A/N: Wow. I actually managed to get this chapter done fairly quickly. I'm glad. So, normally, this is the section where I would basically talk about the basics of the chapter and other things. But for this one... I won't. There are a lot of plot revelations in this chapter that I don't want to spoil. Instead, I'll give a brief talk about that at the bottom of the chapter, so do stick around until the end if you're curious. Chapter 15 brings 'Covention' to a close, meaning Chapter 16 is going to be the start of 'Hooty's Moving Hassle'. Like with episode three, Lizzie is going to be involved in 'Plot B's' side of things, but I do have original plans for that which I think you guys are gonna like. For now, though, I hope the ending chapter for 'Covention' is going to live up to expectations. I will give you a clever hint for the very thing that causes the butterfly effect, though: don't mess with a Mama Owl, lest you want her to bear her talons.

Thank you to everyone who has been favouriting, following, reviewing, and reading this fanfic. Your support is greatly appreciated. I'm going to choose to answer some reviews here, as some of them aren't spoilers for this chapter.

To Mallory: I assume based on how you've been reviewing my fic that you're going through it one chapter at a time, so you probably won't see this until you reach this chapter. But to answer your question: yes, I have imagined Lizzie in the opening and closing credits. XD But it's more so been for Season 2 for the former than Season 1. She appears back-to-back with Luz at the beginning while juggling her potion vials. Although because I know what's going to happen in future chapters, I'm going to be the only one who understands that. XD For Season 1, it's difficult to place her. Aside from appearing with the group on Eda's staff and at the end of the opening, she probably wouldn't be able to pop up anywhere else.

To Demon dark mezzo sangue: I can understand why you would have wanted to have Lizzie do that. It is good common sense. But this is where the magic of character flaws comes in, because if you've noticed over previous chapters, Lizzie has been reluctant to let Luz anywhere near her magic-infused potions since their first meeting. It would have been out of character for her to hand some over to Luz. I do clarify this in the actual chapter, but I've also decided to clear it up in case it wasn't obvious. There is also another reason why she didn't do this, which is hidden in this chapter as well as previous. But that reason won't come out until later.


Chapter 15: Family Feud

Eda and Lizzie were silent as they stared down the giant hunk of purple goop towering over their human charge, with Luz whimpering and shuffling back a couple of steps as the abomination eyed her with its soulless glowing eyes. From just behind the abomination, Lizzie thought she saw Amity's eyes widen at her own creation, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, morphing into a proud smile as she lowered her arms and focused on Luz again.

"Okay, show me what you've got, human!"

"I'm not good under pressure!" Luz yelled back and turned away as the abomination lifted its right foot forward.

Eventually Eda let out a low whistle at watching Luz sprint away and narrowly avoid getting stomped on by the abomination, turning to the younger witch beside her with a slight frown. "Oooh boy. Maybe you should have given Luz one of your potions."

Lizzie stared at Eda wide-eyed, seeing the abomination watch Luz run away and then reach its hands up to the sides of its head. "You're kidding, right?" She gripped her satchel strap and pulled it further underneath her cloak. "My potions aren't toys, Eda. All it would take is Luz losing her grip on the vial and accidentally smashing it on the floor for her or Amity to become severely injured. And that's without the addition of your death traps."

Eda returned her focus to the ensuing fight just in time to see the abomination twisting its head round until it broke free from its body. She winced as the creature took its head into its right palm and held it back ready to throw. "Well, they look like they'd be useful to blow that abomination up right about now…"

Lizzie made the mistake of following Eda's gaze right as the abomination chucked its head, allowing her to watch it soar through the air before crashing inches away from Luz, causing dust and debris from the ground to fly up into the air. Lizzie covered her mouth with both hands as Luz once again narrowly avoided getting squished and stumbled backwards, breathing heavily as she attempted to vanish out of existence by pushing her back into the stand wall as far as it would go. The abomination continued to make its way towards Luz without showing any signs of stopping, with the goop around its neck slowly rising and eventually reshaping back into the head it had previously broken off.

Lizzie's eyes repeatedly darted between Luz and the abomination while the distance between kept getting smaller, all the while biting at her fingernails at feeling the palpitations in her chest thump in time with the creature's stomps. It was only upon seeing poor Luz slide down the wall to sit on the ground and shrink under the shadow cast by Amity's goop creation that Lizzie finally snapped, beginning to run forward with her right hand already raising to draw a spell circle.

'That's it! I'm ending this!'

She was stopped by Eda's tight grip on her wrist, prompting the blonde to peek back at the Owl Lady shaking her head and pointing towards something in front of Luz. Lizzie followed her gaze just as the abomination was about to close the distance between it and Luz, her brows raising at spotting a slightly raised mound in front of the young human. Luz covered her arms in front of her face when the abomination brought its foot down upon the mound, causing a large billow of fire to erupt from underneath it.

Lizzie, Luz, and Amity gasped loudly as the abomination hopped back on one foot and kept its injured foot and arm held in mid-air, both of which held the faint remnants of lingering flames. The blonde whipped her head towards Eda with a scowl.

"Really, Eda?! Fire?!"

The Owl Lady responded with a shrug, causing Lizzie to sigh loudly and smack her palm to her forehead, her body slouching.

'But at least Luz is okay. For now.'

Meanwhile, Amity frowned towards Luz still hiding behind the roaring flames, squinting at the human as if to scrutinise what she apparently just did. "Hey, how did you do that?!"

"Um…" Luz hesitated before smiling weakly and imitating 'jazz hands', shaking her palms around slightly. "Magic?"

"Uh oh…" Lizzie muttered, stepping back to Eda's side without breaking eye contact from the current duel. "I think Amity's on to us."

"Don't worry about it," Eda said with a gentle pat on Lizzie's shoulder. "You just focus on making sure she and Luz don't wind up getting hurt."

The stream of fire unleashed from the magic trap soon dispersed, giving Luz the signal to scramble to her feet and dash off towards the left. The abomination went to stomp after her, but after taking two quaking steps, its foot stepped on another slightly raised mound, immediately conjuring a sudden and strong gust of wind. It spiralled up from the mound and raised both Amity and the abomination into the air, causing Lizzie to start running forward again when the former cried out in alarm. Once again, the blonde witch was stopped in place by Eda grabbing at her wrist.

"Hang on."

Amity managed to flip herself over in mid-air, so when she descended towards the ground, she landed on one knee and grunted at skidding back a little. Her abomination, however, wasn't as lucky, and ended up crashing beside her on its back with a loud groan. Lizzie sent Eda a glare, with the Owl Lady raising her palms in surrender.

"What? I didn't know some of those traps were that strong!"

"I saw you that time, human!" Amity shouted, standing up and pointing accusingly at Luz. "You didn't use your hands! What are you doing?!"

Luz (who was standing on the opposite side of the arena now) held her hands up to the sides of her mouth so she could shout back, all the while her eyes darted around as she tried to think of a response. "… Trying not to die!"

Amity's abomination managed to recover after a moment or two of laying down, bringing itself to sit up and eventually stand like a puppet who had just discovered it had come to life. The abomination jogged after Luz with heavy steps, with Luz crying out and quickly twirling on her heels to run away.

Lizzie's gaze flitted between Luz and Amity all the while, observing the anger flushing the cheeks of the latter and the fear radiating in the wide eyes of the former. She couldn't place her finger on it, but… something about this scene felt… familiar. Amity's annoyance towards Luz for being able to do something she technically wasn't supposed to, Luz being a reluctant participant in a fight she clearly didn't want to be part of anymore…

Placing her hands to her forehead, Lizzie faced Eda with her fingers tangling in her fringe. "Eda, we need to stop this."

Eda raised a brow at the current state Lizzie appeared to be in. "What are you talking about? Luz and Amity are fine."

Lizzie shook her head back and forth a couple of times, her breathing growing rapid and shallow. "No, no! It needs to stop now. Someone is going to get hurt."

A loud explosion sounded from behind Lizzie, prompting her and Eda to whip round to face the arena once more. The abomination had seemingly stepped on another mound in its pursuit for Luz, bringing forth a large explosion and a billow of black smoke that surrounded the creature and forced it to stumble backwards. Luz had fallen onto her backside and was gaping up at the current mess, while Amity was storming her way over to Luz with her hands balled into fists, her face contorted into a scowl.

"How do you keep doing that?! You've got to be cheating!"

Luz's and Lizzie's eyes focused on the slightly raised mound settled in Amity's path, prompting the former to hold out her hand and call out in warning. "No, Amity! Don't come any closer!"

Thankfully, Amity did as Luz instructed and halted in front of the mound, but the young witch did squint at the young human's words out of suspicion. But then Lizzie's attention was diverted to the stands in front of the mound when a flicker of white caught her eyes.

An Emperor's Coven guard stood tall on the front row of the stand overlooking the mound between Luz and Amity, with Lizzie's joints freezing up the moment she made eye contact with the grey mask over their face. The blonde witch opened her mouth to yell for Eda's attention, her mind screaming at her to move and grab the Owl Lady by the arm. But no words left her mouth. They were caught in her throat. And no matter how much her mind screamed, her body refused to cooperate, acting as if there had been a disconnect between it and her brain.

'Oh no. Is that…?'

Her stalker? The guard from the panel earlier? Maybe they were the same person? She didn't know anymore. All she could do was stand there and stare back at the stranger staring at her. That is… until they raised their right hand in the air and positioned it behind their head. Something small dressed in an assortment of colourful shirts and scarfs was squirming round in the guard's grip, shouting intelligible strings of demands and insults in a voice easily recognisable to those who knew him. Lizzie gasped when she realised who it was, seemingly regaining the feeling back to her limbs.

'King!'

The action was abrupt, yet the second the guard tossed King forward and sent him spiralling to the ground, Lizzie charged forward to where Amity and Luz were. The two teenagers were unaware of what was going on in the stands, so it was no surprise that Amity responded to Luz's warning with a raised brow and a sarcastic retort.

"Why, human? What happens if I come closer?"

Her question was answered when poor King landed flat on his back on top of the mound with a light thump.

"Get back!" Lizzie shouted as she closed in on the mound, causing Luz to jump to her feet and Amity to turn to the older witch with a wide blink.

The mound caved in by the time Lizzie dived for King and managed to grab him, narrowly avoiding the sudden rise of the small accumulation of long, brown spikes breaking their way through the ground. Both Amity and Luz stumbled backwards with surprised cries to avoid being impaled, while King's clothes wound up getting caught on the tips as Lizzie moved him, immediately ripping into shreds. Lizzie rolled along the ground and held King close to her chest until she came to a complete stop, quickly sitting up and clutching the little demon under his arms to hold him at arm's length.

"King, are you okay?"

King didn't respond. The little demon appeared as still as a statue, staring at Lizzie with a vacant look in his pink eyes.

'Poor thing's probably in shock…'

But a quick glance over showed Lizzie that he didn't look physically hurt anywhere, prompting her to sigh quietly in relief. As Eda and Lilith rushed over to their respective students, Lizzie brought King into her lap and returned her gaze to the stands, particularly where the Emperor's Coven guard had formerly been stood. However, she couldn't see any sign of them amongst the crowd, causing the blonde to grit her teeth.

'Curses. They must have disappeared during the commotion.'

"I knew it!" Amity's angry yell drew Lizzie's attention back to the spikes, where she could see Amity pointing at Luz. "I knew you were cheating!"

Lilith had since joined Amity with her fingers touching in front of her chest and a stoic expression, while a glaring Eda stood beside Luz, whose shoulders were slumped as she tried to respond with stutters and a cracked voice.

"A-Amity, I—"

Luz cut herself off when Lilith knelt in front of the spikes and tapped the tip of her finger atop the smallest spike closest to her, causing a glowing blue outline to overtake it before it crumbled into dust. The leader of the Emperor's Coven closed her eyes and shook her head, speaking in a disappointed tone.

"Oh, Edalyn…" Lilith brought herself to stand, eventually raising her head to look her glaring sister in the eyes with a faint smirk. "I do believe this means you lose."

Eda made grumbling noises as she clenched her jaw, her body stiffening under the prideful air her sister had now gained. But something in Lizzie snapped. She didn't know if it was because of the Emperor's Coven guard or the fact King almost got hurt, but she soon found herself getting to her feet and holding King against her front, her next words coming out as a low hiss.

"Are you kidding me?" All four heads turned to the blonde witch as her mouth twitched, her voice steadily rising in volume as she held King out for them to see. "An innocent spectator almost got impaled and all you two are bothered about is the fact there was cheating?!"

King turned his head towards the remainder of the spikes, his mouth quivering at the sight of his shredded garments scattered about the middle of them. "My offerings…"

Lizzie put the little demon down and stomped towards Lilith, making the older witch lean back when she stabbed a finger close to her face. "You've got some nerve! You're supposed to be the leader of the Emperor's Coven, and yet you ordered one of your guards to throw a demon into the middle of a witch's duel just to expose your sister's cheating?! Unbelievable!"

"She did what?!" Luz and Eda yelled at the same time, with the former wide-eyed and the latter glaring dagger-eyed at Lilith.

"Yeah!" Lizzie looked back to the pair with a nod and pointed towards the stands, balling her other hand into a fist. "I saw a guard throw King into the arena from over there! Apparently, Eda wasn't the only one irresponsible enough to endanger someone!"

Eda's eyes briefly drooped at this, her palms raising in surrender. "Easy, kid. I get you're het up, but c'mon…"

Lilith glanced between Lizzie and Eda with wide blinks before turning her nose up and crossing her arms in front of her chest, scowling. "How dare you! I had no idea of my sister's antics until a few moments ago!"

Lizzie moved closer to Lilith's face with a snarl. "Then why was there an Emperor's Coven guard standing in the audience?!"

"I don't know!" Lilith turned her gaze to where Lizzie had been pointing previously, her brow furrowing. "The guards shouldn't be anywhere near the arena. I re-assigned them to the outside of the building."

Before Lizzie had a chance to continue her rant, Amity huffed and waved a hand in dismissal. "This is getting ridiculous. I'm leaving. The match is over."

Amity turned around and started walking towards the exit of the arena, prompting Luz to go after her.

"Amity, wait!" She called out to the other teen and attempted to reach for her, but Amity just ignored her and kept walking, not even daring to look back once.

However, it was here when Eda squinted at noticing something small stuck to the back of Amity's neck. "Hold it right there, Miss Protégé."

Amity came to an abrupt stop as Eda stomped her way over to the younger witch, gaping at feeling the older witch lift her hair up. "Hey, what are you—?"

She interrupted herself at feeling something being peeled from the back of her neck, only for her eyes to widen when the Owl Lady scowled and showed her a Construction Coven glyph. The second it was removed, Amity's abomination (who had been standing idly by the whole time) suddenly shrunk in size until it was nothing but a pile of purple goop on the ground, causing Amity to gasp loudly.

"Well, Redwood," Eda faced the younger witch staring at her with raised brows, holding up the Construction Coven glyph between her fingers. "looks like I was right, after all. Her abomination wasn't supposed to be that big, because she was using a glyph from the Construction Coven!"

Horrified gasps and mutters echoed around the crowded stands as Amity whipped her head back and forth with heavy breaths. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could see by the disappointed looks on their faces that they were judging her.

'No way…'

Lizzie hadn't realised it at first yet seeing the shocked look on Amity's face now made her recall how she'd looked the same way upon summoning her abomination at the beginning of the duel. She'd acted like she hadn't expected it to come out that size, which means…

'Lilith cheated too.'

The blonde looked towards the leader of the Emperor's Coven as Eda smirked and punched the air above her head. "Aha! Yes!" The Owl Lady roughly nudged Lilith in the shoulder with her own, causing the teal haired witch to scowl. "You cheated! Perfect prissy Lilith cheated!"

Lilith clenched her fingers into claws and began to splutter angrily at her sister. "W-Well, I-I only did it because I suspected you were going to cheat!"

"Doesn't make it right," Lizzie muttered, briefly glancing at Amity to see her rubbing at her neck with a hand and staring down at the ground with rapid breaths. "At least Eda had the decency to tell Luz what she was doing. You've humiliated your student and have no shame for it."

"B-But I—"

"Exactly!" Eda said in agreement as she swayed her body back and forth and waved her arms around as if she was dancing. "Cheating is still cheating! Welcome down to my level, sister!"

Tears sprung to Amity's eyes as Luz attempted to approach her with a worried frown, her voice cracking as she tried to speak up in her own defence at the eyes leering at her from the stands. "I-I didn't know…"

The pressure of the revelation eventually seemed to get too much for the young witch, and she was soon swirling on her heels and running out of the arena with shaking fists.

"Amity!" Luz shouted after her and followed her, with King doing his best to keep up with Luz at seeing her leave.

"Luz, wait for me!"

Lizzie was about to go after them, but she paused when she saw Eda with her fingers intertwined and her legs spread apart, appearing to be mimicking a wriggling movement with her arms with her continued victory dance. Lilith, however, wasn't taking too kindly to her sister's taunting, moving closer to her with a low hiss and narrowed eyes.

"Stop it! You're making a scene!"

"No way!" Eda replied with a cheeky grin, pointing a finger in Lilith's face. "You cheated! And I'm gonna savour this moment for as long as I can!" She cupped a hand round her ear and leaned away from Lilith, speaking sarcastically. "Hey, where's the 'Rhyming Coven'? What rhymes with 'cheated'?"

"Stop acting like a child, Edalyn!" Lilith yelled and balled her hands into shaking fists.

But she was promptly ignored by the Owl Lady, who pointed her fingers at Lilith and began to rap. "You were defeated, don't get heated,"—she put her hands in front of her face and quickly uncovered them—"get your stank face treated!"

Lizzie moved closer to Eda at seeing Lilith's teeth gnash together and her fingers twitch, gripping tightly onto the Owl Lady's closest arm to get her attention. She could practically see the red flush of anger rising to Lilith's face and didn't want to stick around to see what would happen if she exploded. Lilith looked like a predator about to pounce on its prey.

"Eda, you need to stop."

Eda smiled and waved Lizzie off with her hand, eventually placing that hand to her hip. "It's fine. I'm done." The blonde witch sighed and lowered her head. But the peace only lasted for a split second before Eda slipped her arm from Lizzie's grip and pushed both her hands with a wide grin. "Because my rhymes are depleted!"

"Argh! That's it!" Lilith screeched.

Clenching her hands into fists and holding them side-by-side in front of her, Lilith pulled them apart and materialised a white staff with a white raven palisman atop it from out of nowhere. Eda and Lizzie stepped back as the leader of the Emperor's Coven levitated her staff before her palms and brought forth a stream of light blue flames, spinning the former around a couple of times to form a flaming ring in front of her. When Lilith took hold of her staff with both hands once more and quickly swung her weapon back, Lizzie's eyes widened, a familiar sense of dread causing her stomach to drop.

The blonde witch moved forward on impulse and shoved the Owl Lady aside, sending her tumbling to the ground on her bottom with a surprised cry just as Lilith pointed her staff forward and fired a stream of flames from its head. The flames connected with Lizzie's front after she'd managed to shield her face with her arms, sending the young witch flying backwards through the air with great force until she collided with the wall of the stage. It wasn't until she saw Lizzie's figure disappear in the blue mist conjured by the attack's aftermath and heard the cries of the crowd from above that Lilith realised what she'd just done.

A hand flew to her mouth as she dared to glance at her sister, who was sat staring at the scene as still as a statue. The shock radiating in her wide golden eyes wasn't just any old shock. There was a faraway look to them, as if she was re-watching a scene she'd already witnessed once before. When the mist cleared, Lizzie was lying down on the stage face-first, unmoving. The sight was more than enough to force Eda to get to her feet and to run over like her life depended on it, panic flooding into her tone.

"Lizzie!" Lilith's flames dispersed as she silently observed her sister drop to her knees beside her fallen charge, watching her grab the younger witch by the shoulders and roughly shake her about. She swore she heard the Owl Lady's voice crack at her next words. "Kid, can you hear me?"

A groan was the only response Eda got, prompting the older witch to furrow her brow and prop the blonde onto her knees, continuing to support her by the shoulders. Lizzie's eyes were drooped, her body was as limp as a lifeless doll, and she kept forcing blinks, like she was fighting to stay awake and retain her focus. But otherwise, she didn't appear outwardly injured. Or so Eda thought… until she spied the red patches on the top half of Lizzie's arms. The Owl Lady gently slipped a palm under Lizzie's closest arm and raised it a little to examine the burns with a wide blink, feeling the blonde witch flinch at the movement.

When it didn't seem like Eda was going to move any time soon, Lilith willed up the courage to take two steps forward, addressing her sister with an outstretched hand.

"Edalyn, I—"

She was interrupted by Eda's head snapping her way, sudden anger flaring in her golden eyes and bared teeth. Lilith had seen Eda angry before, but the anger she was seeing now was nothing like she'd ever seen in the past. If the witch looked close enough, she could have sworn the veins in Eda's neck were visibly throbbing, with her pale face flushing scarlet. The Owl Lady didn't just look angry; she looked like an owl mother about to kill the hunter who'd dared to wound her owlet.

Lilith slowly backed up and hunched her shoulders as Eda released Lizzie and stood up, using a hand to materialise her own staff out of thin air and bringing golden flames along with it. Lilith realised immediately that Eda planned to copy her earlier assault and was already spinning her staff round to reform her flame circle. But her sister was quicker. With squinted eyes, the Owl Lady spun her staff round once and formed a golden circle in front of her just like Lilith had previously done, pointing the head of her staff forward to fire a stream of golden flames towards Lilith. Lilith hadn't even formed the circle by this time, so she ended up freezing like a deer in headlights as the flaming beam gained on her. The flames smacked into her front, sending Lilith off her feet and into the wall of one of the stands with a loud bang, disappearing into a brief mist of gold.

But the Owl Lady didn't stop there. Without even waiting for the dust to clear, Eda jumped down off the stage and swiped her free arm to the side to disperse her flames, pointing the head of her staff forward to fire beams of gold in the direction her sister had crashed in. A whirl of glowing blue ring dispersed the golden mist off to the sides, revealing a snarling Lilith with her right palm stuck out and her left one balled into a fist, twirling her staff in a circle to block Eda's golden projectiles. Eda smirked widely at this, with her lips pressed firmly together as she kept her attacks going.

Lizzie remained on the stage for the time being, lowering her head and rubbing at her face as she tried to pull herself together. But she soon raised her head when she heard someone yell from the stands above, followed by a chorus of loud cheers.

"Witch's duel!"

'Huh?'

Lizzie's jaw slacked at watching Lilith pull her staff away and bring her flame circle together into one large orb with her left hand, forcing her palm forward to fire it as a long stream towards Eda. Eda took one large step back and used her staff to draw a wide golden spell circle under her feet, only to step back again as the stream closed in and raise her right hand while kneeling on one knee. An earth pillar immediately grew from the middle of the circle and intercepted Lilith's attack seconds before it crossed over, shielding Eda and dispersing the mist off to the sides as it collided with the pillar.

'What's happening…?'

The pillar continued to grow and eventually arched forward to reveal the top had Hooty's face carved into it, even making a loud and deep 'hoo' as it slowly charged headfirst towards Lilith. Lilith raised her right index finger above her head and drew a spell circle large enough to encompass her entire person. Blue flames engulfed Lilith just as the pillar was inches away from its target, zipping off to the right before bursting apart to reveal Lilith out of harm's way. The earth pillar crashed face-first into the wall of the stands, the impact being strong enough to shake the stands and send flaming blue debris flying towards the lingering spectators.

Lizzie covered her hands over her mouth as she watched Hexside students and other citizens of Bonesborough alike leap from their seats with loud screams and cries, making the wise decision to flee from the arena before they ended up getting hurt. And yet neither of the Clawthorne sisters noticed.

Eda dashed behind her fallen pillar and drew multiple golden spell circles along its side with black middles using both index fingers, twirling along with graceful movements without slowing down her momentum. On the other side, Lilith was then met with small versions of Eda's large pillar with Hooty's face stretching out of the circles and straight towards her, prompting her to draw the same glowing spell circle again to briefly disappear in a flash of blue flames. She reappeared multiple times in the air as she repeated the same spell after dodging each pillar one at a time, even pausing at one point to smack one pillar to bits with her staff when it got too close for comfort.

"Eda!" Lizzie yelled out to the Owl Lady and forced herself to stand. "This is getting out of hand! You need to stop!"

But the Owl Lady didn't hear her. Instead Eda's gaze was focused on the ceiling, where she saw her sister reappear for the last time and swipe away at the remaining earth pillars with a stream of blue flames from her staff. Lilith pointed the head of it downward and dived in a diagonal line towards Eda with bared teeth and narrowed eyes, charging her staff up with more blue flames. But the Owl Lady did nothing but give her sister a smug smile and spin her staff around to conjure her golden forcefield. With her staff held in both hands, Eda spread her legs apart and received Lilith's attack head-on, causing the two to collide. Eda stood her ground while Lilith continued to try to drive her staff head through the Owl Lady's forcefield, neither side looking ready to let up. However, the moment Eda's eyes caught sight of a large crack forming, she moved her left hand closer to the head of her staff.

Owlbert's eyes glowed gold for a few seconds before his wooden appearance shifted into a tiny owl with golden eyes, brown-toned feathers (dark brown on his wings and back and light brown on his front) and orange feet; a sight Lizzie was very familiar with. Lilith failed to notice Owlbert detach himself from Eda's staff, so she was soon caught off guard when the little owl swooped towards her and headbutted her in the forehead.

Lilith's attack cut off and she stumbled backwards onto her feet again, closing her eyes tight and pressing her palm to her forehead. Yet Owlbert's assault didn't stop. The moment Lilith whirled away from Eda and turned her back to her, the tiny owl flew to the top of her head and grabbed a clump of hair between his beak, yanking hard enough to pull her forwards. Lilith grumbled in response to the pain and attempted to swat at Owlbert with a hand, giving Eda enough time to drop her forcefield and spin her staff round twice.

"Say 'goodnight', sister!" She loudly declared before slamming the bottom of her staff against the collapsed wooden pillar.

A golden spark briefly alighted before a large golden spell circle drew itself on the side of the pillar where Owlbert had dragged Lilith to, eventually revealing yet another large earth pillar with Hooty's face. It wasn't until Owlbert released Lilith and flew away that the witch spied and heard the approaching pillar coming at her from her right, her eyes going wide and her mouth falling open out of realisation. Before she could even think of a counter, the pillar's beak opened wide and engulfed her entirely, slamming closed and coming to a slow stop in the place Lilith had formerly stood in.

Eda gave a proud smile at her handywork as Owlbert landed on the top of her staff and tucked in his wings and feet to return himself to his wooden state, placing a hand to her hip. With everything having fallen quiet, Lizzie took this as her opportunity to climb down from the stage and jog her way over to the Owl Lady, furrowing her brow as she made her approach. She went to call out to the older witch to get her attention, but stopped short when she noticed a flaming blue, person-sized hole in the side of the pillar…

Eda had noticed it as well, causing her smile to drop. Yet before the Owl Lady could react, she felt a sudden gust behind her. She didn't have time to turn around before she heard Lilith's low voice, with Lizzie gaping at the sight of the blue flame in the older witch's left hand.

"Enough of this."

Eda gasped loudly as she was hit in the back by a sudden blast, only to be sent spiralling into one of the nearby walls, colliding with so much force that a large crack was formed in her wake. Eda cried out as she dropped to the ground on her side, her staff rolling away from her enough that it was out of her reach. Lizzie was frozen to the spot as she stared at her helpless employer, who stayed down in her current position even as Lilith grinned in victory and brought her staff back to her hand. She didn't look intent on stopping, which caused the blonde's body to tremble.

'No…'

As Eda slowly pushed herself to her knees and gripped at her right elbow, she dared to raise her gaze to Lilith and witnessed the coven leader bring forth her flaming blue circle with her spinning staff, her brows lowering at the triumphant look in her sister's eyes. But her brows were soon raising at the sight of a black blur skidding to a stop in front of her just as the flames were fired, a defiant yell leaving their lips as a large green spell circle was drawn.

"NO!"

A transparent, green, semi-circle forcefield flashed over Lizzie, lasting long enough to sustain the hit from Lilith's attack before quickly fading. Eda's mouth dropped open at the sight she was beholding, yet Lizzie wasn't done. The moment the forcefield faded, the blonde witch was already drawing another spell circle and firing a blast of fire from its middle without processing what she'd just done, which Lilith was not expecting. The older witch gasped and raised her arms to shield her face as a last resort, doing her best to defend herself in the small timeframe she had before she was hit.

Suddenly a white blur moved in front of Lilith and took on a wide stance, spinning a black staff with a black furred ferret curled round the head with its chin resting on the staff's tip. They summoned forth a transparent, green, semi-circle forcefield to encompass them both and stopped their staff still between their gloved hands to hold it up. The forcefield took the brunt of Lizzie's attack and caused the flames to disappear after one hit, sustaining a couple of cracks from the place of impact.

Lizzie stared with wide eyes as she, Eda, and Lilith took in the presence of the newcomer, with Eda managing to collect her staff and use it to pull herself to her feet. The intruder was donning the Emperor's Coven uniform for coven guards, right down to the grey mask to hide their face. They appeared to be shorter than Lilith, yet it was only by a couple of inches. And judging by the look of surprise on Lilith's face, Lizzie could tell this appearance wasn't planned.

'No way… Could that be…?'

As the coven guard lowered their staff and caused the forcefield to fall apart like thick sludge, Lilith became the first to regain her composure, straightening herself out and addressing them with a scowl.

"What are you doing here? Who sent you? I explicitly ordered the coven guards to remain outside the Covention."

The Emperor's Coven guard slowly turned to Lilith and gave a low bow, keeping their staff in their hands. A deep, cold voice responded from behind the mask, causing Lizzie to tense up and gape, that familiar chill from before running down her spine. She was brought back to her senses the moment the familiarity of the tone reached her ears.

"Please forgive my intrusion, Madam Lilith. But I caught wind of a criminal's presence amongst the citizens and wanted to apprehend them before they got away."

Lilith raised a brow and quickly glanced at Eda, placing her own staff in one hand for now. "If you are referring to the hearsay about Edalyn, do not trouble yourself."

"Oh, no." The guard raised his head and quickly shook it, causing Lilith to blink widely out of surprise. "I wasn't referring to the Owl Lady." He straightened his posture and slowly faced Eda and Lizzie, his gaze locked on Lizzie's wide eyes. His next words were spoken in a tone that made Lizzie suspect he was smirking behind his mask. "I meant Elisabeth Redwood."

That was all the confirmation Lizzie needed.

'It all makes sense now. The guard who was staring at me during the panel, and the one who threw King into the arena…'

"It is you…" Lizzie said in a quiet, breathy voice, pointing a shaky finger at the young guard on the other side of the arena. "You're the one who bribed that guard to stalk me in Bonesborough!"

The guard lightly chuckled and started to stalk his way towards her, slowly twirling his staff around in his right hand. "Oh, so you were still hiding in that alley. Bravo, Elisabeth! You've really gained a knack for performing disappearing acts if your three-year absence is any indication…"

Lizzie scrunched her face up and moved away from Eda a little, who was now glaring at the identified intruder. "Who are you? Why have you been following me around?"

The guard halted in his tracks at hearing this, the staff in his hand falling still. His response was delayed by a few seconds. "You're kidding, right?" He forced another chuckle, sounding amused. "Is this your idea of a joke?"

"Is stalking me your idea of one?" Lizzie retorted, frowning and gripping tightly at her satchel strap with a raised voice. "Why is someone like you chasing after a nobody like me?!"

"Wow…" The guard replied sarcastically, placing his empty hand to his chest. "That hurts. And after I finally decided to show myself to you too."

Lizzie growled and narrowed her eyes, her former fear soon evaporating and replaced by anger.

'I can't believe I was scared of this guy. He's more irritating than when I first saw him…'

When she didn't respond to him, the guard took his staff into both hands again, twirling it round as if he was inspecting it. "Playing games is really cruel, you know. You've fooled the whole of Bonesborough into thinking you'd mysteriously vanished into thin air for three years." The guard looked up at Eda, whose glare deepened as she silently observed him. "But to think you were hiding with the Owl Lady this whole time and have taken on her wild witch ways, to the point of assaulting a coven leader…" He shook his head. "Oh, how far you've fallen, Elisabeth…"

"Enough," Lizzie spat and stomped her foot, pointing a finger at him. "Stop talking like we've been lifelong friends! Just tell me why you won't leave me alone!"

"Isn't it obvious?" The guard smacked his staff against his palm. "I'm here to bring you to where you belong: the Conformatorium."

Lizzie's shoulders stiffened at this, prompting Eda to puff out her chest and step in front of the younger witch. "I don't think so, half-wit. You're gonna have to— Whoa…!"

Eda staggered to the right and almost fell forward, immediately being caught by the shoulders courtesy of Lizzie.

"Eda…"

The Owl Lady forced a smile Lizzie's way and placed a hand on the younger witch's closest shoulder, her eyes drooping. "It's all right, kid. It's just the curse. It takes a lot out of my magic, remember?"

Lizzie raised a brow, unaware of Lilith watching their interaction with her brows knitted together. "You never said it affected your magic."

"Well, I have now."

A scoff of derision brought the pair's attention back to the guard as the eyes of the ferret palisman on his staff glowed a bright green, causing Lizzie to pull Eda closer to her side to support her. "This'll be a breeze!"

Lizzie raised her right hand in preparation to cast a spell, yet she paused when Lilith strode forward and stood before the coven guard, holding up her palm with a stern frown.

"I can't authorise this," Lilith stated firmly. The guard's staff powered down as the blonde witch watched on with raised brows, oblivious to Eda slipping her hand into her satchel and rummaging round with her tongue sticking out. "I'm handling this situation, so return to your original post."

The guard didn't say anything at first, choosing to lower his staff while Eda paused with her rummaging to observe what was going on. But then the guard lowered his head and sighed heavily. When he spoke up, he did so in a tone Lizzie could tell was forced concern. "As much as I would like to follow your order, Madam Lilith, I'm afraid to say I'm a little conflicted."

Lilith's frown deepened, her hand lowering at the guard's response. "And why's that?"

The guard turned his gaze down to his staff as he responded quietly, which he slowly rotated between his fingers. "My pursuit of Elisabeth is rather… personal. She's family, you see,"—Lizzie's jaw dropped at this, while Eda's and Lilith's eyes widened—"and I only want to bring her back to the right side and help her see the error of her ways."

'I'm what?!'

Now Lizzie was even more confused than before. But she and Eda didn't have the time to process this fact, as the guard had since raised his head and was staring at Lilith. "You understand, I'm sure. After all, you're doing the same for your sister, aren't you?"

Eda pressed her lips together at seeing Lilith's hands twitch and her head lower, resuming her rummaging through Lizzie's satchel while addressing the young witch in a whisper.

"Kid, we can't stick around. That tool is going to make my sister cave. It's time for the backup plan." The Owl Lady removed one of Lizzie's light potions from the satchel and held it up to her, causing the blonde's shoulders to hunch. "Throw it at 'em and let's go."

Lizzie's eyes darted between Lilith and the guard (both of whom were quiet as the latter waited for the former's response) and the potion in front of her face before shaking her head, responding to Eda in kind. "No way. I can't throw that at them!"

Eda squinted and pulled the potion away slightly. "What? Why not? You had no problem using them against Adegast and Warden Wrath."

"That was different."

"How?" When Lizzie turned her gaze to her feet, Eda groaned and used her staff to pull her body up straight. "We don't have time for your confusing emotional conflicts, Redwood. I'll do it."

Lizzie's eyes widened when the Owl Lady pushed herself off the younger witch and faced the pair with her arm held back, attempting to reach out to the potion in order to stop her. "Eda, wait—!"

The potion was tossed into the air seconds before Lizzie's fingers could even touch the glass, prompting the blonde witch to freeze up. Everything felt like it was playing in slow motion for the younger witch as she watched her potion vial swirl round in the air in the direction of the guard and Lilith. By the time Eda had started dashing past her and grabbed her by her upper arm, the guard was turning his focus to the vial descending towards the ground with a loud gasp. The vial smashed close to Lilith's feet before the coven leader could even turn around, erupting a blinding light that she and the guard screeched at as they went to shield their eyes with their arms.

Eda and Lizzie had already looked away and thus were spared of the potion's effects, leaving the former yelling to her sister as she sprinted towards the arena's exit while yanking the latter along.

"It's been fun, sis! See you when I see you!"

Lizzie counted to 'five' in her head before daring to glance back over her shoulder, catching a small glimpse of the guard with his staff dropped on the ground and one of his hands clutching at the right side of his mask. He looked like he was about to remove it, but Eda pulled the younger blonde through the door before she could get a proper look at his face.

'… Who are you?'

Even after escaping from the arena, Eda didn't stop running or pulling Lizzie along. The Owl Lady dashed through the rows of stands in the main hall with her golden eyes scanning for any signs of Luz and King along the way, while her charge followed with the 'thousand-yard' look on her face and no resistance whatsoever. The pair knew it wasn't safe for either of them to remain here anymore, and not just because of the presence of both Lilith and Lizzie's stalker. A lot had happened during that small feud between the four of them, to the point where both Eda and Lizzie were mentally and physically drained. They were in no state to stick around and tempt fate for a second time.

It didn't take long before Eda spied the young Latina standing beside the toilets of the Covention with a yellow tote back hanging from her left arm (which King was apparently sitting in). As she started to rush past them, the older witch placed a hand on Luz's closest shoulder and gave it a rough pat to get her attention, speaking hastily.

"Luz, we've gotta go."

"Why, what's—" Luz cut herself off the moment her gaze fell upon Lizzie's injured arms, prompting her brows to raise along with King's. "Oh my gosh."

"Yeah, I'll explain later. Let's just go."

Luz jogged alongside Eda as the group of four hurried towards the entrance of the building, with Lizzie being limply yanked along with her eyes focused on her feet. She remained unaware of Luz watching her with a furrowed brow, clear concern for the older blonde shining in her hazel eyes.


When the group returned to the Owl House on Eda's staff, the first thing Eda did was drag Lizzie to the kitchen and get her burn wounds patched up. Luz suggested using a healing spell from the book Lizzie had been given, but Eda immediately shut that down upon pointing out that she had expended herself and didn't want Lizzie wasting any more of her magic. The young witch's arms ended up covered in bandages just past her elbows, but at least the treatment was enough to keep her burns from agitating her too much. To keep Lizzie distracted from her injuries, Luz and King used the time to relay to Eda and Lizzie what had happened to them during the Covention, with the former revealing that Amity had broken the everlasting oath so she could continue learning magic, and the latter going into great detail about his 'offering escapade' (which turned out to be the little demon basically pinching free samples from most of the coven stands) until the Emperor's Coven guard found him in the audience when King had decided to come and watch the witch's duel. But as hard as Lizzie tried to pay attention to what was being said, her mind wouldn't stop replaying the guard's words from earlier on repeat. It was still a lot for her to process, so much so the poor witch was convinced she was dreaming. But that illusion was quickly dispelled when Luz had poked her cheek, bringing her back into the present conversation.

Eventually, Lizzie excused herself to the living room so she could have some alone time to think, curling up against the arm of the red sofa with the side of her head resting on her upper arms, staring ahead at the fireplace. That was how Eda found her when she entered the living room after a few hours had passed and dusk had given rise over the isles, with Luz and King having made themselves scarce out of respect for the blonde witch.

Lizzie didn't acknowledge Eda as the Owl Lady strolled into the room and plonked herself down on the other end of the sofa, even when she leaned back, crossed one leg over the other and rested an arm against the back. Neither witch dared to speak to each other, allowing a thick blanket of silence to envelop the room once more. Yet when Eda twisted her body to face the younger witch and opened her mouth ready to speak, she fell short when Lizzie beat her to it in a low voice.

"You were close to hurting people, you know." Eda closed her mouth and chose to stay silent, but Lizzie refused to take her gaze off the crackling flames from the fireplace. "It was bad enough when you were endangering Luz and Amity. But you also endangered a crowd because I took a hit for you. That was very reckless, Eda."

"Is it any more reckless than what you did?" was Eda's stern reply, finally prompting Lizzie to turn her gaze to the frowning Owl Lady to her right. "You almost got impaled and burnt to a crisp saving me and King, and not once did you try to use your potions." Eda's gaze briefly went to the bandages on Lizzie's arms. "My sister isn't one to be merciful with her magic. You're lucky you escaped with the injuries you have."

Lizzie's eyes drooped at this, looking away towards the fireplace again with a quiet sigh. "I suppose we both made reckless decisions, huh?" Eda stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry in response, finally cracking a smile on Lizzie's face with a snort and chuckle. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

There was a brief pause before Eda chose to speak again, adjusting her position so she was sitting up straighter in her seat. "You wanna talk about what happened back there with Mister Tool?"

And Lizzie knew why Eda had chosen to ask that question first. That guard had dropped quite a bit of information on them during their first proper encounter, and it had taken a while for Lizzie to let it properly sink in. Yet now that she had, she'd managed to sift through the info enough to let the pieces fall together. But instead of telling Eda what she wanted to hear, the blonde witch slowly shook her head, closing her eyes while Eda raised her brows and sat forward.

"Not now. I think I know who he is. But until I know for sure, I don't want to say."

Eda chuckled and nodded, placing her knuckles under her chin. "All right. I don't think Luz will like the sound of that, though."

"Did you tell her?"

"About the stalker? Yeah. She and King wouldn't stop trying to come up with theories about why a coven guard made him a target. After what happened with my elixir, I didn't want their imaginations running wild."

"Good call."

Another round of silence came before Eda spoke again, keeping her head turned away from Lizzie to hide a small smile. "You know, after you left the kitchen, Luz asked me if she'd ever be a true witch."

Lizzie raised her head and turned it to Eda with a wide blink. "She did? Why?"

Eda faced Lizzie and shrugged her shoulders. "No idea. I guess her confidence was knocked down a peg when she faced the Blight girl."

"Yeah. That was rough." Lizzie sat up and rubbed at her forehead with a hand. "What did you tell her?"

Eda snorted and slapped her knee, rocking back and forth a bit in her seat. "What do you think? I told her I didn't know. Not like there's such a thing anyway."

Lizzie's eyes drooped as she recalled the witch's duel between Luz and Amity. "I can't blame her for questioning it. Amity and Lilith weren't taking her seriously because she's human, and the coven system tries to put 'witches' under one umbrella. She probably thought she'd made a fool of you today."

Eda threw her head back and let out a loud cackle, causing Lizzie to lean away from her out of surprise. "Are you kidding? With everything that happened, it made me look great."

Lizzie raised a brow and folded her arms. "… You're going to have to run me through that."

Eda straightened out her back and puffed her chest out with a wide grin. "My sister cheated, Luz showed Blight she can do magic, and you…"—She smirked and imitated a 'finger gun' action with one hand towards the younger witch—"You cast a spell I never taught you and almost got the drop on Lily!" She pointed her finger towards the ceiling and wrapped her other arm around her middle. "Ha! Who's the better teacher now, sister?!"

Lizzie's eyes widened at this, a hand subconsciously going to her chest at remembering her impulsive charge to Eda's defence. "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." She tilted her head to the side, her fingers digging into her vest. "I still don't know how I did it…"

"I've been wondering the same thing since you taught yourself that earth spell. But when I was fighting Lily with the same spell, I realised something." Eda's smirk widened as she scooted across the sofa, settling beside the younger witch and lightly jabbing her in the ribs with her elbow. "You're a visual learner."

Lizzie narrowed her eyes a little, not quite following where Eda was going with her 'epiphany'. "Meaning…?"

"You've seen me cast those spells so often, it was child's play for you to do it on the spot. That's why you conjured a forcefield similar to mine when Lilith fired that attack at me." Lizzie gaped a little, prompting Eda's smirk to dim down into a smile as she tapped the tip of her own nose. "And you know what I think? We can use that to help you build up your spell collection quickly. And maybe your potions if we can find some matching recipes you can enhance."

Lizzie switched her gaze to her hands as she rested them against her thighs, taking a moment to process Eda's idea.

'She's right. I've seen Eda use those pillars and forcefields before. And because she taught me to memorise the spells before casting them, it was easy for me to replicate them, even at a basic level...'

"You're still gonna need to practice to make them strong enough." Lizzie's shoulders stiffened at feeling Eda slink her arm around them and pull her closer to her side, prompting the Owl Lady to smile slyly. "But at least knowing them can help you get out of a jam." Eda switched her gaze to the doorway to the hall and raised her voice a bit. "And it's the same for Luz and her symbols."

Lizzie's brows raised when she heard a quiet squeak behind the right side of the doorframe, only to see Luz poke her head round with a forced grin. King's head also made an appearance underneath hers, allowing Lizzie to see he was perched on Luz's shoulder.

"Aha…" She gave a small wave. "How long did you know we were there?"

"Long enough."

"… Sorry." Luz stepped into the living room with a hand rubbing at the nape of her neck, her gaze turned to the floor. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. It felt rude to disturb you."

Eda shook her head and waved Luz off with a hand, moving away from Lizzie to shuffle towards the other end of the sofa again. "Forget about it."

Luz approached the sofa and settled down between Eda and Lizzie, facing the latter with a furrowed brow while King slid off to sit in her lap. "Eda told me what really happened in the marketplace the other day." The young girl's eyes briefly flitted to Lizzie's bandaged arms, prompting her to bring her own into her lap and hunch her shoulders. "Is it true you're related?"

Lizzie pressed her lips together as she tried to think how to respond. But after a moment, she shrugged and looked away. "I don't know. I suppose I'll find out eventually." She gave a small smile and focused back on Luz to ruffle her hair. "But until then, it's nothing for you to worry about. As Eda's said, he's a low-ranking guard. He can't get me out here."

Luz returned the smile and accepted the hair ruffle without resistance, soon switching her focus to Eda with a wide blink. "I still can't believe the leader of the Emperor's Coven is your sister."

"You think that's shocking?" Eda rested back against the sofa with an arm across the back of it. "Wait until you hear about my parents."

Luz gasped and leaned forward with wide eyes. "You have parents?!" She balled her hands into fists and held them up. "Tell me more! I wanna know!"

"You very much don't," King commented with drooped eyes, with Lizzie slowly nodding in agreement.

"Agreed." She closed her eyes. "Plus, having parents isn't that big of a deal. I still have mine."

Lizzie opened her eyes when she felt Luz whip round and grab at her shoulder, tilting her head away from the young Latina at noticing she was inches from her face. "You do?! Do you have a mysterious past too?!"

Lizzie squinted a bit. "A what?"

"She's been obsessed with that since this morning. I still don't get it," King answered, prompting Lizzie to gently push Luz back into her seat with a palm against her forehead.

"Calm down, Luz. You've had a long day."

Luz pouted and switched her gaze between Eda and Lizzie, but she didn't say anything for the time being. When she did resume talking to the former though, Lizzie chose to tune out the conversation and glance down at her lap, the reminder of her parents bringing the guard's words back into her head.

'My pursuit of Elisabeth is rather… personal. She's family, you see, and I only want to bring her back to the right side and help her see the error of her ways.'

The blonde witch sucked in a quiet, deep breath through her nostrils and closed her eyes, clenching her hands into fists that lightly shook.

'I hope you aren't who I think you are. I hope you're lying. Because after three years of peace and quiet, I can't deal with you stirring trouble in my life again…'


A/N: The battle between Lilith and Eda went through quite a number of changes. It didn't feel right to take it out, and after going through a lot of ideas, I was actually going to include the stalker and Lizzie into the fray in a two versus two kind of duel. That also meant I was going to reveal more about the stalker in this chapter than what was given here. But after writing out the idea, I realised part way through that I hadn't considered the spectators into the equation. After all, they stick around until one of Eda's attacks begins to cause damage, so for them to be there when the stalker confronted Lizzie and spilled a ton of secrets didn't make sense, especially because of her circumstances. The result in this chapter was my way of accommodating for that, and also the fact that a) I have yet to properly plan out the stalker and the type of magic they possess, and b) Lizzie is still a fairly weak witch in terms of strength and probably isn't ready to face her stalker or Lilith in a duel just yet. This meant that things got toned down quite a bit from what I'd originally intended, but I like what came out of it. It was a more realistic result, and it means that I can save these ideas for the chapters where Lizzie isn't as involved in specific episode events (which is going to happen quite a bit near the second half of Season 1). Also, I took a shot at dropping in some little teasers, especially with Eda going 'Mama' mode. Who doesn't love when Eda gets protective over her charges?