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“Book , ” Flapjack twittered, hopping back and forth on top of Hunter’s head as the palisman peered down at what Hunter was currently looking at.
“Yes, book,” Hunter licked his lips, tapping his fingers against the edge of the pages as he sat with one of his legs curled to his chest and the book balanced precariously on his lap. His shoulders hunched over, his back barely pressing against the wall as he sat on the floor.
“What book? What book?” Flapjack clamped his beak around the long strand of hair in front of Hunter’s face, tugging on it gently. He flapped his wings, chirping again.
Hunter looked up for a second from the words on the page, his eyes scanning the few feet of space around him that had been covered in various other books and pieces of paper. He had lost his pencil somewhere in the mess when he had been taking notes, but it was too late for that. Rest in peace his pencil, he’d miss it.
The mess of the owl house spread around him just beyond the small area he had claimed, and in a way, it was slightly reassuring. It was cluttered and messy but it was lived in. There was evidence of life and energy all throughout the old house’s walls and it was almost freeing. The castle was clean and tidy, always dusted and shined like there was never anything too dangerous going on.
Hunter’s room had been messy, sure, but that was the only place that he could actually take reprieve in. Everywhere else was almost too stiflingly clean.
But in the owl house, while his paranoia continued to get the best of him, he could at least be reassured about how different it was from the castle, especially how much messier it was.
Luz was passed out on the couch, her arm hung off the edge while King curled up on her lap. She looked like she was about to fall off the couch but Hunter wasn’t going to do anything about it. She’d probably be fine.
He could hear Eda from the kitchen in the other room, he had no idea what she was doing in there, but it had been a while since she had walked in.
“It’s a book about wild magic,” Hunter finally explained, keeping his voice down so as to hopefully not wake Luz. It had been a long night of studying and research, and Luz needed sleep. (Flapjack would argue that so did he, but that never stopped him).
Flapjack chirped for Hunter to go on. So he did.
“It describes the practices of older witches during the savage ages,” Hunter chewed on the inside of his mouth, eyes scanning the page and fingers twitching for some sort of writing utensil to jot down notes before he remembered that he lost his pencil, “it talks about when the Titan was newly dead as well and how they managed to live during those times. It talks about the glyphs that Luz uses here as well.”
Originally, Hunter had been looking for anything to do with a draining spell or a way back to the human realm which was what Luz was trying to find out. But so far that had been a bust, and while Luz had slept, Hunter had gotten distracted with the countless other textbooks that Eda had in her house.
Wild magic, monsters, myths, a ton of illegal things that Eda probably shouldn’t have access to, but she did. And Hunter was in no position to judge. It wasn’t like he didn’t have his fair share of probably illegal knowledge.
Especially after what he had found out a few nights ago.
He shook his head, Flapjack twittered indignantly, and fluttered a few inches off of his head.
“There isn’t much about combining glyphs, only that they exist,” Hunter tilted his head to the side, hugging one leg to his chest, “they follow the basic structures of magic, kind of like constructing it from the base up, which is why humans are able to use it as well.”
“More? More?” Flapjack tilted his head to the side as well, pecking at Hunter’s head.
“You can use them to study how magic works and how it forms,” Hunter traced his fingers over the words on the page, “and they work kind of like puzzle pieces where you gotta know how to combine the right ones to get the end result.”
Hunter looked up at Luz, he had a feeling she might get angry if he tried to take some of the glyphs she had already prepared. So he remained where he was, huddled up in the corner of the room surrounded by books and note paper.
Flapjack hopped down from Hunter’s head, fluttering over to a stack of books that had gotten knocked over when Hunter shifted. The palisman hopped on the cover a few times before twittering to catch Hunter’s attention. He pecked at the cover a few times.
“This one,” Flapjack said, clicking his beak and repeating it when Hunter didn’t seem to listen, “this one. ”
Hunter looked up, his face paling momentarily upon seeing the cover.
Grimwalkers
“Why does Eda have these?” Hunter asked, clenching his jaw tightly.
“You learn, you find out,” Flapjack chirped, closing his eye for a second before hopping back and forth on the cover once more.
Hunter didn’t think he wanted to, a part of him didn’t even want to know what he was, or what he was supposed to be. But he had a feeling that Flapjack was right. He needed to know, he needed to find out.
But still, he hesitated. In his mind, the book was practically an open flame, a pot of acid, a deadly snake, something that he didn’t dare want to touch. But Flapjack was just sitting right on top of it like it was nothing like it wasn’t something that Hunter felt might kill him.
“You learn, you find out,” Flapjack repeated, pulling Hunter out of his thoughts when he flapped his wings a few times.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Hunter said, leaning his chin on his knee, “I’m just a copy of someone Belos has killed, that’s all I need to know.”
That thought a few days ago would have sent Hunter into an almost instant panic attack, but now it just filled him with an empty sort of dread. The type that made his vision go all fuzzy and caused his ears to ring. His heart would sink upon remembering it and he couldn’t bear to dwell on it too long. But maybe he was accepting it a bit more. Or just pushing it back far enough in his mind that it only stung where he couldn’t feel it.
But Flapjack was persistent, the tiny bird hopped onto the book on the next pile and flipped the cover open. He pecked at the pages and looked over at Hunter expectantly.
Hunter’s lips twitched into a frown but he reluctantly pulled the book closer to him, resting it on top of the book already in his lap.
“Grimwalkers are allegedly artificial beings made from magic, the ritual to create one is unknown,” Hunter skimmed the words on the page, not really processing what he was saying, “they are capable of thoughts and emotions and are almost the exact same as witches or other creatures.” Flapjack fluttered to his shoulder to perch on.
“They can be made as a clone or copy of someone that already exists or has existed,” Hunter mumbled, chewing on the inside of his mouth.
“Learn more, learn more, ” Flapjack chirped.
“I don’t know why you want me to read this,” Hunter exhaled sharply, the gap between his teeth whistling, “we’re supposed to be helping Luz with her research. This can wait.”
“Luz asleep,” Flapjack pointed out, tilting his head to the side and glancing across the room at Luz.
“That’s why I’m supposed to be picking up the slack,” Hunter frowned.
“Can’t prove not helpful ,” Flapjack dug his beak into Hunter’s hair, pulling at the ashy blond strands and tucking them back into place.
“It has nothing to do with what we’re trying to figure out,” Hunter said, despite the fact that his eyes were skimming over the words on the pages. It was a sick fascination that kept him from instantly shutting the book and pushing it away. It was like staring at the decaying corpse of a long-dead animal. Disgusting and nauseating, but at the same time, Hunter was enthralled by it.
Palistrom wood, selkidomus scales, stonesleeper lungs, galderstones, a bone of ortet.
It seemed like such few ingredients for the ability to create life. Such random objects that would combine with the ability to stitch together something worthy of cognizance.
Hunter brought a hand up to his mouth, clenching his fingers around his jaw as he stared at the book. Flapjack fluttered onto the open surface, pecking at the words on the paper.
“The same. We same.” Flapjack pecked again, his beak leaving small indents but not enough that it would tear the paper. Hunter focused on what Flapjack was trying to point out.
Palistrom wood.
He exhaled sharply once more, managing a small chuckle, “Yeah… I guess we are kind of the same.”
“Who are you talking to?”
Hunter nearly jumped out of his skin, the books in his lap tumbling onto the floor as he jerked his head in the direction of the voice.
Luz pushed herself up to a half-sitting position, a yawn pulling itself from her throat as she blinked tiredly and squinted at Hunter.
“I’m not talking to anyone,” Hunter blurted out, feeling his face flush a dark red, spreading to the tips of his ears.
“I heard you,” she accused, rubbing her eyes as she pointed lazily with one finger. Hunter looked away, quickly shutting the books that he had been reading.
“I couldn’t find anything helpful in these books,” Hunter switched the subject, spreading his legs out in front of himself the best he could do considering he was still mostly trapped in a ring of books.
“You should get some sleep, the couch is very comfortable if you wanna take over,” Luz gathered King into her arms, somehow not waking him in the process. She seemed very skilled in the action as she placed him in her lap.
“I’m good,” Hunter waved his hand dismissively, beginning to gather the pages of notes that he had taken throughout the night. Maybe he’d find his lost pencil in the process too. He refused to look up at Luz.
“You look exhausted,” Luz commented and Flapjack twittered in agreement.
“You kept showing me books,” Hunter whispered to his palisman hoping it was subtle but he had a feeling that Luz saw the entire thing. He glanced over at her out of the corner of his eye, “I always look exhausted.”
“And I’m pretty sure that’s your body’s way of telling you that you need rest,” Luz shrugged, tilting her head to the side, “I’ll take over doing research while you sleep.”
Hunter furrowed his eyebrows, clenching his jaw and refusing to answer Luz’s insistence.
“Sleep, sleep,” Flapjack pecked at Hunter’s head, flapping his wings a few times for emphasis.
“I’ll promise to wake you up in a bit if that helps,” Luz held up one hand, tilting her chin up slightly.
Flapjack tugged on the strand of hair that fell in front of Hunter’s face. He huffed, exhaling sharply through his nose as he finally turned to look at Luz.
“Fine,” he finally relented, too tired to argue for much longer and too emotionally exhausted to continue researching. He really did want to find his pencil though, he should be taking some notes.
“Alright, tag me in,” Luz stood up, still cradling King in her arms. She held her hand out to Hunter as he pushed himself up to his feet. He stared at her extended palm for a long time before finally reaching out to grab it.
Luz slapped his hand enthusiastically, bounding around to the other side of the coffee table to give the couch to Hunter. Hunter looked at his hand for a few seconds, trying to stop himself from trembling. It didn’t work so he sat down on the couch.
He was suspicious, he didn’t really trust Luz but he also trusted her enough to know that she probably wouldn’t let it go until he at least sat down on the couch. Flapjack nestled in his hair, cooing the small idle chirps that Flapjack gave as Hunter laid down.
Luz’s shuffling of papers could be heard, but Hunter was quick to shut his eyes and try to get some sort of rest. He figured that he wouldn’t be able to sleep, or that he would wake soon enough that his research wouldn’t be too hindered.
“Good night, good night,” Flapjack chirped, tucking his beak underneath his wing, “Love you .”
“Love you too,” Hunter whispered, praying that Luz wasn’t paying attention enough to hear.
He curled his knees up to his chest, surprisingly comfortable on the couch as Luz had said before. Hunter figured he would at least try to rest for now. Just enough to sate both Flapjack and Luz.
He never actually intended to fall asleep. But it didn’t take long for the exhaustion of staying up all night to catch up with him.