Someone Else Is Pulling at the Strings

Chapter 2 It Isn't Over

Eda and King immediately glanced at each other, knowing that sound. Hooty.

The sound was approaching them and soon they saw Raine and the others flying in with abominations goop shooting at them. Playing their violin, Raine deflected most of the shots coming their way while Hooty dodged the rest of them. His body swung from side to side, making it harder for Raine to attack while flying. The house demon then looped around the staff to avoid a hit, resulting in him pulling Raine with him, flipping them upside down, and causing them to fall off the staff.

Before they could hit the vibrant floor, a bunch of big leaves softened their fall. Eda rushed over to them immediately, reaching out her hand to them, and helping them up.

"Hooty, this is the opposite of what I told you to do," she snapped at the demon reproachingly.

"Sheesh, I was just trying to protect your partner, hoot!" Hooty replied.

"They're not my-!" Eda let out defensively, her cheeks blushing. Raine, who was still holding her hand, looked up at her sadly.

"I'm not?" they wondered.

"W-well, we haven't..." She traced her eyes away from them. "You know. Talked about it."

"I thought the date we agreed on, the kiss, and the love confession were enough."

"Oh..."

"It's been 30 years and those two are still the same," Perry commented, "even after the breakup."

"Wait, they stopped dating?" Alador questioned, getting confused glances from the others.

The awkward moment was quickly broken by footsteps approaching. They all looked at the top of the stairs and Hunter's eyes widened. Puppet Darius and Eber arrived, their eyes glowing yellow. Before they could draw their spell circles Hunter teleported over to them.

"Darius! It's me!" Despite seeing that talking didn't work with his friends' parents, he couldn't help but at least try. Darius' dead eyes were locked on the boy, but his abomination body shot right past him, heading straight at Eda.

Raine reacted quickly, flinging a string on their violin with their finger, launching the Coven Head away.

King jumped off Eda's shoulder and yelled out, hitting both Darius and Eber with the sonic wave. This should bring them back in a few minutes.

Eber launched right at Eda and Raine, but before reaching them, Hunter teleported over and yanked him out of there while Willow restrained the beast keeper with vines.

As for Darius, Alador took that upon himself, messing with his transformed form. An unusual cocky smirk crossed Alador's face.

But the chaos was far from over. On top of the stairs was none other than Lilith, well, Belos.

"Found you, Evelyn."

"You know, you're a lot less intimidating when you can't even call me by the correct name," Eda mocked him, "what is it, Boo-los? Age getting to you?" She let out a snorty laugh. Almost everyone stared at her as if she was crazy to provoke him like that. Almost everyone except for Hooty who wouldn't tear his eyes from Lilith. "I'd think you'd know who you're after when you're literally in my sister's head."

"Oh, I have enjoyed my little trip through her mind and I have learned some interesting information," Belos said, his voice mixing with Lilith's. His eyes scanned everyone in front of him before stopping at King. "There is a Titan among you." All the alive eyes turned to the small demon. "His powers can help us stop the Collector together." Belos made his way towards the youngest Clawthorne. That ice-blue glare disguised as his aunt made his hair stand up. He only calmed down a bit when Eda stepped in front of him.

"Touch a single bone of his and I'll send you into five different realms with the fire glyph."

"Would you truly do that to your own sister?" Belos wondered, his goop covering Lilith's arms forming into a scythe. The arm started to tremble as if Lilith was trying to fight back. "You're much more reckless than I remember, Evelyn."

"Still the wrong name," Eda commented.

"The only time I've seen you so angry was when I...." The blue eyes shifted to Hunter. "Killed him!" The scythe shot right toward the boy. He was frozen at first, but once he flinched he dashed out of the way. Well, he didn't have to because he wouldn't be hit thanks to Darius cutting the slime off.

"Don't even think about touching that boy again," the abomination witch warned the man.

"Darius..." Hunter teared up just seeing Darius move on his own.

Taking advantage of Belos' focus on them, Eda nodded at Raine and Hooty. The bard whistled, sending Lilith's body flying, and as soon as Belos got up the house demon wrapped himself around Lilith.

"Lulu!"

"Let go of me you weird bird worm!" Belos snapped at him, but while saying those last words the human's voice vanished. Hooty shut his eyes, letting tears run down his face, sniffling. He then tightened his embrace and glared at Belos.

"I know you're still in there, Lulu!" Hooty called out, "you've gotta fight back! Don't let him control you again!" There was no visible sign of this working, but he was sure that his voice could reach his best friend.

Meanwhile, Eda turned to King with a grim yet determinate expression.

"King, go free the other puppets," she told him, "I'll take care of things here."

"Are you sure about this?" King worried.

"Hey, I managed to beat Lily a few times before. This won't be a problem," she reassured him. That confident smirk of hers didn't mask the clear dread she was feeling. She then glanced at the teens. "Bossy Boots, Goops, Willow, I entrust King to you. Leave. All of you."

"You wanna take on him alone?" Willow asked her concernedly.

"She won't be alone." Raine stepped in, receiving a shocked look from Eda. They gave her a soft smile before continuing: "I happen to have some unfinished business with Belos. And it seems that so does your house demon."

"Me too," Camila joined in, tapping the bat in her hand, "he'll pay for what he did to my children."

"Aw, I really wanted to see that..." Gus exclaimed disappointedly, "well, maybe next time."

"Let's get moving then!" Amity nodded as King climbed on her back. The kids and their fathers headed off. Hunter glanced at the group, exchanging worried frowns with Willow.

"I'm staying here," he decided. Willow opened her mouth to respond, but before she could...

"No." A gloved hand landed on Hunter's shoulder. "You're going with the Titan," the tall Coven Head ordered him, "I will deal with Belos."

"Why?" The blond jerked out of Darius' grip. "Is it because I had no magic? I have it now!"

"It's because I already lost your predecessor, I won't let Belos take you away as well," Darius let out through gritted teeth.

"But-" The teen was about to protest when Darius drew a spell circle in the air, grabbing the boy with abomination goop, and dragging him to the others.

"Alador, Eber, make sure he stays out of trouble."

"Never thought I'd be a babysitter for your kid," Alador commented as he took over the goop and freed the teen.

Hunter looked up at Darius and his eyes quickly darted at Camila right after.

"Please be careful. Both of you," he mumbled before he headed to with the group led by the small Titan, leaving Darius, Camila, Raine, Eda, and Hooty with what remained of the former Emperor and his new puppet.

————

Alright, so the hot people-I mean, the hags and Hooty are now facing off against Philith which means some angst for Hooty! Yay!

So yeah, Camila and Eda met (it'll definitely be better in the show), the kids got a bit more trauma and Odalia got what she deserved.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!