Calamitous Intervention

Covention

In the early to mid-morning, Anne, Eda, and King passed the time relaxing at Eda's Human Collectibles stand, which was filled with tons of random human junk she collected over time. She had recently restocked the 'human candy' with more batteries, despite Anne's protests.

The Owl Lady was tiredly dusting the table, with no customers passing by at this time. Meanwhile, the human was showing King some more Suspicion Island on her phone, happy to find someone who enjoyed the show as well.

"And that was the season finale of Suspicion Island," Anne finished explaining to him. "That scene where Charlie nearly got away with murder—ten out of ten writing. And they're gonna make Suspicion Island 2! It could come out maybe next year."

"If I were ever on that show, I would never get caught!" King boasted. "Us demons are tricksters of the highest caliber! You know, they once called me the King of Con Artists."

"You're pretty much the king of everything these days," Anne joked. "I don't think anybody would find a little guy like you suspicious, anyway."

"Ugh! Please stop watching that," Eda groaned, finally having had enough. "You couldn't get away with stealing a not dog, King, much less murder."

"I don't even wanna know how much you've gotten away with, Eda," Anne worriedly muttered.

"And your gossipy talking and obsessions are driving away all of our serious customers!" Eda continued.

Right as she started to complain, Anne looked beyond the stand. No one was nearby, no stands or customers—completely desolate—minus Eda's stand.

"What are you even talking about? There's absolutely no one around!" Anne countered. "Is today a holiday or something?"

As she realized the surrounding emptiness, dread consumed Eda. "This is a bad omen. There must be something horrible happening today," she said ominously.

A small purple flyer detached from a signpost nearby and fluttered around in the wind, eventually smacking Eda in the face. She grunted in frustration as she pulled off the flyer and held it at a reading distance, her eyes gradually filling with horror.

The flyer read, 'COVENTION' at the top, above a green witchlike figure gazing into a large cauldron filled with boiling liquid, with the text, 'WHICH COVEN ARE YOU? MYSTERY GUEST!' at the bottom.

Eda groaned loudly and dramatically at this. "Of course, it's the annual Covention of all things. Almost filled with as much scum as Hexside."

"A Covention?" Anne raised an eyebrow. Despite her lack of care for anything outside the Owl House, maybe she would finally find something that she liked to do. At the very least, she could have some fun since she had gone to some fan conventions back at home. What could this world's equivalent be?

"Trust me, kiddo, it's a mess," Eda told her. "It's a crooked system that forces you to join a coven and give up your magical independence. I haven't been to one since we were girls."

"'We'?" Anne narrowed her eyes at the witch, who realized her mistake and tried to backtrack, but the human didn't believe her. "Eh, anything's better than sitting around here all day. Why don't we just go there and see what's going on?"

"No," Eda simply refused.

Anne, smirking, had an idea to convince her otherwise. "Okay then. King," she prompted.

King cleared his throat before talking to Eda more about Suspicion Island, to torture her. "Say, Anne, do you think they'll ever stop making new seasons?"

Anne replied ominously to get on the witch's nerves. "Never. The ratings are too good. Wanna talk about the latest season's finale?"

"Of course, I would like to," King said, and Eda looked like she had had enough. I can talk all day about the hour-and-a-half finale!" King spoke to Anne as loudly as he could about who the real murderer was.