King reached up and tried to grab a green flag, but he was too short. He fell down from the table and landed in some junk nearby. "Stupid flag!" He shouted, a sock over his left eye. Luz and Lucila arrived, Luz holding a ladder.
"It's been a little slow around here, but I've got just the thing to attract customers," She climbed up and attached something. She then tapped a glyph and watched as light engulfed the wood. "And who doesn't like their name in lights?" She smiled as she had made the sign flashy and it now read 'Eda the Owl Lady's Human Collectibles.' The sign even had a little chibi Eda winking.
Lucila did not look happy as King looked kinda bored with it. "Is it too subtle?" Luz rubbed her chin.
"Does subtle mean ugly?" They turned around to see Boscha and her friends. Now King and Lucila just looked annoyed.
"Hi, Boscha! Hexsidians! See anything you like?" Luz gestured around her.
"Ew. No. I'm just here to take an ironic Penstagram next to your weird flashing trash sign," She used her scroll to take pictures.
Luz frowned at her. "That's not funny, Boscha."
"Well, what are you gonna do? Spit your human venom on me?" She taunted and Lucila rolled her eyes.
"You have venom?" King asked the two in surprise. "Quick, Lucila, Luz, start melting faces!"
"Humans don't have venom, that's only snakes, scorpions, and spiders back in our world," Lucila whispered to him, Luz bending down.
"Even if we could, it's not worth it. You wouldn't understand how to handle teens like her."
King then pulled her down by her hoodie. "No, I'll show you what to do!" He jumped and landed on the table, standing on his two feet. "You will tremble before me!"
Boscha clasped her hands, her friends smiling. "Ooh. He's so cute!" She hugged him and used her scroll to take a picture, giving them flower and eye motifs. "How much? I have to own him." He pushed her off and landed back on the table.
"You couldn't afford me, sister," He waved a finger, and they just cooed at him.
"Aww."
"That's the incorrect reaction!" King shouted and Lucila chuckled awkwardly, pinching her nose a little. If anything, at least Boscha was focused on something else and she could shut up about the stand. Eda sniffed around from behind the curtain.
"I smell an easy mark..." She then jumped and landed in front of the trio. "Hey, kid! Can I offer you the latest fashions from," She made a spell circle and when she emerged, she was wearing a ridiculous outfit. "The human realm?"
"Yeah, no," Boscha plainly stated while her friends laughed and they walked off.
"Well," Eda's clothes went back to normal as she crossed her arms. "I hate her."
"Yeah, teens can be sour, but I'm a little sweetie. Look what I made you!" Luz pointed up to the sign and when Eda saw it, she flinched.
"Luz!" She jumped onto the table, trying to take it down.
"Did I spell something wrong? Or did I spell something right?"
"Luz, no," Lucila sighed at her. Eda broke off the sign and bent down, pointing at Luz with a warning look.
"Stop that. You may be forgetting something, Luz," She flicked away the light. "I'm kinda...on the run!" She held up the wanted sign. "Remember? Every guard in town would be at my doorstep if I had my name in lights."
"Well, I don't see anyone right now," Luz glanced around. "Maybe you're just being paranoid. You're a powerful witch. Why hide when you can 'poof' all your problems away with magic?"
"Wow, I have either taught you nothing or you just haven't learned from me ever," Lucila deadpanned at her. "Luz, when you're wanted, that doesn't exactly go away. Eda's got all those posters for a reason, and it's why that we're, you know, running the stand right now for her?" She gestured to Eda.
"See! Older kid's always got reason," Eda pointed to her.
"What does Luz know about problems anyway?" King stood up, gesturing to the girl. "All she has is dumb teen drama! And that's Luci too."
"Um, what exactly did I do to have dumb teen drama? I don't care about Boscha," She waved it off.
"That jerk who bumped into you at Covention, but you never did anything about it." The girl flinched at him being brought up. Considering how she saw him not too long ago, she really didn't want to talk about him. "Both of you don't understand how hard some of us have it."
"You're pampered all day like a dang baby. How hard is that life?" Eda pointed out.
"Well, I don't know if you realized, but I'm not a baby!" King shouted out loud.
"Then why are you screaming like one?" Luz smirked at him.
"My life is a living nightmare!" He emphasized, the other three smiling in amusement.
"Well, there's only one thing to do when friends can't see eye-to-eye," Eda rubbed her hands together.
"Hug each other till we pass out?" Luz grabbed King and hugged him.
"Fight to the death!"
"No," Lucila immediately denied that one. "Guys, you have hard lives, you just don't know what it's like. Just talk it out."
Eda scoffed at the suggestions. "No. Body swap!"
"Um, what?" Lucila murmured in confusion.
"...Are you sure you don't shoot venom?" King questioned Luz.
Eda pulled out her staff. "I love a good body swap. It's like demonic possession with the ones you love."
"We're doing that? That's possible?" Luz asked happily. "This is just like my favorite early 2000s movie, Freaky Fraturday!"
"Oh my god, Logan is so cute in that movie," Lucila fantasized, shaking her head fondly. "But putting that aside, isn't this kind of crazy? Because it sounds kind of crazy!"
"Yeah, I think Lucila's right. Maybe we should think about this for a second," Her sister agreed.
"Body swap!" Eda ignored this and lifted up the staff, spinning it around. Lucila ducked out of the way; she was definitely passing on this.
"Ooh," Luz stated in awe as a wave of gold smoke occurred over them and Lucila had to cover her eyes with her arm, turning away. "Did it work? I need a mirror!" Luz ran into a mirror and slid down to the ground. Make-up smear was left behind on the mirror. "Found one."
Lucila looked back and she gasped as she saw Luz in Eda's body. The only minor differences were that Luz still had her eyes and mouth. "Oh, my gosh. It worked!" She beamed at herself. "I'm so old," She held her cheeks together. "And pointy!" She touched her ears, a big grin on her face.
King, as Luz, stepped up to the mirror as the hair was a bit messier, and a fang poked out of the mouth while the eyes were his. "Hot dog! It's me!"
"Yeah, it is. I'm the human now. Bow before my massive, meaty hands!" He declared and Lucila snorted at him.
"Wait, so that means..."
Eda cleared her throat and their eyes widened. They looked towards the smoke, and when it was gone, Eda was in King's body. She had her eyes and one of the fangs from King's teeth was gold. "How do I look?"
"I've got some...very confusing emotions right now," King confessed to her.
"I stand by that," Lucila glanced away. "I mean, I guess if you guys are happy with it, then I guess I'll be too, but it's still weird."
"All right, here's the deal. Whoever can prove their new body has the easiest life gets out of house cleaning duty. And you know what that means."
And by house cleaning, she meant cleaning Hooty...who was now laughing gleefully while rolling in mud. Which was a thing he loved doing now, much to their distaste. They all shuddered at the thought of having to clean him.
"Won't be me," King bragged to them. "Life as a teen is a tyrant's dream! By the end of the day, I'll be ruling over your feeble demographic!"
"Well, I've got magic," Luz said with a smug tone. "Eda, don't be too mad when your inventory's gone and the guards are none the wiser," She spun a spell circle and she yelped as she blasted out fire from it, knocking her onto the ground.
"Oh, oh noooo," Lucila rubbed a temple as she realized that technically, Luz had the ability to naturally do magic for the day. And that thought scared her a little.
"Ha. That's cute," Eda laughed at her. "If you need me, I'll be getting pampered on a vacation fit for a king," She jumped off the table and left.
"My life's not a joke!" King shouted after her. "But yours is ...Bap!" He poked Luz's nose and laughed, running off.
"Not touching this one," Lucila waved her hands, walking off. She took out a book for wild magic—not to be a witch, but just to learn so she could educate Luz on it.
Eda walked down the streets, taking a pair of red sunglasses. She then struck a pose.
Eda's Catatrosphe
"Look at that little baby!" A woman cooed at her.
"Oh, hello."
"So adorable!" A man called out and she waved.
"Yes, hello to you too, handsome."
"Stop right there!" She turned around to see a guard with the triangle symbol staring down at her.
"An Emperor's guard!" She said nervously to herself, especially since there was a multi-head dog next to the guard.
"Thought you could get away with it, didn't you?"
"Wait," She moved down the glasses. "Y-You know who I am?"
"Of course I do. You're...the cutest little angel I've ever seen! Who wants a lolly?" He held it out to her and she took it.
"Ha! That's more like it," The multi-head dog sniffed the lollipop, whining as she held it away. "You got nothing!" She laughed as she ran off. "Whew! Being King is a walk in the park. I'm gonna win this bet for sure." She stopped short as someone was standing in front of her. "Wha...?" She looked up to see two old women, both of them wearing aprons.
"Oh, Dottie!" One of them said to her friend. "Look at this lost little dumpling!" The woman then held out her arms to Eda.
"What's that? Whoa!" She wiggled from the woman's grip. "Hey, I'm not lost, you creeps!"
"Poor baby! Do you need us to make you a delicious meal?"
"No, I don't need you-" The woman started scratching her belly and she froze. "Tummy scratches? Ooh. You know what? Maybe I am lost," She put her hands behind her back, enjoying the attention once again. "Take me away, ladies!"
They then walked off, although something was definitely off about them...
They brought Eda back to a kitty café, with instead of kittens, they were small various types of creatures. "Welcome to our kitty café," The woman introduced as they stepped inside. "This is our little safe haven for cherubs like you." Most of the demons inside were eating and drinking, some being served by other small demons.
"Ugh. What hot mess is going down here?" Eda said in slight disgust by how cute it was.
"You see, precious cargo like you should be taken care of. Boop!" She booped Eda's nose and she walked past the people playing with the demons. "All you should have to worry about is how many belly rubs you want or how many tasty num-nums you're gonna eat." She placed Eda in a crib.
"Well, my creep alarm is ringing, but I can't argue with num-nums," She held out her arms as she was handed a cupcake by Dottie.
"This place is a safe place. A place clean from the outside world. And those teenagers who filthen it," She jerked a thumb to a sign that said no teens a-meow-ed. "You have a good nap, my dearest. And welcome...to your new home," The two walked off and Eda looked worried again...but then she tossed the cupcake with a laugh.
"Oh, being adorable is the life." She then yawned. "Time for a nap," She grabbed a pillow and fluffed it, crawling inside to nap. A shadow loomed over her as she heard a cat meowing, gasping. She woke up and peeked, only to be bombarded by a cat.
"Leave this place!" She screamed as she fell backwards onto the pillow. The cat jumped into the crib. "Danger is near," He gripped her collar.
"baby demon! We have a surprise for you!" The woman called out.
"Oh, you hear that, Bowtie?" She pushed the cat off.
"Ow!"
"There's a new star in town," Eda bragged to him. The door opened and the cat yowled, running off as the women came back.
"A gift for our new, cutest demon," The woman held out a bee costume for Eda to wear.
"Okay, I'm out," She narrowed her eyes, starting to crawl out of the crib. She then walked towards the door, the thinner woman glaring at her.
"Dottie, please help our little angel get changed," She snapped her fingers and Dottie let out a screech. She jumped forward on several props, landing in front of Eda before she could reach the door. She growled down at Eda. "Oh no, sweetie. You can't survive out there without us."
"Ladies, stand back," Eda held up a finger. "I am not above disrespecting my elders," She spun a circle and that was when she realized that in King's body, she couldn't actually do magic. "Oh, dang. I'm not a witch right now."
"No, baby," The woman smiled down at her. "You're a cutie patootie," She had a creepy look on her face as she reached out to Eda.
"Not today, sister!" She ran underneath the woman's legs.
"No!"
Dottie screeched and Eda reached the door to the employees' room. Once inside, she barricaded it with a small door. The women pounded against it. "Let us in this instant! It is not time for you to be there!"
"Stop babying me!" Eda protested and looked inside the room. Her eyes widened as she saw little demons in costumes that looked lifeless, especially with their large eyes. It was honestly unnerving... "This vacation just took an alarming, back-alley turn," She waved a hand in front of one of them.
"Tasty num-nums," He murmured, drool coming from his mouth.
"Don't bother."
Eda yelped, falling onto the ground. The cat from before came out of the shadows. "Their minds are tragically gone. They've been coddled so long, they forgot how to live on their own! Their brains turned to mush."
"Geez, I thought I liked being babied. But I feel so small and helpless," Eda looked down at her hands. "Like...some sort of baby! But that won't happen to us, right?" The cat started playing with yarn, looking like the other demons on the shelf. "I failed you, Bowtie. My closest ally," She watched him play in disappointment.
"Meow. Meow."
The two ladies managed to knock the door down, both of them growling at Eda. "I'll avenge you, Bowtie!" Eda picked up the cat and threw it at them. It meowed and hit the taller one in the face. King then looked past and saw a small hole from the entrance that looked like it could fit her.
"Ooh!" She made a break for it and crawled through it, only to hit herself against the display window. "Huh?" She glanced to the creature nearby adding 'see our newest baby!' in paint. He then floated away and she turned around, looking up in fear at the old ladies.
"Wonderful! Now everyone can see our bestest baby...forever..." She held up the bee costume. Eda turned around, planting herself against the window.
"Noooooooo!"
Lucila was wearing her over-ear headphones, looking through a book as she walked through Bonesborough. Honestly, she would've checked up on her friends or Luz, but she already could interpret that they'd learn their lesson the hard way. So she'd rather just sit back this time and let them figure this out on their own. She would just walk around town until one of them found her...
And someone did, but it wasn't someone she was expecting.
"Human!"
She turned around to see the Golden Guard flying over to her. She sighed a bit in amusement to herself; while she thought the last time she saw him was a weird experience, it was kind of funny that he ran into her for practically no reason. Though, she still didn't like him; that attitude left a lot to be desired.
"Oh, it's you," She remarked as politely as she could be, closing her book and lifting off her headphones. She faced him as he landed in front of her. "Look, I'm not looking for trouble, and I haven't done anything-"
"What? No. It's just, as the Golden Guard, I have a protocol to ask if you made it home safely, without trouble of course," He stated to her. Last night, he actually felt...a little worried for her, and he had no way to contact her. So he figured to find her just to see if she made it out okay. Thankfully, she didn't look injured or upset.
"Mm?" She raised a brow, slightly confused, but decided not to dwell on it for now. "Oh, that night when I was out? Yeah, I got home just fine the next morning." She covered her mouth immediately after she said that, because she shouldn't have said that. He stared at her and she sweated a bit.
"The next morning?"
She mentally facepalmed herself as she found herself in a corner. "I-I meant later...that night. I didn't do anything that night that lasted until morning," She bit her lip, wondering what was going through his mind. He probably didn't believe her, and yet he wasn't immediately bringing her to the Emperor, which also confused her as well.
"What even prompted a late night walk, human?" He looked down at her suspiciously, hands behind his back.
"That is none of your-"
"Unless you wanna explain it to the Emperor himself," He interrupted her and she clamped her mouth shut. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching and waved him forward into the alleyway. He silently rolled his eyes at the dramatics, but followed her anyway. They both sat down on the ground and she glanced to the side again.
"What I'm about to tell you...you can never tell anyone. Ever. Or bring me to the Emperor," She warned him.
"We'll see about that, human."
King reached out and grabbed the flag, ripping it off. "Not so high and mighty anymore!" He threw it down. "I feel so alive! Whoa!" He fell backwards into a trash can.
King's Brush with Death
He struggled to get out, falling onto the floor as his legs wiggles. Something landed nearby and his head came out of the other end of the trash can. A water puddle was nearby, and then tentacles rose out of it. "Oh no! Ahh!" He scrambled out of the trash can, ducking from a tentacle. "The flag, it seeks revenge!"
He heard laughter and looked towards a hill to see two of Boscha's friends. One of them threw a water balloon, which grabbed an innocent citizen.
"Help me! I'm a delicate man."
King glared up at them. "Teenagers..."
He crawled on all fours to the hilltop, sniffing around. He then crawled over to the two as they were standing near a shack that was named 'Treasure Shack.'
"Hey, take this, society!" One of the teens took a water balloon and then it popped over his heat. "Oh no." The tentacles rose from the ground, grabbing him and he screamed. King snuck past them and sniffed the curtain, lifting it up. He found Boscha and the rest of her friends, two of them on Penstragram in boredom. The last one was trying to do sit-ups while wearing flying shoes.
"Ugh. Just give up," Boscha stated from a bean-bag chair while music was playing.
"I swear, I can do a sit-up!" He argued back to her. "I'm just having a bad day!" However, he still failed and the two girls gathered around him.
"Sure you can." They both took a selfie with him over his failure.
"I'll show Luz how to rule over these doofuses," King smirked before moving the curtain. "Greetings!" He looked down and realized he was still on all fours. "Er, greetings!" He got onto his feet. "Bow before your king of humans!"
The boy fell onto the ground, the three baffled by King's arrival. "Hey, nobody tells me what to do," The boy stated in annoyance.
"Ugh. Shut it," Boscha snapped at him.
"Sorry, Boscha."
"New post," Boscha walked up to King while holding her scroll. "Loser human thinks she can hang out in our sacred Treasure Shack. Spoiler alert: she can't. And neither can her nerdy sister, in fact."
The boy floated over King. "Yeah, get out of here, Goody Two-shoes."
"Goody Two-shoes, huh?" King slyly took off the boy's shoes and he landed between him and Boscha. Luz then put on the shoes and flew out the curtain. Boscha moved away the curtain and they watched as King flew past the red-outfited student from Hexside. He grabbed the bag of water balloons. "Hey, impressionable youths! Under my command, you could learn how to do some real damage!"
He tossed the entire bag into the city, unleashing all of the balloons and tentacles at once. "All hail, your new teen king!"
"I didn't like her telling me what to do before, but now, I love it!" The boy exclaimed as they all looked up in awe. Boscha didn't look so impressed though as she huffed.
"Who wants to revolt with me today?"
"Whoo!"
"Yeah, you're the coolest!"
"We love you now!"
"I love it!"
The two girls flew after King and the boy realized that he didn't have a way to fly. "Uh, I'll catch up!"
"Hold up! I did not give you permission to leave!" Boscha shouted up at them.
"All right, you acne-encrusted hormone buckets. Let's go let out some teen angst!" The green-haired girl picked up the boy to fly him.
You're hanging with the cool kids
They peeked over a sidewalk, where people were waiting for the bus. Suddenly, a woman's face got shuffled around, causing her to scream.
Breaking all the rules kids
The same thing happened with the next person, who screamed.
You're gonna have to fool the kids
However, the last person with the newspaper already had a shuffled face, confusing them.
Into thinking that you're cool too
They made his face normal, and he freaked out.
They're piercing noses
They moved away some letters, changing self storage to elf rage.
They dye their hair
The four ducked for cover and a tall elf noticed the sign. "Yeah, this sign gets it!" He then ripped off his shirt and punched the sign down, running off. The four laughed as they watched him before running away from the elf as he chased them.
They were laughing while King shushed them. "Guys, be quiet!" He was holding a crow as he made a phone call. The crow from the Owl House cawed and Hooty answered it.
"Hoot House. Hooty hooting." The three giggled as King crawled up to the megaphone on top of a stand and planted the crow inside. "Oh, wow. I've been waiting for someone to call all day, and now, it's finally happened!" Everyone looked up in confusion as they could hear him. "We can talk for hours, and hours, and hours, and hours..."
Someone held their eyes, screaming in agony.
"I don't know what Luz is talking about. This life is a breeze," King bragged before they ran into Boscha, and she looked furious.
"Enough! I don't know why they can't remember what a weirdo loser you are, but I'm gonna help them remember."
"Ooh, I'm so scared," King teased before laughing. "She still thinks she has power over you guys." His eyes widened a bit as they didn't say anything, and they looked mostly afraid. "Guys?"
"Luz, I challenge you to a race around Dead Man's Curve!" She pointed up to a highway, and lightning struck it. They all gasped in horror: Dead Man's Curve was the deadliest road ever in the Boiling Isles. Lucila even said once to Luz that if she went there for any reason, she would drag her back home!
"And we'll be racing on those!" Boscha pointed to rat worms nearby. "Giant rat worms."
"You don't have to do this, you know?" One of the girls placed a hand on King's shoulder. "We know humans are like...super fragile."
"Don't baby me!" King shouted as she stormed up to the girl. "Boscha, I accept your strange teenage coming-of-age challenge thing."
One of the bones holding up the road fell off and King pushed his rat worm to the starting line, though he had some trouble with it. One of the girls held up a chip while using her flying shoes in front of them.
"On your mark..." King climbed onto the worm, glaring at Boscha. "Get set..." He gulped at the situation. The girl ate the chip, signaling the start of the race. Boscha's worm took off at a fast speed, while King's worm hadn't moved.
"Let's go!" Still nothing, however. "Worm minion, I said go!" King slapped the worm on the rear and it raced off, but King was riding it backwards. Boscha smirked as she had a headstart, while King was struggling to get control of the worm. "Stop! I said stop!" The worm then tumbled down the road and he screamed while holding onto it. Boscha's worm slid down easily on a muddy track, while King's worm kept bumping into the curves. "Why?!" He managed to catch up to Boscha, earning a gasp from the girl. "This is how the cool kids ride. Super backwards. On purpose," He bragged and she growled. Then she looked up ahead and gasped, skidding her worm to a stop. King looked at her as he thought he was winning. "Yes! Say bye-bye to your popularity, Boscha."
She simply waved at him with a smile. "Bye bye."
He turned around and saw why she had stopped: because there was a gap in the road, blocked off by a caution sign. He yelped and tried to stop the worm, but was too late and they fell. And unfortunately, the gap was right above the Treasure Shack, which King crashed into it. Then the thing fell apart and he fell off the worm.
"Ow!"
"Not the Treasure Shack!" One of the girls exclaimed in dismay.
"I don't know how to process this!" The boy shouted. "Someone tell me what to do!"
Boscha smirked as she saw this as her chance to regain control. "Get her!"
The kids flew after King with their shoes and he looked up, running off. He slid down a dirt road, running on all fours.
"Get back here, human!" Boscha called out.
"Luz was right. I can't handle the complexities of teenage life. I just want my body back!" He cried out, crashing into the can of paint near the Kitty Café.
"I think I saw her go this way!" He looked around in a panic upon hearing Boscha's voice, running inside the place. The teens flew right past and he panted heavily...though he failed to noticed the no teens sign above his head. He sighed in relief and the lights turned on, alarming him. The taller woman stepped out of the employees room, noticing him.
"Dottie! A teen has come to steal our little babies!" She lunged forward with the broom.
"No, wait! I am a little baby!" King protested, ducking as the broom hit the door. She started chasing after him with the broom, breaking a table.
"No, you're not," She snarled at him. "You're a rotten teen! But when we finish with you, you'll be calling for your mother!" She took out two hair pins, sharpening them with her teeth.
"Lady, I just want my body back!"
"You can have it," He glanced to his right to see Eda in a bee costume, sitting in the display window. "Your life is pretty terrible. But hey, it'll probably be over soon." He looked up in horror to see the two women looming over him, and Dottie threw a cloth over him.
"Wait, really? The books came to life?" The Golden Guard asked her and Lucila nodded. She had told him mostly everything that happened in the library—minus the part with the twins because reasons. "Fascinating. I never knew that was even possible!"
The whole time she was telling the story, she expected him to bring her to the Emperor or at least arrest her, since it was breaking and entering. But no, he seemed to be pretty fine with the whole thing, which confused her even more—especially since she openly admitted that she wasn't committing to a coven and wanted nothing to do with magic.
"...Why haven't you brought me in yet?" She slowly asked him and he paused. "I mean, Lilith seems to be more active than you are if anything."
"The Owl Lady is her priority right now," He simply stated, crossing her arms. "Mine is being by the Emperor's side whenever he needs it."
She leaned back, eyeing him. "You didn't answer the question."
"...Consider it an apology. For bumping into you at Covention," He finally stated after a few seconds, surprising her. He sounded genuinely sincere this time, and...she kind of wished she'd see this side of him more. "But only this time. Once I cuff you, we'll throw you into the Boiling Sea!"
She cringed at that, but then he looked to his right and she followed his direction to see that some Coven Guards had seen them. She flinched a bit as she didn't realize they were there, but then they shrugged upon hearing the Golden Guard's exclamation, leaving.
He turned back to her and she cleared her throat. "Thanks. For the apology, I mean and for what you just did," She held her arm, looking away. He then looked down at her book, feeling a little weird to ask, but he really wanted to...and he wasn't supposed to, but she really made him want to ask.
"So, a wild magic fan, huh?"
She turned to him with wide eyes, glancing down at her book that talked about ancient magic. "Well, Eda and my sister warranted some questions, so I figured to start where it originated...I'm just helping them this way. Why?"
"I've been reading up on it too. Actually, there's all kinds of ancient techniques that people don't practice like-" He froze and then stopped himself. "Never mind. I'm actually not even sure why I'm talking about this with you."
Her eyes softened a little, as she could sense that he had an eagerness to learn about it, but couldn't...and she didn't think she'd learn anything about him until today. But now, she found him to be similar to her in a way. Because it reminded her of how she wanted to be free from responsibilities all the time, but couldn't.
"It's okay, I get it," She smiled a bit. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
He stared at her, considering her to be more and more endearing with each interaction.
"Having all kinds of magic must be fun. My sister would literally die to have that kind of power," Lucila stated as she glanced away and he paused. She looked up at him as she didn't get an answer. And she didn't realize why until she noticed him grip his staff a little bit and she connected the dots. "That staff...you can't do magic without it?"
"It's none of your business," He snapped a little and she held up her hands.
"Sorry...but maybe we could spark that interest of wild magic!"
He stared at her in disbelief, but also kind of surprised that she didn't seem to comment that she thought it was embarrassing or lame.
"Whew!" Luz exclaimed from the stand. "Okay, let's try this again." She glanced down at her boots. "And...strut, strut, strut," She tripped, hugging a few crates. A lamp fell and broke when it hit the ground.
Luz's Deals in Heels
"How does Eda wear these all day?" Luz asked in disbelief, lifting up her leg. She glanced at the ground and saw the broken lamp. "Oh, no. What have my heels done? Wait a second," She beamed as she realized something. "I'm a ding dang witch!" She stood up and made a spell circle, but she casted a fire spell, launching her behind the table. "Boy, Eda is powerful." She then blasted more magic from her hand. "Ahh! Not again!"
"Okay," She put on oven mitts. "Let's try this one more time." There was one hole in each mitt for her fingers to be poking out. She then spun another spell circle, and she did fix the lamp...but it was now two lamps with human legs. "I made magic with my hands!" She jumped up and down happily.
"Ooh, so unnecessarily extravagant," A customer pointed out. "I'll take it!"
"Zippo swappo!" Luz waved a finger, and the thing walked off, to the customer's delight. "Sold to the savvy shopper." The customer tossed her a coin. "Okay, magic hands, let's see what else we can magically magic," She created a bigger, brighter sign. A top hat was on her head. "Step right up and feast your eyes on the marvels of the human realm!"
She seemed to attract some people. "Oh, what is this?"
"Where did the other stand go?"
Eda bent down to someone with shut eyes, the light reflecting on his left cheek. "Your lights are too bright, and I forgot what I came here for," Luz glanced to the side and smirked.
"Was it for...laughter?" She used a feather duster to tickle him and he started laughing.
"Joy! So painful," He held out a handful of coins. "I'll take two for my enemies," She eagerly took them.
She was faced with a centaur that had its face on its chest. Luz waved a finger, using a marker and drawing on his face. He shed tears of joy, giving her a bundle of coins.
A baby was crying until Luz gave it a pacifier, the mother giving Luz basically life's savings. "Thank you! Come again!" Luz called out to the dispersing crowd. She then took Eda's staff into her hand. "There's a little something for everyone. Take it from me, Eda, the Boiling Isles' gift to magic."
"Is that right?" A gruff voice asked, coming from a man in a cloak. "You're the famous Eda the Owl Lady?"
"That depends..." She slowly took off her hat. "Are you a fan...of magic?" She pulled out a small bouquet of flowers from the hat.
"No, but I am a fan of..." He removed the cloak to reveal himself to be from the Emperor's Coven. "The law!"
"Oh, no!" The flowers wilted out of fear as Luz was shocked. The guard cuffed her arm and another guard approached her.
"We're finally able to catch you in the act. All thanks to this little light show of yours." She glanced between them, remembering that she had an advantage.
"Gentlemen, what do you say we forget this whole thing ever happened?" She then pointed her finger at one of the guards. "Amnesia spell!" However, she gave him a pacifier instead... "Haven't quite got the hang of this yet."
The Golden Guard stared at Lucila while she flipped through her book, trying to figure out what exactly she could talk about with him that would get him interested. There were so many topics, and yet she hadn't noticed that he was looking at her. Mostly because he was still taken aback by what she said earlier.
You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.
It was one simple sentence, and yet it meant much more to him. The fact that she was only trying to spark his interest made him remember why he thought she was interesting, because no one had tried to do that with him. He then saw her purse and saw a brown book peeking out.
"What's this one?" He took it from her bag and she looked up, panicking.
"Oh no, please don't read that," She took it back gently, holding it tightly in her hands. "Um, it's private."
"What is it? Technically, I have to know if it's illegal~! Wouldn't want the Emperor to get his hands on it."
She sighed at the card he was playing in defeat. "It...it's my songbook. I always carry it with me if I get inspired."
"You...write music?"
"Well, yeah. I'm in a band with my friends Will and Cori, the Wildbats. I'm lead singer, so I write all the songs in this book that my mom gave to me," She murmured, rubbing her neck. "But since I'm here with my sister, I'm not really performing."
"Humans can do stuff like that?" He asked slowly and she looked back up at him.
"We do a lot of things that you guys don't have here. We're not all the same, you know," Lucila told him and he paused. He learned all sorts of things from her today, and if it wasn't for his insistence, she might've gotten him to talk about things he had a passion to speak about...
"Human...I-"
"Can't we just talk this out?"
Lucila gasped at the familiar voice and they turned to their right to see Luz being escorted away by the guards. "I'm not Eda the Owl Lady, I'm just a hormone-filled teenage girl who likes making videos out of anime!"
"Oh no, Luz!" Lucila whispered to herself, frantically standing up.
"Luz?" The Golden Guard murmured in confusion and she blocked his way. He would definitely mistake Luz for Eda.
"Um, um, I gotta go now! This was...actually not as bad as I expected," She confessed with a small smile, running off. He stared at the girl, deciding to sit back and let Lilith handle it—even if Lucila was doomed to fail in his opinion. But...he had some faith, as little as it was. Lucila glanced back in relief that he wasn't going to interfere.
Luz's picture was taken and the camera barfed out the photo. "This is some of my best work. Really captures the shame," He showed her the mugshot and she frowned, the staff getting taken away. Owlbert squawked, getting locked in a shackle.
"Yeah, you're going away for a long time, you filthy criminal." Owlbert looked at Luz sadly.
"Owlbert! This is all a big mistake," She stared at the staff as she was taken away into another room. "Y-You're gonna laugh when I explain."
Someone made their way inside the police station, a member of the Coven gasping.
"Is it really her?"
"Oh,no. This is not good."
"Hey, you gotta take that thing out before someone sees you," One guard warned the other with the pacifier.
'I like it," He shrugged it off. "Calms the nerves." They then saw Lilith's reflection and he dropped it from his mouth. "Uh, Madame Lilith, to what do we owe this honor?" They both bowed to her.
"Word reached me that you captured my sister," She spoke up. "I'll take it from here."
"But Madame, she's going straight to the Conformatorium. I have the order right here," He held it up, and in return, she burned it.
"The orders have changed."
"HEY!"
They heard sudden shouts and Lucila slid into the room, followed by a few guards. "I'm sorry, Madame, but she slipped right past us-"
"You're one of the humans under her care..." Lilith interrupted in realization, two guards grabbing her arms as she struggled.
"You've got it all wrong! That's not Eda, that's-"
"Come with me, dear, and you'll see why we're both here," She stated, shocking all of them.
"But...but she broke-"
"I'll handle it, just like with my sister," She stated in a thin voice and the two guards let go of the girl. She blinked in confusion and Lilith walked off. Lucila carefully chose to follow her, hoping she could convince Lilith to let them both go.
"Look, guys, you got the wrong Eda!" Luz protested as the two walked into the room.
"Hello, Edalyn," Lilith greeted her.
"Oh, thank goodness! A familiar face! Luci!" Eda smiled upon seeing her. "You're Eda's sister, right? Is it Libby? No. Limby..."
"Your show of affection is...touching. Do you know why you two are here?"
"Well, as I was telling the guard, this is just a classic Freaky Fraturday mix-up," Luz explained and she looked to her sister, who shook her head rapidly.
"Sister, the charges against you are long and many," Lilith held up a scroll, which had...dozens of Eda's crimes on it. "Operating a stand without a permit, owning a hocus without a pocus-"
"Yeah, I think that list goes on for a while."
"We don't have time for this! She's not the real Eda," Lucila protested, gesturing to the girl. She assumed that the body swap spell meant that Lilith couldn't realize that Eda was not Eda. "And why am I even here?"
Lilith glanced over her shoulder. "I'm getting to it, human," She then whipped back to Luz. "These charges are serious. There's no more running away, Edalyn."
"I know," Luz closed her eyes. "I can't just 'poof' my problems away."
Lilith sat down next to her, grasping her arms. "But we can! You getting caught was clearly a cry for help. Join the Emperor's Coven, like we dreamed about when we were girls."
"What?!" Lucila gasped in disbelief.
"Eda wanted to be in the Emperor's Coven?"
"This is why I brought you here," Lilith turned to the girl. "To show you that when family is in need, you need to encourage them in the right direction. Your direction!" Lucila looked a bit unnerved by that. She never would insist that Luz do things in her own way just because she would think it was the best for Luz... "Don't be afraid, sister. Soon, you won't be a danger to those around you. Bring out the branding glove."
She spun a finger, tying up both the sisters. "The what now?" The guard put on a glove, the symbol glowing. He pushed away the table hard and it crashed. "Wait, you're making a mistake!" Luz cried out, creating a big spell circle. "I'm not a danger to anyone!" She then heard a sound. "Uh-oh."
The wall exploded and the two cough, suddenly free from the restraints. "Owlbert, come to me!" Owlbert crashed through the prison and flew over, smacking into Luz. "Sorry, buddy," She cast another spell to free him. "Eda's life is more complicated than I thought."
"If we could speed it up, we have to go!" Lucila grabbed her arm and they ran off.
Lilith looked to the hole, growling as her hair was a mess.
"Okay, if I were Eda and Eda is King, where would I be?" Luz asked while the two were running.
"Okay, that's a question I never thought would get asked," Lucila glanced away in confusion.
"Ahh! This thing's so confusing!" Luz seemed to agree with her sister.
"After them!" Lilith shouted, pointing at the duo.
They ended up right near the Kitty Café, and they heard banging on the window. They turned around to see Eda and King pounding on the glass.
"Luz! Bring my dang body over here!" Eda called out, King wearing a blue shirt.
"Eda!" Luz shouted in relief, running over to them.
"Oh, look, Dottie," The taller woman stated. "It's not kidnapping if they entered our store. Just think of it as good customer service." Luz cast a spell, turning of the lamps into the same one that she sold earlier. "Why did our lamp get unnecessarily extravagant?" She asked as the two snuck in, and they turned to see the four, the group gasping.
"Hi," Eda stated simply.
"Go, go, go!" Luz shouted as they scrambled out the door. The woman gasped, glaring.
"After them!" Dottie growled, holding up a net.
"What weird stuff did you get my body into?" Luz wondered as they ran into Lilith and the guards.
"There she is," Lilith gritted her teeth, one of the guards holding the multi-head dog.
"I got the same question," Eda stated and they turned around, faced by Boscha and her friends.
"Dang! I forgot about them."
"All right," Eda spoke up. "Did everybody learn a valuable lesson about experiencing each other's hardships?"
"Yep!" Both Luz and King answered in unison.
"Kinda makes it feel unfair that only Lucila got out unscathed."
"Not sure if you wanna count that as a good thing," Lucila glanced around at all the groups.
"Okay then, let's end this nightmare," Eda took the staff from Luz. "Body swap!" She spun the staff into the air and Lucila stepped back, watching as the spell went over them, changing them back to normal. However, the clothes they wore when they were swapped still remained.
"My body!" King looked down at the huge shirt he had on. "My glorious little body!"
The bee costume ripped away from Eda since it was too small on her. "Sister," Lilith snarled out. "Time and again I've offered you my help, yet you foolishly run back to your worthless life! I'm tired of trying, Edalyn. Your days of running are over!"
"Thanks, Luz," Eda glanced back at her.
"Sorry," Luz replied quietly.
"Don't worry, I got this," Eda spun the staff above her head. "Body swap!" She spun the staff as the spell came from it, affecting everyone around them. Barking was heard and it was coming from the dog.
"Eda, you rotten sister!" Lilith cried out from the dog. "Switch me back! Ahh! Woof!"
"What's happening?" The guards were in the old ladies. "Who the heck are you?"
"I'm a Coven guard, wise mouth!"
"No, you're not. I am!"
"You get outta my body, you galoot!" The taller thin woman, in the body of the boy, tackled him.
"Fight!" The guard held up a net and moved forward, only for something to break. "Ow! My knees."
"Hey, ow! This is your fault! Let go! My arm! Ow!" Everyone was fighting for their bodies, the group stepping back and chaos ensued.
"Are they gonna be okay?" King asked his friends.
"...Ehh," Eda shrugged simply.
"Eda," Luz turned to her. "I just wanna say that things can be more complicated than you think. But with you guys, it all feels a little less mixed up."
"Aw, that's sweet, kid," Eda smiled at her. Lucila wrapped an arm around her sister playfully.
"But I think I can safely say that we're never doing that again."
"Agreed, let's never speak of this again," Eda agreed with her and they flew away from all the fighting. The dog was in Lilith's body, who howled. The Golden Guard peeked as they flew past him. "By the way, where were you during all this?"
"Oh, ah, nowhere important," Lucila waved her hands nervously. "Just...ran into someone unexpected, that's all."
He relaxed a little bit upon her keeping their talk a secret. He then glanced at all the people and snickered. "Thanks for giving me this laughing stock, human..."
"So, wait," Luz spoke up as they headed back home, a question still on her mind. "Who is going to clean Hooty? It's getting...dire."
"Guys? Today's my monthly cleaning," Hooty called out. "Hoot, hoot. I'm 20 percent mucus, but don't let that stop you. Come on, I have so many hard-to-reach spots that need swabbing!"
"Maybe if we all work together, we could-"
"Not it!" King, Lucila, and Eda stated in unison.
"Aw, man," Luz pouted at this.
Lucila paced around, thinking about none other than the Golden Guard. She didn't know what it was, but he was...kind of nice once someone got past the big ego. And she only felt instances of that a couple of times unlike the first time they met. But...maybe she wouldn't mind seeing him again?
"This...is the craziest thing I'm thinking about," She held her head. "He's still on the opposite side of the law! He could turn me in at any point." But...he didn't seem too eager to do that, which was not something she'd expect from him. And if he really wanted to arrest her, he had plenty of opportunities that he hadn't utilized in the past. They had run into each other three times now, and he was definitely different within each time.
She looked out the window, a bit conflicted on what to do about him. Obviously she still couldn't tell anyone about any of this. They'd think it would be ridiculous given their circumstances, and Eda would be really furious if she found out. But she did know that somewhere deep down...
She couldn't wait for them to possibly meet again.