Fame of Writing
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Owl House: The Bro Files. Now if you recall, I will have King and Luz do their writing thing, while Eda goes to try to find the 'Bloom of Eternal Youth' before Lilith does. As I also said, Carlos will have his special side story, as he probably wouldn't be interested in writing stories like King or his sister.
As for what his side story will be, you'll have to read and find out. Enjoy the chapter.
We open up to King and Eda at the 'Human Collectibles' stand, as they were trying to sell stuff like usual. Carlos was off to the side, sitting against a shelf with human things. Why Eda always had to drag him and Luz to here, he had no idea. As for Luz, she had wandered off on her own to look around.
"Partake of my free snack samples. Take them. I demand it as your ruler, the King of Demons." King announced. He was holding a plank of wood that had a hotdog with what looked like toothpaste and a few hairs on it, three strips of bacon, a Santa Claus pez dispenser and a magic 8-ball. He then slammed it on the ground when others passed by, not taking anything.
"I don't blame everyone here not wanting to buy anything from this stand. Heck, I don't think anything had been sold her since Luz and I arrived." Carlos said.
"Yeah, I think you're right. Hey." Eda agreed, as she then reached over the counter and grabbed a student from Hexside. She then took a sniff of the kid. "It reeks more of nerd than money today."
"Guys!" Luz exclaimed, as she excitedly came up to the stand. "You will not believe what's going on."
"Did Gus finally hit puberty?" Carlos jokingly asked, which got a snorted chuckle from Eda.
"Ew, no. It's a book fair! Where books come to life." Luz excitedly told them. Carlos didn't mind a book every now and again, but at least he wasn't like his sister when it came to books, especially her Azura books. A book then fell to Luz's feet.
"Hello." The book said, which startled Luz and she kicked it away.
"A fair without rides?" King asked.
"Who needs rides when this can take you anywhere?" A boy with a backpack full of books came up and asked King, showing him a book. King was uninterrested, as he threw a piece of bacon on the kids head, to which a creature flew in and grabbed the kid.
"Well, that was something." Carlos commentated.
"A, ew. B, I'm bored. C, I feel like pickpocketing some dork while they browse." Eda said, as she walked off
"No, wait." Luz said while Eda was leaving, as she then turned to King. "Will you give it a chance? I will let you ride in my hoodie."
"Oooh!" King said, as this intrigued him now. He then got in the hood of Luz's hoodie.
"I will let you two go off on your own. I'm gonna view some books on my own." Carlos said, splitting up from the two.
"Okay then." Luz said, as she then starts walking with King. "This book fair's got everything. A zine-making workshop. Meet and greets. And what's that?" She gasped, as there was a writing competition going on.
"A writing competition? I've always wanted to be a writer." Luz said.
"Writer? What? I thought you wanted to be a witch." King said, surprised to hear that.
"Of course I wanna be a witch. But where I'm from, that's kinda impossible. So my runner-up dream was to be a writer. I had this 'about the author' picture since I was seven-years-old. I know my good angle." Luz said, as she had taken a picture of herself when she was seven. "I'm gonna enter a competition."
Bo then came running through, as she bumped into Luz, making her lose her balance and she almost fell over.
"What are these basement-dwellers doing out in natural sunlight?" King asked.
"Um, we're in line for John de Plume, most famous writer on the Boiling Isles, famed author of the Realm Warrior series." Nosella said, as she walked up to the two with a book in her hands. "I'm gonna have him read my story. And marry me."
King saw people lining up to get autographs from John de Plume, as he saw how much power and respect he got from being a famous author.
"Such power. Such command he holds over his minions. I must have the same." He said, as he then turned his head to Luz. "Luz the human, I, too, shall enter the competition."
"Really?" Luz asked, then gasped. "We could work together. It'll be perfect. We're best friends, so we'll make the perfect team."
"Team. Yes. My name goes first on the cover." King happily said.
Meanwhile, with Carlos, he was looking at the various books at the fair. There were some titles that were similar to other titles in the human realm, while others were different. He then walked to a booth that had a sign that said 'Hot romance' with the word 'hot' being in flames. He took a book and opened it to a page. What he read made him blush.
"I didn't know you liked that kind of stuff." Came a feminine voice from behind Carlos. This startled him, making him yell out in surprise and made him fall to his butt. When he looked up, he saw Emira standing there.
"O-Oh, Emira. N-No, I was just... glancing at it. Yeah, that's it. Just glancing." Carlos stammered with a blush, as he put the book back. This made Emira laugh.
"Haha. Sure you were. Then why are you blushing?" Emira teasingly asked.
"Well... Because... It is very warm out today." Carlos said. It wasn't a total lie, as it was warm out.
"I see. Listen, I was planning to go to the movies tomorrow. There's a new action movie out that I'm dying to see and was wondering if you'd like to go with me to see it." Emira said.
"Uh, sure. I don't mind doing that." Carlos said. His mind was racing, as it would be him and Emira at the movies together.
"Em, where are you?" Came the voice of Edric.
"I'm coming. I will see you tomorrow at 11?" Emira asked.
"Yeah, sure." Carlos said, as they then went their seperate ways.
With Eda, she was walking through the book fair with an 'I'm bored' expression on her face. To say she was bored was the understatement of the centery.
"Boring. Boring. Boring." Eda said, dropping some books to the ground. She then gasped when she picked up a book with a mirror on it and saw herself in said mirror. "Another wrinkle. The curse is quickening."
"You. Blacky." Came a familiar voice close to Eda, as she dropped the book and hid behind a banner. When she took a peak to see who it was, we see Lilith with an Emperor Coven guard. Their backs were to her.
"Lilith." Eda said with disdain in her voice.
"Do you have the item we discussed?" Lilith asked a furry demon with a rat-like tail.
"Oh, yes. Right here." The demon said, as he opened a drawer and pulled out a piece of parchment, handing it to Lilith. Lilith took the parchment and opened it, as a faint blue glow came from it.
"This is excellent. A map to the Bloom of Eternal Youth. I think the emperor will be very pleased." Lilith said.
"Ma'am, shouldn't we be searching for the Owl Lady to join the coven? Remember that whole plan?" The guard asked, turning his head to Lilith. Lilith scoffed at that.
"My sister's curse has left her frail. She'll still be here when we get back." Lilith said. Eda groaned when she said that. "This comes first. It's for the emperor, after all."
"Yeah. All hail the emperor." The guard said, knocking over some books that were sitting on the table in front of him.
""Very good, Steve." Lilith said, patting the guard named Steve on the head.
"Shoulder pads for Steve." Steve said, as he and Lilith left.
"Hey, bub, what'd you sell my prissy sister?" Eda asked, coming out from behind a table she snuck behind when Lilith wasn't looking.
"Oh, it's a map to the Bloom of Eternal Youth, a rare flower that only grows once a millennia. Like the name says, it gives eternal youth to whomever holds it." The demon seller explained.
"Interesting. So Lilith wants to nab this power for the emperor, huh? Well, won't she be surprised when I get there first and get it for myself? Ha! That'll show her who's frail." Eda gloated.
"Yes. Well, uh, we'll see, won't we?" The demon seller asked, as he opened the drawer again and pulled another map out to hand to Eda. "Can't go without a map, of course." Eda took the map and opened it, getting a sly look on her face.
Back at the house, it was evening and we see Luz and King getting started on their story ideas. Carlos wasn't surprised that Luz joined a writing competition, as she would be a writer if she couldn't be a witch. What he was surprised at was King decided to join her in writing a story.
"I'm not surprised that you wanna write a story, Luz. It just surprises me that King wanted to join you." Carlos told the two.
"I know, this will be fun. Wanna join us?" Luz asked him.
"No thanks. You two can have all the fun time writing. Besides, I'm going to the movies with Emira tomorrow. This'll probably get in the way if I joined." Carlos said, as he then left the room.
"Sucks for him." King said.
"Yeah. Now, let's write down some ideas that we wanna see in the story." Luz suggested.
"I can write anything?" King asked curiously.
"Yeah. We're brainstorming." Luz said, handing King a red crayon and some index cards. "Every idea is a good idea." They then start writing ideas down on the cards.
"Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Done." King said, as he wrote down his first idea. He then pinned it to the billboard they had, as his card read 'violence'.
"Aw, is that all you wanna see?" Luz asked him. He then went and wrote 'blood' on another card with a smiley face next to it. "Hmm."
A little while later, the board was filling up with their ideas. good, evil and adventure were a few of the ideas on the board.
"Romance. Magic. Heartbreak with shimmer tears." Luz said, putting those ideas on the board. "And the main character is, of course... Luzura. I know it's kinda cliche, but what's wrong with cliche?" She asked, showing a drawing of herslef as Luzura.
"And my main character's the King... er, the Ruler of Demons. With this totally original, all-star cast, victory will be ours." King cheered.
Luz then brought a typewriter to a table. Half of it looked like a normal typewriter, but the other half had what looked like a face, with eyes, teeth and a tongue. "Now, for the easy part." Luz said.
We then see a short montage of them putting their ideas into their story. Luz then begins typing up the story on the typewriter, as their story title was 'Luzura's Awakening.' They then had a little spat on how the story should go, until Eda called Luz and Carlos to the living room.
"Hey. What's up, boss lady?" Luz asked, once she and Carlos got to the living room. Eda rolled up the map and hid it from the two.
"I am popping out for a few days to an undisclosed place to do undisclosed things. Carlos is in charge." Eda said, pointing to Carlos.
"Wait, I can't be in charge. I'm going to the movies with Emira tomorrow." Carlos protested.
"Fine, then Luz will be in charge this time. Enjoy the date and no questions." Eda said, walking to the front door. Carlos blushed when Eda mentioned date.
"Okay." Luz said.
"I said no questions." Eda repeated, as she wasn't paying any attention to what they were saying when she left.
"Well, back to our story." Luz said, refering to her and King's story as she left. Carlos shrugged, as he went to relax on the couch.
Luz then got back to the room to continue Luzura's Awakening with King. "Well, King, it will be you, me and Carlos for a few days." Luz said, as she then gasped. What she saw had shocked her.
The idea board had changed, her story she was working on was now in the trash and King was at the typewriter working on a new story named 'Ruler's Reach.' The new title was written over the old title on a hanging sign.
"Hey, Luz. Good news." He said.
"What have you done?" Luz asked loudly.
"I just made a few tiny edits, and this baby is humming." King said.
"Luzura dies?" Luz asked loudly again, holding up the picture she drew with red X's in the eyes.
"I know, right? What a twist." King said, not understanding what he did wrong. Apparently, all this commotion made Carlos come into the room.
"What's going on in here?" He asked.
"King is completely changing up the story we were working on together." Luz told him.
"Knew there had to be a reason for him entering. He's probably doing this writing thing to get 'minions and power.'" Carlos said.
"No I am not!" King denied.
"Whatever. I will let you sort this problem out on your own." Carlos said, as he left the room again.
"King, I know you're trying to help, but I think you're crossing a line." Luz tried talking to King.
"Yeah, into greatness. Don't you want us to win?" King asked, not getting the point to Luz's argument.
"If this is how you wanna win, then maybe you should submit the story on your own." Luz said, as she walked out of the room emotionally hurt.
"Bah! What does she know?" King asked.
"What the heck, man? learn to collaborate." The typewriter said to King.
"Hush, you. I'll prove to both of you my story is superior." King said.
The next day, everyone got up and did their own thing. King took his story into town to see who would publish it, Carlos got ready to meet Emira at the movies and Luz tried working on the rest of her story without King.
King had went to a place called Grimgrub's Pub where he demanded someone to read his story, to which everyone in there wasn't pleased about and kicked him out.
"I'll read your story." Said a lizard-like demon, as he picked up King's book. He had opened a third eye and started speed-reading through King's book. "You wrote this?" He asked, as he was impressed by Ruler's Reach.
"Yep, that's me. Only me." King said, wiping some mud off his face.
"Let me get you a fruit punch." The lizard demon offered.
"Ooh, I love punching." King said, thinking the drink punched things, while going back into Grimgrub's Pub with the lizard demon. They both sat at the bar, as the lizard demon snapped his fingers and some fruit punch slid in front of King.
"I'm Piniet of Piniet Publishing House. And your name is King?" Piniet asked, as he also introduced himself.
"It's more of a rank than a name." King boasted.
"I loved your story. So much better than the submissions we got for the competition. I want to buy it and publish it for everyone to read. I'll make you as famous as John de Plume." Piniet said, motioning to said author who was immitating gunshot noises while doing poses.
"I always wanted a people chair. I'm in. This'll be my first step in my reclamation of power." King said.
"Then all you have to do is sign here." Piniet said, taking out a contract and setting it on the counter. King then got on the counter and placed a paw in his drink, as he then used that paw to sign the contract. The contract glowed, signifying the deal is done. Piniet then grabbed the contract and put it back in his jacket.
"You're ominous. And I like it." King said.
"Get ready to be famous, Mr. King." Piniet said, as he offered his hand for a handshake, to which King accepted.
Back at the house, Carlos was getting ready to meet Emira at the movies. Before he went, he made sure to check on Luz to see how she was holding up.
"Hey, how are you holding up?" He asked, entering the room to see her still trying to work on her story.
"Meh." Was all Luz could come up with.
"Look, I know what King did was wrong, but sooner or later he will apologize for his actions." Carlos told Luz while putting a hand on her shoulder. This made her smile.
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Carlos." Luz said, giving her brother a hug. Carlos hugged her back, as he then went to the door.
"I gotta get going to meet up with Emira. Will you be fine while I'm gone?" Carlos asked, looking towards Luz.
"I'll be fine. Go enjoy your date." Luz said, as it made Carlos blush.
"It's not a date, just two friends hanging out at a movie." Carlos told her.
"Sure it is." Luz teased him.
"Just get back to writing your story." Carlos said, leaving the room. Luz couldn't help but to laugh at his predicument. Carlos them left the house to go into Bonesborough.
Back with King, Ruler's Reach was fastly published and was already hitting book stores. The Reviewnicorn even gave a review of the book, saying it was 'the perfect blend of heart and heartlessness.' We even get to see Ruler's Reach getting sold out, as everyone wanted to read it.
We then see King walking down the street, wearing a brown blaizer jacket, a green scarf and red-tinted sunglasses. He walked pass a sign that said, 'Spend money on the thing I wrote.' He then stumbled upon some of his fans, who excitedly swarmed him and lifted him into the air.
"Mr. King. Mr. King, I love your writing. Please read my story." Tinella said, as she pushed past people and handing King a rough-draft of what she wrote as 'My stowy.'
"Oh, my. Always good to meet minions. I mean fans." King laughed off, as he signed Tinella's book. He threw it back at her, as it hit her in the face.
"You're my inspiration." Tinella said in an admiring tone.
With Eda, she was following the map she was reading. She looked up from the map to see something covered in vines. She walked over to it and pulled the vines off, revealing it to be a statue of a Minitaur in boxer briefs kneeling on one knee, while holding up a thumbs up and having a goofy expression on his face.
"Okay, from the Minitaur, I head due north. And with luck, I'll get to the Bloom of Eternal Youth before Lilith." Eda said while looking at the map, to which she gave a snorted laugh. "Who's frail now, emperor dorks?"
Suddenly, Eda heard a twig snap, as she magically made a dagger. "Someone's following me." She said, as she then hid behind the statue for an ambush attack. She then also summoned a fireball, as she then attacked when the target got in place.
"Spicy toss!" She yelled, charging in. When she got close enough, she then noticed Lilith standing there with leaves in her hair and mud on her clothes. "Lily?"
"Edalyn?" Lilith asked, confused on seeing Eda there. She then let out a sigh of frustration. "And of course you would be here just to be a nuisance. Why don't you go home and rest? Wouldn't want you breaking a hip."
"Sorry, sister. I'm stronger than you think. I'm here to save the Bloom of Eternal Youth from the likes of you. And I'm gonna get there before you." Eda said said in a mocking, sing-song voice, as she then sprinted off. This made Lilith gasp.
"No you won't." Lilith said, chasing after Eda.
We go back to Carlos, where he arrived at the movie theater. As he got there, he saw Emira waiting there for him.
"Hey, hope I didn't keep you waiting." Carlos said, as he approached Emira.
"Not at all. Now, let's go in before the movie starts." Emera said, as she grabbed Carlos by the arm and led him into the theater. Unbeknownst to them, someone had followed them into the theater while wearing a hood.
Once in the theater, Carlos and Emira had gotten a huge bucket of popcorn and some sodas, as they entered where their movie was being played. The movie started, as they start snacking on the popcorn. The person that followed them had sat right behind them.
Back with Luz, she was still trying to write Luzura's Awakening. She was trying to think of what to write next, when she was interrupted.
"Hey, Luz." Came the voice of King. Luz looked over and saw King in his new get-up.
"Guess who won the writing competition and became a blockbuster writer superstar?" He asked, lifting up his sunglasses. "You're right. It's me. Me. Do you wanna touch my scarf? A fan crocheted it out of their own hair. It smells so bad."
Luz was ignoring King, as she kept writing for her story. She was kinda expecting him to come and apologize, but he only came to gloat about his story and his fame.
"My publisher is throwing a huge party for my book, Ruler's Reach, and I, uh... I'd like for you to be there. There's also one for Carlos, if he wants to come, too." King said, pulling out a red envolope with an invitation and put it next to the typewriter. Luz declined the invitation by lightly swiping it off the table. King was sad about it at first, but then got upset about it.
"All right, fine. Be that way, I guess." King said, putting his sunglasses back in place and walked off. After King left, Luz let out a sigh of sadness.
"Girl, you don't need him." The typewriter said to Luz.
"But I don't want to be mad at him, either." Luz said, as she then picks the invitation back up.
Back at the movie theater, Carlos and Emira were enjoying the movie, as they were halfway through it. They were both engrossed by the movie that when they both reached for some popcorn, they had both touched each other's hands. They both pulled away, having blushes on their faces.
"Geez, get a room already." Came a very familiar voice to Emira and Carlos.
"Edric?!" Emira asked in surprise, as she and Carlos looked back to the person sitting behind them.
"Uh... I don't know an Edric." Edric said, trying to cover up his voice while trying to keep his face covered.
"Ed, you can give it up now. We know it's you." Carlos told him. Edric still wasn't budging.
"I got this." Emira said, as she used her Illusion magic to have ants appear on Edric. The ants then start biting him, as Edric starts flailing and panicking to the point his hood poofed away. Emira then made the ants go away.
"Fine, it's me. Happy?" Edric said, once he realized the ants weren't biting him anymore and his cover was blown.
An usher then came into the theater because of a noise complaint and found Carlos and the twins there. He then took them and kicked them out of the building. This made Emira turn to Edric in anger.
"Nice going, Ed. You just had to follow us to make a mess of things." Emira stated.
"Well, I wouldn't have to follow you if you didn't sneak off without me." Edric defended.
"Well, maybe I need a break from you sometimes!" Emira yelled at him, as she then covered her mouth afterwards. Tears formed in Edric's eyes, as he was deeply hurt by that. "Ed, I didn't mean to-"
"No, you made yourself clear. I'll just leave you two be." Edric said, as he ran off in tears.
"Ed, wait." Emira tried stopping him, but he was already gone. Carlos couldn't help but to watch the sibling confrontation. After a minute, he then spoke up.
"Man, that was a bit harsh. Should we go after him?" Carlos asked.
"Yeah, but let me speak to him. I'm the one that caused this." Emira said, as they both followed the direction Edric went in. It didn't take too long to find him, as he was sitting on a curb of one of the many streets of Bonesborough. Emira motioned for Carlos to let her handle this, as she then went and sat next to Edric.
Both of the twins sat there in silence for a few minutes, before Emira spoke up. "Ed, I'm sorry for yelling at you. I wouldn't have yelled if you hadn't follow us." She apologized.
"I'm sorry, too. I wouldn't have followed you if you told me what you were doing." Edric also apolpgized.
"Yeah, but you would've been begging me to take you with me and if I had said no, you probably wouldv'e told mom on me." Emira said.
"If it was a date with Carlos, then I would've backed off." Edric said, making the two blush.
"It isn't a date." Both Emira and Carlos said in embarrassment.
"Pfft. I know you two like each other, so start dating already." Edric scoffed.
"It isn't that easy." Carlos said, sitting on the other side of Edric now. "I'm not really great with asking girls out."
"And I never met a boy who was so fun before." Emira admitted with a blush, then added. "Especially a human boy." This made Carlos blush.
"Then why don't you two start dating already." Edric said, as he grabbed both by the hands and brought them together while getting out from between them. This made the two blush even more.
"Talk about being put on the spot." Emira said, glancing away from embarrassment. Her heart was beating very fast.
"Y-Yeah." Carlos stammered, as his heart was beating pretty fast too. He then gulped and took a deep breath before saying, "Emira, I know we haven't known each other for long, but I was wondering if we could be... official? Like, dating-wise?" This made Emira chuckle.
"You're right, you aren't that great at asking girls out." Emira said, but then added. "But, I would love to go out with you." This response made Carlos look to Emira in surprise.
"R-Really?" He asked, which made Emira chuckle again.
"Of course, silly. Did you think I was going to say no?" Emira asked, ruffling Carlos' hair.
"Sort of. But I did hear from Luz on the day we met that you thought I was cute." Carlos said.
"Then that means I have no chance of saying no to you." Emira said, placing a hand on top of Carlos' hand.
"Looks like my job here is done." Edric said, as he walked off.
We're now at the library, as it looked like it was starting to get dark out. There was a line of witches and demons waiting to meet King and get autographs for his famous book. We head inside to where a fan was wondering when Ruler's Reach 2 was coming out.
"That's between me and my publisher. Right, Piniet?" King asked, as he nudged Piniet next to him.
"Yes. Oh, pardon me. I need a few moments of King's time." Piniet told the crowd of King's fans, as he leads him to a part of the library where they wouldn't be disturbed.
"Where's John de Plume at? I wanted to compare sunglasses." King asked, as he had noticed the other auther wasn't there.
"Oh, he's taking a break to finish his latest masterpiece. Fame can really box you in, you know?" Piniet asked, then added with a follow-up question. "Speaking of, how's your second book coming along?"
"Coming along or finished? Bam! Ruler's Reach 2. Now with more swears." King laughed, as he pulled out a rough draft for his second book and gave it to Piniet to read.
"Ah, splendid!" Piniet excitedly said, as he took it and started speed reading through it. Once he was done, he looked to King with a smile. "Oh, you cad. Not only are you a great writer but a practical joker as well."
"That's true. Wait. What?" King asked, confused on what he was talking about.
"This is truly awful. Looking forward to the real draft." Piniet said, as he hands King back his draft and walks away.
"'Truly awful'? But I'm a best-selling author. How?" King asked himself. He then looked and saw that Luz and Carlos were here. "Luz. I can't write without her." He ran up to them. "Luz, buddy, I'm so glad you and Carlos could make it."
"Hey, King. I didn't want to be angry at your success. You're my friend. So, congratulations." Luz said, congradulating King on his book.
"Yeah, Luz told me about this when I got back home and who knew your little arguement would make your book a best-seller." Carlos said.
"Great to hear. 'Cause I really need Luz's help with my next book." King told them.
"Huh?" Both siblings asked in confusion.
"Apparently, I can't write my daring words of genius without rebelling against your gushy fantasy slop." King said, motioning to Luz.
"Excuse me?" Luz asked, getting upset at King again.
"We make a great team. So here's a pen. Writey, writey. Clock's a-ticking." King said, handing Luz a pen and his story, as if expecting her to write something down. Luz took the pen and then dropped it on the floor. This made the people nearby gasp in shock.
"I'm not writing for you after you made fun of all my ideas." Luz told him.
"What the heck." King said, picking up his pen. Luz starts to walk away, as Carlos looked down at King with a disappointed look.
"Congratulations on all your hard-earned success." Luz coldly told him before walking off.
"Nice job, King. She was willing to not be mad at you for this, but now you ruined it. Good luck with your book." Carlos told King as he then followed his sister to where she went off to.
"What am I gonna do? I can't write without her." King said aloud. Unbeknownst to him, Piniet overheard him from behind a bookshelf and thought of a plan.
Back with Eda and Lilith, they were still trying to beat each other to the Bloom of Eternal Youth. They were racing through the woods, as Eda was ahead of Lilith.
"Ha! Doesn't this remind you of how we used to race to the kitchen, Lily?" Eda asked, looking behind her and not seeing Lilith behind her. "Lily?" She heard muffled screaming, as Eda looked up with a gasp. Eda saw Lilith was captured by a creature that resembled a cross between a giant, green crab and spider.
"Lily!" Eda cried, as she created a magic fireball and sent it hurtling toward the creature. The fireball made contact with the creature, as it got blasted away and Lilith landed in a bush below. Eda then ran over and picked Lilith up with an 'Alley-oop', as the silk covering Lilith came off.
"Thank you, Edalyn. I wasn't certain that you'd save me." Lilith said with a sigh.
"Stow it. We might fight, but you're still my sister. Besides, if anyone's putting you down, it's gonna be me." Eda said, elbowing Lilith. Lilith then let out a gasp.
"Is that...?" Lilith was gonna ask, as Eda came to see what she was looking at. What they saw was a glowing purple flower growing out of thorny vines at a stone statue. They both walked up to it
"The Bloom of Eternal Youth." Eda said, as she then added. "All right. Back off. that baby's mine." She pushed Lilith out of the way and went after it.
"Why are you always like this?" Lilith asked with a grunt.
"Because, Lilith, you think I'm just some tired, old biddy. Ah, but I'm more than that." Eda said, as she magically cut the Bloom of Eternal Youth at the stem. "And with the Bloom of Eternal Youth's power, I'll show you." Just as she said that, the flower disappeared in a puff of blue flames.
"What the...?" Eda asked once the flower disappeared. A shadow then fell over her, followed by maniacal laughter. Both Lilith and Eda looked up to see the vendor that gave them the map.
Back at the library, we see Luz and Carlos walking down a row of shelves. They both stopped and looked up at a banner of King, as Luz lets out a sad sigh. Carlos put an arm around her shoulder.
"Hey, I know you were expecting him to apologize, but look at it like this. He's just like a stubborn kid who just wants some attention and usually doesn't know what he did was wrong." Carlos said.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Luz said. That's when a couple of huge, lizard-like demons approached them.
"Uh, can we help you?" Carlos asked them, as they seperated to show Piniet behind them.
"Perhaps. I hear the female is an aspiring writer." Piniet said. This made Luz chuckle nerviously, while Carlos gave him a questioning glare.
We now go to a stadium where fans were chaning for King, as there was a banner for Ruler's Reach 2 hanging up. We then go backstage to see King looking out at the crowd.
"Oh, boy. Oh, man. Jeez. Hemming, hawing." King was whimpering while pacing around. He then went up to Piniet. "Piniet, I gotta come clean. We can't announce book two. I can't write without... Without..."
"Without your writing partner?" Piniet asked, as he finished what King was going to say. He gave a wicked smile, as he then leads King into a dressing room to where King sees Luz in a magical, purple cube and Carlos tied in a corner. Luz looked at who came through the door and gasped.
"King." Luz and Carlos said once they saw King there.
"Luz. Carlos" King said, as he ran to a trapped Luz.
"That snappily-dressed lizard trapped me in this shrinking box and tied Carlos up." Luz explained to King. Piniet then shrank the box a bit, making Luz fall to her butt with a yelp. "You gotta get me out." She told him.
"What are you doing with them? Let them go." King demanded, as he turned to Piniet.
"You wrote Ruler's Reach together. So if you don't want her crushed, you'll write together again." Piniet said, as King and Luz gave him disappointed looks. "Oh, don't give me that look. Some of the best books were written in literal crunch time." As he said that, Piniet shrank the box again.
"Hey, quit doing that!" Carlos yelled in anger, as he tried breaking free, but was having no success.
"Yeah. Also, that's a toxic mentality that contributes to burnout and unrealistic expectations." Luz said, as she then looked to King "King, do something."
"Set her free now." King angrily demanded to Piniet.
"Not until I get my best-seller. You'll recall you are under contract." Piniet said, as he pulled out the contract King signed. King then magically floated in the air, as a hole big enough for King to fit though opened in the box Luz was in, to which he was sent into the box with her. Piniet then gave them a pen and some paper.
"Make your deadline or you'll never be able to hold a pen again. Just like..." Piniet said, pulling out a small, cube version of John de Plume.
"Help me." John de Plume pleaded in a somewhat high, squeaky voice.
"No!" King panicked, seeing the cubed John de Plume. Piniet then opened a suitcase, where we see a bunch of other cubed authors, as he placed John de Plume with the others.
"I'll leave you to it. Looking forward to your next volume." Piniet said, as he then left. The magic box then shrank a bit more.
"We're not getting out of here until we write a book. And that'll take forever. We're cube meat." King complained.
"Then you should've thought about that before betraying Luz and working with the first person who would read your story." Carlos scolded King.
"I still have my story." Luz said, pulling out her story.
"But it's all hugging and crying. I can't put my name on that." King disagreed.
"King, that is why we are in here. Because you can't compromise." Luz said, turning herself away from King. "All I wanted was to write a dumb story with my friend."
"Luz, you're living your dream. You're becoming a witch. But this celebrity thing is as close as I'll ever get to my dream. It all went to my head, and I hurt you. I'm sorry." King apologized, feeling bad about what happened.
"Hey. Being with you is one of my favorite parts of this dream." Luz said, accepting his apology.
"Now that you two have become all buddy-buddy again, I have a plan to get out of here." Carlos said, as he scooched over to them and started whispering his plan to them.
Back with Eda and Lilith, they were still face-to-face with the vendor.
"I know you must be confused. The Bloom of Eternal Youth, dead? What if I told you the Bloom never existed at all?" The vendor asked, then continued. "And now that I have led you to my nest, I'll suck all the life out of you to satisfy my unending hunger."
"He scammed us. Can you believe he scammed us?" Lilith asked Eda.
"I thought there was a 50/50 chance going in. Hard not to admire the tenacity, though." Eda admitted.
"Good entrance. But that outfit? Ha!" Lilith teased.
"Oh, look at his little shoes." Eda said, joining in on the teasing. This made Lilith start laughing, as the vendor covered up his orange shoes.
"Maybe you've never been led into a lethal trap before, but the response should be, 'Ah! No. Spare us.'" The vendor said, as he acted out on how they should beg for their lives. That's when Eda and Lilith gave each other smirks.
"Ah, sure. Spare us." Eda said, walking to the vendor while not scared one bit.
"Woe to us, whose fates are sealed." Lilith followed, while also not scared at all.
"That's right. Witches cower. Cower." The vendor gulped, as he was the one cowering now.
Back at the Bonesborough library, Piniet was stacking the cubed authors while waiting for King and Luz to write their story. He didn't have to wait much longer, though.
"Hey, Piniet. We're done." King called from the dressing room, to which Piniet went in the room.
"Faster than I expected." Piniet said, surprised they got done so fast.
"That's the miracle of teamwork." King told him, as Piniet made a circle big enough for Luz to hand him her story. Piniet then took the story and began reading it. He stopped part of the way through, as he shrank the magical box a bit more.
"This is much more gushy than your last book." Piniet told King.
"Skip to the finale, because it is quite a payoff." King told him. Piniet rolled his eyes and read though the rest of the story. When he go to the last page, he was perplexed.
"What is this all about?" Piniet demanded, showing them the page with the light glyph.
"Light spell!" Luz exclaimed, as she stuck her hand out and touched the light spell. Everyone but Piniet made sure their eyes were closed, as Piniet had gotten blinded by the spell.
"I just realized I should've said 'enlightening.' 'Skip to the finale. You'll find it enlightening.'" King said.
"King, the contract." Luz said, motioning to the contract in Piniet's pocket.
"Pretentious scarf, go." King said, using his scarf as a lasso and tossing it at Piniet. It wrapped around the lizard demon and King pulled him over to the two. Luz grabbed the contract and tore it in half, which broke them free of the magical box.
"A little help here." Carlos called out, to which Luz came over and untied him.
"I made you a star and this is how you repay me?" Piniet angrily asked, upset he lost his client.
"No, this is." King said, holding up Piniet's briefcase and opened it up. The cubed authors jumped out of the briefcase and start attacking Piniet. While that was happening, the trio fled to the exit, only to bump into the two guards.
"You're making this harder than it needs to be. And believe me, I am being very patient." Piniet said, getting his attackers off him and walked to the trio.
"If this is you being patient, then I'd hate to see your impatient side." Carlos nervously joked.
"Let's... cut to the finish." Piniet said, clicking a pen and it turned into a two-sided battleaxe. He lifted it up to swing at the trio, but before he could, the dressing room door swung open and knocked the guards out unconscience.
"Huh?" The trio and Piniet asked, looking at the door confused. They then saw Tinella coming in with her book.
"King, I am your biggest fan." She said, as she ran over one of the guards to get to King. "And I fought my way back here for you to read my story." She offered her story to him.
"I'm sorry. My lawyer advised me not to look at unsolicited work." King told her.
"But... But.." Tinella said, looking like she was about to cry.
"Ugh! If I read this will you go, so I can annihilate them in peace?" Piniet angrily asked her while pointing to King, Luz and Carlos.
"Of course." Tinella agreed. Piniet read through her book and by the time he finished, he was driven to tears.
"Oh. It's beautiful. You must let me publish this. I can make you a star." Piniet told tinella.
"Really?" Tinella sincerely asked.
"Wait a minute. What about King?" King asked.
"Ugh! You're old news. She, on the other hand, is the future." Piniet said, taking King's jacket and glasses and giving them to Tinella.
"Hey." King was about to start something, until Luz held him back.
"King." She said while holding him back.
"So, we're gppd, then?" Carlos asked.
"Yes. Quite." Piniet said, shooing them away. They gladly left the room and the library all together.
Back with Eda and Lilith, they had beaten up the vendor, as he lays at their feet with a lot of bruises.
"Well, we wrecked this chump, but I guess the Bloom of Eternal Youth isn't real." Eda said with a sigh.
"Well, if it makes any differance, I don't consider you to be a tired, old biddy." Lilith told Eda.
"Really?" Eda curiously asked.
"If you were, you'd be much easier to catch." Lilith said. This made Eda wary.
"Oh, great. You're gonna cart me away to the coven now, aren't you?" Eda asked.
"Not now. Because I want to give you a chance to join on your own." Lilith told her. "Join me in the Emperor's Coven, Edalyn. He could even heal your curse." This made Eda thing for a moment, as she then pushed Lilith's hand away.
"No. I'll heal it on my own terms. I don't want to owe him anything." Eda declined. "Catch you later, sis."
"Not if I catch you first." Lilith said. That's when Eda got on her staff.
"See you around." Eda said, before flying off. Eda had flew back to the owl house, as she was ready to relax at home. When she walked in, she saw Luz, King and Carlos in the living room.
"Hey, kids. Woof." She greeted, as she then cracked her back. "That was a rough couple of days."
"Yeah, I'll say." Luz agreed, as Eda came over to sit on the couch.
"At least the best thing that came out of these couple of days was me getting a girlfriend." Carlos said.
"Hey, hey. Good on you, kiddo. Now I need some apple blood and a good book to relax to." Eda said.
"Books?" Luz said, trying to avoing anything with books.
"Nope. I don't know nothing about that." King also denied.
"What's a book? Good night." Carlos said, as all three of them left the living room. This made Eda kinda suspicious. She then saw a book on the coffee table.
"Huh?" She asked, picking it up. She read the title as Ruler's Reach, as she turned it around to see a picture of King on the back. "What the..."
"Girl, you do not wanna know." The typewriter told her.
Okay, that's where I'm leaving off. Man, this chappter took longer than expected. Heck, this might be my longest chapter yet.
Yes, I got Carlos to go to the movies with Emira. They thought they were alone, but apparently, Edric was there and brought them together as a couple. Hope you guys enjoyed, as this chapter took longer than expected.
Now, I will take a break to work on my other stories. I promise I will come back to this one once those get updated, as I know this story got pretty popular. Anyways, see you next time.
