"How are you so strong?" Luz whispered, walking into the classroom at Hexside that she had signed up for at Amity's request. She was holding her girlfriend's hand, that Amity was squeezing nervously, and she felt like the tiny bones in her palm were being crushed into dust. She had watched Amity crush a solid glass bauble in one hand before when she had rescued Luz from the Blight Industries Abomiton Soldier prototype during her parent's private sale, and the girl had some impressive grip strength.
"Sorry, Luz." Amity said with a frown, releasing her grip. Her other hand was holding her text books; An Encyclopedia of Demon Biology and An Illustrated Guide to the Anatomy of Magic, tightly to her chest. "I don't know what's with me. I've never been this anxious about a class before. Magical theory, abominations, lore… that stuff is easy! This shouldn't be any different."
"A lot of kids are nervous about learning about their bodies." Luz replied. "My mom was pretty open with all that stuff." she added, taking a seat at one of the desks.
Amity blushed and took a seat next to Luz, heaving a sigh. "I'm going to be honest, Luz. Taking this class wasn't an issue last semester. Now… it just feels more… relevant, I guess."
Luz's brown eyes widened in understanding for a moment, and she flashed a half smile. "I hadn't thought about that. It's not other witches and demons you're interested in learning about, is it?" Amity shook her head, her blush growing from just her cheeks all the way to the tip of her pointed ears.
"To be honest, I didn't really care before. Relationships weren't high on my list of priorities but I've read all the theory about anatomy and biology of almost everything on the Boiling Isles. Humans weren't really a part of that, or even of any interest before… uhm."
"You don't need to be shy, Amity." Luz smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's just a basic health class."
Before Amity could reply again, the blue skinned, six eyed teacher called for the student's attention. "Alright you oozes, listen up." he said, moving from the door to the front of the room where a sheet was covering a long table and a number of large hidden objects on top of it. "It's assignment day, so pair up."
Reflexively, Amity quickly took Luz's hand again. They watched as the other students began partnering up, and while Amity clutched at her shirt, Luz was grinning from ear to ear in anticipation. "A health class assignment?" she whispered, leaning close to her partner. "Any idea what it is?"
"Judging from the desk, I'm guessing it's the egg assignment." Amity whispered back, locking her eyes on the table and starting to turn toward Luz until she felt their cheeks touch and she recoiled out of reflex with a surprised "Eep!"
"Oop, sorry." Luz whispered, backing away slightly, taking her girlfriend's natural personal bubble into account. "Egg assignment? Are we getting to pretend an egg is a child and have to take care of it?" she asked excitedly.
Amity closed her eyes for a moment and blew out a breath. She was getting used to Luz invading her personal space that she had kept up for so long, but it tended to require her attention to do so to not be caught by surprise. "They have the same kind of class in the human realm?" she asked, looking forward again to Luz fulfilling her offer to show Amity around her home. "I remember when Ed and Em brought one home a few years ago."
"Hey! Enough chit chat!" the teacher called, his six red eyes focusing on Amity and Luz's desk before he addressed the rest of the class. "So, as I'm sure some of you may have guessed, you'll be starting your two week assignment of taking care of an egg until it hatches. You'll be graded on what comes out of it at the end of those two weeks, which will be influenced by your attitude toward it." He pulled the sheet off of the hidden objects, revealing several grey, ovoid shaped objects covered in slime that reached down to the surface of the desk. The top of each egg looked to have thick, scar-like tissue that appeared to allow the gooey object to open.
"What?" Luz said quietly, her face falling at the appearance of the eggs on the desk. They looked like something out of some kind of alien horror movie. Amity reluctantly let go of Luz's hand and approached the desk with the other students, taking one of the eggs that the teacher gave her to bring back.
"These are Cryptid eggs. These last two weeks of their gestation are important, as whatever influence they have will determine the form they are born with. So, how you all manage to care for these eggs will decide if a new monster is released into the wild, or some weak creature that will inevitably be food for the aforementioned monster." the teacher laughed.
Amity placed the egg on the desk with a wet noise and strings of slime sticking to her fingers, much to Luz's discomfort. She was leaning back in her chair, keeping her face clear of the top of the egg and eyeing it with extreme suspicion. "So there's something actually going to come out of that thing?" Luz asked, keeping her distance.
Looking at her partner with hesitation, Amity sat back down next to the egg. "Yeah. Why wouldn't there be? I thought you said they had the same kind of assignment in the human realm."
"Well, yeah. But they give kids unfertilized chicken eggs to take care of, and they don't hatch at the end!" Luz exclaimed.
"What's the point of that?" Amity asked. "How would you even be graded if you have no idea if it survives?"
"Amity!" Luz cried, gesturing dramatically at the large backpack sized egg on the desk. "This is a living thing! How are we supposed to raise a thing and just release it into the wild?!"
"Try not to get too attached to your egg." the teacher instructed. "The grade curve on this assignment is not very high."
Amity frowned at Luz, not being able to help but feel a tinge of disappointment at the human's attitude toward the assignment. "Luz, this grade is important to me. This assignment is important to me, and I had hoped it would be important to you."
Luz continued to glare at the egg, but sucked in a breath and moved her chair back to Amity's side, nodding with support. "Okay. I've watched Eda dig around inside a trash slug, and have a meat-bone monster in my room. I can do this." she smiled, swallowing hard at the visage of the slimy egg.
Day One
Amity had conjured up an abomination to carry the egg around the school and into the cafeteria where she and Luz met with Willow, Gus, and Gus's egg raising partner, Boscha. Apparently, being a tyrannical grudgby team captain or a younger student made neither of them partners of choice in health class, putting them together when all other partners had already been chosen. Gus placed the egg that was nearly as large as he was on the table, sweat beading on his forehead and soaking through his shirt from hauling it from the classroom. Boscha looked absolutely disgusted, looking around the large room to see if anyone was witnessing her degradation at having to even stand next to the boy.
"Ugh. This is the worst." Boscha growled, glaring at Amity as she approached. She turned to Gus, retaining her disgusted glare. "I'm out of here. Make sure you raise that thing right, or whatever. If I don't get a good grade on this, I won't be able to play Grudgby for the rest of the season, so all of Hexside's glory, is on you if you fail." she explained, poking a finger into Gus's chest before walking away to her regular table.
"Mother of the year award." Luz whispered, crossing her arms in response to Boscha abandoning Gus. "Sorry, man." she said, turning to her friend. "If I hadn't shown up, maybe you and Amity could have been partners."
Amity felt hurt for a moment, suddenly aware that she was the one that made Luz join her in the class. If she couldn't learn about humans from a text book, at least Luz could learn about witches. Or so was her theory. "I guess I shouldn't have made you join the class."
"What? No!" Luz exclaimed, laughing nervously at the realization of her blunder. "This health class should be a great opportunity to learn all about demons and witches! Eda hasn't been especially open about biology. It took me forever just to find out witches made magic with a bile sac!"
"It's okay." Gus said, placing a hand on the gooey surface of his egg. "I'll protect this unborn child with my life!" he announced proudly. A moment later, he retracted his hand with a repulsed look and wiped it on his pants.
"That won't be necessary." Willow said. She had already been sitting at the table when the others arrived, and was already halfway through her meal. "The egg assignment is easy. You just need to keep it warm, nurture it, care for it, and shelter it so that nothing bad ever happens to it." she smiled.
"Did yours hatch?!" Luz asked, always eager to hear of Willow's exploits.
Willow adjusted her glasses and giggled. "They almost always hatch. It's into what that determines your grade. Mine hatched into a beautiful flower that I keep secluded in the Plant Track homeroom."
"Is that really the best thing for any creature?" Luz asked. "If you keep a kid from experiencing anything, how will it ever grow?"
"Luz is right." Amity said. "Any offspring, if you expect it to excel in anything, needs to be pushed. Which is why we should keep ours at my place. It's safe, secure, and I can make sure it's influenced by intellectual pursuits."
"What does that mean?" Luz asked, a worried look on her face.
"Luz, keeping the egg at the Owl House is reckless. If Hooty doesn't try to swallow it whole or King tries to cook it…" she lowered her voice, "the Emperor's scouts could attack at any time."
"We can't keep our kid out of all danger, Amity. Plus, the Owl House is warm, and inviting, and… you know who… has been after Eda for years, and was never able to successfully catch her while she was there. I'm sure if I explain the situation to Hooty and King, they'd make great uncles!" Amity looked at Luz with a blank expression; clearly weighing the various sides of the debate in her mind. "Besides," Luz pushed. "We could make it like a sleepover! Eggsy deserves to have their loving parents together for their formative… weeks."
"Eggsy?" Amity asked, feeling her face blush slightly at Luz calling the egg 'their kid'.
"Yolko? Shelby?" Luz offered, resulting in an annoyed frown from Amity.
"Luz, I know you've been working hard to learn magic but this… requires responsibility. I really need to get a good grade for this for… reasons." Amity said, clutching her hands together and pleading.
Luz looked disappointed, and let out a sad sigh. "Okay. I get it. But I want to help. Can I come over at least? Without your mom trying to kill me?"
Amity matched her expression, feeling Luz's frown like a stab in the heart, but she knew this would be for the best.
Day Three
"Has your abomination been holding our egg this whole time?!" Luz accused. She was standing in Amity's room with her abomination standing in the corner, still holding the egg the same as it had when they received the assignment. It was the first time she had managed to visit, much to her chagrin, and she had ran to the egg to give it a hug as soon as she had entered the door. It was disturbingly cold, being held by the abomination for the last three days. "Amity…"
Amity frowned, crossing her arms defensively. "I don't get it. I've kept it safe, I've nourished it, and I've done everything I can think of to make it grow."
"Nourished it how?" Luz asked.
Amity stood beside Luz, and uncomfortably turned to the egg. "You… you will do great things. Anything you put your mind to… assuming you develop one. Luz and I… care for you very much…" she said, trailing off as her self consciousness of talking to an egg began to show. "I've also been reading to it, and keeping it close by whenever I'm doing my homework."
Luz looked sadly at her girlfriend, recognizing that this was likely how she was raised. Distant, with the most contact coming from an abomination nanny, and the only encouragement being held back until she succeeded at something. The image of the egg still made her uncomfortable, but she hesitantly placed her hands on it again, and despite the cold slimy surface, wrapped her arms around it in a hug.
"Luz, it's an egg. You're going to…" Amity paused when the egg began to emit a faint, rhythmic beating sound. "Hurt it?" She approached, and the abomination looked down at her in mild confusion, as though the poor creature was suddenly nervous about holding the egg.
"You can't just put baby in a corner. It needs to be touched." She smiled, allowing the viscous slime to soak through her shirt. "This is so gross." She said, but slowly, the egg began to warm, sending a shiver down her back that made her shudder. "But kinda nice."
Amity frowned for a moment, feeling hurt that the egg had begun to react to Luz's methods more than hers, but then a faint smile began to creep across her features. She would have to learn new ways of taking care of others that differed from her own upbringing if she wanted to get a good grade. She would do her best to instil it with the traits she knew would help it, like her determination and ambition. But maybe it could use some human child rearing too. She tapped Luz on the shoulder and whispered, "Can I try?"
Day Five
It was late, and Amity had been working most of the evening on her homework while the egg sat beside her desk in a nest of quilts that Luz had set up. The steady beating noise had remained strong the last few days, and now that Amity had warmed up to it, it had even began to physically pulse as though it was breathing and making quiet gurgling noises that were a bit distracting. She had come down to make herself some tea, rather than ask the abomibutler, in order to stretch her legs and give her back a rest. As she made her way to the kitchen, however she could hear her mother speaking, and she quietly put her back against the wall in order to continue listening.
"You told me the egg you assigned to her was dead!" Odalia whispered into a telecrow, cupping a hand around her mouth to keep her irate voice from carrying through the manor. "I don't care if she fails the assignment, she'll make it up with extra credit. Failing this assignment is sure to drive a wedge between my daughter and that… human girl."
Amity gasped, covering her mouth in shock. Could she believe that her mother would do such a thing? Of course she could. She saw Luz as nothing more than a distraction for Amity; nothing more than an obstacle that was keeping her from reaching the upper echelons of the Emperor's Coven or even becoming an abomination coven head in the future. She wiped a tear from her cheek and quietly made her way back to her room.
"Yes, I'm well aware of what losing such an attachment can do." Odalia sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her free hand. "It's what made Alador and I raise Amity like we did. To excel, to push forward. Without our loss, she would have turned out just like her siblings. Lazy troublemakers that won't amount to anything substantial." she said, then cleared her throat. "Fine. If the school board won't do as it's told, I'll take care of this myself." she added, letting the crow fly from her hand. She took in a deep breath, flattened her blouse, and began climbing the stairs to the children's rooms on the second floor. "Amity! I would like to speak with you!" she called, stifling her annoyance that she could no longer simply call her through the oracle gem that Amity had worn for so long. All because of that Luz girl. "Amity!" she called again.
Odalia opened the door to Amity's room and frowned, crossing her arms as she looked about. The bed was made and the rest of the room immaculate, as usual, but her staff and palisman were gone, as was her abomination and the egg. She quietly moved to her daughter's closet and opened it, noting that one of her suitcases was missing as well. "Blast it, Amity. I had such high hopes for you."
Day Six
"Hoot hoot! Luz, you're girlfriend is here!"
Luz stumbled down the stairs from her room, winding up in a pile at the bottom with a grunt. "Let her in, Hooty!" she called, trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes as she picked herself up. "Amity! It's the middle of the night! What's wrong?" she shouted, entering the dark living room and banging a bare toe on the leg of the coffee table. She cried out in pain and surprise, hopping around toward the door as it opened; revealing an exhausted, crying, disheveled Amity Blight holding a suitcase in one hand and her staff in the other. She was wearing the egg on her back, held in a backpack made from abomination goo.
"Amity!" Luz said, running toward her and embracing her in a hug. "What happened?!"
Amity didn't react at first, as though half asleep. She rested her chin on Luz's shoulder, feeling her warmth and letting a smile slip through to overcome her exhaustion and despair. She dropped her suitcase and returned Luz's hug before letting herself be escorted into the Owl House.
Day Nine
Eda woke to the sound of children arguing again and groaned. She had found Luz and Amity Blight splayed out on the couch in the living room a few days ago with a large, pulsing cryptid egg poised between them. She could sense the life in the thing and it gave her the shivers, but she had covered the pair and their project up in a blanket, taking King to the market to let them sleep. She'd demanded an explanation when she returned, and as expected, it was a Health Class assignment she recalled quite vividly from her own school days. It didn't help that she got an occasional reminder whenever the weird witch faced, owl hybrid… thing swooped at her and cackled from its perch on the tower behind the house.
Apparently, the kids were having difficulty compromising their parenting styles, as well as sharing the same living space as a new couple. Amity was used to more space, having grown up in the lap of luxury and safety of Blight Manor, and living in the… more liberated environment of the Owl House was grating on her nerves, much to Luz's apprehension.
Eda pulled herself out of her nest, rolled off the edge and onto the floor. The kids were still exhausted, having had to go to school after their late night meeting, and now the egg was making some odd noises that were keeping them up as well. It was early, and the Owl House was starting to feel a little crowded. After taking care of her morning routine, she shuffled down into the kitchen where Amity was burning eggs while Luz was making a mess of some kind of doughy sludge in a frying pan, both still in their respective pyjamas. King sat in his high chair at the table, resting his chin in one hand while his eyes fluttered open and closed with each irritable comment one girl said to the other. The egg sat in another chair across the table from him, wrapped in blankets.
"You bumped me, and now there's egg shells in the pan!" Amity complained. There were dark rings under her eyes, her pink hair was a mess and her auburn roots were beginning to show again.
"I'm sorry, Amity!" Luz replied, sounding like she was on the verge of breaking down. Luz had always seemed to have a sense that she wasn't completely wanted, and Amity accusing her of being clumsy was breaking down a lot of the confidence she had built up in the Boiling Isles over the last couple months. "I wanted these pancakes to be perfect, but it's just not going well."
Amity growled, taking the pan off of the stove top and banishing the ruined eggs with a twist of her finger before dumping the pan into the full sink. "Nevermind." she said. Eda frowned, watching the girl beginning to revert back to her repressed and emotionless attitude she had experienced when her and Luz first tried to duel at the covention. "Maybe my mom was right…"
Eda could nearly hear Luz's heart start to crack, and she narrowed her eyes. "Okay, that's it. You two need to take a day off and get your heads on straight."
Amity glared back at Eda, balling her hands into fists. "This is part of the assignment. We need to learn how to endure exhaustion and irritation if we're going to be able to be parents in the future…" she shouted at the older woman.
Luz was uncharacteristically recoiling from the confrontation, clearly having difficulties deciding who she should be siding with. "Guys! Not in front of Eggbert!"
"Knowing when to ask for help is a part of being a parent too!" Eda shouted back. Ever since she had made peace with the Owl Beast, she had come to learn that taking care of others clearly wasn't a one person job. She was still shady on the details of the curse, but it started to feel like a parent/unruly teen relationship. "Tell you what; I'll look after it while you two get some sleep."
Luz placed a hand on Amity's shoulder and felt her reflexively pull away before looking back at her tear filled eyes. Hesitantly, Amity leaned into Luz's arms and felt her body drain of strength. "C'mon, Amity. Let's get some rest."
Amity stirred at Luz's whisper in her ear, having already nearly nodded off. "Yeah, okay." she replied, unmoving. "You're nice, Luz."
Luz's chin quivered for a moment, and she nodded at Eda as a thank you before bending down to scoop one arm under Amity's knees and picking her up to carry her up to her room.
"Dang, that Blight kid really cares about that egg." Eda said, poking her head out of the kitchen to watch Luz slowly carry her girlfriend up the stairs to make certain they made it safely. She retreated back to the fridge and poured herself a cup of apple blood before moving to stand over the egg. King had fallen asleep in his chair now that it was relatively quiet, and Eda watched with crossed arms and a half smile as she watched the egg gurgle and shiver. There was a faint white glow emanating from it now, and the shadow of something moving around inside. "Won't be long now, huh?" she asked, taking another sip of her morning drink. "Let's see what we can find for all your family to have for lunch when they wake up again."
Day Eleven
Luz had fashioned a small fire glyph that she had placed inside a basket with two handles that Amity had made from abomination goo that was able to keep the egg warm on their walk to school a few days later. They were still tired, but they had at least been able to catch up on the sleep they had missed in the last week. The following day had been quiet as they gave each other some space, and time to catch up on homework while the egg sat quietly at the living room table with them.
The health class wasn't huge, so seeing other students with an egg assignment was rare, but they met Gus at the bottom of the steps leading up to Hexside's front doors. He was struggling with a wheel barrow that carried his healthy looking egg, having stopped before the front step and lifting the heavy egg in his arms. "Hey Gus!" Luz called, giving her handle to Amity before rushing to help.
"Hey…" he grunted, trying to find the best way to carry the item. "Luz." he continued, taking the first step up the stairs. He took a breath as he strained to climb each step until Luz arrived and took some of the weight of it off of his arms until they reached the doors.
"Boscha still not helping, huh?" Luz asked. Amity had transformed the basket back into a walking abomination to safely carry the egg up the stairs, its surface now warmed by the modified fire glyph to give it a more maternal warmth.
"Haven't even heard from her." Gus admitted, taking the egg back from Luz. "But it's been okay. My dad has been helping alot, and Willow's been visiting pretty regularly to help."
Luz gasped. "We should organize a play date for them!" she said excitedly, running in place as though to burn off excess energy that she had somehow gained. "Then Eggleston could meet their Uncle Gus and Auntie Willow!"
Gus looked from Luz to Amity and back again, seemingly confused. "They're still eggs. They don't really play…"
"It's best if you just give in." Amity chuckled in response. "So, I'll take the egg for the morning classes, and meet you in health class, and you can take it for the afternoon classes after lunch, right?" she clarified, turning to her partner.
Luz shot a pair of finger guns at Amity with a wink before gently giving the egg a hug. It's surface had begun to harden, and was expelling less slime over the last few days, giving off a slowly brightening golden light that the health teacher had claimed to never see before. Luz, in her unending optimism, assumed that was a good thing, but Amity couldn't help but worry that it was a sign of something wrong. The egg assignment was something students on the Boiling Isles had done since there were schools, and not even Eda or Principal Bump had seen one react like theirs.
Amity waved as Luz walked into the school to her first class of the day, and Amity stood still, between her abomination and Gus. "Something wrong?" the boy asked, lifting his egg again as his arms began to grow tired.
She shook her head and smiled faintly. "Nah. Here." she said, gesturing with a hand to command her abomination to gently take Gus's egg as well. "I'll help you out until we get to your class."
"Thanks, Amity." Gus smiled, walking with her into the school. "I'm glad you and Luz became friends."
Amity returned the smile, blushing slightly. "Yeah. Me too."
"Hey loser. I hear your egg is going to be a freak."
Luz gripped the vial she had been trying to gently pour into a cauldron tightly, accidentally dumping its contents into the batch of transmutation potion the class had been assigned. "What?!" she said angrily, turning to face Boscha a table away. The cauldron cracked and began to peel away as the concoction bubbled and roiled before hardening into stone. The iron began to slough off and the now rock hard substance shifted and fell, rolling onto the floor and shattering into clumps of dust. Luz was ignoring it at the moment, walking over to Boscha's table with fists clenched.
Boscha didn't flinch though, only raising her eyebrows in amusement. "You heard me. Your weird glowing egg thingy is going to hatch into some kind of freak of nature. And for the Boiling isles, that's saying something."
"Well, at least I'm helping to take care of mine! You've done nothing but abandon yours!"
Boscha rolled her eyes. "Whatever. That illusionist kid will do fine if he knows what's good for him."
"Gus will be a great parent in the future, but you?! You're always going to be a monster…" Luz had never seen Boscha move so fast, even on the Grudgby field, but her chair nearly hit the back wall from the force that she had stood up with. She couldn't help but flinch, but Luz stood her ground, her eyes darting between Boscha's three eyes. "I'm not sure which eye I should be focusing on here…"
"What's going on back there?" the teacher called as all eyes turned around to stare at the two girls that were staring each other down. "The materials in this room are too volatile for that kind of behavior, so I recommend you both take a seat before I send you both to detention!"
Boscha crossed her arms and a smirk appeared on her lips as Luz backed away, waving her arms around behind her in search of her chair. "That's right. Walk away, fragile human."
"Amity, do you think our egg is going to hatch weird?" Luz whispered after they had met and settled into their health class for the day. Their egg was situated between them, drawing curious eyes from the front of the class from the other students, whose eggs all looked slightly larger, and now in various colored shells. Their egg's loud groans and gurgles were distracting everyone, including the teacher, who was trying to give a lecture.
Amity shrugged, her ingrained self consciousness forcing her face to blush under the gaze of the other students. "I don't know." she admitted in a hushed tone. "It's probably just a human thing, right?"
Luz shrugged. "This is not a Health Class anyone in the Human Realm has ever taken. I just know I was a handful for my mom, but I think I get it now. It wasn't about me being weird, it was just her trying to protect me, and now I feel the same way. Like, I don't want to see Mary Shelley get hurt just for being different, y'know?"
"Mary Shelley?" Amity asked.
"Still work shopping." Luz admitted, chewing on the end of her pencil in thought. "I just started worrying about how it's going to be treated among all the other Boiling Isles creatures if it's not normal after what Boscha said."
Amity paused her note taking for a moment. "What did Boscha say?" she asked, slowly turning to face Luz as she subconsciously held her breath.
"She said our egg was going to hatch into a freak. I was ready to throw down if the teacher hadn't stepped…"
Amity let out her breath, her reddish-purple tone fading as the air was expelled. "Teacher?!" she called, raising a hand to get the teacher's attention. "May I be excused?" she asked calmly.
"What are you doing?" Luz whispered.
"Yeah, fine. You'll have to get the notes you miss…" but Amity had already left.
"She's probably fine." Luz said, though she couldn't quite convince herself of that.
Luz set the egg on the lunch room table, looking around for Amity as she hadn't returned to Health Class, forcing Luz to carry the egg without the heated abomination's assistance. "Hey Willow. Hey Gus." she said, greeting her friends with a smile. "Have either of you seen Amity yet?"
Gus shrugged, but Willow pointed a nervous finger at the entryway to the cafeteria. "That Amity?" she asked, causing Luz to turn.
Amity stood at the door and took a breath, straightening her shirt and cowl before entering. Her face was flushed, as though she had just been running or exercising, but she gave a quick sniff, and walked calmly toward the table with just a hint of favoring her left hand. Luz's eyes grew wide, and her jaw dropped. She scanned the room for Boscha, who was also mysteriously absent. She raced toward her girlfriend, clutching her arms and looking her over for any injuries. "You didn't… did you?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to be proud or disappointed at what Amity may or may not have done.
Amity shook her head, and pulled Luz along with her to the table and sat. "You've got the egg for the afternoon, right?" she asked, ignoring Luz's earlier question. Luz nodded. "Good." she added, flexing her hand.
Her knuckles were reddened, and Luz took Amity's hand in both of hers. "Aw, Amity… did you defend our egg's honor?" Luz asked, then eyed her suspiciously. "Boscha's not…"
"Don't worry. She'll be back tomorrow." Amity assured her, wincing at Luz's touch. "I might need you to watch the egg until it hatches though. Principal Bump said he might have to call my parents since they work with Boscha's."
"No." Luz answered with determination. "If it hatches, you should be there. Considering your mom wanted to sabotage the whole assignment, I think you're both safer at the Owl House."
"Luz, I…"
"Stay. At least until the assignment is done."
Amity froze, looking at Luz hold her sore hand, a million thoughts running through her mind until she finally agreed. "Okay. It makes the most sense… I think."
The egg beside them started to move as whatever was inside began to stir, and all four students stared at it in wonder as its surface slowly began to turn a gold hue. "Is that supposed to happen?" Gus asked, shifting his view from the girl's egg to his, that although had begun to beat and pulse, hadn't had any kind of dramatic transformation.
Day Fourteen
Luz was pacing back and forth outside of her room at the Owl House. Amity was currently inside with the cryptid egg, getting ready for school. A week and a half of sharing her room with Amity had been interesting, and had resulted in a whole assortment of highs and lows in their new relationship as they took care of the egg. Normally, this would be the day that the assignment ends as the eggs hatch and reveal a creature that had adapted to how it was taken care of. Abusive caretakers could very well unleash a monster that tries to attack it's surrogate parent and the rest of the students, or becomes a hassle for demon hunters after escaping. Other creatures don't quite make it out of the hatching alive, having been neglected completely, also resulting in a failed grade. A few though come out of their eggs as relatively well adapted beings, often growing up to be sentient demons themselves that could one day return to the school.
But Amity and Luz's egg hadn't been seen before. It was giving off it's own heat now, sporting a shining gold shell and weighing a substantial amount more than when they had first gotten it. No one could tell them if that was a good or bad thing, and Luz couldn't help but worry that getting on each other's nerves, and the general vibes of the Owl House, and just her being human might have messed something up inside the egg.
Finally, the door to her room opened and Amity appeared with her abomination carrying the egg. Her large companion wore an almost maternal smile now, rather than its usual scowl, and was making small cooing sounds instead of its usual groans. "Amity! Is your abomination getting attached to our egg too?!" Luz grinned excitedly, then gasped. "Aunt Abbie!" she sang, naming their egg's essential transport.
"Heh. I guess so." she said, though with a hint of sadness. "We should get going. We don't want to get half way there when it hatches. We really don't know what to expect."
"Right!" Luz agreed. "Eeeeedddaaaaa!" she called, cupping a hand to the side of her mouth. "Can I borrow Owlbert to get to school?!"
"Frankly, I'm a little surprised you still ask, kid." Eda called back from downstairs. "Yeah, go ahead. I've got no plans for travel today."
"Yes!" Luz cheered. "Okay, you take Ghost, I'll take Owlbert, and we'll carry Cumberhatch between us!"
"Still haven't settled on a name, huh?" Amity said, letting out a short laugh. She started down the stairs, her abomination close behind with the egg.
"It's kinda hard, not knowing exactly what kind of creature it's even going to be." Luz said, following down the stairs. "I just know it's going to be accepted no matter what it is." She gave Eda a hug on her way by, planted a quick smooch on King's skull as he sat on the couch watching the crystal ball, and picked up Eda's staff from beside the door.
"Good luck, kids." Eda said, after returning Luz's hug and giving a nod to Amity. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
Luz waved back, getting comfortable on Owlbert as Amity did the same to her ivory staff. "What does that leave out?" Amity asked, transforming her abomination back into a two handled basket that wrapped itself around both staves.
Luz shrugged. "Probably nothing." she answered. She had a good feeling about this assignment today, and she couldn't help but grin as both young witches rose into the air on their palisman staves.
Health class was being held outside today in anticipation of the hatching of the eggs. Boscha stood beside Gus, her arms crossed, and a black eye patch covering her third eye. Amity had really popped her. While she hadn't talked about the incident at all, the story going around the school was that Amity had calmly walked into Boscha's class and threw one punch before walking out again and going directly to Principal Bump's office to turn herself in for her behavior. No one was quite sure if he had actually called the Blights or not, but there seemed to have been no repercussions about it. At least not yet.
Gus, on the other hand, was excited to see what was going to come out of the egg that he had amazingly almost raised on his own over the last two weeks. The other pairs of students were in various states of interest in the project; some eggs having never changed at all other than to grow semi translucent and soft, it's ward a lifeless husk inside. Luz frowned, and she quietly hoped that their egg faired better.
Finally, the first egg began to crack and open, and a slithering tentacle flopped out, followed by another, and another before a bulbous head squeezed through the opening it had made. An odd number of yellow eyes looked about, shyly scanning the crowd of students before focusing on the students that had taken care of it. Shortly after, it's tentacles began to stretch out and then retract as it began crawling toward the tree line. By this time, two more eggs began to hatch, and a reptilian bird like creature erupted from one and exploded amniotic fluid across the crowd, screeching. It had purple eyes strewn about its body and a large hooked snout that wafted smoke out of it as it sniffed the air. The cephalopod continued to race toward the safety of the trees in a panic as the corrupted dragon creature leapt into the air and snatched it in its talons, carrying it off in its escape.
Luz grimaced. Would this be their egg's fate? Just food for one of the others? The third egg's inhabitant poked its head out of its shell, then another head, and another until six heads connected to a serpentine body rolled out and onto the ground, and its eye caught the glint of Luz and Amity's gold shelled egg and began slithering its way toward it. Luz raced forward, pulling an assortment of glyph notes from her pocket, putting herself between the six headed snake and her egg. The snake heads hissed and rose up, fangs dripping with venom as they prepared to spit.
Suddenly, the tail of the multi headed serpent was pulled back, much to its surprise, and a tall, furry bipedal creature picked it up and flung it into the trees. Luz's eyes widened at the vaguely familiar creature; one she had only ever seen in blurry photos in the human realm. It turned to look at Gus and smiled, shaking off the slime that matted its fur before slowly walking away into the woods, alone.
The only egg left was Luz and Amity's, and all eyes turned to them and their unmoving project. Luz turned around from her defensive position and knelt down beside it, Amity kneeling down across from her on the other side. "Come on, little guy. Don't be scared. It's time to have some experiences." she smiled sadly.
Amity placed a hand on the top of the egg, running it along its surface to feel every little imperfection and bump and she smiled, silently wishing that she had been as accepted as it was. When her hand reached the top of the egg again, Luz placed her hand over Amity's, causing the gold inner light to return.
The other students and the teacher had begun to crowd around to watch as the bumpy scar tissue under their hands began to crack and separate. Luz drew her hand back before hesitantly placing it back on the eggs surface, laughing nervously. The top of the egg peeled back, and everyone around it leaned in for a peek as a white, furred paw extended through the membrane protecting the inside of the egg with large black claws peeling away more of the shell.
"Okay, we should all just back up a bit." the teacher advised, but none of the students were paying attention. The gold light was shining more brightly now out of the hole, and a nose began to poke through the membrane as well. But it wasn't the expected snout of a feline or canine that might belong to the paw that had appeared.
"What is it?" Gus asked, and even Boscha was trying and failing to feign disinterest in what was happening.
The creature's face appeared; a very human-like face with masculine features, round ears, and glowing gold eyes that sparkled with magic. It pushed the egg onto its side and flopped out in a cute tumble; it's short, white haired body picking up dirt and grass in its slimy coat. The crowd moved out of the way to give it space as it rolled over onto its very feline-like feet and leathery, bat-like wings extended from its back as it coughed up a wad of thick fluid.
Luz gasped. "It's a baby sphinx…" she whispered, and she looked at Amity with watery eyes. "We raised a baby sphinx!" and Amity crawled up beside her to watch as the creature stumbled around, working its wings.
"Wait! You can stay!" Luz shouted at it. "Please stay!" she shouted, and familiar words echoed in her mind, 'When you come home, promise you'll stay here. I didn't mean to push you away. I swear things will be different.' Suddenly her voice caught in her throat and she could feel tears well up in her eyes as she wanted to fight to keep the creature in her arms. "Please! No!"
The creature stared back at her for a moment, backing away cautiously before batting its wings. It's dark skinned, very human face offered Luz and Amity a regretful smile before flexing its wings again and lifting off into the air. Luz clutched Amity's cowl in her hands and buried her face as the teacher and the rest of the students awkwardly moved away to give them space. Amity couldn't help but bury her face in Luz's hair, pulling her in as tight as she could.
"You think we'll see him again? Do you think he'll be okay?" Luz asked through gasps, and Amity could only nod.
"I'm sure of it."