A/N: Welcome back to L&L everyone! Hope you're excited about this episode as much as I am! Also, TOH is returning in three days! Yaaaay! Hope this episode is enough to tide you over until then!
Quick PSA though, it does come out on Saturdays yes, but I watch with my sisters and won't always be able to IMMEDIATELY watch after its release. So please refrain from TOH Season 2b spoilers in comments!
Chapter Summary: An acid rained in evening calls for Luz's first official witch lesson! But as the night tears on and Eda grows tired, the Noceda sisters and King are forced to fend off a demon intruder all by themselves.
Word Count: 11,217
The Intruder
Today was a rather quiet and calm day at the Owl House. Eda had gone off to run her errands on her own for a short period of time. Lealtad already filled their mother in on her daily Luz update—she simply stated what was happening: a slow day with nothing exciting of note. Thus far, the majority of the Owl House residents resigned themselves to the living room. Lealtad was currently lounging on the couch, re-reading Stranger in the Woods whilst her sister was on her phone filming King struggling to remove a ducky sock from his snout(?).
Originally, the two were in their room lounging there. Though Lealtad had been occupied with trying to muffle her ears from Luz re-reading Good Witch Azura for the trillionth time and subjecting her to out loud narration. That was until King came along and claimed he had something to show the two. She figured it beat sitting around and listening to her sister gush about Azura but now she found herself just waiting for the demon dog to best an article of clothing.
More unfortunately, Luz's narration had returned but now in documentary form as she commented on King's battle.
Eventually, he managed to rip the sock off his face and shred it into pieces, pounding at its remains on the carpet as he mocked, "Where are you now, ducky sock!"
"So," Luz said, "why'd you call us here again?"
"And can it please be more relevant than battles with footwear?" Leal quipped from her position at the couch, lowering her book to her chest, resting it right on her camera lens.
"Oh, yeah!" King hopped up from the floor onto the chest behind him. "Human Luz, you've been so obsessed with witchcraft that you haven't learned anything about my kind. Prepare yourself for…" he grabbed at the tarp behind him and pulled it off, whilst also managing to brandish and don on a cap. The reveal turned out to be a huge cork board full of pictures and notes (she honestly thought it was another of Eda's junk pile). "Demons 101!" King announced.
Admittedly, Leal's interest was humoured here, having now sat up from her spot and leaned over in interest. She tucked her book back into her bag and let her camera dangle off her chest as she scanned the board, noticing a variety of demons and information plastered haphazardly.
King began his lecture. "Demons like me are grim tricksters of the twilight, creatures of sulfur and bone."
"And cute little paws," her sister chimed in.
He sighed and hid his paws behind his back. "And cute little paws. True." He pulled out a glow pen—from who knows where—and pointed at the relevant pictures as he explained, "We live only to create chaos and misery. Our only weaknesses are purified water and… passive‐aggressive comments. Sometimes."
Lealtad snorted at that as Luz cooed, "Aww, you guys are sensitive."
"Even demons have inner demons," he darkly remarked.
"So does everyone else my age," Leal teased.
King then removed a picture and revealed a nasty drawing of a skeleton purple demon with a spiky turtle shell on its back. "The most powerful demon of all is the Snaggleback. He's a—"
"Bad boy!" Luz chirped. And when Lealtad heard her sister's phone begin chiming, she stood up from her seat and leaned over to look over her shoulder. She frowned when she caught Luz using app filters and stickers over the video she was filming. Leal honestly did not understand her own generation sometimes.
"Luz, pay attention! This information could save your life someday!" King complained.
At that, Lealtad's peaked interest exceeded. He was right. How many encounters had they had so far where Leal had to refer to King or Eda for help because she knew nothing? While Luz put up a farce of demonstrating her undivided attention, Leal walked over ready to encourage her sister to take this a bit more seriously. Until… thunder struck.
She was honestly surprised to learn the Boiling Isles had weather, but also hated that discovery.
"Uh-oh, looks like it's gonna rain," King addressed.
She groaned. "Mierda, seriously?"
Luz gasped as she rocketed out of her cross legged seat and out the door, stating her love of the rain all the while. King reached out and shouted, "Hey wait!"
"Ignore her, dude," Leal waved off. "Sunshine's always about feeling the first few drops."
He raised a brow at her. "What about you?"
She shook her head. "Hate the rain. Despise it," she said, frowning. She noticed King's downtrodden look out the door and shrugged. "Oye, screw it Scruffy—I'll bite." He confusedly looked up at her until she gestured at his board and crouched down. "Lecture away."
"Really!" he excitedly asked.
Leal snorted. "Yeah, yeah. It'll be wise to know or whatever."
"Okay, okay, okay!" He cleared his throat and pointed at his board. "So, demons classify under three categories: bug, biped, and beast."
She smirked. "The three b's, got it."
"While the distinctiveness of their classes is, well, obvious," he pointed to a biped demon, "Bipeds are actually like witches—they're able to do magic."
She raised a brow. "Does that mean not all demons can—"
"Ahhhaahh!" Leal instinctively shot up from her spot and looked at the door, where the source of her sister's screaming emitted. And out from the rain, came in Eda, barreling through with Luz dragging behind her. Eda turned herself around and released Luz, causing her sister to tumble right into her, King, and his corkboard.
A brief surge of pain was all Lealtad felt before she emerged from the rumble of King's stuffed toys and pictures. She looked to Luz, who was conorted on the floor. She immediately rushed to her sister and sent Eda a pointed look as the witch gratefully stated, "That was close. But the important thing is you didn't get hurt."
"Yup," Luz groaned as Leal helped her up, "not hurt."
She walked over to her messenger bag, ready to grab her first aid kit as she sighed.
This was gonna be a long indoor day, wasn't it?
::TITLE OPENING::
As the residents of the Owl House hung by the doorway, they watched Eda stand out in the boiling rain. She was unharmed, thanks to some magic barrier casted above her, and currently working on a larger one for the house. Lealtad resigned herself inside the doorway, arms crossed as she leaned up against the arch, unlike her sister and King who were sitting on the stone step outside, narrowly avoiding the acidic droplets. She smiled down at King as he plastered a bandaid on Luz's right forearm then one on his nose, proclaiming they're now, "boo-boo buddies!" She was glad Luz let someone check up on her supposed injuries for once.
Luz squished her face as she fell over. "Oh my gosh I love you so much," she adorably whispered to the demon.
Lealtad merely rolled her eyes and nudged her sister with her foot, sparking her attention. "If that seriously acts up? Tell me, hermana," she demanded.
Luz happily nodded. She turned back to the rain. "But can you believe it, Leal? A boiling rainstorm on the Boiling Isles!"
She scoffed. "Ahh yes, all the more reason to hate the rain," she bemoaned.
"Aw c'mon! Isn't the weather here so fun?"
Eda turned around and smiled at them. "Yeah, we don't have weather." She began to sardonically list off, "We have plagues, gorenados, shale hail, painbows."
"It's like a rainbow but looking at it turns you inside out!" King elaborated.
Luz pulled on her hood and tightened it up as she brought her knees up to her chest. Leal chuckled, moving her foot aside and allowing her little sister to scoot into the doorway a bit. "Man," she mused, "I'd hate to see what global warming is like in this realm."
"Well, until the boiling rain stops, no one is allowed outside tonight," Eda instructed as she continued to motion her hands over a glowing orb.
"Don't have to tell me twice, Dama Búho." Leal then crouched down and whispered to her sister, "Wanna retract that 'fun' comment now?"
Luz silently nodded, tightening her cat hoodie even more.
King chimed in, pulling a book out from his hat as he said, "Well if the rain doesn't get you, the Snaggleback will." He flipped to a page with the Snaggleback on display and continued, "They wander the rain, feeding on boiled tourists."
Leal's brows raised at that, unsure of how to respond.
"Well, whatever the case, this force field spell should protect the house from boiling rains," Eda's face turned up smugly, "and made‐up demons."
That comment confused Lealtad. Did that imply King was making up everything earlier? Did that mean she just wasted her time?
"Hoot! Well, hurry it up with that force field." Hooty had made his presence known as he stuck his head out from the door and over Leal's shoulder, much to her discomfort. "That rain is getting closer to my precious stucco!" She scrunched her face up as she inched out from the doorway and behind King.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Eda grabbed her staff and stabbed it through the glowing orb.
And as if she had a premonition, Lealtad quickly brought up her camera—which was still powered on—as she zoomed in on Eda, feeling as though the witch was going to do something cool. But with the light around her glaring and the dark rain clouding the shot, she switched on her camera's built-in flash and waited for the image to settle. Eda did a quick twirl with her staff before stomping the butt of it on the ground, expanding the force field above her all over the Owl House like a balloon. Right upon the contact of staff hitting the ground, Leal took a picture, capturing Eda's pose while the bubble expanded then suddenly contracted, shaping itself around the house like a clay mold. With breathing room from the acidic rain, Lealtad comfortably stepped out from under the roof along with King.
"Wow!" Luz said in awe while pulling off her hood, "Someday I'd like to be as cool as Eda the Owl Lady. Magical, sassy, surprisingly foxy for her age."
Lealtad pulled back from the viewfinder and whistled at the picture. "You said it hermana." Despite all things, Eda knew how to look good at least.
"Hey, why do they call you the Owl Lady, anyway?" her sister asked as she stood up.
As Eda approached, she smugly answered, "Because I'm so wise."
"'Cause she coughs up rat bones," Hooty chirped.
"I thought it was because of her hair." Lealtad shrugged.
"I think it's 'cause she gets distracted by shiny objects," King suggested. Upon Eda's denial, King proceeded to pull out his glow pen, causing Eda's eyes to dilate. She then sparked a ramble about needing it desperately as she hopped after the object of luminescence, only to face plant into the ground as King swiped it away from her grasp.
Leal cringed at the sight. "Yeesh, calm down Gollum."
Her sister perked up at the latter half of Eda's ramble, excitement brimming as she asked, "You have a nest? I want a nest!" She began racing to Eda's slumped form as she shouted, "Nest party!"
Lealtad managed to stop her sister as she grabbed her by the hood and yanked her back. "Last I checked you're still Luz Noceda, not… Luz la Dama Búho," she lamely teased as she retracted her hand.
Luz stuck her tongue out in retaliation.
As Eda helped herself up, she held her hip and groaned. "Ugh. That force field really took it out of me."
"Uh‐oh. Moving a little slow. Age finally catching up to ya?" King teased.
Leal snorted. "More like The Old Lady. Though to be honest, that sounds better than The Owl Lady anyways."
Eda blankly stared. "Eh, whatever Bean Head." She raised her finger and drew a spell circle, causing both her beanie and King's hat to drag down to their eyes.
"Ahh! Darkness!" King wailed.
"¡Mierda!" Lealtad cursed as she pulled her beanie up, glaring at the witch retreating into the house. "You could've ripped it y'know!" she shouted.
Luz's hand was suddenly up against Leal's chin as she shushed her. "Don't spoil her mood!" she chided. "This is perfect. Since we'll be stuck in the house all night," she began walking inside, "Eda won't have any excuse not to teach me a spell."
"But don't you wanna finish our lesson?" King interjected with his paw out. He brought it to his chest as he added, "I was gonna let you scratch a demon's tummy. Me!"
Luz turned around and apologetically smiled. "Oh, uh, sorry, King. But… magic," she excitedly said with a shrug before darting off.
King's hat deflated due his horn piercing through, as did his shoulders and spirit. Lealtad wasn't sure why she felt bad for the demon dog but she felt for him nonetheless. Crouching down, she placed her hand on his shoulder and offered a smile, "Sorry lil' dude. But… the whole reason she's here in the first place is for this sorta thing!" He held his disappointment as he continued to stare at the ground. Leal bit her lip and sighed. "Tell you what," she squeezed his soft shoulder assuringly, "tomorrow we… we can make it all about demons. A, um, Demon Day, if you will—if that's not already a holiday, or whatever." She laughed. "Does that sound good?" she smiled.
He reluctantly looked up and grew a small smile. "Okay," he sighed.
All her years of experience with Luz taught her that that kind of response wasn't exactly a firm answer. But, she also didn't know King as well as she did with Luz so she decided to take him at his word. After a wink, she rose up and trailed in, finding her sister standing above a slumped over Eda near the couch. She was also suddenly in her sleepwear too. Luz triumphantly had King's sparkle pen held over the witch—how she got a hold of it as well was beyond Lealtad—while Eda frowned up at the girl, pointing a finger gun her way.
"—spect your cunning, but I also hate you for it," she commented.
Lealtad furrowed a brow but watched as Eda propped herself up and called Owlbert to her, this time managing to catch him effortlessly. She walked over to the fireplace and stood before it, motioning Luz to follow. King had trickled in at this point, situating himself with his demon pictures and drawings just before the couch, leaving Leal to assume all was well. She proceeded to follow after Luz, standing off to the side behind her as her sister sat down on the floor with her knees up to her chest.
Eda held her staff firm as she kept her left hand behind her back, attempting to maintain a stoic posture. "If you want a witch's staff like mine, don't make me rep…eat myself," she yawned, then shook herself awake, "Witch's staffs have power embedded into them."
Luz unclenched and clenched her hands as she said, "Gimme."
Leal snorted as she watched the Owl Lady scowl at the young teen. But, all things considered, she was appreciative of the fact that Eda was adopting the traditional style of teaching they had talked about before.
Eda went on, "But before one is earned, every witch needs to know how to cast spells on their own. Now," she tossed her staff aside, "tonight I will show you how to create… light."
She snorted once again, leaning over as she said, "Muy apropriado, ¿eh Luz?"
Her sister turned around and beamed, then whipped back and watched as Eda drew another spell circle above her, creating a small ball of light that floated down before Luz's face and popped, dimming the room of its brightness.
The two Noceda's gasped at the sight. It was pretty.
"Yawn! Who needs another boring spell lesson when you could be learning all the fun ways a demon could kill you," King held up a drawing of a demon as he shook it, "Look how teethy. Bite, bite."
"Be quiet," Luz turned her head back, "I need to focus."
Leal frowned at the demon's deflation and mimed the act of zipping her mouth shut, offering him a patient, pleading look. King begrudgingly went back to his drawings and Leal sighed as she turned back to the lesson. She turned on her camera, figuring this spectacle of light might actually have more to it than she realized and collecting pictures might be quite worthwhile.
"Now, humans think magic is made out of thin air, but that's stupid. Everything comes from something."
"Ahh, like Fullmetal," Leal muttered, bringing her viewfinder up to her eye.
The witch ignored her as she leaned down to her sister. "Let me ask you, kid." Eda booped Luz's nose. "Where do you think magic comes from?"
Luz thought it over for a second then answered with her hands collapsed together, "From the heart?"
Lealtad chuckled.
Eda's eyes widened. "Actually, you're right."
Luz gasped as Leal asked, "Wait, seriously?"
"No really!" She dug into her hair and pulled out a vivid drawing of a heart with a green sac attached to it. "It comes from a sac of magic bile attached to a witch's heart.
"Oh gross… can I keep that?"
Leal's face scrunched up in disgust as she lowered her camera.
"No," Eda said as she tucked the drawing back in her hair.
"Wait," Leal curiously chimed in, "does that mean that was what the freaky barrier thing at the Conformatorium did? Just block magic bile sac people?"
Eda blinked as she tilted her head considerably. "Huh, never really thought about it like that, Bean Head!"
"How are you her teacher?" she monotonously asked.
The witch narrowed her eyes. "Anyways, everything depends on the spell circle." She drew a massive circle above her head as she explained, "The bigger the circle, the more powerful the spell." Out from the circle, a huge orb of light emerged and quickly poofed.
Lealtad cursed as she realized she missed the opportunity to snap the photo.
Luz began tapping her index fingers together as she hesitantly asked, "But how can I, little ol' Luz, do spells if I don't have a magic bile… sac?"
Puzzlement struck Eda's face. "You know, I'm not actually sure."
Leal's face dropped. "What."
"What?" Luz gasped, leaning forward in shock.
"I know witches did magic differently in the past, but I never bothered to figure out how." She snorted.
"Eda," Luz hissed.
"Don't worry," she assured as she crouched down and ruffled her head, "you'll figure it out. Now," she stood up and cracked her back, "I need to lie down."
As she began to walk away Luz alarmingly asked, "That's it?" Eda stopped in her place as Luz stood up and pulled out her phone. Lealtad quickly maneuvered around behind Luz once again and readied her camera. "Wait! I need to see you do the circle thingy again. I'll record it on my phone this time." Luz turned on her phone's recording. "Smile! You're on camera. One more spell won't kill you."
Eda face palmed as she groaned. "Fine!" She began creating another circle, "Now, you see, the…" as the circle completed its loop, "spell circle is really key because…" Lealtad clicked her camera, but the flash went off.
"Ah shit, my bad, forgot to—" She looked at her photo and blinked. Why was there a weird hieroglyphic symbol in the spell circle all of a sudden?
Then a thud broke her out of her confusion.
She looked up and gasped as she found Eda face down on the floor.
"Whelp, looks like one more spell killed Eda," King shrugged.
Luz yelped while Leal sprung into action, kneeling down before the witch and grabbing the woman's wrist. She checked her pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. "Relax, she's fine. Or… at least, if witch anatomy is anything like a human's, she's breathing for sure." She shrugged as she gently set her wrist down and turned Eda over.
"Yeah! Remember last week when she got her head chopped off?" King recalled. "That woman can survive anything."
Lealtad furrowed a brow as she looked to King. "Is that a witch thing or a badass most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles thing?" she questioned.
"Who's to say?" the demon shrugged.
The witch snored, startling the three as they looked back at her. "Yeah…" she rubbed her head, "she's definitely alive."
"Still, we can't just leave her on the floor!" Luz addressed, gesturing at said witch.
Leal nodded in agreement before she grabbed Eda's hand. "Alright, gimme a hand—we'll take her to her nest, or whatever."
Carrying Eda up the stairs and throughout the Owl House wasn't too difficult, but finding her room was. King either forgot or was purposefully leading them astray for the comedic value of seeing Eda's unconscious body sway—ah, that was definitely the case. Nonetheless, they eventually made it to her room. Leal was busy carrying Eda by her arms while Luz hoisted up her legs, and so she just kicked the door open and in came the hallway light to a dim room.
Her eyes widened as she saw the "bed" in the centre of the room. "Oh dang, she actually has a nest."
"I want one!"
"You have a sleeping bag."
"Yeah," Luz grumbled, "but it's not a nest."
Leal rolled her eyes as the two carried her over and placed her in the nest. She brushed aside some bones (of course she has bones) and moved Eda around in a more comfortable position. Her soundly snoring was now evening out, which told Leal she was probably doing fine.
"Sorry for pushing you, Miss Eda. Please don't hurt me when you wake up," her sister quietly begged.
"Should I bap her again?" King asked, paw raised excitedly.
"Let her rest, Scruffy," Leal advised.
"Yeah, come on you little goober," Luz rubbed his head, "let's go downstairs." Her sister began walking away.
King quickly smacked Eda's face and ran away, giggling as he caught up with Luz.
The lack of response kind of startled Lealtad, causing her to lean over inspecting over the passed out witch. He smacked her right in the face and she didn't even flinch! How knocked out was she?
"Leal," her sister called out, "you coming?"
She bit her lip. "I think I'll stay with Dama Búho. Just in case." She smirked as she sat on the nest and shrugged. "Plus, someone's gotta be around when she wakes up so she doesn't kill ya," she teased with a wink.
Luz gulped with a sheepish nod. "Eh, heh, g-good point!" She then darted right out the room and down the hall, with King in tow.
She laughed at the sight before turning back to Eda. She did seem okay. While she was no expert on witch biology—most prominently now, since she didn't know about the bile sac thing—she guessworked the forehead temperature touch and didn't feel anything strange. Lealtad wasn't sure if it was a safe bet, but Eda being exhausted might've legitimately been the reason all this happened. She did just put up a massive barrier to protect them from the boiling rain indefinitely and also came home from delivering/doing errands.
The thoughts of her workload of a day made Lealtad think about her mom.
Today's texts were nothing special or of note because nothing had happened until now. That was all she reported to their mother, while also asking how she was doing these days. It was a dull day but messaging her mom made her cheer up a bit. Hearing about her grocery store runs or watching her nature documentaries and telenovelas by herself made Leal smile. Though, the melancholy of thoughts seeped in once again. But, talking with her mom often made her feel like that regardless.
She sighed as she turned away from Eda and lifted her camera from her chest.
She needed a distraction.
Lealtad turned on her camera and went through her gallery, staring at the weird spell circle she had taken a picture of. Maybe it was just because it was a human device and it flared up in the photo because of that. But the picture itself was bright and contrasted because of the flash, so all that was visually noticeable was just the weird symbol.
The one of Eda in the boiling rain as she casted her spell actually came out pretty decently, but needed a few edits in contrast to balance out the light. Though Leal had to give credit where credit was due: her sister was right about Eda being foxy for her age. For an old hermit, she sure knew how to look photogenic. She leaned more comfortably in her seat as she inspected the photo further.
Then a scampering set of footsteps startled Lealtad.
She looked around the floor, retreating her feet up to the nest as she scanned her surroundings. Nothing was in sight, but then again, the room was dimly lit—its only source of light being the window seeping in the moonlight outside and the occasional clash of thunder flashing. The scampering occurred again and Leal shuddered. She knew the Owl House had critters but because of that one fateful first morning here, she recalled Eda brushing spiders out of her hair.
The thought of that made her jump off the nest and stagger towards the door.
Then fear reminded her of the floor and its possible opponents and so Lealtad leapt out of the room and into the hall, slamming the door behind her. If there was a chance that there were spiders in Eda's room then knowing the Boiling Isles, there was a chance there was a giant spider in her room. The possibility of said spider killing Eda in her sleep occurred to Leal, so she hurried over to her and Luz's room to get her bat to arm herself.
Was she all too attached to Eda to prevent her from getting maimed by an eight legged arachnid? Not really. But was she protecting her sister's best chance at learning magic? Yes, yes she was.
The dash back and forth for her red bat was barely a couple minutes. But upon her return, she noticed Eda's door was open and a bear trap with an eye walking out the room. She gripped at her bat and watched it walk by her. "Sorry 'bout scaring you earlier—just wanted to stretch my legs a bit," they casually explained as they continued to walk down the hall.
Lealtad just breathed a relieved sigh knowing that a spider wasn't the one with her back then. However, as she entered the room found King at the foot of Eda's nest and holding a bright orange elixir in his paws. She vaguely recalled the item resting on the dresser near the witch's bed, but hadn't paid it any mind.
So why was King interested in it?
"Hey?"
The little demon jumped, hiding the bottle behind his back. "A-Ah! Hi Leal!" he nervously chuckled. "Wh-Where'd you go? I was… uh, looking for you?" he said unsuredly.
She blankly stared at him and pointed her bat at him. "Why you taking Eda's potion… thingy?"
"Uhhhh it's to help Luz make magic?" he replied more like it was a suggestion, rather than an answer.
She frowned as she furrowed her brows. "How the Hell is that supposed to make my sister summon light?"
He shushed her as he gestured for her to quiet down. "It just will. It's like a boost!" He began walking toward her. "And your sister already agreed to this and is waiting for me to bring it anyways," he said as he hurried past her.
Leal's eyes widened at that. Her sister was just gonna drink a random liquid because someone said it was good for her? That was like, don't take candy from strangers 101! Even if she knew King to a certain degree, they agreed not to be dumb about what they ingest here on the Boiling Isles. Caution and worry now overwhelming her, Lealtad raced down the hall after the little demon. She traced him down the stairs and caught him entering the kitchen, where she soon bolted after.
When she entered, she was met with the sight of her standing at the kitchen table with a cat bib that said, IT'S CHOW TIME on it. King had hopped onto the counter and handed it over to a very eager Luz.
"Now hang on Sunshine," she stepped in just as Luz started to bring the elixir to her mouth. She raised a placating hand. "We still don't know what's deadly for us in this realm. For all we know, that could be la Dama Búho's morning coffee but to us it's like… meth on meth!"
Luz frowned a bit. "King says Eda drinks this and gets a boost afterward, so—"
"And I get an energy boost after drinking two cans of Red Bull, same difference," she hastily argued, "but caffeine can also cause seizures and heart attacks for some people. It's not always one-to-one for everyone!" She took a breath, reminding herself not to lose her cool. "We agreed to take precautions with what we put in our bodies, right? Consider this a caution! The least we could do is ask Eda about this when she wakes up."
Her sister seemed to consider her points for a moment, relenting with a full frown as she mumbled, "Fine…"
Leal breathed a sigh of relief as she walked over to her sister. "Good. Now hand it over," she said, holding her right palm out toward her.
Just as Luz made a move to hand it over, lightning struck. The lights all around them flickered and Leal watched as her sister juggled the elixir around in shock, but evidently it slipped through her hands and crashed onto the floor. As the orange substance poured out, Lealtad cringed at the sight while Luz gasped. "Golden elixir gone. This is awful!"
Lealtad sighed. Great, now they had to explain this to Eda…
King stood up and placed his paws on his hips. "Who even needs a light spell when we have tons of lamps?" he said, gesturing around them.
And as if ironically timed, the lamps shut off.
Both her and Luz glared at King. He groaned in response. "Hooty controls the house lights. He probably just fell asleep."
At that moment, a loud crash echoed from the front door. The three jumped at the noise, and Lealtad gripped at her bat instinctually. They all turned over to Hooty screaming, "Hoot! Hoot!"
"Hooty!" Luz said in alarm as she began to make her way over, pulling off her bib.
Lealtad rushed after her sister along with King. But once they reached the living room they were met with a giant shadowy figure with a spiky back. It stood atop the now unhinged door and scratched at the food with its claws. Hooty had Xs on his eyes and Lealtad really hoped that meant he was just resting, but she couldn't be bothered with that as she realized the creature noticed the three of them and began growling. She took a breath as stepped forward and raised her bat defensively as she whispered, "Get behind me." She heard the two shuffle behind her and she narrowed her eyes at the creature.
Its orange eyes narrowed in response before darting away, past the curtain windows and hopefully into the distance.
After letting a few seconds pass, the three rushed to Hooty.
"Hooty! Are you in there?" Luz shouted as she started to tap his face and move his eyelids.
Leal shuddered at the way her sister peeled back his eyelids but still tapped on the door with her bat. "C'mon bird tube… thing, wake up!"
Luz looked at her and King. "Whatever did this escaped into the rain. What could survive that?" her sister asked.
Lealtad's jaw dropped as she and King turned at each other simultaneously. "The Snaggleback!" they said together.
"¡Dios mío! You said it feeds during the boiling rain, right?" Leal exclaimed.
King grabbed his head. "It does! It must have stumbled across our house and seen us inside."
The howl of the Snaggleback sounded off, and the three looked toward the source, hearing it from above. They stepped outside, just before the barrier and watched as it hopped right out from the force field and into the house.
"This is terrifying." Luz rubbed at her hands. "So why do you look so happy?" she gestured to King, who was bouncing up and down with excited eyes.
He squealed. "Because this could be a lesson. This would be a great way for you guys to see a wild demon up close and personal."
"You want to go toward those creepy sounds?" her sister asked in shock, pointing up at the crashed window. "No way!" she exclaimed, as she waved her hands dismissively.
"Yeah, horror movie 101—don't do that!" Leal shouted.
"What if Eda gets eaten? She's upstairs and defenseless because you knocked her out," he pointed at Luz.
At that, Leal froze. Eda. She was asleep! "Shit, he's right hermana!"
She looked at her, befuddled. "Leal, ¿estás loca?"
She clenched her hand around her bat. "Listen, I don't like this anymore than you do but King has a point—you are a sort of, 'Learn by doing' student." She pointed up at the window. "And, if Eda couldn't wake up to a bear trap or King smacking her face, then a giant freaking demon has every opportunity of getting her in her sleep. We have to make sure she's okay." She sighed and rubbed at her temple. "Also because… she's literally the only person that could one shot this thing and she's KO'd."
Luz groaned. "Okay… you have a point." She sighed. "So what's the plan?"
Lealtad nervously tapped her knuckles against her bat's grip. "So we know it's upstairs. We gotta arm you guys up before we confront it." She snapped her fingers in realization. "The kitchen!"
At that, the three quickly and quietly stepped inside and moved back toward the kitchen. Lealtad looked around for anything to cover herself or Luz with, but sighed as she found nothing of usefulness. And while a pan and a pot sounded nice, she figured Tangled was one of those, "only works in fiction" kind of lessons. She dragged open a drawer and smirked as she found a knife. She grabbed it and decided it was the only best option for Luz.
As she turned around, she was met with Luz and King, who were wearing duct taped pillows around their chest and back. Luz, who had two bandaids on her cheeks as a warpaint design, had equipped herself with a hockey stick whilst King's weapon of choice was his stuffed toy Francois. She frowned at the two.
"Did you take my plasters?"
Luz just smiled as she firmly gripped her hockey stick with her rubber gloves.
Lealtad sighed as she remembered this was Luz she was working with. A knife might've been a bit much. She returned the chef's knife and shook her head.
"Alright, let's go," she ordered as she took the lead, leading them through the kitchen door.
Luz pulled out her phone and turned on her flashlight, shining it just beside Leal as they ascended the stairs. Each creaking step made Leal fearful of the possibility of the Snaggleback leaping out at them or being alerted to their presence. But as they reached the top and made their way around the halls, she realized it was in hiding. Just… lurking around in the dark waiting for them.
Or at least, that was how it felt.
Lealtad gulped as they came upon Eda's room—one of the double doors had creaked open. Steeling her nerves, she took the lead and approached the door. She pulled it open and a flash of lightning illuminated the room for an instant. The sight that befell them was horrifying. The window was shattered open, glass everywhere on the floor along with Eda's belongings. The curtain was torn, the dresser and mirror cracked as it fell askew. It was like a fresh crime scene.
"Oh my gosh. Eda!" Luz gasped.
"She got Snagglebacked!" King yelped.
She and Luz rushed toward the nest. Upon seeing the empty nest, Lealtad turned back and shouted to King, "Don't come closer—there's shattered glass everywhere." She turned back and watched her sister grab a clawed pillow.
"No! Slash marks." Luz frowned as she turned to King. "King, you're the demon expert! We need your help!"
"I'll go get my demon book," he announced before darting out of the room.
"Wait!" Leal shouted, but he didn't return. She looked to her sister. "¡Idiota! Horror Movie 101? Never separate the group!" She grabbed her sister's arm and began pulling her out the room. "It's also just plain common sense. Scruffy's weapon of a choice is a stuffed toy." When they entered the hall, they found no trace of the little demon. "Mierda, where'd he go?" Leal muttered as she looked back and forth.
"It looked like he went left," Luz pointed further down the hall.
At that, Lealtad sighed. "Alright, but we gotta be careful—the Snaggleback's on this floor and it could be ready to pounce," she quietly advised as they continued to walk. She heard an audible gulp from Luz as they pressed on. As they walked further down the hall, a crawling sound started to echo before them. Leal's eyes widened as she heard a chittering hiss slowly grow near. She turned to Luz and brought a finger to her lips to silently shush her, before quietly grabbing her arm and yanking her into a nearby closet.
Thankfully, it was one of the rare spare rooms that wasn't filled to the brim at the door, and so they managed to slip in and shut it. Leal held Luz close as she pointed the barrel of her bat up toward the door. Their eyes glanced toward the light seeping through the bottom of the door's gap and watched as a shadow passed by for a split second. The two froze at the speed at which it sped past, waiting several seconds to go by before they were certain of its distance from them.
And then they breathed.
"Leal, do you think it got King?" Luz looked up at her worriedly. "It came from the direction he went."
She brought her hand up to her head and sighed. "Mierda, I don't know," she muttered. "But we can't just go out there looking for him on the chance it hasn't." When her sister's eyes widened with shock, Lealtad quickly tacked on, "We can't get caught either. If Eda and King are okay or-or hiding, getting ourselves caught or… eaten, won't fix anything." She grabbed Luz's shoulders and met her eyes head on, seriously staring into them. "Luz, we need to stay safe."
Luz's face fell into a frown before she reluctantly nodded. "So how long do we wait?"
She bit her lip pensively, looking back to the door. "I… I don't know. But definitely not now, it just passed us," she firmly whispered.
"Okay. Then… how long?"
She shrugged. "A few minutes?"
"A few minutes!" Luz loudly echoed.
"Shhh!" she hissed at her as she brought a hand over Luz's mouth. "I'm just… playing it by ear okay? It's a shockingly big house, let's give the Snaggleback a minute to get lost in it." A wet slick against her palm made her retract her hand in disgust. "Did you just lick my—"
"Leal, we can't risk that."
"Luz, your points are valid but first, you didn't need to lick my hand to express it—"
"You were covering my mouth!"
"—and second, it's even riskier for us to blindly walk out there!"
The rising tension of an oncoming shouting match was the next thing Lealtad would've predicted, based on both her and her sister's slowly elevating tones, but it never came. As a loud scampering pattered throughout the halls and grabbed their attention. In the short time they had been staying here, they both knew what that sound was.
"King!" the two gasped.
They immediately pressed up against the door and listened as closely as they could. The approaching sounds of echoing stomps and a whimpering pant cinched everything they needed. The two looked at each other and exchanged a silent nod. Luz brought her hand atop the door handle, twisting it ever so slowly as Lealtad readied her bat for a swing. "Now!" Leal shouted, causing Luz to whip the door open.
Miraculously, they found King passing by right at that moment.
Instinct carried Lealtad over as she reached forward and grabbed King's arm and yanked him inside. Her sister shut the door after him as Leal brought her hand up to King's mouth to muffle his scream. She expected the Snaggleback to stomp right past them, but instead, the footsteps came to a shocking halt. The snarl that hissed sounded like it was right outside the door, making Leatlad's spine chill with nerves.
What should she do?
What could she do?
If that thing busted in right now, how could she protect Luz?
Her eyes darted to Luz for a split second, watching the panic in her sister's eyes as she hid just beside the doorway. However, by some stroke of luck, the footsteps began to recede, as if the Snaggleback had moved on. After a minute, Leal released her hand from King's mouth as she breathed a relieved sigh.
"Argh, your camera was poking my back!" King whined as he shimmied out of her hands.
Luz rushed toward him and enveloped him in a hug as she whispered, "King, I'm so glad you're okay!"
He returned the hug before pulling away and looking up at her. "Me? Where did you guys go?" He looked over at Leal. "I came back but none of you were in Eda's room."
"We tried to find you!" she explained. "I told Luz we shouldn't split up and we tried to follow you but then we heard the Snaggleback nearby and hid here."
Luz pressed her back up against the wall and slid down, falling right on her bottom. "We had no idea where you were or-or if you got eaten!"
"B-But I—wait," King stepped toward Luz's foot, "what's that?" He picked something off the bottom of her shoe. "'Keeps the curse at bay'," he read off the ripped paper. He then gasped, eyes widened as he pulled out a similar looking paper from his collar. He pieced the two together and then read, "'An elixir a day, keeps the curse at bay'!"
"Curse?" Leal repeated.
"What're you trying to say?" Luz asked.
"I was wrong the whole time! That's no Snaggleback! That creature is—"
A claw bursted through the door, revealing a pale feathery arm illuminated by the window light from out in the hall. The three yelped. Lealtad held her bat up at the arm as it retracted back into the hall. Before she could even prepare herself or gather her thoughts, the doors busted down, and in came a huge four legged gray feathered, owl-like beast. The gleaming silhouette slowly faded as the creature turned into the natural light, revealing its head in clear view.
It's face…
It…
It was—
"Eda?" Luz gasped.
The Eda Beast snarked a sick grin as she stalked toward the two. Lealtad blinked out of her shock as she realized it was going after them. In her haste, she rushed toward the three to place herself between the creature and her sister but tripped over herself. She fell on her side right before the creature as her camera slammed against the floor and somehow activated. She must've forgotten to turn it off as its flash illuminated the room for an instant, blinding Eda with a painful shriek.
She felt her arm get tugged and turned to see her sister strain to pull her up. Lealtad quickly pushed herself up and followed after Luz, who picked up King and led them through a gap in the window. They all quickly ducked onto the baclony, with Luz between Lealtad and King, and held their breaths. Lealtad glanced at Luz, who had muffled her mouth with both her hands while King was crouched over with his eyes squeezed shut. Lealtad held her breath as she readied her bat, as the creature slowly stomped by and sniffed them out. Eda's head hung above Luz as she hissed.
She was gonna find them.
Any second now.
She was—
Luz carefully picked up a potted can and tossed it over the fencing and back into the room, clattering off in the distance. Eda shrieked as she darted off toward the source, slowly receding in the distance.
They all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, man. Did you see her eyes? They were like—" Luz hissed as she pulled down on her eyelids, making Lealtad squirm. She hated when Luz played with her eyelids—most especially at a time like this—but at least it wasn't that other thing she could do. "What happened to her?" she asked King.
"Don't you see? The elixir I gave you doesn't give Eda powers. It prevents her from turning into that thing!" he pointed off in Eda's direction. "She's turned into a nightmare and it's all my fault." King hugged his knees as he fell on his butt. "I'm so sorry, Luz. I‐I just wanted you to be into demons like you're into magic. I don't have many friends, and no one even pays that much attention to me. I thought maybe if I taught you, finally someone would care about creatures like me."
Lealtad's heart broke at the little demon's confession. Instinct carried her over to him as she hugged the demon dog. "King, I will care about you, okay?" she softly whispered to him, "You don't need to worry anymore about not having friends because you've got two new ones now. And one of them is a dope ass little ball of Sunshine." She smiled at Luz, who sobered up her guilty look. She pulled King away and smiled down at him. "I care enough about your kind because they're out to eat my sister and I, but that doesn't mean a dude like you is worth anything less than a teacher. You hear me Scruffy?" She shook his shoulders playfully. "You're worth plenty of care as you are. And even Dama Búho knows that."
He warmly smiled up at her. "Thanks Leal…"
She winked at him. "No problem, Scruffy."
"King," Luz beamed at him, "let's finish that lesson." She raised King's glow pen toward him.
He turned to her confusedly. "Huh?"
" Eda's turned into some kind of demon, and we need to save her. So who knows more about demons than the best teacher in the world?" King pointed to himself and Luz responded in kind by shooting him a warm smile and Lealtad's heart melted. That was her Sunshine alright.
King accepted the pen with a wide smile and leapt from Lealtad's arms into Luz's, hugging her excitedly as he giggled. Luz grabbed a couple leaves for King and he began sketching out a rough image of Eda's beast-like form. "Let's see: she was bigger, covered in feathers, and had giant black eyes. Demons with black eyes are usually sensitive to light." He looked back at Lealtad and his eyes lit up. "That's it, light! Leal, use your human camera thingy!"
She winced for two reasons. First, she assessed her camera, realizing her fall might've damaged it since it apparently caused the camera to flash—miraculously, it was okay. Second… "It's no good," she shook her head and pointed at the built-in flash, "this can't flash long enough to do anything worthwhile—what happened when I tripped was as good as any showing of what this can do." She sighed as she lowered her head. "It certainly didn't slow her down enough."
King turned to Luz. "What about your human rectangle things you guys use?"
Her sister shook her head. "No good. It's barely better than your glow pen." She frowned.
"Yeah," Leal agreed, "We need something big. I don't think some dinky flashlights or a camera flash is gonna work."
"Then… what about that light spell!" King suggested.
Lealtad frowned at her sister's pout as she slumped against the stone and sighed. "You saw me. I can't draw circles in the air." She held up her phone and muttered, "I'm not like Eda." She played the video.
"…spell circle is really key…"
Lealtad leaned over and stared in confusion. "Wait, pause!" she exclaimed. Luz obeyed and whipped her head to observe her older sister's face, only to find her intently staring at her screen. "Where's the symbol?"
Luz looked back at her phone. "What symbol?"
She quickly powered on her camera and flipped through her gallery, showing her the photo she took of Eda's light spell. "It's the nearly same angle, and the same time you were filming," she explained as she showed the two, turning it toward them. For some reason, her sister's video didn't pick up the weird symbol in the spell circle like Leal's camera. "See?" she pointed at the symbol, "this weird thing came up when I took the photo."
Luz tilted her head in confusion. "But, why did your camera catch that and not my phone?"
"Well, it is a high quality camera hermana," she smugly stated.
Luz rolled her eyes. "But if there's a pattern I wonder if we can do something with it," she grabbed a spare leaf from King's drawing and his pen. She motioned to place it on Leal's camera which made her flinch. Luz shot a deadpan look at her older sister. "Can I please trace over it?"
Leal breathed a sigh. This wasn't the time to be so protective over her camera. "Fine," she reluctantly said. "But you better not like, press down too hard and scratch the screen!" she warned as she moved closer to her sister.
Luz nodded, "Of course, of course." She placed the leaf up against the screen and began tracing over the pattern delicately. She pulled off the leaf when she was finished and turned to show Leal.
She gaped in awe. "How the Hell did you draw a perfect circle?"
Luz shook her head. "Forget that! Look at this!" she tapped the pattern, and then suddenly, the leaf's midrib and veins began to illuminate a warm yellow. The leaf then folded in on itself and formed a ball of light. A ball of light that looked like…
"Magic," Lealtad whispered. She looked at her sister and grinned at her awestruck face. "Sunshine, you did magic!"
Luz held her palms underneath the orb and lifted it ever so slightly, making it hover above her hands. "It's beautiful," she said. The luminescence from the ball of light shone around them and made Leal realize how dim their surroundings were. The brightness from both the light and Luz made her forget about their grim situation momentarily. "Oh my gosh. Lealtad, I just did magic!" Luz excitedly stood up and pumped her fists in the air, leaving King to hang off her arm. "I just did magic! I just did magic!"
"Shh!" King hissed. "We're not going to stop anything with something that small."
A loud screech made the three of them jump. Lealtad snapped out of her awe and motioned her sister to get down whilst Luz panickingly swiped at the ball of light and brought it down with her. She quietly sighed. "I'll let you have that one, Sunshine. Because I know you're excited and you've got that patented Luz passion in your eye," she fondly mused.
King blinked at Luz. "So what do we do?"
"I think I know how to get Eda back." She turned to King and held out her fist. "Will you help me, boo‐boo buddy?"
"Hmm, I'm kind of over that nickname. But okay!" he agreed, bumping her fist with his.
"How 'bout you Leal?" she turned, extending her other fist out to her.
She snorted. "Sunshine, do you even need to ask?" She bumped her fist against hers. "You and me, hermana, always."
::::
Admittedly, this plan sounded half-assed and sloppy on paper, but Lealtad agreed that it was their best shot. King had taken to scattering the books and papers in the designated intersection to prepare "The Slip" as Luz deemed it, while Luz was drawing up the spell circle and preparing the tarp. King offered himself up to be the bait originally but Lealtad shot that idea down instantly. At Luz's concern she said, "Hey, just because I was the star batter doesn't mean I can't sprint for my life. I got this."
She, in actuality, was terrified of this.
Yet she quickly reminded herself that both Luz and King's lives were on the line—and maybe by extension, Eda's—so she knew playing up the risk was necessary. With one final deep breath, Lealtad rounded the corner into the living room. She gulped at the sight of Eda scouring the whole room aimlessly. She was like a wild animal.
But they had to save her.
Lealtad lifted her camera and snapped a picture, flashing Eda's profile for a brief second, startling her. She snapped her head at Leal owlishly and she smirked. "What? Not a fan of the paparazzi?" All she could recall in that instant was Eda growling at her, and then she started running not before long she pounced on her. "Okay! I'll ask for your consent next time!" she shouted as she ran down the halls. She rounded a corner, narrowly slowing down Eda's speed as the beast form haphazardly bumped into the wall.
And then came the intersection. Lealtad sprinted down the hall and ducked into the turn, hopping right over the pile of papers and books. Eda wasn't so fortunate in her chase. As planned, she slid right across the scattered pile, sliding all the way down to the end of the hall and crashing hard. She winced at the sound of Eda's wailing and stuck her head out in time to see Luz had already thrown the tarp over Eda's head to slow her down.
"I'm sorry, Eda! But it's for your own good!" Luz shouted as she turned back to the spell circle and finished the drawing. She slammed her hands against the pattern and it illuminated all the lines with the red crayon, then began to shimmer brighter and brighter by the second.
Lealtad closed her eyes from the blinding light, and merely just stood back and listened as Eda's wailing and screeches receded into the white bright light.
Eventually, the light faded and there rested a large slumped over, Owl Eda on the floor unconscious. The three gathered around her body as Lealtad prodded at one of her wings with her bat, testing her reaction. She was still breathing.
They all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Okay…" King said, "now what?"
Leal looked back at Eda. "Go and see if there's more of that elixir in her room. Luz go with him, I'll stay with her just in case she wakes up." The two expressed hesitance and worry over leaving her alone but she stomped her foot. "Go! ¡Apurarse!" she ordered, and the two darted off. She walked over to Eda's head and watched her unconscious form intently. "You better have a good explanation for this Dama Búho…"
::::
Eda shot up from her nest like a damn zombie. With her left eye pitch black and half her hair all feathery and frizzled, Lealtad flinched. Eda seemed to notice as well as she quickly slurped the rest of the elixir, causing her Owl-like attributes to recede. It looked like something out of a superhero movie, the way Eda's form slowly returned—it honestly looked kinda cool.
She looked over to Lealtad in a daze. "What happened?" she groaned, reaching for her head. "Oh, I have the worst headache!" Her eyes widened. "And my mouth tastes like roadkill!" she started to retch and gag, making Leal wince.
"How do you know what roadkill—" she never got to finish that question, as Eda somehow regurgitated an owl pellet. She gagged at the sight, turning her head away as a weird purple creature emerged from the pellet.
Eda noticed the nearly finished elixir that they hooked up with the straw lying near her nest and picked it up. "Hmm, I was looking for that."
"Actually, we found an extra one in your closet!" King announced as he approached the witch.
Eda's eyes flared up. "King? King! You stole my elixir? I ought break every bone in your—"
"Shh!" King hissed. "Over there!" he pointed over to the corner where Luz was.
Lealtad smiled at the awestruck look Eda's face shifted into. The second they got some of the elixir down Eda's mouth and hooked up the straw, Leal told her sister to go make them some more lights until they get Hooty back up. For two reasons: the thundering storm was less thunderous now so less natural light seeped in, and also because she knew how excited Luz was. She did it. She finally did magic all by herself.
She had drawn a couple of the glyphs on Luz's notepad but Leal quickly pointed her in the direction of Eda's human pile to get her own. Luckily, Luz found another spare notepad and immediately went to work on it, illuminating the room with a soft yellow hue that made Lealtad smile. Her Sunshine was shining brighter now. It wasn't for nothing. They came to this strange new world on the slim possibility that Luz could even do magic. And now? Several little orbs of light and smiling Luz told Leal all she needed…
This was worth it.
"Wow," Eda uttered. "How is she doing that?"
"I don't know," King replied.
"We were kinda hoping you would be able to fill it in for us," Lealtad admitted as she turned her camera, showing her the glyph in her spell circle. "Care to hazard a guess?"
Eda blinked at the image confusedly. "Uhhhh…"
She frowned. "Figured as much." She shrugged as she dropped her camera back down to her chest. "We can look into it later when you're feeling better."
"Speaking of," King cleared his throat timidly. "I uh, kind of messed up a bunch of things back there, and I just wanted to say I'm sorry."
"Well you better be!" Eda angrily stated as she pointed at him. "I've got a long list of disgusting chores with your name on it!" Her face fell into a frown as she eased back. "Buuut, it's not entirely your fault." Luz must've noticed the commotion as she had now joined the three, carrying over some of her balls of light with her. "I haven't been completely honest with you guys."
"No shit," Lealtad muttered, receiving a swift elbow from her sister.
Eda continued, "When I was younger… I was cursed. I don't know exactly how it happened." She grabbed her elixir. "All I know is that if I don't take my elixir… well, that's why people call me The Owl Lady." She added on, "No one likes having a curse, but if you take the right steps, it's manageable." Her face fell to a downtrodden look which made Leal raise a brow.
"Whoa. So are you okay?" her sister asked.
"There's nothing for you to worry about," Eda dismissed as she pushed herself up and sat on the edge of her nest. "It's all under control. And as long as no one steals my elixir—King," she shot a pointed look at him, "then I'm fine." She brightened up as she gestured to Luz, "But hey, look at this: a human doing magic! Good on you, kid!"
Lealtad frowned at Eda's response. That was evasive. It was the kind of response their mother would loop around to when she was trying to take the focus off her own health—it was a deflection. A typical "don't worry about me" tone. But who was she to prod Eda? Nonetheless, she allowed Luz and King to have their moment.
"I had some encouragement from a great teacher," Luz cheekily replied, looking down at King.
"Ohh, you," King playfully laughed.
"Hey, hey!" Hooty's voice echoed throughout the house. "Is anyone there? Hello? Hoot. I'm on the floor! It's cold!"
They all simultaneously winced.
"That voice," King groaned. "That horrific voice!" he shouted as he stomped out of the room.
"We'll take care of him," Lealtad tiredly said under her breath.
"You stay in bed," Luz added. She moved to pick up the small creature Eda had swallowed but Lealtad stopped her. "But we have to set him free?" she sadly said.
Leal blankly shook her head. "First off, can't do that, boiling rain is still pressing on," she pointed to the window with her bat, "and second, he just came out of Eda's mouth. No touchy touchy." She poked at the little guy with the barrel of her bat. "C'mon bud, carry yourself out." The demon groaned as he slowly began to pick himself up.
Luz teasingly smiled up at her as they started to walk out. "If it was me or King I bet you wouldn't hesitate to pick us up!"
Leal rolled her eyes. "You? No. King? Maybe."
She chuckled. "Whatever you say, Leal."
Leal snorted, bumping her shoulder with her sister as entered the hall. She turned back and waited as the purple dude walked on through. She noticed Eda's small smile before shutting the door behind them. As they walked through the halls Lealtad frowned. How long had King and Eda been roommates that she was able to hide this from him? Sure King could be oblivious, but a condition like that? Leal considered its similarities to a lot of health conditions in the human world.
The way Eda made the elixir sound, it was like medication. The thought of that made her snap to Luz. When she was younger, after she was diagnosed with ADHD, Luz had to take prescription pills to help her focus in class. Eventually, Luz managed to get through her coping habits to manage without the pills and for their mother's benefit too—they were getting pricey. All in all, Leal couldn't find it in herself to criticize or comment on Eda's curse when what it presented was something that seemed well managed. If King had been staying with Eda for years, and hadn't noticed, then full credit to Eda for managing it carefully and responsibly.
But still… she kept it from them. Two new residents who were even more powerless than the two demons she already had, and she didn't warn them about anything. It was facts like these that made Lealtad worry about Eda as their guardian during their stay. When it came down to it, did Eda protect Luz? Yes. But, did she also create a number of issues that also endangered her? Yes.
"Hey," she said to Luz, "you think you can take care of Hooty?" Luz confusedly nodded, obviously wondering where Leal was going with this. She lingered at the bottom of the steps as they just finished descending and jerked her thumb up, "I'm gonna wait for Eda when she gets down, maybe see how she's doing and figure out the plan for dinner."
Luz beamed with two thumbs up. "Sure! Oh, can I borrow some of your plasters?"
Her brows raised. "You get hurt?"
"No! They're for Hooty! Remember? He got scratched."
She blankly stared at Luz. "They're… for the wooden door…?"
Luz's face shifted into an awkward grin—no doubt realizing how silly it sounded—and timidly nodded as she held her hand out.
With a sigh, Lealtad reluctantly dug into her brown messenger bag and brandished the packet of bandaids to Luz. As she grabbed the packet, Leal gripped onto her sister's hand, shooting her with a stern glare. "I swear, if you waste all my plasters this one month for doing a 'boo-boo buddies club' I'm gonna smack you."
Luz nervously giggled as she stepped back from her. "N-Noted," she quickly nodded.
Lealtad smirked as she released her, motioning her to go on ahead. With a smile, her sister darted into the living room with King. "Just focus on cleaning up the mess first!" she shouted, "Hooty can wait!"
"Hoot! No I can't!"
"Argh," Leal nearly jumped at Eda's voice, "What mess? What now?"
"The mess Owl You made," she mused as she looked up at her. With a raised brow she pointed out, "That was a quick nap?"
"Ehh, too awake to sleep. I'm fine," Eda brushed off as she descended the steps. "'Sides, I gotta make dinner after all."
She cleared her throat. "About that," she awkwardly tapped her knuckles against her bat's grip, "can we talk?"
Eda's eyes widened as she came side by side with Leal. "Uh-oh, another shovel talk?"
"No!" she hastily assured, startling both of them. "I… I get it." She sighed. "You have a right to your secrets, and we are just some random ass kids who came in and moved in with you for a while—so we have just as an equal playing field of trust." She looked over to the living room, catching Luz pace back and forth as she cleaned up the scattered mess. "And I know you will protect her. And I know you're capable too," she looked back at Eda with a pleading look, "I'm not doubting your ability to take care of yourself or anything. But… promise me this whole curse deal ain't gonna affect how you look after her."
A soft smile grew on the witch's face. "Relax Bean Head, I'll take good care of your sister."
"Promise?"
"Promise," she winked.
She released a sigh of relief. "Thank you," she whispered. With a fresh smile, she asked, "Now, you mind teaching me how to cook those griffin eggs you made? Or at least give me a rundown? Sunshine seems to like 'em."
Eda grinned. "Sure thing, Bean Head! But how about after we get Hooty up? Cooking in the dark seems less safer after all."
Lealtad snorted. "Why bother?" she dug into her messenger bag and pulled out her notepad, flipping to the page where Luz had drawn a glyph. "I mean, Luz knows a light spell now right?"
Eda smirked as she leaned over and pushed the notepad toward Leal. "You both do," she mused before turning around and heading into the kitchen.
Leal confusedly stared at the pad. What did she mean by that? Her thumb hesitantly hovered over the drawn pattern then tapped it. The feeling of light coming to life right before her made Leal gasp. "Dios mio," she uttered in awe.
She did magic.
Wow…
How about that?
A/N: She never expected herself doing magic, huh? Makes you wonder how she feels about that...
Fun fact about this chapter, since Leal's perspective is our main focus I never really noticed how this has such minimal scene breaks since it all falls into the next scene and into the next! It was really surprising when I noticed that! Made writing it an interesting experience in terms of pacing but I'm pleased with how it came out! I understand the chase scene feels abrupt, but I still want to TRY and implement the show's style of pacing. Of course, feel free to tell me if you thought otherwise in the comments. It did result in a shorter episode, much like last one.
Lealtad's camera capturing the glyph instead of Luz's phone was honestly one of the retcons I was most proud of. In canon it never really clicked to me why her phone was able to suddenly see it just because its screen was cracked and it "glitched" the video but I get it, magic and technology and whatnot. But here, Leal's camera flash reflecting against a light glyph follows what Eda later expresses in that the theme of magic being within everything, and magic being within nature. So the split second her camera captures the shot, the glyph is exposed from the light of the flash out brightening it and thus is seen for that one small interval. Sounds like it makes sense, yeah? Also, I just didn't want Luz to have a cracked phone because ouch, it hurts my soul every time I see her using it.
Moving on, Luz not losing her shoe was another retcon I'll happily stand by if anything else. Canon barely tried to explain the uncanniness of her just spontaneously leaving her spot after she heard King say he was gonna go get his book, and then why her shoe ended up a couple hallways away from where she was even hiding—as it was a dead end. Not nitpicking of course! I get that it was a way for them to find the other half of the note but it was still a weird way of doing it in my opinion. Just taking things out that I feel as though never really made much sense anyways. And I doubt I even have to explain why it was more sensible for Lealtad to risk herself as bait over Luz or King. Of course, feel free to disagree and discuss on any of my changes!
In terms of what's different on the Luz POV sides of things, not much at all. The only minor of changes is when she tells King, "Do you know what it's like to have no one take you seriously?" changes a bit in that she would tack on, "and just treat you like a kid?" In that vein, it's a reveal of her insecurity and reservations about Lealtad—how she always will go "Big Sister" for her. I don't consider it a huge change in that the scene itself is still what it needs to be for King and Luz, which is why Leal's not within that branch of discussion at all.
Relationship wise I think it's obvious King has grown on Leal the fastest, though Eda's development is something she still tries to handle maturely. In fairness to Eda, she DID manage to keep this a secret from King for a long time without him knowing so it's a testament to how responsible she is with her elixir medication. Pair in the fact that Lealtad corresponds it with Luz's experiences with ADHD pills and that their mother is a vet, she has a consideration for that type of lifestyle so she isn't so quick to shame Eda for it. On that note, yeah, I canonized Luz having ADHD!
Review Responses:
Demon dark mezzo sangue: Well it's a known concept that Eda is a hoarder, what with all her human collectables and such. But I thought linking it to her being mindful about paying bills and such would be a nice touch. Regarding Harry Potter, I'm in the same boat! I'm not too crazy about the HP fandom and MUCH prefer PJO, but the even canon TOH makes references to HP so I figured Lealtad would as well. Lealtad is also a bit of a concerned clean freak at least in this world. Half the things they touch are trying to kill them or slimy in some way, plus, I always found it worrying how quick Luz is to just touch things. Little Witch Academia is one of my favourite animes and it has one of my favourite ships, so I may make a reference here and there. ( ^‿^) Glad you're liking the direction I'm taking with Leal!
starrat: I'm happy to hear that! ( •‿-)
OMAC001: Thank you! It's certainly a challenge to let the main character of the show shine but the main character of the story still SEEM interesting to readers, but it's comforting knowing you all are enjoying Lealtad so far! Balancing the dynamic of her following Luz's adventures but not being the outright solutions or causes of them is something I strived to maintain. Glad you liked it!
MarauderPrime12: Thanks! Happy to hear you still think so!
As always, feel free to hit me up on tumblr if ya got asks! And leave a comment if you liked this chapter!
Next chapter update: March 30th, 2022
Stay safe, and stay lovely y'all.
Until next time,
- Bleh