Here you go, so sorry it took so long. This was a chapter I have been dreading since I first started writing this story. It's decently shorter than the chapter length I prefer, but if I didn't just sit down and put it out, it'd never be published.
As always thank you for the support, this story has done better than I ever hoped. It truly makes me happy that you guys enjoy it.
Now on to the chapter!
"Kid, I'm telling you that adding another clockwise stir will do nothing but make the potion unstable!" Eda yelled as she bent down to pick up another mushroom. "I don't know why you're so hung up on this."
Percy sighed out of frustration, he'd been having this argument with the older witch the entire time they'd been ingredient hunting
"Because I know it'll work!" Percy yelled back. "Another stir should increase the potency!"
Eda gave him a flat stare.
"How do you know?" She asked flatly, her expression hard to read. "Potions are all about innovation, but that innovation is backed up by an understanding of the ingredients and how they interact. So tell me, how do you know?"
Percy clenched his fists, crushing the mushroom in his hand. He knew he was right because the potion told him would.
Ever since he started casting spells, the information he received from the potions had gotten more advanced. Instead of just telling him what was happening, he was told how it was happening as well. It allowed him to gain an intimate understanding of how each potion he interacted with worked and showed him how to improve the potion. He had shared the suggestions for improvement with Eda but was shot down every time due to his 'lack' of knowledge. He wanted to tell her how he knew, but all that would do is make the already skeptical woman more suspicious of him
"I just do ok," Percy said through gritted teeth. "Why can't you just trust me on this?"
Eda's expression softened as she walked over and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Look, I get it. I love experimenting with magic more than anything, but this is different. Potions are different," She said, her tone reminding Percy of his mother.
Percy shrugged her hand off his shoulder and looked away.
"Why can't you be as uncaring with this as you are with everything else?" Percy mumbled quietly, missing the sad expression on Eda's face. "Luz and I do dangerous stuff all the time and you say nothing, but when I want to stir a stupid liquid an extra time you get all uppity."
"Potions are dangerous," Eda replied softly after a moment. "They can be used to do wonderful things, but if they're not handled with care, they can do terrible things. I'm not rejecting your idea because I don't think it'll work, I just don't want you to jump into something you don't understand fully and suffer the consequences," She finished her tone melancholy.
Percy turned back to face Eda and saw her face, causing his brows to furrow slightly and make him feel ashamed. Obviously, he'd unknowingly hit a nerve with the older woman. He was mentally kicking himself for being careless. He had reasons for not doing certain things, yet he seemed to forget the same applied to other people as well.
"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get upset, I just want to help," Percy said nervously.
Eda waved off his apology and gave him a gentle smile.
"You're fine kid, don't sweat it," Eda said kindly. "I respect that you're standing your ground, even if the ground you're standing on is baseless and might blow up in our faces."
Percy chuckled and shook his head.
"That barely made sense."
"I'm a brewer, not a worder. Cut me some slack," Eda replied with a shrug. "Now let's finish picking these mushrooms before they-OW!"
Eda was cut off by a water droplet hitting her arm. The drop was soon followed by hundreds more. Causing Eda to drop the mushrooms and grab Percy's arm and run, dragging him along.
"What the heck!" Percy exclaimed indignantly. "It's just some rain, you afraid you're going to wicked witch it?"
"What does that even mean," Eda shot back. "No, I'm trying to get us out of the boiling rain before it melts your flesh off."
"What do you mean boiling?" Percy asked in confusion. "It just feels like normal rain!"
Eda looked over her shoulder with a look of slight shock before pointing at a flower ahead of them that was being destroyed by the apparently boiling rain.
"Oh, ok," Percy said lamely in response, causing Eda to shake her head and keep running.
Percy had forgotten about the fact he was heat-resistant. He hadn't needed it for a while, so the knowledge of one of the more minor aspects of his godly heritage had slipped to the back of his mind.
Eda eventually let go of his arm and soon the house came into sight. Crouching down in front of a wilted flower was Luz, who was wearing a look of shock and betrayal, as if the rain personally kicked her puppy.
Percy understood her confusion. While he couldn't feel it, the idea of rain being hot enough to burn skin felt wrong.
"Boiling rain!" Eda yelled at the girl before running to her and scooping her up. "Everybody inside!"
Percy watched as the Owl Lady pulled Luz inside the house before the sound of two things crashing shot out from the front door. Picking up the pace slightly, Percy ran into the house to find Luz, King, and Eda tangled in a pile on the floor with a variety of objects strewn around them.
"What happened here?" Percy asked, his voice full of amusement.
Luz groaned from her spot in the dogpile.
"Eda bulldozed me into a pile of books," She said weakly. "It really hurt."
"I was getting you out of the rain," Eda snapped back as she untangled herself from the mess of bodies. "Now that you're safe and inside, I can set up the force field around the house, Hooty gets real annoying when his stucco is damaged."
Luz perked up.
"Ooo, can I watch?" Luz said happily. "Maybe you can even teach me? You owe me remember."
Percy smiled and shook his head.
When Luz found out Eda taught him magic and not her, she was justifiably upset. Luckily, her anger was not directed at him and was fully focused on Eda. Even better was that she bought his story of being a half-witch. When he'd told her, she got very excited and questioned him for a bit. He happily answered her flood questions, but her asking if his blood tasted different left him weirded out.
"Sure, whatever," Eda said dismissively before pointing at Percy. "You're helping me with this."
Percy clicked his tongue in frustration.
"Why don't you have Luz help you?" Percy said as he crossed his arms. "You promised to teach her anything you taught me."
It'd been a few days since his lesson with Eda and yet she hadn't upheld her end of the deal yet. He understood Eda was busy, but it was still frustrating.
Eda shook her head and waved off his argument.
"I need someone who can do magic for this."
Percy scowled and was about to say something but was stopped by Luz walking over and putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Percy it's ok. I'm good to just watch this time," She said gently, a small smile on her face.
Percy looked at Luz for a moment to make sure she really meant what she said. After finding nothing but sincerity in her eyes, Percy's shoulder's slumped in defeat.
"Fine, I'll help you with the spell," Percy said with a huff before pointing an accusatory finger at Eda. "But you owe her twice as much now."
Eda rolled her eyes at his statement.
"Oh please, don't act like this is some burden. You love magic and want to learn it just as much as your sister does," Eda said with a chuckle.
Percy winced slightly.
Eda was right, he did love magic. Ever since the first lesson he had found himself enamored with the endless possibilities that magic provided. It allowed him to do things he never was able to before and helped him discover parts of himself that were hidden. Magic enabled him to read clearly for the first time in years which helped him discover his love for knowledge. It also allowed him to interact with potions in a way that fascinated him to no end.
"That may be true, but you still need to keep up your end of the deal," Percy said firmly. "Teach her a spell after we finish this force field thing."
Eda stared at him for a moment before sighing in defeat.
"Fine, let's just get this over with.
Percy and Eda stood a dozen or so yards away from the house underneath a translucent yellow dome that was shielding them from the rain. On the porch of the house, Luz sat with King where they were watching.
"Alright kid, when doing magic, how do you get it to do what you want?" Eda asked as she manipulated a ball of white energy in her hands.
Percy tried to remember the endless amount of fantasy books Luz had 'forced' him to read with her.
"Uhhh, magic is guided by intent?" He said hesitantly.
Eda looked at him and snorted.
"That's dumb," She said with a laugh. "Why would it be controlled by intent?"
"Because that's what all the books say," Percy exclaimed. "When you do magic, you intend to do something, therefore magic is controlled by intent!"
Eda shook her head and gave him a weird look.
"I didn't even know you knew the word 'therefore' much less know how to use it," Eda teased gently. "But you're not wrong, when we do magic we are trying to do something with it, but that's not what controls it. Emotion is what controls it."
Percy blinked in confusion.
"I don't understand," Percy said quietly as he did his best to wrap his head around what Eda was saying.
"Ok think of it like a bow and arrow, Eda glanced over to Percy. "Humans still use bows and arrows right?"
Percy's mind flashed to the many children of Apollo he'd met and nodded.
"Ok, good. So the spell in the arrow, your intent is the limbs and riser of the bow, and the string is your emotions," Eda said wisely. "Now you can point the arrow where ever you want with the limbs and riser, but without the string, your arrow isn't going anywhere. Your intent may control the direction of the spell, but it's your emotions that control and guide the shape and power of the spell.
Percy's eyes widened in understanding before he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Wait, why do you know so much about bows? They don't seem like the thing you'd use."
Eda laughed and shook her head in amusement.
"You're not wrong kid, I hate them, but it's an analogy that was drilled into my head when I was a kid," Eda said with a grin. "Now one last thing before I show you how to actually do this spell," Eda nodded her head to the pulsing ball of energy in her hands. "Emotions are split into two categories, 'Constructive' and 'Destructive'. Any questions?"
"So 'Constructive" spells are good and 'Destructive' spells are bad?" Percy asked, trying to see if anything from the books he read with Luz was accurate.
"There's no such thing as good or bad spells, there are just spells," Eda said. "Who put that idiotic idea in your head."
Percy turned away and looked at his feet in slight embarrassment.
"It's just something I read."
Eda gave a smug smile and nodded her head.
"Sure it was. Now pay attention. This spell is powered by protective emotions, which are 'Constructive'," Eda said and lifted the yellow ball in her hand up toward Percy. "For this spell, you need to draw the spell circle like normal while focusing on who or what you want to protect"
Eda gave Percy a knowing look and motioned for him to try.
Percy took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began tracing a small circle in the air, silver light trailing his fingertip. While he drew the circle, he focused on memories of Luz and the experiences he shared with her, his desire to keep her safe growing stronger with every passing moment.
"Woah kid. I think you're good," Eda said suddenly.
Percy opened his eyes to see a bright silver orb, slightly larger than Eda's where his spell circle used to be.
"Jeez kid, what were you thinking about? That thing is way stronger than I expected," Eda said with a smile. "You sure you're half human?"
Percy clenched his jaw.
While he had originally thought Eda bought his story, he was starting to question his lying skills.
Since he had told her about his past, she'd been making weird comments and asking questions that indicated she knew more than she let on. She hadn't pushed anything and was respectful, but it still left Percy on edge.
"Positive," Percy said with gritted teeth. "What do we do with the spell once we're done?"
Eda gave him a weird look but said nothing about his reaction.
"Well the way I do it requires a staff, so hand me what you got."
Percy obliged and gave his finished spell to Eda who reacted as if she was shocked when she touched it.
"Titan kid, what were you thinking about when you made this?" Eda asked as she looked at the ball of magic in her hand. "It's almost painful to hold."
Percy looked away from Eda and began tapping his foot.
After he had learned about 'divine' magic, he'd asked Eda to tell him more about the Veilmire person she mentioned. They apparently used stronger elemental magic and their spells were far stronger than anyone else. It made Percy afraid that his life free from Gods and monsters was threatened and that Eda would begin to be more suspicious than she already was.
"I focused on wanting to protect my sister," Percy said quietly.
A look of sadness briefly crossed over Eda's face.
"Okay then," Eda said after a moment of silence. "Let me show you how to finish the spell."
Eda summoned her staff and put the balls of magic where Owlbert sat, after which she spun the staff around in a complicated pattern before slamming it on the ground causing a large dome to form around the pair and the house in the distance. After a moment the dome shrunk to match the shape of the house.
"And that's how it's done," Eda said proudly. "Any questions?"
"Yeah, what was the point of spinning your staff that much?" Percy asked."Was it really necessary?"
Eda shot him a glare.
"Yes, it was, now let's get back to the house so we can sleep!" Eda said as she started making her way back to the house.
"Don't you mean so you can teach Luz a spell?" Percy shot back. "You know, as you promised."
Eda threw her head back and sighed.
"Fine! Yes, I will teach her a spell," Eda exclaimed. "Why are you being so annoying about this?"
Percy was silent for a moment as he tried to think of a good answer.
Why was he being so pushy? Technically Luz wasn't even related to him, but he still considered her his sister, she was the closest thing he had to a sibling.
He looked over to where she was sitting and the guilt he felt about talking her into saying began gnawing at his gut again. He'd convinced her it was her one chance to live out her dream and here he was living it instead of her.
"I didn't have much control over my life for most of my childhood or the chance to have a dream for my future," Percy replied slowly. "I want her to be able to do whatever it is she wants to do, and I'll do anything and everything to help her achieve her dream of becoming a witch. So if that means I'm a little annoying or pushy, I don't care," Percy stopped walking and looked at Eda intently. "I know you don't care as much, but could you at least make an effort too? She may not say anything, but Luz is very aware of your reluctance to teach her."
Eda stopped and looked at Percy.
"Ok. I'll try and care more," She said softly.
Percy nodded and started walking back toward the house, but before he had the chance to go very Eda spoke up.
"Kid, say Luz does reach her goal. What are you going to do after?"
"I help her with whatever she needs then," Percy replied quickly.
"And when she's out of things that require your help?"
Percy's eyebrows furrowed.
"What do you mean?"
"She's eventually going to have to live her own life, one that doesn't require you to be there for her constantly," Eda put her hand on Percy's shoulder. "When that happens, what are you going to do?"
Percy felt his arm get slightly itchy, something that only happened when he thought too hard about unpleasant things.
He hated the feeling.
"I'll worry about it when I get there," Percy muttered while shrugging off Eda's hand. "Can we just go back to the house now, Luz is waiting for her lesson."
Percy ignored Eda and continued walking back to the house. He saw Luz's face light up as he approached the porch, improving his mood greatly.
"Percy!" Luz exclaimed when he was close enough, abandoning King who was sitting on the steps.
King made an indignant noise before opening the door and walking inside.
"How was your lesson? Did you learn how to make the shield thingy? Did Eda teach you any forbidden magic?" Luz asked, chaining questions together with practiced ease.
Percy waited for her to stop her rapid-fire questions with a large smile. He was always impressed by how quickly interacting with her could turn his mood around.
"All done Lígo fos?" He asked with a chuckle once Luz had run out of breath.
Luz shot him a glare and weakly punched him.
"Just answer the questions," She said pleadingly. "I want to know everything."
"I could answer your questions, or…" Percy trailed off with a mischievous grin.
"Or what!" Luz exclaimed desperately. "Just tell me!"
"You could ask Eda yourself during your lesson with her,"
Luz's eyes widened and her face split into a large smile.
"She's going to teach me magic!" Luz rushed over to Percy and pulled him into a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Percy ruffled Luz's hair affectionately.
"Alright kiddo, go over and talk to your teacher," Percy said as he nodded his head in the direction of an approaching Eda, a look of contemplation on her face.
Luz looked up at him and stuck her tongue out.
"I'm only like a year younger than you."
"Physically yes, but mentally I'm basically an old man."
Luz gave him a weird look before shaking her head in amusement.
"You're strange sometimes."
"I've been called worse," Percy replied with a smile. "Now enough dillydallying you whippersnapper, go learn some magic."
Luz beamed at him one last time before running over to Eda, startling the witch from her thoughts.
Percy watched the scene with a small smile.
Percy sat on his sleeping bag in his and Luz's shared room with a large potions book in his lap.
Eda had originally promised to clear out another room for him to use, but after seeing how often Luz would end up in Percy's sleeping bag, she deemed it pointless. The room was somewhat cramped for two people, but they made it work.
The walls were decorated with lights that hung on the walls and a large 'The Good Witch Azure' poster Luz had found somewhere. Percy's contribution to the decor was minimal, resulting in nothing more than a picture of him at the closest aquarium to Gravesfield.
The rest of the space was filled with junk, or 'human treasures' as Eda called them, that Luz found interesting. It made the room feel small and hard to navigate.
Percy loved it.
Looking down at the book in his lap and reread the same passage for the fifth time, doing his best to commit the information to memory. He was determined to learn everything he could so Eda would let him modify potions.
In the short time he'd been learning magic, he had fallen in love with potions. His ability to see their composition definitely assisted with his fascination, but it was the endless possibilities and control that interested him the most. Just changing the way he mixed the brew or the amount of a specific ingredient, he had complete control over the effects and potency of the potion. It was a concept that was endlessly attractive to him.
"Dragon stomach mucus adds resistance to flame but nullifies the effects of any other animal-based ingredients." Percy mumbled under his breath as he copied the information down in his notebook, wincing slightly when he felt his hand cramp.
Dropping his pen, Percy massaged the muscles between his thumb and index finger. His hunger for knowledge was greater than his tolerance for writing. He never understood how people could write for hours without stopping.
Percy looked out the window and watched the rain bounce off the magic field surrounding the house, its patchwork pattern of yellow and silver shining brightly. It was beautiful in an interesting way.
Percy sighed and closed his books and put them to the side, his motivation to study suddenly gone. He laid back on his sleeping bag and closed his eyes and let his mind wander for a moment, his thoughts landing on his impromptu magic lesson and his teacher.
He liked Eda, he really did, but sometimes she didn't make any sense. He was confused by the point she was trying to make. When Luz became a witch, he would just keep helping her with whatever she needed, he didn't understand why it was such a problem for her.
Percy nestled his head into his pillow with the intent to take a nap. He hadn't adjusted to the new environment yet and still found himself waking up abruptly with his pen in hand. It had startled Luz a few times, something that was unforgivable.
Percy pushed his stray thoughts aside and focused on his breathing and eventually fell asleep.
Percy found himself floating in a dark void full of rocky structures.
Normally he would be delighted to be floating, but he recognized what it meant at the moment.
"You have got to be kidding me," Percy mumbled tiredly.
Though it had been months since he'd experienced one, Percy was still very familiar with Demigod dreams.
Sighing, Percy went through the mental checklist he'd come to develop for Demigod dreams.
He could talk and move freely so he wasn't a silent observer. Looking around he wasn't in a place he recognized, but then again he rarely was. Weirdly, there wasn't anyone trying to talk to him, he was alone.
"What in Hades is going on?" Percy whispered to himself as he floated toward a rock wall.
Peeking around the corner, Percy saw a large blue orb with bronze rings around it. On the surface was someone vaguely human-shaped milling around, their body wrapping around the orb like a blanket.
Percy clicked his tongue and exhaled. He was stuck in a place with no visible exit and the only other living this was some two-dimensional person on an orb. He didn't have a lot of options, so he took the only one he could think of.
"WHAT UP FLAT BOY!" Percy yelled as he came out from behind the rock wall.
Immediately the person whipped around to look at him, an expression of anger coming across their face.
"Who are you? What are you do-" The figure stopped and narrowed its eyes. "You aren't supposed to be here."
Percy was caught off guard by how young to figure sounded and by how blunt their tone was. There was something else, a feeling of power Percy hadn't felt since he was twelve. It put him on edge.
"Yeah. I just woke up here, I didn't choose to be here," Percy said nervously.
If this thing was anything like what was in The Pit, he didn't want to upset it.
"People dream of this place often, it's annoying, but you're different," The figure said, their voice full of suspicion. "You're fro-"
The figure was cut off by a much louder voice.
"That's enough of that Collector," Percy heard the voice in his head and around him at the same time. "Why don't you mope somewhere else."
"No no no! Don't do thi-" The now named Collector screamed out before his floating ball folded in on itself and popped out of existence.
Percy watched the scene in horror. The Collector was already scary, but whatever this voice was made the Collector look like a joke. Percy instinctively reached for his pen but found nothing there.
"Now that they're dealt with, time to handle you," The voice said menacingly.
Percy started shaking. He'd fought Gods and Titans, but none of them made him as afraid as the voice did.
The space in front of Percy began to twist and fold before a person appeared out of nowhere causing all of the fear coursing through his body to vanish in an instant.
The figure was about the size of a child. They had on a large pink hoodie that went down to their knees and sleeves far longer than their arms. They had cat ear headphones sitting on top of their short dark purple hair. Finally, they had eyes like the night sky that popped against their light brown skin.
"I must say I'm surprised to see you here so early Perseus," They said mischievously, their voice sounding like a child. "Then again you never were one for the rules."
Percy stood there shocked, unable to deal with the mental whiplash he was experiencing. After a moment he was able to regain his senses.
"Who are you?" Percyasked tentatively.
The figure shook its head and laughed.
"Who I am is unimportant. What is important though, is what you've been up to," The figure replied happily. "But first, let's move somewhere more comfortable."
The figure snapped their fingers and suddenly Percy found himself in a room straight out of every nerd's dreams,
On one side of the room was the largest TV Percy had ever seen. Beneath it were thousands of consoles, only a few Percy recognized. On the other side of the room was a large window that took up the entire wall. Outside the window was an unimaginable amount of small circular lights collecting in the form of a giant tree with branches that stretched beyond view. The other walls of the room were littered with posters from every form of media, one even advertising the Big Bang.
"What is this place?" Percy asked in wonder, his fear momentarily forgotten.
"We're not here to talk about that, we're here to talk about you," The figure said as two chairs appeared. "Take a seat."
Percy sat down in the chair to find it surprisingly comfortable.
"First things first, I love that you took the 'found family' route. Camila and Luz are just such sweethearts," The figure said giddily. "Though you're still missing a father and brother, I doubt that'll be a problem."
"Found fa- What are you talking about."
"Potions is an interesting choice but it seems to work for you," The figure continued, completely ignoring Percy. "And finally you're already making ripples, so good job on that. Any questions?"
"Yeah, what are you saying?" Percy asked desperately. "You're not making any sense."
The figure just smiled at him.
"I'm making perfect sense, you're just too early to understand."
The figure looked at their sleeve-covered wrist as if they were checking a watch.
"It's about time you wake up now, and don't worry, we won't be seeing each other for a while."
"You can't just pull me here and give me no answers," Percy protested. "What is going on?"`
"Unimportant," The figure replied smugly. "I'll be watching you."
Before Percy could respond, the figure snapped their fingers and everything faded to black.
Percy shot up in his sleeping soaked in sweat and breathing rapidly. His eyes darted around the room, looking to see if the entity he just met was still there. After confirming he was alone, Percy took a shaky breath and gripped his hair.
"Idiot," He whispered under his breath.
He thought he'd been safe, he thought he was finally free. He'd deluded himself into thinking because they didn't come after him, they weren't there. They were going to come after him and put Luz in danger.
Realizing he was starting to spiral Percy started taking deep breaths and counting down from ten. Once he felt himself calm down, he tried to think through what just happened.
The first being he talked to was one he didn't recognize. He'd been lectured extensively about all the gods, goddesses, and any other deities by Chiron and Annabeth so he'd recognize someone as powerful as they were. They seemed to be trapped or at least confined which eased Percy's nerves slightly.
It was the second entity, however, that made Percy nervous. He decided not to tell the Nocedas his full name, meaning the only way for the entity to know it was if they knew about his past. Even worse was the fact that the strange figure seemed to watch his life as if it were a show, something purely for entertainment. Percy was used to being watched, the god did it all the time, but for someone to admit it so brazenly made him feel uncomfortable
At the same time though, the fact they were so invested in his life meant they probably wouldn't interfere too much. It granted him relative safety, at least as long as he kept his life interesting.
Having successfully talked himself off the ledge, Percy let out a sigh of relief. Taking the opportunity to stretch, he looked around the room, allowing him to notice something he'd been too panicked to notice when he first woke up.
The lights were off.
By itself, the darkness of the room was nothing to worry about. It happened whenever everyone in the house went to sleep at night. No, what was worrying was all the other things Percy noticed in addition.
The first was that Luz wasn't in the room. If it was night time she would either be in his sleeping bag or at least attempting to sleep on her own, yet she was nowhere to be found.
Second, the door was closed. Whenever He and Luz had settled down for the night they always made sure to leave the door open a bit in case King wanted to sleep at the foot of their sleeping bag,
The final thing was the silence. Even after everyone had gone to bed, the house was always making noise. Whether it be the random sounds Hooty would make or the breathing of the walls, the house was never quiet. But now, it was silent, as if it knew something was wrong.
Percy stood up out of his sleeping bag and grabbed his pen. He held it for a moment before flicking the cap off for the first time since the prison incident. Then he'd been barely able to explain its existence, now he had no explanation, but he had the sinking feeling he'd need it.
Using the faint glow of his sword, Percy made his out of the room and into the hall carefully, making sure to check behind him every few seconds.
Eventually, Percy found Eda's room with its door open. Peaking inside Percy was shocked to find the room trashed. Eda's weird nest was a mess and the window was shattered. Stepping into the room fully, Percy went over to investigate the window and found shards of glass all over the floor.
"Someone broke in," Percy muttered under his breath, his grip on Riptide tightening.
Brewing potions with Eda gave Percy a unique opportunity to talk to the witch. They'd sped through the usual small talk questions and went straight to more personal conversations. Percy found they had a lot in common and through their talks, he learned about Eda's history with the Emperor's Coven. She'd talked about their non-stop pestering and attempts to capture her. Percy figured the broken window was a sign of their most recent attempt.
"Fun," Percy grumbled sarcastically. "This'll be annoying to deal with."
He was too worried about Eda. She was capable of defending herself and based on his limited interaction with them, the Emperor's Coven witches weren't much of a threat. Still, the fact remained they broke into the house while it was raining boiling water.
After poking the broken glass with his sword for a moment, Percy walked back toward the hall, noticing the destroyed pillows in Eda's nest and he passed.
'Seems like she put up a fight,' He thought idly.
Stepping out of the room, Percy continued down the hall looking for anything that appeared to be weirder than normal. Nothing stood out until he came across a wooden door with large gouge marks around the handle and hinges. Looking closer at the marks, he saw metal reflecting the little light his sword gave off.
"Someone really wanted to get in here," Percy mumbled as he tried the handle, unsuprisely finding it locked.
Percy frowned. In his first few days in the house, he explored every hallway to get an idea of the general layout. From his exploration, he discovered all the doors were made of some sort of wood and flimsy. This door was neither wood nor flimsy, meaning it was hiding something.
Momentarily forgetting about the intruder, Percy drew a small spell circle, summoned water, and pushed it into the lock. Once the water spread to every crevice of the lock, he commanded the water to rotate, acting like a key and unlocking the door.
"Thank you Stolls." He muttered
Upon entering the dark room, Percy was hit by a sudden feeling of wrongness. Casting a small light spell, Percy quickly found the source of the feeling.
Along the walls of the room were ceiling-high shelves packed with bottles. The bottles were full of orange liquid of various shades. Spreading his senses, Percy discovered they all contained the same ingredients, just in different amounts.
On the floor was a box overflowing with papers covered in disorganized writing. Walking over, Percy picked up a stack and started flipping through them.
The first dozen or so pages were covered in what Percy recognized as Eda's neat handwriting. Each page seemed to be a failed attempt to modify a potion Percy didn't recognize as most of the ingredients were foreign to him. After a while, the writing on the pages became more organized and easy to follow, additionally, a different person's handwriting started appearing.
The new person started with small notes and edits to Eda's work, but over time started having pages of their own.
Eventually, Percy flipped through all the pages in the stack he picked up and he was left with several questions.
Why did Eda spend so much time trying to modify a single potion? She wouldn't have tried seemingly hundreds of times if she didn't have a good reason to do so. Also, who was the other person she'd been working with and why hadn't she mentioned her?
'I can worry about this later,' Percy thought as he set the stack of papers down and made his way to the door.
As he started the pass through the doorframe, something caught his eye. It was a folded sheet of paper sandwiched between the shelf and the wall. Pulling it out quickly and unfolding it Percy found it was another page of potion modifications, only this time the notes on the page were much more optimistic.
Percy folded the page back up and stuck it in his pocket, deciding to bring it to Eda after she freed herself from custody. He stepped back out into the hall and continued his journey down it. He peeked into a few more rooms, none catching his interest before finding himself at a crossroads.
"I could either go downstairs or continue down another long and boring hallway," Percy mumbled to himself. "Both choices are equall-"
Percy was interrupted by a deep growl coming from behind him, causing him to whip around and raise his blade.
In front of him was a large grey monster with wings. It had a light grey mane running down its back and white legs. Its appearance seemed standard for a monster, but what threw Percy off was that its face was fairly humanoid and vaguely familiar.
Before Percy had a chance to ponder the familiarity, the monster lunged at him, forcing him to step back and dodge the strike. He continued to avoid hits until he saw an opening and took the opportunity to swing his sword up.
It was at this moment, however, he realized he messed up.
Instead of hitting the monster like Percy had expected, his sword passed right through allowing the beast to strike him and send him down the hall.
Percy groaned in pain as his back slammed into a door, one of the hinges digging into his lower back. Standing up he instinctively raised his sword again before a look of horror crossed his face.
His sword passed through the monster, which meant that the monster was mortal. Its face came to the front of his mind as did its mane that looked like hair.
"Oh my gods the monster is Eda," Percy said in a panicked whisper before his face turned to one of horror. "I have to find Luz!"
In the excitement of waking up from his dream and exploring the house, Percy had mostly forgotten about Luz. It wasn't a pleasant realization and it left him feeling empty and angry at himself. He needed to find and protect her.
He couldn't hurt the 'beast' without hurting Eda which meant the only thing he could do was run. Unfortunately, the only what he could go was the way he just came.
Dropping his sword, Percy sprinted at 'Eda' and when he was close enough, he dropped to the floor and slid under her. Getting up as fast as he could, Percy bolted down the stairs and took a hard left through the living room and into another area of the house. Down the hall, a door suddenly opened and Luz popped out.
Increasing his speed, Percy ran up and pushed Luz back into the room, closing the door behind him. Taking a quick look at the room, Percy saw that King was also present and that he and Luz were covered in an odd assortment of items.
"Percy, what are you doing?" Luz exclaimed indignantly pulling herself away from Percy.
"I'm protecting you from the monster out there!" Percy responded, neglecting to mention the monster was Eda.
He knew how much Luz looked up to Eda, and he didn't want her to fear her.
"You mean Eda?" King chimed in.
Percy was stunned for a moment.
"You know it's Eda?" Percy asked in confusion. "How?"
Luz looked at the ground guiltily.
"King told me that Eda drinks a potion every morning and how she always perks up afterward. We figured it was what gave her a magic boost and that if I drank it, I could do magic." Luz looked at Percy with wide eyes. "It wasn't till after we took the potion and got chased a bit that we realized that the monster was Eda and the potion keeps her from turning into it."
Percy was silent for a moment.
"So she knew, she'd turn into this if she didn't take her potion and neglected to tell us?" Percy asked, slight anger lacing his voice.
"It seems that way, but we have to focus on saving her right now," King said suddenly, his tone surprisingly serious. "We figured out she's weak to bright light and we made a plan."
Luz perked up.
"And I figured out how to cast the light spell!" She exclaimed happily. "It's the main part of our plan.'
Momentarily forgetting his anger, Percy gave Luz a big smile.
"That's awesome lígo fos! You can tell me all about it later," Percy said cheerfully, pulling Luz in for a quick hug. "And before you tell me your plan, know that if it goes bad I will be taking over."
He wanted to keep Luz safe, but he always wanted to see her grow, and it seemed she found a way to grow.
"Alright so here's the deats."
The last twenty minutes had been rough for Eda Clawthorne.
Waking up with a straw in her mouth had been a weird experience, and discovering she had turned into her beast form and chased the kids around had been unpleasant. However, finding out her pupil taught herself a way to do magic was a pleasant surprise. She'd always known that there were other ways to do magic, she just never expected one of them to be discovered by a human.
After she talked about her curse and let the kids know she was going to be more proactive about treating it in the future, King and Luz left the room, leaving her alone with Percy.
"Before you say anything, I have something I need to say," Percy said as soon as the two were alone. " First, I can't believe you didn't say anything about your curse. That should have been the first thing you mention."
Eda nodded solemnly.
"You're right, I should have." She replied sadly. "I've just gotten so used to keeping it a secret, that it didn't even cross my mind to tell you guys. I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted," Percy said after a moment. "You're lucky Luz is so excited by her light spell that she probably won't even think about how traumatizing this experience could be for her."
"I know."
"One more thing," Percy said as Eda watched him pull a piece of paper out of his pocket, her heart rate increasing when to realized what it was. "Were these modifications for the 'Anti-Curse' potion?"
Eda snatched the paper out of his hand, her stomach sinking when she saw which one it was.
"This was behind a locked door, how did you get it?" Eda asked, her voice tinged with anger.
"I picked the lock," Percy said casually "It seemed like you wanted in too based on the scratches on the door."
Eda swallowed and stared at the page in her hands, her eyes running over the words over and over.
"This was for the potion, we were trying to find a way to cure it permanently."
"Did you ever succeed?" Percy asked gently.
Eda shook her head.
"Why'd you stop?"
Eda looked at him and gave a watery smile.
"That's enough secrets for today, why don't you go celebrate with your sister."
Percy nodded and left the room without saying another word.
Once she heard the door click, Eda let out a shaky sigh. She set the page down next to her and laid her head back, exhausted from the day.
In no time at all she fell asleep.
Eda found herself standing in an empty expanse. The ground was made up of a black liquid and in front of her were two doors. One of them was a standard brown door with a gold handle, the other was identical to the one on her potion's lab.
"Oh I know how this works, I'm not opening you," Eda said angrily as the pointed at the lab door.
She reached for the handle on the wooden door, only for it to sink into the black liquid.
"No no no no no no!" Eda screamed into the void. "I hate this memory, I refuse to watch it."
The door opened and Eda turned her back to it. From inside she heard two voices.
"C'mon Eda it won't be so bad." A happy female voice said.
"I know, but I'm still nervous to try Irene," A young Eda said. "This is what attempt, One hundred and seventeen?"
"One hundred and eighteen," Irene said playfully. "If it'll make you feel better I'll even add the ingredients for you."
"I hate this part, please make it stop," Eda said desperately as she choked back a sob. "Make it stop."
"Go ahead, be my guest," Young Eda replied. "Here's the Moon sap. Remember one drop at a time."
"Thank you very much," Irene said, her smile clear in her voice. "And I know what I'm doing. It's as simple as one drop, two drops, the-"
Irene was cut off by the sound of a large explosion.
The door shut, and Young Eda's horrified screams were the last sound to escape.
Eda fell to her knees and started sobbing uncontrollably.
Few quick things.
I have added the romantic relationship tag for Boscha and Percy as that is the end game. It won't happen for a while but I wanted to warn people in advance.
This is the last chapter in the "Introduction" or "Hidden Trauma" Arc as one reader said. The next chapter is when things start to change more significantly.
Till next time!