Chapter 4

“You should probably tell Eda!”

Adora, who was swabbing her teeth as hard and as fast as she could with her toothbrush and spitting out some Boiling Isles style toothpaste into the sink, shook her head and set the toothbrush down. “No way,” she said, sighing. “I got the rent money, I told her her enemy Adagahst got arrested...” She frowned. “Who knew she had so many enemies?”

“Me! And most people,” King said, nodding as he perched on the sink. “But you need to tell her.”

“Tell her whaaaaaaaaaaat?” Hooty asked, his head sliding wormlike in through the window, rotating in a corkscrew manner as his tube-like body twisted into the room.

“Nothing!” Adora said. “I, uh, saw ... a ... the ... there was ... a...” She flailed around. “A cat! r ... ra! I saw ... a ... a cat ... dra ... rgon ... ragon ... cat-dragon.” She nodded. “It was big! And a cat! And King here, uh, thinks, we should tell her. About it!”

Hooty narrowed his eyes.

“Okay!” He said, then swung his head back out of the window.

King shook his head slowly. “Fine. I won’t tell her. But not because I like you. This is because I am going to enjoy watching your disastrous collapse.” He looked quite sure of that, lifting his little snoot. Adora petted his head without thinking and he let out a shocked ‘weh!’ and then fell off the counter, waggling his paws. “Hey! No petting!” He sighed. “Once you’re done with the toothhaste, I shall be upon my throne of power also known as your bedroll.”

He scampered off, while Adora blinked. “Tooth...” She took a second look at the tube she had used, seconds before she felt her teeth rattling and squirming in her mouth. She yelped as each tooth came free with a series of pops, cheering and laughing as they started to run around inside of the sink. She remained perfectly still – shocked to her very core – as the teeth smashed into one another – then started to hop back into her mouth, socketing back in with wet, squishing noises. Once they were done, her teeth did feel quite clean.

That did not stop an entire full body shudder running from Adora’s head to her toes as she grabbed the toothhaste tube and jammed it back into the drawer.

When she lifted her gaze...

... she looked back at herself.

This should not have been shocking, save for two things. Firstly, Adora was wearing her red jacket, and not a white shirt with a tie, which she was fiddling with. Secondly, she wasn’t fiddling with a tie. Thirdly, she was looking in at her own home bathroom – the mirror had become a window, a window into her own home. She blinked at her own reflection, while her reflection looked over her shoulder, at the sound of a voice.

“Are you quite ready, Adora?”

Mom! Adora thought, as the mirror Adora said.

“Just-” She coughed, her voice sounding a bit high and scratchy, like she had a frog in her throat. When she spoke again, she sounded exactly like how Adora sounded when she heard herself recorded – higher pitched than she expected. “-Just a second, uh, Momther. Mother. I mean! Mom!”

The door to the bathroom opened and Adora’s mother stepped in, shaking her head slowly. “Ready? Your tie is a mess. What will the interviewers think when you go to college – they’ll think you’re a complete slob. Here.” She took hold of the tie, tugging it open as Adora stood perfectly still – looking completely terrified. She flinched as Adora’s mom did the loop, then the tie, then cinched it tight. Adora’s mirror self grunted softly, while mom leaned in close.

“This messy tie ... is a learning experience, Adora. Here and now, I can cover for your mistakes. But I won’t always be here.” She touched her cheek. “You cannot be sloppy. You cannot make mistakes. You cannot fail me.” She frowned. “Are you going to cry like last time?”

“N-No,” Adora whispered.

“Good,” her mother’s voice was cold. “I had to go to a great deal of trouble to get a second chance for you. A great deal of effort. You understand that?”

“Y-Yes,” Adora said, nodding.

“Good,” her mother gave one of those tiny little half smiles of hers. She reached up, touching up just one last bit of hair – the little motion that should have felt comforting. Instead, it had always felt to Adora like one last reminder that she would never, ever, ever be perfect. Then mom turned to go. Adora, mirror Adora that is, put her hands to her face. She shuddered and closed her eyes, then turned and bent over the sink. Her voice hissed softly.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid...”

“Hey, kiddo!” Eda’s voice called up the stairs. Adora jerked her gaze from the mirror, then back to it – and saw only herself, looking white as a sheet. “You ready for dinner?”

Adora fumbled at the door. “Be right now!” She called out.

Then she headed down the stairs.

And in the quiet of the bathroom, with the light humming and bright, the shadow of a moon-shaped frown flashed onto the wall, crawling against the flat tile like a projection. Above it, a pair of purple eyes glowed with hateful light, then the whole thing faded.

Even had Adora been looking at the wall, even had she been in the room, she wouldn’t have seen it.

She’d have needed to look at the mirror for that.

Adora did see, when she came down the stairs, a wide arrangement of food set out for her. There were curled bits of ... green stuff, and writhing ... tentacles and some ... eyeballs and a bunch of cups with, uh, liquids of many alarming and frightening colors. The only thing about it all that didn’t make her stomach heave was the smells. That actually made her stomach growl eagerly, while Eda spread her arms above the food. “So!” she said. “I’ve never had a human actually visit the Demon Realm – but, well, you have to be able to eat something from here, right? We’ve got eggviled deggs, badcon, some sork! People like sork, right?”

“Whoa, we have enough snails to buy griffon eggs?” King asked, nosing his snoot at the huge tray at the back which had a nearly earthlike looking egg yoke done to perfection at the back.

“We also have some, uh...” Eda paused. “Well, okay, so, you know how everything around here likes to nibble on you? Well, that’s what hofu tries to cater too! And I just now realized why you might not be interested in that...” She picked up an alarmingly pink pile of goo. “Let me just toss this.”

Adora sat at the front of the table, biting her lip. “Well, I...”

She started thinking about how she should say she was heading home.

Save...

That mirror image. Had it been some of that magic she had been able to cast in that other form? She closed her mouth. Did she want to go back to that? To... that? She hesitated, for a long moment, her fingers drumming on the table. When she spoke, it was quiet, pensive. “Eda...” She looked up at her. “ ... what is Belos’ plan?” She bit her lip, while Eda blinked at her, then sat down, the hofu having been put back in the fridge in the kitchen. She sighed.

“I don’t know,” she said, simply. “But he’s been forcing all witches and demons that can cast magic into his Empire, then putting them into Covens. When you join a Coven, you can’t cast any other kind of magic. And something tells me that his plans for control go as far as you can imagine.” She shook her head, slowly. “It’s gotten worse since the Golden Guard showed up, too.”

Adora flinched.

“So, you’re saying this world ... needs a hero,” she said, her hands tightening.

“That’d be nice, but, uh, Adora, mystical heroes don’t just pop out of nowhere,” Eda said, chuckling. “People have to save themselves. Like me!” She grinned and planted her thumb on her chest.

Adora squared her shoulders. She stood up, then walked over to where she had tucked the sword away when she had gotten home. She picked it up, then turned back to Eda, holding it up on her palms. “I found this, that is, we found this when King and I went out. And ... Eda ... when I hold it aloft and say magic words, then I turn into something else.” She lifted her chin, then lifted the sword. “By the honor of Grayskull!”

... and nothing happened.

Eda blinked at her.

“Did you say ... Grayskull?” she asked, slowly. “As in House Grayskull?”

“You know them?” Adora asked, while King let out a surprised ‘weh!’

“I mean I heard about them in school,” Eda said, scratching at her ear with her finger. “It was ages ago and I wasn’t really paying attention – but they were supposed to be one of the oldest witching families, up there with the Clawthornes.” She snorted. “But unlike the Clawthornes, they’re all dead, like suckers.”

“Belos killed them,” Adora whispered.

“Oh,” Eda said, frowning. “Then I take back my gloating, it’s no fun if that jerk did it.”

Adora rubbed her chin, frowning intently. “But it worked in the basement.”

“What worked, exactly?” Eda asked. “What did you turn into?”

“Titan-Ra!” King said.

“You did not!” Eda exclaimed. “Titan-Ra is a myth! A legend! Totally baloney.” She flicked her hand – which fell off with a thump onto the floor. Adora, who had started to pace, didn’t even notice. Her hand brushed nervously along her blond hair as she frowned.

“But I did become something,” she said. “And if this place needs a hero, then I can be that hero! I can help stop Belos.”

“Whoa, kid, you just ran away from the human realm. You should slow down before you get in over your head,” Eda said. She stood up, then guided Adora back to her seat. “Start with food.”

Adora sighed. Eda had a good point. She regarded the meal laid out before her, then picked up a squirmy, wriggling tentacle from the sork, and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes widened as she chewed – then swallowed.

“That’s great!” she said, excitedly picking up another piece of dubious meat, popping it into her mouth and chewing happily.

King shook his head. “She likes your cooking. This is all the proof I need she came from an abusive home.”

Eda grinned, then offered Adora a fork.

Eda and Adora flew through the air on the back of Eda’s staff, Adora sitting a bit more comfortably now that she had flown herself. She watched as Bonesburrough whisked by beneath her, then they started to cruise down towards the large library in the heart of the town center, Eda hopping off her staff and then taking it in her hand and – with a wave of her palm and a shimmering of golden magic – banished it into somewhere else. Adora, who had crammed her sword into her backpack and was getting increasingly nervous at the way the bottom was distending, frowned. “I wish I could do that with my sword...”

“You can just carry a sword around, ya know,” Eda said, shrugging. “What are they gonna do, arrest you?”

“You there!”

Adora jerked and spun around in time to see a short, round headed demon with a rather pronounced nose being set upon by two of the conformatorium guards. They grabbed onto their arms, yanking them off their short, stubby feet, while the demon kicked their legs. “Un-hawnd mwe!”

“Weapons are not permitted in town!” one guard said, reaching behind the demon’s back, yanking out a massive looking curved knife.

“It’s fhore my pwotection!” the demon squeaked.

“That’s what we’re here for, pipsqueak,” the guard said, growling as his comrade shook the demon from side to side.

“Oh, right, I guess they can,” Eda said, twirling her finger with a smirk. A glowing circle of light was inscribed in the air – and a moment later, a flash of light popped up beneath the two guards, who yelped as their captive was replaced by a pile of hissing mini-Hooties, who started to writhe and squirm around in a hideous fashion. Crying out in horror, they dropped the pile, while Eda and Adora ducked into the library.

Entering into the library, Adora and Eda walked to the front desk, where a beaked nose demon stood, spectacles in hand, polishing them. “Yo, buddy,” Eda said. “We need everything you got on the history of witch families in Bonesburrough.”

“Ah, Edalynn. The Owl Lady...” The librarian set his glasses on his beak. “You do have several books on the overdue list-”

“C’mon, we just need five or six more,” Eda said.

The librarian looked torn between duty and fear. Adora smiled at him weakly.

“In this case, your flagrant criminality is irrelevant. All books pertinent to the witch families of Bonesburrough were confiscated by Principle Castaspella this morning,” the librarian said.

“What!?” Eda asked, while Adora whispered.

“Castaspella?” she asked, dazedly.

“That-” Eda scowled, then narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

“Apparently, someone ate the school’s copies and history still needs to be taught,” the librarian said.

Adora sighed. “Well, uh, we can go to the school then and-”

“No, we can’t,” Eda said, scowling. “Castaspella hates me.”

“Why!?” Adora asked.

“Uh,” Eda paused, then waggled her hand. “I may have accidentally done several hundred pranks. Also, we both tried to date the same person once.” She smirked. “I won that one. And I don’t think she ever forgave me for the time when her brother ... heh, so, uh, it’s really funny actually, see, I dared him that he couldn’t get to Beast Island and-” She hesitated, seeing Adora’s expression. “It was all a long time ago, but she just always held a grudge. And the island thing ended well, he got married, didn’t he?”

Adora sighed. “Well, I guess that’s that then. What do we do now?”

“What do we do now!?” Eda asked, laughing. “We do a scam, Adora!”

“Please stop planning more crimes in the library,” the librarian said, somewhat plaintively.

Adora stood perfectly still as Edalynn gestured to her with both hands. “And here, we have my cousin from out of town, Adora Clawthorne. Adora, this is Principle Castaspella.”

Principle Castaspella was a beautiful looking witch, with elegantly pointed ears, dark black hair, olive brown skin and a slender build. She was dressed in an official set of robes and she regarded Adora with skepticism, her lips pursed into thin little lines.

Adora felt that skepticism herself. Her ears had been en-pointed by a little cantrip, and it felt deeply strange.

“Is this her old school’s uniform?” Castaspella asked, gesturing to Adora’s red jacket.

“Uh, no?” Adora asked, while, at the same time, Eda slapped her back.

“Yeah, of course,” she said. “She went to Bileside, near Pit Harbor.”

“Yeah! I, uh, also, sometimes have a speech impe-deement where I say no instead of, uh, yes!” Adora stammered. “Wo-eerds! Are ... hard!”

“I see,” Castaspella said, pursing her lips. “Fortunately, we can take in a transfer student, assuming you have the official paperwork proving that she has been educated in everything she needs up to this point ... You do have this official paperwork?”