The Calamity House

Chapter Five~Eda

Edalyn Clawthorne was flying over the Boiling Isles on her staff, Owlbert. Her roommate, King, was sitting in her hair, gazing determinedly at their destination: The Conformatorium. Eda looked at it in disgust. This was where the people Belos didn't like went...Rebels, Wild Witches, and criminals. Or simply just people his laws went against. Hugging her waist as they flew, was Luz Noceda.

Luz had stumbled through the portal and arrived in the Boiling Isles. For some odd reason, Luz believed Eda was going to eat her. She had brushed aside these claims easily, only seeing the human girl as a potential customer. She had shown Luz the Box of Depression, but Luz had only laughed and put some human candy in the box, which showed people inside it. This had attracted a large crowd of Witches and Demons, each one bidding for the box. Eda had made a lot of money out of it, and realized it paid to have a human on her side. They also had an encounter with one of the Coven Guards and had made a run to the Owl House. 

But this wasn't the only thing. From the moment she saw Luz she had thought this, and had only put up the "potential customer" masquerade to get some of that weird human money, which was particularly tasty for most Demons. Her real intention was to have Luz help her and King. King has this delusion that he was the "King of Demons" which she herself had inadvertently fed when she brought King in when he was a toddler. He still believed in it today.

The problem was that the human "Burger Queen" (Eda thought that this was ridiculous, even for the Boiling Isles) crown that she had stolen from a human trash can was King's "Crown of Power", and that apart of his power would return if he wore it. Unfortunately, it had been stolen by Warden Wrath, the infamous warden of the Conformatorium and one of Belos's cronies. 

He had created a barrier around the crown, which only a human could pass through. She had told Luz about this (not saying anything about it just being King's imagination due to King being present and her fear of the human being less motivated if she found out it wasn't serious). Eda had made a deal with Luz, saying if Luz got that crown for them, the Witch would bring her home. Luz, who realized she really couldn't refuse the offer, accepted. 

So, they had set off towards the Conformatorium. It was dark and thunder clapped around it. The Conformatorium's grim shadow had been visible for a while, but now it came fully into view. It was a grim-looking tower surrounded by a perimeter wall. Guards like the Coven Guard they had met earlier lined those walls. 

'Eda, why are we flying so high up? It's hard to breath up here and I really don't wanna get my favorite outfit wet.' Luz asked in slightly worried voice. 'Hey, if we fly any lower, those guards will see us and blast us out of the sky! Do you want that?' Eda retorted, the scar on the cheek more profound (if it could get anymore profound; it was rather large and visible) as she looked at Luz irritably. King spoke up in his squeaky voice. 'Yeah! Do you want to get us killed?!' The human made a scared noise and shook her head rapidly. 'No, I don't. Keep flying like this.' Eda nodded. 'That's what I thought.' 

They veered slightly of course, landing behind a giant bone-like piece of the Titan sticking out of the ground. With her staff in hand, King jumped out of her hair and landed perfectly on the ground. Luz looked in awe. 'I wish I could always land on my feet..' she mumbled. King laughed. 'You're a human, you're weak!' he said mockingly. Eda rolled her eyes. 'No bickering.' she snapped. She found it exhausting to listen to children fighting while she was already struggling to keep her impressive demeanor up.

'Alright, so you guys will infiltrate the tower and I'll make sure the warden and his guards are distracted. I'll meet up with both of you soon enough. We'll locate King's Crown and get out of here.' she said firmly.

Luz nodded, taking it all in. 'Hey, I have one question.' Eda looked at her directly, 'Shoot.' Luz peeked her head around the bone. 'Aren't the people in there criminals? Like, actual bad people. And you seem to be really against them being in there, so...' her voice trailed off at the glare Eda gave her. 'Only a quarter of the Witches and Demons in there are really criminals...Most of them are just called "unfit for society".' Luz stared at Eda for a moment. 'That's the only reason?' The Witch nodded. 'That is messed up.' Luz said darkly. 

King jumped between them. 'Can we get my crown! I can sense its power in the building...' he declared. 'Alright, alright, I was just answering the human's question.' Eda replied. 

'Then let's go!' King said impatiently. 

The three of them cautiously walked away from the bone, and headed towards the Conformatorium. Eda carefully analyzed the walls, seeing which sections had the least guards. She did this for a few seconds, but the guards kept moving in cycles; no section of the wall would be any less guarded than the others for anything more than a few seconds. 

'Ugh! Screw it!' she simply scooped up King into her hair and dragged Luz by the arm towards the wall. She drew a spell circle and a minor explosion happened on the other side of the circular wall, and the guards rushed over to it. Once they reached the base of the wall, Eda began speaking. 'Alright, like I said, we need to be quick, we don't have time to be distracted by anything.' she said quickly, glancing at Luz, who, in Eda's point of view could be distracted very easily. 

Luz gasped. 'Will I need a disguise?!' she asked Eda eagerly. 'Uh..' Eda had little clue on what to say. Luz flipped up the hood of her hoodie, which had cat ears. 'I've been waiting to use this for so long!' she said excitedly. Eda couldn't help but laugh. King looked in utter disgust. 'It's..It's hideous.' he said slowly. 

'Well, you'll fit right in,' Eda said, grinning, 'alright, everyone ready?' she asked. Luz nodded and King just sighed impatiently. 'I'm not waiting forever!' Eda tapped her staff on the barren ground and a piece of it was ripped off. She pushed Luz and King onto it and it began to rise up. 'Good luck!' Eda called. 

She then hopped on her staff and flew towards the tower. She smirked, realizing now she could have some fun with those idiot guards.