A/N: Phew. This chapter was hard to write, not gonna lie. So many different character interactions and surprises were thrown into this one, with the ending scene originally intended to be a little longer than what I went with. In the end, however, I think I've gotten to a good place with this chapter, even if it's not as eventful as people were probably expecting. I do think you'll like the build-up, though. And not just because of the character interactions and the character explorations... It was a shame that I couldn't get this chapter done for May 30th, but oh well. Still can't believe The Owlcast has officially turned two years old now on FF, and that this fic has officially reached 100 follows. I never expected so many of you to have become invested in Lizzie's story, let alone that the total views for this fic has more than doubled from last year, with the first chapter's total views going over 11,000 views. And yet there's still so much I have left to give! It's nuts to think about!
Either way, thank you to everyone who has favourited, followed, reviewed and read this fic over the last two years, whether new readers or those who have been with this fic since the beginning. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. I don't know when I'll have the next chapter out, but I hope you enjoy this one in the meantime, and the commentary on it that I'll be leaving at the bottom. Also, quick reminder that there are non-canon explanations surrounding magic in this chapter and that any bold and italic speech is indication of characters reading text aloud.
Chapter 55: Hurting and Homesick
On the outskirts of the Boiling Isles, the mid-morning sun bathed the back of the Owl House in its blinding light, sending wide streaks through its windows to highlight the floors of the rooms in a rectangular spotlight, including the cupboard-like bedroom currently occupied by the cottage's resident human and second oldest witch. The latter of the pair was alone in the bedroom at present, having tucked herself away in the bottom corner of the room's right side with her knees close to her chest, already dressed in preparation for the day ahead. Opened in her lap and held protectively between her palms was 'The Tricky Tale of Todd and Tawny', with drooped green eyes beholding the first two pages of the story.
It depicted an illustration across both pages of the same red trees often found in the Boiling Isles against a purple sky and fluffy clouds, showing a variety of animals either on the ground (such as a hedgehog, a frog, a bee, and a monkey to name some examples) or perched on the branches (such as a squirrel and a variety of colourful and types of birds). Across the sky in white and cursive styled writing was a couple of lines of text which Lizzie read aloud in a monotone and quiet voice, being wary in case anyone in the Owl House (Hooty especially) heard her.
"Our story begins in the wild of the isles, deep in forests of red. Where animals big and small are found and living in constant dread." She paused to flick over to the next pages, being met with the depiction of a large and tall oak tree that stood out from the others around it. A Bald Eagle was perched on its lowest branch and hiding the bottom half of its face behind its raised right wing, flanked on both of its sides by two pairs of crows and the same coloured and styled writing across the sky on the right page. "Under the rule of an evil eagle, they feared his crow army vast." She stopped again to turn to the next set of pages, a faint smile slipping onto her lips at the tawny owl soaring across the purple sky with her wings spread wide between the writing above and below her. "Everyone except 'Tawny' that is, our friendly and feathery outcast."
Lizzie turned to the next pair of pages, which showed Tawny soaring closer to the ground and through a small gathering of red leaved trees on the left page, her talons glistening in the streaks of sunlight that peeked through the canopy beside the text that accompanied it. "With silent flight and talons sharp, she was a mighty bird of prey." The young witch's eyes then flitted to the right page as her smile faded, showing a depiction the animals shown on the first two pages cowering behind tree trunks, amongst shrubbery or inside of hollow holes. "But rumours of bad luck and death kept the other animals away."
On the following set of pages, there was an illustration of the forest in the black of the evening sky, the trees' silhouettes standing out against the dark backdrop with a faint white outline. On the right page, Tawny's white outlined silhouette could be seen gliding close to the treetops, with Lizzie reading the white writing printed underneath the owl's silhouette. "Until one night as Tawny flew home, from up ahead she heard a bark." On the left page, five new white outlined silhouettes could be seen on the ground. Four of them resembled crows standing in a square formation with their wings raised, while the fifth silhouette resembled a fox cub cowering in the middle of them, its paws placed atop its head close to the next written sentence. "Four crows had surrounded a lone fox cub, crying and cowering in the dark."
Lightly flicking her index finger to move to the next pages, Lizzie beheld the moonlit illustration of Tawny hovering above the quivering silhouette of the fox cub on the ground with her talons bared and her beady eyes wide, observing the fleeing crows as they took flight into the night. "With fire in her eyes, Tawny descended, determined to save the kit at bay. She clawed and pecked without remorse, until the crows flew away. But the fox cub did not stop, he continued to cower and cry. So when Tawny knew it was safe to, she faced the cub and asked him why."
Lizzie obviously already knew what she was going to see when she turned to the next set of pages, the illustrations depicted on both being a teary eyed, ear drooped fox cub on the left with its red coat partially bathed in moonlit streaks, looking up at Tawny on the right as the tip of her right wing touched the top of his head. However, though her green eyes beheld the narration above the two fictional characters, her mouth remained closed with constant twitching, physically hesitating to speak the sentences aloud. This wasn't uncommon each time she reached the characters' speaking parts of the story; although her father had never given defining voices to Todd, Tawny and the Eagle whenever he'd read the story to her growing up, he conveyed the emotions better than she ever could. This was why she ended up reading the next section of the story with the brief closing of her eyes, reluctantly saying the sentences out loud in a smaller voice than before.
"'My name is Todd,' the fox cub wept, 'And I am all alone. My mom and dad are gone and the crows wiped out my home.'
"'Dry your eyes, Todd,' Tawny reassured, 'Everything will be okay. Come with me and until you're grown, I'll give you a safe place to stay.'—"
Footsteps dashing up the stairs from the first floor silenced Lizzie with a startled flinch and the immediate opening of her eyes, her attention focusing on the bedroom's opened door as they continued down the corridor towards her. Based off the absence of an echoing heel and the fact they were longer strides instead of scampering feet, Lizzie could easily guess who it was. One high-pitched skid outside of the doorway later and the runner was revealed after lightly rapping their knuckles on the doorframe, proving Lizzie to be correct when the head of a widely smiling Luz in her Hexside uniform peeked round.
"Hey, Liz!" she greeted cheerily with a weak wave.
"Hey," Lizzie acknowledged in a monotone and low voice, briefly taking Luz off guard with a forced blink. But the human's shock was fleeting, quickly dissipating at her follow-up enquiry. "Shouldn't you be on your way to school by now?"
Luz nodded enthusiastically, her wide smile unfaltering. "We're about to head off soon." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the stairs. "Eda just wanted me to let you know that breakfast's ready if you want it!" The Latina gave the hallway a quick sideways glance before squinting and leaning forward with a palm close to her mouth, lowering her voice at the next bit she said. "I'd eat it soon if I were you, because King has been eyeing your portion for a while…"
Normally, Lizzie would have chuckled or smiled at Luz's attempted optimism and jesting, maybe even shot a remark or two of her own back to further the joke. But this time around, the blonde witch's neutral demeanour didn't change.
After several seconds of silent staring, Lizzie was returning her green-eyed gaze to the opened pages of the book in her lap. "I'm not hungry right now." She paused to turn over to the next set of pages. "Tell Eda I'll have it later."
Within her peripheral vision, Lizzie saw Luz's body slumping against the wooden frame, her smile dimming down with the twitch of her mouth. "Oh…" she said sullenly. But when Lizzie looked to Luz with knitted brows and opened her mouth ready to say something reassuring, the teenage human immediately straightened up and cleared her throat, putting forced emphasis on her cheery tone with a dismissive wave to try to hide her obvious disappointment. "That's okay! I'll be sure to let her know!"
"… Thanks," Lizzie quietly replied after a short delay, her eyes never leaving Luz even when the young human dipped back into the hallway. "Have a good day at school."
"See you later, Liz!"
Lizzie listened to Luz's retreating footsteps as she jogged back down the hallway with a quiet huff, returning her eyes to the new illustration of the silhouettes of Todd and Tawny as they respectively walked and flew in the direction of the rising sun. Once she couldn't hear Luz anymore, the blonde witch hauled her body up from the floor and walked towards the bedroom window, continuing to read the narration aloud under her breath.
"And so, with Tawny, Todd did go. And so, for Todd, Tawny kept her word." She halted in front of the window and raised her head, her green eyes staring longingly past the colour-stained glass and upon the town of Bonesborough (or the parts she was able to see from her side of the Owl House at least) far off in the distance. "And soon tales spread across the land… of the small bond forming between fox and bird."
'Yeah,' Lizzie thought bitterly. 'Everyone except my parents, apparently.'
Up until her recent talk with Principal Bump, Lizzie hadn't thought too deeply into the tale woven from her favourite childhood story. But over the few days that had passed, the parallels between her story and that of the character 'Todd' were becoming more palpable, to the point where she could no longer ignore it. Don't get her wrong, though; this hadn't destroyed the love and enthusiasm she held for 'The Tricky Tale of Todd and Tawny'. If anything, Lizzie would have argued it had only increased as a result of her now being able to empathise and relate to Todd's plight compared to when she was a witchlet. Yet in turn, she couldn't ignore the homesickness turning her stomach upside-down, plaguing her day in and day out without any show of mercy.
Sure, ever since day one of living in the Owl House, Lizzie had missed her parents and her old life dearly; however, thanks to the gradual bonds she'd formed with Eda, King and Hooty (along with their antics acting as a convenient distraction to keep her mind occupied on a daily basis), it was easier for her to ignore those feelings in time, which had naturally extended to Luz too. But upon sending that note off with Owlbert the night of Grom, the discomfort in her stomach had intensified to a point where nothing she did could make her forget about it. Even now, as she continued to stare out of the window, she could feel it gurgling away, prompting her to gently shut her book between her palms.
Oh, how she wished she could have written so much more on that note, to tell her parents where she was and what she'd been up to; how much she missed them, how scared she'd been the night she was arrested and how sorry she was for the situation her terrible decision had put them in. Of course, given the danger, she'd had to restrain herself and only write what she felt was necessary, a decision that, even as she pondered on it now, caused her eyes to sting.
'Father, Mother…' Lizzie's lips quivered as she hugged the book tightly to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut, doing whatever she could to stop her tears from escaping her. '… I'm so sorry.'
Meanwhile, Luz stopped jogging halfway down the stairs, slowing to a gentle stop and placing her palm flat against the wall. Her plastered smile had vanished once she was out of Lizzie's sight, her lips having since turned downward with drooped hazel eyes. The young Latina expected Lizzie to turn her down upon heading upstairs. Nevertheless, it didn't stop her body from slouching forward with disappointment as she resumed her walk to the ground floor with heavy steps, her arms dangling limply at her front.
By the time Luz was re-entering the kitchen, her defeated posture and expression didn't change, even at beholding the sight of the other two occupants whom she'd left mere seconds ago—King, seated in his highchair and using a fork to shovel the last morsels of his meal from his plate into his mouth with contented noises, and Eda, leaning against the table's edge with her mug of apple blood in hand, dressed ready for the day despite her droopy eyelids and heavy blinks.
The latter of the two became the first to perk up at spying Luz dragging herself to the stool where she'd placed her backpack, her raised mug halting close to her lips.
"So, what's the verdict?" the Owl Lady asked once Luz picked up her backpack to slip it onto her back, doing it more so out of necessity for confirmation rather than curiosity.
Really, Eda didn't need an answer. The absence of her technical employee and Luz's glum demeanour (which she hadn't had before she left the kitchen, if her excited rambling about participating in Hexside's grudgby season had been any indication) told her all she needed to know.
"She said she'll eat later," Luz answered through a huff, plopping onto the stool and looking down at the table with her palms squishing her cheeks. "She's not hungry at the moment."
"Ooooh!" King commented enthusiastically, his head shooting up and his fork clattering to his plate as he let it go. Wide pink eyes instantly turned to Eda with the fast wagging of his fluffy tail. "Does that—?"
"Absolutely not," Eda interrupted sternly, already guessing what King was going to ask for and thus refusing to give him the opportunity to even get it out. She continued at seeing King pout and slump his shoulders at being declined seconds. "It's her food and she has a right to eat it when she wants." She paused to close her eyes and take a sip of her beverage. "Plus, you've had more than enough with your own breakfast. Don't be greedy."
"I'm not being greedy!" the little demon protested and lightly smacked his paws against the highchair, pushing to stand up out of it a little. "I am the King of Demons! Kings are supposed to make demands for things they want!"
"And kings can also be greedy and throw temper tantrums when they don't get their way," Eda replied matter-of-factly without opening her eyes. "So, go ahead and keep arguing. You're only proving me right."
King squinted and clenched his jaw for a few seconds, taking the time to temporarily think through Eda's words carefully. Once the silence had prolonged itself enough that the Owl Lady cracked open an eye to glance at the little demon from over her shoulder though, King lowered himself back into his chair and crossed his arms, looking towards the kitchen window with a loud and defiant 'hmph!' and grumbling inaudibly under his breath.
Ascertaining that King had finished fighting for his silly request, Eda returned her attention to the still forlorn Luz at the other end of the table, swigging the rest of her apple blood in one thick gulp with a satisfied 'Ah!' first.
"I take it Redwood is still hung up over her parents being under house arrest, huh?" she pressed and then proceeded to wipe her dress sleeve across her lips to remove any stray apple blood.
"Looked that way to me," Luz responded in a low voice without lifting her gaze, accompanied with a slight shrug. "She had a book open in her lap. I couldn't see what it was, but when I left, I thought I heard her muttering something from her fiction story."
"Yeesh!" King remarked with the tilt of his head, once again tuning into the conversation upon swivelling himself round and leaning back in his seat. "She's really not taking this well, is she?"
"That's Redwood for ya," Eda said through a heavy sigh and pushed herself off the table, placing her now empty mug down behind her. "Kid's been a traumatised bundle of self-doubt since she first came here. Wouldn't be surprised if she's mentally beating herself up over her parents being stuck with 'Uncle Cranky'."
"I still don't get how that works here," Luz stated quietly, finally raising her gaze to Eda's with knitted brows and a slight squint. "Back home, people under house arrest don't usually live with an assigned guardian." Luz lifted her left foot up and briefly glanced at it while twirling her ankle about clockwise. "They're stuck with an electronic device that tracks their location."
"Well, here, it usually depends on the severity of the crime and the criminal in question," Eda started to explain as she faced Luz, placing a hand to her hip. "But normally criminals under house arrest are given a magical tracking seal." She traced a tiny circle in mid-air in front of herself with the index finger of her other hand. "It looks like a circle with an 'x' inside and is a bit like the coven seals. Except instead of suppressing magic, it paralyses the criminal if they step outside wherever they're locked up."
"Really?" Luz sat up and raised a brow out of curiosity, with Eda nodding to confirm her own words. "So, why are Liz's parents not in their own home?"
"Hm…" King hummed and tapped a claw against his jaw, tilting his head up to the ceiling as he did so. "Didn't Lizzie say before that they accused her parents of brainwashing?"
"She did, King," Luz confirmed, watching Eda frown faintly upon fixing her golden eyes on the kitchen doorway. "I remember her saying it was because she was a minor when she was arrested."
"Wouldn't that explain why the guards think they need to be watched by someone else, then?" King raised his shoulders a bit and held his paws out on either side of him. "Sounds like they don't trust 'em."
"Nah, that's not it," Eda disagreed aloud with the slight shake of her head, keeping her eyes ahead with a deepened frown. "They would have been locked up behind bars too. The Emperor's Coven don't take any chances with adult witches accused of messing with wild magic. I mean…" The Owl Lady trailed off to flip her hand at her mane of bushy grey and white hair, lifting her chin with a proud smile as she flicked it over her shoulders. "How else do you think I ended up as the most wanted witch in the isles?"
"And Liz is the one everyone sees as the criminal, right?" Luz chimed in with a furrowed brow, a hand subconsciously stroking at her chin. "So, what could have happened to have put them in that situation? It doesn't make any sense."
Luz's question prompted silence to descend upon the trio in the kitchen then, with Luz and King delving into their own individual pondering with cupped chins, furrowed brows and wandering gazes. However, after a solid thirty seconds of looking back and forth between her youngest charges, it was Eda who became the first to break it with a glass-shattering huff, her drooped eyes trailing to the doorway of the kitchen to make sure she couldn't hear her employee heading their way.
"I might have an idea," she announced in a low voice. She returned her gaze to King and Luz to see the little demon and human staring back expectantly, causing her to scowl sternly and point her index finger at them. "But if I tell you, it doesn't leave this room, all right? Redwood probably suspects the same thing and I don't want to worry her further."
King nodded enthusiastically a few times and leaned forward in his chair to show he was paying attention, with Luz placing one hand to her chest while holding the palm of her other hand up above her shoulder.
"You have my word as a fellow weirdo," she declared, briefly causing Eda to rub her fingers at her temples to stop any remarks about Luz's quirky actions slipping out of her mouth; this wasn't the time or the place for it.
"… Anyway," Eda resumed after a short delay and lowered her fingers from her forehead, running her fingertips down her face and stretching at her skin a bit. "It's a longshot, but I think it's because Lizzie escaped from her punishment the night she was arrested." Both Luz and King recoiled in their seats with wide eyes, the pair blinking in sync at least three times to make sure they'd heard Eda correctly. "Yeah, I'm not happy about the thought either," she said in a taut tone, her chin jutting as she looked off to the side with a deepened scowl. "But it makes the most sense. Aside from the kid's suspicions with her uncle, her parents were probably already in custody by the time I helped her flee the scene. I wouldn't put it past the guards to have orchestrated this whole thing with him to lure her out of hiding."
"They can do that?" Luz questioned, aghast, a hint of venom seeping into her tone at the anger slowly overtaking her in that moment.
Eda held her palms up in surrender, refusing to look Luz in the eyes. "Take what I'm saying with a pinch of salt. There could be more to it than we know. But you can apply to be guardians of those under house arrest in sting operations here, and Uncle Cranky wants Lizzie locked up. With what we know right now, it sounds like it's a trap—"
Slam!
"Weh!" King cried out in shock and raised his arms to cover his head when Luz's palms smacked against the wooden surface of the table the moment she jumped up from the stool, immediately silencing Eda.
The witch in question whipped her attention back to the Latina human with a few forced blinks and a slight gape, only for her brows to raise upon sighting Luz's twitching mouth and lowered brows looking to etch a permanent hateful scowl into her forehead.
"That's not right!" Luz exclaimed, her hands violently shaking against the kitchen table. "No wonder Liz was so worried about reaching out to them! They're using her parents as bait to capture her!"
"Easy, kid," Eda hastily shushed as she took careful but swift steps towards Luz, gently clamping a hand on the girl's closest shoulder and halting Luz's trembling. Having gotten closer, the Owl Lady swore she could see a faint red tinge forming on the young human's cheeks, her jaw stiffening as if resisting the urge to growl like a wild animal. "Just calm down."
"But it's not fair, Eda!" Luz argued, hitting her palm off her chest with a resounding thump as she stared at the older witch with wide and glistening hazel eyes. "Liz only spoke to Principal Bump to jog her memory! And sure, she hasn't had any headaches since! But now she's upstairs hurting because her uncle's a huge jerk!"
"I know," Eda replied in a hushed voice. "It's making my blood boil too." When Luz started to take heaving breaths, Eda pointed an index finger at the ceiling, her brows furrowing. "Can't have Redwood hearing us, though. So, try to keep it together, all right?"
Luz's lips quivered as she turned her gaze downcast, the tears springing to her eyes while she continued to take deep breaths in and out of her mouth. King clambered out of his highchair and scampered across the table to stand beside Luz, frowning and gently rubbing a paw against her shoulder blades as an act of comfort. Luz didn't say anything to the action, though she did reach a hand over to give King's paw a light pat, just as a show of acknowledgement and gratitude to replace the words she couldn't bring herself to say right now. Meanwhile, Eda beheld her fuming apprentice with a slight frown, giving her the necessary headspace to calm herself down.
The Owl Lady couldn't blame Luz for reacting so strongly. It had only been a few days since Lizzie had sat them down and told them everything, and yet Eda was still feeling her own fury bubbling away under the surface of her skin, as if her blood had been replaced with scalding water from the Boiling Sea. And why wouldn't she still feel angry when she could clearly see this news had set her technical charge back in her progress to heal? Despite having seemed fine at first, in the days that followed Grom Lizzie had reverted backwards to the same reclusive and hermit-like behaviour Eda recalled her displaying during her early days in the Owl House—isolating herself in her bedroom, throwing herself headfirst into her work, purposely avoiding everyone to go about her business downstairs when no one was around.
But Eda knew it wasn't just that. She still remembered the injured and traumatised fifteen-year-old witch who had clung to her amongst the wreckage from the overturned carriage and begged her, through tears and violent shaking, not to leave her alone. She still remembered the countless nights she was awoken by the terror-filled screams of a half-asleep Lizzie, forced to comfort her through the crying for her parents and the desire to go home, back to the life she'd lost. This young witch, whom Eda had taken under her wing, had had a bright future ahead of her and a loving and supportive family behind her, all of which was ripped away from her within the span of a single night. And why? Because some vindictive relative thought getting expelled from school for blowing up a potion in his bully of a son's face wasn't good enough of a punishment.
Seeing Lizzie in such a scared and upset state back then had been more than enough to tug on Eda's heartstrings. But knowing the reason why she was in that state to begin with made the Owl Lady sick to her stomach (and had also given her the desire to hunt down 'Uncle Cranky' and give him a well-deserved punch in the jaw if she ever got the opportunity), so much so even she couldn't help wondering how she was managing to remain calm right now.
"I'm sorry…" Luz's cracked and brittle apology brought Eda back to her senses, her gaze returning to the young human in front of her whose face had lost its extra colour and whose shoulders had dropped.
"Don't be," Eda reassured gently, lightly squeezing Luz's shoulder as a show of comfort. "I'd be more worried if you didn't get upset."
"I know. I just—" She cut herself off to swallow the lump forming in her throat. "I don't like seeing Liz so sad. She's done so much for me since I came to the Demon Realm when she didn't have to and…" Luz paused to sniffle and dab at her watery eyes with her sleeve. "She doesn't deserve any of it. I just wish there was something I could do to help take her pain away."
Eda's pitying frown deepened at this, her mouth already opening with the intention of telling the teenager that despite meaning well, there was very little they could do for Lizzie right now. But Luz's last words caused the imaginary light bulb to flicker on inside of her head, inspiration suddenly striking the infamous Owl Lady like a flash of lightning. An idea was brewing, one that caused a sly smile to slip upon her lips and expose her golden fang to the glistening of the sunlight streaking in from the kitchen window.
Luz and King almost—key word being almost—stumbled backwards at Eda's back straightening up as fast as a rake being stepped upon in a comedy sketch, their eyes bulging and their bodies tensing at the older witch's sudden and suspicious switch in mood.
"Whoa! Where's the fire, Eda?!" King exclaimed, which Eda ignored in favour of giving her apprentice a rough pat on the shoulder before finally pulling away again.
"Let's go, Luz!" Eda addressed the young human enthusiastically as she started towards the kitchen doorway, leaving the latter watching her mentor go with a wide blink. "Time to hit the road! Don't wanna be late to your first ever experience of grudgby season, do ya?!"
"Huh?!" Luz responded with surprise. "Already?!"
"Why not?" Eda's smile widened into a small smirk as she waved Luz's confusion off with a hand, pausing in the doorway to glance back at the human and little demon over her shoulder. "All your grudgby talk earlier has gotten me feeling a little nostalgic. So, the sooner we leave, the sooner I can take a little trip down memory lane."
Luz's brows knitted together when she pointed an index finger at the ceiling. "But what about Liz?"
"Oh, don't worry about her." Eda tapped her index finger against the side of her nose and winked, putting forced emphasis on her next words. "I'm considering bringing Redwood with me. Might help take her mind off her troubles for a bit."
At first, Luz didn't seem to quite catch on to her subtle wordplay, the human staring at her witch mentor with a slight squint and pursed lips as if she was speaking to her in an ancient language. It took a solid five seconds before the snail piece seemed to drop, with Luz recoiling a little as her mouth dropped open wide.
"Oh…" she replied the moment the realisation seemed to hit her, causing a grin to appear as she straightened up and gripped at her backpack straps while returning the wink. "In that case, we'd better get going!" Luz leaned close to King to give him a light peck on the top of his head, making the little demon giggle and cover his mouth with his paws. "See you after school, King! Be good!"
"And stay away from Lizzie's breakfast," Eda added sternly and narrowed her eyes, eliciting a small huff and slump of the shoulders from King as he watched the Owl Lady walk out of the room and Luz dash after her.
"Yeah, yeah, sure," he grumbled dismissively. However, once Eda's and Luz's footsteps had disappeared from the hallway outside, King held his paws together at his front and slowly turned his head in the direction of the kitchen cupboards, a sly smile morphing his bony jaw. "Good thing Eda didn't say anything about staying away from the cupboards…"
The little demon released an evil sounding and adorable cackle and rubbed his paws together, happily prepared to set his plan into motion once Eda and Luz had left the cottage.
Xander despised his old man with a passion, but if there was one thing he was prepared to credit his narcissistic and cruel father with that had helped him survive inside the cage he'd been trapped in for all these years (albeit reluctantly), it was how to keep up appearances when the need called for it. From the moment Ulritch became his sole caretaker, Xander had been forced to study his father closely to avoid getting on his bad side—his mannerisms and poses, his facial expressions, his use of language, even the way he dressed and groomed himself. Xander had noted of it all, like a preyed upon animal studying their predator to avoid being eaten at all costs. It had taken countless lectures, endurance of terrifying bursts of anger and violence and other slipups for him to get it exactly right, admittedly costing him his sense of worth, his sense of self and his friendship with his younger cousin in the process. Yet gradually it had resulted in the young Blackwood crafting a mask so articulate, he could have easily been mistaken for a mini version of Ulritch. From Xander's birth, his father's only vision was to mould his only son into his perfect double, just as his grandfather had done to Ulritch before him, or so he'd been told. And now, at the age of nineteen, Xander had convinced his old man that he'd managed to do exactly that, along with the rest of Bonesborough, apparently.
Walking through the streets of Bonesborough during the mid-morning hustle and bustle wasn't the same as the mornings where he'd stroll through the corridors of Hexside, Xander had noted. Students never shrank in fear or desperately tried to make themselves scarce or out of sight when they were aware he was coming because of his uniform. Him being in the Potions Magic Track, along with the fact they all bore the same style of clothes, was nothing to be intimidated about, after all. Thus, he'd been heavily reliant on his body language and facial expressions to strike fear into the student body the same way his father struck fear into him—raising his nose to the ceiling, keeping his back as straight as a pin, puffing out his chest so far he swore his ribs would crack in two, eyeing those he passed by with sneers of contempt, close-lipped smiles of smugness, sometimes stoic expressions or narrowed eyes of iciness. They had never worked on Elisabeth, but she was a mere exception compared to the masses of students who cowered at the mere mention of his name, likely backed by his father's known involvement with the PCA.
But of course, when it came to him donning the uniform of the Emperor's Coven and making his usual rounds through Bonesborough, his public mask wasn't necessary. Bearing his mask and white and grey attire alone was more than enough to give rise to visible fear amongst the town's populace, something he acknowledged as he currently strolled through a street close to the town's entrance. All it took was one glance in his direction and passer-bys were releasing shocked gasps and scrambling to scatter off in different directions, while others ducked behind their stalls out of sight or visibly shrank under his cold gaze scanning around. Even his cousin had visibly displayed fear the few times they'd encountered each other while he was on duty, despite it being fleeting once she knew it was him under the mask. After all, unlike at Hexside, the uniform he wore didn't put him on equal ground with his peers. It was supposed to symbolise the power and authority he had above them all, something his old man lapped up like a ravenous beast who had been starved for centuries.
Yet the same couldn't be said for Xander.
Staring into the wide and bloodshot eyes of the gaping and cowering creatures of varying species and sizes as they tried to hide or flee from his sight, both back then and now, twisted his insides so tightly he swore they had tangled themselves into multiple knots. Because they were no different to the times he'd looked that way under Ulritch's fiery and judgemental eyes. Even on the day he'd stalked and cornered Elisabeth in that alleyway, he could physically feel the nausea clawing up his throat like he'd accidentally swallowed a nest of spiders upon recalling the terrified look in her eyes as he'd grabbed her and pulled her close, a look that had left his stomach doing somersaults despite managing to keep up his mask the whole time. It was the first time he'd seen Elisabeth genuinely scared of him, after all, and the first time he'd ever been physically violent towards her. That confrontation and the one that had come before had been nothing like the petty arguments or cruel banter exchanged within the walls of Hexside. It had been Xander unintentionally channelling his father through his anger towards the cousin who had scarred him, towards the friend who had abandoned him in his time of need. Elisabeth was no better than his—
"Argh!" Xander shouted out of frustration, halting his stride and train of thought abruptly to stomp a foot against the cobbled road and duck his head down, digging his gloved fingers into his scalp through the hood of his cloak. "Why won't you both just get out of my head?!"
For the other coven scouts, being out on patrol like this was therapeutic, but it did nothing for Xander, merely reminding him that no matter how much he tried to reason with himself… there were times where he was no different than the monster who kept him locked up in his cage. And he knew that what his father had done this morning had only heightened those feelings.
If only there was a way for him to get that wretched man off his back once and for all, he bitterly thought.
Seconds after, the blonde witch gritted his teeth and shut his eyes at his breathing growing shallow and rapid, quickly recognising the all-too familiar hand of restriction spring to life within the confines of his chest and take a grip upon his heart and bile sac with a tight and sharp fingered squeeze. Before long, his breath was catching in his throat and intensifying the sharp pain, the oxygen going to his lungs suddenly cutting out and leaving him gasping for air like a fish out of water. At one point, he swore he felt Bandit crawl out from the confines of his cloak and onto his right shoulder, proceeding to rub the top of his tiny, furry head against his cheek with quiet squeaks and whines.
Xander knew this feeling well. He'd experienced it too many times in the past to not recognise it by now, with Bandit's behaviour only acting as further indication of what was going on.
"Crud!" he hissed as he opened his eyes and stumbled his way down the street, wrapping his arms across his chest while his gaze desperately scanned about for an alley he could duck into.
He needed to get out of sight, or at least find somewhere discreet where he could calm down. He couldn't let anyone see him like this, after all.
However, his panicked thoughts soon dissipated at something hard bumping against his left shoulder, causing Xander to teeter towards the right with a swift and hungry gasp at the rush of oxygen flooding back to his lungs, Bandit's startled squeaking following suit.
"Ah!" Xander cried out in surprise and planted his feet down as he'd gotten his balance again, his breathing steadying and evening out once more with a wide blink of shock.
Meanwhile, Bandit clung to his owner's shoulder for dear life with his front paws at the sudden movement to avoid falling off, having since fallen silent.
"Oh!" a familiar female and posh-sounding voice soon exclaimed from Xander's left, causing the sharp pain in his chest to instantly vanish when it then proceeded to snap at him. "Would you watch where you're going?!"
With his former panic now forgotten, the young Blackwood snarled, straightened himself up and whirled to face the speaker, a nasty and sarcastic retort already loaded upon the tip of his tongue. However, he'd barely laid eyes on the target of his ire before he felt his whole body freeze at his green eyes locking with the narrowed aquamarine ones of the tall and slender middle-aged witch with dark teal hair stood proudly in front of him, her two-toned grey gown and white and gold cloak further confirming her identity for the young coven scout. The will to retaliate instantly dried up like a prune as he took in the other witch's raised chin and puffed out chest, turning him into a statue in the middle of Bonesborough's street as the realisation of who he'd bumped into settled in.
It was none other than the coven leader of the Emperor's Coven herself—Lilith Clawthorne.
A/N: Regarding 'The Tricky Tale of Todd and Tawny'... yes, you've officially gotten a peek at the first half of the fictional book, improvised by yours truly. I based the poetry and rhymes off of 'Otabin the Bookmaker', as I thought it made sense for the children's book to go in that direction. This was one of the surprises that I was composing 'behind the scenes' when writing and preparing Chapter 54, because as some of you have already clocked on... this fictional tale is going to play an important role during episodes 18 and 19. But I think you guys can work out why I chose specific animals for the characters here, as you can likely tell from the traits and such that I've emphasised in the composition. The second half is still being written out as of the release of this chapter, though I hope to have it done by the time I get to Episode 18.
For Lizzie's parents: Yup. Marigold and Allard basically have non-canon tracking magic seals on their ankles. I based it off the coven seals with what happens to Raine during Season 2 Episode 7, but instead of the whole cocoon thing going on... the victim is basically paralysed. XD Now you all know why Marigold and Allard haven't tried to flee Ulritch's residence and sort of why they're stuck there, which only makes Lizzie's pain much more feelsy. And the anger of the Owl House residents all the more justifiable. Though I am sure a lot of you share in that anger too, which is good. You're supposed to hate Ulritch. XD
And then there's Xander... You guys got quite the peek into his head for a change, which was intentional for the development he will be undergoing in the finale episodes. He is the main focus for this specific episode, in all honesty, with Lizzie taking a little bit of a backseat in this one. I was going to expand more on his encounter with Lilith in the original draft for this chapter, but I realised I couldn't sum up their conversation as conclusively as I wanted, so you will be getting that in the next chapter.
