The bell rang, signaling the second-best part of any school day after lunch.
"Okay kids, single file out the door."
Every first recess of the day, Mr. Strieln would lead the kids outside. Once there, they would skip down the hill to the honeysuckle, pluck a couple and snack on their nectar till they picked their fill. It was something they all looked forward to…
Especially one obnoxious kid, Sid; who'd just watch his classmates eat the flowers while he seethed and scowled, because he couldn't bear to share his sweet treats through out our recess hour….Never mind the fact he always stuffed his lunchbox to the brim with the flowers.
Frankly it was a miracle the bush always had honeysuckle with how much the greedy boy took; almost like…magic.
But Mr. Strielen could observe from the hilltop with out worry and hadn't had to lecture Sid on sharing and being grateful for what he had: Ever since Olivier had joined the classroom? Sid found his swiping obstructed by 'Weird Eyes' whenever Anne and Sasha would take Marcy away so that they could enjoy their treat together.
That of course led to the start of the trio's rouble with Margo, but that's for another time.
"There's more over there." The lad would always say with an angry stare, blocking Sid from taking any flowers from other kids.
Sid HATED Olivier Clawthrone; mocking him for being confused every chance he could, for what little it could do; Olivier saw Sid as a greedy brat; like the Blights his mother had mentioned.
OWLPHIBIA
"There's a man in the woods!" Sid had told Mr. Strielen one recess after suddenly rushing back up the hill.
That's how the rumors began. Of course, Sid had spotted him first and he quickly got his classmates immersed in his spiel about a serial killer whose gun barrel glint hinted at peril; a visit to the nurse, or worse, a hearse just beyond the dale.
And before you knew it? The children saw this supposed man everywhere.
"Look! Over there!"
"That man had Batman ears! We - we swear!"
"And crazy yellow eyes!"
"We saw something rusty! His shotgun? It must be!"
"I saw a lady's severed thigh!"
Mr. Struelin knew it was all absurd; he could see this coming from a mile away; Sid trying to scare his classmates away so that he could stuff his lunchbox with honeysuckles without contest; each day, the greedy boy would stray down way past the playground. After all, who else was brave enough to save his classmates from the killer's next plot?
The rest of the kids would stop back at the hilltop, certain that any closer they were bound to be found deep in the woods, left to rot. Mr. Struelin pleaded for his students to think and learn to be mature, but given how young they were and Sid feeding their fear, this was easier said than done.
Well, for most of the kids, at least.
"….No, there isn't." Olivier Clawthorne had said from the beginning, and he remained adamant.
Accompanied by Anne, Marcy and Sasha, the last of whom had been itching to fight 'the man' as her first 'proper supervillain' or find proof Sid was lying, Olivier would venture down, shush or ignore Sid and place a finger on the ground. He claimed this was a hunting trick his mother had taught him; one that required a clear mind and general quiet so you could roughly sense were certain types of animals were.
Unknown to all, he'd stuff his other hand into his jacket or hide it under his knee to draw a magic circle for an Oracle-Beast keeping fusion spell to briefly enchance his senses up to at least a few steps before the woods opened onto a freeway.
And every time he did this, the results were the same: A few squirrels, plenty of birds, sometimes a racoon or two and some litter; but no sign of a man in the woods.
"Well unless he has crazy survival…skill…."
Anne and Marcy would immediately catch Olivier as the dizzy spells took over, giving Sasha time to race back inside, returning with the boy's medicine to restore his stamina; she started carrying it with her on the fourth day.
"…Well, unless he has crazy survival or ninja skills?" Olivier would report. "There's no sign of anyone but us here."
"And how do you know your trick worked well enough?" Sid would retort; regrettably a fair point.
"Again, unless he's superfast?" Olivier would start, but by then either Marcy or Anne would've stuck a honeysuckle in his mouth; their own way of saying Sid wasn't worth it.
But their classmates remained terrified and Sid still took in ample amounts of honeysuckle.
OWLPHIBIA
When the buses drove the students all home on the Friday of the second week, the parents finally heard and everything just blew up.
Mr. Strelian received a wall of emails and calls full of shrieks, wails, and any other response. All from terrified families who'd heard word of the murderer and didn't like his apparent lack of action at all.
But he HAD tried to call the police; they made no effort to come by without a lockdown taking place or some actual threat. What was he supposed to do? Comb the whole forest himself? He had no training to do this, no equipment eh could use, lest he blow his savings and or salary,
And when he failed to act, parents decided that meant he didn't care
"The stories that worried you aren't true. Of course I would feel regret, had there been a real threat and I ignored it and some poor kid got kidnapped while the kids were napping!" He had pleaded, but the parents, or rather, Sid's mother, couldn't believe their children would formulate a fib
"An overactive imagination, maybe, but my kid could never lie! My little angel could never cook up such incredible creations!"
Olivier coughed something into his mouth, missing the angered looks on his mother's face: Memories of a certain classmate filling her head
The parents were displeased and then the PTA took action; demanding the teacher who had done nothing to be fired; Like THEY knew what was best for their kids! To make matters worse, the principal, a weak people pleaser, seemed to be all for it.
But before they dismissed Mr. Strilen from the classroom, someone stepped up.
"You want someone to comb the forest? Fine, I'll do it."
All eyes turned to Edalyn Clawthorne, who had a rare serious look on her face.
"I got three days off; I'll spent the whole 72 hours of em looking for any real sign of this guy." She promised. "If I come back unscathed and no sign of him? You all chill the heck out, reconsider your life choices and apologize to Mr. Strilen. I don't? Well, neither will he and Ollie's in good hands with the Boonchuys."
That line about 'neither will (the man)' was not said in a boastful tone: It was a promise; a promise that many parents now felt they should've been making.
Mr. Strilen was grateful that at least one parent stood by him, but he and others were worried for Eda.
"Miss Clawthorne, the school should be handling this!" Sid's mother retorted.
"Maybe, but any decent parent would actually do something about it." Eda retorted.
"You'd risk your son's future for this?"
"Why not?" Eda smirked. "You all seem to be okay throwing away the teachers for the word of some greedy bully of a brat."
A few parents, while offended, did have the sense to lower their heads in shame.
"Now, Eda…" Sid's mother began, ignoring or missing Eda's offense at her calling her by her name. "I and other applaud your bravery and willingness to aid this failure, but…
Eda got and glared the woman into silence.
"I was a so called failure who got wronged by people like you."
The woman's eyes widened and the room fell quiet.
"Unlike you? I've seen the kind of crap out there, and I'll be DAMNED if anything like that happens near my boy. But unlike the rest of you deadbeats? I'm not afraid to do something about it myself."
She then took her son's hand and stormed out of the room, shooting the teacher a grateful smile as she did so.
OLWPHIBIA
And so, here the Clawthorne clan was; camping out in the woods behind the school. Sasha and her father were house sitting and the Boonchuys had prepped them dinner for a few days.
"Mama, why did you really want to help?" Olivier asked as he finished off some homework.
"Honeysuckles a great ingredient for potions, kiddo." Eda remarked offhandedly as she stoked the fire. "On that note…KING! HOOTY!"
The little monster and house demon tensed, their mouths full of honeysuckle flowers.
"STOP STUFFING YOUR FACES WITH THE INGRIDENTS!"
"But they're soooo gooood….!" The endearingly irksome duo whined.
"Then at least gimme and Ollie some." Eda relented, leaving a hand outstretched. With a grumble, King and Hooty did as she asked.
The little boy shot his mother an inquisitive look, clearly not believing potion ingredients alone were why she was doing this.
"…Okay, I admit it! I like the guy!" Eda admitted. "And no! Not in a possible daddy sense! I like him because he's fun! He gives you snacks! And he appreciates your out of the box thinking."
'Titan, I pray Lily, Rain and or Kass never hear of this….' The Owl Lady groaned in her head as she downed a drink. 'Of all the days for Thai Go needing a power cleaning, the Wus at a family reunion and Sergei and Sasha going to a movie….!'
Olivier just smiled, happy his mother was helping his teacher and that he was out here with her...But still he looked unconvicned.
Eda sighed and took out a crystal ball, reading a spell.
"...No." She said.
"Why?" Olivier asked.
"Because what I saw when I did this? Is NOT something I want you, or anyone else to see."
That meant only one thing: Whatever would've happened without Eda stepping up was truly bad; something she'd not wish on even the Blights or the Emperor (if they cared).
Olivier suddenly felt worry and shame, racing to hug his mother. She welcomed the embrace as did King and Hooty...who used it to swipe more Honeysuckle.
"Don't worry, mama!" The littlest witch assured his mother. "Sasha's been teaching me how to fight!"
And he then performed several karate katas along with a few Muy Thai moves with all the ferocity of a little boy…which in his case? Was not a lot.
'More like trying to look cool…' Eda smirked, bemoaning she was missing a Muy Thai class for this crap. "You better get into your sleeping bag kiddo; school tomorrow."
"….Mama, I'm literally down the hill from them." Olivier retorted.
"No buts…!" Eda began, before she paused, stood up and glared in the opposite direction. Sweetie, get behind me."
Olivier obeyed his mother, King scurrying up into her hair and Hooty playing dead as the sound of tires rolling to a close and doors opening reached their ears.
The Owl lady readied to cast a spell…
"Wait a tic….Miss Clawthorne?"
Eda recognized that voice; it was one of the officers who'd picked her up from the Motel all that time ago.
"Culkin?! That you?"
The young man nodded and motioned for his partner to stand down.
"Someone called in about smoke coming from here; what's going on?"
"Well, apparently there's been some crazy guy in these woods and when the teach called and asked if someone could come down, it wasn't deemed 'important enough.'" Eda explained. "So, I decided to search and camp out to prove or disprove it. And before you ask! I literally could not find a babysitter for the kid for this day alone; any other? He'd be at a friends."
"…What day was the call made?" The officers asked her in gritted teeth; it turned out they had children who went to this school.
OWLPHIBIA
In the end, the LAPD soon had an opening for a more empathetic call receiver and Sid was confronted.
Righfully, many parents were angered; not just at how far this fib had grown but what they'd almost done.
"Do you know how difficult it would be for Mr. Strilen to get a job with a slandered rep with child neglect from the outset?" Mrs. Wu cried out in anger.
"Who would've been in control of your classes?!" Mr. Waybright snapped, making the Principal shrink into his chair.
"Now look here! Sid…." The brat's mother began, desperately clinging to whatever power she had but refusing to truly own up for what she'd almost done.
"Your child." Eda cut in. "A kid decides to fill our minds with lies and the next you see is people treating good folks like they've committed crimes."
She had seen ENOUGH of that in the Isles. If she could help it? She'd help folks like that where and when she could. Call her soft, but Eda would rather NOT see a decent teacher suffer for a brat.
OWLPHIBIA
In the end? Sid, after giving an apology to his teacher and writing letters to all his classmates (with his hatred for Olivier growing all the more), was grounded indefinitely and kept from outside recess for three months; three months that the kids put to good use enjoying the honeysuckle before winter kicked in.
Olivier's popularity went up thanks to him helping his mom; a few kids asked for him to teach them the hunting trick he'd used. Olivier thought little of the whole thing and after failing to make amends with Sid, decided to waste NO opportunity to remind the brat of all this.
Anne, Marcy and Sasha's hero worship of Eda, pride and eagerness to do good skyrocketed; they'd stood against a liar and like Olivier; their popularity grew.