A/N: Welcome back, this will be the first chapter to really go a different route after the last chapter was more a retelling of canon. Especially after the big reveals at the end of chapter 2, now that everyone here knows Luz is Eda's kid in this AU. I really couldn't help myself with that, and Luz only has one parent we even know the name of, so of course I did that.

Enjoy the chapter, and I hope to see some comments below! They keep me fueled up in between chapters.

Amity found herself laying down flat in the darkness, on a pile of lumpy pillows and blankets that more or less formed a sleeping nest, on the floor of a stranger's bedroom.

The idea of Eda being a mother of all things hadn't really occurred to Amity before. Sure, she had King, but that seemed to be the only other roommate she'd had, and she'd specified he was a roommate. Luz seemed very nice and all, but it still made Amity feel awkward for intruding on what was supposed to be Luz and Eda's time together.

The young witch, when told Amity would be staying with them for a while, had at least been ecstatic to get a roommate. The two had hardly been introduced before Luz was dragging Amity by the hand all around the house, giving her "the tour," which mostly consisted of Luz's bedroom. The place was simple, a bed against the wall, a desk in the opposite corner, a giant, looming window in the shape of an eye against the far wall. Cozy and unique.

That tour was about where the night ended, though, as it was late and everyone except for Luz was utterly beat from the jail raid, especially now that the adrenaline was wearing off. Amity had expected to sleep on the couch, knowing the only other spare room was taken by Luz, but the witch just declared it a sleepover, and insisted Amity spend her first night with her. That was how Amity found herself on Luz's floor, which considering the condition of the couch, was probably better for her to sleep on anyway. Fewer questionable stains.

Amity laid in the dark, staring at the ceiling in awkward silence. Other than the occasional rustling of blankets, Luz had been quiet enough that Amity was sure she'd fallen asleep, but to her sudden surprise the room lit up, a ball of light floating above the girl's bed.

Amity sat up, looking at it in wonder as it floated. "I don't think I'll ever get used to magic," She murmured to herself.

"Sorry, I don't mean to keep you up," Luz spoke bashfully, blankets thrown over her shoulders like an oversized cape, "I just- I have so many questions! I was going to wait to bombard you with them, since everyone seemed so tired, but my curiosity is killing me and now I can't sleep."

Amity shook her head, "No, no, it's fine! I wasn't sleeping anyway. New place and all…"

Honestly, it wasn't so much the place as it was sharing it with a stranger that had kept Amity awake. She hated to be so inheritor distrustful of someone, but there was a bit of her that still sounded like her mother, insisting the other girl only offered up her room for the night because she wanted something. Maybe that voice wasn't wrong, maybe Luz had wanted something, and it was just some harmless information about the person who was, out of nowhere, going to be living with her. It wasn't exactly unfair for Luz to ask for that.

Luz clapped her hands together excitedly, "Okay, okay, so, I have this friend, named Augustus, and he's a big human fanatic. He's been trying to convince my Mom to take him to the human realm for years! Anyway, he says humans have gills, but I don't think that sounds right now that I see you."

Luz stared at Amity expectantly, and the Blight girl blinked. That's what Luz wanted to know, of all things? Not 'What do you want from my Mom?' Or 'why are you here?' Amity opened her mouth slowly, "No, I, uh, don't have gills. Sorry."

The witch just grinned, and pumped a fist, "Yes! I was right, and Augustus was wrong! I can't wait to tell him at the next HAS meeting."

"The what?" Amity asked curiously, shifting herself so she was laying on her stomach, head propped up on her elbows as she looked up at Luz on her bed from the floor below.

"The Human Appreciation Society!" Luz explained, hugging her pillow to herself. "It's a school club. Augustus is the founder, and I'm a member. As much as I love the little guy, he can be pretty stubborn when something he thinks is right might be wrong, so he sometimes doesn't take any of my conflicting theories seriously."

Amity's face scrunched up, as she tried to imagine what a school club focused around humans would do. Would it be like those fantasy based clubs back on earth, where the members dressed up like elves and wizards and played Creatures and Caverns together? What would witches even do for a human role play?

The glimmering light from Luz's spell illuminated a poster pinned to her wall behind her, and tore Amity from her imaginings of witches pretending to be bank tellers and tax collectors. "Is that Azura?"

The witchling turned, and smiled, "you can tell?"

It wasn't an official poster in any capacity. Luz clearly made it by hand, if she was the one who made it at all. It seemed to be based off the first book's cover, Azura standing up front and proud, with her mentor and her magical pet beast behind. The art itself was pretty good, not quite professional like whoever did the actual artwork for Azura, but there was clearly a lot of hard work put into it. The only major gripe Amity had with it was the eyes. Luz clearly hadn't mastered eyes, as they looked a little too stylized, clashing with the rest of the art.

Amity took in what Luz said, and responded, "Of course I can tell! The first book has an iconic cover, after all."

Shaking her head, Amity focused on the real issue, "How do you even know about the Good Witch Azura series?"

Luz chuckled, practically bouncing in her seat, "I found some of the books in Mom's human trash collection while we were sorting a few years ago. She was just gonna get rid of it, human books never sell well, but I really liked the illustrations and wanted to look through them."

Her eyes glimmered, "It was love at first sight! Azura was just so cool! Always going on one adventure or another. Sure, it's not all that accurate to how magic actually works, but that doesn't matter because the author did such a good job establishing their magic system-"

"Tying it into the lore and world building in a way where it practically leaps off the pages!" Amity finished, causing the witch across from her to nod with glee. "I never thought I'd find another Azura fan in another dimension! This place just keeps getting better and better!"

No wonder Eda had tried to keep her book, instead of selling it. She must have planned to give it to her daughter.

Luz suddenly let out a gasp, "ooh, we need to talk about them! I've had literally nobody to talk to about these books before. Well, Augustus, but he doesn't count. He doesn't get it like we do, he just sees it as an 'interesting example of human literature' and appreciates it for that, not for the actual plot and characters!"

Amity nodded in agreement, "of course we're going to have to talk about it. You said you have the books? Are they here?" Amity looked around the room, but didn't see any on Luz's shelf, which seemed to only contain her school texts.

The human continued, "I only managed to bring the third book with me, which is a bit of a downer since I'll miss the other books, but if you have them all I could just borrow yours."

Luz was giving her a look, and for a moment Amity thought she'd overstepped. These books must be really rare in this world, she shouldn't just assume Luz would let her borrow them, especially since Luz was already sharing her home with her. Instead, Luz asked, in an awed tone, "You have the third book? It's the only one I'm missing from my collection! … I think. I have up to five, but I'm not sure if a sixth, or even more have come out yet."

Amity hatched a plan, "I have the third, and you have the rest. I'll happily lend you mine if you let me browse your collection when you're not using it."

Luz smiled, "Of course! I'd let you borrow them even if you didn't have the missing piece! But… well, they're at my other house, so you'll have to wait until next week."

Luz seemed to deflate a little, but Amity waved it off, "Don't worry. I just finished re-reading book three earlier today, before I met your Mom. You don't have to wait to read it if you don't want to."

Luz perked right back up, until Amity piped in, "Tomorrow. Eda said you have school in the morning, and it's already getting late. If I give it to you now, you won't go to sleep until you finish, and it's easily the longest of the series."

The brown haired witch pouted, but accepted that Amity was right, "okay, fine. We'll have our Azura book club starting tomorrow, then!"

Amity raised a brow, "Book club?"

"Yeah!" Luz's grin began to fade, along with some of her enthusiasm, "Um, if that's alright with you? I don't want to be a bother…"

Taking a moment to think about it, Amity decided that wasn't a half bad idea. "Sure. That sounds like fun. Good night, Luz."

The witch seemed relieved, laying her head back down on her pillow, "Night, Amity!"

Amity was awake at the crack of dawn, well before Luz's alarm went off. It was a habit her mother had drilled into her, and as she stared up at the ceiling waiting for anyone else to wake up first, she made up her mind that this habit was the first one she was going to try and break.

After an hour or so, Amity could hear the tell-tale shuffling of feet outside the door, indicating that Eda was awake, and soon the smell of breakfast filled the house. Stomach growling, the human girl realized she'd skipped dinner last night, and eagerly arose to start her day.

Dressed in the previous day's clothes, Amity headed for the bathroom to brush her teeth. It was there that her lack of foresight bit her on the backside, as she realized she didn't have a toothbrush waiting for her. She didn't have anything except her Azura book, a few hundred worthless human dollars, and the literal clothes on her back. The girl breathed out a sigh, "Next time Eda stops by the human realm, I'll have to go shopping."

She wasn't sure exactly what stores to go to, or what to buy. Clothes, of course, but her mother had always picked those out for her before. The idea of picking her own outfits out was as terrifying as it was exhilarating. But would she need anything else? Food, maybe? She only had so much money…

Thankfully, a toothbrush wasn't on the list of things she'd need to buy, as after scrounging through the bathroom for a bit(and boy, was that place a mess. Makeup, hair dryers, bottles of hair dye. Emira had never been organized with her sink, but she hadn't been this bad… and when was the last time this place had been cleaned?!), she'd found a spare toothbrush in one of the stuffy drawers. After opening it and getting her teeth cleaned, she headed downstairs feeling a little more minty fresh.

She passed King, who was asleep on the couch, as she entered the kitchen. "Good morning, Eda, how are you this morning?"

The older woman flinched at the sound of her voice, and turned to face her, revealing dark bags under her eyes, and an expression that said she wasn't all there, "wha? Who are you?" The owl lady croaked out groggily.

Amity frowned, "Amity. The human. Who you took in yesterday? Is that ringing any bells?"

Eda wiped at her eyes, blinking tiredly, then refocused on the girl, "Oh, yeah. You. Sorry about that, I'm the complete opposite of a morning person. You could even call me a night owl, ha! I don't know how anyone can be so chipper this early."

Amity folded her hands behind her back, feeling a little flushed. "It's not that early," She muttered, thinking about the time of morning she'd risen.

"Why are you up so early if you hate it, then?" Amity asked.

Eda let out a yawn, "Someone has to cook Luz her breakfast. Titan knows I'm not letting her make her own. She once tried to be a sweetheart and cooked me breakfast-in-nest, and, well… I like having a house that isn't on fire, thanks."

The older woman grumbled under her breath, "You'd think she'd be better at cooking, being in the Potion track in school…"

Amity's ears perked up, "Wait, what did you say? Potions?"

Eda nodded, flipping something that resembles eggs in her pan. "Yeah, Luz goes to Hexside, a school for witchlings to learn magic in a cold, steril, environment that squeezes every last drop of individualism out of a person."

"So high school?"

"Basically, yeah."

Amity shook her head, trying to get back to her point, "Wait, if Luz is going to magic school, why don't I just go as well?"

Eda crossed her arms, "Hey, wait a second, am I not good enough for you anymore? We had a deal, you'd do chores and help me get human garbage, and I'd teach you magic. Besides, you need to already know a spell or two before Hexside will let you attend."

"What's this about you teaching Amity, Mom?" Luz's voice joined the conversation as the girl entered the room, clad in a yellow legged and sleeved outfit with a dark tunic over it. She took a seat at the table just as the food was finished, and Eda placed a plate in front of the girl, and another opposite.

Eda glanced at Amity and gestured for her to join Luz, "Eat up. It's Griffon Eggs and Smashed browns. Not sure what you humans can eat, so let me know if you die, or something."

Turning her attention back to her daughter, Eda continued, "And that's just a little deal me and Goldielocks worked out. I need a bit of help around the house, since you're only here half the time, so she'll pick up your slack. And in exchange, I'll teach her magic, if I can. Jury is still out on if we can even come up with a way for that to work."

Amity picked at her food, cautiously taking a bite. The eggs didn't taste half bad. "I'm sure we'll find some way to teach me magic." She said with a confidence she didn't really feel.

Luz seemed excited, bouncing in her chair and exclaiming with a mouthful of food, "Ooh, I can help! Can I help? I want to help!"

"Swallow your food, then we'll talk." Eda chuckled, patting her daughter's hair. Instead of making her own plate, Eda sat down with just a mug and a bottle of something called Apple Blood, which from the smell made Amity sure it was something not suitable for breakfast.

"I could use all the help I can get. Apparently, humans can't do magic, according to Eda." Amity filled in.

Eda nodded, "Last I checked, you don't have a bile sac like us witches do. Now, I know that sounds gross, but it's how we filter the ambient magic of the Isles into something usable. Maybe you can find some other way to use magic, but I doubt you'll be making spell circles like Luz or I do."

To prove her point, Eda spun her finger, and with a yelp King was yanked from his spot on the couch and deposited into the last empty chair. It looked like the demon was going to complain about being awoken, until he took one look at the plate of food in front of him, and he quickly filled his mouth with something other than complaints.

Amity frowned. That did pose a pretty big problem for her. She wasn't ready to throw in the towel on magic just yet, though. She hadn't even had her first lesson.

They finished their breakfast, and soon Eda was rushing Luz out the door, shoving her backpack into the witchlings hands. "Go on. I know I hate that prison of a school, but your Mama would kill me if I kept you from your classes. Have fun, learn something, or don't, I'm not the cops. Prank Bump if you feel you can get away with it, byyye!"

Luz laughed, with Amity getting the feeling this was something the two did often. Before the door could close on her, Luz clamped her arms around Eda in a tight hug, something the witch happily returned. "I'll see you after school. Love you, Mom."

Eda rolled her eyes playfully, "Oh, come on, you're embarrassing me in front of my new apprentice, kiddo." With one last playful shove out the door, she slammed it behind Luz, and turned towards Amity.

"Alright, the munchkin is out of the house, which means it's time for you to do some chores!"

Amity frowned, having hoped for a lesson before her payment would be due, but this was Eda's house. She made the rules. "Fine. What do you need me to do?"

Eda pondered, going over a very large mental list of activities for the Blight girl to do, before settling on the two she personally wanted to do the least. "Well, you can either go with King to deliver some potions in town-"

That sounded like a lot for Amity's second day here, "Pass."

"Or you can give Hooty a bath." Eda finished.

"Where are the potions and where am I delivering them to?" Amity swerved, not wanting to go near the creepy House Demon.

Hearing his name, or perhaps sensing her fear, Hooty opened the front door and slithered his way over to Amity, invading the human's personal space, "You don't wanna hang out with me, new best bud?"

Amity gagged over his body odor, cheeks flared red in anger, "I don't know how much of you is neck, but I will break all of it if you don't leave me alone this instant."

Bonesborough really was almost too much to take in for Amity for only her second day in the Demon Realm. The demons it was named after, especially. From flying butterflies made out of various body parts, to bizarre centipede monsters with the faces of babies, Bonesborough had it all, and it was pretty disgusting to look at.

It was home now, however, and Amity could be adaptable. She just had to try not to stare and act like she belonged, and the day would pass with minimal amounts of horror and mental scarring.

"So, why don't you tell me a bit about this place, King?" She asked her companion, who had been volunteered to join her. He hadn't exactly been happy about that, voicing his displeasure the whole way through the woods on the way into town.

"What's to tell? The Boiling Isles are nothing but a cesspool of despair, and it's not going to change in this town." King kicked a stone on the path as they walked, arms folded. "Let's just get this over with before something eats you."

"Nothing here wants to eat me," Amity insisted, but frowned as a passing fairy politely told her that she was very wrong, and it would love to eat her flesh.

"Let's just get this over with," Amity grumbled as King gave her a smug look.

They continued on their way, going from address to address to deliver the potions to Eda's clients. Some were polite. Some stared, never having met a human before. Others had doorbells that tried to digest her arm. She liked those ones the least. Before long, the long list of places to go had dwindled down to nothing but a handful,

A tug on Amity's skirt brought her gaze downward, King yanking on it to get her attention with one hand, and rubbing at his own belly with the other. Seeing her eyes on him, King pointed off into the distance to a food vender, "I want a Not Dog!"

Amity gave him a deadpan glare, "Not now, King. We're almost done."

He stomped his foot, "I'm ordering you to take me to get a Not Dog!"

The paper full of addresses crumpled in Amity's hand as it made a fist. She bent over King and looked him dead in the eye, "And I said maybe later. Do not try to boss me around, King."

He stared back up at her in disbelief, then began to flail his little fists, "I'm the dreaded King of Demons, you should be listening to me, and I'm ordering you to feed my tummy delicious Not Dogs!"

The demon found himself scooped up by the scruff of his neck and lifted into the air. Amity steeled her face, putting on her emotionless mask she always wore around others who tried to impress or take advantage of her. "That title seems pretty debatable to me. I'm new here, so what do I know, though? Maybe you are the King of Demons."

"Y-yeah! I am! So listen to me when I speak, human!" King uttered, a little perturbed by how quickly Amity's face went cold.

"Of Demons, King. Last I checked, I'm human. You don't get to order me around." Amity let the little fur ball drop back to the ground. He cowered under her glare as she crossed her arms, feeling very much like a child in trouble with their parent.

"I left the Human World because I was tired of being ordered around. I refuse to be bossed around and made to do things I don't want to do anymore-"

"But what about-" King interrupted, raising a clawed finger.

"Eda? I'm doing as she asked because it was part of our deal. That's not the same." Amity clarified. "And last I checked, she's also not a demon, she's a witch, so should you really be bossing her and Luz around, either?"

King lowered his gaze, rubbing his hands together, "Well, when you put it like that…"

Amity sighed, bending down so she could be eye level with him again, "Look, I get it, you're hungry, it's lunch time. We'll get some food in a bit. And you can ask me for stuff too, but don't give me orders, got it? Just be nicer from now on."

King nodded meekly, "Okay… does that mean we can get some Not Dogs when we're done with the deliveries?"

Amity shrugged, "If you've got the money to buy them, sure. I don't have any… snails, or whatever the currency here is called."

King nodded again, and they continued on their way, "You- uh, you can be kinda scary! Act like that more often and I'm sure less people will try to eat you! Wanna job in my army for my inevitable take-over of the Demon Realm?"

Amity snorted, letting her face relax, the cold mask drop, "I'd be honored. Now, let's make this delivery to this-'' They looked up to see what looked to be a Castle in the middle of Bonesborough, towering over everything else. Even Amity was impressed with it, despite growing up in wealth in excess.

Slinging the sack over her shoulder, Amity headed towards the front door to knock, hoping there wasn't a teen eating dragon on the other side of the door.

Amity trudged back to the Owl House in the early afternoon, feet tired from both the delivery run, and the long walk back from town. What she wouldn't do to have her bike with her again. Maybe she could have Eda help her steal a new one if they ever went back to Earth? One with a nice big basket on the front.

Clenched in her hands was a paper, a map to her supposed destiny that some wizard named Adegast had given her. He'd insisted that Amity was special, in some kind of Chosen One way, despite Amity insisting she just wanted to be a normal girl, with a normal life. Or, as normal as life would allow on the Boiling Isles. She'd had enough of being considered special for just being born a Blight back in the Human Realm to last a lifetime.

Amity was pretty sure the map was a scam anyway. No one on the isles so far had been that nice to her, except maybe Luz. She'd learned early on in life that if someone acted like that, they were clearly trying to use you for something. Still, she'd kept the map, on the off chance it was real and Eda could sell the treasure, which was supposed to be some kind of ultimate magic staff. Amity intended to earn her keep, after all.

"That guy may have been full of bologna, but boy were his snacks tasty. And free!" King patted his belly as they entered the house. "Eda! We're back!"

Eda was on the couch, reading through a magazine with the name 'Playdemon' emblazoned on its cover. She quickly stuffed it between the cushions when she realized she had company, standing to her feet. "So, how was your first day? Make me a lot of snails?"

Amity held out the bag of coins and bills she'd collected, which Eda enthusiastically scooped up, snuggling it against her cheek like it was something truly precious to her. "Ah, sweet, sweet dough. Mama needed this."

She opened the bag, inspecting her pay, then took a handful and tossed them Amity's way. "Here, your cut of the cash."

Amity caught the Snails, inspecting them. It wasn't a lot, but the fact Eda had paid her at all had been unexpected. "Thank you so much, Eda. I had thought that, uh-"

Eda raised a brow, "That I wouldn't pay you? I'm cheap and a crook, but I'm not evil, kid."

Amity shook her head, "No, it's just, you're already letting me stay here. I thought that was my payment."

Eda shook her head, "look, you don't have a snail to your name, in a world entirely alien to you. You need to know the value of a hard day's work, and that comes with pay. Someday, you'll be out there, making tons of cash, maybe even following in my footsteps and ripping a sucker off to do so, but you gotta start somewhere."

The witch shrugged, "besides, I pay Luz an allowance when she does this for me. And King as well." She handed King a few coins as well, with the demon jumping for joy.

"More war funds!"

Eda snickered into her hand, whispering to Amity, "He spends it all on junk food."

Amity clenched the money in her hands, still looking unsure if it was okay to take it. "Thanks, Eda. It's different when you're paying family, though. I'm just a stranger."

Eda waved her off, "I think I know you well enough. Now, as much as it pains me, let's stop talking about money, and start talking about what else you've got in your hand."

Eda pointed to the paper in Amity's grip, and the girl held it out for her. "Some Wizard gave it to me, said I was a Chosen One or some other nonsense."

Eda took the paper, and snorted, "Yeah, this thing reeks of fraud. Good on you for spotting it, though. I have to burn stuff like this at least twice a week to keep Luz from answering the call to adventure."

Amity shrugged, "he gave us a bunch of snacks, so I can't really complain. Besides, I know when I'm being tricked. It's something my Mo-"

She clamped her mouth shut so fast she nearly bit her tongue after almost bringing up her mother so casually like that. She couldn't contradict her own story about not having a family only a day into her stay. Or ever. Eda might send her back to be with them if she knew.

"What was that, Amity?" Eda questioned lazily, still looking at the paper.

"Nothing to worry about. I think the snacks must have given me a stomach ache, is all." Amity covered, clutching at her stomach to try and sell her lie.

Eda frowned at that information, "Make a list of everything you ate today, especially at that guy's house. I'll see what we can do, and what we need to avoid feeding you from now on. Don't worry, it's not an inconvenience, Luz can't handle dairy, normal, or demonic, so it's nothing I'm not used to keeping in mind when I shop."

Amity nodded, and without further ado, Eda spun her finger in a circle and the map burst into flames, consumed entirely before it could even hit the floor. Not even ashes remained.

With a nod at her work, Eda grinned and looked back to Amity, "Rest up, you've got a busy day tomorrow as well! You get to bathe Hooty!"

Amity was aghast, "But I thought I had a choice!"

"Yeah, on what you got to put off until tomorrow. Make sure to scrub behind his ears." Eda tossed herself back on the sofa, stretching as she relaxed and using her newly acquired money bag as a head rest.

"He has ears?!"

Amity awoke in the middle of the night, clutching her gurgling stomach in pain. Despite her lies about the food being inedible for her, it turned out it had a glimmer of truth after all.

"I'm gonna have to use my money to buy seeds and plant a garden." Amity mumbled to herself, adding yet another list of items she needed to her expanding mental list for her human shopping trip.

"What was that, Amity?" Luz asked, making the Blight girl flinch in surprise. The young witch was on her bed, Amity's Azura book in her possession, reading via light orb even this late into the night.

"Nothing. Go to bed, Luz, you'll be up until dawn if you don't put the story down."

"But I've just reached Azura's clash with the Gildersnake!" The other girl whined.

A/N: I think this is the third time I have used the "someone walks in on Eda while she's reading a dirty magazine on the couch and she stuffs it under the cushions" gag in one of my fics. It's one of my favorites.

So yeah, Amity wouldn't fall for Adagast's tricks, because she doesn't crave being different or special, and can see through a scam. Meanwhile, she connects with Luz, King, and Eda in this chapter instead of going on a wacky adventure, and is already planning an excursion to the Human Realm sometime soon.

I like to think Eda's a little softer in this AU due to already being a mom. She's got those maternal instincts already, rather than building them up from scratch like in canon.

I think that's all I have to say for now. If you have any questions I can answer without giving spoilers, or need some extra context I may have not filled in due to being too close to the fic and lacking a beta reader, let me know and I'll do my best to answer. I love comments, they taste delicious and feed my already overgrown ego.