"LUZ CHOP!"

Amity was taken completely by surprise by the wayward stick that smacked her across the back and knocked her into the mud, and she cried out at the sharp pain that would likely be leaving a welt. The area around her lit up in a faint glow as Luz stepped out of the brush. "Oh my gosh, Amity! I am so sorry!" Luz said, stepping closer with a light orb hovering in her hands. Amity lifted her arms out of the ooze, looking down at her filthy uniform. Between crawling through Hexside's vents, dodging a fire spirit in Willow's mind, and this, she was running out of school clothes.

Luz held out her hands to pull Amity to her feet. "And here I thought this day…" she began, her boots slipping in the mud in either direction. She clutched onto Luz's arms and pulled herself up to a more stable standing position that nearly put her nose to nose with Luz. She hesitated a moment, staring into Luz's bright brown eyes before looking away. "Couldn't get any worse." she sighed, sitting down on a nearby stump that was sticking out of the mud that she had conjured.

Looking around for another place to sit, Luz finally dropped into the mud beside where Amity was sitting, looking up at her. "Did you talk to Bump?" she asked before whispering, "Was it as terrifying as you imagined?"

Amity sighed again, peeling the drying abomination mud off of her fingers. "He said no. I'm Grom Queen, unless I can find a replacement." she said, moving her hands up to her shoulders in an attempt to shrink out of existence. "And who'd want to switch with me?" She tried to think of anyone in her life that would put themselves out for her. Her family were all about deals. Nothing was done without an ulterior motive, and her own mother was responsible for putting her in this situation. Boscha couldn't perform a selfless act if her life depended on it, and the rest of her friends… she had no one else.

"I would."

"What?" Amity asked, turning her attention back to Luz.

Luz stood and looked to the sky heroically and Amity stared at her wide eyed. "Amity Blight, I'll do it. I'll take your place and face Grom in the arena. I'll be your fearless champion!" she proclaimed as a large spider that seemed to have been tangled in her hair crawled its way onto her face, resulting in a terrified scream. Amity watched as Luz dived head first into the mud, furiously trying to rub the spider off as she rolled around. "Fearless… champion…" she whimpered, finally resting on her back with the spider scurrying away.

Amity stood, unable to hide the smile that had crept onto her lips. "Champion, huh?" she asked, reaching down to help Luz to her feet. "Are you sure you know what you're getting into?" Her question was hesitant, as she didn't want to talk Luz out of taking her place but she also wasn't sure Luz was truly up to the task.

"Bleh!" Luz spat out a gob of abomination mud, dirt, and spider hair before wiping off her face. "I've defeated plenty of monsters since coming to the Boiling Isles." she said, counting them off on her hand. "There was Warden Wrath. Adagast, the Puppetmaster. Some Demon Hunters that tried to cut up Hooty when Willow, Gus, and I accidentally animated him…"

"Oh yeah. I actually saw that." Amity said, climbing out of the mud hole and helping Luz up onto the grass as well. "Wait, you didn't defeat Warden Wrath."

"Sure did!" Luz grinned. "First day I was here, actually. How do you know Wrath?"

"I babysit his son."

"He has a son?!" Luz exclaimed as they began their walk back toward Bonesborough. "Well now I feel kinda bad for launching a bundle of fireworks into his firebreathing mouth." she said. "But in my defence, he was holding innocent people in jail just for being weird, and he was being super creepy towards Eda. He literally sent his guards to capture her so he could ask her out."

Amity cringed at the news. "Well, hopefully Braxus doesn't grow up like that."

"Braxus?" Luz asked. "Oh, the little demon that thanked you for reading to him at the library!"

"You remember that?" Amity said, at first surprised until she remembered Luz's memory photo of the library. "That was like a month and a half ago."

"Otabin was also monster number 5 that I… we… defeated."

Amity frowned for a moment. "Otabin wasn't a monster…"

Luz looked away, falling silent for a moment before continuing. "Right. Sorry. That was kinda… that was my fault." she said, then went quiet again.

They reached the edge of the forest, and the path that split between leading to Bonesborough and the Owl House arrived. "It sounds like you've been busy since you got here."

"Grom is just another notch on my future magic staff." she laughed, stepping out into the center of the path. "Uhm… I guess I'll see you at the dance tomorrow?"

Amity sighed at Luz's cavalier attitude. "Luz, I wanted to ask you something." she said, trying to summon up the courage to ask the girl to the dance. "Would you… want… help training for fighting Grom?" Amity quietly cursed herself for wimping out. "It's not like any other monster you've faced before."

Luz gasped. "I would love that! Hey, you should totally come back to the Owl House! We could do a sleepover!"

"No!" Amity blurted out, feeling her cheeks flush. "I mean, uh… I'll have to go tell Principal Bump. But I will be there. Tomorrow. Before the dance. I, uh, still need to find a dress, anyway."

Luz looked shocked at the refusal at first, then nodded. "Right! Not there yet. I wonder what all Eda has for formal attire." she thought out loud as she began to wander away on the path. "I'll see you tomorrow!" she waved.

Amity stood there, watching Luz leave up the path away from Bonesborough. She was not ready for a sleep over; and especially with how late she had been getting back home fairly regularly, she doubted her mother would approve. Besides, she did in fact need to find something to wear, not that she was officially attending, and had to inform Principal Bump of the decision. Informing her mother that she wouldn't be the one facing Grom could come later. Much later.

Classes were cancelled for the day before Grom night, so she could certainly try to find some way of preparing Luz for her showdown tomorrow, though how one trains to battle a fear inducing shapeshifter was beyond her for the moment. She made her way back into town, taking note of just how far she had run after speaking with Bump without knowing it. Arriving at the school, she found that the doors were still open, with students still hanging decorations in the halls even after the final class had ended.

She made her way back to Bump's office and as she took a breath, preparing to knock, his familiar voice came through the door again. "Come in, Ms. Blight."

"How does he do that…" she growled under her breath. She opened the door and stepped in unintentionally quietly. "Principal Bump, sir? I have some news." she said, finding the elderly witch sending off a raven through his window.

"Oh?" he said, turning to her. "Have you come up with a strategy for defeating Grom tomorrow? I knew you were the ideal candidate for our royalty…" he paused, eyeing her muddy uniform with a questioning eye.

Amity frowned, looked away, and closed her eyes with a sigh before turning back to face him. "Actually, I found someone willing to take my place as Grom Queen…" she said, concerned as to her Principal's next reaction.

Principal Bump's smile drooped and he looked at her with surprise. "Someone willing?" he asked. "We haven't had anyone volunteer for the position for… oh no." he whispered when realization struck him, and his surprised expression flattened.

"Luz Noceda has offered to face Grom at the dance in my place tomorrow."

"Of course she has." Bump said, sounding resigned. "You know what will happen if Grom escapes."

Amity nodded. "She's confident that she can defeat it."

Principal Bump approached Amity, looking down at her with his hands hidden in his sleeves, as usual. "Are you confident that Luz, the Human, can defeat Grom?"

Amity squeezed her lips shut as she hesitated, but met his gaze. "I… am."

"I find your statement unconvincing, but I'm afraid you've tied my hands." he sighed. "Very well, I'll be expecting Luz to arrive promptly for the dance. I trust you'll give her a crash course on Grom's capabilities?"

Amity nodded.

"Very well, then." he said, returning to his desk. "I will see you both tomorrow."

"Yes sir." she nodded again, surprised at how relatively smoothly the encounter had gone. She reached back to open the office door again and slipped out quietly. The hall still had the odd student plastering the walls with Grom posters, and it was clear they were avoiding looking at her as she passed. She slunk back out of the school and stood on the front steps for a moment, watching the sun shine through the fingers of the Titan's right hand that surrounded the city, and the old blue shingled house far up on the cliff overlooking Bonesborough where Luz should have reached by now. "I hope you know what you're doing, Luz."

Amity made her way home just in time to get ready for dinner, changing out of her muddy uniform and into a three quarter sleeve black shirt that she cinched around her waist with a grey belt, and some dark red leggings. After a quick wash of her face and hands, she returned to the dining room where her parents and siblings were waiting, just as the abomination servants began bringing in the first course. "Ah, Mittens!" Odalia said happily. "How was your day? I've picked out a number of dresses for you to choose from to wear tomorrow."

Amity quietly frowned at the announcement. "It was fine." she said, as her dinner plate was delivered to her. "I actually had something picked out already." she lied, thinking quickly as to what she could put together. "I'll be grabbing it tomorrow."

Odalia seemed to hesitate for a moment, and Amity could feel her mother's gaze on her. "Very well. I hope that it will be both stylish and practical enough for the event." she said, turning to Edric and Emira as their father was absently failing to split his attention between eating and making notes in his leather bound tome he used for his abomination ideas. "What about you two?" she asked. "Have you found companions for the evening?"

"I did." they said in unison.

"They'll be meeting me at the dance." Edric said, a hint of pride in his tone.

"My date will be meeting me at the dance as well." Emira added, an unfamiliar, whimsical smile touching her lips before she carefully hid it.

"Well bring them over tomorrow afternoon. Your father and I insist on…"

"Uh, actually…" Amity began, catching her mother's glare for interrupting. "I was hoping to get Ed and Em's help; training for Grom." she said, subtly pleading to her siblings to agree. "As illusionists, I think they could really help me be prepared for whatever Grom might turn into."

Odalia's look didn't soften, but she nodded, alerting her husband with an impromptu cough. Alador looked up from his notebook and eyed his three children, trying to infer what he'd just missed. "An excellent idea. These two are some of the best Illusionists in Hexside. Best to be prepared." he said, once again oblivious to Odalia's glare as he returned to jotting down notes.

She let out an indignant huff before agreeing. "Just as well, I suppose. Meeting someone new will do little good if Grom is allowed to be freed." Emira looked at her little sister, mouthing the words 'Thank you!' before taking another bite as Edric gave her a wink.

The rest of the evening went by quietly, with the clinking of utensils against the standard Blight Industries kitchen line of abomination home accessories. Odalia continued to speak, though mostly only getting replies from Edric and Emira as Alador and Amity continued to eat their meals, lost in their thoughts. Amity couldn't help but wonder if it was such a good idea, letting Luz take her place. If she was to be believed, the human had certainly confronted more beasts in the last month than Amity had in her life, and sounded confident that Grom would be no different. She herself had seen Luz survive confrontations with a Slitherbeast, a Greater Basilisk; and she had to admit, the feral Otabin that Edric had created during the Wailing Star.

Luz also had a habit of leaping without looking; of not thinking before acting, and just somehow trusting that everything was going to work out if she kept a bright attitude. To her credit though, so far everything had.

"Someone's blushing…" Edric said, snapping Amity out of her thoughts. "Who're you thinking about Mittens?"

Emira slapped her brother's shoulder and cast him a glare. "Leave her alone, Ed." she said with what sounded like genuine protectiveness. "She's obviously thinking of L…"

Amity twirled her finger quickly, shaping the purple bowl in front of her into a thick liquid state and sending it flying onto her sister's face, sending dragon whisker noodles scattering. "Amity!" Odalia shouted as Emira was knocked backward in her chair, the bowl still hugging her face like some sort of parasite. Amity immediately cowered under her mother's disapproving glare.

"Fine." she said under her breath, her glowing hand releasing the tiny abomination's grip on her sister's face and returning it to its bowl-like shape. Alador cast an approving glance at her improvement of control, but otherwise said nothing.

"You brat!" Emira shouted, rolling off of her chair and running around behind their father at one end of the table, nearly running into the abomibutler as it returned to clean up the dishes of the previous course. Edric was nearly falling off of his chair laughing, and Amity was already at the stairs, charging upward to her room. She had always been more athletic than her siblings, and outrunning Emira was simple despite her longer legs. Amity slid into her room, closed the door, and pressed her back up against it before her sister began banging on it. "You can't hide in there forever!"

Amity waited until the banging stopped before opening the door again to find her sister at her own door, and her brother reaching the top of the stairs. "Ed, Em…" she whispered, waving them in.

Emira still looked furious, picking bits of stiff, black noodles out of her hair. "You're dead!" Edric, as predicted, casually walked in to avoid getting in his twin sister's path.

Amity backed into her room and away from the door and held up her hands as a gesture of peace. "Hey, I wasn't lying about tomorrow. I really would like your help training for Grom."

"And why should we help you after that?" Emira asked, wiping sauce from her cheeks.

Edric shrugged. "I dunno. I'm still good." he said with a grin.

Amity moved around them to close her door before continuing. "Because it's not for me. Luz has volunteered to fight it in my place."

The twins both looked shocked at the revelation. "Are you crazy? She's a human! They're… fragile." Edric said.

"She saved both of you from the Slitherbeast on the Knee."

Edric shrugged and looked at his twin sister in defeat. "That's fair." they said together.

"But what's mom going to say when she finds out you're not getting the prestige?" Emira asked.

Amity frowned. "I don't care. I can't fight Grom, okay? I just…"

"Does that mean we'll get to visit the Owl House?" Edric asked. "Besides, Luz is fun. Sure, I'm in."

Emira frowned. "Fine. But we're going to be even, alright? No more guilt trips about the library."

Amity nodded with a smile. "Deal."

Amity, Emira, and Edric had spent most of the next morning shopping in several of the more expensive clothing stores in Bonesborough with Amity's abomination in tow, already carrying several boxes and garments. Many of the twins' purchases had nothing to do with Grom Night, though almost every store in the city had displays and sales relating to the event, ranging from party supplies, suits and dresses, and weaponry and spell scrolls meant to ward off fear monsters should the worst come to pass. Emira had found a lovely yellow knee length dress with matching earrings and bow tie, whereas Edric had found a shop to custom tailor a grey suit for overtop a yellow dress shirt and bow tie that matched his sister's.

They had searched for several hours before Amity finally found an ensemble that seemed to reach out to her. A puffy, short sleeved blouse and pink dress that reached just past her knees caught her eye, with a dark green button up vest that complimented her hair. To complete it, she knew she needed new boots other than her moon buckled points, and she found a pair of black dancing shoes with pink toes and heels that brought the set together.

With little more than a thought, she sent her abomination with the towering stack of boxes back to the manor, and began leading the way up the path to the Owl House. Traffic through the city had increased, and Amity found the walk through the forest to be a peaceful reprieve. At least as much as it could be with her brother and sister following behind.

"Okay, you remember Eda." she said, beginning to walk backward to speak to her siblings as the house came into view.

"The grouchy old lady with the removable limbs? Nope. Totally forgot about her." Edric said, grinning.

Amity growled at him, but continued. "Well, there's also a little demon witchling thing named King. Bit of a wannabe tyrant."

"Ooo! I like the sounds of him!" Emira said.

"There's also Hooty, a house demon."

Emira looked surprised. "They still have a house demon? Wow…"

"Yes. And he has a hard time focusing… what?" Amity asked as her brother and sister's faces both fell.

Amity heard a gasp and turned just in time to see the long, worm-like and owl faced creature burst from the ground. "Hi Luz's new friend! She's been waiting for you all morning so you'd better hurry up! I'll help!" Hooty shouted, wrapping his body around Amity like a constrictor and hauling her toward the house at break neck speed before dumping her on the door step and launching himself up to one of the upper windows.

Spitting out brown bird feathers, Amity growled, but entered the house. "Hello?" she called, stepping past the irritating house demon's door. She saw no sign of King or Eda, but could hear Hooty and Luz speaking from up the stairs. She looked about for a moment first, noting the shelves of human realm trinkets again before finding the stairs leading up and finding Luz's room.

She couldn't help but grimace at what she saw though, as a simple, bright blue sleeping bag on a mat in the center of the floor was all that Luz had to sleep on. There were strings of lights that provided very little light, and there was more human realm junk piled in each corner that although piqued Amity's curiosity, looked as though it should be stashed away in a storage room. A pet bed, presumably for King perhaps, was set on the floor close to the sleeping bag; though it looked unused, and Azura paraphernalia were in random spots around the room. Luz's yellow shoulder bag rested beside a large chest that the human was digging through, and a stained glass window was open ajar, letting a warm breeze through.

"Amity!" Luz called happily from her place on the floor with a tiny black dress on one hanger and a puffy brown furry costume beside it.

Luz stood as Amity plucked the rest of Hooty's feathers from her hair. "If that… bird-tube ever talks to me again, I'm going to destroy it." she said in all seriousness. "You ready to train?" For now, she ignored Luz's living conditions. There were more important matters to attend to.

Luz picked up the pair of outfits off of her bedding. "Which should I wear to Grom?" she asked, holding up the black dress with a small yellow moon sliver on the bust. "This one says, 'Witch with a dark side.'" she said in a mysterious, and slightly husky voice that almost got a smile out of Amity. She then held up the furry costume and smiled cutely. "But this one says, 'I'm an otter! With a dark side…"

It was time to start her crash course, as Bump suggested. "Luz, you need to take this seriously! If you can't defeat Grom, everyone on the island will have to live out their worst nightmare!" she said, trying to emphasis the importance of the event. Unfortunately, her serious expression was short lived as Hooty crept up on her right side and snuggled his feathered, beaked face against hers.

"You wanna hear my worst nightmare?" he asked, pressing his face ever further against hers.

Amity didn't bother to say a word; instead grabbing a handful of feathers in one hand and jabbing her thumb into the demon's eye with the other and biting the top of his beak without letting go. The house demon attempted to retreat, writhing his body and trying to pull back out through Luz's window. Amity lifted her feet and placed them on either side of the window, clutching the creature's feathers now with both hands to keep him from getting to a range that he could defend himself. Luz was shouting at her to stop and she felt the girl's arms around her waist in an attempt to pull her off as Hooty continued to shout surprised protests.

Finally, Hooty pulled himself out of the window and Luz pulled Amity to the floor in a pile and a gasp. Amity looked down at her feather filled hands and spit out another batch that she had stolen from it. "Wow! You really keep your promises, huh?" Luz asked as Amity rolled away and onto her feet, looking down at her in all seriousness.

"Yes. I do." Amity admitted. "And now that that distraction should have learned its lesson, we can get to training."

Luz watched after Amity from the floor as she left the room, but Amity couldn't quite tell if it was in fear or respect. She continued brushing feathers off of her clothes as she descended the stairs, with Luz catching up quickly. "Okay, but let me check on Hooty first. You may have really hurt him."

"He's a house demon. So long as the house is still standing, he should be fine." Amity grumbled before catching Luz's concerned expression. "Fine. I'll meet you outside. Ed and Em came to help too."

Luz spent several minutes putting small bandages and an eye patch on Hooty, whom was still cooing in pain. Ed and Em were standing outside the door, looking up at the aging house without entering, though they waved and greeted as Luz attended to Hooty. "Hey Luz!" they said happily.

"Hey guys!" Luz replied as Amity paced impatiently, her arms folded as she waited to get started. "I appreciate the help. Amity says this Grom thing is a big deal."

"Don't mind Mittens." Edric said, stepping up beside Luz.

"Yeah, you've got this." Emira added, joining her brother on Luz's other side.

Amity looked at them both incredulously, knowing that the night before, they had little faith in Luz being able to succeed tonight. "Grom will transform into your darkest fears. What are you afraid of, Luz?" she asked, pointing.

The question had Luz thinking, and Edric spoke up in an effort to help. "Wanna say our greatest fears?" he asked Emira. "On three. One… two… being alone forever!" he admitted with a grin.

"Being stuck with you forever…" Emira said at the same time, resulting in a dour face on Edric.

Luz seemed to pay them no mind, and pulled a folded note from her back pocket. "In preparation, I've made a list." She handed the note to Amity, who snatched it out of her hand as Edric and Emira approached and peeked at it, each letting out a chuckle. The pair traced out a glowing blue spell circle, conjuring illusions next to Luz. A large copy of Luz's phone appeared in a puff of smoke, with little blue bat wings that stuck out to either side and a small adorable bat face whose fangs overhung the screen. On it's screen was a scruffy caucasian man tipping his white, narrow brimmed hat, texting a message that said, "M'lady."

Jumping back, Luz gasped and cried out, "Jerks online who wanna debate!" She then turned to find a man faced feline calling out to her for help. "Ah! Human souls trapped in cat bodies!" Finally, a carton of spider milk appeared above her head, filling a glass that appeared in her hand. "No! I'm lactose intolerant!"

"Not enough!" Amity said, waving away the illusions into puffs of smoke. "The reason I can't face Grom… it goes deeper than things that just gross me out." she continued, poking Luz in the chest. "What's your real fear, Luz?"

Luz looked up at the house before her, focusing on the large, stained glass eye that dominated the front of the building. "My real fear…" she thought aloud. "Is that Eda thinks I'm too fragile to do this!" she admitted. "And if she's right, I'll never be a real witch!"

Edric and Emira shared a knowing look, and drew two halves of the same illusory spell circle. A large circle on the ground in front of Luz flashed, and a copy of Eda rose from it; standing nearly as tall as the Owl House itself. She flipped her long grey hair back over her shoulders and looked down at Luz with an arrogant smile. "You're inadequate!" she accused, the booming voice coming out like a shout. She drew her own golden spell circle, conjuring a high chair and bib that read 'WEAK BABY' and encompassed Luz, trapping her in place.

"No!" Luz cried, trying to rock the high chair she was stuck in, in an attempt to free herself.

"Ed! Em! Stop it!" Amity ordered. "We're supposed to be helping!"

"C'mon, Mittens! This is comedy gold." Edric said as the door to the house swung open.

Amity cringed as Eda came out in a brown suit, holding a yellow bow tie. "I get it. Ditch the yellow." the Owl Lady said before discovering everyone standing outside, including the giant version of herself. "Is that supposed to be me?" she asked in surprise as the illusion smiled down at her. "Dang… I look great." she chuckled. As Luz rocked back and forth again, she caught Eda's attention. "Wait a sec. You're training to be Grom Queen!"

"So what if I am?!" Luz replied, finally falling over to land on the ground in a heap, dispelling the decorative high chair and bib.

Amity watched nervously, still expecting to be in trouble for the illusion and training Luz, as Eda approached the girl. "You think training will help against Grom?" she sighed, crossing her arms as she stood over the human. "Luz, you always go overboard and I end up bailing you out. Now, what's the fun in watching a kid get eaten by a monster if it's my kid?!"

Luz clambered to her feet and watched as one of the man faced felines neared. "Well maybe you'll have fun watching me defeat Grom!" she exclaimed, landing a strike against the disturbing illusion.

Amity stepped past Eda and put an encouraging hand on Luz's shoulder. "Luz, I don't think you're ready, but we're literally out of time." she smiled.

"I'll take it." Luz replied, returning the expression.