"Look, we don't know that's actually what happened. Maybe the Collector missed a fire glyph or something and my fall activated it." Luz reasoned, a slight nervousness in her voice.
"Luz, do you really think the Collector just happened to miss one and when your finger twirled in a circle as you fell, you just happened to activate it? Is it so hard to believe that you did magic?" King questioned.
"How would that even be possible? Humans can do magic, but only with glyphs."
"I don't know, looked like you made a spell circle to me." Hunter chuckled before wincing in pain.
"Well you're hurt and could have been just seeing things."
"Luz, what will it take to get you to accept that you did magic. I thought you'd be ecstatic about this! The first day you came here you talked about wanting to become a witch like Azura from your books. And now that you actually did it, you deny you can?"
"I just don't want to get my hopes up. Back in the human realm I thought I made a glyph nearly work, but nothing happened when I tried again."
King gave Luz a saddened look, seemed to be thinking about something, then perked up.
"Okay. Then let's see if you can do it again."
Before Luz could respond, King shot up into the clouds. Luz followed, but couldn't see him through the thick clouds.
"Try to find me!" He called out from somewhere.
"I don't have any light gl-"
"Just do a light spell! It was the first glyph you learned and the first spell you tried to learn, so it makes sense that it should be the first spell you do on purpose!"
Luz tried just flying around the clouds, searching for King but couldn't find him. She then checked her pockets to see if maybe there was some blank paper, but nothing.
"Luz," Hunter said with a groan, trying to turn to her, "There's nothing wrong with trying. If you can't do it, that's okay. You've gone your whole life without magic. But, if there's a chance you can actually do this, I think you should take it. Just relax and picture a ball of light, okay?"
Luz hesitated, but decided she might as well try. She closed her eyes and pictured the ball of light that would be made every time she used a light glyph. With a slow exhale, she moved her finger in the air in a circle. As she did she felt a small tingling sensation at her fingertips. After completing the circle, she opened her eyes and saw a small hall of light floating in front of her.
"It's…beautiful." She whispered to herself.
She let the ball of light float through the air and it revealed King flying in place a few yards away from her. They were both beaming at Luz's new abilities.
"Now that we have proof, maybe we go back to base? Eda is definitely going to be pissed and Hunter needs to be healed quickly."
King nodded and followed behind her as they flew to his tower. They landed on the beach and Luz and King got off the staves. Hunter stayed on Flapjack and got extra support from Luz. Owlbert left his staff form and perched on Luz's shoulder. King walked behind her, nervous of what things would be like after being away for so long.
As they got out of the forest and into the clearing, Owlbert flew off Luz's shoulder. She was a bit confused until she saw him land on the shoulder of Eda, who was standing just inside, furious look on her face.
"Luz Noceda, what the FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?! I told you that we weren't ready to fight the Collector, so how in your right mind did you think it'd be a good idea to try and fight him with just you and Hunter? Get inside right now."
Eda turned around and called for a medic. Two people in doctor's outfits immediately came out and led Hunter away. Once she was sure Hunter was in safe hands, she turned back to Luz, still fuming.
"Kid, you just got back and you're already fighting gods. Your mom would have my head if she found out you got hurt, or worse, under my watch. What do you have to say for yourself? I doubt anything can justify such an awful decision or make up for how injured Hunter is, but please just tell me: did you at least get anything out of this?"
Instead of answering, Luz stood there frozen. Eda had never yelled at her before. She couldn't bring herself to speak. Eda sighed and was about to continue, when King stepped out from behind Luz.
"Hey mom. I'm back."
Eda immediately broke into tears and scooped up King in a hug. King hugged her back and started to tear up as well.
"King, oh Titan I'm so glad you're safe. You're here. You're really here. I can't believe this."
"Yeah, I know. I know. Luz found me and got me out of there."
"How? How was she able to break you out? Did she trick the Collector or something?"
"Nope! She won a game. The Collector said they'd let Luz, Hunter, and me go free if she did magic and she did!"
"Hah! Stupid game. Luz figured out how to do magic in less than a month." Eda laughed.
"Well, it's more complicated than that. She didn't use any glyphs."
Eda stopped laughing and her face morphed into confusion. She stared at Luz, wondering what King meant. With a breath, Luz closed her eyes and did the light spell again. When she opened them, Eda was shocked and amazed.
"Kid, you can do magic? Without glyphs?"
"I don't know how, but, yeah." Luz chuckled. "I can do magic."
Luz floated the ball over to Eda, who stared at it until it faded away. Eda chuckled then set King down and knelt in front of him.
"Go find Gus, Amity, or Willow and hang out with them. I'm going to figure this magic stuff out, okay?"
King nodded and ran off. Eda got back up and stood next to Luz, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
"Alright kid, let's get you to the general healing area. We'll see if they can figure out how you can do magic without glyphs."
Eda walked Luz through the base and to a room lined with cots and some cobbled together medical supplies. A few people were there, but it was mostly empty. Emira and Viney were talking to some people and Alador was tinkering with one of the machines.
"We were able to scrounge together some things, but most of our supplies had to be made ourselves to not risk being caught." Eda explained, "After construction magic, healing is one of the most valuable types we have. Sadly, most of the professionals weren't doing so great after the draining spell. Even after all this time, people are still recovering their magic, so we're stuck with those who didn't have sigils or weren't at the Head."
"Hey, we're plenty skilled Owl Lady." Viney playfully scoffed, walking over to them, "Great to see you Luz. Al! Em! We have guests!"
Alador and Emira perked up at hearing their names and came over. Luz was still curious what they were arguing about last night, but felt it wasn't the time to ask.
"I really wish you'd stop calling me Al before it catches on. Pleasure to see you again…Luz? I'm sorry. Things have been so hectic and it's been awhile since I saw you last."
"Oh it's totally fine, Mr. Blight. Have you been able to talk to Amity? She missed you, Ed, and Em a bunch back in the human realm."
"Yes, yes. It was lovely seeing her again. And please, call me Alador. There's no need for formalities in times like this."
"I'm so glad you and Mittens are back Luz!" Emira said excitedly, "She hasn't been able to tell me a lot about the time in your realm, I've been busy, but I can't wait to hear all about it."
"So, what brings you here?" Viney asked, "I wouldn't think you'd stop by so early just for reunion's sake."
Luz looked over at Eda, silently asking if it's okay to show them.
"Go ahead, Luz. Show them what you discovered." Eda said, nudging Luz.
Viney, Emira, and Alador were all slightly confused, and only got more confused when Luz made a spell circle and created a ball of light without glyphs. By the time it faded away, they all stared, stunned and amazed.
"Absolutely incredible. A human doing magic like us." Alador gasped, reaching for his goggles.
"No experiments on my apprentice, Al." Eda laughed, making him put them back, slightly disappointed but understanding.
"I don't know how I can do it, but I'm able to do magic like a true witch. No paper or relying on a staff." Luz explained, "I was able to do a fire spell when I saved King, and since then I've been getting pretty good at light spells."
"Okay, you can tell us the whole story and spill all the details later, but for now I want you to lay down." Viney said.
She led Luz over to an empty cot and had her lay down.
"Has anything strange happened to you recently? Like, recently before you did magic glyph-free the first time?"
"I've been having lots of chest, specifically heart, pain, I could have sworn I almost activated a glyph while I was still in the human realm, and before I went back through the portal Vee, my basilisk friend/adoptive sister said I smelled different."
"Man I can't wait to hear about all that, but for now I'm going to do a quick scan over you."
Viney made two small spell circles scanned over her body a few times. When she finished, she looked absolutely amazed.
"You developed a bile sack."
"Wait, what?" Everyone asked, all with a different emotion.
"Yep, you have a bike sack. It's not as big as, say, mine is and definitely not as large as Eda's, but it's there. Witches bile sacks grow as they age and get more skilled. Eda, having been such a powerful witch with no coven sigil, has a massive one. Any witch with a sigil has a smaller one, and a witch your age has one that's smaller.
"Your bile sack is about the size of a skilled 10 year old. Like if a kid grew up taking every track! Not where it should be at your age, but still considerable considering you being, well, human. With you having a bile sack, quite a bit makes sense.
"Witches can use magic in the human realm as our magic comes from inside of us so it tracks that your underdeveloped bile sack would nearly be strong enough to activate a glyph, your human body isn't designed to house a bile sack so it's pushing against everything in your body, and to a basilisk you would smell like a witch, not a human, which would make you smell different than you did before."
"Wait, so how do I even have a bile sack?"
"My best guess is that every time you used a glyph, a little bit of that magic went into you. After using glyphs for so long, all that magic was able to make you form a bile sack."
Luz glanced over to Alador and watched him pace across the floor, mumbling things to himself. She sat back up and stared at her hands, wondering how things would change now that she can do magic like everyone else.
"What's on your mind, kid?" Eda asked, sitting next to her, "I thought you'd be jumping for joy."
"I am excited, but still confused. What happens now?"
"Well for now you just worry about settling in. Don't tell anyone about your new abilities. There's enough going on with you and your friends returning, we don't need word to spread that a human developed a bike sack. Let King and Hunter know too."
"I can't tell my friends?"
"Just for now, this stays a secret. It's only been a little less than two years since a human figured out an alternative way to do magic. Once we learn more we can deal with all this better. Okay?"
"Yeah, okay."
Luz was disappointed, but understood. There was enough excitement when people learned a human could do magic. Who knows what would happen if they learned a human did magic naturally.
Eda got up and walked over to Alador and they began talking and Emira and Viney got back to work, so Luz took that as a cue that she could go. She left the room and walked through the tower, finding the room she was staying in so she could take a nap.
When she walked inside, she saw King talking to a group of people sitting around him, mostly kids from Hexside as well as Amity, Gus, and Willow. As she got closer she heard that King was talking about his rescue.
"…and then the Collector stole all of Luz's glyphs and told her to use her magic. She didn't know what to do, so they went to play with Hunter. Luz was terrified and was actually able to-"
"Blind the Collector with a light glyph that they missed!" Luz interrupted, sitting next to King, "While they were distracted I used Owlbert to break the bubble, helped Hunter into his staff, and we all flew off. By the time he was able to refocus, we were gone. The place is hidden now, but we did get out. And, now we know all the people captured are okay."
King gave Luz a confused look, but didn't correct her as he saw her slightly shaking her head.
"Wow, that's awesome!"
"You really escaped the Collector that easily?"
"That's so cool!"
Most of the kids from Hexside funneled out, leaving just Luz, King, Amity, Gus, and Willow.
"Next time you sneak out, maybe let us know first." Gus chuckled.
"So, where is Hunter?" Willow asked.
"A few medics took him away. He got really hurt. He's not in the general medical area, I was just there, so try seeing if there's any for emergency care?"
Willow and Gus nodded and left. Luz smiled at Amity, who was looking at her, suspicious.
"What were you doing in the general medical area?" She asked.
"Oh, uh, Eda just wanted to do a quick checkup to make sure I was okay. You know how I've been having some heart pain lately and it was bad during the fight. I'm all good."
"So what's been wrong with your heart?"
"Uh…just been overworked from how stressed I've been. Didn't need healing for anything, just need to take it easy for a while."
"Okay." Amity said, still suspicious but trusting her, "I'm going to go grab something to eat. You probably need some sleep from your rescue mission."
Amity started to walk away, but paused and looked back over her shoulder.
"Please, tell me next time you do something crazy. I don't want you to get hurt."
Amity walked out leaving just Luz and King. He started to leave but Luz grabbed his shoulder.
"Buddy, you can't tell anyone about my magic, okay?"
"Why? It's awesome! You can finally do real magic!"
Luz was a bit pained at the comment.
How did her glyph magic make it any less real? Is that really how King thought of what she was doing before?
"Eda just doesn't want people to freak out about a human with a bile sack. That make sense?"
King nodded and ran off. Luz was finally alone. She walked over to her bed and lay down and tried to sleep, but to no avail. Her mind was rushing, she felt like she was burning up, and she couldn't lay still. After a while of laying sleepless, she decided to try calming down by splashing some water on her face.
She stepped into the large bathroom connected to the dormitory and saw it was empty. She walked over to a sink, turned on the water, and stared at herself in the mirror. She closed her eyes, leaned over the sink, and splashed water on her face.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Belos standing behind her in the mirror. With a scream she jumped back and fell. She looked behind her, and saw nothing. She slowly pulled herself up and looked in the mirror again, and nothing was there.
"Heh, I really need sleep." Luz sighed, chuckling to herself.
She rubbed the back of her neck and felt something weird. When she pulled her hand back, there was some strange green goo on her fingertips.
"What the…"
Luz trailed off and leaned into the mirror.
"Hello Luz."
She screamed again and jumped back.
"B-Belos?"
"It's truly wonderful to speak to you again."