Previously on Calamitous Intervention
Bored on a day like any other, Anne decided to head to the library, where she met Amity again. The witch wasn't pleased to see her and didn't want to talk to her. Her siblings, Edric and Emira, teased her and hung out with Anne, planning to come back later for the Wailing Star event that night, so they did. The three of them had lots of fun, but Anne was against them leaking Amity's diary and even threatened to get physical with it, scaring them off. Amity witnessed the whole thing but doesn't know how to feel about it.
Chapter Sixteen - Once Upon A Swap
Over at Eda's Human Collectibles stand, King stood on the table with no one around to see him. Wanting to pass the time, he jumped several times, trying to reach some flags that were strung high above the stand. He grunted as he narrowly missed, but not before falling down to the ground and crashing into a chest.
"Stupid flag!" he vented as he pointed toward the flags strung high above him, not caring about a sock stuck to his face. Anne peeked out from behind the curtains, seeing King on the ground. She laughed before picking him up and taking the sock off. "Careful, you're gonna get yourself hurt."
In response, he crossed his arms, looking away and trying not to show embarrassment. "The King of Demons will do whatever he pleases!"
Anne tapped her chin, setting him back down. "Well, maybe you should dress in some of those old clothes to attract more attention. I'm sure the King of Demons has a great fashion sense, too, right?"
"Of course, I do! I'll show you!" He grunted as he opened the chest, but Anne's mood quickly changed when she saw a familiar three-eyed girl show up next to two other students. Her face dropped. Because the last time she had spoken to her, it wasn't pretty.
"Well, well, well, look who it is. The twig-limbed human," Boscha teased. Behind her were two other witches–Skara and a random blond Oracle track student.
In response, Anne rolled her eyes. "Okay, get to the point. What do you want?"
"Oh, nothing much," Boscha replied, as she twirled her finger, using a spell to summon her scroll. "I'm just here to take an ironic Penstagram next to your weird human garbage stand." She took a selfie framing her and an unamused Anne below the 'Human Collectibles' stand.
She snapped a few more pictures of the stand as the human stuck her tongue out in response. "Are you gonna buy something, or should I make you leave?"
Her threats didn't intimidate Boscha one bit, who smirked at her. "What are you going to do? Spit your human venom on me?"
This surprised King, as he thought humans didn't have any of those abilities. "You have venom? Quick, Anne! Start melting faces!"
"I don't have venom, but I can make you melt," Anne said, and King rubbed his hands together, finding this entertaining. "Well said, but I'll show you how it's really done!"
He grunted, jumping onto the table to handle matters himself. He stood up, shaking his fist at the teens. "You will tremble before me!" he shouted dramatically, hoping to scare them.
The teens stared silently for a moment before Boscha cooed at the sight of him, finding him adorable. She reached over and picked him up, much to the dismay of both him and Anne. "He's so cute!"
"Weh!" King tried to wiggle out of her grasp, shoving her face while she took selfies of them and put over-the-top flowery filters on them. The photos didn't really make King any cuter.
Anne watched in silence before reaching over and yanking King from Boscha's grasp. "Don't touch him with your filthy hands!"
In response, Boscha scowled at her. "Well, I was gonna be nice and buy him, but I don't think you should own him, so I'll just take him instead."
Anne set the little demon down, who hid behind her. "Yeah, like I'm gonna let that happen."
As a fight was brewing up, Eda peeked from behind the curtains, sniffing the air. "I smell an easy mark." She hopped out behind the curtain, making all three teens recoil as the witch landed in front of them, smiling. "Hey, kid! Can I offer you the latest fashions from…" She drew a spell circle, creating a puff of yellow smoke that parted to reveal her in ridiculous attire. "... the Human Realm?"
The three stared at her before bursting out laughing. "Yeah, no," Boscha simply replied, walking off with the other two.
"Well…" Eda poofed back into her regular clothes, crossing her arms. "I hate her."
"Yep, she's just rotten," Anne agreed. "Glad they're gone now."
"I'm not surprised, considering they're from Hexside," the witch muttered. "Just a basket of deplorables."
"They're literally everywhere," Anne groaned. "Why are so many people here like this?"
"It's all thanks to the current system," Eda explained. "This whole coven system is nothing but a sham. It's been this way for as long as I can remember. I've been on the run for most of my life from the Emperor's Coven."
"For the most wanted witch here, you don't get that many visitors," the human noted. "It's gotten pretty boring around here."
"And it should stay that way," Eda said. "I don't want to deal with the coven guards every second I'm here. Gotta make a living somehow."
"Okay, sure, but can't we do something better than this?" Anne replied. "There's literally nothing to do around here!"
"Well, if you're that bored, I guess there's one thing we can do," Eda told her, starting to have an interesting idea that could potentially end in disaster, but still worth trying.
"A fight to the death?" King guessed, unsurprisingly.
"Pfft, no," Eda replied, eagerly swinging her arms toward her face and making finger gun gestures on each hand in a V shape. "Body swap!"
They stared at her blankly, with King trying to find a way out of this. "Are you sure you don't shoot venom?" he asks Anne.
"I love a good body swap," Eda continued. "It's like demonic possession with the ones you love."
"I'm seeing a lot of red flags in this plan," Anne said, "but I guess it could be interesting. How long will it last?"
"As long as I want it to," the witch replied, before raising her staff and spinning it. "Body Swap!" Anne gasped as a column of magic engulfed them, creating a wave of smoke.
As the gold glow and smoke cleared away, Anne was curious how this spell works, and if it worked, who she swapped bodies with. "Nothing seems different, I still sound the same…" she flatly muttered before spotting a person-sized mirror neatly perched on the side of Eda's stand. She walked over to see her reflection and, to her amazement, she was in Eda's body now! The only thing different about her was her eyes, but otherwise, she looked identical to the clever, cunning witch.
"Holy crap, it worked!" the human-as-a-witch shouted in excitement, looking down. "I'm super tall! And quite plump too!" she finished as she looked back at her own reflection, a devious smile forming on her face.
Another figure walked up and approached the mirror, standing next to Anne. She was surprised to see herself, except… quite different. Her human eyes instead had King's glowing yellow and purple eyes, and her hairstyle was much shorter and less fluffy. She quickly concluded that King was swapped into her own body. Her head began to spin, trying to comprehend all this, but quickly latched on.
"Whoa! It's me… but also not," Anne said in part surprise, part confusion.
"Yeah, it is. I'm the human now!" the King-as-a-human responded. "Bow before my massive, meaty hands!" he boasted as he looked down at his now five-fingered hands. As he moved his fingers around, he was impressed with how much freedom it gave him compared to his tiny paws.
"So I'm Eda, you're me, and Eda's…" Anne tried to keep up before gradually realizing that there was no other body Eda could've been in but…
The two looked over to the table to see the last bit of smoke clear away. They saw no sign of familiar old Eda, but instead, they saw a slightly different-looking King, which took the King of Demons himself for a slight shock.
Eda posed in King's body, looking pretty much identical to the real King, except her eyes replaced King's yellow glowing eyes, and her gold tooth also showed through one of King's teeth. "How do I look?" the witch-as-a-king-of-demons asked them.
"I've got some… very confusing emotions right now," King muttered in shock, thrust into an unfamiliar and uncomfortable scenario while Anne flatly looked at him.
Eda stood on the table, looking at Anne and King, needing to do so thanks to King's body being much shorter as she debriefed them. "Alright, here's the deal. We all gotta try to live as best as we can in our new bodies."
Anne tried her best not to giggle or comment, not being able to take Eda looking like King seriously. Deep inside, though, she was pretty excited to see what living as an adult woman was like, as well as being able to do magic. Her thoughts were cut short when King replied to Eda.
"This shall be a day to remember!" he declared. "Life as a teen is a tyrant's dream!" He turned toward Anne as he continued. "By the end of the day, I'll be ruling over your feeble demographic!"
"I've got everything pretty much set for me, I got magic, I'm an adult, I can fly anywhere… I could disappear for days or weeks and you won't be able to do anything about it!" Anne teased them, confident she can handle this.
"Ha! That's cute," Eda remarked as she hopped off the table and onto the ground, beginning to walk away from the stand. "If you need me, I'll be getting pampered on a vacation fit for a king!"
King screamed out, "My life's not a joke!" as he angrily pointed toward Eda, who smugly walked away in his former body. Seeing Anne out of his eye, he smiled as his playful side took over. "But yours is! Bap!" He poked Anne's nose, knowing he could never do that if Eda was in her own body. He ran away, chuckling in his own little voice.
Eda's Catastrophe
Eda walked through the town, her small paws walking through the stone floor, and her tail gently swaying back and forth. She picked up a red pair of sunglasses and put them on, perfectly fitting her new smaller body. She glanced to the side, observing the demon world from a whole new (and lower) perspective.
She felt pretty relaxed yet also surreal, never thinking that she, a grown adult witch, would end up in the body of the little demon she had looked after all these years. Same little body, totally different personality.
Wanting to take a bit of a breather after many years of being feared and a pariah in the isles, she headed out into one of the most crowded streets in Bonesborough. She wouldn't have even thought of doing this as her normal witch self, but since she was King and no one would (probably) realize, she just strolled on without a care in the world.
As she walked, she heard random people compliment her look, which she greeted back by waving at them and lowering her glasses seductively. She wasn't really concerned about getting trampled on or judged, despite her size. She just wanted to live in the moment. Her carefree trip quickly came to a halt as she heard something she hoped didn't have to do with her status as a witch.
"Stop right there!" a growling, deep voice interrupted, making Eda freeze. She turned around to see a masked large guard staring at her from a distance, standing next to a bizarre four-headed pink dog.
"An emperor's guard," she said in concern, concerned she had been caught even under quite the disguise.
The dog sniffed and growled for a bit as the guard continued. "Thought you could get away with it, didn't you?"
"Wait, you know who I am?" Eda responded with worry, hoping her voice didn't give away her identity.
"Of course I do," the guard seemingly confirmed. "You're…" he paused in ominous suspense before concluding, "the cutest little angel I've ever seen!" in a more delighted tone.
"Who wants a lolly?" the guard offered as held out a pink lollipop in front of Eda. She was slightly taken aback by this, not amused with the guard playing games or toying with her emotions, but shrugged it off and accepted the lolly, tossing away her sunglasses as she does so.
"Hey, free stuff. I'm not complaining," she quipped as she walked away from them with her new sweet gift, impressed with how her body-swapped adventure was going so far.
"Being King is a walk in the park," she said, having expected this outcome. "I'm gonna win this bet for sure."
She stopped in front of two old ladies looking down at her. "Weh?" She looked up, immediately on guard, as one of the old ladies cooed at the sight of her. "Oh, Dottie! Look at this lost little dumpling!"
"What's that?" Eda replied, and without warning, the old lady picked her up. The little demon tried to wiggle her way out of her grasp, wishing she had longer limbs. "Hey! I'm not lost, you creeps!"
"Poor baby," the old lady muttered, acting sympathetic. "Do you need us to make you a delicious meal?"
"Yeah, I don't feel like getting kidnapped today," Eda simply replied, before opening her jaw and biting her hand. The old lady shrieked and dropped her, and she took this moment to run as fast as her little stubby legs could go.
"Get back here!" the lady yelled, but the little demon was able to lose her quickly. "This is why I never trust the elderly."
Avoiding that whole situation, she continued walking through Bonesborough, thinking of what she should do in her new body. Her movement was a lot more limited, and King didn't have magic, as far as she was concerned. She had got to pass the time somehow in this new form.
An interesting idea then crossed her mind. Since people always liked to call King adorable and fawn over him, maybe she could use that to her advantage. She found an old hat and sat on the side of the street, placing the hat upside down.
A few passersby stopped when they saw her, and she took a deep breath. "Alright, just act like King and I'll be set."
She opened her eyes and looked up at the civilians, giving them the cutest expression she can muster. "You will... Err… bow before me, the king of demons! I will destroy you if you don't give me your hard-earned snails! Weh!"
Surely the civilians aren't that gullible, she thought to herself. Her plan did work though, and many passersby fawned over her cuteness while throwing some snails in the old hat.
Her jaw dropped as she watched the hat quickly being filled up, before smirking (to the best of her ability). "I should've had King do this years ago. I'm gonna be rich!"
She managed to push an empty barrel over and did more cute actions, making empty threats to people and giving them puppy eyes, while also making adorable poses. Once the barrel was half full, she was tired of doing this already, but she did make some profit from it.
Before she was about to wrap things up, a familiar figure much taller than her passed by, making her freeze in place. Her sister Lilith was walking through the street, heading to some place in the market.
The witch stopped, noticing Eda making cute expressions. "What's this? Eda's little pet? What are you doing out here?"
Sweat went down the little demon's face, worried her features would reveal her identity to the coven leader. "Uh, that's right. I was, uh… waiting for the human to return! Weh!"
"Is that so…" Lilith narrowed her eyes at Eda, taking a closer look. "And where is Edalyn now, exactly?"
"Oh, you know, just, err… scam- I mean- selling human stuff as usual," the little demon lied.
"It seems you've taken after Eda in terms of fashion, too," Lilith added, making the little demon freeze in place. Luckily, the witch didn't suspect anything. "Well, good luck with your… little charity there, dog."
She walked off, and Eda let out a sigh of relief. Thank Titan her sister could be oblivious when she needed her to be. She hid the barrel full of cash alongside the others to grab later and wandered off.
She yawned, her body already feeling a little tired out. No wonder King slept a lot. Upon walking for a bit, she stumbled upon the slayground. It had a bit of activity in it and seemed rather peaceful, so she decided to hang out there and relax a bit. This was something she wouldn't dare to do in her regular witch form, but she found it could be interesting to be a kid again.
She climbed up the slide and stood on top of it, observing the surrounding scenery. Eda felt strangely nostalgic being in a place like this again. She sat down and took a deep breath, feeling more peaceful than she had in a long time. No curse to worry about, no running away from the guards. If only she had this kind of life.
Unfortunately, just like every other day, there was always something that had to ruin the flow. She heard the voice of a little kid behind her. Upon turning around, she could see a young witch with dark skin, red hair, golden eyes, and snot dripping from his nose.
She instinctively recoiled at this, finding it gross. The kid babbled some incoherent nonsense before saying, "This isn't for sitting, it's for sliding. You try." Without warning, he shoved her down the slide, making her topple onto the ground. "Ow!"
Eda got up and brushed herself off while groaning. "Hey! Snot-nosed brat! What's the big deal? I'm trying to have a peaceful moment here!"
The child didn't listen, sliding down before approaching her. "You wanna play tag? I go first."
She took a deep breath, muttering to herself, "It's just a kid. Get over yourself, Owl Lady." Before she opened her eyes, the young witch shoved her to the ground. "Tag, you're it!" He giggled, running off.
After this, she completely lost her temper. "Alright, brat, now you're gonna get it!" She raised her finger, trying to draw a spell circle, but nothing happened. "Oh, dang. I'm not a witch right now…"
She brushed this off, chasing after him. Luckily, he wasn't difficult to catch as she latched onto him, surprising him. "Take this! Nyeh!" she winded back her paw and pathetically slapped him on the face, which didn't really do anything.
Despite this, the kid started to cry, and Eda immediately regretted what she had just did. Great, now she was gonna get in trouble. "Uh oh."
Sure enough, his parents did come over, angry at Eda. She just sat there with a blank expression as they scolded her for hitting their child, but their words just went into one ear and out the other. She couldn't care less about what they had to say to her.
Unfortunately, what happened next was out of her control. They picked her up and sat her next to their kid, demanding she apologized and played with him. She groaned at this, wishing she'd just gone with those sketchy old ladies. Anything was better than this.
She played tag with him, which mostly consisted of her being shoved to the ground every time she was "it". The more she played these games, the more she was dying inside. She'd almost rather listen to Hooty's rambling than deal with this spoiled brat. One day, she was gonna get payback on this family.
King's Brush With Death
Meanwhile, King was having a blast in his new body. He lept up, finally able to tear a flag down from a hanging decoration. "Not so high and mighty anymore!" He threw the flag before pumping his arms in the air. "I feel so alive!"
Not being used to Anne's body, he lost his balance and toppled backward, falling into a trash can, making it fall over as well. He grunted, trying to wiggle his way out, when a water balloon suddenly splattered on the ground next to him.
It seemed like an ordinary water balloon until it sprouted tentacles and growled, becoming a huge monstrous threat. "Oh, no!" He quickly got up, backing away as he avoided a large tentacle that swung in his direction. "The flag… It seeks revenge!" he cried, hands over his head.
He looked behind to see two young witches standing on an enormous cliff from afar, laughing and throwing more water balloons onto the streets below, which sprouted more tentacles that wreaked havoc upon unsuspecting civilians.
One picked up a yellow-horned demon, who desperately tried to find a way out of this situation. "Help me! I'm a delicate man!"
King squinted, seeing the two witches on top of the cliff. "Teenagers…" Curious, he crawled up the cliff using his nimble body, sniffing the air. He headed toward them, crawling and grunting in a not-so-human manner.
Upon closer inspection, the two young witches were right outside a small wooden house with some signs tied to the front labeling, "Treasure Shack".
"Hey! Take this, society!" a four-eyed teal demon yelled, pulling out another water balloon and accidentally crushing it in his hand, spraying water all over him. "Oh, no…"
His partner in crime, Skara, backed away as a large tentacle erupted from the ground, grabbing the student.
Behind them, King kept crawling on his arms and legs as he approached the front of the shack, looking back before sniffing as he lifted a curtain to see some familiar faces. Boscha, Amelia, and the Oracle track student were all hanging out in the shack, which was filled with random junk such as empty cans, bottles, shoes, and posters.
The blond student was floating in the air, using flying shoes while struggling to do a sit-up. Without taking her eyes off her scroll, Boscha scoffed, "Just give up."
"I swear, I can do a sit-up," he assured her. "I'm just having a bad day." He grunted again, with Boscha getting mildly annoyed by this. "Sure you can," she halfheartedly said while taking a selfie with Amelia.
"I'll show Anne how to rule over these doofuses," King said to himself, bending over on his knees while yanking the curtain open to reveal himself. "Greetings! Er…" He stood up, correcting himself. "Greetings! Bow before your king of humans!"
Boscha and Amelia stared at her in mild surprise, while the Oracle track student fell to the ground before shaking his fist at the human. "Hey! Nobody tells me what to do!"
"Ugh, shut it!" Boscha snapped at him, finally having had enough of his voice. He recoiled in fear at this. "Sorry, Boscha."
She walked up to King, typing on her scroll. "New post: Loser human thinks she can hang out in our sacred Treasure Shack. Spoiler alert: She can't!" She glared at him, still not having forgotten about the situation at the stand earlier.
"Yeah, get outta here, before things get personal!" the blond student added, floating on his flying shoes. King wasn't afraid of him now that he had Anne's human powers. He yanked the shoes off of the student's feet, making him fall to the ground, completely powerless. "Is that so…"
He put the shoes on himself, flew out of the shack, and grabbed the bag of water balloons from Skara's hands as she gasped in surprise. "Hey, impressionable youths!" Curiously, Skara, Amelia, and the oracle student watched from below to see what he was going to do.
"Under my command, you could learn how to do some real damage!" He winded his arms back and threw the bag with full force, grunting as he watched it fly well into the distance, right into the heart of Boonesborough, before a tremendous explosion was heard.
Many huge tentacles rose from the impact zone, roaring as they absolutely dwarfed the size of the buildings around them and presumably caused a lot of destruction, much like a terrorist bombing. King smirked as he saw the chaos and destruction he caused, only possible thanks to his new human body.
He slowly turned around to face the teens, floating in the air and the shadows from the giant tentacles covering him, making him appear dark and foreboding. "All hail your new teen king!" he slowly proclaimed, feeling as powerful as ever.
The teens stared up at him in wonder and delight. "I didn't like her telling me what to do before, but now I love it!" the oracle student said.
Boscha, on the other hand, simply stared at him with her usual grumpy face before scoffing, not saying a word.
"A true king witnesses terror and enjoys it!" King continued. "All hail your new teen King! Let us march forth, my brethren!"
The teens, minus Boscha, happily joined him as they all went toward the scene of the giant tentacles wreaking havoc on the town. The teens laughed, seeing the civilians run away in terror. One tentacle had Tinella Nosa in its grasp, squeezing her tightly.
The other two witches briefly shared looks of concern, but King had the biggest grin ever on his face, feeling more powerful than ever. "Everybody shall bow before me!"
Suddenly, a giant brown pillar shot up from the ground and pierced one tentacle, causing it to screech in pain and cough up green blood before collapsing and falling to the ground with a loud rumble. An abomination spike flew in and smacked another tentacle hard, knocking it back into the last tentacle before they all collapse to the ground, as it shook like the aftermath of a demolition with smoke flying everywhere.
King's face was shocked in pure horror as he realized someone had come up to contest his spot as the mighty ruler in town. The smoke cleared away to reveal two teen figures crouching and panting in exhaustion, while the surrounding crowd looked on in shock.
One of them was a female teen wearing a brown student uniform with a sword holstered to her waist. She wore black shoes with green and white striped socks and had short, curly purple hair topped by a cyan strip.
The other teen was a black male student wearing a similar pink uniform and gaudy boots and short black hair. He clearly seemed to be more exhausted than the purple-haired student.
"That was quite brutal… but we did it," the pink-suited student said.
"Ehh… I've seen worse," the purple-haired student replied.
"So… you dare intrude upon the king of humans!" King said outta nowhere, startling them both as they looked at him with surprised frowns. The other teens who followed King stood next to him, faintly recognizing those two teens.
"What are you the king of anyway?" the purple-haired witch asked, slightly skeptical since she had never seen him before.
"Don't worry, Bria. They're with us," one teen next to King assured. "They say they are the 'king of demons' but I'm not too convinced,"
Bria approached King, examining his face for a few seconds in suspicion, thinking about what to say to him. "Did you do this bombing?" she asked in a questioning tone. "If so…" She changed her mood instantly, "Why don't you join us on our big adventure with my friend Gavin?"
Gavin added, "We're thinking of paying a visit to some candy shop down over in Bonesborough–Wanna come?"
King's eyes widened at this offer. "Candy? Snacks? For the King of Demons? Yes! I accept your offer!"
Bria and Gavin cheered him on as they whooped in excitement and ran away from the scene, King following them. The teens who followed King earlier didn't follow them though, and stared idly, unamused. "Boscha's gonna have a lot of fun with them," Skara muttered.
The newly formed trio walked through the streets, excited about the destination that awaited them. They chatted things up with King, who turned out to be quite talkative with them and thought they could be perfect to serve his army in the far future.
Around five minutes later, they stopped as they looked up at a giant storefront that was imposed in front of them–Mary's Mountain of Sweets. It was an enormous store that offered all kinds of treats, snacks, and candy to any flavor imaginable.
Bria squealed in delight when she saw the front of the shop. King hopped up and down, barely able to compose himself. "It's like this shop was made just for me! I'm gonna have the feast of my life!"
"I can't believe it! It's like a dream!" Bria exclaimed, overjoyed. King briefly forgot about them, running into the shop faster than he ever had in his life. The other two just watched him with confused expressions before shrugging and following him.
When King entered, his pupils dilated as his eyes darted around, taking in his surroundings. If he was in his normal body, his tail would be wagging at a million miles an hour. He looked at all the variety of candy in pure childlike wonder.
A tall human-sized barrel was filled up to the rim with tons of tiny blue pebbles of rock candy in front of a stand reading, "Crystal Candy!" This alone made King's pupils grow enormously as he got determined to eat all of it and as much as he can!
He hopped a bit and clutched the outer rim of the barrel with his hands, peeking down at all the sweet crystal candy, not wanting to wait another second before eating them all. His legs dangled as he tilted his head back and messily gobbled up as much candy as he could, perhaps a half-dozen mouthfuls.
Hearing King squeal in euphoria, Bria looked away from where she was currently and saw the human loudly smacking his lips and eating from inside of the barrel. She chuckled, amused by his funny and indulging act.
King's blissful binge was interrupted however when the front door suddenly slammed open to reveal Boscha and her two goons, all furious at King for both taking advantage of them and ditching them for another group of friends.
"Looks like the human chose to munch down on some treats like a little baby," Boscha rudely remarked in anger and vengeance.
"Boscha?!" Bria gasped as she instantly recognized the three-eyed witch from somewhere, some when in the past.
"Yeah. They told me everything," Boscha said. "You ditched us like a flip-flopper would. Guess you're not the king of anything big. You're just the king of cheap pathetic candy."
Hearing this got on King's nerves, whose face went red with anger. "This candy's too good for the likes of you! I'm not scared of you!"
He walked up, undeterred, toward Boscha, who crossed her arms, angry at him. "Come at me, you acne-encrusted hormone bucket!" he taunted as he entered a battle pose, way too confident that his fighting skills could translate well into a human body.
Boscha gasped in anger and shock, but without saying another word, slapped King in the face, knocking him down to the ground and incapacitating him in a semi-fetal position.
"Weh!" King whimpered, doing his best not to tear up as he slowly backed away in fear from Boscha and her gang, his instincts kicking in. He wanted to get away from them as quickly as possible, not caring about looking to see what Bria and Gavin's reactions were.
He looked behind the counter to see a door that presumably led outside, and with all his remaining strength, he ran toward the door, ignoring all the yelling he didn't care to decipher.
He reached the door and frantically opened it as he ran out into the street, quietly crying. More than ever he wanted to find a spot where he could feel relaxed and comfortable, and only one place comes to mind–the slayground.
He ran for around a minute before seeing it in the distance, and once he reached it, he was surprised to see himself. Well, Eda, that is, who looked miserable as she was forced to play with the snot-nosed kid.
Immediately, he ran toward her, crying. "Edaaaa!" She looked over, her eyes widening. "Wait, King, stop!" But it was too late. Without thinking, he lept toward her as he usually did when he was upset, expecting her to catch him, but instead, he crashed into her, sending them toppling back.
Anne's Sisterly Predicament
Back at the stand, Anne in Eda's body had completely lost interest in waiting for any customers to come, so instead, she wanted to play around a bit. Eda was a powerful witch, and she wondered what kind of spells she was capable of.
First, she examined her new body build, twisting and flexing a bit. It was as if she had a whole new perspective on this world. Is this what being an adult feels like? she wondered. Wanting to give this new body a test run, she decided to try out a little experiment.
She had often seen people form magic circles with their fingers, so she decided to try to do the same. Moving her index finger in a circular motion, her eyes widened when it actually worked. However, due to her lack of control, a sudden blast of fire shot out and burned the table, making her stumble back in shock.
As she recomposed herself, she realized how hard it was to walk with the high heels Eda wore. Why did adults even bother with these? It took her a bit to get used to walking around in them and eventually got the hang of it.
"Alright, second time's the charm," she muttered, trying out the spell again, more carefully this time. This time, she felt more in control as she was able to launch another fire blast without an issue. She tapped her chin, grinning mischievously as an idea formed in her head.
Maybe she could confront Lilith–Eda's sister. Back at the Covention, she was kind of a jerk and perhaps she might be able to teach that witch a lesson. This was her one chance to seize this kind of opportunity, and she wasn't gonna back down from it.
Anne left the stand behind, walking across the streets. "Now to find her… Where could she be, though?" After a bit of walking, she realized something. "Wait, a minute… I'm a witch! I can fly!"
She grabbed Eda's magic staff, getting into position. "Go, Owlbert!" Immediately, she shot up into the air, screaming as she was barely able to hang on. She soared through the air, spinning in circles. It took a moment for her to learn how to control the staff properly, but she managed to slow herself down.
Anne wiped the sweat off of her forehead, relieved. She drifted over Bonesborough, keeping an eye out for any familiar witch with long, dark-navy hair. "Hmm… She's prideful, nerdy, and brainwashed by this world's system. Can't be too hard to find, right?"
Unfortunately, it took longer than she expected to find her, but she actually wasn't that far away from the stand. She was also in the market, standing in line for a tent that had an exhibit on the history of the Boiling Isles. Her face immediately dropped upon seeing this. "Of course…"
She did her best to stick the landing, but it wasn't as easy as Eda made it look. She shrieked, barely able to slow her fall enough to avoid being hurt too badly. She clumsily fell off the staff, sliding and tumbling across the street. "Ow…"
Many civilians witnessed this event, gasping and muttering to themselves. This got Lilith's attention, who turned in the direction of Anne, raising an eyebrow. Upon seeing this, the human/witch quickly got up, brushing the dirt off her clothes and trying to play it off. "Uh… Lilith! We meet… again!"
What followed is a brief awkward silence, until Lilith spoke up, "What's the meaning of this, Edalyn? Disrupting the peace, as usual?"
"Why, yes, I am," Anne replied, walking forward. "Alright, sister, here's how it's gonna go. You will stop being a jerk to your sis-... me, and stop going after us."
In response, the coven leader sighed through her nose. "Oh, Edalyn, you're not seriously threatening me in public, are you? I've tried time and time again to save you by recruiting you into the Emperor's Coven, yet you remain stubborn."
"Maybe that's cause I don't want to join you and your gang of phonies," Anne told her. "Why are you trying to force me to do that?"
"Because it's for your own good!" Lilith said angrily, summoning her staff out of thin air. "As I've said time and time again, the emperor can heal your curse. Why do you have to make things so difficult?!"
She glared at Anne before taking a deep breath to recompose herself. "Fine, if it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you will get. We'll settle the score and we can finally put this behind us."
"In your dreams!" Anne replied as she summoned a spell circle, launching a huge blast of fire at her. In response, Lilith twirled her staff, sending a blue blast to counter hers. They clashed in midair, creating a shockwave that caused the ground to crack. Civilians ran away as Anne charged forward, swinging her staff.
Lilith ducked under it and jabbed her in the gut with her own staff, catching her off guard, before whacking the human/witch away. Anne grunted, surprised by Lilith's speed. "What's wrong, sister?" the coven leader asked her. "Looks like you've gotten weaker since our last battle."
Anne focused, trying to calm her mind as she drew more spell circles, trying to figure out how to use different ones. It was difficult to control her magic, though, and she was only able to send either bigger blasts of fire or other random attacks that were weakened.
Lilith took advantage of her weakness, going behind her in an instant, covering her fist with blue flames, and punching Anne in the back, making her gasp. She flew forward, crashing into a building. She got up, feeling back pain from that attack. How could she be so stupid? she wondered. Lilith's the leader of the Emperor's Coven. She's one of the best of the best.
"As you can see, this duel was pointless, Edalyn," Lilith said, walking over to her and applying magical restraints to make her unable to fight anymore. "Now, let's go talk in a more civilized manner, shall we?"
The human/witch was shocked, realizing she might've just screwed not only herself over, but Eda as well. She didn't know what to do, or how to get the help of the others. Right now, she could only hope this emperor guy wasn't as bad as Eda says he was.
She was led into an interrogation room with coven guards all around. With no other choice, she sat across from Lilith, who pulled out a very long scroll and read through it. "Sister, the charges against you are long and many. Operating a stand without a permit, owning a hocus without a pocus…"
"Yeah, I think I get the gist of it. I did many bad things," Anne interrupted.
"These charges are serious," the coven leader continued. "There's no more running away, Edalyn."
"... Is now the best time to mention I'm not actually your sister?" Anne responded, and Lilith stared at her blankly. "Pardon?"
"So, it's kind of a funny story, and-" Anne began, but Lilith cut her off. "That's enough excuses. I can see why you challenged me in the first place. It was clearly a cry for help."
"Say what now?" Anne muttered, narrowing her eyes.
"You don't have to deny it, Edalyn," the coven leader continued. "You never wanted to come quietly in the first place, so you intended to lose. Join the Emperor's Coven, like we dreamed about when we were girls."
"We what?!" Anne replied in shock. She never expected Eda to have actually wanted to join the same coven as her sister. What caused the change of heart?
"Don't be afraid, sister," Lilith assured. "Soon, you won't be a danger to those around you." She turned toward the guards, creating a spell circle in midair. "Bring out the branding glove."
The human/witch gasped as ropes of magic bound her to the chair, making her unable to move. She looked up as one guard put on the branding glove, prepared to apply the sigil to her arm. He slid the table to the side, cracking his knuckles as he approached her.
Anne felt fear as he quickly approached, sweat going down her face. "Stop… STOP! I can't just… It can't end here for me!"
"Sister, you need not worry," Lilith assured her, trying to calm her down. "Once you're branded, we'll be in the Emperor's Coven together as it was always meant to be."
The sigil on the glove glowed as it was about to touch her arm. She recoiled in fear, not knowing what to do. She felt stressed beyond belief, knowing that she might never see her family again, or Eda and King. As she thought this, feathers sprouted from her neck, surprising the guard.
She screamed as she grows, breaking the magic restraints. Lilith gasped, backing away as Anne transformed into the Owl Beast, unable to fight off Eda's curse. She crashed through the wall, running off. Owlbert, still attached to the staff, flew off to follow her.
Lilith growled in frustration, glaring at the guard. "We were so close, but your scare tactics ended up reawakening her curse!"
He tried to apologize, but the coven leader ignored him, running off to chase the Owl Beast. As that was happening, Anne opened her eyes to find herself in a strange void. She stood up, not knowing where she was, but the last thing she remembered was getting captured and…
She gasped, looking around frantically. "Wait, don't tell me I'm dead or something! Is this what the afterlife looks like?"
Fortunately, it wasn't, but it was a much worse place. She heard a growl behind her and froze up before turning around to see the Owl Beast approaching her. She immediately backed away, feeling like she had seen this thing before in a way.
Anne didn't have time to think as it tried pouncing on her. She dodged it and lept up, kicking it in its face. It shrieked, giving her a head start as she ran across the endless void, trying to escape it.
What is that thing? she wondered. It looks kind of like Eda's curse.
Then it hit her. This thing must've been Eda's curse or something. Was this what Eda has had to deal with all this time? No wonder she was cranky.
Back in the real world, Anne in her Owl Beast form was rampaging through town, causing a lot of property damage. Some coven guards tried to restrain her, but she was too quick and strong for them. She roared, charging forward and ramming into them, sending them flying.
Far behind, Lilith and more coven guards were chasing after her, trying to keep up as they tried to suppress the situation, but they rushed into a crowd of people running in the opposite direction, which delayed them.
Anne crashed through a building and headed right for the slayground where the others were. There, Eda and King heard a screeching close by, and the former immediately recognized that sound, fearing the worst. When the idea came to her head, that was when Anne came storming in, roaring and tearing down the slide.
Upon seeing this, the snot-nosed kid and his parents immediately ran away while Eda stared at the Owl Beast, her heart skipping a beat. She never thought things would end up going this far. Anne had no idea how to control the curse, and she didn't know what to do since she was in King's body.
King took a step back, fearful of the curse because of his past experience with it, but he was in a stronger, more nimble body, so maybe he could use it to his advantage.
"King, don't get close to it!" Eda yelled, but he ignored her, running up to Anne and trying to get her attention. "Anne, it's me! You need to snap out of it!" he called out.
Despite his attempts, the Owl Beast remained undeterred, about to slash King, when three small wooden pillars shot out from the sides and knocked back the beast a bit. As the beast tried to recompose itself, a few abomination ropes suddenly held it back. It turns out Bria and Gavin had shown up as well, trying to help in holding back this creature.
On the other hand, Boscha and her gang also showed up, witnessing the carnage going on. Upon seeing it, Boscha's expression immediately changed from anger to confusion, then blank. "Nope, I'm out."
Just as fast as she appeared, she left them to deal with the problem on their own. King, Bria, and Gavin tried their best to hold it off, but it was clear the battle wasn't going in their favor right now. The human was trying to think of something he could do until it hit him. Anne always carried a power glyph that made her stronger, so that was what he must use.
He pulled it out and applied it to his arm, immediately feeling an immense surge of strength. "Yes… YES! I have regained a small fraction of my true power!" Feeling a fresh burst of motivation, he lept up and winded back his fist, landing it on Anne's face, sending her stumbling back.
He was surprised by his own strength. He didn't remember the last time he had felt like this, but he enjoyed being in control for once. He spotted an old dirty pipe next to the fence, grabbed it, and dramatically got into a fighting stance.
King did a goofy battle cry before charging forward, whacking Anne with the pipe. She roared, angered, as she went to pound him into the dirt, but he was able to avoid it just barely. He couldn't do much alone, but the distraction served as a perfect opening for Bria and Gavin to finish the job.
Gavin summoned an abomination glow by putting his hand out and aiming it in front of the owl beast. The powerful effect distressed it as it started screeching desperately, which allowed Bria to step in to land the finishing blow.
The witch had the perfect combo for a flashy finish–a power glyph and Construction magic. She slapped a power glyph on her forearm as she prepared to summon a huge, round pillar from the ground.
Before the beast could get restrained, however, it unleashed a final attack on King, slashing his arm and making him shriek in pain, sending him tumbling back. He clutched his arm as Eda ran over to check on him.
After drawing a huge circle, Bria delivered a huge powerful blow to the beast as it got successfully restrained. Without wasting any time, Eda then ran over, leaping on the beast. She grabbed a potion hidden in its hair and forced Anne to drink it.
A few seconds later, Anne shrank down back into her normal state, rubbing her head in a daze. "Ugh… What happened?" She blinked several times before seeing a sight that immediately snapped her out of it. King was on the ground clutching his wounded arm, and she immediately ran over. "King, what happened?"
He groaned in response, and she immediately turned toward Eda, tossing the staff at her, which she barely managed to catch. "Eda, body swap!"
"But your wound-"
"Just do it!"
Without any more hesitation, Eda spun the staff, creating a yellow glow that engulfed all three of them. When the smoke parted, everybody was finally back in their normal bodies. King looked at his arm, no longer feeling any pain.
Anne grunted, clutching her wound as blood went down her arm. Eda immediately went to work on healing her while King covered his eyes. "This is all my fault! I was too drunk on power!"
With her other arm, the human placed a hand on King's head. "It's fine, King, really. It's my fault for getting captured."
"You what?!" Eda said. Right on cue, Lilith and the guards arrived at the slayground, finally having been able to make their way to the scene. "Good, Eda's calmed down," Lilith said, approaching her. "Now, let's get back to business, shall we? This time, I'll be the one to brand you."
Eda scowled at Anne before replying, "Yeah, no. I'm not becoming a slave to the emperor for the rest of my life." She raised her staff in the air, twirling it.
When King realized what she was about to do, he called out to Bria and Gavin, "You guys might wanna run!"
Lilith gasped as Eda launched a yellow beam that passed through everybody else, except for Bria and Gavin, who were narrowly able to avoid the spell. The others, however, weren't so lucky, as all their bodies were swapped with one another.
"Let's never talk about this again. Agreed?" Eda said, and the other two nod. In the moment of confusion and panic, all three of them hopped on Owlbert, fleeing from the scene.
Later, back at the Owl House, Anne called for a meeting between her, Eda, King, and even Hooty. They sat around at a table, with the human pulling up something on her phone. "Guys, now that we've been through a lot, there's something I'd like to share with you. This is how I got here."
She showed them a picture of the box Sasha had forwarded to her prior to ending up here. Eda examined the picture, tapping her chin. "Huh, that's weird."
"Yeah," King agreed. "Didn't you come through Eda's portal door? Where did you find that thing?"
"I… found it at a thrift store back home," the human explained. "I don't know what happened, but it's like it transported me to this world. I saw… another human before I woke up in that tent. It's some kind of crazy music box or something. Have you guys seen anything like it before?"
"Sorry to break it to you, kid, but I've never seen something like that," the witch said, disappointing Anne. "If I knew what that was, I would've stolen it years ago."
"What happened to it?" King asked her.
She shrugged. "I don't know. It disappeared when I got here. Maybe Sasha or Marcy have it with them, but that doesn't matter. I have another way home, and I'll find them, no matter how long it takes."
"You've been talking about these friends of yours a lot," Eda noted. "I'm guessing they were with you at the time?"
Anne slowly nods. "I'd tell you more, but…" She clenched her fist, and the witch noticed this. "Well, no pressure, kiddo. You can tell us when you're good and ready."
"Thanks, you two." The human managed a smile before getting up from the table and walking away, leaving a concerned Eda and King. She walked upstairs, laying down on her sleeping mattress. It wasn't long before King walked into the room, letting her hold him while she drifted off to sleep.
To Be Continued in Chapter Seventeen
My co-writer and I had a lot of fun making this chapter. We decided to rewrite it in many aspects to make it better and more plot-relevant, giving Eda a new situation to deal with and introducing the Glandus kids earlier on.
~ Scruffy