Chapter Text
“EEEEEDDDDAAAAAAAA!!” Luz’s familiar call was music to her ears, no matter how pitchy the sound was, making her now sharper senses want to retract. She sat up in her nest with a stretch, unfurling her wings and hissing in satisfaction at the following popping noises. She’d missed this. The Owl House, her kids, the feeling of being safe. Something in the back of brain nagged at her but she batted it away mentally with one more crack of her neck.
“Coming kiddo!” She shouted back, stepping over the rim of her nest and admiring her reflection in the mirror. Still looking hot as ever. She clicked her tongue in satisfaction as she did a quick inventory check on her body. All her remaing limbs were still attached and her harpy form didn’t look like it was faltering any time soon.
“Eda, hurry up!” King’s voice now echoed up the stairs, sounding impatient and a little nervous. “You’re going to miss the beginning of the press conference!”
That snapped her out of her stupor faster than anything else ever had. She let out a little squawk of alarm and raced out of her bedroom, almost tripping down the stairs in her haste to enter the living room. How long was I asleep?
The residents of the Owl House hadn’t returned until late into the night as the early hours of the morning began descending upon them. Willow, Amity, and Gus, along with the rest of their families had bunked over that night but Eda didn’t have the heart to tell anybody no after everything they’d gone through. Even Lilith, Darius, and Raine had ended up staying, although Eberwolf must’ve snuck out at some point because as Eda did a quick head count, they were the only ones missing from last night’s gathering. The Collector had joined them at some point and she made sure to ask the Owl Beast to keep an eye on them.
Luz beckoned her over with a hurried wave, sitting beside her mother Camila with her other arm wrapped around Gus’ shoulders and King sitting attentively on her lap. Right. She remembered. Goops’ dad is part of the media.
She wrapped one of her own wings around Raine as she approached them, perching on the arm of the chair they were sitting in. Darius stood only a few feet away, face carefully blank as his hair rippled across his head a little less smoothly than usual. Gathered around the crystal ball and forming the circle with seats on the floor were the Blight and Park families. Everyone had an intense stare focused on the innocent little crystal ball on the table that had yet to come up with a visual, still cloudy with a pale blue white light filtering through it that informed her it was at least on.
She understood why the stakes felt so high. She, even after the exhausting day they’d had, had been tossing and turning for at least sixty ticks in her nest last night, unable to get Hunter’s tired face out of her head. He had looked so tense when he’d stepped up onto the platform. And she couldn’t get the disattached orders he gave after the declaration out of her head. He had sounded more like the Golden Guard than the blonde abused teenager he was.
But the worst part had been how he’d flinched away from her while he was trying to calm down an aggressive citizen. She’d just wanted to offer a grounding touch, to protect him. It’s too late now. She scolded herself as her mind replayed the slump in his shoulders before he vanished completely from the stage in a flash of gold. There was a lot she wasn’t aware of that the kids had gone through in the past two months and hopefully things would finally calm down for them. That didn’t change that she had a lot of questions.
Darius grunted slightly and she snapped out of her thoughts in time to see the crystal ball light up and Hunter’s face appear on it. She leaned forward instinctively, barely noticing Raine slipping their hand into hers. Willow straightened besides her parents and the room grew quiet as he began summarizing what had happened, being very deliberate with the words he shared without trying to share too much information.
“Group?” Harvey frowned. “What, is he trying to take all the credit for himself?”
“Papa!” Willow gasped, shooting a hurt look in his direction. Normally Eda would feel a little defensive herself but Raine had been mentioned in helping with the rebellion, as had Eberwolf and Darius. She had to trust that Hunter knew what he was doing.
“Come on, honeybee.” He argued, indignant. “He could have at least mentioned who you guys were! You helped save the Boiling Isles for Titan’s sake!”
Ironically it was the blonde’s next statement that interrupted the debate that was breaking out. “The Emperor has been lying to us for years.” Eda felt some of her feathers rise in alarm at his icy tone.
“He’s a good person Mr. Park.” Luz beckoned toward the crystal ball, eyes never leaving it.
“He just inferred to you as a species.” Lilith raised an eyebrow.
“I think he’s just trying to keep them safe.” Amity answered softly. “If witches and demons found out Belos was a human, Luz wouldn’t be safe. Or Camila.”
“Ha.” Eda snorted. “Blondie’s still putting others before him huh?”
“Hoot-hoot, pay attention!” Hooty’s face was suddenly hovering right by hers and she shoved down the instinct to slash at his face. “I’m trying to listen!”
“Hooty!” She cried, flustered.
“Who were those in the group sent to dispatch the Emperor?”
Gus jolted at the voice. “Dad!?”
“That’s not something that will be released to the public as of currently. They are citizens of the Boiling Isles and have not had the opportunity to decide how much of their role they want to be revealed.”
“You’ve already mentioned that there are supposedly Coven Heads who had a hand in defeating Emperor Belos.”
“I will not be releasing information on their private lives. Until they’ve discussed what they want to share with their families and have come to a decision, that will remain out of the eyes and ears of the public.”
Eda’s heart swelled toward the kid. Of course he’d do everything he could to protect his friends. Lilith flushed guiltily and she couldn’t resist turning her gaze to the Parks. Evidently Willow was just as passionate as she felt about the subject because she was eyeing her dads. Gilbert had a small smile spreading across his face and Harvey’s expression was slowly turning sheepish.
“Of course he’d do that.” Luz laughed wryly.
“It’s a rather important part of the rules of the media actually.” Gus parroted, brow furrowing. “I don’t know why dad got on him like that though.”
“He’s probably just worried about you.” Camila reached over Luz’s lap and squeezed his hand, earning a grateful look from the young boy.
“Weh!” King pushed against her arm, forcing it to retract as he leaned against Luz’s stomach. “I command you to listen!”
She smiled at her kid before her sharp ears caught on the next question being answered. Her stomach dropped abruptly at the mention of possession and Raine, clenching her hand around theirs as she quickly studied their face, making sure they were okay. They offered a weak smile and nodded.
“Children.” Darius interrupted slowly, voice hard as his face darkened somewhat, his own green gaze never moving off Hunter’s face on the screen. The blonde looked a little uncomfortable, almost queasy about the current point of discussion. “When he said your group was incapacitated, that was when you were in the human realm, correct?”
“What about it?” Alador’s brows furrowed.
“Raine’s new scars came from Belos’ controlling his body.” His cool facade trembled as rage began to make itself known, hair spiking a little into the air in response to his emotions and a glow taking on his green gaze, sclera transitioning quickly between black and white. “I couldn’t help but notice the little prince has new ones as well. They don’t happen to relate to each other, do they?”
It felt like a punch to the gut as she saw their faces fall or avert to the floor. Titan, what have these kids been through?
The Coven Head snarled, a glimpse of his fangs peeking through his curled lips. Beside her, Raine flinched back into the chair, horrified. Eda didn’t catch a glimpse of anybody else’s reaction because the Owl Beast reared up in her head.
Danger?
No. She was quick to soothe it, sending a quick image of Hunter to it. Just found out something bad about one of the kids.
Owlet safe?
He’s not mine.
Owlet safe? It repeated, sounding both annoyed and worried.
I think so. It grumbled something she didn’t quite catch in displeasure but fell silent again.
“Calm down Darius.” She snapped as the abomination goo seemed to multiply and his furious gaze met hers. She held it until he growled under his breath again but reverted out of his half transformed state back into a witch.
“This does not, however, change what I stated last night. For those of you who weren’t in the Archives when Belos was defeated, this will be a new announcement for you. For those who have heard this, I still stand by my words. The Coven Heads will be facing trials of their own.” Hunter firmly interrupted the reporter that was insulting him, drawing Eda’s attention back to the conference just in time to see a glint of frustration quickly erase itself from his expression. It would be impressive how quickly he got things under control if it weren’t worrying. He was calm and collected as he went into more detail about how the court cases would be planned, as if he were still wearing his Golden Guard mask.
Somehow Belos’ will got brought up again and she was reminded of what happened yesterday. He had gone into some state of disassociation after the crow had given its message, which had made her want to throttle the bird after the little spark of happiness she’d seen in him when he was interacting with the animal. Magic that she knew he didn’t have had sparked around him, strings dancing around him like ribbons circling him and little sparks exploding into existence like stars in the sky. And then the wings had formed behind him, almost like they were part of him in a dazzling combination of red and gold, like a phoenix after rebirth. His eyes had been squeezed shut but for a brief moment, when Terra snapped him out of his trance, they had been gold. It was the prettiest piece of magic Eda had seen since Luz had discovered the light glyph.
She was sure there was a story behind that but she hadn’t gotten to ask. There were a lot of things she still needed to ask and she knew that the other adults had questions as to if the way Darius kept side eyeing them during yesterday’s events meant anything. Be patient. They’ve been through a lot and I don’t want them to relive it all. We’ll have lots of time to figure this all out.
“Isn’t being a ‘nephew’ bad?” The Collector wondered out loud as the crowd reacted to the news being delivered.
Startled silence followed as the same reporter tried to guide Hunter into sounding gentler about himself and somewhere in the back of her mind, Eda respected him. “What do you mean kiddo?”
“Well Philip called that kid his nephew right? But he usually ended up getting hurt by the meanie.” They blinked, unaware of what he was implying. “So isn’t it bad?”
Raine covered their mouth to stifle their shock and Eda’s head spun, blurring her vision for a moment.
“I-is that why you attacked us so quickly?” Lilith’s eyes widened. “Because I called King my nephew?”
“Yeah, I wanted to protect him!” They grinned at King, who offered a weak nod in return before their face slowly fell as they noticed the change. “What?”
“I’ll explain later.” Luz whispered, pale.
“Raine Whispers of the bard coven will be the first trial.” Eda’s attention snapped back to the crystal ball.
“What!?” She protested, wings fluffing up defensively. “But they helped save everyone!”
“There’s not currently any proof of that.” Alador informed her, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
“It wouldn’t be hard to get any Edalyn.” He quickly amended as she shot him a glare. “But the Boiling Isles don’t trust the Coven Heads right now. It makes sense that Raine has one too.”
“It’s okay Eda.” Raine confirmed, though they looked a little uneasy at the idea of the spotlight falling on them so quickly. “Hunter knows what he’s doing.”
“Think of it like this,” Edric piped up. “Raine can’t do a lot to help with rebuilding but they’re first in line to go. It means they’re important. That the Golden Guard-”
Emira elbowed him and he was quick to correct himself. “Err, Hunter wants them out and working as soon as possible and knows that even with such a short amount of time, they can be proven innocent.”
“Since when were you good at politics?” Amity pushed him playfully, gratitude etched deep into her facial features.
He made a humming noise, wiggling his eyebrows before shrugging. “No idea.”
“It’s not completely fair.” Harvey protested, righteousness bleeding into his tone. “The boy did just as much damage to the Isles as some of the other Coven Heads.”
“Harv.” Gilbert was the one who shut him down this time as the two witches had a silent conversation through eye contact. His mouth pressed into a thin line, gaze darting toward Willow, who gave him a steely glare, shoulders tense, skidding around the room before landing back on his husband. He opened his mouth again to say something but was cut off.
“And the Golden Guard, leader of the Emperor’s coven will occur last.” Silence briefly filled the room.
“What?” Gus broke it, disbelief making the word waver. Amity and the twins shared expressions of shock with each other and Lilith pressed her hand against her mouth, looking sick.
“¿¡Qué!? ¿¡En qué está pensando!? ¡Idiota, no puedes hacer eso! ¡Mamá, deténlo!” Luz spat, frantically shaking Camila’s arm. King rocked with her movements, eyes wide before he whipped around to make eye contact with the Collector, as if talking to them.
“What is he doing?” Darius stared in dismay, hands clenched into fists in a position that mirrored Willow, who was still kneeling on the floor, shaking with anger. Harvey, Gilbert, and Alador all had ranging looks of alarm on their faces as well.
“What he thinks is right.” Eda answered shakily, dismay rolling through her in waves. “He thinks he deserves punishment for his actions just as much as the others. He thinks he’s as bad as them. Titan, somebody get it through Blondie’s thick skull that all of this was Belos’ fault!”
The same reporter Eda found herself to be liking even more mentioned an easy out, Hunter’s own wanted posters that aligned with the timing of the story he’d given but he didn’t even blink at it, closing the conference like this was something he’d been doing his entire life.
“¿Qué demonios justifica que un chico de dieciséis años esté en esta situación? ¿Por qué no hemos hecho nada al respecto? ¡Esto tiene que parar!” Camila spat, standing up abruptly as fire flashed behind her glasses.
“He’s leaving!?” Willow shrieked, a familiar magical glow taking to her eyes even as she tried to suppress it.
“He’s probably trying to give you all some space.” Gilbert put his hand on her shoulder, helping ground her a bit.
“That’s not what we want!” Luz snapped, gritting her teeth. “¡Estúpido, insensato, exasperante, idiota! ¡Solo queremos ayudar!”
“He’s used to running batata.” Amity glared at the floor, frustrated and sad at the same time. “He thinks he’s doing what’s best for us.”
“What’s best for us is him being here!” She threw her arms up.
“Maybe he needs some space too?” Gus wrapped his arms around himself. “He’s been through a lot recently.”
“But what if he’s just giving us space because he’s a grimwalker!?”
“Because he’s a what?” Raine and Darius’ heads both snapped toward her apprentice.
“Enough!” Eda ordered, flaring her wings out for everyone’s attention. “Blondie can take care of himself. He’s right that we all need time to calm down and figure out our crap. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”
“He shouldn’t be alone.” Willow protested weakly. “Without magic…”
“The kid has his palisman.” Eda sighed, rubbing her temples as she tried to tamp down her emotions. The Owl Beast was ready enough to burst out, she needed to keep this under control. “I’m sure he’ll keep an eye on him.”
The silence that followed was more fragile than she expected and her sharpened features picked up on the way Amity tensed, how Luz began picking at her nails, how Gus and Willow shared a look, how Camila’s gaze quickly darted around the room. But the true give away was how each of their own palisman were quick to snuggle closer to their owners. Clover landed on Willow’s shoulder and nuzzled her cheek with her fluffy bee fuzz. Ghost curled up into Amity’s lap and purred faintly. Emmaline finally revealed herself as she slowly waddled over to Gus’ hand and nudged herself under it. Stringbean wrapped herself around Luz’s wrist.
Now that Eda was thinking about it, she hadn’t seen the little rascal since before the Day of Unity. Owlbert hooted softly, a warning as he landed on her knee.
“He… does have his palisman… doesn’t he?” Eda asked slowly, the slithering feeling in her cut tightening.
“I’m afraid he doesn’t.” Camila answered softly, staring worriedly at her hands. Her shoulders heaved with her deep breath before she turned her sorrowful brown eyes to those around her, staring straight into Eda’s soul. “When Belos, ah… possessed him… he fought against it. We… don’t know what happened… in there but… he tried to stop him and his heart… stopped. His little friend, Flapjack… he’d been injured during the fight and… Flapjack sacrificed himself to save Hunter.”
His eyes were brown now. She hadn’t paid too much attention to it when she’d noticed it at first, more worried about the scars and the fact that he’d been suddenly thrown into the position as ruler of the Boiling Isles. But it felt disgustingly clear now. Hunter’s eyes were the strange vibrant magenta of a grimwalker. Flapjack’s eyes had been an amber honey brown.
“The loss of a palisman is almost as devastating as the loss or abandonment of a witch.” Her father’s words echoed in her head. “It feels like you’ve lost a part of yourself. Some witches almost prefer to go unbonded than to risk it. With Belos’ new laws in place for farming the palistrom wood and the staff confiscation for the covens, it’s becoming a more popular option. But I’m glad you decided on your own witchling. I can’t wait to meet him.”
“I’ve umm…” The Collector’s soft voice whispered from the back of the room. “I’ve g-gotta go do so-something. I-I’ll be back soon.”
“I think,” Raine spoke up, their voice interrupting the ringing in Eda’s ears as they shot a worried look at Darius, who had gone completely still. “That now might be a good time to talk about what happened. If you’re okay with that.”
“We can discuss what we want to share with the Isles later.” Alador nodded solemnly, looking far more awake than usual as he tugged Em a little closer to him, gesturing Amity and Ed forward in an awkward hug, goggles dangling precariously off his head. “For now, just know you're safe. You’re home.”