Chapter Text
“Let me tell you the story of Raine Whispers.”
****
Then
Edalyn Clawthorne was late to class. Again.
As she ran through the halls, wind blowing through her hair, her mind was racing through excuses. My sister’s sick. No, Lily’s in the class. I’m sick. Used that last week.
Shit.
She skidded to a stop right in front of the class marked Spells And Hexes. Smoothing down her hair and adjusting her coat, she strolled in.
“Hey, Teach,” she nodded at little Professor Ozzy, piling on what she liked to call the ‘Eda Swagger’. “Sorry I’m late, my…uh… cat died! Yeah. Super tragic. Anyway –”
In a flurry of anxiety and mint-coloured hair, Raine Whispers dashed in beside her. Panting, they fixed their glasses and readjusted their tenuous grasp on the mountain of textbooks in front of them. “I am so sorry I’m late, sir. My, um, my cat died?”
They winced.
The class broke out in murmurs and giggles. Ozzy stood to his full height, eyes unfurling and mouth turned down in a disapproving grimace.
They held their hands out for the detention slips on reflex.
Alone in the grey room, Eda whistled a nameless tune as she rapped her knuckles on the desk.
Seriously?! Your cat died too?
Raine snickered and dodged the eraser sleepily thrown at their head with ease.
Didn’t you hear? This is the dead-cat support group, not detention.
Eda stifled her laughter with her hand. The Detention Track proctor opened one eye, gazed blearily around the room, then fell back asleep; they waited all of twenty seconds before sneaking out through the blackboard to their hideout.
As they peeked through the door into the remainder of Professor Ozzy’s lecture, Raine took Eda’s hand in theirs, drumming messages in the language they had created.
Soon, they would have to leave and face the punishment for their mischief. But right now, she could kiss them in the hideout they made together, safe.
****
Now
At around 1:67, Eda was awoken from her beauty sleep by a pounding at the door. Groaning, she pulled the blankets over her head and burrowed deeper into her nest. Just a crazy dream, she strung together blearily. It’ll go away.
It didn’t go away. She threw the blankets off of her head and rubbed her eyes.
Fuck.
Okay. Plan A: Avoidance was out, so onto plan B: Elimination. She thundered down the stairs, a one woman army of insomnia-fueled rage. She whipped open the door.
“I swear to Titan, Hooty, if you’re trying to draw me outside so you can use me as a human toothpick again, then mark my words, I will personally….oh.”
It was decidedly NOT Hooty knocking on the door of the Owl House tonight.
Raine shuffled uneasily under her gaze. “Hey, Eda. Mind if I come in?” They tried to smile, but it came out forced. Eda stepped aside, momentarily stunned.
Even through her stupor she could sense how insane this situation was, Raine coming to their door like a teenager in one of Luz’s movies. How, even though it had been more than a decade, Eda felt the stirrings of familiar emotions looking at them.
No, no, shut up brain. That’s just indigestion.
Raine came in, appraising the sitting room. “I, uh, love what you’ve done with the place. Is that a new couch?”
“Nope! But I ate it and then regurgitated it, and my stomach gave it a nice deep clean!” Hooty chimed in cheerily through the window. Eda hit him with a blast of ice. “Ow! Fine, excuse me for trying to be included!”
“Sorry about him,” she sighed, and Raine laughed. “Come into the kitchen, I’ll get a fire going.”
“I’m so sorry to be calling so late at night,” Raine apologised as Eda led them through the house. “I didn’t even think – did I wake you up?” Eda waved her hand dismissively as they entered the kitchen. Luz had left a stack of glyphs on the counter, and she threw one into the fireplace. In no time, the kitchen was ablaze with light.
She brought out a couple of mugs and started making tea. The longer she could go without looking at Raine, the longer she could delay whatever uncomfortable conversation had brought them here in the first place.
“It’s no trouble, I was up anyway,” she lied, adding sugars and milk (three sugars for Raine, none for herself). “I don’t get much sleep these days.” That much was true.
She handed Raine their mug and sat across from them. Up close, Eda could make out the bags under Raine’s eyes. She knew she probably had matching ones.
Silence fell over them as they sipped their drinks. Eda grinned after Raine tasted theirs and looked at it in surprise. “This is really good, Eda. I can’t believe you remember how I like it.”
She shrugged. “You are the fussiest person when it comes to drinks, I swear. I spent years learning how exactly to make it for you, I’m not forgetting now.”
Their easy grin slid away and they averted their eyes with their next sip. Their hand, which had up till now been lying in their lap, began tapping out rhythms on the table. Eda remembered that little habit. At the time, she had found it extremely adorable. Now, it was just distracting.
Okay, and maybe still a little adorable. Sue her.
“I actually did come here to talk to you about something.” Raine confessed shyly. Eda grimaced.
“And here I thought you just came for my radiant company and drink making talent,” she joked, but Raine’s answering smirk was weak. “What is it?” She asked, more sincerely.
Raine averted their eyes again. Their tapping became a little more frantic, drumming a rhythm that Eda couldn’t quite place. “I can’t exactly…tell you,” they hesitated, flicking their gaze to their hands. It was thrumming into Eda’s head now, mixing with her confusion and panic and fear and causing it all to boil over into frustration.
“Then how in hell am I supposed to know why you’re here? I’m powerful, Raine, but even I can’t read minds - oh.”
The tapping. Two raps with the pointer finger, one hit with the thumb. Danger, in the language they had come up with as kids. Being watched.
Eda gasped quietly. “Raine, what…?” Raine laughed loudly and hit Eda’s shin under the table; slowly, she started laughing too.
“Sorry, I’m just nervous. Eda, I wanted to talk to you about…us ending things.” Their fingers kept beating out a message, discordant with their words.
Sent to spy. Gather intel.
Eda raised her mug to her lips, disguising her scowl. Her subconscious remembered the language even though it had been twenty years since its last use – Titan, had it really been that long?
Listening or watching?
“I wanted to talk it through. I think I made a mistake.”
Both. The adults want you gone, but they think you have info about the door.
Inwardly, Eda snorted. Conceived to keep discussions going in detention, their vocabulary had been pretty limited. She could only guess who the ‘adults’ were here.
“You did?”
“Yes, and I’d like to see if…if it’s possible for us to go back to where we were.” Raine’s blush almost fooled her. The only words she had wanted to hear from them for years, and it was all part of a ruse to overthrow the government. Typical.
Say no, Eda. Overpower me and throw me out. Make it look good.
“Raine, I don’t know if…if I can.” She said, feigning indecisiveness. She needed more time to think. If this had been real, her answer would have been yes right away.
It was disturbing how well the covenheads had her pegged.
What are you waiting for?
I have a better idea. What if they got their intel, and we got our revenge?
Raine smoothed over their surprise quickly. Their romantic speech was convincing, eloquent, and with the perfect amount of charm. (Anyone who really knew them would have called bullshit immediately. Eda knew from experience their real monologues were much more awkward (but no less sappy)). Their real message was clipped and to the point.
I don’t like where you’re going with this.
That phrase had to be the one they had used the most as kids.
Trust me.
That one had been Eda’s.
****
Back at the palace, Raine’s violin rained melodies on the grounds below. From the rooftop they had a view unlike any other: the Skull looming over the town nearby, the moons rising just above the horizon casting an otherworldly glow on the rooftops. On the outskirts, the out-of-place pinprick of light of the Owl House shimmered in the woods.
Without even thinking, their song turned into something more wistful, raising them off their feet with a gust of air that sent the leaves floating around them, until -
“Ahem.”
They sank back down. “Head Witch Snapdragon. What can I do for you?”
Terra slunk closer, carrying a flask. “Just here to deliver your tea, sprout. How was your mission today?”
Raine smiled like a lovestruck schoolkid. All an act, of course. “It was wonderful. Eda’s agreed to meet me again tomorrow, and to consider helping the Emperor’s coven.” Let her think of them as a love-blinded pawn, too wrapped up in romance to notice the plot unfolding all around. “What is it that they need with Eda, anyway?”
“Oh, just some consultation on human artifacts. She’s something of an expert, I hear. Drink your tea, love.” Raine smiled with benign gratitude and suppressed a shiver at the hand curled over their back, accepting the cup.
Another grateful, simpering smile, an incantation in breath and tone, and Snapdragon was gone.
Raine shuddered again at the taste in their mouth. Unlike Eda, no one here bothered to learn how to get their drinks right. They cracked their neck and turned to where they knew Darius’ minion would be waiting with the plans.
The drawing was crude, but thorough. At the top, underlined, were the words ‘Owl Lady Is Key’.
Raine hated the thought of putting her in danger. Eda had been through enough, as far as they were concerned. But Eda was no damsel in need of protecting.
Raine knelt down, pretending to any eyes that might have been watching that they were tying their shoelace. “Tell Darius that the Owl Lady is on board, but she cannot be placed into the middle of the fight. I absolutely forbid it. Understood?” The Abomination baby saluted, and with a plop sank right back into the stone.
Sighing, Raine straightened and reached for their violin case. As the music resumed to cast feelers out into the valley, detecting movement of coven guards and police alike, Raine closed their eyes.
Eda may not need their protection, but that didn’t mean that Raine wasn’t going to give it.