Seeds of Doubt

Luz only paused for a moment to strategize and yet that's all it took for that vine to encompass Willows whole body, "Willow! It's Luz, everything will be okay! We can figure it out" she reassured, taking a caution step forward. However, it was evident very quickly that these vines weren't just reaching for Willow, but for anything around her too. Luz had to sidestep a vine that lunged for her left leg, "Uhh... Any answer would be great Willow. These things seem pretty upset!" The last part came out as a slight shout as she fell backwards onto the hard greenhouse floor. As she watched the vines whip and thrash a thought crossed her mind em Wait... they seem... upset /em a sudden realization shattered Luz's illusion of this being some kind of predatory monster, em Willow is causing all of this! She has to be... s-she had the vine on her leg this morning and her eyes were the same green, like what's beaming out from between the vines. /em her victory was short lived as she scrambled backwards from the vines, reaching for whatever she could to help herself, finally her hands touched something. She grabbed it and slammed it down as hard as she could on the incoming vines, em A garden hoe... to fight a plant. I mean... okay I guess this is a greenhouse /em even with the stressful situation she still mused to herself about the irony. "Willow! Please!" She had to try harder to reach her, she just needed to be snapped out of the trance like this morning when she spotted her in the bushes. em I just need to get through to her, no matter what... I won't let her down /em her determination kicked in, helping her adapt to her situation, she was never a huge fighter but always did what she had to. She was side stepping vines, jumping over them as she slammed the hoe down severing the vines additional limbs.

em Failure... What will your family say? /em Voices echoed in Willows mind, everything around her was just darkness, not even a sliver of light, she didn't even feel like she was really moving. Her body felt like it wasn't even her own, when she attempted to move her arms and legs, she just felt paralyzed. "I'm not a failure!" she yelled back, tears falling from her eyes, em You couldn't even summon a proper abomination... you had to get a random human to help you succeed... such a weakling /em the voice taunted her; rage and sorrow were all emanating from the voice. Those same filling were filling Willows heart, breaking her down from the inside out, "They... they've never said they think I'm a failure" the girl protested weakly, em But you've heard them talk... your grades worry them... your nonexistent social life worries them... /em it bit back with increased intensity when she tried to reason with it. em A failure... a burden. Now you even have an extra person to be a burden on, that stupid human who helped you... you failed her, failed your new friend... Shes probably run off by now, sad her first introduction to other witches was strong YOU /strong /em

Willow couldn't stop her sobs from escaping, the voice was right, she had to be a failure, since joining the abomination track in her second year of High School she's been a failure. Shes convinced every teacher has just let her slide by because they pity her, they pity the failure she had become. em "Willow!" /em the girl's head lifted, her eyes wide, tears still flowing down her face. That wasn't the voice that had been taunting her this whole time, this was someone else, but who? em No one would follow you here... No one even cares you ran away and why would they? You're about to get expelled! /em The witch started to nod, of course the voice is right, isn't it always. em "Come on WIllow! We can figure this out!" /em There it was again, so familiar. em NO! Don't listen, she has no idea what she is talking about, or strong WHO YOU ARE /strong /em Willow couldn't help but let out a stiff laugh, "I don't even know who I am... " em "Please Willow! Y-y-you're starting to hurt me." /em em What? Hurt her... /em she wondered, the voice was speaking to her again, but she was so lost in this thought, who could be there, is it a trick? It couldn't be, not with how frantic the voice was, em hurt her /em she wondered again, her eyes closing tightly, trying to think about the situation, the cloud the voice was causing was slowly disappearing from her mind. em "AH! Willow... Willow! Please! You're my friend, you tol-told me! I could ask you so many questions!" /em The girl's voice was so loud now, em wait... that's... that's Luz! /em Suddenly the witches limbs felt light and when she opened her eyes, she could see light peeking out all around her, small slits in some kind of cocoon. "Luz?" she forced out weakly, suddenly just feeling exhausted.

The human girl couldn't believe her eyes, finally, the vines had stopped and were retracting back into the earth. em Finally... /em she thought with a loud sigh, she had struggled with keeping the vines at bay, they were surging the whole time with different energy. Sometimes just calmly sliding along the ground reaching for whatever they could, while at other times they were slamming around, which had caught Luz a few times. She had a few small cuts and bruises on her arms, her favourite purple and white striped shirt had some pulls and tears in it now, having gotten caught by some thorns in the fighting. The worst of it was her legs, having lots of scrapes, a few small cuts and some decent sized welts. The black leggings she had worn under her shorts that day were tattered. She had called Willow so many times she knew someone had to have heard them, it was a big school, with some even bigger ears. "Willow?" Luz asked again, after hearing her name called out weakly from inside the cocoon, she heard nothing but with how the vines were retracting she trusted she was safe. She made her way to the wrapped-up witch and began pulling the vines away, "Are you okay?" the moment she saw Willows face she regretted asking, her face was stained with tears, her eyes bloodshot and she looked paler than usual. Both were quite tired but used each other to get to the door of the greenhouse, just in time to see they weren't alone.

Before them was Gus, he looked apologetic and worried, he quickly ran up to Willow to help support her. The others were what worried Luz and Willow, it wasn't many people, but they knew that the jig was up. Leading the others was principal Bump, Willow professor from abominations, another small woman who Luz could only imagine is another teacher for a different track. em And of course... strong Amity /em /strong Willow internally groaned. The principal had what looked like a red demon attached to the top and back of his head, horns protruded from the top of the man's head, which Luz assumed was the demons. He was covered in black and gold robes, a blue sash that wrapped his neck and went down each shoulder. His arms were crossed, and he had a very displeased look on his face, his long fingers tapping almost waiting for some kind of explanation.

Luz was the first to speak up, "I made her do it!" she blurted out, em I DONT EVEN KNOW IF HE KNOWS /em she screamed internally but her mouth kept rambling, "I'm new here, to the Isles, and I just wanted to see what it was like, I didn't necessarily mean for all of this stuff to happen, I was caught up in the moment of it all and I snunk in through the abomination so I kept myself in there during the class and exam and we didn't want to get caught cause I have no idea what happens to humans around here-" em Crap... Well I mean, I'm sure they can see my ears, if they didn't yet they would have soon... /em "Miss Park" the principal cut Luz off and raised a single hand. "Miss Blight here filled me in on the details, however, not the whole story as I can tell... from miss?" He looked at me expectantly, "Luz Noceda!" I choked, trying to keep my composure despite the pit in my stomach. "I see, Miss Noceda has given a different side of the story. This is out of the norm for you, so I'd like for you to come to my office to discuss this in more depth... Mr Porter, can you assist her to my office." it was less of a question and more of a statement, Gus could only nod. The principal turned to the human girl and shook his head, "You should be on your way, this is no place for a human." She wanted to protest, to prove him wrong but after the day she had all she did was nod and back down, letting Willow go.

Amity had spoken with principal Bump right after class, the less time there was for news to get out about her grade, the better. He was shocked at first, Willow was not someone to cheat, and rarely did she ever find herself in trouble. However, being the top student and a Blight afforded a lot of trust between her and faculty members. There was a small pang of guilt in her as she listened to the human rambling on about what had happened, em I know that isn't the truth... and yet. No. /em that train of thought couldn't continue, "Principal Bump, sir, you know just as well as I do-", As Gus and Willow walked with the other teachers Bump stayed behind and shook his head, cutting her off. "Miss Blight, I appreciate you bringing this to our attention, but we will handle this. You may take your leave now" with that he walked away, following behind. She was left alone with the human girl, who looked like she was in some kind of trance. Amity had a lot of words for her, what she did, how she had acted, why she was here and yet, all the green haired girl did was walk away. If it was any other student, she would have laid into them, but for whatever reason she receded and started her walk home. Hoping there hadn't been any news of the fiasco today sent over to the Blight manor, her parents had expectations, and today wouldn't be considered favourable.

Luz couldn't help but watch Willow walk away with incredible guilt, this had been her fault, she had been the one to cause the trouble and suggest the stupid plan of hers. em That Amity girl is still here... /em her thoughts lingered on the green haired girl for a moment, she was angry at what she had done, what she caused with how she handled the situation and yet, she understood. em we cheated, we lied, and we thought we could get away with it... I get it, I just don't understand why she has to be so cruel to Willow. /em before she could even decide what she wanted to say or how she wanted to approach the girl, the next time she went to look at her she was walking away towards the school. Her head still held high as she walked away, which of course caused a small pang of annoyance to settle in the human's stomach, not understanding how people can be like her. Before she got into her head about the situation, she decided to do the only thing that made sense. em I need to go get Eda; she'll know how to help the situation! /em Luz looked towards the school, barely able to see the group of teachers and kids now walking into the school, she had a bit of a struggle finding the best path home but as soon as she felt like she was headed in the right direction she started to run. em the faster I get to Eda the faster I can tell her what happened, she'll know. She has to /em she convinced herself the older witch would know what could be done, after all she said herself, she was the queen of bad.

Eda had been at home for a while now, having finally been settled with how she sorted out the treasure, using the infinite storage of her tent/stand. "Alrighty Hooty, thanks for the help" she said nonchalantly, closing the door before Hooty could go off on another tangent. em I love that bird but Titan help me, the patience I need to handle-/em she paused her thoughts, staring at the sight before her, King had Francois in his arms and Luz's phone in his paws as he was relaxing on the couch. The portal door casually open as he watched what Eda guessed was 'mewtube'. Apparently, he was so enthralled in his videos he hadn't heard Eda come in, usually by now he would be hiding the cute videos he watched from her. "And here I felt bad thinking I left you behind to be bored!" the witch laughed as King shot up, tossing the phone to the other side of the couch as it played small cat sounds, and reels of silly music. "Eda!" he squeaked, "I was... using her human device to... to uh." He looked around as if trying to find something he could use as an excuse. "I'm sure you were using it to search for a great plan to take over the isles, the human realm is known for war" she said casually, snickering slightly as she approached the demon. "Ah! Yes..." He put his paw to his chin for a moment, deep in thought before realizing his videos were still playing out loud. He quickly jumped for the device and turned it off with a struggle "A-anyways, where is Luz? I saw you and Hooty messing around the tent and stand but she didn't come in to say hi." He was obviously upset; he had gotten quite connected to the girl over the course of her stay. Opting to sleep in her room most nights now, claiming he just wanted to protect her, after being prayed on by that wizard thing. Eda took the portal key and locked it up once more, "Oh she went for a walk, don't worry King, I know she wouldn't ignore you if she came back. You're her cutie pie" the witch teased, causing King to stomp a foot in outrage, before either could speak again the door to the Owl House had swung open violently. "Hiya Luz!" Hooty yelled even though Luz was barely a foot away from him.

"I need your help!" Luz yelled at King and Eda, eyes slightly wide, her chest heaving from all the running she had done to get here. Never having seen her like this the two quickly inquired, both ready to go at a moment notice to handle whatever it was, which warmed Luz heart a little. "I need to... to sit, for a second" she said in a defeated tone as she plopped down onto her butt. "I went for my walk Eda, and I met a really nice witch named Willow, she goes to Hexside – Why didn't you tell me about all the different magical schools!? - she was struggling with an abomination, and this girl came and made fun of her for it and so I offered to help" "You can't summon an ab-" Luz raised her hand "Questions at the end please" she quickly cut the older witch off who just nodded letting the girl continue. "as I was saying, I offered to help her and so I got into the goo, we met her friend Gus who is an illusionist and we pretended that I was her abomination so she could pass her final exam and then it turned out we went a little bit too intense on the performance and ended up getting higher than Amity Blight" Eda visibly cringed at the mention of the green haired girls name. "Amity told Principal Bump and now she is in the office, I don't want her to get into trouble for me offering to help and I already told that to him but he told me that I shouldn't be there as I'm not a witch – by the way that irked me cause it isn't even true ad he didn't even ask! - but that's why I need your help, I know you are the queen of bad and I think maybe you could ma-"

Eda finally had to interject, or she was positive Luz would pass out from lack of oxygen. "Okay okay! I get it, I have a few... questions." Luz nodded, inviting her to continue. "Alright so, for one what were you doing out without your hat in the fir- you know what, never mind" she sighed, for a moment she felt like her mother had possessed her body. "School is for losers and dorks, you should be thanking me for not enrolling you in that stupid school for 'magic', it takes a creative witch and beats the different out of them, so they join up to a coven and lose their other powers forever. No thank you! I figured you'd rather learn from the best" she couldn't help but boast for a moment before she continued, "What you did was kind for your friend, but it sounds like it backfired, next time you break the rules be sure you are doing it right... you know not getting caught." Eda chuckled but the expression of Luz face told her it wasn't the time. "Aaand that Blight girl is trouble, she comes from a line of bully's who just want to get ahead in the world, her mother was someone I went to class with and all she cared about was her image, her standards were obnoxiously high and now she is projecting that onto all of her kids... I guess, what I am trying to get at here is, what do you want me to do kid?" she finally asked, crossing her arms as she looked down at Luz who was catching her breath on the floor.

"I... I don't know I thought, maybe with how you handled yourself that you could bust in there, call some shots, raise some hell?" Luz asked, realizing that the older woman was right, what could she really expect Eda to do for people she just met. "I would love to raise some hell, but I don't know if that will work in their favour kid. My style is more of a last resort for people, well uncool people and your friend sounds like a bit of a dork" She joked, trying to see a bit of a smile on Luz face and she had it for a moment, but it was quick to fade. "How do I face her again after letting her down?" she asked, pushing herself up off the ground to stand and look at Eda, hoping for some wisdom. "There isn't a magic answer to that one kid, just got to face the music sometimes and let it play out. I'm sure she knows that you were just trying to help." the witch was surprisingly reassuring, it made Luz feel a little bit better to hear that and she genuinely felt like she was coming from a good place. "Now... question Eda..." the sly under tone to Luz words made the witch quirk an eyebrow up at her. "Can you enroll me?" Her eyes were sparkling, Luz was giving her best puppy dog look, and thankfully Eda didn't have to answer as there was a quiet knock at the door.

Luz opened the door up and in the doorway was Willow and Gus, both looking surpringly alright, no one was crying and there weren't any faces that made the guilt in her gut any worse. "Guys!" she exclaimed and walked out towards them, pushing Hooty out of their faces as she walked out. They went from looking uncomfortable to pulling Luz into a tight hug, "Oh uh.. What's this for?" She asked as she hugged them back, enjoying the affection. "You really saved me back there, in more ways than one." Willow said quietly, and pulled from the hug, walking backwards a few steps as if the human was supposed to notice something. Her eyes glanced over to Gus who could see her inner struggle, "She was dropped out of the abominations class" Gus said the bad news so casually Luz almost didn't understand what he was saying. " S-so, sorry, what?" She sputtered and looked between them, "But, principal Bump saw what I did at the greenhouse and has given me a chance to do the plant track in college if I complete the summer course!" Willow exclaimed, and finally it clicked, her uniform was no longer that purple/pink colour, it was green. em I can't believe this … worked out, usually everything by now is falling apart and exploding. /em "Willow, that's incredible, I came running home because I thought for sure I would need Eda's help to break you out of somewhere!" She laughed with the others before she realized what was missing, she should introduce them.

"Come here, I'll introduce you." she said happily, pulling the two into The Owl House, both marveling at all the different pieces of history and significant artifacts. "Eda, these were the friends I told you about, this is Gus" she gestured to the shorter dark-skinned boy, who gave a wave as he tried to politely take the house in. "and this is Willow!" she announced as if with pride, causing the dark-haired girl to laugh a bit. "We are really happy to meet you" Both Willow and Gus said at the same time. Eda quirked an eyebrow up at them and scanned their uniform, "Ahh you dweebuses go to Hexside! So you dealt with bumpy-kins then, Luz you should have started with that! He's a softie." the older witch cackled, while both Willow and Gus tried to take in what she had just said, em Dweebus? I'm not... Am I? Do I give off that vibe? /em both Gus and Willow were in their heads about the comment, Willow was the first to shake it off and went to inquire further, Luz had however beaten her to it. "Great so you went there, should be no problem to enroll me, especially with such a cute nickname for the scary principal!" Eda thought for a moment before pushing the problem away for another time, "We'll talk about it later, why don't you have some time with your friend?" she suggested, "Mama needs her Apple Blood" she quickly turned away and headed towards the kitchen.

"Uhh sorry about her by the way!" The human turned to them with an apologetic smile, "I'll introduce you to King" She pulled her friends over to the couch where King had recovered the phone and was watching downloaded Mewtube videos, his eyes wide as he was stuck in an endless loop of videos. "Uhh... King? I have some friends I want you to meet" She bent down to be closer to eye level, both Gus and Willows eyes were wide and sparkling at the small demon. "huh? Oh, Luz! You're home!" He tossed the phone aside and jumped for her, wrapping his little paws around her neck she picked him up. "Ah there we go! You always give the best hugs" Luz said happily as she rubbed King's back, "Ths is longer than usual, did you miss me that much" she teased, causing the small demon to pull back and cross his arms with a grunt. "No way! I have many subjects, you've just proved your loyalty with hard work and it should be... uhh rewarded" He said the end slowly, finally noticing that he had company other than Luz and they were staring at him like she had the first night at the owl house. "Luz... who are they?" He cringed and pointed to the witches staring at him looking like they were ready to pounce. "These are my friends; this is Gus and Willow! They both go to Hexside and I wanted to introduce you." she said happily, pushing King out of her arms into a dangling position where Willow instantly grabbed him. "You are just too cute!" She let out a small squeak and rubbed his belly, causing him to protest much less. "I am not cute! I am a ruler!" He yelled at both Gus and Willow who were coddling him.

After what felt like forever to King the two witches let him down and he quickly scurried away to the kitchen to hide with Eda, screaming back about how they will rue the day they messed with him, and he expects offers of some kind. "You heard him" Luz said with a shrug as the other two laughed, nodding along. "It's getting late, I should hurry home to tell my dad's what happened..." Gus agreed and the two of them gave Luz another hug before headed out the door, "Do you think Eda would get you a scroll?" the dark hair girl asked as Luz walked outside with them, Luz really hadn't thought about asking, especially with all she has already done for her the last week. "I don't know, maybe I can work for one at the stand though. For now, maybe we can meet up on the weekends or when you are free? I'm not usually doing too.. Much" saying it out loud felt different, she really needed to talk to Eda about it.

"Of course, we can! How about you come with us to the Covention this weekend? It's the end of the year and they always have a big event to show off the different college tracks, special academy training campuses and give you an idea of which coven you want to join." Gus couldn't help but laugh at Luz's face as he explained what the event was about, "I'm there! I'll see if Eda and King would be willing to come." she said enthusastically, giving her new friends another big hug. "I appreciate it, I'll see you next weekend?" both nodded and gave Luz a wave as they walked towards their respective homes. em This feels so surreal, I have made some friends mama... Y ellas son tan amables. You would love them. /em she stayed outside until she couldn't see them anymore, tuning Hooty out as he rambled on about his day, and how many voles he found. Luz entered the Owl House for the night, and headed towards the kitchen, giving both King and Eda a small sheepish smile as she sat with them at the table. Eda could tell as soon as the girl sat down, she had some questions on her mind, with a sigh she took another gulp of her Apple Blood and motioned with her hand for the human to talk. "Come on kid, I can see something itching to come out" she stated, setting the glass down. Both Eda and Kings eyes were on her, causing her to let out an awkward chuckle, em Alright, just let it all out, you're her apprentice after all /em.

"I want to know why you didn't tell me that schools around here were still a thing, with all your stories it almost sounded like they don't exist anymore! I want to learn magic Eda and, and I enjoy spending time with you and helping you with the human stand and deliveries but... I feel like I'm not learning or your priority" she lost her steam near the end, mumbling the last bit, although still loud enough for the witch to hear, earning Luz a small sigh from her mentor. "I know you said it takes unique things away and forces witches to choose, but I don't have to be like them, I can make my own call. Besides, I would still have you as a mentor... I just don't want to be a burden on yo-" Eda snorted and put her hand up, cutting her off. "Okay, woah, for one thing you aren't a burden you have been helpful. I have been... lacking on teaching you, I know that. Kid, I don't know exactly em how /em to teach you just yet, I've been trying to figure that glyph situation out and nothing! So, all I know is how to teach, how I was taught, and I learned a lot from the wilds, the isles themselves." Luz took a second to take the information in, she was contemplating how to respond. "I will do whatever I can to help you learn magic Luz, but I think it will take time as for School... I don't know kid. Let's talk more after some training, we still have plenty of time until the entrance exams, give yourself time to adjust too. Hang out with friends!" Eda knew she was just trying to force distractions onto the girl, hoping that in the meantime she might be able to figure more out about the glyph or at least get her more interested in potion making. em I want her to succeed... but I'd hate to see her disappointed in herself, ugh but she deserves better! /em Eda mentally beat herself up, struggling with the sudden maternal feelings she had for Luz and being a solitary witch for so long.

"I..." Luz wanted to protest but the idea itself wasn't bad, maybe she was rushing things, she had only been here a week and humans had never done magic before, yet she had just learned a spell a few days ago. She gave another defeated sigh and agreed with her mentor, "Alright, that sounds like a good plan... Do you want to come to the Covention this coming weekend? Willow and Gus invited me, said it would have a lot of great information on the different school tracks and covens... Pllleeasse Eda." em yup there it is... the puppy dog face. Ugh, how does she do it!? Well at least if I go, she can't get sucked into their propaganda, I'll be there to cut the crap. /em "Alright, alright you convinced me, we can all go. I think King will get a kick out of it too." she nodded at the demon snacking away in peace as the two spoke, occasionally offering a chip to Francois. "YES!" Luz jumped out of the chair and went over to hug Eda who instantly looked disgusted. "I don't think I'm going to get used to this" she grumbled as she accepted the hug. "Okay enough, enough... You still have some of that crap on you from the abomination. Let's not ruin my dress." She huffed, casting a small spell circle to pull all the abomination goop from Luz, the floor, King and herself, sending it down her sink with a swish of her hand. "Better" Luz nodded, touching her fully dry clothes and unmatted hair. "King you want to watch some more of that show you liked?" King finally perked up, "I thought you'd never ask!" He jumped up, grabbing Francois and jumping off the table down to the ground, running towards the living room, Luz chuckling as she followed him. em He does seem a lot happier since she came... It's been kind of nice. /em Eda couldn't help but laugh a little and shake her head, taking another sip of her drink, never having thought she would enjoy having another person in their lives.

*** Amity (Same day)

The green haired witch decided it was best to walk home, there was no point in meeting up with her brother and sister at this point in the day, there was a good chance they had already left anyways. The walk back to Blight manor would just give her some much-needed time to clear her head from the day's antics. em That human had no right to get involved with all of this, where did she even come from? I haven't heard of a human in the boiling isles... /em she let her thoughts linger on Luz, ranging from why she was here to what made her decide to stick herself out there like that for witches she just met. em Forget it! /em she finally snapped at herself, em why am I even bothering? I won't see her again anytime soon; I need to focus. /em she convinced herself to shift her thoughts from Lu- the human, to Willow. Her steps increased pace as she tried to walk off the feeling of anger and resentment in her chest, conflicted constantly when it came to the dark-haired witch. em I hope principal Bump is making an appropriate call with thi/em her thought was abruptly ended by a massive pang of pain in her head, em Oh... no, please. /em she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block the pain out. Suddenly a voice, not her own, rang loudly in her mind. em strong Amity Blight! You best be home soon, we have MUCH to discuss /em /strong before she could answer the voice in her head, it all faded away, the pain and the voice slipping away from her. She felt a small wave of nausea as she steadied herself, holding one side of her head. em Yes mother... /em she wiped the beaded sweat from her forehead and started to run back to the manor. She was close but didn't want to waste any more time and risk any more pain.

As she reached the gates of Blight Manor she paused, looking up at the long driveway and the huge home, it was giant and sat atop a slight hill giving each window a beautiful view of the forest and beyond to the isles. She pushed the gate open and tried to steel herself for the encounter with her parents, she tried to smooth her long wild hair, having run there she could only imagine how it looked. She took a deep breath and entered her home, before she could even take her shoes off, she felt a horrible chill run down her spine and in that moment, she knew her parents had got word of her less than perfect performance. She quickly whipped around to meet their stare, "I fixed the problem, they cheated!" She launched into a protest but quickly realized that wouldn't be enough. With one of her father's abominations on her arm to escort her, they all went to have a 'chat'. em This can't be happening, I fixed it! /em she internally raged, however not physically protesting knowing it would only make their 'chat' worse, if that was even possible.