The Boiling Isles was weird, and there was no denying it. Camila didn't know what she had been expecting from the whole "alternate fantasy universe" that her daughter had become attached to, but she supposed that she was expecting it to be more Harry Potter-esque. She certainly did not expect the vast array of strange creatures that wandered the streets of Bonesborough.

She was embarrassed to admit it, but she was frightened of them. Something about the less humanoid creatures triggered an innate fight or flight response. Bringing her gun with her to the Boiling Isles had seemed like a good idea right up until the point when she had nearly shot an eleven-eyed snake creature who had turned out to be just asking her for directions to the library.

Still, Camila was the sort of person who faced her fears. She had once hated the sight of blood, but in order to become a nurse, she had overcome this fear and now seeing even the most painful injuries that could be inflicted on the human body barely made her flinch. If she was to live in the Boiling Isles, then she would have to stop being afraid of its innocent residents.

That's why she'd taken to wandering the streets of Bonesborough in the afternoons, intentionally exposing herself to creatures that would have made Hieronymus Bosch's work look mundane by comparison. She'd taken the liberty of procuring a set of cosplay witch-style ears and when she was wearing them, no one at all suspected that she was anything other than a witch. Pretending that she was from a foreign land (which was technically true, after all), she had many interesting conversations with demons, witches, and other sentient beings, quizzing them on their jobs, families, and lives.

Camila had always gotten along surprisingly well with people. She'd gotten a reputation for being extremely cool in a crisis, and once you got that reputation, people would always turn to you when you needed help. That reputation appeared to be spreading to the Boiling Isles. In particular, whenever they heard that she was a mother, they always seemed to be asking advice about how to handle this or that parenting issue.

Interestingly enough, most of the situations that they asked about were quite comprehensible to Camila. It would seem that children, especially teenagers, were the same in any dimension. More than anything, that seemed to calm her nerves around the Isles' denizens. Maybe they had a lot of biological differences to humans, but fundamentally, they were much the same.

Camila's days on the Isles started following a routine. She'd have breakfast with Raine at a diner near her hotel, she'd spend the mornings studying her new book in the park, and then spend the afternoons wandering around, getting to know people. In the evenings, she'd have dinner at the Owl House and spend time with Luz, who was very eager to talk about her school days. At least, she had been. Luz had been remarkably cagy about what she'd been doing recently. But if Luz needed help, Camila was sure she'd ask.

She had to admit that her favorite part of the day was her breakfasts with Raine. They were so gallant and charming! Polite and well-mannered, but also sweet, affectionate, and gentle. And pretty easy on the eyes too. Camila had to admit that she was jealous that Eda had managed to snag such a catch. If they had been single, she probably would have made her move.

And sometimes, Camila got the impression that Raine felt the same way about her too. The idea that she had a crush on them made her uncomfortable enough, but the fact that it may have been reciprocated was even more uncomfortable. In her time, she had heard all sorts of prejudicial stereotypes about bis being promiscuous and homewreckers. The last thing she wanted to do was lend credence to these ideas.

Still, it was kind of hard to remember that when Raine was looking at her with those gorgeous green eyes of theirs.

Anyway, it was entirely possible that she was misconstruing their actions. This could have just been them trying to be extra courteous to a visitor from another realm who was a part of their partner's found family. There were unquestionably innumerable cultural differences between Earth and the Demon Realm, and the most likely option was that Camila was seeing things that weren't there.

"Camila?"

Camila realized in that moment that she had gotten so lost in thought during her afternoon wanderings that she'd completely lost track of her surroundings. Two witches, a boy and a girl, a few years older than Luz were standing in front of her. They had a very…eclectic fashion sense. Instead of being color coordinated, or coordinated in any sense pertaining to fashion at all, they were almost certainly deliberately uncoordinated, as if they'd planned out their outfits with the specific purpose of having absolutely no similarities between each other in any way whatsoever. Their hair was even more unusual, being a striking shade of pink and orange respectively.

"Do we know each other?" Camila asked warily.

"I'm Emira Blight, Amity's sister," the girl said, and then she pointed at her brother. "My twin Edric." Edric gave her a cheerful wave.

"Of course!" Camila said. She was a little embarrassed now that she hadn't recognized them. They had only met once, when Luz's new family came to Earth to celebrate Thanksgiving. "I'm sorry. It's just…the hair. It threw me off."

"Yeah, when Amy came back from the Human Realm with a radical new hair color, well, we thought it'd be cool to follow her example," Edric explained. "And it's working out well! I got a date tonight! He was totally drawn to my hair. He thinks it's cool."

Emira rolled her eyes. "Or maybe he just asked you out because he felt sorry for you."

"A pity date is still a date, sister," Edric said haughtily. "Besides, pity or no, once Jerbo sees what I've got planned for the evening, he's going to fall so in love with me."

"Is this a coincidence that we're running into each other here?" Camila asked, already suspecting the answer.

Emira shook her head, an approving smile on her face. "I see where Luz gets her smarts from. I just wanted to apologize for springing Amy on you without your knowledge." Amity had shown up on Camila's doorstep, trying to persuade Camila to let her get betrothed to Luz. After Camila had, of course, refused, they'd had an emotional conversation that she certainly had no intention of divulging to anyone. "She was really insistent."

"I think that matter is settled now," Camila said diplomatically. "And while I know you enjoy teasing Amity, I'd like to ask you to please not do that about this incident. Or to mention it to Luz at all. Amity has to do that in her own time."

"Agreed," Emira said, surprising Camila. Luz had told her once that Emira and Edric had tried to steal Amity's diary and make its contents public, just because she kept getting them in trouble for making pranks. Evidently, they'd come a long way since then. "But don't expect me to completely stop teasing her! A bit of humility is good for her!"

Camila felt that Amity's problem was that she had too much humility, but it really wasn't her place to interfere with this sort of thing unless it got out of control. Besides, teasing between siblings was the sign of a normal and healthy relationship in moderation.

"Well, a little bird told me that someone's interested in studying healing magic," Emira said, clearly in an effort to change the subject.

"How did they find out?" she wondered.

Emira blinked. "I thought that was a human saying," she said, sounding uncertain.

"Oh! Well, yes, it is. But after what I've seen, I can totally believe talking birds. Do they talk around here?"

"Yeah, some of them," Edric said. "Anyway, Emira and I were talking with Viney – she's Emira's girlfriend – and she says she's willing to tutor you, free of charge. It may be slow going, because you'll basically be constructing healing glyph magic from the ground up."

Camila's eyes narrowed. "And the three of you have no ulterior motives in offering this in any way whatsoever?"

"Of course we do," Edric said easily. "We want you to stay here in the Boiling Isles. Amity likes you. She thinks of you as the mother we always should have had." A grimace appeared on his face for a second. "We want you to be happy here. Helping you helps Amity."

That did make sense, and it warmed Camila's heart to know that Amity had siblings that had her back and were thinking about her best interests. The poor girl had been starved of love as a child. She needed as much support as she could. "Well, tell Viney that I'm definitely interested. But I do want you to understand that I will be staying on Earth for at least another three years, until Luz graduates from high school. If she can't change my mind on that, you certainly don't stand a chance."

A smile formed on Emira's face. "You never know. I can be persuasive. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to coach my dearest brother so he doesn't completely bomb tonight's date."

"Hey!" Edric said, not sounding all that offended. "Jerbo happens to like me for who I am."

"Well, that makes one of us," Emira shot back. Camila listened to them constantly bickering as they walked away and couldn't help but smile. It was great seeing Amity's siblings able to be normal teenagers now that their disgusting parents were in prison where they belonged.

Hang on. Shouldn't they have been in school? Oh, well. Too late now.

The rest of Camila's afternoon seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. By the time she got back to her room, she was so exhausted from all the walking that she was doing that she almost completely failed to notice the demon sitting on her bed.

The demon looked like a normal human with very bulky muscles, except for the part where he had a head resembling a leopard. And that leopard head had eyes that were looking at her as if she was a particularly juicy cut of meat. Camila wondered how fast he could move. Could he eat her before she grabbed her gun from the end table drawer and shot him?

"Good afternoon, Miss Noceda," the demon said in a gravelly, distinctly menacing tone. "I am Lord Valefar."

Camila gulped. The most dangerous kingpin in the Boiling Isles knew who she was? That did not bode well at all. But the most important thing to do when faced with a predator, she knew, was to not show weakness. "That's Mrs. Noceda to you," she said coldly. "And you are trespassing in my room, 'my lord.'"

Valefar gave her a smile that made her skin crawl. "My deepest apologies, Mrs. Noceda. I merely wished to welcome you to the Boiling Isles. It is not every day that a human comes to our realm." He spun his hand in a circle and summoned magically an envelope with her name printed on it in elaborate calligraphy. "In fact, I am here because I wished to invite you to a soiree I am hosting on the night of the solar eclipse. Many of my associates are quite fascinated by your realm. I give you my word that no harm would come to you or yours should you attend my party."

Camila definitely did not miss the unspoken implication that harm would come to them if she did not. But she wouldn't be pushed around by anyone. Besides, what would he do to her? Kill her? That didn't fit his modus operandi of being as cunning as he was evil. Eda would storm his lair and kill him herself if he did that. "Given the despicable things I've heard about your business practices, Valefar, I would sooner jump off a cliff than lower myself to spend time in the company of your associates."

Valefar jumped off the bed and got very close to her, then let out a loud roar straight in her face. Camila could not restrain a loud yelp of fright. "I would urge you to reconsider, Mrs. Noceda. The Boiling Isles is far more treacherous a realm than you are used to. Your daughter Luz, in particular, being of a young age, could fall victim to its dangers at any moment."

Camila reached out as if to grab the envelope, then punched Valefar right in the solar plexus. Thankfully, that seemed to have just as much of an effect on him as it would a human. He was doubled over for long enough for Camila to run across the room, grab the gun, and point it at him. "You made a dreadful mistake threatening my daughter."

For an instant, Camila was tempted to put a bullet through Valefar's head and solve Eda's problems right then and there. But she couldn't. She wasn't a killer.

So she shot him in the shoulder instead.

Valefar dropped the envelope and let out a loud roar that rattled the windows of her room, as emerald blood splattered onto the floor. He swept his hand in a circular motion, and then he was gone. A teleportation spell, almost certainly. Now that was a cool piece of magic. She'd have to ask Luz if there was a glyph for that.

Oh, crap, Luz!

Camila grabbed the crow that seemed to serve as a telephone and frantically dialed the number for the Owl House.

"You really mean it?!" the horrifying voice of Hooty said over the line. "You're going to let me do your voicemail message? O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Leave a message after the tone!"

A loud buzzing sound that nearly blew out Camila's eardrums ensued, but she didn't bother leaving a message. She just ran out of her room and headed towards Hexside. She had to make sure that Luz was all right with her own two eyes.

Eda was angrier than she ever had been in her life. It was one thing to threaten her. She was used to it, and honestly, she'd done a lot to deserve those threats in her time anyway. But threatening her teenage daughter was utterly, utterly unacceptable! There would be a reckoning. The only thing that was stopping her from morphing into the Harpy Beast right then and there and storming the gates of Valefar's palace was the fact that she wasn't sure if she could actually win such a fight. She may have been the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, but Valefar had access to a legion of minions who would overwhelm her with sheer numbers.

At least Luz was all right for the moment. She'd taken Valefar's threat to her in stride. In truth, Eda wasn't sure that she was wrong to do so. It could very well have been a bluff, and several days had passed without anything untoward happening. Valefar was a sadistic bastard, but he was smart about it. He played the game of politics as adroitly as anyone Eda had ever met. Hurting or killing the human that everyone knew was the prime minister's daughter wouldn't gain him anything at all.

But even an empty threat to Luz could not be tolerated. That was why Eda was now pouring over every scrap of information that the LEC had collected on Valefar alongside Lilith at Lilith's office in the increasingly vain hope that there was something there that they had missed.

"So tell me why we can't just assassinate this bastard again?" Eda asked.

Lilith sighed. "Once more, we can't just go around assassinating people, Eda. It sets a terrible precedent. Not to mention the political implications if it gets out."

Eda scowled at her, but had to concede that Lilith had a point, not that she'd ever admit it. Valefar was one of the biggest financial supporters of Tasha Hart, Eda's foremost political rival and leader of the opposition in parliament. If she assassinated him, it'd look like a direct attack on Hart and only turn the public in her direction more.

At first, Eda had assumed that Hart was just like Odalia, yet another snooty, sadistic tyrant bent on bringing back the days of Belos' reign of terror. After all, her daughter Boscha's behavior was just like that, and the apple rarely fell far from its tree. She had been wrong about that. Hart was all those things, but she was also smart about it. Instead of trying to assemble an army and overthrow the government like Odalia did, Hart used the system to her advantage. She cloaked herself in an air of respectability, preaching about things like traditional values and the importance of family to hide her true agenda of undermining democracy and freedom.

But Hart was a problem for the next election. The real problem right now was Valefar and how to make him rue the day he was ever born. And as loathe as Eda was to admit it, the materials that they'd collected on him were useless.

"We could book him for criminal trespassing?" Eda suggested. "You know, for breaking into the hotel room."

"It'd be just her word against his, and he'd be out in a day," Lilith retorted. "We're going to figure something out. Why don't you get back home and get some rest? You look like you haven't slept in ages, dear. I promise, I'll think of some stratagem. I will not allow this maniac to threaten my family."

Eda was genuinely touched. Affectionate gestures from her sister, even these days, were few and far between, so the ones that she got were to be cherished. "Thanks, sis. I know you've got my back."

Of course, it didn't help Eda's mood when Hooty accosted her before she could even get in the door. "Guess who's got mail?!"

"I don't want to hear it," Eda said, and tried to push past him, but he wouldn't let her into the building. He spat out an envelope. Eda sighed and opened it. The letter inside consisted of a single, typewritten line of text: "The Augmentation Chalice has been found."

Eda's eyebrows shot up in surprise. The Augmentation Chalice was a legendary magical artifact, long thought to be a myth, said to be able to supercharge any potion. She had searched for it for over a decade in the hopes that she could strengthen her elixir enough to make it last much, much longer, or even outright heal her curse. But she'd never come anywhere close to locating it.

If Valefar got his hands on the Chalice, then he'd be able to supercharge his love potions. Right now, they were exceptionally powerful in terms of lowering inhibitions, but there were still some limits to how deeply it could control its victims. Those limits would be smashed to pieces with the Chalice. At that point, they wouldn't be love potions; they'd be mind control potions.

Her train of thought abruptly disintegrated when she walked into the living room and saw Luz on the couch, rocking back and forth and crying hysterically.

"What the hell happened?!" Eda demanded. "Was it Valefar? Did he hurt you? I'll rip all his organs out with my bare hands!"

"It…it wasn't Valefar," Luz whispered, barely able to get the words out through her tears. "It was Cat." Eda blinked. That name didn't ring any bells. "One of Boscha's friends. She…she said that she was going to use a love potion on me." Eda gasped in horror.

"She said she was going to make me fall in love with her!" Luz shouted. "She said she'd make me forget all about Amity, that I'd hate her when she was done! That I'd be so in love with her that I'd kill Amity if she asked me to! Oh, God, Eda, please tell me that can't happen. I don't want to stop loving Amity!"

Eda wondered if it would be wrong to disembowel Cat. Surely anyone who even threatened to do such a vile thing deserved to die in a horribly painful manner. But revenge could wait. Reassuring Luz was the top priority now. "Luz, I swear to the Titan, I will not let that happen to you. What did Bump say when you told him about this?"

"Um…well, I haven't done that yet," Luz admitted. "I just…when I got bullied back at home, no one believed me when I tried to tell on them. The principal would say that I was just making things up, trying to get attention. And Bump is the same guy that was cool with Boscha getting away with murder, so my hopes aren't high."

Eda wrapped her daughter in a tight hug. "Back then, you didn't have me, Luz." Oh, crap, that had probably came out the wrong way. "Not that your mom wasn't helpful for this sort of thing! But, you know, as prime minister, I punch in a higher weight class these days."

"Doesn't Bump hate your guts?"

"Details," Eda said, waving her hand in an offhand fashion. "We're going to go there and you're going to tell him exactly what Cat did to you, and then we're going to get her expelled. And arrested. And possibly beheaded."

Luz nodded. She looked so small and weak now. Well, she was always small, but she had a big attitude. Now, it was painfully obvious that she was just a frightened child. "Okay."

"You can ride on my back on the way there," Eda offered. Luz knew about the Harpy Beast, and she'd always pestered Eda to ride on her back. But as Eda had found out, it really put a strain on her back to carry Luz. This, however, was an exceptional circumstance. Eda could tolerate a little bit of pain if it brought light back into Luz's eyes.

The idea seemed to work at least a little bit. Luz didn't look like she was about to collapse, at the very least, by the time she arrived at Hexside. Eda didn't bother changing back into her regular form. It was important that Bump knew who he was dealing with, and being the Harpy Beast would definitely send that message.

Sure enough, Bump's eyes widened with shock and fear the moment she stormed into his office, particularly as she did so by smashing through his window with Luz still on her back. "I'm going to have to call you back," he said quickly and hung up the crow that he was speaking on.

"I presume there is a purpose behind this brazen property damage, Prime Minister Clawthorne," he spat at her as Luz got off Eda's back and took a seat on a chair. Bump was virulently opposed to Eda politically, seeing her as a dangerous menace who would bring the Isles to its knees if given a chance, and made no secret of his support for Hart. To be fair to him, however, he hadn't taken his opposition to her out on Luz, treating her just the same as he did before.

"There is," Eda said, her voice echoing as it often did in Harpy Beast form. "Tell him what happened, Luz. It's okay."

After some more prodding from Eda, Luz reluctantly relayed the whole story to Bump. Bump looked more and more furious the longer that Luz's conversation went on. Eda hoped that it was fury at Cat for having the gall to threaten such heinous things and not fury at Luz for supposedly making up the story. "This is an offense worthy of expulsion, if your story is true," Bump said after Luz was done.

"It's worthy of her being fed to a sarlacc!" Eda shouted. Bump looked at her uncomprehendingly. Ah, that's right. He hadn't been present for that movie marathon Luz had forced her friends and family to sit through.

She looked over at Luz, hoping that the reference to her realm's culture would cheer her up, but she was slumped in her seat, looking utterly hopeless.

"So that's it then," Luz said in a flat voice. "You don't believe me?"

"It doesn't matter if I believe you or not," Bump said. "When an accusation of this level of seriousness is levied, it is protocol to use a truth potion on the accused and the accuser to see who is telling the truth. Whichever one of you is lying will not be able to hide it for long. I'll be right back with Miss Globb."

Eda enfolded Luz in her wings. "Hey, it's going to be fine. We're going to take her down, I swear to you. And we're not just going to get her expelled – we're going to prosecute her too."

"Thanks, mom," Luz whispered. "I'm so glad you've got my back."

Bump returned shortly with a girl in tow who only could have been Cat. Eda savored the look of fear that formed on Cat's face when she saw the Harpy Beast in all its terrible glory. "It was a joke!" Cat said frantically. "I was just joking when I told her those things, I swear!"

Bump did not look remotely amused by Cat's supposed sense of humor. He opened a drawer on his desk and withdrew two vials filled with a blue liquid, then gave them to the two girls. Luz immediately downed hers, but Cat just stared at the potion, fear all over her face. "Miss Globb, if you do not drink the potion, we will hold you down and force it down your throat," Bump said serenely. Cat reluctantly downed the potion.

"Miss Globb, did you threaten to use a love potion on Miss Noceda?" Bump asked.

There was silence for a few seconds, but in the end, Cat could not withstand the effects of the truth potion. Few could, not even Eda, but she'd never had to, as the potion was only used in offenses where extremely severe violence was threatened or implemented, and Eda had done just about everything except that during her time at Hexside. "Yes," she said in a tone dripping with pure hatred.

"Did you intend to follow through on this threat?" Bump went on.

"Yes."

"Why did you want to use a love potion on her?"

Cat sneered at Luz. It was remarkable how someone so young could be filled with so much hate. "To get revenge on Amity. She was my friend, and then this thing came along and corrupted her with her dirty human ways. If I made Luz fall in love with me, it'd break Amity's heart, even make her kill herself. Heck, maybe if I rejected Luz, I'd get a two for one deal out of it."

Bump shook his head in dismay. It took a lot to shock the largely unflappable head of Hexside, and Eda could personally attest to that, but the depths of Cat's depravities appeared to have done it. "I had such high hopes for you as a student, Cat. You are henceforth expelled from Hexside from now until the end of time. I also believe that the Law Enforcement Coven will be pressing many charges against you."

"You can bet on that," Eda said. It was taking all her self-control to not just devour Cat right then and there. "Say, Cat, who gave you the love potion you were going to use on Luz?"

"It was a man with red hair and a scar on his face," Cat said. "I don't know his name."

That matched the description of Fault, a known – but not proven – associate of Valefar's. There was no doubt in Eda's mind that Valefar was responsible for this incident, but once more, there was nothing that they could pin on him directly.

It didn't matter, though. Eda was done playing nice. It was time for drastic measures, and she would no longer let the law stand in the way of protecting her daughter.

Luz stood up and looked Cat straight in the eyes. Then she punched her in the face with shocking force, knocking Cat out of the chair and leaving her on the ground with a black eye. "That's for threatening my relationship with Amity," she said, her voice ice cold.

"That's my girl!" Eda said, giving Luz a round of applause. "Bumpy, you can handle matters from here, am I right?"

"You are," Bump confirmed. "I want you to know, Prime Minister Clawthorne, that while I have my personal differences with you, I will never tolerate behavior like Miss Globb's. You have my commitment that we at Hexside will cooperate with the LEC's investigation into this matter in any way possible."

"Thank you," Eda said. It was the nicest thing that Bump had ever said to her. She scooped up Luz into her arms once more and nuzzled her. Luz leaned into the movement with a smile on her face. "By the way, Luz," she said in a teasing tone, "who drank all my coffee this morning?"

"It was me," Luz said, compelled to tell her the truth. "Oh, crap!" Eda just ruffled her head in response. She loved her little troublemaker so much.

Raine had faced a lot of bullying during their time at Hexside, but never had anyone gone as far as Cat had gone. It was absolutely reprehensible. Even their worst tormentors – even Odalia at her worst – wouldn't have gone as far as that, out of fear of punishment if for no other reason. Love potions were justly regarded as some of the most vile substances known to witchkind. They had been illegal since laws had existed on the Boiling Isles and immoral for much longer. Even the Emperor's Coven wouldn't use them.

It was a small mercy that Luz didn't seem to fully understand the implications of such an act, but she understood enough to be disturbed by the whole incident. Thankfully, love potions had antidotes which could immediately dispel the effects, although the longer the victim was ensorcelled, the weaker the effect of the antidote. As soon as they heard the news, Raine immediately went out and bought quite a few vials of the antidote, distributing multiple vials to all of Luz's friends and family.

In truth, they did this more to reassure Luz than because they actually thought it was strictly necessary. Raine doubted that Valefar would take a second attempt at trying to hurt Luz, especially after he heard about how angry it had made Eda. Just in case, Eda had told Camila to send a message to Valefar that she was accepting his invitation. The three of them would figure out how best to excuse her not showing up later.

Over the days that followed after the incident, Raine and Eda had both put their plans of wooing Camila on hold. There were more important things to worry about. Curiously, though, the three of them ended up getting closer together, and not farther apart. This was mostly because Luz was spending a great deal of time with Amity now. Camila was disappointed that her daughter wouldn't want to confide in her, but it was only natural that Luz would want to reaffirm a relationship that could have been ripped from her.

And, of course, they remained a flustered mess whenever they were around Camila. Camila didn't appear to notice. She'd heard tales of their equally flustered messiness when they'd been wooing Eda and seemed to just assume that it was continuing. Other than the breakfasts the two of them had together, Raine and Camila didn't get much one on one time.

With Luz now spending most of her nights at Blight Manor – with the threat of endless teasing from both Blight siblings ensuring that no funny business occurred there – the three of them had taken to watching human movies in the evening. Raine could not help but marvel at how impressive the special effects in some of those movies had been. Humans were able to create wonders with their computers that even the greatest of illusion spells would be hard pressed to duplicate.

"I don't get it," Eda complained after they'd finished watching The Wizard of Oz, which had been one of Camila's favorite movies as a child. "Why would the Wicked Witch of the West just melt when exposed to water like that? I mean, Boiling Rain, sure, but regular tap water?"

Camila shrugged. "Water is a symbol of life, and the Wicked Witch was a purveyor of death. Also, it's just a movie. Sometimes, they don't make sense."

"She reminded me of Odalia," Eda mused. "Especially with that laugh of hers. Ah, wouldn't it be satisfying to watch her melt, Raine?"

Raine did not hate people as a general rule, but everything that they had learned about how Odalia had treated her daughter made her a definite exception. "Not half as satisfying as having her rot behind bars. Death is over quickly. Prison lasts longer."

Camila did the last thing Raine expected her to do. She laughed. "I didn't know you had such a dark side, Raine! I kind of like it," she added the last sentence in a breathy whisper which made Raine's breathing falter for a few moments.

"Only when it comes to protecting the people I care about," Raine assured her.

Eda clapped her hands. "Okay, well, the fun part of the evening is done, so now let's get to the not so fun part of the evening. I want to get revenge on Valefar, and I've got the perfect plan to do it, but I need your help. Both of you."

"I'll do whatever it takes," Camila said immediately.

"What I'm about to propose is risky," Eda said, sounding dead serious for once. "It's very illegal, and even more dangerous. I could lose my office. We could all die. But if I'm right, then it's something that we absolutely have to do."

"I'm in," Camila said after a few seconds.

Eda sighed. "Camila, I know you're reluctant to participate in skullduggery, but this piece of shit tried to ensorcell our daughter. He has to go down hard so everyone gets the message that Luz Noceda is permanently off limits."

"Eda," Raine began.

Eda looked Camila straight in the face, and was it Raine's imagination or was their crush blushing? They very much hoped it wasn't. "Isn't there some part of you that is sick of being respectable, of doing what society expects of you? Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to say, to hell with it, I'm doing what I like, and damn the consequences?"

"Eda, I said I was in. You don't have to give me a speech." Eda coughed, looking embarrassed. "Although I must say, it was quite a persuasive speech. Maybe you're more suited to the political realm than I thought you were."

"Hey, we're partners now. Partners in crime, just in crime! You shouldn't insult me like that." She winked at Camila to indicate that she was joking. Raine definitely wasn't imagining it this time. Camila was definitely blushing.

Eda cast an illusion spell and a simulacrum of the Augmentation Chalice appeared in the air. "This is our target. The Augmentation Chalice. Any potion placed within it becomes exponentially more powerful. Valefar's love potions are bad enough now, but can you imagine how awful they'll be when they've been supercharged?" Raine could imagine. They wished that they could not. "The bad news: I've managed to confirm that he's got his hands on it. The good news: It can only be used during a solar eclipse."

Camila nodded, realizing instantly what that meant. "And, by sheer coincidence, Valefar's party is on the night of the solar eclipse."

"Right," Eda confirmed. "I don't know what his plan is, but it can't be good. Here's ours: We're going to infiltrate the party and steal the Chalice. You've already been invited, and you can bring two guests with you. Valefar's mansion is warded against regular magic, but glyphs should work there. We'll teleport away before they realize they've been robbed. Then we're going to use it to supercharge an antidote to the love potion, which should hopefully completely inoculate Luz from ever being effected by a love potion."

Camila looked skeptical. "Valefar hates my guts. What's to stop him from killing us the instant we walk through the door?"

"This is a high society shindig," Eda explained. "Outright murder is frowned upon there. Some of the richest witches in the Isles will be there. Odalia was a regular at these parties."

"And who will be looking after Luz when all this is happening? If this goes south, Valefar may come after her for vengeance."

Eda leaned back in the couch and smirked. "I thought that one through. I figured that we'd have the kids have a sleepover at the Mystery Shack. Amity and Luz will be so excited to have a human style sleepover on Earth that they won't ask questions."

Raine was honestly quite impressed. It would seem that Eda had thought things through. Well, mostly. They still hadn't heard her actual plan for stealing the Chalice, but they were sure that Eda had something in mind. Despite her impulsive nature, on the rare occasions when she actually went ahead and planned something, it usually worked out quite well.

"We're going to need disguises," Raine pointed out. "We're pretty well known figures around these parts, Eda."

"Already way ahead of you," Eda said, and cast another illusion. This one was much more impressive than the last. It made Eda look like a normal human with greying red hair. She was still, of course, beautiful as the sunset no matter how she looked, but she looked even more amazing than before in Raine's opinion. Maybe they just had a thing for humans? Well, stunningly pretty ones, anyway.

Eda summoned a mirror and tossed it over to Raine. They also looked human now, with their greying mint hair replaced with greying black hair. Apparently, that hair color wasn't a typical human one. "Looking pretty good, aren't we?" Eda said to Camila in a teasing tone.

Camila just stared at them, looking utterly stunned. "Uh-huh," she managed to say eventually in the same lovesick tone that Raine had heard out of their own mouth time and time again when around Eda.

Maybe the two of them had a chance with her after all.