Outside the Owl House, the weather had darkened considerably since the morning. Thick clouds crowded the sky in uneven layers, their undersides nearly black. At the same time, the more distant banks carried a murky green-gray cast that spread across the horizon. The sunlight had not disappeared entirely, but what remained of it came filtered through the cloud cover, leaving the clearing in a dim, subdued light that flattened the brighter colors of the trees and rocks. The red foliage surrounding the property seemed deeper beneath the stormy sky, while the distant water reflected only a thin strip of pale gray along its surface.
Sora had used the open ground beside the house for his latest attempt to learn Boiling Isles magic. Eda had been firm about that. If he intended to experiment with abominations, he was going to do it outside where whatever he created could leak, collapse, explode, or otherwise make a mess without becoming another problem for her floors.
He stood several paces from his work with one of Eda's old books open in his hands. The volume was thick enough that he needed both hands to keep it steady, its pages filled with diagrams, ingredient measurements, handwritten notes from previous owners, and instructions explaining the basic principles behind abomination construction. Sora had spent a good portion of the afternoon following those directions while comparing them against the list of ingredients Willow had given him several days earlier.
The result stood motionless across from him.
It possessed the broad humanoid shape common to abominations, with thick shoulders, heavy arms, a rounded torso, and legs formed from the same semi-fluid substance as the rest of its body. Its surface remained glossy and uneven, as though it had been sculpted from something caught halfway between slime and clay. Two yellow eyes glowed beneath the folds of its featureless head, while its mouth hung open in a simple expression that did not indicate thought.
Its color, however, was immediately unusual.
Instead of the purple Sora had become accustomed to seeing around Hexside, the entire creature was a deep, vivid red. Darker crimson patches gathered along its shoulders, chest, arms, thighs, and lower legs, while brighter red highlights caught what little light reached through the clouds and gave its surface a wet sheen. The choice had been deliberate. Sora remembered that Professor Hermonculus did not always use the same purple as his students; his own abominations often carried a distinctly pink coloration. If the color could vary between summoners, Sora saw no reason he could not make a few adjustments of his own.
Those adjustments had required some trial and error, particularly with the mixture Willow had described, but the creature standing before him proved that the changes had not prevented the spell from working.
Sora glanced from the abomination to the open book again. Constructing the body had been the first major step, and the instructions had already explained several advantages of the creatures. Abominations were not meant to function like ordinary living beings. Their bodies could be damaged or torn apart without the same consequences a person would suffer. If enough of their material remained, they could pull themselves back together, reform damaged limbs, or rebuild themselves after collapsing entirely. That made them useful for dangerous labor, exploration, fighting, and other tasks where sending a living person would carry considerably greater risk.
He turned a page carefully.
Making one stand upright, however, was not the same as making one useful.
The next section dealt with basic sentience. An abomination needed enough awareness to recognize its summoner, understand commands, distinguish those commands from unrelated sounds, and carry out instructions without constant direct control. Too little awareness would leave it little more than an unmoving mass waiting for magic to push it into action. Too much, according to the book, introduced unnecessary complications. The goal was not to create an independent mind, but a controlled degree of recognition and obedience sufficient for the creature to function on its own while remaining unquestionably loyal to the witch who had created it.
Sora studied the paragraph more closely, his thumb holding the edge of the page against the damp breeze. The red abomination remained several yards away beneath the darkened sky, its glowing eyes fixed forward without focus. It did not shift its weight, turn its head, or respond to the movement of the trees around it.
For now, it was simply standing there, motionless.
[Play The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts]
Meanwhile, in the living room, Luz held her recording phone so close to King's face that the image on the screen consisted almost entirely of one enormous golden eye.
"And here we have the most fearsome creature in the world," Luz narrated solemnly from behind the phone, "the King of Demons."
She slowly drew the camera back.
King was sitting on the floor with a sock caught over his snout.
It was a particularly harmless-looking sock, decorated with little yellow ducks, but King fought it as though it had issued a personal challenge to his sovereignty. His paws clawed at the fabric while his head twisted from side to side, and Luz followed the struggle with her phone.
"Facing his natural enemy," she continued, "the ducky sock."
King finally tore it free. That was apparently not enough. He ripped the sock into several pieces, threw the scraps onto the floor, stamped on them, and then punched one of the remnants for good measure.
"Where are you now, ducky sock?!"
Once King appeared satisfied that his enemy had been thoroughly defeated, Luz lowered her phone. "So, why'd you call me here again?"
"Oh, yeah," King said as he climbed onto the treasure chest with a large object covered by a drape.
[Pause The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (0:15)]
"Human Luz, you've been so obsessed with witchcraft that you haven't learned anything about my kind. Prepare yourself for..."
[Play The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (0:16)]
King pulled the drape away with a flourish.
Behind it stood a corkboard covered in photographs and illustrations of demons in every imaginable shape. Some had horns, others had claws or too many eyes, and several looked as though Luz would have had difficulty deciding whether to fear them or immediately ask if she could pet them. King put on a peculiar hat, reached up, and gave the cord attached to its top a practiced spin.
"Demons 101. Demons like me are grim tricksters of the twilight, creatures of sulfur and bone."
Luz zoomed her recording toward King's feet. "And cute little paws."
King looked down at them, then back at her. His shoulders dropped with a slightly annoyed sigh. "And cute little paws. True."
"We live only to create chaos and misery. Our only weaknesses are purified water and passive-aggressive comments. Sometimes."
"Oh, you guys are sensitive," Luz cooed.
"Even demons have inner demons," King said, looking to his left with frowning, squinted eyes.
King turned toward the board and tore away one of the photographs, revealing another image hidden behind it. The creature in the picture was hunched and snarling, with spikes on its shell, enough teeth and menace to justify the dramatic introduction King was clearly preparing.
"The most powerful demon of all is the Snaggleback. He is a—"
"Bad boy!" Luz interrupted.
[Pause The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (0:48)]
King stopped.
Luz had already begun decorating the recording. Colored filters washed over the creature in rapid succession, followed by stickers appearing around its face while her thumb tapped enthusiastically across the screen. Sora glanced over at what she was doing, amused, while King stared at her with increasing offense.
"Luz, pay attention. This information could save your life someday."
"No, no. I am so paying attention." Luz nodded repeatedly without taking her eyes off her phone. "This is my paying attention face. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm."
Suddenly, a flash of lightning filled the windows, followed by the sound of thunder.
"Uh-oh. Looks like it's gonna rain," King said in simple acknowledgment.
Luz's entire face brightened with a gasp. "I love the rain."
"Hey, wait," King called out, reaching out with his right hand.
Sora closed his eyes briefly and released the magic holding the creature together. The abomination lost its shape at once. Its shoulders sagged, its arms folded inward, and the entire body collapsed into a thick red mass before sinking away until nothing remained on the ground. Sora closed the book and tucked it under his arm just as the front door opened behind him.
Luz stepped outside and found him finishing up. She glanced toward the empty patch where the abomination had been before looking at the book beneath his arm. "How was it going with the abomination?"
"Pretty good." Sora turned toward her and rested the book against his side. "I'm trying to figure out some basic commands for it. But I heard the thunder, so I'll try again later."
Another distant rumble moved through the clouds. Luz paid it little concern. The damp wind reaching the clearing had already put a pleased smile on her face, and she walked farther from the doorway with her head tilted slightly upward.
"I always love feeling the first few drops in my hair."
Near the path, a small flower grew from the earth between patches of reddish grass. Luz noticed it and crouched beside it, balancing comfortably on the balls of her feet as she regarded its little petals.
"I bet you do too, little buddy."
Sora followed at an easier pace, glancing toward the sky. "It's nice. But I prefer sunny days."
Suddenly, a single drop fell from the clouds and struck the flower directly.
[Play The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (0:59)]
The reaction was immediate. The petals shriveled inward, the stem blackened, and the entire plant collapsed into a smoking, withered remnant before Luz had time to move.
"What?"
Sora's eyes widened as well.
"Boiling rain!"
The teens turned to the path, seeing Eda running toward them as more rain began to fall, causing steam to appear upon contact.
"Everybody inside now!"
"Huh—?"
Eda caught Luz by the arm before she could remain exposed any longer. Her other hand seized Sora as well, and urgency overwhelmed any concern for grace. She hauled both teenagers toward the entrance while the first scattered drops began hissing against the ground behind them.
"Eda—!"
Sora's protest accomplished nothing as Eda dragged them through the doorway with enough force that all three entered the house as a confused tangle of limbs and momentum. Luz lost her footing first. Sora tried to keep his own, bumped into a small table, and went backward as several objects rattled loose. Something wooden struck the floor, another object rolled beneath a chair, and the collision ended in a loud succession of crashes and clattering furniture.
Eda remained standing.
Sora and Luz were less fortunate.
[End The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (1:09)]
"Phew!" Eda shut the door, relaxing. "That was close. But the important thing is you didn't get hurt."
The living room behind her no longer looked quite as fortunate. A small table had overturned, books and loose objects had scattered across the floor, and one cushion had landed several feet from where it belonged.
Luz lay sprawled over Sora in the middle of it.
"Yup," she answered weakly. "Not hurt."
Sora remained flat on his back beneath her, one hand against the floor as he recovered from the landing. "Eda, you didn't have to drag and toss us."
Then Luz looked down.
Sora looked up.
[Play Kairi - Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix OST Extended]
Neither of them spoke. Their faces were much closer than either had realized during the confusion, close enough that Luz could see the surprise still lingering in Sora's blue eyes and Sora could see hers widen in exactly the same way. Color began creeping across both their faces as awareness replaced the shock of the fall.
Eda watched them for a moment, then she deliberately cleared her throat.
Both teenagers froze.
Eda folded her arms, a playful smile spreading across her face. "Behave, you two. No funny business under my roof~."
Understanding struck them simultaneously.
Their faces went scarlet.
Both yelped as Luz scrambled upright so quickly that she nearly slipped again, while Sora pushed himself backward across the floor with equal urgency. Within seconds, they had put several feet between themselves, both sitting rigidly apart and looking anywhere except at each other.
Luz's words spilled out almost faster than she could form them. "I'm so sorry, Sora. I didn't see ya there."
Sora rubbed the back of his head, still thoroughly red. "Um, same here. Sorry."
Eda began laughing, making the sound fuel their embarrassment even more. Luz finally glared at her while Sora's flustered expression tightened into the same annoyed disbelief.
"Eda!" they shouted together.
[End Kairi - Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix OST Extended]
The boiling rain had settled into a steady fall by the time everyone gathered beneath the narrow shelter of the Owl House roof. Drops struck the ground beyond the overhang with little hisses and bursts of steam, turning the clearing into a shimmering field of dangerous water. Sora stood near the outer wall with his shoulder resting against the crooked siding, his hood already pulled up against the damp air. Luz sat on the porch beside King, one arm extended while he carefully pressed a small bandage over the burn the rain had left on her skin.
King inspected his work with satisfaction, then took another bandage and stuck it across the end of his own snout.
"Look, now we're boo-boo buddies."
Luz stared at him for half a second before the sight overwhelmed her. "Oh, my gosh, I love you so much."
She reached toward him at once, and King accepted the affection with the pleased dignity of someone who had clearly expected nothing less.
A few feet beyond the edge of the roof, Eda stood directly in the boiling rain.
None of the drops reached her. A soft yellow aura hovered above and around her, catching each one before it could touch her skin and sending tiny ripples of light across the spell. Her staff rested in one hand while the other remained lifted, fingers moving through the final stages of whatever protection she was preparing around the house.
Luz watched her from beneath the shelter. "A boiling rainstorm on the Boiling Isles. The weather here is so fun."
Eda glanced back at her without interrupting the spell. "Yeah, we don't have weather. We have plagues, gorenados, shale hail, painbows."
King immediately raised his head. "It's like a rainbow, but looking at it turns you inside out."
Both teens reached up and pulled their hoods tighter until most of their faces disappeared inside them.
Eda continued working as though this reaction were perfectly reasonable. "So, until the boiling rain stops, no one is allowed outside tonight."
King pulled an old book into his lap and opened it with great importance. "And if the rain doesn't get you, the Snaggleback will."
Luz peered reluctantly from inside her hood.
King turned the book around, revealing an illustration of the snarling creature he had tried to lecture her about earlier. "They wander the rain, feeding on boiled tourists."
Sora looked from the page to King, then out toward the steaming landscape. Between the deadly rainfall and King's suspiciously convenient monster story, he decided the first threat was already enough to worry about.
Eda planted her staff more firmly against the wet ground. The yellow light around her intensified as the spell gathered above the house. "Well, whatever the case, this force field spell should protect the house from boiling rains and made-up demons."
From the front of the house, Hooty stretched himself outward beneath the shelter, his eyes following the rain with increasing distress. "Hoot! Well, hurry it up with that force field! That rain is getting closer to my precious stucco!"
Eda gave him a tired glance. "Yeah, yeah, I got it."
[Play The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (1:29)]
The yellow light condensed into a bright sphere above the end of her staff. Eda lifted it, caught the glowing mass against the staff's tip, and then brought the end down hard against the ground.
Light spread outward immediately.
A round yellow barrier expanded from the house in a smooth wave, passing over the roof, porch, walls, and nearby ground until the entire structure sat inside a glowing dome. The boiling rain struck its surface and scattered harmlessly across it in shining streams. Once the field had fully formed, it contracted inward, reshaping itself until it followed the crooked outline of the Owl House more closely rather than wasting energy over empty ground.
Eda gave the barrier one last look, satisfied with the spell, then turned and began walking back toward the shelter.
Luz watched her approach with open admiration. "Wow! Someday I'd like to be as cool as Eda the Owl Lady. Magical, sassy, surprisingly foxy for her age."
Sora glanced toward Eda as well. He considered the description for a moment, found nothing particular to add, and let the thought pass with a shrug. "Eh."
Luz looked from the barrier to Eda, then tilted her head. "Hey, why do they call you the Owl Lady, anyway?"
"'Cause I'm so wise," Eda answered without hesitation.
[End The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (1:49)]
From the wall beside them, Hooty leaned out with his usual cheerful bluntness. "'Cause she coughs up rat bones."
Luz glanced toward Sora. "Why do you think, Sora?"
[Play Kingdom Hearts OST - Oopsy-Daisy]
Sora folded his arms and closed his eyes as though the question required serious consideration. After a few seconds, the corner of his mouth lifted. "Hmm... I don't know. Maybe because... Eda's a real hoot?"
Silence held for barely a moment before Luz broke into laughter, King following so quickly that he nearly folded over himself while Hooty joined them from the wall. Sora's grin widened at their reaction, but Eda remained unimpressed, watching him with a flat expression.
"Hilarious, Sora."
"I know."
Eda sighed. "You're lucky you're endearing."
[End Kingdom Hearts OST - Oopsy-Daisy]
She turned toward the door, privately conceding that he was lucky being endearing covered a great many offenses. By the time the others had caught their breath, King had recovered enough to offer his own explanation.
"I think it's 'cause she gets distracted by shiny objects."
"No, I don't," Eda said.
[Play The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (1:50)]
King produced a pen from beneath his hat and clicked the little diamond ornament at its end. The instant it began to glow, Eda stopped. Her eyes widened with open delight, following the tiny light as if nothing else on the porch mattered.
"It sparkles and shimmers. It shines and delights. I must have it for my nest..."
She lunged for the pen, but King whisked it behind his back, leaving Eda to miss him entirely and crash onto the floor with a groan.
[Pause The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (1:58)]
Luz leaned over her, less concerned with the fall than with the word she had just heard.
"You have a nest? I want a nest! Nest party!"
Sora shook his head with a faint smile and stepped forward with Luz, and together they helped Eda back to her feet. She accepted the assistance more heavily than usual and took a second to steady herself before rubbing at one shoulder.
"Ugh. That force field really took it out of me."
King looked her over with far too much satisfaction. "Uh-oh. Moving a little slow, age finally catching up to ya?"
Eda answered by reaching down and pulling his hat over his face before heading inside. King stumbled after her beneath the fabric, crying, "Aagh! Darkness!" until he managed to free himself, while Luz and Sora followed them into the house and the storm softened to a steady patter beyond the walls.
[Play The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (2:00)]
"This is perfect," Luz said as they entered the living room. "Since we'll be stuck in the house all night, Eda won't have any excuse not to teach me a spell."
King hurried alongside her. "But don't you wanna finish our lesson? I was gonna let you scratch a demon's tummy. Me!"
Luz hesitated just long enough to show she felt a little guilty. "Oh, uh, sorry, King. But... magic."
King's frustration became so visible that the little horn beneath his hat pushed through the fabric and deflated it around his head. Eda, meanwhile, had already moved toward the privacy screen near the living room. She stepped behind it, snapped her fingers, and a brief magical glow spilled around the edges before her staff dropped against the floor. When she emerged in loose pajamas, she crossed directly to the couch and sank into it with a long sigh.
The force-field spell had left a real heaviness in her movements, and she had barely settled beneath a blanket when Luz's shadow fell across her. Eda opened her eyes to find Luz standing over her with a hopeful smile.
"Oh, Eda, have I told you how rad your fang looks today?"
"Whatever it is, no."
"Uh, and your hair is like... girl."
"I'm not teaching you magic tonight. I'm sleepy." Eda pulled the blanket up around herself and curled deeper into the couch. "I'm a sleepy little owl."
Luz remained beside her. "Please, Eda, please. How am I supposed to earn my witch's staff if I don't know any spells?"
"No. Sleep."
Eda dragged the blanket completely over her head and turned away. The room quieted beneath the muffled storm until a small click broke through it. Another followed, and Eda's head slowly emerged from beneath the blanket.
"Sparkle thing."
She sat upright, still wrapped in the blanket, and found Luz standing several feet away with King's glowing pen in her hand. Luz clicked it again, making the diamond shine.
"Oh, this?"
Eda threw off the blanket and perched on the arm of the couch, immediately transfixed. "Ooh!"
Luz shifted the pen just as Eda reached for it. "Nope."
Eda missed, overbalanced, and slipped from the couch arm onto the floor while Luz kept the pen safely out of reach.
"Teach me one spell, and I'll give you your sparkle thing."
Eda pushed herself up onto one elbow and regarded her with reluctant admiration. "I respect your cunning, but I also hate you for it."
Lightning flashed beyond the windows, followed at once by a heavy clap of thunder.
Later, Eda stood in front of Luz with the weary posture of someone who had already decided she would rather be asleep. Luz sat facing her with complete attention, while Sora leaned against the nearby wall with his arms folded behind his head, watching the lesson from a comfortable distance. The boiling rain continued to patter against the force field outside, and the dim light from the storm left the living room dependent on lamps, candles, and whatever magic Eda was about to demonstrate.
"If you want a witch's staff like mine," Eda began, only to interrupt herself with a long yawn, "don't make me repeat myself."
Her eyes started to close before she caught herself with a sudden gasp and straightened again.
"Witches' staffs have power embedded into them."
Luz immediately held out both hands. "Gimme!"
Eda ignored the request. "But before one is earned, every witch needs to know how to cast spells on their own. Now..."
She tossed her staff aside and raised one hand instead. "Tonight, I will show you how to create... light."
Her finger moved through the air in a smooth circle. A yellow trail followed it, joining itself into a complete glowing ring before white sparks gathered at the center. They condensed quickly into a bright sphere, large enough to throw warm light across the nearby furniture, and the orb drifted downward until it hovered directly before Luz's face. She stared into it with wide eyes until the magic faded away.
A small gasp escaped her.
Sora had watched just as closely. The method was different from the magic he had practiced under Merlin's tutelage, but the familiarity of being shown a basic spell by an experienced wizard brought back memories of those lessons. He lowered his arms slightly and studied Eda's hand, interested less in the result than in whatever principle allowed the spell to form.
[Pause The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (3:08)]
King, meanwhile, had apparently reached the limits of his patience with magical education. He lifted a drawing of a monstrous demon whose mouth was crowded with enormous teeth. "Yawn! Who needs another boring spell lesson when you could be learning all the fun ways a demon could kill you? Look how teeth-y. Bite, bite."
Luz barely turned toward him. "Be quiet. I need to focus."
King's enthusiasm collapsed, and he lowered the picture with a hurt little frown while Eda continued.
[Play The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (3:10)]
"Now, humans think magic is made out of thin air, but that's stupid. Everything comes from something." She looked down at Luz. "Let me ask you, kid. Where do you think magic comes from?"
Luz hesitated. "Uh, from the heart?"
Sora's attention sharpened at the answer. With everything he understood about hearts and the power that could come from them, the idea hardly sounded unreasonable to him.
Eda nodded. "Actually, you're right."
Luz brightened instantly, a pleased blush rising into her cheeks, while Sora gave a small approving nod from the wall.
"No, really."
Eda reached into her hair and produced a diagram of internal organs. She unfolded it in front of Luz and pointed toward the illustrated heart, where a separate organ had been drawn beside it.
"It comes from a sac of magic bile attached to a witch's heart."
Luz recoiled slightly. "Oh, gross."
Sora's expression tightened as he looked over the anatomical drawing, and he gave a faint shrug that suggested he shared the sentiment.
Luz nevertheless leaned forward again. "Can I keep that?"
"No."
Eda folded the diagram and shoved it back into her hair before raising her hand once more. "Now, everything depends on the spell circle."
She drew another circle in the air, this one considerably larger than the first. Yellow magic followed the path of her finger until the ring closed around itself.
"The bigger the circle, the more powerful the spell."
The center erupted with light. The new sphere expanded far beyond the first, flooding the living room with a brilliant white glow before fading almost as quickly as it had appeared.
[Pause The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (3:41)]
Luz watched the last of it disappear, then looked down at her own hands. "But how can I, little ol' Luz, do spells if I don't have a magic bile... sac?"
Sora lowered his arms and crossed them over his chest instead, closing his eyes as he thought through the problem. If witches required a physical organ to produce their magic, then Luz's situation was very different from his own experiences with magic.
Eda rubbed at the side of her face. "You know, I'm not actually sure."
Luz stared at her. "What?"
Sora opened his eyes and looked directly at Eda.
"I know witches did magic differently in the past, but I never bothered to figure out how." Eda chuckled tiredly and ended with an inelegant little snort.
"Eda!"
[Play The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (3:43)]
"Don't worry. You'll figure it out. Now—"
Eda pushed herself upright and stretched until her back cracked loudly. Whatever energy the lesson had briefly restored seemed to leave her immediately afterward.
"I need to lie down."
Luz rose after her. "That's it? Wait! I need to see you do the circle thingy again. I'll record it on my phone this time."
Luz raised her phone again once Eda had reluctantly agreed to demonstrate the spell a second time. The living room remained dim beneath the storm, the boiling rain muttering against the force field beyond the walls while the pale rug in front of the couch had become the center of the lesson. Sora stayed nearby, watching from off to the side, while King occupied himself on the floor with several sheets of paper and his drawings.
Luz held the phone toward Eda with renewed enthusiasm. "Smile! You're on camera. One more spell won't kill you."
Eda answered with a tired groan and lifted one hand. "Fine. Now, you see, the..." Her finger traced a yellow circle through the air, though the line wandered noticeably compared with her earlier demonstrations. "spell circle is really key because-"
The unfinished ring flickered away when another yawn overtook her. Eda swayed, her eyelids drooping as whatever strength had kept her upright finally gave out.
"Ooh, boy."
[End The Owl House - The Intruder - Score Excerpts (4:11)]
She fell forward onto the rug with her hair spilling around her head and her arms landing loosely at her sides. King looked over from his drawings and regarded her motionless body with considerably less alarm than Luz did.
"Welp, looks like one more spell killed Eda."
Luz yelped, hurried over, and helped roll Eda enough to check her properly. Eda remained completely limp except for the steady rise and fall of her breathing, but Luz was already staring down at her in horror.
"Oh, my gosh. My obsession with spells knocked out Eda! I'm a monster!"
Sora came over and put his hand on Luz's shoulder before her panic could carry her any further. Eda looked exhausted rather than injured, and nothing about her breathing suggested anything worse. "Relax, I'm sure she just needs sleep."
King crawled closer, raised one paw, and smacked Eda lightly across the face.
"Bap!"
She did not move.
King studied her for another moment before doing it again. "Yep. She's out. Bap!" The second slap produced no greater response, and he laughed at his own investigation. "Just making sure."
Luz looked from him to Eda and then toward the front door. "We should get help, right?"
She hurried across the living room, but King grabbed onto her leg before she could get far, while Sora caught her shoulder from behind. With the storm still boiling outside, both of them stopped her before she could reach the entrance.
"Boiling rains, remember?!" Sora and King said together.
Hooty leaned in from the doorway with far less concern. "No, let her try. It'll be funny."
Sora gave him an unamused look and slammed the door shut before Luz could reconsider the idea. She turned back toward Eda, who remained sprawled across the rug amid King's papers and the furniture surrounding them.
"But what if Eda's dead?"
"Nonsense. Like I said, I'm sure she just needs sleep."
Eda shifted faintly without waking, her face still buried partly beneath her hair. "Shiny thing. Big nest." The words dissolved into snoring.
Sora gestured toward her. "See?"
King remained entirely unconcerned. "Also, remember when her head got cut off last week? That woman can survive anything."
Sora stared at him, his eyes widening as the meaning caught up with him. "EDA'S HEAD WAS CUT OFF?!"
King looked up at him as though he had mentioned an ordinary household mishap. "Oh yeah, you weren't there."
"I KNOW. I WAS FREAKED OUT WHEN I SAW IT HAPPEN." Luz said, meeting his widened eyes with her own.
"In any case, She's probably just tired from staying up all night chasing shrews and voles." King continued.
That explanation at least matched the sleeping witch in front of them. Luz's panic eased enough for her to consider the more immediate problem of where Eda had collapsed. "Well, we can't just leave her on the floor."
"I got it."
[Play Kingdom Hearts Ⅲ OST - The Final World]
Luz and King turned toward Sora. He had already crouched beside Eda and slipped one arm beneath her knees and the other behind her back. He stood with her effortlessly, carrying her securely against him while Eda remained asleep through the entire movement, her head resting loosely near his shoulder.
Another thunderclap rolled through the house as Sora carried her down the hall with Luz and King following behind. They entered Eda's bedroom, where her enormous nest filled much of the sleeping area in a disorderly mound of blankets, cushions, feathers, and whatever else she had collected for comfort. Sora stepped carefully to its edge and lowered Eda into the middle, settling her gently among the bedding. She shifted once, curled into the nest, and immediately resumed snoring.
"There we go."
[End Kingdom Hearts Ⅲ OST - The Final World (0:14]
Luz stood beside the nest and looked down at her mentor with lingering guilt. "Sorry for pushing you, Miss Eda. Please don't hurt me when you wake up."
King climbed close enough to inspect Eda's sleeping face again. "Should I bap her again?"
Luz rubbed the top of his skull and nudged him away from the nest. "Just let her rest, you little goober. Come on. Let's go downstairs."
King waited until Luz began moving toward the doorway before quietly raising his paw toward Eda's cheek anyway. He had barely begun the swing when Sora caught him around the middle and lifted him off the nest.
"Nope."
Sora carried King toward the door and back down the hall while King sagged in his arms, disappointed that his medical services had been rejected.
"Aww."