To Desire Blood Where It Flows Not, Part 3
To Desire Blood Where It Flows Not.
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Hunter
Hunter turned the old book over in his hands, just examining its age. He was glad they found it so quickly, and he even got a pseudo date with Willow. (Gus made sure to hang off to the side so as not to interrupt.) Amity had been very ginger with it when she stole it from the humans, which was good and all, but Hunter was more worried about the big chain. It was a blood seal. To whom? Well, Hunter had two ideas.
“Here's the thing,” Hunter started putting the book on the kitchen table. “Blood seal could belong to two people. Caleb, or the witch he fell in love with.”
“Do you think it could belong to Belos?” Gus asked.
“Probably not, Gus,” Hunter said.
“Belos never found Caleb's journal,” Vee chimed in. Hunter gave her a nod before grabbing a whittling knife from his pack.
“Hunter, what are you doing?” Willow asked, but before she could stop him, he nicked his thumb and squeezed a drop of blood into the lock. Nothing happened, and the book stayed still and normal.
“That’s not good,” Everyone said collectively, staring at the book. Hunter felt Willow wrap his thumb in a bandage as Amity scooped up the book and put it in her satchel. The situation wasn’t as bad as everyone thought it was.
“We have to go see Eda!” Hunter said.
“How come?” Willow asked
“She… she can help with this,” Hunter said. He’d sworn to himself not to tell anyone unless Eda or Lilith gave him permission, even though they both said they didn’t care.
“Come on then, let's go back to the Isles and ask Eda about this,” Amity sighed. Everyone murmured in agreement beside Vee, who said she’d be staying in the human realm as usual.
“Wait, I thought we were gonna be staying longer?” Song asked.
“None of us expected to find the book so fast,” Amity said, looking back to Hunter. “Did you know about this thing? Four years ago?”
“I didn’t know about it, but I also didn’t help very much. I never did bring up the Wittebanes during our stay here,” Hunter told Amity.
Amity nodded, looking at the door and then back at Hunter. “It’s okay. None of us were in a great head space back then. And-” She pointed to the book in her satchel, “this wouldn’t have been useful back then either.”
“Yea, for sure,” Hunter mumbled, squeezing Willow's hand. He wondered if things might’ve turned out differently if he weren’t so closed off back then. After packing up their things, they said walked back to the cabin behind the Noceda house. Hunter waved to Vee as she started going about chores in the house and followed Willow to the door. With a click, the star on the door shone, and the space kid’s voice rang out.
“Welcome to the Boiling Isles!”
As Hunter walked through the door, he looked back at Song. He understood something about her now, something he wanted to talk with her about later. That she was being told that she’s supposed to be someone else as well. Just like he was.
To Desire Blood Where It Flows Not.
____
Song
Song followed behind Amity as they stepped through the door into the Owl House. When they arrived, it was distinctly quiet, something that Song’s gut knew the Owl House should never be.
“Eda?” Amity called into the quiet house. Then there was rustling coming from the main room, along with a thud before someone knew peered around the corner. They had white-green hair and scars like tears streaming down their face.
“Hello, Amity! Kids,” they said, looking around, “And you must be Song.”
They walked up to Song and stuck out their arm. “I’m Raine Whispers. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Song shook their hand and then looked over them. They were missing an arm, like Eda, except while she was missing her right arm, Raine was missing their left arm.
“Where’s Ms. Eda?” Song asked.
“Oh, she’s in the main room. We were just discussing some things,” they said with a smile, turning around and walking back into the main room. They made a little wave, so Song followed, where she found Eda picking up the pieces of a great stone tablet that had shattered.
“Agh, Titan dammit. Lily’s gonna kill me when she gets back!” Eda grumbled, sweeping pieces up into a small pile
“Eda, what's that?” Amity asked from behind Song. “Isn’t that a piece from The Collector’s storybook?”
Eda looked up at the group and sighed.
“Sure it is, but this is for later,” she said, standing up and walking over to Raine. “Now, why are you kids back so early? Don’t you have a book to find?”
“We found it,” Hunter told her.
“And?” Eda asked. Amity sighed and pulled the book from her satchel, handing it to Eda. The Owl Lady gave it a good once over before handing it to Raine.
“That seal’s gonna be an issue,” Eda said, pointing to the lock, “Blood magic is really hard to break.”
“It belonged to Caleb, and my blood didn’t work on it,” Hunter told her, hoping she’d get the point. Eda squinted at the book before giving Hunter a nod and walking over to it. She grabbed the hook she had for a hand and cut herself on it.
“Eda! What are you doing?” Raine asked, rushing over. Before they could stop her, Eda squeezed blood into the lock. It glowed faintly for a second before the sounds of gears clicking and whirring filled the room. With a pop, the lock came off, and the chain hit the table with a thud. Everyone stared, looking at the book and then back at Eda, who got annoyed.
“Didn’t Hunter tell ya?”
Everyone's gaze flipped to Hunter, though Song was still focused on the book.
“Hey, I’m not telling other people's secrets!” Hunter complained.
“That’s… that’s completely reasonable,” Amity sighed, walking over to Song. Song felt Amity slip her hands into her claws. She didn’t object when Amity pulled her to the group and opened Caleb's journal. The rest of the group murmured to each other as Amity read the journal.
“What's the secret?” Song asked. It probably wasn’t the best question she could’ve picked, but now she was curious.
“What did I just say, Song, I don’t tell other people secrets,” Hunter growled, but Eda put her bandaged hand on his shoulder.
“It’s mine, and it's not a secret. I don’t care if I’m related to Evalyn Clawthorn, the witch that married Caleb Wittebane,” Eda said with a hint of pride in her voice.
“You’re what??!?!?” Everyone yelled except Song and Raine.
“Yep. Didn’t take us very long to realize it once Hunter came to work at my dad's place. It’s like the trees recognized him or something,” She said, giving Hunter a slap on the back. Hunter grumbled something.
“Evalyn probably put a blood lock on there using her own blood, but that kind of magic can be fooled using people related to the original caster,” Eda shrugged.
“What's that?” Song asked, pointing at a diagram of a door that Amity was looking.
“It’s instructions to build a portal, but they’re way better than anything Phillip had,” Amity said, turning a page. “But…. THERE!”
“Right there!” She yelled before clearing her throat.
Even now, Titans Blood is an extremely rare resource. Eva and I have collected more than enough to build a functioning portal, but on her suggestion, we decided to hide the rest of it. We don’t know what Phillip wants with it, but I don’t think he should have such a powerful magic resource. He is becoming more erratic every day.
So, Eva and I are going to hide our remaining stock of Blood on Hawths Island down by The Toes. It will be protected by enchantments and such and should be well guarded.
…..
I have also asked Evalyn to take this journal and place it somewhere safe. I am confronting Phillip in a few days about his behavior. I don’t want him reading this and learning about what we’ve built.
“Hawths Island?” Song asked the group. A bunch of people shrugged and turned to look at Eda.
“Hey, just cause I’m the resident old person doesn’t mean I know everything,” she scoffed. “And I’ve never heard of a Hawths Island. Sounds fake.”
It was Raine who chimed in this time. “I don’t think you would have. It sunk into the ocean two centuries ago,” they said. Eda gave them a sarcastic smile.
“Hey, I read things!” they complained, but only Eda laughed.
Amity scoffed, tossing the book on the table. “There goes our only lead. An Island that sunk into the boiling sea, awesome,” She grumbled, collapsing into a chair.
“I don’t think so,” Hunter said, picking up the book. “He mentions placing protective enchantments around it. They may still be protecting it.”
There was a murmur of agreement from which Eda broke the silence.
“Lemme talk to Lily. See about grabbing a map of the old Isles,” She said, reaching into her hair and pulling out a raven. “Then we can make a plan.”
The group then broke, with Willow, Hunter, and Gus heading out to their respective homes in order to rest for a bit. Raine and Eda started talking on the Raven, urging Lilith to come back quickly. Amity decided to stay at the Owl House and Song… Song was at a loss. All these people were so wonderful… helping her, well, helping Luz. The thing was that… Song wasn’t sure she wanted to accept their help anymore.
Not out of some stupid sense of pride- no. Song just wasn’t sure that this was what she wanted. She found herself sitting up against a wall on the upper levels of the house, her eyes open but unseeing.
“Hey, Song?” Amity asked.
“Yea, Ames?” Song said responded dully. Song felt Amity slide down next to her before she felt the girl's head in her lap.
“Vee told me you didn’t sleep,” Amity said quietly.
“I can’t,” Song said simply. It was true; her intuition said so. Part of her was glad about that. She didn’t want to be in darkness.
“Can’t or won’t?” Amity asked.
“Physically, I am incapable of sleep,” Song said, patting Amity on the head. The Morena gave a little squeak before shooting out of Song’s lap.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to Ahem!” Amity coughed, looking beet red before she refocused. “How do you know?”
Song chuckled a little bit. Making Amity blush turned out to be quite fun. She sighed and pulled Bean out of her hair, giving her palisman a little scratch under the chin.
“I can’t sleep, Ames. I just know. There's not a moment where I have felt tired,” Song told her.
“You tried?”
“Yeah, back at Camilas. I just couldn’t.”
“Hmm, okay. That’s not right, but again none of this situation is right,” Amity said. Song cringed at that. She knew Amity meant well, but that implied that Song herself wasn’t right.
“Yea, none of this is right,” Song mumbled a bit hurt. They sat in silence for a while, Song just deep in thought. She didn’t even know why Amity was so invested in Luz’s return. She knew they must be amazing friends, but it just didn’t make sense to her.
“What did Luz mean to you, Amity?” Song whispered. It was a deathly silence, and Song turned her head slowly to look at Amity. She was crying, thick tears washing down her face, her eyes wavy pools of dim gold.
“Ames,” Song whispered, “Did I say… do….”Song's voice just teetered off into silence. She didn’t know what to say. She just brought Amity into a hug against her chest as her Morena kept crying.
“I’m sorry,” Song whispered.
“It’s… it's not your fault, Song,” Amity choked through tears. There was more silence as Amity whipped away tears and pulled away from Song.
“Titandamn, your fur is soft,” Amity chuckled. Song gave her a weak smirk before looking away again. She felt terrible for having made her friend cry.
“Luz was my girlfriend.”
Those words shook Song to her core. She started shivering as she looked at Amity.
“Oh,” Song murmured, unable to make eye contact. She realized that Amity was so invested in Luz’s return. Song didn’t know much about life, but she had a feeling about love. That Amity could never accept what Song wanted.
“You asked,” Amity said, wiping away another tear.
“Is that why I hurt you so much?” Song asked quietly. Amity laughed.
“I wouldn’t say that…” She chucked.
“Do I hurt you?” Song asked seriously this time. The two of them locked eyes with each other.
“It’s not something you can control,” Amity said with a guilty tone.
Song looked down again. She didn’t want to hurt her friend, but being around them caused them pain. Maybe it would be better if she left if she just got absorbed back into Luz. But she didn’t want to! Song wiped a tear from her eye.
“I want to live! Song told Amity. She heard Amity choke again, who scooted away from her.
“There's no good answer for this. Is there?” Song asked Amity. The Morena shook her head sadly.
To Desire Blood Where It Flows Not.
____
Eda
“Come on, kids! Lily’s gonna be here in a sec!” Eda called her household. She then went to the table where the star kid’s story was and swept the rest of it into a bad. She did mean to break the thing, but Lily and Raine already copied down the limericks, so it wouldn’t be an issue. There was then the pitter-patter of feet, so Eda looked to see Song and Amity walking down the stairs. The both of them had obviously been crying, which Eda would interrogate them about if Lilith didn’t burst inside the door right after that.
“Edalyn! I brought the maps!” She said excitedly, lugging a bag of at least twenty different scrolls.
“Where Camila?” Eda asked. It was Lilith that had asked Luz’s mom for help, so Eda was surprised that she wasn’t there.
“She’s with Alador, Darius, and King! They’re working on that idea I had for capturing the memories!” She said. Eda was about to respond, but Raine beat her to it.
“Lilith, why did you bring so many?” Raine asked. Amity and Song joined them but didn’t speak.
“Because We’re excavating an ancient island! I brought everything I could carry concerning the area!” She said, bringing out a few maps and unfolding them on the table. Eda forgot how enthusiastic Lily got when it came to history. It would’ve been nice to see her so peppy, except,
“Lily! We have a job to do!” Eda chided.
“Oh yes, well, let me see, ” Lilith pointed and circled several different spots near the toes of the isles. Some marked a small island to the east, while some didn’t have the island at all. Sometimes the maps that had said island placed it in different spots.
“Hawths island, yes?” Lilith asked. Eda gave her a quick nod. “According to our records, it supposedly sank during a spasm quake two centuries ago,” Lilith continued. She then pulled up a map that didn’t have the island, a drew a large red circle where it should be.
“I say it sank there, though it would be nearly impossible to get to considering-” She stated
“The boiling sea,” Everyone else finished. Eda’s mind was racing a mile a minute, trying to find out a way they could investigate underwater, but before she got far, Amity spoke up.
“Song can get us safely there,” She said. Eda was immediately discouraged when even Song herself looked surprised at that statement.
“Sure, kid,” Eda chucked, “How do you think?”
“I saw her stop the snowstorm at the top of the knee with the wave of her claws,” Amity said matter-a-factly. Everyone looked at Song, who just shrugged. Even Eda had to admit that was a pretty impressive feat of magic, but she’d never say that out loud.
“Boots, even if she was able to stop the snowstorm, how does that affect us getting through the boiling sea?” Eda asked.
“Ames, I’m kinda with Eda on this one. I don’t even know how I stopped that storm,” Song said.
Amity rolled her eyes, reaching up to give Song a boop on the nose. “You keep saying the magic’s like an instinct. Do what feels right when we get there!” Amity said. Eda felt that was sentiment was based too much on luck.
“Kid, look. Maybe whatever Song’s Titan magic is can be plan B, but I think Lily, Rainestorm, and I are gonna come up with a plan A,” Eda told her. Amity rolled her eyes again and folded her arms.
“Fine, let's make plan A then.”