Chapter 9
The day had finally arrived for Luz's party and she was positively ecstatic. The entire morning from the moment she had woken up, she had been brimming with energy and so joyful that she was practically glowing. She was so excited she couldn't even focus on any of her usual activities to help pass the time. A part of her was regretting having decided to set the party for the mid-afternoon instead of sooner.
As time dragged on, Luz grew more impatient. Her antsy behavior did not go unnoticed by her mother who suggested she take a little walk outside to both distract herself and burn off some of her abundant energy. Luz ended up walking around the block, not wanting to venture too far from her house. She went around again, and again and again, taking her phone out each time she passed by her home to check on the time.
Eventually, Luz got tired of constantly going in a big loop. She returned home and collapsed onto the couch, lying face down on the cushions. Her walk had helped her burn a little more energy than she had realized as she ended up dozing off for a little while, being awoken later on by Vee.
Sitting up on the couch, Luz grumbled and rubbed her eyes. She searched for her phone, discovering it had slipped between the couch cushions. When she checked the time again, she found it was finally almost time for the party to start. In fact, she was at risk of running late.
"Oh no!" She exclaimed, hopping to her feet with a burst of spontaneous energy. "I need to get going! I gotta change! Should I shower?" She asked, lifting one of her arms and sniffing herself. "Yup. I am a stinky Luz."
"Go and shower." Vee told her. "I can start getting everything ready for you to take to the Owl Lady's house."
Luz hugged her. "Thanks, sis! I'm gonna pop over really quick just to let her know I need a little more time."
She grabbed the portal case from its place beneath the couch and opened it, stepping through into Eda's living room on the other side. What she found there immediately distracted her as she noticed quite a few differences in the Owl Lady's abode. The witch herself was setting something into the fireplace as Luz arrived, the sound of the portal opening gaining her attention. Eda smiled when she saw Luz, stepping up to the teen and greeting her with a quick hug.
"What do you think, kid?" Eda asked, gesturing to the redecorated living room. "This festive enough for you or what?"
Luz looked around the living room in awe. Eda had really pulled out all of the stops, there was no question about that. Although she had certainly interpreted some of the decorations in an… interesting way. The stockings which had been hung by the fire with care were fishnet stockings. A wooden chest sat in the fireplace, it's lid open and revealing it to be full of assorted nuts, including metal ones. There were also a lot of boxes that had been wrapped up in parchment paper, tin foil and clear cellophane, which Luz could only presume were meant to be presents. A few of them even had twine used in place of ribbons and bowties were glued to some of them as well. It made Luz smile at the thought of Eda wrapping them all just to decorate for the occasion.
With the little details set aside, Luz thought the living room looked great. She started to feel even more excited than before, already able to imagine what a great time she and her friends had ahead of them. However, she couldn't help but feel something wasn't quite right and looked around the room again. Her suspicions were confirmed as she discovered that there was one very important detail missing.
"Um, Eda? Where is the tree?"
"Outside of course." Eda replied, quirking an eyebrow. "Where else would it be?"
"Inside, with all of the other decorations." Luz told her. "I did explain that part, didn't I?"
"Kid, I am not going have some big, honkin' tree inside of my house. But don't you worry, I saved the best for last. Come out back and see for yourself."
Eda led Luz into the kitchen and out through the back door. The moment she was outside, Luz gasped. There was a Christmas tree alright, an absolutely amazing one. It was one of the red needled trees, akin to the pines back in the Human Realm and presumably grown via a plant glyph. Eda had also made use of ice and light glyphs to encase orbs of light inside of frozen bubbles. There were old feather boas in various colors in place of garland and there were little flowers all over, frosted over through the use of more ice glyphs. And atop the tree was a star that was made of a metal frame with stained glass, an orb of light glowing from inside.
Luz stepped closer to the tree, admiring its beauty. Out of all the things Eda had done to help prepare for the party, this was by far her favorite. Not only did it seem the most accurate out of her decorations, but it had a Boiling Isles charm to it that gave it an appeal that Luz couldn't help but love.
"It's perfect!" She exclaimed, tackling Eda with a big hug. "Eda, thank you so much for doing all of this! This is going to be the best Christmas ever! I'm so happy that I get to share it with you and all of my friends!"
"Glad that you like it." Eda replied, returning the hug. "Now before any of your friends get here, I have a little something for you."
Eda went back inside with Luz, returning to the pile of 'presents' in the living room. She grabbed one of them and tossed it to her apprentice. Luz didn't react in time and fumbled the box, letting it fall to the floor.
"Yeesh. Your reflexes need some work." Eda noted. "That cushy life in the human realm must have softened you up more than I thought. Good thing that was empty."
"It was? Then why did you toss it to me?" Luz asked.
"Because I thought you'd like to play a little game." Eda told her, gesturing to the pile of wrapped boxes. "Inside one of the boxes I wrapped is an actual present for you. I'd like to see if you can figure out which one. You can't pick any of them up to check and you get three guesses. I'll also give you three hints if you want them. Sound good?"
"Yes! This sounds great! So, do I get something if I guess right?"
"No, but there is a consequence if you don't." Eda answered with a smirk. "You'll have to wait until after you clean up tonight to open up the present and you'll be doing the cleaning alone."
"High stakes, huh? I like it!" Luz said, stepping closer and looking over the many parcels. "Hmm, I doubt you'd do something as obvious as put my name on it. And these all look like they're the same size and shape."
"Wanna use one of your hints already?" Eda asked, a cocky grin on her face.
Luz let out a sigh. "Yes please."
"One of them is not like the others." Eda said. "Find the odd one out and you'll have your gift."
Taking that new information into account, Luz began inspecting the gifts again. She looked them over carefully, trying to find one that was different from the rest. However, she found the task to be practically impossible as each of the gifts was in its own way unique. Even though the boxes were all the same, how they had been wrapped was not. Between the three different types of wrap Eda had used, as well as the presence or lack of twine or a bowtie had yielded many different combinations for the witch to use. Even the bowties alone added a variable as they were different colors, some solid while others had polka dots or stripes. No matter how Luz looked at the gifts, no two were the same.
For the next couple of minutes, Luz stood there pondering and pondering, until her ponderer was sore. She had absolutely no idea which present to pick for her first guess. There was just no way to tell one of them separately from the others.
Something clicked in Luz's mind. Separately… Eda had said that her gift was not like the others. What if that meant that it wasn't with the others? Knowing her mentor, it seemed like the sort of thing she'd do. It was worth a shot anyways.
Turning her attention away from the many wrapped boxes that were in front of her, Luz started to search the room itself. She checked behind the couch and then beneath it, but found nothing. Next she looked at the shelves on either side of the fireplace, checking to see if her gift was hidden behind any of the objects Eda had collected over the years.
"Hey, what are you doing" Eda asked. "The pile is over here!"
Luz looked over at Eda and stared. Her eyes went to the Owl Lady's long, grey locks and she once again felt a step closer to winning their little game. She strolled over to the woman casually, reaching out and touching her hair.
"Hey Eda… Have I ever told you what I love about your hair?" She asked.
"Uh, no. Where are you going with this?"
"What I love about your hair is that you never know what you'll find in there. As for where I'm going…" She said, suddenly running around to Eda's backside. "I'm going in!"
She dove into Eda's hair with reckless abandon, the entire upper half of her body vanishing from sight. As she went deeper into the mass that was Eda's hair, Luz's legs lifted up into the air. They kicked a bit while Luz kept searching until she succeeded in finding something. With a bit more wriggling, Luz escaped from Eda's hair, holding a box in her hands and gasping for air.
"I knew you had volume, but DANG, girl!" Luz commented when she had caught her breath. "Nice try by the way. But I know you a little too well for this sort of trick to work on me."
"Yeah, yeah. Good for you, kiddo." Eda said with an almost proud look in her eyes. "Now hurry up and open that thing already. I can't wait for you to see what I got you."
Luz went to unwrap the box, but found it wasn't really wrapped. It was just made to look like Eda had spent a lot of time wrapping it up. She took the top off of the box and found a blue dress neatly folded within, one that was akin to Eda's favorite. There was also a pendant adorned with a violet colored gem, one which looked vaguely familiar to her. She lifted it up and examined it more closely,
"Careful, those things are fragile." Eda said. "Do you know what that is, Luz?"
"It kinda looks like the one Amity used to wear."
"Bingo. I thought it would be a nice way for us to keep in touch. Although I have no idea if it will work when we're in different realms. Plus since neither of us can use oracle magic, we'll need to get them charged by someone in the Oracle Coven."
"Them?" Luz repeated, looking up at her mentor.
Eda smiled and pulled a matching pendant out of her pocket and put it on. Luz squealed in delight, loving that she and Eda now had matching magical accessories. She put her own on and smiled excitedly, pulling out her phone. But as she was about to ask Eda to join her for a picture, she got a better idea and grabbed her new dress.
"I should wear this to the party!"
"That's why I got it for you." Eda said, gently grasping her pendant with two fingers. "How about you step back into your realm for a minute and we can see if these babies work while we're at it?"
"Kay! I need to shower anyways. So I'll be a tiny while."
Luz went back through the portal, finding that Vee had set down a bunch of grocery bags with all the snacks and drinks for the party. She poked her head back through the portal and asked Eda to bring the bags over while she got ready. Then she rushed to the bathroom, and turned the shower on. While she waited for the water to get hot, Luz decided to test her new necklace.
'Eda? Can you hear me Eda?'
She waited for a response, but got nothing. After waiting a little longer and still only hearing silence, Luz pouted. It seemed like being in different realms was too much for the magic in the gems. But just as she got ready to take her pendant off and set it aside while she showered, she heard Eda's voice inside of her head.
'Yup. Sorry for the delay, kid. I was in your living room when you contacted me so I hurried back to my place and shut the portal first.'
'This is so cool! Thank you so much for this Eda. It's so great that we can talk to each other any time now!'
'Just don't forget that I like to get to bed early. And don't try to call me after five o'clock on Thursdays. That's Eda-time.'
Luz giggled and removed the pendant, looking down at it in her hands for a moment before gingerly setting it down. She showered and dried off as quickly as possible. Then she put on her new outfit along with her usual black leggings and the pendant again before hurrying back to Eda's.
As she stepped back through the portal, she went over to the door and opened it to talk to Hooty. However she was pleased to find both Gus and Willow approaching the house, the two strolling out of the surrounding woods at that very moment.
"Hi you guys!" She called, waving to them. "Did you leave your gifts somewhere over there like I asked?"
"We sure did!" Gus called.
"Great!" Luz replied, turning to face the door. "Hooty, you know what to do, right?"
"Gather and hold onto the packages." Hooty answered. "You can count on me, Luz!"
"Very good. And also remember to let me answer the door as everyone arrives, okay?"
"Um, okay. But why?" Hooty inquired.
"It's my duty as a hostess to greet my guests." Luz explained. "So when someone gets here, just let them knock and I'll let them inside."
"Oh, okay, that makes sense. Then I shall relinquish my doorly duties for now." Hooty chirped.
Luz patted him on the head and gestured for Gus and Willow to head inside. She was just about to close the door when she noticed some more guests arriving. Amity and her siblings were emerging from the woods, Amity spotting Luz right away and waving happily to her.
"Hey, hey party witches!" Luz exclaimed, waving to the new arrivals. "Welcome to the festivities! Come on in and help yourself to some of the drinks and snacks. We'll be doing the gifts after everyone gets here, did you leave yours out in the woods like I asked?"
"We did." Amity replied. "Although I don't fully understand why."
"To keep it a mystery, silly!" Luz explained. "If they saw you holding the gift, then they'd know it was from you when they got it! Hooty is going to collect them and will bring them in once we're ready. Now go and mingle. Gus and Willow are already here."
The twins stepped inside and went over to the table with the food and drinks. After grabbing a little for themselves, they went to chat with Gus and Willow. Amity however remained by Luz's side, taking a moment to look over Luz in her new attire.
"I like the new look." She said. "That color really suits you."
"Do I look witchy?" Luz asked, striking a pose.
Amity let out a giggle. "Yes, very witchy. And also very beautiful. Not that the outfit gets full credit for that."
"Aw!" Luz cooed. "You're so sweet! Come over here, Am-Am. I've got a little something for you."
Luz led Amity over by the fireplace. When they got there, Amity noticed something dangling down from the ceiling on a length of red string. It was some sort of plant with short, broad evergreen leaves and a cluster of waxy, white berries. A kittenish smirk came to Luz's face when she noticed that Amity was staring at the special decoration. The best part was how Amity seemed to be a little confused about the plant, which to Luz meant she had a chance for a little fun.
"I told you about this tradition." Luz said, her smirk growing a tiny bit. "That's a mistletoe. Do you remember what it is for?"
"Um… you hang it up for good luck?" Amity asked.
"Nope. That's the Dominican tradition of cleaning and painting our homes after Christmas." Luz told her. "Mistletoe is for something a bit different. When a couple stands under one, they're supposed to kiss."
Before Amity had a chance to respond, Luz moved in and began peppering her girlfriend's face with featherlight kisses. Amity became steadily overwhelmed by the affectionate onslaught, starting to let out little noises each time Luz's lips made contact with her face again. This gained the attention of the others in the room, who all turned to stare at the display just as Luz finished up.
"I thought that tradition only required you to kiss once." Willow noted.
"It does. But I couldn't possibly just give my Am-Am only one smooch. She deserves as many as I can give to her." Luz explained. "Besides, we went weeks without seeing each other, so there was some serious catching up for us to do, right Am-Am?"
Still a little dazed from the recent surge of affection from her girlfriend, Amity nodded and mumbled out an unintelligible response. This prompted a giggle from Luz as well as the rest of the witches present. The sound of their laughter helped to snap Amity out of her blissful stupor and she glared at them in annoyance.
"Stop it, it's not funny!" She protested, her face reddening a little in anger.
"It's a little funny." Willow said. "You never acted like that before Luz showed up."
Amity sniffed and crossed her arms, turning away from them. She went to sit on the couch, Luz following to try and cheer up her girlfriend. They spent the next few minutes quietly chatting, Luz slowly managing to get Amity to smile again with a bit of sweet talk.
A short while later there was a knock at the door. Luz went over to answer, finding the rest of her guests. As they wandered into the house, Amity came over as well, approaching Cat. After greeting each other, Amity called over her sister and led both her and Cat off over by the stairs. Luz, unable to keep herself from being nosy, tagged along. Amity didn't make her leave, but gave her a quick glare to let her know not to interfere. Then she turned her attention to her sister, standing side by side with Cat.
"Emira, I have some good news for you." Amity began. "I've spoken with Cat about what I did and we've reconciled. And I've made good on my word and also talked with her about you."
"It's all still a little hard to believe." Cat admitted. "A girl like you seems out of my league."
"Oh, trust me, you are absolutely my type." Emira replied with a sly smile. "So, shall we go out to dinner sometime?"
Cat blushed and nodded. "Yes, I'd like that."
"I've already arranged a reservation for the two of you for next Friday." Amity informed her sister. "It will be for seven o'clock at the local Grey and Lindbeck's. I know how much you like that place.
"You are such a great baby sister, Mittens." Emira said, ruffling Amity's hair roughly. "I can officially say you are one hundred percent forgiven."
"Thanks." Amity replied, trying not to scowl as she smoothed out her hair.
"Well now that we have that settled…" Emira began, giving Cat a flirty look. "How about you and me try out one of Luz's human holiday traditions? There's this little plant called a mistletoe that they hang up and if a couple stands beneath it, they have to kiss."
Emira took Cat's arm in her own and started to pull her along. Cat frowned a little and pulled her arm free, giving the older teen a stern glare. She then reached up and took Emira's ear in her hand, pinching the lobe between her index finger and thumb.
"How about we go and have a little talk about boundaries and ground rules?" Cat suggested, pulling on Emira's ear as she began heading off to the side so they could converse in private. "You know, stuff like no kissing before the first date is over. That is, if we get to that point so soon."
Cat led Emira along, ignoring the other girl's pleads to be let go. They made their way over to a different part of the room, leaving Luz and Amity behind. The couple watched as Cat practically dragged Emira off to lecture her, Amity finding the whole thing to be rather amusing.
"I think she'll be a good partner for my big sister." Amity noted.
Luz nodded in agreement. "Oh, no doubt. I totally ship it. Emira has met her match, in more ways than one."
Both she and Amity giggled, the couple going to help themselves to some snacks afterwards. Luz let everyone else grab something from the table to enjoy and to mingle a little more before starting with their main event for the day. After around ten minutes had passed, she set off a large light glyph to gain the attention of the others.
"Okay party people. I think this would be a great time for us to open our presents from our Angelitos. Gather round and find a seat. I'll have Hooty bring everything in right now."
Everyone sat down in the living room, arranging themselves into a circle. Once they were all situated, Luz had Hooty bring in the presents. Much to everyone's relief, the house demon hadn't eaten any of them, sparing all of the teens from having a bile coated package dropped into their laps. Instead he had collected the gifts into a large burlap sack which he dragged into the room and began passing them to their respective recipients. After everyone had their present, Luz stood and addressed the group.
"Okay everybody, so now we'll all open our presents one at a time and after we open it, we try to figure out who our Angelito is. I say we go clockwise around the room after the first person opens their gift. So, who wants to go first?"
"You should go first." Boscha suggested. "All of this was your idea."
"I agree with Boscha." Willow said. "It only seems fair."
"That and I want to see her open my gift first." Boscha added.
"Boscha! I'm supposed to guess who got me my gift after I open it!" Luz exclaimed, letting out a sigh afterwards. "Oh well, maybe I can guess what you gave me instead. Knowing you it's probably an autographed photo of you in your Banshees uniform."
"No, but that's an awesome idea." Boscha noted. "Maybe I should start doing that. Those could be worth a fortune one day."
Willow let out a giggle at that, earning a smile and a blush from Boscha. Luz meanwhile was still inspecting her gift. The box, which had been wrapped up in just plain red paper, was roughly the standard size of a book. From what she could tell, it wasn't much heavier than a book either. She smiled as she came to the conclusion that she knew what she had gotten.
"It's gotta be a book." She stated, starting to tear away the paper and revealing a plain, wooden box underneath. "Or not."
Luz lifted the lid to the small box, surprised by what she found. There was a set of pens and four stacks of little, blank squares of paper neatly arranged inside. She very quickly figured out just what it was that Boscha had given to her, a tender smile coming to her face as she looked up at Boscha again.
"You made me a glyph kit?" Luz asked.
"Well you still don't have a staff and that is sorta your signature thing." Boscha pointed out. "So I just thought it would make sense."
"Boscha, thank you!" Luz replied, extending out both of her arms. "Come here, you earned yourself a hug!"
"Uh, that's okay." Boscha told her, leaning back a bit. "Besides, you wouldn't want to make your girlfriend jealous, would you?"
"I'll allow it." Amity said, crossing her arms. "Luz is a hugger and I don't want to keep her from being herself. But no more than three seconds."
"That's all I need!"
Luz went over to Boscha, who was almost a quarter of the circle from her, seated between Willow and Skara. Boscha almost looked ready to back away, but Willow placed one of her hands onto Boscha's back and pushed her towards the advancing human. She was pulled into a tight embrace, feeling very awkward about the whole thing given the number of eyes in the room, all of which seemed to be directed at her.
Three seconds later the hug ended and Boscha let out a sigh of relief. Luz returned to her spot between Gus and Amity, placing her new glyph kit into her lap. The turn passed to Amity, who had gotten a plain, white envelope instead of a wrapped gift. She carefully started to tear it open, cautious of damaging whatever was inside. Once she had successfully opened the flap she found the contents of the envelope to be a photograph. Amity pulled it out to look at it, her expression turning into a mix of confusion and surprise.
"This is my bedroom." She said, narrowing her eyes a little. "Except… I don't have a bookshelf like that." She noted, flipping the photo over and discovering something written on the back. "A new addition for your room, custom made to be as unique as you…"
"Aw, that's so sweet!" Luz said, leaning over to take a look.
"Well there's only two people at this party who could've gotten that into my room." Amity observed, grinning as she turned to look at her brother. "And Emira is too clever to give me such a big hint."
"Are you sure that it wasn't me?" Emira asked. "Because it could have been me. Maybe I knew that you'd think that way. Or maybe Edric and I helped your Angelito get your gift into your room when you weren't around."
Edric's arm shot up. "Uh, no. I got her that gift and had to do a lot to make it happen. I'm not letting someone else take any credit for that. Now come here and give your big brother a 'thank you' hug, Mittens."
"So you got Amity's name, not Emira's? Luz asked, tilting her head a little. "Then you were gonna give her that mana rifle thingy?"
Amity gasped. "Do you mean the Blue Blister Crystal Powered Mana Rifle?! That would have been such a cool gift!" She gushed before noticing her brother's eye starting to twitch and she smiled at him sheepishly. "But this one is very thoughtful. I can't wait to get a better look at it when we get home."
She moved in and gave her brother a quick hug, letting it last a little longer than she would have normally before sitting beside Luz again. Willow was up next, gingerly pulling the green paper off of a relatively small box. After the paper had been removed and set aside, she found a bracelet inside of the box. It was made of three vines, interwoven together with little green bulbs all along them. As she picked it up to get a better look at it, the little bulbs began to bloom. Tiny yellow flowers began appearing all over the bracelet, making Willow smile brightly.
"Oh my gosh! This is so beautiful!" She said, watching as more tiny yellow blooms appeared. "I love it!"
"What is it?" Luz asked curiously, leaning over to get a closer peek.
"It looks like a floral mood bracelet." Amelia said. "The flowers change color depending on your emotions."
"Seems kinda like a romantic gift, if you ask me." Skara noted, grinning as she looked towards Boscha. "I wonder who could've gotten that for you, Willow.
Boscha frowned a little, a jealous look in her eyes. "Yeah, me too."
Skara giggled. "Upset that you couldn't be the one to buy something for her?"
"Maybe." Boscha grumbled. "Don't get me wrong. I'm glad Luz liked what I got for her. But I would have loved to have gotten something for Willow."
Boscha realized what she had said and blushed, her eyes daring to Willow nervously. Willow's cheeks were turning slightly pink, as were the flowers on her new mood bracelet. The yellow was slowly overtaken until the blossoms were as pink as could be. She faced Boscha, a shy smile on her face.
"Thanks, that's really sweet of you." Willow told her. "I actually feel the same. Which is why I was happy to accept when Luz offered to trade with me so I could get you a gift."
"Come on you guys!" Luz protested, flailing her arms childishly. "The idea is we're supposed to guess who gave us our gifts!" She exclaimed before letting out an exasperated sigh. "You know what? It's fine. I might as well say that I got Skara when I switched with Willow. Happy Holidays everyone."
"To be fair, there is a bit of a flaw with this." Gus pointed out. "Each person who figures out who their Angelito is reduces the number of people who could've been the next person's Angelito."
"Quiet you." Luz replied, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Aw, don't be like that, Luz." Amity said comfortingly. "This is still a really nice tradition."
"Yeah, it's really cool that someone has to buy you a present." Edric said. "And not knowing who it is makes it more exciting."
"Hmm, true enough." Luz said with a kittenish smirk. "And it's fun to see what everyone else gets too. So let's get back to it. Boscha, open that baby up! I'm ready to see a new ship set sail."
"Your human sayings are so weird." Boscha noted before tearing the red wrapping paper from the little box in her hands. When she opened the little box, she found a pair of star-shaped earrings and two slips of paper that made her eyes widen slightly. "Tickets for the Winter Lights Show? How did you get these? They sold out over two weeks ago!"
Willow smiled and gave Boscha a wink. "It helps when you have a friend whose dad knows one of the illusionists in the show." She explained, glancing at Gus before returning her attention to Boscha again. "So I take it that you'd want to go with me?"
Boscha nodded, an uncharacteristically timid look on her face as she let out a nearly inaudible 'mm-hmm'. She took out her new earrings and put them on before bringing out her scroll. Then she pulled Willow in for a selfie, posting it on Penstagram right away. A trilling noise sounded from anyone in the room who followed her, a few opening their own scrolls to like the post, which was under the hashtags NewGF, GotaDate and BeJealous.
Luz smirked and tented her fingers, letting out a satisfied chuckle. "Very good. Now don't forget where the mistletoe is, you two." She said, gesturing towards the aforementioned decoration.
"We only just agreed to go out on our first date, Luz." Willow said, almost seeming annoyed. "So until after that, kissing will have to wait."
"Really?" Luz asked, also sounding mildly annoyed. "Is anyone else going to use the mistletoe today or will it just be me with Am-Am?"
"W-we already did that, Luz." Amity shyly pointed out.
"It's cute that you think that I'd only want to stand under it once with you." Luz replied, smirking playfully.
Amity's face went one shade of red shy of her passing out. All the others in the room got a quick little laugh at her expense before the gift opening continued. Skara got a book of human sheet music from Luz. Amelia and Cat had gotten each other, Cat receiving a new pair of winged boots and gifting Amelia a set of bath blisters. Emira was given an expensive perfume from Skara and Edric got a 'human weapon' from Gus, which Luz opted not to correct as she recognized the object to be a paddle ball. Lastly Gus opened up his gift, a human book of world records from Emira.
"Wait… When did you…" Gus said, trailing off a bit as realization dawned on him. "Emira, did you invite me to go shopping with you so you could get ideas for my gift?"
"Guilty." Emira answered, smirking playfully. "But more than anything else, I really did need help finding something for Cat."
"You got me a gift too?" Cat asked with mild surprise.
"Not just you, beautiful." Emira replied with a wink. "I liked buying stuff for others so much that I got a little something for everyone."
Emira drew a magic circle, revealing a bag with more gifts inside that she had tucked away in the corner. She grabbed them and started to hand them out. Most of her gifts were types of sweets like chocolate covered scarabs, fairy cookies or candied eyeballs. The exceptions were Cat, Luz and Amity. For Luz she had gifted a small lip gloss set with a note insisting she get Amity to help her try out each of them. Amity's gift was a long and narrow package which Emira seemed particularly excited to hand over.
Amity began tearing away at the pink paper around the box. She figured out what it was easily, getting a good look at the image on the box beneath the paper quickly enough. An excited gasp escaped her and she hastily ripped away the remaining paper, holding her gift and staring at it with a sense of childlike wonder.
"The Blue Blister Crystal Powered Mana Rifle. Emira, thank you!"
"Don't mention it, baby sister." Emira told her. "I'm just glad that Edric didn't get you one. Not that he should have one of those in his hands. He'd shoot his eye out."
"Going to ignore that." Edric grumbled before narrowing his eyes and Luz and Boscha. "But I guess it's a good thing that I didn't get my little sister such a cool gift."
"I think that the gift that you got me was cool." Amity told him. "And thoughtful. But to be completely honest, having two mana rifles would have been great."
"Why would you want two of those things?" Luz asked curiously.
"For you, silly! Take a close look at it." She instructed, pointing to the image on the box. "Doesn't it look similar to something we both know? Maybe with just a little modification or two?"
Luz gasped, her eyes widening. "It almost looks like the same rifle that was used by the Fey-Hunter who allied with Azura after that huge bounty got put on her head in book four!"
"Exactly."
"Of course there was a nerdy reason you wanted that thing." Emira said with a smile and a sigh. "Typical Mittens."
"I think it's safe to say that my weapon is now the coolest." Edric added.
He gave his new paddleball a swing, the rubber ball stretching out as far as the elastic string could allow. Then it returned quickly and smacked Edric right in the face. He let out a cry of pain, covering his left eye with his hand. Many of the others winced in reaction to his little mishap. Edric inhaled sharply through his nostrils as he tried to tolerate the pain, casting a glare as best he could with his good eye.
"Nobody say a word." He warned.
Cat stepped forward and offered to treat his injury. Edric complied, grateful for the pain relief Cat's spell granted him. She put a healer's patch over his eye, the symbol on it glowing blue. He mumbled out a 'thanks' and went off to grab some comfort food from the snack table.
Emira took a moment to check on her twin and then returned to the group, bringing out her final gift. She watched with an excited smile as Cat tore away the paper, her eyes lighting up as Cat let out a surprised gasp. Cat looked over her new bag, smiling in approval.
"It's beautiful. And practical" She said. "Thank you, Emira."
"Get used to it, because I plan on spoiling you." Emira replied with a wink.
"Okay, slow down already." Cat warned with a wry smile. "Just because I'm flattered by this doesn't mean I'll be happy if you try to buy you're way into my heart."
"Can't blame a witch for trying though, right?" Emira asked, batting her playfully.
Cat let out a sigh and shook her head. Emira giggled at the reaction, getting a soft glare from Cat in return. Luz decided that since they had finished exchanging gifts, it was time to move onto the next activity. She brought out a game she had gotten for the occasion. A fun and popular game for multiple people called 'Pears to Pears'. She began to explain how the game worked as she lifted the lid to the box, her guests all gathered around her and taking a keen interest.
As the party inside moved onto their next fun activity, outside a figure lurked out in the woods surrounding the Owl House. He moved closer and closer to the house, darting from one tree to the next, using them for cover. Slowly, steadily he continued to advance until he was close enough to see movement through the windows. His target was in there and soon he'd achieve his goal of capturing her.
Suddenly the ground beneath his feet shifted slightly and something with the face of an owl erupted out of the earth. It coiled around him, squeezing him like a mighty serpent, if serpents were coated with mucus. He wriggled and kicked, trying to fight the creature off. It lowered its head, looking at him through the eye slit of his golden, two faceted mask.
"Sorry, but this party is invite only! Hoot!"
To be continued.