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“I don’t deserve this.”
Luz sat at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the boiling sea. From here, she could see the steam rising from the top of the swells, lazily pushing against the sand of the beach, then retreating. The sea’s slow attempt to swallow the isles, until all that remains is a memory of the once mighty titan that lay there.
Luz wondered what it might feel like, to just be swallowed by the sea. Until every trace, every piece of evidence that you were ever there, was washed away.
She hugged her legs to her chest, staring up at the clear night sky.
From inside the Owl House behind her, she could hear her friends calling her, it sounded like Willow. “Luz? Are you ok in there?”
“You haven’t fallen in, have you? Do you need saving? I’ll break down this door if I have to!”, she suppressed a chuckle at Gus’s remark. None of them knew that she had slipped out of the bathroom window. She just wanted some time alone. She just barely managed to avoid Hooty’s notice, but he was distracted by his “best friend Lulu”.
She smiled at that thought. Hooty deserves a friend, so does Lilith. And Eda. And King. They all deserve to be happy….
Luz’s face darkened. They deserve to have a better life. A life free of all the pain they had to endure. “All because of me…”
“Luz?” Amity’s voice broke through Luz’s thoughts. She turned around, looking back toward the house. She could hear Amity speak again “Luz, please, open the door, you can talk to me. No one blames you for what Philip did, you saved everyone on the Isles! You helped all of us…you helped me…you showed me something in myself I didn’t know was there...Luz? Are you in there?...”
Luz let go of her legs and sprawled out on the grass, staring up at the stars once more.
Amity is incredible, she’s smart, powerful, stubborn, and she’s a witch. She’s so much more than I am, she would have been fine without me. Luz’s thoughts spiraled as she gazed at the pinpricks of light shining in the dark sky. Almost without thinking, she pulled out her drawing pad, and without looking at the page, drew the first glyph she ever learned, the light spell. She still remembered being out here, discovering that glyph for the first time, how free she felt at that moment…
The glyph that would ultimately set into motion the rise of Belos, and the near destruction of the Isles.
Luz pressed her hand against the paper, as she had done a hundred times before. Nothing happened. No orb of light rose from the page and took its place in the night sky.
Nothing.
Luz sighed, and put the pad down. Maybe it would have been better this way, if the glyph just hadn’t worked. If she never learned the light spell. If she’d never….
Luz sat upright, still staring at the sky. She squinted into the distance. One of the pinpricks of light seemed to be…getting closer?....
It was coming right for her!
Luz scrambled to her feet, and almost fell over again as the light only grew brighter, taking up more and more of her vision as it descended. She stumbled backward, her hands shielding her eyes from the brilliant light. It was all she could see, blinding light…
And then she heard a voice.
“Haha, hi Luz!”
She knew that voice.
The light faded, then blinked out of existence. Floating in front of her was what appeared to be a small child in blue pajamas, covered in depictions of stars, suns, and moons, many of whom had smiling faces. In his hands, he carried a small, pink stuffed rabbit with only one button eye. His eyes were golden yellow, and his face was half covered in a blue-ish tint, giving the impression of a crescent moon to his appearance. She also noticed several blue freckles dotting his face, a trait she had never noticed before. It was easier to notice this time, as his face was only several inches from her own.
“C-collector? What are you doing here?” Luz attempted to center herself, pushing down all the thoughts and emotions she had been having mere seconds ago. If The Collector was here…
“Ohhhh, nothing much! I know I said I was going back to Space, but Space is kinda…realllllllyyyyy big. And booooorrrrrrriinnnnnnnnngggggg! I just happened to be in the neighborhood, and I thought ‘Hey! It’s been a little bit since I’ve been to the Isles!’ And well…I kinda missed all my friends here. Sooooo, I wanted to drop in for a visit before I head out into reallllly deep space! Say hi to everyone! Oh, and Francois wanted to say hi too!” He held the rabbit in his arms out toward Luz, gently shaking it as an indication for Luz to also acknowledge the rabbit’s presence.
The Collector’s eyes sparkled and shone just like the stars above him. His smile was infectious, and Luz almost felt her own lips start to curl up talking to him. He may be a nigh-immortal entity with godlike powers from space, but he also could be incredibly innocent.
The Collector lowered the rabbit, and looked around excitedly. “So, where is everybody? I wanna say hi to evvverryyyyyoneeee!”
Luz sighed and smiled at him, “They’re all inside the house. C’mon, I’ll take you insi…”
“Wait. If everyone’s in there…why are you out here, Luz?”
Luz felt a jolt go through her. “Uhhh, well, I…just wanted some alone time! To think.”
“About what?” asked The Collector.
Luz didn’t really know why, but something made her pause at this. She knew that she should take him inside the Owl House, he’s here to see everyone. He’s so young, there’s no way he would understand…And yet, Luz felt herself begin to sink to the ground. “Luz! Are you ok?” The Collector’s expression grew worried and he followed her down, floating just above the ground.
“...yeah. I’m alright. I just…I don’t know what I should do.”
“About what?” The Collector touched down on the grass, and pulled his legs in until he was sitting criss-cross next to Luz. Luz once again pulled her own legs into her chest, wrapping her arms around them.
“Everything that happened with Belos, everything that Philip did…he was only able to do it because I showed him the light spell! Tricking you, corrupting the magic of the isles, nearly destroying everything and everyone…none of it would have happened if I didn’t show him that glyph!”
The Collector looked a bit confused at this. “What do you mean? Philip was always a meanie, I never liked playing with him. He was obsessed with finding new ways to ‘rid the world of magic’ so that ‘no human need fear the witch ever again!’ blah blah blah. He was always a bore, but he also was allllwayyysss working. He would have found another way to try and hurt witches, that’s just who he was.”
“But I made it easier for him!” Luz could feel the hurt rising in her chest, her mouth began to turn down, and her eyes began to water. “Just by being here, I endangered everyone! If I wasn’t there, maybe he would have failed! Maybe less people would have gotten hurt! Maybe…maybe my friends wouldn’t have been hurt….” Luz’s tears slowly ran down her cheeks, gathering at her chin and finally dropping onto the grass. The Collector watched, wanting to make his friend feel better, but uncertain of how.
“Maybe it would have been better if I had never come through the portal.”
“Wait, what do you mean?”
Luz sniffed, “I just…I wonder if everyone would have been better off if I had never come through the portal door to the Boiling Isles.”
And then, The Collector got an idea.
“Hey!” he exclaimed. “Why don’t we find out!”
“Wait, what?”
Luz looked dumbfounded at this. “C’mon, you trust me, right? It’ll be fun!” The Collector’s eyes shone again, that brilliant gold. He held out his hand, and without thinking, Luz felt her own hand reach out to his. Then her vision went white….
_______________________________________________________________________
When Luz’s eyes adjusted to the light, she realized she hadn’t moved. She was still standing on the cliff overlooking the boiling sea. It was dawn now, and the sun was just peaking over the horizon.
“Wait, what happened?” Luz asked, confused. “Did we…did we just jump forward in time?” Her hands pressed against her cheeks, she had time traveled before, but time pools were random and imprecise, but this….
“No, no!” replied The Collector. “I’ve created a vision of another world! A different version of the Boiling Isles! One where you never came through the Portal Door!”
“Wait, you can do that?!?” Luz was even more surprised at this.
“YES I CAN! Annnnnnnnnnd it's totally 100% accurate! With my awesome powers, I can see into all the possible choices that every person can make! It’s usually superrrrrrr boring, so I don’t really like doing it, but if I want, I can narrow my sight down to something small, a single choice, liikkkkkkeeeeee…”
Luz finished his thought without realizing “...if I never came to the Boiling Isles…”
The Collector beamed at Luz, “Yes, EXACTLY! Pretty cool, right? It takes a LOT of magic to do something like this, I can only hold it for so long. Buuuutttttt, we can’t stop early. This is kinda like, uhhh….. a dream! A dream that I’m sharing with you, which means for me to also be here, I have to be asleep too! We’ll be here until we wake up, which shouldn’t be that long. The sleeping me out there creates the dream, and we get to play inside it! Oooooh, this is gonna be sooooo much fun! I’ve never been inside one of my visions before!”
Luz looked back out over the Boiling Sea. She had seen something like this before, an old movie she watched with her Mom and Dad years ago. It’s a Beautiful Life, maybe? Luz’s face scrunched in thought, trying to remember the exact title, it starred that one guy, with the accent, what was his name?.....
No, wait! There were more pressing matters at hand!
“Wait, so we’re actually seeing what would have happened if I stayed in the Human Realm?”
“Yep! One possibility, a likely one! Here, you went to Summer Camp instead! I think… that’s a little fuzzy. It’s hard to see into other realms from inside a vision like this.” The Collector waved his hand and what appeared to be a small projection of a computer screen appeared in the air in front of him. He leaned in to read it. “From what I can tell, you didn’t see Owlbert steal the trash and just assumed you missed the garbage man. Also, you didn’t get your Azura book back. It looks like you…stopped reading them after that. Huh.” The Collector waved his hand again, and the screen disappeared.
Luz felt a twinge of pain at that thought. Giving up on Azura…then she sighed again. Maybe that was for the best, after all, Azura was what started her wanting to be a witch. Maybe…letting that dream go worked out better for everyone.
A sad smile on her face, Luz slowly began to turn “And what about…”
The scene before her stopped her mid-sentence.
“WHA-WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OWL HOUSE?!?!”
The house was in tatters. The windows were smashed in, there were several holes in the walls, the door was off its hinges, and Hooty was nowhere to be found. A gaping hole that appeared to be ripped out of the door was in his place.
“WOAH! Thaaaat doesn’t look good….lets get a closer look!”
Luz felt her feet lifting off the ground as the Collector spoke. Suddenly, she was being pulled through the air by an unseen force, and they were both floating into the wreck of a house. She yelped as her head narrowly missed the doorframe on the way in. In an instant, they were in the living room, so named because it was living. Or at least, it used to be. Luz noted that the walls weren’t actually breathing like they should be. Everything felt…still. Dead. She didn’t like it.
“Uhhh, Collector? Should we be worried about…whatever’s living in here?” Luz looked down to see several small animal skeletons scattered around the floor. “If it finds us here, it's probably not gonna be happy to have company…”
“Don’t worry Luz!” replied The Collector, “Inside the vision, nothing can hurt us! They can’t see us, they can’t touch us, we basically don’t exist for them. We can walk through walls if we want to, through people too. We can do anything we want! Hehe!”
“Well that’s a relief. Now we don’t have to worry if something comes out of the sha-” Luz was interrupted by what sounded like a roar, a great rumbling that seemed to shake the house. From the next room, a large shadow loomed on the wall. The rumbling started again, and the sound got closer. “...rraaghhahhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHH! I HUNGRY!” All at once, Luz realized she knew that voice.
From around the corner emerged a very disheveled King. His hair was matted, his skull was dirty and growing moss, and there were clearly several flies buzzing around him. He stamped his foot and repeated his demand. “I. HUNGRY!”
Suddenly, one of the few remaining intact windows swung open wide, with enough force to shatter the glass pane, spraying shards everywhere. The familiar tube-shaped body of Hooty filled the open space. Hooty wore an expression of exhaustion, but then cleared what passed for his throat and stretched out to meet King.
“Uhhhh, yes King? I mean…yes, my Dark Overlord?”
“I. HUNGRY. Give me snack, NOW!”
“Yes sir!”
With that, Hooty proceeded to cough up several small owl pellets, and one dead vole. Luz was used to Hooty eating all kinds of garbage, but what she didn’t expect was for King to immediately jump onto the vole carcass, consuming it in one large bite. She audibly gagged. So did The Collector.
“Eugggh! Has King ever done… that before?” Luz simply shook her head at him, then turned back to the scene unfolding in the living room.
King proceeded to cough up the Vole’s skull. Picking it up off the ground, he turned to a pile of Eda’s spellbooks that had been gathering dust in the corner. Pushing them into the center of the room, he placed the skull on top of a stack of books, then stepped back to admire his handiwork.
“Yes, yes! More soldier, make more soldier!” Hooty stretched his body over to be next to King.
“Uhhh, King-I mean, my Dark Overlord…its been awhile since we last saw Eda…don’t you think we should, uhhh…I don’t know, go look for her or something? Or at least go get more food? You haven’t left the house in months…”
“NO!” King yelled, more a plea than an order. “Need more soldiers. Need more soliders…then go find Eda. Need more power…need my crown…need to save…eda…” King's words faded into soft sobs. Hooty slowly began coiling his tubular body around the weeping King. King reached out and hugged around what would be Hooty’s neck. “It hurts…I miss Eda…”
Hooty closed his eyes. “I miss her too. But I promise…I won’t leave you…”
Luz was in shock at the entire scene. “Wait wait wait, how did this happen? Eda would never leave these two alone in the house for MONTHS. She’d never abandon them, where is she?!?”
The Collector shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know. But, well…she’s Mama Eda, right? She’s gotta be ok…”
Luz took one last look at King and Hooty, then turned to face the Collector. “We need to find her…”
__________________________________________________________________
Once again, Luz and the Collector were flying through the air, this time over the forest surrounding the Owl House. Luz could barely comprehend what she had just seen, her mind raced with questions, each leading to a hundred more. But one stood out to her at that moment “Ok, what we just saw. That couldn’t happen! I mean, King can be a little demanding and childish, but he’s always been pretty self-sufficient. He wouldn’t just…let himself go like that, right?”
The Collector pulled up his screen “Welll…from what I can see, before King met you, Eda and Hooty were really his only friends. He mostly went out with Eda, and when she disappeared, he was really hurt. He was scared of the outside world, so he started playing “Dark Overlord”, building an “army” so he could go and “rescue” Eda from the world that took her away from him. Wow, that’s…really sad…” The Collector saw the dismayed look on Luz’s face and immediately changed the subject. “Uhh, but I’m sure Mama Eda’s ok! I bet when we find her she’s gonna be doing something super fun! I think I sense her……just over there!”
The Collector pointed over to a clearing in the trees a short distance away. Soon enough, they were landing in the middle of the clearing. Luz gazed up at the trees as the branches swayed in the breeze. There appeared to be no one around. “Collector, are you sure that Eda’s here?” Luz asked.
They nodded, “I definitely feel her presence…she’s close!”
The sound of tree limbs snapping made both Luz and the Collector turn around, just in time to see the massive form of The Owl Beast crash through the Trees, jumping over their heads, and landing in front of them. The Owl Beast whipped around to face the two, and snarled. Its eyes were completely black, showing no indication of Eda’s presence of mind. This was The Beast, and only The Beast.
Despite knowing it couldn’t harm her, Luz involuntarily took a step back, and phased directly through the masked form of an Emperor’s Coven Scout Commander, pointing a staff at the Beast. A staff crested with the Palisman of a snow white bird. “That staff….” Luz recognized it in an instant.
“EDALYN! I BEG YOU, PLEASE LISTEN! I’M TRYING TO HELP YOU!”
The Scout made a circle with her staff, and cast a net spell toward the Beast. It dodged it with ease, jumping over and gliding briefly with its wingspan, to touch down a short distance away.
“EDALYN, PLEASE! I DON’T WANT TO HURT YOU, BUT WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!”
The Scout aimed the staff at the Beast again, this time glowing with blue energy.
“DON’T MAKE ME USE THIS!”
The Beast only snarled in response. The Scout unleashed a blast of blue flame from their staff, then another. And another. Each time, the Beast was able to outmaneuver and outwit its opponent, dodging each attack and even deflecting some attacks nearly back at the Scout. After a short, one sided fight, the Owl Beast let out a final screech, and leapt away into the forest. The battered and singed form of the Scout collapsed to their knees on the ground. They ripped off their mask, revealing a familiar face underneath.
“Lilith…” She looked…older, more ragged than Luz remembered. Her red roots were starting to come in underneath her dyed-black hair. She was panting and out of breath after her fight with the Owl Beast. Clinging to the staff for support, she slowly rose to her feet. Luz could see her uniform looked old and worn. There were several patches on her cape where she had clearly attempted to fix holes, doing so poorly.
“...rraaAAAAGHHHHHH!” Lilith punched a nearby tree with her fist. The bark cut her knuckles, but she seemed not to notice. The blood streamed from her hand and ran down the trunk of the tree. She remained there for a moment, attempting to slow her breathing. Then, she spoke, “Edalyn…I-I can’t keep up with you. Heh, you always were the stronger witch, even in that form you seem to know my every move before I make it.” Lilith gave a dark laugh, then limped to a nearby tree trunk. Sitting down, she reached into her cloak and produced a wanted poster. Instead of a picture of Eda the Owl Lady, the poster read:
WANTED: THE OWL BEAST
REWARD PAID UPON CAPTURE ALIVE
The rendition of the Owl Beast on the poster was crude, depicting the Beast with fire coming out of its mouth. Lilith sighed.
“The Emperor has threatened to personally step in, Edalyn. He will send the other coven heads to capture you by any means necessary. You are to be captured alive, but the other heads…they won’t hesitate to do whatever is necessary to bring you in. You will get hurt and I…I can’t stop them. I gave up my position in the Emperor’s coven to come after you myself. Sister, I-I’ve given everything I have to try and fix my mistake and still…it's not enough.”
Lilith paused, then began to chuckle darkly again, “Heh heh, I guess this is what I deserve for what I did to you. I sometimes wonder if you can hear these little ramblings of mine. I like to believe that you can. I spent my life until now trying to find a cure for you, to undo what I did when we were girls. And now here I am, on a fool's errand. I know I can’t catch you, not like this. There is no redemption for me, maybe for either of us, but you…you don’t deserve this” With that, Lilith began to rise to her feet. Still unsteady in her stance, she leaned on her Staff for support. “If this is to be my penance…I am willing to accept it, for as long as I draw breath.”
With that, Lilith limped off into the woods, following the trail of destruction left behind by the Owl Beast. Luz turned to The Collector, “How? Why is Eda...why is she stuck as the Owl Beast?” The Collector pulled up his screen once again, and Luz leaned in as he read from it. “Hmmmm…Oh! So, it looks like in this world, because you weren’t there, Eda never told King and Hooty about her curse. One night, she just…lost control. She took off into the woods, and left them behind. She’s been the Owl Beast ever since…”
A sound of rushing wind interrupted the pair’s conversation. Looking up from the screen, they saw that a patch of grass in the clearing was now on fire. From over the treetops, the pair could see more fireballs shooting off into the distant sky.. The clear signs of a battle raging. “What was that?!?” exclaimed Luz. The Collector pulled out his screen again, tapping it a few times, before looking up wide-eyed, “Um… Luz? I can’t see what’s happening from here. Do you know anyone who’d be fighting around here?” The Collector’s voice shook a bit with each word, and he clung to Francois a bit tighter.
Luz, seeing his trepidation, gently took one of The Collector’s hands into her own. “I don’t know, but I think we need to go see.”
The Collector gave a small nod, then waved his fingers once again, and Luz felt her body begin to lift off the ground…
____________________________________________________________________
The pair arrived to utter bedlam.
Luz and The Collector touched down in the middle of a massive battle between a full contingent of Emperors’ Coven Scouts, and what appeared to be a group of man-sized bats. The bats flapped furiously, producing powerful winds with their wings that swept away many Scouts.
Luz watched on in awe as the Scouts and the Bats traded blows and spells. Then, a booming voice came from the treetops.
“LEAVE THIS PLACE! YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!”
With a crash, the massive form of the Bat Queen landed in the middle of the melee, sweeping aside any Scouts that got in her way. Luz gasped, she had clearly been hurt. Her hair was missing in patches, looking as though it had been burned away in places, and there were several deep gashes in her wooden body. Despite it all, the fire in her eyes gave no indication of going out anytime soon.
“I AM THE GUARDIAN OF THESE WOODS, AND PROTECTOR OF THE LOST! I WATCH OVER ALL WHO CALL THIS PLACE HOME, AND I DESTROY ANY WHO WOULD DO THEM HARM!”
The Bat Queen’s massive wings beat again and again, sending Scouts flying in all directions. Within a few minutes of her joining the battle, the Scouts seemed to have been forced into retreat. They were tripping over themselves and each other, scrambling to get away from the Bat Queen. Luz felt a grin starting to come over her face, at least someone in this horrific world had a chance to stand up to the Emperor!
Then…she noticed a small, red glimmer from behind the Bat Queen.
Luz squinted, she couldn’t quite make out what it was, it was moving too fast. It darted this way, and that way, high up in the branches. It wasn’t coming towards the Bat Queen, it seemed to be running away, back towards the direction the queen came from…
All at once, Luz’s heart dropped into her stomach. She broke out into a run, chasing the red light as it got further and further away. “Hey! Wait for me!” The Collector yelled as his feet left the ground.
Luz had forgotten entirely that she could fly, she forgot that she couldn’t affect this world in any way. All she could think was “Please…please let me get there in time…”
She knew exactly where she was going, and soon enough, Luz found the trees around her covered in cobwebs, and the skeletons of small rodents littered the ground. She had to be close. “Please…don’t let it be…”
She came to a screeching halt just inside the cave entrance, the entrance to the Bat Queen’s inner nest. A lone figure stood, his back turned to her. In one arm, he carried a small cage, in which several Palisman were already captive. They tweeted and screeched and cried with alarm.
“Oh be quiet you. I don’t care how cute you are, you’re made of wild magic. You are called to serve a higher purpose, assisting Lord Belos in executing the Titan’s Will.”
The Collector flew into the cave, and floated down next to Luz. He squinted as landed, uncertain of what he was seeing. Luz, to her horror, knew exactly who stood before them.
“Wait, is that-?”
“Hunter…”
As if he could hear her, the figure turned to reveal the mask and cloak of the Golden Guard. A gust of wind swept through the cavern, and Hunter held out his arms to shield himself. The wind was strong enough to blow off his mask, and Luz saw his face for the first time. He wore an eyepatch where one of his bright pink eyes had been. The scar Luz could see from underneath the eyepatch told a story that was evidently not pleasant. He grimaced, showing that he was now missing several teeth.
A shadow now loomed over Hunter, as he stepped backwards, clutching the cage of Palisman to his chest. The Bat Queen’s figure towered over him as she blocked the entrance to the cave.
“YOU!” she bellowed.
Hunter grinned, a cruel, broken grin that sent a chill down Luz’s spine. “Ahhh, Bat Queen. You know, we’ve been fighting for, oh I don’t know how many months now, and I must say, you are the most stubborn foe I’ve ever gone up against! You even managed to take a little piece of me.” Hunter tapped his eyepatch at this remark. “But even now, you lose.” Hunter held out the cage, and from inside, Luz swore she saw a flash of red feathers.
“Flapjack! No!” cried Luz.
With a mighty roar, the Bat Queen charged Hunter. A red smear of light appeared in the air, and suddenly Hunter was above the Bat Queen, floating on his staff, cage in hand. “These ones are going straight to the emperor” he said, raising the cage up to examine its contents. “It’s a shame really. You could have found a place in Lord Belos’ new world. But no, you chose these…things over the will of the Titan.” Hunter rapped his knuckles on the cage bars, and the Palisman inside shrunk away in terror.
“YOU HURT THEM, YOU DESTROY THEM! I WILL NEVER JOIN YOU!”
“You can’t win, you know.” Hunter glared down at the Bat Queen “Not against me. I lured you out, I found your home. I did that, me! Any who are not of use to Lord Belos and the Titan will be left behind on the Day of Unity, and I can assure you, that will NOT be me” At this, Hunter started to rise higher, reaching near the ceiling of the cave. “I will prove to Lord Belos that I am worthy of his trust, I will overcome any hardship, remove any obstacle, and destroy anyone who prevents me from carrying out his will. This is your last warning. Stay. out. of. my. Way.”
A flash of red light once again enveloped Hunter’s form, and then he was gone. The Bat Queen stood in the center of her nest, ransacked, empty, and quiet.
Luz couldn’t watch anymore, she turned and ran out of the nest. “Luz!...” She could barely hear The Collector behind her over her own racing heartbeat. Hunter…stealing Palisman for Belos…and the way he was talking…
Luz collapsed on the ground into a heap, struggling to catch her breath. If Hunter was still working for Belos…and his face…
Luz dry heaved at the thought of everything she had just witnessed. This was wrong, this was all wrong. Hunter is kind, and loving, and smart, and funny. He wouldn’t do this, he cared for Flapjack more than anything in the world! Well, anything except…
“Uhh, Luz? Are you ok?” The Collector hugged Francois close to his chest as he approached. Luz looked up from the ground to meet the Collector’s eyes. They were more uncertain than she had ever seen them. He looked like he might be on the verge of crying. She could feel the panic rising again, but she tried to hold it in, for his sake. She spoke in a measured, gentle manner, “Collector…we need to go to Bonesborough. I need to see Willow, Gus, and Amity. Can you help me do that?” The Collector barely moved his head, but again, Luz could see a small nod. She took his hand, and raised the index finger of her other hand to the sky….
____________________________________________________________________
When they arrived in Bonesborough, Luz barely recognized it.
The town was nearly deserted. Where once had been a market full of stalls selling all manner of magical items, now stood empty cobblestone streets, with the occasional cloaked figure rushing along, always looking at the ground. Luz took note of several tall towers with spotlights attached throughout the town. Each one was staffed by a lone guardsman. Even though the spotlights were off during the day, Luz could feel their presence. As if everything she did was constantly being observed. As they walked the empty streets, the only adornments Luz noticed on the walls were the occasional wanted poster for what few demons and witches still attempted to defy the coven system. One particular poster seemed to be for a small, white demon with red hair and a nose that took up most of its body. The poster read WANTED: FOR CRIMES AGAINST S & P…
“Uhhh, Luz? Isn’t that Raine?”
The Collector’s voice came from across the street. Luz turned, and joined the collector at a storefront window. Inside were dozens of crystal balls, all tuned to the same news broadcast. Gus’ dad appeared in frame, standing outside of the Conformitorium, holding a mic.
“This is Perry Porter, reporting live from the Trial of disgraced former Bard Coven head Raine Whispers. Inside the courtroom, a verdict of guilty was reached for Raine Whispers on the charges of treason, dereliction of duty, and aiding the proliferation of wild magic. This was the scene just moments ago.”
The camera cut to a recording of the inside of a courtroom. Raine stood in the center of the room, hands bound in abomination goo cuffs. Kikimora sat at the Judge’s bench, wearing an oversized white wig and black robes. “Guilty!” she exclaimed, and banged her gavel against the bench.
“It’s the Emperor who is guilty!” Raine cried. They swung around to face the gathered crowd. “Please, listen, before it’s too late! Stop him! The Day of Unity is not what Belos says, he’s lied to us all! Rise up, everyone! Befo--”” They were cut off by tendril of abomination goo wrapping around their mouth, rendering them incapable of speaking.
From within the crowd, a man with purple abomination goo for hair stepped out and approached the struggling Raine. Their piercing green eyes appeared sad as they stood alongside, hand outstretched, controlling the abomination restraints. “Oh Raine…look at what you’ve become. Here, I thought you were smarter than this…I sincerely hoped you were…” Darius looked at his friend for the last time, then signaled to the Abomatons standing near the door. They flanked either side of the former Coven head, and escorted them out of the courtroom. Raine peered over their shoulder in the doorway of the courtroom, then Luz saw their shoulders slump. They hung their head low as the Abomatons led them out of sight of the camera.
The screen returned to a shot of Perry Porter “Being inducted as the head of the Bard Coven only months ago, Raine Whispers was discovered to be using their position to lead a criminal organization known as the ‘Bards Against the Thone’ or B.A.T.S, with the purpose of overthrowing the Imperial Coven system. This organization has been responsible for several attacks on Emperor’s Coven Scouts and Peacekeepers, freeing dangerous wild witches to wreak havoc throughout the Isles. They are also believed to have been involved in the release of several dangerous demon species into the wild and, through unknown means, the re-emergence of the Greater Basilisk species from extinction. Snippets of information believed to be retrieved from the human realm have indicated that some of the Basilisks may have escaped there, although these reports cannot be confirmed at this time.”
The screen now depicted the front page of an edition of The Gravesfield Reporter. The headline read:
STRANGE CREATURE CAUGHT ON FILM: RESIDENTS HORRIFIED, POLICE ASK FOR PUBLIC’S HELP IN CAPTURING
The picture, although blurry, depicted the unmistakable form of a young Basilisk with blue hair being pursued by police dogs. At the end of their tail, a distinct blue pendant hung from their fin.
“Vee….” Luz raised her hand to her lips in shock.
Perry Porter continued, “With this guilty verdict, Raine Whispers has formally been sentenced to Petrification. This was to be expected, as the Imperial Judicial review that recently took effect expanded the use of Petrification for any first time offense that presents a ‘clear and present danger to the Imperial system or its interests’. Thus far, every member of the organization who has been captured and tried has received the same sentence.” The camera panned over from Perry to the yard of statues surrounding him, all petrified witches and demons. As the camera panned, Luz recognized the distinctive uniform of the B.A.T.S on several of the unfortunate souls. And then she recognized their faces. “Katya…Amber…Derwin…” Luz turned her back to the window. She didn’t want to see any more.
This was a nightmare. All of it. How…why…it doesn’t…make sense? Luz’s mind roiled with all the implications. Could all this all really have been caused by…her not being there...?
“Luz…?”
The Collector’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked down to see his golden eyes shining up at her. Only this time, they were shining with the wet of tears.
“I don’t like this dream anymore…”
He spoke in a choked whisper, his breath catching in his throat. Holding Francois’ arm with one hand, he raised his other arm and wiped his face with his oversized sleeve. It didn’t stop the tears. Luz bent down and held his shoulders. “It's ok, little man. It’s just a bad dream, you’ve had bad dreams before, right?” She forced a smile onto her lips.
“But it’s not just a dream! It feels like…it feels like this world was so close to happening. It’s scary. All my friends…I never would have met them. I never would have met you! I can feel it…there’s something missing in this world. Everyone’s…given up.” Luz felt it too. Everywhere she went, all the things she’d seen…it was as if the entire island had resigned themselves to this horrible timeline. No one had any fight left in them…except maybe…
Willow…Gus…Amity…they’re the strongest people I know! They have to be ok, they have to be!
Luz swallowed hard, then gripped tightly to the Collector’s shoulders. “It’s going to be ok. I promise.”
He looked up at Luz again, sniffling. “I want to wake up.”
“So do I. And I think I have an idea of how we can. We have to go to Hexside. We have to find Amity, Willow, and Gus. If anyone hasn’t given up, it's gotta be them! I bet if we can find them, we’ll wake right up!”
Luz was lying, and she knew it. She had no idea if going to Hexside and seeing everyone would do anything at all, she just knew she had to go. She was building this idea up for The Collector, but deep down she knew it made no sense. Then again, dreams don’t usually make sense anyway, so for all she knew, this really was the way to get back to the real world. For her, this was more about proving that her friends were fine. They were probably a shining light in this dismal world, carving their own path, unhindered by everything she had done…
The Collector sniffed a few more times, then dried his eyes with his sleeve. “Ok. Let’s go find them.” Once more, Luz felt herself lifting off the ground…
__________________________________________________________________
For once, Luz actually recognized where they were when the pair landed.
Touching down on the grass in front of Hexside, the building looked exactly as she remembered it. Banners of the nine coven heads hung along the walkup. Luz could see that the Banner featuring Raine had been defaced with graffiti, labeling the coven head as a “traitor”. Luz couldn’t help but grimace as they walked past. But as they walked through the main doors, Luz felt at home in this world for the first time.
“See! Hexside hasn’t changed! I remember these halls like the back of my hand!” Walking backwards while talking, Luz failed to notice the large stone pillars that were now located in the middle of the hallways. She proceeded to phase into the middle of one, and in a panic, scream “Ahh! I’m blind!”, trip on her own feet, and tumble headfirst out of the pillar.
The Collector proceeded to float over to Luz’s head poking out of the pillar, “Are you ok? That was…pretty funny…” A smile began to overtake the worried look he’d had since they arrived. Luz could feel her own lips start to curl again. She was at least glad he was doing a bit better.
“Heh, yeah, it was. I’m ok, but…what are these?” Luz posed the question to herself as much as the Collector. Luz soon got an answer, as the school bell sounded, indicating the end of a period. As the students filed out of classrooms around the school, each teacher placed their coven sigil on the pillar nearest to their room. In an instant, barriers of colored light rose along the hallways, each matching the color of a specific study track. The students, in single file, followed the colored path created by the walls of light throughout the halls, never crossing with the students from different tracks. Everything moved at a brisk, mechanical pace.
Luz was dumbfounded. “What is this?” She walked up to one of the barriers, passing her hand through the wall of light. As she observed the students passing, each one gave the barriers a wide berth. They all seemed to be focused on their feet as they walked, few if any observed the other students around them. Luz stood in the middle of the hallway, and watched as two different lines of students, different tracks, passed right by each other, never acknowledging that the other existed.
A hand waving frantically in the crowd caught Luz’s attention. From near where the blue path passed parallel to a purple path, a lone witch in a blue uniform stood, waving both hands in the air, completely oblivious to the looks he was getting from the other Illusion track students.
“GUS!” Luz raced over to her friend, ecstatic. At least one of her friends seemed to be ok!
As she approached, Gus motioned his hands in the air, drawing small blue magic circles, his trademark illusion magic. A floating caption appeared over his head in blue lettering, along with some added sparkles,
HEY WILLOW!
“Willow?...” Luz looked around excitedly, but she didn’t see the deep emerald of Willow’s plant track uniform anywhere. Then, she noticed one of the purple-clad abomination students stop in their tracks. They left the line, and turned to face Gus, reaching their hands up toward the hood of the cowl they wore.
“Oh no, Willow….” The familiar shape of her large frame glasses greeted Luz as Willow removed her hood. Her features seemed more pale, there were bags under her eyes, and her entire face seemed almost sunken in. Despite all this, she managed a small smile for Gus. Willow walked up to the barrier separating the two friends and placed a hand upon it. Gus followed suit, putting his hand over hers. Willow’s face brightened, just for a moment. Gus drew another magic circle, and a new message appeared, SEE YOU AT LUNCH! USUAL SPOT!
A familiar head poked around the corner of the hallway, the skull-like visage of a hexside guard. The guard sniffed the air, then looked in the direction of Gus. “Trouubllleeeee….” it groaned.
Sensing the danger, Gus grimaced, turned back to Willow and drew one final magic circle before booking it down the hall, GOT TO GO, BYE! Luz watched as Gus disappeared into the crowd, then turned to Willow. The smile that had been on her face slowly faded, and she lifted her hood once more before returning to the line.
Without a word, Luz and The Collector followed Willow out the main doors of Hexside, and out onto the grounds. Willow kept her hood up, and remained hunched over. It quickly became clear why, as a piece of chewing gum flew through the air and stuck to her hood. “Half-a-witch!” someone yelled. Lus whipped around, but couldn’t make out who threw the gum nor who yelled. Everywhere Willow went, Luz noticed that she was met with turned backs, hushed tones, and the occasional thrown object. She never said a word in her own defense, just continued walking.
Eventually, Willow ended up at the Grudgby field bleachers, and took a seat on the end of the bottom row, with her legs off to the side on the dirt. A handful of older students were on their staves on the field, playing a low-stakes game of Flyer Derby. They looped and danced in the air, laughing as they attempted to grab at each other’s flags. Willow’s eyes widened and seemed to shimmer as she observed the players, and her mouth curled into a grin. Then, her expression turned to one of determination. She closed her eyes and raised her hand. With an immense amount of effort, she began to draw a purple magic circle in the air in front of her. Her hand shook as she drew it, the resulting circle being uneven and wobbly. She didn’t stop, however. With her teeth gritted, and sweat beginning to dew on her forehead, she finally completed the magic circle. Her hand fell instantly, and she let out an audible gasp. A small blob of abomination goo appeared in the air where the circle had been, and fell onto the dirt with a SPLAT! Willow stared down at the now-puddle of goo, and sighed.
“Hey, that was your best attempt yet!”
“Ahh!” Willow jumped, then relaxed at the sight of Gus standing next to her “Hey Agustus, it's good to see you.” Willow raised her hand, and with one smooth motion, drew a green magic circle in the air. From within the blob of abomination goo on the ground, a small stem sprouted and grew, bursting out into a flower with purple, abomination-colored petals. She picked the blooming flower, and handed it to Gus.
“Woah, that was awesome! How come you aren’t doing plant magic again?” At that remark, Willow playfully punched Gus on the arm. Gus laughed, then subtly winced and rubbed the site of the harder-then-expected blow.
“You know why. Hexside forbids studying multiple tracks at once, let alone mixing magic. I’d be expelled in an instant. Besides, a-abomination magic is a wider field, I’d have better luck finding a job that pays good snails. Plant magic is…old fashioned.” Willow looked down at her shoes.”I-I’m not even that good anyway…it's like everyone says, I’m just…half-a-witch Willow.”
Luz desperately wanted to say something, to comfort her friend. Gus spoke again, “Listen, half-a-witch or not, you have real talent! I promise you, if you focus on that, you’ll find a place in this world, and people will want to be your friend!” Luz felt something stirring inside her, something felt off with what Gus just said. “I mean look at me! I didn’t have many friends starting out, then I lost my spot on the Human Appreciation Society, but I worked hard at what I was good at, and I met people! People who wanted me around! People like-”
“Ummmm, A-goose-tus? What are you doing over there?”
Luz’s blood turned to ice upon hearing that voice. Dreading what she already knew, she slowly turned around to see the familiar face of Boscha and her crew of enablers. Strangely, Amity was nowhere to be found.
“Ohh, hey Boscha! I was just, uhhh…talking to my friend here…” Gus fidgeted and played with his hair, clearly nervous.
Boscha held up a hand, “Umm, I’m sorry, I think I misheard you. Did you just say that miss ‘half-a-witch’ over there…is your friend?” Boscha’s entourage shook their heads disapprovingly.
“She’s more than that, she has real magical talent! She can help with anything, homework, test prep, magic pranks, like I do!” Gus had one hand on Willow’s shoulder, as if attempting to sell her to Boscha. Willow just looked down at the ground.
“Ummm, Half-a-witch…she can do my homework? Maybe if I want to flunk!” On cue, Boscha’s crew began laughing. Boscha held up a hand again, and immediately they all fell silent. “A-goose-tus, that wasn’t a very funny joke. You know that you’re only a probationary member of our group. Ever since Amity got her job at the library and stopped hanging out with us, we’ve had an opening for someone new. Someone who can provide a certain kind of…service to us. But tread carefully, A-goose-tus, there are many witches out there who would kill for a shot at where you are. You can be replaced, very easily.”
Gus swallowed hard, “I know, and I promise you, Half-a-wi- I mean, Willow can be of service!” Willow looked as though she was about to sink into the bleachers.
Boscha appeared to think for a moment, then smiled. “Well, maybe you have something there A-goose-tus. We’ll talk about it later tonight, maybe Half-a-witch can be of use…as a pet!”
Boscha and her crew laughed that horrible laugh once more.
Gus forced his mouth into a smile, “...yeah, that’s the spirit!”
”Oh, by the way, A-goose-tus, Skara has a test in Bard class tomorrow and we have plans tonight, she’s gonna need you to take it for her, so study up!”
“Sure thing!” Gus smiled hard as Boscha led her crew away, then turned back to Willow. She looked up at him, on the verge of tears. Gus stood over her, his own face looking bleak. Once again, he forced a pained smile, “It’s the most us weirdos can hope for, right?” Then he turned, and slowly began walking away.
Luz was horrified. She wanted to throw up. This…was awful. Amity..the library…she has to be ok!...The Collector watched on too, his face twisted with tears. “Why…why are they doing this? Those are my friends, why are they saying these things? Why are they hurting each other?!?” Luz finally broke. She fell to her knees, hugging the Collector tight, and they both wept openly.
They stayed like that for minutes, then Luz took a hand, dried both of their eyes, and said, “Listen. I was wrong about Hexside. We’ve got to go to the Library. I don’t know why, but I feel that’s where we have to go.”
The Collector hiccupped softly between sobs. His arms were wrapped tightly around Francois, hugging the stuffed rabbit so tight Luz thought it might pop. “Why? I don’t want to see anymore!” He furiously shook his head side to side, squeezing his eyes shut. “This isn’t fun, I don’t like this, I don’t wanna be here, I wanna go home!”
“I know, I know..I do too. But we have to keep going.” Her voice was fragile and halting, but still, underneath, something remained firm, steadfast. The Collector's head stopped shaking, and hung limply from his shoulders. “I don’t know what we’re going to find, and I don’t know how we can get out of this nightmare, but I know we have to keep moving forward. And I promise, that no matter what happens, I won’t leave you. Through whatever may come, I’ll be right here with you.” The Collector’s head rose, and his eyes met Luz’s gaze. Luz slowly got to her feet, still holding his hand. “One last time…?” The Collector responded by squeezing Luz’s hand. Luz gave a nod, and together, they began to walk back towards the town…
_______________________________________________________________________
The dream had always been leading here.
As they stood outside the Bonesborough library, Luz could feel it. The impending sense of…finality. No matter what she found inside, Luz knew that it would be the last horror she could take. Either they found a way home, or she would be driven mad. Everything in this world was wrong, every friend lost, every ally defeated, every familiar place made strange. Dark. Lifeless.
Hopeless.
This was it, this was the last glimmer of hope that she had. It would all end, right here.
Amity… this was the first place I got to see the real Amity. Warm, kind, caring, loving. She has to be here somewhere… she has to be…
Luz looked down at The Collector. He had half buried his face in Francois’ head, holding the rabbit in the crook of his left arm, while still holding Luz’s hand with his right. Still, he managed a small nod. Closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath, Luz and The Collector stepped through the front door of the Library.
As they entered, Luz noticed that the Library looked more… empty. The spaces between shelves were wider, and there were more empty spots of open floor. There were less lamps on as well, although the natural light from the windows was more than enough to illuminate the building. Still, the light from the windows cast sharp shadows on the floor and over the stacks of books. As they pressed in further, Luz only encountered one witch-ling reading at a desk, and two librarians restocking the shelves. The place was almost completely deserted.
“Now where do we go?” The Collector asked.
“Back there,” Luz replied, pointing toward the back right of the building, “That’s the children’s section. Amity reads stories to kids there sometimes. That’s where…” Luz trailed off. She never really considered it. Was that really the moment? The moment she fell in love with Amity? At very least, it was the moment that proved to her that there was more to this particular witch than she let on. Then she got a better look at that side of her later that night, when her, Edric, and Emira broke into the library after hours. Amity’s secret hideaway…it feels like a lifetime ago…
“Well, I don’t see anyone here....”
Snapping out of her thoughts, Luz followed the Collector’s finger, pointing to an alcove which led to a small room. The sign above the alcove read Kid’s Corner. The room itself was dark, and only light came from the small, frosted window on the back wall. In the alcove, a free standing sign advertised STORYTIME WITH MISS AMITY. A large piece of paper had been stapled over the sign, and written in red pen was the word CANCELLED.
Luz stared at the sign. No, no, this…this couldn’t be it. There HAD to be something else to find, some other direction or hint of where to go. It couldn’t end here…
A flash of green in her peripherals caught Luz’s attention. She turned just in time to see a green ponytail disappear behind a bookshelf. “Amity?” Luz ran toward the shelf, and practically flew around the corner.
There she was.
“AMITY!” Luz felt relief flooding into her, she was here, right in front of her!...And then she noticed what she was wearing.
A long white cloak with golden trim trailed behind her. Her blouse was a muted cream color, matching her trousers, which tucked into her grey boots. Her hair was a bright mint green, slicked back, with no hint of her brown roots peaking through. As she turned around, Luz could make out the symbol on the clasp of her cloak.
The symbol of the Emperor’s Coven.
Luz felt her legs start to give way. Her vision swam, and it took everything she had to remain standing. Amity, meanwhile, continued to examine the books on the shelf in front of her. Every now and again, she’d open a book, read its contents briefly, then place it on a cart that she had by her side. After repeating this process several times, she pushed the cart out of the bookcases and into the aisle. Luz followed her as she carted the books over to the doorway labeled FORBIDDEN STACKS.
The Collector turned the corner behind Luz, and seeing the door, asked “What’s back there?”
“The Forbidden Stacks. Where they keep the books and information that are deemed ‘restricted’. Amity helped me sneak in there once…” As Luz spoke, Amity was busy again with the books. She picked up one book at a time, and dropped them through a slot in the door to the Forbidden Stacks, labeled FOR ECHO MICE CONSUMPTION.
After placing the last book in the slot, Amity parked the cart off to the side of the door, then proceeded to walk away. Following her, Luz and the Collector made their way throughout the library, until eventually Amity stopped at what seemed to be a wall. Luz knew exactly where they were. Within the Romance section, Amity scanned the bookshelf for one particular book. THE LONE WITCH AND THE SECRET ROOM. Finding it, she pulled it from the shelf. The click of a mechanism activating could be heard, and the bookshelf swung aside, revealing a doorway.
“Woah…” The Collector’s eyes shone again with pure childlike wonder. Luz actually chuckled for a moment, for a godlike being who has beheld the wonders of the cosmos, he could still be surprised by a secret door. “This is Amity’s private room. Most people don’t know it's here, it was a whole big thing when I found out about it.” Luz looked around. Surprisingly, it was pretty similar to the last time she saw it. A small desk with a candle sat on the far wall, a handful of pillows lay on the hardwood floor, and several glow in the dark stars and moons hung from strings on the ceiling.
Amity lit the candle on the desk before closing the door behind her. Once she was certain it was locked, she walked over to the bookshelf next to the desk. A display of THE GOOD WITCH AZURA books sat on the shelf, and reaching behind the display, Amity retrieved a small, leather bound book with a hand drawn cover. “The diary…” Luz whispered to herself more than anyone.
Amity proceeded to sit at the desk, and retrieving a pencil from the drawer, she began to write, narrating aloud as she did.
“Hey Diary. So, my new job as a “Probationary Emperor’s Coven” member is kinda the pits. Due to the new regulations on what information on wild magic can be made available to the public, I’ve spent most of my time going through stacks upon stacks of books, determining which can stay on the floor and which need to go to the Echo Mice. Still, I will admit, it's nice getting to spend more time at the library. I just wish that I could have kept the children’s storytime going, I’m just so busy…” Amity sighed, and a single strand of hair fell onto her face. Immediately, she brushed it aside, and remade her ponytail to ensure it remained out of the way.
She continued,“I don’t want to sound ungrateful, being given the opportunity to work with the Emperor’s Coven is an honor. And honestly…Hexside never really felt right for me. The friends Mom and Dad picked out for me, I never clicked with. And Willow being there… I was almost relieved when Mom told me they were pulling me out of school. Dad is still helping me with my abomination lessons, or at least, he orders the abominations to, and Mom pulled some strings to get me this job. Technically, I’m the first ever ‘Probationary member,’ the position didn’t exist until Mom advocated for it. I’m willing to bet that the last Head of the Coven quitting suddenly had something to do with it. At this point, I’m almost expecting to be nominated to replace her, and knowing Mom, I’ll likely get it. Yay, more responsibility.” Amity paused again, then erased the last line that she wrote.
“Either way, I am a Blight. I have to uphold the family name, I cannot show weakness. Mom keeps telling me that one day I will be head of the family. Apparently, Edric and Emira aren’t in the running. The future of the Blight family, Blight industries, maybe the isles themselves, will be in my hands. Mom always looks so satisfied when she says things like that. In all honesty, I kind of wish I could just read to the kids here for the rest of my life.”
Amity looked up from her writing, and over at the Good Witch Azura books. A strange expression came over her face, and then she continued writing.“You know Diary, for some reason I keep thinking about the Good Witch Azura. All these years, I always imagined that I could be like Azura, traveling around, doing good deeds, saving people. But now, I…I think I might be more like Hecate. She has two faces, the one she shows to everyone around her, and the one she keeps hidden that she’s ashamed of. In her quest to protect her people and uphold her promise to them, she ends up hurting others. She stands alone against Azura, while Azura has her friends she can turn to.”
The light in the room grew dimmer as the candle burned down. Luz could see shadows beginning to form on Amity’s face. “Maybe what I need is an Azura to come and oppose me, push back on me. Maybe then I can finally be free from this…”
Amity stopped mid-sentence. She blinked in the dim light, then proceeded to furiously erase the entire last paragraph she wrote. Her face scrunched into an almost snarl, and for a moment, Luz could swear she saw tears in her eyes. Then the moment was gone, and she was back to the calm, cool, composed Amity that Luz once thought she was.
“Anyway, what’s done is done. I have to get going, I have a Blight Industries demonstration to get to. Bye for now.” Amity proceeded to get up from the desk, place the diary back in its place on the shelf, and blow out the candle on the desk. She then left the room, closing the door behind her, leaving The Collector and Luz in the dim light of the glow-in-the-dark moons and stars.
___________________________________________________________________
Luz felt numb. There was nothing. Everyone that she knew…they were gone. This world was lost, unrecognizable. How…how could all of this be because of her? The world should be better without her, why…why is it this...?
Luz slumped against a bookshelf and slid to the floor, her eyes wide and glazed over. The more she thought about it, the less she understood.
The Collector kneeled down in front of her. “Luz? Are you ok?” his voice was pleading, he was desperate for an answer too.
Luz’s voice was raspy and quiet, “I don’t understand…how can all of this…be because of one person? Just one person’s absence, that’s impossible. It can’t just be me, can it?”
The Collector looked down at Francois, then looked back up at Luz. “I-I don’t know.”
Luz continued, “You said before, this world was missing something. That something can’t just be me. Everyone…everyone’s just given up. I can’t save everyone, I didn’t save anyone, they all saved themselves; you did a lot of the saving too, all I did was punch a guy! Here, they just…didn’t.” Luz felt spent. She was out of time, out of hope. “This is just a dark world without hope, that’s all, it has nothing to do with me…”
“Wait.” Suddenly, The Collector stood up. Luz looked up at him from her slumped over position on the floor. “Say that again.”
Luz looked confused, “Uhhh, that this is a dark world without hope?...”
“It's a riddle…” The Collector started pacing the hardwood floor, his hand to his chin, the other still holding Francois.
“What’s a riddle?”
“What this world is missing, I bet it's the key to us getting out of here! Of course, the sleeping me would want to make this a game!” The Collector jumped a little at this revelation, floating down from the apex slowly.
“Wait, wait wait, so if it's not hope, then what is the world missing?”
“Uhhhh, I don’t know!”
Luz frowned. This could be tricky, riddles by their nature are often obtuse, let alone one cooked up by the Collector’s subconscious. Who knew if it would even make sense? But as things stand, it really couldn’t get much worse, so might as well give this a whirl.
Luz pressed her fingers against her temples, her ‘thinking pose’, and began, “Ok, let’s assume that the people here lack hope. What does that mean?” The Collector placed his hand under his chin, appearing to be deep in thought. He scrunched his mouth and narrowed his eyes as far as they could go, Luz could practically hear the effort of his muscles tensing. After a full minute of this, The Collector raised a finger into the air, took a deep breath, and said, “Ahhhh...I got nothin’”
Luz groaned “Ughhhhhhhhh, this could take forever. And it's so dark in here, can we interact with the candle do you think?…”
“WAIT!” The Collector exclaimed, loud enough it echoed in the small space, and made Luz jump a bit. “You said something about that before, that this is a dark world without hope.”
“Yeahhh….?”
“Well, what can give you hope in the dark, when you can’t see?”
It hit Luz like a truck, all at once she realized she knew the answer. She reached into her back pocket, pulling out her drawing pad and pencil. She barely even had to look at the page, she had drawn it so many times. When the glyph was done, she tapped the page with her finger. The paper began to float in the air, and crumpled in on itself. Suddenly, a bright yellow glowing orb existed where the paper had once been. Luz felt its warmth as she held her hands underneath it. “Light…that’s the answer.”
“Not just light…Luz…” Luz looked at the Collector, she could see his smile, it was almost shining in the glow from the light spell. “It is you, Luz. You are what’s missing. You’re the light. You spread it, from person to person. You made me want to grow up, you made me believe I could be better!”
Luz felt her face growing hot. Her mouth hung open. Each one of her friends… her family… she gave them hope, she made them believe in a better life. And they passed that belief on to others, and others, and more and more and more. She carried the light within her, and each person whose life that she touched, carried that light forward with them.
“That’s….a pretty good riddle….” Luz felt the tears rolling down her cheeks, but this time, she couldn’t stop smiling. The Collector grinned even wider, and jumped into Luz’s arms. They laughed and hugged, tightly, as the light spell grew brighter and brighter……
______________________________________________________________________
When Luz opened her eyes, she was in a completely different place.
She was staring at the ceiling of the Owl House, looking at the constellations drawn into the wood. She had never noticed how intricate the designs were…
Eda’s head poked into Luz’s view, “OH THANK TITAN! Luz, are you ok?”
Lilith’s head followed soon after, her bushy red hair drawing Luz’s eye, “Luz! Look at me, can you tell me where you are?”
King’s head poked in directly above Luz’s face, “OHMIGOSH, LUZ, WHYDIDYOUSCAREMELIKETHATPLEASEDON’TEVERDOTHATAGAIN!”
Luz bolted upright. She was on the couch in the middle of the living room, surrounded by her family, her friends…wait, “Where's?...”
“YAWWNNNNNNNNNN!”
Looking across the couch from her, The Collector let out a big yawn and wiped the sleep from his eyes. Francois was tucked underneath his other arm. As he peered around, his vision came to rest on Luz. “Luz!” He instantly flew into her arms, and once again, they hugged.
“Ok, now, this is real, right?” asked Luz.
“Well, I feel suuuuppppppper worn out, like I just used a TOOON of magic, so I’ll say…YES! We’re BACK!” The two couldn’t stop laughing as they got off the couch and twirled in the living room, much to everyone’s utter confusion.
It took a minute for Luz and the Collector to calm down enough to notice everyone looking at them. Once they did, Luz gave a small chuckle. “So, uhhhh, what did we miss?”
Willow started “WELL, we all thought that you were in the bathroom…” Gus interrupted “...but SOMEONE decided they wanted to sneak out the window!” Both of her best friends crossed their arms and shook their heads disapprovingly.
Eda continued, “After Amity realized you weren’t in the bathroom, we started looking for you. It was Hooty’s idea to…”
“OOOH OOOH, LET ME! I FOUND YOU LUZ!” Hooty looked so excited to contribute, and Lilith responded by rubbing his head, “Yes, you did a very good job Hootsifer.”
Eda, looking a bit annoyed at the interruption, continued again, “Yes, as I was saying, it was Hooty’s idea to look around outside, and he found you passed out over by the cliff, next to The Collector, no less! None of us even knew he was here on the Isles!”
Suddenly, a flash of yellow light came through the front door, and the form of Hunter appeared, carrying a first aid kit and holding a tourniquet in his mouth, “OK, I’m here! I brought first aid supplies just in casssee…” Hunter trailed off as he saw the now upright and mobile Luz and Collector standing in the middle of the room. “Oh, well, umm, glad to see you’re ok Luz!”
“I called him here because he has experience with mindscape infiltration,” Eda continued, “We figured you and The Collector must have been having some kind of shared consciousness dream. Raine should also be coming here soon with a few of the old coven heads, they were gonna try and infiltrate your shared mindscape. We were still debating on exactly how to do that, as none of us have ever had to consider entering the mindscape of a cosmic being until now!” Luz smiled sheepishly, while the Collector looked intrigued. “Oooooh, mindscape infiltrating? What’s that?”
“...I’ll tell you later”, replied Luz.
“Well, there was one more person who was also planning on going in, she was pretty insistent about it.” Eda remarked.
Luz suddenly felt a pair of eyes drilling into her back. She turned around slowly, to see a familiar pair of very angry yellow eyes hiding behind bright purple, cotton candy hued hair. Amity slowly stood up from the armchair where she’d been sitting quietly this entire time, and crossed to Luz. The Collector slowly slid his arms from around Luz, and nervously began to back away.
“Luz….” Amity began. Luz could hear her voice tremble with rage. “I can’t believe you…” Luz swallowed hard, this wasn’t going to be pretty. Then, Amity sniffed, and when she looked up, Luz saw the long tear tracks on her face. Amity made a small fist, raised it up, then very slowly and gently brought it down against Luz’s chest. “How dare you scare me like that!...” Her tears flowed freely, and her fist raised and fell harmlessly against Luz’s chest several more times. “I know that the Belos thing had been bothering you, so when I realized you weren’t in the bathroom I went to look for you and when Hooty found you outside you weren’t moving and I thought that maybe…” Amity trailed off into soft sobs.
Luz wrapped her hand around Amity’s closed fist, and held it over her heart. They touched foreheads, and Luz felt a few more sobs come from her own chest. After a minute, Amity looked up at Luz once more, “Don’t you ever do something like that ever again, you hear me Luz Noceda?”
“I hear you, Amity Blight, I hear you.” They embraced again, slowly rocking back and forth, together.
From up the walk, a voice called “Hey! We’re here!” In through the door walked Raine Whispers, Darius, and Eberwolf, former coven heads all. Raine’s face lit up when they saw The Collector and Luz up and about. “Well hey, looks like our services won’t be needed after all!”
“Oh great, you know I hate coming here, Raine! That house demon is always so…filthy! I don’t want him anywhere near my cloak!” Darius grabbed at the edges of his clothing, which were made of abomination goo anyway. Eberwolf let out a grateful yip, and spun in a circle.
“Alright, everyone listen up!” Eda yelled. The room fell silent. “Now I don’t normally like hosting parties, cleanup is such a hassle, but since everyone’s already turned out for Luz here, how about I pull out the cheap apple blood and we have some laughs, huh?”
“Oooh, I can make my fresh fairy pie recipe!” Amity chimed in.
“Alright but don’t forget, everyone! If you make a mess in my house, you clean my house! Ask the squirts there, they know!” Eda shot a wink over to Luz, and with that, everyone started talking at once.
Amid the hustle and bustle of the crowd, The Collector floated over to Luz. With a sheepish look, he said “Hey Luz, sooooooooo, sorry that our game didn’t quite work out. I’m trying to do better…” Without saying anything, Luz pulled The Collector into another hug, a move that surprised the cosmic deity.
“Thank you, Collector. Yeah, we probably shouldn’t do that ever again, but in a weird way, I think you did help me.”
“I did?” The Collector’s eyes shone like stars.
“Yes you did, big man!” Luz hoisted the young entity onto her shoulder and looked around at the friends and family she had found, the life she had made for herself and everyone else.
“I guess I do deserve to be happy.”