Previously on Calamitous Intervention

Anne first met Willow by agreeing to help her on her abomination project so that Anne could find Marcy since at the time she thought she was at Hexside. But when that failed, Anne was banned from Hexside by Principal Bump, and Willow was thrown into detention. Nothing was heard from her since.

Chapter Eight - The Intruder

A couple of days after her brief experience with Hexside, Anne was inside the Owl House with King. The two were on the first floor, not far from the front door. The weather was pretty uneasy outside, with lots of dark clouds and a grim atmosphere, suggesting something was about to strike soon.

To pass the time, Anne was filming King with her cell phone, wanting to learn more about this interesting creature, (and pretty much the main thing that had kept her going here in the Demon Realm).

"Here is the most terrifying creature in the Boiling Isles, the one that will cuddle you to death…" Anne dramatically began, zooming in on King's determined face. "He is facing a foe that threatens his very life… Will he come out victorious?"

The camera zoomed out, revealing King grunting as he tried to tear apart a duck-patterned sock off his nose, grunting. He stood up as he successfully tore the sock into pieces, angrily stomping on the shredded remains on the carpet. "Where are you now, ducky sock?" he shouted at the sock's remains.

Anne laughed. "And he did it! Anyway, why'd you call me here again, King?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah," King replied, before climbing onto a large chest, on top of which lay a huge board covered up by a red blanket. "Anne, you've shown great respect for your ruler. For that, I will take it upon myself to personally mentor you, because you haven't learned anything about my kind. Prepare yourself for…" He dramatically announced as he pulled off the blanket, revealing a bulletin board with various pinned photographs and drawings of many bizarre and multi-legged creatures. "Demons 101!" he finished, now wearing a blue scholar's cap, as he struck a defiant pose.

"Demons like me are grim tricksters of the twilight, creatures of sulfur and bone," he began, pacing around the chest, with Anne still recording him.

Anne zoomed the camera to focus on King, remarking, "For a 'terrifying demon', you're pretty adorable."

In response, he stamped his little foot. "No! I'm not adorable! Show me some respect!" He then grumbled before continuing.

"Anyway, we live only to create chaos and misery," he explained. "Our only weaknesses are purified water and passive-aggressive comments–sometimes."

"Passive-aggressive comments?" This surprised the human. "Didn't expect that coming from a creepy and scary demon species."

"Even demons have inner demons," King muttered, narrowing his eyes. He tore off one photo to reveal a pink skinny, snarling creature cowering underneath a spiny shell. It reminded Anne of something oddly familiar, like something from a video game. King continued. "The most powerful demon of all is the Snaggleback. He is a -"

"Baby angel!" Anne played with filters on her phone, cooing and not listening to his lecture. She felt the instinctive urge to post it on social media, but realized that was probably not a good idea.

King watched her, confused, before getting frustrated. "Anne, pay attention! This information could save your life someday!"

Anne glanced up from her phone. "Why are you so interested in this kinda junk? Maybe I should show you the internet."

The demon blinked at this. "What do you mean? This is important!" Anne walked up to him and showed him her phone. "Here, I have something I think you'll like." She pulled up an episode of Suspicion Island, playing the first episode.

King stared at the screen, perplexed. "I don't get it. What makes this better than my teachings about demons?"

Suddenly, thunder began to strike. King and Anne looked toward the front windows. "Uh-oh, looks like it's gonna rain," King concluded.

Anne slightly shuddered, always finding rain annoying, since it meant she couldn't leave the house without getting soaked. "I'm not the biggest fan of rain, but as long as we're inside, we don't have to worry too much, right?"

"Boiling rain!" Anne suddenly heard Eda yelling in the distance, running as fast as she could towards the Owl House, shielding herself with her arm. "Everybody inside, now!" she yelled as Hooty opened the door to let her in. Unfortunately, she was too distracted to look where she was going, and she knocked over King's demon showcase, making a mess in the living room.

Eda lay on the carpet, processing things for a moment, before regaining her senses. "Phew! That was close. But the important thing is, you didn't get hurt." Anne was knocked into the exhibit, hurt more than a bit, as King emerged from the wreck. "Boiling… rain…?" Anne weakly said as a mug from the mess fell onto her head.

In the streets of Bonesborough, dozens of creatures and residents were running around, trying to find shelter from the boiling rain. In her house, Willow quickly rushed outside to the porch to retrieve her plants from further harm, while some painful raindrops fell on her.

Tinella Nosa ran back and forth in the huge empty streets, each raindrop causing the ground to steam. She panicked, trying to find safety until she found a crack in the side of a building and ran in, throwing a giant rat with an eyeball on its back out onto the street to fend for itself.

Back at the Owl House, King applied a bandage on Anne's leg, still injured from the crash, before putting another bandage on his snout. They were both sitting on the ground, right outside the front door. "Look, now we're boo-boo buddies." he happily said. Anne squealed at this, and her eyes turned into puppy eyes. "Boo-boo buddies?"

She saw Eda standing further outside the front of the house, who was working on a spell, protected by a small force field shielding her from the storm. Anne was not very impressed. "Eda, you're telling me you have boiling rain here in this weird world? How can you all even survive this?!"

"A lot of people don't," Eda replied. "Unlike your world, we don't have weather. We have plagues, gorenados, shale hail, painbows."

"It's like a rainbow, but looking at it turns you inside out," King explained to Anne, who shivered at the thought of this. "Just when I thought this world couldn't get any more morbid…"

"Until the boiling rain stops, no one is allowed outside tonight," Eda told them.

"And if the rain doesn't get you, the Snaggleback will," King teased, pulling out a book and showing her the page with this so-called creature. "They wander the rain, feeding on boiled tourists."

"Well, whatever the case, this force field spell should protect the house from boiling rains, and made-up demons," Eda assured them, nearly finished with the force field spell.

Hooty chimed in, getting impatient. "Hoot! Well, hurry it up with that force field! That rain is getting closer to my precious stucco."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Eda replied, grabbing her staff and spinning it before pushing her hands out. The force field previously protecting her grew in size until it was large enough to encompass the whole Owl House.

"Well, glad that worked," Anne said. "You must have a lot more hidden powers than you're letting on. You seem famous around here. Why don't you use it to… I don't know… help the isles?"

Eda snorted at this, brushing her hair back as she started heading back toward the house. "Kid, if you've seen as much of this island as I have, I assure you that you would rather stay away from those punks."

"Why does everybody even call you the 'Owl Lady'?" Anne asked the witch. "Were you raised by owls or something?"

"'Cause I'm so wise," Eda simply replied.

"'Cause she coughs up rat bones," Hooty countered.

"I think it's 'cause she gets distracted by shiny objects," King theorized, and this agitated the witch. "No, I don't!"

In response, the little demon pulled out a pen from his hat topped with a fake diamond-shaped gem. He clicked it, and Eda's eyes dilated when she saw it. "It sparkles and shimmers. It shines and delights. I must have it for my nest…" King's theory was proven.

She lunged for it, but King moved it out of the way, making her hit the hard, rough ground. Anne watched with a blank expression. "Uh… Maybe she was raised by owls."

Eda groaned, getting up and holding her head. "That force field really took it out of me."

"Uh-oh. Moving a little slow," King teased her. "Age finally catching up to ya?" In response, she grabbed his hat, pulling it down to cover his face. "AHHH! DARKNESS!"

Anne rolled her eyes, walking back into the house behind Eda. "Well… Wanna watch some Suspicion Island, King? It gets so much better after the first episode."

"But don't you wanna finish our lesson?" King asked, frowning. "I was gonna let you scratch a demon's tummy. Me!"

"I'll happily scratch your tummy, but I'm not really interested in learning about this place," Anne told him. "Maybe you could learn more about demons on the internet." She walked off, and King felt disappointed, a raindrop falling on his hat and deflating it.

Eda snapped her fingers as she walked behind a large panel, switching out her clothes with her pajamas in an instant. She lay on the couch, yawning. Anne considered asking her some more questions about the Isles, but she decided to let her rest, since she wasn't too crazy about the idea, nor did she trust Eda that much.

She scooted Eda's legs out of the way before sitting on the other side of the couch, tapping through her phone. "Eh, I guess rewatching it couldn't hurt."

She put on the first episode of Suspicion Island and watched the first half of it. Twenty minutes later, she felt the need to use the bathroom, so she set her phone on the couch and got up, leaving the room.

King climbed onto the couch, looking at her phone and scoffing. "What's this 'Suspicion Island' junk about, anyway? Fine. I'll watch it."

He picked up the phone and pressed play, watching the first five minutes. "Pssh, she's got poor taste. I don't need her then." As he was about to put the phone down, the show got to a good part and he stared at it, sitting back down.

Anne walked back into the living room and saw King in her spot, laying on his stomach while staring at her phone. "Huh? Wait… Is our little King of Demons watching Suspicion Island?"

He was so invested in it that he flinched when she spoke behind him. "Oh, uh… I'm not doing anything! You're the suspicious one!"

Anne did her best to hold in a laugh as King realized he'd been caught. "Okay, fine, your human stuff is… passable."

"So 'passable' that you've already started quoting it?" Anne replied. "Well, I have no problem with you watching it. Just don't waste all its battery, m'kay?" She reached out and scratched his belly, making him giggle, before walking off. She accidentally knocked a bottle off the table and it fell to the floor, shattering. "Oops, hope that wasn't important."

King saw her leave the room and went up to Eda while she was sleeping, slapping her on the face. "Bap!" He laughed at this, knowing she was knocked out cold. Meanwhile, Anne went upstairs and lay on her inflatable bed, wanting to take a nap, but she had too much energy to do so.

She groaned, turning on her side. "Why did I give him my phone…. So bored…" After a while of wallowing in self-pity, she got up and went back into the living room, and King didn't even notice as she walked in, with his eyes glued to the screen.

Anne walked around the room, as he laughed, getting farther into the next episode. "Yes! Poison her drink!"

The human shook her head at this, before picking up books laying on the ground and flipping through them. "Boring… Boring…" She tossed them aside one by one until she saw a notepad next to some books with pictures of various demons on them.

She sighed. "Fine, but only to pass the time." She picked up King's demon notes and went back to her room to read them in the quiet. "Wow, his handwriting's kinda sloppy."

She flipped through the notes, reading them one by one. "This is the most spine-chilling demon: Smoochy-pie the Sweetie Baby?" She burst out laughing. "It's literally just a fish with hands!"

She flipped to the next page, reading through the demons. It started getting interesting to her when she read about the Snaggleback. "Huh… He's actually pretty descriptive. How is a little skull puppy thing like him better than me in English?"

Suddenly, lightning struck from outside, and all the lights in the house turned off. Anne looked around, unable to see. "Eda? King? What the heck? This world has power outages?"

She saw a bright light shine up the stairs and took a step back, grabbing her tennis racket. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

Anne heard creaking and prepared to attack, until King walked around the corner, using the flashlight on her phone. "Oh, there you are."

She took a deep breath, relieved to see him. "What happened to the lights, little buddy?"

"Hooty controls them," King replied. "He probably just fell asleep." Suddenly, they heard a loud crash near the living room, followed by a "hoot" from presumably Hooty. This scared King and his fur stuck up. "What was that?!"

Anne picked him up and cautiously went down the stairs, ready to fight if she had to. She felt paranoid that something was gonna jump out at her. She went into the living room to see that it was completely wrecked. The couch had scratch marks covering it. The front door was detached from its frame and holding it was a large, shadowy figure, seemingly with spikes on its back. It growled as it scratched the door, with Hooty's eyes looking like X's.

It saw Anne and King and dashed off. The two ran up to the door and Anne picked up the door, carrying it inside. She examined Hooty's face, realizing that he was probably dead, and this scared her. "I think he's dead! What was that thing?!"

King handed Anne her phone back as he came to a realization. "Oh, my gosh… The Snaggleback!" He got nervous, turning toward her. "It feeds during the rains. It must have stumbled across our house and seen us inside!"

They heard a howl as they quickly went outside and saw the creature crashing through the front window to an upstairs room. Anne's face paled at this. "If I was still up there, I don't think I'd be alive right now. Wait… Why do you look so happy?"

King squealed, bouncing up and down in excitement. "Because this could be a lesson. This would be a great way for you to see a suspi-... wild demon up close and personal."

"Are you crazy?!" Anne looked back and forth between him and the broken window. "What we should do is hide! I'm not about to turn into Snaggleback chow!"

"What if Eda got eaten?" King asked her. "I didn't see her on the couch! We have to save her!"

Despite not trusting her, Anne groaned. She'd still feel bad if she left Eda to perish. Whether she liked it or not, Eda was still the reason she was even alive right now. The two went back into the house, thinking of a plan. "Okay, so how are we gonna get this thing to regurgitate Eda?" Anne asked him.

King strapped pillows to his body with duct tape. "Yeah, good question. I'm not gonna be the one to feed Hooty if she got Snaggleback'd, though."

"Wow, that's cold considering she's your mom," Anne replied, and King got simultaneously angry and embarrassed. "She's not my mom!"

"Whatever you say, mama's boy," she said, walking over and picking up a hockey stick leaning against the wall. King ran over, seemingly to grab the other one, but instead took Francois, holding it above his head. "Weh!"

The two of them cautiously walked up the wooden stairs, each step causing a slight creak. Once they were upstairs, they searched for the beast. Anne's phone flashlight helped a lot with that. On the left side of the hall, they saw a door that led into Eda's room creaking.

Anne held up her hockey stick like a back, gesturing for King to stay behind as she slowly approached it, then kicked it open and prepared to swing her weapon, but nothing was there, and the window was shattered. "Nothing… I was holding out hope Eda came up here."

She walked over to her nest/bed, picking up a pillow to see more slash marks. "King, do you know anything about demons that can help?"

"My demon book can help us," King told her. "I'll go get it!" But as he started to run off, Anne went over to him and stopped him. "Whoa, no way, dude. That's way too risky."

"You keep treating me like a baby!" King told her. "Why can't you trust me?"

"Because I don't wanna see you get hurt!" Anne replied. Behind him, she saw a shadow looming over them and she gasped, grabbing him and getting him out of the way before the monster snatched him in its maw. It tried lunging at them, but Anne jumped out of the way, going right into the hall and going through a doorway.

She ran down the hall carrying King and into a closet, shutting and locking it. "Phew… You okay, King?"

He hopped down from her arms. "Yeah, I'm fine." He then noticed a pair of legs under the clothes. "What the?" He quietly approached it, before yanking the clothes back. "AHA!"

The two of them saw a small pink monkey-like creature with a shell on its back. "Wha- Snaggleback?" King was confused. "Wow. You are a lot shorter in person."

"I-I'm sorry!" the creature said, shutting his eyes tightly and waving his arms frantically. "I'm sorry. I-I just needed a place to hide from the rains."

"Then why did you break down our door and eat Eda?" King asked, scolding him. "That's not cool, man. Bad Snaggleback!"

"Uh, King…" Anne walked up to the Snaggleback, unimpressed. "I'm pretty sure that's not the thing that's been chasing us. He looks pretty harmless to me."

"S-she's right!" the Snaggleback replied. "I snuck in through a window just now." This confused King. He had thought the creature chasing them was the Snaggleback, but if it wasn't, then what was it?

Suddenly, the ceiling broke open as a large arm reached down and grabbed the small creature, making him cry out as it pulled him up. "Oh no! A twist!"

Anne and King backed away, scared out of their minds. They heard a growl as the door to the closet creaked open to reveal the large spiky figure glaring at them, its piercing red eyes almost paralyzing them. It coughed up the shell of the Snaggleback, and roared, approaching them.

King whimpered as he hid behind Anne, who raised her hockey stick threateningly. "Hey, back off! I'll knock your sharp teeth out!"

It howled and raised its claw, about to slash her. She lept out of the way and whacked the demon in the face with her hockey stick, making it flinch, but it didn't seem too affected. It charged at her, but she moved and pulled King out of the way as it created a hole in the wall.

They took this chance to flee from the monster as it chased them through the hallway, screeching in anger. Right as they turned a corner, Anne lept into a room and closed the door right as it approached, trying to find them.

"That thing's insane," Anne whispered, setting him down. "I don't know how to defeat it. It's probably digesting Eda!"

She reached into her pocket and grabbed a small ripped-up piece of paper. "I also found this in the nest. I don't know what it's for." King took it and read it. "Keeps the curse at bay?"

He shrugged before handing it back to her, and she analyzed it. "Wait… 'curse'? Hold on…" She scratched her hair, trying to put two and two together. "I don't know… Something tells me it has to do with that monster."

Suddenly, a hand ripped through the door like it was nothing, and the beast hopped in, now fully illuminated by the light. Anne saw it and her jaw dropped. Something about the creature seemed familiar. Long hair, pointy ears, pale skin... "Is that… Eda?!"

The beast Eda crawled up to them, howling as it was about to slash them. Anne smacked her with her hockey stick, making her flinch and growl. "Distraction… Distraction…"

She then looked at her phone, the flashlight still on, and shined it in Eda's eyes. She shrieked in pain at the bright light, while Anne grabbed King as they hid behind a shelf, remaining as quiet and still as possible.

They watched as the monster peeked its head where they were sitting and sniffed around, searching for them. Anne took this chance to throw a can to the other side of the room to distract it. It roared, leaving them alone for now.

"Okay, so either she's a psychopath who planned to go into her true form and eat us from the start," Anne theorized, "or she's cursed. Hopefully, the latter."

"I think Eda drinks an elixir every morning," King told her. "I thought it was for her magic, but maybe it prevents her from turning into that thing!"

He sighed, sinking down onto the ground. "I know you don't trust her, but she has good intentions. Until you came, I've been lonely. I-I just wanted you to be into demons like you're into your human stuff. I don't have many friends, and no one even pays that much attention to me, except you, but you just treat me as a pet. I thought maybe if I taught you, finally someone would treat me like something more than just their pet, or 'baby precious'..."

Anne felt guilt weighing on her after he said this. She had never treated him seriously and had been too overprotective of him. She'd almost always treated him like she treated her cat Domino, not as an individual. "You're right, King. I will confess that I… did read your demon notes."

He looked up at her, his eyes lighting up a little. "But I thought you weren't interested in that kinda stuff."

Anne smiled at this. "I did, but when you were using my phone to watch Suspicion Island, I got bored and read them. You're actually pretty smart for your age, and I'm sorry I didn't treat you with more respect. Maybe we should finish your lesson together."

She reached into her pocket and handed him the pen he used against Eda earlier. "I'll treat you less like a pet, but it won't stop me from enjoying your company any less." King smiled at this response and hopped into her arms, giggling and hugging her.

After their sweet moment, King grabbed some leaves and set them on the ground, drawing on them with the pen. "Let's see. She was bigger, covered in feathers, and had giant black eyes. Demons with black eyes are usually sensitive to light." He glanced at Anne's phone and remembered using its flashlight to see where he was going. "That's it. Light! Anne, use your human wonder rectangle!"

Anne picked up her phone, which was thankfully undamaged. "We can use this. I can take pictures and blind her with the flashing lights. You ready to go, King?"

He nodded. Meanwhile, Eda was searching around the living room for the two, hopping across furniture and sniffing around. The beast suddenly heard clicking and turned to see King holding the pen, and the gem topping it was glowing. "Oh, what lovely thing do we have here? It's just so dang shiny. Oh, my. Oh, dear."

Eda approached it with wonder, staring at it with her cold black eyes and tilting her head. Suddenly, she screeched and lept toward it, with King barely able to get out of the way in time. He ran through the hall as she chased him, and he was panicking internally.

He went around the corner as she didn't look where she was going and slipped on a pile of books, spiraling down the hallway, out of control and toppling over. She recovered and noticed Anne in the corner of her eye, growling at her.

"Hasta la vista, baby!" Anne yelled as she rapidly took pictures of the beast, blinding her and making her howl in pain. Before Eda knew it, she woke up in her nest, a long straw leading to the elixir going into her mouth. She got up and turned, realizing the gem on her chest was still black, so she quickly drank more of the elixir, turning her back to normal.

She took a deep breath, feeling a throbbing pain in her head. "W-What happened? Oh, I have the worst headache. And my mouth tastes like roadkill." She retched and gagged as she vomited out an owl pellet. It cracked open to reveal the Snaggleback, covered in saliva. "I'm just gonna... lie here for a minute."

Eda picked up the nearly empty elixir, now even more confused. "Hm, I was looking for that."

King walked up to her from the side. "Actually, we found an extra one in your closet."

Eda seemingly put two and two together and felt rage rising up in her as boiling hot as the boiling rains. "King? King?! You stole my elixir? I ought to break every bone in your—"

"Hey, lay off of him!" Anne interrupted, walking over. "I'm the one that knocked over your potion by accident, and I'm sorry, but it's kinda hard to blame us when YOU'RE the one who hasn't even told us about your curse!"

As she was yelling at Eda, she pulled out her phone and showed her the picture of her cursed state, snarling at the camera. Eda took her phone and looked at it, studying it. "Huh… I should be appalled, but that look is fierce."

She sighed, realizing Anne was right. "Yeah, that's fair. 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. No one likes having a curse, but if you take the right steps, it's manageable."

"So, you're fine after drinking that thing? What does it even taste like?" Anne asked.

"You don't wanna know," Eda replied, getting up from her nest. "There's nothing for you to worry about. It's all under control, and as long as no one breaks my elixir—Anne—then I'm fine. But hey, I'm surprised you survived against me. How did you do it?"

"Let's just say I can't take all the credit for the ideas this little genius came up with," Anne replied, and grinned at King, who was flattered. "Oh, you."

"HEY! HEY!" They all suddenly heard a voice from downstairs. It turned out Hooty was alive, after all. "Is anyone there? Hello? Hoot? My face is on the wall. It's cold!"

King groaned, walking toward the stairs. "That voice… That horrific VOICE!"

"I'll handle this," Anne told Eda, picking up the slimy Snaggleback. "Just sleep or watch Suspicion Island. I don't know."

She left the room with the traumatized creature in her arms. "Ow, ow, ow. I think my tail was digested…" The witch watched as Anne closed the door. "What the heck is Suspicion Island?" she muttered.

She lay down in her nest, smiling and closing her eyes. She drifted off as she found herself in an empty void, accompanied only by a door. "No, not this memory again…"

The door opened in front of her, revealing a shadowy figure in a bright light. She felt frustrated that she couldn't make its shape out. "You! You're the one who cursed me, aren't you? Who are you? Who are you?!" A bright light engulfed her as she then woke up in her nest again, gasping for air, before sighing in resignation.

As Anne reattached Hooty's door to the frame, King was drawing while the Snaggleback was describing what his experience with the beast was like. "... And then she had teeth in her stomach. Teeth in her stomach! Can you believe that?"

"Oh, yeah," King replied, as he turned over his notepad to show the monkeylike creature his drawing of Eda's curse. "This will make a great addition to my demon book."

"That book is filled with so many interesting things," the Snaggleback marveled, grabbing a book and showing King the page with him in it. "Like this. I'm one of the strongest demons on the Boiling Isles, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to edit that," King told him, and the creature hung his head, disappointed. "Oh…"

To Be Continued in Chapter Nine

I hope you enjoyed this story's adaptation of The Intruder! Things went much differently without Luz's great interest in magic, which resulted in King stealing Eda's elixir in the original canon.

~ Scruffy