Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Luz stood in the alleyway watching the Owl Lady down the street at her Human Collectables stand. The human sighed clutching her light gray cape closer to her, she made sure the hood was up and that the owl-like mask was in place. She had been spying on the Owl Lady for three days now, and she had seen quite a lot of things, having never really been able to leave the Emperor's Castle much to actually explore the Boiling Isles before.

She's seen all kinds of monsters, and was excited to learn more about the Boiling Isles. But she had a mission to do first, she walked around, staying out of sight, and made her way to the back of the Owl Lady's tent.

She thought about this plan for the past two days, and it was time to take action. She lifted the back of the tent and went inside, there was a lot of junk inside the tent and a door.

Luz stepped closer to the door curiously, it was slightly ajar, she peaked inside and saw a forest beyond. She could have run straight though and be back in her home dimension, but the Emperor's threat lingered in her mind, plus there was no magic in the Human Realm, how would she heal her curse then?

No matter, she had a job to do. She turned away from the door and scavenged through the junk, she needed to find some more human-like clothes. After a bit of searching she found a short-sleeved white and indigo striped shirt, high-waisted jean shorts, dark grey capris leggings, which she put on, and kept her brown boots on.

She ditched the cape and took the amber colored owl-like mask off revealing a fourteen-year-old Dominican-American girl with tan skin, brownish-purple short hair that was styled in a messy pixie cut, and hazel eyes. She had pointy fangs and claw-like nails due to her curse. She also had a few scars on her face, three scratch marks over her left eye and two scars on her right cheek.

She grabbed a yellow bag and stuffed a few more random items inside, including her Emperor's Coven uniform. She zipped the bag up and put it on her shoulders, sighing she turned to look at the entrance of the tent, seeing the Owl Lady talking to a little owl that sat back onto her staff.

The Owl Lady went through the bag of items the owl brought, deciding what was trash and what she could sell. Luz came closer to the entrance of the tent waiting for the perfect moment to introduce herself, luckily the moment presented itself soon enough.

"This will make good kindling." The Owl Lady said, holding a book up to a candle and letting it burn. Luz took a deep breath, steeling her nerves before launching herself from the tent and shouting "Excuse me, sorry, it's mine, thank you!" She snatched the book from the Owl Lady's hand and jogged back to the door, the door folded up before she could even get close to it.

Luz turned around the face the Owl Lady, "you're not going anywhere." She growled at the human before her. "What's a human like you doing in the Boiling Isles?" The Owl Lady asked, crossing her arms. "I-uh..." Luz stammered, she looked down at the book she still held "I just wanted my book back, an-and I saw that little owl take it so I followed it here." She lied, quickly.

"And, what do you mean 'human'? Aren't you a human too?" She decided to add on, to give the Owl Lady a reason to believe she was clueless about where she was. The Owl Lady chuckled "oh dear child, I'm Eda the Owl Lady! The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!" Eda declared, proudly, twirling her staff and slamming the end onto the ground, creating a few yellow magical sparks.

Luz flinched at the display but quickly recovered "a witch?" She questioned, but before Eda could reply someone shouted from outside the tent. "Eda the Owl Lady! You are wanted for misuse of magic and demonic misdemeanors. Come out here and face your punishment!" Eda rolled her eyes and groaned "hang on a sec human."

Eda turned around and exited the tent, Luz quickly followed behind, stuffing the book into her bag for safekeeping. Outside Eda had her arms crossed as she faced a guard. "You are hereby ordered to come with me to the Conformatorium." The guard grabbed Eda's arm but the Owl Lady quickly freed herself and scoffed "Would you guys quit following me around? I haven't done squat."

The guard then picked Luz up by the back of her shirt "hey!" She yelled at him "and you're coming too, for fraternizing with a criminal." The guard added, Luz growled in frustration, she knew that no one in the Emperor's Coven, except for a select few, knew of her 'alliance' if you could even call it that, with the Emperor.

"Oh, all right, all right, you win. Just let me get my stuff." Eda said, reaching down under the table. She then pulled out her staff and whacked the guard's head, leaving him dazed on the ground. Luz had fallen to the ground when this happened and by the time she stood back up Eda had made a bindle using her staff and the table cloth with all her stuff that somehow fit.

"Follow me, human!" Eda called running down the street, Luz ran after her and quickly caught up. "This is crazy!" Luz yelled "Ha! I won't let them hurt you, a human like you is much more valuable to me alive than dead." Eda replied. "Wait, what's that suppos-" Luz was cut off as Eda pulled her onto her staff and took off into the sky with a joyful shout.

They were zipping across the sky over the Boiling Isles on Eda's staff. "What is this place?" Luz asked, she already knew a little bit, but it would be nice to know more.

"This is the Boiling Isles. Every myth you humans have is caused by a little of our world leaking into yours." Eda explained "really?" Luz asked curiously, a Griffin flew up beside them and spat out spiders "eww."

"Yup! Griffin's, Vampires, Giraffes.." Eda listed, they flew down towards the ground and landed in the forest. Eda hopped off of the staff, her hand being left behind. Luz wasn't fazed by it though, she saw that happen a few times when she was spying "uhh, your hand?" Luz mentioned, pointing at the hand still on the staff. "Oops, yeah, that happens sometimes." Eda said, screwing her hand back on her wrist.

"What's with that door that you have?" Luz asked as Eda led the way through the forest "oh that? That's my portal to the Human Realm, and before you ask, no you can't use it, not unless you help me first." Eda snort-laughed. Luz looked away and hummed "right..."

They eventually made it to a house in the middle of the forest. The house was large and made from white brick with a sloping blue roof. A stained glass window above the door gives the impression of a large orange demon eye. A crumbling stone tower with orange moss growing on it is located to the rear left of the house. The door was made of wood and had an owl face seemingly carved into it.

Luz looked back at the forest behind them, "aren't you worried about those guards finding us?" She asked, looking back at Eda "Nope, my house has a state-of-the-art defence system."

At this the owl face on the door decided to speak "hoot, hoot, password please." Luz jumped slightly, forgetting that she had seen it talk before. Eda poked the owl's eyes before replying "we got no time for this Hooty, let us in."

"All right, all right! Geez! You never want to have any fun! Ow! Hoot!" Hooty exclaimed, opening his mouth wide enough to cover the door and let them in. "Welcome to the Owl House." Eda snapped her fingers and candles ignited. A fire in the fireplace started, a cauldron started stirring itself, and a broom started sweeping the floor. Overhead, a depiction of an owl beast of some kind began to glow with a great screeching noise. Luz looked at all of this in awe, she never got a good look inside the house when she was spying.

"This is where I hide away from the pressures of modern life. Also the cops. Hmm, also ex‐boyfriends." Eda chuckled, putting a hand on her hip. Luz put her bag on the table in the living room.

The living room includes a fireplace facing opposite two couches and a coffee table, candles, a wall of artifacts, Eda's wanted poster, and artwork of an owl creature on the ceiling. "This place is beautiful!" Luz loved how lively the place was, compared to the empty halls of the Emperor's Castle.

Suddenly there were thudding footsteps that shook the house, a deep voice echoed from down the hall "who dares intrude upon I? The King of Demons!" A feline creature that somewhat resembled a fox with a red collar demanded, his voice becoming higher pitched the closer he came, eventually coming within sight. He had mostly dark gray fur, although his torso and the tip of his tail was covered in light gray fur. The highlight of his appearance was a dog-like skull with white horns on his head, one of which was broken. His eyes have pink irises with yellow sclerae. He had three fingers and two toes that (excluding his thumbs) look like white claws, and two small fangs on his lower mandible.

Now being able to look at him closely, compared to when she was spying on them, Luz could no longer hold back the urge to hug the tiny demon. She ran forward scooping him up in her arms and hugging him close "¡Ay que lindo! Eda, he's so cute! Who's a widdle guy? Who's a widdle guy? Is it you? Is it you?" She cooed, King struggled to break free.

"No! I don't know who your little guy is! Eda, who is this monster!?" The demon yelled, Eda chuckled and dragged Luz away from King. "Oh, this is- hey wait a minute, I don't think I ever got your name kid." Eda tapped her chin, thinking back on their previous interactions. "Oh, I'm Luz." Luz answered.

"Well Luz, this is my roommate King. King this is Luz the human, she's here to help us with our little... situation." Eda explained vaguely. Luz gave her a confused look "what situation?" She asked cautiously, looking between the witch and the demon.

"Just... let me explain. King was once a mighty king of demons, until his Crown of Power was stolen, and he became... this." Eda explained, gesturing in the direction of King. Luz picked him up again and hugged him, he protested but eventually gave up "you mean this little bundle of joy?" She asked.

"The crown is being held by the evil Warden Wrath and locked away behind a magical force field that only a human can break through." She continued, King finally broke free of Luz's hug and stood next to Eda. "A human like you. If you help us retrieve his crown, we'll send you back to your realm. So whaddya say? Plus," she paused picking up King by his face and shaking him slightly "who could say no to this cute face?"

"No don't encourage her!" King yelled, then Eda dropped him and he yelped "Weh!" Luz thought for a moment, her mission was to steal the portal door, and give it to the Emperor. Spying on the Owl Lady had revealed she couldn't just take the door, she had to get the key too, which would be much harder since Eda always kept it with her. Once she completed this mission, the Emperor had said he would remove the curse he placed upon her and would return her to the Human Realm.

If the story the Owl Lady told about King was true, retrieving this 'Crown of Power' might put a dent in those plans. But as she thought about the story, one thing stood out, Warden Wrath, and based on pure impulse she agreed to help them with this mission.

Maybe she could finally give the Warden a beating for once.

Chapter Text

It was nightfall by the time they made it to the Conformatorium, a place for those considered unsuitable for society. As Eda had put it, Luz noticed a wanted poster for Eda. "These guys really have the hots for you." She commented, "Yep. But we were never caught because we're too slippery." Eda winked, King climbed up onto Luz's head, to which Luz was uncomfortable with the contact "Try to catch me when I'm covered in grease. I'm a squirmy little fella. Aah!" King then fell off and landed on the ground.

"You and I will sneak up to the top of the tower, where they're holding my crown." King explained, pointing at the top of the crumbling tower. "And I'll make sure the Warden is distracted." Eda said, she tapped the butt of her staff against the ground, creating a round glowing platform. She stepped away from it "hang on tight." She commented before the platform lifted Luz and King into the air and close to one of the tower windows.

It disappeared suddenly, forcing Luz to grab the edge of the window sill and King to cling to her feet. Eda casually sat down on her staff and flew to the top of the tower "meet you at the top!" She shouted as she passed. King grunted as he climbed up Luz and hopped through the window, Luz followed soon after, crawling through the window.

Luz stiffened as King climbed up onto her shoulder. There were a lot of prison cells before them, all of them occupied by shadowy beasts of varying shapes and sizes. "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" Luz jumped and spun around to face a witch in one of the cells.

"You've probably seen me on all the wanted posters." King replied, the witch shook her head "not you... her." She pointed at Luz, Luz shook her head quickly "you probably have me mixed up with someone else, I've only been here for a day." She lied, shrugging.

"I'm pretty sur-" the witch was cut off by thudding footsteps that echoed from down the hall. Luz gasped in fear "it's Warden Wrath! Hide!" Someone shouted. Luz quickly looked around, finding an open cell to hide in, she pulled the door down and hid in the corner of the cell.

Luz noticed the claw marks on the floor and walls, and the stained blood that dotted the floor. She inhaled sharply, realizing this wasn't just any old cell... this was her cell. A door slammed open and she nearly went into a panic attack, she hugged King closer to her then she already was. She shouldn't have agreed to come here, this was a mistake, what if the Warden didn't know she was on a mission for the Emperor and captured her?

"I can hear you." A voice growled, Luz's breath hitched and she held it. "Just what are you fools whispering about?" He looked down at Eda's wanted poster that Luz had dropped "Ah. The Owl Lady." He picked up the poster and crumpled it, turning his fist into a hammer and slamming it into the door of Luz's cell. Luz jumped and tried to scoot further away from Warden Wrath. "I'll get my hands on her soon enough."

Warden Wrath looked into the cell, where Luz and King were huddled in the corner. Their eyes locked, Luz's eyes widened, he stared at her for a moment before giving a stiff nod that only she noticed. He turned away from the cell, and Luz let out a breath she forgot she was holding. Was he informed of her mission?

"Fight against the oppwessor! We will wesist! We will conquer! We will never be afwaid of you, you old cweep!" A high pitched voice called, Warden Wrath walked over to the cell the voice came from. He opened the cell door and grabbed the small white creature, he lifted her up and pointed at the other prisoners "Let this be a lesson to all of you. There's no place in society for you if you can't fit in." The Warden growled, squeezing the prisoner in his hand, who squeaked.

Warden Wrath stomped away, crushing the crumpled up wanted poster under his foot on his way out. A door slammed shut, and Luz opened her cell, taking a few deep calming breaths. "Ha!" King laughed "he didn't even see us! Now let's go get my crown!" Luz didn't reply, she glanced back at the witch that spoke to her earlier, the witch staring at her with a neutral expression. Luz continued forward, running through the door and leaving the cells behind, maybe she could help the prisoners, they were just a bunch of weirdos like her, but now wasn't the right time.

"I can smell my crown!" King exclaimed, leaping off of Luz and running off eagerly. "Wait!" Luz called, she sighed and continued walking after the demon. She walked past a door and paused, looking back at it. It was slightly ajar, and a bright orange glow came from within.

Curious, she lightly pushed the door open and peaked inside. Potion bottles with a glowing orange-gold liquid sat on a desk. She looked back at the hallway for a moment before entering the room fully. She picked up a bottle and read the tag attached to it.

"A potion drained, will keep the wolf tamed."

Luz's eyes widened, these must be her elixirs for her curse. "Go ahead and take them." Luz jumped, almost dropping the elixir, she turned to face Warden Wrath, "I know about your mission, I just wanna ask. Why are you here?" He watched her, waiting for a reply. Luz took a deep breath before replying "I-I have to gain the the trust of the Owl Lady, s-so far she thinks I'm some random human that came through her portal by accident. She wanted me to help her with something here and in exchange she will send me back to the Human Realm." Luz explained, looking down at the elixir bottle in her hand.

"However, after I help her retrieve her companion's Crown of Power, I hope to convince her to let me stay at the Owl House." She finished, finally looking up at the Warden, she couldn't tell his expression through his mask, but he nodded. "Very well human, I will play a part in this trust mission you're pursuing. I will not go easy on you though, but go ahead and take those elixirs I don't need them here." And with that Warden Wrath left the room, leaving Luz to gather the ten bottles of elixir to place in her bag for safekeeping.

After awhile Luz walked down the hall, following the sounds of King's frustrated screeching. Once King came into sight, Eda caught up to Luz, dismounting her staff and walking beside the cursed human.

"Hey, I just checked. The warden is distracted, tormenting some tiny creature. He won't be coming around here anytime soon." Eda said confidently, Luz didn't say anything, to busy thinking about... Well, everything. Eda watched her, confused. They reached a towering door reading "CONTRABAND"

"My crown! It's close! I can sense its power!" King exclaimed jumping to fiddle with the doorknob that was as big as he was. "Aw, he gets so cute when he's thirsty for power." Eda chuckled, glancing at Luz, who sighed "It's not fair that they're all in here. They just want to be themselves. Why does everyone think that being a weirdo is so bad?" She clutched the strap of her bag tighter, thinking back to how much the Warden belittled her for being a human, how much pain he caused her, and how it only got worse when Belos cursed her.

King grunted the doorknob being thrown to the ground with a clink. King pushed open the door, cackling, and running through. "Come on, before he hurts himself." Eda said, there was a zapping sound followed by King yelping, Luz flinched at the sound, but continued to follow the Owl Lady through the door.

The room was empty save for a giant glowing pillar in the center. King rubbed his skull before charging at the pillar headfirst, succeeding only in launching himself backwards. "We have a human, remember?" Eda chuckled, "oh yeah!" King climbed up onto Eda's shoulder.

Luz took a deep breath and walked over to the pillar of green light. She looked up at it for a moment, putting a hand against the pillar before walking through it. Inside were piles of what can only be described as junk: everything from books to skulls to a dead fish in a tank. Atop the central one is a glowing crown, she climbed up the junk and grabbed the crown, feeling the cardboard texture.

"It's fake!" Luz said to herself, looking at the Burger Queen crown. She climbed down the junk pile and went through the pillar of light once more. She was incredibly frustrated, they risked their lives and sanity for a paper crown.

"My crown!" King exclaimed he jumped in place before taking the crown from Luz and placing it on his head. "Yes. Yes! I can feel my powers returning! You, there. Nightmare critter." He pointed to a stuffed rabbit with one button eye falling out of a box. "I shall call you Francois, and you shall be a minion in my army of darkness. Ha‐ha!" He picked up the rabbit and clutched it close, fixing the crown on his head.

Luz crossed her arms as she watched, "that crown doesn't give him any powers, does it?" Luz asked the Owl Lady, already knowing the answer. "Uh, no." Eda replied, Luz glared at her and Eda sighed "Oh, look at us, Luz. King and I don't have much in this world. We only have each other. So if that dumb crown is important to him, it's important to me. And besides, us weirdos have to stick together, you know?" She winked at the human, a warm feeling bubbled up in Luz's chest and she grinned.

"Well, we owe you one. Now, let's get out of here before the warden finds us and loses his head." Eda said, "too late." The Warden replied, his arm shapeshifting into a blade, and with an easy swing he decapitated Eda. Luz caught the Owl Lady's head and yelled in surprise.

"Ow! Oh, I hate it when that happens." Eda deadpanned, "how are you alive!?" Luz asked "Yeah. This just happens when you get older." Eda simply replied. "Finally..." Warden Wrath transformed his blade hand back into a normal hand "I have you cornered, Eda the Owl Lady." He took King's crown. "Weh?" King asked, looking to see who took his crown.

Warden Wrath walked closer to Eda and Luz. King followed him, jumping with his arms up and reaching for his crown. "My guards could never get you, but I knew if I took your pet's toy, you'd come running." He crushed King's crown in his fist "No! My power!" King yelled.

"What do you want with me? I've never actually broken any of your stupid laws... in front of you." Eda said, her head still being held in Luz's arms. "I want you..." he then pulled out a bouquet of flowers "to go out with me." He finished. "Wha.."

"What?" Luz finished Eda's sentence, out of all the things the Warden could have said, that was something truly unexpected... and gross. "You've always eluded our capture. You've always been the one who got away. I found that alluring." The Warden leaned slightly closer to Eda, "I hate everything you're saying right now." Luz stated bluntly.

"You stay out of this!" The Warden yelled angrily, tossing the bouquet over his shoulder, and turning his now free hand into tentacles to grab Luz, who dropped Eda's head, and held her above the ground. Luz panicked and kicked her legs trying to break free of Warden Wrath's grip.

"So how about it, Owl Lady?" He picked Eda's head up by the hair "The most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles and the feared Warden Wrath. We'd be the strongest power couple ever. I mean, it's‐‐ it's not like you can say no right now." He added.

Eda looked up at Luz, who was struggling to free herself from the warden's grasp and was in a full out panic, tears in the corners of her eyes as bad memories resurfaced. She looked to King, who got picked up by one of the guards and also struggled for freedom.

"Alright, Warden. You win. I'd just like to say something first. Come closer." Eda said, the Warden pulling her a bit closer "No. Just come a little bit closer. Just... Yeah, that's good." Eda then spat in his face, causing him to drop Luz, who yelled in a mix of surprise and fear. He wiped Eda's spit from his mask while Eda laughed, "Impudent wench! Don't you know how many germs are in your mouth? Blegh!" He gagged.

"Get over it. You had your guards stalk me, and then you cut off my head. I am not going out with you!" Eda yelled at him. "If you don't accept, then I have no choice but to des‐ Oh!" He was cut off as Luz whacked him on the head with Eda's staff, Luz watched in satisfaction as he fell to the ground, unconscious. Eda chuckled "Nice, kid!"

The two guards stepped up next to Eda's head. She glared at them as her body walked up behind them and dragged their hoods over their eyes. "Okay, we're going now." Luz ran forward, grabbing Eda's head. Eda's body frees King of the guard's grasp, and Luz grabs her by the waist and they all mount the staff. The owl at the head of the staff hoots and unfurls its wings.

"How do you activate this thing?" Luz questioned, Warden Wrath grunted as he started to get up. "Gun it, magic stick!" Eda yelled, the staff took off as Warden Wrath clamored to his feet "Owl Lady, I won't let you get away again!" He yelled.

His arms transformed into bundles of tentacles, which he used to chase after the staff. They flew past prison cells, Warden Wrath in hot pursuit. Luz had an idea, eyes brightening "Eda give me a hand!" She yelled over the wind, together they freed a few of the prisoners by lifting the levers as they flew by.

They burst through an outer door high in the center of the Conformatorium with a yell from Luz, they plummet. Warden Wrath exited right behind them, front flipping off the pillar. The staff and Warden Wrath fall toward the ground. Warden Wrath extends one of his tentacles, hitting the very back of the staff and launching Eda, Luz, and King off of it. They roll when they hit the ground, and Warden Wrath steps in front of them, his hand shifting into a blade again.

"Ow, my bones..." King complained, sitting up after the fall. Eda reattaches her head back onto her body, she reached into her hair and pulled out the key to the portal door "Luz... go back to the human world." Eda handed her the key before standing up from the ground and running towards Warden Wrath.

"But what about you guys?" Luz asked, slipping the key into her bag as she stood up. King stood up and ran to follow Eda "If you think this guy is bad, you shoulda seen her last boyfriend!" He quipped. "Not my boyfriend." Eda grabbed King and jumped back towards Luz, avoiding Wrath's blade-hands that slammed into the ground instead. "Go! Go!" She put Luz onto her staff, Eda slapped the bottom of the staff, sending it into the air. Luz yelled as she was lifted from the ground and into the air.

Warden Wrath took off his mask to reveal a face that's mostly mouth, which opened to breathe fire. Eda expertly drew two spell circles, one that caught the fire and one that launched it right back. The Warden slammed into the wall of the Conformatorium, creating a hole in the wall as debris fell on him.

Wrath stood up, brandishing his blade-hands and running at Eda again. The three prisoners peek out of the hole that he left in the wall. Luz flew down to talk to them. "Why are you guys just standing there? This is your chance to escape!" Luz said.

"The warden'll catch us. He always does." One prisoner, with many eyes, said dejectedly. "We belong here." The witch from before spoke, "Self‐doubt is a pwison you can never escape fwom." The small white prisoner, now sporting a black eye, finished, the others nodded in agreement.

"I know how you feel, maybe even more so. After being belittled and abused for who you are, you feel like nothing and no matter what you do it won't change. So, you have a different way of doing things, a different way of seeing things. That might make you weird, but it also makes you awesome. And weirdos should stick together, nobody should be punished for who they are, right?" Luz finished her speech.

They cheered but the witch had to ask "I've definitely seen you here before, why were you trying to hide that?" Luz sighed "I had to keep up appearances." She glanced back at Eda, King, and the Warden, spells and flames being cast as Eda and the Warden fought.

"You were cursed, right?" Luz turned back to the witch "whatever deal you made with the Emperor, he's not going to follow though. You know that, right?" She continued. Luz chose to ignore her, mounting the staff "let's kick some Warden butt."

She took off, the three prisoners following after her. Eda was thrown against the ground, and King being thrown into her arms a second later. Warden Wrath loomed over them, "No more running away, Owl Lady. Today I capture you once and for all!" He declared, before he was barrelled into by the prisoners and Luz.

"Luz?" Eda questioned as she watched the human join the prisoners in toppling over Warden Wrath. Each prisoner shouting something they were proud of themselves for.

"I eat my own eyes!"

"I think the world is a twiangle!"

"And I practice the ancient art of fanfiction!"

Tiny Nose, the small white prisoner, joins Katya the fanfic writing witch in holding Warden Wrath down while the Eye-Eating Prisoner grabs his arms and ties them together. He then flips Wrath onto his stomach, so he can see Luz descending on Eda's staff.

Luz touched the ground, standing a few feet from the Warden. "And I'm glad that I'm human, and I hate everything you've done to innocent people." Luz let the venom drip into her tone as she glared at her tormentor. Pulling a bunch of fireworks tied together from her bag, she threw it into the air and whacked it with Eda's staff, straight into Wrath's flaming mouth and goes off, sending fireworks into the air. He runs away, humiliated, fireworks still going off in his mouth, while the prisoners cheer.

Luz winced at the loud popping of the fireworks, sensitive hearing has it's ups and downs. She covered her ears with her hands and backed up towards Eda.

Eda, with King on her shoulder, walked closer to Luz, putting a hand on the human's shoulder. Luz looked up at the Owl Lady, taking her hands off of her ears for a moment. "That was actually one of her better breakups." King said, watching the fireworks. "Not a breakup, Anyway, let's bounce before any more monsters fall in love with me." Eda took her staff back from Luz and they all hopped on and took off into the sky and back to the Owl House.

Chapter Text

The three stood in the living room within the Owl House. Eda leaned her staff against the couch "Well, a deal's a deal. Let's get you home." She snapped her fingers and the portal key flew out of Luz's bag and into Eda's hand. She pressed the eye, and the portal door unfolds itself in front of the fireplace. Luz walked up to it, then hugs herself and turns back to look at Eda and King.

Eda grabbed the Azura book off the table and hands it to Luz "Oh, and don't forget this." Luz takes the book and looks at the cover, she walks toward the portal. She stares at the door, trying to think of something. She pauses in front of the door, looking at it. She looks back down at her book, then up, at a mirror above the fireplace an idea forming.

She turned back to Eda and King "Okay. I know you got your head cut off, and we started some kind of prison riot, but this was the most fun I've ever had." And it was true, she couldn't remember a time when she was just able to have fun. "I... don't think I really have anything to go back home to..." she trailed off, this was true as well.

The last time she saw her mother was when she was 7, she remembered bits and pieces of her childhood in the Human Realm, but who knows how much it changed since then.

"I don't fit in at home. You don't fit in here. If I stay, we could not fit in together." She didn't even really have anywhere to call home, except the Emperor's Castle and the Conformatorium, but she hated those places. She looked down at the book she was holding "I want to stay and become a witch. Like you. And Azura." She held the book up for Eda to see.

Eda had just been listening to the human, a small frown on her face. "What? All right, that's crazy." She laughed and pushed Luz's book down "Humans can't become witches." She stated, matter-of-factly.

"Maybe that's because they haven't tried. If you teach me to become a witch, I'll do anything you want." Luz tried to convince further. King pulled at Eda's dress "Let her stay! She can make us snacks." He whispered the last bit, but Luz still heard him, and she chuckled.

Eda smiled and picked King up "Well, I could use a hand keeping this goofball out of the cupboards. All right. I'll teach you how to be a witch. But you have to work for me before you learn any spells. Deal?" She held her hand out for Luz to shake, which she took while grinning happily.

Eda clicked the button on the key, getting the portal door to fold up again. "Well, let's get you a room then. If you're gonna stay here." Eda said, climbing up the stairs, Luz quickly following her up to the second floor.

Eda opened a door to a storage room, "it's not the best, but it's all we got. Make yourself comfortable, I'll get you something to sleep on." Eda then walked away, leaving Luz alone with her thoughts. She cleared the floor of junk, by moving it to the side or stuffing it into the chest that sat on the left side of the room.

After a few minutes, Luz put her bag on top of the small table. Eda came back and gave her a sleeping bag and some pillows she found and bid her goodnight. Luz watched as the door closed behind the Owl Lady, and waited a few minutes after hearing her footsteps fade away. Then she pulled out of her bag a small folded up mirror, opening it she pushed a button and the mirror fizzled before becoming a clear picture.

A demon of diminutive stature and childish proportions appeared on the mirror-screen. Her hands had three-pronged, taloned appendages similar to those of a fowl. Her left eye had a yellowish sclera and a red pupil, while her right eye is the opposite, with a red sclera and yellowish pupil. Like many of the creatures of the Boiling Isles, her ears were pointed. Her most defining feature, though, were the conjoined hands which make up her hair: one forms a fringe which hides one of her eyes from view, the other is clenched behind her head to form a bun. She wore a white tunic overtop a black ensemble, as well as a high-collared veil which shrouds the lower regions of her face. This veil is fastened by a triangular accessory, the Emperor's Coven symbol.

Kikimora watched the human for a moment before speaking "I assume you've finally completed the first part of your mission?" She tilted her head slightly as she asked, Luz nodded, glancing at the door to her new room before looking back at the mirror.

"Yes, the Owl Lady is allowing me to live with her under the impression that I had accidentally came through her portal today. I have convinced her to not send me to the Human Realm and let me stay with her for the time being." Luz reported, nervously. "I heard about what you did at the Conformatorium, was it really necessary to release all those prisoners?" Kikimora asked, narrowing her eyes "I... probably could have thought of something better, but in the moment it just happened." Luz winced, looking away.

Kikimora hummed "well thank you for the report human, I will inform Emperor Belos of your progress and I expect to hear of your continuing efforts in the coming weeks." And with that the mirror returned to normal as Kikimora hung up. Luz released a breath of relief and decided to get ready for bed.

Within the next few minutes Luz was settling into the sleeping bag when a thought struck her, she had the key, she could have left on Eda's staff right then and there and complete her mission. Why had she gone back? She frowned, her eyebrows furrowed as she thought.

The door slightly opened and King peaked his head in before opening the door a bit more, he held the stuffed rabbit he had stolen from the Conformatorium. "Your sleep cocoon looks fluffy." He noted, Luz chuckled and patted the spot next to her, King giddily ran over and curled up on the sleeping bag, quickly falling asleep. Luz smiled before going to sleep herself.

Maybe a part of her didn't want to complete her mission yet.

Chapter Text

Luz woke up the next morning, covering her face with her arm as sunlight streaked through the window in her new room. She huffed, putting her arm back down and letting her eyes adjust to the light. She sat up and stretched, gently petting King who grumbled before snoring peacefully once more. She got up and grabbed her day clothes, walking out of her room and to the bathroom. She changed her clothes and was staring at herself in the mirror when a voice greeted her right next to her ear. "Hi, Luz!" Luz screamed and karate chopped the owl tube's head. "Ow! I'm just wishing you a good morning. Jeez! Hoot! Ow!" Hooty retreated out the window and back into the front door.

Luz sighed "Sorry, Hooty." She called after him, she looked back at the mirror. "First day, don't screw up." She said to herself before walking out of the bathroom.

Luz went down the stairs and into the kitchen, spotting King stabbing some orange goop with a fork. "Good morning, you little cutie‐pie." She cooed, King glared at her "I am not your cutie-pie!" He yelled. She scooped him up in a hug "yes you are~" she replied, kissing his forehead. "I know." He sighed as she set him back down.

Luz heard Eda coming down the stairs before she saw the Owl Lady. "Hello, Eda the Owl Lady. I'm ready for my first day of witch apprenticeship!" Luz said, she really did want to learn more about magic so that she might be able to heal her curse, so it was a good cover up.

The Owl Lady grunted as she shook spiders out of her hair and picked another one out of her ear. "Who are you, again?" She asked, while moving into the kitchen, Luz following after her.

"Uh, y'know, Luz?" A mug hit her in the back of the head as it flew into Eda's hand. "We freed the oppressed and defeated the evil warden together? Yesterday?" Luz reminded, watching Eda pour apple blood into her mug. "Kid, lay off the details. I haven't even had my cup of apple blood yet." She sat on the kitchen table and took a sip from her mug.

"So how am I gonna learn to do magic? You mentioned that humans couldn't do magic, so what allows a witch to use magic?" Luz asked, curiously, Eda sighed "kid, it's too early for this, plus you gotta do some work for me before you learn any magic, remember." Luz sighed but nodded, Eda chuckled "I guess I could tell you a bit, witches are awarded their staffs from school. But with me as your teacher, you'll be taking a different approach." Eda started as they walked into the livingroom.

"Staff, come to me!" Eda said, stretching her arm out. Clanging and thumping noises came from somewhere within the house before the staff came into sight and smacked Eda in the face and clattered to the floor. "It's early." She grunted, picking up the staff, "staffs have their own magic properties within them, I run a few businesses. On weekends, I offer rare human treasures that Owlbert drags over from your side of the realm." At this the little owl came to life and hooted, Luz cooed at how adorable the little owl was as Eda scratched under his chin.

"But most days I sell only the finest homemade elixirs and potions." Luz perked up at this information, Eda dropped a bag on the floor next to the human. She picked up a bottle from the bag and read the label "Snake oil."

"No one wants an un‐oiled snake. Follow me." Eda said as Luz picked up the bag and followed the Owl Lady to the balcony. "Today you'll deliver packages and sell potions to that town over there, Bonesborough. You'll have to be careful. I have rivals everywhere who'd love to take my business down and you along with it."

Luz looked to where Eda was pointing, at the town quite a distance away from the house. "I won't let you down, Miss Eda." Luz saluted, she followed the Owl Lady back into the livingroom. King was now sleeping by the window by the front door as they approached. "I hate to interrupt your power nap, but you have to go with her." Eda said to the little demon, King peaked an eye open before lifting his head to look at her better "What? But I just found the perfect spot. Why do I have to go?" He complained.

"You and I both know she's either going to get lost or eaten, probably both." Eda replied, "hey! No I won't!" Luz defended herself. Eda rolled her eyes, but otherwise ignoring the humans comment "And because you work for me, too, unless you want to start paying rent." King huffed and stomped his little foot, which Luz thought was adorable, before he stomped out the door, Luz slowly following after him.

"Be back by nightfall or risk mortal peril!" Eda said while slamming the door in their face. "Have a nice trip!" Hooty hooted, happily. "Ugh, let's get this over with." King grunted, leading the way.

The two made their way into town, seeing all kinds of monsters that Luz didn't notice before. The two went around delivering potions and elixirs for most of the day, and it was finally down to the last package.

Luz gasped at the castle before them, she hadn't seen anything like this except the Emperor's Castle. The large castle had golden banners illuminated by the sunlight. The doorbell was also made of gold, and towering wooden doors opened after Luz pressed a hand against it. The door creaked open and Luz felt a sense of something dangerous and dark.

"Big houses always belong to big whackjobs. Let's kick the package inside and get outta here." King said, getting the same feeling. "Hello?" Luz called, walking carefully into the house, she at least needed to let the person know their package arrived. "Hey, wait!" King called after her and yelped when the doors slammed behind him.

"I‐I'm delivering a package from Miss Eda, the Owl Lady. Huh?" Luz looked around the room they entered as lanters flickered to life, revealing it to be a massive library. They illuminated a grand staircase, above which was a painting of a wizard. Said wizard entered from a door in the same pose he has in the painting.

Something smelled weird in this room, and it only got stronger as the man approached, but Luz didn't know what the smell could be. "Weird old man in jim‐jams." King observed, "I was in my oscillarium, reading the stars. And who might you be, with eyes full of curiosity?" The man asked as he descended the stairs. "Uh- wha-?" Luz questioned, unsure, she was definitely curious about what the terrible smell in the room was.

"Young lady, dareth I say, I sense something unique about you. Please, won't you join me for tea?" The man summoned a table with snacks and two chairs and sat down in one of them. "Let's scram!" King then climbed up onto Luz's shoulder and squinted at the man "Wizards are just old people with glitter in their pockets."

The man then proceeded to take glitter out of his pocket and sprinkle it onto the floor. "I don't trust him." King finished, "I have scones." The man hummed, King perked up "ooh where!?" He then leaped from Luz's shoulder to the table and started devouring the scones.

Luz followed with a sigh, setting the bag on the floor next to the chair that she sat down in. "I guess we can stay for a little bit." Luz relented. She looked around the room, feeling uneasy as King munched on the snacks. She noticed a cart of potions nearby, "Do you sell potions, Mr Wizard?" She asked turning to him, he nodded "Please, call me Adegast. Ma'am, yes, I run a small business." Adegast replied.

"You should run a small business of more scones into my mouth. Yes!" King chuckled as he held an empty plate up. Adegast ignored the demon in favor of talking to the human "I'm surprised to see you here. It was my understanding that Eda delivered the packages herself." He tilted his head curiously.

Luz grimaced, she did not want to stay here any longer "Well, I'm kinda, sorta, her apprentice. But we should really get going now." She said, standing up and grabbing the bag and placing the package onto the table before scooping King up in her other arm. "Hey!" He protested, he still wanted more scones.

"Why the rush? We have plenty of time." Adegast said, watching the human. "I- uh- have other deliveries to make! Yeah..." she lied, turning away and walking to the door, quickly.

Something prevented her from moving, "I don't think you're going anywhere." The wizard growled, standing from his chair now. King wiggled out of Luz's grip and tumbled to the floor, Luz couldn't move a muscle and it scared her. "What's the big idea!? Let her go!" King demanded, facing the wizard now.

Adegast narrowed his eyes at the demon "The Owl Lady has been stealing customers from my potions business for years. She must be destroyed, go little demon and bring Eda or the human gets hurt." He answered, King looked from Luz to the wizard then back at Luz. "I'll come back Luz! Don't worry, Eda will get you out of this!" He then took off out of the castle, the doors slamming behind him.

Luz fell forward suddenly, the magic that kept her in place falling away. The bag fell and potion bottles shattered on impact, a few glass pieces cut into Luz's skin making her wince. She stood back up with a grunt of pain as more glass cut her, she turned to face Adegast a growl rumbling in her throat.

He was sitting in the chair again, chuckling. Luz clenched her fist and ran at him, but when her fist connected with his face he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Luz stumbled, but regained her balance, small streaks of blood ran down her arms from the glass.

She gasped as the illusion fell, revealing the old run down castle. There were cracks in the walls the lanters broken and extinguished, old dusty furniture scattered around the room. She had been smelling an old dusty, rotting castle, the smell only grew stronger as the illusion died.

Chuckling echoed throughout the old room, Luz looked around for the source before gasping when her eyes locked onto the figure at the top of the stairs. The ocotopus-like demon slithered down the stairs and laughed, one of his tentacle-like arms wrapped around her ankle and flung her to the side of the room. Luz grunted as she landed on her side, she huffed trying to regain her breath.

"Y'know I was willing to just sit and wait for Eda to get here, but I might as well have some practice before I face her." Adegast reached a tentacle over to grab her again, but before he could touch her a clawed paw severed the tentacle in half, making him shriek in pain.

Luz growled lowly, her hands had transformed into paws, brown fur sprouted up her arms and all over her body, she had a fluffy brown tail and a pair of feathered wings. Her ears grew pointed and fluffy, the hair on her head was fluffier than before. A pair of small horns protruded from her forehead. She had transformed into a brown wolf with feathered wings and black horns on her forehead, her eyes were fully black. She snarled, revealing sharp pointed fangs as she lunged towards Adegast.

The demon snapped out of his shock and knocked the cursed human into the wall, a few debris and dust flew around the room from the impact. She growled loudly as she stood back up, she didn't seem fazed by the cuts and bruises covering her body and face. Her tail lashed in anger and she rushed forward again, dodging the arm of the demon then flying up to dodge another. The puppet demon slammed one of his tentacle arms ontop of Luz, slamming her into the ground.

She dug her claws and bit him, Adegast grabbed her and squeezed her tight. Luz wheezed "your becoming quite a pain, you know that?" The arm wrapped around the cursed human and up towards her neck. She bit him again and he released her, she fell to the ground and wheezed, trying to regain air into her lungs.

He tried slamming her down again but she stumbled out of the way. She lunged for him again, using her wings she managed to get his face with her claws. Adegast screeched as he shrunk down into a tiny, pathetic, shivering demon.

He tried to scurry away but Luz was too quick and pounced on him. She bared her teeth and proceeded to eat the demon. Once she was done with that, she continued to walk on all fours, sniffing at the ground and growling. The old door creaked open now that magic wasn't holding it in place anymore, Luz looked up and at the door, tilting her head, her ears twitching.

She cautiously padded over to the door, wincing when the broken glass near the door cut into her paws. She exited the crumbling castle and ran off into the forest beyond.

Chapter Text

Eda landed her staff at the castle entrance, King on her shoulder. "It didn't look like this when I left." He said, observing the crumbling castle. Eda walked forward, kicking the front door open she ran inside and past the door that led into the library room. Glass crunched under her shoes and she spotted broken potion bottles and the bag that she let Luz carry them in.

"This doesn't look good." King noted, Eda looked around the room, walking further in, King leaping off her shoulder to explore as well. "Luz! You here!?" Eda called out, but the only reply was her own echo. She noticed blood droplets on the floor, "hey King, come over here." She called, the demon hurried over and winced at the sight of blood.

"Do you think you could track Luz?" Eda asked, looking to the furry demon. King nodded, "I can smell her scent..." he trailed off, following the scent trail.

The two made their way through the forest near the castle, eventually coming across an old rundown, abandoned town. In the middle of the town was a fountain that had stopped working long ago, but more importantly was what lay in front of it.

"Luz!" Both King and Eda yelled, running over to the girl. She was back to normal now, no fur or tail to be seen, but she was unconscious. Many cuts littered her body, bruises already forming, blood trickled down her arms and head. Her clothes were a bit ripped from her transformation, and fight she had with Adegast. Eda picked up the human in her arms, King climbing up to her shoulder and the three made their way to the Owl House.

Once at the Owl House, Eda and King treated the girl's wounds the best they could, using bandages and healing glyphs, since Eda didn't really know any good healing spells.

When Luz woke up it was dark out, King was asleep on her chest and she was laying on the couch. She groaned in pain, everything hurt, she had a massive headache, and her stomach felt sick. She sighed, keeping still so that the pain wouldn't spike, and to also not wake up King.

Her brows furrowed, how did she get so badly hurt? She remembered Adegast and what he truly looked like, then there were just fuzzy feelings of anger and pain. The curse must have taken over, she thought, hopefully Eda and King didn't see her in her cursed form.

She sighed softly, what was she going to do if they had seen her? She had to think up of a lie, just in case. She couldn't believe she forgot to take her elixir, well it had been a few days since the last time she took one. "Hey, you okay?" Luz snapped out of her thoughts and looked at King who gave her a worried look. "I... I don't know.." she replied, looking away from the demon "what happened?" She decided to ask, if they had seen her cursed form surely questions would be asked.

"Well, when me and Eda arrived at the castle it looked completely different, all broken and stuff. It was completely deserted inside, you and that wizard were no where in sight. Luckily I followed your scent and we found you in some abandoned town, unconscious so we took you back here. I don't know where that wizard guy went though, I was sure he would jump out at us but we got you without issue." King explained with a shrug, leaping onto the table.

Luz sat up a bit, pain coursed through her and she inhaled sharply, exhaling with a groan. "Uh.. I'm gonna get a late night snack, you... want anything?" King asked, watching her, the king of demons would never admit he was worried.

She shook her head, the thought of food made her stomach feel queasy again, a wave of nausea hit her, she got up ignoring the pain of her body and rushed upstairs to the bathroom. King stared after her for a moment before going to the kitchen to get himself a snack.

Luz shut the door behind her, bile rose up in her throat and she expelled the contents in her stomach into the toilet.

One thing was for sure, Luz knew they didn't have to deal with Adegast again.

Chapter Text

Luz walked down the stairs the next morning, her body ached but not as much as before. She had done her daily routine and drank her elixir this time. She had changed into her day clothes, which were now fixed or maybe just new ones, but either way she figured the Owl Lady had something to do with that. She had then changed her bandages, mainly the one wrapped around her head and hands. The other little cuts and bruises that she had gotten were already healing pretty fast.

Luz entered the kitchen and saw Eda and King. Eda was cooking breakfast, while King sat at the table demanding food. Luz sat down at the table, Eda placing a plate of Griffin eggs in front of her and King. "So me and King are going out to get some stuff. You, however, need to stay here and rest." Eda explained, taking a sip of her apple blood.

"Yeah, it's not everyday that we get to pick at a garbage carcass." King commented sarcastically. Luz looked at him questionably, "how long will you be gone?" Luz asked, looking up at the Owl Lady. Eda shrugged "Til midday probably."

Luz nodded "okay." She wanted to see if she could do a bit of snooping around the house. "That's it? No begging to come with me or asking me to teach you some magic?" Eda asked, tilting her head slightly. "The idea of a garbage carcass doesn't sound like a pleasant one." Luz replied casually, King laughed.

Eda shrugged "fair enough I suppose." She replied, sipping her apple blood. "Anyways, we should get going." Eda set her cup in the sink and scooped up King "hey!" The demon yelled. "Don't destroy the house while we're gone!" Eda yelled, shutting the front door behind her.

Luz sat at the table for a bit, finishing her food before getting up and heading upstairs. She walked down the hallway, humming "where's the Owl Lady's room?"

She opened a few random doors, climbing up a second flight of stairs, and eventually finding what she assumed was Eda's room.

Located at the front of the house where the owl eye-shaped window is. Instead of a bed, there was a nest littered with bones and human junk. A table next to the nest, a window above it, a vanity on the other side of the room and a locked chest next to the vanity.

She walked further into the room, closing the door behind her. She hummed as she snooped around the room, seeing if she could find anything to use as leverage or blackmail if needed. On the nightstand was an empty potion bottle that Luz picked up and inspected.

It smelled a bit like her elixir but slightly different, there was also a tag that read...

'An elixir a day,-'

But the rest of the tag was ripped off, snooping around the table a bit longer didn't give her any clues to where the other half could be. But Luz could guess what it meant "the Owl Lady must be cursed too, probably some type of owl curse if her name is anything to go by." She spoke aloud, putting the potion bottle back onto the table where it was, and putting a hand on her chin in thought.

Going around the room once more and failing to open the locked chest, she opened the drawers of the vanity but there was only random shiny objects inside. She left the room, not being able to find much else and decided to explore the rest of the house.

"Hiya Luz!" A shrill voice greeted her an hour later, Luz jumped and dropped the potion book she was flipping through and turned around to face the house demon. "Oh... hi Hooty." She greeted, picking the book back up from the floor and watching the owl cautiously. "What you doin? Eda said you should be resting." He hooted, curiously. "Uhh, I'm.. exploring I just wanted to see where I would be living for awhile." It was partially true she was also snooping for information, but he didn't need to figure that out.

"I could show you around!" Hooty exclaimed excitedly, Luz grimaced "no thanks Hooty, I'm pretty much done anyways." She put the book back on the shelf she found it on. "How long have you and Eda known each other?" She asked, perhaps the owl tube could give her direct information.

"Oh! We've known each other for many many many years! We're basically bff's!" He replied with a cheerful hoot, Luz wasn't sure how true that last bit was he seemed to be more of a pain in the neck than anything. She started walking down the hall, Hooty following her "how about King? How long have you known him?" She asked, descending the stairs to the second floor.

Hooty hummed in thought before replying "for awhile, since Eda brought him home a few years ago. Ooo, a bug!" Luz then watched Hooty consume the bug, she wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Delicious! I've seen 57 different colored bugs so far today! I've seen a purple one, a gold one, a lot of red ones, a green one-" he continued to ramble as Luz descended down the stairs into the livingroom. "That's great Hooty." She deadpanned.

"Hey Hooty, do you think you could cover for me?" Luz asked, stopping at the opened front door that Hooty was connected to. "Of course! Hoot!" He fitted himself back into the door as Luz stepped outside. "Great, I wanna explore outside a bit, if Eda comes back tell her I'm resting in my room and if Eda does get back before I do then could you help me sneak back into my room through the window?" She asked turning to face him.

"I don't know Luz, Eda wants you to rest." Hooty said, twisting his head around. "I'll find you a different colored bug while I'm out." She bargained, "okay! I haven't found a blue one yet!"

Luz headed off shortly after, Hooty yelling goodbye. She rolled her eyes at the house demon's antics and put her hands in her pockets as she walked through the woods. It was strange being outside without her guard uniform on, she felt more exposed without it. At least she had her staff with her, it was shrunken down in her pocket. The shrunken form of the staff resembled a pen, and she could even write with it, but clicking the button would extend it to full form.

A voice cut through the quiet sounds of the forest, and Luz quickly hid in the nearest bush. Peaking her head out slightly, Luz saw a witch girl pacing back and forth talking aloud to herself. Luz watched the witch curiously, she hasn't spoken to anyone her age... except Hunter, but he didn't count he was part of the Emperor's Coven like she was.

The witch seemed to be hyping herself up for something, before accidentally stepping on a flower. The witch apologized to the flower before using plant magic to revive it, Luz had never seen anyone use plant magic before... except for Terra Snapdragon, Luz shivered at the thought of the head witch. Even though the magic was simple, Luz was amazed by it, her attention was brought back to the witch when another witch stopped beside the first.

"Willow!" The green haired witch said to the plant witch. "Wow, you're so unnoticeable I almost rolled into you." She continued, jumping off of her cauldron to stand next to Willow. Luz narrowed her eyes, she already didn't like this witches attitude, "Hi Amity." Willow responded as she stood up.

"Shouldn't you get to class early to prep your-" Amity was cut off as the cauldron next to Willow toppled over and out spilled purple goo that Luz recognized for creating Abominations. Luz sucked in a breath, "yikes." She whispered to herself.

"Oh Willow, you don't have anything to show do you? See, this is why people call you half-a-witch Willow." Amity continued, Willow turned to face away from the girl and put her hood up. Luz gritted her teeth, that was uncalled for "oh, looks like someone wants to say something to you." Amity walked over to her own cauldron and took the lid off.

"Abomination, rise." Luz was half tempted to pull her staff out and cause the Abomination to explode on her, but she restrained herself as the Abomination took shape. "You are a... star." The Abomination grumbled, drawing a star shape on Willow's forehead. Luz didn't know Abomination's could speak and was a bit baffled by it, "aww, it's like mine. But much smaller and meaningless." Amity said, fixing her gold star on her shirt.

"As top student it's my duty to tell you to keep at it, even you could get a passing grade someday. Abomination, cower." The Abomination did as told and melted back into the pot, she put the lid back on and started to wheel it away "see you in class superstar."

At this the green haired witch was gone and Willow put her hood back down. Luz stuck her tongue out after the witch as Willow wiped the goop off of her forehead while mocking Amity. "I hate it when she does that. I hate making Abominations, I hate getting bad grades, ugh I can't stand it anymore!" Willow shouted in frustration.

Luz hid in the bush a little bit more so she wouldn't be spotted, but she didn't have to worry about that as vines sprouted from underneath the witch. One of the vines snaked over to her and before Luz could react, the vine twisted around her legs and yanked her into the air. She shouted in surprise as it flung her up and she landed back on the ground, the wind knocked out of her. Luz looked up at the witch as she caught her breath and the vines wrapped around her ankles again.

The witch turned around with a glare, her eyes glowing a bright green. The witch gasped upon spotting her, making the vines retreat "oh no, no, no, I'm so sorry!" Luz shifted so that she could sit in a better position on the ground as Willow sat in front of her on her knees making the vines loose their grip on her. "Don't worry about it, I've been in worse situations." Luz replied casually.

The witch leaned in close and Luz had to lean away a bit from her "so... circly, and wow, those scars..." Luz covered her ears with her hands, she had forgotten she wasn't wearing her cape and mask to cover that she was in fact a human.

"You're human! This is astounding!" Well... she wasn't expecting that reaction. Willow stood up and helped Luz to her feet, "a human on the Boiling Isles, how did you get here? What are you doing here?" Cutting off her tirade of questions, a bell rang in the distance and the witch sighed.

"I'm sorry I can't stay... I have to go disappoint my teachers. It was nice meeting you human." She turned to go waving goodbye. Luz waved back a little shocked at the interaction, "wait!" She called running up to the witch, she didn't know why she ran after her. "I'm Luz and your Willow, right?" Luz asked, Willow nodded turning back to face her "that was pretty cool what you did with those plants." She started, unsure of what she could say.

"Thanks but I'm not even supposed to be doing plant magic. My parents put me in the Abomination track at school." Willow replied with a frown. "A magic school sounds so cool. Can't you just switch tracks?" Luz asked, Willow shook her head "not really. I just wish I could get a passing grade for once, then people would stop calling me half-a-witch Willow." She kicked the puddle of goo on the ground.

Luz watched the ripples fade before replying "what if... I was your Abomination?" Willow looked at her with wide eyes "what!?" Luz shrugged and put her hands into her pockets "I mean, I could pretend to be your Abomination. I've seen how they act, plus I would honestly like to see this magic school. I haven't really been outside much to see the Isles, been locked inside for too long." She looked away and kicked the goop on the ground, watching the ripples again.

"Alright it's a deal, Luz." Willow giggled, holding out her hand for a handshake which Luz took, happily. It didn't take to long after that to put the goop back in the pot and for Luz to hop inside, getting herself covered in the sticky stuff, which made her uncomfortable. She even thought about backing out of the improv plan, but it was too late for that. Once she was settled, Willow started to wheel away towards the school as Luz stuck her head out of the pot a bit to see and not be so confined.

"Just curious, but how long have you been on the Boiling Isles?" Willow asked, "uh, quite a long while and not enough outside time." Willow giggled at that. Luz wasn't going to tell her she had been here for seven years, not being outside enough was definitely true though. "How about your hands, I couldn't help but notice the bandages." Luz chuckled "oh that, it was just an incident yesterday involving some broken glass. It doesn't really hurt though now."

It was silent for a bit until they arrived at the school. "This is Hexside school of magic and demonics." Willow said, Luz couldn't help but gasp at it, it looked so much friendlier than the Emperor's Castle or the Conformatorium. "Remember to stay hidden, okay?" Willow reminded as they entered the building.

They stopped by Willows locker and she grabbed her books. Once the mouth of the locker closed a shorter boy bumped into her. "Willow you would not believe humans." The boy said, looking up at her as she turned to face him. "What? Humans? I haven't seen any- whaaat?" Her voice was an octave higher than it should be and Luz couldn't help but giggle from within the cauldron.

"Did you know that humans nail barbed wire to their kids teeth but whyyyy? Maybe to make them magnetic." The boy said showing the magazine to Willow "I'm pretty sure that's not what its for." Luz said, she quickly slapped a hand over her mouth and shook her head. It's not like she could confirm or deny the fact, she hadn't spent enough time in the Human Realm to learn that.

The witch moved the magazine so he could give Willow a confused look at the new voice. Willow sighed, "Okay Augustus I'm going to show you something but you have to stay cool." Augustus nodded eagerly "I can be spool, I-I I mean cool." Willow turned to the pot "Abomination rise." On cue, Luz rose up out of the pot with a growl, imitating an Abomination.

"Wow I'm surprised, that was a pretty good imitation." Willow commented, "no, no it couldn't be." Augustus gasped, touching his own pointed ears. "He's the president of the Human Appreciation Society, most witches wouldn't recognize a human right away but Augustus is an expert." Luz was surprised "Human Appreciation Society?"

"Where are your gills!?" Augustus asked, Luz laughed "well I don't have any gills, but I'm pretty sure I knew an Augustus back in the human world, we called him Gus." Augustus gasped "Gus? Nickname? Human nickname? Gus? Call me it, wow, Gus! This is the best day of my life."

Just then the bell screamed "I gotta get to spelling class, see you guys at lunch!" Gus waved goodbye and ran off to his class. "Alright into the darkness you go." Willow said, pointing at Luz who hissed playfully before retreating back into the pot.

They headed to class and soon after the class started. They had to wait through the other students presentations before the teacher called on Willow, and if Willow's wasn't good enough the class would have extra homework for a month.

Luz peaked her head out slightly to see Willow with her hood over her head. "Don't worry about them, we got this!" Luz gave her a thumbs up, Willow smiled and gave a small nod. Luz put herself back in the pot and waited for Willow's command.

"Abomination, rise!" Willow squeaked, Luz punched the lid off before jumping out of the pot, her legs stiff from being in the pot for awhile. There were gasps across the room, "Abomination, bow." Willow commanded, Luz purposely made her movements jerky and bowed "blah." She added on to her performance.

"Very impressive, but does it speak?" The small teacher asked. "I may be your Abomination, but you're my A-mom-ination." Luz said while grabbing Willows hands with her own. The class awed at that and the teacher laughed "A-mom-ination! Splendid! A+" Willow and Luz grinned at each other.

The bell screamed again and Luz got back into the cauldron and they left the class. Luz didn't really pay too much attention to the talking outside of her cauldron until Willow whispered to her "I think Amity is onto us." Luz rolled her eyes, even though Willow couldn't see.

Soon enough it was lunchtime, Willow and Gus sat across from each other and Luz was peaking out of the pot at them to join the conversation. "Hey, do humans eat PB and Js?" Gus asked "yes, I think so." Luz replied, the name sounded familiar, like some long forgotten memory from her early childhood in the Human Realm.

Gus split his sandwich in half and gave her one half of it, which she took gratefully. She sank back into the pot to munch on it "I don't know Gus... If Amity saw that." Willow said. Just then there was a thump and a gasp from Willow as Amity jumped onto the table.

"I saw that! Abominations don't eat! I know you're in there! You can't hide from me. What are you? Who are you? I want answers!" Amity yelled, grabbing Luz's front and shaking her, for Luz's part she tried to remain as lifeless as possible. Other students glanced their way in curiosity or confusion, "Amity Blight!" The Abomination teacher yelled.

The top student stopped shaking the human and looked up at the teacher "huh?" "I suspected a twinge of jealousy, but this, this is just sad." The teacher commented. "But I- No! Look at it!" Amity tried to defend herself, jostling Luz again who just groaned. "Report to Principal Bumps office." The teacher said "But-" the teacher interrupted her before she could make an argument "Now!"

Amity dropped Luz back into the pot and stalked off, after the teacher left Luz popped her head back out. "Serves her right for being a jerk, at least we don't have to worry about her anymore right?" Luz said, looking to Willow but the witch didn't reply, staring off after Amity with a concerned look.

It wasn't too long later after lunch that the trio found themselves in an empty classroom. Luz stretched, her back popping in response "Whoo! I can't believe no one noticed, high five!" Luz held up her hand, expectantly. Willow and Gus looked at each other, the shorter witch shrugging "really? Guess it really is a human thing, I thought Hunter just didn't get out enough." The two witches looked even more confused "whose Hunter?" Willow asked.

"Oh- uh- not important, anyways just slap my hand." Luz stuttered, demonstrating by slapping her own hand, a nervous grin on her face from her slip up. Gus hesitantly gave her a high five. Then he did it several more times with growing confidence "Oh. Oh, my. Oh, man, what a rush!"

The classroom door slammed open and there stood Amity, a smug look on her face. Luz dropped to the floor on her knees, to keep up the act of an Abomination, Luz wondered how Amity knew they were even in here. Amity stepped aside and Principal Bump entered the room. "Good afternoon, students." He greeted, "P-Principal Bump." Willow stuttered.

The Principal walked forward and Willow and Gus stepped back, he kneeled down in front of Luz and grabbed her head, turning it. He stood back up "hmm, Abomination rise." Luz did as told, standing up. "Abomination, lie." Luz walked over to the table and lied down ontop of it.

"So very life like." Bump commented putting a hand on Willow's shoulder as he directed her to the table Luz was lying on. "When Miss Blight told me about your abomination, I had to come by, see what she's made of." He continued, "Oh! I have her list of ingredients right here-" but Willow was cut off as Bump put a hand out to stop her "no, we were hoping..." he pulled a dagger out of his sleeve "for a closer look. Willow, I'll allow you the first cut." He handed her the dagger.

Luz was trying not to panic, she's had plenty of sharp objects used on her before and this was no different, so why did it still terrify her every time? Willow took the offered dagger and smiled at him nervously. She stepped closer to Luz, "you can't just cut open a human, can you?" Willow whispered, Luz shook her head trying and failing to keep her breathing even.

"Willow, go ahead and make the first incision." The Principal encouraged, "wait, Principal Bump! Uh- high five!" Gus knocked over a bunch of cauldrons, the purple goo spilling out onto the floor and forming into three Abominations. "Run!" Gus yelled, Willow put the dagger down and grabbed Luz's arm and pulled her out the door, but Luz quickly snagged the dagger off the table on the way out.

They ran through the halls eventually stopping at a corner to catch their breath. "I really did jinx us didn't I?" Luz chuckled, Willow laughing along with her. "Okay, we should probably get out of here before-" she was cut off once again as red light patterns slithered across the walls, when they reached a doorway a red barrier formed, blocking them in. Several more doorways got blocked off as the light patterns spread across the school. "-Bump seals us in." Willow finished with a sigh.

Willow and Luz continued to run reaching the central atrium, but doorways were still being sealed off. Shadows fell over them. They turned and gasped. Bump was there, directing abominations toward them. They ran a bit and hid behind a pillar.

"Oh, this is awful." Willow sunk to the ground "I don't know what to do. Amity's right. I'm just Half‐a‐Witch Willow." Luz looked down at her friend sadly "You're full-witch Willow and you're great! You just need the right environment..." she trailed off, thinking. There was only one solution and Luz didn't like it one bit, groaning in annoyance Luz handed Willow the dagger for her to hold for a moment "what-?" But Willow was interrupted as Luz dug into her pocket and pulled out what she was looking for.

It was a simple grey looking pen with an amber colored button, to which Luz pressed. The pen extended and Willow couldn't hold back the gasp as it transformed into a staff, one that Willow had never seen before. Luz quickly spun the mechanical staff in a circle and vines shot from the spell circle, knocking down Abominations and eventually tying up the Principal.

The barriers dropped soon after and Luz clicked the button on the side of her staff, transforming it back into pen form before shoving it back into her pocket. "But- how- what?" Willow was flabbergasted "no time to explain, come on!" Luz took the dagger back before dragging Willow by the wrist through one of the halls.

They ran down the hall for a bit before turning a corner "look there's the exit!" Luz pointed, but then Amity blocked their way "not so fast!" She yelled at them as they stopped running. "I'm not letting you get away so easily. I want my badge! Abominations, seize!" She commanded, Abomination's springing up and lumbering towards the two.

Luz sliced one in half with the dagger and her and Willow dodged around the others, they continued to run but got blocked off again as more Abomination's formed in front of them. Willow traced a large spell circle and using the vines Luz created earlier, trapped the Abominations. "That's not going to be enough." Luz commented The abominations melted through the vines, reforming and staggering toward the girls.

Luz ran forward and using the dagger she sliced and diced the goop monsters into a puddle. "Come on, we don't have much time before they reform again." Luz said, climbing up and over the vines quickly. Willow casted a spell to move the vines out of her way and blocking the path behind her again before following Luz out the front door.

They ran far from the school and into the woods, stopping to catch their breath. After the adrenaline wore off they both started laughing, after calming down Luz sighed. "I wouldn't have minded if you escaped without me, I mean I'm probably still going to get detention when I go back." Willow said but Luz shook her head "I wasn't just going to leave you behind." Willow smiled "anyways what kind of staff was that, that you used back there?" Luz groaned "ugh, someone made it for me awhile ago. I don't like using it because.." she waved her hand trying to think of the right word.

"Not natural? It just feels wrong when I use it, so I only use it when it's an emergency. I'm trying to find a different way to cast magic, but so far no luck." Luz shrugged, "and please don't tell anyone about it, not even Gus. It wouldn't be good if certain people found out about it." Luz pleaded, running her fingers through her short hair. Willow nodded in understanding "of course."

Luz sighed in relief "thanks..." a thought suddenly popped in her head "oh shoot!" Willow looked at her alarmed "I gotta go before they notice I'm actually not in my room, I'll be in so much trouble- well- probably." She pushed off against the tree she was leaning against, Willow chuckled "maybe we can hang out sometime soon?" Willow asked, Luz nodded "yeah sure, tomorrow's the weekend so I'll be at the market probably at the Human Collectables stand?" Willow nodded "I'll bring Gus along too and all three of us can hang out."

They waved goodbye as Willow headed back to the school to face her punishment, while Luz sprinted back to the Owl House. Upon arriving, confusion set in, there were scorch marks on the ground and an empty barrel of salt nearby. "What happened?"

"Hoot hoot, welcome back Luz!" Hooty said, Luz shushed him "do they know that I wasn't here?" She asked "nope! King is taking a nap on the couch and Eda is cooking dinner, hoot!" Luz nodded "good, could you help me get to my window?"

Hooty lifted her up to her window and she opened the window before climbing inside. "Did you find me a blue bug?" Hooty asked, "I- uh, looked but I couldn't find one. As soon as I do I'll give it to you." Luz promised, hoping that would satisfy the house demon for now. "Awww, okay." Hooty sighed, slithering out the window.

Luz sighed, putting the dagger in her bag for safekeeping. She grabbed her pajamas and cracked the door of her room open. Seeing that the coast was clear she made her way to the bathroom. She took a shower to get rid of the Abomination goo and threw her clothes into the dirty laundry and put on her pajamas. She rewrapped her bandages around her head and hands before leaving the bathroom and heading downstairs to the kitchen where Eda was.

Eda turned her head when she came in "hey kid, have a nice rest?" She asked, "yeah. I took a short walk in the woods after you left, then went in my room and read my book before falling asleep." Luz half lied, sitting at the kitchen table. "I'm surprised you didn't wake up with all the chaos outside." Eda commented, going back to stirring whatever was in the pot she was cooking.

Luz rose a brow in confusion "what happened?" Eda laughed "so, I had found some trash slug eggs while me and King were out and of course King wanted to make one of them his minion. I told him it was a bad idea but he didn't listen, so we put a bet on it-" Eda continued on as she finished cooking and King came into the room, the three ate as Eda told the story, Luz laughing and King being annoyed.

Overall it was a great ending to a chaotic day.

Chapter Text

Luz couldn't breathe, that's what she noticed first. The second thing she noticed was why, the dark blue liquid she was surrounded by, blocking her way to the surface for air. She kicked her legs and flailed her arms trying to swim up, but she wasn't sure which way was up and what was down. It didn't help that her lungs felt like they were going to explode from lack of oxygen.

She continued to swim in the thick liquid. She wasn't sure if the not-water was getting darker because she was going deeper or if she was losing consciousness. Her hand hit something solid and air escaped her, the air bubbles floating upward. She made the mistake of trying to breathe. She was choking on the thick liquid now.

She reached for the solid object and her hand met cold air. She grabbed onto the ledge and pulled, kicking her legs harder and grabbing with her other hand. She finally broke the surface, but she still couldn't get enough air into her lungs as she pulled herself out of the not-water and onto the cold stone ground.

Luz's eyes flew open, early morning sunlight stretched out through her room. She still couldn't breathe. Her breath hitched as she struggled for air, her limbs flailing to get out of the confining sleeping bag. She sat on her knees, eyes wide and panicked. She closed her eyes tight as a tear slipped down her face, she put her arms up above her head and held them there. It was a trick she learned after having this dream so many times, keeping her arms up to expand her lungs she was finally able to breathe.

She took deep breaths and opened her eyes, Luz put her arms down once her breathing returned to normal. She wiped at her face with her hands to get rid of the tear tracks and laid back down on her sleeping bag, staring up at the ceiling. She thought back to the nightmare, it was usually the same and she always woke up unable to breathe.

It didn't happen too often anymore, but when she did she always had a... difficult day. So with a sigh she got up, noticing that King wasn't sleeping in his usual spot, she grabbed her day clothes and headed to the bathroom.

Doing her usual routine, changing her clothes, drinking her elixir, brushing her teeth, etc.. she splashed water on her face from the sink to get rid of any evidence of her nightmare. She sighed, turning off the tap and putting her hands on either side of the sink while she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Her thoughts returned to the dream, the thick liquid, the struggle for air, and finally collapsing on the stone ground as cold air washed over her like a wave as she struggled to breathe and getting the dark liquid out of her lungs.

Luz wasn't sure if the dream was... well, a dream or a memory, it happened often enough for her to believe it was a memory but well... she wasn't sure when the memory occurred.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and exited the bathroom. She went downstairs into the kitchen, King and Eda were already there, a plate of food ready for her already. Luz greeted them as she sat down and focused on eating instead of her dream. "So it looks like it's going to rain today, so we're not going to set up the stand today. I don't wanna have to put the effort of putting it up just to take it down again." Eda said, Luz groaned she was supposed to hangout with Willow and Gus today, perhaps tomorrow then.

"Anyways, before the rain hits I wanna see if I can sell those trash slug eggs in the market. If you two want you can go through the junk me and King collected yesterday to see what we could sell tomorrow." Eda continued, Luz nodded and King grumbled something about it being work for minions.

After breakfast Eda hurriedly left, leaving a bag of junk for the two to go through. King went outside with some paper and crayons, saying he wanted to enjoy the outside while he could. Luz emptied the bag of junk in the middle of the livingroom floor and set the bag aside. She decided anything that was probably worth selling she would put back in the bag.

Luz sifted through the junk, unsure of what to make of it. It was all stuff from the Human Realm, and while there were things she recognized or was familiar with, most of it she was just confused by. Tossing things into a trash pile or putting in the sell pile, she also ended up finding the first book to that Azura series.

She had the fifth book, from when she took it from Eda the day they officially met. So she decided it wouldn't hurt to keep the book, as she had seen Eda was probably going to burn it anyways, and it looked like an interesting series. Setting the book aside, creating a new pile of things she was going to keep.

It wasn't too long later when something else caught her eye. She didn't notice the object until it fell and lit up, picking up the rectangular object she looked at the screen curiously. It was familiar but she still wasn't sure what it was, swiping her finger across the screen revealed a bunch of different colored buttons for her to push.

She played with the device a little longer than she thought she did... okay a lot longer. Before she knew it King had come back inside with his paper and crayons, seeing the thing she was holding he dropped what he was holding, scattering it all over the floor.

"What's that?" He asked, scampering over to her and climbing up her shoulder to see. Luz wasn't really sure what it was, but she knew something similar to the device existed on the Boiling Isles "it's the Human Realm's equivalent to a scroll." She explained.

"Oh oh! Can you record me? I can make a video book of all the demons instead of writing it down! Come on Luz let's do it!" King said, jumping to the floor and tugging her sleeve. She shrugged "sure." Luz cleared the pile of human junk from the floor while King found a bulletin board to pin his papers and pictures too. Once they were settled Luz started recording King, basically making a documentary on demons.

It wasn't too long later when thunder roared overhead and the sizzling sound of the raindrops could be heard. King stopped his speech and Luz stopped the recording on the human scroll. The door slammed open as Eda ran inside, breathing heavily "whew, that was a close one."

A few minutes later and Eda was outside again, but this time with a see though, yellow-tinted shield over her head as she readied a spell to protect the Owl House from the boiling rain. Luz and King were watching her from the doorway, sitting on the ground.

"Hoot! Hurry it up with that force field, that rain is getting closer to my precious stucco." Eda rolled her eyes at the house demon "yeah, yeah, I'm on it." She used her staff to grab the light ball she had been holding and stamped the staff down to the ground. A round orange force field engulfed the house, then shrank to shape closely around it, her own force field faded as she walked closer to the house.

"Why do they call you the Owl Lady?" Luz asked, she was pretty sure it was a curse but she wondered what the Owl Lady would say. "'Cause I'm so wise." Eda replied "'cause she coughs up rat bones." Hooty chimed in "I think its 'cause she gets distracted by shiny objects." King said. "No I don't!" Eda exclaimed, King pulled out a pen and clicked a button on it making the diamond on top light up.

"It sparkles and shimmers. It shines and delights, I must have it for my nest." Eda lunged for the pen but King put it behind his back and she crashed to the ground, Luz snickered.

Luz went and helped Eda up from the ground "ugh. That force field really took it out of me." Eda groaned, brushing herself off of dirt. "Uh‐oh. Moving a little slow. Age finally catching up to ya?" King teased, Eda rolled her eyes and entered the house with Luz and King following her in.

"This would be the perfect time for Eda to teach me about magic." Luz thought aloud, "but what about our demon documentary?" King asked. "It'll probably be quick, then we have the rest of the day." Luz replied, watching as Eda collapsed onto the couch, now in her pajamas.

King grumbled behind her as she went over to Eda. She just wanted to know if there was a way for her to cast magic without her staff, she remembered her and Hunter reading a book on wild magic but they got caught and were punished.

Luz leaned over the armrest of the couch, Eda peaked open an eye and groaned. "Can you teach me about magic?" Luz asked "I'm not teaching you magic tonight. I'm sleepy. I'm a sleepy little owl." She covered her body with a blanket.

"Come on Eda, how am I supposed to earn my witches staff if you don't teach me anything?" Luz questioned, watching Eda pull the blanket over her head "No. Sleep."

Luz rolled her eyes, she picked up the light-up pen King had earlier and grinned. She clicked the button on the pen, letting the light flicker on and off.

"Sparkle thing." Eda gasped quietly, she sat up the blanket still wrapped around her and watched as Luz clicked the pen a few more times. "Oh, this?" Luz said, casually.

Eda ditched the blanket and perched on the arm of the couch. Luz waved it around tauntingly for a moment before Eda tried to snatch it, but missed and fell to the floor instead. "Nope! Teach me a spell and I'll give you your sparkle thing." She bargained. "I respect your cunning, but I also hate you for it." Eda replied, getting up from the floor.

A few minutes later and Luz was sitting on the floor, Eda in front of her with her staff and King behind her by the couch with his paper and crayons. "If you want a witch's staff like mine, don't make me repeat myself. Witch's staffs have power embedded into them." Eda explained, tiredly.

"But before one is earned, every witch needs to know how to cast spells on their own. Now..." She threw her staff to the side before continuing "tonight I will show you how to create light." She drew a circle with her finger in the air, which glowed orange. White light sparked in the center, forming a large ball of light. It descended until it was in front of Luz's face, where it disappeared.

"Yawn! Who needs another boring spell lesson when you could be learning all the fun ways a demon could kill you." King said holding up a drawing of a demon with giant teeth. "Look how teethy. Bite, bite." Luz chose to ignore the little demon and focused all her attention on Eda.

"Now, humans think magic is made out of thin air, but that's stupid. Everything comes from something. Let me ask you, kid. Where do you think magic comes from?" Eda said, while tapping Luz on the nose. Luz flinched away slightly and wrinkled her nose, she already knew the answer but it might be suspicious if she did answer correctly. "From the heart?" She settled on.

"Actually, you're right!" Eda replied, a big grin on her face. Luz gave a half smile at the witch, "no. Really." She pulled out a diagram from her hair and showed it to Luz. "It comes from a sack of magic bile attached to a witches heart." She explained, "oh." Luz replied, looking at the diagram, she's never seen a diagram of it before.

"Now everything depends on the spell circle." Eda shoved the now rolled up diagram back in her hair. "The bigger the circle, the bigger the spell." She drew a large circle in the air, creating a large ball of light that faded much faster than the smaller one earlier.

"But how can I do magic without a magic bile sack?" Luz questioned, it was a question she had for years but didn't dare ask. It was the main reason why she and Hunter looked through that book a year or two ago. Granted, they didn't get to look through it very long before they were caught.

"Y'know, I'm not actually sure." Eda replied, "What." Luz deadpanned. "I know witches did magic differently in the past, but I never bothered to figure out how." Eda snorted, Luz just gave her an unamused stare. "Don't worry you'll figure it out." Eda ruffled Luz's hair, to which the human tried not to flinch. The Owl Lady stood up and cracked her back "now, I need to lie down."

"That's it? Wait! Can you do the spell circle again? I'll record it on my scroll this time." Luz said, pulling out the rectangular device she was using to record King earlier. She hit the record button and faced it towards Eda, "please? I won't bother you again about it."

Eda groaned in annoyance "fiiiine. Now you see the... spell circle is really key because-" she had drawn a shaky spell circle that disappeared when she yawned, then she collapsed onto the floor. Luz stopped the recording, eyes wide in surprise "welp looks like one more spell killed Eda." King commented.

"Uh oh." Luz tossed her device to the side, she went over to Eda and flipped her onto her back. "I didn't think she would get knocked out if she used too much magic." Luz said, King suddenly slapped Eda's face "bap! Yep, she's out. Bap! Just making sure." King laughed after slapping her again. "Stop that." Luz said, waving his paw away from Eda's face.

"Shiny thing. Big nest..." Eda mumbled in her sleep. "Well, we can't just leave her on the floor." Luz said, King tiredly looked at Eda "do we have too?" Luz rolled her eyes "yes, now come on."

It wasn't too long later when they found themselves upstairs. Luz and King dragging Eda into her room by her feet. Luz tossed a small animal skull out of Eda's giant nest before pulling her into it.

Once they had her settled Luz sighed "please don't hurt me when you wake up." She shivered slightly at the thought. "Should I bap her again?" King asked, Luz shook her head "Just let her rest." She rubbed the top of King's head "come on, let's go back downstairs. We can continue that Demon Lesson." King gasped in excitement and rushed out of the room without another word.

Luz walked slowly after him before stopping, a thought crossing her mind. She turned to look back at Eda, thinking, she was pretty sure the Owl Lady kept the portal key in her hair somewhere, and this would be the perfect time to get it. She walked back over to the nest Eda slept in and squatted down beside it.

She watched Eda for a moment, making sure the Owl Lady was truly asleep before moving again. She reached her left arm out carefully. Her right hand supported her as she reached over the nest towards the Owl Lady. "Luz are you coming or not?" King shouted.

Luz flinched back, accidentally hitting her elbow on the nightstand. She winced and hissed quietly in pain, rubbing her elbow with her other hand. The sound of glass shattering made her whip her head around, her gaze fell to the floor as she spotted the now shattered potion bottle, the golden liquid spreading across the floor.

Eda mumbled something in her sleep and Luz quickly stood up and speed walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her and heading downstairs where she assumed King was. She sighed in annoyance as she descended the last few steps and entered the livingroom. "There you are! Now get your wonder rectangle, the next demon lesson is almost ready." King said, redrawing a demon with several mouths on a piece of paper.

Luz sat on the floor next to him after picking up the device up off of the floor. She leaned against the couch as she clicked on the video of Eda, Luz already had tried casting a spell the way witches do in the past but she tried it again regardless. She traced a circle in the air, imagining a little ball of light to form, but of course nothing happened... as usual.

Luz groaned loudly, squinting at the video again. King blocked her vision by putting his notebook ontop of the video. "Let me tell you about the most spine‐chilling demon. Smoochy‐pie the Sweetie Baby! He's... Well, he's a lot more threatening than his name implies." King explained, Luz gave him an unimpressed look.

After a moment Luz sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them back up to look down at the paused screen again. "Why do you wanna learn magic so bad anyway?" King asked, sitting down on the floor beside her. Luz looked down at him and thought about her reply carefully, she couldn't give him the truth... maybe a half-truth?

"Back... home." She hesitated for a moment, well, the Conformatorium was no where close to a home, but that's all she had. "I... was looked down on, for being different." She explained, she rubbed the side of the device's case with her thumb. "Learning magic... I can actually do something, instead of being a waste of space." She sighed.

And not have to use that stupid mechanical staff, she didn't say that aloud, but she definitely thought about it. "Do you know what it's like to have no one hear or listen to you?" She asked, tearing her gaze away from the device and looking down at King again. King sighed and looked away for a moment, before turning back and replying "If I help you with that spell, can we finish our lesson?" Luz nodded "of course, I do wanna know all about demons, I'm just... a little preoccupied I guess?" She shrugged "more like obsessed." King teased with a snicker while Luz chuckled lightly, "sure, whatever you wanna call it."

Luz clicked play on the video again, watching it once more. It didn't matter though as nothing changed or some sudden realization occurring. King suddenly wrapped is arms around her waist as best as he could and she looked down at him. "What are you doing?" She asked curiously "you looked like you needed a hug, so I gave you one." He replied.

"O-oh... so the King of Demons cares about little ol' me?" Luz teased to cover how flustered she was. "What? No!" King pulled away and crossed his arms "the King of Demons cares for no one!" Luz hummed "mhm, sure."

"Anyways, Eda said witches used to do magic differently, so there has to be a way, right?" King said, changing the subject. Luz hummed in agreement as she watched King pick up his notebook and start drawing something on the pages again. Luz would never admit it, but that hug ment a lot and no one could ever convince her that she smiled a whole lot afterwards, nope, definitely not.

"And I have a theory. Every day I notice Eda sneaking drinks of this special elixir, see? Then she always gets a boost of energy, see? I think that's where she gets her powers. And I know where to get some." King continued, showing her the little drawings he made. Luz nodded in understanding of his theory "mhm, mhm, but counterpoint... what if I die after drinking it because, I don't know, it like her medicine or something and it has a bad reaction to me?" Luz countered.

King thought about it for a split second before replying "well we'll find out if you drink it and drop to the floor. I'll go get it!" He then ran out of the room, hopping up the stairs "I'll go wait in the kitchen I guess." Luz called after him.

She sat down at the kitchen table and tapped her fingers on the wood. She was pretty sure the elixir King was getting was for the Owl Lady's curse, that is if Luz's theory was correct and Eda was actually cursed. Her eyes suddenly widened, if Eda was cursed and if the curse was anything like her own and being knocked out like she was, then she could have transformed already. Before she could act on this thought, King came back into the room.

"Guessing you couldn't find it?" Luz noticed, King shook his head "I found it but it's all shattered on the floor and I don't know where another one could be. Sorry Luz." He climbed up onto the table and sat in front of her. She smiled at him "it's okay, is Eda still asleep?" She asked, King nodded.

"Do you know if Eda has any old books around on magic? Maybe that could help?" Luz asked, King thought for a bit "yeah I think so, in the same room she makes her Potions, probably." King replied. Before they could do anything else however the lights went out and thunder rumbled overhead. "Hooty controls the house lights, he probably just fell asleep." King explained, waving it off.

"Hoot, Hoot!" Hooty yelled from the livingroom. "That doesn't sound like sleeping to me!" Luz said getting up and running to the livingroom entryway, King jumping onto her shoulder. She stopped with a gasp, the front door was knocked off its hinges, scratch marks covering the front. A beast stood there, dragging its claws across the door, it looked up at them and growled before running off into the rain.

Luz and King ran up to Hooty, Luz checking him over to make sure he wasn't dead. "Whatever that was it escaped into the rain." Luz said, she had a sneaking suspicion of what or rather who it was. "Oh, my gosh. The Snaggleback! It feeds during the rains. It must have stumbled across our house and seen us inside!" King exclaimed, "the what now?" Luz asked.

There was a sudden howl and the two went outside a bit just in time to see the blur of the creature breaking in through the window. "We can make a documentary of this!" King squealed excitedly. "Uh, no. What we need to do is first not get eaten, second make sure it doesn't eat Eda, and third drive it off." Luz said, walking back into the house, King climbing up onto her shoulder.

The two approached the staircase, Luz using the flashlight on her device to light the way. Floorboards creaked as they went upstairs. They reached a hallway and stopped as the door to Eda's room creaked open. They shared a nervous look. Luz opened the doors all the way, revealing an empty room and a shattered window.

"She got snaggle‐backed!" King exclaimed, Luz went over to the nest and examined the slash marks on the pillow. There were a few feathers lying in the nest that weren't there before. "Hey King, what about these feathers? Do you think they belong to the Snaggleback?" She asked, holding up a feather for King to see. King shook his head "Snagglebacks don't have feathers, I'll go get my demon book." He replied and before Luz could stop him he was gone.

"Of course." She deadpanned, turning around to see that he was indeed gone. She stood up and scanned the room, thinking, there wasn't much she could do for King at the moment. She noticed the shards of glass and the golden liquid of the potion she had knocked over earlier. Before she could act on her newly formed idea, there was a screech from the beast not to far away. Thinking quickly Luz looked around and hid herself in Eda's closet, quickly closing the door behind her.

Another screech, much closer this time and Luz was pretty sure she heard King shouting "give me back my friend!" Luz for her part didn't exit the closet just yet, her eyes scanned the small room, spotting a bottle of golden liquid. "The elixir." Luz muttered going over and picking it up. There was a tag on this one and Luz read it aloud "An Elixir a Day Keeps the Curse at Bay. Great it's just as cheesy as mine." She commented with an eye roll.

She held onto the bottle as she slowly opened the closet door and peeked her head out to make sure the coast was clear before exiting. She went over to the door of Eda's room that was slightly ajar, she carefully looked out into the hallway and listened. She could hear yelping and snarling that was quickly getting closer, she put the elixir on her lap for a moment, one hand on the doorknob and the other ready to grab King if he ran by.

Luckily he did and she was able to snatch him and close the door, picking up the elixir with her free hand and scooting herself to one side of the door, leaning against the wall. The beast entered the hallway slowly, exhaling loudly. Footsteps were heard outside as a shadow of the beast passed the door.

"Luz?" King asked looking up at her "what? Did you think I got eaten so easily?" She teased lightly. He chuckled a bit "where did you go?" He asked as Luz put him down. "Well after you decided to leave, I heard the beast and hid in Eda's closet. I also found this." She held up the elixir, taking the tag off and handing it to King.

He read it quietly, his eyes widening "you mean...?" He looked up at her and Luz nodded "she's cursed." Just then there was a screech as the beast broke the door down revealing an owl like creature with a face that resembled Eda's. She spotted them and growled, prowling towards them, King whimpered and Luz scooped him up.

She passed him the elixir to hold while Eda raised a clawed paw ready to strike. Luz scooted back as far as she could, her device falling out of her pocket and a bright light shined directly into Eda's eyes, making her stumble back and screech in pain. Luz took the chance while she was stunned to grab her device and hop over the stone wall onto the balcony, she crouched down behind it, setting King down beside her.

Eda stalked the room, sniffing. Luz had her hands over her mouth while King had his on his head. Eda seemed to smell them, growling and sniffing closer to them. Luz grabbed a can and threw it. Eda growled at the sound and chased after it. After a moment of silence they both let out a sigh of relief, King turned to her "you were right Luz the elixir wouldn't have been able to help you cast magic. I wonder how that bottle got smashed?"

"That would be my fault. After you left I should have followed right after, but I stuck around and when you called for me I accidentally knocked it over." She confessed "well if that's the case it's more my fault than it is yours, I startled you. I'm sorry, I‐I just wanted you to be into demons like you're into magic. I don't have many friends, and no one even pays that much attention to me. I thought maybe if I taught you, finally someone would care about creatures like me." He said.

"Well... how about we finish the lesson?" She pulled out the pen from her pocket and clicked the button so it would light up, handing it out towards him. "Huh?" King looked up at her and she smiled "Eda's turned into some kind of demon, and we need to save her. So who knows more about demons than the best teacher in the world?" He pointed at himself and Luz nodded, King giggled and hugged her, this time with Luz returning the hug.

They pull away from the hug after a moment and King took the pen and some leaves off of a nearby plant. He started to draw as he explained "Let's see. She was bigger, covered in feathers, and had giant black eyes. Demons with black eyes are usually sensitive to light. That's it. Light! Luz, use your human wonder rectangle!" His tail wagged as she pulled the device from her pocket, however the screen was cracked. She tried to put the flashlight on but it didn't work and she shook her head. "The flash is blasted."

"Well how about that light spell?" King asked and Luz sighed "you saw me, I can't draw circles in the air. Not like Eda can." She replied, she went to the video and pushed play again. However this time the screen glitched and a symbol appeared in the completed spell circle. She sat up quickly, eyes wide "there's a symbol in the spell circle!" She exclaimed "what where!?" King asked, coming closer to look.

She took the pen from him and pulled off another leaf and started to trace the symbol. "It looks like this." Once she was done she tapped it instinctively and the leaf glowed, crumpling in on itself as it formed into a small ball of light. She gasped in amazement, staring at it in disbelief for a moment before she started giggling excitedly. She cupped it in her hands and brought it up to eye level, King climbed up onto her shoulder to get a better look.

"I just did magic." She whispered, she giggled again and jumped up excitedly "I just did magic!" She shouted "Shh! We're not going to stop anything with something that small!" King replied

Distant screeching made both of them cower behind the wall again. "What do we do now?" King asked, "I have a plan, will you help me bud?" Luz asked, holding out a fist for him. He hummed pretending to think before replying "okay." He fist bumped her and she explained the plan.

It was awhile later when Eda woke up in her nest, a straw in her mouth and the other end in a almost empty elixir bottle. Luz didn't pay too much attention to what Eda and King were saying as she was busy sketching out the new light glyph she discovered, tapping each one and watching the ball of light rise up to float in the air.

"Wow, how is she doing that?" She heard Eda say. Luz turned her head to look back at them, the Owl Lady was looking up at all the little balls of light in amazement. "I don't know but she did it all on her own." King replied, looking over at Luz. Luz stood up and walked over to the two, standing next to King "I'm sorry, I accidentally knocked your elixir over earlier..." Luz trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

"It's not your fault, I haven't been completely honest with you guys. When I was younger, I was cursed. I don't know exactly how it happened, all I know is that if I don't take my elixir... Well, that's why people call me the Owl Lady. No one likes having a curse, but if you take the right steps, it's manageable." Eda shrugged. "Have you found any kind of cure yet?" Luz asked, Eda chuckled "if I had I wouldn't have to use these elixirs now would I?"

"Right, right..." Luz replied quietly with a small nod. "There's nothing for you to worry about. It's all under control, and as long as I have my elixirs, then I'm fine. But, hey, look at this. A human doing magic. Good on you, kid." Eda smiled, and Luz chuckled "I had some encouragement from a great teacher."

"Oh you." King waved her off. "Hey, hey! Is anyone there? Hello? Hoot? I'm on the floor. It's cold!" Hooty shouted from downstairs. "That voice, that horrific voice!" King said, exiting the room. "We'll take care of him. You stay in bed." Luz said picking up the small pinkish, purple Snaggleback. "Come on, you goopy fella. We'll set you free now."

"Ow. Ow. I think my tail was digested." The Snaggleback replied as they exited the room and went down the stairs. Luz put the Snaggleback down on the floor, she watched as King and the other demon sat on the couch for a moment before going over to Hooty. She fitted the door back where it was supposed to go and put bandages on the scratch marks on the door.

The rain had died down to a light drizzle by now, but Luz was tired so she told King she was probably going to bed for the rest of the day, then headed upstairs to her room. She face planted onto the sleeping bag, not even bothering to change her clothes, and promptly passed out.

Chapter Text

The next morning was the usual routine, except that Luz decided not to drink her elixir today. She decided she would only drink it if she needed it, she had a limited amount and didn't know when she would be able to sneak off to get more, or even where she should get more. When she went downstairs Eda was playing a card game with Owlbert, she looked up when Luz entered "breakfast is on the kitchen table, King's already in there." She informed, turning back to the game.

Luz thanked her and entered the kitchen, sitting down and eating the food. After she was done she and King made their way into the living room just in time to see Eda beat Owlbert at the card game "ha!" Eda cheered as Luz sat down on the couch and King curled up next to her. "Alright you guys, we're setting up the stand today and you are all coming with." She put the deck of cards away with a spell, King groaned in annoyance but otherwise didn't comment.

It wasn't too long later when they started to set up the stand, which wasn't too hard because of Eda's magic. Luz had brought the first book of The Good Witch Azura that she found yesterday with her to pass the time. She also brought the dagger she accidentally stole from Hexside, you never know when you might need it. King demanded her to read the book out loud to cure his boredom, to which she complied.

"Emboldened by the dishonor Hecate had shown, Azura lifted her staff to the cotton-candy skies and shouted, "I challenge you to a Witch's Duel!"" Luz read "show me the picture!" King demanded, she turned the book for King to see "I can draw better than that!" He stated confidently. Luz rolled her eyes playfully before continuing to read, but before she could Eda interrupted.

"Ugh! Please stop reading that. Its flowery language is an insult to witches and driving away all of our serious customers!" Luz stared at her for a moment before replying. "Um, Eda? What customers? There aren't even any other stands around." She pointed out, gesturing to the empty street around them.

"This is a bad omen. There must be something horrible happening today." Eda replied, just then Gus and Willow ran up to the stand. "Luz! Something amazing is happening today!" Gus exclaimed. "Gus, Willow, hey!" Luz waved, Eda and King shared a confused look.

Luz noticed and quickly came up with an explanation. "Eda this is Willow and Gus. I met them a couple days ago on that walk in the woods, guess I forgot to mention I made two friends." She smiled nervously as Willow nodded and Gus was about to correct her when Willow elbowed him.

Willow held up a flyer "Anyways, It's the annual Covention! Student witches get to see all the types of covens before they're placed in one. There's even a mystery guest this year!" Luz hummed, she'd been to one before. Granted it was just to stand there and make sure nothing went wrong. "Sounds like fun."

"Absolutely not." Eda cut in, Luz looked up at the Owl Lady a frown on her face. "I never joined a coven for a reason. Sure it's like a fun club for witches, but you're also giving up your magical independence to be part of a crooked system." Eda said, slamming her fist on the table, making Luz jump.

"Eh, but, you know, no judgment. In any case, I haven't been to one since we were girls." Luz quirked a brow "we? Do I smell a backstory?" She questioned, putting her elbows on the table and crossing her arms. "I-- the-- I mean--" Eda shook her head and crossed her arms "no."

"You leave me no choice, I will get that backstory or go to the Covention. I will find a way." Luz said. Eda groaned in annoyance "fffiiiine, we'll go to the Covention." She grumbled. Luz pumped a fist in victory and gave a thumbs up to her friends who returned the thumbs up.

They packed the stand up and headed off to the building. King sat on Eda's shoulder, the three teens a little ways ahead. "I got switched to the plant track because Principal Bump was impressed by 'my' skills." Willow did air quotes, Luz nodded in understanding and Gus looked confused. "At least you get to do what you love now." Willow smiled "and I have you to thank for that."

The rest of the walk was mostly Gus bombarding Luz with questions about humans. She was able to answer some of them and some she had to ponder for a bit before answering and some she shrugged at.

Soon they arrived, Eda grunted as she struggled to put on a hood "gotta keep a low profile." King hopped off of her shoulder. Luz tried to help by shoving the Owl Lady's hair into her cowl, couldn't have Eda getting arrested without getting the portal key first.

"Is the cowl really necessary?" Gus asked, "Do you think all my wanted posters are for petty theft?" Eda asked, numerous small objects suddenly fell out of her hair. "Partly." She scooped the things back into her cowl. "But the big whammy is I disobeyed the law and refused to join a coven. If I'm seen, I could go to jail. Again." She explained.

"Maybe this informative event will inspire you to join a coven." Willow said, Eda traced a spell circle that pulled Willows cowl over her head. "Let's just get this over with."

They entered the building, several booths were set up inside, each with a sign for one coven or another. From the ceiling hung nine large colorful banners. Two student witches flew by on their staffs.

"Those are the main nine covens, but there are hundreds of other ones you can join." Gus explained. The group continued to walk and look around, "There's Flower Coven, Artist Coven, Big Dog Coven, Small Cat Coven, Tiniest Cat Coven--" Willow was cut off by a groan of annoyance from Eda. "Also the Grumpy Coven." Willow whispered, Luz and Gus laughed.

"What was that?" The kids and King scurried away from Eda, loosing her for a moment before she caught up with them again. "That's the Construction Coven, one of the main nine." Willow pointed towards a bearded witch in a hard hat and Tiny Nose standing next to a pallet of wood and a pallet of bricks. The witch grabbed both pallets from the bottom and tossed them in the air. The materials fell down to perfectly construct a small house.

"They use power glyphs to increase their strength." Willow continued, Luz nodding along. She already knew the basics of each Coven, but she let her friends explain anyways. The witch removed his hard hat to pull off a power glyph from a stack atop his head. He peeled the adhesive off the back of one and put it on Tiny Nose's nose. Her pupils constricted.

Luz laughed at the chaos that followed, glad she didn't have to deal with that. She looked around briefly, wondering if Hunter was here. "Yowza-wowza. I don't envy the people that have to clean that up." She commented, looking back at the chaos Tiny Nose was creating.

"Yowza-wowza." A blue copy of Luz ducked out from behind the original. Luz turned her head towards it "Ah! You've been taken in by the allure of the Illusionist Coven." Gus said, gesturing towards two Illusion track students. Her illusion double walked over to the two, it waved at her before disappearing.

"We like to do magic with a hint..." Gus disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke, reappearing a few feet to the right "...of showmanship." He finished bowing as the other two Illusionist appeared next to him.

"Hey Eda, why haven't you joined a Coven?" Luz asked, "watch closely, Luz." Eda said, another Illusion track witch was now standing with one of the other ones. "When you join a Coven, all your magic is sealed away."

"From now on, that kid will only be able to make illusions. Since I never joined a coven, I can do every kind of magic." She explained, creating a fireball in one hand and a ball of water in the other, then making both disappear. "That's why I'm the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles." Eda finished, walking away as Luz, Willow and Gus hurried to catch up.

As they walked Luz hummed in thought, no one ever told her what the sigils actually did. She knew they existed, but didn't know what purpose they served. Was that why she didn't have an Emperor's Coven sigil? 'Cause she didn't have any magic to seal away?

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a gasp from Gus. "It's the Emperor's Coven! Do you think they'll sign my forehead?"

"Only one way to find out!" Willow replied and the two rushed over to the doorway. Luz started to follow them, but stopped when she realized Eda wasn't following. "Aren't you coming, Eda?"

Eda blew a raspberry "no way, of all the Covens they're the worst. I'll wait out here." Luz frowned slightly, "aww c'mon, they can't be that bad." Eda just rolled her eyes. Luz shrugged before walking in and up into the stands to sit down.

Not even a minute later and Eda sat down next to her. "Alright, let's see this mess."

It was the same ol' flashy magic and speeches they did last year, when she was here as the Amber Guard. After a few minutes, finally something different happened.

"And now, I'm pleased to introduce the esteemed leader of this coven and this year's mystery guest. You know her, you love her! Lilith!" Principal Bump said, A bright flash of light near the ceiling turned into a blue raven sitting on a branch. It flew off the branch onto the stage, landing to reveal Lilith. It disappeared with a screech as she lifted her arms and sent her mask flying. The audience applauded and cheered, while Eda was looking at her speechless. Luz noticed.

"You know her?"

"You could say that." Eda replied, not taking her gaze off of Lilith.

"Thank you, all. It wasn't easy for me to rise to the top. I also started from humble beginnings" Lilith started, "Now I have the highest honor of enforcing the Emperor's will. So be more! The Emperor's Coven awaits you!" She spun, creating the raven illusion again. It spread its wings before bursting into balls of light. Lilith posed with her arms out, smirking, while Eda glared at her.

"That's it?" Luz asked as people started getting up to leave. Her and Eda headed out of the stadium. "Eda where are you going?" Eda turned to reply "I'm gonna head home and wash the con funk off my skin." She turned to continue walking.

"Oh, alright. I'll catch up with you later?" Eda waved back to show that she heard before disappearing into the crowd. Luz hummed and put her hands behind her head, spinning around to walk backwards. She needed to figure out a way to get the portal key from the Owl Lady. She couldn't just use brute force, sure she had training from the Emperor's Coven, but Eda was just more powerful with her magic than Luz with her staff. Not to mention that strategy would blow her cover and she wouldn't be able to try again.

She suddenly bumped into someone, "Watch where you-- Oh, it's you. Willow's... abomination thing." Luz turned around to see the green haired witch, Amity, if Luz recalled correctly.

Luz put her arms back down at her sides "hi! Sorry about that. I'm actually human, not an Abomination. Names Luz." She held out her hand for a handshake, but Amity slapped it away. "Ugh. Put that away. You're the one that got me in trouble with Principal Bump and I never get in trouble." She turned and walked away, but Luz followed anyway.

"Well, to be fair, you were okay with him trying to dissect me, so--" Amity interrupted her, stopping and turning back around. "You can't be here! This covention is for witches only."

Luz scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm learning how to be a witch. I'm receiving magic lessons from a powerful witch and a ferocious demon." She couldn't say what she wanted to say, so the alternative would have to do.

Amity looked over Luz's shoulder. "Is that your ferocious demon, there?" Luz turned around to see King, decked out in merch, walking towards them. Two bakers were walking behind him.

Luz sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her pointer and thumb. "Oh, hey, Luz! Look at all these offerings-- Wah!" He tripped on his scarf, dropping his cupcake. Luz went over and helped him up, They both reached out for his dropped cupcake, failing to reach it before Amity stepped on it. King gasped.

"Oops, that was an accident." Amity said. Luz just gave her a deadpanned look "mhm, all you really accomplished here was getting cupcake icing on your fancy shoes." Amity's face turned red with anger "well, you'll never be able to be a witch, just you and your pet being here is giving witches in training a bad name." She replied.

Luz growled. "I'm not a pet!" King yelled, scratching his face with his hind leg. Luz stood, scooping King up as she did. She gave Amity a harsh glare before turning and walking away "c'mon King, we're just wasting our time."

The two of them walked around the Covention a bit, getting King more offerings, before spotting Eda and Lilith. They headed towards them, Eda noticed the two approaching and grinned. "There's my student now." She turned her attention back to Lilith "how about we have my student and one of yours have a witches duel?" Lilith scoffed and Luz and King stopped to stand next to Eda.

"Wait, witches duel?" Luz asked, concerned as she looked at Eda. "look at those ears! Is she human? Where did you even find one of these? Okay, Edalyn." Lilith chuckled and Luz scowled. Lilith was the only coven head that didn't know she was the Amber Guard, and Raine Whispers, but they weren't a Coven head, but there had been rumors of the current Bard head retiring soon.

Lilith drew a spell circle and Eda's wanted posters burned to ash. "For one day, you won't have to hide from the law, because I want to see how good a teacher you really are." She then walked away.

Eda slapped Luz's back "alright kid, time to prepare for bloodshed."

"What." Eda dragged her over to a hallway to train her. "But Eda, all I know is that light spell. What am I supposed to do with that!? Blind my opponent till they surrender!?" Luz said, exasperated. "Oh. Right. I haven't taught you many spells. Huh?" Eda replied. Luz stared at her blankly for a moment "you just realized that?"

Eda waved her off, "I'll teach you some potions tomorrow." Luz rolled her eyes "that's not going to help me right now though. I have to live until then." Eda snorted "don't worry I gotta plan."

An hour later and they found themselves in the stadium. "Beloved citizens, the Emperor's Coven proudly presents an impromptu demonstration of the sort of witch we seek every year. Introducing Amity Blight." Lilith and Amity were standing on the dais, while Eda and Luz were standing opposite them.

"Of course it's Amity." Luz muttered. The crowd cheered for Amity as she smirked, Luz rolled her eyes. "Versus... some human girl." Lilith said.

A bell rings and screams. Luz, a bit nervous, and Amity, confident, approach each other as the audience cheers. Amity cracked her knuckles. As Luz crossed her arms.

Amity traced out a large spell circle. "Abomination, rise." She commanded as the purple goop took the shape of a humanoid figure. It was much larger than what Luz saw her do last time. "Whoa. Show me what you got, human!"

Luz gritted her teeth, pulling out her dagger. She wasn't sure if she could even use it properly against the massive Abomination. She ran out of the way as the Abomination twisted its head off and threw it at Luz, it's head just misses.

The Abomination stepped forward, it's head had regrown, it stepped on one of the mounds Eda had placed as her plan and fire erupted, making it stumble backwards.

"How did you do that?"

"Magic!" Luz replied, The steaming abomination stepped onto another mound, this one producing a current of air strong enough to launch it and Amity into the air. The abomination grunts as it lands on its back. Amity lands kneeling. "I-I saw you that time! You didn't use your hands! What are you getting at?" Amity yelled.

Luz didn't reply as she took a fighting stance. The abomination stood up with a groan, then stomped toward Luz again. Luz dodge rolled out of the way as it's foot came down on the spot she was at moments before. "Amity catch!" She called as she chucked her dagger towards the witch.

Amity yelped as she dodged out of the way, the dagger struck the sandy ground where she had been. "What the heck!" She looked up, angrily at the human, her expression quickly changed to shock as Luz was full on sprinting towards her.

She drew another spell circle as Luz tackled her to the ground, pinning her arms down. "Get off me, human!" Luz stuck her tongue out in reply, the Abomination grabbed Luz tossing her to the ground a little ways away.

Amity stood up, dusting the sand off of her as she glared at Luz. Luz used her elbows as support and looked up as the Abomination made it's way closer to her. However it stepped on another mound, causing an explosion. Amity stalked over to Luz "how are you doing that?" She demanded.

Luz sat up, one hand on the ground to support her as she looked up at Amity. "Amity, don't step any closer!" Luz said, noticing one of the mounds. Amity narrowed her eyes "Why, Luz? What happens if I step closer?"

Suddenly King screamed as he fell flat on his back, directly on the mound. Spikes burst from the ground, forcing Luz and Amity back several steps. "Spikes?" Luz looked to Eda, the older witch giving her a thumbs up. "I knew it! You were cheating!"

Lilith touched the top of a shorter spike, making it crumble. "Oh, Eda. I do believe this means you lose!" Lilith said. Eda groaned, "it wasn't my idea to cheat." Luz shrugged. "Who could believe anything you say?" Amity replied, turning and walking away.

"Wait just a sec, Miss Protégé." Eda said, Lilith's eyes widened as Eda went after Amity. She lifted Amity's hair. "Hey! what are you--" Amity protested. Eda ripped the glyph off. The abomination shrank until it was about the height of Amity's knee, though it crumbled completely when its head crushed it. Eda held the glyph up to the audience. "A power glyph from the Construction Coven." She announced. Eda went over and taunted Lilith.

"But... I didn't know!" Amity said, rubbing the back of her neck before running off. Luz stood up with a grunt, clutching her side, she was definitely going to have a bruise there later. "Luz! Help me!" King yelled, Luz went over and freed King, ripping the shirts in the process.

"My offerings!" King said in dismay. Luz patted King's head "You'll get more offerings, King." She replied, standing back up and walking after Amity, after picking up her dagger. "Hey, wait for me!"

Luz made it to the entrance of the theater, she looked around. She saw Amity sulking in a dark corner next to the bathrooms. Luz walked over, her hands in her pockets. "Hey Amity... sorry about, all that."

"Ugh, seriously? Just leave me alone."

"I didn't mean to embarrass you." Luz replied, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms. "That's all you ever do! First at school, and now this!" Amity fumed, standing up. "You made me look like a fool in front of the Emperor's Coven. My future! You think it's so easy to be a witch. I have been working my whole life to get to the top!" She ranted, advancing on Luz. "You lost! You cheated! Say it! Say you're not a witch!"

Luz looked away with a sigh. "I'm not a witch, but that doesn't mean you can blame me for everything that happened. It was Eda and Lilith's idea for a witches duel, Lilith put that glyph on you and Eda with those mounds." Luz replied with a shrug.

She kneeled down, pulling out a notepad and her staff-pen. Amity looked confused as she kneeled down with her. Luz slowly drew out the light glyph, then tapped it. She gently cupped the ball of light produced. She held it up to Amity. "But I'm training hard to do magic, my own way. I can't be a witch and I never will be, I'm just a human after all. But that doesn't mean I can't do it." She finished, looking away from the ball of light and smiling softly at Amity.

Amity stared at the light for a moment before turning away "That's nothing. A child could do a light spell." Luz's expression fell. She extinguished the ball of light and turned away, scooping up her notepad. "But... I've never seen it cast like that." Amity said, turning her head to look at Luz.

"It doesn't come naturally to me like it does for you, so I've had to improvise." Luz nodded to the notepad. Amity sighed and they sat in silence for a bit.

Amity stood up "I apologize for blaming you today, though I still don't forgive you for the school incident... and throwing a dagger at me." Luz rolled her eyes, standing up as well. "The dagger was just to distract you, maybe we can call it even for you almost getting me dissected?" Amity didn't reply, instead she just walked away.

Luz shrugged, taking it as a yes as King ran up to her. "Luz! You left me!" She looked down at him "Yeah, sorry. Your legs are just so tiny. Should we get you more offerings?" She asked, King shook his head. "Nah. That stuff just weighed me down. But I have something for you, Luz. And it's the best thing, because it's free, comes from my heart, and I always have more than I need."

Luz's brow rose, looking at him in confusion. He reached behind him "Tote bags!" He put it on Luz's arm and hopped in it as she stood "And they have so many uses! Away, fair chariot! Away!" King pointed to the exit as Luz laughed, patting his head.

Eda arrived next to them "we gotta go." Luz looked at her "how'd you get away from Lilith?" She asked. "Let's just say she had a real "snack attack." Hah!" Eda snorted and headed for the door. "Wait, I got a better one." Luz chuckled and shook her head.

"Luz!" Two voices called, Luz turned and saw Willow and Gus running up to her. She waved as they caught up to her. "Are you okay?" Willow asked, Luz waved her off "nothing I can't handle, I'll just have a bruise on my side for a few days." Gus jumped up and down in excitement "you were so cool! And how you threw that dagger and tackled Amity!"

"It was pretty cool." Willow agreed, Luz grinned. "Let's go before my sister realizes I tied her pointy shoes together." Eda interrupted, Lilith screamed in the distance. "And that's our cue! See ya nerds!" Eda wrapped and arm around Luz's shoulders and quickly guided her out of the building.

"Wait. Sister!? Lilith is your sister?" Luz asked, surprised.

Chapter Text

For the following week, Luz was pretty busy. Between delivering Potions with King, Eda teaching her about Potions (even though she already knew the basics and how to make a few potions herself.) And King teaching her about demons. Not to mention her and King reading The Good Witch Azura together (they had found the second and fourth book, unfortunately they didn't have the third yet.) And finally finding a blue bug for Hooty. Luz almost forgot about getting the portal key, at least until she laid awake for hours on end at night thinking of different ideas.

It was Friday afternoon and Luz and King had just gotten back from delivering Potions. Luz collapsed on the couch as King ran upstairs to 'prepare his army.' Luz laid facedown for a bit on the couch, her mind drifted back to her mission and she internally groaned. She probably should update Kikimora sometime soon.

She turned over so that she was now laying on her back, staring up at the owl creature carving on the ceiling. Maybe she should try stealing the key in the middle of the night, although she wasn't sure how heavy a sleeper Eda was, perhaps she could ask Hooty or King or maybe not, she didn't want to seem suspicious.

She yawned, the week and lack of sleep was catching up to her. She closed her eyes, maybe she could take a nap, Eda was probably too busy with that card game to notice the time anyway.

Not too long later she blinked open her eyes and sat up in confusion. Muted grey walls surrounded her on three different sides, the forth wall had iron bars separating her from the large circular room. Footsteps echoed throughout the room and grew louder as the person came closer.

She looked down at her hands, subconsciously and blinked in confusion. Her hands were smaller than she remembered and the claw-like nails were gone. She touched the left side of her face and gasped, instead of rough scared skin, it was smooth, like the claw marks were never there to begin with.

A shadow fell across her cell and she looked up at the figure that stood there. He wore a golden mask with two long upward-facing horns. His eyes were hollow through the mask, creating the appearance of having empty eye sockets. He wore a large white and brown cape with gold trim.

Luz quickly scooted back away from him, her back hitting the back wall. "Not this memory." She whimpered. "Hello human. Do you know who I am?" The man asked, Luz's body wouldn't listen to her anymore as it followed through with the memory.

She shook her head and the man chuckled. But Luz didn't feel any warmth from it, it was cold and sinister and she shivered, curling in on herself more.

"I am Emperor Belos, the ruler of the Boiling Isles and I'm getting tired of you not answering our questions. You have been dodging it long enough. This is the last time we will ask and if you don't answer there will be dire consequences." Emperor Belos said. "Now human, how did you get here to this realm?"

Luz shook her head "I-I've already told everything I remember. One minute I was playing and the next there's snow." The Emperor grunted, obviously disappointed with her answer. "I gave you so many chances human, a year's worth of them." He shook his head. "You leave me no choice."

"Obviously the punishments we've been giving you aren't enough, so instead you will work for me as part of the Emperor's Coven. And before you even think about running away as soon as you get the chance, think about it. You a, what? 8 year old human girl versus a world you know nothing about?" Emperor Belos, explained.

"And to make sure you stay in line and obey the orders given to you..." Belos pulled out a rolled up scroll and held it up for Luz to see. "This is a curse and I am the only one who can heal it. It really is sad I have to resort to this, but you've given me no other choice."

Luz stood up shaking her head. "No! You can't! Please! I don't remember how I got here. Please..." Luz's voice broke as tears gathered in her eyes. The Emperor ignored her, breaking the seal on the scroll and holding it up towards her.

All Luz could see was red and she fell to her hands and knees as the curse took effect. It was like a raging fire burning throughout her body, she could feel her body changing. She wanted the pain to stop, she pulled at her hair with her right hand and with her left she clutched her face as she sobbed into her hand. "Make it stop..."

A sharp pain in her back made her jerk her head up and yell, she accidentally left deep scratch mark's over her left eye with her newly formed claws in the process. Blood dripped down onto the stone floor, staining it as her world went black.

Luz gasped as she quickly sat up from the couch, breathing heavily she looked down at her hands. She yelped and scrambled off of the couch, accidentally falling to the floor in the process. Fur spouted up her arm as she stood back up and rushed up the stairs, clutching her arm close to her chest and trying to hide it.

She opened the door to her room and, ignoring the carnage of stuffed animals scattered around, she collapsed onto her knees and dragged her bag over to her. Brown fur spouted across her shoulders as she dug out one of her elixirs and chugged it down.

Luz watched the fur on her arms disappear for a moment, a tingling sensation being what was left where the fur had been. She sighed in relief and collapsed onto her back on her sleeping bag. That was a close one, she stared at the empty glass bottle in her hand. She only had 7 more left before she was out, she had to figure out where to get more.

She sighed, putting the glass bottle back in her bag. Unsure of what to do, Luz sat up, using her elbows to support her. She didn't want to go back to sleep, fearing that some other memory would play. The scampering of paws alerted her of King's arrival as he entered the room, holding his stuffed rabbit. He stopped in the doorway when he saw her "oh, you're in here now." He entered the room, setting up Francois on one side of the room and grabbing a few other stuffed animals and setting them in a line behind the rabbit.

"What were you doing?" Luz asked, watching him. "I had to get my general to get these troops in line." King replied, he turned to Luz "would you like to help me overtake the throne in my honor?" Luz hummed before blowing a raspberry "sorry, I don't think I have the energy to overthrow an evil ruler right now." She replied, sighing and collapsing onto her back again, her arms spread out to the sides.

She heard King walk over to her and felt him climb ontop of her, sitting on her stomach. She looked down at him, amused "can we read the Good Witch Azura then?" He asked, Luz shrugged "sure, go get it."

He got off of her and he hopped up onto the table, grabbing the book and jumping back down onto the floor with a thump. Luz sat up fully this time, and sat crisscrossed as King took his spot on her lap, handing her the book. "Alright, let's see..." Luz flipped through the pages of the second book until she found the correct page. Clearing her throat she began to read, "Azura wasn't sure if she trusted their new companion..."

It was a few hours later before they stopped reading, both of them agreeing that it was time to pester Eda about dinner. King scampered off to go bug the Owl Lady, while Luz closed the book, marking the page and setting it back down onto the table. She stretched for a moment before heading downstairs to the kitchen.

It wasn't too long later when King entered the kitchen, Eda with Owlbert on her shoulder right behind him. "Alright, alright, I'll make you gremlins some dinner." Eda was saying, King climbed up onto his seat as Luz chuckled "playing that card game with Owlbert again?" She teased.

Eda scoffed "of course not!" King rolled his eyes "she definitely was." Eda grabbed some things from the fridge before replying "it's a great game, I'll show you guys how to play tomorrow." King groaned "please don't."

Luz snickered, Eda ignored them as she started on dinner. Luz put her head in her hand, drifting to her thoughts. She really liked it at the Owl House, something about it was just so warm and friendly, which was a nice change from cold and depressing. However she knew she couldn't stay forever, once she got the portal key and the door to Belos he would heal her and send her back home. So why did her gut twist at the thought?

Soon dinner was ready and Luz forced herself to eat, not feeling hungry anymore. She was mostly silent and when asked if something was wrong she waved it off as just being tired. Once they were done eating, Luz headed off to bed. She changed into her pajamas and laid down in her sleeping bag, she'll update Kikimora tomorrow, she just didn't have the energy to deal with the annoying demon.

King entered the room sometime later, curling up next to her. She scratched his back for a bit before going to sleep.

Chapter Text

Luz was sitting on the couch the next day, King on her lap and Eda explaining Hexes Hold'em as she played against Owlbert, who was wearing a green visor.

Eda put a card down on the table. Lightning came from the cards, sending Owlbert flying for cover behind the side of the table. The cards all stood and roared. Owlbert's cards surged forward and attacked Eda's, making Owlbert smirk.

"Now when it looks like the deck is stacked against you, that's when you break out the wildcard." Eda held up a card with a tower on it. It glowed green, and Owlbert's cards disappeared in a flash of fire. Fiery letters spelling out "WINNER: EDA" appeared and disappeared over the table. Owlbert hopped back on the table and hooted at Eda, his wings extended.

"Woo, I win! In your adorable owl face. Ah, I love the feeling of victory; it feels...fluffy?" Eda said, a confused look overtaking her face. "Eda, it's happening again." Luz said, pointing at the witch.

"Your curse is returning!" King yelled, leaping off of Luz's lap. Eda yelped as she looked at her arms, before going up the stairs to her room. Luz picked up the deck of cards as she, King and Owlbert followed after her.

They caught up to her and watched as Eda opened the chest that she started keeping her elixirs in. It was empty. "Oh boy." Eda huffed, "this is terrible, I'm out of elixir."

"Last time you turned into this." Luz held up the human scroll--she still needed to figure out what it was called--with a picture of the Owl Beast on screen. "I know I should be repulsed, but that look is fierce." Eda smirked after peering at the picture.

"Eda!" Luz glared, curses were nothing to joke about. "Alright, alright, keep your pants on. We'll head to the market." Eda rolled her eyes at her apprentice.

"You get your elixirs at the market? You don't make them yourself?" Luz asked as King ran out of the room yelling something about stealing. "Yup, the ingredients are super rare or expensive. So I just buy the elixir itself, much cheaper that way." Eda explained.

Luz stood up to follow after King. "Hey before we go, would anyone like to play one more hand of Hexes Hold'em?" Eda patted her pocket "Hey, where are my cards?" Luz held the cards up to Owlbert "Take these and fly ahead. She'll have to follow us."

Owlbert flew away with the cards as Eda gave chase. "Owlbert, you sore loser, gimme back my cards!" Luz meanwhile, quickly headed to her room and grabbed her bag. Making sure her elixir bottles were inside. Perhaps she could restock her own elixirs.

She slung the strap over her head and headed downstairs, the front door was open and she could still see Eda running after Owlbert in the distance. King climbed up onto her shoulder "onward loyal minion, to the market!" He shouted, Luz chuckled as she ran after Eda, Hooty closing the door behind them and yelling goodbye.

Luz eventually caught up to Eda, the Owl Lady banging on a metal grate of a shop in the market. "Hey, open up, Morton!" She called. "Uh, ju--...just a minute!" A voice replied from inside the shop. King leaped off of Luz's shoulder and went over to a nearby bench and sat down.

Luz hummed looking over the shop before turning to Eda. "So does this guy sell Potions like you?" She asked as Eda banged on the grate again. "Yeah, he sells all kinds. Though he doesn't have any of the creative potions I make." She snorted.

Luz tapped her fingers against the strap of her bag, turning her head to look at the market and seeing some demon hunters nearby. She looked away quickly, "hey Eda, could I get some snails and look around the market?" She asked, looking up at the Owl Lady.

Eda looked down at her and thought for a moment, then shrugged "sure why not? Just don't get scammed." She pulled out a change purse and dumped some coins into her palm. "20 snails should be enough for something right? Don't spend it all in one place, kid." She winked, giving Luz the coins.

Luz rolled her eyes "thanks Eda." She put the coins in her pocket, 20 snails would probably be enough to get her an elixir or two. That is if she was able to find anyone who sold it.

Luz walked away as Eda banged on the grate again, it finally opening and the shop owner apologizing. Ignoring it, Luz looked around at the other stalls, frowning when she didn't see any other potions stands nearby. However, she did spot her friends.

Deciding to wait for Eda to leave the stand so she could see about her own elixirs, she headed towards her friends to see what they were up to.

Luz ran up to Willow and Gus "heya friends!" She called, gaining their attention, then noticing their dejected looks she added "what's wrong?" She slowed down to a stop beside them.

"Them." Willow pointed to a group of teens in front of a food stand. Two of the teens were laughing while Amity was staring at a potion bottle, the last of the group was a three eyed girl watching the others.

"Amity's having a moonlight conjuring and invited everyone but me." Willow continued, Gus summoned his scroll "And she keeps posting about it on her Penstagram account." Luz squinted at the scroll, reading it aloud "It's conjuring night! No dorks allowed"? What a jerk!" She scowled for a moment before asking "what's a moonlight conjuring?"

"You spend the night at someone's house, telling stories, playing games..." Willow then pulled out a book "Then you bring something to life with moon magic!" She explained. Luz hummed, looking over the pictures in the book "sounds fun!"

"Gus and I have never been to one. You need at least three people and--" Willow started before Luz cut her off "Well we're three people, we can have our own moonlight conjuring!"

Amity and her friends walked over, the three eyed girl in the lead, laughed. "Sorry you couldn't get an invite to the conjuring, Willow. Only real witches allowed." She looked over at Amity, who sighed "Leave her alone, Boscha. It's not her fault she was born without talent."

The group left as Willow growled, vines growing up from the ground at her feet. Luz slapped the tallest vine, the plant retreating "Don't waste your time getting thorny over them. 'Cause we're gonna have our own moonlight conjuring, and I bet ours will be 10 times more fun."

"Are you serious? This was on my bucket list. After owning a real human bucket!" Gus pulled out a list and checked something off. Luz blinked "uh huh, anyways. I'll go tell Eda." She ran ahead to the stand Eda was at.

"...if anyone has what you need, it's him." Morton was saying, as Luz stopped beside the Owl Lady. "Hey Eda, Gus and Willow and I are gonna do a moonlight conjuring and stick it to Amity. So can we--"

"Not tonight, I'm going out. I need you to watch the house, I have many precious objects in there." Eda cut her off, grabbing her staff and starting to walk. "Like me! Weh." King said as Eda picked him up by his collar. "You're coming with me. I need an extra pair of eyes looking out for pickpockets, and an extra pair of hands in case I want to pickpocket."

"Pickpocket!" They both cheered. "Then, maybe they can come to the house and--" but Luz was again cut off by Eda "No! Besides, conjurings are dumb; sitting in a circle holding hands. Pft. It's like magic for babies." She walked off, Luz growling in annoyance.

Willow and Gus caught up to her, "Luz! What did Eda say?" Willow asked. "So... guys..." Gus suddenly pointed up at the sky "Oh, look! The moon is rising into place. And the celestial powers only align once a year."

"Oh, I can't believe I finally have enough friends for a moonlight conjuring! Thank you, Luz! Did Eda say it was okay?" Willow looked back at Luz, who was having an internal conflict on if she should say yes or no.

"Uhm... yes? Definitely. Absolutely. We can do it at the Owl House." Luz laughed nervously. "Yes!" Gus cheered, "oh, you're the best!" Willow hugged her, Luz stiffened at the sudden contact. Willow didn't seem to notice as she let go and started cheering with Gus.

"We're gonna do a conjuring! We're gonna do a conjuring! Conjuring! Conjuring!" Luz looked up at the moon, nervous and unable to relax. Luz let out a slow breath and looked back at her friends, what was she doing?

She shook her head, "alright guys, come by around... hmm, 9:30. Eda and King should be out of the house by then. In the meantime I need to hit the market, see you later?" They nodded and the three waved goodbye as they split ways. Luz headed over to the stand that Eda was at earlier.

Morton noticed her approaching "hello, what can I do for you?" He asked, he must not have noticed her with Eda or he just didn't care, either way it was fine with Luz. She stopped in front of the stand and pulled out one of the empty elixir bottles from her bag. "I just need a few of these." She replied.

He picked up the bottle and looked over the tag that was still on it. "Let me check." Luz nodded as Morton put the bottle down and headed deeper into the stall. Luz put the bottle back in her bag as she waited.

"Good news!" He called, returning with a few elixirs. Luz perked up as he placed them on the counter "how much?" She asked. "Ten snails each." He replied.

"Two then." She took the snails Eda gave her out of her pocket, recounting it before handing it over and taking the two elixirs. "Anything else?" Morton asked, putting the other elixirs out of sight. Luz was about to shake her head, but then thought about it for a moment. "Actually, I have a question. Do you know what the elixir is called?"

Morton hummed, thinking. "I believe the potion is called Lupus Domitor, pretty sure it means wolf tamer or something along those lines." Luz thanked him before heading back to the Owl House, she wanted to see if she could find and make the potion herself sometime. That would be a task for another day though, she had a moonlight conjuring to prepare for, but first...

Once Luz reached the forest path to the Owl House, she pulled out the mirror and held it for a moment, glaring at the device. After a moment she sighed, her face morphing into a neutral expression as she flipped the mirror open and pushed the button before she could back out.

It took a minute before Kikimora answered, her face appearing on the screen. "I assume you're reporting in?" She asked with a tilt of her head. "Yes." Luz replied, before continuing "did you know that the Owl Lady is cursed? She turns into a murderous Owl Beast sometimes." Luz commented, sarcastically.

"Yes we already knew this information from Lilith. The Emperor wanted to see how much information you could dig up yourself and use it to your advantage." Kikimora replied, Luz suppressed an eye roll "it would have been helpful to know that bit of information before I was almost killed, but anyways the Owl Beast has a weakness to light." Luz informed.

"On the weekends Eda runs her stand while on the weekdays she sells her Potions and elixirs. So far I have tried to get the key once but I almost got caught by King, the Owl Lady's companion." Luz fudged a bit, she wasn't going to tell Kikimora she got startled by King.

Kikimora nodded "is that all you have to report?" She asked, Luz thought for a moment. There wasn't really anything else of importance to report "no that's it." Luz replied. "I'll let the Emperor know of the new information you have provided." Kikimora swiftly hung up and Luz put the mirror back in her bag.

The rest of the afternoon was mostly spent reading with King, eating lunch, and watching Eda play more Hexes Hold'em. Soon crickets started chirping as night came, Eda had gone to get ready for the Night Market.

Luz was anxiously sitting on the couch, King was elsewhere in the house. It was a little past 9 when Eda came down the stairs, she was putting a cloak on when she spoke "Luz, you're in charge while I'm out. Make sure Hooty doesn't get into any trouble." There was a muffled "hoot, hoot" behind the front door and it swung open "I don't need a babysitter. I'm a big boy house!" Hooty exclaimed.

"Don't worry Owl Lady, the house will still be here when you get back." Luz did a mock salute and Eda squinted at her, both of them ignoring the house demon. "You're acting suspicious." Eda commented, Luz stopped drumming her fingers on her knees and crossed her arms. "Am not. Anyways, where's King?" Eda smirked opening her cloak to reveal King, snoring, strapped in a pink baby carrier.

"He's right here. His little body just conks out when he's weightless. Look at this." Eda swayed side to side, King not waking as he moved like a ragdoll. Luz 'awwed' at the sight. "Anyway, really going now..." Eda walked outside and Luz followed her, she summoned her staff and turned to Luz. "And one more thing Luz... if you mess up the house, I will never trust you again." She said in a dark tone, then in a much lighter tone "No pressure! Bye!" She hopped on her staff and flew off as Luz waved goodbye, a nervous laugh then a sigh leaving her nervous body.

"I am so screwed, if she finds out."

Chapter Text

Luz was setting up some board games on the living room table when there was a knock on the door. The door slammed open as Hooty opened it, leaving Willow and Gus startled "Luz you have some guests! Hoot!" Luz looked up from the table "hey guys, come on in."

The two walked inside, looking around the room curiously. The door closed behind them, Luz set a bowl of snacks down in the middle of the table and gestured to the room. "Welcome to the Owl House, guys. We've got snacks, games, and music!" Luz put her arms back down and put the needle down on a gramophone, which produced an evil cackle.

Willow was looking at the walls while Gus was rummaging through a chest. "look at all these human treasures!" He then pulled out a skull. "And actual humans!" Willow walked away from the wall and next to Luz "And best of all we have actual friends to do the conjuring with! This is so exciting!" She clasped her hands together in excitement.

Luz smiled "So how does this conjuring stuff work?" Gus walked back over with a bucket on his head excitedly "we've got a bucket!" Luz gave him a thumbs up, unsure of how to reply and turned her attention back to Willow. "Well first, we find something to animate. Since it's our first time we should pick something meaningful." She walked over to some purple flowers. "Something beautiful."

"Like this strangely buff little man!?" Gus interrupted, bursting through the flowers with an action figure. He tapped the figure's stomach "I'm half beef, half Bob!" The toy exclaimed.

"Fine by me." Luz shrugged, Willow deflated a bit. "That's not exactly what I meant by beautiful..." Gus pulled the action figure back and gave Willow a pleading look. Willow sighed "fine, buff boy it is." Gus cheered "tonight he shall be risen!"

For the next two hours the trio mostly played board games, Willow and Gus having to teach Luz how to play, and eating snacks. Luz couldn't fully let herself have fun with her friends though, glancing up at the clock then to the windows for any sign of Eda.

"So when should we start the conjuring?" Luz asked as she watched Gus move his piece across the board of the current game they were playing. Luz picked up the dice and rolled, moving her own piece but landed on a space that required her to move back a couple of spaces.

"Well the moon's power is strongest at its highest point, so midnight." Willow replied, rolling the dice. Instead of getting a number though there was a picture of a card. She picked up the top card on the deck and grinned, "sorry Luz." She said as she swapped her piece with Luz's piece.

"Aww dang it, I was actually winning this time." Luz complained, making Willow and Gus laugh. They continued their game for a few more minutes, until Gus got a card and he cheered moving across the finish line and winning the game. "I went from first to last in less than three minutes." Luz flopped onto her back, dramatically.

"Don't worry Luz, I'm sure you'll win next time." Gus told her, Willow nodded in agreement. "You better not be planning to go easy on me next time." Luz said, sitting back up. "Us? Never!" Gus exclaimed, the three of them laughed.

Luz looked at the clock again and to the window. "Well, it's almost midnight, so we should put this away." They started gathering the pieces and putting it way, placing the box and empty bowl of snacks on the table. Under Willow's direction, they cleared some room for them on the floor to do the conjuring.

Gus placed Beefy Bob on the ground between the three of them. While Luz finished lighting several candles around them. "According to the conjuring books I've read, we say the incantation and make a connection with the doll." Willow informed, as Luz sat down with them in their little circle.

"Figurine." Gus corrected as they all held hands to start the conjuring. "Moonlight, we call, we sing. Moonlight take this chance. Moonlight come tie the string. Moonlight start the dance!" Willow and Gus chanted, Luz tried to follow along but gave up halfway through.

The moon continued to rise higher into the sky, once the chant ended Luz felt a gust of wind. She opened her eyes, not sure when she closed them, Willow and Gus opened their own eyes. "That's your cue little man." Gus said to the figurine.

The entire house shook and tilted, objects falling off of the shelves and tables, the three kids screaming as they loose their balance. Once the house was still, Luz was the first to recover. "Guys? What just happened?" A book fell on her head and onto the ground, she picked it up and put it onto the table. She used the table to help herself off of the ground.

"Little buff guy, what did you do?" Gus asked, picking up the toy. "A real man never takes accountability!" The toy replied. "No, I think—I think we might've animated the house by accident!" Willow exclaimed, getting back up on her feet. "We did what now!?" Luz screeched.

Luz ran outside and nearly fell off the ledge. The house now had giant bird legs. Gus and Willow joined her outside as the house began to walk and the door slammed shut.

Luz ran back up to the door and banged her fist against the wood. "Hooty? Hooty! Hooty, you have to stop!" She shouted at the house demon. Hooty's eyes were glowing blue and he spoke in a monotone voice "By the power of moonlight, I have risen. Hoot hoot."

"He's in some kind of trance!" Gus said. The Owl House stepped through two trees. The jostling made Gus yell as he and Luz lose their balance. He nearly falls off, but Luz and Willow catch him. "Our magic must've spread through the house instead of the doll!" Willow observed.

"Figurine!" Gus corrected again. Luz and Willow grunted as they tried not to drop Gus. They both nearly fell and grabbed each other's hand for balance. The Owl House walked towards the edge of a cliff "Hooty, stop!" Luz shouted, the house stops moments before it would have walked off the cliff. Luz and Willow pulled Gus back up to safety and they all let go of each other. "So now he listens." Luz commented, glaring at Hooty.

"How'd we do that?" Gus asked. "I think it was because we were holding hands." Willow replied, looking up at the moon. Luz and Gus followed her gaze, Luz hummed "well let's test it, hold hands again." She held her hands out for them to hold.

The Owl House takes several steps away from the cliff. "We're controlling it with the power of friendship! Uh, and the moon. Probably the moon." Willow said. "This is amazing! What do we do now?" Gus asked, excitedly.

"On one hand, we should probably go back." Luz replied. "On the other hand, we've got a giant walking house and should totally take it on a joyride!" Gus exclaimed. "I don't know..." Luz looked at the now descending moon and contemplated her options. "Fine." She relented, "but we gotta be back before the moon sets or Eda will kill me." Gus cheered "joyride!"

They directed the house forward, and walked through the forest. Not too long later they spotted the three eyed girl walking past with a crow phone and a duffel bag. "Hey, is that..." Willow trailed, squinting. "It's Boscha. That girl who made fun of us." Gus replied.

The trio proceeded to prank her and laughed when she ran away screaming. "I've never pranked anyone before. And now I have a taste for it." Gus said, "We should follow her to Amity's house to show off our conjuring. That will show her who's got no talent." Willow suggested. Luz looked up at the moon, which was nearly at the treetops and still going down.

"Actually, I'm starting to think we should head back." Luz said, to which Gus replied by showing her his scroll "Amity's updating her Penstagram." Luz squinted at the scroll and read it aloud. "Shout out to my fellow witches. #Humans can bite it."? Seriously?" Luz growled.

She huffed in annoyance and closed her eyes to get herself to calm down a bit. A clear head makes the best decisions. She opened her eyes again and shook her head "there's no point in showing off to Amity, she won't change her mind. No matter what you do to prove otherwise. So we're heading back, now." Luz stated firmly.

Willow nodded in understanding while Gus let out a loud, drawn out "awww." They started to head back but before they could get to far, the house was stopped by a giant rope over the roof.

"What happened?" Willow asked. "Is that a giant crossbow!?" Luz pointed, in the distance on a hill was, indeed a giant crossbow that shot a second bolt and rope to secure the house further.

A Demon Hunter jumped up in front of the kids "knock, knock." Unfortunately for the Demon Hunter he picked the wrong group of kids. Well more specifically, Luz, a trained Emperor's Coven Official. Luz didn't hesitate and lunged for the guy, suprising him and landing a punch to his face, making him stumble backwards a bit. Luz took the opportunity to kick him in the gut, sending him off the side of the ledge.

He screamed on his way down, unfortunately someone grabbed Luz from behind and restrained her arms, tying them together. "Hey!" She yelled as she was yanked towards an already restrained Willow and Gus. The three Demon Hunters tied them together before shoving them inside the house and closing the door.

Luz kicked at the door, frustrated. "Hooty! Hooty! You have to wake up!"

"If you want this to end as you say, three must hold hands. It's the only way." Hooty rhymed. "¡Oye, don't talk to me like that! Willow, will you help me out with Hooty?" Luz turned her head and tried her best to look at Willow. "I'm sorry, Luz. You shouldn't ask me to help with anything." Willow replied, dejectedly.

"But-" Luz was cut off as the house suddenly stopped moving. The door squeaked open, making Willow and Gus whimper while Luz growled. The Demon Hunter that Luz kicked glared at them. He shoved the three of them to their feet and out of the Owl House.

He shoved them off of the ledge, but luckily it was a smaller distance to fall since the house was lower to the ground now. They grunted as they hit the ground, the Demon Hunter jumped down beside them and turned to address one of his companions.

"Take the house and rip out the house demon. We can sell it to restaurants as exotic meat."

"No! Hooty would taste terrible." Luz interjected. "Hey, I'm a refined taste. Hoot! Hoot!" Hooty replied. "What do we do with the worms?" Another Demon Hunter asked, the first Demon Hunter glanced at the trio and smirked "throw them over the cliff."

The other Demon Hunter chuckled as he approached the kids, shoving them to the edge of the cliffside. The boiling sea crashed in waves against the rock face. "All righty, kids. Here's the end of your short little lives."

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Gus turned the group around so that he faced the Demon Hunter when he spoke. "Is this really what you wanna be doing with your life? Tossing kids from cliffs?"

"Actually, yes. It's been my dream since I was a boy." The Demon Hunter replied, happily. It was silent for a moment, the kids staring at him in disbelief. "Dude, that is messed up." Luz commented. "I was a strange child. Whee!" He then shoved them off of the cliff, laughing.

The three screamed as they plummeted towards the water, but their descent stopped when a branch sticking out of the cliffside caught them. Luz breathed a sigh of relief, it didn't last long though as a wave crashed below them. She wrinkled her nose and squinted her eyes at the overwhelming smell of sea salt.

"Well, at least we're not dead... yet." Luz commented, looking to her friends. "Luz, I'm sorry, we shouldn't have taken the house for a joyride." Gus apologized. While Gus was speaking, Luz looked up at the branch. It wouldn't hold them for long.

"It's not your fault Gus." Luz replied, looking back down at the Illusionist. "Its mine, if I was stronger maybe I could have protected us from the Demon Hunters. I'm just a half-a-witch, like Amity said." Willow interjected, she muttered the last bit under her breath but Luz still heard.

"Guys, neither of you are at fault. Actually, Eda said no to the conjuring and I lied to you about it, so I could have prevented all this in the first place if I just told the truth." Luz reasoned, looking away for a moment down to the crashing waves.

"Well if we're confessing things, the reason I wanted to show off to Amity was because... she and I used to be friends." Willow said. Luz looked back up at her "wait, really?"

"Guys is now really the best time?" Gus interjected as the branch cracked, making them all yelp in terror as they dipped down lower. "We played together as kids, but when she got her magical powers and I didn't, she stopped hanging out with me."

"I just wanted to prove to her that I was a powerful witch, too." Willow sighed. "That's ridiculous. You helped bring a house to life. Amity doesn't know what she's talking about." Luz started, Willow smiled. "I bet you could rival Ter-... the plant Coven head! 'Cause next to Eda, you're the most powerful witch I know. No offense, Gus." She spoke confidently, until she almost slipped up on the name of the plant Coven head.

"No, not at all. I know what I'm about." Gus replied. The branch cracks and they all yelp again. "Willow! Think you can grab that branch?" Luz asked, a bit panicked. "Yeah, 'cause this tree can't hold us much longer." Gus said. Willow struggled to free her arm and when she does she reaches for a root. "Now if I could just reach that root..."

She takes hold of the root and her hand glows green. The root grows rapidly, forming a platform made of a giant leaf to carry them up. Other thorny vines grow as well.

"They were children, Tom." They hear the first Demon Hunter say as they reach the top and towered over them. "We may be children, but we're also witches. Powerful ones." Willow replied, using one of the vines to cut through the rope.

She sets the plant to attack. It flings Tom into the distance. The first Demon Hunter pulls a sword and slices off the tip of one of the vines. A three-eyed witch tries to hit a vine with an axe, but misses. The vine grabs their ankle and flings them into a pile of rubble. Willow, Luz, and Gus run to the House while the plant is busy with the other demon hunters. Luz holds open the door for them, then closes it behind her.

"Quick!" Luz held her hand out and they all joined hands. They were jostled a bit as the house stood up, but they kept their balance and the house moved forward. "We gotta get home before Eda does. It'll probably be quicker if we go through town." Luz suggested.

A few minutes and an apology to a stand owner later, and the Owl House sits down in the crater it left behind. "Did we do it?" Luz asked. The door swung open "Is the room spinning or is it just me? Ah. Just a little house humor. Ooh." Hooty chuckled. "Sorry about all that, Hooty." Luz apologized.

"It's okay, I'm just glad I was included." Hooty replied, before the door slammed shut, revealing Eda and King behind the door. Luz sucked in a breath through her teeth "oh boy."

"You are so busted." Eda started, "you held a Moonlight Conjuring." She continued while approaching the trio. "I did." Luz tensed up as Eda stopped in front of her. "And you animated my house. My house!" She emphasized. Luz nodded, squeezing her eyes shut tight.

Willow stepped in front of Luz "No. Don't punish Luz. We're the ones who pushed her to do the conjuring." Gus stepped up as well "If you're gonna eat me, just do it now. Do it now!" Eda held a disgusted look at the idea.

Luz peaked an eye open, then both to look at Willow. "Hey, you didn't have to do that." She whispered. "Yes, Luz. I did." Willow replied. "Well, you're all guilty, so you'll all be punished by cleaning my house top to bottom." Eda said, summoning cleaning supplies that dropped into the kids arms.

"And another thing..." Eda paused, dramatically and the trio gulped. "That was totally amazing. And I'm so joining you for next year's conjuring. Now get to work." The three of them ran off as Eda flopped onto the couch.

"You know, I still kinda wish we got to show up Amity." Luz said as she cleaned. "Yeah. Too bad no one will know of our daring adventures." Willow replied.

Luz couldn't help but overhear Eda and King's conversation. She smiled, truly relaxed for the first time that night and maybe on this mission so far.

Chapter Text

It's been another week since Luz started her mission. A total of two weeks and five days... give or take, but Luz has been getting a little too comfortable with her new routine. And a little too attached to the other inhabitants of the Owl House.

Currently, Luz was listening to King teach about different types of demons. They were in the living room, a large bulletin board leaning against the front of the couch. Luz was sitting on the floor, tuning him out and humming and nodding along.

The past week had been less eventful than the first, with Eda's Potion lessons twice a week, her curse acting up in the middle of the night, that one night the backyard caught on fire and a drunk on apple blood Eda thought to put it out with coffee... and the attempt at getting the key one night, so yeah not as eventful.

Monday's potion lesson went fine, Eda taught Luz more basics on the different ingredients. Even if Luz already knew due to the Emperor's Coven training she took. Friday's lesson was a bit different, Eda told Luz to experiment with the ingredients she had been taught so far and that she would return in an hour.

Luz was never aloud to experiment or even be left alone with potion ingredients. She was always told to follow the books and recipies. It was strange not having a recipe to follow and only a book of ingredients and their uses. At first she tried making an explosive, since it was a recipe she remembered easily. However with her limited ingredients she was aloud to use, it became difficult.

She substituted the ingredients she didn't have and made sure to write everything that she did down. When Eda came back she held a leather-like belt that held ten empty potion bottles and a sheath for a small bladed weapon. "Thought I'd get you a little something, it's even got a sheath for that dagger you carry around."

Luz had taken it and examined it carefully, half expecting it to be some kind of trap. It had small unfinished light glyphs etched into the leather, so that she wouldn't accidentally activate them she assumed. "Is this custom made?" She asked, looking up at the Owl Lady. "Pfff- no, what made you think that?" Eda crossed her arms and looked away, trying to seem uncaring, but Luz could see the small smile on her face.

Luz smiled as well and looked down at the gift, her smile fading. "But... why?" Eda looked at her apprentice at that and was silent for a moment. "Well, you've been helping me with delivering Potions and I don't want a repeat of your first delivery. Plus, I haven't found anything on glyphs yet sooo..." she trailed off, shrugging.

"Anyways, let's see what you've made here." Eda picked up the list Luz had written for her potion and looked it over. They then filled up some of the bottles on Luz's new belt and went out to test them on some poor creature. The potion ended up paralyzing the target for one minute, before the target was able to move again. Which Eda said was impressive for her first experimental Potion.

Now though the belt was upstairs in Luz's room on the nightstand, all ten Potion bottles full of the Paralyzing Mixture and the dagger sheathed. "Luz, are you even listening?" Luz blinked and looked over at King, who was standing in front of the bulletin board with his arms crossed. "Sorry I must've spaced out, I'll pay attention." King narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before nodding and turning back to the board again. It didn't take long for Luz to space out again.

Luz wasn't even sure how the backyard caught on fire last Wednesday night. Her and King were playing one of his campaigns in the backyard, Eda was outside with them reading a book and drinking Apple Blood. The grass had caught on fire suddenly and Luz had to grab King before they succumbed to the flames.

Eda had been inside getting more Apple Blood, when they rushed inside telling her what happened. She then somehow got a pitcher of coffee and made her way outside and put out the fire, spilling the coffee everywhere in the process. It was later revealed that somehow Hooty had accidentally made the fire.

Late Thursday night, Luz had woken up from a nightmare and her curse acting up. Luckily King slept through Luz's frantic shuffling through her bag for the Elixir. Once dealt with she lay awake for another hour or two, unable to sleep. Eventually she got up and quietly exited her room and wandered down the halls of the Owl House.

She had decided on an attempt at getting the key. She snuck over to Eda's room and quietly creaked the door open. Peaking inside, she saw Eda asleep in her nest. She quietly made her way over to the side of the nest and crouched down beside it much like the last attempt, but this time King wouldn't yell for her.

Luz's attempt ended up failing when Eda woke up and looked at her in sleepy confusion. "Kid? What are you doing in here?" The Owl Lady sat up and looked to the human. Luz pulled her arm back when Eda shifted, trying to come up with an excuse. "I-it's nothing, I'll go back to my room." Luz stood up and backed away.

"Wait." Luz stopped. "Did you have a nightmare?" Eda asked, taking in Luz's tense body language. Luz quickly hopped onto the excuse "yeah... bu-but it's nothing really! Sorry to wake you." Luz turned around and walked towards the door again. "Does it have something to do with the Human Realm?" Luz paused at the door, her hand on the doorknob, she didn't turn or say anything.

"It's just.." Eda continued "some of the things you say have me a little... concerned, I guess, about your home life." She paused, thinking for a moment before speaking again. "Like that first day we met you said 'I don't think I have anything to go back home too' and King mentioned to me one time that you said something about being a waste of space." Eda stopped talking to see if Luz had any kind of reaction.

Luz had her shoulders hunched up and her back still turned away from the Owl Lady. "Now I don't know your whole situation at home or whatever, but it doesn't sound good." Eda leaned against the edge of her nest and crossed her arms "then again, maybe I'm reading too much into things. It's none of my business anyways." She paused again to see if Luz would say anything, when she didn't Eda offered one last thing. "If you ever wanna talk about it, I'll listen. Heck, I avoided my problems and look where that's got me." She chuckled lightly.

Luz was silent for a moment, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "It's just... kinda complicated..." Luz paused, still having her back facing Eda. She wanted to share, she wanted to tell Eda the problem she was faced with, but that would blow her entire cover and she couldn't risk that.

"I'm just not sure if I wanna talk about it." She settled on, Eda nodded in acceptance "you can stay here as long as you want to figure it out, but for now I think we should go to bed. It's getting late and we can talk more if you want later."

Luz nodded "yeah... yeah okay. Thank you, Eda." Eda waved her off with a yawn "no problem kid, now go back to bed." Luz closed the door behind her as she left the room. She didn't immediately return to her room, she wandered the halls a bit longer thinking on what Eda had said.

She shook her head, no. She had to go through with the mission, and put her feelings aside. The Emperor was the only way for her curse to be healed and return home to the Human Realm.

"Luz!" King waved his paw in front of Luz's face as she focused her gaze on him again. "You're not listening again!" He complained, glaring at Luz. "Sorry, sorry, I guess I'm just kinda... out of it today?" She shrugged, King just narrowed his eyes further and tapped his little foot on the ground with his arms crossed. Which Luz thought was adorable. "Alright, how about you bug Eda for dinner and after we can read some Azura?"

King brightened and scampered up the stairs. Luz chuckled for a moment before sighing, she should probably attempt at getting the portal key again soon. Maybe in the middle of the night again, after Eda's had too much Apple Blood. She snickered at the thought then huffed, she didn't like how she was getting so attached to Eda and King... and maybe Hooty. She couldn't help it though, they were just so... kind and real, she supposed. Compared to the Emperor's Coven, who most were faking pleasantries to get in good with the Emperor.

The Emperor himself... well, he was the reason Luz had her curse in the first place. But he was the only one who could take it away as well... right? Of course he could, he's the most powerful witch on the Isles. She just needed to get the portal, and by extension the key, to him and he would heal her and send her on her way home. It's all that she worked for for seven years, she couldn't throw it all away at her one chance.

King came bounding down the stairs with Eda right behind him. "We need a feast fit for a King!" He exclaimed as Eda shuffled into the kitchen. "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it. Hold your Snake Horses." She replied. Luz got up off the floor and stretched, spending a couple hours sitting on the floor was not a good idea.

Luz made her way into the kitchen as Eda casted spells, dishes flying through the air and setting themselves up on the table. King banged his fists against the table, chanting "food!" Over and over again.

Well... it couldn't hurt to stall on getting the key for a bit, right?

Chapter Text

The next day Luz was tasked with returning Eda's books to the library. While Eda and King babysat one of the Bat Queen's kids, Luz was glad to leave. She did not feel like hearing a screaming child and getting a headache right now.

Once she entered the library the book pile she was carrying glowed green and began floating forward. Each book flew through a red spell circle as the witch behind the desk marked each one as late. Once Luz stopped beside the desk the librarian grabbed the last book and checked it over.

"Coffee, grass and bloodstains? These are Eda's, aren't they?" He asked in a monotone voice. "Yeah... that night was hectic." Luz shrugged. The librarian sighed "I'll put them on her tab." He summoned a scroll and wrote on it. "By the way, we're closing early for the Wailing Star meteor shower." He gestured to a framed picture of the Wailing Star.

Luz looked over the picture and hummed curiously. "What is it?" She asked, looking back at the librarian. "You're in a library." He paused "go read a book." His scroll rolled up and disappeared. Luz walked away with an eyeroll "so much for being a librarian..." she muttered, looking over the shelves of books.

She ran her hand down the spines of books, wondering if any of them had any information about her Elixir. Lupus Domitor, if she remembered the name correctly. A few minutes later and she found herself in the Potions section. Picking a book at random, she thumbed through the pages quickly. Scanning the top of the pages for names of different kinds of potions.

She put the book back after a moment and picked a few other books at random, deciding she would rather be sitting down than standing. Luz grabbed about three books before heading out of the aisle to find an empty table. "What do you think you're doing?" A voice said. Luz paused looking around for a moment before spotting the kids section.

The children were gathered in a half circle and giggling as, surprisingly, Amity read to them. Curious, Luz walked a bit closer, still holding the books in her arms. "'We're your friends and we wanna help,' said the Tin Boy with a yelp. Otabin smiled and paced the floor. 'I've never had real friends before.'" Amity narrated, turning the page.

"Amity reading to kids? Hmm, didn't take her as the type." Luz commented to herself. Luz stood by the entrance of the kids corner and leaned against the archway, watching.

"'Then we'll be your first,' the Chicken Witch clucked. Otabin couldn't believe his luck. So, Bookmaker Otabin surrounded by friends, bound a book of friendship and that's the end." Amity finished, closing the book with a smile. The children clapped as they all got up and started to leave, saying their goodbyes to Amity.

Once the kids left Amity had to do a double take at Luz's presence. Her face turned into a scowl "Ugh. You." Luz rolled her eyes "didn't take you to be the type to read to kids."

Amity huffed, heading to the back of the room to set the book onto the small table. "It's for extra credit. Don't get your leggings in a bunch." Luz followed her in, setting the books she carried on a manga shelf for a moment. "Are you sure it's just for extra credit?" Luz teased.

"Human." Amity hissed, turning back around to face Luz. Luz's playful smirk fell at the hostile tone. "Do you see me going to the Owl Shack and bugging you while you... fry up owls?" Amity scoffed. "Okay, I don't really know what you do there, but every time you come near me, I get in trouble. Just leave me alone."

Luz held up her hands "sorry, sorry. I'll go." She picked her books back up and turned to leave the kids corner. But after taking a few steps a different voice called out to her. "You gonna let her get to you like that?" Luz looked over to see two older teens. Twins by the looks of them, Luz thought as she stopped walking and faced them.

The twins walked up to her, the male holding a rabbit lunch bag. "Who are you?" Luz asked. The male twin put a hand to his chest as he replied "well-wishers on a mission." The female then spoke up. "A noble quest."

"Watch this. Hey, Mittens!" The male called over towards Amity, who stiffened at the sound of his voice. He held up the lunch bag and continued "Mom says stop forgetting your lunch. And stop being a jerk to your friend."

Amity stalked over towards them and snatched the lunch bag out of his hand. "She is not my friend." She replied, coldly. The other twin put an arm around Luz's shoulders "Yeah, makes sense. She seems too cool for you." She said as Luz shifted a bit uncomfortably at the stranger's touch.

"You can leave now. All of you." Amity stated, walking back into the kids corner. The twins chuckled and lead Luz away down a random aisle. "So, you're the human we heard so much about." The male started, his sister speaking right after "I'm Emira. And this is Edric. We're Amity's older siblings. We heard how you embarrassed her at the school and at the witch covention last week. No wonder she hates you."

Luz sucked in a breath through her teeth. "I know. But, uh. I didn't mean any of it." Emira took one of the books Luz was still carrying and briefly looked over the cover before shoving it on a random shelf. "Don't waste your time with Mittens. Or these old books." She picked up another book to put on the shelf, Edric doing the same. "Me and Ed, we're way more fun. Follow us." She grabbed Luz's wrist to drag her along.

They ended up pulling a few pranks on the staff, and Luz ended up warming up to the twins and helping with their pranks. They eventually got caught though by Amity and the librarian, then kicked out altogether.

After the doors slammed shut the three of them started giggling, which turns into full blown laughter. Emira punches Luz's shoulder, playfully. Luz's laughter stops and she rubs her arm, taking a few small steps away from them. The twins don't notice though, as their own laughter dies down.

"Amity's even angrier at me now. I didn't think that was possible." Luz commented after a moment. "No, when Mittens gets mad, she looks like this." Edric inhaled sharply, grunting as his face turns red then exhales. "Whoa, I almost passed out."

Luz chuckled for a moment before a look of realization crossed her face. "Aww, dang it. I forgot to get those books." She looked back at the library doors, frustrated. How could she have gotten so distracted?

Emira and Edric looked at each other for a moment before nodding. "So, hey, we're coming back tonight. There's a certain book we forgot to... check out." Emira started, leaning in close to Luz.

"And bonus, rumor has it the Wailing Star's supposed to unlock some rare magical event. You in, friend?" Edric asked. Luz thought for a moment, well... she could take a look at those books while she was there. "Sure." She shrugged.

"Great. Meet back here at midnight. See you, Luz." Edric said, the twins left soon after. Luz waving after them "bye!" She called. She watched them leave before descending the steps and heading to the Owl House.

Luz enters the Owl House awhile later and pauses as the door closes behind her. Eda is sitting on the couch with the baby bat in her arms, Eda looks unamused at the situation. "You look... motherly." Luz comments, walking closer. Eda looks up "say that again and I steal your tongue."

"Uh huh..." Luz hums, the bat baby wakes up suddenly and barfs up a smaller version of itself, as that version does so as well. Luz recoils a bit "what-?"

The three bat children all chirped and flapped their wings, flying upwards. One of them breathed fire. Eda, King, and Luz all screamed and scrambled away from the couch, which was the unfortunate target.

Luz went upstairs to her room, but unfortunately she could still hear the screeching of the bat babies. So deciding to spend the day out, she grabbed her new belt, adjusting the Potions and making sure the dagger was safely secured. She pulled her staff, in pen form, out of her pocket and clipped it to the belt.

She grabbed her bag so she could put any library books she wanted to borrow in it. She definitely needed to get a bigger bag. With her Amber Guard mask at the bottom followed by her few armor pieces and folded up cape. Then her Elixir that she had eight of now, with the Azura books on top to cover up the other stuff.

She needed a bag that would hide the... more suspicious stuff better. Anyways, Luz headed down the stairs and to the front door again. The bat babies were still causing chaos, Eda was holding King in her arms. "Welp, see you later. Have fun. Byeeeeee-" Luz said as she closed the door behind her.

Something shattered then screeched as Luz walked away from the Owl House. Now she just had to kill some time before midnight. She looked up at the sky, the sun still high up. Luz sighed, it was gonna be a long day.

She wandered down the dirt path, towards town. Hands in her pockets as she watched a small creature scurry from one side of the path to the other. Luz hummed unclipping her staff-pen and spinning it between her fingers.

She realized a few minutes later that she hasn't really done any training since she started this mission. She had spent the first two days spying on the Owl Lady, trying to find the perfect moment to get the portal door. On the second day realizing that Eda had a key to the door that the Emperor would probably want to get his hands on. The third day was... well, she put her half-baked plan into action and somehow pulled it off. Her time since then had just been gaining the Owl Lady's trust and formulating plans to snatch the key.

But now... Eda was busy with the bat babies and Luz was free to do whatever. Granted, Luz was pretty confident in her staff-wielding skills and didn't really like using the staff in the first place. Though it couldn't hurt to practice with her new arsenal of potions and her stolen dagger.

Luz veered off of the trail and into the woods, it took her 10-20 minutes to find a nice open clearing. There were a few large boulders and rocks scattered throughout the clearing, the grass was short with a few spots of bare patches. She set her bag down on one of the rocks, she rummaged through it for a moment before finding a few empty potion bottles.

She didn't want to waste her actual Potions on some practice, so she swapped a few of the Paralyzing Mixtures for empty bottles on her belt. Satisfied, Luz stood back up and walked towards the middle of the clearing, leaving her bag on the rock.

She surveyed the area for a moment, studying the landscape. Luz suddenly drew her dagger and slashed it horizontally, she sheathed it and tried again. Unsatisfied with her speed. She repeated this action until she finally decided it was satisfactory. Next she decided to roll, like she was dodging an attack and quickly drawing her dagger in a horizontal arc.

She did this a few more times as well, though less so than before. Once she decided it was enough she was covered in dirt and even a few twigs that she took out of her hair. She sheathed the dagger once more and this time unclipped one of her empty potion bottles to throw. The bottle flew through the air and hit the boulder, the glass shattering on impact.

She did something similar three more times, rolling then throwing, or chucking it as far as she could. Next she unclipped her staff-pen and pressed the button, extending it into full staff form. She spun her staff in a circle, a few of the surrounding rocks floating upward before hurtling towards the large boulder, shattering it. Luz used her staff to teleport into the air, throwing her last empty potion bottle at a smaller bolder, teleporting herself back to the ground. She stumbled a bit before regaining her footing, other than the landing she was pretty satisfied with her performance.

She practiced for a few hours, since she didn't have anymore empty bottles to throw she used her dagger instead. Practicing using her staff and her dagger. In between she took a few breaks, drawing light glyphs on a notepad and even changing it up a bit to see what else she could do with the glyph.

It was sundown by the time she called it a day, heading back to the path and heading towards town again. She still had a few hours to kill, but it was dangerous in the woods at night. She reached town a while later, the Night Market setting up stalls as she passed by to the Library. She made it to the Library as the sun disappeared behind the horizon, and sat down on the top step off to the side.

Luz took out the second Azura book from her bag to pass the time. King wouldn't mind if she read ahead right? There weren't very many chapters left anyway.

The twins finally arrived hours later and the three of them enter the building. "There. The Wailing Star!" Edric pointed out, outside a circular window above the door the star wails as it passes. "Whoa." Luz hummed. The three of them look around for several seconds as the books behind them slowly began glowing green.

"Hmm, nothing happened." Edric said, Luz turned around to walk further into the Library before noticing the books glowing. "Hey, the books are glowing." She informed, walking closer to one of the shelves and grabbing a book at random. The twins followed behind her as she opened the book. Almost immediately, something screeched as the birds in the book came to life. They flew around the lobby.

"Wow!" Emira exclaimed. "Wow. The Wailing Star magicked the books to life!" Edric said. Luz, still watching the birds, closes the book. The birds disappeared. The three of them share a look, and then grin. The next hour or two are spent messing around with the books, from comic book like speech bubbles to shooting snowballs in each others faces.

Edric and Emira laughed as they chased each other through the Library, shooting snowballs at each other. Luz chuckled as they ran off, setting her own copy of Snowballs, a History down. She wandered over to the Potions section again and picked out a few books and headed over to the nearby kids corner to sit at a table.

She looked through the books, potion ingredients or the potion itself appearing on the table due to the Wailing Star's effects. Luz spent about an hour flipping through pages of books, she growled in annoyance closing the fifth book she's skimmed though.

She sighed tapping the wooden table with a claw-like nail. She stood up to find more books before pausing at a smaller table and picking up the book Amity was reading earlier. She opened it curiously, Otabin rising out of the pages. She smiled at him and he smiled back, "friend?" He asked. She nodded absently as she read the book.

"..the pages he'd mend. But all the while he longed for a friend." Luz finished awhile later. "I guess we're alike in that way, being alone and just wanting a friend." She hummed, looking to the little pink bookmaker.

"Luz, check this out." Edric called, Luz turned around seeing the twins heading towards her. They reached her "Look what we discovered." Emira opened a book called Quacks Eats Snacks. A duck swims out of the pages and around the floor, quacking happily.

"Heh, he's a cute little thing." Luz commented. Emira holds the book out to Edric, who has a pencil. He draws legs on the duck in the book. In the real world, the duck now has matching giant human legs. It quacks hysterically.

"Now he's extra cute." Emira replied. She closed the book and the duck faded away, as the twins laugh. "Your turn, Luz." Emira said. Luz shook her head, taking a few steps back "nah, vandalizing books is not my thing."

"Come on. Don't stop the fun." Edric said, offering his pencil. Luz pushed his hand away, Edric shrugged "here I'll do it then." He took the book she was holding and started to draw in it.

"Here look." He shoved the book back into her hands, she looked at the drawing as a clawed hand started to rise from the pages. Luz shut the book quickly "nope."

Emira rolled her eyes "whatever. We didn't come here just to doodle. Come on." Emira took Luz's hand and lead the way. Luz dropped the book face down. A clawed hand grew out of the book, and whatever it was growls.

They headed to the romance section and stopped in front of a bookshelf. "Sooo, what are we doing here?" Luz asked, "you'll see." Emira replied as Edric pulled a book titled The Lone Witch & Secret Room. Something clicked. The bookshelf sank back and slid away, revealing a secret room.

"Woah." Luz walked into the room. It had little glowing star and moon shapes hanging from the ceiling. Book shelves on either side, full of books. A desk and chair by the back wall with a single candle, a trashcan next to it and large pillows in the corner. "This is Amity's secret hideaway." Emira informed, walking into the room as well, Edric behind her.

"Oh..." Luz had a worried frown on her face as she looked back at the twins. "Mittens has gotten too... full of herself. She keeps tattling on us when we cut class." Edric explained. "She needs to learn not to mess with people like that. So, we're going to find her diary." Emira continued. "And then post the pages all around school for everyone to see." Edric finished, the twins laughed.

"Ah... isn't that invasion of privacy? That's gotta cross some kind of line." Luz replied, crossing her arms. "No. See, we're her family. It's tough love. She needs to learn to lighten up." Emira shrugged, the twins walked away to start looking for the diary.

"Well... all I see this doing is making her more cold. Sooo, how about we just leave and do something else?" Luz replied, briefly looking around the room and spotting a book collection of The Good Witch Azura Series.

Curious Luz walked over "one through four hm? You keep suprising me Blight." She mumbled scanning over the books. "What's this one?" Luz took a thinner book off of the shelf and flipped it over to the cover. Was the cover hand-drawn?

Luz opened it and a smaller version of Amity rose from the pages. "I saw that... human girl again. I may have overreacted. I don't wanna come off as cruel. I just can't show weakness." The diary said, Luz quickly shut the book.

"What've you got there, Luz?" Edric asked. Luz turned around, hiding the book behind her back and facing the twins. "Nuthin, just one of the Azura books." She replied. The diary glowed blue and flew out of her hands. Emira caught the diary and handed it to Edric, who opened it.

"It's not fair. I'm the only one who knows Ed and Em aren't perfect. Why do they keep getting away with things?" The diary Amity spoke, crossing her arms. "This is it." The twins spoke in unison. "Luz, were you hiding this from us?" Emira said, looking back at Luz. "You see how she treats people. How she treats you." Edric added.

"I know Amity can be kind of cold but that doesn't give you an excuse to expose her thoughts and feelings. Put it back." Luz replied, grabbing the diary and pulling, but Edric doesn't let go. They both pull at it, Emira tugging Edric's waist.

"She needs this!" Edric shouted. Luz growled, digging her claw-like nails into the book causing small scratch marks on the cover and backing. "It's for her own good." Emira added. Luz grunted. Pages spilled onto the floor, and Luz looks at them in concern.

"I wish I had somewhere to go."

"Why won't the human leave me alone?"

"Called my teacher mom again."

"I saw the human again. I... wonder how she got those scars...?"

"Sorry I haven't written for a while. Wait, why am I apologizing?" Multiple diary entries spoke at once, the pages repeated themselves as Luz hurries to pick them all back up. Amity approached the doorway as Luz was collecting them.

"Really!?" Amity snarled, her face red with anger. Luz looked up, her hand blindly grabbing the last page. "Uhh, it's not what it looks like." Luz shoved the loose pages back into the book. Edric and Emira giggled, Amity looks up at them. "You two are the worst." She hissed.

Luz stood back up and Amity took her diary back, holding it close to her chest. "But you... I've been trying to figure out what your deal is. Are, are you a poser? A nerd? I know. You're a bully, Luz." Amity stated, sounding hurt as she turned around and left.

"Amity! Wait!" Luz called, exiting the room and stopping just outside it. Edric and Emira laughed, following her out. "Mittens killed the fun." Emira sighed. "Again. Oh, well. We're headed out to go goblin‐tipping. Wanna come?" Edric asked. "You're just gonna leave?" Luz said. "Yeah, with you." Emira replied, grabbing Luz's wrist again.

Luz tugged her hand back, glaring at the two. "No. You can't just do that. I going to go talk to Mittens. I mean, Amity." And before they could reply, Luz turned around and left. Running to catch up with Amity, Luz rounded a corner "Amity, wait."

"First you embarrass me. Then you wanna be my friend? I don't get you. Pick a side." Amity said, stopping to glare at Luz. "Please, just listen to me." Luz started before Amity interrupted her. "Just go away before things somehow get worse."

There were loud, heavy footsteps and the two looked up as a figure rounded the opposite corner that Luz came from. The monstrous form of Otabin created by Edric's drawing snarled as it stepped into the aisle. His heart beating loudly, his book pulsing with it. "Otabin?" Amity questioned. "With claws and fangs and breaking bones, I found a friend to make my own." Otabin rhymed, snatching Amity up.

"Luz!" Amity screamed as Otabin took her away. "Amity!" Luz yelled, chasing after them. That monster was surprisingly fast. Luz lost sight of it, she headed towards the kids corner. Otabin was from a kids book, right? So it would probably go to the kids corner.

She unclipped one of her Potion bottles and held it in her hand, ready to throw. She peaked around a corner, seeing Otabin at the back of the kids corner and... sewing Amity into a large book? Apparently so.

Luz stepped into the kids corner. "Hey, Snooty McSnotRhyme!" Otabin paused, turning his head to look at Luz. "Yeah! Over here you swine!" She chucked the potion at him. The potion hit, causing him to stiffen up and fall over, twitching. Luz ran over, unsheathing her dagger. She used Otabin as a step stool and cut Amity free.

"Thanks." Amity said, rubbing her wrist trying to get the blood flowing in her arm again. Luz sheathed her dagger "no problem." She grabbed Amity's wrist and ran out of the kids corner. "We gotta move, that potion only lasts for a minute." Luz informed, they ran for a bit before coming to a stop in between some bookshelves.

"What now then? We can't just leave him in here." Amity asked, trying to catch her breath. Luz shrugged "I have no idea. I'm kinda just rolling with the punches right now..." Luz replied, she caught her breath before continuing. "I didn't think that would work honestly. Didn't think the potion would work on a... terrifying fantasy creature. I was all like... raaaa!" Luz explained. Amity stared at her and chuckled, and Luz smiled.

The moment was ruined when Otabin roared in anger, sounding much closer than he should have been. "Runrunrun-!" Luz ran, Amity quickly following after her. Otabin turned the corner in front of them, Amity skidded to a halt while Luz dodged rolled underneath him. Dodging his clawed hand, Amity wasn't so lucky getting caught again.

"You fight and run, but we've only just begun. Friends we'll- Raaaaa!" Otabin's sentence ended with a screech, as Luz stabbed his tail with her dagger. He dropped Amity and she got up quickly, ducking underneath him to get to Luz on the other side. The two of them ran again as Otabin recovered.

"Friends we'll always be, for eternity!" Otabin screamed, turning around to follow them. The two continued running. "Something changed him. He's not supposed to be like this." Amity huffed. Luz hummed in thought for a moment "oh! I remember. Edric drew something on the pages, that must've done it. If we can get the book-" Amity cut her off "-we can erase the markings. Problem is the book is attached to Otabin's chest."

They turned a corner and continued to run. "I have an idea. Do you know where my diary is?" Amity asked, briefly glancing at Luz. "I think so. It's where we left it." Luz lead the way, they turned a few times as Otabin's loud foot steps sounded behind them, getting closer.

"There!" Luz exclaimed, spotting the book. They stopped beside it, Amity bending to pick it up. "Pen?" Amity asked, out of breath. Luz nodded, unclipping her staff-pen and handing it to her. Amity wrote inside the book, once she was done she handed the pen back. "Friends try and hide, but Otabin will always find." Otabin yelled.

A giant eraser formed from the pages of the diary. Amity had to drop the diary to catch the eraser. Luz took the eraser from her and handed her a potion, Amity nodded in understanding.

"There you are." Otabin said as he came into sight. "Don't miss." Luz said, adjusting her grip on the eraser. Otabin came towards them as Amity threw the potion, it hit its target. Otabin freezing up and falling forward, it took the two of them and one of Amity's Abominations to flip him over so Luz could erase the markings and return him to normal.

They spent the next few hours cleaning up the library. Once they were done, Amity found Luz by the potion section of the Library. Dawn light started to shine through the windows as Amity stopped next to Luz. "What are you looking for?"

Luz took a moment to answer "I'm trying to find a book that has a certain potion recipe in it." She took a book off the shelf and started to flip through it. "It's kinda the whole reason I agreed to come with your siblings. Plus the Wailing Star sounded interesting." She paused, grunting in annoyance and putting the book back and picking up another to skim through.

"They wanted to find your diary and post the pages all over school. I... accidentally found your diary, twins took it, I tried to get it back. And- well, rest is history I guess. Still heard some of your diary entries, sorry about that. Wailing Star and all." Luz paused again, switching out her book again and sighing. Amity listened quietly, she was still mad about her diary being read but she wasn't sure who she was mad at. Probably the twins.

"So, you're curious about my scars?" Luz smirked, looking up from her book. Amity blushed and turned her head away in embarrassment. Luz chuckled "well it's only fair that I tell you."

Amity looked back at Luz as she put the book back, not grabbing another. She pointed to the two on her right cheek first "these two... I didn't do what I was told correctly. I have a bigger scar on my back for a similar reason." She explained, Amity stared at the two scars. The smaller of the two was more faded than the larger one next to it. Perhaps it was older or it wasn't as deep of a cut compared to the others. The larger one looked more recent, perhaps a year or two ago.

Luz ran her fingers over the claw-like scars over her left eye, a more saddened expression on her face. "This one was an accident. The... creature, didn't mean to do it. It was just scared and in pain. I was lucky I didn't loose my eye." She looked back it the books, turning away from Amity. Amity looked over this scar now, it was old like the smaller one but she could tell these ones were deeper cuts.

It was silent for a bit as Luz picked out another book to skim over. "Maybe you aren't a bully. I haven't exactly been the friendliest witch either. I'll think on that." Amity finally said, Luz looked over at her again. "So we're even?" Luz gave her a smug grin. Amity rolled her eyes "sure. For now." She smirked, Luz chuckled.

"What potion recipe are you looking for anyways? We should be leaving before the librarian gets here." Amity asked, Luz hesitated before answering. "Its called... Lupus Domitor Elixir. I think." She didn't elaborate so Amity picked up a book and started skimming through it as well.

It took about 20-30 minutes before Amity found something. Luz quickly shoved her own book away before coming over to look over Amity's shoulder at the book. "Really!?" Luz asked, voice laced with excitement.

The left side of the page had the name of the Elixir at the top, a picture of a potion bottle with a gold liquid inside and a silhouette of a wolf next to it. Underneath was a small description of the effects of the potion and list of ingredients. On the right side had the instructions on how to brew it.

"Yes!" Luz cheered, taking the book from Amity and looking it over once more. Luz took her phone out (she figured out that it was a phone from a magazine Eda brought) and took a picture of each page and the title of the book, just in case she needed to find it again. She closed the book returning it to the shelf, "thanks Amity... for helping me."

Amity shrugged "well now you owe me one." She replied walking past Luz. "But we should get going." She continued, heading towards the front doors. Luz ran to catch up "wait! Does this make us even again?" Amity stopped and turned around.

Luz held the fifth Azura book out. "Would you wanna borrow this? I noticed that you only had up to four." She shrugged, Amity took the book from her and looked over the cover. "Thank you. And yes, I suppose this makes us even again." Amity looked up to see Luz grinning at her, she smiled back.

The two of them left the Library and went their separate ways on better terms now. Luz looked over the pictures she took, they were kinda dark since the flash was broken but all she had to do was turn up the brightness a bit. She read the description of the potion.

"'A potion drained, will keep the wolf tamed.' This Elixir was created to suppress any wolf-like curse for the drinker. This potion is not a cure, but a solution so that a cure may be found. This Elixir has a chance to stop working as the curse progresses, depending on the curse and how often the drinker takes the Elixir."

Luz looked over the list of ingredients and cringed, there were quite a few expensive, or hard to find ingredients. Of course this wasn't going to be easy to make on her own.

Chapter Text

It was another weekend selling human junk at Eda's Human Collectables Stand. King was jumping on the table, trying to grab a flag that was hanging above him. "Weh!" He fell off of the table. "Stupid flag!"

Luz wasn't really paying attention, drawing a light glyph on her notepad. She paused for a moment and looked up "it's been a little slow around here." She commented and after a moment went back to her drawing.

She tapped the glyph and it crumpled into a winking face of Eda. "Heh. Look King." King scrambled back onto the table, but before he could comment on it Boscha came up to the stand. "Ew, what's that supposed to be? A trash slug?"

Luz rolled her eyes "obviously it's the Owl Lady's face. Do you need a forth eye to see clearly? I thought three would've been enough." Luz commented as Boscha fumed and her friends covered their mouths to hide their snickers.

"No. I'm just here to take an ironic Penstagram next to your weird flashing trash sign. Round ears." Boscha replied, summoning her scroll and taking a few pictures. Luz pulled a face in the background. "That wasn't even a good insult. Kinda lame."

"What are you going to do? Spit your human venom on me?" Boscha teased. "You have venom? Quick, Luz, start melting faces!" King commanded, pointing in Boscha's direction. Luz snickered "I don't have any venom, but..." she paused for a moment, turning to Boscha "I will kick your butt so hard your vertebrae will pop out of your mouth one by one like a pez dispenser." She replied with an easygoing smile.

It was silent for a moment as they processed the threat. "What's a pez dispenser?" Boscha finally asked. Luz shrugged, deciding not to reply. Eda suddenly leaped out from the tent, startling the three teens. "Hey, kid! Can I offer you the latest fashions from..." she paused, drawing a spell circle and dressing herself in horribly clashing clothes. "The Human Realm?" Luz face palmed at the sight.

Boscha scoffed "yeah, no." The three stalked off as Eda returned to her normal outfit. "Well. I hate her." Eda crossed her arms, Luz hummed in agreement. "Anyways, look what I did!" Luz did jazz hands in the direction of the illuminated, winking Eda face.

Eda smiled "good work kid. You've been practicing those, huh?" She said, ruffling Luz's hair. Luz's nose wrinkled and she shooed Eda's hand away, fixing her ruffled hair. She still wasn't used to physical affection.

"Yeah, practicing when I could." Luz replied, waving the light away and watching it fade out. King climbed up onto her shoulder "weh!" He jumped up from her shoulder to the flags above them. He grabbed the flag, dangling from it. Eda snorted as Luz looked up at him "what are you doing?" Luz asked. "Revenge!" He shouted as the flag ripped and he fell with another "weh!" Luckily Luz caught him before he hit the table and she set him down.

King slammed the flag down onto the table and pointed at it "not so high and mighty now, ha!" He then proceeded to stomp on it multiple times. Eda laughed, wiping a tear from her eye then sighed. She looked around for a moment "kinda slow today, hmm?" Eda said looking back to Luz, who nodded. "It's been slow all morning."

Not much else happened over the next couple hours. Luz was practicing her light glyph while Eda sat in a chair petting King who was sleeping on her lap. "Edalyn." A voice said, coolly. Luz looked up to see Lilith, staff at her side ready to use if needed. At this point Eda was already standing, King on her shoulder complaining about his nap being interrupted. Luz backed away from the table and moved closer to Eda, ready for attack.

"Lilith." Eda replied with a glare. Lilith cleared her throat and summoned a long piece of paper. "You are hereby under arrest for operating a stand without a permit, having a hocus without a pocus-" Eda blew a raspberry as she twirled her finger, causing the paper to roll up and smack Lilith in the face before disappearing. Luz chuckled at Lilith's annoyed expression "really, these charges are serious. There's no more running away, Edalyn."

Eda rolled her eyes, "look sis, I'm not going to the coven with you without a fight. Actually, how'd you even know my stand would be here today?" Lilith hesitated for a moment before replying, "I've gotten a few tips that you were here usually on the weekends." Luz's hand twitched wanting to grab her potion bottle. Yup that was definitely her doing.

Lilith sighed, "Join the Emperor's Coven, like we dreamed about when we were girls." Luz's mouth was agape. Eda wanted to be in the Emperor's Coven? What changed? Did it have something to do with the curse? Luz closed her mouth and shook her head, she could think on that later.

"Don't be afraid, sister. Soon, you won't be a danger to those around you." Lilith said as Eda scoffed "a danger? Pff. Yeah right." Eda waved her away, Lilith scowled. "Take your prissy little self back to the castle and tell the Emperor to shove off."

"I'm just trying to help you. Why won't you listen!" Lilith scowled, using her staff to cast a spell. King yelped and leaped off of Eda, Luz catching him in her arms as Eda blocked the blast using her own staff.

Witches and Demons scattered as the fight took place in the Market. "Luz, get back to the Owl House with King. I'll meet you there in a bit." Eda deflected one of Lilith's spells and casted a spell of her own. Eda didn't look back to see if Luz responded, focusing back on the fight instead.

Luz nodded, even if Eda didn't see, and turned and ran back in the direction of the Owl House. King settled himself on Luz's shoulder as she started running, looking back at Eda. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

Luz didn't get a chance to reply as Coven scouts blocked her path. "You're under arrest for fraternizing with a criminal!" Luz growled in annoyance and turned back around and ran back towards Eda and Lilith.

Luz ran past the two witches, Eda firing a blast of energy at Lilith who put up a shield to block it. Coven scouts chased behind Luz, some stopping to help Lilith. Coven guards blocked her path ahead again, Luz skidded to a stop as the guards tried to surround her.

Luz huffed, she couldn't use her staff to prove she was part of the Emperor's Coven. At least not as long as King was with her and Eda being a short distance away. Luz stumbled out of the way as they started firing spells at her, she unclipped one of her potion bottles and threw it. It was deflected, Luz looked around as she pulled out another potion. She only had ten in total- well nine now.

She spotted a nearby alleyway, blocked off by a couple scouts. Determined, Luz ran straight towards them. King yelped, clinging tightly to her shoulder as Luz dodged another spell. When she got close enough, Luz threw the potion at the scout's feet, leaping over the two paralyzed scouts and making a sharp turn into the alleyway.

A blast hit the corner of the building sending Luz to the ground, King being flung from her shoulders and landing on the ground in front of her. Luz stood up with a grunt, her back burned and her hands and arms stung, but she ignored it as she scooped King back up.

"Luz it's a dead end!" King yelled in a worried tone. Luz narrowed her eyes as she sprinted forward "hang on!" She told him, using her momentum to jump up on the back wall and kicking off it, grabbing onto the left building ledge. Her foot slipped on the wall, her claws digging into the rock ledge to keep her from falling. Luz fixed her footing on the wall and scrambled up the rest of the way, heaving herself over the ledge and onto the roof of the building.

Luz took a moment to catch her breath, King looked back over the ledge and saw the Coven scouts looking around. "Luz." King warned tugging Luz's sleeve and looking back at her. Luz looked worriedly over the ledge, ducking back when a scout looked up.

Luz stood up and turned around, running to the edge of the building and leaping onto the next building. Luz stumbled forward trying to catch herself before running to jump to the next building, King clung tightly to her shoulder.

Luz jumped a couple more buildings before stopping and sitting down to catch her breath. Her hands stung from her scrapes and her back now had a dull ache. Her skin crawled and itched, her curse flaring up. King leaped off her shoulder and scampered up to the front of the building they were on.

Eda and Lilith could be seen still fighting a little ways away. Eda firing off another spell, Lilith was too slow to avoid it and was blasted back into a nearby building. Eda took this chance to escape, hoping onto her staff and flying off. King's tail wagged as he went back to Luz.

"She got away!" He cheered, leaping into Luz's arms. She chuckled tiredly "that's great, King." She stood back up, still holding King in her arms. She yelped as someone grabbed the back of her shirt and suddenly she and King were dangling above the town, holding each other tightly.

"There you are kiddo." Luz looked up and saw Eda. The Owl Lady pulled them up onto her staff, Luz sighed in relief as King went to cling to Eda's shoulder. Eda was pretty banged up, scrapes and scratches all over her. Part of her hair was covered in ash, probably from an explosion and a cut above her eyebrow that was bleeding.

"Could have warned me before yanking me into the air." Luz commented, looking down as they passed Bonesburrow and over the forest. Eda shrugged "not enough time." Eda simply replied. "Don't need my sister catching up to us."

"Anyways, I told you kids to get to the Owl House, not grab front row seats." Eda said. "Well... there were a lot of Coven scouts." Luz started. "Luz was so cool! You should've seen her! She jumped off a wall to climb up onto the roof and jumped from building to building!" King exclaimed, tail wagging excitedly.

"Oh yeah?" Eda said, arching an eyebrow. "Where did you learn that, kid?" She asked. Luz shrugged uncomfortably "at some Human Realm... camp, thing." Eda hummed in acknowledgment as they landed in front of the Owl House.

They hopped off the staff, Hooty greeting them. "Open up the door Hooty. I'm gonna take a nap." Eda yawned. "Hoot, hoot! Okay!" Hooty replied, swinging the door open. "Oh and keep an eye out for those Coven goons, Hooty." Eda informed while walking into the house.

"Will do!" Hooty replied as the door closed behind them. King leaped off of Eda's shoulder and onto the couch to take a nap, while Eda went upstairs to do the same. Luz went upstairs to her room to drink one of her elixirs, seven remaining afterwards.

Luz went to the bathroom next, washing her hands to clean the dirt from the scrapes. Once done, she looked over her hands. The scrapes weren't that bad, so there was no need to bandage it up or anything. Her back still stung a bit, but unable to get a good look at it Luz just ended up going back to her room. Not even bothering to deal with it.

Luz laid down on her sleeping bag, on her stomach and pulled up her phone to look over the pictures she took at the library. Looking over the ingredients list again, ignoring the expensive or hard to find ingredients, Luz was pretty sure Eda had at least one or two of the ingredients in her Potions room. The other ingredients Luz was pretty sure she knew where to get them, as for the expensive or rare ingredients? Luz was probably gonna have to save up on some snails.

She turned her phone off and set it aside, getting more comfortable on the sleeping bag. Today was exhausting, hopefully the next few days give her a break.

Chapter Text

The following two weeks was interesting to say the least. On Tuesday morning Gus had come over to ask if Luz could come to Hexside to inspect some human objects.

"Gus, I'd love to go to school with you, but I don't know how I can. Principal Bump banned me from Hexside." Luz had pointed out. Eda had looked up from rummaging through a box "when did you get banned from Hexside?" Luz had shrugged in response, not wanting to deal with that lie she spun.

Luckily for her Eda had dropped it and told them, "all Hexside is good for is stomping out creativity." Leaving the room afterwards. Gus had then told Luz the ban was lifted, which was an obvious lie, but with nothing better to do Luz went along with it anyways.

When they did get to the H.A.S. Luz was worried on if she could actually identify the objects, but luckily she didn't have to due to Mattholomew. Unfortunately this resulted in detention where Gus confessed to his lie and the two, plus Matt, got out of there alive.

However out of all the things she expected from the Owl Lady, Luz did not expect her to enroll her into the school. Luz was left speechless when Eda told her (but maybe that was partly due to being out of breath from busting a door down.) Her friends were excited for her, Bump gave her a pamphlet, and she went back to the Owl House with Eda.

When they entered the house Luz had to ask "why?" Eda had sat on the floor in front of the couch with a stack of papers and looked at her. "Well you haven't been learning anymore glyphs and I haven't found out how to find them. So, I suppose Hexside might be able to teach you something I can't."

Luz sat on the couch as Eda explained. "Plus I figured you'd get to see those friends of yours more often." Luz pulled her knees up to her chest, why did Eda have to be so nice? Eda looked back at her when she sniffled. "Woah kid, you okay?" Eda asked as she got up from the floor to sit beside Luz.

Luz wiped the forming tears from her eyes. "Y-Yeah. I just- you're just so much nicer than other people I know." Eda had frowned a bit at that. Was Luz shown so little kindness in the Human Realm? Is that why she felt like she had no home to go back to? Is that why she thinks she's a waste of space?

She put a hand on the kid's shoulder, but retracted when Luz recoiled away from her. "I'm sorry." Luz immediately apologized, Eda shook her head "no I should've asked first." She paused as Luz wiped her face again. "Did you... want to go to Hexside?" Luz blinked up at her and thought it over. She looked away with a quiet "I do."

It was just so odd to Luz that someone would do something without some kind of consequence or alter motive. Belos would heal her curse and send her back to the Human Realm if she got the portal door from Eda. Warden Wrath wouldn't hurt her if she told him how she got to the Boiling Isles, granted she did tell him everything she remembered at the time and was still hurt for 'lying'.

Luz shook her head and focused back on the Hexside pamphlet she was currently reading on the couch. But her mind drifted again to what happened on Friday. After coming back to the Owl House from the Slayground and asking Eda if she needed to fetch the Elixir, Luz had gone off to hangout with Willow and Gus for a school sport thing.

A Grudgby game against Glandis, apparently. But Luz was late and Luz had the idea to use Eda's staff to get there. Oh boy, palisman staffs were so different than her mechanical one. On one hand she could feel the power the staff held, which was so cool. On the other... she had to direct a sentient being to not crash, unfortunately they crashed.

The three had followed the runaway palisman to the Bat Queen's cave. Where Luz had to complete trials to gain Owlbert's trust again. Milking the spider demon and clearing out the bee's nest was easy, but giving the babies a bath? Those things were little biters. Then fighting the Bat Queen herself was the hardest part, her potions were deflected and she didn't want to use her dagger. So instead after pushing the Bat Queen away and spotting the interlock, Luz caught the Bat Queen off guard by stating that she was once a palisman on a staff.

After learning that the Bat Queen protected all abandoned palisman, Luz was able to convince her to let Owlbert go and the trio went back home. Owlbert tried to cover for Luz but Eda saw right through the lie but she was to tired to care.

Luz also informed Kikimora at some point during the last week, that it was annoying having Lilith trying to arrest Eda. Kikimora tilted her head in the mirror "surely it would be easier to capture the Owl Lady and get the key that way?" Luz hummed in annoyance "the Owl Lady is stronger than Lilith and me combined, perhaps when her curse gets worse then I might consider it." Luz replied, Kikimora nodded "I'll inform the Emperor to have Lilith focus on other missions for now, but be warned human the Emperor grows impatient." With that Kikimora hung up and Luz sighed.

In the present, Luz huffed as King leaped ontop of her stomach, curling up. Luz shifted on the couch slightly to get a bit more comfortable and started petting him. "What are you doing?" King asked, "looking at this pamphlet for Hexside." Luz replied.

King rolled his eyes "less read-y more scratchy." Luz chuckled "well now that I'll be a student at Hexside, I wanna know all about it!" King bit the pamphlet and ripped it slightly "Nyeh!"

Suddenly Eda kicked the front door open. "Hey, freeloaders! Guess what today is?" Luz looked away from the pamphlet "your birthday?" She asked in a playful tone. "Is it my birthday?" King asked. "It's my birthday!" Hooty chimed in before Eda slammed the door shut. "No! Its human treasure day!"

Eda tossed the Portal Door into the air. It unfolded and opened. Owlbert flying through, dragging a giant sack. The sack tore when he flipped it onto the floor, revealing a pile of human garbage.

Luz looked up from her pamphlet curious, she watched the portal door close and she hummed. Her eyes traveled to the pile of trash that Eda was now laying ontop off. King leaped onto the floor and scurried over to the pile, grabbing a stuffed bear. "Yes! Another worthy addition to my army of terror!"

Luz snickered as the little demon pulled the drawstring on the teddy bear. "I love cuddles and kisses." The toy said, it's head flopping to one side as King turned it to face him. "Truly horrifying."

Deciding that nothing caught her attention, Luz turned back to the pamphlet. "Yo, kid. Your trash pile's getting cold. While mine's getting hot!" Eda pulled out a wire clothes hanger out of the pile. "I have never seen such an extravagant earring!"

Luz rolled her eyes, about ninety-nine percent sure that whatever Eda had was not an earring. Not too long later she remembered something "Oh! Me and Amity are supposed to meet so I can get my Azura book back!" Luz exclaimed, getting up from the couch and running out the door.

Awhile later, Luz was running through the marketplace looking for Amity. Speaking of the witch, Luz spotted her standing a little distance away. "Hey Amity!" Luz called, running over. The twins suddenly popped up in front of her "hi, Luz!"

Luz yelped and skidded to a stop, but slipped and fell onto her back. The twins snickered as Amity shoved them away "Edric, Emira. Stop bothering her."

Luz looked up to see Amity holding a hand out for her, which Luz took. Amity helped her back onto her feet. "Sorry Luz, they insisted on coming for some reason." Emira came up and squished Amity's face "because we love you, baby sister!"

Amity replied by shoving her to the floor. "Ah!" Emira yelped. Amity straightened her messed up hair. "They've been extra protective and nice towards me to make up for the library incident." Amity shrugged as Edric leaned in "and we still apologize every day." He chimed in, also being shoved away by Amity.

Amity pulled out the book from her bag "in any case, here's your book." She handed Luz the book, Luz took the book from her. "So what did you think? No spoilers though." Amity looked away, crossing her arms. "It was... fine."

"So fine you drew yourself with..." Luz trailed off for a moment "well, I don't know who that is yet, but my point still stands." Luz grinned. Amity blushed in embarrassment and traced a spell circle, destroying the drawing.

"Maybe we could start a book club when we're classmates." Luz continued, putting the book in her bag. "When we're what?" Amity asked in a surprised tone. Luz pulled out the pamphlet from her pocket "I'm enrolling into Hexside!"

"Oh! Uh, sorry, but to be in my class, you need to take a placement exam and prove that you've mastered two spells." Amity showed the requirements on the pamphlet. "I know you have your light thing. Uh, do you know anything else?" Amity asked, handing the pamphlet back for Luz to look over.

Luz sucked in a breath through her teeth "uh... do potions count..?" The twins popped up again, cutting Amity off before she could reply. "Quit giving her a hard time, Mittens." Emira said, Edric nodding along. "Yeah, of course she knows two spells. Right, Luz?"

"Uh..." Luz shrugged, technically she did know two spells she just needed her staff to perform them. As for the wild magic side of things... she did not, in fact know two spells. "Kinda..?" She replied.

"Well if you don't, they'll put you in the baby class." Amity informed. "Oh! Brain idea!" Edric exclaimed, crouching down in front of Amity while Emira laid her arm ontop of Amity's head, causing her to be squished between her two siblings.

"What if we all trained together? We can show off what we know!" Emira continued. "What do you say, Luz?" Edric asked. Luz thought for a moment "Well. I would love too but, I don't think you can really teach me anything." She replied, matter of factly.

"Huh!?" The twins exclaimed, simultaneously as Amity freed herself from between them and started fixing her hair. "I mean... my kind of magic isn't the same as you guys. So I'm not sure what I can learn from you. I'd probably have better luck with Eda, uh... no offense?" Luz explained.

"That makes sense. You use paper to cast magic, right?" Amity asked. Luz nodded. "Well if you change your mind, we'll be out on The Knee later today." Emira replied with a shrug. "Maybe, I guess I should go then. See you later." Luz waved as she walked away from them. Amity waved back as the twins shouted their goodbyes.

Back at the Owl House, Luz opened the front door. "Eda?" She called, heading inside the house. She walked into the kitchen and spotted the Owl Lady cooking something. Eda looked up from the potion bottle she was holding. "What's up kid?"

Luz walked over to the table "I need you to teach me another spell!" She explained. "Sorry, Luz! These vegetables won't cook themselves... yet." She dumped the potion onto the vegetables, they came to life growing arms and legs. "Alright! Everybody in a pot!" The vegetables screamed and ran away.

"Why do I always think that's going to work?" Eda muttered, watching the vegetables get away. Luz huffed "But I need to know two spells to get into decent classes at Hexside. I can make light glyphs." She demonstrated, activating a glyph. Eda shielded her eyes from the light and yelped.

"But at the end of the day, that's the only spell I know. And I don't know if Potions count, but I don't wanna take the chance." Luz continued. "And whose fault is that?" Eda replied. Luz gave her a deadpanned stare "yours."

"Ha! Yep. Got me there." Eda replied. "Can't you just teach me a spell? I don't care what spell it is." Luz asked. "Well, I have been researching my texts on wild magic, but I'm much too busy right now." Eda said, tossing her book into the pot. Luz stared at her for a moment, confused on why she put the book into the pot.

She shook her head to focus back on the conversation. "Come on, Eda! You're the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles. How would it look if your apprentice got thrown into the baby class?" Luz reasoned, Eda hummed. "Weaponizing my pride. Well played. Well, in that case, this looks like a job for magic boot camp."

King slammed the kitchen door open, Luz jumped not expecting the sound. "Did someone say boot camp? I agree to run it. We'll rise at dawn! You'll carry me on your back as I yell hateful things about your performance!"

"Nope. You'll have no part in this. Luz needs to focus, and I can't have her go all weird when you do something adorable." Eda explained, King stomped his foot. "I am not adorable!"

"Aww, he stomped his little foot!" Luz teased him, King squealed and ran outside. He tried slamming the door but it reopened, he repeated this a few times before the final time he slammed it as hard as he could. Luz chuckled.

"Now, no time to waste. You'll have to follow my teaching exactly. We gotta go somewhere special." Eda said, Luz turned back to look at her. "A place where magic energy just flows." Eda continued. Luz nodded waiting for her to reveal where they were going.

"A place that will be revealed when we get there!" Eda finished with a smug grin as Luz groaned in annoyance. Eda laughed "go get some clothes fit for traveling in the cold."

"Alright." Luz replied, getting up from the table and going upstairs to her room. It took awhile to find an outfit, but she found one eventually. While putting it on she tried to think of where they could go that was cold.

The only two places that came to mind where the Snowy Ribcage and the Knee. Shrugging, Luz finished putting her boots on and put her belt on making sure her dagger, staff-pen and potions were in place. She also grabbed a notepad to put in her pocket, so that she could draw any new glyphs that she might see.

They headed off on staff in the direction of the Knee. It took about an hour or so, Luz wasn't sure- too busy watching the world below them flash by. Eda landed close to the top, the two of them hopping off of the staff. "A place like the Knee!" Eda finally revealed. Luz cheered, actually excited about training for once.

"The earliest witches came to the Knee to develop their magic, drawn to its natural power." Eda explained as they started making their way up the slope. "It's amazing." Luz breathed, the snow sparkled and glistened as the light from the sun hit it. There were some ruins not too far away that were covered in snow, from the walls that were visible looked black and charred. Eda gestured over to the side "though it's not without it's dangers."

Luz looked over and her eyes widened at the sight of a snow white creature, a Slitherbeast she remembered. "The Slitherbeast! Don't worry, if you don't mess with him, he won't mess with you." The Owl Lady explained before continuing the path up. Luz started to follow before stopping and glancing back at the Slitherbeast. The beast bit through the tree trunk it held, snapping it in half and started to sniff the air. Luz quickly scampered off after Eda.

Once they made it to the top Eda stopped "here's where we'll set up shop." The land at the peak was covered in a blanket of fresh snow, the sunlight reflecting off it making Luz squint at how bright it was. "This is definitely a cool place to learn my second spell. Gorgeous views, and magic in the air..." Luz said as she wandered around the area, stopping to admire the view around her.

Suddenly Luz heard a sizzling sound that was getting closer, a pink light lighting up her face as she turned around to look. She didn't get enough time to look as Eda shouted "watch out!" And tackled her to the ground and out of the way of the pink fireball that whizzed past over their heads.

There was a small explosion where the fireball hit as Eda popped up from behind the rocks with her staff drawn. Luz also peaked over the rocks to see who attacked them. "Sorry whoever's over there!" Amity's voice called.

Luz sighed in relief, it was just Amity. She stood up and brushed the snow off of her clothes before shouting back. "Well, next time you should check your surroundings before firing." Eda stood up once realizing the coast was clear. "Know her?" Eda asked.

Luz did a so-so gesture with her hand. "We kinda started getting along after the Convention." A look of realization crossed Eda's face. "Oh, she's that Amity kid you were talking about earlier. Right?" Luz nodded in confirmation.

The twins waved at her in the distance "hey Luz!" Edric called. Luz waved back as the sibling trio made their way over. "I'm gonna go get the first lesson set up." Eda informed, walking away. "So you did decide to come." Amity said, stopping in front of the human.

"Uh, yeah, kinda." Luz replied, mantling over the stone wall. However the snow on top had other plans for her, her hand slipping causing Luz to fall face first into the snow. Luz sighed loudly, making Amity chuckle "need some help?"

Luz raised a hand up and waved her offer off and got up herself. Luz brushed snow off herself for a second time that day. "Anyways" Luz continued like nothing happened "why are you guys out here on the Knee anyways?"

"I'm here to train. I'm trying to beat Ed and Em's highest score on the exam." Amity replied. The twins decided to appear by popping up from behind Amity. "Aw. Mittens, that's impossible." Emira spoke, Edric speaking right after. "She still needs to use a training wand to learn new spells. So what are you doing here?" Amity gave her brother a glare.

"Training. I've used training wands before, but they don't help me any." Luz shrugged. The crunching of snow behind her alerted Luz of Eda's arrival and she turned to see her with... a basket of snowballs?

"Luz! I shall now teach you how to identify different types of snow- by taste!" Eda held out a snowball and shoved it in Luz's face. "Go on. Eat the snow."

"Eda. I already got a face full of snow just a couple minutes ago in fact." Luz deadpanned. "Is this some kind of... special magic?" Emira asked as Edric cackled in the background. Amity cleared her throat "I don't think the Owl Lady wants to show us any of her powerful spells."

Eda somehow managed to shove a bunch of snowballs in her mouth, she pointed at herself before swallowing the snowballs. "Ooooh. Brain freeze! Brain freeze!" She yelped, clutching her head.

"See you around human! Good luck with your... uh, training." Emira said as Amity walked away. Edric picked up a snowball and tried to lick it but Emira knocked it out of his hand and dragged him away. "Aw."

"Eda. Are you even taking this seriously?" Luz asked once it was the two of them again. "Yes I am actually taking this seriously. Taste snow without my guidance, see where it gets you." Eda replied, crossing her arms and glancing at her student.

Luz huffed and looked away, back at the trio of siblings getting back to their training. Eda gave Luz a half smile "oh. Don't worry kid." She sighed, ruffling Luz's hair. Luz flinched away and covered it up by fixing her hair.

"If you listen to me, soon you'll be doing stuff like that." Eda pointed at the Blight kids. Amity was reading from a book before raising her training wand and drawing a spell circle. A pink fireball formed on the end and fired at a tree, destroying it.

"And it won't be with some wack training wand, it'll be the real deal. But you have to trust me, okay?" Eda asked, Luz nodded "okay."

"We've covered snow, so now it's on to smelling moss." Eda explained, pulling moss out of her pocket. "Now the trick is," she paused to shove the moss up her nose. "You really gotta get it up in there." Luz grimaced, regretting all her life choices up to this point.

A couple hours pass by, the sky taking an orange glow as the sun started to set. Eda sat on a rock beside a fire she'd made, drinking out of a mug. Luz made her way out of the forest behind Eda. "Ugh. Okay. I've identified the smells of three different rocks, sorted all the twigs from big to small, and found your glove, and your hand." Luz grumbled, Lifting the glove off of Eda's detached hand. "Ah, I was wondering where that thing went." Eda took her hand back and screwed it back on.

"So what's next?" Luz asked, crossing her arms. Her gaze drifted past Eda and to Amity training with Edric and Emira. Amity sent a jet of fire at Edric with the training wand. He dodged it, while Emira summoned an arm of snow. Amity blocked and destroyed it with a shield. Amity dispelled the shield and waved at Luz. Edric used the distraction to make Amity sink into the snow until only her hand was showing. Luz snickered, covering her mouth with a hand.

"Hey. I know my lessons seem weird but this is what wild magic is all about! Making a connection with nature. The earliest witches understood that. Human witches need to understand it, too. You wanna learn a second spell?"

"Of course. But is this really how to go about doing it?" Luz asked. "You have to learn from the island. The books were really vague on the subject." Eda replied, standing up and guiding Luz up a small hill. On the top was another rock that Eda told Luz to sit on. "Now look. And think about what the island is trying to tell you." Eda gestured infront of them before making her way back to camp, leaving Luz alone.

Luz looked out, eyes widening at the sight of the Titan laid out before her, surrounded by the boiling sea. Its ribs were nearly the same height as the Knee, and its skull was towering even from the opposite end of the Isles. Luz stared at the sight in awe as icy cold wind blew past her.

After a moment Luz's brows furrowed, why did this view look familiar? She focused on the familiar feeling, trying to pinpoint when she could have seen this exact view before. She's never had a mission with Hunter to come to the Knee, her missions were usually on the outskirts of towns capturing wild witches.

She squinted at the landscape, tracing it with her eyes. "Earlier..." a voice growled quietly, Luz jolted and almost fell off the rock. She looked around the area for the source of the voice, but there was no one nearby. A bit spooked but otherwise okay, Luz looked back towards the Titan.

She tried to focus on the familiar feeling again, this time she closed her eyes and exhaled slowly to calm her nerves. She thought back to what the voice had said. Earlier? What did that mean? Was it... was the Titan trying to speak to her? Eda did say to think about what the island was trying to tell her.

Was the voice... or maybe Titan? Trying to help her figure out why this was familiar? And why was she so determined to figure it out anyways? Well... it did feel like something important that she should remember.

A loud crash got Luz's attention, eyes snapping open and yelping as she actually fell off the rock this time and into the snow. She sat up and looked over to see that Amity had destroyed a pillar with her training wand. A echoey laugh startled her again, Luz scrambled to stand up and looked around again to see that there was still no one around.

The echoey laughter continued and Luz noticed it had a bit of a growl to it. And that it was also coming from inside her head. "I'm officially going insane." Luz commented to herself as she turned back around to face the Titan again. The laughter in her head died down and eventually ceased.

"Are you... the Titan?" Luz questioned quietly, the wind whipping her words away. There was no reply from the voice and her shoulders sagged as she sighed. "I don't know if you're still there or if I'm just going insane but if you are the Titan then how am I supposed to learn more glyphs?" There was no reply from the voice.

Luz sat down on the rock again and hummed in annoyance as she continued to gaze at the Titan's skull. The crunching of snow alerted her and Luz turned her head to see Eda coming up behind her. "Any progress yet?" Eda asked as she stood beside Luz, looking over the view. "No." Luz sighed, looking up at the darkening sky.

They sat in silence for a while as it turned to night, the stars glowing brighter. Snow started to gently fall from the sky as Eda sighed. "Alright kid, let's head back and get some sleep. Maybe we'll learn something tomorrow." Eda ruffled Luz's hair again before walking away.

Luz fixed her hair again with a grumble and stood up to follow. She looked back at the Titan again and pulled her notebook and staff-pen out. "You're supposed to teach me magic." She grumbled as she drew a light glyph on the paper, she tapped it and watched the paper crumple into a ball of light. The light floated up and into the sky, Luz watched it until it was out of sight.

She watched for a moment longer before noticing a pattern appearing in the sky. Luz squinted at it before realizing that it was a light glyph. "What?" She mumbled. A snowflake landed on her glove and she looked down at it, noticing a pattern before it melted in her hand. She blinked owlishly, her brows furrowing in confusion.

Luz held her hand out for another snowflake, she then started to draw the symbol in the snow with her boot. Once done she stepped back and stared at it for a moment and copied it down in her notebook for later reference. Hesitantly she tapped the glyph in the snow with her foot, a pillar of ice rising up from it. She gasped quietly, eyes wide as she stared at the ice pillar for a moment before grinning widely.

"Yes!" She cheered. Luz looked at the staff-pen in her hand "at this rate I won't be needing you for much longer." She stuck her tongue out and giggled, giddily. She sprinted down the hill yelling Eda's name, the Owl Lady in question stuck her head out of one of the tents they had set up in alarm. Upon seeing Luz's grin, she smiled and exited the tent.

"Learn somthin?" She asked, Luz nodded out of breath. "Snowflake!" She gasped out, regaining control of her breathing "it was in a snowflake!" Luz showed her the glyph she drew earlier and activated it, another, smaller pillar of ice rising from it. Eda stared for a moment, amazed before grinning as well. "Look at that! That's amazing kid!" Eda slapped a hand on Luz's shoulder, patting her on the back. Luz didn't even flinch at the contact, too excited about the discovery.

Luz ended up going to where Amity and the twins set up camp to show them her discovery. Amity congratulated her and showed Luz her progress, by making a tiny flame without the wand. Which her siblings still teased her about.

"Anyways..." Amity continued after shooing Ed and Em away. "Looks like we'll be in the same class." Amity said, Luz smiled "yeah." She paused then leaned in close to the witch's face, an embarrased blush rising on Amity's face as Luz spoke. "So, book club?" Luz questioned with a mischievous smirk. Flustered, Amity backed away slightly "as long as it's a secret club okay?"

"It's not a secret!"

"We're gonna tell everyone!" The twins were back and Amity's face grew even more red. She turned to her siblings giving them a deadly glare as Luz laughed.

Chapter Text

Eda had said she would be gone for a couple of days to do 'undisclosed things' so Luz took the opportunity to do her own 'undisclosed things' involving a certain elixir. Once Eda was gone, Luz got to work.

She retrieved her potion belt, dagger, notebook, and of course her staff- still disguised as a pen, and finally her phone. She headed out of her room while flipping through the pictures on her phone.

While heading down the stairs she stopped on the picture with the list of ingredients she needed for her elixir. She squinted at it, reading the list of ingredients and seeing which ones would be easier to get.

Thyme Leaves and Lavender would be the easiest to get, just finding them in the wild. Fire Bee Honey would be more difficult but not impossible with her new ice glyph and staff. Burdock Root had to be bought, since it closely resembles a poisonous plant and the two are often next to each other in the wild. Luz didn't trust herself to tell the difference between the two- never having to gather ingredients before. Rose Thorns were rare and expensive, but had to be bought as well. Along with Silverwing Powder.

Luz headed into the living room and to the front door, King was sleeping on the couch as she walked past him. Opening the door revealed Hooty, who enthusiastically greeted her a good afternoon. Luz quickly shushed the house demon and slipped outside, luckily without waking King.

"Where are you off too?" Hooty asked after Luz closed the door, she winced at the sound of his voice so close to her sensitive ears. "Just going to get some ingredients." She replied casually. Hooty tilted his head before replying "to make more of that potion you drink?" Luz's eyes widened in alarm.

"How'd you know about that!?" Luz whisper shouted, an edge of panic in her tone. "Since the first time you drank one. It looks a lot like Eda's elixirs." Hooty replied cheerfully, not realizing the rising panic in Luz's face. "What else do you know?" Luz questioned hastily. Hooty hummed in thought "I know your favorite color is purple!"

Luz never said her favorite color was purple, but how did he know that? Luz shook her head, no that wasn't the problem right now. If he knew about her calls with Kikimora- "you also have a friend you call every once and awhile, but Eda said I shouldn't eavesdrop on people's conversations." He continued, Luz stared at him. It took a moment for her brain to catch up before she replied.

"Sooo... you don't know who I talk to or what I talk about?" Hooty twisted around in his spot and replied "nope!"

"You don't know what my potions are for?"

"Nope!"

"And you haven't told anybody about those things?" Luz stressed. "Nope!" Hooty said cheerfully. Luz sighed in relief, her skin tingled and itched but she ignored it for the moment. "Don't tell anyone, alright? Not Eda, not King, my friends, not even the bugs on the ground. You hear?" She narrowed her eyes at him and he nodded... somehow. "I could be put in serious danger if you told anyone, and you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to me right?" Luz said, Hooty nodded again and Luz turned to head down the path. "Good."

She sighed, her shoulders sagging as the tension left her body. Luz pulled out her phone again to look at the list once more. There was bound to be a Fire Bee nest nearby, right? She headed off the path in search for a possible nest while she thought about where to find the other ingredients. Lavender grew best in hot, dry, rocky or sandy soil, Lake Lacuna might be a good place to search or Cuticle Valley. Thyme was similar but might also be found at the base of the Knee.

It took Luz a little over an hour to find a nest of Fire Bees. A large tree in the middle of a clearing, dripping with flaming honey. Luz crouched at the edge of the clearing, knowing how territorial they could be. She had ice glyphs with her, but it would be a lot easier if she could create an icy mist with them. All she could do was create pillars and spikes of ice.

Sighing deeply, Luz took her staff-pen out and clicked the button on the side, extending it to it's original form. Standing, she stepped down into the clearing. The buzzing of bees grew angrier and she looked up to see the bees cluster together into a ball of fire as they charged towards her.

Luz spun her staff, imagining the cold chill of misted frost. Once the circle was completed icy frost spilled out around the area making Luz shiver, but more importantly making the fire bees cool down and drop to the ground. Luz stopped the spell and made her way over to the tree, making sure not to step on any fallen bees.

Once close enough, Luz unclipped an empty potion bottle from her belt and started the work on harvesting the honey. Fifteen minutes and a couple burns later, Luz had five bottles of Fire Honey. Luz headed off, making herself a makeshift ice pack with her glyphs for her burnt hands.

Her next stop was Lake Lacuna to get some Lavender. Pulling out her staff once more and hopping on, taking off into the sky. It took almost an hour to get to the base of the ribcage where the lake was located. Luz touched down onto the sand near the large lake, red trees circling around the area. Lake Lacuna was the largest body of water that didn't boil, there were a couple rivers and ponds but they weren't very notable.

The sun was a little past halfway in the sky as Luz scoured the edge of the forest for the purple plant, the light reflecting off of the water brightly. Luz looked all over, by the bases of trees near the sand, by the rocks closer to the water, and even looked deeper into the forest. She eventually found some by a cluster of rocks on the opposite side of the lake where she started.

"Finally." Luz muttered to herself as she unsheathed her dagger and got down on her knees. Luckily this time of year most of the lavender hasn't bloomed yet, which will make it's effects stronger when added to the potion. Luz cut the base of the stems gathering as much as she could before heading off to her next destination.

Since it was getting late, Luz decided to get what she needed at the market before it closed for the night market. She would have to collect thyme tomorrow, in the early morning. Awhile later she arrived at Bonesburrow, landing on the outskirts of town so she could put her staff away. Heading into town, Luz quickly made her way to the market. Luckily this time she was familiar with where the market was, unlike the first time she was here on her own, before officially meeting Eda.

She browsed through the different stalls for the other three ingredients she needed. Briefly getting distracted at the different bags and satchels one stall had for sale, before continuing on her search. She had some snails that she took from Eda's not so secret stash, but Luz doubted it would be enough for all three ingredients.

After about fifteen minutes, Luz found a stall that looked promising called 'Preserved Herbs'. Looking around for about five minutes proved successful as she found a batch of Burdock Root for twenty snails. There was also a small bag of Rose Thorns for fifty snails, which Luz definitely couldn't afford. So instead, Luz bought the Burdock Root and headed back to the Owl House to prepare what she did have.

Once entering the house twenty minutes later she heard King scampering down the stairs. He appeared in the living room as she closed the door behind her. "You've been gone all day. Where were you? Hooty said you went to get ingredients, but that's all he would say." King came over and climbed up onto Luz's shoulder.

Luz laughed lightly "well, Hooty was right I was getting ingredients. I figured since Eda isn't here I could work on making different kinds of potions. Y'know, as long as I don't burn the house down." Luz headed to Eda's potion room, sending a couple light glyphs into the air to light up the room.

There was a large counter top in the middle of the room with shelves covering all four walls. That were full of ingredients, tools, and empty potion bottles. Luz set the lavender down on the counter, spreading it out so it could dry easier. She'd have to hang it up somewhere in a moment.

"Well what kind of potion are you making?" King asked, hopping off her shoulder and onto the counter, inspecting the lavender. Luz set the burdock root beside the lavender and started uncliping the bottles of fire honey. "Oh, there's this recipe I found that I thought I'd try." Luz replied simply as she set the bottles down. "I'll have to get more ingredients for it tomorrow though."

"Can I come with? I don't wanna be left alone with Hooty again." King shivered in disgust. Luz thought it over for a bit as she found some string to tie the lavender up with. "I suppose so, maybe you can help me steal some expensive ingredients." King's tail wagged happily at her reply as she tied the lavender to the string so it would hang upside down to dry better.

"I think we're done for today, help me pop the lights?" Luz asked, popping a nearby ball of light with her finger. King nodded and jumped up to catch one that was above his head, extinguishing it.

They headed to the kitchen together and Luz made dinner. Made, as in Luz raided the fridge for something she didn't have to cook. They ate their dinner and hung out in Luz's room, reading Azura and finishing the second book a couple hours later and falling asleep.

The next morning Luz woke up pretty early. After laying in bed for a couple minutes she finally got up to get ready for the day. Afterwards she woke King who grumbled in annoyance from how early it was and they headed out towards Bonesburrow. King was half asleep on her shoulder when they got to the market, Luz headed to the stand she saw yesterday.

Once the stand was in sight, Luz shook King awake. "Weh?" He grumbled. Luz pointed at the stand and he looked over "I need you to steal some Rose Thorns. Know what they look like?" King nodded, hopping off her shoulder and scampering to the stand. Luz trailed behind him and headed over to the shopkeeper while he looked for the rose thorns.

"Hey, didn't I see you here yesterday? Forgot something?" The shopkeeper asked her. Luz hummed stalling a bit before she replied "yeah, I was here yesterday but I forgot to get a couple things." She pretended to look at the different plants nearby, picking one up to look at before setting it back down. "Anything I can help ya find?" They asked, leaning against the counter.

"Do you have any... hmm what is it called? Oh! Thyme?" She asked slowly, briefly glancing behind the shopkeeper but King was no where to be seen still. The shopkeeper hummed in thought before nodding "I'm pretty sure I have some in the back. However it hasn't been dried yet, if that's okay with you?" Luz nodded "sounds great!"

"I'll be right back then." The shopkeeper left to the back of the store for a moment and Luz looked around for King. Where was the little demon? A few minutes later and the shopkeeper returned with the thyme. It was originally fifteen snails but they gave her a discount since it technically wasn't ready for sale yet, so she got it for ten snails instead. A win-win in her book.

Once the exchange was made Luz asked them another question. "I was also wondering where I could get Silverwing Powder? If you knew where it's sold around here." She spotted King, finally, hiding by a table behind the shopkeeper with the small bag of rose thorns in his paws. The shopkeeper pointed down the street from where they were standing and replied "oh you'd wanna go to Dragonbreath Aroma, they sell all kinds of potion ingredients. I'm sure they'll have your Silverwing Powder."

Luz thanked them and walked away, looking back the shopkeeper got distracted with another customer before King scurried out and over to her. She stopped to wait for him and he hopped back onto her shoulder, handing her the rose thorns. "They were so high up!" King complained immediately, making Luz chuckle as she headed where the shopkeeper pointed. "I had to stack nearby boxes to climb up onto the table just so I could climb up the shelf!"

"Well we only need one more thing, and that's Silverwing Powder. Think you can handle another heist?" Luz asked with a playful smirk. "Of course I can! What do you take me for? I'm the King of Demons!" King replied haughtily. "Now onward loyal minion! We have to put fear into our enemy's hearts!" Luz laughed loudly at that.

King once again leaped off her shoulder to look for the ingredient while Luz distracted the little old lady at the counter. "Hello." Luz greeted the shopkeeper, gaining her attention. "Hello dearie. What can I help you with?"

"Well you see, I'm new in town and I was trying to see if I could get to know the people here. Plus your shop looked interesting and I was wondering if you could give me some tips on potion brewing, you seem pretty knowledgeable on the subject with your shop and all." Luz replied, leaning against the counter casually. Luz knew older people liked to ramble about themselves or something their passionate about.

"Oh! Why yes, I suppose I am a bit of an expert when it comes to potions. Cause you see it's all about the ingredients, how you prepare them and..." the shopkeeper started as Luz tuned her out a bit, half listening, eyes glancing away to look around the store for King before looking back and making an encouraging hum to keep the woman going.

After about ten minutes of mind-numbing boredom another customer came and interrupted them to ask a question. Luz spotted King and slipped away quickly, picking him up and sprinting out of the market.

"You came just in time." Luz commented taking the Silverwing Powder once she slowed down to a walk again. "Well I would have came sooner but it looked like you were having such an exciting conversation." He replied slyly. Luz faked a gasp as they headed down the path towards the Owl House. "I almost died of boredom listening to that woman talk!" They both burst into a fit of giggles afterwards.

They greeted Hooty and entered the Owl House, King went to scavenge in the kitchen while Luz headed to the potions room. Hanging up the thyme next to the lavender and setting the silverwing powder next to the rose thorns on the counter. It would probably take a day or two for the herbs to dry completely for use, but she could set everything else up.

Luz moved around the room grabbing the items and tools she would need after briefly looking at the directions. A small cauldron, a stone mortar and pestle, ladle, a pair of gloves, knife, weighing scale, measuring spoons, thermometer, a timer, and a gas burner hotplate.

She gathered the burdock root and headed over to the small sink to rinse it off. Setting it back onto the table afterwards and drying her hands off. Luz looked through the directions more carefully, but there wasn't anything she could do until the herbs dried. So she headed back out of the room to see what King was up too.

Two days passed and the herbs were finally dry enough and Eda still wasn't back yet. Luz took one of her elixirs in the morning before heading down to work on the potion. King was still asleep and Hooty... well was being Hooty.

Luz started by filling the cauldron with water, then setting it over the hotplate and turning it on to heat. While that was doing that, she put the gloves on and gathered all her ingredients and spread them out over the table. Luz looked over the instructions she grabbed one of the burdock roots and started cutting it with the knife.

Once done Luz set it aside for later and grabbed the thyme and weighing scale. Setting the thyme ontop, she started taking off what she didn't need or adding until she got the correct weight of ten grams. She put the rest of the thyme away for storage and later use then checked the temperature of the boiled water.

Two hundred and ten degrees, which is just what she needed. Luz looked over the directions once more before grabbing the lavender and plucking three sprigs from the bunch, crushing it in her hands and adding it to the cauldron. She stored the rest of the lavender away before grabbing the silverwing powder and the measuring spoons, picking the one for 1/4 tsp, the smallest one.

She scooped the powder into the spoon and brushed the extra back into the bag, then added the tablespoon of powder to the cauldron. The water turned into a silver color with a hint of purple swirling around, Luz looked over the picture on her phone again and continued on.

She added the burdock root she cut earlier, setting a timer for five minutes before grabbing the ladle and stirring counterclockwise. Once the timer went off, Luz stopped her stirring and set the ladle aside, shaking her arm out with a huff to get the blood flowing again. It needed to sit for a bit now so she set another timer for 20 minutes, took her gloves off and headed to the kitchen for some breakfast.

While she was eating King made his way into the kitchen, Luz offered him a plate of his own and he accepted it. "What were you doing up so early?" He asked while eating his food. Luz pushed her finished plate away and replied "well remember how we got those ingredients?" King nodded, "well the lavender and thyme were finally dry so I went ahead and started on the potion." Luz continued.

"Can I help? Eda doesn't allow me to help with her potions cause I might blow something up, but I won't!" King stated confidently. Luz shrugged "sure, but I don't know how you could help I've done most of the work already." King didn't seem to mind that as he finished his food and the two of them headed to the potions room, the timer on her phone going off along the way.

Luz put the gloves back on as King jumped onto the table, avoiding the tools and ingredients by staying in the emptiest spot possible. "What are the gloves for?" King asked, Luz added the thyme she scaled earlier and replied "it's so I don't contaminate the ingredients."

Luz grabbed the rose thorns and the mortar and pestle. She counted out six thorns to put in the mortar, she looked up at King who was watching her. "Wanna crush these?" He nodded enthusiastically and made a grabby motion with his paws, his tail wagging as she handed the mortar and pestle to him. "Tell me when you've crushed it into a powder." Luz said, she then grabbed one of the bottles of fire bee honey.

She poured half of the bottle into the cauldron, flinching back when flames erupted from it then died down. "Weh!" King exclaimed from the sudden fire. "Whoops, sorry." Luz commented, looking back at the demon, but he was looking up. She followed his gaze and noticed a scorch mark on the roof. "Oh..." Luz trailed as the two of them looked back at each other again. "How likely is it that Eda would notice?" She asked, King hummed in thought "I don't think she'll notice, she doesn't really look up too often." He replied, going back to his task.

"Good, good." Luz nodded absentmindedly, picking up the ladle to stir for another five minutes. Once the five minutes were up they added the rose thorn powder into the cauldron, then stirred until the potion turned gold, signaling that it was finally done. Luz turned the hotplate off, her and King started putting all the stuff away while it cooled a bit. Once that task was completed they had to put the potion into potion bottles, they were able to get ten from the one batch.

Luz was happy with the results and that she had enough materials to make more if she needed. As long as Eda didn't use any for her own potions. Now that Luz thought about it she should probably hide it.

Anyways, King went to the living room to set up another lesson on demons since they didn't have anymore distractions. Luz went upstairs to her room to figure out where she was going to put all her elixirs. She eventually came to the decision to putting them all in the chest that was against the wall, including the six she already had.

She shoved her bag into a corner, out of sight since all it really had now was her Amber Guard uniform inside. The Azura books 1, 2, 4, and 5 were scattered around her room, elixirs were now in the chest and her belt was on the table with it's potions and her dagger.

She headed back downstairs to join King and his little demon lessons for the rest of the day. Eda would return a day later, exhausted and grumbling something about a stupid flower. Whatever that could possibly mean.

Chapter Text

Luz had passed the entrance exam easily enough and was now headed to her first day of school at Hexside. She was on the back of Eda's staff as the Owl Lady flew Owlbert to their destination. Luz had taken one of her elixirs that day, she didn't want anything to go wrong today. Especially with her curse. She was currently wearing the school uniform except she had white leggings and sleeves. She didn't have her belt with her but she did have her glyphs and staff.

Luz wouldn't admit it but she was kinda nervous. She'd never been to school before, or at least hasn't been to one in a very long time. It was crazy to think, Luz had faced dangerous creatures and wild witches and on occasion angry Coven heads. Or psychotic in Terra's case. But Luz was nervous about a bunch of teens in the same building?

"I know that look kid, don't worry about what those dorks think. If you want my advice, walk into class and punch the first kid you see. To establish dominance." Eda suggested, turning back to face the front. Luz laughed softly "I won't be doing that, but thanks."

They finally landed in front of the school, students already heading inside. Luz dismounted from the staff when Eda spoke "Last chance to back out, and earn a new Bad Girl Coven patch." She held up a patch that read 'Quitter Badge'. "Quitting: It's like trying, but easier." Luz shook her head fondly "I'll see you later, Eda."

Luz turned to head off to the school "suit yourself." Eda called after her, taking off back to the Owl House. There was a banner above the doors reading 'WELCOME TO THE NEW SEMESTER.' Luz looked around with interest as Amity and an abomination came up to her.

"Hey, Luz! Congrats on getting in." Amity greeted, waving, her abomination copying her movements. "Thanks Amity. Up top!" Luz held her hand out and Amity high-fived her, the abomination also gave her a high-five. Except it was on her face, leaving abomination goop on her face. Amity and the abomination walked away as Luz wiped the goop off her face "yuck."

Luz was determined to teach as many people about high-fiving, just for the soul purpose of teasing Hunter about it later. Anyways, Luz headed over to the main staircase where she found Willow and Gus.

"Luz!" The two called as she approached them. "Hey, fellow Hexoleos!" Luz greeted. "Hello, classmate!" Willow winked, striking a pose with her hand under her chin. "You did it, Luz!" Gus cheered, summoning floating letters above them that read 'BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME' Willow glared at him while Luz looked at the letters with a blank expression. "Sorry, I was, uh, covering all my bases." Gus explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

Deciding to change the subject, Willow spoke. "So, do you know who those witches are?" She pointed at the nine banners. Luz looked to where Willow was pointing and grimaced, yeah she knew them, probably better than most. "Those are the heads of the main nine covens. Each one excelled at a magic school like. Glandus, St. Epiderm, and of course, Hexside. Are you prepared to enter these hallowed halls?" Willow asked.

"Well, that's what I'm gonna figure out right now. I'll see you on the other side, friends." Luz answered, heading inside the school and heading through the halls to Principal Bump's office. Luz knocked before entering "greetings, Principal Bump." She greeted formally.

Bump looked up from the crystal ball he was watching. "Oh, yes. Now, today we'll be visited by the Emperor's Coven for a routine inspection. If we want to impress them, you'll need to join a Coven track before they arrive." Luz's eyebrow rose, she was pretty sure an inspection was in a couple more weeks, perhaps they changed it.

"Alright, so which track is first? Do you have a schedule?" Luz asked. The Principal laughed "studying multiple tracks at once? No one does that." Bump answered. "Really? I thought if a student wanted to join the Emperor's Coven they'd have to study all the tracks?" Luz questioned.

Principal Bump took out a rule book with the Emperor's Coven logo on it. "No, according to the rules a witch needs to hocus-focus. You can only pick one of the nine tracks." He explained while gesturing to the nine banners behind him. "And you do not want to embarrass me in front of the inspector."

"Uh-huh..." Luz hummed, looking up to the banners of the different tracks. She went over the pros and cons of each one in her head and which would be the most useful to learn. She couldn't use her staff for any of them so Plants, Illusions, Construction, and Healing were out. Out of those Plants would be the most likely she could use glyphs with, since it was directly nature. However Luz never liked working with plants, mostly due to Terra's... training.

Potions she could learn anytime with Eda, so that was out. Abominations didn't require magic to make the goop, but magic was required to animate and control it. Plus, Luz never liked the feeling and texture of the stuff. Luz wasn't too interested in Oracle, it didn't really require magic just the use of different types of stones to channel one's magic with. That just left Beast Keeping and Bard.

Luz was a natural when it came to taming different kinds of beasts. Feeding and taking care of them was pretty simple too. However summoning them and making them take orders was a different story. Now Bard did require magic however, the instruments themselves had their own magic and amplified a witches own magic. Like with the Oracle stones, or Palisman, or Luz's artificial staff.

Bard magic was the one thing she couldn't do with her staff, and since she didn't have any magic of her own, whistling and such wouldn't do anything magic wise. Luz has learned how to use most instruments thanks to Scooter Crane, however she never learned anything past how to use the instrument and a few basic spells.

Making up her mind, Luz finally gave Principal Bump an answer. "I think the Bard Track would be best for me." Bump nodded "then so be it." He spun a spell circle and Luz could feel the rush of magic over her as her uniform changed the sleeves to red.

"I expect you to be on your best behavior." Principal Bump looked at a corkboard with pictures of the results of Luz's previous visits to Hexside on it. "Based on the costly repairs from recent incidents, we could really use a donation from the Emperor's Coven. Now, off to class." He spun another spell circle and Luz was surprised to be swept off of her feet and out the door, only to be dropped off outside the office door.

Luz shook her arms out as the magic dropped its hold on her, the door closing shut behind her. She headed off to Bard class before she was considered late. Once she was able to find the class, she entered the room and looked around. It was a large room with different levels with chairs scattered around. Students stood in groups talking to each other or sat in their chairs, fiddling with their chosen instrument if they had one.

The teacher was no where to be seen so Luz went and found herself a seat by herself, surveying the room. A couple minutes later the bell screamed and the teacher entered the room soon after. Students quieted down and sat in their chairs as the teacher spoke. "Welcome to a new semester, class! I see we have a few new students joining us, so today we'll be practicing with our instruments individually. If you need help just ask."

"New students follow me to pick out your instrument, remember that you can always change it if it doesn't fit your vibe." They explained, heading to the back of the room. Up the different levels and opening a door, motioning the students that followed into the room. Luz followed and entered the room, looking around as the teacher entered the room as well.

"Pick any instrument you want, most of these ones are pretty new so don't worry about them being clean or not." The teacher said, standing by the door with a counter that had multiple thin books ontop of it beside them. The room had different sections to it for all kinds of instruments, cases of instruments stored in cubbies on the walls. Students wandered around, taking the cases and opening them to see the instruments inside.

Luz wandered around as well, she was surprised at how many types of instruments there were. Harps, triangles, guitars, tambourines, harmonicas, flutes, and oboes. Along with french horns, trumpets, tubas, clarinets, trombones, bassoons, and saxophones. There was even a drum set in the corner, but Luz was pretty sure that was just for show.

Luz looked around, pulling down a case for a trumpet. She set it on the counter and opened the case. It was made of brass, with only three keys. It looked easy to play but Luz knew better, since it only had three keys that ment multiple notes could be played on one fingering. She picked it up out of the case and clicked the buttons ontop. Third finger button for A or E, first and third finger for G, D, and A, etc. She put it back in its case after a moment and put it away, looking around for something else.

She wanted something small, easy to carry around. Since she couldn't summon things like other witches, she needed something that could fit in her pocket or bag. Harmonicas and triangles were small, but she'd never played them before, Scooter told her they were a waste of time learning. She wanted something she's played before.

Luz brushed her hand against the different cases, landing on a flute. Pulling it out and setting the case on the counter and opening it. It was silver and split into three pieces, the body having lots of different buttons and keys. She picked up the body and foot joint of the instrument and twisted the two pieces together and left the head, where the mouthpiece was located, inside the case.

It was definitely a longer instrument, however the piccolo was basically a smaller version of the flute. Luz had never played the piccolo, but she has played the flute before. It's been about two years since she last played but her fingers landed naturally on the correct keys. Her left hand was positioned closer to where the head piece would go, the back of her hand facing out. Her pointer finger on the second circular key, her middle finger skipped a key to rest on the fourth circular key, her ring finger on the fifth key and her pinky resting on the one key that jutted out from the flute.

The back of her right hand faced herself as her first three fingers landed on the last three circular keys on the body, her pinky on the first flat key on the foot joint. Her left thumb was on a flat key beneath the skipped over key while her right thumb rested on the smooth surface of the instrument. She clicked the keys to see what fingerings she could remember.

All fingers pressing down on the buttons, except for her left pointer and pinkies was D. Then switching to all her fingers up except her left pointer and right pinky pressing the buttons for C. Then keeping that fingering and adding her left thumb and right pointer down for B flat.

Luz exited the room, the teacher giving her one of the thin books on the counter. Luz headed to her seat, pulling a stand over to set the book on and attaching the flute pieces together. She opened the book to the first page, it was a fingering chart of all the different notes for the flute.

Class ended awhile later, Luz headed out of class with the other students. She had Bard class again, well her whole schedule was Bard except for the one history class she had later. But she had some time to kill before her next class, so she explored the nearby area. Potions and Oracle were right down the hall from her class.

The day passed by slowly, Luz was in her history class, luckily Willow and Gus were in the class too. It was about midway in the class period when there were screams coming from the halls. The teacher headed out of the classroom to see what was happening, and of course the students followed him out.

"What the heck is that!?" Gus yelled, pointing at a large snake like creature. Multiple teachers casted spells at it but the creature didn't seem affected by it. Students ran and some stayed to help, "come on, we gotta help!" Willow said, raising her arm to cast a spell. "No!" Luz quickly grabbed Willow and Gus's arms, yanking them back.

Luz knew exactly what creature that was. It was a Greater Basilisk, a creature that sucked the magic out of it's victims and left them as husks of themselves. They were extinct, but there were some left, locked up in the Conformatorium. Luz and Hunter had patrolled those lower levels occasionally, before they escaped recently. There were two that they couldn't catch in time and this was one of them.

Luz shoved Willow and Gus behind her "go! Run!" The three ran down the hall as the Basilisk sucked the magic out of the few students who stayed behind to try and help. They turned a corner and Gus opened a door to a random room "let's hide in here!" The three ran inside and slammed the door shut behind them.

The room they entered was empty except for the sleeping teacher at the front of the class. The only other notable thing in the room was a drawing of a square with a keyhole on the chalkboard. "We need to go back and help, everyone is in danger." Willow said, Luz shook her head. "No way, you can't fight that. Did you see what it was doing to everyone else?"

Willow and Gus shook their heads, Luz heard the creak of a door and the distant screaming and yelling down the hall. She ignored the sounds and spoke, "everytime someone casted a spell it ate that person's magic and weakened them so that they couldn't fight anymore. It drains a witches magic from them." Luz explained hurriedly.

"It sounds like a Basilisk." A new voice spoke, the trio turned around to see another student. She had a fishhook in one ear and her uniform sleeves were grey. Luz nodded "it's a Greater Basilisk." She informed the older student. "Aren't Basilisks extinct though?" Gus asked. "Not anymore." Luz replied simply.

"Well what should we do? We can't use magic, it'll drain us." Willow asked. "Not if we catch it off guard, but after that..." Luz trailed off in thought. "I have an idea, but I'll have to show you first." The older student spoke after a moment. Luz looked the student up and down, cautiously. Basilisks were shapeshifters as well and she had to take that into consideration.

"Alright lead the way." Luz replied eventually, hand on her waist where her staff was. The student went over the the chalkboard and picked up a piece of chalk, positioning it on the keyhole that was drawn on the board and twisted it. A door opened and lead into a hallway. The student climbed in the hole and gestured for them to follow.

Luz entered first then Willow, the two helped Gus inside and it closed behind them. They followed the student down the short hall and into a much larger room, full of different doors on the walls, the floor, and even the roof. There were stairs that lead to more doors and a picture on the back wall covered in graffiti.

"Welcome to the Secret Room of Shortcuts." The student gestured to the room around them. "I'm Viney." She introduced. Two more students peaked around the corner ontop of the stairs. "How do you know their cool?" One student asked as the other student, a dog like demon barked. "Barcus says your aura is sensible and conscientious. Welcome!" The student translated, the two came down the stairs.

"I'm Luz and this is Willow and Gus." Luz introduced before continuing. "Anyways there's a Greater Basilisk on the loose in the school." She informed the two new arrivals. Luz turned to Viney, "you had a plan?"

"Right, I think if we can get the Basilisk onto the stage in the auditorium. We can trap it under a pile of sandbags." Viney explained. They discussed different ideas for a bit, and finally settled on an idea. Jerbo complained a bit about mixing magic and how much trouble they would get in, but they were able to convince him otherwise.

"Alright let's get moving." Luz said, unclipping her staff-pen and clicking the button on the side. Gus gasped "you have a staff!?" Willow shook her head. "I thought you were only going to use it for emergencies?" Willow asked as Viney, and Barcus exited through one of the secret doors. "This seems like an emergency enough for me." Luz shrugged. "Don't tell anyone." She added to Gus, who nodded in confusion and awe.

Willow and Gus were tasked with clearing the hallway from defeated teachers and students, dragging them to safety. Jerbo stayed in the room of shortcuts, Barcus went to the stage and Viney was getting her pet griffin, Puddles.

Luz moved through the halls carefully, listening for the sounds of the Basilisk. She peaked around a corner and saw it sucking the magic out of a student. Stepping into the hall and holding her staff tightly, she leaped into action. Spinning a spell circle, Luz casted a gust of wind to knock it into the back wall.

It growled, twisting itself so that it towered over everything. It's eyes fixed on Luz on the opposite side of the hall. "Another morsel thinks it can take me?" It growled, rushing forward. Luz turned on her heel and sprinted around the corner and down the hall. It roared as it slammed itself into the wall, turning down the hall to continue the chase.

Luz turned her head to look behind her, the Basilisk was closing in on her. She twirled her staff, a wall of rock bursting up from the ground in front of the creature. The Basilisk screeched as it collided with the wall. The wall broke, rocks collapsing ontop of the Basilisk. Luz reached the end of the hall, Willow and Gus were there and came to her side. Gus created multiple illusions of the three of them.

The Basilisk pushed the rocks off of itself. "You'll pay for that!" It looked up and a look of confusion crossed its face before it morphed into realization. It rushed forward again and opened its mouth as Willow whistled loudly. The Basilisk started sucking up the illusions when Puddles came flying from one of the halls beside it.

Gus collapsed and Willow ran to his side as Puddles knocked the Basilisk down. Viney ran from the hall Puddles came from and shouted "now, Jerbo!" Moments later a trapdoor opened beneath the creature. The Basilisk knocked Puddles away before falling into the newly created hole.

Luz put her staff away and jumped down into the hole, jumping ontop of it so that it went down into the next hole and onto the stage. Luz landed on the stage and turned around to face the Basilisk. "Its all you, Barcus!" Luz called as Viney and Jerbo joined her, Willow and Gus looked down from the trapdoors.

Barcus barks and grabs the Basilisk's palm. "Where am I?" The Basilisk asked, looking around as Barcus poured a purple liquid on it's hand. He yiped, his eyes glowing purple. The Basilisk panicked "what's he doing? what'd he say?" Luz smirked "he's reading your palm, and your future looks bleak." She replied.

Jerbo's Abomination pulled on a rope that Puddles cut with her beak. The rope dropped sandbags onto the Basilisk, all of the magic it ate released and returned to the proper witches it belonged too. Viney healed Puddle's injured claw who cooed in thanks before taking off.

"You all are in so much trouble. Leaving your homeroom, mixing magic and—is that a secret hideout?" Principal Bump pointed to the ceiling as Willow and Gus ducked away from the opening. "Yeah it is. But let's think about this, Principal Bump. Why would kids in the detention track need a secret hideout?"

"I don't care to know the ins and outs of rascality." Principal Bump pulled out a rule book. "But if the Emperor's Coven can send an actual inspector this time—"

"Principal Bump if I may be so bold as to say that this school system is a load of griffin shit. Sorry- but if you have to hurt your students in the long run what's the point? They should be able to choose multiple tracks, as long as they choose one Coven to join when they're older it should be fine. It saves them time on having to learn new spells when they join the Emperor's Coven too." Luz interrupted, crossing her arms.

Bump lowered the rulebook in surprise, looking down at it and thinking it over. "Alright, I'm smart enough to know when I've made a mistake. Which tracks would you like to be in?" Principal Bump sighed, turning to the detention track students. "Healing and Beast Keeping!" Viney answered. "Plants and Abomination!" Jerbo said. Barcus barked.

"Then so be it." He changed their uniforms to reflect their new tracks. "But if any of you cause more property damage, I'm feeding you to the choosy hat." Bump then turned to Luz. "And you?"

"Oh! You're letting me choose as well?" Luz asked. "Well you are the one that insisted." Principal Bump replied. Luz thought for a moment. "Bard, Beast Keeping... Oracle, Abomination, and Plants I suppose." Luz felt the rush of magic over her again and looked down at her sleeves.

Her left sleeve was red for Bard while her right was orange for Beast Keeping. Her left leg was the two different purples of Oracle and Abomination, while her right was green for Plants.

The rest of the day flew by and soon Luz was waving her friends goodbye, boarding Eda's staff and heading back to the Owl House. "So Princy-B let you study multiple tracks?" Eda asked as they headed inside. "Oh yeah, it took a lot of convincing... and a Basilisk." Luz replied, sitting on the couch. "A Basilisk!?" Eda looked down at her student in surprise. "I guess I should tell you what happened.." Luz started explaining her day, leaving out the parts where she used her staff and replacing it with glyphs instead. Eda laughed at how Luz cursed at the Principal stating that "that's better than punching the first kid you saw in class!"

Chapter Text

Luz and King have spent the last week having a comedy hour every day, to the annoyance of Eda. After the Basilisk had been defeated last Monday, Luz informed Kikimora of the incident so that they could take the Basilisk back to the Conformatorium. But other than that and the one day there was an infestation of pixies, there wasn't any other incidents at Hexside.

Today though she was at school, heading into class with Willow for a Photo Class. She wasn't sure what that meant but she figured she'll learn about it soon enough.

She regrets everything. Luz did not want to be in this class right now. "Come on Luz. You already pulled out some of my memories, it'll be fine." Willow said, gesturing to the photos that were clipped to the hanging string. They hadn't developed yet so Luz couldn't see what memories they were.

Luz shook her head, her hands covering her ears. "Nuh uh. No one but me can see my memories." Luz stated. Willow put the memory tweezers down and watched Luz with concern. "Are... are a lot of your memories bad?" Willow asked hesitantly. Luz took her hands off her ears and sighed, "they're not the best memories."

"Does it..." Willow hesitated "does it have something to do with your scars?" She asked, eventually. Luz looked up at her, then looked away at the developing memories. "Some of it is, yeah." Luz shrugged. It was silent between them for a moment before Willow replied. "I'm sure if you think of happier times, those ones will come out more. I won't look at them if you want."

Luz huffed out a small laugh "alright, let's get this over with then." Willow picked up the tweezers again as Luz sat down. She pulled out a few and hung them separately from Willow's memories. Once they were done, Luz noticed that it was less photos than what Willow had. Luz appreciated Willow's attempts of keeping it private and still having her get a passing grade in the class.

They waited a bit as Willow's memories developed first. "Those are my dads." Willow pointed at a photo of her dads pushing a smaller Willow on a swing. Luz smiled at the photo "you all look like a happy family..." Luz trailed, smile fading. She wondered about her mom sometimes, would she remember Luz when she returned? Was she even in the same town anymore? Was she even still alive?

"Luz, you okay?" Willow asked. Luz hummed "yeah... just getting lost in my thoughts." Luz looked over at her own developing memories and tapped her fingers against the desk. The teacher walked by their desk "as you work, notice how some memories have greater clarity than others. These are moments that invoke strong emotional response."

The teacher continued speaking. "But if you damage the prints, you'll damage the memories themselves. Be extremely careful!" She stressed, continuing on around the classroom.

Luz wondered why this was even a class anyways, one mishap and a student could loose their memories. After the mission for the portal key, Luz was going to talk to somebody about canceling this class. It had to have broken some sort of privacy or student endangerment law.

The rest of Willow and Luz's memories developed. Luz made sure to block her memories from view, looking them over to make sure anything that could be seen wouldn't rouse suspicion. There were only three memories, while Willow had five.

One memory had Luz and King making a potion, probably the time they made Luz's elixir. The second one had Luz and Hunter in it, the two of them in a dimly lit part of a library- not the Bonesburrow library, but the private one in the Emperor's castle. The two were looking up from a book they had been apparently looking at, their expressions showed fear at whoever discovered them. In this photo Luz was missing the larger of the two scars on her cheek.

The third photo showed a much younger Luz, sitting on her knees and looking up in pure terror. One hand rested on the ground while the other was slightly moved away from her face. In this photo Luz didn't have any of her scars, only the blood that was smeared on her cheek and hand.

Luz took the third photo off of where it was hanging. She held it tightly as she looked at it, her hands shaking slightly. This was the moment that Luz got her first scar. It was only her second or third day on the Boiling Isles, Luz wasn't sure exactly but she did know that this was the moment she realized this world wasn't anything like her stories back home.

One thing was for sure, Luz didn't want anyone to see this memory. The other two were fine but this one... Luz wanted nothing more than to crumple it up and toss it, burn it, anything so that she didn't have to think or see it again.

A hand rested on her shoulder, Luz quickly hid the photo against her chest and looked up. It was Willow, giving her a soft smile. She didn't say anything, just looking at her, but Luz was pretty sure what that look meant. 'I'm here, if you want.' And Luz really appreciated it.

Luz looked away from Willow and nodded towards the other two photos. "You can look at those if you want." Willow took her hand off Luz's shoulder. "Are you sure?" She asked and Luz nodded, "yeah those ones are fine."

The two of them finished their assignment before the bell rang for lunch. Luz ended up putting the third photo back up, but made sure it faced the wall away from everyone. They'd be back for their memories after lunch, to put them safely back in their heads.

It was about halfway through lunch with Gus panicking about his journalism class when Willow started... acting differently.

It started when Willow asked "when did it get so hot in here?" Luz had looked up when Willow started dousing herself with water. She was concerned at Willow's behavior as Gus sipped on his apple blood, looking confused.

Willow took her glasses off and cleaned them and put them back in place. She looked up at the two sitting across from her and tilted her head slightly. "Uhh, hi! I'm Willow! Remind me of your names?" She said, sticking her hand out across the table for a handshake. Luz blinked then furrowed her brow in confusion.

"This is serious journalism, Willow. Clowning around will get you nowhere." Gus said, his arms crossed. "I'm-I'm serious! Who-who are you?" Willow replied, squinting at them. "I'll admit, this amnesia spin has peaked my interest."

Luz looked between the two before realization dawned on her. She slammed her hands on the table and stood up, startling both Willow and Gus. "The photo class!" She grabbed both of their arms and dragged them to their feet. "Come on we gotta hurry!"

They briskly made their way down the halls of Hexside, Gus was the first to slide into the class. "Hexside Free Press! What's going on here?" Gus exclaimed, pointing his pencil at nothing in particular. Luz entered the room right behind him and spotted Amity. She was by the photos that were currently on fire, blowing on them to put out the fire.

Amity looked up at them. "...Hi." Luz stormed over to her, clenching her fists at her sides as she stopped right in front of the green haired girl. "You destroyed Willow's memories!?" She shouted in frustration, glaring at Amity.

Amity flinched at her tone, but held up two of the photos. "I-I saved as many as I could!" She defended herself. A stray ember from the flames made it's way over, landing on the photos and burning them to ash in Amity's hands. They watched the ashes fall, Amity wincing at Luz's intense glare.

"Ugh! Why would they make memories so flammable?" Amity complained. Willow came up to the two of them, giggling. She put an arm around their shoulders "I can tell we're gonna be good friends!" She then fell to the floor, Amity and Luz looking down at her in worry.

Luz shook her head "come on, we should hurry." She bent down to get Willow on her feet again. "But how are we gonna fix this?" Amity asked, helping Luz. "We'll go to the Owl House, Eda might know what to do." Luz replied. They slung Willow's arms around their shoulders and Gus held the door open as they headed out.

It took awhile to get there, but they eventually made it to the Owl House. Eda was deeply confused on why Luz was back from school early and with her friends in tow, but they explained what they could.

"So, you set Willow's memories on fire and erased everything. Even minor damage can have huge effects!" Eda explained, arms wide before pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing. Willow walked into the couch where King was sleeping. "Ahh, a chair for sitting!" Willow flops face first onto the couch, does a handstand while trying to sit, and then flops upside down.

"Yep, her brain's burned up real good. Damage like that can change everything about a person. Willow may never be the same." Eda said while looking at Willow.

Willow finally got the sitting position right. "I got it!" She looked to King and picked him up. "Ooh, a furry fruit! I'm gonna peel it!" She pinched the scruff of his neck as King woke up. "What? What it happening?!" He tried to escape and only succeeded because Eda casted a sleep spell on Willow.

"Is there anything we can do?" Luz asked, King curled up to go back to sleep. "There is one way, but it's terribly dangerous and partially illegal." Eda paused "so you're in the right place! I'll send you into her mind to fix the damage."

Luz shrugged, that sounded about right. She remembered Hunter reading a lot about this subject, he would info dump about it often.

"It won't be easy. You have a lot to fix in there, 'cause it's a mess! Yep, whoever did this to Willow showed unbelievable disregard for her safety, downright despicable." Eda said as Amity looked away, guiltily. Eda then pointed in Amity's direction. "Oh, right, it was you."

Eda turned her attention back to Luz. "Anyways, Luz, whose going inside with you?" Before Luz could answer, Hooty opened the door. "Maybe I can help! I'm pretty good at getting stuck inside people's heads!" Eda gave him a deadpanned look. "This is someone's brain, not a nightclub!" She spun a spell circle to close the door. "Two max."

Luz hummed, Gus was to distracted about his journalism assignment to focus on the task, so that left Amity. Luz turned around to face Amity "Amity, you have to go with me." Luz stated. "Willow might not want me in there." Amity replied, looking away. "You set everything in there on fire! You have to help." Luz replied.

Amity hesitated, thinking for a second before sighing. "Okay, I'll do what I can." Luz held her hand out for Amity to take, the witch taking it hesitantly.

"Alright! Bold choice, taking the girl who caused the mess." Eda drew a spell circle around them and summoned a bell. Luz took the bell with her free hand, "huh."

"When you're done, ring that and I'll cast you back-Oh, and keep an eye out for her 'Inner Willow' She's the gatekeeper of emotions and memory. She might help ya." Eda lifted her hand. The spell circle around Luz and Amity produces a light that encases them. "Now, here we go!"

Luz and Amity yelped as they disappeared into the yellow light of the spell. Eda directed it to Willow, who was still fast asleep. Luz and Amity landed in a black void, a light appeared and burst forward blinding them for a moment.

When the light dimmed, they're standing in a forest, each tree growing around a dark picture frame. Luz and Amity looked around and started walking. "Where's her Inner Willow? Do you really think it'll help?" Amity asked, looking around. "Most likely, but we'll just have to start fixing stuff on our own until we find her. Hmm, now let's see..." Luz blew dust off a frame and coughed. It's a picture of a fort on a beach. Luz touched it with her hand, which went through the picture.

She jerked her hand back in surprise. "Hey, come look at this." She called, waiting for Amity to make her way to her. Once demonstrating what she found, Luz suggested they enter it. Amity was unsure, but ultimately agreed.

Luz climbed in first, scouting it out as Amity entered behind her. The memory was in grayscale and burning. They're at a grassy beach with a dock and sign that read "LAKE LACUNA". "Lake Lacuna! This is where Willow and I took swimming lessons! The ash must be from the fires." Amity said, looking up at the floating embers. She gasped. "Our fort! In the dunes!" They ran up to the fort. Amity started taking things off of it.

"One time Willow wanted to play hooky from our swim lessons, so we built this!" Amity shoved a plank in Luz's hands. Luz fumbled with the plank for a moment, surprised as Amity continued. "We knew the swim teacher would be on the prowl, but Willow said she'd protect us with an illusion spell." She looked at the fort in pride.

Luz leaned on the plank, watching Amity curiously. Why did Amity want to burn what seemed to be fond memories? "Wait, something is missing." Amity looked around, she found a flag in the sand with 'A+W' written on it. She swiped sand off it, smiling at it fondly before putting it in a small flowerpot tied to the top of the fort. "There."

The memories color returned kicking them out of the memory. "We're back!" Amity said looking around. "Huh. Fixing the fort seems to have fixed the memory." Luz noted as the memory started playing in color.

They watched the memory play for a bit. "Willow was a... late bloomer." Amity commented. "I know, but now she's more like a great bloomer!" Luz did finger guns and Amity wrinkled her nose. "Let's go ahead and fix some more." Luz walked away and headed over to the birthday party photo. "How 'bout this one?"

Amity's eyes widened in panic, Luz hefted her foot up so she could climb into the painting. "Wait! Uhh. Let's save that one for last, yeah?" Amity ran over to a different photo as Luz looked back at her in confusion. "How about this one? It might be about a crush?!" Amity said, giving a wide uncomfortable smile.

Luz looked back at the painting she was about to climb into then back to Amity. The witch was gesturing to a painting of Willow with messy hair, her eyes flicking from the painting then back to Luz. Luz stepped down and away from the painting and shrugged "sure." Amity breathed a sigh of relief as they climbed in.

It took awhile to fix each memory but eventually they decided to take a break. Luz turned the latest memory around so that they wouldn't see how it ended. "Yeah, Willow threw up a lot that day. That's when you knew she was havin' fun." Luz cringed a bit at that. Amity looked downcast.

"Hey, you okay?" Luz asked, leaning against the tree with her arms loosely crossed. "Yeah, I just... I can't believe I almost erased all of this. I really messed things up." Amity replied. "Don't worry. We can still fix it, look at all the ones we fixed so far!" Luz replied, gesturing to the different photos. Amity chuckled lightly, her cheeks reddening with a blush. "Yeah..."

Luz looked around at the memories they've already fixed. The one with Willow and her Dads by the swings, Willow and her Dads opening gifts... Luz wondered if that's what it would have been like if she'd never ended up on the Boiling Isles. Just her and her mom making memories like these ones. Luz gripped her arms tightly as her thoughts swirled. She had a dad too, she just couldn't remember him as well as her mom.

Amity turned to tell Luz that they should probably continue but stopped in her tracks. Luz had a deep frown on her face, staring off at one of the memories. "Hey." Amity said to get Luz's attention. Luz blinked and turned her head with a hum. "Are... you okay?"

Luz turned away, thinking before she replied. "It's just... seeing Willow and her dads being happy makes me think about my mom, y'know?" Luz said, looking up at the tree and the painting that held the photo of Willow and her dads by the swings. Amity looked to her, a worried frown on her face. "I haven't seen my mom in years." Luz confessed, putting her hands in her pockets.

"I can't tell you everything about it, cause it's complicated but... I'm worried that when- if I see her again, if she'll even remember or recognize me." Luz continued, she turned away from the painting and looked at Amity. "I'm just worried that I don't have a family to go back to. Then everything that I'm doing would have been all for nothing."

"I don't want to do the things I'm doing. Not anymore, anyway. The... person that's been helping me all these years- I'm not sure if I can believe him anymore." Luz stopped and blinked, unsure of why she said what she did. She took her hands out of her pockets and looked down at them. "I don't think I have much of a choice either." She clenched her fists.

Amity watched her for a moment before replying. "Kinda sounds like my mom." She said, rubbing the side of one of her arms. Luz looked up at her, waiting for her to continue. "My mother wants the family to be picture perfect." She said in a bit of a mocking tone. "I always have to be the best at everything I do, look the best, and show no emotion to anyone, cause that would mean I'm weak." Amity sighed. "I burned Willow's memory because I couldn't risk having my reputation be 'tainted' as my mother would say."

It was silent for a moment. "Sorry I didn't mean to start talking about my problems." Amity apologized but Luz waved it off "this is just a trauma dumping session for the both of us." The two shared a laugh, "we should probably get back to fixing the memories though." Luz said, "yup, definitely." Amity agreed. Her eyes drifted past Luz, a large creature made of pink flames stepped out from behind a tree. Amity gasped and pointed "what's that?" Luz turned to see, but it was gone. Luz looked back to Amity with an eyebrow raised.

"Uh. Were you just trying to change the subject or..." Luz trailed, "No, I actually saw something! At least I...I think I did." Amity replied, following Luz as she headed to another memory. "Alright, well if you see it again let me know." Luz said, climbing into the photo, Amity following behind.

After they fixed that memory, Luz had to pull an egg off of her head once they climbed out. "Bleh." She tossed the egg aside. "Welp, there's only one last memory to fix. The one you're avoiding." Luz stated. "Me? Avoid? No. But let's skip it! Where's Eda's bell?" Amity ran at Luz, but Luz stopped her with one hand on Amity's face. "Amity, you gotta stop being weird. We have to fix all of them. Unless... there's something in there you don't want me to see."

Amity crossed her arms defensively. "Look, I'm not here to judge, I'm just here to help Willow." Luz said. "Help? All you're doing is prying into your friends lives!" Amity snapped. Luz bristled "I'm not the one who burnt the memories in the first place." She replied coldly.

It was silent for a moment between the two, neither of them moving or speaking. Amity sighed "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. This situation is just a lot." Luz nodded in agreement, she paused, sniffing the air as smoke drifted in. "Is something burning?" They turned to see pink flames destroying the memories they've just fixed.

"Look!" Luz pointed. The pink monster reappeared and ran toward the two, causing them to scream. "Hide, hide, hide!" Amity yelled, dragging Luz behind the egg memory tree. The pink monster jumped into the photo. Luz and Amity looked at the photo as it reignites. "Why is that thing burning up all the memories!?" Luz asked. "Please call Eda, I don't wanna be here when it comes out!" Amity pleaded. Luz grabbed the bell and rang it, but nothing happened.

Amity snatched the bell from Luz's hand and rang it aggressively. "Why. Won't. She. Answer!" Luz winced, "yeah, she's not super reliable." The flames behind them grew larger, Luz yelled for them to run. Luz and Amity ran as the monster emerged from the photo, then entered a different one.

"Why is it destroying all the photos?" Amity asked. "That's what I wanna know." Luz replied, looking around for any clues. She looked at the photos that weren't destroyed, the swing one, the holiday one, and the one with the library was partially burnt. Realization dawned on her, Luz gasped. "Amity, that thing isn't after any photo. It's after you!"

The monster emerged from the photo, turning and locking eyes with Amity. Amity's eyes widened "what!" The monster growled, burning brighter as it sprinted for them. Luz shoved Amity to get her to run, eyes looking around for something... there! "I have an idea!" Luz shoved Amity to the beach photo.

"We can't go in there, I'm in there!" Amity exclaimed. "Just trust me!" Luz replied shoving Amity in. She checked to see if the monster was following them before jumping in herself. Both landed on their faces. Luz stood and dragged her finger in the sand, drawing a large circle. "Time for a swimming lesson!" Luz slammed the circle. The inside of it turned blue, and the inner lines of the ice glyph appear (though the central vertical line is missing). A pillar of ice began to grow from the glyph. The monster leaped through the photo and landed on the pillar as it grows, skidding into the lake. Luz and Amity look around the pillar. "Woo! Teamwork, baby!" Luz cheered, hugging Amity causing her to blush. Luz pulled away quickly "oops sorry."

A shadow stood in the lake, obscured by fog. The fog cleared, revealing Willow, pink flames around her. She looked at Luz and Amity. "Are you... the Inner Willow?" Amity asked. Inner Willow's eyes turned completely purple. "I was. Love, sadness, fear." Her voice echoed, footsteps leaving flames in the sand. "I used to be a being made of all emotions. But ever since you set Willow's mind on fire, all I can feel is anger!" The word 'Anger' echoes, loudly.

Her hands ignited in flames. Around them, the memory started to burn again. A tree is set on fire, then another, and then the fort. The flag burning to ash. Luz and Amity watched the destruction. "You gotta stop!" Luz protested.

"But Amity wanted this." Inner Willow replied, summoning the birthday photo. She grabbed it with a hand of pink flames. "Every moment she touched, I'm going to burn!"

"You're just hurting Willow. Why are you doing this?" Amity questioned. Inner Willow got in Amity's face. "Still haven't figured it out yet? Then I'll show you!" She said, picking Amity up and throwing her into the memory. Inner Willow turned to Luz, "you might as well join her since you're here." Luz didn't get a chance to reply, being thrown into the memory as well, slamming into the opposite wall.

Luz grunted as she stood back up, rubbing her head and making her way to Amity in the middle of the bedroom. "Where are we?" Luz asked. Inner Willow floated into the memory. Amity hid behind Luz. "You said I was hurting Willow? I was just finishing what you started!" With a bell toll and a flash of flame, the memory began playing. The door to Young Amity's room opened, and Young Amity and Young Willow entered.

"You have to get out, Willow, now!" Young Amity said. "Wait, why?" Young Willow asked, confused. "Because-because-" Young Amity fumbled before Young Willow interrupted, grabbing the young witch's hand. "Is it because I still can't do magic? Amity, I'm-I'm sorry I got us in trouble at the beach, I just-I can't get the spells right." Young Willow explained, Luz watched in worry as Young Amity ripped her hand away. "Well, yes, that-that is why! Because you're a weakling! You can't do magic so I don't wanna be your friend. Now, go!" Young Amity pointed at Young Willow.

Inner Willow made them disappear into dust. Young Amity's scowl disappeared to reveal Amity's resigned expression, while Young Willow's tearful face revealed Inner Willow's furious one. Luz looked between the two in worry. "Then you let your new friends pick on her for years. All because you thought she was weak." Inner Willow floated upward. "Well, now I can erase all that pain. After all, out of sight, out of mind."

"Amity!" Luz gasped as a ring of fire circled around Amity's feet. Luz didn't know what to do, she didn't want either of her friends getting hurt. Although, Amity looked really pretty with the light reflecting off her like that- now was not the time!

"Wait! Please." Amity pleaded, the flames disappeared. "Before all this started, there-there was something else." Something banged on the door. "Amity?" A male voice said as the door opened. A light turned on in the darkness behind it, showing Young Amity, her parents' shadows looming over her. At least Luz assumed it was her parents. "What is Willow doing here? She wasn't on the guest list for a reason." Amity's mother hissed. "But, she's-she's my best friend!" Young Amity said. Inner Willow was surprised by that.

"Nonsense, Blights only associate with the strongest of witchlings. You can choose a new friend from one of the suitable companions we invited." Amity's father replied. A black and white picture of young Boscha and Skara appeared next to the Blights, both witchlings looking bored. "But they're mean! Just because you work with their parents doesn't mean I have to like them!" Young Amity protested. "Good children don't squabble, dear. Sever your ties with Willow, and if you don't..." Amity's mother trailed. "Then we will." Amity's father finished as Young Amity gasped. "We'll make sure the girl is never admitted into Hexside. Now go, and try not to make a scene." Amity's mother commanded. The door closes. All color in the room fades as the flames go out. Luz shivered, she didn't like Amity's mother at all.

"Willow, you were never too weak to be my friend. I was too weak to be yours. I can't take back what I've done, but I can promise you this." Amity grabs Skara's invite out of her pocket. "I won't let Boscha and her gang pick on you ever again!" She tugged on Skara's invite. "I'm not actually gonna rip it because it's a real butterfly, but you get the gesture, right?" Amity questioned pocketing the invite, and holding out her hand. Inner Willow turned with tears in her eyes. "I do." Inner Willow said softly, grabbing Amity's hand. "I think Willow should keep her memories of you. The good, and the bad." Inner Willow said, Amity gave a little shrug "Me too." She agreed.

Luz walked closer to them and they both looked at her. "Then if it's okay with you, we still got some work to do." Inner Willow nodded. The three of them put their heads together, and with a flash of light later, they're back in the main forest of Willow's mind. Luz handed Amity the repaired birthday photo. Amity hanging it in the tree. Young Inner Willow ran behind them, making them turn around. Inner Willow walked out from behind a tree, no longer surrounded by pink flames, holding Young Inner Willow's hand. Amity waved at them. Luz chuckled as Young Inner Willow turned to leave and walked face-first into a tree. She giggled and ran off. Inner Willow waving and following her.

Luz looked to Amity, "so... what does this mean for you and Willow?" Amity looked back to her. "I'm not sure." She replied. "Well." Luz started, pulling out the bell again. "Why don't we go find out?" Luz rang the bell and a moment later they were transported back into the living room of the Owl House. The living room was a huge mess, papers, books, and random items scattered around the floor.

"What happened here? And where's Gus?" Luz asked. "The kid's fine, he's just dead to us." Eda grumbled, Eda and King walking away in annoyance. "Getting mixed signals there." Luz mumbled as Willow started to wake up. Luz noticed and went over to her.

"Willow! Do you know who I am?" Luz asked. Willow sat up slowly, squinting at her. "A friendly scarecrow?" She paused. "Ha! Just messing, I remember everything!" Willow replied as Luz cheered. Amity turned to leave. Luz watches her open the door. Amity gives her a shy wave and took a step out the door. "I remember what you did too." Amity stops and looks back. "What you did in there." Willow pointed to her head. "I can't say we're friends, but it's... a start." Willow said with a small smile. Amity waved again, smiling. She left and closed the door behind her.

Willow sighed "I knew I should have turned that photo around." Luz sat down on the couch beside her. "Well, for all the chaos... I think it was a good thing you didn't." Luz replied, looking to where Amity had left. "Maybe." Willow replied, looking out the window as Amity walked past it.

A moment later Willow turned back to Luz. "I heard some of the things you guys were talking about too." Luz looked over to Willow, surprised. "You did?" She asked. Willow chuckled "you guys were in my mind after all." Luz chuckled nervously "oh, that makes sense."

"What you said to Amity... about your mom, was that true?" Willow asked. Luz looked away and to the floor, fiddling with her sleeve. "Yeah... I haven't seen her in years and I miss her is all." She replied softly. "I'm sure you'll see her again." Willow said. "Maybe..." Luz replied. A few minutes passed before Willow decided she should probably go home and the two said their goodbyes. Willow gave her a hug before she left, leaving Luz to stand in the doorway in surprise.

Chapter Text

The following week was chaotic to say the least. According to Willow, Grom was the biggest social event of the season and everyone at Hexside was excited for it. Except Amity, who had been chosen as Grom Queen this year. Grometheus the fear bringer, brought your biggest fear to life. Every year Principal Bump would pick that years Grom Queen or King and make them fight the fear monster. Luz was going to have a serious talk with somebody back at the castle about student safety.

Earlier that morning, Luz had discovered the plant glyph! She had to use a magnifying glass to see the glyph properly, but she still found it!

In the present though, Luz was worried about Amity. She entered Eda's room where she had heard Eda and King talking. Eda was wearing a brown tuxedo, King was wearing a green apron and standing on a pile of books.

"Hey guys, what are you doing?" Luz asked, sitting down on the edge of Eda's nest. Eda turned to look at her "I'm chaperoning Grom tonight. So I have to look sharp." King pulled out a poster with him and Gus on it wearing sunglasses. "And Gus asked me to co-emcee the fight! We're gonna turn this blood bath into a fun bath!"

"Ooh! Have they announced the victim yet?" Eda asked in excitement. Luz sighed "Yeah. It's Amity. She's kinda freaking out though. I wish I could, like, take her place or something." Luz replied. Eda and King started laughing. "A great joke, Luz!" King laughed. "Ah, listen, kid. That's a noble sentiment, but Grom is a little above your pay-grade. You're a human. You're... fragile." Eda explained. Luz huffed "I am not fragile! I could probably beat Grom better than any other student could!" She crossed her arms, briefly forgetting that she most likely wouldn't be able to use her staff in that situation.

Luz got up and left before they could reply, she needed to blow off some steam. She left the house and entered the forest, going off the path. Along the way she picked up a stick and whacked branches out of her way. As she went deeper into the forest, the canopy blocked the sunlight, casting shadows across the ground.

"Fragile." Luz grumbled "she doesn't know what I've endured!" Luz growled, whacking another branch out of her way. She paused for a moment to catch her breath, but then she heard it. The crunching of leaves as someone walked nearby, she turned towards the direction and made her way over to the sound.

Luz breathed a sigh of relief upon spotting Amity stumble in the dark. Luz didn't really notice how dark it was because of her curse letting her see a bit better in the dark. Luz activated a light glyph anyways and approached Amity. Amity looked up from the stump she was sitting on, surprised to see Luz.

"Hey, Luz." Amity greeted, once Luz entered the muddy clearing. "Hey." Luz greeted in return, already much happier than she was just moments ago. "Did you talk to Bump?" Luz asked. Amity sighed "He said no. I'm Grom Queen, unless I can find a replacement. And who'd want to switch with me?" Amity curled in on herself. Luz looked down, then her face brightened. "I would." She answered. "What?"

"Yeah! Let me be you fearless champion! I can handle a surprising amount of things, a fear monster can just be another thing added to the list." Luz stated. Amity looked up at her in concern, but Luz stood firm with her decision and Amity ultimately agreed.

Luz didn't realize what exactly she did until later when she was picking out her outfit for Grom. "Why did I do that!?" She scolded herself, pacing back and forth. "This could ruin everything! Blow my cover!" She panicked, gripping her hair. What if Grom turned into Belos? Was she really about to blow her cover because of a pretty girl?

Luz blushed at the thought then stomped her foot and yelled in frustration, continuing her pacing. There was no going back now, she'd just have to beat Grom before it got a chance to strike. She went over to the outfit she was gonna wear, it was a little odd but she liked it.

There was a knock on her door before Amity entered her room, with feathers sticking out of her hair. "If that bird-tube ever talks to me again, I'm going to destroy it." She stated, picking feathers out of her hair. "Feathers are a good look for you." Luz teased, Amity didn't find it amusing. "Luz, you need to take this seriously. If you can't defeat Grom, everyone on the island will have to live out their worst nightmare." Amity stressed. Hooty entered through the window, right up against Amity's face. Amity scrunched her face in annoyance. "You wanna hear my worst nightmare?"

Luz stepped back in surprise as Amity lunged at Hooty. Hooty yelled, Luz jumped in to pull Amity back as she tried to beat up the owl tube. "Stop, stop! Amity, Amity, wai- Amity, stop!"

After that commotion, Luz led Amity outside. Hooty was back in his place in the door with a black eye and bandages that Luz applied to his face. "Oookay. Now that that's settled, what are we doing?" Luz asked, watching Amity pace back and forth. "We need you to train before Grom, so I called my siblings to help." Amity sighed, just then the twins appeared in a puff of blue smoke. "You called?"

"I really don't think that's necessary guys. I'll be fine." Luz waved them off, trying to shove her internal panic away. She wasn't scared of Grom itself, she was scared of what it could turn into and if it would blow her cover or not. Then again, if that was her biggest fear how would Grom turn into that?

"I heard you yell when I was coming up the stairs." Amity deadpanned, the twins snickered as Luz blushed in embarrassment, chuckling awkwardly. "Grom will turn into your darkest fears. What are you afraid of, Luz?" Amity asked. Luz hummed in thought, thinking carefully.

"Wanna say our greatest fears? On three. One, two... being alone forever!" Edric said, Emira said her's at the same time. "Being stuck with you. forever." Edric's shoulders sagged "aww."

"I fear that... Grom will reveal things about me?" Luz said in a questioning tone. "That's... not really specific." Amity replied, a bit confused at Luz's answer. The twins looked at each other in confusion as well. Luz continued to think it over.

"Oh! I don't like Abomination magic- well it's more of the texture of it that makes me uncomfortable, but I guess that's not really a fear." Luz rambled trying to count the different fears on her fingers. "I fear deep water and drowning, but I don't know how Grom would even turn into that." She paused, thinking over the next thing very carefully.

"I fear... this, creature. It's like uh... wolf, y'know?" Luz questioned, when she got nothing but confused faces she sighed. "It's what gave me this." Luz pointed at the claw marks over her eye. Looks of realization crossed their faces. "That's a good one to start with, think you could describe it?" Amity asked.

Luz nodded. "It's like this big, brown, fluffy dog with sharp claws and fangs." She described... well they didn't know what wolves were so she could go into most of the details of what her curse looked like without question. "It's got feathered wings, and black horns coming out of it's head." Luz closed her eyes, thinking of what others have told her what her curse form looked like. "It's a little smaller than a Slitherbeast- I think."

When Luz opened her eyes again, the beast was standing right in front of her. She yelped, stumbling backwards and falling to the ground. For a moment she thought she had transformed again and was back in the black and grey void where the beast would chase her. She could feel her skin tingling, but then she started to notice that it was still bright outside.

"Luz, are you okay?" Amity asked, concerned. Luz glanced over at Amity, then past the creature to the twins with their spell circles. Realizing what happened, Luz finally replied. "Yeah, I'm good. Just wasn't expecting it." Amity helped her off the ground and Luz looked back at the illusion of her curse.

She noticed now that it was inaccurate from what others had described. The fur was a lighter shade of brown while her curse was darker, like her hair. The Illusion's horns stuck straight up from the top of the head while her curse's horns stuck out from her forehead a bit then curved up into a point. The Illusion's eyes were green while her curse was pitch black, and she knew her curse had all of her scars on it while the Illusion did not.

Brushing the dirt off her pants, Luz shook out her arms trying to get the tingley feeling to go away. "This is exactly why we need to train. Grom will try and catch you off guard." Luz nodded in agreement to Amity's reasoning. "Yeah, alright. Want me to come up with some other fears?" Luz asked, Amity nodded.

"Alright, let's see." Luz thought to herself, the next couple things would have to be phrased carefully. "I also fear that... the Emperor will capture Eda." It was kinda true, Luz knew Eda couldn't run forever and that she would get captured eventually. Luz was more afraid of Belos, he was the one that cursed her after all. "I'm also afraid that I won't see my mother again."

That seemed like enough before they wasted too much time on thinking and not enough training, so they got to work. They got to train for a couple of hours, besides Illusions, Amity also participated by using her Abomination goop to hold Luz down at some points. Using Luz's uncomfortableness with the texture of Abominations to their advantage.

It was almost sunset by the time they stopped, deciding they should go home and get ready. Eda exited the house with a bowtie in her hand, "I think I should ditch the yellow." She commented, looking up she noticed the mess of Abomination goop in her yard and that Luz was almost covered in it. "Wait a sec. You're training to be Grom Queen!"

"So what if I am?" Luz replied, shaking goop off her arm as Eda walked over to her. "You think training will help against Grom? Luz, you always go overboard and I end up bailing you out. Now, what's the fun in watching a kid get eaten by a monster if it's my kid?" Eda replied, crossing her arms and giving Luz a hard look.

Luz was about to give a reply before Eda's words caught up to her. Wait, her kid? What did Eda mean by that? Amity put a hand on Luz's shoulder before she could think much more on it. "Luz, I don't think you're ready, but we're literally out of time." She informed. Luz looked at her for a moment before giving a nonchalant shrug. "I'll take it."

The twins and Amity left after that as Eda and Luz headed back inside the Owl House. "Luz, I don't think you realize what you've gotten yourself into." Eda said as Luz headed to the stairs. "It's fine. I can handle myself." Luz replied. "I know you think that but I just don't want you to get hurt because-" Eda explained before being cut off. "Cause I'm human?" Luz huffed, exasperated turning to face her from the bottom of the stairs, Eda standing in the doorway to the living room.

"In case you didn't notice, I can handle myself pretty well. These scars aren't here for show." Luz stated, narrowing her eyes. Eda blinked in surprise, Luz continued "I don't need you to believe in me, or whatever. I've believed in myself for long enough on my own." Luz turned and headed up the stairs, leaving Eda to look after her in concern.

Luz headed up the stairs in frustration and entered her room. Luz took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her skin crawled as she calmed herself down. "Okay... just need to get through the rest of the night. Then I can forget this day existed." She sighed, heading over to the outfit she picked out. A suit with a tutu.

Once she was ready with her outfit, glyphs, staff, belt, and dagger. Luz, Eda, and King headed to Hexside on Eda's staff. No one really spoke on the way there and Eda and King wished Luz luck as they parted ways. Eda and King headed into the gym and Luz got herself mentally prepared before entering the hallway by the gym doors. Luz was pretty sure she wouldn't use her staff or her Potions, her glyphs were her best bet without breaking her cover and she might be able to use her dagger.

Upon entering the hallway, Luz noticed Amity standing by the doors looking at a pink slip of paper. Amity looked up and put the paper in her pocket when she noticed Luz. "I feel like I forgot something, but I think I have everything." Luz commented. Amity looked her up and down "uh, you look nice. Strange, but... nice. And thank you Luz." Amity said, putting her hands on Luz's shoulders. Luz didn't flinch or pull away from her, usually Luz would be uncomfortable with others initiating physical contact with her, but not with Amity. She briefly wondered why Amity's touch made her feel calm instead of wary.

"Honestly, I'm kind of amazed with how fearless you are. You've done things I could never do." Amity admitted. Luz smiled with a laugh. "Hah! Yeah right! You goin' soft on me, Blight?" Luz questioned, her face feeling warm as her nerves died down. Amity laughed before replying "In your dreams." They stared at each other for a moment before they were put back in the present by Gus announcing from the gym.

"Now, introducing our Grom Queen. You know her, you love her... you've at least heard of her. Luz, the Human!" The gym doors opened and a spotlight shined down on Luz, bringing all her nerves crashing back down. Luz turned back to Amity as the students in the gym cheered. "Wish me luck!" Luz said, heading off into the gym as Amity replied quietly. "Luck."

A pedestal with a red button skittered onto the stage. Gus pressed it and the floor opened to reveal the Grom arena. Two racks of weapons rose up beside Luz, looking over her options she ended up picking a flail. She attached an ice glyph to it and took a deep breath before heading down.

A black sludge-like substance rose up from the ground. "Alright, Gromarama. Let's see what you got." Luz muttered, keeping her eyes trained on the black goop as it transformed. A large venus flytrap rose from the ground and Luz shivered, reminded of Tera Snapdragon. Luz was lucky Grom didn't turn into the head plant witch herself. Vines headed towards her and Luz unsheathed her dagger to cut the first vine.

Luz ran towards the flytrap plant as she dodged and cut her way through vines. She swung her flail at a vine, hitting it and causing it to freeze in ice from her glyph. As Luz got closer she attached the dagger back to her belt and attached another ice glyph to her flail. The venus flytrap opened it's mouth to swallow her, but Luz knocked it with the flail letting the head turn to ice. The impact of the flail sent the plant to the ground, the ice shattering on impact and the plant dissolving into black sludge again.

Luz could briefly hear Gus on the stage but she tuned it out to focus on Grom. Next it transformed into Warden Wrath. Of course it would turn into him, why wouldn't it? Well at least she'll get to beat him up again without consequence. Luz supposed, taking a deep breath before attaching another ice glyph to her flail.

Grom Wrath turned his hands into blades and rushed towards her. Luz rolled out of the way from one of his swings, slamming one of her plant glyphs onto the ground to wrap him up in vines. She swung her flail and hit him in the head before he could escape, turning Grom back into black goop.

Grom transformed again and Luz was pretty confident, readying her flail she rushed for Grom before it could form. Though she skidded to a stop once Grom completed the transformation. It took the form of a man with slightly pointed ears, one of them chipped. He had a large green scar across his face, his eyes a piercing blue.

Grom Belos looked straight at her, a disappointed frown on his face. He tsked "Luz, Luz, Luz..." he shook his head in disproval. "Foolish child, did you really think that I would waste my energy and resources to heal you and return you to your mother?" Luz took a step back as he stepped forward.

Grom Belos set a heavy hand on her shoulder, squeezing it tightly. Luz winced and dropped her flail, "I'm sorry I can do better-" she cut herself off at Belos's cold hard stare. "No." He said firmly. Belos let her shoulder go with a shove, Luz stumbled back as he started to circle her. She caught herself as he continued, "I've already wasted time and effort with you." He started.

The crowd looked on in a mix of interest and worry. Gus and King had gone off into the hallway outside the gym. Eda looked on in concern and worry, unsure if she should jump in but also curious as to who Grom turned into. Amity was gripping her dress tightly, worried out of her mind. It should have been her facing Grom, not Luz. Willow watched on in concern, unsure of what Grom would do next.

Belos rested both hands on her shoulders, standing slightly to her left and behind her. Unbeknownst to Luz, his eyes glowed white. He leaned down to whisper, so only Luz could hear. "I tried to show you that this world wasn't going to play nice and you've failed to heed my warnings. Getting yourself attached to these simpletons and criminals. I fear you've been far more corrupted by them then by the curse I used on you." He backed away, releasing her from his hold.

Luz stood still, not moving an inch as Belos continued much louder behind her. "And now you've failed to do the one task I've asked of you, and YOU BETRAY ME IN THE PROCESS!" He boomed, his voice echoing around the room and becoming more of a growl. Luz covered her ears from the loud noise, wincing. Luz uncovered her ears once the noise stopped. She turned to object, she hadn't betrayed him- not at all! But her voice died in her throat as she saw what Grom had turned into.

Her curse stared at her with large black eyes reflecting her terrified expression back at her. Dark brown fur rippled along it's spine, black horns and large feathered wings with a face that held her scars, a large scar on it's back from the left shoulder and down diagonally. It barred it's sharp fangs, a low guttural growl escaping from it's maw as it's sharp claws dug into the stone.

Luz stood still eyes wide as her heart beat wildly, her skin pricked and tingled. Luz spun on her heel and ran. A long howl sounded behind her, echoing in her ears as she fled. Luz slammed herself into the doors of the gym, flinging them open and skidding out into the hall and taking off running.

The thumping of pawsteps followed as her curse chased after her. Luz barreled out the front doors of Hexside and into the nearby forest. She could hear the howls and pawsteps of her curse gaining on her. "Fight back." A voice echoed in her head, she covered her ears to block out the sounds. "I don't-I can't." She replied to the voice, heart thumping wildly.

She broke free from the trees and continued to run, but it was no use she couldn't run forever. "Stop. Stop!" The voice yelled in her head. Luz opened her eyes- when had she closed them? And skidded to a stop by the edge of a cliff, breathing heavily.

Stumbling back, Luz fell to her hands and knees. She mentally thanked the voice for stopping her in time. "Welcome!" Luz jolted, but had no time to think on it as the snapping of branches and twigs caught her attention. She scrambled to her feet and turned around to see her curse stepping out into the clearing. It prowled forward slowly once it spotted her, knowing she was trapped.

Luz froze, unable to move. Her eyes darted around, there was no where for her to run. Tears pricked in the corners of her eyes as her breathing quickened. All she could do was stare at the demon coming closer in front of her. Her hands shook as she tried to pull on the collar of her suit so she could breathe easier. She felt like she was drowning again, water flooding into her mouth and into her lungs yet her mouth and throat were dry. Her skin prickled like pins and needles as her heart pounded away in her chest.

"Spicy toss!" A voice yelled, snapping Luz out of her panic attack. It was still difficult to breathe and her chest hurt and her hands still shook, but she could move again. Grom yowled in anger as a blast of fire caught it off guard, sending it stumbling to the side before it righted itself and turned it's attention back to Luz. Luz took a couple steps back as it growled at her, eyes narrowing.

Eda landed on the ground getting off of her staff. "Hands off my human, you misshapen excuse for a monster!" She yelled, she was about to cast another spell when Amity burst from the trees. The green haired witch positioned herself between Grom and Luz. "Stay away from her!" Luz tried to yell for her to move but her throat still felt constricted, she gritted her teeth trying to take deep breaths to calm down.

Grom growled, launching a goopy arm towards Amity. It grabbed her and lifted her into the air. "I'm sorry, Luz. I should have fought my own battle." Amity said as Grom's eyes glowed. "I-" Amity was cut off as her own eyes glowed. Luz tried to swallow her panic, everything is going to be fine. She tried to convince herself as Grom shifted again, Luz breathed a sigh of relief. Grom turned more blob-like before shifting into a humanoid figure.

"Who...?" Luz trailed, her mouth still dry. Amity's eyes stopped glowing. Grom took the pink note from Amity's pocket and ripped it in half, letting it fall to the ground. Amity closed her eyes, embarrassed, clutching her dress. Grom slinked away. Amity picked up one half of the note from the ground and held it to her heart.

Luz made herself move, stopping in front of Amity. She looked down at the other half of the note before bending down to pick it up. She glanced at Amity for a moment before unfurling it reading, 'Will you go to Grom with me? -Amity'

"You were afraid of getting rejected. Amity, it's okay. What if I went to Grom with you instead?" Luz offered instantly, holding out her hand. "Really?" Amity asked, looking up at her and partially reaching for Luz's hand. "Of course! That's what friends do." Luz's voice cracked, Luz wasn't sure if it was because of her dry throat or from that sentence feeling wrong to say.

Amity smiled, then looked past her to Grom with a stern look. Grom rose and towered above them, opening it's huge jaws to roar loudly. Luz recoiled and turned to face Grom. "Well, then, if that's settled, may I have this dance?" Amity asked holding out her hand to Luz.

Luz grinned and took it. They came close together to dance, the crescent moon shining brightly behind them. They leaped forward towards Grom. Luz spun Amity, and Amity casted a spell with her feet, forming a giant abomination below them. They rose up on it. Luz fanned out her plant glyph cards before Amity dipped Luz, and she slapped a glyph onto the abomination. They jumped off, and the abomination leaped into Grom's mouth. Green light moved within it, and then plants started to bloom through it. Luz landed first, then caught Amity, spinning her around several times before putting her on her feet. They held hands, looking at each other as Grom exploded behind them. A giant pink tree grew from the ground in its place. The last remnants of Grom slinked off. Luz and Amity looked up as a tiara appeared on both of their heads. They smiled at each other.

"So... who did you wanna ask out?" Luz asked. Amity blushed and laughed awkwardly "oh it's... it's not important." She replied, throwing the other half of the crumpled up note over her shoulder. King ran up to stand beside them.

"And there you have it, folks. A happy ending for this year's Grom. Let's give a big hand to our Grom Queens, Luz and Amity!" Luz flashed a tired smile as Amity blushed awkwardly. The students popped out of the bushes and ran toward them, cheering. They parade the girls, holding them up. Luz put a hand on Amity's shoulder. Eda was clapping for them next to Gus and King with a smug look. "You did it, buddy!" Gus gave King a thumbs up. "Of course I did it! I'm the King of Demons and I've never had stage fright in my life!" The students held up King, right by Luz and Amity. "They love me!" King cheered, Luz and Amity laughed and smiled at each other warmly.

The rest of the event was at Hexside, Luz was tired but still wanted to hang out with Amity, Willow, and Gus. Willow asked Luz about the whole venus flytrap thing and if Luz was scared of plants. Luz replied with a simple answer, "I'm not scared of plants, I'm scared of the capabilities of plant magic itself. Plant magic has so many varieties, healing when mixed with potions, defense, offense, plants can poison and cause hallucinations. Who wouldn't be scared with all that variety?"

After that they took photos together and got copies to keep. The night died down as people started to leave and Luz decided to head out as well, saying goodbye to her friends and heading over to Eda. Luz, Eda, and King headed back to the Owl House on Eda's staff.

Luz was exhausted from the day and was ready to crash in bed. From worrying about Amity and taking on the task of Grom Queen herself, the stress of what Grom could possibly reveal, the training for Grom and then facing Grom itself, running away from Grom and falling into a panic attack, the dance with Amity which was nice but sapped her energy, and finally hanging out with her friends. Luz was ready to sleep for a month.

The trio headed into the Owl House, "you did good, kid." Eda said. "Thanks, but... I'm gonna go to bed." Luz replied, tossing her tiara to the floor, King picked it up and placed it on his head. "Now I am king and queen! Best of both things!"

Luz started to head through the living room, but Eda called after her. "Wait, Luz." Luz turned around to look at Eda. "I know you're tired kid, but can you answer a couple quick questions first?" Eda asked. "Can't we do this tomorrow or something?" Luz grunted, dreading the answer. "They're quick questions, promise."

Luz flopped onto the couch and Eda sat next to her. "Alright, first question. Who was that person Grom turned into?" Eda asked. Luz crossed her arms to close herself off a bit before answering. "That's the person who's been taking care of me." Eda tilted her head a bit. "You don't live with your parents?" Luz looked away. "No... I was separated from my mom. He promised to help me get back to her but, there hasn't been much progress." She replied, gripping her arms tightly.

"Is he the one..." Eda paused trying to recall something. "Is he the one that made you feel like you weren't important?" Luz shook her head. "No not really, that was someone else." She replied. Eda frowned but moved on from the subject. "Okay, how about that demon? I've never seen anything like it. Not in the Human or Demon Realm."

Luz opened her mouth to reply but then shut her mouth quickly. She couldn't tell Eda about her curse, it would throw things out of whack. Eda would get suspicious on how she got her curse in, to Eda's knowledge, a short amount of time. Luz stood up abruptly, surprising Eda. "It's not important." She answered, turning to head out of the room. Eda stood up as well and set a hand on her shoulder to prevent her from leaving.

"I'm sorry for pryi-" Eda was cut off as Luz jerked her shoulder away from her. "Let go!" Luz shouted an edge of panic in her tone. Eda and King watched her in confusion and concern. Luz spun to face Eda, her skin pricked all over again, more intensely then the other times throughout the day.

Having Grom Belos hold her shoulders earlier and then Eda doing the same did not sit well with Luz, sending her in a bit of a panicked state. Luz took a couple steps back, she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. Drowning out all other sounds, Eda's mouth moved but Luz couldn't hear her. Luz put her hands over her ears and shook her head, closing her eyes to block out everything around her.

A sudden thought struck her, she didn't take her elixir today.

Eda gently grabbed Luz's wrists to pull her hands away from her head before she hurt herself. "It's okay Luz, just breathe alright?" Eda said. Eda wasn't sure what set her off but she had a hunch. It had to do with that demon, she was pretty sure Luz had a panic attack earlier when facing Grom by the cliff. There wasn't much time for her to do anything then, but she sure as hell could do something now.

However there wasn't anything she could do when Luz's eyes suddenly snapped open. Eyes pitch black and seemingly staring into her soul, Luz growled revealing newly formed fangs. Eda took a couple steps back in alarm as her student transformed in front of her.

It was no demon Luz was afraid of.

It was a curse.

Chapter Text

Eda wasn't sure about having a human as a student when she first met Luz. But over time the kid grew on her, she was capable of completing tasks and picked up Potions pretty easily. Plus King seemed to get attached to her pretty quickly.

Though there were some things that did concern her. When Luz was asking to stay and learn from her, the human ended up saying something along the lines of "I don't think I have a home to go back to." Or something similar and Eda had brushed it off at the time, but it never really left her mind.

When King had recounted the incident with her curse, King mentioned that Luz said something about being a waste of space. Which worried King, and rightfully so. It worried Eda as well but there wasn't much she could do about it at the time.

So instead of dwelling on it she started teaching Luz about potions. Cause it was at least something that Eda could teach her while she looked up ways for a human to do other types of magic with glyphs. That one night Eda woke up with Luz in her room, Luz had a nightmare of some sort. Eda knew how nasty nightmares could be, she's definitely had her fair share of them.

Eda tried, she really did. But she was never good at the feelings stuff. So she tried to get Luz to open up and when that didn't work she tried to let her know her door was always open for her. Whether it was to talk or a place to stay. Eda was glad that the following morning she remembered the previous night's events and decided to get Luz something. Which ended up being a custom made belt to hold her potions and dagger.

Luz never did come to talk to her about any problems she may of had. After enrolling the kid into Hexside and returning home she didn't expect Luz to start tearing up just from something so mundane as school. The comment about Eda being nicer than other people Luz knew bothered Eda for a long while.

She's also noticed Luz being uncomfortable whenever Eda touched her. Whether it be a ruffle on the head or a pat on the shoulder, Luz seemed to flinch when she wasn't expecting it or even if she was expecting it. Eda hadn't noticed at first, but then started to see the pattern. Though Luz has definitely seemed to be a bit better on that front and she hasn't asked for Eda to stop, so she assumed it was okay. Though she probably should have asked before she even started to give her physical affection.

But nothing compared to now. Luz in her cursed form snarled at her and King. Out of all the things Eda has noticed, this was something unexpected and horrifying. No one deserved a curse! Let alone a child like Luz. She realized now what that nightmare could have been about and Luz knowing that Eda was cursed as well, she possibly could have been looking for comfort. But Luz wasn't the type to ask for physical touch or give out any herself, not really anyway. King seemed to be an exception.

Eda wished she knew sooner to help her through this, instead of Luz suffering by herself. She wondered how long Luz was cursed without her knowledge, wondered how she kept it at bay with no elixir. There wasn't anything she could do about it then, but there was something she could do now.

Picking up King, Eda had to dodge out of the way as Luz lunged for her with a viscous snarl. Luz knocked things over as she turned around to attack them again. Eda dodged a paw swipe and spun a spell circle. "Time to go to sleep." Eda said as the spell hit its target. Luz growled, stumbling slightly as the spell took effect her eyes drooping. She finally collapsed onto the wooden floor with a thump onto her side.

Eda breathed a sigh of relief, that should buy them some time to figure something out before she woke up again. "What happened to her?" King asked quietly. Eda sat down on the couch with a sigh, watching Luz's sleeping form for a moment before answering. "She's been cursed, King."

"Will she be okay?" He asked. "She will be in time, but we gotta find her some elixir." Eda explained, setting King down and standing back up. She headed towards her potions room, King following behind her. "I don't think my elixir would work, Luz's curse is more canine than bird." Eda thought aloud. "It'd be to dangerous to try mine."

After a few minutes King's eyes widened as he remembered something. "Eda! I know what elixir she needs!" Eda turned to look at him in surprise as he continued. "Awhile ago Luz had me help with making a potion while you were out for a few days. I bet that was her elixir!"

Eda thought it over "did she tell you what it was for?" King shook his head. "You might be on to something there, do you know where she's hiding it?" Eda asked. "I would assume in her room, right?" King replied. "Then let's get looking." Eda headed back to the stairs and headed up to Luz's room.

Luz woke with a splitting headache. Groaning she forced herself to sit up, looking around revealed that she was in a greyed out void, shallow black water beneath her but her clothes weren't wet. Ripples formed in the water as Luz stood up, there wasn't anything nearby. She suddenly remembered what happened before she ended up here.

She'd lost control of her curse right in front of the Owl Lady. Luz inhaled sharply, she screwed it all up. Her hands shook as she looked down at them, mind racing. Eda would ask questions and be suspicious of her, if she hadn't puzzled the pieces together already. How was Luz to explain when she got her curse? Her elixirs? Things wouldn't line up properly- everything Luz has done up to this point, just to fail here?

Luz's legs felt like jello, she fell to her knees and clenched her fists, staring down at them. Her eyes blurred with tears and she growled in frustration. Her mission couldn't fail here- it just couldn't. Once she was awake again she was going to get that key. She'd brute force her way to get it if she had to. Surely Eda was weaker now than when she'd started this mission? Luz shook her head as the tears rolled down her face. Even if that were the case Luz was still weaker in magic skill.

But... did Luz want to get the key anymore? Of course she did, it was her only way to be free of her curse and to return home in the Human Realm. But was the Human Realm even home anymore? Luz threaded her fingers through her hair, when did that become a question?

A long howl echoed throughout the area, Luz snapped her head up eyes wide in alarm. It finally decided to come chase her, but where was it? She forced herself to stand on shaky legs, wiping away the tears so she could see better. She could cry later, but right now she had to run.

Eda and King entered Luz's room, closing the door behind them. King suggested the elixirs might be in her bag, Eda shook her head. "I don't think so. If she was hiding this from us wouldn't you think of a more hidden place?" King shrugged. "Well where would you hide them?" He asked. "Under the floorboards or in a chest. Or both." Eda immediately replied. The two paused then turned to look at the chest against the wall, then looking back at each other. "The chest?"

"Yeah the chest." The two went over to the chest and opened it, finding multiple bottles of the potion and other junk that Eda had shoved in there forever ago. Eda picked one of them up and squinted at it. "I'll have to test it before we give it to her. So let's head back to the Potions room."

A loud crash sounded from downstairs followed by a snarl. The both of them were caught off guard. "She's awake already?" Eda wondered, she shook her head. That wasn't important. "Alright King, stay in here. I'll come back when the coast is clear." She stood up, but King pulled on her dress. "But I wanna help!" He protested. Eda sighed. "I don't want you to get hurt. How about this, Luz will probably need a lot of comfort after this. So how about you make it more welcoming in here? Use you pile of stuffies over there, just don't leave this room. Okay?" Eda pointed her thumb at the pile of stuffed animals in the corner.

King thought for a moment and gave in. "Okay..." Eda patted his head before leaving the room. She made her way to the stairs and peered down. Luz wasn't anywhere to be seen, but Eda could hear the scuffling of paws coming from the kitchen. Eda made her way down as quickly and quietly as possible and entered her Potions lab, locking the door behind her.

She exhaled quietly, relieved. "Alright let's see what you are." Eda muttered, looking at the potion in her hand. She set it down on the counter and grabbed her cauldron. The potion she had to make was relatively simple, only a few ingredients and not very many steps to prepare it. Eda grabbed the three ingredients she needed. Poppy seeds, Cornflower petals, and a Slitherbeast claw.

Eda was about halfway done with the potion when she heard something sniffing by the door. She paused for a moment and watched the door wearily, praying to the Titan Luz didn't start busting the door down. Eda carefully started to continue making the potion, glancing up at the door when there was a noise. Claws scraped against wooden floorboards, a low growl coming from the doorway.

Eda was almost done, she just had to add the last ingredient and then a drop of the potion she wanted to identify. There was a loud thud against the door followed by a snarl. Eda added her last ingredient and snatched the elixir off the counter. She added a drop to the potion as Luz slammed against the door again with a yowl. All Eda had to do now was wait for the potion.

Luz slammed against the door again before yelping loudly. Eda looked up from the potion in concern, it sounded like she hurt herself. She'll deal with that later. She looked back at the potion as words formed on the surface. "Lupus Domitor. This elixir specializes in keeping canine like curses at bay. Perfect!" Luz slammed into the door again and this time the hinges flew off the door with a clatter as the door fell onto the floor.

Luz's cursed form stumbled in, seemingly not expecting the door to fall off. Eda picked up the elixir and casted a spell quickly before the human turned wolf demon could recover. Another sleep spell hit it's mark, but the wolf beast fought to stay awake. Luz swiped a paw and Eda easily dodged, however the items on the counter didn't, clattering to the floor. The potion spilling all over the place. Luz whined as her legs buckled beneath her, finally falling into unconsciousness.

Eda breathed a sigh of relief and headed over to easily pour the elixir down her throat. Eda ruffled the top of her head, causing one of Luz's ears to twitch. Eda decided to go get King and hopefully by the time she returned Luz would be back to normal so she could carry her to a more comfortable place.

Luz awoke with a groan, the first thing she noticed was that her shoulder hurt a lot. The second thing was that she was surrounded by stuffed animals, and third she was in her room with the door slightly ajar. She wondered why her shoulder hurt so much, she felt completely drained of all her energy and then some. Her nightmare came back to her, running from her curse and realizing that she lost control of it in front of Eda and potentially failing her mission in the process.

Luz put her arm over her face but that proved to be a mistake as her shoulder throbbed with a sharp pain. She hissed in discomfort, moving her arm back down. Luz closed her eyes, what was she going to do now? There was a knock on her door and Luz opened her eyes again to see Eda peaking her head in. "Mind if I come in?" She asked. "Sure." Luz replied quietly, she was sure Eda was here to ask questions about her curse.

Eda came into the room, a glass of water in hand as she sat down next to Luz. "I figured you'd be thirsty." Luz nodded, sitting up she winced from the ache in her shoulder. She took the glass from Eda using her other arm and muttered a quiet thank you before downing the whole thing.

"How ya feeling kiddo?" Eda asked after Luz was done. Luz set her glass down before replying. "Like I was trampled by a Slitherbeast." Eda chuckled awkwardly "that sounds about right. Especially after you rammed yourself into a door multiple times before knocking it down."

"So that's why my shoulder hurts so much." Luz grumbled, Eda laughed genuinely. "We should probably take a look at that. Come on, let's head to my room. I've got a healing kit in there." Eda picked up the glass and stood. "I'll meet you in there, gotta put this back." Eda left the room to head downstairs into the kitchen.

Luz got herself up with only a little bit of trouble and headed to Eda's room. She wondered when Eda would start questioning her, maybe she was waiting until the right moment. Luz entered Eda's room and sat on the edge of her nest, King was sleeping curled up inside. Eda came in soon after, waking up King when she started rummaging through her closet for the healing kit. King sleepily climbed up onto Luz's lap, curling up to go back to sleep. "I'm glad you're okay..." he mumbled.

Luz smiled softly and started petting him, when Eda returned to her side with the kit. She kicked a stool over near Luz so she could sit down. "Alright let's see." Eda muttered, opening the kit and humming in thought. "I'm gonna do a quick diagnosis spell to see what's up." Eda explained, Luz nodded while Eda casted her spell. "Not to bad, that's good." Eda spoke aloud, she grabbed a couple healing stickers.

"Alright hold your arm out for me." Eda instructed. Luz did as she was told, sticking her arm out to the side. Luz whimpered, her arm shaking slightly as Eda applied the stickers to the correct spots. "There, you can put your arm down now." Eda said, Luz breathed a sigh of relief. "It should heal within a day or two."

"Thanks..." Luz said, Eda shook her head "you don't need to thank me, just get plenty of rest. Try not to strain your arm too much." Luz nodded. "Your welcome to crash in here tonight if you want." Eda offered. Luz looked at her, contemplating the idea. Well, she was really tired. She... kinda didn't wanna be alone now either. Eda ruffled her hair as she flopped into the nest, leaving room for Luz if she wanted.

Luz glanced at the door then back to the nest. Luz felt like she didn't have much time left with them, and if that was the case maybe she should stay in here tonight. Luz nudged King off her lap, he grumbled but didn't protest. Luz slid into the nest a bit awkwardly as she laid down on her back. Once she was settled King came over and cuddled into her side, leaving her in the middle. Eda threw a blanket over the three of them, but didn't turn the light out just yet. Luz suspected now Eda would start asking her questions.

"I'm only going to ask one question cause I know we're all tired but... do you want to talk about it?" Eda finally said after a moment of thought. Luz gave her a confused look and Eda continued. "I just figured, well now that I know about your curse maybe you'd wanna talk about it. It doesn't have to be anything specific. If you wanted to complain at how awful the elixir tastes or be angry and vent your feelings about your curse." Eda explained. "Or if you wanted to cry about how unfair it is that a kid like yourself has this now, and now you have to live with it." Eda added in a much softer tone.

"I-" Luz paused "I don't know Eda, it... it's just a lot." Eda nodded in understanding "I know kiddo, take your time. I'll be here to listen, it doesn't even have to be curse related." Eda shifted onto her side and propped her head up with one arm, facing Luz showing that she was listening. Luz might as well be honest about some things on her mind. She wondered if Eda could give her advice on what she should do about her situation. Of course being completely vague in who and what exactly she was talking about. Plus she could divert Eda's attention away from the curse onto something different.

"You remember that man that Grom turned into? The person whose taking care of me?" Luz started, Eda nodded with a hum. "Well, he promised to help me get back to my mom again. However I had to do some things in order for him to be able to find her." Luz explained hesitantly, unsure if she should talk about all this still, but she pushed on anyways. "At first it was fine! I did what I was told and he said we were getting closer to finding her." She paused, sniffling. "That was seven years ago, Eda."

Eda's eyes widened in surprise. Luz turned onto her side to face Eda, luckily it was her uninjured shoulder side so she was able to tuck her arm under her head like a pillow. "Now though, he says we're close. We just need one more thing, but I have to steal it and- I don't know..." Luz sniffled again, tears in her eyes. "I found myself here before I could fully decide to go through with it, but it's everything I worked for for seven years down the drain if I don't go through with it!" Frustrated tears rolled down her face, she turned her head to bury her face in her arm in an effort to hide.

Eda reached out her hand hesitantly, then decided to go for it. She shifted onto her back and pulled Luz in for a side hug, rubbing her hand up and down Luz's back. Luz was startled at first and instinctively tried to pull away, but Eda didn't let her go, so she gave in. Once Luz settled beside her, Eda used her free hand to comb her fingers through Luz's short hair.

Luz closed her eyes for a moment, it felt nice like this. She rested her head on Eda's shoulder, relaxing completely. She sighed opening her eyes again so she could continue. "And because of this curse, I can't go back to the Human Realm. There's no elixir there, and I just- I don't know what to do with myself now."

"If I did steal this thing and go back to him, what if he doesn't do his part of the deal? Wh-what if he hurts me again if I don't steal it?" Luz's voice cracked, she buried her face in Eda's shoulder as she inhaled a stuttering breath. "He's hurt you?" Eda asked, dismayed. Luz nodded against her shoulder, sniffling again.

Eda watched her sadly for a moment, still combing her fingers through Luz's hair. It broke Eda's heart to see Luz like this, curled up against her side shaking with muffled sobs, clutching Eda's shirt tightly in her hand. If you told Eda a couple months ago that she would be comforting a crying human, she'd think you're crazy. But now? All she wanted was to shower this human kid with love. She just wished she knew how to make the kid feel better.

"This guy sounds like bad news, trust your gut and stay away from him. You can find a better way back to your mom than through him." Eda started. "Heck- I'll help you find your mom! We can fly around the Human Realm on Owlbert and search for her. And if we ever come across that guy I'll punch him for you... multiple times, cause once isn't enough." Eda vowed, looking back at Luz. "Maybe you'll be able to go back and forth between realms, get your elixirs here then live with your mom." Eda continued, hugging Luz just a little bit tighter.

Luz was looking up at her, face tear stained and eyes glistening with a saddened look, but she had a small smile on her face and Eda counted it as a win. Eda's gaze softened "I won't let him hurt you kiddo, promise."

That wouldn't be a promise Eda could keep, Luz knew that but... she appreciated the conviction in her tone all the same. Luz wiped the tears away with her hand "if you don't mind, Eda, today has been exhausting. Both physically and emotionally." Eda nodded in understanding "right. Go to sleep kid, I'm here if you need me." Eda finally turned out the light with a spell, but it didn't do much as the early morning sun started to rise.

Not even a minute later and King crawled over to sleep inbetween them, snuggling up to Luz. Luz pat him on the head, feeling safer than she's felt in years. The three of them drifted off to sleep one by one. Eda was the last one, still wondering how and when Luz got her curse in the first place before drifting off herself. Hugging Luz tightly, hoping to keep her safe from the world.

Eda was the first to wake late in the afternoon. She carefully got up, making sure not to wake King and Luz and got herself some elixirs. Drinking them and heading out of the room and downstairs. She passed by her Potions room and paused, the room was still a mess. Door on the floor, potion ingredients scattered throughout the room, the cauldron tipped over with it's contents still on the floor. Eda sighed, she had some cleaning to do.

It took her about fifteen minutes for her to clean the mess and put the door back in place. Hooty slunk his head through the doorway as she was putting the last items back in place. "Luz's friends are here." He trilled. "I'll be there in a minute." She replied. Why were Luz's friends here? She wondered, heading into the living room. Which was also still a mess, the couch had claw marks on it, objects scattered on the floor, and the table was flipped on its side.

Eda avoided the mess for now, casting a spell to at least fix the table and went to answer the door. There stood Luz's friends, Glasses, Goops, and Minty. "Hello Ms. Eda we came by-" Willow started before Gus interrupted her. "Is Luz okay? Did she die!?" Willow gave him a deadpanned look. "She didn't die Gus." Willow then paused, seeing the messed up living room behind Eda. "Right?"

Eda chuckled "no she's fine, just exhausted from last night." Eda answered. "Luz wasn't at school today, so we'd thought to stop by. I also picked up her homework." Amity explained. "well she's still asleep, but you're welcome to come inside if you want." Eda said, leaving the door open for them as she headed back inside.

They came inside, the door closing behind them. "Uh, what happened in here?" Gus asked, picking up a human object from the floor and fiddling with it. "Uhh... King?" Eda answered, hoping that was a satisfactory answer. She wasn't going to reveal Luz's curse, if Luz wanted them to know she could do it on her own terms. The kids looked at her in confusion but shrugged it off.

"Want anything to drink?" Eda asked, they all nodded and Eda went to the kitchen. Luckily the kitchen wasn't destroyed, mostly because Eda cleaned it last night while waiting for Luz to wake up. She brought the drinks and set it on the table, the kids seemed to have pulled out their homework. They thanked her, "I'll go wake Luz. Titan knows we don't want to mess up her sleep schedule too much." Eda said, heading back upstairs.

She opened the door to her room slowly and entered. Luz was sitting up, petting a still sleeping King. "Hey kiddo, feeling better?" Eda asked in a hushed tone, so as not to wake King. Luz hummed and nodded, her eyes were red and puffy from sleep and crying last night. "Well your little friends are here. Minty brought you the homework you missed from school today." Eda pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, hand on her hip.

Luz looked up at her "they're here? Alright well, I'll be there in a minute." Luz replied, giving King one last pat on the head as Eda left the room. Luz stood up and followed her out, but headed to the bathroom first to wash her face and change her clothes. It was a bit difficult getting her purple and white striped shirt on with her injured shoulder, but she managed.

She headed downstairs into the living room, pausing at the sight of the partly destroyed room. Eda was sitting on the couch sipping a cup of Apple Blood while casting spells to pick the items off the floor. Her friends were sitting around the table, seemingly doing homework. Guilt flooded her system as she looked over the claw marks on the couch. It could have easily been Eda or King, she was lucky neither of them seemed hurt.

Pushing her guilt aside she greeted her friends. "Hey guys." She waved, her friends looked up at her and smiled. "Luz!" Willow and Gus exclaimed, while Amity waved back. Luz came over and sat beside them on the floor. "What are you all doing here?" Luz asked. "Well when we didn't see you at school today we were worried. So we decided to come to check up on you." Willow explained.

"We ran into Amity after school and she asked us if we'd seen you. After that Amity suggested to pick up your homework from your classes since we would be heading here anyways." Willow finished as Amity pulled Luz's homework out of her bag and handed it to Luz. "Oh... thanks guys." Luz took the homework and set it on the table, feeling warm and happy.

Eda finished her spell casting and her last bit of Apple Blood. "Alright kids, I'll be in my potions room if you need anything. I need to catch up on some potion making." Eda stood from the couch, popping her back. They acknowledged her and Eda left the room.

"Well I guess we can make this a study session?" Luz questioned. "Sure, I can't stay too long though." Amity replied. "We kind of started a study session anyways." Gus gestured to the papers and books scattered on the table. "Right, well, mind if I start with Bard? I didn't get much of a chance to practice yesterday and it's the easiest." Luz said. "Of course!" Willow replied.

Luz ran upstairs to grab her flute and piccolo. She'd gotten the piccolo after a week of classes since her teacher was impressed by her flute skills after just starting the class. She grabbed the piccolo case out of her bag but paused. Her communication mirror was flashing, alerting her of a call. Alarmed, Luz picked it up quickly. Looking around to make sure no one was around before answering.

Kikimora appeared on the screen, "finally. I've been trying to contact you for an hour now." Kikimora sneered. "I'm sorry I've been busy-" Luz replied before being cut off. "The Emperor wanted me to deliver a message to you." Luz stilled, eyes wide as Kikimora continued. "He's getting very impatient with you and is sending Lilith to capture the Owl Lady as top priority. Find that key, or work with Lilith to capture the Owl Lady. You have three days." She informed, hanging up soon after.

The mirror clattered to the floor, slipping out of Luz's grip.

Luz was out of time.

Chapter Text

Luz had three days left to get the portal key. The first of three was spent at school. Luz was going to her classes aimlessly, not really paying attention to anything being taught. Stuck in her own head, conflicted. She thought back to Eda's advice about trusting her gut, which was saying not to trust Belos but... what was the alternative?

If she didn't get the portal key and stayed with Eda, telling her everything. Lilith would still come to capture Eda and Luz would be marked as a traitor. She'd probably end up dead and no chance of getting rid of the curse or returning to the Human Realm. If they didn't get captured and fled to the Human Realm or something, that still didn't solve the curse problem. She'd still need her elixirs, Eda would need hers as well and there were no elixirs in the Human Realm.

If Luz did get the key, there'd be a chance that Belos would heal her and send her back but... Luz didn't want to leave Eda and King like that. After that night with Grom and her curse being revealed to Eda... Eda didn't press her for answers and comforted her instead, letting Luz just vent her frustrations about anything. Luz almost considered them family, Eda was definitely better than Belos in that regard.

If she did get the key and Belos didn't heal her... Luz wasn't sure what she would do. Luz couldn't go back to Eda, most likely having lost her trust in Luz. If Eda did let her back in, she would still be marked as a traitor and they wouldn't have the portal either. Leaving them even more vulnerable to getting captured and probably killed. She could also just stay and continue being the Amber Guard and hopefully change Belos's mind but, who knows how long that would take.

This just seemed like a losing situation no matter what she did. Luz would have had these thoughts circling around in her head all day if she hadn't gotten distracted by Boscha bullying Willow. So, determined to push these thoughts out of her head for the time being, getting Amity's thoughts, and kicking Boscha's butt. Luz decided on challenging her to a Grudgby match- whatever that was.

Luz, Willow, and Gus trained but she pushed them to far. She tried filling up the time with training so she didn't have to think on the decision she had to make. She just ended up hurting her friends and ended up alone on the bleachers. But Amity came and distracted her again from her thoughts and ended up telling Luz her time as Grudgby Captain.

Afterwards, Boscha and her crew showed up and Luz went down to confront them. The game was off and Luz would do whatever tasks or other they wanted. Which ended up being Boscha's target practice. Luz held her own, deflecting the flaming Grudgby balls with vines and ice. Willow ended up coming back to call the game back on. So with Amity on their side they totally beat them and Luz may have been a little vicious towards Boscha during the game. Tackling her, sending her own flaming balls once she discovered a fire glyph, smacking her with vines, y'know the usual. It was worth the little extra strain on her injured shoulder.

If it wasn't for the dumb Rusty Smidge they would've won, it was a dumb rule and Luz was still salty about it. Luz had come home later and found out that Lilith had come by to try and capture Eda. Failing of course but it still let it really sink in that this would probably be her last few days with Eda and King... and Hooty she supposed.

It was early on day two, Luz was downstairs in the living room with Eda. Eda was wearing a yellow scarf for some reason while guards tried to attack the house outside. Hooty really was a good defense system, Luz was pretty sure Lilith was outside as well.

"What's in here?" Luz asked, peeking into the cauldron. The cauldron had some type of wool in it. "That's Witches Wool. It repels powerful spells." Eda explained, letting some of the wool slip through her fingers back into the cauldron. "Every witch worth their salt has a cloak made from this stuff."

"Whoa, how'd you get your hands on some?" Luz asked, something like that had to have been expensive. "I've been saving some money for it." Luz gave her a curious look. "I figured you would've stolen it." Eda chuckled "I would have but this stuff is hard to come by. Let alone steal." A fond smile slipped across Luz's face. "Of course you would've."

"With the Emperor's goons at my doorstep, I need this for protection. They have really stepped up their attacks lately." Eda explained as a guard was slammed into the window. Luz hummed "mhm, I wonder why he wants you so bad..." Luz trailed a frown on her face. "Emperor Belos wants to control all wild magic through his coven system. He ordered my capture years ago because I refuse to fall in line." Eda said.

"And he won't stop until he's got you..." Luz sighed, drooping her head slightly. "Awww, don't sound so worried. I'm a master escape artist. The only thing that can slow me down is my curse, and that hasn't bothered me for weeks!" Feathers then spouted from her arms. "Uh oh..." Luz stepped back as Eda transformed into the Owl Beast.

"King get the elixir!" She shouted, King looked around the corner and his eyes widened. "Weh!" He turned back around and scrambled up the stairs, Luz running after him. The Owl Beast screeched, giving chase. "We already had to deal with one curse! We don't need to deal with another one so soon!" Luz shouted, exasperated. She entered Eda's room and closed the door behind her, heading over to the wall to draw a light glyph.

King came scurrying out of the closet with an elixir. Luz finished the drawing as Eda busted through the door, screeching. Luz and King covered their faces as Luz activated the glyph. The Owl Beast got blindsided by the glyph. Luz took the elixir from King and had Eda drink it, they waited a few moments but it didn't seem to be working. "Why isn't working?" King asked. "Let's try more elixirs." Luz answered.

They tried elixir after elixir, the Owl Beast awoke after while but still disoriented as it reached out with a paw. Luz uncorked one more elixir and was able to maneuver it to Eda's mouth, the Owl Beast grabbing her face.

"It worked!" King shouted, Eda's hand left Luz's face and grabbed the potion bottle out of her mouth. "Oh... thanks for this!" Eda stood up and her yellow scarf and potion bottles fell. "And those..." Luz spotted that Eda's gem was halfway dark still. "Hey, your gem! It's still dark!" This confirmed that Eda's curse was getting stronger.

"Uh... no it's not! You're nuts!" Eda covered her gem with the scarf again. "The curse has been getting worse and you've been hiding it!" Luz pointed out. "Ugh... you're right. It's taking more elixir to turn me back and more magic to keep the curse from rearing its feathery head." Eda sighed. "After the whole fiasco with your own curse, I didn't want to worry you with my own." She explained.

"What happens if you use your magic up?" Luz asked in worry. "I just... sorta, turn into the Owl Beast forever." Luz frowned. "What if you took Lilith's offer to join the Coven and have the Emperor hea-" Eda shook her head. "No way kiddo. As I said earlier that man just wants control. He's not to be trusted." Luz nodded dejectedly, there went that feeble plan to get Eda to join peacefully.

Eda put a hand on Luz's head, avoiding her shoulder after what happened last time. "Hey, don't worry. I just have to limit my magic use a little." Luz hummed in acknowledgement, that wasn't the only thing Luz had to worry about. Eda sighed and opened her arms wide, Luz hesitated for a moment before breaking the gap and hugging her tightly. "King demands huggies too!" King leaped to join the hug, clutching to Eda's leg.

After a moment Eda spoke. "Okay... it's... time... for... school!" Eda strained trying to walk with both Luz and King still hugging her. A few minutes later and they were by the door, "have a good day!" Eda said. "Just... be careful?" Luz asked, faced creased with worry. "I always am!" Eda replied. Luz sighed "alright, I guess I'll see you." Eda waved as Luz turned and left.

Luz walked down the path to school, spotting Emperor's Coven guards knocked out as Hooty hosted a tea party. Luz still thought about what she should do but... she knew what she would end up doing.

There was a field trip to the Emperor's Castle today, how convenient. She knew she needed to find Lilith, inform her that Luz was the Amber Guard and think of a plan. Luz briefly wondered why Belos had kept Luz and Lilith apart for so long. Luz had trained with every Coven Head except Lilith, granted maybe Lilith didn't have enough time but it was still a little odd to keep them away from each other. Not even going on the same missions once Luz was trained enough.

Luz arrived at Hexside, Willow and Gus along with some other students stood out in front. "Luz, you ready for the field trip of a lifetime to the one, the only, Emperor's Castle!" Gus cheered holding up a pamphlet. Luz huffed out a weak chuckle "sure... once in a lifetime..." she mumbled. Willow tilted her head, her eyebrows creasing in worry at Luz's dejected behavior.

"Are you okay?" Willow asked, Luz looked up at her with a questioning hum. "You've been in a bit of a funk since Grom. I was just wondering..." Willow elaborated. "Oh... I- I don't know. There's just a lot happening all at once right now is all." Luz shrugged. It was silent for a moment before Gus broke it, trying to change the subject. "Well, how about you take a look at all this cool stuff?" He handed Luz the pamphlet.

"Like what?" Luz asked, taking the pamphlet. "Like ancient relics! Look, it's the Plant Coven's Green Thumb Gauntlet! It can grow whatever you imagine." Willow replied taking Gus's lead for subject changing, pointing out the Gauntlet in question. Luz scanned the page in fake interest. Luz already knew these were fakes, they enhanced a witches magic depending on which relic you held, but that's about all they did. They were like Galdorstones in a way, except Galdorstones were better at enhancing all of a holder's magic instead of just a specific magic type.

Her eyes scanned over the Healing Hat. "The Healing Hat. Made from the magic of the Savage Ages. It is said to cure the deadliest diseases and heal any curse." She read aloud. Technically Luz has never touched any of the relics, so who knows if what she's learned about them was true. She hummed in thought, well... if she could at least touch the Healing Hat and see if it healed her curse then she could help Eda and she wouldn't need Belos's help anymore.

She doubted it would work, but it couldn't hurt to try. If it didn't work then she'd find Lilith. "All aboard students!" Principal Bump called. The trio headed for the flying ship and got in their seats before the ship took off. Luz thought over different ideas of how exactly Lilith could help get the portal key without hurting Eda.

"Hey, Luz!" Luz jolted from her thoughts. "Huh? Wh-what was that Willow?" Luz asked. "I was just saying we were getting close to the castle." They looked over the side of the ship. "Emperor Belos built it as a symbol of unity. Before he came to power, folks were doing magic all wrong. He taught us that the only way to respect what the Titan gave us is through joining covens." Willow explained, Luz hummed. She never really knew what Covens were for and she didn't really question it either.

"It's a shame Amity couldn't make it. She would love this trip." Luz perked up at Amity's name. "Yeah she would've." She sighed. It was silent for the rest of the ride, the ship landed in front of the castle awhile later. "Now, the Emperor's assistant will be your tour guide. Please don't make me regret taking you here." Principal Bump said. Kikimora stood on a platform as a bridge extended to the ship. Luz flipped the hood of her cowl up, why did it have to be Kikimora? Why couldn't it have been Hunter instead?

The students stepped onto the extended bridge, chatting excitedly as the bridge retracted. Luz made sure to stay in the back of the group, looking up at the large doors warily. "Children of Hexside, Emperor Belos welcomes you to his castle. We're honored by visits from students. You'll soon be a part of the coven, some lucky few may even find their home here, in the mighty Emperor's Coven!" Kikimora started.

They entered the Castle as Kikimora continued, Luz tuned her out, focusing more on a good opportunity to slip away without Kikimora or her friends noticing.

It wasn't too long later when they entered The Relic Room. Luz looked around the room for a moment as Kikimora continued speaking. She spotted the Healing Hat as they passed by, Luz paused beside it. Eyeing Kikimora until she turned around to lead the way out of the room, then did Luz act.

She headed over to the healing hat, Willow passed by her to catch up with the group while Gus ran up to her and grabbed her arm, tugging her along. "Let's go, Luz!" Luz huffed in annoyance, looking back at the hat as she was dragged away. Well there went that plan.

They entered the hallway, the doors to the Relic Room closing behind them. Gus let go of Luz's arm, Luz trailed behind Willow and Gus. A few minutes passed before a door slammed open, causing Luz to jump and look over. Lilith entered the hallway, leaves in her disheveled hair which Lilith combed out with her hands.

"Ah! Make way for Miss Lilith Clawthorne, students." Kikimora said, stepping back slightly as Lilith passed by. Luz tugged on her hood nervously, this was her chance to go through with her plan. The students muttered in excitement.

"Yes, and if I'm not mistaken, she's on her way to see the Emperor himself. Let's all wish her luck!" Kikimora taunted, "good luck, Miss Lilith!" the students chorus. Lilith inhaled a deep breath before replying, "thank you, students. Good luck with puberty."

"This way students." Kikimora ushered, the students following after her as Lilith entered another door. Luz looked back at the group leaving them back to where Lilith went, conflicted. She sighed, there was too much riding on her mission's success. She pushed herself forward, following Lilith.

Luz followed Lilith through the halls towards the Emperor's Throne Room. Luz paused at a corner, leaning her back against the wall. She heard the doors to the throne room slam shut, Luz peaked around the corner to see that Lilith was gone. Luz took a deep breath and went up to the door, peaking through the keyhole.

Inside was a massive throne room. A beating green heart, far larger than would belong in any current living creature, was hooked up to pipes above the golden throne, which was flanked with flaming braziers. Various guards were standing around the room, one with a mask resembling an owl which Luz recognized as Hunter, standing directly behind the throne. Belos himself was sitting on the throne, his head in his hand. Lilith approached the throne and kneeled before him.

"I am at your service, Emperor Belos." Lilith said. Emperor Belos breathed heavily. A guard brought a palisman on a tray. "Just a moment, Lilith." Belos replied taking the palisman. He sunk his finger into the palisman's neck, dragging a line and breaking its head off. Glowing green goop fell out of the palisman, which Emperor Belos poured into the eye holes of his mask. His eyes, flashed a glowing green. "Ah, that's better."

Luz winced, now that she actually knew more about palisman and that they were sentient creatures, she felt bad for all the palisman she's ever given to the Emperor. "How's the hunt for the Owl Lady? I heard you attempted a raid this morning." Emperor Belos said. "Yes, but we were-" Belos cut off Lilith's reply. "Unsuccessful? That was obvious enough. It's been over a month since you promised to bring me the Owl Lady. Well, where is she?"

"If I just had more time, I-" once again she was cut off. "I'm getting bored of your excuses, Lilith. Don't worry, I'll give you the time you need. And perhaps some help as well. Bring the Owl Lady to me by twilight. She'll join the Emperor's Coven and in return, I'll heal her little curse. But, if you fail..." Belos trailed nails digging into his throne, the heart above the throne beating faster. "You will be stripped of your rank and banished from my coven. You do know what happens to covenless witches, don't you?" He asked.

There was a thick silence in the air, the hair on Luz's neck stood on end, uncomfortable with the tense silence. "I-I understand. I will not fail." Lilith turned to leave. "One more thing." Belos said, waiting for Lilith to face him again. "You will be receiving help from the Amber Guard." Hunter's head turned at that, looking at Emperor Belos from where he stood. "The Amber Guard? But she hasn't been seen for over a month?" Lilith said.

"Do not worry Lilith, she has already been informed. I also expect you to help her with her own mission if she requires it from you." Belos said with a wave of his hand. "Now, you're running out of time, Lilith." With that Lilith headed to the doors. Luz scrambled away from the door, and hid behind the corner again as Lilith exited the Throne Room.

Once the doors slammed shut, Luz took a deep breath. It was all or nothing, now. She saw Lilith heading away from her and Luz quickly followed her, gathering her courage. Luz put her hood down before speaking in the most casual tone she could muster. "Heya, Lilith!" Lilith turned to face her, surprised.

"Human? How did you get into the Castle?" She questioned narrowing her eyes. Luz held up her hands, "that's not important. What is important is that you need to capture the Owl Lady, and I know how to help." Luz said. "And why would you want to help me capture your mentor?" Lilith replied, an eyebrow raised. "The thing is I'm the Amber Guard. We both need someth-" Luz was cut of by a scoff from Lilith. "You're not the Amber Guard, Human. And I don't have time for your games." Lilith turned to walk away.

Luz rolled her eyes. She took her staff-pen from her pocket and clicked the button, letting it extend into staff form. She twirled it, amber colored light gathering around the tip of the staff. In a flash of amber colored light, Luz teleported infront of Lilith, blocking her path. Luz twirled her staff before letting the butt end of the staff thunk against the floor. "Is that enough proof for you?" Luz asked to a flabbergasted Lilith.

Taking her silence as a conformation to continue, Luz spoke. "Now, we both need something from the Owl Lady. You need to capture her and I need something from her. The Owl Lady has this item on her person and I've gained enough trust with her to where I'm pretty confident she'll give it to me." Luz explained.

"The hard part is figuring the right circumstances for the Owl Lady to actually give it to me." Luz continued. "That's where we work together. If you 'kidnap' me." Luz did quotes with her fingers. "She'll be led right to you for the capture. Her curse is much stronger now, after that well... I'm not entirely sure, but we can figure that out later."

Lilith stared at her for a moment. "How do you know this will work?" She finally asked. Luz shrugged "unlike you, I've been living with the Owl Lady for the last month. I know what makes her tick and I think I've done a pretty good job of making her care about me." Luz replied, granted Eda has done a good job of making Luz care about her as well.

Lilith thought it over for a moment, it wasn't like she had many options to choose from anyways. "Alright Amber Guard. I accept your help. Now, put your staff away and I'll seal you in a bubble." Luz nodded, letting her staff return to pen form as Lilith spun a spell circle. A blue bubble formed around Luz and gently floated above the ground. "Now how do we get a message out to Edalyn?" Lilith asked, heading down the hall, the bubble following her.

Luz hummed in thought, she didn't have to think long though as she heard a quiet gasp nearby. Looking around, Luz spotted Willow and Gus. They must have noticed she was missing and went to look for her. "Friends!" She called out, alerting Lilith of their presence.

"Let her go!" Gus exclaimed. Lilith smirked "if you want to see your friend again, deliver this to Edalyn." Lilith tossed her staff to them, the staff flying them away as Willow shouted "Luz!" Luz looked away guiltily, her friends shouldn't have been involved with this, but it was too late now.

"Well that's that problem solved." Lilith said, heading to the front of the Castle. She extended the bridge out so Eda and Lilith would have plenty of room to stand. "And now we wait."

The sun started to set when Eda finally appeared in a flash of yellow lightning. Face etched into a scowl. Lilith smirked. Eda threw Lilith's staff at high speed, the staff embedding itself into the Castle wall behind Lilith.

"Sister! I see that you got my invitation to a Witch's Duel!" Lilith said, spreading her arms wide. Eda was in no mood to talk, sending bolts of electricity flying at Lilith, though none of them hit her. Eda flew at her, taunting. Lilith blocked one hit with a summoned shield. She summoned her staff and fired a bolt at Eda. "Where is she?" Eda demanded dodging the attack and flying at Lilith. "Easy now." Lilith said holding a hand out to stop her sister. Eda stopped, floating in front of her. "The human is safe." Lilith said, spinning her staff.

Luz didn't expect the bubble to suddenly zip forward. She yelped, when it stopped she ended up smashing her face into the side of the bubble. She rubbed her nose before looking up and spotting Eda. "You can have her back, provided you do as I say. Renounce your wild ways and join the Emperor's Coven. He can help heal your curse!" Lilith tried to reason. "Don't believe everything that bonehead tells you. He doesn't want to heal me, he wants to control me!" Eda scowled.

Luz knew Eda wouldn't turn herself in without a fight, but she'd still hoped Eda wouldn't resist. "Then I'll take you in by force." Lilith spun her staff. Eda stepped down onto the bridge a smirk on her face. "You've always looked down on me because I'm wild, but fortunately, that just made me work harder than you!"

Eda slammed her staff on the ground, summoning a towering owl made of golden light behind her. She rushed towards Lilith, launching her in the air. Eda appeared behind Lilith. Lilith zipped away as Eda swung her staff at empty air. Lilith reappeared behind Eda, charging up an attack right as Eda disappeared. Eda reappeared behind Lilith and kicked her, then zapped away to chase her.

From the bubble, Luz watched Eda and Lilith zip across the sky, nothing but gold and blue lights weaving and crashing. Lilith shot a beam of light at Luz's bubble, sending it flying. Eda landed on the bridge as Luz yelled. "Luz!" Eda called, zipping after her and redirecting the boards of the bridge to keep Luz from falling off.

Lilith dropped down, and Eda rolled out of the way to prevent being crushed. Eda summoned a Hooty Hydra to wrap Lilith up. Eda spun her staff and sent a giant blast at Lilith. Lilith put Luz between her and the bolt, Luz's eyes widened as Eda redirected the blast, missing them both.

Luz sighed in relief. "Stop hiding behind Luz, you coward!" Eda panted, grunting and using her staff to hold herself up. "It's sad to see you slowing down sister. Tell me, is it the curse?" Lilith taunted. Eda growled, the sound half Owl Beast. The darkness in her gem grew.

Luz noticed Eda's gem. "Eda you're running out of magic!" She shouted, warning both witches of the time limit. Eda ignored Luz. "Maybe it is the curse. But then how pathetic are you, that you can't best me at my worst?!" Eda snarled, spinning her staff and summoning a dozen rings of magic, all of which sent bolts at Lilith. Eda's Hooty Hydra dragged Luz to safety as Lilith summoned a shield to protect herself.

"Maybe you are stronger than me, but that made me work smarter! I became smart, crafty!" Lilith scowled. "A lapdog for a tyrant!" Eda snapped back. Luz sat up, slightly dizzy, she shook her head trying to clear it, looking back up at the two witches.

"You always thought you were better than me, that I could never beat you in anything!" Lilith shouted over the blasts of magic hitting her shield. "I am better than you!" Eda replied. "Then why were you so easy to curse?!" As soon as the words left her mouth Lilith's expression went from anger to shock, covering her mouth. Eda looked shocked and betrayed, she looked away gritting her teeth in anger.

Luz looked on in shock, eyes darting between Lilith and Eda. How could Lilith curse her own sister? There didn't seem to be any logical reason that Lilith would do such a thing. At least there was a reason for Luz's curse, to show her the dangers of wild magic. Luz's look of shock morphed into anger on Eda's behalf.

"A-And I have the power to remove it, if you would just let me explain." Lilith said reaching for her sister. Eda shook in anger. With a yell of fury, she rushed forward and destroyed Lilith's shield, flinging Lilith into the wall hard enough to leave a crater.

The black in Eda's gem was writhing furiously. Eda didn't seem to care. Suddenly Luz's bubble popped and Luz hit the ground with a grunt. She stood up and turned to Lilith, confused on why the bubble dropped. Was she knocked out?

Lilith stood still, looking past Luz and straight at Eda. Lilith lifted her staff and a blue glow surrounded Luz. Luz searched for an answer on what on Titan Lilith was thinking, but there was nothing that Luz could read on her face. With a flick of Lilith's staff, Luz was flung off the side of the bridge.

Luz screamed in surprise as she fell. "Luz!" Eda yelled. Eda drew a shaky spell circle with her staff. Luz stopped plummeting a foot above a score of giant spikes. Eda strained to keep Luz up. Luz looked up at her with wide eyes. Why would Eda risk this much to save her? She knew Eda cared about her, but not to this extent.

"Eda!" Luz shouted, worried and scared. Why did she go through with this? She didn't actually think Eda would risk turning into the Owl Beast forever. She thought Lilith would be able to capture her before that could happen, but it seemed Lilith was pushing for Eda to use up all her magic.

Lilith casted a spell, a large blue hand pushing down against Luz. Bringing her closer to the spikes as Eda struggled. Eda's gem was almost entirely black. The whites of her eyes began to be taken over. "Alright, kid. Listen to me. I'm going away, and I don't know if I can bounce back this time. Watch over King. Remember to feed Hooty."

Luz whimpered, she wouldn't be able to do that. "And Luz, thank you for being in my life." Tears gathered in Luz's eyes as Eda screamed. Luz shut her eyes tight as a blast of golden light filled the area. Luz started to fall again before Owlbert caught her, lifting her back up to the bridge. Luz stumbled forward a few steps before stopping.

Luz stood still watching Eda, the witch rolling over onto her back to scream a beastly howl. She slammed a hand onto the bridge, transforming into the Owl Beast. Luz stared, unseeing at the beast as it prowled forward screeching at her. Luz didn't move, not registering what was around her until the Owl Beast was quickly pulled away from her.

Luz blinked and looked up seeing the Owl Beast tied up next to Lilith. "Come along sister. Now we can let the healing begin." Luz walked up beside Lilith, staring at the Owl Beast still. Lilith turned to speak to her, snatching Owlbert out of the air. "Thank you for your assistance, Amber Guard. I doubted your plan at first, but it worked just fine." Lilith said. Luz finally looked away from the Owl Beast and to Lilith. "You didn't have to throw me off the bridge though." She snapped, still angry about what was revealed about Eda's curse.

"It was necessary for the goal, you understand, right?" Lilith asked, Luz shrugged with a slow nod. "Good. Now, are you coming with to give the report to the Emperor?" Lilith questioned. Luz shook her head. "No, I have to get my uniform first. I'll meet you back in the throne room before the Emperor arrives." Luz replied in a deadpanned tone. Lilith nodded before heading back to the Castle with Eda and Owlbert in tow.

Luz took her staff-pen and let it transform into it's staff form. She looked back at the Castle where Eda went for a moment before hoping onto her staff and taking flight. Back to the Owl House.

It didn't take too long before Luz touched down in front of the Owl House. Not bothering to hide her staff, she walked up to the door. Hooty yawned, blinking his eyes open. "Oh, Luz, there you are!" Luz didn't reply, instead opening the door to the dark living room.

She looked to the side, her eyes widening. There were balloons and streamers hung up. Party hats were on the couches, and confetti was on the floor. A purple piece of clothing was folded and wrapped in a bow on the table, next to King's cake, the candles of which have long burned out. King burst out of the cake.

"The cake is me!" He gasped, looking around. "Hey, um, where's Eda?" He asked innocently. Luz looked away guiltily, her hand on the door knob tightening. Taking a deep breath, Luz let go of the door knob and walked past the table and King. "Hey! Where are you going?" King asked, scrambling out of the cake and falling onto the floor. He followed Luz upstairs to her room.

Luz didn't acknowledge him as she grabbed her bag and headed over to the chest. Opening it she started grabbing the elixirs she had left, 14 of them. "Luz, what are you doing?" King asked again, but Luz still ignored him. He looked over the staff Luz had set down on the floor while she grabbed her elixirs. "What kind of staff is that? Where did you get it?"

Ignoring him still, Luz closed the chest once she was done. Grabbing her bag and staff she headed out of her room and to the bathroom, grabbing her belt and dagger on the way out as well. She closed the bathroom door behind her, blocking King out.

King banged his fists on the door. "Luz! What the heck are you doing!?" He shouted. "And where's Eda!? Why aren't you answering me!?" He said, frustrated from being ignored. He stepped back and decided to wait for her to come back out. When she did he looked up at her in surprise at her outfit change.

She had her normal brown boots on, but now she wore an amber colored tunic with darker sleeves and her belt with her dagger and paralyzing potions, black leggings, and amber gloves. Underneath the tunic she had golden chest armor with dark orange straps over her white and purple striped shirt. She had her bag slung over her shoulder and carried the staff in one hand.

Luz headed back downstairs. Heading to the front door, but King ran ahead of her and blocked the doorway. She stopped and stared down at him. "Luz you have to tell me what's going on. Where's Eda?" He demanded. Luz didn't speak, turning her head away instead, a deep frown on her face.

She spotted the piece of folded clothing on the table, and slowly walked over to the table. King didn't dare move, afraid that she would leave if he moved away from the door. King and Hooty shared a worried look as Luz picked up the tag attached to the gift and read it.

'To a young witch from her proud mentor. -EDA' Luz's hands shook as she collapsed to her knees beside the table. Her staff clattering to the floor. Reaching out for the gift and unfolding it, revealing it to be a cloak made from the Witches Wool Eda had that morning. Luz clutched the cloak tightly, bringing it to her chest and burying her face in the soft fabric as she finally let the tears roll down her face.

King and Hooty cautiously approached her, King resting a paw on her arm as she shook with sobs into the cloak.

What had she done?

Chapter Text

Luz struggled to collect herself as King sat beside her on the floor. It was too late now, Luz had to go through the rest of her mission. Luz wiped her tears away, sniffling. She wrapped the witches wool cloak around her shoulders, picking up her staff and using it to help herself up. King stood up beside her, a worried look in his eyes.

"Luz...? Wha-what happened?" King asked tugging on her cape. She looked down at him, contemplating, there was no point in hiding now. Luz took a deep breath and sighed slowly before replying. "Eda was captured trying to rescue me from Lilith." She explained, her face morphed into a neutral expression, closing her eyes for a moment to collect herself again.

"Well... we can just go save her then!" King replied optimistically. "You don't get it King." Luz replied in a harsh tone, King looked up at her in confusion. "I've been lying to you all this whole time, I work for the Emperor." Luz continued. Maybe if Luz was harsh and cold enough it would hurt less to abandon them.

Luz headed to the door, stopping in the door frame and turning her head to look at King. He stood still with wide eyes piercing into her very soul. She turned her head away and looked outside. "I betrayed the Owl Lady so that I could get her portal key and give it to the Emperor."

She pulled her cloak from her bag and wrapped it over her purple cape, hiding it from sight. "And now that mission is almost complete." She finished, donning her mask and pulling the hood up. She took a couple of steps outside before King ran up to her and tugged her cloak. "But what about everything we've done together? Azura? The lessons? Did... did that mean nothing to you?" King's voice broke as he looked up at Luz's now covered face.

"Were you pretending this whole time..?" Tears gathered in his eyes as his grip tightened on her cloak. Tears pricked in Luz's eyes but there was nothing she could do to comfort him now, they were enemies, they always were.

She ripped her cloak away from him, the force making him fall on the ground. King looked up at her as Luz mounted her staff. "I'm the Amber Guard. I do my mission then leave. Nothing more, nothing less." She replied coldly, and with that she took off into the sky. Leaving King alone in front of the Owl House.

It was better this way, Luz reasoned with herself. It was better to leave him behind, broken, than to have him chase after her and get himself captured like Eda. Her grip tightened on her staff as she flew over the forest, the sun slowly rising over the horizon. The third and final day of her mission.

Soon, she landed back on the bridge. Heading into the Castle, scouts moved out of her way as she moved down the halls to the throne room. She stopped in front of the throne doors sometime later, Luz hesitated before pushing the doors open and heading inside.

Inside the room was only Lilith and the Owl Beast. Lilith had sealed the Owl Beast in a blue bubble. Lilith looked over at her when she entered. "Ah, I see you've kept your promise." Lilith said as Luz walked over to her. "I told you I would be here before the Emperor showed up." Luz replied.

A few minutes of silence passed before the doors opened again. Scouts coming in and lining up on either side of the doors and saluting. Kikimora followed them into the room next. "All kneel before Emperor Belos!" She said, bowing and stepping aside revealing the Emperor himself.

Lilith and Luz both kneeled as he entered the throne room. The Owl Beast broke free from Lilith's bubble, screeching and lunging at Belos. "Eda, no!" Lilith called after her sister.

Belos vanished before the Owl Beast could attack him, appearing behind her and throwing her against a wall by lifting his finger. The Owl Beast fell to the ground, glowing red ropes appearing to keep her down.

Luz stood up from her kneeling position as Lilith ran inbetween Eda and the Emperor. "My Lord, I apologize for my sister's rash behavior. She is still in her cursed form. Once you've healed her, as promised, I am sure she will become a useful asset to the coven!"

Luz walked over and stood beside the Emperor as Lilith spoke. Belos ignored her, turning to look at Luz instead. "Do you have it?" He asked. Luz swallowed nervously before shaking her head and replying. "The Owl Lady still has it on her person somewhere."

Belos hummed, turning back to the Owl Beast and summoning his mechanical staff. A red beam of light came into contact with the Owl Beast, it whined in pain and Luz winced in sympathy. The black in the Owl Beast's eyes retreated back to Eda's golden eyes. The beam ceased as Eda blinked and looked around in confusion.

"Ah. Where am I? What is this? Aw farts, I got caught." Eda said, looking up at the Emperor. Luz's eyes widened, so Belos could really heal curses! Or at least in this case, partially. The Emperor bent down to Eda's level. "Edalyn Clawthorne, the infamous Owl Lady, the wild witch of Bonesborough. Mentor of Luz the Human." Luz tilted her head, wondering where Belos was going with this.

"You stay away from her, or so help me, Titan..." Belos chuckled. "You've got it all wrong. The human is safe, for now. I just want the portal she came through." Oh, he was weaponizing the connection Luz had made with Eda to get what he wanted.

"Tough, 'cause I ain't telling you nothing!" Eda replied. "Ugh, pity. Although I suppose I could ask the human herself." Belos snapped his fingers and guards ran in to drag her away. "Wait! Don't touch her! Lilith, don't let him hurt her! Lilith!" Eda called as the doors shut behind her.

"I'm surprised Amber Guard. You really did get the Owl Lady to care deeply about you." Belos said. Luz nodded, still watching the doors Eda had left through. "Ah, taking her to the healing ceremony?" Lilith asked hesitantly, looking up at the Emperor. "I will not be healing her."

Luz looked back at Belos in surprise. "But, you, promised me." Lilith muttered. "Don't be so naïve, Lilith. This is the Titan's will. All wild witches must be dealt with before the Day of Unity. The Owl Lady will cause more trouble within the Coven than she ever did as a wild witch. You understand, don't you?" Belos replied, resting a hand on Lilith's shoulder.

He looked to Luz and nodded at her. "Get the key." He ordered her. Luz nodded and turned to leave, she caught a bit more of their conversation before she left the room.

"Of course..." Lilith trailed. "Good. Oh, one more thing." Belos said with a snap of his fingers. Luz didn't catch the rest as the doors closed behind her. Luz sighed before heading down the hall. The guards probably took Eda to the Conformatorium. So that's where Luz would head to.

It was about mid-day when Luz dismounted her staff in front of the Conformatorium. A shiver went down her spine as she looked up at the imposing building. Taking a deep breath she headed inside the building.

Luz looked around once she entered and spotted a scout. "Scout! Where's Ed- the Owl Lady being held?" Luz stumbled over her words as she headed to the guard. The scout looked up from their clipboard and immediately saluted her. "The Owl Lady is being held in the holding cell in the dungeon, waiting for petrification." They informed.

"Petrification?" Luz asked, luckily the scout couldn't see her horrified expression behind her mask. "Yes ma'am, at sundown." The scout nodded. Luz swallowed the guilt trying to claw it's way out of her throat. "Th-thank you scout." She cleared her throat. "Return to your task." She ordered, heading away to the dungeon cells.

It made sense... Eda was a wild witch, a powerful one. Even if she was trapped in her cursed form. And as Belos said, Eda would cause more trouble within the Coven than out. Luz didn't doubt that Eda would be able to break out of the Conformatorium if they kept her in a normal cell. Petrification was the only option for Eda.

Was healing her own curse and returning to the Human Realm really worth Eda's life though? Luz shook her head, she wasn't sure but it was already too late. There was nothing she could do. Luz had already made her choice, but that didn't stop the intense guilt she felt in her gut.

Luz stopped in front of a set of double doors, locked with a chain and padlock. She stood in front of the door for a moment, collecting herself. She looked down the hall for any scouts before collapsing her staff back into pen form, clipping it to her belt. She took her mask and cloak off, shoving it into her bag she still had. Leaving her in her tunic and the purple cloak Eda made for her.

She took an ice glyph from her bag and broke the chain. Luz headed inside, using a light glyph to light up the room a bit more, even if she didn't really need it. Growling came from the other side of the room as Luz headed over to the beast.

Eda turned at the noise and growled, going in for the attack. Luz backed away holding up the ball of light. "Eda, wait! It's me! It's me." Eda closed her eyes from the light, reopening them and revealing them to be gold again. "Luz? Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no, wh-what are you doing here?" Eda panicked, lowering herself from her attack stance. "I... I don't know, I just had to see you again." Luz replied, gaze downcast as guilt clawed more fiercely within her.

"You can't be here. You have to leave! Now." Eda stated sternly. Luz opened her mouth to say something but nothing came, regret and guilt flooded her as she truly realized what's she's done. She was selfish. There wasn't anything she could do now, but she could still explain, still apologize for everything. "Eda I..." she didn't know where to start, her mind yelled at her for how selfish she was. She argued with herself, she tried choosing the best option with the least consequences!

And look where that got her.

"Listen to me. I'm here because of my own actions. I went against Belos's law, and for a while I was able to get away with it. But," Eda sighed. "Well without magic, I can't do much. I don't regret anything. I lived freely and... I got to meet you." Luz's guilt only grew with her words. "Eda..."

"But if you stay here, I won't be able to protect you. You need to leave. Now!" Eda said again, reaching into her hair and pulling out the portal key.

"Go back to the Human Realm and keep the portal away from Belos. I don't know why he wants it but it can't be good." Eda explained as she put the key around Luz's neck. Luz gripped the key tightly, she felt so guilty and conflicted. Was all this really worth it at the cost of Eda's life?

Luz whimpered and looked up into her mentor's golden eyes. "I don't know your whole situation back home, but it's gotta be better then getting caught by the Emperor. Go home kiddo, and get some help from someone. Your not a waste of space or useless or whatever... you're strong and independent and I'm glad I got to meet you." Eda said, a small smile on her face.

Technically she would be doing what Eda said... by giving Belos the key she would go back to the Human Realm curse free. That was worth it... right? Fulfilling Eda's wish and her own, finally going home and the Boiling Isles could fade into a bad memory.

Not all of it was bad though... Eda, King, Amity, Willow, Gus, and Hunter... could she really leave them forever? Leave Eda to die for Luz's own selfish gain? Eda put a clawed hand on her head and ruffled her hair for the final time. "Go home kid." But what was home anymore?

"I'm sorry I can't keep my promise to help you find your mom. Be careful when getting your elixirs, the Emperor will be looking for you and that portal."

Luz lunged foward knocking Eda back a little bit and catching her off guard. She hugged her tightly, the Owl Lady returning the hug fiercely. Luz sniffled as tears spilled down her face, when did she start crying? "I'll miss you..." Luz replied, hugging tighter. There was a pause before Eda replied "I'll miss you too kiddo..."

Luz needed to apologize for everything. About her mission, the deal with Lilith, with Belos... "Eda... there's something I have to tell you." Luz started, pulling away slightly.

A loud buzzing noise suddenly started to blare and red lights flashed. "Luz get away!" Eda shoved her away, sending the human to the ground. Luz looked up in time to see the chains magically become a cage around Eda. The platform she was on jerked and started to move upward.

Luz panicked, getting up quickly she needed to explain everything! She leaped up and grabbed the edge of the cage looking up desperately. "Wait, not yet!" She dug her claws in the metal, Eda gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. Goodbye." Eda then unhooked her and tossed her back down to the floor.

Luz yelped as she fell, once she landed she looked back up "but I still have to tell you-!" But her sentence was cut off as the platform completed it's mission. Taking Eda away from her forever.

"...That I'm sorry..."

Chapter Text

Luz stared. That's all she could do. Just stare at the roof where the platform had taken Eda away to be petrified. Luz should have taken the key that first day on her mission. She had it in her hand for Titan's sake! But nooo, Luz just had to go back and help Eda against Warden Wrath. Deciding to stall her mission as long as possible and getting herself attached to the criminals that lived in the Owl House.

If she had taken that first chance, Luz wouldn't have grown attached, Eda wouldn't have been captured and petrified, King and Hooty wouldn't have been left alone, and Luz wouldn't have suffered the guilt of it all!

The key hung around her neck, her gloved hand still gripping it tightly her other hand clenched in her lap. She sighed, there wasn't anything she could do now. Luz stood, still clutching the key, and looking away from the roof. She looked down at the key, opening her hand so she could see it in the palm of her gloved hand. She stared at it for a good moment, she was actually able to get it.

She tucked the key away inside her shirt, wiping away the tears she had cried and opened her bag for the rest of her uniform. Putting her white cloak back over her shoulders. Footsteps echoed outside the room, Luz turned around as the door was pushed open by Lilith. A frown made it's way onto Lilith's face once she spotted Luz and no Eda in sight.

"Amber Guard, what are you doing here?" Lilith asked carefully, she held her staff in one hand and made her way into the room. "I could ask you the same thing." Luz replied just as carefully. The two studied each other in silence for a moment. Lilith's body language was tense while Luz was exhausted yet alert.

Lilith broke the silence first. "From the few interactions I've seen, you do care for Edalyn don't you?" Luz looked away "what's it to you?" Luz asked, crossing her arms and glaring at the witch. She still wasn't over her anger at Lilith cursing her own sister.

"You don't want Edalyn to be petrified anymore than I do." Lilith stated like it was fact. "So? Why do you care?" Luz spat, taking a more defensive posture. Lilith looked away for a moment, contemplating before replying. "I'm here to rescue my sister, would you help me?" She asked, looking back at Luz.

Luz blinked in confusion "what?" She asked quietly, unsure if she heard Lilith correctly. "I don't know if I can do it alone. It would be nice to have some backup if things went south." Lilith continued, emboldened by Luz's not immediate hostile reaction.

Luz stared in shock for a moment before shaking her head. "Sorry, but I can't help you." Luz replied with a cold stare. A look of disappointment crossed Lilith's face from Luz's reply, but was quickly replaced by determination. "However, I will not stop you from trying." Luz continued more softly.

Surprise filled Lilith's face "but... why would you step aside?" She asked, confused. Luz didn't reply for a moment, instead choosing to walk past her to the door. Lilith turned to watch her carefully, incase Luz decided to attack. Luz stopped by the door and replied. "You're right about one thing, Lilith. I do care about Eda."

"But there are too many consequences for me if I helped you." Luz stated. "I got what I came for, I won't stop you. I should buy you some time before the Emperor himself notices what you're up too." Luz looked back to Lilith's stunned expression. "Now, you're running out of time Lilith." She said, putting on her mask and opening the door.

Luz turned and made her way down the hall, soon after Luz heard Lilith's footsteps echoing as she headed in the opposite direction. Luz made her way back to the Castle as fast as she could. It was evening by now, the sun slowly starting to sink lower in the sky. Luz knew that Emperor Belos would still be in the throne room until closer to sundown.

She landed on the bridge and quickly made her way through the Castle to the throne room. Twisting and turning down the many halls, Luz finally ended up in front of the throne room doors. She took a deep calming breath before knocking on the door. "You may enter." The voice of Emperor Belos commanded. Luz held her staff in one hand as she pushed open the door with the other.

Emperor Belos sat in his throne, looking over some papers. Hunter stood by his side in his usual spot, Luz would usually be on the opposite side of the throne, but it hasn't been that way in awhile. Belos looked up when Luz entered, making the paper he held disappear with a wave of his hand. Luz kneeled again as Belos stood and came down the steps towards her.

"Rise." He commanded. Luz suppressed a shiver of fear as she stood. "Do you have it?" Belos asked, blue eyes gleaming down at her. Luz took the key out from under her shirt and lifted the string over her head. "Yes, my Lord." She replied. Luz dropped the key in his outstretched hand, Emperor Belos held the key up to eye level.

Luz watched him examine the key, trying hard not to shuffle her feet in nervousness. He finally lowered the key and looked back at Luz. "And the portal?" He asked. "Oh! The key summons the portal, you just have to press the eye." She informed.

Belos pressed the eye of the key and Luz had to step back as the portal door appeared inbetween them. The Emperor grabbed the handle of the briefcase shaped door. "Hunter." Belos called, Hunter quickly moved from his post and to Belos's side. "Yes, Emperor Belos?"

Belos handed him the door. "Take this to my work room, then make your way to the Petrification ceremony. Be very careful with the door." He ordered. Hunter nodded and quickly left the room. Belos put the key safely around his neck before addressing Luz again. "As for you."

"I asked you to bring me the portal door, you then informed us about the key and went out of your way to retrieve that as well." Belos started. "However," Luz tensed as he paused. "The Titan is upset at how long you've taken on this simple mission and it is my duty to punish you."

~~~~~~

There was no warning for Luz as Belos lashed out with a green, goopy, spiked arm. Her mask was knocked away and clattered to the floor, along with Luz dropping her staff in surprise. A searing pain just above her right eye flared. Luz shrieked in pain and stumbled back as Belos retracted his arm, Luz had to close her right eye as blood dripped down her face. She held a gloved hand to the deep cut in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

Luz breathed in ragged gasps, she couldn't panic now. She shoved her internal panic down and forced her breathing back to normal. She achieved this by pressing against her new injury, it flared with more pain and she suppressed a hiss but it did ground her away from her panic.

Belos continued on as if he hadn't just cut her eyebrow open. "The Titan still has plans for you so I will not be healing you just yet." Luz looked up in disbelief with her left eye, her right still closed. "You understand why I had to punish you, correct?" He didn't give her time to reply before answering for her. "By taking as long as you did, you delayed the Day of Unity, making the Titan upset and letting wild magic like your curse run rampant through the Isles."

"This is another reason why I cannot heal your curse. It seems you still haven't fully realized the dangers of wild magic that plague us day after day." He paused for a moment, contemplating something. The cut above Luz's eye still throbbed with pain but it wasn't as bad as before. She took her hand away, wiping the still dripping blood off so she could open her right eye again.

Belos set a hand on her shoulder as Luz tried not to flinch. "I still see that you went out of your way to get me the key and you've still proved your loyalty to the Emperor's Coven. That at least can be rewarded." Luz's breath caught in her throat, reward? Blood still steadily dripped down her face, but she ignored it in fear of making Belos lash out again if she moved.

~~~~~~

"Instead of the Conformatorium, you will now have a room within the Castle. Hunter will show you after the Petrification, speaking of Petrification we should probably not waste anymore time." He squeezed her shoulder tightly before letting go. "Pick up your mask and staff, we have a show to watch."

Luz scrambled to do as told. Once her mask was in place, Belos teleported them to the Conformatorium. Luz felt queasy after the teleportation, it passed quickly and Luz noticed they were in a large room with towering statues covered in red tendrils. They stood in front of a small platform. There was yelling and shouting from above, the sounds of spells being cast reached Luz's ears.

Belos stepped onto the platform and Luz quickly followed. Belos tapped his staff against the platform as a screech rang out from above. As the platform lifted them up Luz blinked away the blood that still dripped steadily over her eye so she could see better. Once they reached the top, Luz looked around at the chaos.

The Petrification machine was destroyed and most of the guards were knocked out, including Kikimora. The crowd of people below were cheering. Hunter was in the middle of mounting his staff when Belos put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Luz looked up at the sky, a large beast was flying away from them. Most likely Eda and Lilith.

Luz's heart ached as she watched them escape. Belos stepped forward to address the citizens as Hunter went to stand beside her. She looked away from the speck that was Eda in the sky and looked to Hunter instead. She was glad Eda was able to escape but a part of her wished she could go with them.

Hunter was looking back at her, she couldn't tell what his expression was due to his mask. He nudged her gently with his shoulder before turning his attention to the Emperor as Luz turned her attention back as well.

"Children of the Isles. The Titan has told me to spare the Owl Lady's life, but in return, her curse will strip away all her powers. Let her monstrous form be a lesson about the dangers of wild magic." Emperor Belos warned the citizens below. As he spoke the guards that had tried to stop Eda from escaping slowly picked themselves up.

Not too long later the crowd dispersed and the guards returned to their duties. Emperor Belos teleported Luz and Hunter back to the Castle, into the throne room. Once again Luz felt sick after the teleportation, it passed quicker than last time at least. Emperor Belos sat on his throne as Luz and Hunter stood before him, waiting to be dismissed.

The moon steadily climbed higher into the sky, casting its reflected rays of light onto the Isles. Emperor Belos finally addressed them. "Tomorrow morning Hunter, Luz. You will be doing the morning patrol around the castle, then return to your training."

"Of course." Hunter replied with a nod. Luz nodded as well. Of course Belos still didn't allow her to do patrols on her own.

Still, Luz knew the reason why Belos always sent someone with her. To make sure she didn't run away from the Emperor's Coven. Then again, hadn't she just proved that she would come back? Luz had been out on her own for a month and she still came back. The stinging of her eyebrow reminded her that perhaps Belos wasn't wrong to send someone with her. She did delay coming back as long as possible, and thought about staying with Eda multiple times.

Belos dismissed them and they left the throne room quietly. Once the doors closed behind them, Hunter stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. Luz turned to look at him questioningly, but before she could ask, Hunter pulled her in for a hug. Startled, Luz froze for a moment before hugging back.

Hunter didn't do hugs. Luz didn't do hugs either. They surely didn't hug each other, ever. Sure there was the occasional pat on the back or high five, a playful punch to the arm or teasing... lots of teasing and getting on each other's nerves. But they've never hugged before.

Hunter pulled away from the hug as quickly as he had given it. "What was that?" Luz asked with a slight chuckle in her voice. Hunter shrugged, "I just missed you is all, and I'm glad you're safe." He replied, he started to walk and she easily fell onto step beside him.

"It was soooooo boring without you here. I had to do so much more paperwork than normal!" Hunter complained as he led Luz through the halls of the castle. Luz smirked smugly under her mask, "the great and feared Golden Guard missed little ol' me?" She teased.

"Pff- hu- what!? No! I did not! I did not miss you- not one bit!" Hunter spluttered as Luz laughed loudly. She could practically hear the embarrassment in his voice. "Clearly, you just missed me doing all the paperwork." Luz stated with a grin.

"Yes! Exactly! You're a lot better at that than I am, even if you are really slow." Hunter jabbed, Luz did a mock offended gasp. "You clearly know how long my attention span lasts, especially when it's something so boring. It's practically nonexistent!"

"Your focus doesn't last long on anything. In fact, I'm surprised you were able to get your mission done with all the possible distractions of living with a criminal." Hunter laughed. "How did that go anyway? You took quite awhile on that mission." He asked.

They turned a corner and headed down another hall before Luz replied, a lot more somber. "It was great for the most part. Eda wasn't actually that bad. It's just... I don't know, I just have a lot of feelings that I don't know what to do with right now."

Hunter hummed. "Uncle wasn't too happy as the days passed. You didn't give that many reports either." He noted as the two stopped by a door and stood there. "Yeah I know I should have given more reports. Kikimora is just... ughhhh, ya know?" Luz replied. Hunter chuckled "I know, I know. She's the worst." He agreed.

"What... what happened after I left the throne room earlier? If you don't mind me asking." Hunter asked carefully. Luz didn't answer right away, looking to the door instead of at Hunter. "I took too long on the mission, I know I deserved it but... I think he gave me another scar, above my eye that is." She looked down at her unoccupied gloved hand, noticing the dried blood that stained it.

Hunter noticed as well and gave a sympathetic nod. Not knowing how to reply, he changed the subject instead. "Well, at least you have your own room now! And it's basically right across from mine." He took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, opening it and letting Luz step inside first before following. The door closing behind them with a soft click.

Luz looked around the room, there was a desk on the left wall with a chair. The desk didn't have anything on it and Luz didn't think there would be anything in the drawers either. On the right side was a door that Luz assumed led into a bathroom and beside the door was a wooden wardrobe that most likely had copies of her Amber Guard uniform. Luz only just realizing she hadn't washed this pair in ages, then again she hadn't really worn it all that much either.

In the left corner was a bed with a window, of course the window had bars on it. Making sure she wouldn't escape out the only window in the room. Luz walked deeper into the room, taking her mask off and setting it on the desk. She looked to Hunter still standing by the door. "Well it's better than a cell!" She shrugged.

"It's similar to my room, just more empty and amber colored themed." Hunter noticed how the trimming on the white walls were amber colored, the bed, and the trimming around the brown wooden doors. "And no cell bars." He noted upon seeing the window.

"It's still a cell in a way. Just more roomie and more comfortable." Luz stated. "And with that, I should probably head out to my own room. Sooo..." Hunter trailed, holding a hand out. Luz looked at him confused for a moment before remembering their usual routine. "Ah, right. Forgot 'bout that." She said, clicking her staff into pen form once more and handing it to him with a sigh.

"Sorry, it's just procedures." Hunter apologized before noticing her belt. He clipped her staff to his belt and pointed at her's. "What are those potions there?" He asked. Luz looked down at her belt, she'd forgotten she still had her belt and bag with her. The potions on her belt were her Paralyzing Mixtures, perhaps she shouldn't tell Hunter though. She didn't want them to be confiscated after all.

"Their... my elixirs. The Coven stopped providing me with them after I went on my mission. Sooo I had to get a hold of some, I still have a lot left. Most are in my bag." She explained easily. Hunter studied her for a moment before relenting. He shrugged "alright, well I'll unlock your door in the morning and we can go on morning patrol together." Hunter said, turning to leave. Luz nodded with a sigh, "alright."

"Night." Hunter said, before leaving. The door closed behind him and soon the click of the lock could be heard. "Night." Luz replied softly. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed deeply. She had to get used to this routine again, though it was slightly different with the whole new room thing going on. So ya know, positives.

She opened her eyes and exhaled, she took her gloves off first and tossed them on the desk. Her cloak following after she folded it, she took her boots off next, kicking them beside the desk. She paused as her hand rested on the clip of her purple cloak that Eda gave her. She unclipped it and tossed it onto the bed, not looking at it as she took her tunic off next. Her chest armor, belt, and bag were taken off last to sit beside everything else she set onto the desk. Leaving her in the white and purple shirt, black leggings, and socks.

She headed into the bathroom next to get ready for bed. It was a standard bathroom, toilet, sink, shower, mirror above the sink. No bathtub though, which was fine. Luz doubted that she would even have time to take a full on bath anyways. She went to the sink and looked over the cut on her eyebrow.

It was a smaller cut than Luz thought it would be. It was definitely deep and Luz was pretty sure it would scar. It wasn't bleeding anymore, thank Titan, but she still needed to clean the dried blood off. She looked in the cabinet under the sink for anything useful, luckily there was a small healing kit. She'd have to ask Hunter if he'd put it there for her, tomorrow.

Luz opened the kit and took a look inside. There were a few healing stickers, though they seemed to be weaker ones than the one Eda used for her shoulder a couple days ago. Titan... it's only been three days since her whole curse fiasco, and her time limit.

She sighed and looked over the other contents of the kit. There were two viles of pain relieving potion, some bandages, and band-aids. She took out a band-aid and healing sticker and put the kit away. She turned the water on and washed her face first, drying her face on a washcloth afterwards and applying the band-aid over the cleaned cut. Then she applied the healing patch over the band-aid, so it would heal slightly faster.

Luz left the bathroom, opening the wardrobe doors to see if there was any pajamas she could wear. There wasn't of course. She grunted in annoyance and closed the doors. She'd have to ask Hunter to get her something. In the meantime it looks like she was sleeping in her striped shirt and leggings. The exhaustion was hitting her, but there were still a few things she had to do first.

Now that she knew she had multiple uniforms, she dumped the one she had been wearing in the basket located in the bathroom. The mask and chest armor were the only things she left on the desk that was apart of her uniform. She grouped her belt over with the uniform pieces, it'd probably be fine to include it as part of her uniform. Luz emptied her bag from elixirs and put the potions away within the drawers of the desk.

Once done with all of that, there wasn't really anything for her to do left except to sleep. So turning to her new bed she prepared to just flop face first and pass out, but she ended up spotting the purple cloak she threw there earlier. Pausing for a moment she stared, and once more guilt clawed within her- or was it her curse?

Either way it wasn't pleasant, she hesitated before picking up the cloak. Feeling the soft fabric between her fingers before looking up and out the window. The moon was high up in the sky by now, Luz wondered if Lilith told Eda about her involvement in Eda's capture. She wondered what Eda thought of her now. Did she feel betrayed? Angry? Vengeful even? What about King? He was upset and confused when she left. Was he angry with her now? Or did he still hope she'd come back?

Her grip tightened on the fabric, she looked back down at it and gritted her teeth. Luz quickly went over to the desk and opened the bottom drawer, throwing the cloak inside and slamming the drawer closed. She set her hands on the sides of the desk, her claws digging into the wood. She blinked back tears, why was she getting so worked up over this!?

She didn't need Eda. She didn't need King. All she needed was this stupid curse to be healed and return back home. Back to the Owl- the Human Realm. The Human Realm was her home, she didn't belong here. It was too dangerous for a human like her to stay in the Boiling Isles.

She took too long on her mission, if she didn't take so long- maybe Luz would have been healed already. But Belos and the Titan still needed her for the Day of Unity. Why? Why was she so important? She was just a human, insignificant and unimportant. Surely there was someone better for the job?

She punched the wall in anger, not registering the pain spreading in her hand. She wanted to go home. That's all she wanted.

Why couldn't she just go home?

Chapter Text

What a day. Well it was night now, the moon shining brightly and stars speckled across the sky. Eda opened the door to the Owl House, Hooty was surprisingly quiet... doleful even. Eda didn't think much on it, to much had happened tonight.

She stepped into the house and Lilith quietly followed her inside, looking around the room in a new light compared to previous 'visits'. Right. Lilith. Eda didn't know what to think of her, the woman who cursed her, her sister. And yet, Lilith spent her whole time in the Emperor's Coven trying to figure out how to heal her. Granted she could have done it a better way then throwing her- a kid off a bridge.

At least Luz was safer in the Human Realm now. Lilith had saved Eda from being petrified and had even split the curse with her. Eda definitely felt loads better with the curse split in half now, her joints weren't constantly aching, sure she lost her magic but she was resourceful and she still had her potions, she'd figure something out.

King leaped off the couch, holding his stuffed rabbit Francois, when he saw Eda walk in and immediately clung to her leg. "Whoa kid." She picked him up, he clung to her tightly burying his face into her shoulder. "Where were you!?" King didn't seem to notice Lilith as the witch headed to the kitchen, giving the two of them some space.

Eda sighed, sitting on the couch with King on her lap. "Where do I even start?" She hummed to herself. "Well what do you know so far? Surely Luz stopped by here and filled you in a bit? She had the cloak I made her after all." Eda asked.

King looked down at the stuffy he still held in his paws before replying. "She... What Luz said was really confusing and didn't make much sense..." he started, looking down sadly. "I just don't understand- she made a complete 180!" His voice went from sad to angry as he continued. "She came back and completely ignored me! Grabbing her stuff and almost leaving until I blocked her way out the door!"

Eda watched King in surprise as he threw the stuffed animal to the floor in anger. "Once I finally got her to explain she said you got captured by Lilith trying to rescue her!"

"That's true." Eda confirmed with a nod, but King didn't seem to have heard her, continuing on his rant. "Then she spouted out a bunch of nonsense that I am refusing to believe, because- because if it's true then-" his anger faded, he leaned his head against Eda, his eyes watering. "Then everything was a lie."

Eda held him tightly, she was almost afraid to ask. What did Luz say to make him this upset? She swallowed the lump in her throat before asking. "King? What- what did Luz say?" King looked up at her and replied. "She said she came here for a job, to get the portal key from you. She said she worked for Belos in the Emperor's Coven as the Amber Guard."

"What...?" No that couldn't be true. Luz was a human with no magical ability, what use would she be in the Emperor's Coven? It didn't add up, Luz arrived in the Demon Realm over a month ago- the Amber Guard had been appointed a little over a year ago. There was no way a human could come to the Demon Realm except if they came through Eda's portal.

But what if there was another portal? How did Belos get his hands on her then? If Luz being the Amber Guard was true and Belos needed a portal, then why go after Eda's portal door? Why not get the portal that Luz came through?

If it was true did that mean... did that mean Luz never cared for them? Was it all an act? To get Eda's guard down so Luz could get the portal key? No, all of it couldn't have been an act. That first day- Eda gave her the key, so why didn't she leave then? Why did she choose to stick around?

Eda's spiraling thoughts were interrupted by Lilith re-entering the room with three cups. One with water and two with tea. Of course Lily would make tea, what Eda really needed was a cup of Apple Blood. Lilith set the cups down and sat on the other couch with her cup of tea.

Eda set King beside her on the couch, he leaned against her side as she handed him the water that he took gratefully. Once he was settled, Eda took the last cup. The warmth of the tea spreading throughout her body as she took a sip. It cleared her head of the fog it was in, Lilith had been in the Emperor's Coven- she must know something about Luz and the Amber Guard.

Lilith was staring into her tea awkwardly, seemingly unsure of what to do with herself. "What do you know about the Amber Guard?" Lilith looked up, Eda's mismatched gaze boring into her own. "Oh, I suppose it makes sense you would want to know." Lilith took a sip of her tea, thinking it over before continuing.

"It's true that your apprentice was the Amber Guard in disguise. Though I didn't know she was human until yesterday's events. The Emperor never let us cross paths so I never knew her personally, but the one or two times she assisted me with paperwork she was less annoying than the Golden Guard." Lilith said. Eda stared down at the liquid in the cup she held, a blank expression on her face. King was watching Lilith closely with narrowed eyes.

Lilith cleared her throat awkwardly before continuing. "She does care about you though." Eda looked up at that. "Why would she betray us then?" Eda asked. "I'm... not entirely sure of her motivations, however I did see her before I came to rescue you." Lilith tapped her nails against the cup, thinking once more.

"She didn't want you to be petrified and stepped aside after I tried to convince her to join me in rescuing you. She wouldn't help me directly but she stepped aside instead of capturing me for treason. She even said she would buy some time before the Emperor would realize what I was up too." Lilith paused for a moment, then continued on. "She directly stated that I was correct in assuming she cared about you, but she also said there would be too many consequences for her if she helped me."

Eda was silent for a moment, thinking it all over. A look of realization  crossed her face "I think I might know her motivations." King looked up at Eda in surprise. "Well, spill it!" King demanded, Lilith took a sip of her tea as Eda thought aloud. "Well let's see. We know Luz is the Amber Guard and works directly for Belos, right?" Lilith nodded in confirmation.

"We also know she's human, how she got to the Demon Realm is unknown. Assuming that some of the things she's said are true. We can assume Belos probably promised her a way back home. She's also cursed-" Lilith choked on her tea at that. "She's cursed as well!?" Eda nodded.

"Yes. She's also cursed, I don't know who cursed her- I would assume Belos probably did and then promised to heal her or something." Lilith hummed in agreement. "That seems like something he would do." They lapsed into silence, thinking over past events.

"What if some of the thing's she's said aren't true?" King asked quietly. Eda hummed in thought. "Belos promising that he would heal Luz's curse could still be true." Eda paused taking another sip of her tea. "I think her wanting to go to the Human Realm is true. I mean, after that whole thing with her curse... I don't think someone could act that well. That was genuine fear and confliction."

"Though some of the things she said in the moment don't entirely make sense now." Eda continued. She should probably write down what she could remember and see if she could decipher it later.

Eventually Eda sighed and set her now cold cup down. "Come on, it's getting late. We'll set you up with a room." She stood, King climbing up onto her shoulder as Lilith followed Eda upstairs.

Once they found a suitable room for Lilith to sleep in, Eda and King headed back down the hall. "Eda? Can I sleep with you tonight?" King asked as he followed Eda down the hall. Eda smiled softly at him, "of course kiddo." She scooped him up and headed to her room.

Eda closed the door behind them, she twirled her finger expecting the familiar rush of her magic to turn out the lights. However nothing happened, Eda grunted in annoyance. "Right, no more magic." Instead she had to blow out the lit candles manually.

"Wait, you don't have magic anymore?" King asked concerned. "Yep, my curse finally sapped all my magic outta me." She blew a candle out and continued. "Lilith shared the curse with me, so I'm at least not stuck as a beast forever, but that doesn't give me my magic back." She blew the last candle out and the room was bathed in darkness. The only light was from the moon shining through the large stained glass window.

Eda made her way over to her nest as King asked. "I don't trust her. What if she's pretending like Luz did?" Eda set him down in the nest before laying down beside him. "We'll just have to keep an eye on her." Eda yawned, King snuggled up beside her.

"I miss Luz..." King said after a few minutes of silence. Eda hummed "me too kid. Me too..." It was something they would have to get used to now. No magic, no Luz, less curse problems, and Lilith staying at the Owl House. It was a lot of changes in one day and she'd have to get used to a new normal.

But... she'd figure something out.

Chapter Text

Luz leaned against the railing of the ship, watching the crashing waves of the boiling sea hit against the boat. Her cape billowed in the wind as she kept an eye out for the Selkidomus.

It had been a week since the Petrification Ceremony. A week since Luz returned to her duties as the Amber Guard. A week since she betrayed Eda and gave Belos the portal and key. A week and she was still cursed, still on the Boiling Isles and still nowhere closer to getting back to the Human Realm.

She hasn't touched the cloak Eda gave her since putting it into the drawer in her room. She just couldn't bring herself to look at it. She still kept the belt on her though, it was useful in carrying an elixir with her at all times plus any potions she could use.

Luz sighed and turned around to lean her back against the railing. The assembled crew were all doing their tasks aboard the ship. Sweeping, shoveling coal, hoisting the sails, among other tasks.

It was weird having to get back into the routine of things. During the week she trained with the Coven Heads and the weekends if she was lucky, she got to go out on missions- usually with Hunter. At least she didn't have to go back to the Conformatorium every night like before. The Emperor had still viewed her as a prisoner after allowing her to start training six years ago. Now she was at least given a little more leniency, with the new room and all.

Hunter was elsewhere on the ship, probably filling out reports or something. "We're here. The Simmering Shoals. Eyes peeled, mates." Salty, the captain of the ship said. The crew stopped their tasks and looked over the sides of the ship.

They sailed past a burning ship, the sailors took off their hats and paid their respects. "She's close." Salty muttered as Luz walked closer to the crew. The Selkidomus's tail rose from the water and thwacked against the side of the ship. The ship jolted as everyone stumbled, Luz regained her balance first and quickly took action.

Luz spun her staff, causing ice pillars to rise around the Selkidomus and trap it. Vines shot out of her staff and wrapped around the creature. "Help them, boys! Put your backs into it!" Salty called as the crew came and grabbed onto the vines, helping Luz to pull and eventually tie the vines to the ship.

Footsteps thunked against the wooden deck as Hunter stopped beside Luz. "Did you capture it?" He asked leaning over the railing to take a look. "Yeah we got it for now, where were you?" Luz asked. "Cleaning up the ink mess before it ruined all the reports I just did." Hunter replied. "Alright lets go ahead and-" Hunter was cut off as an explosion went off on the other side of the ship.

Smoke billowed through the air as Luz picked herself off the floor. The Selkidomus broke free of it's restraints and fled. Luz ignored that in favor of investigating what caused the explosion. A silhouette of someone was picking up the bag of money and tossing it over the side of the boat, before following after it.

"Is that a- a ghost pirate?" Salty stuttered in fear. "The money! We're being robbed! Come on let's go!" Luz pulled Hunter to his feet and the two of them hopped onto their staffs to chase after the thief.

They flew after the thief and followed them to a nearby island. Hunter dived down on his staff, Luz rolled her eyes knowing that he would most likely do some flashy entrance. Luz closed in on the shoreline, jumping off her staff and landing on the sandy beach. "Stop! You're under arrest for stealing from an Emperor's ship!"

The thief laughed, "you'll have to kill me first!" Just then, a fist of boiling water rose from the waves and crashed against the beach, sending sand spraying everywhere. Both Luz and the criminal had to cover their faces from the sand, the water receded back into the ocean. Hunter looked up, smoke still rising off him. "That can still be arranged."

"Hello, criminal. What's about to happen should be relatively painless, if you just do what I say." Hunter said, standing up straight. "And why would I do that?" The thief said while adjusting the stolen bag of snails over their shoulder. "Because you can't use magic." Hunter replied, he pointed his staff at them and a quick blast knocked their hat off their head. They dropped the bag of snails in surprise, Luz teleported over, snatching the bag and teleporting back to drop the bag beside Hunter.

When she looked up at the thief again, she froze. It was Eda, though now she had mismatched eyes, one grey and one gold. "So the Owl Lady will be arrested, again, for attacking one of the Emperor's ships." Hunter said. "Why are you guys hunting the Selkidomus? It's a peaceful creature, and you're provoking it!" Eda said with narrowed eyes.

"The Emperor ordered us to slay one. We're just following orders." Luz replied. Eda looked her over for a moment before looking back at Hunter. "Well, I'm just gonna smack you around a bit!" She ripped off her arm to use as a weapon, swinging it around but missed and was blasted away by Hunter.

Luz didn't bother to join the short lived fight, preferring to just watch. "How about..." Hunter powered his staff. "I leave you dangling above the Boiling Sea?!" He manipulated the land to move Eda directly above the steaming water. "Around these parts, just the steam is enough to cause third-degree burns." Hunter threatened as he brought her back to land. "But I don't have to be that mean. You won't have to get arrested, if you follow those Selkidomus tracks and slay the beast. Here! I'll help!"

He used his staff to create a sword, which thunked against the sand. "I'll even let the Amber Guard go with you! Can't have you escaping or tricking us now can we?" Hunter said, looking to Luz. Luz didn't move for a moment, her brain took a moment to catch up. Once realizing what she was supposed to be doing, she walked over and kicked the sword over to Eda. "Fine. Come on then Owl Lady, time's wasting." She said, trying to be as nonchalant as possible.

Eda looked her over again before picking up the sword and standing up. "Lead the way then, Amber Guard." Eda said cynically. Luz gulped and gripped her staff tightly before leading the way to the cave, Eda following behind her with the sword and Hunter watching them from the shoreline.

The two of them followed the tracks into the cave in silence for awhile. They came across a cliff edge, a large ship, broken and battered lay within the cavern. Luz tried her hardest to ignore Eda standing beside her, but it was hard to ignore someone staring directly at you.

"If you're gonna say something, just say it." Luz stated, refusing to look at Eda. Instead she looked over the cavern, trying to figure out where the Selkidomus would be. After another moment of silence, Eda finally asked. "Why?" Luz tensed, the question echoing off the walls.

Even after Luz had asked herself the same question time and time again, she still wasn't sure she had an answer. "Why what?" Luz stalled, she jumped onto the mast of the ship, walking across the worn down wood until she reached the middle. Resting a hand on the pole, she looked down, seeing if she could spot the Selkidomus.

"Everything!" Eda said, she didn't sound angry like Luz was expecting, she sounded more exhausted than anything. "I just wanna know why you did what you did. Was everything an act? Did you care for us at all? Lilith said you did, but I don't know how much I can trust her. I need to hear it from you." Eda continued with a sigh.

"I just want to understand."

Luz finally spotted the Selkidomus, it seemed to be sleeping at the moment. "There's nothing for you to understand." Luz replied, she had to distance herself from them, she couldn't let herself stay attached to them. It would be easier if they hated her, it would be easier to detach herself emotionally from Eda and King.

"Yes there is." Eda argued. Luz felt the mast jerk slightly as Eda climbed up after her. "You won't understand." Luz snapped back. Eda grabbed her wrist and Luz snapped her head around to look at her for the first time since entering the cave. A look of desperation filled the features of her face. "Then make me understand! I want to help you!"

"I don't want your help!" Luz shouted, snatching her arm back. Guilt flooded her immediately as a hurt look crossed Eda's face. Luz turned away "I never needed your help, and I don't need it now."

"If you really want to know. Belos will heal my curse after the Day of Unity, so I'm doing pretty great right now." Luz lied, she was pretty sure Belos would uphold his end of the deal after the Day of Unity. She wasn't a 100% confident though.

Eda was silent, Luz looked back down at the Selkidomus. "Come on, we have a job to do." Luz said, jumping down into the cavern. "Wait!" Eda called, looking over the edge as Luz landed on the Selkidomus's snout. It stirred, Luz jumped off and landed on the ground as the creature roared.

The Selkidomus puffed up, spikes shooting out in all directions. Luz rolled out of the way, hiding behind a plank of wood sticking up from the ground. Once the attack stopped, Luz sprinted from her hiding place and towards the Selkidomus. A glow formed at the tip of her staff, a pillar of ice forming beneath her, launching Luz into the air. She lifted the staff above her head, ready to slash down like a sword as she flew through the air.

Eda swung in on a vine and grabbed Luz in midair. Luz lost her grip on her staff, it fell and clattered on the ground as Eda and Luz landed behind some cover. "Luz," Eda started. "...If I ever truly knew you, you'll help me get out of this without hurting the Selkidomus. I know you don't want to hurt an innocent creature... right?" Eda asked, trying to search for any sign that Luz would agree.

"I have a job to do, Owl Lady. My feelings on this doesn't matter and I won't let you get in the way." Luz replied, standing up. A high pitched cry sounded behind, Luz turned to see a baby Selkidomus behind her. It bumped against her leg and looked up at her. It was incredibly adorable.

Luz took a couple steps back, it followed her while sounding little chirps. Eda laughed, "someone likes you! Seems you've made a friend there." The baby Selkidomus bounded over to Eda and chirped. Eda patted it's head affectionately.

"Fiiiiine, we won't kill the Selkidomus." Luz grumbled, unable to resist the cuteness. Eda smirked at her "so you do have a heart!" Luz crossed her arms. "I'm not doing this for you! I just don't want to carry the guilt of killing a mother and orphaning a child." Luz replied. Eda shrugged, it was still a win for her.

"Gotta plan to convince Goldie Boots out there that we killed the Selkidomus then?" Eda asked. Luz hummed "not yet..." she went to look out of their cover spot, surveying the area. The Selkidomus mother was still looking for them nearby. Eda came up to stand beside her, "I believe once the Selkidomus realizes we aren't a danger to her baby she'll back off."

"I think I have an idea, but I need my staff." Luz said. "What about your glyphs?" Eda asked, Luz shook her head. "I don't have any paper and I still need my staff to write. Plus the glyphs are wild magic, they're dangerous and illegal to use." Luz informed, Eda and Luz ducked back into cover when the Selkidomus looked their way.

"Well you used them when living with me, they seem to function like normal spells. So I don't see anything wrong with using them, now if you told me you accidentally cursed yourself while using them- that's a different story." Eda replied.

"I still don't have anything to write with." Luz said. "Oh wait!" Luz looked to Eda in confusion as she pulled out a notebook and pencil from her hair. "I forgot that I started carrying these around. I don't remember your glyphs all to well, but since I can't do magic I figured I'd carry these incase I remembered." Eda handed the utensils to Luz.

"Oh... well alright then." Luz sat down and started drawing lots of light and plant glyphs. Eda sat down beside her and watched her draw so she could remember them later. "What's your plan anyways?" Eda asked as the baby Selkidomus snuggled with her, chirping.

"Well I figured we could put on a bit of a show using shadows and props." Luz explained, setting aside a finished light glyph and started drawing a plant glyph. "I recognize this one." Eda pointed at the light glyph. "It's light, right?" Luz nodded with a hum, she finished the plant glyph. "And this one's the plant glyph." Luz commented.

Once they had a decent amount of glyphs, the two of them came out into the open. The baby Selkidomus stuck it's head out and chirped which grabbed the mother Selkidomus's attention.

Eda was right, once the mother Selkidomus saw they weren't a danger to the pup it backed off. Though it was still hesitant of Luz and Eda had to vouch for her to the creature. Luz wasn't sure how she felt about that but nonetheless they set up the pieces of their plan by the cave entrance after Luz picked up her staff.

Dozens of light glyphs floated in the air as Luz used the plant glyphs to create a Selkidomus made of vines. Eda stood back making sure the shadows appeared on the wall and could be seen from the cave entrance.

Hunter leaned against his staff, waiting for Luz and the Owl Lady to return. He was facing the cave when shadows appeared on the wall with the Selkidomus, Luz, and the Owl Lady fighting. When it seemed that the Owl Lady killed it, Hunter walked closer to the cave entrance but stopped when Luz and the Owl Lady came into view.

"Is it done?" He asked as Luz walked past the criminal, staff in hand. "The Selkidomus has been slain." Luz answered, standing beside him. "Good." Hunter then turned his attention to Eda. "Thank you for your service, I suppose you're free to go. Just remember that the Emperor is not a merciful man... Byeeeee~" Hunter waved, turning and walking away.

Eda rolled her eyes "thanks for letting me do all your dirty work." She replied sarcastically. Eda shifted her gaze to Luz, a pleading look on her face. However Luz turned away, following after Hunter and picking up the bag of snails.

Eda watched them go, her shoulders sagging as they mounted their staffs and took off. She turned away and entered the cave again. The large plant they used laid on the ground, glyphs covered the surface of it. Eda crouched down beside it, she'd managed to snag a couple light glyphs they didn't use. She took out her pencil and notebook and copied the plant glyph down for later.

Lilith would probably have a blast studying them, once Eda was done sketching out the plant glyph she stood back up. The light glyph was the one Eda knew the best, with Luz drawing it so much after the discovery and Eda getting the custom-made belt, she knew it pretty well. The other glyphs were more unfamiliar to her, since she didn't see them as often.

Anywho she needed to find where the Selkidomus went. After a couple minutes of looking she found the Selkidomus and her pup. "This area is dangerous. You need to move further out into the sea." She explained. The Selkidomus nodded before regurgitating a pile of golden selkigris.

Meanwhile, Luz and Hunter made it back to the ship. The thunk of the money bag landing on the deck alerted the crew. "The Selkidomus has been slain, don't worry you all will be getting a cut of the gold." Hunter informed as the crew cheered. Luz slipped away from everyone, heading into a separate room to rest before they got back to shore.

She didn't think she'd see Eda again so soon after the Petrification Ceremony. Also the fact that Eda wasn't in her cursed form confused Luz, how did she manage to turn back? Luz was so sure that she would be stuck like that... well however she did it, Luz was glad for it. She didn't need another thing to feel guilty about.

The mismatched eyes were new though, Luz couldn't come up with any logical reason on how that happened. Luz thought back to the conversation they had in the cave... if you could call it that. Eda just wanted to understand, Luz could've answered her questions truthfully. Though that would probably result in more questions being asked and ultimately lead to Eda trying to help her and getting herself hurt or captured again. Luz's best option was to distance herself and hope that Eda would back off.

The Emperor didn't see Eda as much of a priority now that she was powerless, leaving her be for now. Luz didn't want Eda to put another target on her back by trying to talk to her. Luz couldn't help Eda like she did with the Selkidomus just now, if she ran into a similar situation like that again, Luz couldn't risk getting herself into trouble. She still had to gain the Emperor's favor if she wanted her curse to be healed and if distancing herself would keep Eda safe from Emperor Belos, than so be it.

Chapter Text

It was a breezy, early Wednesday morning, only a couple of days had passed since the Selkidomus hunt. Today would mark the first day at school since the Petrification Ceremony. Luz wondered how her friends would be when she didn't show up.

Currently Luz and Hunter were on patrol in Bonesborough, making sure the town's criminals weren't up to something. As usual the town was peaceful as townsfolk left their houses to go to school or work. It was relatively boring walking through town, usually nothing noteworthy would happen on patrols. But on the off chance something did happen, Luz had her staff- as per usual along with her belt of potions and the dagger it carried, she also started carrying a couple of glyphs since the Selkidomus mission. She made sure to hide them in her pocket though, she wasn't sure if Hunter would approve- probably not, but from personal experience she knew he was interested in the subject.

"So how's your training been going since you've returned?" Hunter asked, trying to fill in the silence between the two. Luz shrugged, "fine I guess, Terra is a nightmare and Adrian is as annoying as ever with his unhelpful notes."

"Tell me about it, they're both the worst. So glad I don't have to train as much anymore." Hunter replied. "Yeah, lucky you." Luz commented sarcastically with an eye roll. Hunter nudged her side, "hey! I heard that at the end of the year you'll have to complete a test, if you pass you don't have to train as much anymore. You'll only have to do the occasional spar and obstacle course to keep in shape."

"Hoo-ray I'll get to do mountains of paperwork instead or standing in the throne room more often and doing absolutely nothing. Hip hip hooray." Luz gave an unenthusiastic fist pump to the air to go along with the flat tone of her voice. Hunter chuckled awkwardly "I-it's not so bad... you'll probably go on more solo missions on the weekend as well..." he trailed as the wind blew gently, making their capes ruffle in the wind.

Luz hummed, choosing not to believe that. She hoped she wouldn't be in the Boiling Isles still when that time came. "Oh! You know that rumor about Head Witch Craine retiring?" Hunter asked, "yeah? It's been floating around the castle for a good while." Luz replied. "Well turns out it's true!"

"Really? How do you know?" Luz asked. "At the last meeting he announced his retirement, I think it'll take effect in a week or two. It gives enough time for the new Head Witch to get into place, I don't think it'll be announced to the public for a bit though." Hunter explained. "Who's gonna be the new Head Witch then? Last I heard the rumor was Raine Whispers." Luz said, as they turned down the path that would pass Hexside.

Hunter nodded, "it hasn't been confirmed yet but I'm 100% positive it's them. They've climbed the ranks pretty fast and they're a powerful bard." Luz smirked, "been reading people's files again?" Hunter huffed, "it's actually quite useful to read files of the people you could potentially work with."

Luz shook her head fondly, her gaze traveling past Hunter and landing on the building they were passing by. Hexside towered over them, there weren't any students lingering outside since classes were in session. Luz wondered once again what her friends thought about her not showing up. Were they concerned? Indifferent? Worried? Or did they just shrug it off?

Something caught Luz's eye, a poster of some sort. Hunter kept walking, not noticing that Luz stopped. Once he noticed, Hunter came back to stand beside her. "What's up?" He asked.

Luz blinked, "oh, it's just some banned posters..." she trailed, gesturing at the three posters. Hunter looked, "it's just some random kids- wait, is that you?" He asked pointing at one of them. "Why is there a banned poster of you?" Hunter asked, looking to Luz questioningly.

"I might have uh... gone to Hexside for a bit. Eda signed me up. But, I don't know why I'm banned now or why... these other two kids are also banned." Luz explained awkwardly. The other two banned posters were Willow and Gus, Luz was very confused on why they had been banned. They would never do anything ban worthy.

Maybe she could unban them... "come on, let's investigate!" Luz linked her arm with Hunter's and dragged him forward, he stumbled at the sudden movement. "Luz!" He yelped, catching himself so he wouldn't fall. "We can't-" he unhooked his arm from Luz's, she continued forward and he followed behind her. "We can't, we have a patrol to do." They went up the stairs. "We'll get in trouble if we don't get back on time!" He exclaimed once they got to the top of the steps.

Luz rolled her eyes. "It won't take long, we'll figure out what happened, unban the kids and myself and leave! We might just have to walk a little faster for the rest of patrol!" She shrugged, opening the doors and striding inside before Hunter could reply. "Luz!" He whisper shouted, grumbling in annoyance before following, the doors closing behind him.

Luz walked confidently down the halls while Hunter kept trying to get her back on patrol. He eventually gave up though when she continued to ignore his warnings. Their footsteps echoed throughout the empty halls, students were in their classes.

They soon arrived at Principal Bump's office doors, and before Hunter could say anything. Luz knocked on the door, Hunter sighed, shaking his head and standing beside her. A "come in!" Was heard from the other side of the doors and Luz didn't hesitate to enter. Hunter following behind, letting her take the lead.

Principal Bump sat at his desk, papers scattered on top. He looked up and had to do a double take at the two guards in his office. "Oh! I wasn't expecting anyone from the Emperor's Coven to visit the school today. What brings you here?" Bump asked politely.

Luz walked up to the front of the desk, pulling out the banned posters she had snagged on the way and set them on the desk. "I was wondering what you could tell me about this?"

Principal Bump hummed while picking up one of the posters, looking it over. "These are just a couple of students who were banned this morning by the PCA."

"May I ask why they were banned?" Luz asked. "That's confidential information... However if you want my opinion." He put the poster down and folded his hands together, looking up at them. "These students did nothing wrong, unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it."

"That's unprofessional of the PCA to ban students for seemingly no reason." Hunter said, hand on his mask where his chin would be. Luz nodded in agreement, "then how about we lift the ban? Until these students show that they should be banned?" Luz questioned, Hunter summoned an official documentation that settled ontop of the desk.

"Really?" Bump questioned. "What does the Emperor's Coven gain with interfering with these matters?" Luz and Hunter looked to each other before Luz replied. "Well, we can't let potential Emperor Coven members be extinguished by some pettiness from some member of the PCA. We'll get to the bottom of this and set them straight." Luz signed the document before handing it off to Hunter who signed it as well. He handed the paper over to Bump who looked it over.

With a nod, Bump replied "well then as of tomorrow this will take effect, thank you for stopping by to handle this." And with that the two guards left the office and cut through the empty halls before emerging back outside.

"See Hunter? That didn't take too long." Luz said as the two of them descended the steps and headed back to the street. "Yeah, well... we still need to hurry, I got paperwork to do and you got training that you can't be late for." Hunter replied, picking up his pace, Luz matching his step.

It took another twenty minutes for them to finish their rounds and an hour to travel from Bonesborough to the castle.

The two of them headed inside the castle, guards standing on either side of the front entrance. They passed by the guards before Hunter spoke up again. "So you have training with Terra today, right?"

"Unfortunately." Luz nodded. "Well... I'll escort you there and come back afterwards. Should I bring a healing kit when I pick you up?" Hunter asked, "you already know the answer to that, and I don't need an escort. I know how to get there myself, so how about you go ahead and fill out the report for the patrol?" Luz replied sourly.

They started going up some stairs as Hunter replied. "You know the rules, I can't leave you on your own." Luz sighed heavily, "it was worth a shot."

"I know you wanna prove to Belos that you're loyal by being out on your own but... your first solo mission took a lot longer than was necessary and the rules are implemented the way they are because of your unique situation." Hunter explained, Luz sighed. Hunter's said similar speeches over the years, it was probably second nature to him at this point.

Luz didn't say anything more as they arrived at Terra Snapdragon's office. Hunter knocked on the door, which quickly creaked open as a vine opened the door. Heading inside the room revealed the head witch tending to one of her many plants scattered across the room. The vine that opened the door retracted as Hunter cleared his throat, awkwardly.

"A little late aren't we today? You know I don't like tardiness." Terra tisked, turning to face them. "We were a little delayed on patrol but I'm here to drop the Amber Guard off for her weekly training with you." Hunter informed.

"Yes yes of course you are." Terra waved dismissively, walking towards the two. Luz stood still as she approached. "However, I've been informed that the two of you are to report to the throne room once you got back. The Emperor has a mission for the both of you." She informed with a sickly sweet smile that made Luz's blood run cold.

"Once you've been informed of your mission you will come back here to train. Understood Little Flower?" Terra snapped her gaze to Luz who shakily nodded. "Y-yes ma'am." Luz couldn't breathe as Terra hummed and rested her hand on her shoulder.

"Then off you go then! Don't want to keep the Emperor waiting, hmm?" She patted Luz's shoulder before turning away from them. Hunter grabbed Luz's wrist and gently guided her out of the room, the door closing behind them.

Luz released a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "I hate her." Luz whispered, Hunter nodding in silent agreement. He still held her wrist as he led her away from the plant witch and towards the throne room.

A few minutes passed by when they arrived at the throne room doors. Hunter wasn't holding Luz's wrist anymore as he opened the doors, striding inside, quickly followed by Luz. The doors closed behind them with an echoing thud, the two guards kneeled before Belos, who sat on his throne.

"Rise." Belos commanded, the two guards stood. "You summoned us?" Hunter asked. "Yes. I need the two of you to check out tonight's Blight Industry meetup." Belos started.

"It's rumored that they will be demonstrating their newest Abomaton, apparently it's supposed to be the perfect soldier." Belos continued, pausing for a moment. "Now if this rumor is true and these Abomatons are descent enough, I don't want citizens having access to their own private army."

Luz and Hunter nodded in understanding as Belos continued. "So buy out the whole stock, we can even fund research into improving them if need be. Citizens should not be able to get their hands on these. Understood?" His voice was cold like ice piercing into Luz's soul, her hand twitched anxiously. She suppressed a shiver.

"Yes, Emperor Belos." Hunter replied for them both, they were dismissed shortly after. The throne room doors closed behind them as they exited the room. They walked together in silence for a bit, neither of them speaking as Hunter led her back to Terra's office.

"I'll pick you up when it's time to go." Hunter finally said as they arrived at the door once more. Luz looked at the door, anxiety worming itself into her gut, making her feel uneasy. She nodded, Hunter patted her shoulder before knocking on the door once more. It again opened up for them just like last time, only this time Luz was the only one to enter the room, the door closing behind her as Hunter left.

"Welcome back Little Flower. Are you ready to fill that little head of yours with the knowledge of plants?" Terra asked, voice filled with a sickly sweet tone that was obviously fake.

Luz barely had time to react to the vines lunging at her from behind. She rolled out of the way. Terra tisked "A little slow darling, plants can be very fast you know." Luz sidestepped out of the way of another vine.

"Now first question, what part of a rosemary plant is harvested for Potions?" Terra asked, summoning another vine to attack. Luz pulled her dagger from her belt, slicing through the vine before answering. "The leaves."

Terra hummed "Which part of the wisteria plant is poisonous?" Luz ducked from another vine while answering "all of it except the flowers, which are edible." She sliced another vine coming her way.

"What is one of the most important things to remember when using plant magic?" Luz had to pause on that one, she wasn't entirely sure. Her moment of hesitation opened a window for a vine to crash into her side, launching her to the floor. The thorns tore holes into her uniform, Luz grunted in pain from the impact and the thorns cutting her skin. She had no time to rest though as another vine prepared it's attack.

Luz rolled on her side as the plant slammed down, missing her by a few inches. However, Luz didn't notice the two vines springing forth and wrapping around her arms to keep her in place. The thorns dug into her skin, thin beads of blood staining her uniform sleeves.

Terra clicked her tongue. "I haven't seen you do this bad since you began your training, Little Flower." She towered over Luz, another vine sprouted up beside the plant witch. Terra patted it like the vine was a snake ready to strike. Luz's breathing was uneven, and it wasn't just because of the dodging and rolling just now.

"The answer to the question I asked is that you need to remember to connect to the plants around you. Your asking for their help and in return, you must take care of them and fulfill their needs." The vines released their hold on Luz, the young guard standing up from the floor.

"Now it seems you need a refresher on how to fill a plants needs." Terra continued, walking away from Luz to one of her plants scattered throughout the room. "The rest of your training for today is simple, take care of each plant's needs." She gestured to the plant she had stopped beside.

Luz wearily came forward towards the plant, she inspected it for a moment. This one didn't need her blood right? No... that was the witch trapper plant that looked similar to a venus flytrap. Apparently she was taking to long because out of the corner of her eye, Luz saw a vine launch towards her face.

Luz was only able to lift her arms up to block the hit, flinching away, but the hit never came. Instead Terra's laughter bounced off the walls, Luz lowered her arms to see the vine inches away from her.

Terra sighed after a moment "I would have made such a great mother..." Luz highly doubted that, but she didn't say anything even as anger silently brewed within her. She had learned her lesson from the last time she spoke out against Terra, the scar on her back proved it.

The rest of the time was spent similarly to this, Luz had to wrestle with a thistle plant that left multiple spiny leaves in her skin. Then she fed a plant her blood, and another plant almost ate her. All the while Terra would strike her if she took to long or did the wrong thing, or Terra would just fake her out for her own amusement.

By the time Hunter came by to pick her up for their mission. Luz was holding her mask in one hand, the mask chipped and cracked. Yellow gunk stuck to the upper half of her mixed with her own blood from the cuts on her arms, spiny leaves sticking out of her, not to mention her curse showing itself in the form of fangs and fur sprouting.

"Yeesh... you look terrible." Hunter noted. Luz glared at him, barring her fangs in annoyance. "Gee ya think!?" More fur sprouted out of her skin as her annoyance grew. Hunter quickly took an elixir from his belt and gave it to her, Luz taking it and chugging the thing.

Hunter usually kept one or two on him, just in case for stuff like this. The fur retracted and the fangs shrank back to normal. Luz sighed, "thanks..." Hunter shrugged "no problem, but let's get you to your room to clean up before we go on our mission." Luz nodded in quick agreement, she donned her broken mask and the two quickly headed to Luz's room.

Hunter threw the door open, Luz following after him with an exhausted sigh. Luz took her cape and mask off, the cape could be washed but the mask was ruined, she's pretty sure she had a spare mask somewhere. Hunter set a healing kit down on the bed and opened it, Luz sat down in the desk chair.

"Alright let's get those thistle leaves out of your skin first." Hunter said picking up a pair of tweezers out of the kit. It took about ten minutes for Hunter to pluck out all the leaves from her arms, then he took an alcohol wipe to wipe her arms down, cleaning the cuts she'd gathered.

"Okay all that's left is for you to get a quick shower, and while you do that I'm going to return this kit back to my room." Hunter informed while putting all the things away.

"Thanks Hunter." Luz said, getting up from her chair and gathering her uniform pieces from the wardrobe. "No problem, I mean what would you do without me?" Hunter teased, Luz rolled her eyes. "I would probably be incredibly rich." Luz joked, sticking her tounge out at him. "Hey! You'd more likely be incredibly depressed." Hunter shot back.

Luz laughed opening the bathroom door. "You know what? Your probably right!" Hunter shook his head fondly. "You're so annoying."

"Not as much as yoooou~" Luz sing-songed closing the bathroom door behind her. Hunter snorted at her antics, shaking his head again and leaving the room, a smile on his face.

Twenty minutes later and the two were heading out of the castle in their uniforms, mounting their staffs and heading to Bonesborough. The sun was setting as they headed out, another hour would pass, the two finally reaching their destination, and now it was dark out as the moon slowly climbed up into the sky.

They landed near a building on the outskirts of town. Smoke bellowing out of the factory, the lights on inside as people in dark green capes entered the building. The two glanced at each other before heading around the building to enter a different way. They didn't need everyone inside to know they were there.

They found a side door and entered the building, Hunter going in first. There were lots of people in cloaks crowded around the room. Luz and Hunter were able to slip by unnoticed, heading towards the front and off to the side to stay out of sight.

Not too long later the floor in the stage started to move, revealing it to be a trap door as a platform underneath moved up, even with the rest of the stage. Now on the stage stood multiple Abomination based creations, ranging from weapons to soldiers and traps it seemed they had everything. Standing in the middle of the stage was a worn down looking man that Luz assumed was Alador Blight.

Standing beside him was Amity. Luz shifted on her feet, what was Amity doing here? Well it was her family's business so maybe she shouldn't be so surprised. A woman stepped up into the stage, "Welcome back to Blight Industry's! We have a long night ahead of us folks so I hope you're ready for the show!" Odalia Blight announced as the audience cheered.

Luz narrowed her eyes at the two adults as the show began. She remembered the incident in Willow's mind, and the Blight parents had not made a good first impression.

"We make a variety of abomination-based accessories for home security." Alador started, seemingly bored. "But we specialize in weaponry." He continued before walking off the stage.

Amity didn't even try to dodge the lump of abomination goop that pinned her to the wall. She wiped her face in annoyance. "Yes, our sticky launcher can peacefully subdue any foe! And, if peaceful isn't your thing..." Odalia switched modes on the gun and turned it into a flamethrower. The crowd cheered and applauded.

Amity got herself unstuck fairly easily, but no one noticed since all their focus was on Odalia and the flamethrower. The show continued on, it was clear to see that Amity could easily escape or defend herself as none of the harmful attacks ever landed. But the crowd continued to cheer anyways as if they didn't notice the obvious acting.

Luz and Hunter noticed though, and although Amity wasn't getting hurt, Luz was still worried for her safety. Hunter sighed after a few minutes "come on Luz, there's no point in being here if it's all just an act." He turned to walk away. Luz glanced at him before looking back to the stage, she sighed as she turned to follow. "You're right, there's nothing here."

As they headed to the front doors, Odalia started speaking again. "It seems we have some surprising company tonight folks!" A spotlight shined down on the two guards. They turned their attention back to the stage in surprise, the crowd taking notice of them for the first time.

"Now I wasn't going to show this last product tonight since it is unfinished, but why don't we have a special tonight?" Odalia continued. Luz and Hunter looked to each other uneasily their facial expressions hidden by their masks.

"For one night only you can pre-order this next product!" Odalia stood off to the side as something started to rise from the stage. Amity quickly moved out of the way as the product was revealed.

"I introduce the Abomaton 2.0!" The spotlights shined down on a massive Abomination with gold plated armor with a purple gem in the middle of its chest. This caught Hunter's attention "Huh, this actually seems legit." Luz hummed in agreement, distracted by Amity's surprised expression. This only worried Luz further.

"It's bigger! It's better! The Abomaton 2.0 is the perfect soldier. It won't rest until its enemy is completely eliminated!" Luz had a bad feeling about this. They wouldn't hurt their own kid... right?

The crowd oohed and a few clapped as the Abomaton's hands morphed into weapons. After a moment it launched a crescent moon shaped blade towards Amity who narrowly dodged with wide eyes.

The fight continued with Amity dodging and casting spells to block the attacks. She casted a spell that morphed some stray Abomination goo into a shield to block the spiked fist that slammed down onto it. Amity stumbled back as the shield broke and the spiked fist slammed into the wooden stage. Amity couldn't dodge the other arm of the Abomaton grabbing her leg and launching her up into the rafters with a scream. The Abomiton launched up after her.

"Huh, this must be the Abomaton Uncle was talking about. It definitely looks impressive." Hunter stated, trying to see what was happening in the rafters above them. Luz on the other hand was watching the rafters intently, leg bouncing with nerves. "She's literally fighting for her life, we gotta step in." Luz said tearing her gaze away from the rafters and looking to Hunter.

Hunter shrugged "don't worry so much, it's part of the show. She is definitely putting a lot more into this performance than before though." Suddenly there was an explosion as both Amity and the Abomaton crashed down. The crowd scattered away, Amity quickly casting a spell, creating a pile of Abomination goo to break her fall.

"That's because it isn't a performance anymore! Come on we gotta stop this!" Luz charged forward pushing past the crowd, who got themselves a safer distance away to watch. "Luz! Wait! Ugh- not again!" Hunter groaned, chasing after her.

There were to many people in the way so Luz darted off to the side and climbed up a ladder she spotted, as the fight continued down below. She leaped across the metal beams, making her way above the stage.

Amity hissed in pain as the blade grazed her shoulder, warm blood trickled down her arm. Her clothes were torn a bit, bruises blossoming across her skin from each strike she failed to dodge. "Just a little longer Mittens..." a voice echoed within her head. It was her mother, eyes gleaming with excitement as she watched something up above.

Amity tripped with a yelp the Abomaton grabbing her leg and forming it's other hand into a blade. Amity casted a spell as it swung down, the blade froze right above her. She struggled against it, the Abomination goop bubbling. Her bile sack pounded in her ears, she couldn't hold it much longer...

A potion bottle flew down from above, smashing into the Abomaton's face. Immediately Amity felt it stop fighting back, she released her spell and scrambled out of it's hold. A figure in a light grey cape jumped from above, landing on their feet inbetween Amity and the paralyzed Abomaton.

It wouldn't last for long so Luz had to end this quick. First she turned her attention to Amity, "are you okay?" She asked holding her hand out for her to take. Amity stared up at her for a moment before nodding slowly and taking her hand for Luz to pull her up to her feet. "Thanks."

"No problem." Luz replied. Amity glanced behind her and her eyes widened, but before she could say or do anything the Abomaton swung it's arm into Luz's side like a vine. Launching her across the stage and into the back wall.

Luz gasped, coughing as she struggled to catch her breath. She was already sore from her training earlier, her whole body buzzing with pain. She used her staff to pull herself to her feet. The Abomaton formed it's arm into a cannon, aiming straight at her.

Luz hopped on her staff and took flight, the Abomaton firing goopy projectiles in her direction. Amity casted a spell, trying to redirect its aim. Which worked for the most part, until it didn't.

The Abomaton was able to hit the end of Luz's staff, knocking her out of the air. "Even a trained member of the Emperor's Coven can't compete with the Abomaton's power!" Odalia commentated, the crowd cheering.

Before Luz could hit the ground a gold blur snatched her from the air, safely setting her on her own two feet. Hunter turned to the Abomaton, he held some sort of remote in his hand.

He used the remote to power down the Abomaton, the crowd booing. Once the danger was over, Hunter took to the front of the stage to address the citizens.

"The Emperor will be buying every one of these Abomatons, and will personally fund research into making them stronger. No citizen is to receive one." The crowd booed once again, starting to leave.

Odalia made her way onto the stage a sly grin on her face. Luz stood next to Hunter as she approached, Amity stood a good distance away watching the Amber Guard carefully.

"Did I hear correctly that the Emperor's Coven is going to fund our research?" Odalia asked, stopping before the two guards. "Yes, the Emperor does not wish the general public to have access to their own private army." Hunter informed.

"Therefore, the Abomatons will be Emperor's Coven property only." Luz stated wiping some goop off her cape. "I also don't appreciate being used as a marketing tool or people who ban children from school for no good reason." Luz added, looking back up at Odalia who frowned.

"I was just making sure the children were safe-" Odalia started only to be cut off by Luz. "Safe from what? An Abomination out to kill for profit? Remember that the Emperor's Coven can revoke your PCA position at anytime." She threatened with a sly grin that no one could see.

Odalia silently fumed before putting on a fake smile. "Well I'll be sure to keep that in mind then." That's all Luz needed to hear, she turned and walked to the doors. She stopped and waited for Hunter to finish up the conversation with Odalia.

"Hey." Luz turned her head to see Amity. "Thanks for jumping in when you did, I don't know how much longer I could of held it off." Amity continued, she glanced back at her mother still talking to the Golden Guard before turning her attention back.

Luz shrugged "It was no problem." She had to be neutral, she couldn't tip Amity off on who she was. Amity seemed to be studying her though, Luz blushed and looked away, spotting Hunter on his way over to her. Amity seemed to notice too "well... thanks again." She said before walking away.

Luz sighed at least she could still help her friends without them knowing. "Ready to go?" Hunter asked. Luz nodded "let's get out of here and report to Belos."

Chapter Text

It was Friday morning, it hadn't been very long since the Blight Industry meetup and Amity had a lot to think over from that night. Mainly about the Amber Guard themself, and the possibilites that stem from it.

Amity had been worried about Luz that Wednesday morning when she didn't show up to school. After the whole Petrification thing with the Owl Lady she was sure the human would of done something stupid to rescue her. She was surprised when it was Lilith, head of the Emperor's Coven, that rescued the Owl Lady instead.

Since then she hadn't seen Luz anywhere, it was like she vanished. But now the Amber Guard was back from whatever mission they were on for the last month or so. Amity didn't know what to think of the pieces that seemed to be connecting in her head.

She was on her way to school, so maybe she could talk to Willow and Augustus about it since they were unbanned now. Again, due to the Amber Guard's interference.

Amity was at first surprised when the Amber Guard jumped down from the rafters to help her on stage. But after the Golden Guard turned the Abomination off, Amity was able to process that the Amber Guard used the same Paralyzing Potion that Luz used at the library.

Now Amity didn't know all that much about Potions, but hanging around Boscha enough let her know it was at least a potion that wasn't used often or even at all. She'd never heard of it before or read it anywhere so it was odd that Luz and someone from the Emperor's Coven would use the same potion that she's never heard of before.

It could of just been a crazy coincidence though, however there was something else that the more Amity thought about it the more sure she was about her forming theory. Although it had been muffled due to the mask, the Amber Guard's voice sounded almost exactly like Luz.

Amity finally arrived at school, the chatter of students breaking her from her thoughts. Taking a quick glance around, she didn't spot Willow or her friend. Maybe she could talk to them at lunch. Amity went up the steps and headed inside, she stopped by her locker before heading to her first class. Maybe she could visit the Owl House after school as well.

The day couldn't get any slower for Amity, it crawled at a snail's pace. The bell finally screamed for lunch and Amity made her way out quickly. She hadn't seen Luz in any of her classes today, so either her theory was right or something happened to Luz that day.

She entered the lunchroom and quickly spotted Willow and Augustus at their table. She greeted them as she sat next to Willow, it was still strange to be talking to Willow again. Though Amity was glad that she had a chance to earn Willow's forgiveness, she had Luz to thank for that.

"Have either of you seen Luz lately?" Amity asked. Gus shook his head while Willow replied. "Not since the Grudgby game against Boscha. Have you?" Amity shook her head, "she should've come back to school by now, right?"

Willow shrugged "after the whole Petrification ceremony, I would think she would take a break from school to recuperate."

"But it's been weeks since then." Amity replied with a frown. "Do you think she went back to the Human Realm?" Gus piped up. "Without saying anything? I don't know." Willow replied.

It was quiet for a few minutes as the three ate their lunches. Amity gathered her thoughts on how she should go about telling them her theory. "How did you two get unbanned again?" Amity asked.

"Bump said it was the Emperor's Coven that overruled the ban." Willow explained. "I still wonder why the Emperor's Coven did that in the first place." Gus said. Amity hummed, "well I know that it had to have been either the head of the Emperor's Coven, or the Emperor himself and I don't see the Emperor doing that."

"So the Golden Guard lifted the ban?" Gus asked. "Or the Amber Guard." Amity said. "Or both." Willow said, she continued "you think one of them did it?"

"It had to be, no one else is above Mom." Amity stated. "But why would they?" Gus asked, looking between the two for an answer. Willow shrugged while Amity bit her lip before replying. "What if... Luz is the Amber Guard?" Gus choked on his drink while Willow stared at Amity.

"How...? That doesn't make any sense.." Willow trailed. "But it kinda does make sense!" Amity stated, she continued to explain her theory. "Luz showed up in the Boiling Isles about a month ago and that was around the same time the Amber Guard stopped patrolling around Bonesburrow."

Willow nodded, still confused on where Amity was going. Gus was just flabbergasted by the very idea. "And now Luz has gone missing- or at least we haven't seen her and the Amber Guard is back on patrols. You've seen them around town lately, right?" Amity asked.

Gus nodded "but that's not enough to go on saying they're the same person." Willow nodded in agreement "true but didn't we just say that either the Golden Guard or the Amber Guard lifted the ban? It would make since that if Luz was the Amber Guard, she'd want to lift the ban for us."

"Exactly!" Amity agreed, glad that Willow was starting to see what she was thinking. Gus tapped his chin in thought "well if all that does line up then why would the Amber Guard or Luz, be living with a criminal like Eda?"

That was a good question, Amity hadn't thought of that. "Maybe Eda might have some answers, should we go to the Owl House after school?" Willow asked. Gus and Amity nodded as the bell screamed for the end of lunch. "See you after school then."

The three got up and parted ways, heading to their different classes. Amity couldn't wait for school to end, she really wanted to figure out this mystery, but unfortunately school would once again go by agonizingly slow for her.

Once school finally let out for the day, Amity waited by the steps for Willow and Gus. Once they met up they made their way down the now familiar path that would take them to the Owl House.

As they headed down the dirt path together, Willow spoke up. "So I've been thinking about it since lunch and remembered that Luz did have a strange looking staff, she told me not to tell anyone about it..." Gus lit up "oh yeah! I remember, she used it against that Basilisk that entered the school."

"Do you remember what it looked like?" Amity asked, Gus nodded and casted a spell circle. An illusion of the staff appeared in his hands.

It was grey with an orange tip. It had a single wing coming out of the side that was grey and red. The wing connected under the orange gem, where it was red with a small yellow coil wrapping around, connecting it to the staff. Amity studied it for a moment before nodding, "that's the same staff the Amber Guard used at my mom's meetup."

"Wednesday night mom had another meetup to sell her Abomination weapons and soldiers. I wasn't informed about the last one and it could have killed me if the Amber Guard didn't jump in." Amity explained. "You mean to tell me your mom almost killed you for some extra snails!?" Willow asked, eyes wide with alarm. "That is messed up." Gus commented.

Amity shrugged with a nod. "She probably knew they would jump in in time." She reassured them and herself. "Anyways not only does the staff match but I know that Luz and the Amber Guard used the same potion to fight."

"But anyone can use the same potions." Gus said. "That's the thing, I've never seen anyone else use that potion and I've hung out with Boscha enough to know that it doesn't exist in any potion books or anything." Amity replied.

They finally entered the clearing that the Owl House claimed as it's property, the door was slightly open since Hooty was inside. The Hextrio made their way to the front door, Amity taking the lead and knocking on the wood.

It took a couple minutes, but the door finally opened fully to reveal the Owl Lady herself. "Oh it's you three." She commented, stepping outside and closing the door leaving it slightly ajar again, blocking out the sounds of the living room.

"What are you three doing here?" Eda asked the trio, crossing her arms. "We wanted to see Luz." Gus replied. "We haven't seen her since before the Petrification and we were wondering if she's okay." Willow added.

"Oh right." Eda replied awkwardly. "Luz, uh... Is back in the Human Realm." She lied. Gus sagged in disappointment at the news, but Amity and Willow weren't convinced.

"Are you sure?" Willow asked. "Yeessss?" Eda replied looking away from them. Amity narrowed her eyes and Eda sighed, relenting "fine, fine, you caught me, but it's complicated."

"We have time, we even have some theories of our own." Amity replied, Gus raised his hand slightly "I don't have a lot of time, Dad expects me home soon."

"Alright, yeesh where do I even begin." Eda muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Maybe we could go inside?" Willow suggested, but Eda shook her head. "It's absolute chaos in there right now, ever since Lilith started living here anyway."

"Wait Lilith? As in former leader of the Emperor's Coven? That Lilith?" Amity asked. Eda nodded "that's how I was able to escape the Petrification, she rescued me after... well..." she paused.

"Alright let me start from the beginning. I had a portal to the Human Realm that I believed Luz had come through the day we met awhile ago." Eda started from the very beginning, Amity just thought she would start at the beginning of that day of the Petrification.

"She said that she wanted me to teach her magic so I let her stay. She learned glyphs, met you three, and got into all sorts of trouble. I suspected her home life wasn't the best, but after Grom I knew something was up-"

Eda stopped talking suddenly and turned around, curious the three teens looked behind her. The door was fully closed now, but it was hard not to notice the hole in the door where Hooty usually was. The sides of the hole had pulsing... flesh? Organs? Either way it was freaky.

Eda quickly opened the door and headed inside. Curious the teens glanced at each other before entering the house as well. The living room was a disaster, books and papers scattered about, the papers having different symbols on them, some being scratched out. There was also a huge pile of stuffed animals on one of the two couches. Eda was reading a piece of paper that she had picked up.

"Dang it King!" Eda yelled, crumbling the paper in her fist and tossing it onto the table, adding to the mess. "What happened?" Willow asked. "King went to his dang castle! And now I'm gonna have to save them from that dang creature." Eda complained, snatching a sash of potions that were hanging on the wall.

She put the sash on and called out "Owlbert!" It didn't take long for the palisman to come to it's witch, transforming into staff form. "Wait, castle?" Gus asked.

"Creature?" Amity asked at the same time. "Yeah, it's not an actual castle... I don't think, but it's off the Isles and far." Eda explained, heading back out the door and gesturing for the kids to come back outside.

"Can we help at all?" Willow asked as they headed outside again. The door closed behind them as Eda started to shake her head, pausing to really think about it then sighing. "Yeah, I suppose you could come with, but only two of you. Owlbert can't handle all three of you plus me."

Gus shrugged "I guess that's my cue to head home, but you guys have to fill me in as soon as possible, yeah?" Willow nodded, giving him a thumbs up. "I'll message you later tonight."

After Gus left, Eda urged them onto her staff quickly. Willow clung onto the Owl Lady as Amity clung to Willow. They quickly took off and were soon flying high above the boiling sea.

It was quiet until Amity spoke up, "could you continue what you were saying before. About Luz?" She asked, looking down at the boiling sea below them. "Right, that. Where was I... oh yeah. After Grom and... everything that happened that night that I won't reveal, cause that's something Luz has to tell you if she hasn't already."

Willow glanced back at Amity who shrugged in confusion. Eda continued "Luz seemed off the next day, but I didn't press since I thought it was about the night before, but then the day after was that field trip to the Emperor's Castle."

"Oh I remember!" Willow said. "Luz snuck away from the group and me and Gus tried to look for her. We found her captured by Lilith and she sent us to the Owl House with her staff."

"Wait, what!?" Amity asked, she was ignored as Eda nodded and continued. "Lilith and I fought in front of the Emperor's Castle and she was using Luz as bait. I ended up getting captured because of my curse and next thing I know the Emperor is asking for the portal to the Human Realm."

"Obviously I refused and I was taken to be petrified. Luz ended up coming right before I was put on stage..." Eda paused thinking back on the interaction. She hadn't thought to much about it since that day, she remembered the conflicting look in Luz's eyes, the tears, was that an act? It couldn't have been, it was to genuine.

"I... gave her the key to the portal and that's when I was sent to be petrified. Lilith soon came to my rescue and we made it back to the Owl House, she split the curse with me and I assumed Luz had gone back to the Human Realm like I told her to do."

"But...?" Amity pressed slowly. Eda sighed, "but Lilith said that Luz was the Amber Guard." Willow gasped and looked back to Amity, astonished that the green haired girl was right.

"Called it." Amity stated, which startled Eda. The cursed witch looked back at them curiously. "Amity was just telling us at lunch why she thought Luz was the Amber Guard." Willow explained.

Eda shifted her gaze to Amity to explain, and she did. Amity first pointed out the timing that Luz first appeared and how the Amber Guard had stopped patrolling Bonesburrow for that month, then Willow told Eda how Luz had a strange staff that the human told her to keep a secret.

Amity continued to explain that Willow and Gus were banned from Hexside on Wednesday and later unbanned by someone in the Emperor's Coven. Then she explained what happened at her mother's meetup, how the Amber Guard jumped in to help her, wielding the same staff Gus had showed her an Illusion of not that long ago, and a potion that she had seen Luz use before.

Amity then mentioned the last thing that convinced her that Luz and the Amber Guard were the same person. "Even though it was muffled from her mask, her voice was the same." She finished. It was silent as Eda processed the information.

"Wow kid, you really pieced it together. Huh?" Eda sighed. "Well all that aside we're finally here." She gestured in front of them. Amity and Willow had to lean to the side to see.

Fog faded to reveal an island full of trees, a tall building that stretched above the dense forest surrounding it. The trio landed on the beach and hopped off the staff, sore from the long flight.

"We have to make our way on foot, it's too thick to fly in. But promise me you'll do as your told." Eda eyed the two witchlets, who nodded. "Promise!" They chorused.

With a nod from Eda the trio headed into the forest in search of Lilith, King and Hooty.

Chapter Text

Eda, Amity and Willow traveled through the dense forest. Eda led the way, the two teens following behind her. Eda pushes branches and leaves out of the way with her staff, the teens ducking under to avoid the branches. They step over a tree root and Amity trips, but Willow catches her. "Thanks."

They continue onward for awhile longer when Eda suddenly speaks up. "Here we are." She pushed the last few branches out of the way, revealing the tower they had seen from the sky. It had a keyhole shaped doorway, there were rocks collapsed around the doorway like it had once blocked the entrance but now revealed it.

"Alright, the creature can't get past this doorway, some sort of ancient spell is blocking it I'd guess. So all we need to do is distract it and get the others out here." Eda explained, climbing up and over the rocks to head inside.

As they headed inside Eda activated a light glyph, Willow and Amity casting their own light spells. As they headed deeper into the tower, Amity and Willow looked around curiously. There were drawings on the walls of large creatures that looked a lot like King.

But before Willow could ask what this place was, there was a shout of surprise down the hall and Eda sprinted towards it. The teens quickly ran after her to catch up. They entered a large circular room with more carvings on the walls and little pebbles stacked ontop of each other each with a half moon shaped head.

On the other side of the room was Lilith with King on her shoulder and Hooty strapped to her back inside some sort of portable house. There was a single ball of light that Lilith must have used to light the room.

However the most concerning thing was a larger version of the stacked pebble statues with red fleshy substance that kept it together and it was alive and hostile. Lilith leaped back as the creature swung down with an axe shaped hand.

Lilith used a few plant glyphs to wrap it up in vines. "Eda!" King shouted, spotting the Owl Lady. "Get back to the entrance! Quick!" Eda commanded as the creature broke free, Eda threw a potion at it's face, momentarily blinding it as it shrieked.

"Go! This thing can't be beat!" Eda urged. Lilith nodded, "what about Eda?" King asked. "She'll be fine." Amity replied as she summoned an Abomination.

"This way!" Willow directed, Lilith quickly followed the teen back to the entrance as Eda dodged a strike from the creature. "It's been awhile. Miss me?" Eda taunted. It lunged at Eda but Amity blocked it's attack with her Abomination.

"Let's go while its stuck!" Eda said, grabbing Amity's arm and shoving her towards the exit. It didn't take long for the creature to break free of the muck and give chase. Amity climbed over the rocks first, Eda quickly following, the others were standing by the entrance wearily. The creature leaped ontop of the rocks, hissing as it swung an axe shaped arm towards them, but a blue force field prevents it's attack from going far as it's arm goes limp.

It hisses and pulls its arm back, disappearing into the darkness of the tower. Everyone sighed in relief now that the monster was gone. "It can't get past the entrance, we're safe now." Eda explained.

"That thing must be guarding this place from intruders. Right?" Amity asked. "But it's my castle. How could we be intruders?" King replied. Eda sighed and the group looked to her. "I think it's about time I tell you what really happened..."

Eda went on to explain that about eight years ago she stumbled across this island while running from the Emperor's Coven. She explained that she entered the ruins to get out of the boiling rain, but she wasn't alone. Because within the ruins seemingly alone was a baby King. Who was the one making the mini rock formations that littered the main room of the tower.

She had assumed that King was just some stray dog when that creature came out of nowhere to attack them both. Eda had taken King and got them both out of there, but not before the creature shot a makeshift arrow that chipped King's horn.

She took him home, back to the Owl House and got him a collar, cause that's what you do with a new pet but she soon realized that he could speak, his first word being king. Eda ended up regaling him with tales of kings, which was the reason that King now thought he was some despotic overlord. But he was finally happy so Eda had continued to play along.

Once she was done with her tale King sputtered out, "you-you're lying!" But Eda replied with a quiet "I'm not." Eda took something out of her hair, revealing it to be the broken piece of King's horn. King was shocked but curious about this, and he slowly took it from Eda's hand. He gasps, seemingly realizing something.

"My army... my feasts... my life..." King said quietly before harshly throwing the broken horn piece to the ground. "No! Get that thing away from me! It's messing with my head!" He yelled, his voice cracking with emotion.

"Y-You're all just making fun of me, like usual, right?" He panicked, hyperventilating. "No, no, no, no, no!" He yelled, clutching his head before turning and running away into the trees. "King, wait!" Willow called in concern.

Eda sighed, standing up but what she didn't expect was the green haired Blight to start yelling at her. "How could you make him believe in something that wasn't real for so long?" Amity fumed. Eda put her hands up in defense "I didn't mean for it to go on so long-" she was cut off by Willow.

"Guys we don't have time to argue, who knows how dangerous this island is. We have to find him quick." Lilith nodded in agreement. "The plant girl is right. We should split up, this island is small and he's even smaller so he couldn't have run far."

Soon the group made their way into the forest, splitting up and calling for the little demon. Willow reached the edge of the jungle and paused. There, on the beach in front of her, was King, sitting alone on a log, staring out at the sea.

Willow silently walked across the beach and sat down on the log beside him."Eda was right, wasn't she? I was never king of anything. I'm nobody." King was definitely still upset, reasonably so in Willow's opinion. "You are somebody. And Eda loves that somebody very much."

"Then why did she lie? Why did everyone lie!? And I was too caught up in the fantasy to realize it!" Kings voice cracked as his breath hitched into a sob. "I... I don't know what to do, Willow!" He sniffled. "I can't tell what's real and what's fake!" King buries his face in his paws. Willow looks down at him sympathetically, but then looks up toward the ruined temple in the distance.

Getting an idea she speaks softly. "There's gotta be a clue in there about where you came from." King shrugged "I don't know, Willow. What if the story gets worse?"

"You might have been alone before, but you have us now. Whatever we find up there won't change that. So, what do you say?" Willow said in a burst of inspiration, she held her hand out for him to take. King looked down at her hand and slowly took it.

"You sounded like Luz just now." He commented, Willow chuckled "I guess she rubbed off on me." They stood up from the log and made their way back into the forest. "I miss her." King said. Willow nodded in agreement.

"Everything about her is so confusing though and I still don't know how to feel about her. She betrayed us and lied and helped take Eda away, but she was like a big sister to me..." King ranted, frustrated tears pricking the corners of his eyes. "And now Eda's lied too!"

Willow sighed, unsure of what to say. After a moment she finally spoke. "Well I don't know about Eda, but I think Luz cares about you too. I remember when she and Amity went into my mind, Luz was talking about how she didn't think she had a choice in what she wanted. She was worried that she didn't have a family to go back to anymore and that everything that she was doing was for nothing."

"I didn't fully understand what exactly she meant, but now knowing that she's the Amber Guard... Belos must have promised her something or threatened her in some way. Maybe she was afraid of getting you guys hurt if she stuck around."

"But she already hurt us, with her own actions." King replied. He did feel a little bit better about the whole Luz situation now though.

The two finally found the rest of the group who had met back up by the entrance of the tower. "King! You're alright!" Eda exclaimed happily, she ran toward King, but then stopped upon noticing him looking sternly up at her. Eda sighed, "you're mad at me. I get it. I would be, too." She kneeled down in front of him. "I'm so sorry, King." King suddenly poked her on the cheek with a claw.

"Boop. No more secrets okay? I've already delt with one person lying to me, I don't need anymore." A saddened expression overtook Eda's face as she realized. "Only truths, I promise."

"Great. Now, before we leave, we have one more thing to check out." Willow said, pointing toward the tower behind them.

Inside the tower not too long later, the creature was fixing a few of the toppled over figures King had made so long ago, but it was interrupted by a potion flying through the air and breaking on the back of it's head. It turned around, hissing and clicking as two staffs flew past it.

Lilith, Hooty and Willow on Lilith's staff and Eda, King and Amity on Eda's. Willow tangled up the stone creature with vines, bringing it's focus onto them. Lilith aimed Hooty at the creature like a bazooka as it slashed it's way through the vines. "Special delivery! Pain!" Hooty yelled, coughing up a potion and launching it at the creature's face.

The crew on Eda's staff was easily able to fly past as Willow tied it up with more vines as Hooty bombarded the creature with potions. King was on Amity's shoulders as she hopped off Eda's staff. Eda took flight up to a blocked off part of the roof that had once been open before it had caved in. The Owl Lady places a potion in the middle of the rubble and flies back down to Amity and King, who were hiding behind a rock.

Amity casts a spell circle, creating a small ball of pink flames. As she aimed at the potion, Lilith, Hooty and Willow were knocked off the staff. The creature held Lilith's face, preparing to crush her head with one claw, but Hooty headbutts the creature. It dropped Lilith in surprise, but it wasn't stunned by the attack as it lifted it's axe arm to strike.

Vines wrapped around the arm, preventing it from swinging down. Willow pulled at the vines, making it stumble off balance as Lilith stood back up and grabbed her staff.

Amity launched the fireball at it's target and a loud explosion echoed as debris flew away from the now revealed hole. Lilith picks up Willow on her staff as Eda, King and Amity fly up into the hole. Closely followed by Lilith, Hooty and Willow, the creature making it's way over and climbing it's way up.

"Fly, fly, fly!"

Willow tried blocking it off with vines, but it easily slashed through them to give chase. They all made it to the top of the tower and were disappointed that it was empty. They quickly tried to search for any clues as Amity and Willow tried to block the creature with plants and abomination goop. It slowed it down, but not by much.

The creature made it to the top, slashing it's claws and catching onto Willow's leg. Willow yelped stumbling backwards and falling as the scratches on her ankle started to bleed. "Willow!" Amity shouted in concern as the creature fully emerged from the hole.

Amity formed the abomination goop onto her hand and formed a spiked fist that she used to punch the creature as hard as she could. The creature stumbled back and fell into the hole. Amity quickly helped Willow up, Eda quickly making her way over to help her get away from the hole.

The creature climbed back up quickly and made it's way towards them. King accidentally hit his back against the wall behind him which glowed blue before opening like a door. "In here!" He shouted, everyone quickly entered the room and shut the doors closed, the creature's arm getting cut off in the process.

Everyone sighed in relief and collapsed onto the floor in defeat, out of breath. "Huh, I think we're safe... for now. But how did we get the door open?" Eda asked, looking back at the door. King looked at his paw, confused.

"This room is old. Very old." Lilith commented. Eda sat down next to Willow and pulled out some bandages from her hair. "Let me take care of that nasty scratch for you." Eda made quick work of the bloody scratches on her ankle. Willow hissed in pain as Eda tightened the bandage. "There that should at least keep dirt and such from getting in and hopefully stop the bleeding soon. When we get back to the Owl House we'll clean it properly."

Willow observed the room from the floor as the rest began exploring the room, which was decorated with decaying plants and a skylight on the ceiling. In the middle of the room was a golden pedestal. King walked up to it and found the remains of a broken eggshell at the top.

"I honestly didn't think we'd find anything up here." Amity confessed, gently tracing her fingers over the ancient artwork. Willow shrugged in response, looking up at the skylight and seeing a strange symbol, kinda like a glyph.

"It looks like that creature was made to guard whatever was in here." Lilith said, examining the artwork closely. "King, does any of this feel familiar to you?" Willow asked the furry demon.

"I'm not sure, but I think I know how to jog my memory. Eda, I'm ready." King said extending his paw towards her. "Are you sure?" Eda asked worriedly. King nodded "I am."

Eda took the broken piece of horn out of her hair and gave it to King, who placed it on his stump. He gasped again as his memories returned to him, full force.

"I remember a deep roar..." King explained, eyes closed. "And then, something happened... but I was too small to do anything, so I went back to sleep... and the next time I woke up..."

He had hatched from the egg and saw the strange symbol on the skylight. He had pulled himself to the door and touched it with a paw, the door reacting and opening to reveal the creature. The monster had picked up King, cradling him and had walked to the shaft. It dived down the hole with King in its arms, and King had reached for the light from the top as it disappeared from view.

It was silent as everyone processed the information. "That roar it ment 'son'. I don't know how I know that, but I did! Someone called me their son, I think it was my dad!" King broke the silence excitedly, his tail wagging. Eda placed a gentle hand on his shoulder a small smile on her face. "Maybe we can try figuring out what happened to him."

"Maybe that was him on all those wall carvings." Lilith mused. The monster suddenly broke through the door and prepared to strike with his axe-hand. As Willow cowered in fear, unable to move out of the way due to her injury. King defiantly ran up to it and raised his paw. "Stop." He commanded, the monster suddenly paused, and it bowed to him in respect.

"That thing was defending King from us this whole time? Huh. Alright." Eda shrugged. Lilith took a picture of the wall carvings with an instant flash camera; the others looked at her. "Oh, sorry. Were we discussing important revelations? I'll..." she cleared her throat. "I'll just... do this later." She took the photo from the camera and sheepishly hid it behind her back. Hooty ate and swallowed the camera with a satisfied gulp.

"Maybe you weren't exactly the King of Demons, but..." Amity started. "I was important to someone." King started tearing up. "If... If he's out there, I want to find him. I'm not that old! It could be possible!" He sniffled. "Would you guys help me?"

"Of course! Every step of the way, kiddo." Eda reassured. "Also can we keep him?" King pointed at the stone creature and everyone collectively shouted "No!" Except Hooty who didn't get the memo and shouted "yeeeeesss!"

They soon made their way out of the tower, Lilith making sure to take extra pictures and talking to Amity about what the carvings could mean. Eventually they took to the skies again and headed back to the Owl House, it was nighttime now and the two teens had decided to stay the night since there was no school tomorrow anyways. Willow's Dad's didn't mind and the Twins said they would cover for Amity.

After Willow was properly patched up and Eda put King to bed, gluing his broken horn together, Eda was able to scrounge up some sleeping bags and pajamas that the two witchlets could use.

Eda and Lilith stayed up late into the night discussing what these carvings could mean and how King's Dad fit into the picture.

But no matter what happened in the near future. Eda knew she would be there for King, no matter what.