Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lilith was known as a monolith of calm and composure to the Boiling Isles, that is, on the outside at least. Inside, her head was a whirlwind of panic, yelling, and the occasional creepy plucking of a violin.

Being a coven leader was of course no easy feat, but somehow every time Lilith saw her sister, she swore a few years were shaved off her lifetime more than being a coven leader ever did.

You see, it wasn’t long ago that same day that Lilith returned from the body swap debacle  which included her sister and what she had believed to simply be her little cluster, but how wrong she soon found herself to be. 

The day itself couldn’t have been more infuriating, but Titan seemed to be testing her more so than ever before. Every single detail of that disaster of an attempted capture was seared into her head like a branding stick to demonic livestock.

While she attempted to place that day into the furthest cranny of her head, it acted like an annoying catchy song in that it always came back to the front of her mind, much to her chagrin.

Speaking of music; Raine Whispers, they’ve been popping up more and more in her daily sightings now that they’ve been selected as next Head Bard. While she didn’t speak to them much in order to contain her authority to a tee, she would still offer a curt nod out of respect and acknowledgment.

And today seemed to be no different on her walk back to her office, crossing paths with said bard. However, today’s glance in comparison to the group she faced today is what had her shell shocked.

‘ Tan skin, wild hair and personality, same hair color before they’d faced a permanent hair altering potion prank gone wrong from their St.Epiderm days… no it couldn’t be!’

The more she stared the more she felt her vein become Knee cold as she noticed some more similar characteristics from nose to curious face. The confident recklessness that oozed naturally from all parties only made her mind more steadfast in giving her a metaphorical brain freeze.

“Uh, are you alright there, Lilith?”

As quickly as it came, Lilith regained composure, erasing out any signal other than that of a Head Coven. A handy trick gained from years of experience.

“Quite so” she responded with a leaving nod, her eyes darting at anything other than the mint bard. 

With that, Lilith got back on track to her office with haste, but not for paperwork over today's shitshow, no, Lilith’s mind placed value on a special research instead.

With a quick flick of the wrist after entering her office, the room was locked and soundproofed like nothing. If she had anything to be grateful about growing up with her pestersome sister, it had to be learning how to hide secrets lest she face an annoying chortle for a week, at minimum .

The office itself was organized to a point of discomfort to others but full comfort to Lilith. Its minimalism, excluding her lilac crystal ball, did everything to appear as if she had nothing to hide; but, in an unsuspecting drawer, illusioned to be old monotonous paperwork to the eyes of others excluding herself, reveals every kind of photo and written information on her sister, spanning from the first day she even joined the Coven.

The file itself was created with the goal of finding ways to get Eda to join the coven, but now it had an entirely different goal: See how the fuck her sister and Raine had a whole ass child without her ever knowing untill now.

More specifically, How did Raine end up leaving Eda as a single mother? Her files had no sign of Raine and Eda interacting with one another since their breakup, much less any sign of a child living with Eda. Her sister’s ‘rad witch’ lifestyle didn’t appear to provide any semblance of motherhood, bringing no immediate pinpoint.

Her pointer finger traced each sentence like an archaeologist to newfound hieroglyphs. Hours flew by, her frustration boiling to a point one could swear steam was bound to arise from her ears.

“AUGH!” she yelled, throwing the files at the grimestone walls before gritting, “ How , just how, in Titan’s grace is there nothing !”

She threw her hands up onto her head, irritation singing through her veins while missing her off-white palismen, Carl, who flew overhead towards the fallen files.

Lilith’s eye twitched in sync with the vein pulsing across her cranium before breaking from the moment to focus on the sounds of pecking. Her head swiveled towards the sound, seeing now that Carl was picking at a picture from years ago.

Her back became ramrod straight as her eyes became more focused on the picture, becoming convinced it was the holy grail. If hippogriffs can run at 50 miles per hour, she might as well be considered as one due to how fast she went from sitting at her desk to crouching by the floored photo.

In the raven haired witch’s manic search, she missed to see a few crumbs fall from the corner of the photo, much to Carl’s delight. Her eyes scanned the picture, it was of Eda, a few months after her breakup with Raine, though the angle was odd, it was nonetheless a clear shot.

 It was at once that a pair of navy eyebrows rose in rejoice for there appeared to be a slight bump in her sister's abdomen.

‘ She did go off the grid for a while after the breakup now that I think of it…’

Manic giggles, growing exponentially into laughter, bounced from wall to wall before stopping suddenly, her face going smug. Standing up to brush off nonexistent dust from her lap, she walked over back to her desk, a self-satisfied mug remaining still on her face.

“Steve, please send for Coven Head, Raine Whispers, to my office at once” Lilith commanded through her crystal ball. Afterwards, Lilith remained seated, hands interlocked on the desk as her stare became locked on the door.

She was adamant on interrogating the bard over this the moment they came through the door.

In the few weeks that Raine had become Head Bard they had never been called to Lilith’s office, much less had an interaction longer than a greeting, so it was a surprise to say the least when it happened.

It didn’t seem that weird of a request given the bureaucracy they participated in, but they couldn’t help but feel a familiar growing sense of trepidation as they got closer and closer to Lilith’s office.

Something in their gut told them they were marching closer to a rabbit hole they’d never come back from. 

Opening the door they felt an all recognizable jab at their back before getting shoved inside Lilith’s office, a memory flashed through their mind at this.

It was the 12th of Festerary. Nostalgia swept through their nose as the cold air of winter reminded the bard of their old home in the Knee.

Every step they took brought upon the wonderful crunch of leaves and the common bones of vermin that weren’t strong enough to surpass the cold.

Two days remained till Pounding Hearts day, and they were growing ever nervous of their plans. Raine decided that today would be the day they’d ask note of their life, Eda Clawthorne, to be their pounding heart.

The half hour walk remained upbeat till they were only a few steps away. The once wondrous crunch beneath their feet became a stinging shrill, and the door knob that stood a foot away felt less inviting than a wizard’s beckoning hand.

‘Ok, you’re probably just nervous…’ Raine thought to themselves in reassurance. With a deep breath, they took the final step towards the door.

Barely even turning the knob, the door opened wide with a slam as a white figure sprouted out like a blur. Just like that, they went from standing outside to being sprawled out inside on the floor by a millisecond lasting prod at their side.

The door behind them loudly shut as quickly as it opened, after that the only noise they heard was an angry andante of a single foot stomp.

In an attempt to lift their head to face this mysterious attacker, a pair of wooden talons pushed their head back down before jumping off. The faint sound of laughing caws followed suit to the sound of flapping wings.

Hesitantly this time, they lifted their head once more.  

Auburn hair, paper white skin, glassy green eyes covered by circular glasses…

“Lilith?” Raine grogged out weakly. They were confused as to how to go about this situation. Nothing on ‘Witch meets World’ prepared them for this situation.

“Let's get one thing straight, Whispers,” Lilith stated, her eyes never leaving theirs, “ I can tell you’re obviously going to ask my sister at some point to be your Pounding Heart. So, if you ever hurt her somehow, I will ensure those dangly hands of yours become unplayable for life”

Just like before, their head bounced the floor twice in total after Carl used their head like a take off pad. The same faint laughter played amongst the walls just like years before.

They didn’t even have to ask who it was this time, they were even given the chance to take a seat rather than be throned to the floor. The sight this time around was different though.

Her ivory skin stayed, whilst all else about her person were the opposite from the last time.

‘ Heh, she probably got that idea from that ‘How to seem more confident’ book she hid in her book bag in Hexside’ Raine thought whilst attempting to hide their smirk.

From the corner of their eyes they noticed papers were strewn about. Before they could question it, Lilith spoke.

“Ah, Mx.Whispers, a pleasure to formally meet you. I’m imposing a surprise Coven Head inspection today. It’s just protocol, that's all.” Lilith exclaimed with a soft clap of her hands. The smile she sported crinkled in a maniacal manner before continuing.

“As you know all Coven Heads are required to capture and or report any wild witch they know of. So, have you had any contact with Edalyn Clawthorne between say today and fourteen-ish years ago?”

Raine was taken aback, mouth agape in bewildered shock. Ever since they broke up years ago, they did everything they could not to think about her, even avoiding the crime section of newspapers, but hearing her name again stung as much as if they’d broken up just yesterday.

Lilith continued to stare expectantly, giving a small ‘tsk’ of a hint to go on.

“I uh… I have not had any contact with her since today nor fourteen-ish years ago.”

Raine couldn’t understand why they were having this conversation, this so called ‘protocol’ sounded highly made up if the personal tone Lilith carried was anything additional to go off of. 

Alarm bells flew in their mind. The only idea that came to mind is that Eda was either hurt or close to being captured, both of which conquered their mind with an army of anguish and worry. Either way, it made no sense to bring this topic up with them whatsoever, it only gave fuel to their panic.

“Hmmm, interesting. So, if I were to show you this ”, Lilith dramatically exclaimed before sliding a picture across the desk of Eda, a small demon, and some preteen. The three walked close, or well two of them did while the youngest burrowed in Eda’s hair. Their former lover seemed happy in a way they hadn’t ever seen before, maybe even more. 

Internally, relief fell upon them like a dye potion, glad that Eda was safe and happy at the least. The two kids beside her were new however, they couldn’t help but raise their eyebrows at the new additions. To this, Lilith took immediately to account, as if finding an opening in a legal document.

“Don’t act dumbfounded, I know who this is. I am nothing close to a fool whatsoever, and the kid has all the signs of who they are.”

Her tone was concocted with a quarter of smugness and all else malice at this point. Raine’s confusion only made her more convinced that they were hiding what she believed to be an obvious fact.

Looking more into the photo in attempts to understand their peculiar predicament, they began to slowly understand what exactly Lily was getting at.

The photo came from a specific kind of polaroid, signaling Lilith attained the photo by plucking it from a memory. It was a picture of Eda, a 13 or 14 year old witchlet, and an eight year old demon give or take. 

Time certainly did good on the wild witch, her golden eyes still shined with her signature mischief, mixing well with her mane. Her smile showed smile lines and crows feet that picked at their heart like a twisted knife. They would have loved to have been able to grow old with Eda, to see her at the end and beginning of each day, and maybe see off to having a kid or two. How they yearned for such a loving life, they would have done anything to have it.

Have a kid or two… a kid .

Just like that, their bittersweet fantasy became a nightmare swell of dissonant pizzicato once their focus shifted to the bronze skinned witch besides their former lover. Same tan skin like them, Raine thought. The kid's hair was cut inches to the shoulder but remained long enough to cover their ears and show a mane of curls that held a carbon copy wild attribute like Eda’s. Not only that but the kid had the same hair color as themselves pre-Hexside days before a potion prank gone wrong.

What finally hit the target for Raine was taking a look into both of their eyes. Sure the kid had brown eyes, but it was the exact shade as Raine’s mama, not only that but the glint in both individual pairs of golden and brown eyes gave away the same Calamitous attitude.

‘Fourteen-ish years ago… That’s roughly when we broke up. No… it couldn’t be’, Raine thought bewilderedly, but the picture was as evident as if it were a birth certificate. 

‘The last few nights before our break up we did have… But she would have told me, right?’

Thinking back towards their breakup, the sole reason for their separation was because Eda began to refuse to open up. 

Raine’s bottom lip wobbled at the bitter realization. It just had to be, there were too many connected dots to even think of a different possibility.

Their relationship with Eda began in their Hexside youth and ended in their 20’s. With the shifting political discourse of the Boiling Isle beginning to burst and having to navigate adulthood, it all became a spiral of unease. Breaking up seemed to be the best option as they believed there was something they were doing wrong, that they were somehow hurting Eda.

The last thing they’d ever wanted to do was create more pain and suffering to their ex, but the Titan below them begged to differ it seemed. Raine, in their mind, had become their own nightmare, deadbeat parent and partner. They now felt that they should have put the effort in to at least check up on Eda, give a small ‘hello’ or more, rather than wallow in their misery.

‘Fourteen years down the drain, fourteen years of birthdays, milestones, I didn’t even get to send the minimum of a birthday card for Titan’s sake. ‘

The bard’s mind added more gas to their fiery torment as they realized what was worse is that they didn’t even know their child’s birthday either.

The grief Raine portrayed from their slanted eyebrows to shaking hands appeared everything akin to a distraught parent. 

“That's my kid”, “You’ve kept my niece from me” both witches said in unison. 

Silence permeated the room. If someone were to attempt to join into the conversation, they’d drown from the non-buoyancy tension.

To Raine it was simply a realization as well as an accusation, but to Lilith it was a confession, opening the opportunity to beat Raine’s ass for breaking their agreement from years ago.

Chapter Text

ACHOO!

It was the third time in the span of five minutes that Eda had sneezed that night while on their trek from Bonesborough.

“Bless you! Wow, someone must be talking about you!” Luz exclaimed.

“They better be talking about how awesome and good looking I am” Eda chortled from the crook of her elbow.

The night sky stars softly illuminated their path home in a manner foreign to Luz. Connecticut wasn’t spared from pollution covering up the night skies, the stars there were always muted like her.

The Boiling Isles provided so much for Luz, but she couldn’t help but still miss her home, even if solely for her mother. Her mami would have loved to see the stars for once, her job never let her leave Gravesfield enough to drive out far.

Luz’s contorted look into the sky wasn't missed by a certain wild witch.

While Eda had only known Luz for a little over three-ish weeks, she’d already grown to the witchlet enough to recognize the familiar telltale signs of homesickness. If anything, she saw a lot of herself in the kid(and a lot of someone else too).

From the defiance of normality, running away, to the confident recklessness, Eda could have sworn the kid was somehow hers. Though, she wouldn’t admit it to anyone outside her inner monologue. 

“Tell ya what kid, I’ll teach you some magic tonight if you get King and yourself ready for bed, we got a deal?”

Like magic, it worked. Luz perked up like a pop up toy, her head nodding up and down as she plucked King off her hair before sprinting towards home.

A faint ‘weh!’ could be heard from the little demon who’d been yanked awake abruptly. An annoying hoot followed up only seconds later.

They’d only been a two minute walk away from the house at that point, giving Eda enough time to search for her old cittern in her room. Considering the back push King gives during his night-time routine, she definitely had time to tune up the instrument.

Plucking the old cittern after a few years of inactivity felt odd yet exhilarating. Getting it back to its prime tune felt so long and short at the same time. She could still remember the astonishment and awe she’d felt when she first saw someone else play it.

Her fingers unconsciously began to fiddle around with the now tuned strings, creating an unintended melody.

Getting lost in the moment, she couldn’t help but begin to reminisce about the tan hands that used to guide her in her beginner phase. The cittern began to emit a cloudy mint green aura that surrounded the room, it felt almost like a hug from someone she knew long ago. 

Half an hour brushed by in a second, the clouds dissipating instantly once her mind registered the growing sounds of pitter patter on the mahgronary red floors.

Only a second later she received a – begrudgingly – washed and brushed demon alongside a pajama clad preteen at the foot of her nest waiting eagerly for a show.

Something in her cooed at the sight, likely the Owl demon no less but she knew deep down it was both of them. Having both close by felt so right, she couldn’t help in spawning the sort of smile one would see their mother give at simple family activities.

“Alright, you stinkers-”

“We literally just washed up”

Luz’s snort at King’s snarky comment didn’t exactly give a good audience.

“Do you two want a show or not?” Eda jokingly warned. It reminded her slightly of when her own mother threatened to turn the broom around on the way to get eyescream.

The two initiated a mouth zipped closed motion, even going as far to ‘throw the zipper away’. Eda snorted at her kid’s actions, so so silly like her and Lils at that age.

“Alright, back to what I was saying. Magic is everywhere, music too. When you play a chord like so” a pluck went by, resulting in a small visible beat wave that slightly moved the hair out of everyone’s faces.

A small gasp emitted from both broods, one at the sight of new magic while the other of the thought of warfare usage.

“- you can manipulate sound waves. But even so, it can be used to control the things around you too along with multiple other applications depending on thought and focus.”

 Her gaze fell upon the two before going back to the cittern with a look of concentration now on her face.

Playing a different set of chords, multiple objects in the room began to levitate in the air. An orange glow hugged each object, encasing the room like a mini sun.

Picture frames, ranging from one to all in the photos; leftover toys from when King decided to expand his war into Eda’s room; And a multitude of drawings left by Luz all floated around the nest. 

Looking back up, her smile returned tenfold.

Scribbles could be heard from her audience, taking down notes like the end of tomorrow. Both excited to practice their newfound knowledge to become powerful like the witch before them. 

The clear adoration the two had for her wasn’t lost on her. As much as she was reckless, it didn’t mean she was careless. She truly did care for the two, even if she showed it largely in teaching them vandalism and pickpocketing.

Had the three not been so distracted in the moment, they would have heard the small gasps and murmurs from outside. No one had even questioned how they hadn’t even heard a hoot from Hooty since an hour ago.

Raine’s face had become numb to the piercing wind only after the final few seconds from their destination. By the time Raine’s in-law beatdown ended, dusk had begun, making the frigid air ever worse on their bruised face.

“-and you’re going to pay for yearly healer exams, and whatever years of birthday gifts! And-”

In the twenty minute ride towards the infamous Owl House, Lilith had not stopped a beat in her listings of reparations. Though if Raine were to be frank, they would have fussed over themselves into their own list of reparations. Titan knows just how much they felt shame and guilt over their abandonment.

The Coven Head duo only stopped once they grazed the edge of land, just before the beginning of the forest line. The higher in command of the two knew just what wicked creature laid guarding the land before them. 

Raine had heard about a greater house demon that haunted the dreams of the lower level coven scouts after each failed attempt to capture Eda. Looking at it now, they understood the negative hype.

Its face felt soulless with its great blank eyes. It laughed as it rolled around in the mud; One would think it’d be an innocent sight, but the rows and rows of razor sharp teeth that were stationed in its maw told a different story. 

“Get your violin out, if it even sees us it’ll let out the most agonizing sound you could ever imagine.”

She didn’t have to command them twice, just the mere sight gave them shivers. The thought of its voice had their heart beating far faster than any drumbeat they’d ever heard.

They were only one footstep away from entering the grounds. Lilith summoned earmuffs out of abomination goo, solidifying them in time as they stepped out the forest and into the grassland.

Like clockwork, the beast stopped its playing almost instantly and snapped its head at the two. Its mouth open with mud seeping out, revealing once more its abundance of teeth.

Raine now understood why many lower level guards would call it a day once Eda stepped foot out of BonesBorough. Why many guards returned with their – metaphorical and or actual – tail between their legs when only hours ago they ran ahead with their egos bursting through their veins.

‘ This is for them’ Raine thought. Their face morphed away from panic and into determination.

Without hesitation, they began to play. In the seconds the beast had stretched itself towards them it had reached only inches away from the two, its jaw having stretched as wide a field. Raine felt goosebumps capturing their entire body, thinking about how lucky they both were that the song subdued it in time. With Raine’s experience, it would likely be knocked out cold till the morning thankfully.

As much as that creature would likely send them into cold sweats from inevitable nightmares, Raine and Lilith couldn’t help but feel glad that it guarded Eda’s house. If this was enough to scare coven heads and guards, then at least the little family would be safe from any attacks.

And just like moments before, the two witches were back on their brooms towards Eda’s home.

The entire house held no light other than the eye shaped window, the stained glass was illuminated by an orange glow.

Flying towards the edge of the window, the two could see a sight that left no doubt about Eda’s ties.

The objects that littered the room’s atmosphere told a clear story of a family. Every little detail of the room cemented it tenfold.

Lilith and Raine couldn’t help but gasp at the children. Details of all three adults were evident on them, like a slice of spider cheese thrown at a newborn’s head.

Their feverous feasting on enlightenment was akin to Lilith at their ages. Not only that but the preteen held onto Lilith’s curls, though the former had hers more well kept than Lilith ever did. Likely due to Eda based on the hair brushes and products that levitated above the room.

Other than the obvious physical attributes Raine shared with their kid, the scribbling of matching music notes by ear said so much. The little demonling, though obviously not related by blood, showed musical prowess as he started his own little drum beat with his pencils.

‘ I have a niece, and a nephew…’ Lilith thought, the reparation list in her head doubled at the realization.

Raine didn’t care that they held no blood relation to the little demon, they felt the same sense of guilt and adoration to the kid as they did for the other. The smile on both coven head’s faces showed more joy than they’d felt in the last few years combined.

 Minutes went by of the two staring with saccharin endearment at the sight, never getting tired of it. Lilith would be lying if she said she didn’t run out of space on her scroll with photos of the scene in front of her(for her family photo album). 

The two flew down after a few more minutes, remembering the little care package they’d prepared.  lt was a large box the size of a carriage wheel all wrapped in music note lined paper. Lilith placed it on the doorstep with utmost care as if it were a newborn.

The two witches looked at one another with a brief nod before flying away, back towards where they came.

Truth is, this was the beginning of their ad lithium-esc plan at reuniting their family. But knowing that simply entering into the picture would not lead to the best of results, they knew that taking things slow would be their best choice of all. 

The two felt caged in circumstance, confined to watching from afar when those they cared about were so close. If only…

Both witches knew Eda enough this far in their lives that she would most definitely react with paramount skepticism if they were to pop back in. Both knew the bitterness they'd left in Eda’s life once they’d gone their separate ways, and by Titan would they work to fix that.

While the day was close to an end, Lilith and Raine still had one more task on their familial agenda to cross off.

In the remaining time left of the work day, Lilith was still able to gather up the small group of head guards of BonesBorough for a classified meeting.

The guards stood steadfast, ready to follow whatever orders their superiors had called them for at such a time. It must be important given the serious look both Coven Head’s sported.

“The orders we’re assigning you both today are classified and must never be revealed. If anyone were to ask you, you must ensure an appropriate response that will reveal not even the slightest hint. It doesn’t matter if another Coven Head is to question you. Nothing said today must leave this room; Do you all understand? ”

The resolution in her voice was like none they’d ever heard of before. As much as Belos was their main boss, the entirety of the group couldn’t help but feel more fearful of Coven Head Lilith’s wrath.

An affirming ‘Yes, Coven Heads, Yes’ resonated in the room. Raine’s eyes scanned each and every guard's eyes, meeting them with a fierce glare like none they’d ever seen before from the Bard.

With the circular flick of her wrist, Lilith brought up an illusion of both children for all guards to see. 

Raine walked up front of the group, continuing on for Lilith like a power duo.

“Your task from now on is to ensure that these two witchlets are not harmed while in BonesBorough. But , you must not be seen by them or their mother whatsoever”

The group stood quiet after repeating their affirming statements, each holding the same questions in mind: Who is the mother? And why do they look so familiar ?

Tension was thick in the air, but each guard knew better than to question the two in any manner.

A final brutal stare washed upon each guard by both leaders before officially sealing the deal.

Both Coven Heads spoke in unison, “Their mother is, The Owl Lady, Edalynn Clawthorne”

Shock and cognizance decorated each guard behind their mask, gasps escaped from a few. The similarities were as clear as a crystal ball. Memories of past encounters with the Owl Lady and her cluster –no, family – from up to two weeks ago replayed in the heads of many.

Looking from the picture to Coven Head Whispers, no one needed confirmation on who the other parent was.

Knowing these kids had three of the most powerful watches of the Isles as relatives said enough about how imperative their task was lest they face an annihilating fate.

Chapter Text

Morning came quickly in the Clawthorne household, especially for Eda considering she had a horn and elbow jabbing at her side.

Despite the two numbskulls using her stomach as a mattress, she’d still say it was a good morning.

Was.

“HOOT HOOT!”

Eda could just feel her two pickpocket gremlins wake up. What made it worse was them using her like a launch pad soon thereafter.

“THERE’S PRESENTS!” Hooty belched out, the mud from yesterday still present in his jaw.

The wind was knocked out of her faster than she could even think about Hooty’s statement. The last glimpse she saw of her two chicks were on their heels, exiting.

Eda opened her eyes with a groan, the sunlight from outside attacking her without care.

‘ Damn you!’ Eda thought while flipping the bird at the sun.

 After a few seconds of realizing going back to sleep wasn’t an option anymore, she began to stand up. What a bad idea it was. It felt like each joint in her body gave a crack as she stood up.

Looking outside, she could see her kids tearing up some red wrapped present—

‘ A PRESENT?!? ’

Eda may be in her late 40’s, but Titan did that not stop her from fully sprinting down the stairs like a hot wheel. Body aches be damned; She wasn’t about to let some potentially cursed parcel get to her kids.

The awe in both kids' faces were at an ear to ear smile, two pairs of hands clenching on the lid with enough fever to crinkle the cardboard. 

“DON’T OPEN THAT” Eda yelled, slapping down the lid the two were about to lift.

The matriarch grabbed the box in a hugging motion, lugging it side to side in an attempt to shake off the two’s grip off the box. Despite the massive weight it was, she managed to goblet squat it like nothing.

If someone were to re-tale the sight, it would ultimately be described as a pup’s first game of tug-a-war considering how long the two kept their grip on the box before losing to the witch.

The bemoaning that resulted from the duo did nothing to deter Eda from casting a curse detection spell on the mystery package. Despite having to use an arm and a leg to keep the kids back by their foreheads, she was able to successfully cast.

‘ No red fumes… huh ’ Eda thought with an eyebrow leaning high.

Most packages and letters that managed to find themselves at her doorstep were cursed to the brim by those who couldn’t cope with her scamming skills. Either that or ex lovers she dumped.

While there were no fumes, she couldn’t help but remain skeptical at a sole fact: Who would want to send her shit anyways?

Truth be told she didn’t exactly have anything close to even allies other than The Bat Queen, but even then they’ve never exactly sent each other ‘packages’. The most she ever received from her were these huge rodent carcasses as Slaymas feasts for the household once a year (much to Hooty’s delight).

Shaking that thought from her head, she took a  look to her left and she could see her witchlings repeating “Gimme, gimme!” like a mantra.

Rolling her eyes at their antics, she opened the box ever slightly, her eyes squinting into its contents. The light from outside the door hit the contents inside enough to reveal a shine she recognized instantly.

“It’s… snails? It’s– OH MY TITAN IT’S FILLED WITH– wait, hold on lemme check if they’re legit and not those stupid chocolate ones.”

Letting the box down, she grabbed one of the snails and bit into it with her canines.

“No dent, it’s as solid as it gets!”

Beaming smiles birthed on everyone’s faces as soon as it was confirmed. It was truly every pick pocketer's dream, and they didn’t even have to pickpocket.

King jumped into the box feet first, seemingly swimming in it despite the lack of fluidity with the solid currency. All it really did was shed his dead hairs all over the money, not that anyone really minded cause holy shit they were loaded now.

While Eda’s intuition told her there was something more to this money that hadn’t revealed itself, her snail loving side pushed the other under the floorboard.

Thoughts of what to do with the money spewed out each person’s mouth like wildfire:

“Mama’s buying herself a new iron cast!”

“Imagine the amount of soldiers I can buy at the toy store!”

“I’m so gonna buy all the art supplies from Deamonso!”

For five minutes straight the group kept spouting off the purchases they’d make till they simply couldn’t think of more.

It wasn’t until then that Eda began to think: Where is she to store this money?

Usually she kept her snails in her mane given she had more material goods than currency itself, but with the massive amount in front of her she knew it’d be better to store it somewhere else.

In the midst of her mind she could feel a certain avian roommate creep its head from around the corner like a Borzoi hound getting called.

‘ Shiny… Nest needs’

The witch stopped herself to think. The nest itself wasn’t really a bad place to store it. Sure some could argue about potential burglars, but then again, there is Hooty; So the nest it is.

Goblet squatting the box once more, – now with King in tow – Eda went off upstairs with Luz following not far behind.

Placing the gold filled box beside her nest, she motioned for Luz to get on the other side of the nest.

“Alright kid, you and me are going to lift this marvelous nest off to the side”

After a grunt of affirm all that was left was the carpet, one simple roll over let loose bare floorboard that once lifted gave way to a large compartment space.

King seemed to understand what was going down and effectively jumped out the money pool like a red clad plumber jumping out a pipe.

As Eda dumped the entirety of the box’s content into the space, Luz couldn’t help but picture Eda as her mom when she had to get her birth certificate from under the bed mattress for something she can’t remember. 

Truth be told she’d begun to view Eda as a second mom of sorts. It began after the moving hassle night when Eda had made her and her friends clean the house.

Sure they were being punished for reanimating the house without her, but the fact that Eda had shown pride and glee for her feat rather than disappointment just made her feel so… loved .

It wasn’t that her mom didn’t love her, no, Luz knew her mother was only worried for her, for her future, and how the world would treat her. But god did Luz enjoy feeling this sense of accomplishment and pride.

Every time Eda pushed this feeling, Luz felt this growing confidence in herself like never before. It was tingly almost, like a new presence of mind was gnawing away at her old one as each day passed.

If anything the tingling could be more towards the fact that the Isles itself was slowly accumulating Luz towards the magic that surrounded her 24/7, being the fact that it accepted her unlike a certain dictator Puritan, not that she or anyone around her would have known.

While most would have expected the outlawed family to go wild on spending, they actually did quite the opposite that day.

The previous days’ actions had left them all in a mood to spend the day with their hobbies. Having agreed to deal with the money some other time, they did just that.

No action chase, and certainly no abruptive sequence to their relaxing schedule.

Mid-day had presented a warm sunlight for King to nap in till he had to inevitably move to the new sun spot in the living room. Every now and then he’d wake up to continue his war games before returning back to slumber.

Luz remained in her room, adding and removing strings to her cork board dedicated to her Azura theories.

Eda took the chill day to a whole other level. 

In the bathroom adjacent to her room laid a ‘Do not disturb unless you’re missing more than an arm’ sign.

Candles littered the entire bathroom, giving a strong lavender scent to the entire room. The odor only strengthened itself with the lavender scented bath salts which mellowed out Eda’s aching muscles.

To have survived little over two decades as a wild witch meant strength and speed to a degree past that of a coven guard, but it also meant having to deal with the body aches that came with it at her age.

Slices of cucumber were atop her eyes while a gold soothing face mask covered her face from crown to chin.

Eda truly was the epitome of relaxation, especially with the glass of apple blood that resided besides the bathtub.

It wasn’t till she woke up from an hour-long nap that she began to think about what to actually do with the money.

She wasn’t stupid, she knew better than to let it rot under the nest. Sure, she had some unspecified bones in her nest from something long dead, but who doesn’t?

‘Ok what do we definitely need? Hmmm…’

Thoughts about getting both her kids to a healer came to mind in an instant. 

King and Luz both definitely would get all their leeches up to date, hell she might even make a day out of it and treat them to some eyescream and a play at the theater afterwards.

The family lived a somewhat sparse lifestyle in the terms of today's new materialistic innovations, but it wasn’t really because they didn’t want to splurge.

Luz and King were the type of kids you could gift a bag of candies or handmade toys for Slaymas, and they’d be jumping for joy at it.

Sure they’d gone off spouting what they could buy with all the newfound wealth, but in reality it was just fun little antics. They could not give any less of a shit about not getting some new doohickey or whatever new of that year.

Hell, Eda had even seen the two of them spend the entire day from morning to dawn just messing around the front yard without getting bored somehow. It really was uncanny just how similar the two were to her and Lils at Luz’s age.

Despite their family lifestyle, Eda did want to spoil them a little, especially since Fall was nearing. The two definitely would require a wardrobe upgrade even if one of them had fur, living near the ocean only made the cold harsher.

Eda shook her head out of thought for a moment, going back into her previous line of mind: Her two rascals needed to get check ups.

While most thought of Eda as careless, she was really far from it. 

Firstly, King would benefit from a scan on himself. She wasn’t sure what kind of demon he was, but she was worried that perhaps he was lacking in something required for his health.

Secondly, Eda had noticed some slight differences in Luz that the kid herself probably doesn’t even notice. There was this glowing golden glint slowly mixing into those brown irises like a marble cake.

After the Owlbeast day, she’d been checking Luz and King over about twice a day.

 At first the glint was small enough to be chalked up towards light reflection, but the days that passed only tossed that assumption out the window. Even more: What if Luz wasn’t getting all the nutrients she needed that a modern nutrient potion could solve?

Eda hadn’t said anything about the first because the last thing she’d want to inflict was worry and fear onto Luz towards a change she can’t control. 

‘ Like mother like…’

A sigh permeated the room, the only sound for the following hour afterwards were Eda’s sipping and her overflowing thoughts.

Waterworks didn’t end in the tub today it seemed for Eda. The squeaky sounds of sponge to plate filled the air.

After cleaning up from her spa day, dinner began for the household with a hearty meal of Pixie Kidney soup alongside chopped vegetables.

She’d sent the kids out to go capture some wild pixies for the dish while she got to work in setting up the table for the meal.

After all was said and done, Eda decided to take charge in dish duty for the day, effectively sending the two to bed for the night.

While the family held many tombs and the odd material good here and there, plates were lower in quantity than one might think. And who used what was evident.

The plate Eda was currently cleaning was actually made by Luz when she was teaching her the fundamentals of construction magic. It was a clay one with little designs along the edge, flowers, suns, and what have yous.

The plate set out to dry was just screaming of its main user. It held bite marks that grew slightly larger alongside dates, like a height marker of sorts over the years.

And the final plate was chipped in many sides from years of wear and tear. It was a gifted one at that, colored red with an acronym at the bottom that she hadn't brought herself to read in years.

The second sigh of the day passed once her dish duties were finished. Her footsteps upstairs felt heavy as her nest felt so far yet so close, but she still had one last task before arriving.

Opening the mahgronary door as silently as possible, Eda popped her head into Luz and King’s room.

The moonlight from the window illuminated the center at which her kids slept like a night light of sorts(it’s also why she gave this specific room to Luz).

She wouldn’t have been able to sleep if she didn’t do a final check on her kids. The sight of her broods’ figure moving up and down granted a sigh of relief to the witch, glad that her kids were alright.

An ear to ear grin grew on her the more she stayed at the door. She couldn’t help it, even if she wasn’t cursed with the Owlbeast, she just felt so content in the two being safe and sound, dreaming of whatever.

Everytime she took a gander at the two for the shortest of a second, an all too familiar coo rumbled around her cranium from the beast itself. It seemed it was the sole thing the two could agree upon.

With a last look over, she closed the door as quietly as she had opened it.

Had the witch stayed a second longer, she would have become witness to an instant inch of upwards growth in Luz’s ears

Chapter Text

It was a sunny morning, perfect weather too, no painbows or acid rain to be seen whatsoever.

The only thing that hung over Lilith as she walked through an all to familiar avian door were streamers.

Though what was odd about the streamers  was the fact they kept changing color from royal purple, apricot, maroon, and any other color possible. It kept transitioning rapidly from one to another, as if they didn’t know what to be.

Entering the abode revealed a large rectangular table covered by a cloth that changed with the streamers in unison. Balloons laid about near every surface of the floor, it was the only thing that remained constant as they themselves were owl themed.

The sound of said balloons popping could be heard every now and then as King could be seen jumping on each one in his path. 

A great big cream banner hung at the center of the ceiling reading: HAPPY ## BIRTHDAY, LUZ!

Lilith smiled from ear to ear before it fell to a crooked frown.

“I… I didn’t bring a presen-” She muttered before feeling an extra weight on her now magically outstretched hands.

“Oh… well now that’s convenient I suppose” She said confused while eyeing the object in front of her.

Her hands now bore a stereotypical present: a square white box tied up with a purple ribbon along a little tag that read ‘From: Aunt Lilith, To: Luz Clawthorne’.

Looking back up she could see two pairs of eyes staring at her expectantly from behind the table. A familiar tuft of hair peaked out from behind the tall cake, its candles popping up and down from the frosting switching the age from 13-15 every second. 

Eda had one hand on her hip and the other rested on her daughter’s shoulder.

“Ah, you finally made it! Started to think you forgot about us.” Eda exclaimed rejoiceful.

“I would never forget any of you” Lilith exclaimed, almost offended.

Walking closer to the table she looked around the cake to see the birthday kid. Lilith almost jumped backwards.

Luz was looking at her blankly, her stare felt piercing like a barn owl.

“Do I know you?” Luz stated, her voice somewhat garbled.

Lilith stood agape, dropping the present allowing its contents to spill. What flowed out were floods of the same infamous scroll she used oh so many years ago.

“I– I’m so” Lilith attempted to speak, the lump in her throat becoming larger.

“Yeah, do we know you?” Eda spoke, her voice now conjoined with a familiar growl.

Turning to face her sister, she saw the owl beast instead, lunging at her this time.

Beep, beep, beep

Bloodshot green eyes opened. Lilith’s ragged breathing started to overpower her alarm clock.

At one point her alarm had stopped but she could only lay there in utter shock. 

Thoughts and memories swarmed her mind, many of regret and grief towards what could have been. Looking to her left at her nightstand she could see two things that got her up: Her alarm clock reading 5:00 AM, and a single framed photo memory that started it all.

‘ Get up, you’ve got to, for them’ Lilith thought as she took a breath before starting her morning routine: get dressed, eat, and leave.

Her studio apartment was as spartan as her office, only the bare necessities. No posters or paintings, no small knick knacks accumulated by friends or family over the years.

If she were to have been robbed while at work, the robbers would have left with nothing in loot other than earl gray tea packets.

Every morning consisted of Lilith checking her roots in the mirror, ensuring to eradicate any orange roots with a simple dying spell. After that came her eye contacts so she wouldn’t have to wear her glasses.

Each breakfast was the same, just tea and oatfly meal. Sometimes, if she remembered, Lilith would add cinnamon to it. Even her walk to work was the same as almost no one was up at 5:30 AM other than those coming off the night shifts.

Sure it was dreary, but it was truly all for a reason. While she usually got up at this hour to get extra time to ravage the Emperor’s library for cures to Eda’s curse before her real work began, Lilith changed course. Now, her morning time was spent attempting to learn more about her new family and how to become ‘Aunt Lilith’ as she so hoped.

Looking back at it all, Lilith lamented heavily at losing her sister. While attempting to learn how to cure and capture her, she stopped knowing Eda. The fact that she didn’t know she was an Aunt till a few days ago says that fact as clear as a potion vial. The distance between the two was farther than she’d like to imagine. But Titan was Lilith absolutely determined to fix that.

If the ‘How to Aunt, for Dummies’ book on her office desk was an indication of her resolution, then she’d be set considering she had amassed a few stacks of them with titles ranging from “How to Get Hip with Tweens”, “Cool Bug Facts for Children”, and “How to Reconcile with Relatives 101”.

Even more, she’d brought three cork boards dedicated individually to Eda and her children. At the moment they stood in the corner, somewhat empty besides their wanted posters and obvious likes. (Luz’s had “Likes purple” right in the middle of a sea of cork.)

Lilith hoped it would soon become full to the brim over time should she succeed. But it seemed the Titan decided to grant her that hope in the most ironic ways possible.

It was about 3 PM that she’d received an erratic crow while doing tedious office work. A ceramic cup filled with raven tea stood adjacent from the picture frame of the family. She’d ordered the guard squad a while ago to take a proper photo of them, even if in the middle of a crime.

Small erratic pecks sung from the other side of her ligneous door. A simple circular flick of her wrist gave command to open, and then came the crow at full speed.

It head butted her within a second, squeaking with oozing urgency from the caller. 

“Good, gasp, Afternoon, Coven Head Clawthor-“ a series of wheezes and gasps could be heard, acting as the pseudo period mark for the guard’s sentence.

Her eyebrow rose in perplexion for a short while before both brows were turned up. Her mind raced like a headless chicken. If some of the Coven’s best guards are this out of breath, something must have occurred to Luz and King.

“Get yourself together, what happened? Are the children in danger?”  

Her tone ran cold even through the crow. As much as Lilith wanted to rant and ask of all the possible reasons, she would not allow herself to become the block to an answer.

A few more gasps came from the other side before a different guard answered.

“Sorry, we had an entire intense cardio workout today following the kid. No, they’re not in danger— At least not anymore. Gosh I’d never thought a kid could be so chaotic… Good news, the eldest is now a Hexside student!”

Like lighting Lilith sprinted to her corkboard corner, adding ‘Hexside student: ’ in pencil before asking:

“Now that’s something I’d had hoped to hear, but what track is Luz in?” 

A hesitant long pause arose as did Lilith’s heart bile beat in anticipation. She was ready to write ‘Potion track’ given the fact she and Eda did so as well.

“Well, here’s the thing. The kid’s in all of the tracks…”

While some would assume that since the Emperor himself instilled single track education as reign, Lilith herself would be devout to it too. But rather than view this outlier as heresy, she was rather jubilant; rejoiceful, even.

The fact of the matter was, she was seeing herself in Luz even more. And that fact just made her giddy enough to have to cup her mouth to prevent her giggles from reaching the crow. 

Lilith remembered when she too wanted to mix all tracks to some degree. Often hiding doing it at home rather than at Hexside for the fear of detention. Even then it came in handy when she got into the Emperor’s Coven.

It reminded her more of the fact that she had a niece, and by Titan did she truly adore that fact.

“Also she kinda maybe defeated a basilisk that snuck into the school on her first day after getting placed into the detention track and causing a small revolution.”

A quick silent spell from her wrists allowed her to scream into the void in exhaustion. Somehow the next generation of her family has managed to take more years off her life than her own job. She can’t even begin to fathom what more may be in store as they get older.

Lilith’s eyes stared at the photo of Luz in the middle of the corkboard with dilated enough pupils to be mistaken for a selkidomus. 

While it cemented the kids' relational ties, Lilith wished it didn’t mean for her to get into such dangerous situations. She’d rather not have to formally meet Luz in a children’s healer ward.

She sighed before thanking Titan that at least there wasn’t anything worse.

“And the youngest was found impersonating a teacher for an entire day before getting caught.”

‘ Titan, why do you condemn me so… perhaps context will soften this all’

“ Alright, start from the beginning I suppose.”

At the very least Lilith was able to fill up both children’s cork boards a bit by the end of it all. Even if she was shaking her head throughout it all.

Hieronymus Bump, despite all the drama and trouble of his job, truly loves being a Principal. But he will admit that it sometimes makes him question how he had even made it this far without losing all his hair.

The entire day he had was hectic to say the least. He’d gotten chills and goosebumps for the first time in decades. They were ones that had gone away alongside a certain Clawthorne years ago. 

At first Bump brushed it off, believing it to be gitters from the new black coffee strain he’d drunk that morning. Then he believed it came from a possible gut feeling he had ignored relating to the Basilisk that invaded the school. But he didn’t feel satisfied by that answer.

It was only due to the detention track kids’ ingenuity and grit that they managed to take down such a powerful foe without any adult witch help. It was honestly such an achievement he’d never seen since his years under Faust as an intern.

He had to say, he was impressed with this new batch of students this year. Especially that Luz kid, there was a spunk about them he couldn’t place his finger on. Something eerily familiar that almost made his hair stand. 

After the entire debacle and Principal office work was over, the sun began to set. Yet Bump remained behind, rummaging through student files in search of Luz’s. Something told him there was more to this kid even if just human.

Rummaging through the entire student for her grade alone was tedious but he’d found it at the least. The beige file that read, ‘Luz Clawthorne’, was the thinnest of the bunch considering her sudden enrollment. 

His brow didn’t raise at this, as he was aware Eda had taken a human under her ward recently. It only made sense that the child was legally placed under her name too.

A small picture of the witchling was paper clipped at the front of the file. It’d been taken after gaining her multitrack status, so her pointy cheshire smile was beaming from ear to ear. Not only that but her golden eyes gleamed in jubilance.

However before he could even peel open the folder, he got the chills again. That eerie chill. What was worse is that he could hear a single pair of footsteps marching closer and closer to his office door.

He could only grimace as they grew louder. He hoped it was a helicopter parent, or even Odalia Blight coming to groan about her daughter getting an A rather than an A++ of all things.

He hadn’t a clue of what was to come, but coming face to face with a long time alumni wasn’t it. More specifically, Lilith Clawthorne of all graduates. And boy did she seem seriously pissed for whatever reasons. 

“Ah, Lilith, what a pleasure to see a past student again”, his tone came soft as always, but his initial shock was evident, “But to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Rather than sitting down, the Coveness marched right up to his desk. Her demeanor stood in sync, her downcast eyes portraying an ire worse than any he’d ever had the misfortune of experiencing.

“Principal Bump, it’s been a while. Enough formalities though, I’ll simply cut to the chase: I understand Hexside has encountered a Basilisk that was defeated by a few witchlings, correct?”

Bump could only stare dumbstruck before nodding in agreement. He had sent a letter to the Emperor’s coven about the situation just an hour ago, but it shouldn’t have arrived as soon as this. Even more, it was odd that he’d receive such a response at this hour rather than tomorrow morning.

“While I must apologize for the escape of that Basilisk, I can give the assurance it’s been re-captured properly” Lilith stated before switching to a more sincere tone, here eyes scanning the office before narrowing towards him again, her volume going down to a mere whisper “Speaking of witchlings, they’re part of this multitrack program now?”

If his hair hadn’t fallen down then, it surely had fallen all out now. His adrenaline was pumping his own heart and bile out of his ribcage, something Lilith took notice of before continuing.

“Here’s the deal, I’m not here to punish or put a stop to any of this. We’ll keep this as our little secret, alright?”

‘ Oh thank Titan, I did not want my retirement to come quickly in stone.’

Relief fell upon him like an ice bucket. As stunned as he was, he could only nod in response like the little bobble head figure of himself he had on his desk.

“However, I will have to ask for something in return. What can you tell me about Luz Clawthorne ?” she stated, her eyes dilating at him.

“Well… It appears we’re both on the same page in terms of search” Bump spoke before sliding over the beige folder he had on hand.

Like a predator to its prey, she practically lunged at the file once she read the name. Her eye’s scanned at the single paper kept inside, not paying attention to the differing eye color of the photograph.

‘ Definitely related to Eda, no doubt there.’   

From getting banned on her first day, impersonating an abomination to get inside, to leading a mini revolution as her guards had told her, it was all there. And by Titan was she memorizing the shit outta it for her Luz board.

If her mutterings of ‘interesting’ and slight hums were anything to go off of, Bump would say his hunch about Luz was right: there was more to this kid than he thought. And like Lilith, he wanted answers.

“So… What’s so important about Luz that you came all this way for?”

A few theories ran through his mind, all leading back to recruiting Eda to the Emperor’s Coven. But based on the kid’s head first attitude and spunk like her guardian, he doubted it’d be successful. 

‘ Heh, makes sense Luz is under Eda’s guardianship, it’s like they’re actually made for one another in that aspect’

Lilith looked at him again, her eyes softening a bit.

“Do you remember Eda’s last flame? And I mean actual flame, not just some swing?”

Bump thought about it for a while. After Eda dropped out, he couldn’t help but keep a tab on her for a while out of care. With it came grapevine information about her ranging from her criminal escapades to the romantic ones. The latter of which he seldom heard of other than that of Raine Whispers.

The wheels began to turn in his head slowly.

‘ Raine and Eda… Raine and Eda… Luz Clawthorne ’

He felt fooled, it was all there in his face the entire time. From the chills, the smile, the eyes, and most of all the escapades, it’s all been there. How he didn’t suspect the kid to be the fruits of their labor he’ll never know. Even more, the kid used a violin of all instruments today in the take down of that magic draining intruder.

However, one contradiction came to mind immediately.

“But she’s human! Eda and the child’s friends even said so!”

Lilith chuckled at this. She’d come across this little detail in her search but quickly debunked it in her own mind.

“Well it’s quite obvious. Eda is attempting to keep Luz’s ties a secret for her safety, in fact as far as I’m aware Luz has been kept a secret from the public up until a little over a month ago. How else to cover it up other than calling the witchling a human of all things? Even more, has anyone actually seen her ears?”

Bump pursed his lips at this. It was true, he hadn’t seen the witchling’s ears with all their hair in the way.

‘ The same style Whispers had at that age too… just curlier. No wonder some of the staff today were trembling, they were having flashbacks’

Suddenly all the color drained from his face when he realized the light of it all: He had another Clawthorne in his school. A whole Clawthorne to terrorize the land he walked on.

“Oh Titan” he said before grabbing the bottle of apple blood he had hidden in his drawer.

“At least this year won’t be boring like the last few” Bump groaned out as a saving grace. Lilith could only nod at this, as both knew their futures would be much more than eventful.

Chapter Text

Peck Peck… Peck Peck… Pe-

The all too familiar sound of a crow upon Gus’s window came to an abrupt end once the illusions witchling opened the pane for the crow.

It flew around his head for a bit, playing with his hair for a second before resigning to his hand. He could only chuckle at this before being cut off 

“GUS! Hi! – Sorry, was that too loud?”

The sounds of Willow’s dads in the back could be heard, one of them reminding her to keep it down.

“Nah you’re alright, I didn’t put the crow to my ear yet. How’s your head doing?”

A small bandage around Willow’s crown was given after the entire Basilisk fiasco, her headband having been knocked off and lost during it.

“I’m fine all things considered, thank Titan…”

A hum of relief left his mouth at this. The two had been friends for roughly two years give or take ever since Willow helped him out on their first meet. Since then they’d become a best friend duo, but now they’d become a trifecta.

Speaking of the third…

“Did you see that mega big blow Luz did on that basilisk? It was like this big” Gus exclaimed, his arms reaching as far apart as they could from one another, even creating an illusion to stretch them from wall to wall like the weird green human toy he’d bought from Eda’s stand.

A chuckle rang out from the other side of the crow at his theatrics.

“Gus, I can’t see what you’re doing but I get your point. Luz using that cittern for the final blow was jaw dropping! She’ll definitely love the book I lent to her about citterns”

Chatter broke amongst the two, complimenting the new mixed styles of magic they’d seen in awe from the detention track kids. 

Willow had enjoyed seeing the mix between the abominations and plant track the most even though she hadn’t had the best experiences with the former track, but she had to admit the older kid was spectacular.

Gus on the other hand raved on about the oracle and potions witch, who was the one to even hand Luz the cittern in the first place, having barked about it being found abandoned in the secret room of shortcuts.

The entire day was hectic but exciting for the two even though they had gotten the magic sucked outta them for a while. Any and all plays on the crystal ball and the fictional stories from the library they’d ever seen or read fell short from the adventure the two had witnessed first hand.

In fact, they were almost familiar. Stories told by older kids came to mind, each of a witchling way back then who reigned chaos throughout the school in pranks came to mind, some even told to them by their parents.

“Hey, do you remember that name some of the detention track kids had said? Something with a C I think… I can’t place my finger on it, it’s right at the edge of my mind…” Willow murmured, attempting to wrack her head for it.

Silence festered between the two, both of them had had moments like this before, enough to know they weren’t waiting upon one another, just thinking in sync.

Gus was the winner in the end, recalling an older kid in his illusions class whispering to her friend about ‘school lore’: ‘ A golden eyed beast with a hippogriff mane that traversed the school like a slayground while spreading discord’

“I think it was ‘ Calamity ’, yeah that sounds right!”

Familiarity dawned on the two instantly. The name was infamous with many of the adults in town. Growing up they’d hear grown ups talk in hushed tones to one another every other month or so when something big had occurred in the news. And every time something big occurred, the same name popped up, Calamity .

Willow had a bit of a hunch of who it was. 

She had a specific memory in her mind, from before Amity had unfriended her. They were both four years old at Willow’s house, watching a play on the crystal ball. The play was a tragedy supposedly based on a real life event of a chimp given Xanax, but both of them didn’t know what a chimp or Xanax was. And they never did learn what they were, especially once their attention shifted from the crystal ball to the low toned voices abruptly coming from the kitchen.

It had been so long ago, she could only remember one part of the conversation they’d eavesdropped, but it stuck like gum:

 “ – I hope she’s alright, Gil. I know she’s Calamity and everything, but gosh, every time I don’t see her face on the news I get worried they got her. ”

Some shuffles could be heard more clearly at this point, having turned down the volume of the crystal ball enough to not be noticed by her dads.

“ Harvey, as much as I’m worried for her, she’s been gone longer from the media’s radar before… Remember four years ago when she was gone for nine months? E will be fine, I’m sure of it, she’s a Claw-.”

She didn’t remember more than that.

Willow twirled a strand of her hair at this memory, unsure whether to mention it or not as she had no clue who this ‘ E ’ could be. But Gus could sense her hesitance through the crow, therefore he posed the question for her: “Who do you think it could be? Personally, I’m theorizing it’s that Drew Umanzor witch in the illusion track. I saw him make this solid illusion of Principal Bump one time.”

Willow was glad to have Gus as a friend, they both knew how to break the ice for one another perfectly.

Chuckling at how well he knew her, Willow went through with telling her memory to him, placing emphasis on ‘ E ’ and ‘ Claw ’ most of all. But both couldn’t figure it out, at least until her dad called out for her from downstairs.

Willow excused herself for a moment, leaving Gus on the crow for a while until the sounds of loud footsteps gave away her return.

“Gus, oh my Titan, I think I figured it out!” Willow hollered before recounting her downstairs excursion.

Voices could be heard from the entrance door of the Park’s house. Willow peaked from the banister at the top of the stairs, attempting to see who was there. Once an all familiar tuft of a brown mane made its presence, she was jumping from her spot like a clear crystal frog.

“Luz!” Willow yelped before beginning to sprint down the stairs in excitement, pummeling Luz in a bear hug before she could reciprocate the greeting.

She’d never had another friend over in her house other than Gus and… yeah. So she was excited to have a new friend over, even if for a little while.

Her fathers chuckled at her excitement, both were glad to see their daughter had a new friend. But even more, they were glad to confirm an old friend of theirs was alright. 

However, they couldn’t help but send some questioning glances towards Eda at this new addition. The latter motioned towards the outside to talk, away from the kids.

As excited as Willow was at having her friend over, she knew there had to be a reason considering how late it was on a school day no less.

Before she could ask she found a wooden accessory being presented to her by Luz. She’d pulled it out her hair like Ms.Claw— 

‘Eda’ she reminded herself, recalling how her friend’s mentor preferred so. Something in the back of her mind yelled, but she stuffed it silent in preference to deal with what’s in front of her.

Willow gasped at the object for a second, realizing it was a wooden headband with carved flowers adorning the exterior.

“I saw you’d lost yours after today, so I got to whittling for you. I felt bad that I didn’t get to stop that thing before it got to you and Gus…” Luz lamented to her.

It was almost as if their interaction had restarted as Luz was engulfed once more in a deep hug, though this one came with some tears at her shoulder.

“Luz, I love it. And please” Willow paused before looking up from the hug into yellow eyes,” don’t apologize. You did so much today with the other multitrack kids for us. Thank you!” 

The grin the both witchlings shared became ingrained in Willow’s mind, especially considering what she heard from outside next: “Gee, E, I’m glad you’re doing alright. Especially as a mother of two, if you ever need some help don’t be shy to give us a call!”

‘ Mother??? E!?’ Willow thought, remembering back to when Eda had specifically called herself Luz’s mentor.

“Oh geez don’t call me that, it makes me sound old.” Eda complained, not realizing she’d confirmed a thing or two for the entire Park family by not denying the mother title. 

Willow didn’t remember the rest of the interaction as soon thereafter she was waving goodbye to her friend before stomping upstairs in revelation: Calamity had– no , is – Eda.

Calamity being Eda was confirmed immediately, but Luz being Eda’s biological witchling came a bit later.

“I thought your dad meant the mom thing more because Eda was taking care of Luz like one?” Gus questioned. Truth be told he’d heard some of the Bonesborough market stall’s even refer to Luz as Eda’s offspring at times when asking her to send something to the witch for them, so it wasn’t that far off.

“Yeah I thought so too but if you think about it, there’s sooo many similarities aside from looks obviously. I mean, doesn’t Luz fit the profile of the modern day Calamity ?”

Gus recalled back to when they’d attempted to figure out Calamity: ‘ A golden eyed beast with a hippogriff mane that traversed the school like a slayground while spreading discord’

Not only that but the both had seen the warrior-like enactment the detention track kids had presented while defeating the Basilisk. The group jumped in and out at different areas of the school through the secret passageways like childsplay. Luz’s eyes, in the moment of striking the final blow, shined in determination especially with the sunlight casting itself onto her from the window almost cinematically. 

It was as if the stories told to them about Calamity were given a sequel.

Given the fact that Willow’s dad called Eda Luz’s mom, perhaps they knew about it already? Did all the adults around them know? Not only that but the two couldn’t help but wonder if the stall people referring to Luz as her as ‘Eda’s offspring’ were being serious rather than joking around about their situation.

But it all brought back one question if that were true: Why did Luz say she was human? 

The two knew the Clawthorne matriarch held a door to the human world, so Luz knowing human knowledge wasn’t questionable by any means. But why would their dearest friend lie to them? 

Both their ears drooped at this. Luz had been honest with them about everything since they’d met, never once hiding her thoughts to them. Her ears on the other hand were hidden, neither of them had seen them…

However the sounds of coven guards marching down their designated paths like clockwork gave way to a plausible answer: It’s a cover.

 How could the Emperor’s Coven go after Eda’s Daughter if she didn’t technically exist in the first place?

Eda was by no means a star citizen if her bounty was anything to go by. Sure Luz herself had begun her own bounty but legally speaking it was a void bounty as it wasn’t tied to anyone who existed in the coven system. It was a small fish in a pool of bigger fish of reasons why the Coven(I.E Emperor Belos) was after any and all wild witches along with their witchlings.

The fact that Eda was gone from everyone’s radar for nine months at a point that matched up to Luz’s age only made the idea wedge itself into the fold of their brain.

The idea that Luz would maliciously lie to them felt foreign enough that this answer made the most sense to a point of becoming simple logic like saying one plus one equals two. The duo’s ears inched upwards exponentially as their mind pieced rationality with theory.

As for Luz’s conception, Witches had multiple methods. One of them being cooking a witchling in a cast iron cauldron for nine months like a potion, feeding the contents at three intervals per day. The only other requirements for it were an ounce of blood from two or more witches alongside constant vigilance to scoop out the pseudo milk skin that would foam atop. The amount of dedication it took more often than not had witches taking parental leave from work.

Eda was a well known potioneer, her illegal stand gave that much away considering the amount of customers in disguise that would come requesting potions that wouldn’t be possible without the penchant for it. 

Willow remembers seeing pictures of her dad’s by her cauldron in family photo books. The cauldron used for conception was always passed down to the witchling, becoming almost like a first birthday present amongst potion witchlets. 

Nowadays it was used for any plant brew she’d need to nourish her green family in her room. But both Willow and Gus could remember their multi-track friend using a distinct cauldron(that in all reality was just a discontinued cauldron none of them had seen before) for her potions class that she’d said Eda had gifted down onto her. 

It all really did come together for the witchlings like common sense.

But it did beg the question of who’s ounce of blood was also used as like Willow, Luz seems to have gotten her physical appearance from one parent while her personality truly came from the other.

Before either one could assume more of Luz’s lineage, it appeared that their time had come to an end: “Willow! I’d suggest saying goodnight soon to Augustus! Your Papa’s made spider silk spaghetti tonight, come down before it gets cold!” and “ Augustus! GriffenLoaf has been served!” could be heard from either end of the call in sync.

Silent curses were shared amongst the two at this, but the elated mood between them remained intact. While saddened at the fact they had to hang up the crow, they were also rejoicing at the assumption that Luz wasn’t lying but rather ensuring her safety.

“Do you think Luz will tell us herself one day, Willow?” Gus whispered, almost scared of exposing his friend despite the lack of exposure in his room.

Willow thought for a second before responding almost instantly in self assurance, “I think she will, in all the weeks I’ve known her she isn’t one to keep secrets, at least not with us. I’m sure she’ll tell us when she feels the time to be right, we should just give her time like she would for us”

The plant witch could sense Gus smiling from the other side of the crow before the two said their goodbyes. The two were more than happy to keep this secret for their friend.

In a certain avian household the Clawthorne family too ate dinner, dining together over dairy free franken-ravioli.

Every now and then Hooty had to be sprayed with a spray bottle kept on the kitchen table as he kept attempting to eat the bread rolls.

However it appears he won tonight when the eldest child of the house sneezed mid-bite, spitting ravioli onto the floor in the process.

And by Titan did Hooty devour what fell despite becoming drenched in water before fleeing for the 

“Guess someone is talking about you somewhere, Luz” Eda quipped before chuckling to herself..

Chapter Text

Amity had been nervous the entire session with her mentor, Lilith Clawthorne. She had always been nervous whenever in Lilith’s presence, having pushed herself constantly to strive for perfection in her mentor’s eyes, but today felt more tense than before. The reason being: Lilith was smiling.

Ruffled papers were strewn about the coven head’s room, some with coffee stains and blood (something Amity felt she had seen before in the library but couldn’t remember). On her right she could see a blanketed cork board she was sure hadn’t been there before, red strings could be seen poking out from underneath. The room’s once pristine nature had toned down slightly more and more each time Amity had met her mentor for their weekly sessions. The corkboard had been the beginning if she could recall correctly.

“Perfect, you’re doing just perfect, Amity!” Lilith exclaimed after a pregnant pause from evaluating the former’s written work. Amity felt shocked at this, not at the fact she’d gotten a perfect score – which she knew she would get anyways – but rather at Lilith’s expressiveness.

Amity could remember clearly the early days of her mentorship: sharp eyes looking with stone cold precision, and firm lined no-nonsense lips that never inched up. But the person who sat before her was the absolute inverse of who she once knew. Lilith held an ecstatic look, her ears laid pin straight up rather than slightly to the side. Moreover, this Lilith presented a fiercely rejoicing smile, one that felt eerily familiar to a certain someone she’d been exposed to more frequently as of late…

“Oh! Thank you…” she hastily replied, pausing for a moment to push her head down slightly in an attempt to hide her painted confusion. The word had felt foreign on her tongue, she had thanked people many times before under the context of a bored praise, but this time it felt more personal and… genuine . 

Red hues creeped up on her from ear to ear out, flustered at this new kind of compliment. Her eyes glanced at her school bag, a few completed papers from her other classes laid there. Before she could fish them out for more compliments, a small scream rang out from Lilith’s timer, alerting that their session time was over.

The witchlets ears drooped down at this. As much as she wanted to stay for a while longer, she knew if she lingered she’d cut into Lilith’s schedule. A silent sigh passed through gritted teeth, her hands begrudgingly grabbing the straps of her book bag.

The youngest Blight took a final look back at the room, eying the cornered cork board curiously before taking her leave. 

Each step she took towards the entrance felt heavier than the last. As much as she savored this kinder side of Lilith, a part of her still hungered in curiosity over the shift. Even in her leaving she could still sense the smile on her mentor’s face behind closed doors from the other side of the Emperor’s castle, fueling Amity’s curiosity. As much as she thought it over, her thoughts kept going back to the all too familiar smile her mentor bared.

Past the entrance of the castle gates laid its prominent wooden board holding all of the Emperor's highest placed bounties, but her eye noticed a new one immediately. Despite being buried beneath higher bounties, Amity found her eyes spotting the huma - Luz out of the sea of bounties. Luz’s skulled companion standing right by Luz’s side. Large royal blue ink writing ‘20,000’

‘ Titan, how does one even amass such an amount in such a small span of time?’

The anarchic look painted on Luz’s face felt deserving. Amity could recall clearly the fervor in the former’s smile, her determined umber eyes, and the absolute power she posed on the day a Basilisk invaded. It all gave no doubt of her association with the infamous Clawthrone poster above.

‘Hah, they have the same eyes too… golden’

…

‘ Golden eyes?’

The witchling stood dumbfounded for a moment, squinting with a questioning grimace. Her ears twitched in annoyance, befuddled at the conflict between her memory and the clothed poster. She could have sworn they were brown at the Wailing Star fiasco, but then again she recalled that night being packed to the brim with action and the nighttime shade. Though the brunette definitely held the same smile as that of her poster and mentor’s poster. In fact it almost felt more like separate family portrait given the online grape vine that was penstagram.

Amity felt herself emit a low growl, scowling at the thoughts running through her head. There had been bubbling speculations surfacing both the market and pensta regarding the youngest Clawthorne and her newest apprentice, most of them more asinine than the last in her opinion. A few suggested Luz to be two witches in a trench coat, others speculating she was just a well built abomination by the Owl Lady. Amity tsked at the latter, however there was a niche thread of messages growing in a small corner of the app speculating her as the younger Clawthorne’s offspring.

As much as Amity would’ve loved to tie the string of thought as just that, she couldn’t buy into that kind of speculation. There were too many holes in that theory for her to accept just like that, she would need to see person to person evidence of such claims. Sure they shared the same eyes and smile but just about anyone with the correct degree of fervor and genes could attain that. Besides, with all the stories told about the infamous ‘Best Witch of the Isles’ she couldn’t help but find doubt with the notion of the Owl Lady settling down enough to bear/brew an entire new witchling. Not only that but Luz was human , she had said so herself at the covention. The witchling could remember seeing a peak of tan rounded ears from Luz’s overgrown pixie cut when they had first battled.

All thoughts aside, Amity had to admit that the human presented themselves to be more powerful than previously thought given her bounty even if minor in the flood of all the others. A blush dusted itself on her pale cheeks, internally swearing it was because of the sheer prowess shown on the day of the intruder at Hexside.

The walk towards the fork in the road that split itself between the long and short walk to her family's mansion went by faster than she anticipated. The only other difference in the walk that day is that Amity found herself picking the longer walk. Mentally, she told herself it was to simply scope out the new competition, but her leather clad diary begged to differ. In fact, the many little drawings of the ‘competition’s’ face in her diary entries alongside the entries orbiting Luz’s existence were exemplary of this. What began as a single entry now spanned to well over a fortnight's worth. 

The stalls that lined the market were beginning to shave off, a few marketers already leaving their post with their duffle bag in hand while a few others came to take their place for the night market that was soon to come in an hour or two.

Amity had the route to a certain peculiar market etched in her mind, her pace only stopped when she stood behind an empty stall. The smell of massacred sweet pixies gave away what the stall sold in the day. However it was the stall across that she set her eyes on. She could see the little furba- King , sleeping on a cushy looking mattress on the left of the table. She had to admit the smaller creature was cute when it wasn’t fussing about being so called royalty. His tail twitching every now and them, likely dreaming of those war games he’d always stir on about.

As cute as he was, her focus placed itself on her target who stood to the right. Luz and Eda were conversing over probably frying owls tonight. The distance between Amity behind the empty stall and them was enough to muffle their conversation entirely.

From the human magazines that her classmates would parade around, Amity was sure humans lacked the ability to move their ears given how fixed in position they were in each photo. However the slight of a moving helix from the sea of thick brown hair seemed to object.

Her claims of watching the competition weren’t false when one considered how intent her gaze lingered on the brunette. The moon had come out not too long ago, its light hitting the group enough that it seemed to signify the shine in the human’s eyes. Golden eyes not too different from her own yet they felt deeper than she had ever seen before. 

‘ Were they always this striking?’ she thought momentarily, becoming lost in her own gazing mind.  

However much she’d like to defend herself in staying to linger, the back of her mind alarmed at the thought of returning too late home to scathing blue eyes. With a final look behind at those gleaming golden eyes she began walking home, ignoring the small grin that bestowed her face.

Never once her giddy state did she look over her shoulder towards analyzing mint eyes from the shadows.

“Yea so I found some little empty canisters labeled ‘Poppers’ near a dumpster and-“ 

Before Luz could continue she swore she felt eyes on her from somewhere, she could tell Eda felt it too. The latter’s ears moving upwards in alarm. Both of them looked at the same stall across, yet it laid bare without any trace or remnants of a person. The two couldn’t do much other than to shrug it off and chuckle amongst themselves in relief.

Luz adored spending days at the market, seeing all the kinds of demons and witches that passed through never once ceased to amaze her. Though she wouldn’t much prefer staying in for the night market, and thankfully Eda and King agreed without hesitation. That didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy seeing how the market looked half empty, its somewhat abandoned look made it feel like some sort of apocalypse movie. But she wouldn’t be lying over voting to go home right about now.

King would most certainly agree as he laid fast asleep on the human doggy bed they’d found on the last sea slug. As much as that thing was covered in disgusting slime, Eda found a way to clean it like nothing. It suited him given the gray and black coloring. Eda went as far as even embroidering his name in golden colored thread beneath where he slumbered.

As her eyes gazed at the market one last time, she felt a finger prod between her collar bones.

“Hey kid, you’ve got something” Eda said before hook line and sinker, successfully flicking Luz’s nose before chuckling to herself. Luz could only offer a playfully bemused groan, knowing that Eda would inevitably ruffle her hair in the next second.

Paper white hands mussed up brown hair only to stop when Eda had felt an unfamiliar disturbance poke her thumb. She could tell Luz had felt it too given how still then latter became, which only aided in Eda’s own growing worry.

Slowly, Eda came closer akin, using both hands to lift up the sides of her apprentice’s hair. Her ears gradually shifting upward with the growing tension.

“Kid, you didn’t ingest anything weird today, did’ya?” 

In fear Luz found herself mutely agape, only managing to mouth ‘no’ at her mentor. However, even that action gave presence to a new dental structure than before. Sharper canines replacing that of her previously dull human pair.

Eda looked at Luz more closely again, not believing her eyes when they gazed not only at full on witchling ears and canines, but also a new similar set of irises rather than the normal deep brown. Luz’s eyes managed to become more pinpoint than before once she placed her hands over her ears to feel the reality of her situation. 

The two could only gaze at one another in absolute shock, attentive to nothing but each other, never noticing a mint set of eyes from afar.

Lilith stood proudly watching from afar atop the balcony of the Park Flower shop. Her smile remained even after Amity had left, though now it became more amused at the sight before her. 

She had been aware her green haired apprentice had watched her niece from afar. She knew no harm would come from this interaction given the previous reports sent to her by the guards. 

“Puppy love '' is what they described it as, and comparing Amity’s blushing gaze it was safe to say the description was right. Lilith gave a silent chuckle at this, though if she had to admit she’d rather have Amity court Luz rather than many others at Hexside. 

A small grimace etched itself on for a moment side by side a slight growl leaving her lips, Lilith remembering some of the Hexside students during her presentation at the covention. There were many students present that truly made her question just how much the current curriculum had changed since her own times.

Sure Amity attempted to dissect her niece, but the amount of love stories on the Isles that began with some sort of attempted violence from grudgby, duels, etc made it seem like gifting a flower to one’s crush.

She could only shake her head humorously before looking back. Amity had left merely moments ago, only the small family and a handful of leaving merchants were left at the market lane.

Her eyes softened when she noticed a new scene in front of her. Eda held her daughter’s hair up from the sides, expectantly pointed ears baring themselves to the Isles. 

Lilith couldn’t help but coon at the sight, taking a photo before the moment could end. To her it simply appeared like a lovely familial embrace, and even more so with the angle she’d taken the photo from. While their faces were covered by their wild manes, the pseudo hug was evident.

Zooming in closer at the shot only made her all the more gleeful. Luz’s ears seemed to be developing at a lower slope, akin to a certain bard in mind. A small giggle rumbled out the coven head like a juvenile once her finger hit sent to penstagram’s one and only ‘rainey.day’.

Sounds of frantic scribbling could be heard in Raine’s cottage walls. Music sheets laid skewed across their bedroom floor and desk, each page different from one another. The only thing uncovered by the paper was a single golden frame of their biggest joy in life even if a replica of the original Polaroid Lilith presented them.

They’d been writing nonstop since they’d arrived home an hour ago. In fact their entire day had left them with pained hands, only having been able to get out at such an hour by rushing through all their workload.

The bard only stopped at the sound of an all too familiar notification. The only times they heard that sound was when they’d receive a message from Lilith, all else becoming muted once Raine’s attention became 100% set on solely Coven and Clawthorne related business.

Raine rapidly patted over all their sheets, their phone had become buried under paper soil. Their brow furrowed, ears twitching erratically at the lack of finding their device before their eyes lit up.

Despite the lack of lighting, the sight of Eda, Luz, and King – even if the latter was asleep in the corner of the frame – together made them melt. Their eyes analyzed the image, forging every little detail into their brain. A small gasp came out once they landed on their witchling’s ears.

“She has my ears! She has my ears!” They gushed like a school student, though with all honesty they couldn't care less about how childish their reaction was. 

Tears poked out from the corner of their eyes, joy simmering through their veins. In all their rejoice they still found it in themselves to make a note to frame that image. Grabbing a sticky note to place aside the stack of papers that laid on their bedside table.

Multiple different colored pamphlets ready to be shipped to the Clawthorne residence could be seen. Each varying from ‘Family Fun Fair’, ‘Bookenstein’ and many other family events that involved the coven in one way or another.

‘ I can’t wait to meet you all properly soon…’