Eda woke up slowly, warm and comfortable.
And then she realized how wrong that was and woke up with a jerk, feathers flying everywhere.
It took her a moment to remember where she was. A cramped room, full of human junk. An old, worn out sleeping bag to sleep in. Loud yelling from the resident demons downstairs.
Oh yeah, that's right. She was in the Owl House.
She smiled a bit, happy to be comfortable for once before frowning severely, seeing the feathers for the first time. She looked down, feeling more than seeing the feathers that were poking out of her skin under her clothes.
"Oh no…" she breathed. This usually didn't wake her up! Why was it doing this now?
"Eda? Are you awake?"
Eda jumped, hearing Luz outside the door. The human couldn't see her like this, half transformed and feathers everywhere.
"Yea! Just a sec!" She called back, frantically digging through her bag for an elixir. Finding a mostly full one, she chugged it, sighing in relief as the feathers fell out.
"Just come down for breakfast!" Luz called through the door. "It's time to get the day started!"
Her footsteps faded away, going back down the stairs. Eda rolled her eyes, though a small smile was on her face. God, Luz was way too cheery in the morning.
Oh well, just a price she had to pay to live here, Eda thought as she twirled her finger to pull her extra clothes towards herself. The spell circle formed, and then wobbled. She watched, wide eyed, as the spell circle broke, crumbling around her finger.
What was happening? She tried again, but this time nothing happened. She gulped, before taking a deep breath. This was fine. She was fine. All she needed to do was… try harder, she guessed. Now that she thought about it, there was a slight strain on her magic in her chest, but she hadn't noticed it until she was forced to.
Trying not to panic, she focused on her magical center and twirled her finger again.
The strain lessened, and then disappeared as this time, the spell circle she made completed, pulling her extra clothes over to her. She stared at her extra clothes for a long moment, and then at her hand.
Ok, go less on the magic. The healer did say this curse would affect her magic, but it had never simply stopped it before.
Whatever. She didn't want to focus on this. It was like Luz said- it was time to start the day.
xXx
"Gooood Morning, child that's now in my care!" Luz cheered as Eda came down stairs. There was some food already on the table, which King was happily go gobbling up.
"It's early." Eda whined, planting her head face down on the table. Luz just laughed at her.
"Yep! Best time to make some money!" The human said, washing off her own, already eaten plate. "You're going to be doing some deliveries for me today."
That didn't sound so bad. Eda lifted her head, just enough to start eating her food. At least she wouldnt be trapped in the house. She just needed to stay away from the scouts.
"What do you even do for a living?" Eda asked as the thought came to her. Should she really be saying yes if she didn't know what she would be delivering?
"I run a few businesses." Luz said, sitting back down at the table. "On weekends, I offer human junk that I can pass off as novelties."
She reached down and grabbed a cheap looking sword from a pile next to the table. Hitting the button on the handle, the three of them were subjected to a grainy, male voice from the sword,
"I shall smite my enemies! Ages six to eleven."
"People buy that?" Eda asked, skeptical. Luz smirked and tossed the sword in the direction of the living room.
"You'll be amazed at what people would buy." She said. "But that's only for the weekends! Hard to get enough stock for a full week of an open store front. Most days I sell only the finest homemade elixirs and potions."
"Oh! You know how to make potions?" That probably shouldn't have surprised Eda. She knew that potions needed the least inherited magical abilities. In fact, all you needed was enough to charge ingredients every so often, which was easily avoided just by buying the ingredients already charged.
Eda, herself, had been put in the potions track in school, half because Lilith was already in it and half so she wouldn't try to get to fancy with her magic. She had a bad habit back then to just make a spell circle to see what happened.
Not that she ever grew out of it! She was proud of her Wild magic!
"Yep! You could say I took I was really paid attention in class!" Luz bragged, picking up a bag. It clinked and clanked, speaking loudly that it held a bunch of potion bottles.
"You went to hexside?" Eda asked in disbelief. Luz frowned.
"Uh, kinda. Not the point right now!"
She handed Eda the bag carefully. "Today you'll deliver packages and sell potions to Bonesborough. You'll have to be careful." She put in a dramatic tone, one that made Eda look at her like she was crazy. "I have rivals everywhere! Full of dangers, these are the ones who'd love to take my business down! I need you to fulfill this quest for me, oh powerful witch of the isles!"
She ended her speech with a smile. Eda felt like she was being made fun of.
"Wow! You haven't gotten better at that!" King mocked, cheerful. Not looking over, Luz pushed him gently off the chair. King fell to the floor with a 'Weh!', causing Eda to laugh.
"Ok, ok! I won't let you down, Miss Luz."
xXx
"I still don't see why I had to come with you!" King whined, once again. Eda rolled her eyes, looking at the list of houses again.
"Do you want my answer or Luz's answer?" She asked, leaving a package of potions at the doorstep of a house, as per the instructions. This whole experience hadn't been the worst, she guessed, but still certainly not pleasant.
King whined every five minutes, pulling at her hood and hair. The streets were crawling with scouts, making her have to hide her face as she went from house to house. The customers! The customers were so rude to her, refusing to give her the money unless they got double the potions! In response, she just twirled her finger, spilling the potion onto his head as she ran off with the money from his hand. She sure showed that guy!
All in all, she wanted this day to be over, and luckily, it almost was. One more house, and she would be home free.
Well, not home home. Not where she wants to be.
She scowled, feeling the familiar slithering under her skin.
"Hey, stay here." She commanded King, setting him down on the ground. The little demon glared, stomping his foot.
"Why?!" He whined. Eda wondered if this was how Lilith felt when Eda was little.
"I just- gotta go over there." She pointed back around the corner. "By myself. For a moment."
Smooth, Clawthrone.
King stared at her for a long moment, before making a face.
"Gross! Gross! I don't wanna know!"
Eda felt her face go hot, and had to stop herself from denying what he thought. She wasn't sure, but she could make a guess. This was as good an excuse as anything else, and she should really just take it.
With one last look at King, she quickly jogged back around the corner, digging an elixir out of her bag in the process.
Eda didn't need to go far before finding a nice, shady wall to press herself against. She just needed to hide for a moment, nothing more.
She chugged the elixir, making a face at the taste. You would think she'd be used to it by now, but apparently not.
Abruptly, she stiffened, looking around herself frantically. For a second, she could have sworn she felt eyes on her. She was so sure-
But, no. There was no one there. Her eyes narrowed. If it had been King, spying on her, she was going to take all of his little 'minions' from him, mark her words.
Feeling much more centered, she finished off the elixir before throwing it off to the side. Who cares about littering? She didn't.
Walking back, she saw King exactly where she had left him, next to the almost empty bag of potions. He was pouting, and not even looking her way. Maybe it wasn't him spying on her. Maybe there was no spying and she was just losing her mind.
Well, with that cheerful thought, she reached over and threw the bag over her shoulder, pulling King under her arm in the same motion. Ignoring his offended yell, she said cheerfully,
"Come on! Last house on the list!"
She began walking quickly, adjusting King as he began squirming.
"Let go of me!" He yelled, flailing his arms. "I am your master! I am your ruler! I am-"
"Oh wow." Eda cut him off as the last house came into view. It was a large gray castle, with bright white accents and golden banners, illuminated and shining by the sunlight.
Walking up to the towering wooden doorway showed that the doorbell was also made of gold. Fancy. She had to put King down and look at the address again to make sure this was the right address, because why in the world would someone this rich get potions from Luz?
"Big houses always belong to big whack jobs." King said, as she pressed the doorbell to get someone's attention. Eda had to agree with him. "Let's kick the package inside and get outta here."
"Good plan." Eda said. As the door opened, she got ready to do just that, arm reared back, ready to throw as hard as she could. She hadn't been the star grudgby player for nothing after all!
She was stopped short as an old man suddenly appeared at the door, smiling at them kindly. She flinched, hiding the package behind her back as if she hadn't been ready to throw the fragile bottles into the house and then run.
"Hello!" She said, smiling awkwardly. "I'm uh, delivering a package from Luzura, the Wild Witch?"
"Oh yes! Of course of course!" The old man chuckled, sounding almost grandfatherly. "Please, won't you come inside for tea?"
"Uh, actually-" Eda tried to decline. The man didn't listen, going back inside the house. Without him blocking it, she could now see the details of the room before her.
Lanterns around the room flared on, revealing it to be a massive library. In the middle of the room, there was a grand staircase, above which is a painting of a wizard, clearly the old man from before. In front of the staircase, the old man sat down at a small table, which was covered in small finger foods and a teapot.
"Huh, free food." Eda said, looking at King.
"Weird old man in jim-jams." King said back, deadpanned. Eda looked between King, and the table of food for a long moment. King didn't appreciate the hesitation.
"Eda! Let's scram!" He cried, climbing up her shoulder. "Wizards are just old people with glitter in their pockets!"
"And you should never trust a man that wears socks with sandals…" Eda mused.
"Yes! So let's go-"
"We have scones!" The old wizard called out from inside, cutting King off.
Between one blink and the next, King was off her shoulder and at the table, scarfing down scones.
She sighed, a little annoyed but also thankful that it wasn't her decision to stay at the weird old man's house. She did really want that free food after all.
She walked in, leaving the package next to the table.
"Thank you for tea, I guess." She said, at least trying to be polite as she took one of the scones for herself. She glanced around, pausing as she spotted a cart of potions, off to the side. "Do you sell potions, Mister?"
"Please, call me Adegast." The old man said kindly. "Ma'am, yes, I run a small business. I'm surprised to see you here. It was my understanding that Luzura delivered the packages herself. I wasn't aware she found an apprentice."
"Uh, no, not really," Eda tried to clarify, embarrassed. "Just someone who lives in her house! Doing some work for her!"
"Oh!" The old man, Eda had already forgotten his name, looked at her concerned. "And how are you finding the experience so far? Are you ok?"
"Yep!" Eda smiled at him, strained as the smile was. "It's great! Peachy!"
"Hm…." He stroked his beard, leaning back in his seat. "I sense you have a problem. Something not so easily fixed."
Eda stayed silent, looking at him wide eyed. How did he know that? Was it so obvious? Could other people see it?
"Oh, don't be so nervous! I only want to help!" The old man reached into his beard, pulling out a scroll. He unfolded it, revealing a map. "I have heard of this quick fix, something to help any pesky problem you may have!" He handed the map to Eda, who took it hastily. She looked over the map quickly, trying to place where it would line up on a normal map of the isles. He continued, giving her a knowing and significant look. "No matter how hard it is to fix!"
He had to know more than he should, she thought. Despite herself, she felt hope growing inside her as she stared at the map. Maybe, this quick fix, this cure would be enough. No one knew where the curse came from, and Titan knows her mother probably never would have asked this weird wizard for help.
Maybe this was exactly what she needed.
"Now, the journey will be dangerous-" The old man continued. King cut him off.
"Neat story, awesome. Anyway, your food is gone and we are, too." The small demon grabbed her hand and started pulling her away. She looked down at him before looking at the map again.
"Yea, we're leaving." She said as she made up her mind. She started pulling King to the door instead of the other way around. "I gotta go find this thing!"
"Wonderful!" The old man cried after them as they left. "I hope you find everything you're looking for!"
xXx
"I really don't think this is a good idea." Luz said from the doorway of her room, as Eda dug through her bag to make sure she had enough supplies. King tugged on Luz's pants, looking up at her with big eyes.
"Luz, tell Eda how dumb wizards are."
Luz made a face. "Ew, he called himself a wizard? Only the most smug witches do that. Like the term witch isn't good enough for them." She huffed, looking at Eda pointedly. "Wizards are the worst. Never trust a man in casual drapery."
Luz paused, before narrowing her eyes. "Wait, why do we care about wizards?"
"Your wizard client-" King started to tell. Eda tried to cut him off.
"King, don't you dare-"
"-told about some kinda quick fix cure thing!"
Eda sighed, annoyed. Luz looked at her with wide eyes. "Wait, wait, Eda? Why do you need that?"
"Amazingly, I do have problems of my own!" Eda said, slinging the bag over her shoulder. Luz sighed, looking exasperated.
"He even gave her a map." King said with a laugh.
"What? Let me see this map." Luz said. Eda hesitated. She didn't want to give up the map, but maybe Luz would give some kind of information about where to start.
So, reluctantly, she took the map out of her pocket and handed it over. She watched as Luz stared at it for a few moments, before looking at Eda unimpressed.
"This isn't real."
Eda blinked, surprised, before scowling.
"Of course it is!" It had to be.
"Eda, look, I've been over west of here." Luz pointed at the map. "There is no magical lake between us and the Boiling Sea."
Eda resisted the urge to scream. Luz didn't get it! King didn't get it! She had to see for herself that this was a fake! And, deep down, she had hope that this was real. That this is her best chance to go back to normal. That this was her chance to get her family back. To get her magic back. She had to take it. She had to try.
But she wasn't going to argue that to them. They didn't know about the curse. They don't know about her problems and she wanted to keep it that way. So with a sigh, she simply looked away and sat down. She made herself look as sad as possible.
"Can I have some time alone?" She asked.
Luz looked at her, obviously feeling guilty. But the older woman didn't say anything more, simply leaving the room. King followed suit with a word, and the door shut behind them, leaving Eda alone in the dark.
"Maybe this is stupid." Eda muttered as she listened to the footsteps going back downstairs. Once she was sure they weren't close anymore, she got up, grabbing her bag and the cheap looking talking sword from earlier. Hey, she needed a weapon in case her magic failed! "I'll never know unless I try."
xXx
Eda looked down at the path, leading into the woods. Then she looked back at the bustling city she was leaving. She took a deep breath.
"Okay." She muttered, walking forward into the forest. Slowly, a cloud of fog rolled in around her, making it hard to see the path in front of her. "Got the map, got my trusty weapon."
Just for the heck of it, she pressed the button on the sword.
"By the power of Skullgar," came the male voice, slowing down and distorted. "I am out…of….battery."
The light on the sword dimmed, and then died. She gulped before forcing herself onwards. It didn't matter how ominous this was, she was going to go through with this.
Though, now she was wondering if she made the right choice in doing this-
Her thoughts were cut off as the fog parted a little in front of her, showing a path lined with glowing flowers.
"Oh, wow." She said, following the flowers. "That's a sign if I've ever seen one."
xXx
"Eda?" Luz called, knocking on the door. "Hey Eda, I just wanted to apologize."
Nothing. No answer. Luz waited, before frowning. Not even a shuffle in sleep? Something was wrong.
Opening the door without warning, she saw immediately what it was. The room was empty. Eda was gone.
"Oh my god." She muttered, running over and opening the window. "Hooty! Where did Eda go?"
"Hoot Hoot!" The house demon bent his head upwards, stretching up to face her on the second floor. "Eda made me promise not to tell-"
Luz was having none of that. She slapped a fire glyph on Hooty's face. Of course, she didn't activate it, but the threat was clear enough.
"Alright alright!" Hooty screeched, body flailing as he tried to get the sticky note off. "I'll tell you! Geez! She went into the woods, past Bonesborough!"
Luz covered her face with her hands and screamed. Then, once she was calmer, when to go grab String Bean and King.
"Hey! Wait! Get this off of me!"
xXx
"This seemed too easy." Eda noted, standing next to the magical lake she had been looking for. She hadn't run into anything on the way, friendly or otherwise.
The lake looked pretty, at least. Clear and glistening, with a platform in the middle, illuminated by a ray of light. And on top of that platform, sat a scroll that Eda was sure was what she came for.
With determination, Eda twirled her finger, making an ice path on the water. It wasn't very sturdy, but it would have to do.
Carefully, she made her way over the ice. The edges started cracking but that was fine, she was almost there.
She grabbed the scroll, quickly, not letting her nerves talk herself out of it. There, it was down. She had what she came for.
She stared down at the scroll. It was small, and unassuming. It felt weird and wrong that this little thing could have the answers to all her problems. But, maybe that was just judging a book by its cover. Maybe-
The ice broke underneath her. She gasped, waiting to fall, but never did. To her confusion, instead of her falling, the lake itself seemed to fall, water draining away into flat dry ground. The platform next to her disintegrated, dust blowing away into the wind.
The flowers that led her here faded, and then wilted and died. Even the falling leaves disappeared, leaving the air still.
A heavy fog rolled in, blocking her sight. She froze, unsure what to do, until she heard a twig break behind her.
Eda whirled around, hand up and magic at the ready as she heard something behind her. She faltered, however, as it became obvious who it was through the heavy fog.
"Eda Clawthorne." Said wizard, walking towards her. Not walking, she corrected herself with horror as she realized his legs weren't moving at all, just dangling under him.
"Old wizard?" She asked hesitantly, backing up quickly. She didn't like this. The man wasn't moving correctly, face stuck in a smile with no lights behind his eyes. It almost seemed like he was a corpse, moving by someone else's will.
"Your hubris has failed you, little witch," The wizard said, before his head went slack and the voice transferred back behind the man. His body flew upwards, cutting through the fog and revealing an octopus-like demon controlling him.
"What's going on-?!" Eda yelled, stumbling to keep her balance as the ground began to crack. With her free hand, she held the scroll that the cure was on close to herself, determined not to drop it.
The demon spread outwards. His tentacles surrounded her, blocking all of her exit points. She gulped, looking around in panic.
"Ok, ok, this is fine!" She tried to tell herself, drawing another spell circle. "You can do this Clawthorne! Just gotta get out with the cure, and then you're home free!"
"There is no cure!" The demon yelled, angry and smug at once. A tentacle rushed towards her, making a grabbing motion. She dodged, making a dirt pillar to give her height. "You fool, don't you see? I'm no wizard. And there is no magical fix for you! I've tricked you."
The demon devolved into evil laughter, even as two more tentacles took a swipe at her. She stumbled in the middle of a dodge, looking at him in dismay.
"What?!" She felt like crying. She had been so sure. She had been so ready for this to be over. She could have gone home! She thought she could see her family again, her parents, her sister! She had so much hope.
And it had all been a lie? A lie from this-this awful demon?!
She felt her curse act up in response to her anger, but she didn't care much. She felt strain against her magic, pushing its way outwards. She felt feathers just under her skin-
She felt the scroll in her hand glow hot, suddenly expanding to entrap her. She fell roughly to the ground, momentarily losing focus.
The knock to the ground brought her out of her anger, just a bit. Enough to push the curse down the best she could. What was she doing? Letting the beast have control? That would have been the stupidest thing she could have ever done.
Struggling against her sudden bonds, she forced out, "Why are you doing this?"
"Your mentor-"
"Not my mentor!"
"-has been stealing customers from my potions business for years. She must be destroyed." The demon continued as if she hadn't spoken.
"Amazing!" Eda yelled, feeling the beast fight against her. She needed to leave, now. "This has nothing to do with me!"
"Adegast!" Came Luz's yell. Eda didn't want to admit it, but god was she relieved to see the human.
"Wild Witch Luzura, I have you now!" Adegast yelled as Luz landed down on the walkway, King on her shoulder.
"No!" Eda cried, watching as Luz let herself and King be tied up with Adegast's limbs.
"You have me." Luz agreed, frowning. "Now release Eda."
"I didn't have to be a part of this!" King cried. King was ignored as Adegast laughed.
"Oh, you didn't think this would be so easy, did you?!" He yelled. Eda could only watch, helpless, as the wizard puppet swung over to her.
The puppet breathed out, a cloud of fog hitting Eda in the face. She coughed, shaking her head to try and clear the air.
When she opened her eyes again, she was in darkness, free of her restraints. Her ears twitched, picking up voices. Nothing concrete, indistinct whispering. In the distance, she was pretty sure she could hear Luz screaming for her, but it was faint and could easily only be her imagination.
She looked around frantically, looking for some way out, but there was only her, the dark void around her, and a door in front of her.
"No, not this memory again." She muttered, watching the door open with a creek. The other side was blown out by a bright white light, only showing a wavering shadow, two circles of light near the top.
This was who cursed her, she knew it. But this wasn't the first time she had this dream, and she knew it wouldn't be the last. There were other, more important things she needed to take care of.
With more effort than it should have taken, she forced her eyes open. Adegast had left her lying in the dirt, thankfully still free of her restraints. Also thankfully, her little bout of unconsciousness had affected the owl beast as well. She could feel him still sleeping, giving her one less thing to worry about.
The demon had his back to her, taunting Luz and King as they were being swallowed by the tentacles. Eda gulped, and forced herself to move quiet as she got up.
All in all, it was child's play to grab the sword and stab Adegast with it. He hadn't even seen her coming.
Adegast screamed as he disappeared with a poof.
"Oh thank god!" Luz yelled, freeing herself from the shrinking tentacles. King followed suit shortly after, running up to Eda with a "Weh!"
"King, I'm sorry." Eda said, hugging the little demon. "I should have listened to you and never trusted that wizard. You were… right."
"Oh, oh! Say it again!" King said happily from her arms. Eda cracked a smile.
"Not in your life, little dude." She joked. Her smile fell as Luz walked closer.
"You ok?" Luz asked. Eda nodded, unable to look Luz in the eye.
"How did you know that wizard was lying?" Eda asked quietly. Luz sighed, crossing her arms.
"Everybody wants a quick fix to their problems, so everybody tries to sell it." She said. Eda flinched, having her problem thrown back into her face. Luz frowned. "I don't know what problem you're having, but a quick fix isn't worth it."
God, didn't Eda already know that? Had she learned nothing from her mother's crazy quests to cure her?
"If we all wait around for a quick fix to show up, then when will we ever just get a chance to live?" Luz continued. Eda looked up at her, seeing her smile softly. Eda smiled back as King climbed onto her shoulder. "Let's go home."
In the light of the sunset, the three walked back home.
xXx
Hey, guess what? Next chapter is the Hexside crew! Go one, tell me who should be who.