"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the eighth wonder of the world!" Luz said and placed the bowl down on the coffee table they'd moved into the living room. "POPCORN!"
"If this is the eighth wonder, what are the other seven?" Gus wondered.
Willow poked at it suspiciously. "Shouldn't it be moving?" Camila looked alarmed.
"Now without further ado, Lumity Studios presents…my fun and totally awesome summer!" Luz said, with jazz hands.
Mami tilted her head. "Lumity?"
Luz blushed. She didn't really want to tell Camila that she was dating Amity just yet. She would eventually, of course, but it was just not the right time. "Inside joke," she said hurriedly. "Gus, work your literal magic!"
Gus held out his hand and concentrated and then everyone gasped at the images that appeared on the screen, as vivid and clear as if they were seeing them in real life. "Here we go!"
[Open on a witch with green hair and a staff backflipping onto a cliff. She glares up at a large purple snake.]
"Hang on a second!" Camila said. "Unless you've been hiding stuff from me for a lot longer than you've been saying, this is not a thing that occurred."
Luz looked over at Gus, as confused as Camila. "This is about that book report you mentioned, right?" Gus asked. Luz nodded. "Yeah, I think you retreated so deep into your imagination there that we're getting memories of that instead of the real report." Camila nodded. That was definitely something she could see Luz doing.
[Gildersnake and Azura trade banter before Azura blasts him with her staff.]
"Best part of the series, bar none," Amity said. Camila raised an eyebrow. What were the odds of Luz discovering another Good Witch Azura fan in another dimension? Or at least finding someone who was willing to read the series and enjoyed it.
[Gildersnake dies. Cut to a doll of Azura and a green snake being held by Luz. She, Camila, and Principal Hal are all in the latter's office. They discuss Luz's ill-fated book report and why it caused her to be sent to the office. T wo students run by screaming, snakes biting their heads. Luz admits the backup snakes managed to escape. Camila demands to know why Luz was caught with fireworks.]
"You were lucky you weren't arrested for bringing in explosives, sweetie," Camila pointed out, gently but firmly. "Don't you see why that worried me? Someone could have gotten seriously hurt!" Luz bowed her head in shame.
[Camila points out that Luz's creativity has caused her to end up in the office three times already. Cut to Luz on stage at an audition for Romeo and Juliet, holding a spork. Luz gives a quote from the play, then stabs the spork into her torso before tearing her dress, making several links of sausages fall out. Everyone else on stage screams and runs. Cut to Luz sewing a pigeon head onto a squirrel's body, on a platform labelled "baby griffin". She opens the model's beak. Many spiders come out, crawling over her and the table. People scream in terror, throwing objects everywhere.]
Hunter raised a hand. "For the record, my friend Viney has a griffin and they do breathe spiders. So that particular incident should be stricken from the record."
[Cut to cheerleading tryouts, where a girl does a successful backflip. Every other student applauds. Luz tries to impress everyone by flipping her eyelids inside out. Everyone else screams and runs, and it sounds like at least one person is gagging.]
"Wow, people at your school are such wimps," Gus marveled. "They wouldn't last two minutes at Hexside."
"That's the school I go to in the Demon Realm," Luz explained to a confused Camila.
Camila blinked. "Wait, you've been going to school?"
"Yeah, I'm the first human student there ever!" Luz gushed. "And my grades are fabulous. I almost made the fearleading squad too, but they wouldn't take me because I wasn't intimidating enough."
Huh. Luz had always struggled academically. Her ADHD made it extremely difficult to concentrate and Camila always had to threaten Luz's teachers into honoring the accommodations they were obligated by the law to provide her, and that was usually the best case scenario. If she was doing well in this demon school…no, what was she thinking?
[Cut back to Principal Hal's office. Camila holds out a pamphlet for Reality Check Summer Camp and threatens to send Luz there unless she starts separating fantasy from reality. Luz takes it reluctantly.]
"Is it just me or does that kid look really uncomfortable inside that box?" Amity observed.
"Back in the Emperor's Coven, we used to be forced to spend hours on end inside a small cardboard box with only very tiny air holes as punishment," Hunter mused, sounding almost nostalgic. Everyone stared at him in horror. "This is one of those things that's actually really messed up, isn't it?"
"YES!"
[Luz pledges there will be no more weirdness. The snake in Luz's hand suddenly jumps out and bites the principal. He falls to the ground with a yell while the snake hisses.]
"I'm so sorry I let you down, mom," Luz said quietly. "I wanted to show you I could use my creativity to my advantage…but I just crashed and burned again."
Camila couldn't think of anything to comfort Luz. So she just hugged her instead.
[Cut to Luz, who is standing disappointedly in front of her house. Camila tries to reassure her, unconvincingly, that the camp will be fun and teach her things like how to appreciate public radio.]
"Actually, I have to admit, I still don't appreciate public radio," Vee said.
Luz turned to face her new basilisk sister. "How was the camp, Vee? They didn't hurt you, did they?"
"What? No! The camp was fun. Well, it was fun for me anyway. I got to learn a lot about how to be human. You…probably wouldn't have had fun, though. I wanted to fit inside the box, so I got along well with the staff. They weren't as nice to the people who didn't want that."
"But no one got hurt, right?" Camila said.
"No, no!" Vee assured her. "No one got hurt, there was no danger. Unless you count possibly dying of boredom."
[Luz tries to defend her weird hobbies. Camila points out Luz has no friends and blames her weirdness for it.]
Camila bowed her head. "That was harsh of me, Luz. I apologize."
"No, it's okay," Luz said. "You were right."
[Luz drops her book, disappointed. She walks slowly over to the trash bin. Camila urges Luz to try to make friends at camp. Luz puts her book, The Good Witch Azura, into the trash bin. Camila's phone vibrates in her purse. She announces she has to go to work, bids Luz farewell, and leaves.]
"So after you left, Mom came back and took me to the camp," Vee explained. "She was so nice and supportive; she even let me pick the playlist. Not that I knew what a playlist was…" She smiled wistfully. "It was the first time anyone ever showed me love."
"But not the last!" Luz said and squeezed her sister tightly.
[Luz frantically tries to recover her book as soon as Camila is out of sight. An owl hoots. Luz looks up and sees a little owl, her book sticking out of the bag in his beak. It turns and flies away. Luz chases the owl. She pauses when the reach a decrepit abandoned house, but the owl continues right inside. Luz stares at the house. Luz growls. Steeling her nerves, Luz runs inside. The front door slams shut behind her, and the entire inside glows, visible through the windows and the holes in the roof. Cut to the inside of a tent, where a door unfolds in three parts before opening. The little owl hops through it, and a second later, Luz follows. Luz looks around and is impressed by the sheer weirdness of the stuff in the tent. Luz makes a noise and drops to the ground upon hearing a woman's voice. She peeks back up and walks forward, moving the flap of the tent aside to see the back of a woman. The little owl lands on top of the woman's staff. She turns him around, and it becomes a wooden fixture of the staff. Luz gasps.]
"Magic," Camila whispered, appearing just in awe at it as Luz was.
[Eda rummages through the bag and dismisses everything in it, including a chalice that looks remarkably like the Holy Grail.]
"Wait, was that the Holy Grail?" Camila asked.
"The what?"
Luz started bouncing in her seat. "Ooh, I've got to show you the Indiana Jones movies. Along with a ton of other movies! They're so fun. Though I still don't understand why anyone would be afraid of snakes – they're so cute!"
[Eda prepares to burn Luz's book.]
"NO!" Amity shouted. "How far had Eda fallen if she was going around burning books? Especially the Good Witch Azura series. Oh, it's a truly sad state of affairs."
[Luz runs out of the tent, grabs her book, runs back into the tent and heads for the door. It folds up before she can walk through it and disappears. Camera zooms out to show the middle-aged woman holding a key with an eye on it, the same eye that was on the door. Eda menacingly says Luz is not leaving.]
Camila clenched her fists in fury. If she was there, this woman would get a taste of the chancla!
[She shoves Azura into her messenger bag and ducks out the back of the tent. She runs, and skids to a stop mere inches away from falling off a cliff. She's clearly no longer on earth, the town before her being made up of far too many arms and teeth. A dragon flies by and is caught by one of said arms. Cut to denizens of the town going about their days: a cloaked figure holding an ice cream cone which eats someone, the legs of what appear to be a giant chicken, a centipede-looking thing opening its mouth to let a winged creature fly out. The latter two kiss before going their separate ways. Cut back to Luz.]
"Increíble," Camila breathed. When she heard the words Demon Realm, her mind automatically leaped to traditional portrayals of hell. Devils and pitchforks and the like. But this…this was truly amazing. Magical. Exactly and precisely the kind of place where Luz had always longed to live all her life. It didn't take a genius to realize, upon seeing it, why Luz was so desperate to go back.
[Luz encounters a seemingly benign fairy, only for it to go feral on her and demand her skin.]
Camila let out an ear-piercing shriek of horror. Everyone but Luz looked at her strangely, unsure as to why she was freaking out over an everyday occurrence.
[Luz smacks the fairy away and then worries she died and was sent to the bad place.]
"Lucecita, why would you assume you were in the bad place?" Camila asked, sounding incredibly worried.
Luz was so glad she'd downloaded the memories to the mirror in advance as memories of hearing all sorts of homophobic rhetoric, including from the priest at the church they had gone to on a regular basis until recently, surged through her head.
"No reason," she said with a nervous laugh. She was not out to Camila yet, though she would be by the end of her story, obviously. She knew Camila would be tolerant, but a part of her was still afraid. When that moment came, however, she'd face it head on.
[Eda arrives and acts threatening towards Luz, who begs for mercy, only for Eda to abruptly change her tune and reveal she actually sees Luz as a potential customer for her stall of human items. Her grasp on what those objects do is questionable at best.]
"Literally none of those definitions are accurate," Vee complained.
Camila nodded. "Hunter, Gus, that 'green human candy' is actually deodorant and it is not edible. You will get sick if you eat it. Do you understand me?" They quickly nodded.
[Luz takes a TV and grabs two batteries from a dish labelled "Human candy! (?)" She puts the batteries in and presses the power button. A jazzercise video start playing with loud music.]
[Several customers and vendors stop at the noise and crowd around the TV, fascinated. They start expressing a desire to buy the TV, one of whom wants to do so in order to eat the tiny person inside.]
"NO!" Camila said, sounding freaked out. "You cannot eat the tiny person inside!"
[The whole crowd starts bidding. Luz introduces herself to Eda. Eda reveals she is not human, instead being a pointy-eared being known as the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles.]
Camila looked over at Luz and was alarmed to see her eyes were filled with tears. "Oh, dear. Mija, did this witch hurt you?"
Luz shook her head firmly. "No. Just the opposite. I miss her so much, mami…"
"Oh, Luz," Camila said and kissed her on the forehead."
[All of the customers run away screaming as guards arrive. Eda hops down from the table. The guards arrest her.]
"Wait a second!" Camila said. "This Eda, your mentor, yes?" Luz nodded. "Your mentor is a criminal?! You were living with a fugitive?"
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Luz said, sounding completely confused as to why Camila would be alarmed by this.
Willow made a zipped lips gesture to Luz sharply. "Mrs. Noceda, sure, Eda's committed crimes, but she's a good person at heart. And she really cared about Luz."
"Plus, take it from someone who knows, Belos is pure evil and any enemy of him is probably doing the right thing," Hunter reminded her, discomfort all over his face.
Camila nodded slowly. "Yes…yes, you're right. After what they did to Vee…all right, carry on."
[The guards sentence Eda to the Conformatorium.]
Vee let out a yelp of fright and Camila placed an arm around her. Whenever she was particularly traumatized, as unfortunately happened often, Vee craved physical contact from Camila. "That was where I lived," she explained. "It was where they hurt me…"
"They can't hurt you anymore, mija," Camila vowed. "They never will hurt you again."
[The guards sentence Luz to the Conformatorium as well for associating with Eda.]
"What?!" Camila shouted. "Without even a trial? How dare they?! I'm beginning to see why your mentor started rebelling against this system, Luz."
[Eda feigns surrender, then reaches under the table and grabs her staff, swinging it at the guard. He falls to the ground with a grunt. Eda spins her staff and taps the bottom of it on the table, making all her stuff float in midair. Luz picks herself and her book off the ground. Eda reaches into her hair and pulls out the key, pressing the eye to summon the portal door. She closes her hand into a fist, making the tablecloth wrap itself around all of her stuff. She sticks her staff through the bundle and starts running. Luz follows Eda and says if she dies in the Demon Realm, Camila will kill her.]
"Oh, you are naïve indeed, Luz, to think that would be the most of your problems," Camila warned her. Luz gulped.
[Eda vows to not let the guards harm Luz, since she is more useful to her alive.]
"You know, I forgot how scary Eda could be," Willow mused. "She really cooled down a lot once you started living with her, Luz."
[Eda jumps, pulling herself and Luz onto her staff. They take off into the sky. Cut to Eda and a crying Luz flying on Eda's staff above the Isles. Luz wonders where exactly she is. Eda explains that they are in the Boiling Isles, the source of all the myths of Earth. Various winged creatures fly behind them as Eda talks. A griffin that looks extremely similar to the one Luz made at school flies up next to them and screeches. The griffin barfs spiders. Luz realizes she was right about griffins.]
Luz stuck her tongue out at Camila, who ignored her. She was missing the point. Many of her peers had been afraid of spiders, and it was a potential safety risk if any of the spiders had been poisonous. Not to mention Luz had no way of knowing she was right – it was just a lucky coincidence.
[Eda reveals giraffes were banished to the Human Realm long ago for unspecified freakishness.]
All of the Demon Realm residents shuddered in unison.
[Eda lands the staff and hops off, though her hand stays behind. Luz sees it move on its own. Eda screws the hand back on.]
Camila felt sick to her stomach. Images of her new guests casually detaching their limbs, maybe leaving them randomly around the house, floated through her mind. She was a very open minded individual. She was not necessarily as open stomached.
[Luz asks to go home. Eda levels her staff in front of Luz, startling her. She refuses to return Luz home until she helps her with something, then starts walking away.]
"WHAT?!" Camila screamed. "I can't believe this! Luz, this woman took you hostage! And you want to go back to her?!"
Luz gave a nervous laugh. "I mean…I know it looks bad, but…uh…" She trailed off as she realized that, honestly, the only defense she had was that it actually got worse, and that wasn't a defense at all. "Eda came around eventually," she offered weakly.
[Cut to a tower, on top of which is an owl with an uncanny human face that cackles. Zoom out as it flies down to reveal the Owl House, which Eda and Luz walk up to. Eda explains the Owl House is protected by her security system, Hooty.]
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD IS THAT THING?!" Camila shouted at the top of her lungs. "That thing is an abomination! It belongs in the works of Lovecraft! I…perdóneme." She ran off to the nearest bathroom. Luz could hear retching sounds from all the way in the basement.
"Okay," Camila said, still looking green. "I think…I think I got that out of my system. Continue."
[Hooty opens his mouth wide enough to completely cover the door. Eda and Luz step through, though Eda's bag stays outside. Hooty closes his mouth. Hooty burps. Cut to inside.]
"You know, it's weird," Luz said. "Every other time we went through the door, he just opened it normally. I wonder why."
[Eda bids Luz welcome to the Owl House. Candles ignite. A fire in the fireplace starts, a cauldron starts stirring itself, and a broom starts sweeping the floor. Overhead, a depiction of an owl beast of some kind begins to glow with a great screeching noise. Luz looks at all of this in awe. Eda informs Luz that the Owl House is her sanctuary from ex-boyfriends and cops.]
"And ex-girlfriends! And ex-enbyfriends!" Luz added, trying to test the waters to see how Camila reacted to the idea of Eda being bi. But Camila still looked too traumatized by Hooty's mere existence for Luz to be able to get a reaction out of her to Eda's bisexuality.
[Luz wonders if Eda lives there alone. Thudding footsteps shake the house. Eda says she has a roommate. A deep, menacing voice announces he is the King of Demons, and a ominous shadow appears, but then the voice becomes more high pitched and a small, stuffed animal sized demon wearing a colorful towel and hat and carrying a rubber ducky appears.]
"¡AY, QUE LINDO!" Camila squealed. This king of demons was clearly the most adorable creature in all of existence. It was a relief to see that Luz's only company this summer wasn't just a criminal and a freak of nature.
[Luz runs forth and glomps King, using the same phrase Camila just used, unnerving him. Eda tells King Luz is there to help her with their situation. She d raws a spell circle that darkens and effectively turns into a storybook. Eda says King was once a mighty and powerful figure before he was reduced to his current form by the theft of his Crown of Power. ]
"You know, this isn't actually all that far off from the truth," Luz mused.
[Eda explains that Warden Wrath is holding the crown behind a force field only a human can access.]
"Why would only a human be able to break through the force field?" Amity wondered, and then her eyes widened. "Oh, of course! Because Belos was human!"
"Strictly speaking, the force field actually let anyone without magic pass," Hunter explained. "I was often asked to fetch things and place them there so no one else could get their hands on them."
"You don't have magic?" Camila asked. "Would it be a problem if I asked why?" Hunter nodded fervently.
[The storybook circle fades, return to Luz hugging King. Eda says she will return Luz if she helps them get the crown, essentially holding the portal door hostage.]
Camila clenched her fists. Regardless of how much Eda had changed, she still had an appointment with la chancla for what she was doing here.
[King makes a grandiose promise of vengeance to his rubber duck.]
Everyone simultaneously burst into laughter, even Camila.
[Cut to the Conformatorium, where thunder claps. Eda explains that the Conformatorium are where those unsuitable for society are sent.]
Camila automatically reached out and squeezed Vee's hand tightly.
[King and Luz will go to the top of the tower to get the crown while Eda distracts Wrath. Luz proposes she uses her cat hoodie as a disguise.]
"OH MY GOSH, LUZ, YOU LOOK SO CUTE!" Amity gushed, blushing furiously.
[Eda taps the butt of her staff against the ground, creating a round glowing platform. She steps away from it. The platform rises, floating all the way up to a window in the tower. It disappears suddenly, forcing Luz to grab the edge of the window sill and King to cling to her feet. Eda, meanwhile, tosses her staff and casually sits down on it as it rises. King grunts as he climbs up Luz and into the window. Also grunting, Luz pulls herself up and in, falling on her face. Luz sits up and gasps. The two of them marvel at the amount of prison cells before them, all of them occupied by shadowy beasts of varying shapes and sizes, though all of their eyes glow in the light. Katya informs Luz that they are not in prison for actual crimes, but merely for not fitting in. Her so-called crime was writing fanfiction of food falling in love.]
"What?" Camila raged. "They put people in jail for writing fanfiction?! That's preposterous!" Sure, it was pretty weird to write about that stuff, but no one should be imprisoned for it.
[One of the other prisoners explains he is imprisoned for his like of eating his own eyes.]
Okay, Camila could see a little bit more where they were coming from here. Someone deranged enough to eat their own eyes might decide to graduate to eat someone else's eyes.
[Tinella Nosa rants about how they are playthings of a higher being in a simulation.]
"Ah, Tinella," Luz said fondly. "Always with the conspiracy theories. Don't worry, though, mami. Pretty sure we're not in a simulation. Or someone's characters watch the show fanfic." She tilted her head. Where had that last sentence even come from?
[Luz realizes their situation is analogous to her own situation of being sent to Reality Check Camp for being weird. Thudding footsteps attract their attention. They belong to wrath. Luz exclaims and runs into an open cell, pulling the door down as she enters. Footsteps continue until a door is pushed open. Wrath calls out to them.]
"I'm out!" Vee announced. "Bring me back when you're done with Conformatorium stuff."
"I can join you if you want," Camila offered.
"No, no, I'll be fine. I just don't want to see him." She slithered out of the room.
[Luz whimpers. Wrath spots a wanted poster of Eda and vows to get his hands on her. He looks into the cell, where Luz and King are huddled in the corner. After Nosa urges Luz to fight, Warden Wrath walks over to her cell and opens it. She stares at the opening door. Warden Wrath grabs Tinella Nosa, his fist fitting around her entire body. He holds her up and points at the other two prisoners.]
"Please tell me this pendejo got what he deserved!" Camila said.
Luz did a so-so gesture. "Well, he got demoted if it helps, but only for stealing his coworkers' lunches."
[Wrath rants about how nonconformists will be punished.]
Camila shuddered a little. This rhetoric reminded her very uncomfortably of how Vice Principal Stone had tried to sell her on sending Luz to Reality Check Camp.
[He tightens his grip, making Tinella Nosa squeak again. Warden Wrath stomps away, crushing the crumpled up wanted poster on his way out. A door slams, and Luz opens her cell, running to that of Katya. Luz tries to lift the lever to open the cells, but is too weak.]
The witches, save Hunter, shared a confused look. "Aren't you, like, ridiculously strong?" Willow said. "I remember that time when you had the common mold."
"And when you carried Amity to the nurse's office," Gus reminded them.
Amity's face flushed scarlet. "We're not talking about that."
"Maybe the lever was enchanted?" Camila suggested.
[Katya urges Luz to leave and walks deeper in her cell. Luz reluctantly walks away. Cut to a hallway, where Eda flies up to Luz. She informs Luz Wrath has been distracted. Luz continues walking without saying anything. Eda watches her, confused. They reach a towering door reading "CONTRABAND". King runs up to the door and fiddles with the doorknob that's as big as he is. Luz laments that everyone thinks being a weirdo is bad and that no one should be locked up for wanting to be themself.]
Luz looked pointedly at Camila with this last sentence. Camila wanted to say something, but every possibly response she thought of died in her throat.
[King grunts. The doorknob is thrown to the ground with a clink. King pushes open the door, cackling, and runs through, only to be zapped by the barrier Luz and Eda follow King in. Cut to the inside of the room, which is empty save a giant glowing pillar in the center. King rubs his skull before charging at the pillar headfirst, succeeding only in launching himself backwards. Eda points out this is why they brought Luz. Luz takes a breath. She puts a hand against the pillar before walking through it. Inside are piles of what can only be described as junk: everything from books to skulls to a dead fish in a tank. Atop the central one is a glowing crown. Cuts to Luz holding a Burger Queen paper crown, looking incredibly frustrated.]
"Well, that was a real letdown," Hunter complained.
[King grabs the crown and starts ordering around stuffed animals, including a stuffed rabbit he names Francois. Luz realizes King's "Crown of Power" is a fake and Eda confirms it.]
Camila could not believe her ears. She didn't think Eda's decision to force Luz to conduct a very dangerous heist could get any worse, but now she was saying that she knew the object they were searching for was worthless the whole time! She risked Luz's life for a children's toy!
[Luz glares at Eda. Eda explains that she and King only have each other in the world and so she is willing to humor his delusions of grandeur. She says weirdoes have to stick together.]
Camila remembered the closet full of Cosmic Frontier memorabilia she was still hiding from Luz and a tear fell down her cheek. Manny had been just as much of a weirdo as Camila was, in truth, as much as Luz was. But he'd died and Camila had tried to rid herself – rid her daughter – of the weirdness that had once made them such a happy family. The weirdos had very much not stuck together.
[Luz grins and blushes. Eda urges them to leave before Wrath finds them, but Wrath arrives, his hand turns into a blade, and with an easy swing he decapitates Eda. Luz catches her head and screams.]
"DIOS MÍO!" Camila shrieked.
[Eda is still alive and treats being decapitated as a mild inconvenience. Luz screams louder and longer. Eda claims surviving decapitation is a normal part of aging.]
All of the witches shook their heads frantically.
[Wrath takes the crown and announces he has captured Eda. He reveals he took King's crown to lure her into a trap. Eda professes innocence of any crimes and claims they cannot prove any malfeasance.]
"Isn't she constantly breaking the law by not being in a coven?" Gus pointed out.
"What is this coven?" Camila wondered.
There was dead silence in the room for thirty seconds. She had clearly asked a very bad question. "Something truly evil," Luz whispered finally, a haunted look in her eyes.
[Wrath asks Eda out. Eda and Luz are disgusted. Wrath rants about how he is attracted to Eda's free spirit. Warden Wrath tosses the bouquet over his shoulder, turning his now free hand into tentacles to grab Luz and hold her above the ground. He threatens to hurt Luz unless Eda goes out with him. Eda looks up at Luz, who's struggling to free herself from the warden's grasp. She looks to King, who gets picked up by one of the guards and also struggles for freedom. Eda pretends to acquiesce, then blows a raspberry at him.]
"Yeah, that's Eda for you," Luz said fondly. "Completely fearless."
"My dad told me that when she, Lilith, and Raine fought Grom, her worst fear was having her fake ID confiscated and not being able to drink hard apple blood anymore," Gus informed them.
[Warden Wrath yells and drops Luz, who also yells. He wipes Eda's spit off his mask. Eda laughs and rejects him. Wrath threatens to kill Luz, but Luz hits him in the head with Eda's staff. He falls to the ground with a loud crash.]
Camila let out a cheer. She wasn't usually in favor of problems being resolved by violence, at least not by her daughter at any rate, but she had to admit Wrath had it more than coming.
[The two guards step next to Eda's head. She glares at them as her body walks up behind them and drags their hoods over their eyes. Luz runs forward, grabbing Eda's head. Eda's body frees King of the guard's grasp, and Luz grabs her by the waist and they all mount the staff. Owlbert unfurls his wings and hoots. Luz ineffectually tries to cast a spell to get him to leave.]
"Yeah, that's…not how it works, Luz," Amity said.
[Warden Wrath grunts as he gets up. The staff takes off. Warden Wrath clamors to his feet. His arms transform into bundles of tentacles, which he uses to chase after the staff. Cut to them flying past prison cells, Warden Wrath in hot pursuit. Luz and the camera zero in on the lever keeping Katya's cell shut. Eda places her hand against Luz's. They open the cells of the three prisoners Luz and King had talked to earlier. All of them look excited. They burst through an outer door high in the center of the Conformatorium with a yell from Luz, then plummet. Warden Wrath exits right behind them, front flipping off the pillar. The staff and Warden Wrath fall toward the ground. Warden Wrath extends one of his tentacles, hitting the very back of the staff and launching Eda, Luz, and King off of it. They roll when they hit the ground, and Warden Wrath steps in front of them, his hand shifting into a blade again. Eda reattaches her head and grabs the key to the portal door out of her hair. She urges Luz to return to the Human Realm, gives her the key, and charges towards Wrath.]
"You could have left?!" Camila said. "Why didn't you go back?"
Luz looked her in the eyes. "Because I wanted to do the right thing. You really think I should have just abandoned them? Is that the sort of person you want me to be?" Camila had to admit it was not.
[King joins the fight. Eda places Luz onto the staff, then slaps the bottom of the staff, sending it into the air. Warden Wrath takes off his mask to reveal a face that's mostly mouth, which opens to breathe fire. Eda expertly draws two spell circles, one that catches the fire and one that launches it right back. Wrath slams into the wall of the Conformatorium. Luz whimpers as she tries to not fall off the staff. Wrath stands up, brandishing his blade-hands and running at Eda again. The three prisoners peek out of the hole that he left in the wall. Luz flies down to talk to them. She urges them to escape, but they are too broken down. Nosa laments that self-doubt is a prison one can never escape from.]
Both Luz and Hunter flinched simultaneously.
[Prisoners muttering in agreement. Luz gives them a rousing speech urging them to see their weirdness as a strength.]
"I do see," Camila said softly. Luz looked at her with hope. "I know I haven't seen that in the past, but, sweetie, I promise I see it now."
[Luz finishes her speech by repeating Eda's mantra and says it is wrong to be punished for who one is. She puts her hood on and mounts the staff.]
"I wasn't punishing you," Camila protested. "I was just trying to help you!"
"Sure," Luz said, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.
[The three prisoners all cheer. Luz turns the staff around. They all follow Luz. Cut to Eda being thrown against the ground, and King being thrown into her arms a second later. Warden Wrath looms over them and makes threats. King whimpers, and hides his face in Eda's chest. The prisoners scream as they barrel into Wrath. Luz flies behind them. The prisoners incapacitate Wrath while extolling the virtues of their respective passions. Tinella Nosa joins Katya in holding Warden Wrath down while Eye-Eating Prisoner grabs his arms and ties them together. He then flips Wrath onto his stomach, so he can see Luz descending on Eda's staff. Luz emulates Azura's speech from her book report, then pulls her firecracker from her book report out of her messenger bag, tossing it into the air before hitting it with Eda's staff. The firecracker lands in Wrath's flaming mouth and goes off, sending fireworks into the air. He runs away, humiliated, fireworks still going off in his mouth, while the prisoners cheer.]
Camila's mouth dropped open in astonishment. "You were going to bring fireworks to the camp?!" she screamed. "Fireworks? What in the name of – were you planning on blowing up the camp?"
"No!" Luz shouted. "Of course not! I just thought, you know, what if we ran into a bear or something…" She gave a nervous laugh.
[Eda, with King on her shoulder, walks closer to Luz, putting a hand on the human's shoulder. They decide to flee. The three fly off on the staff, fireworks still going off behind them. Cut to the living room of the Owl House, where Eda leans her staff against the couch. Eda announces that Luz is free to return home since she has upheld her end of the deal. The key flies out of Luz's bag and into Eda's hand. She presses the eye, and the portal door unfolds itself in front of the fireplace. Luz walks up to it, then hugs herself and turns back to look at Eda and King. King looks at the ground, visibly sad. Luz reaches into her bag. Luz offers King the crown from the head of her Azura doll. King is pleased and starts trying to command a plant, then walks off. Eda gives Luz her book back. Luz takes it, and the pamphlet for Reality Check Summer Camp that's on top of it, and walks toward the portal. She stares at the pamphlet before putting it under the Azura book. She pauses in front of the door, looking at it. She looks back down at her book, then up, at a mirror above the fireplace. Luz gasps. She holds up the book, on the cover of which is Azura in the foreground, with an older witch looking at a dog/cat creature in the background. She lowers the book to reveal the mirror showing a very similar image, King and Eda in the same positions as the creature and the older witch, and herself in the foreground between them. She brightens and turns around. She explains that she had more fun she has ever had in her life despite the danger.]
"Wow, your standards are really low," Hunter mused. Luz just shrugged.
[Eda blinks owlishly in surprise. Luz points out that there they are both malcontents and decides to not go to camp. Instead, she demands to stay with Eda and learn how to be a witch.]
"So you did choose to stay there," Camila said quietly. "I just don't understand why, Luz. Why run away? Why lie to me? And why did you think it would work? Vee taking your place was a one in a billion chance. You know you'd have been reported as missing, right?"
Luz held her head up high. This was it. The moment of truth. "I wanted to find my own path," she explained. "The camp wanted to make me like everyone else. It's why Vee did so well there, because that's what she wanted. But I'm not like everyone else. I'm me. And I had a chance to get everything I ever wanted. If I'd have given it up, I'd regret it for the rest of my life."
"But, Luz, you still lied to me. All summer, you lied to me."
"Vee lied to you too, and she's not in trouble," Luz argued.
Camila bit her lip to forestall her first, hasty response. After the better part of a minute, she said, "Vee lied to me because she thought the only other option was returning to torture. I recognize your life was unpleasant. But it doesn't come anywhere close to being as bad as Vee's was." Luz nodded. "Sweetie, if you'd shown me…I'm sure we could have come to an agreement. I'm not made of stone."
"And yet you don't want me to go back," Luz pointed out. Camila had no answer for her.
[Eda finds her plan to be silly, since humans cannot become witches. Luz refuses to give up and offers to do anything in exchange.
"That's…really not something you should have offered, Luz," Camila pointed out. "You know that, right?" Luz laughed sheepishly.
[After King urges Eda to let Luz stay, Eda proposes that she will teach Luz to become a witch in exchange for Luz becoming her employee. Eda holds out her hand. Luz looks at it before grinning and crushing the two in a hug. Cut to Luz opening the creaking door to a storage room. She unrolls a sleeping bag and, now wearing pajamas, throws herself on it, before turning over and taking a picture of her and her mom out of her messenger bag. She rubs her thumb over the glass before placing the frame right next to her pillow. Her phone vibrates, and she grabs it and turns it on. A message from "Mom ️" reads: How's summer camp? Luz's expression falls, and she moves her phone away from her face. King arrives and asks to sleep in the room with her. Luz sits up and pats the sleeping bag. King curls up at the bottom below her feet and falls asleep. Luz smiles at him before replying to her mom: "I think I'm gonna like it here". Smiling, she puts her phone down, turns to the side, and falls asleep. Zoom out to the exterior of the Owl House. The giant stained glass eye above the door blinks.]
"So let's recap here," Camila said. "You brought explosives to camp after getting in trouble for doing the exact same thing at school. You ran away from home. A criminal took you hostage to steal a toy. You nearly died repeatedly. You released an eye-eating maniac from prison. You cold-bloodedly decided to lie to your own mother. And you think this will persuade me to let you return?"
Luz laughed nervously. "I mean, we got off to a tough start, but…but you said you'd keep an open mind! There's so much more that happened! If this was an animated show, this would be just the first episode!"
"Yeah, she hasn't even met any of us yet!" Gus reminded her.
"All right," Camila conceded. "I just hope the second 'episode' isn't quite as problematic as the first one."
Luz gulped. She was doomed, wasn't she?
