A/N: Okay, skipping over a few episodes worth of stuff, but that's the point of the fic. Either the episodes ended up similar enough they don't need much more than a passing mention, or they happened so differently they might as well not have happened.

Getting that out of the way, since it's like, the first few paragraphs.

Enjoy the rest of the fic.

The next week and a half blew by without much fanfare. When she returned to the Owl House a week after her departure, Luz mentioned something about a Moonlight conjuring at her Mama's place, a sad little affair that never went the way she wanted it. Gus had wanted an action figure to come to life, but by the end of the night it hadn't budged. This apparently happened every year, and Luz was quick to try and change the subject to what Amity had done while she was away.

Amity hadn't wanted to talk about the body swap experience anymore than Luz had wanted to talk about her failed Moonlight conjuring. It was dumb, and embarrassing, and if this were the first season of a TV show, people would think it was the worst episode of the bunch. She really just wanted to forget about being stuck in Eda's body for a day, unable to grasp control over the witch's magic. Not to mention that King had used her body to go make enemies. She was sure that would come back to haunt her some day.

It had at least been educational. Amity now knew what it felt to have magic flow through her body. She tried to recreate the feeling once she was back to herself, trying to draw on the power within her, and push it through a spell circle, but nothing she tried worked. No bile sac, no magic, and no way to draw upon the ambient magic in the air.

Amity spent the rest of the time Luz had been gone studying. King had taken her on as his student in tandem with Eda, teaching her about the various demons that inhabited the isles. It was a topic he seemed passionate about, and he was just so happy to have someone listening to him for a night that Amity couldn't say no. Even if she doubted a lot of what she'd seen in the books. She was halfway sure she'd seen a Snaggleback in town, and it was more of a pink monkey than a fearsome demon. She just didn't make mention of this to King.

Eda had also taken her to the library, and that had been a fun trip, even if Amity was sure Eda had no intention of returning their borrowed books. She spent hours upon hours pouring over the tomes, drinking in their knowledge, but nothing she found helped her use magic. Eda had tried giving her a few tips and tricks, and they explored a few avenues, trying all sorts of spells. Nothing seemed to work though.

Eda had subtly suggested maybe Amity should try taking up potions, but that just made Amity even more depressed. Sure, that was magic, but it was way more like human chemistry than it was to the sorcery in her books.

That was how Eda found her Daughter and her Apprentice, laying on the floor of the living room and looking miserable together. "This is just sad."

Luz didn't budge, not even to look in her mother's direction, "We're complete magical failures. I couldn't even get a doll to twitch."

Amity groaned, face down against the floor, "And I'm starting to think I'll never be able to do magic. I've been here for almost three weeks now, and I still can't even figure out the simplest spell."

Eda scowled and folded her arms, "Alright, that's enough. Stop feeling so sorry for yourselves."

She marched up to the two, kicking Amity over so she was looking upward. Glaring down at the two teens Eda continued, "I didn't want to do something so desperate, mostly because it ruins my day plans, but I do have an idea. It'll be good for you. Build character. So pack your bags, kids, we're going to the Knee."

Luz sat up, gasping dramatically, "The Knee? Oh my gosh, I'll go pack right now!" Without another word she took off, bounding out of the room as quickly as her lanky legs would carry her while squeeing in such a high pitched tone that had King clamping hands over the sides of his head. It was as if she hadn't just spent the past few hours moping.

Amity's brow furrowed as she clambered up from the floor, "What's the Knee?"

Eda looked at her funny, "What do you think it is? You can see it literally anywhere on the isles. It's the Titan's literal knee!"

Amity flushed, feeling foolish. "Oh. That makes sense."

Eda rolled her eyes and gave Amity a shove, "Go upstairs and get ready. And pack something warm to wear, there aren't many places colder than the Knee!"

Eda was right, there weren't many places colder than the Knee. Amity found herself shivering, wrapped up tightly in the winter coat Luz had stolen for her during their trip to the human realm. King was clinging to her, wrapping his body and tail around her neck like a scarf, trying to keep his own shivers at bay as the group trudged through the snow.

"Why are we here again?" Amity called out, trying to be heard over the blowing wind.

She had a gloved hand placed over her mouth the instant she finished her question. "Shhh, don't be too loud up here. Do you want to cause an avalanche?" Eda cautioned.

Gesturing to her daughter, the witch continued, "I'll let Luz explain, I can see her practically vibrating from the excitement."

Luz was, in fact, vibrating. Amity had thought she was just shivering this whole time, but could now see the barely contained excitement for their little field trip on Luz's face, red from the cold winds that whipped by. The younger witch bounced over to Amity, seemingly unaffected by the cold, but still huddled near the human. "Okay, so, basically the Knee is one of the oldest homes of witches on the Isles. Magic is supposed to be a lot more potent here-"

"-Could just be the thinner air causing hallucinations," Eda muttered under her breath, miserable from how icy she was. Today wasn't the best day for this, the weather was acting up and making this a lot more brutal than she'd hoped for Amity's first outing to the Knee.

"Basically, if there is any spot on the whole of the Boiling Isles where we can commune with magic and be empowered, it's here! Do you feel it, Amity?" Luz continued, grinning brightly.

Amity just huddled closer to Luz for warmth, making the girl's red face even redder, "I'm not sure I can feel anything, Luz. I'm too numb!"

Eda glanced around, squinting her eyes as she surveyed the area. Pointing off into the distance, towards a rocky wall they could barely see through the falling snow, she called out to her wards, "We'll set up camp over there. It'll offer us some shelter from the winds. We'll get the tents set up before it gets too dark, and get a fire going for warmth, then get to some learnin'!"

They continued to trudge through the snow until they made it to the rock wall. Eda was right, it did provide some cover from the winds, though a chill still ran through them that kept them shivering. Amity worried for a moment that they'd have to shovel the snow off the ground to start setting their campsite up, but Eda came through, blasting the ground with a bit of magical fire and melting it all away, warming the group with the steam that came from the rapidly evaporating snow.

Reinvigorated, the three got right to setting up their tent. Eda pulled the parts out of her hair as Amity sorted them, reading out the instructions while King held them all in place and Luz put it together. Before long a medium sized tent just big enough to house all four was standing, with a rudimentary fire pit constructed by Eda, giving the camp some warmth.

"So, Mom," Luz chuckled nervously, warming her hands over the fire, "Why just the one tent? Shouldn't we all have our own?"

Eda shook her head, "That's no good up here on the Knee. If the nights get too cold, we'll need to all bundle up for warmth, share body heat. So one tent it is. Why do you ask?"

Luz avoided her gaze, cheeks red at the thought of having to cuddle up to Amity late into the night, "No reason!" She squeaked out.

Beside her, Amity already had a book out, flipping through the pages, "I'm still not sure how being up in the mountains is supposed to help me study."

"Not mountains, Knee," Eda corrected.

"Whatever." Amity grumbled.

"And anyway, you're not here to read," Eda yoinked the book right out of Amity's hands, tossing it into the nearby fire where it burst into flames and crumbled into ashes, earning a distressed cry from the human, "You're here to commune with nature! Come on, eat some snow, roll in the slushy ice, find a freezing pond and swim in it!"

Amity made a face, not wanting to part with the warm fire, "How is any of that supposed to help me learn magic, though?"

Eda shrugged, "heck if I know!" She stood up, turning Amity around so her back was facing away from the firepit, and instead she was looking out into the wilderness.

"Focus on that for now. All the magic we use comes from the isles, so it's out there, waiting for you to discover it." Eda poked a finger into Amity's sternum, then ruffled her hair.

Amity breathed out slowly, then nodded. With a serious expression, she focused on watching the landscape, looking for any way to tap into the latent magic it must have. "How long do you think it'll take?"

"Who knows? Ten minutes? An hour? All night?" Eda resumed her place by the fire, reaching into her hair and pulling out a bag, "Now, who wants Marsh-mallows?!"

King stood up on the log that was his seat, hand in the air, "Me! Me!"

Amity stared out into the distance, wondering if she should be meditating or something and trying to ignore the joyful sounds her companions were making. Her hands twitched, wanting to write something, anything down, but she was worried Eda would toss her notebook into the fire like she had the library book she'd brought along. She certainly wasn't paying that fine.

Out, far beyond the mist and falling snow, there was a brief hint of movement. Amity leaned forward, squinting her eyes to get a better look, but couldn't see anything. She was so busy staring that she didn't notice Luz had taken a seat beside her, until the girl spoke up. "Hey, Amity-"

"Gah!" Amity leapt from her seat, arms flailing wildly and nearly smacking the now laughing witch. Clutching at her heart, Amity sank back into her seat, panting, "Y-yes, Luz?"

Luz smirked at her, and offered her a stick, a lightly toasted Marsh-mallow on the end, "I just wanted to see if you wanted a treat!"

Amity eyed the sweet, and hesitantly took it, giving it a cautious sniff. It seemed harmless enough, so she took a nibble, and had her tastebuds assaulted from the sheer obnoxious sweetness, sweeter than any marshmallow she'd had back home. Luz just grinned as Amity grimaced at the marsh-mallow. "So, what's got you so on edge?"

Amity blinked, then pointed out into the distance. "Something was moving out there. Something big. It was making some of the trees sway. Against the wind, so it wasn't from this blizzard."

Eda rolled her eyes at the kids overly dramatic take on the weather, "It's probably just a Slitherbeast. Big, mean, and scary, but if you don't bother them, they won't bother you."

Amity frowned, "Oh, great. A monster. Just what we needed."

Luz gave her a pat on the back, "Don't worry about it, I'll keep you safe from the monsters!"

There was something about the earnestness of Luz's tone that warmed Amity to the core. She found herself grinning back at the dumb witch, opening her mouth for a pithy reply, when King threw himself over both of their laps.

"What about me? You'll protect me too, right?"

Luz patted his skull, "Of course, my dear, sweet Prince."

"King! I'm the King!"

Despite the assurances, Amity didn't sleep well that night. Maybe it was the bone chilling cold, that even the warmth of her friends couldn't keep away. Maybe it was the idea that there were Slitherbeasts roaming the forest, and Amity, who hadn't laid eyes on one yet, could only fill in the gaps of what type of terrifying beast it had to be with her imagination.

Or maybe it was that she'd still come up with nothing. An entire afternoon and evening, and she hadn't come up with a way to cast a single spell, in the single most magical place on the Boiling Isles. She'd wanted to pull her hair out as she tried to commune with nature, while meanwhile Luz and King were having fun building Snow-witches, and Eda was seeing how many snowballs she could fit in her mouth.

The lack of progress was beginning to get to her. Amity wasn't sure why she even tried anymore. She was a failure, and was wasting everyone's time. A human witch? Who was she kidding?

She curled into a pathetic little ball, covering her face with her blanket. Tomorrow she'd apologize to everyone for having to bring her out here, and she'd have to face the music. She didn't belong here. She'd have to go back… home didn't feel like the right word anymore.

She sniffed, wiping at her eyes angrily. She wasn't going to cry. She knew from the start that she might never learn magic. She'd just gotten her own hopes up. A Blight didn't cry.

Amity did, though. She cracked enough to let angry, bitter tears leak from her eyes, only silencing herself enough to not wake the others. The blanket over her head acted as a barrier between herself and the rest of the world, where no one would ever know she'd been weak.

At least, until she heard a rustling noise, followed by being shaken by a pair of tiny hands. Wiping the wetness away on her sleeve, Amity calmed herself and rose, pulling the blanket off her face to meet the frantic eyes of King. "Eda's gone!"

Amity felt the tiredness in her bones evaporate as she became alert at his panicked cry. Glancing over to where Eda had been, she found the diminutive demon was correct, the grey haired witch was gone, her blankets left rumpled on the floor of the tent. Beside them, Luz slept like a log, unmoving with a line of drool down her face.

Amity pulled herself to her feet, reaching for her boots. King frantically paced around, "I-I heard something out in the woods. It woke me up, but I wasn't scared or anything! Then I noticed that Eda wasn't here anymore, and I tried to wake Luz, but she wouldn't get up to protect me, then I heard you making noises." He explained frantically, not keeping his voice down, not that it bothered Luz.

Amity tied her laces up, then grabbed her jacket, "What did you hear out there? Did it sound big and loud?"

King nodded his head, "I heard groaning, and rustling in the trees."

Amity gulped, "Do you think it might have been one of those Slitherbeasts?"

King played nervously with his claws, "I-it could have been."

Amity, before heading for the flap of the tent, took a look at a few of Eda's things, hoping to maybe find a clue as to where she might have gone. Nothing stuck out to her, nothing in or missing from the pack struck her as odd. Clothes, a few knickknacks, an unopened bottle of golden liquid that Amity, knowing Eda, assumed was liquor of some kind. It was labeled, but she couldn't read it in the dark, and she couldn't waste any time.

Amity didn't have a clue where Eda may have gone, and there was fear in her heart, but she wasn't about to leave Eda out there alone if there were monsters about. "Do you want to stay with Luz?" She asked the demon, gesturing to the young witch, who still hadn't moved.

King looked like he wanted to say yes, but a conflicted look appeared in his eye. After a moment of silence, he shook his bony head, "No, I'm brave. I'm the King of Demons! I shall ride my steed into battle and help my friend!"

Amity didn't get the chance to ask what he'd meant by steed, before he'd scrambled up her leg, back, and rested on top of her head. Oh, she was the steed. "Onward to Eda, my noble beast of burden!"

Amity resisted the urge to groan, but silenced her complaints as she opened the tent and was once more amongst the chilling air. At least King made a good, warm pair of earmuffs with his fur. She took a tentative step out, boots crushing the snow beneath her feet, and she inspected the dark campsite that was only illuminated by the moon.

The fire had burned out a while ago, and without it's warmth the snow that was falling had built up a white, pillowy blanket, covering the ashes and the ground around the site. With the fresh layer of snow, it made tracking Eda easier, since her steps were as visible as Amity's own, if a little hard to see in the darkness. Amity would have killed for a flashlight, but without the commodities that Earth provided, she had to make her way through the woods by the light of the moon and stars alone.

Her legs shook, both from the cold and fear as she made her way closer to the trees. King was right, there was something out there. She could hear it, moaning and groaning and growling. "Eda could take a Slitherbeast, right, King?"

She could feel him nod against her, "O-of course! She's the strongest, besides me, after all."

Amity couldn't be sure if it was paranoia or not, but as they followed Eda's footsteps, she could swear she could feel eyes on her, watching her every movement like she was prey. She wanted to just go back to camp, climb back into her blanket, and wait until morning so she could just go back to the Human realm already. It certainly didn't help that the groaning was getting louder the farther they got.

All of a sudden it went quiet, the noise dying out. The only sounds Amity could hear were her own boots against the snow, and her heart pounding in her chest. She found herself wrapping her arms around her body, trying to bring herself some comfort in the uncanny quiet of the forest. Then a bright light blinded Amity, causing her to stumble on her feet and fall, making King spill out onto the ground in a comical heap. Amity squinted, trying to see through the light, her vision filled by a silhouette.

"You okay, kiddo?" Eda's voice asked, and Amity breathed a sigh of relief. She took the hand being offered to her and was pulled to her feet, looking over the nonplussed witch. In Eda's off hand was a ball of light that she was using to illuminate the way.

"Eda! You're okay!" King cried, latching onto her leg, causing the Owl Lady to try to shake him off.

"Of course I'm fine! What are you two doing out here, anyway?" She said, scrapping the demon off as he fell back to the ground with a thud.

"Well, we heard some noises out in the woods, and you weren't there. We thought maybe a Slitherbeast got you, or something, so we came out to check. What were you doing out here?" Amity filled in, just happy to see the other woman.

Eda's mouth fell into a line, "Well, I, uh, I was answering the call of nature. When you get to my age, having too many sugary sweets can really give you a stomach ache… especially when said sweets were made in a Bog. I had to get away from the campsite, didn't want to wake anyone with my groaning, but I guess that backfired."

Amity blinked, then put it together. The creepy moans had been Eda, who had been… "oh, gross. Do you know how scared your trip to the restroom made us?!"

Eda put her hands on her hips, "Hey, I didn't ask you to come out here, you assumed there was danger and came out here yourself. Which was pretty dumb, anyway. Neither of you can defend yourselves. Where's Luz?"

"Back at the tent," Amity explained as the group began to make their way back. "She wouldn't wake up, so we thought it best to leave her be."

"Yeeeah, she gets that from me," Eda admitted, "Her Mama's always been a light sleeper, but me? I can sleep through anything."

Amity chuckled, relief flooding through her as they returned to camp. Everyone was safe, everything was alright. No Slitherbeast was going to get them, King and her had just overreacted.

That relief quickly left her as the campsite came back into view.

The three could only stare at what was left of the place, which had been torn to pieces. The tent was reduced to shreds, various items from their packs strewn about the camp. The firepit had been decimated, the clean white snow that surrounded it now stained by the dug up ash. The snow itself was disturbed, trampled by large, clawed footprints.

The stillness was broken by Eda, who raced forward, yellowing out panicked calls for her daughter, "Luz! Luz, where are you?!"

Amity was almost afraid to help search, not wanting to see what she might find. A Slitherbeast must have attacked while they were looking for Eda, and with how heavy Luz had slept, and how torn up the tent was… Amity didn't want to see what was waiting there for there. Her knees almost buckled beneath her, King leaving her side to join Eda's search, when the Owl Lady's words hit her.

"She's not here." Those words were as comforting to Amity as they were horrifying. Luz wasn't there. No corpse meant she could still be alive. If she was, she could be in that monster's hands, or lost in the woods alone, freezing. But at least she wasn't here, where she would be dead.

"W-what do we do now?" Amity asked, still shaken up.

Eda didn't respond for a moment, instead bending down and picking up a few items, shoving them into one of the surviving bags they had brought. A few of Luz's things, a few of hers, clothes, a book, a bottle filled with liquid gold. Satisfied with what she was able to save, Eda returned to her feet, bag hoisted over her shoulder, "We start looking for my girl."

Any fear Amity had felt before felt minuscule in comparison to now as they searched for Luz. The girl practically trembled in her boots as they searched the dark forest, looking for any sign of where the beast that had attacked them had gone.

The signs were easy enough to follow. The monster hadn't hidden its tracks, which tore through the snow. As they made their way through the trees, they could see fresh claw marks over them, scratched deep into the wood. Amity's throat clenched tightly as she thought of what it might be like to have those tear through her flesh.

Even a few small animals seemed to have been caught in the crossfire, their bodies staining the forest snow red, green, and purple, depending on what had been hunted. "Why are there so many? Wouldn't it eat them?"

Eda didn't pause in her steps as she answered, "It's following it's instincts, and hunts, even when it's not hungry anymore. Probably already had its fill and is just trying to get any excess energy out in a way it thinks is fun."

The three continued to explore, but whatever had attacked them was fast. It had put a lot of distance between itself and the camp, and they didn't seem to be catching up. Or, that's what Amity initially thought, but she could hear the occasional rustle of leaves and branches, and growls from all around them.

Eda held out a hand when she heard them, stopping Amity and King in their tracks "We're going in circles. It's doubling back. It's hunting us."

That didn't bring any form of comfort to Amity, who huddled up close to Eda. King let out a meep, then scaled the Owl Lady, hiding in her hair without a word and trusting he'd be safe within the warmth of her locks. Amity couldn't find it in herself to blame him, she was half tempted to see if she could fit in there herself. Instead, she looked around, picking up a stick off the ground to use like a club, and kept close to Eda.

A shadow swooped over them, and Amity tightened her grip, eyes wide in panic. Eda held her staff in one hand, her ball of light in the other, expression grim as she prepared to be struck at any angle. From above them, a single brown feather fell, before being joined by a much larger force, all teeth and claws.

Amity stared at the blackened silhouette, unable to make out much of it's form. It was large, and on all fours, wings beating a gust of wind towards them. "That's a Slitherbeast?!" She cried, lifting her club up to prepare a strike.

"No," Eda said solemnly, raising her ball of light, casting the shadows away from the creature and revealing a black eyed, but familiar face, "It's not."

The stick dropped from Amity's grip as she gaped at the visage of her best friend, plastered onto a large, feathered body. "Luz?"

The monstrous witch snarled, looking ready to pounce, but Eda held the light up higher, a burst of blinding energy washing off it that caused her changed daughter to flinch and take a few steps back. "Amity, you should get out of here. I'll handle her."

Amity wanted to protest, but Eda wasn't having it, "You've got a stick, kid, you're not going to be able to stand against an angry Owlbeast like that."

"Then why did you bother bringing me along?!" Amity cried, tearing her eyes away from Luz's cursed form long enough to look back at her teacher.

"I did that so she'd focus on both of us, and not just on you if I left you by yourself. You're too easy a target for her to pass up. Now, get out of here while she's focused on me!" Without waiting for Amity's acknowledgement, Eda thrusted Owlbert out, the palismen's eyes shining with light as it took control over the orb from Eda, who used her now free hand to wrestle a bottle of the golden liquid she'd packed out of her bag.

"Come on, daughter'o'mine, it's time to take your medicine!" Eda yelled, flaring the light once more. The Owlbeast screeched, batting a taloned hand at her mother, continuing to back off at a steady pace. The creature hunched over, looking ready to pounce, roaring into the wind, and for a moment Eda looked victorious, only for Luz to turn on her heels and run instead, disappearing deeper into the thicket.

"Damn it!" Eda screamed, giving chase and leaving Amity behind, the entire area flooded by darkness once more.

Amity wanted to give chase, wanted to help, but her legs gave out on her. Tears springing from her eyes for the second time that night. She grit her teeth and grasped the snow on the ground tightly in her gloved fist. "I'm useless."

Even Eda thought so. She didn't exactly say it in those words, but Amity knew. Eda thought she was useless and was just going to get in the way. Because she couldn't do magic. Because she couldn't do a thing to help her best friend in this world. Amity didn't understand what was going on, but one look into Luz's blackened eyes, and she knew her friend was in pain. And she couldn't do anything to fix it.

She wiped futilely at the tears that leaked from her eyes and the snot that dripped from her nose. The cold weather just made it all worse, making her nostrils leak like a faucet. She'd probably get sick after running around all night in the snow on top of all the rest of the awful things that had happened.

Making to wipe her face off again with her sleeve, her eyes caught sight of a particularly large snowflake that was sticking to the fabric. She paused, bringing it closer to her face, but it quickly melted under the warmth of her breath. It couldn't have been…

She was tired. And desperate, and clearly delusional, but this was the closest thing to hope she'd felt since she had arrived on this Titan-forsaken appendage. Holding her gloves out, she caught a few snowflakes as they fell, and inspected them, holding her breath as she did so this time so as not to melt them. The same pattern as the first, on both of them. A statistical impossibility. Snowflakes didn't have the same pattern.

These ones did. Amity's eyes widened, her mind at work. The Isles were hot and humid. They were on the Boiling sea. Even at the elevation the Knee was at, with the heat that usually beat down, especially in Summer, snow shouldn't be possible. And yet it was. She'd spent the better part of her day in a blizzard.

Her mind took her back to the glyph she'd seen at the Covention the week before, and Eda's words echoed in her skull, that the Power glyph drew from the bile sac to make the spell work, and the bile sac drew power from the ambient magic the Titan generated. These snowflakes were magic. They were no different than the Power glyph, but instead of drawing upon a bile sac, they cut out the middle man, and drew magic directly from the Titan itself. And they had a glyph in their center that made it all possible.

Shivering, hands shaking in the cold, Amity held out her hand and caught more snowflakes, using them as a template. Carefully she studied them, and with her other hand she drew the pattern into the snow itself, binding it in a circle. Closing her eyes and praying this worked, she pressed her hand down upon the center, expecting the sigil she'd just drawn to do nothing but be ruined, a handprint in it's center.

Instead a small ice pillar formed, lifting from the snow, filling Amity with awe. She'd done it. She'd done magic!

Fists clenched with determination and filled with a second wind, the human rose to her feet and ran back towards the campsite, hoping her notebook and pencils were still in one piece.

Eda chased after her daughter, cursing under her breath. This wasn't working. Every time she thought she had Luz cornered, the girl would find some way to out-trick her, getting just out of her reach. In a way, it almost seemed like a game to the Owlbeast, who mocked her with growls and whines like laughter.

Eda was pretty sure her feet were bleeding and blistered from all this chasing, but she couldn't feel it. She had ice in her veins by this point, but she wasn't going to stop until Luz was back to normal, or she died of hypothermia.

Once more the demon stopped it's bounding, skidding in the snow to turn to face Eda, making sure she was still following. Eda huffed, her breath misty in the cool air. She palmed the potion bottle, glad she'd thought to bring it. She'd meant for it to be used on herself, in case anything had happened or there was an emergency. She was glad she'd had the foresight.

"Come on, Luz, stop with the chase. Come on, take the potion, and we'll head back home. It'll be toasty warm, and we'll have some cocoa or something, doesn't that sound nice?" Eda tried tempting the beast, hoping to reach her daughter inside.

The Owlbeast cocked it's head curiously, taking a cautious step forward. Eda smiled, and took her chance, firing off a plant spell to make the trees around them sprout roots, all shooting at the changed girl to bind her in them. The Owlbeast was too fast, however, leaping backward from the main assault, and swiping with sharpened claws to destroy what was left. Luz let out a roar, mouth opened wide, teeth exposed, and Eda, feeling desperate, swung back her arm and pitched the bottle at the maw, only for Luz to duck at the last second.

Eda's breath hitched in her throat as the glass bottle soared, only to land in a soft patch of snow, unbroken. "You're really trying my patience, kiddo, I hope you know that."

The Owlbeast seemed to smirk, and turned to race off again, to begin the chase anew, only to slam face first into a pole of ice.

Eda guffawed. She couldn't help it, even she hadn't seen it coming, because she hadn't cast that spell- "Wait, what?"

The Owlbeast started to regain it's senses, shaking its head and the pain off, turning to run off yet again, only for another pillar of ice to burst out of the ground. And another. And another. From all sides, it found itself caged. Turning to face Eda, it's face became furious, tired of their game, and it roared once more.

"Eda!" Amity's voice caught the witch's attention, and the Owl Lady craned her neck to look behind the beast. Amity was there, holding her notebook in one hand, and the lost potion bottle in the other, holding it aloft, "Catch!"

With the grace only an athlete could call upon, Amity chucked the bottle high up and over the icy cage, over the Owlbeast head, and into Eda's hands. The grey witch smirked, gripping the chilled bottle tightly, "Alright, lets try this again!"

The Owlbeast, cornered, screeched and cried, thrashing against the cell of icicles. Under its weight and strength, they began to crack and crumble, some outright breaking like glass, but the beast still couldn't run. With one last mighty cry, it flexed its wings, shattering the cell into ice shards, intending to take for the sky's.

Only to choke, as with that same mighty roar, its mouth had been opened wide, making a perfect target for Eda to get the bottle down its throat. Crashing back to the ground after only getting a few feet of lift, the Owlbeast twitched and cried, it's roars and growls turning into horrifically human screams. Its form shrank, losing the cape of feathers, until only a small child remained in the shattered cell.

Luz collapsed into the snow under her, tired, but conscious. Eda breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against Owlbert, the effort of the night catching up with her. She began her approach, noticing that Luz was in nothing but her pajamas, which were torn and stretched. She'd need to fix that before Luz got sick from the cold.

Only to be beaten to it by Amity, who raced down to the broken cage, already taking off her jacket to wrap around Luz's body. Luz clutched it to herself, shaking like a leaf equally from grief and the chill. "I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was supposed to protect you, but I'm the monster, I'm so-"

Eda watched as Amity threw her arms around Luz's neck, holding her friend tightly. "Don't you say that. You are not a monster, Luz. You're my friend. I'm just glad you're okay. Shhh, I've got you now."

Eda lowered herself to the ground, wrapping both arms around the girls, listening as Amity murmured a mantra of "I've got you," and "You're not a monster" in her daughter's ears. She'd never felt more grateful to the human than in this moment for her words. They'd sort out explanations later.

The four flew through the air, beaten and tired. The dawn's light was beginning to peak out over the horizon, and no one had gotten more than a few hours of sleep at most.

Eda sat in front, piloting Owlbert. Behind her was Luz, passed out and drooling on her shoulder. Behind Luz was Amity, helping sandwich the other girl between them so she wouldn't fall. Clinging to Amity's head was King, who had to be pried out of Eda's hair after everything had gone down.

The ride was silent for the most part, Eda guiding Owlbert at a slower than usual pace so as not to disturb Luz's rest. She knew it was time to break that silence, though. Amity deserved some answers, and Eda should have done this last week when Camila asked her to.

Eda opened her mouth, looking for her words. "When I was about your age, someone cursed me."

Amity's ears perked up as she listened. The Owl Lady continued, "I don't know who it was, or why they did it, but they turned me into… that thing you saw. I quit school, and took off on my own. I didn't want to hurt anyone, and I didn't want anyone else hurting me, either."

The witch sighed, "Then, one day, about a decade later, I met Camila Noceda. And I fell in love. Heh, or maybe I just liked the attention. Either way, Luz came about from that relationship. We'd wanted a kid, and I guess I got a little too comfortable living a 'normal' life, and let my hopes get the best of me."

Eda cleared her throat, fighting back her emotions, "I should have known things were going too good. Luz inherited my curse. She transformed the first time when she was six. The both of us take an elixir to keep it at bay, but as I've got older, the more I have to take to keep the Owlbeast at bay. Luz usually only has to take hers once a week or so, but I guess we'll have to up the dosage."

They flew in silence for a bit longer, "If I ever find the guy who did this to us…" Eda growled.

Amity finally spoke up, brushing a hand gently through Luz's hair, "You're gonna kill them, right?"

The Owl Lady scoffed, "There are a lot of things worse than death, kid. And I intend to inflict them all on whoever did this. Slowly."

Amity nodded, "Good, if you didn't, I would have had to pick up your slack. Like usual."

"… I'm glad Luz has as good a friend as you, Amity." Eda said softly, then turned her head so she could meet the girl's eyes, "And congrats on finally learning your first spell! That was you, with the ice, right?"

Amity smiled wide with pride, despite the rough series of events, "Yeah. That was me. I just had to commune with nature for a bit longer. Like you said, it might take all night."

"That's my girl!"

A/N: I hope I at least fooled a few of you with the fake-out for Eda being the one turned into the Owlbeast. I've snuck one or two small hints that Luz is inflicted with the curse as well throughout the fic so far, and have been looking forward to writing this chapter for a while.

Originally, I considered doing more or less the same episode as the canon "The Intruder" episode, only with Luz instead of Eda. Same situation, stuck in the house during the boiling Rain. I thought it would be a good way to subvert your expectations. But Amity didn't have her phone, she got rid of it, so she couldn't take a picture of the light spell being performed. And having Amity learn the light spell first didn't sit right with me. That's Luz's thing. So, she learned ice first, since she was originally such an ice queen!

After deciding she wasn't learning the light spell first, I decided she couldn't face the Owlbeast in the same setting, so I considered which spell she'd have to learn first, and how that would factor into her taking down the Owlbeast. I ended up deciding to combine "The Intruder" with "Adventure in the elements" because I thought it would be a fun way to introduce a lot of canon elements in this new setting all at once.

I also had to put her learning the spell off for longer. I wanted her to struggle more. Amity is more cautious than Luz is, she's afraid of upsetting or angering everyone around her, and because of that she tends to come off as "smarter" or "better" because she doesn't get into as much trouble. To keep from her appearing to be "better" than Luz, I wanted her to have to struggle more with magic to the point she was giving up hope of ever actually being able to do it. It's only in her most desperate hour that she finally gets it together enough to cast a spell.

As for the why I skipped over Hooty's Moving Hassle when that could be prime bonding time between Luz and Amity, Luz was over at Camila's when it happened, so no animated Hooty. Amity wasn't invited not out of malice, but because Luz has never had a successful moonlight conjuring before, and was too embarrassed to have Amity see her fail, especially after discovering she has a crush on the human girl. Also, I didn't want to write it, not enough ideas, but there are my excuses. Tell me they're lame in the comments below!