Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sometimes, things just happen. Sometimes, you meet a man who you can’t help but be hopelessly attracted to. Sometimes, you have a harmless little fling behind your husband’s back.

Sometimes, there are consequences.

Mrs. Blight hadn’t expected anything to come of her little tryst, except draining even more love from a loveless marriage if her husband found out. But, something did come of it, and now she and her husband had to deal with it.

The solution was simple, at least on paper. Mrs. Blight would suddenly “become ill” and have to stay home for nine months, this being the explanation for Mr. Blight attending all the formal upper-crust events by himself until his wife recovered. And then, once the baby was born?

They would abandon it in the Knee, leaving any old monster to “take care of” their little problem.

Fortunately, all went according to plan. A beautiful baby girl was born, a beautiful baby girl was left to die, and the Blights never found out or cared to find out what happened to her.

Even the most powerful witches on the Boiling Isles have to take time to practice their magic sometimes, Eda the Owl Lady very much included. Every year, she would take a few days for herself and head out to the Knee. King used to beg her to take him with her, but then on the one occasion she did, he was unbearably bored. He never asked her to take him to the Knee again.

And so, Eda was there, all by herself, burning down trees, freezing rocks, generally just using her surroundings as punching bags for spell practice. Just as she did every year.

She did have to take a break sometimes, of course. She wasn’t some spellcasting machine. So, she walked over to one of the trees that she hadn’t burned down, and sat down under it, closing her eyes so she could take a nap.

At least, that was the plan. But as soon as Eda took her seat, she heard a baby’s cry from behind her. Intrigued, she stood up and walked over behind the tree. She was greeted with the sight of a baby witch, a newborn by the looks of it. In the distance, she saw a couple of witches leaving, who she could only assume were the parents.

Eda was tempted to catch up to them and tell them what for, leaving a baby in the wilderness like that. But very quickly, she reconsidered it. Would being with them be good for this kid? When they’re the kind of witches willing to just leave a kid in the Knee, all by herself?

Eda decided at that moment that she would take the kid back with her when she returned. She wasn’t planning on raising the runt herself or anything, but she could find someone who was willing to act as a parent.

For the rest of her visit to the Knee, Eda kept from doing anything too dangerous, and made sure that the baby never strayed too far. She split her food and water and blended the food so it was fit for consumption by the baby.

Eda ended up cutting her trip short. Both for the safety of the baby, and because, practically speaking, she didn’t have as much food and water as she was really planning on.

When she got home, King was all too eager to dine on the newborn, and then both surprised and confused when Eda informed him of the plan to care for the kid, just until they found someone to adopt her permanently. That was it. Just a temporary thing.

Fortunately, nothing went according to plan.

“I don’t get it, King,” Eda groused over breakfast. “You would think after almost a year, we’d find someone who was willing to adopt a baby girl.”

King shrugged his shoulders. “Well, sometimes you just have bad luck. I mean, remember when we thought we found a literal treasure trove? Then all of it was fake? And also stolen? And the guy we were trying to sell it to was the guy who it was stolen from?”

Eda grumbled in agreement. But, bad luck… That wasn’t exactly what she’d call it. She’d gotten used to having the girl in her life, and she knew that it was the same for King and Hooty. Heck, King just about wouldn’t shut up about how he was pretty much her older brother, and Eda couldn’t help thinking of herself as the kid’s mother. She didn’t know if she would be ready to let her go when the time came.

More than that, she didn’t know if she wanted to be ready.

A few more months passed, and right after the girl’s first birthday an announcement was made: The Emperor’s Foster Home, a home for the orphaned and homeless kids of the Boiling Isles. Places in it were limited, and what's more, they were in high demand. But Eda entered the kid, on the off chance they’d finally find a good home for her.

So of course, out of over a hundred kids who applied to live in a home with only twenty spots open, Eda’s kid got one of them.

Eda and King left the Owl House to drop the kid off, but neither of them were particularly excited over it. There was a sort of unspoken unanimous agreement that none of them actually wanted to say goodbye to her. Hooty cried almost nonstop when the day came.

King was the first one to voice those feelings. “I’m really gonna miss her…” His eyes were aimed on the ground, and he suddenly became very interested in fiddling with his collar. 

“Yeah. Me too,” Eda agreed, holding the child tight. “But there’s no way I’m fit to be a mother. I might be the greatest witch in the Boiling Isles, but I’m not too proud to admit that there are a few things I know absolutely nothing about. And parenting is one of them.” As she said this, tried to convince herself of this, she couldn’t help but imagine that there was a possibility she could be an okay mother to the kid.

“Well, you don’t know that you’d be a bad mom!” King said, just about pleading with Eda to change her mind. “Maybe you’d be the best mom ever! And I’m no expert, but it looked to me like you were doing pretty well taking care of her.”

“Maybe…” Eda said wistfully, before shaking her head. “But it’s too late now. She’s already got a home waiting for her with the Emperor’s Foster Home.”

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes, before King spoke up again. “It’s like it was destiny, finding that kid in the Knee.”

Eda didn’t respond. She couldn’t respond, because she was starting to come around to what King was saying.

Soon enough, the foster home was in sight. Eda and King slowed down, as if to drag it out as long as they could.

Eda kept thinking over what King said, what she’d been thinking since they got the news. She never wanted to be a mother. Not until she found herself taking care of this kid for over a year. It was pretty quickly that she found herself genuinely loving the kid, genuinely caring for her. Was she going to just leave her behind forever now?

And was it really necessary?

Eda found herself stopping in place as she thought these things over. Soon, King noticed. “Eda? Are you alright?”

Eda took a couple more seconds to think, until a grin took over her face. “Alright, change of plans!”

The hope on King’s face could’ve been seen from a mile away. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“Yep,” Eda casually confirmed as she turned around. “From now on, this little runt is my daughter, a part of the family. I mean, I’m already the greatest witch on the Boiling Isles, how hard could it be to be the greatest mom on the Boiling Isles?”

King squealed with joy upon getting the confirmation. “So, are you gonna start thinking of a name for her?”

“No.” Eda said immediately. At King’s confusion, she clarified. “Because I’ve already got a name in mind.”

“Oh? What is it?”

Eda took a look down at the kid who she was holding in her arms. “Amity.”

“Amity Clawthorne…” King repeated to himself. “Just kinda rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. Yes it does,” Eda replied. She wouldn’t say it out loud, but she’d spent quite a bit of time thinking of possible names for the kid. She went through a few, but once she thought of Amity, she was sure that would be the right name.

Eda and King spent the rest of the walk home thinking of what they would do now that there was officially a new permanent resident of the Owl House. Where would her room be, how would she get an education, what kinds of human junk they would save for Amity… 

Sometimes, things just happen. Sometimes, you find a helpless kid in the coldest region of the Boiling Isles. Sometimes, you take her in and care for her until you can find someone to adopt her permanently.

Sometimes, you adopt her yourself and find yourself in the position of being her loving mother. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

Chapter Text

Over a decade had passed since Edalyn Clawthorne decided to (unofficially) adopt Amity. The kid had been raised to see Eda’s schemes and cons as her own way of life, and was always willing to participate if given the chance.

When it came to Amity’s wardrobe, Eda couldn’t afford anything too fancy for her little girl. But she did buy a nice amount of tunics and shirts that Amity looked just great in. And Amity was particularly fond of a red bandanna from the human world that hadn’t been sold in a few weeks, that she wore on her head whenever she could help it.

In fact, a lot of Amity’s belongings were acquired in that same way. Eda always held on to unsold human trash and let herself and King keep whatever they wanted. When Amity came into the picture, she of course got her share as well, including a whole book series  about witches. Or, well, the human perception of witches, at least.

As for Amity’s magic, Eda taught her to see magic the same way she did: rejecting the constrictive coven system that bound witches to one school of magic, mixing them all together to create something greater than the sum of their parts.

Yes, Amity Clawthorne’s life was going pretty great. But then, one day, something happened that would change said life forever… 

Of all the things Amity thought might happen as her mother was handing her a copy of the first Good Witch Azura book to replace the one that had been burnt during magic practice, a human girl running up behind her and snatching it out of her hands was not one of them. Or at the very least, it was near the very bottom of the list.

“‘Scuse me, sorry, that’s mine, thank you!” The human hurriedly said as she grasped the book.

Luckily, Amity had pretty good reflexes from all the times she and her mom had evaded the law over the years. She immediately grabbed the book before the human could run off and glared into her eyes. “I know for a fact that Owlbert only takes stuff from the trash. If you wanted to keep it, then maybe you shouldn’t have thrown it away!”

The human averted her eyes and stammered out a response. “Well, thing is, I didn’t really mean it! I just had to get my mom to think that I was throwing it away…”

After a few more seconds, the human girl won their little bout and took the book before hastily running off. But before she could make it to the portal, Eda walked up behind her and made the portal disappear. “You’re not going anywhere.” She spoke menacingly.

The human gasped, stashed away the book inside a bag of hers, and fled under the tent. “Should I get out the Mind Wiper?” Amity asked with a grin before reaching for a rusty old hammer that she and her mom kept handy in their booth.

Eda smiled and ruffled Amity’s hair affectionately. “Not this time, kiddo. I’ve got a few ideas in mind that she could come in handy for.”

Eda walked off, leaving Amity to watch the booth by herself. Before she knew it, her mother was back, holding the human in a single hand before throwing her into a seat.

The human started babbling about being eaten before Eda put a stop to it. “Eat you? Why would I eat… a potential customer?” Eda asked with a smile before listing some of the wares they had for sale. “Oh, oh, how about this black shadow box that reflects only sadness?”

The human just laughed that one off and then inserted some of their human candies into the box, causing it to display a moving picture (much like they watched on the crystal ball) of a human dancing in colorful attire, drawing the attention of quite a few people who were willing to pay big. 

Amity idly wondered to herself whether this might be one of those ideas her mother was talking about? Showing them other functionalities of all the human trash they’d collected would probably help them to make a profit, if nothing else. 

Soon, the law had caught up with them, and Eda took Amity and the human (who she now knew was named Luz Noceda) back to their home via Owlbert.

After Luz was given some explanation of where she was, and introduced to King, it became apparent that what Eda wanted was her help with the mission to get King’s favorite crown back.

As the family got ready to go out on the mission, Amity decided to talk with King about the human who was joining them. “I don’t know about this. I mean, we don’t even know her, and we’re bringing her with us to the Conformatorium? How do we know we can trust her?” Amity questioned as she packed the Mind Wiper into her bag.

King, who didn’t really have anything to pack anyway, set up his army of plushies to stand guard of the Owl House whilst they were gone. “Well, we don’t. But if she’s willing… I mean, you know how much I hate being cute. But we could always use a decoy to spare, right?”

Amity shrugged, cramming some emergency bribe money into her bag and filling it to the brim. “I guess. But I can’t shake the feeling that she’ll be more trouble than she’s worth.” She said noncommittally, tightening her bandanna.

When the Clawthorne family (featuring Luz) arrived at the Conformatorium, Eda laid out the plan: Eda and Amity would distract the warden while Luz and King sneak up to the top of the tower where King’s crown was being held.

While Eda and Amity got to searching for the warden they were planning to distract, Amity decided it was as good a time as any to bring up her concerns to her mother. “I mean, I know your plans usually work out… but I just don’t get it. Why do we even need her? We could get this done with only the three of us, I know it.”

“Well, we need all the help we can get. Why do this with three of us, when four of us will only make it easier?” Eda explained. “Plus, witches and demons can’t reach into the place where they’re keeping the crown. But a human just might be able to get us that crown… or she’ll disintegrate as soon as she touches the force field. It’s a 50/50 chance, really.”

By the time Amity and Eda found the warden, he was making himself busy torturing a small white creature. Seeing as he was already preoccupied, the duo decided to meet back up with Luz and King.

When they did, Luz was moping about how everyone was locked up. “It’s not fair that they’re all locked up in here.” She said.

Amity could only roll her eyes. “We know. But we’re not here to sulk about the prisoners. We’re here to get King’s crown back, and keep from becoming prisoners ourselves while we do it.”

“Yeah, but… there’s gotta be something we can do! Right?”

“Not our problem.” Amity said bluntly. She was already a bit suspicious of this human, but now she was just plain annoyed. It seemed clear to her that Luz was only interested in the idea of being a hero, going on magical adventures. To be frank, Amity was glad she’d be rid of her soon.

To make a short story even shorter, the mission ended up mostly a failure. King’s original crown was crushed by Warden Wrath, but Luz gave him a new crown from some human doll. Then, while they were escaping, Luz managed to free those prisoners. Huzzah.

Then came the rotten cherry on top: Eda had agreed to teach Luz magic. And while that was going on, Luz was to stay with the Clawthorne family at the Owl House.

Amity didn’t want to question her mother’s judgement, but… She wasn’t a fan of the whole arrangement, to say the least.

“I can’t be the only one who sees a problem here.” Amity grumbled to King. “We’ve known this human for, what, a day? And now she’s living with us?”

“She’s not so bad. She’s kinda nice! She even gave me this new crown.” King said as he pointed on top of his head.

“She probably just dug it out from some of our human trash.” Amity reasoned with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Even if she didn’t, I don’t see how that makes her good roommate material.”

“Well…” King started. “It doesn’t look like she’ll be here for that long. She said she wanted to do this instead of a ‘summer camp’, right? So if you really hate her that much, you can look forward to her leaving once the summer ends.” King stretched his limbs. “As for me, I’m just happy she’ll be here to do work for us until she’s gone. Or until we eat her. Whichever comes first.”

Amity could only grumble in response. And for the rest of the day, there was a grimace on her face whenever she saw Luz. Once the night came, she was oh so glad to get some peace, all alone in her bedroom without a sign of Luz in sight.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, WE’RE GONNA SHARE A BEDROOM?!”

This was going to be awful.

Chapter Text

Amity took a deep breath. It seemed to her that Luz was here to stay. Never mind that on her very first day as Eda’s apprentice, she fell for the most basic of witch scams and they all had to chase her down so she wouldn’t get herself killed.

And today, Luz was joining the Clawthorne family as they rummaged garbage from a trash slug.

Luz, of course, didn’t appreciate it. Couldn’t handle how gross it was. Amity just rolled her eyes. Yeah, it was absolutely disgusting, but it was worth it for the money. Sometimes, these little garbage corpses had hidden treasures in them that could turn a witch rich. Treasures like…

Amity’s eyes widened as she picked up a small statue of Emperor Belos, about as tall as her leg. “Mom?” She called, awe radiating from her voice.

“What is it?” Eda asked as she looked over at Amity. Taking a glance at the statue, she raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, that could sell for a good price…”

Amity turned to face her mom, with a smile reaching from ear to ear. “There were posters around town, about a lost statue of Emperor Belos this size. They said there would be a reward of 3000 snails for whoever found it!”

Getting the picture, Eda grinned and ruffled Amity’s hair. “Not bad, Amity. Tell you what, I’ll keep on looking here for garbage, while you take the statue over to the witch with the riches.”

“On it!” Amity said, running off to make her family some serious snails just by handing some guy a statue.

Amity approached the house where the posters said to go, though to call it a house would be seriously downplaying. In all honesty, it was a mansion, two stories tall, made of wood but with literal gold strewn about the exterior.

It was clear to Amity that even the 3000 snails promised would be a drop in the bucket to a witch that could live in a house like this.

Amity walked up to the door and knocked, joyously awaiting the money she would be making.

The door was quickly answered by a serpent with shining deep-green scales and bright blue eyes. “Hello?”

Amity smiled as politely as she could. “Hello, Mr. Greedy.” She greeted the man by the name on the posters.

The serpent simply laughed at her greeting. “Oh, no, darling, my name is Greeedee! Not Greedy.”

Amity bit back a remark about how there was no difference and played along. “Understood, Mr. Greeedee. I’m here because I found that Belos statue that you were missing.” She said, holding out the statue.

Greeedee gasped in delight and snatched the statue out of Amity’s hands with his tail. “Oh, little Belos, how I’ve missed you so! There was so much time put into you by the people I hired, I’d hate to have to wait for a replacement.”

“Thank you so very much, child.” Greeedee said with a smile. “Though, sorry to change the subject, but I can’t help feeling like I know you from somewhere…”

Amity shrugged. “Maybe you’ve seen my mom and I around?”

“Your mother… Yes, that’s it. You’re the daughter of the Owl Lady, aren’t you?”

Amity simply nodded her head, not liking very much at all where this was going. “Daughter of the Owl Lady…” Greeedee muttered to himself.

Just as she was about to ask about those 3000 snails, Greeedee raised the Belos statue high above his head and

As Amity groggily opened her eyes, the very first thing she noticed was a pain in her head.

And not too long after, the second thing she noticed was how she was in a cold, dark and dirty cell, her arms tied to the wall.

She saw Greeedee standing in the doorway to the cell. “What are you trying to do?” She asked, bitterly.

“I’m holding you hostage.” Greeedee said, as if it was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. “There’s no way that the daughter of the Owl Lady wouldn’t fetch a decent price.”

“You’re doing this for money? Don’t you have enough?” Amity asked.

Greeedee simply tilted his head in confusion. “...A nuff?” He repeated, seeming as though he was completely unfamiliar with the concept.

“Enough. You have enough money.” Amity slowly explained in raw disbelief.

“What in the world is ‘E-Nuff money?’ I can’t say I’m familiar with the concept.”

“You don’t say.” Amity said in a deadpan tone.

“Well, then. I’ll just leave you in here with your nuffs and E-Nuffs, at least until your mother comes with even more snails to add to my wallet.” Greeedee said as he slithered out the cell, ordering a guard to lock the door. “In its rightful place…” He muttered after the door was locked, very literally adding insult to injury.

Amity made an attempt to use a fire spell to melt the chains around her left wrist, but with only one finger used, all that came out was so small it was practically an ember.

Amity sighed to herself and kept casting the fire spell, partly to keep herself occupied and partly so her cell at least wouldn’t be freezing.

After a short moment, she noticed that having so many flames around, no matter how small, was starting to melt the chains. With this realization, Amity kept on making flames, and after a few minutes, the chains tethering her left hand to the wall had melted away.

After a moment relishing in the sensation of being able to move her hand again, Amity went to work freeing her right hand. 

After less than a minute (thanks to now being able to create much larger flames), Amity’s right hand was unchained and she was completely free to walk around and search for a way out.

Walking up to the door to the cell, Amity prepared yet another fire spell. But once cast, the door refused to budge. No matter how many flames, no matter how large, nothing could knock the door down, or affect it in any way other than small burn marks. 

Even ice spells, or plant spells, or any kind of spell that Amity knew. For whatever reason, no spell could break this door.

After using an ice spell to extinguish most of the fire and allowing herself a moment to rest back up, Amity started to brainstorm other ways to escape. 

Taking a look through the bars, she noticed the Belos statue that had started all the trouble, on display alongside four guard statues. “So that’s what’s ‘in its rightful place…’” Amity muttered to herself.

It was as if a lightbulb went off over her head as Amity came up with an idea. Moving her hand to cast through her bars, she aimed a spell at the statue. Soon, it had come to life, and stared at the girl who gave it that life.

“Hey, Itty-Bitty Belos.” Amity spoke quietly. “Unlock the door to this cell.” She ordered.

The statue nodded its head and jumped down onto the floor, then jumping up to reach the lock and open it.

Opening the newly-unlocked door, Amity patted the statue on its head. “Thanks.” 

Amity started walking down the hallway, with the Belos statue following behind her. Once she reached the stairs, she slowly climbed up, trying not to make too much noise.

Upon reaching the top, she looked around the corner in search of any guards. She spotted two coming her way, and fired an ice spell at the floor so they would fall.

And fall they did, their faces becoming very familiar with the icy surface that was once a floor.

While the guards were disoriented, Amity slid past and hid herself in the nearest closet. 

To their credit, the guards did realize that the icy floor meant Amity had escaped, and they stumbled over to the stairs to confirm their suspicions. Or rather, they tried to, and were then foiled when Amity cast another ice spell on the stairs.

Amity couldn’t help cringing at the crashing sounds she heard. She almost felt sorry for them… Almost, seeing as they’d meant to lock her back up in chains.

Exiting the closet, Amity continued to walk to the front door of the mansion. It didn’t take long for it to be in sight, but just before Amity opened the door, she remembered: She’d come here to get her hands on 3000 snails.

While she was sneaking around the mansion, why not get those snails? And, hey, if she was going to be taking the money instead of being given the money, why not get even more?

So, for now, Amity walked away from the door.

Right before climbing the stairs to the second story, Amity overheard Greeedee ordering one of his guards to take the ransom letter to the Owl House. 

Amity hid herself under the stairs, hearing and watching the guard walk down the stairs and out of the mansion.

Once the coast was clear, Amity snuck up the stairs. She quietly checked every room to see where Greeedee keeps his money, thinking to herself that as someone who keeps a cell in his basement for no apparent reason, he could keep his money anywhere.

Eventually, near the end of the hallway, she found it: An uncharacteristically-simple room where Greeedee kept all his money in… “Huh. Literal money bags.”

They were each bigger than any average person’s annual salary would probably be. And there were dozens of them… 

Amity took one of them into her hands. She couldn’t even begin to lift it up, but she could drag it behind her as she snuck back out of the house. Or at least, that was the plan.

Once Amity turned around, Greeedee stood there, a grin adorning his face. “You didn’t think you could steal from me that easily, did you?”

Amity let go of the bag, crossing her arms and cursing her temptation to get those 3000 snails. But as she stood there, something occurred to her: All those rooms she snuck through, every room she’d seen in the house except her cell… They were all made of wood. And many had very precious, beautiful and expensive-looking carpets or rugs on the floor. 

Just before Greeedee could call the guards, Amity used her magic to ignite a large flame she ‘held’ a few inches above her right hand.

Greeedee was stunned, his jaw dropping and his eyes widening. Now, having gotten the reaction she was hoping for, Amity issued an ultimatum:

“Either you let me go with this sack of snails, or I burn your whole mansion down.”

For a moment, Amity was worried that Greeedee would realize how he could easily pay to have it rebuilt, but she quickly remembered that her abductor had literally never heard of the concept of ‘enough.’

Greeedee gulped anxiously, sweating buckets, and agreed to her terms. “V-very well, then. You get to keep those snails.”

Amity grinned. “I knew we would be able to agree on something.”

Amity held the fire and dragged the sack with her down the stairs and all the way to the front door, Greeedee following close behind her and ordering any guards that they passed by to stand down.

But just as Amity was a few feet out of the mansion… 

“Get her!” Greeedee ordered the nearest guards, who charged at her, grasping her hands so she couldn’t fight back. Amity kicked and struggled, but it seemed as though she really wouldn’t be able to escape. 

That is, until her rescue came at the hands of a forgotten friend: Itty-Bitty Belos, who attacked the guard that held her, freeing her to get a few feet away from the guards and recreate the fire in her hands.

Amity held it in front of her hands as a warning to any guards who would try again to catch her… and then, glaring at Greeedee, she made good on her promise and threw the fire at the ceiling.

Greeedee quickly panicked. “Save everything! Get all my stuff before it burns up!” He ordered the guards, seemingly having given up on his initial plan to hold Amity hostage.

Amity responded to this by throwing even more flames, into every doorway, at every staircase, wherever she could.

As Greeedee beheld the destruction, his eyes widened, and he was at a loss for words.

After a moment, the snake was reduced to a blubbering tearful mess, collapsed on the floor with his guards all silently staring. And Amity just watched, her glare having transformed into a sinister grin.

She walked up to Greeedee and kneeled down, holding his head so he would make eye contact with her. “I just want to remind you that you tried to hold the daughter of the Owl Lady hostage.”

Amity put on the politest smile and tone of voice she could muster up. “Seems you made a mistake there, Mr. Greedy.”

It was at this moment that the aforementioned Owl Lady, Edalyn Clawthorne, swooped in on Owlbert, rage all over her face as she pointed Owlbert in front of her like a weapon. “If you thought that keeping my little girl prisoner would get you money, then you’ve got another… thing… coming?”

Eda’s anger petered out as she looked at the scene before her, turning to confusion, and then to pride. “Well, kiddo… This is a nice surprise.”

Amity ran up to her mom and hugged her. “I’m so glad to see you, mom!”

Eda patted Amity on the back. “And I’m glad to see you’re okay, Amity. Not that I don’t trust you, but I wouldn’t have expected you to do this well in this situation. I know I wouldn’t have at your age…”

Amity blushed. “Well… I had a great teacher. And besides, I wasn’t all alone.” She said, gesturing to Itty-Bitty Belos.

“I’d say it’s even more impressive. You, and a statue that you brought to life.” Eda said. “But anyway, it’s about time we got home.”

It was then that Greeedee’s money room fell from the mansion, spilling his dozens of money bags onto the ground. “...About time we got home, carrying as many snails as we can.”

And so the mother-daughter duo did, each of them dragging along four money bags on their way to the Owl House, with even Itty Bitty Belos carrying one.

“So, uh…” Amity started, grunting from the weight she was pulling along. “Could I keep Itty-Bitty Belos?”

“Don’t see why not.” Eda replied. “So long as you make sure he doesn’t cause us too much trouble. I’d say you need to feed him and clean up after him, but this is one pet I don’t think that really applies to.”

Soon, they’d arrived at the Owl House, leaving their nine bags of snails by the doorway. King walked outside to greet Eda and Amity, and was surprised by all the snails. “Wow! That’s… That’s a lot more than 3000 snails… The guy who lost the statue must’ve been really happy.”

Amity and Eda shared a look and then broke into laughter. “What?” King asked.

“Oh, I’ll tell you the whole story later.” Amity said. “But for now, I’ve got a new friend that I should introduce you to.” She gestured to the Belos statue.

King squealed with glee. “Another recruit for my demonic army!” He proclaimed, holding up Itty-Bitty Belos. Only for the statue to then shake its head and break free from King’s grasp. “Aw…”

It was a fun family moment. Amity, her mom, and King, all laughing and having a good time.

But then Luz came running up to Eda. She was all-but-crying into Eda’s robe, something about how Eda’s lesson worked, but her new friends were in danger.

Then, for whatever reason, Amity’s best friends Willow and Augustus came running up to Luz and hugged her. Amity could only assume that they were the ‘new friends.’

To anyone else, it would seem like everything was great. Eda was pretty glad about something. Willow had finally been switched to the plant magic track.

And Amity was happy about those things, but still. All she could really focus on at the moment was how Luz had completely stolen the spotlight.

One moment, she was the star of the show. The next, it was all about Luz.

“C’mon, Belos.” Amity said, walking into the house and up the stairs to her room, her new pet following behind her.

What she'd missed was how her mom was proudly telling Luz, Willow and Augustus about Amity’s accomplishment. “But I only came in at the end. I’m sure she’d be happy to tell us the whole story, right, Amity?”

Eda turned around and noticed that Amity had left, her smile leaving and being replaced with confusion. “...Amity?”

Chapter Text

So, the day wasn’t going so well.

First, Luz refused to pay attention to King’s incredibly interesting lesson on demons. Then, Luz’s endless pestering of Eda ended up knocking her unconscious. And the icing on the cake, all the lights at the Owl House just went out for no apparent reason.

“I blame the light spell!” Amity chimed in.

“But… Luz hasn’t even cast it yet,” King pointed out with a quizzical tilt of his head.

Amity rolled her eyes. “But she’s been playing the recording on her little human brick. And we have no clue what that would do.”

Luz sheepishly averted her eyes and rubbed the back of her own head. “Well, I guess that’s true…” she said.

“Whatever caused it, Hooty could probably fix it,” King said. 

At that moment precisely, Hooty screamed from the living room. The eyes of all parties present widened as they jumped from shock.

Amity, King and Luz all dashed over to the living room to see what was happening, and were shocked by the sight of Hooty, knocked down onto the floor.

Behind him, they spotted the silhouette of a beastly creature which was clearly the culprit behind the attack on Hooty. 

“Oh my gosh, it’s the Snaggleback!” King exclaimed after the beast fled.

“No…” Amity whispered, horror emanating from her voice. “It’s not.”

“How do you know?” Luz asked.

“I’ve seen that thing,” Amity said. “I’ve been having nightmares about it since I was little. I haven’t seen it up close, but I’ve seen enough to know that it isn’t the Snaggleback.”

“Well, what do you know about it?” Luz asked. “Maybe something in your dreams will help us out.”

Amity rolled her eyes. “They’re just dreams. Just because that monster was in them doesn’t mean I’m a real expert on it.”

“But it’s all we have,” King pointed out. “You’ve got to remember something that might be useful.”

Amity sighed. “I don’t know much. My nightmares were all scattered and I can barely make sense of them,” Amity said. “I think I remember it being sensitive to bright lights…”

“If only I could use that light spell…” Luz said sadly.

“Uh, hello? Actual witch here, right in front of you?” Amity said bitterly. “ I can cast that light spell if we need it.”

“Oh, uh, right. Sorry,” Luz said, suddenly somewhat sheepish.

Amity rolled her eyes and led the trio out of the living room, heading towards her mother’s nest. If nothing else, she thought, she and the others could protect her mom.

After a few minutes carefully and quietly walking through the house, Amity, King and Luz arrived at Eda’s room. They slowly opened the door (which, by the way, was much more creaky than would be ideal with a monster roaming the house) and crept inside.

But when Amity looked at Eda’s nest… it was empty. Edalyn Clawthorne was entirely gone without a trace, and Amity could only come to one conclusion: that the monster had eaten her mother.

Amity’s eye twitched as she turned around and faced Luz. “This is all your fault!” she yelled. “Mom could have dealt with that thing like it was nothing if you hadn’t knocked her out! And now she’s dead!”

Luz started to tear up. “I… I’m sorry…” she murmured. “I just wanted to—”

“You just wanted to learn magic,” Amity finished for Luz, deadpan. “You just wanted to be a real witch and go on magical adventures, because that’s all you want.”

“Well, forget it,” Amity said decisively. “I hope that monster eats you alive. Maybe if Mom hasn’t been digested yet, you can tell her yourself how sorry you are.”

Amity stormed out the door and into the hallway. 

Things were great, Amity thought to herself, before Luz showed up. Just her, her mom, King and Hooty, living as a family together. Making money off of junk that Owlbert retrieved from the human world. 

Lessons in magic taught to Amity by her mother, the greatest witch in the Boiling Isles. The whole family, crowding around the crystal ball to catch a performance, or pretending to be very interested when Amity read them her Good Witch Azura fanfic.

All of those were things that would never happen again. They were gone forever. Because Amity’s mom was gone forever, eaten alive in her sleep by some monster that was literally out of Amity’s nightmares.

And speak of the demon, it was at that very moment that Amity heard the growl of said monster, approaching her. Amity hastily got into the nearby bathroom and locked the door, trying to be as quiet as possible.

In the bathroom, trying to calm herself down, Amity thought back to what she’d done, abandoning Luz.

After a minute or so, Amity began to think to herself that maybe it wasn’t a good idea. For one thing, she was also abandoning King when she did that. If the monster got him because there wasn’t a witch present to try and fight it off, then she would have been responsible, just as Luz was responsible for Eda’s death.

Plus, Amity begrudgingly admitted to herself, maybe she didn’t really want Luz to die. It was something that she’d said in the heat of the moment, but as much as Amity hated Luz, she didn’t deserve death. Ideally, nobody would die to the monster roaming the Owl House. Nobody more, at least.

Besides. Eda saw something in Luz, something that motivated her to take the human in as an apprentice. She wouldn’t want Luz to die like she did.

It was then that Amity heard the monster sniffing to detect a scent. It started to scratch at the door in an attempt to break it down, and Amity prepared to cast a light spell, hoping she could disorient it enough for her to get past it and join back up with the others.

When the door finally fell down, Amity immediately cast the biggest light spell she could manage. But it wasn’t enough. Though the beast flinched, it powered through and kept approaching Amity.

Amity kept on casting light spell after light spell, up to and well past the point of exhaustion. Yet, no matter what, nothing could stop the creature that crept closer to her. 

Eventually, it reached a point where it hurt to have her eyes open, the room so filled with balls of light. But even if she couldn’t see, Amity could feel, she could feel the monster grabbing her by the back of her shirt with its mouth.

It hastily carried her off, and Amity couldn’t help fearing the worst. Was it going to take her somewhere before eating her? Was it going to feed her to its children? Why didn’t it swallow her alive right then and there?

The monster brought Amity to Eda’s room and laid her down in her mother’s nest. Amity, fearing for her life, looked up into the face of her captor and began to come to a realization. Faced with a closer look at it than she’d ever gotten, Amity was hit by the sudden revelation that the avian beast which had terrified her for almost all her life was…

“Mom?!” Amity exclaimed in shock. There was no doubt that the creature before her was some monstrous transformation of her mother.

Eda spat up a small pink demon in front of her daughter, and looked at Amity expectantly. Amity, meanwhile, looked down at the creature and tilted her head. “And you are…”

“I— uh— I’m the Snaggleback.” the demon stuttered out, understandably nervous.

Amity’s eyes widened and she simply stared at the Snaggleback for a few seconds. “…Wow, you’re a lot less impressive in person.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot… or, twice just tonight, at least.”

Eda nudged the small demon closer to Amity, who realized that Eda expected her to eat the Snaggleback. “Oh, uh, that’s fine,” Amity said with the politest tone and smile she could muster up to decline a still-living demon as a meal.

Eda frowned at this, then left… and returned almost immediately. Eda then spat up, right into the nest, a whole pile of dead bugs. Long dead, to the extent that they may not be edible even if Amity wanted to eat bugs.

Amity gagged, and held a hand to her mouth. “No thank you… I’m not hungry.” It would have been a lie, a few minutes ago.

Eda frowned yet again, and pushed the pile of bugs closer to Amity.

“No, I insist, I had a huge breakfast this morning.” This actually was a lie, Amity ate a very light breakfast that morning.

Eda’s ears perked up and her eyes widened, seeming to detect some noise far off that was of interest to her. She left the room for a third time, but not without giving Amity a look that practically screamed to stay here in the nest.

Now, all alone (save for the Snaggleback), Amity tried to calm herself down and process what she’d just learned. It felt like it came out of nowhere, but in hindsight, she wondered if she should have seen this coming.

All the times that Eda left her and King at the house when she went to pick up elixirs, and the way she would panic when she couldn’t find them. It should have been clear, Amity thought with her new knowledge, that the elixirs were very important. Much more important than just a simple power boost.

Then there was other stuff like the way that Eda was so entranced by shiny objects like the monster in Amity’s nightmares, or all the other owl-like traits Eda had, like how she even had that nest Amity was currently sitting in.

Amity sighed and laid back, staring at the ceiling and lost in thoughts. For as much as it answered a lot of questions, it also raised one very big question:

Why did Eda hide it?

“Can I leave now?” the Snaggleback asked. 

“Somehow, I feel like you’ll just find yourself in this same situation again,” Amity snarked.

After another moment of laying there in the nest, Amity heard Luz’s voice. “I’m sorry, Eda! It’s for your own good!” There was a blindingly bright light in the hall, and a screech from Eda.

After about a minute or so, Luz and King dragged the unconscious body of Eda into her room by the hindlegs. “Okay, so, we’re gonna need to find an orange elixir,” King said.

Luckily, things turned out alright once Eda had taken her potion. She was back to her normal self, and had explained what the deal was with her curse. But Amity had a question for her mother that had been bugging the teenage witch ever since she found out the monster was Eda. “Why did you keep it a secret?”

Eda sighed and looked her daughter in the eyes. “When I was younger, I kept it secret because I knew that people would either think I was disgusting, or worse, they would pity me. And I didn’t want that to be how people saw me. I was, and still am, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, and that’s what’s important. But when you came into the picture… when you told me about your nightmares… I had another reason. I didn’t want my own daughter to be scared of me. So, I guess I thought that if it was just some nightmare creature from when you were a kid, that would be better than letting you know the truth.”

Amity smiled and hugged her mother. “If it helps, the monster you is a lot less scary in person. Though, I am a little grossed out by what you tried to feed me.”

Eda chuckled at that. “I was wondering what this big pile of dead bugs was for…”

With that settled, the rest of the family left to let Eda take a well-deserved nap in her nest.

But a few minutes afterward, there was something that Amity just had to talk to Luz about.

“Luz, look…” Amity sighed, “I’m sorry. About what I said earlier. I don’t think I ever really meant any of it. I was just…”

Luz simply smiled, as if it was nothing. “I forgive you. I mean, if I thought one of my friends killed my mom, I’d get pretty heated, too.”

There was a part of Amity that wanted to correct Luz, to insist that they weren’t friends. But, she held back, in that moment. Just so as not to ruin her apology.

So, it turned out that Luz hadn’t killed Amity’s mother. In fact, Luz had saved her. Now, Amity still held to the idea that Luz was obnoxious. And Amity couldn’t imagine the two of them becoming friends. But maybe, just maybe… Luz was a little better than she’d given her credit for.

Only a little.