Chapter Text
Ez walked into the kitchen as Luz was trying to remind Mama who she was.
“Don’t even bother, Lu,” he said, amused, “she’s not much of a morning person, being a night-owl and all.”
“Then why are you so cheery at a Titan-forsaken time like this?” Amber wasn’t really much of a morning person either.
“Oh, I just wake up hours earlier than everyone else.”
“Is that healthy?” Lucelyn looked concerned, but Ez waved her off.
“Eh, don’t worry ‘bout it, Lucelyn.”
“Oh, uh, just Luz.”
“Okay, Luz. Don’t worry ‘bout me.”
“What do you even do that early,” King asked, coming down the stairs.
Ez shrugged. “Eh, y’know, stuff.”
Amber narrowed her eyes at him. “Yeah, what do you do?”
“What, you don’t know? You two have been glued at the hips since you were kids!” Ah, Mama’s awake now.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I know about everything he does!”
“Hold up,” Ez looked at Luz, “why are you wearing a bath-robe and a dirty traffic cone?”
“Uhh, no I’m not!” She quickly shed her odd accessories.
Ez raised an eyebrow. “Uh, huh.”
“Are you guys leaving today,” King asked, grabbing some bread to snack on.
Ez paused. “Uh, nah, I don’t think we’re doing anything today.”
“Good,” Mama said, “that means you can go with Luz to deliver Potions.”
Ez’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, you know what? I just remembered, I promised those Blight twins Am and I’d help ‘em with something, whelp, gotta go, byeee!”
“No, guys!” King tried to grab his oldest siblings. “Don’t leave me!”
Ez saluted at his brother as the two walked out the door.
“Sorry, byeee!”
“EZ! AM!”
“So, what are we gonna do,” Amber asked once they got out of Hooty's hearing distance.
“No, I uh, actually promised the Blight twins we’d help them with a prank they wanna do.”
“Oh, okay.”
~~~~
King grumbled under his breath. “Traitors.”
“Welp King, you gotta help Luz deliver the Potions.”
“Why does she even need help? She’s a teenager!”
“Because if you don’t go with her she will get eaten.”
“No, I won’t!”
Both King and Mama looked at her, faces deadpan.
“Yeah, okay, fine. I probably would. But why are we delivering Potions, anyways?”
“Well, on the weekends I sell Human Treasures at my stand, but during the week, I sell Potions. And King always helps me deliver them, sometimes- when they don’t run away, at least- I send him with Ez or Amber. But they just ran off. So uh, yeah.”
“Oh, okay!”
“Yeah, now you two better get going. And remember, don’t trust a man in sandals, always measure twice and cut once.”
“Uh, okay?”
King sighed. “Come on, Luz.”
“Uh, okay?”
————
Ez sighed as he and Amber snuck around the school, trying to find the Blight twins so they wouldn’t get in trouble. “Where are those two?”
“I dunno.”
“We’re over here.” The two heard a voice whisper.
They looked over and saw the green-haired twins.
The Clawthornes sighed in relief. “C’mon,” Ez said, “let’s get outta here.”
The four walked into town, just walking around and avoiding any and all adults. Other adults. Who are actually responsible.
“Kids, there you are!” All four of them turned around at the sound of the Owl Lady’s voice.
“Hey Mama, what’s happening,” Ez asked. “And where’s Luz?”
“That’s the problem,” Mama answered. “We don’t know.”
Amber groaned. “Great. How are we gonna find her?”
“You two wouldn’t happen to know any search-and-find spells?” Ez looked at the twins.
“Uh,” Em said, “we know Illusions.”
“And Potions.”
“A little bit of Healing.”
“I mean, I know some Beastkeeping, but not any searching spells.”
Ez nodded. “Hey wait, you two mix Magic?”
“A little,” Ed answered.
“Don’t tell Mom?”
“Ew,” Ez said, “why would we do that?”
Ed shrugged. “Well uh, we should probably get going. Bye!”
The two walked off, and Em called over her shoulder. “I hope you find your sister!”
Amber sighed. “So what are we gonna do?”
Ez groaned. “I should learn some searching spells. I’ll do that after we find her. Hey King, can you smell her?”
King put his hand up and waved it side-to-side. “Eh, kinda. Follow me.”
————
The four Clawthornes found their fifth in a clearing with a huge pit and a bridge going into the middle.
“There she is!” Amber pointed to her.
“Ah, nuts.” They heard her say.
“Eda, I have you now,” the Puppeteer shouted.
“That’s right,” she said as they landed. “You have me. Now release Luz.”
“Oh, she can leave. If she wants to. But I sense she wants a real fantasy.”
A mist surrounded Luz.
“No,” Ez said. “Luz, snap out of it!”
Suddenly Luz ran out of the mist and stabbed the “wizard” that the Puppeteer was controlling.
“I thought we had a connection, Nevareth,” she said as she stabbed some “kid” in the chest.
“Ah, my flawless pecs!” He poofed after he yelled.
“Nice one, Luz,” Ez said.
“Back off,” the Puppeteer said, “or the dog gets it!” He held up King as everyone looked at him.
“He’s not a dog!” Both Ez and Amber shouted as he said the same thing.
Everyone dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender.
“King, I'm sorry. I should have listened to you and never trusted that wizard. You were right. He isn't Mystical or Magical. He's just a big, slimy jerk,” Luz said.
She kicked her sword and it went flying into the Puppeteer’s head. He then drops King, who is caught by Amber.
“Well, that's the last time I take an outside referral,” Mama said as she ate him. “Oh, did any of you-”
“No, Mama, we’re fine.”
“I’m confused,” Luz said.
“Thinking of calling it quits,” Amber asked.
“It’s just… this place isn’t what I imagined.”
“Hmm.” Mama thought for a second. “Maybe not here. But come with me. I got something to show you.”
Ez and Amber got on their staves, as the other three got on Mama’s staff. Mama put a blindfold on Luz before she took off.
The three flew up high into the sky.
“Okay,” Mama said, “you can look.”
Luz took off her blindfold and gasped.
“The Bones of the Isles,” Mama said.
“Up close, the Isles can be slimy‐”
“And very stinky,” King interrupted his brother.
“And gross,” Amber grimaced.
“But if you look at it from a different perspective…” The family all looked out over the Isles.
“It’s beautiful,” Luz realized.
“Yeah,” King said as he leaned against Luz.
“E- uh, Mama, how did you know that wizard was lying?” Luz looked at Mama as she asked.
“Look, kid, everyone wants to believe they're ‘chosen’.”
“But if we all waited around for a prophecy to make us special,” Amber chuckled, “we'd die waiting.”
“And that's why you need to choose yourself,” Ez finished.
Luz smiled at them all. “Thanks, you guys. So ya think I’ll get a Magic staff of my own?”
Mama chuckled. “Not yet. You’ll have to wait, just like these two, but one day.”
The five Clawthornes just sat up there for a few more minutes, watching the sun set.