Changeling Witch

Sport

After the Chimera Incident, Hunter's life in the Isles started to look up. There was admittedly an incredibly disastrous body-swapping experience that the members of the Owl House vowed to never speak of again, but Eda finally relented and enrolled Hunter at Hexside for the next semester. And hey, it did take him sneaking in again to get her to change her mind, but what the hell? It was still way more exciting than school had any right to be. Bump even promised to keep quiet about it to the Emperor's Coven.

The Owl House gang (or the Bad Girl Coven, as Eda had dubbed them) had taken a trip to the playground, where Eda and Hunter were watching King attempt to take it over.

"Stand back, cretins!" King shouted, clambering up the slide and reaching the top. "Yes! YES! This is a throne worthy of a tyrant!"

The "throne" might have been big compared to King, but it was definitely more toddler-sized.

King pointed to the little kids watching him. "Bow to me, you snotty underlings! Bow!"

One of them did a handstand while the other leaned her head back, both giving him big smiles.

"Kid, you gotta stop filming everything King does," Eda said.

Hunter zoomed in on King. "The second I get back home, I'm uploading all of these onto MewTube. Fuzzball's gonna go viral."

While King was celebrating his "victory," a little kid with a big glob of snot coming from his nose came up behind him. "This isn't for standing, it's for sliding," he said. "You try!" He pushed King down the slide.

"Aaaaaaaaand boom." Hunter stopped recording. "I'm posting this with the title 'Tyrant Overthrown.'"

"Edaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" King ran over. "That monster took my throne!"

She raised an eyebrow. "You mean the baby?"

"No, the usurper! I want you to go over there and blow him up! Kaboom!"

"Yeah, I'm not using Owlbert to blow up a five-year-old," Eda said, gently taking the little owl off of her staff. "He's got better things to do. Like this." She scratched Owlbert under his wing, causing him to let out a little coo.

"He's so frigging precious," Hunter said, tapping Owlbert on the beak. "Where'd you get him?"

Eda gave him a confused look. "Get? I made Owlbert from the branch of an ancient tree. He's my Palisman, and we're bonded for life. And I'd annihilate anyone who'd hurt him."

King didn't seem to hear any of this. "Fine! Don't help! Revenge will taste much sweeter if I achieve it on my own!"

The snot-nosed kid ran over and pushed King. "Tag! You're it!" He ran off, giggling.

"Oh, man, here we go," Eda said, grinning. "King's infamous squeak of rage."

King let out a high-pitched squeal that nearly broke Hunter's eardrums. He chased after the snot-nosed kid, still squealing.

Eda laughed. "He's like a little teakettle!"

Hunter noticed a little circle thing on the underside of Owlbert's foot. "What's that?"

"That's his interlock," she answered. "It's so he only fits under my staff. Every Palisman has---"

Her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed.

"Eda?" Hunter leaped up and shook her by the shoulders. "Eda, wake up!"

She blinked awake, rubbing her head. "What---what happened?"