Meanwhile, Dipper returned from his trip to check on the Bill statue. It was, of course, still and silent as ever, but still, he needed to check, right?
Right.
Right…
He still couldn't help but shiver when he saw that little King creature in the basement lab. Not even helping Ford and their interdimensional visitors build a portal back to a magic realm could calm his nerves. What's worse, the little guy kept trying to talk to him in that voice. That awful, nightmare-triggering voice. It wasn't his fault he sounded so similar to Bill, and he did seem generally harmless, but still…memories like those of last summer didn't just disappear. The other three Pines still seemed to be uncomfortable around King as well.
Besides all that, though, four witches and a mysterious girl from the future staying in their house had become old news surprisingly quickly. It just felt natural and normal at this point. Although, to Mabel and Luz's credit, there was definitely some tension between Stan and that witch, Eda. Whenever they even looked slightly in each other's general direction, they snapped back to whatever they were doing. Until ten second later when they dared another quick glance. It was getting pretty annoying, honestly.
So, he approached the scheming shippers as they worked on the frame of a new, oval-shaped portal. "So, how exactly is "Operation Stanleda" going?"
"Oh, so now you're suddenly interested?" Mabel said.
"No, it's just getting old. You three either need to give up or redouble your efforts."
Luz, Gus, and Mabel shared a positively evil look.
(End of Part 2)
…
"Alright, team. According to Ford, we only have forty-two more hours before the portal's finished, or, in other words, twenty-two hours to make Stanleda happen! What've we got?"
Mabel was too busy snuggling King to hear Luz talking. "Aw, you're just a big sweetie pie! You're not a bad Dorito, are you? Are you?"
"Finally, someone notices!" Said King. He rubbed his paws together wickedly. "One down, three to go."
Dipper shuddered from the other side of the room.
Mabel set the demon down and laid out an elaborate plan that took up half the room, done entirely in vivid marker and crayon, with illustrations in every corner.
"Perfect!" Said Luz. "Now, let's just go over the plan one more time, and-hey, wait. Where are Willow and Gus?"
……
Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest…
Willow stared in disbelief as the gnome at the top of the stack offered her a ring made from a crystal. "So, what do you say, you elven beauty? Gnome queen for all eternity? I mean, all one-thousand of us are pretty respectable bachelors."
Willow looked back over to the gnome-pile and smiled. "I appreciate the offer, guys, really, but…."
The gnomes all looked at her with gigantic puppy-dog eyes. "You won't really let us get rejected again, will you, Willow? I mean," the gnome gave a crazed smile to go with the eyes, "two hundred and sixty-seventh time has to be the charm, right? Right?"
Willow and Gus looked awkwardly at them, then at each other in response. "Um…"
……
Back at the Mystery Shack…
"I'm sure they're fine." Luz decided. "So, we ready? Everyone else in the Shack is busy. We go down and change lives in three, two,"
And then, there was a voice from downstairs.
"Look, Stan, I should have been a bit more honest with you."
Mabel and Luz looked wildly at each other at the sound of Eda's voice, then scampered down the stairs so fast they both almost broke something, Luz holding King tightly in her arms. Dipper followed, more quietly and hesitantly.
In the gift shop, Eda was reluctantly talking to Stan.
"Look, Stan, aboutVegas, the truth is, I didn't want to leave you so soon."
He looked at her in disbelief.
"No, really, I didn't! But I had to because of…the curse."
"Curse?" Repeated Stan curiously.
"Yeah. It was almost showing its horrifying, feathered head again, so I had to duck out. The car thing, though, that was just for fun. You are so easy to steal from!"
Stan looked at her, confused. "So, what do you mean when you say you're 'cursed?' I've been cursed before, by a witch in fact. It ain't nothing to be ashamed of. I mean, come on, how bad could it be?"
"Very, very bad." She assured him. "It will work differently in another realm, though. Huh. You're right." She decided happily. "You'd only need to panic if I hadn't had my elixir for a few days and suddenly started growing feathers-"
"Like that, you mean?" Stan asked.
She looked down at her arms. "Yeah, exactly! Just like-oh no."
She suddenly expanded into a gigantic monster with owl feathers and enormous, empty black eyes.
"Edalyn!" Cried Lilith, hurrying into the room, both eyes darkening at an alarming rate. "It's happening again- both-shared curse-both of us-AGH!" She too, expanded grotesquely into an identical Owl beast.
Behind the counter, Mabel and Dipper screamed, but Luz remained mostly calm. She had dealt with this before, after all. "Eda! Lilith! Snap out of it!" She urged.
Stan stood, terrified, backed up against a wall, while the Eda beast slowly advanced on him. Then, Luz came out of nowhere and leapt onto the creature's back, attempting to calm her. Instead, it enraged her more, and Eda started rampaging wildly around the house, with Luz riding her like a rodeo bull.
"Luz!" King cried. "That was the stupidest thing you have ever done!"
"I know!" She replied, Eda wildly trying the buck her off.
Ford, Wendy, Soos, and Melody has heard the noise and came in from the exhibit rooms as Eda knocked over a display of keychains in an attempt to shake Luz off of her.
"Woah, woah, woah!" Wendy yelled, leaping aside as Eda nearly rammed right into her. "See, this is why I skip work sometimes!"
"What's happening?" Asked Soos.
"Fascinating! So this is what Lilith meant by a curse." Ford dug out his journal, while the other three pulled him out of the way of Lilith's vicious fangs.
"I wonder how Gus and Willow are doing?" King asked, dodging an attack from one of the beasts.
"They can't be much worse off than us!" Dipper said.
……
Willow stood, terrified, wearing a flower crown, stuck in the middle of a gnomish marriage ceremony. She just hadn't been able to say no. They had looked so vulnerable. And now, well…
"Gus," she hissed out of the corner of her mouth. "Help me."
Gus, who was tied to a pillar made up of gnomes not far away, gave a hesitant thumbs up from under his bindings and mouthed, Okay. On three. He held up his hand and started counting on his fingers. One, two three!
And they both drew a spell circle.
Chaos ensued. Fifteen or twenty Willow and Gus illusions erupted out of nowhere and ran around every which way, confusing the gnomes. A thorny plant exploded into existence across the clearing, grabbing gnomes in its tentacle-like stems and sending hundreds of them flying. In the craziness, Willow ran over, cut Gus free with another circle, grabbed his hand, and they ran as fast as they could away from the gnome settlement.
……
Meanwhile, back at the Mystery Shack, Eda successfully threw Luz from her back. Luz sailed across the room and into a taxidermy jackelope, then jumped to her feet and bolted to the door, throwing it open. "Without their elixir, they're not themselves!"
"Yeah, we noticed!" Said Melody.
Luz grabbed Mabel out of the way as Lilith almost smashed a chair on the girl's head. "We need to run! Now!"
"Okay, okay, running now!" Agreed Wendy, and she and all the others made for the door and escaped into the cool night air, locking the two beasts inside. The Clawthornes shrieked miserably and rammed against the walls, turning the gift shop upside down, but they were trapped. For now.
"Huh. That was insane." Dipper panted.
"Now what?" Asked Stan.
"We…need…elixir…" Luz managed.
"Where is that?" Melody asked.
Before Luz could answer, both Owl beasts soared out the window in the attic, shattering it to bits and arcing up into the sky. Then, they made a beeline for the humans.
"Oh, I forgot they could fly!" King wailed.
"Can we go at least one week without that window being destroyed?" Ford exclaimed.
"Hey, you're the one who had the idea to make it triangle-demon shaped." Said Stan. "Ever since last fall, it's been anyone with a weapon's target."
Willow and Gus came rushing out of the forest, covered in leaves, a gnome biting down tightly on Willow's shoulder. She shook it off in disgust. "We're back. Just escaped-oh, boy."
They stared in horror at the Clawthornes' beast forms. "Is this what we've been missing out on?" Gus screamed.
"I know, right? You must be so jealous!" Said King, dodging Eda as she swooped down from the sky in an attempt to nab him.
"Does this happen often?" Stan yelled, ducking as Eda came back around again and tried to grab him while in flight. They all quickly filed behind the wall of the Shack, where they'd be safe for a few moments.
"Only when they haven't had their medicine!" Luz said. "Seriously! Elixir! We kind of need it!"
"But it's all the way back at the Owl House!" Said King. "Worlds away!"
"Actually, there is most likely some in the crawl space market across the forest!" Ford informed them. "They have everything otherworldly one could hope for there!"
"So, can't one of you summon it from the crawl space? By magic or something?" Dipper suggested to the witchlings.
"Not me, all I know is basic element glyphs." Said Luz.
"And summoning spells aren't exactly my forte." Said Willow, shrugging.
All eyes fell on Gus. "What? Me? Summon the elixir all the way across the woods? No way! I'm not exactly the strongest witch, either. In fact, compared to most kids in my grade, I'm a weakling."
"You have the best summoning spells I've ever seen, besides from Lilith." Said Luz. "Come on, Gus! You can do it! Just focus…"
Gus closed his eyes and held his hands to his temples. "I think I've got it!" He said. He reached out a hand to draw a light blue spell circle that shimmered in the darkness. And a cup full of pencils with 'World's Best Bodacious T' written on it appeared in his hand. "Uh, oops."
Gus tried again, and this time, a couple bottles of amber liquid appeared in his hands. He opened his eyes and looked at the elixir in disbelief. "Is this it?"
Luz took the bottle and carefully read the label. "Contains carrot juice, liquid gold, powdered giraffe hooves…seems to be."
"I did it! That's the best summoning spell I've ever done! And first try, too!" Gus exclaimed.
"Wait!" Said Luz. "It says here that it's a cold medicine from some place called Mewni. Dang it." She sighed.
"Well, should we just head over to the crawl space and look for it ourselves?" Dipper suggested.
"No humans allowed." Ford reminded them. "And you aren't exactly skilled escapists. You'd be caught within seconds. And you'd never make it back in time. We'll need to come up with some other idea."
"But what?" Asked Willow. "What else works on this besides elixir?"
"Preferably something that keeps us alive?" Dipper added hopefully.
The others all looked at each other with the same look of dread in their eyes: this was going to be next to impossible.
"Come on! Someone has to have an idea!" Said Mabel.
"What about you, Luz?" Said Wendy. "Aren't you the girl from the future?"
"Well, yeah, but, I don't know that much about this kind of stuff yet!" Luz replied.
"I can't even use my magic in this realm! Unless you want me to tell you how to dab or spin a fidget spinner for a solid two minutes, I can't help here!"
Suddenly, a short boy with a bouquet of flowers and a huge puff of white hair strolled over to their hiding place. "Mabel, sweetie, I know that you kind of hate my guts, but today is the one-year anniversary of when I met ya, so I brought you some ros-SWEET GLORY!"
Gideon caught sight of the two horrific beasts lurking on the other side of the building. The Lilith beast successfully jumped forward and grabbed Gideon in its talons, and he squealed like a pig, disappearing into the night as she soared away with him in tow.
"Don't make your hair so sparkly!" Mabel yelled after him. "Ugh. We should…probably save him or something."
"Do we have to?" Asked Stan. "Getting digested might improve that kid a little."
"Wait, what did you just say?" King asked.
"Let Gideon die?" Said Wendy.
"No, right before that!"
"Save him instead?"
"No, literally right before that!"
"His hair is too sparkly? I mean, it's probably why they nabbed him." Said Melody.
"Of course!" Said Luz. "It's so obvious! We'll lure them in and change them back the same way we did the first time: sparkle things!"
"Did you just say 'sparkle things?" Said Mabel eagerly. She ripped off her yellow sweater to reveal another sweater underneath it, bright green, covered in plastic gems the size of marbles that lit up, casting weird diamond-like shadows over everyone.
"Yes! Girl, you are amazing!" Said Luz.
"Also, you'll need to be our human sacrifice." Said King.
"Huh?"
"The owl beasts are attracted to shiny objects." Explained Luz. "It worked with a pen once, so we need you to, I mean, if you don't mind,"
"Be bait with your sparkly sweater so we can blind them with a huge light spell!" King finished.
Mabel looked wary of this plan. But then, Soos stepped forward.
"No. Not the child. Mabel, give me the luminescent article of clothing."
"It's a sweater." She said, shrugging it off to reveal a third red sweater underneath and handing the bedazzled one to Soos, who stuck it over his head, where it got stuck and sat there like a thick lime green scarf that went up to his ears. "I'm going in."
"Soos! Are you crazy? Those things will literally bite your head off!" Said Wendy.
"I know my fate." Soos replied. He stepped forward and kissed Melody's hand. "Tell Abuelita not to sell my action figures."
And he ran off, shouting, into the front yard.
"Oh, if you die, I'm keeping all of them!" Melody assured him.
"Me too." Said Wendy. The two girls first-bumped in agreement.
"Can I get in on that?" Wondered Gus.
……
Soos ran right up to the Lilith beast, which was sniffing Gideon's hair slowly.
"Hey! Put the marshmallow down and stop attacking my friends!" Said Soos. "Uh, please?"
Lilith turned toward him and stared in awe at the lit-up sweater around Soos' neck. She promptly dropped Gideon. Eda crashed out of a nearby tree and also stared, transfixed, at the glowing gems. Soos started moving from side to side, and the sisters' eyes and heads followed the light. So, Soos slowly started backing up toward the Shack.
"That's it, that's it..."
The beasts neared the building, where Gus stood ready, having lost the coin toss between him and Willow. The moment Soos looked over and nodded, face still half-obscured by the green glowing sweater, Gus drew a spell circle the size of a hula hoop. A gigantic orb of light appeared and nearly blinded the beasts, witches, and the humans.
The two monsters screeched in agony and both flopped heavily to the ground, shielding their black eyes…
……
A few moments later, Lilith and Edalyn sat up from a huge pile of feathers in the front yard of the Mystery Shack. "Ugh. What happened this time?" Lilith wondered.
"Eda! Lilith! You guys are okay!" Luz leapt forward and hugged her mentor, then Lilith.
"Aw, come on, kid, did you really think we wouldn't be?" Eda laughed. "We Bad Girl Coven members are tough, you know. We just-ack!"
The Owl Lady suddenly coughed up a dead fish tail sewn to a monkey carcass: the taxidermy mermaid exhibit, now covered in saliva, snot, and feathers. "Yikes. When did I ingest this thing?" She suddenly coughed up another identical carcass with a pink bow tied to its head.
Soos looked at the remains of his two favorite Shack attractions. "Salmon and Ella..." he mourned.
"My sincerest apologies, human. I'll clean them." Said Lilith. She made to draw a spell circle and nearly fainted. "Mm, nope! No magic. Ugh. No magic for at least a week. Agh, my eyes feel like they're on fire. What exactly did you kids do?"
"We'll fill you in later." Said Luz. "For now, you two should just get to bed."
She and Mabel helped the two exhausted witches to their feet. Everyone else was still too terrified to move. Soos cradled the disgusting, snot-covered Salmon and Ella monkey carcasses sadly.
"Wait, where's Gideon?" Dipper wondered.
At that moment, Gideon finally gained the strength to jump up from where Lilith had dropped him and tore across the yard, squealing like a little girl. "This house is full of users of black magic! All who enter will die! Run for your lives, peasants!"
"He'll be fine." Mabel decided.
Eda drunkenly passed by a still very horrified Stan on her way into the house. She glared. "So. I hope we've learned a little something today. Curse…is…bad?" She spoke it slowly, as if he wouldn't be able to understand otherwise.
"Very bad." Stan agreed, barely able to move. "Freak show." He muttered.
She yawned and stretched idly. "I can still bite you in witch form, you know."
"No, no." Said Luz. "No biting today. Come on, Eda. Let's get you inside."And she led Eda into the house.
……