Previously on Calamitous Intervention

After Anne met a wizard named Adegast, she realized he was sketchy and likely making all of his stories up. Seeing that he couldn't fool her, he decided to try and eat her and King to get revenge on Eda for stealing his customers, but they managed to get away with the help of Anne's skills and some coven guards.

Chapter Six - I Was a Teenage Abomination

Anne woke up in bed, yawning. Another day in this creepy world. She'd been here for… was it two weeks? She checked her phone to see several texts from her mom. All of them were asking where she was and that she was in big trouble, and that her mom called the cops, but they couldn't find her, Sasha, or Marcy.

She sighed, finally giving in and texting her back several pictures of herself with King and Eda to prove she wasn't lying. And then there was silence, so Anne guessed she might've fainted. She also checked if Sasha or Marcy had responded to her texts, but there was nothing.

After breakfast, Anne, Eda, and King stood on the beach close to their home. They stared at something in front of them with very mixed expressions.

"Well, Anne!" Eda said, elbowing her. "Did you ever in your life think you'd see something as breathtaking as this?!"

In front of them was a massive, disgusting corpse of a trash slug, a huge wormlike creature with a jawless orifice of a mouth. It had pointy teeth and large red eyes all over its back. Hundreds of flies buzzed around it, feeding off its dead remains.

Anne shuddered at this, the smell of it making her nauseous. "I think I'm gonna be sick… What the heck is that thing?"

"It doesn't get much more inspiring than the trash slug," Eda delightfully explained, walking up to the dead monster. "It makes a home, a life from what others have thrown by the wayside." She reached in and pulled a rubber chicken from its mouth, tossing it to the side. "Until blam! It gets blasted by a wave one day and croaks from all the salt. And then we get to sell the stuff it ate."

The witch pulled out a pickaxe, offering it to Anne. The human stepped back, waving her hands frantically. She was not a fan of getting her hands dirty with disgusting things. "I'm good! I'm good! You can, uh, have all the loot!"

"Aw, come on, Anne," King sarcastically remarked, walking away and laying a towel on the sand. "It's not every day you get to go to the dump and pick apart a garbage carcass."

"Eh, nuts to you both," Eda replied, before swinging her pickaxe into its mouth and starting to take the creature apart.

"Can't we do something less… nasty?" Anne asked, trying not to look at the mess the witch was making. "Besides, weren't you gonna tell me how to do spells? I'd much rather be doing that than this. Will I have to make some of those potions you made me sell yesterday?"

Eda groaned at this, hating to be reminded of her childhood. "That sounds like a bunch of magic school stuff…"

"You still haven't told me about them," Anne reminded her, getting more and more impatient every day. "I bet you Marcy is in one of them!"

"Kid, as I said before, just cut your losses, for your sake," Eda replied. "You'll thank me later. They force you to learn magic the 'proper' way. But magic isn't proper. It's wild and unpredictable. And that's why it's so beautiful. I didn't finish school and look at me! Who wouldn't envy where I am right now?" Surrounded by garbage, Eda wasn't exactly in the best living situation at this point.

"Yeah, who wouldn't envy a dropout witch who is surrounded by dead worm corpses, flies, and garbage all day?" Anne said sarcastically, before getting angry. "Fine, if you aren't willing to tell me where it is, I'll find it myself," she finished, tired of waiting for answers.

Eda's smile faded, and she tried to change the topic. "Uh... Hey, here's a lesson." She threw her pickaxe to the side, approaching the human. "A great witch is resourceful, like this." She grabbed Anne's arm and plunged it into the bile of the trash slug. "AHHH! IT'S ON ME!"

She felt something and grabbed it, pulling it out. In her hand was something covered in hair and slime. "This is torture. I'd rather live with sentient frogs than do this… Anywhere is better!"

Eda closed Anne's hands around the slimeball, treating this like a lesson. "Use your slime ball wisely, young witch." She turned away and climbed the pile of garbage, holding her pickaxe again. "Back at it! We'll hit the stink nodes first."

The human tossed the slime ball to the ground, not wanting to have anything to do with it. "Yeah… You have fun with that. I'm going home."

Before she left, she walked over to King, who was laying down on his towel. She scratched his belly, making him giggle. "Bye, King. Have fun!"

Eda shrugged when she saw her leaving. "More for me then." She climbed into the slug's mouth for a closer look. "There we go…"

She tossed random items out of its mouth, such as a cheese grater, a fan, and a tuba. The tuba flew over and landed on King's head, startling him. "OW!"

"This is awesome!" the witch said, completely oblivious to him being stuck.

Meanwhile, Anne walked down a forest path far from the garbage, as a strange butterfly-like creature with a purple humanoid face, a spine sticking out of its neck, and two horns flew by, panting.

"This is stupid," Anne muttered. "Eda's being no help. I feel like she's only using me."

"You can do it!" an unfamiliar female voice said from close by. "You can!"

The human paused at this, turning around and walking toward the source of the talking. "Did the trees just talk?" She looked through the bushes and saw a girl that looked to be closer to her age. She had light skin with green eyes and short, dark navy-blue hair. The girl also had pointy ears, glasses, and a pink, gray, and black uniform that looked unfamiliar to Anne.

"You can do it," the girl said again, walking back and forth. "Even if you get a bad grade, it's not a reflection of you as a witch. And my parents are right. There are better opportunities on this track. Now, get to school!" She stepped forward and accidentally stepped on a purple flower, gasping.

"Oh, no!" she said, getting to her knees. "Oh, little friend! I'm sorry!"

"Is she apologizing to a flower?" Anne muttered to herself before she saw the witch girl twirling her finger and creating a green circle out of nowhere that completely revived the flower.

Anne's eyes widened at this. "Whoa, THAT is cool."

The witch girl's ear wiggled as she heard something. A large wagon driven by magic pulled up, with a pot and a girl on it. The other girl had short green hair with a brown patch above her forehead, golden eyes, and a uniform matching the first girl's.

Based on her smug expression, Anne could immediately tell this would not end well. The green-haired witch read a book before noticing the other one. "Willow! Wow. You're so unnoticeable I almost rolled into ya." She chuckles.

The flower that Willow healed immediately died again as she stood up. "Hi, Amity.", she begrudgingly mumbled.

"Uh, shouldn't you get to class early to prep your—" Something interrupted Amity as the two of them heard rattling. The wagon Willow was bringing spilled over onto the ground, revealing a small, weak purple goop with a floating eyeball in it, devoid of life.

"Oh, Willow," Amity said with fake sympathy. "You don't have anything to show, do you?"

Willow pulled up her hood, blushing in embarrassment. Amity continued. "This is why people call you 'Half-a-Witch Willow.'"

Amity reminded Anne of Maggie. She had always picked on her back home, but Sasha was almost always there to defend her. She decided to stick up for Willow.

She walked out of the bush into the clearing, where both witches saw her. "Hey, back off, choco mint hair!"

Willow looked at Anne, confused, while Amity scoffed. "And just who are you to order me around, bushy head?" She then noticed her ears. "What? What's a human doing here?"

"I know your type. You just like to pick on people because you're so insecure yourself," Anne said, crossing her arms. "Leave her alone."

"What are you going to do about it, human?" Amity replied, walking up to her face. "You have no magic. What can you possibly do?"

"Keep talking to me like that and find out," Anne said, scowling at her and standing her ground. Amity stared at her for a second, then scoffed, walking away. "You're lucky I have to get to class. You better watch your tongue with me next time."

Willow sighed and glanced at Anne. "Thanks, but you shouldn't threaten her like that. She's the top of the class."

"Like she could do anything," Anne replied. "I don't even go to your school. I actually wanted to ask you a question, though."

"What is it?"

"Have you seen Marcy?"

Willow tapped her chin. "Well, I believe we do have a Marcy at Hexside. She usually keeps to herself and is in the Construction Track."

"That must be her!" Anne said, feeling hope. "But how am I gonna get to her? I'm not a student there."

"I don't know," Willow replied dejectedly, walking forward. "I'm tired of Amity picking on me. I hate making abominations. I hate getting bad grades. Ugh! I can't stand this anymore!"

She yelled and her eyes glowed green, consumed by a strong, uncanny stare. All of her frustrations and hatred spilled out at once. Anne took a step back as thorns broke out of the ground, shooting in all directions. One of them tried to grab the human, and she barely managed to dodge it. "Willow, calm down!"

Back at the beach, Eda tied a sack of what looked like the slug's eggs onto her staff. "Not a bad haul. That oviduct was loaded."

King watched her and decided to comment. "Ah. Lose apprentice, gain garbage eggs." He shrugged. "Fair trade."

The witch scoffed at this, glaring back at the furry creature. "I didn't lose anything."

"If you don't teach Anne right, you will," King told her. "And that's when I come in, make her my apprentice!"

Eda laughed at this. "And what would you teach? How to get stuck in the arm of a sweater?"

He pointed at her angrily in response. "Hey, that only happened once! I'd teach her about demons. How to identify them, talk to 'em, raise an army with them and tear apart the world!" He had the passion and desire to be a mighty ruler and the King of Demons.

Eda smirked, leaning on her staff. "After they tear you out of the sweater arm, right?" This irritated the demon.

"You think you're so smart! Well…" King hopped down and walked toward her. "Why don't we make a little bet where I can prove that I'd make a better teacher."

"Okay," Eda replied, reaching into her hair and pulling out a book. "I'm obligated to remind you that I only use our bets to utterly humiliate you." The book was labeled Eda + King One Sided Wagers.

She opened it to show him the pages to prove her point. "And… that you've never won." The book had an icon of Eda and King on every page, with gold stars on Eda's spots and "FAIL" on King's.

"I like those odds," King said confidently. Eda reached over and picked up a trash slug egg, holding it out to him. "So how's this? Teach this trash slug to be your loyal soldier in one day. Prove that you can be a better teacher than me, and Anne is all yours. But, if you don't, I change your name from King to... Mr. Wiggles."

"Well, when you lose, you'll have to…" King thought for a moment, realizing he wasn't going to get very far with this, "... wear a shame hat! And sleep in a shack! And never come into the Owl House again! Ha!"

"Deal," Eda agreed, holding up the book. King raised his paw and pressed it against the page to sign it, grunting a bit. Eda threw the egg onto his head, which split apart, revealing a trash slug on his skull. It slid down his head and fell into his hands, chirping. Eda laughed again, walking away.

Back to Anne and Willow, the human dodged out of the way of thorns trying to grab her. "Willow!" She tripped over a root in the ground and fell back as thorns were about to strangle her.

Willow snapped out of her hostile, hate-filled trance and realizes what she was doing, and immediately calmed down, her eyes returning to normal. "Oh, no! I'm sorry!" She waved her hand, making all the thorns retreat.

"It's fine," Anne said, wincing as she rubbed her ankles. "Please don't do that ever again."

Willow then realized something. "Oh my gosh, that's right! You're human! I was too distracted to ask about that! A human on the Boiling Isles!" She helped Anne get up. "How'd you get here? What are you doing here?"

Suddenly, the two of them heard a bell in the distance and Willow frowned, before looking down at the ground sadly. "Uh, I'm sorry. I can't stay. I have to go disappoint my teacher. It was nice to meet you, human." She walked away, giving her a wave.

Before she got any further, Anne had an idea. "Willow, was it?" She ran up to her. "So, you are good with plants, yet you make weird, purple, gooey monsters? What's up with that?"

"I'm not even supposed to be doing plant magic," Willow replied. "My parents put me in the abomination track at school."

Anne tapped her chin. "Well, I don't go to school, but I have a teacher that I'm convinced is just using me. I don't know if I can even trust her at this point. As much as I hate school, I need to get to Marcy…"

"I wish I could get a passing grade for once," Willow muttered. "Then people would stop calling me 'Half-a-Witch Willow.'"

Anne snapped her fingers, having an idea that could've been either the dumbest or most genius thing she had ever done. "That's it! Why don't I pretend to be your… gooey thing? Abomination? Whatever."

Willow frowned at this, unsure whether this was a good idea. If they were caught, she could be in a LOT of trouble. "I don't know… I mean, the teachers might not fall for it."

Anne blew a raspberry at this. "Teachers are lame. Besides, I can put on a convincing disguise." She paused. "Wait, what do they look like?"

"They look like these big, gooey buff monsters," Willow replied. "Just cover yourself in goo, and you should be good."

Anne looked at the goo on the ground before shuddering. She reluctantly leaped into the abomination goo and rolled in it, covering herself in it. "That's cold!"

Seeing this, Willow giggled. "Well, better than disappointing my teachers. Okay, it's a deal." She held out her hand and Anne shook it. "By the way, what's your name, human?"

"I'm Anne Boonchuy," Anne replied, smiling. A little while later, they approached Hexside's entrance. Anne rode in the pot on top of the wagon as Willow pushed her. "Welcome to Hexside School of Magic and Demonics. Remember to stay hidden, okay?"

The school looked more like a castle slash mansion in Anne's eyes than somewhere you'd go to learn, study, and all that. It strangely reminded her of something from Cynthia Coven that Marcy read to her when she was bored. "That's a school?! You guys are lucky…"

Inside Hexside, Willow rolled the wagon up to a locker and tickled it to make it open its mouth and give her a book labeled, "Magic 101".

Behind her, a shorter student bumped into her, invested in a magazine. He is a young boy with brown skin and dark brown hair. He also wore a gray tunic. His name is Augustus Porter.

"Willow, you would not believe humans," Augustus said, awestruck by what he was reading.

"Humans? Psh," Willow glanced at the pot holding Anne and tried to play it off. "I haven't seen any. What?"

"Did you know that humans nail barbed wire to their kids' teeth?" he asked, showing her a page of a human girl with an enormous smile, showing off the braces in her mouth. "But why? Maybe to make them magnetic."

The two of them heard a voice stifling laughter in the pot, and Augustus raised an eyebrow in confusion. Willow slumped her shoulders, knowing the jig was up. "Okay, Augustus. I'm gonna tell you something. But you have to be cool."

"I can be spool," Augustus stuttered, before correcting himself. "I mean, cool."

Willow turned toward the pot, making a hand gesture. "Abomination, rise."

The pot wobbled and Anne shot out, covered in abomination goo. She yelled, trying to sound like a monster, and Augustus immediately took a step back, surprised. "AHH!"

"Anne, that's too much," Willow said, placing her hands on her hips. "I want to impress my teacher, not give them nightmares."

Augustus dropped his magazine, unable to comprehend what he saw in front of him. He placed his hands on his cheeks. "No…" He wiggled his ears. "No, it-it couldn't be…"

"He's the president of the Human Appreciation Society," Willow explained to Anne. "Most witches wouldn't be able to recognize a human right away. But Augustus is an expert."

"Where are your gills?" he asked the human, and Anne scrunched her eyebrows at this. "Humans don't have gills."

He looked surprised, and she continued. "Also, I think in second grade, there was a kid named Augustus in my class, and we called him Gus. How about I call you that?"

Gus got giddy at this. "Gus? Nickname? Human nickname? Gus? Call me it. Wow. Gus. And it turns out humans don't have gills. This is so much new information!" He calmed down a little. "This is the best day of my life."

From above, the bell literally screamed with its mouth wide open, and Anne immediately felt the desire to go back into her pot and get away from there.

"I've gotta get to spelling class," Gus told them, grabbing his magazine and a fake magic wand, and running off. "See you guys at lunch!"

Outside of the Owl House, King was feeding the baby trash slug some dog treats, while also giving some encouraging words to it. "Aw. Who's a good Prince Junior? Who's a good guy?"

"Hey, Mr. Wiggles," Eda said from the sidelines, relaxing on a patio chair and drinking apple blood, knowing King's plan would not end well. "You're not gonna teach it anything doing that."

King scowled at her. "It's called positive reinforcement, Eda. And it works wonders." From his twisted royal perspective of the world, he knew he could train his slug and take over the Boiling Isles. The trash slug took the treat from his hand and grew larger, now the size of King's arm.

He laughed at this. "See? Now watch this. Prince Junior! Attack Eda!" He grabbed another treat and pointed it at the witch, who wasn't phased. "Knock over her drink! Mess up her hair!"

"Oh, no. Please stop," Eda sarcastically muttered, having little to no interest in this bet anymore.

"Well, I haven't seen your student in forever," King reminded her. "For all we know, she's not even loyal to you anymore." As he said this, the trash slug took another treat from his hand.

"Ha ha ha, you wish," Eda said, smirking at him, before realizing he was right. "But yeah. Where is she?"

Back at Hexside, students entered the Abomination class, hoping they wouldn't fail. Professor Hermonculus, the teacher of the class, evaluated everybody's abominations. He is a short humanoid creature with a beak-like mouth. An abomination carries him around.

A girl with huge horns on her head was first, and the professor studied her attempt at passing. "Hmm… Too many toenails in unexpected places. Fail. Pathetic!" The girl was saddened and pushed her abomination out of the way as the professor continued.

"The biggest abominations are all of you!" He said, insulting all of his students. "If the next abomination is a failure, everyone gets extra homework for a month!"

The students groaned and grumbled at this. "Extra homework? Not again!"

Professor Hermonculus cleared his throat to silence them. "And the next one to come up is…" Amity stood up, raising her hand and having a smug expression on her face. "Excuse me, sir, but I am ready to present my abomination. Rise!"

An abomination with a perfect form rose out of the pot, making weird groaning noises as it posed in front of the entire class.

The professor chuckled at this with delight, but declined. "I've always saved the best for last, Amity. You'll have to wait your turn."

Hearing this agitated Anne. He's no different from some of the teachers back home, she thought. Always finding an excuse to pick on students.

The professor's abomination carried him forward as he pressed his fingertips together. "How about... Willow." Willow's eyes widened, and she got nervous while the other students muttered about her. He covers her head with her hood in shame.

"Not Half-a-Witch…"

"Great. Homework for a month."

Willow looked at Anne inside the pot, who nodded and whispered to her. "Don't listen to those jerks. Prove them wrong." The witch nodded, feeling a slight boost of confidence from her words.

She rolled her wagon up to present it to the professor and took a step back. "Uh… Abomination, rise."

Immediately, the pot wobbled and shook, as Anne emerged out of it, growling. She glanced at the teacher, secretly giving him a death stare for what he had said earlier.

Everybody was surprised, especially Amity, who didn't expect anything good from Willow. Willow smiled, realizing this might go smoothly after all. "Abomination, bow."

Anne did as instructed, making weird noises with the hope that she would fool everybody in the class.

"Very impressive," Professor Hermonculus stated, pleasantly surprised. "But does it speak?" Anne tried to think of something to say, but then her phone buzzed, and everybody in the class looked at her, confused about what that noise was. It buzzed again before playing a ringtone. Her favorite K-Pop song played at her favorite part. It was 'As If It's Your Last' by Blackpink.

"Uhh…" Willow quickly came up with an excuse. "It can not only speak but create different sounds and music!"

Playing along with this, Anne clumsily walked over to Willow and hugged her, covering her in slime. "Willow is best buddy! Grrrr!" Willow giggled at this. This impressed the students, and they laughed, cheered, and danced to this foreign music. Amity stared at Willow and Anne, slack-jawed.

The professor laughed at this. "I've never heard of an abomination that can make such catchy and unique music! It doesn't seem like you're mixing magic from the Bard track, so you pass! A plus!" His abomination carried him over as he painted A+ on Anne's forehead. The music stopped and Anne felt relieved. Well, at least they all have good taste, she thought.

The students cheered again as Amity crossed her arms, scowling at Willow. She felt suspicious since the last time she saw Willow, her abomination was just a small pathetic goo splat. Something had to have happened.

The bell screamed again before coughing. Willow pushed her wagon out of the class, feeling good about herself. Professor Hermonculus approached her from the side. "Wonderful work today, Willow. Looks like we have a new top student."

Amity, who was walking out of the class behind him, abruptly stopped and her eyes shot open. She dropped her book and gasped, turning toward the professor, who removed her star badge and walked toward Willow with it. She reached out toward him, trying to get him to reconsider. Amity is the only person who cared about the top student badge. "But…"

Ignoring her, the professor placed the badge on Willow, who smiled in a mixture of shock and pride. "Uh… Thank you, sir."

The teacher left and Willow heard a familiar voice behind her, gasping as she turned to see Amity, who was crossing her arms. "Last time I saw you, your abomination was mush. What did you do? How did it make music?"

Willow tried to think of an excuse. "I, uh, took your pep talk to heart, Amity."

"I bet you did," Amity grumbled, pointing a finger at her. "I've got my eyes on you, Half-A-Witch." She walked backward, keeping eye contact with Willow. "That badge is mine." She bumped into another student, making them stumble and complain about it.

"Uh oh," Willow muttered, placing a hand on her cheek. "I think Amity is onto us."

At the Owl House, Eda came out of the house, slamming the door open, which resulted in Hooty's face being planted on the wall. "Ow!"

"Have you seen Anne?" Eda asked him, not having been able to find her in the house.

"I heard her tiny mouse feet walking close by," Hooty replied. "Or that might've been some mice. Anyway, someone started moving in that direction."

He made hooting noises, not pointing in any clear direction, and Eda looked at him with confusion. "Are you trying to point? Or…"

"Look at the weather vane!" Hooty told her, annoyed. Eda stepped in front of the house to see it pointing in the opposite direction of the front door.

"But the only thing that way is the…" Eda muttered, before realizing. She gasped. "No…" Eda ran off, fearing the worst. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" She reached Hexside and looked through one of the windows, which was a kindergarten classroom.

"Okay, everyone," a teacher resembling a spider said to the children, "recite your runes."

"Krom, Zix, Elgrim, Zenomide…" the children listed off as Eda watched in horror. "No. Blind obedience!" She ran off to another classroom filled with older students. A snakelike teacher instructed them. "Heximal system time! Let's get memorizin'!"

"No!" Eda placed her hands on her head, stepping away. "Pointless busywork…" Finally, she peeked into another room to see Willow writing while Anne stood next to her, watching her with an expression of boredom.

Eda slid her hands on the window, feeling defeated. "No! WHYYYYYYYYY, SCHOOOOOOOOOL!" she cried out into the sky.

At lunchtime, Anne, Willow, and Gus sat at the edge of a table in the cafeteria. Gus reached into his lunch bag, glancing at Anne. "Hey, do humans eat PB&J's?"

Anne gasped, taking the sandwich and ripping it in half. She took a bite out of her portion before slowly sinking back into her pot. "Real food at last!"

"I don't know, Gus," Willow muttered. "If Amity saw that…" Out of nowhere, Amity herself leaped onto the table, enraged. "I saw that! Abominations don't eat!"

She glared at Willow and then looked into the pot. "I know you're in there! You can't hide from me. What are you?!" The other students watched in confusion at the ruckus she was causing.

"Who are you?!" Amity yelled, lifting Anne and shaking her violently. "I want answers!"

"Amity Blight!" Professor Hermonculus called out to her, disappointed. Amity stopped, realizing she had messed up. "Huh?"

"I suspected a twinge of jealousy, but this…" the professor shook his head. "This is just sad."

Amity tried to justify her actions. "But I-... No! Look at it!" Anne pretended to play dead to not blow her cover.

The professor pointed toward the door. "Report to Principal Bump's office."

"But-"

"Now!" He slammed his fist down.

When Anne realized the professor wasn't looking at her, she stuck her tongue out at Amity, which didn't go unnoticed. She scowled and dropped Anne, running out of the door. The professor followed her out.

Meanwhile, King happily tossed many dog treats–perhaps way too many–to Prince Junior while giving it commands. "Roll over! Yes! Heel!"

He stepped back as the trash slug was now much larger than him. He continued feeding it treats, despite it not doing any tricks. "Yes, yes!" (He might've also secretly eaten some treats too.)

He noticed Eda in the corner of his eye. "So, did you find your runaway student?" He stopped feeding the slug, walking up to her. "By your expression, I can tell Anne has gone and found herself someplace else to learn. Which means I… have won!" He lifted his arms up in joy, more dog treats flying out of the box and into Prince Junior's mouth.

"Yes, great, you won," Eda grumbled. "You have a giant soldier thing and I have nothing. Congrats!"

King placed his hands around his back, walking up to her, seemingly to comfort her. "Oh, Eda. Don't say that. At least you have… this!" He pulled out a shame hat toward her and burst out laughing.

Eda growled and snatched it out of his hand, stomping off into a shack next to the main house. King cackled again as the massive trash slug strolled up to him. "I am so funny!" He turned toward Prince Junior. "Ah, well, Prince Junior training complete. Go forth! Make the world tremble at your feet! Or… worm stubs."

The trash slug stared down at him with a blank expression, and King got nervous, realizing none of his teachings worked. "Go forth?" The slug made a low growl, and he chuckled anxiously, remembering that he had to feed it. He picked up the box of dog treats, but only crumbs fell out. Whatever his way of teaching the slug was, it wasn't gonna work anymore. He was screwed. Prince Junior slid up to him, being massive compared to him.

King froze and then turned around to see the giant slug, who made a quick roar.

"Weh!" King whimpered as he nervously clutched the empty treat box.

Back in the Abomination class, Anne hopped out of the pot, wiping her forehead. "You won't believe how hot it is in there. At least we won't have to deal with Jerkmity. Aw, yeah, baby!" He raised her hand toward them. "High-five!"

Willow and Gus looked at her with curiosity, because this gesture wasn't familiar to them. They looked at each other, shrugging.

"Just slap my hand, dude," Anne said. "It's that simple. You're telling me you don't even high-five here?"

"Never heard of it," Willow replied, as Gus walked up to her, reluctantly raising his hand to hers and slapping it. Gus felt an indescribable but satisfying rush with this hand slap. So good, in fact, he could do this all day. He did it again, and again, smiling widely. "Oh. Oh, my. Oh, man, what a rush!"

Suddenly, the door of the classroom opened, revealing to be Amity, followed by another tall adult-sized figure. She moved out of the way to allow this new individual to enter the classroom. "Good afternoon, students."

This figure is an older man with a strange demon biting down on his head. He also wore a long black gown.

"Principal Bump," Willow muttered nervously, and Anne didn't know what to do, so she just stood there with a blank face. The principal walked up to Anne, with Gus and Willow moving to the side.

Bump leaned down, grabbing Anne's face and turning her head to examine her. "Hmmm…" Anne wanted to do nothing but kick him where the sun didn't shine and run away. The principal let her go, standing back up. "Abomination, rise."

Anne followed his command and got up, and he followed it with another. "Abomination, lie." Anne limped over to the nearby table and plopped herself down. Sweat covered her skin, and she screamed inside, realizing this was a huge mistake. Amity smirked in the background, knowing that something was off.

"So very lifelike," Principal Bump noted, placing a hand on Willow's shoulder and leading her up to the table that Anne was on. "When Miss Blight told me about your abomination, I had to come by, see what she's made of."

"Oh, I have her list of ingredients right here," Willow said, reaching into her pocket, but Bump stopped her. "No. We were hoping…" He pulled a bent, sharp dagger out of his sleeve. "... for a closer look." Whatever Bump was suggesting, it would be far from harmless.

In the shack next to the Owl House, Eda sat at the back of the shack, feeling defeated, when she suddenly heard a voice from outside. "Help me, help me, help me!" King swung open the door and slammed it, before running up to Eda and leaping into her arms, terrified.

Something banged against the door as Eda smirked at the furry creature. "Trouble with your student?"

"Yes! Yes!" King desperately said, closing his eyes tightly. Prince Junior slammed against the door again as Eda decided to tease him. "Are you sure you need my help? Maybe he only wants more of your brilliant lessons."

The trash slug burst through the door, shattering it into bits as it looked down at the two of them, roaring angrily and approaching quickly.

It grabbed King's tail in its mouth and tried pulling him away. He yelped, sliding against the ground. "Please help me! You can call me Mr. Wiggles!" he pleaded, gradually reducing to tears.

Eda smiled and took off the shame hat, getting up and grabbing her staff. She smacked Prince Junior in the mouth, making him let go of King. The little tyrant ran behind her and crawled onto her shoulder.

"Okay, Mr. Wiggles," Eda declared. "Here's what we're gonna do."

Back at Hexside, Bump stood near Willow and Anne, menacingly holding a dagger. "Willow, I'll allow you the first cut." Bump said as he handed Willow the dagger.

Willow smiled at him nervously as she took the dagger and went up to Anne, whispering to her. "Uh, you can't just cut open a human, can you?" Based on Anne's expression, she couldn't. Bump placed a hand on Willow's shoulder. "Willow, go ahead and make the first incision."

Just as Anne was about to leap up and run, Gus stopped them from going any further. "Wait, Principal Bump!" They all look at the kid, confused.

"Uhh… High five!" Gus hit three pots holding abomination goo, toppling them over in the principal's direction. Multiple abominations formed in front of Bump and Gus took this chance to yell for them to flee.

Willow grabbed Anne's hand, and they ran out of the room. Amity saw this and pointed at the door. "They're getting away!"

"No, the intruder won't get far," the principal said, visibly angry. He created a big spell circle on the walls and slammed his hands on it, sending red markings that traveled across the entire school.

Anne and Willow ran across the hallway, trying to get to the exit. They turned a corner, and both panted, pausing for a moment.

"Why did I think this was a good idea?!" Anne said, placing her hands on her hair and pulling at it. "Maybe being around Hooty is making me dumber!"

"We'll worry about that later," Willow replied. "We should get out of here before-" Suddenly, red markings covered the entire hallway, creating massive red barriers that covered each doorway. "... Bump seals us in…"

Anne and Willow continued running down the halls, now in the middle of the school. They tried to go through one doorway, but a red barrier formed just in time to stop them.

Principal Bump approached them from behind, controlling multiple abominations to head toward them and seize them. Anne clenched her fists, but Willow pulled her away. "You can't fight him! You stand no chance!"

Seeing that Willow was right, they ran away from the principal, hiding behind a pillar. "Oh, this is awful," Willow muttered, lowering herself to the ground. "I don't know what to do. Amity's right. I'm just Half-a-Witch Willow."

Anne got up, turning toward Bump, who was quickly approaching them. "Don't talk about yourself that way. After all, this was all my idea. I'm not gonna be stranded in a school of all places!"

An abomination tried to grab her, but she dodged and kicked its face, splattering it. She ran toward Principal Bump, who blocked her path with three other abominations.

She tripped one of them, sending it planting into the other. She lept up and grabbed the third abomination's head, tearing it clean off and throwing it at the principal.

Bump raised his hand, using telekinetic magic to stop it. "I knew you weren't an abomination as soon as I laid my eyes on you. Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to find my friend, okay?!" Anne said, panting a little. Bump raised an eyebrow at this. "You caused all this trouble for a friend? Who is this friend you speak of?"

"Her name's Marcy," Anne explained, still on guard, "Marcy Wu. I was told she was here."

"There's no Marcy Wu in our school," Bump replied, before waving his finger and creating a spell circle. Immediately, the abominations reformed behind Anne and grabbed her, restraining her. "There's a Marcy here, but not one with 'Wu' in their last name."

Anne's eyes widened as she stopped struggling. "What…? But… I don't understand…"

"The only thing you should understand is you were too reckless," the principal stated. "I'm throwing you and Willow Park into the detention pit!"

"No! It was all my fault!" Willow lied. "I pushed her into doing it! I didn't want to fail the Abomination track!"

Anne's eyes widened. "But-"

"It was all my idea!" Willow finished, cutting her off. "She doesn't deserve any punishment. I do."

"No, she doesn't, and I'm getting out of here!" Anne said. "Also, Willow should be in the Plant track. You should see what she can do."

"Then leave," the principal said, walking to the side. "If what Willow says is true, I'm giving you one chance to get out of my school. You are banned from this campus."

This shocked Amity. "But… Principal Bump- she…"

"That's enough, Blight," Bump stated. "Go back to class."

"Just go, Anne," Willow said sadly. "I'll be fine." The human hesitated before she sighed, walking toward the exit and leaving her. She felt guilt in her gut, but she knew things would not end well for her if she fought Bump.

She exited the school and ran off toward the Owl House, hoping to get Eda's help in this situation.

Eda fought the trash slug, as it spit magma toward her, which she lept side to side to avoid. She ran up and smacked the slug in the mouth with her staff, making it flinch. It crawled up to her angrily as she whacked it again.

On the roof of the porch, King grunted and pushed a barrel full of salt on the roof tiles. Eda yelled toward him. "Push the salt now!"

King felt guilty for a moment, looking down at Prince Junior with sadness in his eyes. "Baby boy!" The trash slug looked at him and whined, before letting out a roar with its mouth wide open. King realized what he had to do then. "I have no son! Eat salt!"

He pushed the barrel of salt and sent it toppling over into the slug's mouth. It swallowed it, shuddered, and screeched before shrinking back into a baby and scurrying off, squeaking.

King hopped up and down in joy over their victory. "Yes! I did it! I'm amazing!" He slipped and yelped, falling toward the ground. Luckily, Eda was there to catch him.

He chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "You helped too. You are a good teacher," he admitted.

"I wish Anne thought that too," Eda muttered. Suddenly, she saw Anne running toward the house, covered in abomination goo. "Eda!"

She stopped in front of them, panting and covered in sweat. "That school is a nightmare! Willow- she-"

They heard another voice running up behind them. "Anne!" It was Gus, who ran up to her, hugging her. Anne accepted it, but was worried. "Where's Willow?"

Eda was confused by this "hugging" gesture. "First, what's going on here? Second, I never understand when you do that."

Gus sniffled. "She got thrown into the Detention Pit! I'm worried for her." Anne got angry at this, and Eda sighed. "Told you going there was a bad idea."

Hearing this, Anne snapped, turning toward Eda. "And what have you done?! You've been using me to do your chores all this time! You haven't helped me find my two friends, and all you do here is just lie around and drink your apple blood! And now my new friend's in trouble because of my stupid idea!"

Before Eda could say anything, Anne stomped inside and slammed the front door, going up to her room. She yelled in frustration, punching the wall. "Maybe I should just go home and find another way to get those two back. I don't belong in this dump."

Outside, when the door was slammed shut, Eda sighed, placing a hand on her forehead. "She reminds me of myself when I was her age. Academy twerp, mind filling me in on what happened?"

Thirty minutes later, in her room, Anne lay down on her side, scrolling through her phone. She had calmed down for the most part, but was still ticked off at everything. She didn't know what the Detention Pit was, but it sounded bad.

The door creaked open, and she glanced over to see King holding Francois. "Anne, are you okay?"

She sighed, putting her phone away. "I don't know. I'm getting nowhere with my search for Sasha and Marcy. I also got Willow sent into detention, and she probably hates me now."

King walked up to her. "Eda is… different, but she cares about us. She just doesn't like to show it. What are your friends like?"

"Sasha's kind of… the boss in our friend group," Anne replied. "She decides what we do most of the time. Marcy likes studying and watching fantasy movies. She loves reading Cynthia Coven."

"I think Eda tried selling a couple of those for a quick buck," King told her. "It's pretty boring to me."

"That's what Sasha and I thought too…" Anne muttered. "We didn't really have any interest in the movies she'd want us to watch."

She sat up, slumping her shoulders. "I don't know what to do at this point. Maybe I should just… go home."

King looked saddened by this, not wanting her to leave so soon. "But what about them? What if they're here?"

"I don't know. I'm just stressed," Anne replied, placing a hand on her forehead and sighing. "I can't go back there, otherwise they'll probably tear me apart. I hope Willow will be alright." King walked up to her and leaned against her to comfort her.

Despite her troubles, she smiled at this and held him close. The door creaked again and Gus walked in, seeing the two of them. "Hey, just talked to Edar about what happened. What do you think we should do?"

"If Willow's not back soon, we'll come up with a plan," Anne replied. "In the meantime, want me to make you guys something to eat?"

King lept up in joy, with his tail wagging. "Yes! Food! Your king of demons craves it!" Gus nodded. "Sure, I've always wanted to try human cooking." They followed her out of the room, ready to feast.

To Be Continued in Chapter Seven

Sorry for the wait, everybody! I will likely write one chapter a week, but I cannot promise I won't do more or less.

~ Scruffy