List of Oneshots part 4

by yugiohfan163

Requests are not guaranteed to be done. If they get done, they get done. Don't go expecting any ideas done at the drop of a hat or expect any promises. No ones making any money off these, which means we're not obligated to rush on certain ideas.

86. Chapter 86

List of oneshots part 4

chapter 86

What would happen if Luz caught the attention of the Coven Heads?

Series: Owl House

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"Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh! This is gonna be great!" Beamed Luz, bouncing on her heels as she followed Eda who had her hood up with a bag over her shoulder.

"It's not gonna be that great, Luz. It's not like this is your first convention, remember how that one went?"

"Yeah, but this time I'm not gonna have to fight Amity, and this time I can keep an eye out for new glyphs! Everyone is going to be using all different kinds of magic, this is gonna be great!"

"Hey! I use all kinds of magic too ya know. Besides, couldn't you try that at Hexside?"

"Well I mean, technically yeah, but with me and Amity friends, there's no sense to worry and now I can enjoy it more than last time. Which means I can keep my eyes out for any signs to jot down. Who knows, by the end, I might have a full set." Smirked Luz with a fist held up. "It's only a matter of time Eda."

"Yeah, I suppose so kid. Now then, you have fun, I'm gonna see if I can get my hands on that sweet, sweet admission money~"

The two entered the area where the convention was being held, Eda using a quick smokescreen potion to get them inside without being seen.

"Remember, don't trust any weirdos if they try to sell you something that looks like cheap junk."

"But isn't that what you're trying to sell?"

"Yeah, but my junk is unique, and you know it's junk." Eda grinned.

"That…is true." Luz nodded at the fact before clapping her hands and smiled. "Well, I'll see you later, but maybe try to keep it on the downlow?"

"Come on Luz, this is me we're talking about." Eda grinned as she began to wander away. "I've been eluding the cops for decades!"

"And that's what I'm afraid of." Luz muttered to herself before sighing and went the other way. "Welp, better see what the convention has before Eda gets recognized."

Luz was amazed as she walked through the large hall, the sights even more amazing as she realized she actually started to recognize some of the magic that was being used. From plant users showing off exotic flora, to small fortune telling stands of oracle coven members trying to predict others futures. It was all amazing to her, wonders that many might consider tame here, yet were unattainable miracles in their own right compared to what was possible back on Earth.

"Bard is superior!"

"Yeah right, it's beast keeping!"

"Bard!"

"Beast keeping!"

Luz had to roll her eyes with a smile seeing two demons arguing over which coven was superior. Yup, just like any regular convention back home. Now all they needed were cosplayers who got a bit too into their roles.

"Beast keeping is best!" Roared out the demon, their hands glowing in power. "Here, have a taste of its power!"

Luz saw a cage behind the demon open as a swarm of fire bees swarmed out, moving towards the demon who dodged, her eyes widening in surprise as she realized the swarm was now heading towards her! She turned and bolted from the dangerous insects, not paying attention where she was running to. She moved past other panicked guests of the convention, running as fast as she could when up ahead she saw a large door slightly ajar.

"Bingo!" she let out, heading towards it and rushed past it, closing the door behind her and listening carefully as the fire bees seemed to head elsewhere, mainly towards some other poor convention goers. "Oh thank titan…" She sighed, slumping down a bit out of relief.

Taking a moment to catch her breathing, she noted she had entered what looked like an open hallway that had nothing from the convention littering the walls and seemed to have another room stationed at the far end of it. "Huh…. I guess I shouldn't be here…." She mused, staring at the other door. "However….how could I say no to seeing what's in there?"

Giving a grin that'd make Eda proud, she made her way towards it, mindful not to make too much noise as she noticed the door had the sigil for the emperor's coven on it, making her stop and play over numerous possible things on what might be behind it. 'Could it be some of his plans for the isles, or maybe a secret artifact store room?'

She got closer and closer, and when she was in arm's reach she slowly pushed it, watching it open up, but stopped when she heard the sound of chattering behind it. There Luz froze like a deer in headlights, staring as the door stood opened a crack, just enough to reveal a large circular room, with each of the coven heads sat at a large, circular table to her.

"That's why I say we need to at least try and establish some sort of formal attire system, something to help any future coven members at least look like they take things seriously." remarked a dark skinned man with purple hair that looked like abomination goo that seemed to move on top of his head.

"Darius, that would cost too much, and the current system of color coding our clothes works fine. Besides, if this happened you'd probably lose your gooey hair, I doubt that would be compliant with regulations if we had anything like that." Sighed a tan person with light green hair that was in the process of going white, who was sitting near Darius.

"As long as they have the mindset to get the job done and do it right, they could wear rags for all I care." remarked a broadly built woman with a white hood over her face with a semi-circle shaped top with her arms crossed. "We need quality in members, quantity doesn't mean jack."

A short, light brown furred figure grunted in agreement, with them looking more like a feral animal than a person.

"Hettie dear, must you be so cold? We need to be open minded to ALL future members!" declared a man with curled turquoise hair who had his arms spread out before making fists. "If we can't be at our best, then how can we lead the future?!"

"As if you could lead anything you loudmouthed peacock, you're too busy with your inane practice of trying to be perfect to actually lead your coven." A gruff, short man remarked, his head balding, but on his face was a massive gray beard.

The man immediately glared at the shorter man. "At least I don't need a booster seat, Mason."

"Oh wow, never heard that before." he rolled his eyes before slamming a fist on the table. "You got a problem with me telling it like it is? Then let's see who can last long, right here, right now. Or are you worried I'll bury you up to your neck?"

"Children, please, must you squabble every time we have one of these meetings? Just stab each other and be over it." Huffed an old woman with a small chuckle, her hair a light green and looking like vines, with her a plant atop her head.

"It is impudent to act any differently than them, Terra." remarked a four armed demon with two arms holding a crystal ball with what looked like a hand acting as hair for them, with a long mustache on their face. "It won't change the fact your youth is far behind you."

"I could fix that….but I might also give you a second head." Muttered a pale gray man quietly, his lower face hidden by a yellow scarf, with just his eyes and long nose showing from beneath a tall black hat.

Luz covered her mouth, realizing this was a secret meeting. She looked up in thought as she felt like the man named Darius was someone she had heard before. Racking her brain, she recalled Amity bringing it up when they were talking and-GASP! She looked closer at the others, taking note of their distinct colors and her experience with anime making her realize the clues. 'THEY'RE THE COVEN HEADS!'

Luz let out a small meep at this revelation, and moved to close the door and leave, when much to her horror, the short light brown furred figure's ears perked up and turned around, looking her right in the eyes. She stood completely still as the figure tilted their head. 'Ok, stay calm, maybe if I don't move, they'll think I'm not even here. I mean, they do kinda look like an animal, so the same rules could apply.'

The figure just stared at her, looking at her inquisitively before they hopped off their seat and made their way to the door, swinging it open to reveal Luz.

'Damn it movies, why did you lie to me?!' she thought as all the coven heads turned to her, making her give an awkward smile and raise her hand up. "Uh…oh! Sorry, I thought this was the little witch's room, my bad. I'll just leave you to do your thing, bye!" she turned and immediately was cut off by a wall of vines popping up from the floor.

"Dear oh dear, what do we have here? A little eavesdropper?" spoke Terra with amusement as they all stood up.

"This is odd, wasn't the doorway to this hall warded to not allow non-coven heads in?" Darius mused curiously.

"It would seem a mistake was made." spoke Osran as they made their way towards Luz who gulped.

'Oh no! They probably think I'm a spy! I mean, I was technically spying a little, but not by much!' she thought as she found them around her, blocking any chance of escape. 'Wait a sec! I just need to be honest and take this as a chance to get to meet them properly! After all, they must be good people to get high positions, right? Alright, just relax and don't freak out.' She thought, letting out a sigh before smiling. "Wow, it's great to meet you all! I'm really sorry about this, it was a genuine mistake, I ended up here when someone let loose some fire bees on the convention floor."

"Again?" Adrian rubbed the bridge of his nose with a groan. "I swear, those beast keepers are as unruly as you Eberwolf."

The feral figure let out a growl at the remark with Hettie towering over Luz before leaning down for a closer look.

"Talk, now. What's your name, little girl?"

"OH! Right, sorry, my bad." she cleared her throat and puffed out her chest while putting on her best smile. "My name is Luz Noceda, and I plan on becoming a great witch!"

"A great witch, huh?" mused Darius as he looked her over before he took notice of her ears. "Tell me, are you from the boiling isles?"

"Well, not exactly." she looked away with a chuckle as the others took notice of the ears.

"You're no demon." remarked Mason.

"A human? Hmm, I had not foreseen this." mused Osran.

"Well, yeah, I'm a human, but I'm still going to become a powerful witch!" Luz grinned.

"And just how do you plan on becoming a witch if you can't use magic?" questioned Darius with a raised eyebrow as Luz beamed with her hands on her hips.

"Glyphs!" Luz declared.

"Glyphs?" repeated Vitimir in a hoarse voice as Luz pulled out a pad and pen before drawing on it quickly and held out a symbol on it.

"Behold!" she tapped it with her hand as all of them watched the paper vanish as a glowing ball of light floated there, catching all of them off guard. "The power of the light glyph."

The coven heads glanced at each other, shock and surprise written on most of their faces. Granted not impressed by the spell, but by the fact they just saw a human somehow pull off magic. Some walked over to inspect the orb to confirm it was real.

"See? I told ya." beamed Luz with pride as Darius held his chin.

"Yes, you pulled off a spell, which for a human is surprising, but don't get a big head. You just made a nightlight, that's all." He shrugged. "One small spell doesn't make someone a proper witch."

"Oh? Who said that's all?" she smirked before she started drawing on the pad again and ripped the paper off, putting it on the ground and tapped it before a small block of ice formed. "Boom!"

"Hmm." Mason crouched down and rubbed the ice, giving it a close eye before nodding. "It's definitely real."

"So you can perform two spells, what of it?" questioned Hettie in a blunt and cold tone.

"Ah, but I'm not even close to being done! Behold!" she wrote down something else and put the paper between her hands without touching and held them back. "Watch, as I, Luz the human cast fireball!" she thrust her hands above while touching the Glyph before it lit up and a fireball shot up.

"Fire too? Oh my." Osran let out, the other coven heads more surprised to see a third spell used.

"Ah ah, but I'm not done." she wagged her finger before slapping another paper down on the ground before stepping back as a vine shot up and grew into a mini stalk. "I've also got a greenthumb too."

"How are you doing all this? Where did these glyphs come from?" Terra asked, checking over the vine with her magic.

"Let's just say I've been around the isle and picked them up." grinned Luz. "So, what do you think?"

"I personally think this is impressive, I didn't think it would be possible for a human to learn magic." Remarked Darius.

"Fascinating." spoke Raine with a hand on their chin as their mind was pondering. 'How did a human end up here in the first place? She doesn't look like she's had to deal with much issues, which is either pure luck, or she had help, but by who?'

"Tell me, can anyone use these glyphs, or just humans?" Mused Osran curiously.

"Well anyone can use them here, it's not just me." she started writing another glyph down and held it out. "Try it out and be amazed."

The elderly demon reached one hand out, hesitantly tapping it and let out a cry of surprise as the paper turned into a ball of light. "I…wha….that wasn't oracle magic…but I shouldn't be able to do that….I haven't used any other magic since I joined the oracle coven."

"That shouldn't be possible…" spoke Vitimir.

"I don't know exactly how it works, but it seems the glyphs use the magic in the air and the isles themselves to work, it's the only way I think it lets me be able to use them since I don't have a drop of magic inside me." Luz smiled.

The heads let that sink in with Mason crossing his arms.

"What other glyphs do you have?"

"Well…sadly that's all I can really do right now, but it's better than no magic at all." Luz smiled. "But I'm learning how to make more! I've learned how to find them in magic, that's how I got my current glyphs!"

'A human who can use magic? Magic that can be used by others even with a sigil? This is unheard of.' thought Terra to herself. 'And if she can use more magic…then she has untapped potential~' She thought before clearing her throat. "Tell me, child, would you like the opportunity to learn more about magic, specifically plant magic? I'm sure you could learn some more glyphs too."

"Oh! Well my friend Willow is a natural at it! She'd show me all sorts of plants and what they can do at Hexside."

"You're a student there?" questioned Hettie. 'Is this kind of skill that big where they let her in without questions?'

"Well, kinda, it's complicated." Luz chuckled nervously.

"Well, regardless of your little friend, I'm sure you could learn more by studying under a master of the arts?" Terra asked with a grin.

The other coven heads recognized that grin with Luz oblivious and more amazed.

'Oh that old witch is up to something, huh? Well you're not the only one. Emperor Belos could make some use out of this girl if she can use any kind of magic. And if I just so happened to be the one to steer her 'properly', then I'd stand above the others.' thought Adrian with his own smirk before putting a hand on her shoulder with a smile. "Luz, you have a gift, a very grand and exquisite gift. Which means you need the guidance of someone who can really help you show it off. Look no further than me, Adrian Graye Vernworth, master illusionist."

"Yes, he uses that magic to hide his massive ego." Darius said as he rolled his eyes. "Luz, I'd avoid him if I were you, he's practically useless."

"No way! My friend Gus can do all kinds of great tricks with illusions. Ooh! Can you make anything appear? I've seen him make copies of himself to get out of taking notes and always wanted to try that."

"Luz, under my guiding hand, that would look like nothing compared to what I could teach you." Adrian promised with a smile.

"...I could help her." Came a raspy voice from behind Luz and Adrian, making them quickly turn to see Vitimir looming over them. "I can help teach her to craft potions, and perhaps her glyphs could help enhance them…"

"Wait, that's possible?" Luz perked up with interest.

"Of course, magic can play a pivotal role in making a potion…be far more powerful if done right…"

'I never considered that, I wonder if maybe that's something I could try. Maybe I could give potions another shot if it means helping Eda with her curse.' Raine thought, pondering the idea. "So, you can use all these different glyphs, and there's no side effects? It's completely safe?"

"The only issue is when I run out of paper." she joked with a chuckle. "But really, I can use them on other stuff."

"So you're not limited by paper." spoke Osran with a hum of thought. 'This kind of magic sounds more and more far-fetched, and yet it stands right in front of me. I wonder how they could work with oracle magic.'

"Yeah, heck I don't even need paper, I've gotten them to work when I drew the glyphs out in the dirt once!" Luz said, making Mason look at her curiously.

"Really… that could mean they could be implemented in buildings too, perhaps even a new source of heating and cooling… this could revolutionize the construction industry…" he muttered as Luz looked at him and perked up.

"Hey, I remember you! You were at the last convention I went to showing off how to build things, before things got…hairy."

"That little pipsqueak won't get away with that ever again." he grumbled with annoyance.

"She did go a bit mad with power…" Luz chuckled, rubbing the back of her head.

'Hmm, I wonder what might happen if she used a glyph with one of the power glyphs…' Mason mused.

"So… yeah, I use my glyphs!" Luz smiled. 'Wow, they seem a lot more impressed than I expected.'

'If the emperor discovers this, who knows what he might do. I could just try and ignore her, but the others would try something, especially Snapdragon.' thought Darius with a look at the other coven heads.

"Tell me, how do you feel about healing others? Ones who are so injured or dying they can barely move, let alone talk?" questioned Hettie with a no-nonsense tone.

"Well, I learned from my mom who works with animals on how gruesome it can be at times, and other times a bit depressing, but hey. If fixing people up makes their day better, isn't it all worth it in the end?"

"Excellent answer." Hettie nodded. "You should join my coven."

"Hey!" Adrian frowned. "I already said I could help her potential broaden out more."

"And how could she do that with you? I strongly believe you used your magic to appear more competent than you actually are." Hettie remarked with a frown.

"Besides, she should have a teacher to help her harness magic she already knows. After all, under my guidance, she could be quite the dangerous flower." smirked Terra. 'I can only imagine what would happen if that vine glyph of hers was activated while the paper was inside someone~'

"I believe she could benefit from my teachings." spoke Osran. "She may not possess the magic of oracle, but that does not mean she could not learn its ways and unlock its potential."

Eberwolf let out a small growl noise, grinned at Luz, and then pointed to their coven mark.

"If you're a pet person, Eberwolf is saying you could learn a lot from him." Darius translated. "He seems to have taken a liking to you."

"Oh, uh, thanks!" Luz smiled. 'Wow, they all seem so friendly, are these really the same covens that are after Eda?'

"Wait, hold up." Raine interjected bending down near Luz's level and smiling. "Hi, my name's Raine Whispers. I'm happy you like all sorts of magic, but I think we should talk to your parents first before making any decisions."

"Oh, um, they're not really here." Luz said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"Oh…" Raine lost their smile, assuming the negative meaning behind that with the others thinking the same. 'She must have lost them and found help from some nice samaritans. That's something no child should have to deal with.'

"So you live in an orphanage then?" Terra asked bluntly, making the other coven heads groan.

'Come on, at least have some tact!'

"Uh, no, not exactly." clarified Luz, looking to the side. 'I can't let it slip I live with a notorious criminal or Eda would shake her head at me for saying too much.'

"Wait…. So you're just living on your own?" Darius asked in amazement and worry.

"Um…. it's complicated?"

"Dibs~" Chuckled Terra. "Sounds to me like there's no issue then if I personally show you how to master plant magic then."

"Hey, what if we want to teach her, you can't just claim her!"

"Not if I adopt her first!"

"You? Adopting? HA!" Mason let out. "I'd sooner take peacock head here seriously than seeing you as a mother."

"Hey, I'd make for a great mother!" Terra snapped as Luz stared at them in shock.

'Did she just say adopt?!' she thought with a gulp. 'Wait, are they fighting over me? Ohmygosh! This is like a dream come true! I mean, thinking I'm an orphan is a bit of a stretch, but to learn under each of the coven heads personally? That's an amazing chance! As long as Eda doesn't know…' She thought when another thought hit her. 'But… what do I do when I have to go back to the owl house? If they think I'm an orphan they're not just gonna let me walk away!'

"Everyone stop!" Raine yelled out, having to get their attention as they held their hands out. "Let's ask Luz what she thinks, it's wrong to try and force what we want on her." they turned to Luz who stood up straight. "Luz? What do you think?"

"Oh! Well…" She looked away while poking her fingers together. "It would be a pretty great honor to learn from all of you, but I mean, that might be a bit much to ask. I mean, I'm sure all of you are busy with more important stuff!"

"Nothing that's more important than helping you develop a whole new branch of magic." Darius remarked as the others nodded. "In fact, given your…exceptional skills, I think we can all safely agree to teaching you about all our magic."

"All agree?" Mason asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly, if we just limit Luz to one of us, she won't properly learn glyphs fo the other branches of magic, but if we're all teaching her, then she'll create new glyphs for all of us, and we'll help her… Even though she'd clearly learn more glyphs from me than the rest of you." Darius remarked, a smug grin on his face.

Eberwolf rolled his eyes while spinning a clawed finger around his head.

"So….you mean I could be taught by all of you?" asked Luz while trying to contain her excitement.

"Of course, clearly we all want you." Terra smirked. 'I'm still gonna make her mine, I'd love to have a new daughter… and clearly she'd share all her new secrets with me first too!'

"There still is the issue of where you live, from your description you don't have a home." Hettie remarked.

"Oh! No no no, i-it's not that!" she chuckled nervously. "I just…learned how to survive and get all around! You know, learning how to find my own food, water, shelter, the works."

"Still, this isn't acceptable, no student of mine isn't going to have a proper home." Darius added.

"It's not that, really, the owl house is fine-" she let out before covering her mouth, catching their attention.

"Owl house you say?" Spoke Osra, giving his mustache a rub.

"D-Did I say Owl house? I meant….yowl house! Yeah, that's the one." She said quickly, gulping nervously as it was clear she was fooling no one. 'Oh no…'

'She lives with Eda?!' Raine thought, trying their best not to freak out. 'Is she doing alright? Is she happy? I need to know!'

'The owl lady's dwelling? Why would she be living with a wanted criminal?' questioned Hettie in her mind. 'Wait… didn't we receive a report the owl lady sells human objects, does this mean she kidnapped this child?!'

'Darn bird, to think she'd keep a child as a prisoner.' thought Mason in anger. 'Causing wild chaos is one thing, but this is too far.'

"So it seems you will need a new place to live, clearly you can't stay with the wild magic witch." Darius sighed.

"Nah nah, I'm a-ok. Never been better." Luz tried to reassure him. "I actually learned about glyphs by living with her….sure it was due to her being a giant monster, but everything worked out!"

"She what?!"

'Ay dios mio Luz, you have to shut your mouth!' Luz thought with a groan. "R-Really, everything is fine!"

"Doesn't sound like it to us…"

"Uh….hey! What say we work out who goes first?" she tried to change the subject.

"That's avoiding the-" Darius was cut off as Eberwolf piped up with his hand raised up. "Wha- no you do not just decide you are going first!"

Eberwolf gave a smirk with Darius frowning.

"If anyone should go first it's me."

"No, I should." Mason frowned.

"Nope, me." Adrian grinned.

"I will go first." spoke Hettie firmly.

"I would like to teach the child…" Vitimir groaned.

"I am the most likely choice." spoke Osran.

"Well, there's only one rational way to solve this." Terra smiled, putting a hand on Luz's shoulder. "And that is… see ya suckers!" She laughed, grabbing Luz as she turned to run.

"W-HEY!" cried Darius before his form got covered in abomination goo, expanding his form as he stretched his arm out and snatched Luz from Terra's grip and held her above the older woman. "You can't just take her and run you lunatic!"

"It's first come first serve!" She snapped, her hands glowing as she summoned vines from the ground that attempted to wrap around the goey coven leader.

Darius formed a blade with his other arm and cut the vines when they got close, Luz dangling upside in his other arm.

"C-Can you please put me down?" Luz got out, feeling a bit dazed from the attempted kidnapping and impromptu rescue. She saw Eberwolf climbing up the arm with expert ease and held his claws out before cutting the hand, catching her by her ankle before she hit the ground. "Oh, thank y-gah!" She cried as the diminutive coven head began to quickly drag her away.

"Oh no you don't!" Mason pulled his hammer out before slamming it on the ground, a magic circle forming around the ground before a stone wall rose up and cut Eberwolf off. "Now you just put the little witch down, nice and easy, you hear?"

Eberwolf tapped his chin before giving a feral grin and let out a growl as his fangs grew in length, his claws extended, and his tail and fur grew a little rougher in appearance.

'Are they really fighting over me?!' Luz thought as the beast keeper magic coven head put her down. 'I….I should go until they're not so crazy!'

Eberwolf charged at Mason and lunged at him as Luz tried to carefully make her way back towards the door. Luckily there seemed to be enough space between the wall and the new stone wall for her to squeeze through.

'Ok, sneak away, meet back up with Eda, and go from there.' She thought as she heard the sounds of fighting increasing. 'I need to go before they realize I snuck away!'

"Where do you think you're going?" Chuckled a voice as Luz felt someone grab her arm. "We're not done with you- gah! Did you just bite me?!"

"Sorry! It's uh…a human thing!" She cried as the hand let go, with Luz sprinting away as soon as she was free.

"She's got spunk, dibs again!"

Luz bolted around the wall of vines and stone, managing to get her skinny legs to put on the heat as she had to jump and duck under a few spells that almost slowed her down. She was nearing the second door, sweet sweet freedom was just in reach.

"Damn it, just stop, we just want to help!"

"Sorry! Hit me up later!" she called before getting through the door and closed it, grabbing nearby chair to put in front before letting out a sigh of relief. That relief was dashed as a stone fist punched through the door and chair like they were made of cardboard. She let out an "Eeep!" before running off in a random direction, blending right in with the numerous convention attendees and tried to look casual as she walked away. 'I hope Eda isn't busy with something right now!'

Behind her she heard the sound of more spells going off and the sound of people running, and the gasps and remarks that made it clear that the coven heads were free. Luz tugged at the collar of her shirt before she saw Eda running past with her bag in hand.

"No refunds!"

"Eda! We need to run now!" Luz cried, beelining towards the wild witch.

"You read my mind kid!" she replied as the two bolted out of the convention hall. "So, see anything worth seeing? Or was it all the usual boring junk?"

"Oh, I definitely saw some amazing things and met some crazy people too, I'll tell you later!"

(Later)

Luz smiled as she was climbing up a tree, trying to grab what looked like an apple growing from a branch, if you ignored the purple color of it. "I know it might be bad for me, but it's just too tempting not to try."

"Good call, those are delicious." Chuckled a familiar voice, making Luz freeze. "Unfortunately they're also poisonous~"

"Yipe!" Luz let out, losing her grip and fell off the tree, landing on a large leaf below her. She blinked in surprise before looking behind her and saw a large flytrap-like plant rise up from the ground before the top opened up to reveal Terra standing there. "Oh! Uh, hi there." she greeted back casually, internally hoping the plant coven witch was a little bit more cool headed than before.

"I must admit, you certainly gave us the slip at the convention, but I know why you did it." She chuckled, shaking her head. "It's hard to tell the other coven heads you want to be my apprentice and not theirs, isn't it?"

Luz glanced away quickly, putting her hands together as she racked her mind. "Uh…um….well…yes, yes that's it! Exactly. You got it." she nodded with a smile, going with it.

"Excellent. Now, after that little kerfuffle I had an amazing idea." She chuckled, giving Luz a nervous feeling.

"Is it you showing me how to make my own veggie garden?"

"Nope, it's you becoming my unofficial student!" She chuckled. "I'll teach you everything I know, so when you're ready you can come out and tell them that you want to study under me, that will show them!"

'Ok….at least she doesn't want to adopt me anymore… I think?' thought Luz with a hand on her chin. "Well, I wouldn't mind learning how to grow some plants I haven't seen in a long time."

"Well then let's not dilly dally, it's time we get started." Terra grinned, waving her finger in a circle as several plants began to bud and grow around Luz. "Now, this is an excellent trap that involves several strains of poisonous plants, make sure to pay attention for any of those griffins!"

"Do you mean glyphs? Wait…did you say poison?!"

"Of course, be careful not to touch the petals now, exposure to the skin can cause a painful paralysis." she replied with Luz gulping at the buds.

"Uh…you sure we should start with poisonous plants? Doesn't that seem a bit…advanced?"

"Nope, pain is the greatest teacher, I'm certain I could make all of Hexside master plant witches if those fools hadn't whined on and on about 'child endangerment'...those pathetic wusses don't know what they're talking about!"

Luz just gulped nervously at that remark. 'O-Ok….I just have to be careful…'

"Oh, and do hurry, they might explode soon~"

Her eyes widened as she saw the bulbs start to twitch. She rushed to pull out several plant glyphs and put them down, tapping each as vines rose up and lifted her into the air right as the bulbs each exploded with a mist seeping out. Luckily she was too high up for any of it to reach her.

"Excellent! Now tell me, do you see any of those markings you used?" Terra asked eagerly as Luz panted and looked down in shock.

"No, I…" She started, only to freeze as she saw a surprisingly familiar mark on the ground where the buds had been. 'Is that….did her plan actually sort of work?'

"Well?"

"Uh…one sec." grabbing her pad, she started drawing the image, albeit noting it seemed to have a few different marks to it. Once it was done, she tapped the paper and dropped it, watching as it glowed green before a bulb started growing on the spot. "It….it worked, I got a new glyph!"

"Perfect!" Terra clapped her hands while Luz was blown away. "Now we can truly begin~"

"You mean begin with a break, right?" she tried guessing hopefully.

"Nope, but if you manage to get another glyph you get a prize~" Terra chuckled as her fingers began to glow once more. 'They're adoption papers~'

(Later)

Luz panted, surrounded by numerous foliage while looking a bit scuffed up. Terra was sitting on a large flower with a smile. "Ha…ha…ha…I survived! I'm alive!"

"Yes, you've done splendidly, although your personal plants leave much to be desired." she remarked looking at various flowers Luz had grown from back home, along with several cacti and a few trees. "Not as dangerous or potent as I imagined."

"Well, I didn't really get to learn much about the dangerous plants where I lived, the worst we had was poison ivy, not ones that shot spikes at you." Luz groaned, pulling said spike out of her hair. 'I thought I was gonna be swiss cheese.'

"Yes, well, you did great, now about that prize I owe you." Terra chuckled when suddenly a purple mass shot out from the foliage, covering the coven head from head to toe in goo. "Mmm?!"

Luz looked caught off guard as Terra fell off the flower while unable to break free. Before Luz could move to help the older witch she found herself grabbed from behind.

"Finally, I found you!"

"I didn't do it!" she let out, turning her head to see Darius standing there. "Oh! Uh…I mean…hello." she gave a wave while trying to smile naturally. "What brings you around here?"

"Well I'm here to save you from the lunatic known as the plant coven head." He said, gesturing to Terra. "That and teach you."

"Sweet!" Luz jumped to her feet, relieved inside on the break from plant magic given how she didn't want to be around any more poisonous plants, or ones that nearly skewered her like a shishkabob.

"Yes, now come, I have much to teach you." He said as Luz eagerly followed him.

"You got it, I can't wait to learn more about magic!" She grinned.

(Later)

The two stood in a private studio Darius owned with him standing in front of Luz who was bouncing on her heels.

"Alright. Before we actually start, there's something very important we need to go over before you get a grasp on abomination magic."

"Oh! Is it understanding what they're made of? 'Cause I've seen Amity make abominations and I STILL have no idea just what makes them up. Or is it working out personal nicknames for them?"

"Nope, wrong, wrong, wrong. What you need to be taught is how to have class and style!" Darius declared, making Luz look at him in confusion.

"Uh….come again?"

"Luz, you have amazing potential, but I can't just let my apprentice run around dressed in filthy rags." Darius said, crinkling up his nose in disgust as he looked at her clothes.

"Hey! I'll have you know this is the natural style for every human." she huffed with her fists on her hips.

"Well, that's the problem…. Well, one of them at least, besides humans apparently having no taste….No, if this is the natural style then it's not good enough, you should dress more than just a 'natural' style, you should look fantastic and fabulous!" he clarified with a firm tone. "How you dress and hold yourself can have a vital influence on your abilities. Take me for instance, I didn't really see the appeal when I was your age, but when I graduated Hexside? I started learning how to sew, then design my own clothes, and slowly I came to understand why so much work and effort goes into managing self appearances."

Luz looked at him before looking at her own clothes and let the words sink in. "Well….my mom did tell me I needed to dress my best."

"See, now you're getting it!" He beamed. "Now then, I should have a few cloaks and outfits that may fit you, once that is taken care of we'll move onto some real magic."

Darius turned to his wardrobe while Luz felt up one of her sleeves with a thoughtful look.

'Hmm, maybe a change in wardrobe would help. Other than my uniform, I mostly wear the same thing. Oh! I wonder if I could go with a sorta Azura-esque style without looking like a rip-off?' She thought, possibilities racing through her mind as she found herself starting to get excited at the idea.

Soon Luz found herself being directed towards a dressing room, with Darius waiting outside it, waiting in anticipation.

'Hmm, having to guess on sizes is a bit of an amateur move, but it's not like I could just measure her personally. Maybe I should have had one of the emperor's lackeys do it instead, Titan knows there's plenty who'd probably jump at the chance to lend a hand. Besides, it's for a good purpose; no sense in letting her learn abomination magic without looking her best.'

"Wow, this…this looks great! How'd you guess my size?!" He heard Luz call from the changing room.

"When you've had to make your own clothes for years, you get a good idea from one look!" he called back. "Now come on, don't leave me in suspense, come out here and let me see how the clothes look on you!"

The door slowly opened up before Luz stepped out with a grin. "Behold! The new and improved, Luz Noceda!"

Darius looked to see Luz dressed in a set of clothes that were almost identical to Darius, except her cape was white and covered both shoulders, long purple sleeves that reached up to her wrists, and she was wearing a hat that was very similar to Azura's.

"So, what do you think?".

"Hmmm, although the hat feels a bit dated, the rest seems to fit you like a glove. With more training, you'll be able to deal with any stitch, tear, and pick up a better idea on what can go with what, and which colors do NOT go well together. Trust me, you have no idea how many people I've seen who think sparkles make them look good." he rolled his eyes while shaking his head. "But for now, you actually look like a proper witch."

"Sweet!" she grinned while pumping her fist. "Let's get started!"

"Indeed." Darius said, holding his hand out as it began to glow purple. "Now, this is a simple abomination minion." he formed a circle before a tiny abomination formed from the ground, making Luz hold her cheeks.

"Dawww, he's a wittle guy."

"Yes, he is little, which makes him perfect for sending messages without being noticed." he informed before the abomination seeped down into the ground. "Not every abomination needs to be some giant hulking wall of mass, the substance used is made to where it can be used in all sorts of ways. You just need to have an open mind and think outside the box."

"Oh, I got that down to a T." She smirked with her arms crossed. "I'm ALL about thinking outside the box."

"Well then, why don't you try it… is there a glyph there you can use?" He asked, looking at the puddle that used to be the minion.

Luz bent down and tried feeling the goo around, shuddering at the coldness while squinting her eyes to look closer. "Mmm, I'm not seeing anything."

"Hmmm, strange…." He mused. "Or….is it normal? I'll admit, I'm unfamiliar with this glyph business."

"Oh! Maybe I need to see it in action more than once? I've seen Amity do it tons of times, but this time I'll be watching REALLY closely."

"Ok…. I think I have an idea, let's see how you deal with a small army." he smiled, moving his fingers rapidly as Luz began to see numerous minions start to pop up.

"Wait, wha-gah!" She cried out as the tiny horde surged towards her. She tried to run, but tripped and fell on her stomach as they climbed over her. "Hey, wait!"

"Relax, this is tame compared to what I could do. Simply fend them off and look closely." he gave a casual shrug as she tried to slap the small abominations off. "It's nothing worse than what you did with Terra, and it's a good example of why most witches don't wear white."

"Ah! Back! Back you tiny squishy people!" she cried out, crawling and took off running before they chased her as she fumbled for glyphs in her pockets. "No, no, noooooooo!"

(Later)

"So, you learn the glyph?"

Luz was covered in abomination goo, some of it dripping off her hat before she shook her head and held up a slip with a new glyph. "Yeah, but I thought I was a goner. All I saw was purple everywhere I looked."

"Well you're fine now, how about we call it a day here?" He suggested as Luz let out a sigh of relief, she was still tired from her 'training' with Terra earlier. "You can take the time to try and see what you can make now that you've got the first step into making your own abomination."

"I'll try… I might also pass out." She groaned as she began to make her way to the door.

'Well, I'd say that went well. Not any worse than what Terra was doing to her.' He thought, watching her walk out the door, only for a blur to whiz by and snatch Luz as soon as she stepped out of the studio. "...shit."

"WHAAAAA!" Luz let out from surprise at the sudden grab, finding herself over someone's shoulder. "Wha-what's happening?!"

All she got in response was the sound of someone snickering in amusement.

"Who?! What?! Why?!" she let out, watching as she was carried around the building in so many directions her eyes were spinning around in her head. She tried to move and see what was happening, but whoever was holding her had an iron grip on her.

In no time, she found herself outside, albeit trying to regain her bearings as she groaned.

"Oooh…birdies…" She ground before she found herself being dropped. She groaned as she looked up to find herself staring right into the eyes of Eberwolf. She saw the coven head giving a smile as the two stared at each other in silence. "Uh…hi…there?"

Eberwolf just smiled as he stared at her, making her look around in confusion.

"Um….did you take me for some kind of training?"

He nodded while giving a thumbs up.

Luz let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "Well, I might not be a hundred percent right now, but I'd be lying if I said learning how to work with animals wasn't beyond awesome." She smiled. "So, uh, what animal am I learning about? Is it a dragon?"

Eberwolf shook his head before forming a circle as it expanded and a full grown Ratworm appeared with it's nose twitching. He gestured from Luz to the worm.

"Oh! I gotcha." she gave a thumbs up. "You want me to try and get this fella to like me. Leave it to me." she cracked her knuckles and walked over with a smile as it looked at her with her staring it dead in the eyes. 'If it's anything like the animals my mom's helped, I just need to establish dominance by staring it on and not flinching.' She thought, staring back into the creature's eye as she cautiously reached out a hand to touch it. 'Though Eberwolf used magic to summon it here… can I do the same? And is it like a normal animal if it's magic?'

The Ratworm watched as Luz's hand touched it before giving it a brief lick.

Taking this as a sign, she beamed and gave Eberwolf a thumbs up, right before losing her expression when the creature suddenly latched its mouth on her head. "Oh no." and started to swing her around the air while thumping its tail on the ground. "Waaah! Woah! Woah! Not a toy! Not a toy!"

Eberwolf watched this with an impassive expression before pulling out his scroll and started recording. His new coven members always struggled with this, they had to learn that not every animal was cute and wanted to be their friend. Once they learned this the hard way, they could appreciate the danger of nature, and learn to harness it. That and this part was always hilarious, and the diminutive demon could only chuckle as Luz screamed out in horror as the worm tossed her into the air, then opened its jaws wider than should be possible.

"When I said I wasn't a toy that didn't mean I was foo-"

SNAP!

The Ratworm licked its lips while Luz let out an exhausted groan from within its belly. Eberwolf snickered before ending the video there.

(Later)

"Hey Eda? Have you seen Luz?" King asked as Eda shrugged.

"Not really, haven't seen her all day, why?"

"I thought of some brand new bread puns and wanted her opinion, but hey, if she's not around, I can try them on you."

"Joy…." Eda groaned before the front door slammed open. "Luz? That you?"

"Yeah…" she let out as she walked inside, covered in a sticky substance while looking exhausted.

"Wow kid, what'd you fall into?"

"Please don't ask, I wanna go to bed and forget what I saw." Luz groaned, giving a thousand yard stare as she stomped past Eda.

"Huh? What got her all riled up?"

"Eh, I'm sure it's not too bad. Now about my first pun."

Eda let out a groan of despair while Luz herself plopped onto her sleeping bag, tossing the soaked clothes away while making a mental note to say sorry to Darius for getting them messy already.

'Please don't let me have nightmares, I do NOT need to keep those images in my head.' She thought as she closed her eyes, unaware of the figure lurking in the shadows of her room, watching her as she went to sleep.

'Finally…'

(Next day)

Luz groaned as she began to wake up, grateful that during her rest she'd only relived that worm experience once, but as she awoke several key details became apparent to her. She wasn't in her sleeping bag, she was on a cold table, and she wasn't in the owl house. She smacked her lips and rubbed her eyes, trying to get a bearing on where she was.

"Good, you're finally awake." Came a voice from behind her, making her sit up quickly and turn to see Hettie approaching her.

"Uh…yeah, and…where am I?" she asked.

"My coven's headquarters, and in my personal laboratory and operating theater." she informed before clapping her hands as numerous torches lit up, lighting the room and revealing numerous operating tools on moving tables, various skeletons hung up, posters of demon anatomy, and what looked like several black duffel bags that seemed like they were twitching.

"Uh…not that this isn't great, which it really is, but how did I get here? Did I sleepwalk again?" she questioned under her breath.

"You did not, I brought you here from the owl house once you returned. I felt it was prudent to get you here as soon as I could." She remarked as she began to make her way over to several of the medical instruments. "If you're going to learn the basics of healing magic, the earlier the better. It's not as simple as putting some healing salve on wounds or trying to ignore the pain until it goes away."

Luz moved off the table, taking note of a dried stain that looked rather orange and looked away quickly to keep from thinking too much.

"However, for you, there is an unexpected, and rather unique challenge. You are not a witch or a demon, your anatomy is….unique, and I'm not afraid to admit I am lacking in knowledge of it."

"Well I learned how different demons are from humans. Uh…mostly just learning about the bile sac I mean. And how some demon food doesn't sit well with my stomach…" Luz added, remembering the disastrous time she tried some of Eda's apple blood.

"That's exactly the issue, how can you know how to use healing magic if you don't know anatomy? I will admit as well, I don't want to use my magic on you until I am familiar with your anatomy too."

"Well I can tell you all sorts of stuff we humans got. There's kidneys, lungs, spleen, liver, toes, tongue…" she started listing off various organs with her fingers.

"I'm afraid you misunderstand, it's not enough to read about that or hear it, to truly understand healing magic and anatomy, you need to see it first hand." Hettie remarked, making Luz's blood run cold. "Thankfully, due to some tests I was able to run while you sleep, I have an idea of what I can and cannot do."

'Oh no.' she gulped, feeling a sense of deja vu. "Uh…and that would be?"

"I learned that your anatomy is just similar enough that a few spells should work without harming you." She remarked, picking up a sharp instrument that looked like a mix between a scalpel and a pizza cutter. "Now please lie back on the table. There is a mirror above it so you will be able to see what I am doing."

"You're gonna cut me open!?"

"No." She remarked bluntly, making Luz let out a sigh of relief. "I am going to open you with magic. Healing magic doesn't just allow witches to close up cuts after all."

"Uh, pretty sure that sounds like the same thing." Luz said nervously as Hettie turned back to her.

"No, it will be painless and I'll be able to fix you after we are done."

"Uh, maybe we could go at it a different way. I mean, I already almost got cut open before, and like the old human saying goes, once is a charm." she chuckled nervously while backing up.

"Like I said before, it shall be fine." She remarked, continuing to walk towards her. "This method is not too different from what the owl lady is able to do, this method is just more…detailed."

Luz covered her mouth, her mind coming up with a brief image on what 'detailed' meant, and had to keep from throwing up. "I… I don't think I can do this…"

"Not to worry, I have herbs that can calm down your stomach if you're feeling squeamish, it wouldn't be the first time I've done this." Hettie remarked. 'Why is she so nervous, I'm sure I'm explaining this correctly.'

Luz eyed the tool and looked around the room before spotting the door and bolted for it, grabbing the knob and trying to pull it open, but it was locked shut.

"Why are you running? I thought you wanted to learn magic?"

"I do, really, it's just…uh…." she wracked her brain for something before it clicked. "I'm…more of a hands on girl! You know, it won't click if I just watch someone do it, it's easier if I'm right there learning BESIDE them."

Hettie was silent for a moment as Luz watched her, nervously hoping that the older witch wouldn't call bullshit, only for the witch to let out a sigh.

"I suppose it may be helpful for you to see the process, then it will be easier for you to understand. Luckily, I also have a test subject we can practice on." She said, making Luz pause in confusion.

"Uh, you do?" She asked nervously as Hettie made her way to a series of large cabinets built into the wall of the lab.

"Yes, you see the healing coven is where people are sent when they pass on to be prepared for burial, and sometimes people donate their body to science once they pass on." She remarked, pulling one the drawers out, Luz's eyes going wide as the drawer kept being pulled out, an old person on it. "We can use him to help with the lesson."

Luz gulped as she zapped the body out with magic and casually moved him over to the table before moving to the side and tossed her a white robe.

"Put that on, it will get messy."

"O-Ok…" Luz said slowly, doing as instructed.

"If you feel this is too much for you, feel free to say so, and we shall try again later, it wouldn't do either of us any good if you got sick and threw up in the cadaver."

"N-No problem, I'm pretty tough." she spoke, mostly trying to get herself together as the robe covered up her body while watching as the coven head held the blade over the body with a smile.

"Healing can be brutal, messy, and cold, but if it enlightens us and improves medical knowledge? Then it all works out in the end, remember to wear gloves as well."

"O-Oh, right." Luz said, taking the gloves Hettie offered her.

"Surprisingly, this is the easier part, opening them up, but that doesn't mean you can get lazy with it." she put it to the skin and began making an incision, making Luz close her eyes and tell her to think about the times her mom had to perform surgery on an animal. "You must memorize everything the body has so you know every inch of it. It's like a machine with numerous cogs; once you know how one moves, the rest follow behind." She said, glancing at Luz. "Are your eyes closed?"

"N-No?" Luz lied.

"Open them, this is pointless if you don't see." Hettie remarked as Luz reluctantly did so, and was surprised to see that where Hettie made her cut, the area was glowing, and the chest and stomach were floating above the body. "See, this is a crucial spell to learn, with this method surgeons can open up the patient's body without hurting them, and once we're done the skin will fuse back into place, painlessly and without scars."

"That's…wow that's actually pretty convenient, and less gross." Luz remarked in amazement.

"Yes, and once you're less squeamish we shall perform this operation on you so we can fully document human anatomy. After that, and when I think you're ready, I will allow you to do the same to me." Hettie remarked. 'Good, she already is looking less squeamish, she has potential.'

"Oh…joy." Luz let out with a forced smile before the door slammed open by a witch.

"Doctor! I'm sorry, but we have an emergency!"

"What? Damn it, sorry Luz, but our lesson will have to wait." Hettie said, dropping the cadaver's chest abc into place before she began to make her way to the witch. "You can go home now, I'll find you when I have time to… actually, scratch that, come with me!"

"What?!" she let out before the coven head dragged her out the room and down a hall. "W-Wait a sec! This sounds like something you should do on your own! I mean, I'm just a rookie! I'd get in the way!"

"Nonsense, there's nothing like good, honest real work to build experience and knowledge! Nurse, what's the situation?"

"A patient came in with a bad wound to their bile sac, it's leaking out as we speak!"

"Dear titan, we'll need to operate, stat!" Hettie ordered as Luz's eyes widened. "Luz, make sure to keep an eye on everything that happens, perhaps you'll see one of those glyphs while I work."

"Uh, I'm not-" she was cut off as they entered a room with a demon on a table holding their side as a liquid was leaking out through their hands.

"I…I'm not gonna make it…Titan I'm done for…"

"You're done for when I say so!" Hettie spoke moving over to the side while making sure her gloves were on tight. "We can't move him or else it might get worse, we'll have to mend it here."

"Wha-" Luz started, but before she could continue, Hettie had already cut open the man's chest with the practiced ease of a master surgeon.

"Damn it! What in all the isles were you doing, eating stones?! The sac looks so banged up I'm amazed it hasn't ruptured completely."

"I had to do it…I don't back down…from a dare…"

"You fucking moron, I'm half tempted not to heal you!" Hettie snapped as she got to work. "Luz, you watching this?"

Luz had to bite her lip and nod her head, trying not to throw up as Hettie worked, some magic spurting out as she worked with some getting on Luz's cheek. 'Ay dios mio! Mama, I owe you a BIG hug if this is what you deal with all the time.'

"Titan…I can see a light…"

"Don't you dare go towards it! I'll sew you down and drag you back if I have to! Luz! Get a towel!"

"What?!"

"A towel, get it and keep pressure on the bile sac, I need both hands to work this spell to heal it!"

Luz looked around wildly and ran off before coming back with a towel and grimaced as she tried to apply pressure while trying to ignore the demon's groaning. 'Don't pass out, don't pass out, don't pass out!'

"You're doing good Luz!" Hettie called as she began to move her hands, a complex series of interconnected rings made of glowing blue magic began to appear in the air in front of her. To Luz's amazement she saw the image of a glyph appearing between them, the human filing away the image for later when her hands were free.

(Later)

"Phew, that was a close one." remarked Hettie as she removed her messy gloves, Luz sitting down while trying to regain her breathing and keep her hands steady as she tried to draw what she remembered. "For a moment I thought he was a goner, but it wouldn't be the first time. That's another lesson, healing doesn't guarantee you can save everyone. Some wounds are just too serious to fix completely."

"L-Lesson learned…" Luz remarked.

"You did good though, how about you take a few days off, process what you saw, ok? Everyone is always shaken up after their first real experience."

"Sounds good to me." she let out, getting the glyph done and looked at it before noticing a cut on Hettie's arm. She looked at the pad and the cut before getting an idea. Getting up, she moved over and put the pad on her arm.

"What are you doing?"

"I got an idea." she tapped the symbol with her finger and watched as it glowed blue before it shrunk down, seemingly going into the cut and watched as it closed up. "Ha! It worked! Just like a band-aid."

"...by the titan, this….this is amazing." Hettie let out, staring at the healed cut in amazement.

"I wasn't sure how it'd work if I tried it without touching anything, but since it's for healing, I figured it'd have to be touching the wound itself to work." Luz beamed.

"Luz, this… this will revolutionize medical practice, this….this is amazing, and this is after only a few hours….. Luz, you have quite the future ahead of you in the healing coven!"

"Aw shucks, I guess I really am my mama's daughter." blushed Luz at the praise.

"This…this means you have to join my coven! No, wait…. Gah, let me think about it!" Hettie remarked, pacing back and forth. 'The whole idea is that she doesn't have to join a singular coven….but if she works here full time, who knows what she could do!'

'Thank goodness I didn't pass out or hurl, that'd be pretty embarrassing, and I got a new glyph! Hmmm, I wonder if it'd be cheating to use it instead of band-aids with King. Would we still be boo-boo buddies? I wouldn't wanna make him sad…' Luz thought before smiling. "Well, thanks for having me, but I should get back to the owl house."

"Just a moment Luz." Hettie remarked, making her stop.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"I have an idea for you. Tell me, how does the idea of having a full time job sound?"

"A job? I uh… it does sound cool, but I'm still going to hexside, and helping out Eda, I don't know…" Luz said cautiously.

"You don't have to decide now, I don't want you to drop out of school, but before you go, have a look at what a full time healer can provide." she handed Luz a pamphlet. "Think it over."

"Ok, I will." Luz nodded.

'Somehow I'll find a way to get her to work here, the medical world can't afford to lose her!'

(Later)

"Ah, nothing like lunch after a grueling day." sighed Luz with relief as she bit into what looked like green bread that tingled with each bite. 'Finally, some peace and relaxation~'

Right as she took a sip from her drink, a sudden poof of smoke appeared, making her jump as a dark hooded figure stood there, making her pale as they held a scythe in their hand.

"Luc the human, I have come for thee."

"Gah! DEATH!" She cried out, backing up and falling to the ground. "Ow…"

"You thought it would never come, but your time has come." they spoke with a low voice as she shivered.

"W-W-Wait! I'm so young! There's so many things I haven't done yet! I haven't become the best witch! I haven't starred in an Azura movie! I haven't had an incredible and steamy love triangle!"

"Pleading will not stop what is to come." they spoke as they moved closer to her. "It was inevitable."

"P-Please, take Boscha instead of me! Pleeeease!" She cried out, holding her hands out in front of her. She braced herself as he raised a hand up before grabbing the robe and pulled it off in one motion, revealing a smiling Adrian as the robe and scythe poofed away. "And scene!"

Luz looked up at him, slack jawed and wide eyed. "W..W..W..W…What…"

"That, dear Luz, was nothing more than a simple example of what the illusion coven can do for you." he smirked while throwing a hand through his hair while a few coven guards had filming equipment behind some trees. "To trick and make people think what they believe with their eyes, but not their hearts."

"Wha- you almost gave me a heart attack!" She cried, jumping to her feet. "I really thought Death was here!"

"Exactly!" he gave a thumbs up without losing his smile. "The feeling of fear, anxiety, hopelessness? All needed to make illusions truly pop out and feel like the genuine thing. But where am I going with this? To give you a taste of what a true illusion is capable of, and what you can do yourself with the right mentor."

"So?! Couldn't you have just told me then show me?!" Luz cried out in annoyance.

"Showing is what illusions are all about. If you saw what seemed like a dog walking around, would you need it to tell you it's a dog in order for you to believe it? Nope, you'd believe it's a dog from being shown it's a dog." He explained, making her groan.

"How can I learn anything if I don't see you cast the magic? That's how I learn about the glyphs!" She protested, her teeth grinding in annoyance. She didn't know what it was about this coven head, but he instantly annoyed her and rubbed her the wrong way. She wasn't even this annoyed when Eberwolf sicked the rat-worm on her!

He held a hand to his head and let out a sigh before shaking his head. "The point is, that was a demonstration. I'm going to show you what else I can do, you'll find one of those glimps, and then I'll help you see your true potential in dazzling others with your magic."

"Glyphs."

"Yes, yes, whatever you say." He said, waving his hand dismissively." "Now then, watch as I make your deepest nightmares become reality!"

"What?!" she let out before he formed a large magic circle before a cloud blew out and surrounded both of them. "Oh no no no! I already went through Grom with that!"

"This is worse!" He laughed out as a large form began to appear in the mist.

"Again, I didn't see you cast the magic!" Luz cried out. 'Why does this feel less like him teaching me and more like him showing off?!'

The mist slowly began to take shape and gained color. Soon the giant form of Amity's head appeared, connected to the body of a giant worm.

"Oh dear god no." muttered Luz to herself in terror.

"How could you cheat on me Luz?!"

"I-I didn't cheat! I swear! I'd never do that!" She cried out, backing up in horror.

"I'll never forgive you, NEVER!" She cried out, her head splitting open to reveal a gaping maw filled with teeth.

"Ahhhh!" Luz cried out as she took off running before the illusion chased after her.

"COME BACK AND PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Ahhh, another success." smiled Adrian with satisfaction. "See what I mean? It feels genuine doesn't it?!"

"You jerk! I told you, I need to see you, Adrian, actually cast the magic to know how it works! Just scaring me and showing me things doesn't help!" she cried back while avoiding the teeth, too distracted by fear to realize they weren't real.

"Ugh, really, I show you such an amazing illusion and you just criticize me? You're no fun." he rolled his eyes and made a circle before the illusion vanished. "Fine, you can watch me this time, happy?"

"Yes!" She declared, sighing in relief. 'Finally!'

"Alright, but first, we need a stage full of plenty of faces to work with." he turned and walked off as Luz sighed and followed behind.

"How the heck did you even know what I was scared of?"

"Eberwolf showed us the tape of your lesson with him, and I keep my ear to the ground for spicy gossip~" he smiled, making her cover her face in embarrassment.

'That no good fuzzy little guy! He might be cute, but that's just low!'

"Oh yes, he's quite the devious little demon, isn't he? Now watch carefully, this is illusion magic." both of them stopped near the town square as he rolled and cracked his fingers. "Now pay very close attention."

Luz looked and watched as he formed a circle before another Luz popped into existence with a smile on her face. "It's…me?"

"Yep, an exact clone, pretty impressive, huh?" The fake Luz asked with a smug smile.

"It looks like you, sounds like you, and can pull off a great impression of you. Go." He pointed at the clone.

"Heidy ho, I'm a human, watch this!" The clone grinned as she began to draw a glyph on the ground."

"Hey! I don't sound like that!" Luz cried out before the clone hit the glyph. It lit up and made a light orb before the clone made a weird pose and gesture to it.

"Tada! Magic!"

"I don't look like that!" Luz protested, feeling embarrassed.

"Uh-huh, suuuure." Adrian said, rolling his eyes. He snapped his fingers as the clone and ball vanished in poofs. "So, now that you've actually seen me cast it, see any glips?"

"Glyphs." Luz repeated, feeling annoyed. "And not yet."

"Ugh, does it really take you this long? You seemed much more impressive at the meeting."

"Hey! Those were with spells I already knew! If it was that quick to find new glyphs, I would have already found all of them at this point." She protested. 'Titan, I just want this to end! Can't someone else kidnap me, capture me, or eat me, anything to get me away from this guy!'

"Hmmm." he held a hand to his chin and looked up in thought before snapping his fingers. "Wait a sec, I think I've got the answer!"

"What is it?" Luz asked, having a bad feeling. 'He can't even say the name right, how does he have an idea on how to make them appear?'

"I just need to make an illusion that's far more grand and expressive. Something that can truly blow people away." He smiled, his earring glowing as he began to prep his magic.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" She asked, getting a bad feeling.

"Oh just watch, and be amazed." He smirked, a large magical circle quickly formed around him. Luz tried to focus as hard as she could, tried to see any hint of a glyph.

'Come on glyph, show yourself! For me? Anything to make this moment worth something!' She thought desperately before noticing a glyph not on the magic circle, but on Adrian's earring. 'Huh?'

"Behold!" he raised the circle up before a cloud came out around them, spreading all over before it dispersed to show they were suddenly in the emperor's castle.

"Ok, this is kinda impressive." Luz said, looking around, trying her best not to seem uneasy.

"But of course, it was my work." he boasted while a few coven guards walked towards them.

Luz made a move to step aside, but her leg was in the way and watched as it went through the guards who kept on walking. "Woah. So…we're still in the town?"

"Of course. This is what I was trying to tell you. This is the art of illusions, something those other coven heads wouldn't understand." he rolled his eyes with a scoff. "So, did you find the Griffon?"

"Glyph, and kinda?" she admitted with a wave of her hand. "I mean, I kinda saw it in that mirror on your ear."

"...What? You must be mistaken."

"Nooo, I'm pretty sure."

"Well you're wrong, lesson over!" He snapped.

Luz reeled back as the illusion around them poofed away as he walked away, one of the coven scouts handing him a coffee as they left her. "Uh…o…k?" She remarked, feeling strange. She felt like she should be annoyed and frustrated that her lesson was over so soon, but given who her teacher was, she was just glad it was finally over.

With the lesson over, she decided to go for a walk. Right as she rounded the corner though, she stopped when she saw there was a house in the way, one that looked brand new too without an ounce of dust on it. "Huh? That's weird, I could have sworn there was a road here." She said, looking around in confusion.

"There used to be!"

She turned her head left and right before looking up and spotted Mason standing on top of the roof with his arms crossed.

"But I figured while you and the peacock were busy, I'd blow off some steam and put this up."

"Woah, that's fast." She let out before he jumped off the roof and easily landed beside her without flinching.

"Thank you! I'll admit it's not my finest work, but it'll outlast everyone on this island!" He boasted with a smile. "Now, how about I teach you how I made it?"

"Ooh! Does it involve those sweet stickers?" she asked with a grin.

"A bit, but it also requires math, and other types of magic as well!" He grinned. "Speaking of which, I personally believe your glyphs and those stickers have a lot in common, so I brought some for you to study on your own time if you want."

"...that sounds amazing." she spoke with a blunt face that made him chuckle.

"Well don't get too excited, we haven't even started our own lesson just yet. Those stickers help to a point, but they're not everything when it comes to construction." He grinned as he led her into the house. "Consider this, if you don't measure out all the rooms and have a plan, your house is going to look like a nightmare, everything will be too big or too small, and trust me, no one wants their kitchen to be two hundred feet big and their bathroom only one foot by one foot big!"

"Uh, just out of curiosity, but how much math are we talking?" Luz asked nervously.

"Well, I will admit there is a fair amount, you need to calculate how sturdy the walls are, how much insulation you need, and so on, but for now we'll keep it on the light side, right now we want to focus on the magic side of this business." He said, chuckling as she sighed in relief. "For example, since you can use ice magic, why don't we work with that? I've been pondering on a theory."

"Uh, ok." She pulled out an ice glyph with curiosity.

"Tell me, when you use it, does the shape change depending on what you want?"

"Um, only a little, I'm still working on it." She said sheepishly.

"Well, let's see you make something that requires some detail. Do what you'd normally do, but think of something you wouldn't normally come up with in the middle of a fight." He said reassuringly. "How about… try to make a chair."

"A chair? Ok, I can try." she put the paper down and tried thinking about a chair before touching the symbol. She watched as the ice formed into the rough outline of a chair, with the legs being a solid column.

"Not bad." nodded Mason. "Mind if I give it a try?"

"Sure." She said, handing him a copy of the ice glyph.

He pondered it as he looked it over before slamming it onto the ground. Out of the glyph formed a fancy dining room chair that seemed intricately carved and detailed, with it even having an ice cushion on it. "Just as I assumed."

"Woah!" Luz stared at the chair with awe. "That's…awesome!"

"Yep, just as I figured, these glyphs work off the mind just as much as they do magic." He nodded. "I have to think of exactly what I want when I use my magic to form walls, stairs and so on, and I was curious if your glyphs worked the same way."

"So, I just need to think and focus harder?"

"Essentially, yes. It can be a bit tricky, but that's why when I work on building, keeping in mind as many details as possible is a vital component." He remarked. "That's not to say it's just something you learn, practice makes perfect, so as long as you just keep working at it, you'll get the results you want, and I'd imagine it will be the same for other glyphs as well."

Luz looked at him and then the ice chair with the words in thought and felt invigorated at the idea. "Oooh, my head's buzzing with ideas!"

"Well then, let's see them in action." He smirked before raising his hammer up and slammed it into the floor before a piece of the ground burst up and formed into a statue of himself. "Watch and learn what my magic can do."

"Yes sir!" Luz grinned, feeling excited.

(Later)

"That was amazing!" Luz grinned as she and Mason stood in the ruined remains of what had been the house he built.

"Indeed it was, indeed it was!" he let out a deep laugh while slapping her on the back, making her fall forward due to the force. "Oops, sorry about that."

"It's cool." she groaned before lifting her head. "It comes with being a skinny geek." before she stood back up, her eyes went to the ruins before blinking and squinting her eyes. "What the…"

"Huh? What is it? Did you land on something sharp?"

"No, but I did just hit the jackpot." she smiled as she crawled over to the ruins as there were a series of cuts in the material that lined up with other pieces of rubble, forming a crude, but clear image of a glyph. Getting her pad, she tried to copy it down before slapping it on the ground before letting out a cry as a large slab of earth rose up under her, propelling her backwards on her back with a grunt. "Ow…"

"Whoa, you ok? Wait… did you just discover-"

"A NEW GLYPH!" she proclaimed while kicking her arms and legs up in excitement, jumping onto her feet and clapped her hands. "Oh yeah! I am on FIRE!"

"Well, you are a bit." He said, patting her back. "You landed on some cinders, but good job!"

"Yeah! Wait what?" she blinked, looking down to see smoke coming off her back. "Gah!"

"Don't worry, a little bit of fire never hurt…ok, well it has hurt a lot of people, but you'll be fine, it's just a small one." he patted her back, putting the embers out without flinching as she sighed with relief. "Congrats, now you can get down and dirty with some real magic. By the time you master it, you'll get those skinny arms built up in no time." he smirked while flexing his arm.

Luz looked in awe before looking at her arms and smiled wider. "Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!"

"Yeah, now you go home and get some rest, I'll see ya later, alright?" He said as she nodded with glee.

"Sir yes sir!" she took sprinting off, or at least what was really a light jog given how tired her muscles felt at the moment.

"Good kid, she'll go far." Mason chuckled as he watched her go.

(Next day)

Luz tapped her foot on the floor with her hands folded together, a bit antsy as she sat in class. She was eager to see what coven head she'd run into after school and what magic she might learn and it was driving her up the wall. While she had had a few more run-ins with the other coven heads, she hadn't met anyone new yet, and as much fun as Darius was, or as… informative as Terra's lessons were, she was eager to learn more new magic from a master of their field.

As the teacher finished writing down the notes on the board, they stopped and noted what looked like a strange fog seeping into the room under the door. "What the?" walking over, they opened the door before a huge cloud of fog came rushing into the room, throwing the students for a loop as all of them soon found their visions all blocked by the strange cloud. The students and teachers coughed as the fog filled their lungs, as they did so Luz felt someone grab the back of her uniform.

"Woah!" she let out, feeling herself get yanked backwards and getting dragged by someone. "Hey what's going on?!"

"It is time." A raspy voice answered. "Silence."

"What? No-gah!" She cried out as she tried to protest, only to feel something cylindrical and glass be shoved into her mouth before a foul tasting liquid entered her mouth. She grimaced and wanted to cough it up, but it seeped down her throat and made her head feel fuzzy as her body started to relax and go limp. She felt her eyes grow heavy before everything went dark.

(Later)

"Wake up." A gruff voice barked out before Luz smelled an overwhelming scent and bolted awake.

"Oh god!" she let out, covering her nose as her eyes watered from the putrid scent as she shook her head. "That reeks!"

"That's what it's supposed to smell like….it proves it's doing its job…" The figure responded as Luz rubbed her eyes before focusing and she saw the figure was Vitimir, his form dimly illuminated as she looked around and realized they were in a large, windowless room filled with shelves brimmed with strange ingredients, vials, and there were several cauldrons scattered across the room.

"Uh…where…are we?" she asked, now fully awake as he walked over to one of the cauldrons.

"My lab, it is underneath the potion coven's headquarters…." He remarked as he grabbed a large wooden ladle and began to stir the bright orange mixture.

"Wait, hold up." she put a hand to her head as memories came back to her before her eyes widened. "Did you just kidnap me while I was in class?!"

"Yes…I needed you, so I got you." He responded simply.

"Why not just wait till after school?"

"It would have taken too long….that and I didn't want to take the risk someone would get to you first….especially Snapdragon."

Luz opened her mouth, but her eyes moved to the mixture he was stirring and looked curious. She got up and moved over closer. "What are you making?"

"Potion… I've been researching humans…. I couldn't bring you here until I was sure nothing I made would instantly kill you. Now drink." He said, pulling out the ladle, now full of the glowing potion. "It's a test."

"Uh…how sure are you?"

"75% sure... Hettie's building is nearby if we need her. Now drink." he repeated, holding the ladle closer to her.

She grimaced picking up a burning smell, but mentally told herself it couldn't be any worse than Eda's apple blood, so she grabbed it and carefully started to drink. As she tasted it, she was surprised to find it wasn't foul, but instead tasted of oranges. She soon finished the ladle and handed it back, looking down at herself expectantly. "So, uh… what is that potion going to do to me?"

"Glow." He responded. "In three…two…one…"

Luz's skin immediately started to glow bright orange, lighting the room up with Luz looking down in surprise while noting a slight warmth across her skin. "Whoa, what?!"

"Interesting… the potion worked exactly as it should…. You don't have any negative reactions yet… this is very good, your body can handle potions." He responded, and as Luz stared at herself she could see the glow starting to fade as quickly as it appeared.

"Wow, for a sec I thought I was gonna be a walking lightbulb."

"It's a weaker version of the original potion you will be brewing…." Vitimir remarked. "This one was made just to last a bit, just so I could see it worked on humans…..Your body is surprisingly similar to a normal witch's….it means I won't have to make substitutions on potions I give you."

"Wait, we're gonna be brewing potions?" Luz had a brief flashback to her first potions class and rubbed her arm. "Uh, is it gonna require a long time of just stirring?"

"Not for the first potion I'll have you make…." He responded, pointing to a table full of ingredients and an empty cauldron. "The trick to potions is infusing magic in them as well….. usually through the ingredients, but there are other ways." He responded, waving his hand over the orange elixir he'd given Luz and to her surprise it turned into water.

"Woah! What kind of trick is that?"

"It's a spell of my own making…it makes potions inert…. Great for disposing of failures." he replied before walking over to the table and gesturing to them. "Let's start….show me what your potion will turn out…without knowing first hand the ingredients."

"Huh? Wait, you just want me to guess?!"

"Yes…and no, there is a recipe…but I'm not telling you what is what… and I will have a reward if you get something close to what the potion should be….and a penalty if you fail."

Luz looked at the ingredients and gulped, giving them a look to see if she could recognize anything, but it was all new to her which just made this even heavier on her gut. 'Ok Luz, you've been on the boiling isles for over two months… you can do this! You have to know some of this stuff!'

(Later)

Luz bit her lip, sweating a bit as she kept on stirring, watching the blue concoction bubble more and more. She glanced at Vitimir whose expression couldn't be read, making her wonder whether she was doing something right or not. The only perk was it seemed like it wasn't gonna explode. "S-So uh… how am I doing? A-According to the recipe I'm nearly done…"

"If you think you're done…then simply stop…"

She stopped stirring and saw the bubbles slowly stop before the potion went completely still. "S-So, what do you think, s-should I try and see if it worked?"

"That would be foolish and wildly dangerous…." he walked over and grabbed a ladle, dipping it into the substance before raising the handle up, the end of it sizzling with Luz's eyes widening. "Had you stirred for a few more seconds…it would have settled right and not turned into an acid…so this is a fail…"

"Wha- but, but you said I should stop!" She protested.

"If you were done. You were not…." He clarified before waving his hand over the potion as it shimmered and turned into water. "But… you showed promise, potions are hard, but can be rewarding when done right."

"I guess…"

"Now, your punishment….drink this." He remarked, holding out a small glass corked vial full of acid green glowing liquid.

"Uh…what's this one do?"

"Turn you into… a demon."

"What?!"

"It's temporary."

"That's not the issue!" she backed up. "Isn't that a bit extreme?"

"No… this way I can see how your body reacts…. to potions that warp your appearance. Now drink." he ordered, holding it closer to her face.

"I… I…. how long is it gonna last?" Luz asked nervously.

"Not sure…all the more reason to test it…." He remarked as Luz took the potion nervously, and uncorked it. "Making potions is all about risks….no advancement can be made without taking chances."

'Oooh why me?' she thought with a grimace as she could already pick up an ominous smell coming from it. She grimaced before steeling herself and brought the container to her mouth and took a long drink. She got it in one gulp, but had to cover her mouth since the taste was already making her wanna barf it back up. She groaned as she felt the mixture settle in her stomach, and then she felt very, very strange.

"It should work instantly… assuming your body doesn't reject the process…"

"Oooh…" she held her stomach as it grumbled, feeling her body tingle all over. She closed her eyes and groaned, and suddenly she felt everything change, and suddenly she felt as if she had a new leg, but one that felt….off and unusually flexible? She also heard a ripping sound come from behind her as well. Opening her eyes, she looked down to see her body hadn't really changed. But that's when she heard a hissing sound right behind her. She turned her head, and to her surprise there was a green and purple striped snake staring right back at her.

"Hmm….interesting…" remarked Vitimir while Luz wasn't freaking out as one might expect. "It seemed the potion only worked part way, interesting…."

"Huh? It made a snake?" Luz asked, before following the snake's body, and to her shock, saw that it was connected to her lower back. "Wha!? It's a tail!? I have a snake for a tail!"

"Indeed… it seems I will have to tweak the next potion I give you….this will be fun." He chuckled. "The tail will last for a few days… or it may be permanent, I don't know how this failed."

Luz was starting to freak out as she spun around in a circle, the snake flicking its tongue out before Luz wound up getting wrapped up by the reptile by sheer accident. Seeing it right in her face made her realize the glint in its eyes before it licked its mouth. "Uh…nice snaky?" She gulped nervously. 'It can't eat me, I'm attached to it….right?'

"You can go now…I will find you when I'm ready for the next lesson….or when I need you to test something." he turned away as Luz tried to untangle herself, but found the snake gripping her tighter.

"Uh, you got any mice laying around?"

"No, but I could make you one." He said calmly, making Luz pale.

"See you later, bye! Nevermind!" she started to run out before the sound of a hiss was heard before Luz let out a cry of pain. "OW! Bad tail! No biting!"

(Later)

"Stupid snake…" Luz groaned, covered in small bandaids. She applied a fresh new one to her cheek while thankful it wasn't venomous, but it sure seemed to like biting her like an untrained dog wanting to play. Luckily, it seemed like the snake was content, and she just hoped it went away soon, as cool as having a tail seemed, having a sentient one wasn't all that much fun.

At the moment she was taking the extra time to rest and enjoy the sun, especially since heading back to the school right now might not work given her unexpected 'vanishing', but she would be more than excited to tell Gus and Willow later. She was relaxing outside the owl house, Eda was gone selling garbage, and she managed to convince King to take Hooty for a walk, for now it was just her.

"Wonder if Eberwolf has tips on reigning in snakes ... .then again maybe I'll make sure he doesn't have any of them for pets." She sighed. "Plus knowing him he'd probably just encourage mine to eat me…"

Looking up at the sky, she tried to focus on the different shapes in the clouds to try and let her mind wander. As she did so she began to pick out the different shapes and tried to guess what they were.

"Hmmm, that there is a rabbit. Oh! And that one's a trumpet. And that's…me?" she stopped when she saw her face in the clouds. "Wow, that's both awesome and weirdly creepy."

"Not quite."

"YAH!" she yelped, jumping and fell on her side, looking up to see Osran beside her with a neutral and calm expression. "W…W…When did you…show up?"

"Oh I've been here since before you sat down."

"Huh?! How did I not see you?!"

"I have my ways." He said mysteriously. "But seeing yourself in the sky, truly a grave omen indeed…"

"Wait, really?" she looked back at the sky and then at him before gulping nervously. "Uh, just how grave of an omen are we talking?"

"Life altering." He said sagely.

"Um…any chance you could be more specific? Without being mysterious?" she requested nicely.

"I'm afraid I cannot, at least not without using magic. The omens are used to tell if good or bad luck will happen, or signals of major events, or what is most likely to happen, it doesn't give details." He responded as Luz groaned.

"Why can't they ever be upfront?" she muttered. "Is being vague like a big rule they have to follow no matter what?"

"Yes, but that is where my coven comes in, we help make sense of the omens and divine the details." He smiled. "It also requires a bit of seductive thinking. For example, earlier today I saw Terra talking to a lawyer and looking very happy, so I'd advise to avoid signing anything she gives you, and Eberwolf seemed to be preparing a space for a new beast, perhaps one of these could be related to the omen?"

Luz felt a shiver run up her back. "Duly noted."

"As for me? I saw it was my time to help teach you the ways of the oracle coven, to see if you could grasp the nature of what we try to see and learn." He smiled kindly. "That, and I find my pupils learn faster when their own fate is in danger."

'Why do all the coven heads involve me being in danger in their lessons?!' she thought with a grimace. 'I mean, I know magic can be dangerous, but every time!?'

"Come, I'll teach you how to use magic with a crystal ball, perhaps we'll get lucky and see how you die, it was certainly entertaining when I saw how I'd die!" He chuckled, smiling as if he didn't just utter a horrifying suggestion.

"Uh, any chance we couldn't and say we did?"

"Oh no, what's the point in learning divination magic if you can't see your own doom?" He chuckled as he began to gently lead her away.

"Learning how you can live a full and happy life without any danger?"

"Oh now that's just wishful dreaming."

(Later)

Osran and Luz entered a tower of sorts with numerous symbols and books lining the walls. Luz herself looked around in wonder while Osran himself made his way over to a large round table.

"I'm…. Not sure I want to really see how I die, can I see something else?"

"Come now, I'm sure you can do this; besides, you're a novice, at worst you may just see a day in the future." He chuckled. He pulled a new crystal ball out and rolled it to her on the table as she caught it. "Now then, the first step is to clear your mind as you gaze into the crystal ball."

"Ok… if you say so…" she said, feeling a bit calmer. 'Ok, maybe this won't be so bad?'

"The second step is to try and open your mind to what you see. Do not wish to see something, feel what it is you are being shown."

She stared at the crystal ball and tried clearing her mind of any distractions, telling herself not to let any stray thoughts come to mind. She let out a small gasp as the ball began to glow brightly.

"Very good…" nodded Osran. "Now peer deeper and tell me what you see."

"I see… myself and Eda… and she's arguing with someone?"

"Can you make out a shape of this someone? Do keep in mind, one must not force it, but see what they are allowed to be shown."

"Ok, I… I see a flower on them…. A big one, I think this might be Terra?"

"Hmm, sounds as though the old witch is trying something." remarked Osran before Luz's eyes widened.

"Woah! Uh…ok, it just changed. I see….awww, it's a little brown otter laying on its back while eating cotton candy, that's adorable."

"Huh? Strange, do you see what else is happening?"

"Wait, wait, it's changing again." she squinted her eyes as the images shifted around before blinking and looked at him, then the crystal, then back at him, and the crystal once more. "Uh…you may wanna change seats?"

"Why is that?"

"Because…I'm seeing Tiny Nose crashing through the wall going a bit wild with a snazzy looking wizard's hat and you getting crushed by a bookshelf."

"Huh?" He remarked before the wall burst open and the elderly coven head found himself being hit with a large bookshelf.

"Fight the power! All books are propaganda!" declared the tiny demon, a sparkling blue pointy hat on her head with her hands glowing. "They will brainwash our children for generations to come!" she floated up in the air before suddenly vanishing as fast as she appeared.

"Sorry, I tried to warn you!" Luz cried out as the elderly wizard just groaned from underneath the bookshelf. "I'm… gonna take a break, is that ok?"

"Break? Break?" he repeated before pushing himself up and cracked his back as he looked at her in awe. "I had expected your training to take far longer before you reached this level, but in your first lesson? You managed to properly make a prediction seconds before it happened, bravo!"

"Really? But I couldn't stop it from happening!"

"Not all predictions can be stopped or prevented, but to succeed in a clear cut prediction is worth praise." He smiled. "We must strike while the iron is hot and see what else you can see!"

"On something that has nothing to do with my death?"

"Perhaps, or maybe we'll get lucky and you'll see it!" He smiled sagely, making Luz let out a groan. "Go ahead now, gaze into your crystal ball."

Luz nodded as she did as instructed, and soon images began to appear once more. "Ok…"

Right before she could get a clear image however, a knock came on the door to the room.

"We're busy, come back later!" Called the elderly coven head in annoyance.

To his annoyance the knocking came once more, this time louder.

"I said come back later!" He cried out as Luz began to make out the shapes in the ball.

"Um…. you might wanna mov-" She started before a loud sound, that sounded like an entire orchestra falling down a flight of stairs blared and suddenly the door was blown off its hinges, slamming into Osran and hurling him into the wall, knocking him out. She winced and covered her eyes, peaking through them and let out a hiss at the pain he was probably feeling. "Ooooh….."

"Finally. Now then, human, come with me… please?" standing in the doorway was Raine of the bard coven, who took note of the door pinning Osran on the other side and flinched. "Ooh…sorry."

"... is it weird that I'm used to being kidnapped now?" she stood up and walked over, the two of them making their way out of the tower calmly like they were going for a walk.

"Well, it's not so much me kidnapping you as it is me coming by to pick you up. I imagine you might be dealing with a lot of pressure with all the other coven heads."

"So…you figured the easiest way to make it easy would be to blow the door down?"

"I… will admit I may have gone too far." Raine blushed. "Sorry about that."

"Eh, not the craziest thing I've seen." she remarked with a casual shrug. "So…I don't think we've been properly introduced. Well, I mean I already did that when I met everyone, but I don't think I got yours."

"I'm Raine." they introduced with a smile. "I was going to help show you what working with bard magic was like, but I figured maybe just talking about something other than magic would be a nice breath of fresh air, if that's alright with you."

"Sure, what do you want to talk about?" She asked as she and the bard coven head began to make their way into the woods.

"Well, I know your living with Eda, the owl lady."

"Yup, best witch around." beamed Luz.

"So…uh…how is she? I mean, besides being wanted, has she been alright lately?" Raine asked as Luz looked at her in confusion.

"Good…why? I'm not going to help you catch her, you know that, right?"

"Oh no no no, I would never do that." they held up their hands quickly. "I was just concerned is all."

'Concerned? Huh, that's new coming from a coven head.' Luz mused as she looked at the witch. 'Their face seems to be a bit red too… they're asking about Eda, and they don't want to catch her?'

Raine cleared their throat and tried looking away naturally with their hands behind their back. "So…is she…seeing anyone right now?"

Luz's eyes widened as everything seemed to click into place. This coven head seemed to really like Eda, almost as much as that warden guy! Were they trying to figure out a way into Eda's heart, and using Luz to get there?!

"I-I'm not trying to pry!" Raine let out quickly as Luz wracked her brain for something. "Just..curious is all."

"Uh….Eda is…married! Yeah, married!" Luz quickly replied,a nd watched as Raine's face dropped, with them looking like Luz had just told them that they just lost her life savings. "She's uh… very, very happily married!"

"M…Married?"

"Yup, in fact, she's…married to three people at once!"

"Three?!" Raine cried out in confusion. "Wha- how?! I knew she wasn't traditional and a bit wild but…three?!"

"Yep!" nodded Luz, quickly rolling with it. 'Ok, that should do the trick! A bit farfetched, but I don't think Eda would want a repeat of what happened at the conformitorium.'

'I…I was too late, I waited too long to find her…. I've lost Eda….' Raine thought, feeling almost too weak to stand. They had to stop and lean against a tree, making Luz stop as well.

"Uh…soooo….what's first on the lesson?"

"Oh….yes…. The lesson." Raine replied weakly. "We will be learning how to compose… the blues."

"Oh, you have that here too? I've heard my mom listen to a few back on Earth."

"Yes…. it feels appropriate to use our magic to materialize our sorrows…" Raine sighed out. "We usually use instruments…but right now, it'd be easier to just use our voices…"

"Ok, sounds great!" Luz smiled. 'This is gonna be amazing, all the other heads….well, most of them at least, have shown me some amazing things!'

'I was too late…darn it!'

(Later)

"Wow, that was….kinda depressing." admitted Luz, sitting on the ground after the two tried to sing in harmony, with the mood easily more dreary and down than before. This was admittedly a bit harder than it would normally be given that Raine had given up on sitting up a few minutes in and was now just lying on the ground face down.

"Life can be depressing…" Raine groaned out.

'Wow, they must be really obsessed with Eda if this is hitting them so hard. Well it's for Eda's safety so it had to be done.' Luz thought with a nod. 'I just hope they don't get depressed over this.'

Raine plopped face down on the ground, not even flinching as Luz looked left and right, not sure whether she should say or do something for them. Even if they were a lackey of the emperor, this was still hard to watch. "I….I need to go to sleep…" Raine groaned out. "We'll call this an end to the lesson for today…"

"O-Ok….thanks for the lesson and uh…sorry about Eda?" Luz apologized before walking away, her gut making her feel like she just punted a defenseless puppy. 'Maybe they'll get over it by tomorrow. I mean, I'm sure there's other witches out there, right?'

As Luz began to walk away, she started to realize that she should probably tell Eda that she said she was married to several people.

(Later)

Luz sat at the table, eating what amounted to breakfast on the isles, ignoring its screams while King and Eda enjoyed their own meal without any issues. She looked at Eda while trying to psych herself up and come clean. 'Ok Luz, you can do this. Just be honest and it'll work out.'

"King, stop making a mess and eat your breakfast like a normal demon."

"You aren't the boss of me, I'll eat how I like!"

"You leave crumbs and it'll just encourage Hooty." she deadpanned before seeing Luz looking at her nervously. "What's with you? The food still moving? Just give it an extra hard stab."

"No no, it's not that. It's just…something else." Luz said with a nervous gulp. "It's… well, Eda, you know how you showed me how much fun it is to lie to the emperor's coven and authority people?"

"Darn right." she smiled with pride.

"Yeah, well, I may have used you as part of that lie…" she looked away as she trailed off, making Eda lose her smile.

"What sorta lie we talking about?"

"Um…I may have told this coven head, Raine, that you were married… to more than one person…"

Eda was sipping from her mug before doing a sudden spit take, hitting Luz with her apple blood as she coughed and hit her chest. "R-Raine?! Married?!"

"Uh…yeah." Luz used her napkin to wipe her face as Eda's face looked paler than usual. "Now, I know it sounds a bit farfetched, but I figured after the whole Warden Wrath moment, it might be safer? I mean, I don't know Raine all that much, but they seemed really interested in your relationship status and-"

"Luz? When and where did you talk to Raine? Wait, they were asking about me? What else were they asking?" Eda started firing off her own questions with curiosity.

"I-I don't know, they seemed really interested, I think they had a crush on you so… but after I told them you were married they got real sad, so I didn't get much else out of them after that."

Eda's cheeks turned red hearing that, King stopping his eating as he listened in.

"Wow, sounds like old relationship drama."

Eda glared at King before turning to Luz who felt nervous as Eda crossed her arms. "Luz? How did you come to talk to Raine?"

"Uh…well ... .say I hypothetically spent some time with them on learning bard magic, what would your reaction be?"

"Wha- why were they teaching you?!"

"Um…. well it's a funny story, they're only the most recent teacher from the coven heads…"

"WHAT?!" she yelled, Luz ducking her head down as Eda's jaw dropped. "Coven heads?! As in more than just one?!"

"Well….I mean, it's not TOO surprising." Luz chuckled nervously while looking away. "I mean, remember those times I came home late?"

"Wha- I thought that was you just coming back from some crazy shenanigans with Amity!"

"Well, technically they WERE shenanigans, just the more learning kind…"

"Luz, how many coven heads are in on this insanity?! You don't want to be on these people's radar!"

"Eda it's not so bad, really!" she held up her hands. "I mean, yes I get why you would say that, but it's actually been really good for me. Watch." she grabbed her pen and started drawing a glyph on the napkin before tapping it and caused a small ball of abomination goo to form. "See? I've been learning how to use more magic."

"Luz, I can teach you that junk! Trust me, this isn't going to end well." Eda facepalmed and shook her head. "Those bozos, besides Raine, are just lap dogs to that nutjob. They could be using you just to try and get me for that masked weirdo."

"But…but they aren't! Sure I may get eaten or sliced open, or other crazy stuff, but I come out fine most of the time!" she defended. "And yes I did get eaten when I was learning with Eberwolf, and nearly get sticked by poisonous plants with Terra…but they're actually decent! Please Eda, I've been learning so much from them that it's actually been fun!"

"Luz, please, i can't stop you, but trust me, this is going to end badly, or at the least be insane! They're coven heads! They might just be waiting to determine you're a witch so they can turn you to stone!"

"Kinda hard when they already found out I'm a human."

'Ugh…. this kid is gonna be the end of me!' thought Eda, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She looked at the worried expression on Luz and let out a sigh. "Look Luz, I just…I just don't want you to get hurt. I don't trust those jokers that like to think they're oh so special just because they follow Belos, but I CAN at least trust you. Just keep in mind who's still top dog over them." she boasted with her head held high.

"I know, and don't worry, the only coven I'll ever be part of is the bad girl coven!"

"Damn right!"

Luz smiled, feeling the immense weight on her shoulders grow lighter. Right as she went to resume eating, they heard a knock at the door.

"Hi there! I've never seen you here before. Are you a friend of Eda's?" came Hooty's voice from outside the door.

"No, I'm here for Luz, now open up!"

"Luz! It's for you." called Hooty before opening the door as Terra walked in with a smile.

"Ah, there you are, come, it's time for another lesson!"

"Hey! We're eating." frowned Eda standing up with a glare at the older witch.

"Well I just came by to pick my student up so we could get started on our lesson. No sense wasting too much time after all." she replied back casually without losing her smile. "Besides, it's not like she was eating with anyone important~"

"Oh you wanna start something, Snapdragon?" Eda pulled her staff out, making Luz panic and jump up.

"Hey hey, no sense getting wound up today! I mean, it's such a good day out, why spoil it with a fight?"

"What was good, my apprentice told me she's brainwashed by the coven heads!"

"Brainwashed? I think you mean properly informed by experts compared to a wild witch whose kept her captive, the poor dear."

"Oh you're just BEGGING for me to trim that overgrown weed you call a head." Eda growled.

"Please, like you're one to talk, you look like you've been sleeping outside dear~" Terra chuckled before putting a hand on Luz. "Now Luz, before we get started on our next lesson, I have a surprise for you."

"Huh? A surprise?" Luz asked, hoping to distract Eda from whatever she was planning as pay back against Terra. "What is it?"

"Tada!" she pulled out a few scrolls with a lot of gibberish writing. "I talked to an expert and had the proper paperwork taken care of. You just sign on the line and you'll be officially adopted by me, isn't that wonderful?"

"What?!" Luz cried out, her eyes going wide. "Wha- how?! Why?!"

"Over my dead body! Luz, don't sign!" Eda snapped in annoyance.

"Now now, it's not up to you to try and make this sweet innocent girl miss out on a chance to have a proper mother in her life."

"Oh that's it!" Eda let out a battle cry and jumped over the table, making Terra form a wall of vines to block her swing. "I'm gonna burn you at the roots!"

"Bring it on you wild fool, I'll turn you into mulch!" Terra snapped back with a grin.

Luz took the moment to crawl over and exit out the front door, figuring that maybe leaving them alone to hash this out would be best for everyone. As she managed to crawl through the door frame, she felt someone grab the back of her shirt and lift her up with ease.

"I was right to follow Terra." remarked Darius, shaking his head as Luz smiled. "Should have known she'd cause trouble."

"You could say that she's made a bit of a crazy mess." Luz sighed as Darius just shook his head. "Are you gonna try and teach me? I'm kind of open right now."

"Actually, we figured we'd see how you've come so far."

"We?" she looked confused before Eberwolf stuck up from behind Darius' shoulder. "Gah! Eberwolf?! Wait, was he just hanging on your back this entire time?"

"I tried to make him walk, but he thought it'd be funnier to surprise you." Darius shrugged. "Now then, as I said before, we're here to see how you're doing."

Eberwolf nodded as Darius carried Luz away from the Owl House and the loud ruckus from inside.

"Well I don't like to brag-"

"That's a lie." Darius rolled his eyes making Luz cross her arms.

"But I think I've been doing pretty well in my spare time. I think I've finally gotten abomination making down." She grinned as Darius smiled.

"I'm glad to hear that, I look forward to seeing what you can do."

After a bit more walking, he stopped and set her down and stepped back.

"Alright, let's see."

Luz rotated her arms with a confidant smirk and pulled out an abomination glyph. "Watch and be amazed, as I conjure up, an abomination!" she slapped it down before it glowed purple as it began to turn into the same kind of slime. All three watched as the goo rose up, forming a pair of tiny arms and tiny head, but stopped. It was half of King's size with no legs and looked a bit pudgy with stumps for arms and no fingers. "Behold! I give to you, Mr. Squishy."

"Hmmm, not bad, not bad at all, excellent control Luz." Darius nodded as he walked over and looked down at the small abomination. "Although, it could be a little bigger."

"I actually had to spend more time making sure he didn't pop. It was reeeeally hard to maintain his shape."

"Well, it is still amazing work seeing how you're only using Glyphs." Darius nodded.

Eberwolf let out a sound and pointed to himself, Luz picking up the hint easily.

"Not to worry, I've been keeping up with my Beast Keeping magic too." She smiled. "I've made glyphs that will calm down any beast, and one that can make them grow bigger too!"

Eberwolf formed a circle and brought out a Trash Slug that looked around before spotting Luz and let out a warning cry, but the girl didn't look phased.

"Watch, and behold!" She pulled out a glyph and ran at the slug, jumping onto its back as it started to thrash before slapping the glyph onto its back. In an instant the slug began to calm down, falling still as a statue as Luz stood proudly on its back. "Ha! See what I mean?"

Eberwolf smiled and nodded in approval.

"Well I'm glad to see you've come a long way. Keep it up and you might master them, in time."

"Thanks!" Luz smiled. 'See Eda, I was right, this is a great idea!'

(Timeskip)

"Ow, ow, ow." winced Gus, covered in scratches and dirt as Luz applied glyphs onto the spots one at a time, the magic easing up the pain. "Thanks Luz, ow."

"No problem, but I did try to warn you that the construction glyph can be pretty dangerous if you don't think really clearly."

"I just wanted to see if I could make a statue of myself. I didn't mean to touch it with my foot."

"Well, nextime be more careful, or we'll take it away." Came a voice from behind Gus as Hettie shook her head. "Those things aren't some toys to be played with."

"Yes ma'am." He gulped nervously.

"Good, and Luz, have you thought about what I suggested? I do believe if you became a member of my coven you could truly grow as a medic."

"Well the pamphlet did have some good stuff, and an amazing medical coverage, but I'm not really sure if being just a medic is meant for me."

"Impossible, you've already made so many advances in the field during your short time here."

"Well working out a healing glyph IS pretty cool and all, but there's no reason you need me to do all that. You're already pretty amazing yourself." Luz said as she began to back away. She had a feeling this conversation would end around the same way her refusal to sign Terra's papers went. "Anyways, me and Gus better get back to Willow and Amity."

"Luz, this conversation isn't ov-"

"Ok, bye! Let's go Gus!" she grabbed his hand and dragged him off before the coven head could finish.

"Right!"

"Luz!" Hettie cried out as Luz and Gus ran away. She gritted her teeth and let out a growl. "As I said: This. Isn't. Over."

"Y'know they're eventually gonna make you commit to a coven, right?"

"They can't if I stop them from talking about it." Luz sighed. "If I can avoid Terra, I can avoid that!"

"And you've already done that with all the other coven heads?"

"...Just keep running, Gus."

(Timeskip)

Luz and Eda were sitting on the couch, watching a show on the crystal ball, just having a lazy day off.

"Ahhh, being lazy never felt so good." sighed Luz with a smile.

"Agreed, it's nice to just relax." Eda nodded with a grin. "It's so nice…."

"So….are things cool with you and Raine?"

"You mean before or after they came here asking to join my 'harem'?" Eda raised an eyebrow with Luz blushing. "Well I'd say things are cool between us, so your little lie wasn't a total loss."

"I guess you could call me Cupid, huh?"

"No, but what I can call you is treading on thin ice if you try that again. Hooty HAS been getting awfully dirty again lately, so keep that in mind."

Luz shuddered in disgust. "Yes ma'am."

"Good…. Also, I saw Terra lurking around earlier, but I told Hooty she wanted to play, so we should be good for today."

"That's a relief, I wasn't sure if any of my excuses were gonna work this time with her. She REALLY wants to be my new mom."

"Yeah, well she's too late, I more than earned that spot." Eda grumbled.

"Awwww."

"Don't say a word."

"I'm still gonna think it~" She chuckled.

"Uh-huh, you just keep laughing and I won't help you next time you come back from that madman's lab turned into a monster or dealing with extra limbs." Eda huffed.

"Aw come on, Vitimir isn't THAT bad. He's just a bit…eccentric on testing out his potions. Besides, I think I'm getting really close to finding a permanent cure for your curse."

"Luz? The last time you said that I became tinier than King."

"Only for a few days, and you were fine in the end." Luz chuckled, rubbing her head awkwardly.

"Well count me out, I'll stick with my own potions."

"Your loss, at least he's easier to deal with than Adrian."

"Ha! Good one." laughed Eda, moving her hands behind her head. "Speaking of which, you ever unlock a glyph for illusions yet?"

"Plenty, except I got them all from Gus instead of him!"

"Wow, and here I thought he couldn't be more pathetic." Eda laughed. "At least the rest of the fools who're teaching you are more competent than him."

"Yeah, Mason even gave me some housing tips. I think they could really give the place a nice extra flare."

"Just so long as Hooty isn't popping up from every crack and crevice? I'll think about it." Eda shrugged. "What about the crazy guy, the one who just makes you look at crystal balls all day? How's that going?"

"Well I finally got him to ease up on 'seeing your own death' thing, but pointing out that technically the future is always changing, so it could be pretty much anything. So then I practiced to see what I could see, and…nope, didn't see anything." she looked away with her face turning red. "Nothing at all."

"Really? You sure?"

"YEP!" Luz let out louder than she wanted, making Eda raise a suspicious eyebrow.

'She's terrible at lying.'

'Eda can never know what I saw… I also can never let Amity know!'

"How about mr 'I'm scared of getting dirt on my fancy clothes' and his little pet?"

"Darius and Eberwolf are great, and Eberwolf has almost stopped throwing monsters at me randomly that try to eat me, so I must be doing REALLY well!"

"Sounds to me like he's up to something bigger."

"Aw come on, I think he's being serious. A cute little guy like him isn't always up to trouble." Luz smiled. "I mean, what else could he possibly be doing? I've already tangled with every monster on the island!"

"He could use a Giraffe." Eda remarked dryly, making Luz chuckle.

"Trust me Eda, I've seen plenty of them; they're pretty cute when you see them up close."

"... you humans are insane Luz."

"And Darius has some great tips on sewing my own clothes back together. He really knows his way around a needle and thread."

"Fair enough, I suppose he would." Eda shrugged. "What about that Hettie chick? Still trying to get you to be a doctor or some junk?"

"Yes, she's almost as bad as Terra at this point!" Luz groaned. "I like healing people, but I don't wanna make that my ONLY job in life! That'd completely make my time learning all the other magic pointless."

"Good call kid, wild magic for life, fight the coven system!" Eda pumped a fist up. "The only coven that matters is the Bad Girl coven."