"Well, Luz... did you ever in your life think you'd see something as breathtaking as this?" Eda asked her apprentice. The sight of a giant beached slug amongst rotting garbage? Oh, it was breathtaking alright, but not in the way Eda was thinking.

"I don't like this," Luz gagged.

"Yes, it doesn't get much more inspiring than the trash slug," Eda said as she cut the slug's belly open and spilled out its contents. "It makes a home, a life from what others have thrown by the wayside. Until, blam, it gets blasted by a wave one day and croaks from all the salt. And then we get to sell the stuff it ate."

She handed Luz a pickaxe who squirmed at the idea. "Please don't make me."

"Aw, come on, Luz," said the Owl Lady. "It's not every day you get to go to the dump and pick apart a garbage carcass."

"This is my life, Luz," Strix said as he put on a hard hat. "This is how I make money."

"Ah, nuts to you all," Eda said as she helped Strix dig out the trash in the slug's belly.

"So, Eda," Luz said, trying to ignore the smell the carcass was giving off. "What if we tried some new lessons for my apprenticeship? Like..." There was a loud squishing sound and she tried not to vomit. "Read ancient scrolls or mix together potions, or‐"

Eda scoffed. "Ugh. That sounds like a bunch of magic school stuff."

Luz's eyes widened with joy when she heard those two words. "Wait. Is there a magic school here? Like, winding towers, cute uniforms, dark plots that threaten your life kind of magic school?"

"Are you kidding?" Strix asked with a smile. "It's the best place ever!"

"Ahem!" Eda's clearing of her throat made his smile vanish. "What's worse, they force you to learn magic the 'proper' way. But magic isn't proper. It's wild and unpredictable. And that's why it's so beautiful. I didn't finish school, and look at me! Who wouldn't envy where I am right now?" Luz was not happy at the sight of Eda waist deep in garbage. "Uh... Hey, here's a lesson. A great witch is resourceful, like this." Eda stuck Luz's hand in the slug's intestine and made her pull out a ball of slime.

Luz almost vomited at the sight. "Oh, hey. Greasy slime ball."

"Use your slime ball wisely, young witch. Back at it! We'll hit the stink nodes first."

"Actually, if it's okay, I think I'll head home and look at pictures of animals that are still alive. Love you, King." He giggled when she tickled his stomach. "You little beach peach."

"Yeah, I'll go with her," said Strix. "Make sure she doesn't die." He took off after her, tossing the hard hat aside.

Eda blew through her lips. "More for me, then." She dove into the slug's mouth and started digging out the trash. "There we go." One of the trash, a tuba, landed on King's head. "This is awesome!" she called out.

"Luzer!" Strix caught up to Luz, putting the slime ball in her pocket.

"I told you not to call me that," Luz grumbled. "Seriously, what is your mother thinking? If magic's all about digging for slime balls, maybe I don't have the stomach for it."

"Look, I know my mom's ways seem...er...stupid, but there is a method in her madness."

"Then I don't know where I'm looking because all I see is madness."

"You can do it! You can!"

Luz and Strix paused when they heard that unfamiliar girl's voice. "Mysterious voice of encouragement?" the former asked. The two kids peered over a bush. "No! Little witch girl." Indeed. It was a pudgy girl with pale skin and black hair and she wore round glasses and an outfit similar to Strix's but the bodysuit was pink instead of yellow.

The girl looked like she was trying to motivate herself. "You can do it. Even if you get a bad grade, it's not a reflection of you as a witch. And my parents are right. There are better opportunities on this track. Now, get to school!" When she stepped on a dandelion, she gasped in horror. "Oh, no! Oh, little friend! I'm sorry!" She cast a green spell circle above the flower, healing it.

Luz gasped in awe. Strix watched with interest.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of a wheel spinning. Coming to a stop in front of the girl was another witch. She was was more thin, had green hair tied in a small pony tail with a brown patch on the front and wore the same uniform as the first girl and black triangle earrings. She was riding on a cauldron in a wheelbarrow and was reading a book. She seemed like the bully type judging by the way she just nonchalantly rode over the black haired girl's flower and said, "Willow! Wow. You're so unnoticeable I almost rolled into ya."

Willow, the black haired girl, muttered with annoyance, "Hi, Amity."

Amity hopped off the cauldron and landed next to Willow. "Uh, shouldn't you get to class early to prep your..." Amity glanced at Willow's own cauldron. A purple sludge popped out and made an eerie moaning sound. "Oh, Willow. You don't have anything to show, do you?" Willow pulled her hood up, her face blushing.

"Witch drama," Luz whispered from her and Strix's hiding spot.

"This is why people call you 'Half‐a‐Witch Willow'," said Amity with false pity. Amity's cauldron suddenly started to rattle. "Oh, looks like someone wants to say something to you." She clapped her hands and said, "Abomination, rise." A humanoid made of purple sludge rose out of the cauldron and poked Willow on the forehead, leaving a star shaped mark.

"You're...a...star," it groaned.

"Aw. It's like mine," Amity pointed to the "Number 1 Student" badge on her front. "But much smaller, and meaningless. As top student, it's my duty to tell you to keep at it. Even you could get a passing grade someday. Abomination, cower." The abomination sunk back into the cauldron, putting the lid back on. "See you in class, superstar," Amity called out as she moved her wheelbarrow forward.

From their hiding spot, Luz stuck her tongue out at the bully while Strix made an angry face at her.

Willow wiped the mark off her forehead and mimicked Amity, "'Oh, see you in class, superstar!' I hate when she does that." Her eyes suddenly began to glow green as she vented out her anger. "I hate making Abominations. I hate getting bad grades. Ugh! I can't stand this anymore!" Suddenly, roots burst out of the ground and writhed around wildly. Two of them grabbed Luz and Strix by the ankles and slammed them in front of Willow.

Meanwhile, Eda had finished tying a bag of trash slug eggs to her staff. "Not a bad haul. That oviduct was loaded."

"Ah. Lose apprentice, gain garbage eggs. Fair trade," taunted King.

"Pbbt. I didn't lose anything."

"If you don't teach Luz right, you will. And that's when I come in, make her my apprentice."

"Ha! And what would you teach? How to get stuck in the arm of a sweater?"

"Hey, that only happened once! I'd teach her about demons. How to identify them, talk to 'em, raise an army with them and tear apart the world! I believe my time with Strix is proof of my ability to be a better teacher."

"After they tear you out of the sweater arm, right? And besides, Strix only hangs out with you because he's got nothing better to do at home."

King got angry and hopped off a garbage pile to poke at her. "You think you're so smart! Well, why don't we make a little bet where I can prove that I'd make a better teacher."

Eda smirked humorously. "Okay. I'm obligated to remind you that I only use our bets to utterly humiliate you." She took a book labeled "Eda and King's One-Sided Wagers" from her hair. "And..." Eda opened the book and showed two pages with a bunch of tally scores. All of them won by Eda. "...that you've never won."

"I like those odds."

"So how's this: teach this trash slug to be your loyal soldier in one day," Eda handed King a trash slug egg. "Prove that you can be a better teacher than me, and Luz is all yours. But if you don't, I change your name from King to Mr. Wiggles."

"Well, when you lose, you'll have to... wear a shame hat and sleep in the garage with Selwyn and never come into the Owl House again! Ha!"

Eda and King signed their initials in the book. Well, King jus stamped his paw print into it. Eda then tossed the trash slug egg at King, which hatched in his hands. She then marched off with a haughty laugh.

Willow's eyes stopped glowing and the roots sunk back into the ground when she saw Luz and Strix's frightened looks. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no! I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay. The thorns only went through a few layers of skin," Luz said as she and Strix got up.

It was then Willow saw Luz's round ears. "So... circly." Luz immediately hid her ears. Willow gasped in amazement. "You're human! This is astounding! A human on the Boiling Isles! How'd you get here? What are you doing here?" Suddenly, a bell clanged. Willow sighed. "Uh, I'm sorry. I can't stay. I have to go disappoint my teacher. It was nice to meet you, human. Come on," she grabbed Strix by the hand. "We better get to class."

"Class?" Strix asked.

"Yeah," Willow pointed to his yellow uniform. "You're in Potions, right? I haven't seen you before though."

Strix glanced down at his outfit. "I'm a transfer student. Yeah, that's it..." He turned to Luz with a look that said, "Help me!"

"Wait!" Luz ran up to Willow. "I'm Luz. That's Strix. And you're Willow, right? What you did with that flower and those plants, it was... wow.

"Thanks, but... I'm not even supposed to be doing plant magic. My parents put me in the abomination track at school."

"Like, magic school?" Luz squealed with glee. Willow nodded a little nervously. "That's so cool! I'm so jealous. I have a teacher, but her lessons are a bit untraditional. I bet she wouldn't even let me enroll."

"That's my mom you're talking about," said Strix, offended. Then he said, "Oh, who am I kidding? Of course she wouldn't enroll you."

"But I wish I could spend one day there," said Luz.

"I wish I could get a passing grade for once. Then people would stop calling me 'Half‐a‐Witch Willow'," the plant witch said, giving the puddle that was supposed to be her abomination a kick.

Luz suddenly had an idea. "Hey, wait. I know how we can both get what we want." She rolled around in the puddle until she was covered in purple sludge. "Make me your abomination. I'll get you a good grade, and you can get me into magic school. It's fiendishly clever." She raised her eyebrow sneakily.

Willow and Strix both said the exact same thing. "WHAT?!"

"I saw that girl's thing. It's just chunks of stuff that talks weird. I'm chunks of stuff, and I talk weird!"

Willow thought it over then said with a giggle, "That's true. Okay. It's a deal. Luz."

"This is a great plan," Luz said, shaking Willow's hand. And got their hands stuck in the process.

"Oops. Abomination goo."

Luz struggled to get off only for the goop to snap off and make her fall in the puddle. "Yep! Great plan."

Strix pulled Luz to the side. "Uh, Luzer, can I speak with you with a second." He made sure they were out of ear shout and quietly snapped at her, "Are you nuts?! Why are you doing this?! I can't go with you girls! I'm not enrolled in magic school!"

"Then why are you wearing a school uniform?" Luz pointed to Strix's clothes.

"This is a hand-me-down from my mother! It's about the nicest set of clothes I can get that aren't from a thrift store! And what if she finds out I'm at a place she detests? She'll flip!"

"Maybe it's a good thing."

"What?! How is this a good thing?"

"Because you can't do magic and you can learn how here."

"Luz, you have to learn at least two spells before you enroll! I can't cast even a simple light spell!"

"Well," Luz tried to think. "Wait, you're wearing a Potions class uniform, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So, it's probably no different than Chemistry back at my school! Just mix a few ingredients and poof, you make a potion!"

"Luz, the teachers will know something is wrong when they see me and realize I'm not on the student roster!"

"Hello," Willow called out. "I have to get to class!"

"Come on, Strix. Are you with me?"

Strix sighed. "Okay. You better be right, Luz."

"Welcome to Hexside School of Magic and Demonics," said Willow as she rolled the wheelbarrow toward a majestic white building with green roofs that looked less like a school and more like a cathedral. "Remember to stay hidden, okay?" she whispered to Luz, who was hiding in the cauldron.

Inside the building were blue banners with the sigil of a book and a cauldron that hung from the walls and ceiling along with a sign that read, "Go Hexside Banshees!" The students wore different colored uniforms: Red, green, yellow, pink, purple, blue, indigo, brown and orange and the hallway lockers they used didn't have a combination. Instead, they had to tickle the lockers in order for them to open their mouths and allow the students to take or put their stuff in.

As Willow retrieved her books from her locker, a black boy wearing a blue uniform accidentally bumped into her. He was carrying a "Tween Boss" magazine and was reading an article on humans. "Willow, you would not believe humans," he said.

"Humans? Psh. I haven't seen any. What?"

The boy showed her a picture of a girl wearing braces. "Did you know that humans nail barbed wire to their kids' teeth? But why? Maybe to make them magnetic."

"Actually, it's for storing treats." The boy definitely heard Luz's voice. Strix kicked the cauldron, but that only made Luz yelp.

Willow sighed. Guess there was no point hiding it. "Okay, Augustus. I'm gonna tell you something. But you have to be cool."

"I can be spool. I mean, cool!"

"Okay. Abomination, rise."

Luz popped out of the cauldron and extended her arms in cheer. "Ta-da! I'm an abomination. Ow!" she cried as Strix slapped her over the head with a fly swatter.

"That's not how abominations act, idiot!"

Augustus took one look at the girl's round ears and felt the magazine slip from his hand. "No. No, it, it couldn't be."

"He's the president of the Human Appreciation Society," Willow explained. "Most witches wouldn't be able to recognize a human right away. But Augustus is an expert."

"Where are your gills?" Augustus asked, looking at Luz's neck.

"They're where her butt is," said Strix.

"Really?"

"No. You sure he's an expert?"

"I knew an Augustus back in the human world," said Luz. "We called him Gus."

Augustus was practically giddy. "Gus? Nickname? Human nickname? Gus? Call me it. Wow. Gus. This is the best day of my life." Suddenly, the school bell rang. Or rather, rang and screamed. "I've gotta get to spelling class. See you guys at lunch!"

"All right. Into the darkness you go." Luz hissed at Willow's order before sinking back into the cauldron.

"Wait, what about me?" Strix asked.

"Well, you go to Potions."

"Right. And that is where?" Willow pointed to the hall on the right. "Thanks." Strix tried to make a calm smile as he entered the class, but inside, he was freaking out. "Oh, man! I'm in way too deep! Curse you, Luzer!"

"Are you sitting comfortably?" the teacher asked. "Good. Today's potion is a Draught of Peace. I hope you remembered last week's assignment."

Strix began sweating. "Curse you, Luzer..."

Back at the Owl House, King was tempting his baby trash slug with treats. "Aw. Who's a good Prince, Jr.? Who's a good guy?"

"Hey, Mr. Wiggles. You're not gonna teach it anything doing that," Eda called out from her sun chair.

"It's called positive reinforcement, Eda. And it works wonders." The slug ate the treat and it grew a little. "Ha ha! See? Now watch this. Prince, Jr.! Attack Eda! Knock over her drink! Mess up her hair!" But the slug did nothing but eye the treats in King's hand.

"Oh, no. Please stop," Eda snarked.

"Well, I haven't seen your student or Strix in forever. For all we know, she's not even loyal to you anymore."

"Ha! You wish. But yeah. Where are they?"

At the Abominations 101 class, students in pink uniforms lined up to present their abominations to the teacher, a purple clad midget with a crocodile-like snout, sharp fangs and a receding green hairline and being carried by a red abomination of his own. And if the students' abominations he inspected so far were anything to go by, he was not impressed. "Too many toenails in unexpected places," he said to one girl. "Fail." He addressed to the rest of the class. "Pathetic! The biggest abominations are all of you! If the next abomination is a failure, everyone gets extra homework for a month!" All the students murmured in worry. Everyone except "star pupil" Amity. "And the next one to come up is..."

"Excuse me, sir, but I am ready to present my abomination. Rise!" Her abomination rose out of the cauldron and took a bow.

The teacher laughed with approval. "I've always saved the best for last, Amity. You'll have to wait your turn. How about... Willow."

The students groaned. "Not Half-A-Witch," they said. "Great. More homework for a month."

"Don't listen to them, Willow. We can do this," Luz whispered.

Willow gulped nervously and wheeled her cauldron to the front of the class. She clapped her hands and said, "A-Abomination, rise?"

Luz jumped out and made a silly pose. "Ta-da!"

The students and teacher's eyes widened, shocked at Willow's sudden increase in skill.

"Abomination, bow."

Luz bowed and made a silly nose.

"Very impressive," asked the teacher. "But does it speak?"

"Uh, I may be your abomination, but you're my a‐mom‐ination," Luz said to Willow.

The students went, "Aw!" Everyone except a dumbfounded Amity. The teacher laughed at Luz's lame joke. "'A‐mom‐ination!' Splendid wordplay. A plus!" He wrote "A +" on Luz's forehead.

The students cheered. Except Amity, who just gave Willow a very suspicious glare.

After class, the teacher spoke to Willow, "Wonderful work today, Willow. Looks like we have a new top student."

Amity, who was passing by, stopped short when she heard that. The teacher yanked the badge off her uniform and gave it to Willow. "But-!"

"Uh‐‐ Thank you, sir."

The teacher left, leaving Willow alone with a very angry Amity. "Hey!" Willow gasped. "Last time I saw you, your abomination was mush. What did you do?"

"I, uh, took your pep talk to heart, Amity."

"I bet you did. I've got my eyes on you, Half‐a‐Witch. That badge is mine." She walked backwards to her next class, not caring that she bumped into another student.

Willow said nervously, "Uh‐oh. I think Amity is onto us."

Back at the Owl House, Eda talked to Hooty. "Have you seen Luz and Strix?"

"I heard their tiny mouse feet walking close by. Or that might've been some mice. Anyway, someone started moving in that direction. Hoo, hoo‐hoo, hoo."

Eda gave him a weird look. "Are you trying to point, or...?"

"Look at the weather vane!"

Eda saw that the weather vane was pointing north. "But the only thing that way is the‐‐" She gasped in horror. "No." She ran in the dreaded direction. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" She wen to one of the school's walls and peered through one of the windows, and saw a kindergarten class.

"Okay, everyone. Recite your runes," said the teacher.

"Krom, Zix, Elgrim, Zenomide‐‐"

Eda reeled in disgust. "No! Blind obedience!" She ran to another window and saw another class.

"Heximal system time! Let's get memorizin'!" the teacher said.

Eda practically shrieked in horror. "No! Pointless busywork!" And then she saw it. Luz and Strix eating lunch with Willow and Gus. "NOOOO! WHYYYYY?! SCHOOOOOOL!"

Gus handed Luz a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Hey. Do humans eat PB&J's?"

Luz drooled at the sight. "Oh, my gosh. I haven't eaten real food in so long. Please give me some." She took the sandwich from him and ate it noisily before going back into the cauldron.

"I don't know, Gus. If Amity saw that..."

Speak of the devil. Amity jumped onto the table and pointed at Willow. "I SAW THAT! Abominations don't eat!" She spoke to the cauldron. "I know you're in there! You can't hide from me." She grabbed Luz by the collar and shook her. "What are you? Who are you? I WANT ANSWERS!"

"AMITY BLIGHT!"

Amity froze at the Abominations teacher's words. "Huh?"

"I suspected a twinge of jealousy, but this, this is just sad."

"But I‐‐ No! Look at it!"

Luz did her best abomination groan.

"Report to Principal Bump's office," the teacher pointed to the door.

"But‐‐"

"NOW!"

Amity let go of Luz and marched off, grumbling to herself. Luz and Willow gave each other a worried glance.

Meanwhile, King was teaching the slug, which had grown to the size of a moose, tricks. "Roll over! Yes! Heel!" The thing is, the slug wasn't obeying him. It just knew King was a food source as he kept feeding him treats. At that moment, a defeated Eda came. "So, did you find your runaway student and son? By your expression, I can tell they've both gone and found themselves someplace else to learn. Which means I have won!"

"Yes, great, you won. You have a giant soldier thing and I have nothing. Congrats!"

"Oh, Eda. Don't say that. At least you have this!" King laughed as he put a conical hat with the word "Shame" on it on Eda's head.

"Ugh," Eda groaned as she fulfilled her end of the deal and walked into the garage with Selwyn, who growled at her. "Oh grr yourself!" Her anger gave way to sadness and disappointment in herself. Maybe she was a failure as a teacher. And as a mother. Again.

King laughed at her. "I am so funny!" He turned to the giant slug. "Ah, well, Prince, Jr. training complete. Go forth! Make the world tremble at your feet‐‐ or worm stubs." It did nothing but stare at him. "Go forth? Oh right," he snapped his fingers and reached for a treat, only to find the box empty. When the slug growled at him, he realized he hadn't really trained it, just gave it food to placate it. And since he was all out...

Luz stretched her arms as she hopped out of the cauldron. "Whoo! I'm a sweaty little abomination. But now we don't have to worry about Amity. High five!" Willow and Gus stared at her hand in confusion. "Slap my hand. It's a human thing."

Gus gave her a high five and he reacted like he just high fived a god. "Oh. Oh, my. Oh, man, what a rush!"

Suddenly, a man with a red imp latched over the top half of his head and wearing black and gold robes with a blue sash entered the class. "Good afternoon, students." Accompanying him was a smiling Amity. That smile said one thing, "Gotcha."

Willow and Gus gasped in shock. "Principal Bump!"

The principal looked Luz over. "Hmm... Abomination, rise." Luz stood up. "Abomination, lie."

"Uh, viral fame is a worthy pursuit. Your cat would never eat you if it got the chance. Chemtrails are real‐‐"

Bump held his hand up for silence. "Oh, no, abomination. How strange for it to get the command wrong. I mean lie down." Luz chuckled nervously before lying down on one of the tables. "So very lifelike. When Miss Blight told me about your abomination, I had to come by, see what she's made of."

Willow reached for her bag. "Oh, I have her list of ingredients right here."

"No. We were hoping..." Luz's pulse skyrocketed when she saw the principal take out a dagger from his robe. "...for a closer look. Willow, I'll allow you the first cut."

"Uh, you can't just cut open a human, can you?" Willow whispered. Luz shook her head.

"Willow, go ahead and make the first incision." Suddenly, there was a loud explosion. "What was that?!" Bump looked out the classroom to see Strix running down the hallway.

"They're onto us!" shouted Strix. "Run, Luz!"

"What is going on?" Bump demanded.

"Hey, Principal Bump!" Gus called out. "Uh, high five!" He slapped three abomination cauldrons, letting the abominations out.

"Run!" Willow grabbed Luz by the hand and they ran out.

"They're getting away!" shouted Amity.

"No, the intruder won't get far," Bump said as he cast a spell circle and red runes appeared and began to spread across the school.

The kids stopped to take a quick breather. "This is all my fault, Willow," said Luz. "I just wanted to see what a real magic school was like."

"Well, how do you like it?"

"It's lovely, actually."

Luz and Willow giggled. Strix grabbed them by the arms. "Okay, we should get out of here before‐‐" The red runes appeared on the walls and began to form force fields on the doors and windows. "...Bump seals us in."

Eda was still in the garage with the sleepy dragon when suddenly, King came in an jumped into her arms. "Help me, help me, help me!" he cried.

Eda smirked as the walls began to shake, making Selwyn open one eye. "Trouble with your student?" the Owl Lady asked.

"Yes, yes!"

The door to the garage banged violently. "Are you sure you need my help? Maybe he only wants more of your brilliant lessons."

The slug burst through the door and roared. King let out a scream as it grabbed King and proceeded to drag him out. "Please help me! You can call me Mr. Wiggles!"

Eda smirked again She took off the hat and whacked the slug with her staff, making it let go. "Okay, Mr. Wiggles. Here's what we're gonna do." She didn't get the chance to do her plan when Selwyn flew outside and burnt the slug to a crisp before eating it. She nodded her head with finality before lumbering back into the garage. She whacked Eda and King out with her tail before curling up and falling asleep.

"Or we could just let the dragon do all the work," said Eda.

"This victory is meaningless! I was supposed to do my slug in!"

Luz, Willow and Strix ran for another door only for it to be blocked as well. To make matters worse, Principal Bump was chasing after them with four abominations. The kids hid behind a pillar where Willow said, "Oh, this is awful. I don't know what to do. Amity's right. I'm just Half‐a‐Witch Willow."

"No you're not!" insisted Strix. "You're Full-a-Witch compared to me! I can't even cast any spells at all!"

"Wait. You can't?"

"And you're great," said Luz. "And someone once told me great witches are resourceful." She dug into her pockets and took out a bunch of junk.

Willow eyed the slime ball and took it. "That's it!"

"Wait, the ball of mucus?" Strix asked, confused.

"Luz, it's a seed! Thank goodness you had it on you."

Luz smiled. "Yeah. Thank goodness someone told me to hold on to it."

Willow cast a spell circle over the seed and whispered to it, "Please grow!" In an instant, vines burst out of the seed, wrapping themselves around the pillars and pinning the abominations to the wall and Principal Bump to the ceiling. Rather than be angry, though, Bump was amazed by Willow's ability. "Remarkable."

At that moment, the force field went down. "There's the exit!" Willow exclaimed as she grabbed Luz and Strix and tried to run out only to stop when Amity blocked their way and said, "Not so fast! I'm not letting you get away so easily. I want my badge! Abominations, seize!" The abominations freed themselves from the vines and lumbered toward the kids.

"All this over a stupid badge?" Strix asked and he tore the badge off Willow. "Take it!" He tossed it into Amity's forehead, knocking her to the ground and allowing them to run past her. But the abominations followed after them. Willow blocked them with more vines before she turned to Luz and Strix. "Get out of here!"

"No! We won't leave you," Luz said.

"I may get detention, but you'll get dissected. SO GO!" Two vines grabbed Luz and Strix before tossing them out the door and slamming them close.

"Willow!" Luz tried to get back in, but Strix held her back. "We can't save her, Luz! We need Mom's help!"

"Eda, I REALLY hate to say it," said King as he swept up the slug's ashes. "But you do make a better teacher than me."

"I wish Luz and Strix thought that too."

Speak of the devil. "EEEEEEDAAAAA!" Luz ran up to Eda and pulled her and King into a hug, something they weren't thrilled about. "Hey, hey, hey, hey! What is this? Ugh! I never understand when you do this."

"Luzer!" Strix came running up, panting. "You're fast when you're emotional."

Luz let go of Eda and King and babbled, "Your lesson worked! Keeping junk in my pocket saved my life!" She gasped when she realized, "But wait. My new friends. They're in danger."

Speak of the devil again. "LUUUUUUZ! STRIIIIIIX!" Willow and Gus came running up to Luz and Strix and gave them a hug. Luz returned the hug, but Strix made a face. "Okay, enough of the love squeeze."

"You won't believe it, Luz," said Willow. "Everything is perfect now!"

"It's true. I don't believe it."

"Principal Bump was so impressed by my plant work he's switching me to the plant magic track! Look!" She snapped her fingers and her outfit turned from pink to green.

Luz cheered her on. Then she remembered, "What about Amity?"

"Last we saw, she was asking Bump if today could count as extra credit," said Gus.

"Well, I can't wait to see you in action next time I sneak in."

Willow and Gus glanced at each other before Gus pulled out two posters from his pocket. "Uh, about that. You're both kinda, sorta..." The posters had pictures of Luz and Strix on them and they had one word on them. "...banned." Gus finished.

Eda cheered, "That's my kids!"

Luz and Strix stared at the posters, stunned. Willow put her arms around their shoulders and said assuringly, "But we could come here and teach you what we learned."

"Aw. That would be nice. But... I have a pretty great teacher already," Luz said, glancing at Eda.

Eda was surprised to hear that. Then surprise turned into pride. "Yeah, that's right. Luz is my student. Back off, academy twerps." Everyone except Strix giggled. "Ah, baby's first wanted poster. Good job, kid. Looks like I taught you something after all." She patted Luz on the head.

"Uh, you high five with your hands, not your head," said Gus.

Then suddenly, Strix shoved his poster up Eda's nose before stomping into the garage and slamming the door. Eda was stunned for a moment. Then she sneezed.

"What the heck was that?" Luz asked, finding Strix curled up and lying next to Selwyn, who was watching them.

"It doesn't matter. I'll never get into Hexside now."

"Why would you want to go into Hexside? I thought you didn't want to enroll."

Strix stood up. "Are you kidding me?! Going to Hexside is my dream! It's the same school my mother enrolled in before she dropped out after..." He paused. "Never mind. The point is, I wanted to go so I could have a better future! So people won't see me as...a powerless weakling! Maybe then I could have a future that doesn't involve selling human garbage for a living!"

"Strix..."

"Willow is lucky she's Half-a-Witch! I'm Not-a-Witch! I can't cast spells without that stupid Mask!"

"What's so bad about that Mask?"

Strix sighed and gestured her to sit down which she did. "That Mask is one of the most powerful artifacts on the Boiling Isles. No one knows where it even came from or who created it, it just showed up one day. You saw me wear it back at the prison. It turns whoever wears it into a green-headed lunatic who has the power of invincibility and cartoon logic."

"What's so bad about that?"

"The thing is, Luz, the effects of the Mask's cartoony nature only extends to whoever wears it. You know those comical injuries where people have stuff dropped on their heads or flattened by a steamroller?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, in real life, that stuff kills people. And there is the Mask's more dangerous side effect."

"What's that?"

"The longer you wear it, the less you care about the consequences of your actions. And you start to think of extreme methods to fix mundane problems like trying to unclog a toilet with an exploding potion." Strix sighed. "I don't want to get into the details, but I nearly destroyed the Boiling Isles because of it."

"What?! What happened?"

"I put it on, went crazy, Mom and...someone else put me under a sleeping spell, took the Mask off and I got grounded for a year. The end."

Luz frowned. "Well, I don't know much about masks, but I do know you're in the same boat as me. I can't do magic either."

"It's different for you, Luz. You're a human! Your kind are expected not to do magic."

Luz frowned. "That's not stopped me. So what's stopping you? That you won't live up to everyone's expectations? Who cares what they think? What matters is that you're proud with yourself. I'm proud of what I did at school! And I'd do it all again! If I weren't banned."

Strix chuckled. "You know what? I would too." He smiled. "Yeah. I guess I can learn magic with you and Mom. The hard way."

"And the fun way. Let's be honest, it'll probably be funny to watch us fail spectacularly."

"Why?"

"Fails are funny!"

"Can't argue with that. Look at King."

"HEY! I HEARD THAT!"

"You were supposed to!" shouted Strix.