Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue:

In the middle of the night in the state of Minnesota, a cloaked woman with a staff was digging around a junk yard that could be found next to the road. Beneath her hood the woman had an unusual appearance, with pale skin, large orange hair with some gray in it, golden eyes, and a single fang sticking out from underneath her upper lip. She picked up an old rusted toy lamp that had a blue plastic head.

"Hmm, this could sell well at the market," she said to herself as she placed it in the bag. She dug around some more until she found a computer monitor with an apple-shaped symbol. "This one though… junk." She threw it to the side and noticed another item. "What's this?" She picked up a discarded novel. "A book about vampires?" She flipped through a few pages and burst out laughing. "Haha! No way I'm selling this trash, every vampire and werewolf in the Boiling Isles is going to want to stake me if I show this garbage!" She kicked the book over to a pile for 'worthless' items. "Well, onto the next dump," the woman, whose name was Eda, said. "Hopefully it will have better stuff to sell in the Isles than t-"

"Hoot-hoot!" interrupted a small brown owl flying over her, calling for Eda who turned her head to look at him.

"What's the matter, Owlbert?" Eda asked her familiar. The small owl flew over her, trying to tell her something as Eda continued. "Have you found some human treasure? Lead me to it!" Owlbert gave her a deadpan expression before connecting to Eda's staff, transforming him into a wooden owl Palisman as Eda climbed onto the staff. "Lead the way to treasure, Owlbert!" she said as the owl staff flew off with her on it.

"Hey, this isn't treasure…" Eda said as she realized where Owlbert had led her. "This is just a metal chariot wreck!"

Indeed, it was a 'metal chariot' (or what we humans would call a car) that looked like it had skidded off the road and crashed into a tree after hitting something. There was no sign of what had struck the car, but there did appear to be someone inside the vehicle passed out.

"So what do you want me to do about this, Owlbert?" Eda asked her familiar. "If I try to help, the fuzz in this world will just find a reason to pin the blame on me. Plus the weather here in this place is freezing."

Owlbert ignored her as he came off her staff, instead flying to the driver's side of the car and tapping on the glass window. Eda sighed. "Fine, but if I get blamed for this, I am naming you as my accomplice." She went over to open the door, checking on the human in the car. "Hey, are you alright…"

The woman in the car wasn't alright at all. The brown-skinned woman with dark hair and dressed in the garb of a healthcare worker was bleeding from the side of her head. Glass shards from the broken window had gone straight into her body and there was blood on the seats.

Eda felt bad for the woman. Eda checked her for a pulse, but it was too late. This woman was gone. "There's… nothing I can do for her, Owlbert," she said, before her pointy ears picked up something. It was crying. The crying came from the backseat of the car, under a blanket with something underneath it moving. "What…?" Eda asked, curious. She went over to the backseat of the wrecked car and pulled off the blanket, revealing a miniature human baby with brown skin and hazel eyes. The baby girl was wearing a blue onesie and she was wailing, crying out for her mother. "Oh… hang on, kid. Let me get you out of here." Eda quickly unbuckled the seatbelt and grabbed the baby. "Shh, hush now, kid," she said as she held the baby in her arms and looked at her innocent brown eyes. "Alright, what am I going to do this one, Owlbert?" The owl chirped, giving Eda a suggestion. "No, I don't think we should leave her here to be raised by wolves. It's late, so we'll just have to take her back to our place and then find somewhere to drop her off back here in the morning." She noticed the bib around the baby's neck, which spelled L.u.z. "We gotta make sure that this… Luuuuuuz finds someone who can take care of her."

Eda pulled out a briefcase and a key with a yellow eye from her hair. She put the key into the lock of the briefcase, transforming the briefcase into a doorway that served as a portal between her world and the human world.

Eda looked at the baby named Luz, who giggled at the sight of the portal. Eda smiled briefly at the baby human, but quickly shook it off. "Now don't get any ideas, kid. I will find you a new home… but there's no way I'm keeping you."

Fourteen years had passed. Eda Clawthorne, her hair now completely gray, was watching her shows on the crystal ball from a place known as the Owl House that she called home in the demon realm of the Boiling Isles. "Man, this show was never the same after the 99th season," the witch known as the Owl Lady said as she watched the eye monster eat his wife for revealing that she was not his wife, but his conjoined half-sister. The crystal ball suddenly buzzed, which indicated an incoming call. "Dammit, I was just getting to the good part!" she shouted as she tapped on the crystal ball, answering the call. "What do you want - oh, it's you, Principal Bump."

The image that appeared in the crystal ball was of an older man with wrinkles surrounding his upper lip and a red demon on his head that covered half his face. "Yes, Edalyn," the man said. "I am calling on behalf of-"

"Wait, wait, let me guess… Luz," Eda interrupted him as she leaned back on her couch. "Who did she get into a fight with this time?"

"Oh, no fighting this time," Bump told her. "Instead, she tricked a student into pepper spraying herself."

Eda paused, taken aback. "Huh… that's a new one."

Luz Clawthorne Book I: Hexside's Number One Delinquent Witch

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: An Owl Lady's Daughter

Earlier that day it was a hot sunny morning in the Boiling Isles, an archipelago in the Demon Realm made from the decaying remains of a fallen Titan and populated by magical creatures such as demons and witches who lived under the rule of Emperor Belos and his coven system.

Located on the cliffs outside the town of Bonesborough was the Owl House, home of an infamous outlaw and covenless witch named Edalyn Clawthorne. Or 'Eda the Owl Lady' as she was better known as.

"Wow, are you the narrator or something?!" asked Hooty, a house demon who guarded the Owl House and was attached to its door. "Wow, you even take time to describe me in detail! Say, would you like to hear the story about-"

Uh, moving along…

In the kitchen, Eda was cooking away. "Hey King, wake up Luz for me, she's supposed to be ready for school," she told someone.

"Fine, but those waffles better be ready for me, the king of demons, when I get back!" declared the high and mighty King, a small, black furred… dog thing with golden yellow eyes, a red collar, a short tail, and a horned skull over his head (or perhaps it was a part of his head), one of the two horns broken. He jumped from his seat at the kitchen table and ran upstairs to knock on a bedroom door. "Hey Luz, it's time for school!"

"Five more minutes…" came a drowsy voice from the other side of the door.

King sighed. "Fine, I'll just come in and wake you up myself!" He opened the door, walking into a punk-like room filled with the stuff from the human world like music and other cool things. A shelf was filled with manga, comics and DVDs, posters decorated the walls, and dirty clothes were everything including on top of the room's bed. King tried not to step on anything, until…

"AHHHHHH!"

King suddenly found himself upside down and swinging in the air, hanging from a rope trap connected to the ceiling. He kept swinging until he found himself face to face with a fourteen year old Dominican girl smirking at him while dressed in her black pajamas. Her hair was long, wild, and brown with an orange highlight streak.

"You should know by now to never to enter a girl's room without permission, King," Luz Clawthorne teased with a laugh.

"Oh, ha-ha, very funny," King said sarcastically.

"Well, at least you didn't step in the bear trap," Luz said as she untied King's leg.

"You have a bear trap in here?" King asked while being helped down.

"Come in here again without permission and you'll find out," Luz replied teasingly. "Tell mom that I'll be ready, just need to change."

"You also need a shower," King muttered as he left.

A few minutes later Luz was dressed in her tunic Hexside uniform, which had white arm sleeves and leggings, and her black boots before picking up a baseball bat and heading downstairs for breakfast. As she joined the table, King grumbled to himself about teenagers taking too long.

"Alright, breakfast is served!" Eda proclaimed as she placed her waffles, which looked a bit burnt, and some fruit on the table.

"Overcooked waffles and fruits, my favorite," Luz said with a smirk.

"And don't forget the syrup," King added, holding the bottle.

Eda sat down with them and the three began eating. "Alright Luz, you want to know what I have planned for today?" Eda asked during breakfast.

"Are you going to let me stay home and do real magic?" Luz asked with a hopeful expression.

"Aw, miss being homeschooled?" Eda asked, taking a moment to reminisce. "I miss those days too. But nope, earlier I discovered a trash slug that washed ashore so me and King plan on scavenging its carcasses for-"

"Mom, I'm eating," Luz reminded Eda between bites of waffle.

"Fine, I won't gross you out with the details," Eda told her daughter. "What about you? Do you know what you're going to be learning in that Special Track at Hexisde today?" Eda asked her.

"Nope," Luz said as she swallowed her waffle. "But I'm sure that it will be fine."

In reality, Eda had no idea that Luz was in the Detention Track or had been learning magic in secret by spying on the other Tracks. Luz had only started going to Hexside a few months ago and had been put by Principal Bump in the Healing Track, but after the 'Choosy Hat Incident' she was moved into the Detention Track. When she was not learning magic in secret, Luz was getting into fights and causing trouble, resulting in her being kept after school by Bump.

However, Luz easily made up some excuses about being home late by claiming that she had been working on 'extra credit' and that she had even been put in the 'Special Track' for the 'really really gifted' after Bump was so 'impressed' by her. Eda still didn't know the truth and Luz intended to keep it that way out of fear of disappointing her.

"Hey, watch this!" Luz said as she drew a glyph on a napkin and slapped it onto a piece of toast, bringing it to life.

The piece of toast grew thin arms and legs and it was holding a cane and a top hat as it started to sing. "I'm the star bread, waiting in the sky!"

"Aw, that's adorable, hon," Eda said as she grabbed the singing toast and ate it while it screamed. "Delicious too."

"I still don't get why you can't just keep homeschooling me, mom," Luz admitted. "You know that I don't believe in their 'proper' way of doing magic."

"Now Luz, that's not the reason I enrolled you at Hexside," Eda told her. "I wanted you to make more friends, get connections, and find potential customers that we can sell our wares to."

"Yeah, yeah, I got some items to sell to students later today," Luz said as she finished her breakfast. "Well, I gotta head out to the factory for mindless drones serving a corrupt system, aka school!" She grabbed her bookbag and started to head out of the door.

"Don't forget to bring home moolah!" Eda called after her before Luz was gone. She smiled to herself. "Heh, what a great kid. She's just like me when I was her age."

"That should probably concern you," King pointed out, only for Eda to flick him on the forehead. "Nyeh!"

The Hexside School of Magic and Demotics was where the children of Bonsborough could learn how to do magic 'properly' as a part of the Isles' coven system, with nine main Tracks representing the nine main covens.

Just beyond the grounds of the school was a chubby girl witchling in a grayish-pink Abomination Track uniform struggling to lift her large cauldron into her cart. The girl had pale skin, green eyes, short turquoise-blue hair, and a pair of round glasses. "Come on, Willow, you gotta… pick it up!" she said, only to fall back and accidentally land on a flower. "Oh no, little friend, I'm sorry." She drew a spell circle in the air, straightening the flower and undoing the damage. "There, all fixed." Her pointy ears heard a rolling sound and she noticed another cart moving past her, propelled by magic. Sitting on top of the cauldron in the cart was a skinny, pale-skinned girl witchling with mostly aquamarine hair except for the brown visible at the roots. The girl also had golden eyes and a short ponytail, her Hexisde uniform the same color as Willow's except that it was decorated with a golden star.

The girl was busy reading a book until she noticed Willow and stopped the car. "Willow," she said as she closed the book with one hand and stepped down. "Wow, you were so unnoticeable I almost rolled into you."

"Hi, Amity," Willow replied bitterly.

"Say, why are you here and not on your way to-" Amity saw Willow's cauldron shaking until it spilled out all over the ground, oozing purple slime and an eyeball. "Oh, I see. You didn't want to show up to class with that." Willow pulled her hood over her head in embarrassment as Amity sighed. "This is why people started calling you half-a-witch Willow."

"The only half-ass witch I see is you, Little Miss Perfect," said a voice.

One of Amity's eyes twitched when she recognized that voice while Willow smiled. The two turned around and saw Luz standing on top of a boulder.

"Hey, Willow," Luz greeted. "Got you an extra devil dog for lunch later."

"Ugh, good morning, Luz the Human," Amity said in annoyance.

"Hi, Luz," Willow waved as Luz hopped off the boulder and walked over to hand Willow the devil dog.

"There isn't any trouble around here, is there?" Luz asked, glaring at Amity with her bat held at a lowered position.

"There's no trouble here-" Amity started to say until Luz cut her off by raising the bat to her face.

"I ain't talking to you, Little Miss Perfect," Luz sneered at Amity as she turned to Willow.

"It's okay, Luz," Willow said to her friend. "Amity's just passing by."

Luz continued to glare at Amity, but set her bat down. "Fine. You're free to go this time, Minty."

Amity's face turned red with anger. "Don't call me that! Or Little Miss Perfect! And for the record, that metal… thing you have shouldn't even be on school grounds!"

"It's my support stick," Luz said while swinging her bat over her shoulder, knocking a pixie out of the air. "The teachers let me have it because I need it for support."

"For what, exactly?" Amity questioned.

"I'm just a human girl who lives in an Isle full of dangerous creatures… even your stuck-up attitude won't be enough to keep them at bay," Luz explained.

Amity was angry, but didn't see a point in continuing this discussion. "Whatever," she said as she climbed back onto the cart. "Willow, if you know what's good for you, you shouldn't be hanging out with bad influences. Especially with a thug." The cart continued rolling toward the school.

The two paid no attention to the mint-haired girl's words, however. "Thanks for that, Luz." Willow said as she smiled.

"Anytime, Willow," Luz said as she helped Willow get the Abomination ooze back into the cauldron. "And don't let Amity get to you, okay? By the way, I have some new stuff to sell today."

Willow looked concerned. "I'm surprised that you haven't been caught yet."

"Hey, I wasn't just raised by the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles," Luz said proudly. "I was also raised by the greatest criminal in the Boiling Isles and she taught me everything you knew!"

"That's not really something you should be proud of though," Willow pointed out.

"I just don't get why you can't just change tracks, Willow," Luz said as the two girls walked through the halls of Hexside. "You're obviously good at another form of magic, so why not save yourself the trouble?"

"Well, I don't want to disappoint my dads, Luz," Willow said as she stopped in front of her locker, which opened and gave Willow her books in return for a light scratch.

"Just be honest with them," Luz responded as she grabbed her books and… other items from her locker, hiding them in her hood. 'Maybe I should invest in a trench coat, or ask Eda for one when we make another trip to the human world,' she thought. "Tell them about how good you are with plants or maybe show Bump. Either way, I think you would do really well in the Plant Track."

"You think so, Luz?" Willow asked.

"I know so!" Luz nodded.

"Hey Luz, Willow!" spoke a young dark-skinned witchling boy with short black hair, gray eyes, and the Hexside uniform but with light blue sleeves and leggings. He looked to be a few years younger than both girls as he ran up to them while holding a human magazine. "Luz, do you have the item I ordered from the list?"

"Does this answer your question, Gus?" Luz asked as she pulled a Rubix cube from her sleeve.

"Yes, this is perfect for the Human Appreciation Society!" Gus said as Luz handed them to him. "Thanks, Luz. How much do I owe you?"

"For you, Gus, you get the friend's discount," Luz told Gus, affectionately rustling his hair.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" the school bell rang.

"That's the scream, guess we'll see each other after lunch," Gus said.

"Catch you guys after my Track," Luz told them. "And Willow, good luck." She waved at her friends before heading off.

Luz entered the Detention Track and was met by three students playing cards while the teacher in charge of watching them was asleep.

"Hey guys, miss me?" Luz asked the trio of her fellow detentionees.

"Luz!" exclaimed a girl student with green eyes, a fish hook earring in one ear, and brown hair with a messy bun held together by a dark orange hair tie. Her name was Viney.

"About time you got here, girl." said a tall and skinny boy with brown short hair wafted over the right side of his forehead. His name was Jerbo.

"Bark(Our queen of mean is here)!" exclaimed Barcus, a student with the body of a dog and the face of a person. He wore square glasses, had chestnut hair, and had a small gold hoop earring on his right ear.

"Come on, let's talk in our secret hideout," Luz said as Viney stood up, walked over to the chalkboard, and used a piece of chalk to draw a door, creating an entrance to a hidden passageway.

The trouble-making quartet all entered a spacious room they called the 'Secret Room of Shortcuts', which was an inter-dimensional plane within the school, filled with doors and windows that led to different parts of the school. This was what allowed them to secretly learn magic without Bump knowing. It was also where Luz stashed her goods that she intended to sell to the rest of the school.

The identity of the student who created this place was unknown, but the trouble-makers just called them 'Lord Calamity'.

"So, what have you guys learned without me?" Luz asked her fellow detentionnaires.

"Oh, I managed to learn this new healing spell that I think I can use Puddles for," Viney answered.

"Barcus here was able to see the future with his potions," Jerbo said, pointing at Barcus.

"Arf(After an incident later today you will experience a big surprise)!" Barcus barked.

"He says that you'll experience a big surprise after an incident later today," Jerbo translated.

"And how's the soil Abomination coming along, Jerbo?" Luz asked him.

"Oh, it's going swell, though I do want to check the Abominations Track later and take notes while the other students are presenting," Jerbo said before he saw Luz's look. "Are you alright, Luzly?"

"Yeah, I'm good, Jerbo," Luz replied while sitting next to her bat. "Just that… I'm a little worried about Willow's project."

"Oh, you mean the glasses girl who the other students are calling…" Viney noticed Luz's glare and didn't finish. "…mean names?"

"Yeah, Willow is having a hard time there and I just wish there was something I could do to help her," Luz admitted.

"Arf, ark!" Barcus barked.

"Barcus suggested that there may be one way to help your friend out," Jerbo translated.

Viney gasped. "You don't mean…"

Luz raised an eyebrow. "What? What does Barcus suggest?"

Barcus walked over to a door and opened it, showing a view of the Abomination class from the ceiling. Luz went to peek and saw that Amity was volunteering to present her Abomination after the teacher threatened to give everyone homework if the next Abomination failed to impress him. Luz took notice of a timid looking Willow.

"Thank you for volunteering, Amity, but you know that I save the best for last. Now how about… Willow," said the Abominations teacher, a stubby and short humanoid creature being carried by his Abomination.

"Great, not the half-a-witch," said one student.

"We're going to get extra homework for sure," groaned another.

'Homework for a month? If Willow doesn't do well, they won't live her down,' Luz thought before she felt a tap on the shoulder. She turned around and saw Viney holding a sphere. "What's this?"

"It's a ghost ball, drop one to the floor, and it unleashes ghosts who will haunt this classroom," Viney whispered. "Think of the perfect spot to drop it."

Luz didn't have to think long. She saw an opening in Amity's cauldron and the delinquent girl gave a smirk. 'This will be too funny,' she thought as she tossed the ball into Amity's cauldron, which made a splash.

'What the...?' Amity thought as she turned to her cauldron, seeing it start to glow and shake. "Uh… Professor Blanc… something's wrong with my cauldron!"

"What-?" Suddenly a bunch of blue spirits popped out of Amity's cauldron. "What in the blazing fires of-!?" He was confronted face to face by a ghost that smiled at him.

"What's wrong, sir? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Hey, what's a spirit's favorite fruit? Boo-berry!"

"Can you believe I've been ghosted by my own ghoul-friend?"

"Hey, at least her aim's getting better!"

"…GHOSTS!" Professor Blanc cried out as the Track students screamed.

"And they make terrible puns! Run for your lives!" one student shouted as all of them fled from the classroom.

As Amity ran she tripped and fell. She looked back and noticed a hatch in the ceiling close. 'What was that!?' she thought before getting picked up by her own Abomination who carried her out of the classroom.

The whole classroom from the Abominations Track was now outside of the school, trying to calm themselves down. Principal Bump was assuring them that their class will resume when the ghosts were taken care of.

"Willow, Willow!" Gus ran up to Willow. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah… though I think some of the students are traumatized," Willow said, pointing at her fellow students.

"So… many… puns…" rambled one of the students, now having a fear of ghosts and puns.

"But I didn't get to present my Abomination, so I guess I'm safe from humiliation," Willow said.

"Man, talk about lucking out," Gus replied with a nod.

"Yeah, almost a coincidence…" Willow said as she noticed Amity being confronted by Professor Blanc. "In fact, why did the ghosts pop out of Amity's cauldron?"

"I'm telling you; I-I don't know how those ghosts popped up!" Amity claimed.

"Well they did come out from your cauldron, Ms. Blight," the short professor said. "Did you go anywhere haunted recently?"

"No, but I did notice something drop into my cauldron…" Amity said. "Maybe that's how it happened…?"

"Well however it happened, we'll have to inspect your cauldron," Blanc declared as his Abomination droopily nodded.

"But what about my grade?" Amity asked, looking anxious.

"On hold for now, until we resume class," Professor Blanc told her. "But this may put a damper on your grade point average, with the ghosts coming out of your cauldron and all."

"But I'm not responsible for it!" Amity told him.

"No need to yell, but unless you have evidence that you didn't cause this, even with a perfect Abomination like yours, you'll get a… B for now," he said as he had his Abomination lead him away, not noticing the look of despair on Amity's face.

"Hey, babeeees." Luz slid to the table where Willow and Gus were sitting during lunch. "Willow, I heard what happened at your class."

"Yeah, the teacher says that due to the ghost infestation, the class is temporarily canceled," Willow replied.

"What about your presentation?" Luz asked her.

"I never got the chance on account of the ghosts popping out of Amity's cauldron," Willow stated.

"Whaaaat? The ghosts came from Amity's cauldron? It's like it's almost haunted or something…" Luz sing-sang while Gus and Willow gave her a suspicious look.

"You wouldn't happen to have something to do with this, would you?" Gus asked her.

"I have no idea what you mean," Luz said while drawing a light glyph that conjured a halo-shaped light above her head.

"That is making you look more suspicious, Luz," Willow told her while Luz wiped the light away from her head.

"Well there's no evidence that it was me, and even if it was at least you lucked out from having to present," Luz said, patting Willow on the back.

Willow shifted her eyes to Amity who was walking past with her books, looking down. Luz noticed this. "What's up with Little Miss Perfect over there?"

"I hear that the professor lowered her grade to a 'B' and a lot of the students are making some… comments toward her because of the incident," Willow said as Luz saw some students pointing at Amity and heard some whispers.

"Hey, isn't that Haunted Amity?"

"No, no, it's Amity Horror."

"What? That doesn't sound right, man."

"Who knew a Blight like her was haunted…"

That made Amity decide to eat lunch outside.

"Huh, I almost feel bad for her," Luz said as she pulled out her lunch box and drank her cola. "But whatevs, it's about time she got pegged down and had a little taste of humble pie." She looked at her watch. "Oh hey, time for business."

Luz pulled out various items from the human realm, placing them on her table along with an 'open' sign. "Step right up for some amazing treasures from the mysterious other dimension known as… the human realm!" she said as she displayed the old junk she and Eda got, which attracted some of the students who came over to get a look.

"What do you call this?" one creepy gnome student asked as he looked at an anime school girl figurine.

"This is what humans call a 'knick-knack', which has some emotional value," Luz explained.

"And this one?" A girl pointed at an old hair dryer.

"This can defend you from those pesky snow sprites that try to give you frostbite," Luz replies.

"How much for this?" asked a student holding up a toy of a black rat with red shorts.

"Hmm, how much do you got?" Luz asked with her saleswoman smile.

"Oh look, the Owl Human is selling more of her lame stuff," said Boscha, a girl with a slender figure, pink skin, gray-blue eyes, mid-back length violet hair tied back in a bun, and an extra third eye on her forehead.

"Well good luncheon to you too, Bitchca," Luz replied, crossing her arms. "Are you here to buy something or just standing there desperate for attention?"

Boscha frowned. "Actually, I just wanted to make a quick Penstagram." Boscha snapped a photo with her Smart Scroll, flashing Luz. She started typing. "Hashtag: humans can bite it. And what is all of this, some junk you found in the trash? You got it from that creepy old hag of yours?"

Luz frowned at the mean triclops girl, whom she honestly disliked even more than Amity. There was no way she was going to let Boscha insult her mom like that. "Well if you think this is trash, guess you won't like this perfume I got from the human world," she said, pulling some spray out.

"Why would I want your perfume? So I don't smell bad like you?" Boscha smirked.

"It's just that this perfume is very popular in the human world, but if you are too scared…"

Boscha grabbed the spray. "I'm not afraid of anything. Besides, I can try a free sample," she said as she sprayed the front of her face and then she felt a stinging sensation when it got into her eyes. "AAAAAAAAHHH! MY EYES! WHY ARE THEY BURNING!?"

'Hehe, good old pepper spray,' Luz chuckled. "Hold on, here's something to cool down." Luz brought out her soda and splashed the mean girl in the face.

"AHHH IT HURTS EVEN MORE! WHY IS IT SO STICKY!?" Boscha shouted, feeling sticky.

"It's called soda," Luz explained with a smirk.

"YOU BITCH!" Boscha roared, leaping towards Luz only for the human girl to step aside and cause the mean girl to fall on the table.

This caused Boscha to be covered with food. And when Boscha opened her eyes, her hand slipped on a packet of mustard in front of her, which shot into her third eye. "AAAAAAAAHHHH! WHY DO EYES HAVE TO BE SO SENSITIVE!?" she shouted as she ran away, leaving the students to laugh at the misfortune of the triclop witchling.

"HAHAHA!" Luz was laughing the loudest. "Boy did that escalate quickly!" She laughed some more while everyone else stopped laughing. She wiped away a tear. "Hey, why did everyone-"

It was only then that she realized Principal Bump was in front of her. "Oh, owl pellets."

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Won't Get Away

Fourteen Years Ago…

Eda had just returned to the Owl House, sighing to herself as she came back with an unexpected guest. "King! Get in here!" she called out.

"You rang?" King said as he strolled into the living room, followed by the sound of audience laughter coming from a tape recorder he was carrying. "This thing is excellent for making an entrance!" he declared before noticing the human baby. "Since when did you have a baby?"

"What? This ain't mine!" Eda said as she held the baby up. "You know we can't afford to raise a kid. I'm just holding onto this munchkin until I can find somewhere to drop her off."

"Why couldn't you just leave her in the human world?" King asked while Eda set Luz on the floor. The small girl looked at King as she crawled up to him.

"There was no one around," Eda said as she sat at the couch, remembering the face of the child's mother. So much blood and glass. The witch couldn't help but feel sorry for her and the little human spawn. "Just road and trees."

"So that makes her our problem then?" King asked as baby Luz started to play with his horn. "Hey! Watch the horn!" He backed away and Luz crawled after him. "Stand back! Back I say, human spawn!" He kept backing away until he tripped on a squeaky toy. Little Luz cuddled King with a hug. "Eda, help! She's attacking me!"

"Pipe down and let me think," Eda said, though she couldn't help but chuckle when she saw King helpless against baby Luz. She then snapped her fingers. "I know! We can just send her to the Wolves!"

The next day Eda was at the house of the Wolves, a family of biped wolf demons. Answering the front door was the male of the house. "I heard that you and your wife have been thinking about getting your own bundle of joy, so why not a human baby?" Eda asked, holding Luz in a basket.

"Yeah, we wolf demons can't adopt children anymore," the wolf man in glasses and a sweater said. "New studies from the Emperor's Coven show that there is a seventy percent chance that if we were to adopt a witch child, we'd probably eat it. It is probably a similar case with humans and I don't want to risk getting in trouble with the Emperor's Coven so… that's not going to happen. Sorry."

"Jerry!? Who's at the door!?" cried out the wolf man's wife.

"Just a witch trying to hand off a human, Marge!" Jerry yelled at his wife.

"Then why didn't you take it? We could've had a snack!" Marge yelled back.

"It's serenity now, Marge! Serenity now!" Jerry yelled back as Eda just backed away slowly from the arguing couple.

After walking away, Eda looked down at Luz who was inside the basket eating through baby food packets. "Don't worry, kid. We'll find you some suitable parents."

Principal Bump's office was not the place Eda wanted to be at. She had been here plenty of times before, except back then she was the one getting bailed out by her parents and sometimes her sister. And now she was the one doing the bailing.

"She is too much like you, Edalyn!" Principal Bump shouted at Eda, who was sitting in front of his desk with Luz. "It's one thing that she starts running her own side business without a permit…"

"Selling old human junk to students is hardly something I would consider a crime," Eda, an expert on crime, replied while Luz snickered. Eda turned to Luz, making her stop. "But maybe Luz can get you in on the profits if you-"

"But then she had to assault a student with one of her products!" Bump held up an evidence bag with the pepper spray, soda, and mustard used against Boscha.

"Wow, pepper spray, a can of that sticky soda, and a mustard pack? Geez, kiddo, why couldn't you just ask me for a curse to turn your enemies into a toad?" Eda asked Luz who just shrugged.

"Take this seriously, Edalyn!" Bump shouted angrily at her. "This incident at the cafeteria is not the only incident your daughter has caused over the past few months since I allowed her to attend at your request." Bump held up Luz's file, opened it, and started reading. "On her first day she punched the first student she met, Luciferno Hellman. Since then she has gotten involved in fights with other students and even with rival students from our rival schools, and it's not even grudgby season!"

"To be fair, they usually started first," Luz pointed out while Bump sighed irritably.

"And then she landed herself in the Detention Track after the Choosy Hat incident and you destroyed Detention," Bump mentioned, which causes Eda's eyes to widen.

"Wait, Detention Track? I thought you said you're in the Special Track?" Eda asked her adopted daughter, who looked away nervously from Eda's suspicious gaze.

"Hehe, would you believe that they call it the 'Detention' class to subvert your expectations?" Luz asked in an attempt to get out of this.

"I guess you could say that it is a special track, since we had to make it for those who can't follow the school's rules and guidelines after your daughter destroyed Detention," Bump muttered. "Luz, could you wait outside of the office? I would like to talk to your mother in private."

"Hey, if you got something to say to her-"

"Wait outside of the office, Luz," Eda cut her off, which surprised Luz.

"What? But mo-"

"Luz, please," Eda said, her tone surprisingly strict. "Just wait outside of the office."

Luz just looked at her in shock for a moment before getting up and walking out of Bump's office. 'What was that all about?' she thought to herself as she took a seat next to the office's door. She leaned on the chair while wondering how her mom was going to get her out of this mess. She then noticed Amity with Boscha, who was wearing an eye-patch on her third eye after a trip to the healer's office.

"Remember, they said that if you keep wearing this healing patch your eye should be better before you have to worry about grudgby season," Amity told her friend, who was glaring at Luz with her two remaining eyes, something Amity took notice of.

"Nice patch, Tien Shinhan!" Luz called out with a smirk, waving at Boscha while sticking her tongue out.

"I don't know what a Tien Shinhan is, but I will not be insulted by-!" Boscha angrily yelled before she was cut off by Amity.

"Come on, Boscha, she's not worth it," Amity said as she escorted her away.

"Gah! I hope she gets expelled!" Boscha ranted.

"You and me both, that way I won't have to keep looking at your ugly mug!" Luz yelled, Amity restraining Boscha as she dragged her away. Luz chuckled to herself.

"Now, Edalyn, I'm going to have to ask you to listen to me very carefully," Bump said in a serious tone. "I agreed to let Luz enroll here despite her being human and, well, your daughter. And I agreed to not rat out either of you to the Emperor's Coven. But because of Luz's behavior issues, her slipping grades, and her being part of the Detention Track, I'm not saying that she's dragging down Hexside or anything, but there have to be consequences."

"What are you saying?" Eda asked, not liking the sound of this. "She's expelled, isn't she?"

Bump sighed. "Expulsion would be a safe option for her, but no. Some of the student's parents are from high-class neighborhoods and they are part of the PCA. I'm talking about families like the Blights, the Brookes, the Hierons, the Regals, and the Harwitches. When these parents learn about what happened today, they will demand that both of you get sent to the Conformatorium, or that your daughter gets eaten."

"What? They can't do that!" Eda stood up and slammed her hands onto the desk. "What about that girl that was mean to my Luz? Bitcha, right? That's what Luz says her name was."

Bump gave a deadpan expression as he continued. "Yes, admittedly I do allow Boscha to get away with a lot because she's captain of the grudgby team. She could probably get away with murder if she wants… and that's messed up when I say it out loud. But her mothers are influential witches and they would not hesitate to have the both of you separated. And I doubt the Conformatorium would be kind to a human."

Eda felt a heaviness on her chest. "No… not Luz, I will not let that happen! At least give her another chance! I'll give you my blood if I had to!" She held up a knife.

"No, no, that won't be necessary. In fact, there is a way to keep her in Hexside and make sure she's on the right track. All I'll need you is to sign this abiding demon contract." Bump held up a demonic-looking scroll. "This contract will be an agreement that as a student, Luz Clawthorne shall do all the work to raise her grades to above a D by the end of the semester."

"What about the parents?" Eda asked.

"I'll handle them, just like before," Bump said as he rubbed his arm, which had a scar from the last PCA meeting. "In the meantime, once you and Luz sign this contract, she is to have no more incidents like what happened earlier. No more assaulting teachers and students. And if she stays on her best behavior and gets those grades up, she can be moved out of the Detention Track and study under the Track of your or her choice."

"Can't you just let her be in all the Tracks?" Eda asked him.

"Not according to the rules," Bump told her, making Eda sigh as she went to sign her name, though she stopped herself before she could.

"Wait, if the contract is broken does anything happen that I should be worried about?" Eda asked.

"Oh, you two will just be coughing birds out of your mouths for the rest of your life," Bump said, making Eda grimace. "Also, the parent must be working… legally."

"What? I have to get a job!?" Eda asked in shock.

"You can work here in the school, we do need a new groundskeeper after the last one was busted by our young mystery sleuths and their Cerberus when they caught him acting like a ghost gopher to hide his crystal ball thefts."

The Owl Lady narrowed her eyes at Bump, but this was for Luz's sake so she signed the contract with her name and initials. "Let me get Luz," she said as she created a spell circle, causing Luz to be levitated back into the office.

"H-hey! What's going on!?" Luz asked.

"Luz, sign this." Eda held up the contract and a pen to her.

"Sign what? You told me not to sign contracts without-"

"Sign. It. Now."

A shocked Luz hesitantly looked at the pen as she grabbed it from Eda. She then looked at the contract and when she felt Eda's glare on her, she quickly signed her name.

"The contract is complete; the deal is set! Make sure to work hard, or your mouth becomes a bird's nest! BRAW-HAW-Haw-hahaha…!"

After that demonic voice echoed in their ears, the contract disappeared from Eda's hand and Bump cleared his throat. "Well, at least that's settled. Enjoy the rest of the day, you two. I'll be seeing you both tomorrow so we can settle what should be done for Luz's education."

Eda walked out of the office, followed by Luz who was nervous to say anything. She could tell Eda was mad, which confused her. Why would Eda be mad? Her mom let her get away with a lot of things, hell Luz could still remember how proud Eda had been when Luz pulled off her first con with her and King's 'run over pet' routine from five years ago.

"Okay mom, what's going on?" Luz asked. "You've never been this mad at me since the time I tried to run away to the human realm when I was five."

Eda sighed. "We'll talk about this when we get home," Eda said as they went outside and she held out her staff. "Get on." Luz complied and they both got on the staff, flying away together.

"WAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Eda and King both covered their ears as the baby Luz cried. "Her piercing screams are worse than the banshees!" King shouted.

"At least when you throw tantrums, your squeals are adorable!" Eda shouted back as she turned to the baby. "What do you want, kid? You want this?" She picked up a rattle and waved in front of her, but Luz cried some more. "How about this chocolate bar? You like chocolate?" Eda asked, holding out a chocolate bar, but Luz still cried. "Come on, kid, what do you want? I'm trying to find you a family! I've tried sending you off to the Wolves, then the Bat Queen, then my imp ex…"

"You tried the trolls?" King asked her.

"Oh please, like I'm giving a baby to Grumbles McKiltskin and his troll family. They'd only eat her up!" Eda said before she picked up the child. "What do you want from me? I'm sorry that I am not doing better, I am not made for thihihisss." She started to tear up as she fell on her knees. When Luz noticed that Eda was crying as well, Luz stopped and started cooing while lifting her hands up at Eda, who noticed this. "What? You wanted me to hold you, is that it?" She held Luz close to her chest and rocked the baby in her hands, finally calming Luz down.

"Wow Eda, how did you calm it down?" King questioned.

"I don't know, I mean, I've seen the other mothers doing it with their kids and… I guess I thought I would see if it could work on her," Eda said as she smiled. "At least we calm her down."

"Well that's good, cause now we can just find a good place in the human world to leave her so that she can be someone else's problem and stop being ours," King said while Eda looked down at Luz, who looked back at her with her big, cute eyes.

"Yeah… we'll find her a home…" Eda said in concern, until she felt the baby tugging her shirt. "What are you-OW! She bit me!"

"Ha! She thinks you're a cow!" King laughed before Eda zapped him with a lightning bolt. "Hey! Can't you take a joke, woman!?"

The flight home was awkward for Luz. Eda hasn't said a word, not even when Luz tried to spark up a conversation.

"So, I didn't end up making a profit," Luz spoke while trying to lighten the mood. "I would've if it hadn't been for Boscha. I mean, where does she get off?" She got no response as they arrived at the Owl House and they got off the staff. "Come on, mom, at least talk to me!"

King woke up from his nap just in time to see Eda and Luz coming inside. "Hey, you two are back!" He then saw Eda's expression and he looked at Luz. "Ooh, someone's in trouble…"

"King, go outside for a bit. Me and Luz are going to have a talk," Eda told him sternly.

"Right, I'll leave you two to have your mother/daughter talk alone. I got an anthill to conquer anyway," King said as he walked out of the house.

Eda sat down on the couch, motioning for Luz to sit beside her. She complied. "Okay, what's going on, Eda? What in the Demon Realm did you and Bump talk about? Why are you acting so differently?"

"Luz, listen," Eda spoke. "For as long as I've raised you, I let you get away with a lot of things. After all, you helped me get away with my scams, cons, tax evasions, and other various crimes. But I also wanted to make sure that you lived up to your fullest potential, which meant doing what was best for you. I thought that sending you to Hexside was the right choice, but now I'm hearing that you've been struggling and that you've been lying to me about it."

"Well, I preferred the lessons you taught me back when I was homeschooled," Luz replied, crossing her arms. "I don't see how much of a big deal it is-"

"It's a really big deal, Luz!" Eda snapped. "The contract we signed states that you'll have to do better from now on or else you'll be coughing birds out of your mouth."

"What?" Luz asked in shock, standing up. "Why did you make me do that? Whatever happened to not following the system?"

"Luz, I didn't put you in school so you can flake out. If you don't do better, we both can get in trouble and they'll separate us!" Eda told her as she stood up as well. "Do you want that, Luz? Do you want them to take you away from me?!"

"No, but why can't I just drop out?" Luz asked. "Even if I have to cough up birds, I can still run a bird nursery business."

"No, taking care of birds isn't as fun as it looks, kid. I know what I said about the oppression of the coven system and how Emperor Belos is a hack, but you really need to go to school so that you can have opportunities I never did!" Eda argued.

"I don't need school! Hexside is made up of nothing but a bunch of assholes who I had to make sure didn't cross me!" Luz shouted. "Even the fucking teachers have stopped giving shits!"

"Oh, I know because I've had them as well!"

"Then why put me in a school full of assholes!? They should've called it Hexside: School of Witchcraft, Demotics, and how to be a fucking c%#$!"

"Whoa, watch the language young lady, I don't want King or Hooty hearing you talk like that!" Eda scolded her.

"Oh, so now you decided to act like a mother?!" Luz yelled. "All those years of letting me get away with every scam, con, and fight, but now is when you decide to put some tough love on me? You're such a hypocrite for telling me that my education is important, while you're just a drop out!"

"Don't you speak to your mother like that, Luz!" Eda yelled back.

"You're not even my real mom!" Luz shouted, red with anger. Silence followed as Luz realized what she just said, covering her mouth as she looked at Eda's hurt expression. "I… I'm sorry-."

"Go to your room, you're grounded," Eda said, turning her head away from her.

"B-But-. "

"I said you're GROUNDED!" Eda growled, causing Luz to step back.

Luz looks shocked by Eda's anger towards her. She was used to adults being angry at her, but never her own mother. She pulled her hood up as she ran up to her room, tears streaming from her eyes. A door could be heard slamming as Eda dropped onto the couch.

"I did not enjoy that in the slightest," Eda said as tiredly rubbed her face and drank down a bottle of her potion meant to keep her curse away. "But I am a good mother… right?"

In the human world, King sat on top of the head of a hooded Eda as she carried a basket with baby Luz inside. They were in front of an old cathedral, a place full of those black hooded old women that the humans call 'noons.'

"So apparently you leave a baby on their front steps and the noons take her in and raise her as a part of their cult," King said while holding a book. "At least that's what this children's book foretells."

"Right, and I've written a note with everything they need to know," Eda said, holding the note. She spotted a nun coming out of the entrance to the cathedral with a room to sweep the front steps. "Huh, saves me the trouble. I'll just hand her over. Hide in my hair, King."

"You got it," King responded, hiding in the hair underneath Eda's hood.

The elderly nun looked up and saw Eda. "Hello there, may I help you?"

"Uh yes, I found this little orphan baby girl and I was wondering if you could take her in," Eda said, holding out the basket as little Luz giggled.

"Huh, this is out of the ordinary," the nun said. "But let me see the baby."

Eda hesitated and she didn't know why. It made sense that the human baby should be in human hands, not witch ones. She slowly handed the basket over, but Luz cried and held onto Eda's fingers. "Now, now, let go. This is for the best," Eda said before looking up at the nun. "I, uh, also wrote a note."

"Would you mind reading it? I haven't had the best eyesight in years," the nun told her.

"Oh," Eda said as she clears her throat. "'Dear noons, please take care of this human child known as Luz. Her mother passed away two weeks ago and Luz needs someone to take care of her. She doesn't like pasteurized milk, but she does like the apple flavored baby food packets and she is a little bit of a biter." Eda's hand shook when she read the note, a tear fell from her eye. "She can be a handful… but when you look into her eyes, it gives you this… feeling that you want to protect her no matter what. She deserves more than… than…"

"Eda?" King whispered in concern.

Eda saw Luz raising her arms as if she wanted her. The witch had a sadden expression and to her surprise the nun held up the basket back to Eda.

"You're not ready to give her up," the nun told her in an understanding tone. "And she doesn't want to be separated from her mother."

"W-What?" Eda asked. "I-I'm not this kid's mother, I was just taking care of her until I could find someone to leave her with."

"Even if you're not her birth mother, she wants to be with you and I can tell that you want to be with her," the nun said as she handed Luz back to Eda. "I think that you are meant to be her mother."

"You… really believe that?" Eda asked, looking down at Luz, who hugged the witch's arm.

"Yes, and in time I believe you will become the parent this poor child needs," the nun replied with a smile.

Eda nodded and looked down at Luz. "Looks like you won't get away from me, kid," Eda said as she walked away with Luz, taking her home.

As Eda finished her potion, she thought about what the nun had said.

"I hope you were right," Eda whispered, rubbing her face again.

In Luz's room, things didn't look good for the young delinquent. She couldn't sneak out as long as Hooty had locked the windows under Eda's orders. All Luz can do was take out her anger on her room. "Stupid Hexside! Stupid coven system!" She kicked a pillow and started punching the wall. "And I can't believe what I told her! GAAH! I HATE THIS!" She continued punching the wall until she heard her knuckles, then she grabbed a pillow and screamed into it. "RAAAAAAAAHHHH! WHY AM I LIKE THIS!?"

"Hey, would you keep it down? And stop punching my innards!" Hooty shouted from outside.

"FUCK OFF, HOOTY!" Luz shouted at him.

"Geez, you got serious teenage problems, Luz!"

"Well why don't you say it out loud so the rest of the Isles can hear you!" Luz shouted at him.

"Hey Hooty, what's with all that noise coming from inside?" King asked from the ant hill he was trying to conquer.

"Oh, you know, Luz is having one of those emotional teenage angst things!" Hooty replied.

"Ew, that sounds gross! Cause you know teenagers can be terrible with all of that coming-of-age angst and hormones!" King shouted from outside, making Luz slam her face onto her pillow in irritation. "AAAH! THE ANTS ARE NOW CONQUERING MEEEE!"

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Here Comes the Tutor

The young girl laid on the ground, surrounded by other kids who all pointed at her and started throwing rocks at her.

"Look at that freak with the round ears!"

"I can't believe I almost touched her! I could get human diseases!"

"What's a human doing in the Boiling Isles? Let's just kick her some more!"

"No… please, stop it!" the young girl begged them, covering her face with her arms. She felt a kick to the stomach that caused her to wince. "Please… STOP!"

Luz shot up in her bed, breathing heavily. 'Not again,' she thought as she looked at her reflection in the dresser mirror, remembering the pain from that time. 'Never again.' Tears streamed from her eyes as she started to cry silently.

It was now nighttime. Eda and Luz still haven't spoken a word to each other since the argument. Eda was cooking something for dinner. This was how you deal with teenagers, right? It had been a lot easier to take care of Luz when she was young, but ever since she was eleven she started getting more rebellious. She really did take after her mother…

King came inside while scratching himself. "Well, I'm never going to see ants the same way again," he announced, noticing Eda cooking something. "Say, what are you trying to cook there, Eda?"

"Ramen," Eda responded sorely.

"Oh, food for Luz. You should add the extra squid eyeballs, you know how she loves her ramen with eyes," King commented and Eda just gave a half-hearted nod, which he noticed. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, King," Eda half-lied. Okay, it was a complete lie.

"I can tell that you're not," King told her, but he knew that she wasn't going to tell him. "Well, I'm gonna go freshen up. Those ants left some heavy bites."

But as he headed for the upstairs bathroom, he heard singing and realized it was coming from Luz's room. "Luz? Are you okay in there?"

"I'm fine," Luz's voice said.

"Okay, obviously you two aren't fine!" King declared as he threw open the door, finding Luz laying on her bed with her pillow over her head.

"King!" Luz shouted as the self-proclaimed 'king of demons' jumped onto her bed.

"What happened between you and Eda?" King asked as Luz turned her head away, though he still noticed her red eyes and dried tears.

Luz hugged her knees and wiped her eyes. "We had an argument about school… and I sort of told her off on how she's… not my real mom." Her arms shook as she buried her face.

"Yikes," King said, flinching. "Well, I don't think it's that bad."

"It is bad, King!" Luz shouted, her eyes teary. "I made mom hate me and I don't blame her… I know I'm not well liked around here… the last thing I want is for her to think I'm ungrateful."

King rubbed the back of his head/skull. "Uh… did Eda ever tell you about how she almost left you to be raised in the human world?"

Luz's eyes widened at that. "I thought she said she was gonna let me be raised by the Wolves?"

"Yeah, that was the first place she went. For a whole week she looked for a new home for you. We even thought of leaving you to be raised by clowns… before we both decided on a huge 'nope' on that. We then thought about giving you to these noons in the human realm… but after a week, Eda decided she was not ready to let you go."

"She never told me any of this," Luz told him.

"Well, it shows that she realized that even though you're a human, you were her kid. And from that moment forward, there wasn't a thing that you could do to make her hate you. Maybe she's angry now. But hate you? Never." He scratched himself on the back, still feeling that itch from those dang ants.

Luz thought back to everything her adopted mom had done to take care of her. From teaching her about magic to bringing her stuff from the human world to helping her learn spell glyphs. Luz looked at her nightstand and the two objects on it: a framed picture and a children's book. She sighed.

"Do you need some alone time?" King asked her.

"Yeah… go have your bath," Luz told him and he grimaced as he felt the itches from the ant bites.

"Fine," King said as he jumped off the bed and left the room, spotting who was in the hallway. "She's all yours, Eda!"

Luz's head lifted up as she saw Eda in the doorway, holding a bowl of ramen… with eyeballs.

"Got you some ramen with eyeballs! Added in some sprinkles of nightshade and a side of squid tentacles!" Eda said as she presented ramen that only a witch could make.

Luz looked at the bowl, then at Eda. "Aren't you mad?"

"Mad? It isn't like you broke a family heirloom or something." Eda tried waving it off, but then she saw Luz's guilty expression and sighed. "Alright, I'm gonna be blunt with you, kid. What you said… really hurt me. When you said that, it made me feel that I wasn't being a good mother. And maybe… I haven't been the best, especially if I was setting the wrong example for you. I get why you did that to this Bitchca girl… but you know about my curse?"

"Yeah," Luz nodded.

"This curse is the reason why I didn't graduate from Hexside," Eda told her. "I don't know who cursed me or why, but it wasn't like I had a short list of enemies back when I was your age. And honestly… I am worried that the same could happen to you, that one day you'll make someone so angry they curse you for life like someone did to me."

"You're… afraid for me?" Luz asked.

Eda nodded. "I may be the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles, but I can still get scared from time to time," Eda said as put down the ramen and sat on Luz's bed, receiving a hug from Luz.

"I'm sorry, mom, for what I said," Luz said. "It's not your fault. I'm just a rotten kid who causes a lot of trouble for you-."

"Luz, do not blame yourself," Eda hushed her, wrapping her arms around her adopted daughter. "I'm the one responsible for this, I should've been better. I didn't want to act like those stuffy parents that planned their kids' futures, but I guess went too far in the other direction by letting you get away with everything." She patted Luz's head and wiped a tear away. "I understand what you're going through, but please promise me this: you will try to do better in Hexside and you won't start anymore fights at school."

"So if someone starts picking on my friends, do I deal with them off campus?" Luz asked, causing Eda to chuckle.

"Just make sure to use acid-proof containers to get rid of the bodies," Eda told her and Luz snickered.

"You and your jokes," Luz said, smiling warmly at her mom.

"Who says I'm joking?" Eda asked, but then she felt something. "Why do I feel something crawling on me?"

Luz's eyes widened, feeling something crawling on her as well as she pulled off the covers of her bed, revealing her bed to be full of ants.

"KIIIING!" Luz and Eda shouted so loud that their cry could be heard outside of the Owl House.

"What!? I'm taking a bath!" King shouted, not realizing he had ruined a moment.

The next day.

"Alright, now that you two are bound to the contract, Luz will be needing a tutor in order to catch up to her studies," Bump said to both Eda and Luz, who were in his office. "Now I expect you to be nice to your tutor, Luz."

"I'm sure I can handle an egghead," Luz commented.

"Yeah, now who's the egghead that's gonna teach my Luz?" Eda asked.

"I'm sure Bump is picking Gus," Luz suggested, wanting her friend to tutor her.

"Yes, Augustus Porter is a smart boy, but I decided on someone who was not biased in your favor," Bump said before speaking into his intercom. "Send her in."

The door opened as Luz heard a familiar voice. "I'm here, sir. Now who is in need of tutooooo..." Luz and Eda turned around, Luz shocked to see Little Miss Perfect herself standing in the doorway.

Silence followed and Eda was the one who broke it. "Well hey there, name's Eda, strongest witch of the Boiling Isles, and you'll be tutoring my daughter, Luz!" she said, bringing her stunned daughter. "Now she may seem troubled and rough around the edges, but with your help she will one day be as strong as me, maybe even stronger!" Nobody responded. "Why's everyone being all silent?"

"I HAVE TO STUDY/TUTOR WITH HER!?" Luz and Amity shouted, pointing at each other.

"Yes, because out of all the available tutors, Ms. Amity Blight here was the best available candidate, Luz," Bump explained.

"Principal Bump, with all due respect there's no way I could tutor her. What about that Draco kid? He needs some tutoring," Amity pointed out.

"Draco moved to a better place after trying to burn down the school," Bump muttered, shivering at the thought of the lizard boy. "Some kids just want to see the world burn… But anyway, I thought that if the school's finest student could manage to tutor its worst student-"

"Way to be honest," Luz sarcastically said.

"...then it might look good on your resume, Amity," Bump continued. "Besides, it will help bump up your grade point average after the incident with the Abominations Track." Luz winced slightly, which Eda took notice of. "And Luz, whether you like it or not, you need help to keep up with your studies. If Luz manages to pass her exams at the end of the semester, then her and Eda's contract is fulfilled, and Ms. Amity gets her grade pulled up. Do you understand?"

Both girls look at each other.

'I can't believe out of all the students in Hexside, I have to be paired with her!' Amity thought.

'Out of everyone, I have to be paired with Little Miss Perfect,' Luz thought with a sigh, looking down.

"Fine/Yes sir," Luz and Amity said in unison.

"Good. Now as for you, Edalyn, think you can take care of the plague locusts buzzing around the Produce Club's vegetable garden? You can also start cleaning out the ghosts in the Abominations Track," Bump said and Eda groaned in irritation.

"Oh, come on! Weren't all the tasks I did for you to get Luz admitted here enough?" Eda asked him. "Can't you hire that ghost hunting team?"

"They ran out of business a long time ago and now they're just regular black-robe workers," Bump stated.

"Uuuugh, fiiiiine!" Eda whined as she got up. "See ya after school, kid." Then she turned to Amity. "Pass my kid, and I can get a discount on all purchases!" she said as she walked out of the office.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't just hear you try to bribe your daughter's tutor," Bump said before dismissing both girls, who left his office.

'Great, out of everyone it has to be the stuck-up,' Luz thought, glaring at Amity.

'They just had to put me with the thug.' Amity thought with a sigh. 'Just don't let her get to you.' She turned to Luz. "Okay, so I guess I'll be tutoring you-"

"Let's get something straight, Blight," Luz cut her off. "I'm not going to be one of your projects or charity cases just because I am letting you tutor me. I pass by the end of the semester, you get a grade up, and we don't have to talk to each other again. In fact, we don't have to talk to each other at all unless it's about tutoring. Understand?"

Amity huffed. "Do you have to be so difficult?"

"Maybe if you weren't such a stuck-up…" Luz muttered.

"Hey, I'm not the one who got in trouble for pepper spraying Boscha!" Amity told her.

"Pepper-Eyes had it coming," Luz commented as she put her hands in her pockets and started walking away.

"Hey, where are you going? What about our tutoring schedule!?" Amity demanded.

"We'll talk about it later. Besides, I got to meet up with Willow," Luz said, waving off the mint haired girl.

Amity was so mad that her face turned red while she held in a growl until she gassed for breath. "Oof, I almost passed out this time."

"I can't believe that Amity's tutoring you, Luz," Willow said to Luz as the two walked together as they headed for class, or detention in Luz's case.

"Yeah, I don't know what Bump is thinking, putting me with her of all people!?" Luz responded. "After all the times she put us down and let her friends pick on you?"

Willow spotted a plant in the hallway that was looking dead and she created a spell circle, reviving it. Luz noticed this.

"Wow Willow, you're getting good at your plant magic," Luz told a shy Willow.

"I-It's nothing, really. Since the Abomination class is still getting fumigated, Bump placed the students in other Tracks until Abominations was up and running again, so I ended up in the Plant Track."

"And maybe you'll probably stay in that Track once the teachers see how good you are," Luz commented, causing Willow to blush. "But wait, Amity's in Abominations… so I wonder where they placed her?" She got a sneaky look on her face.

"Luz, I don't think you should be messing around with Amity, especially now that she's your tutor and all," Willow advised her.

"Wait, are you of all people defending Amity Blight?! What alternate universe am I in?" Luz asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Look Luz, I don't like Amity either, but if she's your only hope of passing by the end of the semester, then you should at least be nicer to her. Because if you cause trouble for her, you're also causing trouble for yourself," Willow told her while Luz groaned.

"Ugh, Fiiine. You just had to go Jiminy Cricket on me, huh?" Luz asked, giving Willow a confused look.

"Jiminy… Cricket?" Willow questioned.

"Oh, just some character from some animated movie I saw when Eda brought an old VHS player and videos from the human world. I forgot what the plot was about, but I think it's about a wooden puppet boy who, in order to become a real boy, must eat human flesh," Luz answered, her morbid explanation confusing Luz even more. "Or was it from a children's cartoon?"

"Man, Amity, I can't believe that you're tutoring that Luz girl," said a witchling a dark brown skin tone, eyes with gray irises, and hair that came in tones of pinkish-gray and deep mauve held up in a ponytail. Her uniform had red sleeves and leggings, signifying her as a member of the Bard Track. She was hanging out with Amity and Boscha at the lockers.

"I needed the extra credit, Skara, so I have no choice," Amity replied while writing in her schedule book.

"You should totally fail her," Boscha suggested with a strained voice, looking at her eyepatch in her small mirror. "Give her wrong answers and get her kicked out."

"I can't do that, Boscha, if she fails then I fail as well, and I am on thin enough ice as it is," Amity told her, making Boscha punch the locker.

"Well, I am not hanging out with that human after what she did to me," Boscha said, gritting her teeth.

"She's not even going to be hanging out with us. The thing between me and Luz will be strictly professional," Amity assured her. "Besides, it's only for the rest of the semester."

"Tsh, fine! Just keep that round ears' germs away from me," Boscha told her.

Amity ignored her friend while picking up her books and walking away to her class.

After Amity left, Boscha got an idea and she turned to Skara. "Are you free for lunch, Skara?"

"Uh actually, I'm supposed to meet up with Bo-"

"Get your art supplies from the Bard Track," Boscha interrupted when she heard Skara mention the dweeb from the Human Appreciation Society. She smirked. "I know a little art project we could do…"

"No way…" Viney said in surprise when Luz told her detentionnaires who was going to tutor her. "Amity Blight's your tutor?!"

"That has to be some weird karma," Jerbo said. "Being tutored by your worst nemesis, the Newman to your Jerry, the snake of your mongoose, and whatever other metaphor you want to use."

"Thanks for the concern, guys," Luz said while eating a chocolate eyeball. "But I'm not gonna let Little Miss Perfect get to me."

"Arf! Arf (Still, you should be careful)!" Barcus said while Jerbo translated for him.

"I'll be fine. I'm not afraid of Little Miss Perfect. I just have to tolerate her long enough for me to pass," Luz commented. "Anyway, back to business. Barcus, you got a prediction for us?"

Barcus nodded as he poured his potions onto a cauldron pot, as he nodded to his three friends who each dropped a strand of hair into the cauldron. Once he mixed them up together, visions of the future showed up. Viney was first.

"I see me finding something in my locker… a love letter?" Viney asked.

"Ooh, looks like someone's gonna get an admirer," Luz teased her female friend.

"Oh, come on, it's probably just a prank," Viney replied, crossing her arms.

The next vision was for Jerbo. "Oh look, it seems that my folks will be taking me on a mountain ski trip… where I have to prevent a death?" He frowned.

Luz winced. "That got dark for you." Then Luz saw an image of her in the cauldron. "Looks like it's my turn." She looked and saw herself facing someone. Luz became confused, why did she seem… cornered in the vision? She saw herself being surrounded by shadows-

"Know your place, human freak!" "Human diseases!" "Why won't you die!"

"NOO!" Luz shouted as she kicked the cauldron pot, spilling its contents. She started hyperventilating while holding her chest, the three detentionnaires looking at her in concern.

"Luz, what's got you spooked!?" Viney asked, placing her hands onto Luz's shoulders. "Breathe slowly, or you'll faint!"

Luz slowed her breath as she calmed down. "I'm fine…I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You don't look fine-"

"I'm fine, Viney!" Luz said, turning her face away from the group. "I just… didn't like what I saw."

"What was it?" Jerbo asked her.

"…I saw the end of the world," Luz told them, hoping they would buy it.

They all gasped at this. "The end of the world!? Tell me, Luz, do at least go on my first date before then?" Viney asked while Jerbo looked wide-eyed. Barcus, however, wasn't convinced by her claims.

During lunch, Luz decided to eat alone. She hid behind the bleachers of the grudgby field, eating pizza and a turkey sandwich while watching a movie on her cellphone about a homemade misunderstood monster with snake for hands.

"Stand back, Veronica! Sheldon Snakefingers must be apprehended by the authorities!" spoke a joke character who was once the female character's ex-boyfriend as she defended a mechanical looking guy with snakes for fingers.

"I won't let you, Eric! For I love him!" Veronica declared.

'Man, the nineties were cheesy,' Luz thought while watching the film. 'The moment Snakefingers made one mistake, the whole town turned on him. Seriously, it's not his fault his snake fingers ended up biting the dog. Though, I do like the visual effects.'

"Hey, Luz!" shouted a female voice, startling Luz. She looked up and saw a pair of siblings above her with the sleeves and leggings of the Illusionist Track. The siblings were twins with pale skin, golden eyes, black eyebrows, and emerald green hair. The male twin had short hair and a mole under his right eye, while the girl twin had a mole under her left eye and her hair tied in a braided ponytail.

"Gah! Oh, it's just you two," Luz replied, adjusting herself. 'Ed, and Em, Amity's weird older siblings.'

Luz has seen them around, mostly when they skipped class by having their illusion clones take their place while they went around pranking others.

"We heard that you got our little sister Mittens to tutor you," Emira Blight, the girl twin said,

"Yeah, we feel bad so if you want, we can tell you how to handle her," the boy twin, Edric Blight, offered. Both siblings smiled.

"Thanks for the offer but I think I can handle Little Miss Perfect on my own," Luz told them, drinking her soda. "As long as she's not a snob during our sessions, I should be able to tolerate her well enough."

The twins laughed.

"Please, like little 'Haunted Amity' is not going to nitpick about you not doing your homework the right way, and by that I mean her way," Emira joked, making Luz snicker.

"Alright, alright, joke's aside. I should be heading back to detention," Luz said as she finished up her lunch and walked away.

When Luz came back into the building, she saw a group of students gathered around her locker. "What the hell?!" she asked as Willow and Gus spotted her.

"Luz!" Gus and Willow shouted as they ran towards her.

"You need to see what happened to your locker!" Gus told her as Willow grabbed Luz's hand to pull through the crowd. Once the trio had made it through, Luz did indeed see what had been done to her locker…

'HUMANS CAN BITE IT!'

It was painted over Luz's locker and the surrounding lockers, the message bright with blue and green neon as it blinked. The gathering of students whispered among each other, mostly wondering who'd be the next victim of the human's wrath.

"I can't believe someone would do this," Willow said in a saddened tone.

"We have to find whoever did this and report them to a teacher!" Gus suggested.

"Pfft, that's supposed to intimidate me?" Luz scoffed at the graffiti, her non-phased reaction surprising her two friends.

"Luz, you're not mad about this?" Willow asked her in concern.

"I'm mad alright, mad that some cowards would rather pull this instead of confronting me face to face. No better than those pensta-bullies who try to convince me to kill myself," Luz said, not bothered by what happened which shocked the other students. "I mean, is this their way to intimidate me? How original, truly the laziest modern art I've seen since the banana taped on the wall," she sarcastically said, not taking this seriously.

"Wait, you're really not upset?" asked Gus, confused.

"I think we've established that," Luz responded. "But when Eda finds out… well, that is going to be an entirely different story."

"Hey Luz, just got back trimming hedges." Eda said, dressed in overalls over her usual outfit. "Now what is going on over here…" Eda stared at the hate message on the lockers, making her drop her hedge clippers. The gathering of students turned to Eda. "Which one of you punks did this!?" she said, gritting her teeth.

Amity saw the commotion of students running away from the Owl Lady chasing after them while the teachers tried to stop her. 'What is going on?' she thought before seeing Luz, Willow and Gus at the lockers with the hate message written on them. Her eyes widened.

The Blight girl quickly hid herself behind a pillar. 'Dammit, Boscha! Why do you have to go this far!?' she thought, having recognized the hand-writing. 'I can't believe Boscha would pull something like this… actually, that's a lie, of course she'd pull something like this!'

Amity knew what Boscha was like. In fact, the only reason that she hung out with Boscha, Skara, and the other two members of their posse was because their parents worked with her parents and they came from privileged backgrounds like her. Amity didn't choose them as her friends, but they were her friends because as a Blight she had to associate with only the best. Being a Blight came with certain responsibilities, after all. And letting her parents or her mentor down was something that she couldn't afford.

So when Amity got a 'B' for her latest assignment, it hurt her reputation. It didn't help that others were labeling her as 'Haunted Amity' or 'Amity Horror' because the ghosts had come out of her cauldron, even though she knew it hadn't been her fault.

And now she was forced to tutor Luz. The Blight girl knew from the human's reputation that she was either the daughter or servant of the Owl Lady. Either way, she was a thug and Amity didn't get why Willow would hang out with someone like that, someone who would punch you in the face for looking at her weirdly and then try to scam you out of your snails by selling you useless human junk. Amity would prefer to have nothing to do with Luz, especially since she had once been on the receiving end of one of the girl's scams. But she knew that Luz was her only hope of getting her grade up. Once she did that, everything could go back to normal.

It was then that she saw her two friends laughing as they came out of the restroom, though Boscha was doing most of the laughing. When the two spotted her, Skara stopped laughing while Boscha waved at the Blight.

"Amity, there you are!" Boscha said, playing innocent.

Skara looked nervous as she smiled, waving her fingers at the leader of their clique. Amity took notice of the blue paint faded on their nails and sleeves.

"Did you two paint over Luz's locker?" Amity asked, though she already knew the answer. Her voice sounded annoyed, but Boscha paid no mind to it while Skara just looked down.

"Oh please, like we would go anywhere near Luzer's locker," Boscha said while crossing her arms. "I wouldn't want to risk catching any human germs. Me and Skara were just doing makeup in the restroom, right Skara?"

"Y-yeah," Skara replied nervously, rubbing her arm.

"Is that why there is blue on your fingernails and sleeves? And tell me, how did you get makeup on your boots?" Amity pointed out, shocking the two girls.

"W-Well so what if we did, why do you care, anyway?" Boscha asked.

"Because I am tutoring her, and anything that happens to her could affect my grades!" Amity shouted at her. "What if she retaliates and gets herself expelled?"

"Just relax," Boscha said, not hiding her disgusted tone. "Look, Amity, I know you care about your grades and all, but this is not going to end well for you. Luz is a hopeless case and will just take you down with her if she can, I'm just looking out for you," she said, patting Amity's shoulder.

"I don't need your protection," Amity said, angrily shoving her friend's hand away before sighing. "Look, Boscha, maybe I can get Luz to apologize to you for pepper spraying your eye if you apologize to her for vandalizing her locker."

"And why should I apologize to her?" Boscha asked, crossing her arms again.

"Well, guess you won't be spending the night at my place for the upcoming Moonlight Conjuring then, which I am sure your moms would love," Amity said, shocking Boscha.

"What? You can't uninvite me!" Boscha yelled.

"My house, my conjuring. But feel free to have your own conjuring by yourself," Amity said while walking past Boscha, the triclop witchling's left eye twitching as Skara spoke up.

"I can still come if I apologize to Luz, right?" she asked.

"Yes, Skara. You can," Amity told her and Boscha didn't like that at all.

"Wait," Boscha said, causing Amity to turn to her. "If Luz apologizes, then… I'll apologize… for the graffiti." She avoided eye contact with Amity as she said this.

"Wow, that's… surprising," Amity admitted.

"But you should still be careful around that girl," Boscha said while bringing out something from her pocket. She grabbed Amity's wrist and placed the object in her palm. "She isn't called Hexside's number one delinquent for nothing. She's a violent, ill-tempered savage that gives us witches a bad name. So just in case she decides to sacrifice you to the Owl Lady, here. My moms gave me this, but I think you'll need it more."

Amity looked down at the small bottle of human repellent spray. In the demon realm, most witches and demons held… low opinions of humans. To them, humans were a hostile bunch of savages with their round ears, disgusting food, big ol' eyes and their love of pumpkin spices. Seriously, who turns pumpkins into spices? That's so unnatural!

"I don't think I am going to need this," Amity said, trying to hand it back to Boscha, who insisted that she keep it.

"Hold onto it just in case, you'll never know when that human goes rabid," Boscha said as they heard the bell scream. "Later, Amity. Just remember to be careful around her." She and Skara then left for their classes, while Amity looked down at the repellent.

Amity doubted that she would have to use it, though she didn't want to be rude and throw it away since Boscha had given it out of concern for her safety. But despite Luz's reputation, the human couldn't be a complete savage if she had managed to be friends with Willow, right?

The Blight girl sighed and put the repellent away. The end of the semester couldn't come soon enough…

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Crime Study and Family Secrets

"Well, guess these kids, and the teaching staff, are now afraid of me." Eda said as she saw one student looking at her as he ran off in fear. After Luz manages to calm Eda down from her temper, she escorted her out of the building.

"At least you got to keep your job, who knew that putting the fear of the Titan was a requirement." Luz states. "Still, did you have to shake Professor Quivers?"

"Well, I can’t help trying to look out for you and all…” Eda looks at Luz, the old owl lady looks concern for her daughter "I just...don't like that this happened to you."

Luz sighs, understands her mother’s intentions "Look, Mom, all they did was wrote an unoriginal and uninspiring hate message and they’re too cowardly to face me upfront about it. It's not like they confronted me and beat me up and call me a round-eared freak to my face." Luz scoffs it off but notices her mom's worried look. She places her hand on her mom's shoulder "Hey, I'm fine. You're the one who've taught me to not let mean words on the wall upset me. If I'm upset about it, they win."

"Guess I did taught you that." Eda replied, smiled at her daughter being brave, until she saw Luz take her wallet. “Hey!"

“Taught me too well.” Luz replied with a smirk, handing her mom’s wallet back to her.

 "Are you sure you'll be okay, kiddo?" Eda asks after retrieving her wallet, thinking she taught her daughter too good when it comes to pick pocketing.

"Positive." Luz assures her, "Like you said, us Clawthornes are tougher than we look."

"Good and remember to always listen to whatever your tutor teaches you. Whatever problems you've had with this… Amy girl, tolerate her as much as you can." Eda told her as her hand pats her daughter's head "No pressure and all, got it?”

"Yes, mom." Luz said as she blushes in embarrassment when her mom pats her head.

"Good, now I'll be heading off while you wait for your tutor. Make sure to be back home before sunset. We'll be having roasted turkey tonight!" Eda declares as she pulls out her staff "Once I learn how to roast a turkey. Bye, honey!" she says as she flew off from the campus.

Luz waits as she picks up a gumball and chews on it. She starts chewing and blew her gum until it pops. She hears footsteps as she took notice a gang of monsters coming at her.

“We’re looking for the one called Luz.” Spoke one monster with his eyes in horizontal form, purple skin, large jaw and tongue-like hair, wearing a red tunic uniform.

“What do you buttfaces want from me?” Luz asked, which ticked off the monster with a literal butt-shaped face.

We’re from Hogwash School of Magic, and we’re here to take you down after what you did to our leader, Larry Coppers!” the buttfaced monster spoke while holding up a picture of a pale witchling boy with glasses, having a swollen face looking all beat up.

“Oh, I remember him, he was pretty much that obnoxious, high-class student thinking he’s the chosen one just because he’s got a horseshoe scar.” Luz rolled her eyes, remembering how this obnoxious witchling kept pestering her about how he’s the “chosen one” and she respond with her bat to his face, while she continued “Seriously, this is what happens when you pressure some poor kid with high expectations for your own needs. Not healthy that way.”

“How dare she mocked the chosen one!” cry out a brown-haired witchling girl.

“Let’s teach her a lesson.” Spoke the frog-faced boy while pounding his own fist.

“Can we do this outside of campus? I’m kind of meeting someone.” Luz told them.

“Fine, into the woods we go.” Spoke the purple jaw guy as his gang and Luz walk over to the woods where no one can see them.

About 30 minutes later, Amity came out of the school. Her friends left for shopping, so she has to stay behind to meet up with Luz. She doesn’t see the human girl anywhere ‘Where is she? Don’t tell me she left?’ she thought, looking mad thinking Luz had ditched her. However, she hears the screams and cries follow by an explosion. “What in the…!?” she looks to see the purple explosion cloud in the woods, as she saw a flying brown-haired witchling girl who fell by the steps.

“You’ll pay for that, human!” she cries out after getting up and run away.

Amity was curious, seems Luz didn’t ditch her but wonder what’s going on in the woods ‘Is this one of those fights again?’ she thought as she thought about getting a teacher, but the staff already went home. ‘If it is Luz,’ she decides to rush in to find what goes on in the forest. Once she got there, she saw many other monsters in the other school uniforms. ‘These are Hogwash students…they’re from one of the worst secured schools with the most death rates.’ She thought as she witnesses Luz taking on the students…with cards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkhe6cCUMe4

One squid-faced and a butt-faced student gets launched up to the sky after Luz throws out two cards that has Earth glyphs. The larger, cyclops Hogwash student charges at Luz, who jumps up before she grabs the human. Luz slams her bat at the cyclop’s one eye, as well as placing a fire glyph card on her back as she shouts, “Explosive Spell!” which explodes at the Hogwash student’s back.

‘Whoa.’ Amity thought in shock, she has heard about Luz fighting against other school’s gangs from rumors, but she’s never seen her in action before. ‘She’s got skills…and is she using cards? How can she cast spells using them?’ she thought as she saw the purple jaw leader about to attack Luz with a wand. “Luz, look out!”

“Huh? Amity?” Luz looks at the mint haired girl after she punched the mouse guy. The purple jaw guy raises his wand at Luz from behind. However, that distraction of Luz turning her head facing Amity has save her when he shoots a blast towards Luz, dodges the blast which hits another gang member, who got transformed into a large snail. “Wow, glad that didn’t happen to me.” She comments while glaring at the leader “You have no honor, you know that?”

“This was for Larry, you little-“ purple jaw didn’t get to finished when Luz threw three cards that were burning, then immediately exploded in front of him “GAAAAAHHHH!!!!” he cries out as he is blasted back, crashing onto a tree, knocking him out.

“For a big guy with two downward eyes, you rely on magic than your own strength.” Luz comments as she twirls her bat, surrounded by the Hogwash gang who are knocked out, as some ran away. “Most of you have weak magic since you’re restricted to one Coven, while I was trained by the most powerful witch in the Isle! So remember my name, you bunch of soy witches, cause none of you can handle this wild child!” she then turn to Amity, who hid behind a tree “Like the show, Ms. Perfect?” she asks with a smirk.

Amity shook her head from the amazement of the fight, while glaring at Luz “You know, you could get in trouble for this.” She states while Luz walks over to her.

“Tsh, whatever,” Luz replied with an uncaring tone, “I’ve been in lots of trouble with gangs like this. You should see what I did with the gangs from Spellman Academy, Wizaldo, Merlin Meadows, Undead Woods, Zombidia-“

“Let’s just…look, Luz,” Amity interrupts, looking at the wild human girl “I can not say anything about the fight that happened at the woods far from the school, so do you want to get tutored or not? We can both make a schedule in when and where we should meet, as well as many subjects you're having trouble with."

"There are no subjects I have trouble with, I know some spells." Luz states while holding up her cards.

“I never seen cards like those around here, not even the ones old witches use to play.” Amity comments, curious about those cards.

“You like them? They’re my own creation.” Luz states while holding up each card with a different spell glyph “I used to only draw glyph but rather than keep drawing spells, I can just make cards. When I’m out of them, I can make new ones. They’re made out of this material my mom use to help me make these cards, and sometimes we restock them to make more.”

“Wow, that’s…creative.” Amity comments, in truth she’s amazed but she doesn’t want to show it “I mean, a little unorthodox method.”

“Well we can’t all draw circles, now can we?” Luz asks as the two are far from the forest and are at the tapestries row.

"A-Anyway, Principal Bump gave me a list of your past homework fails before the detention track." she said, holding up a list.

"Of course, there'd be a damn list." Luz muttered.

Amity look at the list, surprised to see that all the spells that aren't finished. "You didn't finish any defense spells, as well as history?"

"No circle drawings in the air, remember?” Luz points out, waving her finger around creating an imaginary circle which pops out nothing at all.

Amity continues to read, looks confused when the note says "It also says that you need help in 'writing' with its underlined twice. Especially asking you to write your name."

"I don't see how that's a big deal." Luz said as she grabs a notebook from her own bag, writes down her name and show it to Amity "My writing's just fine."

Amity's baffled face says otherwise, seeing the crooked and jagged writing in how Luz writes her name "That's your writing!? He meant figuratively and literally!?"

"Hey, at least I know how to read. That's something Eda taught me." Luz replied.

A little Luz in a little witch outfit is sitting on her seat while Eda taught her ABC's.

"Okay, here's one. T is for..." Eda lures Luz to say what the T stands for.

"Tax-evasion!" Luz replied cutely.

"As well as U is for...?"

"Undead!"

"Such good memories." Luz said in remembrance.

"It also says you need to pick what Track to be in order to pass, what spells do you know?" Amity asked.

"Well, I know how to do the basic elemental spells I've learned over the years in being homeschooled. Such as light, fire, ice, and earth spells. I know re-animation spells, I'm practicing talking to beasts, and working on getting my bat to levitate so I can use it to fly." Luz held up her bat as she continued "So that I can ram my enemies in the face." she said punching her own fist, making Amity sweat drop nervously.

"A bat?" Amity asks in confusion "I thought that's a support stick? It doesn't resemble a bat! And you do use it as a weapon!" she points out after seeing what Luz can use with the bat.

"It's uh...what I call my support stick, Ol' Batty." Luz states while changing the subject as Amity narrows her eyes in suspicion "And for that matter, I don't believe in the whole coven system.” She says this making Amity look at Luz as if she had two eyes “Like, why seal all but one kind of magic when you have so many opportunities to learn more than one? That's why I'm in the Bad Girl Coven."

"The what?" Amity asked as Luz hands her a flyer, which shows a picture of Luz doing a pose as if she jumps, having her left arm around by her right leg as her right arm is under her left leg.

"How do you like my pose?" Luz asks with a smirk, crossing her arms as each of her two fingers sticks out in Vs. "Cause after I graduate, I'm going to be a badass but cool witch of both worlds!" she said striking a pose, crossing her hands in rock n'roll gestures, while sticking her tongue out, like as if she is a KISS member.

"That's... some life goal, but I highly doubt you'll get there in your position." Amity told honestly, causing Luz to stop posing to glare at the mint-haired girl "If you want to pass this school, you have to think of something realistic after graduation once you decide on a coven."

"Gee, way to put a girl's dreams down." Luz said with her hands in her pockets "Then what kind of “realistic” thing you want to do then, Little Ms. Perfect?"

Amity tries to not get mad at the remark, as she simply response "I have my career already set, I aim to join the Emperor's Coven."

"Of course, you want to join the government." Luz rolled her eyes.

"Well, if you want to learn all kinds of magic, the Emperor's Coven can grant you all access to all types of magic." Amity states.

"Yeah, but the downside is that they arrest and lock up innocent witches and demons who don't join the system as they truly believe that all magic should be free for everyone!" Luz counters while walking around the mint haired girl.

"But that's not the proper way to do magic!" Amity argues, as Luz hands her around Amity's shoulder. Getting to her personal space.

"All of that proper magic business is all just "proper"-ganda," Luz waves her hand up, giving a saleswoman-like pitch "You gotta stop thinking like a sheep and act more… free like a horse. Don't you want to be that horse, Ms. Perfect?" she whispers to Amity's ear, making the Blight girl blush as she gently moves Luz's hand from her while stepping away.

"L-l-look, just tell me what days you are free so we can schedule for your tutoring." Amity sounds nervous, looking at her bag while Luz was facing the other way. ‘I don’t need it. I don’t need it…’

"Okay...what days are you free?" Luz asks her.

"I'm sorry what?" Amity asked in confusion, her eyes shifted to Luz.

"I'm asking what days you’re free. If you're not too busy and all, just come by to my place, I live up the hill from the town. Does that sound good to you?" She turns around facing Amity, who relaxed when Luz looks at her with crossed arms.

"Oh, um...I guess I can find some room for my schedule. Nixing some extra-curricular activities and I can cancel some shopping trips with my friends. Is this Saturday good for you?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm not busy there." Luz said with a shrug, "Is that all you need?"

"Ah yeah, that should be it." Amity concludes.

"Great, we can meet up at my place up the hill. I'll see ya there Saturday." Luz said as she walks out, but not until Amity spoke up.

"Wait, there's one more thing," Amity said, wondering if she'll put the right words, wonder if Luz will comply as the human girl stops "I know who wrote on your locker.” A eyebrow raised from Luz as Amity explained “Boscha and Skara are responsible for it." Luz was more still at the moment she said this, Amity wonder if she's angry "B-But they're willing to apologize to you for it, as long as you apologize to Boscha for her eye, which should be fair. Is it fair to you?"

Luz didn't express an emotion, not much for Amity could tell behind her. The young daughter of the Owl Lady just sigh, finally spoke "Why telling me about this?"

"Well...even though you can be, well, a pain at times, but...you didn't deserve something like that happening to you. I just thought that you needed to know." she explained to Luz whose shoulders express a relaxing motion. Luz in response looks down while rubbing her head.

"Huh...well... I'll have some time to think on the apology part." Luz respond, as she turns her head up to the side facing Amity "But thanks for telling me that, Minty."

Amity turns away. "Y-Your welcome, I just thought you have the right to know." Her expression was emotionless, her usual standard facial feature.

"Just don't act snobbish when you get to my place, alright?" Luz asks her as she walks out.

"Whatever, if you want to pass." Amity muttered after Luz walks away home. 'I can deal with this. A Blight never steps down something this challenging.'

"What?! She's coming here!?"

It's dinner time as Luz, Eda, and King eating roast turkey while talking about their day...Eda has scared off the students and teachers for the rest of the school year. Luz simply tells that Amity is coming here on Saturday since it's free time.

"Yeah, Amity's coming over this Saturday." Luz states while eating her veggies along with her turkey. "So, we need to at least keep the place tidy."

"But Luz, she's your mortal enemy!" King shouts “How do you know she can be trusted?”

"I know she can be a pain, King, but still... in order to continue Hexside...I have to learn from her." Luz explained.

Eda smiled. "That's the spirit, teaming up with your enemies is hard but with a common goal working together will be like conquering the biggest potion gang!” she states as the two looks at her in confusion.

"Well…I guess that’s fine with you, Luz. But if she dares attack you...I will release my Inner Rage." King declares while munching on his roasted turkey.

"Pfft HA-HA! You'd show her your inner rage, King." Eda laughs as she eats her food while drinking her apple blood "Ah, I remember back in Hexside I had to deal with my own Ms. Perfect."

"Really? Who?" Luz asks while drinking some water.

"Eh, it's a long time ago. Not worth to mention." Eda states as King snickers.

"Yeah, I'm sure your sister isn't worth talking much." King mentions as Luz spit take her water at the mention.

"KING!!!" Eda scolds King.

“Wait, she didn’t know?” King asks in confusion.

"Hold up, you have a sister!?" Luz exclaimed in shock, slamming her hands on the table. "How come you've never told me about her?!"

"I never thought of bringing it up." Eda said rolling her eyes "Besides, telling you about my sister and you'll just wonder through Bonesborough and everywhere in the Isles to look for her."

"Uh yeah, who knows how many birthdays she's missed when you kept me in the house throughout my childhood." Luz states.

"I at least get you some outing once in a while when you were little." Eda points out, making Luz look down in a grumble.

"And look where it got me." Luz muttered, making Eda realized what she brought up.

"Oh, oh no... Luz, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, Eda. You didn't mean to reopen what happened." Luz said as she stops eating "What happened wasn't your fault. I should've kept my hood up back then and-"

"It is my fault, Luz." Eda said as she turns to the floor, guilt ridden "I thought if I turn my back for a minute while you were playing with the other kids back then, I thought you'd be fine...but..." her fingers clench on the table, starts remembering what they did to their daughter.

Eda rushes to find what the other kids are doing to her daughter, "LUZ!" she cries out as she grabs the kids to get them away from her "LET HER GO, YOU BRATS!!" she cries out, as she sees Luz all beaten, holding her stomach in pain and sees the bruises on her. "Luz, I'm here, I'm here!" she hugs her daughter as she picks her up, she glares at the other kids who has been picking on her. Wasting no time, she calls for Owlbert to have her fly back home where she can heal her daughter.

Eda held her forehead with her elbow on the table, guilt stricken by the memory "You were so scared and frighten, I didn't show up in time. I'm supposed to protect you, and what happened at school... if things like that happens there-"

"Mom, it's okay." Luz went to Eda, holding her hand over hers "I don't blame you for that incident, and what happened at school, I can take care of myself. Besides, I'm tougher than that."

Eda smiled at Luz "Yeah, really puts this old witch to shame. If I ever find who wrote that hate crime on your locker, I'm going to make them dig their own graves." she said darkly, her motherly instincts showing.

"No, you won't." Luz told her, deciding to not rat out the perpetrators.

"Well I won't be mercy on those brats, or the teachers if they don't fess up." Eda said as she looks at King who turn his head "Feeling left out, King?"

"N-no! I just have something in my eye." King mumbled, hiding his tears over the moment.

"Oh, come here." Luz grabs King in a hug, "You can just say that you want to join in a tender moment, King."

"I don't do tender! It's for cheesy teen dramas and soap operas suburban church moms go crazy over! The king of demons doesn’t do tender!" King declares trying to struggle from Luz's grip. "Besides, weren't we talking about your sister before?"

"Yeah, I would at least want to get to know her." Luz told Eda, who looks down in silence. "Eda?"

"I don't know, kid. I haven't seen my sister in years, and it's not like I don't want to see her again...let's just say...she's difficult." Eda wince.

"How difficult can she be? She can't be worse than Hooty." Luz points at Hooty who's eating a bowl of cereal.

"Hey, did someone mention me? The greatest character in the story? I can reveal all the times I've helped take care of Luz and all-" he is hit by some mash potatoes to the face "Ak! Why you throw that at me, Luz!?"

"I'm reminded how much of a childhood nightmare you are." Luz said in monotone.

"Tsk, typical that they didn't wait for me." Amity muttered, having to walk home alone at sunset since her siblings decides to ditch her after school. Boscha and Skara also went home early, as Amity was busy coming up with a scheduling plan with Luz. 'Okay, I can cancel some of my after-school classes. I'm sure Ms. Clawthorne wouldn't be too upset if I miss some just to train Luz. I'll just meet her at the covention next weeks.' she thought while unknown to her, she's being followed by a hooded figure. He wore a black hoodie hiding his face but appears to have pale blue skin.

She felt a sense of dread, as she heard a step as she looks back. The hooded figure was leaning on the wall, looking less suspicious. Amity gets into the defense. She continues to walk as her eyes shifts; the hooded guy is following her again. She turns around as she shouts "Abomination, rise!" as she summons her abomination from her magic circle.

The hooded guy smirks as the abomination went after him while Amity runs to hide. Once it attempts to grab the guy, it turns out to be only to be an illusion. The abomination was then turn to stone as it breaks down, shattered by the hooded guy's spell. “Shatter spell.” He said with a smirk, turning around to follow Amity again.

Amity ran from the guy as she makes a turn to the corner. As she is about to run pass the alley, she got herself grabbed by someone who uses bandage wraps to grab her “AH!” she screamed while being pulled. She is pinned down to the wall; she struggles to get them off of her "Let me go! Hel-" her mouth was literally magically zipped by her grabber.

"Not gonna let you snitch around, girly." spoke the grabber, wearing a stitched-up hood and their voice sounds feminine, appears to be wearing some bandages that covers her body. She brings out and held up a dagger near Amity's neck, frightening the girl "Don't struggle, or you’ll get cut." She said with a snicker when seeing Amity close her eyes in tears.

"Check her bag and see what she has." spoke the hooded guy. The masked bandage girl grabs Amity's purse bag and passes it over to her partner. Amity tries to scream through her zipped mouth but failed. She felt the knife close to her neck, making Amity stop struggling.

“What did I say about struggling, girly!?” she shouts, seeing Amity stop resisting but couldn’t help but shiver “Good little witch.” Her breath hits Amity who felt sick from the rancid breath but felt how tight her captor’s bandages are hurting her.

The hooded guy checks what's in the bag after looking out for any witnesses. No one's out to see, which is good for him and his partner. While checking the contents, he mutters "Nothing but books, this one's a nerd." he said as he picks up a scheduling book, finds a certain page as he checks it out.

"Can we steal her boots and a strand of her hair?" the mummy girl asks him.

"I don't get you with the whole stealing boots thing, she's not even your size." the mask guy said after reading the page of the scheduling book, and steal some snail coins from the purse "Come on, we'll just take this and her cash."

The mummy girl looks at Amity, grinning at seeing her frighten as she drops the mint-haired girl down on the floor. Amity's boot is pulled off for her mugger to take and pull a strand of hair as both ran off leaving Amity alone in the alley. "Later, Hexsidean!" she shouts as the two laughs when they got away, leaving Amity scared and alone.

The zipper spell wore off, causing Amity to exhale. "*Gasp*…W-W-What..." she stammers, shaken up by the experience. She felt her neck where the dagger was near and close. She can't comprehend what just happened. What just happened? Throughout this event in a couple of minutes she...she got mugged.

Her mascara was running, she wipes it as she struggles to get her things dropped on the ground where those two thieves left off. She picks up everything and put them back to her purse bag. Her mascara was running from her eyes, she wipes them off. Once she recovers her things, she shakenly walks out of the alley.

Amity has made it home but find no one there. Her parents are probably still at work, as her siblings are elsewhere causing trouble or somewhere. She can’t let them all see her like this. Really, she shouldn’t.

She went straight to her room, drop her bag. She was panting from rushing through her large home. She didn’t know what to say or do. All she can do is wait until her parents come home. But how will they respond that a Blight got mugged by some nobodies? What was their purpose in robbing her? Why did they target her? 

All those questions can wait, as of now Amity goes to her bed, lay there. That’s when she cries silently through her pillow.

Over at the tower, where the castle of the Emperor is located. Walking through the halls is a tall, slender woman with pale skin, turquoise eyes, long black hair, and wears a black, long robe. She's next to a Coven witch who wears a mask, reading her a report.

"Snakeweed Vendersnatch, arrested for the crystal balls theft at Hexside. Wendell Jabberwock, arrested for holding wand fights without permits. Stary Watterfly, arrested for magical terrorism over not getting a boyfriend." he lists off while the blue haired witch listens. "Oh, and there's been a prison break a few weeks ago at the Conformatorium, reported responsible of Eda the Owl Lady and co."

The witch woman sigh, "Edalyn...of course. What can you tell me about her accomplices?"

"Well, one's a small demon describe as a... skull-headed derange fox, and another allegedly believed to be a human."

"A human?" the witch repeats, thinking about the past reports about Eda the Owl Lady having another companion over the years. “Why would a human be doing in the isles? For that matter, why would Edalyn have one?”

“Well, some say the Owl Lady raised it as some kind of pet, some say she’s the daughter of the Owl Lady…um, Ms. Lilith.” He told her, the witch scoffs.

“Please, if I know my sister, she’s not motherly.” Lilith spoke, her turquoise eyes flash a look of dismissal. “Edalyn has avoid capture far too long over the years.” She muttered before heading to her quarters.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: King and Lil Luz's Day Out

Chapter 5: King and Lil Luz's Day Out

There comes a tale, a tale of a ruler that resides in a castle. There lies a sleeping demon, the demon sleeps every 6 hours until he wakes up in the 6th hour from his slumber, on the 6th day of the week. He is known as fears, terrible, ruthless, dastardly, even sinister by appearance. He sleeps on top of his conquered enemies who are now all of his loyal soldiers. There is no doubt, that the mighty and ruthless, but merciful King of Demons is one to not trifle with...

"EDA!!!"

…well, if the King of Demons isn't such an adorable little guy.

"Eda! Have you seen one of my soldiers!?" his surprisingly deranged voice shouts when he walks to the living room. He has ventured his search for his most trusted soldier, Mr. Snugglepuss, when he finds him missing. He was there after their last battle against the rat children at the playground, and they were war buddies that day. They have lost, even lost a few soldiers that were taken by those little rat savages, who have never played stuffed toys before, so they ended up tearing them apart. The funerals were short, but King will not let their deaths be in vain...which is why he asks Eda for more stuffed toys.

He scourges through the living room, sees his roommate at the kitchen warming up a bottle of milk. Obviously for that human spawn she decides to adopt, which she keeps in a tall chair with a seat and small table thing connected. That's where the human baby in the black witch onesie, Luz, resides as she eats some of those orange slices. But what got the mighty King to notice something around Luz's little, tiny arms, is a certain blue stuff rabbit.

He gasps, "Mr. Snugglepuss!" he shouts as we stomp towards to the tall chair, crawling up and try to grab the bunny "Give him back to me, you thief!" he shouts as he tries to grab the bunny from her. Luz giggled, as she pulls the stuff bunny as well. King was then magically levitated away from Luz, showing Eda being the one to snatch him away from her "Eda!?"

"King, quit messing with Luz." Eda told him while levitating King to the couch.

"But she has Mr. Snugglepuss!" King argued, pointing accusingly at the baby.

"Of course, she has him; I kinda…borrowed him to give it to her so she can stop crying." Eda said to the appalled little demon.

"You did what!?" King cries as he looks at Luz nibbling on Mr. Snugglepuss’s rabbit ear "Nooooo, you'll leave drool on him!! For Titan sake, ever since you brought the human spawn here a month ago, you always pay attention to her!" he complained as he crosses his arms and look at the other side with a pout.

"Hey, the baby's part of the family now, King." Eda said as she grabs the warm bottle, as she went to pick up the baby and feeds her the warm bottle of milk. "You need to learn to share some of your things with her. Besides, you barely play with the other toys I gave to you."

"I do play with them!" King said as he looks around, finds a stuffed Delmo toy "Like this 'Hug Me, Delmo' toy." he said as he hugs the toy of the blue, horned and big nosed puppet toy.

"Hug Delmo again and you get cut with my switchblade knife! Hehehe, just kidding, buy more of my products!" Delmo's distorted and cutesy voice says, Eda couldn't help but look disturbed by the toy.

"Isn’t he marketable or what?" King said handing the toy to Luz, but Eda stops him.

"Maybe something a little less...threatening." Eda said in concern, as she picks up baby Luz and pats her back for her to burp "Anyway, I'm going to be out with Luz at the market, buying and swindle some stuff for her, teach her the arts of pick pocketing. Like toy, baby food, naps, and some baby books. You know, I just saw this adorable costume she can try on-"

"Eda, I'm going to stop you there before you make me barf out my stomach." King told her in disgust, as he steps off from the couch, goes to the baby chair to grab Mr. Snugglepuss again. But egads, he has been swept away by Eda "What!? Mr. Snugglepuss, no!" he cries as Eda hands it to little Luz "Why did you give it to her?!"

"What? She's become attached to it." Eda states, while baby Luz smiles as she plays with Mr. Snugglepuss. Eda cooed at baby Luz, which makes King twitch his eye as he looks so mad, he lets out a tantrum.

"Hmmmmm......nyaaaaaaahhhh!!!" his squeak of rage cries out as he ran back to his room, continuing to squeak out in anger.

Luz makes baby noises as Eda replies to her "Ah don't mind him, he’s acting like a big baby. He'll get over it."

Present

“And that should be it.” Eda states while finishing up setting up the sprinklers in the ground. “With these sprinklers installed, on this field, those vermin won’t see it coming.”

The sprinklers spray some kind of liquid substance, as one pixie flew by as it sprays on her. “Lalalala-AAAAHHHH!!! I’m melting!!!” the pixie cries in pain as the acidic sprinkler hits the pixie which incinerates her.  

“Who knew connecting the sprinklers with the boiling water can be deadly.” Eda said as she thought of something before grabbing her bag “Wait, I almost forgot! Bump told me to set up the signs. It should be at that shed.” She said as she walks away to the shed.

“She’s gone, now’s our chance.” Spoke one student as a couple of Hexside students rush down to Eda’s bag, opening it to see its contents. “You see where she keeps it?”

“Found it.” The female student responds, holding up something from the bag.

“This is going to be righteous, that’ll teach that crazy groundskeeper a lesson in zapping us.” The other student said, having a squid face. He switches the item with another item.

“Should we know what’s in that stuff first?” she asks him.

“Ah it must be that grown up drink I see whenever my mom has her afternoon drinks while going through the divorce process.” Squid-face states.

“By the way, how is that going? Your dad’s okay?” his friend asks him.

“He’s fine, just sleeping in a motel. Last I saw him he was inviting some trench coat wearing demon lady…I think I’ve seen her around at his job.” He comments while the two quickly ran off after switching the item.

After they left, Eda came back with the sign as she places it on the field. “There, now the students won’t come near here.” She states as she looks up the sky while grabbing her bag, “Gee, the sky looks a bit cloudy today...and green…” she saw one droplet hit the grass, which left a burn mark. “Wuh-oh.”

The whole town of Bonesborough are all taking shelter during the boiling rain. This acidic rain is not all harmful, but it can leave some burn marks if you’re not careful. The weather in the demon realm can be so chaotic, hopefully you don’t see a painbow…

"Looks like school's cancelled early due to the boiling rain." Luz states, while hanging out in the living room with King next to her, folding clothes. Rather her usual uniform, she wore her casual outfit, a purple short-sleeve hoodie with a white circle, and white lines on each sleeve as the shirt stops to her stomach. Wears high jean short shorts with dark blue leggings that stops to her knees, and wears steel toed black boots with metal buckles. Due to the weather, it appears that Luz can't go to Hexside in this dangerous condition. Luckily, Eda has set up a protection dome around the house. "But I guess I'll be spending time trying to get this house clean for Ms. Perfect tomorrow."

"I don't see why you want to keep this house cleaned for her, unless...this is all a big trap for her!" King declares, rubbing his hands together "Yes, I like this plan, good strategy."

"We're not going to trap her." Luz told him, folding her own shirt.

"Yeah, gotcha." King replied giving her a wink, thinking the opposite of what she said.

Luz sigh, folding some clothes "So are you helping me folding these clothes or not?" she asks him.

"I could, but what's in it for me?" King asks her.

"Teach me a lot about the monsters and demons, since you are a demon expert and all." Luz said with a smirk.

"Really?" King asks her.

"Yeah, it'll be like old times when you always tell me and explaining about the many beasts and demons that comes and goes in the demon realm. Even told me why giraffes were banished to Earth." Luz told him while patting the little demon's head. "As long as you help me clean up around here."

Looking at the living room, it does appear in a mess. A lot of the human junk Eda has brought in for her weekend stand, as well as some homemade elixirs and smuggled toads. Luz knows that her mom has over 100 businesses, most of them illegal but some lucrative.

“Oh, this is great! Wait until I tell you all about the Snaggleback!” King declared while dipping himself onto the pile of clothes in the basket, popping up with a bra hanging on his horn and a sock around his nose. “As well as many other creatures like the demon imps, creatures that are said to be myths but are totally real!”

“Why not tell me about one favorite you’ve always told me…the Lagahoo.” Luz asks him with interests, grabbing the bra off King’s horn.

“Ah, you’re still interested in meeting that old coffin carrier?” King asks her, Luz nodded. “I don’t know why you’re interested in that old snout face. Still trying to trap him?”

“Uh yeah, he’s supposed to be this strong demon, right?” Luz inquires.

“Not as strong as me, of course.” King states, Luz just rolls her eyes at that “But that guy’s too crafty to be trapped. Not even the Emperor’s Coven could catch him. He’s always shapeshifts around to keep out of trouble.”

“But that’s what makes him interesting.” Luz points out, “Word around the Isle is that if you manage to survive a fight against him, he owes you favors. Which is why I’m prepared to plan on setting up traps for him this year.”

“It’s not going to be an easy picnic, but your enthusiasm will get you killed in some way.” King snarked making Luz flick him up his skull. “Nyeh!”

Eda came back inside after conjuring up a forcefield spell, she yawns "Well, the force field should keep the house protected. This boiling rain was so sudden." she walks down to the cloth curtain, as she uses a spell to change out of her outfit to a purple sweater and long dark purple skirt with fuzzy slippers. She lies down on the couch, which gets Luz and King to move aside.

"Boy, that must've tired you out, mom." Luz comments, bringing the basket of clothes with her.

"Yeah well...using magic that powerful can really..." Eda was drowsy, as she blinks which one of her eyes turn pure black for a second. This startled Luz.

"Do you need your elixir?" She asks her in concern, worried that her mom would get the curse growing into her.

"Don't worry, I'm fiiinnee..." Eda waves it off as she starts to snore.

Luz looks worried as well as she turns to King "Watch mom for me, I'm going to look for her cure elixir. She should have her things up in her room when she came back." She said as she goes to the steps.

King's eyes widen as he spoke "Wait, Luz! I mean, um, maybe I should go there and get it, while you watch Eda?"

"Really?" Luz was surprised to hear King offered to get Eda's medicine "Guess you are a generous king of demons."

"Yeah well...I should get the medicine for her." King said as he walks down to the hall.

"You sure you know where it is?" Luz asks while sitting by Eda's side, patting her adopted mother's head.

"Relax, I know where she keeps it." King told her as he walks upstairs to Eda's room, "I think I do." he muttered to himself, but Luz heard a glimpse at what he said.

"Come on, come to mama." Eda waves her hand when baby Luz, about 10 months old, starts to crawl towards Eda "Oh come on, you're supposed to walk." she said as she saw Luz struggle to stand up "Yes, you can do it, you can do it..." but then Luz fell on her butt while trying to stand. "Oh, you'll get it next time."

"I don't see the big deal about her walking." King said while lying on the couch, changing the channel on the crystal ball "Isn't crawling around enough?"

"Look who's talking, Mr. “Crawling-inside-the-vents-and-somehow-get-stuck-inside-Hooty’s-throat-for-4-days”." Eda points to him.

"You know that’s because you’ve been safe-proofing the house ever since she starts to crawl," King state, stands up as he walks to baby Luz. "I mean look at her, she can't even wash or change herself...there's no way she she'll be able to-GAH!!!" he cries when he felt baby Luz grabbing his tail, squeezing it "Stop squeezing my tail with your surprisingly strong baby hands!" he cries as he pulls out from her grip and ran behind Eda "Defend me from the floor rat!" Luz giggled as she crawls towards King who backs away "Stay back! Back, I say!" he cries in sheer horror.

"This is too cute, and adorable." Eda snorted, as she picks up Luz in her arms and King with her hand "Alright, listen here King, I'm going to the human world for a little bit to get more profit. Some short guy I know who runs a bar in a place called "Filly-del-fa" offers me a trade of goods if I can get him some clams." Eda brings out a bag full of clams she's collected and scavenged from the beach, levitating next to her "So I want you to watch over Luz and the house until I get back."

"You're letting me watch the spawn?" King asks Eda with his eyebrow raised.

"Well, not really." Eda drew a circle as she summons a specialize crib, while placing Luz in the crib. "This crib will be able to give Luz what she needs. Food, changing, and some soothing music she likes listening to." she taps on a button, as the speaker in the crib plays a simple tune. Luz was at awe when she hears the rummaging guitar, sounds of the rock musician rambling while singing. She was at her happiest that it made Eda smile at the little bundle of joy.

"That'll keep her company." Eda states as she brings out a bag full of clams and opens the portal to the human world "Now I'll only be back shortly. If anything happens to my baby under your watch, King...you’ll end up like my 5^th ex!" she told him darkly, making King gulp "No pressure, and don’t let her out since it’s flying pig season and you know how they snatch small things." she said as she steps into the portal.

King rolls his eyes, "Watching a baby human is easy, how hard can it be?" King said as he watches Luz playing with a stuff animal. His eyes widen when it's not just a stuff animal, it's Mr. Snugglepuss! "Snugglepuss! Get your hands off of him! Nyeh! Nyeh!" he tries to reach his little paws through the bars of the crib, but it's no use. Luz can only laugh when King struggles to try to reach for the toy. "Grr, curse my small arms!" he then saw a lock to the crib. "Hmm, a baby-proof lock so Luz couldn't get out. Well, I can just get in and get Mr. Snugglepuss back and lock it back in. I also need to stop talking to myself...it's getting creepy, and a little concerning." he said to himself, as he goes to the crib's lock to open it.

King use the claw of the lock to open the crib, but there's no use. He looks at Luz who's been given her bottle after the crib sensed that she's hungry, as well as feeding her some orange slices. "Enjoy that baby prison while you can, once I get Mr. Snugglepuss back!" he said as he crawls up the crib, planning to reach for Mr. Snugglepuss from Luz. She noticed King who successfully grabbed Mr. Snugglepuss's ear. "Gotcha!" he cries, as he pulls the stuff bunny, but Luz pulls the rabbit back "Hey! He's mine!" King shouts as the two ended up in a tug-o-war with the stuff bunny. Cute to watch, but their squabble is tipping the crib. King has no idea that his foot is on the lock. You kinda see where this is going, so let's get to the point.

The crib tipped over and fell down, causing King to fell and Luz to fall as well, luckily falling on top of King's stomach. "Ow!" he cries, as the baby giggled. "Oh great, the crib fell, Eda's going to be mad when she sees this." he said once he gets Luz off him, as he went to fix up the crib back up. But then he noticed Luz is still holding Mr. Snugglepuss "How many times I have to tell you that Mr. Snugglepuss is mine, spawn!" he shouts as he snatches the stuff bunny away from the baby.

Big mistake, as this causes baby Luz to be teary eyed. King notice this "Oh no, you better not..." he points at her while baby Luz was starting to cry "Don't!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

"GAAAH!!! Not the hideous screech! Why do human spawns cry like that!" King covers where, let's say where his ears are supposed to be, while baby Luz cries and cries while her little feet kicks while rubbing her eyes. "Good Titan, Hooty, help me calm this kid down!"

Hooty transition through the window as he pops up in front of baby Luz "Hey, don't cry, Luzy! Your best friend Hooty can make things better!" he said as Luz looks at the long-necked owl door thing, until a fly caught in his throat “Gak Ack! AAAAAK!!” he screeches making terrifying faces, which only makes her cry some more "Ah! Why does she cry a lot!?"

"You're scaring her! Eda's going to be home soon, I gotta find something to calm her down." He said as he goes to another room.

"Why not let her play with that stuff bunny of yours?" Hooty asks him, while King grips at the stuff bunny.

"Yeah, no, Mr. Snugglepuss and I go way back for her to understand our long-time war friendship. She can have Bingo Star once I find him, he's retired." he walks down to his room while Luz continues to cry.

Hooty then coughs out the fly which flies around, "Hey, Mr. Fly, are you here to distract me again? I just choked and traumatized a baby!" the long-necked, demon-house thing, follows the fly while not watching baby Luz who’s still crying. Baby Luz then saw the door opened while Hooty’s distracted by the fly. The kid saw a glimpse of the outdoors.

Later, King returns with a stuff star toy "Alright, Luz, I want you to meet-" he finds the baby missing from the living room "LUZ!?" he shouts, as he hears the baby giggled from outside. “Oh no.” The little demon rushes out the door, finding the baby who has crawled out "Oh thank goodness you're alright. At least you're safe and nothing bad happe-"

Suddenly, a flying pig swoops in to snatch Luz by its hooves “Weeeeeeeee!” Baby Luz cries along the way from being carried by the flying pig.

"LUZ!!!" King cries out, as he looks like he's going to panic. "Eda's going to kill me when she gets back! How can this happen in under 5 minutes!?" he saw another flying pig coming through, as he realizes "Oh yeah, it's flying pig season that happens every few years, and according to Eda, they usually snatch any creature to their nesting HILLLL!!!!!" King was too snatched by another flying pig "Hang on, Luz!!"

Entering Eda's room, King went to look for her elixir. "Eda's elixir should be somewhere, I know she keeps it while as a grounds keeper." he looks through her room. He looks at her nest which is full of bones and feathers, and human items. He then spots Eda's groundskeeper uniform, as he saw the elixir in her bag. "Bingo!"

He ran downstairs, finding Luz has prepared to place light spell cards around Eda. "I got it!" King announced after making it back with the elixir. "It was hard to look for the elixir since Eda's got a lot of complicated stuff, and traps."

"Great timing, King." Luz said, going to grab the elixir, but King retracts it.

"Not to worry, Luz, I'll give it to Eda." he said as he walks up to Eda, place the elixir into Eda's mouth just as her eyes were pure black, making her gulp.

"King, I can help too, you know." Luz said to her, while King looks the other way. "Come on, why are you avoiding me to help mom give her medicine?"

"Look Luz, I have this under control." King told her as the elixir's gone. "See?" Eda groans in a stir, as her eyes are still black "Uh, Eda? Are you alright? The elixir should work, right?"

But as evident, Eda's arm starts to grow furry, as Eda held her stomach. “Luz...King...RUNIIIAAAAAAAEEEEEE!!" she screeches as she starts to transform. King jumps off of her in shock.

"King, did you really give her the right medicine!?" Luz shouts while holding King protectively.

"I did! Found it in her bag and-" he looks up the elixir, realizing it didn’t have the tag. Luz grabs it as she looks at the last drop.

"This isn't Morton's brand." Luz notes, looking at the bottom of the glass "This is from the school's potions class...her medicine's been compromised!"

"YYYEEAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW!!!!" Eda's transformation to the Owl Beast is completed. Her side bangs grew larger as her body is now large black fur, large black and grey wings as her hair is like a mane. She grew fangs while her face remains the same. Her hide became black furred with black talons, her orange gem turns black as it's the center of her chest.

Luz immediately activates her cards "Light Rope Spell!" as they activated to summon golden rope to wrap around Eda. Her owl beast form is strapping around her, while Luz and King ran off upstairs to Eda's room. "We have to hurry and find where Eda keeps her other elixirs!"

"I don't understand, who would switch her elixir like that?" King asks while frightened.

"My guess, either mom took the wrong thing while at work, or some punk's idea of a prank!" Luz shouts angrily, while they ended up in Eda's room. "Those ropes won't hold her for long, we need to find mom's spare elixir around here. But she always hides it so well, why is that?!"

"Yeah...why..." King said sounding a little guilty, as he shakes his head "I'll look through the closet while you look through her nest. She should have some more around."

Luz nodded as she and King look through the room to look for more elixirs. The teen checks the table and the drawers for Eda's elixir. Something where Eda could've kept ten jars worth of her elixirs. King looks through the closet, rummaging through Eda's clothes.

"Where are they!?" King exclaimed while looking through the drawer.

"So, what's up with you lately, King?"

King turn to Luz who is still searching, but is speaking to him "Really? A conversation while Eda's in beast mode?"

"We can talk while we search." Luz said while looking at the top cabinet but found nothing. "Mind telling me why are you acting so strange when it comes to getting Mom's elixir? It's almost as if you don't trust me with it." she looks at King, looking a bit hurt. King felt hurt when she says this.

"It's...it's not liked that, Luz." He told her, getting himself out of the pile of clothes "It's just...well, I..."

"Luz! Luz, wake up!"

"What have you done to her?!"

King's head was filled with a heavy echo. The memories he's been hearing since the incident. He shut his eyes about it, trying to not to think. Before he could respond, they hear something break in along with the lights out.

"Oh no." Luz said as she hears the gargling sound. She rushes to grab King as they hear the crashing and screeching.

"HOOOOOOOT!! HOOOOOT HOOTY HOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!"

The cries of Hooty echoed through the house. Luz and King were silent as they step near the door. Luz immediately closes it once she saw the shadow of the owl beast. That can only mean one thing, that Eda had damaged Hooty. Of course, this isn't the first time it happened. But they hear silence.

"Should we check to see if Hooty's alright?" King gulped when he asked.

Luz responds "I don't know, but why is-"

CRASH!!

The circular window in the room crashed when Eda in her owl beast mode crashes in "RAAAAAAAAWWWW!!!" she screams, causing Luz and King to scream.

The two ran out of the door while the owl beast gives chase. From running down the steps while hitting the wall while running, Luz and King are in a panic. Luz was holding King in her arms as they ran from Eda. If one thing both Luz and King knows, is that black-eyed demons are sensitive to light. And some of the stuff can be found in Luz's room.

The two ran down the halls as Luz rush into a closet. She slams it shut while they hide from Eda. "We should be safe for now." Luz whispered, holding King tightly. King response with his arms wrapped around her. "King?"

"Luz I'm...scared for you." He said as Luz can feel him shivering, "What if we don't find Eda's elixirs on time? What if she...stays like this forever?"

"Don't say that, King." Luz assures him, holding him tightly "I will not allow mom to remain as the owl beast. We've made sure to keep the curse at bay for so long, as long as mom remembers to have her cure, she'll be alright. Besides, we've gone through worse trouble together, don't we?"

The flying pigs flock has migrated every few years. The Isle would remain indoors due to this occasion, since flying pigs are known to snatch up small living creatures. Like tiny demons and babies, flying pigs are infamously known to snatch up smaller creatures to their nest to prepare them to eat. Which is why the Emperor's Coven has hired Demon Hunters to exterminate the whole species this year.

King and Lil' Luz got dropped in the nesting of the flying pigs. King gets up, spotted Luz being surrounded by the other small creatures. "Oh man, I'm coming, Luz!" he shouts as he ran through the trapped creatures.

"So, what are you in for?" ask a red imp to the baby Luz, who plays with his pointy tail "Hey, hey, stop messing with my tail! I don't play like that!"

"Uh, sorry, excuse me." King goes through as he makes his way to Luz, goes up to hug her "There you are! Don't scare me like that! We are so going to get us out of here before Eda comes back."

"How you gonna get yourself out here, dawg?" the imp asks King "These demon hogs have us surrounded. There's also the fact that the Demon Hunters are going to march up here and wipe these piggies out.”

“What, like wipe their butts?” King asks dumbly, baby Luz was sucking her thumb.

“I mean they’re gonna use magic to slay these piggies along with the rest of us.” The imp states.

"What!?" King asks in shock "Those demon hunters are going to kill the pigs with us with them?"

"Bruh, I just said that." the imp told him, he sighs "And to think I was gonna make up with my baby mama and our kid for this. Guess this is how we demons die."

"You're a bit of a downer, aren't you?" King said while holding Luz on his back.

"Hey, when you're an imp for 200 years and living through in this Coven system, shit happens." Imp states with a shrug.

King looks around, seeing the small demons, leprechauns, elves, and eye people look worried as they'll about to be eaten by flying pigs. The King of Demons look at baby Luz, "We'll have to get out of here if we try, I'm sure of it!" he declares, as he held onto the baby as his stubby little legs starts to sprint "GAAAAAHHHH!!!" he cries out as he's about to make it out of the nest.

Only for the flying pigs to block his path. King stopped, seeing them glaring at him as they bare their teeth as they growl. King stumble back, dropping Luz but gently as she lands. "E-Easy now, piggies..." King said as he can feel their hot, smelly breath in front of his face. He grabs baby Luz as he ran. "Okay, maybe I need a plan B."

"Better give up now, it's hopeless, boy." the country-sounding Imp said as he lay on the back of a goblin. "Hey!" The goblin complained.

"The King of Demons doesn't give up! I just realized that I'm in a situation where I can't get myself out while being surrounded by these winged hogs!" King shouted at the Imp, as he turns to Luz as he points at her "This is all your fault!" he shouts at her, causing the others to look at the source of his screams.

“Wow, cold.” A demon told a leprechaun who nodded.

The baby looks at King in shock "Me and Eda were doing fine before you came along! I was the only cute little demon that Eda has paid attention to, but now I have to share my things with you, share my baths with you, my toys! My TV times! Eda should've left you in that church and we would've been fine!" he yelled at her with such angry emotions, tears form out of his eyes, "Eda's given you so much, it's not like asked for anything but..." he lands on his knees, tears leak out of his eyes "I just can't hate you for that!"

Baby Luz looks at King, looking sad for him.

"I know you lost a…mom, and truthfully I can relate to that. I don't have anyone but Eda..." he hiccupped as he starts crying, "The truth is, I envy you, Luz! I'm not used to having a second addition to the family! I don't know why I can't stand you, but at the same time I can't hate you for it."

"Wow, homes." The imp spoke in awe "Sounds like you're suffering from a simple case of sibling rivalry."

"Oh, I can relate, I got 20 brothers and sisters my folks always pay attention." the goblin respond with a nod.

King was too busy silently crying, showing the first time his own weakness. “I-I-I-I’m sorry, Luz. I’m so sorry I got you into this mess.” he cried while sitting down wiping his tears. Baby Luz looks sad for King, as she picks herself up from the nest’s floor. She wants to go to King, her little baby mind told her. She struggles to stand up, which she manages to do. So, she starts taking a few steps towards him, which the young baby girl did. Lil' Luz walks towards King, who hid his face while he cries. It was then King looks up a bit and saw Luz walking towards him.

"I... I don't believe it." he said while sniffing, as Luz went and hug the small demon.

"Awww..." one elf said, finding the moment sweet.

"Man, at least this will be our last moments to see before we die." one small cyclops said wiping his tear.

King never had been hugged like that before, at least since forever. His arms responded, holding to his small companion. "*sniff* If we're going to survive this, I promise to be a great big brother to you, Luz. I'll even let you have Mr. Snugglepuss!"

"Aw, now that's sweet."

King's eyes widen, iris shrank in fear. He turns around and saw who he was afraid to see in a place like this. "Oh...hey, Eda. Um...how long have you been standing here?"

"Oh, I've been back for a while now, find you two missing. Hooty told me that you two got snatched by these flying pigs an hour ago." Eda told him as she glares at King, who looks down in shame.

“I thought it’s been ten minutes.” He muttered.

“You’ve lost so much track of time, haven’t you?” she asked with a glare, but smiled when she saw Luz reaches her hand in front of her "But seeing my baby's first steps...you're lucky I didn't zap you for putting her in danger." she told him, making King look up to her "Now stand back while I fry these pigs."

Eda held her staff, as she looks at the flying pigs surrounding everyone in their nest. Her eyes glow as she draws a large circle around, as beams of light hits each of the pigs.

"RRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" the flying pigs cry out in agony, getting electrocuted from the beams of light.

Climbing up the hill of the mountain, there are a group of demon hunters marching up to where the flying pigs’ nests are. "Alright, we're about close to have some of that flying pig meat!" spoke the teal, one-eyed leader with an afro and comb, wearing brown robe like the rest of his group.

"Uh, boss!" the green, butt-chinned hunter with a mustache points up the hill.

"What is it, Tom?" Eye-Patch asks as he looks up, seeing coming down are a stampede of demons, imps, goblins, trolls, elves, and many that were captured by the flying pigs. "STAMPEEEDE!!!" he cries as the hunters were trampled by the demons and weirdos this writer can't list off anytime. However, one swoosh passed the hunters are Eda on her staff, with King and Luz in her arms for protection.

"Boy, those guys aren't going to get good reviews of their service." Eda states while she flies to home.

“Thanks for freeing us, homies!” The imp shouts waving at the powerful witch, demon, and human child.

"Okay, I may not have liked having another member here in the house. But I think me, and Luz have bonded over this experience." King says while he's trapped in the crib himself, while Eda was holding baby Luz on her lap as she holds onto Mr. Snugglepuss. "And I'm willing to share her my army, as my new lieutenant!"

"Next time I leave; I'll hire a babysitter to watch you both. Probably have to create a homunculus to watch Luz." Eda said as she raises up Luz up high "At least you can walk now, oh yes you can!" she nudges her nose to Luz playfully who giggled at the action. King looks sickened by this.

"I don't even know you anymore." King said as he looks away, "But uh, Eda, maybe if I can have a turn to play with...Luz? At least, if you still be able to trust me around her." he looked bashful if you can tell from his expression. Eda looks at him with her judgmental eyes. She turns to Luz who looks at King, waving at him as she smiles warmly.

"I guess, if you learn to be good around her, she can be your little playmate." Eda told him, making King swag his tail "But you will be keeping under watch once I find a sitter."

"Really? So that means Luz is my minion!" King declared with his hands up "Once I escaped from this baby prison, me and Luz shall conquer all that stands before us! I can teach her many things about demons!"

On that day, Luz and King became like siblings. Growing up together, getting in trouble together, these two are like the perfect tyke duo. The little henchmen to Eda's schemes. While at the same time, King teaches Luz about every demon shown in the isles. However, Luz grew up over time, and she has strike out on her own. King on the other hand, still becomes the cute, small demon who tries to teach Luz about demons, but she became more distant since she manages to find friends and start attending school.

It made him feel...alone. Even a king gets lonely without his loyal subjects.

He grew to like having Luz around, as she has taken a liking to him. They were con capers, scam those using the old "dead pet" trick occasionally. They even run a beetle betting race together. King was the big brother to Luz, but now Luz is the big sister to him, in a literal sense of the word. But he will always be there and protect Luz from danger.

Which is why he can't forgive himself over what happened to Luz when she was 5.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: Emotional Guilt

A gray space area. All there it was a door, and a bed. Eda was staring at the door.

“Where am I?” Eda asks herself, looking around as she saw her younger self with orange hair “Oh, this again.”

The door opens, showing a shadowy figure with bright circular eyes. Eda recognizes this…she’s been through this before…

“You…you’re the one that cursed me!” Eda said to the figure “Who are you? Who are you!” she tries to reach out to the perpetrator, but the figure was too far away from her.

It was just a simple cloudy day, until the acidic boiling rain was up. The simple pink furred monkey-like demon who carries around a large spike shell on his back for protection from the rain. He ran to find safety but couldn't find anywhere to hide. No one at Bonesborough would take him in, so he has to run through the forest. Poor little guy, he just wanted to escape from the rain. Sure, it's drops can leave some burns, but stay out too long and you end up looking like a crispy rat, or a shrunken head.

'Gotta find a place to hide.' the shell-chimp thought as he keeps running while holding up the shell. He's been up the hill for quite some time. He has known to be told to not go to these parts of the woods. But he didn't care, he just wants shelter. The boiling rain won't pass over until the next few hours. As he run, he saw afar a house. The lone house with one eye-like window but it looks busted, as well as the door. Perfect! This is the right place to hide!

So, he enters the house, not knowing the dangers that lurks. 'I should be safe in here, wonder who owns this place? Hopefully, they don't mind me in the house.' he thought, but then he heard a loud roar, as he looks up to see a beastly creature inside. "Gah! Monster!" he cries as he ran down through the hallway. He crashed onto a door, until he opens it and hid behind the line of clothes. He should be safe here, hopefully no one wouldn't mind him hiding in the closet.

But then the door quickly opened, causing the shell-chimp to hide himself in silence. About two more came in, one is a weirdly brown-skinned girl with wild looking hair, and the other is a small demon like him; only that he has a skull over his head with one horn with a red collar. "We should be safe for now." the girl whispered, holding the small demon tightly who wraps his arms around her in a hug "King?"

"Luz I'm...scared for you...What if we don't find Eda's elixirs on time? What if she...stays like this forever?" the pink chimp couldn't help but overhear the conversation, but he remains hidden when listening the two.

The human girl named Luz, apparently, told her friend with an assured tone "Don't say that, King. I will not allow mom to remain as the owl beast. We've made sure to keep the curse at bay for so long, as long as mom remembers to have her cure, she'll be alright. Besides, we've gone through worse trouble together, don't we?"

Aw, this touched the heard of the pink chimp demon. Seeing these two are having a moment together during the crisis of a monster. The small demon named King was silent for a while, looks up to the girl, responding "Yeah, guess I'm just not as brave as I thought I am. But how can we get to your room without Eda attacking us?"

Luz remains silent while thinking up a plan. "There should be some pens and paper in here." she finally spoke as she set King down, going through the hanged clothes to look for something.

'Uh-oh' the pink chimp thought, as Luz took notice something behind the clothes. She opens up the hanged clothes like curtains, seeing the pink chimp. "Um...hey." he said nervously.

Luz just stares at him weirdly, didn't think there was a home intruder. King looks at him and says "Wait, you're the Snaggleback!? I thought you're supposed to look sinister!"

"Sorry, I was hiding from the rain." the Snaggleback was scared.

"Say..." Luz has thought up an idea, placing her hand on his head "How would you like to help us with a situation?" she asks him sweetly, hiding behind the planning look.

The Snaggleback doesn't like where this is going.

Long ago, Edalyn Clawthorne was just a young teenage girl when she was cursed by someone unknown. On the day she was asleep, she remembers a vague memory of a silhouette figure that gave her a clue to who cursed her. Though, she doesn't know who cursed her, but it did grant her transformation into becoming the Owl Beast.

The Owl Beast crawl through the house, as it scavenges around looking for prey. She growled while sniffing for food. There are three potential prey that are around. Her former half is asleep inside of her, while this form scavenges to swallow whole of its prey. That is the curse in being the Owl Beast. Eda's there, but not in the right mind. The beast is made out from pure instinct, mindless with no familiarity.

However, its black eyes spotted something crawling through the halls. It has a glowing light pen strapped onto its shell. The owl beast is just the same as Eda, they both love shiny things. Well, like many bird beasts would do, the shiny thing is there must have.

The spiky shell ran off, causing the owl beast to chase after the light.

"Great, he's busy with her." King told Luz, both now hiding in her room.

"Good, now just get my light cards and something to draw on the wall." she replied while looking through a box. She opens the box, finding the cards "Perfect!" she declares bringing out her spell cards. "I'm going to brighten these up in front of her while we lure her into a trap. Just gotta quickly draw a big light spell circle that is enough to blind Eda enough to knock her out."

“Take your time, I’ll keep watch.” King told her as he looks out for Eda and the Snaggleback. Luz does her work by tapping each of the cards to form some bright flashes. As goes to the wall as she begins drawing a large circle. As quickly as she can, she has to make the circle perfect due to its large size.

“YAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”

“The Snaggleback…hurry, Luz!” King cries out as he sees Luz almost done by drawing the light glyph.

“Almost done!” Luz states as she does the finishing touches “There!” she declares. “I’m ready for her when she comes.”

King was looking out, but he sees no signs of Eda. He looks back and forth, up and even down the floor. Come to think of it, he doesn’t hear her. “Hey Luz…”

CRASH!!

Eda pops out from the wall where Luz’s glyph drawing is, causing Luz to be knocked back. Eda’s claws swipes at her but misses. She has the two cornered in the room, as she gags out the large, spiky shell that belonged to the Snaggleback.

“King, run!” Luz cries out, tapping on each glyph card which brings out sparkling flashes “Flash Cards!” she cries out while the light sparkles in front of Eda, who screeches and roars at the flashing lights which prevents her from chasing after them.

Luz and King ran back to the family room, as there it is even messier. Hooty looks dead due to the broken door, tables and counters are all scratched up. Some stuff broken, including some treasures. Pretty much what you expect when a cursed, animalistic-minded witch would do.

“Gotta think for plan B…quickly!” Luz exclaimed.

“If only you learn about sleep spells.” King said in panic. “To the shed!” he cries as the two went out around to head for the shed. It is at the side of the house under the roof.

The shed is usually used for storage, but Luz and King believes that there’s still something in there to help Eda. Once they lock the shed, they look for anything from the pile of treasure junk, pots, logs, and many things Eda kept in.

“This is just great.” Luz complains while throwing around some stuff “We’re trapped in a force field of an acidic storm, there’s no one to contact anyone, one time where we do need an adult!” she kicks one small pot in anger “Grr, why does this kind of stuff keeps happening to me!?”

“Luz, calm down.” King told her, Luz glares at him.

“Calm down? My plan to turn her back to normal backfired and I had that poor Snaggleback eaten!” Luz yelled, tears coming out from her eyes as she’s starting to get choked up, hitting her back on the wall as she slides down to her knees at her chest. “First, I get in trouble in school, now I’m being threaten to not only to get kicked out, but get separated from mom…hic…”

“Luz…” King tries to reach out to her, but Luz continued.

“I don’t want to be taken away from mom.” Luz cries while covering her face in her arms, “Where’s her damn cure!?” she shouts in anger.

“Um, you mean this?”

Luz and King’s eyes widen, as they turn to see someone in the shadow underneath a large pot on it’s back. A flash of lightning flashes, revealing to be the pink chimp they thought was perished. In his hand is a glowing bottle of a yellow elixir.

“Snaggleback!” Luz and King cries out, Luz standing up. “We thought you were dead!” she exclaimed.

“How on earth did you survive?” King asks him.

“Um, well, funny story…” the Snaggleback said while explaining to them.

By the time she caught up to me, she grabs my shell, and I was about to be eaten. The flashlight taped on my shell fell down her mouth, causing her to choke. I had to leave my shell so that I can escape through the vents. She swallowed my shell, but she had difficult to get the shell into swallowing it. Guess it’s not edible.

I had to travel through the vents, but it appears that she snuffs out for me. I keep crawling through the vents, smells worse than a TV dinner. I don’t know what a TV is, but I hear this expression from some gnomes. That’s when I hear a crashing noise, which I high tail out through the vents and ended up in the shed. I crashed into some pots and pans, as well as a locked cabinet. I broke the lock, and as it opens something fell on my face.

  In the present, the Snaggleback hands Luz the elixir “I don’t know what it is, but it was child locked in a cabinet. Don’t know why it was locked, but it does have this tag.”

Luz looks at the tag, reads it “’One cure a day, leaves the curse at bay’, this is it!” she cries as she hugs the Snaggleback, kisses his cheek “Thank you, you pink monkey guy!”

“Uh, thanks.” The Snaggleback replied with a blush from her kiss, Luz drops him.

“You did us a service, Snaggleback.” King comments patting him on the back “Now we just need to get this inside Eda’s mouth. Right Luz?” King looks around, not seeing Luz “Luz…?” he saw the shed door opened, his eyes widen “She didn’t.”

Eda struggles to fly around or crawl through the house due to the blinding lights. The creature snarls while sniffing for the food again. They escaped from her once but never again! She will find the food and the shiny! She’s gonna have it all! But first, scourge and search, and scourge and search.

“Hey, mom!”

Her ears picked up, turns around and saw Luz. Eda growled as its black eyes stare at the girl, some kind of familiarity. Luz stands on her grounds, holding up the flask.

“It’s time to drink your medicine!” Luz declares as Eda stares at her, jumps towards her. “Flash Cards!” she shouts while holding another light glyph card in front of her, which blinded Eda temporarily. Luz goes to put the elixir into Eda, as she grabs the part of her mane so she can get it in her mother’s mouth. But Eda snarled as her by swiping at Luz to the floor.

“Gah!” Luz cries out, wincing in pain on her arm. She looks at her left arm, there appears to be a scratch. “Shit!” she cursed, as Luz saw the bottle on the other floor. She saw Eda manages to crawl over her. Luz looks face to face at the Owl Beast, snarling over her. “M-Mom, please wake up!” Luz cries out while trying to reach for the elixir, but Eda’s paw blocks her reach. Luz looks up to her mom, she looks at her to her black eyes reflecting her face. “Mom, wake the hell up!” Eda stopped, starring at the girl.

Oh good, Luz is reaching out to her. “I know you don’t want to hurt me…you can’t let this curse overtake you…please mom, I love you.” Luz said while Eda still looks at Luz. No emotions shown. The Owl Beast just stares at Luz for a while with her jaw opened…

…as the elixir is shoved into her mouth. Luz looks up to find King having to be the one to give the elixir bottle while he’s over Eda’s head. “Drink up, Eda! You’ll be needing it!” he declares, as the Owl Beast engulfs the cure into her.

As then on, her body grew smaller, down to her normal size. Eda still has the elixir in her mouth, drinking it up until she passes out on top of Luz. She is now back to normal, with her clothes intact.

Luz sighs, it’s now over. “King, help me up with Eda.” She said as King complied, helping Eda off of Luz. “Alright, now we can-”

“Just what were you thinking!?” King yelled, startling Luz. "Why did you run off like that with the elixir!?”

“Why are you yelling at me? We’ve managed to cure mom and-” King held her arm, making her wince “Ow!”

“See, this is why you should’ve waited for my plan, Luz.” King told her while Luz retraces her arm. “Good news, I don’t see a bone marrow.”

“It’s just a scratch, okay? And I couldn’t wait until my mom gets cured!” she told him while rubbing her arm.

“And what if you could’ve been killed?!” King snapped at her.

“You and I both know that mom wouldn’t hurt us on purpose.” Luz told him.

“Dang it, Luz! When are you going to learn that you can’t just act on impulse and think how others feel about your safety for once?!” King shouts. “I don’t want to see you get hurt again!”

Luz’s expression changed, looking at King on concern when he was teary eyed. “King…”

“It’s why I don’t want you near the elixir…I didn’t want to be reminded of that incident.” King told her, looking down in guilt. It clicked Luz on what he meant.

“King, you know I wouldn’t do that again.” Luz assured him. Stepping down on one knee and raise his chin up. “You don’t need to protect me 24/7 over this.”

“But I’m your brother, Luz.” King told her, “If anything’s happen to you, it’s my fault that I didn’t do enough for you. You’re the best thing that has happened for us, and I…” he wipes where his nose is supposed to be, as surprising for him Luz gave him a hug. His eyes widen at the hug, but it gave him something to make him feel…needed.

“I’m glad to have a brother like you, King.” Luz told him, held him up while still hugging him “You just gotta trust me sometimes. I may be reckless, but I know how to be careful about my safety. But I guess I should learn to not act without thinking.”

“My bet, you’ll probably forget it due to your one-track mind.” King said, Luz playfully flicks him for that “Nyeh!”

The rain is starting to clear up, which was enough for Eda to wake up. She yawns, finding herself at her nest in her room. Looks like a mess, guess she’ll have to clean up later- Wait…wasn’t she an owl beast earlier?

“Luz! King!” Eda shot up, and rush downstairs. Once she gets there, she finds Luz and King cleaning up the family room, along with the Snaggleback helping them out. “Are you guys okay!?”

“We’re fine, mom.” Luz told her; Eda notices a bandage wrap on her left arm.

“Your arm…what happened?” Eda asks her, looking in panic “Did I-?”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. It’s just a scratch!” Luz assures her, while Eda inspects it to make sure Luz is alright.

“At least let me heal it.” Eda said but Luz stops her.

“Heal it later, right now I’m cleaning this mess and if you want, you can help me, and King fix up this place. But you’ll be needing some rest after today.” Luz told her, holding up a broom to sweep up the mess. Eda looks solemn, as she wraps her arms around her daughter. It was immediate that she does this, holding her closely. She didn’t need any words to say, none of them do. Eda held onto Luz protectively.

“Luz, honey.” Eda places her hands on her adopted daughter’s shoulders “I am so, sorry that I did this to you. I would never hurt you like this,”

“I know, mom. It’s not your fault.” Luz assures her. “If it weren’t for King looking out for me, you’d be stuck as the Owl Beast…and I didn’t want to lose you.” She turns to King, who was folding up some clothes along with the Snaggleback. He waves at them.

“Thanks, King. For looking out for her.” Eda told him.

“Ah it’s no problem, makes up for when I had to watch her as a baby.” King states which surprise Luz.

“You left me with King as a baby?” Luz turns to Eda, her eyes narrow.

“Well, who else I had to find someone on a quick notice when I had to make my clam trade?”

14 Years Ago, on the Clams Run

“Here you go, Frank.” Eda threw a bag of clams in front of the short, pudgy man with side hair, glasses, red button shirt and black pants and shoes.  

“Ha, finally now that I can set up all the clam drinks for the Paddy’s Bar!” Frank told Eda, unaware that she’s a witch due to her hoodie hiding her witchy features. “Where did you find these clams?”

“Trade secret, now for the treasure.” Eda told him.

“Oh right, oh right.” Frank shows Eda a bag full of toys “Don’t know what kind of toy store scam you’re up to, most of this stuff are old toys from my no-good kids.”

“Is that a way to comment on your kids, Frank?” Eda asks him.

“Nah, my son grew up probably a sociopath, which we should check. The other one, she became a bird.” Frank explains, while Eda grabs the bag of toys, he drinks his flask full of scotch as he asks her “Say uh, Eda, I have been meaning to ask you if you want to show up around, we might-” Frank had his back turned, as he turns around and saw Eda escape through a portal, as it folds and closes. “What…!?” he was shocked to find Eda disappear into a portal. He dropped his flask.

Coming out is a tall young man with a shaggy beard “Hey Frank, who were you talking to?”

Frank looks at his companion, “I don’t know, Charlie…I may have to lay off the scotch.”

“Best toy deal of my life.” Eda said as she rubs Luz’s hair “You loved those toys…until you started itching and had ticks in your hair…but your ticks free.”

“…How do you know the parts you weren't there?” Luz asked in confusion.

“Hello?” they all turn to Hooty, who finally woke up “A little help from here? I’m not dead just because the door broke!”

“Oh, that horrible, horrible voice!!” King covered his “ears”.

“We’ll fix you up, Hooty.” Luz told him as she turns to Eda “Just rest for now, you need some rest.”

Eda nodded, as she lets go of Luz “Actually, why don’t we just take a break.”

And that closes a chapter of the incident at the Owl Lady’s home on this boiling rainy day. But let us change the course of the story to another location, at the Blight’s house.

Amity Blight is the top student of Hexside, always getting the best of grades. She doesn’t cut corners; she does the hard work to earn her spot. She’s practically an elite student and a student role model. She is going to be the best witch in the Emperor’s Coven, like no one ever was…

But the past week spiraled from her own control.

It started out with the incident at her Abominations Track class, as something caused the whole class to get haunted by ghosts with bad puns. Then to make it worse, all the classes turned to her due to where the ghosts came out of, her cauldron. Now she’s nicknamed “Haunted Amity”, even by her own siblings. The only way to get extra credit, is from Luz the Human. The biggest scallywag who’d swindle and does nothing but trouble for everyone. And getting stuck tutoring with the school’s so-called witch isn’t even the worst part that happened to her…

The mint haired girl was in her bed. She didn’t bother to come out for dinner, so she just excuses her alone time as “studying”. It was the only way for her to be alone. School’s cancelled due to the boiling rain, so she can spend time to herself…silently crying.

She couldn’t believe she was mugged. Something like this never happened to her. She can still feel the cold knife to her neck, and her mouth magically zipped to not get anyone to hear her screams. She was still shaken by the event.

She walks up to her personal bathroom, turn the water on at the sink. She splashes water on herself, trying to forget what happened. But it’s not that easy for her, is it?

‘Should I tell them?’ she thought, thinking of telling her mom or dad about the mugging. Maybe they can report it to the authorities and-

Do you want them to think you’re weak?   

She looks at herself in the mirror, her eye liner’s running from her eyes. What was she thinking? How can she tell them without looking weak? But it wouldn’t be too bad to talk to them about-

Talking is worse, they’re gonna throw you out for not being strong enough. That’s why you got mugged because you didn’t fight back. It’s your fault for being so weak…

She is weak, but she’s not supposed to show weakness…

Your mother shows great disappointment in you when you got a B. Just imagine how she’ll react that you got mugged.

Getting kicked out of the house, stripped from the Blight family name. Lose her status, her friends, living alone with nobody helping you. Not being part of a coven can get her sent to the Conformatorium.

Yes! If you don’t tell them, you’ll be fine. Besides, it’s not like you’re really effective. You can get over it like a character from a tv show that would get over this kind of thing in the next episode. You’re self-reliant that way.

Yeah…maybe she should withhold that information to herself. It’s not like anyone should know that the star student got mugged. Right?

“Amity!” the mint-haired girl was startled from her thoughts, her mom calling for her “The rain has stopped, I’ll be running a quick errand. Since you’ve been studying so much in your room, would you like something for me to bring?”

Amity steps out from the personal bathroom, she is at a distance from her as she thinks if she should tell her. What can she say? Can she really say nothing about the mugging? She tries to tell but nothing comes out from her voice. It was as if mouth is zipped up, metaphorically speaking, if she tries to talk about the mugging. All she can do is be, quiet about it.

“Some candy eye of newts would be fine.” She told her mom, looking down.

“Alright, you deserve something for studying hard. Hope to keep your grades up, dear.” Her mother on the other side of the door has no idea how miserable Amity is feeling right now. The tone of her voice really bothers her, sounding so proud more on herself than her own daughter.

She looks at herself in the mirror, her eyes look tired. But she needs to make appearance.  

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Double Double Tutor and Trouble

The world was purple, like an endless purple void.

All there it was a desk and Amity sitting on that desk.

She is writing her homework, as in front of her is Professor Blanc, along with the other teachers in front of her. They all stare at Amity while their eyes are hidden with shadows.

"Excellent work, Ms. Blight," the short professor spoke highly.

"We expect a lot from our number one-star student." another teacher with the beak nose comments.

"If she keeps up, she'll be recommended to the Emperor's Coven in no time!" spoke joyfully a teacher with a large head.

"You have been training well out of everyone, my star pupil." spoke Lilith who is standing beside Amity, looking larger than usual. On Amity’s other side appears to be her mother, by her side with her hand on her shoulder.

"Of course, my daughter is perfect in everything...isn't that right dear?" her mother asks Amity, who simply nodded.

"Y-yes, mother." Amity responds. Her neck felt cold, as if something is pressing it. She tries to feel her own neck, but both hands grab her arms "Hey! Let me go! Help!" she cries out, as the desk and the people are gone. In front of her is the same mummy mugger that held her knife to her neck.

"Don't scream if you don't want to die." she hushes Amity, her sickening smile was wicked as Amity remembers. The mint haired girl couldn't speak, couldn't talk, all she feels was something holding her down.

"She's right," another, pale version of Amity wraps her arms around Amity's neck, her face closer to hers "Don't talk if you don't want to get in to trouble."

The air felt tighter around Amity, it was beginning to get harder to breath...

/

"NOOO!" Amity gasped, waking up from her bed. She was breathing and panting heavily. She felt her neck, feeling nothing but she still felt a sense of security there. 'Just a dream, just a dream...' she thought to herself, rocking back and forth. She held her neck protectively. She does not want any harm to happen around it. She then heard her pentagram buzzing on her nightstand.

She picks it up, looks at the schedule. She has tutoring with Luz today. But how is she going out alone? She should ask her siblings to walk with her. No, they will be too much of nuisances. She decides to text someone to come with her. But something for her neck…something for her neck…

That is when she saw an orchid scarf, something she never thought of seeing again. It was a gift from her grandmother to prevent her from getting cold during the winter solstice. Maybe she can wear it for the style.

/

Just a few steps away from home. Amity was waiting for a friend to stop by to meet her at the located spot at the café. She does not want to have her brother and sister escorting her, she didn't want them to baby her.

'Is she even coming?' Amity thought, wearing a different set of clothes that's not her Hexside uniform. That being, a black short sleeve dress with orchid leggings and black pointy shoes with golden crescent moon buckles. Around her neck, she wears the orchid scarf. It was her color, and she decides to wear a black sunhat. 'Titan, I knew this was a mistake.'

"Hey Amity, I got your text!" out of the blue, happens to be Skara. Out of her Hexside uniform, she wore a red long sleeve shirt with a ruby gemstone around her neck, a black skirt, pink leggings and black pointy shoes with red buckles. Next to her is the tall girl with green bobcut olive eyes, having to wear a casual black and green striped shirt and blue pants, with red sneakers. "Amelia was tagging along, promised to help her with her Plant Track homework."

"Currently growing my piranha plant in hopes to make it vegetarian." Amelia states showing pics of her large plant with eyes and lips "Skara suggests teaching him how to sing to make it friendlier.”

"That's...interesting." Amity replied, looking at the plant "What have you been feeding it?"

"Mostly veggies, but it keeps asking us for blood." Amelia told, not knowing Amity’s expression of concern "Which is part of the reason I keep trying to make it a vegetarian. Good thing I got that meat locker locked up…being the only vegetarian in the family of meat cleavers does have its complications.”

"So… what did you contact me for, Amity? You said you need someone to escort you to somewhere?" Skara asks, Amity gave no expression as she was just stirring her tea.

"Yeah, I'm uh...heading over to Luz’s house for tutoring." Amity told them.

“Wait, Luz as in, the human?” Skara asks, nervously. “You’re going to her place?”

"You mean, the place where the Owl Lady also lives?" Amelia asked in fear, gulping.

"Yup." Amity simply confirms, sipping her tea.

"Oh, you're worried that something will happen to you if you go up to where Luz and the Owl Lady lives." Skara deducts, well, only half-right "For a minute, I thought you were worrying about the muggings."

Amity almost choked on her own tea, coughing up a bit. "S-S-Sorry, something in this tea." she lied, though maybe not about the tea "What muggings?"

"You haven't heard? There's been some recent muggings that's been happening around Bonesborough, caused by some gang." Skara informs her friend.

"Yeah, you know Levi Thians from the Bard Track?" Amelia points out "I heard after the boiling rain; he went out to get some comics but then he got jumped."

"Is he alright?" Amity didn't show it, but she was concern for Levi. She didn't know him too much, but they have the same history class together.

Amelia looks down, awkward and wince was ridden around her face. She answers to her "He was sent to the Healing Coven general." she rubs her arm when she explains it to Amity "He's got some bruises and cuts last I’ve heard, they really messed him up bad."

The look Amity gave, flashes her back when she got jumped by the muggers. 'If I had spoken out-'

'You will not say anything to them, got it?'

"I... I’m sorry that happened to him." Amity told while getting her bag "Anyway, we can't dwell on about it now. There is nothing we can’t do about it much for Levi.” She spoke, her usual tone sounds stricter upon herself. This was the way Now are you two going to follow me up to the hill or what?"

Skara and Amelia look at each other, as they turn to Amity "Sure, Amity. I'm surprised you didn't ask Boscha on this trip." Skara points out.

"Yeah well, Boscha wouldn't like it cause, you know." Amity reminds her, rolling her eyes at Boscha’s over exaggeration "Besides, I can handle her on my own. What she's going to do, eat me?"

"Or sacrificing you for the Owl Lady." Amelia replied.

"Yeah, tied to a stake, underneath a campfire, while she and the Owl Lady dance around in a ritual while you scream helplessly as you get roasted once the flames consume your flesh, before they spill your guts out once they open your stomach, and cook them each and de-bone you to eat your cooked flesh." Skara said with a snort, causing the two to look at her with horrid looks.

"...Titan, Skara. I forgot how morbid you can be." Amity comments in disturbance. Makes her feel like she doesn't want to go.

/

And so, Amity travel up the hill along with Skara and Amelia. While halfway there, Amity kept into her thoughts on what she'd expect teaching Luz there. In fact, she knows nothing about her other than being the school's Detention Track delinquent. And the fact that she's the supposed daughter of the Owl Lady. The lingering thought of Luz setting her up to be sacrificed to the Owl Lady kept up in Amity's thoughts. It felt like the image has engraved into her psyche. However, what kept to her distractions are Skara and Amelia's conversation.

"You ever wonder what goes up there?" Skara asks.

"I hear from a cousin at Glandus that heard a rumor that up there the Owl Lady has created homunculus demons, and maybe that Luz may have been one." Amelia replied.

"I hear that Luz is the daughter of a human conqueror, and the Owl Lady won her over at a poker game." Skara points.

"Wait, poker game? I thought she was raised by wolves, and dances with bears." Amelia countered.

"I heard she once punched a bear!" Skara states.

"Where do you two hear these rumors?" Amity asks them.

Skara and Amelia pause for a moment while looking at each other and then turn to Amity. "Around." they all replied.

Amity roles her eyes as she looks forward "There it Is."

The three of them saw the Owl House, which looks nothing like out of their imagination. It is about bird shaped and looks more like a cottage than a creepy shed which they expected it to be. Of course, there’s this noticeable tower behind the house.

 "Wow, looks like a normal cottage." Amelia comments in awe.

"Guess it's just a normal home." Amity shrugs as she steps towards the door, noticing the claw marks that's slowly shrinking with the band-aids on it. Doesn't know why there would be band-aids on a door, but Amity didn't care much about it. “Bandages on claw marked door. I don’t know if this is supposed to be art, but-“As she's about to knock it...

"HOOT HOOT! WHAT'S THE PASSWORD!?" Hooty cries out while the three girls scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" The three cries out, Amity falls on her butt when Hooty sticks out while Amelia and Skara ran away from the long neck owl door.

Hooty just stares at Amity down "Geez, why did they scream? It's not like they see an enchanted house before?"

"I'm just here to tutor Luz!!" Amity shouts while trying to get Hooty away from her.

"Luz? Ah, you must be one of her friends!" Hooty says with his emotionless look that creeps the Blight girl out "But if you are her friends, you must know the password!"

"Hooty, what in Titan are you shouting about?!" cry out the voice of Luz, who opens the door moving Hooty away from Amity. "Oh, you're here early."

"U-uh, yeah." Amity looks at the wild human before her, wearing only a purple and yellow basketball sleeveless jersey shirt with blue shorts, and sandals. Amity also noticed the toothbrush in her mouth, as well as the bandage wrap around her left arm. "What happened to your arm?"

Luz looks a bit surprised but didn't show much, looking at her arm while taking the toothbrush out "Oh this? Just the result of a fight." she said while spitting out the liquidated toothpaste, then noticed two girls behind the trees "What's with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum over there?"

Amity turn to see Skara and Amelia behind the trees, hiding from either Hooty or Luz. "Oh, they're just here because they worry about me coming here. I-I told them they didn't need to come."

"But you said you wanted us to come with-" Amelia spoke but Amity turns her head to give her a glare, causing Amelia to be silent.

"It's alright, Amity, I know someone like you wouldn’t be too scared to come over to the most powerful witch's home." Luz said sarcastically while wiping the toothpaste from her mouth.

"I'm not scared of anything!" Amity shouts in defense.

"Alright, alright, no need to get all hissy about it." Luz waves it off "You wanna come in or what?"

Amity calms down while looking at her posse, as she turns to Luz "Yeah, I'm coming in." she said as she turns to Skara and Amelia "You two can go on ahead."

"Uh right, later Amity!" Amelia shouts while running off.

"Yeah, and sorry about the locker, Luz!" Skara replied, giving an apology before leaving off.

"Thanks, but you shouldn't be shouting an apology while my mom's around!" Luz warns Skara who ran faster than Amelia. Luz snorted when she laughs "She's lucky my mom's asleep right now or else she'd be chasing them around the Isles!" she slaps her knee while Amity stood, unphased by Luz's sense of humor.

"What would've happened if your mom was awake?" Amity asks her, Luz stops laughing a bit but still chuckled a bit.

"My guess, she'd chase them down and eat them alive." Luz told her, the mint-haired girl's eyes widen in horror "I kid, she wouldn't eat them...mentally traumatize them, but not eat them. Come on in, Minty."

Amity walks inside the house, notice that it looks a little messy around. Some scratch marks and "Sorry for the mess," Luz spoke to her "We had a Snaggleback intruder messing around here-gah!" Luz stepped on a Lego, "King! I told you to pick up stuff when we have guests!"

"Sorry Luz, got distracted by this enemy that's been flying around the house!" King told her, trying to swat a fly "Nyeh!" he cries out while trying to swat. The fly flew up pass the two which he chases after, making them move aside.

"Hey!" Amity yelped, fumbling to Luz who caught her.

"King! Watch where you're going!" Luz calls out to the little demon, she helps Amity up "Sorry, sometimes King has an attention span of a muskrat."

'Are you sure he isn't a muskrat? Whatever that is.' Amity thought, as she went on to sit on the couch, placing her purse bag down. She notices Luz walking down to her room "Where are you going?"

"Shower and getting changed. Just make yourself at home, and there's some chips in the couch." Luz told her while heading down.

'What chips-' Amity looks under the couch, brings it up and saw opened bags of chips scattered around. Some are stuck with gum and old candy. She immediately drops the couch while her eye twitch. 'Is this...is this how they live!?' she thought as she hears someone coming from the stairs.

"Luz, do you see Owlbert somewhere?" spoke Eda, waking up from her slumber as she comes down. Rubbing her eyes, she blinks and saw Amity by the couch. "...You're not Luz."

"Um...I'm Luz's tutor to get caught up with her studies at Hexside." Amity answered.

Eda looks as if she's trying to remember, she snaps her finger "Ah! You're Luz's tutor, um...Minty, right?" she asks pointing towards the mint-haired witch.

"It's Amity, Amity Blight." Amity introduced raising her hand up "It's nice to meet you, um, Ms. Owl Lady or what you'd like to be called."

"Just call me Eda, I don't do the whole "Misses" part. And don't call me Ms. Eda either." Eda told Amity while King snickered.

"It's because you're over 40, right?" King asks, prompting Eda to draw a circle spell with her finger, as water splashes all over the little demon.

"Comment about my age again, and you won't have any treats." Eda told while glaring at King. "Where's Luz, by the way?"

"She said she went to shower and then change." Amity answered. She sees Eda going to the fridge and pick out a jug of apple blood and pour it on her mug that reads 'I'm 30 and Flirty'.

"Well, make yourself at home. There's snacks in the couch you can have." Eda told her while closing the fridge. “Found a donut there and it was gooey delish if you wipe the dust off.” she does not notice Amity's look of disgust.

'Does anyone in this house eat from under the couch?!' Amity thought to herself.

/

Soon, Luz finally came out from the bathroom, all dressed in her formal wear. A green coat jacket with a purple and white striped shirt with black high-water jeans. She wears black fingerless gloves and around her belt is her deck of spell cards she made. She brings out a stick of gum, chews on it as she walks down to head for the family room.

"I'm back." Luz announced as she saw Amity having to set up some textbooks, notebooks, and spell books. She saw her mom cleaning up around the place with, as usual, her magic. The whole family room doesn't look like the mess from the incident at the rain. "At least the place is clean."

"Yeah, your mom just tidies up the place while I was setting up for the tutoring session." Amity states.

"Don't mind me, just making sure this place is at least cleaned. Usually, I only leave it messy whenever Luz brings in her friends over." Eda states. "I forget their names, Dweebus and Four-Eyes."

"You mean Gus and Willow, mom." Luz corrects her.

"They come here too?" Amity asks in shock. She had no idea that Gus and... Willow would come and go to Luz's home. Especially one that belongs to the most powerful witch.

"Yeah, they come and hang out with me every now and then. They're pretty much more allowed to come around here for the past three years." Luz said while walking to the couch, sitting beside Amity "So how does this...tutoring thing work?" she asks while laying at the end of the side of the couch, knee up on the couch while in a lazily position, crossing her arms.

Annoyed, Amity scolds her “First off, you need to at least sit up properly and at least listen.”

“I’m all ears.” Luz assures her.

“At least look like when you’re paying attention.” Amity gritted her teeth at her.

"Would you relax, I can still listen and learn it by memory and next thing you know, I get some B's." Luz told her.

"Luz, listen to your tutor, Amy." Eda calls out to her from the kitchen counter. Preparing to cook something.

"Wait, how long were you there?" Luz asks her, noticing Eda by the kitchen.

"You thought I left the room?" Eda questions, "After I cleaned up, I thought I'd fix you two something. Amy, you don't mind staying for lunch, right?" Eda asks her.

"It's Amity," she corrected "and I would love to join if it means to tutor your daughter." Amity said while glaring at Luz who just turn her head while crossing her arms to avoid her gaze. 'Why is she making herself so difficult?!' she thought with irritation, she has never met someone this stubborn in her life, other than Boscha. "Okay, let's start with your writing. Simple to teach you with." the way she says that while grinding her teeth, Luz couldn't help but be amused by her rival's reaction.

Moving to step her feet off the couch, Luz respond "Fine, teach me your ways of how to properly write like a proper witch." she said it so sarcastically.

Amity said nothing as she brings out a notebook, while spotting Eda bringing out some fruits and vegetables, as well as bringing out a knife. Her throat halted from gulping, her eyes looking like a defenseless doe looking at the headlights of a cart. Her pointy ears perked up at the sight of the knife. Eda used it to chop up the carrots and tomatoes.

"Hey, hey!" Luz taps on Amity's shoulder, making her shake her head a bit "Why you gotta look so tensed?"

'She can't know...'

"Oh uh, well...I was just...wondering what we're having for lunch." Amity lied. Luz raises her eyebrow, while seeing Amity giving her the notebook. "Let's start practicing writing your ABC's."

"That should be easy enough." Luz shrugs, grabbing the notebook as she writes the alphabet with her handwriting.

Amity reviews Luz's alphabets, which looks like what a dog would write. "...Well, I can't make sense to the...style, but let's see you write a paragraph."

"What should I write?" Luz questions.

"I don't know, a short story on what you did this morning or something." Amity suggests.

One writing session later.

Amity's baffled look when holding the paper in front of Luz, and Eda, at the terrible handwriting on the paper.

"So much grammar errors, misspellings, y-y-you can't tell the difference between "there" and "their"...how in Titan are you still able to read!?" Amity was aghast; she could barely read Luz's writing in the paragraph. She then turns to Eda "And you! You're supposed to have homeschooled her magic and all but have you in anyway taught her how to write?!"

"Hey, I did the best I can, unless forging signatures count." Eda said in defense "Sure, I didn't fully graduated school and had to be self-reliant, but I've made sure Luz is at least taught how to read. By finding these "How to Read" books for children, even one with a funny cartoon frog."

"Mom." Luz grit her teeth, feeling embarrassed.

"It only took her until she was 9 to learn how to read fully, around the time when she learns how to stop wetting the bed." Eda said proudly, not realizing Luz's reaction.

"MOM! FOR TITAN SAKE, YOU'RE EMBARRASSING ME!!" Luz cries out while her face blushes hard.

"Embarrassing you? Luz, there's nothing to be ashamed about it." Eda said, oblivious from what Luz is complaining about "I mean, it's not as bad when you had your first-"

"I'm not having this conversation in FRONT OF MY TUTOR!!" Luz calls out, immediately getting up as she walks out to her room.

"Luz, come back!" Eda shouts but Luz has already slammed the door "I don't understand teenagers these days." she said rubbing her forehead, turning to Amity "I mean, what's so embarrassing in having your first pie?" she asks confusingly.

Well, this was unexpected to Amity. Not that she doesn't know Luz's embarrassing moments, 'Maybe she's not as tough as she claims to be.' she thought.

DING!

"Oh, food's ready!" Eda states as she went to cauldron, opening the lid seeing the food cooked. "Hey Amy, why don't you go and get Luz. Something tells me she doesn't want to see me right now."

"Uh, yeah." Amity nervously respond, as she walks to the halls "Which way to her room?"

"To your left, you'll see a door with a "Keep Out" sign." Eda instructs, as Amity went to the halls while Eda prepares her food. "Now where did I put my plates?"

/

Amity walks through the halls, surprised how well the house is on the inside. She could've sworn that it looks smaller...optical illusion is tricky. The Blight girl was wondering if this is how Luz was raised under the Owl Lady. For that matter, she does notice some damages around here, but it's not like it's her business.

She spotted the door, which has a KEEP OUT sign, skull and crossbones, and some yellow and black striped tape. Again, another bizarre decoration to the Blight girl. She hovers her hand to knock on the door, however she hears Luz talking to someone. Amity heard her loud rant.

"...I just know by now that Amity's going to tell everyone at school what mom said in front of her!" Luz complained, inside her room she is chatting Willow through the crystal ball. Luz is laying on her bed with the crystal ball at her nightstand "Like...doesn't she know not to spread these kinds of things to anyone not your daughter?"

"I'm sure your mom didn't mean any harm, Luz." Willow replied from the crystal ball "I can relate what you mean. Sometimes my dad would always show my baby pictures to his work friends. Sometimes, it irritates me, but I know he does it because he loves me."

"Does your dad ever reveal in front of your tutor about your first pie?" Luz asks her, Willow looks at her in awkward.

"Ooooh, yeah, that one's most embarrassing." Willow replied, feeling sorry for Luz "Say Luz, I think I should let you know this now, but I heard Levi Thians got real hurt by some gang down last night."

On the other side of the door, Amity's iris shrank when she heard the name again.

"Is he alright?" Luz asks her, showing concern.

"He is." Willow replied "He's got a concussion, jumped from behind he said. Should be released sometime soon, but Gus is organizing a get-well card for any of the students to sign and give to Levi."

"Well, guess I'll sign it when he needs enough signatures." Luz replied, sitting up while looking more sadden for what happened to the unfortunate student "Man, I feel bad for Levi though. Admittedly, he's such a nice and shy boy, didn't bothered nobody but himself. Just minding his own business and more focus on his drawings. Always sold him some color pencils if he needs some." Luz frowns when she thought about what happened to Levi "Mom says that mugging is the lowest thing to do, it's beneath her and me..."

Hearing this, this gave Amity a new impression on Luz.

"I mean, why bother to sneak up and held someone threateningly, when you can just pickpocket them without noticing?" Luz finished. "Sometimes, you can just take the wallet, then give it back to the rich owner while you keep the 50 snails they have, not like they'll be missing them…if they’re rich."

Aaaaand Amity's opinion on Luz creeped up to shoot the new impression off from her mind...

But beside the point, Amity thought of what happened to Levi Thians. 'He was jumped from behind...don't tell me his attackers are-' she stopped herself from thinking of the muggers. She held her hand over her mouth in silence, not wanting to be say anything. Why should she...or why can't she?

Why...?

'No, no, keep it to yourself.'

She can't cough out the words.

It was like her neck is being strangled if she spoke about that night...like the muscles in her neck starts straining from speaking...she can't hear anything but the inner noise.

"What are you doing at my door?"

Amity's head shot up, turning towards Luz who stood in front of her with her door opened. Luz gave her a questionable look, noticing Amity's scared face. "Are you okay?" she asks her.

"I... I’m fine! Just accidentally poked my eye!" Amity gets up in a hurry, "Your mom says lunch is ready."

"Oh, I was just finish with stuff and all." Luz muttered.

Amity couldn't help but see a glimpse of her room. As expected, a bad girl like her would have some edge around the small square space. The only bed she saw is a loan mattress with covers, rock n'roll posters, and some paintings. Abstract paintings and some weird colorful ones that has big and skinny letters with arrows, with some paint brushes set aside, and spray paint bottles. "I didn't know you can paint."

"Oh, this?" Luz looks at her canvases "Yeah, those are some art I've made, plan to show off to the Bard track. Planning on introducing them to "Urban Art" and some abstracts."

"I've never heard these kinds of art techniques before." Amity states while Luz walks out of her room.

"Well, it's something you picked up when taking human world trips. They call it...urban life culture." Luz waves her hands like she's advertising. "Besides, most of the art around here is so Da Vinci, I could be the equivalent to Andy Warhog in this place."

"Still not getting what you're saying." Amity said, feeling calm now when talking to Luz as she follows her.

As the two made it to the kitchen, sat at the table. King also showed up after finally swatting the fly and conquered it. Eda simply made veggie soup...at least, that's what it's supposed to look. She followed it through a cookbook she has.

"Now eat up before it eats you." Eda told them.

Luz pokes her...food, with her fork, as a tendril grabs her fork. "Oh no you don't!" she cries out as she stabs the living food. Attacking it before it attacks her.

Amity looks at hers, which looks at her back. She grabs some salt and shake it down, causing the food to make an unimaginable scream as it boils up with steam coming out. She turns to King, who's eating what appears to be a cooked mandrake.

"So, any plans for my Luzy here, Amy?" Eda asks while chewing on the meat that looks like a beast's hand.

"Um...I think I may know a solution to help with Luz's handwriting." Amity told her "If I can recommend, have Luz trace some letters and words on a clear paper, she may be able to learn how to write clearly. And if we can have her learn a unique spell that's credible enough to pass the semester finals."

"Okay, so what is it that Luz needs to pass?" King asks her.

"Well, she would need to pass three parts of the Hexside's exam to stay for the semester. One is a written and multiple-choice test that will have her read and answer questions. The second part is demonstrating a unique spell of her own creation, and thirdly she must do a Witch's Battle, which doesn't matter if she wins or lose, if she can last 30 minutes in a witch's duel with an opposing strong-level student, it can count depends on the number of points she lasts through the minutes, but if she wins, she can get double points." Amity explained to the self-proclaimed King of Demons.

"Wait, I thought it doesn't matter if I win or lose in the Witch Battle part?" Luz asks her.

"It does, if you lose less than 30 minutes, that counts as failure." Amity answered. “All you need is to survive at least 15-20 minutes.”

"None of that makes any sense." King points out.

"That's the school system, King. They're not made to give kids "experience" in what self-fulfilling life they bring. Schools are made so you can get jobs in whatever Coven you're in, by underpaid educators that can’t afford anything but school supplies." Eda states while drinking her apple blood "So Amy, what Track are you're in?"

"Abomination Track, Miss...um...Eda." Amity told her, sounds a bit shy towards the Owl Lady.

"Oh yeah, Abomination Track. I once did make some Abominations myself, as well as some homunculus and creating golems." Eda claims "I've also animated some objects in this house."

"Just don't think too much of it, alright?" spoke a living candle stick with a mouth and one eye.

"Wait, what Track were you in?" Amity questions the Owl Lady.

"Oh, I was in the Potions Track but I know everything I can learn from." Eda states. "Then I dropped out, developed to my full potential, work hard with my magic and I became a self-made powerful Witch under the Bad Girl Coven!"

"Yeah, and nobody's gonna try to take on us Clawthornes!" Luz stood up joining her mom in declaration.

Suddenly, Amity's crow starts squawking. "CAW! CAW! SKARA'S CALLING!!" it cawed as Amity grabs it and taps it's stomach.

"Skara?" Amity answered.

"Hey, Amity, if you’re not being sacrificed right now, can you show up at Amelia's place? The plant we’ve been working on starts to grow to take us hostage and-!" Skara yells, as crashing noises is heard "Send help!!" the line got cut.

"Skara? Skara!?" Amity yelled, she gives a stressful sigh "I gotta go, emergency call." she said as she brings her bag.

"But what about my tutoring?" Luz asks her as Amity goes to the door.

"Just try to write letters repeatedly like I said!" Amity told her as she reaches for the door. But halted when she realizes that she is going to go out alone. "You know...I may need someone to accompany me to head over to Emelia's place."

"Luz would be happy to go with you, right Luz?" Eda asks her foster daughter.

"What? But-!" Luz tries to retort but Eda stares at her, Luz sigh "Yes. I would like to accompany you to your friend's place."

Eda rubs Liz's head. "That's my girl, if you come early...I can teach you how to make a homunculus."

"Really?" Luz looks at Eda, who nods. Luz grabs Amity's hand as she pulls her out of the house "Come on, show me the way to your friend's house."

Amity's shocked expression comes with a blush to her face, "Wawawawawait a second!! Shouldn't I lead the way!!?"

“Yeah, your right.” Luz said as she pushes Amity up front “Besides, isn’t your friend a little overexaggerating about a plant attack?”

/

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" Luz cries out, seeing the largest plant sticking out of Emilia's house. It’s large head with massive red jaws burst from the rooftop, as it’s rooted viney tendrils swinging around holding civilians and coven guards that were trying to contain the situation. Skara and Emelia were also among held by the tendrils of the roaring plant.

"The piranha plant, they must've fed it so much meat while enchanting it, it grew bigger and out of control!!" Amity states as the two separates when a large root crash down between them.

Luz brings out two fire spell cards as she places it on the large vine, taps on it, as it sets on fire. The monstrous plant screeches as it roles it's vine on the ground to keep it from setting on fire. Amity keeps shooting at it with fire spells, but the monster blocks it with a harden leaf like a shield. It then starts shooting thorns everywhere. Luz and Amity dodges them. as they keep shooting at it.

"Is there any way to kill that thing!?" Luz asked.

"The only way to kill a plant is to root it out of the source." Amity replied, as Luz sees an opening of the house, which is a crashed hole the roots grow out of.

"Then we're going to that source!" Luz shouts as she rushes towards the house.

"Luz, wait!" Amity cries out, as she is grabbed by the vines "GAH!"

/

Luz enters the house, seeing all the roots and vines all over the interior of the house. She looks around for the source, while burning off the upcoming roots and vines coming after her.

“Okay, gotta find the seed of evil that started all of this.” Luz said to herself, as she looks around with her fire spell card lit. “I don't want to cause an arson, so maybe some ice spell cards will do.” She said after thinking, as she brings out some ice card spells up.

"Now what do we have here?"

Luz felt something wrapped around her leg, which she yelps and threw her fire card at the root trying to grab her.

"Ouch! Girl, you trying to set me and this house on fire!?"

Luz looks around, feeling the vines grabbing her arm "Hey! Let go of me!" she cries out as she brings out an ice spell card, freezing the vine but is wrapped around it to bind her arms together. "Hey! Let me go!!!"

"Hmm~, I've never seen a Witchling like you before, darling~!" spoke what appears to be a pair of eyes and large plant mouth with teeth, with a hellish glowing color in its mouth as it's connected to a large broken pot. A large tree-like vine sprouted through the house as it covers the whole house, with six large roots connected to the ground "Especially with those big ol’ round ears! But I wonder if you're a good for a appetizer!”

"Wait, how many mouths does a plant monster have!?" Luz asks in shock.

"About as many mouth holes a witch can have if you catch my drift." the creature's mouth sound so sensational and seductive, yet all it throws in its mouth is slab of meat from the fridge. "I’m the source of this marvelous plant, which is attacking outside. Consider me the stomach. I've been demanding some meat for quite some time, but those pesky girls wouldn't let me. So, I have helped myself in the fridge and meat locker… the next thing I know, I'm craving for some flesh!" it shouts with its tongue sticking out.

"You can't solve your problems overeating, you know?" Luz states while trying to reach for her cards.

"True, but the more I eat, the bigger I get, and the more powerful I become!!" the plant monster told her as it runs out of food in the meat locker "Well, looks like I'm out of something in the locker, so now I think I'm just gonna eat you!"

Luz grit her teeth, as she is being led to the plant monster's mouth. "No way I'm gonna end up being your food!" she shouts, as she manages to get her ice card from her deck pouch, place it on the thick vine as it freezes around her, causing the vine to snap off.

"Yowch!" the plant monster shouts as Luz lands on the floor, stepping away from the monster. "Oh, you'll pay for this, I'll make sure you come in poached!"

"Yeah, come on plant monster, show me what you.... got," Luz said speechless, seeing a number of vines and other fly traps surrounding her. Luz brings out the rest of her ice and fire cards to prepare for the attack. Follow by some vines playing some instruments in the background, like piano, saxophone, guitars and trumpet.

"San Angelo giving readings,

14 Redding Roses,

Witches throwing cauldron parties,

Flora getting a cold."

 the plant monster sang while dropping beats, Luz threw an ice spell at one vine and created a fire ball at another.

"Petunia's hanging pictures,

Herbal's making tea,

Me I only do they think

that makes sense to me

 I want to Eat!"

Luz rolls around and burns a fly trap and another, avoiding it's jaws as it sings "I want to Eat, Eat!" the source sings while Luz burns it as another sing "I want to Eat, Eat, Eat~!" she freezes it as the saxophone still plays. She manages to burn off one large root connected to the ground.

"Cal and Lily having beef,

Raising Poppy's quota!

Sometimes when they meet O'Keeffe,

Portrait their aroma~!"

Luz dodges other vines coming at her, while the monster sang, Luz crashed to the table as she uses it as a shield.

"Ivy's feeling itchy,

Oak's is really feeling old,

Me I do the only thing

That gets me really bold..."

Luz saw the roots growing rapidly while spotting a pen to draw a fire symbol "I Want to Eat!" as the jazz playing fly trap plays the sax, the table is pushed to the monster as its set on fire but is shielded by a large leaf. "I Want to Eat! Eat!" Luz jumps up with two cards on each hand, throws at the plant monster as it explodes in front of it. However, Luz got caught by the plant monster's vine, as it sings "I Want to Eat, I want to Eat, I WANT TO EAT!" he gives a laugh “Very stimulating.” He spoke while only have four roots that’s keeping him alive.

/

Amity shoots another fireball while her abomination smashes the animating roots. Skara and Amelia are freed from the vines, as they ran to Amity for protection.

“Amelia, can you control this thing?!” Amity demands.

“Yeah, I can’t control something like this.” Amelia replied while looking terrified.

“You’re in the Plant Track! You should’ve gotten good there already!” Amity spat.

“This isn’t how my death fantasies turn out to be!” Skara cries out while zapping spells at one root.

Amity had no time to ask, as she is busy blasting a fireball at one vine. But then she pushes Amelia away, after a launching root aims at her. The root wraps Amity around her neck, choking her.

“Amity!” they cry out. But then suddenly the vine unwraps Amity’s neck. The two were confused, as they turn to find to their surprise, someone with glowing eyes and controlling the vines to stop attacking.

Amity fell as she held her neck. She was shivering, coughing as she turns to her savior. Her eyes widen knowing who her savior was.

/

Luz managed to escape after freezing another vine that got her. The source’s mouth shoots out large seeds to start attacking her.

“Sassafras’s feels exposed,

Build a barb-wired garden

Edelweiss pedals down under

But zhe Tulips still get pardon

Mary-Jane came here at Four-Twenty

When I get super trippy

I often get the munchies, so I get to eat.”

Luz threw at more fire cards to incinerate the vines. This was getting old at this point but that’s what happens fighting in a boss level.

“I Want to Eat!” the source continues to sing while attacking Luz “I Want to Eh-eeat~!” another one of its roots gets frozen and snapped off, as the plant seems to get weaker.

“Dandelion to Syringa

Orchid, Rose, and Dahlia

Daffodil and Gerbera

Thornbush, redwood and Akaibara

Florists arranging Himawari.”

Now Luz holds two of her cards that bursts fire and ice, sends them to the monster. The vine grabs her waist and raise her upside down. Hovering over the plant monster. When the cards are dropped, they burn and freeze two more roots.

“It must be really frightful

To be eaten by the likes of me!”

CRASH!!

A large rolled up root was burst back to knock the piranha plant’s source, knocking it’s jaws away from Luz. Luz uses the card to burn off the vine as she fell to the floor.

Luz looks up, sees that Willow came “Glad to have a deux ex machina.”

“I just happen to see a giant plant on sight of town.” Willow replied, helping Luz up. “Just what is that?!”

“Long story short, Amity’s prissy posse has made a singing piranha plant.” Luz explained as she sees the source regaining itself. Luz held up a card, as she asks Willow “Can you do something with these vines?”

“I’ll try to, this piranha plant may have grown big but it’s not that strong.” Willow states pointing at the root that came out from the pile of dirt, noticing the dry root that is the only one left. “May found it’s weak spot!”

“Oh, you think you can beat me?” the source spoke as it shoots out more large seeds, which the two dodges. Willow draws a green circle, preventing the vines to stop aiming at her and her friend. “WHAT!!?” the source cry out in shock and surprised.

“I won’t…let you…hurt my best friend!” Willow countered as she circles another spell, “COUNTER!” it shoots out green vines of her own, spikier. The spikey vines bash the piranha plants and it’s weeds. They fought, tangled, and stab through the large pedicel. “Luz, now!”

Luz had finished drawing a line that leads to one last fire spell card. She taps it down as a trail of fire follows the line, all the way to the dry root. It’s set on fire, as the root spread underneath the source.

“What’s cooking?” the source of the piranha plant asked, until it looks down on itself “OH SHIT!! I’M COOKING!! NOOOOO!!!!” it cries out, as the flames bursts through the plant as it ingulfs the singing plant.

Outside, the large head of the piranha plant cries out in pain, as it starts to dry up. The large carnivorous plant fell down, dropping the civilians and coven guards down back to the street. They all ran except for three Hexside students.

“What just…happened?” Skara asked.

“I think…Luz and Willow did it.” Amity replied, seeing the roots turning to dust as she saw many people coming out of the large throat of the piranha plant.

“Our project’s ruined…and so is my house!!” Amelia declared, weeping through her tears. “My folks are going to kill me when they get back.”

Luz and Willow came out of the house, as Luz is holding a withered piranha plant from it’s root. “All that trouble from this little guy.” She comments, looking at the thing.

Willow looks at Amity, who turns back as she helps Skara up. Willow turns back to Luz, “So…I guess the tutoring session went well?” she asks her.

“Yeah, gotta do a lot of stuff.” Luz replied while dusting herself “I don’t think I’m going to get that song this guy sang while attacking me out of my head anytime soon.”

/

A few days the piranha plant incident was given attention through the public and the news throughout the Boiling Isle. One school project has given that it was caused by Hexside students, which Principal Bump had to call in the five students about the incident they were involved. Luz, Willow, Amity, Skara and Amelia to Principal Bump’s office. Bump reviews the news footage shown on the day, as he turns to the students when he gives his own thoughts.

“Well, with these many different camera angles shown, especially with the testimonies, I’ve come with a verdict.” Bump turn to Skara and Amelia “You two, your group project will get extended. But no more piranha plants.” He turns to Amity “Ms. Blight, you’ve been keeping Luz out of trouble, and preventing the piranha plant from attacking your fellow classmate.”

‘Oh sure, give her the credit.’ Luz rolls her eyes.

“As for your, Luz, you have done well in helping out stopping the fires.” Bump comments to the human girl, as he then turns to Willow “As for you, Ms. Parks. You appear to be capable in controlling the plant’s moves from attacking…what Track you’re in again?”

“Um, Abominations before the incident, sir.” Willow states, while Luz notice Bump’s look.

“I see, and after what I’ve seen, I’ve decided to transfer you to the Plant Track.”

Hearing what Bump said, Willow looks surprised “R-Really, sir?”

Bump smiled. "Yes, young lady, by the actions you’ve done and the power you’ve displayed there and taking care of the nature around you...welcome to the Plant Track." He created a green circle.

Willow school uniform changes. Instead of purple, transform into green, she smiled. "Oh, thank you, sir."

"So, does that mean none of us are in trouble or anything?" Luz asks him.

"Well other than the news mentioning Hexside students causing...that, and since it's not on school grounds, you all are off the hook." Bump told them "Even you, Luz. Now you're all dismissed, and the school's guidance counselor is always available to meet in regards of recent events. Also, if any of you are interested, the Coven Convention is coming for those who seek to other covens, so on and so forth."

Soon they all came out of Bump's office, as Amity walks along with Skara and Amelia, Luz walks off with Willow. They all went their separate ways without word from each other.

"...Well, guess that's over with." Luz states finally speaking "Well, outside of my tutoring. You alright?"

"Yeah, in fact I'm feeling really good about this." Willow replied looking at her new green sleeves "Now that I'm in the Plant Track, things will be easier for me to help with my studies. What about you, Luz?"

"Oh, you know me, it's going swell." Luz responds "Little Miss Perfect was no trouble to me. I guess I intimidated her with my rebel charm."

Willow recall to her thoughts by the time at the plant attack, she had glanced at Amity who was choked by the monster plant's vine. She looked at Amity shaken and held on to her neck. Even though Willow has issues with Amity, she can't help but feel concern.

"Did she act weird to you when she was in your house?" Willow asks her.

"I... guess. She did act weird some time." Luz answered, "If you're worried if she's going to kidnap me and pluck my eyeballs and tongue, you've got nothing to worry about. Guess Minty's like, nervous in being at an Owl Lady's house, you know?"

Willow nodded but couldn't help but think 'I hope you're right on that, Luz.' she then spoke "So the Coven Convention is this weekend."

"Ah you know I'm not going to that trap. Last thing I want is for my own magic to be sealed off so I can use one specific magic to join a coven." Luz told her, digging her ears after felt an itch "Besides, I don't see why I should go there. I don't need to join some coven to be affiliate with, not even-"

"Luz Clawthorne." spoke a teacher that confronted Luz. She appears to be a four eyed mantis in a black robe.

"Mrs. Mantis? Look, whatever those theater kids are saying, I didn't do-"

"Listen here, Luz. I just want to let you know that someone anonymous has told me about your artwork. Can't say who, but after seeing your paintings, I must say that I've never seen anything like it. It's so raw, urban, juvenile yet...it speaks to my soul." Mrs. Mantis told with her incisor close to her chest "Your paintings reminds me of that time I've eaten my husband's head so much, that I submitted your art piece to a contest at the Coven Convention."

“Wait, what!?” Luz asks as Mrs. Mantis hands her a flyer of the convention.

“With this contest, you’ll probably get offers to the Bard Coven. Isn’t that wonderful.” Mrs. Mantis told as she walks away “Oh, and I see you’re in the Plant Track, Willow. My husband was in the Plant Track. Now his head is in my stomach.” She said as she walks pass them.

“Luz, this sounds great! Your art is going to be displayed for all to see!” Willow congrats her friend, while Luz’s eyes widen in silence in shock. “…Luz?”

“Who…who could…” Luz stammers, her hands shaking as she starts to look panicky. Soon, she starts to conclude who would’ve done this…

Chapter Text

Luz was steaming mad, so mad that when she marches down she goes past through the students she wronged.

“Luz Clawthorne, I got a bone to pic-GAK!”

“Hey, you’re the one who ruined my boyfriend last week-GUCK!”

“Stop! This is the hall monitor-ACK!”

Luz marches down the hallway, passing through the many students that are in her way while leaving them on the floor. She just made a hand chop to their necks, leaving them immobile.

At the other side, Skara and Boscha are seen talking to each other. "I can't believe you're seeing that goblin under the bridge." Skara comments.

"He’s only temporarily." Boscha responds while waving her hair "Besides, I’m only saying I’m dating him because he offers me to ride on this bat-winged pegasus he won from some card game." she notices Skara's panicky look "What's with you?"

"Where is she. "

Boscha freezes up, turning her head to find Luz, who shoves her bat at the locker that's about close to Boscha's face which didn't hit her. "Unless you wish for your hollow bones to not be turned to dust, I would like to know where Amity is." she said with a dark sounding voice at the end.

"I-I'm not afraid of you, human!" Boscha stammers, as Luz raises her fist which makes her flinch, making Luz laugh.

"Made ya look." Luz chuckled, while turning to Skara who looked even more afraid.

"...Amity's at the library, but out of curiosity, w-w-why do you wish to see her?" Skara asks while looking nervous.

"Just uh...needed some help with tutoring, that's all." Luz lied with a grin. She retrieves her bat as she walks away, but not telling Boscha "Oh and Boscha...I'll accept the flinch as an apology." she told her while walking to the library.

Skara gives a sigh of relief, "Man, that was a close one, right Bosc...ha?" she looks at Boscha's anger look, gritting her teeth while glaring daggers at Luz's back. "H-hey, at least she accepts your apology...kind of...well, more like she accepted the flinch as one-"

"I hate her so much." Boscha mutters through her teeth.

On her way, Luz storms down to the entrance of the library. But then she is halted by a tall, black cloaked figure "Hey! I needed to be in there!"

"Luz the Human." spoke the cloaked figure, with a deep, dark voice "You shall not enter this library for by accordance from the principal, due to you being banned." he points at the poster of Luz with a red circle and crosses over her.

"Oh, come on! I thought I was lifted from that ban!" Luz points out.

"You've had overturn dues that were 2 months late!" the guard told her.

"Ooooh, but they were really good mangas! I can't help but read them over and over again!" states “Though, I am a slow reader, but that can't be enough for a ban!"

"There's also the time you've instigated a sit-in for the book elves." he adds.

"Hey, those book elves demanded payment, Bump's lucky that they're part of the elf union." Luz points out.

"You are to not set foot in this library, and that is FINAL!" he declares as his eyes glow red.

Luz glares back, she gives a huff as she sits at the side of the wall "Fine, then I'll just wait here until Amity gets out."

"You...actually, you can do that." the hooded guard told her.

"...Soooo how much does it pay to guard the library?" Luz asks him.

"About the same as the teacher's salary." the guard replied, making Luz winced.

"That’s rough, buddy.” Luz said, feeling bad for the guard.

About 10 minutes later, Amity came out of the library along with some students as the bell rings. She passes by a box which she noticed. She looked at the box and saw it had cut out holes. She looks at the box in curiosity, wondering where it came from.

"Luz, you've done that trick before to that cat boy, what makes you think it'll work on me?" Amity said, prompting Luz to reveal herself over the box.

"Dang it! I was going to surprise you with a "Yooooouuu" while pointing at you like, accusingly." Luz muttered while glaring at Amity "But anyway, what the hell, Amity!? Why did you have one of my artworks submitted to some art show at the Coven convention!? Is this some kind of joke to you? Some form of humiliating me?!"

"What? No!" Amity denied seriously, "I just thought if you want to introduce your art, maybe this is a way to help encourage you-"

"To join the Bard Coven?" Luz finished guessing what Amity's going to say.

"Well, yeah, that is kinda-"

"I keep telling you I want to join all the Covens!"

"Yes, yes, you did. But maybe it would be a little easier if you picked at least one Coven." Amity tries to word it out to ease tension, but that didn't make Luz any less mad.

"So you thought you could get away with screwing me over like this? And without my consent about it!?" Luz yells out loud. "I invited you to my home and after the freaky shit we did that day you decided to screw me like this!?"

"Watch how you phrase it like that, you idiot!" Amity yells back, a tint of blush appears.

"Oh, I'm the idiot? Well would an idiot challenge you to a Witch's Duel!?" Luz declared, earning a lot of gasps from the students "The loser will do what the winner's terms are. That being, you can stop interfering with my life, even if you are my tutor." she said pointing at Amity's chest.

Amity glared at Luz, a little peeved at her attitude and eventually got caught up "Fine, but when I win, you'll just have to accept that you can't learn from all the Covens!" she drew a circle around, signaling an everlasting and everlasting oath. "And we'll do it with the everlasting oath." she said holding her hand through the circle.

"Fine then." Luz accepts, spitting her own hand and claps it onto Amity's in the oath circle. Amity gave a reasonable grossed out shock of this action "You're on! Our duel will take place at the Covention, where hundreds will watch you lose."

"I... highly... doubt that." Amity grits her teeth as the everlasting circle disappears as both let go of their hands.

"Doubt all you want, cause Luz Clawthorne ain't backing out a challenge! Especially from some mint haired girl who screwed me!!" Luz declares while walking backwards, before tripping on her own box. Then she gets back up again while walking backwards "See you Saturday..."

"I'm still going to tutor you around this week, you know!" Amity told her, while looking at her hand where she contacted Luz's spit hand "I really need to wash this...with sanitizer."

"So are you and Luz..." asked the moon headed girl, which Amity took defense of.

"Uh no, that's not it! We did nothing!" Amity denied with a blush tint on her face.

"You did WHAT!?!" Eda shouts after Luz told her that she made a witch's duel with Amity. Right now, they're talking in the custodian closet.

"I've made a witch's duel with Amity, so that she doesn't interfere with my life. And hey, this is the best opportunity to show everyone my skills with the glyph cards." Luz explains while holding her cards.

"It's not the witch's duel I'm mad about, even if it is your tutor, but accepting the everlasting oath has to be the most reckless thing you've done! Haven't I taught you to never accept a witch's duel with an everlasting oath included?" Eda scolds Luz, who looks down. "There's a reason why we Clawthornes can't keep certain promises that we can't make."

"Well yeah, but I can beat Amity at her own game in this." Luz declares.

"How? You've never been into a witch's duel before, this is your first one." Eda states, making Luz to slowly realize the thought of that process.

Her determined smile changed into a worried frown.

"Oh, my Titan, what have I done!!?" Luz cries out in panic, shocked at what she had done.

"You acted without thinking, that's what." Eda answered, pinching the bridge of her nose "Look, I'll help you get ready for this witch's duel through training after school, and the days when you have your tutoring session with Annie. But if you promise me to never accept a witch's duel that comes with an everlasting oath again, got it?"

"Yes mom, I won't." Luz told her "Besides, you trained me how to defend myself even with my magic cards."

"Defenses, yes, but you'll need a good offence. So, I'm going to train you some new spells to cast." Eda responds, "By the way, where is the duel taking place? The Grugby field?" she asks while leaning back, drinking her coffee blood.

"Actually, we're dueling at the covention Saturday." Luz answered, causing Eda to spit-take her coffee at the furnace.

"Hey! I can't afford to get rusted again!" the furnace barks at her.

"The covention?! Why there!? That’s where the Emperor’s Coven going to be!" Eda points out.

"I know, that's why I need to show Amity off where dozens can watch how this human witch girl can beat the so-called star student." Luz declares while seeing her mom's eye twitch "Mom?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Eda assures her "Outside that I can't be there because the Emperor's guards are there- HAHA! Least you can go there."

"Are you hiding something that I'm not supposed to know? Is this another one of your family secrets?" Luz asks her with her eyes narrow in suspicion.

Eda sigh, "Okay, I guess I should tell you, just let's talk out there."

Luz walks out of the broom closet and waits for Eda to come out, but the door closes behind her. "What the- Mom!" she shouts as she knocks on the door, but no response. Luz pouted "Fine! I'll learn whatever it is you're hiding at the Covention, which Gus and Willow will gladly give me tickets to enter!" she shouts as she turns around, heading to her detention track.

"You want us to do what?" Viney asks Luz as they're in the other realm.

"We're going to profit off my witches' duel, and I need you all to make it seem that I'm unaware that you guys are taking betting pools for all the students to place their bets mostly against me. Because I know for a fact that most of the students will think I'm not going to win Amity, but when I win, we keep the profits of the bet and split it 50/50 share." Luz explains to the detention trio.

"So… you want us to get all the students in a betting pool to make bets of you losing, but when you win, we get the profits, and you deny the pool?" Jerbo questions while thinking it over.

"Arf!" Barcus barked, finding the plan having so many holes.

"Exactly! This will be done in the Covention’s theater. The look on Amity's face when she trembles before me when I show them who is the biggest witch on campus now, witch!?" Luz declares while laughing maniacally.

'She's one cat and eyepatch away to become a full up supervillain.' they all thought while seeing Luz rub her hands, forming her master plan. 

Throughout the week, things have been quiet for the days. While Amity tutors Luz on the selected days, Eda would train Luz in self defense magic. Oftentimes when Eda takes Amity for a ride home, by her request. Amity has been training herself when she couldn’t get in contact with her other teacher, but she often trains herself with her abomination magic.

Right now, they’re at the covention, where Luz helps her mom get in disguise while having her hoodie over. Since she’s still a wanted woman in the Boiling Isles.

"There, you should blend in well." Luz told her mom.

"I look ridiculous looking like a nerd." Eda states while wearing Groncho glasses and mustache "But if it gets my back off from the Emperor's Coven to send me to jail, again, so be it."

"Maybe this convention could inspire you to join at least one coven." Willow points out nicely.

"Pass." Eda said as she walked past her.

"Man, first time going into that place." King comments as he also enters inside. “Least it’s not as bad as the last convention we sneak into in the human world. Nothing but smelly humans are either too busy eating expensive food, or taking pictures of scantily clad females, or being stalked by fursuit weirdos carrying around wonder bread.”

"Yeah," Luz said as she walked in, seeing the large inside of the building, having all nine flags of the main covens as well as many stands for different other covens. "Maybe we should set up for the Bad Girl Coven here."

"Hey Luz, check it out." Gus points at the Construction Coven, where some Construction members demonstrate using power glyphs to build a house. "The Construction Coven uses power glyphs to use their strength."

Luz watches as one Construction member places the power glyph on Tiny Nose, who gets mad with power and starts wrecking stuff. "Interesting, but I think I have the cards for it. Though, it would be interesting to use those stickers..."

"Hey, is that you, Luz?" King points at the poster, showing an image of Luz with Amity facing together in the Witch's Duel at a later time.

"Oh yeah, I had Barcus printed out these- I mean, whaaaat? Where did that poster come from?" Luz said while denying the poster.

‘Oh yeah, I remember pulling that stunt before.’ Eda smirks proudly, thinking about how she used to set up bets for every Witch Duel she partakes back in her time at Hexside. She pats Luz’s back “Well then, guess you’ll be more focused when you face the mint hair, so don’t let her psych you out.”

"Like I'm not going to let Amity psych me out." Luz respond while looking around "So um, is there anything to do around here?"

"Well, the Emperor's Coven panel is here and we're just going to check that out." Willow points to the Emperor's Coven flag, along with other posters of Eda around it.

"You can come with us if you want, Luz." Gus offers her.

"I'll just hang around until the duel." Luz replied, pulling her hood up "Come on, King, let's hope they have some free stuff around to take and probably get some potential suckers."

"Suckers are the most easily manipulative in this free consumer economy." King declares, as they walk out to the other way through the convention.

"And I'm just gonna give this painting to the judge so that I can keep myself inconspicuous through the crowd." Eda said while pulling out Luz’s urban painting, as she walked away from the two, as both Willow and Gus decided to just head down to the theater.

Eda walks over to the art show panel, as she meets up with the demon judge "Excuse me, but I'm here to turn in the painting of submission."

"Oh, that's nice, this one must be from Luz Clawthorne, according to the submission's name." he spoke as Eda's fake glasses and mustache fell off. The judge looks at her "You um...drop your glasses, nose and mustache."

"Oh, uh..." Eda saw the judge about to look at the poster, but she slammed a bag of trail mix "Distraction!" she declares while running away, having the judge look down on the trail mix. Then she comes back and puts the hood over the judge's head "Nyeh!" she grabs the trail mix and runs off to Willow and Gus "Hey, are there any seat admissions there?"

"Fast-food coven, painting coven, kitten handling coven, this place has everything for covens." King points out as he looks around.

"Don't forget, King, this place is a trap for commoners like us to make us lose our individualism just to be like anyone else. I'd rather be a misprint trading card than being the same set of puppets created by the system." Luz told him while not looking her way, having her hood up over. She was too busy looking at King, she ends up bumping into someone "Oof!"

"Excuse you," spoke a woman's voice turning around. Luz saw the pale skinned woman with teal eyes, blue hair, black robe dress and wearing a hooded cloak while she held a bird-like mask. The witch to Luz reminds her of her mom.

"Mom?" Luz asks, while Lilith looks at Luz weirdly.

"I'm not your mother, but if you are lost there's a lost and found booth over there." Lilith told Luz as an emperor's soldier confronted her.

"Captain Lil- I mean, ma’am, you're up for the panel." he told her.

"I'm aware, Craig." Lilith said as she hands Luz something "Here, a little gift from the Emperor's Coven." she told her “Hope you find whoever you’re looking for.” She said while walking away before muttering “That’s the second time I’ve been called mom.”

Luz to look at what she brought her, a fountain pen with a broom emblem.

"Hey, is that a fountain pen? Can I have it?" King asks as Luz hands him the pen set "Thanks, Luz!"

"Yeah, whatevs." Luz told while curious about Lilith when he saw her walking down. She sees a sign that reads "Emperor's Coven Panel this way" as Luz walks down there.

“Yeah I’ll see ya around.” King told her as he looks around at the track stands, he looks at one in particular “Apathy Track? Hey, do you have any free gifts?”

“Sorry, not with that attitude.” Replied that apathetic sloth demon.

“Darn, then who needs ya.” King said looking down, but the sloth gives him a mug holder.

“Here’s a free mug holder if you think of joining!” the sloth demon offers.

King looks excited as he grabs the mug holder “Wow, thanks!”

The sloth immediately frowned “Get out.”

Luz enters the seating arena of the theater, looking to see Eda with Willow and Gus. She also saw Amity at the front, and some of her teachers like Professor Blanc and some of the students she recognized, especially the kindergarteners that bizarrely aren’t with their parents. Soon at the stage, Principal Bump pops up, circling a micro-bat hovering over above him for all to hear.

"Hello Bonesborough!” Bump announced to all “Now then, students have always asked me, ‘Principal Bump, what's the height of magical achievement? ’"

"Is it this?” One student answered by making his head big, which turns over and crushes a student.

"Wow, how I’ve let the school system fail you." Bump laments, but moves on “Anyway, it’s all about being selected to join the best of the best like no one ever was, and there is no coven better than the jewel of the coven system and the enforcers of his will...The Emperor's Coven!" Bump replied as three men dressed in a white cloak and mask appeared.

Luz narrows, as she then rolls her eyes, making a tick mark “Typical.” She whispers.

"These are top elite members hand-picked to help usher in a new age of controlling all- yes all forms of magic!” they demonstrate showing the power to control fire, ice, and light “But only the best ones will be picked, and that one is you!" Bump said pick one of the audiences, Amity.

Amity squee in excitement, which Luz heard and can't help but snicker.

'She's such a nerd.' Luz thought while paying attention as she sees the enforcers disappear through their magic.

"And now, I am honored to introduce the esteemed leader of the Emperor's coven, and this year's mystery guest...you know her, you love her, Captain Lilith Clawthorne!" Bump announced with his hand up.

Suddenly, a blue lined raven on a stick appears as part of an illusion effect. It comes down and brightens the stadium with blue light, appearing wearing a white hooded poncho and mask is none other than Lilith, who removes it and reveals herself, holding a white staff with a raven on top. The crowd cheered for the famous coven captain.

"Thank you, thank you all." Lilith spoke, waving at them "It wasn't easy getting to where I am." she starts while making her white poncho hood disappear from her person "I too came from humble beginnings. But I have walked up to where I am now, having the highest honor in enforcing the Emperor's will. So be more, live to rise up the ranks, as the Emperor's coven awaits you!" she waves her hand, popping up is a giant raven spreading it's wings on the stage, bursting itself into light bubbles falling down.

Luz is even more curious, but then she saw her mom walking out down to the exit. 'Why would mom walk out when this Lilith woman showed up? Something, something...is she who she doesn't want to see at the coven? For that matter, why do the kindergarteners have no parental supervision!? Freaking’ grudgby moms I tell ya...man I remember how much cheating grudgby is. What’s the point of the game if they have the Rusty Smidge as the most important part of the game? Wait, what was I thinking about? Think back...think back...didn't King mention mom has a sister? Wait... could Lilith be my aunt?'

Lilith is shown signing autographs for the kids around her. With her is Amity, "Here you are, welcome to the covention." she spoke to them while she spoke to Amity “So you have a Witch’s duel I see, my protégé.” She notes while looking at the posters.

“Yes, by my own student who just wants to show off.” Amity replied, as she signed up for an autograph for Braxus. “Here you go, Braxus.”

“Thanks, Amity.” Braxus responded with his deep voice, while walking out with his autograph baseball. “Hope you win!”

“This…Luz, sounds like another undisciplined delinquent.” Lilith states.

“Yeah, but she’s no one important, really.” Amity brushes off while looking to see Luz in front of her.

“Nothing important, I see.” Luz repeated, hands on her hips.

“Gah!” Amity steps back “Quit scaring people like that!”

"You know this girl, Amity?" Lilith asks her, looking at Luz.

“Yeah, that’s Luz, she’s the girl I’ve told you about tutoring.” Amity responds.

“Oh, well hello, Luz, um, what is your surname so that I can formally greet you?” Lilith asks her.

Luz smirks, “Why you can just call me Luz Clawthorne.” She saw Lilith’s eyes widen.

“…Is this some kind of joke?” Lilith narrows her eyes at her.

Eda walks by as she spots her Luz, talking to Lilith and Amity. “Luz!” call out Eda who rushes towards her daughter “What do you think you’re doing around here!?”

"Edalyn?” Lilith asks in shock to see her sister here. “What are you doing here, sister?”

"I knew it, you are mom's sister!" Luz straight up revealed which got Lilith to drop her own pen.

"I... mom!?" Lilith was flabbergasted, seeing Eda and then Luz "Wait, you had a daughter!?!" Luz’s hood fell, showing her round ears “A human daughter!?”

"Hey, no need to emphasize on the "human" part." Eda said holding Luz protectively "Or do I need to tell you how you got so excited about joining the Emperor's coven, you wet yourself." this got the kids to laugh at Lilith, even Amity giggled but she suddenly stopped. Lilith brushes them off while blushing in embarrassment. She turns to her sister and Luz. "See Luz, that's how you piss off authority-"

"What are you doing here, Edalyn." Lilith asks her, with a different but strict tone. "You do know that you're a wanted criminal here, and I'm surprised that you've roped in this poor, human girl to your…crime spree."

"Hey, what I do is mine and my daughter’s business.” Eda told her.

I guess those reports about you owning a human pet isn’t far fetched.” Lilith comments “I didn't believe them. So of course, you appeared to be caring for the human all these years...so that's why you've been avoiding capture...is there a father I should-"

"No, though I was married, but nothing of the likes.” Eda states “She’s my daughter after I founded her, and she could beat your children if you had any, like you can afford dates." Eda snickered making Lilith mad at her sister's joke about her love life.

"Oh, you think you're smarter than anyone else just because you're coven-less, guess what? You're not." Lilith states pointing at her sister "While you're around breaking the law and setting a bad example to your human daughter, I have trained the next generations of powerful witches in the world."

"Well, if the Emperor's coven is so great, why hadn't they caught mom all those years?" Luz asked as she and Eda hi-five each other. "You know, I feel bad for Amity, having to be taught by a beta-witch who isn't as strong as the Owl Lady."

"And what has Edalyn taught you?" Lilith questions while lowering herself to Luz.

"How to give 30 licks to someone who stands too close to your face." Luz did a fake punch which caused Lilith to back away, but no punch "Ha! Made you look."

Lilith glares at Eda who laughs at her sister falling for the trick, but Lilith kept her composure "Your daughter's up to a Witch's Duel with my protégé, right? She had made a wager, so I've taught her enough as I can to make sure she wins." Lilith told them while twirling her finger to make the wanted posters disappeared "Tell you what, Edalyn, for one day you won't have to hide from the law. I'll see just how good your human child is." she said while walking out from the two. All Eda and Luz do is watch the coven leader walk out from her.

"I can see why you tend to avoid topics about her, mom." Luz comments, looking mad at how callous Lilith can be.

"What were you doing talking to her and telling her everything?" Eda asks her sternly, grabbing her hand and pulling her away.

"What the-hey! What the hell deal, mom?!" Luz demands as she slips through Eda's grasp "What's the big deal?!"

"The big deal is the last thing I want is for Lilith to try to run and judge however I want with my life." Eda states while looking down while rubbing her forehead "You have no idea how persistent Lilith can be, "Edalyyyyn, why don't you join the Emperor's coven?" she imitates like Lilith “it's like every day she's starting to sound like our parents."

"Is that why we never meet them?" Luz asks her, her mom turn away. "But she's your sister, so maybe if you two settle things out with each other, she may back the Emperor's coven off."

"It's not that simple, Luz." Eda responds "The stuff between me and my sister is, well, complicated. I'm a rebel and she's Ms. Perfect."

"Mom, I-" Luz was cut off when Eda continued.

"Just drop it. Besides, your match with Amy is soon, hon." Eda told Luz while patting her head "Show them what you can do." she pats her on her head, "Besides, you play your cards right, you’ll be able to beat your tutor to her own game."

"Yeah..." Luz said while looking back to see Amity demonstrates her Abomination magic to Lilith. She can't help but think what goes on between the two.

“Very good, Amity.” Lilith told her as she patted Amity’s head “You’ve really gotten strong since we’ve last trained.”

“Thanks, Ms. Clawthorne.” Amity responded, as she made her abomination go away “I’m pretty shocked that Luz’s mom and you are related. I thought your last names were common.”

“Yes, I get that a lot. We always have to deny that we’re related to…Albert Clawthorne.” Lilith states, seeing the crow-headed man eating a rat on a stick while a rat-lady smacks him in offence “It’s quite common, really.”

“Captain! Captain!” Craig spoke as he rushed to Lilith “We got reports of pick pocketing. Someone’s missing wallets, one wants to talk to you in report.”

“Of course.” Lilith told Craig as she walked with him “Be right back, Amity.”

“But Ms. Clawtho-“

“I’ll see you at the theater for your match!” Lilith told her as she walked away.

Amity finds herself alone but she’s in a crowd. She could just head for the theater. She thought she saw Boscha at a track booth somewhere….

‘Why am I afraid?’ Amity thought suddenly, shaking her head. ‘Calm down, Amity. There’s nothing to be nervous of, you’re around people. So go to the theater and- ‘but that’s when she paused.

She spotted someone stealing a wallet from a guest. This isn’t just anyone, but someone who wears the exact same hoodie, and that blue skin…

Heart rate beeping fast. She looks around, no one she knows. She took a step back, as if her legs were set on automatic. She needed to be with Lilith but there’s no one to get her not spotted. She’s feeling her chest heavy. How can one of them be here of all places!?

The posters…of course. Those posters must’ve drawn them out to find her. She’s starting to get nervous. She looks around until she finds a cover from a booth. She rushes towards there to hide before the guy spots her.

Amity hid underneath the table. Hoping the guy would be gone. She kept hiding until she was noticed by the booth owner, a black cat witch.

“Hey, are you alright?” he asks sincerely.

Oh good, Amity finally finds an adult to tell “T-There’s s-s-someone out there that- that-“

The cat witch looks up, glares at the direction where Amity’s pointing “Don’t worry, I got this.” He assures her, as the cat witch walks out from his booth. Amity peaked to see the black cat marching down to the direction, looking seemingly at the mugger. But instead, he went in to punch the white cat witch. “I’ve finally found you, brother!!”

“You!” the white cat hissed “You’ll never have grandfather’s treasure map, Nighty!”

“That treasure map was rightfully mine, Snowball!” Nighty yelled as the two cats wrestled each other, rolling around making damage around.

Amity saw the mugger scared off from the cat witch fight, prompting her to run away from the booth. She ran far from where he’s at, until she eventually finds a place to hide out.

At the theater, Viney, Barcus and Jerbo count their bets.

“I got about a total 650 snails for Luz to win.” Viney states.

“I got about 50 for Luz, but 340 for Amity.” Jerbo replied.

“Arf-arf (Someone bet on a draw)!” Barcus states with his usual barking.

“The game is starting!” Jerbo states as the detention trio look from their seats, seeing their fellow detention mate walking in the theater with her mom.

“Welcome to the Witch’s Duel!” Lilith announced as she makes her appearance “Now then, we shall start by introducing my student for the duel…Amity Blight!” she waves her white staff to where the spotlight is…only for no Amity there.

Everyone was silent, as they started to mutter where Amity is. Some of Amity’s fans question what happened to the Blight girl.

“Where is she?” Luz asks as she turns to her mom.

“Don’t look at me.” Eda replied having no idea “I was with you the entire time, don’t know where your opponent went.”

“She’s probably somewhere in the little witch’s room, fashionably late.” Lilith speculates calmly, “My apprentice wouldn’t not show up.”

“She probably has stage fright, like you back in that 5 th grade play where you have to barf a lot.” Eda snickered, which made Lilith look red in embarrassment.

“I’ve had enough out of you!” Lilith declares, seething in anger “I’m betting you had something to do with my apprentice’s disappearance!”

“Hey, I got alibis, and besides, she probably chickened out because of the pressure.” Eda speculates.

“Can’t we just…find her?” Luz asks while looking around, she doesn’t see Amity anywhere.

“Fine. Once we find her, the duel shall commence.” Lilith told her as she summons the micro-bat, making an announcement “The duel shall commence, but as of now there will be a…start up show. Here’s Craig with his…stand up comedy.” She grimaced, as she hands Craig the micro-bat “Don’t bore the audience.” She told while she, Eda and Luz walk out.

Craig just looks at the audience, as he held the micro-bat “So uh…who around here is from “Spellton?”

“We’re from Hexside!” shout one audience member.

“Hexside? Well, I’m from Spellton and remembered how we scored against Hexside at the grudgeby game of ’86.” Craig told, earning a lot of boos from the crowd, and being hit by tomatoes. “Ow! Who sells tomatoes around here!?”

“Tomatoes! Get your tomatoes! You won’t know if there’s going to be a bad comedy act around here!” spoke the tomato man who carries a cart of tomatoes, which many attendees buy to throw at Craig.

And so Luz, Eda and Lilith split to look for Amity. Luz looks around for her opponent throughout the covention, calling for her.

  “Amity! Amity where are you!?” Luz shouts as she looks around. She then spots a shadow by the corner of a space where the drapes and chairs are. She saw Amity hugging her knees to herself. “Hey, what are you doing here? We have a...match.” she noticed Amity’s eyeliner leaking out from her eyes. Luz now realized that something’s wrong “You okay…?” she asked.

“Leave me alone.” Amity told her.

“But, what about the match? And the everlasting oath-”

“I don’t care about the match right now!” Amity yelled at her, looking at Luz’s shocked face as Amity has a tint of blush when she wipes her tears.

Luz’s expression changed, as she looked awkward when she saw Amity like this. “Look, maybe we should cancel the duel if you’re not up for it. Obviously you have other problems.”

“Then why did you even challenge me to a witch’s duel in the first place? Because you couldn’t stand someone like me who thought you needed a boost?” Amity questions, trying to avoid why she was hiding out here “Why is it important for you to learn all the coven tracks? All you do is bully and antagonize others without considering how others felt, not like you’d care what I’ve been through.” she covers her face with her arms around her knees.

Luz’s fist gripped when Amity said this, however she has thought of what Amity’s words meant. From all the fights she did they’re justifiable because most pick on her friends and make fun of her family and...treated her differently because she was human. The human girl looks down as she decides to sit beside Amity, sighing to herself.

“You really did have good intentions in submitting my painting to the art show, right?” Luz asks her.

Amity sniffs as she answers “Your painting is interesting, I thought of sharing your work to the world...but I should’ve asked you first. I’m sorry about that.”

“Yeah well, I’m sorry for lashing you for it.” Luz admits, Amity turning to her looking surprised “Yeah, surprised that a punk girl like me would apologize? Tell you the truth, I’m not always this bad girl...in fact, I used to be a young optimistic girl like you.”

Amity stopped crying, hearing Luz’s statement make her flustered “I...find that hard to believe.” she turns away hiding her blush.

“Believe it or not, I wasn’t always the loveable rogue who goes against Johnny Law.” Luz states as her expression changes when she hugs herself, looking solemn when she starts remembering the past. “Sometimes being human in this world is...hard for others to understand. I wanted to be like my mom growing up, because she saved me and took me in when I had no one else. Most would say that I can’t be a witch, that I’m nothing but fake. But I’d tell them “Fuck that shit” to them.” She turns to Amity with a heartfelt smile “I’ve learned that if I want to prove to them that I can be a witch, I’ll show them that a human can do magic. I’ve learned about the glyphs after my mom brought a camera and I took one recording of her performing a magic circle...and I’ve learned light magic by the age of 5.” she holds up a card, a light spell card. 

She taps it as it starts to shine, bringing out a ball of light which amazes Amity. 

“After that, I’ve learned how to perform other glyphs. Looking for ones like the plant glyphs, fire glyphs, and the water glyphs over the years.” Luz explained “But it’s all I got...just some card tricks to show that I can do magic. You can use these to perform as a birthday clown, or worse a magician.”

“Well...maybe with these cards you can become a good witch.” Amity states, meaning what she said. She grabs Luz’s hand as she undoes the everlasting promise binding spell. “I’m still going to tutor you, but no matter which track you get...I doubt it’ll stop you from learning all magic.”

“Guess there won’t be a Witch’s Duel.” Luz commented, sighing “Tell you the truth, I’ve kinda set up a betting pool to see who wins. I could’ve made a killing out of that.”

“That does sound like something you’d do.” Amity told her, smiling “I guess we’re not so different.”

“You actually had a secret betting pool placed on yourself?” Luz asks, making Amity stiff in laughter.

“Not really.” She said, as she stands up, feeling better. She gives a relaxing sigh while wiping her eyes. “Oh, the art show! It should be time to check if your painting won?”

Luz thought about it, then she gave her answer “Eh, why not? Got nothing to do anyway.”

“Just great.” Lilith mutters while walking by Eda’s side, looking for Amity “My student ends up missing in her own Witch’s Duel!” 

“Guess she got cold feet.” Eda replied with a smirk.

“At least I’ve taught her better.” Lilith told Eda with a glaring look, “Out of all the things that I’m surprised at you, you’ve come to raise a daughter, a human one at that. Don’t you know how much danger you’ve put her through? A human child her age can’t even perform magic, she doesn’t even belong in this world! I’m surprised she hadn’t been dead yet-”

SMACK!

Lilith felt a hard slap from her sister. The blue haired woman turns to see the anger in Eda’s eyes. She has never seen her sister like this, not when those times in Hexside when her lunch money was stolen by that bully. The noise of the slap and action has caused many to look at her direction.

“I don’t care what you think of me, Lilith.” Eda snarls at her, “I don’t care if you charge me for giving you a good well-deserving slap. But one thing’s for sure, I don’t care if you’re leader of the Emperor’s coven or any higher position. No one’s going to talk to my daughter this way, not even you, Lily.” Eda snarls at her sister closely.

Lilith looks legit fearful of her sister, seeing her glaring eyes glaring at her soul. ‘I never knew Edalyn developed such a maternal instinct.’ she thought with her eyes widened. She tries to calm down her sister, by asking her “What is the real reason you are here, Edalyn?”

“I came here to support my daughter with her now cancelled duel and art show.” Eda told her while still glaring at Lilith, then changed her expression “But after seeing you here...I guess it was inevitable to avoid you for too long.” she sighs as she stands far from Lilith “I’ve missed you, Lilith. I just want to see you one more time before…” she touches her own face, Lilith realizes this.

“The curse is getting worse, is it Eda?” Lilith asked in concern, Eda said nothing but it confirms Lilith’s suspicion. “How can you raise a child while having the curse still affecting you?”

“Raising a kid can age you quicker.” Eda joked with a nervous laugh.

“I’m serious, Edalyn!” Lilith scolds her, “Don’t you know that kind of danger you’re putting her through?”

“As long as I’ve had my elixirs, the curse won’t put Luz and King endangered.” Eda countered.

“Then why even adopt a human child in the first place?” Lilith demands.

“She had no one when I found her!” Eda yelled at her, “She was just a baby when her mother died. Just looking at her made me realize that I need to watch over her, and I want to be sure that she’s safe from harm in any way...and if anyone has a problem with her just for being human, they’ll be answering to me.” Eda declares.

Now Lilith’s more shocked with her declaration, “Eda, I...I don’t know what to say.”

“You’d be surprised what your younger sister can do over the years.” Eda states while rubbing her arm. “My Luz is capable of taking care of herself around here even if I’m gone. She’s going to become a powerful witch, I’m sure of it.” 

“And what if she doesn’t?” Lilith asked her, leaving Eda silent “She’s only human, Edalyn. She may not get what she wants around here.”

Eda said nothing, thinking about her sister’s words. “I guess in a way, that you’re-NYEH!” she throws a bag of trail mix at Lilith’s face, while she ran “Nice seeing ya, sis!”

Lilith looks at the trail mix bag, then turns to glare back at Eda “Edalyn!!” she shouts, having a ticked mark.

“Second place!?” Luz shouts after seeing her urban painting having a second place ribbon “But this is unique art!” she told the judge who had given her the ribbon.

“Why yes, but this kind of art doesn’t represent our artistic standards in the Bard Track.” the demon judge states as he goes to the winning art, a corndog on a plate “But this corndog on a plate, displayed shows how much it represents our needs to be served for our Titan’s needs, a philosophical and metaphorical representation of it’s symbolism that spoke more of my art! So minimalistic, yet has meaning! One of the kind!!!” the judge states as he drools over the corndog on a plate.

“I’m sorry, Luz.” Amity told her in comfort, patting her hand on Luz’s shoulder “I forgot how weird artists can be.”

Luz looks at her ribbon, “You know what? This is the first reward I’ve ever had, honestly. So I guess second place is pretty much something.” Luz states as she places the ribbon in her pocket.

“Luz!” calls out Eda, who came for her daughter while carrying King “Let’s scream while we can!”

“Edaaaaa!!!” Lilith can be heard from afar.

“Well, that’s my cue to run.” Luz said as she grabs her painting, runs off from the Blight girl “Later, Amity!” she shouts as she runs along with Eda and King.

“Oof!” Lilith cries as she trips, her shoe laces tied. Amity took notice and went to help her.

“Are you alright, Ms. Lilith?” Amity asks, helping her mentor up.

“I’m fine, Ms. Blight.” Lilith told her, Amity noticed the tone of her voice. “You’ve really embarrassed yourself and my reputation for not showing up.”

She shocked, the Blight girl looks down in shame “I-I’m sorry, Ms. Lilith.”

Lilith sighs “Don’t apologize to me, my student.” she said, while caressing Amity’s hair to her cheek “You still have potential. I’m willing to forgive you with the right motivation.”

Another Monday, at the Detention Track. Luz went to see if she at least made a profit with her fellow detentionnaires, but a las, it wasn’t enough.

“No one bet on forfeit?” Luz asks in shock.

“Most got their money for forfeits so we gotta return some.” Jerbo states with his head on the table.

“Here’s your share.” Viney flips a single coin to Luz, who grabs it with her hand.

“A single snail, terrific.” she said sarcastically. 

“Good morning, detention track.”

Luz and her detention friends took notice of the teacher before them. Normally they would’ve sent that jerk of a teacher Mr. Blouson but this one’s different. He appears to have the head of a blue jackal with long black hair, red eyes, having a black cap, and wears a red robe. “Sorry that I am late, little scallywags, but I have had traffic on a giant ant hill on the way. Then I had to solve the sphinx’s riddle and I just had to look it up in my books for it! Hehehe.” he snickered which makes the students look unusual.

“Um...who are you?” Luz asks the jackal teacher.

“You can call me, Professor Anu Bist. I’ll be your new Detention Track teacher.”

Chapter Text

A few months at Luz's first day of Hexside.

"I don't get why do I have to go to Hexside?" Luz asks while Eda brushes her large hair. The comb picks out the bugs that were inhabiting her hair, which Eda picks out and eats.

"Because I think it's time that you should get a proper education," Eda said while finding a pixie that got entangled from Luz's hair.

"Yes! Finally I'm free!" the pixie cries out of joy.

"And besides, you can show these bookworms how the child of the most powerful witch can be taught." Eda states while finishing brushing Luz's hair. "And also to sell some junk to these impressionable kids that would buy anything that jingles."

As soon as Eda finishes brushing Luz's hair, Luz looks at herself in the mirror. Wearing the Hexside uniform. "I would like to learn all the magic lessons and tracks there. Plus Gus and Willow are also there."

"See? I think this school's going to be ready for another Clawthorne to reign." Eda comments, smiling proudly.

"Hexside is not ready for another Clawthorne." Principal Bump said while meeting Luz at his office, "But since your mother has made a recommendation to have you participate here, not to mention that I owe her a favor and also your demonstration in learning a unique way of magic, you will be attending here at Hexside."

"So is the demon on your head like your glasses or something?" Luz asked.

"...No, but that's not important." Bump told her, "Now usually we'd use the choosy hat to determine which Track to place you in. But instead, I'd rather have the students choose."

"Well then, I choose all of them." Luz told him.

"Young lady, you can only choose one." Bump respond.

"Then I choose all the tracks." Luz repeats, earning Bump a glare. She sigh in annoyance "Fine, at least put me where my mom's previous Track was."

"Actually, I think I know just the Track to put you in that'd be less destructive." Bump says as he swirls a circle, magically transforms Luz's blank Hexside uniform into black with dark blue arm sleeves and leggings. "There, now you're part of the Healing Coven. Should've thought of sending Eda there years ago."

"Can't I learn both?" Luz asked, as Bump circles a ring to magically send her off.

"Off you go, I got papers to fill out." Bump states with a chuckle, "I did good." he said while sipping his coffee.

Present

"Wait, so your name is Anu Bist?" Luz said to the jackal-demon.

"Correct, and I'm going to be your Detention Track teacher for the rest of the year. You can call me Mr. Bist." he replied to the human girl.

"So are you just going to sleep like our last teacher?" Viney asked.

"Follow up question, what happened to Mr. Bloosky?" Jerbo also asked.

"He took a wrong turn and ends up getting eaten after answering wrong to the sphinx's riddle." Bist respond "Guess he couldn't get it right! Yahahahahaa!" the canine-demon teacher slaps his own knee, the others don't get the joke. "Hmm, guess this generation never listened to an orchestra." he huffed, "But to answer your first question, I won't be doing some sleeping. For you see, I don't need sleep!"

"Ruff!(Is it because you want to escape the dreams of knowing that this is the only place you'll ever work and not amount to anything else but to teach simple minded, hormonal children the hardships of life so that they don't fall into your failures? I mean, that is something I do see in teachers, which I do pity those that had to deal with us. Always letting our emotions dance in our minds driving us crazy and don't think and just do what their hormones tell them to. Plus the fact that you teachers have a very low salary rate and get no credit. Not to mention the morally bankruptcy of the educational system that only makes students dumber and the advertisements of getting into a higher education just leads to years of crippling debt after graduation. Surely, it would be expected of us to go through what you have gone through, but there are other choices like getting into a community college or a tempt job. Otherwise, you'd have to do shady jobs in order to get out of college debt)." Barcus barks.

"Hahaha, I don't understand a word you're saying." Mr. Bist respond, as he grabs out some books "But enough of that, time to get you detention kiddos to learn!"

The Detention Track students turn in confusion, Luz was the one to speak up "I thought we're not allowed to learn anything until the end of the year?"

"Right, right, well I've decided to teach you stuff anyway." Mr. Bist said, "Now look over your textbooks to page 92."

"What textbooks…" Viney looks down and saw a textbook in front of her. Jerbo, Barcus, and Luz saw that they each have books that just popped up.

"Where did these books came from!?" Luz asked in shock, as the books automatically opened. 'I didn't even see him performing a magic circle.' she thought, looking at the teacher in confusion.

"Worry not about my methods," Bist told them, as he held up a chalkboard "Once I'm your teacher, I won't let you miss some education. Even if it means I have to force it to you. Which is legal here by the way."

Luz sends Mr. Bist a glare, no teacher is going to make her do things. She's had enough of Amity tutoring her, but with the teachers, due to some past experience, she's not gonna let him push her or her track friends around. No Clawthorne is going to be made to be pushed around.

"I can't believe you're making me volunteer to coach these kids." Eda said while wearing a red tracksuit, walking to the gym with Bump.

"Well, since Coach Roacher is dealing with a nasty divorce," Bump replied "And you're the only available adult here. So technically, you're a volunteering parent by default."

"Just don't expect me to be in any of the Parent Teacher Conferences." Eda mumbled, opening the gym doors to see a bunch of students using their magic on each other and screaming out loud. A couple of students plays keep away at the beak boy from getting his ball back, Boscha and her posse are just chatting while playing tricks on Willow and Gus, and for some reason one student is tied to a spinning wheel. "Glad nothing's change last time I was here."

"Don't remind me." Bump grumbled as he walks out "Have fun with them." he said as he leaves.

Eda held up a whistle, blows it which brings out a scream that sounds like a banshee. The students all turn to her, getting her attention. "Alright, you little pile of bug sacks, listen up! Since your coach, Mr. Roacher, is um, taking some time off…"

"Is this about his nasty divorce?" one goat kid asked.

"You think his wife's gonna take his kids and house?" Skara asks as the students chatter about it.

"Man, word travels fast," Eda comments "But enough about rumors. I'll be your substitute coach for a while. That means you all should know the pecking order with me in charge."

"What pecking order?" one horned girl questions.

"Oh you know, who's low and who's high rank in the pecking order." Eda states, "Now from low to high in the order is this...there's you, and then there's the dirt, then the worms that eat the dirt, the grass, the rocks over the grass, the birds that eats the worms, Principal Bump, King, and I, Eda the Owl Lady! So, any questions?"

"Uh yeah, aren't you from those wanted posters around Bonesborough?" Boscha questions.

"Hmm, questioning my authority gives you 500 laps around the courtyard." Eda told much to Boscha's shock.

"WHAT!? But-"

"Pecking order, young lady." Eda interjects with her finger waving at the triclop witch. "Now get to those laps!"

Boscha grits her teeth as she walks out.

"Alright, if anyone of you would have more questions other than my resume, work ethnics and criminal records, get to stretching and whatever you do for daily exercise. And after that, biteball." she said holding up a ball that bares teeth, snarling at the students.

"I thought I'd hate gym less with Eda around." Willow whispers to Gus.

"At least it wouldn't get intense." Gus states.

"Oh right, also we'll be having a battle royale. So...no teams. It's every witch for themselves." Eda said dramatically, "Now then, play ball!"

Meanwhile at detention, Mr. Bist is looking over the papers that the students handed to him.

"Ah, good take on the history of pixie taxes, Jerbo. Barcus, your oracle analysis papers is excellent, as well as your take on griffin breeding, Viney." Bist comments at the three, then to Luz "Now Luz, your paper on 'How Phil Collins Went Hard on the Tarzan Soundtrack' while could be a good paper for a Bard Track paper, has nothing to do with the topic from the textbook."

"Look, Mr. Bist, you probably don't know me much, but I'm not the kind of witch who follows from the textbook rules." Luz said while standing her feet up the desk with her hands behind her head, leaning on her chair.

"The topic I gave you is to analyze the history of voodoo magic." Bist told her.

"Yeah, yeah, it's all about controlling people using dolls and stuff. I think I'm familiar with that topic." Luz told the canine demon teacher.

"Oh really?" Bist makes a widen, mischievous grin. "Why don't I show you a demonstration." he said holding up a brush he summoned from his hand.

"What the...that's my brush!" Luz points out, as Bist grabs a strand of hair from the brush, and held up a straw doll and wraps it around the neck.

"You see, the most common thought that the voodoo dolls were used to cause harm to others and bend their will." he explains, using the arm to smack the face, causing Luz to smack her own face.

"Ow! Stop controlling me!" Luz shouts at him.

"But in actually, the original use for them is for healing purposes." Bist states as his paw glows blue around the doll, causing Luz to feel the self-smack healing.

"The pain's gone...but that was uncalled for!" Luz told him.

"The needles which were used to pick at the doll, they were used to pin point the source and center in where the disease and pain are centered." Bist continues while holding up the needles "Using these needles to block out the suffrage and affection from the area." he pulls the hair off from the voodoo doll, letting Luz go.

"Okay, so I don't know much of voodoo magic but I think I know enough." she states.

"The Healing Track uses these things all the time, but it's not just the Healing Track that uses them...the Oracle Track uses voodoo magic to communicate with spirits of the dead. Even a call from their ancestors." Bist continues, which cause Luz's curiosity. "Ah, I see that you are interested."

Luz shook her head and respond "N-No! I don't know what you're talking about!" she said, turning her head while crossing her arms.

"Well then, if you insist." Bist said as he stands up "I'll be back for a while, I got to get to the office to print out some stuff. Be good and do nothing!" Bist said as he swiftly walks out of the Detention room.

The four are in silence as Jerbo held up a magic chalk "So who wants to go to the hideout?"

Flashback

Luz's first day in the Healing Track didn't quite go so well for her.

"Alright, welcome to the Healing Track." spoke a nurse-like teacher, a cow demon in a blue robe. "My name is Ms. Torigore, and I'd like to welcome Luz Clawthorne in the class."

Even though Ms. Torigore showed Luz kindness, the other students felt a little unease of the human in their class. One time in using a dummy to practice healing magic, Luz struggles in getting it right. But mistakes were made earning some laughs from the class.

Another involves treating wounds. Luz had to roll a bandage around one student rather than using a healing spell. However Luz tried to improvise with a potion magic. Unfortunately, that student was given mushroom-itis, where he grows mushrooms all over his body. Luckily he lives through it.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong." Luz said while sitting at her own desk, "I did everything you asked but I'm not good at this without magic."

"Oh don't worry, deary." Ms. Torigore place a hand on Luz's shoulder, "First time students would have trouble performing magic. I'm sure you'll get a hang of it, Luz."

Luz felt the warmth voice from Ms. Torigore, "Thanks, Ms. T. I appreciate that and got some confidence."

The cow demon teacher smiled warmly at Luz "No need for thanks. Why don't you be prepared for next class."

"Can you believe this guy?" Luz asked while eating fried newt tails, "Like, he has to have some kind of ulterior motive behind his own mischievous act. The nerve of the guy who picks on me just because I don't know the full scale of voodoo magic."

"He does seem a bit wily." Viney comments.

"Fact is, he's just like any other teacher around here." Luz said while leaning back.

"Oh, oh!" Jerbo held up a book "Barcus found a book from the discarded books that were founded here!" he turns the page showing Luz and Viney what he and Barcus found. "Looks familiar?"

They see an illustration of what looks like a man-dog, as Jerbal explains "Anubis, a death god from the Egyptian region of the demon realm. According to this book, he spawned dozens of dog demons of all kinds with Anput."

Luz reads the book "'The children of Anubis and Anput are known as trickster demons, beware of their deception and tricks.'" she saw an illustration of the jackal man that looks like Anu Bist. "'Beware of the jackal man's tricks.' Well, that should be concerning."

"Indeed it is!" Anu Bist spoke from the book as his snout pops up. Luz and Viney were startled as well as Jerbo and Barcus. The book is dropped, as coming out of it is Anu who shook his head out. "Oh, oh yes this is...you four are in soooo much trouble!" he said as he came out of the book. "So this is the so-called Secret Room of Shortcuts." he looks at the painting, grinning "And whoever this so-called Lord Calamity that founded this wasn't smart enough to realize that I would find it!"

"The jig is up!" Jerbo cry out with his hands up.

"Look, punish us as you like but don't get us expelled!" Viney begs "We mostly just hang out here!"

"Arf(My parents will send me to the Pound Academy if they learn about this)!" Barcus cry out in his barking.

"How in the Demon Realm did you get out of that book?" Luz questions.

"I am not just any jackal demon, I am also part trickster spirit!" Bist states as he pops up on Luz's shoulder in a miniature form "See, my mother was a djinn, so I mainly got the omni-versal tricks from her. As well as the usual powers from my jackey daddie." he poofs away as he lay on the Lord Calamity messy portrait "I see all, I hear all, I gossip all." he then appears on the floor underneath their feet "I also know all of you trouble makers."

"You don't know anything about us!" Viney points as Anu Bist rise up from the floor.

"Oh?" he spoke, his head tilted "Viney Potts, got in trouble in the Healing Track for summoning your griffin to cough out bandages, traumatizing students. Mixing Healing and Beast Magic is no good."

"Puddles can be a good assistant, dangit!" Viney countered.

"Jerbo Jeepers." Bist twirls around the aforementioned boy "Mixing Abomination magic with Plant magic...that caused some damages in the Abomination Track."

He then stretch his head out over Barcus, continue to speak "Barcus Barkowski, you traumatized Ms. Beaks in mixing Potions with Oracle Magic."

"Arf(All I did is show her future of aging)!" Barcus claims.

"And you, Luz Clawthorne," Bist hovers over Luz, going giant above her, "You have a vast grand of crimes, schemes, and evil deeds. History of fights in and out of school grounds, graffiti naughty words in the bathroom walls and school walls, history of flim-flaming and scamming students for their lunch money, even profiting off after instigating a civil war between Bard students on the war between the slide-whistle and kazoos! Not to mention the "Choosy Hat" incident as your first detention crime!" he listed off, "And that's just a quarter of your crimes."

"You do know a lot about us." Luz said, standing back.

"Why yes, I am a teacher!" Mr. Bist states, as he swirls at the center of the floor "I could tell Bump about this shortcut dimension...unless…you could beat me!"

"Beat you?" Luz questions, as Mr. Bist sprang up from the floor.

"If each of you could use your mix-magic talents against me, I'll be lenient and not tell Bump." Bist declares with a smile "But if you can't...well, you don't want to loose, do you?"

"He's pretty vague about it." Jerbo said.

"I'm not gonna take crap from some jackal god." Luz said as she brings out her cards "Bring it on, Jack!"

"Luz, are you sure we can take him?" Viney asks.

"It's time to prove this guy that he and other teachers won't push us around much longer!" Luz declares.

Bist smiles "I like this determination spirit." he said as he snaps his fingers, the dimension warped and changed, now looking like a battle arena. Bist is now dressed in a white karate Gi making him look like Ken from Street Fighter. "It's time to d-d-d-d-dududududuDUEL!"

"Well, all I can say is that I'm disappointed." Eda said seeing the result of the biteball game. She has them performed a battle royale rather than split into teams. This results in the students having to fall and getting chased and bitten by the biteballs. "But since this is just a game activity rather than an actual grade, I'm gonna make you all to perform some unique witch exercise activities. By performing...the Owl Lady's Fitness Challenge!"

"An Owl Lady's Fitness Challenge? Are we going to pick up junk or something?" Boscha asked.

"Nothing good is going to come from this." Gus said, having a bad feeling about this.

"We're going to do something scary, are we?" Willow asked.

"It's simple really, your first challenge is to lift up a giant block using your magic." Eda snaps her fingers, as a large, black block pops up and hits the ground, making a small quake. "This baby doesn't weight much, other than 800Ibs. Your magic will determine the equality of your strength. Just your basic magic, by using this wand." Eda pulls up a wand. "And we'll be doing this outside since we'll be throwing this thing out to measure the yards."

Boscha asked "Wait, wouldn't it make sense to pop up the thing outsid-?"

"Pecking order!" Eda interrupts "Now let's get the block going!"

The Detentionnaires face off against Anu Bist, in a tournament floor with Egyptian temple style room.

"Alright, who's up first?" Bist asks them.

"Alright, we need to-" Viney spoke until Luz charge up "Luz!"

Luz draws her glyph card, one of fire as she throws it at Bist. The fire card glows and transform into a flaming bird heading towards Anu Bist. He raise his hand and shot water at the flaming bird. However, he felt his legs froze due to the icy path from the other glyph card Luz placed on the floor.

"Good strategy." Bist comments, but turns into black goop and breaks his feet off. This horrifies Luz and the gang, as he pops up behind her. "But I can do better." he said as he swings his tail to knock her over.

"Oof!" Luz shouts as she hits the floor.

"Luz!" Viney shouts as she circles a summoning spell, bringing out her griffin, Puddles. "Puddles, peck him out!" she declares as Puddles launches to try to peck Anu Bist, but he dodges the attack.

"Too slow," Anu Bist comments, grabbing the griffin's wing and threw it back at Viney. He spotted Jerbo with a pot with a plant, uses his magic of Abominations and Plants, he summons an Abomination made out of dirt. It ran towards Anu Bist, but he slaps the dirt Abomination away. "Seriously, I've taken up against the Yule Cat, Cerberus, and the Sphinx in an arm wrestling competition!" he turns to Barcus, who created a circle on the floor "And what's your plan of attack?"

"Arf(The Ghosts of War Dogs)!" Barcus barked, spilling a purple potion which summons some ghostly spirit dogs. They charge at Anu Bist, but he smashes them with the palm of his hand slammed on the floor. They both disappeared. Barcus look scared as he ran off with his tail between his legs.

"Pathetic." Anu Bist states while crossing his arms "How do you all expect to grow into professional witches with magic like that?"

"Then why bothering us?"

Anu Bist turn his head, seeing Luz standing up with her head down. The bangs of her hair hiding her eyes "Why bother us when you think we're so pathetic to you?" she raise her head, a heated glare towards the canine teacher "You think that just because you're a teacher, you can just push us around and smash our dreams and trusts?!" she slams a card on the floor, as it brings out static electricity from light magic. "You teachers are all the damn same!"

A few days later, it was during lunch time as Luz spotted her Healing Track teacher heading to the teacher's lounge.

'Hey, it's Ms. T. I should go in and asks about the chapter on bone healing.' Luz thought, as she walks down to the teacher's lounge. She saw the door not closed, so she is about to open it until she hears a conversation.

"I really can't handle another year here. And I've only got 600 more years until retirement!"

"At least you don't have to teach from a trailer dimension due to the over crowding."

"Hah! You think you boys had enough, try having a human in class!"

Luz is shocked, recognizing Ms. Torigore's voice. She takes a look through the creek of the door, hearing their conversation.

"But I thought from the other students that you have a soft spot for the human girl, Bovilene?" Professor Blanc asked while sipping his coffee.

"Oh that's just to put up with her, Blanc. You know I was a drama student back my years of Hexside." Ms. Torigore said while stirring her coffee. "This nice girl act I've put up with for years as a nurse so that I don't show my disdain towards this job. I can handle little witchling students here, but a human...what is Bump thinking!?"

This hit Luz's heart, she grew to like Ms. Torigore, but that comment makes her reminded of all the other adults here in the Boiling Isles talking about her behind her back.

"I can't believe that Bump got himself bewitched by that crazy Owl Lady," Torigore adds, after drinking her coffee "Not surprising, I hear that she once took a job as a show witch." she gave a look of disgust, "That Owl Lady had bewitched him to let her little human pet to attend this school." Torigore says showing a smug look on her face "If I run this school, I'd kick that little tailless monkey out of here! Cause you know, humans are related to monkeys." the teachers nodded in agreement, but got startled when the door was shut, making them jump.

Luz speed walk out from the lounge and walks through the hallway. Passing by students even knocking them from the floor. She didn't want anyone to show her having a panic attack.

'Just like the others!' Luz thought as she finds herself alone, turning around as she breaths heavily from her run. 'I thought...I thought…' Luz didn't know what to think right now. Was it a mistake for her to be in this school? She thought she could learn something from there, but the teachers here are just the same. Especially Ms. Torigore. "GAH!" she shouts as she hits the wall with her fist. Tears stream from her eyes, she was silently crying. 'I hate this school...I hate this!' she wipes her tears, as she noticed a certain brown hat crawling around.

And that's how the incident to how Luz manage to get detention. Using the loose Choosy Hat onto the teachers at the teacher's lounge, specifically Ms. Torigore. The cow demon screams as Luz placed it on her head, as she cries out "Luz, why!?" and thus after what the Choosy Hat's unspeakable deeds it did to her, Ms. Torigore was forced to retire, with the last salary she has...as much as a teacher's salary can give.

Luz had nothing to say to her. After that incident Bump place her in detention. And those who have known what detention is like...Luz eventually destroyed it. Due for repairs, Bump had to place Luz in the Detention Track, along with other students in with her, Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus…

The tournament floor shoots up static electricity, which Anu Bist avoids the floor. He stretch out his arm and grabs Luz off of it, along with Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus.

"Are you crazy!?" Bist shouts "You could've gotten you and your friends killed with that spell!"

"My Electro-Card is meant to electrocute my enemies! Plus you're a omni-god or something, I think you can handle it." Luz scoffs.

"Is your hatred of teachers that grand?" Bist asks, "And you sure cry a lot."

Luz felt her tears, quickly wiping them "S-Shut up! You don't know what I've been through! You and every adult in this realm are all the same! I don't care what you think of me, I'll show you that I can be a powerful witch!" she declares, as Bist's large eye and canines are in front of her.

"Even if it means endangering your friends?" Bist asks, causing Luz to pause "Would you really endanger your friends for your dream?"

Luz turns and saw that Viney, Jerbo and Barcus all look hurt from the fight. As well as by their hairs they got caught in the electro-spell. This cause Luz to calm down, realizing what she could've done.

"I...I didn't mean-" Luz bit her lip, looking down in shame.

"You know, I've been living in this realm for thousands of years. From what I've learned from a human girl like you, you're no different from the witches, demons, and all creatures throughout this realm." he shrinks down as he lets go of the students. "I agree to teach you all so that I can open your magical potential."

"Teach us?" Viney asked.

"Hold up, I thought you're gonna get us expelled?" Jerbo asked.

The jackal laughs, "Oh, you actually believe that? I'm a trickster god for crying out loud!" he slaps his knee again, making the troublemakers sweat drop. "But I am serious about teaching you guys."

"Are you sure that's not a trick?" Luz asked.

"I'm being honest." Bist told them "See, Bump may be stuffy with the rules, but I want to bring out the magical potential to you kids. I mean, you all are rusty, but wanting to learn more than one track has potential! Especially you, Luz Clawthorne, you have potential to do something if you put your mind to it! A human that learns old glyph magic, that Owl Lady must've taught you well!"

"Actually, I just learned this by accident." Luz explains to him, drawing a glyph as it folds up, turning it into a light ball.

"Magnificent!" Bist said as he held up the ball, and then eats it "Tasty too." he comments, "You know, I'll only be a teacher for a short while, but I can be available for an after school programming."

"But wouldn't Bump learn about this?" Luz asked.

"Leave Bump to me, besides it's been a while since I've had this much fun!" Bist said as he looks at his watch "Got a few minutes left until your next Detention period. How about I teach you kids some spells that raises the dead?"

"Hurray!" they all cry out as they exit out of the realm. Except for Luz who stops herself, turn to the canine teacher. "Mr. Bist?" Luz asks him.

"Yes?" he asks her.

"Um, I just want to say...I'm sorry." Luz said to him "I wasn't being fair to you, you were just looking out for us."

"Hey, no need to apologize. I get that a lot for being a trickster god." Anu Bist states with a sigh "Sometimes it's hard that people look at you just from the background you came from, but we don't let it defy us for who we are. We have our own ways to be as awesome versions of ourselves as we can be. All it matters, is what's in your heart."

"Are you that corny for a omniversal jackal demon?" Luz asks him.

"Maybe a little," Bist said "But I'll lend in a little secret to you, Luz. I may seem to be some omniversal, powerful jackal demon, one of the sons of Anubis. But even I have weaknesses, couldn't stand up against Belos himself. Cause the Emperor's Coven knows all the creature's weaknesses." he told her, as the two exit out of the realm.

"Is Belos that powerful?" Luz asks him, as Anu Bist chuckled.

"There are still some mysteries for you to learn, my human friend."

"Alright, next up is Boscha." Eda said as Boscha came up holding her wand.

"I'm going to show you how a real witch can lift this boulder!" Boscha boasts, using the wand to focus on her magical energy, she lifts up the large block. A little struggle she had, but she manages to lift it and throw it down the yard. Eventually, it landed far to the yard.

Eda checks the measurements of the throw, as she confirms "Wow, 210 yards. Wonder who's gonna beat that?" she asked.

Boscha gave a confident huff, looking at the others "Try to beat that, I'm so the Owl Lady's favorite here."

"Alright, Willow Parks, you're up next." Eda states as Willow walks up, just as the large block comes back.

"Great, now let's see how half-a-witch Willow will humiliate herself this time." Boscha calls out as the students laugh, much to Willow's embarrassment.

"Don't worry, Willow, you got this!" Gus cheered for his friend, as Willow smiled.

The green haired girl sigh, "Alright, let's do this." channeling her magic into the wand, she held it up her wand. She channels her magic to it, as suddenly a green aura surrounds her as well as the black block. She held up a strain, using the wand to lift it up from the ground. After some strain, she manages to get it up from the ground. Impressing the students. 'Okay, I lift it up, now to focus on…' she waves her wand far back, as she pushes her arm to throw it. The block is thrown into motion, as it spins around the yard, as it crashes past through the school yard and into the woods.

"Whoa, now that's a passing record!" Eda shouts, as they all hear the block crashed "Wonder where it crashed to? Ah who cares, that was something, ya little Will-o-wisp!" she comments, flying to Willow. "You may have some magical potential here yet!"

"O-oh, I'm not so sure about that." Willow said rubbing the back of her head, not realizing the shocked faces of her classmates.

"Whoa, I never knew Willow was that powerful." spoke Skara to Emelia.

"Well she did help save us from the plant monster." Emelia whispered back.

"Whoa, seriously?" spoke another student after over hearing this, "That was Willow involved."

The students ends up talking about Willow, but one particular, triclops had her third eye twitch. It may be the result from the stress after getting her eye patch removed, or if this is a sign of envy.

Last flashback

Luz, while in the Detention Track, looks bored out of her own mind. She misses Gus and Willow, and she doesn't have much to do until more trouble makers like her showed up in the Detention Track.

Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus are all in the same boat. At the start of the Detention Track they've discovered a secret portal to another dimension. The Secret Realm of Short Cuts.

"You guys don't mind if I'm human, right?" Luz asked.

"Hey, someone who does that at the teacher's lounge, and destroy detention, is good in our book." Jerbo declares.

"Bark(Welcome to our trouble-making menagerie)!" Barcus barked.

Luz felt unsure and unease around them. But Viney place a hand of comfort as she tells her "Look, we may not look at it, but we think you're the coolest human we've ever met around here."

"Yeah, no one has ever taken on that Choosy hat and lived to tell the tale about it." Jerbo comments.

"But how do I explain to my mom about this?" Luz asks about her Detention Track uniform.

"Well it's not like she'll know. Just tell her that you're in a special class or something." Viney said waving it off. "But tell us about yourself, how does a cool human like you end up in the Boiling Isles?"

"Are you really the Owl Lady's homonculus?" Jerbo asks with curiosity.

Luz looking thoughtful, as she answers "No, she founded me as a baby. Even adopted me." she states while sitting with her knees close to her chest. "All I know is that I've been raised here in the Boiling Isles in my life. I learned some ancient ways to perform magic, rather than circling the air." she demonstrates by drawing a light glyph that forms a ball. The troublemakers are impressed.

"It must be tough, being the only human in the Demon Realm." Jerbo comments, as Barcus swat his paw at him "Ow! Barcus!"

"It's not so bad." Luz states as she looks down "Sometimes, I always think of this song if I ever felt like I was alone. My mom used to sing it to me when I was little, said she got it from a movie at the Human Realm."

"Can we hear it? We don't get much of Earth music around here." Viney requests as the trio look at Luz.

"I guess, but don't laugh or I show you my bat, okay?" Luz sigh, as she begins to sing "Don't stop your crying, it will be alright….Just take my hand, hold it tight. I will protect you, from all around you. I will be there, don't you cry...~."

It changed to Eda, rocking to baby Luz to sleep as she sings to her.

"For one so small, you seem so strong. My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm." Eda sings to the baby Luz to sleep "This bond between us can't be broken, I will be here don't you cry."

She hears the baby yawns, while Luz looks up to Eda. The owl lady smiles at her new given child, continue to sing "Cause you'll be in my heart-. Yes, cause you'll be in my heart-. From this day on, now and forever more-. Always….always." she said, hugging her sleeping child.

Chapter Text

"Attention students, don't forget that tomorrow is the Moonlight Conjuring. So if you plan to have a Moonlight Conjuring sleepover tomorrow night, better make plans for guests! And if anyone spots the Choosy Hat loose again, do not confront it!" Noises could be heard in the background "What's that? Oh no, it's eating Frank the Coffee Demon! Now it's going to eat me! OH MY TITAAAAA-!" The intercom was cut after a scream.

Amity heard the announcement and sighed as she held up her penstagram, it was about the scheduled Moonlight Conjuring party. She closed her locker, only for Luz to appear. "Gah!" Amity screamed. "W-When did you come here?"

"Just now," Luz replied while drinking soda. "So, uh, are you gonna tutor me tomorrow night or something? Do I have to go to one of your famous 'Moonlight Conjuring' parties?"

"Y-You don't have to," Amity replied, looking at her penstagram. "Tomorrow I'm giving you a day off."

"Right, right, but thank Titan you did," Luz said, much to Amity's initial confusion. "Me, Willow, Gus and my trouble making friends are planning to have a Moonlight Conjuring ourselves tomorrow."

"Oh, well that's great," Amity said while looking down, tapping on her penstagram and posting something. "I'll see you after that then." She walked away.

"What, no snippets or sarcastic remarks?" Luz asked as she watched Amity walk away. "Guess Ms. Perfect is too busy to handle this girl." With that boast, she started walking away in the opposite direction.

Around the corner Luz met up with Willow and Gus. "So you guys ready to prepare for tomorrow's Moonlight Conjuring?"

"Yeah, me and Gus also got a new game to play while we wait for the Conjuring!" Willow said as Gus held a board game. The box art had what appeared to be an office building with a suited man holding a mug.

"Offices and Supplies, the RPG desktop game where you roleplay as an office worker class and use your imagination to solve the problems at the office, while learning the downside of work ethics!" Gus explained with excited curiosity.

"Where did you get a game like that?" Luz asked him.

"Oh, I got it from that oddly looking jackal demon hiding in the shadows," Gus pointed out and Luz spotted Anu Bist hiding in the lockers, secretly laughing as he hid himself.

"Yeah, maybe you should check if this game isn't magically cursed or something," Luz suggested to Gus.

"Oh goodie, if it isn't Luzer and her loser friends," said a passing by Boscha, who was with her posse. "Planning your pathetic little Moonlight Conjuring party?"

"Were you just standing there eavesdropping on our conversation like a creepy weirdo?" Luz asked, causing Boscha to frown but she didn't let it get to her.

"If you think that your Conjuring party's going to be anywhere near as good as Amity's conjuring party, think twice," Boscha stated while her posse behind her looked at their penstagrams. Skara tapped on Boscha's shoulder, but she shoved the hand.

"Uh, Boscha-"

"While you're doing your weird lame roleplays, we're going to be," Boscha said before she noticed that Willow and Gus were also checking their own penstagrams with shocked faces. "Hey! Quit ignoring me when I make fun of you!"

"More like making fun of yourself," Luz snickered as she looked at Willow's penstagram. "You sure you'll be having it?"

"Have what?!" Boscha demanded to know as Skara held her penstagram to her. "What is it that's so important on your penstagrams!? Better be some chimera playing a keyboard or-"

Due to unforeseen events, my Moonlight Conjuring party is canceled this year. - WITCHCHICK128

A student who looked too old to attend Hexside due to his long beard is shown polishing a glass statue of a physique man.

"Finally, after getting myself held back for twenty years, my masterpiece is complete!" the old man student declared. "And I showed them that I didn't need magic to make art!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The sudden screech caused the old man to hold his ears as he witnessed his glass statue that he worked for years on shatter into pieces. Once the screaming stopped, there was nothing left.

"Oh, ogre butts," he grumbled, "Janna from the Oracle Track always said that my work will be devastated at the hands of a sound of a screaming banshee after getting beaten by a bag of doorknobs."

After school, Amity was the only one in her assigned track class since the Abomination Track was still under repairs. Her assigned class here was the Illusion Track, the same track her… siblings were in. She was lucky enough that they don't bother with her too much, otherwise they would've-

"AMITY BLIGHT!"

Amity jumped up, her things falling from her bag that she dropped. She almost had a panic attack as Boscha marched in with Skara and the rest of her posse trailing behind.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Boscha held up her penstagram, showing the update made by the mint-haired girl.

"Oh, that." Amity said nonchalantly, quickly grabbing her books and things. "I had to cancel so I could focus on my studies."

"Forget the books, the Moonlight Conjuring at your place is something we've been planning for weeks!" Boscha declared, going up to grab Amity's arm. "What has gone into you!?"

Unknown to Boscha, that sudden grab set Amity off and she quickly shoved the triclop witch's hand away from her. "Don't touch me!" she cried out, shocking Boscha and Skara.

"Whoa girl, are you okay?" Skara asked.

"I just…" Amity didn't want to cause a scene in front of them, she didn't even look at them in the eyes "Look, I got to study more in order to make up a lot. The Abomination Track class is still under repairs, not to mention Professor Blanc's asking students for spare change outside the school. So sorry that I need to cut some dumb sleepover over my studies."

"Are you… is this about that human?!" Boscha pointed at her in accusation.

"What? No, I just need to-"

"Need to what? Study with that human thug?" Boscha spoke in a disapproving tone.

"Boscha, I swear it has nothing to do with Luz," Amity denied. "She has nothing to do with what I'm going through right now."

"Well whatever you're going through, get over it'" Boscha told her. "Cause this whole 'busy' attitude isn't going to cut it."

"I think you should reconsider, Amity," Skara said to the Blight girl.

Amity glared at Boscha. "I already gave you the position of Grugby captain, what more do you want? Why not start a Conjuring at your own house?" She was about to pick up her binder, but Boscha's boot was in the way. The triclop witchling got in front of her more.

"Fine, I'll let you play whatever game you're in," Boscha said while crossing her arms. "Just know this, you may be a Blight but you're not that big a deal if you don't follow the status quo of things." She pointed at Amity's forehead. "So are we gonna have a problem?"

Beat Boscha's getting up and personal.

"Do you have a bone to pick?"

Beat One push on Amity's shoulder.

"You've come so far." Her hands waved up in the air. "So why now are you pulling on my dick?"

Beat Skara, Amelia, and Cat stomped their boots.

"I'd normally slap your face off," Boscha said.

Beat "And anyone here can watch." Beat

"But I'm feeling nice, so here's some advice, so listen up, wiatch!" Boscha went to stand with the rest of the posse as her backup, hands on their hips.

(Music and lyrics to Candy Store from The Heathers Musical, with alterations of the lyrics)

Around the room, in visual, colors spread as Boscha was yellow, Skara was red, Amelia was green, and Cat was blue as they bopped to the music. Amity was purple, each matching their Coven Track colors.

Skara, Amelia and Cat: "I like!"

"Burning peeps, stealing from them for keeps." Boscha sang, demonstrating this by insulting one student and stealing his lunch money.

Skara, Amelia and Cat: "I like!"

"Playing hard, doming Grugby at the yard!" Boscha played Grugby against her opponents.

Skara, Amelia and Cat: "I like!"

"Skipping class, seeing Luz, kick her ass." Boscha came out of class and spotted Willow, putting a kick me sign on her back.

Skara, Amelia and Cat: "I like!"

"Killer nails, (Kicking dogs in the tail!)" Boscha gave a demonstration by shoving Barcus out of the way and scaring Gus with her nails. That's when Boscha turned to Amity, who was trying to pick up her binder as Boscha got close to the mint haired girl.

"If you lack the charisma, you can go read Azura, let your daddy give you cash." Visually Amity saw Boscha mocking her and her personal hobbies like Azura the Good Witch, as well as her father with a bag of cash for her.

Skara, Amelia, and Cat: "Whoa!"

"Or you could come sleep, over and conjure a creep, and hope to find where he keeps his stash." Boscha showed Amity what their Conjuring would've been like, summoning up a shady figure who offers them a "stash" in his windowless white cart.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" All the girls sang together now, surrounding Amity. "Babe, whatchu waitin' for? Welcome to my Cauldron Store!" They invited Amity to what appeared to be a gathering of moving cauldrons, where they popped up like abominations while dancing. "Time for you to prove you're not with Luzer anymore… then step into my cauldron store!" They pointed to Amity while also pointing to a portrait of Luz in comparison. Boscha drew a mustache on the portrait out of spite.

Amity backed away as she saw Luz, but Boscha got in front of her again.

Boscha Amelia, and Cat: "Humans all."

Skara:"Are so uncouth,

Amelia: "she can't be trusted,"

Cat: "that's the truth."

Boscha showed Amity the times Luz acted, fighting and beating up others around her. The three other girls agreed with her.

Boscha, Skara, Amelia, and Cat: "All you."

Cat: "Have to do."

Amelia: "Say goodbye."

Boscha: "To that Luz."

The quartet: "That freak's"

"Not your friend, she will only be your end." Boscha crossed her arms when she pointed out Luz's mean streak, reminding Amity the times Luz antagonized her since she came to Hexside.

The quartet: "If she-"

Cat: "Saw you drown."

Boscha, Amelia and Skara: "She would have you sink down!"

They surrounded Amity, while showing her a cauldron that displayed Luz leaving Amity to drown in a lake.

"'Course, if you don't care, fine! Go study her brain, maybe have her collared with a chain!" Skara sang, making the others look at her strangely.

The quartet with their hands up: "Whoa!"

"Or forget that whore, and come to the shore, where we can bring some pain!" Boscha sang with fire in her eyes while kicking sand castles the kids made along with her gang.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Amity was surrounded by cauldrons while the girls rose up in a snake-like movement. "Babe, whatchu waitin' for? Welcome to my Cauldron Store!" Boscha got close to Amity who stared at her third eye as it swirled hypnotically. "You just gotta prove you're not a pussy anymore…" Through the third eye was a frightened young Amity, who forms into Inner Amity who sang along with them. "Then step into my Cauldron Store!" The four along with Inner Amity sang together, making Amity back away.

Boscha in her grugby gear: "You're part of our team."

"You got the perfect score." Amelia and Cat pointed at the grades Amity makes.

"You can break their dreams." Boscha pointed at Luz, Willow and Gus.

"Or you can get stoned." Skara pointed at a mob holding stones targeting Amity.

"You can fly the staff." Boscha seen holding a staff.

Skara, Amelia and Cat: "Or if you prefer."

"Keep on testing me (and end up like her)!" Boscha looked red along with her backup, glaring down at Amity while pointing at Willow.

A rush of memory went past Amity, remembering a time at the birthday party.

"Amity, look!" Young Willow held up an application. "My parents have made it possible for me to get to Hexside! Now we can both study to be great witches!"

"Color me stoked!" Amity nervously replied, looking at the younger Willow.

"This is going to be a sitch!" Young Willow said before she disappeared, Boscha and her backup appearing again on swings.

"Whoa!"

Amelia: "Babe, whatchu waiting fo-"

"Shut up, Amelia!" Boscha shoved Amelia's swing while she sang. "Step into my Cauldron Store!"

Cat and Skara helped out Amelia: "Time for you to prove you're not going rogue anymore!"

"Oooh woah! Woah oh oh!" Boscha took off from the swing, did a flip. Amity spotted her binder and tried to grab it, only for Boscha to get in front of her again, with the backup girls swinging down. "Then step into my cauldron store!" They sang together. "It's a cauldron store, it's my cauldron." Amelia picked up a cauldron to pour sports drinks all over Cat. "It's my cauldron store, it's my cauldron!" Skara was on a chair, pulling a lever for a cauldron to pour water all over her. Amity tried to reach for her binder, but Boscha held her shoulder. "It's my cauldron store, it's my cauldron store!"

"Now do you understand, Amity?" Boscha asked as she held Amity's shoulder. "You can't let that human push you around. We'll have our own Conjuring, just not with you. But we'll chat with you later when you're done with your business or whatever." Boscha snapped her fingers for Amelia and Cat to follow her. "Ciao!"

Amity frowned when Boscha turns her back to her. She then spotted her binder, but it was picked up by Skara.

"Hey, is this your binder?" Skara asked. She spotted something in between the binding covers. It looked sharp and shiny, which alarmed her.

"Give me that!" Amity yelled as she snatched it from her. She pushed the sharp object back in.

"Amity, is that-?"

"None of your business!" Amity yelled at Skara, alarming her. She then sighed. "Look, don't tell anyone about this, okay?"

"But, why would you carry a-" Skara felt Amity's hand grab her upper arm as she was given a threatening glare.

"You didn't see it!" Amity seethed her teeth, showing her fangs. She saw Skara looking scared, which caused Amity to pull her hand away from her. "I gotta go." She quickly rushed out of the empty classroom.

Skara tried to chase her, but halted herself. She now gave a look of concern and fear after seeing the knife in the binder. 'What in Titan was that about?'

The next day, before the night of the Conjuring, Luz was with Eda and King to go get Eda's elixir. Luz spotted a worm-like monster getting into the containment cart after getting captured by some demon hunters. They turn to glare at Luz and King.

"Whatchu looking at, Eyepatch?" Luz called out. "Surprised that you're still in business."

"Oh you better not cross us, Luz." the leader of the demon hunters, Eyepatch, responded. "It won't be long until we find a way to lock you up!"

"Do that and I can do the same thing to you that I did to Tom!" Luz called out before she spotted the green man that she was referring to. "Hey, Tom!"

"G-Get her away from me!" Tom hid behind one of the other demon hunters out of fear of Luz.

"Enough, we have no time to deal with that twerp," Eyepatch snarled before turning around.

"Yeah, you better run!" King declared from Luz's hood. "And that eyepatch makes you look like a tool!" This made Eyepatch grit his teeth in irritation.

"Alright, enough antagonizing our enemies," Eda told them as she knocked on the closed window of a shop called Mr. Elixir. "Hey Morton, open up!" Eda called out before the store's window was opened by a brown haired, lanky young man with brown eyes who was very pale looking. He wore a funnel hat and a brown short-sleeve hood with a frog necklace and mint green arm sleeve gloves that were fingerless.

"Okay Eda, I'm open, geez," Morton said as he waved at Luz and King. "Hey Luz, King."

"Good Titan, Mort, are you looking well?" Luz asked him, noticing his pale look.

"I'm uh, just testing out some new medicine that came in, but they may be poison," he said while holding his stomach. "Ugh…"

"You really should stop doing that." Luz advised him.

"Enough chit-chat, where's my elixir, Morton?" Eda demanded.

"About that… the next batch won't come out until next week," Morton told her.

"Next week!? I can't wait that long!" Eda showed him her arm, which had feathers coming out. "The more I wait the more my curse is going to take over. I'll turn into the Owl Beast by the next day!"

"Okay, okay, just keep it down. But why did you wait until now to get your medicine?" Morton questioned.

"Well I've been busy… with a new job," Eda said, making Morton snicker. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, just thought you said job!" Morton chuckled until he saw Eda's look. "Wow, you are serious. That's like the 10th job you've tried before quitting."

"I don't quit every job I've had," Eda protested.

Flashback, 12 years ago

Luz was chasing King around the Owl House, until Eda kicked the door open while dressed in a fast food uniform while holding bags of food.

"Well, I quit the Newt Burger, but I did steal their food," Eda declared, referring to the job that she got just five days ago.

Fast forward to 9 years ago.

Little Luz was drawing in her coloring book along with King. Eda kicked the door open again while dressed in a traffic uniform with a red stop sign.

"Well, I quit that job to escort children through traffic," Eda stated.

"But what happened to the children?" King asked, causing Eda to come to a horrified realization.

"...Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!" Eda turned around to go rescue the children from traffic.

Fast forward to about 4 years ago.

Luz was now dressed in black with her hair more braided with King's help braiding them. The door was kicked open again revealing Eda in a burlesque dress.

"Well, my time as a dancer at the floor show is over. Now who would like some griffin wings I snagged for the week?" Eda was carrying bags of cooked griffin wings she stole.

Present Time

"In hindsight, that burlesque floor show got shut down due to health regulations and the dancers all but me caught the plague," Eda mentioned before shrugging it off. "But this time, I'm a groundskeeper at Hexside. That way I can be close to my little owl pellet."

"Mooom," Luz grumbled in embarrassment.

"Okay, outside from the shock that you have a job," Morton moved on. "I don't just recommend this to anybody, but you should probably try your luck this evening."

"At the Night Market?" Eda asked in a whisper.

"Yeah, guy who calls himself the Grim Hammer, if anybody needs something he'd have it," Morton told her.

"Great," Eda said with a nod, turning to her daughter. "Luz, I can entrust you to watch the house while having the Conjuring, right?"

"You're really gonna allow me to have it?" Luz asked. "On my own this time?"

"Thought you should, since Amity's not gonna tutor you this weekend and with you being on your best behavior from getting sent to the principal's office, along with the cash you bring in from the scam- I mean, sales, I think you've earned this."

Luz was surprised that her mother was allowing her to have the Conjuring on her own. She remembered last year when she, Willow, and Gus had the Conjuring and caused the house to come to life. Long story short, they tried to prank Amity's house that night while she had her Conjuring, but they were almost caught by the demon hunters. Chaos ensued and Eda, who was out in the human world to look for junk at the time, showed up to put a stop to it.

"As long as you don't conjure anything without me, of course," Eda instructed, patting Luz's head.

"Alright, listen up," Eda said while Luz had her friends gathered in the living room. Gus, Willow, Viney, Jerbo and Barcus were all present. "Since me and King will be out in the evening, I expect this house to remain exactly where it should. So do not try to revive the house, nor would you revive anything without me. Also-" Eda grabbed a small, green expensive looking vase. "-this is the last thing I actually care about not to be broken…" Then she threw it outside and shot a beam of magic at it, shattering the vase to pieces. "Now I don't have to worry about it. Luz, you're in charge. Flower girl, make sure Luz doesn't burn Hooty down. The rest of you-" She looked around at Gus, Viney, Jerbo and Barcus. "-nothing funny should happen here. And I'm pretty sure the lanky one is house trained." She pointed to Jerbo, "Okay, now I'm off." She left with King, closing the door behind her.

Luz, after a long pause, sprang up. "Okay, so since there's more of you than we need for a Moonlight Conjuring, and we can't summon anything until Eda comes back… who wants to see my slingshot?" she asked.

"What is a slingshot?" Jerbo asked, raising his hand. He's shown to be wearing an orange tunic with a gray long-sleeve shirt and blue pants with gray shoes.

"Follow me and find out, just outside the house by the tallest tower there," Luz told them with a grin as she led them.

"So how long have you two known Luz?" Viney asked Willow and Gus. She was wearing a brown tank top with a velvet cloak tied around her waist, cargo black pants and brown boots.

"We've known Luz since about four years ago," Willow answered. She was wearing a yellow jacket over her dark green shirt and black pants with boots. "I was about ten and Gus was eight when we met her."

"Since we've met, I've gained a lot of things from the human world," Gus said. "Like this mysterious puzzle cube." Gus held up a rubix cube. He was wearing a green tunic with black and white striped sleeves and a black belt, black pants and brown boots. "Like you just mix it up and put the pieces back together." Gus demonstrated by mixing the cube, impressing Jerbo and Barcus. The latter was wearing a red hoodie.

The group made it to the top of the roof. They saw a large, hand made slingshot with a chair taped down, the slingshot kept in place thanks to Hooty's assistance. Also there was a bag full of items to use.

"Behold, the Clawthorne Ultimate Slingshot 5000!" Luz exclaimed to her friends. "Magically enchanted to pick any target to sling at, with some useful items to shoot at your potential enemies."

"Whoa, I've never seen anything like it," Gus said. "Is it like a human thing?"

"Precisely, my young favorite illusionist dude," Luz confirmed as she grabbed a large red salmon with three eyes from the bag. "Watch as I demonstrate." She placed the demon salmon in the sling and a magic rectangular screen popped up. "I've had mom enhance this. Here's a potential target." Luz locked onto Boscha walking to a friend's house at Amelia's residence. "And ready to launch!" Luz was about to release the sling.

"H-Hold up, Luz," Willow stopped her human friend, preventing Luz from the sling. "I don't think it's a good idea."

"Whaaaat?" Luz said, surprised. "You mean you don't want to see Boscha's reaction with this fish on her?"

"I'm not saying it isn't, but don't you think it's a bit mean-spirited?" Willow asked timidly.

"Wha-no, no it's not," Luz denied, waving her hand. "Think of it as knocking her down a peg."

"Luz…" Willow gave her a scolding look.

"Come on, Willow, out of all of us, you should be more mad at Boscha for giving us a bad time. If I didn't step in to make sure she doesn't bother you or Gus when I came to Hexside-"

"Yes Luz, I remember how you started it," Willow clarified, shocking the others.

"I started?" Luz repeated. "I only did it because I was defending you."

"I didn't tell you to do that at the time," Willow argued back, putting her foot down. "This is the kind of thing that got you into trouble in the first place!"

"I think it's our cue to go…" Viney said as she, Jerbo, Gus and Barcus started to head back inside.

"But what happened back-Gah!" Jerbo was dragged down by Barcus and Viney while Luz and Willow continued to argue.

"Hey, I was only trying to defend you, Willow. I can take her words, but no one insults my friends!" Luz told her. "I can't just stand by and see you get hurt by others that would get away from it."

"I know, but I don't want you to go too far with your actions," Willow told her. "It's one thing to defend me, but it's another if you take things too far… and it's not just the pepper spray incident, but what happened at the Abomination Track…"

"What? There was no evidence that it was me, remember?" Luz asked her. "And even if I did, I'd only doing you a favor-"

"And let others suffer for it?!" Willow spat while pointing her finger at Luz's chest "Even if you didn't do it, I'd at least let you know one thing. When I saw Amity, she looked devastated from the incident. Even if we're not friends anymore, it doesn't mean that I could care less about her well being… I'll admit, I thought it'd be nice to see her get her short end of the stick. But knowing that you instigated it for my sake only makes me feel guilty." she sounded very upset when saying this, causing Luz to show concern.

"Willow, I-" Luz was halted when Willow went to head down from the roof.

"I'm going downstairs to play Office and Supplies. You're free to join us or use your revenge slingshot." Willow looked down, not facing Luz as she sighed and climbed down. Leaving Luz alone.

Luz looked vividly shocked from Willow's words, affected by them. She stood there in silence, her best friend just having just told her what needed to be said. She felt a feeling in her gut that started to rile up on her, a feeling that was called guilt.

At the night market, Eda and King were looking for the stand of the one who goes by the name of Grimm Hammer.

"Alright, keep on a lookout, King," Eda told him. "And be sure to let me know if you spot some extra change if you know what I mean."

"With these tiny paws, I can snatch their money sacks from where they wouldn't expect," King replied.

"Excuse me, miss…" Eda heard a creepy sounding voice as she turned and saw a goblin fella wearing a cloak. "Would you like to-GAH!" Eda kicked the goblin away from her.

"I've seen enough flashers around to know where this is going," Eda told the goblin.

"W-what? No, I'm not a flasher." The goblin opened half of his cloak, showing him fully clothed and some item bags. "I'm just wondering if you're interested in bootleg hexes."

"Oh," Eda replied apologetically. "Sorry, just that you were wearing a cloak and I thought-"

"No, no, I wore this so that I don't get in trouble you know? That's on me."

"Well not to interrupt this, but do you know where we could find the Grimm Hammer's stand?" King asked the goblin.

"Oh, I guess you don't know about what happened to it." The goblin pointed to the direction to where the stand is… or at least, was.

Eda and King saw a wrecked stand, which was caused by the large block that crashed into it. Eda's iris in her eyes shrank while King winced at the stand. Especially seeing the crying pig demon with glasses and a sweater vest.

"Nohoho!" the pig demon cried for his stand, "This was my family's stand! If I find who was responsible for this, I'm going to pop them! You hear me?! I'm going to POP THEM! EVEN IF IT TAKES ME TO CHASE THEM DOWN TO THE ENDS OF THIS REALM TO GIVE THEM A GOOD POPPING!"

Eda and King stepped back a bit. "Great… so how am I going to get my elixir now?" she asks while seeing her arm popping up more feathers.

"Hey, I know you two."

"No you don't!" Eda said defensively, turning to see who spoke to her. It was a brown skinned vampire teenage girl with dark hair tied in a ponytail, green eyes with noticeable mascara lines, a dark purple long dress and black knee length boots.

"Whoa, chill there, Owl Lady," the vampire girl said. "You may not know me, but that human girl with you does. Back when you two freed us from the Conformatorium."

"We did?" Eda asked, while King realized who she was.

"Oh yeah, I do remember her from when we went in to get my crown," King stated. "We freed a lot of prisoners in the process."

"Hey, you said you're looking for an elixir, right?" the girl asked Eda. "If you want, you can try my old man's place over there."

Eda and King turned to see what looked like is a normal sized black tent with glowing red lights coming from inside. It was covered up as privately as any secret, mysterious shop is.

"He normally has his own shop elsewhere, but takes his business to where ever one can sell, or whatever." She said as she waved her hand around the subject. "Well, I better get going. Got some material to write for my food love fanfics." She floated away.

"Well, I guess we have a new option," King said to Eda as she curiously walked towards the tent.

She went inside and saw that the tent was larger on the inside than it looked from the outside. There was a lot of stuff around on various shelves and tables, such as jars filled with lizards or eyeballs and stone dragon statues with glowing red eyes that caused a startled King to hide in his sack.

"So, uh, where's the shop keeper?" King asked.

"I've been to a lot of creepy places in my life. I don't know if it's the black and red color scheme around, but I'm used to something like this." Eda shrugged before her ear picked up a voice from behind the counter and a red curtain showing two shadows.

"You sure this will give me what I want?" spoke the one on the left, a short man.

"Yes, the Lion's Paw will grant you everything you want in life. It's even more effective than the usual monkey's paw."

"Well, I don't know…"

"Did I mention the Lion's Paw grants you six wishes?"

"Six wishes? That's more than a genie! I'd wish I'd known that sooner."

Something shook the man's hand, the paw-shaped shadow as Eda and King noticed a clock, the right hand turning back to one minute.

"Now you have five wishes."

Stepping out happened to be a hunchback man holding a lion's paw. "Well then, I'm convinced! Thanks for doing business with you, Mr. Ator." He shook the hand of the man from the curtain as he said this.

"It's no problem. And thank you for offering me the recipe of your granny-mama's goulash recipe." His voice sounded calm, smoothly relaxed, yet hypnotic.

"Well normally I wouldn't give away my granny-mama's recipe," the hunchback responded. "But I could wish for a copy of the recipe if I want to, but I'm gonna use this paw for all my needs!" He walked past Eda and King before exiting out of the tent.

Eda narrowed her eyes suspiciously, turning to the figure behind the curtain. The figure noticed her and spoke. "Are you here for something or just looking around? I do not tolerate on-lookers unless they're here for something." Coming through the curtain is a tall, skinny and pale vampire wearing a black turtleneck with a cowl around. His nose was angular and his pointy chin had a goatee, while his red eyes stared down at Eda and King.

"I was actually just checking the place out," Eda said, not looking intimidated about this guy. "I hear you're supposed to have everything that the demon pig does."

"Oh yes, it was unfortunate about what happened to Tibble's stand," the vampire said in a nonchalant, indifferent manner. "But then again, Tibbles was a jerk to his business. But hey, it's just capitalism, where everyone wins but him." He chuckled to himself. "His slogan, not mine. My name is Vanz Ator, whatever you need will be all here. You could say that I'm the new Grimm Hammer... but that name's just borish." He clasped his hands together, facing Eda as he lowered himself to her length. "Now what can I do for you, young lady?"

"Enough introductions and flattery," Eda told him. "I need an elixir that can get this curse away."

"Hmm," he hummed as he stroke his goatee. "Well, I do have one for you. And does your little Cubone want something as well?"

"Who are you calling a Cubone?" King asked the shop owner.

"My mistake, you just remind me of a small creature from my travels," he explained, turning his back to enter through the curtain.

"So... what's a vampire like you doing with all of these items?" Eda asked him. "And where did you get these from?"

"Oh, here and there," Vanz answered. "I have my ways of travel, just like you. Though not recently since my daughter was wrongfully imprisoned by that accursed Warden, so I've been making sure that it doesn't happen again." Vanz held up a potion as he talked, looking at it as he put it back. It was the wrong one. "I owe my gratitude to the witch who broke her out along with the others"

"Gratitude, eh?" Eda asked, a smirk formed from her face. "Would that someone be, I don't know, the wanted Owl Lady?"

Vanz stopped in his tracks, slowly glaring at her "Did you say... the Owl Lady?"

"Yes sir, the strongest witch of the Isle... at least from what I've heard." She played it up to not say it was her, but from the looks of Vanz's glare…

"The Owl Lady." He turns his body forward like clockwork. "The most wanted witch of the Boiling Isles, wanted by the Emperor's Coven. A covenless witch who refuses to join covens, known to own a hocus without a pocus. The Owl Lady who is said to be running tons of illegal operations, such as monopolies, Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, pocus schemes, gambling parlors, potion merchandising, human world merchandising, escaped imprisonment, and of course caused a jail break with a demon and a human child?!" He leaned down towards her and King, looking serious with a frown. His shadow loomed over Eda and King whom both back away from the man as he listed off what her crimes were. "And all I have to say is…" he slowly held up a round glass of the elixir. "Here's your elixir."

Eda looked at the elixir in his hand. "Um...do I need something of trade?"

"No need, consider us even," he said, shocking Eda. "Hiding under that hood won't fool anyone around here. My advice, at least wear something to cover your face, like those mustache glasses or simply a mask."

Eda looked at him and then the elixir, she saw the feathers growing more on her arm. "You won't call the Emperor's Coven on me, would you?"

"Like I said, Edalyn. We're even." Vanz turned his back on her. "What would I benefit in calling the Emperor's Coven to take you in? I do not run that kind of business, consider me a neutral party, as all I want to do is make business. You're happy to return if you are not satisfied on what you need."

Eda narrowed her eyes at him as she plucked the cork from the glass and quickly drinked it. The feathers disappeared from her arm, meaning her curse was delayed... for now.

"So are you like the devil or something?" King asks Vanz.

"Heh, not even close to the devil." He scoffed, crossing his hands behind his back. "Just a vampire who loves doing business for those that need something even if they don't know it."

"Right... well, see you never," Eda said as she left off with King while mumbling how weird he was.

Vanz chuckled while looking at a display, speaking to himself. "Another Clawthorne comes to me for aid, how interesting..."

Ring

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me. Listen, are you bus-"

"He-hey on, I'm kinda busy with something with someon-GAH!"

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just… look, it's a bad time to call right now."

"But… but I need someone to talk to-" A loud crash was followed by a click and dial. Luz looked at the phone as she gripped it with her hand, then at the slingshot while still sitting on the rooftop. Everyone was having fun down there without her, but could Willow's words be true? Does she really take things too far? All she wanted was to have some fun and mess around with people that wronged her and her friends. Though Luz wasn't sure what to think, she was too busy looking out at some lights beyond the forest.

"You've been asked by the redheaded secretary that she needs some staples to put together some documents," Gus told the others as the board was set to play their game. "The only way to find the staples is through the supply closet, but you're currently working on an important paper. What do you do?"

"Flirt with her," Viney suggested.

"Ask if she has a key to the supplies closet," Jerbo said.

"Arf (Eat the leftovers in the trash)!" Barcus commented.

"I guess… ask your neighbor if they have staples for her?" Willow asked.

"Roll the dice," Gus said as the four rolled their dice. Luz came down to the living room and everyone noticed her. "Luz, are you here to join?"

"Well, I can if you want me," Luz replied, looking at Willow. "I-I came down because I realized that you're right, Willow. I'm sorry that I wasn't being fair to you and I do take things too far. Not with just Boscha, but Amity and everyone else that I've wronged. I just love you guys so much, I felt the need to protect you all, but instead I do more harm than good. I understand that the whole 'bad girl' image I play up stops being charming a lot of the time and can be problematic. I really should've taken your feelings into consideration. And you were right, I really should've admitted to having caused the ghost spill at the Abominations Track."

Willow listened to what Luz had to say and sighed. "I'm really glad you realized that, and I'm sorry for snapping you earlier. I did think your slingshot was cool."

"Yeah, I'm glad we can bury the hatchet," Luz said, shifting her eyes out the window and then to her. "So who wants to-"

"Hoot! You can't be around here!"

"Luz Clawthorne! You have a lot of nerve!"

Everyone paused when they heard that voice. "Luz, what did you do?" Gus asked.

"What didn't I do?" Luz said jokingly, but her friends looked at her suspiciously. "Alright, so I kinda used the slingshot, but it's not Boscha."

The gang goes to look out the window, shocked to see the demon hunters outside from the Owl House. Each of them with their weapons at hand, including their hooks and traps set. What was also noticeable about them is that they were covered in eggs.

"You've fudged with us for the last time!" Eyepatch shouted at the house.

"I'm sorry, did you say fudge?" Luz asked him. "Why not use the other f-word?"

"We're nomads, we have common courtesy!" Eyepatch shouted. "But we know that you egged us, and this is the last time your shenanigans reign upon us!"

"I'm gonna push every child off a cliff!" Tom declared.

"Hooty, keep those bozos away from the house!" Luz told him.

"You got it, Luz!" Hooty replied as he extended his tube neck in a snake like manner, and charged his head at one nomad.

"Alright, let's defend the house before mom gets home and we can all laugh about it later!" Luz said as she gave the command. "Now, let's get these guys out of my property!" She held her cards and kicked open the door as she charged at them. "Prepare for my steam attacks!" She was holding a glyph card containing the water and fire spell, slamming them on the ground to create steam in front of the group of hunters.

"Cuddles, assist!" Viney summoned her large griffin to tackle against the hunters.

"Abomination, vine whip them!" Jerbo summoned as his abomination rose up and attacked them with large vines.

"Gus clones, trick them!" Gus brought out his illusions to play trickery around the hunters.

Barcus used a small cauldron he brought to mix his potions with his Oracle magic, creating a steaming mist of ghosts to haunt the hunters, scaring them away.

Willow spotted one hunter coming from behind the house. Her eyes glowed green as she summoned a grass root that sprouted around the hunter. "This is just like last year!"

"I know, such fun memories," Luz replied while swinging her bat at one hunter's face. "I wonder if Tom will get a concussion this time too." Willow used her vines to grab Tom and throw him away.

"YAAAAHHH!" Tom cried out as he was thrown by the large vines. The rest of the gang continued to fight against the hunters.

Luz avoided getting shot by the blasts from the hunters as she ended up back inside along with the rest. They wouldn't stop shooting their magic at them, while Jerbo's abomination was the only line of defense after Cuddles was summoned back. Luz then stumbled upon the Office and Supplies game. She saw it glowing and she remembered that Gus got it from Anu Bist yesterday. "I don't think I checked to see if it's curse free… quick everyone, we should hold hands around the game!"

"What are you talking about?" Viney asked while avoiding the shots. Luz grabbed both her and Jerbo's hands.

"Just grab everyone's hand! We're about to do an emergency Conjuring!" Luz declared. Willow and Gus looked at Luz after hearing this, they went to her as well as Barcus, all back inside. Now all six of them held hands as they performed the Moon Conjuring chant around the Office and Supplies game. "Moonlight, we call, we sing. Moonlight, take this chance. Moonlight, come tie the string. Moonlight, start the dance!" While they chanted, their eyes glowed as well as the game.

"Ceasefire!" Eyepatch declared, the hunters stopping as his eyes narrowed. "Something's not right here."

The door suddenly opened and coming out were glowing giant versions of the gang. The hunters backed away when they see the conjured characters from the Office and Supplies game, resembling the gang. Jerbo was wearing a white button shirt with black tie and gray pants. Barcus was in a brown suit jacket with a brown tie and beige button shirt. Viney was in a pink button shirt and black pants. Willow was in a blue sweater jacket and blue shirt and black long skirt, Luz was in a velvet shirt and black pants, and Gus was in a black suit with a light blue tie holding a coffee mug that said '#1 Boss'.

Giant Gus took a sip from his coffee mug. "Let's show them how we deal with HR."

"Man, that guy was a weirdo," King commented as he and Eda headed out of the night market.

"Yeah," Eda agreed. "But he was helpful at least, since I got my elixir." She took notice of a short cloaked figure with green bangs. "Hmm? What's a child doing around this time of night?" Eda was also alarmed when she spotted the cloaked figure holding a knife under her sleeve. "King, I think we've found a mugger, a little short for one."

"Ooh, if we bust this mugger, we could collect whatever bounty placed on them!" King suggested.

"No, I think we should check this little mugger out," Eda said, deciding to confront the suspected mugger to see for herself and King.

Following the cloaked suspect, who was looking around, Eda placed her hand on the figure's shoulder. This startled the figure, who turned around and drew her knife "What do you want!?" she declared.

"Whoa, whoa, easy there… Amy?" Eda recognized. The hood had fallen down, showing the figure's green hair with her natural brown roots. "No wait, Amity! Yeah, you're Luz's tutor."

The figure revealed to be Amity was shocked, recognizing the owl lady. "Wha...what are you doing here?" she asked, her eyes noticeably tired.

"I should be asking you, what's a young witchling doing up around in the middle of the night?" Eda wanted to know as Amity's hands shook, including the knife she was holding. "You're not out mugging people?"

"What? No! No I wasn't!" Amity dropped the knife, looking afraid.

"Then why do you look all shaky?" King asked her.

"I-It's none of your business!" Amity declared as she hid herself with her hood.

Eda looked down on the knife, then looked at Amity's scared look. Realizing what's going on, she sighed. "You were looking for those muggers that have been striking at night, weren't you?" she asked. Amity didn't say anything. "Now, I don't know what the titled 'Little Miss Perfect', as I've been hearing you called around school, would be doing out here with a knife. Either that you are actually mugging other teenagers at night or you're after the muggers to face them yourself."

'Don't you dare say anything!' The inner voice inside Amity kept telling her, sounding a bit aggressive. She didn't look at Eda as she was too nervous.

"Cause I know a mugging victim when I see one," Eda continued as she patted Amity's shoulder and crouched down on her level, showing some sympathy. "Do your parents know you're out here?"

Amity was silent, which confirmed Eda's question given the guilty look in young witchling's eyes.

"Yeah, I figured," Eda said calmly to Amity "Look, how about I take you home and-"

"No!" Amity interrupted her, "Please, they can't know why I'm out here. Just… take me to your place. I can just… sneak back in tomorrow, they won't notice me gone anyway." She sounded a bit awkward on the subject.

"Okay, if you insist," Eda said as she summoned her staff while King was on her back "Hop on." Amity pulled her hood over her head as she climbed onto the staff and held onto Eda around her waist. Soon they flew off to head back to the Owl House. "How are you feeling though?"

"Like I was prevented from doing something stupid," Amity replied. "Coming out here on my own, I mean."

"Consider yourself lucky enough to be alive," Eda told her. "Getting mugged isn't an easy experience, kid. Did they hurt you in any way?"

"T-hey just took my things." Amity admitted

"Well, sounds like you got off easy." Eda told her, her face serious. "Cause they could've done something far more worse to you than just steal your stuff." Amity felt like her heart stopped from how Eda emphasized it. King didn't understand what Eda meant but didn't push the issue as it sounded serious. "If you feel like there's some things you need to talk about, I'm all ears, and King here can be your unlicensed-therapeutic animal."

"Helped with Luz when she had her teenage problems going on," King mentioned.

"HIYAH!" Giant Luz stomped on the ground, sending the hunters trembling. Back in the house the gang was still holding hands and using the Moonlight Conjuring to control the characters from the game. The living room now looked like an office, given it brought the game to life. "Haha! Isn't this fun? This is even crazier than last year!"

"Are you seriously enjoying this?" Willow asked, controlling her giant version of herself shooting staplers at the hunters to trap them. "Ugh, maybe Amity's right about you."

Giant Luz stopped before sending her fist at the flinching Eyepatch. She turned to the giant Willow who stopped along with the others.

"What?" Giant Luz asked. Unknown to the girls, both were speaking to each other while their characters were. Hence the roleplay part of the game. "Are you calling me a thug right now?"

"I'm saying that… I don't think you're being a good friend right now!" Giant Willow told her off.

"What?! I apologized and said you were right!" Luz responded.

"Only after you decided to egg these hunters who did nothing to you, or us!" Giant Willow countered.

"It's true, we're just doing our jobs! We're the ones innocent here-"

"QUIET!" Giant Willow shouted at the hunter who spoke, silencing him. She turned back to Giant Luz. "When will this end, Luz? When are you going to be satisfied until you decide to cross the line? How many paybacks does it take for you to be satisfied!? If that's the way you want to live your life, then I don't want to be a part of this any longer!"

Giant Luz looked shocked, tears running through her eyes as both characters disappeared, mainly because Luz and Willow let go of hands along with the others. Willow turned around with her arms crossed, while Luz was upset.

"Willow… I-" Luz tried to say with her words, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. She sighed, knowing Willow wouldn't be able to talk to her like this. She turned her head, looking out through the open door to see all the hunters knocked out, beaten, and traumatized. Also trapped by the vines. "I'm putting an end to this," she said as she marched out of the house, and walked towards the downed Eyepatch. "Hey, Eyepatch."

"Ugh, what?" he asked in his dry tone.

"Look, I know we have our differences and… I don't think any of us can keep up. I've decided to end this conflict, by apologizing to you and your gang. You all were innocent, you didn't deserved it this night, and for that I'm sorry. Tonight I was supposed to have fun with my friends during the Moonlight Conjuring, but I let my own anger out on you."

"Wow, that must be real brave for a delinquent like you to admit their faults. You're one interesting little human, I'll give you that." Eyepatch commented, standing up while holding his sides.

"So does that mean we're off the hook?" Luz asked him hopefully.

Eyepatch smiled, but then grabbed Luz and brought her to him, holding his sword. "I don't think so."

"LUZ!" the gang cried out, seeing Luz in trouble as Hooty prepared for the initiative.

"Hold it right there!" Eyepatch halted them. "None of you do anything! I may be a demon hunter, but the price for the Owl Lady is far more profitable than a demon! Using this human girl as bait will have her surrender to us! Hahaha! Just this sword near her neck will make the Owl Lady bend her will to us!"

"LET GO OF HER NOW!" Willow warned him.

"Or what? If you think of using that plant magic on me, I'd gut her!" Eyepatch threatened.

"No man, you don't understand! You shouldn't grab her like that!" Gus warned Eyepatch.

"Don't… you… touch me…"

CRUNCH!

"AAAAAAAAHHH!" Eyepatch screamed as Luz sank her teeth into his arm, making him drop his sword. He felt a kick below his belt. "Mommy," he squealed and Luz tackled him to the ground.

"LUZ!" Willow and Gus cried out in shock, seeing Luz beating Eyepatch in the face. Her fist pummeled him. Viney, Jerbo and Barcus were also shocked.

"Don't you…" Luz was seeing red as flashes of her memories popped up. It was like pure instinct had kicked in. "Rotten… bastard!" she cried out as she kept beating him until his fang broke, his nose was bloodied, and her knuckles were drawing blood. She was immediately grabbed by someone.

"Luz! Luz stop! That's enough!" Eda cried out, having returned to see what happened. She looked at Eyepatch's bloodied face while Luz struggled angrily and snarled. "Luz! Calm down!" she said as she hugged Luz close to her, binding her arms which struggled to be released. "It's okay, it's okay, I'm here," she hushed and Luz stopped struggling, calming down. She stopped seeing red and her breathing returned to normal. She looked at Eyepatch, seeing what she had done to him. King was there to hear his chest, giving a thumbs up.

"Good news, he's not dead," he confirmed. "Just knocked out."

Eda turned around and saw the results of the night's battle. She sighed. "Hooty, get these intruders out of my property," she said as she escorted Luz back inside. "You okay, hon?" She noticed that Luz's knuckles looked bruised up from the beating. A teary eyed Luz didn't answer. Once she was inside the house, she rushed past her friends and headed straight for her room.

"Is Luz going to be okay?" Viney asked, rubbing her arm in worry.

"She just needs some time alone." Eda responded, looking just as worried for her daughter.

Willow noticed someone else with Eda and King. "What is she doing here?" she asked, looking at Amity, who avoided her gaze.

Eda looked at Amity, then answered Willow's question with a little lie "Found her late at the library," she said, covering for Amity much to the witchling's surprise. "I thought I'd give little minty here a ride home, but she decided to spend the night here." She patted Amity's head, rustling it. Amity was not amused by this, but she didn't say anything. "By the way, on our way we saw some weird giants dressed as some kind of office worker… and with those hunters… do I even want to know?"

"Let's just say, we had a long night," Willow said solemnly, avoiding Amity's gaze.

"So uh, since you're here, Ms. Owl Lady, do you wish to partake in our own Moonlight Conjuring while the moon is still up?" Jerbo interjected, trying to lighten the tension in the room.

"Sure," Eda replied as she brought out a taxidermy squirrel. "Let's see if we can reanimate this squirrel. This guy owes me a lot of acorns before the hunter had him stuffed."

But Amity was more curious about what went down with Luz, as she had witnessed her beating up the demon hunter. She had never seen Luz lose control like that and she didn't know what to think.

Or where to sleep since she was spending the night.

Laying on her bed, Luz covered herself with the blanket while reflecting on her actions. She looked at her knuckles, still bruised and bleeding while she tried to wrap them with some bandages she had. She could ask for her mom to heal them later. But for now, she needed to be alone.

Luz looked from her side of the bed, seeing just the window and an old children's book she loved and remembered well when she was young. Next to it is a framed photo of her with a human boy.

Knock-knock

Luz was startled by the knocking. "Go away!" she shouted, her voice hoarse.

"Luz?" asked a voice, surprising Luz. She recognized it and climbed out of bed, going over to the door of her room to open it.

On the other side was Amity and for a moment the two just silently looked at each other, neither knowing what to say. Finally, Luz spoke.

"Hey, Amity."

Chapter Text

Luz didn't know how to react to the fact that Amity was suddenly here.

'What the hell!?' Luz's thoughts were trying to process it. 'What is Amity doing here? Why is she here? Seeing me like this?!' Luz tried to not look embarrassed. 'Don't tell me she saw that? Oh crap, she probably thinks I am an animal.'

She finally mustered up what words she could say. "Hey, Amity," she spoke, then stammered a bit. "W-what are you doing here?"

Amity, who looked just as awkward as Luz did, responded. "Your mom found me outside of the library. I didn't know what time it was and my parents don't know I'm out here, so she's letting me spend the night."

This made Luz smirk a little as she replied. "Hmm, guess you do have a bad side. Sure you don't want to join the Bad Girl Coven?"

Amity didn't answer Luz's question, as she was more focused on Luz's attempt at bandaging herself around her knuckles. "Is that how you bandage yourself?" she asked, pointing at her knuckles.

Luz looked at her knuckles and scoffed. "W-What's it to you? Besides, my knuckles are fine."

"Not from the looks of things," Amity said as she grabbed Luz's hand. "Come on, let me help treat it."

"H-hey! What are you-?" Luz was shocked when Amity's hand held hers. This made Luz's face show a tint of blush.

After finding a medical kit in the bathroom, Amity helped treat Luz's wounds properly. Her knuckles were rubbed with some healing cream, which stung for Luz.

"Cripes, man!" Luz winced at the pain. "Is this cream supposed to sting?!"

"It's to prevent infection," Amity stated while using a roll of bandage tape to wrap around Luz's knuckles. "Surprised that you've lived this long without scars."

"My mom's done some good healing to prevent them," Luz replied. "Like one time, I got this real gash in my arm after I constructed a slide around the hill for a penstagram when I was eleven. Closed that wound up with a little healing magic she knew."

"Are all humans that reckless?" Amity questioned.

"Not all of them, some are boring and just like to keep on the safe side of things," Luz answered, looking away for a bit. She noticed how Amity's eyes were tired up close. "So… you want to sleep on my bed?"

"W-What!?" Amity asked, flabbergasted as she blushed.

"I asked if you want to sleep on my bed for the night?" Luz asked her, then realized what she just said. "I-I mean, you want you can sleep on my bed while I sleep elsewhere! Like the floor!"

"Oh uh, thanks," Amity replied, awkward about the situation.

"Plus you can like, sleep in your clothes. Unless you want something to sleep in, cause I got some extra clothes from the human world you can wear."

"Y-Yeah, that sounds like a… plan," Amity said as she finished wrapping Luz's hands with the bandage tape. "Wait, why not sleep with the others in the living room?"

Luz looked just as awkward as Amity, rubbing her bandaged hands as she replied. "I-I don't think Willow wants to talk to me right now." Her head lowered in shame. This shocked Amity as Luz continued. "We had an argument and… I don't think she's in a forgiving mood right now."

Luz got up as she walked to the door, opening it to see Eda wrestling with the reanimated taxidermy squirrel.

"Where's my nuts, you rodent!?" Eda demanded.

"You should've let me die, you old hag!" the squirrel responded, kicking Eda's face as he tried to run off only for King to grab him.

"Got 'em!" King declared, only for Barcus to end up tackling him thus releasing the squirrel.

"Barcus, no! He's not even alive!" Jerbo shouted as he, Gus, and Viney chased after him. Willow gave chase as well, passing by Luz who glanced at her, but turned her face to focus on chasing Barcus.

Luz felt hurt, but she didn't blame Willow for ignoring her. Amity noticed Luz's shoulders lower the moment Willow passed by. Amity placed her hand on Luz's back and Luz turned to her. "Maybe you should give her time," Amity advised.

"Last I checked, I'm too much of a bad influence on her," Luz said harshly, walking out of her room leaving Amity feeling hurt as well.

"Luz, wait." Amity called out while behind her the chaos from the living room continued. Amity caught up to Luz. "I'm sorry, okay?" Luz opened the door to a closet. "For what it's worth, you're a better friend to Willow then I ever was!" She looked down at her own socks, she was tired and didn't want to start arguing with Luz. She was then thrown a black shirt which she caught, followed by some red pajama pants.

"This should be at your size," Luz told her. Amity took a look at the shirt, showing a singer in purple flamboyant clothing on a motorbike.

"Purple Rain?" Amity read the title on the shirt. "I don't get it."

Everyone was now tuckered in at night, with King sleeping on top of Barcus. Willow and Viney slept together on the couch while Jerbo and Gus slept in each of their own sleeping bags.

In Luz's room, Amity was now in Luz's bed wearing the sleepwear provided for her, while Luz laid by the side of the bed. Both girls couldn't sleep. Amity couldn't sleep because she felt bad for Luz to sleep like this, while Luz couldn't sleep because she didn't want to. Not sleeping prevented her from having those… nightmares.

Tired of the silence, Amity turned her head and spoke in a whisper. "Luz, you awake?"

Luz raised her head, responding. "Barely, but I'm up."

Amity wanted to spark a conversation and she noticed a picture of Luz with a human boy, but what she also noticed was the old children's book that was familiar to her. "I didn't know you had a copy of Otabin."

Luz's eyes widened. "Y-Yeah, so? It's not like I read it… anymore. But my mom read it to me when I was little."

"Well, it looks like you do have a soft side," Amity teased with a smirk. "Sure you don't want to join the Good Girl Coven?"

"Oh, haha, they oughta call you Little Miss Perfect Comedian," Luz countered back, the two ending up giggling at each other. It felt more genuine between the two.

Amity sighed as she looked at Luz, she didn't know what to ask her next. But remembering how Luz attacked that demon hunter so uncontrollably, she had to ask.

"Do you want to talk about… what happened earlier?"

"W-what's there to talk about?" Luz asked, looking away feeling tensed.

"You don't have to talk about it if you're not comfortable with it," Amity said. "I've seen you fight before, but I've never seen you go all out like that." She looked concerned for Luz, who was silent. "Did… something happen to you that made you this way?"

Luz sighed before responding to her. "Willow and Gus know about my… episodes. You know, back then I used to be a wide-eyed, naive, spunky little dreamer like you." Amity pouted, but Luz continued. "I never got out of the Owl House much. It wasn't until I was five that my mom thought a little outing would be good for me…"

Little Luz was given a blue hoodie with cat ears, as Eda made her wear them. "Alright, you better wear this hoodie at all times and stay near me. We're gonna go on a little shopping spree for some food and some pocket change if you know what I'm saying?"

"Can I have some ice scream?" the young girl asked as Eda carried her and placed her in a safety seat, which Eda used like a backpack given the straps on the back of the small seat. "Oh come on, I'm too big for this seat."

"No, you're still a little baby," Eda told her as she called for Owlbert to come to her. He flew towards her hand as Eda sat on the staff and wore her hood. "Now then, to Bonesborough for errands!"

"To ewwands!" Luz cutely cried out as Eda flew off.

"Going out of town was supposed to be the best adventure I had with my mom. I was about to see what goes on beyond the little cottage house I lived in all my life."

Once Eda landed in Bonesborough, she unlocked Luz's child seat to let her go. She held onto her adopted daughter's hand. "Now I need you to be close. I don't want you to wander off anywhere without me, okay?"

"Okay!" Luz nodded, looking around the market. She saw all kinds of monsters, witches and demons walking around. She looked a bit frightened by them, hiding behind her mother's dress as the two walked down to the food market. Luz saw an apple and tried to reach for it, but Eda stopped her with a hush and a wink. She pointed at the seller of the stand, a buff ogre who was putting up the prices.

"Excuse me, but have I seen you somewhere?" Eda asked the ogre.

"Uh, I'm just a fruit seller, ma'am," he told her.

"No, no, I think I've seen you in one of those picture shows before. You sure you're not some secret actor? I do hear ogres are in the rage these days."

"Oh, really? Well I have been thinking of going to acting school but my dad doesn't approve," the ogre admitted. "Which is why I inherited this stand."

"I'm sure if you take some time to audition for roles, you'll be such a hit that you'll even have your own ketchup branding!" Eda encouraged. "Cause when I see you I see a star!"

The ogre felt the confidence boost kicked in. He looked at himself from the reflection of his mirror, taking his hat off and seeing himself having a career as an actor "Hey, you're right! You know what, how about some free apples on the house?"

Eda managed to get some apples in her purse, while giving one for Luz to eat. "Remember Luz, the best way to con your way for free stuff is to give compliments to even the most short sighted monster around. It almost always works."

"It was pretty much what my mom did for a living. But it was then that I noticed some kids at this slayground, you know the one with the dragon jungle gym?"

As Eda continued with her errand, Luz noticed the slayground full of children her age. She pulled on her mother's dress. "Mommy, can I go play there?" she asked, pointing at the slayground.

"Sorry, kiddo, but we're both running errands today," Eda told her as she held onto Luz's hand. "Maybe later. Now come on, there's a deal on some fried weaseltons down left." She pulled Luz away from the slayground, making the young girl pout.

"But I was being impatient at the time. Mom was taking too long with her errands, so… I kinda snuck off to the slayground."

Little Luz looked around while still being near Eda, who was checking out some fine clothing that she could get a five-finger discount on. Little Luz had an idea of how to sneak away when she saw a shiny coin laying on the ground. She picked it up and saw it reflecting light. She smirked as she used the light to shine at a spot where her mother could see.

Like the bird mom she was, Eda became hypnotized by something shiny. "Ooh, shiny!" she cried out, jumping in the stand to get the shiny light. This caused a little ruckus and the stand owner tried to get her to stop.

Luz flipped the coin in there as she rushed to the playground. Sure, her mommy was gonna be worried about her, but Luz figured that when Eda saw how well she played with the other kids, she would have to let her play at the slayground.

"After I snuck away I made it to the slayground. But soon enough, my actions did have some consequences… and I came to learn a very hard lesson."

She made it to the slayground, seeing the kids her age playing, and a few parents and older teens either watching them or hanging out. She looked at the swings and spotted one that was empty. She had never been on the swings before, so she went over to the empty seat. She walked up to it, grabbed the strap and sat down. She looked at a rat girl and called to her. "Hey! Can you give me a push?"

"Okay!" the rat girl said, pushing Luz on the swing.

"Higher!" Luz demanded as she was pushed on the swing, allowing her to see a part of town from that height. She swung back down while the rat girl avoided getting hit. Luz was then swung back up in the air and she let go of the chains to fly up into the air. "I can fly-EEP!" she cried out as she fell to the ground, her hood went off from her head when she fell. "Ow, I'm okay!" she declared as she rose back up, not noticing that her hoodie was down. She noticed the kids in the slayground had stopped playing as they, along with their parents, stared at her in shock. "Why's everyone staring at me like that?" she asked innocently.

"They just looked at me… I didn't know why but what happened next became the worst day of my life."

After a moment of shock and whispers, one lemon-headed older kid pointed and shouted. "Round ears! She's got round ears instead of pointy ones!"

"She's a human!/What is one doing here!?/Get that thing away from our children!"

Luz didn't know why they all looked at her in fear. But the most shocking part was when she felt something hit her on the back. "OW!" she exclaimed as she fell down, feeling a rock hit her.

"I got her! I got her!" a teenage witch boy, the one that threw the rock, cheered.

"Throw some more rocks at it!" a cyclops girl with a beak responded as other teenagers threw rocks at Little Luz.

"H-hey-OW! Cut it OUCH! It hurts!" Luz cried out as she was being pelted with rocks. She covered her head while feeling the rock pelt her, some bigger than the other. The biggest rock thrown at her ended up hitting her leg, a crack can be heard. "AAAAAIIIIEEEEE!" She screamed from the pain, tears forming in her eyes. She looks at her own leg, a little bent from the wrong side.

"Shut her up!" a rat mother cried out while holding her rat boy protectively as both covered their ears.

The teenagers and the kids older than Luz rushed in to grab her, pinning her down face up. Luz felt them beating and kicking her. "AAAAHHHH! MOMMY HELP!"

At the same time, Eda was looking for her daughter "Luz? Luz! Where are you!?" she said in worry, until she heard the commotion from the crowd. She heard screaming and the sound of the crowd gave her a feeling of dread. "No…" She shoved through the crowd, her face shocked and angry when she saw her daughter pinned down while getting beaten by those rotten kids. Her blood has never felt so boiled in her life, nor had she ever felt this anger. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" She acted out of instinct, charging and clawing the teenagers away from Luz, kicking them away. She conjured flames from her hands to make them back off, then turned to Luz and saw the horrid state that her daughter was in.

Luz was shivering. She had a black eye and a cut on her head that was drawing blood, along with her swollen nose and busted up lip. She was covered in bruises everywhere and she was holding her stomach from the pain of being kicked. Her leg has a gash from the rock that was thrown at her, as well as it's bent.

"My baby…" Eda quickly went to pick up Luz, holding her tightly while the young girl cried. Eda ignored the mob that was calling for the human girl's head. She gritted her teeth before speaking. "How dare you…" She gave them all a death glare, a glare of hatred towards the civilians involved. She held up her staff, focusing on her magic as she drew a large circle "To those who have committed the worst sins, shall be cursed with popping boils into their skin." A wave of golden and green energy blasted at the mob, cursing the people there while Eda made her escape with Luz on her staff.

"My mom gave them a pox curse that gave the entire mob boils in their skin that popped up zit juice. It was so bad and the news coverage called it 'The Boiling Zit Popping Incident.' After that, mom took me home to treat my wounds. I was badly hurt."

After Eda brought her daughter back to the Owl House, she placed Luz on the couch and performed a healing spell on her. Followed by bandages to treat her wounds.

"M… Mommy…" Little Luz could barely speak.

"Luz, Luz don't worry… you're going to be okay." Eda assured her daughter, "Just don't talk right now-"

"I'm sorry…" Luz was crying as she apologized, making Eda look concerned. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry that I snuck off. I really wanted to see the playground." She sniffed. "I should've stayed with you."

"No… I should be sorry," Eda told Luz, holding her protectively. "If I had kept a better eye on you this would never have happened. If anyone's to blame it's me." Eda was crying just like her daughter was as she hugged Luz.

Luz hugged her knees close to her, Amity looking sympathetic while listening to her story. No kid should have to experience that. The Blight girl thought of her own experience with the mugging, but didn't say anything about it.

"I'm… so sorry that happened to you," Amity said in a sincere tone.

"There's nothing you should be sorry about," Luz replied, turning her head sideways. "I never wanted to have that experience again, so I made a promise to myself to not let them see that they've gotten to me. That's why I have to toughen myself up, learn magic and show everyone that I can be a strong witch as the daughter of the Owl Lady." Luz looked back down on the floor. "If they have a problem with me being a human raised in the Boiling Isles, well they're gonna have to deal with it."

Amity stared at Luz for a few seconds before she sat up and pulled off the covers. "Hey, why don't you get in?"

"What?" Luz turned around, raising her eyebrow until she saw Amity offering her a space in the bed next to her.

"I don't think you should sleep like this, so just get in," Amity offered. She saw Luz's weird-out look. "Oh come on, don't tell me you've never slept in bed with another girl before?"

"O-Oh, no, just that… I never expected you to want to sleep beside me, that's all," Luz stammered, rubbing the back of her neck in awkwardness.

"Do you want to sleep with a bad back in the morning? Just get in. Besides, after hearing what you've been through, the least I can do is let you sleep on your own bed."

Luz, seeing that Amity won't take no for an answer, shrugged and got in bed with her. A tint of blush was on Luz's face when she was near Amity in the same bed, but the mint-haired girl simply turned her head to face the window.

"This feels… weird," Luz commented.

"What's so weird about it?" Amity asked while yawning.

"It's just a different experience, sleeping alongside someone other than Willow, Gus or King," Luz stated. "But not in that manner, tell people about it and I can make sure your death looks like an accident."

Amity chuckled. "I would like to see you try, but I'm not the type to spread nasty rumors. I don't gossip unlike my nosy sister." She thought about Luz's story. "How come you didn't get a limp?"

"I guess my mom's just got that magical healing spell that fixes bones." Luz said. "The only take away from it was that my left ankle can now rotate."

"For what it's worth, they really don't have any right to hurt you." Amity said assuredly. She looked at the photo on Luz's stand. "By the way, who's the boy in that picture? Your boyfriend from the human world?"

Luz snickered. "Nah, well technically he's kinda my stepbrother."

Amity looked confused, but then she yawned. "Well, I don't know what you mean by that, but I'm now too tired to think." She turned her head over and began to fall asleep.

Luz, looking into her own thoughts, spoke. "Can I also tell you something?"

"Hmm…" Amity was too tired right now.

"Yeah, maybe later," Luz replied, as she turned to the opposite side of the bed and felt her heart skip a beat. Her back was pressed to Amity's and her face was turning red. 'Oh great,' she thought. 'Why is this so weird to me?'

Snoooooooooore

The sound of snoring was heard in Amity's ears. She slowly opened her eyes to find herself not in her usual bed. 'Oh, that's right. I slept in the Owl House,' she thought as she felt something over her. A brown skinned arm hung over her. She blinked twice, as she turned around and saw Luz sleeping with her arms spread, her legs tangled on the bed sheets. For the first time, Amity has experienced Luz's sleeping habits. Especially the snoring.

She looked out the window, it was definitely morning. She moved the human girl's arm off from her as she looked at the way Luz slept. "Luz, wake up!" Amity shook the human from her slumber.

"F-five more… minutes…" Luz said as she turned over.

Amity sighed. "Alright, guess I'll leave it to-"

"GOOD MORNING, LUZ! EDA TOLD ME TO WAKE YOU UP!" Hooty suddenly popped in from the window.

"YAAAHH!" Amity screamed as she punched Hooty in the face. Luz suddenly woke up from the commotion and jumped from her bed to grab her bat.

"HIYA!" Luz cried out with her bat raised up, only to not see much trouble "Wait, what!? Oh. Guess I should've warned you about Hooty's wake up calls if I sleep late." She lowered her bat.

"Sheesh, my friend Pucky wouldn't hit me like that!" Hooty complained as Luz pushed him back outside.

"Alright, you can go back out and complain about it to your imaginary friends," Luz told him while shutting the window.

"You can't shut me out that easily! As long as you live inside me, I can barge in whenever I want!" Hooty was then distracted by a butterfly. "Hey, Mr. Butterfly, wanna hear my day plans?"

"...Well, better get changed if we're gonna send you off home," Luz stated.

"Yeah, I don't think I should show up like this," Amity responded while looking down at her shirt.

"Don't take too long cause we're having thornberry pancakes for breakfast from the smell of batter, along with devil eggs," Luz said after she smelled what's cooking. She then walked out of her room to give Amity some privacy to change.

Amity, now in her normal attire, came downstairs and found Luz and King at the dining table. She didn't see any of the others around, "Did they already leave?" she asked.

"Yeah, Viney offered to take them home and they all went with her," Luz answered in a down tone.

"I saw them off," King mentioned. "Willow was really eager to head home. Gee, it's almost as if you two had some sort of fight-" King saw Eda shaking her head and motioning him to change the subject.. "Uh, when's those thorncakes coming?"

"They're ready now," Eda told him, holding a frying pan of thornberry pancakes and a spatula. "Just pass a plate to Amity." King did as told and the brown cooked pancakes with thornebugs planted in them were passed around.

"Ooh, this one's still alive," Luz commented, as she took a bite. She looked over at Amity and her plate. "You gonna try some?"

"Oh um, I've never had thorneberry pancakes before," Amity replied as Eda passed around a plate of red scrambled eggs with horns. "My breakfasts are usually from the highest cuisine my mother can get."

"What, like snips, snails and puppy dog tails?" Luz asked while eating her devil eggs.

"The highest quality puppy dog tails," Amity chimed and she took a bite of her pancake, chewing it before swallowing. "It's… surprisingly good actually. What ingredients do you use?"

"Oh I can't receive all the credit. It's mostly store bought." Eda waved it off, joining in to eat with them as she held a bottle of ketchup with an image of a certain ogre. "Any ketchup for your devil eggs, Luz?"

"You know it!" Luz replied as Eda handed the ketchup, spewing green substance all over her pancakes and devil eggs.

'I have never seen anyone put ketchup on pancakes before…' Amity thought in surprise, then turned to see King picking the thornbugs out of the pancakes and eating them. Seeing this small family eat breakfast together made Amity realize how unfamiliar this was to her. Whenever her family ate together, it was nothing like this…

King noticed Amity's expression. "Hey uh, are you alright there?"

Amity looked up from King's words, tears suddenly forming in her eyes. "O-Oh, this is nothing. Maybe something got in my eyes." She tried to brush it off, but she couldn't help herself. "I… I like the atmosphere here. It's something I'm not familiar with. My family rarely eats together, whether it's because of work or school. And when we do eat together… it's still not anything like this."

She felt a pat on her shoulder from Luz and turned to her as Luz replied. "Now I don't know what the upper class witches do in their lives, but no matter who or what, we always make our guests feel welcome here."

"We may be responsible for jailbreaks, scams, swindling, double parking, but nobody got hurt… at least, nobody we knew," Eda listed while eating her own breakfast.

Amity formed a small smile, if she were to live a life like this she would want this to last forever. But… she knew, deep inside, that it wouldn't be possible.

'We can't always have what we want.'

"Thank you for dropping off Barcus for us, Viney!" spoke a pale witch woman with long brown hair, black eyes who was wearing an apron over her yellow sweater and beige tights and boots. Next to her was an orange, spiky haired blue man with gills in a black t-shirt with a poncho and blue tights and boots. He was petting Barcus.

"I hope you were a good boy at your sleepover," the blue man said while hugging Barcus.

"Ruff(Dad! You're embarrassing me in front of my friends)!" Barcus barked while trying to get away from his adopted dad's grip.

"You're welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Barkowski!" Viney waved at them from on top of her griffin, seeing Barcus off with his adopted parents while Willow sat behind her. "Alright Puddles, now let's drop Willow off."

As they flew on Puddles toward Willow's house, Willow stayed quiet since she still felt bad about what happened last night. Viney looked at her in concern and decided to talk about it, breaking the silence. "Hey uh, Willow," she said, feeling guilty. "I'm… sorry that things turned sour between you and Luz. The truth is, what happened at the Abomination Track, I gave Luz the idea of planting that ghost ball in the first place." Willow looked at her while Viney continued. "Luz was really looking out for you and… even though she dropped it, the ghost ball was my idea."

Willow sighed, looking up to Viney. "I'm glad you told me that. Though I could've handled the failing on my assignment, even if it meant being blamed for the entire class having extra homework for a month."

"To be fair, Professor Blanc is a terrible teacher," Viney brought up, causing the two to snicker.

"Yeah, but again thanks for admitting it," Willow said. "Though I'm not the one you should tell. I hope that you and Luz eventually tell the truth to Principal Bump and Amity."

"I'll talk to Luz about it, but I hope that you and her will be able to patch things up," Viney said as Puddles landed in front of Willow's house, allowing Willow to get off.

"Maybe, but not right now," Willow said while holding her backpack. "I know that Luz is a good person, but… it's going to take a while for us to be okay." She started heading toward her house, looking back at Viney one last time. "Thanks for dropping me off, by the way."

"No prob, see you at school," Viney waves before leaving with Puddles.

Willow waved back before lowering her hand with a sigh. Going back to school was probably going to be hard for her because of the argument… but she took a deep breath and huffed. That would just be another day for Willow Parks to get through.

Eda had offered to fly Amity back home. Luz had joined them to see Amity off and to get Amity's instructions for her school work.

"And remember to show me your improvement on your writing, and you're gonna need you to show me that your defense spells are perfected," Amity told Luz, who nodded as she kept listing, "Also, we'll be needing to see how you do well with your history notes and-"

"Okay, okay, Amity, I got everything down." Luz told her as Eda guided her staff down near the gates of the Blight residence. "Well, this is your stop."

Amity looked up at Blight manor, sighing since she knew what was coming as she stepped off from the staff. She noticed a dark silhouette at the window of her house looking down on her, a feminine figure that Amity knew was not going to be happy.

"Thanks for having me over and dropping me off, Ms. Clawthorne," Amity thanked the owl lady.

"Hey, just remembered what we talked about," Eda reminded with a smile.

"Your folks will probably be mad at you for ditching home like that," Luz mentioned.

"Well, we all need to face the consequences for our actions," Amity replied, trying to hide her worry. "But hey, every teenager sneaks out of the house once in a while."

"Good luck with them then," Luz said as she raised her fist, making Amity look alarmed at the gesture. "It's called a fist pump. Form your fist and bump it to mine. It's a friendship gesture."

"I don't get it either, but try it," Eda encouraged.

Amity looked at her own hand, unfamiliar with human customs as she formed a fist that she slowly pressed against Luz's. Nothing happened as a result, just Amity pressing the skin of her knuckles against Luz's bandaged ones.

"Well, see you around," Amity said while walking down the pavement to her mansion. She turned around to watch Eda and Luz fly off as she opened the door to her own home and walked through.

Amity closed the door and turned back around, sighing when she saw who was waiting for her. Edric and Emira were in front of Amity, hands behind their backs and as they gave her their significant smiles.

"You're in real trouble for sneaking off, Mittens," Emira told her, Amity trying to keep her expression indifferent as she passed by them.

"Yeah, mom and dad are very disappointed in you,'' Edric chimes, causing Amity to respond.

"Don't you two ever shut up?" Amity asked. "Least I don't skip out my classes for pranks. I can take whatever punishment they have for me." But as she headed upstairs, she couldn't help but feel a sense of dread while at the back of her head a voice was blaming and criticizing her for getting them in trouble. Amity knew for a fact that she wasn't going to enjoy this…

Ten Years Ago

After healing Luz, Eda was by Luz's bed still hugging her daughter. This calmed her down, but Luz was still affected by what happened at the slayground.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you," Eda said while Luz cried a little. "I just wanted to protect you and… I'm not gonna let something like that happen to you again."

"Hey, are you two alright in there?" King asked, popping up. "Can I… lay beside Luz?"

"Sure, come on up," Eda told him as the little demon climbed up the bed and laid near Luz.

"Why did they do that?" Luz asked, earning Eda and King's attention. "Why did they attack me?"

Eda and King looked at each other, awkward about the subject. King rubbed the back of his skull cap head while Eda tried to come up with an explanation.

The owl mother sighed, patting Luz's head. "It's not your fault. The people down there… they just…" She sighed. "They just don't like anything that's unfamiliar to them."

Eda looked around and saw a pile of books on the other side of the bed. A bunch of storybooks she got from the human world and the bookstores at Bonesborough, something to read to her at night. She picked up the book from the top of the pile, "Hey, how about a story to cheer you up?"

Little Luz wiped her nose, nodding. Eda looked at the book's title. "Otabin the Bookmaker, by some author with many legs. Oh wait, the author's name is Manylegs."

"Thank you for coming here on a short notice, Mr. Manylegs."

"Call me Webstor, calling me mister makes me sound like my dad," explained a brown spider-headed humanoid in a black vest with a red long-sleeve shirt for his four arms and black pants for his other four legs. He was walking next to Warden Wrath, a hunched large man wearing a crow-like mask. "Though, I do find it weird that I'm getting a promotion under the Emperor himself… considering that I just work in children's literature and journalism. Like winning five gold medals and a Beelzebub Award for my coverage of Helter Melter. I don't like to brag about myself, but in the words of my own boss he said to me-"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Webstor halted, hearing the scream come from behind a door in the hallway. The door then opened and out of it came a short, red demon woman the size of a child with conjoined hands for hair and her uniform covering the rest of her face other than one eye. She was covered in the splatter of some substance while holding a pickaxe covered with the same substance that still dripped. Warden Wrath was dismissed.

"Glad you're here, Mr. Manylegs," the demon woman said to him. "I am Kikimora, the Emperor's assistant. You are here about your… promotion. You have been chosen to be the new head of the Emperor's Coven's media and news department." She wiped her pickaxe while looking up to Webstor. "You will make sure that the people of the Boiling Isles know everything that the Emperor's Coven wishes them to know and that they are protected from the lies of those wishing to undermine the Emperor. Your predecessor did not meet expectations so he got… the axe."

Webstor gulped, looking nervous. "I-I am honored, ma'am. For the Emperor of course." He lowered himself to her.

Kikimora set the pickaxe aside. "Very good. Your first assignment will regard reports of an incident in Bonesborough involving the Owl Lady and a human that was seen with her. The Emperor wants these reports suppressed and unverified. Rumors of the Owl Lady with a human should be just that, rumors. Even to other members of the Emperor's Coven."

"I don't think I understand…"

"You don't need to understand, Mr. Manylegs? The Emperor has big plans for the Boiling Isles and you have been given the privilege to be a part of them… as long as you do your part. Do I make myself clear?" She spoke strictly with a hint of venom.

"O-of course, my apologies," Webstor apologized out of fear.

"We expect many great things from you, Mr. Manylegs," she said as she handed him a badge. "Welcome to the Emperor's Coven. And remember, we all do as the Titan commands…"

Chapter Text

Keep on running, that was her mantra. She kept on running alongside the shore of the Boiling Seas. It had been a few days since the sleepover and Luz decided to go for a morning run to blow off some steam. It was good exercise for her, she had asked her mom and King if they would like to join but they declined. It was still really cathartic for her to do this as she took some time to think about what happened back at the Moonlight Conjuring and about what happened the following day after she and her mom dropped off Amity and headed back home.

Flashback

In the woods, Eda helped Luz get in a meditation stance. She then joined her and they meditated together. It was something that Eda made Luz do in order to channel any negative energy she may still have left from her… episode last night.

"How are you feeling now?" Eda asked.

Luz gave a deep sigh, her eyes closed. "Crummy," she answered.

"Does it have anything to do with what happened with those demon hunters last night?" Eda asked, suspecting that this would eat up her daughter.

Luz looked down in silence until she sighed in admission. "Me and Willow had an argument. We argued over how I can take things too far with my pranks and payback. Like the slingshot we made. I was gonna show it off by using it to target Boscha."

"The bard girl with the macabre fetish, or the three eyed potions track girl?" Eda asked.

"Three-eyes," Luz answered. "But Willow stopped me from using the slingshot at her, saying that it isn't right. Like, even though Boscha gives her a bad time and I've stood up for her, she ranted that I've taken things too far. Am I not allowed to stick up for my friends? I want to make sure that no one bothers, harasses, and picks on my friends… okay, I may have gone too far with the pepper spray on Boscha, or with egging the demon hunters…"

"Or the Abomination Track's ghost infestation?"

Luz looked up to Eda with a surprised look. Eda raised her eyebrow "Why do you look surprised? I was just like you when I was your age, okay maybe I was a little worse. But you're up to exactly the same type of stuff as me during my time at Hexside, you've honestly taken after me a bit too well." She sighed while looking at Luz, eye to eye. "I think it's best if you tell Amity the truth."

Luz was shocked. "W-What? Why should I tell her now? After this long, she's really going to get mad at me!" She was running her hands through her hair, looking not only guilty but panicked as well.

"So you are worried about what she thinks of you now?" Eda asked Luz, giving her a look.

"W-What? No! I-I mean, who cares what she thinks. I mean, it's not like I'm scared of how she'll react if she figures out." Luz turned away.

"Well from the look you have, you're still feeling guilty about what happened back to the Abominations Track," Eda pointed out. "So I believe that it would help get the weight off your chest if you were to tell her." They both stood up. "Besides, she's going through some hard stuff as well."

"How would you know that?" Luz questioned.

"Not my place to say," Eda stated, walking back to the house with Luz following her. "Just tell her what you did. The Abomination Track's now a breeding ground for those ghosts. It's like a hippy commute, and I should know, we almost lived in one!"

Luz remembered the advice her mom gave to her. She really got into thinking if she should tell Amity about the Abomination Track incident… she had thought of many ways of how Amity could react.

"You did what? You are so dead!" The imaginary Amity summoned her Abomination, smashing Luz with its huge purple fist.

Luz shook her head, trying to imagine a different reaction.

"I'm sorry, Luz, but I can't be friends with someone who sabotaged my future career." Amity had Luz tied to a rocket and she pressed a button, causing the rocket to launch as Luz screamed.

Luz realized that was too far-fetched. Witches here wouldn't know what a rocket is, so Luz thought of another reaction.

"Oh Luz, I'm glad that you told me the truth about the Abomination Track incident," Amity told her sweetly, sounding calm. But for some reason eerie music played as Amity held up a knife "But the only way for you to make up for it, is with your LIFE!"

"GAAAH! Why does it always end with me dying!?" Luz cried out in irritation, pulling at her hair out of stress. "How am I going to tell Amity about this?" she asked herself. She fell onto her knees, her hands pressed onto her face.

Afterward, Luz walked back home from the beach. While making her approach, she saw a raven haired large headed woman with bat wings and talons by the door, dropping a basket. Curious, she hid herself behind a tree while the creature flew away. Luz quickly recognized the woman.

'The Bat Queen?' Luz thought as she ran toward the Owl House to find a basket at their doorstep. It looked like a gift basket, but it came with a note that Luz picked up and began to read.

Eda was drinking her apple blood when Luz came inside with the basket. "Mom, the Bat Queen was at our doorstep!" she announced.

"The Bat Queen?" Eda asked. "What was she doing here?"

"She wants us to take care of… this bundle of joy." Luz showed Eda and King the inside of the basket, revealing a sleeping blue haired bat. "She'll be back for Yi Yi in the morning."

"Yi Yi?" King scoffed. "Great, we can't eat it if it's already named."

"Oh this is perfect!" Eda exclaimed. "Doing a favor for the richest demon of the Boiling Isles, we'll be set for life!"

"Enough to make up for the underground gambling parlor we owned before the Coven guards busted us with a sting operation," Luz mentioned, remembering the gambling parlor they used to run.

"Well taking care of you was hard enough so taking care of the Bat Queen's kid should be a breeze," Eda stated. "Oh, and I need you to return these books to the library. Then come back and you can help me take care of this rugrat, got it?" She summoned several books for Luz to grab.

"These are all of our overdues," Luz pointed out, holding the pile.

"Well if you wish to stick around and take care of Yi Yi now…" Eda offered, but Luz was already out of the door. "Just be back to help us!"

"I will!" Luz replied as she went on her way to turn in the books.

"These books are overdue, Clawthorne," spoke the librarian.

"I know, can they still be turned in?" Luz asked, annoyed by his tone.

"I'll add to your charges," the librarian answered as he summoned a long list, writing down the charges under the Clawthorne name while the books were turned in. "By the way, the library will be closed early for the Wailing Star meteor shower tonight."

"Ah, that. Forgot that it was occurring tonight." It was then that Luz noticed someone struggling to get his books to the counter and dropping them. She recognized the Hexside student, one of the customers that she had sold items to at school. Levi Thians from the bard track, a green scaled fish boy witch with a cast on his arm.

Feeling bad for him, she walked over to help him pick up his books "Here, need help?"

"L-Luz Clawthorne?!" Levi asked in shock, nervous around the human as she handed him the book he dropped. "Man, I'm surprised that you're here."

"Yeah, well, I had to turn in some late books for my mom," she replied, then indicated the cast on his arm. "I see you've been released."

"Yeah, the witches from the Healing Coven said that my arm should be good in two weeks," Levi explained while Luz placed his books on the counter. "Thanks for helping me out."

"Hey, it's no big," Luz replied, looking at his cast. "I'm sorry about what happened to you, Levi. You didn't deserve that."

"T-Thanks," he said. "At least you stepped in. Not many help out a guy like me much, they only pity and watch while I struggle. Not even Blight was much of a help."

This got Luz's interest. "You mean Amity's here?"

"Yeah, I saw her in the children's section. She volunteers here regularly. I offered to let her sign my cast, but I guess she was busy or in a rush because she didn't want to talk to me."

"Really?" Luz asked. "I figured that she would at least ask how you're feeling."

"Yeah, but she did sign her name on the get-well card while I was at the general," Levi brought up. "It's tough being on this cast, on account that my dad's part of the fishing business. It's been hard to find someone to help with his boat… as an entertainer since I usually play the accordion to keep the fishermen's spirits at bay."

Luz nodded, thinking about Levi's situation as she replied. "Hey, maybe I can help you and your dad out sometime."

"Really?" Levi asked. "Wow, that's surprisingly generous of you."

"I can be generous," Luz said defensively.

"Yeah well, I'll mention your offer to my dad," Levi said as Luz grabbed a pen to sign his cast.

"There, hope you get better." He waved at her and she waved back as she headed to the children's section of the library.

Once she made it there, she heard Amity's voice and noticed the Blight girl reading to the children from a book that Luz recognized. It was a copy of Otabin the Bookmaker.

"'We're your friends, we want to help' said the Tin Boy with a yelp," Amity read the book while showing the illustrations to the group of kids. "'Otabin smiled and paced the floor, 'I've never had real friends before.'"

Luz walked over and as Amity read she noticed that among the kids she was reading to, Luz suddenly appeared up sitting alongside them. Amity tried to remain indifferent with a hunt of embarrassment while Luz motioned for her to keep going.

"'Then we'll be your first.' the chicken witch clucked, Bookmaker Otabin couldn't believe his luck." Amity continued. "So Bookmaker Otabin, surrounded by friends, bound a book of friendship, and that's the end." Amity closed the book and the children cheered. Luz clapped her hands along with them, making Amity try to cover her face with the book to avoid her gaze. She felt a hug from one of the kids, Braxis.

"Thank you, Ms. Amity," Braxis said to her in his usual deep monster voice.

"You're welcome, Braxis," Amity replied, patting the young monster boy's head before he left with the other children. The Blight girl turned to Luz, who was standing up.

"Guess Little Miss Perfect likes to read to children," Luz commented with her hands in her pockets.

"I-I wasn't expecting to see you today…" Amity said while looking at the book. "Isn't the library above the bad girl life?"

"What? Like I can't be in a library? I thought this was a free island. Besides, someone mentioned that you read to kids here."

"It's for extra credit," Amity clarified, putting the book down on a small table.

"It was Levi that told me," Luz clarified as well, making Amity freeze up. "He said that you didn't even want to talk to him. The least you can do is show him some sympathy-"

"Did you do your work like I asked?" Amity interjected, wanting to change the subject.

Luz was surprised by Amity's sudden response, as if she was purposely avoiding the topic of Levi. "Y-yeah, I did it back home but Amity-"

"Then that's what you should care about," Amity told her strictly. Luz was a little put off by Amity's sudden switch towards her and she wanted to say something, but was interrupted again by a familiar sing-sang voice.

"That's not a way to treat your friends, Mittens," said Edric Blight and Luz turned around to see him along with his twin sister Emira Blight.

"Yeah, especially with this bad girl." Emira swung her arm around Luz and tapped her on to her chin. Luz stepped away from her, feeling that she was getting too close and personal.

"What are you two doing here?" Amity questioned and her brother held up a pink lunch bag with rabbit ears.

"Mom wanted us to bring your lunch," Edric said as Amity swiped it away from him. "To make sure you don't come back starving and all that."

"And to make sure that you treat your friends with some respect," Emira added while patting Luz's hair, feeling it all tangled. "Oh, when was the last time you had your hair done?" She found a caterpillar crawling on her fingers and wiped it off on her brother.

"Aw, sick!" Edric yelped.

"Look you two, don't bother me when I'm working here!" Amity said while pointing at them. "The last thing I need is for you to mess with me, when are you two going to grow up!" She seethed her teeth at them, then gave a tired sigh as she turned her back at them.

"A little harsh, Ams?" Luz asked her. Amity closed her eyes, not wanting to take her frustration out on Luz.

"I'll see you at our next tutoring session, Luz. I'm just…" She sighed. "I-I just can't waste my time with you right now."

Luz, feeling a bit hurt from Amity's reply, lowered her head. But she didn't yell at her or anything. "Alright, see you around," she replied simply, walking out with her hands still in her pockets.

"So you're gonna let her talk to you like that?" Emira asked as she and her brother followed Luz.

Luz turned to them, startled. "Are you two following me or something?" she asked.

"Oh no, it's just that what's a cool bad girl doing around in this nerd factory?" Edric asked with his usual smirk.

"Just turning in some overdue graphic novels and some of the books my mom kept. I'm pretty sure we owe this place a lot of debt."

"Well if you want, we can go have some fun around here," Emira said with her own smirk as she stepped in front of Luz.

"Like pranks!" Edric suggested and the twins grabbed both of Luz's hands.

However, Luz pulled away from them and stepped back, much to their confusion. "Look, I like pranks and creating chaos as much as the next witch, but I'm not in the mood for them. Plus I did promise to help out my mom…"

"Oh yeah, helping out the owl lady with what, a jewelry heist?" Edric asked.

"Or a plan to swindle cart parts for a chop shop!" Emira chimed.

"Actually, taking care of a demon baby," Luz said as she walked past them. "See you at school, or whatever."

"Hey wait!" Emira called out to Luz. "Me and Ed are going to be seeing the Wailing Star shower tonight. You're welcome to join us, we'll be waiting for you outside the library."

"Really?" Luz asked. It was rare for her to be invited to something, especially with the older teens. "I don't know, I got this thing at home-"

"Oh don't worry, it won't take long" Edric assured.

"Besides, if you wish we'd like to… hire you for your service," Emira mentioned, making Luz curious.

"Hire me?" Luz asked. "What do you want to hire me for?"

"Oh we just want your help in looking for something here in this library," Emira explained. "If you help us, you'll get some good pay."

"Yeah, and it can be our little secret mission!" Edric added.

"Look guys, I'm not sure…" Luz saw the two gives her puppy dog eyes.

"Oh come on, Luz, please help join us," Emira pouted.

"We just want to hang out with the coolest human we know!" Edric pouted as well.

"Okay, okay, stop with those puppy faces!" Luz told them off, pressing her hands against their faces. "If I help you two, would you really pay me and not pester me that much?" They nodded and Luz sighed. "Well okay, I'll help you with whatever."

"Great! Just meet us outside the library at night after it closes!" Emira said. She and her brother grinned before they headed toward the exit of the library. "See you then!"

"And don't worry about Mittens, it will just be the three of us!" Edric winked at Luz as he followed his twin sister.

Luz blushed but averted her eyes to the floor. 'What have I gotten myself into?' she thought while rubbing the back of her head. 'Maybe it won't be so bad. I can help mom and King with the baby bat and once they're asleep, I can go check back here.'

She didn't know it, but a certain witch with dark skin, brown wavy hair and squared glasses had overhead them.

Luz ignored Hooty as she entered the Owl House, where Eda and King were taking care of Yi Yi. Luz was met by Eda cradling the young bat baby.

"Aw, looks like you're doing a good job as it is," Luz commented.

"Eh he wouldn't stop crying so I had to do what I had to do with you when you were this size," Eda replied while rocking Yi Yi to sleep.

"Oh yeah, Luz, you got a globe call from this one girl from Hexside asking to speak to you, " King said while having pillows tied to his head.

'Globe call… Willow!?' Luz thought hopefully. She rushed to her room and went to her globe. She tapped on it and saw a missed message as she called back. The globe buzzed as it rang, but despite Luz's hope that it was Willow, instead it was Viney's name that appeared on the pending call line.

"Oh," Luz simply said, sounding disappointed. She saw Viney pop up the viewing globe, looking tired and a little manic. "What's up, Vin-"

"Luz, we have to tell Amity and Bump the truth about the Abomination Track incident!" Viney told her in a panic, shivering in a manic manner.

"W-Wait, what? Viney, calm down!" Luz tried to calm her detention friend down. "Why are you so panicky right now?"

"I don't know, maybe I haven't slept for a while and anytime I do I can't help but think about what Willow said back at the Moonlight Conjuring," she stated, trying to ease up her mind.

"Okay, if you just breathe in and out, you're gonna get an anxiety attack…" Luz calmly told her.

"I'm already agitated!" Viney interrupted. "Willow told me that we need to fess up and now I can't deal with the guilt."

"Okay, okay, you're right," Luz assured her, calming Viney down who was breathing in and out. "Now, take a deep breath, and cuddle with Puddles. We'll tell Amity and Bump once we're back at Hexside, okay?"

"Right, got it," Viney said with a sigh of relief. "Thanks Luz, it will be nice sleeping with a clear conscience again." She then hung up.

"So you're really gonna tell Amity, eh?" King spoke up which startled Luz.

"How long have you been listening?" Luz asked him.

"Well I needed to take some time off from helping Eda with Yi Yi. I mean, dealing with you was easy enough, but taking care of a bat kid is way harder, you know? So you're finally going to tell the Bright girl about the incident I keep hearing about?"

"Does everyone in this house know about the Abomination Track incident?" Luz asked.

"Do you want us to answer?" said the many object demons around Luz's room.

"Why do I keep forgetting that the walls here literally have ears and eyes?" Luz muttered to herself. "But anyway, I'll tell Amity… soon."

"Look Luz, they say the truth will set you free or whatever, and from the looks of things you look like you're avoiding the subject a lot," King said as he opened the mini-fridge and took a can of demon cola.

"I said I'll tell her… just, at the right moment."

"You hear that?" King asked. "That is the sound of a coward."

"Hey!" Luz protested. "I am not a coward! A Clawthorne never backs down on anything they put their mind to!"

"Except if it costs a friendship, just like what caused the fallout between your best friend Willow," the mini-fridge spoke.

"See, I couldn't have said it better myself," King agreed.

"Okay, maybe the talking mini-fridge does have a point." Luz pinched the bridge of her nose before she and King heard noises coming from downstairs.

"Luz! King! Yi Yi's spawned out more of him!" Eda cried out as she appeared in the doorway to Luz's room.

"Don't let them in-!" Luz warned but it was too late as Yi Yi and his new siblings flew into the room, creating chaos and causing everyone to scream when one of them burped out fire “AAAHHH!!”

Luz knew that what she was doing was dangerous because of the recent muggings. But she had made a deal with the Blight twins, so as soon as she, Eda and King were able to calm the bat babies down for the night, tuckering out Eda and King in the process, Luz successfully snuck out.

She made it to the entrance of Bonesborough Library, where she waited for the Blight twins to show up.

"Where are they?" Luz asked herself, pacing until she bumped into Edric. "Gah!"

"Whoa, whoa, it's us, Luz," Edric assured as he stood next to Emira.

Luz adjusted herself properly, "Well, you two kept me waiting for too long. Can we just hurry this up so that I can get home quicker than a jackalope?"

"Hey, relax, just help us find what we're looking for and you'll be home with payment." Emira summoned a big bag of cash. "This is just half of our allowances."

"Just how much money do you Blights carry around?" Luz questioned as Edric and Emira held up a large unlock page over the keyhole of the door.

"Enough," Emira answered as the page glowed and crumbled, causing the keyhole to expand and allow the three to walk through into the dark, dimly-lit lobby.

"Okay, so where do we start?" Luz asked while looking around the dark room.

"Hey look, the Wailing Star!" Edric pointed and they looked up to see the crying star pass above the library's skylight.

Luz, Edric and Emira waited, but felt nothing. Luz turned to the twins. "So… is something supposed to happen? Are we going crazy or is it like the blood moon harvest?"

"We're expecting something to happen…" Emira said, confused.

"Guess it was for nothing?" Edric shrugged, but Luz saw that the books on the shelves were glowing.

"I don't think so," Luz said, curious. She walked over to a shelf, grabbing a book and opening it. It shot out tons of birds from the book, which surprised the human as well as the twin Blights.

"The Wailing Star makes the books come to life!" the twins concluded in amazement, seeing all the birds flying around.

Luz closed the book, which caused the birds to disappear. "Okay, that's whimsy, but cool." She saw the twins run off and she followed. "Hey, where are you guys going?"

"Come on, let's check out what else happens when we open these books!" Emira called out.

"Hey, wait up!" Luz said as she tried to catch up.

She saw them opening up a magazine that gave them different clothing. It looked to be the Isle's version of Victorian-inspired fashion modeled after birds. "Come on, open one!" Emira encouraged.

Luz picked up one magazine and when she opened it she was put into some heavy armor gear with a large sword on her back. Due to the weight of the armor, Luz fell back and dropped the magazine.

After closing the magazine and causing the armor to disappear, Luz chose to open a manga. "Nothing happened," she said, disappointed. But then she realized that a word balloon had popped up with what she had just said.

"Whooooaaa," the twins commented, a word balloon appearing for them as well.

Luz then spotted a comic, specifically a trade paperback. She picked it up and on the cover was a black and purple masked man holding up swords, covered in pouches containing potions. "Oh hey, Spellpool. King used to bring me these comics as a kid since I wasn't old enough to buy them." She opened it and the masked Spellpool's head popped up.

"Hey! Where am I? Is this the real world?! Why is it so blank and full of texts and things I say!?" Spellpool cried out as he looked at you, the reader. "Help! I'm trapped in a parody! My name's no-"

Luz closed the book before he could finish.

"Oh cool, they even got Captain Coven here," Edric opened up a comic and out popped a tall, broad shouldered coven guard with an angular crow-like mask. He struck a heroic pose.

"By the Titan's Will and the good of all that is magic, I, Captain Coven, will fight those that threaten our way of life!" the captain declared, holding a sword in one hand and a staff in the other.

Luz rolled her eyes at the character. "Of course you'd be into something that's for babies."

"Hey, Captain Coven isn't for babies!" Edric defended. "Captain Coven's for the general audience."

"I will fight all wild witches that threaten the coven system!" Captain Coven declared and Luz just sighed in a deadpan manner.

"And made as propaganda," she points out.

"Oh please, no one can compare to Sabine the Teenage Hex Girl," Emira argued as she opened another comic. A gothic, teenage girl in a crimson long dress with black boots, long arm gloves, a guitar and long black swampy hair appeared.

"What are you looking at, punk?" Sabine asked Captain Coven.

"Surrender, you fowl wild witch!" Captain Coven declared, causing the two characters to fight each other. This caused a commotion that Luz found herself in the middle of.

Luz dodged Sabine's spell attacks while Captain Coven threw spell potions at her. She ran to hide behind the children's section. "Just close the books!" Luz cried out to the twins. She then noticed on the small table in the section was the Otabin book. She smiled at the book, walking over to open it and bring Otabin to life. "Hey, old friend," she whispered, petting the pink rabbit who appeared.

Flashback

"Otabin the Bookmaker, by some author with many legs. Oh wait, the author's name is Manylegs." Eda said as she opens the book, holding Luz close to her as King sits at the end of the bed. "'Otabin spend his days alone, amongst the many books he's sewn.'" she took notice Luz looking at the book with interest.

"Is that how books are made?" Luz asks, her mind setting off from what made her upset.

"Well, in a way, it may be." Eda answered, continues to read "'With every needle and thread…'"

"'...the pages he mend.'" Luz reads while looking at Otabin "'But all the while he longed for a friend.'"

"Friend?" Otabin asked as Luz petted his little head.

"Yeah, little bud," Luz commented, smiling at the pink rabbit warmly.

"Hey Luz!" Luz heard the twins, so she closed the book and turned around to face them while keeping the book hidden behind her back. "After we ended our superhero fight, we discovered this," Emira said while opening a children's book about a duck.

"Wack, wack!" the small yellow duck quacked once he appeared.

"Yeah, it's a duck from a children's book, what else is new?" Luz asked.

"Check what we can do." Edric held up a pen and drew on the original illustration of the duck, adding man legs. This caused the duck to grow human, muscular man legs as well and he quacked in panic.

"QUACK! WACK! WAAACK!" the duck cried out in horror.

Luz looked sick as Edric and Emira laughed and closed the book. "Okay, drawing on books causes… that."

"Now's your turn, Luz!" Emira said after noticing the book behind Luz.

"I-I don't know, it just seems-"

"Come on, how about with the book you have there?" Edric handed her a pen while trying to take the book from her. But Luz pushed the pen away from her and held the book closely.

"NO!" Luz shouted and the twins stepped back. Luz looked at them and then the Otabin book, sighing. "I mean, drawing on books? That kind of stuff is so 90s. I think I should go home now." Luz placed the book down on the table.

"Hold on, Luz." Emira halts her. "There's still one more thing we haven't checked out yet." Emira pulled Luz out of the children's section and Edric was going to follow, but then he noticed the Otabin book with a smirk. Soon Luz was pulled into the library's romance section just as Edric caught up to them.

"Romance… didn't think you two would be into that," Luz commented while looking at the section's selection. She felt Emira's hand touch under her chin so that she was looking her in the eyes.

"Would you like to find out?" Emira asked with a smirk. Luz blushed, wondering if Emira was flirting with her…

"Come on, sis, stop teasing her," Edric told her as he tapped his hand on a book. Edric grabbed the book which turned out to be a lever for a secret hideout as the shelf opened up. Luz and the twins saw the inside of the hideout. The ceiling had model stars and moons hanging from string, there were two book-covered shelves on each wall, and a desk with a candle and some books on it, as well as a chair in front.

"Whoa… cool hideout," Luz said as they stepped inside. "But for a clubhouse you two have, I expected something less nerdy."

"Oh, we don't hang out in the library," Edric said before making a goofy mocking voice. "'Uh, teacher, I'm in love with a dictionary!'"

"'I need to study for the dork-arts!'" Elm replied in a mocking voice as well, before switching back to her normal voice. "See, this is actually Amity's hideout."

Luz's eyes widened. "Wait, what!? What… why are we here?!"

"See Luz, Amity's been starting to get too full of herself," Edric explained. "Always rats on us for skipping classes, showing off her good grades to everyone, making us C-students look bad…"

"So we're here to teach 'Haunted Amity' that she shouldn't mess with other people by finding her diary," Emira revealed, shocking the human Clawthorne.

"And we're going to post the pages all over the school for everyone to see!" Edric finished.

"But… you can't just do that!" Luz told them, stepping away from the two. "Don't you think that's going a bit… too far?" She looked down, thinking about how her own actions could go too far. She felt Em's hand on her shoulder.

"No, Luz, it's different cause we're her family, and this is considered tough love," Em clarified, but Luz glared at her and smacked the hand away.

"Don't touch me!" Luz shouted, shocking Ed and Elm as she glared at the two. "You know, I thought you guys were cool until now, but you shouldn't be crossing the line like that! Especially to your own family!"

"Whoa, calm down, Luz. No need to be angry about it." The two started to search for their little sister's diary.

"Yeah, Mittens needs to learn-HEY!" Emira felt her ponytail getting pulled by Luz, knocking her on the floor. Ed stopped his search when he saw what Luz was doing to his sister.

"I don't think Amity wants you two, or me here," Luz told them coldly.

"Luz, what the heck?" Ed asked, confronting Luz. "You can't just grab other people's hair and-" As he raised his hand toward her, Luz grabbed it in a tight squeeze "OW!" he screamed, trying to get Luz to let go. But she made him kneel. "Owowowow, let go, let go, let go, you're breaking my hand!"

"This is what happens when you skip gym class," Luz muttered. She felt herself being grabbed by Emira, who wrapped her arms under Luz's and pulled her away from Edric.

"Let go of my brother!" Emira shouted as Luz stepped back to shove Emira into a bookshelf to get her off of her, knocking some books down. "Come on, Luz. You know what she's like, thinking she's better than everyone else! Putting us to shame! You've seen how she treats others, including poor Levi! Including you!"

"That still doesn't make it right!" Luz shouted while struggling with Emira. "I will not be a part of this heartless prank just to hurt her!"

"Funny, you didn't mind pepper-spraying Boscha's eye that time!" Emira pointed out, making Luz stop struggling. "Look Luz, I'm not saying that you're just as bad, but you take things just as too far. You're just no different." As she felt Luz relaxing, Emira let her go.

"And you're kinda crazy, no offense," Edric added while rubbing his hand before offering it to Luz. "But we have an understanding now, right?"

"...You're right," Luz said, grabbing Ed's hand… then pulling toward her as she headbutted him in the nose, causing him to be knocked back onto the floor with a bloody nose. "I am crazy. And you shouldn't be messing around with crazy."

"ED!" Emira shouted as she grabbed Luz's shoulders. "What's your problem, Lu-!?"

*SMACK*

Luz gave Emira a hard slap, leaving her with a red hand print on her cheek and knocking Emira into the shelf where the Azura books were. One of the books fell off the shelf, spilling out the pages. A miniature Amity rose from each of the pages.

"There was this human. Saw her with Willow… I don't know why-"

"Ed and Em keeps getting away with things and I have to clean up after them-"

"Crap!" Luz saw the pages of little Amitys, now realizing that it was her diary. She went to grab the pages and put them back in the book while Edric and Emira slowly got up. While collecting the pages, Luz heard excerpts from them.

"I called my teacher mom again-"

"There was a plant incident with Skara and Amelia-"

"I had to cancel my plans for the Moonlight Conjuring-"

"Lilith was disappointed in me at the convention, but she said I could make it up to her if-"

"Sorry that I didn't write- wait, why am I apologizi-"

"They keep calling me 'Haunted Amity' and I hate it-"

"I don't get why the human gives everyone a hard time-"

After grabbing the last page, Luz immediately closed the book. The twins tried to take the diary from Luz, but she growled at them.

"Get out, right NOW!" she told both the twins as she snarled at them, giving them death glares. The two had never seen her this wrathful before.

"L-Luz, we-" Emira tried to talk, but Luz cut her off.

"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Luz shouted at them. "Take your money and leave me alone. You two are worse than Amity, at least she isn't some heartless jackass like you two!" The Blight twins backed away and made their retreat, thinking it was a good idea to just leave Luz alone.

Luz placed the diary on the desk before falling to her knees on the floor. She covered her mouth as she began to pant rapidly. She didn't know why she was like this, this was just like… years ago at the slayground. 'They can't see me like this… nobody should,' she thought as she started having an anxiety attack. Everything felt tight for some reason, including her chest. She couldn't breathe, why couldn't she breathe!? She closed her eyes…

"Luz! Luz!"

Luz opened her eyes and saw the golden eyes of Amity, who had placed her hands on Luz's shoulders "Luz, breathe slowly! Look around the room and tell me what you see."

"I… see a desk… the star roof…"

"Okay, tell me more."

"I see a candle… the carpet floor… books… the entrance that leads out to the library…" Luz finally calmed down. The room didn't look smaller to her anymore.

"Are you good?" Amity asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm good…" Luz replied, breathing normally. "H-how do you know how to do that?"

Amity helped Luz up. "Believe it or not, Willow taught me that. Her dads taught her a trick in handling an anxiety attack when being nervous around certain situations. I followed you and my siblings here after Cat told me that she saw you with them. I overheard what you said and heard the fight…" Luz looked down, but the Blight girl continued. "I just want to say, thanks for sticking up for me… even if I don't deserve it." A surprised Luz felt her chest tighten less. "I'll admit, I'm not the nicest girl around. I just… can't show weakness in front of others. That's something we both have in common at least, I can't let them see that they're getting to me."

Luz looked down again, guilt rising up her throat. "I… don't think you should be tutoring me anymore," she said, sounding upset with herself.

"Hey, if it's about what happened here, I forgive you for that," Amity told her. But Luz looked at Amity, ready to tell the truth.

"No, no you shouldn't." Luz gripped her fingers together, feeling ashamed. "What happened at the Abomination Track with the ghosts… it was me." Amity's eyes widened. "I know a… pocket dimension that can let me go to any place throughout the school." Tears fell from Luz's eyes. "I was so worried for Willow, especially since she was going to get picked on if she failed." Her voice cracked a little when she said this. "So I threw a ghost ball into your cauldron… it was a stupid joke and could've been in anyone's pot but I threw it in yours! And I didn't care how it would affect you... so that's why you shouldn't have to tutor me anymore. I'm so-"

"With claws and fangs to break bones…" came a voice.

Luz's eyes widened and she turned to see a large, bulkier version of Otabin from the children's book. He looked monstrous with the book attached to his chest like a beating heart, open to a page with a drawing of Otabin besmirched.

"...I have found a friend to make my own!"

"Otabin…" Luz whispered in shock.

"RUN!" Amity cried out as the two girls tried to run past the now monstrous rabbit. Otabin went to reach for Amity, but Luz pushed her away and was grabbed instead.

"LUZ!" Amity cried out, watching as Otabin held up Luz.

"Otabin, stop!" Luz shouted. "This isn't you!" She noticed the besmirched drawing on the book in his chest. "Dammit, Edric did this to you, did he?!" She bit Otabin's finger, causing him to wince and let her go. "I'm sorry, Otabin, I don't want to fight you!"

"Abomination, rise!" Amity summoned her abomination and it charged at Otabin, restraining him. Luz looked toward Amity and saw the girl holding her diary, which allowed her to dress up as her own design based off of the Great Witch Azura, including a black dress and witch's hat and staff.

"Okay, is this really the right time for cosplay?!" Luz asked as she pulled out her glyph cards.

"Less talking and more restraining Otabin!" Amity told her as she waved her staff while writing in the diary. "By the power of my staff, I restrain Otabin in chains!" Her staff summoned chains to wrap around Otabin, pulling him away from Luz.

Luz held up her glyph card and slapped it onto the ground, creating large lines to wrap around Otabin. But the children's book character brought to life managed to break both bonds with his claws and the recoil knocked both girls down. Amity dropped her diary and it closed, poofing her staff and costume away.

The abomination continued to try and restrain Otabin, but it was slowly losing. Amity ran up to use her purple fire spell to draw a circle, but Luz stopped her.

"Luz, what are you doing?" Amity asked while Luz brought her away from Otabin.

"We can't fight him… his book is attached to his heart!" Luz pointed at Otabin's beating book on his chest. "We need to get close to him enough to wipe that drawing off of him! This wasn't supposed to happen, especially to Otabin."

"You really care that much for him, do you?" Amity asked her, Luz blushing as she quickly looked around.

"I-I mean, my mom read it to me as a kid… the first time being after the slayground incident…" Luz revealed. "I even made Otabin my imaginary friend at one point, before I met Gus and Willow. Otabin may be a fictional children's character, but he helped me through some hard times."

Amity gave a sympathetic and understanding nod. "Otabin was a favorite of mine when I was young too," she said, realizing what needed to be done. "Come on, we need to help him." She noticed some nearby books. "And I think I know how."

Meanwhile, Otabin finally managed to get the Abomination off of him and he marched down the library aisles in search of his "friends." He saw two shadows out of the corner of his eye and began heading toward them, only to be hit with a flaming pumpkin. He turned around to see a headless centaur holding pumpkins, while Luz popped up with the book the centaur came out of.

"Fear the wrath of the Headless Centaur, who won the battle of the Lagahoo in 1820!" Luz declared as the Headless Centaur charged at Otabin. The two clashed against each other. "Covenhead and Hex Girl! You're up!"

Captain Coven and Sabine's books were opened by Amity and the two charged at Otabin. "For the honor of the covens!" Captain Coven declared as he punched Otabin..

"Nobody understands me!" Sabine the Teenage Hex Girl declared with angst as she used her guitar to strum goth music blasts at the Otabin monster. The music turned into arms as it punched Otabin. The rabbit was beyond mad at this point.

"Those who seek to attack me, are not the friends that shall be!" Otabin cried out as he struck Captain Coven and Sabine away.

"For the cove-OOF!" Captain Coven was knocked to the side along with Sabine.

Otabin then spotted Amity bringing up another book and opening it, causing snowballs to fly from the pages and at him. She kept it open while she and Luz ran to the children's section. Otabin charged after them and saw that they were near a large book that he had planned to sew them into. Luz placed down another glyph card which sprouted large roots to entangle him.

Amity quickly wrote something down in the book. "'Luz must right a wrong.'" A large, magic eraser popped up from the book. "Catch!" Amity shouted after grabbing the eraser and throwing it at Luz.

With eraser in hand, Luz ran toward the restrained Otabin. She launched herself off a table and landed on his chest so that she could place the eraser on his book-heart, erasing the crude drawing that Edric had made completely. This caused the monster to lose his monstrous appearance and change back to the pink rabbit he once was. The vines released him as Luz caught the little guy.

The large book that the monstrous Otabin was going to use disappeared and Amity looked at Luz as she comforted Otabin.

"I'm sorry… I don't know what came over me…" Otabin sniffled and Luz patted him on the head.

"Hey, it's not your fault," Luz replied softly, petting the rabbit. Amity came over to help Luz comfort him.

"You didn't mean to hurt anyone," Amity assured Otabin, petting him as well. "But we're still your friends."

Luz held up his book, sighing as she closed it and Otabin disappeared.

"Luz," Amity said and Luz turned to her. "We need to talk about the Abomination Track."

Luz looked like she wanted to run away, but after everything that had happened, she didn't. She could only look down in shame. "I know, I should've told you or Bump about it sooner."

Amity sighed. "You know, I kinda already suspected that you were behind it. And you're right, I should be mad at you and hate you for it…"

Luz's head fell down even lower, knowing where this would lead…

"But what's the point of only living in the past?" Amity asked, causing Luz to raise her head up. "I'll admit, I am still upset that you have a hand in it. However, I don't want to hold a grudge over it. I wasn't on friendly terms with you back then, but we shouldn't let that completely determine what we think of each other now. We can be better. Both of us."

Luz found herself nodding in agreement. "Yeah, we can be better. Like I want to be a better friend so that me and Willow can start talking again." Now it was Amity's turn to look down in shame.

"At least you have a chance, I burned that bridge years ago and… it's too late for me to fix what I broke," Amity said solemnly.

"Maybe it doesn't have to be," Luz suggested. "It'll be like when Fae Dora and Lucifer Bedlum made a peace pact between the fairies and imps in 1766."

"Hey, you have been learning your history," Amity pointed out, smiling at Luz.

"It just popped into my head, no big deal," Luz replied before looking around at the mess they made. "We should clean this place up."

"Fair maidens, has the monstrous beast been here!?" Captain Coven asked as he popped up.

"…We really need to close the books," Amity said, to which Luz agrees.

Morning came after Luz and Amity finished cleaning up the library, Luz yawning as they exited the building. "Man, our folks will be so mad at us for coming home in the morning," she said.

"Last time, my parents took my penstagram," Amity mentioned. "But I'll make sure to tell what Ed and Em were up to. My siblings really shouldn't have messed with you like that."

"Hope you give them a good ass-whooping," Luz added before she noticed that Amity was handing her a book. She looked at the cover. "The Great Witch Azura?"

"Yeah, I thought you might want to give it a read," Amity said, sounding awkward. "First Volume. We both liked Otabin, so maybe we can both like Azura."

"Well, it's not my style," Luz told her. "Hell, my mom read me this as a kid too, but she hated it for how much it sugarcoated things and I thought that I outgrew as well… but you know, I think I'm willing to give it another shot for ya, so… thanks. So uh...see you around school?"

"Yeah, see you around Luz," she waved and Luz waved back while starting the walk back home. It would be safe in this time of morning now that the shops were opening.

Luz looked back one last time and felt her heart skip a beat when she noticed that Amity was smiling at her. Her own reaction surprised her. 'W-What was that?' Luz thought as she faced forward to hide her blushing face from Amity. 'It's probably nothing. Yup, definitely nothing.' But her heart wasn't buying it and it raced even faster the more that Luz thought of Amity on her journey to the Owl House.

Luz finally made it home and was greeted by Hooty. "Boy Luz, you sure are in trouble when Eda and King wake up! Those bat children kept screaming and hollering and she had to read them to sleep-"

"Hooty, just let me in," Luz told him and Hooty opened the door for her. She entered to see Eda and King tired out on the couch with the bat babies.

"HOOT-HOOT, VISITOR HERE!" Hooty announced and Luz hushed him.

"Hooty!" Luz hissed, but then she saw the Bat Queen coming in. She backed away from the large headed demon with wings. "Had fun on a date night?"

"Ye, ye, I the Bat Queen am here for babies," she declared, whistling for the babies to wake up and fly to her. "Hope they not cause trouble?"

Luz smiled. "Hey, they're good kids. A handful, but good kids nonetheless."

The Bat Queen allowed her children to sleep in her hair, then dropped a large treasure chest onto the Owl House floor along with a skull whistle. "Payment, your mother is owed," she said before flying off with her children.

"Mmm… babies." Eda was waking up, thinking she was still cradling the bat babies until she saw that they were no longer on the couch. "The babies? Where are they!?"

"They flew the coop," Luz simply replied. "Lucky for us we were given some treasure for the service, plus this whistle that you should definitely wash before using." She held up the whistle.

"Yeah, we did all of that… for the money…" Eda said solemnly, already missing the bat babies while looking at the skull whistle that Luz handed to her.

"NOOOOO!" King cried out, awake as well. "They grew up too fast! I wanted to teach them how to pick locks like you, Luz!" He went to hug Luz's leg. "Don't leave us like they did!"

"Relax, I ain't going nowhere," Luz told him as she went to sit down on the couch.

"But you did sneak off to go somewhere last night, which we need to talk about…" Eda interjected.

"I told Amity the truth about the Abomination Track incident," Luz explained, surprising Eda. "I'm going to come clean with Bump as well and make up for it however I can."

"Oh, well how did she take it?" Eda asked. "Amity, I mean."

"She was upset, but I think we can still be friends," Luz replied with a smile, as she held up the Azura book.

"Well, looks like you proved me wrong, Luz," King stated proudly.

"Yeah, you'll make an honest witch someday," Eda said, proud that her daughter came clean.

"There's also something else…" Luz said while rubbing the back of her neck. "I uh… think I like Amity."

"Well, that's great that you like her," Eda replied.

"No, I mean I like Amity," Luz emphasized, her face turning red.

Eda raised her eyebrow in confusion, but then realized. "Oh…"

A few hours earlier…

"Man, I can't believe she almost broke my hand." Edric winced as he looked at his swollen red hand. The two were walking home from the library.

"Guess you shouldn't have skipped out of gym class," Emira told him while using a handkerchief to cover her bloody nose. "Man, I thought humans were supposed to be fragile. But that Luz was really something."

"Yeah, especially how she snarled at us," Edric added. He then heard a nearby snarling noise. "Like that!"

Emira was alarmed by the snarling noise and she looked nervous. "Um, I think we should run."

Edric saw a large shadow looming over them. The two froze up, slowly turning their heads as they saw something so horrific, they screamed and ran off.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" they cried, taking off so quickly that Emira didn't notice that she dropped the bag of cash that was originally going to be Luz's payment.

Once they were gone the monstrous shadow was revealed to be from nothing but an average-looking teen, who walked forward to claim the bag of cash. As he picked it up, the wind blew through his brown messy but short hair, which had noticeable small horns sticking out. His pointy ears wiggled in excitement as he laughed to himself.

"Now that… was a good joke."

Chapter Text

"I uh… think I like Amity."

"Well, that's great that you like her,"

"No, I mean I like Amity,"

"Oh…" Eda realized what Luz meant after some confusion. "You're twiterpated about her, I see."

"Twitterpated?" Luz asked.

"Oh course you kids don't know about this," Eda snickered. "It means that… when you're around this certain age where you start to feel attracted to a certain someone you find… special. But it depends how special you find this girl."

"I know what the bats and the fire bees are, mom," Luz said while blushing. "You already gave me that talk."

"Right… King, go out to have an adventure and don't come back in like four hours."

"Alright, I'm taking my cut to have some fun in town," King replied, snatching up some snails to put in his little fanny pack. "See you two when I'm gone!" He exited the house and closed the door.

"Good, now we have all the time we need," Eda told Luz, who looked at her questionably. "I was considering punishing you for sneaking last night and reducing your cut of the payment that the Bat Queen gave us… but instead we're gonna have a long… detailed talk."

"Long talk?" Luz asked nervously as Eda slowly slowed at her in the eyes. "What kind of talk?"

"SEX," Eda answered, her voice echoey.

There was a look of horror on Luz's face as her iris shrank. She quickly ran past her mother to the door, but when she tried to open it she found that it was locked. She banged on the door. "Hooty! Open up!"

"Sorry Luz, but the moment that Eda says the S-word I'm supposed to go into lock down," Hooty told her.

"This can't be happening… this can't be happening!" Luz cried out as she tried to open the windows, but to no avail. She ran everywhere around the house to try the backdoor and even escape through the fireplace. But once again, it was to no avail. As she tried to run away from this conversation, Eda grabbed her by the hoodie. "Nononononono please mom! I don't want to have this talk! They even made it mandatory at the Detention Track! I know about protection!"

"Luz, that school doesn't even tell you the full details about this kind of thing," Eda told her as she set Luz down on the couch, not letting go of her daughter. "It's more than just being a responsible hormonal adult and it's my job to explain this to you sooner than later. I've already told you how babies were made, so now I'm going to give you the gist of what you'll have to expect for the rest of your teen years and soon adulthood."

"HELP, I'M BEING HELD AGAINST MY WILL!" Luz kicked and screamed, which Eda ignored as she pulled something out of her hair.

"Calm down, the more difficult you make this the longer it will take," Eda said as she held up the card in front of Luz. "Now this is what I think is called a diet-fram."

"Nooooo…"

Amity approached the Blight home. She looked down and thought about what her parents would say to her, but that shouldn't be a problem. She was gonna tell them what Ed and Em did so that they would be punished in her place.

Upon entering the Blight manor and going up the stairs, she walked down the hall and saw an open door. Coming out was Emira who was wiping magic healing cream on her nose as she winced.

When Emira noticed Amity, she nervously smiled. "Hey, Mittens. Did you just wake up? No wait, you were out all night again, weren't you?" Amity didn't say anything. "Well, you're lucky that mom and dad aren't home right now. They were out last night working and they won't be home until tomorrow. But they did put in-"

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TWO THINKING!?"

Emira was taken aback and Edric came out of his room after hearing Amity. "What's with all the yelling? Oh, hi Mittens." He waved with his bandaged hand "Look what your human friend did."

Still furious, Amity gave them a heated glare "You two… not only did you attempt to try to pull a stupid prank on me, but you two sent Luz into a panic attack!"

"Whoa, since when do you care about the human?" Emira questioned, hands on her hips. "I thought she was nothing but a bother to tutor-"

"It doesn't matter what I thought before," Amity said dismissively. "You tricked her into finding my diary, and it looks like you two paid the price. You guys took it too far!"

"Hey, it's not like we beat her up or anything." Edric defended. "And she crushed my hand!"

"Which is what you deserve for trying to steal my diary." Amity countered, shooting down Edric's complaint. "How can you two be so irresponsible and not think that maybe your actions will hurt others?!"

"Amity, why don't you calm down and get your morning tea?" Emira attempted to hush her younger sister.

"Don't try to avoid the subject!" Amity shouted. She gritted her teeth at the two. "Neither of you cared about how I would feel, it's just a game to you two!" Her hands were shaking, forming fists. "You two never cared how much your little games have hurt me or Luz… she's already been through enough and the last thing she needs is for you two to give her a hard time!"

Luz was having a very hard time… and by hard time, she was trying to endure the talk she was now having with her mom. She's been given some explicit details about organs and other gross stuff. Now her mom was explaining to her about… that kind of stuff.

"Now the pheromones happen when it spreads around like this smell," Eda explained. "This smell causes those of the opposite or same sex to be all sweaty and shivery." She held up a book. "Now, in this book I'm going to show you what to expect. Also, I've already read your maginet history and found out about those sites you've visited."

"Oh god, no…" Luz muttered, just wanting to die from embarrassment.

"I've even made copies from those sites to show you the difference between what's possible and what's not." Eda held up some papers and Luz looked mortified. "Let me tell ya, whoever makes this did know their stuff because that is not anatomically possible."

'Someone kill me now!' Luz thought to herself.

"Do-de-do-de-do, gonna spend the day at the rager," King sang as he went down an alley. He knocked on a door and a small window opened.

"What's the password?" asked the guard.

"Oh man, do I really need to do this?" King asked.

"Sorry bra, that's the rules," the guard replied.

King sighed. "Alright, alright… When you walk away, you don't here me say-"

"Pleeeeeaase, oh baby, don't go."

"Simple and clean is the way you're making me feeeeel tonight, it's haaard to let it go," King and the guard sang together. "Alright, you can go," the guard then said, opening the door to let King in.

However, a shadow that had been following King snuck in as well unnoticed before the guard closed the door.

"Come on, Mittens, don't you think you're overexaggerating a little?" Emira asked Amity, who still wasn't in a good mood with them.

"Yeah, I mean it's not like our pranks actually hurt people, unlike that time Luz pepper sprayed Boscha," Edric pointed out. "And what she did to me and Em, well aren't we the victims?"

"Luz was only stopping you from stealing my diary so you could expose me to the whole school," Amity reminded. "I know Luz can be a handful, but deep down she's a good person. Neither of you would care if anything happened to me."

"Hey, don't say that," Edric protested. "All we're doing is showing a little tough love."

"Tough love? Like not helping me when people started calling me 'Haunted Amity' after the incident at the Abomination Track? Or with the giant plant? Or back at the Convention? Instead you just pick on me when I come home late and try to steal my diary… I know that I'm not the nicest person around, but I have to do everything I can to be the perfect little daughter for mom and dad. None of you get what I've been going through."

"Oh, so you do admit you're better than us?" Emira asked with a frown.

"I didn't say that-"

"See, that's the thing about you, Amity," Emira called out. "You're top of your class, Lilith's protege, you just like the attention!" She made Amity take a step back.

"Y-You're wrong, I'm not like that…" Amity stammered but Emira continued.

"Oh please, you have always been like that since you ditched Willow!" Emira ranted and Edric held his hand to his mouth. This got Amity so mad that she slapped Emira across her face in anger.

SMACK!

"Don't use her name like that!" Amity shouted, taing Emira aback.

The older sister felt her cheek, glared at Amity, and started walking forward to get her. But Edric held onto Emira. "Let me go, Ed! Let me teach her a lesson!"

"Calm down, Em! She's not worth it!" Edric restrained his sister while Amity just stood there, looking shocked by Emira's reaction.

Amity has never seen Emira this angry before. She starts to hyperventilate, putting her back against the wall. All she could see is Edric trying to restrain his twin sister, but Emira knocked him off of her so she could grab Amity by her shirt. This triggered a haunting memory for the youngest Blight. All she could see now were her muggers, making her close her eyes. She couldn't hear what Emira was saying, instead she just heard her mugger's words.

"Not gonna let you snitch around, girly."

"NOOO! LET ME GO! HELP! DON'T TAKE ANYTHING FROM ME! LET ME GO, LET ME GO, PLEASE!" Amity cried and Emira stopped, shocked by her sister's sudden panic. Tears dropped from Amity's eyes. Edric finally got Emira to let go of Amity, who fell down on her knees while holding her neck for protection. "D-Don't kill me… just take everything… I-I-" she opened her eyes, looking up at her brother and sister's worried looks. Her eyes widened as she stood up, before she quickly ran off to her room.

"Amity, wait!" Emira called out but the door was already shut. "Amity, open this door!" She kept knocking, no answer. Emira covered her own mouth in worry, she looked vividly shocked "What was that, Edric?"

Edric looked just as worried and he patted his sister's shoulder. "I… I don't… you don't think Amity was…?"

Emira was putting two and two together, realizing what just happened to her little sister. "No…"

Amity was crying on her bed, her twins have unintentionally opened up a wound. The way she cried out like that, now they probably knew what had happened to her.

'It's not like they care…'

'Of course they don't care! And you just had to break down like that in front of them! Now they think you're WEAK!'

'I am weak…'

'I wouldn't be surprised if they told mommy and daddy about how two common thieves cornered you and stole your things.'

'They… they wouldn't…'

'It's survival of the fittest, Mittens. Like you haven't already disappointed them enough…'

Amity's fears grew as she held onto her pillow. She… hated feeling this weak, she hated this life she had, she… hated this family.

Eda waited until Luz stopped throwing up in the bathroom. Maybe she went into a little too much detail about what her first experience was like, so she thought of a safer story about when she had met this one spitfire at a Stevie Nicks concert.

"Boy that Stevie Nicks could sing back then, along with this redhead I was with," Eda explained while Luz still felt sick. "Like when you have those kinds of experiences that I did, it may seem like an adventure. But at the same time it changed everything. Once you're with either a guy or girl, and when you two decide to go downtown-"

"Uuuuugh, when will this end!?" Luz cried out.

"Pipe down, I haven't even told you about the honeymoon at Vee-gas with-"

"AAAAAAHHH!"

"I know they say what happens in Vee-gas, stays in Vee-gas. But I leave nothing behind!" Eda didn't realize just how too much information she was traumatizing her daughter with…

"Nyeh! Nyeh! I'm the King of this rager!" King declared as he danced with the taller witches, who thought he was cute with his tiny legs.

"Yeah, look at that tiny dude go!" one cyclops declared as they all cheered for King.

"Watch as I show off my dancing powers!" King held his claws up to make shooting noises, but actual fire bursted from his hands and the clubbing witches stepped back. "Meh!? I can shoot fire!" King looked at his tiny paws in shock. He looked at the counter where some vampire ladies sat and he shot their cups before they could get new drinks. "Wow, I have ultimate power!" King declared. "I knew it! Fear the wrath of the King of Clubbing!"

Everyone cheered for the little guy, except for a living shadow of a humanoid with small horns that snickered at King's antics.

Emira was pacing back and forth, while Edric was sitting on a chair looking at his bandaged hand. Both twins were looking more worried for Amity, having come to realize just how unfair they were.

"When do you think she's coming out?" Edric asked, his knee fidgeting.

"I don't know!" Emira said in a stressed tone. "I just… I don't know why she would keep something like this secret?"

"What do you think she was yelling out for-"

"Ed, have you not paid attention? Something must've happened to her, and… it could be why she snuck out the other night… and… why she canceled her sleepover… and with Levi…"

"You don't think she was…" Edric looked horrid.

Emira gave him a look, but sighed. "We really weren't fair to her, were we?" she asked her brother.

"Luz was very defensive of her and Mittens was defensive of Luz as well," Edric remembered, looking concerned and trying to figure it out. "Since when did those two become close?"

Emira looked down, then back up at Amity's door. She sighed. "Come on, let's go fix something for her."

"Sometimes there's this feeling of entitlement that people have where they think that they are owed something from a person that they like because they were nice to them," Eda explained to Luz, who was back on the couch. "These types of people are called 'Nice Guys' or 'Nice Girls.' They're a person who believes that basic social expectations are currency for sex or a date when they should be doing those things in the first place. They're trying to trick you into believing that their niceness is generosity despite their intent. Don't be a 'nice girl' and remember that you are not entitled to anyone. Someone you like may like someone else, for example. If this happens, the only thing you can do about it is be happy for them. If you try to break them up just so that you can get with them instead, you risk ruining your relationship with them completely. You can never force someone to be with you, no matter how much you like them."

"Why do people have this entitlement?" Luz asked. "If Amity likes someone that's not me, then I'll just cheer her on."

"That's the hardest part," Eda explained, "Sometimes those kinds of people want to avoid this kind of heartbreak. They lie to themselves that they deserve to be with someone they really like, but it's much more damaging to themselves if they keep pursuing this person that didn't like them back. I've had a lot of exes that think they're entitled to be with me but they're only hurting themselves through obsession and giving unwanted advances that will make you uncomfortable." She sighed and turned to Luz, "You know why I'm telling you this?"

Luz looked up at her "Yeah… Mom, I'm scared… what if Amity-"

"Hey, she may or may not, that's the tricky part." Eda patted her daughter on the back. "But try not to let crushes mess with your mind too much, cause it can cause you to do some stupid stuff."

Amity had been laying in her bed with her eyes closed for a while, shutting herself out. She didn't care if she felt hungry, she didn't want to be bothered. Maybe that's what she needed, just to lay in bed for a while… doing nothing seemed easier than doing something. Her body was feeling numb, but she could starve herself until her stomach began to hurt.

"Mittens?"

Her eyes opened, though she didn't bother to turn her head. She noticed the light coming out of her door as it opened. She finally turned her head to see her older siblings standing there, Edric holding a bowl of food.

"We were worried that you'd go hungry so we brought you some gecko noodles," Ed said.

"What do you two want?" Amity asked, her voice sounding hoarse.

Emira sat at the end of the bed. "Amity… I'm sorry… we both are," she said sincerely. "For real, we're sorry that we weren't being fair to you."

Edric walked up as he sat the bowl on the nightstand. "There were a lot of things that shouldn't have been said or brought up."

"I was out of line for attacking you." Emira lowered her head in shame, which Amity noticed. "And we were also out of line for trying to find your diary. But we gotta ask, were you… jumped?"

They saw Amity's dried tears as she wiped her red eyes. Edric gave her a comforting shoulder pat. "Come on, Mittens, you have to talk to us so we can understand. We don't know what's been going on with you, and it feels like you've been distancing yourself from us… and we don't blame you for it."

Amity closed her eyes again, breathing in and out. "Okay, but you have to make a promise to me… with an everlasting oath." She drew two circles in the air and placed her hand through one. "To make sure that you'll never tell anyone about what I'm about to tell you."

Ed and Em looked at each other, then they both nodded and held Amity's hand through the second circle that she had drawn in the air.

"I was… mugged," Amity started. "It happened weeks ago, by these two older teens. One was wearing a hoodie and the other was a mummy witch. The reason I went out the other night was to find and confront my muggers, hoping to get revenge so that I don't have to feel like a victim anymore. And the reason why I didn't say anything was because how would it look if a Blight got robbed by some common crooks!?"

The oath was bound, Ed and Em now knew everything.

"Oh Titan…" Emira said in shock and she immediately hugged Amity tightly. Tears fell from her eyes and over her swollen nose. "Amity… I'm sorry that you've been through that."

"And that we weren't being fair to you," Edric repeated, hugging his little sister as well. He started to cry. "I'm supposed to be the older brother that protects his little sister, but even I can't get that right. Why are we so messed up?!"

"We're… not the perfect family." Amity pointed out. "When I… spent the night with Luz's family, during breakfast the next morning I felt more at home there than… here."

"So are you saying… you hate it here?" Emira asked.

"No, no! I mean, sometimes… it doesn't even feel like we're a family. Being ordered around by mom and dad, having to keep up appearances…" Amity brought up her knees to herself.

"You feel trapped," Emira clarified. "Me and Ed felt like that all the time."

"Sis, we may not see each other eye to eye," Edric said, looking guilty along with Emira. "You've been so busy with other stuff, instead of joining in on our fun. Time just flies and I guess that we felt you just grew up too fast. And the diary thing as well as tricking Luz was going too far."

"Ya think?" Amity asked them. This was followed by a long pause.

"Maybe we should be more supportive to you, Mittens," Emira said, her hand around Amity as her little sister's head rested against her shoulder. "And we won't tell anyone else about your mugging, promise."

"Well, I have told someone before." Amity mentioned. "Luz's mom and King."

"You mean Groundskeeper Owl Lady knows?" Edric asked in shock.

"Yeah, she gives some good advice," Amity replied. She sighed in relief, feeling she had a better understanding with her brother and sister.

"-and sometimes, it's natural to get into arguments," Eda explained to Luz. "Things can't always be perfect, but your relationship may actually be stronger after said argument if it needed to happen. Any more questions?"

"Yeah, why do people feel the need to validate themselves in the eyes of others?" Luz asked. "Why are we so worried about what other people think about us?"

"Well, that's pretty simple," Eda replied. "Most of us do want to be loved at the end of the day, but we often don't feel like we've been loved enough and that's because something is wrong with us that we have to fix in order to deserve being loved. It's a toxic mentality, but a common one. It's important to not just love others, but love yourself as well if you want to be happy."

Luz seemed to have understood. This conversation started with her grossed out about it, but then over time she began to realize that her mom was giving her some helpful advice and that there was a point to this talk.

"So… the crush I have on Amity… what can I expect?" Luz asked. "I've been attracted to people before, but this is the first time that I feel… more. My first real crush."

"Well, that's the thing," Eda said. "Having a crush is unpredictable. Maybe someday you'll be serious about this girl. Maybe someday it'll go away. You don't know and that's the scary part. But if you know some of the things that you may be getting into, it may seem less scary. Which is why we're having this talk now."

The front door was suddenly slammed open and there was King, who looked like he had just run a marathon. "Oh thank Titan I'm home! I gotta lay low!"

"What happened to you?" Eda asked as the panicked looking King closed the door behind him.

"Okay, so I was at the rager," King started to explain. "And I thought I had somehow gained powers…"

Flashback

On the stage was King, who was next to some rave-party demons. "The King of Demons is gonna raise the roof of this club!" His fingers now sparked electricity while the crowd cheered.

"We love you, King of Dancing!" a mushroom demon girl declared

"Yeah. you're the King of this Club!" a red demon with four eyes and four arms declared.

"Yes! Worship me! WORSHIP MEEE!" The power had gotten to King's head and he zapped more electricity until he accidentally struck the speaker. This caused the audio to go on a fritz, thus stopping the rager's music. The dark and flashing lights all shut down.

"Oh don't worry, the King of Clubs will brighten this club!" King declared, waving his little paws to light stuff up.

Nothing. Nothing happened.

"Come on, light the party up!" King ordered his fingers, straining himself. "Nyeh! Nyeh! Nyeeeeeeh!" The crowd started to glare at him. "Hehe, looks like I'm… out of batteries."

"Like, this skull faced dog destroyed our music!" cried the mushroom girl.

"I say we do the most reasonable thing when the music's not playing at a rager club," spoke a British-sounding gentleman in a suit, before he held up a torch and pitchfork. "WE RAGE!" he declared, to which everyone else in the club agreed.

King immediately escaped the club by the fire escape, just as a table was thrown out of the window and into the alleyway. "Oh man, what happened to my power!?" he asked himself.

"It was never your power," a voice answered and King looked behind him to see the shadow that had been secretly following him rejoin its master, a teenager with pointed ears and short messy brown hair with small horns sticking out of it. "It was mine. I just thought that it would be funny if I made you think that it was yours. As the saying goes, pride comes before the fall."

The teen laughed and vanished in front of King, leaving the former King of Dancing alone in the alleyway.

"And after that, I came home as quickly as I could," King finished. He and Eda shared a look, they were both thinking the same thing. "Eda, I know what I saw. Those horns…"

"There's no way you saw one, King," Eda said, tapping her chin. "But… if you did, then this can't be taken lightly."

"Saw what?" Luz asked. "What do you mean?"

"A Fae," King answered. "A Fae in the Boiling Isles."

"Wait, you mean fairies?" Luz asked, even more confused. "Aren't they common around the Boiling Isles?"

"No Luz, there's a difference," Eda told her daughter. "The fairies of the Boiling Isles are like flesh-eating insects. The Fae aren't from the Boiling Isles and they're something else entirely. Not to mention dangerous.."

"Dangerous?" Luz raised her eyebrow. "How dangerous?"

"Us witches get our magic from the Boiling Isles, from our surroundings and its elements," Eda explained with a grim look. "But the Fae, their magic depends on their emotions. The stronger the emotion, the stronger their magic. This makes them very powerful and very unpredictable. The Fae are chaotic shapeshifters and tricksters. They can't be trusted, Luz. If there really is a Fae in the Boiling Isles, then we all need to be on guard…"

Later that night, Luz had just finished washing up. Now in her pajamas, she was brushing her teeth while thinking about her crush on Amity and Eda's long talk about it. "Maybe having a serious crush won't be so bad," she said to herself, before a younger five year old version of herself replaced her reflection in the mirror.

"Is it though?" Little Luz asked from the mirror in a broken voice, spooking Luz. "What if you get hurt again?"

Chapter Text

Skateboarding throughout town, Luz was shown skating around through the streets of Bonesborough. She jumped up to slide on a ramp, earning cheers from Willow and Gus. She made sure to hi-five them and gave them a thumbs up as she skated by.

"Yeah!" she cried out as she stopped, seeing Eda on her staff.

"I don't know what that is but you do have the skills for it!" Eda commented.

"Wait until you see this!" Luz slapped a glyph on her skateboard, which boosted the skateboard all the way to Hexside. She crashed through the doors, riding her board through the halls. She then spotted Amity by her lockers and Luz stopped the board to meet up with her. "Hey, Ams…"

"Oh, Luz, that's a nice board with wheels," Amity commented, looking at her skateboard.

"Yeah, but enough about the board." Luz leaned on the locker to face the mint-haired witch. "I'm thinking that maybe after the whole tutoring thing, we could go out to catch a Chris Pinecone movie tonight."

Amity blushed and looked down, twirling her hair. "Gee, I don't know, Luz. Maybe-" She noticed something. "Do you hear that?"

Luz heard it too as she turned around, spotting a crying kid behind her. Concerned, she went up to the kid. "Hey, are you alright? What happened?" She crouched down, seeing the kid's broken leg "Your leg! Why is it so… bent?"

"Why are you opening up to her?" the kid asked, revealing herself to be Little Luz, just as beaten as she was at the slayground. "Why are you letting yourself be vulnerable with her? Do you know why we have to act like we do? So we won't get hurt again!"

Luz was taken aback, looking scared as she heard Amity's voice.

"She's right, you know," Amity replied, her voice sounding darker as her eyes glowed red "You really should have seen this coming sooner or later."

"Amity.. .what…?" Luz saw that the room around her was getting dark and Amity took a step forward.

"Where else do you think this crush of yours will lead?" Amity asked as she confronted. Luz "You could never be good enough for me. I'm a witch, you're a human. No, worse than a human. You're nothing but a thug!"

Luz fell down on the floor, crashing through it as if it was made from glass. She fell and fell into the abyss while Amity and Little Luz stared down at her. Luz landed in a pool, nearly drowning before she managed to surface. She gasped for breath as she tried to swim out, but suddenly a hand grabbed on to her. Then another. And another. Soon multiple hands had a grip on her and were trying to pull her beneath the surface of the water. "No! Stop! HELP!" She saw Amity leave, but Little Luz continued to stare down at her.

"This is what will happen if you go soft!" Little Luz cried out, tears forming from her eyes. "You'll never be accepted, you'll never be loved… you'll never be a witch."

Luz struggled in vain as the hands pulled her down into the dark water. 'No… help me… Amity… Willow… Gus… King… Mom…' she thought, bubbles coming out of her mouth as she was drowned into the abyss. Everything was slowly going dark. 'Help…'

Then there was a flash of light.

"GAH!" Luz cried out, sitting up in her bed. She was breathing heavily, hand on her chest. She looked around at her surroundings, trying to slow her breathing. "I'm in my bed… there's a lamp… my mini-fridge… the Dead Evil poster on the wall… my manga collection's on the floor…"

Once her breathing had slowed she laid back on her bed, sighing. She looked at the time… about four in the morning. She tried to go back to sleep, knowing she needed some before she returned to Hexside…

Later that same morning, Luz yawned as she walked with Viney to Principal Bump's office at Hexside.

"Didn't sleep much last night?" Viney asked.

"Had a nightmare last night," Luz replied, rubbing her eyes. "I think it was a metaphor or something."

"Maybe you're nervous about telling Bump?" Viney suggested.

"Probably, but-" As they walked, she spotted a certain pair of twins going up to confront them. "Oh great…"

"Hey, Luz…" Edric waved awkwardly.

"Morning, fuckfaces," Luz replied, trying to walk past the twins and ignore them.

"Luz, wait!" Emira called out. "We just want to say… we're sorry. For real. You were right, and… we shouldn't have made you try to hurt Amity, which hurt you in the process."

"After the library, we both talked it out with Amity and… we were wrong getting you involved in our scheme," Edric said as he rubbed the back of his head. "We shouldn't have made you try to help us get back at our sister."

"I hope that you'll forgive us," Emira added.

Luz looked down with a sigh before turning her head toward them. "I'll… consider your apologies," she said as she continued her walk down to the principal's office. This left the twins with Viney.

"Hey, I don't know what you two did… but for what it's worth, I'm sure she'll forgive you two overtime," Viney assured, patting Emira's shoulder. The female Blight blushed at the act, which she hid from Viney's sight.

"Y-Yeah, I hope so," Emira replied, looking away from Viney's gaze. "C-Come on, Edric, we should head back to class." She grabbed her sibling.

"But I thought we're not going today…" Edric said while getting pulled along.

Viney looked confused, but went to follow Luz. The latter girl had made it to the door of Bump's office. She then heard a familiar voice, turning to see Willow chatting with other classmates. All from the same Plant Track. Luz sighed to herself just as Viney caught up and the two of them entered Bump's office together

"Ah, Ms. Clawthorne and Ms. Potts, what brings you two to my office?" Principal Bump asked.

"We're… here to confess about a… certain incident," Luz said while rubbing her arm,."You see, we're-"

"WE DID IT! WE'RE THE ONES THAT CAUSED THE ABOMINATION TRACK TO BE INFESTED WITH GHOSTS!" Viney cried out, her outburst startling both Luz and Bump. "We're the reason why the Abomination Track is haunted by ghosts! We threw a ghost ball into one of the cauldrons and I think the ball may have been expired or something because WE DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO GET OUT OF HAND! WE'RE GOOD WITCHES, SIR. PLEASE DON'T SEND US TO BE EATEN BY THE SCHOOL'S MASCOT!" Viney buried her face in her hands and Luz patted her fellow detentionaire on the back, looking at Bump awkwardly.

"Viney only suggested the ghost ball, I'm the one who dropped it into Amity's cauldron," Luz admitted while helping Viney calm down. "If anyone's more responsible, it's me, sir. What I did, I was trying to help out a friend, but I ended up costing one." She looked up to Bump. "I don't know if you're thinking of expulsion or sending us to get eaten by the school's mascot… but at least give Viney leniency."

Principal Bump sighed. "You are right, Luz. I should be thinking of expelling you both, or sending you to be eaten by the school mascot, or the Choosy Hat…" Luz looked down again, expecting for him to choose one of the three. "But… at the same time you've surprised me by admitting your fault in the incident." Luz raised her head when she heard this. "You may be Edalyn's daughter, an agent of chaos and mischief, a little hellraiser, causing trouble and damage around the school just like your mother did. But in all my years dealing with you Clawthornes, you're the first to admit when you've made a mistake and take responsibility for your actions. Not even Lilith did that, she was always too stubborn to admit when she was wrong." He smiled proudly, "So instead of expelling you both I'll cut you two a deal."

"A deal?" Luz asked.

"Here's what's gonna happen. You two are going to be spending your detention clearing the Abomination Track of ghosts. They went from being a hippy community to a full on religious cult in there."

"Okay, I think we could manage that," Luz replied, "And once we're done, Professor Blanc won't be pestering students for spare change outside anymore."

"He is… hold on a second." Bump went to open the window, seeing Professor Blanc with his Abomination by the building.

"Come help a fellow teacher for spare change?" the short professor asked the passing students.

"Blanc, stop this nonsense!" Bump shouted at him. "You do know that you can teach another class besides the Abomination Track!"

"You don't pay me enough to teach these urchins!" Blanc shouted. "Come, Abomination!" He was picked up by his Abomination and they ran off.

"Hey-hey! Come back here! I'm not done shouting at you, Blanc!" Bump sighed, muttering to himself. "I remember a time when cannibalizing your teachers was socially acceptable."

Luz and Viney just looked at each other while blinking.

"Wow, Bump wasn't kidding when this whole classroom became a cult."

Viney's words had never been so true as the two girls looked upon the macabre classroom that had been transformed into a cult. The ghosts bowed before their leader, who held up a textbook while preaching.

"Our great Blanchin will rise and swallow the unworthy!" the ghost leader declared. "Our holy gods will bless us once we keep up with our sacrifices!"

"All hail lord Blanchin!" one ghost cries before getting beheaded by a guillotine, which it didn't die from.

"…Well, if there's one way to deal with a cult, it's to spike their punch!" Luz suggests.

"Except ghosts don't eat or drink anything," Viney pointed out.

"Well, looks like we'll have to get these ghosts out of this classroom one way or another," Luz replied. "Even if it means if it'll take all day…"

Drip, drip, drip

The students of Hexside saw Luz and Viney walking through the halls, having bagged a few ghosts but still many were left in the Abomination Track. They were covered in ectoplasm, or ghost blood. They went outside of the school and walked to the woods where they opened their bags, releasing the ghosts.

"Well, that's five ghosts down, sixty-five to go," Viney stated.

"Yeah…" Luz replied, her eyes turning to Viney. "So… you think I'm a good witch?"

Viney looked at her "Well, yeah. Why do you ask…" Luz pointed at her ears. "…oh. Hey, it doesn't matter that you're human. You know how to do magic, right?"

"Well, with the glyphs…" Luz commented, before feeling an assuring pat.

"Then that's enough," Viney told her. "I know you'll make a great witch one day. But until then… us trouble-makers have to stick together, right?"

Luz smiled. "Yeah, stick together," she said, lifting her fist up, Viney pressed her fist against Luz's, forming a fist bump.

"Luz, Viney!" Jerbo shouted, getting the attention of the two girls. They spotted him along with Barcus coming up to them. "We want to know if you need any help with the ghost problem."

"Arf-arf(After all, we're just to blame for not stopping you)!" Barcus barked.

Luz looked at the two and smiled. "You guys don't have to."

"Maybe, but us trouble-makers have to watch out for each other, you know?" Jerbo said and Barcus nodded in agreement.

"Alright, first we'll need better supplies," Viney brought up. "Like, maybe something from the Oracle Track."

"Hey, Barcus studies Oracle track stuff," Luz recalled. "You probably know a thing or two?" Luz looked at the dog witch, who nodded.

"Alright, guess that makes us the new Ghost-Blasters!" Jerbo declared as the four began to discuss plans to deal with the ghosts.

Watching from his office window was Principal Bump. "I never expected this, you know? These troublemakers working together to help the school and fix their own mistakes." He turned around, facing someone who was in his office. "I gotta hand it to you, you've taught them well… despite me not remembering hiring a trickster god for the position of teacher." Anu Bist was sitting on Bump's desk, drinking tea.

"Well, you know now," Anu Bist said with a grin. "The question is… what are you going to do about it?"

"That depends on your intentions…" Bump stated while walking toward the grandson of Anubis. "Why are you here?"

"I go where I am needed," Anu Bist said as he stood up. "Though I am also here because I choose to be. Did you know that I am part genie? No? Well, I used to live in a lamp. Because of my heritage, I had to pick between either becoming a death god like my grandfather or a genie. I obviously chose the latter since being a death god is not a desirable job. But being a genie has some drawbacks, like chained to my lamp and being required to serve any master that possessed it, granting them three wishes and that whole routine. But there was this one guy, this pale looking fellow. He only made one wish… to free me, so that I can do whatever I please."

"Freeing a genie?" Bump questions with his eyebrow raised. "Didn't your last master know the ramification of freeing genies?"

"Yeah, yeah, but like I said, I'm only part genie," Anu Bist reminded. "Around here in the Boiling Isles, I can't do much around iron. I learned that from Emperor Belos the hard way." He showed his hind leg, revealing a scar.

"Very interesting, except you haven't answered my first question," Bump pointed out. "Why are you here?"

"One of your students got my attention," Anu Bist said, his snout leaning close to Bump's face as the jackal grinned. "I think you know which one. There is more to her than you realize and she is full of untapped potential. I'm not the only one who noticed either…"

Skara looked down at herself while walking through the halls of Hexside. School was about to be over for today, so she was going to go hang out with Boscha and the others at the Treasure Shack, their usual hangout. Skara was still thinking about talking to Amity about what she found in the binder, but she decided against it.

Skara heard the school bell ring and soon the hallway was filled with many other students heading out of Hexside as well. Through the crowd she saw Willow leaving with Gus. No Luz in sight, which was strange considering she usually hung out with them. In fact, Skara hadn't seen Luz hanging out with them at all over the last few days. Did something happen? Maybe if she asked Bo, who was part of Gus's Human Appreciation Society and who might know-

"Skara!"

"Huh, what?" Skara turned to see Boscha with a blonde, pale Oracle Track student wearing a black beanie hat.

"We're hanging out at the Treasure Shack today, right?" Boscha asked. "Thought to get some R&R after Ms. Beaks' scolding lecture just because I made one potion ingredient mistake. One mistake, plus using my penstagram during class. Titan, why do these teachers think they're better than us? Isn't that right, Tyler?"

"I guess… do I agree?" Tyler asked, rubbing his head.

"Oh," Skara replied, "Well, I was already planning on coming by the Treasure Shack, but-"

"Great!" Boscha replied, cutting off before Skara could finish. "Amelia's already up there with one of the Beast Keeping students, we'll be throwing out some magic water balloons at the town."

"That does sound like fun," Skara admitted. She was now walking with Skara and Tyler, trying unsuccessfully to not think about the knife she saw on Amity.

Luz held up her penstagram, reading a text message from Amity. It said that she had some stuff to work on and get for the exams, advising Luz to do the same. Amity even sent a list of recommended supplies.

"Okay, I can ask mom to get me these," Luz said to herself, walking down the streets of Bonesborough and heading toward her mother's Human Treasure stand. She then texted Amity back. "See you later." She tapped on a heart icon. "Oh, that shouldn't even be there. I'll just…" She was about to press delete, but then she saw a puff of smoke at the stand. It distracted her so much she accidentally sent her penstagram. "What the hell?!"

Coming out of the smoke was King, except he had Eda's eyes.. "Heya, Luz!" the demon said, except with Eda's voice instead of King's normal voice. "You missed me and King making a bet to see which of our lives are harder than the other. So we swapped bodies and the loser has to clean Hooty, want to join in on this?"

"Uh… no, not a fan," Luz replied, also noticing her mother's body but with King's eyes.

"Yes!" King/Eda declared. "I, the King of Demons, am now the most powerful magic user in the Boiling Isles!"

"Now hold on there, buster!" Eda/King started. "Remember, you have to use less of my magic, cause you won't like it if you get turned into the Owl Beast. Plus you better keep yourself incognito at all times."

"Yeah, yeah, less magic, less attention. But I'm gonna go and conquer those alley hellcats! They won't see me coming!"

"While I'm gonna go out and spend some time out looking cute," Eda/King said as she started to walk away. "This should be a breeze. King, watch the stand."

"Fine, but those hellcats will still face my mighty wrath!" King/Eda repeated, before he noticed Luz looking at her penstagram in shock. "What's with you?"

"I… tapped… enter." Luz said. King/Eda looked at her penstagram, seeing the text with the heart included.

"Oooh, Eda come back, Luz needs you!" King/Eda called out, stopping Eda/King.

"What is it now?" Eda/King asked as she crawled onto the stand and looked at Luz's phone. "So you put a heart in your text, so what?"

'She doesn't understand…' said the voice of Little Luz. 'A heart makes it sound so affectionate and Amity's gonna figure out that we like her…'

"Amity's going to figure out that I like-like her." Luz explained, sounding worried.

"Well you already slept with her-"

"KING!" Luz and Eda/King shut him up.

"Okay, okay, I think I know how to fix this," Eda/King said, grabbing Luz's penstagram before tapping several random letters and emojis. "She's gonna think your fingers slipped and you accidentally hit the heart if she sees a lot of letters and icons here and there." She tapped enter and it was sent. "There, she's gonna be none the wiser."

Luz sighed in relief. "Thanks, mom."

'Oh sure, like that's gonna solve your problem,' said the voice of Little Luz. 'Next time you won't be so lucky. This Amity is making you too soft.'

Luz shook her head. "I gotta go… pick up some stuff."

She walked away, the two seeing her off. "You ever think something's up with her?" King/Eda asked Eda/King

"I don't know, but I'm sure that she can handle it," Eda/King replied. "When you start having crushes, you do some weird shit as a teen."

"I guess," King/Eda said, still concerned for Luz. He almost tripped over. "Yah! Okay Eda, how do you walk in these heels!?"

Luz continued her walk, trying to ignore the voice of Little Luz.

'Look at yourself,' Little Luz told her. 'Ever since you've been spending time with Amity, you've been growing soft. You're just asking to be hurt again.'

"It's not like that," Luz whispered.

'It is!' Little Luz cried out. 'Do you want what happened at the slayground happen all over again!? Admit it, you're losing your touch… you're becoming weak."

"I am NOT!" Luz yelled. This earned some stares from the town goers, "What are you all looking at!?" She pulled up her bat, stomping it on the floor.

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL STARRING AT!?" she demanded viciously, scarring the town goers away. "Yeah, that's what I thought you bunch of assholes!" Her anger was rising, but she quickly calmed herself down and she lowered her bat. She gave a tiresome sigh as she laid her back on a wall, sliding down to sit and think for herself.

Suddenly, a water balloon struck the nearby ground and from where it landed a large tentacle rose up to grab an innocent civilian. Luz noticed this, as well as other water balloons that were falling from above. She noticed that they were being thrown from an elevated hill, which got her curious…

Luz managed to get up the hill and find out who was throwing out the water balloons. It was Skara and some Beast Keeping Track. He unfortunately splashed one on himself which caused the resulting tentacle to grab him and throw him off the hill. Skara winced as she and Luz watched him fall down some tree branches until he luckily landed on a hill of… magic fertilizer.

"I'm okay!" the student shouted before he was hit by more water balloons. "YAAAHHH!"

"Sorry, Kevin!" Skara apologized.

"I'm sure that Kevin is gonna be fine," Luz said, getting Skara's attention. The bard student was surprised to see Luz here. "Of course, he'll be smelling like dung for a while."

"Oh uh… Luz… um what are you doing here?" Skara asked nervously.

"Just thought I'd catch the view up here," Luz explained while walking towards the bard student. "Throwing magic water balloons, eh? Are you looking at trying to upstage me or something?"

"N-No! Nothing like that, we're just having fun, hehe." Skara took a step back to the clubhouse behind her. "Um, hang on a second." She quickly went inside before coming out with Boscha, Amelia, and Tyler who for some reason was upside down while wearing flying shoes.

"Well, looks like the peanut gallery's here," Luz said with her arms crossed as Boscha glared at her.

"What do you think you're doing here, Luzer?" Boscha sneered, with a hint of peeved.

"Oh, I'm just enjoying the view here," Luz replied coyly, "You can see the whole town from here, but nothing competes with the view you get when you fly up to see the whole island."

"You've seen the whole island?" Amelia asked in amazement. Boscha shot a glare at the Plant Track student, who then lowered her head. "I-I mean, whatever."

"Enjoy the view, but this is our spot," Boscha demanded.

"I don't see your name on it," Luz said with a shrug, "Besides, it's a free island, I can hang out wherever I want. Regardless of what some three-eyed basic witch thinks."

"Oooh." The gang were in awe of Luz calling out Boscha like that.

"W-Well, at least I can do magic!" Boscha shot back.

Luz smirked and held up a plant glyph card with a slingshot shape on it. She slammed it on the ground and it glowed, which caused vines to sprout and form into the shape of a slingshot. She then grabbed the bucket of magic water balloons, placing it in front of the branch, stretching it out, and launching it causing the water balloons to be sent all over town. Giant tentacles rose from wherever they landed, causing chaos.

Skara, Amelia, Boscha and Tyler were shocked, while Luz casually looked at her nails. "And that's what a member of the Bad Girl Coven like myself can do." She smirked.

"Oh like that's-" Boscha started to say before Tyler interjected.

"Wow!" Tyler declared. "In that case, I want in!"

"Yeah, that was impressive!" Skara agreed.

"Is there an application to join the Bad Girl Coven?" Amelia asked Luz.

"Anyone can join the Bad Girl Coven," Luz explained, walking past Boscha. "Even you, Boscha, could join the Bad Girl Coven."

Boscha's eyes narrowed at her. "Like I'd join your stupid made-up coven."

"Suit yourself, you can all go ahead and play with your penstagrams or whatever lame magic thing you're doing. I'm just gonna cause more hell around town." As she started to leave, Skara flew in front of her with her flying sneakers. "Gah!"

"Can you show us how to be in the Bad Girl Coven?" Skara asked, Amelia and Tyler joining in agreement while wearing their own flying sneakers.

"Yeah, we're easily impressionable!" Tyler declared.

"Sure, if you lend me a pair of flying sneakers like the ones that you guys have," Luz proposed. Amelia zapped her shoes to have bat wings on them, causing Luz to suddenly fly around.

"Haha! This is something to get used to!" Luz flipped around, laughing out loud. "Come on, my care-free fellow teens! Let me show you a good wild time!" She flew toward Bonesborough and the three followed her, only leaving Boscha behind.

"Hey, come back here!" Boscha shouted at them. "I did not give you permission!" She seethed her teeth, her anger rising.

Luz landed on a rooftop, followed by the rest of her group. "Alright y'all, here's your first lesson," she said as she walked across the roof. She smirked as she pulled out three cards, tapping each of them. The music beats dispelled in the background.

"One minute, I'm in Gruesome Park."

She threw one card at a cart of tomatoes, animating them.

"Then, I'm down at the market street."

"My tomatoes, they're alive!" the shopkeeper cried as the tomatoes leapt out of his cart.

"Said, from the boonies to make my mark!"

"Whoa." The trio of Hexside teens nodded in amazement as Luz continued to sing.

"There's a magical beat. Right?"

Luz jumped up from one roof to another as she sang, showing her flare. "And I said, Whoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo! I'm a little crazy, but I'm just okay!"

"And she said whoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo!" the trio sang in chorus, "She's deranged, but she's got that witchy craze!"

"Why should I worry? I'm not sca-ha-hared, I may not have the talent, but I still got some tricks right here!"

Luz placed another card to make an ice slide, sliding down along with Skara, Amelia and Tyler.

"Why should I worry? I'm not that scared, I'm just like a magician, I still got some tricks up right here!"

She flipped a snail at a gift stand, swiping a pair of sunglasses for herself. When they noticed a nearby Coven Guard, Luz and the gang made sure that he didn't notice them.

"The magic of this city, won't let me keep me down!" Luz climbed up a lamp post, pointing at a mural of Belos on the wall, "They say Belos owns this town, but we're the ones who wear the croooown!" She jumped off the lamp point, putting her her arms around Skara and Tyler.

"So why should I worry? Tell me. Why should I be sca-ha-ard?" she asked while rustling Skara's hair and placing her sunglasses on Tyler. "I may not have the talent! Oh! But I got the tricks up here!" Two cards she pulled out made sparks as she threw them.

Skara: "Why should she be worried?"

Tyler: "She doesn't seem to ca-a-are."

Amelia: "She's like a care-free magician!"

All three: "But she still has those tricks up there!"

The trio continued to follow Luz who stepped on a levitating pillar at a construction site, "Anywhere she goes, anywhere she slips…"

"They love me cause I'm trouble, but I'm a different kind of witch!" Luz declared as she jumped off the pillar, flying through the air with her shoes. "Hey Skara, rearrange their faces!"

"Got it!" Skara used her magic to zap a couple of citizens to have their faces rearrange, causing them to freak out.

"Yo Lia, let's rearrange some letters!" Luz ordered as she and Amelia went to a sign that read 'SELF STORAGE'. They took the 'S's and other letters so that it instead spelled 'ELF RAGE'. They quickly hid as a buff elf passed by and saw the sign.

"Yeah, that sign gets it!" The elf man ripped his shirt and overalls to go on a rampage. The group of teens laughed until the elf noticed and chased them.

Later, Luz and Tyler snickered as they rang a doorbell. Luz held up a paper bag and placed a fire card on it, causing it to burst into flames. They left the burning bag on the doorstep before running off to hide. Opening the door was a gray haired, rock troll in a yellow dress. She saw the flaming bag, stomped on it in a panic until the flames died out, and noticed the smell of dung.

"Grr, hooligans!" she yelled as Luz and the gang ran off from the wrath of the rock troll, whose mailbox read 'Finster'. They laughed as Luz began to sing again.

"Why should I worry? I'm not that scared, I may be hard to please, I still got some tricks up right here!"

"Why should she be worried? She's not that sca-ha-hared! She may be a delinquent! But she's got that witchy spirit!"  Skara, Tyler and Amelia sang in the chorus. This earned attention from other Hexsidians as they joined to dance up the street.

"She's got the whoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo!" they sang.

"I got the whoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo!" Luz led her fellow Hexsidians in a march. "We got the whoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo…"

Meanwhile, in another part of town, Eda/King was just strolling along. "Hmm? I thought I've heard music? Is Billy Joel in the Boiling Isles? Must be nothing." While she was talking to herself, she passed someone who snapped his finger to cause a root to pop out of the ground for Eda/King to trip over.

"Nyah!" she cried out as she fell. "What the-" She noticed a shadow mockingly dancing on the ground in front of her. "Dancing shadow?"

"Mind my shadow, it has a mind of its own," said a voice. Eda/King looked up and saw a messy haired boy with short horns and a smirk standing over her.

"Moving shadow? Small horns? A cocky smirk that would drive adults insane?" Eda/King's eyes widened. "You're the Fae that King was talking about!"

"Hmm, and you have the eyes of Edalyn the Owl Lady… as well as the body of that deranged cat," the Fae boy noticed as Eda tried to cast a spell only to remember that she was still in King's body.

"Oh crap…" Eda muttered to herself, looking down at her adorable but useless little paws before looking back up at the Fae. "What are you doing around here, out of your own realm? Don't you know that the Fae are forbidden in the Boiling Isles?"

"Hmm, we are?" he asked with a smile. "I didn't know that the Fae aren't allowed here! I'm gonna have to write a complaint! Where do I find the complaint department?"

"Uh… you can try city hall?" Eda/King answered. "Hey wait! You didn't answer my question!"

"Oh, don't get your collar into a twist," the Fae told her, waving it off. "I'm just a bored Fae, wandering through the Boiling Isles… in fact, my curiosity was piqued when I saw you and your little family. Watching your daily antics and chaos became my daily entertainment."

"Okay, creepy," Eda/King pointed out, but then looked him in the eyes. "But I don't buy it."

"Oh, you don't believe me?" he asked with an innocent grin.

"You can't bullshit a bullshitter," she told him. "Cause I can tell from your eyes, that even you aren't buying what you're saying. There's something else." Her words caused the Fae to stop grinning. "You were banished, weren't you? I've heard of Fae exiles. You did something that caused you to be kicked out of your home realm, right?"

The Fae frowned, but only for a moment. "I wouldn't be asking questions since my body isn't being used to set things on fire," he said with a smirk. Eda/King raised an eyebrow until she realized what she meant.

"KING!" Eda cried out as she ran off, the Fae watching her in amusement.

"Hilarious," the Fae hummed to himself.

"Man, what you did with the flaming bag was hilarious!" Skara told Luz as they hid themselves in the alley.

"Yeah, and those tomatoes were fun!" Tyler added, holding an animated tomato as he bit it and it screamed.

"Glad you guys liked it, and if you three want, I can make you official members of the Bad Girl Coven," Luz said as she sat on a crate.

"You mean like an initiation?" Amelia asked.

"Do we need to seal our magic or something?" Tyler asked.

"No way, in the Bad Girl Coven, you get to use every track of magic, instead of just limiting yourself to one track," Luz explains, standing up.

"Wow, that sounds… risky." Skara commented, seeing Luz pull something from the crate.

"Risky as it is, want to see some good old fashion delinquency?" Luz held up a can of spray paint. "As you can see, this is considered a right of passage for teen rebels in the human world." She began spray painting on the wall of the alley.

The three watched Luz as she worked. She was making a cartoony version of Belos spreading his hands and holding crosses that contained strings of symbols for the coven tracks.

"Wow, that's pretty good," Tyler commented.

"Except I got a feeling that there's some symbolism here…" Amelia added, terrified.

"Um, Luz, what kind of art is that?" Skara asked, concerned. "Why is Emperor Belos holding puppet controllers over the Coven Track symbols?"

"This my bodacious bard Betty, is called satire," Luz explained. "See, satire is a way to express your opinion on a governmental system through art or humor." She rubbed her chin. "Maybe I should add 'Belos the Puppet-Master' or, or, 'Our Master Controller!' Sounds good, right? Why don't you guys give it a shot!" She passed the can of spray paint to Skara, who caught it.

However, the Bard Track student looked unsure. "I-I don't know. Besmirching the Emperor seems… wrong."

"Yeah, I don't think this is fun anymore…" Amelia stated, rubbing her arm.

"Yeah, even I know it's a bit crossing the line," Tyler said. "And I get hit in the head a lot."

Luz looked at the trio and sighed. "Fine," she said, turning back to her wall art.

"Luz, you're fun to hang out with and all-" Skara said before Luz interrupted her.

"I get it, you three wouldn't dare besmirch your beloved leader, but let me tell you one thing," Luz began to rant. "Your Emperor considers wild witches like me and my mom dangerous, but really we're not. I just thought that showing you guys a little wild magic would be fun, show you something new. Sure, I may not have natural magic, but it doesn't mean that I don't have other tricks up my sleeve." She kept spraying the wall, adding some details and shading. "I mean, what does he know about witches who don't join covens? All he does is make everyone else's lives miserable with this dumb system! You can join covens but you only have to do one type of magic for the rest of your life?"

"Luz, maybe you should..."

"What makes the Emperor decide what we can or can't do?! Because it's all part of the Titan's will? Well guess what, all of that is just a load of SHIT!"

As she ranted and spray painted, a handcuff was slapped on to her wrists. Shocked, the human girl turned to see the Emperor Coven's guards standing over him.

"Spray-painting graffiti?" the big guard gasped. "And besmirching the Emperor while making unconsolidated rants!? Oh you're in so much trouble!"

"Hey, let me go!" Luz shouted as both of her hands were bound.

"And you impressionable youths!" The guard pointed at the three others. "Are you all involved in this?!"

"U-uh…" Skara stammered, the three about to go into a panic.

"I don't want to go to jail!" Tyler cried while Amelia was hyper-venting.

Luz looked at them, thinking of how bad this would look. She just didn't want to look weak, to get her mind off everything that was going on and have some fun. But did she really want to bring those three down with her? No, Luz knew that would be crossing a line. She sighed. "No, officer, those dweebs were just trying to stop me from spray painting," she explained. "They tried to convince me to stop but I lashed out a rant."

"Is this true?" the large guard looked at them, but Luz gave them a wink.

"Um, well…" Skara stammered, but Tyler stepped in.

"Uh yes, yes officer!" Tyler said. "What she says is… true." He looked sweaty as the guard narrowed his eyes at them.

"Really?" he asked, looking at Luz again. "Well then, I thank you kids for trying to stop her." He brought Luz to the squad cart and threw her in. "To the Police Precinct! You're in trouble until I contact your parents, kid!"

Luz looked through the window of the cart as it started. Skara, Amelia, and Tyler used their bat wing shoes to follow.

"Luz, what are you going to do?" Skara asked her.

"Don't worry about me, I can get myself out of this," Luz reassured her. "No prison can hold a Clawthorne."

"But why did you say we're not involved with you?" Amelia asked.

"Shouldn't it be obvious by now? I like you guys and I ain't dragging you all to hell with me! Bad Girl Coven forever! Awooo!" Luz howled as she laughed maniacally. The trio stopped flying as the cart made its way to the police precinct.

"Wow, now that's a scary human." Amelia commented.

"She sure has moxy," Skara nodded.

At the Emperor Coven's police precinct, Luz was brought in to have her mugshot taken. She gave a smirk as she stuck her middle finger up and her tongue out. There was a flash as her photo was taken by the living camera demon.

"You sure like to make a scene, don't you?" the camera demon asked.

"That's how I like my mugshot," Luz said before getting dragged away by a guard. "Hey-hey, where do you think you're taking me?"

"To the interrogation room, so that we can find out what made you decide to besmirch our beloved and benevolent emperor!" the guard told her, but Luz just shrugged.

"I wouldn't say benevolent." Luz muttered, before getting thrown into the interrogation room and being forced to sit in front of a table. Her hands were still bound. "So am I gonna get a good-cop, bad-cop routine?" she asked with a smirk as he left the room. "Punk-ass bitch."

'Alright, we definitely made our bad girl image stick!' said the voice of Little Luz. 'Now everyone will think twice before messing with us!'

"Yeah, they will," Luz responded, though her smile slowly faded as she looked down at her own cuffed hands.

'And once we get outta here, no one's going to think that you're going soft!'

Luz's eyes widened in realization. "No… nononono, I'm supposed to be bettering myself… I just confessed to Bump… how the hell did I end up in jail!?" Tears began to fall down her face.

'No! Don't you dare cry!'

"Shut up! I ended up here because I was listening to you!"

'I didn't tell you to make graffiti satirizing the Emperor. That was all you.'

Luz was silent for a moment, realizing that the voice was right. "It wasn't supposed to go this far…"

"Geez-Louise, what was that all about!?" one guard asked.

"I don't know, maybe she's trying to have a conversation with herself," the other guard suggested.

"Have you been sniffing the evidence again?" the first one asked.

"I'll be taking it from here," said a new voice.

The two guards looked behind them to see who was standing there. "M-Madame Lilith! What brings you to our honor?"

"I'm here for the human," Lilith told them, her expression indifferent.

"But we got orders to question her about her charges, including animating tomatoes, teenage tomfoolery, and making blasphemous graffiti to insult our dear Emperor-"

"Orders have changed," Lilith told them, hearing Luz flip the table in the other room with an angry cry. "Now let me see the human."

Luz was breathing heavily after flipping over the table. She looked around the room again in an attempt to prevent another panic attack. "Table… walls… why is this room so small?" she asked herself, starting to sweat until the door to the room opened. She was surprised to see who it was and she immediately changed her expression "Hey Auntie…" she said with a smirk, trying to keep up appearances.

"Luz," Lilith acknowledged, using her magic to set the table back up. "Sit."

"Fine, fine whatever you say my captain," Luz responded sarcastically, sitting down at the table. "So what brings you here in the neighborhood? Trying to catch mom?"

Lilith narrowed her eyes, bringing her hands together. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you."

Luz raised her eyebrow "Talk to me? What for?"

"I'll admit, I was shocked to learn that Edalyn was raising a human," Lilith told her. "But now I just want to learn more about the niece that I never knew."

Luz turned away from her. "Yeah, like I got anything to say to you."

"Undisciplined and crass, just like Edalyn," Lilith noted.

"And you got a problem with that?" Luz asked, taking offense.

"Calm down, child," Lilith told her. "I just want to help you…" She reached out to Luz, who pulled back.. "I'll admit, I didn't make the best first impression. But we can forget about that, start over, and properly get to know each other.."

"All you need to know is that I'm the great human daughter of the owl lady," Luz huffed.

"Edalyn did tell me that she took you in when you were young," Lilith mentioned. "I'm sorry that your birth mother passed away."

"I… don't remember much about my birth mother. But I wouldn't have anything if it wasn't for your sister. Even though people think she's a criminal, my mom is a good person. She fed me anything that I could digest, made sure that I could defend and provide for myself… hell, I wouldn't have learned magic if it wasn't for her."

Lilith nodded. "I have heard from witnesses that you can draw glyphs with these… cards you have."

"I may not be able to cast magic normally like any other witch, but I found ways around my limitations," Luz said as Lilith noticed a faded scar on her arm.

"How did you get that scar?" Lilith asked, concerned.

Luz's face expressed shock, remembering back to when her mother turned into the Owl Beast. But of course she wouldn't tell Lilith about that. "I got it from a fight. Jerk pulled a knife but I handled it."

"Oh, I see," Lilith told Luz, getting up from the other side of the table and walking around. "It's just… with Edalyn taking so much time to raise a child, I'm just… worried about how she managed to protect you from herself…"

"My mom isn't a danger to me," Luz told her, glaring at her aunt.

"I'm not saying she is, oh no," Lilith said while walking behind Luz. "I'm just saying that… you must be worried about your mother's curse. When was the last time she transformed?"

"So this is what it's about… trying to make me sell out mom," Luz accused.

"Luz, there's no reason-"

Luz got up from her chair, facing down Lilith with a glare.

"You didn't come here to get to know me… you only came here just so that you can convince me to help you arrest my mom!" Luz seethed her teeth in anger. "So you know what? You can go back to your little Emperor's Coven and tell your Emperor to fuck off!"

"Quiet, child!" Lilith hissed at Luz, placing her hand over her mouth. "Do you want to get into more trouble?" Lilith felt Luz licking her hand, which disgusts Lilith. "Ugh!" Luz tried to get away, but Lilith forced her to sit back down. "Listen to me!"

"Leave me alone!" Luz shouted, before she started to chuckle. "For someone who has been chasing after mom for so long, how do you know so little about me?"

"What are you talking about?" Lilith asked in confusion.

"Oh please, there are a lot of eye witnesses that can tell you the fact that a human has been around Bonesborough for years," Luz explained. "I caused a prison break at the Conformatorium, became a student at Hexside… but one thing that I'll never forget is how I was beaten by those assholes that my mother spread a pox spell on them."

Lilith was still confused, but then realized what Luz was talking about. "No… the Boiling Zit Incident? But the reports never mentioned-"

"A fucking five-year-old human gets beaten up just because she didn't have pointy ears, or extra eyes, a tail, or was made out of hands!" Luz screamed as tears started to fall down her face, "How the fuck do you not know that? It was in public, at the slayground… Mom made sure they paid the price for messing with her kid." Luz stared down, looking tired and… broken. Lilith blinked and for a moment she saw a little red-haired, pale skin, golden eyed girl in Luz's place.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you," Lilith finally said. "If I had known sooner… I just wish Eda would have reached out to me, I could've-"

"Madame Lilith," said a member of the Emperor's Coven that had accompanied Lilith to the precinct, interrupting the moment between Lilith and Luz.

"What is it, Steve?" Lilith asked, turning to the guard..

"Uh, someone has come to pay for the human's bail," he said.

"Edalyn?" Lilith asked.

"Uh no, the Blight girl," Steve answered, causing Luz's eyes to widen and Lilith's eyes to narrow.

Amity was sitting in the waiting room. She heard footsteps and turned to see Luz with Lilith and Steve. "Luz!" she cried out in worry.

"H-Hey, Amity," Luz said nervously, looking down in shame.

"What are you doing here, young Blight?" Lilith asked while staring down at her protégé.

"Ms. Clawthorne, my apologies." Amity replied with a bow. "But I want to pay Luz's bail. I'm her tutor, and it's my job to make sure she's able to pass her exams! She's practically my responsibility!" She held Luz's hand, causing the human to blush.

Lilith looked at her student, then at Luz as she thought things over. She sighed. "There's no reason for you to pay for Luz's bail… I will cover it myself."

"Uh, are you sure, Madame Lilith?" Steve asked, his voice going into a whisper. "She is the Owl Lady's daughter. We could use her to-"

"Amity can vouch for her," Lilith interrupted Steve, before nodding at the mint-haired girl. "Both of you are dismissed. And Luz, I am always here to talk if you like."

"I… guess," Luz said, unsure. As she and Amity left the station, Amity glanced back and shared a look with Lilith. Then they were gone, leaving Lilith to think about what Luz had said earlier.

"Steve, I want you to make a call for me…"

Luz was trying to put as much distance as she could not just between her and the coven police station, but Amity as well. However, Amity rushed after her. "Luz, wait!" she called out and Luz blushed as she stopped.

"I know, I know, I should've-"

"Are you okay?" Amity asked, surprising Luz. "You didn't have any of your episodes, did you?"

"You're… not gonna scold me about being in jail?"

"I-It doesn't matter what got you in there, what's important is if you got hurt or if you were mistreated there…" Amity explained. "One minute I'm getting a call from Boscha about how you 'stole her friends' and the next I'm getting a call from Skara about how you were arrested and my main concern was that if you got arrested they're gonna put you in the conformatorium or if you beat up some guards after a trigger-"

"Amity, Amity!" Luz shook the Blight to make her stop. "Thank you." She let go of her and sighed. "I don't know what came over me, but… I thought if I could show off to your friends and prove that I'm not soft… boy, if Willow were here to see me like this, she would freak out." She sighed again, this time more tiredly. "I didn't mean to get myself in jail, I just got so caught up in preserving my image. Of course, it was inevitable, but… I'm supposed to be getting better."

"Luz…" Amity said, holding Luz's hand. "No one's supposed to expect you to get better right away. Admitting to Bump about the incident is progress."

Luz's mind was trying to process both the embarrassment of her crush bailing her out and the fact that Amity's hands were so soft. "It's… hard, trying to be good when you're so used to being bad." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I think I'm going to head home to clear my head."

"But are you feeling better now?" Amity asked her.

"Yeah, I think so," Luz replied, before she overheard two nearby guards talking.

"We just got a report about the Owl Lady causing mayhem at the marketplace."

"Better bring reinforcements then! And inform Captain Lilith!"

"Oh no…" Luz whispered, turning to Amity. "I better hurry!" She then ran off.

"Luz, wait!" Amity said as she followed her.

"Nyehehehe, bow before your great King of Witches!" King/Eda declared, standing on the rooftop where he used Eda's magic to create fireworks and ice blocks that damaged the surrounding area. "BOW BEFORE YOUR KING!"

"The Owl Lady's gone mad!" shout one shop goer.

"King, get down here right now!" Eda/King shouted

"NEVER!" King/Eda maniacally laughed.

"Okay, in hindsight, maybe the switch could've been better if Luz was involved," Eda/King told Owlbert who was now sitting on her head.

"No, no it won't," Luz said as she entered the scene and saw the chaos that had been created. "This was a terrible idea."

"Hey Luz, Amity," Eda/King greeted.

"Uh…" Amity didn't know what to make of it, but Luz helpfully explained.

"Mom and King did a body swap spell to see whose life was the hardest, but apparently King let the power get to his head!" She glared at Eda/King "And now the Emperor's Coven is heading this way, including Auntie Lilith."

"What?" Eda asked. "Wait, how do you know Lilith is here?"

"I was in jail for leading teens astray and writing blasphemous slander on our leader," Luz answered.

"Oh, did you escape?" Eda asked her.

"Actually, Aunt Lilith paid for my bail just as Amity was about to," Luz said, pointing to Amity.

"Uh, not to interrupt, but how do we deal with-" Amity pointed at King/Eda, who shot a fire blast at a cart, driving Tiny Nose out. "-that?"

"Hang on, I got this." Luz went over to the human stand, grabbed a lamp shade and a soda can. She cut the end of the can with some scissors, used some string to tie around the shade at the cut. She held up the home-made megaphone. "King! Get down from there, now!"

"NEVER! I AM THE KING OF WITCHES! BOW BEFORE ME!" King/Eda declared.

"Fine! Stay up there as you like! But with mom here, I can tell her what you did in her closet!" This caused King/Eda to stop.

"What, you wouldn't dare!?" King/Eda shouted in embarrassment.

"I'll tell her unless you stop!" Luz shouted as she turned to Eda/King with a smirk. "Hey mom, want to hear what King's been doing in your closet?"

"Wait, wait, wait! Stop Luz, don't!" King/Eda began lowering himself off the roof. "Please! I'll get down! Just don't tell her that!"

"Owlbert," Luz commanded Eda's palisman who flew up to connect to the staff before flying back down to where Luz, Amity and Eda/King were.

"Please, please don't tell her!" King cried while on his (Eda's) knees, grabbing onto Luz's shirt to beg. "Please don't tell Eda what I do in the closet!"

"Then swap back with her. Now."

"Alright, alright!" King/Eda said. "Eda, do the thing."

"Better stand back, girls," Eda/King told Amity and Luz. "Don't want to get your body swapped by accident." The two girls stepped back while Eda/King waved her staff with a stomp. "Body swap!" After a flash of glowing yellow light bursts, King and Eda were swapped back.

"Great, now let's get out of here, the guards are coming!" Luz exclaimed, pointing at the coven guards marching into the marketplace, with Lilith as the one leading them.

"Alright, that's enough fun. Come on!" Eda brought King and Luz onto her staff.

"See ya later, Amity!" Luz waves her off as they head off from the area.

Amity looked up to see them leave. Lilith was about to pursue, but then a root popped out of the ground and caused her to trip.

"AHH!" she cried out before falling into a puddle of mud.

"Captain Lilith, are you all-" Steve was going to come to her rescue, but then his shoe-laces were suddenly tied together. "AHH!" He collapsed onto another guard, who also fell into the path of the other guards. Then a runaway wheel from a destroyed stand conveniently tripped over other guards and officers, causing them all to collapse like dominoes.

A snickering shadow rejoined its Fae master, who slipped into an alleyway with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Lilith groaned and Amity walked over to help her up. "M-Ms. Lilith, are you okay?" she asked.

"I am fine, Amity," Lilith said, brushing herself off. "Edalyn may have escaped for now… but I have other important matters to attend to anyway."

At the Owl House, Luz was in her room and on her bed playing with a Rubix cube and thinking over what happened that day before hearing a knock on her door. "Come in," Luz said, before seeing Eda enter the bedroom covered in mud. "Wow, Hooty must've been really hard to clean."

"Well, me and King ended up cleaning Hooty together after we agreed to never speak of what happened today ever again," she said before sitting down at the end of Luz's bed. "What about you? You said you got arrested earlier and I want to make sure you're alright."

"I'm fine, they didn't hurt me that much," Luz reassured.

"Your eyes say otherwise," Eda pointed out, causing Luz to turn away. "You can always tell from the eyes."

"Hey mom… even though I did something good, I ended up doing bad things again," Luz told her. "It's hard to be a bad girl doing good stuff. I'm not like some… goody, two-shoes who prances around in the meadows… but… I want to be a better version of myself."

"Look, honey, it's hard to do good with the lifestyle we have," Eda replied, rubbing her daughter's arm. "But nobody's expecting you to change overnight. You get a few relapses here and there, but if you keep on trying… I know you're a good kid deep down. Good people can do bad things sometimes and bad people can do good things sometimes. Belos, for example, has admittedly done good things for the Boiling Isles despite how awful he is. At the end of the day, not everything is all black and white. There's like a silver lining of gray that you have to see through."

"So we're just… a bunch of grays?" Luz asked, looking at her mom.

"Yup," Eda replied. "We're like...dragons and kappas, completely misunderstood creatures that are generally considered bad in the eyes of opinionated jerks. But if you look past their reputation and appearance, you would see that they're not really that bad… as long as you don't be a jerk and steal treasure from a dragon. Because at that point, you're just asking for it."

Luz nodded. "You know, being in the shades of gray isn't that bad. Of course, I now have an arrest record."

"Yeah, you do," Eda saidm rustling her daughter's hair "But I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure that Lily's gonna pull some strings. If the Emperor's Coven is great at one thing, it's covering things up. Even from their own."

It was then that Luz heard a notification from her penstagram and she reached for it. She held up, seeing a private message from Amity.

WITCHCHICK128: Hey, I just want to check if you're alright. Though I think your fingers slipped or something with all these emojicons BTW. LoL.

"She replied back… and doesn't suspect anything about the emojicons!" Luz said in relief.

"See?" Eda grinned. "I told you it would work." She watched as Luz messaged back.

BADWTCH4EVR: Yeah, my mistake. I'm fine and all. You?

WITCHCHICK128: Oh you know, questioned and then escorted home by the guards that were there. Staying safe.

BADWTCH4EVR: Yeah, catch ya later, Little Miss Perfect.

"Oh cramity! Why did I call her that? Now Amity's gonna think-"

WITCHCHICK128: You too, Jailbird ;)

"See, there's nothing to worry about," Eda said as she read over her daughter's shoulder, before getting up and starting to leave. "I think you'll be alright."

Luz smiled as she looked at her penstagram. "Yeah, I think things will be alright."

Webstor Manylegs was a tired spider.

Many years ago he had been given the position of head of the Emperor's Coven's media and news department. That included news outlets, globe channels, newspapers, etc. As long as he did what he was told, he wouldn't end up like his predecessor. Even if it meant feeding a blatantly false narrative that tried to whitewash the actions of the Emperor's Coven. He was also getting sick of looking at the Captain Coven bobblehead that he had been given for a White Airavata gift exchange party. His cousin Anansi doesn't have to deal with this kind of stress and he became a very famous storyteller!

Now Webstor was hefty for his age, miserable from the stress of being in overseeing all the coven media. Sure, that meant being the first to hear the most interesting news like a plant monster rampage or a duel with a Blight kid and some other student at the Convention… but he would always have to heavily revise it before it was sent out. This especially meant cutting out any mention of the human Clawthorne. What was even the point of keeping the human and her connection to the Owl Lady a secret if it was public knowledge by now? She went to Hexside for crying out loud, but records and reports had to censored and suppressed. It wasn't his job to ask questions anyway. Just to repeat the same lies over and over again until they became the truth.

"Sir, sir!" spoke one imp employee who came into his office.

"What, what is it Rash?" Webstor asked the imp.

"Um… you know that a high-ranking member from the Emperor's Coven is coming to speak with you?" the imp named Rash told Webstor, who just sighed.

"Of course… bring Kikimora in." Webstor waves it off tiredly.

"A-Actually, sir. It's not Kikimor-" Rash didn't finish as Lilith made her way in as if she owned the place.

The sight of Lilith, the head of the Emperor's Coven, surprised Webstor. "M-M-Madame Lilith! What brings you here?" He tried to adjust his vest and tie as he spoke to her.

"I am here to ask you a question." Lilith's face remained indifferent, stoic and professional. But intimidation showed. "About the Boiling Zit Incident and the Owl Lady protecting a human child. Why was that not in the official reports? Why was the truth kept from me all this time?"

A frightened Webstor just gulped nervously as Lilith continued to interrogate him for answers.

Chapter Text

It was four years ago. Luz, age ten, had messy spiky hair and was dressed in a black hoodie with a skull, blue jeans and black boots. She had gotten her clothing from her mother who brought them from the human world. Luz was carrying a bag of potions, running delivery errands for her mother. She stopped in front of a door and knocked, a large ant-headed demon answering it.

"Hey, Anton, got your elixir that you ordered," Luz said, revealing a missing front tooth.

Anton screeched as his clawed hand was about to grab the potion, but Luz held it back.

"Na-a-ah, don't forget the delivery fee." Luz raised her hand for the fee. Anton just screeched in a groan and Luz responded. "Yes, I know that you already paid for the potion, but there is a delivery fee now. Unless you want your potion, you gotta pay the piper." The ant demon groaned as he put snails in her hand and she passed him the potion. "Pleasure doing business with you, Anton., she told him before the door was shut.

Popping out from her hoodie was King's head. "Hey Luz, don't you know there's no delivery fee?" he asked.

"Shh, I know that, King," she hushed him. "But the customer doesn't know that. That's why it's called a hustle."

"Oooh, a hustle," King realized. "You're learning fast."

"Don't I always?" Luz asked as she held up a bottle of soda to take a drink break. But then she heard some laughing, as well as a tussle. She looked toward the corner of the bloc and saw a couple of large kids picking on another by pushing him in the mud.

"Come on, guys, give it back!" said the black witchling in a blue tunic, black tights and blue boots.

"Or what, Augustus? I mean, what is this?" A tall, lanky bowl-haired boy held up a bag that contained certain items and pulled out a football. "Weird leather diamond thing?" His friends laughed.

"Hey, for your information, that brown diamond is what humans call a kickball!" Augustus told him, standing up only to get pushed back down by a rat girl.

"Yeah, I don't get what your fascination with this weird human junk is," the rat girl told him.

"I'll tell ya, he's been listening too much to those human rumors," a pig boy commented. As she watched the scene play out, Luz narrowed her eyes at the bullies.

"Oh please, that's all they are," the bowl-headed witch boy said. "Rumors. There are no humans in the Boiling Isles!" He was about to punch Augustus, but then he felt something get squirted in his face. "Blegh, what was that!?" he asked, hearing sizzling noises.

"That would be my acid spit!"

The three bullies looked up at someone on top of a stand. It was Luz, who slid off and landed in front of them, "You don't think there are humans in the Boiling Isles? Well, you're looking at one now." She grinned and stuck out her tongue.

"W-What?" the lanky bully stammered, him and his gang backing away. "T-That's not possible!"

"Careful, my acid spit is lethal," Luz warned them.

"A-A-Acid!?" The bully tried to wipe his face, "My face is all sticky… HEEELP!" He went over to his friends.

"No way, get away from me!" the rat girl cried out.

"Go ahead and run!" Luz shouted as the scared bullies ran off out of fear. "Alright King, they're gone now." King popped out from her hoodie once again, holding a squirt hun.

"Yeah, you better run from the almighty King and his human minion!" King yelled before Luz flicked his nose.

"Heh, more like you're my little minion," Luz replied as she petted King. She turned around and Augustus was suddenly standing there. "Yeeh!" she cried out in surprise, taking a step back from the young boy.

"Weird clothing… messy hair… round ears..." Augustus said in awe. "A human…"

Luz and King looked at each other, and then at Augustus. "Right, I am a human," she said while taking another step back. "Anyway, no need for thanks and all of that." She walked past him, picking up the large bag of potions. But Augustus somehow appeared in front of her again. "GAH!"

"I have so many questions!" Augustus said excitedly and Luz looked at him in confusion. "Like, where are your gills?"

"Uh, I don't have any," Luz replied as she tried to walk away, but Augustus followed her and asked more questions.

"What is it like in your world? Why do humans change their clothing every decade? Are bell bottoms still in fashion? What is a cell phone? What is a car?!"

"Just say the word, and I'll give him a squirt," King said while holding the water gun.

"We're not squirting soda on the kid," Luz told him, taking a deep breath so as not to let Augustus irritate her even more. "Look, you're a nice kid. So I'll give you this." She pulled out a fidget spinner and handed it to him. "Helps calm the nerves, now run along and go find your mommy who is probably worried about where her five year old is."

"But I'm eight," he corrected her. "And my mom hasn't been around much."

Luz's eyes widened when she heard this. "Really? I'm… sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, dad said that she's on a business trip," Augustus explained. "I haven't heard from her for a long time. But that's okay, I'm sure she'll come back."

Luz looked at him strangely. "When did she… leave?"

"It's only been like a year," Gus replied, much to King and Luz's shock.

"Oh," King awkwardly winced, while Luz looked saddened.

"So it's just you and your dad, huh?" Luz asked and Augustus nodded. "Hey uh… tell you what, kid. What's your name?"

"I'm Augustus Porter," he answered.

"Yeah, not calling you that," Luz told him. "So I am going to give you a human nickname. How does Gus sound?"

The witchling gasped. "A human nickname? I love it!"

"Alright then, Gus it is. And if you have problems with those bullies again, I'll make sure to give them the fear of the Titan with my fists." Luz raised her fists. "Lefty here is Hellraiser, and the right one's Bone S. Crusher."

"Okay," Gus nodded. "But what do they call you?"

Luz smirked. "The name's Luz the human witch, daughter and apprentice of the Owl Lady, and this is my trusted companion the King of Demons." She gestured back at King.

"You're under the protection of the Owl Lady's daughter, and the King of Demons himself!" King declared.

"You can find me in the market where we sell a lot of human stuff," Luz told him as she lifted the bag over her shoulder. "Welp, got to continue on my delivery run! See you around."

While Luz and King walked away, Gus looked at the fidget spinner at his hand. "Wow." he said, having met the first human he had ever encountered.

"I owe Luz Clawthorne my life," Gus said in the present day while looking out the window of an empty Hexside classroom and wearing a paper crown. "I founded the Human Appreciation Society with one goal, to learn about and appreciate humans and all their wonders. Luz has helped this goal by bringing me a lot of artifacts from the human world." He turned to the four members of the Human Appreciation Society. "Which is why Luz will be joining us today to show her latest human artifacts!"

"Wow, I can't wait!" said Bo, a brown haired female witch from the Healing Track with blue eyes, and freckles.

"Yeah!" agreed a one-eyed goat boy from Bard Track named Elliot.

"I still remember when I got this board from her," Eileen, a one-eyed, blue haired Potion Track student with no visible mouth wrote on her marker board.

"Oh please, you think she's gonna show up?" asked a brown haired boy from the Construction Track named Mattholomule. "Last I heard, she was too busy with her detention mates cleaning up the mess that they caused in the Abomination Track." He crossed his skinny arms.

"She said that she's coming today," Gus repeated. "Besides, just because she and Willow aren't talking, doesn't mean that we aren't. We're about as tight as a two-headed dragon… that avoids tying their necks together and choking to death."

Mattholomule still wasn't convinced "Yeah, sure, but while we 'wait' for the human, let me show you-" He was interrupted by the door suddenly getting kicked open by Luz with a large bag.

"Sorry I was late," Luz apologized, covered in ectoplasm "The ghosts at the Abomination Track wouldn't leave. They went from a cult to a stock exchange business. Surprised they didn't go into telemarketing… anyway, got some human artifacts up in here!" She brought the bag to the table for the members of H.A.S. to see in awe.

"Thank you, Luz, for coming on short notice," Gus told her.

"Hey, anything for you, G-Man," Luz replied and they both fist bumped.

"Hey, what do you call this?" Elliot asked, holding up a football.

"That there is what we call a 'pig-skin', many sports players in the human world throw this around to earn touchdowns, which is what they call a 'goal' there," Luz explained to the goat kid.

"Is it really made out of pigs?" he asked.

"Nah, it's made of leather," Luz clarified.

"What about this one?" Bo brought up a rainbow slinky.

"That there's a curvy spring, drop the first part," Luz told Bo, who let the slinky fall onto the table and then once one end slinked down it moved to another spot of the table, which amazed Bo. "Yeah, you don't see springs do that here, donchya?"

"And what is this?" Mattholomule asked, holding up a globe.

"That is what the human world looks like, it's called a globe," Luz answered.

"I thought the human world is supposed to be flat?" Mattholomule brought up, smirking.

"Nah, only idiots think that," Luz shot back, making him frown. "What I can tell you is that the human world is like one big rock with tons of water. The rain isn't acidic, the rainbows don't turn you inside out, and there are other large rocks beyond the skies."

"Wait, there are other large rocks?" Bo asked. "How big are the rocks?"

"Bigger than even the Boiling Isles," Luz explained, drawing a circle that represented the human world on a chalkboard. "This is what we call a 'planet', and the stuff on it are its countries and islands. If the Boiling Isles were to be one of the islands, it would be like Hawaii." She drew a little island next to a country, "To compare the scale, we're like… tiny bugs in a Sasquatch." She drew more planets and even the sun. "We also have a sun, and each large rock far from the human world is either bigger or smaller. But they're not the only planets, since we live in what is called a solar system, which is part of something called a galaxy, and those galaxies make up the universe, and so on, so on…" She looked at the club members who all stared at her. "Uh, I know a guy who could explain this better than I could."

"Who knew the human world was so big?" Eileen wrote on her marker board.

"Right, three cheers for Luz Clawthorne everybody!" Gus declared, raising Luz's hand up. All of the members cheered for her, except for Mattholomule who wasn't completely convinced. In truth, he had planned to show off his own 'human artifacts' but with Luz here he couldn't compete with what the actual human knew.

"S-So what?!" Mattholomule exclaimed. "I mean, all of this is junk. Like, what's useful about this?" He held up a calculator.

"The calculator? It helps you count." Luz shrugged.

"Yeah Mattholomule, Luz knows what most of the human stuff is because she's been there," Gus responded. "So that makes her an expert."

"Then why isn't she the club president?" Mattholomule questioned.

"Nope, I'm just a lone wolf business woman/badass delinquent, I don't have time for complicated politics," Luz said as he stepped in front of Mattholomule. "Look, Mule was it? I don't know what your deal is, but here in the Human Appreciation Society, we're here to appreciate the foundations of my people. Back there, witches are celebrated through certain holidays and festivals. I mean, have you ever met another human before? Ever been to the human world? No? Well, I've been there many times. So unless you got something to show that's better than this-" She held up the jukebox CD player and tapped the play button.

"I got the power!" it played as Gus and the club members were in awe at the music box.

"Is there someone inside it?" Elliot asked.

"This music makes my body move automatically!" Bo mentioned.

"This is the greatest thing that has happened in this club!" Eileen's board read.

"Yeah, three cheers for Luz!" Bo declared as they all chewed for her.

"Hey, can't take all the credit, President Gus is the one who knows the source!" Luz stated as she and Gus danced to the music along with the club members.

"Gus and Luz! Gus and Luz! Gus and Luz!" Bo, and Elliot were the only ones to chant while Eileen held up her marker board. Mattholomule just took this as an excuse to exit the room.

"I'm going to the little witch's room," Mattholomule said as he closed the door behind him. He looked at his fake human artifacts, monologuing to himself. "Oooh, that Gus thinks he's so great with that human who thinks she knows everything. If it hadn't been for her, I could have overthrown him as President…" It was just then that a thought popped into his head. "No wait, that position could still be mine. But first, I'm gonna need to find a way to get rid of Luz Clawthorne…" As he walked down the hallway, a show began to tower over him.

"Oh you're not fit to be a leader," a voice behind him said. "The only part you could play is the part of the fool." A hand grabbed Mattholomule's shoulder and the Construction Track student felt a cold chill as he heard the voice. He looked at his shoulder and saw that the hand grabbing it was gruesome-looking and had long unclipped fingernails.

His face looking pale, Mattholomule slowly turned around and faced a hooded figure whose glowing eyes pierced Mattholomule's. The face of the hooded figure looked melted as bugs began to crawl out of its mouth.

"G-G-G-G-G-G-" Mattholomule stammered as he watched the jaw of the creature start to extend. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" He screamed and pulled away from the creature, running down the hall. "HELP! THERE'S A GHOUL IN THIS SCHOOL!" Soon he crashed into Boscha, making her spill her drink.

"My drink!" Boscha scoffed, turning to glare at the boy. "What was that for!?" She gritted her teeth and next to her was Cat. who also looked down at Mattholomule

"Y-You have to run! The ghoul's in this school!" Mattholomule pointed in the direction he came from. The girls looked and saw nothing, just some passing students.

"What ghoul?" Boscha asked, making the boy turn around and find no ghoul in sight. Only the remains of the fake human artifacts that he dropped.

"But… it was there-" Mattholomule felt his school uniform get grabbed as he was pulled up by the angry Potion Track girl. Her three eyes glared at him with hate.

"Out of all the Construction Track students, you are the most pathetic," Boscha told him. "Cat, pull out one of the cards in my purse. Time for a little payback."

"Uh, right." Cat did as she was told, pulling out a random card before handing it to her. Boscha smirked at the card as she showed it to Mattholomule, who started to panic.

"N-No, not that," Mattholomule stammered as Boscha dragged the boy off to somewhere with Cat following her. "Not happy birthday… NOT HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ANYTHING BUT HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Mattholomule was tied to a chair in a darkly lit room where Boscha placed a cake near him. She put down some magic, sparkling candles and Cat strapped a birthday hat to his head. The two began to head out the door. "I'd blow out those candles quickly if I were you," Boscha advised.

"I-Is it chocolate?" He asked, looking at the brown cake. Boscha just laughed.

"Haha, no," Boscha told him in a sinister tone as the door closed. Mattholomule desperately tried to blow out the magic candles.

As Boscha closed the door behind her, a splat hit the window. The two girls laughed as they left him to his unspeakable fate. Neither of them noticed a nearby shadow sneaking away.

"Today's HAS meeting was a huge success!" Gus said as he and Luz walked out of Hexside together. "Like, you bringing that music box, the whole club dancing to the music, this was the most fun we've had!"

"Glad to help, G-Man," Luz told him. "After all, you were the one who rented them out, my mom expects me to return them to the stand."

Gus nodded before noticing someone. "Hey, Willow's already out of her class. Let's go say hi to… her." Gus realized that Luz had frozen up when she was Willow talking with Amelia who was carrying books. "Come on, Luz, don't you want to say hi to Willow?"

"Gus, you know me and Willow are… well…" Luz rubbed her arm awkwardly.

"Of come on, Luz, I'm sure Willow wants to talk to you, even if you two aren't talking at least say hi to each other," Gus replied, turning to wave at Willow. "Hey Willow! Willow!"

"Oh no," Luz muttered, looking away as Gus dragged her over to where Willow and Amelia were.

"Oh, hey Gus," Willow greeted, then looked at Luz. "Oh, hey… Luz."

"Hey, Willow-Wisp." Luz was rubbing the back of her neck.

"Guess what Willow?" Gus asked Willow. "Luz came by the HAS and gave her expertise about different human artifacts. She also showed them handshakes, hi-fives and fist bumps! We even learned about human currency, like instead of snails, they call it pennies and bills."

"That's great, Gus, what else did you learn?" Willow asked.

"That the human world is like one big rock and there are dozens of other rocks, and they have a system beyond the skies, like where the stars and moon are!" Gus explained, turning to Luz. "Isn't that right, Luz?"

Luz looked at Gus, then at Willow and finally at the ground. "Y-Yeah, the universe is just one big system."

"That's… nice," Willow said. "Well, I should go help Amelia so that she doesn't get eaten by the plants. Y-you know her, right?"

"Uh yeah, we've… hung out." Luz waved at the girl with the books.

"Hey Luz, glad that you're out of jail." Amelia waved back.

"Wait, jail?" Willow asked.

"HAHAHA, yeah, but no bars can contain this wild horse!" Luz laughed out loud before spotting Amity coming out of the entrance to Hexside with her Abomination carrying her books. "Hey-hey, there's Amity coming out with her Abomination! I better go study with her!" Luz rushed towards the Blight girl "Hey, Blight Light! The Amtrack, Am-sterdam, what's up!" She wrapped her arm around Amity's shoulder, who looked surprised by the action. "I see you and Phil- mind if I call it Phil?- are just about to head over to my place for studying?"

"Um, I was gonna ask you-"

"Great!" Luz shouted nervously. "Better get going if you want me to pass, hehe. Later, G-Man, and Willow-Wisp!" She pulls Amity away, with the Abomination following her.

"Well, good luck with your studies, Luz." Willow said as she walked with Amelia. Gus looked at the both of his best friends leaving separately. His concern showed, since this did not look good for their friendship.

At the Porter Residence, Gus was having dinner with his dad, Perry Porter, news reporter for the BBN-HXN channel.

"…Then Hector came to the office and guess what? He's the one who took Carol's stapler." Perry laughed. "Oh boy you should see the look on-" He noticed that Gus had barely touched his food. "Everything all right, Augustus? You haven't eaten your scaraguses."

"Sorry, just something on my mind," Gus replied, sounding depressed.

"Do you… want to talk about it?" Perry asked his son.

Gus took a deep breath before explaining. "Okay, so my best friends, Luz and Willow, haven't talked much since the Moonlight Conjuring incident. I thought they'd get over it, but Luz can barely spend a minute and a half with Willow! Now Luz and Willow are each hanging out with others and it's tearing our dynamic apart!"

"Um… dynamic?" Perry asked in confusion.

"You know, our dynamic!" Gus stated. "Luz is the free-spirited lone wolf who is just a misunderstood puppy, Willow's the voice of reason and the most wise of the trio with a lion's heart, and then there's me, the young, plucky, adorable sidekick and the audience surrogate, who throws the jokes in during dire times! We were the ultimate friendship trio!"

"Um… I think I get your point," Perry told his son. "Look Augustus, a lot of friendships have their fights. Whether it be something trivial, or something serious. Like, I used to have this friend named Terry. Me and Terry were like the duo 80s singers Hell and Goats, but like Hell and Goats we split after he lost my marbles. It was trivial but I did learn to forgive him. Of course there was that time he didn't return the fifty snails for a suit he wanted, now that's something you can hold a grudge about."

"Oh no, something like that happens except Luz's shenanigans cost hers and Willow's friendship!" Gus declared, slamming his fist on the table. "I have to prevent this dynamic friendship from getting a friendship divorce!"

Perry now looks concerned for his son when he said it like that. "Augustus, are you sure you don't want to-"

"Thanks for the advice, dad. I know exactly what to do to save this friendship!" Gus quickly ate the rest of his food. "This is Gus Porter, excusing myself from the table." He rushed out to the room so that he could go make his plans.

Perry was now even more concerned and he looked at a photograph on a table that was taken when… she used to sit at the table with them. He sighed. "What am I going to do?"

Luz was putting up a box full of human junk from her last trip with her mom on the table. She sighed in relief after the lift, then pushed the box to the side only to see Gus standing on the other side of the table looking at her. "GAH!" she yelped, taking a few steps back before calming down. "Oh, it's you." She tried to remember his name. "Um… Gustav? Gaston?"

"It's Gus!" he corrected her. "Short for Augustus! You gave me the nickname, remember?"

"Right, so are you here to buy something or are you just going to stare at me all day like I'm the eighth wonder of this world?" Luz asked.

"Can I do both?" Gus asked and Luz looked at him questionably.

"You can only do one," Luz told him and he poured out a jar full of change.

"There, this is how much I have!" Gus told Luz. "What could I get for it?"

Luz looked it over. "Let's see, you have five snails, three worms… and a button." She took a paperclip out of a cup and handed it to Gus. "Here, this one's good to clean under your fingernails."

Gus gasped in amazement "Wow! I never knew humans cleaned their fingernails with this! Thank you, Luz!"

"Anytime, little guy." Luz started to bring more items out of the box, "Now hurry out of here, it's going to be a busy day."

"Busy day?" Gus asked. "But there's no one around here!" It was true. No one around the market place was interested in human junk as they focused on getting groceries and other products..

"O-Of course we're busy! Just gotta rope in a potential customer…" Luz looked around and spotted a girl her age passing by. "Hey, hey kid with the glasses!"

"Hmm?" asked the green haired girl with glasses. She wore a yellow overall dress with a violet shirt and black boots. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yeah-yeah-yeah, you look like a girl who is in need of something and I promise that you've come to the right place," Luz said as the girl walked toward the stand. "Perhaps what you're looking for is… this sword!" She pulled out a plastic pirate sword. "No? How about this lamp!" She brought up a yellow genie lamp toy, "Or maybe something like… this mini-fan!" She held up a mini-fan, pressing a button to activate it. "Batteries included."

"Um… I was thinking of buying something for my dad," the girl told Luz. "I mean, tomorrow is his birthday so I want to surprise him with something nice."

"Say no more, cause I have some options that your dad would love!" Luz dug around underneath the table. "Like, these driver's gloves!" She pulled out a pair of gloves. "No, then he'd love this soda hat!" She pulled up a hat with drink holders and a straw. "Or this backscratcher!" She held up a large wooden spoon.

But then the girl noticed that Gus was there. "Augustus? What are you doing here? Do you know this girl?"

"Oh, looks like you two know each other already," Luz realized.

"We go to Hexside together!" Gus explained. "I'm in the honor's class. Hey Willow, this is the girl from another world that I told you about!"

"Another world?" the girl, named Willow, asked in shock.

"Yeah, the human world!" Gus nodded. "Isn't this the most amazing thing to ever happen to Bonesborough?" Luz's eyes widened and she stepped back and put up a closed sign.

"You know what, we're closing early," Luz told them immediately, turning her back from them. "You two should leave."

"But aren't you going to show Willow-"

"I said we're CLOSED!" Luz yelled, not looking at them as Gus was shocked at her outburst.

"Hey, there's no reason to yell at him like that, he's just a kid!" Willow told Luz, defending Gus.

"Yeah well… he's been annoying me and hurting my business!" Luz turned to face Willow with a glare, then turned her glare on Gus. "You want a human fact, Gus? Humans don't take kindly to being treated like some animal on display. I won't repeat myself again. You two should just… leave."

"What's all the commotion about?" asked Eda, who popped carrying another bag of human junk with Owlbert. She spotted Luz talking to some unfamiliar kids. "Luz, who are these potential customers to scam- I mean, do business with?"

"They're just passing by, that's it," Luz said angrily, walking away from the stand. Eda looked concerned for her daughter, as did Gus and Willow as they saw her off.

Willow was just going through her normal daily routine. Usually she woke up, watered her plants, ate breakfast with her dads, went to school, and met up with Gus or Luz. But because of recent events, it was now just Gus she usually met up with. The Plant Track student was at her locker, getting her books out. As she closed the locker, she spotted a commotion involving Boscha getting caught in a large net by Mattholomule.

"Caught ya, you monster!" Mattholomule declared, only to see Boscha instead of the supposed monster. His face paled.

"Monster? You newt breath!" Boscha seethed her teeth in anger, pulled out another card and handed it to Mattholomule, his eyes widening. Boscha snapped her fingers and two large male students grabbed him.

"No… not that…" Boscha got out of the net and the male students followed her, dragging Mattholomule with them somewhere upstairs. "Not William Spell… please, anything but WILLIAM SPELL!" he cried. "NOOOOOOOOOoooo!"

Willow didn't know what to make of this, but it seemed that Mattholomule really made Boscha mad. But at least it wasn't Luz causing some trouble. Of course, Luz could still be involved, but Willow didn't want to assume like that.

And so she started to walk toward her Home Track room, intending to get there early. But then she felt someone snatch her and pull her into a closet. As the door closed, Eda passed by while talking to Bump. "You saw a Fae in Bonesborough?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I just thought I would give you a heads up," Eda told the principal, "The Fae could even possibly get into the school and cause all sorts of trouble if he wanted to."

Willow was somewhere dark. When the lights were turned on, she saw who had snatched her. It was Skara of all witches.

"Is this a Boscha prank?" Willow asked.

"Hi Willow, and no, Boscha doesn't have anything to do with this," Skara assured her, rubbing the back of her head. "This isn't a kidnapping and humiliation kind of thing. I have been meaning to talk to you and it's just that… Boscha wouldn't like it if I was seen with you and you know how she is."

"Yeah, everyone knows," Willow told her, sounding deadpan.

"Okay look, this isn't about Boscha or anything, I swear!" Skara told her. "This is… okay… you and Amity used to be friends, right?"

Willow raised an eyebrow. "Um… depends,"

"Well, I do remember when we were kids that you two used to be close friends, and I was wondering… if you knew something… that might… okay, maybe there isn't much to explain, is there?" she asked Willow. "Cause… I don't know who to talk to about this. Boscha wouldn't listen and Amity told me not to tell…"

"Tell what?" Willow asked the bard girl.

Skara bit her lip, nervous about what she should tell Willow. She sighed. "O-Okay… on the day she canceled her plans for the Moonlight Conjuring… me, Boscha and the girls went to confront her about it. When we left, I noticed something in her binder that… scared me."

"Scared you?" Willow asked, looking concerned. "What could possibly be in Amity's binder that scared you?"

Skara held her arms together, she looked at Willow while trying to say the words. "A knife."

Willow blinked twice. "What?"

"I saw a knife in her binder," Skara stated, looking frightened. "Amity… she gave me this look… like, I've never seen her this mad or… scary… I don't know who to talk to about it so… you were Amity's friend, I thought you should know…"

"Who else knows?" Willow asked.

"Just you and me," Skara responded and Willow started to think.

"Have you ever noticed her acting any differently lately?" Willow questioned.

"Well… she's been… distant," Skara stated. "I mean, I'm sure it's due to being busy with her tutoring and other activities, not to mention how I heard about her staying out late at night…"

"You mean, when she was at the library?" Willow asked.

"But what would she be doing at the library in the middle of the night?" Skara wanted to know, before they were interrupted by the sound of the bell warning students to get to class. "And… how do you know where she was going at night?"

"That's because… there's no way…" Willow didn't finish her sentence, holding her arms together. 'Amity… what were you really doing that night?'

Mattholomule had finally gotten the suckling plunger off his face, which was now red.

"I really need to stay away from Boscha," Mattholomule said to himself as he headed toward the Construction Track classroom. But upon entering the room, he gasped. "AAAAAAAAHHH!" he screamed, seeing all of his fellow track students and teacher slaughtered and maimed to death, blood was everywhere. Mattholomule cried out. "M-MURDER! MURDER!" He rushed out of the classroom, pushing into one student and making her drop her things. The other students in the hallway looked at him in confusion.

"What murder?" one asked. Mattholomule blinked twice and looked into the Construction Track classroom again. This time there were no blood or guts or chopped up bodies around. Just the Construction Track being normal, with the teacher looking at him questionably. "But… but I saw…"

"YOU AGAIN!?" Boscha, the student whose things that Mattholomule had made her drop, yelled. Mattholomule gulped as Boscha handed him another card to read.

"No… not volunteer work…" Mattholomule tried to get away, but Boscha grabbed him and began to drag him to the Potion Track room. "Please! NOT VOLUNTEER WORK!"

In the Potion Track Class, Mattholomule was sitting down as Boscha began her class demonstration.

"With this potion, I can change a person's head into fruit. My volunteer will demonstrate." She forcefully made Mattholomule drink her potion, down to the last drop. Once he gulped it all, Mattholomule's head was turned into different kinds of fruit: grape, apple, banana, pear, and finally watermelon, which caused him to fall down due to the weight. Lucky for him, his head didn't get smashed open.

At the bleachers, Luz and her detention mates were talking over how to get the ghosts out of the Abomination Track.

"Okay, so we know that these ghosts are going through some generational thing," Viney went over. "They were regular ghosts first, but then they found religion, then they turned into war mongers, then gladiators, then hippies, then a cult, and now 90s lawyers with attitude."

Jerbo nodded. "And with all the spirit warding material we got from the Ghost Be-Gone Store, we should finally get them out of there." He turned to Luz. "What do you think… Luz?"

Luz was too heavily distracted by looking at a purple pencil with an Azura head eraser.

"Hey, hey Luz!" Viney got her attention, shaking Luz out of her thoughts.

"Huh-what!?" Luz looked up, seeing her detention friends taking a notice of her. "Sorry, it's just… Amity left her pencil last night when she was at my house…"

"Ooh, sounds spicy." Viney said with a smirk.

"What happened to the Luz that hated Amity?" Jerbo asked.

Luz turned her head. "That Luz is dead and buried!" she declared, before focusing on the pencil. "I don't think that low of her anymore… she's done so much to help me lately… I should do something for her in return. What do you guys suggest?"

"Ruff(Gift her with the bones of your enemies)?" Barcus suggested.

"You can always give her chocolates, flowers, and promises you don't tend to keep…" Jerbo listed.

"Nono, it has to be something special, something that she's interested in," Viney interrupted and Luz looked once again at the eraser head of Azura.

"I think I know what to-"

"Hey, Luz! Fancy meeting here at lunch hour!" Gus suddenly popped up, which startled the gang.

"Wear a bell, Gus!" Luz told him.

"Sorry Luz, but I really wanted your help with something," Gus mentioned. "Like, it can be just quick… down by the west wing, let's say five minutes after fourth period?"

"Okay, okay G-Man, I'll meet you there," Luz told him. "Just around the corner of the Abomination Track."

"Great! Catch ya there!" Gus disappeared, revealing this Gus to be just an illusion. Luz noticed the real Gus waving at her in the distance before hurrying off.

"Strange kid," Viney commented.

"Yeah, but he's a fun kind of strange," Luz said as she leaned back.

"Hey Luz!" Eda's head popped up, scaring the detention track members. "Sorry to scare you, but I told Bump about that Fae and now he has me setting traps up with sugar as bait. Faes can't get enough of this stuff."

The kids took notice of several trails of sugar, with one first grader looking at it and attempting to lick it off. "No, no, don't lick the pavement!" Eda called out as she went to chase after the child who ran off.

Luz was in her room, hitting a punching bag with her fist. She was stress relieving to get her anger out of her after lashing out at that kid. It was then that Eda entered her room.

"I knew you'd be up here," Eda said as she joined her daughter, who stopped punching. "So what's the deal with those kids earlier?"

"Nothing happened," Luz told her. "They're nobody important."

"Really?" Eda asked with a doubtful look. "I spoke with the dweeb kid about how you saved him from bullies. Isn't he your friend?"

"He's just some kid who wouldn't leave me alone," Luz muttered.

"Well, besides being a potential recurring customer, he seemed like a fine kid once we talked," Eda mentioned. "Also, they're here."

Luz looked at her mom as if she was crazy. "Are you serious?! I don't want them here!"

"Luz, listen to me." Eda placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "You've been closing yourself from others for too long. You can't build a wall around yourself without giving others a chance. Besides, I think they're nice kids."

"We don't need anyone but each other!" Luz objected. "I… I don't want friends, alright? I already have you, King, and even Hooty. Besides, nobody wants to be friends with a human in the Boiling Isles."

"Then why don't you tell them that yourself?" Eda asked, pointing downstairs.

"Okay, this plan is going to work perfectly," Gus said while looking at his illusion duplicates. "You guys know what to do, right?"

"Willow will be coming here to meet Luz, and I'll show her this scrap book that I just made at the last minute of all the moments shared between us," Gus #2 replied while holding a scrapbook.

"And if that doesn't work, then we'll just have to go through plan B, or plan C if we're desperate!" Gus #3 responded, holding up a bear trap.

"Great!" Gus replied and he held up a two-way mirror. "Gus #4, what's your angle on Luz?"

"She's coming out from the Abomination Track and heading the way- oh no," Gus #4 reported. "Amity's there, maybe Luz will- oh no, they're talking! This could lead to long conversations!"

"What?! Do something!" Gus ordered.

Gus #4 looked around the corner of the lockers to see Luz and Amity having a conversation and laughing. He went to walk up between them. "Hey, Luz, remember the thing I needed to show you about?" he asked.

"Oh uh, yeah, but I'm talking to Amity right now," Luz told him while keeping her eyes on Amity. "But don't worry, I'll stop by in a little bit."

'Okay, my original expects Luz there but- wait,' Gus #4 thought before going back around the corner and messaging the real Gus via mirror. "Reroute Willow to where I am, I got a plan."

The real Gus nodded as he spotted Willow coming his way. He made his other illusions disappear as he waved at her.

"Gus?" Willow noticed him and he rushed off, much to her confusion. "Gus! Where are you going!?" She gave chase, following him around a corner.

"Alright, I'm passing around lemons around here due to recent Fae sightings in the Boiling Isles!" Eda explained, giving out lemons to students in the cafeteria. "Now if you see or feel anything unusual, make sure to squirt these things into your eyes. They'll sting at first, but according to popular belief they will give you the ability to see through a Fae's glamour." She offered one to Eileen, Elliot, and then Boscha.

"Yeah, like I'm gonna squirt lemon juice in my eyes," Boscha told the Owl Lady. "I haven't forgotten how your human daughter pepper sprayed my eye."

"Hey, she said she was sorry," Eda pointed out, causing Boscha to roll her eyes..

"Yeah, as if she means it," Boscha said, before she noticed Skara hanging out with Bo. The latter was showing Skara how to make a fireball turn into snow.

"See, like this," Bo said as she demonstrated. Skara nodded and followed her instructions, delighting herself when she succeeded

"Wow, you're right, thanks!" Skara said as the two hugged.

Boscha wasn't pleased by this. It was bad enough that Amity started hanging out with the delinquent, but there was no way that she was allowing Skara to be seen with a dweeb. She then looked down and noticed that one of her boots was gone. "What happened to my boot?!"

Gus, staying ahead of Willow, found his illusion copy near Luz and Amity who were still conversing with each other. Before Willow caught up, Gus winked at his copy while performing an invisible spell. The Gus copy then walked over and pretended to have 'slipped.'

"W-w-woah!" the Gus copy cried out, which caught Luz and Amity's attention. They saw him start to fall down a staircase just as Willow arrived.

"GUS!" Luz/Willow cried in worry, seeing the Gus copy fall down the stairs. They ran to see him land at the bottom of the steps. "NOOOO!"

Gus, while invisible, watched as his two friends rushed down the stairs. 'Okay, plan D was desperate, but it's a shoe-in for getting those two back being friends, right?'

"Gus, Gus wake up!" Luz shouted while trying to wake up the fallen copy of her friend, "You're going to be fine, we'll get to the nurse's office, and they'll heal you!"

"I can't believe it…" Willow whispered in tears. "He was so young…"

"I'm sorry Gus, I should've paid attention to you when you needed it," Luz told him while in tears as well.

'Hehe, it's about to work!' Gus couldn't help but chuckle to himself, his plan was working. Of course, he would stop being invisible once the two finished making up. He did feel bad for tricking his friends like this, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

However, the Gus copy evaporated in Luz's arms, shocking her. "Wait, what the fuck!?"

"Ahem." The two girls turned to see Amity, who held up something invisible. She drew a circle in the air with her finger to dispel Gus's invisibility. "Sometimes you forget that I have siblings in the Illusion Track that are constantly pranking me. From then I learned that you can often tell if something is an illusion due to the lack of shadows in certain light. And apparently this one wouldn't stop chuckling to himself."

"Ehe, hey guys… I'm alive, it's a miracle!" Gus tried to brush it off, only to see them glare.

"Gus…" Luz and Willow did not look happy at him.

Boscha's day hadn't been pleasant. It had started with Mattholomule constantly getting in her way. Then some of her stuff began to go missing, like her pencil, or textbooks, her penstagram, one of her spare boots, and her Grudgby uniform. Why was her stuff missing? Could some creeper be stealing her stuff? And now she was waiting in the hallway for Skara, who finally arrived late. "Where have you been?!" she demanded.

"Sorry, I was just talking to Bo," Skara answered..

"Right, that actually reminds me." Boscha placed her hand on Skara's shoulder. "You're gonna have to stop hanging out with Bo."

Skara looks shocked. "W-What? But why? Me and Bo have been friends since the sixth grade."

"Look, it's nothing personal," Boscha said, waving it off. "It's just that, well, since she's a member of that dweeb hags club…"

"The Human Appreciation Society?" Skara asked. "But she picked it as part of her extracurricular-"

"Yeah, I get that, but she's part of a dweeb club. That makes her a dweeb." Boscha and Skara walked down the hall together. "Look, I know it's hard for you, but if you wish to be part of the popularity crowd and my best friend, there are some sacrifices you have to make. That means to give up some things for your reputation's sake. You understand?" She patted Skara's cheek, making the bard girl look unsure.

"I-I don't know…" Skara said, trying to look away until Boscha made her look at her.

"Either you break things off with her… or I can talk to Bo," Boscha said and Skara's eyes widened at the look she gave.

"No… nonono, you don't have to," Skara told her, the two of them walking past Mattholomule who was trying to open the locker.

"Come on you stupid thing!" Mattholomule hit his locker until it coughed out a pair of shorts into his face, followed by a shirt, a boot, a penstagram, and a textbook. He stumbled back into Boscha, causing her to fall.

"KAH!" Boscha was about to glare at him, but then she saw Mattholomule with the shorts. Her shorts. Her eyes widened when she saw the other stuff, recognizing it to all be hers. "My penstagram… my textbook… my boot… ARE THOSE MY GRUGBY SHORTS, YOU CREEP!?" She pointed at Mattholomule's face in accusation.

The Construction Track student pulled the gym shorts off of his face. "Nonono, this isn't… I don't know where this came from, I swear!" He was then handed a card by her and he read it. "No… nono not that… anything but the Squirrel Pen!" Before he could try to run, Boscha grabbed him by the hoodie and dragged him away. "Not the Squirrel Pen! ANYTHING BUT THE SQUIRREL PEN!"

Skara watched as Boscha dragged Mattholomule before hearing someone laughing behind her. She turned around, but saw nobody there. Nobody at all…

After school, Gus waited for his HAS members to come for the club meeting. But first he was getting a stern talking to from Luz and Willow, especially Willow.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, GUS!?" Willow scolded him while he lowered his head, "You had me and Luz worried, what were you thinking of pulling that stunt!?"

"I… I'm sorry…" Gus apologized, rubbing his arm.

"Gus, why did you go through all of that?" Luz asked. "It doesn't make sense for you of all people to trick us like that." She sounded disappointed as she tried to understand why he did it.

"It's just… I don't like seeing you two not talking," Gus admitted. "Ever since the Moonlight Conjuring incident, you two haven't been talking or spending time with each other like friends. Each of you are just spending time with either me or with others. Willow with Amelia and I think I saw you with Skara a while ago." Luz raised her eyebrow at Willow. "And Luz, when you're not with your detention mates, you're hanging out with Amity and focusing on her… I didn't want our friendship dynamic to divorce away…"

"Don't you mean, drift away?" Luz asked

"Gus… what you did was really, really wrong," Willow told him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "You have to understand that just because me and Luz aren't talking doesn't mean we're drifting away. We're just… taking a break."

"Yeah, G-Man." Luz patted him on the other shoulder. "Sometimes friends fight, and it may take time for them to be ready to talk to each other again. And I don't think that I will be ready until I'm sure that I can be a better friend."

"I thought you'd want Amity to be your new best friend?" Gus asked her.

"Well, I consider her a friend for now but… I'm actually working on seeing if she's… interested in being more," Luz explained, blushing. "I-I mean, if she wants to. We can be fine as friends, or more if she likes, not like I'm gonna do something special for her or anything- don't tell her I said that, alright?"

'I don't think you're fooling anyone,' Willow thought when she saw Luz's expression. She turned to Gus. "But Luz is right, it'll take time before either of us are ready to hang out again. At least me and Luz are talking to each other right now."

Luz smiled and rubbed the back of her hair. "Yeah, it's nice talking to ya again, Will-o-wisp."

Willow smiled back. "You too, Luz."

"I'm sorry for putting you guys through that just to get together," Gus told them. "It's just… I didn't want you guys to split up just like-"

"Your parents?" Luz interjected. "Guess that was a little obvious when you said 'divorced'. Look dude, I think you have something you need to talk about. Have you tried going to your dad?"

"No… but maybe I should," Gus answered. "Guess I never completely got over how my mom left me and dad hanging, it's just… hard to deal with."

"Hey, if you need to talk about it, we're here for you," Luz told him. "Just like how you're here for us." She turned to Willow, who nodded.

Gus smiled at this, before suddenly realizing what Luz meant earlier about her friendship with Amity. "Wait, do you have a crush on-"

He was interrupted by the door to the classroom suddenly opening and the other club members coming in, including Bo who was looking down while Eileen comforted her. Gus noticed this and turned his attention to it. "Bo, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I… I don't know why but… Skara just broke our friendship off." Bo cried while Eileen helped her to a chair.

"She what?" Willow asked in shock.

"Oh man, sorry to hear that, Bo," Luz told her. Everyone was focused on Bo, none of them really noticing or caring that Mattholomule hadn't shown up.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Mattholomule screamed while a giant demon squirrel had him in his jaws, shaking him around like a rag doll. Boscha and her girls just laughed as they recorded it on their penstagram. The only one who wasn't laughing or paying attention was Skara, who was looking at photos of her and Bo together.

Skara sighed, looking down in shame. 'I'm sorry, Bo,' she thought, hiding the photos. She then heard a scream and she looked up to see Boscha somehow covered in mud.

"Bah! Yuck! Why am I covered in mud!?" As Boscha cried out, Skara heard someone else laughing nearby.

'That laugh…' It was the same laugh that she had heard in the hallway. She looked around her, but once again she couldn't see who was laughing. She then heard something drop and she saw a bucket laying on the ground.

"GAH! This mud has biter ants! OW! OW! GET THEM OFF!?" Boscha continued to scream while trying to get the bugs off,

Luz opened the front door to the Owl House, seeing Gus and Willow on the doorstep. Luz stepped outside, trying not to look them in the eyes. "What do you want?" she muttered.

"We were wondering if you're alright," Gus told her.

"What? After I shut you out you came all the way here to ask if I'm alright?" Luz asked in confusion. She then looked at Willow. "And what are you doing here?"

"Well, I wasn't sure about you at first, but Augu-" Willow stopped to correct herself. "Gus explained to me how you saved him from those bullies. I-I still wasn't sure about you, but Gus insisted on seeing you so I had to follow him."

Luz looked at them and sighed. "Funny, not many folks around here would be interested in meeting a human. One of the perks of being the Owl Lady's daughter is that they leave me alone. But before they knew that, I learned the hard way that they really don't take kindly to someone like me." Her tone was quiet.

"But… I'm interested in meeting you, I thought we'd be friends," Gus told her. "I'm sorry that I didn't respect your boundaries, it's just I thought you were the coolest thing-"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Luz yelled, shocking the two with her outburst. "Never call me a 'thing'! I am a person, someone who has feelings and is not some animal you can beat up just because she doesn't have extra eyes or… or…" She covered her own mouth, tears falling from her eyes. Suddenly, she saw a plant in front of her, Willow holding it with a pot. "Huh?" she asked as Willow gave the plant to her.

"I may not know anything about humans," Willow told her. "But after meeting you, I don't think you're that different from us. I know what it's like to be hurt." Her expression was sad for a moment. "If you want to hang out with us or if you want us to hang out with you, that'd be great. Of course, only if you want to."

Luz looked at the plant and slowly accepted it, wiping her tears and nose. "Y-Yeah, that'd be great," she said as she grew a ghost of a smile. "I'll… see you guys around, I guess?"

"So does that mean we're friends, Luz?" Gus asked her.

"Sure, I guess having allies won't be so bad," Luz replied. Standing behind her in the doorway was Eda, who was happy that her daughter was making friends. King was on her shoulders.

" Guess she didn't need us for this after all," King commented.

"Yeah, I think she's going to be alright now," Eda replied, scratching King's head which relaxes him. "My baby's gonna be alright."

The castle of the Emperor's Coven was a high tower in the heart of the Boiling Isles. In this fortress was where the ruler of the Boiling Isles, Emperor Belos, lived.

Lilith was marching toward the door to the throne room as Kikimora tried to stop her. "Hold on there, Lilith, you do not have permission to enter the majesty's throne room!" she objected, but Lilith knocked her away with her staff.

"I don't need your permission, I demand to speak to Belos," Lilith told the petite demon.

"You, overconfident, bi-" Kikimora started to say in anger, but she was interrupted by a strong yet calm voice that almost seemed to be coming from the walls of the castle around them.

"Kikimora, let Lilith enter."

Kikimora's eyes widened, but she nodded obediently. "As you wish my lord," Kikimora said begrudgingly, clapping her hands as the doors to the throne room opened. Lilith entered while Kikimora stood on the other side, the doors closing behind the Clawthorne witch.

Sitting on the throne was Emperor Belos himself, a tall figure in a large white and brown cape with gold trim. He also wore a mask with two long upward-facing horns. His eyes were hollow through the mask, creating the appearance of having empty eye sockets. Standing next to the throne was the Golden Guard, right-hand man to Emperor Belos and a "genius teen prodigy" who Lilith hated for being a brat with special treatment. He wore a white hooded cloak with a golden triangle clasp like other members of the Emperor's Coven. Under the cloak was a gold tunic with darker sleeves, black leggings, and brown gloves and knee-high boots. He wore a golden pauldron on his left shoulder and a pointed two-faceted mask with a thin slot across it.

"Seeing as you are here on your own will and not mine or the Titan's, I'm going to assume one thing… you know, don't you, Lilith?" he asked in a strict, commanding tone.

"Why was information about my sister's human daughter kept from me all these years?" Lilith demanded, narrowing her eyes at him. "Suppressing that information in the public reports is one thing, but why was I never told the truth despite you knowing about her this whole time?"

"I would watch your tone if I was you," the Golden Guard warned. "The Emperor will not tolerate such-"

Belos raised his hand and the Golden Guard fell silent. "Ah, so you finally met the human girl and paid poor Webstor a visit," the Emperor said to Lilith. "I knew you would inevitably find out, you're far too smart to keep in the dark forever. But I didn't want you to get involved because I knew you would make it personal. I knew that this girl, your adopted niece, would only make you soft and that is something you cannot afford. Especially when you have yet to bring your sister to me. You already pity this girl, am I right?" Lilith tried to deny it, but Belos saw right through her. "Ah, I thought so. I couldn't let your feelings get in the way this time. I don't want a repeat of what happened to the last human who entered the Boiling Isles. I have not forgotten your failure then. You lost him while he was under your watch…"

Lilith's fist tightened. "That was not my fault," she told him. "And I am not going soft. I will do what I have to."

"I hope so," Belos said. "Sacrifices sometimes need to be made in order to achieve greatness, something you know all too well. I have kept my eye on the human girl for some time. She interests me and the Titan has plans for her as well." This made Lilith curious, but she didn't say anything about what plans Belos was referring to. "And it was the Titan's will to keep you out of the loop, not just mine. There are great things coming, both for the human and for the rest of the Boiling Isles. And the Titan did not want to risk you messing up. Do you understand, Lilith?"

Lilith bowed her head to him. "Yes, my lord. I'm sorry I questioned you, I ask for forgiveness."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Lilith," Belos said, much to her surprise. "I actually understand completely. The human is family to you, family that you never met. And family is important. Just remember that this Coven is your family as well. And if you do as the Titan wills, your families will be united in the future. There is not just a place for her sister in the Emperor's Coven… but a place for her daughter as well. Then you can all be together at last."

Lilith nodded. "I won't disappoint you, Edalyn and her daughter will join the Emperor's Coven."

"Then you are dismissed," Belos told her. Lilith covered herself with her hood as she walked out of the throne room, the door opening for her as she left. Kikimora rushed past her and toward Belos.

"Emperor, you wouldn't believe what's been painted on the wall of Bonesborough!" Kikimora said while summoning a picture from the police precinct. "This was made by that accursed human child of Lilith's crazy sister! The audacity of that little brat!"

Belos looks at the evidence photo of the graffiti painting made by Luz. He chuckled. "Interesting, that human girl has some fine craftsmanship. She is even better than many of our artists. A shame that she isn't part of the Bard Track, she could have a promising career in our art department if her talents were put to better use." He turned to the figure standing beside his throne. "What do you think, Golden Guard?"

"It does show your darkness and mysterious flare, sir," the Golden Guard replied. "I would drink from a mug with that picture."

Belos chuckled again while Kikimora looked at them in disbelief.

"Sir, do you think Lilith will deliver on what she has promised?" the Golden Guard asked.

"Oh, I think she will perform exactly as expected," Belos answered. "After all, she knows what is at stake. It won't be long before the Day of Unity is upon us…"

Within Hexside was the Secret Room of Shortcuts, regularly used by the Detention Track to access different parts of the school. It had been originally found by someone named Lord Calamity, whose vandalized portrait still hung on a wall where the trouble makers of Hexside left their names. This included Barcus, Jerbo, Viney, and Luz. Currently, the Secret Room of Shortcuts was empty… except for one. The Fae with messy hair and short horns was now admiring the wall of trouble makers, reflecting upon the fun that he recently had while messing with Boscha and Mattholomule. He smirked and his shadow handed him a pen. He quickly wrote something on the wall and vanished, his laughter echoing through the Secret Room of Shortcuts.

The Fae had only written one word: Goodfellow.

Chapter Text

"And now… demonstrate… with feeling!"

Luz held up her cards, four of them with different glyphs for each spell. She selected one card and slammed it on the floor. An ice path spread out and created three target statues. She tapped her three other cards to shoot at the targets. One card turned into a ball of lightning to hit one target, another changed into a ball of fire to hit another, and the last card turned into large vines to grab the target.

Jerbo summoned his cauldron and planted a seed in the purple mush. He spread his magic to make his Abomination grow, except it was made of moss. The moss abomination stepped out of the cauldron, revealing roots for his feet and extended branches for his arms. Jerbo may have created the first Abominable Moss Man.

Flying high over their heads was Viney and her griffin Puddles. The griffin landed and was revealed to be carrying bags of medical supplies. "Anybody want some healing packs?" Viney asked.

"We're good!" Luz told her before she noticed Barcus throwing a part of his hair into a cauldron full of his own potion brew. He stirred it with a spoon and purple smoke came out. The detention mates looked at the smoke in shock, surprised to see ghost dogs emerging from the cauldron.

"Roof-roof(Meet my great ancestors of my blood line)!" Barcus declares, showing many dogs that looked like him, each from a different era.

"Hello, Barcus's ancestors!" Jerbo waved at them and they all barked back..

"Ah, you've all shown improvement." Anu Bist declared as he stepped forward, seeing their progress. "Viney, I love the bag decor around Puddles. Very useful for a field medic." He looked at the moss man Jerbo had created. "The Abominable Moss Man, now that's an interesting mixture." He looked at the ghost dogs. "Hmm, summoning the ghosts of your ancestors with your potion… not only using the oracle globe but your own hair with traces of your lineage and breed as well? Impressive."

Anu Bist went to look at Luz's work on the targets. "Your attacks have improved, simple as it is."