"Well, a deal's a deal, kid. Let's get you home," Eda said. She rubbed her hands together before foraging through her hair as the four of us stood in the middle of the Owl House's lounge; my bag packed. "Now, where did I put that darn key?"

As she did that, I turned to Luz, who was still fawning over how happy her little demon was with his crown. "You there!" He shouted, pointing at a stuffed toy rabbit in the corner. "I shall name thee Francois, and you shall be a commander in my army of darkness!" Eda was right; King is cute when he's thirsty for power.

I huffed, and the girl turned to look at me as I awkwardly rubbed my arm, blushing again. "Look, Luz… I'm not... good at this… and I want to say this… before I leave… that I'm… I wanted to say… sorry for yelling at you earlier…"

"It's alright, no hard feelings." She told me with a comforting smile. "And I gotta say, it was kinda fun getting to meet a human." Then whispered, "Gus and Willow are gonna love this." Even though she forgave me, I still feel like I didn't say enough. "Oh, and you don't wanna forget this." I had a feeling I forgot something, and I was right, as she handed me my Good Witch Azura book.

I reached out to take it but pulled my hand back. "You can keep it."

The apprentice blinked. "But this is yours."

I looked away from her, as my blush grew deeper and rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah, but I've already read it, and what kind of Azura fan would I be if I didn't let another enjoy it?"

She immediately gave me another hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much." While some part of me wanted to push her away, I just let the hug continue, making me so red that someone might as well label me a tomato.

"Found you," Eda said as she pulled her closed hand out of her mane and opened it. "Alright, let's send you on your… uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" Luz repeated as she let go of me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

In her hand was the key to the magical door that brought me here, snapped in two. "It must've broken during my scuffle with Wrath?"

No, no, this... this can't be happening right now! I started to panic as I pulled at my hair. "Am I going to be stuck here forever?"

"Relax, I can fix this," Eda told me as she put the pieces back in her hair. "But yeah, you're gonna be stuck here until it is."

"Well, how long will that take?"

"I dunno?"

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Kid, I'm a witch, not a miracle worker; I can't just cast a spell and fix it," The Owl Lady snapped her fingers for emphasis, "like that. This key's a powerful, magical artifact; it'll take time to make sure it works. One wrong move and I could open a portal to somewhere else in the Demon Realm, like right smack-dab in the middle of a lava ocean."

Luz's face then lit up as she squeaked with excitement, "I got an idea! Since Amity is gonna be stuck on the Isles until you fix the key, she can live with us at the Owl House for the time being."

"Oh, yeah! Let her stay!" King joined in. "She can make us snacks!"

Does she seriously want me to live with them? "Luz, that's a kind offer…" I began, unsure if this was a good idea. But I stopped and took a few seconds to think about what happened today. I'd never imagined starting a prison riot — and a potential revolution in a magical world — would be the most fun ever.

"But?" Luz asked with a pouty face.

I made my decision as I turned my head from them in embarrassment. "And I… think it would be a… good idea. Because you're probably the only ones that I can trust here, anyway."

Luz hugged me again, even tighter this time. "This is so exciting! We're gonna have a new member added to our little family."

"Okay, I wouldn't go that far."

She released me and was practically jumping up and down. "I could introduce you to my friends. We could share our opinions on Azura, maybe even start a book club. Maybe we can teach you how to learn magic!"

"What?" Me, learning magic? "That's crazy."

"Yeah." Eda agreed. "Besides, humans can't learn magic."

"Maybe that's because no witch has ever tried," Luz argued.

"Necesitas sostener a tus hipogrifos; we're talking about her living under my roof. I oughta make the decision." Eda said.

Luz finally calmed herself down and bashfully breathed out. "Lo siento, Mami."

Eda hummed to herself and took her time deciding, unsure if she's being serious or simply messing with me — maybe she was doing both. "Well, I could use a hand keeping this goofball out of the cupboards." She pointed at King. "And Camila has told me Luz should keep making new and interesting friends. Sure, she can stay."

Luz hugged her mother. "Thank you! And can we teach her magic, too?"

"One thing at a time." Eda then looked at me. "But if you're gonna live here with us, you're gonna need to pull your weight. Deal?"

I nodded in agreement with the terms. "That's fair."

"Great. Noooooow, it's bedtime." Eda yawned as she drew a circle, and what looked like a sleeping bag made of spiderwebs fell into my arms. "That's your sleep cocoon; you can lay down wherever you want, except for my room. Good night." She waved at us as she walked down the hall.

"I'll take the couch." I said as I laid my "sleep cocoon" on it and unzipped it. Dozens of spiders scurried out, making scream and jump before disappearing into the floorboards.

"Don't worry; those aren't the poisonous kind," Luz assured me, not that it made me feel any better. "And you can sleep next to my bed if you want. We also have plenty of large closets for you."

"The couch will be fine."

Luz dimmed the lights with a gesture. "Alright. Good night, Amity. Dulces sueños."

"Good night, Luz." I looked over at my bag and pulled out the photo of Ed, Em, and me as I laid back, resting my head on the soft couch and cocoon. I held the picture up and looked at it for a while until I felt a yawn overcome me and put the picture away before closing my eyes and drifting to sleep.

Lilith guzzled what remained of her extra caffeinated Witch's Brew tea as she arrived at the Conformatorium; still half-asleep even as she hopped off her staff. It was three in the titan-danged morning when Kikimora called to inform the Emperor's White Raven that several prisoners have broken free and are running amuck. Since this matter is too trivial for the likes of Warden Wrath, she is here to get the situation under control. For every moment they are free, it's more spit in the eyes of the great Emperor Belos.

"I don't understand how my Emperor could entrust a brute like Wrath with making sure the threats to our society remain locked away, as they should be." Lilith continued to grumble as she strode down the stone corridors. "Every time he makes a mess, I'm the one called in to clean it up." The more of the tower she saw, the more signs of conflict she noticed. "This couldn't have been a prisoner." By decree, any prisoner with this destructive capability must submit to the Emperor's Coven's ranks or face petrification, or execution.

She arrived at the tower center, where several prisoners are still running freely and wreaking havoc. "The Wevowution has begun!" A tiny, giant-nosed creature shouted, running past Lilith as a guard pursued, doing everything he could to catch it.

The guard stopped in his tracks upon noticing the Emperor's Coven leader and stuttered, "M… Madame Lilith, it's you."

"Yes, it is I." Lilith dryly replied as she got uncomfortably close to the guard. "Where is Wrath?"

"Th… This way." The stuttering guard led the witch to the warden, who was trapped underneath layers of stone as his men removed pieces at a time to free him.

"Madame Lilith?" Wrath addressed. "What brings the Emperor's White Raven here?"

"What do you think I am here for, Warden?" She snapped. "Explain how you could allow a mighty symbol of our Emperor's authority to succumb to such anarchy."

"It was the Owl Lady."

Lilith's grip on her staff tightened as she grimaced. "Why am I not surprised? And why did you not inform the Emperor's Coven about this? You know how valuable she is to us." If it were not for the incompetence of Wrath, maybe Lilith would have her sister joining the Coven by now — which they've always dreamed of since they were children.

"Well… you see…" Wrath avoided eye contact with the witch.

"Yes?"

"I was… trying to woo her into... into going on a date... with me."

Lilith's face contorted upon hearing this. Nothing repulsed her more than the mere thought of this beast being anywhere near her sister in that manner. But the witch regained enough of her composure not to disintegrate Wrath where he laid. "And what was she doing here, exactly? It seems to be pretty obvious it was not to turn herself in."

"She came for her pet demon's toy and succeeded in stealing it back."

Lilith blinked in surprise. "That is impossible. You had that false trinket hidden behind the barrier; no one on the Isles can pass through it."

"She wasn't alone; she had a human with her to traverse the barrier."

"A human?" Now, this was a fascinating development. "What was Edalyn doing with a human?"

"The Owl Lady probably abducted her to break in here. That's all I know."

"Thank you, Warden; this information has proven to be of value." Lilith turned away from him as his men continued to dig him out. Lilith pulled out a pocket-sized mirror and opened it. "Contact Kikimora." Ripples vibrated through the glass as a ringing sound echoed. As she waited, Lilith sighed, "This is just like Edalyn, always making it hard for me to help her. But she's always been like that, so what should I expect."

The mirror's reflective surface then morphed to reveal the little, red assistant demon of the Emperor. "Ah, there you are, Lilith." Kikimora said as if she was almost expecting this call.

"Kiki, I have news about the state of the Conformatorium," Lilith explained everything that she knew to the assistant in as much detail as she could offer. Including that her sister had assistance from a human.

"A human, here on the Boiling Isles?" She was as equally surprised as Lilith was. "I'll send one of my agents to investigate the matter. You may return to your home and rest; you'll need it for when you resume your hunt for the Owl Lady. That is if you still desire what Emperor Belos has promised to you?"

"You have my word; I will capture her, ma'am."

"So, you have said on many occasions prior, and yet to deliver on that promise."

"I assure you, Kiki; Edalyn's days are numbered."

"And if my Emperor's ever-thinning patience is any indication, so are yours." On that ominous note, Kikimora ended the call and left Lilith to stare in her tired reflection worryingly.

My eyes slowly opened as I sat up straight, fighting my own body to stay upright. I let out a long, overdrawn yawn, stretching my arms out and licking my dry lips as I looked around at my surroundings. "Right, Owl House," I said, knowing it would take some time getting used to not sleeping in my bed for however long I'm stuck here. I fixed my eyes up at what appeared to be a clock on the wall, which had its hands pointing at two strange symbols. Going by how clocks work back in my world, I assumed it was six-thirty in the morning, here.

The door suddenly swung open, and the bird-tube thing attached to it shouted, "Hoot! Hoot! Good morning! Hoot! Hoot!" I was unprepared for that and fell off the couch and onto the floor and groaning. "Hoot! Hoot! Luz! Eda! Wake up, sleepyheads! Camila's home! Hoot!"

"Who's home?" I positioned myself upright while rubbing my head.

A woman with tan skin, dark brown eyes, and bun-tied hair wearing red-framed glasses entered the Owl House — as if to answer my question. She was dressed in blue and carried a staff like Eda's, but with a coiled-up snake at the end. She looked like an older Luz, and then I remembered the photo I saw yesterday; this was the woman in the photograph — Luz's birth mother.

The woman jumped as she noticed me, screaming, "Oh, mi Titán!" It makes sense, though, coming home to find a stranger sitting on her living room floor. "Es solo una niña." Placing a hand to her chest, she let out a sharply breathed chuckle, probably feeling embarrassed that she screamed over nothing. "Hello there, are you one of Luz's friends?"

I stood up. "Oh… uh… yeah, you can say that." Smooth, Amity; that doesn't sound suspicious at all. "I'm Amity. You must be Luz's mom."

"Mami!" Luz's overly excitable voice echoed across the halls with her footsteps. She slid into the living room with King by her side and ran up to give her mother a big hug. I looked away quickly to hide my blush as best as possible from the girl, who was still in her cute-looking pajamas. So, I focused on King as he climbed up on a treasure chest and stretched out.

"Hola Mija." The woman hugged her daughter then looked back at me. "I see that Eda let you have a sleepover with one of your friends while I was at work."

Luz broke the hug and looked at me, too. "I almost forgot; Mami, this is Amity, she's a human."

"A human?" Camila asked in astonishment.

"Amity, this is my Mami, a member of the Healing Coven."

"Yeah, we met just a minute ago," I told her.

"Mija, where is my wife, whom I love dearly?" Camila asked, trying to hold back the apparent passive-aggressiveness in her tone

A series of squeaks came from the hall, eventually revealed to be Eda in a plum sweater, violet nightgown, and yellow bunny slippers. She yawned loudly and looked up to notice her wife in the living room. "Hey there, you." She tried saying seductively but failed from how tired she was, walking over to give her a quick peck on the lips. "I missed ya."

Camila, clearly not in the mood for games, folded her arms and intently looked at her wife. "Edalyn, why was a human child sleeping in our living room last night?"

Eda looked over at me. "Oh, so you've met Emily already."

"It's Amity." I corrected her with some annoyance and found it a bit humorous that the "most powerful witch on the Isles" wasn't a morning person.

"Yeah, she kinda came through the portal with Owlbert."

Camila blinked in surprise, which quickly turned into a mixture of shock and aggravation. "Qué diablos, Edalyn! Has secuestrado a una niña de catorce años?"

Whatever she said, it snapped Eda out of her tired stupor. "What? No, I didn't kidnap her! What gave you that idea? All I just said as she came through the portal with Owlb..." She paused. "Oh, I hear it now." She clapped her hands together. "Okay, let me explain it better; I sent Owlbert to get some stuff from the Human Realm, and he grabbed her stuff." Eda pointed at me. "She followed him through, and now she's here."

"But why is she here? Why haven't you sent her home yet?" Camila asked.

"It's too early for this," Eda grumbled, before looking at her daughter. " Cariño, would you mind summing up what happened yesterday? I can't focus until I have my morning cup of apple blood."

Apple blood? "You mean apple juice?" I asked.

Eda gave me a deadpanned, "No," before she walked into the kitchen.

Luz cast a spell and created a small animation that summed up what happened with us yesterday, narrating all of it as a fantastic adventure. "And then I was like, "Eat this, sucker!" And Wrath was all like, "No! Dying! My only weakness!" And so, we defeated the evil warden and freed the oppressed! But alas, our tale takes a tragic turn. During the battle, Amity's only way home was destroyed. Now she must live with us until we repair the key, learning life lessons along the way and the true meaning of friendship. And that's the end."

Camila placed a hand over her face, muttering under her breath, "Eda, te amo. Pero al mismo tiempo, quiero matarte."

"Also, Amity could be the first human ever to learn magic. We could teach her some spells. Get her a cool staff and palisman. Learn all the different runes there are together…"

"Excuse me," I spoke up. "But I'm not interested in learning magic or any of that other stuff you said; I'm just waiting for the key to be fixed so I can get out of here." I then turned to Luz's mom. "And I'm more than willing to help everyone out around here until then so that I'm not too much of a burden."

"That's sweet of you to offer," Camila replied with a friendly smile. "But that isn't necessary at all."

"Well, I'm not gonna turn down free labor?" Eda said as she returned with a giant sack in her arms then plopped it onto the floor in front of me. "Now, since you're working for me, you should know I run a few businesses. On weekends, I offer rare human treasures that Owlbert drags over from your realm. But on most days, I sell only the finest homemade elixirs and potions, like what's in this sack."

I peered into the bag. It was full of over a dozen bottles, each with a different colored liquid. I pulled one out and read aloud, "Snake oil?"

"No one wants an un-oiled snake," Eda said and gestured in a manner that came off as… provocative. "Today, you'll be selling potions to the town of Bonesborough."

"I have no idea where that is."

"Oh, right." Eda turned to her daughter. "Luz, wake King from his power nap; you two are going with her."

"What? I just found the perfect spot." The little demon whined. "Why do I have to go?"

"Because Amity's a delicious-looking human who's probably gonna get eaten the moment she steps into town."

"Fine." King whimpered as he hopped off the chest and joined Luz.

Luz drew a circle in the air and a puff of smoke enveloped her. When it cleared, she was back in the same clothes as she had on yesterday, while saluting her mother. "We won't let you down!"

Eda turned back to me again, further explaining, "Oh, one more thing; you'll have to be careful. I have rivals everywhere who'd love to take down my business. And you along with it. So, here are some words of wisdom: Never befriend a man in sandals and always measure twice, cut once."

"What kind of advice is that?" I asked but didn't get an answer as Eda pushed the three of us out the door.

"Now, make sure your back by nightfall, or my wife will have me sleeping in the shed for a month. Good luck!"

The door slammed shut, and Hooty told us, "Have a nice trip! Hoot!"

I grunted as I slung the heavy sack of potions over my shoulder. "Lead the way, you two."

"Let's get this over with," King grumbled.

"Follow us," Luz said as she led the way.

"Good morning, Luz." A gargled voice then said as the three of us turned to it. I almost screamed again as I saw a giant squid-like creature waving at us.

"Oh, good morning, Mr. Thuuhlu!" Luz greeted the creature before it sank back into the water. "Such a friendly sea monster, that guy."