Changeling Witch

(S2) Beast Vs. Beast

Hunter and Gwen quickly backed up as Owl Beast Eda stalked towards them, growling. It's fine, Hunter told himself. It's not permanent this time. She's not under threat of petrification. It's fine.

"Don't worry," Gwen said, summoning the tome. "According to this, we just have to... uh..." Her face dropped. "Buy the next volume?"

Hunter let out a string of Spanish swear words that he would normally never use around people Gwen's age, but given the circumstances, he felt like they were adequate.

"WEH!"

A familiar little figure burst through the bushes, looking absolutely terrified—which only doubled when he spotted Owl Beast Eda.

"King?" Hunter looked down at him. "What's wrong?"

"So, Lilith was feeling stressed," King said in a rush, jumping from foot to foot. "And the light glyph didn't really work, so—uh—uh—"

A roar sounded from overhead.

A creature that looked like Owl Beast Eda, but bigger, sleeker, and with black feathers instead of grey, landed in front of them, face contorted into a snarl.

"SHE TURNED INTO THAT THING!" King shrieked, grabbing onto Hunter's leg.

Gwen's face filled with horror. "Sweet Flea?"

Owl Beast Eda let out a shriek and bounded towards Owl—no, Raven Beast Lilith, who flew towards her in return. The larger beast snatched Owl Beast Eda and flew into the sky, both of them screaming at the top of their lungs.

"That—that was my little Sweet Flea," Gwen whispered. "That means she's also—"

"Cursed! Yes!" King yelled, jumping onto Hunter's shoulders as he climbed onto Eda's staff. "Were you not paying any attention to her?"

"We gotta help them," Hunter said. "You'll come?"

Gwen's eyes flicked from side to side. "This—this must be part of the process, right?"

Hunter took a deep breath. "You know what? You wanna be unhelpful, be unhelpful. We've got an actual problem to solve." He and King shot into the air.

After a few seconds of watching them go, Gwen hopped onto her own staff and took off towards Wortlop's cave.

"Wortlop—he's not a fake, is he?" she said under her breath as she sped through the forest. "After everything I did for him..."

She landed in front of the cave, noticing that the rock blocking the entrance was a little bit ajar. She peered in and gasped.

Wortlop—or, rather, the costume that was Wortlop—lay in pieces on a series of sticks. The bottom of the cave was littered in coins and jewels, and three little pig creatures were gathered around a little firebee campfire, while a fourth was rummaging through the piles of riches.

"So, whaddya wanna call this one?" one of the pig creatures asked, waving around a jar of mud.

Another shrugged, admiring the rings on his hand. "Eh, I dunno. Cleansing mud?"

"Yeah!" a third agreed. "From the Healing Bogs of the Hips or whatever! What do you think?"

The fourth turned around, splashing on a series of fake boils onto his eyes. "I think we're gonna be rich!"

Amidst their laughter, the collection of firebees grew, shooting up towards the ceiling. They all yelped and fell backward.

Gwendolyn stepped into the cave, spell circle in hand. The pig creatures instantly collected themselves into the Wortlop costume in a vain attempt to keep up the ruse.