Luz immediately took the road that would lead her towards Eda's house. If she could, she would have done it all in a run, but even though she was made of wood, she too had her limits and couldn't run forever, so after a while she forced herself to stop and just walk. "I can't wait to see mom again!" she exclaimed. "I hope she waited for me... I haven't seen her for too many days, I just want to give her a thousand caresses and finish her with the kisses!"
"I'm pretty sure it's more likely that she will be the onr that will give you more kisses and caresses" Gus told her. "Camila will burst with happiness when she finally sees you again. She must have been very worried about you for days"
Luz sighed, feeling terribly guilty. "I know... but from today things will change! I've learned that there are many things I don't know, and that I can't always do it my way; in fact, I have to listen to people who have more judgment than me! From now on I'll be a good girl! I'll go to school and I'll obey my mother, and I'll be a good sister to Vee! No more mischief!"
"I wonder how long you'll keep these resolutions, but the simple fact that you make them gives me hope" Willow commented as she jumped onto her shoulder. "Anyway, I hope you're ready to take whatever punishment Camila will give you. And I hope this time you'll be smart enough to tell her and Eda the truth right away"
"Of course I'll tell the truth!" Luz exclaimed as a shiver ran down her spine at the memory of her nose growing out of the window. Now that she knew the consequences of lying, she had no intention of doing it again. "And don't worry, I'm ready to accept any punishment they give me, because I know I deserve it. I'm not saying I like it, but it's right that I suffer it. I've caused my mother too much pain not to be punished. And Eda... that fairy saved my life and I couldn't even keep a single promise I made to her...". She bit her lip. "I just hope that... sooner or later they will forgive me"
"It is certain that they will forgive you. They love you, Luz; and people who love each other always forgive" Gus reassured her. He was happy that Luz had realized that she had made mistakes and that she was ready to face the consequences, something that until recently she would have refused to do. "Although it will probably take a while for them to trust you again"
"Yeah..." Luz murmured as she twiddled her thumbs. "Do you think that having helped save a town will help?"
"Technically you didn't do much, you just supported Vee while she spoke and carried her during the battle. The ones who actually fought were Hunter, Masha and Vee. You can't say your contribution was that important" Willow told her. In reality, she didn't believe it at all: Luz had been fundamental in all the events of the last few days. She was the one who had given Vee hope and convinced Hunter to follow the plan, and who in the midst of the battle had stopped Vee from attacking her aunt and making things worse. Without her everything could have ended very differently. Both Willow and Gus were proud, at least in part, of how Luz had behaved... but they both agreed that if they had told her, the puppet would probably have gone to her head, so they had mutually decided to avoid showering her with praise and rather to try to ensure that he remained humble.
Luz lowered her head sadly at her friend's words. "I just hope that Eda wasn't too angry... when I left, it seemed that keeping my promise was very important to her. I hope I didn't hurt her too much..."
"You'll see, at most she'll shout at you a little and pull your ears" Gus reassured her. "And then maybe she'll sulk at you for a few days or maybe a week, but then she'll go back to being the grumpy, eccentric fairy she always was."
Luz cracked a smile, a little heartened, and she continued on for a while. Eventually she reached the part of the woods that was familiar to her, and in the distance she began to glimpse the outline of the Owl House. But just when she was very close to her destination, she found the road blocked by a large fallen tree. "It probably collapsed during the night" Willow commented looking at it; in fact the tree was decidedly old, and it was not surprising that it had succumbed to its age and finally broken. "Let's go around. We'll get to the back of the house instead of the door, but that's okay"
Luz nodded and did as she was told, and within minutes they were on the other side of the Owl House, where she finally made it out of the woods. "There, see? No probl..." Willow was already saying, but she stopped when she saw the state of the fairy's house.
The windows were all broken, and pieces of glass lay beneath them, as if something had struck them violently from the inside; in their place there were now wooden planks fixed to the wall with nails. Luz rushed towards one of them and through the boards she could see that the inside of the house was in disarray, as if a typhoon had passed; and in every wall there were deep gashes which were undoubtedly the marks of claws. Claws that, judging by the size of the marks, must have been at least ten centimeters long. "What happened here!?" the puppet exclaimed in panic. "Eda! Eda, are you there?"
Willow and Gus were just as shaken as she was, but they tried to stay calm. "Luz, the best thing to do now is to think clearly" they tried to tell her. "So don't do the first thing that comes to mind..."
But obviously saying that was completely useless, because as soon as Luz found a window whose slats were wide enough to let a girl of her size pass through, she didn't hesitate for an instant to climb up and enter the house. Willow and Gus both clapped their faces. "Luz, for heaven's sake, at least try to be quiet!"
The puppet wasn't even listening to them: she was busy looking at the terrible state the house was in. All the furniture, ornaments, cutlery, crockery, paintings, even potions and healing herbs were completely destroyed and scattered across the floor. But she didn't have time to wonder what all this had done, because she heard a thud coming from another room, and then another, and then another, as if a large creature was walking towards her. Luz's survival instinct took over and her legs moved on their own, and she immediately hid inside what remained of a closet, and put her hands over her mouth so as not to even let her breathing be heard. The thuds followed again and soon began to come from the same room she was in; and the thuds were accompanied by a growl, similar to the growl of a bear mixed with the hiss of a snake. Luz trembled like a leaf, but she couldn't resist the temptation to peek a little.
As soon as she saw what was outside, she immediately went back into the closet and never moved a muscle again. She hadn't seen it clearly, but she had been able to glimpse a quadrupedal beast, covered in what looked like feathers made of tar, about three times the size of a normal adult human being, wandering around, sniffing the air as if searching for a prey. Luz stifled a scream by biting her tongue and prayed with all her heart that the creature wouldn't notice her, and luckily that was exactly what happened: after letting out a couple more gurgles, the monster turned and went back the way it came. When she was sure it was gone, the puppet opened her mouth wide and took the biggest breath she had ever taken in her entire life. Even though she was made of wood, it gave her goosebumps. "What… what was that?"
"I don't know, but we have to leave!" Willow exclaimed, who was terrified too. "Luz, don't play the hero and get out of this house right now!"
"I totally agree with Willow!" Gus added. "If that thing finds us, all three of us are dead! Let's get out of here!"
"But... but Eda..." Luz murmured.
"If Eda were here, do you think she would let such a monster roam around the house?" Willow pointed out. "I don't know what happened, but it's clear she's not here. We'll ask questions as soon as we get out! Now go!"
Albeit with a bit of reluctance, Luz came out of the closet where she had taken refuge and, trying to make as little noise as possible, she walked towards the window she had entered through... but then without wanting to, she put her foot on one of the fallen ornaments, which broke with a sharp crash. Both Luz and Gus and Willow froze at the sound, and for a moment even their heartbeat and breathing seemed to stop; but as soon as they heard what sounded like a high-pitched owl hoot and a series of extremely loud thuds, all three knew exactly what to do. "RUN!" was the only word that the two arthropods shouted at the puppet, who for her part was already moving her legs as fast as she could.
The three of them fled in the opposite direction to that from which they heard the thuds coming which signaled the furious pace of the creature, which was clearly chasing them. Luz eventually made it to what had been the kitchen and hid under a counter. An instant later she heard the creature's horrible cry, so high-pitched it rattled shards of glass on the floor, and she put her hands over her ears to keep her eardrums from exploding; an istant later the beast entered in the room, and suddenly she stopped running. The monster wandered from one side of the kitchen to the other, clearly looking for her. Luz shivered every time she heard a thump that signaled the creature's step, and she tried to rely on her hearing to figure out where it was. She was thankful that she was made of wood, since that meant she didn't have a smell, or at least not one that a predator would identify as prey. Moving as slowly and silently as possible, she lowered her head to see under the shelf where she was hidden, and was thus able to glimpse enormous pale and emaciated paws similar to long fingers from which protruded curved claws that made a clicking sound every time they beat on the ground; as she imagined those claws lashing out at her, Luz felt so bad she almost vomited. Now she understood very well why Gus and Willow were so terrified of birds.
The creature continued to wander the kitchen for almost three minutes, which to Luz seemed like three centuries, or rather three millennia. She had to summon all her self-control not to come out of her hiding place and run away screaming in desperation. She began to fear that the monster would never leave the kitchen. But suddenly a noise was heard coming from another room, as if someone had just dropped something, and the creature let out a screech and rushed there at full speed.
Luz waited a few moments, then she finally crawled out of her hiding place; and when she did something landed in front of her. Luckily she managed to repress a cry, and shr realized that what was in front of her was just a little owl with ocher and brown feathers and large yellow eyes. "Hey... I know you... you're... Eda's wand! Her Palisman! Owlbert, right?"
Luz had never seen the Palisman in its 'non-wand' form, but she had no trouble recognizing it as it was virtually identical to the wand the fairy had shown her. And even if with some difficulty, she could remember its name since Eda had said it a few times. The little owl nodded, as if wanting to answer her. "Did you make that noise to lure the monster away?" Luz asked.
Owlbert nodded again, then it flew up and grabbed one of Luz's sleeves and pulled her forcefully towards the door to exit. It was clearly telling her that she had to go away, and Luz had no hesitation in listening to it... but an instant before her hand could touch the handle, she heard a tremendous thud and a screech behind her, and the horrible shape of the monster reappeared in the kitchen. This time the puppet could see it in all its ugliness: it was a terrifying being with large owl-like wings and four gigantic gray legs covered in claws, and dirty gray feathers covered him almost completely, and they were squared and longer in some places, as if they were horrible tumors...
But when the monster raised its head, the world seemed to stop in Luz's mind. Every sound vanished and even her survival instincts seemed to shut down. The puppet was no longer able to move, speak or even think; she could only look at the monster's head, above which was a face she knew very well. The eyes had changed and become black as the darkest night, the ears had grown longer and the teeth had become sharp like those of a beast, but otherwise it was unmistakable. Luz's lips moved without her wanting it and a single word came out of it: "EDA!?"
The monster screeched again like the sound of an angry owl and then it lunged at her; but before it could grab her, the door behind Luz flew open and Hooty appeared, and using his neck as a rope he wrapped himself around the creature and stopped its attack. "Luz! Good thing Owlbert warned me!" the owl exclaimed. "Get out now! I won't be able to hold her for long!"
"But... but... Eda... what's happened to her...?" Luz slurred in complete shock.
"Luz, this is not the time! Run away now!" Willow screamed at her as she flew up and grabbed her hair and tried to drag her away, and Owlbert did the same; the combined force of the two of them was enough to make the puppet lose her balance, which fell to the floor and rolled out the door. As soon as she was out of the house, Hooty let go of the monster and pulled his neck away, and then hr closed the door behind him, sealing it. The creature began to bang violently against it, but it couldn't open it.
Luz scrambled to her feet and ran to the nearest window. "Eda! What... what's wrong with you?" she screamed, and the horrible face of the monster immediately appeared in front of her, trying to bite her, but unable to get over the boards that confined her to the house. "Don't you recognize me? It's me! It's Luz! You... don't you understand me...?"
"She can't hear you, Luz" Hooty said as he moved closer to her. "She's no longer conscious"
Luz froze completely, unable to take her eyes off the creature that had been a wonderful fairy and was now just trying to break through the window to get out and grab her. She remained like that for almost two minutes, then she mechanically turned to Hooty. "What… what happened to her?
In the original story, after being released from prison and facing the snake, Pinocchio also has a further adventure before returning to the fairy's house, that is, he enters a field to steal grapes and is captured by a farmer. This part however would have been very difficult to include at the time, so I decided to move it much later in the story. So if there are obsessive fans of Collodi's work among the readers, don't worry, I don't intend to skip even one part, simply for plot reasons I will move some as it is more convenient for me. Therefore in this version Luz immediately returns to the Owl House as soon as she is released from prison and defeats the greater basilisk, and here she has an... unexpected surprise. What will it be about?