

Hunter begins drawing what he saw Eda perform but is unfortunately interrupted by King slapping his book onto the notepad.

"You bet there's something you're missing! You're missing out on these cool Demon facts."

"Ugh! Knock it off, King!" Says Hunter, swiping King away with his arm. "I've got real work to do!"

That is the last straw.

"Alright, fine!" King slams his book onto the floor in frustration. "You can just forget it, because I am done helping you!"

King storms off, and for a second, Hunter feels a twinge of guilt, but he shakes it away.

"I never asked for your help, anyway." He grumbles as he rereads his work… again.

Suddenly, without warning, the notepad is swiped right out of his hands.

"And I'm taking by notebook back!" Exclaims King, before running off.

"King! Give it back! I need that!" An indoor chase ensues. The tiny Demon leads the blonde to the kitchen, inciting him to search every pot and cupboard. "You annoying little… ugh!"

As he slams a lid onto a pot, Hunter hears something hit the ground behind him and sees that its King jumping down from the last cupboard to be searched. He shouts his name, warning the Demon pup of the imminent danger, which, of course, incites another chase. Hunter follows King over the couch, past the door, and up the chimney. The time King lost trying to scurry up the narrow, stony exit was what would grant Hunter the time needed to grab on to his little tail before it could disappear up the flue.

King is pulled out of the chimney by his tail and brought face-to-skull with his adversary. Before Hunter can rip the notepad out of his cute little paws, the little pest chucks a handful of soot right into his face. The boy drops the Demon and begins screaming in pain from the soot burning his eyes. This allows some of the smoke dust to get inside of his mouth, forcing him to spit as he looks for some way to sooth his pain. Without any other options, the teen pulls up his own shirt and wipes his face into the fabric.

After a few more coughs, he pulls the fabric away from his face and forces his eyes open. He looks around and sees King watching from the base of the stairs, but as soon as he locks eyes with Hunter, he runs up. Hunter shouts the little monster's name once again and continues to give chase. The boy follows the beast to the attic where he sleeps and is immediately pelted with his own sleeping implements. He rips the blanket off his face and sees the little furball slide between his legs.

Hunter follows King down the hall and jumps, grabbing him and pulling him into his arms. Fighting against his little slaps, the magicless Witchling forces the tiny Demon to face him, grabbing him by the scruff of his pelt with one hand and releasing his hold with the other. The taller boy eyes the notepad pressed into smaller one's chest.

"Now give it back!"

"Never!" Shouts King, slapping at Hunter's face, forcing the boy to use his free hand to guard his eyes, but his hold remains firm.

"Why would Eda ever want a pest as annoying as you for a pet?!"

Those words force King to halt his assault and glare at Hunter with more fury than Hunter had ever seen from the little dog-like Demon.

"I'm. Not. A pet!" King then headbutts Hunter with enough force to leave behind very wide bruise.

Hunter releases his target to grab his aching forehead with both hands. Without thinking, King rushes into the closest door he can find, but then pauses when he sees its interior. This is Eda's room. Before he can decide whether to leave or hide, something shocks him by grabbing his tail, causing him to throw his notepad into the air. He looks back and sees that it's Hunter on his knees, still reeling slightly from the blow to his cranium, and his other hand pressed firmly against his forehead.

"Ugh. You little—" But Hunter's words die in his throat as he looks ahead.

King follows his gaze, initially believing his momentary pause being from fear of waking Eda, but now sees the truth. Just a foot away from Eda's nest sits a small stool, and right on top of it sit two books holding a half-melted candle and next to them, sits a small, round vial, half-full with contents unknown, wobbling and spinning away from King's accidentally discarded notebook, and closer to the edge. Whatever is inside, seeing as how Eda prompted to keep it so close to where she sleeps, she would surely not be happy with whomever would be responsible for spilling it.

"Nooooooo!" They both whisper in unison, and as though answering their prayer, the glass bottle stops, just a hair away from falling.

Hunter and King both breathe a sigh of relief. Crisis adverted.

KA-THOOM

"WOAH!" Screams the bear trap that springs up from the floor, hitting the table and sending the bottle up into the air before it smashes onto the floor. "Did'yu guys hear that thunder?! Man! Was that loud!"

Apparently, Eda keeps a Demon resembling a bear trap with eyes on both sides of its taco-shaped body standing on two twig-like legs nearby to protect her bottle of whatever-it-was. And now, her means of protecting it has just broken it. Is that irony? I think that sounds like irony. Hunter and King stare with their jaws dropped so low, they almost looked like bear traps themselves. The smaller Demon looks at them quizzically, asking what it is that they're staring at, but the answer becomes clear as soon as the mystery concoction finally touches his tiny feet. All he can say as he looks down at the golden-orange puddle around him is "Oops".

It's at that moment when a pale, boney arm shoots up from the nest and slams down onto the table, feeling around, looking for something. It soon finds and picks up the notepad but then tosses it to the side of the room before continuing to search. When it becomes clear that what it's looking for is not where it's searching, that's when owner of the hand's voice is heard. In case it wasn't obvious before, this hand belongs to Eda, but her voice, surely groggy from exhaustion and for some other reason, worried, sounds… off.

"W-where is it?!" As Eda's hand continuous to search, a second hand grips the edge of the nest, but it's… different from the other. Her fingernails appear to be longer and curved, and her arms look… fluffier? "Where is…" Eda pushes her whole body up, but it isn't the body the others are familiar with, "my elixir?!"

Eda's arms are almost completely covered in feathers, not stuck to her, but growing out of her. The amber gem on her chest looks like its filling with tar as more feathers grow out of her neck, and her whole body seems to grow in size. As for her face, half of the area around it is almost completely covered in feathers, her ear on the same side grows long, bushy plumes clumped together almost resembling hair, her teeth are sharpened into fangs and one of her eyes is completely black.

The boy and two small Demons are stunned as they watch Eda's sudden, unexpected transformation. The feathers soon envelop her entire body, which is now almost three times its original size. Her ears elongate and the plumage from them grow to reach her shoulders. Her hair has merged into her feathers, appearing more like a thick stripe running down her back. Her nails have become bird talons. Large, avian wings have grown from the sides of her round back. Her now razor-sharp teeth darken as does her remaining eye, and her mouth pulls up into a menacing grin as she eyes her prey.

"Uh-oh." Says the trap-Demon.

"Eda?" Says King.

"Oh, my gosh!" Says Hunter.

Eda bellows out a roar and that is enough incentive to encourage the three others to get the heck out of there! They rush out the doors, screaming for dear life. The trap-Demon runs down the hall while Hunter and King run down the opposite way, making a v-line for the stairs. Eda bursts through the double doors, sending them into the lights and extinguishing them, plunging the halls into darkness. She gives chase to the duo, rushing towards them like a feral animal, using her avian claws to hold her weight as she climbs across the walls and ceiling. Hunter grabs King and jumps down the stairs, almost losing his footing upon each landing, but he quickly recovers each time. He can't afford to slip up like last time at Hexside. Upon arriving at ground level, Hunter channels as much energy as he can and bolts to the front door.

"Hooty! Open the door!" Screams Hunter.

"Huhoot? What's that?" Asks Hooty, opening the door to answer.

Finally, freedom is within their reach, or so it seems. From behind the front door, the avian beast digs her talons into Hooty and rips him off his hinges. For some reason, Eda must have stopped following them and went back the way she came to get outside and cut them off. As every light source in the house suddenly goes out, Hunter and King can do nothing but watch as the house Demon falls silent. Eda is about to turn to the duo left standing but is then suddenly distracted by a flash of lightning. She ducks her head beneath one of her massive wings before roaring at the sky and running away, forgetting about her initial prey. Finally out of danger, albeit temporarily, the two of them investigate Hooty's "body." Thankfully, he's still alive, but is unfortunately unconscious and unable to help them deal with Eda.

"King, what was that?!" Hunter asks, understandably shaken from everything he has just seen. For but a moment, it appears as though King is going to answer, but then shuts his mouth, angrily glancing back at Hunter. "King! C'mon, you've been droning on about Demons since this morning, and now you decide to shut up?!"

"So now you actually care what I have to say?"

Hunter knows what this is about but is not having any of it.

"This is way more important than our stupid fight, King! Eda's in trouble! She's tearing apart her own house! And she's going to tear us apart if we don't do something!"

After a second, King speaks.

"I don't know what that was. I've never seen it before." He then looks at his feet in sadness. "Eda… never told me about that."

Hunter thinks back to the day's events, from Eda casting that shield spell, to when she changed, and then it hits him. He remembers what she had said just before changing.

"Where is…my elixir?!"

The bottle! She was looking for the bottle! She must have been! But why? What was in it? What link did it have to Eda's sudden change? That's when Hunter remembers what Eda told him once before. How the two of them are similar, but then she just sweeps it under the rug with that "we're weirdoes" explanation. Is this what she really meant? There's only one place he can find answers. He looks up and spots Eda smashing open a window to re-enter the house.

"I think I have an idea, but I need to go back to Eda's room."

King's eyes go wide before giving Hunter a glare, not to intimidate, but to mask his own fear.

"No way! I'm not going back in there!"

"Fine." Hunter's face remains expressionless. "Then I'll go alone."

"You what?!" Hunter walks back into the Owl House. "She'll kill you!"

"Only if she can catch me."

"Why are you acting like you care about her anyway? Are you that desperate for her to teach you magic, you selfish jerk?!"

Hunter turns back with a scowl of resolution.

"She was the first person to ever care about me when I had no one. I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing this for her."

And with that, he turns and continues walking. As for King, he continues to glare as he remembers. Having someone to care for you when you have no one? Now who does that sound like? The furry child looks down at his mangled friend, still unconscious, and then back to Hunter with a bit of ire, watching him duck down as he rounds a corner. Finally making up his mind, he sighs, rolls his eyes and rushes back into the Owl House.

Hunter slowly ascends the stairs, sticking to the shadows, channeling his skills as a thief and adapting them to help him stay alive. He thinks back to every Demon he came across in his youth, but never has he ever seen one type of Demon turn into another. And her shape, her form, it was unlike any beast Demon he had seen before. Those… dark eyes.

"There's no point in hiding in the shadows." Hunter was so focused on his own thoughts that he didn't notice when someone was sneaking up behind him. He turns and finds King, sneaking next to him. "Demons with black eyes are sensitive to light. That means they're masters of hunting in the dark. Eda's ears are pretty big, too, so she probably relies on her hearing when she can't see her prey."

Hunter doesn't question his presence when earlier, he refused to enter, and instead, accepts his assistance, knowing it's for Eda's well-being.

"So we distract her with loud noise. Got it."

As they make their way through the house, they keep their eyes and ears peeled for any signs of movement. Thankfully, there is none… that they can see. Eventually, they reach Eda's room and within, between him and the nest sits the mess of broken glass and spilled elixir, almost completely dried up. But Hunter doesn't care about the contents, yet. Hunter sifts through the shards of broken glass while King keeps watch, the smaller of the two only looking back for a moment to check on the other's progress. Nothing so far it would seem, but before he can return to his previous duty, something catches his eye.

Lying on the floor in front of him is a small, ripped strip of thick paper. He picks it up and turns it over, and what he finds startles him. A simply designed, red colored Demon skull with large horns, fangs, light green eyes, and no visible jaw. Above the image are some words written in all caps with the third word being larger and bolder than the rest.

"'KEEPS THE CURSE AT BAY'." King reads, gaining the attention of Hunter.

The blonde boy turns around and finds his compatriot reading something and as he looks down, he finds another; a small, thick piece of paper, torn at the bottom, the top cleanly cut to make the whole thing resemble a trapezoid, a single, small hole punched above four words also written in all caps, the second and fourth words being larger than the rest.

"'AN ELIXIR A DAY'." Hunter reads.

The two of them suddenly gasp in unison and come together to rejoin the two pieces of paper. Just as Hunter had guessed, they fit perfectly. Hunter remembered seeing a tag tied around the rim of the bottle and this was it. In near perfect unison, Hunter and King read the words printed on the whole tag aloud.

"'And elixir a day… keeps the curse at bay!'"

Upon this shocking revelation, everything falls into place. This was what Eda was referring to when she said they were alike. Just like how Hunter is magicless, Eda is cursed and this elixir is treatment, or rather, it was. Knowing that his little spat with King resulted in his catastrophe, it feels as though the world has gone dark, and all that he can hear is deep… throaty… breathing? His eyes widen, and in an instant, he grabs King and leaps out of the way of Eda's slashing claw. Seeing her prey trying to escape, Eda lets out a high pitched, screeching roar and gives chase to the pair. Hunter leaps and bounds all over the room, trying his best not to lose momentum, knowing that doing so would likely lead to losing his life. He goes for the exit only to be cut off by Eda, and skids to a halt as she raises her claw for another attack.

Time seems to slow down for Hunter as he tries for the life of himself and King to think of a plan as quickly as possible, but only one comes to mind in time. And so, with the last of his strength, Hunter throws King into the nest, and tries to jump out of the way at the last spilt-second, but it's too late. The palm of her claw slams into his back, launching him through one of the windows, claws ripping open his flesh and drawing blood as he leaves her striking radius.

Eda sets her sights on the open window, the view of the outside world obscured by the golden-rod wall of magic but illuminating the outside of the house just enough to allow her to see without harming her eyes. She steps past the nest and plants her palms onto the stone bricks separating the room from the outside, potted plants placed all around her, and below her, lying flat on his bleeding back is Hunter. The boy's eyes are still open, but only enough to see the blurred visage of Eda the Owl Beast looming over him, and beyond her, the grey clouds above recolored by the bright, golden wall.

With his mind foggy from the deadly blow, Hunter starts to wonder if this is it. Is this how it all ends, after years of survival, near-death experiences, enduring agonizing physical and emotional torment? His life, finally snuffed out by the first person to actually care about and support him. He tries to call out to her, but he doesn't have the strength. Could she even see or hear him at all in that form? Instead, he just silently apologizes and hopes that King at least survives this. Eda's face pulls up into a hungry smile. She raises her claw, and Hunter, with tears pouring from his eyes, can only look up at the boiling rain above him, steaming as it hits the shield, awaiting the end. Suddenly, there is a blinding flash of bright light and right before Hunter's eyes, he sees… something. Everything goes white before becoming plunged in darkness.

What was that?! It looked like… a candle? No, a flame? No, he thinks it was… a man in a cloak? With… a pointy hat and… a flame on his head? What was that? Maybe it was an angel descending from above to take Hunter to the great beyond? Hunter was never all that spiritual, so he never learned more about angels and gods. He didn't know what to expect after death. Would he disappear? Would he go someplace else? Would he… still be in pain?

"Hunter!" That voice… it sounds so… far… but so… familiar. "Hunter!" Wait! Oh, no. He remembers that angry voice! "Hunter!" He knows that shape! It's tall frame, round head, blue eyes and long antlers! "Come back, Hunter!" Those… figures all around it! Those beaks and lifeless sockets for eyes. "Come back!" It's…! It's the…!

"WENDIGO!" Hunter springs up in terror only to throw himself back down in pain.

"Hunter!" He opens his eyes as he realizes the voice has changed. It's much higher than it was in his dreams. That's when he realizes it's King's voice. The tiny Demon looks down at him with concern. "Stay down! You're lucky to be alive!"

Hunter looks down at himself and sees that his tunic has been removed, exposing some of his almost completely scared and warped body; replaced by some bandages tightly wrapped around his waist.

"H-how—?" He tries to speak, but the burning and stinging coming from his back makes it hard to utter a single word without hissing.

"I found a first aid kit in Eda's closet. And then I threw up a bunch when I took your shirt off. I also found this!" King reaches behind himself and brings a round bottle into Hunter's field of vision. Its contents golden-orange and sparkling with a tag that reads "An elixir a day keeps the curse at bay" tied around the rim. "Maybe it can cure Eda, but I don't know how to get her to drink it."

That's right! Eda's in trouble! This emergency taking primary focus in his mind, he forces himself to at least sit up. King, at first, tries to push him back down, but Hunter simply pushes him away.

"I'm fine! Eda takes priority!" After some shaky breaths and propping himself against the wall beside him, Hunter remembers his previous situation, and looks around as frantically as his condition will allow. "Wait! What happened to Eda?"

"She was about to finish you when some lightning struck the protection spell. The bright light scared her off."

So that's what happened! Well, Hunter never would have thought he'd actually be thankful for the isles' plagues, but here we are. Now, they need to get to Eda and somehow get her to hold still long enough to force feed her the elixir. Problem is, she's stronger, faster, and far more deadly than she was before, and she was plenty deadly when she was a Witch. How do you get a monster solely bent on killing you to take its medicine? Suddenly, Hunter remembers something. Those shapes he saw when the lightning hit. What were they?

"King. I need…" He takes some calming breaths, powering through the burning sensation in his back to speak. "I need your notepad and pen, just one more time."

For a second, King looks at Hunter curiously, but then goes to fetch those items. Luckily, they're still in Eda's room, lying on the floor across from her nest-side stool where she had thrown them earlier before changing. After King gives them to Hunter as requested, the magicless Witchling flips to a blank page and tries desperately for the life of him to remember. Digging deep into his memories, he finds them, and while they're still fresh in the forefront of his mind, draws the shapes as best as he can; a triangle with two lines going through the line that split it in two, a smaller circle on top, topped off a smaller triangle.

"Hunter?" King calls again. "What are you doing?"

"I… remember seeing something… when the lightning struck." He finishes it off by connecting all of the outer most points in one more, larger circle. "Shapes. One of them looked…" He taps the notepad. "Like this."

What happens next leaves them both speechless. The shapes begin to glow, illuminating the area even more with bright, yellow light. The light grows brighter and before they know it, the whole sheet begins to illuminate as it then begins folding in on itself. In a matter of seconds, the paper is gone and, in its place, floats a small orb of light, exactly like the one Eda had conjured earlier. Hunter drops the notepad and pen to allow the little glowing ball he had just created to float an inch above his cupped hands. He focuses on its beauty as he brings it closer to his face.

"Did you do that?" Hunter suddenly remembers where he is, and looks to see King at his side, almost as transfixed as he was.

"I… think so." He just did magic. He doesn't know how, but somehow, he did it. After 10 years of being a magicless Witch, he just cast a spell and performed magic. Light magic. Light. The wheels in his head begin turning. "King, do you remember what Eda said about spell circles?"

The owl beast crawls across the floors of the ruined house, searching for its prey. After having been almost blinded by the lightning, it had been forced to retreat back into the domicile. The light left it seeing green for a while, but it eventually recovered; you know, after running around in a panic, bashing its head into walls and tumbling down the stairs. Now that it can see again, and the room is no longer spinning, it returns to the hunt.

The beast ascends the stairs, treading lightly so is to not give itself away and alert its prey. Suddenly, it hears a faint clicking sound. It slowly rounds a corner and finds one of its prey, the small Demon pup, playing with something. Something shiny. With his back to it, the beast takes the chance and pounces.

"Now!" The beast hears.

This is it; Hunter knew he had to time this right, and he did. He yanks on the bandage rope tied to King's waist, pulling him away from the beast, leaving Eda to slam head first onto the floor. Phase one, complete. Now for phase two. He slaps the hand-drawn line on the floor board, and the wood begins to glow. Eda looks down and is immediately blinded. She jumps away just as the giant ball of light emerges from the wood, but Hunter expected this.

Just as he had instructed King beforehand, the self-proclaimed King of Demons scurries to another glyph, slamming the circle with his paw before running away as Eda sees him. The light spell emerges and Eda is cut off at every angle. She writhes and screams in pain. It's too much for her, and eventually, she becomes too overwhelmed and drops to the floor, incapacitated from shock.

As her body rises and falls from the stress-induced heaves, Hunter tries to get a closer look, but King stops him, and takes his place. He carefully inches to Eda's side and examines her, elixir in hand. Once he's determined that she's fully unconscious, he rips the cork out off the bottle and shoves it right into Eda's mouth. The Owl Lady-turned-Beast instinctively drinks, and as she does so, her body begins to shrink, and feathers start to fall from her features.

King and Hunter breathe a sigh of relief once they see their caretaker returned to almost her original state, wild hair, bunny slippers and all. She still has a few feathery patches and her gem is still tar black, but there's still some elixir left so, it should be fine. King grabs Eda by the hair and pulls her back to her nest. After ensuring Eda finishes her elixir by way of making use of multiple interconnected bendy straws, he returns to Hunter's side, the latter still recovering against the wall.

"You okay?" King cautiously asks.

"Well, I'm not dead, if that's what you mean." After a few more breaths, he continues. "If I'm being honest, this is nothing compared to the time I was almost digested, but kind of close to the time some kids from Glandus threw me over a rocky hill. There were a lot of sharp rocks."

He gives a half-hearted laugh as he watches Eda continue to suck more elixir through the straws.

"Thanks for saving me." A second passes. "I'm sorry I called you a 'pet.' I was just being stupid and… well. I was… kind of annoyed by you… But you actually saved the day with your Demon facts."

"It's hard to be taken seriously when you're small or different."

Hunter's eyes widen for a second.

"I know that better than anyone. I shouldn't have… acted like that."

"I guess I was being kind of pushy. I guess I just hoped that… if I could teach you something, maybe you'd respect me the same way you respect Eda. Maybe you could… take me seriously…" King then begins walking down the hall. "We should… probably let her sleep. You probably want to rest too."

As he leaves, Hunter feels a wave of regret wash over him, but then gets an idea. He gets to his feet and starts walking, leaning against the wall for support.

"Hey, King!" He calls from the top of the stairs, and the tiny pup turns to him. "In light of recent events (no pun intended) I'm starting to think I might not know as much about Demons as I thought. Maybe I could use a teacher."

Once they're both downstairs, with some help from King, after working together to fix up Hooty to the best of their abilities, Hunter is once again seated on the floor in front of King as he begins his lecture on Demons, and this time, Hunter makes sure to pay attention. And he actually enjoys hearing about these new facts about bipeds, bugs and beasts that he wasn't aware of before. As the lesson goes on all is calm and right with the world as it once was… until…

"BOYS!" Eda wakes up. "You broke my elixir! Just you wait until I get my hands on you two!"

"Hey, I think the rain's starting to lighten up!" Says Hooty, opening the door.

"And I think I can run again." Says Hunter, returning to his feet with some cringing.

"Who threw up all over my floor?!"

"Then onward, my steed!" Says King, jumping onto Hunter's back inciting some more cringing. "To freedom!"

And with that, they both rush out of the house to endure the scalding drizzle.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HOUSE?!"