"In practice, imagination tends to be more important than knowledge.
And company tends to be more important than success."
The day was perfect, the sun shining, not deadly plagues coming in their direction and the little clear serene and peaceful…
And next to all that beauty… there were them.
"Kid, you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes!"
Eda sighed and raised her staff, spinning it and making the spell circle grow. She looked at Luz, the teen just nodded at her.
"Don't blame me later!" She shouted, and the magic blast was gone.
Luz glared at the attack and raised her hand while her bracelet started to glow. An ice wall rose in front of her, blocking the blast. It didn't stop it, though. The power went through and the energy of Eda's magic hit the ocean, and there wasn't any sign of Luz.
Eda blinked. "Where did that-?"
A little grumble from the ground made her jump back, using Owlbert to gain altitude and barely avoid the growing vines that tried to catch her. She gaped a little before making a new spell, multiple heads of earth and stone with Hooty's shape started to cut down the vines.
And then, she had to avoid the giant flaming owl figure.
Eda dived, barely avoiding the thing and smiling at it when it turned back. She jumped down to the ground and spun her staff, making her own owl of fire magic and letting it crush against the first one. She made a protection spell and watched the explosion from the clash of magic, spinning over herself to raise her staff in the direction of the woods, she pushed magic through it.
She heard the scream and just laughed.
"That was amazing, Kiddo!" Eda shouted, turning to the tree line.
Luz floated towards her surrounded by Eda's magic. The girl was sulking and muttering things to herself, not caring to look up to her.
"Not enough. I need to improve more…"
"More? Kiddo, you already mastered four spells, and got the hang of giving a new form to two of 'hem!" Eda told her, letting her on the ground. "I'm surprised 'bout the owl, it looks fierce."
"But it's not enough to deal with Belos, is it?" Luz replied, glaring at the ground. "And I can't go smaller yet, I could hurt someone I don't want to."
Eda sighed while combing a hand through her hair. Luz came back that night three days ago covered in sweat and with such a terror plastered on her face, worse than anything Eda had never seen before, she had then blurted something about the emperor just to faint the very next second.
The morning after it, Luz had woken up screaming and shaking.
"Luz, you need to relax a little."
Bad choice of words.
"How could I?! The most powerful witch in the isles wants me! And I don't even know if it's imprisoned, banished, or death!"
"Could be all," King commented from his little place next to the clearing they were training in.
"Not helping!" Eda shouted back at the little demon.
"I don't… I don't know what else to do, Eda!" Luz groaned. "I can't learn new spells at this point, and I don't know why! It seems like I just got blocked after I managed to get the scroll one!"
Eda's eyes went to the bracelet, the scroll glyph also shining on the metal, the color was a faint orange, similar to the light glyph and the form were two parallel sets of parallel lines connected by an 'X' in the middle.
"How did you get it again?" Eda asked.
Luz looked at her bracelet. "I was using my scroll and Hooty came in by the window, I threw it outside and the sunlight passed through it while it was falling… I just saw the design in the shadow."
"So… just as random as the others?" Eda crossed her arms. "You could've got one while we did the laundry two days ago."
Luz cringed at that. "Why did you have three wedding dresses and four funeral ones in my size again?"
"Never sold 'em."
"But still-"
"The point here is!" Eda cut her off. "You just get them at random, Marcus was a huge nerd for old things, and he didn't have anything either, did he?"
Eda still remembered the incredulously long chat the man gave them when they went for dinner the night before.
Luz sighed and dipped her head. "I wish I had a guide for this or something…"
"Oh, quit whining you," Eda said, patting Luz on the back. "You are getting the hang of those four spells better every day, that owl thing is proof enough, also the fact that you can grow vines and trees is good. I promise that in no time you'll also have the ice glyph doing what you want. Remember kiddo, is not about how many spells you learn, but how you use them."
"…You think so?"
"I know so! Who do you think ya're talking to?" Eda beamed at her. "Now let's go to the stand, we need to work if we want to eat."
"I thought the money you got from the 'Bat Queen' would get you set for life."
"I also thought about it, but what fun is a life without a bit of work in it? 'Sides, I rather save those snails for a rainy day."
"To buy supplies if you can't keep selling on the market?"
"What? No! For the time I can't put a force field on Hooty and have to buy things to fix him, that house sure is picky with the wood you use on him!"
Luz laughed at that, and Eda smiled.
The kid had so much pressure on her shoulders. Eda couldn't imagine… well, she could, but she was a somewhat adult when her status as a rough witch started, and she was never visited by the emperor himself.
That gave her a bad feeling. What could he want with Luz?
Eda got the staff on the sky and Luz used her plant glyph to impulse herself and King in her arms to jump and land behind her.
"I need to look into this…" Eda thought, looking ahead.
That faceless bastard wasn't getting anything from Luz.
….
Selling trash was never something Luz would've thought of as 'honest work'.
Curious enough, it was the most legal of all Eda's activities.
Luz watched all the people passing by with wonder, imagining how such diversity had never led to anything bad.
"What are you thinking about now?" King asked while he got on top of the table. "You are all gloomy."
"Just that humankind made a big deal of the smallest things." Luz shrugged, turning to look at their 'merchandise'. "Can't believe we haven't sold anything yet."
"Yeah, human trash sold better with you being the one handling it." King jumped down the table. "Maybe because you know what it actually does."
Luz smiled and leaned on the table. "Are we too subtle in our business ways?"
"Does subtle mean ugly?"
Luz turned and all her good mood—which wasn't much after that morning—received a hit.
She didn't want to deal with that girl.
She smiled as cheerfully as she could anyway. "Hey, Boscha!"
"You know her?" King asked.
Luz did know her, at least from looks and rumors. After their little encounter on the way to Amity's conjuring and the stories Willow had told her, Boscha was not the kind of girl you should be messing with.
"...Hexsians!" Luz continued, ignoring King's question. "See anything you like?"
Boscha, as one would've expected, answered. "Ew, no. I just came to take an ironic Penstagram next to the loser daughter of a criminal."
"That's not funny Boscha." Luz shook her head once the picture was taken.
"And what are you gonna do? Force me to buy something from your little place?"
"I could charge you the photo," Luz said, leaning over the table and shooting her a smile.
That got her off balance. Luz considered it a win.
"What are you doing?" King asked, jabbing her leg with his paws. "You should blast them with magic!"
"King, is not worth it," Luz sighed, looking Boscha walk away. "You don't understand how to deal with teens like her."
Luz didn't expect him to pull her down and glare at her. "No! I'll show you what to do!"
Luz then had to watch King scream, get picked up as a stuffed animal, and pulled away from their little stall further into the market with Boscha's gang stopping at the end of the street to dress him up.
"…And that just happened." Luz sighed.
There was a crash and Luz turned to see Eda walking up to her, a new load of trash on her hands.
"What did just happen?" Eda asked, leaving the load on the table. "Where is King?"
"Kidnapped over there," Luz pointed to the gang of teens.
Eda looked and broke into laughs. "They put a dress on him?!"
"He still looks adorable," Luz said, leaning on the table. "Even if he wanted me to blast them to bits."
"Why didn't ya?"
"Why don't you blast the guards every time they come here?"
Eda got the message with only that, thankfully.
"Besides, it's not worth it anyway, wasting magic on her will only get me problems… not like I could control it anyway."
"I can't believe you haven't stopped thinking about it."
"Eda, I have only four spells and I can't even control their output!" Luz whined. "How should I deal with that?"
"Relaxing, Kiddo. With this desperation, the only thing you're gonna get is more and more stress."
"What do you suggest I should think about then?" Luz groaned, looking at Eda. "Maybe about the fact I don't know who my blood family is yet? Or maybe, all my problems with my mom? Or, hey! What about the deal with the emperor? That would be distracting!"
Eda stared at her and Luz felt a sudden rush of shame creep its way through her and the anger and shame were just... clogging her throat. She didn't have to take that on Eda, she shouldn't be taking it with anyone.
But things built up.
"Sorry, sorry… I shouldn't…"
"No, no, it's OK," Eda said, patting her back. "I almost forget you have all that on you, Kiddo. Don't apologize. I do wish you could chill with something-"
"Eda! Blast those teens into ashes!"
Luz turned and almost cracked at the sight. King was wearing a yellow dress with a sunhat that was far too big for him.
"What did they do to you?" Eda asked between laughs, unable to hold anything back.
Luz could swear she saw a tear rolling down her cheek!
"They ruined my style, and my honor, that's what they did!" King shouted, ripping the dress apart.
"I like how 'style' comes first," Luz said, smirking.
"You could've blasted them to nothingness if you wanted," King replied, "just like you almost did to that kid in Covention!"
Luz tensed and looked down. The flashes of what she had almost done to Amity came back to her.
So long, nightmares.
She had managed to get a few nights of sleep thanks to Eda's potions, but she couldn't depend on those. The images always came back, and she had been able to hold herself… as long nobody talked about it.
"Thanks for reminding me 'bout that." Luz groaned, hitting the table with her forehead. "Just…Just… Solo eso necesitaba…" She muttered against the wood.
"Well done, dingus!" Eda said, and Luz heard a 'snap' sound. Probably she hit King.
"What?"
"Not everybody thinks back to those events as happy as ya!"
"…Oh," King said, looking down awkwardly. "Sorry, Luz. I didn't-"
"No matter," Luz mumbled.
"Kid, you can't let this bother you forever."
"Not like I want it to."
"But you are doing it."
"Eda, this is about the fact my powers would go crazy the moment I use them. I could hurt someone or-"
Kill them…
She let the words unspoken, but the pressure was there.
"I don't even know why this happened in the first place," she continued, "I mean, even when I came here, my spells, while powerful, never made all this… mess."
Eda made a sound and sighed. "I think it's because of your bracelet."
"Why would it be my bracelet?" Luz asked, covering her head with her arms.
"Because." Eda ran a hand through the small exposed part of Luz's hair. "The bracelet is on your arm, so to say, is in constant connection with your heart, which gives it and the spell you cast with it, a direct line to the power source."
"What does that mean?" King asked.
"It means that Luz's spells could get hijacked because she doesn't control when the magic stops going to bracelet unless she orders all her magic power to cease at once. Witches are always running magic through their bodies, it's in our blood! Luz has to stop that natural process every time she cuts a spell so it won't go berserk."
"…That makes sense," King conceded.
"What am I supposed to do then?" Luz groaned.
"Generally, witches learn with the spell circle because the bigger you do it, the more power you drain," Eda explained, stopping her hand and taking it away from Luz's hair. "But since you don't use circles, that method won't do."
"Then what? I just learn how to block all my magic in a second?"
"Too risky."
"Then?!" Luz screamed without raising her forehead still against the table.
It took Eda a few minutes to think of a proper response.
"What if you try concentrating your magic somewhere else?"
Luz finally looked up. "I can do that?"
"Yeah! How did you think the magic staffs worked?" Eda replied, smirking. "You make your Pawlisman by leaving a piece of yourself and mixing it with the right materials, that way, your staff can do magic without you actually doing it, it's also why having one makes you more powerful."
Luz practically jumped. "I see!"
"How is she supposed to do that? It's not like you are going to give her her own staff right now." King commented.
"Didn't say you had another way of making spells before your bracelet?" Eda asked her.
Luz nodded, getting her hand in her side bag, taking out of it a deck of cards. They were actually just post-it notes, but each one of them had a glyph on them.
"I used to use these," Luz showed them to Eda.
Eda took one and studied it. "How?"
"I just tapped it and the magic would be sucked out of me," Luz said, looking at the rest in her hands. "I haven't used them in years… I might be out of practice."
"If you haven't used them, why do you still have 'em?"
She shrugged. "Nostalgia, I guess?"
"You get sentimental over the weirdest things." Eda shook her head and called Owlbert. "Whatever you do, try not to destroy the stand, I need to run an errand."
"More elixir?" King asked.
"Yeah, my supply is pretty much full. But better have some reserves." Eda responded with a shrug. "Hold the fort, kid."
"Yes, mom!"
Eda snorted and the next second she was off. Luz smiled after the woman and put her 'cards' away. She needed to test them away from the city if her newly found lack of self-control also applied to that kind of casting.
"Hey, Luz," King talked after some minutes, "I'm sorry for, well, saying that."
"Don't worry much about it."
"No, I mean it, I know you haven't… you haven't really got over it."
Luz looked down and sighed. King would know about her nightmares, he slept in her room most of the time.
"…Is OK, I'm fine," she lied, as many other times. "Now just concentrate on selling something, we don't want Eda to whine about not making a single snail today, even when we have a fortune back at home."
….
"There you, go Eda, hope is enough."
"It'll have to be Morton," Eda replied, handing him a little bag. "Thanks."
"You are my best client, I'll make sure to keep you alive."
"And that exactly what I'm counting on."
Eda laughed along with the small alchemist. Morton was by far one of the best, but his appearance and the existence of the healer's coven, kept his business small and slow, more than anything because he worked with poisons and antidotes.
Nobody would care for one if with one spell you could be done.
"I'll have more in four days, though, with a box of two dozens, I doubt you'll need it," he said, passing her the last bottles.
"My house now has a kid in it, a teen, so I better stay prepared."
"Oh, yeah! I heard!" Morton cheered and laughed a little. "Congrats, Eda!"
"Why?"
"Well, you usually say it when someone has a baby."
"My kid is fourteen, Morton."
"Yeah, but you got her back after all this time," he pointed out, "so congratulations for reuniting with your family. Tell me if you need anything, any time."
Eda stared at him before the laugh won over her. She couldn't believe herself. She? Talking about kids with the alchemist? And more unbelievable was that she was talking about her —pretended—kid!
Life does change a lot.
"I'll have it in mind," Eda said and stopped.
Luz midnight wakes and long days with bags under her eyes came to her.
"Actually, do you have anything that helps sleep?"
"Sleep?"
"Yeah, the kid is having a rough time. I've tried giving her lavender and other relaxing herbs, and she fell, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea using much of those."
"It could create a dependency, true." Morton nodded. "How strong do you need it to be?"
"Just enough for her to not have nightmares."
Morton gave her a sympathetic smile and nodded again. "I think I have something, wait here!"
"Don't take too long!"
Eda waited for ten minutes and sent her Elixir inside the portal door when no one was looking; it was a lot easier to take it out from the human realm in another place than charge with the stupid thing for all her way back.
"I got it," Morton said, handing her a long bottle with slight orange liquid inside. "Is something similar to your elixir, but instead of keeping curses away, this will keep her dreams apart."
"Her dreams?" Eda repeated.
"Yeah, is not popular since it works on both, good and bad dreams. But if your kid really needs sleep, tell her to have one sip before going to bed."
"And this won't generate dependency as Lavender does?"
"No, since it doesn't do much until you are already asleep, the potion keeps dreams away for the night, but more than that? It's just painted water."
"Not the words I expected from an alchemist."
"I could never fool you, anyway."
Eda laughed hard and hit, without any real strength, his shoulder. "Sure you wouldn't! How much?"
"This time is on the house," Morton said, rubbing his shoulder. "Take it as a welcome gift for your kid, I wish I'll see her sometime around."
"Oh, you will," Eda replied, "thanks again, Morton. See ya!"
"Bye, Eda."
Eda walked away slowly, looking at the potion. Her mind went back to Luz, and she cringed. When was the last time she actively cared that much about a person? She couldn't remember!
Luz was starting to feel more and more like family, in more than one way if Eda was honest with herself. The little game of calling her 'mom' every now and then was… different somehow, those days.
Luz was stopping to be a pretending daughter to a… surrogate one, more or less.
"I can't believe I'm thinking about this stuff." Eda thought, closing her eyes and shaking her head.
"Watch out, hag!" Eda heard and turned.
A teen slammed himself against her and Eda spun around. She looked down, finding the damn brat and she raised a hand prepared to blast him a good one…! Until she noticed three things.
The potion for Luz had fallen, now the dial was shattered on the floor.
The stupid teen had a demon that looked suspiciously like King on his shoulder.
And a pair of hands held her from behind, pinning her against the ground.
"What?! Hey, who do you think you are?!" Eda shouted and tried to move.
The person over her placed their knee—or that's Eda felt—in the middle of her back, taking the air out of her lungs with that single movement, at the same time it provoked her a cough attack.
"We got her!" She heard someone scream, all making sense immediately.
Emperor guards...
Eda then felt something metallic closing over her wrists. "What is your deal dude?" She shouted when the cough had stopped.
"Edalyn Clawthorne," said a voice that didn't belong to any of the guards. "You are hereby under arrest."
"Under what charges? I haven't done anything!"
"You have a pretty extensive list of charges, alright. But right now, you are under arrest for a simple thing." A thin hand showed her one piece of broken glass. "Throwing trash."
Eda gaped and tried to fight them, but it was useless, her hands were also held in a way that stopped her from casting spells. The guards pulled her head upwards and Eda saw a pair of blue eyes she recognized just so well.
"Hello, Edalyn," Lilith said, "we need to talk."
….
"I can't believe he did this…" Luz groaned, turning a corner.
She had to leave the stand closed and secured with the little protection she could muster—a pretty thick wall of ice—to look out for King.
Why did he have to push the teens' bottoms?!
"I swear, I'm teaching King teen dramas tonight!" Luz thought, rushing past a street, stopping and going back her tracks. "What…?"
The street was utter chaos, well, more than usual, since that was the 'Boiling Isles'. Luz saw multiple things at once, from a bunch of tentacles breaking stuff around stands to an angry elf punching people, and even other demons that had their faces twisted in horrible ways!
Also, that good-looking guy crying in front of a mirror.
"Why do I have a bad feeling 'bout this?" Luz muttered, walking through the madness.
She ran into a few people who wanted to pretty much stab her before she caught sight of the source of all that chaos.
"You can't be serious…"
Luz saw how the group of teenagers—all the boys Boscha hanged out regularly—were moving behind King, who just kept blasting orders of how and when to make someone's life miserable.
Luz massaged her eyes before taking action. She had to get King back and after that? Eda could help her think of something to deal with him… Of course, that would've been if someone hasn't thrown her to the ground with a push.
"This is all, your, fault!"
Luz looked up, finding three blue eyes glaring at her. "Boscha, what is your problem?!"
"Your stupid pet!"
"Ah?! You kidnapped him!"
"I didn't think his stupidity would be in the same frequency as my stupid followers!"
"Not even friends? Wow, this girl is cold." Luz thought, standing up. "You think that justifies something?"
"Just take him back!"
Luz stared, her mind running all over the situation.
Was it wrong to find it funny?
Eda had also told her to find another distraction. She looked around, finding a small stand that hadn't been touched; it was a simple game, like the carnival ones. Throwing balls through rings seemed like a childish, harmless, and fun distraction… also a good competition.
"Tell you what, Boscha," Luz said, making the last letter last longer. "I'll take King back… if you can beat me."
"Ah? You want another 'witches duel' that fast?" Boscha said back. "I'm not like Amity, I'll crush you!"
"I'm not going to fight you, don't have the energy or the interest." Luz walked to the stand and turned to see Boscha. "Beat me on this, if you think you can."
The triclop girl blinked several times before laughing in a way that Luz just could describe as annoying.
"You want to lose like a child? Pretty well." Boscha walked and took a ball from the demon in charge of the stand. "How do you want to lose?"
Luz looked at the game, there were rings, balls, and stuffed animals. She was never good at sports back home because of her mind being more about hiding her magic… also, she never did any exercise that much. But in the isles, with all she had been doing so far?
She could take her chances.
"First to fail three times," Luz said, smiling. "Deal?"
"You are about to go down," Boscha said, making her first shoot.
And it passed right through the middle of the ring. Luz smirked and shot too, the ball bounced three times in the ring before it went in.
"Game on, Boscha."
….
It turned out; Luz had a pretty good chance against Boscha.
They were even to the last shot and two down on each one. While Boscha had been smooth pretty much all of their little match, her failures were both due to her overconfidence.
The owner didn't like that they were making his game look easy, so he picked it up.
The rings started to move with one spell and Luz found herself forgetting for a second the fact that she was betting her friend over a silly game with one of the meanest persons alive so far.
"You know," Luz said, "this could be our thing."
"What are you talking about now?" Boscha groaned.
Another point for her.
Luz shot, another point for herself, too. "We are pretty competitive in this, it could be a weekly thing."
"We are not friends."
"We could be."
"I don't need to be friends with a loser like you."
"Why would you need to? Friends are something you want, must of the time."
"Then I don't want to be friends with you!"
"Why?"
Boscha failed, and Luz scored, it was Luz's win.
She turned to find Boscha glaring flaming daggers at her—even if that was not an expression—and breathing really hard.
"You think you can just come in here and start messing with me?"
"Excuse me?"
"You think you can take what's mine?" Boscha continued. "That you can just…just come here, and win over me? Like I'm some normal loser?!"
Boscha'sped and it turned into a glare instantly, all her good mood gone as far as it came.
"I never even cared about you!" She shouted, moving closer to Boscha. "The one who has been looking out for a fight me is you! And I don't know why!"
Boscha's glare intensified and she pushed her. "It's because you ruined everything!"
"What is that even supposed to mean?"
"It's your fault that Amity has been changing lately, she doesn't seem to notice, but she is going soft, and you also pushed that 'half-a-witch' out of her place! Now Skara is always looking at her, Cat thinks she is cool and Amelia is not backing me up when I try to remind the stupid Willow where she belongs! "
Luz gaped at the girl, her rage had ignited like a small flame, but Boscha had just managed to turn it into a forest fire.
"You are mad because I helped Willow?! Just how selfish can you be?!"
"She was right where she was supposed to be!"
"No, she wasn't!"
Then ice came out of the ground as spears and Boscha stepped back, her eyes wide. Luz looked down to her bracelet; controlling the magic already on it she made fireball, melting the ice.
"Willow is one of the kindest, sweetest, and most powerful witches out there! I bet she is even stronger than-!" Luz stopped, blasting the flame to the air, the great mass of fire dispersed as her grin grew. "… I bet she is even stronger than you, Boscha."
Luz smile only got bigger at the surprised face of the triclop-girl.
Boscha glared at her. "Ja! The 'half-a-witch'?! Spending so much time with the trash trashed your brain or what?!"
"Oh, no, no, no Boscha. My brain is perfectly fine." Luz walked closer. "I think, actually, that I understand you now."
"Ah?"
"You are scared of Willow, aren't ya?" Luz asked. "I mean, the girl you kept bullying, the 'half-a-witch' suddenly gets a boost in her rep, she gets sorted in a track where she is turned into a best student and she is friends with someone far more interesting than you, who wouldn't be threatened by something like that?"
Luz turned her back on Boscha, and her face got red, her smirk moved to be a really awkward smile. Did she really say all of that?! Hanging too much around Eda was dangerous, the woman's ways were rubbing off on her!
"This is so embarrassing! I acted like one of those jocks in old movies!" Luz thought, biting her lip.
"Now listen you-!" Boscha started.
"Boscha!"
Luz turned—same as Boscha, apparently—to look at the girl who was with her before. She was looking… tired, exhausted even.
"What is it now, Skara?" Boscha growled.
The girl stopped and bent over herself, holding her knees. "The…The boys…"
"What did those idiots do now? Irritate an old lady?"
"They got arrested!"
"What?" Luz and Boscha said together.
Skara backed off a few steps. "They were doing what this super cute baby demon was saying and they messed up with a 'Conformatorium' guard!"
"King!" Luz shouted, getting closer to the girl. "Where are they now?"
"T…T-They w-were taken into a carriage to 'Conformatorium'…"
Luz didn't even think about what to do before she was running towards the main street. She might not know where 'Conformatorium' actually is, but she does know they'll have to leave Bonesborough by the north end to get there.
And she was so not letting them take King away.
….
So, the guards were really dumb, or Luz just so happened to had seen too many prison break movies.
Luz caught up with the carriage in no time, sorting alleys with the minimum knowledge had been hard and messy and she was sure that more than one of those people would be pretty happy to give an earful for her rudeness by crossing their yards.
But she was there. And the carriage had gone under a full procession of their captured 'criminals' before even moving an inch out of town.
She raised her hand, ready to blast the stupid thing's door away with a controlled—not so controlled—ice age.
Until she felt a hit on her back. "You are not getting away with that!"
Luz turned, a growl stuck in her throat at the sight of Boscha glaring at her.
"What do you want now?!" Luz shouted at her. "I'm in the middle of something!"
"You are not beating me!" Boscha said and made a spell circle. "I'm going to beat the sense of the trash you are into your skull!"
Luz saw the fireball take form, and cursed a little when she was forced to dive, she looked back, the carriage was getting away!
"Don't look away, you peasant!"
Luz groaned and rolled, her magic going to the ice glyph and she raised a wave of spikes towards Boscha the witch let out a yelp and jumped to the side, the ice broke a window on an abandoned-looking building.
"I don't want to fight you!" Luz screamed.
"You picked this fight!"
"No, I didn't!"
Luz made a wall of ice, stopping Boscha multiple blasts of fireballs. She looked back at the street, the carriage was gone.
"Enough of this!" Luz shouted.
The plant glyph in her bracelet shined and she hit the ground.
"Don't think you can beat me with that!"
Luz looked up, Boscha had jumped her wall and was now falling over her.
But it was late for Boscha to react to her spell.
From the ground a branch came, then another, and then the body of the tree came up. Green leafs filled Luz's vision and she heard Boscha scream at the same time she felt the air hitting her from above, the pressure finally stopping after five seconds.
She looked around. Luz was over the tops of all the buildings in Bonesborough except the clock tower, her eyes looking for that little spot in the main street.
She found it, the carriage almost getting out of town, a straight line to the forest line that led to 'Conformatorium' entrance!
"I'm going. King…" Luz said, preparing herself to jump.
"Where do you think you are going?!"
"You gotta be kidding me!" Luz thought, turning around.
Boscha glared at her from her position between five branches, her eyes shining with rage, her expression distorted by it, too.
"Just… What is your problem?!" Luz screamed while glaring at her. "Your friends are about to get into 'Conformatorium' and all you care is about beating me?!"
"I never lose!" Boscha said, "I'm the best, I'm the top of all competitions, I can't lose!"
Luz's eyes and jaw opened to the extremes at that. Not because of the rage, or the words Boscha just said, not even from the utter awesomeness from the scene. Because who wouldn't be shocked about receiving such a fanfiction-like line in the top of a tree grown with magic with the sunlight hitting all the right places?
But that wasn't what made Luz gape.
It was the desperation in Boscha's voice.
"Why the hell is this so important to you?" Luz asked, that time more softly.
"I'm supposed to be the best!" Boscha said, "I'm friends with the best people, I'm on one of the best tracks, I'm the best on Penstagram, I'm top society on the school, I'm the best sportswoman Hexside has seen in decades! I'm the best! I have to be the best! And nobody is taking that away from me!"
Luz closed her mouth, and her eyes went back to their normal size. Boscha was still glaring, but for a strange reason, Luz didn't feel as threatened as before. Boscha looked… smaller, weaker… lonelier.
What was she doing?
"I'm done," Luz said, shaking her head.
"What?"
"I said I'm done, you win."
Boscha gaped at her. "No, no, that's not how this works!"
"Well, it is now. I'm done Boscha!" Luz shouted and raised both hands. "It's your win! I'm no match for you!"
"What are you even saying? I'm gonna crush you fair and square!"
"No, Boscha. Because all of… this." Luz made a gesture between the two of them. "Is not worth it."
"What do you mean?! My reputation-!"
"I mean my friend is more valuable to me than winning over you, or taking your 'reputation' away from you," Luz said, "and I'm not leaving him for anything, so, I call uncle."
Boscha stared at her. "You what?"
"I give up! You win! Do you get that?! It's done…! I'm done ." Luz moved away from her. "Congrats! Now, I have a friend to save."
Luz turned and dropped from the branches, her landing wasn't the best, she had to use the ice glyph and made a ramp that ended too abruptly and almost made her hit her face against the ground. It wasn't pretty, nor nice, and it wasn't on the right spot either, but she didn't break anything, and she could still see where the guards were going.
"I really hope all that anime was right…" Luz whispered, powering her ice glyph.
"Is not about how many spells you learn, but how you use them."
"I hope you are right, Eda!" Luz thought, and then the road in front of her froze.
She then changed of glyphs, the fire one shining; she looked ahead and moved both hands, twin fireballs appeared on her palms. Luz prayed to whatever god or goddess that was around that her plan would end in disaster.
She pointed her palms behind her and realized her spell, the smallest she could at the moment was still pretty big. The flames almost roared behind her and she was off.
All that time watching characters doing it didn't make it easier for her.
Her balance was off. Any small change in her hand's position would send her in a—basically but not really—spiral and almost crashing into people's or houses.
But she closed the distance with the carriage in no time.
"King!"
She saw the little head showing from between the bars. "Luz!"
"I'm coming, buddy!" She shouted.
Luz pushed barely any more magic through the glyph, but the little explosion was enough to send her almost crashing against the back door of the carriage. She groaned while holding from the bars, looking inside.
All the teens were either crying or unconscious.
"These guys…" Luz sighed, looking at King. "You learned your lesson?"
"Yes!" He said with a small scream. "Never use teenagers as an army of hell!"
"Not quite, but it's a beginning." Luz thought, nodding. "Get away from the door."
Luz hesitated while deciding which glyph to use. No matter what she did, King could get hurt if she used the wrong one. The plant glyph could trap him, ice freeze him, and fire…
"I need to do something!" Luz thought, looking down.
And her gaze went to her side bag.
Her eyes winded and she took out a small card with the plant glyph drawn on it. Her mind went back to earth for a second, to the first time she used the spell. She had managed to get barely dandelion out of it, and it had exhausted her.
Luz looked back at her bracelet. Eda had said she couldn't control the output because of the bracelet being on her arm. She also said that Luz could try placing magic outside her body… but would it really work?
"Luz! They are turning!" King shouted and returned her to reality.
The carriage was about to leave the outskirts and enter the forest that surrounded the prison. She didn't have time!
"Please, please work…" Luz whispered, and licked the back of the card, smashing it against the wooden doors and begging for it to be small!
Just enough to break the door!
Her wish had become true, thankfully. The glyph shined and a vine appeared, getting between the two doors, and growing once it was inside the gap. The plant card disappeared and Luz was thrown from the carriage, rolling on the ground.
When she looked up, the back door had been ripped off and instead, a big flower stood there, both sides open.
"King! Jump!" Luz shouted.
The little demon was the first one to get out. Then Luz saw Boscha's gang jumping out, one of them charging with his unconscious friends. Luz smiled, watching King running towards her.
"I'm sorry I made a mess!" King cried in her arms.
"Just be careful, I was worried. Pequeño tonto !" Luz said, hugging him.
"What's happening here?!"
Luz looked up, the guards had stopped the carriage and were getting down. She moved out of pure instinct and raised her hand, the bracelet lit up and the plant glyph shined, the flower on the back of the carriage grew bigger, its vines holding all the guards coming.
"Better run for it," Luz told King, standing.
King jumped on her shoulder. "Can you do that thing you did to reach the carriage?"
"Not in this lifetime!" Luz turned around and used the ice glyph to make a wall between the struggling guards and them.
And she was laughing while running back to town in no time at all.
….
Eda sighed, glared at the glass on the wall beside her for about two minutes, and then relaxed.
She had been arrested before, that was nothing.
Seeing Lilith seating in front of her with the coldest glare Eda had seen in years? Not so easy to deal with. They stayed like that for so long that her back was killing her.
"Edalyn…" Lilith finally began. "I can't believe what you've done."
She raised an eyebrow at that. "What are ya talking about?"
Lilith slammed a paper on the table. Eda looked at it and her pulse blasted. She barely managed to hold her expression from changing.
Luz's false birth certificate practically shined over the dark grey table.
"You didn't tell me! Anything!" Lilith shouted. "How could you hide the fact that I had a niece?! For fourteen years!"
Could she tense and relax at the same time? Eda was sure she just did.
"She has been living with you all this time?" Lilith asked, growling at her. "I've never seen her, Edalyn. What did you do with her?"
Eda frowned at her. "Bold of you to ask that."
"Excuse me?!"
"Bold of you to act like you have a right! Any right to scream at me 'bout this!" Eda finally screamed and stood up. "You never looked out for me in the fucking ten years after I got my curse!"
"I… I tried!"
"You went to capture me!" Eda hit the table. "You never, not even once tried to talk to me! And now you come here asking, lecturing me about not talking to ya?! That's rich!"
Lilith's stunned face was enough for Eda to realize she had just dropped her act. She had maintained a face for far too long with her sister, always careful of not showing her how much all that had been, how she had needed her.
It was something both of them couldn't deal with.
"You never, even, tried." Eda finished.
Lilith stayed silent. They kept the eye contact long enough for both of them to blink, once that battle of wills was done, they both looked away.
"…How is she?" Lilith asked.
Eda snickered. "You've seen her."
"You know well that is not what I'm asking."
The seriousness in that sentence surprised Eda. Not because of it being serious, but because of the lack of hostility. She looked back at Lilith and her gaze became soft against her will. Her sister wasn't looking at her; she was concentrating on some invisible point far away, and…
…And she looked sad, yearning even.
"She… she is… special," Eda said, looking down, suddenly, talking about Luz was so… weird.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, I mean, she is weird, but is not bad!" She rushed to say. "She is just... peculiar? But she is not a bad kid…"
"You were a bad kid, and you weren't peculiar."
Eda scoffed. "Yeah, no kidding, sometimes she doesn't seem to be mine… she spent all her childhood with her mom."
"Her mom?"
"Did you really think a man could be able to hold me down?" Eda asked back.
Lilith finally looked at her, and she was laughing. "You were always… versatile."
"And that's without saying much!"
"Edalyn," Lilith said, and her voice was so soft . "How is she like? Lucelyn."
Eda smiled, looking at her hands. "She is kind and brave, she is not selfless, don't get your hopes too high! But… But she is loyal, more than you or me… She is full of this, light that blinds you if you try to read her, understand her. She has these quirks, things she says, moments when she spaces out and she is far too gentle for her own good… but Titan, that kid would fight the world to save her friends… she is… she is perfect in an imperfect way, Lily." Eda finished with a smile.
"Never thought you'll be talking like this of a teen," Lilith said, cupping her own cheeks with her hands. "Is she really all that?"
Eda laughed a little, her eyes on her hands. "She is, and more… she is warm, and good, and… one of the things I'm actually proud to say forms part of my life."
"Sounds like a good daughter."
"She is the best one in the world," Eda replied, looking at Lilith's eyes. "I wouldn't change her or any of her quirks for anything."
Eda looks into the eyes of the woman on the other side of that table and she was capable of recognizing her sister that time, not the stranger she had been seeing and calling by her name the last twenty years. She saw Lily.
But that light didn't last.
"So what are you going to do?" Lilith asked, straightening her back.
"What do ya mean?"
So much for bonding.
"Are you sending her back with her other mother?"
"Why would I do that?"
"You are a criminal, Edalyn."
"And?"
"It's what you want for her?"
Eda didn't respond to that.
"Edalyn, you might like the life of an outlaw, but think of Lucelyn. Her future is pretty much held in your status."
"She can cope."
"She shouldn't cope!" Lilith replied. "A mother should try to help her daughter."
"You don't have kids…" Eda muttered.
"…Yes, I don't, but I would've taken Lucelyn in, she would've at least gotten into a good school if I was her guardian."
"You'd have her brainwashed with your ideals."
"And you didn't do that?"
The silence was Eda's response once more.
"She should have the chance to decide what she wants for herself," Lilith said, "same as you had."
"You haven't let me live with my choice so far," Eda finally bit back. "Why would you do the same with her?"
That time Lilith stayed silent.
"That's what I thought."
Lilith coughed a little. "Anyway, that doesn't change the facts."
"Which are?"
"Lucelyn needs a better chance in the future, and you." Lilith pointed at her gem. "You need to be healed. And the emperor can help with both of those."
"The emperor is not as benevolent as you think, sister."
"He promised, Edalyn."
"An everlasting oath?"
"What? No, but-"
"Then he is a liar, and you're a fool." Eda shook her head and stood up. "We are done here."
"Edalyn please…"
"It was good to see you, sister."
Eda closed her eyes and released her magic power in all directions; making a great spell circle she generated an explosion big enough to destroy the interrogation room. She saw the sky and felt the breeze, taking a second to assimilate it all.
"Owlbert!"
Her staff flew at her and she broke the shackles around her wrist and her Pawlisman's wings.
"Edalyn!"
She turned to see Lilith, her heart swelled a little, but an image flashed from her memories. Luz, King, and Hooty, all smiling at her while watching a weird video on Luz's human device.
She saw her home.
"Goodbye Lilith," Eda said, getting on Owlbert.
And she flew away from her sister… back to her home.