Changeling Witch

Beastly Intruder

Hunter did the circle motion for the millionth time, letting out a frustrated groan. "This is literally all she does! Why you gotta be so cryptic, Eda?"

He pressed play on the video again, watching closely this time, but he didn't catch anything different. Just her drawing a circle, then passing out.

"Hey, forget about that," King interrupted, scampering over. "I'm gonna teach you about the most terrifying demon of all---Smoochie-Pie the Sweetie Baby!"

Hunter gave the drawing of the cute, fish-like creature a blank look.

"He's... uh, he's a lot more threatening than the name implies."

"Just hang on a minute, okay? I gotta figure out this spell." Hunter paused, then barked a laugh. "Of course, if I don't have a bile sack, I can't actually do it, can I? Just gonna keep on twirling my fingers around forever with zero results!" He kicked at a nearby pillow and sat down with a huff.

"Why do you wanna learn magic so bad, anyhow?" King asked.

"I just..." Hunter sighed. "I was a nobody back home, but being a witch is my chance to be somebody. Do you know what it's like to have literally nobody take you seriously?"

King looked down at his feet, then back up at him. "If I help you learn the spell, can we finish our lesson?"

Hunter perked up. "Oh, you can teach me about demons all week if you help me learn this."

"Great." King scribbled something down on his pad of paper. "Eda mentioned that witches used to do magic differently, and I have a theory." He showed Hunter his drawing of a weird little equation. "Every day, I see her sneak a drink of this special elixir, see? And then she gets a big energy boost, see? Well, I think that's where she gets her powers from! And I know where to get some!"

"Really?"

"Si!"

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" Hunter exclaimed, picking King up and swinging him around. "You're a prince!"

"Uh... King. I'm King."

"Right."

..............

King climbed up onto the table and set a round bottle half-full with a golden liquid inside down in front of Hunter. "Here you go!"

He carefully picked it up, running his fingers over the label that read An Elixir A Day. "Oh my god," he whispered, grinning. "I can't believe I'm about to learn magic. Real magic. This is---I think this is historic or something."

"Drink it!" King encouraged. "I wanna see what happens!"

Hunter uncorked the bottle and slowly brought it to his lips---

BOOM!

A peal of thunder sounded, startling him---and causing him to drop it onto the floor, where it shattered into a million pieces.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuck!" Hunter groaned. "I was so close!"

"Eh, who even needs a light spell when we have tons of lamps?" King scoffed.

At that exact second, the lights shut off.

King sighed. "Hooty controls the house lights. He probably just fell asleep."

A loud bam sounded, followed by distressed hooting.

Hunter and King ran into the living room. "Hooty?" Hunter called. "Hooty, are you o... kay..."