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King could do nothing but stare in absolute horror. There, right in front of him, were the other eight coven heads standing perfectly still. They now looked fancier than before, albeit with stars, suns, and crescent moons on their outfits. They all shared a crescent moon on their foreheads and their mouths resembled that of a wooden puppet.
“Wh-what-what did you do to them?” he stammered.
The Collector grinned. “I made ‘em our new playmates!”
“Why?!”
“Because,” the Collector said, matter-of-factly, “we could use ‘em for our game! And if we ever get bored, I can make ‘em do whatever we want!”
“Listen, uh—buddy, you can’t just…turn people into puppets just cuz you wanna play.”
The child scoffed. “You are soooo boring!” he said. “Besides, they’re not just to play with!”
“What’d you mean?”
“King—buddy—pal! When I say they can do anything I want, I mean anything !” The Collector assured. “Say, you wanna have a tea party?”
“I guess so. I mean, I do like tea.”
“Well then…” The Collector snapped, causing the once lifeless puppets to stiffen as an invisible orchestra started to play. Various types of objects appeared out of thin air and scattered to several spots, as if they were assigned to go there. The Collector struck a pose. “King, my bestest buddy, it’s an honor for me and everyone else to welcome you here today! Now sit back and relax, make yourself comfy as The Archive House proudly presents: The Coven Heads!”
Then, he began to sing.
Be our guest
Be our guest
Put the service to the test
Take a napkin and a cup, buddy
And they’ll provide the rest!
Darius:
All the snacks
You deserve
Now, we only live to serve!
Mason:
Drink a potion
It’s made right here
Don’t believe us?
Ask Vitimir!
Adrian:
Drink some tea
Play and run
You’ll be having so much fun!
And your playtime here is never second best!
All Coven Heads:
Come on, look at the menu!
Take a glance and then you’ll
Be our guest, be our guest, be our guest
Chocolate chip
Cookies plus
Pizza bagels are a must
Vitimir:
Name the thing and soon we’ll bring
A great big feast fit for a king!
Raine:
Not alone
And never scared
Cuz for you, we’re always there!
No one’s boring or complaining
Cuz we’re always entertaining!
Osran:
I’ll read books
Adrian:
I do tricks
Raine:
And for you, I’ll play music!
All Coven Heads:
It’s the most perfect show that you can bet!
Go on and lift your glass!
You’ve got your own free pass
To be our guest
If you’re stressed
It’s a fun game that we suggest
Be our guest
Be our guest!
Be our guest!
Osran:
Life was filled with much stress
From a tyrant so merciless
Now we’re free as you can see, yes we’re all fine
But, those horrid days when we were all slaves
Hard to believe those horrid days are gone
For years, we’ve been so stressed
For former heads, who would have guessed?
Very rarely, were there days where we relaxed
Most days, we just sat around a table
Arrogant and crazy
You freed him and oopsy-daisy!
Hettie:
It’s a guest
It’s a guest!
Thank Titan, now we’re all blessed!
Don’t be blue, I’ll tend to you
I’ll make your bed so you can rest
Here you go, a lolli
And sweetie, that’s fine with me!
Miss Hettie’s here so don’t you fear!
Darius:
I’ll make some tea just for you, dears
Make it warm, not too hot
Wait a sec, is that a spot?
Clean it up! We need the gods to be impressed!
We’ve got a lot to do
Want one cookie or two?
For you, our guest!
All Coven Heads:
He’s our guest!
Collector:
He’s our guest!
Coven Heads:
Be our guest!
Be our guest! Be our guest!
Protection at your request!
It’s a good thing that you’re the new rulers here
No more distress!
It’s a nice change of pace
Don’t like it, we’ll blast your face
In this house we’ll all be staying
We’ll protect it while you’re playing
The Collector with the Heads:
Doll by doll, one by one
Thanks to them, you’ll have such fun!
We’ll protect you as you sleep, now go and rest
Go on and enjoy your feast
While we guard the owl beast
Be our guest!
Be our guest!
Be our guest!
Please, be our guest!!!
The bodies of the coven heads went limp in almost an instant after striking a final pose. King could only clap awkwardly while his face was a mixture of confusion and fear. He had to admit, the musical number was rather impressive for a bunch of puppets. Though, he probably would have enjoyed it more if Luz had been there with him. He knew for a fact she would have loved it.
Yet, she was gone.
The young Titan’s thoughts were interrupted by The Collector’s face suddenly in front of his. They grinned, waiting for him to say something.
“So, didja like it?”
“Yeah. That was—uh—something else.” King replied, trying to sound polite.
The child beamed. “There’s way more where that came from! But for now, let’s go back to playing ‘The Owl House’!” They wrapped their arms around him, gleefully. “What’ddya say, best friend?”
King internally held his breath. All he could think about now was try to stay on his new “friend”’s good side. He gulped.
What had he gotten himself into?