Hunter was watching the human, no, Luz again. The Owl Lady and her sister had gone with Bat Queen to settle a dispute in another part of the woods. The house demon was playing in the mud and the skull-headed one was taking a nap.
He could peacefully observe the teenager without worrying about being caught. Adjusting his telescope, he could see what she was doing more clearly.
In the backyard, Luz was attempting once more to gain control over her new magic by comparing it to her glyph magic. Right now, she had just used the glyph for forming the energy net.
"Okay, you can do this. Let's just make the pattern first and then encircle it. I can do this," Luz told herself. She made the # sign in the air and then drew the circle in the air.
The spell materialized for a few seconds before sizzling out. Once it was gone, Luz grabbed her left wrist in pain. "Well, that's progress. At least, it wasn't the hand I use to write."
Hunter was writing down notes about what he had seen. He wanted to try out the spell himself, but wild magic was dangerous. He couldn't understand how Luz was skilled enough to control it.
He watched as Luz flipped through her binder and then randomly chose a glyph. Setting the binder on the windowsill, Luz got back to work.
This time Luz used a shielding glyph to form a protective shield around herself. Twirling her fingers slowly as she made the pattern in the air, Luz braced herself for the pain that was coming.
The shield shrunk and then expand as the two spells merged together. It held for a full minute and thirty seconds before the bile sac magic burst into pieces, leaving the glyph one in place.
Instead of pain, Luz started scratching herself furiously. She looked like she was doing a little dance as she tried to get the itching to stop. When it wouldn't she ran inside screaming to King if he still had that anti-itching bubble mix.
"Hmm, if my observations are accurate, she didn't feel immense pain. I wonder if by merging the spells, she caused an allergic reaction to happen. But did it cause a reaction because she's a human?"
Stuffing his journal into his backpack, he moved in closer. Was taking a big risk getting this close with the house demon around. He remembered the stories the guards told about Hooty making them have tea parties after he beat them up.
He hopped onto the windowsill and pulled himself on the roof. He carefully maneuvered around until he was near Luz's window. He prayed to the Titan that no one would look up and see him sneaking in.
Hunter had never been in a girl's room before. Back home, there were three residential halls. One for men, one for women, and the last one was for non-binary and gender-fluid. Each hall was monitored closely to prevent fraternizing.
He looked at the junk shunted to one side of the room. There was no rhyme or reason to the items. The only thing they had in common was they were human knickknacks.
He didn't think all of it belonged to Luz. This had probably been a storage closet before the girl claimed it as her room. It appeared Luz had started to organize some of the junk to make more space for herself.
The other wall had a few posters hanging up. There was a small bookshelf filled with Azura books and school textbooks. On her nightstand was a picture of Luz with a woman he assumed to be her mother.
Next to the picture was a small notebook. The glitter letters proclaimed it was Luz's diary. A tiny lock kept anyone but Luz out. He picked it up and tried to pry the lock off.
It wouldn't come off. He searched for the key, but couldn't find it. "This is so maddening. With her diary, I could become the perfect friend she needs and complete this mission."
"Why is the universe against me?" he lamented before putting the item back where he found it.
Hunter wanted to investigate more but knew he had already pushed his luck with how long he had been in her room. The longer he stayed, the greater the risk he would be caught.
He shimmed back onto the roof and made his way back to the backyard. Once on the ground, he ran into the depths of the forest. He would not be introducing himself to the human until the timing was right.
About two hours later, Luz was finished getting dressed again. She was wearing her old clothes, despite their tightness, because she wanted to make sure her clothes wouldn't make her itchy.
"Ugh, mom would hate to have me showing my midriff. Not to mention having shorts that make my butt big enough to grope. At least my feet aren't feeling pinched," the girl told herself.
The door opened downstairs followed by Hooty's singing Lilith's praises. Maybe she could convince Lilith to help her with her laundry. Hurrying down the stairs, she was surprised to see no one was in the living room.
"Hooty? Where are Lilith and Eda? I thought I heard them come home."
"They did, but Bat Queen told them they needed to handle a guest that was causing a ruckus near the border. Whoever it is made Bat Queen very sad."
Luz was confused. Who could be at the border that would make BQ upset?
She found out twenty minutes later as three witches descended from the sky and landed in the front yard. Eda looked aggravated while Lilith was desperately trying to get the attention of the third person.
The woman resembled the Clawthorn sisters. The only difference was she had muscular arms and her hair was shorter than the sisters. Without a doubt, this woman had to be the mother of the sisters.
The woman was talking over her daughters saying something about Emperor Belos's. "I wish I knew he had lied about your location earlier. It was infuriating to think that all my care packages were being returned because you didn't like my cooking."
"Did you send me any care packages Mom?" Lilith asked only to be ignored by her mother.
"At least you've finally been freed from the dreadful curse. Now, you can come home once more!"
Eda was about to respond when she saw Luz standing in the doorway nervously.
"Luz, come over here. I want you to meet Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn, this is my apprentice Luz."
The teenager hurried over to Eda's side and held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you Mrs. Clawthorn."
Gwendolyn adjusted her glasses and double-checked the teenager's ears. "Aren't you Belos's valet? Why are you here instead of with him? If you're asking my daughter for tips to controlling the curse then I suggest you look elsewhere. My daughter has suffered enough!"
Luz took several steps back. She didn't expect Eda's mom to be so protective.
Eda gave her mom the stink eye. "Stop scarring Luz, Mom. She's gone through enough with being the Emperor's servant. She doesn't need to be reminded of it."
Lilith came around her mom and stood next to her sister. "Mom, there's a lot you don't know about our lives since the aborted petrification ceremony. Perhaps, if you come inside and have some tea, we can discuss it."
"Not now, Sweet Flea. I need to tell off Belos's valet so she'll stop bothering your sister. We can't let her be near the person who carries the curse now. It's unhealthy."
That's when Eda had it. "Gwendolyn, if you say one more thing about Luz, you can forget about ever visiting again. She put her life on the line to save me from being petrified."
"She's been helping both me and Lilith learn glyph magic to protect ourselves whenever Belos plans to attack us again. She's endured enough cruelty to last a lifetime."
"I took back the curse and split it with Lilith so she would be safe. It's the best thing I could have ever done."
Gwendolyn couldn't believe what she was hearing. Well, the parts she heard considering since stopped listening after hearing Eda took back her curse.
She couldn't understand her daughter's motives at all! Eda had finally been freed from the clutches of the beast! Why would she want to have that creature inside of her again?
The human had been with the strongest witch in the Boiling Isles. Surely, he could have cured the teenager while giving her a home to live in. Assuredly being the man's valet couldn't have been that bad.
Besides, it was the girl's fault her daughters were stuck in the forest instead of at home in their comfy beds. If she returned the human to Belos, she could with any luck persuade him to let her daughters come back home.
Certainly, without any distractions, she could finally convince Eda to join a coven. Lilith could join another coven with her talents. Yes, all would be right once the human was gone.
For now, she would play the part of an understanding mother. Once she found out how the teenager had transferred the curse in the first place she would use the process again. By tomorrow evening, everything would be right as boiling rain.
Luz was bursting with energy. She always wanted to know more about Eda's past. This was her chance to get closer to her foster family. Plus, it would be great blackmail material to tease Eda with.
She would have to proceed with caution. Gwendolyn had been hostile towards her. She couldn't blame her when the woman had spent years trying to help her daughter. Luz was determined to win over Eda's mom.
"Have you ever been in the Owl House before?" the teenager asked politely.
"Once or twice. It has been years since I last stepped in the house. I could use a tour guide," Gwendolyn remarked. The human's eyes got bigger as she smiled gratefully.
"Come on, I'll give you the full tour, top to bottom!" Taking the woman's hand, Luz pulled her upstairs. Behind her, Eda yelled that her room was off-limits to her mother.
Luz started with the attic where she first learned magic. "King and I were hiding on the balcony as the Owl Beast hunted for us. I managed to distract it and that's when I discovered glyph magic."
"That's fascinating dear. Though, I'm confused by how my Edalyn turned into the Owl Beast."
"Oh, King borrowed her elixir. He thought it was a potion that boosted Eda's magic and he gave it to me to try. If we had known about the curse beforehand, we probably wouldn't have messed with it."
Gwendolyn said nothing as the tour continued. She needed to stay strong for her daughter. The human continued to prattle on not suspecting she was leading to her doom.
Luz started pointing to doors. "That's the library where Eda keeps all her research in. Next to it is the weapon's room. Across the hallway is the coat closet and what Eda call's the multipurpose room."
"The room should be named storage because all her collectibles from the human world are stored here. I helped her label everything so she could sell it properly."
"That's nice to know. I'm sure Edalyn was able to make more snails with a human by her side."
Luz shrugged and stated it depended on who was shopping in the market on any given day.
The last room upstairs, besides the bathroom, were the bedrooms. Luz showed Gwendolyn her room and told her all about the times Eda had helped her decorate.
The tour concluded downstairs in the kitchen. Eda had just made a fresh pitcher of bubble berry juice. "I thought you might be thirsty after being a tour guide."
Eda reached into her hair and pulled out the glyph binder. "You left this outside on the windowsill. You need to keep a closer eye on it. Wouldn't want you to lose our only source of magic."
Luz blushed and apologized for forgetting it. She would take better care of it in the future. No one noticed the gleam in Gwendolyn's eyes when she heard this. It seemed she have an easier time curing her daughter than she initially believed.
The next day, Gwendolyn insisted that she would make lunch for the whole house. "I wanted to make a special lunch for my two daughters. I made your favorites. For my little sweet flea, sea monsters ribs with exploding tomato sauce, crunchy pumpkin crackers, and a big glass of milk."
"For you Edalyn, I made you some monster burgers, chilling fries, and a small glass of apple blood."
"I made crusty jelly and smothering peanut butter sandwiches for everyone else. Oh, before I forget, here!"
The witch presented a tray of yummy owl-shaped cookies. "I believe this is my best batch of cookies ever. Eat up while I clean up over here."
"Is this safe for me to eat?" Luz whispered to Eda. The sandwich was bubbling between the slices of bread.
"If my mother made it, I think it's best you just have the cookies. She was always a better baker than a cook."
Luz picked up the cookie and took a nibble of it. It tasted okay. She took another bite and enjoyed the warm feeling in her stomach. She finished the first cookie and reached for a second.
She was halfway through it when the world around her started to tilt. Her body felt like it was made of jelly. She fell out of her chair to the floor. Before the others could get up, they all fainted to the floor.
When Luz woke up, she started panicking. The reason was that she was chained to the attic floor with a collar around her neck. "No, no, no. Let me go! King? Lilith? Eda, help me!"
"Shush!" a voice said. Luz tried to twist herself to get a better look, but she couldn't move at all. All she knew is that her captor didn't have good intentions for her.
A few seconds later Gwendolyn came into view. She was holding the glyph binder and looking at the glyphs. "Now, let's see. If I use these glyphs then that should cure Edalyn for good."
"Gwendolyn, what are you doing? Where are the others?"
"Not now dearie. I need to make sure I understand these glyphs right. After all, I don't want Edalyn to be bothered by this curse again." Gwen paused in what she was doing and smiled.
"After thirty years, I'm finally going to keep my promise to Edalyn. I'm curing my daughter once and for all!" Gwendolyn looked down at Luz. "Thank you for finding a way to cut that beast out of her. Still, you shouldn't have tricked her into taking it back."
"I didn't trick her! I tried to keep her from taking it back, but she choose to do it to help me. Even Lilith volunteered to carry part of the curse so Eda wouldn't turn back into the Owl Beast!"
Luz's words fell on deaf ears. Gwendolyn wasn't even paying attention to her. She was dragging her Eda closer to Luz. The Owl Lady was still out of it. She was also tied up. The only part that wasn't was Eda's left palm.
Gwendolyn was muttering under her breath about making sure her daughter didn't run away this time. Using her magic, she conjured a pair of cuffs to tie Eda and Luz's palms together.
"At least the others are still out of it. I know Lilith means well, but I can't have her trying to be better than Edalyn right now."
"Where's King? What did you do to him? Hooty, can you hear me? Hooty!"
"How are you the Emperor's valet when you talk back so much? For your information, your demon friend is locked in the basement. I sent the house demon to remote edges of the Toes, in search of a special rock to give to Lilith."
"Of course, he won't find it at the Toes, but it will keep him busy long enough."
Gwendolyn started drawing the glyphs and placing them on Luz and Eda's bodies. She wasn't being very careful. The glyphs weren't perfect and she was using too many for a transfer spell.
"Stop! You don't know what you're doing! Gwendolyn please, I'm begging you. If you truly want to do right by your daughters, then listen to them! Eda doesn't want you to hurt me, remember?"
"Eda doesn't know what she wants. That cursed beast had altered her mind. You'll see, once Edalyn's free of her curse, she'll see that I'm right. Now, hold still," Gwendolyn informed her as she activated the first glyph.
Luz struggled to get free. She had to stop the spell before it drained Eda completely of her magic. Or more importantly, her life. With Gwendolyn's imperfect glyphs she would be draining her daughter's vitality along with her magic.
The energy was flowing too fast and already the cursed magic was beginning to flow into Luz. Already, the teenager could feel the beast's instincts trying to overwhelm her mind.
That's when Eda started convulsing. As her body shook up and down, she let out a screech! "SSSSSSSSCCCCCCCCRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEECH!"
Gwendolyn jumped back in fright. Feathers were sprouting from Eda's arms and legs. Her fingernails were turning into talons.
Meanwhile, Luz was starting to grow back her wings. She was trying to let go of Eda's hand, but the cuffs were still holding tight. "HELP!"
That's when the palismans appeared. A whole pack was coming to the rescue. The palismans shaped like a crab, a cat, and a manticore rushed the steps and attacked Gwendolyn.
A chameleon and a bee palisman, along with Nevermore, were freeing Lilith. Meanwhile, the monkey palisman was breaking into the basement to get King.
Owlbert and the cardinal palisman were using their beaks to snip the cuffs around Luz and Eda's hands. With one last peck, the two females were separated, but it was already too late.
Luz's mind had already gone feral. With her fledgling wings, she jumped out the window and ran into the woods trying to open them up.
Meanwhile, Eda had already transformed into the Owl Beast because of the botched spell. Owlbert was trying to get her attention when Lilith in her Owl Beast form attacked.
Upon waking up and realizing her mother had drugged her, had caused her to transform into her Owl Beast Form, though she looked more like a raven than an owl.
In the process, the whole roof came off. In the distance, a loud ouch was heard.
Seeing the chaos going on, Nevermore called out to Owlbert he was going to get Bat Queen for help. Owlbert hooted in agreement. He promised to keep an eye on the situation.
As the raven flew off, Owlbert wondered how he was going to stop the fight. It didn't that Gwendolyn's palisman, Hawksly, was trying to take out the other palismans so his bonded witch could make things worse.
The feral Luz was running deeper into the woods. Her blood-red eyes were not truly seeing her surroundings. The beast's instincts were to fly away.
Luz jumped onto a low-hanging branch. Hooting angrily, she hopped from branch to branch. The higher she went, the more she needed the fledgling wings to give her a boost.
At last, she was at the top of the tree. She crawled to the edge of the branch and peered into the darker areas of the forest. Seeing a particularly dense patch of forest Luz backed up.
Standing up, she raced off the branch and into the air. Her wings held her in the air for about a minute before she started falling from the sky. She stretched out her hands and snagged a branch on the next tree.
Angered by her failure, feral Luz repeated the process several times. Twelve in fact. After crashing to the ground she let out a high-pitched screech. She started running once more.
She tore apart branches and kicked stones out of her way. She broke through thick bushes and clawed her way up inclines. She came to a halt when she spotted a dilapidated tower. Her eyes tracked something moving.
Inside, Hunter was writing in his journal again, when someone came crashing through the wall. He barely had time to grab his staff when he was pinned to the ground.
"You don't know who you're messing with huh?" Hunter was shocked by what he saw.
The human was trying to claw him with her hands. Her eyes were burning red and the wings on her back were stretched out. Letting out another screech, she lunged towards him with her mouth, ready to bite him.
Hunter thrust his staff up and pushed the girl off of him. Using his staff he created the energy net to pin the girl to the ground.
She started thrashing at the net getting angrier. She tried lunging at him again.
"Okay, what do I do? What do I do?" He looked at the girl and his staff. Artificial magic was barely keeping her contained. He had to restore her sanity, but how?
The net was starting to give. The teenager's mind raced as he recalled what he had seen Luz do and what he had learned when he was spying on the family.
"Please let this work," he prayed as he ripped the paper out of his journal. He quickly drew the glyphs for transferring and an owl head.
The energy net gave out and Luz leaped at Hunter intending to tackle him to the ground.
He ducked and grabbed the back of her shirt. Slamming her onto the ground he placed the two glyphs on her and held her down. Luz growled and once more tried to bite him.
Bashing her with his head and tapped the glyphs. Her body glowed as the owl beast's instincts were drained out of her and into the ground. Her wings shrank before vanishing.
Her eyes turned back to brown before they closed. She stopped fighting and relaxed, falling into a gentle sleep.
Hunter let out a sigh of relief and let her go. He scooted on his butt back to his staff breathing hard. He couldn't believe what he had just done. He had used wild magic!
Unbelievable! I just used real magic for the first time! Sure it was out of desperation, but I still did it! Uncle is going to be so…no he won't be proud. If he finds out I used glyph magic he's going to be angry.
Hunter pulled his face down in frustration. He used real magic and he couldn't tell his uncle! "I finally do magic on my own and no one can know, because I'll be sent to the Conformtorium for it. Just great."
He looked over at the human. Now that she wasn't trying to kill him he finally was able to study her up close. Overall, she seemed harmless. She didn't have any crazy demonic features.
He had never seen someone with her skin tone before and her clothing was different than normal casual wear. Still, it was hard to believe that her ancestors had been dangerous enough to drive magic folk into another dimension.
What should I do with her? I don't know how she ended up partially cursed again. She ran away from what happened. Is it even safe to take her back to the Owl House?
The only real solution was to wait for her to wake. "Guess I better get something to eat. I can't believe I have to babysit a human. Ugh, Uncle better be right about her."
He came back half an hour later with some fish he caught. Entering the old watchtower he nearly dropped his catch. The human was sitting up and looking at him in stupefaction. "You're awake?!"
"Yeah. I've been waking up earlier since my body decided to keep knocking itself out." Luz rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment. "My name is Luz. What's yours?"
"Hunter," he replied bluntly. "Want to tell me why you had wings and tried to bite me?"
Luz quickly relayed her story. Hunter was shocked to realize how far the Owl Lady's mom would go to cure her daughter. More astonishingly, was the fact that the human wanted to forgive her.
"I don't understand. Why would you want to forgive someone who drugged you and nearly killed you with her recklessness?"
"Because I understand where she's coming from. My mom would do anything for me. Sure, Gwendolyn crossed the line when she did what she did. Still, it was only because she loves Eda so much."
Hunter tsked in contempt. "If she really loved her daughter, then she should have listened to her wishes. If I was in your place, I would have made sure she was punished." He started cooking the fish and told her she could wash up at the stream nearby. "Dinner's going to take a little bit of time so there's no hurry."
When Luz came back twenty minutes later, the fish was done. Hunter handed her a plate and fork. She sat down and they ate in silence for a few minutes. Making the first move, Hunter asked if she liked the meal.
"It's very well cooked. I'm surprised I can eat this. I'm pretty limited when it comes to food to eat in the Boiling Isles."
"Switcheroo fish. They can change their taste depending on who's trying to eat them. Handy for keeping away from predators. There are plenty of them that live in the rivers and creeks around here."
Luz stuffed her mouth with the yummy meat happy to fill her belly. "Hunter, why were you at the Owl House two weeks ago? Why are you even living in Bat Queen's forest?"
He gave her his rehearsed answer. "I'm a powerless witch, most of my family was as well. I couldn't stand living in a world filled with magic that I couldn't touch."
"I figured the forest would be a safe place to live. No one's come to this particular area in decades. I'm free to live my life without having to be near beings who would hurt me because of my lack of magic."
That gave Luz pause. She could relate to how Hunter felt. Living off the grid was nice, but it had to be incredibly lonely. "So, I guess you found out about the Owl House being moved here."
Hunter chuckled and pointed out it was unusual to see so many palismans working together. "I came to investigate what was going on. When I saw you performing magic with just a pencil and paper, I had to admit I was a little jealous."
Luz was stunned to hear that someone was jealous of her. Nobody had ever seen her as a rival before. She placed her hand over her heart, feeling the two beats. "I was jealous of everyone here. They could do things I dreamed of without being called weird. It was the first time I saw people embracing the weird."
She closed her eyes as she clenched her shirt. "I have the same power as everyone else now, but I can't control it. I keep trying, but nothing seems to be working."
A few tears fell onto the ground. "I need help, but I can't risk my friends' futures, especially not Amity's. I can't have them breaking the law to teach me. Eda or Lilith could, but they don't have magic right now so I don't have an example to follow."
"They're too busy learning and practicing glyph magic to be much help anyway."
Hunter raised a single eyebrow. This tidbit would be enough to take the Clawthorn sisters before his uncle, for violating the rules of their exile. "You're teaching them glyph magic?"
Luz nodded and explained it was just to help them survive out here. The little family was under the Bat Queen's protection, but they still faced danger every day just by living in the forest.
"I'm the biggest danger in this forest. If I can't get the magic under control then I'm going to end up hurting someone."
That's when Hunter had a brilliant idea. A way to become friends with Luz and study the dangers of wild magic. "I have a suggestion that might be beneficial for you."
Seeing that he had Luz's attention, he continued to speak. "I've spent my whole life surrounded by magical beings. I've done extensive research on the history of magic."
He locked eyes with her and added, "I can help you gain control with my extensive knowledge."
Luz's eyes lit up with delight. "Really? That would be great. Maybe I can help you with something in return."
"Could you teach me how to be a good friend?" he asked. When he saw the human nod, he only felt a tiny amount of guilt for tricking her.
Hunter later guided Luz back toward her part of the forest. Once they were near the house, he stopped. "Your house is just over the hill and through the dense grove of trees. Hopefully, things have calmed down."
Luz looked at the boy puzzled. "Aren't you coming with me? You don't have to hide, you know. I'm sure Bat Queen will let you stay if you meet her."
The teenage boy shook his head. "I rather keep myself hidden for a little while longer. When I'm ready, I'll introduce myself." He started heading back towards the tower.
"I'll come back here tomorrow at noon for our first lesson. Take care of yourself."
"You do the same, Hunter. Bye!" Once he was out of sight, Luz scrambled up the hill, eager to get home.
She burst through the trees and spied Eda with her sister and mother in the front yard.
King was sitting on the roof with Bat Queen and her kids. Hooty was off to the side watching.
"EDA!" Luz screamed as she dashed forward and tightly hugged her mentor.
"LUZ! Oh, I'm so glad to see you're okay!" her mentor replied. She checked the teenager for any injuries. "I was so worried when I heard you had absorbed a bit of the curse again."
"I'm okay. After some time, the curse drained into the ground. I guess I didn't absorb enough of it to make it permanent."
Eda hugged her once more then released her. She folded her arms and glowered at her mom. "Don't you have something to say to Luz, Mom?"
The older woman nodded and approached Luz. "Luz, I'm very sorry for the way I treated you. I should never have gone as far as I did to try to heal my daughter. In harming you, I became the beast I thought to rid my daughter of."
"You were just trying to do your best. A mother would do anything to help her child," Luz responded in sympathy.
Gwendolyn, no Gwen, shook her head. "A real mother would have realized her actions were pushing her daughters away. That by trying to force a curse on someone else's daughter was the actions of a monster."
"Just as ignoring my other daughter was wrong. A mother shouldn't have favorites, and I did. Because I was obsessed with curing Eda, I failed to see how much Lilith needed me too."
She looked at both her daughters again. "I'm grateful that Bat Queen is giving me a second chance to be a mother to you. She's already had a tunnel dug back to our home and surrounded the forest area is under her protection."
Gwen walked over and took Lilith's hands. "Lilith, I want to make up for the lost time. If you want to, you can come home with me so we can start over."
"I would like that. I'll go and pack my bags. Hootsfier, would you come help me?"
Hooty agreed and started weeping as they headed inside. He was going to miss his best friend.
Gwen then handed Eda a slim notebook. "This is everything your four times great grandmother had about the human who lived here before. I don't know if it will help keep your apprentice safe. Still, I hope it's enough to help her get home."
"Thanks, Mom. I'll call you soon, promise."
An hour later, everything was settling down in the house again. King was taking a bubble bath while Hooty wept in the backyard. Eda was enjoying some apple blood in the kitchen.
In her room, Luz was writing the events of today in her diary. Earlier, she had asked Rascal, her nickname for the adorable cardinal palisman, if he could deliver letters to her friends.
Today's events had reminded her that even if she couldn't see her friends, she could still communicate with them. They deserved to know what was going on, even if they couldn't be with her.
"I'm glad that Gwen is making amends to her daughters. They both deserve her love and attention. I did forgive her actions towards me, but part of me feels that I should have done what my new friend suggested," she said while writing.
"I don't know what to make of Hunter. I never thought I meet someone like him in this realm. A person born in a magical world without the ability to access it. I have to admit, when I heard this, I thought about asking Viney if she could remove the sac and put it in him instead."
Luz laughed as she recalled how absurd the thought was at the time. "I'm not sure I should be trusting a stranger to help me. Yet, strangers are friends we haven't met yet. I need to strike a balance with him."
"I truly do believe he can help me gain control of this magic. At the same time, I need to find out more about his past. That's the only way I can trust him. No matter if he's trustworthy or not, I intend to show him what it means to be a friend."
Closing the diary, Luz snuggled into her sleeping bag and fell asleep, exhausted by today's events.
At the old watchtower, Hunter was rereading one of his books on magical theory. He intended to be the perfect teacher. Once Luz knew how to control the magic within her, she would be ready to return to his uncle.
"I won't fail you, Uncle. I will bring back your valet and find a way to heal the damage wild magic did to you."
