A/N: Hey. So... it's been a while since I last updated. I apologise for that. While my schedule has been busy because of RL related responsibilities, recent health complications were ultimately the reason why this chapter was delayed. However, despite this, I've finally managed to get it done and boy... did it turn out a lot longer than I thought it was going to be. XD Either way, you can all finally read the chapter that ends episode six. As mentioned to a reviewer in a previous author's note, Chapter 19 will introduce episode seven, where Lizzie will finally be involved in Luz's antics in Plot A this time. I have some good ideas for that one, so I do hope you guys look forward to it. In the meantime, I hope the surprises in this chapter and the events that occur live up to expectations. I tried my best to give each scene as much detail as physically possible. Thank you to everyone who has been favouriting, following, reviewing and reading this story in the meantime. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. Without further ado, here is the conclusion to 'Hooty's Moving Hassle'.
Chapter 18: The Owl Lady's Wild Card
'No way…'
Lizzie looked on with wide eyes as the two demon hunters pulled the cart out of the forest and towards Bonesborough, feeling her hands shaking once she'd broken eye contact with the palisman who'd stared at her from underneath the sheet.
'Those are… other witches' palismen? So, does that mean the witches who were arrested…?'
A lump formed in her throat to distract her from finishing that thought, prompting a hand to go to her neck so she could rub at it. She didn't need to say it to confirm that those palismen likely belonged to wild witches who were caught by the Emperor's Coven. Why else would they have been arrested, after all? And yet…
'Had I not eavesdropped just now, I wouldn't have thought any differently about those palismen being taken to the Conformatorium. That's probably where the captured witches are being kept for 'rehabilitation'. But the fact that they purposely hid their palismen before they were arrested… What did they think was going to happen to them?'
The cart was getting further and further away from Lizzie's location with each slow step the demon hunters took, yet through the distressed cries coming from under the sheet, that piercing scream continued to stand out amongst them all. It rang in her ears, almost like she was being beckoned to do something.
'It's not my business to intervene. It's risky and reckless. I could wind up getting caught and taken to the Conformatorium, especially if he finds out I'm involved. But…' She closed her eyes tightly and gripped at her satchel strap, turning her knuckles white. '…if I turn a blind eye and do nothing, something terrible could be awaiting those palismen. So, shouldn't I stop it?'
Her conversation with Luz at the Conformatorium chose this moment to spring back into her head again.
'Are you saying you want to go back down there?'
'Yeah!'
'Even after seeing Eda get her head cut off and having the warden threaten your life and chase us?'
'Yeah.'
'Why?! Don't you want to go home?"
'Of course I do. But it's like Eda said: us weirdos have to stick together.'
After a moment of silence, Lizzie sucked in a sharp breath and opened her eyes, only to start jogging to catch up to the cart with gritted teeth.
'Dang it, Luz!'
Yet Lizzie knew that was the reason why she was having conflicting thoughts now. The old her would have turned a blind eye and not gotten involved to keep herself out of trouble, giving in to her cowardice instead of doing the right thing. But of course, Lizzie wasn't that same witch anymore.
'Eda went out of her way to help me back then, even though she had no obligation to. Her kindness is the reason I am where I am, as Luz reminded me that night. So, it's only right that I return the favour to other wild witches. And I can start by freeing their palismen.'
The creaking of the cart's wheels and the noises underneath the sheet were loud enough to cover her approach, so Lizzie didn't bother slowing down to avoid being heard. She jogged after the demon hunters with a scowl, reaching a hand into her satchel while mentally forming a plan in her head. She was trailing close behind the cart at this point, but she made no move to speed up just yet. Especially since it looked like the pair were struggling, judging by their hunched postures.
'I can't let these hunters get into Bonesborough. If I cause a ruckus there, it'll attract too much attention. I need to take care of them here and give the palismen a chance to flee.' At feeling the cold glass of a potion vial touch her palm, Lizzie wrapped her fingers around it. 'I can use a light potion to temporarily distract the hunters. But I don't have any spells to knock them out. Eda knows a sleeping spell, but I doubt I could replicate it at this stage.'
Lizzie briefly recalled the time in the Conformatorium when Luz used Eda's staff to knock out one of the guards, yet she soon shook it away with the shake of her head.
'Nah. I can't use Eda's staff. She still has it, and it would take too long for me to go and get it. Is there anything else I could—?'
Lizzie came to a sharp halt when an idea suddenly popped into her head, immediately whirling round to stare at the forest entrance behind her. Green eyes locked with a low branch on the trunk of the tree she'd used as a hiding spot. She smirked slyly at noticing the branch was quite small, but still thick and good enough for someone like her to wield as a weapon if needed.
'Bingo.'
Meanwhile, back in Bonesborough's marketplace, Eda and Tibbles had just finished their round of Hexes Hold'em, but not in the way that the former had expected. Due to the times she'd been playing at the Owl House and because of her own pride, our covenless witch was fairly confident that she was going to beat this swindler and walk away with a free supply of elixir. But unfortunately, fate had other plans in store for Eda and once again she learnt her lesson the hard way.
The Owl Lady and little demon strapped to her front were currently staring wide-eyed at the counter, where the flaming paper remains of Eda's Hexes Hold'em cards lay. She still had cards gripped in her right hand, yet her left hand rested on the counter, which she clenched slightly into a fist as King spoke up with a wince.
"Oof… That was painful to watch."
Eda gritted her teeth and raised her gaze to a chuckling Tibbles still sitting cross-legged on the counter, holding his own stack of cards in his right hand while his left one held his wild card. Lizzie's words from before echoed in her head, turning her knuckles white.
'For someone who claimed to not know where the cards were from, he was too quick to accept a stranger's challenge.'
"You card shark!" Eda hissed, leaning forward and smacking her fist against the wood with a loud thump. "You hustled me!"
Tibbles responded as he began to calm down, his friendly tone being replaced with a menacing one. "I did not. Rules are rules, Madam. It's not my fault you forgot about my wild card."
Eda's nostrils flared when the wild card (after sprouting its black legs again) leapt out of Tibbles' grip and landed on the counter beside him, watching it let out a loud roar before turning around to reveal a muscled, green ogre with black glasses, matching trousers and a white shirt. It pulled the shirt apart to expose the ogre's muscled body, with the card itself bouncing up and down on the spot as if to taunt the witch further.
"In any case," Tibbles continued and slowly stood up, approaching Eda on the edge of the counter and making her scowl and bare her teeth. "I do believe I've won. Which means I can claim my prize." He smiled smugly and locked eyes with King, who fidgeted in the harness at detecting he was being scrutinised. "And I choose… the little bone-boy." Eda gaped and watched with a slacked jaw when Tibbles reached out for King and pulled the harness free from the Owl Lady's front, turning away while holding the little demon like a young toddler. "I've been looking for a tiny servant to model my baby clothes."
King naturally responded by shoving and kicking to try to escape from Tibbles' hold, but his strength was no match for the pig, who only smirked and laughed at King's efforts. "No, please! I don't look good in clothes!" King turned his head to Eda with a quivering jaw and pleading eyes, even as Tibbles went about strapping the harness to his own front. "Eda, do something!"
Eda snarled and raised her left index finger to cast a spell, resting her staff against the stand for now. But when she drew the circle, nothing appeared in the air. Instead a small cluster of feathers sprung up from her wrist to her elbow, causing the Owl Lady to groan in frustration and lower her arm.
"Ugh! Stupid curse! It's gotten to my magic!" Eda glanced behind her with heavy breaths, her golden eyes scanning the crowds walking by for any sign of her employee while mumbling under her breath. "If you're waiting to make a dramatic entrance, kid, now would be the time…"
Tibbles, meanwhile, smiled, squinted, and clicked his fingers on his left hand, prompting two, glowing yellow chains to emerge from the ground on either side of Eda. Before Eda could react, the two chains wrapped themselves around her middle and pinned her arms to her sides, forcing her to drop to her left side on the floor. Her staff quickly followed, clattering down next to her. Tibbles peered down at Eda lying amongst her scattered cards with his hands behind his back, staying silent as he watched the witch wriggle from side to side and look up at him with a glare.
"You think this can stop me, pig?! You should have taken my fang instead, because I can still use it to bite your ankles!"
Tibbles slowly shook his head and tutted. "My, my. You're living in denial, aren't you," He leaned forward with a wide smirk. "Eda the Owl Lady?" Eda froze and gasped loudly alongside King at the revelation, prompting Tibbles to stand upright and bring forth one of Eda's wanted posters from behind his back. "That's right. I know who you are. I've seen your wanted posters around here." Tibbles exposed his teeth. "What luck that you showed your face in the night market tonight and handed me an opportunity to gain some extra snails to turn you in."
Lizzie's words echoed in Eda's head again as the realisation of her situation slowly dawned on her, with her already pale face growing paler at the recollection.
'He's a swindler, and I can't shake the feeling he knows what he's doing and is plotting something.'
Lizzie had been right. Tibbles had an ulterior motive and had taken advantage of her weakness.
Tibbles put the wanted poster behind the counter and turned away from Eda once more, giving the Owl Lady the cue to peek over her shoulder once more at the crowds passing through the night market. Lizzie was many things to Eda, but she was never careless. Even Eda knew that Lizzie wouldn't waste any time after hearing a threat like that. So, where was she?
"Oh, and don't think I've forgotten about your little witch friend," Tibbles said as if he'd read Eda's mind, bringing the witch back to reality with a wide blink. "When she returns, she'll be joining you at the Conformatorium for fraternising with a known outlaw." Tibbles tapped his chin with a finger, his tone becoming sarcastic. "I wonder how much the Emperor's Coven will pay me if I turn you both in~…"
Eda growled lowly in response and went back to wriggling her body to try to slip off her restraints, scowling when Tibbles started walking out of her sight and jumped down off the counter. "You leave her out of this, you sleazy swine!"
Tibbles ignored Eda and instead addressed King while heading to the back of his shop, with the little demon also wriggling around to try to escape his harness. "Come along, bone-boy. Let's see how good you look in my line of baby clothes…"
"No, no!" King yelled and flailed his arms in the air while being led away, calling out to Eda desperately all the while. "Eda! Help me!"
But the Owl Lady couldn't do a thing. The witch furrowed her brow and glanced behind her once more as she listened to King's cries for help, her eyes once again darting through the crowds for any sign of Lizzie's blonde hair, green eyes, even her cloak or clothes. She was desperate now, praying to the Titan that nothing bad had happened to her employee and that she was just delayed in enacting her part of the backup plan.
"Lizzie," Eda mumbled, briefly pausing to close her eyes and suck in a shaky breath. "where in the Boiling Isles are you?"
Back on the outskirts of Bonesborough, the two demon hunters were still preoccupied with pulling the cart towards the town, occasionally grunting at the effort as their feet briefly slid against the dirt of the path they were following.
"Ugh. Why didn't we hire one of those carriage pulling creatures to do this for us?" The taller, cloaked stranger questioned through gritted teeth, prompting his shorter, cloaked partner to shrug his shoulders in return.
"Probably 'cause the boss is a cheapskate. Grr!"
"And that little twerp who hired us isn't any better! How are we supposed to bring these palismen to the Conformatorium like this?! It's so far away!" Suddenly the short, cloaked stranger stopped and raised his head, prompting the tall, cloaked stranger to copy him in turn and glance over. "Hey, what's with—"
"Ssh." The short, cloaked stranger shushed his partner with a finger to his lips, cutting him off and having him fall silent.
Despite the continued distressed noises from the palismen behind them, the pair soon picked up on glass rolling in their direction, prompting them to look down at their feet to see a glowing vial with yellow liquid slow to a stop in between them. The tall, cloaked stranger squinted from underneath his cloak hood, with the pair even daring to lean down to get a closer look.
"What's—"
Glass smashing and a bright flash followed, causing the two demon hunters to yell in pain and bring their palms to their eyes. Their cries and the bright flash silenced the palismen in the cart, who remained unaware of what was happening around them, even after the brightness had died off.
"AH! My eyes!"
"It burns! What is that?!"
After a few seconds had passed, the short, cloaked stranger raised his head when he heard running footsteps approaching from his left. He dropped his hands away and faced the noise with repeated blinks to correct his vision, which soon proved to be his biggest mistake. A hard object smacked him in the side of the head, causing the short, cloaked stranger to groan and topple over, falling unconscious and closing his eyes the moment his side hit the ground.
The second demon hunter turned in the direction of his partner at hearing the groan, rubbing at his eyes as he attempted to recover his vision.
"Hey, are you okay— Oof!"
He was abruptly cut off by the same object dropping down hard upon his head, causing the tall, cloaked stranger to sway from side to side before collapsing face-first into the dirt, sending a tiny bit of dust swirling into the air.
Lizzie stood over the two unconscious demon hunters with heavy breaths, lowering the small branch she had in her hands with the slump of her shoulders. She could feel her heart still pounding away against her chest, begging to be released from its bony prison. Yet she knew it was just the adrenaline rising from what she'd just done, prompting her to close her eyes and drop her head with a sharp intake of breath to calm herself.
'Dear Titan… I haven't felt this way since three years ago. That was terrifying.' The blonde witch eventually righted herself and allowed the branch to slip from her grip, glancing between the two motionless demon hunters with drooped eyes and a slight smile. 'But I did it. I actually did it. If only Eda could have seen me…'
Loud squeaking and whimpering from the cart brought Lizzie back to her senses with a wide blink, giving her the cue to jog round to the other side with the shake of her head.
"Ah, right! Almost forgot about the palismen!"
The young witch wasted no time in grabbing the sheet with both hands and yanking it aside onto the ground, but that didn't stop her eyes widening at the sight she was met with.
There was a large, rectangular, wooden cage placed on the cart, housing five different palismen huddled together inside. There was a blue feathered bird with jagged teeth, a two-pointed head and a three-clawed scratch on the left side of its face, a long, red snake with a strange circle marking on its forehead (which Lizzie recognised to be the interlock placed on palismen to connect them to the tops of staffs) and two tusks protruding from its maw (with the left one being broken in half), a brown-furred monkey with three faces and a large crack on top of its head that split down its middle face and towards its right eye, a green frog-like creature with a goblin-like face, two tiny horns on its head, an interlock marking on its stomach, and a missing right front foot, and a red fox who appeared to be the only palisman in the cage that wasn't damaged in some form.
Lizzie found her gaze being drawn to the fox especially, immediately realising from its amber eyes that it was the palisman who had been staring at her earlier. Yet she couldn't ignore the damages she could see on the other four, which caused her brow to furrow and a hand to reach for her chest. The sight was heart breaking.
'Oh gosh… What happened to these palismen? Did the guards or demon hunters damage them?'
With the sheet having been removed, the palismen in the cage instinctively shuffled their way to the back and huddled closer together while cowering. At seeing this, Lizzie slowly held her palms up and spoke in a hushed, gentle voice.
"No, no! Don't be scared! It's okay! I-I'm here to let you out!"
The palismen showed no reaction to this other than with a blink, which Lizzie took as her cue to slowly approach the cart and hoist herself up so she could get closer. The cage was facing her longways but had been placed close to the middle of the cart, leaving a bit of space at the cart's back she could kneel in to reach the padlock. Said padlock was hanging in the middle of the cage from its top, indicating it opened from the long side facing Lizzie.
Lizzie shuffled close to the cage and gripped the padlock in her palm, focusing her gaze on it to avoid the silent stares of the palismen watching her from the back of the cage.
'This is one of those times where I wish Eda was here. She could have picked this lock clean.' The blonde witch twisted the padlock from side to side with a frown, remaining unaware of the red fox palisman standing up and stalking its way towards her. 'I don't know any spells that would be strong enough to break this lock. And while I could just set the cage on fire, I don't want to hurt the palismen any further. There's got to be something I can—'
Her thoughts stopped when she felt something cold and wet brush against the back of her palm, prompting the blonde witch to see the fox palisman sniffing at her hand, its ears rotating and flicking slightly. Lizzie's brows raised as she and the fox palisman locked eyes for the second time, deciding to stay still to avoid startling the palisman when it resumed sniffing her. The other palismen stayed back for now, choosing to observe the interaction between the witch and the fox.
'I wonder why this one seems to be unharmed in comparison to its friends…'
Lizzie continued to watch the fox until it paused at reaching the padlock, raising a paw to gently swat at it and her palm. It did this a couple of times, making Lizzie assume it was trying to tell her something.
"What's the matter?" She asked, prompting the fox to repeat the action for yet another time. The blonde witch tilted her head, deciding to try to guess to speed this up. "Do you… want me to move my hand away from the padlock?"
The fox responded by dropping its paw and nodding once, which Lizzie took as her cue to release the padlock. She saw the fox shuffle closer to the padlock and stand on its hind legs. Her eyes widened when the fox stretched a paw round to the keyhole with a single claw out and tried to stick it in, only to keep missing it due to the keyhole facing away from it. Realisation smacked her in the face like a sleep spell.
'Oh. It's trying to pick the lock.' Lizzie furrowed her brow, recalling Owlbert's antics earlier today with Eda's Hexes Hold'em cards. 'It never occurred to me that these palismen would have been taught little tricks like this. Yet I suppose it's plausible, given how Eda trained Owlbert to do specific tasks for her.'
Lizzie gripped the bottom of the padlock and turned it round to face the fox palisman, prompting the latter to halt its movements until it picked up on what Lizzie was trying to do. With the keyhole now in front of it, the fox put its claw inside and jiggled it around, finally coaxing the palismen behind it to creep forward and gather round with their gazes fixed on the lock. The moment she heard the click, Lizzie let go and moved backwards, managing to avoid the cage's door dropping open when the lock opened. The palismen inside the cage made loud and cheery sounding noises while jumping up and down on the spot, making Lizzie smile slightly and fail to hold back a chuckle.
'Aw. Look how happy they are.'
Lizzie's smile widened a little as the palismen filed out of the cage without hesitation and gathered round her lap, briefly listening to their happy noises before making a response. She didn't understand what they were saying, yet she could guess by their reactions that they were trying to show their gratitude.
"You're welcome. Although, I didn't really do much…" She rubbed at the back of her neck and snuck a glance at the fox palisman, who showed no reaction whatsoever to what had been said. Lizzie took that as her cue to stand and climb off the cart, straightening out her skirt and cloak before gesturing a hand towards the forest behind her. "But you're free now. Go on back to your hiding spot before the demon hunters wake up." The palismen didn't move, instead blinking once and then tilting their heads as if they were confused. But Lizzie didn't dwell on that, already moving round the cart to run back to Bonesborough. "I can't stay. I need to go too. Good luck, though!"
As much as Lizzie wanted to make sure the palismen got away safely, she knew she couldn't linger around any longer than she already had. Not only because the demon hunters would see her and realise she was behind the assault, but also because she'd been away from Eda and King for too long and needed to head back to check on them. And yet, as the young witch made her dash towards the town, she remained oblivious to the palismen watching her from the cart. They each shared quick glances and small noises of agreement before they jumped out, waiting until all five of them were out of the cart and then collectively heading in the direction Lizzie had just left in.
As she'd ran through the night market, Lizzie was already conjuring a scene in her head of what she was going to see of Eda upon reaching the Mud & Sundry stand. She expected her employer to be standing there either gloating about her win and rubbing it in Tibbles' face with an accompanying 'victory dance' or waving her arms about in a frenzy while yelling at the top of her lungs about how the pig had swindled her. However, the sight she was met with after breaking past the crowds didn't come close to either of her predictions, forcing the young witch to an abrupt halt with a quiet gasp.
In front of Mud & Sundry lay Eda, restrained by yellow magical chains on her side and appearing a little paler than she was before Lizzie had left her. Sat on the stand's counter with his arms crossed and a scowl was King, dressed in a green sailor's outfit with a shackle attached to his ankle with the other end of the restraint being hooked to one of the golden poles supporting the stand. She noticed the pink harness Eda had been wearing for King was missing and that Tibbles was also nowhere in sight. From her angle, he was probably hiding behind the counter somewhere, but she wouldn't know until she got over there.
'What in Titan's name…?'
Lizzie wasted no more time in jogging over to the pair, with King's brows raising when he heard the young witch's approach. His eyes lit up and widened slightly at seeing the blonde reach them and immediately kneel beside the Owl Lady's head.
"Lizzie!"
"Well, it's about time," Eda said sarcastically with a frown at seeing Lizzie beside her head. "Did you go on your own little adventure while you were gone?"
Lizzie returned the frown and briefly glanced around at the scattered Hexes Hold'em cards she could see surrounding Eda. "Never mind what I was doing. We can talk about that later." She gestured to the chains restraining Eda. "What happened to you? Why are you tied up?"
King clicked his tongue and turned his head away at this, closing his eyes. "What do you think happened? She fell for the pig's tricks and he took me as his prize."
Lizzie quickly turned to King with raised brows. "You? Why would he want you?"
King shrugged. "He said something about wanting a 'tiny servant' for 'modelling baby clothes'. I go by 'Bone-boy' now." When Lizzie didn't answer, King faced the young witch and opened his eyes, seeing her squinting at him. "What?"
Lizzie responded by slowly shaking her head. "I'm sorry. It's just so weird seeing you wearing clothes."
King narrowed his eyes. "And you think now is the time to be commenting about that?!"
"I can't help it! In the three years I've known you, you've never worn clothes!"
"Can we please get back on topic?!"
Lizzie loudly cleared her throat and nodded. "Right, yeah. Anyway…" She focused on Eda, who had been silently watching the pair during their brief back-and-forth. "That doesn't explain why Eda's stuck like this. Did Tibbles enslave her too?"
Lizzie said the question as a joke, naturally expecting Eda to counter her with her usual banter. But when the Owl Lady's brows furrowed and she dared to lock eyes with King, the young witch realised the situation was more serious than she thought. Lizzie looked between the pair as they held their silent staring contest, rubbing at her chest at sensing the slight tension lingering in the air. It was only when King tilted his head to signal towards Lizzie and tighten his jaw that Eda finally broke it with a loud sigh.
"I'm sorry," she said in a quiet voice, with Lizzie blinking widely at the unexpected response.
"Sorry for what?"
Eda hesitated for a few seconds before turning her gaze to the ground, her eyes drooping. "You were right about Tibbles. He recognised me from my wanted posters and used the Hexes Hold'em game to capture me. He wants to turn me over to the Emperor's Coven."
Lizzie's mouth dropped open with a loud gasp, feeling like someone had just hit her with lightning. The blonde wanted to shriek, but she quickly covered her mouth with a hand to stop the urge. She peeked over her shoulder to make sure Tibbles hadn't come back, yet despite seeing no sign of him (and assuming King would have alerted her if he was coming) it didn't stop her from freaking out about the situation in her head.
'Seriously?! I suspected he was up to something, but not that!'
Lizzie lowered her voice before she responded to Eda, whispering in a panicked and hurried tone. "Why didn't you say that first?!" When Eda made no verbal response, the blonde groaned and smacked a palm against her forehead, closing her eyes tight. She wanted to smack her head into a nearby wall. "Where's Tibbles?"
"In the back," King answered, moving to sit with his legs dangling over the counter's edge. "He went to contact the Emperor's Coven."
"Then we have time to get out of here." Lizzie opened her eyes and adjusted her position to face Eda's restraints, raising her index finger in preparation to cast a spell. "Let's see if a fire spell can melt these chains off."
However, the Owl Lady stopped her with the repeated shaking of her head. "You can't break the restraints, Redwood. Tibbles used magic to cast them. Yours isn't strong enough."
Lizzie's shoulders slumped at this, her arm dropping back to her lap in sync. "Then can you use yours?"
Eda turned her head towards the ground, her eyes drooping ever so slightly. She looked like she wanted to hide in the ground and never come up again. "The curse is getting worse. I can't use my magic."
"You can't?" Lizzie questioned with a slight squeak in her voice, prompting Eda to nod in confirmation.
The blonde witch ducked her head down and let out an exasperated sigh, reaching her hands up to her fringe to pull at her hair out of frustration. She didn't know how long she'd been away for and yet it was apparently enough time for Eda's and King's situation to escalate.
"Okay," she mumbled, taking heavy breaths and releasing her grip on her hair. "We don't need to panic. If we give Eda her elixir, she can use her magic to break her restraints." Lizzie slowly stood up and turned to the counter of Tibbles' stand, pulling her cloak hood a little further of her face. "Since Tibbles doesn't know I'm here, all I've got to do is grab the elixir without him—"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," King interrupted, prompting Lizzie to look at him with a raised brow.
"Why not?"
"Eda's not the only one that greedy pig wants to hand over to the Emperor's Coven." He pointed a claw at the young witch. "He's been waiting for you to return to have you join her. He's even hidden the elixir in case you appeared while he was in the back."
Lizzie's brow creased with a slight gape, her shoulders hunching as the mental image of her relative appeared in her head. "He did that?"
"Yup." King leaned back and crossed his legs. "If you waste your time ransacking his stand, he'll be on you faster than his wild card."
Eda scowled up at the little demon and squinted. "Do you have to keep rubbing it in?!"
"The truth? Yes."
Eda gritted her teeth and growled lowly. "I swear, if I wasn't tied up and powerless right now…"
Lizzie's jaw twitched with the urge to say something, but no matter how much movement she made, no words came out. Her hands gripped tightly at her vest, her knees shook, and she swore she could feel herself breaking out into a cold sweat.
'This pig is craftier than I gave him credit for. Every idea I've come up with he's managed to knock out, despite the fact I haven't even tried any of them. He's manipulated Eda's curse and obsession to his advantage, prevented King from helping, and even taken into account I might interfere. And the only way I could have stopped that from happening is if I'd been here to intervene when Eda lost…'
The blonde witch's breathing quickened when her legs buckled and she dropped to her knees on the ground, prompting Eda's and King's brows to raise. That familiar feeling of helplessness clawed away at her chest in the form of an ache, forcing her to slouch forward to hide her face. She felt trapped, like she'd been backed into a corner and had no way of escape.
'Why does this always happen when I leave people alone?! You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now. If I hadn't wandered off, then I could have been here to prevent this. I knew Tibbles was up to something and yet I still—'
"Hey." Eda's stern tone broke through Lizzie's thoughts, causing her to blink widely down at the Owl Lady narrowing her eyes her way. "Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Blame yourself."
Lizzie gaped and leaned back a little, clearly taken aback by Eda's accuracy. "How did you—?"
She cut herself off when Eda rolled her eyes. "I've known you for a long time. You don't think I've learned to recognise when you're being so hard on yourself?"
Lizzie swallowed thickly and turned her gaze away with a hand to the back of her neck, feeling the heat rising to her cheeks. She couldn't look Eda in the eyes because she knew she was right.
The Owl Lady took that as her cue to continue with a bowed head. "You and King are right. I'm obsessed with Hexes Hold'em. I didn't want to acknowledge I have a problem. If I'd kept a better eye on my elixir to begin with or asked you to do it for me, I wouldn't be tied up on the ground right now." She eventually raised her head around the same time Lizzie brought herself to lock eyes with the older witch, her brow furrowing slightly. "But I promise you that I'm done with this stupid game. Just please don't take the blame for something that was my fault."
The blonde witch raised a brow at this, with King doing the same. "Really? You mean it?"
"I mean it. Watch." Eda turned her head to the nearest Hexes Hold'em card and gripped at the edge of it with her teeth, closing her eyes tight as she pulled it into her mouth and started to chew it. She spoke in between bites while Lizzie and King watched with another blink, her voice partially muffled. "See? No more Hexes Hold'em."
Lizzie snorted and covered a hand over her mouth to muffle it, with King chuckling and shaking a little from laughter as Eda swallowed the card in one gulp. Considering it was a magic infused card, the blonde was concerned about whether eating it was going to have repercussions later. But she knew Eda well enough by now to know that she always went over-the-top to prove a point.
"Okay, okay. You've made your point." Lizzie sucked in a quick breath and exhaled to relax before looking to King, her gaze drifting to the shackle round his ankle. That niggling ache vanished the moment the metaphorical lightbulb turned on in her head, a wide smile coming to her face. Suddenly, the blank slate in her mind seemed to regain its colour. "I've got it." She shuffled closer to King and held the rope of the shackle against her palm, remaining oblivious to the smile that appeared on Eda's face at her reaction. "King, do you know where Tibbles hid the elixir?"
"… I might." King grinned and rubbed his paws together while observing Lizzie untying the rope from his shackle, already having a guess as to what she had in mind. "Want me to nab a bottle?"
Lizzie sent a smirk the little demon's way after pulling the rope free from the shackle, giving him a wink on top of that. "Take as many as you like. They're not nailed down, after all~."
King returned the smirk at getting the joke, standing up and dusting his paws off with a small chuckle. "Gotcha." He turned away from Lizzie and started to walk across the counter. "I'll nab the elixir and bust us out of here—"
A stern and posh voice interrupted King and halted the little demon in his tracks. "Bone-boy."
Lizzie didn't need to glance over the counter to know that was Tibbles. The sudden rush of adrenaline into her veins gave her the kick she needed to crawl to the right side of the stand and duck underneath the golden pole holding it up. She pressed her back against the side of the stand and crouched out of sight, choosing to listen to what was happening for the time being.
'I should probably stay hidden for now in case things go south again.'
Movement out of the corner of her eyes had Lizzie immediately turn her gaze to her right, prompting her to lock eyes with a familiar shade of amber just beside her. The blonde witch quickly covered her mouth with both hands to muffle her gasp and scooted backwards at sighting the fox palisman sitting next to her, with the other four palismen from before gathered behind it. Her first thought was to question their presence aloud, but she refrained from doing so when a scowling Tibbles spoke. She remained unaware of Tibbles approaching King with one hand balled into a fist while the other held an Elizabethan era green jacket with a red ruff attached to the collar on a coat hanger, instead choosing to place a finger to her lips to subtly shush the palismen from making further noise.
"You will do no such thing. The Emperor's Coven is already on their way to send that witch—and hopefully her little friend—to the Conformatorium." Lizzie balled her hands into fists with her face scrunched up, hearing Tibbles climb up the counter. "Not to mention I have some more clothes for you to try on."
'I have to do something. King needs a distraction to get that elixir. But I can't just jump out of hiding. Tibbles might catch on if I try to use my magic or potions on him…'
At feeling the fox palisman gently nudge her side with its head, Lizzie's eyes widened at the idea that suddenly popped into her mind, causing her to smirk and turn to the palismen before her while lowering her hands away from her face.
'Hm…'
Meanwhile, King glared at Tibbles and reached a paw up for the little sailor hat on his head to throw against the counter. "I don't care! You can't use me like this! I'm taking a stand!"
"I can and I am, bone-boy," Tibbles replied in a low voice, leering over King and causing the latter to step back and cower. "I've got the cards stacked against you, and there's nothing you can do about it." He grinned widely and held his hands over his head, yelling in a cheery tone. "Nothing!"
Eda's and King's eyes widened when they saw a blue blur move above them towards the front of the stand, eventually revealing the bird palisman hovering behind Tibbles. Its talons dug into the pig's vest and lifted him from the counter, causing Tibbles to cry out and squirm around in its grasp, dropping the clothes he held.
"What's happening?! Who are you?!"
He swatted blindly at the air as the bird palisman flapped its wings and moved away from the counter, failing to make contact with his feathered captor. Eda and King watched with wide blinks as the monkey palisman came into view and crawled over to Eda's head, holding out its hands to catch Tibbles when the bird palisman released him.
"AH!"
Tibbles shrieked as he landed in the monkey's grasp, his jaw slacking when the snake palisman slithered its way over and coiled itself around the pig, pinning his arms to his sides and his legs together.
"Ugh!" Tibbles twisted his body around in attempt at loosening his binds, frowning at the snake when it turned its neck to look directly at him with a low hiss and a squint. "Release me this instant!"
"Oh, I'm afraid that's not gonna happen, old chap," Lizzie answered sarcastically, stepping out from the side of the stand with a sly smirk on her face, a fire potion vial in her right hand, and the fox and goblin frog palismen at her feet. "It looks like the cards have now been stacked against you."
"Hey," King said with narrowed eyes and the stomp of his foot. "No fair! How did you get yourself a group of minions to boss around?!"
But Lizzie didn't answer. She kept her focus on Tibbles when he gaped and scowled at the young blonde's appearance. "You! What is the meaning of this?!"
Lizzie chuckled lowly and quickly glanced at the fingernails of her empty hand, her smirk widening ever so slightly. "It's nothing personal, Tibbles. You work in the rules of capitalism, but we work by our own rules." King chose that as his cue to jump behind the counter to retrieve the elixir, leaving Tibbles' shoulders to stiffen at seeing the blonde witch slowly walk over to him. "So, we'll be taking that supply of elixir and King free of charge."
Tibbles bared his tusks and teeth with a snarl and the twitch of his mouth. "Oh, I think not, Madam! The Owl Lady lost fair and square! I refuse to let you waltz on out of here with my products!"
"I think you will~," Lizzie replied in a playful tone, crouching before Tibbles and uncorking her potion vial. "Because if you don't…" She held the vial to the side and tilted it enough to let a single red drop of potion free itself, which Tibbles' eyes followed until it hit the ground. The colour drained from Tibbles' face at witnessing the drop disperse as a tiny burst of fire, prompting Lizzie to bear a toothy grin. "…this little piggy might find himself turned into roasted pork~."
A loud gulp was the only response she got, which was all Lizzie needed to know that Tibbles had gotten her message. Thumps and clinking glass came from behind the counter, followed by grunts from King. But it wasn't until Eda could see King climb onto the counter with a bottle of elixir in one paw that she attempted to sit herself up, managing to get onto her bottom as King uncorked the bottle.
"Eda, quick!"
King tossed the bottle upright in Eda's direction, prompting her to move forward and catch the bottle's neck in her mouth. With Tibbles looking on with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, the Owl Lady tilted her head back and allowed the glowing liquid to slide down her throat, emptying the bottle like she was downing apple blood. Once she was finished, Eda lowered her head and spat the bottle from her mouth off to the side, with Lizzie mentally noting that she couldn't see any more of the feathers formerly on the older witch's body, with some visibly shedding from her arm.
'Thank goodness…' Lizzie sighed quietly and returned the cork to her vial, observing Eda's smug smile as she twirled her index finger at her restraints and drew a spell circle to break the glowing chains by blowing them apart. 'At least Eda's curse has been suppressed.'
"Ha!" Eda exclaimed triumphantly, leaping to her feet while collecting her staff from the floor. "Now that's more like it!" The Owl Lady glanced over her shoulder at Lizzie as the younger witch slipped her potion vial back into her bag, giving her a wink. "Good job, kid. Next time we'll go with your plan."
Lizzie didn't say anything, but she did send Eda a small smile. She thought she could feel her cheeks heating up, yet she wasn't sure if it was out of embarrassment or pride. She couldn't deny it felt nice for Eda to have acknowledged her efforts. Tibbles had remained frozen in the snake palisman's hold the entire time this had gone on. But it wasn't until Eda was walking over to his stand and Lizzie had stood up that he suddenly found his voice.
"No, no, no!" Tibbles shouted as he watched Eda reach a hand behind it to haul a bulky looking brown sack over her shoulder. "My elixir supply!"
Eda adjusted the sack on her shoulder with one hand and walked her way over to Lizzie with her chin held high and King at her feet, responding to the restrained pig sarcastically. "Sorry, Tibbles old boy,"—she stopped beside the shorter witch and nudged her shoulder lightly with her own, a sly smile slipping onto her face—"It's not my fault you forgot about my wild card."
King let out a loud laugh as he climbed onto Lizzie's shoulders, obviously getting the joke. Lizzie, on the other hand, only reacted with a slight chuckle, oblivious to what had happened during her absence. Tibbles' nostrils flared as he narrowed his eyes at the trio, even as Eda started walking away with the elixirs and her staff in her grasp.
"I think we're done here. Let's bounce."
Lizzie gripped her satchel and went to follow Eda away from the stand; however, she was stopped by the goblin frog palisman, who croaked and looked up at Lizzie while tilting its head at her. It took a second before Lizzie understood what the palisman was trying to get at, prompting her to answer with the dismissive swipe of her hand.
"You can throw him back into his stand. We're done with him now."
"What?!" Tibbles cried out, but he never got an answer. The goblin frog nodded and replied with another croak, which the snake palisman took as its cue to unwrap itself from around Tibbles. The monkey palisman screeched and raised Tibbles above its head, causing the pig's eyes to widen in alarm. "Wait! No! Don't—!"
Lizzie waited until she saw the monkey palisman toss Tibbles forward and send him flying into the back of his stand before continuing to follow Eda, briefly cringing and closing an eye at hearing him collide with the wood.
"Oof," King muttered, sitting on Lizzie's shoulder as the palismen gathered around Lizzie's legs to walk with the trio. "He'll feel that in the morning."
The group didn't dare look back as they made their way out of the night market, but that didn't stop them from hearing Tibbles calling after them.
"Curse you, witches! Curse you, bone-boy! Don't think this is over! I will have my revenge! Tibblet‐Tibblie Grimm Hammer the Third will have his revenge—!"
The loud crash that cut Tibbles off and the slight vibrations underneath them forced the two witches and palismen to an immediate halt, naturally caught off guard. They whirled round with wide blinks to find Tibbles' stand in shambles and Tibbles nowhere to be found (probably crushed underneath the rubble of his former livelihood, Lizzie guessed), briefly surrounded by a small gust of smoke that quickly dispersed in the air. However, their attention was soon drawn to two giant and long bird legs and feet stomping away from the mess, prompting the group to look up when they realised it was responsible for the shaking. Lizzie's, King's, and Eda's mouths dropped open when they recognised a familiar looking cottage on top of a large mound of land attached to those legs, leaving the trio speechless as they watched it move its way through Bonesborough and felt the vibrations underneath them gradually fade.
It took a moment before Eda found her voice, a brow raising when she turned her head towards her two charges beside her. "Was that… Was that my house?"
Before either King or Lizzie could answer the Owl Lady, they heard Luz's voice faintly shout from above, only just about catching what she'd said.
"Sorry, Mister!"
Lizzie's and Eda's eyes drooped as they locked gazes, neither of them needing to say a word to know what the other was thinking. They'd both worked it out almost immediately.
'Luz disobeyed Eda and had the moonlight conjuring anyway. That's why she's been acting suspicious.'
The blonde witch wanted to smack her forehead at not recognising this sooner. However, Eda beat her to the punch, huffing loudly and grumbling under her breath as she turned away. Lizzie didn't quite catch what the Owl Lady said, but she didn't need to. She could guess she was unhappy and that Luz was going to be in a lot of trouble when they returned.
With Eda stepping to one side to sort out their transport home and King climbing off her to join the older witch, the young witch took that as her cue to focus on the palismen who had surrounded her feet. Lizzie smiled a little and crouched to be closer to them, resting her arms on her thighs.
"Thanks, guys. I wasn't expecting the help, but I appreciate it all the same." Chirping, croaking, hissing, squeaking and barking was what Lizzie got in response, causing her to chuckle and close her eyes. "I'll take that as a 'you're welcome.'"
"Redwood!" Lizzie looked back with a wide blink at hearing Eda call for her, seeing the Owl Lady already sat and levitating on her staff with King behind her. The sack of elixirs was tied close to the staff's back. "C'mon! Before the tools show up!"
'Ah. Right. Forgot Tibbles had called the Emperor's Coven…'
"Coming!" Lizzie stood up and straightened out her skirt with her hands, turning to the palismen one more time with a quiet sigh. "Guess that's my cue to go. You guys should really skedaddle now too. Can't have the Emperor's Coven coming after you, can we?"
The palismen replied with the same noises out of agreement before beginning to move away, running and bounding off in the direction of Bonesborough's exit. Lizzie chose to watch them leave and disappear into the crowd, even as she noticed the fox palisman slow down to a trot and then stop completely. It peeked at her from over its shoulder, its amber eyes once again silently locking with her green ones. The sight caused Lizzie to raise a brow, especially when it seemed like they were staring at each other forever. She couldn't put her finger on why, but she swore she could feel a tug on her heartstrings, like something was missing. Yet it wasn't long before the palisman broke eye contact first and caused the feeling to vanish as fast as it had appeared, quickly charging off and eventually disappearing amongst the feet of the crowds around.
Sighing loudly and shaking her head, Lizzie made her way over to Eda's staff and settled on the back of it, allowing the Owl Lady to finally take off from the ground and ascend to the skies. That didn't stop her from being questioned by King though, who had his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. A smile of amusement slipped onto Lizzie's face; she couldn't take his usual antics seriously in that sailor's outfit.
"I demand you tell me how you got minions to do your bidding!"
Lizzie snorted and covered a hand over her mouth, trying her best not to laugh as she replied to the little demon. "I'll tell you later. After you lose the outfit and Eda deals with Luz."
King's eye twitched, but he chose not to say anything else.
The ride back to the Owl House was understandably quiet, outside of the noises of the isles and the whipping of their clothes against the wind occasionally poking in as they passed over the forest, of course. There was an unspoken tension in the air radiating from the witch driving the staff, with an unspoken agreement between the two passengers behind her not to say a word. And why would they, when it was obvious based on how fast they were going and how tightly they needed to cling onto the staff (and, in Lizzie's case, her hat) that Eda was naturally annoyed at what she'd seen with Luz? Lizzie and King didn't need to see past Eda's back to know this. Everything else spoke volumes. Lizzie was lucky they didn't have far to go, because she was sure if Eda had been doing this for a while, she was going to end up being sick right there and then. Despite the silence, however, Lizzie tried to occupy her time by properly processing what she'd seen transpire in Bonesborough and before she and Eda had left for the night market, talking to herself inside her head as she tried to wrap her mind around Luz's antics.
'It was literally staring me in the face this whole time. No wonder Luz was acting strangely. She was obviously planning this to happen while Eda and I were at the night market. She's seriously getting crafty.' The blonde briefly turned her gaze to the ground below, her brows raising at the blurry glimpses she got of the giant bird-like footprints clearly left in the wake of the walking cottage. 'Still, how in the Boiling Isles did she and her friends manage to animate the cottage? Luz doesn't even have magic! And I can't imagine Willow and Gus are that strong…'
Because of how long it had taken them to leave Bonesborough (even with Eda probably exceeding the speed limit), the trio couldn't track the Owl House and where it was going. Yet it didn't take a genius for any of them to guess that Luz was probably trying to get the Owl House back to its original location, prompting Eda to use her logic and go in that general direction. Sure enough, when the familiar stone tower that Lizzie recognised to always be hiding behind the cottage came into view, their hunch was proven correct. The cottage was in the ground where it usually was, looking as if it hadn't just been walking around on a pair of giant bird legs. As they got closer and hovered towards the ground, Lizzie could also see that Hooty was still in the front door, yet his eyes were spinning round slightly and his face was moving from side-to-side, like he was disorientated.
Eda didn't wait for the staff to land or Lizzie and King to disembark. With her face scrunched up, she practically jumped off and stomped her way towards the front door, leaving her staff to levitate even after Lizzie and King had slipped off onto their feet. It floated after her horizontally with the sack of elixirs attached to the bottom, with Lizzie and King jogging after the fuming the Owl Lady.
"E-Eda, you need to calm down," Lizzie began with a hand held out, but she was interrupted by Hooty when he spoke up after getting himself to fall still.
"Is everything spinning or is it just me?" Eda proceeded to shove the door open with her elbow without making eye contact with the house demon, sending the door slamming into the wall with a loud bang. "Ow!"
Lizzie caught up to Eda when she stopped in the doorway and glanced towards the sofa with a scowl and hand to her hip in a wide stance, coming to a standstill beside the older witch at seeing Luz, Willow and Gus with stiff shoulders and wide eyes. Aside from the fact the trio looked like a group of statues with how they were standing, Lizzie noted that Willow's and Gus' appearances were different to when she'd last seen them earlier today. Their Hexside uniforms were replaced with more casual clothing, with Willow donning a long-sleeved yellow-tan dress with a blue tie, grey striped leggings and brown boots, and Gus wearing a blue tunic with white sleeves and a black belt, black tights and brown boots.
As much as Lizzie wanted to say something to Eda in this moment, she thought it best not to. Eda was understandably upset and Luz had disobeyed her. If the Owl Lady was going to scold her, then she was technically doing the right and responsible thing, something Lizzie rarely saw Eda do. The blonde witch put her hands to her hips at seeing Luz visibly gulp, watching Eda narrow her eyes towards the two witches and lone human cowering on the other side of the room.
"You are busted," Eda said sternly, stalking forward with her fists at her sides. In response, Luz hunched her shoulders and squinted, holding her hands balled up to her chest. "You held a moonlight conjuring after I said 'no'."
Luz nodded twice and lowered her head, her voice coming out as a quiet squeak. "I know…"
"You animated my house without my permission."
Luz closed her eyes tight and nodded again, bracing herself for whatever was going to come next, failing to see Eda stop right in front of her and tower over her. "Yes."
"And you broke my trust in you." The Owl Lady put a hand to her chest and loomed over the cowering human girl, her voice rising in volume. "I have right a mind to—"
"Wait," Eda, Luz and Lizzie blinked widely when Willow interrupted the former and stepped between the Owl Lady and Luz with her arms outstretched, her brow furrowed. "Please don't blame Luz. Gus and I are the ones who pushed her to do the moonlight conjuring."
Luz gaped slightly at Willow's words, with Gus adding on as he moved to stand beside Willow and hold out his arm towards Eda, closing his eyes as he did so. "Yeah! So, if you're going to eat us, please make it quick! I'd rather not feel any pain!"
Eda glanced back at Lizzie with a squint and curled lips, clearly not knowing how to react to this display. "Why does everyone think I'm going to eat them?"
Lizzie could only shrug in response, not surprised by what Gus said in the slightest. Before she'd met Eda, she'd been on the receiving end of the rumours circulating about the infamous Owl Lady, including the one that claimed she ate basically any living creature. Even then the young witch had assumed it was ridiculous hearsay, but after uncovering Eda's curse, she was beginning to understand a possible reason as to why other creatures came up with that particular rumour…
'Given what Eda looks like and does when she transforms, it's no wonder people think she has a strange appetite…'
Lizzie saw Luz smile at Willow and Willow return it before Eda regained her composure with a loud huff, placing a hand to her hip again and pointing at the trio with a finger and a scowl.
"Whatever. It doesn't change the fact you're all guilty and need to be punished." Eda raised and twirled her index finger to draw a small spell circle, causing a roll of paper towels, a large bucket of soapy water with a mop that had a bone handle, a broom, and a spray bottle to fade in from thin air above the two witches and human, causing the trio's brows to raise at seeing them levitating with a golden outline round them. "Which is why you will be cleaning my house from top to bottom."
After she said that, the glowing outlines surrounding the cleaning supplies immediately faded, causing them to drop towards the group underneath. Luckily, the trio's reflexes were fast enough that they managed to hold their arms out in time to catch everything, with Willow securing the paper towels and spray bottle, Luz getting the short end of the stick with the bucket, and Gus getting the broom. The sight might have been terrible for Luz, Willow, and Gus, but Lizzie's reaction was the opposite, shown by the small smile that slipped onto her face as she straightened out her posture.
'Huh. Look at that. Eda's being responsible for once. Maybe having Luz around is finally giving Eda the incentive to be more mature.'
"Oh, and one more thing…" Eda added with narrowed eyes, making Luz, Willow and Gus gulp loudly at expecting her to give them some kind of warning. However, instead they were left with wide eyes when the Owl Lady grinned and snorted, slapping her thigh. "What you did was totally amazing! I'm so joining you for next year's conjuring!" Eda's reaction had the trio smiling widely even as the older witch's grin dimmed down to a smile and she jabbed a thumb at the living room, while Lizzie's eyes drooped, her shoulders slumping. "Now, off you go."
'Never mind. It's gone.' Lizzie kept that thought to herself and chose to watch Luz, Willow and Gus trot off towards the fireplace, with King finally moving himself away from the front door to sit on the far left of the sofa. 'Still, that's quite an achievement considering they're two young witches and a human.'
Eda occupied the right side of the sofa by flopping down onto her back, observing King tugging at the collar of his sailor outfit in his attempts to yank it off. Eda's staff, meanwhile, had since plonked itself on the floor beside the door, resting against the sack of elixirs still attached to it. It wasn't until King was kicking his tiny legs in his struggle that Lizzie chose her moment to walk over and stand beside Eda with her arms folded, her gaze fixed on Luz as the Latina girl stirred the mop inside the bucket in front of the fireplace.
"I hate to admit it, but what they did was impressive."
Eda leaned back against the arm and raised her head to follow Lizzie's gaze, her eyes widening slightly as they fixed on Gus and Willow. "You're right. It was. It must have taken some powerful magic for them to animate a whole house."
"And that's including with Luz, who doesn't have the same natural affinity for the craft that her friends do." Lizzie turned to Eda with a slight frown. "It makes me wonder if there's more to Luz than what we thought."
"Nyeh!" King grunted as he finally managed to push the sailor outfit over his head and onto the floor, joining the conversation after smoothing his fur down on his arms and stomach. "I think that was obvious the moment Luz used that symbol thingy. But more importantly,"—King jabbed a claw in Lizzie's direction—"my outfit is off and Eda's dealt with Luz. Answer my question."
Lizzie rolled her eyes and glanced off towards the nearby window, her gaze focused on the darkened sky looming outside when the palismen popped into her head once more. "They're not minions. I rescued them from a pair of demon hunters. It's no big deal."
Eda quickly sat up and raised a brow at the younger witch. "You took on a pair of demon hunters by yourself?" A toothy grin stretched across the Owl Lady's face, prompting her to reach a hand up to harshly smack Lizzie on the back, making the blonde witch flinch and stiffen her shoulders. "And I thought you taking down Tibbles was the best thing that happened tonight. Nice job, kiddo. I'm proud of ya."
Lizzie let out an exasperated sigh and dropped her shoulders, not saying anything at first. But once the last words of Eda's registered in her ears, Lizzie's brows raised.
'Wait. What did she just say?'
She whipped her head towards the Owl Lady with a wide blink, prompting Eda to frown at the slight gape on her employee's face.
"What's the matter?" she asked, bringing Lizzie back to reality with the shake of her head and a couple more blinks as she answered quietly.
"S-Sorry. It's just…" Lizzie briefly trailed off, her eyes turning to the floor when she reached a hand behind her head to grip at her neck. "… that's the first time you've said that."
"Said what?"
"That you're proud of me."
"Really? Huh." Eda scratched at her chin and furrowed her brow for a moment before shrugging, dropping back down to rest her body against the arm of the sofa again. "At least I have now."
"And you'll probably never hear it again," King commented sarcastically, causing Eda to glare dagger-eyed at him from the other end of the sofa.
Lizzie let out a small chuckle at this and returned her focus to the window, deciding not to make any further comments on the situation and block out the surrounding conversations occurring between the two other parties in the room. She rubbed a hand against her chest at sensing a warm, fuzzy feeling building up, most likely caused by Eda's words from a few seconds ago. And yet, it was short-lived when she found her thoughts flitting to the fox palisman and the way it was staring at her with its amber eyes, prompting her to press her lips together in thought.
'I hope those palismen managed to get away safely. I doubt those demon hunters stayed unconscious for long…'
With the towering stone wall surrounding the single tower of the Conformatorium just ahead of them, the two demon hunters who Lizzie had previously assaulted slowly made their way towards the bridge that housed the large gate blocking anyone from entering or leaving, using their hands to hold the parts of their heads where they could feel the persistent throbbing pain and raised lumps where they'd been struck. An Emperor Coven's guard—the one who had hired them—was waiting for them halfway down said bridge still in uniform, but he didn't stay there for long. Even against the darkness engulfing the landscape, the coven guard could still see clearly enough to recognise that the cart and the formerly captured palismen the demon hunters had shown him were nowhere to be found. And this sight caused him to grit his teeth.
The demon hunters came to a stop at seeing the coven guard stomp towards them with his gloved hands balled into shaking fists, hearing his voice boom over the ensuing lightning flash and rumbling thunder that proceeded to follow his movement.
"Where have you idiots been?! What took you so long?!" Neither of the demon hunters spoke as the coven guard closed the gap between them, causing the latter to growl and hold out his shaking fists. "Where are the palismen you were supposed to deliver to me?!" The tallest of the demon hunters looked off to the side with a grunt and a squint, prompting the coven guard to step closer and practically screech at the top of his lungs in his face. "Answer me, you nitwit!"
The shortest demon hunter cleared his throat, drawing the guard's attention to him when he spoke up in a quiet voice. "… We were robbed."
The coven guard leaned back in surprise and blinked widely from behind his mask, halting his trembling instantly. Yet that didn't stop the anger from seeping into his tone with the drop of his balled hands to his sides. "What?"
"We don't know who it did, but someone knocked us out. When we came to, the palismen were gone." The shortest demon hunter moved closer to the guard's front and held out a closed hand to him. "All we found was this."
When the coven guard held out a gloved hand of his own, the demon hunter opened his, releasing a small pile of broken glass pieces into the guard's palm. Some of them were coated in faint trickles of yellow glowing liquid, causing the coven guard to gasp quietly from behind his mask. The demon hunters remained unfazed by the guard's reaction however, with the tallest hunter finally finding his voice as he and his partner turned to start walking back the way they'd came.
"Keep your snails. The trouble we've got into tonight isn't worth what you offered."
The coven guard didn't say a word after that, keeping his gaze fixed on the glowing shards as the demon hunters made their leave. He stayed that way even after they were long gone from the bridge and the Conformatorium, his breathing heavy while he continued to stare intently at the shattered glass in his palm. It was only when lightning struck the sky and briefly bathed the bridge in electrical light that the guard seemed to find his voice, letting out a low chuckle drowned under the thunder echoing above him. His chuckles slowly got louder when he lowered his head and hand, his shoulders shaking from the suppressed amusement. Eventually, he couldn't hold it back again, arching his head up to the sky with hysterical laughter partially muffled by the mask on his face, his arms spread out on either side of him. Had he not been alone, onlookers present would have assumed the poor guard had gone crazy.
His laughter died out by the time he closed his fingers around the broken glass, ignoring the violent shaking of his fingers from the pressure of his fingernails digging into his palm as he shouted to the air around him.
"You're interfering in my life again, Elisabeth?! That's fine!" The coven guard bared his teeth and threw his hand towards the stone ground, releasing the glowing shards from his palm and watching them collide with the bridge with a wide smirk from under his mask. For a brief moment, the hollow holes of his bird mask exposed a pair of wide and bloodshot green eyes usually hidden in the casted shadow, even as his voice returned to normal volume with an undertone of venom. "Because when we see each other again, I'll be sure to return the favour…"
