A/N: Hey... So, this chapter turned out much longer than I expected it to. I apologise, but I can only assume it's because of how involved my character is during these beginning events, along with the added extras. I did consider splitting this up into another chapter, but there isn't really anywhere I could properly cut without it either being too little or too much for a stand-alone chapter. So, unfortunately, you all are stuck with this lump of info. XD Depending on how the events play out in the future, I hope I don't wind up in a similar situation. Later chapters might turn out much shorter, but we'll have to see. But yeah, with the first episode done, I'm gonna be taking a brief break to update another fanfic of mine, and then I'll come back to this one for episode two. Until then, thank you to everyone who has been reading, favouriting, following, and reviewing this fanfic. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Chapter 3: A Debt to Pay
So much had happened in the short span of time the group of four had infiltrated the contraband room. Everything had been going well; a little too well, for Lizzie's liking. And in the end, it turned out to be true.
The glowing barrier in the middle of the room couldn't illuminate the entire space, so the light only stretched so far that shadows were cast around its corners and the area close to the entrance. That's where the warden stood, towering behind Eda's decapitated body with the darkness concealing most of his appearance, just like it had done back in the 'torture room', as Lizzie had nicknamed it. That didn't stop the light from giving her a glimpse of the grey mask he wore from underneath his black hood, which had a pointed nose like a bird's beak and yellow button-like lenses where his eyes were supposed to be.
'Eda…'
The blonde witch's gaze darted between her technical employer's still and headless body and the missing head a trembling and terrified Luz held in her hands, her breathing growing heavy as she hugged her arms against her chest. Lizzie was already aware of Eda's body occasionally falling apart. It wasn't the first time the young witch had come across one of Eda's detached hands or feet lying somewhere in the Owl House, and according to Eda it was normal, so she'd never been concerned about it. But the Owl Lady losing her head? This was the first time Lizzie had ever seen it happen, and she was sure there was no coming back from it.
The young witch clawed at her clothes as her breaths quickened, her body lowering as if ready to collapse to the floor. Eda was possibly dead, Luz was a traumatised mess, King was frozen to the spot like a statue, and then there was her: a cowardly wreck who could have prevented this had she found her voice fast enough.
'Oh… What I have done? Why couldn't I warn her? Eda, I'm—"
"Ow!" Lizzie turned to Luz at hearing Eda's voice crying out in pain, a shaky breath leaving her at realising Eda was still alive. "Ugh! I hate it when this happens!"
Luz—reacting as naturally as a normal human teenager would do in this situation—shrieked and tossed Eda's head into the air, obviously not expecting it to move or talk. But this time Lizzie was able to will her body to do what she wanted it to do, meaning that she managed to force herself forward and hold her arms out to catch Eda's head as it dropped down in her direction.
"Eda!" Lizzie cried out in relief, her voice shaking as she held the Owl Lady's head close to her person. "Are you okay?"
"Okay as I'll ever be for someone who's just had their head lobbed off."
Lizzie blinked repeatedly as she felt her eyes begin to well with tears, the guilt quickly settling in. Meanwhile, Eda's eyes turned to the entrance to the room at the sound of approaching footsteps, catching sight of two silhouettes much smaller than the warden slinking their way in. "I'm sorry! I-I saw the warden come in and tried to warn you—"
"Save the tearful apologies for later, Redwood," Eda interrupted as Luz dashed over to where the young witch and the older witch's head were, her hands close to her mouth.
"Oh my gosh! Eda, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to throw you!"
"That goes for you too, kid." Eda glanced down at herself. "But don't worry about it. This happens when you get older."
Luz looked up at Lizzie with wide eyes. "Does it?"
There was a brief pause before Lizzie gave a quick shrug. But their moment was soon cut short by the approach of multiple footsteps against the stone floor, prompting Lizzie to rotate Eda's head in her hold at sighting Warden Wrath entering into the light, giving the group a proper view of the being's appearance. He was dressed in a white, short-sleeved tunic (exposing bulky, purple arms, his right one having since shapeshifted back into a normal hand), black trousers, and dark purple boots, with a black belt around his waist and a golden triangular badge on his right breast. Standing a small distance away from the warden were two prison guards who were much smaller and rounder in build than their supposed boss, donning a grey uniform, black trousers and boots and white shoulder covers with the same golden triangular badge close to their chests. However, unlike the warden, their black masks were pointed as if to resemble the structure of a bird's head, with piercing blue eyes staring the group down from the eye holes. They also had sheathed swords strapped to their sides.
Remembering the current situation at hand, Lizzie had a brief glance around them in search of Eda's body at noticing it was gone, her mind already trying to form an outline of some sort of escape plan. However, that soon flew out of her head the second she saw said witch's body crawling on its knees across the floor, feeling around with its hands in search for its missing head. Eda's staff was no longer in its grasp, having apparently been dropped somewhere.
'Oh, darn…'
"I've finally cornered you, Eda the Owl Lady," Warden Wrath declared in his intimidating tone, stopping close to where the four were gathered.
Luz moved closer to Lizzie's side as the pair eyed the warden with wary glances, with Eda scowling as King stood just in front of them. The warden wasn't even that close to them yet, but already Lizzie could feel her face growing moist with sweat at hearing the voice of the last being she'd wanted to see.
'He looks so much more intimidating up close…'
The warden's gaze happened to be focused on King, who he reached down to and snatched the crown straight off his head. King looked up with a wide blink, his empty paw flying to his head at realising his crown was gone (he was still clutching 'François' in his other arm).
"My guards were never able to catch you," Warden Wrath continued as King narrowed his eyes and repeatedly jumped in the air to try to swipe at the arm holding his crown out of his reach. "but I knew if I took your pet's toy, you'd eventually come running for it."
Warden Wrath suddenly wrapped his fingers around the paper crown and crushed it, the crumpling noise that followed causing King to stop jumping. While Lizzie, Eda, and Luz gaped at the warden's selfish act, the little demon's pupils shrank as his crumpled crown was tossed to the ground, his eyes watching it slowly float back and forth before landing softly at his feet.
"No…" King said weakly, stumbling backwards until he dropped to his knees beside Luz, clutching 'François' close to his chest and squeezing his eyes shut. "My crown…"
Luz and Eda glared at Warden Wrath, clearly angry at what he'd just done to King. But Lizzie was the only one who gritted her teeth and snarled, not only angry on behalf of King, but also for her own lack of observation. She'd known something was wrong about this whole setup since the moment they'd reached the contraband room, and now she knew why.
"I knew something wasn't right," Lizzie hissed quietly. "They set you up, Eda."
"No kidding," Eda muttered sarcastically before facing Warden Wrath, raising her voice out of anger. "What do you want with me?! I haven't broken any of your stupid laws!" She briefly paused to lower her voice again. "At least in front of you."
Lizzie still heard her, prompting her eyes to droop until the warden dared to take a couple of steps closer to them. Luz stepped behind Lizzie and grabbed her shoulder, while King stepped behind Luz and clutched her ankle with his free paw. Meanwhile, Lizzie took on a wide stance and held Eda's head against her side with her left arm, her right one reaching under her cloak towards her satchel. Her heart was pounding furiously against her rib cage at the thought of tossing that potion in this monster's face, but she couldn't let her fear get the better of her again.
'If he even so much as touches them, I'll be forced to act. Eda's incapacitated, so it's up to me to take the lead.'
"I want you…" The warden began, only to drop to one knee before Lizzie and bring out a bouquet of assorted flowers in both hands. "…to go out with me."
Eda, Lizzie, and Luz blinked simultaneously at this display, each of them only managing to say one word to sum up their current thoughts on this situation.
"Wha…?"
"What?"
"What?"
"Go, boss!" Lizzie heard one of the two guards shout from where they were still standing, witnessing the silent one of the pair giving the warden two thumbs up, which said warden briefly faced them to return with one thumb before focusing back on Eda.
"You've always eluded our capture, always been the one that got away." He raised a hand to scratch at his head as he tilted it. "Well, actually, there was that one expected prisoner who never reached here and magically disappeared off the radar. But they're a nobody compared to you." The warden cleared his throat to rectify his change in topic. "My point is, you've always been the one to escape regardless of how many times we've tried to bring you in." He lowered his voice, taking on a tone that sounded like he was smirking underneath that mask of his. "And I find that alluring~."
Lizzie's eye twitched as she and Luz exchanged glances, their lips curled out of disgust. Lizzie wasn't sure if this was normal for Eda and King, as she only heard vague stories from the pair about their little 'escapades' when it came to the guards or someone else after Eda's bounty chasing them. But considering she did recall Eda mentioning some of those encounters involving beings who were looking to ask her out…
'Is… Is this really happening right now?'
Lizzie was wise to keep that thought to herself. But unlike the blonde witch, it wasn't in Luz's nature not to say anything. Which is why Lizzie's brows raised when Luz stepped out from behind her and spoke up.
"I'm hating everything you're saying."
The warden's movements were too quick for anyone to process, so by the time the group realised what was happening, Warden Wrath had already stood up, thrown the bouquet behind him, and then shapeshifted his right arm into a collection of purple tentacles.
"Stay out of this, brat!" He bellowed and fired the slithering appendages towards them.
Lizzie's right hand managed to flick the lid of her satchel open before the tentacles shot past her bunched together and assaulted Luz in the gut, knocking King down onto his bottom as the little demon dived out of the way. The young teen let out a winded cry as the tentacles swung towards the left while wrapping themselves around her body, smacking Lizzie in the back and sending the young witch flying forward through the air with a short yell. Her grip loosened on Eda's head, causing it to tumble to the floor on its side.
The helpless Owl Lady was forced to watch as Luz was raised by her middle into the air by Warden Wrath's tentacles and held there. Her arms and legs were free of restraint, so the girl took advantage of this by clawing at the warden's arm and kicking out with her feet to try to save herself, gritting her teeth and grunting. Meanwhile, Lizzie crashed to the floor on her front a good distance away from her companions, hissing and briefly squeezing her eyes shut at the sharp impact she'd had colliding with the stone.
'Ow… Now I know how that tiny creature felt when they were sent flying into the wall.'
The sound of glass scraping against stone caught the blonde's attention, with a sideways glance allowing her to see a familiar vial of red liquid she knew was from her bag slowly rolling its way towards where everyone else was.
"So, how about it, Owl Lady?" Lizzie lifted her head in the direction of Warden Wrath as he picked up a scowling, jaw-clenched Eda's head from the floor by her hair, bringing her up to eye level. From there, Lizzie could also see Luz's current predicament, along with one of the guards already moving to where King still was by the barrier. "The most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles on the arm of the feared warden of the Conformatorium. We'd make a strong power couple, wouldn't you agree?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Also… it's not like you can say 'no'."
Eda's jaw relaxed at the reality of the situation sinking in. She looked towards Luz still struggling against the warden's tentacles in the air, then towards King as he kicked and waved about to escape the guard holding him with both hands. But then her gaze focused on Lizzie, who staggered to her feet and started walking backwards as the second guard went to approach her. Green locked with gold until the blonde looked down at Warden Wrath's feet, where her vial had stopped rolling. Eda quickly followed her gaze to the vial, noticing out of the corner of her eyes that the warden was still staring at her; he hadn't noticed the potion.
Eda let out an exaggerated sigh and looked back at the warden with closed eyes, putting heavy emphasis on her tone enough for Lizzie to recognise that she was concocting something. "All right, Warden. You win." She opened her eyes as Lizzie continued backing away from the guard reaching for his sword handle. The blonde's gaze switched between Eda and the guard to await the former to give her some kind of signal, putting her right hand behind her back. "I'd just like to say something first, though."
"Oh?" Warden Wrath tilted his head to the side. "What is it?"
"Come closer." The warden leaned his head forward a little. "No, a little closer." He obeyed and leaned closer. "Just a little more." He closed the distance between them, his face now only inches from Eda's. "Yeah, that's good." Eda smirked and pointed her eyes at the ground, raising her voice loud enough for Lizzie to hear. "Look down."
The warden did as instructed, which soon proved to be a big mistake. Because the second his gaze landed on the potion at his feet, Lizzie clicked her fingers on the hand she'd hidden.
An explosion of red liquid erupted from the vial with a glass-shattering bang, propelling Warden Wrath off his feet with strong force. Eda's head and Luz were immediately released and dropped to the ground, with the latter crying out in surprise at the sudden fall. The guard stalking towards Lizzie swirled around with a blink at the loud noise, with the guard holding King letting out a gasp at watching his boss go crashing into a nearby wall with a stone-cracking thud, leaving a trail of soot, smoke, and even his mask in his wake.
"Boss!"
Eda's body took this as its chance to strike as it made its way towards the guard with Lizzie, reaching for his hood and yanking it over his face to keep him occupied.
"Hey— Ugh!"
While the guard flailed his arms around helplessly, Lizzie took the opportunity to dart past them and head straight for Eda's head, collecting the Owl Lady's severed body part into her hands as the older witch cackled and snorted in between.
"Nice one!"
"Oh, no you don't!"
Lizzie spun round at hearing the other guard holding King shout, seeing them charging straight towards her with his sword drawn and the little demon being squished against his side in his other arm. The blonde pushed Eda's head into her left arm and lifted her finger to draw a spell circle; however, before she could do anything, a brown blur swung forward from the left and smacked the guard directly in the mask. His body went as stiff as a board as he fell backwards and crashed to the floor, finally giving King the chance to squirm out of his grip when the guard slumped and closed his eyes, now unconscious. Lizzie and Eda raised their brows and turned to the assaulter, who happened to be Luz with her legs close together and Eda's staff clutched tightly in her hands.
'When did she get there?'
Eda opened her mouth to give Luz a compliment, but the young teen was already running to Eda's body keeping the standing guard's hood over his face. "No time to celebrate! We're going now!"
"Seconded!" Lizzie agreed as she and King (who still had 'François' in his grasp somehow) followed Luz. She didn't bother to look back at the warden during this time. She couldn't. The thought of seeing the warden covered in burns from her own concoction made her jaw twitch.
'It's fine. He's not a witch and it was out of self-defence. Don't worry about it.'
With Luz lowering the staff so it was between her legs and had her sitting at the front, Lizzie pulled Eda's body away from the guard and helped it to sit close to the back with both hands holding on. As much as Lizzie would have preferred to have sat herself at the head of the staff instead of Luz, she knew it wouldn't have mattered. Neither of them knew how to properly ride a staff, and this wasn't the time for debates over who was sitting where. Lizzie positioned herself in between Eda's body and Luz and kept Eda's head on her lap, with King joining them once she'd lifted him from the floor under his arms and taken 'François' from him to put in her satchel. A fleeting thought crossed her mind of putting Eda's head in her bag too to make more room, but quickly shook it out of her head.
'Can't risk one of the potions spilling in the bag. That'll just cause more problems.'
As Owlbert's eyes glowed yellow and it spread its wings out, Luz moved up and down on her knees and grabbed the base of the staff, shouting random words to get it to fly.
"Uh… Expecto… flying? Magicus— escapacus!"
A gluttonous growl from behind caused Lizzie to peek over her shoulder, just in time to see the smoke from earlier had cleared. On the ground before the large, manmade and cracked dent in the wall lay Warden Wrath sprawled on his front, his once white tunic stained black and grey from soot and smoke. His purple head slowly rose, exposing the monstrous maw of teeth that appeared to cover most of his face, along with two tiny eyes just about peeking from underneath his hood. Lizzie sucked her lips in to suppress a whimper before facing away again, managing to find her voice this time.
"Eda!"
Eda frowned, sensing the urgency in Lizzie's tone. "Gun it, magic stick!"
Luz yelped as the staff suddenly pulled backwards and then shot forward with a single flap of the owl's wings, raising itself into the air and flying at full speed out the entrance to the contraband room. Luz, Eda's body, and Lizzie held on tight as they took off, with the former doing her best to steer their transportation while it zipped through the hallways. They were going so fast that Lizzie's cloak hood dropped from her head, but she could have cared less. Her main priority was getting out of here with the rest.
As the group entered the main part of the tower and began to descend the spiral path that housed the cells, Lizzie dared to peek back to see if they were still being followed, only to let out a relieved sigh at seeing no sign of Warden Wrath or his lackeys.
"Thank goodness that's over…"
The words barely left her mouth before the sounds of quickened thumping boomed behind them. King stood up on Lizzie's lap and poked his head over her shoulder just as Warden Wrath emerged into sight from round the corner, his mouth morphed into a snarl. Both of his arms had shapeshifted into masses of tentacles and were acting as his feet, crawling after them while keeping his body suspended and swinging forward in mid-air.
The little demon scowled and pointed a claw at Lizzie as she stared at the abomination chasing them with wide eyes, the colour soon draining from her face. "You jinxed us! You know those things are cast when we're still in range of the danger!"
An angry roar silenced King from saying anything else, causing him and Lizzie to shriek and look away as he slowly gained upon them. She didn't dare look back again as her gaze locked with the sea of black bars from the cells spinning with them, her thoughts becoming panicked as her heart once again thudded against her rib cage; it felt like it was trying to break free, beating in time with the repetitive thuds coming from the warden's pursuit.
However, as they started to reach the bottom of the tower and the last row, Luz spied the levers that were beside every cell door and controlled the metal bars, focusing on the three levers close to the entrance. They were pointed down just like the bars, which prompted Luz to hold up her right hand and look back to yell at Lizzie and Eda.
"Eda, Lizzie, lend me a hand!"
"What?!" Lizzie questioned.
"Just do it!"
The blonde was still confused but did as she was told and raised her right hand along with Eda's body. Eda put her palm on the back of Lizzie's hand while Lizzie put hers on the back of Luz's as they began to pass the three downturned levers, following Luz's movements when she reached out to flick each lever up. They were going by too quickly for Lizzie to properly see who was in those cells and what was going on, yet the actions alone were enough for the young witch to realise what Luz had wanted them to do.
'Did she just have us free some prisoners? What was the point in that? An attempt at a diversion?'
Of course, Lizzie wasn't about to get her answers any time soon. Before they could comprehend anything, the group of four were charging towards the entrance of the Conformatorium and bursting through the wooden doors, the force causing them to swing open and squish the two guards standing on either side against the wall. There was only a small patch of ground surrounding the front doors, with the rest seemingly having crumbled away. This meant the group needed to fly up over the outer wall surrounding the Conformatorium in order to make their exit.
All four riders cried out as Eda's staff flew upwards before sharply dipping towards the ground, leading them down towards the circular ground that surrounded the base of the tower, overshadowed by its towering wall. King held on tightly to Lizzie as they plummeted, with the blonde witch doing her best to shout over the gusts whipping at them so Luz could hear her.
"Human, pull up!"
"I'm trying!" Luz yelled in return, leaning back as far as she could and gritting her teeth while yanking close to the top of the staff.
The staff slowly pulled up and became horizontal as the group were only inches away from the ground, seemingly stabilising and allowing them to continue straight forward. But that was short-lived when something smacked itself against the back of the staff, sending it spinning round underneath them. Lizzie found her vision spiralling as she was tossed through the air along with her companions, unaware of her remaining red potions (five in total, not counting the one that had already been used) escaping from her satchel. She crashed on her right side and rolled a little before eventually coming to a complete stop on the edge of the circle. King's front collided with the ground somewhere to her right, while Luz and Eda's body and head skidded to a stop to her left along with Eda's staff, with Luz on her front and Eda's body managing to land on its bottom.
Despite their rough landing, Luz and Lizzie managed to raise their heads with groans at hearing Warden Wrath land on both feet a good distance away, his left arm now back to normal while his right arm had shapeshifted into a sickle. However, they also caught sight of Lizzie's potions falling towards him, causing the blonde witch's eyes to widen.
'My bag! I never closed it before—!'
Her thought was interrupted by a chorus of shattering glass and explosions. Luz and Lizzie covered their heads with their arms at the forceful gust and smoke that descended upon them, hearing the roars of pain from the warden as he was assaulted on all sides. Neither girl nor witch dared to peek at the carnage until the roars stopped, staying exactly where they were while the smoke slowly dispersed. Lizzie gasped loudly at spying Warden Wrath still standing with his arms shielding his body, seeming to be unharmed.
'No way! He withstood five exploding potions in one go?!'
Unbeknownst to Luz and Lizzie, Eda's body was already picking up its head and reattaching it to its neck with a slight twist, restoring the Owl Lady back to normal. No longer headless, Eda surveyed the current situation with a frown, while King slowly pushed himself to his feet and grumbled.
"Ow… My bones…"
"There goes 'Plan B'," Eda muttered and glanced towards Luz and Lizzie as the former of the pair pushed herself to stand. "Guess we're doing 'Plan C'."
Grabbing her staff from the floor, Eda reached a hand into her hair and fished around inside, addressing Luz as she approached her. "Luz?" The young girl turned to Eda with a blink and watched the Owl Lady pull out a wooden key with a yellow eye, which Luz gaped at as Eda placed it into her palm and curled her fingers around it. "Go back with Lizzie to the Owl House."
"What?!" Luz and Lizzie shouted simultaneously, with Luz continuing while Eda lifted Lizzie to her feet by the back of her vest. "But what about you and King?"
King snorted and took a quick look towards the warden, who lowered his arms and prepared to walk towards them. "You think this guy is bad? You should have seen Eda's last boyfriend."
"Not my boyfriend," Eda replied as she positioned Lizzie on her staff, making Luz yelp by ushering her behind the younger witch.
"Wait, Eda—" Lizzie was cut off by Eda putting a hand on her shoulder, a rare smile making itself known.
"Remember our deal." She gave the blonde a wink and reached down to close Lizzie's satchel. "Make sure Luz gets back to her realm. I'm counting on you." Her smile dropped, her brow furrowing as she took on a stern tone. "Now, go!"
Before Lizzie could object, Eda slapped the back of her staff, causing the palisman's eyes to flash to life and the wings to spread and flap. Lizzie and Luz both screamed when they took off and shot straight up from the ground, the pair clinging onto the staff for dear life. Lizzie closed her eyes tight at feeling her palms growing clammy with sweat, hearing her pulse pounding in her ears. She wanted to believe it was because of how fast they were going, that it was just because of the surrounding wind battering them from all angles. And yet deep down she knew that wasn't the reason. Eda's words were still swimming around her head, and try as she might to listen to them, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
'Remember our deal.'
'Make sure Luz gets back to her realm.'
'I'm counting on you.'
'I'm trying, Eda! I'm really trying! But…'
She knew she was supposed to be relieved. Her role in Eda's antics had finished. She could return to the Owl House and simply wait for Eda and King to return, like she normally did. The Owl Lady could handle herself against Warden Wrath, couldn't she? She said so herself. So, why did leaving her there feel so… wrong?
The witch's breathing hitched, her arms violently shook, and before she knew it, her eyes were shooting open and she was screeching at the top of her lungs. "Owlbert, stop!"
The staff obeyed and came to a sharp halt, hovering in mid-air at a tilted angle. Luz whimpered and wrapped her legs around the bottom of the staff when she started to slip, causing Lizzie to come back to her senses with a blink. The blonde witch moved forward to shift the weight on the staff, forcing it to hover sideways to prevent Luz from falling off.
"Sorry…" Lizzie muttered her apology, keeping her back to Luz for now as she took deep breaths through her nose. Her shaking had ceased for the moment, but she could still feel her pulse in her ears.
Luz adjusted her current position so she was sitting on the staff with both legs dangling on either side, her brows pressing together. Remembering she was still holding Eda's portal key, the girl slipped it into her bag for safe keeping. "Why did you stop?"
Lizzie gulped loudly at the question and lowered her gaze to her hands, which were still gripping the staff. Her answer was delayed, but when she did respond her voice cracked. "I… I don't know."
A loud growl from below caught the pair's attention, prompting them to look down towards where Eda and King were with the warden and two guards standing idly out of the way as backup. Despite being quite high up, they were still close enough in range to see the gist of what was happening below. Warden Wrath breathed a stream of fire from his jaw and sent it towards Eda; however, Eda was quick to counter by drawing a spell circle with her finger and twirling to the left, drawing a second spell circle shortly after. The stream of fire disappeared through the first circle, only to reappear out of the second and fire itself in the opposite direction, taking the warden off guard by colliding with his front.
As Warden Wrath was knocked backwards and slammed into the wall, Luz turned to look at Lizzie at hearing the older witch suck in a sharp breath and press her fist against her mouth, giving a wide blink at seeing the concern shining in her eyes.
"You're worried about Eda, aren't you?" The words left Luz's mouth before she could stop them, causing Lizzie to whip her head in her direction.
"What if I am?" she answered abruptly, making Luz lean away with a quiet gulp.
"Well…" Luz spoke slowly, attempting to say the right words as she went along to avoid setting Lizzie off; her tone suggested she was getting defensive. "that obviously means you want to help her. So…" Luz tilted her head. "why don't you?"
"'Why don't I,' what?"
"Help her?"
Lizzie's shoulders hunched as she turned away from Luz, her free hand now balling into a fist against her thigh. "It's not that simple, human." Her gaze drifted to the Conformatorium once more, where she saw the warden regaining his senses and charging away from the hole in the wall with both hands shapeshifted to sickles. "Eda's everything that I'm not: strong, assertive, brave… Next to her, I'm weak, spineless, and"—She swallowed thickly—"cowardly."
"That's not true!" Luz leaned forward and pointed to the satchel hidden under Lizzie's cloak. "You saved us before with your 'bag of tricks'! You can do it again!"
"I can't. I'm out of potions infused with fire magic." Lizzie shook her head and reached her hand inside her satchel, pulling out a glowing yellow vial that made Luz's eyes light up. The girl muttered something in Spanish, but Lizzie didn't hear it over the commotion happening below them. "All I have left are potions with light magic, and they're only good for blinding people with flashy effects."
"Wait." Luz raised her head with a blink, having properly processed what Lizzie had just said. "Did you say fire magic?"
Lizzie squinted slightly at Luz's question. "Yes."
Luz's voice went up an octave. "Like… casting flames?"
The blonde witch shuffled a little along the staff to increase the distance between them, giving Luz a wary glance. "… Yes."
"That's perfect!" Luz plopped both of her hands into her bag and brought out a wide, blue rocket item with two, smaller, red rockets taped to its sides, grinning. "You can use this against the warden!"
Lizzie frowned at the item in Luz's hands, straightening out her posture. She'd never seen it before, so she naturally assumed it was probably something from the Human Realm, especially since Luz had it in her bag. "What's that?"
"Fireworks! See?" Luz flipped the fireworks upside down and pointed at the fuse for Lizzie's benefit. "You light this part with fire, and when it burns up, they explode. You can't properly control the direction they go in, though."
The blonde witch glanced between Luz and the fireworks with a slight gape, blinking a couple of times. "You humans carry those kinds of things on you?!"
"Sometimes, yeah," Luz replied, undeterred by Lizzie's shock as she returned the fireworks to her bag. "I was supposed to use them for my Act Three closer but saving Eda and King with them is just as good!"
"Act Three clos— Hang on," Lizzie cut herself off when her confusion was dispelled by Luz's latter words, pointing to the Conformatorium with raised brows. "Are you saying you want to go back down there?"
Luz nodded and smiled, her hands returning to the staff. "Yeah!"
"Even after seeing Eda get her head cut off and having the warden threaten your life and chase us?"
Luz nodded again, stiffly this time. "Yeah."
The blonde witch was still for a moment, but after a long pause she reached out a hand for Luz's shoulder and grabbed it, shaking the young human a little. "Why?! Don't you want to go home?"
"Of course I do," Luz answered, completely unfazed by Lizzie's shouting as she lightly flicked the older blonde's hand away, her smile widening. "But it's like Eda said: us weirdos have to stick together."
Lizzie's jaw slacked, widening her gape as she kept her gaze fixed on Luz, unable to say a thing. Here was a human who had stumbled into their realm and who had likely been traumatised by a lot of the things she'd encountered today. And yet despite how scared she was, she wanted to go back towards the danger with a flimsy plan. It was too complex for Lizzie to comprehend.
'This human is crazy and reckless. Yet she has courage and guts that could rival even the infamous Owl Lady…'
Lizzie eventually relaxed and looked away to Warden Wrath again, observing as Eda grabbed an oblivious King and dived out the way to avoid a double slam from the warden's sickles when he threw them towards the ground. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, human, but you just said we can't control the direction of those 'fireworks'. How are we supposed to make sure they hit the warden?"
Luz placed a hand under her chin and let her eyes wander around the base of the Conformatorium, only stopping when she saw something move by the hole Warden Wrath made in the wall. Three heads poked themselves out from the left side, watching the carnage unfold before them with unsure expressions. One of them was a slender, dark skinned girl with pointed ears, black hair tied into a ponytail, hazel eyes, and fangs, wearing a purple dress and matching shoes. Below her was a small, round, white creature with large blue eyes (the left one was closed and had a purple bruise around it), a prominent nose and red hair, resembling a head with no body. And then above the girl was a tall, bulky-bodied, monster with five green eyes at the top of his face and head, pointed ears and a reptile-like tongue, dressed in nothing but tattered shorts. She raised her brows at recognising them, a plan already forming in her head.
"I might have an idea," Luz began, turning to Lizzie with a deepened frown and serious tone. "but I'm going to need you to distract the warden. Can you buy me some time?"
The blonde focused on the glowing vial still in her hand and tightened her grip, making her hand shake slightly. 'That's what I was originally supposed to do. But all I have left are my light potions. Are they going to be enough? Is this plan even going to work? Is this human just getting ahead of herself?'
Luz saw this and put her hand on top of Lizzie's, ceasing the latter's shaking instantly. "Hey," Lizzie looked up as Luz gave her a wide smile. "if it makes you feel any better, I'm sure Eda would have done the same if it was you. So, think of it as you returning the favour."
'Returning the favour, huh? I suppose she's not wrong there. Eda technically did already come to my aid once, even if it was an accident. So, by going down there now…'
The blonde witch slowly pulled her hand away and placed the potion back inside her satchel, causing Luz to raise a brow. But her expression soon relaxed when Lizzie scowled her way, her mouth twitching with the urge to snarl.
'… I'm repaying her for that.' "Let's go. I have a debt to pay."
Meanwhile, on the ground, Eda had done well to fend off the warden for a while, including knocking out the two guards who had tried to help him in the midst of the chaos she'd caused. But unfortunately, it seemed like she had met her match. Warden Wrath was stronger than she'd thought, and her magic was only able to carry her so far.
After taking the brunt of a recent punch from the warden, Eda crashed to her side on the ground with a pained grunt. As she went to push herself up onto a knee, she saw King being tossed her way with a grunt of his own. The Owl Lady extended her left arm enough to catch the little demon safely and hold him protectively against her front, using her right hand to support her current position. She glared towards said warden as the creature stalked his way towards the pair, stopping close enough to where they were with his hands balled into fists for his shadow to loom over them menacingly.
"No more running, Owl Lady." The warden shapeshifted his hands into sickles once more and held them high, yelling to the darkened skies above him. "Today, I will capture you once and for all! Your wild witch days are numbered!"
Eda continued to glare as King whimpered loudly and buried his head into Eda's front, the two of them awaiting for the inevitable to happen… until a familiar voice shouted across the area.
"Hey, warden!" All three heads turned behind Warden Wrath to see Lizzie standing on the opposite of the area, her hands cupping the outside of her mouth. "You're a creepy stalker and no one will ever love you!"
"Lizzie…?" Eda muttered as her expression relaxed, her gaze fixed on the witch she least expected to see here.
However, Eda and King were soon turning to Warden Wrath when they heard a loud sniffle, only to blink at sighting tears cascading down the sides of his face like an overflowing waterfall. Apparently, Lizzie had managed to strike a nerve.
"Hey!" The warden paused as his jaw quivered, raising both of his arms to wipe at his tears. "That's not a nice thing to say!"
Lizzie's brow creased as her body slumped at witnessing the somewhat… comical scene before her, having not expected her plan to work. But after a moment of staring, she resumed her insults. "And you're not a nice person, so it's true! No wonder Eda didn't want to go out with you! You're obsessive and a creep!"
There were a few seconds of silence before Warden Wrath let out a deep growl and lowered his arms away from his face, making Lizzie loudly gulp. '… Wuh-oh.'
"No one insults my love-life, you impudent wench!"
The moment Warden Wrath swung his sickles behind him and started his charge towards her, Lizzie knew she'd succeeded in getting his attention. Lizzie dug her hand into her satchel and took out her light potion as the warden rushed towards her, briefly holding out her left arm to help her aim while swinging her right arm behind her.
'I'm not as experienced as Eda when it comes to magic duels. But I can at least manipulate my knowledge and magic skills enough to avoid getting hurt until the human enacts her part of the plan. Whatever that is…'
She still couldn't believe she'd allowed Luz to talk her into her craziness. But it was too late for regrets now.
Lizzie waited until Warden Wrath was within close range to her, then tossed the glowing vial towards the ground in between them. As the glass smashed, a blinding, yellow light erupted and coated the area around them. The warden immediately skidded to a halt and hissed, turning his head away and shielding it with his arms, along with Eda and King. The blinding flash of light lingered for a few seconds before quickly dispersing, which means by the time the warden had regained his senses, Lizzie was nowhere to be found. During the brief flash, Lizzie started running towards the right and stopped to draw a green spell circle around the size of her head with her finger. So, when Warden Wrath's gaze was darting around him to find her, a fireball shot out of the spell circle and collided with the right side of his face.
"AUGH!"
Warden Wrath cried out in pain and staggered back, quickly planting his foot down to regain his balance. The warden hissed and clenched his jaw as he faced Lizzie again, bringing fire to the forefront of his mouth. The blonde witch held out her finger and drew another spell circle similar in size to her last one, firing a large stream of water as Warden Wrath roared and fired a long stream of fire her way. The flames were instantly extinguished and failed to stop the water in its wake; however, that didn't stop the warden from swiping at it with his right sickle as it came inches away from his face, successfully blocking Lizzie's attack. But he didn't stop there, suddenly running forward and swinging both sickles back once again.
Lizzie reached for her bag and took out another light potion when she registered the danger, yet she didn't have time to throw it as the warden was soon in front of her and bringing his sickles down upon her.
"Ah!"
Lizzie yelped and tightened her grip on her vial as she leapt backwards to dodge, watching with wide eyes as she just missed the sickles slamming into the ground before her by a few inches. 'Whew… This is trickier than I thought.'
Warden Wrath didn't give Lizzie any time to recover though. The second she landed on her feet, he snarled and ignited fire within his maw once more, preparing to spit another stream towards her. Lizzie gritted her teeth at feeling her palms growing moist, deciding to take a risk by throwing her potion at her feet.
'But I have to keep going. Just a little more.'
The warden fired his stream of flames as the vial smashed and released another flash of light. Lizzie covered her eyes with her left arm and ducked to dodge the stream of fire, but Warden Wrath wasn't as lucky. Having been too slow to react, the warden screeched in pain and stumbled backwards as the light briefly blinded him, causing him to blink repeatedly and look down towards the ground to attempt to restore his vision. Lizzie already knew how long the effects of her potion lasted, as she tested each new concoction to better understand its properties. So, after counting to 'five' in her head, she knew it was safe to peek over her arm at the warden, smirking slightly at seeing his mouth wide open when he raised his head.
'Gotcha.'
Lizzie drew a smaller spell circle than the last and fired a small stream of water, directing it towards the warden's mouth. The stream entered his jaw and hit him in the back of his throat, making Warden Wrath violently cough and bring his arms close to his throat. "Ack!"
The hissing of flames extinguishing could be heard through his coughing fit as a billow of smoke poured between his fang-like teeth, causing King to laugh loudly from where he and Eda were and wrap his arms around his middle, leaning his back against the front of the Owl Lady.
"Ha! Looks like his fighting spirit's been extinguished!"
Eda and Lizzie simultaneously groaned and smacked their palms to their foreheads, with the former staring down at the little demon with drooped eyes. "Not the time, King."
"Ugh…" Warden Wrath's voice croaked as he hunched over to wrap his arms around his stomach, with the smoke from his mouth slowly beginning to ease off. "I don't feel so good…"
"You don't?" Lizzie replied sarcastically and placed a finger to her chin. "Huh. Maybe it was something you drank."
Warden Wrath growled and straightened his posture, breathing heavily as he tried to ignore the cramps in his stomach; however, he couldn't hide the pain in his voice. "You wretch. You'll regret messing with—"
Suddenly, Luz's voice interrupted Warden Wrath from Lizzie's left. "Go, go, go, go!"
Three unfamiliar voices followed with loud battle cries, grabbing the attention of the warden, Lizzie, Eda, and King as they turned to the commotion with wide blinks. Luz could be seen flying straight towards the warden on Eda's staff with her hood pulled over her head and a finger pointed at their target. Running in front of her on the ground was the monster with five eyes, followed by the tiny creature with the bruised eye, and then the girl with the pointed ears, their faces contorted into scowls. Lizzie had been expecting Luz to have a plan, but this wasn't it…
Lizzie leaned back as she watched all three creatures charge Warden Wrath and tackle him in his front, gaping along with Eda as all four of them stumbled backwards towards the wall. Luz lowered the staff to the ground and continued past Lizzie without acknowledging her, balling her hand into a fist and keeping it in the air as she joined in the battle cries.
'What in the…?'
The blonde witch was speechless observing the chaos unfolding before her, unable to form any physical words to describe what was happening. Meanwhile, the five-eyed monster and the pointy eared girl were doing well in keeping the warden distracted, with the latter of the pair clinging to his front while smacking him with her fists and the former yelling out as he continued to push the warden backwards.
"I eat my own eyes!"
As Warden Wrath shapeshifted his sickles into a mass of tentacles, the tiny creature grinned and crouched in his path, purposely colliding with his ankle so he fell over while shouting at him.
"I think the world is a triangle!"
The pointed ear girl gripped at the front of the warden's tunic to keep herself steady as he grunted at his back smacking into the ground, keeping him pinned there with a loud declaration of her own as the five-eyed monster and tiny creature came running to join her on either side.
"And I practice the ancient art of fanfiction!"
The tiny creature helped to pin Warden Wrath down on his chest while the five-eyed monster grabbed the warden's tentacles and quickly tied them into a knot across his middle, with the warden growling and squirming around underneath them all the while. Meanwhile, Lizzie was left tilting her head at the shouts, obviously not understanding what they were talking about at all.
'Well… I clearly missed a whole thing there.'
Warden Wrath was flipped over onto his front and held down by the new arrivals as Luz finally lowered herself to the ground a short distance away, dangling from the staff by her hands. Lizzie took this as her chance to move closer to them, especially when the warden addressed Luz with venom in his tone.
"You… Who do you think you are?!"
Luz landed on both feet and took on a wide stance with a glare, holding the staff in her left hand while pointing at the warden with her right, responding in an overly dramatic tone. "Do not underestimate me, Warden Wrath!"—She placed a hand to her chest—"For I am Luz 'The Human'," She closed her eyes and held her bag strap. "warrior of peace."
A brief gust ruffled at Luz's hair and hood as it passed through the area. But once it had died down, the girl opened her eyes and gave a nod to Lizzie; the signal that it was time to enact the final step of their plan. Lizzie returned the nod and started running forward around the warden at the same time Luz moved her hand to her bag and stuck it inside, pulling out the fireworks and throwing them up into the air with a shout. "Now, eat this, sucker!"
Luz jumped up and swung the staff behind her head, bringing it forward with a grunt to bat the fireworks in the direction of the warden. Lizzie held out her index finger as she watched the fireworks soar through the air and become wedged sideways in Warden Wrath's jaw, quickly drawing a tiny spell circle that spat out a tiny ball of fire in the same direction. It caught the firework's fuse and ignited, causing Lizzie to smirk at the rockets shaking violently in the warden's maw.
Their three allies dived away from Warden Wrath just as the fuse burned completely. There was a loud blast as one by one the fireworks loosened themselves and launched into the air, spiralling around in many directions before exploding in an array of colours, causing smoke to pour from the warden's mouth. Crying in pain, Warden Wrath managed to roll himself over and bring himself to his feet despite his tentacles still being tied, quickly turning tail and running from the area while fireworks continued to fire from his mouth and explode. Cheers erupted from the three random allies as they jumped with joy and waved their arms around amidst the glowing bursts of colour, proud of their victory.
But as for Lizzie? Well, she broke out into a loud cackle, throwing her head back with a hand to her forehead. She couldn't explain the sudden rush of euphoria surging through her veins at having stood up to the warden she'd come to fear, but she couldn't deny that it felt great.
'Eda wasn't kidding. He fled the moment we overpowered him.'
"Lizzie!" Lizzie stopped laughing and looked back to see Luz running straight for her with Eda's staff in hand, a wide grin on her face as her shouts of excitement poured from her mouth at a quickened pace. "That was so awesome! You were all like"—she raised her empty hand and pretended to copy Lizzie throwing her vials to the ground—"Hiyah! And then I was all like 'Eat this, sucker!'"—she took Eda's staff in both hands and mimicked her swinging motion from earlier—"BAM! I felt just like Azura!"
Lizzie had no idea what Luz was rambling on about, yet the young witch still found herself smiling at the human's excited gestures. That smile soon dropped when a hand was placed on her shoulder, prompting her to glance back to see a smirking Eda with King perched on her right shoulder. The blonde witch raised a brow at Eda's smirk, suspecting a hidden meaning behind it.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing," Eda replied, her smirk widening slightly. "I just never knew you had a hidden wild side."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, c'mon!" Eda lightly smacked Lizzie's shoulder with her knuckles. "I heard that cackle of yours. You sounded like a maniac thriving on chaos, and that's usually King's thing."
Lizzie felt the heat rise to her face when King began chuckling behind his paws, prompting her to turn her head away as a faint blush sprouted on her cheeks. 'I wasn't that bad… was I?'
Eda gave Lizzie three pats on the shoulder before making her way to Luz to take her staff back, running a hand quickly through her untamed locks. "Well, anyway, we'd better bounce. Can't have any more monsters falling in love with me."
The group of four didn't dawdle this time, so they were soon piling onto Eda's staff and taking off from the ground before the guards in the Conformatorium could properly make sense of the situation. With Luz close to the head, Lizzie positioned in the middle, and Eda seated behind her with King on her shoulder, they departed from the Conformatorium and flew off into the darkness, all the while the fireworks were still firing away into the sky behind them, granting the ominous tower bursts of colour and light it always lacked.
Upon returning to the Owl House, Eda wasted no time in preparing to send Luz home. With Lizzie stood on her left and King stood on her right in front of the table with 'François' held to his chest (Lizzie had returned it to him once they were in the all-clear), Eda set her staff down against the sofa and faced Luz before them with a smile.
"Well, kid," she shot Lizzie a quick sideways glance, which the younger witch acknowledged with a slight nod. "a deal's a deal. Let's return you home."
Eda snapped her fingers, causing the portal key Luz still had to levitate from her bag and into the Owl Lady's hand. When Eda pressed the yellow eye, Luz turned at hearing something rise from the floor behind her. A brown suitcase with the same yellow eye hovered in the air with a faint yellow glow before unfolding into a wooden door with a doorknob and keyhole placed close to its centre, which the young human gaped at. Lizzie recognised this door as the portal to the Human Realm. Despite not accompanying Eda on her weekend trips to Bonesborough, she'd seen the Owl Lady use this portal inside the Owl House to scavenge for her 'products' without worrying about the guards catching her. Although she did sometimes do this in the marketplace if needed.
Luz slowly made her walk to the door and closed the distance, pausing for a moment to hug her arms close to her body with a furrowed brow. She peeked back at the trio behind her as she hesitated, seeing Eda and Lizzie giving her reassuring smiles. But King was the only one not smiling, instead hugging 'François' with his tail and head lowered. Spurred on by King's sadness, Luz turned around fully and reached into her bag with a slight smile, walking towards the little demon.
"Hey… before I go," King raised his head as Luz stopped before him and took out a doll head with a small, golden crown on top, which she pulled off and held out to the demon. "I know it's not the same or as big, but technically a king shouldn't be without a crown."
King accepted the trinket in his paws and stared at it with a blink, eventually reaching up to place it atop his own head. He straightened himself out and turned to look at Eda and Lizzie, who each gave the little fella a thumbs up. He faced Luz again with a slight nod.
"… This will suffice."
It was around this time that Lizzie caught sight of two items resting on the table out of the corner of her eyes, which happened to be a thick-looking book with an unfamiliar brochure with 'Reality Check Summer Camp' placed on top of it. The blonde frowned and picked the objects up from the table at seeing the word 'Azura' peeking from behind the brochure, recalling Luz mentioning the name a little earlier during her excited rambles.
'Wait. Is this the book Eda was talking about?'
"Hey, human," Lizzie addressed Luz to get her attention and held the items out to her. "are these yours?"
Luz perked up at seeing the book and brochure and quickly stepped forward to collect them from Lizzie, nodding with her smile still in place. "Oh, thanks! Almost forgot I left it there!"
Lizzie nodded and returned the smile as Luz stepped away, with Eda snorting and placing a hand to her hip. "Good thing you didn't. That's the whole reason you stumbled through the portal."
Luz chuckled at that, allowing it to fade away into a smile as she started walking back towards the portal. And yet, as she watched Luz's retreating back, Lizzie swore she was feeling an ache slithering its way through her chest. The blonde witch glanced down with a blink and rubbed at her shirt, ignoring King as he held 'François' above his head.
"Now, François, with my power restored, let us head forth to bring new minions into my army of darkness!"
'Am I… sad?'
It wasn't an emotion Lizzie was unfamiliar with. In fact, she'd felt it so often that it was like second nature to her now. But why was she upset? Luz was going home. Everything was going to go back to normal. It was supposed to be good. But…
'Do I…' She dug her fingers into her shirt and vest, her body drooping. 'Do I not want the human to go? Why?'
Because she helped her stand up for herself and save Eda and King? Because she'd given her the courage to do something out of her comfort zone for once? Lizzie didn't know. But those were the only reasons that sprung to mind, which she shook from her head with a frown.
'No. This is the right thing. The human can't stay. She has to go back to where she came from. I can't think so selfishly.'
"Hey, kid," Lizzie was snapped from her thoughts when she heard Eda speak, following the Owl Lady's gaze to Luz. "are you all right?"
Lizzie had been too lost in thought to notice Luz was no longer in front of the door. She'd moved to stand in front of the fireplace and stare up at the mirror above the mantle, the book and brochure held tightly against her front. Why was she there? Why hadn't she gone through the portal?
"Yeah," Luz answered and slowly turned to face the three residents of the Owl House, frowning slightly. "It's just…" She trailed off as she glanced at Eda, holding out a hand towards her. "despite seeing you get your head cut off," She turned to Lizzie and tilted her right hand back and forth a bit. "and the two of us kinda starting a prison riot…" Luz placed her hand to her chest. "this was the most fun I've ever had."
Both Lizzie and Eda gave a wide blink at that, staring at Luz as if she'd grown a second head. When neither witch spoke, Luz took that as her cue to continue, taking the brochure into her hand. "I don't fit in back home, and the three of you don't fit in here. So…" She tilted her head to the side. "…maybe we could not fit in together?"
"What are you saying?" Lizzie asked, prompting Luz to turn to the brochure with a frown.
"I don't want to go to summer camp." She crumpled the brochure in her fist and tossed it somewhere behind her. "I want to stay here and learn to be a witch."
"Huh?!" Lizzie and Eda cried out simultaneously, with the latter turning to Lizzie with a raised brow.
"Wait, what's a 'summer camp'?"
"Eda!" Lizzie yelled and held her hands out towards Luz. "Focus!"
"Right, sorry." Eda shook her head and faced Luz again. "Look, kid, no offense, but humans can't do magic."
"Really?" Luz leaned forward. "And how do you know they've tried?"
Eda opened her mouth to respond, her finger raised. But once Luz's words had processed, the Owl Lady closed it and bent her finger slightly, her brow furrowed. "Hm. You've got me there."
Lizzie smacked her forehead and stepped closer to Luz with a huff. "Magic capability aside, the Boiling Isles is no place for you, human." She placed her hands to her hips. "You saw the danger we got into today. And knowing how Eda is, you're bound to get into more."
Eda scowled. "That was uncalled for."
Lizzie tilted her head back briefly with narrowed eyes. "Don't act like you don't love the danger."
Luz pouted and moved closer to Eda, widening her eyes and quivering her lips as she gripped tightly onto her book. "Please, Eda? If you teach me to become a witch, I'll do anything you want!"
Lizzie felt her whole body freeze over in that moment, her jaw dropping and twitching out of shock. Déjà vu hit her hard, causing her to step backwards to keep her body steady. Why did she feel like she'd experienced a similar moment like this before?
And apparently, she wasn't the only one. Eda's eyes had widened slightly at Luz's words, her gaze immediately turning to Lizzie when she saw the blonde move. The Owl Lady cupped her chin, her eyes looking towards the portal. "Well, it's not like you can't return home at any time. If you were in any life-threatening danger, we could easily send you back if we needed to."
Lizzie's shoulders slumped. "You can't be serious. Are you actually considering this?" When Eda shrugged her shoulders in response, Lizzie placed her hands to her head. "I mean, even if the human did stay, where would she sleep?" The blonde held her hands up to the ceiling. "There aren't any spare rooms available."
"There's always yours," Eda replied with a smirk, prompting Lizzie to press her lips together and cross her arms.
"No way. My potion supplies are in there. The last thing we need is the human hurting herself."
King jogged to Lizzie and tugged on her tights to get her attention. "Aw, come on! Let her stay!" He covered his paw close to his mouth and whispered. "She can feed us snacks."
Lizzie's eyes drooped as she stared down at the little demon. "What is it with you and food?"
Eda approached the pair and scooped King into her arms, holding him close to her shoulder so he was sitting up. "It would be useful to have a second pair of eyes helping with King and Hooty. They are a handful."
Lizzie glanced between Eda, King and Luz (who was still looking at them with wide eyes and quivering lips) three times before letting out a huge sigh, running a hand through her hair. 'Am I actually going to agree to this?'
But she already knew the answer before she even confirmed it out loud. "I suppose that would be nice to have."
Eda chuckled and turned to face Luz as the human straightened her posture, a wide smile appearing when she spoke. "Does that mean I can stay?"
"It does," Eda replied with a nod. "You win, Luz. I'll let you stay and teach you how to use magic. But," She frowned and wagged a finger at her. "you'll have to work for me before you learn any spells. Also," Eda pointed to the portal. "to put Lizzie's mind at ease, you have to promise to go home if the Boiling Isles becomes too dangerous for you to stay." Eda held her hand out for a handshake. "Do we have a deal?"
Lizzie swallowed and rubbed at her throat at experiencing déjà vu again, keeping her gaze turned away for the time being as Luz gaped a bit and looked between Eda and her outstretched hand. 'Why do I get the feeling I've seen this scene somewhere before? I wonder…'
However, out of the corner of her eyes, she did see Luz move towards them with her arms stretched wide. Before any of the trio could react, Lizzie found herself being squished against Eda in what she could only assume was a hug, with Eda and King loudly complaining and shouting.
"Ugh, what is happening?!"
"Too tight! Too tight! She's trying to crush us again!"
Lizzie was the only one to keep her thoughts to herself. 'Great. She's a hugger.'
As night-time fell over the Boiling Isles, Lizzie immediately set to work in organising her room to make it inhabitable (and safe) for Luz, going so far as to make the human wait downstairs until she was finished to avoid any accidents. She put all her concoctions, ingredients, and other belongings into boxes on the right side and clearly labelled the former two with 'Touch at your own peril!' so Luz knew not to mess with them. She also took great care in shifting any potentially dangerous knickknacks Eda had forgotten to remove into other storage cupboards and moved her mattress far enough towards the right side of the room that Luz would have enough space for herself. After finishing, the blonde witch had changed into her usual sleepwear (a long, white nightgown and black, woolly cardigan) before heading back downstairs and informing Luz she was free to go upstairs now and to not touch anything on her side.
Lizzie had given Luz some space with the excuse that she'd wanted to give the young human a chance to settle in before heading back up there. But the truth was, the young witch wasn't exactly sure about how to process this new situation. Today had started off as any normal day for her, and yet by the end of it they'd acquired a new addition to the Owl House from another realm. How exactly does a witch her age deal with something like that?
Those thoughts continued to linger even as she sat on the sofa in the living room, resting her elbows on her thighs and her chin on her knuckles. She was staring ahead at the mantle lost in thought, so much so that she failed to notice Eda poke herself around the left side of the doorway, dressed in her own sleepwear: a plum coloured jumper, a violet nightgown, and yellow slippers with bunnies on them. The Owl Lady gave a sly smile at seeing the younger witch's 'thousand-yard' stare, prompting her to cross her arms and lean against the doorway.
"You little softie."
Lizzie flinched and sat up straight as she was brought back to reality, whipping her head to the doorway with a wide blink. "Wait, what?"
"Don't play dumb with me, missy." Eda tapped her nose with a finger. "I know what happened back there."
Lizzie crossed her legs and turned towards the window. "I don't have the foggiest idea what you're talking about."
"You really don't think I saw what was going on?" Eda moved her finger to her temple. "You're not the only one who thought Luz reminded them of you, you know."
Lizzie tensed her shoulders and closed her eyes. "… It was that obvious, huh?"
"As obvious as King when he rummages through my cupboards."
There was a brief silence before Lizzie sighed heavily and brought herself to stand up, folding her arms as she turned to face Eda. "Do you honestly think the human is capable of performing magic?"
Eda stood up from the doorframe and scratched at the side of her head. "Well, that's hard to say. I know there was a method wild witches used during the 'Savage Ages' that didn't involve bile sacs." She shrugged her shoulders. "She could do it."
"But what if she can't?" Lizzie stepped forward with a furrowed brow. "What if we're getting her hopes up and it turns out humans can't do magic?"
The Owl Lady tilted her head with a smirk. "Is that a hint of concern I hear~?"
Lizzie's eyes narrowed, her response sarcastic. "Oh yes. Why wouldn't I be worried about a human who only just about escaped with her life earlier today?"
Eda dismissed her with a shake of the head. "That's a hurdle we'll cross when we get to it." She reached out a hand to place on Lizzie's shoulder. "For now, let's just see where this goes. She should be fine as long as we keep a close eye on her. And who knows? Maybe she'll surprise us."
Lizzie's shoulders dropped at that, but she still nodded to acknowledge the Owl Lady's words. "Fair enough."
The witch's shoulders soon stiffened, though, when Eda went to ruffle her hair, a wide grin appearing on her face. "Oh, by the way, good job today."
"With what?"
"With the warden. It was a short fight, but you held your own against him. Not bad for our residential hermit."
The blonde's eyes drooped at that. "To be fair, Eda, you'd already given him a good battering by the time I jumped in."
The Owl Lady snorted loudly and pulled away, covering her mouth with a hand. "Good point. But that doesn't mean you didn't do well for your first fight. Would have been funnier if he'd realised you were the 'nobody' he was insulting, eh?"
Lizzie muffled the snort she couldn't suppress. "Yeah."
Eda turned away and started walking towards the stairs, but did briefly stop to turn back when her hand touched the bannister. "You know, since I'll be teaching Luz some magic, you're welcome to join us anytime."
Lizzie gave a wide blink at the offer. "Wait, really?"
"Sure! You've had your first taste of danger today. Makes sense you might want to increase your potion arsenal. You know, in case you get into a pinch."
The blonde frowned for a moment, yet quickly shook her head. "… I'll have a think about it."
Eda raised a brow, clearly having expected for Lizzie to reject her offer. But she was soon relaxing and turning around to continue upstairs. "All right. I'm gonna turn in. Today really wore me out." The older witch waved her hand in dismissal as she disappeared upstairs. "Goodnight, Lizzie."
"Goodnight, Eda," Lizzie replied with a mutter, smiling a little once Eda was out of sight.
"Hoot! Goodnight!"
"Ah!" Lizzie cried out and swivelled round to see Hooty staring at her and the door wide open, placing a hand to her chest to calm her furiously beating heart. After a few seconds of staring at the owl in the door, the blonde scowled. "Hooty."
"What? I just wanted to feel included!"
