Previously on Calamitous Intervention
Anne introduced King to Suspicion Island before the boiling rains struck and forced them to stay inside for the rest of the day. King soon became immersed in the show and Anne, not having her phone, read his notes out of boredom. Soon after, they encountered the Owl Beast and learned it was actually Eda. The human used her phone's camera to blind the beast so they could get Eda to drink the elixir.
Chapter Ten - Covention
In the early to mid-morning, Anne, Eda, and King were passing the time relaxing at Eda's Human Collectibles stand, which was filled with tons of random human junk she collected over time. She had recently restocked the 'human candy' with more batteries, despite Anne's protests.
Eda was tiredly dusting the table, and no customers were passing by at this time. Meanwhile, Anne was showing King some more Suspicion Island on her phone, happy to find someone who enjoyed the show as well.
"And that was the season finale of Suspicion Island," Anne finished explaining to King. "That scene where Charlie nearly got away with murder–ten out of ten writing. And they're gonna make Suspicion Island 2! It could come out maybe next year."
"If I were ever on that show, I would never get caught!" King boasted. "Us demons are tricksters of the highest caliber! You know, they once called me the King of Con Artists."
"You're pretty much the king of everything these days," Anne joked. "I don't think anybody would find a little guy like you suspicious, anyway."
"Ugh! Please stop watching that," Eda told them, groaning. "You couldn't get away with stealing a not dog, King, much less murder."
"I don't even wanna know how much you've gotten away with, Eda," Anne worriedly muttered.
"And your gossipy talking and obsessions are driving away all of our serious customers!" Eda yelled.
Right as she started to complain, Anne looked beyond the stand. No one was nearby, no stands or customers–completely empty and desolate–minus Eda's stand.
"What are you even talking about? There's absolutely no one around. Is today a holiday or something?" Anne asked skeptically.
Right as she realized the surrounding emptiness, Eda got consumed in dread. "This is a bad omen. There must be something horrible happening today," she ominously said.
A small purple flyer detached from a signpost nearby and fluttered around in the wind, eventually smacking Eda in the face. She grunted in frustration as she pulled off the flyer and held it at a reading distance, her eyes gradually filling with horror.
The flyer read, 'COVENTION' at the top, above a green witchlike figure gazing into a large cauldron filled with boiling liquid, with the text, 'WHICH COVEN ARE YOU? MYSTERY GUEST!' at the bottom.
She groaned loudly and dramatically at this. "Of course, it's the annual Covention of all things. Almost filled with as much scum as Hexside."
"A Covention?" Anne raised an eyebrow. Despite her lack of care for anything outside the Owl House, maybe she would finally find something that she liked to do. At the very least, she could have some fun since she had gone to some fan conventions back at home. What could this world's equivalent be?
"Trust me, kiddo, it's a mess," Eda told her. "It's a crooked system that forces you to join a coven and give up your magical independence. I haven't been to one since we were girls."
"'We'?" Anne squinted at the witch. Eda realized her mistake and tried to backtrack, but the human didn't believe her. "Eh, anything's better than sitting around here all day. Why don't we just go there and see what's going on?"
"No," Eda simply refused, and Anne had an idea to convince her otherwise. "Okay then. King."
King cleared his throat before talking to Eda more about Suspicion Island, to torture her. "Say, Anne, do you think they'll ever stop making new seasons?"
Anne replied ominously, to get on the witch's nerves. "Never. The ratings are too good. Wanna talk about the latest season's finale?"
"Of course, I would like to," King said, and Eda looked like she about had enough. I can talk all day about the hour-and-a-half finale!" King talked to Anne as loud as he could about who the real murderer was.
Eda grabbed the portal door and walked away from the stand with a blank expression, opening it and walking through to get away from them. Unfortunately, Anne didn't make it that easy as she picked up King and threw him through the top of the portal right before it closed. Immediately after, the witch came back into the Demon Realm, finally cracking. "Stop it! Stop it! I will literally do anything to stop this!"
Before they knew it, they were in front of a long theater-like building with a curved roof and some spikes protruding from the ground surrounding it. Many young witches came flying or walking in to attend. Eda groaned while Anne grinned. "It's like going to the mall!"
Eda struggled to put a hood on with all the hair she had, with King hanging off of the hood, trying to help her. "Gotta keep a low profile."
"Are you trying to cosplay as Little Red Riding Hood or something?" Anne muttered.
"Firstly, I don't know who that is," Eda replied. "Secondly, do you think all my wanted posters are for petty theft?" Right as she said that, a bunch of stolen items fell out of her hair. "... Partly." She leaned down to put the items back. "But the big whammy is I disobeyed the law and refused to join a coven. If I'm seen, I could go to jail. Again."
"I don't plan on joining a coven," Anne reminded her. "It gets boring being cooped up in your house all day. And since you don't bother to teach me any spells or something magical, I can hardly defend myself."
Eda rolled her eyes and unenthusiastically followed Anne into the Covention. "Let's just get this over with…" They entered the building to see various booths lined up around the hall floor, with nine different colored banners hanging from the ceiling, each featuring a unique symbol. "Whoa, this actually looks pretty neat!"
She checked out different booths, getting strange looks from some witches and demons. "Why is there a 'Tiniest Cat' Coven? This really is a crooked system, Eda." She then noticed two familiar figures and walked closer to them. "Wait… Willow?!"
The young witch turned toward her, surprised. "Oh, uh… Hi, Anne. I didn't expect to see you here." They stood there awkwardly, as things were still tense due to the events at Hexside from days ago.
Gus decided to break the silence by saying something. "How have you been, Anne?"
"I've been alright," Anne replied. "Willow, I'm sorry for what happened at Hexside. Is everything okay now?"
"They're as good as they can get right now, honestly," Willow replied. "I had to go through hours of detention after Principal Bump told you to leave. Then I was grounded by my parents. You know, just great."
She paused, then sighed. "But it's not your fault. I shouldn't have agreed to the idea. I've been failing Abomination class since Professor Hermonculus gave everybody extra homework."
"You really need to be part of the Plant track," Anne told her. Since she saw how proficient she was at handling plants with her reviving the flower back then, and when she was in that hostile state, when she was upset about her grades and abuse by others, she wanted to help her. "Next time I see the principal, maybe I can convince him to switch your track. At least that could start repairing things between us."
"Bump isn't someone you should mess with lightly," Willow warned her. "Besides, he doesn't exactly… hold you in high regard. I wouldn't be surprised if you're banned from the campus."
"Well, I guess I did break into the school," Anne replied.
Willow nodded, deciding to give her another chance. "Say, why are you here anyway? I thought humans can't do magic."
"I'm mostly bored," Anne explained. "I just wanted to see what it was all about, y'know? Eda doesn't exactly like being here. Mind showing me around?"
"Sure," Gus replied, pointing at the banners. "Those are the main nine covens, but there are hundreds of other ones you can join."
The five of them walked across the booths. Willow explained more about the covens to Anne. "There's Flower Coven, Artist Coven, Big Dog Coven, Small Cat Coven, Tiniest Cat Coven-"
Eda groaned, interrupting them, and Willow made a joke about it. "Also the Grumpy Coven." Anne laughed at this, and Eda raised her fist threateningly. "What was that?!" Willow yipped as they got away from her.
Behind her, an old, bald man approached her curiously. "Uh, excuse me, ma'am, but you look rather familiar." He looked back and forth between her and the wanted posters.
"Uhhh… No, I don't!" Eda thought quickly, grabbing a small bag of snacks called Hex Mix and throwing it onto the ground. "Distraction spell!" Unlike what her yelling implied, throwing the bag on the ground did nothing magical whatsoever, apart from the curious sight of seeing a snack bag randomly laid out on the ground.
Hoping the man was distracted, Eda quickly ran away from the scene, the bald man silently staring at her. As the man reached down to grab the bag of snacks, Eda ran back and pulled down the man's hood, covering his face. She snagged the bag and ran away again, off to rejoin Anne and her group.
As Anne, Willow, Gus, and King were walking along the covention hall, Eda walked up and tagged behind them, her arms crossed, looking disinterested. Anne noticed an interesting sight and pointed toward a bearded witch wearing a hard hat and Tinella Nosa, the little red-haired white demon she had rescued during her first day at the Boiling Isles. Both were surrounded by piles of wood and bricks. "What kinda coven is that?" Anne asks.
"That's the Construction Coven," Willow answered. The bearded witch picked up both piles and effortlessly threw them way up in the air, and as they fell, they piled up on the ground to form a small house perfectly. Anne was amazed and puzzled by this. What kinda witchcraft could've been behind this?
"One of the main nine," Willow said, as the witch removed his hard hat to reveal a small stack of sticky note-sized white slips. He peeled one from the very top and put it on Tinella Nosa's nose. "They use power glyphs to increase their strength." That made sense from Anne's perspective, but that didn't explain all the bricks neatly falling into the ground and perfectly forming a house in less than two seconds.
As Tinella Nosa felt the power glyph on her nose, she gently touched her face, her pupils constricting, about to feel a sudden rush of energy. She suddenly developed a ring of power around her, as she shrieked in a powerful, dominating, fearless way, flexing her muscles. She picked up the construction witch effortlessly, as if he were a cardboard cutout, tossing him dangerously high up with no concern for his safety, screaming throughout. "I am destwoyer of wowlds!" she exclaimed joyfully, as she tore off a sign for the Construction Coven from a wall and threw it into the distance.
"Hey, that's the opposite of construction!" a witch yelled, as he and another witch ran in to subdue the out-of-control Tinella Nosa, who had grabbed a big wooden hammer.
Anne stared in shock, overwhelmed by the fight going on before her eyes. "That thing is awesome! That is what I need!"
Suddenly, a light blue clone of Anne materialized from beside her, looking at her, saying, "You haven't seen anything yet." Anne was shocked even more. Power-boosting glyphs, and now clones?! "And now there are freaky clones of me."
The mysterious Anne clone was revealed to be a harmless illusion, as she walked towards two friendly witches prominently dressed in light blue. The illusion stood in front of a large handheld mirror and waved at the original Anne before dissolving away.
"Ah, you've been taken in by the allure of the Illusionist Coven," Gus bragged as he approached the two witches, his outfit having the same light blue color as the two witches. "We like to magic with a hint…" he began, looking toward Anne as he moved his pointy hand to form a small blue circle before poofing away. He reappeared a few feet away, poofing back into existence. "...of showmanship," he concluded, as he bowed, with the other two witches poofing beside him as well, giving a thumbs up.
Despite her initial pessimism going into the covention, Anne was seriously impressed. "I gotta admit, all these covens sound pretty cool. Power, illusions? This world must be seriously crazy! But why have you never joined one, Eda?" she asked as she turned toward Eda standing next to her, still apathetically crossing her arms.
"There's always another side to these. Take a closer look, Anne," Eda instructed as she put her hands on the human's shoulders and pointed her toward a witch holding and focusing on the hand of another freckled witch.
"When you join a coven, all your other magic is sealed away," Eda explained as the witch pat his hand on the freckled witch's arm, leaving a small blue icon of a magnifying glass on their arm. Suddenly, tons of veins and lines emerged from the icon, covering the freckled witch's arm and expanding up to his face. The lines eventually faded away, but the mark had been made permanent.
"From now on, that kid will only be able to make illusions," she ominously warned Anne. Her tone quickly changed, as she extended her hands out, boastfully saying, "Since I never joined a coven, I can do every kind of magic." Her claims were proven as she created a fireball in her left hand and a ball of water in her right, before swishing her arms down, making them disappear in style.
"That's why I'm the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles," she concluded, as she walked away from Anne and her group, who were stunned by her defiance and power. Anne was especially impressed, having no idea her mentor and guardian was so renowned and powerful. She really got lucky having someone like Eda instead of some random creature that might've eaten her.
As Anne, Willow, and Gus ran after Eda, King stayed behind, silently staring forward for a bit. He and Eda didn't always see eye to eye, but she had been a pretty good mentor figure, and quite a powerful one, too. He started to walk, wanting to catch up to them, but was suddenly stopped by a hand on his shoulder. "Weh?" he wondered as he looked up at the witch.
A female purple-haired hooded witch looked down on King, as she whispered, "The tea leaves foretell that this will lead you to your destiny." She twirled around a purple pen with 'FORTUNE TELLERS' inscribed in gold, before setting it in King's cupped hands.
King stared at the pen, his eyebrow raised. He was not very impressed, not being a fan of weird shady hooded people showing up out of nowhere. He had been around in Bonesborough a lot and had quite a bad history with scummy scammers. "Destiny?" He scoffed as he offered the pen back to the hooded witch. "I'm not paying for-"
"It's freeeeee…" the witch ominously whispered, as she pointed finger guns at King while walking back into the shadows. Realizing the implications of this, and his thirst for power, King's attitude quickly changed. "Are you bestowing gifts… upon ME?" he wondered, as he happily held his pen. "Yes! I accept your offering! The king of demons is BACK!" he yelled, catching the attention of the booth attendants around him.
Meanwhile, in another part of the hall, Anne and her group were walking towards an entry to a large auditorium decorated by an enormous banner showing a gold triangle with a winged sword in front of it. Many eager young witches were entering the auditorium, guarded by several coven scouts.
"Looks like a really big deal," Anne commented as Gus gasped in excitement, recognizing the coven scouts. He had seen them at times doing their duties near the emperor and his assistants, but never this close before. "It's the Emperor's Coven! Do you think they'll sign my forehead?" he geeks out.
Willow lit up with excitement. "Only one way to find out!" she answered as she and Gus excitedly ran into the entrance. Anne decided to join them too, as this was really big and prominent compared to the rest of the covention. She went forward a few steps before realizing Eda wasn't following her. She turned around to see Eda still standing there, showing no interest in joining them.
"Don't you wanna join us?" Anne asked.
"No way. Of all the covens, they're the worst," Eda proclaimed, making swatting motions with her arm. "I'll wait out here."
"Cool, just avoid your problems like you usually do," Anne muttered, walking into the auditorium without her.
As Eda silently watched Anne go into the auditorium, she heard a male voice in the distance. "I just saw her." Realizing this did not spell good news, she turned around to see where the voice came from.
The same bald witch that she tried to use her 'distraction spell' on was now relaying stuff to a guard. "She's over there," he told the guard, holding one of Eda's infamous wanted posters. "I think that's her!" he said as he pointed toward the hooded Eda.
"Uh oh," Eda realized, discovering that her attempt at a distraction spell failed miserably. She hurriedly ran toward the auditorium's entrance, yelling, "Anne, wait up!"
Inside the auditorium, a large circular stage sat empty, and the show was yet to start. A big ring of seats surrounded it, letting the audience see from all sides of the show. The seats were moderately packed, most of the audience having arrived by this point. Eda saw Anne sitting from a distance and sat next to her, begrudgingly agreeing to see this event. It was still a better fate for her than potentially getting outed as a wild witch with unspeakable consequences. "Alright, let's see this mess," she flatly said as she looked toward the stage.
Right as she finished, the lights in the auditorium dimmed, and the show officially started. A green swirl of magic rose from the corner of the stage as Principal Bump rose from a platform, a spotlight illuminating him. The crowd cheered, recognizing Bump as a powerful figure in Hexside and pretty much all of Bonesborough. He formed a magic circle with his hand, summoning a floating winged microphone.
"Hello, Bonesborough," Bump began. "Students ask me all the time, 'Principal Bump, what's the height of magical achievement?'" he teased.
In the audience, a young beige-skinned Hexside student named Mattholomule asked "Is it this?" as he made a spell circle with his hand. The spell inflated his head to a comically immense size, over twice the size of his body, looking like something from an Airheads candy commercial. His head was way too big for his body to support, so he promptly tipped over and crushed another demon sitting next to him, the demon straining and waving their arms in pain.
Bump could only stare in shocked silence before getting some words in. "Wow. I failed you as a principal," he muttered. He grabbed his microphone and continued with his scripted introduction. "It's being selected to join the best of the best."
"And there are none better than the jewel of the coven system," he teased as three coven scouts dramatically rose from the stage, settling in front of him, each with hands on their hips, appearing defiant. "... and the enforcers of his will, the Emperor's Coven," he concluded.
"This is the elite force?" Anne muttered. To her, these scouts didn't look like anybody special.
"Feast your eyes on this elite force," the principal continued, "each member handpicked to help usher in a new age of controlled magic." The coven scouts raised their arms and drew spell circles in the air, sending fire, water, and lightning into the air.
The elements converged up to the ceiling to create a big burst of light that turned into confetti, which Anne waved away. Eda smirked, leaning in next to a yellow-horned demon sitting to the right of her. "When does that 'elite force' get here?" she joked, before slapping her knee and bursting out laughing. The yellow-horned demon glanced at her uncomfortably and scooted away to avoid her.
"Members of the Emperor's Coven have access to all—yes, all forms of magic," Bump told the crowd. "Ooh. Aah."
"Ooh. Aah," the crowd mimicked in awe. Bump raised a finger. "But... only the best can ascend these ranks. Some day that could be one of you!" He pointed to Amity in the crowd, who squealed in excitement. While Eda was still laughing, Anne noticed Amity sitting a few seats in front of her and bit her tongue to stop herself from saying something snarky to her.
The coven scouts grabbed their capes and disappeared in a flash of blue light. "And now, I'm pleased to introduce the esteemed leader of this coven and this year's mystery guest," Bump presented. "You know her. You love her! Lilith!"
Eda immediately stopped laughing at the mention of that name. She knew that name all too well. "Huh?" A large glowing blue raven illusion materialized near the ceiling before it flew down to the stage and created a burst of magic all over the auditorium, revealing a cloaked figure. The cloaked figure took off their mask to reveal Lilith, who was wearing a white cloak. The glowing raven screeched into the crowd before dispersing.
In response to her spectacle, the entire audience erupted into cheers. Anne noticed Eda's surprised expression and elbowed her. "Uh, you good?"
"I'm… fine," Eda halfheartedly replied, as Lilith began speaking. "Thank you all." She waved her finger, tossing off her cloak onto Principal Bump, who was displeased but didn't say anything. Underneath the cloak, Lilith had pale skin, mint-green eyes, long dark navy hair, and a dark gray dress. "It wasn't easy for me to rise to the top. I also started from humble beginnings."
In the crowd, Mattholomule's eyes lit up, not paying attention to the fact his giant head was still crushing a student. "Like me?"
"Now I have the highest honor of enforcing the Emperor's will," Lilith continued, not noticing him. "So be more! The Emperor's Coven awaits you!" She waved her arm and the raven illusion reappeared, spreading its wings and then dispersing into glowing bubbles. This made the crowd cheer again.
Eda silently glared down at her, not too happy at seeing this Lilith person.
After the presentation ended and everyone was leaving the auditorium, Eda seemed even grumpier than before. Anne noticed her walking away. "Uh, where are you going?"
"I'm gonna head home and wash the con funk off my skin," Eda replied, but Anne knew there was something with her and that Lilith lady on stage. She hadn't seen her act this strangely against anyone before. She decided to let her leave and got lost in thought, before bumping into a familiar green-haired witch student she'd much prefer not to have spoken to right then.
Amity was startled, dropping the magazine she was reading on the floor. She spun around to scold whoever bumped into her. "Watch where you-... Oh, it's you. Willow's... abomination thing."
"Look who it is," Anne angrily crossed her arms. "It's choco mint hair. Why did you have to snitch to the principal? Thanks to you, Willow got in trouble!"
"Half-A-Witch had it coming," Amity growled. "You're the one that got me in trouble with Principal Bump, and I never get in trouble."
"So you were fine with me being dissected?" Anne told her, following her. "I swear, I've had to deal with people like you at home before. You're one of those kids that always get what they want and are spoiled by their rich parents."
Amity stopped in her place, glaring at her. "You don't know anything. Besides, you can't be here. This covention is for witches only."
"I know. I don't plan to join one of your covens," Anne replied. "I'm just here to check things out with my so-called 'mentor' and the King of Demons."
Amity leaned her head to the left, noticing something approaching from behind the human. "Is that your 'King of Demons' right there?" she said, unimpressed.
A dressed-out King wearing a scarf was walking toward them, happily holding a cupcake with pink frosting. Two bakers followed behind him, one holding a tray of cupcakes. "Cupcakes in my tummy-tum makes the King say yummy-yum!" King happily said.
"So will you join the Bakers Coven?" one of the bakers asked. King turned around and opened his mouth wide, shoving the entire cupcake into his mouth. As he snagged another cupcake from the baker's tray, he dashed off. "Mmm… Nope!"
King ran up to Anne, showing the 'offerings' he got. "Oh, hey, Anne! Look at all those offerings- WAH!" He tripped over his scarf and dropped the cupcake on the ground, rolling a few feet in front of him. Anne picked King up off the floor and went to reach for his cupcake, but then Amity stepped on it and squished it, shocking the both of them.
King gasped, and Amity smirked. "Oops. That was an accident." Anne got up and glared at her, walking up to her. "You shouldn't have done that."
Amity was unphased by her threat. "What are you gonna do about it, human?"
"I'll tell you what I'm gonna do," Anne growled and clenched her fists. "Apologize to King. That was uncalled for. You can insult me all you like, but leave him out of this!"
King sadly crawled over to his smashed cupcake, picking up the goop in his hands. "Good night, sweet child…" he mourned.
"Are you going to try to fight me here?" Amity scowled at the human. "You know that won't end well for you."
"Do it, Anne! For my honor!" King told her, squishing the cupcake goop. Seeing that Anne wasn't backing down, the young witch had an idea, knowing in her mind she would win. Amity had seen Anne be able to fight some abominations, but she didn't have magic, so it shouldn't be an issue. "If you're so adamant about fighting me, then perhaps I should challenge you to… a Witch's Duel!"
Everybody around them gasped at this, and Anne squinted. "Alright. When I win, you will apologize to King, buy him an entire tray of cupcakes, and you will stop being such a spoiled jerk to people."
"Fine by me," Amity agreed, before stating her terms. "But when I win, not only do you have to tell the whole covention you're not a witch, you have to stop training forever."
"Then it's settled," Anne said, not having too much interest in witch training anyway, as she raised her hand toward her. Amity drew a spell circle around her wrist and then shook it, confident she could easily take her down. "The everlasting oath is sealed. Meet back inside the theater in one hour."
She walked away from the human, tired of talking to her. "Let's see what kind of witch you are."
Still feeling irritated about the situation, Anne turned to King, who was eating the remains of the cupcake on the floor. "Save some room for lots more cupcakes, little guy. I'll win this duel."
Meanwhile, Eda turned around a pillar, trying to hide her presence from everybody, but it was hard because of her hooded hair. Right as she thought she was safe from being caught, she heard the voice of the one individual she really didn't want to talk to right now. "Sister?"
She turned around to see Lilith in front of a booth signing autographs for several young students. Lilith smirked, recognizing a rather familiar face. "It's been so long since I've seen you last!" As she signed an autograph for Mattholomule, the kid in the crowd from earlier, she walked up to Eda, with the kids following behind her. "What are you wearing? You look like some sort of trash collector. Oh, right. You are."
"Oh, Lily. I just had to see the leader of the Emperor's Coven in action," Eda sarcastically remarked, before leaning down to tell the students a secret. "You know, when we were kids, Lilith was so excited to see the Emperor's Coven, she peed a little."
The students laughed at this as Lilith blushed in embarrassment before putting on a fake smile and dismissing the teenagers. "Th-that's all for today." She waved at them and then glared at Eda when they were out of earshot. "You shouldn't even be here. You're a wanted criminal! Unless…" Her eyes widened and she gasped, smiling brightly. "I don't believe it… You're here to join the Emperor's Coven!"
Lilith took her sister's hands, but Eda then cracked up and burst out laughing at this. "In your dreams." Lilith's expression soured at this, disappointed, but not surprised. "You think being covenless makes you so much smarter than everyone else," she fired back. "But while you run from the law like a degenerate, I'm mentoring the next generation of powerful witch students into the world."
"Well, I have a student," Eda retorted. "And I bet she could wipe the floor with any of your prissy little blue bloods." In response, her sister walked up to her, right in front of her face. "Is that a challenge?"
"Oh, it's a promise," Eda confirmed. Suddenly, Anne walked over, whistling, before speaking. "Eda! So, funny story. I challenged Amity."
Lilith smirked at this. "Mmm, it seems your student has met my strongest protégé." She looked at Anne and leaned over. "And look at those ears!"
Anne backed away from her, recognizing her from the auditorium. "Personal space much?"
"Is she human?" Lilith asked Eda. "Where did you even find one of these? Okay, Edalyn." She twirled her finger, erasing Eda's wanted posters all over the covention. "For one day, you won't have to hide from the law, because I want to see how good a teacher you really are." She walked away from them, leaving them alone.
Without taking her eyes off her sister, Eda placed a hand on Anne's shoulder. "Come on, kid. Time to prepare for bloodshed."
"Wait, I wasn't planning to make her bleed!" Anne replied, surprised, and Eda chuckled. "Who says it's her blood you should be concerned about?"
Soon after, in a quiet corner of the covention, Eda put on a sweatband just above her head, wrapping her hair. "All right, Anne. Let's start your training." She cracked her knuckles. "Now, I'm coming at you with a blast of fire. What do you do?"
"I leap to the side and whack you while you're open!" Anne confidently said, swinging her tennis racket in the air. However, Eda shook her head. "And what if you can't get close enough in time? She'll wipe you out with an abomination."
The human considered this, tapping her chin repeatedly. "Well, it's kind of hard to think of a strategy when fighting against a magic user. You never even taught me a single spell."
"That is true," Eda muttered, before chuckling. "Boy, I hope you didn't make an everlasting oath to stop learning magic or anything. You'd be toast." Unfortunately for Anne…
"I mean, we did do this Everlasting Oath thing," Anne said, and Eda's smile faded. Right before she was about to say something, they heard Amity's voice from behind them. Lilith stood behind her, watching her protégé.
"Abomination, rise!" Amity called, as a purple vortex of magic twirled on the ground, with a small abomination, not even her size forming. It tore off its goopy head and threw it with a lot of force at one of the bakers in the Bakers Coven, knocking him down. Tinella Nosa, still having a power glyph stuck to her big nose, grabbed the baker's arm and threw him away before screaming furiously.
"Oh, boy," Eda muttered, realizing things were more complicated than she thought. "Wasn't a smart decision, kiddo."
"She stepped on King's cupcake!" Anne replied. "And she's a jerk. Of course, I had to put her in her place."
"You are still way too overprotective of him," Eda replied. "Listen to me, Anne. We are not gonna let those snobs win that easy! We are not gonna let them win at all. I've got an idea." With comedic timing, the sweatband she was wearing got torn off, unable to hold her hair together.
Back in the theater, Anne and Eda stood in the arena in the center of the action. A crowd was gathered to see what was going on. Lilith began her announcement. "Beloved citizens, the Emperor's Coven proudly presents an impromptu demonstration of the sort of witch we seek every year." She nudged Amity forward, who was smirking cockily. "Introducing Amity Blight."
In response, the crowd applauded, recognizing the top student with one of them calling out and cheering her on. "Woo! Amity!"
"... Versus some human girl," Lilith flatly finished, as Anne confidently walked forward. The crowd gasped and jeered at this, questioning among themselves. "A human?"
"Humans can't do magic!"
"She's not Amity!"
"Okay, so how am I actually gonna win this?" Anne asked Eda, and the witch grinned, pulling her closer and handing her a familiar sticky note-sized glyph, making sure to hide it from view. "Here, use this. I saw your interest in using these, so now's the best time."
She stuck the glyph under Anne's shirt, and the human, though surprised at first, was reluctant. "I don't really wanna cheat, though. Why do I need this?"
"Trust me, kid, you'll thank me later," Eda replied. "To all eyes up there, it'll look like you have super strength. Nobody knows how strong humans really are, so you'll be good."
Anne decided to go along with it. The bell at the side of the arena rang by screaming as Anne and Amity walked toward each other, ready to begin their duel. Amity cracked her knuckles while the human pounded her fist into her hand confidently. Amity began by forming a large spell circle in front of her on the ground, summoning her abomination. "Abomination, rise!"
This time, her abomination was absolutely massive, easily towering over both of them, which surprised Anne. "What?! Wasn't her goopy thing tiny before?!" Amity was also surprised, but grinned, feeling even more confident than before. "Show me what you got, human!"
The giant abomination walked forward to crush her, its stomps shaking the stage, but Anne took a step back and then kneeled, using her newfound power to leap high in the air and kick the abomination's head. It didn't do much, as it tried to grab her, but she managed to avoid it. "How is this thing so strong?!"
She ran back as the abomination ripped its head off and threw it at her. Anne watched it get closer and closer and brought her tennis racket back, before slamming it on the head and sending it spiraling toward Amity. "SCORE!"
The young witch gasped, diving out of the way just in time. "What?!" The giant abomination stepped forward, its head regrowing. Right as it was about to step on Anne, she ran forward and dived under its legs, heading for Amity.
While they were fighting, King walked into the theater, completely covered in merch from various covens. He sang to himself as the sound of the audience grew closer. He walked over to where Willow and Gus were sitting before raising his arms triumphantly. "I… love… OFFERINGS!… What did I miss?"
"Anne is in a witch's duel!" Willow told him, pleasantly surprised at how well the human was doing.
"Yeah! And she can win it all!" Gus said with hype, raising his arms into the air. "Yeah-yeah!"
"Weh?" King's eyes widened at this, as Anne quickly approached Amity, swinging a punch at her. Amity gasped and leapt back to dodge it, as her punch alone cracked the ground. "What is that raw strength?! That isn't normal!"
"How do you know what's normal for a human?" Anne teased her, and the witch growled.
"This, I gotta see," King said, crawling down the steps before noticing a pig-faced student cheering for the opposite side. "Go, Amity!"
"Hey! You root for Anne or nobody!" King told him angrily, trying to step forward. However, he ended up tripping on his scarf, which sent him tumbling down the seat rows, yelping. As the giant abomination quickly approached Anne, the little demon fell toward the ring.
"How are you doing that?!" Amity asked angrily, with the giant abomination stepping closer to her. Anne brought back her fists, prepared to attack it. "Bring it on!"
"UWAAHH!" King suddenly fell onto the ground in front of Anne, surprising her. "King?!" The abomination stepped closer and groaned in a raspy voice before going to step on the little demon. Everything slowed down around the human as she ran forward, feeling adrenaline pumping through her veins.
"Sorry, King!" She brought her foot back and kicked the little demon out of the way to safety, before grunting and stopping the foot with her arms. She grunted as the ground under her broke. "G… Get out of here, King!"
Terrified, the little demon scurried away toward Eda. She grunted, starting to lose the struggle against the giant abomination's foot. She panted as her arms started feeling weak. She felt herself being pressed into the ground.
She felt her vision becoming blurry before she heard Willow, Gus, Eda, and King calling her name. Anne remembered the reason she was still here, and that was to find her friends.
For a moment, her eyes flashed blue as she pushed the giant abomination back, shocking everybody, especially Amity. She yelled and sent the giant stumbling back.
Unfortunately, the power glyph fell out of Anne's shirt and onto the ground. She panted, feeling a large toll on her body.
Amity stopped her abomination, walking up to the glyph and picking it up. "I knew it! You were cheating! No human is that strong!" Lilith walked up next to her, displeased. She took the glyph from the young witch's hand, studying it. "Oh, Eda. I do believe this means you lose!"
Eda growled at this, and Amity glared at Anne, thinking even less of her than she did before. "Of course, you'd use a power glyph. You can't do magic, so you resorted to your own fake strength." She stomped off, but Eda noticed something that looked pretty similar to what she gave to Anne on the back of her neck. She chose to follow Amity, hoping to uncover a big plot twist. "Wait just a sec, Miss Protégé."
She raised her hair to reveal a power glyph of her own on the back of her neck. "Hey! What are you-?!" The witch peeled it off, causing Amity's abomination to shrink like a deflating balloon to a miserable small size, before being crushed by its giant head.
"Well, would you look at this…" Eda revealed, raising the glyph for everybody in the audience to see. "A power glyph from the Construction Coven!" Suddenly, she didn't feel so bad, knowing she wasn't the only witch who cheated.
The crowd gasped at this, with one of them saying, "I mean… I knew it."
"She cheated," Willow whispered to Gus, shocked that Amity would do this. Rather than getting angry, Eda smiled widely. "Aha! Yes, yes, yes-yes-yes! You cheated. Perfect, prissy Lilith cheated. Hot dang, I love coventions!" She danced around her sister to taunt her. "Ooh! Ooh! La-la-la—!"
"I only did that because I knew you would cheat!" Lilith protested, trying to paint herself in a better image. Eda didn't care about any of it, though. "La la la! Still cheated! Welcome down to my level!"
"But-... I didn't know!" Amity said, completely embarrassed. Despite her dislike of Amity, Anne felt a little bad for the young witch. She had planned to make her pay, but not like this. Amity ran off, with Anne following her.
Eda was still taunting her sister, and Lilith had had enough of her immature behavior. "Knock it off! You're making a scene!" In response, Eda pointed right at her, making her stand back. "You cheated! Hey, where's the Rhyming Coven? What rhymes with 'cheated'?"
"STOP ACTING LIKE A CHILD!" Lilith yelled at her, feeling her rage boiling over. Despite this, her sister continued to tease her. "You were defeated, don't get heated, get your stank face treated."
"Rhyme one more thing…" Lilith growled, barely able to contain herself. "I dare you…"
"Oh, it's okay, I'm done," Eda told her, before immediately going back to it. "Because my rhymes are depleted!"
Lilith yelled, summoning her staff as her temper reached a boiling point. "That's it!" She spun it and formed a large blue circle, which fired a powerful blast of energy that hit Eda, taking her by surprise. The sudden impact sent her flying into the wall, crashing violently and causing lots of smoke to fly out. The audience gasped before the smoke cleared away to reveal Eda perfectly fine as she grimaced before smirking. "There she is!"
She pulled out her staff, whizzing it as it formed a fiery yellow circle, but accidentally let it go, the stick flying as it clunked on the ground. Eda looked to the side awkwardly. Her moment of show and power was interrupted, but quickly bent and reached for the stick, her power restored. She dramatically pointed her staff towards Lilith, yelling as it fired a sizeable yellow blast of energy, countering Lilith's energy from her staff.
The entire audience was captivated by this exciting turn of events, as a demon in the crowd excitedly yelled, "Witches duel!"
As Anne ran out of the auditorium and into the main covention hall, she looked around, looking for Amity. She may have been nothing more than a typical bossy, rude teen, but Anne didn't expect things to spiral out of control, which had now been built up to a big confrontation with Eda and Lilith. Anne wanted to see Amity, though, wanting to make things right as much as she could.
After a bit of searching, she spotted Amity silently sitting with her head down in defeat near the restroom doors. She sighed a bit, not knowing how she would react or handle her presence as she walked up to the young witch. When Amity saw her, she sighed, turning her head so she didn't have to face her. "Ugh, seriously? Just leave me alone."
"Look, I shouldn't have done what I did back at Hexside," Anne told her. "All I wanted was to help Willow with her project so she wouldn't fail."
"Every time you're around me, something goes wrong!" Amity yelled, doing her best to hold in her tears. "First at school, and now this." She got up, glaring into the human's eyes. "You made me look like a fool in front of the Emperor's Coven. My future! You think it's so easy to be a witch. I have been working my whole life to get to the top!"
She got closer, jabbing her finger at Anne's chest in frustration. "You lost! You cheated! Say it! Say you're not a witch!"
"Of course, I'm not a witch," Anne told her, which confused Amity. "I never wanted to be one in the first place. Sure, learning some spells and learning to survive here would be nice, but I don't plan on staying. I'm trying to find my other friends and get back home."
Inside the auditorium, the witch's duel with Eda and Lilith raged on, as Lilith angrily spun her staff wildly, deflecting Eda's energy shots, ricocheting away. She thrust her palm forward as a massive blue energy blast emerged toward Eda. Thinking quickly, she blocked this attack by quickly drawing a large spell circle on the ground with her staff, which summoned a massive version of Hooty, the annoying owl house demon. Eda crouched behind it, safely guarded as her hair blew in the wind, reeling from the blast.
The giant Hooty extended from the ground as it opened its eyes and moaned deeply, slowly aiming toward an angry Lilith. To avoid it, she formed a spell circle with her hand, which warped her away from the direct line of impact.
The chaotic duel was causing ripple effects beyond the stage, as small blue fireballs landed on the ring outside, the audience screaming as they fled in terror.
Eda spiced the duel up by drawing extra spell circles on Hooty's giant tube, which made several smaller Hooty heads pop out, surprising Lilith. She quickly reacted by dodging, warping away, and using her staff to shatter several Hootys, and finished it off by jumping high into the air and aiming her staff towards Eda, rapidly flying toward her.
Anticipating this, Eda began twirling her staff quickly, which formed a yellow protective bubble around her. As Lilith hit the bubble, flying toward it with all her strength, Eda's bubble stayed intact, only developing a few small cracks, as Eda confidently smirked at Lilith, having had many surprises under her belt, like her staff.
The small owl figure on top of Eda's staff opened its eyes with an eerie white glow, as it detached from the staff and flew toward Lilith, smacking her in the face. Caught off guard, Lilith could no longer focus as the owl pecked her head, ignoring her screams of pain.
With an open window, Eda planned one last surprise. She spun her staff again before knocking it against the giant Hooty, which by this point had grown and expanded all around the stage. "Say goodnight, sister," she remarked.
As Lilith was still crouching in pain, the owl still eating at her hair, a massive Hooty face materialized behind her, perfectly sized to eat her. As the owl flew away and Lilith opened her eyes, she didn't realize the giant Hooty had opened its mouth, moving towards her. Before she could react, Hooty closed its mouth with Lilith inside before slowing down to a complete stop.
The small owl, having safely escaped from Hooty's mouth, flew back toward Eda, as it perched back on her staff and turned back into wood. Eda smiled, her mission accomplished, before suddenly realizing things weren't quite over. A hole formed in the side of Hooty, surrounded by blue flames.
Lilith quickly warped behind Eda, who was stunned by this change of events. She could only stare ahead in shock, not seeing her sister was about to launch an attack on her. "Enough of this," Lilith angrily said, holding a blue flame in her hand, ready to launch.
Eda looked back and gasped, not having enough time to react to Lilith firing her blast, which knocked her against the stage wall. She felt the impact full on as she cried out in pain and fell on the ground, her staff only a few feet in front of her.
Lilith confidently held her staff and raised it before spinning it, Eda no longer being a powerful threat. As Eda weakly got up, she knew she couldn't fight back, so she surrendered to her sister. "Lily, wait. The curse," she reminded Lilith.
Hearing this, Lilith's attitude completely changed. She stopped spinning her staff and deactivated it, concernedly looking at her sister. "Look at me. Look at my face," Eda told her, kneeling, showing her disheveled and weak face and body. "The curse is worsening and I can't keep up with it," she admitted as she sadly rested her hand on her face, looking to the side.
"I don't know how much time I have left," Eda concluded, as Lilith slowly approached her, still holding her staff. Lilith looked solemnly at her, knowing there were many wounds she and Eda had caused over the years, and she didn't expect a typical covention to turn into an emotional reunion. "I'll admit I was surprised when I first saw you today," she admitted.
"I just had to see my sister for… possibly the last time," Eda replied, aware that her days of being a powerful witch would not last forever.
Lilith was touched by this surprisingly gentle conversation. As she brought herself up to respond, she did not realize Eda was still a clever and cunning witch at her core. "Eda… I-" she began before being interrupted by a hard smack in the face. She instantly regained full awareness as she screamed before looking down to see the culprit was a small bag of Hex Mix, bouncing harmlessly on the ground. She growled loudly, not happy that Eda toyed with her emotions, and could only watch as Eda happily skipped toward the stage's exit.
"It's been fun, but let's call it a draw!" Eda taunted as she disappeared through the exit door, her voice echoing and fading away. Lilith could only muster to scream at the ceiling in anger and defeat.
Back to Anne and Amity. The latter stared at her, trying to find any signs of lying in the human's expression, but it seemed she wasn't joking. "You came here to find your… other human friends?"
"I didn't really come here on purpose," Anne further explained. "Some… music box brought me here. One second I was with my friends Sasha and Marcy, and the next, I was here. I don't know what to do."
"There's probably a good chance they're dead anyway," Amity muttered. "Humans can't do magic like witches can. What makes you think they have a chance?"
"Trust me, they're fine," Anne said, believing it was true. "Marcy is probably in some other magic school and Sasha… I don't know."
After a moment, Amity sighed and drew a spell circle, taking Anne's hand and unbinding the oath they made earlier. "The oath is unbound." She got up, walking away. The human watched silently before finally saying something before she turned the corner. "Thanks."
Amity paused before continuing. Anne saw King running toward her from the corner of her eye. "Anne! You left me!"
"Sorry about that," Anne said, picking him up. "Amity still owes you cupcakes, but I'll let it pass for now," she joked. "Maybe we can ask Eda to buy you some."
"Nah, I've had enough offerings," King declined. "That stuff just weighed me down. But I have something for you, Anne. And it's the best thing, because it's free, comes from my heart, and I always have more than I need."
She squealed at this, her eyes sparkling. "Is it love?" King was appalled at this. "Ugh! No! Tote bags!" He reached behind him and pulled a big yellow bag out of nowhere that was almost as big as him, which didn't seem possible in Anne's eyes, but she decided not to think about it.
The human giggled at this, as the little demon put it on her arm and jumped in it. "And they have so many uses! Away, fair chariot! Away!" From behind, Eda approached them, placing her hands on Anne's shoulders while looking back with a paranoid expression. "We gotta go."
"How'd the fight go?" Anne asked, and Eda grinned. "Oh, it was nothing. Let's just say she had a real 'snack attack.' Ha!" She snorted and walked off before thinking of a better joke. "Wait, I got a better one."
Anne thought about the conversation she had with Amity. "Eda, will I ever see my friends again? I haven't seen them once since I got here. I'm getting seriously worried."
"I'm sure you will," Eda replied. "I mean, if they're half as tough as you, then I'm sure they'll be fine. Well, probably. Maybe I oughta finally teach you to use spells soon. Those combined with your power glyph, and you'll be quite the force to be reckoned with."
Anne couldn't help but smile at this as Eda placed a hand on her shoulder. "Now, let's go before my sister realizes I tied her pointy shoes together." Just then, they all heard the screams of her sister, and the witch quickly guided Anne and King to the exit. "Well, that's our cue."
"So, you have a sister?" Anne said as they walked through the exit. "Why haven't you told me about her?"
"Some things are best unexplained, kiddo," Eda replied. "Besides, you think that's all the mystery I got? Wait until you hear about my parents."
"What you said literally contradicts itself, but alright," Anne said, and King rolled his eyes. "You very much don't need to know."
After they leave, Lilith entered the dressing room, resting her head on her hand. She didn't look where she was going and yelped, tripping to the ground because her shoes were still tied together. She grunted, propping herself up with her arms. "You make it so hard to want to help you, Edalyn…"
The mirror in front of her opened, surprising her. In the projection was a small red demon with conjoined hands as its hair, and its collar hid its mouth. "Lilith, I see you let the Owl Lady get the best of your temper. Just remember what Emperor Belos has promised to you."
Lilith nodded, bowing her head before the projection. "I will capture her, ma'am. You have my word."
"Very good," the demon replied, and the projection faded, going back into a mirror. Lilith looked into it, knowing what she had to do. "Your days are numbered, Edalyn."
To Be Continued in Chapter Eleven
I hope you enjoyed the longest chapter yet in this story! Please let me know what you think about the artwork I commissioned, as I will be doing that for every chapter from now on. At least 1-2 art pieces will be created per chapter. I did it because I want to further immerse the readers and am dedicated to this project.
Again, the Instagrams of the artists are white_knight_tea AND shades_art_corner. Please be sure to check them out! Also special thanks to RobTheWrecker, my co-writer, for making this chapter that much better.
~ Scruffy