Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A house stands on a hill.

A warm, cozy looking house.  

A house that, while obviously loved and well worn, was still neat and put-together.  

It had finely painted trim, a clean, perfectly mown front lawn, a few balls and toys scattered here and there but they weren’t nearly obvious enough to draw the viewers eyes from the blossoming trees. It was a very nice and warm home, so nice that you wouldn’t have expected the inside of the house to look like a tornado had attacked it with all the vigor of a rampaging Titan.  

And yet, the house was chaos.  

Various dishes were strewn across the counters, forgotten because of the impromptu fashion show that caused clothing items to be tossed half-hazardly across the living room floor. Countless books, papers, and various writing supplies littered the table, all having some sort of spell, potion recipe, or rune scribble across them in a seven year old’s messy handwriting.   

It had been an interesting night, to say the least.  

The eldest sister was newly seven years old, and her first year at Hexside School of Witchcraft and Demonics was starting, something that she was both proud of and extremely terrified for. While she was extremely independent for her age, something she had to learn because her little sister took up so much of her parents time; not that she would ever blame her sister, she was a handful; but she had quickly learned to prepare herself for such things.  

Speaking of said eldest child...  

An alarm blared through the house, quickly silenced by a hand whacking the screaming alarm clock. The eldest daughter sat straight up in bed, all tiredness gone from her eyes, replaced with a quiet terror.  

She scrambled out of bed, slammed her thick, round glasses onto her face, and grabbed the grey uniform that all Hexside students were expected to wear on their first day. She had looked over this in her handbook a million times. She would go the school, meet Principal Faust, and choose her track.  

Her track!  

She suppressed a shudder of delight and squirmed into the outfit. It fit perfectly.  

MAGIC.  

She stared at herself in the mirror, unable to repress the huge grin that crossed her face.  

Her reflection stared back at her, bushy red hair curling around her shoulders, bright blue eyes curious behind her glasses, the grey uniform finally marking her as a part of something big. Something huge!  

She was going to change the world.  

She just knew it.  

“You hear that?”  

She whispered fiercely, pointing her finger at her reflection.  

“You are going to be the bestest witch there is. You are going to be AMAZING!”  

Lilith Clawthorne beamed at herself, grabbed the backpack that she had filled the night before, and raced out of her room, for once not caring that she thundered down the stairs or that she had probably woken everyone up.  

SHE WAS A HEXSIDE STUDENT!  

The other young girl in the house was buried under her covers, trying everything she could in her power to ignore the sounds of her sister in the room over.    

She didn’t want her sister to go to school.  

School sucked.  

Witchling and Demon Day Care was the worst and she would bet her favorite stuffed animal that ‘Hexside’ was the exact same. Boring! The same every single day! She was expected to be nice and to play with the other kids and learn her letters and know how to talk and uSE heR wOrDs.   

She stuck her tongue out and got feathers from her pillow on her tongue.  

“Bleh!”  

She spat, sitting up in bed and crossing her arms angrily.  

This was the worst day of her life.  

There was a sharp knock on the door and she looked up as her dad poked his head in.  

“Come on witchlet, breakfast and then it’s time to drop your sister off.”  

She scrunched up her nose at him.  

“Why does she have to GOOOO?”  

She moaned, falling backwards on her bed and flinging her stuffed animals into the air. Her father chuckled softly and sat down next to her.  

“Oh, witchlet. We’ve been over this. She’s seven, it’s time for her to go to school, and she wants to go to school now.”  

She stuck out her tongue again, this time making sure she wasn’t face first in a pillow.  

“School can get eaten by a garbage slug.”  

“Hey now, watch your mouth. If we’re not careful you’ll be talking like a sailor!”  

She shrieked with laughter as her father scooped her up and started tickling her.  

“DAAAAAAAAAD!”  

She squirmed in his arms before retaliating, rolling out of his arms and onto the floor before springing up like a monkey and latching onto his back. She yelled in mock anger and whacked the back of his head with her favorite owl stuffed animal. He gasped in fake agony and fell forward, flopping onto her new, big girl bed that she had just got a few weeks ago.  

She giggled in happiness and whacked his head over and over again with her stuffed animal, ignoring his muffled screams of terror...screams that were obviously being played for laughs.  

“Are you two almost done?”  

Came a new voice.  

Eda whirled around to see her mother standing in the doorway, eyebrows raised as she took in the sight.  

“You two are insane.”  

She said, shaking her head sadly, but the tiny smile creeping onto her face said otherwise. Eda beamed, revealing the big gap between two of her teeth.  

“You’re going to need to get that fixed.”  

Her mother mused, bopping Eda’s nose. She squinched up her face at her mom, sticking her tongue through the little hole.  

“I like it! It makes me look tough!”  

She missed the glance that her mother and father shared before her father scooped her up in his arms and raised her as if she was flying.  

“Here comes the ferocious Edalyn Clawthorne, most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!”  

Her father shouted, spinning her around and running out the door with her, sliding down the hall and running down the stairs.  

Lilith dug into her pancakes with vigor, practically dousing them in bug syrup, knowing that food would make her brain so smart! It also tasted really, really, really good. She closed her eyes and hummed happily, kicking her feet that still couldn’t reach the ground.  

It was fine.  

She didn’t have to be tall, she was still really little.    

But Eda was almost the same height as her, even though she was two years younger! It was a little annoying but Lilith didn’t really mind. She loved her sister more than anything else in the whole entire world!    

Speaking of her sister, she could hear the ruckus upstairs that was bound to be her whining about getting out of bed.  

Eda never did like the mornings, not she did.  

The earlier the better!  

She loved getting a jump on the day.  

Suddenly her father came clomping down the stairs, Eda laughing hysterically in his arms. He placed her on the ground as they reached the landing and her younger sister launched herself towards her.  

She barely had time to shove her plate away from her so it wouldn’t break when Eda was tackling her and sending her tumbling off her chair. She skidded across the floor before sitting up, Eda lying on top of her in a strangling hug.  

“Lilyyyyy why do you have to goooooooooooooooo?”  

She whined for the hundredth time since she had gotten the news.  

Lilith smiled and sat up, pushing Eda off her, keeping the faint anger that had bubbled up at being shoved off her chair at bay.  

She was going to be mature.  

She was the cool, mature older sister and she could be super smart and have an answer that would make her parents so proud of her! Besides, she knew Eda hadn’t meant to be mean, just herself!  

“I have to go learn. You’ll join me soon, you’ll see! And I’ll be back in a couple of hours and I’ll tell you everything about what I’ve learned!”  

Eda stared at Lilith, her golden eyes searching her older sister’s for any hint of lying. Lilith stared back at her, willing her eyes to show all the love and trust that she had for her little sister.  

Eda’s face slowly morphed back into a grin, her little gap showing yet again.  

“Pick a super cool track!”  

Lilith felt a grin spread across her own face at her younger sister’s praise.  

“I will! Something cool and versatile!”  

“Ver-su-what?”  

Eda said, tilting her head in confusion.  

“Ver-sa-tile.”  

Lilith pronounced slowly, feeling a big well of smugness rise in her.  

“I read it in the handbook.”  

“Ooooooh.”  

Eda said, rolling her eyes. Lilith huffed in annoyance and shoved her.  

“Don’t do that!”  

She loved the handbook! It held so much information! She had read it what felt like a million times!  

Lilith glared at Eda and scrambled to her feet, adjusting her glasses importantly.  

“I like it.”  

“Okay you two, eat your breakfast. Then Lilith, time for school, and Eda, time for daycare.”  

Eda groaned and fell backwards onto the ground as Lilith shivered with excitement and nerves. It felt like her stomach was going to explode but in a good way! In a happy birthday and holiday and dessert kind of way!  

The two girls shoveled into their pancakes and bug syrup as the minutes ticked closer and closer to the time to leave.  

Eda dragged her feet all the way to Hexside School of Witchcraft and Demonics. Technically they hadn’t walked far, just to her parents’ staffs and then from the staffs to the front doors, but oh did she drag her feet just as much as she could.  

It was something she had heard her parents call pettiness.  

She didn’t know what exactly it meant.  

But it sounded super cool so she figured it was fine.  

As they had neared the school Lily had ceased her excited fidgeting and gone deathly still, something that Eda knew to mean that Lily was scared.  

If she was so scared of school, why didn’t she just not go?  

They walked up the steps of the school, Lily clutching her parents’ hands, Eda trailing behind, still grumpy.  

“Okay, make sure you pick the right track, okay?”  

Her mom said, pressing a kiss to Lily’s forehead.  

“Have fun!”  

Her dad said.  

“Make friends!”  

Her mom continued.  

“Study, but not too hard.”  

Her dad smirked and Lily flushed.  

Eda rolled her eyes and shoved her way forward.  

“Don’t forget to pick a cool track.”  

She said, super serious. Lily immediately mimicked the expression, pressing her forehead against her sister’s.  

Eda closed her eyes, breathing in the familiar scent of Lily’s rose shampoo.  

“I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”  

Lily whispered, grabbing Eda and pulling her into the biggest hug. Eda squeezed back, feeling hot and wet tears come to her eyes.  

“I don’t want you to go.”  

“I know.”  

They stayed like that for a minute before the first bells began to ring. Lily pulled away, pushing Eda’s hands off her shoulders. Eda stared as her sister gave their parents a quick hug before scrambling up the steps.  

“I’ll see you soon!”  

She said, giving a nervous smile before turning around and sprinting up the stairs, hiding the faint tears from her family.  

Lilith had barely even entered the school when she stopped dead in her tracks, mouth falling open in shock.  

The first and only time she had been to Hexside had been on one of the many open house days over the summer, where there was no one there except for the teachers and the students touring. Tops twenty people.  

This...this was insane.  

Hundreds of students milled about, some taller than her parents, some even shorter than her. All dressed in black and another color, something related to a different magical studying track. There were so many people and so many things to look at!  

She ducked as something sped by overhead. It was a demon, followed by a teen witch on a staff! He had a staff! It was amazing! There were demons and witches everywhere, in the air and on the ground, and there was even a kid sticking to a wall!  

She felt very, very small.  

None of the other kids had grey uniforms like her. None of the other kids even looked as young as her. Where were the kids her age? Where were the nice teachers she had talked to at the open house?  

Her heart started racing and she backed up, suddenly feeling like she couldn’t breathe.    

“Hey, watch it!”  

She jumped as a teen shoved past her, casting her an annoyed look before hurrying down the hall. She walking around frantically, trying to find a way out of the chaos of the hall.  

It was too much.  

This was all too much.  

Whoa, careful kid!”  

She startled as an older student grabbed her arm, keeping her from walking straight into a wall. They gave her a sympathetic look. They looked so much older than her, with fluffy blonde hair in a bun and double piercings in their pointed ears, and their piercings even matched with their red bard track uniform.    

“You’re new. You’re probably trying to get to Principal Faust’s office, right?”  

She nodded, relief washing over her. The older student gave a slight smile and jerked their head down a different hallway.  

“Come on, I’ll take you.”  

The student took off striding down the hallway, winding their way through the students with ease. She sprinted after them, her backpack bouncing on her back.  

“I’m Fin, by the way.”  

“Lilith. Lilith Clawthorne.”  

“Cool. From your outfit I’m going to assume this is your first day?”  

She nodded.  

“Yeah, you had that look about you. This is definitely not my first time.” Fin said, chuckling as they ducked and winded their way past students making out by the lockers and doodling graffiti.  

“How old are you?”  

“I am ancient.” Fin winked. “But to you mortals I look like a teen.”  

Lilith giggled slightly.  

“You’re a bard, right?”  

“Aw yeah! Music magic for the win!”  

Fin stuck a dramatic pose and Lilith grinned.  

“What instrument do you use?”  

She asked.  

“Mainly my voice, actually. I’m a singer. But I also can play the guitar and the piano.”  

Lilith nodded, tucking the information away. The bard track had never really appealed to her, but it was nice to know that it had variety.  

“Seriously though, bard magic hurts. Have you ever played the guitar while fighting? Crazy!”  

As they came to a stop in front of a pair of huge, foreboding doors they both fell silent. She gulped, the ease laughter that had spilled out with Fin dying in her throat. She looked up at them and found them looking at doors with trepidation of their own.  

“Listen, a piece of advice.”  

Fin said, getting on to one knee so that they were level with Lilith.  

“Do not get on Principal Faust’s bad side. It’s hard to even be on his good side, but try to stay neutral. Slip under the radar. Kay?”  

She nodded in response, fear flooding her eyes.  

“Hey, hey now, none of that. It’s not so bad.”  

Fin reassured her, patting her head softly.  

“Do you slip under the radar?”  

Lilith asked, looking up at the older student. They shrugged, piercings jingling merrily.  

“Eh, most of the time. As a bard, we’re pretty inconspicuous.” They leaned down conspiratorially. “Don’t let that fool you. We kick ass.”  

Lilith flushed bright red at the crass language and Fin winced.  

“Oops. Sorry. Ignore I said that.”  

Bells chimed yet again and Fin straightened, their eyes widening.  

“I gotta run. You’ll be fine kid!”  

They gave her a big thumbs up before knocking on the door and sprinting off, disappearing down the hall.  

Lilith shivered as the doors swung open.  

She already missed the bard.  

The very first thing Eda did when she got to the playground after the first hour of Daycare was kick a ball right at another kid’s face.  

He dodged it and whirled around in anger, starting to cry.  

Eda sprinted off, a vicious thrill running through her as she reached the swings and scrambled on, preparing an excuse.  

But the thrill very quickly wore off, leaving her with the same, empty, hollow feeling that had been haunting her all day.  

The feeling that she was alone.  

For the first time ever.  

And, in the way that only kids could, her peers knew something was up.  

Well, there was the obvious disappearance of her red-headed sister who always played with her, but it was as if the other kids had circled in on her sudden weakness.  

Like vultures.  

“HEY CARROT HEAD!”  

She whirled around, anger immediately flaring up and making her ball up her fists. A smug blue haired girl, Misha, sauntered towards her, a short blonde boy about four following in her wake. Both were dressed in pristine, clean outfits and Eda imagined smearing mud all over them.  

“Where’s your sister?”   

Misha said, smirking at Eda.  

“None of your business.”  

Eda sniffed, all the times that Lily had told her not to interact ringing in her head.  

“Wow, she really abandoned you?”  

“No. She’s at school.”  

Misha tilted her head.  

“Really? The nerd is in school? Who would have guessed?”  

Misha, at the ripe age of six, had discovered sarcasm and was using it to her full extent.  

“Go away!”  

Eda snapped, turning away and running across to the other side of the playground. Misha and her lackey ran after her, intent on causing trouble to the orange-haired girl who always did reckless things.    

“Did youw thither weave you becauthe you’we weiwd?”  

The little boy asked, his lisp making him sound like the biggest idiot Eda had ever heard. But his words hit home in her heart and she whirled around.  

“NO!”  

Eda burst out, clenching her fists and making a face.  

“Oooooh okay.”  

Misha said, her voice obviously meaning that she didn’t really think Eda was telling the truth.  

It was almost like Lily was there with her, reminding her not to fight, not to give in to the anger, to let herself take the blame and the insults.  

“Your sister always was a little dorky weirdo.”  

NO  

NO  

NO  

“I bet she’s one of those Hexside weirdos. WEIRDO WEIRDO WEIRDO!”  

Well who cares what Lily said.  

Eda launched herself forward and tackled Misha to the ground.  

Lilith gulped as the huge doors swung open and an eerie voice called for her to enter.  

She crept forward, heart beating a million times a minute as she walked into the dark room. There was the sound of a finger snapping and she yelped as lights suddenly blared to life around her.  

A tall, imposing demon with long, wide horns, terrifying pointy teeth, and a flaming tail glared down at her.  

She whimpered in terror.  

“Name?”  

He snarled.  

“Lilith. Lilith Clawthorne.”  

Principal Faust nodded once before turning around and slamming a drawer open. Lilith flinched and backed up as fast as she could.  

“Age?”  

“Seven.”  

She said as he rummaged through a pile of papers, flinging them across the room and almost hitting her.  

“Great. 1 st or 2 nd grade?”  

“1 st grade, sir.”  

He tossed her a packet of papers and she caught it, practically falling over under the weight.  

“Note for you, Clawthorne.”  

He leaned forward and she shivered as he stopped mere inches from her face.  

“Don’t. Break. The. Rules.”  

He tilted his head creepily before straightening and whirling around to whack the wall.   

“BUMP! Take care of this new student!”  

“Yes sir!”  

Another witch came hurrying into the room, this one a younger man with a demon...palisman? on top of his head and whisps of black hair falling out. He was dressed in simple robes and had a kind, understanding face. Lilith immediately liked him a million times better than Principal Faust.  

“Hello.”  

The man said, holding his hand out. Lilith shook it and he gave her a sympathetic smile.    

“I’m Vice Principal Bump. Come on, let’s go choose your track and get you to class.”  

She nodded excitedly and he led her out of Principal Faust’s office.  

“Where are the other kids my age?”  

She asked as they walked down the corridors.  

“Well, if you came in the main entrance then you saw most of the middle and high schoolers. That’s where their lockers and classes are. You are with the rest of the elementary students, over here.”  

He stopped in front of a door.  

“This is, according to your schedule, your classroom. There are multiple different 1 st grade classrooms but this is the one you’ll stay in until 2 nd grade. You don’t get really sorted into different tracks until middle school, but what track would you like to choose?”  

Lilith closed her eyes.  

She had thought about this so much.  

So, so much.  

And she had ended up deciding with the most versatile track. The one that she was pretty adapt at. One that she knew she could succeed at. Maybe the one that her mom didn’t like very much, but she was so good at it she would be amazing! They’d all see!  

“I’d like to choose potions, please.”  

Vice Principal Bump smiled and waved his hand. She grinned as a wave of magic washed over her and her grey uniform turned gold and black. She suppressed the squeal of delight that threatened to overtake her.  

“Go on. You’re a couple of minutes late but the first day of class is always chaotic, especially for the 1 st graders. I bet only a few of them are even in there right now.”  

Okay.  

This was fine.  

She could do this.  

She took a step forward and grabbed the doorknob.  

“Have fun.”  

Vice Principal Bump said, giving her an encouraging pat on the head.  

She took a deep breath and swung the door open, stepping inside.    

Eda tackled Misha to the ground and yanked her stupid little prissy pigtails as hard as she could. She shrieked in pain and Eda shoved her face into the ground, making sure that her dumb face got all muddy and messed up.  

“ONLY I CAN CALL MY SISTER NAMES!”  

She shrieked, scooping up handfuls of mud and hitting Misha over and over with her dirty and gross hands. Suddenly the little boy, she didn’t know his name, was trying to push her off now, his shrieks and wails of protest joining with Misha’s screams of pain and rage.  

Eda scrambled off Misha and shoved the boy away from them, giving him a glare to say that this wasn’t his fight. The boy paled under her fierce gaze. She was a year older than him, after all, and she had just attacked Misha.  

The boy sprinted off, presumably to get an adult, but Eda threw a ball of mud at him and sent him tumbling to the ground. He wailed in pain but she just turned back around to Misha, who was sitting up now.  

“YOU MEANIE!”  

She screamed, getting to her feet and lunging towards Eda, who dodged easily and pushed Misha onto the ground again.  

“EAT THIS!”  

Eda grabbed a nearby ball and threw it hard at Misha’s face. It whacked her right in the nose and blood started to drip onto Misha’s lip.  

She stared up at Eda, crying and Eda felt kind of bad.  

Maybe she had gone a little too hard.  

Maybe Misha didn’t need to be hurt that much.  

Suddenly she was falling backwards, Misha on top of her now, pulling at her own bright orange hair.  

Pain shot through her head like a thousand tiny needles.  

Eda screamed and failed at Misha, hissing like an angry cat.    

She kicked Misha in the knee and punched her in the nose again, getting blood on her knuckles. Misha wailed in pain and Eda flung her off, scrambling to her feet and standing over the other girl.  

The other kids were screaming and crying now, running to go get the adults who were already sprinting towards them. Eda knew she had a few seconds before she would be pulled away from Misha, but she could have the last laugh.  

She ran forward and pounced on Misha again, pinning her onto the ground with her left arm and drawing a shaky spell circle with her right. She had only just been able to do this, Lilith had taught her in secret after she had poured over her new schoolbooks.  

Eda closed her eyes and focused every feeling she had on her anger and loneliness and sadness and rage and channeled it into Misha, who screamed.  

She opened her eyes to find Misha had turned into a tiny, little, chicken.  

Eda grinned evilly as the chicken squawked up at her, its feathers the same blue color as Misha’s hair.  

“EDALYN CLAWTHORNE!”  

A hand grabbed her arm and Eda snarled as one of the many aids began dragging her away from the scene. Misha was slowly getting to her feet, de-transformed by one of the aids, blood dripping down her nose, an expression of pure rage and pain on her face.  

Misha never went back to that daycare ever again.  

A middle aged witch with long brown and silver hair in a braid turned as she walked into the classroom. A smile spread across her face and she strode towards Lilith.  

“Oh, hello! Took you a little bit to find us, didn’t it?”  

Lilith nodded in response, not trusting herself to speak.  

“Well, I’m Ms. Rose, it’s very nice to have you join us. What’s your name?”  

“Lilith. Lilith Clawthorne.”  

Ms. Rose checked something off on a piece of paper and gestured for Lilith to go and find a seat with the other kids in the classroom. The tables were round and scattered throughout the classroom. Bright posters talking about letters, spells, runes, and encouraging slogans were hanging from almost every single wall space.  

The teacher’s desk was clean and neat, with nice stacks of paper and different books piled nicely in the corners. She had a jar of colored pens right next to a tiny bubbling cauldron. An adorable little silver ferret perched on Ms. Rose’s shoulder, purring slightly.  

Lilith perked up.  

She had never seen a ferret palisman before.  

She placed her bag down on the table nearest the teacher’s desk and sat down, looking around at the other students nervously.  

It was just now that the realization that her sister wasn’t there to sit next to her. Wasn’t there to be her barrier between her and the outside world.  

She felt very, very scared.  

Eda had been by her side at everything since she was four and Eda was two and she had joined Lilith’s daycare. She had never done something like this without her younger sister.  

None of the other students sat next to her.  

They all sat at other tables, further in the back, away from the teacher.  

Not that Lilith realized they were avoiding the teacher.  

She thought they were avoiding her.  

“You look clean.”  

She jerked her head up to see a boy on the other side of the table, dressed in the abomination track outfit and having the most perfect dreadlocks she had ever seen on a person. His outfit, while being the exact same as hers except for the color, was perfectly ironed and cleaner than any other student she had seen yet.  

“Clean?”  

“The rest of them seem like grubby little thieves.”  

The boy said, putting his backpack down and sitting next to her.  

“I mean, sure?”  

She said, a little confused.  

“I hate dirt. It’s gross and slimy and gets everywhere.”  

The boy said, his formal tone slipping a little bit as he complained.  

“Okay, clean freak. I’m Lilith.”  

“Darius.”  

Both kids nodded at each other before facing front as Ms. Rose clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention.  

“EDALYN CLAWTHORNE WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”  

She was thinking that she didn’t really like it when her parents yelled at her.  

She was also thinking that Misha had completely deserved it.  

“Eda, why did you attack her?”  

Her father asked, kneeling down so that he was at eye level with her.  

“She was mean to me.”  

“Eda...”  

“She called Lily a weirdo!”  

Her mother shook her head sadly and Eda clenched her fists. Why wouldn’t they understand? Misha had been mean so she had been mean back! What was the problem?  

“Eda, sometimes, when someone is mean to you, you need to just ignore it.”  

“IT’S INJUSTICE!”  

She didn’t see the confused glance her mother and father gave each other.  

“What?”  

“Injustice! Lily taught it to me!”  

Her father sighed and stood back to his full height.  

“I don’t care that it’s injustice, you still shouldn’t have hurt her. Lilith wasn’t even here to hear the insults, it doesn’t matter. You need to learn to ignore it.”  

Eda scowled but her father flicked her nose and she fought to suppress the smile that tried to burst out of her.  

“You are going to go and apologize to the girl you hurt.”  

Eda shook her head furiously.  

“NO!”  

“Eda....”  

“NO NO NO NO NO!”  

She shrieked, jumping off the chair and making a beeline for the door. Her mother lunged and caught her, swinging her up into the air so that she dangled at eye level almost like a kitten.  

“Edalyn Clawthorne. You will go out there, walk right up that girl and her family, and apologize for hitting and transforming her with magic. Do you understand?”  

She scowled, her ears drooping.  

“Fine.”  

Her mother put her down on the ground and Eda marched out the door, closely followed by both her parents. Stupid parents.  

She didn’t need to go apologize! She’d done what anyone would do in that situation! Any sane witch would absolutely go and attack her, she had done nothing wrong!  

Stupid parents.  

Stupid Misha.  

Stupid Lily for abandoning her.  

Stupid stupid stupid.  

She stomped across the playground, her gaze fixed on Misha, who was standing with a taller witch who looked like her father.  

“Misha!”  

She shouted, causing both of them to turn around. She stopped in front of the girl and crossed her arms, casting one last glance at her parents.  

“I’m sorry I hit you.”  

Misha opened her mouth to respond but her father cut in.  

“Yes, thank you very much. Misha, let’s go now.”  

The father started to lead his daughter away but Misha yanked her arm out of his grip and stormed back over to Eda and leaned right in her face.  

“Next time I see you, I will end you.”  

She hissed. Eda raised her eyebrows.  

“Try me.”  

The two glared at each before Eda’s mother caught her arm and Misha’s father caught hers. The two girls were dragged away from each other, Eda glaring daggers at the other girl.  

“Good job Eda.”  

Her mother said, giving her a smile.  

“Dang that girl was a brat.”  

“Dell!”  

Her father ran his fingers through his hair sheepishly.  

“I mean, she was.”  

“Oh, no wonder Eda acts like this.”  

“Acts like what?”  

Both adults turned to look down at her. She gave them her best pleading smile.  

“Nothing, witchlet. Come on, let’s go home so we can talk about your punishment.”  

“Ugh. And then get Lily!?”  

Her mother gave her a smile.  

“Yes, then we’ll get Lily.”  

Lilith had reached the part of the day that she had been absolutely dreading.  

Lunch.  

Where she knew absolutely no one.  

Ms. Rose walked them to the cafeteria and Lilith through she might burst from sensory overload. It smelled terrible and the noise was a million times worse than the hallway. Lilith shrank backwards and bumped into the kid, Darius, who she had sat with in the classroom.  

“Watch it.”  

He said, pushing past her and hurrying after the rest of the class.  

She bit her lip and ran after him, not wanting to be left behind, alone in the huge room filled to the brim with students of all ages.  

It didn’t help that teachers were constantly shouting for order and no one was obeying.  

She hurried after Darius, sliding in line next to him as they waited for the food.  

“How old are you?”  

She asked.  

“Six.”  

“I’m seven.”  

She said, feeling a little flicker of pride as she straightened to stand taller. Darius scoffed and whacked her head jokingly with his hand.  

“You’re still short.”  

“I AM NOT!”  

She crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at him. Darius laughed and grabbed his plate of food, wandering off to sit with the rest of the class. She took her own plate of food and followed him.  

Suddenly someone slammed into her and sent her tumbling to the ground. Her food splattered all over her clothes and her glasses slammed into the ground, a sharp cracking sound letting her know that they were absolutely ruined. She winced and turned over, tears coming to her eyes.  

A much older student was looking down at her, anger written across her face.  

“Watch it, shrimp!”  

She said, smirking and kicking Lilith’s tray just out of reach of her hands. Lilith sat up and felt her tears start to trickle down her face.  

“Aww, is the little baby crying?”  

“Aww, is the 6 th grader trying to pretend she has power?”  

The 6 th grader’s face paled as she looked at someone standing out of Lilith’s blurry view.  

“Sorry, sorry.”  

She stammered, turning on her heel and hurrying off to go sit with her friends at a different table.  

Lilith groped around for her glasses when suddenly they were placed on her face, fixed and cleaned. She looked up to see Fin standing next to Darius, both of them looking at her in concern.  

“You good kid?”  

She nodded, scrambling to her feet. Fin grinned and waved their hand, Lilith’s clothes immediately drying.  

“Avoid the middle schoolers until you’re a little older. They have the Tiny Demon complex, where they think they’re superior to everybody else. Spoiler alert, they’re not.”  

Lilith sniffed and rubbed the tears off her face.  

“Why’d you help?”  

Fin chuckled and leaned against the nearest table.  

“Well, what’s the point of being tall and cool if you can’t help the underdog, amirite?”  

Darius stepped forward now and handed her a napkin.  

“Just in case.”  

Fin waved their hand and an apple and bag of Hex Mix appeared out of thin air.  

“Here, eat this.”  

Lilith caught the food and Fin winked.  

“Piece of advice, kid. Find something you’re good at.”  

Lilith frowned.  

“Find something that people are going to know you for and stick with that. Make a name for yourself and people won’t bug you so much.” Fin frowned. “Well, unless you become known for being an asshole or something.”  

They slapped their hands over their mouth and groaned.  

“I can’t stop cussing I’m sorry. Anyway, find your thing.”  

“What are you known for?”  

Darius asked, a bit of annoyance and disbelief creeping into his voice. Fin flashed a smile and struck a pose.  

“I am one of the top bard students AND I have been major characters in multiple musicals. They may have been the villainous and/or comedic characters, but they were still leads!”  

Lilith laughed softly and Fin took a bow, their eyes flashing with mirth.  

“HEY, FIN! STOP HANGING WITH THE FIRST GRADERS AND GET BACK OVER HERE!”  

Fin turned as another teen ran up to them, her short brown bob bouncing as she did so.  

“Hey Flora. Yeah, I’m coming.”  

They said, waving their hand before turning back to Lilith and Darius.  

“Look, just be careful, okay?”  

Lilith nodded and Fin gave her a thumbs up before walking off with the other teen. She barely caught the beginning of their conversation as they did so.  

“No, ‘Bad Girl Historian’ is a stupid name and no one is ever going to call you that.”  

“I dunno...”  

Huh. Eda would have really liked them.  

Lilith grabbed Darius’s arm, ignoring his shudder of protest, and dragged him over to the nearest table. She sat down and dug into her food, Darius sitting down across from her and biting into his own food. They ate in silence, a contrast from the rest of the cafeteria.  

“So...potions?”  

“Yup.”  

“Cool.”  

Lilith missed Eda.  

“Do you have any siblings?”  

Daruis shook his head, dreadlocks bouncing.  

“Oh. I do.”  

He nodded and they continued eating.  

When lunch was over they went outside for recess, something that was only for the 5 th and under grades. Lilith was immediately distracted by a bug and proceeded to stare at it for the entirety of the recess, examining all the cool things it could do. Darius thought she was a weirdo and sat on the swings for the entirety of recess.  

He had cleaned the seat off before sitting down and swinging.  

The rest of the day went smoothly until the last few minutes of class.  

“Now, for those of you who get a hundred on this assignment will be given a gold star, marking you as the top of the class.”  

Ms. Rose said, smiling as she showed off the bright, shiny star.  

Lilith wanted it.  

She wanted it bad.  

She was going to get that star.  

She looked over to see Darius staring at the star with the exact same expression of wanting.  

“Mine.”  

She hissed. He turned to look at her, anger bubbling across his face.  

“I want it.”  

He said, crossing his arms.  

She wrinkled her nose and he glared at her as Ms. Rose handed out the papers that had the instructions for all the assignments.  

She grabbed hers and scrambled to her feet, hefting her backpack onto her shoulders, making to sprint out the door.  

“Lilith, please wait a moment.”  

She skidded to a stop and turned to look at Ms. Rose, who gestured for her to stand next to her desk.  

“I wanted to say that your writing and rune work is extremely advanced for your age. I wouldn’t be surprised if you turn out to be one of the brightest students in my class.”  

There was an odd weight lifting off Lilith’s shoulders at Ms. Rose’s words. She was bright. She was good at this.  

“I’m excited to see what you can do.”  

Lilith nodded enthusiastically, excitement bubbling through her. She was going to get that gold star. She was going to be the best student in the class. She was not going to let Ms. Rose down. She was going to be the absolute best at this.  

“YES! Of course!”  

She burst out, nodding again before Ms. Rose laughed and gestured for her to go. She hurried out the door, running straight into Darius.  

“Ow.”  

He said, crossing his arms and glaring at her. She blinked a couple of times and then shrugged.  

“She said that I’m one of the brightest students.”  

Darius rolled his eyes and poked her.  

“Sure she did, glasses.”  

She stuck out her tongue at the stupid nickname and they started walking down the hallway to where the parents were going to pick them up.  

“I’m going to get that star.”  

“I’d love to see you try.”  

He sniffed, sticking his nose up in the air. She laughed as they rounded the corner and found themself standing in the entrance hall, kids, teens, and parents milling about, ready to pick up their kids.  

“LILY!”  

She whirled around to find an orange-headed blur sprinting towards her. She shrieked with laughter as she caught Eda and whirled her around in a circle, relishing the feeling of being back with her sister.  

Her other half.  

“I missed you so much.”  

She mumbled into her sister’s hair. Eda giggled and bounced up and down on her toes, bumping into Lilith’s chin as she did so.  

“Oh, sweat flea. Ready to go?”  

She released Eda as her parents hurried up to her.  

“Yes! I am going to get the gold star and I am going to be the best student ever.”  

She said, beaming up at them. Her parents gave each other a look before her father ruffled her bright red hair and gestured for her to join them in walking towards the door. She followed them before pausing and turning around to search for Darius.  

She spotted him talking to a tall woman who must have been his mother.  

“HEY CLEAN FREAK!”  

She called towards him. He turned and crossed his arms.  

“What, glasses?”  

“I’m going to get that gold star.”  

“No you’re not!”  

She waved at him and sprinted after her family, Eda reaching out to grab her hand so they could run together. Darius rolled his eyes as she left, muttering about stuck up girl who had to be perfect.  

“COME ON LILY!”  

Eda said, tugging on her arm even harder.  

“Let’s go home!”  

Lilith cast a smile back at the school as she followed her family. Sure. She’d go home. But she would be tomorrow, ready to learn and study and get that gold star.  

She couldn’t wait.  

Multiple things happened over the course of that year.  

Lilith and Darius became frenemies for the sole reason that they were constantly competing for the top spot in the class. Neither of them were willing to admit that they actually considered the other a good friend. Their only friend, really.  

Eda went back to Daycare but Misha never returned, as stated earlier. Eda hated that Lilith was busy almost every night with her homework and developed quite a grudge against school for that reason. She dreaded the day she would have to start.  

Dell and Gwen Clawthorne were worried for both of their children. Eda never made any more friends at Daycare, and while Lilith was thriving in school, they felt that she was putting too much more stock in her homework. Not that they realized that the only time they told her good job was when she showed them her A’s and A+’s.  

Lilith only really ran into Fin one more time that year, when Darius had been pushed around by a fourth grader and shoved into a trashcan during lunch. She ran across the room and found Fin, who came and gave the fourth grader a stern lecture.  

Lilith ended up completing first grade at the top of her class.  

She was very proud.  

Chapter Text

It was the end of summer.  

More specifically, it was the day that Eda Clawthorne had been dreading for months.   

It was the first day of school.   

“EDA!”   

She groaned into her pillow and waved her hand as Lily sat on the edge of her bed.   

“NO.”   

“Eda, come on! We’re going to be late for school!”   

She raised her head and glared at Lily with all the anger and hatred she could muster. Lily raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms and Eda let her face drop.   

“Okay, okay.”   

Lily beamed and raced out of her room, presumably to go get her own bag. Eda pulled her new, grey uniform on and stuck out her tongue at her reflection.   

It was stupid, really.   

Stupid that she had to go to school.   

Stupid that she could only pick one track!   

She really should do what Lily had done, pick one of the most versatile tracks and stick with it. But all the tracks were so cool! She wanted to brew potions, she wanted to be able to heal someone, she wanted to be able to play an instrument and use that to cast spells, she wanted to be able to understand animals, she wanted to predict the future, she wanted to make illusions, she wanted to grow huge plants, she wanted to make abominations, and she wanted to have the strength of the construction track!   

What was wrong with that?   

The bard track was probably the one that appealed the most to her, after potions.   

Obviously she wanted to be with Lily.  

This way she wouldn’t be separated from her again!   

First and second graders had the same recess time so they would be able to see each other at lunch and at recess! It was perfect!  

But the bard track had appealed to her ever since Lily had told them about Fin, the cool high schooler who had helped her on her first day.   

Just to have that confidence and ability to just swoop in there like a hero and save the day!   

Amazing.   

“Alright Eda Clawthorne.”   

She said, poking her finger in the direction of the mirror.   

“We are going to be the coolest student Hexside has ever seen!”  

She grinned at herself, the gap in her teeth flashing, before grabbing her backpack and heading downstairs to begin her first day of school.     

Lilith shoveled down her food faster than she had ever done before, practically bobbing up and down from nerves and excitement.   

The summer had been brutal for her. Brutal! Another word she had learned! And she was desperate to go back to school. Especially considering that Vice Principal Bump had wanted to have a word with her parents before she went to her classroom.   

What could he possibly want to talk about?   

She stilled, horror hitting her like a blast of magic to the gut.    

What if she wasn’t good enough?    

What if even better students than her were transferring to the 2 nd grade? What if she was being kicked out! What if she was actually terrible at school and all her A’s were just pity grades!   

“Lily, you look like someone gave you a rotten potion.”   

She turned around to see Eda looking at her in amusement. She rolled her eyes at her younger sister, noting with annoyance that Eda was still the same height as her. While they were both tall, she was one of the tallest in her first-grade class, Eda still stayed resolutely at the same height as her.   

It was so annoying!   

She was supposed to be the older sibling, and weren’t the older siblings supposed to be taller?   

“Eda, please hurry up and eat your food! We have to get going!”   

Eda made a face at their mother’s words and started shoveling her own breakfast into her mouth as Lilith scrambled to her feet and dumped her empty plate into the sink for her mother to wash later on in the day.   

“Okay kids, I hate to say this. but I can’t go to drop you two off. I will be able to come and pick you up, good?”   

Her father pressed a kiss to both of their heads as they were stewarded out the door by their mother, who looked almost as nervous as Lilith felt.   

Why did they have to be there early?   

What did Vice Principal Bump want with them?   

These questions bounced around Lilith’s head as she rode on the back of her mother’s staff, clutching Eda’s waist so that she wouldn’t fall off.   

She wondered if Darius would be in her class.   

With the way that the classes were set up there was a possibility that he would be in a different second grade class than her. He could even be in a different recess time than her, making it so that they could only see each other at lunch!   

Not that she wanted to see him.   

He was annoying and obsessed with everything being clean.   

He had even taken her glasses just to clean them!   

Really?   

And he was the top student for about two months in the fall, something that she had fought to regain. He was annoying and a jerk and he was definitely not her only friend at school.   

Well, maybe he had been.   

But now Eda was joining!   

And Eda would see how absolutely amazing school was once she joined, there was no doubt about it! She just had to get over her initial trepidation. Another word she had learned.   

Yes, Lilith was certain that, no matter what, this school year was going to be fun.   

Her sister was starting!     

Eda frowned as she walked up the steps to Hexside. Unlike her sister’s first day she was not impressed by the huge building and the amount of students running around.   

She had been there before, after all.   

“Okay, we’re going to drop you off at your class and then we’ll go meet Vice Principal Bump, okay?”   

Eda shrugged and her mother gave a stressed-out grin.   

“Good. Let’s go.”   

They followed her through the halls. This time they weren’t just being dropped off, like when Lily had first started school. Annoying.   

She had wanted to get to go and start all on her own.   

“Here we are. Ms. Rose’s class.”   

Lily bounced on her toes and poked Eda, who scowled.   

“You’re going to like her. She’s super nice.”   

Eda rolled her eyes as their mother opened the door, revealing the classroom. It was a bright, friendly classroom with circular tables and a bunch of cheesy posters on the wall, encouraging you to work hard and be good and to learn so much!   

In short, Eda knew she was going to hate it.   

The teacher, Ms. Rose, looked up in surprise to see her there. Eda made a face but Ms. Rose didn’t even flinch.   

“Oh, hello! You’re early! What’s your name?”   

“Eda Clawthorne.”   

She grumbled, crossing her arms and fixing Ms. Rose with a glare that cowed most other adults she had met.   

“Ah, you must be Lilith’s younger sister. She talked about you a lot.”   

A faint bubble of happiness warmed her before she squelched it down, focusing on her frown. No. She was not going to like Ms. Rose. She was going to hate school!  

“Here, find a seat. The rest of the class should be here soon.”   

Eda sniffed and plunked her bag down on a table at the very back of the class, watching Ms. Rose as she tidied up her desk. Her ferret palisman was perched on her shoulder, chittering softly, and she was dressed in a smart dress that gave her plenty of room to move around and, if needed, catch unruly children.   

Eda rolled her eyes and drummed a quick beat on her desk, knee bouncing underneath the table. She hated trying to sit still like this! Who was actually able to sit in one place for more than a second? Was it even possible?   

“Now, I see that you haven’t chosen your track yet. Have you made your decision?”  

She looked up to see Ms. Rose smiling down at her. She shrugged and continued her steady drumming of her fingers. Technically she had made her decision but did she really have to tell her?   

“Come on now, I’d like to transform your outfit.”   

Eda sighed and looked up at Ms. Rose.   

“I want to study all of them!”   

She said, enthusiasm slipping into her voice for the first time. Ms. Rose raised her eyebrows before shaking her head sadly.   

“Unfortunately, you can’t do that.”   

Eda rolled her eyes.   

“Why? It’s cool!”  

Ms. Rose gave her a pitying look.   

“Honey, surely you know about the Coven System, correct?”   

Eda waved her hand.   

“Well, yeah, but this isn’t the coven system!”   

Ms. Rose gave a long sigh and sat down on the chair next to her. Her palisman chirped and rubbed its head against Eda’s hand.   

“How about this. You pick a track for now, something you want to be your main magic, and then you can join the Emperor’s Coven and have access to all magic!”  

Eda felt something warm and sharp growing in her mind as she turned the idea over. Choose something for now, and then have unlimited access? The Emperor’s Coven? The big one? The one where all the most powerful witches were?   

“Deal!”   

She said, a grin splitting across her face.   

“Now, what track would you like?”   

“Potions!”   

Ms. Rose chuckled and waved her hand, Eda’s outfit magically turning bright yellow and black.   

“Just like your sister.”   

Said sister was pacing up and down the hallway in front of Vice Principal Bump’s office, nerves shaking her down to her core. Her mother wasn’t much better, tapping her foot impatiently as they waited.   

Finally the doors flew open.   

Lilith squeaked in fear and turned to face the approaching vice principal, stomach feeling like it had a million tiny demons inside.   

“Hello Lilith. Mrs. Clawthorne.”   

He shook her mother’s hand and Lilith attempted not to make a face. Please just tell her why she was here! PLEASE!   

“Now, I’m going to get straight to the point.”   

Oh thank Titan.   

“Lilith’s grades have been...well...”   

It felt like her heart had frozen over.   

“What about my grades? I have perfect grades! I’ve only gotten A’s! I’ve never missed class! Are you kicking me out? Am I getting kicked out? Please don’t kick me out!”   

Her mother shushed her with a look and Lilith blinked rapidly to keep the tears from spilling out of her eyes. Please. Please. She needed this. She needed to be good and this was how she was good!   

“No, nothing of the sort.”   

Vice Principal Bump said, giving her a comforting smile.   

“No, you’re so advanced we were wondering if you’d like to move up to the third grade?”  

Lilith stared at him in shock, wondering if she had heard that right. The third grade? Skip second grade? Be advanced? She was advanced? She was good?   

“Yes.”   

She burst out. Her mother gave her a look.   

“Now, I don’t know about that, sweat flea. Third graders and first graders don’t share a recess, and you need to hang out with your sister, remember?”   

She felt a burning flash of anger and she balled up her fists.   

“Mom, I didn’t have anyone to hang out with and I was fine! Eda will be fine too! Please let me do this!”   

Her mother frowned and took a moment to think, but she finally nodded and gave Lilith the go ahead.   

“Very good.”   

Vice Principal Bump said, taking out a piece of paper and handing it to her. It was the list of her third grade schedule, including her new recess time! She suppressed a shriek of delight.   

“Alright. Thank you, Vice Principal Bump. Off you go sweet flea, I need to talk to him about Edalyn.”   

Lilith gave her mother a thumbs up, ignoring the fact that, yet again, her sister needed to be talked about. She whirled around and sprinted down the hall, heading straight for her new class number.   

“Hey, glasses!”   

She skidded to a stop and turned to see Darius standing by the door to one of the second grade classroom, frowning at her.   

“Why aren’t you coming?”   

“I got moved to third grade!”   

She said, brandishing the paper high in the air. She missed the flash of jealousy and hurt in his eyes.   

“Oh. Okay.”   

“I’ll see you at lunch, clean freak!”   

She took off running again, thrilled to be advanced.   

Eda was only fifteen minutes into class and she already hated it.   

Ms. Rose was boring, droning on and on and on about something or other. Runes, maybe? She wasn’t even drawing anything on the board, just writing stuff down.   

Who learned from writing?   

Geez, it was like she wanted everyone to fail.   

And yet, everyone was nodding along as if they understood.   

Suck ups.   

Eda fidgeted in her chair, sticking her hand into her hair and digging around for a minute before finally finding what she was looking for. She pulled out a paddle ball and started bouncing it over and over and over again, relief washing over her as she could finally move.   

“Excuse me, Miss Clawthorne?”   

She looked up and raised her eyebrows at the teacher.   

“Yes?”   

“This isn’t games time; this is learning time! Could you please put your toy away and focus on the board for me?”   

Eda frowned.   

“Why?”   

“What do you mean, why?”   

She shrugged and bounced the ball a few more times.   

“I understand it.”   

Ms. Rose frowned.   

“Then what are the runes I just talked about?”   

Eda squinched up her nose. That was easy.   

“Alpha, Zeta, Krom. Anything harder?”  

Ms. Rose blinked in surprise, obviously not having expected her to know that.  

“Oh. Alright. Could you fidget without noise? As to not annoy the rest of the class?”   

But the noise was the best part! Eda made a face but nodded. She probably could. Yeah. She could fidget quietly. Maybe.  

“Thank you, Miss Clawthorne.”   

Ms. Rose returned to the front of the classroom and Eda stuffed her paddle ball back into her hair. Fine. She’d do something else.   

She grabbed her backpack and rummaged through it, finding a piece of blank paper and a pen. She slapped the paper down on the desk and started doodling, her knee bouncing frantically as she did so.   

She did not notice the looks her classmates were giving her.   

“Can anyone tell me what the main nine types of magic are?”   

“Potion, Illusion, Abomination, Bard, Plant, Construction, Healing, Beast-Keeping, and Oracle.”   

Eda blurted out, not looking up from her drawings.   

“Very good Miss Clawthorne, but please raise your hand and wait to be called on next time.”   

Eda raised her head and frowned.   

“Why?”   

Ms. Rose blinked at her in surprise.   

“Because it’s polite.”   

“What makes it polite?”   

Ms. Rose shook her head tiredly.   

“It just is, alright? Now, what we’re going to do is draw each of the coven symbols for the main nine covens!”   

The rest of class made various noises of excitement while Eda just sat there, confused.   

Why was raising your hand polite?   

What made it polite?   

Her parents and Lily had never made her raise her hand before answering or asking something.   

What was different?   

She had answered the question correctly!   

She grabbed the new piece of paper being handed to her and started scribbling out the nine sigils. Any good witch knew all nine of them plus the emperor’s coven sigil. It was basic magic training, the type that even little kids knew!   

If only they were told why raising your hand was polite.   

She bit back a scoff off annoyance and quickly finished her drawing.   

She looked around and saw that everyone else was still working on their drawings, copying the pictures that Ms. Rose had drawn on the board. Huh. She was a pretty good drawer. Eda glanced back down at her paper and realized that there was still quite a lot of empty space on the paper.   

She grinned and started filling in the blank spaces with doodles of magic and spells.  

She drew for ten more minutes before Ms. Rose called for everyone to write their name and hand in their piece of paper. She wrote her name down in big bubble letters, grinning at the beautiful artwork that was her scribbles.   

She gave Ms. Rose the paper and walked back to her desk, grinning.   

“Um, Miss Clawthorne?”   

She looked up to see that Ms. Rose had followed, holding her drawing in hand, a frown on her face. Eda raised her eyebrows and Ms. Rose sighed.   

“Miss Clawthorne, I can’t even see your sigil drawings. Please don’t doodle on your paper.”   

But it was paper.   

What else were you supposed to do on it?   

“Why not?”   

“Because then I can’t see your actual drawings.”   

Oh.   

That made sense.   

“Okay. I’ll do it next time.”   

Ms. Rose gave her a smile.   

“Good.”   

She walked back to her desk and Eda flopped backwards in her chair, sighing.   

Well. She had to make sure the teacher could see her drawings and handwriting.   

Okay.   

She could do that.   

Lilith was not excited for lunch.   

Third grade had been a dream come true. She had actually learned stuff instead of just repeating junk she already knew! Fantastic!   

But she was not excited for lunch.   

The first and second graders had recess right after lunch, but the third graders went back to class for half an hour before going outside to their recess.   

And she was going to run into Eda during lunch.   

And Eda was going to ask her why she wasn’t going to their recess.   

And Lilith was going to have to tell her that she got moved up a grade.   

Eda would be proud of her, of course.   

But she knew that Eda would also feel betrayed, like Lilith was choosing school over her own sister.   

“I would never do that though!”   

She whispered to herself, crossing her arms as they walked down the halls to the cafeteria.   

“Are you talking to yourself?”  

She turned around to see a girl looking at her, eyebrows raised.   

“No.”   

Lilith answered, lying. The girl rolled her eyes and resumed giggling with her friend.   

She hated to admit it but she missed Darius.   

She used to be able to rely on him for a good eye roll when their peers were acting brain dead. Now she was alone, in a grade where most of the kids were older than her, and where they all acted like she was an outsider, because she hadn’t been in their first and second grade classes.  

They entered the cafeteria and Lilith was hit with a wave of smells and sounds.   

She was used to it by now.   

She looked around, trying to spot Eda or Darius.   

Neither of them were anywhere in view.   

She sighed and grabbed a tray, getting her lunch and trudging across to an empty table. She’d just wait here for her sister or her frenemy.   

There were tons of kids and teens in the cafeteria, all of them loud and chaotic, most of them not actually paying any attention to eating but instead choosing to talk with one another. There was some kind of game being played in the corner and...oh yes. It was Hexes Hold Em. She would have to make sure that Eda didn’t see that, otherwise her younger sister would go over there and try to play.   

Really, how was it that a six year old was so obsessed with a card game?   

Whatever.   

Like most little kid obsessions it would go away.   

Being eight, she obviously wasn’t a little kid anymore, especially since she had been moved up a grade!   

EEEEEE.  

Yes.   

Completely grown up.   

“Hey glasses.”   

She looked up to see Darius passing by her table, a grumpy expression on his face. She brightened.   

“Hey clean freak!”   

She gestured for him to sit down but he shook his head.   

“No thanks. I’m going to sit with some of my second grader friends.”   

His tone of voice made it very clear that he was mad at her. She tried to splutter out a response but he walked away too fast, dreadlocks swinging. He sat down next to another group of kids and she stifled a laugh.   

He looked so out of place with them it was almost comical.   

His outfit was, as ever, perfectly neat, his tray and food were organized perfectly, and his dreadlocks looked as magnificent as ever.   

The kids he was sitting with had rumpled clothes, messy hair, and one of them was coated in a sticky substance that looked suspiciously like spilled food.   

“You’ll come back and sit with me eventually!”   

She shouted at him. He looked over his shoulder and scoffed.   

“Not in a million years!”   

“How about ten?”   

She asked, smiling. He rolled his eyes and started talking with another student, this one in the plant track. She dug into her food, oddly happy after her exchange with him.   

It was weird, wasn’t it?   

Having a friend that made you happy, even after arguing?   

Maybe that was just what a frenemy was.   

Someone who pushed you to your limits and pointed out your faults incredibly bluntly, someone who wasn’t afraid to be brutally honest and to be a little antagonistic sometimes, but someone who, eventually, ended up being an actual friend.   

Lilith took a bite of her food and promptly choked, a big chuck of meat getting stuck in her throat. She coughed and spat it out onto the table, going bright red with embarrassment.   

So much for acting grown up.   

“LILYYYY!”   

She grinned and turned in her seat to see Eda sprinting towards her, bright orange hair poofing out behind her, her uniform the same bright yellow as her own.   

“You picked potions?”   

Lilith asked, two conflicting emotions battling in her head.   

On the one hand, she was flattered that Eda had picked the same track as her.  

On the other hand, SERIOUSLY EDALYN???   

This was her track!  

Her choice!   

Something that she didn’t have to share with anyone!   

Well, asides from the other students.   

The point was that it was hers!   

“But I don’t want to join the potions coven.”   

Eda said as she sat down across from her, plunking her tray down and making food slosh everywhere.   

“I’m going to join the emperor’s coven!”   

Lilith felt a huge flutter of anxiety and hope.   

“And you should too!”   

Eda said, her eyes big and excited.   

“Just think! The two of us, in the emperor’s coven! Being the most feared witches on the Boiling Isles! The most powerful! The bestest of the bestest!”   

Lilith laughed, imagining it.   

“The bestest of the bestest...I am headed in the right direction.”   

“Huh?”   

She flushed, realizing that she hadn’t told Eda yet.   

Oops.   

“Uh...well...”   

“Lily spill!”   

“I kind of got moved up a grade.”   

Eda froze, sandwich halfway to her mouth.   

“WAAHHT?”   

Lilith waved her hands frantically, trying to get Eda to stop screaming. She didn’t want even more attention than the attention she had drawn to herself with shouting at Darius.   

“Calm down. I got moved up to third grade!”   

She struck a pose, grinning, silently begging for Eda to be okay with it.   

“oh.”   

She sounded so quiet. So hurt.   

Lilith looked over at Eda, who was staring down at her sandwich.   

“So...you’re not going to be at recess?”   

She sat back down in her seat and nodded.   

“Yes. But I’ll see you at lunch!”   

Eda perked up at that.   

“Okay.”   

They continued eating in silence before Eda finally broke it.   

“Who were you yelling at earlier?”   

Lilith turned bright red in embarrassment. Again. Had she really been that noticeable?    

“Oh. Darius.”   

“Oh, your frenemy?”  

She nodded. Eda waggled her eyebrows and Lilith leaned across the table and whacked her.   

“Ew. I don’t like him.”   

Her sister made a disbelieving face and Lilith sighed.  

“I don’t. I haven’t ever liked anyone, actually.”   

“But you’re eight! You’re so old!”   

Lilith laughed and felt pride wash over her.   

“Yeah, I know best! Come on, let’s figure out how we’re going to get into the emperor’s coven!”  

Eda’s eyes flashed with the same bright light that they always did when Lilith was making a scheme. The flash of light that Lilith knew to mean chaos and mischief would travel in their wake.   

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.   

For the rest of lunch Lily droned on and on about the emperor’s coven and Eda almost regretted bringing it up.   

Scratch that, she definitely regretted it.   

“And then, once I’ve graduated high school, I’ll get an internship over the summer. You’ll still be high school, obviously, but I’ll be able to snag you an internship as well. And then I’ll climb the ranks to the head of the coven and you’ll be my second in command!”   

Eda blinked.   

“How do you know all of this?”   

Lily smiled and adjusted her glasses.   

“I read!”   

Eda rolled her eyes. Sure, reading was great, but doing stuff was just so much more fun!   

“You should read more too.”   

Lily said, pulling out a book from somewhere in her backpack and handing it to Eda. She looked at it before tossing it back to her sister.   

“No! I want to do stuff!”   

She jumped on top of the table and looked down at her sister, beaming.   

“Fight monsters, hunt wild witches, conquer the world! The Boiling Isles and even the Titan will tremble at my feet! Everyone will know my name!”   

“EDALYN CLAWTHORNE!”  

She let out a squeak of fear and toppled over onto the ground, looking up to see the ugliest demon ever glaring down at her.   

He had two long, straight horns that made up most of his head, his eyes were tiny and bright yellow, his mouth was huge and he had pointy teeth that were a gross shade of yellow, as if he hadn’t brushed them in years. And to top things off, he had a tail. A tail!   

Okay, it was a flaming tail so that was pretty cool, but...  

A tail?   

“That’s my name.”   

She said, giving him an awkward grin.   

“Oh no no no no.”   

She looked behind her to see Lily scrambling to her feet, an expression of fear on her face. Why was Lily scared of this demon? Should she be scared of this demon? She wasn’t really scared of this demon though?    

The entire cafeteria was silent.   

Yeah, maybe she should be scared.  

“You need detention.”   

The demon hissed, tail whipping back and forth. Eda frowned.   

“Why?”   

This time she knew why.   

Standing on a table and bragging about how the Titan was going to fear her probably wasn’t a good idea.   

But detention?   

On her first day?  

Dang that had to be a record.   

“YOU DARE TALK BACK TO ME?”   

Eda flinched backwards, trying to avoid the wet spittle flying from his mouth.   

“I, THE GREAT PRINCIPAL FAUST?”   

“OOH. I knew I had seen you somewhere.”   

She said, sitting up and putting on her best smirk.   

“Principal Faust, please! She was just being overdramatic, she’s just a little kid!”   

Lily jumped in front of her, making calming gestures as she tried to diffuse the situation.   

“Mischief making is a dangerous slope. You do not want to slide down that slope, do you, Miss Clawthorne?”   

Eda shrugged.    

Everything about this demon rubbed her the wrong way.   

“So, you should get detention.”  

She scrambled to her feet and glared up at him, the angry streak that her parents had continually tried to work out of her flaring up again.   

“Why?”   

She repeated, putting her hands on her hips and jutting her chin out.   

“Ah. You’re going to be a problem, aren’t you?”   

He said, eyes glowing with anger. She shrugged, confidence bubbling up as she looked around at the kids surrounding her.   

This man was a tyrant.   

A tyrant!   

The same type of bully as Misha.   

And she didn’t like bullies.   

“What’s the matter Fausty?”   

She said, the nickname springing to her mind in a stroke of genius. The entire cafeteria gasped in shock and horror. She relished in it. Lily was tugging on her arm, trying to get her to back down but she waved her sister away.   

“Why can’t I stand on a table?”   

She asked, climbing back onto the table and jumping up and down, sending the plates rattling around her. Principal Faust was vibrating with anger. He opened his mouth to shout something, probably orders to take her to detention, but she nailed him with her leftover sandwich right in the face.  

There was a moment of stunned silence before, as she knew there would be, some kid somewhere shouted, “FOOD FIGHT!”   

And all hell broke loose.  

Lilith had only read about food fights before.   

In her one year at Hexside there had never been a food fight before, much less one caused by her own sister nailing the principal in the face with a half-eaten sandwich.   

Luckily, she had read enough books to know what to do.  

She dove under a table and shuddered as messy slop just grazed her head.   

Ew.    

All she had to do was find Eda and keep hiding under a table before they could be blamed for all of this.   

Unfortunately, Eda was gone.   

She looked around frantically but couldn’t see her sister from anywhere underneath the tables. Darius was curled up in a corner, hands over his head, attempting to protect his perfect dreadlocks. She rolled her eyes and crawled over to him, avoiding the puddles of food, trying to keep the noise from overwhelming her.   

“Darius!”   

He turned his head and stared at her, unseeing for a moment, before his mind caught up with his eyes and he seemed to realize it was her.   

“Have you seen Eda?”   

He pointed upwards silently and Lilith waited for the sounds of food and magic to lull before poking her head out from the safety of the table.    

Eda was across the room, standing on top of the cafeteria counter, armed with bug bagels dripping in milk, hurling them at any student who dared come near her. She was screeching a war cry as she did so, taking time every few shots to fling trays at Principal Faust, who had been tackled to the ground in the resulting riot. He made to get up and a perfectly shot tray bounced off his head, sending him crashing back to the ground.   

It was more glorious and more terrible than anything she had seen in her short life.   

She heard a whooshing sound and ducked back underneath the table just as a fireball of magic nearly hit her.   

“They’re using magic too?”   

Darius whispered, staring out of the safety of the table in shock and horror.   

“We need to get out of here.”   

Lilith whispered, her mind snapping into focus, a plan forming. Darius moved into a crouching position and hovered nervously by the edge of the table. Lilith grabbed a roll that had, quite literally, rolled next to her feet and tossed it experimentally in her hand.   

It was like a ball.   

She could do this.   

She scrambled out from under the table, Darius hot on her heels.   

She sprinted across the room, food splattering on them from all sides, ignoring his yells of anger at his precious outfit getting destroyed. She scrambled on top of a new table and surveyed the destruction. Tables were splintered and food was everywhere, splattered across the walls and floors like some grotesque massacre.  

She gripped the roll in her hands and found exactly what she was looking for.   

Darius scrambled to the top of the table as well and she shouted over the chaos. “Can you give me a boost?” He stared at her in confusion before she mimed what she was about to do. He nodded in understanding and crouched, holding his hands out for her to step in.   

She placed one foot in and jumped off, Darius pushing her up with his hands, giving her the extra oomph needed to fly through the air and throw the roll so that it slammed into the emergency bell system.   

A shrill ringing sound exploded out and all the students froze in what they were doing.   

Lilith grinned...and suddenly began to fall back to the ground.   

Oh she did not think this through.    

She screamed, plummeting towards the ground.   

Before she could break open her skull on the ground she landed hard in someone’s arms.   

She looked up to see that Vice Principal Bump had caught her, shock in his face. She turned bright red.   

Oh she was definitely going to be taken out of third grade for this.   

“LILY!”   

She scrambled out of Vice Principal Bump’s arms to see Eda being dragged away by detention spirits, her uniform splattered in food, terror written across her face as Principal Faust straightened to his full height and stared down her younger sister.   

“You really thought you would win, Miss Clawthorne?”   

Principal Faust snarled, eyes glowing a dangerous yellow. Eda looked up at him and Lilith was shocked to see a smirk grow across her face.   

“Yup.”   

She said, popping the ‘p’ so that spit flew in his face. Principal Faust snarled and waved his hand, the detention spirits yanking Eda away before she even had time to scream.  

Lilith, however, did have time to scream.   

She yelled in fear and lunged after her sister but Vice Principal Bump caught her and held her back.   

“Your sister will be fine.”   

He whispered, turning her so that she was standing with the rest of the students.  

“Go, before he punishes you too.”   

The students scattered. Lilith yelped as someone grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the halls. Panic flooded through her as she stumbled and nearly fell, slipping on a pile of food. The person gripping her arm steadied her and she tried to jerk away from them in fear.   

“Calm down, glasses.”   

She blinked to see Darius holding onto her arm, dragging her towards the third grade class.   

“You’re so dumb.”   

He said, skidding to a stop and glaring at her. She scoffed, turning her nose up.   

“You’re just mad I was able to stop it.”   

“MY CLOTHES ARE RUINED BECAUSE OF YOUR SISTER!”   

He shouted, flinging up his hands in anger.   

She rolled her eyes.   

“Stupid clothes!”   

Darius stared at her, affronted.   

“My clothes are not stupid! They are impeccable!”   

He shook his head, dreadlocks swinging.   

“Whatever. Go hang out with your third grade friends.”   

She stuck her tongue out at him and he wrinkled his nose at her.   

They separated, going to stand with their specific groups as the teachers finally maintained some sense of control and began herding everyone back to their classrooms.    

From that day on, Eda was in a brutal war against Principal Faust. Every opportunity she had, she rebelled against him and his strict rules. Lilith was often collateral damage in the proceeding pranks and chaos, but as much as she denied it, a small part of her was pleased.   

Eda was sent home that day and suspended from school for a week.   

Something that, while she acted pleased about, she was actually extremely disappointed. Some small part of her had actually really liked school and learning things. She just didn’t like the way they made her learn.   

Lilith and Darius continued their weird attempt at friendship. Neither of them making a point to reach out to the other, neither of them ever sitting at the same lunch table, but tending to team up or challenge the other, depending on what the situation needed. The elementary school spelling bee, for one. Lilith won, Darius came in second, something that he absolutely despised.   

But the Clawthorne sisters continued in school, Lilith excelling through hard work and constant study, Eda excelling and breezing through her classes but constantly being thrown in detention.   

But she did gain a reputation as the coolest elementary schooler.     

Chapter Text

“EDALYN CLAWTHORNE! DETENTION! NOW!”  

All the sixth graders watched as their classmate with her mop of bright orange hair was dragged off by the demon spirits, an angry look on her face as she stuck her tongue out at the teacher.   

She really didn’t like sixth grade so far.   

They were only a little way through the semester and she had already been in detention six times. SIX!   

Normally she was already at ten detentions by this point.  

Was she losing her touch?   

As she got dragged down the hallway the bells rang, signaling that it was time for the free period. Genius. Giving middle schoolers a free period, instead of recess.  

It was the exact same thing.   

Who did they think they were kidding?  

“Oh Eda, what did you do now?”   

She looked up to see Lily standing across the hall from her, watching as she got dragged towards the detention chamber. She yanked one of her arms out of the detention spirit’s grip and grabbed onto the nearest locker, making it yelp in pain.   

“Oh, nothing. Just, you know, messed up my potion so badly that it exploded in the teacher’s face. This time it was actually an accident!”   

She laughed, winking at Lily, who just pushed her glasses up further on her nose and ignored the grunts of the detention spirits trying to uncurl Eda’s fingers from the locker.   

“Eda, we are both in middle school now. Don’t you think it’s time you stopped waging this ridiculous war with Principal Faust?”    

Eda rolled her eyes in response.  

“Lily, it’s not just against him. I have vendettas against other students too!”   

Her sister frowned deeply and adjusted the stack of books she was carrying.   

“Edalyn.”   

“Lilith.”   

They stared at each other with extremely serious faces. The detention spirits tugged harder on Eda and she felt her hands start to slip. She shrugged and made a face at Lily, causing her to burst out in a startled laugh.  

She let go of the locker and shot down the hall, the detention spirits having pulled so hard to get her to go with them that the stored momentum was practically staff-levels of velocity.   

“BYEEEEEEEE!”   

She yelled as she slid through the doors and tumbled down into the detention chamber, leaving Lily’s surprised yells behind her. She was able to stop her slide just before she went over the edge and fell into the demon’s waiting mouth.   

Who made the detention chamber a demon anyway?  

“Ayo, buddy!”   

She said, shooting a pair of awkward finger guns at the demon mouth. Tentacles whipped towards her and she jumped to the side. As much as the whole brainwashing thing was great and all, she really didn’t want to have to go through this today.   

“I don’t suppose we could let me off the hook today, huh?”   

The demon snarled in response and she nodded.   

“Yup. Okay, cool.”   

She dove behind a pillar just as another tentacle attacked.   

Lilith didn’t have time to worry about the fact that Eda had gotten detention. Again.   

It wasn’t a rare occurrence anymore.   

She hurried down the hall, clutching her books tightly to her chest.   

She only had a limited amount of time in her free period before her high school placement test study group. Granted, she and one other person were the only ones who showed up, but still! She had to stay on top of the game if she wanted to become the youngest witch to get an internship with the emperor’s coven.   

So she speed walked down the hall to the library, knowing that she would have enough time to get there, return the books she borrowed, and check out a couple new books if she went fast enough.   

She slammed into someone and muttered a hasty apology before continuing, not even bothering to check what witch she had ran into. It didn’t really matter, anyway. They wouldn’t remember her the next day or anything.   

No one actually remembered most of the people they ran into.  

Everyone was so absorbed in their own heads that they didn’t pay attention to the outside world. It was kind of sad, when you really thought about it.   

“Hey, top student!”   

She skidded to a stop and turned to see a fellow eighth grader running up to her, a demon with a mop of sickly-looking yellow hair and the same shade of yellow wings that completely clashed with the yellow of their shared potion track uniforms.   

“Yes?”   

She asked, recognizing him as being in one of her potion classes. Potions into Food 3, maybe? Everyone in the middle school potions track took the same classes, it just depended on your schedule and what grade you were in. Sixth graders like Eda had Potions 1 classes, seventh graders had Potions 2 classes, eighth graders had Potions 3 classes, and so on and so on with all the other topics.   

And it would all restart in high school, with Advanced Potions 1, 2, 3, and 4.   

“Look, you know how we have that important Potions test coming up?”   

She raised her eyebrows.   

“...yes?”   

“Well, I need your notes.”   

She frowned.   

“And if I give you my notes...what then?”   

The student blinked at her in surprise.   

“What do you mean, what then?”   

Lilith shrugged and played with her books. She was going to be late and this would throw her entire schedule off! No, she just had to keep this short.  

“I mean, will this help me any?”   

The student gaped at her before flushing bright red and turning away.   

“I just wanted your notes! Geez.”   

He stormed off and she rolled her eyes.   

She wasn’t against sharing her notes, see, but so many of the students had scoffed at her and mocked her and only wanted to be her friend when there was a group project or a test coming up.   

Ridiculous, and something that she didn’t have time for.   

Granted, the emperor’s coven always wanted you to have allies...but she needed true allies, not these flakers who would abandon her at a glance. Allies like Eda, who would always have her back.   

She glanced at her watch and sighed, realizing that there was no time to deposit her books back at the library. She’d have to leave the books at her locker. She resumed her quick walk down the hall, hearing steps hurrying behind her and tilting her head expectantly. The familiar sound of perfectly polished shoes squeaking behind her let her know exactly who was following her.   

“So, I heard you broke up with that guy?”   

Darius scoffed in response and sped up to walk next to her.   

“He was an idiot. What else was I supposed to do?”   

“Why are you asking me? I don’t like people.”   

Darius chuckled and pulled his dreadlocks back into a ponytail. She sighed and adjusted her glasses as they walked the last few feet to their lockers.   

They had been paired up as locker mates the middle of sixth grade, when Darius had decided that the disgustingness had begun too much, and so he had went to the only person he knew who was remotely as clean as himself.   

Her.   

They had started being actual friends, and not frenemies after that, though they normally just talked in the halls during the one period that they shared.   

“I heard that Eda is in detention again.”   

Lilith let out a bark of laughter and tickled her locker open.   

“Yup. Again.”   

Darius sighed and placed his books inside, adjusting them so that the spines were perfectly straight. Unlike him.   

She bit back a chuckle at her own wit. That kind of crass dad joke was the type that Eda just loved to say, much to the annoyance of Darius.   

“She needs to get a grip.”   

Lilith sighed and deposited her own books inside the locker.   

“Yeah, well, I can’t get through her. If she insists on being a reckless, authority demeaning agent of chaos, I can’t do anything about that.”   

Darius raised his eyebrows at her.   

“You do realize that she adores you, right?”   

“Well, yes, but not enough to do what I say.”   

She checked the time and felt her eyes widen.   

“I gotta go to study group!”   

She sprinted off without even saying goodbye. She could worry about if she had insulted Darius later.   

Eda crouched behind a pillar, watching the detention pits’ tentacles flail about wildly, trying to find her. She suppressed the snicker that was attempting to break loose and focused on her real goal here.   

Getting out of this cesspool and to freedom!   

If she could sneak out of here she had the opportunity to skip school for the rest of the day. And who wouldn’t take up that offer?   

She tiptoed out from behind the pillar and focused on keeping her footsteps just a light as she possibly could. It wasn’t like the detention demon had eyes anyway. It used sound to find its way around and find the students that it was supposed to trap and brainwash into being good.   

Did the brainwashing even work?   

It had never worked on her.   

Lily would know.   

She shook away her thoughts and gently picked up a broken piece of stone from the ground. The tentacles swished but didn’t go near her. She drew back her arm and hurled the stone as hard as she could to the opposite side of the chamber.   

The tentacles shot towards the sound and she sprinted along the edge of the chasm, taking a flying leap and sliding down deep inside the detention pit. She dodged the teeth and tentacles, still trying to attack the nonexistent sound above her, and lodged herself into her favorite little corner.   

The students being brainwashed around her groaned in agony and obedience but she just ignored them. If she had done this right...   

HAH!   

She dug out a satchel tucked under one of the demon’s teeth and brandished it in the air, cackling with silent laughter.   

Thank you, past Eda!   

She dug through the satchel, weighing her options.   

Did she want to escape with a big bang, or did she want to escape sneakily and silently? Considering that she wanted to have some free time today, silently sounded like the better option. Though she did like making a scene...  

No, silently it was.   

She pulled a potion out of the satchel and returned the bag back inside its corner for the next time she was thrown into detention. There would definitely be a next time.   

She grinned to herself and uncorked the bottle, the shining red potion glinting in the faint light. She got to her feet and tiptoed across the demon, dripping out the red potion as she did so. The potion fizzled and sparked and she beamed to herself as the demon’s tentacles shot back inside to try and figure out what was going on.   

The potion was a concoction that she and Lily had made up a year ago for one of Lily’s exam. It was supposed to be a simple flesh-eating potion but instead it had gone wrong, resulting in a potion that caused mild discomfort and itching to the skin and then proceeded to die it bright green.   

It was one of the best mischief-making potions she had.   

She grabbed the nearest tooth and shoved herself up the demon, climbing upwards and landing hard on a hanging brainwashing pod. They were extremely bouncy and easy to use to get out of the pit, as she had learned several years ago.   

She bounced up and down as one solitary tentacle crept it’s way towards her. She saw it coming out of the corner of her eye and leapt, the pod providing enough bounce to launch herself all the way out of the pit.   

The ground shook as the demon roared in anger but it was too late.   

She was already sprinting like mad towards the secret exit that she had found a year ago. She slammed her hand against the door and drew a quick spell circle. The door made a soft chiming noise and she jumped through.   

She slammed the door behind her and heard hundreds of tentacles whack the other side.   

She let out a sigh of relief and slumped to the ground, thanking the Titan. She really hadn’t wanted to stay in there all day.   

She stretched and shook herself, almost like a dog before hurrying down the sloping corridor to the exit. This corridor really was the weirdest part of Hexside.   

One random corridor, seemingly magical, leading from the detention chamber to the outside of the room, with no obvious other pathways?   

It didn’t add up.   

Eda knew there was something more but she wasn’t sure what.   

Lily would probably have some big incite about the tunnel, but there was a small part of her that didn’t want to tell Lily about it, not knowing if she would tell the teachers or join Eda in her mischief making.   

Her sister was weird like that, some days being willing to get into trouble and other days reporting Eda at the first sign of trouble. She was never really sure whether or not Lily would be willing to help.   

Well, that was dumb.   

If Eda was ever in real, true trouble she knew her sister would drop everything to come bail her out. It was just common sense. But it was the little things, the pranks and the detention, that she wasn’t entirely sure what Lily would do to react.   

She reached the end of the corridor and immediately pressed her ear to the door. She couldn’t hear anything outside so she kicked the door open and hopped out, grinning from ear to ear. No one was nearby and she dusted her uniform off, shooting smug looks around in the hopes that someone would see her and realize what a daring escape she had made.   

Nothing.   

She slumped and kicked the door shut.   

What was the point of sneaking out if people didn’t realize you were gone?  

She sighed and started walking down the hallway, past the hundreds of lockers and empty halls, making her way to the exit of the school. The only people out here right now were ones doing the exact thing she was, sneaking out to do chaos, make-out with their partners, or other such things.   

She was on her way to do something incredibly, extremely more exciting!   

Something that was going to cause even the Titan himself to cower in fear!   

Oh, who was she kidding.   

She was going to commit petty thievery and steal some kind of snack, then probably go and read a book.   

Contrary to her sister’s, and everyone else’s, belief, she did actually like books. She just liked the fast-paced adventure books with short, sharp phrases and intense fight scenes. Studying? History? MATH? Not her thing.   

Lily’s thing.   

But she had learned how to pick a lock from reading, so that was good.   

She hurried down the hallway and caught sight of one of the many exits to the school. She grinned and picked up the pace, practically flying down the empty hallway to reach her freedom. She had her hand on the door when...  

“EDA!”   

She shrieked as something wrapped around her waist and yanked her backwards and up into the air.   

She whirled around to see that she was being held up by a pile of abomination goo. She followed the trail of goo to a very familiar, very disappointing goody two shoes. Shoes that were unbearably clean.   

“Ugh. Hi Darius.”   

She said, making a face at him. He rolled his eyes and set her back down on the ground, crossing his arms.   

“Lilith said you were in detention.”   

“And?”   

He sighed and rubbed his forehead.   

“Eda, for some reason your sister thinks that there’s nothing that can be done for your chaotic ways. But really, you should know better! You’re eleven years old, that’s old enough to think and know right from wrong!”   

She was only half-listening to Darius’ speech. Blah blah blah he sounded like all of the adults who wanted her to grow up. Sure, growing up was nice and all, but what was the point of being grown up if you had to act like a stick in the mud?   

BORING!  

“Do you understand?”   

He finished his speech and she snapped out of her thoughts.   

“No.”   

She said, giving him her best chaos grin. He stared at her and she flung the piece of gum that she had been playing with on the floor onto his shoe. He yelped in anger and she took off down the corridor, pushing the door open and flying across the grass, the scent of clean air hitting her nostrils like a sledgehammer.   

She sprinted across the fields and was almost to the forest surrounding the school when, yet again, she found herself being picked up by abomination goo.   

“Aw, feathers.”   

She said, turning around in midair to see the ole’ V.P himself dragging her backwards. Oh well. At least it wasn’t Faust, though she did always appreciate the opportunity to stick it to his stupid flame covered butt.   

“Miss Clawthorne. I don’t suppose you could explain this?”   

She crossed her arms as he raised her so that she was face to face with him.   

“Well, you see, detention is boring.”   

“That’s the point. It’s detention.”   

She waved her arm dismissively.   

“Yeah, well, boring. So I broke out! Piece of fairy pie, really.”  

Vice Principal Bump sighed and rubbed his head.   

“Look, Edalyn...”   

“Ooh are we going by first names now? You know, I don’t know your first name, eh...Bumpykins?”  

“Call me that again and you’re going back to detention.”   

She blinked in surprise. What? He wasn’t sticking her right back in detention? Normally if she got caught that was always what the teacher did. She glanced around and saw Darius poking his head out the door, an odd expression of guilt and satisfaction on his face. She rolled her eyes. No, she didn’t think he had gotten Bump. It didn’t really fit him. He was the type to fix the problem on his own before going to the authorities. Lily was the type to go to the authorities, and Eda herself was the type to be the problem.   

“Whatdya mean?”   

“I’m not putting you back in detention because it’s obvious you’re only going to keep escaping. Maybe there’s a better way for you to get out all of your...excess energy.”   

She raised her eyebrows.   

“I’m listening.”   

“Have you ever heard of Grudgby?”   

“Vice Principal Bump wants you to join what?!?”   

It was dinner at the Clawthorne house and Lilith was trying very hard to drown out the sound of her parents excitedly berating her sister for all the details about grudgby tryouts.   

“Yeah, grudgby! He says it’d be a good outlet for me to get out all my energy or whatever. The tryouts are in two days. Whatdya think?”   

Her parents exchanged glances before turning back to face Eda and her mother broke into a grin.   

“That’s my girl! You know, I was quite the grudgby star when I was in high school—"  

Lilith jerked her head upright, staring at her mother. She had loved grudgby? Her mother had been a jock? Her mother was always in great shape...  

“Mother, do you think I would be good at grudgby too?”   

Eda’s eyes lit up in excitement.   

“YES. Lily, you need to tryout too.”   

She bit her lip, glancing back and forth between her mother, who seemed determined not to say anything about her athletic skills, and her sister, who was beaming and nodding enthusiastically. Her father chuckled and leaned over to ruffle her hair.   

“Go for it. Both of you.”   

Eda punched the air in excitement, real, true, non-mischievous happiness spreading across her face for the first time in quite a while. Lilith smiled too, wondering whether or not she had just made one of the stupidest decisions of her life.   

She was a nerd.   

Not a jock.   

She wasn’t like Eda, she didn’t spend hours running away from detention and teachers. She walked. The most running she did now was power-walking back and forth from classes! In what world would she be good at grudgby?   

Granted, she had excelled at strategy in different board games and could beat Eda in Hexes Hold Em, although she and her sister had equal amounts of success at that game. Eda was surprisingly good at it, and she always loved to rub it in Lilith’s face.   

Perhaps that was why Eda was so addicted to the game.   

They finished dinner and Lilith excused herself upstairs to go study. She was in the midst of finishing her homework assignment when her scroll shrieked next to her ear and she practically fell of her chair. She smoothed her hair and placed the accept button on the call.   

Darius popped up on the screen, some kind of green facemask on his face and his hair tied up in a bun behind him. His pajamas were covered in an abomination design and it was all she could do not to laugh. He raised his eyebrows at her and made a gimme gesture with his hand.   

“Okay, spill.”   

She smiled and glanced at her book. She could pause on her homework for just long enough to entertain Darius and get his opinion on all this.   

“Well. How much do you know?”  

“I saw Vice Principal Bump catch your sister and then he started talking to her about grudgby. Is that true? Is your sister going to become...shudder...a jock?”   

Lilith sighed and got to her feet, moving over to her bed. She had a feeling this was going to be one long conversation.   

“Both of us, actually.”   

“what.”   

She laughed at his deadpan answer and nodded.   

“Yeah. Well, my mom was a grudgby player and I figured it wasn’t a bad idea to test it out. It would look good on my applications to the emperor’s coven too. And Eda wants me to do it with her.”   

“Okay, but grudgby on top of your already perfectionistic studying schedule? Girl.”   

“Oh, like you’re one to talk. You are the top of the abomination class and you know it.”   

“Ugh, not for long.”  

That was new.   

She straightened, frowning.   

“What do you mean, not for long?”   

“There’s this kid.”   

His tone of voice made it absolutely clear that he did not like this kid.   

“He just transferred. His name’s Alador. He’s a Blight.”   

Ooh. That was one messed up family. Such high standards.  

“And?”   

“Well, he keeps combining abomination and technology! Technology!”   

And why was that a bad thing? Granted, abomination magic was typically nature based but there was nothing wrong with mixing it with technology.   

“He’s a hack, glasses.”   

She sighed and moved back to her desk.   

“And I'm telling you, it takes me all I can do to not punch his stupid pretty little face every time he shows off in front of the class! And you wouldn’t believe the way he dresses, all rumpled clothes and fluffy but messy hair, I swear to the Titan it’s like he doesn’t care about how people perceive him. Stuck up little self entitled—"    

“Darius it almost sounds like you like him.”   

She said, smirking as she found the homework she had been working on and placing her scroll on the desk. Darius shrieked in rage and started ranting about how she was obviously wrong since she had never had a crush before, and how he would never like a hack like that and how he should get a new friend if she was keeping on insisting on something so ridiculous.   

She attempted not to groan.  

She didn’t think he had a crush on him she was just trying to poke fun at him. This was such an over-reaction that maybe Darius really did like this Alador Blight.   

“Okay, thank you clean freak but I have to continue with my homework. Bye!”   

She hung up before he could protest...and before she had the temptation to comment on his bright red face. Heh.   

Darius stared at the scroll in fury.   

She had really just hung up on him?   

Right when he was proving that the hack was...well, a hack!   

Honestly.   

What kind of friend was she?   

He rolled his eyes and walked over to his bathroom to wash off his face. He tapped the tiles as he walked down the hallway, counting each one before being able to enter the bathroom and wipe the face mask off.   

It was one of his ‘quirks’ as his dad called them.   

After washing his face and brushing his teeth he made his way back to his bedroom. He did have homework to do. He had to write an essay about the very beginnings of abomination magic and how it affected all of the other kinds of magic and how the other kinds of magic affected it.   

Something that was very much up Lilith’s alley.   

He would have asked her for input, but apparently, she had too much to do herself.   

Really, trying out for grudgby?   

If he hadn’t known Lilith as well as he did he would have thought it was a ridiculous idea for her. Eda, now that was a sport that she would excel at. It was a very violent sport, especially once you got to high school and professional levels.   

The real thing that made him know that grudgby would be a good sport for Lilith was that one time there was that food fight in the cafeteria. She had practically flown through the air after he helped boost her up and she had thrown that ball of food or whatever smack dab at the alarm system.   

Amazing.   

And also the reason that he did not want to get on her bad side.   

Well, sure, she was his best friend. Not that he’d ever tell her that. But he still didn’t ever want to get on her bad side. She could be terrifying and ruthless when the situation called for it.   

He sighed and sat down at his desk, pulling out his book on abomination anatomy. Maybe he was putting too much thought into this essay. It wasn’t even supposed to be that long, just a short paper.   

Everyone else was going to do the bare minimum.   

Why did he have to strive for perfection?   

The hack was probably going to just slide through on nothing but his half-hearted abominations and mEcHAnIcS. Ridiculous.  

He scoffed and pulled out a sheet of paper.   

Well.   

He’d show that hack that he was the absolute best at abominations.    

Lilith stood outside, staring down the long stretch of road in front of her. It was almost midnight and she hadn’t been able to sleep. She had been too consumed with thoughts of the upcoming grudgby tryouts. Why had she volunteered?   

She shook her hands nervously and glanced to the side.   

Eda was perched on top of a tree stump, grinning, a magical countdown timer beeping in the air next to her.   

When she hadn’t been able to sleep she had done what any normal witch would do. She snuck out of the house to train and Eda had followed her, chanting all the way about ‘prissy lily being sneaky’. Honestly, why did she think rhyming was funny?   

“On your mark!”   

Eda whisper shouted, the countdown beeping.   

Lilith dug her feet into the ground and stared down the road, mentally categorizing all the dips and rocks to avoid.   

“Get set!”  

She took a deep breath to fill her lungs and stared down the path.   

“GO!”   

Eda shrieked and Lilith took off like a shot.   

She might not be as fast or as strong as Eda, but Titan dang it she was going to be able to at least be passable for a grudgby player.   

Her feet pounded the road, a steady drumming that succeeded in drowning out the fear in her mind. The cool night air whipped past her face, yanking her hair out of its precarious ponytail and sending it flying in all directions.   

She spluttered but kept running, reaching the first curve in the road and skidding around it, Eda whooping behind her. She could hear Eda jogging to keep within sight of her but she kept her focus on the road ahead.   

Her side burned in pain way too soon.   

Come on!   

She could run further than this!   

She gritted her teeth and picked up the pace, her legs screaming at her to stop. She ignored the pain and went around two sharp curves in a row, practically zig-zagging on the way towards the stairs. Eda was panting behind her as she rounded the last corner and found the stairs in front of her.   

She leapt up them, taking the steps two at a time, the darkness of midnight pressing in around her but the moon shinning a path for her to take. Her legs felt like jelly but suddenly...  

She didn’t feel the pain anymore.   

She grinned and ran faster, ignoring the possible caution of no longer feeling pain in her legs.   

It felt like the wind was blowing harder and harder now, her hair a tangled mess and she could barely see from the combination of the wind, her hair, and her glasses.   

Her side felt like it was going to explode as she leapt up the last few steps and began the home stretch.   

A huge field of grassland, stopped by a sharp cliff dropping down into the Boiling Sea at the other end.   

She beamed as she ran faster and faster, feeling like she was almost flying. There was a drumming sound next to her and she turned her head to see Eda sprint past her, laughing as her bright orange hair caught the wind as well.   

“NO FAIR!”   

Lilith shouted, laughing as she ran even faster, attempting to catch up with her jerk of a little sister. Eda whirled around mid-run and stuck her tongue out at her. Lilith clenched her fists and pushed off with her legs, a huge, final burst of energy shooting through her legs and pushing her just ahead of Eda as they sprinted the last few steps to the edge of the cliff.   

She could hear the ocean now.   

She skidded to a stop and whooped in excitement, turning to watch as Eda took two more steps and hit the designated finish line as well.   

She screamed into the night air, laughing hysterically as she took in the rush from running for the first time.   

“Lily!”   

Eda said, not even out of breath.   

“How did you run so fast?”   

Lilith shrugged in response, not entirely sure herself.  

Suddenly her legs wobbled and she collapsed to the ground, pain wracking her body and her stomach heaving as she tried to catch her breath. Everything suddenly hurt more than anything she had ever felt before in her life.   

She was vaguely aware of Eda dropping to her knees as well, trying to get her to say something but she couldn’t all she could do was try and try and try to catch her breath and not die of suffocation because that was obviously what was about to happen she was going to die this was not how she wanted to go she wanted to go by doing some great heroic act and saving the world and having the emperor himself mourn her loss because she was going to be that important she couldn’t go like this she needed to breathe she...  

Oh she could breathe.  

She blinked in surprise and her eyes focused slightly to realize that Eda was pressing her forehead to her own, eyes squeezed shut. Her sister pulled away and placed her glasses in her hand. She put them back on and blinked at Eda, who looked more tired than she had before.   

“I shared the pain.”  

Eda said, shrugging and scrambling to her feet, wincing slightly. She held out her hand and Lilith pulled herself up to her feet.   

“Next time, Lily, stay within your running limits unless you’re about to be thrown in detention.”   

Eda said, poking her sister and laughing. Lilith rolled her eyes and the two sisters walked across the field, heading back towards their house.   

“Next time we’ll have an actual race.”   

She said in response.   

“None of your joining in half-way cheating-ness.”  

Eda threw back her head and laughed. Lilith caught her sister’s arm in her own and smiled at the night sky, the many constellations of the Titan and his will shimmering above her like bright, warm stars that were telling her that everything was going to be okay.  

“Ohhhh I don’t think I can do this.”   

Eda patted Lily’s back sympathetically as Lily leaned over a trashcan, attempting not to hurl her lunch. Darius had been comforting her but had traded off to Eda as soon as the puking had started.   

“Lily, do you want to do this?”   

She asked. She was going to feel really bad if the only reason her sister was doing this was because she had asked her too.   

“YES!”   

Lily burst out, straightening up and whirling around to face her.   

“This will look so good to the emperor’s coven! And mom will like this!”   

Eda shrugged.   

“Okay then. Channel that and go out there and punch your fears in the gut!”   

Lilith smiled and adjusted her glasses on her nose.   

“Alright. Thank you, Eda.”   

Eda watched as her sister walked across the field to join the first group of witches and demons trying out for the team. She was in the third group to try out, because she was on the younger side.   

She knew her sister was going to do amazing, but her sister needed to know that herself.   

“Miss Clawthorne.”   

She whirled around to see Principal Faust standing there, glaring down at her with more rage than she had seen in the last few days. Vice Principal Bump trailed behind him, looking nervous. She glanced behind her. Lilith was getting up to practice flinging the ball into the goal.   

“Look at me when I am speaking.”   

Faust snapped. She whipped her head around, opening to mouth to say something smart but her eyes fell on Bump. He was shaking his head frantically and she snapped her mouth shut.   

Normally she was all for sticking it to the witch, but something was wrong. And she really, really wanted to try out for grudgby. She should probably keep it quiet.   

“So, what’s up Fausty?”   

Dang it Eda!  

She mentally cursed her own stupid runaway mouth.   

THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK!  

“Detention.”   

“Principal, she’s about to try out for the grudgby team.”   

Faust turned just his head around to stare at Bump, a gross cracking sound echoing from his skull as he did so. Eda suppressed a shudder.   

“And why should she be allowed on the grudgby team?”   

Bump blinked, looking past Faust at Eda. She shrugged.   

“Well, it would be good for her...”  

He trailed off as Faust stared him down.   

“Mischief makers,” he hissed “should never be rewarded.”   

Ed wrinkled her nose at him. What a piece of work.   

“But, sir, if you’d just let...”   

“DETENTION!”   

He roared, ignoring Bump and turning back to face her. She tilted her head and glanced around. There were no detention spirits or other teachers nearby.   

“NO THANKS!”   

Eda screeched, taking off running as fast and her legs could carry her towards the grudgby field. She could hear Faust roaring behind her and Bump attempting to calm the principal down.   

The grass stung her legs as she ran, fully prepared to wreck the tryouts if that was what it took to get Faust off her tail.   

Man, she really wanted to play grudgby.   

“HEY!”   

She skidded to a stop as an 8 th grader stepped in front of her and held up his hand, eyebrows raised.   

“You trying out for grudgby?”   

She nodded, mentally noting that dang, the guy had really good-looking blonde hair.   

“Yup.” She said, popping the p and gesturing towards Lily. “That’s my sister.”   

He nodded, glancing over at Lily and making a note on his clipboard.   

“I’m Jack. Your sister has talent. What’s your age?”   

“I’m eleven.”   

“Sixth grader.”   

“Yup.”   

He nodded and handed her a slip of paper.   

“You’re fast. Get onto the field. And why’d you make Faust made?”   

She rolled her eyes.   

“Not on purpose this time.”  

He looked her up and down, really seeing her for the first time.   

“OH you’re THAT chaos kid that’s always getting detention.”   

She jutted her chin out.   

“That going to be a problem?”   

“Only if you’re good enough to be on the team.”  

She glared at him and he smirked, sauntering off.  

Someone grabbed her shoulder and she flinched, whipping around to sprint away, but it was only Bump.   

“I distracted him with a different student.”   

Bump said, giving her a smile. She raised her eyebrows.   

“Why are you doing this?”   

“Doing what?”   

She laughed and spread her arms wide, gesturing to the grudgby field and the fliers above her.  

“This!”   

Bump smiled.   

“I think you have the potential to be a very good witch, Miss Clawthorne. And you remind me quite a bit of myself when I was younger.”   

She burst out laughing. Nervous, authority following Bump was like her? HA! That was the best laugh she’d had all day. No way.   

“Yes. I actually was.”   

“Yeah, well, even if you were, I’m never going to teach.”   

Bump shrugged.   

“Alright. But I still think you have the potential to be a good witch, and I’m going to prove it.”   

She watched him as he walked off, a frown on her face.   

“Yeah, no.”   

Darius watched as Lilith sprint across the field like a natural, sending the ball spinning and spiking it or whatever sporty people did. He wasn’t sporty at all.   

He supposed he was a stereotype, after all.   

He smirked to himself as he made his way up the stands to find a good spot to sit.   

“Didn’t take you for a sports type.”   

He jerked his head around to see a terribly familiar mop of frizzy brown hair bent over a board filled with wires on it, the person in question fiddling with a screwdriver.   

“Hack.”   

He said, sneering down at him. The hack didn’t even bother to look up.   

“I really don’t understand why you don’t see the potential.”   

The hack muttered, still refusing to look up. Darius groaned.   

“What, you’re not hanging out with your girlfriend?”  

“Not my girlfriend.”   

He said, whacking the board and sending sparks flying up into his hair. He yelped as his hair started smoking. Darius sighed and waved his hand, sending abomination goo splattering onto his head and putting out the fire.   

The hack finally looked up, adjusting his goggles as he did so.   

“Abomination goo is flammable.”   

“Yes. But this mixture isn’t.”  

He raised his eyebrows, impressed. Darius felt a glow of pride and smirked in response to the hack’s surprise. Or as much surprise as the hack showed. He didn’t show much emotion.   

“Bet you don’t know how I did it, do you?”   

“You added more water and less wartroot.”    

Darius stared at him in shock, not having expected that this hack would know how to change the base mixture of abomination goo.   

“It’s runny.”   

The hack said.   

Darius scoffed and turned away, fully intending to leave and go sit somewhere else.   

“Salt would counteract the flammability too.”   

He whirled around, raising both of his eyebrows.  

“Really? You think I didn’t think of that?”   

“Well, I didn’t know.”   

Darius dusted off the seat next to the hack and sat down, crossing his arms.   

“I tried salt, flour and sugar, and essence of wormwood. Got any better ideas?”   

“Well.”   

The hack twisted his screwdriver one last time into the board and looked up, pushing his goggles up onto his head.   

“You could try...”     

   Lilith laughed in exhilaration as she rolled across the ground, leaping to her feet just in time to spike the ball far across to the other side of the field. Another kid leapt up and caught it, landing hard and staring at her in shock.   

“You’re decent!”   

She flushed. Decent? Really? Whatever. She would become good. Better than good, even. She would become the best.   

“Lily!”   

Someone tugged on her ponytail and she turned to see Eda next to her, dressed in grudgby gear as well.   

“What are you doing?”   

She hissed.   

“He told me to tryout with this group.” She said, jerking her head in the direction of one of the grudgby team’s players. Lilith nodded and gestured for Eda to flank her.   

“Okay. What we’re doing is showing off by trying to get the ball down to the goal but we can’t set foot past the line until we score a goal. It’s a test to see how far we can throw the ball.”   

Eda’s eyes flashed dangerously and Lilith just knew that she had a plan.   

“Set foot past the line? Where those the exact words?”   

“Edalyn no.”  

She rolled her eyes and made a face.   

“Come on Lily!”   

“No. No cheating, no bending the rules, no pushing the boundaries, no mischief, no chaos.”   

She stared down her sister, who finally hung her head and nodded a yes in response.   

“But maybe some shenanigans,” Lilith winked. “Now, here’s what we’re going to do.”   

There were four students here, herself, Eda, a construction student and an oracle student. She whispered the plan into Eda’s ear and Eda brightened, her eyes gleaming with mirth.   

“Titan yes! Let’s do it!”   

Lilith jerked her head and Eda sprinted off, filling the other people trying out on Lilith’s strategy. If this was a test to show off their skills, she might as well show off her strategy skills too, hmm?  

“Hey, you ready for the next round?”   

One of the official team members called, tossing the ball up and down experimentally. Lilith glanced back at the other kids trying out and Eda gave her a big thumbs up. She grinned and turned to face the official team, dropping to the ground in a ready stance.  

The team member sighed and flung the ball towards her at top speeds. She dove out of the way and waited. There was a shout and the ball was caught by a net off abomination goo, one of the other students trying out doing exactly as Lilith had wanted.   

The official team had frozen in shock.   

The construction student exploded the ground in front of the team, sending massive clouds of dust surrounding them and blocking their view. Lilith grinned and took off running towards the caught grudgby ball. She could hear Eda sprinting in the opposite direction, towards the border that they couldn’t cross.   

The abomination student raised her arms and shot the ball straight towards Lilith. She caught the ball just as the dust surrounding the team cleared and they stared at her in shock. She grinned and sprinted straight towards the stunned team.   

She dropped to her knees and slid right up against the line bordering the two teams. She pulled her arm back and threw with all her might, drawing a spell circle with her other hand and shooting the ball in midair.   

It rocketed towards the goal on the other side of the field, the goal that Eda was perched on top of, floating above the ground with a hover spell cast on her shoes. She caught the ball and tumbled backwards but slammed it through the goal, dropping to the ground and catching the ball as she hit the ground running.   

Lilith held out her hand and as Eda sprinted across and dodged the various team members trying to grab her and take the ball from her so that they could resume their structured tryouts.   

Eda ducked under an arm and Lilith snagged the front of her uniform, yanking her across the line as the other two students in the same tryout slot as them jogged to the front and grinned.  

Lilith laughed nervously and adjusted her glasses. Eda glanced up at her and spread her arms wide, tilting her head mockingly. Lilith whacked her arms down. She couldn’t be cocky right now! They had just attempted to impress the official team, she couldn’t act like a cocky jerk!   

“You didn’t set foot across that line, did you?”   

Eda grinned and Lilith felt a small grin spread across her face at the realization that they weren’t about to get thrown out by the official team.   

“Whose strategy was this?”   

She raised her arm eagerly. The boy looked her up and down and then glanced at Eda and the other two students.   

“Alright. We’ve seen what we need to of you four, I think. You’ll be receiving a crow with the results tomorrow evening. Remember, there’s only three slots available.”   

Lilith gulped nervously and jerked her head for Eda follow her. They wandered off, the official team moving on to tryout the next group.   

“Whoo!”   

Eda said, pumping her fists in the air as they hurried up the bleachers. Lilith bit her lip nervously, ignoring Eda’s celebratory noises.   

OH she had totally screwed that up. It was all her fault. Why had she done that? That hadn’t seemed to enjoy it. Why would she take a risk? What was the point?   

“Lily, calm down.”   

Eda said, grabbing her face in her hands and squishing it. Lilith tried to stick her tongue out at her younger sister but it was very hard to do when being smushed.   

“You were...sporty?”   

The two girls turned to see Darius standing there, dusting off his uniform, a boy with shaggy brown hair sitting on the bench nearby, head bent over a board covered in abomination goo and wires.   

“Who...”   

“The hack.”   

Lilith felt her eyebrows shoot to the top of her head.   

“Really.”   

Darius rolled his eyes.   

“Someone didn’t understand the complexities of making fireproof abomination goo.”   

“Again, not that hard. If you just add salt—”   

“SALT might not cut it!”   

It seemed like she was walking in on a long-standing argument. She cleared her throat before Darius could go off on a rant.   

“Okay.”   

Darius flushed, as if realizing that there were other people there for the first time.   

“Whatever. Come on glasses.”   

He stormed off down the steps and Eda laughed.   

“What’s got his pants in a twist?”   

Lilith hummed noncommittally.   

“Not sure.”   

Eda spent the next day almost as nervous as Lily.   

She paced the floor next to the window that night, Lily sitting in the chair next to her, neither of them speaking to their parents, who looked almost as nervous as they were. She felt like she might burst from the stress.   

When was the last time she had wanted something this much?   

It was hard to explain, really.   

There was just...just something. Something amazing when running across that field, sweaty and gross, side aching, grabbing the ball and flinging it in all different directions. Something that would probably seem dumb to everyone else but...there was just something special about it.   

An earsplitting shriek startled all of them and Lily grabbed the crow frantically.   

“Yes. Yes this is she. Uh huh. Yes! Yes. Of course. Oh! Oh my Titan yes! Yeah. Okay. 4pm after school? Yes! Thank you so much!”   

Eda stared at her sister, heart in her throat. Lily whirled around and beamed at Eda.   

“WE’RE IN!”   

She shrieked in response and tackled Lily in a hug. Lily’s arms went around her and they were jumping up and down in excitement, Eda getting poked by her sister’s glasses as they fell off her nose but not caring.   

“I can’t believe it!”   

Their mother said, hugging both of them at the same time.   

“I can! Our witchlets are strong and smart, are they not?”   

Eda beamed up at her father, wriggling out from her mother’s embrace and leaping up on top of the table to strike a muscle-man pose.   

“We, the two Clawthorne sisters, will bring our team to victory!”   

Lily laughed and climbed up with her, hair flying in every direction. Eda felt a glow of happiness as her sister struck an equally ridiculous pose.   

“We will be the champions!”   

“THE CONQUERERS!”  

“THE CLAWTHORNES!”   

They shouted at the same time, jumping off the table and landing hard on the ground. Eda laughed in delight and spun around and around as her sister started talking to their mother about old grudgby moves.   

She was on the team.   

She was on the team!   

Holy Titan she was on the team.   

She cackled madly. She was a jock! Jocks had superior status in the school! No more of the weird, mischief making orange-haired kid. She was now the weird, orange-haired, mischief making jock! Hah! TAKE THAT FAUST!   

Man, Bump was right.   

Throughout the end of Lilith’s middle school year and the rest of Eda’s middle school year the two became known as the best middle school grudgby players.   

That didn’t mean much.   

It was the high school grudgby teams that actually mattered, but Lilith was made captain of high school grudgby in her sophomore year, a practically unheard of event. Eda couldn’t wait to join the big leagues, and so she made sure not to let her grades drop so low that she’d have to repeat a year.   

Darius and the hack never did hang out much, only in class and only when the teacher forced them to work together because they were the two brightest students in the abomination track.   

Bump was extremely pleased his plan had worked, and Faust swore he would get back at Bump for this. Eda never did stop making trouble, and quickly made things worse after gaining an important spot on the team. She was practically untamable, the power going to her head.   

She had fun, at least.   

Chapter Text

“Tryouts for the Emperor’s Coven are just around the corner!”  

“Heh. Seven months isn’t ‘just around the corner’.”  

“Wow. This really is shocking. I thought there’d be more.” 

“No child is beyond redemption. Didn’t you stake your career on it?”  

“Greetings, students, educators! My name is Terra Snapdragon, Head Witch of the Plant Coven! But today, I'm head proctor for the...IFWOT? Seriously?” 

“I don’t know who you are, but you are a riot!”   

“All right, I’m Eda Clawthorne.”  

“Raine Whispers.”  

“We're in HECK, people! Let's have some fun!” 

“Not a rose without a few thorns, I see.”  

“Yeah, well, we got tired of your stupid little challenge.”  

“And your plant puns!”  

“Ok Eda, give me the run down on this place.”  

“Oh, you'll love it. It's got all the secrets. And since Terra spoke to Principal Faust, I can get away with pretty much anything! Mm! I've never had Apple Blood before, this stuff is good!” 

Raine smiled softly and glanced around the cafeteria, taking in the sights. Eda felt an odd flutter in her stomach as the bard looked around, eyes bright and excited.  

“Okay, so we can get away with anything?”  

Eda smirked and leaned forward, placing the apple blood down and lowering her voice conspiratorially.  

“I’ve been pulling pranks here since I was six. I’m a sophomore now. I know everything.”  

Raine raised their eyebrows and leaned forward as well so that their noses were almost touching.  

“Really?”  

“Really.”  

They grinned and pulled back. Eda ignored the flush that had started to spread across her face. 

“So, where’s this sister I’ve heard about?”  

Eda rolled her eyes.  

“Emperor’s Coven studying club.”    

“Ah. Not your speed?”  

She sucked in a breath through her teeth, wondering how much to tell them.  

“Well. Yes but no?”  

Raine nodded encouragingly.  

“Eh, it’s just kind of strict for me. Besides, I’m sure I can get in without having to study for hours every day after school.”  

She made a face and Raine laughed. Good. She didn’t really feel like going into all the ways that she felt like the coven system was unfair and by helping it they were just adding to tyranny. Okay, maybe things weren’t that bad, but it still needed some changes. That was the main reason she wanted to get into the emperor’s coven, to reform it from the inside out. And also be a badass. That too.   

“I get it. It’s why I was never a grudgby player. I’d rather practice music even though I’m good at it.”  

Eda coughed on her drink, remembering how Raine had played catch with her extremely well at the HECK convention.  

“Well, my sister and I are grudgby players, so don’t you dare insult it in our presence.”  

Raine smirked and leaned forward again.  

“Are you any good?”  

Eda scoffed, her pride insulted. She jumped on top of the table and saw Raine’s eyes widen in surprise. Eh, they’d get used to her love of dramatically getting on tables.  

“I am Edalyn Clawthorne, the star player on the grudgby team! None dare challenge me! I am the best of the best, and I—”  

“Hey, idiot, your sister is the captain for a reason.”  

Of course.  

Mr. Clean Freak himself.  

“Hey Darius.”  

She said, turning around to see him walking past.  

“New kid, do yourself a favor and stay away from Eda.”  

“Says the guy who is literally best friends with my sister.”  

He rolled his eyes and summoned an abomination to take his tray for him. Eda noticed Raine watching closely, their eyes taking in every moment of their interaction.  

“Well, she’s not as chaotic as you.”  

“HAH!”  

Eda laughed, jumping off the table and straightening to her full height. She still only came up to Darius’ shoulders but she knew that she could take him in a fight if it came to it.  

“Sure about that, Deamonne? You really think my sister can’t be as chaotic as me?”  

He rolled his eyes and leaned down, poking her forehead.  

“Positive.”  

“Okay, I think I’m missing something but this is very entertaining.”  

Eda whipped her head around to look at Raine, who was still sitting at the table, smirking as they took in Eda and Darius’s surprised looks.  

“Oh. Raine, this is Darius. Darius, this is Raine.”  

“Raine?”  

Darius said, raising his eyebrows. Eda glared at him. Why was he looking so surprised? What was weird? She thought it was pretty badass that Raine was literally named after the boiling rain.  

“Raine Whispers.”  

They said, getting to their feet and holding out their hand. Darius surveyed them up and down, no doubt trying to figure out if they were dirty or not, before shaking their hand delicately.  

“Why are you hanging out with Eda?”  

“I met her at IFWOT. I then transferred here.”  

“I hope you didn’t transfer here because of Eda.”  

“No, I wanted to come here before. Having a friend just made the choice easier.”  

Darius shook his head and put his hand on Raine’s shoulder.  

“Look, Whispers, Eda is going to pull you into her schemes and chaos and war against Principal Faust. Avoid it.”  

Eda skirted around the table to the other side to get her tray, the only reason she was able to ignore the fact that Darius was insulting her was that Raine’s eyebrows had shot to the top of their head. She had the distinct idea that Raine was getting a plan. How she knew that? She had no idea. But there was something in their face. Something mischievous.  

“So, you’re in a war against the principal?”  

Raine said, turning their head to face Eda. She nodded.  

“The same principal who threatened to expel you if you didn’t come back with a ribbon?”  

She nodded again, tapping her foot against the table leg unconsciously.  

“The principal who is trying to embarrass your vice principal, the one who has ridiculous rules, the one who seems to be friends with Head Witch Snapdragon?”  

“...yes.”  

Eda said, not following.  

“So, when’s the next prank?”  

Darius whipped his head around so fast Eda thought his neck was going to break.     

“Excuse me?”  

Raine looked over at him and adjusted their glasses.  

“Well, your principal seems like a tyrant. I don’t like tyranny, so why not screw up his day?”  

Eda was laughing now, a million bubbles of excitement and happiness taking over her mind as she stared at this wonderful, wonderful bard who was willing to throw themselves headfirst into her crazy schemes.  

“HECK YEAH! I GOT A PARTNER IN CRIME!”  

She crowed, leaping over the table and slinging her arm over Raine’s shoulders. She had definitely thought that Raine might be the mischief making type after their stunt at IFWOT, but this was gold! Gold! She couldn’t have asked for someone to be a better partner!  

Uh, partner in crime.  

Raine laughed as Darius stared at them in horror.  

“I...oh dear Titan save us.”  

He groaned, burying his face in his hands. 

Eda stuck out her tongue as he practically sprinted off, the abomination holding his tray drooping sadly. Raine patted it sympathetically.   

“LILITH!”  

She jumped in surprise and banged her head against the stack of books leaning precariously to the left of her. Seriously? This was a library, what absolute piece of—oh it was Darius.  

“What?”  

She snapped, steadying the books and glaring at him. He looked...rumpled, which was a very odd sign.  

“Your sister, that’s what.”  

Lilith sighed and rubbed her forehead. 

“What about her?”  

“She made a friend at IFWOT who transferred here who seems to be just as chaotic as Eda.”  

She stared at him, brain working overtime. Eda made a friend. That’s good. That’s very good, because as much as she was popular with her fellow students because of grudgby no one was really willing to get involved with her because she was always on Principal Faust’s bad side. The friend bit was...horribly bad for the sole reason that if the new friend in question was just as chaotic as Eda then they...oh they would be a terribly amazing team.      

“What’s their name?”  

“Raine Whispers.”  

Lilith blinked in surprise.  

“Raine? Like the boiling stuff from the clouds? Really?”  

Darius shrugged and sat down next to her, moving her books to the side so that he could face her. 

“Apparently. So, what’s the plan?”  

She sighed and yanked her books out from under his arm. 

“The plan, clean freak, is to leave them alone and pray to the Titan that they don’t cause too much chaos.”  

“That’s not going to work.”  

She raised her eyebrows and flicked a dust ball onto his jacket. He yelped and fell off the chair, frantically dusting himself off to be rid of the terrible pest. Good grief. 

“Not nice, glasses.”  

“Hmm.”  

She said, resuming her studying.  

“Come on! What are we going to do?”  

She turned around and crossed her arms.  

“Darius, what trouble can they get into before the end of the day?”  

He raised his eyebrows.  

“Did you really just tempt the fates like that?”  

She scoffed just as screaming erupted from outside the room. They stared at each other, frozen in shock, for one brief moment before Darius scrambled to his feet and she practically dragged him out of the library and into the hall... 

The hall that was filled with pudding? 

As Raine sprinted after Eda down the hall, the only thought consuming their mind was that there was no way in HECK—seriously Terra was the worst—that they were ever going to let this insanely crazy witch go.  

Who was Eda Clawthorne?  

They had met their fair share of pranksters and mischief makers, even had been the leader of a few themself, but they had never met someone with the pure knack and desire to cause chaos like Eda Clawthorne.  

She was...she was like a beam of sunlight but sunlight was too consistent and passive, she was like a fire, rampaging and beautiful, leaving smoke and chaos in her wake. Burning reds and oranges the same shade as her vibrant hair.  

No, they did not have a crush on her.  

It was just simple observations.  

Also Eda looked hilarious when she blushed.  

It was like just her cheeks turned red and the rest of her face stayed super pale!  

Adorable.  

“Move it!”  

Eda shrieked, grabbing their hand and yanking them around the corner, sprinting past Darius and another witch with bright red hair and glasses. The growing mound of enchanted pudding behind them was on their tails, and the red-haired witch immediately started sprinting after them, leaving Darius to fend for himself against the pudding.  

“EDALYN CLAWTHORNE WHAT DID YOU DO?”  

Raine snorted.  

“Your first name is Edalyn?”  

Eda flushed red again and shoved their arm.  

“Yeah, yeah. What’s up Lily?”  

“WHAT’S UP?!?”  

Ah, so this must be the older sister, Lilith Clawthorne. She exactly like Eda had described her.  

“Eda, what is this?”  

Raine looked up to see the way ahead of them blocked. They clenched their fists and whistled sharply, sending a blast of magic shooting forward to make the students ahead of them scatter out of the way. Lilith Clawthorne gasped at the show of magic and Raine dropped to their knees, sliding through the teacher’s legs who was trying to stop them.  

Ugh, they were going to get a reputation before even being a few hours here. 

“HAH!”  

Eda laughed, jumping up and drawing a spell circle in the air, leaping over the teacher’s head and landing next to them.  

“Sorry, sorry, trying to get my sister under control, I am so sorry.”  

They heard Lilith Clawthorne babbling behind them. Eda grabbed their arm and dragged them down a new corridor, one out of the way off the huge mound of magic pudding.  

“Okay, ready?”   

Eda said, eyes glinting with a furious excitement. Raine grinned and gave a thumbs up. She drew two spell circles in the air and fire exploded around them. They laughed as Eda twisted her hands through air, making the balls of fire she was holding spin around like tiny stars.  

“AAAAAAND....BOOM!”  

She released the fire and Raine stared as the fire balls slammed into the pudding at the end of the hall and started fizzling and sparking. They watched as the pudding shrunk and vanished, leaving behind a glowing message, one that flickered and, if Eda had been correct, would stay up for at least three hours.  

“Faust is not the boss?”  

They read, stifling a laugh. Eda shrugged and stretched languidly, her hair catching the light.  

“Eh, not my best. But it works!”  

“Why did we let the pudding get out of control?”  

“Well, it drew more commotion than just the message. And if we add our names to the message next time, everyone will know that we did it!”   

Raine shook their head frantically. Eda blinked in surprise but put her glowing finger down.  

“What?”  

“No names, please.”  

Eda searched their face and they flushed.  

“I...would rather avoid the spotlight.”  

They met her eyes, challenging her to argue. But Eda just smirked and Raine had the sudden feeling that they weren’t going to be judged for this.  

“How are you supposed to be a bard with stage fright?”  

Raine laughed as Eda slung her arm around their shoulders and dragged them down the corridor.  

“Well, it’s not easy.”  

The next day Eda practically sprinted to school, bouncing up and down on her toes as she glanced around the heads of students milling around the entrance, trying to spot Raine.  

She had just caught sight of the bard’s mint green hair when a hand clamped down on her shoulder and she yelped, twisting around to see Principal Faust himself standing there, glaring down at her with all the anger that he only seemed to reserve for her and Vice Principal Bump.  

Behind him stood Lily.  

“Seriously?”  

She said, raising her eyes at her older sister. Lily bit her lip.  

“Well...”  

Eda waved her hand.  

“Oh, chill Lily. It’s fine.”  

Lily sighed and hurried off, disappearing back inside the school with the rest of the students, leaving only Eda and Faust outside...and Raine, trying to hide behind a tree. 

“Mx. Whispers.”  

Faust said. Raine gasped and poked their head out from behind the tree.  

“Go inside before you’re late as well.”  

They started to hurry up the steps but Eda glared at them. They were in on the prank as well! They couldn’t just leave her here! Come on, help her get out of this! 

“Principal Faust, um...”  

Raine said, turning red under his glare. They seemed to steady themselves and met his eyes determinedly.  

“I helped Eda with the prank.”  

Eda face-palmed.  

That was not what she wanted them to say! Come on, did they not know that in this situation, they should either made an excuse and say that they were a ‘witness’ for her innocence, or they had to stay out of detention and break her out!  

IT WAS SIMPLE KNOWLEDGE!  

“Ah, you were.”  

Faust said, his eyes lighting up.  

“So, we have two miscreants now, do we?”  

Raine steadied their chin as Faust dragged them both inside the school.  

“Seriously Raine?”  

She asked, raising her eyebrows at the bard.  

“What? It’s just detention.”  

Eda started to die laughing at Raine’s naivety.  

“Oh no, it’s not just detention. Not if Faust caught us.”  

Raine blinked in surprise as they turned a corner and the witches found themselves staring at a blank grey door. A perfectly well-timed cold breeze whipped past them and Eda shivered, cursing the oracle spirits that tended to wander these halls.   

“Here.”  

Faust said, smiling creepily.  

“I think you’ll enjoy the whole no learning aspect of the detention track.”  

Eda felt her eyes widen in horror as he snapped his fingers and her uniform was suddenly drained off all its color, leaving her and Raine dressed in dark grey.  

“That’s not a real punishment!”  

She yelled in anger.  

“It is now.”  

They were blown backwards into the room and found themselves alone, save for an elderly witch who looked them up and down and pointed for them to sit down.  

“We need to—”  

“SHUT UP!”  

Eda jumped a foot in the air at the elderly witch’s yell. Raine grabbed her hand and yanked her down onto the desk. The two witches exchanged a worried glance as they sat in silence.  

He was an old witch.  

He was bound to fall asleep at some point, right?  

Three hours later, and the old witch was still awake.  

Eda, on the other hand, was not.  

Her head was slumped against the desk, poofy orange hair surprisingly soft for the amount of random goop and junk Raine had found while running their fingers through her hair.  

Seriously, why did Eda have a half-eaten sandwich stored in her hair? 

“Psst.”  

Raine looked around in surprise. The old witch had gotten to his feet and was looking around in confusion as well. They watched as he wandered around the room twice before stopping by the blackboard and suddenly toppling to the ground, starting to snore.  

They stared in shock as a square in the blackboard shimmered and Raine saw the hand that was poking out of a hidden door. A familiar red head appeared and gestured for Raine to follow her. They whacked Eda and she snorted, jerking upright and raising her eyebrows at the appearance of Lilith Clawthorne.  

“Did you find secret passages before I could?”  

Eda complained, taking in the unconscious witch and magical door.  

Lillith Clawthorne smirked.  

“I am the better finder.”  

“Psh, as if.”  

Her head disappeared and the door widened just enough for Eda and Raine to squeeze through into a huge, cavernous room. 

Raine’s mouth dropped open as they surveyed the room, filled with doors and windows and staircases that spiraled up to the top of the ceiling and the far below them. It was almost as if she could feel a faint breeze spiraling from multiple of the windows but that should have been impossible.  

It smelled like a combination of old books and magic.  

“Where are we?”  

They asked, mouth still open in shock.  

“No idea. I found it while I was exploring the library.”  

Lilith Clawthorne said, shrugging and shooting a burst of magic at another door so that it flew open and revealed the quiet shelves and warm wood of the library.  

“Wait, so these...these lead everywhere in school?”  

Eda said, her eyes lighting up with excitement. She hurtled over to the nearest and flung it open to find the detention spirits cleaning up the leftover pudding from their experiment. The ‘Faust Is Not The Boss’ lights were still flashing down every corridor.  

“Ohohoho.”  

Raine glanced over at Eda as she cackled, rubbing her hands together. Lilith Clawthorne jerked her head around and glared at her sister, but if Eda realized she didn’t say anything. 

“Raine, think of the pranks!”  

Eda said, spinning and around and grabbing their hand. A grin split across their face as the full realization of what they could do slammed into them. They could go anywhere. They could see anything. They could do anything!  

“I was more thinking you could use it to watch other classes while you’re stuck in the detention track.”  

Both witches turned around to see Lilith Clawthorne gesturing to a nearby window that led into an oracle classroom. Eda had this expression of shock and awe on her face as she peered inside, something almost like a pure, unfiltered hope on her face. Raine didn’t know why but they had this feeling that this was one of the biggest moments in Eda’s life so far.  

“Eda. You can observe any class.”   

If anything, the orange-haired witch’s eyes grew even larger as excitement started to grow across her face.   

“Wait, so you don’t...you don’t care that I learn more than what my track wants me to do? You...this is borderline wild magic, Lily.”  

Lilith Clawthorne nodded, smiling softly, a sad but understanding expression in her eyes. Raine watched as Eda lunged forward and tackled her sister in a hug, laughing hysterically. They stayed awkwardly on the edge of the hug before Eda climbed off her sister and held out her hand for Raine to grab.  

“So? You want to learn more than what the coven system wants us to?”  

“Actually, yes!”  

Raine beamed at Eda as she dragged them to the oracle window and the pair stuck their heads through, hidden by a plant but able to hear and pretty well see what was going on in the classroom. Raine was just able to hear Lilith Clawthorne mutter something about two peas in a pod as she left the secret room.  

When Darius ran into Lilith again later in the day he found her dusted in cobwebs and looking like a complete disaster.  

“What did you do?”  

He said, frowning.  

She rolled her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair, dislodging another cobweb and sighing. 

“I found this secret room from the library so I had to show Eda and the new kid, Raine.”  

“Seriously? You gave them access to more mischief making supplies?”  

He said, wondering what on Titan had gotten into her mind.  

“Darius.”  

He was surprised by the seriousness of her tone. She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into an empty corridor. Her eyes darted left and right before she leaned close to his ear and whispered, 

“Look, my sister has never been okay with the coven system or the tracks. I gave her the opportunity to be able to examine all of them before making a decision.”  

Darius groaned and banged his head against the wall.  

“Glasses, you realize that you just made it so easy for her to become a...a you know what, you know?”  

“A wild witch? No, Eda’s not the crazy.” 

“Doesn’t your mother not have a coven sigil?”  

Lilith rolled her eyes.  

“She’s in the process of getting it. She just has too many options, apparently.”  

The look of disgust and annoyance on his best friend’s face made it obvious that she did not think that her mother had too many options, she was just stalling.  

“I mean, can you blame her?”  

Lilith blinked her surprise and adjusted her glasses.  

“Darius, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk badly about the coven system.”  

He scoffed and waved his hand dismissively.  

“I’m not talking bad about the coven system, it’s what the Titan wants, I’m just saying that you can’t blame your mom for wanting to take her time. Blocking all magic except one type? Kind of intense, especially for someone who’s...older.” 

Lilith’s mouth made a little ‘o’ of surprise that morphed into understanding.  

“Okay, yeah. Fair enough.”  

The bell rang and Darius tilted his head.  

“Next class.”  

“Bye!”  

Lilith shouted, turning on her heel and sprinting off down the hallway. Darius shook his head and walked in the opposite direction, pretending like he didn’t notice the way that one of the lockers shook weirdly and a flash of orange and mint green was seen.  

When he entered his class he found that some random witch was sitting in his usual seat. 

No.  

No.  

No no no no.  

He felt his hands start to shake and he cleared his throat, trying to steady the immediate panic and horrible, crawling, sticky feeling that something was very, very, very, very wrong.  

“Excuse me.”  

He said, hating the way his voice shook. The witch looked up curiously.  

“That’s my seat.”  

She blinked in surprise and then shrugged.  

“Does it really matter?”  

He nodded and she frowned at him before shrugging again and getting up.  

“Okay. If you care so much.”  

She wandered over to the other side of the room and he stared at his chair for three seconds before quickly dusting it off and sitting down, feeling an immediate wash of relief.  

“You were weird.”  

He jumped and turned around so fast that he heard his neck pop. The hack was standing there, looking messier than usual, a bag of hex mix in his grease and abomination goo stained hands.  

“That can’t be sanitary.”  

He said, trying to maintain his usual, cool demeanor. The hack raised his eyebrows.  

“Why were you weird?”  

Darius glared at him and turned away.  

The hack didn’t get the message, just stayed there, staring at him.  

“Do you not know how to go away?”  

He finally snapped, whirling around to face the hack, who blinked in surprise.  

“Oh. Sorry.”  

He walked off without another word, balling up the bag of hex mix over and over again. Darius sucked in a breath, having the distinct feeling that he had just said something that hurt the hack more than he had thought.   

Oh well.  

The hack didn’t need to know about his quirks.  

Eda was happier than she had been in a very long time. Something about today was just going perfectly. She had a partner in crime, she had escaped the horribly boring detention track, and she could now reach anywhere in the school from a system of strategically placed doors and windows!  

She could learn anything.  

ANYTHING!  

“So, what do you want to do now?”  

Eda asked Raine as they left the school, Darius and Lily talking in low tones behind them.  

“I just can’t believe that’s the worst of our punishment. Do you think they knew?”  

Eda threw her head back and laughed.  

“Boy, if you think that’s the worst punishment, St. Epiderm must have been tame!”  

Raine flushed and crossed their arms, making a face at Eda’s laughter.  

“Ha. Ha. It’s wasn’t that tame.”  

Eda nudged her and they broke into a reluctant smile before Eda hopped onto the stone wall they were walking past and turned around so that she was facing them as she walked. She could see Lily and Darius behind them, Lily still holding the ball from the grudgby practice that Eda had skipped to hang out with Raine.  

“Lily! Pass it!”  

Her sister’s head shot up and she chucked the ball in Eda’s direction. She jumped out to catch it, almost falling off the wall and making Raine gasp and reach out to catch her.  

“Really?”  

Eda said, smirking down at them. Raine gave her a no-nonsense deadpan.  

“From what I hear, you’re the star player. Can’t have you dying, now can we?”  

She flushed at their praise and spun the ball on her finger, quickly smirking to mask her embarrassment.  

“Eh, death is afraid of me.”  

Raine burst out laughing and hurried over to the wall themself, Eda holding out her hand to help them up. They batted her hand away and jumped up on their own. They smirked at her and started to take a step in the opposite direction and missed the step. They started to fall and she grabbed their arm and spun them around without thinking to pull them back onto the wall, ending up with Eda practically dipping Raine.  

Eda’s face was bright red.  

Raine flushed too for a second but they seemed to regain their confidence before Eda did.  

“You know, you could have just asked me to dance.”  

They said, raising their eyebrows. Eda let out a startled laugh and proceeded to drop them. Raine yelped and grabbed her uniform, yanking her down with them. But before they could fall the few feet to the hard ground a blue glow was surrounding them and righting them on the wall.  

“Next time, maybe don’t almost kill the person you’re flirting with.”  

Lily said, and Eda turned bright red. Raine laughed but she could tell that there was a faint note of embarrassment in their voice. 

“Eff off, Lily.”  

Eda said, debating whether it was a good idea to flip off her sister. Probably not a good idea, but... 

“EDA!”  

Lily shrieked, crossing her arms as Darius let out a chuckle at her offended face. Eda didn’t even have time to register that her sister was picking up the abandoned ball before it was being thrown right at her face.  

She snatched the ball out of the air and flung it right back at her sister, who just raised her eyebrows in a silent challenge. Eda grinned and just knew that the witches around them were watching curiously, no doubt recognizing them as the star players of grudgby at Hexside.   

She sprinted down the wall as Lily drew her arm back and lit the ball on fire, her red hair tumbling out of its ponytail as she flung the ball at the nearby tower. Eda drew a spell circle and felt magic fizz through her hands and out into the air, a shimmering gold platform appearing as she ran.  

She leapt off the wall and landed on the platform, its bouncy quality catapulting her into the air with enough time for her to draw a spell circle, extinguish the ball’s flames, and pose before the ball slammed into her waiting hands and she dropped back down to her platform, hitting the bouncy material and shooting back up in the air.  

She spun around and flung the ball back at Lily, who was now racing down the path as if all the wild witches on the isles were chasing after her. Lily drew her own blue spell circle and leapt into the air, a hover enchantment on her boots making a much easier but less showy way of boosting jump abilities. Lily caught the ball as Eda did a backflip off the platform and posed.  

Suddenly Lily gave out a frantic shout and Eda whirled around to see a fairy slam hard into her face and cause her sister’s concentration fail to keep her hover enchantment going. She plummeted towards the ground and Eda shot forward, catching her sister just before she hit the ground.  

Lily stared up at her and Eda placed her on the ground. Lily’s face was pale and her pupils were enlarged and Eda felt her heart stop in recognition. Crap. She jerked her head at Darius and he frowned at her, not realizing. She slapped her head and motioned for him to help Lily. The crowd was murmuring while drawing closer, and she knew that this was not going to help Lily, who looked distinctly out of it.    

She laughed and whirled around to face the crowd, turning on the charming swagger that she had perfected after years of being the class clown and jock.   

“Well folks, I guess I can’t help being too strong for my own good.”  

She rolled up her sleeves and flexed, kissing each muscle dramatically, thanking the Titan that she had been strong enough to support her sister’s weight. Why hadn’t she just caught her with magic? Stupid, stupid, stupid!  

The crown chuckled appreciatively and Eda continued to flex as she heard Darius help Lily down the path and away from the crowd.  

“What do you think, Raine?”  

Eda said, whirled around and posing for the bard. Raine’s face was bright red and Eda watched as their eyes flicked frantically towards the crowd before going back to Eda’s face. Oh. Yeah. Stage fright. Dang it! 

Eda hurried forward and hooked Raine’s arm in her own, blowing one last kiss to the crowd before dragging them off after Darius and Lily.  

Eda...Eda had really nice muscles. Heh. That wasn’t going to affect them AT ALL.  

“Your sister got a concussion?”  

Mr. Clawthorne asked, staring between the four kids. Darius nodded, seeing that Eda wasn’t about to explain that Lilith got a concussion because they were being overdramatic teenagers.  

“Yes. A fairy flew into her head.”  

He said as Lily walked forward and leaned against her dad, tears welling her eyes.  

“I’m not going to be able to study.”  

She blubbered and Darius patted her back sympathetically. Mr. Clawthorne sighed and gave them all a stern look.  

“I would like the full story later. Can you two stay for dinner?”  

Darius nodded, this being a common occurrence. Mr. and Mrs. Clawthorne loved inviting him to stay for dinner. They probably liked that Lilith actually had a friend.  

“Oh. Um...”  

Raine said, glancing back and forth between Mr. Clawthorne and Eda, who looked delighted.  

“YES. I have to show you my room!”  

Raine grinned.  

“Yeah! That’d be great! Thank you so much, Mr. Clawthorne. Just let me message my parents.”  

They pulled out their scroll and typed a quick question out, an answer dinging in almost immediately.  

“Okay. I’m cleared.”  

Eda laughed and dragged Raine into the house, shouting “BYEEEEE” as she did so. Darius rolled his eyes as Lilith flinched, squeezing her eyes shut at the sound. Mr. Clawthorne sighed and led Lilith into the house, Darius trailing behind them.  

“Okay, just sit here. Darius, could you keep her from falling asleep while I call the healer? It’ll be too much of a hassle to get her all the way into town when she’s like this.”  

He nodded and Mr. Clawthorne hurried off into another room, leaving Darius and Lilith alone. She groaned and leaned backwards against the cushions, her eyes squinched up against the light. Darius flicked his fingers and abomination goo extinguished most of the candles and shut the blinds.  

“Better?”  

He asked softly, remembering all the times that Eda, the chaotic sport player that she was, had gotten a concussion herself.  

“Yeah.”  

She sighed and leaned into the pillows, her eyes closing.  

“Nope.”  

He said, poking her and making her eyes fly open. She stared at him for a moment, eyes wide and confused, before recognition flashed across her face.  

“Oh. OH. This is going to suck.”  

She grumbled, running her hands through her hair and staring at the wall. He patted her back as they heard the faint murmurs of Eda and Raine talking upstairs.  

“At least it’s not permanent? Just get a healer and some potion and you’ll be fine in a day or two.”  

He said. She turned her head to look at him and glared, an effect diminished by the fact that she was starting to look sick.  

“Are you going to throw up? Don't you dare throw up on me, glasses.”  

Darius scrambled to his feet and stared at her and she laughed weakly and covered her mouth.  

“No. Don’t think so.”  

Mr. Clawthorne entered the living room again and gave Lilith a cool wash rag.  

“Healer said to stay seated and in the dark. He’ll be here soon.”  

Lilith nodded then winced, holding her head in her hands. Darius sighed and sat down next to her.  

“Noise or quiet?”  

He asked.  

“Quiet.”  

He nodded and they lapsed into silence, Mr. Clawthorne heading up the stairs to do something or other. The house was cool because it was fall, so Darius grabbed a blanket and shook it clean before draping it over the two of them.  

Lilith leaned against his shoulder, a show of affection that was distinctly abnormal, and sighed, her eyes fluttering shut.  

“Hey, don’t fall asleep. That’s bad.”  

“Actually, it’s an old wives tale.”  

She mumbled, her voice slurred and sleepy.  

“Okay, nerd.”  

“What, are you Eda now?”  

“Ew, never. Still, stay awake till the healer gets here.”  

She groaned and shifted so that almost all of her weight was against him.  

“Really?”  

He deadpanned, looking at her in annoyance. A faint smile flickered across her face and he sighed. Whatever. He knew that she was a clean person, so there shouldn’t be any reason for her to get dirt on him.  

And yet, that familiar, creeping feeling was starting to crawl across him.  

No.  

Not now.  

He could wait till the healer got here.  

He could do that.  

He clenched his jaw and let Lilith lean against him, mentally repeating over and over and over again that it was fine and she was clean and there was no reason for his quirks to be attacking him, there was nothing rational about needing to go to the bathroom and taking a shower till his skin was raw and red.  

He was fine.  

Raine laid on the floor of Eda’s bedroom, looking up at the swirls of gold magic that Eda was sending across the room. They smiled as one of her golden swirls formed a fox who trotted around their head.  

“I’ve always liked foxes.”  

They said, reaching up and catching the fox in their hands. Eda laughed softly from where she was tossing different articles of clothing and paper into her closet.  

“Not really what I would have expected from you.”  

They glanced over at her, making a face and sitting up.  

“Ha. Ha. Maybe don’t judge a book by its cover?”  

She spread her arms and leaned against the wall.  

“Come on Raine, didn’t you judge me by my cover at IFWOT?”  

Oh. They did kind of do that, didn’t they? They had noticed Eda by her chaotic and messy appearance and the way that she immediately started causing chaos, thus causing them to decide and go over to hang out with her, hoping for more excitement than usually at IFWOT.  

“Okay, fine. Some judging of covers is acceptable!” 

They said, adjusting their glasses and sticking their nose up in the air so that they looked like a stuck-up librarian or something. Eda laughed and plopped down on the ground as well, flopping backwards so that her hair spread out in a fan motion.  

“I like your hair.”  

Raine said, lying back down as well and staring at the orange mess next to her.  

“Really?”  

“Yeah. It’s nice long.”  

The two witches laid there in silence, enjoying the feeling of not having to actually talk. Sometimes friendships were just like that, the ability to just be together without needing to use words. The only noise was soft talking from downstairs and Eda’s fingers tapping a short melody on the floor.  

Raine tilted their head, the melody surprisingly catchy.  

“Eda, have you ever played an instrument?”  

She rolled over to look at them and shook her head.  

“Not really. Not since I was really little.”  

Raine scrambled to their feet and held out their hand for Eda to grab.  

“Do you want me to teach you to play?”  

Eda brightened and Raine suppressed a laugh. Oh, Eda could go on and on about Lilith Clawthorne being a nerd but she was just as nerdy as her sister, no matter what Eda said.  

“Please!” 

“Yeah, what instrument do you want? We kind of do have unlimited access to the school now...” 

Eda lunged forward and hugged them, lifting them off the ground in her excitement. Raine yelped and their mind raced in surprise but Eda didn’t drop them, her very nice muscles from grudgby being able to support them.  

Okay.  

She put them down on the ground but didn’t stop hugging them. Raine laughed and patted her on the back, signaling to let them go because she was kind of strangling them.  

“Oh, sorry. Grudgby muscles.”  

Raine’s face went red again as Eda flexed dramatically.  

“Really? I would have never guessed.”  

They deadpanned to cover up their embarrassment.  

Eda threw her head back and laughed, spinning around in excitement.  

“Alright! This year is looking up!”  

She jumped up onto her bed and spread her arms to take in the whole room.  

“I have a partner in crime, unlimited access to the school, this grudgby season is looking to be better than ever, I have immunity from Faust because of creepy head witch Terra, and tryouts for the Emperor’s Coven are in seven months! Nothing could possibly go wrong!”  

Raine raised their eyebrows but Eda was leaping off her bed and picking them up again, spinning around in a circle till they were dizzy. The pair collapsed on the ground and laughed till their sides were sore and everything hurt.  

Eda suddenly sat up and looked over at them, eyes flashing excitedly.  

“Alright. For our next prank, I think we should...”  

The two of them planned for hours until Mrs. Clawthorne got home from grocery shopping and made Eda and Raine help her make dinner. Raine had a surprisingly good time, enjoying the homey feel of the Clawthorne family. Darius left after making a weird excuse and Lilith stayed in the other room, but the healer had checked up on her and done the main healing before giving her a potion to take twice a day for a week to speed up the process.  

From that day on Eda and Raine were inseparable, never going anywhere in school without the other and becoming the greatest mischief makers the school had seen. No one truly knew that it was them though, with the use of the secret room they were in and out before the crime could be pinned.  

Lilith and Darius did everything they could to stop the two’s chaos, but unfortunately nothing they could do would deter Eda Clawthorne and her best friend from waging an even greater war on Faust.  

Chapter Text

“No! Don’t leave me!”  

Eda cried, flopping down on the ground and latching onto Raine’s leg. They laughed and tried to yank their foot out of her grip as one of the bard track teachers’ tapped his foot impatiently.  

“Please, Mx. Whispers.”   

The teacher said, crossing his arms and glaring down at the pair of them. Eda made a face as she let go of Raine’s leg and they gave her a sympathetic look. She stuck her tongue out at them as the teacher led them out of the detention track.   

“Alright Ms. Clawthorne, return to your desk.”   

Eda flipped off the head of the detention track and flung herself into her desk, scowling.   

She knew this day would come.  

It had only been one week since she and Raine had been thrown into the detention track for their Faust Is Not The Boss prank and, surprisingly, it had been one of the most entertaining weeks of her short life.   

The two of them had played countless pranks while receiving no punishment because, oh my, how could they be the culprits? They were stuck in the detention track! Who could possibly be the perps?   

But now Raine had returned to their chosen track and she was alone in the empty classroom. Bored and without her partner in crime. Okay, she could still play pranks with Raine, but they weren’t able to hang out constantly and pass notes and hide out in the secret room and talk for hours on end about life, love, friends, magic, sexuality, the future, gender, sports and music. Raine had even started to teach her how to play the lute.   

Spoiler, she was terrible at it, but Raine seemed to think she had potential, and who was she to argue with the brightest student in the bard track?  

The demon bell screamed and Eda slumped over, surprised that it had already been an hour. She watched as the students outside appeared and disappeared in quick flashes, going from class to class, laughing and talking with each other, and being able to actually move about.   

She felt like she was going crazy in this tiny chair!  

And grudgby practice had been canceled because it was too windy to fly.   

Pathetic.  

The bell screamed yet again and the flow of students outside the classroom stilled. If she had her sister’s schedule memorized, this was Lily’s free period, so there was a chance that she would come and visit, but her sister wasn’t normally one to come and break the rules, although she did like and appreciate the secret hideaway. And Darius was in class, not that he’d come and rescue her, and Raine would be sitting in their awesome bard track classroom, making phenomenal melodies and hopefully not freezing up because of their stage fright.   

“Eda!”   

She whipped her head back around to stare at the front of the classroom. The teacher was slumped over, snoring, and the door to the secret hideout was open, a very familiar face grinning and holding out their hand for her to take.   

She felt a huge rush of sudden, inexplicable happiness at seeing Raine.   

She lunged forward and jumped into the door, almost tackling Raine in her excitement to be out of the detention track.   

“You’re going to be missed!”   

She hissed, but Raine waved their hand dismissively.   

“I asked to go to the bathroom.”   

Eda nodded and the two of them tumbled into the secret hideout, Raine sprinting across the room and putting one foot through to the corridor outside of one of their bard classrooms.   

“You coming?”   

She bit her lip, debating. Going to watch a bard class would be enjoyable...and she’d get to see Raine play...but she hadn’t looked at many of the other classes since Lily found this room.   

“Nah, I’m gonna check out another class. I might pop in later though.”   

Raine nodded, the faintest trace of sadness flashing across their face before they disappeared through the door. Eda sighed, turning and gazing around the room, trying to decide just what to learn today.   

She knew plenty about potions, a decent amount about plant magic and healing, and she had learned quite a lot about bard magic from Raine in their constant discussions about magic and music in the hideout. She hadn’t watched much about beastkeeping, abomination, illusions, oracles, and construction.   

She frowned thoughtfully and made her way to the first window. She opened it and poked her head inside. It was the oracle classroom, but the person standing at the front of the classroom was presenting her oracle with the know-it-all expression that she knew all too well from Lily.   

“And this is Henry, my newest spirit. He is extra strong and can fly. I caught him all on my own and he is the prime example of a perfect oracle spirit in the classification of physical power.”   

“Yes, very good Miss Odalia. You are free to leave to your next period. Now, would the next student please—”   

Eda swung the door shut and rolled her eyes. She wasn’t about to listen to a whole hour of a know-it-all talking about how perfect they were.   

She wandered between the doors and windows and stairs, trying to decide what exactly to do, when she heard loud exclamations coming from one of the nearby doors. She raised her eyebrows and swung it open, curiosity getting the best of her, as usual.   

A group of students, including the oracle track student she had just seen and Darius himself, were surrounding a skinny boy with brown hair that stuck up in every direction. She frowned, not understanding what was so exciting, until she realized that the boy was holding a smoking pile of abomination goo and wires fashioned to...was that a rocket?   

The boy snapped his fingers and the rocket lit, flying into the air, the abomination goo almost sliding off but the wires holding the rickety thing together. The boy waved his hand and the abomination goo leapt off the rocket, going flying into the nearest wall and splattering into a sentence made from curling letters.   

“Odalia, will you go to Grom with me?”   

The boy asked to the oracle track girl, holding out his hand. Darius snorted and Eda frowned at him as he left the group. The girl looked the boy up and down, an expression of distaste on her face but eventually morphing into a small smile.   

“Okay, Mr. Blight.”   

She said, giving him a small and extremely fake giggle. Eda suppressed a shudder. The boy beamed but suddenly a teacher rounded the corner and opened her mouth to yell at the boy...that’s when the abomination goo on the wall exploded.   

The students started screaming and sprinted off in a hundred different directions as the flaming abomination goo fell onto the boy’s hair. He didn’t notice. The teacher grabbed his arm and started dragging him down the corridor.   

“Well, this is the detention track for you!”   

The teacher said and Eda yelped, ducking back into the secret hideout. She whirled around and sprinted to the tunnel leading back to the detention track. She slid back inside and lifted the sleeping spell on the teacher just in time to plop her butt back down on the seat as the door flew open and the other teacher hauled the boy inside.   

He didn’t make eye contact with her as he sat down on the opposite side of the classroom and started nervously fidgeting. Eda watched as the two teachers talked quietly before the teacher who had brought him in left.   

The detention track master walked over to the boy and started lecturing him on the rules of the detention track. She tilted her head and smirked.   

Gee, his attention wasn’t on her.   

She waved her hand and shot him with a sleeping spell. He collapsed on the ground and the boy yelped; a faint laugh hidden in his voice.   

“You want to get out of here?”   

The girl grinned down at him and he blinked, realizing that this was when he was supposed to smile back. He did so a beat too late but she didn’t seem to care, just beckoning him towards the blackboard.   

“You’re Eda.”   

It was a statement, not a fact. She nodded, answering his question without words. She tapped the blackboard a few times and drew a spell circle, a glowing window appearing out of nowhere. He felt his mouth drop in surprise.   

She whirled around and spread her arms in what could have been a show of dominance, but her eyes looked proud and her mouth was in a happy smile. Okay. She was trying to be impressive.    

“Join me.”   

She said, holding out her hand. He looked down at it before up at her. He felt a slow smile spread across his face and desperately hoped that he was reading the situation right. He grabbed her hand and she dragged him into the tunnel.   

The air was cool and slightly windy and made him shiver with annoyance.   

“So, what’s your name?”   

Eda had spun around and was walking backwards, looking at him expectantly.  

“Uh...Alador Blight.”   

Her eyebrows shot to the top of her head and she let out a laugh.   

“Oof, you’re part of that family? Dang.”   

He blinked at her. What was that supposed to mean? She was looking at him with a soft expression in her eyes but her mouth was still in that faint smile. Sympathy? Pity?   

“Uh. Yeah.”   

She nodded.   

“Well, sucks for you.”   

He let out a startled laugh and she grinned, spinning to the side and waving her hand to show the room that they had walked into.   

Wow.   

It was huge, with massive windows, doors, and staircases leading to who knows where, the sound of their breathing and Eda’s laughter echoing off the walls.   

“Why...why bring me here?”   

Eda clapped her hands together and he blinked from the noise. She tilted her head and smirked.  

“These are wonderful doors that lead to anywhere in the school. I happened to see you blow up your abomination grom proposal. I think I could use your tinkering skills in my...adventures.”  

“I break stuff.”   

“Au contraire, my new friend! You blow stuff up.”   

She was grinning now but her eyebrows were slanted mischievously and she had a very deadly look in her eyes. He had the oddest feeling that something big was about to happen to his life, an odd, exciting feeling that felt reminiscent to how he had felt when he and Darius had met, but in a completely different way.   

“We’re going to get my best friend, Raine Whispers, and then we’re going to have some fun.”  

They were learning about flutes in class today, something that Raine was enjoying very much, when a trapdoor underneath their feet opened and a very familiar hand gripped their ankle. They pressed their lips together and whacked the hand with their other foot, trying to get Eda to let go.   

She tugged on their ankle four times, their code for pranking. They sighed, looking up to the front of the class. They really shouldn’t...but hanging out with Eda...the decision was taken out of their hands by Eda yanking them out of their chair and down through the trapdoor.   

They slammed hard into her and sent them both tumbling to the ground, Raine landing on top of her. They raised their eyebrows and gave her an annoyed expression to hide the blush that was trying to fight its way to their face. Eda was bright red.   

They scrambled off her and Eda jumped to her feet, taking a moment to smooth her hair and send Raine a grin...one that had none of its usual smugness or confident air. They raised their eyebrows and she blushed harder, turning away from the bard.   

Raine tried not to feel smug at that.   

For all Eda pretended to be a tough, chaotic jock, she was such a big softy inside!  

“Raine, this is Alador Blight. Alador, Raine Whispers.”   

They took in the boy in front of them. He was maybe a year older than them, with deep eyebags underneath golden-brown eyes, and the faintest touch of stubble on his chin...stubble that he really should shave. His abomination track uniform was splattered with abomination goo and he had ratty old looking glasses perched on top of his messy brown hair.  

“You’re a Blight?”   

They asked, memories of their parents talking about that family rushing through their brain. The Blights...weren’t they some of the richest families on the Boiling Isles? Favored by Emperor Belos for their services? And this kid...he was definitely not a good example of what they had heard about that family. He was too...too messy and distracted. Wasn’t he the one who was rumored to have something wrong with his brain?  

“Okay.”   

They said, holding out their hand in greeting. Alador glanced down at it for a second before grabbing it and shaking it enthusiastically. They laughed and he immediately stopped, taking a small step back. Raine shook their head, realizing that their reaction could have been taken as mean.  

“No, sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong.”   

They said, trying to explain that it wasn’t his fault. He blinked in surprise before nodding.   

“Sure.”   

He turned away and wandered off, looking at the doors leading to the other classrooms. Raine waited for him to go out of earshot before whirling around and staring at Eda.   

“Why Alador Blight?”   

They asked, extremely confused about her motives.   

“Well, I saw him accidentally blow up his abomination goo message.”   

Raine nodded, the pieces coming together in their mind fast as lightning. They knew Eda, and they knew exactly what she was planning.   

“You want to use his abomination skills in another prank. And since Darius is...reluctant to help us with our pranks...and has an intense rivalry with him...”   

“Exactly.”   

Eda said, her golden eyes alight with mischief.   

“You think that’s a good idea?”   

“Yup.” Eda said, popping the p and leaning back on her heels.   

“Okay.” They watched as Alador stuck his head through another one of the windows before retreating hastily. “What message did he blow up anyway?”   

“Oh. Uh, he asked Odalia to prom.”   

Raine made a face.   

“Her? Really?”   

Eda shrugged.   

“Eh, his choice.”   

They nodded, pretending to look thoughtful to get the conversation off Grom. They didn’t need more reminders about the upcoming dance. It was stressful enough not knowing who was going to be picked to be Grom King/Queen/Ruler, and on top of that it was the social standard to have a date. And they didn’t have a date yet.   

Granted, Eda didn’t have a date either so the two of them could probably just go together, but something about that felt...weirdly awkward, especially since the pair of them had only know each other for like a two weeks. Well, Grom wasn’t for another month, so they could figure it out later.   

Eda probably would find a date anyway. She was a grudgby player, after all. The grudgby team tended to have its pick of players, and Eda wasn’t just a grudgby player, she had a magnetic personality, was well known in school, was surprisingly smart considering the fact that she didn’t pay much attention in class, was the resident ‘bad girl’ which people seemed to like, was extremely pretty, and her eyes could just draw a person in, her smile always seemed to promise something exciting, she moved like a tornado, blasting into people’s lives and leaving them, better or worse, exciting and beautiful, especially beautiful, but it was the fact that she actually had moral standards and could tell jokes and always seemed to be ready for adventure and—  

“Hey, Raine! You good?”   

They turned bright red and was yanked out of their thoughts to see Eda waving her hand in front of their face.   

“Oh. Yeah.”   

She stared at them for a second and they turned even redder.   

“Raine, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this red.”   

Eda said, a small smirk spreading across her face. They shoved her arm and strode past her, mind reeling.   

What in the name of the Titan was wrong with them?   

Lilith was currently hiding in the bathroom, trying to study and suppressing the feeling that she desperately needed to cry.   

It was fine.   

One B on a project wasn’t going to kill her. She had straight A’s and A+’s for the entire rest of the school year, this wasn’t going to bring her grade down as long as she kept getting A’s like always.   

She was fine.   

It didn’t matter. And yes, she had been upset yesterday about the grade that she screwed up grudgby practice and their coach had threatened to take her off the team but she was the best player! The team captain! They wouldn’t be able to succeed without her and they needed her.   

She had to be there for them.   

She was fine.   

All she had to do was ace this next quiz, turn in her next three projects early so she could start training for Grom...no, she hadn’t been picked yet but she needed to be prepared anyway, and then she could practice some grudgby moves and start planning out their strategy for the second meet of the semester...against their biggest rivals. Then, of course, she had to really finalizing her second, third, and fourth options for covens if she couldn’t get into the Emperor’s Coven, but she was going to get into that coven! She would do anything for it.    

She was fine.   

Tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes now and she clenched her fists. She did not have time for a mental breakdown! She could do this! She was Lilith Clawthorne, star student! Prime example of the perfect child! She was the captain of the grudgby team! She was fine.   

She swiped her eyes in frustration as the tears kept coming. A sob tried to shove it’s way up her throat but she pressed it down. NO. She was fine! Fine! Fine fine fine fine fine fine fine fine fine fine fine fine fine fine fine fine fine fine fine—There was a sharp knocking at the door and she jumped, opening her mouth to shout that it was occupied.   

“Lily, I know you’re in there.”   

She sighed and unlocked the door to the stall. Eda stood there, her grin falling as she noticed Lilith’s frazzled look.   

“You good?”   

“Yes.”   

She replied, snapping her books shut and standing up, letting herself fall back into her usually focused and composed self.   

“Okay. Well, we were wondering if you wanted to join us?”   

She gave her sister a stink eye.   

“Join you with what?”   

“Uh....”   

Eda tapped her foot against the ground in an irregular pattern and her eyes darted to where Lilith knew there was a secret entrance.   

“Well, I don’t really want to tell you because you’d turn us in if you knew and weren’t going to help us.”   

“Eda...”  

She groaned and shook her head at her younger sister. Really? What made her sister think that’d she’d go along with any kind of stupid and reckless—  

“We’ll get you access to the forbidden section of the library!”   

She whirled around to see Raine’s head poking out of the doorway, a maniac, very Eda like grin on their face. Another person was next to her, a messy-looking abomination student that she recognized immediately. Ah. Alador Blight, or the hack, as Darius called him. Apparently Eda had dragged him into her schemes as well.   

But...the forbidden section of the library. If she could get in there...if she could use those books there was no way she wouldn’t pass the upcoming tests...she’d ace Grom if faced with it...she’d have the best spells to get into The Emperor’s Coven.   

Heck, maybe her mother would pay attention to her if she got caught.   

Emperor Belos always said, ‘to be great, one must make sacrifices’ so if she got caught...well, that’d be her sacrifice. Her sacrifice for knowledge.   

“Deal.”   

She said. Eda pumped her fist in the air and dragged her towards the tunnel.   

“There she is!”   

Eda ran through the corridor, a grin splitting across her face as Raine, Lily, and Alador followed her. Just one more person to get for this plan. This plan. This was the plan that had been bubbling in the back of her head since she had met Raine because it needed bard magic, but she hadn’t thought she’d be able to convince Lily to go along with it too!   

Now, all that was left was to bait Darius into joining them and her team was all set.   

She could hear Lily and Alador exchanging a hurried greeting while running. Raine was keeping pace with her, their mint green hair flopping in every direction and falling in front of their eyes. She laughed as she ran and Raine rolled their eyes, blushing.   

They were blushing a lot today.   

She dug through her pockets and found an old hair tie that she pretty much never used, preferring to keep her hair long and free. She handed it to Raine and they frowned at her.   

“Eda. My hair is short.”   

They panted and she nodded.   

“Pull your bangs back.”   

She said, gesturing to what she meant. Raine nodded and slicked their bangs back and pulled their hair so that their bangs were in a ponytail sticking straight up on their head. They gave her a look and she laughed.   

“You look fine.” She said, whacking their shoulder. “It’s for function anyway.”   

“Guys! Let’s go!”   

Lily shouted from behind them and the two witches realized that they had stopped running. Eda gave Raine and smirk and took off, leaving Raine far behind her. She laughed as she ran through the tunnel, loving the feeling of the normally stagnant air whipping past her. She turned a corner and slammed into the door into the cafeteria.   

She opened the door and poked her head inside.    

Darius was sitting alone at the complete other side of the cafeteria.   

“Ugh.”   

She said, retreating back inside the secret passageway.   

“You’d think he’d sit closer to the tunnel system.”   

Raine poked their head through before listening as the bell screamed, signaling lunch was officially about to begin.  

“I’ll go get him.”   

Alador said, making to walk through the tunnel. Eda saw something over his shoulder and felt her heart grow cold.   

“NO!”   

She shouted, grabbing his arm and yanking him back inside. He stared at her in confusion and she pointed to the far side of the cafeteria.   

Principal Faust and the head of the detention track were standing next to each other, conversing in low tones. Principal Faust looked extremely angry and the head of the detention track just looked tired.   

“They know we left.”   

Eda hissed, turning around to face everyone else, her brain running a million miles an hour to try and figure out how she could fix this.  

“I can’t get into trouble with them.”   

“Lily...”   

“NO! I'm out.”   

She snapped, turning away and striding down the corridor. Eda cursed under her breath as she watched her sister disappear.   

“Raine, get Darius. Alador, stay here, just in case Raine needs help. I’ll go talk to Lily.”   

Raine nodded and Eda cast one last glance towards Principal Faust before sprinting after the rapidly disappearing red-head in front of her.   

Raine glanced at Alador. He looked uncomfortable and his hands were nervously flapping up and down by his sides, in barely noticeable movements but movements that didn’t seem quite normal all the same.   

“You good?”   

They asked. He whipped his head around and nodded. They raised their eyebrows and his hands moved faster before he clenched his fists and hid his hands behind his back.    

“Fine.”   

He mumbled and they frowned, knowing that wasn’t the full story and being incredibly curious about what exactly was going on.    

“Okay.”   

They said, falling into silence.   

“Yeah.”   

Alador said, closing his eyes and seeming to retreat in upon himself, almost growing smaller before their eyes. That...uh that probably wasn’t normal.   

“Hey, I don’t think you’re okay.”   

They said, trying to make their voice as okay and comforting as possible because this might be a person they had never interacted with before but there was no way they would let someone suffer in discomfort.   

He didn’t say anything in response.   

“Alador.”   

They said, reaching out and then thinking better of it. This was...this was kind of like that time Eda had a panic attack and retreated to their hideout. It had taken a while of them just comfortingly talking to her for her to break out of it.   

“I’m just going to talk, then. You don’t...you don’t seem to be normal. Uh, not in a bad way. Heck, I hang out with Eda, being weird is kind of crucial. In a good way.”   

They flushed, hating the way they got tongue tied the minute it felt like they were performing in front of someone.   

“Anyway, you were kind of flapping your hands earlier? I...look, I’ve heard rumors that you were...well, the rumors weren’t nice. But I think you’re pretty cool. And Eda likes you, thinks you’ve got potential to be a good chaos maker, and she’s got pretty good taste, you know? Uh.”   

They blanked, trying to think of something else to say.   

“I guess this is pretty overwhelming, huh? From what I’ve heard, you asked out Odalia and then your thing blew up? And you were thrown to the detention track, which is overwhelming in itself, and then you met Eda, and...”   

They trailed off. Trying to distract him didn’t seem to be working. All it seemed to do was to...to overwhelm him.   

Oh.   

They slumped down to a sitting position and looked up and him.   

“Okay. Would silence be better?”   

“I’m fine.”   

He said, gritting his teeth as if took him a lot to say it.   

“No you’re not.”  

They said.   

“Something’s wrong, and it’s okay.”   

Alador stared at them, one of hands suddenly starting to flap again. He attempted to grab it with his other hand but they jumped to their feet and put their hand on his shoulder.   

“It’s okay. It’s not hurting you or anyone else.”   

They said, giving him a small smile. He stared at them before slowly sinking to the ground and continuing the flapping of his hands. They just watched him, the pair waiting in silence, the only sound their breathing.   

“Well. Um. I should probably...”   

They said after a minute, jerking their finger towards the exit and making him blink in surprise before nodding.   

“Oh, yeah.”   

He moved to the side and they jumped through the door, landing in the cafeteria and striding off towards Darius.   

Whatever...weirdness was going on with Alador, it seemed like his way of flapping his hands was his way of calming himself down from being overwhelmed, almost like how they would retreat into their room and play music when they were stressed. But there was time to think about Alador’s weirdness later, they had a job to do.   

Darius was bent over his tray, hastily eating, casting nervous glances around the cafeteria. It was probably weird for him, that they or Lilith Clawthorne or anyone hadn’t joined him yet.   

“Hey.”   

They said as they slid into the seat opposite him. He looked up and sighed, propping his elbow against the table and giving them a tired look.   

“What, Whispers?”   

They rolled their eyes at him and cast a glance towards the looming figure of Principal Faust. He wasn’t near enough to overhear their conversation but they still didn’t want to take any risks.   

“You know, the more nervous you look, the more suspicious he’s going to be.”   

“Maybe.”   

They grabbed a fry off his tray and he glared at them.  

“What do you and Eda want?”   

“Maybe I just want something.”   

“Whispers, you’ve been glued to her side since coming here. What do you two want?”   

Raine sighed and made to grab another handful of fries off his plate. He whacked their hand and they scowled.   

“We’re planning...something, and we need your help.”   

“Well, knowing Eda, it could be a prank, skipping school, or a threesome.”    

“Darius!”   

They whisper-shouted, ears flaming red.   

“I’m kidding. A prank, I assume?”   

Raine nodded, stealing another fry from his plate.   

“What is my benefit from this?”   

“I thought you’d be more opposed to this.”   

“And why would you think that?”   

“You’re Lilith’s best friend.”   

They snarked, leaning forward and raising their eyebrows. He sighed and waved his hand dismissively.   

“Yes, but I’m much more easy-going than her. She would never pull a prank with you guys.”   

He said it like he knew every single thing that went in and out of Lilith Clawthorne’s head. Men. Sometimes they really could be insufferable.   

“Actually, Lilith has agreed to help with this plan.”   

They said, desperately hoping that Eda had managed to get through to her older sister.   

Darius did a classic spit take—directly into their face. It was wet and sticky and gross and Raine was this close to socking him right in the face. They glared at him and wiped their glasses off deadly slowly.   

“Sorry.”   

He said, looking actually apologetic. They supposed that he was an extreme clean freak so it would make sense that he was actually sorry for spitting in their face. They wiped their face off with a spare napkin and silently thanked the Titan that Eda hadn’t been watching through the tunnel system to see that.   

“Really though? Lilith is doing your prank?”   

“Yup.”   

They said, mimicking Eda’s way of popping the ‘p’ whenever she said that word. Darius raised his eyebrows in surprise and leaned backwards, abomination goo forming a seat back for him. They pressed their lips together to suppress a laugh.   

“Maybe. What’s the target and who else is on the team?”   

Raine was suddenly hit with the realization that this wasn’t Darius’s first time joining Eda on one of her schemes. It was obvious in the way he smirked slightly while talking with them, obvious in the way that he knew what he was saying, so obvious that they wanted to hit themself over the head for being so blind.   

“Need to know information."   

“Heh. You would run a good rebellion, Whispers.”       

They rolled their eyes and stood up, holding out their hand.   

“Well?”   

“I just don’t think that it’s a good investment.”   

He batted their hand away and resumed eating. They sighed and decided to play their very last card.   

“Fine. We’ll just have to do with Alador’s help.”   

The abomination goo supporting Darius suddenly disappeared and he fell to the ground, letting out a startled yelp. He stared up at them for one bewildered second, cheeks bright red.   

“The hack? You’re getting the hack’s help?”   

Why was his voice oddly high-pitched? What...why...hm. They suppressed the laugh that was attempting to crawl out of their throat and shrugged, putting on a nonchalant air.   

“Well, we needed both of you for the plan, but I suppose Alador’s powerful enough to do your job too...”   

“NO! He is absolutely not!”   

Darius scrambled to his feet and dusted himself off, fuming, his abomination goo swirling around him and into a container at his hip.   

“Fine. I’ll help.”   

They smiled and held out their hand. He shook it briefly, a faint expression of disgust crossing his face before the pair of them headed towards the secret tunnels.   

Eda sprinted after her sister and through the secret tunnels, trying to catch up. Lily always had been the barest smidge faster than her, and with her head start...  

Fine.   

The hard way it was.   

She drew a spell circle and shot it down the corridor, her gold magic swirling around the tunnel and wrapping around Lily’s legs. Her sister let out a yelp before Eda clenched her hand and tripped her sister. She tumbled to the ground and Eda skidded to a stop, sitting down next to her sister.   

“Hey.”   

She said. Lily glared up at her and kicked her legs free of Eda’s spell.   

“Really?”   

“Look, you won’t be seen by anyone. You're not going to be connected to the prank at all.”   

She said, holding out her hand for Lily to grab. She batted it away and scrambled to her feet on her own and adjusted her glasses on her nose.   

“Oh.”   

She said, and Eda raised her eyebrows.   

“Are you okay, Lily?”   

She asked, hoping that her sister would actually say something for once. Lily nodded without talking and turned away, about to head back up the tunnel.   

“Seriously. You’ve been...stressed, lately, and I thought a bit of fun would...”   

Lily let out a manic laugh and Eda had the distinct feeling that she had just hit a nerve.   

“Stressed? Stressed! Edalyn, Grom is next month. And then it’s midterms, and then next semester we have coven tryouts and soon after tryouts it’s finals!”   

Eda blinked in surprise. Well, yeah, but most of that stuff was spaced out, and Lily was already the top student in the school, what was she worried about? It didn’t make sense?   

“But...you’re so good.”   

She said and Lily shook her head frantically.   

“Just barely! I have to stay on top the entire time. I have to be the best! Why don’t you understand that?”   

“You don’t have to be the best, you just have to do your best.”   

“HAH!”   

Lily was laughing and crying at the same time now, leaning against the wall and pulling off her glasses to rub at her eyes.   

“Easy for you to say.”   

She said, gesturing at Eda, who stared at her sister in confusion.    

“You’re...you. Everyone likes you, or at least thinks you’re funny. Mother and Father pay lots of attention to you because you get into trouble, and you made a friend within how long? You somehow manage to succeed in school even though you never put in any effort!”   

Lily exclaimed, flinging her hands up in the air in exasperation.   

“No matter how hard I work every single day you can just succeed without any effort at all!”  

Eda blinked, shock and anger hitting her like a shot in the stomach from a grudgby ball. What? She thought that she didn’t put in any effort? That she just pranced through life without a care? Did Lily even know what it was like? Being unable to focus for more than a few seconds or hopelessly hyperfixating on something completely irrelevant? Being told that she was a disaster, a mess to have in class, a bad student, a bad person! To wage a passive aggressive war against someone who was clearly a tyrant, a person who wasn’t doing good things?   

“What are you talking about?”   

She blurted out, trying and failing to keep her voice from growing angrier with each word. Lily balled up her fists and turned away, striding down the corridor and leaving Eda in the dark, alone with her thoughts.    

“FINE!”   

Eda shouted, flipping off the direction her sister had gone.   

“Have it your way!”   

She whirled around and stormed down the corridor, seething.   

“I don’t need your help anyway!”   

She shouted over her shoulder, sparks flashing on her fingers. She balled up the angry magic and sent fire streaking through the tunnel in front of her. Heh. Stupid Lily. She didn’t know anything. She had it easy, she was smart and was practically secured a spot in the Emperor’s Coven.   

It was Eda who had to worry, not perfect prissy Lily.   

She snorted as she rounded the corner in time to see Alador and Darius in the midst of an intense and possibly violent staring contest, Raine hovering in between them, their face stressed as they caught Eda’s eye and gave her a pleading look.  

Lily stormed down the corridor away from her sister, trying to keep the panic and anger from flaring up and sending her into a spiral of thoughts that would consume her for the rest of the week.   

“I am the best student.”   

She muttered, turning the corner to the entrance to the library and exiting the tunnels. Fine. She’d just resume studying. This was fine. She'd run over some grudgby tactics and then review a few more complication potions.   

So what if Eda couldn’t get her into the restricted areas of the library. She didn’t need it to succeed. She would be completely fine. It really didn’t matter.   

She was fine.   

Fine.   

She let out a shaky breath and smoothed her hair, heading through the library to her favorite table. Seriously. She would be fine. Eda...Eda was probably right. She would do fine. She was the top student after all. Everyone needed her.   

The school’s average would drop without her there, she was crucial to everyone!   

She was fine.   

There was absolutely no reason to be overwhelmed or stressed or scared or feeling like she was worthless and no one needed her and everything was terrible and she needed to run and hide and fight but she wasn’t good enough to even do any of those things and why was she even here she should just let herself fail but then no one would love her and—  

“NO!”   

She shrieked before clamping her hand over her mouth, flushing bright red. Oops. It was a library, after all.   

“No.”   

She whispered quieter, shaking her head hard to try and dislodge the bad thoughts. She was absolutely, perfectly fine. She could do this. A sharp laugh burst out of her and she hurried through the library faster now, almost running. She passed the restricted section’s door and gave it one longing glance before reaching her table and plopping down in it, letting her head thud against the table hard.   

The world spun and she cursed, remembering that she had a concussion a few weeks ago. It was probably better to avoid harming her head again before it had been at least a month. Thank Titan for magic, she didn’t know what she would do without it.   

She pulled a book of grudgby tactics out of her bag and propped it open, trying to find just the exactly perfect tactic for the big grudgby match the day before Grom. It was tradition for the team who won the match to have their food catered by the other school, and considering they were going against Glandus High...well, she couldn’t afford to let the team down.   

She could never afford to let anyone down.   

Darius looked away from the stupid hack to see Eda standing in the middle of the corridor, her eyebrows raised in annoyance, the faintest trace of...of tears? What? Was she okay? What did she had to cry about right now?   

Whispers wiggled out from where they had been trying to make sure he and the hack hadn’t started to throw hands to walk over to Eda.   

“Lilith?”   

“Not coming.”   

Eda spat out, walking around Whispers without another word. Darius just caught the look of sadness and hurt on their face before it shifted back to neutral.   

Great.   

Everybody was just doing amazing this fine day.   

What a surprise.   

“Well? What’s your plan?”   

“I need a minute.”   

Eda snapped, flipping him off. He snarled and lunged forward but Whispers grabbed his arm and yanked him backwards. He glared at them and they returned the glare tenfold.   

“You spat in my face,” They hissed. “don’t you dare fight with Eda or I will beat your ass.”   

He held up his hands and whirled around, flicking his dreadlocks dramatically. The hack let out a snort and he shot him a glare. The hack kept his face of laughter for one more second before dropping it, acting as if he hadn’t done anything at all, but he was still doing those weird little flapping hands things.   

Whatever.   

He didn’t care enough to question it.   

He was solely focused on kicking the hack’s butt...uh and helping with the prank. He was supposed to be doing that too. Right. He tapped his fingers against his leg seven times before stretching and swirling abomination goo around his hand.   

The hack was watching him, his expression neutral but the spark of curiosity in his eyes.   

“What?”   

Darius asked, smirking and making the abomination goo grow.   

“Sad you can’t do this too?”   

The hack blinked in surprise before raising his own hands and a large mound of abomination goo swirling around him as well. Darius growled and snapped his fingers, turning the abomination goo into a small bird demon.   

The hack shrugged and made his abomination goo into a rose. He caught it and twirled it around before handing it to Darius. He stared at the flower for a second before looking up at the hack, surprised.   

“HAH! Smooth, Blight!”   

Eda was suddenly there, whacking the hack on the back and sending him stumbling over, his abomination goo catching him and helping him up. Darius rolled his eyes and dropped the rose to the ground, stepping over it and to where Whispers was watching the exchange with amusement.    

“Wow.”   

They said, leaning against the wall and giving him a look as Eda and Alador suddenly started talking about some form of tech-y magic he didn’t know and didn’t really care.   

“What?”   

He snapped. They shrugged.   

“That rose was...a nice touch, don’t you think?”   

“Why do you care, Whispers?”   

He snarked. He didn’t understand why Whispers cared at all about his and the hack’s resentment of each other.   

“I’m just saying...enemies to lovers, slow burn...”   

He turned red and tried to whack them on the head. They dodged him and laughed as they jerked their finger towards the hack and Eda.   

“Seriously. You haven’t ever thought about it?”   

They asked. He rolled his eyes.   

“Good grief, Whispers. It’s a rivalry, not a romance. How juvenile are you?”  

They smirked at him as Eda whirled around and sprinted back to the pair of them. She threw her arm around Whispers and leaned against them. It did not pass Darius’s notice that both Eda’s and Whispers’ faces were slightly pink at the sudden contact.   

Oh.  

OH.

He could use this.   

“Alright, we’re getting the plan together without Lily’s help! Finish chatting and I need you two’s help, okay? STAT PEOPLE!”   

She gave the pair of them finger guns before sprinting back over to Alador, waving her hand and making magic form a map through the air. Darius looked over at Whispers to see that they were watching Eda as she chatted excitedly to Alador.   

“Well, if we’re speaking about romance...”   

He said, making Whispers look at him in complete confusion and stupidity. Titan save us all.   

“When are you going to ask Eda to Grom?”   

They let out a startled laugh and shook their head.   

“No! No, it’s not like that. We might meet up but she’s probably going to get a date for Grom anyway since she’s a grudgby player and everyone’s going to be wanting her and besides I don’t like her like that it doesn’t matter that she’s cool and smart and funny and really pretty and...oh.”   

He let out a laugh at the frozen expression on their face. Oh good grief. This was going to take them ages to get their head around.   

“Take your time, Whispers.”   

They blushed bright red and shoved his arm.   

“I don’t like Eda like that. You’re just making things up.”   

They snapped, storming forward to join the planning session. He rolled his eyes and thanked the Titan that he was able to get their mind off the weird topic of him and the hack. Did they really think that this was some show or fanfiction? Some place where sudden plot twists and enemies to lovers was common?  

This was the real Boiling Isles, Raine Whispers. Things didn’t work like that.  

He shook his head and joined the planning session, completely ready to show that he was the superior abomination goo expert.   

Lilith wasn’t entirely sure how long she spent studying different grudgby tactics, she just knew that by the time she took off her headphones and turned the music on her scroll off her back was stiff and the lamps in the library had turned on.   

There were multiple messages and alerts but she just flicked them to read, not caring enough to check them right now. She sighed and got to her feet, piling her stuff back in her bag and enjoying the feeling of being so tired that her brain couldn’t even form comprehensive thoughts. She was too tired to even think about any of her mistakes and failures.   

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she strode towards the exit, this time refusing to look at the restricted section of the library. Eda had probably finished the prank by now so it was most likely safe to leave the library. She didn’t want to be connected in any shape or form to this prank.   

She opened the door to find the hallways deserted. Not even a teacher in sight. Huh.   

That was odd. Normally someone was around but it seemed like the entire school was deserted.  

Why?   

Eda hadn’t done her prank yet, had she? She hadn’t heard any sound of commotion or running or even screams and laughter. This...hmm. She wandered through the hall but the place was deserted, some places looking as if they had been abandoned in a rush.   

Her heart was racing now and she sped up and speed walked through the eerily quiet corridors to the exit of the school. She sprinted outside and whirled around, wind whipping around her and yanking her glasses off her nose.   

She looked up to see a massive thunderstorm building in the distance, thunder rumbling and making the building shake. The temperature was rapidly dropping and Lilith pulled out her scroll frantically.   

“No.”   

She hissed, pulling up the news and realizing that a warning had been two hours ago, informing everyone to get to their houses and cast shield spells as quickly as they could. The larger buildings were too hard to keep a shield up for long periods of time and this...this storm was predicted to be a huge one.   

She mentally cursed her headphones and stared up at the upcoming storm. Was there even time for her to get to her house? Thunder rumbled almost directly overhead and she jumped in fright, sprinting back under the school’s overhang.  

“Okay. This is fine.”   

She stammered, tapping her scroll frantically and pulling up her messages.   

“Mother...”   

She said, finger hovering over the button to call her. Why wasn’t she just clicking it? Click it! Her mother would come and get her and...and then she’d seem weak. Like she needed the help. It...no.    

Her mother would expect her to do this on her own. She was the eldest, after all. She was seventeen. She was the star student. Her mother would be so proud when she did this on her own. It wasn’t that hard. She just had to hurry home, casting a shield spell if needed. It wasn’t like it was that hard or anything.  

It would be fine.  

Or. She could just stay at school. She could cast a shield spell over the room she was staying in and just hide there until the storm passed. The wind whipped past her and she peered out at the storm.  

It was building to greater and greater heights now, the purple and black mass streaked with eerie shades of green and red. She could see the rain like massive sheet in the distance, steadily growing closer and closer with every moment that she waited.   

She cursed under her breath and clicked the messages on her scroll. This wasn’t worth it. She was about to pull up her mother when a notification sent an hour ago caught her eye.   

It was from Eda and seemed to have been sent in a rush.   

“Lils moms stuck in town dad caught at work where r u???”   

She sucked in a breath. Oh Titan save her. If both of her parents were caught in public places...places where the Emperor’s Coven could keep them contained...well, they couldn’t exactly come and get her. And Eda was...Eda seemed frantic. Heck, could Eda even activate the shield spell? She had to get home. She had to get to her sister.   

That left her with only one choice.      

She straightened and pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail. She adjusted her bag and stepped out from under the overhang. She glanced up at the storm and shivered. The world was black now, clouds blotting out any light and the wind whipping her hair in every direction. It was cold and she shivered, turning to face the direction of home.   

“I’ve got this.”   

She started walking towards the other end of the clearing, wind trying to push her back towards the school but she trekked on, not willing to give up, no matter what was going on. She had to get home to her sister. She had to survive this. She had to be the best older sister ever.   

She tried to run across the clearing but the wind knocked her off her feet and she slid along the ground before she was able to regain her balance. She gasped breath back into her and scrambled to her feet. She slowed down as she walked. Once she got to the trees the wind should die down a little bit and she’d be able to run.   

The trees were creaking and she heard crashes over the constant whistling of the wind past her ears. She should just go back to the school. She should just turn around. She hadn’t gone that far. Only like five hundred feet. She could turn around. Run back to the school.   

But Eda...  

NO!   

She shook her head and pressed on, gripping her bag with white knuckles as the thunder crashed overhead and lightning caused her eyes to burn and spots to dance in front of her. The air around her was electric and tight with the threat of the storm. The wind died down for one brief moment and she sprinted, the other end of the clearing a hundred feet away.   

She had barely reached the other it and the road through the trees back home when she felt the first burning drop of rain on her skin. She let out a shaky laugh. Maybe it was a fluke. Maybe there wasn’t anything more yet. A droplet sent ahead.   

There was a great crack of thunder and it was like the sky decided to dump all of it’s contents out on her. Rain plummeted down to the ground and splattered her with burns. She collapsed to the ground and screamed in pain. No. Think. Think. Think.   

She held out her shaking hand and drew a spell circle.   

Nothing.   

Wait.   

No.   

No.   

No.   

No.   

She drew it again, and again, and again, and again.   

And again.   

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.   

Her head was pounding as her skin burned and she bit back the screams of pain that was threatening to take over. She held up her bag to cover her face and drew another spell circle. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.   

Everything hurt. It hurt so, so much.   

She drew the spell circle again and nothing happened. Again.    

“Please”   

She begged, tears streaming down her face and mixing with the burning rain. She was fine. The rain was penetrating too deeply. She could do this. Everything burned. She would be fine. She staggered to her feet and stumbled forward, trying to reach the safety of the woods.   

Her skin was burned and raw, her clothes a tattered mess but she didn’t even have time to care about modesty right now. The wind blew dirt and more rain deeper into her wounds and she gasped in pain as she stumbled forward.   

Fifty feet.   

Fourty feet.   

Thirty feet.    

The wind was blowing the rain into her face and she thanked the Titan that she needed glasses...glasses that were starting to melt. She flung them off her face with a yell and was thrust into a blurry world. Oh she was going to have to pay for those.   

Twenty feet.   

She was almost there.   

Ten feet.   

She felt light.   

Airy, almost.   

She lunged forward and slammed into the nearest tree. It was a huge, sprawling tree with thick branches blocking the rain, even as its leaves were being peppered with holes. She slumped to the ground, the rain lessening on her raw and bleeding skin. She sobbed, the tears sliding down her cheeks and burning into the open wounds...which made her cry harder.   

Her bag was destroyed and all her stuff was full of holes, her precious library books and money and food and snacks and papers and school stuff and...and...her scroll was destroyed. She stared at it, unseeing. Oh. Oh.   

Get up.   

She had to get up.   

She slumped against the tree, fighting to stay awake against the feeling of numbness that sleep promised her.   

No.   

She had to get home.  

She scrambled to her feet and screamed in pain. It burned like nothing she had ever felt before. Stung and burned but the pain was lessening now and she could barely feel anything. Huh. Wasn’t it louder, before?   

She stumbled forward and hit the ground hard, falling out of the tree’s safety and into the rain.  

It didn’t hurt anymore.   

She crawled forward, the ground around her slowly turning to burning mud and the wind relentless, trying to make her way through the burning and blurry world. She put her hand on something sharp and blinked in surprise, staring at the wound leaking blood on her hand.   

Huh.   

Okay.   

She staggered forward and suddenly the ground underneath her was gone. She yelped as she plummeted down a steep slope and slammed against a boulder. She crumpled into a ball and sobbed, the tears burning into her skin as the rain slammed into her again and again and again and again.   

In her delusion she could almost hear people, almost could hear her sister.  

Heh.   

Wow.   

She closed her eyes.   

She was fine.   

This was fine.    

She was fine.   

Fine.   

Fine. 

She blacked out. 

Darius was leaning back on his bed, rather enjoying the sound of soft rain thudding against the shield over his and his parents’ house when his scroll rang. He glanced at it and saw that it was Eda. He rolled his eyes and swiped decline.   

He didn’t really have the energy to be forced to discuss more of a plan for their failed prank. It sucked, really. They were almost ready, the plan fully formed, everyone knowing their parts when all of their scrolls had suddenly buzzed. At the same time.   

That wasn’t normal, so they had checked them and saw that there was a major storm warning and they all needed to get home.   

He had felt his panic and that horrible, wrong feeling flare up but he was able to shove it down, telling himself over and over again that this was normal, just a routine storm...but as he had seen the fear on the teachers’ and adults’ faces and had known that this wasn’t just a normal storm.    

So he had hurried home and collapsed on his bed, going through his ‘quirky’ routines that always made him feel better even though there was no reason for them to.   

His scroll rang again and he saw that it was Eda, yet again. He sighed and clicked answer.   

Her face popped up on screen, eyes red and face puffy, hair sticking up in every direction, a look of pure panic in her eyes that he had never seen before. He sat straight up as she started babbling frantically.   

“She’s hasn’t come back she hasn’t come back she hasn’t responded she hasn’t come back I don’t know what to do mom got caught in town and dad is at his workshop and she’s still not back she’s not back she’s not back she’s not back she—”   

“EDA!”   

He shouted and she clamped her mouth shut, tears rolling down her face.   

“What?”   

He asked, a sick feeling growing in his stomach.  

“Lily. She hasn’t come back from school.”   

She gasped out, covering in mouth like she was going to be sick. Darius stared out the window as the wind picked up outside and Eda made little gasping noises like a fish.   

“Has she responded to any of your messages?”  

She shook her head, looking like she was about to throw up. He cursed under his breath and flipped her image up so that he could reach his messages. He messaged Lilith four times in a row, their SOS message that they had made back in ninth and eighth grade.   

Nothing.   

She was supposed to respond immediately to that. Eda was full on gasping now, her face pale and flushed at the same time.   

“Eda, breathe.”    

He said, scrambling off his bed and grabbing his bag full of stuff, a plan rapidly forming in his mind as he remembered what he knew about the storm. It was partially over his house right now but because they were closer inside town than Hexside, the storm probably hadn’t hit the school yet. If they hurried...  

“What do I do what do I do what do I do what do I do what do I do—”   

“Breathe. That’s what you do.”   

He hung up on her and pulled a jacket over his casual clothes before picking his scroll up off his bed and slinging the bag over his shoulders. He opened the door to the hallway and hurried down stairs, his parents glancing at him curiously as he made his way towards the door.   

“What’s going on?”   

His dad asked.   

“One of my friends hasn’t made it back home. I’m going out to find her. I have a special abomination goo mixture that will block the rain for short periods of time.”   

His parents exchanged a glance, but in that time he had unlocked the door and slid through the barrier protecting their house from the rain. He swirled the abomination goo up over his head and hurried through the streets. Thank the Titan that it wasn’t that bad over them. Just some wind and steady rain, nothing intense.   

He could see the storm building nearby, however, the wind rushing and swirling like a terrfying monster that wanted to kill them all. He saw a nose-shaped demon that must have been a baby dive into a hole and kick out a little echo mouse that was hiding there.   

No one was out, save for a few Emperor’s Coven guards who gave him a look.   

“I’m getting home!”   

He shouted at them, jerking his finger in the direction he was going.   

He hated that he had to do this.   

He hated that his abomination goo wasn’t going to be strong enough to keep himself and others safe for long periods of time but...ugh. Whispers was going to have a field day with this.  

He reached the rich part of town and wandered through the mansions, looking for the gate that was sure to have their name on it. It took five minutes of searching before he found the house that he was looking for.   

He used his abomination goo to propel himself over the wall and through the barrier. He thanked the Titan that most of the barriers would let witches and demons through. He sprinted across the lawn and skidded to a stop at the edge of the house.   

He avoided the door and hurried around the edge of the house, searching each window for something that would let him know which window was who’s. He was on the complete opposite end of the house when panic was really setting in.   

He didn’t even know if Lilith was alive.   

Well, she was probably alive.   

She was too resourceful to not be alive but if something had happened...she and Eda had gotten into a fight...if she had been an idiot...  

“Darius?”   

He whirled around and looked up to see the hack leaning out of one of the upper windows, his clothes grease and abomination goo stained, a confused expression on his face.   

“I need your help!”   

He shouted up at the other boy, hating how desperate his voice sounded. The hack blinked, once, before shaking his head weirdly and disappearing from the window. Darius groaned. Of course. Of course the stupid hack was just as stuck up and rich as the rest of his family.   

Why had he thought that he would help?   

Why had he...oh, whatever.   

He could do this on his own.  

He whirled around and stormed away from the house, pulling out his scroll and checking that his abomination goo was holding before clicking on Whispers’ number.   

“Hey...whoa.”  

They said, staring at him.   

“Why in the name of the Titan are you outside?”   

“Eda called me, Lilith hasn’t gotten back to their house. Meet me either at Eda’s or on the way to the school, I think that’s where she would have stayed.”   

Raine blinked in shock but he just hung up on them and sighed. He hurried down the path and reached the wall, swirling his abomination goo and preparing to climb over.   

“WAIT!”   

He whirled around to see the hack running towards him, hands over his head, abomination goo swirling around him as he ran, his grey coat almost trailing on the ground. He ran all the way up to him and let his abomination goo fall, standing so close to Darius that he could feel the hack’s breath on his face.   

“What?”   

The hack asked, his face oddly serious. Not that the hack wasn’t always serious, but this was...a determined serious. Darius stared at him in surprise and then noticed that the hack was wearing a coat over the dirty outfit he had been wearing.   

“Oh.”   

The hack said, noticing his gaze.   

“Do you not like dirt? I thought it was polite.”   

Darius stared at him. The hack shrugged.   

“How...how did you know that?”   

He asked. The hack blinked and looked to the side, his hands starting to flap at his sides.   

“I...to understand people. I’m bad at it. I have to take in everything. Learn everything. Even then I don’t know everything. Cues are weird. Sometimes I do something late. But I notice a lot of small things because of it. You hate dirt and you don’t like it when certain things are out of order or different.”   

The rain was quieter now, slowing to almost a drizzle as he stared at the slightly shorter boy who was still avoiding his eyes but had noticed two things that no one, not even Lilith had noticed.  

Lilith.   

Shoot.   

“Okay. Good to know. Um, Lilith’s missing, she hasn’t come back from school yet and Eda’s freaking out. My abomination goo can shield us for a while but I...”   

He sighed, hating himself for this.   

“I need your magic to help me keep us all safe. Eda and Raine can cast shields but those are tricky to keep up and I don’t know if it would be able to help all of us. And I don’t...I don’t know how injured Lilith’s going to be.”   

His voice choked on the last sentence and the hack nodded before blinking and hastily putting a hand on his shoulder.   

Darius didn’t feel like it was dirty.   

Raine sprinted through their namesake, puddles splashing up and soaking their legs and feet. It burned a little but they moved fast enough and tried to warp their shield to cover their legs as best they could. They’d have a couple burns, nothing major. A healer could fix it up easily.  

It had been annoyingly simple to sneak out of their house.   

They ran faster, breaths coming sharp and painful, but they refused to stop. They had to get to Eda. That call from Darius...Titan, they hadn’t been that scared in a long time. Lilith Clawthorne would be fine. She seemed tough, so did Eda, but Eda loved her sister so much and...  

They clenched their fists and whistled sharply, magic swirling in front of them and attaching to their feet. They felt a boost of power and sprinted even faster, the only thought consuming their mind was that they had to help Eda.   

They had to keep her safe.   

Mentally, physically, emotionally.  

She needed her sister and they were going to help her get her sister back.   

They needed Eda to be okay.   

They skidded around a corner and their shield dropped for moment, rain burning a few holes through their clothes before they were able to reraise it.   

If they remember the path to Eda’s house they should almost be there. They realized they had slowed and picked up the pace, legs screaming in pain and sides burning but they would not slow down. They were going to help their best friend.   

They turned another corner and froze.   

The road in front of them was flooded, the water in front of them hissing and fizzling threateningly.   

“Oh no.”   

They said, staring at in in horror. How were they supposed to get past this? Their shield flickered and they hissed as a few drops of water landed on her sleeve.   

“Okay.”   

They surveyed the land in front of them. It was what had to be a river of water in front of them, blocking the road and making it so that there was no way they could ever cross. The torrent of water was rushing and cascading through the dip in the path, sticks and even rocks swirling through, slowly getting eaten by the boiling water.   

Great.   

Just great.   

They cursed under their breath and walked up and down the newly formed bank. The rain had stopped so they dropped their shield spell to give their tired bile sack a break. This...this wasn’t good.    

They didn’t know if they could make this jump. There weren’t any ropes or vines hanging from the trees lining the road. And they couldn’t exactly swim or wade through it, they didn’t know how deep it was and it was boiling water. They weren’t about to go plunging into that. The wind picked up around them and they shivered, staring at the opposite side for what felt like hours.   

The other option was to try and take a whole different path to Eda house. But they hadn’t ever tried to get to her house from the path and they didn’t know how to find their way there. They flicked their fingers, debating whether it was a good idea to use up their already depleted magic to cast a tracking spell.   

They needed their magic, though. For whenever they found Lilith Clawthorne, they needed their magic to help cast shield spells and possibly heal her, if worst had come to worst. So that wasn’t really an option either.     

It was only a minute before they had made up their mind.   

They were going to get to Eda to help her, no matter what.   

They whirled around and hurried along the path a few feet, whacking their shoes against the ground and trying to figure out how much traction they had. They clenched their fists and turned, facing the raging water in front of them and focusing on the opposite bank.   

They took off their glasses and wiped the acid rain off them before placing them back on, thanking Titan that they hadn’t gotten to destroyed from the rain. They dug their feet into the ground and bent their legs in preparation.   

“Three.”   

They whispered, feeling the wind pressing against their back.   

“Two.”   

Thank Titan that the wind seemed to be on their side right now.   

“ONE!”   

They sprinted forward, feet pounding the ground as they covered the distance to the new river easily and leapt.    

They screamed as they flew through the air, arms waving wildly because they had not prepared enough for this. They refused to look at the water below them. They slammed into the ground; all the wind knocked out of their lungs as they laid face first in the mud.  

Their feet were being licked at with the burning water and they jerked their feet up and curled into a ball, laughter bubbling up as they realized what they had just done.   

What.   

The.   

Heck.   

They sat up and groped around for their glasses that had fallen off in the jump. They shoved them on and stared at river behind them, water churning and wind blowing the trees so that they almost bent over halfway.   

“Nobody is ever going to believe me.”   

They mumbled, scrambling to their feet as the wind picked up and they could almost smell the burning rain drawing nearer and nearer again. They hurried down the path, running despite the new bruises that peppered their legs and sides and back and stomach and what felt like everywhere on their body.   

Was this what sport players felt like?   

Eda swung the door open to her house, backpack securely fastened on her back, a note scribbled to her parents’ just in case, her scroll clutched in her hands, the last location of Lily’s scroll beeping constantly.   

She drew a golden spell circle and her own person shield appeared above her head, blocking her from the storm. She turned around and did a last check of the house. Shield? Check. Palistrom wood secured? Check. Windows and doors locked? Check.   

She locked the door behind her and took a step out to the path leaving the path.   

Hang on...  

They peered ahead in through the rain, vaguely making out a figure sprinting up the path towards her.   

For one brief second her heart leapt and she thought that it was Lily. Then they saw the red of the spell circle and a flash of glasses.   

“Raine?”   

She asked, confused. The bard stumbled into view and paused a few feet from her, bending over and gasping for breath.   

“Darius. Told me. Came to help.”   

She stared at them as they straightened up and gave her a thumbs up. They had come all this way to help her? They had braved the storm and broke the law to come and help her?   

Oh my Titan.   

Raine was rubbing the back of their head nervously now, their shield spell flickering.  

“Of course if you don’t need my help that’s fine I just thought that two heads would be better than one and I mean it’s probably weird cause we haven’t know each other for that long but...”   

Eda lunged forward and yanked them underneath her shield spell right as Raine’s shield disappeared.   

“Oh.”   

They said, staring out at the rain before turning to face her.  

“Huh.”   

They were blushing faintly and Eda felt her own cheeks go red.   

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that flustered.”   

She said, raising her eyebrows. Raine laughed and shoved her shoulder.   

“I jumped over a river to get here.”   

Eda nodded, not really comprehending the words because Raine’s face was right there, flushed and smiling slightly, eyes filled with a determined fire.   

“Okay. Um. Yeah.”   

They both took a step back from each other at the same time and Eda made her shield larger to cover both of them.   

“Let’s get going.”  

Eda said, turning and starting towards the forest. Raine hurried to match her pace but Eda didn’t look at them. They could enjoy their best friend’s company later, could think about the fact that they had risked a lot to come and help her.   

Could try and figure out why she kept blushing later.  

Something brushed against her hand and she looked down to see Raine grabbing onto her hand and holding it tight as they walked. She flushed red again and looked ahead, staring down at the scroll that was blinking brightly as it tracked the last spot her sister’s scroll had been in.   

“We’ve got this.”   

Eda said, picking up the pace so that she was running now. Raine kept pace, the two witches’ hands still entwined like nothing but the Titan himself would break them apart.   

Alador and Darius were sprinting through the woods, abomination goo swirling around them, water splashing their feet and legs but neither boy cared enough to do anything about it.   

It burned, sure, but it wasn’t so bad that there was any need to be more careful.   

At least it kept him from flapping his hands.   

Darius skidded along the ground and Alador grabbed his shoulder, keeping him upright and the two boys nodded at each other in thanks before Darius let his abomination goo drop for a moment and Alador countered, casting his in a wide shadow over both of them. They slowed to a stop.   

“We’re not getting anywhere with this.”   

Darius muttered, running his hand through his dreadlocks, trying to make them neater. Alador thought that the messy dreadlocks looked good on top of the shaved portion of his head, but that was just his thoughts.   

“What then?”  

He asked, hands starting to flutter nervously. No. Stop it. Mother and Father would be mad. Don’t do that. It’s not good. It’s weird. It’s wrong.  

Think about what Raine said. Think about what Raine said. Think about what Raine said.     

“This.”  

He watched as Darius drew a spell circle and closed his eyes. The taller teen drew a second spell circle and wave his hands, merging the two spell circles so they twisted around and through each other in shinning purple rings. Suddenly the rings split apart and formed a glowing purple screen. Five flashing lights were dancing on the screen, one purple, one pink, one red, one golden, and one pale blue.   

“That’s us.”   

Darius said, pointing to the purple and pink lights that were bunched together.   

“That’s Eda and Whispers.”   

He continued, the red and golden lights steadily moving towards the pale blue light. The same direction as them, just from a different angle.   

“So that’s Lilith.”   

Alador finished. Darius looked up and frowned. Oh. Had he said the wrong thing at the wrong time again? He had thought that he had been reading the situation well, that they were focused on saving Lilith so it wasn’t that big of a deal if he screwed up but...   

“We’re close.”   

Was all Darius said, flicking his fingers so that the lights hovered in front of them.  

“Come on.”   

He took off running and Alador hurried after him. They didn’t notice but they waved their hands in unison and abomination goo swirled around them yet again, blocking the rain and wind from completely destroying them in their frantic search.  

They ran for another five minutes before they heard other voices in the woods, frantically gasping as they ran and tried to talk.   

Alador whirled towards the voices and Darius followed him, both boys stumbling into a clearing where they could see Eda and Raine sprinting in the same general direction as them. He saw both Raine and Eda’s eyes shoot to the top of their heads as they took in both boys but they joined up without any words, Darius pointing to his tracking spell and all of them sprinting to the edge of the drop that Lilith seemed to be at the bottom off.   

He clenched his fists and sent his abomination goo out so that it covered the slope. Eda drew a golden spell circle and ran forward, holding it above her head just in case. He watched as she and Darius disappeared, leaving him and Raine waiting at the top.   

They glanced over at them, looking almost sick but the set of their brows and mouth showed a determination that he hadn’t always seen in their face. He exhaled and gave them a small smile. They blinked and gave him a curt nod.   

Suddenly there was gasping and a scream from the bottom of the slope.   

“Oh no.”   

Raine hissed. Alador glanced over at them briefly before the two of them were running forward and sliding down the slope, rain pounding on the abomination goo overhead. They could see Darius and Eda crouched over something lying on the ground against a boulder, sheltered from the rain by the combined effects of the boulder and Darius’ abomination goo.   

Darius turned around to face them as they approached, his eyes wide and horror-struck, an expression of disbelief and fear on his face. Raine put their hand on Darius’ shoulder and moved around him, letting out a horrified gasp when their eyes fell on...  

Eda had dropped to her knees and was staring at the figure crumpled on the ground in front of the ground. Alador leaned over her and felt his throat clench.   

Lilith was lying crooked on the ground, massive third-degree burns covering her body and blood leaking from multiple wounds. She was pale and unconscious, her bag lying next to her, filled with holes. Her clothes were barely existent, shredded from the rain.   

Darius moved to put his jacket on her but Alador put up his hand.   

“It’ll hurt.”   

He said, staring at the burns.   

“Yeah.”   

Raine mumbled, moving forward and crouching next to Eda. They put their arm around her as Darius nodded and put his jacket back on.   

Alador leaned forward and moved to check Lilith’s pulse. As his fingers brushed against her skin she shrieked in pain and all four of them leapt backwards, startled. She fell back unconscious and Eda let out a laugh.   

A high, shrill, insane laugh.   

“What do we do?”   

She whispered, staring at her sister for one brief second before whirling around and staring at them.   

“WHAT DO WE DO?”   

The storm was raging now, the slope back to the road barely visible through the sheets of rain.   

“BREATHE!”   

Darius snapped, his own voice borderline hysterical. Raine scrambled to their feet and shook their arms, yanking their eyes away from Lilith’s body and turning to face him.   

“Okay. Okay. Okay.”   

They said, drawing a spell circle and whistling. They sent the glowing red magic towards Lilith and she sighed as she seemed to fall into a deeper sleep. Alador then drew a spell circle of his own and sent it towards her.   

“Numbing.”  

He said. Eda nodded and scrambled to her feet, seeming to have gotten over her momentary panic.   

“I could share the—”   

“NO!”   

They all chorused, Alador joining in a second too late and trying not to let his hands start flapping. Not now. Later. He had to focus. Eda nodded, seeming to realize the flaw in her logic and she drew a different spell circle.   

She sent it towards Lilith and her sister slowly floated off the ground.   

Raine grabbed Lilith’s bag and turned to face the rain surrounding them. Darius recreated his tracker, this time the glowing dot the middle of Bonesborough. The center of the healing coven. There was bound to be people there.   

Alador sighed and waved his hands, exhausted from keeping his abomination goo up. Darius tapped his shoulder and handed him the glowing tracker. He let his abomination goo switch to Darius and the cover above them strengthened.   

Raine drew a spell circle and summoned a shield spell, sending it out into the pouring rain, marking the first step they needed to take.  

The four of them stood there for a minute, staring out at the rain, on the edge of the sprint that they knew they would have to take back to Bonesborough. This was it. They had to save Lilith. Her life was on the line now.   

“Let’s go.”   

Eda said, stepping out into the rain.   

Everything hurt.  

Not in a bad way.  

Yes in a bad way.  

Well.  

In a dull, constant throbbing pain way.  

She felt her fingers twitch and pain shot through her.  

Okay.  

Don’t do that.  

She felt her eyelids flutter and she breathed softly, letting her eyes open ever so softly, as to not cause her even more pain. Outside was dark and she could almost hear the sound of rain pattering on something overhead.  

She sighed and stared up at the light darkness. How was it light darkness? That didn’t make sense. It was dark but not dark-dark. Light dark. She suppressed a tiny laugh and blinked once, her eyes focusing upwards.  

That was a bad idea.  

There was blinding, bright, white light above her causing her to whimper and squeeze her eyes shut again. She tried not to gasp in pain and felt her fists clench. Pain wracked her body again and she let out a cry.  

Suddenly someone was touching her hand and she was trying not to scream in pain but a voice was whispering softly in her ear and cool magic swept over her.  

“I’m almost out of magic.”  

She heard; the voice familiar but she couldn’t place it, couldn’t figure out how she knew it. It made her think of music and warmth, of a poem or a song. It was like doing things for someone else, protecting someone else, seeing someone else happy.    

“We’re nearly there.”  

A different voice said, this one low and soft and slightly panicked. This voice...this voice was warm and icy at the same time, but it felt comforting, almost like the feeling of triumph, of determination, of never giving up.  

“I can run ahead.”  

This voice was less familiar. This voice was nervous but strong, and she thought of studying, really, truly studying for what you loved. Breaking away from fear and breaking away from the things that held her back.  

“Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Lily, please, please hang on. You have to hang on.”  

Home.  

That voice was home.  

Books and learning and adventure and exploring and information and magic and happiness and joy and warmth and freedom. The feeling that she was safe and that she didn’t have to prove herself to anyone. That she would someday be enough.  

Home.  

The world spun and she blacked out again.  

“NO!”  

Eda shrieked, lunging forward and trying to break past the healer blocking her path.  

“Miss Clawthorne, she has to be taken to emergency spell casting. You can’t go there.”  

“NO! I HAVE TO STAY WITH HER!”  

Tears were streaming down her face as she slammed into the healer again and again. Her sister was gone and she had to get to her and she had to stay with her she hadn’t come this far just to be separated please please please please please  

“Someone sedate her!”  

The healer shouted as Eda kicked her in the shins and slammed her with a blast of golden magic. Suddenly the world spun around her and she almost threw up. No. Titan. NO!  

She let out a feral scream and sprinted down the hall towards her sister. Suddenly someone was tackling her and she hissed, lashing out at the person because they were stopping her and her sister was in danger and she had to save her sister and she had to stay with her sister she couldn’t leave her sister she needed her sister to stay with her and...  

“They’re taking care of her!”  

The person shouted in her ear, pinning her to the ground.  

“They’ll make sure she’s okay!”  

She was sobbing now, head spinning, feeling like she was about to throw up because, oh, was using that last bit of magic the worst thing she could have done in that situation. Everything hurt and everything hurt and everything hurt and she had to get up and move and go and help but she was so...so...so tired.  

“I’m scared too! But we have to let them do their job!”  

She shook and shook and shook and shook as the person scrambled off her and she curled up into a ball. The person let out their own chocked sob and grabbed her by the arms, trying to lift her up. The person’s hands were shaking and they dropped her.  

“I can’t. I can’t. Whispers?”  

“I got her.”  

Warm hands were supporting her back and her legs and she was suddenly lifted up into the air. She curled her face into the person’s shoulder and she felt them let out a shuddering sigh.  

“We’ve contacted your parents. Whenever you four have...uh, calmed down, I’ll take you four one at a time for an examination. There’s water and snacks over there.”  

“Is there any apple blood?”  

The person carrying her asked, their voice rumbling in their chest.  

“Um, yes. Nonalcoholic, of course.”  

“Yeah. Thank you.”  

Eda felt the person carrying her sit down on a couch or something and she sank into the couch as well, leaning against them as they ran their fingers through her hair. She could hear the faintest sound of two people nearby talking but someone was handing her a cup and she automatically sipped it.  

The warm and tangy taste of apple blood filled her mouth and she swallowed, some of her brain returning to her. She gulped it down and almost drained the entire cup. She smiled and then nausea hit her, the apple blood trying to force its way up.  

“Oh. Here, drink water too. We did use up all our magic for this, so...”  

Another cup was handed to her and she drank this one with less enthusiasm than the water, being careful not to almost throw up this time.  

The person she was leaning on was running their fingers through her hair, untangling it and causing their fingers to ever so often brush her forehead and Eda sighed, leaning deeper into their touch.  

Suddenly the person started humming, their voice warm as it surrounded her and caused herself to have hope for the first time.  

“I thought you didn’t have magic.”  

She murmured, her mind slowly catching up to who she was practically laying on.    

“I don’t. Doesn’t mean that music can’t help.”  

Raine said, smiling down at her. Eda smiled softly back and felt herself shift against them and fully slide so that her head was on their lap, looking out across the room and seeing Alador and Darius sitting next to each other across the room, Alador’s hands flapping nervously and Darius counting the number of tiles on the floor.  

Eda sighed as Raine’s melody swept around them and made its way over to the boys. They looked over at the source of the noise and she felt it as Raine waved their hand, gesturing for them to join them.  

Darius hurried over and sat on the other side of Raine, leaning against the couch and staring up at the wall. Alador followed suit, collapsing on the couch and curling up almost halfway on the arm.  

Eda felt a little laugh grow over her as she slowly started to drift into an unconscious sleep.  

This couch was way too small for four of them.  

When Lilith opened her eyes she found herself on a bed in what was unmistakably the healers. She tried to sit up and felt pain shoot through her.  

“Oh, sweet flea, don’t do that.”  

She turned her head to see her mother hurrying towards her, climbing onto the bed with her and helping her sit up completely. Her father was at the edge of her bed now, putting one hand on her shoulder and keeping her steady.  

She closed her eyes, suddenly feeling like everything was right in the world.  

They cared about her.  

They really, truly cared about her.  

“Did you come to save me?”  

She asked, hope rising like a flood inside her. Her parents exchanged a glance and she twisted the sheets she was holding onto, keeping the happy and hopeful expression on her face even as she knew that no, they hadn’t come. They hadn’t realized. They hadn’t done anything.  

“We...we weren’t informed.”  

Her mother said, looking apologetic.  

“We got all the way back home when we found Eda’s note, saying that you hadn’t come back yet. Then the healers called us.”  

Lilith blinked.  

That...the story didn’t match up.  

“Then who found me?”  

Her parents exchanged a look and her mother got off the bed and held out her hand for Lilith to take. She did so, her body screaming in pain but less now, a more dull and throbbing ache than the...the pain from before.  

Pain.  

Rain pounding on limbs, falling to the ground, everything in pain, burning and burning and burning and burning and—  

“Honey? Are you okay?”  

Her father asked. She glanced up at him then back at her mother, already halfway out the door.  

“Yes. I’m fine.”  

They walked out of the room, her bandages creaking as she walked, pain throbbing with each step but she was already so close to being healed.  

“Oh, you’re awake.”  

A healer said, stopping in the corridor and smiling. The healer looked the worse for wear, almost as if she had been in a fight with a rabid cat.  

“And don’t worry my pretty young lady, there won’t be any scarring. As long as you’re brought to the healers quickly, we can heal any would with a 0.0000001 precent chance of scarring.”  

The healer beamed and Lilith frowned. Did she really think her so shallow that she cared about the scarring? Really? She’d rather not die, thanks. And she knew that factoid of information about healers, she had looked it up on her own a couple years ago.  

It made seeing people with scars so much more interesting, because obviously that if they had scars then they hadn’t been able to get medical attention in the correct amount of time, which could range from a week to an hour, but still!  

“Uh, thanks.”  

She said, giving her a small smile before the healer nodded and pulled both her parents to the side.  

“Allright, I’ve examined all four of them. They were fast asleep so I just left them there and examined what I could. They’re all beat up and bruised, but a day of rest and some burn potions will take care of it. Make sure not to let them use magic for at least a week, however.”  

“Who?”  

Lilith asked. Her mother looked back at her and smiled, gesturing towards the waiting room at the other end of the corridor. Lilith frowned but hurried down the corridor, her wounds painful but she was slowly starting to get used to the constant throb.  

She reached the edge of the hallway and stepped through into the waiting room. A few people looked up at her and she scanned the room, trying to figure out what her mother had been trying to get her to go see.  

It took her minute but she finally found them, on a couch in the back of the room.  

Eda, Darius, Raine, and Alador were asleep in a pile, Eda’s head in Raine’s lap, Raine’s head on Darius’s shoulder, Darius’s head on Raine’s head, and Alador's head on Darius’s other shoulder, all four of them covered in bandages and bruises and burns, looking exhausted, almost as if they had...  

Oh.  

My.  

Titan.  

Lilith felt her mouth drop open.  

They hadn’t.  

They had.  

They cared.  

They cared.  

They came.  

They saved her.    

Lilith started crying and Eda’s eyes flew open. Her sister gasped and leapt up, banging her head into Raine’s, causing Raine to whack Darius and Darius to shove Alador off him. The four of them stared at her in shock for one brief second before Eda and Darius were lunging forward and it was all she could do to brace herself before both of them hugging her like she was their last lifeline to life.    

She winced in pain but hugged them back, squeezing them as tightly as she could because oh my Titan what had they gone through to save her. Eda was shaking now and Lilith felt hot tears start to soak through her hospital gown. Suddenly identical hot tears were pouring from Darius’s eyes and she let out a shaky laugh, turning her head to look at him and extracting one arm to whack his head.  

He stuck his tongue out at her and pulled out of the hug. She extracted herself from Eda’s grasp and looked around at Alador and Raine, hanging on the outside of the hug. She held out her arm and watched as an expression of shocked joy spread across Raine’s face and they hugged her.  

“Eda was this close to murdering someone because they took you away from her.”  

Alador blurted out and all four of them turned to look at him. He turned red and rubbed the back of his head nervously. After a moment of confusion she just let out a laugh and nodded at him.  

“You didn’t have to come, but...thank you.”  

She said and he slowly smiled back at her.  

Suddenly a pair of arms was wrapping around her again and she leaned back into her sister’s hug.  

“I’m thinking sleepover.”  

Eda said, from where her face was buried in Lilith’s very patchy and burnt hair.  

“Really? I nearly died?”  

“Yeah. So sleepover!”  

Lilith pulled away from Eda and took the four of them in. The four insane, reckless teens who had all braved the storm to come and save her when her parents had not.  

Her sister, her best friend, her sister’s best friend and slowly her new friend, and the awkward guy who her sister had just adopted as their new partner in crime.    

“Okay.”  

She grabbed Eda’s right hand and Eda linked her left arm with Raine, who laughed. Darius put his arm around Lilith’s shoulder and Alador hovered at the edge of the group. Eda leaned over and kicked Darius in the shins and he rolled his eyes before grabbing Alador’s hand and tugging him in with the rest of them.  

“Let’s go home.”  

Chapter Text

Darius examined the black dress in front of him. For all intents and purposes, it was fine. A simple, elegantly curved dress that would allow the wearer plenty of movement while still being fancy enough for Grom. There was nothing wrong with it, but...   

“Yeah, absolutely not.”   

She whacked his head and he raised his eyebrows at her.   

“Lilith, you were picked as Grom queen. At least dress the part.”  

She sighed and sat down on her bed, staring at the dress as he hung it back up in her closet.  

“What’s wrong with it? It’s functional and won’t draw attention.”  

He bit back the scream building up inside. How was picking a dress for her even harder than picking out his own outfit? He was notoriously picky!   

“But it’s boring. And you, my friend, are not boring.”   

She raised her eyebrows at that and he nodded, trying to reassure her that she was the top student and the captain of the Grudgby team, aka one of the most well-known people in the school.   

“Darius. I don’t want to look too...showy, alright?”   

He waved his hand dismissively and tossed the dress back into the closet. Of course she didn’t want to look too showy; she never did. But she was beautiful and stunning and it was a shame for her to not wear something that at least semi-reflected the powerful witch that she was.     

“You can look stunning without being showy.”   

He grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet.   

“Come on.”   

“...where are we going.”   

She said, eyes narrowing. He grinned.   

“Shopping.”   

“I have to study—”   

“Nope. You’re the top student, you can take an hour or two to do this.”   

She raised her eyebrows at him and he rolled his eyes.    

“Fine, maybe three or four hours.”  

She let out a groan as he dragged her out of the room and into the hallway. They hurried down the stairs and Eda looked up from where she was watching something on the crystal ball.   

“Where are you going?”   

She asked, perking up. Darius tried not to roll his eyes at the younger Clawthorne. She had been...kind of clingy in the past month since the storm, never leaving her sister’s side if possible. Not that it was always a bad thing, the two of them were close, but it had quickly become annoying because every time he would try to hang out with Lilith she would be there, interrupting.   

“Dress shopping.”   

He said, pulling Lilith to the door before a thought occurred to him. He had never actually seen Eda wearing anything remotely fancy. Even when they hung out on the weekends she tended to just wear T-shirts and shorts. And, unfortunately, he knew for a fact that Eda would be hanging out them at the dance.  

“Eda...what are you wearing?”   

She rolled her eyes and flopped back on the couch, kicking her feet up into the air.   

“One of my old dress, I think.”   

He turned and Lilith shook her head at him, an expression of disgust on her face. He raised his eyebrows and she whispered, “her old dresses are atrocious” before quickly making her expression neutral as Eda shot up and stared her sister down.   

“Okay then. Two Clawthornes in need of a makeover.”   

Eda yelped and leapt to her feet, lunging for the stairs. Darius flicked his fingers and an abomination goo hand grabbed the back of her shirt and dragged her back to him. She glared up at him and he sighed.   

“See, you were the one who came to me for help last month. You owe me this.”   

Eda groaned and he saw Lilith rub her forehead in annoyance.   

“I thought I told you two to stop using the storm as a debt.”   

Eda cackled and jumped to her feet.   

“Never!”  

Eda had been...annoyingly proud of the storm after the chaos and fear and relief had all died down. She had continually bragged about their daring rescue till the whole school thought that the four of them had nearly died to save Lilith.   

And yes, they had been in danger, but all of them had a lot more magic that hadn’t failed due to stress and panic like Lilith’s magic had. But because of the stories that kept circling the entire school had begun to think that Lilith was much less talented than she actually was. That may have been one of the reasons that almost the entire school had voted for Lilith to be Grom Queen. To see if she actually deserved her title of top student. To see if she was actually powerful.   

Well, he was going to make her look like the boss witch that she was.  

And make Eda look great too.   

Besides, this was the best way to get Eda’s measurements before next week so that he could complete the sisters’ presents. He had Lilith’s measurements but he had been struggling to find a way to get Eda’s. This was the perfect excuse.    

“Is the whole group coming?”   

Eda asked, a note of excitement in her voice. He raised his eyebrows at her and she blushed slightly before flipping him off. He clenched his fists and took a deep breath. He was used to Eda flipping off people when she got flustered or angry.   

“We’ll see. Come on.”   

He said, turning and striding out the door. He knew that Lilith and Eda would follow. They wouldn’t be able to resist the amazing makeovers that he was able to deliver. It was a coping skill, really, but he actually enjoyed it.  

He was the best dressed in the group for a reason.  

The group.   

That was probably the most surprising thing to come out of the storm.   

Himself, Lilith, Eda, Raine, and the hack.   

According to Eda, at least. They were a group now. And, unfortunately, it seemed like she was right. Apparently going through the same danger and trauma with other people made an extremely tight bond.   

He and the hack still argued over abomination magic, Lilith and Raine still didn’t know each other well, he and Eda never stopped insulting each other, none of them were perfect in anyway but...somehow the five of them made a good group.   

It was infuriating to think that it was all because of Eda’s insane idea for a prank.   

Which, as she had informed them, they would be doing later on in the school year, but the hype from Grom and Grudgby needed to calm down before they could launch their assult on the school.   

“Can you believe that our big match against Glandus is next week?”   

“And Grom. Which neither of you decided to shop for till now.”   

He deadpanned to Eda and she laughed, jumping up onto the wall and leaning against a pole.   

“Eh. I still think my old dresses will work.”   

“Eda, the old dress in question is the most horrendous shade of orange that discordances magnificently with your incredibly vibrant hair.”  

They both turned to look at Lilith, who was bent over her scroll.   

“What?”   

Eda said, making a face. Darius...agreed with Eda, for once. What?   

“Midterms studying.”   

Lilith mumbled, showing them her screen, which revealed a list of what had to be every adjective, adverb, verb, noun, and pronoun known to the Boiling Isles. He had already looked over that list earlier that day and he knew full well that she already had the entire list memorized.   

“Okay. Give me the scroll.”   

He said, crossing his arms. She shook her head and went to tuck it into her pocket.   

Suddenly Eda darted forward and yanked the scroll out of Lilith’s hands and it went flying into the air. He waved his hand and caught the scroll in abomination goo, grabbing it and pocketing it with his own scroll.   

Lilith lunged for her sister but Eda was dancing out of the way, leaping up onto the wall again and laughing. Darius rolled his eyes as the two of them raced around the road, Eda shrieking with laughter and Lilith yelling at her in anger—fake anger, he could tell.  

“Can we focus?”   

He asked as they rounded a corner in the lane and the streets of Bonesborough started to rise around them. Lilith smoothed her hair and matched his stride immediately, acting as if she hadn’t just been trying to give her younger sister a noogie.   

“I want my scroll back.”   

“After.”   

He said, giving her a look that said he would tolerate zero arguments.  

“Darius, I need to study.”   

“You need a break. You’re what? Seventeen? Enjoy going dress shopping.”   

She sighed but seemed to have finally resigned herself to what he was about to put her through. He felt a grin spread across his face as they finally stopped in front of the many formal outfit shops that had sprung up during Grom season.   

“Let’s do this.”   

Eda let out a loud groan as he dragged them both inside.  

Raine was...oddly nervous for this year’s Grom.   

Probably because this school, Hexside, was the school where Grom had originated. Hexside had the actual monster, Grometheus, and it had just become a tradition for the dance to be held each year around the big fight. The other schools had just quickly picked up on it.    

In fact, the other schools, like St. Epiderm, had all tried their best to throw a Grom as phenomenal as Hexside’s, but they had never quite succeeded.   

St. Epiderm was particularly bad at throwing parties.   

They had...extremely uncomfortable rules about gender and how a person should dress depending on what they were registered at birth. St. Epiderm also hadn’t allowed demon or half-witch half-demon students in the school.   

Let’s just say they were very happy to be out of that school.  

Raine clicked their tongue and surveyed the pale blue suit in front of them.   

“I dunno.”   

They said, tilting their head and trying to see what they would look like in it. It was a nice suit and it would fit their body well but...they sighed and turned away from the suit.   

“It would clash with my hair.”   

“We could dye your hair.”   

They shook their head quickly at the nice store assistant who had been extremely nice and helpful.   

“No thanks. I like my hair the way it is.”   

“Are you going to do anything nice with it?”   

The store assistant—her name was Fione—asked.  

“Probably just slick it back or something.”   

Fione clicked her tongue and shook her head at them.   

“Nah, we can do better than that.”   

They frowned and Fione smiled.   

“What, don’t have anybody special you want to impress?”   

Raine felt their cheeks start to flush and they frowned to push back the blush.  

“No. Nobody.”   

“You sure?”   

Fione asked, raising her eyebrows and they just knew that their attempts at pushing down a blush hadn’t worked. Whatever. There was no reason for them to be blushing or anything. There wasn’t anyone.   

“Yes. I’m just going with my friends.”   

They said, shrugging and hastily maintaining their composure.   

“Okay. Fair enough. Going with friends is a blast.”   

 Fione seemed like she was trying to make up for her awkward moment of trying to press and find out whether or they had a crush on someone.   

Seriously.   

They didn’t.   

“Okay, let’s start with this. Do you want a dress or a suit?”   

They shrugged.   

“I’m not particularly fond of dresses, but if I find one that just jumps out at me I’d be fine with one.”