Previously on Calamitous Intervention
The Moonlight Conjuring was soon to begin, yet Anne made the decision not to allow Willow and Gus to go to the Owl House to partake in the event, out of concern for how Eda would react to this. As Eda and King went to the night market, Anne sat at home, bored until she finally snuck out. Anne ran into Boscha, then was spotted by demon hunters and chased down while Grimhammer, also known as Tibbles, beat Eda in a game of Hexes Hold'em and was about to turn her in, when Anne destroyed his stand and threatened him, making him fear for his life.
Chapter Fourteen - Lost In Language
Anne was tiredly resting on the couch, thinking about what had happened the previous night. Despite the rush of excitement she had felt when she snuck out of the house and explored the town, she still couldn't shake off the regret and disappointment she gave to Willow and Gus.
The two had been her closest friends up to this point (besides King), and her denying them the chance at a moonlight conjuring was a bit selfish. But at the same time, it was better than risking getting into hot water with Eda.
On her lap was King, who was relaxing as she was petting his back. She didn't notice at first but realized he was purring and she gasped, startling him. "You can purr?!"
"Yeah, what's the problem with that?" the little demon replied, settling back on her lap.
"Nothing, it's nothing," she said. As he settled down, she muttered under her breath, "So precious…"
As her mind got back on track, her smile faded as she stopped petting King, who noticed and glanced at her. "What gives?"
"King, am I a jerk for not including Willow and Gus?" the human asked him. "On the one hand, it'd be cool for me and them, but on the other, Eda would probably destroy me."
In response, he yawned before speaking. "I don't know. I mean, you made friends since you've come here, so don't throw away what you've already got."
"You're wiser than I first thought," Anne said, knowing he was completely right. She sighed, understanding that last night wasn't her at her best.
Suddenly, the door swung open, and Hooty himself screeched, "Ding dong ding! Hoot, hoot!" Anne wasn't too happy that he ruined what was otherwise a calm and reflecting moment, but reluctantly went to the front door to investigate.
She opened the door and looked down to see a small basket containing something covered by a blanket. No one was at the door, but the basket had a little tag with writing attached to it. The human was slightly confused at what might've been inside, but regardless, brought it in and dropped it onto the kitchen table where Eda, the person she could rely on for answers, happened to be.
"I think there's a special delivery for the queen of the house," Anne said to Eda, walking over to the kitchen and placing it on the table.
"Well, aren't you quite the comedian," the witch sarcastically answered. "Probably an offering. Ah, being the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles has its perks."
King was curious to see what may lie underneath, as he tied a bib around his neck, preparing to feast upon whatever culinary delight he had been gifted. He pulled the basket's blanket off, revealing a tiny baby bat with a strange humanlike head, peacefully snoring and cooing.
To King, this was an offering to him just waiting to be eaten, and he expressed his delight by rubbing his paws and saying, "Mmm, fresh meat."
Anne was quick to stop him though, and as much as she adored the little guy, there had gotta be some boundaries. "Nope, nope, nope, not happening," she quickly fired out, before glancing toward the witch. "Uh, you guys don't eat terrifying winged babies, right?"
Fortunately, Eda didn't think much about that, as she replied, "Witches eating babies is so 1693. What is this?"
Just as she finished, King spotted the notecard tied into the basket. "There's a note," he pointed out as he grabbed it and read it out loud. "Take care of my child till morning. Yi… Yi?"
The last thing Eda wanted to do was to have to deal with annoying shrieking babies that sometimes tried to eat you. "Nope. Babies are awful. Not happening."
"You will be handsomely rewarded. X-O-X-O-X-O-X. Bat Queen," King finished, before reaching into the basket to pull out some snails. Eda's expression immediately changed as she heard him mentioning the name, realizing what this meant. "Bat Queen?"
She leaned in, looking at the snails in King's hand with sparkling eyes. "Reward…?" She started to reconsider her choice.
"Uh, who's this Bat Queen?" Anne asked. "Is she the mother of…. this thing?"
"She's the wealthiest demon on the Boiling Isles," the witch happily explained with a wink, as King sniffed the coins in his hand as if there was a strange scent on them. "Get in with her and you're set for life."
Eda reached over and took a coin from King's paw, examining it closer. "So, we keep this thing alive for a few hours and we get paid? Pfft. Easy."
"I'm not really the babysitting type," the human told her, really not up for this task. "Maybe I could go deliver some more potions, or-"
"Well, you're in luck," the witch cut in, "because I need you to return the books I checked out from the library." She summoned a pile of books above Anne, which she was barely able to catch in time.
"Oh, thank goodness," she sighed in relief, walking toward the front door. As she was doing this, Eda leaned in to tell King something. "I don't want her getting a cut of the loot."
"Good thinking," he whispered back, as Eda reached over to the baby and pulled the blankets off of it. "Now, let's take a look at this little darling."
Immediately, the bat-like creature spread its wings, screeching loudly. Its screeches were so powerful it was able to shake the entire room, even knocking some stuff over. Eda covered her ears, grunting. "On second thought, maybe we could use your help!"
When she looked over at the front door, the human was already gone. She glanced through the window to see her running off with the books, which she'd rather have been doing as well right about now. "We got this, right?! … Right?" Eda yelled to King over the screeching.
Suddenly, the baby flew out of its basket, right into the witch's face, which knocked her over. "Whoa!"
Relieved of not having to look after the babies, Anne walked through Bonesborough, carrying the stack of books with little to no problem. On her way, she noticed Tinella Nosa just casually carrying a massive book above her as she passed by. The human wasn't that surprised by this, considering the strength she demonstrated back at the Covention. She found it endearing that she saw her everywhere.
After walking for a bit longer, she finally stumbled across the massive and regal library, its pink walls and brown roofs inviting her to come in. She knew that Marcy would absolutely love the look of the architecture taking place. It was almost like some sort of castle or residence for royalty.
As she entered the front door, her stack of books began to glow bright green as they flew one-by-one toward an old gray-haired male librarian at the front desk. The librarian looked unamused, immediately knowing who they belonged to. The books flew toward a red ring in midair, buzzing and turning red, displaying the word, 'LATE'.
He caught the last book in his hand, running his finger over it to see what was on the cover. "Coffee, grass, and bloodstains? These are Eda's, aren't they?"
"Was it really that obvious?" Anne replied, and the librarian sighed. "Happens all the time. I'll put them on her tab." He summoned a yellow scroll, which was unsurprisingly pretty long, as he wrote in it. "By the way, we're closing early for the Wailing Star meteor shower."
"That sounds cool," Anne said. "What is it about?"
"You're in a library," the librarian sarcastically reminded her. "Read a book."
In response, the human glared at him before walking away. She had the urge to make a comeback, but decided to leave the matter alone. Before she left, she decided to explore the library a bit. Maybe she could find out more about magic, or even figure out the questions in the back of her mind, such as what King really was.
She passed by multiple sitting witches and demons surrounding various tables, who were watching different internet videos on their globes, or whatever the equivalent of the internet was here. She recognized some familiar videos on them, perhaps too similar to what she had seen back home.
As she was about to go behind a library shelf to look at more books, she heard a familiar female voice in the same room as her. The voice was distant and quiet, yet instantly jolted her. "What do you think you're doing?"
Immediately, Anne flinched before hearing the giggles of young children. Confused, she turned toward the source of the voice and her eyes widened to see Amity herself reading to a group of four little kids in a corner of the library. They were all sitting on a large black cat-shaped carpet as a sign reading 'Kid's Corner' rested above them.
"No… way…" she muttered to herself, pulling out her phone and recording it. "This is gold."
"'We're your friends, and we wanna help,' said the Tin Boy with a yelp," Amity read aloud, not a hint of meanness or contempt in sight. "Otabin smiled and paced the floor. 'I've never had real friends before.'"
"So, I guess she's not the jerk I thought she was," the human muttered. "Why does she act so cold to me and the other students, though?"
"'Then we'll be your first,' the Chicken Witch clucked," Amity continued reading. "'Otabin couldn't believe his luck. So, Bookmaker Otabin, surrounded by friends, bound a book of friendship.' And that's the end." She closed the Otabin book, and the young children cheered, having been completely entranced by the story.
Anne noticed how happy the young witch looked. She wondered why she had to be so rude toward others. There was something that definitely didn't add up.
As the young children left, thanking her cheerfully, a small red demon with a giant mouth as its face hugged Amity's leg, speaking in a comically deep voice. "Goodbye, Miss Amity. Thank you."
"Thank you, Braxas," the young witch replied, patting his head. "See you next time."
In response, the little red demon ran off happily, while saying, "Yay!"
Right as Anne stopped recording, Amity looked at her, looked away, then did a double take. She groaned at the sight of the human. "You."
"So, looks like somebody has a soft spot," Anne teased, putting her phone away. "What happened to the Amity challenging me at the Covention?"
The young witch completely denied her claims. "It's for extra credit. Don't get your leggings in a bunch." She reached down, picking up a book with a cold and angry face before walking back over to the place she read at.
"Yeah, right," Anne replied, crossing her arms. "For an extra credit assignment, you seem to have enjoyed it a lot. No shame in reading to kids."
By this point, Amity already had enough with her, slamming her books on the table and turning to face her. "Do you see me going to the Owl Shack and bugging you while you... fry up owls?" She scoffed. "Okay, I don't really know what you do there, but every time you come near me, I get in trouble. Just leave me alone!"
"Alright, alright, sheesh," the human muttered, slowly backing away. "But seriously, acting like a jerk instead of doing what you love isn't a good life choice." She paused, realizing something. Sasha had rubbed off on her and changed her personality to be more like hers over the years.
Perhaps, like her, Amity also had somebody who ordered her around, making her do things she didn't want to do. But fighting back would disappoint them and possibly make them resent you. Perhaps it was her parents, but she decided not to pry into it. Deep in thought, she stormed off, and a male voice spoke to her from her right. "You gonna let her get to you like that?"
Two teenagers, one male, and one female, with green hair, golden eyes, and black eyebrows, were standing next to the edge of a bookshelf, grinning at her. Anne can immediately tell they were twin siblings since they looked so similar.
"I mean, what else am I supposed to do?" Anne asked them. "One moment she's kind to children, then the next she's cold and rude to everyone. Anyway, why do you care?"
"Don't mind Mittens," the male said, as they both walked up to her. "She's pretty much like that all the time."
"I think it's also because she hates you," the twin sister added. "We heard how you embarrassed her at the school and at the witch covention last week."
Anne raised an eyebrow. "You know each other?"
"Of course we do," he said. "We're her older siblings. I'm Edric, and this is Emira." He pointed his thumb at his twin sister.
"I knew you two were twins," Anne said, "but I didn't think you were related to Amity. Guess the green hair checks out."
"Watch this," Edric said, before calling out to Amity, "Hey, Mittens!"
Immediately, Amity's face went red with anger and embarrassment as Edric held up a pink lunch bag with a drawing of a dog on the top. "Mom says stop forgetting your lunch. And stop being a jerk to your friend."
The young witch walked up to Edric in anger, snatching the lunch bag away from him. "She is not my friend."
Anne rolled her eyes at this as Emira placed a hand on the human's shoulder, teasing Amity further. "Yeah, makes sense. She seems too cool for you."
"You can leave now!" Amity said, fed up with her annoying siblings. "All of you!" Emira laughed at this as Amity walks off.
Edric winked at Anne, who figured Amity would react like this. After seeing how the young witch was annoyed by her siblings, she was more glad than ever that she was an only child. But she did feel a little bad for Amity. Based on her reaction, her siblings did this to her a lot, and it must have put a lot of strain on her.
Still, the human couldn't help but notice how laid back they act. She found it rather relatable to her. "Well, guess I'll just go home now."
"Leaving so soon?" Emira said, raising an eyebrow. "Why not stay for a bit and come hang out with us? Me and Ed, we're way more fun."
Anne shrugged. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt. I don't have anything better to do today." She figured she had nothing to lose and hanging out with someone–wasn't a bad idea.
As she followed them through the library, Edric said something she definitely wasn't expecting. "So, you're the human we've heard so much about."
The human was immediately confused and a little alarmed at this. "Where did you hear about me? I'm not famous here, am I?"
"Well, after what happened at the covention, of course, there's gonna be talk about you," Emira told her. "You embarrassed Mittens in front of the Emperor's Coven. That's a scar that might not heal."
"Well, it was between that or dying," Anne replied, and the two siblings definitely couldn't argue with that. The three decided to play a few pranks around the library to pass the time and lighten the mood after that unfortunate confrontation.
They began by approaching a section with a sign titled, "FICTION NON-FICTION". Edric grinned as he used his hand to wipe away the "Non-" part, blurring it out like chalk on a blackboard.
Just as he did, he backed away as another librarian walked up, touring some students. "And here we go towards our nonfiction section." He looked up at the sign before gasping and having an existential crisis. "Fiction, fiction?! Is our world but fiction?! Then what in my life is real anymore?!" He broke down completely on his knees as Anne, Edric, and Emira were watching from behind a bookshelf, trying to suppress their laughter.
Later, the first librarian that Anne talked to earlier was putting a stack of books back on a bookshelf, while also reading a book himself. Little did he know, Emira was using her magic to put the book right back on the tray. The librarian was so immersed in his book; he didn't realize what was going on, as he mindlessly put the same book back onto the shelf over and over again.
Edric did something a little more mischievous and switched the places of the librarian with the second librarian, who was standing very high on a ladder. The second one didn't notice he was moved and when he grabbed a fictional story, he was briefly confused before going into a panic. "No! Not again!"
At this point, Anne's face was hurting at how much she was laughing. A few minutes later, they stood in front of the Demon Decimal System, which consisted of rows of living drawers with eyes and mouths that stored papers. Anne and Emira sat on piles of books as Edric took an old dusty novel, inhaled, and blew on it, sending a cloud of dust that engulfed the whole drawers.
This caused the drawers to sneeze, sending hundreds of pages flying everywhere and making a mess all around the room. Anne wiped a tear from her eye, laughing, realizing Amity's siblings weren't as bad as she thought. She found their chillness and personalities very endearing and a bright spot in this otherwise bleak world. They reminded her of Sasha back when they pulled pranks on their classmates. They were eventually caught and sent to the office years ago, but it was so worth it.
Unfortunately, their fun was halted when they heard a voice calling out to them from the side, yelling, "Hey!"
They turned to see the main librarian and Amity watching them, crossing their arms. The first librarian was about to scold them before realizing his partner wasn't there. "Wait, where's Gary?"
"Coming!" the second librarian said, running over and seeing the mess the three had created. Having had a long and stressful day, he broke down again. "NOO!"
Quickly, the three teenagers were forcefully pushed out of the library by the librarian. "You've made reading far too fun. Now, stay out!"
As the librarian headed back inside, the doors shut with a strange, almost squishing sound. The three paused, looking back for a moment before bursting out laughing. Getting kicked out was worth it, as they had a lot of fun and chaos inside. Emira playfully punched Anne's shoulder as they continued cracking up.
"I didn't think I'd click with you two very well, but I did! I felt like a kid again!" Anne told them excitedly. "But what about Amity? She's probably gonna kill me, hopefully not literally."
"She probably won't," Edric assured. "But watch this. When Mittens gets mad, she looks like this." He inhaled very sharply before holding his breath, straining his entire face as it turned red. His squished expression was hysterical to Anne, but he could only last so long before he exhaled and suddenly felt light-headed. "Whoa, I almost passed out."
"You're pretty fun, human," Emira told Anne, before looking back at her twin brother. The two smiled as they silently nodded at each other, and after that, Emira got close to Anne to tell her something special. "So, hey, we're coming back tonight. There's a certain book we forgot to… check out," she ominously said, as she narrowed her eyes.
Edric approached Anne as well as he added on, "And bonus, rumor has it the Wailing Star's supposed to unlock some rare magical event. You in… friend?"
Anne was beyond delighted to hear it. After many mostly forgettable and bland days, getting to make new friends and hang out with them sounded like a perfect deal to her. "Heck yeah, baby!" she agreed without a second thought.
"Great. Meet back here at midnight," Edric said as he and Emira waved at Anne as they walked down the steps, leaving the library. "See you, Anne." The human silently waved back at them before letting things sink in.
"Finally, I can relate to someone," she excitedly muttered to herself before heading down the steps as well.
Unbeknownst to her (and the twins), Amity had been silently watching everything from a pillar close to them, hidden in the shadows. Just as Edric said, she held her breath in indescribable frustration, turning her whole face red, before suddenly exhaling and crouching a bit, struggling to keep her footing for a second. "Phew! Almost passed out."
Back at the Owl House, the baby bat sat in the middle of the living room couch, crying loudly. Eda and King had long gotten tired of it, as they sat on opposite ends of the couch, trying to cover their ears as best as they could. King had pillows tied to his head while Eda had detached her hands, using them as makeshift earplugs.
"It's been hours. How can it keep screaming?!" King cried out in desperation and frustration.
"Ugh, I hate it too, pipsqueak," Eda replied as she reattached her hands back to her arms. "But think about the money," she reminded him.
Unfortunately, their financial motivation was seriously put to the test, as the baby kept on screeching very loudly, so much so that the crying started to damage stuff around the house. Three glass bottles cracked and shattered spontaneously, while the glass framing one of Eda's wanted posters on the wall began to crack.
King's patience and temper reach a boiling point as he cried out, "No amount of snails is worth this torture!" He slipped off of the couch and onto the ground. "Make it stop!" he pleaded, frantically rocking his legs in desperation.
As much as she had a huge dislike for babies, Eda realized she had to do something to try to calm the baby down. She had never exposed a caring and nurturing attitude in front of others, but anything that would stop this annoying wailing would've been beneficial–for her and King.
"I can't believe I'm about to do this," Eda resigned as she sighed, picking up the screaming baby bat, still sitting on the couch. Immediately, the baby stopped crying and looked ahead peacefully, completely having calmed down.
Skeptical about it, and really not wanting to do this, Eda began to rock the baby with her arms. "Rock, rock. Maternal gesture," she flatly and emotionlessly uttered.
Anne slammed open the door, finally coming back just in time to see Eda doing a motherly act. After seeing this, the human couldn't help but make a comment on it. "Wow, I didn't know you can actually be a good parent."
"Say that again and I steal your tongue," Eda sternly replied. Anne could tell, however, that Eda was secretly enjoying this. She decided to tease King as well. "Are you jealous, little guy?"
In response, the little demon pouted. "What do you take me for? I'm a king of demons, not some baby! Don't let my small stature fool you."
Their discussion was interrupted when the baby bat suddenly woke up and barfed out a slightly smaller baby bat, who proceeded to also barf out another baby bat. Taking care of one baby bat was already a stressful experience, but now three at once?
Anne was surprised by this and voiced concern about whether Eda and King were still able to handle this. The three bats flew up into the ceiling, and everyone was in for the shock of their life as one of them breathed fire, aiming toward the couch. Anne, Eda, and King got up and run away in panic, just before the fire completely vaporized the couch.
Immediately, the human decided to make a run for it. "Uhh… Gee, I think I forgot to return one of your books!" she quickly said, before she opened the door, ran out, and shut it, not looking back.
With Anne bailing on them, Eda and King were left to fend for themselves, now with three wild and out-of-control bat babies. The babies flew all around the house, knocking over books and busts on the shelves.
If there was one thing Eda was still fiercely protective of, it was King, as she clutched the king of demons with all her life. "Uh, for, for the money?" King asked.
Eda's shocked face disappeared as she donned a resigned and exhausted expression. "For the money," she reaffirmed, before yelping as the baby's green spit nearly hit them. She ducked out of the way before it splashed onto a wall and ruined a painting.
Later on in the evening, the sun had set already. Anne stood outside the library's entrance, standing next to a pillar. She had been waiting there for several minutes, wondering if they would even arrive.
She went through her phone, looking at her pictures. Since she was too far from the Owl House, she had no service, so she couldn't even browse social media. She went through some photos from a year ago featuring her and Sasha. As much as the two may not have had the best friendship, the human silently worried about her whereabouts or if she was even still alive.
Not wanting to get too down, she swiped to look at some memes she had saved in her camera roll. They brought her back into the mood, ready for an unforgettable night. As she smirked at a few of them, little did she know the twins had been standing behind her this whole time.
"Whatcha got there, Anne?" Edric asked her, not understanding what a phone was. "Is that what humans eat?"
Anne was slightly startled as she jerked back to see the twins smirking at her. "Oh… you've been staring at me this whole time? And no, we don't eat these. This is a phone. You use it to browse social media, look at memes, or text your friends."
"Ah! So it's like a scroll," Edric replied, walking next to her to take a closer look. "You have to hold that with your hand? Seems pretty easy to steal."
"We humans use these like, every single day. We can't imagine a world without it," the human added before remembering what they were meeting up for. "Oh, right! Can't forget. Are y'all ready to have the ride of our lives?"
"We've been ready for the past ten minutes," Emira told her. "It's just fun to watch you in pure innocent bliss."
The three walked up to the large entry doors, which were guarded by a small plaque with a lock on it. "It says no trespassing, but I'm allergic to the rules," Edric snarked as he pulled out a rolled sheet and unfurled it, handing it to Emira. The sheet was gold and featured strange yellow symbols on it, surrounded by lots of writing.
"And dairy," Emira fired back as she gripped the sheet. The sheet started to glow, the writing and shapes turning a bright white as it emitted a high humming sound.
"Wow, okay. Just expose me," Edric replied in mild surprise before Emira held out the sheet and pressed it against the lock on the giant door. The sheet glowed even more, then it began to crumble from the bottom up, disintegrating into smaller pieces.
The plaque containing the lock suddenly grew, the lock's hole having formed a makeshift entryway big enough for the three to enter. Impressed and not holding back, the three promptly walked into the giant lock and into the library, the lock shrinking back to its regular size once the three have entered completely.
Inside the closed and empty library, the three teens walked into the entry hall, the walls and everything massive compared to them. They stopped with the doors a few feet behind them as they stood and took in the sights.
"So… this is where the fun begins," Anne remarked, wondering how crazy and escalating tonight will get.
"There. The Wailing Star!" Edric alerted them as he pointed up toward a round stained glass window placed high above the entry doors. The three looked up, wondering what was to come.
A gold star emitted a rainbow trail as it flew through the night sky, its sobs echoing before fading away. Though the magical sight was heavily obscured by the window, the event captivated the teens' eyes as the reflection briefly shined on the floor beneath them.
As the wailing star flew away, the library darkened as everything sat still for a couple of seconds. "Hmm. Nothing happened," Edric remarked in slight disappointment. Anne looked around a bit before noticing the books on the shelves were all glowing green.
"Look!" The human pointed towards the glowing books as she approached one of them on the bookshelf. "Is the star radioactive or something?" she wondered as she pulled out a book titled, 'Extinct Birds of the Boiling Isles' and opened it, not expecting too much.
To her shock and surprise, a round green glow formed on the pages before a huge funnel of color shot out of the pages, as some exotic birds flew out of the book and roamed high up near the ceiling. This startled Anne, and in shock, she accidentally dropped the book onto the ground, forcing it to shut.
The birds quickly faded away from existence, their screeches stopping as well. The twins stared speechlessly for a few moments before letting it sink in. "Wow…" Edric muttered in shock and bemusement before getting more optimistic. "The Wailing Star magicked the books to life!" he excitedly shouted before looking at Emira, who both shared a grin as they now knew what to do around the library.
Edric and Emira stood in front of a magazine stand holding many magazines, all with various wide topics that could come to life in many ways. Edric grabbed a magazine titled 'Regal Couture' and held it in front of his face before opening the pages wide. He and Emira were engulfed in an aqua-green wave of magic before fading away to reveal the two were now dressed in fancy clothing. A peacock flew out of the magazine, screeching as the twins looked up at it, silently smiling.
Anne grabbed another magazine titled, 'Dana', featuring a long pink-haired woman fiercely holding an enormous sword. She quickly glanced at the twins holding the magazine to their faces before trying it on herself. Her whole body was covered with a glow before fading away, revealing Anne with a dark and elegant suit, fancy boots, and a large sword behind her back. She looked down at her chest, really impressed by her new look.
The three headed on to the Graphic Novel section, where Anne grabbed one from the shelves. As the twins looked on behind her, she opened it up, only for nothing to happen at first. As Anne said, "Guess it didn't work," a speech bubble magically floated up and rested above her face, reading out the line she had just said. The three gasped in wonder at this, with Ed and Em shouting, "Wow!" which also appeared as a speech bubble above the two. The human shut the book, popping the speech bubble with an audible pop, and a "THUMP" sound bubble popped in beside Anne and the book.
Crouching behind a bookshelf, Anne guarded a book titled, 'Snowballs: A History' like a valuable item as she spotted Edric walking in the distance, also holding a book. She smirked, ready to surprise him with some winter.
As Edric stood in a path surrounded by bookshelves, he looked behind to see Anne smugly holding the snowball book. She opened it wide; the pages facing Ed, as many snowballs suddenly fired forward like a machine gun, knocking Edric to the ground.
Ed wasn't backing down, however, as he also had a copy of the same snowball book. He playfully opened up the book and aimed it toward Anne, snowballs firing back at her. She was taken by surprise but quickly opened her book again and aimed it at him; the snowballs crashing into each other and both sides even.
As Anne walked away from Ed's line of sight, she closed the book and turned around in relief, before being startled by Emira staring right up at her face. Em held up her snowball book right in front of Anne's face as even more snowballs smacked and knocked her to the ground. Em chuckled in delight, knowing this was all just a playful game.
As Edric was chasing Emira through the main halls, launching a volley of snowballs at her, Anne hid behind a shelf in the Kid's Corner section. As she got up, she glanced at a table and spotted a familiar book resting on top of other books. Upon closer inspection, it was the Otabin The Bookmaker book that Amity was reading to the kids earlier. The book glowed green, inviting her to pick it up.
Her curiosity got the better of her and she walked over, picked it up, and opened it. A small pink bunny-looking creature manifested itself, holding a large needle that was tied to a ball of green yarn. Upon seeing the human, it tilted its head curiously and raised its eyebrows.
Huh, so this little guy is Otabin, Anne thought, as she smiled, finding it to be cute and endearing.
The bat babies were causing mayhem all around the inside of the Owl House, as they carelessly did irresponsible actions such as carrying a potion bottle in the air, letting its contents spill onto the ground, and hopping around in one of Eda's pairs of shoes. The bat babies played around as they happily cooed.
Eda and King were huddled up and hiding underneath a turned-over couch, Eda crouching and looking up to see what was happening, and King lying face down on the carpet, still covering his ears with pillows. At least they didn't have to deal with the babies' crying anymore.
"What silences children?" King asked in desperation, before coming up with an interesting, clever, and daring idea. "What if we invent a TV network for ages six to eleven?" he suggested.
Realizing King's idea was just too stupid and meta to work, Eda shut him down without a second thought. "That's insane," the witch responded, before realizing she had one option left. "Ahh, there's only one way out of this." She sighed, looking tired.
She reached into her huge bushy hair and pulled out a small sharp knife. She pressed a button to extend the blade as she developed a mischievous smirk on her face.
King gasped as his pupils contract, realizing Eda's plans would get dark way too fast. He hoped she hadn't forgotten about the money and not to mention if the Bat Queen found out…
Luckily for him, the Owl Lady's heart was in the right place (for now) as she lowered her knife to cut an apple laying on the ground. "Apple slices and story-time!" the witch cheerfully explained as she held up an Otabin book with her other hand. King quietly sighed in relief.
"Alright brats, let's do this." Eda invited the babies as she sat on the couch, with her opened book in her hands. She had gotten a bit used to nurturing and looking after these babies. But despite this, she just felt a bit of embarrassment, as this was something she had almost never done, not even with King. "Ugh, being parental is making me sick," she muttered, expressing her thoughts.
Not knowing what Eda's words mean, the three bat babies innocently sat in front of the couch as they looked up to hear the story. King followed them and sat behind them, holding the plate of apple slices. Hearing his guardian read aloud a children's book was pure bliss to him as his pupils dilated, fully fixed on hearing this story.
Eda began reading. "Otabin spent his days alone amongst the many books he'd sown. With needle and thread…"
"... the pages he'd mend," Anne continued reading in the library, coincidentally at the same time as Eda. "But all the while he longed for a friend."
Otabin threaded a needle as it stood on the open book before looking up at her with a smile. "Friend?"
Before Anne could reply, Edric called out to her from the Kid's Corner. "Anne, check this out!"
He and Em walked through the doorway, with the latter holding a book titled, 'Quacks Eats Snacks', clearly a book meant for young children. "Look what we discovered," Emira told her as she opened the book, showing her a basic drawing of a duck swimming over to eat an apple hanging from a branch. The only words on the page were "Quack sees an apple".
Not even a second later, the tiny duck itself flew out of the page, quacking as it gleefully glided along the floor without a care in the world. Anne stared at it blankly before looking at the siblings. "A duck from a children's book?"
"Not just that," Ed added, as Em, with a pencil, drew a pair of buff legs below the duck on the page. The legs didn't mesh at all with the simple art style of the book, but it worked and the duck in the real world gained huge buff legs as well. It looked down in confusion before hysterically quacking and screeching. "Now he's extra cute."
The siblings laughed as they close the book. "Your turn, Anne," Emira said before Anne. Despite not usually liking to do illegal activities such as this, she couldn't help herself. She found the buff legs and the duck's reaction hysterical.
Anne took the pencil with a smile before opening the Otabin book. She was about to draw something goofy, but she then had another idea. If the Wailing Star brought all these books and drawings to life, could she use the magic to find her friends?
Under Otabin, she began drawing a device to the best of her ability. She didn't regularly draw, so it was kind of messy, but she did her best. The device looked like a rectangular box with a big antenna on it. On it, she wrote, 'Sasha Waybright and Marcy Wu Tracker'. Anne felt kind of stupid for doing this, but she was that desperate to find her friends at this point.
As soon as she finished, the device manifested on the floor, and it started making pinging noises. The twins looked at her with confused expressions as she pressed a button, slowly walking around to see if she could find a signal.
"Is it a good time to ask what the heck that is?" Edric asked, not understanding what she was doing. After walking around for a minute, the locator shut off. In response, Anne sighed, really having hoped this would at least point her in the right direction. "Just a device to find my friends. I've been separated from them for a while now."
"Gee, buzzkill, much?" Ed muttered as he took the pencil and grabbed the book, before crudely drawing an angry expression on Otabin's face next to a flame. It seemed harmless at first until something started trying to get out of the book.
Seeing this, Anne immediately shut the book. "Yeah, I don't want to deal with whatever you just created."
Emira shrugged before taking her arm. "Whatever. We didn't come here just to doodle. Come on." She yanked on Anne, making her stumble and drop the open book face down on the floor. As they headed back to the Kid's Corner, a large claw reached out of the book, followed by a growl, signaling something bad was going to happen.
They headed to the romance section, which was filled with books related to it. Upon seeing this, Anne leaned in and read some of the book labels. "Wow, are you two that desperate that you're drawing the loves of your life?"
Edric stared at her blankly while Emira suppressed a chuckle. Deciding to change the subject, Ed pulled a specific book out of the far right off the shelf before putting it back in the same spot. A click was heard both times, suggesting there was more to this shelf than it seemed.
Edric's action triggered a secret door as the shelf slid open, revealing a decently sized room with wooden walls and a slanted ceiling. Bookshelves adorned the opposite walls while a desk lay in the center, with some books and a candle on it. It resembled a quiet place for an individual to study and relax. "Huh, this is actually a pretty nice place," Anne admitted, walking in to take in her surroundings. "You guys have it pretty good in here."
In the corner of her eye, she saw a Great Witch Azura book on the shelf. She paused, wondering why it looks so familiar. Then it hit her. Marcy read these books a while back and liked them, but still went on a rant about how Cynthia Coven was arguably better. She didn't really pay attention to her rambling, but thinking about it made her feel a little sad.
"We don't hang out in a library," Ed stated, before mockingly joking, "Uh, teacher! I'm in love with a dictionary!"
"I'm studying the dork arts," Emira added sarcastically, before informing the human, "This is Amity's secret hideaway." Edric grinned as he gave two thumbs up to Anne.
Immediately, Anne's smile dropped, hoping this isn't what she thinks it was going to be.
"Mittens has gotten too… full of herself," Edric explained. "She keeps tattling on us when we cut class."
"She needs to learn not to mess with people like that," Emira added. "So we're going to find her diary…"
"And then post the pages all around school for everyone to see," Ed finished, before they laugh, thinking this was a good idea.
Immediately, Anne backed away from them. "You guys aren't serious, right? Humiliating your sister and making her hate you? Is that really what you want?"
"No, see, we're her family," Emira said, trying to justify their actions. "It's tough love. She needs to learn to lighten up."
"By invading her privacy?" Anne felt her rage boiling over. She and Amity may not have been friends, but there was no justification for leaking a diary. "I don't believe this. I thought you were cool. You're both just destructive attention seekers. Nothing more."
"You see how she treats people, and how she treats you," Edric said, as their smiles faded, realizing Anne might've not have been in on their idea.
"And I wonder why!" Anne yelled, surprising him. "Maybe the reason she's like that is that you two always pick on her and embarrass her! You're gonna expose her secrets just because she told on you?! You're so petty!"
In all her anger, she never realized that Emira had walked out of her line of sight until she heard a voice from behind her saying, "Found it!"
The human turned around to see her holding the diary. "Come on, it's not like it's going to ruin her life. I mean, it can't get much worse after the covention, right?"
Anne immediately snapped, as she lunged forward and shoved her into the bookshelf, knocking her over and making her gasp. "What are you doing?!"
The human snatched the diary, backing away from both of them. "You two don't care, do you? You don't care about your own sister's feelings and reputation. You've reached a new low."
The siblings at this point have completely dropped their act, especially Emira. Edric walked forward, drawing a spell circle threateningly. "Yeah, I don't appreciate you doing that to my sis."
"Oh, so Em's the only one you care about?!" Anne ground her teeth. "Whatever. I'm done with you two. You aren't going to get her diary, even if I have to fight you both."
Behind her, she heard a familiar voice she wasn't expecting to be there at that time. "What's going on here?!"
Anne turned around to see Amity with an expression of anger and confusion, and her face was red. Without saying another word, she tossed the diary to the young witch, who caught it, surprised. "What's my diary doing out?"
"Never mind that," Anne replied, walking forward toward the siblings. "I think your siblings need some 'tough love'."
The two siblings felt a chill in the air as they remembered that Anne was able to overpower Amity, who had a power glyph and a giant abomination. They knew that if she had a power glyph on her, they wouldn't get far.
"Yeah, I think we're just gonna… leave…" Emira smiled nervously, before they dashed out of the secret room, past Amity, who just stared at the human in shock. She had never seen her siblings react to anything in this way. She wasn't stupid, though, and could piece two and two together. "Were they trying to get my diary?"
Anne took a deep breath, sitting down on the desk chair, and calmed herself down. "Yeah, they were going to leak it all around the school. I put them in their place."
It shocked the young witch that she would do that for her, considering how she had treated her. She definitely would've expected Anne to be the type of person to pull stunts like this, but she was mistaken. Knowing she had to express gratitude, she swallowed her pride. "I… Thanks for that."
"Yeah, it's nothing," Anne muttered. Just when she thought she finally found people like her, they turned out to be jerks. "I don't get it. If even the Wailing Star can't help me find Sasha and Marcy, what will?"
Before Amity could reply, they heard loud thuds getting closer to them. Anne got up, thinking the siblings were back, maybe to get revenge on her.
Instead, it was something much worse. A giant pink figure stepped in front of the secret room before leaning down and peering at them. Amity's eyes widened when she saw it. "... Otabin?"
The creature was giant and heavily mutated, with glowing eyes, and only vaguely resembled the Otabin Amity knew and loved. Its heart pulsated, the original book with Edric's scribbles forming a part of it.
"Your siblings are idiots," the human muttered.
"I know."
"With claws and fangs and breaking bones, I found a friend to make my own!" the creature said in a deep monstrous voice before reaching out and grabbing Amity, who screamed in terror as she dropped the diary onto the ground. "Anne!" she cries out.
"Amity!" Anne screamed in return as the creature walked far into the distance, disappearing into the shadows of a distant room. She looked down to see the diary that Amity dropped, glowing green, which could only mean one thing.
The creature brought Amity to the Kid's Corner and slammed her against a giant open book with blank pages. The witch girl gasped as she was firmly held against the book with the creature's right arm. With its left arm, it grabbed a huge needle threaded with a giant ball of green glowing string and aimed it toward Amity's body.
She braced as she shut her eyes, only to open them to see the creature sticking the thread into the book, wrapping around her right arm. With a smile, it pulled back the needle to sew Amity's right arm onto the book, flattening and changing its appearance. She gasped and turns toward the giant creature.
"Why are you doing this? I've been reading you since I was a kid. I know you're not like this. Someone changed you!" she asked in fear and desperation.
The creature innocently replied, "But friends are what I've always sought. And now a friend my claws have caught."
A boom of lightning suddenly startled the two, before a familiar figure dramatically landed down in front of the two and the book. Amity stared ahead in shock before she saw Anne proudly standing and wearing a vastly different outfit. She was wearing gold-plated armor on top of a blue and silver skirt. She was holding a blue book with an illustration of the main character on the front, wearing similar armor to her. She grabbed a pencil and drew in it before pulling out a large, glowing yellow tennis racket.
The young witch watched in awe, thinking the human could have a chance against this monstrous version of Otabin.
Anne cracked her knuckles, setting the book face down and getting into a stance. "Now it's game on."
She charged forward, leaping high in the air and swinging her weapon at Otabin. "Here's the serve!"
It landed and made the monster grunt and stumble back. The human didn't expect it to still be standing, but it wasn't her primary focus, anyway. Right as Otabin was distracted, she lept toward Amity, going up to the giant book where she was tied up and trying to pull on the thread, keeping her trapped. "Come on!"
Right when the thread was about to snap, Otabin growled and grabbed Anne from behind, surprising her. She let her guard down for a moment, which was a huge mistake. The beast shoved her against the page next to Amity's, pulling out its thread, ready to tie her down as well.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Anne yelled as she reached into her pocket and tapped the power glyph, activating it. Immediately, she felt a surge in strength as she pushed herself out of Otabin's grip, angering it. It went to grab her again, but she swung the tennis racket at it, directly hitting its face and sending it spiraling into a bookshelf.
Taking this chance to flee, the human was easily able to free Amity's arm, as she grabbed her arm and pulled her behind a bookshelf.
When the monster recovered, it gets up, glaring at them with its glowing blue eyes. "We must stay friends until the end. There is no tear I cannot mend," it said in a deep voice.
"Yeah, sorry, buddy, but that's not what friendship's about," Anne replied, as she was about to charge forward and knock it out, but Amity placed a hand on her shoulder. "Wait, Anne!"
The human turned back, confused, since the monster was approaching them. "What are you doing? I'm gonna beat him!"
"Please don't hurt him," the young witch pleaded. "This isn't what he is. Something's wrong with the book."
Anne paused before looking at the monster's chest, seeing the vandalized book on it. "Right… Your siblings are so gonna get it. How are we gonna fix that, though?"
Just then, Otabin went to snatch them, and Anne grabbed Amity, leaping out of the way. "Think of something!"
"I know!" Amity said as she grabbed a big book from the bookshelf and opened it, grabbing a pencil and writing the words, "Anne has to write a wrong."
Immediately, a giant magic eraser manifested itself out of the book, and Anne understood what she had to do. Quickly grabbing it, she motioned for Amity to stand back as she charged forward. The creature now realized it had to use more brute force to get Anne into the book, so it went to punch her to subdue her, but she was able to dodge it.
Now having an opening, she jumped and hung on its other arm with one hand while holding the magic eraser with her other arm. She quickly erased the angry face doodle on Otabin's illustration, and as soon as she did, the monster immediately poofed back into the regular, tiny Otabin.
She caught the small rabbit and set him down, with Amity walking up to him, smiling while picking him up. She knew that none of this was his fault in the first place.
"I'm so sorry," Otabin muttered, "I don't know what came over me."
"Hey, it's okay," Amity replied. "We're still friends." She then nodded at Anne, who closed the book, making the small rabbit fade away. At last, this long and exhilarating night was over.
As they walked through the front doors, heading outside to where the sun was rising. Considering it's already morning, Anne was definitely there a lot longer than she thought she was.
Amity remained silent as she walked past her, feeling embarrassed after everything that had happened. Seeing this, Anne decided to speak up. "You know, you don't have to close yourself off from everyone. Your siblings are just jerks. Don't let them get to you."
After she said this, the young witch stopped in her tracks before glancing back at her. "Thanks, but… it's not just Ed and Em. You wouldn't understand." She paused before sighing. "Look, I know I haven't exactly been the friendliest witch to you, but even then, you stopped something that could've been catastrophic, so thank you."
"I also saw those Azura books on your shelf," Anne said, making the young witch's eyes widen. "I'm guessing you're a fan of them, like my friend Marcy is."
"Good luck with finding your friend," Amity muttered, before walking off.
As she left, Anne couldn't help but wonder what she meant about the first thing she said about her siblings, but she decided to just leave it be for now. When Amity wasn't a jerk, she was actually a decent person in her eyes.
Anne headed back into the Owl House and opened the door, wondering inside how King and Eda have handled those three wild babies. "Aaand, I'm back. Hope you two didn't die from trying to…" she began before stopping as she saw something unimaginable, yet so wholesome to her.
Eda and King were peacefully sleeping on a couch as Eda cradled the three bat babies in her arms. The three of them all snored together, the bat babies cooing, none of them noticing or hearing Anne enter the house.
Anne stared at them with wonder and a surprisingly huge heart. She didn't know Eda had such a soft and nurturing side to her and seeing King sleep with them too just made her feel so sweet and valued in life. All this time, she'd figured Eda to be cold and heartless, but she had completely misjudged her.
Watching them sleep together made her realize that the witch wasn't so bad after all. As she looked at them for a couple more seconds, the door burst open, Hooty loudly screaming, "Ding dong!" Anne was not amused. "You b-!"
Turns out, Hooty opened the door because a special guest had come to visit. A massive woman's head appeared and began to enter the house. She had pale skin and long, long black hair, freaking Anne out at first. She would recognize this right out of an early 2000s horror movie, but given she had come at the same time the bat babies were inside, she assumed she was the Bat Queen.
"Uhhhhhh," Anne muttered in shock, caught off guard by this gigantic figure before recomposing herself. "I guess you're the Bat Queen?"
"Yi Yi. Bat Queen is I. And I is Mama," the strange huge head introduced as she extended her wings, also serving as arms, before whistling to get her babies' attention.
The babies heard this and wake up, flying from Eda's arms and into the Bat Queen's hair, the Owl Lady and King still asleep all the while. The babies settled into the Bat Queen's hair as they were finally reunited with their mother, before peeking out with glowing eyes.
"Ah, snuggle dumplings," the bat queen cooed, happy that Eda and King successfully took care of them. As a reward, she slightly leaned back before throwing up a large treasure chest onto the floor, partially covered with spit. Anne instinctively jerked back in disgust and surprise but was soon filled with a different kind of surprise.
The chest flipped open to reveal many snails shining and glowing in all their financial power. The Bat Queen also spit out a skull-shaped whistle, which landed on the open chest, topping off an already handsome reward.
"For troubles. Eda is owed one," she happily told Anne before departing. She turned back toward the door and, despite a tight squeeze, made it out before flying off into the sky. As the human looked out beyond, she shut the door, really happy about pretty much all the last two minutes.
Not long after, Eda began to wake up, still talking to the babies in a half-asleep state. "Ah, sweet babies…" As her eyes opened, she quickly realized the bat babies were gone, and her maternal instincts kicked in. "Babies? Where are the babies?" she asked as she snapped into full awareness and got up. This also woke King up as well and he stared ahead in shock.
"Well…. the Bat Queen came in and took them away," Anne told them, having to admit one thing on her mind. "She was kinda freaky but… something's just so sweet about her."
Eda moaned in sadness and sorrow. "Oh…" She never thought she would ever develop an attachment to those strange babies, but over those few hours realized she worked as a great mother, too. "I just taught Junior how to pick locks, too," she admitted. There was just something so satisfying about being a unique and clever parent, and the witch had quite a bit of fun with that.
"Well, he's gonna be a great lock picker when he grows up," the human assured her. "And all that money she dropped off, and you being a great parent and getting paid… Aren't you happy?"
"Yeah," Eda answered, though her tone and body language suggested otherwise, and she solemnly stared at the ground. "We did it all for the money."
"I miss my babies!" King cried out before sobbing as he hugged the Owl Lady, also having grown an enormous heart that day from the parenting experience.
"Well, other than that, how was your night?" Eda asked her, and Anne groaned. "I don't even know where to start. An entire rollercoaster of surprises, to sum things up."
The witch snorted at this. "Yeah, story of my life." Just then, the front door opened as Hooty decides to join in on the conversation. "Hey! You wanna hear about my night?"
"No!" Anne and Eda immediately yelled, with King adding, "That's not a thing anyone ever wants!"
Meanwhile, over at a large hill surrounded by lots of trees, a large pink manor stood behind a gate, decorated in purple stone and topped with brown roofs and stained glass windows. The gate read, 'BLIGHT MANOR', which implied this was where Amity and her family lived.
Inside, Amity walked into the hall near her room. In the corner of her eye, she saw Edric and Emira peeking at her, wondering how she was going to react to the whole situation. She didn't even bother acknowledging them, as she wanted nothing to do with her siblings. The young witch sighed, entered her room, and locked the door. She plopped down on her bed, not knowing how to feel about the whole situation.
Anne embarrassed her at school and the covention and had resented her for a while now. After tonight, though, she didn't know how to feel. Anne had stood up for her against Edric and Emira, even threatening to fight them. She also saved her from being turned into an illustration in Otabin's book.
For now, she would tolerate the human, maybe give her a second chance. Maybe she wasn't as bad as she thought she was.
To Be Continued in Chapter Fifteen
Thank you for reading this chapter! My co-writer (Rob) and I plan to start creating audiobooks for the chapters pretty soon using narration, lines from the show, and custom lines with a bit of music in the background. If you're interested, please check the notes for the link to the channel.
Also, special thanks to the artists for the fantastic artwork created for this chapter! Please be sure to support them!
~ Scruffy