Amity Blight took a deep breath before raising her hands. "Abomination… rise!" With a glow of her hands, a purple circle formed in front of her. An abomination materialized in front of her, but it was slightly smaller than her.

"Still not big enough." Lillith said.

"Why would it matter?" Baron Mordo asked. "She's still going against a human. This duel should be a breeze for the girl."

Lillith sighed. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am worried about nothing."

"Of course. Well… That is, unless your sister cheats."

Lillith widened her eyes. "What?"

"Well, you always told me that Edalyn always had a sneaky trick up her sleeve in all the games you played." Mordo said. "Chances are, she might try something here. But if she does, we'll be there to call her out."

Though those words comforted Lillith, she still had doubt in her mind. She and her boyfriend broke off from observing Amity, who still struggled with creating a big abomination.

"I know I can do this." The witchling told herself.

"I don't doubt it." Amity quickly turned her head to find Stephen Strange standing behind her. She groaned in disgust.

"It's you again. Don't you have anything better to do? Or are you just spying on me for your sister?"

"I'm not here to spy, Amity." Stephen said. "I just came to ask for some leniency from you. Like maybe you should let Luz continue to learn magic after the duel."

"And why would I do that?" Amity asked.

"Because this isn't a fair bet and you know it." Stephen said. "I admit, my sister has no chance against you. She doesn't have anything that could beat your abomination. But it doesn't give you the right to block her from ever learning any magic."

"Luz brought this upon herself." Amity argued. "She's the one who doesn't take magic seriously."

"You've never met Luz, have you?" Stephen asked. "She's not a bad kid. She's just a silly girl trying to live out her Good Witch Azura fantasies. And yes, she gets in over her head because of it a lot. I try to get her out of it, but she likes to make her little mischief. Do you know what it's like having such a wild sibling?"

Amity flashed a look of surprise. Thoughts of her own siblings went into her head that really made her think. She sighed and turned her attention back at Stephen.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Look. You can go all out on Luz if you want as long as it doesn't hurt her." Stephen said. "I love my sister, but even I know that she doesn't have a chance to win. So in the end, you can let her off the hook. Unbind that Unbreakable Oath and let her keep learning magic. You can be the bigger person."

Amity thought for a moment before sighing. "Normally, a Blight never goes back on her word… but in this case, I guess I'll make an exception."

"Thank you." Stephen said. "Seriously. If she ever stopped learning magic, she'd be crying all her life and I'd have to deal with it."

While Eda was off working on something in secret, Luz was left lounging and sulking in the Covention. She lowered her head by a stand where she was greeted by a familiar face.

"Gadzooks! If it isn't the little human girl who freed me before."

Luz raised her head to find the guy who greeted her. "Stan? Is that you? What are you doing here?"

"I'm promoting my new coven, the Cameo Coven!"

"That's a coven?" Luz asked.

"It is now." Stan answered. "I just became official yesterday. Now, the warden has no grounds on which to arrest me. What do you think? Interested in joining?"

"I don't really see the point." Luz frowned. "It's not like I'm going to be able to anyway."

Stan raised an eyebrow. "Is something the matter?"

"I just challenged Amity Blight to a Witch's Duel."

"Ooh. She's a talented one. You have to be pretty confident in yourself to go against her."

"But I know I can't beat her. And what's worse, if I lose, I have to stop learning magic. My entire reason for being in the Boiling Isles is going to turn into a big waste in just ten minutes."

"Oh, that's quite a perilous predicament." Stan said. "Tell me. If you knew the odds were against you, why'd you challenge Amity?"

"I… I don't know." Luz confessed. "She got all mean, so I thought I could take her down a notch and…"

"You really thought you could beat someone at their own game?" Stan asked. "Luz, life doesn't work like that."

"Well, what was I supposed to do?" Luz asked. "She looked down on me and said I wasn't meant to be a witch and…"

"Did she ever say why?" Stan asked.

"What?"

"Why do you think she doesn't think you can be a witch?" Stan asked. "Did you ever wonder that?"

Luz looked puzzled. "Um…"

"See, you can't just wonder how you're going to beat her. You have to ask why is she so mean."

"She already said it's because I give witches in training a bad name."

"Is that it? That's not a very detailed explanation, if you ask me. She seems very passionate about being a witch, so why does she take it personally? Here's some advice, Luz. Don't confront her, just talk to her."

"Talk to her." Luz repeated under her breath.

"Yo, Luz!" Eda called from the theater doorway. "Everything's all set up! Come on in! Your duel starts any minute!"

Luz took a breath. "Gracias, Stan."

"Face front, true believer." Stan returned as Luz left.

Lillith and Mordo supported Amity from their corner while Eda supported Luz from her own. Amity was clearly a crowd favorite and Luz was not. Stephen arrived exactly as the bell rang and the Witch's Duel began. Luz was clearly super nervous while Amity cracked her knuckles with confidence.

"Sorry. It's easy to get lost." Stephen said. "So did I miss anything important?"

"Nah." Eda said. "You're just in time for the show."

"Abomination, rise!" Amity cried out as she summoned her life-sized abomination. It was so massive, that Amity herself was surprised. "Show me what you got, human!"

"I'm not good under pressure!" Luz protested as she began running.

The abomination chased Luz to a corner where it stepped on a dirt mound. In an instant, the mound erupted into an explosion of fire. Stephen was surprised, but not as much as Amity.

"How did you do that?" Amity asked.

"Uh… Magic?" Luz answered.

"That's odd." Stephen said. "I thought she only knew the light spell."

"We've really come prepared." Eda snickered.

The abomination stepped on another mound, and suddenly, a burst of wind blew out from the ground. It was big and powerful enough to send the abomination and Amity twirling in the air. They landed on the ground and Amity was clearly not amused.

"I saw you that time! You didn't use your hands!" Amity called out. "What are you getting at?"

"Not dying!" Luz replied.

"Okay, what the heck's going on?" Stephen asked. "Eda, there's no way you taught Luz something that strong in just an hour."

Eda shrugged before whispering. "Fine. I booby trapped those mounds to make it look like Luz is using magic to fight Amity."

"You did what?!" Stephen asked in shock. "That's not allowed! And Luz actually agreed to that!"

"She said something, but it was too late to do anything about it." Eda said. "But hey, it looks like Amity's going to step on a big one."

"What?!" Stephen asked as he turned. He saw Amity stepping closer to Luz, but even closer to another mound that his sister knew was booby trapped.

"No, Amity!" Luz yelled stopping her rival. "Don't step any closer!"

Amity raised her eyebrow in suspicion. "Why, Luz? What happens if I step closer?"

Her answer came when King tripped on the samples he gathered all day. He fell right onto the mound between the two girls. As he did, an array of spikes shot out barely missing King.

"SPIKES?!" Luz asked turning her head to Eda. The Owl Lady gave a proud thumbs up while Stephen smacked his face.

"I KNEW IT! YOU WERE CHEATING!" Amity cried out.

Lillith took a step closer at the spikes to inspect them. One tough, and a single spike had crumbled back into dust. Lillith shook her head not seemingly surprised.

"Oh, Eda. I do believe this means you lose."

"Luz, I can't believe you went along with this!" Stephen scolded.

"Look, it wasn't my idea to cheat!" Luz defended. "And when I found out, I tried to stop it, but…"

"Who could believe anything you say?" Amity interrupted. Her angry eyes then shifted to Stephen. "And you. I thought you said she wasn't a bad person. Or was it just a trick to lower my guard?"

"What?" Stephen asked. "You actually think I'd allow this?" He glared at Eda. "Eda, what compelled you to do something like this?"

"What? Do you want Luz to keep learning magic or not?" Eda asked.

"She was already going to unbind the oath!" Stephen yelled out. "I talked to her, and she agreed to let Luz keep learning magic!"

"She did?" Luz asked.

"Well, now, you can forget it!" Amity shouted. "Deal's off!"

"Ease yourself, little one." Baron Mordo said. He placed his hands on Amity's shoulders to calm her down. "Let's just leave this theater." As he turned Amity to guide her out, Stephen couldn't help but notice something as Mordo's hand brushed her hair.

"Wait? What's this?" Stephen asked as he stepped up towards Amity. He stopped her and placed his hand at the back of her neck.

"Hey! What are you…"

Amity was interrupted when she realized that Stephen peeled something off of her. A piece of parchment with a Construction Coven symbol on it. As soon as it was removed, Amity's abomination shrank down to its puny size it was earlier.

"Well, what do you know?" Stephen said. He held up the parchment for everyone in the Covention to see. "A power glyph from the Construction Coven! Wearing this boosts one's own natural magic. And I take it that's not allowed in a Witch's Duel either."

Every little witch was surprised and horrified at the revelation. They were in utter disbelief that Amity cheated too.

Eda smiled. "That's my boy! Take that Lillith! You cheated! Perfect, prissy Lillith cheated! Hot dang! I love Coventions!"

"Lillith, is this true?" Baron Mordo asked.

"Well… I only did that because I knew Eda would cheat." Lillith defended. "Karl, you yourself told me that Eda would cheat."

"I didn't say cheat back." Mordo said.

"Welcome down to my level!" Eda cheered. "Nice catch there, Stephen!"

Stephen glared at Amity, who rubbed the back of her neck in total disbelief. "What was that?"

"No. I didn't know. I swear." Amity pleaded. "I was just as surprised as you." She ran out of the theater. Stephen went to follow her, but Luz stopped him after freeing King.

"I think I should talk to her." Luz said. "This is between me and her after all."

Stephen sighed letting his sister chase after the green-haired girl. He then turned to the Clawthorn sisters where Eda kept mocking Lillith.

"Knock it off." Lillith warned. "You're making a scene."

"Let's not escalate." Mordo said. "I know the both of you cheated, but…"

"That's right!" Eda said continuing her dance. "Lillith cheated! Hey, where's the Rhyming Coven? What rhymes with 'cheated'?"

"Stop acting like a child!" Lillith cried out.

"Sheesh." Stephen said. "And here, I thought me and Luz's relationship was rocky."

Eda found her rhymes and continued to dance. "You were defeated! Don't get heated! Get your stank face treated!"

"Rhyme one more thing." Lillith growled in warning. "I dare you!"

"It's okay. I'm done… BECAUSE MY RHYMES ARE DEPLETED!"

"THAT'S IT!" Lillith cried out summoning her raven staff. She blasted Eda with a magical blast that sent her right to the wall.

"There she is." Eda smiled as she returned fire.

The magic blast sent Stephen stumbling back right next to Mordo. "That's your girlfriend! Can't you get her to calm down?!"

"Get between those two?! Not a good idea!"

Both Eda and Lillith exchanged magical spells. Lillith mostly worked with blue fire while Eda countered with a large owl statue structure. Eda gained the advantage when Owlbert rammed right at Lillith and pulled her hair.

"Say goodnight, sister!" Eda cried out as she tapped on the owl statue she made. A large owl face popped out of the neck and devoured Lillith whole.

Eda was proud of herself, but she was caught off guard when she saw the blue-smoke hole in the owl's neck.

"Enough of this." Lillith said as she blasted Eda right to the wall with her own magic blast.

Stephen gasped as Lillith gained the upper hand and was about to escalate. He ran up as she began spinning her staff. He stopped right between her and the downed Eda.

"Stop!" Stephen yelled out. "I know your sister is irresponsible, but you could hurt somebody!"

"Stay out of this, human boy!" Lillith yelled back firing a blue blast. It shot right at Stephen who raised his hands up to it.

"I SAID STOP!" Stephen cried out as he closed his eyes and readied for the blast. But after a second had passed with no bad feeling, he became confused. Even more so as he heard an entire wave of gasps surrounding him from all over the theater.

All around him, Covention attendants, Coven members, Lillith, Mordo, and even Eda were surprised at what they were seeing. Stephen finally saw what they were seeing and shared in their surprise. His hands were reached out and little magic circles formed in front of him. And right in front of the rings, Lillith's blast was curled into a large orb made of energy. In a panic, Stephen moved his hands apart, and when he did, the blue sphere burned out into nothingness. All around him, Stephen could hear the comments from the crowd.

"Did you see that?"

"He just stopped one of Lillith's blasts with magic."

"But he's a human."

"Can he really use magic?"

Eda stood up without taking her eyes off the nervous Stephen. "Whoa, kid. Since when can you do magic without writing them down?"

"Uh… Maybe later." Stephen replied.

"What's going on, Edalyn?!" Lillith asked angrily. "How is this human…" She was interrupted when Eda shot her bag of Hex Mix right at her face.

"It's been fun, but let's call it a draw!" Eda cried out as she grabbed Stephen's hand and dragged him to the nearest exit.

After escaping Lillith, Eda and Stephen ran up to Luz who was carrying a tote bag that had King.

"You okay, Luz?" Stephen asked.

"Yeah. I just had a talk a with Amity. And… Well, she's letting me learn magic again."

Stephen sighed in relief. "That's good."

"We gotta go." Eda said.

"How'd you get away from Lillith?" Luz asked.

"Good question. Stephen, is there something you wish to tell your sister?"

Luz turned her head curiously. Stephen was very hesitant, but he sighed and gave his reply. He raised his finger and made a light spell circle in the air right in front of Luz. She gasped in astonishment.

"You can do magic?!" Luz gasped. "But… How? Humans don't have natural magical ability! Amity just told me that!"

"I'm just as confused as you are." Stephen said. The other day, after the Owl Beast situation, I noticed I can do magic. I didn't tell you because I didn't know how to. At least, until I got a better understanding of it."

"This… This is amazing." Luz cheered. "All my life, I wanted you to be into magic like I am! And now, look at you! I have a million questions right now!"

"That's gonna have to be answered later." Eda said. "Stephen really brought a lot of attention on us with that scene. I just think…"

"Excuse me!"

Everyone panicked as they turned around to the voice. Principal Bump approached them and stopped at Stephen.

"Principal Bump." Stephen said nervously. "What… What brings you here?"

"Well, I did see what you just displayed." Bump said. "A human learning magic? How incredible. It's also too rare to look over. That's why I'd like to enroll you to Hexside Academy."

"What?" Stephen asked.

"What?" Luz asked.

"What?" Eda asked.

"Where?" King asked. "Wait. I messed up my line. Can we try again?"

"You heard me." Bump said. "I think a magic-using human could do great for us. I can get you started next semester."

"Principal Bump, that's very flattering but…"

"He accepts!" Luz interrupted her brother proudly.

"WHAT?!" Stephen asked. "NO! Luz! What are you doing?"

"Come on, Stephen! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! You're living my dream right now! I'm actually getting a little jealous."

"I don't want your dream!" Stephen argued. "Besides, I can't go to Hexside anyway! I'm banned, remember?"

"I'm the principal. I can lift your ban." Bump said. "Look, I'll give you some time to think it over. Good luck." He gave a thumbs up before walking away.

Stephen sighed. "Look, Luz, how do we know this means anything? What makes you think I'm a true witch?"

"A true witch?" Eda asked. "Who's a true witch? These suckers? According to them, that means being in a coven. But I never joined one and I'm better than all of them combined. You gotta be your own witch. Now, I'm not one for all that fancy-shmancy school stuff and I wouldn't recommend it, but if that's what you want, Stephen…"

Stephen sighed harder. "Let's just talk about this later. It's been a really long day. And that's a lot of drama between you and your sister."

"Oh, you think that's drama?" Eda asked. "Just wait until you hear about my parents."

"YOU HAVE PARENTS?!" Luz asked in surprise.

"Seriously?" King asked. "Your own brother just conjured magic, and that surprises you more?"

Later that night, Baron Mordo checked in on Clea as she was getting ready for bed.

"Sorry for everything that transpired today." Mordo said. "Crazy how that human friend of yours can do magic, huh? Did you know about that?"

"No. Never." Clea said. "I mean, I noticed some tiny irregularity when I was healing his hands, but it didn't look too serious. What do you think it means?"

"We'll just have to see." Mordo said. "Sweet dreams, little one." He left the bedroom and headed downstairs where Lillith was resting in the living room.

"Is she asleep?"

"Just put her down to bed?" Mordo asked. "Now, Lillith, let's talk."

Lillith sighed. "Kikimora called. She wants us to capture Edalyn and turn her in to Emperor Belos."

"Did she know about the human boy?" Mordo asked.

"I didn't know how to tell her. I couldn't believe it myself. But right now, I have to focus on Edalyn. I'm doing all of this to help her and…"

Mordo placed his hand on hers. "Lillith, I know you blame yourself for what happened, but you shouldn't. It's not your fault."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better." Lillith said. "I did wrong by Edalyn and I'm trying to make up for it as hard as I can, even if she refuses my help."

"Is that why you cheated at the Witch's Duel?"

Lillith lowered her head. "I'm sorry. It's just that what you said, how you reminded me of my sister's cheating habits, I felt like I had no choice. I'm sorry I went behind your back."

Mordo took hold of Lillith's chin and raised it up gently. "No more secrets. Okay, dear?"

Lillith smiled gently. "Okay." She kissed him on the lips before standing back up. "Well, I might as well get on home. See you tomorrow?"

"You will." Mordo said. He twirled his finger and it opened the door that Lillith then walked through. Once she was gone, the door closed.

Once he was sure that Lillith was out of sight, Baron Mordo's smile turned into a serious glare. He stood up and went to a nearby bookcase. He reached up and tilted one of the books activating a secret mechanism. The bookcase hissed and opened slightly revealing a dark set of stone staircases. Mordo shifted his eyes left and right making sure no one saw him enter the staircase and closing the secret entrance behind him.

Author's Note: And so ends the Covention story. Now, Stephen's magic secret is out and it appears that Baron Mordo is keeping a secret. What is it? Well, you'll just have to wait and see. Next, we'll cover the walking Owl Sanctum. Any and all comments are welcome.