Changeling Witch

(S2) King's Problems

Hunter had relayed his run-in with Luz to Eda and King, though he'd made them swear to secrecy about who she really was—he figured she probably wouldn't appreciate him narcing on her, and he felt like he owed her a little bit, since she did help him get away. And truth be told, he was a tiny bit worried about her. She'd failed her mission, after all, and even if he was basically her dad, Belos wasn't the kind of person you should piss off.

Afterwards, he and King had managed to get a message out for King's dad, though they weren't sure whether or not it would reach him. Meanwhile, Eda had a little adventure of her own... one that she refused to tell them the details of. On the bright side, she could apparently do some kind of warped magic using Bard spells, and the news that King had legally changed his name to "King Clawthorne" had sent her into a bout of happy crying that Hunter didn't even think was possible—especially not from her.

But like all good moods, it wore off.

A few nights after King's adoption party, the three of them were all sitting in the living room, either angry, stressed, dejected, or an unholy mixture of all three. And apparently, that was the kind of situation that a certain bird liked to stick his tube head into.

"How we doing, hoot house?" Hooty sang, the door flinging itself open.

"Can you keep it down?" King snapped, his voice cracking. "I mean—down! Down! Why does this keep happening?"

Hooty stretched over. "Oooh, sounds like our little demon is becoming a de-man!"

King made a face. "Ugh, why does that sound so wrong coming from you?" He let out a frustrated shriek. "You! You! Ugh, I am done with this!"

He ran out of the room, still screaming a little.

"Wow, those teens, huh?" Hooty said, deciding to bother Eda next. "Their moods change like the wind!"

Eda lowered the scroll she was reading, revealing that she'd clothespinned her very-bloodshot eyes open. Hooty yelped and recoiled.

"I'm freaking out, Hooty," Eda said, scratching at her hair. "Belos is planning something big, and I'm weaker than a newborn witchling." She stood up and grabbed her huge pile of books on wild magic. "If I wanna protect you guys, I gotta train as hard as I can to get strong. No rest!"

"But every time you overwork yourself, you turn into the Owl Beast," Hooty reminded her.

"I SAID NO REST!" Eda blew an airhorn at top volume, then left.

Hunter groaned. "Would it kill you guys to keep it the fuck down? You're scaring the echo mouse, and if he's not happy, I'm never gonna get Edric to go out with—"

He stopped midsentence, his face heating up as he realized what he just said. "Uh—I mean—make a portal back home! Ha-ha! We gotta go!" He picked up the echo mouse's enclosure and ran back upstairs.

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

Hooty stretched stealthily over to the kitchen, where King was busily flipping through a pile of books on demons. This was a rarity, since the only things King usually read were comic books and Casey Cane, and the latter was just Hunter reading it out loud to him.

"Maybe if I figure out what kind of demon I am, I'll know what's going on," King muttered, turning the page. "But nothing in here looks like me."

Hooty knew exactly what King was going through, and since he was the only other demon in the house, he was well prepared to answer all of King's questions. The issue was, he knew that King would probably never accept help from him.