Chapter 14: Trouble on our doorstep
A beautiful morning on the Boiling Isles. Finally a rising sun. Birds squaking, beasts waking up, remaining mud on the ground-
And those boots were new!
Okay, maybe not so beautiful...
Regardless, there was work to be done and those coven fools weren't doing anything! The last three days, she was sure that they were actively avoiding her. As if they didn't know who she was! The nerve of those...!
...!
...!
First things first. Again, there was work to be done.
She had never been in this part of the forest in a good while, so a good start would be following someone who had.
...Like a group of scouts, lead by a captain. Good thing she had taken a cloaking stone.
Well... Breakfast wasn't so bad after all. It was certainly loud and the Owl Lady's pet almost challenged Hunter in a duel (how that would work, he still didn't know) for the last pancake, until the human passed it to Flapjack, but other than that... it went well.
Hunter even joined their conversations at least twice and it wasn't as awkward as he imagined.
But now... Now it was over.
Everyone was going around the kitchen, cleaning the table, putting plates and glasses in the sink and the remaining food in the fridge or the drawers.
And he could feel it setting in. The awkwardness around the room forming like a fog. The thought of a final task ending even though the day had barely started, leaving him with a bunch of questions that made his stomach squirm.
What was he supposed to do now?
Go back to his room?
Stay in the kitchen?
Leave since he could-
"Thanks, Hunter." The human's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, after he handed her the last plate he was holding and she put it in the sink. And before he could even reply- "Is something wrong? You seem a little-"
"It's nothing. Just... It's kind of strange. Being here like that." Even though it was (somehow) honest, he wasn't sure if he gave the right answer, especially after he noticed how her eyes drifted a little on the side as he spoke, as if she wanted to hide something.
But it was quickly gone, replaced with a smile. "Yeah. I know what you mean. Honestly, I wasn't really sure you'd come."
"That makes two of us... But, Flapjack really wanted to try more pancakes." He said, scratching gently the little bird on his shoulder.
And earning another funny look from the human. "Aww..."
Hunter just gave her a side eye, to which she replied with a (familiar and annoying) smug smile.
But then, they returned to silence. Which slowly started turning into awkwardness...
"Listen, Hunter... I didn't get to tell you in person, but..." Luz begun, rubbing her arm. "About yesterday, I'm sorry."
She noticed him tense up a little, before he sighed. "...It's okay. I read your note. And besides, it's over now."
"I know. Just... if you want to, the offer for the glyph lessons still stands. But after we take some time off. I think we both need it."
"Yeah..."
He probably should have expected it. Since he got here the human was always right above his head, why would she stop now? Now that he finally stepped out of the room on his own, joined them for breakfast...
And he didn't hate it. If anything, he'd dare to say that... he wanted another meeting like this (minus the creepy nightmare-creating fortune-teller), or maybe one more meal. Before he-
"HOOT! HOOOOOOOOOOT! ! !"
Well, that couldn't be good.
"Guys? What's going on?" Luz asked, as she, Hunter and the others rushed over to the living room, where a rather upset Hooty had just shown up.
"Hoot! We have a problem! There are coven scouts everywhere in the forest! And now a bunch of them is coming this way!"
"WHAT?!" All the kids yelled in unison, Amity and Hunter paling, the latter leaning more onto his cruch to keep himself standing.
Even as the world started feeling hazy, and the room was getting small-
"All right, all right! Everyone calm down." Eda said quickly, getting everyone's attention. Her voice calm but firm. "Remember, we do as we practised. Boots, Blondie, you go in the closet upstairs and keep quiet, until we come get you. If necessary, use the invisibility glyph stash. Luz, King, you stay with me and act normal. No jibes, no teasing, no pranks. As much as it hurts me to say it. And Hooty, no murder. Physical or emotional. Now go, chop-chop!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Everyone else saluted and started moving.
Amity summoned her staff and after getting a shaken Gold- Hunter on and exchanging a nervous glance with Luz, took off upstairs. While the human girl grabbed the first book she found and settled on the couch, with King sitting beside her.
And Eda stayed where she was with her arms crossed, trying to keep her bubbling worry from showing. Which was kind of tough when she could see her kids looking at her with that very same look she was trying to hide...
"Hey, don't you two give me that face. You know those guys are duds. We just play our part right and they'll be gone in five minutes. At most." She came and sat next to them, mustering up a smile. "And if you want, we can give them a paint-bomb or two as a parting gift."
"I thought you said no pranks." Luz raised an eyebrow at this, while King wagged his tail excitedly.
"Only while they're inside the house and provided they behave themselves. Come on. Don't tell me you don't miss it."
"Well, maybe a little-"
"I'm throwing the first bomb, I called it!" King declared, already rummaging through Eda's hair.
"What makes you think I keep them here?"
"You keep everything here."
...!
A knock on the door...
Showtime.
Amity closed the door, but didn't move away from it. She wanted to be as close as possible, hear any sound, be prepared for...
"Hey? You okay?" She whispered to the Gold- Hunter, who was sitting in the far corner of the closet, behind a stack of old clothes. His knees were close to his chest, his breathing rapid and uneven and his eyes staring at the void.
"There are scouts downstairs... They're looking for me...! What do you think?!" He half-shouted at her, his hands covering his head.
The bird on his shoulder quickly chirped at him and nuzzled his face, while Ghost rubbed themselves around Amity's body, purring softly.
They were trying to ease them...
She pet her palisman with a grateful smile, an idea forming up.
And gathered them in her arms, before turning to him again. "Well... maybe they aren't. Maybe they're here looking for me. Again."
"Again?" He looked back at her, surprised.
So it was working.
"I ran away too, remember? On my second day here they showed up and we were completely unprepared." She chuckled a little, remembering that whole ordeal.
"And what happened then? What did you do?"
"Well..."
"As you see there is no one here."
"Other than us and you coven butts!"
"King! Watch your mouth! I know you can do a better burn than that."
Amity could hear Eda and King approaching the room with the captain, just as she couldn't hold her breath any longer and just realized she used the last of the invisibility glyphs that Luz gave her.
Great. Just absolutely great! Now the closet was obvious, under the couch the same. The wind-!
"I will save you!"
"Hooty no-"
"I had my staff... I could fly!" Amity growled at the house demon cowering in the corner, while Luz was holding and caressing her hand and Eda was plucking the last pellet remnants off of her hair.
"Pff. No. You're messing with me."
"I wish I was. I was in the bathroom for three hours and I still felt all... eugh! And Hooty wouldn't come near me for three days! He was scared of me!" Amity laughed quietly as she finished and it was only after she stopped that she actually took in the fact that Hunter did the same.
And he seemed just as surprised as her.
They were in danger right now. There were scouts downstairs, looking around for him, her or maybe both of them. And yet there he was, laughing with the Blight girl at the one time the owl-thing... owl-pelleted her. Laughing for real, for the first time in days...
"But now that won't happen. We have the glyphs and we all have practised. Luz and the others will handle the scouts and get them to leave without batting an eye. All we need to do now is be quiet. And if we have to, hold our breath and stick together." She whispered, pointing at a small box next to him, which was filled with invisibility glyphs.
And as a response he nodded at her, still bearing a small but clearly grateful smile.
A smile she returned and kept on her face for a moment after she turned her attention back to the door.
I can do this... We can do this. It's gonna be all right.
...!
What was that?
...
Amity moved next to Hunter the moment she heard steps towards the door. She gave him a glyph and they nodded at each other, their hands clasped tightly together as they heard the handle turn.
And they held the breath just as the door started to creak open.
A scout walked inside the closet and immediately started looking around. They seemed to be in a rush too, moving boxes and piles of clothes, muttering under their breath...
And knocking over with their foot the box with the glyphs!
"Now what are those?"
...!
Amity froze at the sound of that voice, barely keeping herself from gasping and breaking the spell.
That was her Mother! She was there for real!
No. No! No, no, no, NO!
This couldn't be happening! This wasn't happening! This was some sort of nightmare! A side effect from yesterday, because it couldn't be anything else!
She held onto Hunter tighter, so tight her own hands started to shake. And she could feel her lungs burning, begging her for air. Just like her mind was begging her to get out of there.
...
And it only got worse, when she noticed her looking her way!
Did she make a sound without realizing it?
Did her Mother somehow realize what the glyphs did?
Was she using a spell that made it able to see them?!
She moved the clothes that covered their spot, staring at the (seemingly empty) corner of the room, right into Amity's eyes, which couldn't decide whether they were defiant or scared. Though she was mostly leaning towards the latter, counting the seconds until she couldn't hold her breath anymore and the spell dissolved, probably before her Mother left and even if she did, she'd still be close, probably see them before they can take another glyph and-
"Aah!"
"Owl Lady."
"Captain." Eda and the captain adressed each other coldly, with the first crossing her arms, still not moving from her doorstep. "What brings you to this side of the forest?"
"We have reasons to believe that the Golden Guard is hiding somewhere in this area. And an order to search any residence in it. Also, given your... history, you seem more than probable to harbor a traitor." That last line was clearly intended to be a jibe.
And while Eda (like the kids on the couch) did scowl at it a little, she quickly gave a smug smile and leaned on the door. "While I appreciate how highly you think of me, and the fact that indeed anyone with the guts to stick it to Belos would be welcome in my house, I hate to tell you that your little Golden Boy isn't here."
"Then I suppose you wouldn't mind us taking a look inside."
"Be my guests."
After that she stepped aside and let the captain come in. Along with the scouts behind him, who split into two groups, one of which went for the kitchen and the other upstairs. She walked behind them, Luz and King quickly joining her. One of them looking a bit more nervous than the other...
"Kid, you okay?" She whispered to Luz, who mustered up a (totally fake, but believable enough to anyone watching) smile and nodded.
"Just wish this will be over soon. And that it won't be like the last time..." Luz's answer came also as a whisper, her smile falling apart as she finished.
"Don't worry. Hooty will behave and those guys don't seem to have a crow with a screaming Carrie on the other side."
"Karen. Screaming Karen." The girl's smile returned, accompanied by a small laugh.
"Really?"
"Owl Lady." But once again it was cut short. This time by a voice from upstairs.
"I'll handle this. You two stay here and keep an eye on our guests. We didn't make those cupcakes for them, right?" Eda finished with a wink.
"Oh, dang right!" King replied, before rushing to the kitchen. "Hey! Any of you scum touches the cupcakes and I will feed you to Hooty!"
"King!" And Luz ran after him, after exchanging a nod with Eda.
Who went upstairs to see what the captain wanted from her...
The fact that all those words would be in a sentence felt so ridiculous, that this might as well be a parallel universe or some sort of nightmare. Having the emperor's tools walk around her house and snoop around her stuff, was... too much to say the least. Listening their steps, their little conversations about the house...
"Hey! Check this thing out!"
"Looks ancient. Think we could sneak a couple out?"
About her...
"...lot of elixir..."
"Unless she wants to be a moster."
"She's lucky the emperor spared her."
About her kids...!
"...reads this junk?"
"That's what bothers you? Not that... carcass-thing by the window?"
"No wonder those two stick with the Owl Lady. They're freaks like her."
"That's. IT! Everyone out! Get your sad coven butts out of my house and don't let me see you anywhere near it or my kids ever again, or else you'll see from up close the reason why I'm taking those elixirs!"
...!
...!
...
Eda felt her chest burning. She could feel those words inside her, hear them in her mind, like a roaring beast clawing its cage, desperate to come out. If only she could let them...
If only she could let Hooty take care of the scouts, or better yet, throw them out herself...
But she knew that she couldn't. She knew they had to lie low for the sake of the kids. She probably would have to, even if she still had her magic. But... it would definitely be a reassurance. Knowing that even if they did find out she was hiding them, she'd be able to protect them.
Now, though, this was all she could do. As nerve-wracking and annoying and infuriating as it was...
"Is something..." Eda's words died in her tongue and she could just stare in disbelief at the sight before her.
Yes! I stuck with my schedule (with a 2 delay... :P)! I am so proud of myself, and in utter disbelief that the story reached the middle point. Yes, I'll definitely be turning this into a series. Speaking of which, there are about ten days left for the show to return with "Thanks to them" and I assure you I am completely normal about it. Certainly. Absolutely. I am not anxious or totally and completely excited. I am cool. Anyway, I leave you now, and if everything goes well, I'll see you next month! Please leave a review and stay safe. Byeeeee! :)