I'm alive and well everyone.
Apologizes for taking longer than usual to update, but I've been preparing for college these past weeks. Hopefully this doesn't become a common occurrence in the future, but you never know.
Anyways, enough from me, enjoy the new chapter
It was another day at the Owl House, dark clouds covered the skies overhead. Inside Luz was holding her phone horizontally and recording a closeup of King's face while Hunter watched on in slight amusement.
"And here we have the most fearsome creature in the world, the King of Demons." She said, putting on a British accent. She zooms out and shows him struggling to take a duck patterned sock off his nose. "Facing his natural enemy, the ducky sock!" She continued. King grunted as he used his feet to rip apart the bottom half of the sock. He then got on his feet and used his hands to rip the rest of it off his face. He then stomped on the remains before pounding them with his fists.
"Where are you now, ducky sock?" He said in triumph.
"The King has earned another victory." Hunter sarcastically cheered.
"So, why'd you call us here again?" Luz asked as she continued to record.
"Oh, yeah." King said as he climbed up a table. "Human Luz and fellow witch Hunter, you've been so obsessed with witchcraft that you haven't learned anything about my kind. Prepare yourself for Demons 101." He said as he rips off a curtain to reveal a corkboard of photos of various demons, along with putting on a blue education hat with a yellow cord on top of it. "Demons like me are grim tricksters of the twilight, creatures of sulfur and bone." He said as he walked in front of the board.
"And cute little paws." Luz said as she zoomed in on King, causing him to sigh.
"And cute little paws. True." He said, slightly annoyed before pulling out a blue pen with a pink diamond button and using it to point out the images. "We live only to create chaos and misery. Our only weaknesses are purified water and passive-aggressive comments. Sometimes." He finished as Luz recorded the pictures of a demon being sprayed by holy water and another where a demon was hurt by a passerby's comments.
"Huh, never took you guys as the sensitive type." Hunter said.
"Even demons have inner demons." King said as he narrowed his eyes. He then ripped off a picture to reveal a drawing of a large humanoid creature with wrinkly pink skin, sharp yellow teeth, black claws, and a spikey turtle shell.
"That thing looks like bad news." Hunter said upon seeing the drawing.
"The most powerful demon of all is the Snaggleback. He's a-" King continued his lecture before Luz interrupted him.
"A bad boy." She said as she began to play with the filters on her phone.
"Luz, pay attention. This information could save your life someday." King said.
"No, no. I am so paying attention. This is my paying attention face." She said as she put on a stern poker face and began to nod her head. "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm."
King looked at Hunter, who just shrugged. Lightning crashes, immediately followed by a thunder rumble. The gang went to a window to look at the weather outside.
"Uh-oh. Looks like it's gonna rain." King said.
Luz gasped in joy. "I love the rain." She said as she went outside, followed by Hunter.
"Hey wait." King said as he followed them.
"I always love feeling the first few drops in my hair." Luz said as she knelt down beside a flower. "I bet you do too, little buddy." She said to it. A raindrop landed on it and caused it to wither and die, shocking the Noceda siblings. "What?" Luz said in confusion.
"What kind of rain does that?" Hunter said.
"Boiling rain! Everybody inside now!" Eda said as she ran towards the house. She quickly grabbed the two teens as she made a final rush to the house before the rain reached her. She tossed the two inside before diving into the living room, several objects were heard clattering. "Phew! That was close. But the important thing is that you kids didn't get hurt." Eda said as she turned to look at them. Luz was lying painfully against a stack of boxes while Hunter was laid out on top of it groaning in pain.
"Yep." Luz said as a mug fell on her head. "Not hurt." She groaned.
Throughout Bonesborough, the residents screamed and yelled as they ran through the town trying to get home or to any kind of shelter from the boiling rain. Willow ran to a balcony in her house, where she took her plants inside and closed the curtains on it. In another part of town, Tiny Nose ran down a path dodging the rain. She quickly ran inside a large crack in a wall and kicked out a giant rat with an eye on its back. She poked her head out and hissed at it.
Back at the Owl House, King was tending to the two teenagers outside in front of the door, where he put a bandage on a burn in Luz's arm and one on Hunter's hand.
"Look, now we're boo-boo buddies." He said as he put a bandage on top of his snout, causing Luz to squeal and fall over near him.
"Oh my God, I love you so much." Luz said before looking at Eda, who was creating a ball of light under a force field which protected her from the rain. "A boiling rainstorm on the Boiling Isles. The weather here is so fun." She said excitedly.
"Define fun, because I don't find getting burnt by rain fun." Hunter said as she caressed his injured hand.
"Yeah, we don't have weather. We have plagues, gorenados, shale hail, painbows." Eda explained as she continued with her spell.
"It's like a rainbow but looking at it turns you inside out." King explained, which caused Hunter to look at him with a concerned look.
"How do you guys live, much less survive, in a place where everything wants to kill you?" He asked. King only shrugged in response.
"So, until the boiling rain stops, no one is allowed outside tonight." Eda declared.
"And if the rain doesn't get you, the Snaggleback will." King said as he opened up a book, showing an information page on the creature. "They wander in the rain, feeding on boiled tourists." He said.
"Well, whatever the case, this force field spell should protect the house from boiling rains and made-up demons." Eda said, not believing in the existence of the Snaggleback.
"Hoot! Well, hurry it up with that force field. That rain is getting closer to my precious stucco." Hooty complained.
"Yeah, yeah. I got it." Eda said as she grabbed her staff. She used it to pick up the ball of light, then stamped the staff to the ground. A round orange force field engulfs the house, then shrinks to shape closely around it, protecting it from the rain. Luz and Hunter watched the whole thing in awe as Eda began to walk back to the house.
"Wow! Someday I'd like to be as cool as Eda the Owl Lady. Magical, sassy, surprisingly foxy for her age." Luz said.
"Hopefully you aren't collecting garbage from giant dead slugs for a living when you're her age." Hunter quipped.
"Hey, why do they call you the Owl Lady, anyway?" She asked Eda.
"'Cause I'm so wise." Eda answered.
"'Cause she coughs up rat bones." Hooty said.
"I think it's 'cause she gets distracted by shiny objects." King said, which annoyed her.
"No, I don't." Eda argued. However, King pulled out the pen from earlier and clicked it, causing the diamond to glow. This immediately caught Eda's attention, as her pupils doubled in size as she eyed the diamond. "It sparkles and shimmers. It shines and delights. I must have it for my nest…" Eda said in delight as she lunged for the pen, but King managed to move it away, causing her to crash to the floor.
"You have a nest? I want a nest! Nest party!" Luz said as she and Hunter helped Eda up.
"It's probably just a regular bed Luz, I think she calls it a nest for some reason." Hunter said.
"Ugh. That force field really took it out of me." Eda groaned tiredly.
"Uh-oh. Moving a little slow. Age finally catching up to ya?" King mocked. Eda pulled his education hat down, which ended up covering his entire head. "Aah, Darkness!" King screamed. He quickly managed to uncover his face as he fixed his hat to the way it was before.
"This is perfect. Since we'll be stuck in the house all night, Eda won't have any excuse not to teach us a spell." Luz said in excitement as she and Hunter followed Eda inside.
"But don't you wanna finish our lesson? I was gonna let you scratch a demon's tummy. Me!" King said as he pointed to himself.
"Oh, uh, sorry, King. But... magic." Luz said.
"We'll come back to it later." Hunter said.
King was visibly frustrated that he couldn't continue his demon lesson with Luz and Hunter. He pierced the hat with his horn and threw the pen on the floor before storming off to another part of the house. Meanwhile, Eda walked behind a privacy screen and snapped her fingers, causing a glow of light to appear as she dropped her staff. When she emerges from the other end, she's in her pajamas. She sighs as she lies down on the couch to nap. She opened her eyes once she noticed a shadow covering her face and saw the two teens looking down on her.
"Ahh!" Eda yelled.
"Oh, Eda, have I told you how rad your fang looks today?" Luz complied with a smile. Hunter leaned closer to Eda.
"Just a heads up, she won't take 'no' for an answer when she's like this." Hunter quietly warned her as Luz continued.
"I really like your sense of style." She said.
"Whatever it is, no." Eda said as she repositioned herself on the couch.
"Uh, and your hair is like... girl." Luz said, running out of compliments to say.
"I'm not teaching you kids magic tonight. I'm sleepy." She said as she covered herself in a green blanket. "I'm a sleepy little owl." She said.
"Please, Eda, please. How am I supposed to earn my witch's staff if I don't know any spells?" Luz said, hoping to convince her to teach her magic.
"She's not going to take 'no' for an answer Eda." Hunter warned her again as he watched them.
"No. Sleep." Eda said as she covered her face with the blanket. The two teens then looked at each other, with Luz giving his brother a stern look. Understanding what she meant, Hunter went to go pick up the diamond pen on the floor.
"Don't say I didn't warn you Eda." He quietly said as he picked it up and brought it to Luz, who began to click it. The sound caught Eda's attention as she shot up and looked at the pen, causing her to gasp.
"Sparkle thing." Eda said, still wrapped in her blanket as she watched Luz click it a couple of times.
"Oh, this?" She said mischievously as she dangled it in front of her with her hand. Eda tossed the blanket away and perched on the arm of a couch, like a bird.
"Oooh." She said, her eyes glued to the glowing diamond on the pen. Luz brought it closer to her, which caused Eda to try and grab it but the teen girl moved it away before she could, causing Eda to fall off the couch.
"Nope. Teach me one spell, and I'll give you your sparkle thing." Luz demanded.
"I respect your cunning, but I also hate you for it." Eda said, looking annoyed.
A little while later, Eda fixed herself up and stood in front of the two teens, holding her staff. "If you want a witch's staff like mine, don't make me repeat… myself." She said as she began to doze off, but managed to keep herself awake. "Witch's staffs have power embedded into them." She explained.
"Gimme." Luz said happily as she wanted her own staff right away. Hunter put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
"But before one is earned, every witch needs to know how to cast spells on their own." She said as she tossed her staff aside. "Now, tonight I will show you how to create... light." She said as she drew an orange spell circle in the air above. Several small white sparks appeared inside the circle before forming a ball of light. It descended in front of the siblings before disappearing, causing Luz to gasp while Hunter stared in awe.
King, meanwhile, was laying on the floor with several papers around him as he looked over at the group. "Yawn! Who needs another boring spell lesson when you could be learning all the fun ways a demon could kill you." He said as he showed a picture of a demon with a large mouth and teeth biting on the head of a human figure. "Look how teethy. Bite, bite." He said.
"Be quiet King. I need to focus." Luz said, which caused him to look away, feeling hurt.
"Now, humans think magic is made out of thin air, but that's stupid. Everything comes from something." Eda continued to explain. "Let me ask you kids something. Where do you think magic comes from?" She asked.
"A gift or blessing from a higher deity or divine source of supernatural power?' Hunter responded.
"Uh, from the heart." Luz responded.
"Okay first off. Hunter, what?" Eda said as she was confused at his answer. "Second. Luz, you're right." She said, making Luz gasp in joy. "No, really. It comes from a sac of magic bile attached to a witch's heart." She explained as she pulled out a medical drawing of a witch's heart from her hair, showing a large green organ that was twice the size of a heart attached to it. The image creeped out the siblings.
"Oh gross." Luz said. "Can I keep that?" She asked cheerfully.
"No." Eda said as she put the drawing back in her hair. "Now, everything depends on the spell circle." She continued as she drew a large light spell circle above her. "The bigger the circle, the more powerful the spell." She said as the circle created a light ball larger than the one before, but faded much faster. "And now for the student participation part. Hunter, come up here and draw a light spell." She said, surprising the teen.
"Wait, what?" Hunter said.
"Come up here and perform a spell. You're a witch so you'll be able to do it." Eda explained.
"B-but I haven't performed a magic spell in all my life. I can't do it." He argued.
"I'll be the judge of that." She said.
Hunter, begrudgingly, got up and walked next to Eda. She stepped away to give him space. Taking a breath, Hunter drew out his arm and attempted to draw a spell circle with his finger. He completed the motion, but nothing happened. He did it again but no spell circle appeared. He did it for one last time but like the previous two attempts, nothing happened. The scene confused Eda, she had never met a witch who couldn't perform magic naturally.
"See, I can't do magic." Hunter said.
"Well that can't be right." Eda said, trying to understand Hunter's lack of magic ability. A thought came to her. "Wait, stand there." She said to him, she drew a spell circle big enough to cover his chest. A flash happened inside of it as an x-ray screen was displayed. Hunter gasped, but Eda had a more shocked reaction as she looked at his heart.
It was missing a magic bile sac.
Luz approached Eda to get a closer look at the x-ray and gasped at what she saw, or didn't see.
"Eda, you said that Hunter was a witch right? Why doesn't he have a magic bile sac?" She asked in confusion.
"I-I don't know." She responded. "This is the first time I'm seeing something like this." She said as she tried to comprehend what the x-ray displayed.
"Then what does this make me?" Hunter asked, confused on why he was missing an organ that defined a witch. "A magicless witch?"
"Relax kid, not all hope is lost." Eda said. "I know witches did magic differently in the past, but I never bothered to figure out how." She said,which irritated the siblings.
"Eda!" The two yelled.
"Don't worry. You two will figure it out." She said as she cracked her back "Now, I need to lie down. All this teaching and shocking discovery has made me tired." She said as she walked towards the couch.
"That's it? Wait! I need to see you do the circle thingy again." Luz said as she pulled out her phone and began recording. "I'll record it on my phone this time." She said as she pointed the phone's camera at Eda. "Smile! You're on camera. One more spell won't kill you."
Eda groaned, she knew that Luz wouldn't stop bothering her about this. "Fine. Now, you see." She said as she began to draw a spell circle, albeit poorly. "The spell circle is really key because-" The spell circle disappeared as Eda let out a yawn. "Oooh boy." She fell to the floor unconscious, causing the two teens to gasp.
"Welp, looks like one more spell killed Eda." King said as he approached her body. Luz knelt down and flipped Eda's body on her back.
"Oh my God. My obsession with spells knocked out Eda. I'm a monster." Luz said dramatically.
"Luz, calm down. I'm sure Eda is okay and not dead." Hunter said, trying to reassure his worried sister. He looked over at the elderly witch's body and began to doubt himself about her well being. "I hope so." He quietly whispered.
"Bap!" King said as he slapped Eda's face. "Yep. She's out. Bap!" He said before doing it again and laughing. "Just making sure."
I'm going to get help." Luz said as she ran to the door but was stopped by her brother just before she got out of the house.
"Boiling rains, remember?" Hunter said as he reminded Luz the reason why they were all inside.
"No, let her try. It'll be funny." Hooty said, which caused Hunter to slam the door. "Ow." Hooty said.
"B-but what if Eda's dead?" Luz said to her brother in a worried tone.
"Shiny thing. Big nest." Eda said in her sleep before snoring, catching the attention of the two teens, who were not relieved that Eda was still alive.
"Remember when her head got cut off last week at the Conformatorium? That woman can survive anything." King said as he walked up to the siblings. "She's probably just tired from staying up all night chasing shrews and voles." He said.
"Well, we can't just leave her on the floor." Luz said as all three looked at the sleeping witch.
The door to Eda's room burst open as Luz, Hunter, and King carried Eda to her bed, which was an actual large bird's nest.
"Oh wow, it's an actual nest." Hunter said in surprise as Luz went to clear out a rat's skeleton from inside of it. "Might as well live up to being the owl lady, right?" He said as he saw the skeleton on the floor. The group put the sleeping witch inside the nest.
"Sorry for pushing you, Miss Eda. Please don't hurt me when you wake up." Luz said.
"Should I bap her again?" King said as he raised his paw.
"Just let her rest, you little goober." Luz said as she rubbed his head. "Come on. Let's go downstairs." She said as she walked towards the door to leave. Hunter and King followed her, but the latter quickly ran back inside to smack Eda's face again. "Bap!" He said as he ran out laughing.
In the living room, King was busy drawing a demon with several mouths, while Luz and Hunter were watching the video of Eda demonstrating a spell circle before she fell asleep. Luz tried to summon one using the same motions Eda did, but it did nothing. She groaned. "This is all she does. Why you gotta be so cryptic, Owl Lady?" She said as she replayed the video.
"Now, you see, the spell circle is really…" The video played before it was interrupted by King putting his notepad over the screen.
"King!" Hunter said, annoyed.
"Hey, you know what's really cryptish? Let me tell you about the most spine-chilling demon." He said as he lifted up the notepad to show crudely drawn fish with arms and legs. "Smoochy-pie the Sweetie Baby!" He said, which caused the two teens to look at the drawing with confused looks. "He's... Well, he's a lot more threatening than his name implies." He said as he put the notepad behind his back.
"Not now, King. I want to figure out this spell." Luz said as she stood up from the couch. "But if I don't have a magic sac, then what's the point? I'll just be twirling my fingers around un-magically forever." She said.
"And then there's me, I'm supposed to be the one who has the magic sac thing but I'm missing it. How does something like that happen?" Hunter said.
"Don't worry Hunter, I'm sure we'll find an explanation about that." Luz said in an effort to assure her big brother.
"Why do you want to learn magic so bad, anyway?" King as he got closer to Luz.
"I was a nobody back home." She said as she sat on the floor. "But becoming a witch is my chance to be someone. Do you know what it's like to have no one take you seriously?" She said as she looked at King, who sighed as thunder boomed outside.
"If I help you learn that spell, could we finish our lesson?" He asked her. Luz immediately put her phone away in excitement.
"Oh, yes, yes. You can teach us about demons all week if you help me learn this spell." Luz said.
"Hey, I don't agree to this." Hunter retorted.
"Too bad, I'm speaking for both of us today." Luz said to Hunter, who scoffed, as she turned back to King. "Anyways, back to learning magic." She said.
"Eda did say that witches used to do magic differently a long time ago, so there has to be a way, right?" King said as he remembered something. "And I have a theory." He said as he pulled out his notepad and a crayon and drew a picture on it, which was a potion bottle, a simple figure drawing of Eda and the word "MAGIC" at the bottom of the page. He showed it to the two teens. "Every day I notice Eda sneaking drinks of this special elixir, see? Then she always gets a boost of energy, see? I think that's where she gets her powers." He explained. "And I know where to get some." King said, causing Luz to smile.
"Really?" She said cheerfully.
"Sí." King said as Luz pulled him into a hug.
"Thank you so much. You're a prince." Luz complimented him.
"King. I'm King." He corrected her.
"Right. lead the way, my King" She said, causing King to giggle as he raced upstairs as Luz followed him.
"This is probably not a good idea, but I'm bored so I'll play along until things go south." Hunter said as he followed them.
Upstairs in Eda's room, the witch snored loudly while she slept in her nest. The door creaks open as King snuck inside to look around.
"Now where could it be…" He said as he looked everywhere before spotting a bright orange potion on the side table near Eda. He quietly tiptoed closer before a loud metal clang stopped him. He looked down and gasped as he saw his foot stepped on a bear trap. He quickly removed it before the trap slammed shut. "Ha! Nice try." He boasted as the bear trapped grew an eye on the side.
"Nah, my heart wasn't in it." It said before sprouting legs and walking away. King continued to quietly move towards the table. He climbed on a curtain to reach the tabletop and walked to the potion, he noticed a ripped tag tied around the bottle neck.
"Hmm, 'An elixir a day'. Cryptic." He read as he took off the tag. "Nyeh." He said as he tucked it under his collar, taking the potion and hopping off the table before running to the door. However, he stopped when he heard Eda groan. He looked at the potion and then at her, starting to feel a bit of guilt for doing this. He nervously sighed as he left the room and closed the door, unaware that Eda groaned louder with her hand popping onto the edge of the nest, clutching it tightly as she gave out a deeper groan.
The trio met down at the kitchen, all of them looking at the potion on the table. Luz was a bit nervous while Hunter was concerned about whether they should continue. He was worried about any negative effects that the potion would give to his sister. It was something for witches to drink, not humans. Luz grabbed the bottle and opened it.
"Wow. I can't believe I'm about to learn magic. Real magic. This is historic." She said as she stared at it in wonder.
"Luz, maybe you think more about this before continuing." Hunter said.
"But Hunter, this could be my one chance. I'll be able to perform magic and Eda will be able to teach me, like an apprentice." She said.
"I'm just saying we should look at any other methods before continuing. Besides that potion is meant for witches, who know what kind of effects it would have on you." He explained.
"But who knows how long that would take? We have one here." She said as she pointed to the potion.
"I'm still not sure about this." He said in concern of his sister's safety.
"Well, time to find out." Luz said as she slowly brought the potion to her mouth. However, a clap of thunder startles her, and she fumbles the potion until it smashes on the floor. "Golden elixir. Gone! This is awful." She cried as Hunter and King moved to get a closer look of the spilled potion.
"Who even needs a light spell when we have tons of lamps?" King said as he pointed at the lamps in the kitchen. They suddenly begin to flare before dying out, leaving the room in darkness. Luz and Hunter stared at King, who groaned. "Hooty controls the house lights. He probably just fell asleep."
Suddenly, a loud crash and a roar was heard at the entrance of the house, along with Hooty in distress.
"Hoot! Hoot! Hoot! Oh hoot!" Hooty cried out, putting the trio on high alert.
"What the hell?!" Hunter said as he looked in the direction of the commotion.
"Oh no! Hooty!" Luz said as she ran out of the kitchen along with her brother and King. The group reached the kitchen and gasped at what they saw; A silhouette of a large beast knocked down the door off its hinges and made a mess in the living room. It leaves deep scratches on the door, growls when it notices the trio, then flees. Luz and King run up to Hooty to check on him.
"Hooty! Are you in there?" Luz said as she tapped his beak a few times and opened his eyelid, but Hooty remained unresponsive.
"Okay, things just went from zero to horrifying! What was that?!" Hunter said with heavy concern.
"Whatever did this escaped into the rain. What could survive that?" Luz said, King suddenly had a realization.
"Oh, my gosh. The Snaggleback! It feeds during the rains. It must have stumbled across our house and seen us inside." He explained. The group then heard a howl outside, they ran out just in time to see the beast jump through the upper floor window.
"It went into Eda's room!" Hunter said.
"This is terrifying." Luz said as she looked at King. "So why do you look so happy?" She asked him.
"Hehehehe. Because this could be a lesson. This would be a great way for you to see a wild demon up close and personal." King said in excitement, which shocked the two teens.
"You want us to go towards that thing? Are you out of your mind, you little psycho?!" Hunter yelled at him.
"What if Eda gets eaten? She's upstairs and defenseless because Luz knocked her out." King argued, which caused Luz to groan as he brought up a good point.
The group ran back inside the living room and readied themselves to confront the mysterious beast. All three got a couple of pillows and taped them to their bodies; Luz put on a pair of rubber gloves and used two bandaids as eyeblacks, Hunter put on a pair of kneepads and a large metal hot pot on his head. Luz got a red bat and Hunter got a hockey stick as their weapons, while King got his stuffed rabbit, Francois.
"Weh." King said as he lifted his rabbit over his head.
Hunter took the lead as the group walked to the stairs. He shined his phone flashlight up to the top, but the light wasn't able to get past the doorway at the top. Hunter nervously looked at it before turning back to Luz and King.
"Okay, everyone stay close." He quietly said as they began to walk up. The steps creaked as they went upstairs, which didn't ease the tension the group were feeling. They reached the upper floor and walked to the door of Eda's room. All three shared a nervous look before Hunter slowly opened the door, revealing an empty room and a shattered window, with lighting striking shortly afterwards outside.
"Oh my God. Eda!" Luz yelled as she ran to the empty nest, finding only a pillow with slash marks on them.
"Looks like we're too late." Hunter said as he saw the pillow.
"She got snaggle-backed." King said in shock.
"King! You're the demon expert. We're going to need your help." Luz said to him, hoping to come up with a plan to stop the creature.
"I'll go get my demon book." He said. But before he could run to get it, a loud roar scared all three still. The beast landed on the ground from the roof, causing the three to scatter so as to not get crushed by it. The creature was covered by the darkness, with its only visible feature was its glowing orange eyes.
"The Snaggleback!" King yelled as the beast growled, lifting up its arm in order to strike. However, Hunter quickly took off his hot pot and threw it at it, hitting it in the face. The creature screeched in pain, giving the group an opportunity to flee.
"Everyone run!" Hunter said as all three ran out the room, but ended up splitting up from each other in the hallway. The beast chased Hunter as he raced downstairs, with it losing sight of the teenage boy as he rounded a corner to the kitchen. It stopped as it slowly walked around the kitchen, trying to find Hunter. The beast sniffed the air around, growled, then left the area in search of the others. A pantry door slowly creaked open, revealing Hunter inside as he peered his head out. He had a look of fear on his face as he scanned the kitchen to see if the beast was really gone, once he was sure, he stepped outside.
'Good God, what was that thing?' He thought. 'It came out of nowhere and got the jump on us- Wait, where's Luz and King.' He continued as he realized that he was completely by himself. 'We must have gotten split up when the creature attacked. I need to find Luz before that thing hurts her.' He thought as he quietly ran back upstairs to find her.
Meanwhile, King was slowly walking through the halls upstairs. He nervously looked around, hoping to find either Luz or Hunter okay and rejoining them. However, the silence and the darkness kept him on edge, fearing that the Snaggleback would pop out of the shadows and attack.
"L-Luz? Hunter?" He said in a scared tone. He noticed the door to their room and went to investigate. He opened it and looked inside, finding it empty. "A-are you guys in here?" He said, hoping to get a response. However, he heard a snarl from behind as a large shadow swiftly ran through the hallway. He turned around and caught a glimpse of the creature running around a corner.
"You craven beast! Give me back my boo-boo buddies!" King yelled as he chased it. Once he rounded the corner, he saw the closet door close and gasped as he saw Luz's shoe on the floor in front of it. "Luz?" He said in worry as he picked it up. He looked at the door again, this time with anger as he prepared himself to confront the Snaggleback. He went inside the closet and looked around, noticing the silhouette of a figure crouching under the hanging clothes. King held the shoe as a weapon as he approached it.
"There's nowhere for you to run!" He said as he moved the clothes aside to attack. However, he found a small pink-furred monkey demon with yellow fangs and a teal spike shell shaking in fear. "Snaggleback? Wow. You are a lot shorter in person." He said, surprised at how the actual creature looked compared to his book.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I-I just needed a place to hide from the rains." The Snaggleback explained.
"Then why did you break down our door and attack us? What did you do to Luz and Hunter? That's not cool, man. Bad Snaggleback!" King said as he scorned the creature for scaring them.
"I-I didn't do any of that stuff. I snuck in through a window just now." Snaggleback explained.
"Huh? Well, then what-" King began to say, only to be interrupted as a crashing sounding caught him by surprise. He looked up and saw a large claw pop through a hole from the ceiling and grabbed the Snaggleback.
"Oh no, a twist. Help me!" He said as the claw pulled him up. Several snarls and stomps were heard as King backed away from the hole in fear. A loud bang came from the door behind, causing King to yelp in fear at the sudden noise. He slowly turned around to see the door creak open and reveal the shadowy beast standing there. It snarled before spitting out the empty shell of the Snaggleback, roared, and slowly walked towards King.
"Oh, my." King said as he backed away from the beast before hitting a wall behind him. "S-s-stay back. H-hey, hey. I am the king of demons, okay? And as such, I-I demand you to barf my friends back up." King stuttered. The beast let out a screech as it raised its claw and did a swift strike, fortunately, King ducked out of the way and the claw ended up hitting the wall instead. He yelped as he ran out the closet and back into the hallway, with the beast giving chase. However, due to King's small size and nimble movements, the beast would crash against the walls and have difficulty in catching him. As King rounded a corner, something would grab him and pull him into a room. The door closed just before the creature could see it, causing it to look around before walking away.
King looked up on who caught him and found out it was Luz, she was alive and okay. He also saw that they were in Eda's room.
"King! Oh, I'm so glad you're safe." Luz said as she let him go.
"Where did you go? Where's Hunter?" King asked.
"I don't know where he went. When the Snaggleback attacked us and Hunter told us to run, I ran in a random direction in the hallway, lost my shoe, and came back here to hide." Luz explained, then saw that King had her lost shoe. "Oh, hey, you found it." She said as she took it to put it on her barefoot, however, King noticed something stuck on the bottom of it.
"What's that?" King said as he grabbed it, which was a piece of paper that said "Keeps the curse at bay". He then remembered the torn paper piece he put in his collar earlier, took it out, and put the two together, revealing it to be one tag. "An elixir a day, keeps the curse at bay." King read and gasped, realizing what the potion was.
"Curse? Wait, what are you trying to say?" Luz asked. Before King could answer, he was interrupted by a scream coming from the hallway followed by the beast screeching.
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" Hunter yelled as he quickly ran into the room and shut the door, barricading it with his back. He looked and saw both Luz and King. "Luz! King! You guys are okay!" He said, relieved that his sister was safe and unharmed by the creature.
"Hunter!" Luz said with a smile.
"Can I have your attention please!" King said, which caused the two teens to look at him. "I was wrong the whole time. That's no Snaggleback. That creature is-" He was interrupted as a loud bang from the door knocked Hunter to the floor. A claw bursts through it followed by the beast itself charging in. The light from the surrounding window illuminated it, showing a large, owl-like monster covered in thick dark gray fur, gray wings, two long arms with claws and dark brown feet that resemble that of a bird. The group got a good look of the face, which consisted of two large black eyes, dirty yellow sharp teeth and long pointed ears with gray hair strands protruding from it. But the most shocking feature of it was the fact that it looked exactly like…
"EDA?!" Luz and Hunter yelled in shock as they realized that Eda transformed into the beast that was terrorizing them. She snarled and walked closer, raising a claw to swipe at them. Luz screams and braces for the attack as Hunter got up and ran to her to push her out of the way. However, her phone falls out of her pocket, and the camera goes off when it hits the floor. The flash blinds Eda, making her scream. Luz takes the distraction to grab King and the group quickly hide on the balcony. Eda recovers and looks at the now empty area. She lets out a scream that echoes throughout the house. She begins to walk around in her room, sniffing the air in order to pick up their scents. She walked over to the balcony, where the group was hiding behind a wall. Luz had both her hands covering her mouth, Hunter bit his lips as his body tensed up, and King crouched as he covered his head with his paws. Luz noticed an empty can nearby, grabbed it and quickly threw it. The sound caught Eda's attention as she growled at it and left to investigate. The three relaxed as soon as she left the room.
"Oh, man. Did you see her eyes? They were like…" Luz said as she opened her eyelids to emphasize her point. "What happened to her?" She asked King.
"Yeah, how did someone like Eda turn into that thing?" Hunter said.
"Don't you see? The elixir I gave you doesn't give Eda powers. It prevents her from turning into that thing. She's turned into a nightmare and it's all my fault." King explained as he sighed, slouching to the floor. "I'm so sorry, you guys. I-I just wanted Luz to be into demons like you're into magic. I don't have many friends, and no one even pays that much attention to me. I thought maybe if I taught both of you, finally someone would care about creatures like me." He said in a sad tone, regretting all the trouble he caused.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's finish our lesson." Luz said as she held out the diamond pen, King was surprised and looked at her. "Eda's turned into some kind of demon, and we need to save her. So who knows more about demons than the best teacher in the world?" She said. King's mood brightens as he points to himself.
"That right, little guy." Hunter said to him. King grabs the pen, giggles and hugs Luz and Hunter, who return the gesture.
He grabs a couple of leaves from the plants nearby and places them on the floor. "Okay. She was bigger, covered in feathers, and had giant black eyes." He said as he drew a simple sketch of Eda's head in her beast form. "Demons with black eyes are usually sensitive to light." He explained as he turned to the two teens. He noticed Luz's phone and got an idea. "That's it. Light! Luz, use your human wonder rectangle." King said as he pointed to her phone.
"I can't. My camera's all blasted." Luz said as she showed her phone's cracked screen.
"What about your wonder rectangle Hunter?" King asked. The teen pulled out his phone, but discovered it was low on power.
"Damn, low battery. I can't use my camera when it's low." Hunter explained, slightly frustrated as he figured that the flashlight feature drained the battery.
"Then... what about that light spell?" King suggested.
"You saw us. I can't draw circles in the air and Hunter isn't able to do magic despite being a witch." Luz said as she sighed. "I'm not like Eda." She finished as she played the video.
"spell circle is really key-" The video played, but glitched out. It then paused at a frame where it showed a pattern within the circle. Luz gasped.
"There's a pattern in the spell circle." She said, catching the attention of the other two as they looked at her phone.
"Wait, what?" Hunter said.
"Really? Where?" King said.
Luz grabbed a leaf and placed it on top of the screen and got the pen. "It looks like this." She said as she drew the pattern on the leaf. Once she was finished, she tapped it with the tip of the pen. It began to glow as the leaf slowly folded on itself, becoming transparent as the light glowed brighter. It transformed into a small ball of light, surprising everyone watching it. Luz gently cups it in her hands, bringing it to her eye level.
"That's amazing." Hunter said in awe.
"Oh, my gosh. I just did magic." Luz said as she smiled and stood triumphantly. "I just did magic! I just did magic! Haha!" She cheered as she finally found a way to summon magic. Even Hunter couldn't help but smile at her sister's discovery.
"Shh! We're not going to stop anything with something that small." King said as a roar caused the group to cower, with Luz covering her light ball. "What do we do now?" King quietly asked.
"I think I know how to get Eda back. Will you help me, boo-boo buddy?" Luz asked as she offered a fist bump.
"I'm kind of over that nickname. But okay." King said as he fist bumped her.
"Alright, so what's the plan, manita?" Hunter asked her. The group gathered closer as Luz began to explain.
Down in the living room, Owl Beast Eda sniffed around as she was trying to find the trio. She pounced onto a treasure chest next to the fallen front door. She began to sniff a book when a clicking sound caught her attention. She turned and saw King standing at a doorway to the hall, holding the pen.
"Oh, what lovely thing do we have here? It's just so dang shiny. Oh, my. Oh, dear." King said as he waved the pen around. The glowing diamond caught Eda's full attention as she stared at it in wonder. She roared as she lunged at him, but King got out of her way and ran down the hallway. Eda got up and quickly followed him. King ducked around a corner, where Eda tripped on a rope, created by Hunter, and slid onto a pile of books and crashed into a wall. Hunter then ran up and tossed a large blanket on her, causing her to trash around as she tried to free herself.
"Do it Luz!" Hunter said as he quickly grabbed King to protect him.
"I'm sorry, Eda. But it's for your own good." She said as she finished drawing a large light glyph on a wall. He slammed her hand on it, activating it. A blinding light is produced as the trio cover their eyes. Eda managed to free herself as the light began to blind her. She screeched in pain as the light consumed her.
Sometime later, Eda woke up laying on her nest seemingly normal in her well lit room. She noticed a straw in her mouth, which was connected to an elixir bottle. She took it out and noticed that half of her face was partially transformed.
"Aaahh!" She gasped as she used the straw to slurp the rest of the elixir, causing her to return completely normal. "W-What happened? Oh, I have the worst headache. And my mouth tastes like roadkill." She said as she gagged and threw up a large owl pellet, which broke open and revealed the Snaggleback, who was miraculously still alive.
"I'm just gonna... lie here for a minute." Snaggleback said in exhaustion. Eda looked over and grabbed the empty bottle.
"Hmm? I was looking for that." She said.
"Actually, we found an extra one in your closet." King said as he walked over to her, surprising her in the process.
"King? King! You stole my elixir? I ought to break every bone in your-" She angrily said before King shushed her and pointed to a corner in the room. Luz and Hunter were surrounded by dozens of balls of light, with the former drawing a light glyph and activating it, creating another ball of light. Hunter had one in his hands, looking at it in wonder. He played around with it for a little bit before letting it float up in the air. Eda watched the two in surprise. "Wow. How did they do that?" She asked as she looked up at the ceiling and saw more light balls, realizing that they were providing light to the whole room.
"I don't know, but Luz did it all on her own." King said before turning to Eda. "Hey, I, uh, kind of messed a bunch of things up back there. And I just wanted to say I'm sorry." He apologized but Eda looked at him sternly.
"Well, you better be. I got a long list of disgusting chores with your name on it. But it's not entirely your fault." She said to him before turning to the teens. "Hey, you two. I'm awake." She said as she gestured them to come over to her nest.
"Eda, you're okay." Luz smiled, happy that her teacher was okay after what happened.
"I have a couple questions about you that I want answers to, especially about that creature thing you turned into." Hunter said a bit sternly.
Eda sighed. "Alright, I haven't been completely honest with you guys. When I was younger, I was cursed. I don't know exactly how it happened, all I know is that if I don't take my elixir... Well, that's why people call me the Owl Lady." She explained as she looked at the empty potion bottle somberly. "No one likes having a curse, but if you take the right steps, it's manageable." She finished as she looked at the teens and King.
"Whoa. Are you okay?" Luz asked.
"You don't know who cursed you or why?" Hunter asked.
"First, there's nothing for you kids to worry about. It's all under control, and as long as no one steals my elixir—King—then I'm fine." Eda said, leering at King when she mentioned him before continuing. "Second, I have no idea who cursed me. I'll admit I've been a troublemaker back when I was around your age, but I never pissed off somebody enough to curse me." Eda said. "But, hey, look at this. You guys managed to find a way to do magic. Good on you two." She congratulated them.
"We had some encouragement from a great teacher." Luz said as she looked at King while Hunter gave a thumbs up.
"You know, this means I could probably step up and teach you guys about magic now." Eda said, causing Luz to smile brightly. Ready to learn the proper way? How does that sound to you?" She asked, in which Luz squealed in response.
"That's a yes." Hunter said. However, the moment was interrupted by another voice.
"Hey, hey! Is anyone there? Hello? Hoot? I'm on the floor. It's cold!" Hooty cried out as he regained consciousness, much to the annoyance of the group.
"That voice. That horrific voice!" King groaned as he left the room.
"We'll take care of him. Get some rest." Hunter said to Eda as Luz picked up Snaggleback.
"Come on, you goopy fella. We'll set you free now." She said as the siblings left the room.
"Ow, ow, ow. I think my tail was digested." Snaggleback groaned.
The door closes as Eda laid down on her nest to relax. She closed her eyes and then opened them, finding herself in a dark void with only herself and a door. Various voices could be heard whispering around her.
"No, not this memory again." She said as the door opened, revealing a shadowy figure with two large circles of light on its head.
"You! You're the one who cursed me, aren't you? Who are you? Who are you?" Eda demanded as the figure faded away, with the door closing shortly after. She awoke with a gasp as she sat up and looked around. He sighed as she rubbed her head. Even though she had managed to find a way to control it, it still wasn't easy for her to live with it. The curse had labeled her as an outcast from society, with not that many people having sympathy for her, only considering her a monster in their eyes. She hopes to find a cure for it and the person responsible for ruining her life.
Downstairs in the living room, Hooty was put back in place as Luz put a couple of bandages on his claw marks.
"Welcome to the boo-boo buddy club, Hooty." Luz said.
"Finally, I get to be a part of something." Hooty cheered. Over at the couch, Snaggleback was describing the Owl Beast as King drew it on his notepad with Hunter listening in.
"And then she had teeth in her stomach. Teeth in her stomach! Can you believe that?" Snaggleback described with excitement.
"How can you be happy that you almost got digested?" Hunter asked.
"Oh, yeah. This will make a great addition to my demon book." King said as he showed the sketch to both of them.
"That book is filled with so many interesting things." Snaggleback said as he picked up the book and showed his info page. "Like this. I'm one of the strongest demons on the Boiling Isles, huh?" He said in wonder.
"Yeah, I'm gonna have to edit that." King said as he continued to draw, disappointing Snaggleback with his response.
"Oh." He said somberly. Feeling bad for him, Hunter gave him a friendly pat on his head.
So a bit of an end note here, the next chapter will be completely original. I've mentioned before that the magic teacher Eda idea wasn't explored in the original show, so I've decided to include more of that in my story. This does mean that Luz and Hunter will know more magic spells by the time Convention takes place, So expect some changes.
Either way, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. See you guys soon.