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It was a normal day at the Owl House, the key word being “was”. It had been about a month since Eda’s failed petrification and things had been going as well as one can expect. Things weren’t tense now like they were in the beginning but every now and then there’d be an argument, usually between Eda and Lilith. Luckily, these arguments were typical sibling arguments, nothing serious. Eda also regularly picked Luz up from school in the afternoons.
When Luz first went back to Hexside, Eda had also gone with her in the mornings to drop her off. Eventually though Luz convinced Eda that she’d be fine on her own in the mornings, citing the fact that there had been no danger so far and that her friends would be happy to walk with her from the Owl House to Hexside. She also showed off a little bit of her skill with glyph magic to prove that she could defend herself if she had to. Eda agreed to let Luz go with her friends in the mornings as long as she could still pick her up in the afternoons. The best thing everyone noticed was the fact that neither Clawthorne sister had transformed due to the now shared curse. That was at least until today.
The day had started off normal like every other since Lilith had moved in. Once Luz had become more comfortable with Lilith’s presence, she had started greeting her in the mornings and afternoons like she had always done with Eda. This morning was no different. The bright and energetic girl said “bye” to her and Eda on her way out the door, excited as always to see her friends and attend class. Once Luz had left, Eda and Lilith started their own morning routines.
As the day wore on, things continued as normal. At one point, Eda felt a small headache coming on but thought nothing of it. “Hey Lily, I’ve got a bit of a headache so I’m gonna go take a nap. If I’m not up by the time Luz gets out of school, would you mind going to get her?” Eda asked.
Lilith looked up from the book she was reading. “Alright, take a glass of water upstairs with you. It’s important to stay hydrated, especially when you’re not feeling well. Yell if you need anything”.
Eda rolled her eyes with a smile as she got a glass of water. “Yes, Mother” she said sarcastically with a dramatic groan as she went upstairs to her nest.
Lilith rolled her eyes and couldn’t help but to giggle at her sister’s antics. She had acted the same way when they were growing up, though of course she was always grateful for her big sister taking care of her. The memories of caring for Eda whenever she got sick as a kid stung a bit for Lilith. Lilith reminded herself that things were getting better between her and her sister and that, with time and effort, things would continue to improve.
Two hours passed since Eda had gone upstairs. King was curled up on the couch asleep next to Lilith, who was on the last few pages of her book when she heard multiple objects dropping onto the floor from upstairs. After marking her page, she set her book down and went to investigate the noise. Once she reached Eda’s room, she knocked on the door. “Edalyn, are you alright? I heard some noise from downstairs and thought it best to check on you."
The only response she got was more noises, no words. Lilith carefully opened the door and stared wide-eyed at the sight standing before her. Eda was in her owl beast form and had knocked over some items close to her nest. Lilith didn’t move as Eda approached her, she couldn’t move. She was frozen with fear. After taking a moment to look at Lilith and sniff around, Owl Eda simply sat down and stuck her tongue out just like she had done at Emperor Belos’ castle. Lilith let out a sigh of relief, her sister still recognized her in this form and, more importantly, didn’t want to tear her to shreds.
“I see you’re still Eda to some degree. Let’s get you some elixir and change you back before one of us has to pick up Luz” Lilith said as she began searching Eda’s room for the elixir.
It was at this moment that Eda decided to start playing games. As Lilith searched the closet, Eda snuck out of the room and decided to hide somewhere in the house. The only reason Lilith didn’t notice Eda’s disappearance immediately was because she was focused on searching her sister’s mess of a closet. Once she turned around with a bottle of elixir in hand and noticed Eda was nowhere to be found, she knew she was in for a fun afternoon. She left the room and began her search for Eda.
King woke up a few minutes later to a horrifying screech, followed by loud yelp and a loud thud. Noticing that Lilith was nowhere downstairs, King got up to investigate. As he approached the staircase, the small demon jumped back as Lilith came crashing down the stairs, elixir still in hand as she landed at the bottom of the staircase. Following her was Eda, who sat next to Lilith as she slowly got up.
“What’s going on?” King asked as he looked at Lilith then at the owl beast.
“Edalyn must’ve turned into the owl beast while she was sleeping. While I was searching for elixir in her closet, she thought it would be a good time to play hide-and-seek. When I got close enough to her hiding spot, she decided to jump out at me to scare me. I fell over and when I got up, she jumped at me again. Naturally I turned to run and she thought it fun to chase me. I fell down the stairs and that leads us to where we are now” was Lilith’s answer.
Owl Eda, noticing how slowly Lilith got up, was concerned she had hurt Lilith during their little game. She laid down and rested her chin on top of Lilith’s head, letting out a low sound as an apology. Lilith, who was unprepared for that action, lost her balance and fell into a sitting position. Deciding to try and give Eda the elixir, she turned so she was sitting in front of Eda and facing her. She held out the bottle of golden liquid after she opened it.
“I forgive you. Now that you’ve had your fun, drink this” she said. Eda leaned forward and sniffed the bottle. She then pulled away from the bottle with a disgusted expression on her face, making a disgusted sound to match. Lilith stood up and tried getting Eda to drink the elixir but she kept moving her head away. Even as an owl beast, her sister was incredibly stubborn.
Lilith closed the bottle and, noticing the time, went to get her staff to pick Luz up from Hexside. Eda wasn’t letting her leave though. She put one hand out in front of Lilith and pulled her back, preventing her from leaving. “King, please go pick Luz up from Hexside. It’s clear Edalyn won’t allow me to leave” said Lilith as she handed him the bottle of elixir.
With a look of determination, a firm nod, and a confident “Weh!”, King left the house.
A little while later, King returned riding on Luz’s shoulders. Luz held the elixir as she looked at Eda, who was currently distracted by a shiny pen that had been left in the living room. Lilith, who was holding the pen, let out a sigh of relief when she saw Luz. “Finally, maybe you can get her to drink the elixir. She doesn’t want to cooperate with me”.
Luz walked over and stood in front of Eda before hugging her. Eda chirped then cooed, gently rubbing her chin against the top of Luz’s head. Lilith quietly chuckled seeing her sister’s owl beast form be so motherly. It was obvious Eda still recognized Luz. She guessed that Eda saw Luz as her owlet whenever she was in her owl beast form. Luz took a step back and presented the elixir to Eda.
“Come on, I know it tastes and smells awful but you have to drink this. I can’t teach you glyph magic if you’re a giant owl beast. Please?” she asked as she looked up at Eda with puppy eyes. Even in her owl beast form, Eda couldn’t say no whenever her apprentice gave her that look. She huffed before giving in and drinking the elixir. In just a few short moments, Eda was back to normal.
“Ugh, what happened?” Eda asked. As Lilith explained the day’s events, Eda couldn’t help but laugh. “Ha! Glad to know I’m still at least somewhat me now in my cursed form. I guess I forgot to put elixir in my apple blood this morning. At least no one got hurt. Not badly at least". Lilith nodded in agreement.
“Let’s just hope we don’t have a repeat of today. I’m not a fan of being scared then chased by a giant, stubborn owl beast” she said as she went to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of apple blood. The rest of the day went on as normal and ended with everyone being seated around the dinner table laughing as they ate and discussed how everyone’s day went.