A/N: Phew. So, apparently, I misjudged what I thought was going to be an annoying and long delay. I ended up getting some more time to myself, so I managed to shoot through this chapter quicker than I expected. Although, I'm not gonna lie, the scenes with Adegast were irritating for me to write. It's so difficult trying to describe a demon's reactions when they barely use any body language or change their facial expressions... I hated him before, but I hate him even more now. XD But yeah, this is episode two of the Owl House completed. In my last author's notes, I mentioned that I'd planned to update another fanfic once I'd written out the necessary chapters for this one before moving on to episode three. But I'm currently on the fence about that now, because my muse towards said fanfic is a little dwindled. I will say, though, that I do expect my real-life responsibilities to get in the way of my updates anyway, so I'd expect a bit of an update delay for this fanfic regardless of what I decide to do. I'm still gonna see how things pan out.
Thank you to everyone who has been favouriting, reviewing, following and reading this fanfic. Your support is greatly appreciated and it's nice to see that this fanfic is starting to gain a little bit of attention too.
Chapter 6: The Jealous Puppeteer
After grabbing King (who was not happy at losing his naptime and being dragged into this mess) and Eda's staff for transport, the two witches of the Owl House flew straight to Bonesborough, with Lizzie directing Eda to the alleyway she'd originally left Luz and King in. Thanks to Eda's staff, it didn't take them nearly as long to get there as it would have done on foot, while also allowing them to avoid any guards who were likely to be lurking around. Despite Eda's earlier reassurances, though, Lizzie couldn't help scanning the streets they passed for any sign of the Emperor's Coven guard, or at least anyone who happened to be bearing the uniform. His responses were still buzzing around her head like a fire bee.
'Even if what Eda said is true, it still doesn't explain how he found out about me in the first place. He expected me to be in Bonesborough and had a hired guard planted ready to stalk me. Does that mean he's spotted me in Bonesborough when I was out on a delivery by chance? Or could what happened at the Conformatorium yesterday have tipped him off?'
Both theories seemed likely to Lizzie, since this coven guard apparently knew what she looked like and given the hired guard enough information about her appearance for him to recognise her the moment she showed herself. Not to mention she was aware Warden Wrath and anyone who worked at the Conformatorium fell under the Emperor's Coven, and that the prison riot they'd caused the day before would have attracted the attention of said coven one way or the other. She wouldn't have been surprised if Warden Wrath had let slip of the antics she and the others had caused with the coven guard nearby, especially when she'd used her potions against him. Although…
'He sounded surprised when the guard mentioned I'd used a bright flash, and I did use my light potions against the warden during our fight. Maybe the first theory sounds more plausible…'
The trio dismounted from the staff upon arrival at the alley's entrance, with Eda summoning her staff away to avoid any extra baggage for the time being. The Owl Lady faced Lizzie with a hand to her hip after giving the entrance a quick scan.
"This is where you were supposed to deliver that package?"
"Yes." Lizzie adjusted her cloak hood before pointing into the alleyway, which was mostly shaded over because of the sunlight shining on the tall buildings on either side of it. "The address you gave me was for a residence at the other end of this alley."
Eda turned to King. "And you're sure this is where you and Luz met Adegast?"
King nodded and went to walk on ahead, with the two witches following him. "Yep. This is where we met the scones—" He cut himself off and shook his head. "I-I mean the wizard."
Lizzie huffed as she walked beside Eda, her shoulders slumping and her eyes drooping. "Eda, remind me again: is King a demon or a dog?"
King peeked over his shoulder with narrowed eyes, hissing and pointing at Lizzie accusingly. "Blasphemer!"
"Would you two cut it out?" Eda interjected with a scowl. "This isn't the time for me to enjoy your playful bickering."
King returned his focus to following the alley to the other end then. But Lizzie was left burying her face into her hands, squeezing her eyes shut for a few seconds. "I am so regretting leaving those two alone…"
"You're being too hard on yourself," Eda said as she moved closer to Lizzie's side, giving the young witch a comforting pat on the back. "You're not used to being in these kinds of situations. And even then, you didn't do too badly. You kept Luz and King from getting arrested."
"And led them straight into the waiting arms of a scam artist…"
"You can't account for every danger, Lizzie. That's just life." Eda looked ahead as the trio approached the split tarp and stone archway that King recognised and stopped beside. "But that doesn't mean we can't fix this. Once we figure out what Adegast's deal is, we'll find Luz."
Eda walked straight past King and flung the tarp halves aside with both hands, with Lizzie just behind her. However, she was quick to stop and raise her brows alongside Lizzie at the sight before them, while King's eyes widened. In place of the stone castle King recalled seeing here last time, there was now nothing but a pile of crumbling ruins. Cloudy skies loomed over broken walls, caved-in roofs and towers with colour faded and torn banners, all of which was situated on colourless and lifeless soil with withered twigs lacking foliage. This was a far cry from the stunning castle he and Luz had first encountered.
"Wuh-oh," King mumbled, moving forward to climb Lizzie's back and sit himself on her right shoulder. "It wasn't looking like this before."
"Well, you were right, Redwood," Eda stated to the younger witch as the pair slowly walked to the ruins. "Looks like no one lives here, after all. And I'm not liking it."
"Ditto…" Lizzie muttered, sticking close to her technical employer's side when they approached the doors and the Owl Lady pried them open.
The wooden doors parted with a loud creak, revealing a wide, circular, and darkened room with a high ceiling and two sets of stairs that went up two-stories, partially highlighted by the streaks of light outside granted to it by the open doorway. The ground floor contained scattered and ripped scrolls of parchment that resembled the one Luz had, with the outer wall of the area surrounding the group with multiple bookcases. The raised floor that split between the two sets of stairs had the same bookcases lining the walls, but contained a thin, circular floor surrounded by a small, wooden bannister, faded and torn paintings of unknown people and places, and traces of debris scattered about that had fallen loose from the tower. The second set of stairs, however, was blocked off by large chunks of rubble across it, blocking the trio from going any deeper into the ruins.
Lizzie gripped at her satchel strap with both hands as she took in the sight of broken shelves on the book-filled bookcases lining the walls around them on each storey, even feeling King tunnel his way under her cloak at one point so he could move closer to her head. The silence and messy castle caused dread to swirl in Lizzie's stomach, keeping her rooted to the spot while Eda dared to walk ahead into the middle of the room.
"Let me guess, King: this isn't how it looked when you last saw it, right?"
"Nope!"
"Bet you're regretting not getting the human away from that wizard now, huh?"
"A little bit."
As Eda approached the middle of the room and stared at the upper floors, a sudden crunch underneath her boot caught hers and Lizzie's attention. The two witches looked down to the chunky scroll at the Owl Lady's feet, which Eda proceeded to pick up and unravel. By the time Lizzie was at her side, the two witches and little demon found themselves staring at multiple pieces of parchment depicting different versions of the 'map' that was in Luz's possession containing the 'Celestial Staff'. Eda shuffled through the parchment in her hands as she sorted them, allowing Lizzie and King to see the different locations where the 'staff' was supposedly hidden; one 'map' claimed the 'staff' was hidden in the middle of a dense forest, while another depicted it at the top of a mountain. But it wasn't just the scenery that was different. Lizzie also noticed the names for some of the places on the 'maps' didn't match the ones she'd read on Luz's, causing the blonde to rub at her throat at feeling a lump form.
'This is bad. This is really bad.'
A streak of light from behind them caught the top of one of the 'maps' in Eda's hold, causing light blue, glowing letters to appear that read 'The chosen one'. Eda and Lizzie gaped slightly at this, exchanging shocked gazes as realisation hit both of them in that moment.
"Eda, is that…?"
"Magic ink," Eda finished as she held the parchment in her hands a little higher, exposing more of it to the light and revealing more glowing writing near the bottom, which read 'The path will only appear to the worthy.' "This one appears to be for invisible ink, whose writing is only visible when exposed to sunlight."
"The human saw that after we left her alone, didn't she?"
"I think so." Eda turned her gaze to the ceiling and narrowed her eyes. "And now I really don't like this."
"Neither do I…" The blonde witch muttered as Eda tossed the parchment aside, naturally unbothered by the fact she was creating more mess for the already messy room.
It wasn't out of the ordinary for the people of the Boiling Isles to fall victim to scams now and again, as Lizzie had seen for herself. She was employed under a scam artist who—while usually only targeting downright evil and jerky creatures—frequently pulled minor scams and cons for snails, one of which was the way she made her living. In fact, it was only because of Eda that Lizzie had been able to avoid falling for scammers herself, since the Owl Lady had used her own expertise in her craft to educate her young employee so she didn't lose her earnings from tricky customers. And yet Lizzie couldn't help wondering why Luz had been targeted, given the human had only come here to deliver a package to the scammer who happened to be Eda's client. Something wasn't adding up.
An exasperated sigh from the Owl Lady brought Lizzie out of her thoughts, prompting her to see Eda giving the room another quick glance with a hand to her hip. "Well, it's clear that wizard isn't here. Which means he's probably lying in wait for Luz to reach the end of his made-up quest. We have no choice but to follow her trail."
Lizzie frowned and focused on the scattered scrolls now littering the floor. "But how? The fake maps are all different. The human has the only map that would lead us straight to her, and neither of us looked at it long enough to memorise everything on it."
The Owl Lady hummed in thought until her eyes landed on King still huddled under Lizzie's cloak, causing her to blink widely at the idea that popped into her head.
"Hey, King?" The little demon tilted his head at the Owl Lady with a blink. "I need to borrow your nose."
Lizzie and King briefly shared a glance, the pair responding simultaneously to Eda's strange request. "… Eh?"
With Adegast's 'residence' bringing the trio to a dead end, Eda proposed another idea that she was sure would lead them to Luz: using King to track Luz's scent. Lizzie wasn't a stranger to King's heightened and animalistic senses, as while King acted humanoid for a demon—like walking on two legs, using his front paws like hands, amongst other things—he did occasionally display behaviour one would associate with a dog. This included his sense of smell. The young witch had lost count of how many times King would come charging into a room she was in and announce what he could smell. It was one of the reasons why Eda would frequently ask her to keep the little guy out of the cupboards in her absence. No matter where they hid things, King always found them, and his nose was to blame. So, it didn't seem farfetched to Lizzie that the goofball could help them find Luz by sniffing her out.
After making sure King knew Luz's scent (which he claimed to know because of her 'sleep cocoon'), the trio boarded Eda's staff and flew towards the forest close to Bonesborough, where Hooty said he'd last seen Luz going. From there, it was a matter of relying on King's tracking to guide them while flying, which was why he was sat with Eda at the head of her staff during the trip. Yet as the trio passed through the foggy clearings and dense woodland, they found themselves surrounded by a tense silence, one that Lizzie knew was so thick that not even a knife could slice through it. Aside from King occasionally speaking up to let Eda know she was on the right track, no one dared to speak a word, and it was easy for the young blonde witch to guess why.
She'd been trying to ignore it, but Lizzie could feel the guilt gnawing away at her gut, no matter how many times she kept rubbing at it with her hand. Eda had reassured her that it wasn't her fault Luz was tricked, and yet she continued to deny that was the case. Her mind kept forcing her to recall their interactions in Bonesborough and at the Owl House, searching for any red flags that she should have spotted or any other approaches she could have taken that could have prevented this situation. And she suspected she wasn't the only one. A quick peek at Eda showed the Owl Lady gripping her staff so tight her knuckles looked paler than usual, while King sat with his tail dangling and his head lowered. Lizzie's eyes drooped just staring; the guilt was eating away at them too.
'I'm a fool. I was too caught up in worrying about keeping the human safe that I disregarded her feelings. We wouldn't be in this mess if I'd just been open and honest about my lack of self-esteem…' She let out a quiet huff and pulled her satchel close to her lap, closing her eyes. 'Things have been topsy-turvy since she came to the Boiling Isles. I can't remember the last time I spent most of the day fretting about someone else. First regarding what she eats, then about her being eaten, and then because she ignored my instructions and got scammed—' Her eyes suddenly opened when she realised what she'd thought. 'Wait. Why have I been fretting about her so much?'
Unfortunately for Lizzie, she wasn't going to receive her answers just yet, as she soon took notice of the fog beginning to disperse, along with feeling Eda's staff dip and head towards the ground.
"Hang on tight," Eda called back to the younger witch. "I've spotted something below us."
With the fog clearing itself and the group descending between the forest, it didn't take long for Lizzie to notice how drastically their surroundings had changed since she'd fallen into thought. The once lush and red leaves of the trees she was used to seeing were now faded and dull, with the formerly bright and cloud scattered sky above now shrouding them in a mix of grey and black. The Boiling Isles had never possessed a 'welcoming aura' to its inhabitants to begin with, yet the eeriness and the lack of colour was enough to make Lizzie's hair stand on end and her arms shake; she didn't know if the latter was from fear or due to the sudden drop in temperature.
She quickly got her answer when she heard Eda gasp and mutter "Oh, no," under her breath. Lizzie faced forward as the trio left the forest and entered a wide clearing, only for her whole body to seize up with fright before the staff came to a halt and hovered close to the ground.
Towering in front of the two witches and lone demon was what appeared to be a small village, with stone houses with wooden structures lining the village's border and a fountain placed in the middle. However, just like the castle, it was abandoned and rundown. Carts and barrels laid overturned with their contents spilled out. Houses stood cracked and crumbling, with some constricted by thick, thorny, green vines that had grown their way into the vicinity. Even the fountain was in disrepair, being wrapped up in the same vines, covered in large patches of moss, and lacking flowing water. Lizzie felt like she'd wandered into the aftermath of a warzone.
'Oh boy…'
As the trio got off the staff and Eda collected it into her hand, the Owl Lady surveyed the area with a raised brow before addressing King to her left, who had gotten on all fours and was occupied sniffing at the ground.
"Are you sure Luz came through here?"
"I'm sure," King answered, pausing to sniff at the ground again before raising his head with a squint. "There's no mistaking her scent. She reeks of lemons."
"Lemons?" Lizzie repeated with the tilt of her head. "Is that what all humans smell like?"
King copied Lizzie's actions before nodding once. "I'm gonna say 'yes'."
Eda held her chin and silently took in the sight of the ruined village a second time, with Lizzie doing the same as she approached her side. But it didn't take long for the Owl Lady's sharp, golden eyes to focus on the fountain at seeing something white and cat-like tangled amongst the vines, immediately drawing her towards it. Lizzie stuck close to Eda's side when she moved, allowing her a better view of the creature that had caught her employer's eyes. King followed the two witches but kept some distance between them.
At a first glance, the creature in question appeared to resemble a white-furred, anthropomorphic cat wearing a blue scarf and brown gloves over its paws, resting limply against the vines with wide-open eyes and mouth. From a distance, the young witch could have easily mistaken this cat being to be deceased. But when she and Eda stopped in front of the fountain, she recoiled and curled her lip. The cat's lifeless eyes were bulging from their sockets, hanging off to the side as if they were attached to springs.
"That is so disturbing…"
"I've seen worse," Eda replied, getting down onto one knee before the cat and shoving her staff towards Lizzie. "Hold this."
Lizzie stepped back as the staff was pushed into her hands, which she managed to grab to stop it falling to the floor. "Wait, what are you—?"
Her query was interrupted by the Owl Lady turning away and flicking the cat creature in the middle of the forehead, prompting Lizzie's eye to twitch at watching the creature's head briefly roll back and roll its eyes around. "Hey, wake up, you!" She said in a demanding tone, not even bothering to wait for an answer before reaching out and grabbing it by the shoulders. "What have you done with Luz?!" She yanked the creature free from the vines and shook it violently. "What are you after?!"
Despite how disturbed she was by this whole situation, the blonde couldn't help but take a moment to stare at the white-haired witch next to her with drooped eyes, being momentarily reminded of the fact that this was supposed to be her employer, who was assaulting a random prop and yelling at it.
'I forget Eda is very… direct with her approaches to things.'
Eda eventually stopped shaking the creature; however, when its head fell limp on its left side, it started to speak in a creepy and squeaky voice, its mouth unmoving. "To find your pupil and still your wrath,"—It slowly turned its head and held it up to look Eda directly in the eyes, causing Lizzie to squeal and take a step backwards—"look ahead and follow the path…"
The cat let out a quiet cackle before its body began to shrivel up, prompting both Lizzie and King to shriek and the latter to clutch the back of the former's leg. The cat's body continued to shrivel until it was nothing but a pile of dust in Eda's hands, eventually falling past her palms and through her fingers. King screamed and hid his face against Lizzie's leg, while the blonde witch stood frozen and with her jaw dropped.
"AH! The cat man melted!"
Eda sighed heavily and brought herself to stand, brushing off her dress' skirt and hands to rid any traces of the dust. "Just as I suspected: Adegast isn't a wizard. There never was one."
"What?" Lizzie questioned with a breathless gasp, her brows raising. "What are you talking about?"
The older witch faced the younger one with her arms crossed and a slight squint. "He's what you'd call a 'puppeteer'—a demon who specialises in using puppets and props to scam and manipulate people."
Lizzie briefly looked away to glance at the fountain with a frown. "So… that thing you were holding was actually a puppet controlled by Adegast?"
"No question about it."
"But I don't understand. Why would Adegast target the human? And how did he know she was your student?"
Eda responded with a shrug, only for King to poke his head out from behind Lizzie's leg. "Ahem." The two witches' focus immediately turned to him. "That, er… that old guy may have told Luz that he ran a small potions business…"
Lizzie and Eda yelled out at the same time. "What?!"
"Yeah…" King side-stepped away from Lizzie and held his paws up. "I remember him saying it, 'cause I made a joke about him 'running a small business of more scones into my mouth'," He placed a paw to his chest and puffed it out. "which I was pretty proud of, by the way." Lizzie pressed her lips together to avoid interrupting King, watching the little demon frown and scratch at his chin. "And then, while I was munching on some more, he asked Luz if she was Eda's delivery person and she answered that she was actually her apprentice."
Lizzie felt her breathing hitch in her throat, her grip loosening on Eda's staff. Meanwhile, Eda's face scrunched up a little with anger as she threw her arms above her head. "Why didn't you stop her?!"
King put his paws to his hips. "Again: nap and scones."
Eda's staff clattering to the floor brought the Owl Lady's and little demon's attention to Lizzie, who was slowly backing away with her hands gripping at her chest. "Oh, no…" She stumbled to a stop as her breathing quickened, her voice quiet and strained. "That demon was one of your business rivals. He was expecting to see me, but instead I led the human straight to him…" She brought her hands to her ears at feeling her pulse thumping in them, her eyes closing tight. "This is all my fault."
Eda scowled and quickly walked up to Lizzie's front, holding her face in between her hands and tilting it up. "Hey, now you listen to me." The younger witch's green eyes opened wide, locking with the Owl Lady's stern gold. "It's not your fault, all right? If anything, it's mine." Eda's brow furrowed when she pulled her hands away, her gaze downcast. "I didn't investigate this guy as thoroughly as I thought. And if I hadn't made you take Luz… well…"
Lizzie's breathing relaxed as she silently listened to Eda, her expression relaxing when the Owl Lady moved to collect her staff from the floor. The blonde wanted to say something, but found her words caught in her throat when she opened her mouth.
"There's no beating about the bush with it," Eda continued, picking her staff up and placing it upright in her grasp. "He's trying to use Luz to get to me. So, we've got to go and get her."
"But we'll be flying directly into his trap!" King cried, waving his little arms about above his head with a frown. "You're giving him what he wants!"
Eda bent down to poke King harshly in the middle of his forehead, causing the little demon to stagger back two steps. "Well, if you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it."
Lizzie tuned Eda and King out for a moment and stared at her boots, biting on her lip a little. 'Eda's tough, but we don't know anything about Adegast outside of the type of demon he is. If we run into this blindly, Eda will likely get captured. There has to be another approach…'
The young witch's gaze locked with her satchel while Eda positioned her staff so it was hovering vertically, her eyes widening and brows raising at recalling something from yesterday.
'Wait. When the human and I took on the warden, we used a diversion and what little we'd seen of him to take him down with the element of surprise. Maybe the same could work with Adegast…'
"C'mon, you two."
"Eda, wait!" Eda and King turned to Lizzie when she called out to the former, holding out one of her light potions from her satchel towards them with a scowl. "I have an idea, and it might be a little crazy. But please hear me out."
Luz's journey to find the 'Celestial Staff' had been exactly as she'd imagined it to be, and what the wizard 'Adegast' had claimed it would be. From villages filled with cat people and pixies, to a hunky teen rival with a vengeful backstory, riddles galore, and earning the respect of those she encountered along the way; it was everything the young teen found herself experiencing in her dreams, except this time it was real. However, just like with her dreams, all good things must come to an end eventually, and Luz knew that was about to happen with her quest.
She'd solved the riddle of the old cat 'Chris' who guarded the bridge and earned a glowing, blue ring she now wore on her left hand. She'd attended a feast with the princess of the pixies and was awarded two golden bracelets with a green stripe pattern which she'd placed on her left wrist. And she'd also been given the torn green shirt of her rival, Prince 'Nevarath Bladestrife', who insisted she wear it as a cape. Now all she needed to do was collect the item she was destined to find. As sad as Luz was that her fun journey was ending, she couldn't hide how happy she was at taking the necessary step to be like her idol 'Azura'. And so, after bidding her new companions farewell, Luz followed the bricked path and lush green trees to where her destiny was waiting, still equipped with her ring, bracelets, and cape.
It wasn't long, though, before the young human reached her destination, and when she did she couldn't help halting in her tracks and letting out a loud gasp at the view she was met with. At the end of the path she'd followed, surrounded by towering and thick trees casting shade over the clearing with only a few streaks of sunlight, was a deep, circular lake whose water level dropped short of ground level. Situated in the lake's centre was a circular stone platform, and atop the platform was a slightly raised, square pedestal. A glowing, blue crystal staff with a golden base stood tall in the middle of the pedestal, and it was this item that Luz had her eyes set on: the 'Celestial Staff'. The scenery was beautiful; just as she'd pictured time and again from all the fantasy novels she'd read growing up.
With her gaze fixated on the legendary item, Luz slowly walked to the edge of the lake as if she was hypnotised, her shoulders slumped. Part of her still felt like she was dreaming, yet the closer she got, the more her doubt faded. She only broke free from her trance at stopping at the lake's edge, her eyes turning downward at the sound of bubbling water coming from below. The short-haired teen took a step or two backwards when a slight tremble shook the ground, her jaw dropping at the square chunks of stone that suddenly rose from the water one by one. Starting from where Luz stood, the stone platforms raised themselves in ascending order until they were level with the ground and circular platform, ceasing the shaking and connecting together to form a narrow pathway between the land on the lake's edge and the platform for the staff.
An open-mouthed smile appeared on Luz's face as she placed her hands to her hips, taking a moment to gauge her surroundings with her head held high.
"I knew it! I knew this world wasn't all doom and gloom like King, Eda and Lizzie said!" Luz stated proudly to no one in particular, clenching her hands into fists and marching forward onto the stone pathway. "There is wonder here! And I…" She paused to clasp her hands together under her chin, breaking out into a skip and then a twirl for some of the way across. "I knew I was here for a reason!"
Luz's smile disappeared when she realised how close she was to the mystical staff now. Her brows raised and her eyes widened in awe as she walked across the rest of the pathway and onto the platform, stopping and staring at the item looming above her. She was tempted to pinch herself to be sure this was still real, but instead settled for calming her nerves when she felt her hands trembling at her sides. She'd built up this moment so many times inside her head, and now she got to experience it for real. It was only natural she'd start to feel nervous, right?
Luz sucked in a quick breath and exhaled to steady her nerves, stretching out her palms and pushing down at the air. "Okay, Luz. This is it—the moment of truth." She stepped closer to the staff and raised her hands, slowly reaching out to wrap her fingers around the base. "You can do this."
An intense bright blue light released itself from the crystal, whipping around the base in a thin line and travelling upwards in a swirling motion that conjured a small gust. The gust intensified when the line of light dispersed across the area surrounding Luz, becoming harsh as it assaulted the water of the lake and formed tiny waves and ripples, while blowing Luz's hair and cape behind her. As the line of light circled round her body, Luz bent the staff with a grunt, yanking it free with a single tug. Luz grinned widely and held her obtained weapon high above her head in her right hand, prompting the light circle to disappear with a short burst. She stayed that way for a few seconds, taking in the sight of the glowing staff now in her grasp. She'd finally done it. She'd obtained a dream she never thought she'd ever get.
"Yes! I am the Chosen One! I knew there was a reason why no one back home understood me!" Luz gripped the staff in both hands and hugged it close to her chest, closing her eyes and letting out a triumphant laugh with a quick twirl. She smacked the staff against her palm at coming to a standstill. "Now, I have concrete proof!"
However, a few seconds after she'd done that, Luz felt the weight in her palms lessen, prompting her to look down. The young teen gasped at witnessing the staff disintegrate to black dust and become caught in the light wind that suddenly blew through the area, blowing straight out of her palms and disappearing in the air.
"No!" Luz cried out and reached for the last specks of dust as they vanished before her eyes, causing her to stumble forward a step or two until she steadied herself.
She whipped her gaze around her when she noticed the sky was beginning to darken, fading from its usual dark blue to black and grey. The foliage at her feet and on the outskirts of the lake began to wither, shrivelling and wilting from lush colours to grey before disintegrating into dust. The water of the lake violently swirled and started dropping in level, slowly draining away from the lake until nothing but stone remained. A black fog formed from the disintegrated trees and circled Luz still standing on the stone platform, causing her to back up with trembling shoulders.
"What…?" That was the only word she could get out of her mouth right now, even as she reached her hands up to rub at her eyes with the fog engulfing her surroundings.
What was going on? Wasn't she the Chosen One? Why was this happening? Those were the questions that took over her mind as she tried to grasp what she was witnessing. Her confidence was beginning to slip through her fingers, prompting the dread to crawl its way into her stomach like a predator stalking its prey. Something was wrong here, and she knew it.
The fog shifted from black to grey, yet its thickness remained. Luz couldn't see anything beyond it except the silhouettes of the landscape. The young teen whimpered and reached behind her to draw the toy sword from the scabbard on her back. She held the fake weapon close to her person and slowly backstepped from the shrouding mist, her eyes darting all over the place as her pulse thumped in her ears. A familiar, elderly, and wise sounding voice addressed her from behind, causing her body to freeze in place at the approaching footsteps that accompanied it.
"Luz, the human."
Luz turned slightly to face the silhouette as it emerged from the fog, revealing a grey-haired man with red eyes hidden behind a pair of spectacles, pointed ears, a thick white moustache, and a long beard with white streaks that stretched to his feet. He was wearing a pointed purple hat, a purple robe patterned with golden stars and purple sandals, stopping close to where Luz was with a small smile and his hands placed together under his chin.
Luz's brows raised as they locked eyes. "Magical wizard…?"
Before Luz could say anything more, the wizard's body slumped forward and then to the side, his smile widened into an eerie-looking grin, and his eyes pushed out of their sockets a bit towards the sides, causing Luz to gasp quietly at the long, pale tentacle that was exposed, apparently sticking into the wizard's back. The young human backed up and faced the wizard fully when he spoke again, with his voice shifting to a mocking, higher pitched tone as a tall, round silhouette slowly dragged its way from behind the wizard and straight towards her.
"Your hubris has failed you, witch apprentice!"
The wizard was lifted out of the way, revealing a pale octopus-like creature with a round, pouchy face, two bulbous eyes above his cheeks with black sclera and yellow pupils, two narrowed eyes in place of its nostrils and a mouth with no lips and exposed yellow teeth. Attached to its underside was a pair of thin, black arms, a clutch of golden spheres, and a small collection of tentacles. As the creature laughed in a maniacal manner, Luz halted and looked back at feeling the platform briefly shake, only for her eyes to widen when multiple cracks appeared, circling her.
More tentacles rose from the dirt, each with a lifeless prop attached who Luz recognised as the people from her adventures, such as a pink-skinned fairy-like creature with short green hair, black eyes, fairy wings, tiny, golden crown, and a pink leotard and white tights (the Pixie Princess), the tan-skinned teen with brown eyes (with his left one visible and his right one hidden by a black eye patch), pointed ears and short black hair, wearing a golden shoulder plate on his left shoulder, black fingerless gloves, white trousers and black boots while equipped with a large sword (Nevareth Bladestrife), and the grey furred cat whose chin fur resembled a beard, wearing a dark brown hood, matching boots, and brown gloves (Chris). Other unnamed props appeared on tentacles and converged towards her on all sides, like a yellow bulb looking creature with two small legs, green shoes, and black bats wings, or the trio of cats she recognised from the cat village, each with black, grey, and white fur whilst possessing clothes ranging from shoes and hats to scarves and collars with tiny bells. Despite them all looking different, however, they each shared things in common with the wizard, like their lifeless, bulging eyes, their wide-open smiles, and limp bodies, outside of their tentacle attachment.
Luz took on a wide stance and held her toy weapon with its blade pointed outward, her gaze flitting between the puppets as their dead gazes loomed over her.
"Okay, Luz, don't panic," she muttered with a furrowed brow, doing her best to ignore her palms growing clammy. "This is classic Chosen One biz. Just rescue everybody and defeat the final boss."
"I am everybody, you fool!" The creature yelled and shoved the wizard close to Luz's face, causing the young teen to quietly shriek between gritted teeth and draw her weapon to her chest. As the creature spoke, the wizard's mouth moved in tandem, its eyes rolling round. "Don't you see? I'm no wizard," The octopus raised the wizard into the air again and made him point down at the human, with its own arms held out on either side of it. "and you're no 'Chosen One'! I've tricked you!"
"What…?" Luz replied with wide eyes, her stance relaxing as the octopus creature cackled mockingly.
Tricked? She'd been tricked? No, surely this was a trick, right? She was right, and Eda, King and Lizzie were wrong… weren't they?
Luz turned to look at her cape when she felt it lift away from her body, only to cry out as it wrapped tightly around her arms and middle. "No!"
Her toy sword slipped from her grasp and she was forced to her knees, her arms now pinned to her middle with the cape quickly shifting into glowing blue restraints. The same thing happened to the bracelets and ring, which turned into glowing blue handcuffs and restraints with a lock from a brief flash of light that locked themselves around Luz's wrists and fingers.
Luz stared down at her glowing restraints with her head bowed. "I was betrayed by my cool accessories…" She directed a glare towards the octopus, who was slithering his way closer to her. "Why are you doing this?!"
"Your mentor has been stealing customers from my potions business for years! And conditions have only gotten worse since she hired that young witch to take over her deliveries!" The octopus shoved the wizard close to Luz again, with the other puppets eventually converging round her in a circle. "So, Eda must be destroyed!"
Luz glanced between the different puppets with drooped eyes. "Does everyone have beef with Eda here?" The puppets responded with nods and mutters of agreement, making Luz groan and hang her head.
"I'd originally planned on using Eda's delivery witch to lure her out of hiding, but then you fell right into my lap." The octopus smacked his hands to his cheeks. "You've lured her into my trap, and it's all because you wanted to think you were special!"
Luz's lip quivered at this as she kept her gaze to the ground, her body drooping. She knew he was right. Lizzie had warned her, Eda had warned her, even King had warned her. And now Eda was about to be put in harm's way, all because she didn't listen to the people who were only trying to look out for her.
The young teen scrunched her face up and turned to face the octopus with narrowed eyes, raising her voice despite how scared and upset she was. "Yeah, well, the joke's on you! Lizzie would have never fallen for your scam! And Eda isn't stupid enough to fall for your trap either!"
Then, as if on cue, the voice of the Owl Lady rung out from the edge of the forest, calling to the octopus creature towering over her apprentice, causing Luz to raise her head with a wide blink. "Adegast!"
"Aw, heck!" Luz mumbled under her breath, tilting her head to the sky to watch the Owl Lady and King descend towards them on Eda's staff, avoiding the fog that was still lingering. Luz noticed that Lizzie wasn't with them, but she didn't think anything of it. Lizzie had mentioned she only left the Owl House for deliveries. She'd probably stayed behind.
The pair immediately dismounted when they were close to the opposite end of the stone pathway, with Eda keeping one hand on her staff to pull it to her side. The Owl Lady glared at Adegast while the octopus demon swivelled around and pointed a bony finger her way, with King mimicking Eda and putting his paws to his hips in a wide stance.
"Eda! I have you now!"
Eda took on a wide stance and held her finger out, ready to cast a spell circle. However, two tentacles burst from the ground behind the pair with two cat puppets attached, taking the witch and demon off guard and wrapping their arms round their middles before either of them had a chance to react. Eda and King cried out as they were lifted into the air and restrained, with Eda's staff slipping from her palm and clattering to the stone. Eda frowned and squirmed as she and King were brought to Adegast's eye level, with Luz watching helplessly as her technical mentor and friend were held at the mercy of her captor.
"Yes, you have me. Now, release Luz!"
King tried to push himself out of his captor's tight hold, closing his eyes tight. "I didn't need to be a part of this! Why didn't you leave me behind?!"
Eda slumped at this but didn't say anything. Adegast put on a cheery tone. "Oh, she can leave…" He gave a slight frown and widened his mouth a little to resemble a sly grin, wringing his tiny hands together as his tone deepened. "…if she wants to." He peeked at Luz, who stared back with a raised brow. "But I sense she wants a real fantasy~."
The tentacle with the 'Chris' puppet swooped behind Luz, unleashing a thick purple gas from its mouth that engulfed the young human. Luz closed her eyes and brought her arms close to her face to shield herself, remaining oblivious to her senses and surroundings becoming warped.
When Luz next opened her eyes, she saw nothing but darkness surrounding her. She gave her body a brief look over, twisting her arms round at realising all of her former restraints were broken. She felt a comforting hand grip her left shoulder, prompting her to glance up to see Nevareth bent down beside her, a small smile on his face. Chris and the yellow bulb stood beside him, with all three having their eyes properly aligned and no longer having Adegast's tentacles.
"Stay with us, Luz," Nevareth said in his gentle and seductive voice, holding out his other hand towards the darkness. "We need you here, as our Chosen One."
Luz turned her head to the right when she heard the Pixie Princess' squeaky and adorable voice, seeing her hovering alongside the three cats from the village, also appearing normal with wide smiles. "Yeah. You can eat our tiny foods forever."
"Luz," Luz's smile dropped as she turned to Nevareth again, seeing the grave expression on his face. "why would you want to live in a world where people laugh and mock you?" His grip tightened on her shoulder. "Stay with us, where you'll be loved for who you are."
Luz turned to her lap, hugging her arms to her front with a furrowed brow. "It is beautiful here…" She smiled faintly, remaining unaware of the puppets reverting to their real states and slowly moving towards her. "And you guys think I'm special…"
That was when Luz heard glass rolling along stone, prompting her to look up to see a glowing yellow vial of liquid stop a small distance away from her. A familiar witch's voice sliced through the silence of the dark, halting the puppets in their tracks.
"Luz!"
Luz's eyes widened as she stared ahead, forcing a blink while trying to process if she was hearing things or not. "Lizzie…?"
But she didn't have time to because she soon heard Lizzie's voice shout again. "Cover your eyes!"
Luz had a strong suspicion towards what was about to happen, which is why she wasted no time in obeying and closing her eyes, covering them with her hands as an extra precaution. Shortly after Luz heard the vial shatter, but she didn't dare peek. A bright yellow light flooded into the darkness, followed by loud screams from the puppets as they became engulfed by the glow. Luz ignored the screams and counted to 'five' in her head, recalling Lizzie mentioning it when she was telling her to hide in the alleyway. The screams of the puppets melded into the lone scream from Adegast before Luz reached her target number, when she finally lowered her arms and opened her eyes…
Luz found herself back on the stone platform in the middle of the lake, her former bonds still missing from her person. She could see Adegast squinting and blinking repeatedly, waving his little arms in front of his face as if he was trying to reach for his eyes. She could also see Eda and King were free of Adegast's tentacles, now standing back-to-back with feet stretched apart, with the little demon holding up clenched paws and Eda wielding her staff close to her chest. But it was the cloaked back of a certain blonde witch standing before her with her legs spread apart who Luz soon focused on.
With her head held high and her back straight, Lizzie glared the puppeteer demon down as she watched him shake his head around, his puppets scattered about due to the shock he'd gotten from her attack. "Argh! My eyes!"
"That's what happens when you get cocky, Adegast," Lizzie replied with a slight smirk, prompting the octopus' eyes to widen. "Did you honestly think the Owl Lady would just waltz on into a trap without a plan? Pathetic."
"You!" Adegast yelled as he finally stopped squinting and blinking, pointing at the young witch with a snarl. "You're Eda's lackey!"
"You bet your tentacles I am." Lizzie's smirk melted into a scowl. "And let me tell you something, Adegast: you've targeted the wrong witch's apprentice. Because Luz is special, and not for being the only human in the Boiling Isles. It's because she's courageous enough to stand up to manipulative beings like you." Luz's brows raised as Lizzie glanced at the young teen with a softened expression. "She's the reason I'm standing here now, and she didn't need any magic to make me do it. She did it being herself."
Luz stayed silent as tears formed in her eyes, briefly covering her mouth with a hand to suppress the urge to cry. But after staring at the older witch long enough for her to nod as a form of acknowledgement, Luz frowned and wiped her tears away with her arm, slowly getting to her feet and collecting the toy sword from the floor.
"That's right." Luz walked up to Lizzie and stood at her left side, facing Adegast and pointing the tip of her toy weapon at him. "I am a witch's apprentice. And I'll earn my magic staff the hard way." Luz directed her frown at the wizard hovering in front of Adegast, narrowing her eyes and tightening her grip on the toy's handle. "I believed you, Magic Man." She held the toy blade vertically and charged forward with a battle cry. "Now feel my wrath!"
She thrust the blade through the wizard's chest, causing the puppet to disperse in a puff of yellow smoke. Adegast shouted in pain, causing Lizzie's smirk to return.
'There we go. Attacking the puppets causes damage.'
Eda and King backed up to join Lizzie and Luz with Adegast's tentacles closing in around them, prompting the four to stand so close together their backs were almost pressing against each other. The Pixie Princess launched itself at Lizzie with a gaping mouth littered with sharp, fang-like teeth, but the young witch was quick to draw a medium-sized, green spell circle in front of her, firing a medium-sized fireball. It connected with the puppet's front and set it alight, with the flames eventually dying out when it was burnt to cinders. Three cat puppets began to charge at Eda from the left side, yet like Lizzie Eda was fast to retaliate by drawing a large, orange spell circle of her own, summoning forth a big stream of fire that engulfed and incinerated the trio of puppets, leaving Adegast with three charred tentacles and making him scream.
Lizzie was briefly distracted by Eda's fire display, remaining unaware of Nevareth's own charge towards her with his sword swung back until he screeched a battle cry as he closed in on her. However, by the time she'd swirled round and was about to be met with Nevareth's blade, Luz popped up between them and blocked the slash with her toy blade, growling and shoving the puppet backwards. Luz shoved forward while she and Nevareth continued to swing their swords and constantly clash, shouting in between.
"I thought we had a connection, Nevareth!"
Luz ducked and stepped to the side when Nevareth swung at her again, allowing her to swing her sword upward and use enough force to knock his sword flying from his hand. Now disarmed, Nevareth could only watch as Luz thrust her blade straight through his chest, causing the puppet to arch his back and yell in agony.
"AH! My flawless pecks!"
Luz smiled widely as Nevareth disappeared in a puff of yellow smoke, glancing back at Lizzie with a nod as Eda leapt backwards to stay near the pair and crouched to steady herself. Lizzie returned Luz's smile and nod, only for the pair's moment to be interrupted by Adegast.
"Back off!" He shouted, prompting the trio to turn to the demon as he raised a tentacle with the white furred cat puppet attached. Eyes widened when they spotted poor King entangled in Adegast's tentacle, with the cat puppet holding him in place. "Or the dog gets it!"
King lifted his head to yell defiantly. "I am not a— Mph!" He was interrupted by Adegast's tentacle sliding over his mouth.
The two witches and human were quick to surrender, with the trio raising their hands above their shoulders and holding out their palms and Eda and Luz dropping their weapons. Lizzie gritted her teeth as she eyed the little demon being held hostage, her mind already attempting to conjure up a backup plan.
'Drat. Eda wasn't kidding. You really can't account for everything…'
It seemed like there was nothing the group could currently do without King getting hurt, and Lizzie realised that as she glanced between Eda and Luz, who were glaring at Adegast. If only looks could kill, she thought.
Her gaze soon lingered on Luz, though, when the young human sighed and lowered her head, closing her eyes. Doing so had Lizzie focusing on the toy sword Luz had dropped, which she noticed was pointing directly at Adegast after a quick look between the toy and the demonic octopus. Her brows raised at the idea that popped into her head, prompting her to focus on Adegast when Luz spoke to make sure his attention was on her before she acted.
"King, I'm sorry." As Luz opened an eye and tilted her head slightly to Lizzie, the latter bent her finger to make it glow and twirled it slightly at seeing Adegast's gaze solely on Luz. "You were right. I should have never trusted that wizard and waited for Lizzie. This is all my fault."
Lizzie shook her head and stepped closer to Luz when the toy sword took on a faint green glow and raised itself from the ground a bit. She responded to the young teen while lightly flicking her finger to adjust the item's trajectory, causing the blade to tilt upwards and levitate diagonally. "Hey, don't beat yourself up, Luz." She winked at her and briefly pointed her eyes down at her feet, to which Luz straightened out with a blink and followed her gaze. "I'm also sorry. I shouldn't have been so hard on you." When she saw Luz gape and glance back up, the blonde witch smirked faintly. "Although, technically, if anyone's really to blame, it's Adegast."
Luz returned the smirk for a few seconds before it faded into a scowl, which she faced Adegast with. "Yeah, you're right. After all, he's just a big, slimy, jerk!"
Luz swung her right leg back and kicked it out to hit the sword handle, sending the toy sword straight into the air and breaking Lizzie's levitation spell. The toy weapon soared towards Adegast's head and impaled him in the middle of his forehead, causing the octopus demon to scream and cower in pain. The attack made the cat puppet poof into yellow smoke and release King, with the little demon crying out as he dropped into Luz's waiting arms. With their arms now lowered, the group of four watched Adegast shrivel up to a tiny octopus with no mouth and his narrowed eyes, stick arms, and golden spheres gone, looking to be a fraction of his former size. The toy sword freed itself during the shrinking and landed beside the tiny Adegast, wedging itself into the stone pathway.
The group crept close to Adegast and stared at the tiny demon until Eda bent down and picked him up by his tentacles. With her other hand on her hip, she held Adegast upside down and eyed him with drooped eyes, all the while the tiny demon visibly sweated, its wide-eyed gaze darting between the two witches, human, and demon with slight trembles and tiny squeaks. Seeing him like this made the demon less terrifying, Lizzie thought.
"Well, that's the last time I'm taking an outside referral."
Eda tilted her head back and closed her eyes as she dangled Adegast above her mouth, opening it wide before dropping the demon inside. Lizzie and Luz gaped at seeing Eda chew a couple of times and then swallowing Adegast in one gulp with a wide smile. The Owl Lady didn't turn to the two girls until she heard Luz heave, catching the young human turning her head away while seeing Lizzie's eye twitch. "Oh, sorry, did you two want some of that?"
"What made you think that?!" Lizzie questioned with a shriek, prompting Eda to shrug.
"Doesn't hurt to check." But then the Owl Lady smirked and rested her elbow on Lizzie's closest shoulder. "But not bad, kiddo. You had me worried for a moment, though."
"And me!" King added, waving his arms about from where he was still being held by Luz. "I thought you'd committed treason and abandoned your king!"
Lizzie chuckled and reached down to pat her satchel while Luz recomposed herself with a deep breath. "I'll admit, I did get cold feet at one point. But once Adegast had grabbed you two and put Luz into that illusion, I knew there was no going back."
Luz faced Lizzie with a raised brow. "Wait. You were hiding on purpose?"
Lizzie nodded and jabbed it towards the mist still lingering around them. "Yeah. Eda purposely left me behind so I could hide in the fog and strike when Adegast let his guard down. I wanted to trick him into thinking Eda had only brought King and then use the element of surprise, like we did with Warden Wrath yesterday."
Luz blinked widely and tilted her head. "So… all that stuff you said to Adegast was true?"
"Of course it was." Lizzie grinned and gave Luz a light shove. "You might not be a 'Chosen One', but you don't need a destiny to inspire people. You've made me less of a coward. There's no denying that."
Luz briefly smiled at that, but soon her expression fell when her shoulders slumped and her eyes drooped. "I still owe the three of you an apology. You were right: this world is nothing like I imagined…"
Lizzie glanced at Eda when she heard the older witch hum in thought, seeing her tap her chin and look to her staff still resting on the ground. She stayed silent as Eda responded and walked over to it. "Well, maybe not here…" The Owl Lady snapped his fingers, causing her staff to rise and emit a yellow glow from the palisman's eyes and its outline. "But if you come with me, I can show you something that's close enough."
After coaxing Luz to climb onto her staff alongside Lizzie and King, Eda instructed Lizzie (who was sitting behind Luz at the back with King in her lap, while Luz sat between her and Eda) to cover Luz's eyes with a blindfold she'd had on her and for Luz to wrap her arms round Eda's middle until she told the human it was okay to stop, with both girls doing as they were told. With the Owl Lady at the head of the staff, she flew the group away from the lake and as high into the sky as she intended to go, just enough that Lizzie could see most of the Boiling Isles from their current position. Luz clung tightly to Eda as the witch led the group a short distance from the isles and above the Boiling Sea, with the sky bathing it all in an orange glow.
It didn't take long before Eda eventually slowed her staff to a halt and let them hover in mid-air, allowing Lizzie to get a look at the Boiling Isles' landscape before Luz with a breath-taking sigh. She'd seen different views of her homeland during the times she'd ridden with Eda on her staff, but none could compare to the overview she was witnessing now. From here, she had a better view of the Titan's bones that surrounded the landscape, indicating that when the Titan died it was on its back. Its giant, horned skull was settled at the farthest point of the isles with its face looking to the sky. The bones of its ribcage stuck out of the outskirts of the land, and its left thigh grew out of the ground from the closest point and then bent at the knee to dip its shin deep into the sea. Lizzie couldn't deny that while up close the Boiling Isles was terrifying and dangerous in many ways, the same couldn't be said about seeing it from this perspective. It was truly beautiful, to the point she couldn't suppress the smile that slipped onto her face.
Eda peeked over her shoulder at Luz with a smile and straightened out her posture. "Okay, Luz, you can look."
Luz released Eda and untied her blindfold, dropping it into her lap as she took in the view before her.
"Whoa…" That was all Luz could bring herself to say as she stared ahead with wide eyes and held onto the staff, with Eda taking over as she joined her in observing the scenery.
"These are the bones of the isles." She closed her eyes at the faint breeze that ruffled at her hair and clothes. "Up close, the isles can be slimy—"
"And stinky," King interrupted while raising a claw, causing Lizzie to add on with the roll of her eyes.
"And don't forget gross."
Eda shook her head at her two companions' comments before her golden eyes caught a glowing dark blue streak shooting across the sky, prompting her to lean close to Luz and nudge her with her elbow to get her attention. "But if you look at it from a different perspective…"
Luz, Lizzie, and King followed Eda's gaze and silently watched the dark blue light vanish in a small flash, prompting Luz to smile a little and finish Eda's sentence. "… it's beautiful."
"Yeah…" King quietly agreed and slumped against Lizzie's front, hanging his head and closing his eyes. Lizzie snorted at this before gently placing her arm round his middle, keeping him close so he didn't fall off.
Glancing once between Lizzie and Eda, Luz hunched her shoulders and focused on the latter. "Eda, how did you and Lizzie know Adegast was lying?"
Eda let out a loud huff and tilted her head to the sky, her eyes drooping. "Kid, everyone wants to believe they're 'chosen',"—She imitated quotation marks with one hand—"but if we all waited around for a prophecy, we'd die waiting." Eda and Lizzie locked eyes then, prompting the latter to snicker and the former to grin. "Lizzie and I didn't wait for others to tell us what we could do. We went and chose our own paths in life." Eda focused back to Luz and raised a finger to poke the middle of her forehead. "And that's exactly what you need to do. Only you can decide where you want to go."
"So…" Luz leaned closer to Eda and raised her shoulders a little more, forcing a wide smile and tilting her head. "…does that mean I'll get a magic staff of my own?"
Lizzie let out a small laugh and quickly muffled it with a hand, while Eda leaned back a little and dimmed her grin down to a smile of her own. "Not yet. But don't worry. We'll figure it out someday."
Luz nodded to that and followed Eda's gaze alongside Lizzie, leaving the three to silently take in the scenery of the isles for a little while longer. It had surely been a hectic day for all of them, but Lizzie was glad that they could relish in this view together, even though Eda's words from a moment ago were still ringing in her mind.
The group of four stayed to admire the view of the Boiling Isles until Luz also began to doze off, eventually slumping against Eda's shoulder. The Owl Lady took that as her cue to take them back to the Owl House, with King fast asleep in Lizzie's lap and Luz laying against Lizzie's right shoulder, with the blonde witch supporting both with her arms wrapped round their backs. Neither witch was surprised by Luz falling asleep, considering the day she'd had. She was bound to be exhausted after dealing with Adegast and the residents of Bonesborough. Initially, Eda and Lizzie flew through the Boiling Isles without a word, with only the whipping of the wind breaking their silence. However, Eda soon chose to speak, keeping her voice low to be mindful of King and Luz.
"Redwood," Lizzie raised her head, focusing on Eda's back while the older witch chose to remain facing forward. "to honour the deal we made, I've decided to take Luz off potion deliveries for now."
Lizzie's brows raised with a blink, failing to hide her surprise even at recalling their little 'deal' from this morning. "Really?"
"Uh-huh. Luz did get into trouble that you couldn't get her out of. And despite my reassurance, I know you're probably still fretting over that stalker of yours." Lizzie quietly gulped as she felt the heat rising to her face. "So, I'll take Luz off your hands and have her help me with my stand on the weekends. That should put your mind at ease a bit."
'That does sound ideal. Luz is put out of danger and I can continue my job without worrying about her safety. And yet…' Lizzie dared to peek at Luz's sleeping face, her mind flitting back to their fights with Warden Wrath and Adegast. '…Luz and I took down two dangerous opponents together, even though Eda did weaken them first. She might not be able to do magic yet, but she's pretty tough for a human.'
After a moment of silent staring, Lizzie cleared her throat and turned back to the Owl Lady. "You know what, Eda, don't worry about it."
Eda raised a brow as she peeked back at Lizzie. "Huh?"
"Up until we encountered that guard, Luz didn't get into too much trouble. And when she did, I handled it just fine. Also, it's like you said: I rarely go to Bonesborough anyway. I probably won't encounter that guard again. But even if I do, Luz can probably handle herself just fine." Lizzie shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, she's held her own against the warden and the puppeteer, and they were pretty strong even after you weakened them."
Eda forced three blinks as she tried to process what she'd just heard leave Lizzie's mouth, having not expected that response. But the surprises kept on coming when Lizzie continued and stared at the trees they were passing by.
"Also, assuming your offer to learn magic is still on the table, I won't have any trouble fending them off by myself."
"Oh?" Eda tilted her head. "You want to learn more spells?"
Lizzie nodded, briefly looking at her satchel that King was snuggled against. "Fighting Adegast today made me realise I should prepare myself. Plus," She let a small smile slip. "I'm a little curious about what potions I can create with other spells."
She broke her gaze away when she heard Eda letting out a low chuckle, remaining unaware of the proud smile the older witch had on her face as she spoke, having turned away from the younger blonde. "It took you ages before you stopped being timid around me and calling me by formalities, even though you occasionally fall back into old habits. But you're around Luz for a day and suddenly you're calling her by name and fretting for her safety. She's quickly growing on you, isn't she?"
Lizzie allowed her eyes to wander back to Luz's face at that, her brow momentarily furrowing in thought. Yet she didn't need to think it over. She knew Eda was right. And that realisation made the young witch smile widely as she whispered her reply.
"… Yeah. I guess she is."
