A/N: Hey... So, funny story: I'm sick. That's why I haven't been able to update this fic as fast as I would have liked to. A lot has been going on over the past couple of weeks, but last week came to a head when I fell ill. My symptoms haven't been too bad, but I won't lie that it's been hard trying to write this chapter for long periods of time, especially because of a persistent sinus headache that painkillers didn't really help all that much. But finally, I've managed to get this chapter finished at the point where I wanted it to, so at least that's resolved. I can't say how long it'll take me to do Chapter 12 (which is supposed to end episode four, but... we'll have to see with the word count...), yet hopefully I'll get over this thing soon and be able to update again as soon as possible.
In the meantime, thank you to everyone who has been favouriting, following, reviewing and reading this fanfic. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. I will say, again, that there is mentions of non-canon stuff going on in here where magic is concerned. So, just be mindful of that as you go through the chapter.
Chapter 11: Mistakes Were Made
In the time after the demon, human, and witch had processed the situation, there were three different reactions that occurred amongst them. Luz stopped her recording and rushed over to Lizzie's side to get a good look at Eda with wide eyes and loud, heavy breathing. King put his stuff down and slowly walked over to join the panicking human, seeming unfazed by the development now. And then there was Lizzie… who was staring at Eda's open mouth and closed eyes with a quiet huff and quick pinch of the bridge of her nose.
'Most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles, you said. And yet even I knew it wouldn't stop you from over-exerting yourself…'
She'd predicted something like this would happen. She'd warned Eda and Luz plenty of times. Yet neither of them had listened to her, and now, as expected, the blonde witch found herself surrounded by her unconscious employer, a partially concerned demon, and a panicking human. It was almost déjà vu. Almost.
Luz grabbed at her hair and started yelling, her chest visibly heaving. "Oh my gosh! I got so obsessed with learning magic that I knocked out Eda! I'm a monster!"
"Luz—" Lizzie said, yet she was cut off by the younger teen as she started to pace back and forth across the carpet, staring down at the floor with her grip tightening on her hair.
"Why didn't I listen to Lizzie?! Why did I insist on recording Eda?! I should've chosen Lizzie instead! Why didn't I choose Lizzie?!"
"Uh, Luz?" King addressed the girl as he tried to get Luz's attention, but she failed to acknowledge the little demon too.
Luz's gaze flitted around the living room in a panic before she glanced at the front door, forcing her to pause in her tracks for a few seconds. "We need to go get help!"
"Luz!" Lizzie called out to the human when she made a dash for the front door, but she was promptly ignored.
Luckily, King responded appropriately and followed Luz as fast as his little legs would allow, knowing Hooty wouldn't stop her and that Lizzie couldn't. He dived forward just as Luz grabbed the door handle and flung the door open, hugging her ankle tightly to get her attention and making her standstill inches away from the threshold.
"You can't go out in the boiling rain! Remember what Eda said?!"
Luz shook her leg up and down and hopped around on one foot to try to make him release her, worry flooding into her tone. "I don't care! Eda needs help!"
"You can't go out there! You'll be boiled alive!"
"Hoot! Let her do it," Hooty chimed in, causing the pair to pause and glance at the house demon as he closed his eyes and smiled (or what was close to the semblance of a smile, because of his beak). "It'll be funny to watch."
Lizzie's and King's eyes narrowed, with the blonde witch and demon exchanging looks. After a few seconds of staring, Lizzie nodded at King, acting like they had spoken telepathically and given him some kind of signal. In kind, King responded by releasing Luz, side-stepping to the door, and then violently swinging it shut with his paw, causing it to slam as it closed. Hooty let out a muffled cry of pain shortly afterwards.
"Ouch!"
"Thank you, King," Lizzie said, with the addressed demon returning the nod as he faced Luz again, who had since fallen still.
"As I was saying: you can't go out there, Luz. It's too dangerous."
Luz placed a hand to her head and held the other one towards Eda, continuing her frantic shouting. "But what about Eda?! What if she needs medical attention?!"
Lizzie saw this as her moment to intervene, speaking up in a calm tone as she lifted Eda from her shoulder and turned her around. "Luz, it's okay. This is actually more common than you think."
Luz turned to Lizzie with a wide blink, her shoulders slumping once she'd properly processed the witch's words. "It is?"
Lizzie nodded and slipped her arms under Eda's when the Owl Lady was lying front-up, briefly looking down at her technical employer when she heard her mumbling.
"Shiny thing… Big nest…" Eda cut herself off with a loud snore.
"We drain our energy whenever we use our magic. Sleeping usually replenishes it. But sometimes, if we use up too much magic without proper rest, we pass out." Lizzie tilted her head towards Eda. "This is why I was trying to get you to leave Eda alone. Her exhaustion caught up with her. She's fine."
"Lizzie's right," King spoke in agreement, jabbing a claw the two witches' way. "Eda survived getting her head cut off last week. That woman isn't gonna drop on us that easily." He turned to Lizzie with a faint frown and tap of his chin. "Although, I honestly thought she was exhausted from staying up chasing shrews and voles last night."
Lizzie's brows raised, while Luz allowed her body to droop forward out of relief at what she'd just heard. "She was what?"
"Chasing shrews and voles."
"Last night?"
"Yeah."
The blonde witch forced a blink, delaying her initial reaction by a couple of seconds. She stretched a hand close to her chest and held it with her palm. "Gosh. I'm usually a light sleeper. How did I not hear her?"
"Beats me. She was at it all night."
"Guys!" Luz's shout brought King and Lizzie back to reality. The young teen pointed her hands towards Eda. "Eda!"
"What about Eda?"
"What do we do? We can't just leave her on the floor."
"I wasn't planning to," Lizzie replied with a slight smirk, adjusting her hands under Eda's arms so she was ready to lift the top half of her body when she went to stand up. "Luz, King, grab a leg. We're carrying Eda to her room."
Luz jogged forward without complaint and took hold of Eda's left ankle, but King stayed where he was, slouching his posture with drooped eyes and a groan. "Ugh. Do we have to take her upstairs?"
"She can't stay down here, King. We both know she won't get enough rest with you being tempted to slap her face." Lizzie rolled her eyes at the little demon, steadying Eda against her front for the moment. "Besides, you should be grateful Luz is here to help. You're acting like this is the first time we've carried Eda to the top floor."
Luz's eyes briefly widened at this revelation, her head darting between King and Lizzie at least three times. She nearly shrieked her question. "This isn't the first time?!"
Lizzie shook her head and shrugged, a slight smile appearing. "What can I say? The Owl Lady loves her apple blood."
King grumbled something inaudible under his breath and stomped his way over, taking hold of Eda's right ankle between his paws. "Fine."
"Thank you. Now, on the count of three." Lizzie rolled her shoulders, while Luz frowned and pressed her lips together as she and King tightened their grips on Eda's legs. "One… two… three."
With simultaneous grunts, the trio raised Eda from the carpet and waited until Lizzie was stood up properly to make any attempts to move out of the living room. The blonde witch gritted her teeth and walked backwards one step at a time, with Luz and King following suit walking forward.
'Geez. She's not as heavy as that barrel of salt was, but that fact doesn't make carrying her any better…'
The trip to the third floor was a slow one, and not just because between the three of them, Lizzie, Luz, and King didn't have much upper-body strength. Because she was the only one walking backwards through two hallways and up two flights of stairs, Lizzie had to keep her eyes on her feet and on what was behind her to make sure she didn't trip, with Luz and King doing their best to accommodate by moving at the same pace. Yet through the aches and trembling of their joints, they triumphed in their small quest, reaching and entering Eda's dark room with only the light illuminating from the hall and a brief flash of lightning from outside that was scarily on cue to guide them to the large nest.
Upon getting to the nest, Luz and King released Eda's legs and peeked over the side to check for space inside of it, leaving Lizzie to support the Owl Lady on her own for the moment. Unsurprisingly for the demon and witch with the human, the inside of Eda's nest was filled with an accumulation of shiny objects, such as treasure items like golden coins and a chalice. However, Luz cringed at spying a small animal skeleton in the middle of these items, which King went ahead to forcefully flick out of the nest with his paw.
"Whoa…" Luz mumbled, turning back to Lizzie as she and King grabbed Eda's legs again. "Hooty wasn't kidding about the rat bones, huh?"
"After seeing her gobble down Adegast, you shouldn't be surprised about that," was Lizzie's answer as the three hoisted Eda's body into the nest where a snug human body shaped gap had been formed amongst the pile (probably by Eda, Lizzie assumed).
Eda fit perfectly into the gap, allowing the three to let out a collective sigh of relief upon lowering her inside and releasing her. The trio silently watched Eda subconsciously move an arm across her abdomen and continue to loudly snore with her mouth wide open. Eventually, though, Luz faced Lizzie while rubbing at her arm, her eyes drooping.
"I'm sorry, Lizzie. I should have listened to you and not pushed Eda so hard."
The young girl's brows raised a bit at feeling a hand ruffle her hair. "Eh. What's done is done. The important thing is whether you've learnt your lesson, and I assume you have."
"Definitely."
"Good." She patted Luz's head and gave the sleeping Eda a quick glance as she looked to the doorway to the room. "Come on, you two. Let's go downstairs. Eda needs her rest."
"Hey, Luz," King crouched and spread his feet apart as the addressed human looked his way, his tail wagging. "I'll race ya!"
With a loud chuckle, the little demon sped off out of the bedroom with Luz in close pursuit, prompting Lizzie to quietly sigh and walk after them once the pair had disappeared into the hallway. However, a glint of glowing gold in the corner of her vision brought the young witch to a halt, her gaze immediately focusing in its direction.
A round, glass bottle filled halfway with golden, glowing liquid was what she saw, left corked and unattended on a small, circular table beside Eda's nest alongside two books stacked atop each other. Lizzie's green eyes lit up at recognising the concoction.
'Eda's elixir…'
The young witch peeked over at her technical employer, and, upon seeing that the older witch was lying still and snoring, took that as her cue to tiptoe over to the table to get a better look at the elixir.
'I know I shouldn't pry. But it wouldn't hurt to check if she's drank any of the elixir, right? At least then I can put my mind at ease.'
At getting closer, Lizzie's eyes were immediately drawn to the brown paper label tied around the bottle's neck by flimsy string. The blonde reached out her hand to hold the bottom of the label, rubbing her thumb against its uneven and ripped edge. It looked like the label was missing its bottom half. There was black, capital writing on it, which Lizzie squinted to read in the dim lighting offered from the hall.
'An elixir a day…?' The witch's brows furrowed as she snuck another brief glance at Eda, watching her chest rising and falling amidst her snoring. 'She takes this elixir daily? That can't be good…'
But at least Lizzie knew she was right: what Eda was drinking was, in fact, elixir.
She flicked the label round to check the back, only to find it was blank. There was no more writing on it aside from what was written on its front. Lizzie bit her lip.
'Eda's purposely tearing the labels off her elixirs. That must be why King didn't know what it was for. But why would she want to hide this from us? She's taking this so often it seems like it's a serious health problem she's got. Wouldn't she want us to know in case we need to help her?'
Lizzie eyed the glowing liquid for a moment longer before releasing the label and heading to the doorway. As much as she wanted to leave Eda to rest and not pry into her personal business, her mind refused to drop the topic. The recent revelations lingered like her head had become the hive to a group of fire bees. She exited the room and grabbed the side of the door on the way out, looking back inside at Eda one more time before clenching her jaw and pulling the door to.
'I can't identify that elixir using its appearance alone. Maybe one of Eda's books can help me narrow down the options. I still have them stored in my room.'
Once she'd walked down the first flight of stairs (to avoid disturbing Eda from her sleep), Lizzie jogged the rest of the way back to the living room, where she assumed both Luz and King had returned to. Poking her head round the doorframe, she was soon proven to be correct.
Luz was standing in the middle of the living room with her legs spread apart and her phone held up in one hand. Lizzie assumed she was trying to mimic Eda's spell casting from the video she'd taken due to the way the girl's gaze flit between her phone and then her own movements with her other hand, where she was sticking out her index finger and repeatedly drawing invisible circles in the air just in front of her. She was scowling and grumbling to herself as she kept the motions up, a clear sign she was getting frustrated with the lack of results. Meanwhile, King was kneeling on the seat of the red sofa closest to Lizzie with his back to her, appearing to have returned to his scribbling (she couldn't quite see what he was doing from her current angle, but she was certain he had a notepad in front of him).
The pair looked occupied, which is exactly what Lizzie had been hoping for.
'I really shouldn't leave Luz and King alone. I won't be upstairs for long, though. They'll be fine.'
"Ahem." Lizzie loudly cleared her throat to get the pair's attention. However, she only succeeded in getting King's, who stopped scribbling and looked in her direction. Luz remained focused on her phone and tracing invisible circles. "Hey, so, I need to go upstairs. Are you two going to be okay by yourselves for a little bit?"
Luz nodded a couple of times and waved the witch's words off with her other hand, watching the video she'd taken of Eda for yet another time while answering. "Yeah, yeah, sure! Do what you've gotta do!"
Lizzie rolled her eyes at Luz's dismissive behaviour and waited for King's response, but she never got it. He switched his focus to Luz at seeing her trace the shape of the circle again in the air, his eyes drooping when she groaned and smacked a palm to her head. "Ugh! This is all she does! Why does Eda have to be so cryptic?!"
The blonde witch glanced between the human teenager and demon before slowly nodding and moving away into the hall. "Okay. I'll be in the second-floor bedroom if either of you need me."
Lizzie didn't wait for either Luz or King to respond, immediately jogging upstairs to carry out her little mission. One thought did linger at the back of her mind, though.
'I hope Eda didn't leave that elixir there because she needed to take it…'
With the rumbling thunder in the distance and the occasional lightning strike to keep her company in the dimly lit bedroom, Lizzie went to work scrounging for every book Eda had given her about elixirs under candlelight, which she'd stored in random boxes and other spots on her side. She'd been tempted to close the door to the bedroom to give herself some privacy, but soon decided it was better to leave it open ajar in case either Luz or King needed her for something. Plus, the little light from the hallway gave the room a more calming atmosphere against the boiling rain and thunderstorm happening outside.
After locating them all and putting them into a pile that reached her elbow beside her mattress, Lizzie sat cross-legged to the right of the pile and went about skim reading through the books one by one. Since each book contained images of the concoctions, outside of names and other provided details, she didn't have to spend too much of her time properly reading through each page to find what she needed (especially since some of the books in her pile weren't that thick). So, she soon set to work, propping the books open on her lap and flicking through the pages with the simple movement of her finger. After finishing with the book, she'd place it to her left and then repeat the process with the next one.
Yet despite trying to pay close attention to the contents she was skimming through, she struggled to ignore the warm, fuzzy feeling lingering in her chest and the smile that tugged at her lips. Lizzie still remembered the first time she'd ever seen these books. Her eyes had practically bulged from their sockets when Eda dumped them into her scrawny arms and told her to 'Go nuts!' when she expressed her desire to improve her potion making skills before undertaking the Owl Lady's homemade recipes. Three years had passed since then, yet the blonde witch could still mentally pick up the scent of apple blood, coffee and mud as she caught glimpses of the book covers that happened to possess the dried stains.
'Eda's never one for cleanliness…'
Lizzie pushed on through the feelings of nostalgia, but she soon found herself yawning and rubbing at her eyes after having gotten through under half of the books. The task she had undertaken was a tedious one, and she was struggling to keep her focus. Even so, she pressed onward, her green eyes scanning over each image of the described elixir for any signs of one that looked similar to Eda's. That didn't stop her from conjuring up her own theories inside her head.
'I don't think that elixir is one of Eda's creations. I know her recipes off by heart and it doesn't look like any of them. Plus, the label attached indicates she bought that elixir from a shop. Probably from 'Mr. Elixir'. I've seen them use labels like that with most of their products.'
Lizzie briefly paused and squinted at stopping on a page with an image she thought matched the unknown elixir. But after moving her face closer to the page and realising the elixir had an orange colour and not the golden one, she shook her head and resumed her train of thought, turning over to the next page.
'Still, I can't fathom why she wouldn't tell me or King about this. It's none of my business, but I can't help feeling like she's hiding something from us. Which makes me wonder why she'd want to hide something from us…'
The tiny pitter-patter of feet dashing down the left side of the hallway broke Lizzie from her concentration, prompting the young witch to raise her head and turn it toward the doorway. When a small black blur passed the door, Lizzie quickly rubbed at her eyes and forced three blinks to fix her vision, just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Upon looking again, she couldn't hear or see anything. The blonde quietly sighed and returned her gaze to her book.
'I must be getting tired. Better pick up the pace.'
Lizzie returned to her task at a quickened pace, her eyes darting between the pages as she flicked through them until she reached the book's end, only to close the book, put it to one side, and place it on the pile to her left before moving onto the next one. She managed to keep this up for the remainder of the books on the right pile, but she was beginning to lose hope the further she went. By the time she'd closed the second from last book in her lap and dropped it down onto the left pile, she was huffing and rubbing at her forehead with both hands, her eyes drooping.
'I've gone through so many books and yet none of them have an elixir that even remotely looks like the one Eda is drinking.' Lizzie lowered her hands and looked to the last book placed to her right, which she prepared to reach out for. 'Let's hope this book is the one—'
The pitter-patter of tiny, hurried footsteps from the right side of the hallway made the young witch freeze her hand over the top of the book. Her head jerked to the door when the footsteps reached it, allowing her to catch the same small black blur from earlier dart past with two new sounds now added into the mix: sloshing liquid and a cackle—a familiar, evil, yet adorable little cackle.
Lizzie's eye twitched as the sounds died away and disappeared down the stairs, finally realising what she'd heard, or rather whom she'd heard.
'King… So, I wasn't imagining things…' She stood up and blew out the candle on the window ledge, abandoning her mission in favour of speed walking out of the bedroom. 'I'd better go see what he's up to. I just hope it's nothing bad...'
Lizzie hurried down the hallway but slowed her pace when she got to the stairs at hearing King's voice from the bottom floor.
"Luz, I got it!"
'Got what?'
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Lizzie froze at the sound of a cork popping. It had come from the direction of the kitchen.
'What are those two doing in there?'
As Lizzie made her way towards the kitchen, she heard Luz speak up in an awed tone.
"This is it. I'm about to learn magic. Real magic. It feels like I'm dreaming."
The moment Lizzie rounded the corner into the kitchen, she came to a sudden halt when she caught sight of King and Luz. King was standing on the table with his tail wagging, while Luz was standing behind the table with her eyes closed and her lips puckered, slowly tipping a familiar looking golden glowing liquid close to her mouth—
"LUZ!"
Lizzie yelled and ran towards the human before she even had a chance to fully comprehend what was happening, forcing Luz's eyes to shoot open with a loud shriek. The young Latina stumbled back a step and lost her grip on the bottle in her hands, causing it to bounce between her palms as she attempted to catch it. Eventually the bottle slipped between the girl's hands and flew towards the floor, just as Lizzie dived across the table and drew a spell circle. Luz held her breath as she watched the bottle fall past the table, but it soon paused in mid-air thanks to Lizzie's spell, becoming outlined with a faint green glow that allowed it to levitate. The blonde witch snatched the cork from the table with one hand and cupped her other one underneath the bottle, leading to the spell cutting off.
Both girls sighed loudly and slumped with relief with the danger averted, allowing Lizzie to get up and place the bottle down on the table with her other hand on her chest. But then, after a few seconds, she reached out for Luz and gripped tightly at her shoulders, causing the young human to squeal and stiffen up at feeling the older witch's fingers dig into them.
"What are you doing?!" Lizzie shouted and shook Luz around a bit, making the latter wince and lean as far back as she could to create some space. "That's Eda's elixir! Why would you try and drink that?!"
Luz opened her mouth to speak, yet King beat her to it, stepping toward the witch with his paws raised. "Relax! I was just borrowing some of Eda's magic to give to Luz!"
Luz nodded repeatedly in agreement, while Lizzie glanced at King with raised brows. It took a few seconds and a forced blink before she processed his words. "… Eda's what?"
"Magic!" King picked up the bottle of elixir and held it towards Lizzie. "That's what Eda uses this for, right? For her powers?"
Silence fell between the demon and witch at this, with the latter refusing to speak a word as she kept her gaze locked on King's pink eyes. Lizzie wanted to be sure that King wasn't being serious; however, at seeing the little demon tilt his head while waiting for her to respond, she knew he was.
'Oh, Titan…'
The blonde witch slowly released Luz and clasped her hands together in front of her mouth, narrowing her eyes slightly. Her next words came out in a low voice. "… King?"
"Yeah?"
Lizzie bent forward so she was close to the little demon's face. "That's not for Eda's magic."
King's eyes widened as his gaze briefly flit between Lizzie and the bottle in his tiny grasp. "Weh?"
"Elixir is medicine."
Luz's and King's jaws dropped at this, prompting the latter to focus his gaze on the glowing bottle in his grasp with a slight gulp. "It… It is?"
"Yes. You stole Eda's medicine," Lizzie held her hand out towards Luz, her voice taking on a growl. "and nearly poisoned Luz in the process."
King stared at Lizzie as if the witch had just stabbed him in the back with a knife, while Luz thickly gulped and gripped at her throat. "You gave me medicine?!"
"I-I didn't know!" King stuttered, his little body beginning to tremble as he took a step or two away from Lizzie. His voice grew quiet the more he rambled. "I had no idea this stuff was important to Eda! I-I was just helping Luz learn that light spell…"
Lizzie straightened up with a scowl, placing a hand to her hip. "I don't care why you did it, King. You know you're not supposed to be in Eda's room in the first place. I can't believe you'd do this!"
King held up a paw and waved it about, bringing the bottle close to his chest with his other paw. "Hey, hey! Eda doesn't know I've taken it and Luz hasn't drunk any of it." He turned and started walking towards the edge of the table. "So, I'll go put it back and then we can forget—" Lightning struck from outside and interrupted King with a loud boom of thunder. "NYEH!"
King cried out and threw the bottle down towards the floor. Time seemed to slow down for Luz and Lizzie as they gaped and watched the elixir fall, feeling as if they'd both been hit with an ice spell. As for King, he didn't fully react until the bottle was close to the floor, dropping front first onto the table and leaning far enough over the edge to stretch his tiny arm out, like he still had a chance to grab it.
Smash. The sound echoed in Lizzie's ears at witnessing the glass shattering and scattering close to her feet, slowly becoming engulfed by the golden liquid forming a puddle around the bottle's remains. For a brief moment, Lizzie felt disassociated from her surroundings, like she was observing an event she wasn't a part of as she focused on her horrified golden reflection staring bug-eyed back at her. Luz was covering her mouth with her hands and King was still and silent. No one spoke a word.
Eventually, Lizzie became the one to break it by letting out a shaky gasp, her next words to leave her mouth becoming breathless. "Oh, no…" The blonde witch's legs briefly wobbled, her hands reaching for her chest as she dropped to her knees before the spilt elixir. "Oh, no! We've lost the elixir! We've lost the elixir!"
"Lizzie, it's okay," King replied calmly, waving his paw about in her direction. "Just calm down."
"Calm down?!" Lizzie whipped her head towards him when she shrieked, her eyes bloodshot. "I can't calm down! Eda doesn't know that we know about her elixir! She is going to be beyond angry when she sees it's gone!"
"She won't." King jumped off the table and approached Lizzie's side to roughly pat her arm, all the while the witch breathed heavily as she turned away. "Eda probably has more elixir stashed somewhere. We just need to find it, leave a bottle by her nest, and then clean up this mess before she wakes up." He pointed a claw at the mess on the floor. "If we sick Hooty on it, he'll gobble it up in no time. You know what he's like, always trying to eat anything and everything."
King's words seemed to bring Lizzie back to reality, causing her to close her eyes, suck in a deep breath and slowly exhale. 'Of course. Eda takes this elixir daily. She's got to have a supply of them somewhere in her room in case something happens.'
Lizzie released her clothes and dropped her shoulders with a heavy breath. "Yeah. Yeah. You're right. That'll work."
"See?" King's mouth appeared to morph into a wide grin as he pointed his claws towards his face, swishing his tail. "I'm known as the 'King of Demons' for a reason!"
Lizzie smirked and straightened herself out. "Are you sure you're not just speaking from experience? You sound like you've taken stuff of Eda's before…"
King forced a chuckle and rubbed the back of his head with a paw, but soon found his gaze drawn to the lamps on either side of the kitchen window when they suddenly brightened. The trio watched as the lights quickly dimmed and went out, placing the entire kitchen in darkness. Luz furrowed her brow at the ceiling, while Lizzie and King exchanged glances with drooped eyes (or at least, where they thought the other was, since their eyes had yet to adjust to the dark).
"Oh, great," Lizzie grumbled. "More problems."
King shrugged his shoulders. "Eh. It's probably just Hooty. He does control the house lights."
The blonde witch raised a brow. "What? You think he fell asleep again or something?"
"Maybe."
As Lizzie was about to respond, a loud crash came from the living room, mingling multiple sounds into one, such as glass smashing, wood splintering, and heavy objects being toppled over. The trio's shoulders stiffened (with King's fur and tail standing on end) as Hooty's panicked shouting resounded shortly after; something Lizzie hoped she'd never have to hear. It made Lizzie shudder at the chills that shot down her spine.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
"Hoot! Hoot!"
"Hooty!" Luz called out to the house demon and dashed around the table, her movement and the sounds suddenly stopping helping to bring Lizzie out of her shock.
Once Luz had sped ahead and her eyes had started to adjust, the young witch shook her head and grabbed King, placing the little demon on her shoulder as she stood up and followed Luz from the room. Regardless of how bad the situation was, she knew she couldn't leave Luz to fight it on her own.
By the time Lizzie and King had caught up to Luz, the young human had come to a stop in the living room doorway in a wide stance, staring ahead into the darkened room with her back facing the older witch. However, Luz's reaction was the last thing on Lizzie's mind, as the moment her gaze settled on the living room, she (along with Luz and King) gasped loudly.
The living room was in complete tatters: glass from the windows was littered across the floor, tables and books were strewn everywhere, the red sofa had collapsed in on itself along with the coffee table, which was split into multiple clean pieces. It was like they'd been hit by a tornado (if we were to use a human comparison). Yet the worst of it lay with the front door that had been ripped clean off its hinges, now wedged flat between the doorframes front up. Hooty was stuck to the door's front like usual, but he was still and silent, his eyes closed. When a brief strike of lightning illuminated the room a little, a large shadow was exposed looming over him on all-fours, appearing to resemble a demonic-like creature with glowing yellow eyes and bared fangs. It was too dark to properly see this creature in its entirety, but it was enough for Lizzie and the others to get an idea of its outline.
'Oh, what in Titan is that?!'
As the thunder rumbled on, Lizzie felt the hairs on her arms stand up with a quick electrical-like tingle at witnessing this unknown creature dig its claws into the door and slowly scrape it across the wood, leaving a deep mark just underneath Hooty. Thankfully, no one else moved. They were just as silent and still as she was. Yet the peace didn't last.
Lizzie's breathing hitched in her throat when the creature's glowing eyes fixed onto them, focusing especially on Luz standing at the front of the pack. The blonde witch heard the human gulp loudly and saw her back up into her front, further grabbing the attention of the creature. With a low growl, the creature righted itself and took a single step forward, continuing to bare its fangs as it stepped over the front door and crouched, like it was readying to strike. This, along with the whimper elicited from Luz, prompted Lizzie to act.
Picking King off her shoulder and shoving him into Luz's arms (causing the little demon to cry out in surprise), Lizzie gently pushed the young human behind her and stood in front of Luz and King, even despite the violent trembling that had overtaken her body.
"S-Stay back!" Lizzie shouted, her voice cracking and stuttering as she pointed her shaking index finger at the unknown threat. "N-Not another step!"
The creature responded to this gesture with a low growl and another step forward, arching its back with a twitching jaw. And yet Lizzie didn't back down. She took in a quick deep breath through her mouth to steady her trembling, her fingertip alighted.
"I'm warning you," the blonde witch declared with a scowl, her tone evening out a little bit. "Don't come closer."
Naturally, the creature ignored her and snarled, leaning forward as if to propel itself towards them. That was more than enough indication for Lizzie that this creature wasn't going to back down either.
"Luz, King, get back!"
Luz did as Lizzie instructed and ducked behind the wall in the hallway with King still on her shoulder, which prompted the creature to bound towards them with a loud, high-pitched screech and incredible speed. But luckily, the young witch was able to match it just about. Lizzie quickly drew a spell circle and brought forth a medium-sized ball of fire in a burst of flames that hovered above her palm. The sight of the flames caused the creature to come to a sudden halt close to the blonde witch, its eyes widening slightly as it skidded to a stop on its hind legs while desperately moving its front legs around.
"I did warn you," Lizzie hissed, stepping forward and swiping the ball of fire close to the creature's face while raising her voice. "Now, get out!"
The creature hissed and stepped backwards at the swipe, but Lizzie didn't stop at one. Knowing she now had the upper hand, the blonde grunted and swiped the flame in her palm towards the creature multiple times, continuing to force it back towards the doorway even with the adrenaline pumping through her veins. The dim lighting offered by the flames wasn't enough for Lizzie to catch a proper glimpse of this being, yet it was enough of a threat to get it to back off.
'I don't know what this thing is, but I can't let it get to Luz and King.'
One last swipe was all it took for the creature to whip itself round and flee outside into the boiling rain, with Lizzie throwing the fireball at it for good measure. Of course, it missed due to the creature sharply swerving towards the left as it bounded into the rain, getting extinguished the second it smacked into the forcefield.
Once she was sure she could no longer hear the creature's footsteps, Lizzie ran over to the front door and knelt beside it, calling out to the house demon with his eyes still closed. "Hooty?!"
Luz (who had been peeking round the doorway along with King the whole time) took this as her cue to come out of hiding, rushing over to where Lizzie was when Hooty didn't respond. The young teen stood in front of the top of the door while Lizzie prodded Hooty's beak with a finger, causing his tongue to stick out and stay there.
"Hooty?! Can you hear me?!"
King climbed onto the door on all-fours and raised a paw to Hooty's left eye, pulling back his eyelids with his claws to reveal a motionless, bloodshot eyeball. Hooty showed no reaction to this, prompting King to let go and shake his head slowly.
"Nope. He's out cold."
"Out cold…?" Lizzie mumbled, the words leaving an uncomfortable tingling on her tongue. Those were words she'd hoped she'd never have to say about Hooty.
The blonde witch shuddered and turned her gaze to the forcefield outside, remaining oblivious to King catching sight of another large claw mark in the doorframe closest to him. While he moved over to it and stood up to get a closer look, Luz turned to Lizzie with a frown.
"What was that?"
"No idea… But whatever it was is dangerous."
"How can you tell?"
Lizzie looked back to Hooty with a quiet gulp, gripping at her throat as she did so. Meanwhile, King was squinting at the claw mark, brushing his own claws against the dent. "That thing knocked Hooty out. There are very few demons and witches alive that can hold their own against this house demon."
"So, this has never happened before?"
Lizzie glanced at Luz with a scowl. "Never. Not to mention that thing escaped into the boiling rain."
Luz focused ahead and put a hand to her chest, her frown deepening. "Then what could it have been to survive that...?"
A loud gasp from King caught Lizzie's and Luz's attention, prompting the two girls to see King turning to them with his paws on either side of his face. "The Snaggleback!"
"What?"
King moved his paws to under his chin, his eyes widening. "That's what that creature is! It feeds during the rain! It must have stumbled across the house!"
Lizzie narrowed her eyes. "Okay, normally I'd agree with you, but this isn't the time for—"
She was cut off by the high-pitched roar of the creature from above, which made King look up with wide eyes. Lizzie immediately stood and dashed outside, glancing up at the front of the cottage as she stood just past the canopy roof. The forcefield had left a little bit of space dry from the canopy, meaning Lizzie was shielded from the boiling rain even when not under cover.
Luz and King joined her just as the young witch saw the shadowy figure perched on the roof. It rushed headfirst through a window on the second floor with a loud smash, sending glass flying inside. Luz rubbed her hands together and hunched forward a little.
"Oh no! That thing's inside the house!"
"Eda…" The name left Lizzie's mouth as a breathless whisper, the horror slowly settling in the pit of her stomach.
The Owl Lady was still unconscious upstairs, all alone and defenceless.
At hearing Lizzie's reminder, Luz smacked her cheeks with her palms and gaped.
"Oh my gosh! Eda! I forgot she was still upstairs because I knocked her out! This is terrible!" Luz heard small giggling coming from King, prompting her to glare at the little demon beside her, whose eyes were wide and whose paws were bunched into tiny fists. "So, why do you look and sound so happy?"
"Because this could be a great lesson! You'll get to see a wild demon up close and personal!"
Luz crinkled her nose and pointed towards the second floor to the cottage. "You want to go towards the creepy creature?" She waved her arms about at her front in a cross-like motion. "No way."
Lizzie nodded in approval, while King's shoulders slumped with a furrowed brow and a drooped tail. "Good attitude, Luz. But someone still has to go up there." She jogged back into the house and stepped around the front door, drawing a spell circle on the way which brought forth a small orb of light that floated above her palm. "I'll have to do it."
"Wait, Liz!" Luz said as she and King followed the blonde through the destroyed living room and into the hallway. "What about me and King?"
"The focus for now is on securing Eda's safety. So, until I get back…" Lizzie halted in the hallway and looked back when Luz and King also stopped, her gaze briefly going to the kitchen. "…you two should stay in the kitchen. Arm yourselves with anything you can use as a weapon and armour and then hide under the table."
"Uh…" Luz furrowed her brow and looked back at the living room, with Lizzie following her gaze. "And what about Hooty?"
The blonde witch stared silently at the unconscious house demon for a few seconds before holding her arms out with a shrug. "He'll just have to stay there until I get Eda."
'Sorry, Hooty. No hard feelings. It's just difficult to hide from that creature while carrying the front door around…'
Luz gave a quick salute and started running for the kitchen. "Got it! I think I saw a hockey stick and some pillows we can use!"
But as Lizzie continued towards the stairs, King dashed after her while twiddling his claws together. "Are you sure we can't go with you? My demon book will come in handy in how to deal with—"
"I'm sure," Lizzie replied sternly, causing King to stop in his tracks and watch the young witch start to make her way up the stairs. "We can figure out what to do when I get back. Just stay with Luz and wait."
King's shoulders slumped and as Lizzie disappeared to the second floor, causing him to scowl and stomp his foot. Around the same time, Luz exited the kitchen and approached the little demon with a strip of duct tape and a pillow in her hands. She was currently wearing yellow rubber gloves she'd found in the kitchen, along with a red plaster under her left eye and a green plaster under her right eye.
"Here we are, King." She crouched in front of the demon and held the pillow to his tummy. "You can use this as protection from that creature's claws. Lift your arms up, please."
King did as he'd been instructed, sounding no objections as he briefly observed Luz pinning the pillow to his front with the duct tape. His gaze wandered to the stairs where Lizzie had last been, however, his eyes narrowing. But, of course, this went unnoticed by Luz, who quickly finished her task and then stood up to jog to the kitchen.
"C'mon! We should take cover in case that creature comes down here! I still have to stick my pillow armour on!"
King didn't follow. He waited until he couldn't hear Luz's footsteps anymore before turning to face the living room, where he knew he'd left his demon books.
Armed with only an orb of light hovering above her palm, Lizzie ventured alone across the second floor one slow stride at a time. Her eyes continually darted to every dark crevice her light failed to reach, listening for any noise or movement that indicated the creature was nearby. At one point she found herself passing by the window on the front of the house that the creature had entered through, seeing the glass shards littered across the carpet. The doors to the cupboards and the bathroom on the second floor were still intact, which made Lizzie shudder and stop as she came upon the stairs to the third floor.
'The doors on the second floor are still intact, and I haven't run into it on the way up. That means that creature can't be anywhere else but the third floor…'
Which was where Eda was.
Lizzie raised her hand a bit to stretch the light far enough that it illuminated the top of the stairs, sucking in a deep breath before she dared to take the first step forward. At putting pressure on the bottom step, she flinched at the quiet creak that escaped, yet dared to take to keep going and move to the second step, doing her best to ignore her body's trembles all the while. Under other circumstances, she wouldn't have put herself forward for this. But she knew with both Hooty and Eda out of commission, the responsibility for keeping everyone safe fell to her. She was the only other person in the Owl House who had a means of fighting off a creature like this, since Luz was a human with no magical talent and King… well, she hadn't seen the little demon do much outside of acting like an animal. So, despite the urge to run and hide pulsing through her veins the closer she got up the stairs, she pressed onward.
'Of all the crazy things I thought I'd have to deal with tonight, a creepy creature breaking into the cottage was not one of them. But it's not like I can complain. This isn't as bad as dealing with Warden Wrath and Adegast, as long as we can get this thing out before it hurts anyone else…'
Lizzie beckoned the light orb close to her as she reached the top and rounded the corner of the third floor, stopping dead at coming face-to-face with the long, narrow hallway. The young witch had seen this hallway many times in the dark, but given the current circumstances, she was now seeing it in a new light. Literally. With the walls decorated with various sized and shaped paintings (some of which were of people whose dead eye stares Lizzie swallowed thickly at) and random items being pushed against them off to the sides near the third floor's entrance (such as a large wooden cabinet, potted plants, a chest, tables that held burnt candles, etc), Lizzie saw no sign of the creature lurking anywhere. She appeared to be alone, basing her assumption on the lingering silence (outside of the faint hammering of the boiling rain coming from outside, along with the quiet rumbling of thunder) and the lack of sight of it in view of her light.
With this in mind, the young witch walked forward down the hallway, one slow step at a time. Eda's room was in the middle of the hallway, so she didn't have to travel far to get her destination. Despite the silence, she kept her green eyes focused ahead, all the while feeling her heart thundering away against her rib cage with each step she took.
And then… she heard it: a loud squeak to her left.
Lizzie froze and whipped her body in the direction of the noise, highlighting the right door to Eda's bedroom in range of the light stretching from the orb. A hand went to her throat at seeing the door was part way open, suddenly feeling like her heart and bile sac had jumped up a level. Her immediate thought was that the creature had gone into Eda's room, but her mind also had other ideas…
'Now, now. King might have just left it open when he fled from the room. Don't jump to conclusions.'
That had to be it, right? There were no noises coming from the room, so maybe Eda was fine. Maybe she was still sleeping. Or she'd possibly been awoken by the noises downstairs and was hiding. Yeah, Lizzie thought, it was probably one of those things.
The blonde stared at the doors for a little longer before squaring her shoulders and scowling, walking forward without another thought. Upon reaching the doors, she grabbed both by the handles and gently pulled them back, expecting to find her technical employer lying in the nest where she'd last been left. Yet the second Lizzie caught sight of the room engulfed in darkness, she lost her grip, her jaw dropping open with a loud gasp.
The first thing that caught her eyes was the large, circular, stained glass window that resembled an orange eye; it was shattered. All that remained were the few pieces of uneven shards still wedged round the circular frame. And as for the second thing that had caught her attention? It was the nest that was supposed to be the Owl Lady's bed. She didn't need to shine a light into the room to know that the nest was empty. Her eyes had adjusted enough to the darkness now for her to see it clearly enough.
The harsh reality was staring Lizzie right in the face: Eda was gone.
