The Angel of the Owl House

by OwlHouseAngel

Luz Noceda is a young half-angel girl living with her angel mother in the Human Realm. Her attempts to be good always backfire, and after one too many mistakes, her mother sends her to Camp Reality Check. But a chance event leaves Luz in the Demon Realm, where she meets the Owl Lady, who teaches her that in a chaotic world like the Boiling Isles, Luz might be the perfect angel.

8. EP 8: Enrolling Stones

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 1: The Demon Realm

Chapter 8: Enrolling Stones

When Luz awoke from her extended nap following the Wailing Star incident at the library, she found Eda and King acting depressed over the absence of the Bat Queen's babies, having bonded with them in the time they'd looked after them. She'd quickly cheered them up by recounting her adventure at the library with Amity and the twins, and both had been amused at the image of their little angel friend actually breaking into a library to steal a book, even though Luz insisted she was going to give it back. They'd also been happy to learn that she'd recovered Philip Wittebane's Diary, and gathered around it to finally begin reading.

This proved to be a slight problem… the book was in decent condition (minus a few chewed corners), but Philip Wittebane had lived in the mid-1600s and was apparently from the Human Realm (something Luz had been excited by). This also meant he wrote in 17th century English, which required a bit of translating to make it fully understandable, and was also written in Philip's fancy handwriting, which meant Luz struggled to read even the parts she understood. It would take some time to decipher the diary, but thankfully Eda was willing to go on a run to the Human Realm to find a book in the Gravesfield library to help her.

Luz ended up spending most of that week with Eda trying to decipher the diary, and while it was long and arduous work, she managed to get a good number of pages translated, in which Philip Wittebane's own words confirmed that he was a human lost in the Demon Realm after stumbling through a "Wild" Portal, and that he was searching for a way to build his own portal back to the Human Realm. There were a lot of anecdotes and observations about the Demon Realm and its people, but nothing about angels or glyphs in those first few pages, but Luz resolved to keep working on it. In a way, it reminded her of the diary she'd been keeping on her experiences in the Demon Realm and helped her feel connected with this long-gone human.

The next market day, Luz and King had decided to take a break from translating to show off their magic and their appreciation for Eda by making a big sign for her Human Collectibles Stall. It drew a lot of attention, and Eda hadn't had the heart to tell the kids to take it down, leading to a lot of sales and a brief run-in with Boscha and her friends. Boscha had been rude, but weirdly non-confrontational, making Luz wonder if the experience with the Mandragora had made her a bit nicer. She hadn't thought on it for long however, as guards had been attracted by their sign and tried to arrest Eda. Eda drove them off by using a Body Swap spell to switch the guards with random people in the streets, allowing the Owl Lady and her kids to high-tail it out of town in the confusion.

Things fell back into the old routine after that, with it officially being one month since Luz came to the Demon Realm, and with no more answers on her strange magic and maturity. Another couple of days passed, until Monday afternoon.

Luz was taking a break from magic training and diary translating to help Eda and King sort through some new boxes of human garbage, when Hooty announced a new arrival. He swung open and in walked Gus, wearing a nervous smile.

"H-Hey Luz! Good to see you!" he said.

Luz smiled; "Hey Gus! Did you come by to hang out? We've got new human junk! I'm sure Eda wouldn't mind selling a few pieces early."

Gus briefly looked at the junk with desire in his eye, then shook his head; "I can't today. Listen, I really need your help!"

"Sure Gus, I'm always happy to help. Lay it on me!" Luz smiled.

"Okay, it's like this;" Gus began, "You know how I'm the President of the Human Appreciation Society at Hexside? Well today we got a new member named Mattholomule, and he dissed my human collectibles and tried to pass of a bunch of fakes as genuine! Now he's trying to take over as president, and the others are believing him!"

Luz frowned; "That's rough… I'm guessing me being Half-Human is why you came to me?"

"Yeah, I kinda… sorta… maybe… promised you come to the meeting tomorrow?" Gus said guiltily.

"You probably should have asked me BEFORE making a promise like that." Luz said, "But I don't mind helping. I'd love to spend another day at Hexside! Eda, is it okay with you if I go tomorrow?"

Eda scowled; "Is that really what you want? You're learning a lot of magic with me already! Way more than you'd learn at that Dweebus factory." she then smirked at Gus; "No offence, Dweebus."

"None taken. I come from a long line of Dweebuses." Gus replied.

"Eda, you've been a great teacher! I've learned a lot from you, and I love hanging out with King and Hooty, but I also want to spend more time with my friends." Luz said, "I've already used up a third of my time here on the isles, and I still haven't found the answers to my questions! Or figured out a foolproof way to make my Mami let me come back here… I thought that maybe if she sees me enrolled in a real school and doing well, she'll understand that this is the best place for me."

Eda sighed; she couldn't really argue with that. It would suck letting her apprentice go off to Hexside (Eda would prefer if the place burned down) but it was better than seeing her go home at the end of the summer and never being allowed to come back.

"If I let you do this, you're still going to have to take lessons with me, and help with chores! Combine all that with translating the diary and you're going to be crazy busy. You still want to go?" Eda asked.

Luz nodded frantically; "Yes! Oh my gosh, yes, yes, yes!"

"Then fine." Eda conceded, "I'll go with you and the Dweebus tomorrow and see about getting you enrolled."

Luz screamed with excitement and jumped at Eda, hugging the woman with all her strength while Gus cheered victoriously behind them. Eda groaned, not letting on that she actually enjoyed the hug, then said; "Okay okay, get off me kid."

The young angel jumped off and began celebrating with Gus by hugging and jumping around in a circle. King looked to Eda and asked; "Hey, if you're both going tomorrow, can I come?"

"I'm not enrolling you too." Eda deadpanned.

"Weh!? I don't wanna go to stupid school! I wanna hang out with Luz! And show the Dweebuses how a real demon does magic!" King declared, using glyphs in each hand to create a ball of light and a sunflower, which he combined to create a bizarre but beautifully shining flower.

Eda snorted; "Okay, deal. Anything to liven the place up… Speaking of which. Hey Luz!"

Luz and Gus stopped their little happy dance and looked over to Eda; "Yeah?"

"In return for letting you enrol at Hexside, you're gonna have to wear THIS while you're there tomorrow." Eda grinned, showing a crudely drawn picture of a purple t-shirt. It had the words "BAD GIRL COVEN" on the left side and a picture of Eda surfing on Owlbert on the right side.

Luz giggled at the sight; "Well, I guess I won't be asked to join any covens if people find out I'm already in one!" she joked. It was a silly shirt, but she was happy to wear it; it wouldn't be the weirdest thing she'd worn in public!

"So it's decided; Gus, I'll be coming to Hexside tomorrow and I'll go to that HAS meeting with you! We'll show that Mattholomule guy who's the real human expert!" Luz cheered. "Oh, I can't wait! I get to learn, and see my friends, AND help someone all at the same time! Tomorrow is gonna be great!"

Luz's excitement was infectious, and soon Gus and King were jumping for joy right alongside her, while even the sour-faced Eda couldn't keep from smirking at her apprentice's exuberance.

Gus headed home soon after, a spring in his step and a new human artefact (a bauble from a Christmas tree) in his pocket. That night was a restless one for both Luz and Gus, as their excitement kept them up, but they eventually managed to drift off to sleep.

The next day, Gus waited outside Hexside alongside Willow, watching for their friend's arrival. They'd been worried that Eda would make Luz late, but they actually came flying over well before school started, no doubt egged on by Luz's excitement. Luz stepped off of Owlbert wearing a slightly modified version of the Bad Girl Coven shirt, which now incorporated a cat-eared hood like Luz's normal shirt. King was sitting on her shoulder, looking almost as excited as Luz, while Eda just looked grumpy.

"Morning guys! Ready for a day of classes!" Luz greeted. She looked around and noticed the massive hole in the path in front of the school had now been completely fixed, leaving no evidence that anything had happened.

"Hey Luz. It'll be great to have you back! I hope Principal Bump lets you come to the plant track class again; you'll be able to see what Amelia and I have been working on." Willow smiled.

"Me too! I'm so excited! Last time was a lot of fun, even with Boscha and the Mandragora. It'll also be fun to show the HAS some real human stuff" Luz said, her ears wiggling from joy.

Willow noticed this and frowned; "Wait a second, how are you going to convince the HAS that you're really half-human? Gus and I believe you, but your ears are pointy like ours. Anyone looking at you would just assume you're a witchling like us."

Gus gasped, realising he'd forgotten that, but Luz just chuckled knowingly; "I already thought of that! I've got my cellphone!" she said, pulling out her mundane human cellphone. It hadn't gotten much use besides texting her Mami since Eda got her a Smart Scroll, but it still had a photo gallery full of pictures from the Human Realm, and so long as Eda and her portal were near Hexside, Luz could also access the human internet. She pulled up a picture of herself at age 10, taken at the Gravesfield Zoo with her Mami and a giraffe in the background. Willow and Gus gasped at the sight of it.

"Whoa! Is that a giraffe!? So that's where they were banished to! Oh man, this is gonna be great!" Gus beamed. "Hide that until we get to the club meeting at lunch, okay? I want to keep it under wraps until the big reveal."

"Ooh, a showman! I totally get it; you bring the razzle…" Luz used light magic to create a sparkle effect from each hand; "I'll bring the dazzle!"

Gus and Willow giggled, while King decided to show off by using light glyphs to make an even bigger sparkle effect.

"Ugh, it's too early for this… come on you brats, we've got to talk to Bumpikins about getting you enrolled." Eda complained, heading into the school. King and the kids followed after her, walking into Hexside's central atrium. As soon as they entered, they saw a demon boy from the Beast-keeping track have his bag stolen by two other students, who began to play piggy in the middle with it as the poor student tried to get it back.

Luz frowned and was about to conjure some vines to take the bag back for the kid, but before she could, one of the bullies was grabbed by a metal shepherd's crook and dragged away, causing the bag to drop to the ground. Luz gasped as she saw the person holding the crook; it was a strange looking guard wearing a blue uniform with an upside down skull for a face, the eyes of which were stitched shut. The guard bent and sniffed the bully's face, uttering; "Trouble." in a creepy voice.

The other bully began to back away, but he too was soon caught by a second guard, and both bullies were dragged away, loudly complaining as they went. Luz shuddered at the sight of the creatures.

"That's new…" she uttered.

"Yeah, they showed up after the Mandragora incident. They smell trouble, literally." Gus explained.

"You don't say…" Eda deadpanned as a trio of them had appeared and were sniffing around her, muttering trouble over and over.

"Well that's terrifying. Are those kids going to be okay?" Luz asked.

"Don't worry." Willow assured her; "Before, they'd have been dragged off to the Detention pit, but since the Fibul Academy ruins were uncovered, troublemakers get put into Detention Detail, like we were. They'll have to spend some time helping to convert the ruins into the Hexside expansion, but it's not so bad."

"That's a relief…" Luz said, shooing away a guard who was sniffing King a bit too closely for her comfort.

Eda swatted away the three who were sniffing her too, and grabbed Luz's hand; "Come on, we need to get visitors' passes before I have to blast us out of Detention Detail. Glad these things weren't here when Faust was in charge…"

She dragged Luz off to see Bump, forcing her to shout to her friends that she'd meet them at their lockers when she was done. Eda let herself into Bump's office without even knocking, startling the elderly Principal. She unceremoniously dropped Luz and King into one of the chairs, then sat on her own chair, swiped a pencil from Bump's desk, and balanced it on her top lip while putting her feet up on the desk.

Luz cringed at her mentor's behaviour, while Bump stared at Eda with an unimpressed look.

"Hey Bumpster, it's been a while huh? Though not as long as I'd like, thanks to that stupid Mandragora." Eda smirked. "I gotta admit, it's weird being back here without you or Fausty yelling at me for stealing or picking fights!"

"I can easily change that." Bump frowned, using magic to shove Eda's feet off his desk, causing her to topple over with a pained yelp. "What are you doing here, Edalyn? Besides being a terrible example for your student?"

Eda glared at him as she sat back up, her temper flaring. She caught Luz's eye, and the girl gave her an imploring look, making the Owl Lady grumble.

"I want to enrol my apprentice Luz at Hexside." she put her hands on Bump's desk; "And before you get all judgy-!"

"That's not a bad idea." Bump interrupted.

"You no good- Wait, really?" Eda blinked.

"Really?" Luz gasped hopefully.

"Indeed. Why are you so surprised, Edalyn? I believe I mentioned this possibility when you were last here. I think Hexside would benefit quite a bit from having an angel exchange student." Bump said.

"You know!?" Luz yelled.

Bump frowned, looking to Eda; "Did you not mention what I warned you about last time you were here, Edalyn?"

Eda looked a bit sheepish; "Uh, no. I kind of forgot… Though in my defence, that was right before you revealed a new glyph, and then there was the weekend, then the thing with my curse… I got kind of distracted."

Luz crossed her arms with a huff, rolling her eyes at her mentor, before looking to the Principal; "How do you know what I am, Principal Bump?"

"As I told Edalyn, you are not the first angel I've met on the Boiling Isles, and once you've known an angel, it becomes much easier to spot others." Bump explained.

"Wait, so there really have been other angels here in your lifetime?" Luz gasped, wondering if her theory about Belos being an angel was true after all. She'd been fairly convinced, on that theory, but hadn't brought it up to Eda in case it made the Owl Lady do something stupid, or try to forbid Luz from ever going near the guy (not that she was planning to get close to him).

"Indeed. I had the good fortune of meeting her here at Hexside in fact. Cassiel was her name, from Crest Kindness. It was about… oh, 19 years ago?" Bump said, rubbing his chin in thought; "You reminded me of her immediately; you share a resemblance with her."

Luz smiled; "That's not surprising. Angels born into the same Crest Orders tend to look similar; we're one big family after all. If someone looks different, then they're probably a transfer from a different order. Most Kindness angels have my skin tone, according to Mami."

"Truly? I had thought Cassiel might be your mother." Bump said.

Luz shook her head; "Oh, that's not possible. Mami's never been to the Demon Realm, and only left the Divine Realm when she was 18, which was 16 years ago. Plus she told me a bunch of horror stories about this place, and there's no way she would have believed them if she'd actually been here."

"Of course, and as an angel she wouldn't be able to lie without pain… so the resemblance is because of the Crest Order. Fascinating." Bump mused.

Eda cut in; "Hey, hold on a second! How could this Cassiel chick have been hanging around Hexside without me knowing about it!?"

"You dropped out after you were cursed, Eda. That was a full two years before Cassiel arrived. You also didn't remain in contact with anyone but Young Mx. Whispers, and they weren't one of the people "in the know" about her true identity." Bump explained.

"And Old Fausty just let her run around? If I've got the timeline right, she would have been here for a year before he bit the dust." Eda frowned.

Principal Bump smiled grimly; "Cassiel wasn't a student here; much like young Luz has been doing, she merely came to visit her friends. In fact, she didn't even reside on the Boiling Isles, but came and went from some unknown location. But you're right; Faust didn't like it and sought to stop her visits after she became a thorn in his side."

"I'm not surprised. There's no way an angel would put up with his draconian ways… Heck, he stopped acknowledging I existed after that whack-job Plant Coven Head told him he couldn't expel me."

"Yes, which is why I got stuck dealing with your antics even before I was Principal." Bump deadpanned, before smiling again; "No doubt you heard of the student uprising that resulted in Faust's… ousting? Well it was Cassiel who helped kickstart it."

Eda whistled, clearly impressed; "Wow, between that and the trouble Luz gets into, I'm starting to think angels are more trouble than we think!" she said, smirking and ruffling Luz's hair.

Luz smiled and blushed at what was definitely a compliment coming from Eda, then asked; "What exactly happened to Faust?"

"From what I heard, he tried to use violence to quash the uprising and the students took exception. My old friend Raine told me he got eaten by the Kindergarteners." Eda laughed.

Luz laughed along too, assuming it was a joke, but Principal Bump just got a haunted look in his eyes; "That's what happens when you turn a non-violent protest into a fight… and also ban the Kindergarteners' snack time…"

Hearing that made Luz's stomach churn, and she really regretted asking. She quickly changed the topic; "So, is Cassiel still around?"

Bump frowned sadly and shook her head; "Unfortunately not. She left for the last time about four years after she first arrived. Apparently she left in a hurry, only saying goodbye to her closest friends. She'd suffered some kind of personal tragedy from what her friends told me."

Luz did some math in her head; 4 years after she arrived 19 years ago meant she'd left 15 years ago. That meant she left at the same time as the angel "hoax" that the Librarian had told her about. That seemed like far too much of a coincidence for Luz, so she asked; "Did Cassiel leaving have anything to do with that fake angel that attacked the Emperor?"

Eda and Bump looked at her with surprise, obviously not expecting her to know about that. "I don't know, though I've often wondered." Bump answered, "the identity of the fake angel was never announced. I thought they might be a friend of Cassiel, who rebelled against the Emperor and died, making them the personal tragedy she suffered. But none of the friends I knew about are dead, or angels, so I can't be certain."

"Maybe the personal tragedy thing was a lie? If someone claiming to be an angel just got killed trying to assassinate the Emperor, anyone who is a real angel would probably want to skip town too, just in case they got accused of it as well." Eda suggested.

"Ultimately, we can never know for certain. Not without hearing from Cassiel herself… but let's put all that aside for now and get back to why you came here today. You wish to enrol Luz in Hexside, and I happen to think that is a good idea." Bump said, smiling at the young girl, "Most of the teachers who taught her on the trial day had good things to say; specifically that she was a good and attentive student who was happy to help others. I think having her at Hexside would be good for the other students, and provide some needed stability to contrast the no doubt chaotic lessons she receives from you, Edalyn."

Eda smirked, while Luz felt the need to defend her mentor; "Eda is actually a really good teacher. Almost everything I showed off when I was here last was something she taught me."

The Owl Lady puffed her chest out with pride, while Bump actually chuckled; "I'm pleased to hear that. Truthfully, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the wild Edalyn Clawthorne had found a young mind to mold. Oh, excuse me; I mean two young minds." he nodded to King, who had been eagerly listening to everything. "But that brings me to my point; you have some things to answer for before we can begin the enrolment."

Luz frowned; "You mean the magic mixing incident? But I came and helped with the repairs just like you said!"

"No no Luz, I'm not talking about you. I'm referring to your mentor." Bump said, getting up from his desk and walking over to a large filing cabinet. He pulled out a massive stack of ledgers, papers, reports, and books; "Specifically, I'm talking about the necrotic experiments, the graffiti, the scams, the cheating, Miss Jenkinmeyer's teeth…" he dumped the pile onto the desk in front of Eda, and Luz peeked at the top and saw the words "Permanent Record: Edalyn Clawthorne" scrawled across the top.

"… the trouble you caused when you were here, Eda." Bump finished, frowning sternly.

Eda eyed the pile, then blandly said; "Huh, I thought there'd be more."

Luz gaped; "More!? Eda, I was the chief screw up back in Gravesfield and my record wasn't even a tenth of all this! How bad of a student were you!?"

Bump gave a sardonic smirk; "Oh, you should have seen the old record. Faust's records were destroyed in the uprising, so these are just the records I kept personally after he stopped dealing with Eda's troublemaking and foisted it off onto me." he then cast a spell to summon a trio of visitors badges for Eda, Luz, and King, plus a schedule for Luz.

"Here. While Eda and I address the remnants of her past wrongdoings, you will be allowed another trial day. You have one class in each of the tracks again, except oracle and abominations. Professor Trium says your presence disturbs the spirits, so you'd be a distraction there, and Professor Hermonculus is unhappy with your involvement in Miss Park's plant-based abomination and doesn't want you back in his class. Instead, you'll have double periods with the plant and illusion tracks, with your friends."

"Thank you, Principal Bump." Luz said, gratefully accepting the badge and schedule while mentally planning to apologise to Trium and Hermonculus.

"Hey, what about me?" King asked, taking his own badge.

"You can either stay with Eda or go with Luz. You're too young to attend classes on your own, unless you want to try your luck in Kindergarten." Bump replied.

King let out a cry of "Weh!?" at the very idea of being placed with what he considered to be babies (even though they were around the same age as him) and promptly tucked himself into Luz's hood, silently declaring he'd be sticking with her. Luz grinned and leaned her head back so King could nuzzle into the back of her neck, while Bump nodded approvingly.

"Good, then it's decided. Luz and… King, was it? You two run along and prepare for class. But a word of warning before you go;" Bump suddenly fixed Luz with his strictest, sternest glare, making her freeze in place. "While it wasn't truly your fault, Hexside is currently struggling with money due to the damage caused by the Mandragora Incident and the expansion, so we can't afford any more major repairs. If you cause any damage to the school today, then I won't be accepting your enrolment here. Am I understood?"

Luz gulped and nodded frantically; "C-Crystal, Principal Bump sir."

The man lightened up again; "Marvellous. Now get to class; Eda and I have some old troubles to put to rights."

Eda groaned loudly as Bump gave her a predatory grin, his hand tapping the top of her permanent record. Luz and King waved to the Owl Lady as they hurried out, not wanting the Principal's strict side to be pointed in their direction again. With a bit of time before classes were due to begin, Luz headed off to find Gus at his locker, whilst giving King a brief tour along the way. They arrived to find Gus waiting for them, polishing a crown with the word "President" written on tape and stuck to the front of it.

"Hey Gus. Sorry to keep you waiting." Luz greeted.

"No problem, Luz. Is King coming to classes with you today?"

"Of course! I can't leave my best minion in the hands of substandard instructors! I need to make sure they're worthy of teaching her!" King grandly proclaimed.

"Eda's doing chores for the Principal and King doesn't want to go to Kindergarten, so he's sticking with me." Luz whispered with a cheeky grin.

Gus chuckled as King narrowed his eyes on the illusionist, but he was soon distracted as another student walked up. It was a boy in the construction track, whom Luz vaguely remembered from her first time to Hexside. If she was remembering right, he was also the boy who'd made his head grow massively at the Covention.

"Augustus, so nice of you to polish up my future crown. I'll be sure to take good care of it, once I take your place as president of the HAS." the boy smirked mockingly as Gus hugged his crown to his chest. Luz frowned; this must be Mattholomule…

He turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow; "So it was you. When Augustus said he was bringing in a half-human, I wondered if it would be you. I remember the rumours about you being from the Human Realm when you came here weeks ago. But you look like any other witchling to me."

"I may look like a witchling, but it's true than I lived in the Human Realm until a month ago. I've got 14 years of memories there, and photographic proof." Luz said, pulling out her cellphone.

Gus nodded; "This is Luz's genuine human cellphone! It's what they use instead of Smart Scrolls. You should take a good look, since one of your fake artefacts was a rock you'd drawn on and claimed was a cellphone."

Mattholomule flushed in embarrassment, then growled and pointed at the phone; "That's not a real cellphone! Look at the bat wings on it! It's obviously something from our realm!"

"Actually, it's just a plastic phone case." Luz said, pulling her phone out of the purple bat-themed case, "Cellphones are kind of expensive, so we put covers on them to protect them from damage if we drop them." she tapped on her screen a few times, pulling up a picture of her as a nine year old at the beach with her Mami, which clearly showed humans playing in the ocean behind her. "I've got tons of pictures like this, proving where I'm from."

Mattholomule gaped in disbelief as Luz put her phone back in its case and pocketed it. Gus then said; "Luz here is an official human expert. She'll authenticate both our treasures, and then everyone can see who's really fit to be president!"

With that, Luz, King, and Gus walked off to attend their first classes, leaving Mattholomule to stew in his panic in the hallway.

"Oh no no no no!" he groaned, sinking to the floor against the lockers, "They can't know I lied! Then they'll never make me president!"

When Mattholomule had transferred to Hexside from Glandus at the beginning of the semester, he'd been looking forward to rising up to a higher station. At the ultra competitive Glandus, he'd been the runt of the litter, stuck at the bottom of the social ladder! But Hexside was friendlier, and the perfect place to stage his rise from Mattholomule to Man-tholomule. He'd gotten a great start by testing well enough to skip a grade, and was in the sophomore class of the high school division instead of being stuck as a freshman. He'd thought that would make him look better in the eyes of his new schoolmates; like he was some kind of amazing super witch! But then he'd found out about Augustus Porter, who was good enough to skip TWO grades… and no one cared. Gus was considered a nobody by a lot of the "in" crowd, and that spelled doom for Mattholomule's ambitions of becoming popular.

Using some of his old experiences at Glandus, Mattholomule had hatched a plan to prove his worth by taking over a club, which came with guaranteed friends in the form of club mates, with whom he could begin his rise to power. Once he had his own clique, he could begin amassing popularity, and which club was better to take over than the one lead by the other smart kid? Mattholomule had thought it would be easy, but now Gus had brought in the big guns; his half-human friend, who'd supposedly saved the Queen Bees of Hexside, Boscha Alembic and Amity Blight, from a thought to be extinct Mandragora!

Against someone like that, Mattholomule was doomed!

"I need to get her out of the way… but how?" he muttered. The school bell soon screamed and he was forced to trudge off to class, no closer to solving his problem.

Elsewhere, Luz and Gus had split up to get to their own classes, and for Luz this was a double session in the plant track with Willow and Amelia. Unlike last time Luz came to Hexside, she now had the power of the plant glyph mastered and was thus leaps and bounds ahead of most of the students who'd surpassed her last time, so instead of putting Luz with a struggling student this time, the teacher (a kindly old man with four arms named Professor Phil) partnered her with his best students; Willow and Amelia. They ended up doing some truly high-level work; caring for some magical orchids that Willow believed would gain intelligence if properly tended to, and Luz once again found herself baffled that anyone could ever have considered Willow to be Half-a-Witch! Even with her plant magic abilities, Luz was completely outmatched by Willow's talents!

While Luz was working on the orchids with Willow and Amelia, King was showing off his own talents. Since the plant track was the only one he could really show off in with his glyph magic, he went above and beyond, growing trees, mushrooms, and all manner of giant flora, earning praise from the students and some treats from Professor Phil. However, despite his insistence that he wasn't a baby, he began getting bored, tired, and cranky mid-way through the double class, so Luz tucked him into her hood again for a nap, and the rest of the students worked noticeably quieter so as not to disturb him.

After the double session of plant classes, Luz and King headed to the potions track, where Luz was again sat beside Boscha. The three-eyed girl firmly ignored Luz, not even acknowledging her existence, though she did seem to like King; frequently looking over at him and smiling to herself, admiring his cuteness. Professor Sip set them all to work on brewing a Colourful Cold Cure (apparently a Colourful Cold was like a normal cold, but every time you coughed or sneezed, you'd change colour), and handed out the recipe while also putting out an example cauldron. Luz and Boscha got to work on it immediately, silently competing over it, while King awoke from his nap and was given a different task; namely working with Professor Sip to "brew" some brownie mix.

Boscha had taken Professor Sip's lesson from Luz's last visit to heart, and she began deviating from the recipe to adjust for outside factors. When the class was over, Boscha's Colourful Cold Cure was closer to the perfect potion the Professor had brewed than Luz's, making her smirk smugly over her victory. Of course, Luz being Luz, she threw Boscha off completely by earnestly congratulating her and complimenting Boscha's prodigious talent in brewing. She'd then handed Boscha one of the brownies King had given her, then happily skipped off to find Willow, Gus, and Amity during their break, leaving Boscha confused and blinking.

In the break, they all decided to hang out at the Grudgby field, which had been repaired since the Mandragora incident. King got roped into playing a pick-up game with some of the kids from the Kindergarten class (which he insisted he agreed to just to prove he wasn't a baby like them), so Luz, Willow, Gus, and Amity sat on the bleachers to watch him as they chatted.

"I still can't believe that little cutie is able to do so much with plants, just by drawing that weird symbol." Willow mused, watching as King grabbed the ball with some vines and tossed it into the goal. "I wonder if I could use it to make my own plant magic stronger…"

"Trust me Willow, you don't need the extra help." Luz said, "Besides, no one can use those things like King does. Before I mastered my own plant magic, I tried using the written glyph and it was never as good as King's. He can do anything he can think of, while I needed to focus a lot more."

"Hey, come to think of it, doesn't that glyph appear in your spell circles when you cast plant magic?" Gus pointed out, having noticed it with his sharp eye for details.

Luz paused as she tried to think of an explanation; she still hadn't told Willow or Gus about her secret, so they didn't know the true origins of the glyphs or why her plant magic suddenly evolved. Luz had just used the excuse that King learned the glyphs without letting on that it was from her, while claiming her plant magic evolved when something inside her "clicked".

Seeing Luz struggle to find an excuse without lying, Amity hastily changed the subject. "You know, it's a shame that you can't join me in the abomination track today."

Willow and Gus looked at her oddly, but Luz seized on the opening Amity made for her.

"Y-Yeah, it's a real shame. I get to hang out with Willow and Gus for two classes, but I'll only get to see you now since I'll be at the HAS for lunch. I'm not good at abomination magic anyway, but I still wish I could go with you too. Is Professor Hermonculus really that mad at me?" Luz asked.

"Eh, it's more that he's embarrassed that two witches with no skill in abomination magic were able to trick him AND get the second best grade in class. It makes him look bad when someone uses plant magic to make a better abomination than most of his students." Amity explained.

"I'd feel bad for him, if he hasn't been making snide comments about me being a quitter because I transferred out of his class." Willow scowled. "But I won't let him get to me."

"He's been making comments like that? Huh, well I guess I won't go and apologise to him after all!" Luz crossed her arms with a huff. Amity just raised an eyebrow and gave her a knowing smirk, making Luz sheepishly add; "Okay, maybe I still will… but it won't be as sincere!"

Amity giggled; "Never change, Luz. By the way, how did it go with that book? Did you find what you wanted in it?"

"I'm still working on translating it. It's kind of a pain, and I haven't found any answers yet…" Luz answered.

Willow and Gus exchanged confused looks, before turning back to the two girls.

"What book are you talking about?" Willow asked.

"If you're looking for answers, maybe we can help. What is it you want to find out?" Gus offered.

Luz chuckled nervously; "Oh, you know… just a library book I thought was interesting. I'll figure it out on my own, no worries!" she then pointed down to the pitch; "Oh look, King scored again! GO KING!"

Sure enough, King had managed to score another goal and was ungraciously boasting about it to some little kid with a perpetual trail of snot pouring down his face. Luz cheered for him, and Amity joined in somewhat awkwardly while Willow and Gus eyed them suspiciously. It was obvious Luz was hiding something, and Amity knew what. Normally the two wouldn't be concerned; Luz had become a very close friend in the almost month they'd known her, and she was honest to a fault… but they still felt a bit bothered that Amity knew something about her that they didn't, especially given the rough start to the relationship between the two. Willow briefly thought that maybe Luz had figured out Amity's obvious feelings for her, or Amity had gathered the courage to confess, but that wasn't something she could imagine Luz would keep secret. And what was this mystery book about?

"Hey Luz, you know you can tell us anything, right? We're your friends, and you stuck by us even after Boscha offered to make you popular. We won't judge you, I promise." Willow said softly.

Gus nodded; "Yeah! We're all oddballs too, so whatever this secret of yours is, you can trust us with it!"

Luz looked back at them, her eyes wide. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, trying to find the words she was looking for. Eventually she just gave up; with the sole exception of the Conformatorium, where she was high on adrenaline and assumed she'd be leaving the Demon Realm, Luz hadn't willingly told anyone about what she was. Eda had basically forced her hand, and she'd been the one to tell King, while Amity and Principal Bump and discovered it on their own. After a lifetime of keeping her identity a secret, it was so ingrained in her that Luz just couldn't make the words come out.

Her friends saw her trying and choking, and opened their mouths to sooth Luz's worries, but the school bell screamed before they could get a word out. Instantly, Luz plastered a fake smile on her face and said; "Oh, would you look at the time! Best get to classes! We've got double Illusions now, right Gus? Race you there!"

She then ran down to the pitch and grabbed King, who was celebrating his ultimate victory over the Kindergarteners, then ran as fast as she could for the school building. Her friends watched her go with some concern, then Amity tried to stealthily edge away, before Willow and Gus turned back to her. Unfortunately, she wasn't as stealthy as she wanted to be, and Luz's other friends caught on fast.

"Amity, what's going on between you and Luz?" Willow said, crossing her arms sternly. "You seemed fine with her after the Mandragora incident and the first day of our detention detail, but after that you started acting really weird around her. Now you two are keeping secrets, and Luz seemed genuinely scared back there… is there something we should know?"

Amity sighed; "I can't tell you. It's not my place."

"But there is a big secret then?" Gus asked.

"Yes." Amity reluctantly nodded, "It's something really personal to Luz… I can't tell you what. I'm sorry."

"We don't want to pry into Luz's life, or make you give up her secrets. We're just worried about her. She really looked like she was trying to talk a second ago, but couldn't bring herself to actually do it. You don't have to tell us anything specific, but is Luz in danger?" Willow asked.

Amity shifted uncomfortably; "N-No. At least I don't think so. But if her secret got out, then maybe?" That was an understatement and she knew it.

"Luz's secret could put her in more danger than being the Owl Lady's apprentice?" Gus blinked.

"And she told you?" Willow added.

"She didn't tell me…" Amity confessed, "I found out by mistake. For the record, I think she wants to tell you, but can't."

The warning bell screamed, giving them only a few minutes before they were late for class. "Look, I've got to go. I know we've got some bad history and you may not trust me, but please trust Luz. She wouldn't keep it from you without good reason." Amity said. She then ran off to class, with Willow and Gus following behind at a more sedate pace.

"What should we do?" Gus asked.

"I guess there's nothing we can do, besides prove we're trustworthy and wait for her to be ready to tell us." Willow replied. They both owed Luz a favour for the help she'd given them with Willow's abomination test and Gus's issues with Mattholomule, so they could wait for her to come to them.

They both returned to their classes, getting back just in time to avoid being late. Gus walked into his double period of illusions with Luz to find her chatting happily with the Blight twins, who were also sharing their class. When Luz spotted him, a flicker of worry crossed her face, but Gus put her at ease by asking her about fun human facts she might know as they worked on their illusions, putting the girl at ease. Before long, Luz was stuck into her class work and completely relaxed, putting the conversation during the break out of her mind.

Luz found that she'd improved a decent amount with visual illusions since she last came, enough so that she fell somewhere in the middle of the class skill-wise. Gus, Edric, and Emira all outpaced her by a wide margin, but that didn't bother her. The teacher, a three-eyed purple demon woman with horns and a devil-like tail named Professor Lavestra, had Luz work with Gus to put on a show with just illusions, and they succeeded by having Luz do the visuals and special effects (using her light magic) while Gus focused on making sounds and smells to accompany them. As a treat for King, Luz made their show about his "true" self as the King of Demons and how he came to be so small and cute. No one really believed the story, but the Blight twins had played along, treating King like royalty, and he had preened under the positive attention.

The second period in the illusion track was more dull, as they actually had to share a general education class on runes with the construction and potions tracks. It was still fascinating for Luz, but it was a lot more like the school experience she'd had in the Human Realm, with everyone sat at desks and listening to a lecture while taking notes, then doing a worksheet. King fell asleep immediately, and Luz ended up needing some tips, which she thankfully got from the kid in the construction track that she'd been partnered with on her last visit.

When class ended, Luz headed off to the bard track for her next class, promising to meet Gus at the HAS club room afterwards for the lunchtime meeting. As she went, she was watched by Mattholomule, who was still wracking his brain for a way to avoid being exposed as a fraud.

He couldn't exactly ask Gus for a way to discredit or get rid of the girl, and he didn't dare go near Willow, Amity, Boscha, or any member of the latter's gang, and since he didn't know anyone else who was close to the girl, he opted for the one person he could talk to; Luz's old partner from the construction track.

"Hey man, I want to ask you something." he said, approaching his classmate.

Luz's construction partner was a very large boy, being almost twice the height of most other students, and covered in thick brown fur that hid all his features, save his uniform. Luz had fondly nicknamed him Chewie, but Mattholomule used his real name; Chewlius. The boy was very strong, but he was also the quiet type and fairly simple-minded and struggled with anything that didn't involve creating big chunks of rock or lugging around heavy weights, putting him at the bottom of the construction track.

"What do you want?" Chewlius asked gruffly.

"It's about that girl. I was wondering if you could tell me more about her." Mattholomule said, pretending to be sheepish, as if asking about a crush.

"Luz? She's nice. Don't know much else."

Mattholomule frowned; "You must know her better than that; you almost never talk to people, but you helped her with the runes worksheet in class."

Chewlius narrowed his eyes and growled lowly, making Mattholomule nervous. He then said; "Luz helped me before, so I helped her."

"Huh… that doesn't really tell me much about her…" Mattholomule muttered to himself, before addressing Chewie again. "I thought you might be friends or something."

"Not a friend yet. Would like to be. Luz is nice, she helps everyone. Even helped Boscha after being bullied by her." Chewie said shortly. The warning bell screamed and he marched off to his next class without a word, leaving Mattholomule standing by himself in the hall.

"So she helps everyone, even someone who bullied her? Hmm… maybe I could use that." Mattholomule mused, an evil grin slowly spreading across his face. He had the perfect plan!

Meanwhile, Luz arrived at the bard track's classroom and was greeted by the familiar Professor Beat; a gender neutral demon that resembled an anthropomorphic cricket with only four limbs, like a human.

"Ah, Miss Noceda! How nice to have you back with us for another class." they said in a strange, clicking voice. "Have you been practicing your musical talents? Perhaps found an instrument you favour?"

"Hello, Professor Beat. Sorry, but I haven't run into any instruments since the last time I was here. I've been singing a bit though." Luz smiled.

"She has! She sings every morning in the shower! Waking up to that is a lot better than waking up to Eda's shrieking!" King chirped happily, making Luz blush.

Professor Beat eyed the little demon; "Oh? Another new bard to join our ranks? Tell me young one, what musical talent do you have?"

"Me? I was once the finest musician in my kingdom! I had a voice that could bring people to tears for multiple reasons, and I could play any instrument in the world! In fact, they often called me the King of Musicians!" King declared, "But I kind of lost my talents along with my powers."

Professor Beat raised a chitinous eyebrow. They looked to Luz, who just shrugged with an awkward smile; "Right… Well you're welcome to try out those instruments over there. That corner is also soundproof, so you can practice to your heart's content without disturbing the class."

King looked to where Beat pointed, and found a corner of the room covered in soft cushions, with a chest full of obviously child-sized instruments. It was blatantly a kid's corner, but King didn't seem to notice and just leapt off Luz's shoulder and ran to play with all the interesting looking instruments. His excited panting was cut off when he passed the threshold into the corner, ensuring no one else in class could hear the no doubt excessive amount of noise he'd make. Once he was busy with that, Professor Beat put a hand on Luz's back and steered her towards a small stage across the room from the blackboard.

"Since you proved to be quite a talented singer last time, I've decided to have you and another student take part in a little tradition we have here in the bard track. You see, we're a little behind in our lessons and the end of the Semester is only a week away. When this happens, we have the best students in class, who are caught up with their work, or do not have any in your case, and have them perform the Ballad of Motivation. It is a powerful bardic spell that fills all who hear it with renewed vigour and enthusiasm, inspiring them to work harder." Professor Beat explained.

"You want me to sing this ballad?" Luz questioned.

"That's right. It's rare that we have someone who can use bardic magic with their voice and not an instrument or whistling, so we usually have to perform the Ballad as a purely instrumental piece, which is less effective…" Beat drew a spell circle and summoned a sheet of music with the Ballad's lyrics, which she handed to Luz; "… but with you here and able to sing, we can perform the proper thing."

Luz looked over the lyrics; they were written in a language she couldn't understand, but the words were also written out phonetically, so she could sing it properly even without knowing what she was saying. It didn't look too difficult either, being about a three minute song. She gave a tentative nod of agreement, then asked; "Who'll play the music?"

"My star student, Skara." Professor Beat said, indicating the dark skinned, silver haired girl watching from the other side of the room. She was already holding her harp and waved with a smile.

Luz waved back, unsure what it would be like to work with the girl. Amity had told her that Skara was Boscha's best friend besides Amity herself, and was the daughter of a high-ranking member of the Bard Coven, so she was someone Amity's mother wanted her around. Willow had also mentioned that Skara had no problem laughing at whatever mockery Boscha had made of the plant-loving witch in the past, but she'd never actually gone out of her way to be mean without Boscha there. So she was a popular girl, and a follower of Boscha's, but otherwise harmless enough. Luz could work with that.

Skara walked over and took a seat on a stool on the stage; "Hey, new girl. Good to have you back. Ready to put those pipes to work?"

"My name is Luz." the young angel replied. It was quickly becoming her catchphrase whenever someone called her new girl.

Skara giggled; "Luz, got it. So you ready to sing?"

"Sure. I might mess up a bit though; I've never sung this song before." Luz replied.

"Don't worry about it. The spell will keep working so long as at least one person is playing it right. If you stumble, just stop and jump back in when you're ready." Skara said kindly.

Luz was a bit surprised by the other girl being nice, but she certainly wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth! She nodded with a smile, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath to prepare herself.

Professor Beat got off the stage and got the rest of the class seated to listen to the performance, while King stopped playing with the instruments so he could listen too. He even pulled out Luz's Smart Scroll (which she'd lent him to keep him busy in classes he couldn't participate in) and began to record. At the teacher's signal, Skara began to play her harp, weaving a gentle melody that slowly picked up into a surprisingly moving song that stirred the hearts of those who listened. Skara's harp began to glow and an aura of pale red light covered the room and everyone in it, filling them with inspiration and motivation. With this boosting Luz's confidence too, the young angel opened her eyes and began to sing.

The words of the Ballad were in an ancient language that none present could understand, yet the words still managed to fill their veins with fire. Their audience listened intently, even as they began to fidget and bounce in their seats as their desire to get to work overpowered them. The pale red light intensified even as it lightened to a rose gold colour, and began to effect everything in the room. The magical musical instruments vibrated with the desire to be played, and even the tiny bugs occupying dark corners and cracks began to emerge and skitter about excitedly. Luz's angelic magic and voice resonated with Skara's divine harp playing skills, and both girls began to glow softly. Luz had stumbled a couple of times in the song, briefly making the effect waver, but she always caught herself after a moment and was soon so caught up in the song that she sang it without trouble.

When the song finally came to an end, the entire class was raring to go and could barely wait long enough to applaud the girls before rushing off to work. King, who was practically hopping up and down like a kid on a sugar high, cheered the loudest then proclaimed he would become the King of Musicians again even without his power, then ran back to the instruments to begin enthusiastically trying them all out.

Professor Beat approached the girls and patted them on the back; "Well done girls! I haven't seen the class so motivated in years! In fact, I'm raring to go and grade some papers myself! Take the rest of the class period to practice your talents as you see fit, but I'd ask you not to sing the Ballad again. If you get our hearts pumping any more, I fear someone would have a heart attack!" they smiled widely, only half joking.

Luz and Skara smiled and nodded, then sat down together on the floor of the stage. Skara plucked a note on her harp to summon a bottle of water and handed it to Luz.

"Here. You were great up there; you barely stumbled at all." Skara complimented.

"Thanks." Luz said, gratefully taking the water and sating her parched throat. She then handed the bottle back and said; "You were amazing too."

"I try. My dad's one of the top dogs in the Bard Coven, he's second in line to succeed the Head Witch in fact, so I want to live up to him." Skara said, looking wistfully across the classroom at all the other students practicing their music.

"I'm not an expert, but I think you're doing a good job." Luz complimented.

Skara gave a girlish laugh and flipped her ponytail; "I am pretty good. And so are you. What do you say; want to join the bard track? We both know you're here to enrol."

"Rumours travel fast around here." Luz noted.

"Yeah, and also everyone knows you're the Owl Lady's apprentice, and she's been spotted all over the school cleaning up old messes. I saw her in the girl's changing room, chasing ghosts with a mop and some weird human device that sucked stuff up. I learned a LOT of new curse words watching her." Skara smirked.

Luz laughed; "I guess that's undeniable proof. I haven't decided what track I want to be a part of yet. Bard magic sounds amazing though; it's definitely high on my list."

Skara gave a pleased smile; "I'm glad to hear that. A lot of people think Bards are weak. We can use almost any other kind of magic through Bardic magic, but they still look down on us."

"That's just stupid." Luz said, "How can something so versatile be considered weak!? I bet people only say that because they're mad they can't do it. Anyone can draw a spell circle, but playing an instrument takes skill even without the magic part!"

The young angel's impassioned words struck Skara, who stared at Luz like she was seeing a ghost. Luz blinked in confusion; "What?"

"N-Nothing… it's just that Boscha said almost the exact same thing to me when I first joined the bard track. Not everyone liked my decision, but she stood up for me. It's weird to hear the same words coming from you." Skara explained.

Luz could certainly agree with that! She couldn't ever see herself seeing eye to eye with Boscha, but it seemed they had at least one shared opinion. The mention of Boscha made Luz curious though.

"I can't really phrase this without it seeming kinda mean, but why exactly are you friends with Boscha, Skara? You seem really nice, but I've heard stories of you bullying people with her. Plus you were with her when she confronted me last time I was here." Luz asked.

Skara's smile faltered for a moment as she shrugged; "Boscha, Amity, and I were brought together by our parents. They're all competitive, social climbing big wigs, and they wanted us to bond as the next generation of our families. It wasn't our choice, but we mostly found ways to make it work. Over time, I started thinking of Boscha as a real friend."

Luz felt like there was something missing from that explanation; something personal, but she didn't dare ask what. Instead she said; "I guess I get that. But why go along with her bullying?"

Skara shifted uncomfortably; "I just… did. Boscha is my friend. When she makes jokes, I laugh, even if they're at someone's expense. When she pulls pranks, I help, even if they hurt people. It seems natural, like a friend having another friend's back. All those other kids aren't us, so I guess I just never thought about it."

"But you are thinking about. It bothers you; I can see that on your face." Luz said softly. "I'm not saying you should give up on being Boscha's friend. I'm not even saying Boscha is a totally bad person, but you don't need to do bad things just because your friend is, you know? Believe me, it can end badly…"

Luz remembered a time in middle school, when she had been friendless but still so eager to help others… She'd made "friends" with a few older kids who'd heard about her attitude and wanted to trick her into helping them prank some poor student they were bullying. Luckily Luz had figured out their intentions before going through with it, but she vividly remembered the brief moral struggle she'd gone through as she tried to decide if having friends was worth doing something bad…

Skara listened to Luz's words, then sat in complete silence for a few minutes. Eventually she said; "First Amity and now me… you've got a weird talent for making people regret their sins, eh Luz?"

The choice of wording was a coincidence, but it still made Luz sweat nervously; "I-I guess. It's just that I like to think I'm a good judge of character, and I think you and Amity are both good people. I think Boscha isn't all bad either… I don't know why she is the way she is, but maybe you could steer her away from being bad, rather than letting her steer you towards it?"

Skara huffed, then chuckled; "I suppose I could do that. I honestly never found picking on people or acting better than them to be very fun anyway; my dad always told me that a truly superior person doesn't need to broadcast their superiority, because it speaks for itself." she then picked up her harp again, "Now come on and sing for me, songbird; the sappy talk has got me in the mood for something upbeat!"

Luz smiled and agreed, and for the rest of class, she sang along to whatever song Skara played, with most of them being silly children's songs that caused amusing effects when performed with Bardic magic, such as one that made the listeners sneeze bubbles, or one that made their voices sound deep and demonic.

When class was over, Luz collected King (who hadn't found an instrument he liked) and headed to the HAS clubroom, politely declining a lunch invitation from Skara (though the two did exchange scroll contacts). She was looking forward to being able to teach these witchlings about the world she'd come from, when she suddenly came across one of those very witchlings waiting for her down the hall from the clubroom.

Mattholomule was pacing around, looking nervous and distressed, and Luz couldn't bring herself to ignore him. The guy was kind of a jerk from what she'd seen of him, but he also looked to be upset, so she walked over to talk to him.

"Hey, Mattholomule right? What are you doing out here? Aren't you going to the HAS meeting?" Luz asked.

Mattholomule looked up at her guiltily, "Oh, Luz. It's you. Look, I… can we talk somewhere private? I've got something important to say and I don't want the others to hear…" he said, his eyes looking pointedly at King.

Luz frowned, the hair on the back of her neck prickling up; something didn't feel quite right. But she couldn't just refuse a person in need! "Sure, I can spare a few minutes. King, can you wait here? I'll be back in a minute."

King was put down on the ground with a frown, and he crossed his little arms with a huff; "Fine, but don't take too long! Gus promised me snacks!"

Luz smiled at him, then gestured for Mattholomule to lead on. He smiled gratefully and led Luz down the hall to where the old detention room was. The door to the room was wide open, with two massive stone pillars keeping it that way. Mattholomule walked right inside, while Luz hesitated.

"Are we allowed in there?" she asked.

"Of course. There's no rule against it." Mattholomule replied, "With the expansion happening, all kids who get in trouble are put to work on the renovations, so the old detention pit was closed. This room is basically empty now. Take a look."

Luz peeked inside and sure enough, found nothing but a large dull grey room made of stone. A few loose rocks lined the walls, and deep claw marks were everywhere. It looked like the lair of a formidable beast, one that had since left. Satisfied, she fully entered the room but kept her distance from Mattholomule, who was sitting on one of the rocks on the far side of the room.

"Okay, what did you want to talk about?" she asked.

A look of irritation flickered across Mattholomule's face, then was quickly replaced by regret; "The truth is… my human artefacts are all fakes. Gus already knows, but the others don't… I'm afraid that if I get exposed, they'll all hate me."

"I figured that was what this was about." Luz sighed, "Why did you do all this? Why lie to the club, or try to oust Gus from the presidency?"

"I'm the new kid." he said in a small voice, "And I moved from Glandus. It's a super competitive school, real survival of the fittest type stuff, and I wasn't good enough so I transferred. But Hexside and Glandus have a rivalry and no one wanted to be my friend… I ended up joining the HAS to make friends, but the old competitive instincts from Glandus flared up and I… I acted stupid. I don't want to lose my friends… I was hoping that since you were Gus's friend, you could help me confess in a way that doesn't make them all hate me."

The hairs on the back of Luz's neck were still standing on end, but her heart was aching. She understood Mattholomule's desire very well, even if she'd never have taken the same actions. "Mattholomule, you didn't need to lie. Gus is really nice; if you'd just explained the situation to him, I'm sure he'd have understood. And I bet the others in the club will too." she said, walking towards the boy to comfort him.

She got exactly halfway across the room when Mattholomule suddenly smirked, and Luz realised she'd made a mistake. Before she could react, the floor below her feet opened up, revealing a deep pit full of sharp teeth, glowing orange eyeballs, and slimy blue tendrils. Luz screamed as she fell, thankfully hitting an eyeball on the way down to break her fall. She groaned and got back to her feet, looking up to see Mattholomule smirking down at her.

"I can't believe that worked! You really are a sap that'll help anyone, aren't you?" he mocked.

"You jerk! I was trying to help you!" Luz yelled.

Mattholomule rolled his eyes; "Oh boo hoo, I'm sorry, I'm the new kid, I just want friends… HA! No, I want power! I'm not gonna be the butt of everyone's jokes again! And the HAS is just the start!"

"When I get out of here, you're going to be in so much trouble!" Luz growled. The instant Mattholomule left, she'd use her angelic wings to fly out of the pit and tell everyone what he tried to pull! That would show him!

"By the time you get out of here, I'll have already been made president of the HAS! My first order of business will be to ban voting me out, and forbid club members from quitting! That way it won't matter if you escape!" Mattholomule laughed.

Luz scowled; there was no way those orders would actually be enforceable, right? Or were the rules of the Demon Realm really that crazy? It wasn't impossible…

"Now see you later; I've got a president to depose. Oh, and just in case…" Mattholomule drew a spell circle and the stone that previously covered the Detention Pit began to close. "This'll keep you in. Bye bye, Luz the Half-Human!"

The floor completely closed up, leaving Luz trapped in the Detention Pit. Mattholomule smiled, pleased with a job well done, then left the chamber, snapping his fingers to dismantle the pillars he'd made to hold up the door to the detention room. Now no one would suspect anything was amiss, and he could come back to release Luz whenever he pleased. After the election of course.

Back down in the pit, Luz found herself in near total darkness, with only the soft orange and blue glow of the eyes and tendrils to illuminate her surroundings. She cast a small light spell to get some more visibility, but frowned when she looked up to find the stone floor completely blocking her way out.

"No… how do I get out of here now? I doubt this place has a back door! Or at least I hope not, considering it's alive…" she cringed.

A single light blast should easily be enough to bust out, but she'd promised Principal Bump she wouldn't cause any damage! If she broke anything, he'd reject her application to enrol and whatever horrible cleaning Eda was being saddled with would have been for nothing! She couldn't even call for help since King had her scroll, and her cellphone couldn't connect to anyone in the Demon Realm!

"I'm stuck… unless someone figures out I'm down here, I'm stuck until that jerk lets me out." she said bitterly. "Stupid Luz… you knew he was suspicious from the get-go. What are you doing letting yourself be tricked!?"

Luz's self-deprecation was interrupted by a slithering sound from the shadows, making her leap up; "W-Who's there!?" she cried.

Slowly, multiple pairs of glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness, and the slithering noises got closer and closer. Luz panicked and cast a brighter light spell, fully illuminating the Detention Pit and exposing the owners of those eyes; a small army of green worm-like creatures with identical emaciated human faces.

"Food… after so long… fresh food!" one of them hissed.

"I-I'm not food! I'm not supposed to be here! I wasn't put in detention and I'm not even a student here yet! I was pushed down here by a bully!" Luz tried to explain, hoping that if these things could speak, they could understand her.

"We have heard all the excuses before… you will be food for Mother. Food for the Pit."

Four of the creatures opened their mouths, shooting blue tendrils out to grab each of Luz's limbs. "N-No! I don't taste good!"

"Your flesh is unimportant… your magic will feed us. But we smell no bile… where is your bile, little witch?"

"I don't have a bile sac! I'm half human!" Luz cried. She tried to call up her magic, but the blue tendrils holding her immediately drained it out. The instant her magic flowed into them, the four worms holding her began to thrash and grow larger, her angelic magic reacting with them.

"No bile, yet still magic… so potent… so radiant… you hide yourself!"

A fifth worm creature shot its tendril at Luz's neck, making contact with the top of her concealment stone necklace and ripping it away from her, causing the illusion to drop and reveal her true angelic form. Luz screamed in panic and summoned her wings to try and fly away, but two more worms immediately bound them with their tendrils, paralysing her completely. A deep voice then rumbled out from the pit itself.

"NOT WITCH. NO BILE. ANGEL. FEED ON ANGEL. ARRRGGGGHHHHH!"

Luz tried to scream, but her mouth filled with blue liquid as a cocoon of glowing blue slime slowly encased her. She panicked and thrashed against the bindings, until a hypnotic voice filled her head.

"You are food… you are food… you are food…"

"I'm not! I'm not food! I'm-!"

Luz's rebellious thoughts were cut off by a horrific pain flooding into her even as her magic was sucked out. She couldn't escape or resist it, and she soon lost consciousness.

As she slipped into oblivion, the Detention Pit grew bigger and bigger as it feasted on radiant magic. It had been contained in this school for a long time… bound by the Principals and their magic. But now it had the regenerative magic of an angel at it's beck and call...

Now it would be free!

[Meanwhile]

Mattholomule was whistling to himself as he got back in sight of the HAS Club Room. He was about to head in when he felt a tug on his pants leg, making him look down. It was Luz's weird little skull dog thing.

"Hey, where's Luz!?" King demanded.

Mattholomule scowled; "Oh right, I forgot about you…"

He reached over to a nearby locker and tickled it to make it open its mouth, then swiftly grabbed King by the scruff of his neck and tossed him inside the locker, causing it to slam shut as King went "Weh!?"

Mattholomule then dusted off his hands and threw open the Club room door triumphantly.

He found Gus already waiting with the other three members of the HAS; Eileen, Bo, and Capra. They all looked up with excitement when he entered, then frowned when he wasn't the half-human they were expecting.

"What's the matter? Is your half-human a no-show?" Mattholomule asked with a knowing smirk.

Gus glared at him; "Not now, Mattholomule. I just saw Luz before the last class. She should be here by now… I know I told her to come here at lunch. Maybe she forgot and went to the cafeteria?"

"Yeah right. I bet she never even showed up!"

Gus narrowed his eyes on the other boy; "You saw her this morning, Mattholomule! Heck, you were in the same Runes class as us! What are you playing at?"

Eileen, a potions track witch with only a single giant eye for a head, mumbled something for Bo to translate. "Eileen said Luz was in potions class too, with that funny little dog. Come to think of it, during the break Boscha was bragging to me and Cat about beating Luz's potion." Bo said.

"Yeah, and she was just in class with me!" cried Capra, a goat-like demon with a Cyclops-like eye and a single horn. He was in the bard track, and would have walked with Luz to the club room, but the Ballad of Motivation had pumped him up so much that he'd run on ahead.

Mattholomule quickly backtracked with a muttered; "Oh yeah…" before shamelessly saying; "Well then she must have run home after seeing my awesome and totally authentic human artefacts! Nothing she had could compete!"

"Isn't she literally from the Human Realm? She must have tons of stuff like that." Bo pointed out.

"Yeah, and her mentor is the Owl Lady! She literally runs a business selling human stuff! Luz helps her with it!" Gus scowled. He then began to look worried; it wasn't like Luz to be late, or disappear without telling someone… "I'm going to go and check the cafeteria, in case she went there instead."

"Great idea." Bo stood up, "I'll go see if she met up with Willow and Amelia at the plant home room."

Eileen mumbled something, which Capra translated as; "Eileen says she'll go check the abomination home room, in case Luz went to see Amity. Meanwhile, I'll go back and check the bard class. Maybe she got sidetracked talking to Skara? They looked to be hitting it off when I last saw them."

They all began heading for the door, making Mattholomule scowl and protest; "Hey, what about the meeting? The presidential election!?"

"That can wait until we find Luz. Last time she was here she got in a fight with Boscha and fell into a Mandragora lair; I don't want to take chances." Gus said.

Mattholomule groaned loudly and followed the others out, planning to accompany Gus and make sure he didn't get anywhere near either the detention room or the locker he'd stuffed that little demon in. As they walked out into the hall, Mattholomule immediately heard King banging on the inside of the locker, making Gus look around with a frown.

"No time to waste! Let's go find your missing half-human!" Mattholomule yelled loudly to drown out the noise, before pushing the other club members down the hall and away from the lockers. Once they were away from the club room, they all split up to go and search their chosen spots, with a plan to meet back up at the atrium when they were done or had found Luz.

Fifteen minutes later, they were all back there at the atrium, their worried expressions having grown as they failed to find Luz anywhere. Bo had found only Willow at the plant track home room, so brought her back with her after explaining the situation, but that was it.

"Where could she be? Luz wouldn't just vanish without telling anyone." Gus fretted.

"I saw Eda unclogging the cursed toilet on the third floor a minute ago, so she couldn't have just gone home without her." Willow added. "Could she be off with Amity?"

"Amity left at the beginning of lunch with Miss Lilith from the Emperor's Coven. She has private tuition with her." Capra said, having heard about it from Skara.

"Luz must have left with her then. They're pals, right?" Mattholomule said nervously, beginning to sweat. "Let's just go back to the club and have our meeting."

"I can't imagine Luz playing hooky, especially to hang around Lilith. Not after the Covention… Have you tried calling her, Gus?" Willow asked.

Gus nearly slapped himself; "No! I completely forgot! I'll try it now." he said, pulling out his scroll.

Mattholomule hid a smirk; he knew from experience at Glandus that the detention pits blocked the magic signal that the scrolls needed, so there was no way they'd get through.

His jaw nearly hit the ground when the call connected. However it wasn't Luz's voice that answered, but King's.

"WEH!? Hello!? Who's there!?" he cried over the scroll.

"King!? What's going on!? Where are you!? Why do you have Luz's scroll!?" Gus yelled, putting it on speaker so the others could gather around and hear.

"I'm trapped in a locker! That jerk Mattholomule stuffed me inside and I can't get out!"

The entire group turned to glare venomously at Mattholomule, who backed away in fear.

"Uh, I can explain? You see, it's actually a funny story… THINK FAST!" Mattholomule suddenly cast a construction spell to raise an earth pillar from ground to lift the others high up so he could escape. The pillar successfully lifted Willow and the HAS members a good ten feet into the air, but as Mattholomule tried to flee, Willow suddenly caught him in some vines and tied him up, while using more vines to help herself and the others get down. As soon as they were on the ground Willow gave Mattholomule a fierce glare.

"Well, I thought fast. Too bad you didn't think at all. We'll have questions for you. But first… King!" she yelled over to Gus's scroll; "Where are you?"

"In a locker near Gus's club! Please hurry! It keeps licking me! I think it's getting a taste for my flesh!"

Willow and the HAS didn't need to be told twice, and ran back to the club room, where they immediately heard King's shouts from one of the lockers. Gus ran over and tickled it to force it to spit out King, who flopped to the floor in a damp heap.

"Ha! Fresh air! Ground that isn't trying to lick me! Hooray!" King cried with joy, then glared at Mattholomule; "You! I'll feed you to my minions for that!"

"We just might let you, too." Gus said with a grim scowl; "King, Luz is missing. Do you know where she is?"

King shook his head; "I don't, but that jerk is responsible!" he pointed a claw at Mattholomule; "He said he had something important to say to Luz, then took her off somewhere! When he got back, she wasn't with him and he stuffed me in that locker!"

Gus and Willow glared furiously at him, while the other members of the HAS gasped, genuinely surprised that one of their own would do something to Luz. Willow was on the verge of losing her temper, but surprising Gus beat her to it.

In a shocking display for the usually mild-mannered boy, Gus shoved Mattholomule hard, causing him to topple over onto his back, still bound in Willow's vines. He then grabbed the front of Mattholomule's shirt and yanked him up until their faces were an inch apart.

"What. Did. You. Do. To. LUZ!?" Gus snarled, his eyes beginning to flash with cyan magic.

Mattholomule hesitated, and Gus grew angrier, his eyes now fully glowing cyan as he struggled to contain his magic. "Speak! Or else…"

Gus began to transform, as did the world around him, until Mattholomule found himself in a dark, decaying graveyard, with Willow, Bo, Eileen, and Capra replaced by circling hell hounds, King replaced by a massive skeletal dragon, and Gus himself replaced by the visage of the grim reaper, who was holding Mattholomule over his own grave. The boy nearly wet himself as he saw his name etched on the tombstone behind him, and saw a pit of flames and cackling imps below him.

"...I'll make you live your worst nightmares!" Gus bellowed, his voice echoing out from the grim reaper.

Mattholomule screamed like an infant; "The Detention Pit! I shoved her in the Detention Pit! Don't kill me!" he wailed.

In a flash, the illusion vanished and he was once again in Hexside and surrounded by normal, if very angry, witches and demons. Gus let go of him, making him fall back to the ground with a whimper, though the younger boy was still furious and struggling to keep his eyes from glowing again.

"If Luz is trapped in the Detention Pit, we have to go get her out." Gus declared, "The HAS is launching a rescue mission! We can sacrifice Mattholomule to the pit so it gives back Luz!"

"Yeah!" King and Gus's three club mates cheered, while Mattholomule whimpered.

Willow raised an eyebrow; "Uh, or we could just go tell Principal Bump? Then he could let her out and we won't get in trouble. If we take this guy with us…" she nudged Mattholomule with her foot, "… then we can save Luz without the trouble."

The plant lover's very sensible but unexcited plan drew a much more lukewarm reaction from the others, but they all agreed it was probably a better idea. There was no point in saving Luz only to take her place in detention! Gus pouted, feeling like Willow had taken the wind out of his sails a bit, but he got over it fast; saving Luz was more important than being flashy or putting on a show. Only King had any objections.

"Can't we tell the Principal AND sacrifice this guy? He threw my boo-boo buddy down a pit and stuffed me in a locker! I crave violence and vengeance!" King cried, throwing his little paws in the air.

Mattholomule whimpered again, but Willow shushed King; "If you cause trouble, Principal Bump will ban you, then you'll never be able to come here with Luz again."

King scowled, but couldn't argue with that, so he conceded and grumbled along as their group set off to go find the Principal (who was supervising Eda's chores around Hexside), with Gus leading the group and Willow dragging Mattholomule behind them via the vines tying him up. They began heading to the beast keeping track hallway, where Bump and Eda were last seen, while King sat on Mattholomule and used him like a sled.

They were almost there when King felt something about the situation that bothered him. Aside from the initial anger at what Mattholomule had done, no one seemed that concerned about Luz being in this Detention Pit place… If it was some kind of hole used for punishment, then shouldn't it be horrific? Didn't that mean they were walking leisurely while his best friend was suffering!? Yet none of the others seemed to be that worried. Eventually, King decided to just ask.

"Hey, so why is no one more upset about this Detention Pit thing? Isn't it super bad?"

"I'm not really sure. I've never been in detention." Gus said, getting nods of agreement from Willow, Bo, and Eileen.

"I was in it last year, for eating my lunch tray in the cafeteria." Capra confessed, "It's not fun, but it's not that bad. The Detention Pit is a kind of demon imprisoned in the school and bound to the Principal's will. It spawns little demon worms to capture the kids tossed inside it, then seals them up in cocoons. It siphons 90% of their magic to force them to calm down, and to feed itself, while also hypnotising the victims into being better students. It's kind of a weak effect so the worst part is just feeling really lethargic by the time you get spit back out."

"So Luz will be fine." Willow assured King, "She'll just be drained a bit. She won't have been in there very long, so she probably won't even be that tired!"

King hummed in interest, not having heard of this kind of demon before. It sounded kind of cool, and if all it did was drain a witch's magic…

The little demon's body went rigid as he was hit by a horrid reminder; Luz was an angel. She'd been sent away from the Owl House during the babysitting incident because of the dangers of having the Bat Queen's children feed on her blood; what would happen to the Detention Pit if it devoured her raw magic!? Would it be poisoned and die? Or would it…!?

King's question was answered by a sudden rumbling that shook the entire school, followed by a monstrously loud roar coming from the direction of the detention room. Everyone in the school froze, and the HAS group slowly turned to the source of the sound.

"W-What was that?" Bo whimpered.

"It sounded like it came from the detention room!" Capra yelled.

Willow and Gus exchanged worried looks; "D-Do you think Luz decided to break out on her own? She busted out of those ruins beneath the school, so she probably could…" the latter asked, looking terrified.

"I don't know! Maybe we should- WHOA!"

Willow's words were cut off as another powerful tremor shook Hexside, and students began screaming. The screaming didn't stop even as the tremors did though, and it in fact grew louder and louder. Suddenly, the sound of smashing stone filled the air, and Gus, Willow, and the HAS looked at one another with horror. King leapt off of Mattholomule and ran out of the beast keeping track hallway to the central atrium, where he could look down to the floor below. There he saw that the door leading to the first floor of the school's fourth, non-track wing had been smashed open, littering the halls with rubble and allowing a massive demon to crawl out into the atrium.

The demon resembled a massive cauldron made of flesh, with eight chitinous legs to walk on and four crab-like pincers snapping and smashing at everything in its way. From the third floor, King could see into the top of the "cauldron" and saw a massive mouth lined with teeth and containing countless orange eyeballs and strange blue cocoons, with one that instead glowed an eerily familiar pearlescent colour. The demon was roaring and spewing out waves upon waves of these worm-like creatures with human faces, and each worm was chasing a screaming student. If it caught them, it would wrap them in a blue tendril and toss it into the bigger demon's maw, where they'd be bound in another cocoon. The students, teachers, and guards were fighting back with all they had, but for every worm creature they destroyed, another would take its place, and any wounds inflicted on the giant demon were healed immediately.

King knew why immediately; angelic magic.

"What is that thing!?" Gus cried, as he and the others joined King in looking down at it.

"That's the Detention Pit." King said grimly, "And Luz is trapped inside it!"

"What caused it to do this!?" Bo asked fearfully.

"M-Maybe it was hungry? Bump's been sending kids to work on the expansion instead, so maybe the Detention Pit was starving and went mad with hunger after Luz got thrown in. she must have seemed like an appetizer to it!" Capra theorized.

Gus shivered at the sight of the gaping maw, but shook it off and began running for the staircase with a determined expression on his face. Willow yelled after him; "Gus, what are you doing!? You can't fight that thing!"

"I don't have a choice! I was the one who dragged Luz into this pointless fight between me and Mattholomule, so I'll be the one to fix it by saving her!" Gus said, resolute. He then gave a shaky smile; "Besides, you fought back against Boscha for her last time, and that was way scarier than this oversized bug!"

The boy then kept running down to the first floor of the atrium, using his illusions to create clones of himself to distract the worm monsters away from the real him and the other students. King ran after him, using light glyphs to blind the worms and plant glyphs to destroy them with jagged branches and thorns.

Willow and the HAS members watched them go and felt inspiration inside them; if the two youngest and smallest members of their little party could find the courage to go and fight, then so could they!

Willow used some vines to hang Mattholomule's bound body up on a locker so he couldn't escape and weasel out of trouble later, then ran to join the battle along with Bo, Capra, and Eileen.

Taking control of some of King's trees with her plant magic, Willow spread their roots through the ground and then up the walls of the atrium, making them seal all the doors to the four wings, preventing the worms or the Detention Pit from escaping and preventing more students wandering into the fray. Those students already inside the atrium were directed out the front door, which remained unblocked, by Gus's illusions and Bo rallied any and all healing track students she could get to form a team to heal and rejuvenate the magic of the teachers and students who'd opted to stay and fight back against the mighty demon. Eileen was summoning and tossing corrosive potions down onto the Detention Pit from the third floor, trying to weaken the tough chitinous armour on its limbs, and Capra began playing his pan flute, shooting blasts of magic from it like each segment was a separate blowpipe.

The fight was rough and messy; the worms had no tactics beyond trying to tie up their victims, and the Detention Pit was massive and heavily telegraphed its movements, but on the flip side, the worms were seemingly endless and the Detention Pit healed from any and all damage done to it in an instant. It was a grinding battle that was slowly edging in the favour of the Pit, as every student or teacher it captured reduced the number of defenders, and strengthened the Pit's magic, while continuous use of their magic was draining the defenders.

As the number of defenders dwindled to just a handful, the Detention Pit roared loudly, and another swarm of worm monsters erupted out from inside its maw, being blasted up to the ceiling like a disgusting volcano. Eileen and Capra yelped and turned their focus onto these, but were soon overwhelmed and captured, then dragged screaming into the Detention Pit's cocoons.

"No! Guys!" Gus cried, sweating as he struggled to create enough illusions to keep the worms on the ground busy.

"We're losing ground too fast!" Willow yelled, before screaming as she was forced to run and jump out of the way as a piece of the second floor walkway fell to the ground after being smashed down by the Detention Pit's pincers. "The entire school is going to be rubble at this rate!"

The rest of the second floor walkway began to collapse too as its supports were destroyed, but King managed to keep it from crushing anyone by holding it up with a wall of thick trees. Once he was done however, he looked down at his paws and whined; "I'm out of paper to draw glyphs, and my pencil broke! I can't do anything more!"

Professor Hermonculus, the last teacher in the atrium who hadn't been caught yet, yelled to the remaining students; "Everyone evacuate outside! Get as far from the school as possible!"

Most of them didn't need to be told twice and immediately fled, screaming as they did, while Professor Hermonculus strained himself to create a small army of abominations to hold back the worms that pursued them. Gus and Willow helped with vines and illusions, but it wasn't enough, and soon the army of worm creatures broke through. Professor Hermonculus cried out as he was dragged into the Detention Pit's maw, but as a final act of defiance, he fused the remains of his abominations together into a single giant one that began punching the Detention Pit, distracting it so the last few students could escape. Willow scooped up King and ran outside, while Gus followed closely behind him.

However he stopped in the doorway as he heard a loud scream from behind him. Spinning around, Gus paled as he saw the third floor walkway begin to crash down to the ground too, leaving Mattholomule dangling from a third floor locker with nothing beneath him. If he fell, he'd be lucky to survive… and the locker he was hanging from looked like it was one good tremor from falling!

"Wait! Willow, Mattholomule's still in there!"

"What!? Gus, you can't seriously be going back for him! This is all his fault!" Willow yelled.

"I know, but if he falls he's dead! Letting the Detention Pit eat him is one thing, but letting him die is another!" Gus argued.

King's expression showed he clearly didn't agree, but Willow just groaned and ran back in with Gus.

"Give me some cover!" she ordered.

Gus obeyed and summoned an illusion of three giant abominations to draw attention away from Willow, while the girl rushed forward and summoned vines from the ground to reach up and catch Mattholomule. She was just in time, as the locker he was hanging from finally teetered off the edge and fell, taking the tied up boy with it. Willow's vines caught him and pulled him into the girl's arms, where King glared at him venomously before Willow and Gus both turned and high-tailed it out of the school.

They collapsed onto the school's front lawn, and as the last ones out, Willow called upon a wall of roots and vines to block the door to keep the worms out and the Detention Pit trapped.

Mattholomule looked around frantically, almost unable to believe he was alive. He looked up at Willow; "Y-You saved me!"

"Don't thank me. It was Gus's idea to come back for you."

The construction track boy gaped over at Gus; "Why would you do that after everything I did?"

Gus scowled; "You're a jerk, and I can honestly say that I'm pretty sure I hate you, but you don't deserve to die!" he walked over and pulled Mattholomule to his feet, then used a human Swiss army knife (which he thought was a human surgical tool) to cut the vines off him. "This is also your mess, so you're going to help us beat that thing and save Luz!"

"W-We can't beat that thing! It ate half the school, including the teachers! It ate Eileen and Capra! Look around you!" Mattholomule desperately waved his arms around, gesturing to the largely empty grounds of the school; "Everyone else who ran is already halfway home by now! It's literally the three of us, the weird dog…"

"I AM THE KING OF DEMONS!"

"… and Bo! And she ain't looking so good!" Mattholomule said hysterically, looking over to the last member of the HAS, who was pale from overusing her magic to heal those injured in the fight.

"I can still keep going…" Bo said wearily, "...but probably not for long…"

Gus and Willow winced, seeing how bad of a state they were really in, but they still refused to back down. "We are saving our friend. All of out friends."

"U-Us and what back up!? I don't see powerful allies falling out of the sky!" Mattholomule cried.

As if on cue, a blast of fire erupted from the pathway behind them, melting a hole in the earth between the school's front lawn and the ruins that Willow and Luz had been pulled into a month before. Mattholomule screamed and threw himself to the ground, covering his head, while King, Willow, and Gus just readied themselves for a fight… until a pair of familiar figures came flying out of the new hole with their staves.

"Damn it, Eda! We JUST repaired that!" Principal Bump yelled, flying with his Imp palisman, Frewin, which also revealed the rest of his face; including his heavily scarred right eye and stitched shut left eye, and his oddly long and luxurious hair.

Eda, flying out on Owlbert, was completely unapologetic; "Would you rather we still be trapped underground, Bumpkins? It's not my fault the tunnels caved in! I think…"

"Eda! Principal Bump!" Gus cried, waving frantically to the two.

They ceased their argument and flew over, landing in front of the kids; "Augustus, what is going on?"

"The Detention Pit is rebelling! It broke free and is attacking and eating everyone! We've got it trapped in the school atrium, but it'll escape any minute!" Gus quickly explained.

The Principal paled; "It rebelled!? How!? It's supposed to be bound to the school and the will of its Principal!"

"Maybe since we went underground to the old Fibul ruins, you were technically out of the school. I remember reading that these Pit Demons will go out of control if they have both food and no one nearby to restrict them." Eda frowned.

"But it shouldn't have had food! All detention students were put to work instead! It should have been empty and dormant!" Bump shot back.

King, Willow, and Gus turned to glare at Mattholomule again, and the boy had the good sense to look ashamed of himself. Eda noticed this, then noticed a very conspicuous absence.

"King, where's Luz?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"The Detention Pit ate her. That jerk-" he pointed to Mattholomule, "-tricked her into going with him, then he shoved her in!"

Principal Bump and Eda both went as white as sheets, realising what this meant. If the Detention Pit had devoured an angel, then it was probably more powerful than ever!

"You and I will be having a very serious discussion later, young man." Bump growled at Mattholomule, who shrank under the man's glare.

"If I leave any pieces of you big enough to talk with, at least!" Eda snarled.

"But right now, we need to get Luz out of the Detention Pit." Bump continued, "If the Pit has grown too powerful, I won't be able to command and bind it again, but the control enchantments should still be in place. So long as it remains on the school grounds, I can trigger the kill switch and disintegrate it. Once the Pit is gone, its prisoners will be freed and the Pit Spawn will all disappear."

"The disintegration might not work." King said, giving Eda a meaningful look; "Everything we did to it was healed instantly."

Eda grasped what he was getting at immediately; "Luz's powerful healing magic will probably keep it alive even through disintegration. We need to free her first."

Bump and the others nodded in agreement. Gus looked at everyone they had with them and thought about what they could do, then smiled as he came up with a plan.

"Guys, I've got an idea!" he said with a determined smile.

He quickly gave them the details, and they slowly began to smile in agreement, though Mattholomule alone looked reluctant about his own part in the plan. King and Bo were also disappointed to find that they had no part to play, but the former had nothing to make glyphs with and the latter was limited to healing magic and had very little of it left in the tank.

"Not bad, Goops." Eda said once he was finished, "But this plan asks a lot from you. Do you think you can handle it?"

Gus nodded seriously; "I can. I was the one who dragged Luz into the stupid fight between me and Mattholomule, so it's up to me to save her!"

Eda grinned and ruffled his hair; "You're not half bad, Goops. Now let's go save my apprentice!"

"Ahem." Bump cleared his throat.

"Okay, and the rest of the dweebs…" Eda added with a roll of her eyes.

The little group cheered and immediately hurried to take their positions. Principal Bump stood in front of the school's front gate; the point that his control over the Pit Kill Switch would stop working if it crossed it. King jumped onto Bo's shoulders and the two waited beyond the gates so they would be safe, while Eda used Owlbert to fly up into the branches of a nearby tree where she'd be hidden. Gus hid behind one of the coven banners that flanked the path into the school, and both Willow and Mattholomule took positions on either side of the school's main doors, making sure to keep some distance for when the Pit broke through.

The school had been shaking and creaking for a few minutes now, as the Detention Pit snipped away the roots and vines blocking its exit and rammed itself against the wall to try and break free. The walls began to crack, and the last of the defenders braced themselves; if their plan worked, this would all be over in a moment.

Finally, after one last massive crash, the giant form of the Detention Pit successfully smashed through the front wall of the school, sending rubble flying everywhere. The creature stepped out onto the front lawn and began taking a few steps forward, hissing at the sunlight after being trapped indoors for so long. The defenders held, watching closely as the Pit Spawn hesitated to join their creator out in the light. Then, as the Pit finally took notice of Principal Bump and charged towards him with a roar, they all flew into action.

Mattholomule used construction magic to raise a large stone pillar directly beneath the creature, catching it from below and causing it to topple forward so that it's maw was facing towards Bump. Willow then jumped out of hiding and used as much magic as she could to grow thick tree roots from the grass and soil flanking the path to tie down the Pit's legs and pincers, trapping it against the ground. It roared in anger and spewed out more Pit Spawn, but that was where Gus came in. He rushed directly in front of the Pit and its spawn, then unleashed every bit of his illusion magic, tapping into his anger and determination to fuel himself as well as using the added strength granted by the Power Glyph he'd been given at the Covention. A wave of illusion magic passed over the Pit and its spawn, causing all of their eyes to glow cyan as they were entranced by whatever mesmerising things their own minds called forth.

Gus began to sweat as he struggled to keep the illusion up, but thankfully he didn't need to do it for long. With the Pit mesmerised, Eda was able to fly out of her hiding place with Owlbert and safely fly right into the creature's maw. She ignored the numerous blue cocoons and headed right for Luz's, which was thankfully obvious with the pearlescent colour. With a quick slash of her finger, Eda shot out magic blades to slash apart the cocoon, leaving Luz to fall out of it and into Eda's arms. The girl was barely conscious and covered in blue slime, muttering "I am not food… I'm not…" but she was still alive.

"Hang on Kid, we're almost done." Eda said gently, cradling the girl to herself as she turned Owlbert around and flew back out of the Pit.

The instant she was out, she shouted to Bump; "Do it now!"

Principal Bump didn't need to be told twice; he drew a massive spell circle with his Palisman then thrust his hands through it, coating them in an aura of magenta magic. He then gripped them together and clenched, causing a similar magenta aura to appear around the Detention Pit. In an instant, it began to rapidly decay, shrieking and thrashing as it did, breaking free of Gus's illusion due to the pain.

With the Detention Pit on its way out, Eda landed behind its massive bulk so she could shield Luz from view. The girl was slowly regaining her senses, but her Concealment stone was missing, revealing her full angelic glory to anyone who could see her. Eda prepared to hide her with an illusion, but before she could cast the spell, Willow, Gus, and King came running over.

"Luz!" King cried, immediately running up to the girl; "Are you okay!?"

"K-King… I'm fine… I'm just so tired… that thing drained almost all my magic…" Luz groaned out, her eyes heavy with exhaustion.

Willow and Gus skidded to a stop in front of her, both their jaws hanging open as they took in the sight of her white hair and angelic wings. They exchanged shocked looks, while Eda winced and braced for their reaction, and Luz looked horrified.

"G-Guys! I-I can explain!"

"You're an angel!?" Willow whisper-yelled.

"I can't believe it! Wait, angels can't lie right? Then… you're a half-human, half-angel girl! That is so…" Gus began.

"So…" Willow continued.

"...AMAZING!" They both yelled together, their eyes sparkling and their mouths pulled into wide smiles.

"W-What?" Luz gasped.

"So this was the big secret you had with Amity! This is crazy, but super cool! I can't believe my best friend is an angel!" Willow gushed.

"Wait, if you're half-human and half-angel, and you're living in the Demon Realm right now, then you're like a living connector between our worlds! Oh man, do you have any stories about the Divine Realm!?" Gus asked eagerly.

Luz stared at her friends, completely bewildered; "You're not mad I didn't tell you?"

Willow crouched beside the girl and gave her a side hug, being mindful not to squish her wings; "Luz, we're your friends! We aren't owed your every single little secret. We were just worried you were in trouble or something. We didn't want you to feel like we wouldn't accept you or try to help."

"Yeah!" Gus said, wishing he could get in on the hug too, but Eda was on Luz's other side, "You never outright lied to us either. And we understand why you kept it a secret; the Emperor's Coven would definitely be after you. They'd never leave someone like you with the Owl Lady. No offence Eda."

"It's a compliment to me, Goops."

Luz felt herself tearing up at how amazing her friends where. She gave them a watery smile; "Thanks guys. You two are the absolute best!"

Eda smirked; "You see? I knew they'd be cool with it if Baby Blight was."

"Oh yeah, how did Amity find out?" Willow frowned, feeling a little spike of jealousy.

Luz smiled nervously; "She's known since the beginning of my second week here. I didn't tell her though; she found out like you guys did by seeing me in my true form. I've been trying to work up the courage to tell you guys ever since."

That explanation made Willow relax again. It looked like Amity had been telling the truth earlier. Willow felt a little bit bad for being jealous, even if for only a moment. Before anyone could say anything else, the Detention Pit let out one last groan before it finally succumbed to the kill switch and fully decayed, disappearing into a large pile of ash and dust that began blowing away with the wind, revealing the stunned and sticky, but otherwise unharmed students, teachers, and guards that it had devoured. The Pit Spawn worms it had created all shrieked and shrivelled up, leaving behind nothing but dried out remains that resembled the shed skin of a snake.

Luz felt a twinge of sadness for the creature; sure it had eaten her and planned to eat the entire school, but it had also been enslaved and sealed up inside Hexside since it was rebuilt on the ruins of Fibul, or possibly longer if it was the same pit from the old Hexside campus. Killing it may have been necessary, but it still felt awful.

"Guys! Are you okay?" shouted Bo as she and Mattholomule began hurrying over. Luz was still partially concealed by Willow and Eda, but once they got closer, they'd be able to see her true form, so Gus quickly twirled his finger and cast an illusion to disguise Luz's angelic features, making her look like her normal witchling disguise.

"We're all good. Tired, but good." Gus replied.

"Thank goodness! I'm glad to see you're safe, Luz." Bo smiled.

"Thank you. I'm glad you didn't get eaten too; it wasn't fun." Luz said, grinning weakly before glaring at Mattholomule; "You, on the other hand…"

Mattholomule winced; "Y-Yeah… sorry."

"You're gonna need to do a lot better than sorry!" Eda yelled.

"I agree." Principal Bump said, walking over with the other members of HAS, who were now free. Eileen looked annoyed to be covered in blue slime, while Capra was jittery and angry.

Principal Bump looked up at Hexside; the atrium was in ruins as were the first floor hallways and a good portion of the non-track wing of the school, which had been largely demolished by the Detention Pit uprooting itself. There was also the hole Eda had made in the front path to get them out of the underground, and the further damage done down there by the cave-ins.

"Rebuilding all this is going to cost us a fortune. A fortune Hexside doesn't have! I demand a full explanation into this!" Bump said, looking between Luz and Mattholomule.

Luz paled, remembering the promise she'd made to the Principal earlier. If she caused any damage, her enrolment would be rejected!

"Principal Bump, I didn't do anything wrong, I promise! I got pushed into that thing! I didn't even try to break out before I got trapped in that cocoon, because I didn't want to damage anything, like I promised!" Luz cried.

"It might have been better if you had… damaging the detention room would have been better than all of this…" Bump muttered, surveying the damage again.

The poor angel gasped, while Eda stood angrily, letting Gus take her place at Luz's side. She marched forward and grabbed Bump by the front of his robes; "If you even think about punishing Luz for this, I'll reduce the rest of this place to rubble and shove it all right up your-!"

"Calm yourself, Edalyn!" Principal Bump interrupted, "I have no intention of punishing Luz! Despite the end result, she kept her promise! I am not going to blame the victim!" he shouted, actually sounding a bit offended that Eda thought otherwise. He knew he wasn't a perfect principal, but he wouldn't do that!

Eda took a calming breath and let the man go, though her hackles were still raised as both she and Bump turned to Mattholomule for a full explanation. The boy was terrified, but lying now would only make things worse, so he confessed his entire plot.

"Let me see if I've got this straight; you abused Luz's good nature to lure her into a trap and threw her into the Detention Pit, inadvertently causing all of this!" Bump gestured to the damages, "And it was all so she couldn't reveal that your human artefacts were fake, thwarting your plan to take over the HAS, which is a club of only four other students. Did I leave anything out?"

"He shoved me in a locker!" King added.

"You did what!?" Luz and Eda both yelled.

Mattholomule whimpered; "I'm sorry! I really am!"

"Why did you even do this? Was becoming the president of the HAS really that important?" Gus asked angrily.

"I just wanted to feel like I was in charge of something!" Mattholomule cried, looking genuinely ashamed, "I couldn't hack it at Glandus; the only "friends" I had just used me to do stuff they didn't want to do, and I got bullied so hard by everyone else that I had to transfer to Hexside! I thought I could be someone here, but all the popular kids just thought I was a dweeb and no one took me seriously… I tried to take over the HAS because that way there would be people who actually looked up to me! I'd be the leader instead of the gopher…"

Gus and the members of the HAS all frowned, feeling a twinge of sympathy for him, especially Gus. It by no means made what he did okay, but they still understood.

"Wasn't just being our friend enough?" Bo asked sadly.

"Yeah, we're a small club with a really niche interest; we were just happy to have another person who shared that with us. You didn't have to lie to us with fake artefacts. And you hurt someone just so you could be our leader?" Capra frowned.

Eileen mumbled something, and Bo translated; "You got bullied in your last school, so you came here and ended up being the bully yourself."

That last comment made Mattholomule recoil as if struck. Then Gus took a breath, and Mattholomule braced himself for a scathing dressing down, but to his surprise, the younger boy spoke gently.

"I get it. I came into Hexside and skipped a couple of grades, and everyone just treated me like a little kid. They'd use me to do their work, then toss me aside. And other than Willow, everyone else ignored or overlooked me." Gus said, looking down sadly. "It's hard to have no one take you seriously, and that's part of why I dragged Luz into our fight over the HAS presidency; because I wanted to win as badly as you."

Gus took off the presidency crown and looked at it wistfully; "But it isn't worth it. You hurt Luz for this thing, and I dragged her into our fight. We were both fighting over who got to be the boss, treating the other members like our subordinates… Well no more. I officially disband the presidency of the Human Appreciation Society! From now on, all members are equal and everything will be decided on together."

Bo, Eileen, and Capra all smiled and nodded happily, and Gus threw the crown into the air; "Luz, do the honours!"

Luz giggled, and with what little power she could still muster, she shot a light blast at the crown and vaporised it. When the crown was naught but dust, Luz looked at Gus with a big smile; "I'm proud of you, Gus. You're a great friend."

"Good job, Gus." Willow added.

King and Eda both grinned and nodded along; King especially enjoyed the violence, though he would have liked to take that crown for himself.

Principal Bump allowed the children to have their moment, then cleared his throat as he looked to Mattholomule; "Under normal circumstances, I would expel you for this, young man. But that would deprive Hexside of a decently powerful construction witch, and in our current state…" he sighed at the sight of the damages, "… I think we can agree you'd be of more use here than elsewhere. So your punishment will be assisting with the rebuilding and the continued renovations of the old Fibul ruins. This punishment will not end until all the work is done. You can also say goodbye to your weekends for the foreseeable future, as you will be spending them here. You are also banned from joining any clubs or organisations within Hexside for the remainder of the school year."

Mattholomule nodded his head meekly, honestly expecting far worse. Besides, his parents were still probably going to kill him when they found out.

"I understand, Principal Bump." he said, then turned to Luz and King; "I'm really sorry for what I did to both of you… I don't know if I can ever make it up to you, but I'll try."

King huffed and turned his back on the boy, not acknowledging his words at all, but Luz nodded. She felt really bad for him; his story about being bullied having pulled at her heart strings. But Eileen's words also rang true; Mattholomule was bullied and then became a bully instead of becoming better.

"I don't think I can forgive you right away. But I accept your apology. I hope you can become a better person." Luz said.

"And when you do… come back to the HAS next year." Gus told him, the others nodding behind him.

Mattholomule felt a bubble of happiness in his chest; maybe he hadn't permanently ruined his chances after all…

Principal Bump began to walk back into the school; "Classes for the rest of the day are cancelled, but I'll be offering extra credit to any students who choose to spend time helping with the extensive repair work. Eda, you can consider your slate wiped clean; I will have Mattholomule here take care of the rest."

Eda grinned; "So does that mean Luz is in?"

"Indeed. Pending the completion of the necessary paperwork, Luz Noceda will be enrolled in Hexside School starting next semester." Bump smiled.

If she still had the energy, Luz would have been bouncing up and down with joy, but she still cheered loudly, joined by Willow and Gus. The members of the HAS smiled and offered their congratulations, while King and Eda proposed a party back at the Owl House to celebrate.

Principal Bump smiled as Luz thanked him profusely; "You are quite welcome, Luz. I'll let Eda take you home for the day, but make sure she comes back tomorrow to do that paperwork. Oh, and don't forget this."

He handed her back her concealment stone, which he'd recovered from the remnants of the Detention Pit. Luz took it gratefully and slipped it on, allowing Gus to subtly drop the illusion on her. With that done, Bump took his leave, taking Mattholomule with him.

"Now, Mr. Tholomule; I think I should introduce you to something a certain Miss Clawthorne left here in the cafeteria years ago. It is called the Primordial Chicken Noodle Soup…"

They disappeared into Hexside, leaving the residents of the Owl House, the HAS, and Willow to watch with bewildered expressions.

"What's a Primordial Chicken Noodle Soup?" Willow asked.

"Just how bad of a student were you, Eda?" Luz asked.

"His name is actually Matt Tholomule!?" Gus exclaimed.

The three friends looked at one another, desperately confused. Eda began to laugh uproariously, and the others soon joined her as the stress of the day melted away.

The Owl Lady then took her apprentice and little demon room mate home, inviting Willow, Gus, and the HAS to come along too to celebrate Luz's enrolment. The rest of the day was spent with the six teens just having fun and getting to know one another. The fact that Luz was an angel was never brought up by Willow and Gus, who honoured her wish to keep it secret. In fact, they barely seemed to care at all; taking it in stride. Luz was their friend, and as far as they were concerned, nothing else mattered.