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When Raine woke up, they did not know where they were. It was dark, and everything was blurry.
"¡Nissi!" They whispered the name, anxious of alerting… anyone, or anything, that might be lurking nearby waiting for them to wake. "Nissi, necesito mis gafas, por favor!"
Nothing. No answer, not even the rustling of feathers or warmth against their skin indicating that their bird was nearby. In fact, they couldn't hear anyone. Their breathing started to quicken. What is this place? The thing they're on is soft. Open on one side, soft on the other. Couch? Thin blanket over them. Floor has some sort of carpet, but it's all one texture. So it can't be their living room, with the braided spiral rug. They stood carefully, scuffing each foot in an arc across the floor and swinging their arms wide to try and find their way. Almost immediately their foot hit something hard and wooden, the thunk echoing throughout the room. They bent to feel it. Coffee table. Completely bare; nothing to identify the place nor to use as a weapon.
A creak sounded to their left, long and slow. They turned their head to face the sound.
"Who are you? What do you want with me?"
"Raine?"
A high-pitched voice they couldn't place. "Yeah, and?" They growled. "Let me go, or I'm warning you…"
"What do you mean? You're not my prisoner tonight. Hoot!"
The realization hit them like a boulder. "H-Hooty?"
"The one and only!"
"Oh, thank Titan." They sank to their knees, gasping. This was the Owl House. They must have fallen asleep on the couch.
"Are you okay?"
Raine couldn't answer. Air was too precious. With the adrenaline rush fading, the dizziness was coming on hard. They tucked their head between their knees the way the healers had shown them, trying to keep from fainting.
"I-I should get Eda."
"No! Don't… want to wake her."
"Oh. Okay."
Hooty stopped talking, and Raine panicked harder. With no footfalls to listen for, the house demon was impossible to place. They'd always relied on his constant stream of noise and chatter, never expecting he was actually capable of silence.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
There he was, off to their right. He must have curved around them somehow. But which direction?
"I…" Their voice shook. Hooty had stopped talking again, they couldn't find him again, and the terror was rising again. Something inside them broke. They started to weep softly, tears falling into the carpet.
"Hooty, I can't—I can't see you. Where are you?"
"Oh! I'm right here."
They stretched a hand out in the direction of the sound, and Hooty slowly pressed his forehead in their outstretched palm.
"See! Just like I told you. Right here."
"Please don't go," They choked out.
In response, Hooty slithered along their arm, curling his body around their back. Raine leaned back into him. He was warm, they realized. Oddly comfortable.
"Tell me a story?" That would keep him talking.
"Oh! I know! How about the story of the time I ate a bug?"
Off their nod, he began… "So this one time, there was a bug… and I ate it. The end!"
Raine laughed. A real laugh. It felt good. "I like that story, Hooty. Tell me another, please?"
"Okay! There's the time…"
When Eda came downstairs for breakfast the next morning, she was greeted with a baffling sight. Raine, who'd dozed off on the couch, migrated to the floor. Hooty wrapped around them in a tangled mess all over the room. And both of them peacefully asleep.