Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Wayward Strays

Luz hadn’t trusted the trio of strangers when she and her mom found them at the abandoned house. It had been a muggy morning when the mother daughter duo had gone into the woods near their home, wandering the area had become a bonding ritual for the two of them… and gave them a chance to talk in private. Which is why when they saw a pair of older men and one teenage girl staring at the old house made them both stop and take notice. They seemed to be talking amongst themselves, unaware of the duo behind them.

“Ahem! ...can we help you?” Camilla asked, loud enough to get their attention.

Luz’s earlier assumption about the men being older was proven once she got a good look at their faces. The more firmly built of the two had to be in his 60’s, a pair of large glasses balanced on his nose and in his hands was some sort of odd machine. It looked like it had a screen on it and possibly some sort of radar but she couldn’t be sure at this distance. The other was tall and very lean, he seemed to be a bit younger, maybe in his mid-50’s, and everything about his appearance reminded her of a college professor. They both screamed intelligence but in different ways, the former being an adventurer, and discoverer, the latter being an academic and scholar.

The oddball of the trio was definitely a teenager, and Luz was suddenly nervous about being teased. The girl was around her own age, as well as very pretty, she had to have a lot of admirers. She also seemed to be made of pink, her dress, her tights, her high-heeled boots and the ribbon she used to tie her hair back were all in different shades of the color. The only exceptions were her red-orange hair, purple jacket and matching earrings, she stood out like a bright pink neon sign against the earthy tones around her. She had a phone in her hand and her sights zoned in immediately on Luz before placing a hand to her chin, clearly thinking.

“Ah, hello!” the bespectacled stranger greeted, a wide smile on his face, “I’m sorry, do you happen to own this property by any chance?”

“No, this house has been abandoned for years,” Camilla said, “What is this all about?”

The defensiveness in her voice rang clear in Luz’s ears. She was being protective… and given the last few months, she couldn’t blame her.

“Ah yes, well, we’re here to investigate some… interesting rumors about this location,” they both noticed the pause in that sentence. He was considering his words very carefully. “Nothing to worry about though, merely trying to get to the bottom of it all.”

“What my colleague is trying to say,” the other man said, his voice considerably more dramatic sounding, almost theatrical, “Is that these rumors are of personal interest to us and we simply wish to find some information on them.”

“...what kind of rumors?”

Luz was nervous about their answer, Camilla had her hand on the purse, ready to reach for the sandal she kept inside.

“Sightings of odd creatures and people, there’s quite a few in Gravefield in general but they seem to center around this house,” the first adult said, “As if it were… some sort of gateway.”

“Well, I sure haven’t seen anything odd around here at all!” Luz proclaimed. Oh this was bad, this was so so bad! They had to get them out of here before they found something! Or saw someone! “Um… if you don’t mind me asking… where did you happen to get these rumors from, exactly?”

“Some guy on YouTube uploaded a bunch of videos about this place, saying it was where demons came from,” the pink girl spoke for the first time, her eyes never leaving her phone, “We investigate stuff like this all the time and he had some really impressive footage.”

Luz felt her stomach drop.

The guy from the museum, she and her mom had been so focused on their rescue of Vee that they hadn’t thought to destroy the videos, photos and who knows what all else he had! He must have uploaded it all online and now the entire internet could find it!

“We posted a bunch of comments on his videos to discredit them,” the girl continued, “But we have reason to check them out… particularly this.”

She turned her phone to the Nocedas, letting them see the video she had been looking at.

It was a video of a girl… one they both knew, who looked way too close to Luz… exactly like Luz. She got her foot caught in a snare, pulled to the ground, and then… shapeshifting.

Vee…

“Wow… that uh… that kid girl kinda… looks like me… heh… m-maybe I-I could apply for her stunt double,” the poor latina tried to explain it away, in the most awkward way possible.

“Okay, look, chill,” the pink girl continued, “If that is you or someone who looks like you, we’re not gonna hurt anyone. We’re just here to get answers and offer help.”

“Help?” Camilla was the one to speak up now.

“Yes well, you see, my colleague and I are in a very unique field,” the first man started, he spoke in a way that was trying to carefully approach a topic.

“Yes… unique is the best word for it,” the other man said, “And given these videos, we-”

“Ugh, okay, no, not again!”

They all looked at the girl who was glaring up at the two men.

“We’ve been through this song and dance before and I don’t have the patience for you two beating around the bush again! Lemme just-”

She sat down on the grass, crossing her legs as she did. She rested her hands on her knees, closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath.

…and a second version of herself appeared in front of Luz and her mom. A version that was floating, had a light blue glow around herself… and the two adult men could be seen through her, ever so slightly.

The former gasped in awe, the latter screamed.

“See? Faster and easier than the overly delicate approach,” she smirked, before floating to Luz, “So, is that shapeshifter you or what?”

“Oh… my… GOSH! How are you doing that?! What kind of magic is this?! You didn’t use a spell circle or a glyph or anything I could see,” the pink girl’s question went unanswered as Luz circled around the transparent form, looking her over.

“So you’re a magic user?” the girl asked, smirking.

“I… well… uh…”

She laughed and floated lower to the ground so they were more on eye level.

“If it helps, I’m not using magic. This is astral projection.”

“Astral… like psychic powers?!”

“Yup! And these two fossils can do all sorts of crazy things,” she jabbed her thumb in the direction of the now indignant elders, “Including magic.”

“WHAT?!”

“Magic?” Camilla’s voice sounded almost withered in disbelief.

“Ahem, yes, despite our student’s… tactless explanation,” the thin one started, “We are investigators on these things, to an extent. However, there is something else of more significance that I believe would be of actual interest to both of you.”

“What could that… possibly be?” Camilla asked cautiously.

“Well… along with paranormal investigations, I and a close colleague actually run a school for children involved in these unique situations,” the man with the glasses explained, “And Strickler,” he gestured to the thin man, “Is one of the teachers who works there.”

“...unique situations? What do you mean by that exactly?”

“The supernatural, paranormal, magic, time travel-”

“TIME TRAVEL!?” Luz’s voice echoed through the trees.

“Well… yes… amongst other things,” the man nodded, clearing his throat awkwardly, “You see… our world is far weirder and more strange than we can possibly believe. I began my own studies into anomalies thirty years ago and in that time, I’ve seen some truly amazing things… including other worlds.”

That got both of their attention.

“You… can do that?”

“...to an extent. The science behind it is far from perfect, and controlling where exactly the portal leads to still needs a lot of work, but it is possible.”

“...Luz,” Camilla put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, “Luz, I know what you’re thinking, but-”

“Mom, I have to!” Luz pulled away from her mother and took a few steps towards the men, “Is it possible to go to another world right now? Please!”

This got the trio of strangers concerned and they looked at each other and then her.

“Well… no, not at this very moment. We’d have to find it first, which would be the actual hard part… but it wouldn’t be impossible in the future.”

Her knees suddenly became weak under her.

The chance to go back.

Back to the Boiling Isles.

Back to Bonesburrow.

Back to the Owl House…

“Look, what exactly do you people want?”

Camilla’s voice pulled her back to reality.

“...well… originally we wanted to find the creature in the video,” the thin one, Strickler, answered, “But it seems your daughter has quite the story to tell. If you’d like, we could continue this discussion somewhere more comfortable for the two of you.”

“...mija, would you head home and… prepare some drinks for our guests please.”

Luz knew what she really was saying.

“Get ahead of us and tell our houseguests to hide.”

Though her knees felt like jell-o, she got up and ran to the house.

By the time her mom made it back to the house with the strangers, Luz had herded the other worldly visitors upstairs and had just barely finished pouring enough glasses of ice tea for all five of them. She set the pitcher down and held the tray as they walked inside, she noticed the girl was back in her own body and back to her phone. They ended up at the island in the middle of the kitchen, mother and daughter on one side, the trio on the other.

And Luz told them her story.

She told them about following the little owl into the old house, the world of magic, demons, witches, her glyphs…

When she mentioned the titan however, the older man surprised her even further than he had today.

“Wait, a hellscape on a rotting carcass? Do you mean the Boiling Isles?”

She almost choked on her tea.

“YOU WENT THERE?!”

“...I’ll take that as a yes,” the man smiled, “And yes, I did stop there briefly, but haven’t been able to return in some time. Is Belos still in charge?”

“In charge, and batshit insane!”

“Luz! Language!”

“Sorry Mamá.”

“Ah, so things haven’t changed too much.”

“...did you know the Old Lady?”

“Only of her, and I only saw her from a distance, why?”

“...she was my teacher.”

“...I’m liking you more and more, Luz was it?”

“Uh, yeah, Mr… uh…”

“Stanford, Stanford Pines.”

He reached his hand out and as she reached out to shake it, both she and her mother noticed his fingers. Or, more specifically, that he had one extra one.

“Whoa… cool!”

“Hehehehe, you can see how I got into researching anomalies,” he smiled, “And this is Teodora, one of our students.”

He gestured to the girl, who looked up from her phone and smiled, “I’m also the one in charge of finding other kids like us.”

“You are?” Luz looked at her with wide eyes.

“Well I’m the most tech literate,” she explained, “And I know what kind of things to look for with this stuff. Odd posting patterns, videos with strange incidents and creatures, it’s really basic stuff but nobody else at school is half as good as I am.”

“And that’s how you found the video… and eventually us?” Camilla questioned, a brow raised.

“You got that right,” she nodded, “Now, Luz, I have to ask, was that you in the video or not?”

“...no, that was before I came back. It was probably a demon that got trapped on this side… and it probably saw me and took a form similar to mine to blend in.”

“...eh, certainly not the weirdest explanation we’ve ever had that turned out to be true,” she shrugged, “Either way, that’s not the real question we have to ask.”

“Well… what is?”

“To put it simply,” Strickler said, his attention focusing on Camilla, “Am I safe to assume that all this information about your daughter’s time in another world has you concerned, Mrs. Noceda?”

“Well… yes… my daughter was gone for months and… I…”

“You were worried… and when she came back, she was different… This is very common in these situations, and… you still worry even after they come back. The fact you’re as composed as you are right now makes it clear you’ve believed her on this matter for quite some time.”

“...she managed to contact me before she came back… and… I saw things with my own eyes… I… I’ve never been so worried about her before but…”

She trembled as she spoke, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

“Mamá…” Luz hugged her mom as tight as she could, “I missed you so much… I’m sorry… I really am.”

“Oh mija…”

“It’s a lot to go through I know,” Stanford said, “But… with everything you’ve told us, we’d like to make an offer to you and your daughter.”

They looked at him, as he reached for something in his bag and pulled out some paperwork.

“If you would be so willing, we’d be more than happy to have your daughter attend our school.”

“...excuse me, what?”

“I understand this is very out of the blue and you don’t know us, but I assure you, we merely wish to help. We came here to find the demon from that video and offer them a place at the school, so they would be safe and away from that moron who posted that video online,” he then muttered under his breath, “Martians, teeth, time machines, I swear the standards for paranormal investigations have truly gone down in the last twenty years.”

“A school… for magic kids, and time travelers and stuff?” Luz asked, her eyes widening.

“Well it’s more complicated and nuanced than that, but essentially, yes,” Stanford nodded, smiling warmly, “Aside from Teodora, we have plenty of other students who I’m sure you’ll be able to relate with. Most of them are around your age as well, which I’m sure you’ll find to be a bonus.”

“...where… is this school exactly?” Camilla asked.

“...it’s in Gravity Falls, Roadkill county, Oregon.”

“OREGON?!”

Camilla slammed her hands on the island, knocking over her tea.

“That’s on the other side of the country! How can you expect me to send her so far away?! I’ve only had her back for two weeks!”

“Ma’am, I know this is a lot to ask-”

“This is beyond a lot! My baby was gone for months, you can’t expect me to just send her away so soon after getting her back!”

“Mamá calm down! Please!”

“Ma’am, I assure you, you’ll be able to speak with her whenever you want! We allow 24/7 access to video chat and phone calls, you can contact them at any time, I promise. The only exceptions would be during class or therapy and-”

“Que… therapy?”

“What…?”

“Yes, we have therapy sessions for all of our students, both group and individual. Many of our students went through some very… traumatizing things in their time away, and our therapy sessions are to help them cope with that, as well as readjusting to our own world… and help the ones who can never go back.”

“I-”

“Wait!”

Luz’s interruption had all eyes on her.

“...before we continue… I’m not the only one who needs to hear this stuff.”

Teodora smirked.

“Knew it. The shapeshifter’s here, aren’t they?”

Luz didn’t answer, instead, she hurried to the stairs and ran up as fast as she could. She stopped at her bedroom door, needing a moment to breathe… and opened it a crack.

“Guys… I know you were probably listening in but… you’re gonna wanna hear this…”

She led them to the kitchen, her stomach tying itself into knots… but if these people could actually help…

She stopped at the doorway to the kitchen, fiddling with the hem of her hoodie as she spoke.

“Okay, so… I’m… not the only one who came here from the Boiling Isles, and uh…”

“Nyeh!”

King ran ahead and climbed onto the island, grunting and squeaking as he went.

“Alright, you better tell us how we can get home! As the king of demons, I command you!”

They stared for a moment… before Teodora squealed.

“OH LOOK HOW CUTE HE IS!”

She began taking pictures immediately, much to the fluffy demon’s annoyance.

“Okay, so,” Luz stepped forward, scooping him up into her arms, “This is King, he’s a demon, and my friend. Mr Grumpy here is Hunter, the bird on his shoulder is his palisman, I think, and… uh… you okay with me telling them?”

Her lookalike nodded nervously.

“That’s Vee… she’s the one from the video. She took my place while I was away, Mamá didn't know I was gone…”

“Ooooohhhh, that’s a first,” Teodora approached the two new teenagers, “And this one’s a real cutie~”

Hunter leaned back, apparently caught off guard by the comment. King laughed and pointed before hopping down to the floor.

“I wouldn’t get too close, he’s Emperor Belos’s righthand man and doesn’t need magic to fight somebody,” Luz warned. As she spoke, Vee made her way over to the young latina, holding onto her arm for security.

“Eh, I’ve helped fight kaiju before, Baba Yaga, Medusa and some other really nasty monsters, trust me, I can handle myself,” was Teodora’s answer as she inspected her nails.

“...I… can’t tell if that was sarcasm or if you’re being serious… and I’m kinda scared to find out but I also really wanna find out.”

“It’s all true! …okay I was astral projecting at the time so my body wasn’t in any danger but still!”

Luz… grinned.

Hard.

“All that stuff’s real then?”

“Well, they were, part of my astral projection involves time travel and I was sent back in time, sometime around the 1700’s to the 1800’s I think.”

“That… is… so… cool!”

“Hehehehehe, you should ask some of the others about their magic, they-”

“MAGIC?!”

Nobody was expecting all three of the Boiling Isle residents to exclaim simultaneously!

“Human, you didn’t say anything about them mentioning magic!” Hunter snapped.

“There wasn’t time! I had to hurry you upstairs as fast as I could!”

“You guys have magic? Really?” Vee asked, speaking up for the first time.

“Well, yeah, of course we do,” Teodora nodded before turning to the two elderly men, “Tell them!”

“It is true,” Strickler nodded, “Stanford and myself have both been scholars of magic for quite some time, and quite a few different forms at that.”

“Wait… you guys can do magic? Here on Earth?” Luz asked, her voice becoming smaller and smaller, “But… I-I’ve tried using my glyphs here… they didn’t work.”

“Well, if these glyphs of yours didn’t work here, there are probably other kinds you could try,” Ford smiled, radiating a strange warmth.

“...you mean like spell circles…?” Hunter asked, taking a gingerly step forward.

“Ha, no no, there’s more to magic than just that. During my brief time on the Boiling Isles I was never able to get it’s magic to work as a human, but if you did young lady, then I commend your resourcefulness. I’d also love to take some notes on your discovery.”

Luz found herself unable to stop grinning, and she could have sworn she saw a glimmer in Hunter’s eyes, and then surprised her by asking, “Can we… can we learn about those other forms of magic?”

“Of course!” Stanford strangely reminded her of Santa Claus, and she started to like him, “We welcome all of our students to study magic, science, whatever their hearts desire!”

Both of them smiled from ear to ear.

“...your school teaches magic…?”

In all the excitement, Camilla had almost been forgotten… almost.

“Well, yes, as well as science and a class based on our understanding of the different worlds, their categorizations, patterns we’ve found, and the like. Better to let them have a proper understanding of the basics rather than let them try to plunge into it blindly and potentially get their faces blown off.”

Camilla went pale.

“...tactful, Stanford, very tactful,” Strickler groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, “But his point still stands, and these basic spellworks include healing spells, if it helps set your mind at ease.”

“...they can learn such a thing?”

“It’s the equivalent of a first aid course, my fiance is the school’s doctor, she used to work in an emergency room and started working there after she enrolled her son,” Strickler explained, and Luz noticed the engagement ring on his finger for the first time.

“...a doctor? Not a nurse?” Camilla seemed a bit surprised, “And… your fiance?”

“Yes, it’s a bit of a long story but I can assure you, the school is one of the safest places for our students, if you were to consider sending young Luz. She’d also be able to visit whenever you’d want.”

“Que…? Whenever I’d want? But… in Oregon?”

“Oh we have multiple methods of travel, many of which allow for very quick and easy ways to get wherever we want in the world… though some are more practical than others.”

He then shuddered as he muttered about something called a “gyre.”

“...I… I’m sorry, this is just… a lot to wrap my mind around.”

“Believe me, I understand that feeling far too well…”

“I… I need a moment…” Camilla placed a hand to her forehead and sat down at the kitchen table, exhaustion apparent on her face.

“...Mom…” Luz looked at her, still holding King carefully, “This… this could be our own chance to go back to-”

“Luz, I don’t want you to go back!”

Her voice echoed throughout the house, startling those who heard it…

“...you were gone for months, mija… and I only just got you back… I was worried sick and… Luz my heart can’t take that again.”

“Mom… I-I’m sorry… b-but I have to-”

“Why?! Why is that place so important, what does it give you that I didn’t, we are family, what-”

“THEY’RE MY FAMILY NOW TOO AND I NEED TO KNOW THEY’RE SAFE!”

Now Luz’s voice rang throughout the house.

“Mom, I’m sorry about everything, I really am! But the people I left back there became like a family to me as much as you are… and… um…”

She looked down, needing a moment to compose herself.

“...in… including my… first… first… my first girlfriend!”

Camilla stared at her daughter, her eyes growing wide

“Wha… your… your first… mija… why didn’t you say anything?”

“...I wanted to but… with ev-everything else… the-the others… and-and you being so worried… I kept putting it off…”

“...oh Luz…”

She hugged her daughter close, tears stinging both of their eyes.“…this is really that important to you?”

“Mhm… y-you’d move mountains for me… I-I at least need t-to know they’re okay.”

“...if I let you go to this… school… you have to text every day… and video chat… no tricks… a-and to meet th-the friends you make…”

“Of-Of course! And I-I’ll tell you ab-about my lessons an-and ev-everything! An-And I’ll visit all-all the time!”

Camilla stared before hugging her daughter to her chest.

“...Mr. Pines…”

“Please, call me Ford,” he smiled.

“...you’re sure… this place is safe… and she can come home…”

“I promise, if anything should happen, the staff is more than capable to protect our students.”

“And we can’t sell the students themselves short,” Strickler smiled, “If the staff would not be able to assist, then the others would gladly protect one of their own.”

“...but… isn’t that dangerous for them?” Camilla’s grip tightened ever so slightly, but to her surprise, Strickler merely chuckled.

“Well, most threats tend to run at the mere sight of a few of them.”

“Yeah, not many folks tend to stick around when they’re at the wrong end of an energy beam, magic, fire breath, or whatever all else they might see,” Teodora was smiling warmly, “My own mom was worried but there’s nothing for her to worry about, lo prometo.”

“¿Tú hablas español?” Luz asked in quiet surprise, she could feel her mother’s grip loosen.

“Si, I’m actually from Mexico, I only came to the states because of the school.”

“Wait, seriously, Mexico?!”

“I know, right? A lot of people tend to think I’m from California for some reason.”

“As “interesting” as this conversation is,” Hunter interrupted, “Can we get back to the topic of getting us back to the Boiling Isles? Some of us have responsibilities to get back to!”

“Ah, yes, of course, I don’t suppose you’re also under the guardianship of Ms. Noceda, are you?” Strickler asked, noticeably looking at Hunter’s ears.

“No, I’m not, obviously,” he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Do you have a parent or guardian of any type in this world?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Then it’s only a matter of if you want to attend the school or not.”

“...I have no interest in learning anything from you humans, I just want to go home.”

He hesitated, only for a second, but he had hesitated before answering.

“Well I’m afraid you will be required to attend classes, at least once you’ve settled in.”

Hunter scowled, “And if I refuse?”

“Then you will receive no assistance from us, and if you come and still refuse…”

His eyes glowed. That wasn’t a reflection from the kitchen lights, they glowed! The sclera became a bright yellow and his irises shined an unnatural shade of red!

“We will have to insist on your coming to class. Am I understood, young man?”

Hunter stared, his own purple eyes wide as he nodded.

“...how did you do that?” Luz asked quietly, a little intimidated, but… that wasn’t normal… that was magic!

“I’m afraid that is information you don’t need to know, young la-”

“He isn’t human.”

His eyes flashed again as he glared at Teodora, who merely rose a brow at the act of intimidation.

“A fellow demon!” King proclaimed in excitement, clambering in front of the teacher, “A clever disguise if I do say so myself!”

“Are… are you a shapeshifter too?” Vee asked quietly.

“...of a sorts, I suppose,” Strickler answered as he adjusted his jacket, “Though I can only take one of two forms. Also, I am most certainly not a demon.”

“Then what are you?”

“I’m.. a um… I don’t think you would have heard of-Teodora don’t you dare interrupt!”

“Just tell them man! They deserve to know, since they’re gonna be in the middle of all our… everything!”

Ford just sighed as the two began to bicker.

“...are they always like that?” Luz asked.

“Yes, I try to avoid bringing both of them with me when we’re looking for new students, but they were rather insistent,” he sighed.

Camilla watched the argument for a moment before asking, “What is he… exactly?”

“It’s not my place to say, but I can say he’s centuries old-”

“Que?! Centuries?!”

“Yes, and he’s hidden what he is from humanity until very recently. He is a good person, make no mistake about that, and very protective of our students.”

“...would he show us his other form?” Luz asked, a little excited.

“Oh no, not at this time of day!”

“What does that mean?”

“His other form can’t go in the sun, he’d turn to stone if he did.”

That… left both of them very quiet.

“Now…. about enrolling Luz and he friends into the school-”

“We are not friends,” Hunter stated,

“Right… Well, Luz has made her opinion clear, as well as Hunter, what about you other two?”

“Weh!” King hugged the former’s leg, “I go where Luz goes! Ya got that?”

“Hehehe, loud and clear,” Ford smiled, “And you Vee?”

…she paused.

She wasn’t answering.

Why wasn’t she answering?

“Um…ac-actually… would… would it be possible for me to um… stay here? With M-Camilla?”

That… was unexpected.

“I just… we had a close call not too long ago and… I-I don’t w-wanna leave a-and…”

“No need to explain further,” Ford smiled, “We won’t force you to join us, but perhaps you could join in the group therapy sessions? We can set up a webcam for you.”

That made her lift her head.

“It’s clear you’ve gone through something rather traumatic, and while you wouldn’t be living at the school, we still want to help. If you’ll let us.”

He offered out his hand to her, she stared for a moment before slowly taking it and shook.

“Alright then, now, we have some intake documents for you all to look over and sign,” he said, reaching into his coat, “And once that’s all settled, the children can attend the school in say… two weeks time?”

“Two weeks?” Camilla questioned as she took a packet of paper.

“We need time to get their rooms setup, see who’s open to having roommates and who isn’t, the basics. Now, answer the questions as accurately and as honestly as you can.”

The papers were passed out, along with pens, and the sound of writing could be heard. It took some time to get through all the questions, many of them were odd, strange and took more thought than they expected. Luz stopped every now and again to help King with some words and sentences his young mind couldn’t understand, while her mom quietly talked to Strickler and Ford.

By five that evening, the strangers were gone, and the children had signed up to be students at this strange school…

And hopefully, find a way back to the Boiling Isles.

Chapter Text

Luz hadn’t been sure what to expect when the day finally came to leave, Ford had claimed that all the travel arrangements would be handled and paid for, she expected maybe a bus ticket or something…

Not a drive to Igor Sikorsky Memorial Airport, and taken through a side door to where the private jets waited. King had been hidden in her bag and made a few small sounds only she seemed to notice, Hunter didn’t seem to hear them, or at least didn’t acknowledge them. The staff barely paid them any mind as they rushed them onto a small but clearly expensive plane, and in less than an hour of being dropped off, they were on the taxiway.

Hunter and the newly freed King were both looking out the windows, this was a whole new experience for both of them, and the latter would ask questions about what he saw. Many of Luz’s answers were just “I don’t know” because how was she supposed to know how a plane works? She could explain the basics of lift and drag but not how the wing flaps worked or how fast they’d be going. She could only guess, offering very broad replies that were patched together by some educated guesses. She was surprised to notice Hunter looking at them while she answered, a hint of interest on his face.

Both boys became pale when the plane began to take off.

King clung to her side and Hunter noticeably tightened his hold on the armrests. They were soon in the air and she told them, “Look out the window!”

They did so… and weren’t able to look away.

“Whoa…”

“Pretty cool huh?” she smiled as the city below became smaller and smaller.

“That’s… one word for it,” Hunter said quietly.

She smiled and took out the first Good Witch Azura book, she had come prepared for this flight. After nibbling on some chocolate, King took very little time to doze off, snuggling into her side, Hunter meanwhile continued quietly staring out the window.

“Enjoying the view?” she asked, after finishing the second chapter.

“...it’s so… green… and it’s so… big.”

“I guess it would seem that way to someone who’s lived on an island their whole life.”

“...how big is it?”

“I don’t know the exact numbers, but we’re gonna be flying for a few hours.”

His eyes went wide.

“But… we’re already going so fast…”

“Yeah… the United States is a big place. How’re those clothes Mom got for you by the way? I know they aren’t the same as whatever you had in the Emperor’s Coven but are they comfy?”

“They… are sufficient for now. It’s better than wearing the same thing every day.”

He had attempted just that, he wore the same clothes he arrived in for five days before finally changing out of them. They were probably the only thing from the demon realm he had with him, so she couldn’t blame him for clinging to them a bit. He then reached into his carry-on bag and pulled out his palisman. It had transformed into its small wooden idol form for the journey through the airport, but now in the privacy of the cabin, it turned to flesh and blood.

“I still can’t believe he chose you as his partner, I mean I’m happy for him but you…”

“I what?” there was an edge to his voice, a warning.

“You… accepted him. I remember what all you said about wild magic and just… I’m happy you decided to give him a chance.”

Hunter paused at that before looking down at the little bird, who cheerily tweeted at him.

A five and a half hour long flight was painful, even under the best of circumstances. Luz lost her ability to focus on her book after three hours and pulled out her phone. King’s nap eventually ended and he climbed into Luz’s lap to watch YouTube, and enjoyed the snacks they brought along. Hunter spent a good portion of the flight staring out the window, the land seemingly went on forever. He pulled himself away to tend to his palisman and scratch its cheek.

They arrived in Oregon in the early afternoon, and were once again shuffled around quickly and quietly by the staff of Redmond Municipal Airport. They were taken to the parking garage, another staff member was waiting with their luggage, along with… their apparent driver.

The woman was elderly, somewhere in her 70’s, and had an extremely warm feel to her. She was on the large side, her hair was tied back into a pair of large buns, and was wearing a green button up dress with a floral design, she also had a pair of large glasses on her round face. Everything about this woman screamed a single word, loud and clear: Grandma.

“Oh hello dearies, you must be who I’m supposed to pick up!”

Yup, even her voice was one of a grandmother’s and Luz took an instant liking to her.

“Um, y-yeah, I’m Luz, this is Hunter,” she took a moment to make sure the staff had left, “And this is King.”

The little demon burst out of her bag, and looked the old woman up and down.

“Aaaawwwww, what a cute little kitty,” the woman cooed and patted his head.

“I’m not a cat, I’m a demon! …and you smell like cookies,” he stated, pointing at her.

“Oh dear, you caught on already?” she sounded a bit disappointed, “I have a whole batch for you children in the car! I figured after such a long flight you might like something to eat! Well, I’m Nancy, Nancy Domzalski, but you sweet little things can just call me Nana, everyone does!”

Luz’s early feelings about her being a grandma tripled. Oh yeah, she was really going to like this sweet old lady.

“Well no time like the present, let’s get you all to the school!” she said, gesturing for the two teenagers to follow her. They grabbed their bags and trailed behind her as she led them to a small sedan that was probably older than they were. They loaded their things into the trunk and, as they climbed into the back seat, waiting for them was a plate of cookies, covered in plastic wrap.

Once they were buckled in, Nancy pulled the car out of its parking space…

And began the most terrifying drive any of them would ever be on.

Luz had no idea how they made it to the interstate, let alone off airport property without security chasing them down! Nancy Domzalski seemed to pay no mind to her screaming passengers, or the other cars honking as she weaved past them. She wasn’t angry or driving aggressively, she was even smiling that same warm smile. She just… seemed absolutely oblivious to the rules of the road she was violating.

In the backseat, Luz yelled every bad word she knew in both English and Spanish, and the few Japanese ones she had learned from anime. Hunter clung to the seat and seemed to be praying to the Titan, either for survival or for his death to be quick and painless. King just screamed and clung to Luz for dear life.

The interstate was a nightmare, each movement sent the three of them crashing into each other, right, left, right again, way too fast, way too hard. If they survived this, they were going to all be bruised, sore, and probably hoarse from their screaming.

It was half an hour of this terror before the car finally came to a stop, and the trio tumbled out. They either kissed the ground, clung to the grass, or were violently sick in the nearest bush. None of them even tried to stand up for almost ten minutes afterwards.

“Oh dear, you poor things must have delicate tummies to get carsick after that!” Nancy cooed after she got out of the car and opened the trunk, “Well, take all the time you need before heading inside. I need to move the car into the garage. Feel better, children!”

She put their bags on the grass near them before returning to the car… and tore off like something out of a cartoon or video game. Luz felt dizzy just watching her leave, and flopped back, feeling her head spin.

“Ugh…”

“...human… if we have to get in that death trap again… I would rather walk back to your home,” Hunter said between shaky breaths.

“I think… we both would,” her voice shook in reply.

King whimpered in agreement.

Once the disorientation and adrenalin was out of their systems, they finally had the chance to take in their surroundings. A massive gate was in front of them, large metal embroideries of the letters M and P were on the large wooden paneling. It was obvious that they were new additions, as the silhouettes of an N and a W were still visible on the wood, suggesting the property had belonged to someone else until recently. The large fence-wall that extended outwards from the gate had brick columns, breaking it up into sections; a pair stood on either side of the gate. On top were large statues of stags, and from that distance they seemed to be a third bigger than any real life deer could ever possibly be. Behind them was a winding path that led down the mountain, massive pine trees were on either side, it was probably some sort of private road that led to the school. It was so narrow that none of them wanted to think how Nancy-Nana, as she had insisted-managed to turn the car around so fast.

“So… do we knock or-”

King’s question was cut off by Hunter pushing on the gate, finding it unlocked, and it creaked open. The front yard beyond definitely belonged to some kind of mansion, a cobblestone path led to a fountain in the middle of a four-way path. Just beyond laid an extravagant mansion, built from the same kind of wood as the trees on either side of the road they had just come from. Small patches of ivy grew from the building, so small in fact that Luz had a feeling they were also a new addition, along with the hedges along the cobblestone paths. They were in a variety of species and sizes, they didn’t seem to be as uniform as she had seen on TV and in magazines, and some flowering ones were randomly scattered among them.

They made it to the front door and stopped…

This was it… once they stepped through, this whole… school thing was going to be real.

A school of magic, other worlds, time travel and who knew what else waited beyond…

But most importantly, a chance to go back to the Boiling Isles.

Any hesitation Luz had dissipated when that thought crossed her mind, and she pushed the door open.

A massive foyer laid beyond, luxurious in every way possible, all built from wood. A massive staircase was at the end of the room, banisters circled the upper level of the room, and hallways branched off from there. Hanging from the ceiling was some sort of contraption, it seemed to be made from polished brass, turning wheels and cogs clicked softly. Large rings rotated and spun, so slowly that it was oddly soothing, like an odd lullaby. Hanging from it was what looked like a model of planets, moons and stars, all created from colorful glass balls, but it certainly wasn’t depicting the planets Luz knew.

“...whoa…”

“Cool, isn’t it?”

The voice brought her back to reality, and was surprised to see a girl standing at the base of the staircase… a girl with very blue hair. She had a dragonfly hair clip, a shirt covered in thin stripes, jeans and bright yellow rain boots, even though there hadn’t been any signs of rain recently.

“The former owners hung a whale skeleton from up there before this place was turned into a school,” she said, watching the strange thing tick away, “So… who are you guys?”

“Oh, uh, I’m Luz,” she smiled at the younger girl, “This is King, and he’s Hunter.”

King moved closer to her, Hunter didn’t give any indication that he heard anything she said.

“I’m Coraline,” she smiled, “Coraline Jones. You must be the new kids.”

“That’s what we’ve been told,” she nodded, “Are Ford or Strickler around? Or Teodora?”

“Well, Ford’s down in the lab with McGucket, Strickler’s tutoring some of the other students, and I haven’t seen Teodora since breakfast so who knows,” she shrugged, “Anyway, Ford asked me to show you guys around if they didn’t finish up by the time you got here.”

“They’re having a kid show us around?” Hunter finally piped up, sounding incredulous, “Seems irresponsible of them.”

“Eh, they get caught up in their work all the time, genius nerds are weird,” she shrugged, “Either way, c’mon, we got a lot of stuff to cover.”

She headed up the stairs, the trio looked at each other and started picking up their bags.

“Oh, don’t worry about those, we got those covered,” Coraline told them, before calling out, “Hey bots! Come get these bags!”

From seemingly nowhere, a pair of robots-yes, robots-flew out from the upper floor. They were only a head and torso, with a small rocket protruding from the bottom. They seemed to be made from unpolished brass, they were nowhere near as shiny as the contraption above. They had long, narrow heads, with what looked like a metal frisbee for a helmet on top.

“Whoa! Wha-What are-“

“Cool right?” Coraline asked, “These guys do all the boring chore stuff nobody wants to like the laundry and dishes… just don’t expect them to do your homework for you.”

“...robots… there are robots here,” Luz had a frazzled look to her.

“One of the older guys makes them,” Coraline explained, “He used to make them all the time in his world but since coming back they’ve only been used for mundane stuff.”

“...this place just gets better and better.”

“At least these things are cleaner than abominations,” Hunter grumbled, looking at one of the robots that was holding his bags. His palisman fluttered out of them and landed on his shoulder, nuzzling him with a chirp.

“Well, let’s get going!” Coraline said as she gestured for them to follow.

Luz scooped King up into her arms, he still looked woozy from that hell-ish drive. Hunter trailed behind, he probably didn’t trust her to walk behind him (even though she had done just that in Latissa and he had even less reason to trust her then.)

The first thing Coraline showed them was the bedrooms, they occupied at least three hallways with doors on either side. So far as she knew, these rooms occupied the students alone, but given the sheer number of them, it was a surprise they hadn’t run into any of the others yet. Next were a few of the clubrooms that occupied the second floor, and from the names alone, the trio of newcomers couldn’t help but wonder what their future classmates were like.

There were some ordinary clubs, such as the Arts & Crafts Club, the Music Club, the Science Club, the Cooking/Baking Club, and then there were the more… curious ones. A Meditation Club, the Monkey Boy Club, the Junior Flyers Club, the Senior Flyers Club and the Magic & Tech Experimentation Club were some of the most notable ones pointed out to them. Luz was already making a list of which ones to try out for once she got the chance… and how to protect the Baking Club from King.

Next they headed downstairs, and Coraline showed them where each of the classrooms were. The rooms were large and seemed to be filled with a variety of materials for each class, to the point it was clear that whoever taught these classes had a real passion for the subjects they taught…

Both Luz and Hunter perked up at the mention of Magic Class, and were beyond frustrated to find the door locked. A series of blue runes circled the door handle, preventing anyone from even touching it. If they tried, a small shock hit their fingers and kept them at bay. Both teenagers made an attempt before Coraline’s laughter made them realize how fruitless further efforts would be.

“As fascinating as this has all been,” Hunter said as they finished observing the final classroom, “Where is everyone else?  This so-called school seems very… barren, and uninteresting…”

“That’s normal for school,” Coraline said, “The boring part I mean.”

“Says you,” Luz smirked.

“But most of the others are probably sparring. The teachers usually offer to teach everyone how to fight around this time of day.”

“...okay, that isn’t normal for a human school,” Luz quickly informed before Hunter could get the wrong idea.

She could feel King shaking in her arms as he snickered. Hunter’s next question got her attention.

“Why would they need to know how to fight…?”

“Well a lot of us were expected to protect the places we went to… or fight to survive. And a lot want to go back.”

Like the three of them did.

“Are these other worlds really so dangerous?” Luz asked after a moment.

“Some are, I don’t really get it all but some of them had world ending events happen but the kids who were there were able to undo it?”

“Wait… They undid the end of the world?! ”

Luz’s grip on King tightened ever so slightly.

“Yeah, one guy said the world was actually split in half before it was put back together. Another said he and his friends were chasing this planet destroying monster and saw its handiwork before they could kill it.”

She felt the room start to spin, her mind becoming overwhelmed. She had thought dealing with Belos had been bad… she couldn’t begin to wrap her head around world ending events. King’s tail began wagging, being able to do all that, he could only imagine what it was like. Hunter stared at Coraline quietly, he either seemed to be processing this new information or thinking hard about it.

Whatever thoughts had been spinning through their heads came to an end when a voice called out, “Yo, we almost got ‘em!”

They looked down a hallway to see a group of little green… things skittering along the floor, making strange, gurgling, throaty noises. Trailing behind was a trio of boys, all teenagers and around Luz’s age.

“What the-“

“Hey, get out of the way!” one of the boys warned.

“Over here!” Coraline grabbed them by the arm and pulled them to duck behind a pedestal! The next thing any of them knew, the warm, stuffy air of the hallway was replaced by an explosion of arctic wind! The sudden change in temperature made the wood flooring creak and pop loudly, their bodies shook and Luz suddenly wished she had worn her cape.

The wind stopped as quickly as it had started, leaving a light dusting of ice on them, they could see their breath and it was suddenly quiet. When they turned to look at the strange creatures, they were met with a bizarre sight.

The hallway had been turned into a miniature winter wonderland, snow collected in corners and a frosty gleam reflected off of every surface! Three frozen statues were stuck in the center of it all, clearly in a pose to try and run away. Welll, statues wasn’t the right word. There was clearly something inside of the icy statues, Luz took a step forward to get a better look.

It was the creatures, frozen mid-run, still as stone…

Until their eyes moved, with an obvious glare, and a foggy breath formed on the other side of the ice, accompanied by an angered snarl.

“Whoa…!”

“...what in the name of the Titan are these things?” Hunter asked in disbelief.

“They’re ugly, that’s what they are!” King said, pointing at them.

“Ha ha! That’s three more for us y'all!”

“Man, I love my ice powers!”

Their attention was turned to the trio of boys, who were loudly celebrating, apparently for freezing the strange creatures.

“How many does that make Randy?” a stick thin boy in a white shirt with a red oval on it asked. The tallest one, a boy with dark purple hair and huge eyes, pulled out his phone and checked it.

“Okay, that makes 29 for us, 32 for them. They still have a lead but we’re closing the gap!”

…was… this some sort of weird game? Why would they be turning these things into living statues for fun?

“Do you guys have to resort to that?!”

The chaos of the arctic blast and the strange trio almost made Luz forget that Coraline was still there. The young girl stomped up to the boys, bits of ice crunching loudly under foot.

“Oh uh, sorry Jonesy,” stammered one of the boys, a Chinese kid with spiky hair that turned green at the ends, “We got caught up catchin’ these things.”

“Well, be more careful! I’m showing some new kids around and they nearly got blasted by you guys!” she stomped her foot, another crunching sound came from the ice and the boys flinched.

“Dude, you’re actually helping out? Did Ford have to bribe you or somethin’?” the purple-haired one, Randy, asked with a semi-joking tone.

“He promised not to tell my parents about my last science experiment.”

Her statement left the boys quiet for a moment until the skinny one with the white shirt spoke up.

“...that wasn’t a science experiment. You used a bunch of grappling hooks and glue to make a fake “giant bug” skeleton… you know they have exoskeletons.”

“So?”

“You could have used the idea for art class or something! Instead you made that amalgamation of nightmares and got the younger kids confused on bug biology!”

The Chinese kid cut off any further bickering by elbowing his company and pointed at Luz.

“Oh, uh, right, new kids,” the formerly ranting male cleared his throat awkwardly as he finally took notice of them, “Sorry about that. We’ve been chasing these things all day. The name’s Danny by the way, this is Jake,” he gestured to the spiky-haired one, “And that’s Randy.” The purple-haired one waved at them.

“Nice to meet you… um, I’m Luz Noceda, this is King,” she was still holding the little demon, “And that’s Hunter.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder in the direction she thought he was in, “So uh… what are these things exactly?”

She looked at the frozen creatures.

“Oh, they’re goblins,” Danny answered, “We’ve had an infestation of them for months, every time we think we got them all, they pop back up.”

“GOBLINS?!”* she exclaimed in delight, though some part of her knew that probably wasn’t a good idea.

“Well, more specifically they’re one type of goblin,” Jake spoke up this time, “I’ve seen others that are real human-looking and just as smart, except they had blue or green skin, or maybe had a tail too. These creeps though,” he tapped one of them with his foot, “They’re more like rabid dogs, or piranhas… but with opposable thumbs.”

“And not to mention they’re wonk as hell!” Randy proclaimed loudly, “Seriously, they’re the nastiest little things I’ve ever had to deal with!”

“I think the word you’re looking for is vindictive,” Coraline groaned.

Vindictive.

That one word would have saved them from what happened next, if only it had been said a few seconds sooner.

The sound of shattering ice filled the hallway, followed by a second one.

Coraline, Danny, Jake and Randy all froze at the first one and immediately turned their attention to the frozen goblins. Looks of terror overtook their faces and Luz followed their gaze, suddenly feeling very confused and very worried.

In the time Luz had taken to talk to the boys, Hunter had transformed his palisman into its staff form, and had taken a swing at the goblins. They had apparently exploded into a mess of ice shards and a runny, green substance that reminded her of jell-o that hadn’t finished chilling all the way. In fact, none of their insides seemed to belong to a normal biological creature, it was as if they were made entirely of the substance. He raised the staff to hit the third one before the others screamed at him to stop.

“DUDE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Jake screamed.

“WHAT THE CHEESE IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Randy shouted.

“NO, STOP!” Danny sprung to stop him, stumbling on the ice.

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU’VE DONE?!” Coraline’s voice rang out the loudest.

“What is wrong with you?” Hunter asked, “You said these things are pests, I’m doing you a favor.”

He swung a third time, the explosion of icy dust and green goop silenced all of them.

“There, they’re dead, you’re welcome.”

“Dude… you just seriously fucked up,” Jake whimpered, he sounded… scared. In fact, all of them looked scared.

“What are you talking about? Weren’t you going to kill them yourselves?”

“Once we trapped as many of them as possible! If you don’t get them all in one go-”

Tap.

From the ice, something small fell loose.

A simple marker, white with a black cap, perhaps the most random thing for the goblins to have. It rolled across the floor, towards an unlit hallway. A pair of glowing yellow eyes opened up.

Another pair of eyes followed it.

And then another.

And then more.

“...they come after you for revenge.”

Dozens of the glowing eyes now glared at them, some on the floor, some on the walls, and far too many on the ceiling. A single goblin came out of the dark, crouching down as it snatched up the marker. It then stood up right, refusing to break eye contact with the kids, uncapped the marker, drew a small, pointed mustache on it’s upper lip and muttered only two words.

“Waka chaka.”

Danny responded with just one word.

“Run.”

The chase was on.

Chapter Text

“How do we lose these things?!” Luz screamed as they ran, holding King to her chest.

“Ya don’t!” Jake yelled, “They’ll just keep hunting us! We gotta take ‘em out all at once!”

“ All of them!? ” Hunter had taken to flying on his staff, barely a few feet above them, “How do you propose we do that?!”

“I’ll let ya know if I think of anything!” He ran his hand against the wall and hooked his fingers on a corner, his sneakers leaving the floor as he turned too fast. Hunter had to plant his feet against the opposing wall and kick off from it, he had also gone way too fast to safely turn and he’d probably be sore from the calves down later.

“Okay, how do you normally fight these things then?!” Luz desperately wished they had Owlbert to ride on right now, or maybe Hooty could have just gone to town on them! He could handle the Emperor’s Coven’s guards with horrifying ease, these things probably would have been a fun change for the bird worm.

“Well, normally it doesn’t take too much to kill them,” Danny answered this time, “But they attack with numbers, and they can destroy a truck in less than a minute if you got enough of them together!”

“...please tell me you’re exaggerating!”

“Nope! We’ve seen it, and it is majorly wonk!” Randy explained as he vaulted over a small table, “Ya don’t wanna know what they can do to living people!”

“Wonk? What the heck is “wonk”?”

“Slang from his hometown,” Jake cut Randy off, “He uses it all the time, you get used to it!”

“Less talking, more running!” Coraline yelled.

Danny pulled ahead, seemingly taking charge of the group. He led them to a large portrait hanging in the hallway and began pulling on the frame.

“What in the world are you doing?!” Hunter exclaimed, “They’re right behind us!”

As he asked the question, the portrait swung open, revealing a narrow staircase behind it!

“Servants’ quarters! We can try and lose ‘em through here!”

That was all the explanation the others needed to hear. They ran inside, with Danny being the last to enter as he took the time to close the portrait-door behind them.

“Okay, the funnel neck should slow them down, but we have to keep moving!”

Luz suddenly understood what he meant, the stairwell was narrow, they’d have to go one at a time to get to the top. It wouldn’t stop the swarm but it would certainly buy them time. Time for what, she wasn’t sure, escape maybe? For help to arrive? Whatever it was, they couldn’t stop long enough for her to think about it. They reached the top of the stairs and looked around, trying to decide which direction to go.

“Is this part of the house even being used?” Jake asked, looking down a corridor that led to what looked like a series of small bedrooms.

“I think the staff might use these rooms, but I’ve never seen them up here,” Danny explained as he started leading them again.

“How did you even find this place?” Luz piped up, “This isn’t exactly something you’d just stumble on.”

“Uh… let’s just say I have unique ways of exploring.”

“Unique?”

“Full explanation would take too long, especially when we’re being chased!”

They could hear the sound of nails on wood coming from the portrait-door behind them.

“Fair point!”

“Is there any other way out of here?” Coraline picked up the pace, “I’d rather not be goblin chow.”

“Yeah, there’s a few ways out, probably so the staff could go to their stations more directly back in the day,” Danny led them around a corner, “At least that’s my best guess.”

“Can’t you just phase us out of here or somethin’?” Randy asked, checking behind them every few seconds.

“Too risky, I’ve never gone intangible with a group this big before, and I don’t exactly wanna freak out the new kids.”

“Intangible? What do you mean?” Hunter asked, still flying but in the small corridor, he was now he was dangerously close to the ceiling.

“I have powers, but with a group this big, it would take about two trips to get everyone to safety, and with the goblins being right on our tails, I don’t wanna take chances.”

“ Powers?!” Luz asked in excited delight.

“Details later, escaping now!” Jake ordered as they reached a turn at the end of the hall. To their right was a blank wall, to their left and down a few steps was a sturdy-looking door. He and Danny pushed it open, revealing what looked like some kind of office beyond. There was a desk, a piano, shelves covered in books, strange artifacts and antiquities, as well as a series of weapons hanging on the walls, particularly throwing knives.

“...Strickler’s office, of all the places it just had to lead to Strickler’s office,” Danny groaned.

“Oh we are so shoobed,” Randy visibly grimaced, as if the idea of stepping foot into the room was just as bad, if not worse, than facing the goblins.

“You didn’t know it would lead here?” Hunter questioned as he flew inside, seemingly relieved to have more room to fly around.

“This house is huge! I don’t have the entire place memorized, let alone where the teachers probably sleep!”

“Yeah, fun surprise, keep going!” Coraline snapped, kicking Danny in the back and forcing him out of the passage way. He landed on the carpet, barely able to catch himself and groaned.

“Well, too late to turn back now.”

Jake and Randy followed his lead before helping Coraline down, Luz took up the rear and closed the door behind them. This one was also disguised by a painting, and without the danger of being attacked immediately, Luz took a second to look at it.

It was of a woman who looked like she was in her forties, she had warm red-brown hair, blue eyes and glasses. She was a doctor, wearing scrubs and a white coat, complete with a stethoscope around her neck and a clipboard in one arm. There was also a noticeably antique-looking ring on the woman’s third finger, and she realized this must have been Mr Strickler’s fiance. She really was beautiful.

“Whoa…”

“That’s Dr Lake,” Jake noticed her staring, “We’re probably gonna hafta see her if we get scuffed up from all this.”

“She’s really pretty.”

“Don’t let Strickler hear you say that, he’ll go all Shakespeare on ya with all that “compare thee to a summer’s day” crap.”

Danny, Coraline and Randy all visibly shuddered at the mere mention of the theatrics, Luz however chuckled.

“Awww, that’s so sweet! Hehehe, but man, Eda would have hated that!”

“Who’s-”

Jake’s question was cut off by a banging sound.

It was a strangely hollow, metallic sound, just barely accompanied by the sound of something sharp scratching it.

The sound was coming from the ceiling above them, and the group’s attention was immediately drawn to the spot it was coming from.

Slowly they turned their heads, following it as it moved to…

To…

An air vent.

“Oh fu-”

The grate fell from its spot and a goblin dropped out, nearly landing on Hunter who had been hovering nearby. It made a grab for the base of his staff, and in his confusion, the Golden Guard spun in the air, knocking the thing away, accidentally launching it at Coraline. The girl managed to put her arms up while the impact sent her falling back. By luck alone, she had grabbed it by the toso to keep it from getting any closer to her but its long arms swung wildly, trying to inflict what damage it could.

“Coraline!”

Luz, being the closest, managed to react first.

In a single movement, she set King down before running to the younger girl’s aid, kicking the goblin as hard as she could! It was launched like a rubber ball from the blue haired girl’s grasp, bounced on the floor and made a strange, throaty yelp on each impact.

“Are you okay?!” Luz knelt down, checking her over for any wounds, and was relieved not to see any immediately.

“Y-Yeah, I-I’m okay,” Coraline panted as she sat up.

The question was followed by a growl as the goblin got up, it clearly wasn’t done with them yet. It made an attempt to move forward, and it might have had someone not spoken up.

“Get away from Luz!”

King launched himself over the girls, landing on all fours to stare down the equally diminutive creature. Whatever offense it might have had in mind, the goblin didn’t get the chance to act on it, as the young demon attacked first.

“WEH!”

The magical aura and accompanying echo that was projected from King’s throat made the room shake, knickknacks rattled violently and the teenagers stumbled. The goblin seemed to explode in a gooey mess when the magic hit it.

As soon as the magic dissipated, the room fell silent, only the various belongings on the shelves that were still shaking could be heard.

“...DUDE THAT THING IS ALIVE?!”

Jake seemed to recover from his shock first, just long enough to express his disbelief and confusion.

“Wha- yeah, of course he is!” Luz exclaimed, “You guys didn’t realize?!”

“He hasn’t said anything until now, he hasn’t even moved!”

“I literally introduced him to you guys by name!”

“You carried him the entire time!” Coraline threw in, finally regaining some level of composure, “I thought you were a plush… uh… what’s the term?”

“Security blanket?” Randy asked, his voice betraying his own disbelief.

“I think the one you’re looking for is “comfort object” dude,” Danny didn’t sound surprised, more… tired maybe? Like he’s been through too much nonsense before to be shocked by this.

“Right, that’s the one,” Coraline pointed at him.

“Well you’d want someone to carry you too if you rode in a car with that Nana-woman!” King snapped, pointing an accusing claw at them.

At the mention of Nana Domzalski, the others either went pale, turned green, or somehow did both at the same time.

“They sent… Nana… to pick you up?” Randy looked like he was actively trying not to throw up, “Oh shoob…”

Danny quietly mumbled, “The only person in the world who’s a worse driver than Dad.”

Seemingly satisfied at this being some sort of victory, King ran back to Luz and jumped into her arms, bringing relief to both of them.

Then a sharp pain shot up her leg.

She let out a yell and looked down, only to be greeted by the sight of blood! Three scratches ran up her lower calf, a small trickle of blood escaping them, not a lot but enough to leave her concerned.

“Oh that can’t be good.”

The trio of wounds was starting to burn like fire and she grit her teeth.

“Luz, are you okay?” King looked at the scratches, his eyes widening.

“I think so, it hurts but I don’t think it’s anything to worry too much about,” she said, setting him down.

“Let me take a look,” Jake offered as he knelt down, “Danny, think you could-”

“Vent? Already on it.”

Danny turned to look at the opening in the ceiling, he pulled his hand back, holding a… a… snowball? Where in the world did he get one of those from?! And why was it glowing blue?

“...is… is that normal for him?”

“Yup,” the boys and Coraline all said in unison.

Upon answering, Danny threw the snowball at the vent. There was a bright flash and an explosion of arctic air, just like in the hallway! A second later, the vent was entirely blocked off by snow and ice.

“Whoa…! You have ice powers ?!” Luz was suddenly wishing her glyphs would work in this realm all over again.

“Well… kinda, they’re a smaller part of my power set,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “I only started using them a couple months ago.”

“Okay, I have a million quest-Ow!”

“Sorry,” Jake said sheepishly, “Good news is it isn’t serious, but it probably stings like hell.”

“Yeah, you got that right… and don’t swear in front of King, he’s only eight!”

“Ha ha! Eda said much worse,” the little demon laughed.

“Who’s Eda?” Randy piped up, brow raised.

“She’s-”

“The worst criminal on the Boiling Isles,” Hunter interrupted, still hovering in the air, “And these two are her accomplices.”

“Wait, what?” Jake looked at him in confusion.

“Hey! Eda’s only a criminal because the guy you work for is a tyrant!” Luz accused, pointing at the blonde.

“Emperor Belos is not a tyrant, he unified magic under the will of the Titan and banned the use of dangerous wild-”

“That’s enough you two!” Danny shouted, “In case you forgot, we’re still being hunted! Randy, don’t you have healing powers? Can you fix Luz’s leg?”

“Oh holy cheese no!” Randy exclaimed, actually looking uncomfortable at the suggestion, “I barely have any control over that one yet! I can use a weak version of it on plants and machines but that’s it. Plus that technique has a million steps if you’re trying to heal a person! The goblins would catch up to us by the time I was done! Unless you want me to cut corners and potentially end up raising the dead, which I have done before!”

“...you have healing powers?” Luz squeaked.

“That is not the part to be focused on here, human!” Hunter exclaimed in disbelief.

“I know it isn’t, my brain just hasn’t processed the raising dead part yet.”

Danny sighed, “Okay, circling back to King’s voice power thing, between that and my snowball, I think I have an idea on how to catch all the goblins at once.”

“Wait, really?” Randy was grinning, “Oh Danny you are the most bruce!”

Hunter visibly twitched at the strange slang.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” Danny began, “Randy, you run ahead and clear a path to the northwest corner of the house, the deadend with the window. Get everything out of the way, make sure there’s nobody in the halls, we need as few obstacles as possible, think you can manage that?”

“Oh honkin’ yeah!” Randy grinned, “That’s gonna be super easy!”

“Okay, while you handle that, I’ll stun the goblins with my ghostly wail, it’ll mess them up for a little bit and buy us time to get the plan in action. Jake, you know where the window is, you up for being livebait?”

“Oh I see where you're going with this! Haha, this is gonna be good!” he grinned widely.

“New guy, Hunter, right? We’re gonna need you to help with the livebait thing.”

“What?! Why me?!”

“Because you’re the one the swarm’s specifically after, we’re just the collateral damage. Can your stick thingy carry Luz too?”

Magenta eyes widened and Hunter hesitated, looking to the cardinal at the head of the staff, a look of concern coming to his face.

“...I… haven’t had him for very long, I don’t know what his limit is.”

“He should take Coraline and King!” Luz interjected, “Since he’s flying, he’ll be harder to catch, and it’ll be safer for them than if they went by foot! I might be hurt but I can keep running, no worries!”

She was grinning a bit, but the pain was still clear on her face. Danny did not look convinced in the slightest.

“Dude, I can carry ya, no worry!” Jake offered, “Besides, I’m a lot faster when I use my powers.”

“Wait, all three of you have powers?” she turned to look at him, “What, are you a superhero team or something?”

“Psh, nah! We only met when we first got here,” Randy piped up, “But now that you mention it-”

“Randy, I know what you’re thinking and the answer is no,” Danny warned, “We already have enough problems, plus when we finally go home, we’ll be scattered all over the country!”

“Aw, c’mon, it’d be fun until then-”

A loud banging came from the painting.

“Dudes, priorities!” Jake warned, “Randy, you go on ahead, we’ll meet you at the window!”

“Got it J!” the purple haired boy smirked as he reached into his jacket, “It’s Ninja Time! ”

He pulled out what looked like a black ski mask with red trim around the eyehole and a pair of red lines that would go over the wearer’s eyes. He pulled it on and just as Luz was starting to feel confused… she got to see magic for the first time in almost a month.

Strange black ribbons grew from seemingly nowhere, wrapping around Randy’s body as strange, transparent markings in the shape of an angular swirl floated around him. The ribbons fused together, creating a single piece suit, it was the same black as the mask, with red lines going around the wrists, ankles and one line going over his left side. Over his heart was one of the strange swirls, a red sash adorned his waist and around his neck was a matching scarf, that flowed on a non-existent wind behind him.

“Ninja out! Smoke bomb!”

He threw the titular bomb to the floor and an explosion of foul smelling red smoke endevloped him. When it dissipated a second later, he was gone.

“...coulda just used the door dude!” Jake yelled into the empty air.

“DID HE JUST USE MAGIC?!” Luz yelled.

“THAT WAS WILD MAGIC!” Hunter exclaimed in disbelief, “I THOUGHT YOU SAID THERE WASN’T ANY MAGIC IN THIS WORLD!”

“THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT!”

It was one thing to hear that there was magic in the human realm, but to actually see it? Let alone a type of magic so different from what was on the Boiling Isles? That was another thing entirely. The protection spell that kept them out of the magic class had been so small that it hadn’t fully registered to them. This however… it deserved a much bigger reaction.

“You nerds can geek out later!” Coraline snapped as she and King climbed onto Hunter’s staff, “We gotta move!”

“She’s right,” Danny nodded, “Once I’ve phased through the picture, I’ll give you a countdown, when you see it, cover your ears, and then get ready to move.”

Jake nodded and took a few steps back, giving the other boy some space.

“ Going Ghost!”

A ring of white energy formed around Danny’s torso, it split in two and went in opposing directions, one going up, the other down. As the rings traveled, there was a visible transformation in their wake. His t-shirt and jeans were replaced by what looked like a black hazmat suit, accented by a white collar with matching gloves, boots, a belt, and a stylized D on the chest. His light blue eyes became a shining green, while his raven dark hair became as white as snow, he seemed stronger and more physically fit. His entire body radiated a soft white glow and… and…

He was now floating.

“WHAAAAAAAAAATT?!” Luz screamed in disbelief, feeling like her eyes were betraying her!

“Like I said already, explanations later, just get ready to cover your ears! I’ll give you a signal to start running!”

Danny then suddenly faded away, and she stammered in utter disbelief.

“...what kind of magic…” Hunter said quietly.

“Heh, if you guys think that’s awesome magic, then you’ll love this,” Jake smirked, backing away.

“Uh… should I get on your back or-”

“Heh, one sec. Dragon up! ”

A ball of flames erupted from Jake’s feet, engulfing him fully in less than a second. The flames licked the ceiling and when they dissipated, standing in his place was an eight foot tall dragon! Covered in red scales with a yellow underbelly and purple claws, black and green spikes traveled from the top of its small head down to the tip of its tail. Two massive wings stretched from its back, flexing as the dragon roared!

And Luz’s response could only be described as a screech of pure joy!

“DRAGON! HE TURNED INTO A DRAGON! THERE’S A DRAGON HERE! HUNTER, KING ARE YOU SEEING THIS?!”

“WHAT IS THAT THING?!”

The two boys had had a very different response from Luz, rather than squealing in excitement, King had jumped into Hunter’s arms in alarm and they were now hugging each other in terror.

“What, don’t you have dragons on the Boiling Isles?!”

“NO!”

“OF COURSE NOT!”

“...I was there for months, how did this never come up?!”

“Uh, guys?” Coraline pointed at the painting, they could see it physically move as the pounding had grown louder. A white gloved hand reached out from the other side, opened wide and with fingers splayed. The hand, most likely Danny’s, closed for a moment, only to open, with only four fingers spread. It closed again and when it opened, three fingers were splayed.

It was a countdown.

“Uh oh,” Jake’s voice came from the dragon as he put his clawed hands over his large ears, “Cover your ears!”

“Wha-”

“Just do it!” Coraline was already doing the same

The trio from the Boiling Isles did as they were told, and a moment later, the most unholy sound filled the air. It was as if a thousand damned souls were being ripped asunder combined with a cheap ghost sound effect you’d hear around Halloween. An unnatural green light poured out from behind the portrait. King’s attack had shaken the room, but this was far louder, far more violent, the whole house had to be shaking! Luz swore she saw cracks forming on the window!

The strange noise faded into non-existence after what felt like an eternity, and despite covering them, everyone’s ears were ringing.

“...God I hate it when he does that,” Coraline’s voice felt uncomfortably loud in the strange silence.

“I hate it too but damn if it doesn’t get shit done,” Jake groaned before lowering himself onto all fours, “C’mon Luz, we’re gonna need to move fast.”

She took a moment, and looked at him, processing what was being offered to her.

…she was going to get to ride a dragon!

The effects of the sonar blast were brushed off and she managed to pull herself up. Her leg still hurt but she managed to hobble over and placed her hands on the scaly hide of her new classmate. She grinned, finding the texture wonderful, smoother than silk but warm, and she considered just rubbing the spot before remembering they had a limited amount of time. With some effort, she managed to heave herself up and swing her leg over Jake’s back, firmly planting herself in place. She held onto his back spines for further support and just… grinned.

“This… is… the… coolest.”

“It’s gonna get cooler,” Jake grinned.

He walked on all fours to the door, and checked the painting. It had stopped shaking but the door beyond it was open, just a crack but still open.

“Shouldn’t we be going?” Hunter asked, sounding particularly annoyed.

“We’re live bait dude, gotta make sure they follow us. That attack was just to give us a leg up.”

“Well the rat’s attack made the one he used it on explode! Wouldn’t it have done the same thing to the rest of them?”

“Not a rat!” King snapped.

“The rat-I mean King’s attack was magical in nature!” Jake exclaimed, “Danny’s attack is supernatural. That doesn’t normally take out a magical creature like goblins. Plus that attack only knocks out ghosts and destroys things, living creatures only get knocked out if it’s aimed directly at them!”

“Guys, the painting!” Coraline snapped, pointing at the wall behind them.

“They’re up!” Danny’s voice echoed from seemingly nowhere, “Go now!”

The painting swung open, the goblins looked dazed, stumbling and a few fell to the floor but immediately trained their eyes on the teenagers. Without another word, Jake dashed to the office door on all fours and pushed it open, with Hunter following close behind.

Luz was riding on the back of a dragon!

She was riding a dragon!

This was turning into one of the best days of her life!

Jake was terrifyingly fast, and she suspected this wasn’t even his top speed! He took turns fast and hard, but she never felt like she was in danger of falling off. Looking behind her, she could see Hunter’s staff was easily keeping pace, letting the dragon lead them through a maze of rooms, halls and doorways. Coraline was holding onto him from behind while King was in front, all four limbs wrapped around the staff.

“Luz, you’re gonna wanna hang on tight for this!” Jake’s voice brought her attention back to what was in front of them…

There was a banister railing dead ahead.

They were on the second level of the foyer and Jake was picking up speed! He was going too fast to turn and in an instant Luz realized what he planned to do! She let out a yelp and hung on so tight her knuckles went white.

They reached the banister, Jake hopped onto it and without losing momentum, jumped across the massive opening. Time seemed to slow, and in the split second they were in the air, her eyes turned upwards, to the strange contraption in the ceiling. She could hear gears moving, ticking like some strange, great clock, and see the colorful glass orbs move slowly. She could have sworn there was a faint glow coming from it but she couldn’t be sure.

They made it to the other side with a shockingly graceful landing for a creature as big as a dragon. It was smooth and easy, speaking to hours of practice and Luz suddenly had a dozen new questions for him. He didn’t start running right away however, instead, he turned back to the swarm and…

Began to taunt them.

“Yeah, you wanna take on the Am Drag?!” he yelled, standing up on his hind legs, almost throwing Luz off in the process, forcing her to wrap her arms around his neck, “C’mon, come and get us you ugly little furballs!”

“Are you serious right now?!” Hunter exclaimed.

He blew a raspberry and even turned around, shaking his tail at them, clearly trying to provoke the swarm. It was working, as the foyer was seemingly covered entirely by the small green bodies, making it seem like something out of an old horror movie.

“Uh, should you be doing that?” Luz’s voice quivered.

“Just making sure we don’t lose them,” Jake smirked, “Though, you guys being nervous helps.”

“What?! How?!”

“They can literally smell fear.”

“You could have mentioned that sooner!” King snapped, only to yelp as the faster goblins made their way around the second floor, and were circling around to catch up!

Jake didn’t respond, instead, he turned and began to run again. He led them through more hallways and rooms, throwing insults behind them every now and again. They reached a hall that came to a deadend, a large pair of curtains that obviously concealed a window behind them was waiting for them. Randy, still in his strange black suit, stood before it, seemingly waiting for something, or more likely, timing something.

“You ready dude?” Jake called.

“Always!”

“Luz, whatever you do, don’t let go!”

She squeaked and tightened her hold again. She looked up and saw they were almost at the window! Randy spun around fast and said one of the strangest things she would ever hear in her young life.

“Ninja Window Open!”

He somehow threw open the curtains and pushed the windows open in the same motion, letting in the sunlight and temporarily blinding all of them. Jake somehow never broke his pace, and jumped into the air…

But they didn’t go down.

When her eyes adjusted, it took Luz half a second to realize why.

They were flying!

She was flying on the back of a dragon!

She let out another delighted squeal, almost losing her grip in the process. She hadn’t even considered this being an option! This was something out of one of her Good Witch Azura books, and while it might not have been the same as the Boiling Isles, it was a damn amazing experience! Jake’s powerful wings were easily keeping them in the air, gently bobbing with each flap, it was… soothing in a strange way.

She could see Hunter flying nearby, eyes wide at the sight of them flying, while Coraline merely smirked behind him and King… King was looking down. She followed his gaze, and saw they were some feet away from the school now and could see a window, wide open, with curtains billowing out of it…

And there was a very distinct lack of goblins.

She had fully expected them to come billowing out like rats from a sinking ship, swarming like cockroaches but not a single one appeared.

“What the… where are the goblins? Why aren’t they coming out?”

“Hahahaha, because it’s a trap!” Jake explained.

“Wait, what?! How?!”

“Goblins, trolls, gargoyles, they can’t go in the sun! They turn to stone if they do!”

“That’s a thing?” Hunter questioned, slowly hovering closer to them.

“Yup! For most species it’s just how they sleep, but for these guys, it’s instant death, which makes it really easy for Danny-”

A blast of snow, mist and frost exploded out from the window, and the sound of cracking ice echoed in the air.

“To do that.”

As the dragon spoke, Luz thought of the stonesleepers she had seen when she went into the past with Lilith. The sun hadn’t affected them but turning to stone as a form of sleep… their worlds had more in common than she thought!

“HAHA! YUS! That was so bruce!”

Luz’s head raised in surprise and leaned back, looking down. Randy was dangling from Jake’s hind legs, he must have grabbed on when they went out the window. He then paused… and burst out laughing!

“Oh! Oh man! The northwest window! I just now got that! Haha!”

“...northwest is funny?” Hunter questioned, he looked to her for an explanation, but she was just as confused.

“Oh, you didn’t know?” Jake looked back at her, “This place used to belong to the Northwest family!”

Luz’s eyes widened and her stomach dropped.

“ The Northwests?! This place used to belong to them?!”

The Northwest family was one of the richest families on the west coast, known for their refined parties that hosted some of the most famous and powerful people in the world. The most anyone got to see were from photos and social media posts made by the guests themselves, and wild rumors always flew about what they had on display. She thought back to the gates at the front of the school, the silhouetted N and W she had seen on the wood suddenly made sense. The last she had heard about the family was something about bad business investments but it had been so boring she had skipped over that bit of drama entirely… and now that she thought about it, that had been almost a year ago.

“Yo, this place didn’t just belong to the Northwests,” Jake smirked, “This was their primary home!”

“Noooooooo!!!” her voice oozed with scandal at this piping hot piece of gossip.

“Yup, the dad made a really bad investment and had to sell everything!” Coraline said, still clinging to Hunter, “This place got snatched up almost immediately and now-”

“And now it’s a school for kids who went to other worlds?! We’re going to be living in the Northwest mansion!”

“Yup!”

“Oh my mom is never going to believe this!”

There was the sudden sound of a phone vibrating, and, to her surprise, Randy pulled a smartphone out of his sash. He looked at the notification and laughed again.

“Dude, check this out!”

He tossed the phone up to Jake, and Luz peeked over his shoulder to see what it was. On the screen was a chat group, and a newly added photo was of Danny, in his white-haired form, with the frozen mob of goblins behind him. Above it was a message, proudly declaring, “I think we won this one guys.” Coraline’s laughter caught her attention and she was holding her own phone, apparently having gotten the same notification as well.

“Oh man, this has to be a new record,” the girl giggled, “This is great!”

The moment of elation however had to come to an end, and it came to an end in the worst way possible.

“JACOB LONG! DANIEL FENTON! RANDAL CUNNINGHAM!”

The boys froze, with Jake dropping several feet before he remembered to keep flapping his wings. They all looked down, and saw a thin figure standing a few feet away from the front entrance, they all recognized it as Stickler.

“...hoo boi,” Randy groaned.

They slowly flew down towards him, with Danny fading into existence beside them as they landed. The teacher had an expression of calm rage, the kind that made any well meaning student shrivel up inside.

“What… exactly… were you thinking?”

“Okay, Mr Strickler, sir, we can explain,” Danny said, putting his hands up defensively.

“I’m certain you can… and how in the world did our new students and young Miss Jones get dragged into this?”

“Okay, like, we can do that now, but can it wait just a bit?” Jake asked, “Luz is hurt and needs to see Dr. Lake.”

“Injured?” he asked, raising a brow.

“It’s not that bad, really,” she ensured, “It’s just a scratch!”

“Let me take a look.”

Jake got back onto all fours, letting Luz sit more comfortably. She was surprised to see the scratch had started to bleed a bit more and it was starting to trail down her leg and stain her shoe. Strickler’s eyes widened but sighed.

“Alright, alright, Jake, you may take her to Barbera, I will hear your side of the story after you drop her off.”

“Thanks Strick.”

“Hey, wait!”

King ran to Jake and jumped into Luz’s arms.

“I can’t let my boo boo buddy go alone! I’m going too!”

“Awwww, King!” she hugged him tight, “You are just the sweetest little thing!”

Hunter groaned at the display.

“Well, since our tour is over, I’d like to be shown to my quarters now,” he said, putting his arms behind his back, “After a day like this I think it would be best to-”

“Young man, you are most definitely accompanying them to the doctor’s office,” Strickler interrupted.

“What?! Why?! I’m not injured!”

The man’s eyes flashed yellow and red before giving the teenager a once over, and a rather serious expression came to his face.

“You are currently missing part of your left ear, have a large scar on your right cheek and I have little doubt that you probably have several more hidden under your clothing. You either get into a lot of dangerous fights or are incredibly accident prone,” Hunter’s cheeks and ears turned bright red at this accusation, “In either case, you will clearly need to know where the office is, more so than the rest of our students. Now, accompany the others, your tour can continue at a later time.”

The boy twitched, staring at the teacher in disbelief. His staff glowed, returning to being a cardinal, before flying to Hunter’s head and nested in his hair.

Luz managed to pull out her phone and take a quick photo before he could notice.

“C’mon,” Jake said, wrapping the end of his tail around Hunter’s torso, dragging him along.

As they headed towards the door, Strickler was turning to Coraline, asking for her version of events first.

Chapter Text

“So, Strickler… what’s his deal exactly?”

Luz had asked the question once they were out of earshot of the teacher, the mental image of his eyes still fresh in her mind. He had done it back in her home, and Teodora’s words about him not being human had been in the back of her mind ever since that first meeting.

“What do you mean?” Jake asked, his claws clicking on the wooden floor.

“Just… anything really. How’d he become a teacher? I know he isn’t human, and he’s centuries old but he didn’t say anything about being a demon. And he said he’s a shapeshifter but he only has two forms, and I’m dying to get some answers.”

“Yeah, and he does that creepy eye thing,” King shuddered, he had taken to sitting in front of Luz on the dragon’s back, “I know all about demons but that… that wasn’t right.”

Jake hissed through his teeth, considered the questions, “Oh, uh… well, it ain’t exactly my place to say on all that stuff, but he’s a’ight. He’s just uh… got a nasty past is all…”

“And you clearly know a lot about it,” Hunter spoke up, his ears still pink from Strickler’s accusation and was clearly agitated by it.

“Look, all I’ll say is he’s kinda well known in the magical community for the stuff he did and he’s tryin’ to turn over a new leaf. He’s been alive for a real long time and was dragged into something before he ever had a choice in the matter.”

“So he was some sort of criminal then?”

Jake’s face noticeably twitched… almost like the notion of Stickler being a criminal was funny.

“…you have no idea dude.”

That did not inspire confidence

“We’re here.”

Jake had brought them to a thick wooden door with a window. The words “Dr. Barbara Lake, PhD” were printed on the glass in shiny black ink.

“What exactly is a “doctor” anyway?” King asked upon reading the sign, “You guys keep using the word but nobody’s said what it is.”

“It’s basically this world’s version of a healer,” Luz smiled, “My mom is one for animals, she’s called a veterinarian though.”

“That sounds confusing, why not just call them all the same thing?”

“Medicine is really complicated here King, the medical field is so big it needs specialized experts for each different branch. It’s not the same as drawing a circle in the air and casting a spell.”

King would have continued to argue had Jake not knocked on the door, and a voice answered, “Coming!”

The door opened, and like Luz had expected, the woman from the painting in Strickler’s office was standing there, looking just as warm and inviting.

“Ah, hello Jake,” she smiled, before noticing the others, “You must be our new students. I’m Dr. Lake, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She held her hand out, which the girl happily took, “I’m Luz.”

“You smell like candy!” King announced, pointing at the doctor. She blinked in surprise before smiling again.

“You must be King Clawthorne,” she smiled and held her hand out to him, “Ford gave me the files you filled out when you first met. And yes, I have some treats in my office for patients. Which brings me to my next question: What can I help you with?”

“Uh… a goblin scratched me,” Luz answered as King shook the doctor’s hand with both of his.

“I see, Jake, can you help me get her onto my exam table please?”

“You got it Dr. L,” he smiled, making his way into the office.

“Ah, and you must be Hunter,” she had spotted the blonde as he was lingering behind the dragon, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Once again she held her hand out, he looked at it for a moment and then slowly shook it.

“Nice to meet you,” he said stiffly.

“Now then,” the doctor turned her attention back to Luz, who was climbing off Jake’s back and onto the table while King merely hopped off, “Where were you scratched?”

“My ankle,” she held her leg out, and hissed when she saw how red her shoe had become. It still wasn’t a whole lot of blood, but it stood out like a sore thumb against the white.

“Alright, let me take a look.”

Dr. Lake pulled on a pair of gloves and carefully examined the injury. The area had become bright red and tender, and she hissed at the gentle touch.

“I’ll have to disinfect it before I can bandage it. It’s going to sting, so try not to move while I work, okay?”

“Hey, it can’t be any worse than it already is.”

The doctor chuckled before reaching into a cabinet to retrieve a bottle, a bag of cotton balls and some gauze. While she waited, Luz took in the surroundings, finding the office to be much more cozy than any doctor’s office she had ever been to before. Sterile beige walls were decorated with photos and drawings that were obviously drawn by little kids, as well as Dr. Lake’s medical license. A lot of the photos showed a black haired boy at various stages in his life, possibly a son? And a few showed her with Strickler, the boy and one obviously candid photo, showing what had to be their proposal. It made the office real a little more homey.

“So, how did you wind up involved with a group of goblins so soon?” the woman asked as she unscrewed the cap from the bottle.

“That was our fault,” Jake admitted sheepishly, “Me and the boys were hunting some down and we kinda crashed into their tour.”

“I see,” she poured some of the disinfectant onto a cotton ball, “I’m going to apply it now. Are you ready?”

“Mhm…” Luz nodded, a look of determination on her face.

She hissed again when Dr Lake started dabbing the worst of the scratches, it wasn’t as bad as she had expected but still hurt.

“How do you like the school so far?”

“It’s… different, I guess. I don’t know what I was expecting to be honest. I guess I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that someplace like this actually exists.”

“That’s understandable, you went through something incredible, and now you’re overwhelmed after finding out there’s even more amazing things out there. It’s pretty common for our new arrivals.”

“Really…?”

“Oh yes, but in general our students come to really enjoy their time here.”

This made Luz smile a little.

“Alright, that should do it. Just have to bandage it up now.”

The girl smiled as Dr Lake wound the gauze around her leg. She finished tending to her in less than two minutes, maybe three tops.

“You’re fast!”

“Hehehe, I was an emergency room doctor before this, compared to that, injuries like this are a walk in the park.”

“Wow…! Thank you doc!”

“Think nothing of it, just take it easy for a few days and try not to strain yourself too much. Now then.”

She walked over to another cabinet and pulled out a large plastic jar that was filled to the brim with candy!

“Here we go, take one.”

Before Luz could even see her potential options, King dove for the jaw, sticking his face inside, excitedly proclaiming, “Candy!”

“King, no!”

Luz grabbed him around his belly and quickly pulled him away, at least half a dozen wrappers were sticking out of his mouth.

“Bad King! Bad!” she scolded, “I’m so sorry about him, doctor!”

“It’s alright Luz, I’ve dealt with worse,” Dr Lake said, adjusting her glasses, “Help yourself.”

She stared at the jar for a second as King chewed away at the mouthful of treats he had stolen. She scanned the jar and chose a cherry Jolly Rancher and tenderly sucked on it. She then watched the woman offer candy to Jake and Hunter as well, which was odd. Didn’t doctors only offer candy to the actual patient? And on that note, Luz was surprised she was offering it to them at all given their age, the doctors she went to back home stopped giving out candy to kids around the time they turned seven or eight.

She saw Jake take a piece of chocolate and popped the whole thing into his large jaw. Hunter hesitated however, he’d never had human sweets before, so he was probably unsure of what to take. She could see him scanning the jar and grabbed a random piece, a large grape sucker…

For some reason, the sight was amusing to her.

“Don’t spoil your appetites, dinner will be served in less than an hour,” Dr Lake smiled at them.

The idea of real food was enticing, and Luz hopped off the exam table.

“Uh, where is dinner being served? We didn’t get around to that on our tour.”

“I can show you guys where it is,” Jake offered.

“Thanks,” she smiled as they headed to the door, “And thanks again Dr Lake.”

The woman smiled and gave an approving nod. Once they were out of the office, Luz turned to the dragon, her excitement and curiosity threatening to bubble over.

“So uh… I have a couple million questions for you about the whole… uh…”

She gestured to all of him.

“Oh, right, dragon thing, one sec.”

Luz’s eyes widened as the dragon form fizzled away, wisps of smoke curling away from his body, and revealing the human boy in its place.

“Whoa…! Okay, that is awesome!”

Jake smirked, and seemed to be loving the praise.

“Ya know it,” he smirked, “So, ask away!”

“First, how did you end up becoming a dragon?!”

“Become? Girl, I was born a dragon.”

“…born… born a dragon? What?!”

“Yup, we’ve been in hiding for centuries! Some took on human forms to disguise themselves, others just hid from society, though those guys are pretty rare.”

Stars were dancing in Luz’s eyes and a smile that stretched from ear to ear.

“Holy Titan…!”

“And that ain’t all. Each country has their own guardian dragon who protects the magical creatures of their area, and yours truly is the very first American Dragon!”

“Dude… that is amazing!”

“You really didn’t know about any of this Luz? This seems right up your alley,” King looked up at her, still picking candy wrappers out of his teeth.

Jake clicked his tongue, “Trust me, if she or any other human somehow found out about magical creatures of any kind, the World Dragon Council would have had their memories erased.”

“They can do that?” Hunter spoke up, removing the sucker from his mouth and nose wrinkling in scrutiny.

“There’s a World Dragon Council?” Luz’s grin somehow grew wider.

“Yes and yes,” he was smirking as he answered the dual questions.

“…are our memories going to be erased?” Hunter raised a brow as he spoke, and Luz suddenly looked worried.

Jake however smiled, “Nah, the Council would only demand it if they found out, and even then, I wouldn’t do it. The whole school is so far outside of their jurisdiction that I don’t think they could do anything about it without pissing off a lot of other folks in positions of power.”

“…so they don’t know about this place?” Luz questioned.

“Nope, and I’m not tellin’ ‘em! …at least I don’t think they know about it anyway.”

“Why not? Wouldn’t they know about where you are?”

Jake paused and took a second before awkwardly answering, “I’m uh… not originally from around here… I’m from New York actually, and comin’ here wasn’t… exactly planned.”

“…how do you travel from the east coast to the west coast without planning it?”

“…long story.”

“Why do I get the feeling we’ll be hearing that a lot around here?”

“Lot of us here got a history. Either way, we got some time before dinner, wanna see what a lot of us do to pass the time around here?”

Luz and King looked at each other before turning back to Jake and nodded excitedly.

“I… guess it wouldn’t be too bad to see what the human realm sees as entertainment,” Hunter rubbed the back of his neck before putting the sucker back in his mouth.

“Sweet, c’mon!”

Jake led them to the back of the house and came to a stop at a pair of double doors, the muffled sound of cheering filling the air. The young dragon smiled at the newcomers, who had gained looks of concern and confusion, before dramatically pushing the doors open.

The first thing Luz noticed was the floor was covered in interlocking foam mats, followed by the smell of sweat. Her gaze raised up and she spotted several fancy bleachers along the walls, the kind with leather seats, and they seemed to only reach about half the height of normal ones. A quick glance around showed that the room wasn’t nearly big enough for regular sized ones, the ceiling was too low, and it seemed the room had been heavily modified. Walls had to have been removed to make it bigger, at least four already large rooms had to have been combined into this singular one, resulting in there being plenty of room for…

For…

Was that the tournament ring from Dragon Ball Z?!

“What the heck?!”

She now realized the bleachers were covered in scattered groups of kids! Kids of all ages, from elementary school age to high school students! They were the ones cheering and shouting, some had phones out and were recording the current fight.

Oh yeah, there was a fight in the ring.

And… uh… okay that was weird.

There was a transparent pink cube over the ring, some sort of protective shield for the audience maybe?

And the ones in the ring were an equally odd sight.

The first one was an older teenager, probably close to adulthood and he was extremely pale. So much so that even through the transparent shield it was obvious his skin was unsettlingly similar to the color of a sun bleached bone. He had vibrant red hair with a pair of goggles on his forehead, though oddly the lenses seemed to be yellow with red swirls on them. That had to have been Luz’s eyes playing a trick on her, right? He also had a small, odd metal backpack that reminded her of a stylized angry face and the straps crossed over his chest. From this distance she couldn’t be certain, but she swore his eyes were the same shade of red as his hair, and there was a single, black curved tattoo under his left eye… or maybe he was just really good with makeup.

Though the oddest thing about him had nothing to do with his appearance, it was the fact he was commanding the same robots that had taken their bags when they first arrived at the school! They followed his every order immediately, flying inside the strange cube and weaving around their opponent.

And these ones apparently came equipped with missiles and lasers!

“Whoa…!”

“Heh, this is nothin’,” Jake smirked, “They’re just gettin’ warmed up.”

Luz looked at the person this goth-punk robot boy was fighting. It was another boy, one who seemed to be around the same age, maybe a little older. He was Chinese with spiky hair and a red headband tied around his forehead. He was wearing a yellow jacket with a black and red cartoon monkey face on the back. He also wore a white t-shirt, red pants and black, white sneakers, and in his hand was a vibrant red staff, with engraved golden caps at each end.

And he was somehow destroying the robots with unbelievable speed!

“…this is how you entertain yourselves in this realm?” Hunter asked in disbelief as a robot exploded.

“…this has pieces of several different things we do or watch for fun… but none of it adds up to anything remotely close to normal.”

“Ha ha! Yes! Mayhem! Carnage! Fighting!” King cheered in delight, “This is real entertainment!”

He ran a few steps to get closer to the ring, only for Luz to scoop him up right away.

“No way buddy! You’re not going anywhere near that!”

“Psh, don’t worry,” Jake waved a hand dismissively, “Nothing can get through the shield around the ring, trust me. We’ve tried just about everything short of nukes.”

There was a pause.

“…under normal circumstances, I’d think you’re exaggerating but all things considered, you might be one hundred percent serious.”

“…okay maybe a little of column A, lil’ of column B. We have tested some crazy things but we haven’t actually tested high level military grade weapons…”

Miniature missiles were fired from some of the robots and lasers blasted… or maybe they were machine guns, Luz wasn’t sure. She also wasn’t sure how robots that small could fit the missiles that big inside of their bodies!

“…ANYHOO,” Jake decided it was time to stop putting his foot in his mouth, “Let’s go find a place to sit!”

“Who knew humans were so barbaric,” King was shaking in delight, “Duels to the death are proper entertainment for royalty!”

“What?! Dude, no, they’re just sparring! We don’t do duels here! Strickler would kill us!”

“…you consider that to be sparring?!” Luz getsured to a small explosion.

“Heh, trust me, the guy with the staff can take it. Besides, a lot of us went through some really hellish fights, these bots are honestly so weak, they don’t even compare.”

“…lasers… and missiles… don’t compare…?”

“Well they’re specifically made to be non-lethal! The teachers would lose their shit if they were!”

Luz desperately needed to sit down so she could put her face in her hands. She suddenly understood how her mom had felt after the snakes and fireworks book report all those months ago.

…she made a mental note to apologize profusely for that.

There was one final explosion and a gruff, scratchy voice announced, “AND IT’S OVER!”

She looked back to the ring and the Chinese boy was stumbling, clearly dazed before falling over. His goth-punk opponent was doing… some sort of cocky victory dance in celebration.

“That’s right baby! Evil boy genius won!”

The shield around the ring began to recede upwards, the upper levels dissipating into what looked like ethereal flower petals. The “evil boy genius” as he had called himself, danced right out of the ring, pointing finger guns at the crowd, who either cheered or boo’d.

“Alright kids, ya know the deal, collect your bets at the table!” the gruff voice commanded from somewhere nearby.

“You bet on these matches?” Hunter questioned, tossing the used up sucker stick into a nearby trash can.

“Sometimes, never with real money though. Candy, trading cards, junk food, stuff like that,” Jake explained as he led them to find some seats, “Keeps things from ever getting too boring around here.”

“Right…” Luz nodded awkwardly as they found some higher up seats.

The announcer for these matches stepped forward, and she had to do a double take when she saw him.

“Mr. Pines?!”

It certainly looked like Ford, he had an identical build, or at least as close as she could tell, the coat the scientist had worn when they first met made it hard to be certain. His face was certainly similar enough, but his hair was a much lighter shade of gray, and his five o’clock shadow didn’t dapple off around his cheeks. This man was wearing a dark suit and his glasses were just the slightest bit off.

“I thought Ford was working in a lab or… something!” Hunter exclaimed, “If he’s been here this whole time while we were dealing with those goblins-!”

Jake snorted, “No, no, dude, you got it wrong. That’s Grunkle Stan, he and Ford are twins!”

“…I’m sorry, what?”

The brunette laughed.

“It’s true, Stan’s usually the one who oversees the sparring matches to make sure we don’t go too far.”

“Isn’t he just a human though?”

“Heh, trust me, the man can take a hit from anything.”

Luz looked away from the boys and turned her attention to the ring. The boy who had been defeated was back on his feet and being helped out by a few of the other students, he was rubbing his head but seemed to be alright. He was given an ice pack for his head and seemed to be sitting with some of the little kids.

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be going back to that Strickler guy to tell him about the goblins?” King looked at Jake, a brow from the skull he wore somehow raised.

“Strick’ll find me before I find him, so I’m not too worried about it. Besides, worst he can do is give me detention.”

He was… surprisingly nonchalant about it.

“Alright kiddos, settle down,” the announcer, Stan, was speaking into a megaphone, “We have time for one last match before dinner! This last one’s between Dani “with an I” and Chiro! So get your bets ready!”

He walked off stage as several kids rushed to a table by the ring, placing candy, bags of junk food and other such things down to bet with. Jake hadn’t been joking about that and some small part of her wondered what the exchange rate worked for each item.

She also noticed an odd little green creature that looked like a shaved koala was sitting on the table. It clearly wasn’t a goblin, its limbs were too stubby. It was also apparently far more intelligent, given that it was holding a notepad and seemed to be writing something down. It seemed this little… whatever it was was the one keeping track of the bets.

After a few minutes, Stan returned to the ring, megaphone still in hand.

“Alright kids, hope you’re ready for a light show! Because this time powers will be permitted! You all know ‘em, so let’s give it up for our first fighter, Dani Fenton!”

A little girl, no more than twelve, ran into the ring and Luz was stunned by her uncanny resemblance to Danny! Her hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, she wore a faded blue hoodie, sneakers, oversized shorts and beanie all of the same shade of dull poppy red.

“And her sparring partner, Chiro!”

A Japanese boy around Luz’s age entered the ring, he had neatly combed hair that came to three peaks, two at the back and one at the front. It reminded her of Astro Boy in some strange way, though his outfit was a bit… odd. It looked like a school uniform, a brown blazer, a white collar shirt, blue slacks, he even had a necktie! Something about it felt a little out of place amongst all the casual street clothes she had seen everyone else wear.

“Alright you two, you know the rules, don’t go too hard, don’t fight too dirty and watch your mouths! That means you Dani.”

The little girl flipped the old man the bird with both hands… which just made him laugh!

“That’s the spirit kid!” he walked off the stage before commanding, “And transform!”

The jaws of the Boiling Isles trio dropped as a white ring formed around the girl’s middle, a perfect match for the one that formed around Danny earlier! It also split into two, one going up and the other down. Her hat disappeared when the upper ring passed over it, revealing her ebony hair had turned white. While Danny’s outfit had more of a biohazard design to it, this girl’s had more of a fashionable lean to it. A form fitting black shirt with a horizontal white patch appeared, with mismatched flared out gloves covering her hands and on her chest was the same stylized D that had been on Danny’s costume. The shirt was a bit too short and showed off her stomach, while her black pants flared out, also with horizontal white markings, ending in white sneakers.

“You guys are seeing this right?!” Luz exclaimed.

“I see it… but I don’t believe it,” Hunter said, purple eyes wide.

“Oooooooooo~” King’s tail was wagging in delight, “Flashy!”

The boy’s transformation was thankfully unique to him. He was engulfed in a flash of green light, and for the briefest second, it looked like some sort of… ethereal Gorilla had appeared. When the light faded away, the boy was sparking with green electricity, and his appearance had changed. He was now in a white buttoned up uniform, black boots, large orange gauntlets were on his hands and a matching scarf was around his neck. The upper half of his face had also become white, with orange markings on his cheeks, from this distance though, it was impossible to tell if it was a mask, facepaint or if the pigment of his skin itself had changed! A single lock of black hair had fallen out of place and now rested between his eyes.

“Shield up!” Stan ordered, as the ring became engulfed in a transparent pink square that rose from the ground and closed over the two competitors, “Ready! And fight!”

Dani took to the air right away, flying over Chiro as he ran across the ring floor. It seemed to be some strange way of keeping the other from getting the upper hand, until the latter summoned a spear made of lightning and threw it, with Dani easily weaving around it. She countered with a beam of green energy from her palm, and it was quickly becoming clear this was a battle of attrition and agility. Whoever got hit first would be the loser.

“Aw man, nobody told me Dani would be fighting tonight!”

Luz jumped as Danny and Randy faded into existence, clearly doing that weird… thing Danny had done before when he disappeared, just in reverse. They both had seemingly returned to normal, no longer wearing the ninja gear or in that ghost mode they had last seen them in. The latter jumped for a seat immediately, clearly enjoying the match while the former watched with some level of concern.

“So uh… dumb question but… is that your sister?” Luz asked, pointing at the girl flying around the ring.

“Eh… sister, cousin, the title’s a bit muddled… but specifically… she’s my uh… clone?”

“…que?!”

“Okay, to grossly oversimplify, this rich and crazy fruit loop wanted a ghost son and decided I was the perfect choice, but I refused. So he started making clones of me and she was the best one he made, the rest were unstable and uh… kinda melted.”

“…I have even more questions than I started with!” Luz exclaimed. That explained them having the exact same name at least.

“And they can wait, I’m gonna be too busy cheering her on!”

…she hated to admit it but that was a solid reason to not answer her questions. He physically could but he had his priorities in order and she respected that. She chose to focus on the match instead, even if waiting made it feel like she was going to explode from the inside out!

“These two are really goin’ at it guys!” Stan said from the announcer’s seat, “Dani may have the field advantage of flying but she doesn’t have Chiro’s experience! It’s anyone’s match with these kinds of odds!”

The cheering grew louder as the boy launched his own green energy attack, but it seemed to be the polar opposite to the ghost duo’s. Where theirs were bright green with white bolts of electricity dancing through it, his was black and had green energy burning along its path, almost like a flame.

“Whoa…”

“Strange magic,” Hunter mused, his hand going to his chin.

“Dude, that ain’t magic,” Jake smirked, “It’s supernatural. For both of ‘em.”

“You used that word before, what does it mean?”

“…supernatural? Ya don’t have that word where you’re from?”

“Not that I’ve heard of.”

“This is news to me,” Luz interjected, her own surprise clear on her face.

“You know what it is then?” Hunter looked at her, a note of curiosity in his voice and his eyes looking ever so intrigued.

“Well, yeah, but uh… I’m not sure how to explain it. It’s not exactly magic but uh…”

“It depends on how much science is involved,” Danny smirked as he joined in the conversation, “Magic and science are on the far ends of the spectrum but aren’t mutually incompatible. Combine the two and you end up with supernatural and paranormal stuff, but each given case can have varying amounts of either. At least, that’s how the school understands it, oh, and paranormal stuff tends to be on the more spooky side of it all, usually involving the undead.”

“…thank you!” Luz looked so relieved, “I had no idea how to make that distinction!”

“No problem, being able to understand all of that is kind of important around here, at least when comparing everyone’s “war stories”,” he used air quotes, making Jake and Randy snicker. Hunter seemed to be contemplating this new information while Luz began to make another list of questions.

“Yo! Chiro’s got Dani pinned!”

Jake’s words pulled their attention back to the fight, and they could see the girl in one of the upper corners. She looked around, trying to find a way out, but whenever she made a break for it, he chucked another one of those lighting spears right in front of her path! One got a little too close and she vanished into thin air, leaving the teenager to look around frantically to find her. The crowd went silent, their eyes wildly scanning the ring for the small ghost.

“Boo!”

She reappeared right in front of her opponent, before swinging a powerful right hook to his chest! Chiro didn’t have the time to react and was sent flying into the barrier, which carefully supported him in his semi-dazed state. He took a second to violently shake his head, only for Dani to point a finger right in his face, the tip glowing bright green as she smirked at him. He stared for a moment before smiling and held up his hands.

“Okay, okay, I know when I’m beat.”

“AND IT’S OVER!” Stan’s voice was extra loud and painfully jarring, “DANI WINS BY FORFEIT!”

The little girl held up both fists, cheering her victory with the crowd. The white rings reformed around her, and as they passed over her, she returned to her black haired appearance. Chiro flashed with green energy and also returned to his earlier attire, even that one loose lock of hair returned to its neatly combed position. The crowd cheered wildly as the barrier dissipated once again, allowing Stan to stroll into the ring.

“THAT’S THE LAST MATCH OF THE NIGHT KIDS! NOW GO GET SOMETHIN’ TO EAT BEFORE THE OTHERS COME LOOKIN’ FOR US!”

“AND DON’T FO’GET!” the little green creature had climbed onto the man’s shoulder and spoke into the megaphone with a heavily cockney accent, “COLLECT YOUR EARNIN’S AT THE TABLE! NOT OUR FAULT IF YOU ONLY REMEMBER YOU WON YO’ BET AT HALF PAST MIDNIGHT!!”

Stan put his free hand out and the tiny creature slapped it, making it clear they were partners in this betting ring.

“Aw man, how’d we miss most of the fights?” Randy whined, “I know those goblins took forever but I didn’t think it was that long!”

“Hey, at least we got to see one,” Danny shrugged before getting up, he then waved to the ring, and his little lookalike returned the gesture, waving both arms over her head. He got up and ran down to her, with Jake and Randy trailing behind. The Boiling Isles trio looked at each other before scrambling to catch up to them.

They followed the other students out of the… whatever that room was called, and into the hall, letting the crowd lead them to the dining room. It was like something out of a movie, with long dining tables, a fireplace to the left, to the right were several more tables, set up buffet style. A doorway nearby, presumably leading to the kitchen, had signs hanging around it, but it was impossible to read them at a distance.

The students swarmed the food before hurrying to the long dining tables, already breaking off into their friend groups. As they did so, the newcomers had a moment to fully realize just how small the group actually was. Coraline hadn’t been joking about it only being about fifty students total, they could easily make out each kid, their face, what they were wearing and other small features that made them distinct from each other. It was the kind of situation where you’d probably be able to put a name to every face as well as a few very basic facts about each of them.

In no time at all, almost all of them were seated, and once the trio had a moment to process, went to get their plates. Luz had to help King with his due to his small size, not even able to see over the table from where he was on the floor, and, soon after, to keep him from launching himself at the desserts. Hunter trailed behind, a bit more apprehensive about the unfamiliar food, and acted like he thought it might be poisoned. She had to reassure him more than once that the food he was looking at was perfectly fine, and no, that red stuff wasn’t a weird pulpy blood, it was marinara sauce.

Once they were finished, they looked at the tables and Luz froze. A hundred memories of her experiences with human schools filled her brain, especially when it came to the cafeteria and trying to find a place to sit and make friends. It never worked out well, usually ending with laughter, teasing and mockery, and as the anxiety gripped her chest, she took a moment to consider finding a place outside to eat… wait, would they even be allowed to do that?

“Yo, guys! Over here!”

She was snapped from her thoughts and she glanced around, spotting Jake, Danny and Randy waving them over from one of the nearby tables. She blinked in surprise. Okay, this was something that only happened at Hexside for her, so the idea of other humans actively inviting her to join them felt… foriegn. Almost overwhelming.

By the time she worked through her thoughts, King and Hunter were already walking towards them. Well, Hunter walked, King ran. She hurried to follow the boys and sat down with them. The small demon didn’t even bother with his knife, fork or even his spoon, he just dove into the food, face first.

“Yeesh, did you guys skip lunch or something?” Jake questioned as bits of food flew.

“We puked it up after Nana drove us here,” King answered, mashed potatoes dripping down his face. The entire group shuddered at the mention of the woman’s driving and the young demon returned to scarfing down his dinner with gusto.

“Ugh, barbarian,” Hunter sneered in disgust. Luz noticed he was holding his knife and fork properly. It made sense for an emperor’s right hand man she supposed, but she’d never seen a teenager adhere to it outside of a formal or fancy event. This felt casual enough to not worry about it, guess manners were a hard habit to break. She returned her attention to the adorable furball sitting next to her.

“C’mon King, you know better,” she pried him back.

“Mph, food,” he whined.

She put a spoon in his hand, and while he gave her a side eyed look, began eating again.

“So, I gotta ask,” Randy pointed at Hunter and King, “What are you guys exactly?”

“Excuse me?” Hunter looked at him in confusion, holding a small bowl of berries out to his palisman.

“Randy, dude, rude,” Jake said, leaning over his plate, “I can’t speak for the furball but Hunter’s obviously an elf.”

Luz spat out her juice.

“…I have no idea what an elf is but I’m not one!” Hunter exclaimed, “I’m a witch!”

The boys stared at him, while Luz laid her head in her arms, trying her damned best to suppress her laughter. She failed miserably.

“…aren’t witches supposed to be girls?”

“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!”

Hunter grabbed Randy by his jacket and glared at him in rage.

“Hunter-Hunter, it-it’s okay,” Luz said, still choking on her laughter, “It’s-It’s a human misconception! Hehehehehe…! Hunter the Elf!”

“…so… guys can be witches in… wherever you came from?” Danny asked.

“Act-Actually, e-everyone o-on the Boiling Isles w-was a witch, th-there’s also demons, like King.”

She had to slam her face down onto the table as she broke down into a high-pitched squeal of laughter… and said something about Hunter in a pointy hat… and shoes with bells on them.

Chapter Text

“So, what time is lights out?” Luz asked as they set their plates onto a cart. Said cart was being pushed by one of the floating bronze robots, collecting dishes, glasses, utensils and the fabric napkins to be taken back and cleaned.

“Eh, ten to midnight usually,” Danny shrugged, “Breakfast starts getting served at around seven for the little kids and eight for us teenagers.”

Hunter gagged on the last bite of a dinner roll.

“Wait… what time are we supposed to be up?”

“Yeah, don’t most classes start at eight AM or earlier?” Luz was now confused herself.

“Yo, at a normal school maybe,” Jake interjected, “But in case you haven’t noticed, nothing about this place is normal. The teachers ain’t gonna force a bunch of cranky teenagers, most of them with crazy weird powers, to wake up before sunrise.”

Hunter seemed to be staring in stunned silence and muttered something about six AM and his palisman chirped at him.

“I… guess it makes sense,” Luz put a hand to her chin, “Then what time do classes start?”

“Get this!” Randy had a semi-wild grin as he began to answer, “Nine o’clock! Crazy am I right?”

“That’s… late,” she didn’t know how else to phrase it. She’d never gone to a school that started later than eight in the morning, not even Hexside!

“Well, it’s also in case anyone has a night terror and wakes other people up,” Danny shrugged.

“Night terrors? What do you mean?”

Danny paused and stared at her for a moment, as if the answer was obvious.

“...Luz, most of the kids here have saved entire worlds, been in fights where the stakes were life and death, saw things that shouldn’t physically exist, met gods, and went through horrifying stuff… Post-traumatic stress disorder kinda runs rampant around here.”

“...oh… when you put it like that…”

“Heck, I’m pretty sure I count as being dead already.”

“Que?!”

“Yeah, you saw my powers earlier right? They’re ghost powers!”

“He literally said “Going Ghost” and “I’ll use my ghostly wail” when we were fighting the goblins,” Jake smirked as he leaned back, “Didn’t you figure it out from all that?”

“It happened so fast I didn't process either of them!” Luz slammed her hands on the table and leaned in closer to Danny, “Ghost powers! Explain! Now please!”

He blinked, staring in surprise… and then laughed.

“Damn, I think my parents would like you. They’re always trying to learn more about ghosts!”

“They are?”

“Yeah, but not in a good way,” Randy butted in.

“What do you mean by “good way” exactly?” Hunter finally decided to join the conversation. His palisman was now trying to get him to take half of a cherry it had pecked in two. He took it without looking away from the others.

The boys looked at each other with the same exasperated expression, Danny sighed and explained, “They’re ghost researchers/ghost hunters. They want nothing more than to catch a ghost to dissect, vivisect or…”

“Tear it apart molecule by molecule.”

All three of them recited it in such perfect unison it reminded Luz of an old horror movie. She wondered if it was a case of them practicing, or they just genuinely heard it often enough.

“...wait… your parents are ghost researchers… but you’re a ghost? How does that…?”

“Lab accident,” Danny shrugged like it was the most casual thing in the universe, “They actually made a portal to another world, but it didn’t work right away. When I checked it out later, it turned on while I was inside and ZAP! Next thing I know, I’m stumbling out, phasing through my best friends’ hands when they tried to catch me, and there’s a swirling green portal behind me!”

It was now Luz’s turn to stare, her eyes the size of their dinner plates and jaw hanging wide open.

“Your parents… made a doorway… to another world?”

“Yup,” he nodded, “It’s called the Ghost Zone, Ford classifies it as an “Underworld” and apparently, it has more doors leading in and out of it than most other ones he’s come across.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but they open and close at random, so unless you build one yourself, it’s next to impossible to know where one’ll be. And apparently it’s one of the places people actually go when they die, but it isn’t the only one.”

Something slammed on the breaks in Luz’s brain, the wheels screeched loudly and crashed into a concrete wall.

“Wait hold on! Did you… did you just say… it’s one of the places… implying there’s more than… oh man… are you saying there’s more than one afterlife?”

“That’s what we’ve found so far, yeah, but Ford’s only done a little bit of research into it so we don’t know a whole lot yet. Let alone how someone ends up in one place over another after they die.”

Luz could feel her head spinning, overwhelmed by such reality changing information in what had to be, at most, a minute and a half of conversation.

“...is that a big deal here?”

Hunter’s voice pulled her out of her head and back to reality. By all things good, sane and reasonable… he had no idea how loaded his question was.

“Hunter… humans have been fighting and debating over what happens to us when we die since before recorded history… it’s… saying it’s a huge thing doesn’t even come close to how big it is. The idea of there being more than one afterlife is earth shattering! Entirely new  religions could spring up from this fact alone! Wars could-”

“What do you mean spring up? What, do you have multiple belief systems or something?”

She was a little annoyed that her tangent about potential conflict had been cut short, but her brain was still spinning inside her skull. She decided to focus on the conversation in front of her and remain grounded, rather than try to go further down the rabbit hole. She took a long, deep inhale through her nose, folded her hands together and exhaled her answer.

“Yes, actually.”

At this, his eyes visibly grew bigger. In an instant she realized that such an idea had never occurred to him before.

“Wait… what? But… don’t you know what made you? Who made you?”

“Not… exactly? Some religions believe a god or multiple gods made us, but scientifically speaking, we probably evolved from some basic life form over the course of millions and millions of years… it’s… it’s not like it is with the Titan.”

There was an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air between the two of them.

“…but… Danny-that’s your name right?”

The boy in question nodded.

“Danny said the others have met gods, so those beliefs have to be right.”

“That’s where it gets complicated.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a familiar redhead.

“Theodora!” Luz exclaimed, happy to see the pink girl again.

“Hey guys, glad to see you made it here safely,” she tossed her hair with a small giggle, “Sorry but I just couldn’t help overhearing what you were talking about.”

“Sure you couldn’t,” Danny frowned, “Just like you don't intend to brag about all the places and things you’ve seen.”

“Oh Danny, you hurt me! Honestly, Strickler told me their tour was interrupted because of you boys-he’s looking for you by the way, Jake- and asked if I could finish showing them around! I was just coming to get them when I caught what you were talking about. And as a globe trotting heroine, I think I can offer some uniq-“

“Oh for the love of cheese just get to the point already!” Randy exclaimed as he threw his arms out over the table.

“Hmph! Fine. Long story short, I’ve come across all sorts of creatures from different parts of the world, from very different religions and whose stories have something to do with that area’s beliefs. You know the story of Medusa right?”

“Well, yeah,” Luz nodded.

“I don’t,” Hunter looked frustrated at the question.

“Okay, well, she was once this beautiful woman who was a priestess in the temple of Athena, the virgin goddess of war and battle strategy. As one of her priestesses, Medusa was expected to stay a virgin as well, but being Ancient Greece, one of the gods couldn’t-“

“Don’t finish that sentence!” Luz yelled, covering King’s ears.

“Hey!” the tiny demon flailed, “I wanna hear the story!”

“Trust me buddy, you don’t wanna hear this!”

Hunter went noticeably pale as he slowly began to realize what was about to happen in the story.

“Ahem… anyway,” Teodora sat down to continue, “She was… “attacked” by Poseidon, god of the sea, and because of the fucked up way the ancient Greeks viewed stuff like this, Medusa was the one blamed for the assault. As punishment, Athena cursed her, turning her into a horrifying monster with snakes for hair, and if you gazed upon her, you would turn to stone.”

“…and what does this have to do with our conversation exactly?” Luz questioned, holding a squirming King in her lap.

“Don’t you remember what I said when we were at your house? My friends and I met her.”

“…what?!”

“Well, okay, it was her ghost but still. Point is, us running into her proves at least two Greek gods exist, or used to anyway. Where it gets interesting is why we were in Greece in the first place.”

“Which is…!”

“We were on a trip around the world to stop Quetzalcoatl.”

Her arms suddenly went slack and King squirmed free, before glancing back at her in concern.

“…Luz?”

“I… I’m sorry… did… did you just say… Quetzalcoatl?”

“Yup!”

“…the Aztec god… that Quetzalcoatl?”

“The one and only!”

“…I… should I be worried about the lack of human sacrifices or-“

Hunter and King both leaned back in unsettled confusion.

“Nah, things are cool with him now, don’t worry, but it does prove that multiple gods from more than one religion do exist. Oh! And we also met Fenrir, ya know, the giant wolf chained up under Yggdrasil, AKA the World Tree? So you can throw the Norse gods in there too for good measure!”

“...that’s three pantheons of gods… how does that even work?”

“Well, best we can figure is each pantheon has a limited area of reach, and not every god that we have stories about actually exists. For example, the earth isn’t trying to eat us all so Cipactli probably isn’t real.”

“...what’s a Cipat- Cipact- Ci- whatever you just said, what is it?” Hunter asked in noticeable frustration.

“In the Aztec creation myth, Cipactli was a primordial monster that the earliest gods had to kill, otherwise it would eat anything they created. They then turned its body into the land but since it kept trying to come back to life, the gods made blood sacrifices to keep it from destroying their creations. It’s something the Aztec people later did as well… including cutting out people’s hearts.”

“...human… I have a feeling she’s lying but you-”

“She isn’t,” Luz squeaked, “I… I’m not an expert on all the details of the Aztec people but… yeah that’s all pretty much right.”

“…oh Titan I think I’m going to be sick.”

King laughed a little, but it sounded half-hearted. After a moment, Hunter piped back up.

“Wait… if you have multiple belief systems-“

“Religions,” Teodora corrected.

“Whatever-if you have more than one, then why aren’t there fights about them? About which one is correct or-“

“There are and have been. Even full on wars have been fought over it.”

Hunter looked like someone had smacked him in the face.

“ …how do you humans survive? ”

“Sheer numbers and being very hard to kill in general,” Jake shrugged, “Either way, no one really knows the answers to any of those questions so we just do what we can to survive and enjoy it.”

“...that’s one way of phrasing it,” Luz groaned, supporting her head in her hands.

“Hey, all I know is that yokai like tengu are real and I’m leaving it at that,” Randy put his hands up, “My suit is made from the feathers of one.”

“Tengu?” Hunter questioned.

“One second, I know this one,” Luz put a finger to her forehead, digging through what she remembered of her favorite series, “Tengu, tengu… a Japanese demon, or yokai,  associated with birds of prey like crows, they’re also associated with mountain tops and the wind. Theatrical masks depict them as having long noses, um…”

“...how do you know that?” Randy asked in surprise.

“...I…uh… like anime… and it isn’t always accurate… so I did my own research.”

“Damn… you’re good at it then.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, you got it pretty much right, though uh, the tengu connected to the suit seems to be the only one of its kind, we haven’t found any others like it.”

“Anyway!” Teodora was examining her nails as she interrupted, “We should probably get going if we’re gonna finish that tour. You boys wanna join?”

“Sorry, I got English tutoring in a bit,” Danny groaned, “I hate English.”

“I still gotta talk to Strickler and I’m supposed to be on playground duty so I’ll have to jump to that right after, sorry dude,” Jake shrugged.

“Ninja practice,” Randy rounded it out.

Teodora groaned, “Fine, I’ll show them around, on my own. C’mon guys.”

She hopped up from her seat and gestured for them to follow. They hesitated for a second before hurrying after her.

“So, how are you guys liking the place so far?” Teodora questioned, boots clicking on the floor. It was the same question they had been asked in the doctor’s office.

“It’s… definitely something,” Luz stated, “I kinda love it, dragons and all that, but it’s kinda crazy.”

“Oh yeah, I heard about the goblin attack. How’s your leg?”

“Well it doesn’t hurt anymore, Dr. Lake did a great job.”

“She gave us candy!” King chimed in excitedly.

Teodora chuckled warmly, “Yeah, she may be a doctor, but she’s a total mom first. Woman’s an angel on Earth, I tell ya.”

Luz smiled at this.

“Is she the only member of medical staff here or are there others?”

“Well… kinda,” she did the so-so gesture with her hand, “There’s at least one other guy here, but he’s not an actual doctor.”

Luz’s mind instantly went to an anime she liked, one of the characters was a back alley doctor who did several illegal medical procedures for a pharmaceutical company as well as the mob… oh and how he was in love with a Dullahan who rode a motorcycle!

“...Teo… is there an unlicensed doctor working here?”

“Psh! What? No, nothing like that! One of the guys just has healing powers is all! Not a perfect cure all for every medical thingy out there, but it’s good to have it on hand if there’s ever an emergency.”

“...there’s someone here who can use healing magic?” Hunter asked, seemingly intrigued.

“Yep, he’s a total sweetheart too, but he can only heal injuries and that’s it. Things like infections and viruses are completely outside his ability to do anything about. That’s usually why we go to Dr. Lake first before asking him for help. Like, if someone has a blood clot or something, his powers would risk making it worse.”

Luz’s eyes widened, she had never considered that. When you hear “healing abilities” you think of cuts and broken bones, not nuanced medical issues.

“What’s a blood clot?”

They both stopped and stared at Hunter, she mentally noted this was starting to become a pattern.

“...you seriously don’t know?” Luz asked, looking mildly concerned.

“No… why, should I?”

“...I guess it makes sense you don’t know, the Boiling Isles didn’t exactly have the right tech to start understanding clots or how they’d work. I think I remember my mom saying something about doctors only starting to get an understanding of them in the 1920’s-”

“And she’d be right,” Teodora had pulled out her phone and was quickly scrolling through what was probably a medical history article, “But to grossly over simplify for you Blondie, blood clots are how our bodies stop bleeding, close wounds and basically start the healing process.”

“Doesn’t that take a long time though? Why not just use healing mag-”

He stopped himself when he remembered where he was. His cheeks and ears went bright red for the second time that day.

“Uh, nevermind.”

“Okay, now there’s something I gotta ask!” King raised his arms up high, “How the heck do you guys deal with boo boos here? If you don’t have healing magic, how do you make them go away?”

“...we just put bandages on them and wait,” Teodora answered.

“...but band aids come from the Healing Coven, don’t they?”

“Not ones in the human realm buddy,” Luz scooped him up, “They just go over the boo boo and our bodies heal on their own with time. The band aids are meant to stop the bleeding and keep it clean so it doesn’t get infected, which would be even worse.”

She noticed Hunter lightly touch the scar on his cheek.

“Okay, so, enough medical stuff, we’re here on a tour aren’t we?” Teodora announced, “C’mon, I’ll show you to the playground, I bet this little cutie would just love it!”

She booped King on his little skull nose, making him giggle.

“That actually sounds like a great idea,” Luz smiled, “Are there a lot of other little kids here?”

“There’s some, most of them are here with an older sibling but there’s a few exceptions.”

She looked at King… yeah… yeah, that tracked.

“Just be nice to the other kids when you play with them,” she told him as Teodora led them through the mansion and to the backdoor.

Luz didn’t know what to expect when they walked out, but it certainly wasn’t this.

The backyard was truly massive, and like the front of the mansion was surrounded by the towering wall fence. However, it was not nearly as impressive as what was in the center, like some prominent gem in a crown. The entire playground was new, in a way she had never seen before. She had seen new equipment be added to parks and playgrounds at the schools she attended, but she had never seen one where absolutely everything was new. There were no signs of rust, age, wear or tear, the paint was still strong, saturated and vibrant, nothing sagged, it had barely been touched. It had everything you’d expect from a playground, swings, a slide, a seesaw, monkey bars, and a single large structure in the middle that was perfect for games of tag or hide and seek.

There were fewer than twenty little kids running around, ranging from early elementary school to middle schooler age. A good number of older students meandered around, keeping an eye on the children. She could feel King get excited as he tried to squirm from her grasp.

“Yes… YES! This will make for an excellent kingdom to rule over!”

“Later King, we still need to get the layout of the rest of the school first,” she cooed, “We can play tomorrow though!”

“Hmph!” he crossed his tiny arms in a pout and squinted his eyes, which allowed him to notice something between the gaps in the playground equipment, “Hey, what’s that? Behind the playground.”

He pointed a claw in the general direction of whatever it was that he saw.

“Oh, that, c’mon, over here,” Teodora said, walking a few dozen paces to the right. From this new angle, they could see something… unexpected.

A hole.

There was a massive, crumbling hole in the back of the wall fence, debris and rubble was scattered on the ground from whatever had caused it.

“...you… are aware that’s a massive security breach… right?” Hunter asked slowly, physically feeling his brain struggle to process what he was seeing, “Not to mention a general safety hazard.”

“Well, yeah, technically, but nobody’s stupid enough to try and attack us. Besides, it makes it so much easier to get in and out of the forest this way. As for the safety thing, we just avoid the rubble, there’s a clear enough path in the middle.”

“Is it that big a deal or something? The forest I mean,” Luz asked. She kind of liked the hole, having such easy access to the forest reminded her of the Owl House and eased some inner part of her that she couldn’t name.

“Well the school may be weird, but the forest has all sorts of crazy stuff! Oh, and right past the wall, there’s a downward incline, and at the base, there’s a small clearing, so you don’t hit the treeline right away. We use that spot for target practice, projectile attacks, weapons, and our more… dangerous stuff. There’s more room there than the sparring ring, so it’s less dangerous for potential bystanders.”

“Dangerous?” King questioned, suddenly very interested, “How dangerous?”

“Well, if you got lucky, the worst you’d deal with from some of those attacks is broken bones, tinnitus, lost limbs, disembowelment, just to name a few.”

“And that’s more than enough details for us to hear!” Luz interrupted, “Sorry to keep circling back to this, but you said that stuff in the forest was crazy, right? What kind of crazy?”

“Ah right, sorry, got sidetracked. Well there’s a colony of gnomes, fairies, size-changing crystals, the “Jurassic Sap Hole” as Stan puts it, manotaurs-”

“You mean minotaurs?”

“Nope! There’s also an enchanted meadow you can summon that has unicorns-”

“UNICORNS?!”

She grabbed Teodora by the lapels and pulled her in way too close.

“THERE ARE UNICORNS OUT THERE?!”

“...okay one, chill, two, back up, and three, yes. Yes there are.”

The squeal that followed was almost high-pitched enough to shatter glass.

“Don’t get your hopes up though,” Teodora tacked on, “The unicorns that live around here are grade A jerks!”

“JUST KNOWING THAT THEY’RE REAL IS ENOUGH!” Luz had seemingly lost all control of her volume and was even bouncing on her toes and flapping her hands.

“...you’re really into this kind of stuff, aren’t you?”

“Well uh, yeah! Sorry, is that weird, I-”

“No no, it’s just… Most new arrivals don’t get this excited about all this stuff. They’re usually too overwhelmed by everything.”

“Oh uh… well… I kinda always wanted something like this to be real, and after what happened on the Boiling Isles… I didn’t know if I’d get any of it back at all, let alone… all this!”

She turned and gestured to the school.

“...ya know what? Fair enough,” Teodora had a suave smile, “You’re definitely more lively than most of our new arrivals, especially for one who was attacked by goblins not even three hours ago, but I like it! We always need a little more weird around here.”

Something in Luz’s chest fluttered like a small bird.

“That’s… really close to something my mentor told me once,” she rubbed her arm awkwardly, “She said… “We weirdos need to stick together” and… it resonated with me, ya know?”

“Oh man, I like her already! And I’m pretty sure everyone else here would agree with her on that too!”

Luz smiled and she felt King hug her.

“Anyway, there’s still more to see, c’mon!”

Teodora next led them to a heavily reinforced room, simply called “The Rage Room.” It had been made as a place for the students to vent their frustrations and trauma in a destructively cathartic way that was safe for all involved. She explained that sometimes the best way to deal with internal strife was to get violent, and rather than get into an actual fight, destroying a bunch of the robots that did the chores around the mansion was the best alternative the staff could come up with. The room was heavily padded, white cushions covered every inch of the floor, walls and even the ceiling! Two panels were left unprotected, one was in the upper right corner, the robots would apparently fly in through. The other held a large window for supportive loved ones to watch through, and to wait out the storm. She also explained that when someone’s trauma was triggered and those around were able to recognize it in time, it was common curetsy for them to guide the person to the room as quickly and as safely as possible…

And then she showed them the construction grade noise canceling headphones.

Apparently, screaming was common during some of these sessions and despite the room being heavily padded, it wasn’t enough to muffle the screams of some particularly powerful and/or heavily  traumatized students. Luz had originally thought they had been overkill, until Teodora mentioned one of the students was able to scream so loud it cracked stone… It was also that same student had punched the hole in the wall fence… However, the part that disturbed her the most was the fact he had apparently been holding back on that particular incident.

Luz was curious but also very scared of this individual.

The next room they were shown was the communal TV room, where a single, massive, wall mounted screen kept company with a couch, a love seat, a coffee table and more pillows, blankets and bean bags than they could keep track of. Apparently, the students had regular movie nights, which regularly turned into sleepovers as they fell asleep huddled together and covered in snacks. It was currently occupied by two little girls playing video games, one in a pink dress with a yellow flower on it, shiny black shoes that matched her headband, and with blonde hair that curled up into a horn-like shape. The other had purple hair in a bob style that curled to frame the edges of her face, eyelashes so thick none of them could see her eyes, she wore a dull blue t-shirt with an 8-bit video game character, a pleated gray skirt, dark gray leggings and boots.

This duo of Mandy and Gaz, as Teodora so helpfully named them, shot surprisingly terrifying glares at the intruders, as if warning them to leave. They wisely chose to comply.

The room after that was locked up tight, because apparently, new students needed to prove they were responsible enough to be let into the Armory. King scratching at the door at the promise of weapons for his “new army” made Luz agree that rule was probably a good idea.

The next room Teodora wanted to show them was one she was clearly excited about, even running ahead a few times. This room was high up, requiring them to go to the top floor and into a hallway that was otherwise unimpressive. The only thing of note was a small door in the ceiling, the kind that led up to an attic. The pink girl astral projected herself up to the ceiling to open it and pulled down a ladder before swiftly returning to her body.

“This way~” she sang before climbing up quickly.

The trio looked at each other before following her lead, Luz being curious, King excited and Hunter skeptical.

What should have been a dusty old room full of boxes and forgotten possessions was instead incredibly clean… and held perhaps the coziest structure Luz had ever seen.

It was a massive blanket fort.

There was no other way to put it, what stood before them was simply the biggest blanket fort any of them had ever seen, with the room being lit by fairy lights that hung from the walls. The fort took up a massive amount of space, the main body of it vaguely reminded Luz of a circus tent, with the whole structure seemingly supported by something within, and had seemingly grown outwards from there.

“This is our personal project. Everyone loves this thing and sleepovers are pretty common in there,” Teodora explained.

“It’s… huge !” Luz exclaimed, spreading her arms wide, “How did you-”

“Some trial and error, iron willed stubbornness to make it work, and just finding the whole thing fun!”

“Can we sleep in it?”

“Probably not tonight, there’s still a little more for you guys to see, not to mention showing you your actual rooms.”

Luz had honestly forgotten about them having dorm rooms. In her paperwork, she had confirmed she didn’t mind the idea of having a roommate, but now she wondered if she’d actually get one, if there was one even available, and what they’d be like. King would obviously be rooming with her, she wouldn’t bunk somewhere and leave him alone for anything in the world at this point! She also worried about Hunter, he had made his desires of a single room painfully clear, saying he had to focus on finding a way home over chatting with an unwanted bunkmate. He sometimes added that he was the Emperor’s right hand man and therefore was used to sleeping alone, even going so far as to sleep on the couch back in Connecticut when King and Vee had been more than happy to share her room.

“Now c’mon, there’s a few more rooms left for you to see.”

Teodora’s voice pulled her back to reality and as much as she wanted to crawl into the blanket fort, she made herself follow. Exploring it could wait until she had a full lay of the land as it were. She led them to a door on the first floor and opened it, smiling brightly as she said,

“This here’s the library.”

The smell of old books filled the air and Luz smiled brightly. The library was on the large side, not as big as the one back in Bonesborough, not by a long shot, but it easily dwarfed the ones in her old schools. The room radiated with warmth, helped in no small part due to a fireplace with a stone hearth with a small fire flickering away. Bookcases filled the room, all carefully organized and sorted, with signs making it clear what each section was. There were the typical “Fiction,” “History,” and “Manga” genres, but the inclusion of “Magical Studies” and “Supernatural Phenomena” were far more eye-catching. It was all so cozy one could easily doze off and she loved it!

“...this is… quaint,” Hunter frowned, “Not nearly as impressive as the library back at the castle but-”

“Sh, let me have this moment,” she shushed, “This is better than most human schools ever get.”

“Ugh, books,” King groaned, “Boring. Nice place for a nap though.”

“You say that as if we didn’t write a bestseller together,” she smirked down at him.

“Writing is one thing, actually reading is another.”

“Buenas noches!”

A Mexican woman stepped out from behind one of the bookcases and she was a vision of beauty! She wore a light green blouse and pink skirt with frills at the end with bright red high heel shoes that matched her lipstick perfectly. Long dark curly hair cascaded down her back like shining obsidian and her brown eyes sparkled like diamonds! Freckles danced across her rosy cheeks and gold hoop earrings complimented her face.

Luz wondered for a second if she might be some sort of nature goddess in human form, she was just that beautiful. She instead settled on the idea she was just the kind of person who was naturally that stunning… and more than likely a favorite teacher to elementary school students, she just had a feeling about that one.

“Buenas noches Maria,” Teodora smiled, “Don’t have a lot of time to talk tonight,
I got wrapped into showing the new kids around and we still have a few more places to go before we’re done.”

“Oh, that’s a shame,” the woman, Maria, said with a hint of disappointment, before looking at them with a smile as warm as freshly baked cookies, “Good evening children! My name is Maria Rivera, I’m the head librarian here at the school, but please, just call me Maria. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Luz fumbled with her words for a brief second before physically shaking her head to get it screwed back on right before saying,

“Buenas noches! I’m Luz Noceda, i-it’s very nice to meet you ma’am!”

Her laughter was bright, like the jingle of bells.

“No need to be so formal, cariño. I know the school is a lot to process, but you can relax here. It’s very calm and grounded here, it’s an important part of settling in after all.”

She would have chuckled nervously if King hadn’t decided to climb up onto her shoulder to introduce himself.

“I’m King Clawthorne! Question: Is it alright if I take naps in here?”

Maria chuckled at the forwardness of the question.

“Only if you don’t snore too loudly.”

“Yes! Perfect napping spot acquired!”

Hunter rolled his eyes at the display before calmly approaching. This woman was the furthest thing from a threat that there could possibly be. Plus, he respected librarians, and he had no doubt he’d spend a lot of time here, reading whatever material he could get on the matter of returning to the Boiling Isles. Might as well ingratiate himself to her while he had the chance.

“Good evening ma’am, my name is Hunter,” he held out his hand politely, “Golden Guard and right hand to Emperor Belos, it’s very nice to meet you.”

“It’s very nice to meet you too,” she smiled at him and shook his hand. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a very boisterous and theatrical voice.

“Maria, my good woman, have you seen my copy of a Brief Reconfigulation of Troll Lore, I swear I had it here just a moment ag-”

The trio froze when they saw the owner of the voice emerge from behind the bookcases.

It belonged to a creature that was in no way, shape, or form, human. It was big, very big, roughly seven feet tall, with light blue skin, long ears, dark blue sideburns but no hair on the top of its head, instead having a pair of horns, and a flat orange nose that went up and down the center of its face. This did nothing to distract from the fact this thing had six eyes, all of which were a matching soft red-brown color with yellow sycra! It also had a slight underbite, causing its lower canines to stick out of its mouth. It had four stubby arms, equally stubby legs, old brown suspenders with a pack on each hip, and its body seemed to be covered in strange carvings. It was almost cartoonish looking but at the same time intimidating.

There was just a brief second of surprised silence from the creature before it smiled, opened that massive mouth and spoke.

“Ah, hello! You must be our newest students! Welcome! I am Blinky, and I will be your Magical History teacher!”

“...you’re a teacher?” Luz managed to squeak out.

“Indeed! And what might your names be?”

They were too stunned to answer, this Blinky creature had caught them so off guard that while trying to process what they were seeing, they briefly forgot their names. Their guide seemed to be snickering at their stunned reactions. Maria, quickly catching on to what was wrong, answered for them.

“Blinky, this is Luz, King and Hunter,” she gestured to each one as she spoke their name, “Teodora here was just showing them around the school!”

“Ah, excellent! Exploring the halls of academia! We always need more eager young minds! Never enough of them I say!”

King, the first to snap out of his shock, pointed a claw and demanded, “Okay, what in the hecking name of the Titan are you!?”

A human might have found this question exceedingly rude, and taken offense, but Blinky, being anything but human, merely laughed jovially!

“Oh I like you! As for what I am, I, my good creature, am a troll!”

“Wait… a troll?! As in the kind of fairy tales and stuff?” Luz asked, her brain finally catching up to the situation.

“To an extent, though, some of your human stories aren’t always accurate. Pleasure to meet you all!”

“It’s nice to meet you too Mr Blinky sir!” she reached out and eagerly shook three of his hands before gasping, “Is your skin stone!?”

“Indeed it is! All trolls of my kind have skin as such, though some other variations have flesh just a little less squishy than your own! Much like… oh what do you call them again? Calluses?”

“Whoa…! Wait, going back to what you said before… you’re going to be teaching us about magical history?”

“Indeed, there are many major events that have taken place around the world that were kept hidden from as much of the world as possible, including the very fact that we exist at all! Not out of malice mind you, but for our own safety, and for humanity’s as well.”

The way he spoke held an incredible weight that Luz couldn’t properly describe, but it was clear that whatever reason these creatures had to go into hiding was a good one.

“...I’m assuming this is all stuff you’re gonna go over in class?”

“Why yes, of course! Do not worry now, I’ll be more than happy to get you caught up with your new classmates!”

“Yes, even more jabber from him! My brother does love to hear himself talk.”

A new voice joined the conversation, and another troll lumbered out from behind another bookshelf. He was shockingly similar to Blinky, being green instead of blue, with hair on his scalp, including a single shock that was snow white. However, the major point of notice was his six eyes were milky and unseeing. He was reaching his arms out to find his way, his head turning left and right.

“Been that way ever since we were whelps, you could not ever get him to stop! Even Mother struggled to reign in that tongue of his!”

“Ha! You’re one to talk, Dictacious!” Blinky growled, “You were worse than I could ever hope to be. And watch your tongue in front of my new students! Why if I were not so kind, you’d be exiled, out on your own a long time ago, don’t think I’ve forgiven you for your treasonous ways!”

“Oh, you wouldn’t! We are family!”

“Try me!”

The light blue troll threw himself at his mint-colored counterpart, knocking him flat on his back and began to wildly smack at him. Dictacious desperately tried to hold him back with his lower pair of arms, and fight back with the upper set. However, as it was clear neither of them were warriors, any attempts of hand to hand combat were reduced to the most basic attack possible!

It was a nerd troll slap fight, and it was a hilarious sight to witness.

“Oooooo~ the girls are fighting!” Teodora exclaimed in giggling delight as she took pictures, “New reaction images abound~!”

“I thought this was a library,” Hunter stated as they rolled into a bookcase, “Are they supposed to make this much noise in here?”

“Oh Dios mío,” Maria sighed, “No, but with trolls it’s hard for them to do anything quietly. You children should continue with your tour, I’ll break these two up.”

“Aye aye Mama Rivera!” Teodora saluted before taking a few more pictures, grabbing the others and leaving, slamming the door behind them.

“...are those two going to be okay?” Luz questioned.

“Yeah, they just have some bad blood between them. I never got the full story but their fights are always fun to watch!”

To get to the next room, she led them to a massive bookshelf in the hallway, and she chose to make a point of how big and heavy it looked…

Before swinging it open like a door on a well greased hinge, revealing an antiquated elevator behind.

“The last few places for you to see are down below,” she smirked, and Luz felt herself getting excited again!

Once they were all inside, Teodora pulled on the lever and they went down, down past the ground level, past where a normal basement should be, and kept going. As they continued downward, they noticed there was a small panel with about half a dozen buttons on it, going up and down in a single line. The bottom button stood out, due to the large number of notes stuck around it, all shouting warnings of “Do not press!” “Under construction!” “Incomplete!” “You will probably die if you press this button!”

They finally stopped at an odd room, it was poorly lit, coming in shades of black, gray-purple and largely lit by computer monitors. The only brightly lit spot in the room was a large work table, but it was far too similar to a surgical table one might see in a hospital for Luz to find it comfortable.

“First, we have the lab of our very own mad scientist, Jack Spicer-” Teodora began, only to be loudly interrupted.

“That’s “evil boy genius” to you missy!”

The red-haired boy from the sparring matches leaned out from behind a large console, looking miffed at the description of himself. In one hand he held the head of one of the school’s robots, in the other was a blow torch that was still very brightly lit and Luz tried not to look directly at it.

“Oh c’mon Jacky, “boy genius” isn’t quite as grandiose as “mad scientist” now is it? Plus, I’m pretty sure your eighteenth birthday is due soon, if not already passed.”

“ What do you want, Teodora?” the boy, Jack, sounded like he was extending his patience already, “I have a lot of work to do and don’t have time for your dumbass games!”

“I’m just showing the new kids around is all,” she said in a teasing voice that was knowingly faking innocence.

“Yeah right,” he finally turned off the blow torch before turning to the newcomers, “Did she tell you I made the robots who do all the crappy chores around here?”

“...no,” King admitted bluntly before Luz could even think to stop him.

“Well I do, they’re mine, my own design and everything. If you break them, I’ll send a bunch of them after you and disable the killswitch.”

“...what about the ones in the rage room?” Luz questioned, brow slowly raising.

“Those are bought and paid for by the school. Once they pay me, it’s out of my hands. If they get smashed, they get smashed. Just means I have to build more so I keep making a profit.”

“...I guess that makes sense,” she said, “So… you’re really a mad-I mean-evil boy genius?”

“You got it! Remember this face kid, because one day, IT’LL BE RULING THE WORLD!”

Jack then cut loose with a shriek-y, high-pitched laugh, that made it very hard to take him seriously.

“HA! You think that’s impressive?!” King pointed at the young genius before raising his arms over his head, “I’ll have you know that one day I, King Clawthorne, will be the king of all demons! I will be a great and powerful despot, my enemies will cower before me and my armies shall ravage the land in a wave of fire and brimstone! You can have this world though, it doesn’t have any demons.”

“Oh, is that a fact, Fluffy?” Jack slammed his hands down on the table and leaned over the tiny demon in what should have been an intimidating manner.

“Yeah!”

“Oh yeah?!”

“Yeah!”

They glared at each other, leaning in dangerously close and squinting as they got closer until Jack broke the silence.

“...I think I like you.”

“I think I like you too! Wanna be friends?”

“Oh absolutely!”

The two shook hands, leaving the teenage onlookers very confused.

“...what just happened?” Luz asked after a moment.

“Nonsense in its purest form,” Teodora sighed and placed a hand to her forehead.

“Shouldn’t we be worried about him proclaiming he’s going to take over the world?”

“Nope. He is exceptionally bad at it, he can come up with schemes or whatever but they always fail in the end. So we kind of just let him do his thing and then karma stops him for us. Despite that, Jack’s one of our super geniuses around here, when it comes to fixing things like cars, TV’s, consoles and computers, he’s the one we go to. However , he doesn’t do anything for free. You need to pay a price.”

“And what price is that?” Hunter asked, his hand instinctively shielding his palisman.

“Favors usually, get him some supplies he needs, some positive reinforcement if he’s down, maybe help him bribe someone… or just give him a few pudding cups, that always works.”

“Hey I like pudding,” Jack meekly defended.

“We know Jackie, we know. Anyway, we have to get going, we have two more sub-levels before the tour’s over.”

“Then can we finally retire to our quarters?” Hunter sounded a bit grumpy.

“Yes Blondie, I’ll take you to your rooms once we’re done, don’t worry.”

“C’mon King,” Luz sighed as she scooped the demon up, “Oh, and Jack? My name’s Luz, it’s nice to meet you.”

She held out her hand to shake. He looked surprised for a second before smirking in a malicious way and shaking her hand.

“Likewise.”

She had a feeling he was going to be chaotically fun!

They returned to the elevator and went down to the next level.

This room looked like it came from another planet! There were strange computers and consoles in various shades of blue, with strange lights that seemed to be more decorative and aesthetic in nature than having any function. The monitors for the machines seemed to be panes of glass with unfamiliar programs on them, and odd, angular symbols floated in the air. The room resonated with loud rave music, making Hunter cover his ears as a strange orb that seemed to be omitting the music flashed in different colors as it floated past.

At the main console was a latino boy, with curly brown hair that stopped at his shoulders, and he seemed to be dancing to the music as he worked. He wore a bluet-shirt with a soundwave on it, black sweatpants and white sneakers, a surprisingly mundane outfit compared to what they had seen so far.

Teodora was smiling as she tapped the multi-color ball, suddenly stopping the music and surprising the boy enough to make him notice them.

“Hey!”

“Hey to you too Krel,” she smirked, “I just needed your attention since we have some new kids that I’m showing around.”

“Aye aye aye, you had to mess with my music to do that?” he had a lovely hispanic accent, in Luz’s opinion anyway, “A simple hello would do!”

“You’d be too caught up in your music to hear me. It’s happened before and you know it,” she poked him in the chest for emphasis.

“Ugh, can we just make this quick? I have a lot of work to do and three new songs to finish for my next DJ gig.”

“Yeah yeah, relax, we’ll be out of your hair in a minute,” she then turned to the others, “Introducing his royal pain in the ass, Prince Krel Tarron.”

“King-in-Waiting! King-in-Waiting! You know what I am! Get it right!”

At this introduction, the trio has very different reactions

“He’s royalty?!” Luz exclaimed.

Hunter fell to one knee in a genuflex, followed by saying, “Your majesty.”

As for King, he scampered up onto Luz’s shoulder and excitedly exclaimed, “Yes! A fellow monarch! We can be tyrant buddies!”

Without missing a beat, Krel pointed a finger right in the tiny demon’s face.

“I do not know who you are or what you are but I will have you know that I am no tyrant! I had to save my people from a coup and my sister and I will never subject our people to the horrors General Morando made them suffer!”

“Chill your royal britches there buddy,” Teodora stepped forward, spreading her arms to separate them, “He’s only a little kid, Krel, he’s just playing a game or… something.”

“No I’m not!” King protested as Luz put a hand over his mouth.

The King-in-Waiting raised a brow at this.

“Look, we just got off on the wrong foot,” she said before pulling the young demon off her shoulder before extending her hand out, “Can we start over? My name’s Luz, this is King and… uh… that’s Hunter,” she looked down at the witch in question, who was still on one knee.

Krel looked them over, silently, before allowing a small smile to grace his features and took her hand, “Krel Tarron. King-in-Waiting of Akiridion-5.”

“Oh cool! ...I… have no idea what that is.”

“It’s another planet.”

Luz stared blankly for a second.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

Fifteen seconds.

Repeating the process she had done back in the dining room, she folded her hands together, pointing her index and middle fingers up as she took in a very long, very deep breath through her nose.

“You’ve been to other planets.”

“Yes.”

“...and you’re the… King-in-Waiting of one?”

“That is correct.”

“...you went to another planet… not another realm.”

“HA! Earth is the other planet to me! Akiridion-5 is where I’m from!”

“...so you’re an alien…”

“Yes.”

“...I’m storing that information away to process later… but at the same time-”

“Oh no!” King covered his ears, it was the only warning they got before Luz squealed in delight, though this time she had the forethought to cover her mouth with her hands.

“...well isn’t she exciting,” Krel groaned, wincing at the muffled, high-pitched noise.

“Huh, she’s gonna lose her voice if she keeps this up,” Teodora stated, hands over her ears.

The excited latina took another deep breath, and with her voice shaking said, “Okay… Okay I’m good… but I’m going to have a bunch of questions for you later!”

“Just make sure they’re intelligent ones, please ! I get a lot of really stupid ones when you humans find out I’m from another planet!”

“I make no promises! Such as… wait… this school has more than one super genius?”

“More than one…? Ha! If you mean that hack, Jack Spicer, he’s barely a genius at all! I could outsmart that gloober at anything any day of the week!”

“Okay… but why do you guys need your own labs? Wouldn’t it make sense for you both to share one?”

“Again, HA! Double HA! Never in a million years would I ever share a lab space with that bumbling buffoon! He’s a threat to himself and everyone around him!”

“That and super geniuses don’t like sharing~” Teodora half-sang, “It makes them cranky and they argue over who’s turn it is to use the wrench!”

“THAT IS NOT IT AND YOU KNOW IT!” Krel shouted as she shot him the most smug grin she could possibly manage.

“Not to mention their stuff is totally incompatible. Ever seen what happens when alien tech from another planet is haphazardly slapped onto magitech because two super genius idiots can’t keep track of their own projects? It makes space fold over on itself, the school ends up in a pocket dimension, and the teachers need to fix it so we can return to regular reality… oh and they both end up in detention for three weeks.”

There was a long, heavy pause.

“...did that actually happen or is that just a hypothetical?” Luz squeaked.

“You understood all that?!” King exclaimed, “Those weren’t even words!”

“Of course I understood it! I’m a nerd of all colors, including sci-fi!”

“Huh… I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Teodora smiled, “But to answer your question, it came close to happening. Ford realized what was going on and shut it down but it was a close call.”

“Once! It only happened once!” Krel protested.

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” she waved her hand dismissively, “Anyway, we had to add on a second lab before the two of them accidentally got us all killed. Now, we have one last stop before I can take you to your rooms, so let’s move it people!”

She grabbed Hunter by the back of his shirt and with a hard jerk, began to drag him along the floor. She pulled him towards the elevator door despite his yells of surprise and protest at the indignity of it all! Luz watched the sight for a moment before turning back to Krel and offering a meek wave.

“It was nice meeting you!”

She scampered off after the others, and caught a glimpse of the young royal waving back before the elevator doors closed.

Their final destination was the second to last button on the elevator’s panel, and was even further underground than the two labs. It came to a stop with a cheery ping as to a room that was different from anything they’d seen in the entire school. Large consoles lined the walls, many of them with bright glowing screens that showed some form of data being analyzed and processed. Others showed strange locations that were unlike any they had ever seen before, slowing all of them to a stop and making them stare. Among them were strange futuristic cities, a cave of fire, rolling fields of saturated colors, a black realm of swirling green energy and floating islands, an endless wood with strange lights and a world made entirely of chalk drawings.

“Whoa…”

“Those are just some of the worlds we’ve found,” Teodora smiled at their reactions, “Which brings me to why we’re here.”

She walked to a doorway that had another, much larger console, covered in buttons and levers. It was connected to a massive black screen, indicating that whatever machine they were connected to was clearly turned off. Nearby was a window, looking into a massive chamber, but they only had a second to glance inside before Teodora led them into the chamber itself, which was seemingly made from an underground cave. Rock and dirt made up most of the walls, ceiling and flooring, but it was the machines that caught their attention. A few more consoles lined the walls, wires stuck out of them, connecting from one to another, pipes crawled up the walls and disappeared into holes drilled into the stone ceiling.

In the center of the room, a pole stood out, a single, bright red button stood atop it.

Beyond it was a series of steps, leading up to a strange, upside down metal triangle, with a large hole in the center, that was ringed by strange symbols and markings. The strange machine was horrifyingly massive, almost the height of a two story house, a cable was hanging from the top of it, and a familiar figure was strapped into it, using a soldering iron on some internal wiring.

“Hey Ford! You guys missed dinner again!” Teodora called up, pulling the man away from what he was doing.

“Oh, good evening Teo! Sorry I completely got lost in my work and I-”

He looked down and spotted the trio.

“Oh-Oh my! You three! You’re here! Lemme just-” he banged on the machine with his fist, “Fiddleford, get out here! Our new students are here!”

A panel suddenly swung open, and a wild-looking man peered out, releasing an equally wild laugh. He was wearing an old brown pair of overalls, a cast that covered most of his left arm from the elbow down with only his fingers poking out, a large brown, and brimmed hat sat upon his head. He also had a long white beard, almost as long as he was tall!

“Hoo-wee!” he exclaimed in a southern accent, “Nice ta meet’cha kiddos!”

“Children, this is my partner, Fiddleford McGucket, he owns this building! We couldn’t have the school without his cooperation!”

McGucket climbed out of the hole in the machine, crawling across it like some sort of strange gecko, and revealing he also wore no shoes. He made his way over to Ford and grabbed onto the cable that supported him. They lowered themselves down to the floor and quickly walked over to the students.

“Our deepest apologies, we got caught up with our work and completely lost track of time! How long have you been here fo-”

“Hours. They’ve been here for hours,” Teodora interrupted, “They already had a run-in with goblins, they’ve had the usual tour, met some of the others, and all that’s left is to show them to their dorms.”

“Ah, gracias, Teodora,” Ford stated awkwardly.

“We also saw your brother,” Luz added, “At the sparring ring!”

“Ah, so you’ve already met Stanley!”

“Well, no, we didn’t talk to him, we were watching and didn’t get the chance to actually speak to him, but we did think he was you at first.”

“You two look way too similar!” King snapped, pointing at him.

“Heh, well, we are twins, it runs in the family,” Ford smiled with a shrug, “Anyway, it’s thanks to his efforts that I was able to return to this dimension after being gone for twenty years. So if you see his less… pleasant side, please, just remember that he does mean well.”

“Less pleasant side? What do you mean by that?” Hunter asked, suspicion dripping off his voice like venom.

“That’s sibling talk for annoying habits,” Luz smirked.

“We should know!” King proclaimed as the two of them fist bumped.

“That and uh… he does have a bit of a criminal record,” Ford scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“Pft, c’mon man, what did he do?” Luz smirked, “Speeding tickets? Loitering? Maybe a drunken brawl or two?”

Ford looked very uncomfortable, McGcuket and Teodora however cackled with wild laughter.

“...I’m nowhere near right am I? My mentor set a uniquely high bar for me.”

“T-Try regular tax fraud,” their guide choked on her laughter, “Counterfeiting, shoplifting, voter fraud, reckless driving, resisting arrest, escaping police custody, trespassing, stealing from government property-”

“WAIT WHAT?!”

“And that’s just some of the stuff he did last summer!”

“Oh he would definitely get along with Eda!” King’s tail became an excited, wagging blur.

“So he’s a menace to society!?” Hunter exclaimed in disbelief, “How can you let a man like that near your students?! He should be locked away to be reformed!”

“Now now children,” Ford put out his hands to calm them, “Yes my brother has a checkered past but these days he focuses his efforts on the school and our students. If there’s anyone I’d trust your safety with, it’s him. Now then,” he clapped his hands together, “Enough about that, I’m sure you’re wondering what this is.”

He gestured to the large machine he and McGucket had been working on, and a sense of great importance seemed to radiate from it.

“This is the portal. It’s an improved version of the original one that sent me away all those years ago. This model is made with newer tech, and a better understanding of how the worlds work! Twenty years makes so much difference, but with the information we’ve learned from your fellow students, we’ve made progress faster than I ever could have predicted!”

“Wait… this… this is it… this is the thing that’s gonna get us back to the Boiling Isles?” Luz asked, pointing quietly at it.

“Yes, it is. It's the culmination of a lifetime of work and research, and once we can locate your world, you’ll be able to use it to return.”

“It… It does work… doesn’t it?” Hunter asked, his voice choking.

“Yes, it does, it just needs time to power up first. Obviously we have to turn it off when making repairs or improvements, and those take time, but it does work.”

“...where did you get the Titan’s blood to make it work?”

“Titan’s blood? I don’t know what you’re referring to, young man, but we use toxic waste to power it.”

“ TOXIC WASTE ?!” Luz exclaimed in disbelief, “Isn’t that dangerous?!”

“Well the kind we need is largely inert. You’re alright so long as you don't have prolonged and unprotected exposure to it. It’s like taking an X-ray, a single exposure won’t hurt you, but doing it twenty times a day for forty years will definitely destroy your cells and give you cancer.”

She stared in disbelief at his analogy.

“Spending too much time with Rick Sanchez there Fordsy,” Theodora said with a disgusted look, “Could have left out that last bit.”

“Ah yes, sorry, the company I kept during my time in other dimensions wasn’t anywhere close to what you would call normal.”

“Apparently not.”

“Either way, once we have our current modifications to the portal done, we’ll fire it up and start looking for the isles. However-”

Of course, there was always a catch.

“We need as much information the three of you can give us about the world as possible.”

…okay that wasn’t nearly as bad as the trio had been expecting.

“Didn’t you go there?” King piped up, “You should know what it’s like.”

“I only saw a small part of a singular town,” he explained, “And that was years ago, things can change very fast in a very short amount of time. If we opened the portal to that world but it showed us a location none of you were familiar with, we might not realize it’s your world and we’d continue the search elsewhere.”

All of their stomachs dropped at that implication.

“That’s why we need as much information as you can offer, any tiny bit of extra information might be the key to helping us recognize it.”

“I… what do you need to know?” Luz asked, only to muffle a yawn as soon as the words left her mouth.

“Oh, nothin’ right now youngin’,” McGucket piped up, “We ain’t even got the thing up an’ runnin’ yet! And ya’ll still need ta see yer rooms! Ya can tell us what ya’ll know later! Fer now, why don’t cha all head on topside to get some rest? It’s been a long day for ya and yer probably dern near ready ta collapse!”

Luz had to admit he was probably right. They had been up early that morning, rode a plane across the country, had the worst car ride of their lives, went on a tour, gotten attack by goblins, met dragons, ghosts, ninjas, saw a fight, had an amazing dinner, and were only just now finishing the aforementioned tour. She was probably going to fall asleep the moment she laid down and the adrenalin had the chance to leave her system.

“Teo dear, could ya-”

“I’m on it!”

She grabbed the trio again and pushed them towards the door.

“Let’s get you guys to your dorms and then some sleep huh?”

“I don’t need sleep!” Hunter protested, “I need to learn about getting back home!”

“Trust me buddy, it isn’t going anywhere, and tackling the problem with a clear mind will be a lot better than doing it when you’re half asleep!”

“...Luz…” King tugged on her legging as they walked, “Is that thing really gonna get us home?”

There was a twinge of painful hope in his tiny voice.

“...of course it will,” she had tears stinging her eyes as she said that, and a lump forming in her throat. She hoped it would.

Teodora took them up to the second floor and to the hallways with the dorm rooms. They could hear others talking and laughing beyond some of the doors, some early to bed early to risers maybe?

“This is your room Hunter,” she gestured to a thick brown door, “A single, just like you asked.”

“Thank you, Teodora,” he said stiffly but politely before entering, “Goodnight.”

He closed the door with an audible click, soft enough to not be disturbing to others on the floor but loud enough that the three left in the hallway could hear some force in it.

“Hmph, Mr. Personality right there,” she frowned.

Luz’s room was in the other hallway. The door was the same as all the rest, but just standing there, staring at it… it felt heavier somehow, without her ever touching it. She took a deep, shaky breath, before reaching out and opening the door.

It wasn’t quite as simple as she had been expecting it to be. To the left was a queen sized bed with pale blue sheets and a matching comforter, decorated with at least six pillows and drawers for clothes underneath. A small bookcase sat at the foot of the bed, waiting to be filled, and the wall beside it was also bare, ready to be decorated and personalized. Her bags were sitting next to the bed, as if they had been waiting for her this whole time.

On the right hand side was a loft bed, with a small desk under it, books and clothes were scattered haphazardly around that half of the room. A short string of fairy lights hung around a small cork board that hung on the wall that the desk was pressed against, a small lamp stood on it, illuminating a small collection of books. They seemed to primarily be on coding, but there were also a few textbooks on advanced math Luz couldn’t quite recognize.

“Oh, hey, you’re here.”

From the top of the loft bed, a smiling face looked down at them before heading to the ladder and hurriedly climbing down. It was a girl, maybe a little younger than Luz but she couldn’t be sure due to her height. She had autumn red hair tied back into a ponytail, black framed glasses, was wearing a red and tan letterman jacket over a burgundy hoodie and blue jeans.

“You must be my new roommate!”

“Uh, yeah, I’m Luz Noceda, and this is King Clawthorne.”

“Hiya!” the little demon waved.

“Whoa, talking stuffed animal!”

“I’m a demon!” he corrected.

“Ah, demon, got it, sorry. I’m Tulip Olsen, nice to meet you both,” she smiled, holding her hand out, Luz was happy to shake it.

“I’ll leave you guys to settle in and bond,” Teodora smiled as she headed for the door, “Get along guys!”

She closed the door behind her and they were alone.

“So…” Tulip looked at them awkwardly.

“Um… before we talk or anything, is it alright if I call my mom first? I promised her I would and it’s getting late back home, she’s probably worried by now.”

“Oh yeah sure, go ahead.”

“Thanks…”

Luz opened up her bag and pulled out her phone. She quickly opened up her contacts on FaceTime and tapped the one for her mom. It rang only twice before it was answered.

“Hello?”

“Ola Mamá!”

“Luz! How are you mija? Are you alright? Are you settling in?”

“Mom, Mom, I’m okay, really! I just got a bit caught up with some things and only just now got to my dorm room.”

“Only now? Haven’t you been there for a while? Was your flight late? I checked online but everything left on time.”

“No nothing like that Mom, we actually had a private jet pick us up, don’t ask me how that got arranged, I have no idea. As for why I’m so late, we had to get the grand tour of the school, find out where everything is, meet a few of the other students, had dinner… had a small run-in with some local pests but it was alright in the end!”

“Local pests?”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m alright, we’re all alright. Oh! This is my roommate, Tulip!”

She turned her phone so the redhead could be seen on screen.

“Hello,” she greeted politely.

“Ola,” her mom said with a small wave, “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too ma’am.”

“Anyways Mom,” she turned her phone back to show her, and let out a yawn, “I… I kinda wanted to apologize. For the whole fireworks and snakes thing back at school. I… was so caught up in my own head with how it would look that I didn’t realize how dangerous it was. I kinda got a wake up call when I got here and just… I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for that.”

“Luz… oh mija, you look so tired, do you need to go to bed?”

“Not yet, I still need to unpack my stuff. I probably will as soon as I’m done though.”

“Alright, you can tell me more in the morning love, I’ll… I’ll leave you to settle in.”

“Alright Mamá… I love you.”

“I love you too mija.”

It took a moment for her to work up the ability to hang up, but when she did, she began to feel choked up. King hugged her tightly as she did.

“Here.”

She hadn’t heard Tulip walking over towards her, but now she was standing by her bed and holding out a box of tissues.

“Gracias…” Luz took a handful and wiped her eyes.

“So… your mom knows the truth about this place?” the redhead asked softly but awkwardly.

“Y-Yeah… w-why wouldn’t she?”

“It’s just… well… Not all of the parents who send kids here do.”

“They… they don’t?”

“Nope, if they don’t know about the whole other worlds thing, or if they don’t believe it, Ford portrays the school as some specialized therapy school for kids with trauma or behavioral issues or something like that. My parents certainly don’t know.”

“Really…?”

“Yeah, they think I just ran away… which I kinda did, I just wanted to go to Computer Camp, ending up on the Train wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Train?”

“I’ll tell ya later, c’mon, I’ll help you unpack.”

“...thanks Tulip.”

For the next half hour, the two girls and the tiny demon put away most of Luz’s more vital belongings; decorative and personalized belongings could wait until tomorrow when she was more awake. King lasted only a few minutes before the long day finally caught up to him and he fell asleep on one of the pillows. Luz sat down on the bed a few minutes after they finished, rubbing his back and humming Spanish lullabies to him. The exhaustion caught up to her all at once and before Tulip even realized it, both of her new roommates had fallen asleep within five minutes of each other.

Chapter Text

Hunter hadn’t slept well that night, or rather, he hadn’t slept at all. Granted, he hadn’t planned to do so in the first place. When he retired to his new quarters the night before, he had intended to spend the night doing research, finding out what the school knew about going to other worlds, what their limits were, and building on that knowledge. He had to get back home, it wasn’t a question of if or when, he had to do it now! Emperor Belos, his uncle, was waiting for him, he couldn’t waste precious time sleeping. He had allowed himself to rest back at the Noceda household after his many searches of the abandoned shack proved fruitless. There was nothing overtly special about the decrepit thing, the portal just opened up in its doorway for some indiscernible reason, like it was some fixed point between the two realms. He might have been able to find an answer if he had a proper team of investigators to work with, but no, instead, he was stuck with a pair of criminals, a terrified shapeshifter and a… what was Mrs. Noceda’s occupation again? A “veterinarian” was it? None of them would be of any help in finding out how to get home, but now…

He had resources, information, others with firsthand experience, it was more than he could have possibly hoped for! Getting back to the Boiling Isles should be easy now! He just had to sit down, get to work, and focus.

Or rather… he tried to.

He was in the human realm, and it… it was… it was everything the rumors said it was. Trees with leaves as green as emeralds, nights so quiet you could hear the bugs singing outside your window, he had yet to see if the claims about non-boiling rain was true or not though. At this point he wouldn’t be surprised, especially after he had seen the size of the “United States” as this place was apparently called. He never thought a single landmass could be so large, it was beyond his ability to fully comprehend, despite the fact he had seen it with his own two eyes!

His “dorm room” as the Teodora girl called it was… uncomfortable. The walls were covered in a dull yellow wallpaper, nothing like the stonework of his quarters in the castle. His bed, which he found far too big for a single person, had been against the far left corner of the room, but there was no way he could sleep like that, and ended up rotating the bed so only the headboard against the wall instead. It was a small change, but it made it closer to what was truly his.

As for his research… he didn’t trust the others to not spy on him if he simply tried to walk out and retrieve a book from the library. Those two pesky criminals would probably follow him if they realized he had left and would insist on bothering him. They may have had the same end goal of going home, but their lackadaisical attitudes didn’t inspire confidence that they would actually be serious about putting in the hard work the task required. Their lack of discipline would turn into a distraction for him and end up slowing him down, or worse, make him miss something vitally important. If not them, then the squabbling from Blinky and his brother was also a possibility, and who knew what the other students were like?

Maria had seemed reasonable enough, he’d probably be able to check out as many books as the library allowed despite it only being his first night there. So long as he minded his manners and promised to return them on time. He hoped…

He had intended to reread a few chapters of Ruler’s Reach until he was certain nobody was around to bother him once he actually headed to the library. He quietly thanked the Titan he had the book in his bag when he ended up in this damned realm. Skara had insisted he give it a try and he found himself rereading it regularly. It was one of many small reasons he was grateful for having ever met the Emerald Entrails, five percent at most; the team itself made up the other ninety-five percent. The things they introduced him to seemingly shined like sunlight through a chandelier at just the right angle and he found himself hooked.

The book he had become so enamored with was just a novel, not one of the heavy, scholarly tomes that the castle had in abundance. Those had made up the majority of the reading material he had consumed in his young life. His private tutors were the ones who provided alternative options, just to ensure his reading comprehension was beyond reproach. He was Emperor Belos’s nephew after all, he couldn’t have any shortcomings and committing some faux pas due to poor reading skills would be such an utter embarrassment.

Ruler’s Reach was different though. While he loved reading and learning about sigil magic (and secretly wild magic), this was one of the exceedingly rare books he read just for the fun of it. He didn’t have to think about symbolism or what message the author was trying to send, he didn’t end up going down rabbit holes of new concepts and research begging for him to explore. He could just sit, read, and relax…

…unless, however, his brain chose to absolutely betray him and refuse to be cooperative. Despite reading the same line over and over again, it wouldn’t process the words he was looking at and he became trapped in an endless loop.

He hated it when this happened. His brain would refuse to take in information out of the blue, and he’d have to fight to memorize anything. He grit his teeth hard and strained for a moment before a sharp pain made him yelp and broke his concentration.

Flapjack fluttered down from the top of the young witch’s head, having pecked his and chirped when they made eye contact. He advocated for him to stop trying to read, the little bird always did when his partner’s brain refused to work anymore and claimed he needed to rest. Hunter didn’t know how the bird knew when it happened or why he insisted on him stopping but something about the way he said it would at least convince the witch to take a break.

Tonight however, Flapjack’s tone was much more firm, even tugging on the loose lock of hair that he could seemingly never tame. He was forced to reluctantly concede, he just couldn’t say no to the palisman.

No… his palisman.

He had a palisman.

A thing of wild magic.

The notion had left him torn when it first occurred to him, something he had been told all his life was dangerous, only to become a strange, small comfort in his life. A secret, something that was his and his alone, Flapjack had nothing to do with the Emperor’s Coven, his position as the Golden Guard, the Titan’s will, or his uncle.

Flapjack came with no expectations, he had only wanted to be there for Hunter and he had proven it multiple times over. Finding him at the castle, refusing to leave, following him to the Knee, flying between him and the youngest Blight’s attack. A palisman he had kidnapped and planned to hand over to his uncle had protected him…

Hunter scooped him up out of the air and pressed his forehead against the bird’s.

“Okay buddy… I’ll get some sleep.”

Rest might have been a more accurate word for what he ended up doing, because despite the very long, very active day, his brain betrayed him again and refused to let him sleep. He usually took advantage of the rare bout of insomnia, he would spend the night reading or preparing for whatever mission he might have the next day. Now he couldn’t do either and he hated it.

Hours slipped through his fingers like sand, it simultaneously felt horribly slow, but when he opened his eyes to check the time, it suddenly felt like hours had disappeared in the blink of an eye. The strange whiplash just made him bury his face into the pillows, desperate for what scraps of sleep he could get. He finally gave up when he noticed the sky outside had started to lighten, announcing the night’s quiet end. Checking the clock again, its face glowed at 5:28 AM. Well it wasn’t the earliest he had ever been up at, but with so much time left before “classes” started, and his brain’s refusal to read, he felt hot frustration bubbling inside his core.

When he finally couldn’t take it anymore, he violently threw the covers off himself and stormed to the window. If he had to stay in this house, in this room, for a moment longer, he wasn’t sure what he might do. He threw the window open and with nothing more than the athletic skills he had gained from years of physical training, he managed to leap forward, twist mid-air, grab the overhang above and haul himself up onto it. It wasn’t exactly easy from that angle, and he had to limit how much speed he used, lest he risk missing entirely. He had no doubt Flapjack would be able to catch him in time, but he wanted to be able to do it on his own.

The shingles of the roof were rough and came close to leaving abrasions, but he hardly noticed. He had endured far worse in his basic training, at worse they would just be an irritant later.

He found himself on a slanted roof, it threw off his balance a little but he barely had to adjust to traverse it. He remembered seeing how steep it was at the front of the building, it seemed that didn’t hold true for the back. He counted himself lucky, if he had ended up on the front half, one small misstep would have sent him sliding downwards almost immediately with no real guarantee of being able to catch himself.

He took a quick glance around, found a shadowy corner and sat down, using his knees supporting his arms. He could feel his exposed skin rise in bumps from the chill in the air, they were called goosebumps here according to Mrs Camilla, but he forced them from his mind. He felt the need to scratch at his them from how… thin the air felt. Yes, thin, that was a good word to describe it. The air was thin in the human realm, it wasn’t thick, warm and muggy like it was back home. The Boiling Sea ensured that the air on the island was constantly thick and a little sticky, even on the Knee the air was damp, which just made it even more dangerous, especially to unprepared visitors who often succumbed to hypothermia.

When they first arrived here, he constantly found the air just too different to ever be fully comfortable. The air didn’t feel nearly as dense, and it was… cool, it just didn’t fill his lungs the same way, the right way. During the day it was tolerable so long as he didn’t linger on it, but it made the nights even more strange and unfamiliar. It was all wrong, and that was just at the Noceda household, this place was somehow even worse!

He hadn’t thought it was possible but now the cool sensation didn’t seem to ever leave his lungs, even during the day. Still, between being stuck inside a moment longer and being out at a time where the air was no doubt at its coldest, he would have to choose the latter option for the time being.

Flapjack landed on top of his arm, chirping concern at him and Hunter couldn’t help but smile at his little companion. At least he had one thing that was still the same.

“Don’t worry buddy, I’ll get us home.”

He went to pet the palisman, but stopped when he heard something.

Music.

At least, he thought it was music, it was a sound unlike any he had ever heard before. It almost reminded him of a lute and other similar string instruments, but nothing quite like this. And at this hour? From the way the others spoke at dinner the night before, he fully expected to be the only one up for some time yet!

He got up from his little hiding spot and followed the strange sound, it led him to the other side of the roof, in the direction of the rising sun. Due to his many years of military training, he found himself ducking behind one of the chimneys before peeking out. There was someone sitting on the edge of the roofing, facing the sunrise and the music was indeed coming from them. He squinted, trying to focus on their appearance despite the sun’s attempts to blind him, while Flapjack hopped onto his head. He chirped, telling Hunter to approach, which earned a sharp shush from the blonde boy, just as the song the stranger was playing came to an end.

“I know you’re there so you can come out.”

Hunter squeaked!

He was compromised!

He hesitated and reminded himself of where he was before coming out of hiding. The person then turned away from the blinding light, and given Hunter’s new angle, he could make them out. It was a young man, roughly his own age, he had a strong and sturdy build, with dark, fluffy curls for hair, and equally dark eyes. He was wearing a pink letterman jacket with a white collar and cuffs, the shirt he wore was black with a single, large yellow star on it, a pair of those, what were they called again, jeans, and soft red sandals. In his lap was a strange little instrument, it was incredibly small, and his earlier assessment had been right, it did vaguely resemble a lute. A very small one, with a longer neck, made from yellow wood, and the smaller, strangely shaped body was covered in stickers.

Hunter… wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking at.

This stranger seemed nice enough, he had spoken very softly when he urged him to come out of his hiding place, and wasn’t showing any signs of hostility… but he found he couldn’t move. The worst part was he had no idea why.

“Sorry if my playing disturbed you,” the stranger said with a warm smile, “There’s rarely even anyone else up here at this hour.”

“Uh… no, you didn’t,” he answered stiffly, “I uh… I just… needed to get out of the building.”

“Couldn’t sleep huh?”

“How did you-”

“It happens more often than you’d think around here, though people don’t normally go to the roof this early in the morning. Hurts their eyes too much,” he pointed with a thumb towards the sun, “You’re one of the new students right?”

“That obvious?”

“Well there’s only so many of us here, you get to a point you recognize everyone’s face except for new arrivals. Plus, not to be rude but uh…”

He pointed at his own ears.

“Nobody else here has those.”

Oh… right.

Flapjack, sensing the tension building in his owner, fluttered away from Hunter and, despite the witch’s protest, landed on the stranger's knee.

“Aw, hi little guy,” he gently rubbed the bird’s cheek with a finger, “Is he yours?”

“Y-Yes, he is,” he answered without meaning to.

“He’s a friendly one, what’s his name?”

“Um… F-Flapjack.”

“Hehe, that’s cute!”

He didn’t know how it counted as “cute” but he didn’t particularly feel like having it elaborated on.

“Why’d you name him that?”

“I uh… I didn’t name him, he came with it.”

“He did?”

“Yeah… a-apparently he belonged to someone else before me.”

The stranger frowned softly before looking at Flapjack’s blinded eye and stroked his head. The little bird chirped, happily declaring he liked this new human, which made Hunter smirk.

“You like everyone, buddy.”

“Huh?” the stranger looked at him in confusion.

“Oh uh, h-him, I-I was talking to him…” he gestured to Flapjack.

“...wait, you can talk to animals?”

“What? No! I… j-just to him.”

“...you can talk to your pet?”

“He’s not a pet. He’s a palisman.”

“What’s that?”

“...he’s…magic and carved from the wood of a palistrum tree.”

The stranger’s eyes widened.

“Really? Whoa… that’s totally different from the kind of magic I know.”

“Wait… you know magic?”

Did all humans seemingly have magic? He was excited to learn about it but at the same time, a small, bitter part of himself was also jealous. He was a witch, he was supposed to have magic, especially when he was Belos’s nephew, how did these humans all seemingly have it instead?

“Well… magic might not be the most accurate word for it,” the stranger explained, “It’s what my family and others like us tend to call it, but it seems to be more… I’m not sure what the right word for it is. It’s… limited, compared to what some of the others here can do, and even then, there are some powers only certain kinds of us can do.”

“Like the coven system!”

Hunter’s exclamation echoed ever so softly on the early morning air, and he had taken an excited step forward.

“...the what system?”

“The coven system! It’s what my world has, to unify our magic and to bring order from chaos!”

The stranger blinked at him in painfully blunt confusion.

“...you have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

“No, not really, sorry,” he admitted as he rubbed the back of his head, “But you can tell me later if you want.”

He found himself smiling at the opportunity. He hadn’t had the chance to talk to anyone about the coven system, or Belos, or magic or anything of importance without that annoying human girl and little demon rat around to interrupt. He hadn’t felt this level of excitement bubble up in him since before arriving in the human realm and he let a small bit of it flow out as he exclaimed,

“Yes! Definitely! Absolutely!”

“Hehehe,” the stranger patted the spot beside him, “Care to join me?”

“Uh… alright…! Yeah, sure!”

He sat down beside him, though he didn’t dangle his legs over the edge like the other boy was. He picked his instrument back up and began to play again, the melody was simpler this time, but felt oddly appropriate for some reason. He smiled before asking a very simple, but obvious question that Hunter hadn’t even considered.

“By the way, what’s your name?”

He paused, and felt a jolt of embarrassment. He had spent this time talking without once properly introducing himself. How had he forgotten to do something so simple?

“Uh… Hunter… It's Hunter.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Hunter. My name’s Steven, Steven Universe.”

He blinked in surprise, and he remembered the coven scout with a very similar name, Steve. He liked him, he was very enthusiastic about his job, and always did his assignments eagerly, it was why he worked directly for the last two coven heads, first Lilith and then under him. If this new companion hadn’t repeated his name, he might have misheard and thought the two of them had the same name.

“Um… sorry to ask, but what is that thing you’re playing?”

“Oh this? This is a ukulele. You don’t have them where you’re from?”

“No… I mean, we have instruments but they’re not like that.”

“Eh, different world, different instruments and different kinds of music. Nothing wrong with that.”

“So… you’re a bard?”

Steven looked at him with a bit of puzzlement on his face.

“Uh… technically? Though in this world, we’re just called musicians.”

“Do you use that to channel your magic?”

“What? No no, I just play it for fun. My magic’s a bit more complicated than that.”

“Oh.”

“I guess your magic works differently though?”

“I… guess you could say that.”

He was still getting used to the idea of magic working differently from how it did back home, not defined by the coven system or wild magic. He had had two weeks to let it be absorbed and processed… but maybe that hadn’t worked as well as he’d thought.

“Hey… you want some breakfast? Or some coffee” Steven asked from seemingly nowhere, “Breakfast isn’t gonna be served for a while, but I could make us something now if ya want.”

“Wait, is that allowed?”

“Yeah it’s fine, just uh… stay close. The kitchen can be a bit chaotic.”

That made sense, Hunter had been in the castle’s kitchen plenty of times in his life and it was always buzzing with activity, the school was probably no different. He nodded at Steven, who smiled as he stood up.

“C’mon, we should probably hurry then.”

Hunter’s heart dropped into his stomach when the other boy stepped right off the roof.

“Steven!”

Flapjack turned into a staff in less than a second and was in his owner’s hand as the Golden Guard prepared to jump, ready to propel himself downwards to catch the seemingly suicidal boy…

Except, Steven didn’t fall.

Instead, he was slowly descending, his stomach now at the same level as the roof. A look of confusion on his face before it quickly morphed into horrified realization.

“Oh geez! I’m so sorry! I totally spaced! I forgot to warn you about this!”

“How-How are you doing that?!”

“This is… uh… one of my powers. I have the ability to float, so whenever I’m up here I just use it to get back down, and uh… I got so used to it I forgot to warn you about it? Sorry!”

“I… I’ve never seen anything like this before…”

“Yeah, that’s what most people say about this one… anyway, my room’s down here, c’mon.”

He held his hand out to Hunter, who paused.

“I uh… I can fly on my own actually…”

He mounted his staff and kicked off from the roof, making Steven’s eyes widen.

“Whoa…! That’s amazing! You didn’t say Flapjack could do… whatever that is!”

“He turned into a magic staff, all palismen can.”

“Whoa… you’ll have to tell me more about it later!”

He let out a small laugh as he grabbed onto the roof with one hand, his ukulele in the other, he lowered himself a little faster and then swung down and out of sight. Hunter lowered himself as well, before spotting an open window, making it clear where Steven had gone. He flew inside and looked around.

The room was filled to the brim with even more musical instruments. They were all vaguely similar to ones back on the Boiling Isles, almost like they could be distant relatives. Some, similar to the ukulele Steven had been playing, hung from the walls, others like a strange drum set were far too big and had to be set up on the far side of the room. Posters of musicians hung from the walls, as well as images from the “movies” and “anime” he had caught glances of back at the Noceda home. There were also photographs and a few books scattered around in odd places, it seemed strangely disorganized in a way Hunter couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Sorry about the mess,” he apologized as he placed his ukulele on the wall, “I got some of my stuff from home a few days ago and haven’t found a place to put it all yet.”

“I see…”

Hunter couldn’t really complain, his own quarters back at the castle had been something of a cluttered mess, though his excuse was he studied so much that the mess sort of just accumulated over time. It never got too out of control, but it was certainly nothing to be proud of either.

Steven smiled and gestured for the young witch to follow him. He led him out of the dorm room and through the halls, somehow in the early morning light the place seemed more like a maze than a school. The musically inclined teenager was humming to himself as they walked, from the structure and repeating pattern of notes, it was an actual, proper song, not one he was making up as he went. He even let a few words slip out, ever so softly that Hunter couldn’t be sure what he was saying.

They went down the stairs in the main foyer, and the song seemed to come to an end as they entered the dining room, and they could hear strange sounds that got louder as they approached the kitchen. As they got closer, Hunter caught sight of the signs hanging around the doorway. He had noticed them the night before at dinner but hadn’t gotten close enough to actually read them.

They… were concerning.

Much like the bottom button in the elevator, they all screamed warnings to those intending to enter. Things like “Warzone!!!”, “Enter at your own risk!!”, “Look out for flying utensils!” were taped to the doorway.

“...uh… why are those there?” he questioned cautiously.

“Well… do you have the phrase “too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the broth” in your world?” Steven asked in a strangely flat and drained way, a total departure from how he had been a moment before.

“No, but we have something similar with potion making.”

“Well… when you throw in deep passion for a particular type of cooking, some from completely different parts of the world and cultures, various levels of sleep deprivation, and a lot of combat training, things can get a bit-”

He was interrupted by a loud crash from the kitchen, something metal bounced and a large bowl rolled out of the doorway before falling over in front of them.

“...chaotic.”

As if completely unaffected by what he had just said, Steven calmly put his hands in his pockets and walked into the kitchen. Hunter once again followed and was stunned by the sight waiting for them.

Well over half a dozen people were in the kitchen, many of them were yelling, some of them working away to prepare food… and far too many of them were actively throwing things at everyone else. None of what was being thrown was the actual food, it was everything else that was flying through the air. How nobody had been seemingly hit yet was a miracle, or at least they were acting like they hadn’t been hurt. Everything you could think of was being thrown, plastic bowls, wooden spoons, cookie cutters, an empty ice cube tray, cookbooks, chip clips, egg beaters, and far too many knives.

Wait, knives?!

Sure enough, amongst the thrown items were several knives, ranging from mostly harmless butter knives to very dangerous butcher knives.

And Steven was just calmly strolling in like nothing was happening at all!

“Wait, don’t! It’s not safe!”

Either Hunter’s warning somehow went unheard or the other boy didn’t care, he continued to casually walk into the fight. The young witch immediately went to follow, being forced to stop when a large device, a microwave he thought it was called, landed with a hard crash in front of him. He then ducked and rolled to avoid a whirling blender that had come a little too close for comfort. He looked back into the chaos, scanning the situation, and found Steven, right in the middle…

And easily avoiding every object that was thrown in his direction.

He didn’t even need to break his stride, he merely tilted his head to the side, hopped when something would have hit him in the leg, and leaned backwards when a cutting board would have smacked him in the face, avoiding it all together. He was… so horrifying casual about it, like this was something he did all the time…

And Hunter realized he probably did, if this really was part of his morning routine.

He somehow made his way to a counter and turned on a pair of coffee makers, odd but the witch didn’t have the time to question it, dodging a thrown oven rack tends to do that. By the time he caught up, Steven had already poured a cup of the dark brew, finished mixing in some milk, and was adding something on top… what was it called again? Whipped cream?

“Here ya go,” he passed Hunter the mug, who had to resist making a face.

Who put whipped cream on coffee anyway? It seemed ridiculous, but he didn’t want to be rude, he needed all the help he could get to go back home… so, with a steeled nerve, he thanked the other boy and took a large sip of the concoction.

His eyes shot open at the delightfully sweet taste, he normally just chugged the bitter brew, it allowed him to work more. The stronger the better, even if it impacted the taste, but this… this had that same strong kick but it tasted so much better that he actually wanted to slow to a near stop and savor it.

He could hear chuckling and then he realized Steven was laughing.

“I had a feeling you would like cappuccinos, but from the looks of it, you’ve never even had one before.”

“...I thought this was coffee…”

“Hunter, cappuccinos are a type of coffee.”

His cheeks turned red in embarrassment.

“...oh.”

Steven smiled and turned to the second coffee maker, which had a variety of stickers on it. Ones in the shape of letters were put on the front, spelling out “Steven’s Coffee,” which was proven when the brunette pulled it towards himself…

And he drank straight from the pot.

Hunter couldn’t stop staring at the strange sight. He needed his daily fix of caffeine too but this was… extreme… and wouldn’t it burn his mouth?

Steven didn’t act like he was in any pain and moved to the fridge, ducking as an empty utensils drawer flew over his head, twirling as he did so. He had started humming again, and it took Hunter a moment to realize… he was singing… and dancing… in the middle of a violent fight like it was nothing. He pulled some ingredients out of the fridge, some from the pantry, inexplicably avoiding thrown objects the whole way.

Then… he started cooking.

The dark haired boy worked with unbelievable ease and speed, mixing batter, cooking bacon and eggs on the stove, preparing berries, and sipping from the coffee pot, he was seemingly completely unbothered by the fight. Hunter meanwhile actively avoided whatever object was thrown in his direction, relying on Flapjack’s magic to magically move out of the way as fast as possible.

He didn’t see Steven finish cooking, or when he started putting the food on a pair of plates. He put them on a tray and turned to the witch.

“Breakfast is ready!”

Hunter looked up from where a waffle iron had crashed into a cabinet and was met with a bright smile from the musically inclined teenager. He also saw the split second glint of metal as a wickedly sharp knife that had become airborne, headed right for said musician.

“Steven!”

It was already so close, and thrown with such force, he couldn’t teleport there in time! He began to remember the basics of first aid when-

FWING!

A shield surrounded by glittering light materialized against Steven’s arm, and around the blade of the knife, stopping it in its tracks. He hadn’t even looked, just raised his arm, there had been a small, very quick flash of light, and suddenly it had appeared. The shield was a warm shade of pink, with a vine-like spiral leading to the center, where a strange flower shape surrounded a reddish-pink gemstone, and it had a blue-silver edge… though the oddest thing about the damned thing was that it was transparent, almost like glass or a sunbeam peeking out from behind the clouds.

Was… was this the magic Steven had told him about?

“Whoa…”

If it was, it was far more beautiful than he had imagined!

Steven himself, just looked mildly annoyed. He moved his arm and the shield followed, he hovered it over the counter and in that same flash of glittering light, the shield vanished. After safely depositing the knife, he looked back to Hunter, the annoyance still hadn’t left his face and any questions the young witch might have had were frozen in their place at the sight.

“We should get out of here before that happens again.”

The blonde wisely followed, and the battle continued behind them as they left.

When they reached the nearest table, Steven took a long, deep breath through his nose, held it, and then exhaled through his mouth before placing their breakfast down. Hunter stared in confusion but he wasn’t going to question it, maybe it had to do with his magic. Flapjack returned to his usual form as they sat down and Hunter’s brow raised at the sight of some of the food, an act that didn’t go unnoticed.

“Don’t have food like this where you come from?”

“Uh… not… really?”

“Don’t worry, it’s all good. It’s just some eggs, sausage, some berries for your little bird buddy, oh, and a few pancakes-”

“Pancakes?!”

Hunter nearly knocked over his coffee as he exclaimed.

“...yeah? Is something wrong? Oh, wait, are you allergic or something!? Oh man, I’m so sorry, I should have ask-”

“What?! No no, it’s not that! I… uh… the word came up in some… research I did back home… I… didn’t know that they were a type of food.”

This made Steven pause before looking to Flapjack, who was happily pecking away at a blueberry. The little red ball of feathers just chirped, before looking to his owner, and chirped a few more times before seeming to convince Hunter to speak up.

“So… that shield… is that… was it… magic?”

“...kinda, I guess? It used to be my mom’s, I inherited it from her, but I had to learn how to use it properly on my own. Couldn’t exactly summon it on command, it was like… trying to figure out a part of me I didn’t know I had until I had it?”

“Well, why didn’t your mother teach you?”

There was a pause. It was brief, not even a split second long, but it was there, and Hunter noticed it.

“My uh… my mom… isn’t around anymore.”

There was another pause, a heavier, longer one, and this time, Hunter felt something, something he didn’t have a name for. Steven clutched his stomach in a strange way with one hand, like he was in distress.

“...oh…”

“Yeah… eheh, but it was before I could have ever known her, so I don’t have any memories of her or anything, so it’s not a big deal, not for me anyway… well… the people who loved her had… feelings about it, related to her and me but uh… I never knew her myself…”

Once again, there was a long pause. It lasted almost ten seconds before Hunter spoke.

“I never knew my mom either.”

Now it was Steven’s turn to feel something he didn’t have a name for. He looked to Hunter, who was fiddling with his gloved fingers, his breakfast forgotten.

“Or my dad… or grandparents… or if I had siblings… they were all destroyed before I was old enough to remember. The only person I have left is my uncle, he took me in and I’ve been with him since… but… now I’m here… and he isn’t. And I… I need to go back. We’re all the other has left.”

Hunter didn’t know why he was opening up like this, to a stranger he had met only minutes ago at that, but once Steven had mentioned not knowing his mother, something just… changed. Like a pair of massive double doors had been slowly opened, and what they contained couldn’t be stopped. No, not stopped, but he didn’t have to go into detail about it all either, he didn’t have to mention the wild magic, the fact his uncle was the emperor, that he was the Golden Guard, that… that could come up later.

He glanced at his new companion, and to his surprise Steven had placed a hand to his mouth, eyes widening and… were those… tears? They were pink , was that normal for humans?!

Any further thoughts were interrupted when a very weary group of students stumbled into the dining room, all of them bearing various scrapes, scratches and abrasions. Hunter recognized Danny and Randy among the group, and even a few of the fighters from the sparring ring the night before. The one who lost to Jack, the boy with the yellow jacket and weird hair, looked like he had gotten the worst of it, choosing to collapse face first into the floor with a pained groan and no trace of dignity to be found. The others managed to just sink to the floor and only a few actually managed to make it to a seat.

“Ho boy…” Steven said with a quiver in his voice, before wiping away his own tears, “Looks like they really went hard at it this time.”

Hunter, who was a second away from having Flapjack transform again, looked at him in confusion. He had been ready to spring into action and fight if whatever had left them all in such a state was still in pursuit.

“What do you mean? Weren’t they attacked?”

“Psh, nah, those guys just fit in some extra combat training first thing in the morning if they can.”

He looked at the one collapsed on the floor.

“Though it looks like they really pushed themselves today.”

“Indeed they did.”

Stickler was entering the room, apparently following the group. He brushed some dust from his jacket, straightened it, and looked towards the duo.

“Good morning Hunter, Mr. Universe,” he nodded.

“Good morning Mr. Strickler,” Steven nodded before taking a bite of his pancakes, “Showed no mercy again huh?”

“Yes, well, they asked for it.”

“Did they literally? Or did someone just get cocky and you decided to knock them down a peg?” the young man smirked, and Hunter had a feeling that both possibilities had been the correct answer multiple times in the past.

“The former.”

Steven looked to the one collapsed on the floor again, implying that he was the one the musician suspected of making the request. Hunter however just raised a brow, the students’ wounds were all surface level, the kind that would hurt and sting, but nothing close to what he had after his usual training sessions. Not a magically induced burn, laceration, or broken bone in sight.

Part of him wondered if it was a sign that Strickler, whoever or whatever he was, wasn’t as strong as Hunter’s trainers, or that humans were a lot more sturdy and hardy than witches. That second one seems unlikely, but then he remembered some of them weren’t actually human, they just looked like they were. That probably explained it, and he wondered if it would be a good idea to study how they fought, to improve his own ability.

“Can I at least finish my breakfast before helping?” Steven’s request surprised Hunter. Help? How could he help? Did he know basic first aid or something…?

“There’ll be no need for that, they can get patched up by Barbara,” Strickler said before frowning softly, “And, what did the doctor say about your unhealthy need to help with every little thing?”

He noticeably froze at the question, the same way coven scouts who failed in spectacular fashion would when Belos put the fear of the Titan in them. It set the witch on edge, fully expecting something bad to happen, something that would need to be dodged, outrun, he was ready for anything. To his surprise however, Steven simply took a very long, very slow inhale through his nose, and then out through the mouth.

“It’s not my responsibility to help everyone,” he recited, “That while it’s all nice and good to assist if I can, I don’t have to bend over backwards for everyone in my life and I’m allowed to say no or to back out of things if need be.”

“Very good,” Stirckler nodded before eyeballing the mostly filled coffee pot the young man was drinking from, “Although you really shouldn’t drink that much, it isn’t good for you.”

Steven paused for a beat, with an expression Hunter couldn’t quite identify. He then grabbed the pot and began to chug from it, drinking at an odd angle that allowed him to keep a very hard eye contact with the older man. He didn’t even pause to breathe, and Hunter recoiled slightly, just imagining the burning.

“...you and your strange acts of disgruntled rebellion,” Strickler groaned, rubbing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose in a repeating motion, completely unconcerned.

“S’funny when he does it,” the one collapsed on the floor said in a slurring, punch drunk voice.

“Alright you lot,” Strickler said, regaining everyone’s focus, “Barbara is waiting, get yourselves to her office. Now.”

There were groans as the students forced themselves to their feet, dragging themselves out of the room.

“Seriously, I can help,” Steven offered again.

“No, a brief lesson in endurance will be good for them,” Stickler sighed, “As for you two… enjoy your breakfast and please stay out of trouble.”

“Sir, if anyone will be finding trouble, it will be the two criminals I came here with,” Hunter stated, almost insulted at the idea he would do something like that…

Then again he did accidentally cause that goblin rampage yesterday. Maybe he better take a few precautions to avoid future accidents. As if reading his mind, Strickler merely shook his head.

“We shall see…”

Chapter Text

Luz groaned as an alarm near her began to go off, disturbing her peacefully deep slumber. A need to crawl deep under the warm comforter almost made her ignore it entirely, until a voice groaned.

“Alright alright.”

She didn’t recognize the voice right away, and a second later, realized the alarm that had gone off wasn’t the one on her phone. She sat up quickly, almost making her head spin, until the events of the prior day came back to her.

The plane, the school, the goblins, the strange new students…

And she saw Tulip groggily crawling down from her bed. She was rubbing her face, trying to chase away the sleep.

“Uh… good morning,” Luz greeted awkwardly.

“Mph, ‘morning,” was the red head’s response.

“Didn’t sleep well?”

“No, after you guys conked out, I stayed up too late coding.”

“You know how to do that?”

“Mph, yeah. I like making games and ya kinda need to know how to do that.”

“Wait… like, video games, you make those?”

“Yeah, they’re pretty basic but I love making them,” Tulip yawned before digging out some clean clothes. Luz watched her drag herself towards a door near the back of the room, one she had missed the night before, and walked inside. She got a quick peek of a bathroom on the other side before the door closed again.

“Mph… too much talking.”

King’s groggy voice came from under the covers, and the tip of his skull nose poked out.

“Hey buddy, c’mon, get up,” she said gently, “We’re starting classes today.”

“Meh…”

“...and breakfast is probably waiting!”

There was a short pause, and she could see a tiny figure stand up under the covers.

“Food…”

“There ya go!” she said happily before hopping out of bed and began to dig through her clothes, trying to figure out what would be the best to wear on her first day. She felt a tight jolt of anxiety in her chest. Sure she had gotten along with Danny and the others but meeting someone new in a classroom was different from meeting them in a life or death situation! She had to make a good first impression!

“Luz, bathroom’s all yours!” Tulip announced as she stepped out, and kind of… stared at the sight of the latina rambling to herself about what was best to wear, “Uh… you okay there?”

“Wha-! I-I mean, yeah! Sure! Totally! I’m just uh-”

“She can’t decide what to wear,” King droned, finally sticking his head out of the blanket.

“First day jitters huh?”

“I mean… well, kinda…”

“Eh, nobody’s really gonna care, this place is full of wei-Whoa, what happened to your shawl?!”

Confused, Luz watched as Tulip grabbed a familiar bundle of magic wool and held it up, staring at the burns.

“It’s… not a shawl actually… it’s a cape… my mentor made it for me, before it got… uh… like that.”

“Dude, you should totally wear this!”

She threw the burned cape into its owner’s arms, leaving Luz… a bit confused.

“Really? Wouldn’t that be a little… weird?”

“Are you kidding me? The others are gonna love it!”

“You think?”

“Yeah! Like I was saying, everyone here’s kinda odd, better to own it than try to hide it.”

“You seem pretty normal.”

“Psh, hardly. I’m a computer nerd who’s read too many math books and ended up in a whole other world when I tried to run away from home!”

“You mentioned that last night, you called it the Train?”

“Yeah… it was this massive train, way bigger than anything we have in this world, and it was in the middle of a wasteland. Each car had its own mini world inside, and they usually had a puzzle you had to solve to unlock the door on the other side.”

“Whoa…! That sounds like fun!”

Tulips stiffened almost immediately. Like Luz had just said something incredibly offensive. The redhead took in a breath, in through the nose, out through the mouth, did it a second time, before looking directly at the older girl.

“On paper it sounds like that… and yeah, some of them actually were kinda fun, but… actually being there… it was different.”

“O-Oh… I… I’m sorry, I-”

“No no, it’s okay. You didn’t-couldn’t have known. It was… dangerous… and I could have died. A friend of mine did die, but I was able to bring him back.”

She then held her right hand and her thumb ran over her palm.

“By the Titan… T-Tulip, I’m so sorry, I-”

“Like I said, you couldn’t have known… just… be careful when you say stuff like that to the others. Some of the worlds we went to… they were dangerous, deadly even. A lot of us have… mixed feelings about what we went through. I mean, I kinda needed to go on the Train, to learn to be a better person, but it doesn’t mean I don’t still have night terrors sometimes.”

“...um… I don’t wanna be presumptuous, but… if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m willing to help.”

The redhead smiled at this.

“Heh, I knew there was a reason I liked you as soon as I saw you.”

“I-Wait, you did?”

“Yeah, you seemed real nice, a bit hyper but eh.”

“Everyone likes Luz!” King said, the sleepiness finally leaving his tiny body, “She’s the best human big sister a demon could ask for!”

“Aawwwww, King~” the girl in question immediately scooped him up into her arms and hugged him close.

Tulip laughed at the adorable sight.

“Alright you two, go get cleaned up and let’s get to the dining room before they run out of the good stuff!”

“Aye aye captain Tulip!”

“Snrk, “Captain Tulip?” I’ve never even been on a boat.”

“My point still stands!”

Luz scooped King up and rushed to the bathroom, hurrying through washing their faces, brushing their teeth and the other small rituals they did to start the day. When they were done, they joined Tulip at the door. As she opened it, the Latina paused for a moment, glanced back, and grabbed the tattered remains of her cape. She latched it into place around her shoulders and smiled before stepping out into the hall. It was a little too warm for the weather, but it also brought a strange relief she couldn’t quite name. Maybe it didn’t even have one.

They hurried down to the dining room, it seemed over half of the students were already there by the time they arrived. King scampered over to the buffet line, and Luz had to scoop him up to see what they had to offer.

“I want waffles!” he said excitedly, “With lots of syrup!”

“You got it buddy! Oh, and whipped cream!”

“Yes! Yes! Gimme!”

She put two massive waffles on his plate, drowned them in syrup and then half buried them in whipped cream. King giggled in childish glee, clapping his hands together. She smiled before grabbing a large bowl and filled it with sugary cereal with marshmallows, for herself. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed it while she was on the Boiling Isles until after she came back.

“You guys go find a place to sit,” Tulip smiled, “I gotta go find my friends to go over last night’s homework. I’ll try to catch up with you later, okay?”

“Oh, uh, o-okay,” Luz nodded, suddenly feeling nervous as she looked around the dining room, trying to find a place to sit.

“Yo~! Mornin’ Luz! Mornin’ King!”

She nearly jumped at Randy’s loud voice! She hadn’t spotted him and Danny standing at the far end of the buffet, looking a bit roughed up. Had they gotten into a fight with something or someone this early in the morning?

“Uh, hey guys,” she awkwardly greeted as she walked over, “You look… uh…”

“Early morning combat training,” Danny stated flatly, “And someone just had to provoke Strickler.”

“And it wasn’t me for once! Ha!” Randy seemed strangely proud of this admission before pointing at her, “Also, girl. Girl! Love the messed up cape thingy!”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, ya look like something from a video game or somethin’!”

Now that was a compliment and a half as far as Luz was concerned!

“Heh, thanks… so… uh… you guys looking for a place to sit too?”

“Well, we were, until we spotted that.”

Danny pointed at one of the tables, and her eyes widened at the sight.

Hunter was already there, sitting and talking with another boy. They seemed to be having a lively conversation, and judging by the empty plates, they had been there for a while… and an almost empty coffee pot for some reason.

“Steven’s adopted another duckling,” Danny smirked.

“Psh, please, it was just a matter o’ time,” Randy jabbed him in the ribs.

“Aaawwww, Hunter’s made a friend!” Luz cooed, her focus being on the fact her kinda-sorta frenemy was actually being social.

“Who cares about that? They got empty seats around them! Let’s go eat!” King proclaimed before running off with his plate.

“Furball’s got the right idea,” Randy eagerly trailed after the tiny demon.

With little else to do, Luz and Danny followed them, and she perked up a bit when she caught on to what the two boys were talking about.

“So let me make sure I have this right. He wrote the song about his time working in a bar, playing piano… and he played the piano in that very song?” Hunter questioned.

“Yeah, it was pretty popular when it came out, still is to this day,” the new boy, Steven, nodded, “Though I kinda grew up on rock music inste- oh, hey guys!”

He had turned and noticed their approach, waving politely at them. Hunter frowned at the sight of them. Danny and Randy both greeted him before sitting down, King meanwhile climbed into the seat next to him.

“Aw, who’s this little cutie?” he asked, smiling warmly.

“I’m King!” he chirped, “And I’m also super hungry!”

“Heh, with those tiny little legs I can only imagine how much work it must have taken for you to get down here.”

“You have no idea!”

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you King, I’m Steven.”

Luz smirked and sat on the other side of King.

“Oh, hello,” he added, “Who are you?”

“Um… I’m Luz. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, I’m Steven Universe.”

Her eyes widened.

“...dude… I love that name. I love it so much.”

He laughed at this, “Thanks, lot of people say things like that when they hear it.”

“Heh, it’s just… cool, kinda classy, whimsical, just… there are so many descriptive words for it!”

“Heh, I think I’m gonna like you.”

“You shouldn’t.”

Steven looked surprised before looking at Hunter, who was now glaring at Luz.

“I’ll have you know she’s a lowlife criminal. As soon as I get back home, I am going to arrest her and turn her over to the Conformitorium for sentencing.”

There was an awkward pause and something inside the girl panicked. He had mentioned it yesterday but now that things were calm and settled, they had time to process this information. It was easy to get away with her actions back on the Boiling Isles, she has Eda, Lilith, Willow, Gus, Amity and everyone else on her side to help avoid the law, but here, in the human realm, things were different. These guys… they were so obviously heroes, they wouldn’t-

“Oh, you got a criminal record too?”

Her internal downward spiral came to a crashing halt at Danny’s question.

“...wait a minute, what?”

She looked confused, Hunter even more so.

“Yeah, even got a bounty on my head, both from humans and ghosts.”

“You do? Really?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah, though the human one’s a bit of a misunderstanding. There was the time I robbed some stores while under the control of an evil circus leader. Then there was the time the Mayor was overshadowed and framed me for taking him hostage.”

“Dude, didn’t you steal your parent’s ecto-armor-suit-thing?” Steven asked.

“...okay, that one I actually am guilty of, but it was to save our town and get it out of the Ghost Zone! Plus it was stolen from me after I passed out!”

Randy snickered, “Dude, you also told us about all the stuff you broke in your fights! And didn’t you steal more than just that one suit from your parents?”

“I took what I needed to defeat the ghosts and then brought it back! I swear!”

“Well… what about the ghosts, why do they have a bounty on your head?” Hunter asked, sounding incredulous.

“Oh, that’s because they like to cause trouble in the human world and I stopped them all the time. It’s kind of a grudge at this point… well in Stulker’s case it’s because I’m a Halfa. Half ghost, half human, aside from me and Dani, there’s only one other one that I know about. And Warden Walker didn’t like that I broke Ghost Zone rules I didn't even know existed and actually managed to arrest me!”

“Whoa…!” Luz’s eyes were wide, “You have gotta tell me more about all this stuff.”

Hunter seemed to be contemplating this information, but he seemed less frazzled than he had before.

“I suppose those are mostly understandable circumstances. Can’t say I totally approve but if you weren’t in control of your own actions or framed, I suppose you weren’t at fault. Not knowing about rules and laws, while a weak defense, is somewhat reasonable.”

“Heh, yeah well, most of my stuff is like that. Jake’s got a bounty on his head too, but that’s because some freaks in pajamas wanna slay a dragon, apparently they hunt magical creatures for sport or something.”

“Wait… they hunt… sentient creatures for… that is so beyond messed up,” Luz felt a little sick just thinking about it.

“Yeah, that’s why he and most other dragons fight them, to protect them from the hunters.”

“Yo, you guys takin’ ‘bout me?”

“Speak of the red scaly creature and he shall appear.”

As if on cue, Jake was walking towards the group, seemingly carrying something on his back.

“Yo, Jakey, you skipped out on combat practice this mornin’,” Randy stated, looking the tiniest bit jealous.

“Yeah, sorry guys, Hailey had another nightmare.”

He turned, showing that the thing on his back was actually a little girl, with her black hair pulled into pigtails and she wore a purple dress with a lavender collared shirt under it. She yawned before looking at the teenagers and said,

“Good morning everyone.”

She slid off Jake’s back and curtsied to them.

“Guys, this is my little sister Hailey,” he introduced, “Hails, these are my new friends, Luz, King and Hunter.”

Luz’s heart fluttered, both for the fact the little girl was absolutely adorable and that Jake had called them his friends. Friends, she was already making friends. She hadn’t even considered that it would happen so quickly, not with humans… well… they were humans… maybe? How did that work? Questions for another time, she had to tune back in, Jake was asking something.

“Can you guys watch her for a minute while I get our breakfast?”

“Oh yeah, sure man, no problem! Leave it to us!” she eagerly volunteered before scooting over to make room.

“Thanks, I owe ya!”

Hailey climbed into the now available seat as her brother went to the buffet. She looked at King and her eyes widened.

“Awww, you’re… kinda cute!”

“Augh, why does everyone say that about m-HEY!”

She began petting his head, and at first he seemed startled, but slowly began to relax after a few seconds. By the time Jake returned, she had King laying in her lap, his tail wagging and trying to purr.

“...and once again, little miss perfect strikes,” he smirked at the sight.

She smiled as he sat down and handed her her breakfast.

“So, what were you guys saying about me before I interrupted?” he asked, brow raised at the others.

“Oh we were just talking about my criminal record and how we both have bounties on our heads,” Danny shrugged, which made the dragon click his tongue.

“I don’t have a bounty, just a clan of psycho hunters who wanna hang my skin on a wall or some other demented sh-,” he stopped himself when he remembered his sister was right next to him, “Uh… stuff.”

“That’s horrible!” Luz exclaimed, “How can they just… do that?! Don’t they get that you’re human too? …uh… I mean…”

“Chill Luz, I know what you’re tryin’ ta say, and honestly, it is messed up. They know that we’re smart, can talk, have human forms, all that, but they hunt us because we’re in their way. They also know we’re the protectors of magical creatures, and a lot of those creatures are just as smart as humans too. Take out the local dragon protector, and they can wreak havoc on the magical communities.”

“What would they even want from these creatures?” Hunter asked, looking intrigued.

“Depends on the creature, unicorn horns, sphynx hair, I once stopped them from stealing a leprechaun’s gold. Sometimes they’re after magical artifacts, but a lot of it’s just hunting for the sake of it.”

“I see…” he rubbed his chin in thought, “So… you stop them then?”

“Yeah, it’s my responsibility. Well, the responsibility of all dragons.”

“But… you’re just a kid, isn’t that kind of… a big responsibility to put on you?” Luz asked.

“Well… yeah but someone’s gotta do it.”

She looked concerned at this.

“Enough about that though, if ya wanna hear about my actual rap sheet, can’t say I have a lot. Some property damage here and there because of the fights, some breaking and entering, I once impersonated my teacher, my mom and this one celebrity in the same afternoon.”

“Did you ever tell Mom about this stuff?” Hailey piped up.

“Not in a million years. What about you, Rands?”

“Pft, look elsewhere buddy, for once I got nothin’!”

“...dude, you once broke into your arch enemy’s house to get a boomerang,” Danny pointed out, “And you left a tour group to sneak around the restricted sections of a factory.”

“Okay, there were a few small things, but I wasn’t caught! The Ninja of Norrisville is squeaky clean! Well, in the eyes of the law at least, being the local hero helps with that.”

“Local hero?” Luz asked, “Weren’t ninjas assassins?”

“Yo, in Japan maybe, but Norrisville’s always had a ninja to protect it! Eight hundred year hero streak baby!” he exclaimed very loudly.

“Lovely,” Hunter groaned, covering his ears.

“‘Nuff ‘bout us though, what kinda trouble did you guys get into in your world?”

“Deflection, nice tactic,” Danny smirked.

“Hmph, I’ll have you know, I’m no criminal,” Hunter turned up his nose at the very notion, “I’m a law abiding citizen.”

“Law abiding maybe, moral, not so much,” it was finally Luz’s turn to finally frown at him.

“Watch your tone human!”

“C’mon Luz, ya gotta tell us what you did to get Mr. Grumpyface over there to have such a grudge,” Jake nudged her in the ribs.

“What did you just call me?!”

Luz smiled awkwardly.

“Well… it’s a bit complicated. The Boiling Isles are ruled over by this guy, Emperor Belos, and about fifty years ago he banned certain magical practices, specifically being able to know more than one kind.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can answer that!” Hunter interrupted, “Belos brought an end to the Savage Ages, where witches and demons alike were all doing magic the wrong way! He was guided by the Titan to bring order to the masses and introduced sigil magic to ensure witches couldn’t use other kinds of magic ever again! The nine covens were formed to organize everyone into what school they should practice in; anyone who refuses to get a sigil is labeled as a “wild witch” and are the worst kind of criminals!”

“...and how does any of that apply to Luz?” Danny asked.

“Yeah, ain’t she human?” Randy added in.

“Well, as soon as I got there, I met Eda the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles! She refused to join a coven and still had access to all her magic! That alone made her a criminal, but she’s also a con artist! She sold random junk she found in the human realm by basically making up whatever she wanted about the stuff she had. She’s also a pickpocket, broke into jail to get a paper crown King wanted, and caused a prison riot on the way out! We also attacked some coven scouts so I guess you can count that as an assault on an officer of the law… or would that be more like government officials?”

“And that’s exactly why she needs to be arrested! She’s a menace!” Hunter slammed his fist on the table, “And you’re just as bad because I know you were with her for the prison break at the Conformitorium! And one that interrupted the petrification ceremony too!”

“Hey! I agreed to help them the first time because Eda promised she’d get me home! Wouldn’t you do something similar right now if it meant getting back to the Boiling Isles?”

“I-”

He stopped.

He… hadn’t considered that.

“...I was tried for murder.”

The tension in the air suddenly changed as they both turned to look at Steven, who was very casually drinking straight from the coffee pot.

“...dude… that’s gotta be bad for your stomach,” Danny groaned, as if completely oblivious to the others’ reaction. More than likely, he was just ignoring it.

“You have your unhealthy coping mechanisms, and I have mine.”

“Eh, fair point.”

“I’m sorry… can we circle back to the “tried for murder” thing here?” Luz asked, looking utterly befuddled.

“Hm, oh yeah. I was tried and almost executed for it. Only reason it didn’t happen is because the two overseeing the trial got distracted and started arguing, giving me the chance to escape.”

“...why did it go to trial though?” Hunter spoke up now, “They… They had to have had some evidence or…”

“Eh, to keep it short, they thought I was someone else… and I confessed to save innocent people who got caught in the crossfire.”

“That’s… I…”

The Golden Guard had been rendered speechless.

“How about we change the topic? Aside from Strickler wiping the floor with you guys, how was training?” Steven seemed to be trying to lift the mood, and the others were happy to oblige.

“Well, it was okay… until a certain big mouth told him to stop holding back and to really let us have it,” Danny groaned before chugging his juice.

“Yo, seriously Randy, again?” Jake asked, looking at the accused in disbelief.

“Whoa, dude, chill, for once it wasn’t me!”

“It was me, Dio!”

The new voice came from behind Steven and Hunter, making both of them jump.

To Luz’s surprise, it was the guy from the fights the night before, the one who lost to Jack. He was posing dramatically behind the two boys, looking like he had way too much fun with his declaration. He looked like he stepped right out of a hammy shounen anime… and to her snickering delight she realized which one he was elmulating.

“...dude… did you really just do the Dio meme?” Danny asked, also looking like he was trying not to laugh.

“I did!” he grinned, putting his hands on his hips, “I couldn’t resist, I was walking past and overheard what you guys were saying! I just had to!”

“I swear to Clockwork dude.”

“Plus I wanted to meet the new guys! I heard about the whole goblin thing from Coraline and just had to meet them, like, now!”

Luz felt another small flutter in her chest. Someone actively wanted to meet them? This was definitely new!

“Really? You wanted to meet us?”

“Yeah! We never have new arrivals show off what they got on their first day! Plus I heard you guys had some crazy magic thing goin’ on!”

“Well, yeah, kinda, heh… um, I’m Luz Noceda. This is King,” she picked him up and out of Hailey’s lap, “And the guy you just scared half to death is Hunter.”

“He did not-!”

“Cool, nice to meet ya! I’m Qi Xiaotian!”

“Qi Xiao-Xiaotin-Xiao-?”

He laughed at her attempts to get his name right.

“Don’t worry about it, just call me MK for short. I’ve gone by it for years.”

“Oh… uh… are you sure that’s okay?”

“Yeah, relax, besides, I doubt I could get your last name right… wait, Luz is your first name, right? I’m still figurin’ out how you guys do it that stuff over here.”

“Yup, Luz is my first name.”

She remembered from her anime that in Japan, it was common to say your last name before your first name, and while she wasn’t as familiar with other parts of Asia, she knew there was a chance they had something similar.

“Phew, okay, that’ll make this easier,” MK seemed relieved, “Mandarin's my native language, I’m fine with English but Spanish hurts my tongue! Nocid-Nosaid-Nosad- YOU KNOW WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY!!!”

She snickered, at least it was a mutual struggle.

“...I thought you said your name was Dio,” Hunter stared at the older boy in confusion.

There was a long pause.

“...dude… remind me to show you some human realm memes,” Luz stated quietly.

“So, MK,” Steven looked up at him, “What made you think you could take on Strickler this time?”

“Well ya know, I’ve fought legendary demons before, I thought this time would be different from the last… um…” he started counting on his fingers, “How many times have I asked him to go all out again?”

“Too many,” Danny grumbled.

“Either way! One of these days I’ll get him! I just gotta keep training!”

“You know that overconfidence of yours is why he beats you every time right?”

“Hey I’m not overconfident! I’m just loud! …wait a minute.”

Luz snickered again, MK was funny!

“You’re also not used to fighting someone who uses throwing knives as their primary method of attack,” Steven threw in, “Plus Strickler has way more experience than you, that kinda trumps your powers dude.”

MK gasped like he had been personally offended.

“Don’t question my powers! Do I need to remind you who I got them from?!”

“No,” Danny, Randy and Steven all said in various levels of annoyance. Jake and Hailey meanwhile looked… too uncomfortable to comment. MK just pouted at the dejection.

“We don’t know,” Luz piped up and MK’s mood immediately improved.

“Well, since you so kindly asked-”

“Technically she didn’t ask, just said we didn’t know,” Hunter interjected.

“Details! Well, I got my epic powers from a living legend!”

In his passionate declaration, MK thought it would be a good idea to wrap his arm around the young witch’s neck and pull him in to recount his story.

“A hero whose name can be traced down through the centuries! A hero of vast kindness, who fights injustice and comforts widows and orphans!”

“Oh god he’s quoting the book now!” Randy exclaimed while grabbing his own head, “Make him stop! MAKE HIM STOP!”

“He goes by many names! The Victorious Fighting Buddha! The Great Sage Equal to Heaven!”

“You caused this,” Danny told Luz… only to be surprised that she was legitimately taken in by his speech. Her eyes were huge and sparkling.

Meanwhile Hunter’s eyes turned into pinpricks of indigent rage.

“I was given my powers by-”

“GET OFF!”

Hunter broke free of MK’s hold and glared at him, summoning his staff to his hands.

“I don’t care whoever or whatever gave you your stupid powers! I have better things to worry about than your stupid human… whatever this is! I’m not here to make friends, I’m just here to find a way back home!”

He pointed his staff directly at the loudmouth in question, nostrils flared, as if he was trying to snarl.

“...are we interrupting something?”

The whole group nearly jumped out of their skin at this new interruption.

Strickler stood there, flanked by Teodora and Krel, the former looking amused, the latter looking like he had better things to do.

“...no, you weren’t,” Hunter said, tapping his staff against the floor, “I was just about to leave.”

“Before you do that,” the older man put his hand up, immediately putting a stop to the blonde, “We will need you, Miss Noceda and Mister Clawthorne to hand over your phones.”

“Phones?”

“He means your scroll dude,” Luz said, reaching into her pocket, “I mean… if you have it with you.”

“...why do you need it?”

“It’s easier to explain after we do the thing,” Teodora said, “And it’s more fun to see your reactions when we don’t explain.”

“...if you’re going to confiscate it-”

“No, nothing of the sort,” Krel groaned, “Now hand them over, I do not have all day!”

They both hesitated, before handing them over… and were horrified when the royal sat at the table and immediately pried them open! He poked at the insides with a strange tool that looked like a weird soldering iron but was clearly something far more advanced. He moved impossibly fast, putting a strange microchip into them, muttering a few words about the scroll, griping about the insides being “organic and squishy for some reason”. He then put them back together, returned the devices to their rightful owners and declared,

“There, you are now no longer traceable by the human governments.”

“...wait, what?!” Luz exclaimed, almost dropping her phone in disbelief.

Teodora was snickering, “Exactly what he said! Advanced alien tech means you’re beyond their ability to keep track of!”

“Why would we need that?!”

“Uh, because some of us are wanted by the government? Duh.”

“...I’m sorry what?”

“For once I’m in agreement with her!” Hunter snapped, holding his scroll away from himself like it had suddenly become highly toxic.

“Well, think about it. Some of us aren’t human, and “in the name of public safety” they’ve tried to catch, imprison and run experiments on us. Plus some of them think we’re straight up dangerous, or criminals or whatever.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Hunter frowned, “The others were just telling us about their… ahem, “criminal records,” so why would the human governments want to experiment on them when they’d-”

“Dude, the Emperor’s Coven cloned basilisks back to life to study how they drain magic,” Luz interrupted, “And humans are… scared of what they don’t understand. Then they try to understand it… and… when they take things apart, they can’t exactly put them back together.”

“...well, y-your human governments can’t possibly have enough resources or people to-”

“They have multiple departments dedicated to these things,” Strickler sighed, “And we know this because of… just how many of our students have been endangered by them.”

His hesitation didn’t go unnoticed by the two teenagers, and it left an uncomfortable weight in their stomachs. He wasn’t telling them something, but before they could pry, someone spoke up.

“I’m wanted by the Guys in White,” Danny stated flatly.

“At least four of the teachers have been wanted by or involved with the FBI in the past,” Jake tossed out.

“My sister and I currently have a shaky truce with Area 49-B,” Krel added.

“I was called a rebel, but terrorist might have been a more accurrate term to the government that wanted me dead,” Steven shrugged, “Even if it isn’t a human one.”

“Wait, what do you mean not-” Luz was interrupted by MK piping up to add.

“Technically me being here is… Strickler, what was it you said I was?”

“Questionably legal.”

“...que?!” she exclaimed in disbelief, “How is that possible?! Is he here illegally?! Do we have to keep an eye out for I.C.E.?!”

“Not exactly,” Strickler held up a calming hand, “To put it simply… young MK here has been considered legally dead for quite some time.”

“...he… what?” Hunter was the one to speak now, Luz had wanted to say something similar but the words died in her throat.

“Yes, you see, some of our students were in their worlds for exceptionally long periods of time. Many were reported missing by their parents or guardians, and while most were gone for mere months, some were gone for years, long enough that they were declared legally dead. It’s one thing to find them and bring them here when they’re already in the United States, but bringing them from somewhere like China…”

“We had to break a couple laws to get him here,” Teodora interrupted with giggling glee, “It was some of Grunkle Stan’s best handiwork!”

Luz’s mind immediately went to Phillip Wittebane, sure he had been a jerk, but he had wanted to get back to the human realm so badly… she wasn’t even sure if he actually succeeded. Had he died on the Boiling Isles?

Would she have suffered the same fate, if the whole mess that got them back here in the first place hadn’t happened?

“So… how… how long were you in your world for?” she choked out, weakly pointing at MK. He paused, rubbed his chin a moment and began to count on his fingers.

“Hm… well… I went there when I was seven… so uh… fourteen years?”

She choked on her words again!

Fourteen years! That was her whole life! It was two thirds of his own! He had spent more time in that other world than he had in this one! She couldn’t even begin to wrap her head around it, being gone for that long, away from everything she knew, her family…

Then it hit her that, if she had found her way to the Boiling Isles at the same age, she would have spent half her life on the Boiling Isles by now… it would have become her home, her normal. She’d have had more memories of it than the human realm.

It made her stomach tie itself into a painful knot.

“Now then,” Strickler pulled them back to reality, “I’m going to need you three to come with me. There is someone important I want you to meet before you start classes.”

“Im-Important?” Luz asked, her voice shaking.

“Yes… I think you will like what they have for you.”

Hunter stared at Strickler for a moment before swallowing the lump in his throat and said, “Very well, but if this person is so important…”

He swung his staff in a downward arc, leaving a trail of yellow magic behind it. When it dissipated, he was decked out in his full Golden Guard uniform, feeling the familiar weight of his cloak and mask materialize into existence.

“I might as well wear the proper attire.”

“DUDE THAT IS SICK!”

“YO, HOW’D YOU DO THAT?!”

“TEACH ME HOW TO BE THAT FABULOUS!”

He had just expected them to be silently impressed, he hadn’t thought they might actually comment on his little display! He was thankfully saved from their further bombardment of questions when Luz pushed him towards Strickler.

“C’mon King!”

The little demon hopped from Hailey’s lap and ran to follow them.

They were led out into the hall, through the seemingly maze-like building, only to stop at the magic classroom. Unlike the previous afternoon, the sound of loud and wild guitar playing could be heard coming from the other side of the door. Strickler showed no signs of acknowledging it and tapped the back of his finger against the handle, dissipating the warding spell with ease. He pushed the door open and they all held their breath.

Inside was… a bit chaotic.

Tables littered with papers, shelves covered in strange crystals, stones, books and bones, the waxy remains of candles were everywhere. The place was wildly disorganized but it wasn't filthy at least. In the middle of the room was a young man who didn’t look any older than eighteen. He had black hair with his bangs dyed bright blue at the ends, a black hoodie and skinny jeans, a necklace with a white skull pendant, a matching belt, a wrist band covered in studs, back and white high tops, and was rocking out on a bright red L.A. Electric guitar…

An electric guitar that, as Luz noticed, wasn’t plugged into a speaker of any kind, but still had the volume and the distortion of one that was. It also had a glowing, blue ethereal energy radiating off of it, almost like some strange smoke.

“Hisirdoux,” Strickler said, as loudly as he could while remaining formal. When that didn’t get a response, he repeated the word again, this time letting politeness slip in exchange for asserted authority, “Hisirdoux!”

The young man stopped in the middle of a power chord and looked at them, smiling.

“Well, about time you showed up, I was gettin’ so bored I had to start playing to keep from fallin’ asleep,” he said with a British accent, he turned his attention to the trio and smiled, “Name’s Hisirdoux, Douxie for short. Startin’ today, I’ll be your new magic teacher, pleasure ta meet’cha.”

He bowed for a bit of emphasis, and she took an instant liking to him.

“Now lemme guess,” he said as he stood upright, “You’re Luz Noceda,” he pointed at her with the body of his guitar, in a way that the laws of physics should not have allowed, “King Clawthorne,” he pointed to the tiny demon, “And Hunter, also known as the Golden Guard.”

“How did you-”

“I got a good look at your files last night,” he admitted, “Whenever someone of a magical inclination joins us, I try to help as best I can.”

He then smirked and snapped his fingers, teleporting Hunter’s mask to his hand and making the hood of the cloak fall back.

“Hey! Give that ba-”

“Relax kid, just wanted to get a good look at ya.”

He tossed the mask back to the teenager, who tucked it away into his cloak.

“Gotta say, you three are pretty unique, we never get anyone from a world Ford’s already familiar with.”

“Is that good?” Luz piped up and took a step forward.

“To an extent, but that’s not somethin’ to worry about now. I have something for you lot.”

He swung his guitar around and rested its body against his shoulder, another action that should have been a struggle under the best of circumstances, but physics seemed to be taking a vacation today! He swung it around like a baseball bat!

“Luz, Hunter, I need you both to stick out your non-dominant hands,” he stated, “You’ll see why in a minute.”

She didn't hesitate and held out her arm. He glared at her for a moment before reluctantly doing the same.

In a single, swift moment, a small metal bracelet was placed over their wrists, unfamiliar glowing blue runes circled them. Douxie tapped them both with two fingers, causing the strange metal to expand and reach out, until they covered half of their forearms, revealing more of the strange symbols. They reminded her of the bracelets Wonder Woman wore.

“Say ‘ello to your charm bracelets!”

“Wait… IS THIS HOW WE’RE GONNA USE MAGIC?!” Luz exclaimed, her eyes instantly filling with more stars than could fit in an entire galaxy.

“You got that right da’lin’,” Douxie smiled, “Your models are the newest versions, even more up to date than what I use.”

“Really?”

“But… aren’t you supposed to be our teacher?” Hunter questioned, a single brow raised.

“Well, yes, I am, but I’ve been usin’ my own for so long, I’ve grown rather attached to it. These newer ones can tap into the basics of multiple kinds of magic, so long as you have a basic understandin’ of them of course. If ya do, you can recreate most of them with these bands.”

“...what can’t we recreate?”

“Mostly things like magical weapons, potions, ya know, stuff like that. Some real powerful magic can be more difficult to pull off but not entirely impossible, just takes more hard work. Then again, nothin’ worth doing is easy, is it?”

“...how do they work?” Luz asked.

“Now that’s the fun part,” he smiled, “Both of you do what I do, alright?”

They lifted their forearms up, following his demonstration. He tapped on the band, a series of glowing blue points with lines connecting between them. Hunter paused, hesitating… Luz didn’t.

Her own strange band lit up in a similar pattern, but it seemed simpler, more organized. Convinced it was safe, Hunter followed her lead, receiving the same results.

“There we go,” Douxie smiled, “Now, for the kind of magic I was taught, you’d use invocations along with these symbols to cast your spells. Invocations are where you say the name of the spell aloud, it helps power and command the magic to do what you want.”

“You can use magic like that?” Luz remembered the healing spell Lilith had used to split Eda’s curse between the two of them; she'd never even considered trying to use magic like that. The way he described it also reminded her of glyphs.

“Yup, the biggest drawback of invocations is that the spells all have Latin names. Fine for their time and all, but given the nature of this school, we don’t exactly have time to teach and reteach it for every magic kid who comes through our doors. These newer models solve the issue quite nicely though.”

He grinned, eyes having a spark of mischief.

“Now… what’s the first spell you want to learn?”

Luz paused. What did she want to learn first? The first spell she would ever cast in the human realm, with a new kind of magic. How different was it from her glyphs? From spell circles in general? It would probably be best to start with something small, simple… familiar.

“...I wanna learn a light spell.”

Hunter looked at her, he had seemingly been running through several potential options.

“Alright, there are a few different ones,” Douxie nodded, “Do you want a high powered flashlight kind of deal or-”

“A small ball of floating light,” she interrupted, “It… it was the very first spell I learned back on the Boiling Isles. I-”

“Say no more, I already see where you’re goin’ with it,” he smiled, “Sentimentality and all that.”

She smiled a little, not having to explain was strangely relieving.

“Alright, follow my lead.”

He tapped three of the glowing symbols, making it very clear which ones they had to touch. They followed his lead, the symbols began to glow brightly and a small blue orb of light formed in front of them. Luz’s eyes widened, a knot forming in her throat. It… It…

It wasn’t the same.

This wasn’t the small ball of yellow light she had expected. It resembled a small ball of blue fire, pretty in its own way but… not what she had been expecting.

She had a lot to learn about this new magic.

Still, it was magic…

She could do magic again.

She could do magic in the human realm .

It was just different.

She had tears in her eyes.

“I… I did it!”

She was torn from her thoughts at the sound of Hunter’s voice. He was staring at his own light spell, a wide smile on his face and he had tears rolling down his cheeks. He, the powerless witch, had used magic without a staff… she couldn’t help but be happy for him.

“I did it! I actually did it! Uncle, look, I-”

He turned around, looking for… someone… but he stopped when he saw there was nobody standing there, remembering where he was in the process, and his smile slowly fell.

“...Hunter…?”

He looked at her, hurt painted on his face. She had to choke down a new knot in her throat.

“...Belos… Belos isn’t the only person you’re trying to get back to… is he?”

“I-I uh…”

“I-It’s okay… we have people we want to get back to too…” she said softly.

To her surprise, he flinched, but then looked down and she followed his gaze. Of all the things they were expecting to see when they looked down, King hugging his leg wasn’t anywhere on that list… and he looked like he was about to start crying too. Under normal circumstances, Hunter might have tried to shake the small demon off, yelling at him to let go, but he found he couldn’t bring himself to even attempt such a thing.

“...I miss my family too,” King whimpered.

Both teenagers stared at him for a moment before looking at each other. They could say what they wanted about the other, but that one sentiment was true for all three of them, and their greatest drive to go back.

“...not to interrupt the emotions here,” Douxie’s voice gently cut through the tension, “But I have somethin’ for King too.”

“Weh?”

He reached into his desk before kneeling down to the little demon’s level, his hands clasped together.

“Since the charm bracelets are a bit too big for you, I had to find a bit of an alternative. So, I wanna try this.”

He opened his hand, showing strange little stones.

“These are the shards of a magical amulet Ford used to have, before he went to the other worlds. Apparently he hid it too close to the local elementary school and some snot nosed brat found it and used it to become a local child star. Played up being a psychic when really he just used obvious facts to “read minds” and the amulet to make things he wanted to happen happen.”

“How… How’d it break then?” King asked, looking at the shiny pieces.

“Get this, the kid got a crush on Ford and Stan’s great-niece and guilt tripped her into going on dates. Her brother tried to get him to back off and the brat tried to kill ‘im. The niece ended up saving him, stole the amulet and then shattered it. After I was told all this, I went to the place and found as many of the shards as I could. Turns out they still have some of the original amulet’s powers in them, so…”

He clasped his hands over the shards, blue light poured out from between his fingers. He opened them a moment later, and the shards floated from his palms and circles King, before adhering themselves to his collar, creating a series of small, uniformed spikes around it.

“There we go.”

“What did you just do!?” the little demon exclaimed, running his claws over them.

“I figured you didn’t want to be left out when Luz and Hunter got their bracelets, so this was the next best thing I could think of. Now, try moving this pencil from my hand.”

He held out a simple, number 2 graphite pencil. King squinted at it, almost like he was suspicious of it… and the little writing utensil began to glow with a turquoise light. He let out a squeak of surprise, and his tail began to wag.

“This power…! It’s amazing!”

“Heh, I thought you’d like it.”

Cackling in wicked delight, the young demon immediately scampered to a nearby bookshelf, and began trying to move its contents. The most he was able to do was knock them on their side but it still brought an unbridled delight.

“Nice job dude. No cookie jar will ever be safe again,” Luz smiled as she watched her adoptive brother make things glow and then fall over.

“Isn’t this really dangerous?” Hunter asked, looking rather uncomfortable at the idea of letting the little demon have this much power.

“Before it was broken, the amulet was apparently very user friendly,” Strickler answered this time, “So long as you held onto it, you just had to think what you wanted it to do. Since most of the pieces are gone, it takes a lot more work and practice to use it properly.”

He looked back to the small demon knocking things over… alright, maybe he had been overly concerned.

“Now, I made these for you two,” Douxie tapped on his bracelet, conjuring up a pair of folders that floated to the teenagers, “They contain some basic spells for you to get a better handle on how to use this kind of magic, figured you’d find them useful. Ford told me magic worked different there, is that right?”

“Yeah, for witches and demons, they just had to draw a circle in the air,” Luz nodded as she demonstrated the action, “Because they have these bile sacks on their hearts, but since I’m human, I couldn’t do that. Instead, I found these glyphs in nature and figured out how to combine them to create different spells! It took a lot of experimenting. Kinda like what you said before about invocations.”

“Now that’s somethin’, you and I gotta talk later ‘bout that.”

“You and Ford both,” Strickler groaned, rolling his eyes.

“I’d be happy to, and I can show you what I’ve learned,” she offered excitedly, “The spell circles work in this realm, but the glyphs don’t for some reason.”

“Interesting…”

“There will be plenty of time for that later,” Stirckler smiled, “For now, I’d say it’s just about time for you three to start heading to your first class.”

Chapter Text

Their first class of the day was a basic, introductory lesson about the school itself, how it operated and the vocabulary they were likely to hear. Ford was excitedly waiting for them, with a massive smartboard behind him and some notes already written on it. He greeted them brightly, and gestured for them to sit at any of the half dozen desks in the small classroom. He explained that while this had been intended to be a formalized class for the entire student body, it eventually had to be cut down due to how little they actually knew. Now it was only held maybe once a month to inform the students of any new discoveries or breakthroughs regarding other worlds and traveling to them. The field was in its infancy, they had many more theories than actual facts.

Hunter was staring at the smartboard before them, his eyes wide at the strange device, Luz meanwhile was impressed the school had one at all. She had heard of more well off schools using them and even seen a few being sold online, but this was her first time seeing one in real life. King had taken a break from trying to lift every small nearby object with his new psychic spikes and leaned in to pay attention.

“Now, this is a crash course lesson,” Ford explained, “There’s a few basic facts that you need to know that’ll make things easier while you’re here.”

“Like… rules?” Hunter asked, the tiniest bit of enthusiasm in his voice.

“Well, those too, but the main thing you’re going to learn is some of the terminology we use here in regards to the various worlds we’ve discovered. It’s mostly category titles to simplify things when we talk about them, as well as a few others you’ll need to know.”

The teenage boy scowled but Luz leaned in, curious as to where this was going.

“The first one is the easiest and most straightforward: “Door”.”

“...I’m sorry, ''Door”? Is that what you said?” Luz questioned, her face slightly scrunched up.

“Yes, it’s an umbrella term for all the ways in and out of the other worlds. The students have more specific names for them like “Ghost Portal” or “Little Door” and so on, but they just lead to one specific world and that’s it. Using “Doors” to cover it all helps keep things a bit easier in the long run.”

“Huh… that… actually makes sense. Are they all door-shaped, the one Eda used to travel back and forth between the Boiling Isles and the Human Realm literally was one.”

“Oh no, those actually are quite rare. Most look like swirling vortexes, some look like glowing magic water, so forth and so on, you get the jist.”

Ford was happy to see the three of them were now leaning in, Hunter’s eyes were wide and shining, Luz was taking notes in her phone and King’s tail was wagging, almost like he was listening to a good story.

“Now, the next term is “the Great Compass” though the Compass itself doesn’t come up too often. It’s the four, quote unquote, “directions” that are important.”

He pointed to a drawing of a basic graph.

“When I first started my research into other worlds, I found they landed somewhere within four “directions” as it were. However, as my understanding grew, I came to the realization that it had nothing to do with actual coordinates and that it was more a set of rules or patterns that the worlds would follow. As such, I chose to keep the terms to keep the understanding simple, even if they aren’t exactly accurate. Follow so far?”

They nodded.

“Good. Now, the four directions are Nonsense, Logic, Virtue, and Wicked and they’re exactly what they sound like. Nonsense worlds tend to work within their own sets of rules, for example, Luz, have you ever seen the Wizard of Oz?”

“Of course I have,” she nodded, “I mean, it’s been a while but I have seen it.”

“ That is a perfect example of a Nonsense world. Logic worlds meanwhile are more based in scientific reasoning, like… think of black and white horror movies, Dracula, Franknstien, the Wolfman, their science may not work here but those worlds rely on it all the same.”

“...okay, I see what you mean,” she rubbed her chin, and the gears in her mind were spinning.

“...I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Hunter droned, looking utterly deadpan.

“Yeah, I think we’re missing something here!” King snapped.

“Don’t worry guys, I’ll show you those movies later,” she offered with a warm smile.

“Thank you Luz, that will be a big help,” Ford smiled, “Now, the last two, Virtue and Wicked, can be a bit misleading. It doesn’t mean that the worlds are inherently bad or good, but more like a utopia vs an apocalypse. From the ones we’ve been able to properly explore and document, there tends to be a pattern of Nonsense and Virtue overlapping regularly, while Logic and Wicked do the same. However there are always exceptions to the rules. You all met Coraline yesterday, the world she went to was Average Nonsense and Very High Wicked, to the point she’s lucky to have escaped with her life.”

“...it was that bad?” there was a twinge of worry in Luz’s voice.

“Yes. If you want, you can ask her yourself.”

“Follow up question!” Hunter said quickly, “Is the threat from that world able to come here?”

“Oh no, the actions she took following her little adventure ensured no one would ever be able to enter that world again. Oh, and while we’re at it, it’s common courtesy here not to tell new students about someone else’s world unless they've given their express permission. Personal business and so on.”

“That makes sense,” Luz said softly, and began to consider if she’d do the same, “Is there anything else?”

“There are a few more things, yes. There are some lesser directions on the compass, ones that can appear, but don’t always. The four I listed are constants and every world falls somewhere between them. These lesser directions include Whimsy, Rhyme, Linearity, Reason and a few we have yet to name. Now, the last big bit of information is Vitus vs Mortis.”

“What and what now?!”

“Oh this is a fascinating one! Whether or not the residents are among the living or the dead! It also relates to if the world and/or land itself has something significant to do with the dead!”

The teenagers paused and looked at each other, now both of their brains were buzzing with ideas from this information.

“That leads me to this next question,” Ford said with a smile, “If you had to decide, where on the Compass would you kids place the Boiling Isles?”

“Wait, you’ve been there,” Hunter explained, “Shouldn’t you already know that?”

“I was only there for a short time, my boy,” he sighed, “And it was long before I came up with this system. As such, I can’t trust my own experience to be accurate, plus it helps to get our students’ opinions on it. They may have experienced something or seen things in a perspective we might not have considered. Let’s start with uh… King! King, what are your thoughts?”

“I ‘unno,” the young demon shrugged, “It’s all I ever knew, I never thought about this kinda stuff before. It just was what it was, ya know?”

“I see. Luz, Hunter, your thoughts?”

“Well it’s obvious isn’t it?” the young witch answered with a confident smirk, “Logic and Virtue, oh and Vitus. I mean, it might have been different during the Savage Ages, wait, could a world even change its alignment like that? If there was a significant enough change maybe? Anyway, as I was say-”

“Whoa there! Thank you Hunter, I appreciate your enthusiasm and you can go into more detail in a moment,” Ford smiled, “But I'd like to hear Luz’s opinion as well.”

He grunted but conceded as he shot a sharp look at Luz, who looked uncomfortable, almost cringing as she answered.

“I uh… kinda have to go the other way around. Nonsense, Wicked and Mortis.”

“What?! Are you crazy?!” Hunter snapped and standing up from his desk.

“Well I-“

“Now now, we can discuss this like adults,” the scientist interrupted, “Hunter, explain your reasoning please.”

“Hmph! Well for one, Logic because Belos created the Coven System and brought order to magic. Virtue because the Coven System was given to us by the Titan and made everything better! And Vitus because everyone is alive back home.”

Ford paused for a second before taking out a notepad and made a note, “Mhm… Luz, your thoughts?”

“Well… Nonsense because a lot of the stuff there is like something from a twisted kid’s book, ya know, the fairies, boiling rain, you get the idea. Wicked because the boiling sea isn’t exactly safe, there are giant monsters and people can do terrible things with their magic if they wanted to. As for the Mortis thing… well, it also ties into the Nonsense thing but uh… the entire Isle is a giant dead body that everybody lives on and demons spawned from.”

“ How is that Nonsense?! It makes perfect sense!”

“Now now you two,” they were interrupted by Ford as he furiously scribbled down some more notes, “Both of you have brought up some excellent points. We undoubtedly need more data on this, but so far it seems that the Boiling Isles is a unique outlier that could be very close to the center of the Great Compass’s alignment. I’d theorized that such worlds existed but would be understandably rare. We can discuss it more later in some one-on-one sessions if you like, but for now, you should probably get going, otherwise you might be late to your next class.”

They didn’t look particularly happy but they didn’t argue either. As they left, Luz stopped and looked back.

“Hey Ford… where do you think this world is on the Compass thingy?”

“Hm? Oh, I’d have to say it has a firm foothold in both Wicked and Logic.”

“…you’re sure about that? I mean the Logic part makes sense but the Wicked thing?”

Ford just gave her a look, it wasn’t stern or angry, but more like acceptance tinged with something else. It wasn’t sadness, but it wasn't anything good or happy.

“Luz… If our history as a species has taught me anything, it’s that good and bad can exist side by side… but if you let wolves and sheep into the same pasture, you’ll soon end up with nothing but wolves. Does that make sense?”

“…yeah, unfortunately… and I know it’s just a metaphor but I like wolves.”

“I know, they’re good creatures but it was the best example I had. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you what you wanted to hear.”

She just quietly nodded and the trio headed to their next class. Like she had expected, the students were broken up into two groups, split between the older and younger age groups. Strickler had barely suggested King join the younger kids before the little demon loudly protested the idea and clung to Luz like his life depended on it. The man just gave a small smile and said he could join the older students for a few days until he was comfortable enough to join his age group. Remembering what Teodora said about siblings coming to the school, she had a gut feeling that he had had this conversation many times before.

Compared to a crash course on inter-world travel and categorization, a regular math class was weirdly disappointing. Well, except for the fact that Krel was the one teaching it. She noticed that Hunter’s eyes lit up as he wrote down the questions from the board, a noticeable smile on his face. Who knew he liked mathematics so much? Luz herself didn’t care about the subject either way, she had applied it to the real world a few times, both with her art and magic. What she didn’t like was the overly rigid way it was taught, with no chance to explore other ways to solve a problem, just use the one specific method the school wanted you to and hope you got it right.

To her great relief, Krel didn’t seem to care about “Core Curriculum Nonsense” as he put it and allowed them to find answers on their own. He didn’t hesitate to help, and was very quick to catch errors. The only time that seemed to change was when he glanced at Jack’s paper, and they began to bicker about his process, and the rest of the class was dedicated to watching them argue. If that was what the school had in store, she began to wonder what their next class would entail.

A Driver’s Ed class where the first lesson was learning how to hotwire a car was not what she had expected.

Plus she was fourteen, she knew for a fact she and a good few others were way too young to be here. Most states didn’t let you start learning how to drive until you were fifteen and a half, and yet there she was. Jack Spicer and Grunkle Stan excitedly explained how to recognize the various wires under a dashboard, the best/safest way to cut them and what connecting them would do. This was followed with a short speech about escaping a car sinking in water, waiting until it was submerged when the water pressure was more equalized on the door and easier to get open.

This was how they learned that while the school taught regular lessons, there was also a major focus on “what you might need on your adventures” as Stan put it. He emphasized this with a story about having to chew his way out of the trunk of a car when he was in his twenties. It was interrupted when Jack began to argue with Krel when the royal said something about adding alien technology to increase a car’s speed. The evil boy genius countered with a statement about using the bare minimum they would have on hand before it broke out into a full on fight.

Nobody tried to stop them, watching two nerds roll around on the ground and mostly just yell weird expletives at each other was too much fun for the others to stop. Stan even pulled out a camera from seemingly nowhere and began recording, they only stopped when it was time for them to head to their next class. It was Social Studies with Mr Strickler and to everyone’s relief, the arguing teenagers were seated as far apart from each other as possible. He was clearly not putting up with their apparent feud.

Luz was excited for this class, she liked history, finding out how the world got to where it was now, the whos, the wheres whats and whys. The man was good at it too, the way he spoke was almost like a storyteller, captivating and enwrapping. The lesson was focused on the early days of the American Revolution, particularly the Boston Massacre and how tensions between the British soldiers and the civilians had reached a boiling point. The lesson was halfway over when she stole a glance towards King and Hunter, the former slumped over in her lap as he napped, the latter looking utterly lost and confused but trying his best to follow along. It struck her that neither of them knew anything about human history, she was going to have to help tutor them and get them caught up.

Strickler apparently had the same idea, because as class ended, he approached.

“Hunter, may I speak with you a moment?”

“Yes, what is it?” the witch asked, the tiniest twinge of frustration apparent on his features.

“It occurred to me that due to you being from another world, you have little to no knowledge about our world’s history, is that correct?”

“Yeah, what of it?”

“Well, you are at a serious disadvantage in my class, so I would like to assign you a tutor to help you gain a more equal footing with your peers.”

“And you aren’t giving this same generous offer to the rat?” he jabbed a thumb towards King, who was perched on Luz’s shoulder.

“I’m not a rat!”

“Young King is a child and will be joining the other elementary school aged students, the topics they cover are much more simple and don’t require the level of context or nuance you’ll be learning about. Frankly, if you don’t accept this help, you will be lost and quickly fall behind everyone else.”

Hunter scrunched up his face, he probably wanted to say he didn’t need a tutor, that he could handle this on his own, but… something stopped him. There was a pause before he released a drawn out,

“Fffffffffine.”

“Excellent. Now then, Otto, could you come here please?”

To their surprise, a small boy came out from behind a massive stack of books. He couldn’t have been more than eight and had a huge smile on his face. He was a pale child, with a small mop of red hair on his head, dressed in a dark blue t-shirt, darker shorts and red and white sneakers. He also had a huge pair of thick rimmed glass that took up half of his face and a dusting of freckles on his cheeks.

“You needed me Mr Strickler?” he asked with a scratchy voice.

“Otto, this is Hunter, he’s new to our world and needs to catch up on histor-”

“Consider it done sir!” the little boy said excitedly before running up to Hunter, “Hi, I’m Otto Osworth, I’m gonna be your tutor!”

“...you can’t be serious,” Hunter scowled at Strickler, “You want a kid to help me catch up with your class?!”

“Rest assured, Otto may be young, but he is a prodigy,” Strickler said sternly and the young witch’s ears perked, “He is much more advanced than any other child his own age when it comes to history, it is why I teach him with the teenagers. He also has a true passion for the topic, to the point we had to limit how many books on the subject he can check out of the library. He’d never finish the rest of his homework otherwise.”

“Hey! That was only one time!” the boy protested, “And it was the first time I got to read history books from this year!”

“Wait, pause that for a second! What do you mean by that?” Luz interrupted, very confused, “Books from this year?”

“Oh, that! I’m from the year 2001,” Otto smiled up at her.

“Que?! You are?! But… wuh… Huh?!”

“I seem to recall you were told some of our students are time travelers,” Strickler looked very amused at the simple explanation, and her eyes got huge.

“I… I assumed that meant they would be from the future I-”

“Well… I kinda am and kinda not,” Otto fiddled with his fingers awkwardly as he spoke, “I mean… I’m originally from 2001, but I was adopted by my dads and they’re from the year 3000.”

“Wait, 3000 ?! That’s-“

“Yeah, I know,” the boy shrugged sheepishly.

“Wait… this kid is a time traveler?! For real?” King asked, “Now this is the kind of hot gossip we didn’t get back home!”

“Oh! I’ve never seen something like you before!” the little boy squeaked as he stood on his toes to get a better look at the young demon, “What’s your name?”

“I’m King Clawthorne, nice ta meet’cha Otto!”

“Back up a minute,” Luz requested, “If you’re from… uh… the future, then why are you attending school here? When… here? I… how do I even phrase this?!”

“Hehe, you got the right idea. As for why… well, this is the only school of its kind that’s even semi-close to the era I originally come from. My dads wanted me to be in a school in a time period I would be mostly familiar with, and this was the first one of its kind founded, ever!”

“...really?”

“Mhm, and honestly, I don’t have a whole lot of experience with Earth in the year 3000, we live on a satellite. I know for sure stuff like time travel is more well known by then, but I don’t know about the magic stuff or going to other worlds.”

“...they keep you on the satellite?”

“They have to, it’s for their jobs, they’re time cops. They make sure anomalies in the past don’t occur and set history off onto a different timeline, or they try to anyway, and they rarely get a day off. Usually by the time we get the mission, things have already started to change,” Otto then shuddered, “Have you ever heard Blackbeard, the pirate, make bad whale call noises because he got into that whole “save the whales” thing almost three hundred years before it was an actual movement?”

Luz placed a hand to her head, it felt like it was about to spin right off her neck!

“Okay… I… I just need a moment to… to process this.”

The boy smiled at her before turning to Hunter, “Anyway, just let me know the where and when, and I’ll be more than happy to help you with history lessons!”

The teenager just grunted and didn’t give an actual answer.

“Wait, what about magical history?” Luz piped up, “We don’t know anything about that, er, or Earth’s magical history anyway.”

“Rest assured, Blinky had prepared some reading materials for you to go over. Major historical events are less… condensed when it comes to magical creatures due to having longer lifespans. More time to plan things out, put things into motion, that sort of thing. There’s also the whole, “being sealed away for however long” thing that tends to happen a lot.”

“Really? That happens?”

“Yes, it does. Now, if I remember correctly, Blinky will be starting on a new section for today’s class. If it is about what I suspect it is, you won’t need much in the way of context to begin with.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well… it was a thousand years ago, there was a conflict between the trolls, those who wished to remain in hiding and those who wanted to take over the surface world.”

“...take over? What about the humans? And other magical creatures?”

“They planned to devour all of the humans they could find, and due to their strength and brutality, it would have been easy. I’m afraid I don’t know what the plan for the other magical creatures would have been… but whatever it was, it would have probably led to a full out war.”

The two teenagers found this deeply unsettling.

Their next class was Science, taught by Ford, who was far too happy to guide them through an experiment that had them making their own batteries. Next were Language Arts and Reading, both were taught by Maria, and Luz was stunned to learn the woman was begrudgingly teaching a play she disliked. The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus was considered the worst of Shakespeare’s plays, about a Roman general who loses everything, his few remaining children, his position, arguably his sanity, and all because he was the deciding voice in which of the emperor’s sons would take the throne. Luz counted herself lucky, for most of her classmates this was their first real introduction to the bard, she on the other hand had read the entirety of Romeo and Juliet. She had become enamored with the story when she was preparing for her audition for the school play, and could understand why it was his best work.

However she did laugh at the revelation that, of all things, his worst one had what might have been the very first Yo Mama jokes ever written.

After that was lunch, and Luz had to admit, she was relieved for the break, she was starving!

She glanced around the dining room before spotting her new friends, Titan that still got her giddy to think about, at a nearby table. She took a calming breath before walking over to join them.

“Hey guys,” she said, feeling a bit awkward as her stomach tied itself into knots.

“Hey man,” Jake smiled, looking up from a notebook he and Danny were going over.

“Uh, what’s that?” she sat down, putting hers and King’s meals on the table.

“Oh, we’re just going over some flying notes.”

“Flying?”

“Yeah, we’re both members of the Senior Flyers Club, we’re just goin’ over some ideas for the next meetin’.”

“Dang, that’s awesome! You know, I used to fly using my mentor’s magic staff.”

“Really?!”

“Uh-huh! It’s similar to what Hunter does with his.”

“Don’t lump me in with you,” the blonde groused as he stabbed at his salad.

“What do you even do in that club anyway?” King piped up, taking a big bite from a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“Eh, nothing major, helping each other learn to fly better, agility and basic tricks. Plus, challenging each other to improve. Some of the races can get kinda nuts, especially when we set up obstacle courses.”

Luz grinned, this sounds like it would have been a lot of fun! She wished Owlbert was here so she could join in, and Eda might have some advice on it too!

That’s when she noticed Randy, slumped over a large textbook, looking like he was asleep.

“Uh… is he…?”

She poked his head with the handle of her fork, only to yelp and jumped back when she saw his eyes were rolled back in his head, his jaw was slack and he was drooling all over the book!

“Is he dead?!” she exclaimed, now holding King and Hunter summoned his staff.

“Huh? Oh yeah, no, he’s just Shlooped,” Danny shrugged.

“...that isn’t a word!”

“It’s what he calls it when he goes into the book.”

“...wait, what?”

Jake lifted the taller boy’s head and pulled the book out from under him. He shook off some of the drool and closed it. It was twice the thickness of any textbook she had ever seen and bound in black leather. It had red rings on the cover, with dark gray symbols between, and in the center was a green gem cut into the shape of the ninja mask he had been wearing yesterday afternoon.

“It’s called the Ninja Nomicon, it’s a magic book that the line of ninjas he’s from recorded all their knowledge and techniques in. It lets him and others enter it, train in and who knows what else… but damn it gets trippy in there sometimes. Floating doodles stuff.”

“Wait… YOU CAN GO INTO THE BOOK?!” she reached across the table to try and grab it in her excitement.

“Whoa, easy there Luz-y! This thing is kinda-” the gem began to flash a hazardous green color, “Temperamental.”

“...it’s sentient ?!”

Hunter had stopped eating and now had a similar expression to Luz’s, though considerably less wild. Danny was snickering as he watched this, a smile forming under his hand.

“Well… uh… kinda? Maybe? It isn’t clear? Look, all I know is this thing gets a say on things too! I joined Randy in there a few times, and the Nomicon only let me stay so long as we spar-”

“You’ve been in there?!”

“Maybe three or four times, and I had to ask the Nomicon for permission first! It wouldn’t open until I did!”

“...Nomicon, can we be friends please?” she squeaked, holding her hands together, almost like she was begging.

The gem stopped flashing, there was no clear answer there.

“I’m gonna take that as a maybe!”

Jake just winced before opening the book to a random page and slid it back under Randy’s head. As soon he made contact with the parchment, he shot back up, gasping as if he had stopped breathing while in the book.

“WHAT THE SHOOB DID YOU GUYS DO OUT HERE?! NOMICON WAS TOTALLY FREAKING OUT!”

“Luz wants to try and be buddies with it,” Danny answered.

“Frie-say WHAT?!”

“Personally, I think it would be more interesting to talk to it about how its magic works,” Hunter interrupted, leaning forward, “It could be a new way to learn faster and more efficiently!”

The book’s gem began to flash again.

“Yeah uh, Nomicon kinda only wants me to Shloob in there.”

“...that isn’t a word,” the witch stated flatly, all excitement gone from his voice. Luz giggled at the fact he repeated her word for word.

Randy just groaned, rolled his eyes and tucked the book into his messenger bag.

“Actually, there was something I kinda wanted to ask you guys about,” she added gingerly, “I keep hearing about the therapist the school has but we haven’t met them yet, or even know where their office is. Do you think you could show us when you have a chance?”

“Oh yeah sure,” Danny nodded, “We’ll be heading that way for our next class anyway.”

“Great! By the way, Ford mentioned group therapy meetings, do you know when those’ll be?”

“Eh, they’re held every few days, since you’re new it’s not a big deal if you don’t join them right away. I think the next one’s tonight if you want in.”

“Oh, and they’re never held on Fridays and Saturdays,” Jake added, “The doc wants us to have those two nights guaranteed to be free. You can request a private session with her though.”

“I still don’t see why we need to attend them in the first place,” Hunter sighed, “I can’t speak for the rest of you but, no offense, I’m perfectly fine.”

The three boys just looked between themselves and then at Hunter… or rather, the large scar on his cheek and the nick in his ear.

“Huh, and here I thought denial was only a river in Egypt,” Danny was smirking, “Didn’t know we had one here too.”

“Weak!” Jake declared, “That was weak! He’s losing his touch folks! The Spider-Man banter is suffering a slow, painful death!”

Frowning, the taller boy shoved his apple into the dragon’s mouth, earning a muffled yelp.

As lunch began to wind down, the group got up and the trio of boys took the lead. Luz watched the way they pushed each other and made jokes. It made her miss Willow and Gus, they had been her first real friends, and she couldn’t help but wonder if they had looked the same way to strangers they passed on the street. Just… happy and filled with a lust for life.

She was snapped from her thoughts when Randy very loudly announced that they had arrived at the therapist’s office. The door had been left open, showing the inside of the office. It was a big room, possibly even bigger than the actual classrooms, it had two couches, a loveseat, massive pillows and bean bag chairs everywhere. It seemed a lot less formalized than what she imagined regular therapist offices to look like. To the far right was a bookcase, there seemed to be an organizational system to it. The lower shelves were full of books for little kids including coloring books, and the higher up you went, the more advanced the reading material became. The top two shelves seemed to hold reference material for mental health issues, she recognized the DSM-5 so those were probably for the therapist.

To the left of the bookshelf were plastic containers full of toys, a few of them led to a small table that looked like it had recently been used in a session. To the far left of the room was a few more bookshelves, however these ones had a massive collection of board games. Mounted on the wall was a series of computer monitors, each one had a camera perched over them, though at the moment, none of them were on. They were probably for the students who attended the therapy sessions virtually.

Near the back of the room was a large, important-looking desk, flanked on both sides by tall, thin windows. It appeared to be hand carved, with a string of roses ornamenting the ledge, as well as a few… were those frogs? Toads maybe? A desk lamp sat on top, as well as a few files…

And then she saw what was mounted on the wall behind the desk.

“ARE THOSE SWORDS?!”

Held up with careful precision was a pair of identical swords, crossed over each other in an X shape. One was a soft poppy red color while the one was a gray-silver blue, and both had the same strange hilt design, she had to squint for a moment before realizing they were birds. They almost looked like herons!

“Yup, the doc’s a bit of a badass,” Jake smirked, “Totally learned how to use those things in just two months!”

“Aw Jake, nice to hear you have such a high opinion of me.”

The voice made the dragon squeak and Luz turned around fast. Her eyes widened as she looked at what had to be the coolest-looking adult. She was in her twenties, with blonde hair cut into a bob that stopped just short of her shoulders, and a pair of stylish sunglasses rested on her head. Below her left eye was a noticeable beauty mark, and on her right cheek was a small scar. She wore small gold hoop earrings, a periwinkle blouse, a long purple skirt, black boots and a black leather biker jacket. On the left sleeve with a patch of the two crossed swords and in her hand was a steaming cup of coffee.

She let out a warm chuckle as she looked over the group of teenagers.

“So, you’re our new students huh?”

“U-Uh, y-yeah,” Luz managed to stammer out.

“Cool, I’m Dr. Waybright, I’m the school’s therapist. Now lemme guess…” she had a wry smile as she pointed at each of the newcomers, “You’re Luz, the lil’ guy is King, and he’s Hunter.”

“Yeah… guess you saw our files like Douxie did huh?”

“I did,” she nodded, “I like to be as prepared as I can when it comes to my new patients,” the girl watched as the woman walked to her desk, her boots clicking softly on the floor. As she passed, Luz saw that on the back of the doctor’s jacket as the anagram B.A.C.A. She was a legitimate biker!  “Now then, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Oh, uh, not exactly. We kinda just didn’t know where your office was, ya know, for the future and uh…”

“Hehehe, don’t worry kid, I can tell where you’re going with this.”

She physically deflated in relief.

“Gracias…”

“De nada.”

“Eh? ¿Tú hablas español?”

“Only the basics.”

She smiled a bit, she was beginning to really like this lady!

“Anyway, if you guys don’t need me for an actual session, you might wanna head to the gym. Stan’s in charge of your class today and unless you wanna work at the Shack this weekend, you should get going.”

“...what’s the Shack?” Hunter spoke up, his brows furrowed in suspicion.

Dr. Waybright chuckled, “Don’t worry kid, it’s nothing bad, you’ll find out soon enough. By the way, Danny, we still on for your session at 3:30 later?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ll be here Doc.”

“Good. Now, get going. I hear Stan has an obstacle course planned for you guys today.”

A spark came to the trio of boys' eyes, as well as excited grins.

“...why do they look like that?” King whispered to Luz.

“...I think they’re excited for this.”

Hunter stayed quiet, but he was intrigued. Perhaps this obstacle course could prove interesting.

Chapter Text

The school’s gym was in fact a converted ballroom, which meant it was quite big. Not quite as big as the gymnasium back in Gravesfield mind you, the ceiling was lower and the walls were still covered in ornate wallpaper. In fact, if Luz had to guess, it was smaller by a good few yards. The chandeliers above gave the impression that the conversion wasn’t quite done either, a stray ball that went a little too high would easily hit them. If the translucent bits hanging from them were glass, anyone directly below would be in serious trouble. If they were real crystals however, they’d probably be better off, not great, they would still be heavy and sharp, but falling glass usually meant a trip to the emergency room.

The staff, thankfully, seemed to be aware of this risk, for while the students met in the gymnasium, the actual class was being held outside. Stan led them (calling him Grunkle was still weird), and had them meet in the forest near the front of the school.

“Alright, you all-” he stopped when he noticed the newcomers, “Most of you know how this works. One lap around the property and no powers allowed until you reach the halfway point, ya got it?”

“Yes Grunkle Stan,” the majority of the class said in unison.

“Alright! Now, you all go at the same time, try not to kill each other when you do! Start stretchin’, ya got five minutes!”

Luz held King closer to her chest as she looked around. This was a bit less formalized than what she had expected, the others seemed to be doing their own preferred warmups with no real cohesion between them. Hunter had already made it to twenty-something with his push-ups and showed no sign of slowing down. The odd part was that they were all expected to run at the same time, at every other school she had attended, they would have gone one at a time. Then again this course seemed a lot bigger than anything her old schools could have managed.

“Yo, squirt!”

“Eep!”

She squeaked and nearly jumped out of her shoes at the sudden gruff voice being directed at her! She turned away from her thoughts to see Stan standing in front of her.

“Yer the new kids right?”

“Uh, y-yes sir.”

“Alright, hate ta do this to ya kiddo, but yer little furball’s gotta stay here,” he said as he pointed at King.

“Weh?! No! I’m not leaving Luz!” the little demon squealed.

“Kid, this is an obstacle course, she’s not gonna be able to carry you and run it at the same time. Plus it’s a bit too big for someone yer size anyway.”

“I’ll ride on her back! I’ll hide in her hoodie! I’ll-”

“I got candy!”

Like a magician, he pulled out two large handfuls of sweets from seemingly nowhere, and King’s eyes widened.

“But… but… I can’t leave Luz… she’s-”

“Hey, King, buddy, it’s okay,” the girl in question interrupted, her voice soothing, “It’s just going to be for a little while. Plus you’ll be spending the day with the other little kids soon, one class away from me’ll be good practice for that.”

He let out a tiny whine and she kissed him on his skull.

“Just for one class, and I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise.”

He hesitated, but then nodded with a small noise of affirmation and sat in the grass by Stan’s feet. The grown man then knelt down to hand him a piece of hard candy, that appeared from seemingly nowhere by sleight of hand. It reassured Luz enough to turn away and start her stretching.

As she was finishing up her stretches, she was surprised to hear someone running towards her. She looked up and smiled as she recognized Tulip, who looked rather excited.

“Hey, Luz!”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“You remember those friends I mentioned this morning? Well one of them wants to meet you.”

“They… do?”

“Yeah, I told them about you and they wanted to say hi before class started.”

“Oh, uh, o-okay, sure! Where are they?”

“I loom behind you!”

Luz let out a small yell and jumped in surprise, turning around so fast she almost made herself dizzy. The first thing she registered was that the person had the same face as Tulip, to the point she thought they had to have been a twin the redhead had failed to mention.

The second thing, though it probably should have been the first, is that they were made of metal.

This new person had a cocky smirk as she soaked in the details of their appearance. While their face was the same, barring a single eyebrow slit, they also had a shaved head, with a few needle-like strands of hair, and holes in their earlobes. They wore a black t-shirt that had the sleeves ripped off, jeans, a little black bracelet and brown boots.

“S’up? The name’s Lake,” they smirked, with a metallic ring to their voice, like they were speaking into a soup can.

“Whoa…! What… I… ahem, lo siento. Hi, I’m Luz.”

“So you’re Tulip’s new roomie, huh? I thought you were supposed to have a living stuffed animal with ya or somethin’.”

“Y-Yeah, well I mean, I am her roommate, along with King,” she pointed towards the little demon, Stan seemed to be showing him a magic trick, “He’s too little for the obstacle course so he’s staying here… also he’s a demon.”

“Oh, huh, that’s cool.”

“Yeah… um… can I go ahead and ask the obvious question here?”

“Hehehehe, you wanna know why I’m made of metal right?”

“...that was actually my second question. My first one was why the heck do you and Tulip look exactly alike?”

“You wanna tell ‘er or should I?” Tulip interrupted, resting her arm on Lake’s shoulder.

“Eh, I might as well,” they smirked before looking at Luz, “I used to be her reflection.”

“Reflection? As in like…?”

“Yup, I don’t have a reflection anymore,” Tulip grinned, pulling out a small pocket mirror and held it up, showing only Lake, “I’m like a vampire! Bleh! I’m gonna suck your blood!”

“You can try, you’ll never be able to bite through my skin!”

The two of them laughed, and Luz tried to restrain back her own giggles.

“How did you two even meet?”

“Remember the Train I told you about?”

“Uh huh?”

“One of the cars was the Mirror Car, and inside, you could switch places with your reflection, one thing led to another and I helped Lake escape the Mirror World.”

“We went our separate ways after that and eventually I got off the train with the help of my friend, Jesse.”

“Oh… uh, is she here or…?”

“Well, first of all, Jesse’s a boy, and second no, not yet. His parents want him to finish out the semester at his current school before sending him here.”

“What, why?”

“I ‘unno, adults are weird.”

Before anything more could be said, Stan called out, “Alright kids, get to the starting line!”

The students scrambled to the starting line, it was drawn in the dirt with yellow chalk. A few of them crouched down, like the professional runners she sometimes saw on TV, while others were simply standing. She didn’t know which she should do and didn’t know who to ask. She also didn’t see Hunter anymore, there must have been too many people between them.

“On your marks!” Stan loudly proclaimed, “Get set!”

He pulled out a blow horn.

“GO!”

The horn rang loudly and spooked a flock of nearby birds. The gaggle of students began to run, Luz had no idea where anyone was, and decided following the group as best she could was the safest option.

The first obstacle was very simple, a large downed tree that laid across the path, she could see the others vaulting over the trunk with ease. Some were getting a lot more air than the others, it was rather impressive to see!

She managed the jump with a semi-awkward landing on the other side, and she could see the next obstacle. It was a steep wooden incline with a series of small ledges for footholds and three lengths of rope hanging from the top. At the base, there were three lines forming as the others got ready to climb. She looked up and could see Hunter disappear over the top, how the heck was he so fast?!

It took no time at all for her to reach the front of one of the lines to begin her climb, and she was happy to find it wasn’t quite as hard as she had been expecting. She looked to her left and saw Tulip reaching the top, who looked back, noticed her and grinned, geturing for her to hurry up. When Luz joined her, she looked down the other side and saw that there was another incline on the other side, one that was made of colorful foam and wasn’t nearly as steep as the one they had just climbed.

“I love this part,” the redhead smirked before sliding down with a loud, “Woohoo!”

Down below, Lake was standing at the bottom, as if waiting. When their double reached the end of her slide, they helped her up, the two said something and then the bespectacled girl looked back up to the summit. She quickly waved for Luz to come down, followed by the former reflection doing the same.

They were encouraging her to follow them.

She smiled to herself a bit before sliding down.

Her roommate was right, it was fun!

Then the two helped her to her feet and they started running again. This whole thing was turning out to be fun already!

Further ahead, Hunter was having different thoughts.

He thought it was insultingly easy.

Now, he knew not everyone was as athletic as him, he was the Golden Guard after all, excellence was expected of him in everything he did… but by the Titan this was child’s play! There was no challenge to it! Where were the traps? The spiked pits? The swinging axes? Sure this wasn’t the castle but they could have set up something! Were humans too fragile for that? He had left the human and her little rat in the dust at the very start, followed shortly by just about every other student he could actually name. He hadn’t seen that loud-mouth MK yet though, had he gotten ahead of the group or something? Were there others who had gotten ahead of him as well?

Whatever, he’d overtake them all eventually, he couldn’t fail at this. He had to reach the end first.

His suspicions were proven right when he reached a rope ladder that led to a series of large platforms built into the trees. When he reached the top, he could see someone up ahead. The witch frowned and ran faster.

He caught up to the kid as he was crossing a suspended bridge that hung between two of the trees. The stranger was going a bit slower, clearly trying not to lose his footing as it swayed softly. Down below, Hunter could see a net, set up to catch anyone who might fall.

His eye twitched.

This was getting very insulting.

He grunted and ran again, gaining ground on the boy on the bridge and pushed past him, feeling a tiny prick of pride at the success. He could hear the kid yell out in surprise when he did but he didn’t pay him a second thought. Once he reached the halfway point, he’d use Flapjack to catch up to whoever else might be left.

Or at least, that was the plan.

Instead, he found himself having to put actual effort to run faster, the boy from the bridge was also fast, and able to keep pace. There was still some distance between them, but Hunter had no doubt he’d make a move to close the gap soon.

He cursed his luck before looking ahead to see there was one platform left. The way to reach it was by crossing a series of small, wooden platforms that were suspended by a pair of wires strung between the ones built into the trees. He would have to jump to reach them, if he was lucky he might be able to skip over some if he had enough momentum.

He made it to the first few with ease, after only a few jumps, he realized he was losing speed. Taking a risk, he skipped over the next one entirely and went straight for the one after it. He made it, but he needed a second to regain his balance. Feeling emboldened, he jumped again, skipping another platform, but this time, he couldn’t regain his composure in time and fell to his knees. He panted as he looked down below, seeing the net again.

“Hey, you okay?” the boy called.

Hunter looked back and got his first good look at him. He was surprisingly mundane-looking, with neatly combed black hair that was parted on the side, big blue eyes and very willowy. He was dressed in a blue jacket with the sleeves rolled up, just below the elbows and zipped up halfway, showing a white shirt underneath. He also wore blue jeans and blue and white shoes, overall, he was perhaps the most boring-looking human he had seen yet!

But there was also something weirdly familiar, he just couldn’t place it.

He chose not to answer the question, instead jumping to his feet and decided not to repeat his prior stunt. Instead, he simply returned to taking them one-by-one, he had to keep his lead!

The last of the large platforms ended with a tube slide, one that curved and left Hunter’s body so filled with static that it tickled his nose. He didn’t look back to see if the boy was still right behind him, he had to assume he was. Well he wouldn’t let him catch up! No, he had to prove he was the best, he had to focus on reaching the end. The second his boots hit the dirt, he took off running again. He considered dispelling his cloak to cut down on the drag but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He couldn’t explain why but he just couldn’t send it away, not yet.

Up ahead, he spotted a large sign along the side of the path, and written in sloppy white paint were the words “Halfway point! Powers are allowed now!” This made Hunter smirk. Time to prove why he was the Golden Guard.

“Flapjack!”

He drew his staff from his cloak and held onto it tightly. He waited until he was safely past the sign before igniting his teleportation spell, immediately jumping forward several dozen yards, leaving streaks of yellow magic behind him. He cast the spell again, and then a third time, putting a considerable distance between him and the human.

He continued with this strategy, and wondered if he would be allowed to actually fly on his staff to the finish line. Would he get in trouble for not doing it right? Better not risk it, plus, this way he could prove himself further by sheer physical capability alone. Though he did spot a few rings suspended just below the canopy, so some students were clearly meant to fly through this part.

Any further thoughts he might have had were interrupted by the sound of… something?

It almost sounded like ringing metal, but there was something more to it, something he couldn’t identify. Hunter hadn’t had time to think on it further, nearly maniacal laughter followed the strange sound and it was approaching him from behind, fast!

He looked over his shoulder, with only a split second between him recognizing MK and the young man’s look of excited enthusiasm turning to immediate regret. He then plowed into the young witch at a speed no magic staff could possibly match, sending them both tumbling across the forest floor.

They only stopped when they crashed hard into the trunk of a tree, Hunter first and then MK landed on top of him.

Hunter’s vision was dark for a second, possibly even two, before it slowly faded back, accompanied by a series of color-changing dots, fuzz in his brain and a ringing in his ears. He let out a groan as he began to make out voices, the face of the boring-looking human was leaning over him in concern, MK had somehow already bounced back and was looking at him in worry. The dazed boy tried to move only to let out a harsh grunt as a sharp shock of pain shot out from his left shoulder. He tried moving it again only to growl in his throat when he was greeted by a tingling that spread from the joint and up his neck, while his arm and hand were entirely numb.

Yup, dislocated.

It was far from the first time this had happened, he’d had countless injuries throughout his life. Be it from training, during his missions or from uncle Belos’s outbursts, pain was like an old friend to the young witch, an overly familiar one.

His thoughts were disrupted when he recognized a small weight on his chest, and a small, high-pitched sound, the only one that was coming in clearly.

“Flapjack…”

The cardinal was sitting on his chest, a look of concern in his one big eye.

He placed his right hand over the little bird and rubbed his cheek with his thumb, assuring him he was fine.

“I’m okay buddy.”

He sat up slowly, his body was aching and sore all over, he was going to have some nasty bruises later but he was considerably lucky otherwise. A dislocated shoulder was easy enough to fix, after years of tending to his own injuries, he had it down to a science. Once he was upright enough, he used his right hand to lift his numb arm, he could vaguely hear the humans saying something to him. The one he didn’t know the name of had one of those scroll-things out, what was it called again, a phone?

He brushed off the question, as well as concerned voices of the two humans before carefully guiding the bones back into the socket. A crackling sound that was similar to gravel filled the air, his own tightly restrained yowls of pain reverberated in his throat. After a moment, he lowered the arm, flexing his hand gently in a test. Pins and needles still covered him from the tips of his fingers up to his neck but he had done it.

The fuzzy feeling in his brain was taking its time to dissipate, but that was fine, he just had to get back up and finish the obstacle course. He pushed off with his right hand, his feet stumbling under him before his balance returned. He took a few staggering steps, let his spinning head have a moment to slow down, and started running again. He could hear the two dark-haired boys calling after him, but he disregarded it. Just had to keep running…

The rest of the course was a blur, he didn’t remember how he got through it all or how long it took, just that one minute he was running and the next he had passed the finish line. He was leaning against a tree, using his uninjured arm as support, with Flapjack chirping at him in worry. He took the moment of peace to let the disorientation untangle itself from his brain and felt his awareness shift back to normal.

By the time MK and the boring-looking human had made it across the finish line, he was only mildly dizzy and smirking at them like he’d accomplished some great victory. In his mind, he had, he had finished the course first, he proved he was the best, proved he was worthy of being the Emperor’s right-hand man. Not that either of them knew that about him, but… it was important. He didn’t know why, it just was.

He ignored their questions, asking if he was okay, that he had taken a hard hit but that was ridiculous. He suffered far worse back in the Emperor’s Coven, this was nothing.

“Hunter?”

He grunted.

Of course.

The human was here now too.

He hadn’t seen her finish the course, but she was with two others with her and-okay that one had metal skin, he’d have to ask about that later-and she was looking at him in concern.

“What happened to you? You look… rough.”

“Tch, this is nothing,” he said, speaking up for the first time. Flapjack chirped sharply in something akin to a protest.

“Dude, you dislocated your shoulder,” the unnamed boy said, it was the first time the young witch had bothered to really pay attention to his voice, “You are definitely not okay.”

“He did what?!” the human exclaimed, her voice becoming high-pitched, “Shouldn’t we be getting Dr. Lake or-”

“It’s fine,” the witch interrupted, “I already put it back in its socket. It’s fine.”

“...you did what?! You know how to do that?!” she put her hands on her head in disbelief, like it was some impressive thing.

“Of course I do, I wouldn’t be the Golden Guard if I couldn’t handle simple injuries like that on my own.”

“Hunter, a dislocated shoulder is not simple! I just- that is so messed up!”

“Maybe for you humans, but this is perfectly normal for-”

“This isn’t even normal among other witches! None of my friends back on the Boiling Isles ever had to do that!”

That statement caught him a bit off guard. Okay, maybe it wasn’t normal for civilians but still…

“Oh yeah well… th-they’re not members of the Emperor’s Coven, now are they?”

“Putting aside the shoulder thing, you still look like you got hit by a truck!”

“I don’t even know what that is!”

“It’s a type of car!”

There was a pause, Hunter could feel his frustration growing, and he could see a strangely similar look on the human… but it wasn’t the same. He didn’t know what it was.

He didn’t like it.

“Uh, actually,” MK piped up awkwardly, “He was hit by me because I made a dumb mistake with my powers… and we crashed into a tree. Ehehe… seriously dude, you’re a mess, you need to see the doc.”

“I don’t need to see anyone, I’m fi-”

“YOU CRASHED INTO A TREE?!”

“Why are you yelling, human!?”

“You have at least five scrapes that I can see , you probably have internal bruising and who knows what else?!” she exclaimed, “You need to-”

“WOULD ALL OF YOU CALM DOWN?!”

The voice made all of them stop.

They all turned to see Steven running towards them, looking both frustrated and worried. He took a few deep breaths, like he needed to calm himself.

“Steven! Buddy! Just the man we need!” MK exclaimed in delight, “Hunter here got a bit uh, banged up. Think you could give us a hand here?”

He looked Hunter up and down and now he had a concerned look as well.

“...I’d say banged up is putting it lightly. What happened exactly?”

“Too long to explain, just do your thing please!”

He gave MK a sideways look before stepping closer.

“Hunter, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“...no offense but you look like you got trampled by an angry mob.”

“Shouldn’t you be worrying over MK? He went through the same thing I did.”

“MK is… uniquely hardy. I’m not worried about him right now.”

The witch paused, glanced at the grass below and quietly muttered out what happened, even crashing into the tree. The older boy listened, sighed and nodded.

“I see… okay, hold still, I’ll patch you up.”

“You don’t have t-”

He never got to finish his sentence, as Steven took his hand suddenly, raised it up and gently kissed him on the knuckle.

Hunter felt like his face caught fire.

He could hear the human making a strange squealing noise.

His brain took far too long to catch up with his body and he immediately pushed the other boy away, making a sound that wasn’t a scream but not coherent enough to be words. It still managed to convey the only question on his mind.

“What are you doing!?”

Steven, who had fallen back on the ground and was now sitting on the ground, looked up at him in surprise… and then looked horrified.

“O-Oh! Oh my gosh! I am so so sorry! I-I wasn’t thinking-”

“Clearly! What kind of-of… I-I don’ t know what to call you but what made you think that was okay!?”

“Just check your wounds!”

“My wo-what are you-”

He looked down at himself and his eyes widened.

Every small scrape, cut and bruise he had gained from the crash now had white sparkles dancing over them, and all of them were now slowly closing or fading away.

“W… What the…”

“I uh… that’s… another power I should have told you about sooner,” Steven said awkwardly, “I… kinda have healing powers. Well… healing spit.”

He stuck out his tongue and pointed at it.

“But people here get a bit grossed out if I just lick my hand and slap it against their open wounds.”

Everyone’s skin began to crawl at the thought.

“So I started do the kiss thing instead… look, Hunter I’m sorry, I-I should have-”

“No! No-no… it… it’s okay… you just… caught me off guard… really off guard.”

“...do you feel okay now?”

He did. A lot better actually. He wasn’t even sore or achey.

He nodded but refused to make eye contact.

His ears were still burning.

“Well, if he’s okay, we should probably head back inside,” MK piped up, pointing his thumb over his shoulder and towards the school, “We finished pretty early, heck, Stan ain’t even here yet. I wanna get in some extra time for Art class.”

“...did you just say art?!”

The human turned fast, faster than he thought she was capable of! She certainly hadn’t moved that fast when he threatened her back home!

“Oh yeah, that’s next on the schedule,” the young man piped up, “We either have that or Music every other week.”

Steven made a strange sound, like he was trying to clear his throat but at the same time trying not to say anything.

“Why every other week?”

“I ‘unno, all I know is it gives us more time to work on our assignments. Either way, you guys comin’?”

“I can’t, Stan’s watching King and I have to go get him.”

“Oh, don’t worry! They’re probably on their way over already, Stan drives this… uh… darn it what’s the English term for it again? Gāo'ěrfū chē… Gāo'ěrfū chē… Gāo'ěrfū chē in English…”

MK seemed to be rolling something over his tongue, trying to remember.

“...you mean the golf cart?” Steven piped up and the older brunette snapped his fingers.

“Yes! Xièxiè nǐ! I-I mean thank you! Anyway Stan drives one of those to get to the end of the course faster, they’ll be here before you know it!”

She smiled in relief.

Chapter Text

It took a total of five minutes for Stan and King to arrive, the sound of mutual laughter somehow drowning out the sound of the golfcart’s engine. The old man seemed to have a talent for making the little demon laugh, who launched himself into Luz’s arms as soon as he saw her. She happily told him about the obstacle course and introduced him to Lake, who was happy to give him chin scratches.

Seeing they were done with the course already, Stan offered to drive the group back up to the school, and the Boiling Isles trio were happy to take the offer. Steven, Tulip, Lake, and the boy who she never got the name of, wanted to stay behind, saying they’d either rather walk or they were waiting for someone. Luz felt a little bad leaving them behind, but her excitement over what an art class in this place might be like kept her from feeling that way for long! Her mind swam with the possibilities!

Once they reached the building, the Pines twin offered to guide them to their next class since they were new and they took him up on the offer. As they walked and talked, he told them about his own experience with art…

It was counterfeiting.

He made it sound like it was past tense but between that and his lecture on hotwiring cars, she was getting a very interesting picture of the man.

Eda would have liked him.

When they reached the art room, they were surprised to find Dr. Lake there, minus her white coat and working at an easel. Luz hadn’t taken her for the artistic type, but from the look of it, she had quite the imagination! The painting depicted a strange creature with green skin, horns and a flat nose. It was very thin and willowy, with large bat-like wings and seemed to be reading a book. She had no idea what it was supposed to be about but it was a fascinating piece of art!

“Lookin’ good there Barb!”

A younger woman was standing at her side, hands on her hips and a smear of bright green paint on her left cheek. She was Taiwanese and in her early twenties at the very most, with long black hair that reached past her shoulders that was decorated with a single green hair clip and at least three piercings in each ear. She was wearing a denim jacket over a t-shirt with a cartoon character on it she couldn’t recognize, dull green jeans, and faded orange sneakers.

She placed her hand on Dr. Lake’s shoulder and with a smile said, “Your blending has gotten so much better! You should be proud of it!”

“Heh, thank you.”

“Ladies!” Stan interrupted, “Sorry to bother ya but I got a delivery here for Marcy!”

“Oh, hello Stanley,” Dr. Lake said, noticing them standing there for the first time.

“Heya Stan my man!” the other woman, presumably Marcy, declared with a friendly wave, “Oh, are those our new kids?”

“Yup, this is them!”

He gave them a shove against their backs, making them stumble a little as they entered the room.

“Hey,” the teacher said, “I’m Marcy Wu, but just call me Marcy, please, I’m way too young to be called Miss anything yet, just feels weird.” She chuckled and looked the three of them up and down before pointing, “Now lemme guess… Luz, King and Hunter, right?”

“Y-Yeah!” the girl squeaked, “I guess Dr. Lake told you about us.”

“Psh, nah, not really, she just told me your names, who had what name was easy to guess,” she said with a laugh, “Anyway, you guys are early, class won’t be for a little while yet. Why don’t you get comfy? You can do whatever you want until then while I finish up with Barb here. Oh, but if you’re gonna listen to music or watch a video or whatever, please use headphones, earbuds or something like that, okay?”

That surprised Luz, she hadn’t expected that she was going to be allowed to play on her phone. Gravesfield had been pretty strict about that and Hexside had so much to learn about and study, that she had much more interesting things to keep her occupied during her freetime.

Being allowed to actively use her phone felt… weirdly respectful?

It made her smile.

She looked around the room, it was well lit, with a series of large tables and chairs around them. Against the fall wall was a series of bookshelves that were being used to store an impressive amount of art supplies, ranging from pencils and pens to pastels and paints. Paper taken from sketch pads of varying sizes were stored near the supplies they were best used for, Luz recognized them from the craft stores she would browse with her mom before she made her way to the Boiling Isles. Hunter approached the shelves and seemed to be analyzing the options available, he seemed less than impressed.

To the right was a series of comfortable seats, a few loveseats, one large couch and plenty of bean bag chairs… and lying on the floor, looking like a little kid, was MK, with a small box of crayons nearby. He had a large stack of loose leaf papers in front of him, and several of them were scattered about, all with brightly colored drawings on them. He seemed perfectly content with his set up, and she watched as he finished with whatever drawing he had been currently working on, set it aside, grabbed a new piece of paper and got to work again. From this angle, she couldn’t really make out what all the drawings were about, but the most recent one had someone with caramel brown hair and seemed to be dressed in red and yellow.

To the left, there was a smartboard, there was also a large desk with an impressive computer setup, with two monitors and… was that a Wacom Cintiqu? Her eyes got huge, she’d never seen one in real life before! She made a mental note to beg Marcy to let her get a closer look later.

“Luz, Boiling Isles to Luz,” King squeaked, snapping her back to reality, “What are you staring at girl?”

“Oh, uh, sorry buddy. I got lost in thought for a minute there.”

“Clearly,” he gave her a flat look, “Can we go draw now?”

“Sure thing,” she smiled.

She collected a few supplies from the shelves, and was surprised to find most of them were professional grade, the only thing she didn’t see were Copic Markers. Choosing not to focus on that, she grabbed a few pieces of paper, some supplies and sat at one of the tables. The two spent the next several minutes, doodling and making small comments about the other’s work. After a while, they noticed Hunter had taken to sitting at the table farthest from the rest, and looking oddly uncomfortable.

They didn’t have long to ruminate on it, as Marcy finished helping Dr. Lake with her painting, and as they cleaned up, a few of the other students finally arrived. The art teacher greeted them all brightly and laughed when a few pointed out the paint on her face. Luz spotted the boy from the obstacle course again, he was talking to the doctor but she couldn’t hear what it was about. If she had to guess, it probably had to do with Hunter getting hurt.

The other students all sat down and chatted as they got comfortable, and she felt a spike of excitement as Jake, Danny and Randy sat at the same table as her and King.

“Alright guys!” Marcy’s voice got everyone’s attention, “This week, we’re gonna be doing some more fun assignments! I want you all to make something that you have a positive association with in regards to your unique situation! Anything goes with this one, it can be places, people, specific moments, sentimental items, whatever you want them to be! And you can use whatever medium you want!”

A few of the students muttered to each other, seeming to like the sound of it.

“By Friday, I want you to write a paragraph about a few of the things you drew, to tell me a little bit about your subjects. You don’t need a whole lot, just enough to give us an idea about it. Remember, for assignments like this, there are no right or wrong answers, it’s all about gaining a better understanding of yourselves.”

The others nodded and got up to get their supplies, while Luz stayed in her seat, she already had what she needed… just what to draw? She pulled out her phone and began to scroll through the pictures she had of the Boiling Isles, maybe she could draw her friends, or Eda, or…

She paused when she saw a picture of the Owl House. She just stared and her eyes widened.

Yeah… yeah that’ll do.

She shuffled through the pencils, picked an H6, and began to sketch.

At the secluded table, Hunter was staring blankly at the paper before him. He had grabbed the first one he could find, a large piece of black construction paper… and he had no idea what to do with it. He had never done an art project like this before, he’d done basic schematics and drawn out plans of attack but nothing like… this.

He had no idea what to do and felt like he was in some sort of strange trap.

“You okay there kiddo?”

He nearly jumped when the teacher approached him, a warm smile on her face.

“I uh… ahem, y-yes ma’am. I’m fine.”

“You sure, ‘cause you look like you’re bothered by something.”

“I said I’m fine.”

“...hey, if you’re stuck, I can help if you want,” she crouched beside him, resting her arms on the table, “Art ain’t the easiest thing in the world, especially if you’re exploring something as complicated as your own emotions and thoughts.”

“I don’t need help with something as mundane as… drawing.”

“Maybe not, but organizing your thoughts is pretty darn hard. Trust me, I speak from experience.”

“...it’s not that hard.”

“Mhm… tell ya what, how about you start by describing something you like to me!”

“Describe?”

“Yeah, paint me a word picture, it might help you figure out what you’d wanna draw. Like I said, there’s no wrong answers, it just has to be something positive.”

He looked down at the black paper.

“Well… there’s Emperor Belos.”

“Who’s that?”

“The emperor of the Boiling Isles… and its savior. He brought order to magic, and brought us all together under the will of the Titan.”

She stared… blinked… she seemed to be making some sort of connection in her mind.

“So… he’s a political leader and a major religious figure?” she asked.

“Yes, of course!”

“Hm… well, why don’t you try drawing him?”

Hunter paused. He blinked.

He felt so incredibly stupid for not thinking of that sooner.

He grabbed the colored pencils she had provided and began to rapidly scribble.

“Easy there trigger, remember, there’s no rush to this,” Marcy said with a chuckle but he didn’t answer. He planned to get through this assignment as quickly as possible and then go over the materials Douxie had given him and the human earlier. Seeing he wasn’t going to respond to her, she left and went to help the other students.

Hunter worked on his drawing for about ten minutes, decided it was good enough, and then moved onto the next part of the assignment. He wrote a single, short paragraph, praising Emperor Belos and his glory. Once he finished, he started studying the reading material.

By the time class had ended, the trio had turned in a careful pencil sketch of the Owl House, a hastily done colored pencil drawing of Emperor Belos, and a child’s drawing of the Owl Lady and Hooty.

Their next class was Magical History, and Luz almost ran to the class in sheer excitement! Hunter, while more composed, did walk with a noticeably faster than normal pace.

Blinky taught the class in an almost dramatic fashion, if Strickler was a storyteller, the troll was a thespian entertaining a rapt audience. Granted, she would have been sucked in regardless, the human realm had a real, honest to Titan, history of magic, how could she not? She took as many detailed notes as she could, listening to the troll as he explained a major historical event.

“Now, the First Battle of Klillahead Bridge marked the end of the struggle between Gunmar’s army of Gumm-Gumms and the rest of trollkind, as well as some knights from the nearby human kingdom,” he explained, “For those of you who are not familiar with trolls, Gumm-Gumms were an incredibly dangerous and vicious group of warriors. At the time, most magical creatures had taken extensive steps to separate ourselves from humanity, and humans, in turn, did their part. Doing so would ensure peace and safety for both sides, humans would leave us alone, and we would stop eating them.”

…somehow she wasn’t surprised that that used to be a thing. She looked at the various pictures of the trolls in question that he had on the smartboard, making sure she matched the names to the faces.

“Gunmar and his followers however, did not like this arrangement, and attempted to overtake the surface world. Those who did not follow him were trapped in the middle, they were in danger from the humans and from the Gumm-Gumms alike. Like all major conflicts, some wanted to fight, others wanted to hide and not get involved, and I should know, I was there to witness it!”

There were a few mumbles at this, intrigue ignited.

“Now, as the situation was escalating, a wizard decided to do something about it. He created a magical amulet, one able to choose its own champion, the Amulet of Daylight.”

He gestured to a picture of an amulet, it had a metal base, with a light blue gem, two arms that made it very watch-like, as well as a series of metal rings that probably had some sort of purpose.

“This amulet granted its champion great power, magical armor, a sword made of daylight given physical form, as well as a sacred obligation. They became known as our Trollhunter, and the first was Deya the Deliverer, who did glorious battle against Gunmar and won, sealing him and his army away in the Darklands. The Killahead Bridge was then disassembled and the pieces hidden around the world!”

This felt more like a myth than actual history and she was loving it!

“...until his minions collected them and reassembled the bridge just last year.”

And there it was.

“Gunmar and his army would have taken over the surface world, if it were not for our current-”

Blinky’s lecture was cut off by a phone alarm going off, though the alarm was rather amusing. The recorded voice of Douxie repeated “Blinky, you need to stop, class is over. Send them to me,” over and over again.

Luz bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, a few others let their snickering loose…

King just broke down into cackling.

The troll harrumphed, turned off the alarm, quickly assigned their homework and dismissed the class. Before the Boiling Isles trio left, he handed Luz and Hunter some packets of paper that summarized major historical events that they absolutely needed to know. He was visibly delighted at how excited and in awe they respectively looked, especially when they tried to read as they left.

“Careful!”

They both nearly walked into the door while they were reading.

Luz had been grabbed on one shoulder by a very pretty latina, and the first thing she noticed was a large patch of her hair was pure white. It took up most of her bangs, while the rest was a very dark brown, almost black and was tied back into a small ponytail. She also had brown eyes, darker than her own but still very friendly and kind. She was wearing a pink shirt with a turtleneck, on it was a stylized skull with the word “Hamlet” under it, both in a darker shade of pink. She also had a classy purple jacket with sleeves that reached just past her elbows, a single indigo skirt, dark gray leggings and small black boots.

Hunter had been stopped by the boy from earlier, the one whose name they still hadn’t gotten. For some reason the witch seemed annoyed.

“Whoa, wow, uh, thanks for the save,” Luz stammered out, her brain taking a second to process what almost just happened.

“No problem,” the girl said, “I’m kind of surprised you guys started reading right away. Not everyone jumps right in after one of Blinky’s lectures.”

“How could I not?! I mean… there’s magic here! In the Human Realm! This is like some sort of weird dream come true!”

“I thought the Boiling Isles was your dream come true!” King piped up, “They better not be stealing you away from us!”

“Titan, please, let that happen,” Hunter prayed out loud.

Both of the newcomers visibly flinched at the word “Titan” and took a step back.

“...you guys okay?” Luz asked.

“...you… uh… when you say “titan” what do you mean exactly?” the boy asked, his stance noticeably tense. Behind him, she could see Blinky looked just as on guard as they did.

She was suddenly nervous, she could feel King hold onto her, and Hunter, noticing their change in demeanor, tensed up.

“Uh… I… I went to another world, th-the Demon Realm… and I ended up at a place called the Boiling Isles… which is a landmass… that’s the decaying carcass of a Titan…”

Their eyes noticeably widened, and their poses relaxed.

“...it’s… dead?” the boy asked.

“Mhm… has been for centuries…”

All three of them sighed in relief, the tension evaporating as they did.

“Do you guys… not like Titans?” she probed carefully.

“...we… had a bad experience with some last year.”

“YOU'VE SEEN LIVING TITANS?!”

Luz and King had both shouted something, but Hunter’s voice drowned them both out.

“...uh… yeah,” the boy said, clearly taken off guard by the yelling, “Three of them.”

“Do… do you… h-have pictures?” he managed to choke out, his eyes big and his whole body was shaking ever so slightly.

The two strangers look at each other before pulling out their phones and showing…

Uh…

“...you call those Titans in this realm?”

The trio was not impressed by the three elemental… golems was the most accurate word for them. A volcanic one, an ice one, and a plant/earth one, and while the sight of them did excite her, when compared to the sheer size of the Titan that made up her beloved island, they were nothing.

“They almost caused the end of the world,” the girl said, “They were summoned to reset Earth, wipe out all humanity and start again.”

“Ooooooo, diabolical!” King declared, tapping his claws together like a supervillain.

“Okay, they’re nothing like our Titan,” Luz said as she pulled out her phone to show them, “Our’s is a lot bigger….”

When she showed them the pictures she had taken, both teenagers went noticeably pale.

“Either way, I think we have very different kinds of Titans,” she smiled awkwardly, “Our’s is also worshiped as a god, so I think we’re kinda comparing apples to oranges here. Oh, by the way, I’m Luz Noceda, this is King and that’s Hunter, you can probably guess but they’re both from the Demon Realm.”

“I can introduce myself, human,” the blonde rumbled.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you,” the girl said, the awkwardness melting away, “I’m Claire Nunez.”

“And I’m Jim Lake Jr,” the boy smiled.

“Lake? Like Dr. Lake? Oh, are you her son? I saw your pictures when we were in her office yesterday!”

“Heh, yeah, I am… wait, why did you see my mom yesterday?”

“Goblin scratch,” she admitted as she lifted her leg to show her bandages, “One hell of a way to be introduced to this place.”

“Wait, that was you? Jake and the others told us about that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they were texting us while they were helping us hunt them down.”

She did vaguely recall them mentioning how many goblins they had taken out compared to someone else.

“Oh, well, they kinda ran into us when Coraline was giving us the tour around here… and one thing led to another.”

“Well that shouldn’t happen again,” Claire said as she put her hands on her hips, “We’re hoping to find their nest soon.”

“Honestly, I faced a lot worse back on the Boiling Isles,” she admitted as she rubbed the back of her head, “But uh, ya know, if you need any help with them… I could… maybe… help? …oh Titan that came out so weird, I’m so sorry.”

“Eh, we’ve done worse,” Jim said with a shrug, “This one time, we ended up hunting down some goblins who stole a car. The police ended up finding us and thought we took it.”

“Whoa, really?”

“Yeah, the same thing happened when we went after some goblins hiding in the museum after hours. There was also the time I had to explain away why I was wearing armor and I ended up getting the role of Romeo in the school play.”

“Wait, you mean Romeo & Juliet?” Luz stepped forward excitedly, “I auditioned for that! Well as Juliet I mean, but still!”

“Really?” that got Claire’s attention, “I got that part.”

“You did? Lucky! I didn’t even get cast!”

“Well, that happens someti-”

“And I got sent to the principal’s office because I stuffed the costume with sausage links and set up my costume to tear for the “happy dagger” scene!”

That made the slender girl’s eyes get big.

“...you did that… just for the auditions?”

“...yes?”

Luz was suddenly scared she had said too much.

“That’s… pretty amazing dedication… and you didn’t get cast or anything?”

“No… everyone… kinda ran away screaming…”

“Granted, what you did was a bit extreme but at the same time, pretty impressive.”

“...you think so?”

“Yeah, plus it’s always nice to meet a fellow thespian.”

“Well I wouldn’t call myself that. It was my first and only audition.”

“You still went for it though, you should be proud of that.”

She felt a strange sort of… humbling pride was the best way she could put it. It made her happy though so it had to be good!

“Anyway, Douxie’s class is the last one of the day,” Jim informed as they left the room, “He probably won’t call on you guys too much since it’s your first day and all.”

“About that… what does his class actually go over?” Luz piped up, “While I was in the Demon Realm, I went to a school called Hexside and it had classes on all sorts of topics, and this place only having one class on magic… just what are we getting into?”

“Well, Douxie has experience with all sorts of magic from around the world, so he tries to cover as many subjects as he can. If someone has experience in a particular kind of magic, he’ll ask them to help in class that day.”

“They get extra credit for how helpful they are,” Claire said with a laugh, “He once asked Jake to help demonstrate basic dragon biology, it went well until he had to sneeze. Turns out dragons can sneeze fireballs, nearly burned Douxie’s hair off.”

Luz had to place a hand over her mouth to try not to giggle.

When they got to the classroom, the trio sat at the front, she looked very excited, Hunter looked curious and King curled up in the former’s lap for a nap. Class began when Douxie played a power chord on his guitar to get everyone’s attention before he floated some chalk up to the board. Noone knew why he used a traditional chalkboard and plain white chalk to teach but it certainly fit the vibe of the room better than a smartboard would have.

For the first lesson, he explained how to make a simple sleep potion, one to temporarily cure insomnia, and with a flick of his wrist, manifested what they needed on their desks. He demonstrated, step by step, what to do to make the potion perfect, then had them add a fistful of lavender at the end, to “make it palatable.” It gave the potion a warm, cozy smell that was incredibly relaxing and soothing.

While the potions simmered, Douxie drew a general map of the forest around the school and marked a number of locations on it. He went on to explain that they were the best locations to find certain ingredients, in what quantities and how hard they were to get.

“Because I know you kids are gonna go and make stuff without telling us teachers first, I can at least make sure you don’t get yourselves killed out there.”

Luz did a brief glance around the room, and caught far too many indications of the others’ guilt. Flinching, averting eyes, nervously playing with their own hair, apparently doing things you weren’t supposed to was common around here.

The final lesson was about the local magical creatures and what they would be willing to trade in exchange for things you wouldn’t just be able to find in the wild. Fur trimmings, tears, claw and hoof clippings, and to be careful if you were looking for fairy dust, because it was illegal in Oregon. He ended the lesson by saying if you need anything from a unicorn, be sure to outnumber them because the easiest way to get what you needed from them was an actual fight.

By the time class ended, the potions had finished simmering and they all carefully poured them into small vials to take with them.

“You really think that thing’s gonna work?” King asked as he peered at the purple substance, “Eda never made a potion like this before.”

“Well the Boiling Isles probably had potions similar to it, but just made with different ingredients,” Luz mused, and wondered if the color had come from the lavender they added at the end, “Hunter, you’re smart, is there something like this back there?”

The witch had been staring at the potion as well, clearly deep in thought, and stole an annoyed glance at being interrupted.

“Yes. There are. Granted, I’ve never even heard of some of these ingredients but from what little I can make sense of from this and the reading material we were given earlier, it seems sound enough.”

She smiled at him as they stepped out into the hall, feeling vindicated.

“Thank you Hunter. So… you wanna go over the stuff we learned in class?!”

He paused, summoned Flapjack in staff form to his hand, stepped backwards towards a window and pushed it open.

“Imma say… no. Bye~!”

In a flash of golden magic, he disappeared out into the blue sky, and could be seen flying away, towards the forest. She sighed in acceptance, maybe next time, for now thought, she looked at the potion with renewed enthusiasm.

“This is the start of something great…”

Chapter Text

Hunter flew over the forest until he could just barely see the school anymore. He wasn’t happy with being in this situation, but he knew that this was his best, if not only, chance of getting home. He wasn’t going to leave, but he was going to get as far away from it as he could.

He touched down on the forest floor and dismounted from Flapjack, who immediately transformed back into a bird. He chirped brightly and fluttered around the young witch’s head.

“Hehe, yeah, that last class was pretty unbelievable,” Hunter smiled, “I still can’t believe that there’s magic here…”

He put his hand over the charm bracelet and rubbed it, some small part of him still threatening to cry over it. He could do magic… he could actually do magic, and it had come so easily too. When he was younger, he had spent hours trying to create even the most basic of spell circles but nothing he did ever worked. Eventually, he had to accept his limitations and instead compensated for it in every other way possible. This strategy served him well when he was given his artificial staff, and in less than a day, he had become one of the most powerful witches on the isles.

Huh, now that he thought about it, he hadn't used his old staff since meeting Flapjack. Sure he brought it with him for official meetings, especially when Belos was going to be present, but in every other situation, he relied on his palisman. It severely limited the kind of spells he could use but he was surprised to find that he didn’t care about that much anymore. It was a strange blind spot in his logic that he couldn’t explain, but found himself fine with that, he didn’t need an explanation.

He was just happy to have such a good friend.

He smiled as he sat at the base of a tree, this spot should be far enough away that he wouldn’t be disturbed. As much as wanted to dive straight into the reading materials Douxie had given him, he figured it would be best to get through the other assignments first, that way he could have the whole evening to practice his magic.

He let out a small sound of compressed delight and excitement at those two words.

His magic.

He hadn’t felt like this since… ever really!

Well, that day he spent with Willow, Gus and the other members of the Emerald Entrails came close. Real close actually.

“Okay, okay Hunter, focus,” he chided himself, before looking at his math homework.

He flew through the problems with ease, he sometimes had to do some advanced mathematics for his responsibilities as the Golden Guard, and they were often much more complicated than the ones he was solving now. Next was science and again he breezed through it, he already knew about the specific topic in question and finished it even faster.

He only slowed down when it came to the reading for Social Studies, and did his best. It was something about a colony trying to break away from its homeland, the rising prices of stamps, tea and sugar were major factors due to their apparent everyday use. There was also something about a prior war that the homeland had fought for the colony but it seemed to be something that was covered in a prior chapter.

He groaned, he wasn’t looking forward to getting tutoring lessons from that Otto kid.

Once he was done with that, he turned to the Language Arts assignment, a series of questions about the characters and analyzing them. Based on what little he had seen so far, the majority of the characters were rather despicable in some way. Maria had said something about this play being considered the author’s worst piece of work, he hoped she was right because this was just… gratuitous. He gave the questions simple answers, he wasn’t overly invested but felt they would suffice.

Now… finally, he could start working on his magic.

He felt excitement dancing in his chest and a grin spread across his face as he began to read the instructions. He looked for the light spell Douxie had shown them that morning and cast it, whooping and jumping in delight when it formed in front of him just like before!

“Yes! I did it! I did magic! I can do magic!”

Flapjack chirped and swooped around him, celebrating with his witch.

Hunter eventually sat down, still laughing and overflowing with a joy he had never known before. His palisman landed on his head, causing him to look up… and then he stopped.

He was now staring at the leaves in the tree above him, all vibrant shades of green instead of the dull red he was used to. He watched as the afternoon sunlight dappled through them, moving with the breeze. In the small spaces between, he could make out scant traces of the blue sky, and it all somehow mixed together in a harmonious way.

It was beautiful.

“...the Human Realm is something else,” he said softly.

Flapjack agreed.

After a few moments of watching, he stood back up and went back to reading the spells.

The next one he cast was an electrical spell, and he watched as small bolts of lightning danced across his gloved hands. The next one was a minor ice spell that created a frosty blast of air that quickly evaporated in the summer heat. The third was the strangest, an odd glyph, far more complicated than the ones the human had used back on the Boiling Isles, made of rings within rings and strange characters filling the spaces between them, and it seemed to be a shield.

Before Hunter had even realized it, he had cast nearly a dozen different spells, it would take some time to adjust to it but he was sure he could master this first bunch of spells within a week! And he couldn’t wait to learn more!

He was so lost in his revelry that he didn’t notice that the forest had become quiet.

He didn’t hear the sound of the foliage shift and large sticks cracking.

He didn’t notice Flapjack’s desperate chirps of alarm until he pecked the boy on the head with all of his might.

“OW! Hey, what was that-”

He realized there was a large shadow looming over him now, and that something really big was breathing.

He turned around to see a creature unlike anything he had ever seen before. It was massive, about twelve feet tall and almost as wide at the shoulder, which were covered in mushrooms! Its skin was a dark, desaturated green, with bulky hair arms, it also had a massive underbite with almost half a dozen teeth sticking out of its mouth, two of them looking almost like tusks! It had pointy ears, glowing red eyes and a squashed nose.

It looked down at Hunter… and roared.

The boy screamed as he felt Flapjack’s staff press itself into his hand, and as soon as his finger curled around it, he teleported as far away as he could from the creature. When he looked back, he saw that it had brought both of its fists down on the spot where he had been previously standing, reducing it to a small crater!

It just tried to kill him!

He took a few seconds to catch his breath, and then focused, glaring at this… thing.

“Okay, you… whatever you are,” he said as he reached into his cloak, pulled out his mask, “I have had the worst month of my life, and you just had to go and ruin the first good thing to happen to me this entire time. So I think it’s safe to say you kinda have this coming.”

He secured his mask to his face and felt the wave of confidence that came with it. Self-assured, powerful, authoritative, knowledgeable, everything that came with his position as the Golden Guard. He could deal with this monster no problem, he had taken down far bigger and far worse with ease!

He grinned and teleported again, right, left, zigzagging his way as he got closer to disorient the beast. Once he was within range, he appeared over its head, driving his heel into its head, using his entire body weight for maximum impact. He jumped off and went down its back, taking advantage of it being a massive blindspot, and drove the narrow end of his staff into the back of one of its knees, making it buckle.

“Ha ha! Excellent,” he was practically purring as the attack got the expected effect.

He willed the ground to lift up and bind the creature, to trap it and allow him an easy escape…

Except that didn’t happen.

He wasn’t holding the staff with artificial magic anymore, he was using Flapjack, he could only use a few basic spells like this. The five seconds it took for him to process all of this information was two seconds too many, for the creature was already getting back up and reaching for him! He teleported again, but only managed to get just a few feet away, his brain struggling to catch up with the information his eyes were feeding it. He ran now, thinking maybe due to its large size, he could get enough distance between himself and it that he might be able to come up with something better. When he had run about a hundred feet, he risked a look back, it was chasing him and while it was gaining some ground, he still held a safe lead. He just needed to think of somethi-

Then he felt a sharp tug on his cloak, one so strong that his feet flew out from under him. He thought he might hit the ground but the jerk was so strong he was instead pulled back and felt the creature’s massive fingers wrap around his torso. He felt his ribs creak in protest to the tight grip, the air was forced from his lungs and he yelled at the pain. Under otherwise normal circumstances for the Golden Guard, he would have used his staff to zap it or-or something, but his thoughts turned to… to…

Flapjack!

He had to keep Flapjack safe!

He willed a small burst of magic through his staff, freeing his palisman from the staff and allowing him to fly free!

“Flap! Go!” he yelled, feeling the hold around him tighten, “I’ll-I’ll be fin-””

He was cut off by a yell of pain, the creature’s hold turned the pain in his ribs into a blinding agony that consumed his mind. When he was able to take in information again, he realized he was being held up to the thing’s face, forced to look into its eyes, they now glowed an unnatural yellow and… and…

He blinked and suddenly he was back in the throne room.

The forest, the creature, everything was gone.

“Wha… how… I… I’m home?”

He took a few disoriented steps backwards, his brain spinning in his skull.

“Hunter.”

He froze and his breath hitched in his throat.

Standing before him from seemingly nowhere, was him, towering tall and powerful.

His emperor.

His uncle.

His only family.

Belos.

“E-Emperor-” he started, vocal chords tying themselves into knots in pure joy, “I-you’re here! I-I’m back, I-I have so much to tell you-”

“You abandoned your duties, Hunter.”

“Wha- No! I-I didn’t! I-I was stuck in the Human Realm with that-”

“You have failed me.”

“Wha-”

He froze, staring in confusion… and then he slowly realized his uncle’s body was beginning to twist and convulse. His curse was acting up, mud-like sludge falling off him, as if he entire body was made of oozing wounds.

“My curse… there is no going back.”

“No… no… Uncle no, I’m so sorry! B-But th-there’s human m-magic, m-maybe it can be un-”

In the split second it took him to blink, the scene before him changed. He now saw the man he simply knew as his uncle. No mask or cowl, his tired, weary face frowning. Hunter had no idea how he had returned to normal and his mind spun to make sense of it, but this was Emperor Belos, he could do-

“You took far too long. I could not allow this failure to stand.”

“Wha- b-but Uncle, I swear, I-I have so much to-”

“SILENCE!”

Hunter dropped to one knee, keeping his eyes firmly fixed to the floor, feeling tears stinging his eyes.

“You… have been replaced.”

He choked on his own breath.

He dared look up, and next to his uncle, he saw someone, wearing his cloak and wearing his mask. They were holding the artificial staff and he could just feel the sheer raw magic rolling off them like a waterfall.

“And as for your little secret.”

There was a sickening cracking sound, and Hunter felt bile burning his throat as he looked back down to the ground before him.

Flapjack.

Flapjack was broken.

He was broken in two pieces, with the glowing green residue pouring out of his tiny body.

The former Golden Guard screamed.

His mind spun.

Failing to get the portal key.

Dariss turning his back on him.

The Emerald Entrails leaving him behind.

The Captain didn’t even look back at him.

He had been replaced.

He had been abandoned.

He was alone.

…

…

…

Until he wasn’t.

In the far distance, in the darkness, he could hear a strange phrase being yelled.

“HERE.”

He turned his head towards the voice.

“COMES.”

There was a ringing metal sound.

“MONKIE KID!”

Suddenly, he was back in the forest, falling through the air, propelled by a powerful blast of air, there was a strange yellow-orange smoke that was parting around him, and everything that had been right in front of his eyes just a moment ago were all gone. He landed on the ground below, his heart continuing to pound in his chest like a war drum, and…

“Chirp!”

Sitting on his chest, intact and unharmed, was Flapjack.

He was fine.

He was chirping wildly, asking Hunter if he was okay.

He didn’t give a damn about that.

He just grabbed his palisman and held him close, tears of relief rolling down his face.

The world could have been ending around him, all he cared about was his friend was safe.

He almost missed the little bird letting out a high-pitched trill of warning, telling him to run!

Then he remembered the monster he had been fighting just a moment ago. He looked up, expecting to see it coming for him again.

Instead he saw something that was potentially worse.

There was another creature there, one that was at least a third bigger than the first one, and seemed to be having no issue holding its own! Their fingers were interlocked in a competition of shear strength, and this new one was winning. It was standing at an angle, so all Hunter could make out about it was that it was bigger, wider and covered in dark coarse hair, a few brief glimpses of its face… and the undeniable fact that it was impossibly strong.

Seeming to realize it would lose the shoving match, the first monster roared at the challenger, and from Hunter’s perspective, he could see its eyes glow with a pale yellow light. The same light he had seen before he saw… whatever that vision was…

A second later, the eyes of the hairy creature glowed with the same light, and it paused, for just a few seconds.

Then its face scrunched up in an unfilter rage.

It let out a roar that shook the ground, sending birds flying and making the young witch’s ears ring. The pale light was now replaced by a golden one, and this new monster decided it was done being nice. It grabbed the first one by its arms and with a hard lurch, threw it deep into the forest with such power, a gale force wind was formed! Hunter curled around Flapjack out of the fear he might be swept away!

Now they were alone with a panting creature, whose body heaved with each breath.

And now it turned to look at them.

Fear began to morph into some level of confusion, as he somewhat recognized what he was looking at. He had to wrack his brain a moment before remembering where he had seen this creature before. It was on one of Mrs. Noceda’s animal documentaries, this thing was called a… a… a gorilla! That’s what it was!

But that didn’t make sense, when he had asked, both she and her daughter confirmed that gorillas could only be found in a place called Africa and in zoos and sanctuaries. Plus the ones on the crystal ball box thing were nowhere near big as thing one, it was unnatural! His stomach began to churn in fear as he reached for his charm bracelet, he had to protect Flapjack! He jumped to his feet and tried to cast a spell but his shaking fingers couldn’t find the right runes.

That was when he noticed a small bit of red on the creature’s forehead.

Was… was that a headband?

Before he could confirm his own question of, yes, that is a headband, a blast of the same yellow-orange smoke erupted from the creature, accompanied by more wind. He instinctively turned away, using his cloak to shield himself and Flapjack. If he was going to die because of this… thing, then at least he could keep his best friend safe.

And then he heard a familiar voice.

“Hey, are you alright?!”

He paused, looked up… and saw MK running from the center of the dissipating smoke.

He was still wearing his headband.

The older boy came to a stop in front of them and grabbed Hunter by the arms.

“You’re not too badly hurt are ya? Aw man, Dr. Lake is gonna kill me if you are! Twice in one day, I’m gonna be in so much trouble! Say something man!”

The whirlwind of words just hit him like he was a training dummy. He couldn’t react to anything, he just had one question on his mind.

“That… that… thing… that gorilla… that was you?”

“Huh? O-Oh yeah, it’s uh, one of my powers.”

“You can turn into that thing?”

“I mean… yeah, and some other things too. Look, that isn’t important, are you hurt or not?”

“N-No? I mean… I don’t think I am. I’m sore but nothing I can’t shake off.”

“Okay, okay good,” MK sighed and deflated in relief.

“Wait… what are you doing out here?” Hunter asked as he removed his mask, letting his suspicion be on full display.

“Huh? Oh, I saw you flying away from the school and I followed you.”

“You WHAT?!”

“Yeah, but when I landed I saw you were doing homework and all and I didn’t wanna interrupt. Plus it gave me some time to figure out what I wanted to say, but then you started practicing magic and you looked so happy and I didn’t wanna interrupt that, but then I saw you getting attacked and-”

“WHY WERE YOU FOLLOWING ME?!”

By the Titan this guy could talk all day!

“Oh, right! Yeah, uh, the reason I followed you out here was because,” he paused, took a deep breath, let it out, and said, “I wanted to apologize for earlier.”

“...huh?”

“During the obstacle course, when I crashed into you. I realized I never said I was sorry about that and I wanted to make it right. So… I-I’m sorry, Hunter.”

He… wasn’t used to this.

The only ones who apologized to him were his subordinates or civilians and nobody else. Nobody in the castle, not Kikimora, not the Coven Heads, not even his own uncle ever apologized to him. Then, to add to the whole weird picture, MK got down on his knees, placed his hands on the ground in front of him in a triangle shape, and placed his forehead to his hands in a strange sort of bow.

“What… are you doing?”

“It’s called a kowtow,” MK answered, “It’s something from my culture.”

“...and why are you doing it now?”

“To show I’m super duper sorry?” MK peeked up at him, “Is it working?”

“I… I’ve never seen something like this before and you’re honestly weirding me out a little bit. Please get up.”

“Am I forgiven?”

“...honestly, I didn’t even care, sure, fine whatever, you’re forgiven, now please get up!”

The older boy sprung up from the ground like some kind of bug, landing on his feet easily. He got over that pretty fast.

“Phew, thanks man! I’m just happy I was here, I don’t wanna think about what would have happened to you if I wasn’t.”

“Right. What was that thing anyway? I’ve never seen a creature like that before.”

“Oh, Ford says those things are called gremloblins, and apparently they’re, like, mega rare, and twice as nasty.”

“Ugh, of course,” he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, “And on that note, why didn’t you step in sooner?”

“Well you said you needed some cathar-cath-guh, you needed to beat something up! Freakin’ English sucks.”

“...you overheard me say that?”

“Yeah, and you looked like you were handling it just fine until it caught you.”

Hunter didn’t respond to that, he directed his gaze downwards, trying not to think of… of…

“...I should probably apologize for that too now that I think about it,” MK continued, catching the young boy off guard, especially with the remorse he had on his face, “I shouldn’t have hesitated like I did.”

“What are you talking about…?”

“Well, when it held you up, you looked in its eyes didn’t you?”

“Yeah? What does that have to do with anything…?”

“Well, if you look into a gremloblin’s eyes, you see your worst fear… and from the sounds you were making, you definitely saw something bad.”

“...oh… oh… so… n-none of that was real?”

“No, none of it was…”

The remorse on MK’s face was now entirely replaced with concern.

“What… exactly did you see?”

“Wha… Why do you wanna know?”

“Hunter… you’re shaking.”

“No I’m-”

“Chirp!”

He looked down, Flapjack was still in his hands and… they were shaking.

“C’mon, you need to sit down bud-”

“I’m fine!”

He tried to take a step away, but his leg crumbled under him, as if all of his strength had been sapped from his body. He expected to fall to the ground again, maybe have it swallow him up entirely, but that didn’t happen. Instead, he felt himself being scooped up, now in MK’s arms, who was easily holding him, like he weighed nothing.

“Buddy, you just got force fed shock images into your brain, you’re anything but fine.”

The little bird chirped harshly in agreement, his one eye glaring in a way that made any protests Hunter might have had die in his throat. He allowed himself to be carried back to the spot where he had been sitting, where the older boy instructed the palisman to stay in the witch’s hands while he collected the scattered belongings. Nothing was damaged during the attack thankfully, merely strewn about and needing to be reorganized, but that was something to be dealt with later.

Hunter wasn’t watching him as he did so, he just… couldn’t take his eyes off Flapjack. If he did, he was worried he’d look back and see him… broken, like in that vision. It made his heart pound again and his breathing was beginning to slip from his control. The shaking had spread up his arms and trembled in his chest by the time MK returned.

“Hey, you still with me?” he asked, crouching down next to the younger boy.

“Yes, of course, I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?”

He frowned at this, clearly not believing a word of it.

“Hunter, can you let go of Flapjack for a minute.”

“No! I-I mean-I-”

“Don’t worry, I’m just gonna give you something else to hold onto. You need to ground yourself, I think I have something that’ll help a bit better. Worth a shot.”

He didn’t protest, he didn’t even look away from Flapjack, he just… he didn’t know what to do. He could hear the ringing metal sound again, the one that seemed to accompany MK whenever something odd happened, and a few seconds later, something was moved into his line of sight.

It was his staff.

“Here, try to focus on the texture of my staff.”

“...why would I-”

“Just do it already. I’ll hold it for you, it’s way heavier than it looks, you just focus on how it feels, okay?”

Hunter found he couldn’t bring himself to argue and placed his hands on the weapon. It was… strange wasn’t a strong enough word for it. The staff was clearly made of metal, most likely iron, but it was smoother than silk or cut gemstones! The red coloring was utterly unnatural and the golden caps at the ends were finer than anything in the Emperor’s castle. They were covered in expertly carved swirls, and as he ran his fingers over them, he couldn’t find a single flaw in the craftsmanship. It was as if every inch had been personally blessed by the Titan itself.

Running his hands over all these details pulled his brain out of his shaking, trembling terror, back down to reality, and calmed his pounding heart.

“...back with us?” MK asked after a few minutes.

“...y… yeah… I… I think I’m okay.”

“Good.”

He slowly took the staff away and… somehow made it disappear behind his head?! How did he do that?! Hunter couldn’t regain control over his tongue fast enough to ask before Flapjack nuzzled his cheek and cooed at his relief that his little witch was alright.

“Aww, the little guy really loves you,” MK said, not in a patronizing way, but in a way that felt genuine.

“Heh… yeah… he’s my palisman.”

“Palisman… I know this one! Oh! A combination of pal and-and, what’s the word… Talisman! That’s what he is!”

“Uh… sure…”

MK was smiling wide, like he had just figured out something clever. Flapjack in turn fluttered up to him, coming to rest on his hand.

“Aw, he’s super cute too. We don’t get birds like him where I’m from.”

“You don’t?”

“Nope, pretty sure they’re only found on this continent.”

“Huh… I met him back on the Boiling Isles.”

“That’s the world you’re originally from right?”

“Yeah… he belonged to someone else before… he chose to follow me around and-”

“He adopted you before you adopted him?”

“...that’s… one way to phrase it.”

The older boy chuckled, “Lucky, I wish I had a magic animal think I was good enough for them… wait a minute.”

He went quiet and moved his fingers through the air, as if he was making connections Hunter couldn’t see.

“...YUP, THAT TOTALLY DOESN’T COUNT!”

The loud proclamation made Hunter jump in surprise.

“What doesn’t?!”

MK noticeably blinked, seemingly realizing what he had just done, and explained.

“...uh… that’s… a long story.”

Hunter groaned, “You know… I’m really starting to get sick of hearing that phrase.”

“Eh, that’s fair,” MK shrugged, “Everyone here’s got a story… why don’t you tell me about your’s?”

“What?”

“Yeah, tell me about yourself. We’re friends now after all.”

“Wait, wha-friends? Us? We are? Already?”

Hunter’s mind spun a bit, could people really become friends that fast? He had known the Coven Heads for years, obviously they were his friends. And he had spent an entire day with the Emerald Entrails before being confident they were friends. He and MK had interacted for… ten minutes total! Fifteen at the absolute most!

Was the bar to friendship really that low?

He looked at MK and realized he was smiling at him, brighter than the sun but with a softness that was comforting and inviting. It was surreal to see it coming from someone who was basically a stranger, but at the same time…

Well… maybe he could tell him a bit.

“...I saw my uncle.”

“Hm?”

“My uncle… he… he’s under the effects of a curse… and I’ve been trying to help find a cure… but… one of the visions…  he succumbed and… and… I couldn’t save him… I also saw my friends leave me… and…”

He looked directly at his palisman.

“Flapjack was broken in half.”

The little bird chirped sharply in alarm before fluttering up to his shoulder and rubbed against his cheek, trying to comfort the witch. Hunter paused, waiting for MK’s response, but when one didn’t come, he dared a glance at the older boy. He looked worried, his dark eyes large and flickering back and forth.

“...what’s that look for?”

“...I… had something similar happen, a couple months ago.”

“...you did?”

“Yeah… back home.”

“You mean that China place?”

“No… my home. My world… the one I ended up in… it’s my home. I wasn’t born there but it became my home…”

“Oh… what… what happened?”

“...I… my mentor… he was trapped in this ancient mystic scroll… I tried to save him but…”

MK gulped.

“...it was… broken… sliced in half… I… my friends and I… we didn’t know if he was still alive or not… I blamed myself for it…”

He took a shaky breath, calming his nerves.

“...anyway, enough with the sad stories,” MK was picking at the grass as he spoke, “Tell me something good. Like your friends, tell me about them.”

Hunter glanced at him, not sure how to take the change of topic, but didn’t argue. Instead, he told the older boy about the Emerald Entrails, how he ended up joining and nearly walked away before giving them a chance. Every now and again, his new… friend would jump in with some excited exclamation, asking for more details or needing context for how the Boiling Isles worked.

The boys talked and talked until the sky began to change colors.

“Oh, shit, is it that late already?” MK asked before pulling out his phone to check the time, “We’re gonna be late for dinner if we try to go by foot. I’ll fly us back, no offense but I’m a lot faster than you.”

Hunter didn’t have a chance to respond before he was pulled to his feet by the older boy, a wide grin on his face as he did so. Once he was sure he wouldn’t fall over, MK took a few steps back, putting a few feet between them. Once he was at a satisfactory distance away, MK’s body glowed a light yellow, almost white, before there was another burst of the yellow-orange smoke. When it cleared, there was a bird standing in his place.

A very big bird.

Big enough to stare Hunter in the eye.

It seemed to be a hawk or falcon of some kind, mostly covered with dark brown feathers, it had a yellow face and red beak, with matching feathers on its wings and teal tail feathers…

And it had MK’s headband.

“...MK?”

The bird nodded, seemingly unable to answer verbally. He lowered his head, spread his wings wide, and with a single powerful flap, shot upwards, whipping the air like a minor storm. Hunter looked up, and saw a trail of light following MK’s path. It was a golden color that made his own magic look pale in comparison, and he was somewhat mesmerized by it.

He was so busy staring he almost didn’t realize that the bird had turned in the air and was now headed straight for him.

“What the-Hey!”

He turned to try and run, but severely underestimated both MK’s speed and how badly his legs had turned to jelly. He only managed a single step before he fell to one knee, it was more than enough for MK to grab Hunter’s shoulders in his talons and then flapped again, turning them skyward.

The young witch let out a few yells and sounds that might have been words, but the wind drowned out most of them. He tried his best to struggle in the bird’s grip but the firm hold was somehow…

Somehow stronger than his uncle’s grip…

But managed to not hurt him.

The talons held him tight, but the claws didn’t so much as scratch his skin.

Hunter’s mind was still processing this when Flapjack’s chirp brought his attention forward.

They were now gliding over the forest, the colors of sunset making the world look like some sort of painting. Yellows, oranges, pinks and purples were dancing together before his eyes and mixing in ways he had never seen before. There was nothing like this back home.

The human realm was truly something else.

“Whoa…”

MK, seeming to have an idea, suddenly flew upwards again, and tossed Hunter into the air, letting him see the early evening night as the stars began to form their shimmering tapestry above. The bird then did a loop, somehow controlling his speed to the point he could easily catch the witch seconds after he began to fall back to the earth.

Hunter… began to laugh.

“This is amazing!” he said as they went lower, Flapjack chirped in agreement and fluttered his wings.

His feet grazed across the treetops, almost like was running over them. He had never been able to go this fast before, even with his artificial staff he could maybe go at half the speed… and the view was never this amazing.

All too soon, the flight was over and they came in for a landing on the school’s playground, Hunter needed to take a few running steps before coming to a full stop. He looked up and saw MK burst with the smoke again, dropping to the ground in human form.

“Thank you for flying Air Monkie Kid, we hope you enjoyed your flight!” he said with a dramatic bow, “Watch your step!”

The young witch had no idea what he was talking about but it was funny.

“That was amazing,” he said, “I… I never knew flying could be like that!”

“Seriously?” he asked, tilting his head, “Don’t you ever just go and fly for the fun of it or anything?”

“...I uh… no?”

“Huh… you oughta give it a try!” he smiled and wrapped his arm around the boy’s shoulders, “Me and some of the others’ll show you around! We have all sorts of cool places to hang out!”

Hunter squeaked, looking up at him.

“Now c’mon, let’s get some dinner!”

He dragged Hunter along, not letting him get another word in.

Is this how people made friends in this realm?

Humans were weird.

Chapter Text

Dinner was over quickly in Luz’s opinion, she had spent the whole meal alternating between going over her notes from their earlier magic lesson, trying to cast spells and shoveling potatoes into her mouth. It wasn't as good as her mom’s cooking but it was miles better than what her old school served, as for Hexside… Well, she had to be careful with what she chose from their lunch options.

“Girl, you okay?” Randy asked, pointing at her from across the table.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, sorry, just trying to get all this stuff down,” she said between bites, “I mean… it’s different from the magic I learned back in the Demon Realm and all, but… there’s magic here! In the human realm! This is huge! I wanna learn all I can!”

Her new friends kind of smirked a little, like they were amused by her enthusiasm but not in a mean or condescending way.

Next to her, King was carefully levitating a dinner roll from the table to his tiny hands. The faint turquoise aura around it flickered as he struggled to use this new power, the small piece of bread wobbling in the air before safely reaching his grasp. He giggled in impish delight before taking a big bite out of it.

“So, you guys gonna go to therapy tonight or are you gonna wait until the next one?” Danny asked.

“I think we will, I only have TV and movies to go off of when it comes to therapy, but what we have here has to be… different from all that, right?”

“Yeah, pretty sure the doc’s figuring out how to deal with some of the shit we’ve been through in a way that actually helps, ya know?” Jake said, standing as they got up to leave the dining room, “Like… one time I actually left her stumped was when I told her I found out the girl I like tried to kill me. Secret identities and all that.”

“That makes two of us,” Danny said as they got up to leave, “Except we were dating.”

“Yeesh…” Luz winced, “I mean… the first time I met Amity, I almost ended up dissected… and then we got into a duel… and then ended up running away from a beloved children’s book character who tried to trap us in his own book… but we eventually ended up dating!”

The boys looked at her, a bit stunned, nearly tripping over the carpet as they walked through the halls.

“...okay, get the bad stuff out of the way before you get together, notes for the future,” Randy said, gesturing with his hands as he spoke.

“Hey guys, what is that thing?”

King tugged on Luz’s legging and  was now pointing towards the ceiling as they passed through the foyer. The little demon had happened to look up when he noticed the strange machine overhead.

“Hm… I dunno buddy, I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Luz admitted, rubbing her chin as she looked up at it, “I noticed it when we first got here but I haven’t been able to figure out what it is. Guys, do you know?”

“Eh, it’s an art thing I think,” Danny said, looking up at it, “I kinda wasn’t paying attention when Ford tried explaining it.

“Same,” Jake groaned, “Just made my thing to add to it and kinda forgot about it.”

“Wait, you added something to it?”

“Yeah, look!” Randy pointed at it, “See those colored thingies attached to it? Ford and McGucket have all the students make or find something like that to add to it.”

“Huh… wonder why,” she mused, tilting her head.

“Eh, whatever it is, the staff think it’s important,” Danny shrugged.

“Well… it’s pretty,” she found herself smiling as she spoke.

“Either way, we should get going, the others are probably already getting things ready for the session.”

Luz couldn’t help but glance at him, a bit of nervousness bubbling in her stomach, despite their words, she still felt a sickening swirl of uncertainty in her stomach. She had never been to a therapy session before, let alone a group session, the closest she had gotten was her regular trips to the principal’s office back in Gravesfield. She probably would have had some experience with them by now if she had gone to Reality Check Summer Camp like she was supposed to…

But she had followed a little thieving owl through a portal instead.

She smiled at the memory, chasing Owlbert had well and truly been the best decision she had ever made in her life.

She reminisced about it as she entered Dr. Waybright’s office, King scampering alongside her, it seemed almost all of the other students were already there. They were helping move the sofas, loveseat and beanbags towards the computer monitors near the back left of the room. All of them were on, each one had multiple windows open, most of them read “Waiting for patient” while the few exceptions had a face displayed on them.

In no time at all, a large semi-circle made of the furniture had been moved in front of the screens, which were quickly filling with new faces. Vee was one of the last ones to join, and she looked incredibly nervous.

“Okay guys, we’ll be getting started in a few minutes!” Dr. Waybright said, “Everyone get comfortable and remember, we’re here to support each other! Keep the bantering and jokes to a minimum, this is a safe space where thoughts and feelings are taken seriously! You know who you are.”

With this warning, everyone took their seats, Luz glanced up just in time to see Hunter sitting nearby, looking down at Flapjack and stroking his head. He looked… a bit tired, maybe even rattled, which seemed a bit odd for him. MK was lingering nearby, and while she wasn’t a genius at reading people, it was obvious he was keeping an eye on the young witch.

The group in general seemed to largely be made up of teenagers and pre-tweens, but there seemed to be at least one or two kids King’s age. What surprised Luz however was the small handful who were very clearly not human, or at least didn’t have a human form.

“Alright, we’re all here,” Dr. Waybright said, “Everyone, we have some new members joining us; so please give them a warm welcome.”

A small chorus of greetings came from the group, most of them sounding friendly, with some of them being noticeably more enthusiastic than the majority of the group.

“Now, would any of you like to introduce yourselves?”

“Oo! Oo! Me! Me!” King immediately offered, hopping up, “I’m King Clawtorne and I’m the King of Demons! I like tasty snacks, ordering around my minions, and I’m an expert on demons!”

He was clearly having fun with his introduction, he was gesturing as he spoke and his tail wagged excitedly behind him.

“Alright, who wants to go next?” Dr. Waybright asked as she wrote something on her clipboard.

“Uh… I will,” Luz offered, holding up her hand, “I’m Luz Noceda, I’m originally from the Human Realm, and went to the Demon Realm, that’s where King and the others are from. I didn’t fit in at my old school, I was too weird there, but in the Demon Realm… I learned magic, made friends and just… it was great.”

The therapist nodded at this and wrote something down on her clipboard again, her pen was the kind that had blue, green and red ink.

“I supposed I’m next,” Hunter said, “My name is Hunter, also known as the Golden Guard and Head Witch of the Emperor’s Coven. I’m the right-hand man to Emperor Belos, savior of The Boiling Isles and unifier of magic.”

The others stared at him with a variety of expressions, mostly confused ones. Dr. Waybright paused for a moment before rapidly writing something down on the clipboard.

“Is there… anything else you’d like to tell us?” she asked.

“Uh… Oh! This is Flapjack,” he said, gesturing to the bird with a warm smile, “He’s my palisman.”

The cardinal chirped happily before nuzzling his witch on the cheek.

“I see…” she wrote down a little more, nodding her head, “Now, I understand there’s one more new patient with us today. Would you like to speak up?”

There was a small pause before a voice came from the monitors.

“Um… h-hi, I-I’m Vee.”

One of the windows on the monitors enlarged, showing Vee, still sharing Luz’s face.

“I’m a shapeshifter, and I’m also from the Demon Realm. When Luz arrived, I saw her and went through the portal and… I ended up taking her place by accident. Camilla, her mom, didn’t realize she was gone until a few weeks before she and the others ended up here… b-but she was nice enough to let me stay with her… um… is… is it okay if I don’t say anything else… I… I’m not ready to…”

Dr. Waybright smiled and nodded, “Don’t worry Vee, you don’t have to tell us anything more than you’re comfortable to. I don’t know what all you kids have been told about these sessions but we have a few different goals we try to achieve here. These can include a better understanding of the self, working on creating healthy coping mechanisms and forms of self expression. We also focus on growing bonds with those who understand your experience and building a sense of safety and community from it.”

Luz smiled a little, that did sound nice.

“Circling back to Vee’s concerns, we also aren’t going to force you to talk about things you aren’t ready for or want to keep private, those are things we can address in private sessions,” the blonde doctor continued, “Any information provided there will be kept confidential unless you reveal it yourself or if I have reason to believe you may be a threat to yourself or others. Do you all understand?”

The newcomers all nodded in varying amounts of enthusiasm.

“Good, glad to hear it. Now, how about you tell us about this Demon Realm of yours? I’m sure a few of the others are excited to hear about it.”

“That’s an awful big ask,” King chirped, “Where do you want us to start?”

“Just some basic facts will do, and if you’re up for it, maybe explaining how you all ended up here?”

There was a pregnant pause from the three present in the room, Luz and King looked at each other while Hunter just looked down and away from the group.

“Well… the Demon Realm is a world of magic,” Luz began, “I ended up in a place called the Boiling Isles. It’s made from the rotting corpse of a god-like titan, and witches and demons alike can use magic there! I learned to use glyphs while I was there but they don’t work here, I’ve tried…”

Dr. Waybright nodded, “Go on.”

“Well… I met Eda the Owl Lady, she’s the one who found and raised King. She’s also the most powerful witch on the isles because she refused to join a coven. If you join one, you have a sigil put on your wrist that cuts off all of your magic except for one specific area of study, like illusions for example. The only exception is the Emperor’s Coven, because they’re considered the best of the best.”

Hunter smirked, nodding in agreement.

“Eda didn’t believe in the system and refused to join a coven; that made her a criminal in the eyes of the law. She taught me some of her wild magic and she gave me a place to stay while I was there.”

“And she was good to me!” King piped up, standing proudly, “She raised me and I took her last name to prove we’re family! And Luz is family too! She’s my big sister!”

The two laughed and hugged each other, while Hunter just rolled his eyes at how ridiculous he thought they were being.

“You’re also leaving out the Owl Lady’s various other crimes, including petty theft, breaking and entering, vandalism-”

“Okay, she isn’t perfect but she’s still a great mentor.”

Dr. Waybright took this moment to jump in, “Hunter, you mentioned being close to an emperor, I suppose that means you also have a very different perspective on your home world?”

“Huh, it couldn’t be more different. I was raised in the castle and trained in the Emperor’s Coven my whole life,” he explained, “I answer to Emperor Belos himself. The Titan speaks through him, and decades ago, guided his hand to bring order out of the chaos of the Savage Ages!”

The young witch felt like he was glowing with pride as he spoke, his smile wide.

“...you sound like you respect him a lot,” Dr. Waybright said, seeming to pick her words carefully.

“How can I not? He gave us the world we have now, he fixed how we were doing magic and gave us the coven system.”

“You both mentioned something about that before, can you elaborate on it?”

“Oh, it’s made up of the ten main covens, there are other small ones that branch off from them but they’re all still part of the system. And while I don’t normally agree with the human on most things, she was right about the Emperor’s Coven accepting only the best and brightest witches amongst its ranks.”

“...and by “the human”, you mean Luz, right?”

“I… well, yes…”

It was then that it occurred to him he was in a room full of humans… huh…

“You also mentioned that you were the “head witch” of this Emperor’s Coven, was that right?” Dr. Waybright asked without missing a beat.

“Oh, y-yes, yes I am,” he nodded, “Emperor Belos gave me the position after the last head witch betrayed him, deserted her post and helped the Owl Lady escape petrification!”

“She had to!” Luz interrupted, “They were going to turn Eda to stone!”

“It was her punishment for denying the Titan and breaking the law!” Hunter shot back.

“HEY!”

Dr. Waybright’s sharp yell stopped the arguing teenagers dead in their tracks.

“No fighting in our sessions, got it? This is not the place for that, if you feel the need to say something, you’ll do it civilly, got it?”

“But Dr. Waybright, he’s not telling the full story!” Luz protested, “The former head witch was Lilith, Eda’s older sister! She left the coven in order to save her from being turned to stone!”

That got the entire group mumbling and whispering to each other.

“...that’s a pretty big omission, I will admit,” Hunter said after a moment, “But still, it doesn’t change the fact that she abandoned the Emperor’s Coven and broke the law in the process.”

“And that’s how you ended up taking over her role as leader of this coven?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“...that must be an awful big responsibility for a kid your age.”

“Psh, nah, it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m a genius prodigy, in fact, I’m the youngest scout to ever receive the title of the Golden Guard! It’s my job to ensure his will is enacted accordingly, complete missions and ensure the safety of the isles! Not to brag but Emperor Belos does say the Titan has big plans for me.”

“...so… let me just make sure I have all of this right,” Dr. Waybright said in a way that was deliberately slow, “You work for the leader of your nation, and are in charge of a branch of the government, run around enforcing both the law and the will of a deity?”

“Yes, that’s all correct!”

“...when do you have time for school? Or friends?”

“Oh, I don’t go to school, I’ve had private tutors my whole life, and I’m friends with the scouts and the other head witches! Though I did make some new ones at Hexside recently, I met them while on a mission to find more recruits… We were going to play Flyer Derby on my next day off. It was only… ugh, how long have we been here for now? A month? That means… it’s only forty-eight weeks away!”

There was another, long pause.

It was longer than the last one.

“I’m sorry… did you just say… your next day off would have been forty-eight weeks from now?”

“Yeah, this year’s one has already passed,” he nodded.

“...this year’s day off? As in you only get one day of a year?”

“Yeah…?”

The room was quiet, so quiet that the only sound that could be heard was the buzz of the lights, the computer monitors and the scratching of Dr. Waybright’s pen as she furiously wrote more on her clipboard.

Luz instinctively knew whatever she was writing down, she was doing it in red ink.

“Alright… Vee… do you have anything you wish to share?” the therapist asked, not even trying to be subtle about the change in topic.

“Oh, um… uh… I.. is… is it okay… if I don’t… I… I-I’m not ready to talk about what my life was like…”

“Of course, you don’t have to tell us anything if it’s uncomfortable for you,” she nodded, “Is there anything you do feel comfortable sharing?”

“I… A-All I’ll say is that I was born in a very bad place, a-and… I… I… don’t exactly feel safe going into detail about the kind of demon I am…”

Her eyes flickered on the screen, as if glancing at someone specifically, like she was scared of them.

“Sounds like you had a rough life,” Dr. Waybright’s voice had taken on a softer tone.

“I did… it… it was scary… and painful… coming to the Human Realm… it was the best decision I ever made…”

Luz stared at the screen silently, feeling a kinship with Vee she hadn’t felt before. Neither of them had belonged in the world they had been born into, but for very different reasons, and had found their place in the other’s world…

This might be something they’d need to talk about in the future.

With introductions out of the way, the session seemed to slip into its more normal routine, with the other students speaking up about how they had been since the last meeting. Many of them had things to say, and the other students would speak up in response, offering kind words of support. One girl spoke about the time her parents had been raised from the dead, a boy talked about a magical princess he knew, another talked about the strange Underworld he and his younger brother had gone to. It was all so surreal and strange and no two kids had situations that were quite the same, almost like pieces from different jigsaw puzzles were being put together to make a strangely beautiful but mismatched picture.

Dr. Waybright checked her phone and smiled, “Alright guys, we’re just about done for tonight! Before we wrap up, does anyone have anything else they’d like to discuss?”

Nobody spoke up at this, there were a few glances around the room but nobody said anything.

“Well if that’s the case, I think we’re done for tonight. Thank you all for coming and I’ll see all of you again next time.”

There were a few goodbyes from the monitors as the students calling in hung up, and the ones present in the room began to move the furniture back into place. In less than two minutes, it was like the therapy session had never happened and everything was back in place again. As they filed out, Dr. Waybright wished them all goodnight, her notes still in her hands.

“Well… that was a bit… weird,” Luz thought out loud, “Are all therapy sessions like that?”

“Eh, nah,” Randy shrugged, “Sometimes someone ends up crying because of what they went through or something.”

“Hey, it’s better than having my sister trying to psychoanalyze everything,” Danny said as he walked past, “I mean, she’s a know-it-all and means well and all but she was so wrong about so many things.”

“Well I must be lucky on that front then!” King piped up, looking up at Luz and hugging her leg.

“Awwwww, I’m lucky to have you too buddy!” she said, scooping him up into her arms.

As she nuzzled his head, she noticed Hunter a few yards away, and she couldn’t help but feel a pang of concern for him… some of the stuff he had mentioned in the group therapy session had her concerned. It probably concerned most, if not the entire group, and yet, he had seemed so oblivious to just how… concerning the stuff he said was.

It made her wonder… aside from the things that got her in trouble back at Gravesfield, what other things about her thoughts and behaviors would she think were totally normal, only to give others such pause.

…well, she supposed that was what therapy was for.

“Hey, uh, Hunter…?” she said, approaching him, seemingly making him jump, “I uh… I wanted to apologize for snapping at you in our session. It wasn’t the place for it.”

He stared at her for a second, his eyes scanning her until his palisman chirped, he was definitely telling him something.

“...I… accept your apology,” he said, more awkwardly than she expected… and she hadn’t expected him to accept it at all!

“Really…? Uh, okay, I’m glad to hear it! Are you… feeling okay? You’re acting kinda off, no offense.”

“I… ugh, no, I had a run in with something in the woods and… it didn’t go well.”

“Wha-are you okay?”

“Yeah, do you need to see the healer woman?” King piped up.

“N-No, I’m fine, physically speaking… it just got in my head,” he sighed, “I… I thought I was alright afterwards, I was fine when I got back to the school but I guess I’m still…”

He looked down and the chaotic siblings saw that his hands were trembling.

“...do you want us to walk you to your room?”

“Huh?”

“You look like you’re still a bit tense from… whatever it was that happened to you.”

“I…”

Before Hunter could answer, a hand landed on his shoulder from behind.

“Hey, you guys okay?” MK asked, he had a concerned look on his face, “The first session can be weird for newcomers.”

“Uh… yeah, I think so,” Luz nodded.

“Eh, it wasn’t anything special,” King shrugged, looking bored by the question.

Hunter didn’t answer the question, he just looked down a little.

“...well, I was gonna make something for me and a few others in the kitchen, if you wanna join,” MK offered, a gentle smile on his face that made the young latina think of cotton for some reason.

“But we just had dinner not too long ago.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s sometimes good to have some comfort food after therapy ya know? Helps you unwind afterwards, especially after a rough session, selfcare and all that ya know?”

She… hadn’t thought of that. She knew about the stereotype of people breaking down and crying in therapy, but she hadn’t considered what they did after the fact to feel better. She supposed it sounded interesting, plus MK was offering.

“I… guess we could join,” she said with a smile.

“And I never say no to free snacks!” King declared, his little tail wagging.

Hunter however… looked unnerved.

“...uh… should we get some armor for our protection or-”

“Armor? Geez, how dangerous is the Emperor’s castle?” the young demon exclaimed, fur fluffing up.

“Wha-no! I went into the kitchen this morning and it was… a lot of things were being thrown… including knives.”

Both Luz and King went pale at this explanation… MK just snickered.

“Eh, don’t worry about it! That’s only during meal preps, snacking time is safe. Unusually. Plus, you’ll have me to keep you all safe, so no worries!”

He was practically glowing with confidence.

“Plus I took on that gremloblin earlier, a few thrown knives is nothing compared to that!”

“...you fought a what?”

“I’ll explain on the way.”

MK led them to the kitchen, recounting the incident in the forest that afternoon, and on top of that, seeing the warning signs around the kitchen entrance left the Owl House siblings a little more nervous than before. To their relief, it was largely empty, save for a few of Jack’s robots that were cleaning, as well as the evil boy genius himself, Teodora, Steven, Jake and Hailey.

“‘Bout time you showed up, monkey boy,” Jack griped, “We’ve been waiting!”

“Jack, relax, and be grateful MK’s even doing this for us,” Teodora said, waving her phone at him.

The Long siblings nodded in agreement, though they seemed to be behaving a little… oddly. Luz couldn’t put her finger on it but there was definitely something different about their behavior.

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” MK said, waving it off, “Anyway, sorry for being late, I wanted to see if my new friends wanted some too.”

Wait, he considered them friends? Already? Wow, that was fast! Making friends at this school was even easier than it was in the Demon Realm!

She watched as MK went to wash his hands before getting to work on… whatever it was he was planning to cook.

To her utter amazement, he was cooking for scratch, prepping, salting and kneading a fresh batch of dough, before stretching it out by hand to create noodles. He prepared a pot of broth, chopping up veggies, herbs and a few other ingredients, seeming to move with lightning speed as he went. The others all watched in amazement, clearly taken in just as much as she was.

Before she knew it, a steaming bowl of what looked like the tastiest thing on the planet was placed before her.

“Xinjiang pulled noodle soup,” he said happily, “Qǐng màn yòng!”

“Xièxiè MK,” Steven said as he passed out chopsticks to everyone, “It smells great.”

“Thanks man, oh, and don’t worry, I made sure yours was vegetarian!”

“Heh, I never doubted it. You still need to actually teach me how to make this one of these days.”

“Heh, I keep saying I will, don’t I?”

The two dark haired young men chuckled together, only to be interrupted by a loud, “THIS IS AMAZING!”

King had given up on the chopsticks, which were too big for his tiny paws, and had simply chosen to eat straight from the bowl. He had broth dripping from his skull and a noodle over his nose, but his eyes were huge and sparkling.

“Heh… glad to hear it,” MK smiled.

“He’s right, this is good!” Luz said in agreement. The chopsticks were a little awkward in her hand but she was managing well enough, “Where did you learn to cook like this?”

“My dad taught me,” he smiled, “It’s his grandma’s recipe.”

“Wow… your dad should be a chef!”

“Ha! He is! He runs his own restaurant and everything! Once I was old enough, I started working as his delivery boy!”

“...wait, I thought you were in your world for over a decade,” Hunter said, trying to stab a piece of meat with his chopsticks, “How could you be working for your dad at that age?”

MK stared at him in confusion for a second, blinked, and then realized something, “Oh! Not my bio dad, no, not him! I mean the guy who took me in when I got to the other world, he’s my dad! He found me and took me in, gave me the literal shirt off his back and everything! He’s the one who raised me. I haven’t thought of my bio family in… geez, years now.”

“...don’t you miss them though?” he asked as Steven helped him figure out how to use the unfamiliar utensils.

“My bio parents? Psh, nah, not really. They sucked, majorly! Being separated from them was the best thing to ever happen to me!” MK exclaimed and he gestured wildly, “Pigsy would get mad and yell a lot of the time, but he was still a thousand times better!”

“...I’m sorry, but did you say the guy who raised you was named “Pigsy”?” King piped up.

“Yup! Oh, I have a picture of him, one sec!”

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone, showing them a photo on his cracked screen. It showed the interior of a small restaurant, it managed to get a look into the kitchen and several plastic takeout bags were stacked on the counter. Standing in front of the stove however was a…

…that wasn’t a human…

…that was a pigman.

He was obviously short, even shorter than Luz, he was also quite stout, with facial scruff, dark eyes, thick eyebrows and flopped over ears. He wore a white chef’s coat, black slacks and black leather shoes, and a chef's hat was lying on its side on a nearby counter. He seemed to be yelling at someone outside the frame, even waving a wooden spoon in their direction.

This had to be Pigsy.

“Uh… not what I was expecting,” Luz admitted.

“...why’s he yelling?” King asked, pointing.

“Oh, Mr. Tang was trying to get free noodles again,” MK shrugged, “The two of them are kinda sorta a couple but nobody’s ever said anything and this is just how they show their love.”

“...so… you were raised by a talking… whatever that is?” Hunter asked, eyebrow raised.

“He’s a pig demon!”

“...that’s what demons look like in your world?”

The Boiling Isles trio looked at each other, surprised by managing to speak in unison in their confusion. It made MK laugh!

“Yeah, demons in my world look all sorts of ways! Animal demons are kinda common, but there are also ones who look just like humans, or just have neon colored skin and horns. I met more than my fair share in the last years or so.”

MK began scrolling through photos, pointing at people in them, but he was going so fast they could barely make out anything!

“Would you knock it off?!” Jack snapped, swiping the older boy’s phone and looked at the screen, “...yeesh, what is that?”

“Hm?” MK glanced at the picture, “Oh! That’s from when me and Pigsy were on Food Wars!”

Luz choked.

He did not just say that.

He did NOT just say that!

He did not say they were on Food Wars!

That was an anime… a very specific anime… an anime that had a very specific reputation for very specific scenes that were NOT PG13!

Thankfully her train of thought was derailed by Jack speaking up with a confused question.

“...so it’s… one of those competition shows in your world?”

“Yeah, it’s a game show!” MK said excitedly, “You pick out the best ingredients and make your signature dish and present it to some judges and-”

“Okay, we get it motormouth! Ya know have an anime by the same name in this world, but it’s completely different.”

“Really? What’s it like?”

He looked at them all with this big, wide-eyed expression… and despite being the oldest, he was somehow more painfully innocent than all of them combined.

Luz was unable to bring herself to answer. Jack on the other hand cackled like the mad scientist he was. Teodora… she just covered her mouth with her hands and tried to hide her laughter.

It didn’t work.

Chapter Text

Roll to the left.

No, nothing.

Roll to the right.

No, still nothing.

With an aggravated huff, Luz reached over and grabbed her phone, checking the time.

12:35 AM.

She groaned and let her arm fall over her eyes.

It was official, she couldn’t sleep.

She had found herself insatiably restless following their first therapy session and now wanted nothing more than to do… something! Between meeting so many new friends, learning about magic from the human realm, and her first therapy session, it left her buzzing with energy. She could hear King snoring down by her feet and she smiled a bit, sleep came so easily to him, she was almost jealous. A quick glance to the left and she could make out the sound of Tulip sleeping soundly.

She reached under her pillow and pulled out the sleeping potion she had made earlier in class. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to drink it so late, it would help her sleep but she’d most likely be groggy in the morning.

She sighed and hid the vial back under her pillow before sitting up and swinging her legs out from under the covers. She was feeling restless and the need to move refused to be ignored. Plus she hadn’t heard a single word about there being a rule that students couldn’t be out of bed during the night, so it should probably be fine.

She pulled the tattered remains of her cloak around her shoulders, and smiled a little. She was wearing the same pajamas she had been wearing that night she and Hunter had ended up in Latissa. She suddenly wondered if he was awake, maybe he’d like some company.

Checking to make sure she didn’t wake King or Tulip, she crept her way to the door and slipped out, closing it softly behind her. She tiptoed to the other hall of bedrooms and pressed her ear against the door she was pretty sure belonged to the angry blonde.

“Hunter?” she whispered, “Hunter, are you awake?”

She tried the doorknob, only to find it was locked.

Darn.

“...sweet dreams,” she said softly before creeping away.

She made her way through the halls, taking care to try and not bump into anything as she went. She didn’t have a destination in mind, she just needed to get up and move to settle her restless mind down…

That was how she came to find herself in the foyer, which was… surprisingly not dark.

From her position at the top of the stairs, she realized that the strange machine hanging from the ceiling had a soft ambient light coming off of it. It didn’t hurt to look at it, it just… it almost reminded her of a nightlight. The clicks of the gears filled the air, once again reminding her of some great, ancient grandfather clock; she almost expected it to chime like one too…

But instead of musical notes, she could hear the sound of squeaky, creaking wood.

Looking to the floor below the device, she could see Mr McGucket sitting underneath, resting in an ancient rocking chair as he stared upwards, a large jug resting on the floor beside him, the kind for distilling moonshine. It was… an odd sight to say the least.

“Huh…”

She slowly made her way down the stairs, dragging her fingers along the railing until she reached the floor and stood beside the man.

“Um… hi… Mr. McGucket,” she greeted awkwardly.

“Evenin’ youngin’,” he greeted in a soft, tired voice, making him sound even older than he probably was, “Couldn’t sleep?”

“No, you?” she asked before slowly sitting on the floor beside him.

“Eh, more or less the same,” he said, still rocking in his chair.

He turned his direction upward again, seeming to admire the strange device above them.

“...what is that thing Mr. McGucket? Some kind of magical generator or something?”

“Ha! That thing? Ah no no, nothin’ like that! Not everything ‘round ‘ere is somethin’ special or impossible or whatever!”

“Oh… then what is it?”

“It’s just an art piece.”

“... that’s art?” she questioned, looking up as it ticked away.

“Ah call ‘er Memory.”

“...Memory huh…how come?”

He stopped rocking at the question, seemed to think for a moenting and then asked,

“...what’ve the others told you ‘bout me youngin’?”

“Not much. You’re a genius and all that…”

“...Ah’m smart yeah… Ford’s the genius though… if Ah were half as smart as ‘im… well, Ah might not have made the mistakes Ah did. They were big ones too. Mighta been able to talk Ford outta some o’ his own too…”

“What kind of mistakes?” she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

“...well… nobody died… arguably what happened was even worse but still…” he seemed to be rolling that train of thought around on his tongue whenever he paused.

“What do you mean…? I mean… if you don’t wanna talk about it I understand.”

The old man sighed, “No… no, it’s better you youngin’s know these things… it just ain’t easy to talk about.”

“...take your time…”

“...Ah worked with Ford ‘bout twenty-some odd years ago, when he was working on the original portal. All was fine ‘n good ‘til I got a look on th’ other side…”

Mr. McGucket violently shuddered before reaching down for the jug and took a long, hard swig from it.

“...did you see something bad?”

“...Ah did… somthin’ terrible, somethin’ so bad that Ah wanted to forget… wanted it to go away, wanted it so bad that Ah…” he sighed, “Ah made a gun to erase memories… thought it would bring mahself peace… and somehow made a secret society meant to erase other people’s bad memories as well.”

Well… that was way more extreme than she was expecting.

“...did it work?”

“...yes, and no… the gun worked, but…” he took another long drink, “There were side effects Ah hadn’t accounted fer… eventually Ah lost mah mind entirely and forgot who Ah was… the society went completely unchecked and did a lotta damage to the town. Ah only got my memories back just last summer, and while Ah don’t regret doin’ it… it is hard sometimes…”

She looked up at him, blinking with wide, slightly concerned eyes.

“...is… is that why Memory is up there?”

“...no… that’s not… entirely true… but it does have to do with it…”

He took a shaky breath before continuing.

“...when we started lookin’ fer you youngin’s… we thought it would be easy to convince ya’ll ta come, just… go out and find ya, win yer trust… but we didn’t think about the defenses you youngin’s put up to survive… the denial…”

“Denial…?” she asked softly.

“...when some of them came back, they’d try to tell the others ‘round them ‘bout what happened, where ya were, tell the truth… but nobody’d believe ‘em. Nobody. Thought they’d run away or were havin’ some sort of mental break or… or somethin’... an’ they didn’t have and proof to back ‘em up neither.”

She thought of the summer camp her mom had wanted to send her to.

“They tried to keep tellin’ the truth, but after a while, they just couldn’t do anymore… it just hurt too much to keep tryin’, and eventually went along with whatever story the adults around them told. They made that lie their new reality… ‘n by the time we got to ‘em, well… they kept the lie up, had to keep it up, almost like armor. Made it easier to survive.”

“Why though? You were there to believe them right?”

“...not havin’ people believe you for that long does it’s damage, but it also leaves you vulnerable. Lot of them were sent to psychiatric hospitals for their “delusions” and had ta go through things they never shoulda. Them hospitals do good work for the folks that need ‘em, don’t get me wrong, but fer people like us… well, to them, the first step is admitting everything that happened wasn’t real… they wanted ta make themselves forget.”

Luz felt a knot form in her throat and tears stung her eyes.

“...by the time we found some of ‘em, they’d been hidin’ behind that lie for years… and the armor became their skin, so to speak. Takin’ it away… it would hurt, might even do more harm than good.”

He sighed and took another swig, swallowing a few times.

“We decided we had to let them go… they didn’t want to come and we couldn’t force ‘em… and we had to focus on those who would come, those we could help…”

He cast a sad look up at the machine over them.

“Ah had Memory installed as a way to prove what you kids went through was real, that it actually happened. Nobody can take it from you and the others. Ya see those shiny things moving along it?”

“M… Mhm,” she nodded, looking up at what looked like small glass orbs. They had reminded her of a strange planetary model the first time she saw it, and that still hadn’t changed.

“Them’s there’s things each of our students added to it,” he went on, “Almost like they’re addin’ a small piece of themselves to it. You all were here. You all are real. Everything you went through was real too. That’s what she stands fer…”

He leaned back in his chair to stare up at the strange thing as it ticked away.

“...I never thought about that part,” Luz admitted quietly, “What happens when the hero comes back from another world. In stories it’s always so easy…”

“‘That’s ‘cause those authors didn’t hafta think about that part too hard,” McGucket sighed, “They made the adventure real, but forgot about what them kids would have to deal with when they got back. Sayin’ no time had passed or anythin’... it was quick and easy to wrap up like that… nevermind the trauma…”

She hugged her knees to her chest.

“...I got lucky on that… I managed to contact Mom and she found out about Vee…”

“...and she wants what’s best for you too… that’s why she sent you here… so you could get help… and so you wouldn’t be alone…”

“Yeah… she always wanted that… she… she was gonna send me to a summer camp to get straightened out before it all happened b-but… she just wanted what was best for me…”

“An’ she accepted the truth about what ya’ll went through.”

“Mhm… kinda impossible for her not to…”

“...sounds like ya got an awful good Ma little lady.”

“...yeah.. I do..”

She stared up at Memory and quietly hoped she could show it to her mom someday.

“...I… I think I wanna go to bed now.”

“No worries youngin’, Ah’ll be headin’ up soon mahself, ya’ll get some sleep now, ya hear?”

She didn’t answer, just slowly got up and headed back to her room. She stopped to look at Memory one last time before turning down the hall…

Yeah… she really did get lucky after all.

Chapter Text

“...what are we waiting for exactly?” Hunter asked with his arms crossed.

It was now Thursday, classes had just wrapped up and their first week at the school was coming to an end. At Teodora’s insistence, the Boiling Isles trio were waiting outside the front door of the school, she had said there was something she needed them for and to wait for her.

“I dunno, she made it sound like it was important though,” Luz said, shrugging her shoulders.

With the implication that they were going somewhere, Hunter had chosen against his Golden Guard uniform and was wearing his more casual clothes; the cloak and bits of armor would have made him stick out like a sore thumb. King, for his part, was hidden in Luz’s messenger bag, partially to be somewhere inconspicuous, partially to avoid walking everywhere on such short little legs.

They didn’t have to wait too long before a car, a Dondai Supremo, pulled up and parked in front of them. The passenger window rolled down, revealing Teodora, she had donned a pair of dark sunglasses. She lowered while grinning widely at them and quoted,

“Get in losers, we’re going shopping!”

“...she just Regina George’d us!” Luz squeaked, grinning so hard her cheeks hurt.

“I’m assuming that’s a human thing?” Hunter asked with a brow raised.

“Oh! I know this one!” King piped up, “She’s a powerful bee queen and rules over her kingdom of mean girls with a fist of terror with a burning book of secrets! I saw Luz’s mom watching something about her a few days before we got here!”

“...okay, one, that was so wrong it was cute, and two, we’re making you both watch that movie,” Teodora said, pointing between them.

Steven, who was behind the driver’s seat, piped up with a smirk, “It’ll be fetch!”

Both girls snickered as the group climbed into the back, they were told to buckle up and once they were, the car turned towards the front gates. As they drove off the property and pulled onto the main road, Luz noticed a sign near the entrance to the driveway, it read,

McGucket & Pines’ School for Wayward Youths.

Under that, was some smaller print.

No guests, no solicitors, no quests.

The no in “no quests” had been crossed out in red spray paint.

The car slowly made its way down the mountain, following twisting and turning roads before reaching a small town that was nestled among the trees. It was barely a five minute drive but Luz could tell that time would multiply several times over if the weather was even slightly off.

“Newbies, welcome to downtown Gravity Falls,” Teodora said as Steven parked on the side of the road, “Since you’ve been here a few days, I figured it was time you got to see beyond just the school.”

“Don’t we need permission for this?” she asked, her mind going back to the various YA series she had consumed in her life. Leaving magical schools, even for brief visits, was never this easy.

“Psh, nah! We don’t need to ask, they just want someone on staff to know if we’re out or not. Besides, most of us have saved the world at least once, even if we did ask and they said “no” they wouldn't be able to stop us!” she waved her hand dismissively.

“...I think it’s more like they want to know if we leave just in case we don’t come back, they can go looking for us if we need help,” Steven said, giving Teodora a very flat look, “Some of us still have enemies out there seeking revenge you know.”

“Says the guy who’s befriended everyone who’s ever tried to kill him.”

“I have not!”

“Oh really? Name one.”

“Aquamarine and Eyeball Ruby.”

“...oh right, those two are still on the loose.”

“Uh… sorry to interrupt but… should we be worried?” Luz asked, suddenly feeling a bit concerned by the fact he had casually mentioned someone who had “Eyeball” as part of their name.

“Oh you don’t have to worry, Steven’s really the only one they’re gunning for.”

“...they threatened to hurt my dad if I didn’t destroy my own house, bubble my friends and burn Little Homewo-”

“Anyway! Let’s show you three around town!” Teodora cut him off before jumping out the door, leaving the brunette to groan and the trio in the back very confused.

“...are you okay?” Hunter asked, leaning forward in his seat. Steven was the first person he had really come to like here in the Human Realm, so he felt like he had to at least show his concern.

“Yeah, that stuff you mentioned was… uh..” Luz trailed off, trying to find the words.

“Intense?” King offered, how own voice tinged with concern.

And all three of them were really concerned about what “bubbling” was.

“Yeah, Teodora’s just…” Steve paused and took a second to pick the words he wanted to use, “She’s trying to make this a good first impression for you guys. She isn’t trying to be mean or anything, she and I just had… very different experiences with the stuff we went through. She might seem dismissive at first but she really does mean well…”

He took another breath before smiling at them.

“Anyway, we shouldn’t keep her waiting, let’s go.”

The trio looked at each other and began to follow him out of the car, only for the aforementioned girl to stop them.

“Whoa whoa whoa, King, you’re not riding in Luz’s bag the whole time are you?”

“Weh?!”

“Teodora, you said we had to keep a low profile,” Luz said, “And we didn’t have any clothes in King’s size… not like we could actually disguise what he looked like.”

“Oh dear sweet Luz,” she sighed, “You have a lot to learn. Allow me.”

She reached behind herself, and out of nowhere, she pulled out a pair of small overalls. Where she had kept them and why she had them were never asked, she merely handed them to the young demon. They even had a hole for his tail!

“...is that all? Aren’t the other humans gonna notice…” he gestured to his own face, “All this? I mean, I am handsome and all, but I can’t pass as one of you!”

“Oh don’t worry! You would be amazed how often the “weird little kid half dressed in a costume” gambit works!”

“Really?”

“Really!”

“Ford, Jack and Krel have all run the numbers, there is literally no logical reason for how often stuff like this works,” Steven said, smirking a little as if he was trying not to laugh, “The smaller and cuter you are, the more it works too… or if you’re at an amusement park, they’ll think you’re a new mascot they’re introducing.”

Ignoring that last bit, King looked at the overalls for a moment before jumping from Luz’s bag and quickly pulled them on.

“Now then,” Teodora proclaimed, “Let the tour begin!”

As they walked, Gravity Falls gave the impression that it was the kind of small mountain town that used to largely rely on mining or lumber yards as their main source of income before branching out over the decades. There were maybe a few families who could actually be classified as rich, but for the most part, people lived here comfortably.

The first places they were introduced to were the various stores, the police department, the library, the pool, the museum and a few other locally owned businesses. They made sure to include a few facts about each place and the people who worked there. There were also a good number of students from the school wandering around, they seemed to either be buying things or just spending time in town for the fun of it.

“Now there’s one last place we have to show you guys,” their guide smiled as she walked, her heels loudly clicking on the sidewalk, “But we’re gonna hafta walk for a bit if we go on foot. We should probably take the car to get there and back to school before it gets too late.”

“Is there really that much more for us to see?” Luz asked as she dragged her fingers along a rod iron fence, “No offense, but this town is kinda small.”

“I hate to agree with her, but she’s right,” Hunter said, crossing his arms, “This town is… quaint but I fail to see what’s so interesting.”

“Oh trust me, this town has more secrets than you realize,” Teodora said before glancing at them, and paused mid-step, “Get away from the fence.”

“Huh?”

“L-L-Luz?” King’s frightened voice piped up, his fur standing on end as he pointed, just in time for the girl in question to feel like she was suddenly being watched… it was followed by an unsettling groan.

She turned to see a rotting face staring back at her from the other side of the fence, like some macabre prisoner.

She screamed and jumped away as far as she could, but not before a boney hand grabbed onto her shirt and it refused to let go. Its face was slammed into the cold iron, the putrid flesh squishing unsettlingly and bits of bone began to fall away like old drywall.

“WHAT IS THAT THING?!” she screamed, moving as far back as she could.

“That would be a zombie,” Teodora stated in a voice that was way too calm for the situation.

As she spoke, there was a crumbling, almost cracking sound and… yep, the hand was now detached from the rest of the body. It let go of the girl's shirt before flopping to the sidewalk.

“Actually, that would be the hand of a zombie,” she corrected as the thing hopped up, trying to stand on its fingers like they were legs, “Zombie hand.”

“Z-ZOMBIES?!” Luz now yelled, stomping her foot on the hand before it could start scampering around, “THOSE ARE REAL?!”

“Yeah, the dead in this town don’t like staying in the ground, it’s a side effect of the weird apocalypse thing from last year,” Teodora said dismissively, “I think most of the dead have been killed twice by now so it shouldn’t be a problem for too much longer.”

“Should be?!” Hunter exclaimed, now brandishing his staff and pointing it at the reanimated corpse.

“Yeah, it seems that they can only be revived once,” she continued. Whatever else she might have added was cut off when the hand, still trapped under Luz’s foot, released a wet, squelching sound and stopped moving, “Ew, gross!”

“Oh dear, are you kids alright?”

They turned away from the corpse and saw a very friendly-looking woman, she had a pair of large glasses, red, a soft purple turtleneck, a blue cardigan and a pair of light jeans… and a shovel in one hand.

“Hey Mrs. Valentino,” Steven said, still looking at the squirming hand, “Everybody’s fine, just showing some newcomers around and got caught off guard.”

“Aw, well I suppose these things happen,” she said as she lifted her shovel and began using the blade to herd the zombie away from the fence, “Don’t worry, we’ll get this guy dealt with in just a bit! Sorry for the scare!”

“...who is that?” Hunter asked, watching in disbelief at the sight before him.

“That’s Mrs. Valentino,” Teodora answered, “She and her husband run the local funeral home so they’ve been dealing with the whole zombie thing more than anyone.”

“...you say that like the entire town knows about the zombie thing.”

“Well… they do.”

“Wha… but… a-aren’t we trying to do the whole “keep magic and everything else a secret” thing?”

“For the most part,” Steven said, “But literally the whole town lived through their own condensed apocalypse for a week straight. They don’t have to know everything about what’s going on, just that it’s happening and we’re involved.”

“Some know more than others, but for the most part, the townfolk don’t want to know more than they have to. So long as the Pines are involved, they’ll stay out of it,” Teodora shrugged nonchalantly.

“Ford and Stan? What do they have to do with anything?” King piped up, heading cocking.

“They’re the ones who saved the town and the world.”

The three magic users stared at her in disbelief.

Mrs. Valentino, having not been paying attention to the conversion, just laughed warmly as she led the zombie away, “Don’t forget to tell them about the “Nevermind All That” Act sweeties!”

“Oh, yeah, right, that too,” Teodora snapped her fingers as she spoke.

“The… the what now act?” Hunter asked, face scrunching up at the ridiculous name.

“The “Nevermind All That” Act,” Steven answered, “Mayor Tyler introduced it last year after the near apocalypse, it’s mostly for anyone who comes snooping around, asking too many questions. If someone asks too much, we’re supposed to tell them “nevermind all that” but uh… I don’t think that’s the healthiest way to go about it.”

“That and I’m pretty sure the cops forgot they’re supposed to tase you over it,” Teodora shrugged, “At least they’re too dumb and gay to be an actual threat to anybody.”

“...okay… shocking revelations aside,” Luz said as she took a calming breath and chose to focus on something a little easier to process, “I really like that lady, she’s nice.”

“Yeah, I like her too!” King said, hopping in agreement.

“Yeah, her husband’s the same way,” Steven nodded, “Their son… eh… he’s kind of the opposite.”

“Opposite how?” the little demon asked.

“Small time trouble maker, full time pain in the ass if he decides he has a beef with you,” she scoffed, “But he and the others around here can be pretty fun if you’re up for some minor vandalism, trespassing and destruction of property.”

“What?!” Hunter exclaimed, looking at her in disbelief.

“What, you’ve never just wanna cut loose and break some rules to have fun?”

“NO!!!” the young witch yelled loudly.

“YES!!!” King declared with his tiny fists raised over his head.

“I’m with Hunter,” Steven piped up.

“I usually get dragged into that kind of stuff…” Luz said sheepishly, “But I did break into the Bonesborough Library once… and broke into their restricted section one other time… and stood on some grass to get arrested and then broke out of the Conformitorium the second time… wow I’ve broken the law way more times than I thought I did.”

Teodora was grinning widely at this laundry list of misdeeds before wrapping her arm around the younger girl’s shoulders.

“Luz, mi amiga, tu eres muy divertida~”

That was not the reaction she had been expecting…

Wait…

“We’re friends now?” she squeaked.

“Si!”

She grinned hard and wide.

“Now then, into the car you guys! There’s one last place to go before we head back!”

Once in the car, they headed down a road that led to the forest surrounding the town. The road wound and turned, and eventually, they came to a stop at an interesting house, it was clearly a former residence turned into a business. The building had a steep roof, with artistically styled windows and a totem pole out front. The sign on the roof read Mystery Shack, but the S on “Shack” was missing, emphasizing the entire vibe of the building.

“...what is this place?” Hunter spoke up, looking at the place with scrutiny.

“It’s kinda cool-looking,” Luz piped up.

“The Mystery Shack,” Steven answered, “It was Ford’s house originally and he built the original portal underneath it. After he was sent to the other worlds, Stan took it over and turned it into a tourist trap to pay the bills.”

“It’s also where we serve detention,” Teodora groaned, “No worse punishment than working retail.”

Before they could question her on it, they were ushered into the gift shop, and to their surprise, found Danny, Jake and Randy restocking the shelves, running the register and cleaning, respectively. They were all wearing the same dull green shirt with a question mark on it in a darker shade of green, stylized to look like it was oozing or dripping.

“Hey guys,” Danny groaned as they came in, looking like he wanted to be anywhere else.

“Uh… hey,” Luz waved meekly, “...why are you guys here?”

“Because we got you caught up in the goblin thing the other day,” he answered, “Week’s worth of shifts dealing with customers.”

“Totally whack, man!” Jake yelled, “If we don’t work in the gift shop, we have to help with the exhibits!”

“Exhibits, what do you…”

Luz’s question trailed off when her eyes came to rest on something on display in the gift shop. Something she never thought she would see with her own eyes.

“IS THAT A FIJI MERMAID?!”

She completely forgot about everything and everyone around her as she ran to smush her face up against the large glass fish tank containing the focus of her excitement! The upper half of a monkey’s body was sewn onto the lower half of a fish, a classic piece of historically recognized weirdness and taxidermy! She hadn’t known what to expect when they got here, but now she wanted to see more!

“Is this the only thing like it here! Please say there’s more!”

“...you know what that thing is?” Hunter spoke up, looking at her like she had grown a second head.

“Of course I do! Oh man, is this one of the ones from the original P. T. Barnum circus or did someone make this recently?! Wait, wasn’t the original lost in a fire?”

“...you’d have to ask Grunkle Stan about that,” Steven answered, making an active effort to not look at the patched together cadaver.

“Forget asking him, he straight up has a new helper in making these shnasty things!” Randy proclaimed, looking a little green around the gills, “And I thought the monsters the Sorcerer made were ugly!”

Luz suddenly gasped and looked at the others, “Do you think I can work here part time?! I’ve done taxidermy before! I once made a griffin out of a squirrel and a pigeon! It even had spider breath!”

The other humans in the room were deathly silent, staring at her like she just declared she could turn her inside into outsides and be totally fine.

There was only one sane thing they could do.

They inhaled and called,

“SOOS! STAN!”

From a nearby door a rotund man in a suit walked into the gift shop. He was hispanic, with both an overbite and an underbite, with a very kind face and wearing a fez with a stylized fish eating a dot on it. He was followed by Grunkle Stan, and while Luz was too excited to notice it at the moment, the two men were dressed in exactly the same way, with the exception of the aforementioned fez.

“S’up dudes?” the former, presumably Soos, asked in a kind voice before noticing the newcomers and smiled, “Welcome to the Mystery Shack! I’m Mr. Mystery, and this is the former Mr. Mystery!” He wrapped his arm around Stan’s shoulders, “Can we welcome you to a world of wonder, enchantment and bewilderment?”

“Yes! And a job please?” Luz squeaked, bouncing on her toes.

“...say what now?” Stan spoke up this time, looking at her in confusion before raising a bushy eyebrow.

“Oh, sweet! What’s your names little dudes?” Soos asked, his voice warm and inviting.

“I’m Luz Noceda sir!” she introduced brightly, “My friends and I are new to the school!”

“We’re not friends!” Hunter protested, paused and cleared his throat before adding, “...and I’m Hunter.”

“And I’m King!!” the young demon piped up, jumping onto Luz’s shoulder.

“Pleasure to meet ya! And you really wanna work here at the Shack?” the large man asked.

“Yeah, I do!” she nodded, “I love stuff like this, even before going to the Boiling Isles, I mean… back home everyone thought I was weird… but this place is like, paradise or something!”

“...I like you!” Soos declared, his own grin just as bright as hers, “I feel the same way!”

“Can I see more of the stuff you have here!”

“Absolutely! And you’re in luck, the original Mr. Mystery is here so you get an extra special tour!”

They looked at Stan, both looking excited in the kind of way that, if you said no, you would feel like an absolute monster. He let out a long, gravely groan but still smiled at them.

“Alright, alright, let’s head to the front and we’ll show you what all we have.”

“YES!”

By the time Luz had been led through the entirety of the Mystery Shack, she had at least a dozen new project ideas, had suggested no less than five to the two men, and had spent almost the entire time talking to Stan about making taxidermy. When they exited out into the gift shop, she was pulling out her phone to ask her mom for permission to work in the tourist trap.

Her squeal of delight when her mom said “yes” could be heard for five miles.

Chapter Text

Movie night was serious business for the students at the School for Wayward Youths, popcorn was popped, bags of chips were shared and cans of soda were cracked open. It was no small affair, especially since it seemed more than half of the student body was there. Luz could barely believe her eyes as she entered the TV room, some students were sitting on the furniture, others were sprawled out on the floor, and a few floated in the air. It was like one of those slumber parties she’d see on TV, but more chaotic, and it was honestly kind of beautiful in her eyes.

As soon as they had entered the room, King ran to join the fun, and Hunter… well he had refused to join at first, saying he had to focus on finding a way home. She had countered with the fact the Human Realm was full of stories about going to other worlds. There were so many, one just might hold the key to getting back.

He found the idea that there were that many human stories that dealt with going to other worlds highly unlikely. Luz then showed him three different TvTropes pages on the matter and he reluctantly agreed to join with the others.

She was still smirking over her little victory when she saw a piece of paper on the wall near the TV, and was held in place with scotch tape. She hadn’t noticed it during their tour, but the word BANNED was written on it in big bold letters. The very first thing listed was “Body horror”, not something she would have thought of right away, but then she remembered the strange, flesh-like growth things she had seen on the Boiling Isles. They were harmless, just unsettling to look at… and touch.

At the same time though, it took no stretch of the imagination to see how something even worse and actually dangerous could exist in another world. Something that someone here could have come across. The thought made her skin crawl.

Looking over the rest of the list, it covered a few different sub-genres, specific movies and series, the more she thought about it, the more she could see them triggering someone who went to another world…

Though at the very bottom, the word Sitcom had been crossed out with a red marker and the title for the show Golden Girls had been written underneath. It was also underlined three times.

She desperately wanted to know the story behind that but at the same time was almost scared what the answer might be.

“There you three are!” Teodora hurried to greet them, brushing stray pieces of popcorn out of her hair, “I was hoping you’d show up tonight!”

“I'd rather not be but… the human made a uniquely convincing argument,” Hunter groused.

“Mhm,” she nodded, “Now, since you guys are new and all, I should let you know, we have a bit of a tradition with these movie nights. When we get someone new, we let them pick what we watch, see what they like and all that, but since there’s three of you, we’re gonna have to figure something out.”

“...w-wait, you want us to choose?” Luz yelped, suddenly feeling very nervous.

“You heard me!” she smiled, placing one hand on her hip, the other hand held her phone, “Luz, you actually know what movies here are like, ya wanna help me with this?”

“Wah-uh, me?”

“Yeah you. You know what these two like, and since they’re new to our world’s media and all.”

“W-Well I-” she stammered, kind of terrified at the idea of choosing a movie to choose for herself, Hunter and King, nevermind the others. They would probably think she was so weird and a total loser for it, “I mean, I don’t know if I’d be the best choice for that, I don’t want it to be all my own likes since it would be unfairly biased. I mean, we were gonna show them Mean Girls after our trip into town… and I said I’d show Hunter and King some old movies but that’s probably not a good choice for tonight…”

“Hm… Hunter, King,” the embodiment of pink said, scooping up the latter as he ran past to get his attention, “Tell me some of your preferences, I can work from that.”

Hunter paused, looked down and said, “Since I have to make a choice, just make sure it has a good story. If I’m going to be stuck here it might as well be good.”

“I just want blood and violence!” King proclaimed, little arms raised over his head. He started kicking and squirming to get away and continue running around.

“Mhm, mhm,” Teodora nodded, paused, and then asked, “King, how old are you again?”

“I’m eight!”

She paused for a second time, noticeably longer than before and looked at Luz, “Are you alright with animation?”

“Uh, yeah, I love animation actually.”

“Okay, Don Bluth marathon it is then!”

…wait did she hear that right? Don Bluth, one of the biggest names of animation? She hadn’t expected that at all. She watched as Teodora called out to the others, saying if anyone had an issue with the choice, they were welcome to go. A few got up and left… though her eyes settled on Steven and MK, who, despite staying, looked a bit uncertain and uncomfortable. She was suddenly concerned about them.

“Alright, well… can’t go wrong with some of the man’s best works,” Teodora said, her hand on her chin as she settled on the decision, “We’ll start with An American Tail, The Secret of NIMH and wrap it up with The Land Before Time, that sound good to everyone?”

There were nods of approval, some thumbs up and a few cracked jokes. Most of them had seen the trio of movies already, but they also had no reason not to watch them either. They might have been hoping for something more along the lines of a big blockbuster but in the spirit of being fair to the new arrivals, especially the young King, they were happy to go with the more age appropriate selection.

“Luz, you and King can sit with me and the boys,” Teodora smiled, gesturing to Danny Jake and Randy, “We’ve been looking forward to seeing what you guys would pick.”

“Well uh… I mean…” Luz wanted to respond, oh she desperately wanted to, but it felt like her throat had swelled and blocked off her ability to speak.

“Something wrong?”

“I just… you guys are like…I mean… you guys are cool and all and… just… isn’t this kind of… too lame for you?”

Teodora blinked at this.

“Luz. I watch anime. Danny used to get shoved into his locker everyday. Jake is a total skateboard fanboy. Randy has some of the worst ADHD I’ve ever seen. We’re not as cool as you think.”

“You are literal superheroes!”

“Professionally, yes, you could call us that, but in our personal lives, we’re some of the biggest nerds you’ll ever find. Is that what you’re worried about?”

“Just… I don’t know…”

Reading her like a book, Teodora placed a hand on Luz’s shoulder.

“Lemme guess, you were a nerd too, a total loser?”

“...yeah,” she nodded, “I was… too weird for Gravesfield, and my mom wanted to send me to a summer camp to be more normal. Just… I haven’t had an easy time of it with other humans.”

“Trust me Luz, you aren’t gonna be judged here, a lot of us are weird too. I literally got stuck between life and death, does that sound normal to you?”

“Well… no.”

“Exactly! So don’t worry, you don’t have to be so anxious around us when it comes to being weird.”

Before she could say anything, Teodora tossed her towards the boys, who happily welcomed her among them and offered her some snacks. King returned to her lap and got comfortable as the lights went out.

Hunter, for his part, didn’t intend to pay too much attention to the movies, the reaction to the movie selection gave him the feeling they wouldn’t be of much use to finding a way home… but he had already sat with Steven and MK on the couch, and he didn’t feel particularly inclined to leave their side just yet. He rested his chin on the back of his hand as the opening played, he had learned early in his time in the Human Realm that “animation” was an optical illusion, a series of drawings with slight differences to create the illusion of life. This was different from the “anime” he had seen in the beginning, he couldn’t quite articulate how this was so different, but that distinction lost its importance when the protagonist, a little mouse named Fievel, was washed overboard in a storm and separated from his family.

In the next scene, his family had accepted that he was lost to them, but less than a minute later, it showed he had survived, riding in a bottle with a strange choir accompanying it. He couldn’t make out exactly what was being said but he recognized “Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” His mind drifted to Belos, it sounded like something he would have said to the wild witches of the Savage Age, winning them over to the side of the Titan and saving their souls.

He had to admit, he felt some sympathy for Fivel, he was a kid who was trying to find his family, if his own family was still alive, he might have done the same. Belos had made it clear that their entire family had been destroyed by wild magic and that was all, he refused to say anything more on the matter. It must have been too painful for him to speak on the matter. His insides did squirm however whenever the family was on screen, the sister insisted she felt like her brother was alive but the parents were convinced he was dead…

Some tiny part wondered if maybe his uncle was the same but he quickly smothered it and refused to think about it anymore.

He did have a small smile on his face when the child reunited with his family at the end, the screen filled with golden light and sparkling water. It was beautiful and he hoped the same would happen with him and his uncle soon.

The second movie, The Secret of NIMH, was a bit more fascinating, as he watched a timid and terrified mother mouse push through her terror to try and save one of her children. He wondered if his own mother would have done the same for him, if she had done the same when…. whatever happened to them had happened. Had she tried to find him? To save him? He had no idea what actually happened, if it was a fire, an explosion, or something far worse, and that was the worst part. The not knowing, the countless possibilities…

The final movie was called The Land Before Time, and it seemed to be about… large… creatures? He had no idea what he was looking at, the narrator called them dinosaurs, but they all looked so strange. The “sharptooth” was the worst, unsettlingly fast and monstrous, there was just something wrong about it. His heart stopped when he saw the protagonist’s mother being savagely attacked by it as the children watched, just in time for a violent earthquake to send it all into further chaos. When it was all over, the little female dinosaur was separated from her parents by a great chasm and the boy was looking for his mother.

He found her, clearly hurt and dying, trying to offer comforting words to him as she went.

After the scene faded away, Hunter realized he could hear crying.

He looked down and saw that the little rat demon was crying, and clinging to the human. He was crying loud enough for the others to take notice.

“Luz,” he whimpered, “Is… Is Eda gonna be alright?”

Ah, he was worried about the Owl Lady, of course. The human, for her part, looked torn and upset herself, but she tried to put on a brave face.

“Y-Yeah… yeah, of course she is King… s-she’s the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles after all… she… she’s gonna be fine… she has to be.”

She said it even though she looked like she was about to break down and start crying too.

“...are you guys… okay?” Steven was the one to speak up, surprising Hunter.

“I… I dunno…” the human said softly, “This… this was a bad idea.”

The movie was paused and many of the others moved closer to check on them. All Hunter could make out was, “it hit too close to home.”