Chapter 5: Covention

The day opens up with Esper and Luz helping Eda at her stand, well, Esper is helping. Luz is reading one of the Good Witch Azura books to King, who is laughing at the art potrayed in the book. Because Esper has already heard the book several times, she decided that helping Eda was best. Even if they didn't have any customers due to no one being around. That is until they heard two familar students running towards them.
Gus made it to the booth first, holding up a poster, "Luz! Luz! Esper! Esperrrrr! The covention is going on today!"

Esper raised an eyebrow at him, "Covention? What's a covention?"

WIllow explained for the two, "It's the annual covention! Student witches get to see all the types of covens before they're placed in one. There's even a mystery guest this year!"

Esper smiled as Luz seemed very excited, "Ooooh! A job fair for witches?! Awesome! Can we go? Please, Eda! Please!"

Eda shakes her head, "Absolutely not. I never joined a coven for a reason. Sure it's like a fun club for witches, but you're also giving up your magical independence to be part of a crooked system."

Willow frowned as she dropped the poster, being hurt by Eda's words. Esper put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. Eda did try to make her feel better, "Eh, but, you know, no judgment. In any case, I haven't been to one since we were girls."

The younger redheaded witch's ears shook at a particular word, "We? What do you mean 'we?"

Luz picked up on the word as well, "You heard that too! You have a mysterious past! Now we gotta go!"

The older witch shook her head again, "Nope."

The kids try to convince Eda to let them go to the Covention but she refuses. Until King starts to read from the Good Witch Azura books again, annoying her so much to the point where she cracked, bringing the kids to the Covention. She holds her hands to her pointy ears, "Stop it! Stop it! I will do anything to stop this!"

Upon arriving at the Covention, Eda was stuffing her hair in a cowl, putting it on her head like a hood. Luz raised an eyebrow at her, "Is the cowl really necessary?" Eda nods, "Well yeah! What? Do you think ym wanted posters are for petty theft?" Various items then fall out of her cowl, leading her to pick them up and stuff them back in, "Partly." She shrugged, "But the big whammy is I disobeyed the law and refused to join a coven. If I'm seen, I could go to jail. Again."
Esper was impressed but Willow spoke up, "Maybe this informative event will inspire you to join a coven?"

The brown haired human looked up, seeing all the covens' various stands, "Woah... Was I even alive before now?" Gus started explaining, "Those are the main nine covens, but there are hundreds of other ones you can join." Willow joined in their conversation, "There's Flower Coven, Artist Coven, Big Dog Coven, Small Cat Coven, Tiniest Cat Coven-"

Eda groaned, earning a frown from Esper. She whispered to Willow, "is there a grumpy coven?" Willow nodded as Eda snapped her head towards them, "What was that?"
Willow yipped as the kids all started running away, giggling.

Eda soon followed, running away from something who thinks they recognize her as 'Eda the Owl Lady.'

Luz spots a short man in a hardhat building a small house and she points at him, "Ooh, what's that?" Willow looked towards her, "That's the Construction Coven. One of the main nine. They use power glyphs to increase their strength."
The witch removes his hard hat to pull of a power glyph from a stack atop his head. He peels the adhesive off the back of one and puts it on Tinella Nosa's nose. She begins to scream, throwing the older witch in the air, "Ha-a-a! I'm the destroyer of worlds!" She grabs the Construction Coven sign and tossed it in the air. Two witches tried to stop her as Tinella tried to grab her.

Esper smiled at the display, amazed by Tinella's power, "Yowza-wowza!"

Suddenly another Esper walked in front of the redhead, having a light blue glow to her, "Yowza-wowza!"

Esper backed away from the sudden illusion double, "Yowza-wha-a-a?"

Her illusion double walks over to two Illusion track witches. She turns back to her to wave at her and disappears.
Gus runs near the two other witches in oder to show off to the girl, "Ah! You've been taken in by the allure of the Illusionist Coven. Remember? We like to magic with a hint..." He disappeared into a puff of smoke before reappearing a few feet closer to Esper, "...of showmanship!"
He bows in front of her as the other two illusonist stand next to him, bowing as well.

Luz turned to Eda, amazed, "Wow! Acceptance? Comradery? A sense of belonging? Covens sound incredible! Eda, why haven't you ever joined one?"
Eda called the two girls over to her, "Esper, come here. Watch closely, Luz." Esper had joined the two, watching as a boy walks up to an Illusionist Coven witch. He holds up his wrist to the Illusionist.
Eda frowned, "When you join a coven, all your other magic is sealed away."
A seal in the shape of a mirror appears on the witch's wrist, light blue lines running from it up his arms and face. He watchess as the light blue lines fade.
Eda shook her head at the boy, "From now on, that kid will only be able to make illusions. Since I never joined a coven, I can do every kind of magic." She then creates a fireball in one hand and a ball of water in the other, putting both her hands together to make them disappear in a bout of steam, "That's why I'm the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles."
The Owl Lady walks away. Esper, Willow, Luz, and Gus hurry after her, amazed. King starts to follow, but is stopped with a hand on his shoulder. He is swayed away from the group by the various freebies from all the Coven booths. he thinks they are offerings to the 'King of Demons.'
Esper turns around, realizing that King is gone, "Uh, King! Where'd you go?" Luz runs back, "Esper, come on, you're gonna lose Eda in the crowd!" Before Esper could speak, Luz grabbed her hand, yanking her down the hallway. The redhead shrugged, following her childhood friend.

Luz looks to a sign showing the Emperor's Coven, "That panel looks popular."
Gus gasps, jumping up and down, "It's the Emperor's Coven! Do you think they'll sign my forehead?"
Willow grows excited, "Only one way to find out!"

Willow and Gus run inside. Luz starts to follow them, but stops when she realizes Eda hasn't moved. Esper was moving behind Luz but bumps into her, causing her to look at Eda, "Aren't you coming, Eda?"
The Owl Lady looks away in disgust, "No way. Of all the covens, they're the worst. I'll wait out here."
Luz puts a hand on Esper's shoulder, "I get it, Eda. Covens: bad. Individualism: good. But I'm still figuring this world out, so Esper and I are going to go in there and we're going to make up our own minds, okay?"

Eda remained outside the stadium until someone had walked near with a Coven Guard, trying to look for Eda the Owl Lady. The older witch ran into the door after the children, not wanting to get arrested that day.

"Hey! Luz! Wait up!"

She then settles down in a seat next to Luz, "Alright, let's see this mess." Esper is sitting in between Luz and Gus.

Principal Bump then appears from the floor of the colosseum, causing the crowd to cheer. He then summoned a microphone to speak into, "Hello, Bonesborough! Students ask me all the time, "Principal Bump, what's the height of magical achievement?"
Mattholomule spoke up from the crowd, "Is it this?" He forms a circle with his finger and increases the size of his head greatly, crushes the student next to him.
Principal Bump blinked,"Wow. I failed you as a principal... It's being selected to join the best of the best! And there are none better than the jewel of the coven system and the enforcers of his will, the Emperor's Coven!" Three Coven Scouts appeared in front of him.
Luz starts to shake Esper, who seemed equally excited, "Whoa."
Willow and Gus point to Gus' forehead, which has been signed. "Luz! Esper!"
Principal Bump is still smiling, "Feast your eyes on this elite force, each member handpicked to help usher in a new age of controlled magic."

The Coven Scouts then show off their magic, firing off various elements in the air for the audience to gawk at. Eda jokes to a demon next to her until Principal Bump continues, "Members of the Emperor's Coven have access to all—yes, all forms of magic. Ooh. Aah. But... only the best can ascend these ranks. Some day that could be one of you!" Esper looked to where Principal Bump pointed, which was at Amity, who squealed in excitement. She bumps Luz's arm and points at Amity, causing Luz to raise an eyebrow as this confused her.

The principal then decided it was time to introduce his mysterious guest to the crowd, "And now, I'm pleased to introduce the esteemed leader of this coven and this year's mystery guest. You know her, you love her! Lilith!"

Eda looked up, shocked at this, "What?"

A flash of light shines the ceiling and turns into a blue raven sitting on a branch. The raven flies off the branch to the stage, opening it's wings to reveal Lilith. It disappears with a screech as she lifts her arms and sends her mask flying. The audience applauds and cheers, while Eda is looking at her speechless.

Luz noticed this, "You know her?

Eda kept her glare, "You could say that."

Luz gasped at this, "Mysterious past!"

Esper peered down at the dark haired woman, "Woah! Lilith looks so cool!"

Lilith started a speech, "Thank you, all. It wasn't easy for me to rise to the top. I also started from humble beginnings." She looked up and spotted Esper at that moment before continuing her speech, "Now I have the highest honor of enforcing the Emperor's will. So be more! The Emperor's Coven awaits you!"

Eda glared at the same woman, "Lilith..." She then got up and started to leave, Luz looked over to her, "Eda! Where are you going?"

Eda still walked away, "To wash the con funk off my skin!"

Luz, "But! But! We haven't even taken the quiz to determine our coven type!" As if on que, Esper looked up from her quiz, "Aw cool! I'm a bizarre beastmaster!" She held up her test with a bright smile on her face.

Luz's childhood friend's test was hit by a magic blast from Eda and looked down at the destroyed piece of paper, giggling with Esper. Luz grabbed the paper that then fell from the burned magazine, "Oooo, a punky potionist!" She then looked around, "Oh, hey Esper, have you seen King anywhere?"
Esper took a look around, "Nope, I haven't seen him anywhere. I thought someone should have stayed with him if the doors closed, he is small enough to not be able to push it open. I'll go look for him." She gets up from her seat and headed out of the arena.

She guided herself through the large crowd of people, leaving Luz to bump into Amity. Esper managed to find King in the crowd covered in Coven merch, she giggled as he struggled to walk. She smiled, crouching down to talk to him, "Hey King, I see you're enjoying the Covention." He talks to two bakers, "Heck yeah I am! Cupcakes in my tummy-tum makes the King say yummy-yum! And one for Esper too!" One of the bakers spoke up as King took two cupcakes, "So you'll join the Baker's Coven?"

"Emmmm, nope!" He then dashes off with the two cupcakes, handing one to his taller friend. Esper giggled at him more, then taking a bite out of her cupcake, "Haha, nice one dude." King laughed along with her, "Haha, thanks! Oh hey Luz, take a look at these offerings-"
As King tried to show off the cupcake to lose, he tripped over the long scarf he was wearing. As he tripped, he dropped the cupcake in front of Luz and Amity. Esper ran over to King in order to put him back upright, he reached for his cupcake until Amity stepped on it, crushing the delicious treat. Esper had gotten mad at this, "Hey!" But Luz stepped in front of her.

The green haired girl smirked, "Oops. That was an accident."

Luz furrowed her eyebrows, "Why are you being so mean, Amity?"

Amity frowned at the human, "Because you and your pet are giving witches in training a bad name."

King started scratching his face with his hind leg while hiding behind Esper, "Hey! I'm not a pet!"

The brown haired girl pointed at King, "He's a very good boy and the King of Demons! I'll tell you what, Amity. It's one thing to say I can't be a witch-"

Amity interrupted her, "Cause you can't."

Luz continued despite the interruption, "...but it's another thing to bully my friends. Just like The Good Witch Azura said when facing down her rival Hecate at the Bog of Immediate Regret... I challenge you to a Witch's Duel!"

Everyone gasped, including Esper. She took a step back from the two, having King do the same as Luz and Amity continued to stare each other down.

Amity continued to smirk as she walked up to Luz's face, "I accept. Let's set the terms for this duel, shall we?"

Luz frowned, holding up one finger "One, if I win, you apologize to King for squashing his cupcake."

King picked up the ruined cupcake, "Goodnight, sweet child." Esper picked him up, offering her own cupcake to give to him. He sadly munched where Esper already bit.

Luz held up another finger, "And two, you admit that humans can be witches too."

Amity's smirk still never left her face, "Fine by me. But when I win, not only do you have to tell the whole covention you're not a witch, you have to stop training forever!

Esper grimaced, knowing how much Luz wanted to be witch ever since they were both kids. King cheered from Esper's arms, "Do it, Luz! For my honor!" Esper froze but nodded, agreeing with King.

Luz held out her hand, nodding back at Esper before looking at Amity, "Fine. Let's shake on it." Amity nodded and formed a circle with her finger. She and Luz shook hands through the circle. Amity then let go of Luz's hand, "The everlasting oath is sealed." The spell circle fades and the geeen haired witch walked away from Luz, who looked slightly panicked.

Luz took a deep breath, "...That's probably fine."

Amity glared at her, "Meet back inside the theater in one hour. Let's see what kind of witch you are." She then walked off into the crowd.

Luz gulped, looking towards King and Esper, "King, I-I can win this, right?"

King was finishing the cupcake Esper gave him, "Mmm? Oh, yeah. No." Esper then face palmed, balaning King in her other hand. She thought to herself, 'Aw dios mio, she is screwed."

Esper put a hand on Luz's shoulder, "Heeyyyy, Luz. It'll be fine. Maybe Eda can help you out? I'm not sure if I can make a fire glyph appear for you if I do a fire spell for you."

Luz nodded and began to walk off to find her teacher, "Yeah, yeah of course. Eda will know what to do!" Meanwhile King wanted to scout for more "offerings" and he had promised Esper that he would be back to watch Luz's fight with Amity. The redheaded witch then sat back down in the stands, filling in Gus and Willow on the situation. The two were surprised but were interested to see if Luz could actually win against Amity.

Within the next hour the fight started between the two, with Luz running away from Amity's Abominations. There was magic happening around Luz, which confused Esper. She then spotted the mounds within the ground and groaned, "Oh boy, this has Eda written all over it. Maybe I should have been the one to fight Amity." Willow shrugged, "Maybe but this could possibly work in Luz's favor." King had then joined them, covered in more coven memorabilia. Esper started giggling as he asked, "I am just loving these offerings! Hey, what'd I miss?"
Gus excitedly said, "Luz is in a Witch's Duel! She could probably win it all! Yeah-yeah!"
King jumped into Esper's lap, "Aw yeah this I gotta see!" Esper laughed until another student cheered for Amity. She glared at the other student as King hit the student's foam finger, "No! You root for Luz or no one!" The redhead smirked as she tried to keep the demonic dog in her lap, "Haha, calm down tiger. Though you are right, you gotta root for Luz."
After a few minutes of watching Luz run away from her life, Lilith discovered that the human girl had been cheating thanks to Eda. However, Eda noticed a power glyph from the Construction Coven had been put on Amity's neck. Meaning Amity had been unknowingly cheating as well, which greatly upset her.
Esper gasped, as did Willow and Gus. She then started laughing, "Oh my Titan, Miss Priss cheated!"

Amity, embarrassed, ran away from the arena. Prompting Luz to begin to follow her, "Amity, wait!"

King jumped out of Esper's arms, tripping over the large shirts and scarves he was wearing, he ended up entangled in the clothes, "Luz! Help me!"

The brown haired witch grunts as she frees King, ripping the shirts off him.

King looked sadly at the ripped up shirts, "My offerings!"

Luz pats King's head, "You'll get more offerings, King. Luz then runs out of the arena to follow Amity.

King looks back at Esper, who gestured for him to follow Luz, "Hey, wait for me!" The small furry demon then ran after Luz.

Eda started to mock Lilith, making rhymes about the fact that she made her student cheat despite boasting about her power. This caused a fight between the two witches. Flying on their palisman, the two started their fight. Eda used gold magic with owls in the shape of Hooty while Lilith used light blue magic in the shape of ravens. The sudden hit from Lilith caused everyone to gasp but Eda had expected it. The two were on the attack in a fierce battle. Esper was impressed by her teacher's attacks, but was also impressed with Lilith's. While she couldn't explain it, she did find the way Lilith fought to be cool. That is until the curse seemed to start effecting Eda and the two stopped the fight to talk. Esper could not hear what the two were talking about but it seemed serious...

... Until Eda threw a bag of Hex Mix at Lilith and started to run away. As she ran, she shouted, "Come on Esper! Unless you don't want a ride home." The redheaded witch gasped, climbing down the wall to fire her, "What! Ugh, I'll see you guys later. Eda, wait!"

The two then found Luz and King in the dark hallway, making the two stand up as they regrouped. Eda shouted at them, "We gotta go!" Luz was confused, "Huh? Wait, how'd you get away from Lilith?"

Eda smirked, "Let's just say she had a real "snack attack." Hah! Wait, I got a better one." This caused Esper to frown interrupted Eda, "She tossed a bag of Hex Mix at Lilith's face."

Luz giggled at this but then looked down sadly, "Eda... Esper... Do you think I'll ever be a true witch?"

The older witch furrowed an eyebrow, "What? I don't know. And who's a true witch? These suckers? Is it Esper? Well according to Lilith, that means being in a coven, but I never joined one and I'm better than all of them combined. You gotta be your own witch."

Esper smiled at her childhood friend, "Yeah! Whatever path you choose, I'll support you no matter what. Or heck, why choose one path? You can pick multiple! You have to be your own witch!"

Luz's frown turned into a smile, "My own witch."

Eda put a hand on both Luz and Esper's heads, proud of them both, "Now, let's go before my sister realizes I tied her pointy shoes together."

As if on cue, Lilith can be heard screaming. Signifying that she had tripped over her tied together shoelaces.

King had jumped onto Esper's shoulder and Eda grabbed both her and Luz's arms, "And that's our cue!" She began running with the two.
Luz smiled as they ran, "Sister? Now that's a mysterious past payoff!"
Esper kept her big smile, "Really? That's your sister? She looks awesome!" She then noticed that Eda did not look too amused, "Uh! Not as awesome as you of course. Haha..." Luz leaned closer to her, "Nice save." She awkwardly whispered to the taller girl, "Thanks."
Eda glared, "Oh come on, Lily is not that cool, she's a nerd! Besides! Do you think that's all the mystery I got? Wait until you hear about my parents!"
Esper's eyes sparkled as Luz spoke, "What? You've got parents? I need to know more!"
The small demon laughed from Esper's shoulder, "You very much don't!" His laugh had caused the whole group to laugh...

...And as the laughed, unknownst to them Lilith seemed to have some sort of deal with Emperor Belos. And whatever deal they had seemed to endanger Eda...