"Hunter, stop recording and help get my face out of this sock!" King yelled. Hunter chuckled.

The two of them were in Hunter's bedroom, and King had set up a board covered by a curtain.

"Okay, okay! I'll help." He said, setting aside his phone and pulling the sock off King's snout. He went back to recording right after, though.

"Ahem. So far, Hunter, you have only been acquainted with witchcraft. But now, allow me to tell you of my own kind. Prepare yourself for..." King ripped off the curtain, which had previously been obscuring a corkboard of photos of various demons. He put on a hat and spun the cord on top of it. "Demons 101! Demons like me are grim tricksters of the twilight, creatures of sulfur and bone."

Hunter zoomed in on some of the notes of the corkboard, interested in the information King was teaching.

"We live only to create chaos and misery. Our only weaknesses are purified water and passive-aggressive comments. Sometimes." King said.

"So, you guys are sensitive?" Hunter asked. King nodded.

"Even demons have inner demons." King said. He tore off one of the pictures to reveal a snarling demon. "The most powerful demon of all is the Snaggleback. He's a-"

Suddenly lightning flashed and, a few seconds later, the rolling thunder came. Hunter stopped recording, and the two of them looked out the closed window.

"Uh-oh. Looks like it's gonna rain." King said.

"What do you mean, uh-oh?" Hunter asked. "I like rain. It helps to make me feel calm."

He remembered running in the rain, terrified, looking back to see them about to be attacked, before the door closed-

"Um... sometimes." Hunter corrected, trying to shake away his thoughts.

"Well, you're not gonna like rain in the Boiling Isles - it's called the Boiling Isles for a reason." King explained.

"Huh. Are there are any other interesting weather phenomena in the isles?" Hunter asked, watching as the boiling rain hit a flower and it wilted.

"Interesting is a weird way to put it, but yup - we've got plagues, gorenados, shale hail, and painbows. They're like rainbows but looking at them turns you inside out." King explained. Hunter shivered.

"King! Hunter! Get down here!" Eda called. The two of them headed downstairs, to see Eda on the couch.

"Yeah?" Hunter asked.

"Before you ask, Eda, I already told Hunter about the boiling rain." King said.

"Oh, alright. Well, then it should come as no surprise that neither of you are allowed to go out tonight until the boiling rain stops." Eda said. "Now, lemme go cast a force field spell.

"And if the rain doesn't get you, the Snaggleback will." King, opening a book titled Demons 101. Eda cast the spell, forming a yellow dome-like barrier around the entire house, while King continued explaining. "They wander the rain, feeding on boiled tourists."

"Well, whatever the case, this force field should protect the house from boiling rains and made-up demons." Eda said, sitting back down on the couch.

King glowered at her at that last comment.

Eda yawned. "Ugh. That force field really took it out of me."

"Uh-oh. Moving a little slow. Age finally catching up to ya?" King asked, but yelled when Eda hooded his face with his hat. "Darkness!"

"Hm... maybe I could snag a video of Eda finally teaching me a spell - that way I can practice without her having to help me out every time." Hunter mumbled to himself. King heard, and frowned, taking off his hat.

"But don't you wanna finish our lesson? I was gonna let your scratch a demon's tummy - me!" King said.

"Yeah! I still want to finish our lesson." Hunter said. "I was just want to record this real quick, and then we can continue."

King seemed reluctant but sighed. "Fine. I can be patient."

Hunter gave King a little pat, before heading over to Eda.

"Hey, uh, Eda?" Hunter asked, as Eda was pulling a blanket over her and laid down across the couch.

"Yeah?" She asked, not opening her eyes.

"Um, could you teach me a spell? Or at least, just perform one while I'm recording?" Hunter asked. "Just so that, y'know, I could practice on my own later so I don't disturb you?"

"No, I'm not teaching you magic tonight. I'm sleepy." Eda turned to face the other side of the couch. "I'm a sleepy little owl."

"Please? It won't even take that long - probably just 10 seconds." Hunter asked. Eda groaned, getting up.

"Fine." She said, rubbing her eyes and standing up. Hunter immediately got out his phone and got ready to record.

"If you want a witch's staff like mine, don't make me repeat myself. Witches' staffs have power embedded into them. But before one is earned, every witch needs to know how to cast spells on their own. Now... tonight, I will show you how to create... light." Eda explained, yawning. "Now, humans think magic is made out of thin air, bu that's stupid. Everything comes from something. Let me ask you, kid. Where do you think magic comes from?"

"Uh..." Hunter looked down at himself, then looked back up. "The heart...?"

"Actually, you're right." Eda said. "It comes from a sac of magic bile attached to a witch's heart."

Hunter looked down at himself, disgusted, but looked back up to pay attention.

"Now, everything depends on the spell circle. The bigger the circle, the more powerful the spell." Eda said. She drew a shaky spell circle, yawning. "Now, you see the... spell circle is really key because..."

The circle disappeared as she yawned, and then she collapsed on the ground. Hunter yelped.

"Uh... King, can you help me get Eda to her bed? I finished recording." Hunter said, trying to lift Eda using her arms. King was reluctant, but after hearing the last sentence he quickly scampered over, trying to lift her feet.

Finally, after a few minutes of heaving, they finally got her in her... nest?

"I didn't mean to knock her out..." Hunter said with a frown, watching her snore.

"Eh, it's fine. You saw the opportunity and you took it. Besides, Eda was sleepy anyway." King said. "Now - let's continue our lesson!"

Hunter nodded, and the two left Eda to rest in her nest.

+.*.+

"And now, let me tell you about the most spine-chilling demon." King said, holding up a notepad with a drawing of a fish-like demon. "Smoochy-pie the Sweetie Baby! He's... well, he's a lot more threatening than his name implies."

Hunter nodded, making sure to continue recording everything on his phone. King beamed. It finally seemed like someone was taking him seriously.

Thunder crashed once more, and King yelped, running into Hunter's lap.

"Are you afraid of thunderstorms?" Hunter asked, pausing the recording to comfort him. King nodded, holding onto him. "It's alright. I was also afraid of thunderstorms when I was little."

King looked up at him.

"But my mom taught me a trick to help deal with the loud and scary noises." Hunter said. "Playing some nice music and getting cozy in a blanket can help calm you down. Here, you can pick any song from what I have downloaded on my phone."

He exited from the recordings and tapped 'Music'. There were a bunch of different songs to listen to. King took the phone from his hands, still sitting in Hunter's lap, and scrolled through the list of songs.

He eventually tapped on one of them called 'Lofi Beats To Study And Relax To'. Some calming, but still upbeat music played, and Hunter felt King's tension ease out.

However, he wasn't expecting King to suddenly hug him out of nowhere.

"Thanks." He said. Hunter smiled, returning the hug. "No problem."

+.*.+

After King's lesson was done, Hunter went back to the recording of Eda's spell. Multiple times he tried to draw a spell circle in mid-air, and got frustrated when nothing happened.

"Ugh! Why can't I do this basic spell?" Hunter yelled at himself, lying on the ground, face staring at the ceiling.

"Hey, cheer up. You haven't been around magic your entire life. Maybe it had effects on your body." King said, still playing the lofi beats, but feeling a lot better than before.

"But this is supposed to be an easy spell! It could even be the most basic one!" Hunter said, sitting up. "And if I can't even cast a single spell, then what kind of witch am I?"

King stood up. "Aw, come on. You've survived without magic for this long - and look at me! I can't do magic either!"

"Yeah, but that's different - you're a demon, not a witch." Hunter said. After a few moments of silence, he spoke again. "King, is there such a thing as powerless witches?"

"Uh... I'm not sure. I think there might be, but I haven't seen one on the Boiling Isles. You could ask Eda when she wakes up." King said. Hunter sighed, and just went back to drawing circles in the air with his finger squinting his eyes each time, as if that would increase the chances of the spell working.

After a few minutes of Hunter's unsuccessful attempts, King sighed and turned off the music. "Look, witches in the past used to cast spells differently. Maybe you can cast the spell that way." He said. "I have a theory. Everyday I notice Eda sneaking drinks of this special elixir. I think that's where she gets her powers. And I know where to get some."

Hunter stood up. "Really?" He asked, his magenta eyes lighting up. King nodded.

"Thank you so much." Hunter said, pulling King into a hug.

"Hey, you helped calm me down - I'm only returning the favor." King said. "I'll be back with the elixir."

+.*.+

After waiting for a few minutes, Hunter waited, sitting on the sleeping, until he saw King coming from down the hall, holding a bottle with with orange liquid inside.

"Got it!" He said, handing it to Hunter.

"Hopefully this doesn't taste bad..." Hunter said, opening it and holding it close to his mouth.

Unexpectedly, thunder came crashing, and Hunter yelped, accidentally dropped the potion on the ground.

Hunter stared at the shattered potion on the ground, silent. King sat down next to him on the sleeping bag.

"It's okay. Eda will get more." King said. "Besides, we don't need a light spell right now. We have a bunch of lamps."

Suddenly, all the lights in the house went out. Hunter sighed.

King groaned. "Hooty controls the house lights. He probably just fell asleep." He said.

Suddenly the two of them heard a crash.

"Hoot, hoot!" They heard Hooty yell in fear.

"Hooty!" Hunter said, before the two of them practically scrambled down the stairs to the living room.

"Hoot, oh, hoot!"

King and Hunter gasped. The front door was knocked off its hinges, left with a bunch of scratch marks. A shadowy beast stood there, and when it noticed Hunter and King, it growled and fled.

The two of them went over to Hooty.

"Hooty? Are you okay?" Hunter asked, poking him a few times.

They heard something howl, and they headed outside (but still within the barrier) just in time to see that beast jump in through the upper story window.

"Tonterías." Hunter muttered under his breath. He looked at down at King, and widened his eyes when he looked happy.

"Oh my gosh. The Snaggleback! It feeds during the rains. It must have stumbled across our house and seen us inside." King said. "This could be a lesson! This would be a great way for you to see a demon up close and personal."

Hunter looked between King and the unhinged, scratched front door. "I don't know, King. This monster took down Hooty, effectively destroying the electricity in this house, and Eda's asleep so she can't help us!" Hunter said. "If we try to find that demon, then we're going to die."

"Well, Eda's asleep, so she can't defend herself! We have to help her!" King said.

"Alright, fine. Let's at least get some supplies to defend ourselves with." Hunter said.

+.*.+

After they put on some protective gear - which included taping pillows to themselves - and got some weapons - a hockey stick - they approached the staircase, carefully heading upstairs, Hunter using the flashlight on his phone to light the way.

As they carefully walked through the hall, they stopped at Eda's bedroom when the door creaked open. Hunter and King exchanged nervous glances before heading inside - revealing an empty room with a shattered window.

Hunter ran inside, checking the nest, then looked back at King. "Eda's not here. And..." He held up a pillow with slash marks cut through them. "You're the demon expert. Can you help out?"

King nodded. "I'll get my demon book." He said, running off. When he returned with two books, though, he gasped.

"Hunter...?" He said, not seeing him anywhere in sight. He turned around to see a shadow pass down the hall. He followed after it.

"Give me back my friend, you craven beast!" King yelled, rounding the corner and seeing the shadow slip into a storage room upstairs. He noticed one of Hunter's shoes on the ground, though. He picked it up, and, holding it like a weapon, headed inside.

"There's nowhere for you to run!" He said, pushing clothes out of the way. "Snaggleback? Wow, you are a lot shorter in person."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I-I just needed a place to hide from the rains." It said.

"Then why did you break down our door and take Hunter? That's not cool, man. Bad Snaggleback!" King said.

"I-I didn't do any of that stuff. I snuck in through a window just now." It said.

"Huh? Well, then what-"

Suddenly they heard a scream and a crash. Hunter.

The shadowy beast's claw tore through the ceiling, grabbing the Snaggleback, and then spitting out its shell. King backed away from the hole, and heard banging on the door. The door opened to reveal the beast, snarling.

"S-Stay back! Hey, hey. I'm the king of demons, okay? And as such, I demand you to barf my friends back up." King said. But all that happened was the beast's screech, raising a claw.

King narrowly avoided the attack and ran for dear life through the halls, the beast crashing into the walls trying to chase him.

After rounding a second corner, a hand suddenly grabbed him and pulled him into a different room. King looked up to see that it was Hunter, who signaled to stay quiet. The beast passed by, allowing them to speak.

"Hunter? I heard your scream - are you okay?" King asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm glad you're okay, though." Hunter said, but he was hiding his arm. King pulled Hunter's hand, and it revealed three big scratch marks. Hunter winced, hissing in pain.

"Oh, gosh - that looks terrible. Is there anything in here to bandage it with?" King said, looking around the storage room. He found a random cloth and tore a piece of it, wrapping it around Hunter's wound and tying it.

"Thanks." Hunter said.

"Where did you go?" King asked.

"You went to go get your demon book, and I waited in that room, but the beast found me. I tried to defend myself with the hockey stick, but..." Hunter held out a broken hockey stick with his good arm. "So I tried to run away, but I tripped and lost my shoe. I continued running but I got in a dead end, and then the beast attacked me. I ran and hid in a room, and then heard you running, so I pulled you in."

Hunter looked at the shoe in King's hand. "Oh, you found it."

As he raised his foot to put on the shoe, a piece of paper fell. King picked it up.

"What's this? 'Keeps the curse at bay'." King gasped. "'An elixir a day keeps the curse at bay!'"

Hunter stared at him, confused.

"I was wrong the whole time. That's no snaggleback. That creature is..." King said, but a clawed hand burst through the door, and they both screamed.

The beast barges in through the door, looking very familiar.

"Eda...?" Hunter said, with wide eyes.

The Eda-beast snarled and walked closer, raising a claw to swipe at them. Hunter braces himself, but his phone slipped out of his pocket and let out a flash, taking a picture. The Eda-beast screamed, blinded by the flash. Hunter didn't waste a second, grabbing his phone and King, running out of the room.

They hid on a balcony, hiding behind stuff. The Eda-beast following them with a scream, sniffing and searching the room for them. Hunter had his hand on his mouth to stay as quiet as possible, and King held his head in his hands, squeezing his eyes shut. Hunter eyed a can and took it, throwing it on the other side of the room.

The Eda-beast growled and chased after the noise.

"What happened to her?" Hunter asked. King frowned.

"Don't you see? The elixir I gave you doesn't give Eda powers. It prevents her from turning into that thing. She's turned into a nightmare and its all my fault. I-I'm sorry, Hunter." King said.

"No, it's okay. It wasn't your fault. You were just trying to help me because I was having trouble with the spell." Hunter said. "And besides, right now we need your demon knowledge."

"Huh?"

"Eda's turned into some kind of demon, and we need to save her. So who knows more about demons than the best teacher in the world?" Hunter asked, putting a hand on King's shoulder. King nodded.

"Let's see." King said. He spotted some leaves on the floor and grabbed a pen, drawing on them. "She was bigger, covered in feathers, and had giant black eyes. Demons with black eyes are usually sensitive to light."

"So that's why she got blinded by my phone's flash!" Hunter said, getting his phone from his pocket. He slumped. "The flashlight function on my phone isn't working. It probably took a hit when I dropped it earlier."

"...Then what about that light spell?" King asked. Hunter sighed.

"I can't do the spell - probably much less under pressure. I won't be able to use a spell circle like Eda." He said, playing the video recording from earlier. However, the video glitched while the Eda in the video was drawing the spell circle - leaving a symbol.

"Huh...?" Hunter said, looking at it. He grabbed the pen from King and got a random leaf on the ground, drawing the symbol from the video. He tapped it, and suddenly the leaf folded in on itself, now a glowing sphere of light. Hunter cupped it in his hands. "I... I did a spell!" He said, staring at it in awe.

"I think I have a plan." King said. Hunter nodded.

+.*.+

"Hey Eda! Come over here!" King said, clicking on and off the pen. The Eda-beast screeched and lunged forward, to see Hunter had drawn that symbol, except much larger, on a wall.

"Sorry, Eda! But it's for your own good!" Hunter closed his eyes before using both hands to tap the glyph. A bright light shone from the glyph, blinding Eda.

+.*.+

Eda lay in her nest, a straw in her mouth, in witch form. She woke up, noticing there were still some feathers, before slurping up the rest of the elixir and watching as the feathers went away.

"W-What happened? Oh, I have the worst headache. And my mouth tastes like roadkill." Eda said. She gagged, before vomiting out the Snaggleback.

"I'm just gonna... lie here for a minute." The Snaggleback said.

Eda grabbed the potion she'd been slurping from. "Hmm? I was looking for that."

"Actually, we found an extra one in your closet." King said, walking over.

"King? King! You stole my elixir?! I ought to break every bone in your-" Eda started, but she heard a pained yelp from the corner of the room.

She turned to see Hunter, his arm wrapped in a cloth, stained red. She headed over quickly.

"Woah, hey, are you okay?" She asked. "Did I do this?"

"No, it's okay, I'm fine." Hunter said. "Well - yeah, you did do this, but you were in your beast form."

Eda looked to the floor. "Not again." She mumbled to herself. Hunter noticed that she looked worried, but he hadn't heard her mumble.

"Hey, it's okay - you couldn't control yourself when you were in your beast form. It's fine." Hunter said. He winced as his arm stung with pain.

"...Thanks." Eda said with a sigh. "Let's see if we can get you to the Healing Coven."

Eda turned to King with a glare. "And you. I got a long list of disgusting chores with your name on it. " She sighed. "But it's not entirely your fault. I haven't been completely honest with you guys. When I was younger, I was cursed. I don't know exactly how it happened, all I know is that if I don't take my elixir... Well, that's why people call me the Owl Lady. No one likes having a curse, but if you take the right steps, its manageable."

"So are you okay?" Hunter asked.

"There's nothing for you to worry about. It's all under control, and as long as no one steals my elixir - King - then I'm fine." Eda said. After a few moments, Hunter spoke.

"Well, on the bright side, look what I can do now!" Hunter said. He got out a pen and a small piece of paper, drawing the light glyph and then tapping it. It turned into a glowing ball of light, hovering in the air.

"Wow... you learned your first spell." Eda said with a smile. "Although I am curious - why not do the spell circle?"

"I tried. Many times. But it didn't work." Hunter said. Eda frowned.

"Usually it works after a few tries - if only a tiny flicker of light. Nothing happened at all when you tried?" Eda asked. Hunter shook his head. Eda looked at the floor, lost in thought.

"Eda?" She looked up. "Is there such a thing as a powerless witch?" Hunter asked.

"Not from what I've heard. But I'll look into it." Eda said. "For now, I suppose you'll have to make do with these glyphs."

Hunter nodded.

"Hey, hey! Is anyone there? Hello? Hoot? I'm on the floor. It's cold!"