Amity seemed to panic and told them to follow her. They went through the crowd as a woman with bright green hair passed, without even knowing they were there.
"Amity, is something wrong?" Luz asked her.
"Yes, my mom is here!" Amity whispered to Luz.
"Wait, you mean the one that threatened to keep Willow from entering Hexside?" Luz asked.
"Yes, we need to get out of the Market, now." Amity said, "Quick, Gus, cast an Illusion to make us look different."
"Gladly. One group disguise coming up." Gus said as he drew a spell circle.
They all changed, even their outfits had changed to different track uniforms. Amity was now in the Plant Track, Luz was in the Oracle Track, Willow was in Potions, and Gus was in Construction. Amity's hair became black, her skin became a red color, and she had horns coming out of her head. Willow became green with white hair like a Mohawk and sharp teeth. Luz was basically a hybrid of the opposite of her sport animals, covered in black fur with red eyes and dog ears. And Gus... was tall. His disguise could be thought of an adult, even his father…which in reality it was. He just transformed himself into an adult version of himself with an eyepatch, a high top hair cut, red robes, and the construction coven symbol on the back.
"You did that just so you could be the tallest, didn't you?" Luz asked.
Gus nodded.
"Yep." He replied.
"Just keep going." Amity whispered to them before realizing her voice was different too, a bit deeper like a teenager. "Wow, Gus. You are good."
"I know."
The group continued along their way, avoiding the mother of Amity by hiding in plain sight. But it wouldn't last. The downside of Illusion Magic is that even the slightest impact would make any and every spell cast disappear. Which is what happened when a creature, Luz could only described as a lion with wings broke free and knocked them over.
"Gus, the disguise is gone!" Willow said.
"You guys run! I can handle this." Luz said.
It looked like a lion, which means she should be able to communicate with it. It was a part of the Panther family.
"Okay!" Amity said, rushing to get out of the market and away from her mother.
Luz ran towards the winged cat. Luz put a hand on the creature's head and it seemed to calm down.
"It's okay, I won't hurt you." Luz said.
The winged cat purred from her touch, gazing into Luz's eyes and finding a calming kind ship.
"Roah?/You won't?"It said softly.
"I promise. I won't." Luz said, putting a hand on her chest. "You have my word. Get out of the market, go live away from people you can hunt and live freely."
The winged cat nodded to Luz before taking flight into the sky to the woods outside of Bonesborough.
"Impressive." A voice said.
Luz turned around and saw Odalia.
'Okay, Luz, she doesn't know you know Amity. Play it cool.'
"….Thanks….I guess." Luz said, pulling on her hood a bit to keep her ears hidden.
"Most witches your age are unable to tame a manticore that calmly and quickly. You must be a Star student in the Beast Keeping Track." Odalia said.
"Well, not yet, but I am working my way up to it." Luz said.
"Mmhmm." Odalia hummed as she looked Luz over, from front to back and up and down. "What's your name?"
"It's... it's Luz." Luz said, "I'm new in town."
Odalia hummed to this as she looked over Luz a bit more, finding something rather unique about her. Not by appearance but by this gut feeling, something uncouth yet it can be trusted at times. She did notice something though.
"What happened to your tooth?" Odalia asked.
Luz forgot she lost a tooth during her battle with the Golden Guard, she ran her tongue over her teeth, a Canine tooth was missing, which is bad because she needs those teeth for hunting in her Panther Form.
"I was mugged a little while ago." Luz said, "Managed to fight them off, but not before they knocked my tooth out."
"Hmm, I see. Rising in the Beast Keeping track, fearless, and can handle yourself. Impressive." Odalia said with a smile and a nod before grabbing a business card from her pocket and held it out to Luz." Odalia Blight of Blight Industries."
"Ah, yes, I've heard of you." Luz said.
It wasn't an entire lie; she did hear of her.
"As you should." Odalia said as Luz took the business card and looked it over. "With the potential I've seen, you have the makings of a powerful witchling. If you ever want a bit of help or looking to make a deal, stop by my humble abode."
She put the card in her pocket.
"Thank you Mrs. Blight, I will consider it." Luz said, "But I have to get going now, don't want to... keep my family waiting."
"I understand. Keep what I said in mind, I can see great things in your future with the right help." Odalia said before walking away from Luz.
'Yeah but hopefully I won't need to come to you.' Luz thought as she turned to leave and find her friends.
As this was going on, there was a commotion at the Owl House.
"Edalyn! I'm back!" Gwen said.
Eda barely had anytime to react as her mother burst into her house just as she finished fixing it up!
"Yah!" Eda shouted, dropping her broom. "Geez, mom! Don't you knock?!"
"No."
Gwendolyn didn't waste any time and rushed to hug her daughter tightly. Eda immediately tried to get out.
"Yep... nice to see you too." Eda said, trying to her mom off her, "Let go of me woman!"
"I'm almost finished." Gwen said as she stayed for a few more seconds before letting go of Eda. "Now, where's Luz? I bet she'll be happy to see I'm back home!"
"She's hanging out with her friends." Eda said, "Did you find any... whatever you went searching for?"
"No... no I didn't." Gwen said, "Anything I found was a dead end."
Eda sighed sadly, running a hand through her hair.
"Luz isn't going to be happy to hear that." Eda said with a frown.
"I know." Gwen said sadly, "I don't know what to say, but I don't know how she'll get back home."
"We'll just have to keep looking, maybe find a way to create a portal if we can't find a new one." Eda suggested just to give some hope.
"I just hope Luz sees it that way."
Back with the girl in person, she managed to find her friends by the Bonesborough Library and told them all about what happened after they left.
"SHE WHAT?!" Amity shouted in shock!
"Yeah, she gave me a card." Luz said.
"That's not what I'm upset about! I never wanted her to know about you Luz! Or about Gus and Willow becoming my friends, I know my mom and I know what she would do to you!" Amity said.
"I'm sure it'll be fine." Luz said, "As long as she doesn't find out I'm human, then everything will be good."
Elsewhere, Odalia looked at a liquid in a cauldron. She dropped a stand of Luz's hair that she secretly got into the potion and waited.
"Let's see what this girl really is." Odalia said.
Later, Luz arrived back at the Owl House.
"Hey, Luz!" Hooty greeted with a smile.
"Hey, Hooty." Luz replied as she opened the door.
She entered the house and saw Gwen.
"Gwen!" Luz said with a smile, rushing to hug her.
"Why, if it isn't my favorite granddaughter." Gwen said, returning the hug.
"Granddaughter? Mom, she ain't my kid." Eda said.
"Doesn't matter. She's basically a part of the family now." Gwen said as she looked over Luz, seeing her injuries from before. "Oh my, you're even worse then what Edalyn told me happened."
"Well, I only said she got burned, I never said how much." Eda said.
"Don't worry, Gwen, it's not that bad anymore." Lu said to her.
"It's "grandma" and yes it is." Gwen said as she moved Luz to sit on the couch, "Now, let me see."
'Healing coven experience, don't fail me now.' Gwen thought, drawing a spell circle to try to heal Luz's burn marks a bit.
She made a little difference, instead of them being fresh burns that Eda only managed to heal a bit, they scared. Still, Luz felt great relic as her burned skin was no longer causing her pain. Thankfully, Eda knew a bit more about healing bones than she did about healing burns, so Luz's arm was good to go.
"That feels much better, thanks." Luz said with a smile.
"Anything for you, dearie."
Luz smiled, gaining a warm feeling inside just like…she had with her mother.
"Hey, Gwen, about the Titan's Blood….Luz said as Gwen sighed from this.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't find anything." Gwen said, before she quickly spoke up again, "But I won't stop trying. I promise, I'll get you home."
"Here here." Eda said with a nod.
Luz stood up and began to walk up the stairs. Despite their words, she felt her heart break again.
'That was it…that was my last hope of getting home.' Luz thought, beginning to cry. 'Mom….I don't know if I'll ever be able to see you again. I... I don't even know if you're alive... what if I do get home and you're dead? What will I do?'
Luz went to her room in the owl house and didn't leave for the rest of the day, holding her knees with her head down as she just cried and cried.
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