A/N: Hello, hello! Happy belated Christmas! I'm aware this update is coming almost a month after the last one and... I apologise for that. Outside of RL being a pain and stealing my time, I briefly switched my focus to updating another fanfic of mine that was long overdue. I'm trying to get back into the routine of updating my other fanfics after completing an episode for this one, but I'm not sure how long that thought process will last. We'll have to see. In the meantime, I've returned to this fic with the next chapter and I will try to be more frequent with the next two updates as much as I can.

As I mentioned in the previous author's notes, this next chapter enters into episode eight of the Owl House, which isn't a popular episode. While I had planned to skip out on this one, I decided that I was going to work this episode around Lizzie instead of the antics of Eda, King and Luz. It gives me an excuse to expand on Lizzie's past and character where they can't be properly fit in with specific episodes in the series, especially for the benefit of the reader. Lizzie will still be involved a little bit in the body swap incident; however, as you will probably see from this chapter, that involvement only comes at the expense of the trouble Lizzie is going to find herself in because of a... certain someone. You'll also notice when going through this chapter that compared to the others, it's a little shorter. I've done this on purpose. While I was originally going to make this chapter longer, I've decided to follow the style of episode eight where the trio each get their own 'segments' and 'segment titles' when the point of view is switched up throughout the plot. This is to mimic what would have possibly happened had Lizzie been involved in the episode itself. So, the focus of Chapter 22 is to act as the 'opener' of the episode (i.e. how the events lead to the body swap incident and how Lizzie winds up at the marketplace to begin with), while Chapter 23 (and possibly Chapter 24, if it ends up as three) will focus on Lizzie's separate adventure from the trio while occasionally winding up crossing paths into the main plot, with the chapter headings bearing her segment title. This is why you'll find this chapter to be a little uneventful. Its purpose is just to act as an introduction to what's to come and how Lizzie becomes separated from the three main characters.

Thank you to everyone who has been favouriting, following, reviewing and reading this fanfic. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. I don't know when I'll have the next chapter out, but I do ask you keep an eye on my profile. I have added an 'active updates' section there that'll tell you which fanfics I'm working on and what their current status is, which I will update when applicable. It'll give you an idea as to what's currently going on with any of the stories of mine you're following. In the meantime, I hope you like the introduction to episode eight and will enjoy what I have in store for Lizzie later.


Chapter 22: Breaking Routine

Over the three years Lizzie had been living under the roof of the infamous Owl Lady, there were many things she'd slowly grown accustomed to as part of her daily life, whether she liked it or not. And one of those many things happened to be noise. There was never a day that went by in the Owl House that was quiet, and Lizzie naturally attributed it to the chaotic environment caused by the gathering of the house's residents under one roof. Whether the cause was from Eda's magic experimentation going awry, or King stealing and using something he shouldn't, or something going wrong during Lizzie's potion making, or even Hooty just being… Hooty, each day always brought new chaos with it, regardless of size and scale. Lizzie couldn't deny that the addition of Luz had certainly upped the antics of the mischievous members of the cottage and the scale of these disasters due to her magic exploration and her naivety towards the Demon Realm, making them more frequent than the blonde was used to. Yet despite the increased frequency and the issues she'd brought, Lizzie had come to accept that Luz's 'escapades' were going to become part and parcel of their new normal.

Or so she kept telling herself.

Since the events at the library, Lizzie had noticed that Luz had become proactive in her magical training without Eda mentoring her, using the little information Lizzie had gleamed from that one book in the library to take it upon herself to learn more about the magical technique she'd gained. Luz's hunt for more glyphs to add to her magic repertoire was still unsuccessful, but it hadn't dampened her attempts to experiment with the one glyph she currently had. One of the things Lizzie had come to learn about Luz is that the young human possessed a creative and wild imagination, and that had aided her well in coming up with ways to use the light glyph in battle as well as for other things. Lizzie couldn't help being impressed at the progress Luz had made in wielding the light glyphs on paper during their practices, and how there had been few occasions where the Latina had almost gotten the drop on her because of her surprise attacks. However, on this particular day in the Owl House, Lizzie found herself being reminded that while Luz possessed a good sense of creativity… she lacked the self-control to know how far she was taking it.

As per the norm, Lizzie was sat cross-legged on her mattress in her bedroom, her potion making setup covering the floor in front of her. King was settled beside her, curiously leaning over her lap at the healing spell book she had open on the pages for the spell to heal bruises. He could see two yellow tabs sticking up out of pages before and after the opened ones, which he assumed were pages Lizzie had purposely 'bookmarked' to come back to at a later time.

"I can't decide if I should create a healing potion that encompasses multiple spells or separate potions for each individual spell," Lizzie said, keeping her gaze fixed on her book and tilting her head to the side. "Most healing potions only do one thing, but I think it would be handy to have one potion that harbours similar healing properties for a multitude of injuries. Like a single potion that can cure any skin damage, for example."

"Why don't you just do what Eda does and mix all those spells together in the same vial?" King asked, prompting Lizzie to glance at the little demon with a raised brow as he snickered. "You might make a huge explosion, but at least then you'll know if it's bad."

"No way. That's how accidents happen, King."

King shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, well, it'd just be another day at the Owl House, right? Accidents happen all the time round here." He jabbed a claw towards the window. "Why, just the other day, François broke a window protecting my kingdom from Hooty."

"… You mean because you threw him, right?"

"Nu-uh!" King turned his head away and crossed his arms. "He was doing his sworn duty of protecting his king and his kingdom! I didn't ask him to do it. He chose to."

Lizzie shook her head and turned back to her book, knowing that King wouldn't back down and would continue with his little delusion if pushed. "Experimenting isn't always a bad thing, King, but you have to be careful still. They might come from the same magic type and do similar things, but that doesn't mean those spells can't clash when put together."

"Then why didn't you choose an easier spell to start with? My suggestion for a lightning potion is still on the table!"

Lizzie's eyes drooped as she quickly glanced at the doorway to her room, eventually huffing and responding to King quietly when she was sure Eda wasn't around. "Because we need to be prepared. Eda might have her curse under control now, but we can't have a repeat of what happened that night. That was too much of a close call, even if it was partly your fault to begin with."

King looked down at his feet and wrung his paws together, recollecting the unfortunate events that had befallen the trio during that dreary night of boiling rain. "I still feel bad about that…"

"I know you do," Lizzie mumbled, briefly pausing to give King a little pat on top of the head. "But at least you can take comfort in the fact you've learnt your lesson and helped to minimise the same incident from occurring." King momentarily closed his eyes at the head pat, yet kept his gaze on his feet, prompting Lizzie to continue. "What happened that night isn't the only reason, though. I'm also doing this to benefit us financially. It's not fair for Eda to keep splitting her profits between her elixir and our medical supplies, especially when it's cheaper for me to gather the ingredients for the latter."

King perked up at this with a blink. "It is?"

"Oh, yeah. As complicated as healing magic is, locating the ingredients and making potions for it is much simpler and cheaper than you think." Lizzie flipped to the next page she'd bookmarked, which happened to be a section that addressed healing spells for gashes and cuts. "I've done enough research to know that mixing multiple potions into one wouldn't be a problem. The ingredients for the potions that treat bruises, gashes or burns are fairly similar outside of a couple of differences. It's just the spells I'm concerned about. I need them to enhance the effects, but what good is it if the spells aren't compatible?"

"Don't ask me." King waved Lizzie off with a paw. "It's not like I know about this sorta stuff."

Lizzie scratched at her chin and hummed in thought, running a finger down the page she was reading. "I think I need to ask a witch who's either in the healing coven or potions coven about this. Morton is a potionist, so maybe—"

Thump.

The noise cut Lizzie off and forced her gaze and King's towards the doorway. Their brows raised at the sight of Luz standing there with a long, rectangle plank with almost perfectly straight corners under one of her arms, which she'd apparently knocked against the doorframe by accident, Lizzie had assumed based off the way the Latina briefly stumbled to the side before regaining her balance.

"Whoops!" Luz said, forcing a wide smile towards the pair in the bedroom after adjusting the plank's position with her other hand. "Sorry, Liz! Didn't mean to interrupt!"

Lizzie squinted at the wooden plank and tilted her head slightly. "Uh… What are you doing with that plank, Luz?"

King put his paw close to his jaw and leaned towards Lizzie to whisper loudly in her ear, his eyes briefly darting to Luz as he did so. "I think Eda's hoarding habits have spread to Luz."

"What?! No!" Luz cried out and waved her hand about, her eyes going wide. "That's not what this is!"

Lizzie held a hand out towards the item in Luz's hold. "Then why are you hauling around a plank you've probably pulled out of the garbage?"

Luz squared her shoulders and raised her chin, smiling widely as she did so. "I'm making a sign for Eda's stand. I wanted to know if we had anything sharp I can use to carve into it."

"Carve?" Lizzie repeated with a faint frown, prompting Luz to nod enthusiastically a couple of times. "Why do you need to carve anything? Eda usually just paints on her signs."

"I thought Eda could use a bit of help. Business has been slow lately." Luz patted the back of the wood with a grin. "And what better way to speed it up than putting her name in lights!"

Lizzie's frown deepened at this. But as she opened her mouth to question Luz further, King interrupted while jabbing a claw behind him. "I'm sure Eda's got some weapons somewhere around here."

Luz's eyes lit up at this, followed by a small gasp. "Weapons? What kind of weapons?"

"Oh, no," Lizzie sternly intervened, turning to King with a scowl. "Luz is not using a weapon."

Luz's shoulders slumped at this, while King went about shrugging his shoulders.

"Aw!"

"Why not? They're sharp."

"Exactly," Lizzie replied, throwing her hands above her head. "They're sharp. Luz could get hurt."

"I don't see what the big deal is." King put his paws to his hips and held his head up a bit. "Eda lets me use sharp objects."

Lizzie squinted. "No. You steal them. There's a difference."

King faked a gasp and placed a hand to his chest, responding to Lizzie in an overexaggerated tone of shock. "How dare you! The King of Demons is not a common thief!"

Lizzie facepalmed and grumbled something under her breath, looking close to burying her head into her mattress. Thankfully, the topic of conversation was diverted by Eda calling out from down the hallway, causing the trio to perk up and look in that general direction.

"Luz, King! What's the holdup?! Those poor chumps aren't gonna scam themselves!"

"Coming, Eda!" Luz shouted back with a hand close to her mouth, already preparing to turn around to head down the hallway, while King climbed off the mattress and darted for the doorway with his paws over his head.

"The King of Demons is ready for domination!"

"Luz,"—the Latina paused and looked to Lizzie with a blink when she was addressed—"if you really need something sharp, try the cutlery drawer in the kitchen. Eda has a few sharp knives in there." Lizzie's eyes drooped. "Just be careful."

Luz nodded stiffly, giving Lizzie a small smile before she jogged away. "Thanks, Liz! See you later!"

Lizzie gave Luz a quick wave as she watched the young human disappear from her sight, eventually sighing and shaking her head.

'I don't know what she's up to, but I hope it isn't anything extreme…' The blonde witch rubbed her hands together and turned to the opened book in her lap. 'Now, time to take advantage of the peace and quiet to—'

"Lizzie." Lizzie flinched at hearing her name, immediately looking up to the doorway with a wide blink. Eda happened to be there with her head poking into the room, staring at the younger witch with a raised brow. "What are you doing?"

"Uh…" Lizzie tilted her head to the side, her gaze flitting between her potion making setup and the Owl Lady lingering in the bedroom doorway. "Making potions?"

"Did you forget you were supposed to be helping me with an errand today?"

Lizzie leaned back a bit with a slight frown, her mind suddenly going blank at the question. "Wait, I am?"

"Yeah. I thought I told you yesterday."

Lizzie's frown deepened, trying to recall at what point Eda had actually asked such a thing of her. But no matter how long she tried, nothing even remotely close was coming to mind. "I… I don't think you did, Eda."

"Huh." She scratched at the side of her head with a hand. "Must have imagined it then. Either way, you are." She beckoned Lizzie forward with a hand before disappearing behind the doorframe. "So, clean this up and let's hit the road!"

"Hang on!" Lizzie slammed her book shut and tossed it to the mattress while leaping to her feet, shouting after the Owl Lady as she made her way towards the doorway. She got there just in time to see Eda had paused a small distance from the door, looking back at her with a hand to her hip. "What's the errand?"

"To purchase some elixirs from Morton for me." Eda briefly glanced towards the other end of the hallway, then turned back to Lizzie with her voice lowered. "I've still got enough from the stock we nicked from Tibbles, but you can never be too careful…"

"Why can't you just go and get it? Isn't your stand usually placed close to where Mr Elixir is?"

Eda loudly snorted and slapped a hand against her knee. "Ha. And leave Luz and King in charge of my stand? I don't think so. I wouldn't trust those two together as far as I can throw 'em! Plus, it's much easier just to have you come with us and then let you go."

Lizzie momentarily frowned, a quick recollection of shenanigans from both Luz and King popping into her head from the times they'd been left on their own. "… Fair enough." She crossed her arms. "But what about the rumours, Eda?"

"Rumours?" Eda swivelled to face Lizzie properly and scratched at her chin. "You mean the ones that a certain tool may have been spreading about you lately?"

Lizzie nodded, turning her eyes to the floor. "I don't think it's safe for me to be seen with you in Bonesborough right now. It was risky enough when I went to help Luz at the library, but at least then it was dark and no one was around to see me. But being out in broad daylight in the middle of a busy market? Not a good idea. I can't shake the feeling he's probably spreading these rumours for a reason."

The blonde witch flinched at feeling Eda's hand lightly smack her shoulder, forcing her head up. "Already ahead of ya, kid!" Eda stuck her left hand out behind her and bent it in a beckoning motion. Within a few seconds, Lizzie saw Eda's staff whizzing through the air from downstairs and smacking into her palm, prompting the Owl Lady's fingers to instinctively close round the staff. "Can't have ya standing around in the market with my elixirs. If you bring 'em to the stand,"—she brought the staff in front of her and gently patted the top of the palisman—"Owlbert here will fly you home no questions asked."

Lizzie was tempted to object at this point. But when her eyes flitted between Eda's staff and then back at the potion making setup in her room, she rubbed at her neck with a hand. "WellI do need to ask Morton something anyways. And Owlbert can control the staff without me needing to. I suppose I could—"

"Great!" Eda didn't even let Lizzie finish, leaving the blonde witch to watch her senior swirl on her heels and stroll off down the hallway before she changed her mind. "I'll be waiting outside! Don't take too long!"

Lizzie's shoulders slumped as she watched Eda go until she disappeared from sight, eventually shaking her head and turning away to head back into her room to tidy up and collect the necessary belongings.

'As much as I hate what I have to do, at least Eda's grown to be a little more responsible with her elixirs. I just hope everything runs smoothly for me…'

Lizzie never knew what it was like for Eda whenever she went to the marketplace to sell her wares. But from the wild stories she and King shared with her, the young witch was vaguely aware of how many times the pair had had run ins with the guards. Which was why Lizzie could only pray that her accompanying them would be one of the rare moments they wouldn't find themselves tangling with the law, as unlikely as she suspected it was…


Bonesborough Marketplace—whether in the day or at night, it was frequently acknowledged by those who lived in the town to be one of the busiest places to date. With its streets constantly swarmed with patrons eager to buy and business owners battling it out to sell as much of their wares as they could, it was seen as the heart and soul of the monster-like structured town by many, both by regular citizens and criminals alike. Customers usually went home satisfied with what they'd purchased, while shop keepers often left each day satisfied with the snails that usually filled their pockets. Yet amid the booming success and smiling faces lay the minority who struggled day-to-day to earn so much as a single snail to keep themselves afloat due to the other stalls constantly trumping over their attempts, with Eda's stand being one of few examples of this.

This was the first time Lizzie had actually accompanied Eda to the market when she planned to setup her Human Collectibles stand, so it was only natural that this was the first time the young witch got to see the Owl Lady's infamous wares in all their glory (once she'd helped to set it up at Eda's request, of course). Unlike the other stands in the area, Eda's setup consisted of a single metal table partially covered by a worn green blanket, a set of wooden blue and green cabinet shelves full of various human knickknacks that Lizzie was unfamiliar with (although there were a couple of items that she guessed were supposed to be human counterparts of items in their realm, like the small, round object with numbers and two sticks on its face), and a giant purple tent hidden behind them all where Eda tended to keep any extra stock and also use her portal for Owlbert to scavenge in the Human Realm undetected. Had it not been for the brown and intricately patterned cash register on the table and the uneven sided wooden sign with 'Human Collectibles' painted on it in red capitals manually supported by a hockey stick and other wooden object above the tent's front, Lizzie doubted anyone would think it was supposed to be a stand.

Once the stand was set up, Lizzie and Eda immediately took that as their cue to hide away in the back to sort out the former's errand run, leaving King and Luz to man things out front in the meanwhile. While the latter had claimed she'd only done it so Lizzie didn't feel paranoid about being spotted (even with her cloak concealing her appearance and her satchel, which she'd brought with her), Lizzie suspected Eda was also a bit wary of the guards seeking her out too. Lizzie noticed Eda hadn't been wearing anything to conceal her appearance lately, so she had a gut feeling the Owl Lady was attempting to play it safe, since her appearance was practically well-known to the majority of Bonesborough thanks to those wanted posters.

Standing amongst Eda's collection of scavenged items with a hand holding a small sack before the Owl Lady, Lizzie watched Eda reach into her green purse and take out another coin between claw-like fingernails, which she placed into the sack along with the others already gathered in it. While Eda was talking to her, Lizzie tried her best to pay attention to what she said. But that was difficult to do when she was constantly feeling an uncomfortable tingling sensation running up and down her spine, like someone was watching her.

"There should be about seventy snails there. Just enough to hold me over for another week." Lizzie nodded, proceeding to tie the sack up at the top and then slip it into her satchel. "Once you're done, come find me." Eda peeked over her shoulder at the open door to the portal leaning against the other end of the tent, which she jabbed a thumb at. She avoided looking at it so the light coming from it didn't blind her. "I'll be waiting for Owlbert to get back from his own errand run." She snorted and shook her head at her attempt of a joke.

"Got it," the young witch replied much quieter than she intended, prompting the Owl Lady to raise a brow at her.

"You okay?"

Lizzie swallowed thickly and reached a hand up to rub at her throat, her next words coming out as a squeak. "Honestly… not really."

She would have lied, but she knew there was no point. Eda could read her like an open book of spells for beginners.

It didn't take much for Eda to piece together what the problem with her young charge was, especially when she noticed the blonde's green eyes briefly dart in the direction of the tent's entrance. The grey-haired witch huffed loudly and reached out to give Lizzie two hard pats on her closest shoulder, causing the younger witch to flinch and lower her head a bit.

"Stop worrying about him and whatever he's said about you. Seriously, this is starting to get old. You need to cut it out."

"That's easier said than done," she mumbled, making Eda roll her eyes.

"Kid, it's just a quick errand. You won't be outside long enough for him to realise you're here. And besides, you're breaking routine today. He's probably not even expecting you to be walking around today."

Lizzie's head suddenly raised at this, her eyes narrowing. "You say that. But I broke routine before when I went to Covention and he was there then. How do you know he hasn't prepared for anything unexpected in my routine?"

Eda's brow creased, a hand going to her hip. "And how do you know that wasn't just a coincidence?" Lizzie looked off to the side when she couldn't give the Owl Lady an answer, causing the older witch's expression to soften as she gently brushed her knuckles against the younger witch's shoulder. "Just focus on the elixirs and everything will be fine. You'll be back at the Owl House before Hooty decides he wants to roll around in the mud."

Lizzie snorted at Eda's comments and allowed a little smile to appear. 'She's right. I stopped caring when Luz was in trouble. What difference is it gonna make by helping Eda out with her own problem?' But then Lizzie furrowed her brow for a moment when she returned her gaze to Eda, a sudden thought jumping into her head. 'Hey… Eda's technically an expert when it comes to magic, right? I wonder if she knows anything about mixing spells with similar properties…'

"Hey, Eda? Have you ever tried mixing together multiple spells with the same magic type but similar effects?"

Eda's brows raised at the question. "Same type but similar effects, huh?" The Owl Lady tapped her chin with a finger, turning her gaze to the ceiling. "Not sure if I ever have. But knowing me, I probably did and can't remember." She shrugged her shoulders and looked back to the younger witch. "Why do you ask?"

Lizzie opened her mouth to speak, but she failed to get her words out before a continuous zapping noise sounded from outside the tent. Both witches blinked and turned to the entrance simultaneously, with Eda narrowing her eyes into slits.

"Why am I getting the feeling there's something going on out there I'm not gonna like?"

"Because it's probably true," Lizzie answered immediately, following Eda the moment the older witch proceeded to make her way out of the tent.

'And part of me suspects it's because of Luz…'

She kept that thought to herself, yet she soon realised doing so was all in vain.

When she stepped out into the open, Lizzie was met with the sight of Luz and King standing beside a wooden ladder propped up where the green cabinet shelves were. The pair were staring up to where Eda's sign usually was above the tent, with King standing there with his eyes drooped and arms crossed while Luz rubbed her chin with a raised brow as she addressed the little demon beside her.

"Is it too subtle? I feel like it's too subtle."

"What's going on out here?" Eda asked, getting Luz's and King's attention.

"Eda, perfect timing!" The young Latina beamed and pointed upwards at the front of the tent. "Look what I've made you! It's awesome, right?"

Lizzie and Eda followed Luz's finger, yet the moment they did, the pair of witches failed to stop their jaws dropping and their bodies jerking back with wide blinks, with loud gasps to boot. Attached to the top of Eda's original sign was the wooden plank that Luz had been carrying around, except this time it had noticeable differences. 'Eda the Owl Ladys' was carved into the middle of it (with Lizzie mentally noting the missing apostrophe), surrounded by a glowing line that stretched round the inner sides of the sign, separated by balls of light that Lizzie suspected were formed by Luz's glyph. But that wasn't all. Stuck to the left of the sign was a detailed light depiction of Eda's face, which occasionally switched between smiling and winking. As much as Lizzie wanted to question how Luz had managed to get a hold of something like that, hers and Eda's focus were currently on the sign itself.

"Luz!" Lizzie and Eda shrieked the human's name at the same time the second they both brought themselves out of their shock, with the latter immediately leaping onto the table to reach up and grab the top of the sign with both hands.

'So that's what she meant by 'putting her name in lights'. Titan… I knew I should have questioned her on it before she left.'

"What?" Luz replied, tilting her head to the side with a blink, seeming unfazed by the pair's reactions. "Did I spell something wrong?"

Lizzie faced Luz with drooped eyes and a hand to her hip, leaving Eda to tug and wrestle side-to-side with the sign to try to pull it down. "Well, technically yes. But that's not the point." The blonde fell quiet when Eda pulled the sign free and knelt on one knee upon the table, briefly watching her climb down before pointing at the sign with a hand. "Why are you putting Eda's name up for the whole of Bonesborough to see?!"

"I was just trying to help Eda attract customers." Luz glanced on either side of her before holding her hands out towards the street in front of Eda's stand, which was currently devoid of any other creatures. "A lightshow is bound to fill this empty street up, isn't it?"

Eda frowned and yanked the light face of herself off, tossing it over her shoulder with one hand while shaking Luz's balls of light off the wood with another. "I appreciate the sentiment, kid, but you seem to be forgetting something." Eda plonked the sign on the table and reached behind her, seemingly bringing out a rolled-up scroll of her wanted poster from nowhere (although Lizzie suspected Eda had taken it from inside her bush of hair atop her head, as she usually did with a number of items) and unravelling it for Luz to see. "I'm a wanted criminal. If I had my name in lights, every guard in town would be knocking down my door trying to arrest me!"

"And not just Eda," Lizzie added as the Owl Lady rolled the scroll back up and push it back inside her hair, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I also have a stalker who knows I'm associated with her and has been announcing my return to the entire town. If Eda gets exposed, then so do I."

"We've told you before why we need to keep a low profile, Luz. This is why."

Luz took another quick glance at the street. "But there's no one around now that I can see." She faced the two witches again with a shrug. "Are you sure you two aren't just being paranoid?"

"Paranoid?" Lizzie repeated, briefly staring at Luz wide-eyed before narrowing them, her shoulders slumping as her hands flew to her forehead. She tried to keep her tone even, yet she failed to stop it from rising in volume a bit and trembling due to the emotions she could feel bubbling to the surface. "Did the events with Adegast and Covention slip your mind? That isn't paranoia!"

"Not to mention the encounter we had with the guards when we first met," Eda continued, scowling and placing a hand to her hip. "The second I announced my presence, they were on me as fast as Hooty when he's hungry and sees something edible!"

Luz held her hands out towards the two witches in front of her. "But you two are smart and powerful witches!" She raised her hands above her head while King scrambled up onto the table, as if imitating shooting something from her palms into the sky. "Why would you hide when you can just poof your problems away with magic?"

"Because we can't, Luz," Lizzie answered with a huff, jabbing a thumb in Eda's direction. "I'm not strong enough anyways. And even if we could, Eda would have figured out how to do it already."

Eda nodded stiffly in agreement, resting an elbow against Lizzie's shoulder as she did so. "Too right I would have. That'd be the dream!"

"Pfft!" The trio's head turned to King when he scoffed and waved a paw in dismissal, approaching Lizzie and Eda via the table. "Don't bother trying to explain." King put his paws to his hips and directed a brief look at the young human, his jaw appearing to morph into sly-looking smile. "All Luz has is dumb teenage drama! She doesn't know what real problems are!"

"It's not just 'dumb teenage drama'," Luz argued and slumped her elbow against the table, cupping her cheek with a hand. "Teenagers are mean. You wouldn't understand how to handle them."

"Luz is right, you know," Lizzie agreed, pausing to shudder at the memories she could recall from her Hexside days slowly creeping to the forefront of her mind. "From experience, I can vouch for her. They are mean and they will eat you alive."

"Ha! Yeah, right!" King closed his eyes and held his head up high. "She just doesn't understand how hard some of us have it, like me!" Lizzie snorted at this and covered her mouth with a hand, prompting King to turn to her with a blink. "Hey! What's so funny?"

"She's probably laughing at the fact that you don't know what you're talking about either," Eda said, lightly poking in the middle of his forehead and causing him to flinch. "You're pampered like a dang baby all day and rarely have to deal with anything. That isn't hard, is it?"

"She makes a point, King," Lizzie added with a small smile, making King frown. "You either lie around the house all day, play with your toys, go stealing things, or hunt for food. You live the pet life."

King stomped his foot and jabbed a claw towards Lizzie's face. "First of all, that's my army of darkness you're talking about! And second of all, I'd like to remind you that I haven't always looked like this!" He directed his paws towards his chest. "I used to be huge and powerful! You think I have it easy now that I've lost my powers and been shrunk?! In what world?!"

The blonde's smile faded as she scratched at her cheek, contemplating King's words while giving him a quick look up and down. "Yeah, now that I'm thinking about it, you being small does have its disadvantages."

Eda snorted and threw her head back. "What disadvantages?"

"She probably means all the times I'm treated like a baby when I am not a baby!" King yelled, throwing his hands over his head in a dramatic fashion. "Also, do you not know how hard it is for me to reach things from this height?!" He pointed a claw towards the line of flags hanging above the stand at the same height as the tent. "I fell off the table trying to take those down!"

Luz smiled slyly and tilted her head at the little demon. "You say you're not a baby. But you're screaming like one."

"I have to!" King balled his paws up and stomped a foot against the table. "No one listens to me! My life is a living nightmare!"

Silence fell around the group of four for a few seconds, with Eda being the one to break it when they all locked eyes with each other.

"Well, looks like we're not going to see eye-to-eye on this one."—she clasped her hands together and rubbed them with a smirk—"Guess that only leaves us with one option."

"Ooh!" Luz smiled widely and straightened out her posture, waving a hand about in the air as she went to offer a suggestion in an excited manner. "We hug each other until we pass out?"

Eda's smile dropped with a wide blink. "… No."

King scowled and shook a fist above his head while shouting. "We fight to the death?!"

Eda shook her head, unfazed by King's suggestion, likely because she had been expecting it. "Also, no."

Lizzie leaned forward with the tilt of her head. "How about agreeing we all have hardships and just dropping this silly argument?"

"Pfft!" Eda put her hands to her hips with an amused smile. "That's a definite no." Pointing her index fingers in either direction, the Owl Lady leaned toward the trio and crossed her arms under her chin, ignoring Lizzie rolling her eyes at her initial reaction to her suggestion. "I meant with magic!"

Luz's brows raised, King glared and then there was Lizzie… who pressed her lips together and squinted.

'Oh, great. Here we go.'

"How's magic going to help?" Luz asked, prompting Eda to straighten herself out and puff out her chest.

"Because there's a particular spell I haven't used in a while that's perfect for this situation. And it's—"

"Nope," Lizzie immediately interrupted, gripping at her satchel and preparing to walk past Eda without giving her the time of day. "You lost me at magic, but I'm heading off so I don't have to hear the end of your sentence."

Eda blinked widely a couple of times before twirling round to watch her charge make her leave, eventually pouting and putting a hand to her hip. "Aw, c'mon, Redwood! You didn't even let me finish!"

"I don't need to." Lizzie halted to peek at Eda from over her shoulder. "You use magic to solve everything and it never goes well. I'm only here to run an errand, so I'm not getting involved in whatever crazy antics you're about to cook up. Especially because I know it's going to complicate everything for me." The blonde witch looked away and raised a hand to slowly wave, continuing her walk away from the stand without glancing back again. "See you in a bit!"

The trio watched Lizzie go without saying a word at first, none of them reacting to the blonde witch's words. Once Lizzie was far enough out of earshot however, Eda huffed and shrugged her shoulders, facing the young human and demon still with her.

"Oh, well. It's her loss." The Owl Lady made her way to the tent again, beckoning Luz and King to follow her with a hand. "I'll explain everything once I've checked on Owlbert. I'm gonna need him to cast this one."

And as Luz happily jogged after Eda after collecting King into her arms from the table, the three remained unaware of the black furred ferret palisman crouched underneath the set of blue cabinet shelves, its beady black eyes locked on the two pairs of feet it could see heading into the tent. Once they were out of its sight and the front of the tent draped down again, the ferret focused its gaze in the direction Lizzie had left in, slowly shuffling its way out of hiding before scurrying off as fast as its little legs would allow.