Welcome readers. I hope you enjoy the second half of the second season of my Owl House AU. It's bound to be very exciting and I hope I can keep you interested in this until the end.
Luz opened her eyes and blinked. Then she blinked a few more times. Her entire room had been moved.
The entire room was no longer in the Owl House. Instead, her bedroom was floating in the In-between dimension. Cubes rose all around her. The shimmering yellow and green patterns gave her enough light to see by.
Getting out of her sleeping bag, Luz walked to the edge of the room. She reached out to touch one of the cubes. Instead, it drifted away from her.
"Greetings! Is anyone out there? Hello, can anyone hear me?" she called out. She didn't get a response.
"What is going on? How did I get here?" the teenager wondered to herself. Could her magic be acting up again? She thought she had it under control.
She went over to the window, thinking she could catch a cube by sitting on the sill. When she opened the window, Luz was surprised by what she saw. There was something black and white in the distance.
"What in the Boiling Isles is that?" The teen teenager was determined to get closer. Calling on her magic, she created a gust of wind that carried her out the window toward her target.
It was strange using magic in this space. The last time Luz was here she had only been able to channel her magic to Earth. This time, her magic was weak.
"Why does it feel like my bile sack is being squeezed? Maybe I should try using glyph magic," Luz told herself. She then remembered the In-between dimension didn't have Titan's blood.
The gust of wind was dying and she had not reached her goal. She cast a fire spell to propel her through the air. That worked well for a couple of minutes before the flames sputtered out.
"HELP!" the teenager shouted as she fell towards the inky black ground. She was fearful of what would happen to her body when it impacted the ground. Unexpectedly, she stopped falling.
She was suspended in the air with a white outline around her. The black and white being was getting closer to her. She started to feel afraid.
"Finally, I have succeeded! A new friend to play with is just what I needed!" a childish voice called out. The being was changing shape becoming a large sun.
Luz struggled to regain mobility only for her to be spun around like a top. The sun-shaped being was looming over her. She squeaked when she saw the sun had a huge face on it.
"Whoa, I've never seen anything like you here before! What are you?" the sun-shape creature pondered loudly.
"Ahh!" Luz screamed as she took a swing at the being. "Haven't you heard of personal space?"
The being dodged her fist and turned into the shape of a small human boy. "What's personal space? Is that your name?"
"My name is Luz! Personal space is the respectful distance between two beings while interacting with others. You were way too close!" Luz furiously snapped.
The being stuck his tongue out at her. His mischievous grin alarmed the teenager. She really shouldn't aggravate this stranger until she knew more.
The being laughed as grew larger until Luz was dwarfed by his size. "Am I still in your personal space?" he teased. The boy laughed loudly before shrinking back to his normal size.
He pointed at her as he laughed even harder. "You should have seen your face! I bet you were thinking, I hope he doesn't sit on me!" The kid laughed harder.
Luz grumbled in frustration. Who was this child? More importantly, were there more beings like him in this dimension?
At that moment, the dimension around her started fading away rapidly. She was able to regain control of her body. The little boy yelled, "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Luz sat up in her sleeping bag wheezing. She took a few deep breaths. Checking her body out, she could rule out that she had traveled anywhere. "Ahh, it was just a dream."
She looked at the time on her cellphone. It was nearly time for breakfast and it was her turn to make it. Changing quickly, she headed downstairs to make something edible before the others awakened.
Luz had just started frying griffin eggs when Eda came into the kitchen. She yawned loudly as she stretched her detached limbs. "Dang it, can't believe it's morning already. It comes way too early if you ask me."
The witch looked around the kitchen before going over to a cupboard. Swinging the door open, she snatched a bag of claw biscuits to eat. Unscrewing her fang, Eda used it to open the bag.
She shoved three claw biscuits into her mouth. Luz was afraid she would choke only to see Eda remove her head to shake the excess food out. Once that was done, she went back to munching on her food.
Soon, everyone was up and enjoying breakfast. Luz played with her eggs. That strange dream particularly unnerved her.
Eda looked at her foster daughter with concern. "Luz, is everything okay?"
"Yeah, just had a bad dream last night. I just need to shake it off. So, what are today's assignments?"
The Owl Lady knew that Luz was deflecting from the topic. She sighed and decided to let it slide for now. "The Bat Queen and her kids will be gone for three days."
King let out a squeal of bafflement. "Eh, you mean I don't have to be a chew toy for three days? Yeah!"
"Quiet down, King. We don't want to wake our hostess this early in the morning."
King twitched and then complied with Eda's request. "The Bat Queen is going to be investigating rumors of wild palismens living in a bog on the Toes. While she's gone, our job will be to make sure the palismens are cared for."
Luz's eyes went to the ground. She loved taking care of the palismens. She just wished she had one of her own.
She almost missed the next part. Eda said when they weren't carrying out their duties, Eda and Lilith would resume Luz's studies in the different magical tracks.
With Hunter back at the castle, she worried that no one would teach her more about magic. The next three days were going to be awesome!
About an hour later, Luz was fidgeting on the couch as Eda put a few items on the table. She recognized the crystal ball Selene had used against Willow during their mock battle.
She also recalled the pink gem was the same one Amity used to wear. She had mentioned her mother had the other one. Using the gems allowed the two parties to communicate telepathically.
However, there was one new tool that she hadn't seen before. Well, she didn't expect it to be a tool. A quill feather pen was next to the gem.
"Alright Luz, tell me what you know about oracle magic?" Eda asked promptly.
Luz recited the summary to her mentor. "Oracle magic is the ability to scrying to see the future. The ability to talk with spirits of the past. While communicating with telepathy in the present."
Eda snorted and elbowed her student. "Sounds to me you've been working on your memorizing the course material. Your right though, oracle magic is about learning to manipulate time in small ways."
She pointed to the tools on the table and explained their meaning. "The crystal ball helps focus a witch's power to call on spirits. The stronger the power the more spirits can be called upon."
"The gem is an amplifier. It allows witches to communicate with each other no matter the distance. The gem is also capable of going deeper into a witch's mind. It is strictly prohibited to do that without permission."
Eda picked up the quill and held it out to Luz. "The quill is to help keep track of any glimpses into the future. It's enchanted to write down everything the witch sees or hears during a vision."
"Fascinating. Can I give it a try?" Luz asked as she plucked the quill from Eda's hands.
The Owl Lady smiled before adding, "You could if you knew how to look into the future. As a beginner, you need to build up your mental prowess. That means having shields in place to protect your mind."
Eda tapped her student's forehead to emphasize her point. "Once you learned how to shield your mind we'll move on to the next part. Sharpening your mind so you can use psychic energy for spells."
Luz was starting to wonder if there was any magic that didn't require building up strength. Being a witch was a lot of work.
Eda knew that look and hugged Luz. "I know, with all the magic in the Boiling Isles, casting spells should be easy. I was impatient to get to the big stuff first."
She commented it was Lilith who managed to get Eda to learn the basics. It had helped her when she created all those secret passages throughout Hexside.
Eda called for her son and King came running into the room. "What do you need me to do Eda? I was in the middle of a battle planning session with Francois."
"That can wait until later. Right now, I need your help teaching Luz how to create psychic shields in her mind. You're going to be the cuddly distraction."
Eda explained how to create a mental shield. "The easiest way to build a shield is to block out distractions. I want you to picture a big wall around your brain. Meanwhile, King will do everything he can to distract you."
"The longer I go without being distracted, the stronger my shield should be, right?"
Eda nodded as she started the exercise. King started playing with Francois while Luz looked at the wall. Inside the teenager's mind, she pictured Azura casting a magical spell over her brain.
Eda glanced at the clock before looking back at her kids. King and Francois were now wrestling around on the floor. Then King let out his rage squeal as his lieutenant pinned him to the rug.
That did it. Both Eda and Luz started laughing hysterically. The Owl Lady had tears coming from her eyes. "I love how you sound like a little tea kettle."
While King preened, Luz looked at the clock. "I only lasted a minute."
"Be proud, I thought you would crack by twenty seconds."
Luz glared at Eda who rolled her eyes. "Come on kid, you can't be discouraged by your first attempt. It is going to take a bit of time before you can successfully create a mental shield."
Luz knew her mentor was correct. She needed to stop being so hard on herself. "Let's do it again."
Meanwhile, in Bonesborough, everyone was preparing for the Coven Day Parade. It was a big deal because this year Belos was going to be making a personal appearance.
That meant his float had to be the most protected one. The Golden Guard was supervising the scouts as they built it. "Captain, make sure the trapdoors are big enough for Emperor to escape through!"
"Yes sir!"
"Steve, can you add a few more flowers on the front? We need to be sure no one can see the scout's peephole."
"On it, Golden Guard!" Steve hurried to the front carrying an armful of color-changing poppies.
The Golden Guard saw there was trouble going on near the stables for the rat worms. Marching over, he got a closer look as the scouts were getting tossed around.
"What is going on here?" he demanded.
"The rat -worms are agitated! We can't figure out why!"
The Golden Guard rubbed his mask with his hands. "Call someone from the Beast Keeping Coven. Surely, they'll know what is going on with them."
He then surveyed the area and scowled. "Where is Kikimora? She's supposed to be assisting me."
One of the scouts mentioned seeing her hanging around Raine Whispers and Terra Snapdragon. Taking a coming breath, he sent out to search for his missing assistant.
A few floats down, Raine was trying to ignore Kikimora as they talked with Terra. "The Bard float needs a few more flowers for our concert. Since you've been helping me recover from my sickness, I was wondering if you could spare a few star-shooter plants?"
"But of course, my little sprout. Anything for a fellow Coven Head."
Kikimora spoke up, "Are you sure you need star shooters? I think it would be better to use singing sunflowers."
Raine frowned and said, "I didn't ask for your opinion Kikimora. I want the Bard Coven's float to be a reminder of how powerful we are. Having singing plants belittles our coven."
Terra told Kikimora she didn't mind sparing a few plants. "Besides, Raine's right. This parade is about displaying the best our covens have to offer. We all want to do a great job for Emperor Belos, right?"
Before Kikimora could get another word in the Golden Guard appeared. "There you are, Kikimora. Why are you over here when you're supposed to be helping me with preparations for the Emperor's Coven float?"
"I was just having a friendly chat with these two is all," the demoness growled. "Shouldn't you be over at the float right now?"
The Golden Guard grasped the demoness by her wrist. "I only left to get you. Now come on, the scouts need help creating a throne for Emperor Belos. It must look perfect for the parade."
Terra and Raine watched in amusement as the emperor's right-hand woman was dragged away like a toddler. Poor Kikimora was her own worst enemy.
At Hexside, the kids were chatting about how downhearted Luz was after her portal door failed. Amity was adamant that they needed to find a way to lift her girlfriend's spirits.
"There must be something we can do to cheer her up. Maybe we can make her favorite meal?" Amity suggested.
"We don't have anything from the human realm to make her favorite meal," Willow pointed out.
"What if I make an illusion of her mom?" Gus asked. The girls glared at his insensitivity. "Okay, no illusions!"
Willow recommended talking to their other friends. They might have some ideas that could help. The kids agreed to talk again after school to hear each other out.
Willow first approached Amelia since they were on the same track. She was glad that their relationship improved after the Grudgby match. "Hey, Amelia how's it going?"
"It's going great. I can hardly believe we're finally going to be allowed to enter Greenhouse 10 today. It is going to be amazing to finally work with rare and endangered plants!" the green-skinned girl beamed.
Willow was also looking forward to that. "Hey, I was wondering something. What would you do to cheer up a friend who is feeling pessimistic?"
The green girl quickly looked around to make sure no one was listening to them. "This is about Luz?" Amelia whispered. Willow nodded, still a bit surprised that Amelia figured out who she was talking about.
"A lot of kids in our grade miss her. She always made the classes interesting. She was telling me about different trees that grew in the Human Realm. She was showing me pictures of fruit trees when she, had to leave for safety reasons."
Willow was surprised to hear this. With Boscha going around proclaiming the school was better off with Luz, she assumed everyone was following her lead. It was nice to know that wasn't the case.
"I suggest finding a safe plant she can take care of. Having something to care for would help her focus on something good."
Amity managed to talk to her old friends during lunch. Luckily, Boscha was out sick today so she didn't have to worry about sabotaging her. The triclops was still angry about not being chosen as the potion track's head tutor.
The girls listened as Amity told them what she knew about Luz's attempt to get home. "I want to help my girlfriend, but I'm not sure what to do."
"You're right to be concerned about Luz's emotional state. It seems this latest trauma might have undone what progress she had made," Cat pointed out.
Bo nodded and said that psychological trauma could manifest physical symptoms. "From what I learned in the HAS, it's important to let a patient find a way to express their emotions. If they're unable to then their mental and physical states suffer."
"What if you two acted out scenes from those books you both like? I sometimes pretend I'm my favorite musician, Raine Whispers, when I'm feeling down," Sakura told her friend.
Eileen wrote down a suggestion to make a gift to cheer Luz up. Selene added you could never go wrong with jewelry. Amity promised to tell the others about their ideas later.
Gus talked with the former detention kids and a couple of guys for ideas. Most suggested talking about their own bad days so Luz would realize she wasn't alone. They also said it might do Luz some good to get away from the Owl House for a few hours.
When the three of them got together after school they talked about the different ideas they had been given. It was quickly decided they would try each of them and hope one would work.
In the throne room, Belos was watching the heart of the old Titan beating again. During the construction of the castle, he made use of it to power the castle. Secretly, he also used it to measure the amount of magic a witch or biped demon had.
"The heart is getting stronger the closer it gets to the Day of Unity. Soon, it will be strong enough for the Day of Unity," he told the scouts in the room.
Turning he faced them and though they couldn't see his face, the scouts started to sweat under their masks. "The heart will be strong enough yet not powerful enough. I need both my valet and nephew to do that."
"Captain, have your scouts learned anything of value from the Hexside student body?" Belos demanded.
"Nothing of significance Emperor sir. Your valet's absence has been greatly felt by many. A few teachers even miss her. However, one of the popular students has made it her mission to make sure no one talks about the girl."
Belos tightened his grip on his staff. "For what purpose?"
"Not for her protection sir. The student proclaims that the school is better off without her. She gets very violent if anyone mentions your valet's name or people talk about her in general. A few teachers are also frightened by her."
The emperor demanded to know who this student was. When he saw the picture, he growled and tore it up. "Tell her parents the girl is expelled and she is to begin working for the Cleaning Coven at once!"
The captain was shaking badly. He didn't understand why the emperor was enraged but he didn't need to know. "Right away sir!" He and the other scouts hastened out of the throne room.
Belos sat down and soughed. "It's very difficult to get adequate workers to fulfill my wishes. Everything must be perfect or the Day of Unity will not go as planned."
"How do I get Luz and Hunter here before the Day of Unity? Without them uniting as one, the Demon Gates won't open. I need that power so the Titan's heart will spread the draining spell on the Day of Unity across the entire Titan.
Without out, life could evolve again in this wretched realm No, the only way to make sure is that every creature and plant that has magic will be affected by the spell."
Many citizens would scoff at the legend of the Demon Gates, just as they would of the tale of the Collector. It was true that the original inhabitants had evolved to have magic.
However, without the influx of demonic creatures from the Human Realm, these vile creatures would have perished from inbreeding. Thankfully, the Collector was helping him rectify that mistake.
He felt his body start to bulk up again. Blasted palismans! Reaching into his robe, he pulled out a palisman from a new coven member. He broke it and inhaled the essence of the creature.
"Ah, much better. Soon, these episodes will end and I won't have to worry anymore."
He felt a familiar presence enter the room. "I know you're there. Please, stop being childish and come out already."
A shadow jumped off the wall and formed into a humanoid being. "I'm not being childish! Spooking people is fun no matter how old you are." He stuck his tongue out at the man.
Belos pinched his forehead. "Please Collector, I'm not in the mood for this today."
The Collector's shadow form started bouncing around the room. "Ah, you're never in the mood to play these days. It's all work with you lately. You need to relax," the child whined.
Belos responded one of them had to be responsible. "Final preparations are being made for the Day of Unity. The same day you shall be granted your freedom if everything goes according to plan."
"The Day of Unity, ugh! I've told you before everything is going to go right. Instead of obsessing about it, why don't you tell me why you want the human girl so bad?"
The Collector winked a few times and asked if Belos had a crush on her. Belos snapped harshly that he was a respectable man. He didn't have perversions that included children.
"Luz Noceda is a child who doesn't comprehend the dangers she's in. It's my duty as a man of faith to make sure she walks a rigorous path. The longer she's around magic, the more her soul is corrupted."
The Collector called him out. "So, why did you gift her with a bile sack then? If her soul is being corrupted, didn't you make it worse?"
Belos chuckled and explained that sometimes it was necessary to embrace evil if you wanted to destroy a stronger one. "Once the Day of Unity is over, I'll simply cut the sack out. No more sack and her soul will be restored."
The Collector rolled their eyes. They weren't interested in a person's soul. They wanted to have fun and try new things.
What was so special about a teenage girl that made the adults in this world go crazy about her? Perhaps, it was time to take a closer work at the magical human.
The Collector waited patiently until most of the castle had fallen asleep. His last encounter with the girl had been purely accidental. If they wanted to see her deliberately, they would need to come up with a different strategy.
Once they were sure Belos was asleep, they extended their shadow into the former valet's room. "Let's see what fun stuff you left behind," the Collector giggled.
At first, it was just mundane items, such as clothing and bedding. The cubbies held no interest to them. In the bathroom, the Collector managed to find something useful.
"Ah, a single strand of hair! With this, I can lead the girl into my lair! We'll be able to play together and have lots of fun. Once this playdate has begun."
The shadow form retreated to its mirror. It clenched the hair tightly and whistled in delight when it passed through the mirror. "Ha, in your face Titan! I knew I could get something into my prison."
The Collector sent some of its power through the hair. The strand stood upright and then pointed behind him. "Ah, she's here!"
Using the strand as a compass, he eventually found Luz's astral body hunkering down in this realm's version of the Owl House. Clapping in delight, the Collector popped up behind her. "HI!"
"Ahh!" Luz shouted as she jumped. Landing, she looked around for the source of the sound. "Who is there? If you're that shadow from before, I'm not scared of you!"
"Well, you should be!" the Collector exclaimed as he popped up in front of her. Startled, Luz smacked the Collector in the face. "Don't do that!"
The Collector rubbed his cheek. "You hit me? Why would you do that?"
"Personal space, remember?" the teenager hissed. Her eyes were shooting metaphorical lasers at the child.
"She's different from Philip. I wonder if that's because she's a female?"
The Collector decided it was time for some fun. "Fine, no invading your personal space. Want to play a game with me?"
The teenager appeared puzzled by the questions. Yeesh, we're all humans slow on the uptake? "Don't you know what a game is?"
The teenager growled she knew what games were. She wasn't expecting a figure in a dream would ask to play a game.
"She doesn't know this is really happening? Cool! This way we can have more fun!"
"Can we play one, please?" the Collector pleaded. The girl agreed to play making them smile happily. "I get to pick! I want to play monster creator!"
They conjured together a creature that had the wings of a griffin, the eye of a cyclops, and the body a selkidominous. "Where's your creature? We can't battle without another monster."
"Please don't rush me. Okay, what kind of creature do I want?" There was a puff of smoke, and standing in front of her, was a domestic cat body with a dog head.
The Collector laughed and sent their creature after Luz's little monster. The cat/dog creature barked once before running away in fear. The Collector cheered when his monster ate the little pet.
Luz rolled around the monster and slammed a glyph on it. The monster was petrified. She was safe now.
The teenager was not pleased. What was this shadow kid trying to accomplish? "Were you attempting to kill me?"
"No, I enjoy games a lot. I love having fun and you're way more friend than Phillip."
Luz gawked at the Collector. Were they talking about the same Philip who wrote the journal? She was about to question the child when the world started to vanish.
"NO! I wanted to play more! I will be back I promise!"
Luz woke up in her room trying to make sense of the strange dream she had. "Why did I dream about that place again? Why do I keep seeing a child made of shadows?"
She would ask Eda more about dream magic later. Right now, she needed to prepare for another day of learning about oracle magic. She was also excited about her friends coming over after school. She was certain they would be able to cheer her up.
Back at the palace, the Collector sat with its back to the mirror. "I haven't had that much fun in years! Playing with Luz was awesome. I guess if I never find that Titan baby, she can be my friend for life!"
The strand of hair in its hands shivered. Somewhere in the Boiling Isles, Luz felt a chill go down her spine.
"Your days as my best friend are limited, Phillip. Once I'm free, I'll have more adventures with your valet."