A/N: Hello again and welcome back to The Owlcast! I'll be honest in saying that I don't really have much to say on this chapter, aside from the fact that it is the start of what will follow next chapter, that being the proper introduction of a certain OC whom you may remember was introduced in Episode 11. Naturally, this means that Lizzie won't be joining Luz and co. for the antics surrounding King, naturally because I needed to get her out of the way for Tibbles to continue with his little scheme. But fear not, because in return, I shall be giving King a little bit of character development in the following chapters, which will change the direction of canon a little bit. So, that should be interesting for you guys. And yes, I said 'chapters', 'cause... well, I'm planning on aiming to write shorter chapters so I can expand on content properly over the course of the next few episodes so you guys can better digest what's happening. Fantasy story chapters typically fall between 3,000 and 10,000 words anyways, but I know a few past chapters here have gone over the maximum mark, so this is my way of trying to knock it down a bit. Still, it means more content for you! Just expect future episodes to span over more than three chapters now.
Thank you once again to those who have been favouriting, following, reviewing and reading this fanfic. Your continued support is greatly appreciated, especially due to recent events. Wasn't expecting the kind words from some of you, but the response of support has been overwhelmingly positive, so thank you. I'd also like to take this opportunity to let people know that I have now created an AO3 account and have started to cross-post my stories over there, The Owlcast included. If any of you have AO3 accounts then feel free to go follow it over there too. It's gonna be a while before it's caught up to the current chapter number, but at least you guys can notifications if some of you are still having that problem here. But anyways... time to get into answering reviews.
KaseyKay17: Oh, thank goodness! I am so glad you picked up on that hint! XD I genuinely thought no one would have noticed, but yes, Eda's reaction was indeed a nod towards Raine, and yes, Eda did assume Lizzie was related to them because of the technique she used. That's another reason why I moulded the spell how I did. But while I can confirm that Lizzie isn't related to Raine... they do have a connection to her that she currently isn't aware of. That's all I can say, but you will certainly find out more when their episode comes up in Season 2.
Guest: That is the plan, yes. I do plan on Lizzie teaching the Clawthornes about her concoctions when Luz does her glyph lessons. But it'll be more so on how to identify her potions than actually make them since Lizzie adds magic to hers and Eda and Lilith can't do that. Still, good guess. :)
Gry26: Ooooh. I do like this idea, honestly. And while I had considered having Lizzie become of interest to the Collector, I figured it wouldn't work too well because of how cautious she is. Not to mention her potions aren't of much interest at the moment anyways. Although, I can confirm that you were right about what I had in mind for that episode. Lizzie does split up from Luz when they're looking for Eda, which ends up with her catching the eye of Belos by the end because of what she ends up doing. Can't say much more than that, but I can say it will be a very interesting development going into Season 2, and that what she does will at least give the Collector something to giggle at and mock Belos for... XD I suppose I can also add that the Collector does take an interest in her because of her potions in a way, but probably not in a way you'll expect. Still, I think the twist will shock you when we get to it in Season 2.
Chapter 42: Cunning Carnies
Lizzie, King, Eda and Luz remained as still as statues in their current defensive stances, their gazes fixed onto the former stall owner of 'Mud & Sundry' with a mixture of shock (in Luz's case) and anger (in Lizzie's, King's and Eda's cases, with the former two eventually scowling once they'd gotten over their shock), with Tibbles remaining in his current stance and showing no reaction to the hostility shown by the new arrivals. Eventually, though, Eda leaned close to Lizzie's ear and gave the younger witch a gentle nudge with her elbow, her gaze never leaving Tibbles.
"Dang, Redwood!" she whispered. "You've proven me wrong again! You really need to start betting snails on your gut instincts!"
Lizzie didn't answer Eda verbally, instead giving her head a shake and quietly huffing. She knew Eda was referring to that conversation they'd previously had shortly after the incident at the night market, when the Owl Lady had joked about Lizzie believing Tibbles had survived the accidental onslaught on his stand courtesy of an enchanted Hooty (and before that when she set a group of palismen upon him to help Eda and King steal some of his products). And while Lizzie had only given Tibbles the benefit of the doubt as a courtesy and because of his last words to them, she couldn't deny she was also shocked to see the pig alive and well and still in a cheery mood.
'Which doesn't bode well. Because if he's here… that means he's probably out for revenge, right?'
When the silence between the two parties became prolonged, Tibbles relaxed and glanced between the four faces with a wide blink before breaking out into a wide smile and cheery laughter, his hands going to his middle.
"Ohohoho! There's no need to be so unfriendly!"
This caused King to shuffle further behind Eda, Lizzie to straighten out and reach a hand towards her satchel, and Eda to keep her staff head pointed directly at Tibbles' chest, her eyes narrowing and lips pursing. Luz, on the other hand, ended up squinting at Tibbles' words and slowly moving out from her hiding place.
"Uh…" Luz started, pointing towards Tibbles while looking at Eda, Lizzie and King still scowling at him. "But aren't you the guy whose stand got destroyed?"
"And who tried to scam me and then cart me off to the Emperor's Coven for extra snails!" Eda growled.
"And who put me in baby clothes when I'm not a baby!" King shrieked with the shake of his fist.
"And who swore vengeance against us for stealing and ruining your livelihood," Lizzie added matter-of-factly, causing Tibbles to chuckle again and wave all four of them off with a hand.
"Oh, that? No, no, no! Water under the bridge! I assure you!" He held his palms up with a grin. "It would have been silly of me to invite you to the carnival if I still held a grudge!"
"Invited us?" Eda repeated with a frown, prompting Tibbles to drop his grin and raise a brow.
"I take it you got my flyer?"
Eda moved away from Lizzie and dug a hand into her bush of hair, sticking her tongue out to the side while she rummaged around for the carnival flyer she'd rolled up in there. After a moment of searching, the Owl Lady perked up and pulled the flyer free from her grey and white strands, unrolling it and then flipping it round to peek at the back. Lizzie and Luz wasted no time in moving to both of Eda's sides and leaning forward on their tiptoes to get a look for themselves, while King clambered up Eda's back and peeked from her left shoulder.
Sure enough, on the back of the flyer was the text written in red cursive, placed above and below an image depicting Tibbles in his current getup (plus a black top hat) resting his weight forward against his baton between his palms towards the left, smiling widely with a slight squint. Eda tilted the flyer the opposite way at noticing it had a hardened plastic golden sheen to it, only to find the image moved with a 3D-like effect and had Tibbles posing the opposite side. King was the one who ended up reading the written message aloud for the sake of the others, his pink eyes narrowed.
"'To my Owl House pals, from Tibbles'?"
'… Yeah. Something's fishy about this.'
The blonde kept that thought to herself, and rightly so. But Lizzie's eyes soon drooped as she turned her gaze to the Owl Lady staring at the flyer in her hand with a bewildered expression on her face, eventually voicing her next question aloud.
"How did you not see this the first time?"
Eda gave an open-armed shrug in response. "The flyer had me at 'carnival'! Why would I bother to read the rest?" She slapped the back of her hand against the flyer's picture. "Plus, who puts anything on the backs of flyers these days?!"
Lizzie huffed and smacked a palm to her forehead, only to return her gaze to Tibbles when she heard him chuckle.
"Really, there's no need for suspicion!" He approached the group and stood in front of Lizzie after tucking his baton under his arm, taking one of her hands in between both of his own with an uncomfortably wide grin and overly friendly tone. "In fact, I'd like to personally thank you in particular, Madam!"
Brows raised amongst King, Luz, Eda and Lizzie, with the latter even blinking widely to make sure she'd heard him correctly. When he didn't seem fazed by their reactions, however, Lizzie spoke up.
"Thank me?" she repeated, to which Tibbles responded with a confirming nod. "But I'm the primary reason you lost everything."
"And me," Luz mumbled, with Lizzie being the only one to hear it when she gave the young Latina a quick glance to see her eyes lowered to her shoes, a hand gripping at her elbow.
Looking back, Lizzie realised that out of the four of them, she and Luz were the primary culprits for ruining Tibbles' business. After all, Lizzie was the one who ordered a group of palismen to assault him while they stole his elixirs, and Luz and her friends had been in control of the Owl House during the moonlight conjuring when it crushed Tibbles' stand. Tibbles' anger and declaration for revenge had been well and truly justified, she reasoned. So, why was he grateful for what she'd (and Luz had) done?
Well, it looked like she was about to get her answer.
Lizzie thought she saw Tibbles' left eye twitch from behind his glasses, yet his expression and tone remained the same as he gave her hand a gentle pat.
"Very true. But your antics that night made me revaluate my life and gave me a new sense of inspiration." Tibbles released Lizzie and walked backwards, reaching the hand not supporting the baton behind his back. "Watching you command those palismen awakened something within me, something which I believe led me to my true calling!"
Tibbles stopped in front of a large, circular blue and red striped circus tent with monster-like horns decorating the rim of the tent's sloped roof. The pig brought his hand from behind his back with a black top hat now clutched in it, which he proceeded to place atop his head.
"Ladies and lone gentleman, you are now looking at the new ringmaster of…" Taking his baton back into his other hand, he took on a wide stance and pointed the baton's tip to the painted sign decorated in gold and blue writing above the tent's entrance, giving the group a tooth bearing grin as he read the sign's contents aloud. "Tibbles's Tent of Tiny Terrors!"
Eda and Lizzie immediately shared a narrowed-eyed gaze between themselves, with the former straightening out with her staff in hand (after putting the flyer away into her hair again) and Lizzie crossing her arms in front of her chest. King and Luz said and did nothing in the meantime, the pair intently watching and waiting for either witch to openly react. Eventually, though, Eda and Lizzie focused back onto Tibbles, the two speaking in sync with their expressions unchanged.
"Not buying it."
"Don't believe a word you just said."
Tibbles relaxed his stance at this, yet he continued to grin like his face had been permanently frozen (even though, again, Lizzie swore she saw the corners of the pig's lips twitch). "My, my, you two are certainly hard to impress."
"Pfft! Please!" Eda said with the roll her eyes and the tap of her index finger against the side of her nose. "You can't scam a scammer, Tibbles! I know you're running a con,"—she hooked an arm around Lizzie's shoulders and leaning against the younger witch (whose current expression and stance remained unchanged)—"as does young Redwood here!"
"I assure you, Owl Lady, there are only pros here. No cons. In fact,"—Tibbles reached a hand into his jacket, momentarily looking away and fishing it around as if looking for something—"I was hoping we could toast our newfound friendship with a bottle of a special beverage I recently acquired."
Eda snorted loudly and smacked a hand against her thigh, causing Tibbles to pause with his actions. "Oh, sure! Special beverage!" She gave Lizzie a wink and a light knock with her shoulder. "What's that code for? Poison?"
Lizzie scrunched her lips up when her shoulders trembled with suppressed laughter, forced to look off to the side to avoid eye contact with Tibbles by focusing on Eda instead.
'Still, it's good to see that Eda has learnt her lesson from our last encounter with him. That's certainly a big relief.'
Tibbles, meanwhile, loudly cleared his throat, resuming his earlier rummaging through the insides of his jacket.
"I understand your apprehension, Owl Lady, but if you would just let me—"
"Nice try, pig," Eda interrupted with a squint, tilting her body forward a bit as she did so. "But you're not pulling the wool over our eyes again with your newest scam. So, you might as well stow it!"
Lizzie took a deep breath to calm herself and give Tibbles a sideways glance to gauge his reaction, expecting him to have lost his temper at this point. But surprisingly, Tibbles' expression still didn't change from his overly cheery grin, even as he retracted his hand from his jacket with a quiet sigh.
"Very well, then. I suppose I can't blame you. Trust isn't easily earnt once it's been broken, after all." He took off his top hat and cross his other arm in front of his middle, bending forward in a low bow. "Still, maybe by the end of today, you'll come around. Perhaps after you've taken a gander at the wonders this carnival has to offer."
"Sure. Whatever," Eda grumbled in reply, clearly not convinced by anything he was saying to them.
The Owl Lady took that as her cue to walk forward and gently pull Lizzie with her, with Lizzie following her lead without objection. She wanted to get away from Tibbles just as much as her employer did.
"C'mon, freeloaders!" Eda called out to Luz and King after briefly glancing behind her and beckoning them to follow with the movement of her fingers. "We came here to have fun and scam some suckers, right?"
Tibbles' grin dimmed to a smile as he straightened out and watched the two witches pass him by, with Luz scooping King up into her arms and running after the pair.
"Coming!" Luz shouted, with the new ringmaster continuing to smile and see the four of them off with a wave.
"Pleasure to see you again, my friends! Have a good time!"
No one dared to look back at Tibbles or respond to him as Eda and Lizzie took the lead and Luz stayed close behind them with King in her arms. However, after walking for several seconds, Lizzie peeked over her shoulder to look for Tibbles where he'd previously been stood, only to find the spot in front of his tent empty. She didn't know if that was a good thing, but at this point they were safely out of earshot anyways.
"Okay, Eda, I think you can stop now," Lizzie said aloud to the Owl Lady, prompting Eda and Luz to stop moving with a collective sigh of relief.
"Thank the Titan for that!" Eda exclaimed, smacking a palm against her own forehead with a groan. "Still, who'd have thought Tibbles was behind all this?!"
Lizzie narrowed her eyes, her reply spoken slowly and with heavy emphasis. "Again, you should have checked the back of the flyer."
Eda scowled at the younger witch and threw her arms above her head. "And I'll tell you again, Redwood: who puts anything on the backs of flyers these days?!"
"Don't you think you two are overreacting a little?" Luz questioned with a furrowed brow, prompting both Lizzie and Eda to glance her way with wide blinks. "What if Tibbles has turned over a new leaf? Shouldn't you give him the benefit of the doubt?"
Several seconds of silence passed, eventually ending with Eda dragging a hand down her face and briefly stretching her skin as she took the moment to compose herself. Lizzie had a feeling Eda wanted to say a bunch of insults and curses in response to Luz's naivety and general belief that everyone had goodness inside of them somewhere, yet she had to give the Owl Lady credit for trying to approach this more delicately, especially to avoid a repeat of what they'd done in the past.
"Kid," Eda began calmly, clasping her hands together in front of her chin. "I normally find your innocence and gullibility hilarious, but in this situation, you need to use your noggin'." The Owl Lady held her hands out on either side of her. "Tibbles is a scammer who has joined an entire troupe of scammers. Surely, you can see why Lizzie and I saw straight through the garbage he was spouting."
"And that's without the fact that he swore vengeance against us for conning him and then crushing his stand," Lizzie added with a mutter. "He sounded pretty determined too."
Luz pouted and turned her gaze to King still in her arms. "King, help me out here! You agree with me, right?"
King's eyes drooped as he lightly poked Luz in the chin with a claw, making the young Latina flinch a bit. "Nah, I'm with Lizzie and Eda on this one. Tibbles doesn't seem like the forgiving type. Just like Eda's exes."
Eda's eyes narrowed at King for that remark, clearly suspicious. "What makes you say that?" Her brows raised the moment realisation hit her like a spell to the face, only to point her finger at the little demon. "Have you been going through my diary again?!"
"Uh…" King quickly looked off to the side for a few seconds before focusing back on Eda, answering hesitantly as a tiny bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. "… No?"
"Ahem!" Lizzie cleared her throat with a fist close to her mouth, succeeding in gaining the attention of the older witch, little demon and teenage human once more. "Diary invasion aside… what do we do now?"
"What do you mean 'what do we do now'?" Eda questioned with a grin while rubbing her hands together. "We do what we originally came here to do: have fun and scam some suckers for snails!"
Lizzie's shoulders slumped at the Owl Lady's answer. "Are you kidding me?" She gestured towards the way they'd just come. "You're still going to stay? Even after all that?"
"That's right!" Luz answered with a wide smile, putting King down on the ground again and kneeling to place a hand on his head. "I came here to have a great time with my partner in crime and my other Owl House peeps! And that hasn't changed!"
King giggled and clasped his paws together in front of his jaw, basking in the attention Luz was giving him. "That's me!"
"And I still have my get-witch-quick scheme to try out!" Eda proudly announced with the puffing out of her chest, her golden eyes wandering over the various stalls and tents amidst the bustling crowds beginning to gather. "Mama just needs to scout out a place where she can set up shop first!"
"But what about Tibbles?" Lizzie interjected with the creasing of her brow and the slumping of her shoulders, her green-eyed gaze warily darting from left to right repeatedly, like she was expecting Tibbles to be eavesdropping on them. "Are you really going to underestimate him after what happened last time? What if he's up to something and tries to get his revenge when we have our guards down?"
Eda held her palms up and frowned as she gave her stern response. "Kid, I get it, but this isn't going to end like it did last time." The Owl Lady smiled widely and gave Lizzie a firm pat on her closest shoulder, keeping a tight grip for extra measure. "Remember what I said back there? You can't scam a scammer." She tapped the side of her forehead with her finger. "I still remember that hustler's tricks. As long as we keep away from him, he can't get us again."
Lizzie's brows creased further with a small sigh. "But it's not you I'm worried about, Eda." She reached a hand to her shoulder to gently shove Eda's away, turning her eyes towards a random crowded stand nearby. "Tibbles seems to be just as experienced when it comes to scams, not to mention that he was already well aware of who you were before we encountered him in the night market." Eda's frown deepened at seeing Lizzie squeeze her eyes shut, her next words barely audible. "I just can't shake the feeling that he's planned something else knowing that we wouldn't be convinced by his 'good guy' act..."
Eda shot King and Luz a look then and gestured a hand Lizzie's way, with Lizzie remaining oblivious to the Owl Lady's discreet attempt to get help. King gave a shrug of his shoulders, but Luz dared to step closer to the blonde witch with a small smile, already having an idea in mind.
"If you're that worried about Tibbles," she began, causing Lizzie to open her eyes and focus her attention on her. "why don't you spend the day with me and King?"
"Yeah!" King agreed as he rushed up to Luz's side, his eyes growing wide and his paws clenching to his chest. "We don't get to hang out much anymore either!" He wagged his tail and bounced up and down on his toes. "It'll be just like old times!"
"On top of using it as an opportunity to keep on the lookout for Tibbles," Luz added with a wink, leaning close to Lizzie's side to gently elbow it. "Can't worry about him if you've got a close eye on us!"
"And maybe grabbing a bite to eat whilst you're at it," Eda commented, already fishing a hand into her hair and rummaging it around. "After all, you never ate the breakfast I was making."
Lizzie scowled and opened her mouth to object to the proposal, but loud gurgling from her stomach beat her to it. The blonde blinked widely and wrapped her arms round it at feeling the heat rise to her face, prompting King to laugh and point a claw at her flushed cheeks. However, his mirth quickly dissipated when his and Luz's stomachs followed suit, causing the pair's eyes to widen and their shoulders to stiffen.
'Oh yeah. Completely forgot we left that food on the stove…' Lizzie furrowed her brows. 'Wait. Did Eda turn the stove off before—?'
Lizzie's train of thought halted when a tiny brown sack of snails jingled in front of her face, held in the hand of none other than the smirking Eda the Owl Lady with her other hand on her hip.
"Stop being a stick in the mud and enjoy yourself for a change, Redwood! You can't keep living life like every creature in the isles is out to get you!"
The blonde witch pursed her lips and snatched the sack from Eda's hand, releasing an exasperated huff. "Fine, fine! You win!" She grumbled, pointing two fingers towards the older witch with a squint. "But if I see anything fishy and it involves that blasted pig, I'm coming to find you and we're getting out of here, okay?"
Eda's smirk widened as she placed a hand to her chest, holding her other one with her palm out. "You have my word."
"Thank you."
"Then let's get going!" Luz cheered and hooked an arm through Lizzie's closest one, preparing to pull the older witch forward while shooting Eda a wave in passing. "See you later, Eda!"
Eda's smirk dimmed to a smile when she returned the wave, her eyes briefly following King running to catch up to Luz's and Lizzie's departure. "Have fun, kids! Don't spend those snails all at once!"
Lizzie's shoulders slumped and her eyes drooped as she allowed Luz to pull her along, slipping the newly acquired snails into her satchel and momentarily peeking over her shoulder to watch Eda stroll off in the opposite direction with her staff in hand.
'I swear, Luz has made me go soft.'
Unbeknownst to the group of four as they made their departure, a familiar red-headed witch with the hood of his brown cloak over his head was peeking at them from behind Tibbles' tent, clutching the same rolled-up flyer Eda had in his right hand. His green eyes narrowed behind his round spectacles towards Lizzie specifically, with Sigmund daring to poke his head out from his owner's cloak hood with a quiet hiss.
"So then, that manipulative merchant lured the Owl Lady's merry menagerie here as well," the witch mumbled, eventually allowing a small smirk to slip once Lizzie, Luz and King were out of sight. "I knew that pig was up to no good."
Sigmund gave another hiss to emphasise his agreement, prompting the witch to stand upright and tuck the flyer back inside his cloak.
"This is the perfect opportunity to speak with Elisabeth Redwood, Sigmund, especially if Tibblet‐Tibblie plans on getting revenge against her in particular." He turned to his palisman with a wink, his smirk dimming down to a sly smile. "I think you know what you have to do." His witch's confirmation had Sigmund hissing for a third time and nodding, causing his partner to chuckle and flick his fingers forward in a 'shooing' motion. "In that case, dear partner, you have your marching orders."
Sigmund took that as his cue to slither down his owner's front and onto the ground, wasting no time in heading off in the direction the trio of Luz, Lizzie and King had previously been seen departing in. The witch watched his palisman go with his arms folded against his middle, his smile remaining intact.
"At last, it seems you and I will get to meet in person." He struggled to suppress the grin that slipped onto his face from underneath his hood, the lenses of his glasses catching the glint of the mid-morning sun. "And I am wholly looking forward to it."
Finding food at a carnival was an easy task. But finding food at a carnival that a human could digest? Apparently, that was a lot more difficult than Lizzie had anticipated, even though it had been a difficult task in everyday life anyways since Luz's arrival.
The blonde witch felt like they'd been wandering aimlessly round the whole carnival with the way they jumped from one food stand to another, relying heavily on King's nose to act as their guide and speed the process up as much as physically possible. In the end, the little demon led them to a stall that sold a food item known as a 'Fried Orb', which (as they came to find out after King had taken a 'test bite' out of it) was revealed to be a round ball on a stick covered in brown batter with a gooey purple inside. It seemed harmless enough, especially after Luz took a bite and reported she felt fine after several minutes passed (adding that the batter tasted sweet and the insides were like 'grape flavoured jelly', the latter of which was something Lizzie assumed was related to human food), so this was the food item Lizzie spent Eda's snails on for the three of them.
With their snacks devoured and their grumbling bellies full, the trio enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the carnival's varying attractions, walking side-by-side with King in between Lizzie and Luz respectively.
"What should we do first?" Luz asked with a smile, allowing her eyes to wander between the various stalls and some of the rides off in the distance—particularly a rollercoaster with metal tracks shaped into a monster's mouth from a sideview, with the seats designed to look like teeth, which she soon pointed at. "We could go on a ride!"
"Right after eating?" Lizzie questioned with a raised brow and added emphasis, prompting Luz to look back with a blink. "Are you off your rocker?"
"You're just saying that because you get airsick," King teased, causing Lizzie's cheeks to flush a bright pink with a scowl.
"Hey!" She shrieked and scrunched her face up, pointing a finger accusingly down at the little demon. "You get airsick too!"
King scowled and clutched his paws to his stomach. "It's not my fault I have a sensitive tummy!"
"And it's the same with me!"
The pair relaxed their expressions at hearing Luz's amused laughter, their gazes turning to the Latina human as she began to calm down.
"Sorry!" she said apologetically, scratching at her cheek with a finger. "I just forget how much you two act like siblings sometimes."
Lizzie and King blinked widely at Luz's comment and exchanged brief glances, speaking simultaneously as they tried to process it. "Huh?"
But then King's eyes broke away at catching something golden and glistening within his peripheral vision, eventually pointing towards it with shrinking pupils.
"Ooooh! Look at that!" the little demon remarked before he ran away from the blonde witch and teenage human, prompting Lizzie's and Luz's gaze to follow him.
There was a stall nearby with a green counter and a white sign shaped similarly to the top of the horned skull of the Titan above it, nailed to a pair of wooden beams and with 'PRIZES' scribbled on it in purple capitals. The seemingly bald and humanoid stall owner with pointed ears and pale skin was dressed in the carnival's uniform and leaning their elbow against the counter with their three eyes closed, surrounded by an assortment of items both on the counter and behind it (such as a broom, a trio of stuffed, colourful toys hanging on hooks, etc). When Lizzie and Luz joined King as he stopped in front of the counter, Lizzie noticed the owner appeared to be taking a nap with the way their hand cradled their face. But her attention was soon drawn back to King when he turned to them and pointed at two necklaces depicting the broken halves of a golden heart hanging from a metal frame on the left edge of the counter, his tail wagging behind him excitedly.
"What is it?" He asked, eventually reaching his paw up to place one of the necklaces against his palm with a squint. "Is it some kind of string weapon?"
Luz chuckled and shook her head, prompting King to tilt his head back towards her and relax his expression. "No! That's a friendship necklace, silly!"
"Friendship necklace?" King repeated with a frown, letting the necklace piece he'd been holding go. "Is this a deadly weapon I've never heard about?"
"It's jewellery, King," Lizzie clarified with a huff, watching Luz pick the two necklaces off the stand to hold the pieces in both hands. "It's supposed to act as a physical representation of friendship between two people."
King's frown deepened at this, causing Lizzie to turn to Luz and move her eyes in the direction of the necklaces, as if indicating for her to show what she meant. Luz soon nodded and turned back to King with a widened smile, quickly taking over the explanation.
"What Lizzie means is, the necklaces act as a declaration to everyone else that you're best friends, because you both have a half that makes a whole when put together." And, to demonstrate her point, Luz put the two heart pieces together to form the whole as if they were two pieces of a puzzle. "See?"
"That's perfect!" King exclaimed excitedly and rubbed his paws together and wagged his tail, looking between the necklaces and Luz. "Luz, we need these! I want the whole world to know that we're—"
"Not so fast," the monotone, male voice of the stall owner suddenly interjected. Lizzie and Luz flinched simultaneously as he reached over and snatched the two necklaces out of the latter's hands, returning them to the hooks on the metal frame while King watched on wide eyed. "You can't just take those."
"Lizzie!" King whined and stomped his foot against the ground, eventually moving forward to tug at Lizzie's tights with one paw while the other pointed at the carnival worker. "The mean man took my necklaces! Throw a potion at him!"
Lizzie observed King silently for several seconds before letting her eyes droop. "I'm not doing that, King. And besides, he's right."
"Weh?" King turned to face the stall owner for confirmation, prompting the latter to nod and point towards the sign above his stand.
"Your lady friend is right, little boy," he explained, crossing his arms and cocking his head in the direction of the necklaces. "If you want the necklaces, then you need to play by carnival rules and earn the correct number of tickets from the games."
"Aw," King whinged and slumped his shoulders, balling his paws into fists at his sides and flinging his head back. "But that sounds like a lot of work!"
"Not if the three of us work together, it won't be!" Luz declared, grinning and stepping closer to Lizzie to wrap an arm round the taller witch's upper-back. "We'll help you get those necklaces in no time, won't we, Liz?"
Lizzie opened her mouth to respond; however, she was beaten to it by the familiar voice of Willow calling out to the teenage human, prompting the trio's attention to turn to the area ahead.
"Luz!"
A smiling Willow could be seen approaching them soon after alongside a grinning Gus waving his arms above his head, the pair wearing the same casual clothes Lizzie recalled last seeing them in (which, funnily enough, was the night of the moonlight conjuring they enacted behind Eda's back). The blonde witch raised a brow the moment she sighted them, only to cringe and lean away from Luz when she released a loud squeal.
"Friends!" she cried and made a beeline towards them with outstretched arms.
Twisting her finger in her ear and straightening out, Lizzie watched Luz eventually meet them halfway and wrap an arm around them each to pull them into a three-way hug, which Willow and Gus returned while briefly squeezing their eyes shut, their grin and smile still intact.
'Huh, what do you know. Willow and Gus are here too. Not that I should be too surprised, since it's a carnival…' Lizzie's train of thought trailed off at noticing a flicker of movement within her peripheral vision to her left, where she saw King still standing beside her with his tail hanging towards the floor, a faint frown gracing his bony brow. 'What's gotten into King?'
Her question became rhetorical when Luz started talking again, prompting Lizzie's attention to return to the trio of friends as they pulled themselves away (with Lizzie giving a stiff nod of acknowledgement when Gus and Willow saw her and both waved).
"What are you guys doing here?" she asked as she leaned back and did the 'finger-gun' motion with her index fingers. "Didn't expect to see carniv-y'all after this morning."
"Luz," Lizzie immediately responded to the Latina's pun in a low tone when she and King moved to join her, with the addition of her eyes narrowing. "No puns."
King, meanwhile, stayed stood beside Lizzie with his brow furrowed and his arms crossed, seemingly choosing to listen to the conversation rather than participate this time.
Luz chuckled and rubbed a hand at the back of her head. "Sorry."
"Especially terrible puns," Gus added with drooped eyes while turning one of his thumbs upside-down. "Booooo!"
"We got invited by Tibbles," Willow cheerily answered, prompting Lizzie and Luz to blink widely.
"You did?" they questioned simultaneously.
"Uh-huh!" Willow nodded and pulled out a piece of paper to for them to see, pointing towards it. "This is what he sent us."
This flyer looked different to the one that they'd received, Lizzie noted, possessing a normal picture of Tibbles in his ringmaster getup at the bottom, along with purple coloured, capital text that read 'Come to the Carnival!' with the addition of 'To' and then 'You other two' scribbled on it in red ink above it.
"Whoa…" Luz mumbled, eventually smiling and shrugging her shoulders. "What a coincidence! We got invited by Tibbles too!"
Lizzie, meanwhile, scowled and folded her arms once Willow put the flyer away, the imaginary cogs in her head already beginning to turn.
'I take back what I said earlier. This is clearly a trap.'
And this time, she actually dared to voice her thoughts without hesitation.
"He's up to something," she stated matter-of-factly, with Gus nodding and putting his arms behind his back.
"Oh yeah! Willow and I thought the same thing, considering we did squash his stand and all!"
"But who cares when they have a Scarris Wheel?!" Willow squealed while bringing her fists close to her face.
"I do," Lizzie replied sternly as her scowl deepened, causing the smiles on the trio's faces to fade with a wide blink. "I knew I shouldn't have let my guard down."
The blonde witch swirled on her heels and started to walk back the other way, but she only got two steps forward before a hand gripped at her right shoulder.
"Wait, Liz, where are you going?" Luz questioned, confirming herself to be the owner of the hand that had forced the older witch to stop.
"To get Eda," Lizzie answered immediately. She peeked over her shoulder at a now gaping Luz. "We need to leave."
"Weh!" King suddenly cried and gripped at Lizzie's ankle, staring up at the blonde witch with tears already forming in his wide eyes. "But what about our quest for the friendship necklaces?! As the King of Demons, I order you to help us get them from the mean man!"
Lizzie's eyes drooped as she turned her gaze to King, with Willow being the next one to speak up when she and Gus frowned and shared confused glances.
"What's he talking about?"
Luz let Lizzie go and pointed a finger towards the prize stall back the way they'd just come. "We were going to help King win a special prize by playing the carnival games." She gasped shortly after she'd processed her own words, though, quickly stepping forward to take one of Willow's and Gus' hands in each of her own. "Oh! You two could help! If the five of us work together, we'll win enough tickets in no time!"
"Sure!" Willow replied with a wide smile and nod, clasping her hands together under her chin as Gus grinned and bent down to be closer to King's eye level. "It sounds like fun!"
"And we're more than happy to help this cute widdle guy!" Gus cooed and wiggled a finger close to King's face, prompting the latter to scowl and swat at it with a paw to get Gus to move it away.
"Not happening," Lizzie objected with a scowl. She turned away once again as the expressions on the others' faces fell with furrowed brows, taking a step forward to walk away. "I'm not letting Tibbles get the drop on us again. We're going."
"No!" King whined with a cracked tone, forcing Lizzie to a stop again by clinging tighter to her ankle and squeezing his eyes shut. "Don't abandon your king! I need those necklaces! Please!"
Lizzie's shoulders slumped as she released a heavy sigh and once again focused on the little demon clinging to her for dear life, feeling like a mother witnessing her child throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the street. Several seconds of watching King trembling and burying his skull head into her leg caused a swirl of dread deep in the pit of her stomach, causing her to wince and wrap an arm round it. When was the last time she'd seen King beg and plead like this, practically on the verge of tears?
A loud hiss soon silenced King's wails, prompting the little demon to open his teary eyes and blink widely in succession, followed by the other three witches and lone human doing the same. Five heads turned in the direction of the prize stand, where a familiar looking red snake palisman could be seen slithering his way towards them, specifically stopping in front of Lizzie's feet.
King's and Lizzie's jaws dropped with loud, simultaneous gasps, the pair immediately recognising who was in front of them. But before the pair had a chance to react, Luz released a high-pitched gasp of her own and slapped her hands over her mouth, her pupils shrinking at the snake palisman lingering before her.
"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed breathlessly, saying something else in Spanish that Lizzie naturally didn't understand. "You're the most adorable snake I've ever seen!"
Lizzie raised a brow as Luz crouched before the snake palisman with her chin resting in her palms and her elbows balanced on her thighs, her eyes glistening while eyeing the top of his head. "D'aw! You must be a palisman!" She took a hand away from her face to lightly stroke the palisman's head, specifically where his interlock was. "You have an interlock like Owlbert!"
'And I thought Hooty's reaction to Sigmund was over the top…' Lizzie paused at seeing Sigmund close his eyes and quietly hiss at the fuss he was receiving. 'But at least Sigmund doesn't seem to mind the attention.'
"I thought it looked familiar," Willow muttered with a squint, with her and Gus moving closer to Luz to stand on either side of her.
"Yeah! Wasn't this palisman with the Bat Queen?" Gus wondered aloud, stroking a hand against his chin.
"Oh yeah!" Luz replied with a small smile. Meanwhile, Sigmund remained calm, occasionally blinking and glancing between the two young witches and human as the latter pulled away. "Whatcha doin' out here on your own, little guy?"
As if to answer Luz's question, Sigmund slithered closer to Lizzie's feet and cocked his head in her direction, causing King's eyes to narrow at the snake palisman.
"Of course you're here for Lizzie!" he grumbled and turned to look up at the blonde witch in question. "You still need to tell me how you got your minions to do your bidding!"
Lizzie huffed and rolled her eyes at the remark. "And as I keep telling you, King, they're not my minions and never were."
"But why would the palisman be looking for you?" Luz asked, prompting Lizzie to crouch before Sigmund and King to release her leg and step back.
"I might have an idea," she mumbled, then returned her voice to normal volume when addressing Sigmund. "Your owner's here at the carnival and wants to speak with me, don't they?" Sigmund hissed once and nodded stiffly, causing the blonde witch to sigh heavily. "I thought so."
"His owner?" Luz repeated with the tilt of her head, prompting Lizzie to nod and stand up again.
"Sigmund was amongst a group of palismen I saved from demon hunters when I went with Eda and King to the night market," she explained quietly while gripping tightly at her satchel strap. "Sigmund's owner sent me a note expressing their gratitude and the desire to meet up someday to talk…" She frowned as she trailed off, giving Luz, Gus and Willow a sideways glance. "…but this isn't really a good time."
Luz mirrored Lizzie's expression and turned her head between Willow and Gus for help. When the two witches shrugged their shoulders in response, though, Luz focused back on Lizzie and stood again.
"Hey," she began as she walked over to the older witch, prompting Lizzie to look back at the shorter human over her shoulder. "You should probably go see what they want."
"What?" Lizzie questioned with raised a brow, her gaze briefly switching between Luz and a now wide-eyed King lingering by her feet. "But what about—?"
She stopped when Luz waved her off with a hand. "We'll be fine! We can keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Plus," Luz leaned in closer to Lizzie and lowered her voice, holding the side of her hand close to her mouth. "we can keep King pacified by getting him those friendship necklaces."
Lizzie bit her lip and looked down at Sigmund with the tightening of her grip on her satchel strap, who was silently watching this exchange on with a blink.
'I still think it's too risky, but then again… this could be the only opportunity I get to finally uncover the identity of 'V.S.', especially after giving that chance up with the Bat Queen.' Lizzie returned her gaze to Luz, who had since righted herself and was grinning with her hands clasped behind her. 'And to give Luz credit, she has become sharper. Not to mention she's gotten better at using her glyphs. If she does get into trouble, she can probably handle herself, with the addition of Willow and Gus there to help too…'
After several minutes of silence, Lizzie released a loud exhale and drooped her body forward, groaning quietly before saying anything.
"All right. I'll agree." She paused at seeing Luz, Willow and Gus all share a grin between themselves before pumping their fists in the air with a loud and simultaneous shout of 'Woohoo!'. "But only on the condition that we meet back here once you have the friendship necklaces," she continued sternly, causing King to giggle with glee and knock his clenched paws together in front of his chest.
"You have a deal, Liz!" Luz replied, already swirling round to run off in the opposite direction with her fists still above her head, with Willow and Gus copying her. "C'mon then, guys! To the carnival games!"
Lizzie let an amused smile slip with a quiet snort as she watched the trio of teenagers dash off while chanting 'Games!' over and over again, with poor King trailing after them at a slower speed due to his tiny legs.
"Hey, wait for your king!" he shouted demandingly after them.
Lizzie waited until the four were out of earshot before looking to Sigmund still silently loitering by her feet, sighing heavily and adjusting her satchel strap against her shoulder.
"All right, Sigmund, lead me to your owner." Sigmund hissed and started to slither off in the direction he had just come from, with the blonde witch following behind slowly while muttering under her breath. "Let's hope I don't regret this decision…"
As she made her leave of the area, Lizzie remained unaware of Tibbles watching her retreat from behind a large wooden barrel beside the prize stall. With narrowed eyes and a wide smirk gracing his face, the current ringmaster chuckled lowly and focused his gaze in the direction Luz, Willow, Gus and King were dashing off in, eventually dipping back behind the barrel to get out of sight.
