A/N: Okay, so... I'm not gonna say much this time around. Just gonna let the chapter speak for itself. But to summarise what I need to say: this chapter is not the end to the episode. I was going to tack on Lizzie's stuff at the end, but I realised when attempting to write it that I couldn't just sum everything up as briefly as I thought I could, because then Lumity would have overshadowed Lizzie's issues in this chapter. I also realised while writing it out that if I did try to expand on things, then this chapter would have become way too damn long. So, you will be getting an additional chapter (Chapter 53) that will tie up all the loose ends for Lizzie and end the episode in the next update, while I can use this one to properly focus on what happens between Amity and Luz.

In the meantime, thank you to those who have been reading and leaving reviews. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. In response to Gry26: there is currently no name for the sequel fic as of yet. When I do come up with one, however, it will be announced at the end of the episode 19 chapters. I hope you all enjoy Chapter 52 anyway. I really tried to go all out for this one, as you can hopefully tell.


Chapter 52: When You're Ready

As Amity's abomination charged out of the school grounds and into the evening-shrouded forest that lay beyond, Lizzie felt a strange feeling of déjà vu about this whole situation that she couldn't quite place the reason for. Maybe it was the silhouetted trees and the faint lighting offered by the moon helping to pave their way through the shadowy maze before them. Maybe it was her clammy hands constantly slipping from the hardened goop of the abomination that kept forcing her to dig her fingers into its partially slimy flesh to keep herself from tumbling off. Maybe it was the pounding of her pulse in her ears helping to deafen the whipping gales attacking her from all angles and ruffling at her clothes and hair. Maybe it was the panicked shouts from Luz echoing ahead managing to break through the commotion conjuring within her eardrums, or the companionship of Amity helping her on this little expedition of theirs.

Either way, Lizzie could at least confirm from this experience that this was not the first time she'd darted through a forest at night to save Luz from a monster. The library incident soon came to mind as the source of her familiarity with this situation.

'Curses!' Lizzie lightly smacked a fist against the side of the abomination's head, her eye twitching at the loud squelch her fist made upon wedging itself into the purple goop. 'I swear being in the Owl House as often as I have has messed up my fight or flight response!' As the blonde witch lifted her abomination goop covered hand away and gave it a shake to flick the purple substance off, she dared to give Amity a sideways glance from where she could see her peeking past the abomination's head, only for her brow to furrow at the sight of the younger witch looking ahead with a glazed gaze, her golden eyes drooped and her lips pressed tightly together. 'Though I sense I'm not the only one beating myself up over what's happened.'

Grom had already gotten a head start by the time Amity and Lizzie had managed to snap themselves out of their shock enough to go after it, so naturally they couldn't see anything no matter how much or how far the abomination continued to run through the darkened forest. Luckily, Eda was on hand to cover their blind spot, flying above the treetops on her staff slightly ahead of them to act as their guiding star in the night sky. Luz's shouts were partially aiding them in being able to follow the direction Grom was heading, though having Eda be their eyes increased the odds of knowing they were definitely going in the right direction.

Eventually, movement out of the corner of her eyes prompted Lizzie to look towards Amity again, witnessing the younger witch standing upon the shoulder of her abomination creation with wide and glistening eyes, the slight gusts continuing to whip at her hair and clothes as she maintained her grip on its head.

"I can't hear Luz or Grom," she rasped with a cracked voice, leaving Lizzie to furrow her brows and attempt to focus on her surroundings for a few seconds.

Lizzie could hear the wind still raging around them and the heavy thumps of the abomination's footsteps underneath them, but she quickly realised that Luz's inaudible cries had appeared to have stopped. She couldn't hear them either, a fact that had her shoulders stiffen and her heart skip a beat in her chest.

'Oh no.'

Lizzie tilted her head up to look to where Eda was immediately to get a gauge on the situation, ready to screech her name to the skies knowing she had no time to waste in case Luz's life was in danger. However, the blonde witch's urge to speak got caught in her throat when she saw the Owl Lady leaning forward with one hand gripping tightly onto her staff, the other one pressed against her forehead. She could just about make out the narrow-eyed stare Eda was giving their leafy surroundings from above, returning the blonde witch to her senses and prompting her to place a hand close to her mouth.

"EDA!" Lizzie shouted as loudly as she could, waiting for Eda to lower her hand and glance down to show she'd gotten her attention before continuing. "What's going on up there?!"

"It looks like Grom is making a break for the cliff!" Eda bellowed back, only to grin and give Lizzie a wink as she held up her right index finger. "But don't worry! Mama's got this!"

Lizzie's eyes widened the moment Eda looked away and zoomed over the treetops to get a little further ahead, her right index finger drawing a large and orange spell circle at her side. Unfortunately, by the time Lizzie had worked out what Eda planned to do and was crouching on the abomination's shoulder with a yell of objection on the tip of her tongue, a giant orange flame burst from the spell circle and hovered above Eda's palm as an orb, with the Owl Lady rearing her hand backwards ready to toss it.

"Spicy toss!" Eda yelled and threw her arm forward, releasing the flaming orb in the process and causing it to streak across the top of the forest in an arch like a shooting star.

"Abomination, stop!" Amity ordered sternly.

The gloopy creation obeyed its creator immediately and slowed to a stop with two more thumping steps, allowing the two witches to watch the fireball disappear through the trees a small distance away. Seconds later, a mixture of sounds echoed throughout the forest amidst the sudden rising of thick and cloudy orange smoke that quickly dispersed into the night—a loud bang, a high-pitched roar of pain, and the familiar startled cry of a certain Latina human. It was the latter that caused Amity to leap from the shoulder of her abomination and land on the ground with a bit of a stumble, quickly regaining her footing and charging between the trees like her life depended on it.

"Amity!" Lizzie called after the younger witch and jumped off the abomination to run after her when she didn't stop, with Eda flying onward to head to where her attack had hit.

The further Lizzie ran through the forest, the thinner the dense trees became, to the point where she could look up and see Eda flying above where Amity was. With Amity's back remaining in her view line a good distance ahead of her, the sound of rushing waves crashing gradually reached the blonde's ears, slicing through the pounding of her pulse against her eardrums. Streaks of moonlight eventually flooded her vision from behind a line of trees that slanted in different directions, becoming the final push Lizzie needed to lean forward and break out into full-on sprint, her green eyes squinting against the blinding light that Amity immediately disappeared into first with a loud battle cry.

'Please be okay, Luz.'

Emerging from beyond the trees seconds after Amity, Lizzie relaxed her expression and slowed to a standstill upon finding herself on the edge of the grassy and rocky cliff bathed in the moon's silvery glow, hearing the loud collision of the waves and the cliff face just below them. Close to the cliff's edge was Luz, kneeling and cowering with her arms covering her head and her eyes squeezed shut. Looming over her in a wide stance was the shadowy and cloud-like body of Grom, still with the illusion of Luz's mom upon its back. And then there was Amity, who Lizzie witnessed skid to a stop between the pair with her arms and legs outstretched, staring up at Grom with a deep frown.

"Stay away from Luz, you monster!" Amity yelled, prompting Luz to crack open an eye upon recognising the voice.

Before Luz could say or do anything, Grom released a loud growl and had the illusion on its back raise its right arm and draw it back, a sight that caused Luz's and Lizzie's eyes to widen simultaneously.

"Amity, look out!" Luz cried out in warning, with Lizzie charging towards them the moment the illusion threw its arm forward again.

The action conjured a sludge-like tentacle to extend from its back and shoot towards Amity, causing the youngest Blight to gasp loudly out of surprise with a wide blink. However, just as the tentacle was inches away from the greenette's waist, a high-pitched whistle echoed from behind the shapeshifting monster, bringing its movement to an abrupt halt. The next thing Luz and Amity knew, they were gaping at the sight of a green spell circle the same size as Grom passing straight through it, causing the monster's body to stiffen out of shock. Lizzie was then seen slowing to a stop beside Amity shortly after, her eyes narrowed at Grom's own drooping alongside the illusion's upon its back.

"Lights out, faker!" the blonde witch spat.

Grom let out a low groan and slowly swayed from side-to-side with heavy blinks, trying to fight to keep its eyes open. But in the end, with one final blink, the shapeshifting monster's eyes fell closed, forcing all of its weight onto its right side. By the time Eda was swooping in from above and hovering to disembark from her staff, Grom was collapsing to the grassy ground with a resounding thud, the illusion it had conjured disappearing in a light blue flash. A moment of silent staring followed while the group waited to ascertain if Grom was knocked out. It was soon broken by loud snoring from the creature's mouth, followed by the low whistle Eda gave as she took her staff between both hands and strolled over to where the two witches and human were stood.

"Nice one, Redwood!" she complimented with a grin, approaching Lizzie's side and giving the younger witch a harsh slap on her closest shoulder, one strong enough to make the blonde witch wince and close an eye. "You're really getting the hang of that sleep spell!"

Lizzie averted her eyes elsewhere at the rush of heat that flushed her cheeks, her hands twitching with the urge to cover her face at imagining how red she was in the face right now. However, a loud sniffle destroyed the bonding moment between the two witches, drawing their attention to Luz just as the Latina human had gotten to her feet and darted straight for the Owl Lady, her hazel eyes welled to the brim with tears.

"Eda!" Luz cried in a brittle and cracked tone, launching herself at the taller witch and flinging her arms around Eda's middle. Eda gasped breathlessly and wobbled backwards two steps to stop herself from falling over out of shock, her golden eyes blinking widely down at the trembling teenage human looking up at her with tears streaming down her cheeks. "I-I'm sorry! Y-You were right! I-I didn't know what I was getting myself into! I-I'm not ready to face my fears!"

Eda's reaction was delayed, momentarily staring down at Luz with a slight gape and wide eyes, as if she was imitating a statue. Lizzie had a feeling it was because Eda wasn't used to hugs, with her theory being given life when the Owl Lady looked her way and lifted her shoulders with a slight shrug, subtly asking her what she was supposed to do. The blonde witch responded by mouthing 'Comfort her' while jerking her head at Luz's back a couple of times to emphasise her point.

'C'mon, Eda! This wouldn't have happened if you'd approached the situation better and you know it! You don't need me to tell you that!'

It took a few seconds for Eda to process what she was going to have to do, her brows furrowing down at Luz as she went about burying her face into her jacket.

"… It's okay, kid," Eda eventually said in a gentle tone, causing Lizzie's brows to raise with a wide blink when the Owl Lady awkwardly lifted a hand to the top of Luz's head and gave it very light but slow pats. The older witch's eyes drooped with a quiet huff. "I'm the one who should be sorry. You wouldn't have done this if I hadn't made you want to prove me wrong."

Eda's confession left Lizzie speechless, her jaw dropping open in the process. Yet the shocks kept on coming when a small clearing of the throat came from behind the older witch, soon followed by Amity slowly strolling into view with a hand gripping at her elbow, her shoulders hunched, and her head lowered.

"No," the youngest Blight muttered, causing Eda to look up with a cocked brow and Luz's sniffles and shaking to cease in favour of peeking back at Amity from over her shoulder, her eyes still watery and her nose a snotty mess. "It's my fault."

"… Amity?" Luz quietly addressed the teenage witch with a faint frown, releasing Eda in the process to turn around to face her.

Amity's lips quivered in response, prompting her to raise her head and take in a shaky and sharp breath through her nostrils, blinking repeatedly while avoiding making eye contact with the concerned Latina human currently dabbing at her eyes with her sleeves. Lizzie could tell Amity was doing everything in her power to stop herself from crying, a fact that remained as she gulped thickly and squeezed her eyes shut, her hand reaching round to the back of her skirt to give the upper part a gentle pat.

"I haven't been completely honest with you, Luz," Amity whispered shakily, her words prompting Luz to straighten out with a couple of forced blinks. "The truth is… my embarrassing fear was being rejected for Grom." Luz's, Eda's and Lizzie's brows raised with wide blinks at this, yet their surprise was short lived when the younger witch went on. "But it was only part of the reason why I didn't want to face Grom in front of the whole school…"

"Wait, 'part'?" Luz questioned with a raised brow. "What does that mean?"

But Lizzie had been quick to figure it out then. The blonde witch covered her mouth with a hand, Emira's words from their conversation earlier that day replaying inside of her head.

'But if I was to take a guess, I'd say her 'embarrassing fear' is only part of the reason why she doesn't want to take on Grom.'

'Part of it? Are you saying Amity is hiding something?'

'Obviously! I mean… you know how our mom is. How do you think she'd react if Grom unearthed something she didn't want the whole of Hexside to know?'

"You were also afraid of your mom finding out who your potential Grom date was," Lizzie stated breathlessly, briefly drawing Amity's and Luz's attention towards her and making the latter of the two teens gasp.

Amity nodded with trembling lips, briefly sniffling as her composure slowly began to shatter.

'So, Emira was right. It wasn't just about her fear being 'embarrassing'…'

"You saw what my mom was like in Willow's mind," Amity continued in a cracked voice, directing her words towards Luz once more. "If the identity of the person I wanted to ask to the dance ever got out, I can probably guess how she'd react… That's why I wanted to back out of the fight." Amity bowed her head a bit when her golden eyes began to glisten. "I'm sorry, Luz. I should have fought my own battles instead of letting you do it for me."

"No!" Luz cried defiantly as she moved away from Eda to stride over to the younger witch. "It wasn't your fault, Amity! I'm the one who suggested taking your place!"

"But being scared of getting rejected by your Grom date is a stupid fear!" Amity protested in a wobbly tone, prompting Luz to gape and recoil out of shock at Amity's confession. Amity's head snapped up to reveal watery eyes and erratic breathing, loose fists pressed close to her chest. "If it hadn't been for my mom and being forced to fight in front of an audience, I would have been just fine!"

Luz scowled and smacked a hand to her chest, her other hand balling into a fist at her side. "But I only wanted to do this to prove Eda wrong and finally get my plant glyph to work, outside of helping you!" It was Amity's turn to gape and lean back at Luz's confession. Yet her eyes were soon growing wide when she saw the Latina's bottom lip jut out as she quickly looked towards her shoes, pressing her fist against her mouth with a loud swallow. "A-And I-I couldn't even d-do th-that!" she started to stutter, holding her visibly shaking palms close to her face as her voice went up a couple of octaves. "Grom escaped, I still don't know why I can't use the plant glyph, I couldn't even face my own mom…"

The moment Luz's words trailed off into a high-pitched whimper, that was it for the Latina. The tears rose to her eyes within a blink, her shoulders shivering with suppressed sadness. Before long, a pained wail escaped the teenage human, prompting her to cover her face with her hands and squeeze her eyes shut. The sight of Luz sobbing left Amity in a silent shock for a few seconds, yet it was infectious enough to bring forth further tears down the youngest Blight's face.

"Luz…" The Latina's name slipped past the green-haired witch's lips as a weak and breathless whimper, and that was all it took for the dam to break a second time.

With a sob of her own soon escaping her, Amity stepped close to Luz and wrapped her arms tightly around the human's shoulders, pulling her in for a hug with the closing of her own eyes, a gesture that Luz soon returned upon processing the teenage witch's actions. The once tranquil air became filled with the joint sobs of the two teenagers trapped in their tight embrace, leaving Lizzie and Eda standing there as still as statues, neither of them sure of what was going on anymore nor what they were supposed to do. But one thing was clear to Lizzie in the moment she spent watching Luz and Amity crying in each other's arms: she'd been right to listen to her gut. At one point, Lizzie managed to pry her eyes away to give Eda a brief sideways glance, only to see the Owl Lady standing there with a creased brow and her lips pressed tightly together, visibly appearing affected by Luz's sadness just as much as she was.

'Oh, Luz…'

This was the first time Lizzie had witnessed the usually bright and bubbly ball of sunshine that was the human Luz Noceda reduced to tears at the emotional torment she'd just endured at the hands of a shapeshifting, mind-reading monster, especially because she knew from witnessing her time in the Demon Realm from day one that despite the amount of danger she'd put herself in, Luz had remained undeterred and unshaken by her surroundings. In fact, in comparison to how most others would have reacted, Luz had been fairly accepting of their world and had adjusted to the 'abnormalities' (or what Luz deemed 'abnormal' by human standards) with little issue. Yet here the poor human was, sobbing her heart out and visibly in emotional pain, and it was something that didn't fail to strike a sharp pain in the blonde witch's chest, one that she ended up wincing at and rubbing at with her palm. The longer Lizzie stared at Luz crying in Amity's arms, the more she could see her fifteen-year-old self in the teenage human's place; traumatised, terrified, reduced to a fit of tears and blaming herself for the fate that had befallen her that night—

'Wait a minute,' Lizzie interrupted her last thought the moment it processed through her head, her head instantly turning towards Grom still snoring away on its side as fast as King did whenever he heard the word 'food'. 'Now that I think about it… haven't I been in the same denial as Luz has over my own parent dilemma? I've had multiple opportunities to ask Principal Bump about my family, but I've been avoiding him because I've wanted to help Luz, or so I've told myself...'

Lizzie's suspicions from earlier that day surrounding Luz's magic issues clicked together with the current situation like she'd just found the missing half of a jigsaw puzzle, prompting Luz's words to her from the morning to conjure inside of her head.

'It really does mean a lot to know I have someone here who understands what I'm going through.'

Lizzie felt her jaw drop the moment she smacked a palm against her mouth, her body stiffening like she'd just been hit with an ice spell.

'That's it!'

Lizzie's epiphany was disturbed by the sight of Grom's four eyes suddenly opening, its former snoring replaced by a gluttonous growl. Amity and Luz fell quiet upon hearing the noise and raised their heads to see the shadowy monster roll over onto its front and stand with the quick shake of its body from side-to-side, causing the teary-eyed teens to gasp and take a couple of steps back while keeping a hold on each other's shoulders.

"Don't worry, kids," Eda reassured. She directed a scowl at Grom and closed an eye, holding up her staff with both hands and aiming the head towards the area between its eyes. "Leave this misshapen excuse of a monster to me!"

However, just as the Owl Lady stuck her tongue out to the side in preparation to fire a spell, an arm abruptly stretched out to block the head of the staff, the sleeve revealing it to belong to the dress Lizzie currently wore.

"Eda, wait!" Lizzie cried out of objection, causing Eda's shoulders to straighten with a wide blink and her head to whip towards the frowning blonde witch. "Let Luz and Amity do it."

The mentioned human and witch in question let each other go and stared at Lizzie with wide eyes and open mouths, acting as if she'd suddenly grown a second head.

"What?!" Luz shouted in surprise.

"Huh?!" Amity questioned with her voice rising an octave or two.

Even Eda couldn't help squinting at her technical charge once she'd processed what she'd just said, going so far as to raise her staff head and lightly nudge Lizzie in the middle of the forehead, in turn making her wince.

"Did you lose your brains back in the gymnasium or something?" she said sarcastically, prompting Lizzie's frown to deepen while she rubbed at the area of her forehead where she was poked.

"This isn't the time for games, Eda!" Lizzie argued, her expression softening with the slight widening of her eyes. "Just knock Grom out again so that I can talk to Luz and Amity! Please!"

The pleading look on her charge's face prompted Eda to briefly break her gaze away to give Amity and Luz a quick glance, witnessing the two taking this opportunity to wipe at their eyes and nose with their arms to remove the traces of their earlier sadness. But once she heard Grom's bellowing roar and returned her attention to the shadow and cloudy-like monster spreading its legs apart and lowering its body towards the ground ready to pounce, the Owl Lady rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated huff.

"Fine!" she groaned. Eda put her staff on the ground and walked forward a bit to get a better view of Grom, lightly nudging Lizzie in the closest shoulder and shooting a scowl her way and a sarcastic reply as she passed her by. "But I'm only doing this 'cause I know you're not reckless enough to endanger two teenagers without a good reason."

Lizzie returned the eye roll, but she quickly muttered her 'thanks' the older witch's way, watching her pass her by from over her shoulder as she spread her legs apart and crossed her arms to alight her fingertips with golden glows.

'Sorry, Eda. But I'm glad to know you trust me enough to let me get on without an explanation.'

The blonde witch decided to stay put and await for Grom to be subdued before going about with her task, naturally not wanting to put anyone in danger in case Grom somehow got past Eda. Of course, no one expected that to happen, as by the time Grom was launching forward and charging headfirst towards them, Eda was repeating the same technique Lizzie, Amity and Luz recognised to be the one she'd used for her sleep spell at the Knee. She moved her arms in a swift circular motion, then touched her fingers together before her chest, summoning forth a large spell circle to her front.

"Sleep spell!" she yelled and swept her arms off to the sides, shoving the spell circle forward as Grom closed in on them.

As it had done with the Slitherbeast, the spell circle grew to Grom's current size and passed through the shapeshifting creature shortly after, halting Grom in its tracks with the stiffening of its body. Lizzie took that to be her cue to turn away and approach Luz and Amity, not bothering to wait around to watch Grom collapse back into slumber for the second time tonight. Though she did hear (and feel, from the slight trembling that occurred underfoot) Grom collide with the ground again from behind her, signalling the success of Eda's spell.

However, Lizzie had barely gotten in proximity of the two teens before Luz started waving her hands about and shaking her head repeatedly, her shoulders hunching. It seemed like the Latina human had already caught on to what Lizzie was planning to do.

"I can't do it, Liz!" she argued, pausing her palms in front of her chest like she was surrendering. "I can't fight Grom!"

"Not by yourself you can't," Lizzie replied sarcastically as she came to a stop before the shorter human with a faint scowl and a hand to her hip, continuing normally. "Do you remember what we told you earlier? About coming to me and Amity for help if things got bad?" Luz instantly nodded, prompting Lizzie to move two fingers between her and Amity. "Well, that's why you're going to face Grom together,"—Amity's brows raised at this, keeping her silent as she watched Lizzie bend down a bit and roughly poked Luz in the chest, causing the young human to wince and close an eye—"and you're going to do it with the plant glyph."

Luz recovered quickly once Lizzie had pulled away, shaking her head to snap herself out of her momentary surprise. However, it wasn't long before her brow furrowed and she directed her gaze to the jacket pocket where she'd purposely kept her prepared plant glyphs for the Grom fight, eventually reaching her fingers toward it and subconsciously stroking her fingertips down its front.

"But you saw what happened back there," she said bitterly, with Amity frowning at the teenage human at spying her mouth trembling for a few seconds alongside her hand. "I haven't been able to activate the glyph all day." Her eyes drooped as she paused her fingers' movement. "What makes you think using it now is going to be any different?"

Lizzie allowed the silence between Luz and herself to linger for a solid five seconds before she broke it with a loud huff, deciding to just come clean.

'She still hasn't connected the dots, huh? Her denial must be strong.'

"Because your guilt over lying to your mom about where you are right now has been stopping you from using it," Lizzie answered bluntly but in a gentle tone, her reply making Luz straighten up and whip her head in her direction with a forced blink and a slight gape.

She clearly hadn't expected Lizzie to come out with that, yet Luz's reaction prompted Lizzie to narrow her eyes and lean in closer to the shorter human to place both hands on her shoulders, her green eyes looking directly into Luz's wide hazel ones.

"I've spent the last three years hiding away in the Owl House from my fears." Lizzie gave Luz a light prod in the chest with an index finger. "If you hadn't come along and forced me to face them, I wouldn't be standing here right now. You've seen the consequences I've had to undo because I ran away, and I'm not going to stand back and let the same happen to you too."

"But Liz—" Luz tried to object, only to fall silent when the blonde witch placed an index finger close to her lips for a few seconds.

"You're not planning on keeping this a secret from your mom forever, are you?"

"Of course not!" Luz answered immediately and defiantly once Lizzie pulled her finger away, smacking her other hand against her chest at looking like she'd taken offence to what Lizzie had just insinuated. "I want to tell my mom about the Demon Realm eventually!"

"Then you have nothing to be afraid of." Luz's expression relaxed with a wide blink, causing Lizzie to smile and roughly pat the human on the back with both hands. "You know what you saw was Grom bringing your fear to life. That's not your mom and that's not how she's going to react. So, don't worry about something that hasn't happened yet. Just focus on telling her when you're ready."

Luz gasped loudly then and clutched a hand at her jacket pocket, looking like someone who had just had an epiphany over a problem they'd been tackling for ages now.

"… You're right, Liz!" she exclaimed after a short delay, her hazel eyes glistening as she locked them with the older witch's green ones. "It was never just about my mom. Sometimes I feel like I'm not supposed to be here. And because of how my glyph magic works and my worries of my mom finding out the truth…" She trailed off to slip her fingers into her pocket, yanking out a piece of square paper between her fingers that depicted the plant glyph and bringing it close to her face to look at longingly. "…I wonder if that thought manifested physically and blocked my connection with the magic of the isles."

A third hand taking a light grip on her upper arm made Luz flinch and turn her head to the left, seeing Amity having moved closer to her side with a weak and bashful smile of her own. Lizzie took that as a sign to finally lift her hands from the human and return her posture to normal in the meantime.

"I guess we were both afraid of things that haven't happened yet, huh?" Amity admitted through a forced chuckle, prompting Luz to playfully roll her eyes and give the teenage witch a gentle nudge in the side with her elbow.

"Hey, it's okay!" Luz moved away from Amity and held her arms out on either side of her with a grin. "If you're worried about your mom finding out and your Grom date rejecting you, I can just go to Grom with you!"

Amity's shoulders stiffened with a small gape for a few seconds, with Lizzie swearing she could see a faint pink blush emerging on the younger witch's cheeks. "R-Really? You'd do that for me?"

"Of course!" Luz's grin widened with the shrug of her shoulders, her one hand slipping the glyph back into her pocket with the other hand reaching out towards the greenette. "We're friends, right? Why wouldn't I do that for you?"

Amity's golden eyes flitted between Luz's face and her outstretched palm with multiple blinks at first, seemingly speechless. But it wasn't long before her small and grateful smile returned to her lips, the blush on her cheeks flushing a rosy pink as she dared to accept Luz's offered hand.

"Thanks, Luz," she replied gratefully despite her breathless and cracked tone, a sight that even made Lizzie smile.

"I take it you two are going to fight Grom, then?" Lizzie asked as she made some distance between the pair of teenagers, to which Luz and Amity responded with simultaneous and stiff nods. "Good. Eda and I will be on standby if you two need help. But until then,"—Lizzie paused to grin and smack a fist against her palm—"go give that shapeshifting jerk of a monster a good butt-kicking!"

Luz's and Amity's brows raised simultaneously at the blonde witch's words, likely surprised by what she'd said. But after a few seconds of shocked and silent staring, the pair slowly sideways glanced each other, with Amity mustering up a smile once the extra colour had drained from her face.

"If that's all settled then," she said, pausing briefly to give a low curtsey. "May I have this dance?"

A few seconds passed for Luz's surprise to wear off, yet by the time Lizzie was backing up to where Eda was standing close to the clearing's edge, the Latina human chuckled a little and gave a nod to show her confirmation, allowing Amity to stand up properly again.

With the pair sharing wide smiles, the two teenagers pulled themselves close until they were only a nose's length apart. Their held hands pointed outwards, their eyes remaining locked as Amity's other arm took a grip on Luz's waist, with Luz's other hand going to Amity's closest shoulder. They stayed that way for a solid five seconds, their eyes never once faltering under the silver light of the large and eclipsed moon looming behind them. And all the while, Lizzie and Eda stood silently on the edge of the clearing, the former with her arms crossed and the latter with one hand to her hip and the other holding her staff close to her side, the two witches waiting expectantly for whatever Luz and Amity were planning.

And then… Luz and Amity moved at the same time, pointing their held hands out straight and twisting their hips to face their bodies north, spritely stepping in Grom's direction without breaking eye contact or their smiles.

'Wha…?' Lizzie was left with raised brows as she watched Amity and Luz gracefully gallop forward a couple of steps and then pause to stretch themselves apart without breaking their hold on each other, unable to pull her gaze away at what she was seeing. By the time they were pulling each other close to their fronts and Luz was taking Amity by both hands upon starting to spin her around, the blonde witch was blinking multiple times and rubbing at her eyes, attempting to discern if she'd accidentally cast her own sleep spell upon herself. 'What's with the literal dance routine?! Did they have this planned during Luz's Grom training or something?'

She was going to need to question Edric and Emira about that later, especially because last she checked… Luz didn't know how to dance. Unless she did know and she hadn't told her.

As Luz and Amity continued to spin around, with the former taking a grip on the latter's waist and gradually lifting her into the air upon gaining enough momentum to do so, Lizzie finally pried her eyes away to sneak a glance at Eda, wanting to gauge the Owl Lady's reaction to all this. Eda was beholding the current scene as though she was witnessing her life flash before her eyes, her mouth opened into a small gape, her legs spread apart and her golden eyes containing a glassy look to them. This, naturally, left Lizzie cocking a brow at her technical employer, struggling to understand why she looked so shocked.

'What's up with Eda?'

But her momentary confusion was interrupted by an electrifying buzz, immediately returning Lizzie's attention to Amity and Luz. The former was back on the ground with her legs spread apart almost like she was attempting to do the splits, with Luz supporting her by holding the young witch's hands above her head. Light purple sparks had flashed around the toes of Amity's boots by the time Luz spun her around and brought her to stand once more, forming a spell circle underneath her.

Luz and Amity twirled once on their heels and lightly tugged each other close to stand in the middle of the circle, taking a hold on each others' waists and keeping their held hands out in front of them. Purple goop oozed from the spell circle and started to rise underneath their feet, taking them up into the air while slowly forming into a humanoid shape. During this time, Lizzie once again looked towards Eda to see the Owl Lady still standing like a petrified statue, urging the blonde witch to shuffle to her technical employer's side to wave her hand in front of her face.

"Boiling Isles to Eda!" she called out. "You still in there?"

But Lizzie wasn't given any time to await a potential response from Eda. The gurgled groan of Amity's abomination brought the blonde witch to look back to the clearing, now met with the sight of a fully formed and towering abomination, its three beady and yellow glowing balls for eyes focused intently on the black and shadowy sludge still slumbering away on the ground. Atop the abomination's head were Luz and Amity, where Lizzie witnessed the latter taking hold of the former around the waist with one arm while continuing to hold her hand, with Luz holding onto a glyph in one hand. The youngest Blight dipped Luz's body back first before the abomination's face, prompting Luz to slap the glyph to the goop creation's forehead and then give it a second slap to alight it in its green glow.

Once Amity yanked Luz back up, the abomination got down on its hands into a crouching position and swung backwards on its palms and soles of its feet, ready to charge forwards. The moment Grom opened its mouth to release a loud snore, the abomination launched itself into the air, giving Amity and Luz the cue to wrap their arms around each other's backs and leap backwards, briefly falling towards the ground while observing the abomination's form collapse into a purple and sludge blur.

The abomination goop ignited with a bright green glow as it landed into Grom's mouth with a resounding squelch, seconds before Grom's jaw clamped shut. Luz landed on the ground first with her back to Grom, immediately holding her arms out to catch Amity as she dropped back to ground level. The witch and human remained unaware of Grom's eyes snapping open with a startled gargle, its physical form writhing around like King manoeuvring his way underneath a blanket. Vines began to burst out of Grom's sides when Luz twirled Amity around and proceeded to put her on her feet again, the pair stretching apart in wide stances while holding hands and staring into each other's eyes, putting themselves into finishing poses facing away from Grom. This was well-timed with the bright green explosion of light that engulfed Grom as its shadowy and sludge-like body was torn through, forcing Lizzie and Eda to hastily look away and shield their eyes with their arms at the brief but strong gust that attacked them shortly after.

The gales whipped at their clothes and hair for several seconds, with the two witches remaining as they were until they felt their surroundings fall still and quiet, taking it as an indicator to pry open an eye each and peek round their raised arms. A tree stood tall and proud in the spot where Grom once was, its exposed roots anchored deep into the ground, its vine patterned trunk twisting upward to hold its bright pink leaves, bunched together on the ends of its branches like fluffy cotton candy, as high to the sky as they could get them. Lizzie and Eda gawked at the leaves that gracefully rained down upon them, their arms falling limp at their sides as they attempted to process what it was that Luz and Amity had brought into existence.

'Holy Titan…'

Lizzie was the first of the pair to break away and return her focus to Luz and Amity, who had since turned to face their magical creation with wide gapes and glistening eyes. Her thoughts propelled her back to the night of the moonlight conjuring, recalling the remarks she made to Eda about Luz having more to her than what they'd thought after she'd helped Gus and Willow animate a whole cottage. What Luz had done back then had certainly been impressive, and it seemed once again that she'd proved Lizzie's suspicions correct upon teaming up with Amity, a powerful and talented witch in her own right.

'I guess Luz really is full of surprises.'

For a while, no one dared to move or say anything, their gazes staying intently fixed upon the raining leaves highlighted in the silver moonlight and the birth of new nature to the edge of the isles. But the tranquillity was soon broken by King literally popping up from behind the tree with a microphone between his paws, causing Amity and Luz to recoil out of surprise at his surprise entrance as he dashed to their right side and gestured to them with a paw.

"And there it is, folks!" King announced jovially into the microphone. "What a high note to end this year's Grom on!"

Rustling foliage from behind Lizzie and Eda in response to his words prompted the two witches to glance back in alarm, their brows raising at the sight of multiple students dressed in formal attire poking their heads out from behind tree trunks or out of bushes. How long had they been there, Lizzie mentally commented. The sight of the students also caused Luz and Amity to stiffen up and bring their arms close to their sides, with the former forcing a grin and the latter's cheeks flushing a light pink out of embarrassment while grabbing at fistfuls of her skirt.

"Let's give a massive hand to this year's Grom Queens, Luz and Amity!" King continued, prompting a tiny flash of bright light to appear on the middle of their foreheads.

Luz and Amity glanced at each other with awed gasps at the pink crystals that formed within the light's outline, with golden rings stretching round their heads from the crystals' bottom to form a thin crown atop their heads. Upon the lights' dispersal, celebratory and enthusiastic cheering and whoops erupted from the students of Hexside, giving the girls little time to react. Lizzie moved closer to Eda as students flooded around them in a large crowd and swarmed towards Luz and Amity, momentarily blocking the blonde witch's view of them. Seconds later, however, Lizzie witnessed the pair being hoisted into the air and carried off by the crowd, with even King winding up between them when he, too, was lifted from the ground.

"Yes!" he cried victoriously over the continued cheering and inaudible congratulations being thrown Amity's and Luz's way, waving his little arms about in glee and squeezing his eyes shut. "They love me!"

Hearing loud clapping to her right caused Lizzie to sideways glance Eda, who was smiling proudly and watching Luz and Amity getting carried off out of the clearing and back towards the school. A smile of her own stretched onto Lizzie's lips as she returned her gaze to seeing Luz and Amity exchanging proud smiles of their own, joining Eda in her clapping when Luz briefly broke away from the greenette to grin at her and give her a double thumbs-up.

'Well done, Luz. I knew you could do it.'

An arm snaked around Lizzie's shoulders and roughly pulled her into Eda's side, making her body stiffen and look up at the smirking Owl Lady with a wide blink, spying the witch's staff leaning into the crook of her elbow.

"Nice job, Redwood!" she praised and rubbed her knuckles against the top of Lizzie's head, leaving the blonde witch wincing and closing an eye until she stopped. "Looks like you helped Luz face her fears in the end."

Eda released Lizzie soon after and allowed the younger witch to right herself again with a faint scowl and pursed lips, her smirk widening as she watched her brush her fingers through her hair to smoothen out the dishevelled mess she'd made.

"Looks like I did," Lizzie started to say through a huff; however, she paused upon catching a certain principal standing in front of the tree out of the corner of her eyes, admiring its cascading leaves with his hands clasped behind his back. The blonde witch's brows furrowed as she turned to face Principal Bump properly, the reminder of what originally prompted her presence at Grom soon returning to the forefront of her mind as Eda followed the younger witch's gaze to the aging principal. "I guess it's my turn to face mine, huh?"

"Need some backup?" Eda joked, though the faint frown she shot Lizzie's way helped to convey the sincerity of her words.

Lizzie quickly shook her head and squared her shoulders, tilting her chin up a bit as though she was mentally preparing herself. "I'll be fine." She briefly gave Eda a small smile as an act of reassurance. "I'll see you back at Hexside, okay?"

Eda nodded and returned the smile then, allowing Lizzie to turn away and the Owl Lady's smile to disappear from her face soon after. At first, the older witch didn't move, choosing to observe the back of her technical charge with knitted brows as she made her way over to where Principal Bump was. But once Lizzie had closed in on her intended destination, Eda walked off in the opposite direction with her staff back in hand, a quiet sigh escaping her before she muttered under her breath.

"And here I thought I was only gonna be worrying about one kid tonight…"