"Welcome to the Conformatorium, a place for those considered unsuitable for society." Eda introduced as she dropped Luz, King, and I off at a massive stone tower's front gate while thunder echoed through the pitch-black sky.

"What do you mean by "unsuitable"?" I asked.

"Anyone the law doesn't see as appropriate for wandering the streets is imprisoned here for all of eternity."

"Hey, check this out, Eda!" Luz shouted, running over to her mother with a rolled-up sheet of paper in hand. She unrolled it to reveal a crudely drawn wanted poster of the Owl Lady, with a reward underneath that read…

"That's your bounty?" I shouted in disbelief. I figured she probably had a reward for her capture but did not think she would be worth that much.

Eda took the paper and snorted. "I guess the Emperor must have the hots for me to raise my bounty to a trillion. I'm kinda flattered." She rolled the sheet back up and stored it in her hair. "But we've given him the slip a thousand times before, and we'll do it a thousand times more."

King crawled into and sat in Luz's hood. "Yeah, try catching me when I'm all covered in grease. I'm a squirmy little fella." He exclaimed.

I looked at the Owl Lady. "Just so that we're clear; you do have a real plan on getting me up there, and not a "improvise and hope it all works out" plan, right?"

"Oh, can I tell her, Eda?" Luz asked, raising her hand.

"Sure." She casually replied.

Luz drew a circle in the air, and a tiny, holographic projection of us and the tower appeared. She explained the plan as it played out in a cartoony fashion: "Eda will fly the three of us up the tower. King and I will help sneak you inside and lead you to where they're holding his crown, while Eda makes sure the warden's distracted. Simple. And they'll never see us coming, with my cat-like skills, and the perfect disguise that I've been waiting to use." King hopped out of the girl's hood, and she pulled it up, revealing it has cat ears. She playfully meowed.

Yeah, it's that adorably naïve attitude that leaves me unable to shake the feeling that this whole thing was doomed right from the beginning. Eda sat back on her staff and motioned us towards her. "Come on; we ain't got all night."

The three of us all hopped on the staff, bolted into the air, and stopped before a tight-looking window. "Oh… um… I'm sorry, but... but I have a problem with close…" Before I could finish, the Owl Lady pushed me off the staff and tumbled through the window. Once I got up from the stone-cold floor, I turned and looked at the witch with daggers. "WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

Eda put a finger to her lips and made a shushing sound. "Just do your part, and I'll meet you guys on the other side."

Luz jumped through next with no fear, while King tightly held onto her back. But her foot got caught on the ledge and fell inside face-first. The furry creature laughed at her misery. "Cats don't do that."

"Good luck," Eda said before flying away.

I helped Luz to her feet, and we took in our surroundings. I whispered to myself, "This looks like one of the castles my school toured during a field trip to Scotland."

"What was that?" I froze as upon hearing the voice said, a pair of loud footsteps approached.

"Don't move or make a sound," Luz instructed. The apprentice quickly drew a circle as a pair of guards came down the hall… and walked past us. "Gotta love the Cloaking Spell." King crawled onto the girl's back as she gestured for me to follow behind until we arrived in a room full of cells.

"Hey, you three." A voice called out, making us jump. We turned and sighed in relief that it wasn't a guard, just one of the locked-up prisoners. She looked like a vampire with black hair, dark skin, and a purple dress.

"How can she see us?" I whispered to Luz.

"The Cloaking Spell's only temporary." She explained.

"Cat lady, round ears; how'd you two get out of your cells?" The same prisoner asked us.

"Oh, I'm not a cat," Luz said as she pulled down her hood.

"And I'm not a criminal," I added.

"Not yet, you're not." King threw in, probably just to annoy me.

"And neither are we, but the stupid warden likes to lock people up who don't fit in." The vampire protested as she pulled out a journal from behind her back and opened it, showing us a drawing of a carrot and apple passionately making out. "I like food and love, so I like writing fanfics of food falling in love. Expressing creativity is not a crime!"

I shushed her. "Okay, we believe you. Just be quiet."

"What about the rest of you?" Luz asked.

"I'm here because I like eating my own eyes." A multi-eyed creature spoke up before popping out an eyeball and swallowing it, only for a new eye to grow back. I have no comment on what I just witnessed.

Then, what was essentially a giant head with a prominent nose and tiny limbs cried out, "They will never siwence us for we are agents of fwee expwession!"

"Quiet." I raised my voice slightly.

"Sorry about her, she's just big into conspiracy theories." The vampire told us.

"The world's a simuwation, and we are but pwaythings for a higher being!" The little being continued shouting.

"These don't sound like any real crimes," I said. Yeah, they all seem a little off and are very, very loud. But I highly doubt they're dangerous to society. But that's not my problem.

"Well, tell that to the Emperor," The vampire scoffed. "He decides what is and isn't a crime on the Isles."

"I can hear you!" A deep voice made itself known, as I could feel the room shake with thudding footsteps.

"It's Warden Wrath!"

Luz didn't waste any time and re-cloaked us just as this Warden Wrath busted through a door. He looked way more intimidating in real life than the crudely drawn cartoon that Eda showed us. He snarled, making all the prisoner's shudder in fear. Unbeknownst to him, we were standing right in front of him, as still as statues. "Your foolish gossiping is interrupting the plans I have for when the Owl Lady's in my hands." He barked at the prisoners.

"We will wesist against the oppwessors!" The conspiracy theorist shouted. "We'll never be afwaid of you, you old cweep!"

The insult captured the warden's attention. He walked away from us and over to her, opening the cage door and picking up the conspiracy theorist off the ground; her screams of pain muffled by his grip. Luz gasped at the rather brutal sight, and I covered my mouth with both hands.

"I shall have this one serve as an example to all of you. You have no place in this society if you can't fit in." Wrath carried the poor prisoner into another room and slammed the door behind him, just as the Cloaking Spell wore off again.

"Okay, can we grab the crown and go now, please?" I asked.

"I'm with Amity on this one." King agreed.

"We can't just leave them here." Luz ran over to a nearby lever and grunted as she tried to pull it down. "I'm gonna… get you all… out… if this… stupid lever… could just…"

"You're sweet, kid," The vampire told her. "But you three should just get out of here while you still can. Freedom is a precious gift, make the most of it."

"We will," I said as I grabbed Luz's hood and dragged her out of the room.

"It's not fair they're in here just for being themselves." The apprentice ranted. "Where does the Emperor get off thinking that being different is a bad thing?"

"I don't know and don't care."

Luz stopped and pulled her hood free from my grip. "What the heck is your problem?" She had to gall to ask me. "You don't seem to care that these people are here for just being different."

I turned and glared at her and pretended to act like this was a friendly conversation. "Oh, so do you really wanna know what my problem is? My problem is that your mother strong-armed me into helping you break into a prison under the threat of not sending me home. So, please forgive me if I don't feel like sympathizing for a bunch of weirdos right now." Upon finishing my rant, I folded my arms and turned my back to her.

"You're right," Luz responded in a low tone. "And I'm sorry. I promise we will return you to your world after this." I didn't bother responding; it's not like we'll be seeing each other again after this.

A door suddenly opened, and all three of us jumped as Eda stepped out. "There you are." She gestured for us to come inside. "I just checked, and the warden's distracted, tormenting some tiny creature. So, he won't be coming around here anytime soon."

Luz and I gave each other a look then stepped inside. We came face to face with a forcefield, just like the Owl Lady showed us before we arrived here. King leaped off Luz's back and ran for the barrier. "My crown! It's close! I can sense its power!" He shouted like a greedy toddler, bouncing off it like a fly ramming into a glass door

"Aw, look at him go." Eda chuckled. "He's so cute when he's thirsty for power. Hey, King! We have a human, remember?"

"Oh, yeah." The little creature stopped and plopped down onto his behind.

Eda turned me to face her. "Alright, so when you walk through, look for a golden crown with a big red jewel in the center." She said. "You'll know it when you see it."

"A "golden crown with a big red jewel," got it," I repeated, more than ready to get this done. I inhaled deeply, then exhaled as I reached out and touched the barrier. My whole arm felt tingly as it phased through, and then I stepped inside. Standing before me was a pile of strange stuff, more than what was inside Eda's tent.

I found a miniature mountain of jewels amongst the junk. I began to forage through them for something that perfectly matched the description. As I dug, I accidentally destabilized the mound. I vaulted out of the way before an avalanche of trash crushed me, and when I turned back to the shifted pile, I spotted a kid's meal crown at the top. It was from a long closed-down fast-food joint called Burger Queen. Seeing it kind of made me nostalgic. I remembered back to when I was little and saw a kid in our kindergarten class wear one proudly, a golden crown with a big… I could feel the red filling my face as realization sunk in. "Are. You. Kidding me!"

I grabbed it and emerged from the forcefield, completely miffed at the whole situation. "My crown!" I ignored King's cheer as he dashed over and snatched it from my hand and put it on his head. "Yes! I can feel my powers returning."

I had a select few words I wanted to tell the Owl Lady as she and Luz fawned over the ecstatic furball. But I was too angry to come up with a satisfying rant. So, I went with something simple. "So, let me get this straight. All of this was just for some stupid piece of cardboard!"

Eda let out a sigh and gave me a look as if she were about to be straight with me for the first today. "Look, kid. People like us… we don't have much in this world; just each other. We're family, and family sticks together no matter what, y' know? So, if that "stupid piece of cardboard" is what makes him happy, then it's what makes us happy."

I can understand where she's coming from if I'm honest; when I think back to all the sacrifices that Ed and Em made to make me happy. And the ones I've made for them in return. "And besides," Luz spoke up. "You did your part of the arrangement and got the crown. So, we'll hold up ours as promised."

"Yeah, yeah, but let's just get out of here first before the warden finds us and loses his head," Eda said.

"Too late." The voice of Warden Wrath said as he jumped down with two other guards, landing behind Eda and transformed his hand into a blade.

I tried warning Eda, but it was too late. He decapitated the Owl Lady with one swift motion, her head landing right in my hands as I shrieked in absolute horror. "Dang it! I hate it when that happens." The head nonchalantly replied. I screamed louder, making her wince. "Okay, ow! That was right in my ear."

"How are you still alive?"

"Hey, this just happens when you get older."

"Not where I'm from!"

"Finally, I have you cornered, Owl Lady." Wrath boasted as he approached us, with King hiding behind me for protection. "I knew if my guards took your pet's toy, you'd come running."

Luz quickly grabbed the staff from her mother's body — while it searched around for its head — and got between the warden and us, more than ready to fight him. "Aléjate de mi Mami, maldito gigante!"

"You stay out of this!" Wrath ensnared her entire body with his massive hand and lifted her off the ground. She dropped the staff in the process.

"Luz!" Eda, King, and I all shouted.

I could feel the rage boiling inside the Owl Lady's head through my hands, more than ready to rip this guy apart if he hurts her daughter. "What do you want with me?" The Owl Lady barked.

"I want you…" Wrath reached behind his back with his free hand, and my whole body shook, wondering what he had planned for us. "To go out with me." He pulled out a bouquet.

"What?" Eda, Luz, and I said at the same time.

"Go, boss!" One of the guards shouted in support as the other cheered.

Wrath got on one knee. "No matter how many of my men I send after you, you've always eluded our capture time and time again. I find that enticing, to be honest."

"What is happening?" I asked, both terrified for my life and utterly confused.

"I don't know... but I hate everything he's saying right now…" Luz growled, trying to break free from Wrath's grip.

"So how about it, Owl Lady?" Wrath asked. "Imagine it. You and me together. We'd be the strongest power couple ever! I mean, it's not like you can refuse right now."

"Psst." I looked down at Eda's head as she made the sound, her eyes looking over at something. Following her gaze, I saw her body in perfect view behind Wrath and got what she had planned. I just needed to wait for the right moment. "Alright, you win." The Owl Lady led him on. "But, I wanna say something first; if you would come closer." The warden leaned in. "A little bit closer." Wrath leaned in further, then Eda blew a raspberry in his face.

"Ugh!" Wrath pulled back and wiped the spit off his mask. "Disgusting! Don't you know how many germs there are in your mouth, you wench?

"Oh, cry me a river! You had your guards stalk me, cut off my head, and hold my little girl hostage! I am not going out with you! Toss me, kid!" I took several steps back, and with a grunt, I chucked Eda's head over Wrath and his goons like a rugby ball. Eda's body caught her head, re-attached it, and then summoned her staff before twirling it and creating a blazing circle. "And by the way, I have a wife." She launched a Fireball that knocked the other guards aside before slamming into Wrath and making him drop Luz.

I dove forward and cushioned her fall with my body. "Ow!" I groaned; she was heavier than she looked.

"My hero." Luz hymned on top of me.

A blush of embarrassment and frustration grew on my face. "Get off me already!" She did so, then helped me up. "Now, let's get out of here!"

Wrath got back onto his feet, despite the burns and bruises. "If you don't accept, you leave me no other choice. I will bring you to my Emperor. Whether it be alive or dead!" He removed his mask and spat out flames in our direction. But Eda formed a barrier around Luz, King, and me in time.

Eda looked at Luz and King. "Take Amity and make sure she gets back to the Human Realm safe." She ordered them. "Y ni siquiera pienses en discutir conmigo."

Luz had an uncertain look but then nodded. "Lo haré, Mami."

"None of you will leave here alive!" Wrath roared as he spat more flames.

"Now, gun it!" Eda cast another Fireball, which Wrath dodged before unleashing one of his own as Luz took my hand; she and King leading me out of the room.

"Will she be okay?" I asked with concern. Even though she's a criminal, I guess she's not that bad of a person I previously thought.

"If you think that guy's bad, you shoulda met her last boyfriend." King joked to lighten the mood, as an explosion reverberated from behind.

As annoying as these three could be, I see they're a real family and actual good people. They're putting all they have on the line right now to see me get back home. I pulled my hand free from Luz's. "We have to help her!" I told them as another explosion rocked the structure.

"What could we do? We'd just get in the way."

I noticed we were back with all the prisoners. "I never thought I'd say this aloud, but let's start a prison break." I ran over to the lever, joined by Luz and King, and gripped it tightly. We pulled the lever down, and all the cell doors opened. But no one was leaving.

"Why are you guys just standing there?" Luz asked. "This is your chance to escape!"

"Why bother. The warden will just catch us again." The multi-eyed creature said before eating another eye.

"Self‐doubt is a pwison you can't escape fwom." Said the conspiracy theorist.

"We belong here." The vampire agreed before she looked at me. "And why are you helping us now when you had no interest before?"

There was another explosion, this one much closer. I sighed. "I didn't because I only wanted to look out for myself and avoid others. I only saw Luz, Eda, and King for who they were on the surface. Not who they are underneath. They're a real family, and her mother is fighting Wrath to make sure they stay safe. She might win, but she might not; Luz shouldn't have to lose family like that. What we are on the surface doesn't define us; what we choose to do does."

The prisoners all looked at each other and appeared to be moved by what I said, exiting their cells as they cheered. "Let's go get him!"

There was an explosion literally behind us. We turned around and saw a dusty and bruised Eda burst through a wall and tumbled onto the floor. "Eda!" We all shouted.

"At long last, I capture you, Owl Lady!" An equally injured Wrath came out of the newly made hole; his hand morphed into a blade and ready to end the fight.

"Not if we can help it! Attack!" The vampire shouted, and all the prisoners charged at Wrath.

The multi-eyed prisoner pounced the warden. "I eat my own eyes!"

The conspiracy theorist latched onto and gnawed on his leg. "I t'ink the world is a twiangle!"

The vampire proceeded to smack across the face with her journal. "And I practice the ancient art of writing fanfiction!"

Wrath tried fighting off the escaped prisoners but couldn't get them off. "What do you think you're doing?"

As that was going on, Luz carved a magical circle onto the ground. "Eat this, sucker!" She stomped her foot on it, and a wave of stones erupted from the foundation. They made their way towards Wrath, slamming into and trapping him against the wall.

"You will regret this!" The trapped warden cried, and everyone else cheered.

"Y'know, that was one of Eda's better breakups," King said.

"Not a breakup," Eda replied as she wobbled to her feet, then hopped on her staff. "Let's bounce before any more monsters fall in love with me." The three of us quickly joined her; we flew out of the Conformatorium as the former inmates began making their escape to freedom.