At the Noceda residence, Camila was in the kitchen adding some anis to the cerdo asado while Luz, Stringbean and Vee were in the living area watching How The Scrooge Robbed Christmas, about a bitter old man stealing Christmas from poor families just for kicks and giggles.
"You're a mean one, Mr Scrooge. You really are so screwed. You're as greedy as a beast going down for a feast, Mr Scrooge."
"Mijas, I'm going to need help with the cerdo asado soon!" Camila announced.
"Okay, Mami." Luz said.
Vee looked at her phone which appeared to have a notification and panicked. "Masha says they'll be arriving soon!" She jumped off of the couch and slithered in front of Luz. "How should I dress?!" She shape changed into her human form dressed in her pumpkin sweater. "Casual?" Then, she shape changed into her human form dressed in a dress. "Or should I dress like I'm at my best?" Then she shape changed into a pair of green pyjamas. "Or very casual?" Vee then shaped changed into her yellow swimsuit. "Or should I dress like this?" She then shape changed into Luz's usual attire. "Or this?" And then she dressed like Masha. "Or this?!"
Luz got off the couch and held Vee's hands in her own. "Come on, Masha will like what you wear. Heck maybe even if you wear nothing. But for the sake of dinner, maybe do put on something. What would you like to wear?"
Vee shape changed into her Basilisk form and sighed. "I'd prefer this. But, I don't want my relationship to end because of this. But what if they don't like the way I am? I love the way I am, will there be a possibility Masha won't?"
"Why won't they?" Luz asked.
"Because I'm a reptile shape changer." Vee replied. "I mean, what kind of human would want a girlfriend like that?!"
Luz gave Vee a deadpan stare. "My girlfriend is a witch with pale skin, a gland near her heart, pointy ears and beautiful golden irises. Just reveal it to them when the time is right. Maybe they'll understand."
"I hope so." Vee said before they heard a knocking sound at the door. She panicked and quickly hid behind the couch. "They got here earlier than they said! What do I do?!"
Luz smiled. "Go and answer the door. Your enby is waiting for you."
Vee, despite all the nerves shaking in her body, took a deep breath and turned into her human form in her pumpkin sweater. She walked toward the door to answer it.
"Why hello beautiful." Vee froze in surprise when she saw who was at the front porch. Her anxiety vanished to massive amounts of confusion. "Uh…."
"Sorry Vee, I'm taken." Amity retorted.
Luz and Camila looked toward the direction of the door with surprised expressions. "Luz, did you invite Amity?"
Stringbean followed and gave a shocked expression to what they were seeing.
"No, I did not." Luz walked towards the door. "Not for another couple of days anyway. Amity, what are you…" Luz froze in shock when she saw what Amity was dressed in a pair of black shoes, purple pants held up by suspenders strapped to her shoulders, a purple shirt, a maroon waist coat, a purple coat and a distinct purple top hat while holding a cane.
She took a bow in front of Luz. "A good evening to you Noceda family."
Camila walked to the door unsure of how to feel about seeing Amity dressed like that. "Amity dear, why are you dressed like an eccentric factory owner?"
Amity stood up and tipped the hat. "Well Ms Noceda, if you and the others follow me, I will show you."
"Will this take long?" Camila asked. "I am preparing Christmas dinner."
"I hope not." Amity replied. "Come, follow. Onward to the Demon Realm!" She pointed her cane toward the direction of the door as she began walking.
Luz, Vee and Camila watched on unsure of how to feel about all this. "Is she okay?" Vee asked while Stringbean turned into a beanie and jumped on Luz's head.
"There must be something going on in the Isles." Luz said. "And I wanna find out."
Camila sighed. "I guess the dinner could wait until Christmas Eve." She put her coat on and began to follow her daughters toward the direction of Amity.
Across the street, their a man wearing glasses, a green jacket, a fisherman's hat and orange camo pants watched on with a raised eyebrow. "What's with the kid with the weird sense of clothing, Ms Noceda?"
"I'd love to explain, Gene but I will find out." Camila replied before she followed Amity into the woods with her daughters while Gene just watched on.
"I hope they aren't going to be murdered." Gene said.
In the Demon Realm, Eda was motioning everyone to get everything together. "Okay! Okay! Make sure that turkey is still hot! Alador, keep that sleigh away from the tree! Hooty, stop licking the candy canes!"
"BUT THEY TASTE SO WOODEN!" Hooty cried.
"Okay Boots should be coming in a few seconds." She got in front of Lilith and nudged her shoulders.
"Will it go wrong?" Lilith asked. "I hope it won't. I have extra security guarding the gingerbread house from Tinella."
"Look Lilith, I have a bad feeling it will." Eda bragged. "I have such a good feeling that I didn't even go to an oracle to see if it were true." Then, the sound of the door lighting up was heard, meaning Amity and the Nocedas were almost here.
"They're coming everyone!" Hunter declared. "Places!"
The door soon opened and Amity walkedout with the Nocedas following behind, covering their eyes. "Okay, okay, open your eyes."
"What is it?" Luz asked while Vee turned back to basilisk form.
"You'll be ruining the whole purpose of a surprise." Amity retorted. "Okay, open them up."
The Nocedas opened their eyes and were surprised with what they were seeing. A ton of people including friends, family of friends, acquaintances and even some random demons were standing beside a Christmas tree with baubles, tinsel, an assortment of decorations and a star on top. There was even a buffet table of all sorts of Christmas treats like the turkey, the mince pies, the Christmas pudding, the candy canes, cookies, an assortment of vegetables and what looked to be a giant gingerbread house guarded by Steve and Severine.
"SURPRISE!" The residence exclaimed.
Luz was in awe with what she was seeing right before her. It was like the Human Realm version of Christmas somehow replicated by the Demon Realm with some accuracy. "Oh my gosh!" Luz said just as snow began to fall.
Camila herself thought the sight was amazing as well. "¡Oh Dios mío! Esto es hermoso."
"What is this?" Vee asked.
Amity spun her cane. "Well, after everything you did for us Luz, we wanted to make it up to you."
"So we did our best to understand the holiday of Christmas." Willow explained.
"And throw you a Christmas surprise party." Gus said.
Luz walked around as she began to admire the effort her friends and found family had put together. She was amazed by the gingerbread house that Steve and Severine were guarding with their lives.
She even saw Alador dressed as a lean Santa Clause standing by a sleigh and nine robotic reindeers. Okay, some things were inaccurate but this felt like a Boiling Isles Christmas.
She walked towards a t-shirt cannon and stared at it with confusion for a moment before going to look at the Christmas tree. She analysed every Christmas decoration that hung on the tree with keen eyes. She saw wooden animals such as reindeer, owls, red cardinals; Hunter definitely designed those. She saw baubles that resembled Hooty and tinsels. But what she didn't expect was the top of the tree to have an actual star on top.
"Is that a star?" Luz asked.
King approached Luz with a smile. "Yup. The Collector hand picked it."
"I mean, we just use paper mache but this is amazing as well." Luz said.
Luz noticed the orchestra where Raine was doing their best conduct an entire orchestra which included Viney on the harp.
Amity walked up to Luz and placed her hand on her shoulder. "What do you think?"
"What is this music?" Luz asked. "It sounds strangely familiar." The music Raine was trying to orchestrate was a mixture of Do They Know It's Christmas, Last Christmas and All I Want For Christmas.
"I don't know. Raine said they mixed their music sheets." Amity explained. "You are hungry aren't you?"
"Of course." Luz replied. "That gingerbread house looks appetising. Wish I could live in it. Why are Steve and Severine guarding it?"
"Tinella Nosa tried eating it a ton of times." Amity replied. "So we had to put up some barriers."
"You know gingerbread houses are actually small?" Luz pointed out.
Amity froze. "Oh. Not to worry, I know a shrinking spell."
"It's okay. I admire the ambition." Luz assured her.
"But, we have a buffet table of all the Christmas treats." Amity said. "Like for example, the steamed vegetables, the cookies, the egg nog….Wait, where is the egg nog?"
She looked straight forward to see an intoxicated Morton drinking the egg nog from the bowl and licking the ladle. "Mmm, that is so good. Where can I…." He walked into the sleigh, knocking himself out.
Amity's eye gave a little twitch but she quickly pulled herself together to make sure she didn't lose her sanity. "We also got the Christmas pudding which we plan to set on fire later."
"I don't know how you humans have so much heat resistant on your tongues." Gus remarked.
"Wait, did you eat it while it was still on fire?!" Luz exclaimed in shock. "We put it out."
Amity froze and her eyes began to twitch. "Well regardless, we have the mince pies."
Vee took a bite out of the mince pie and licked her teeth. "Toothpaste?"
"Yeah, mints pie." Amity said.
Luz laughed. "Well, we don't add mint to our pies. It's actually fruit, spices and suet. And in America, we pronounce it as mincemeat. The English call it mince. And the only way you could learn about Christmas is from Eda." Luz realised something. "Wait, Eda you didn't tell me you've been across country."
"Well, you never asked." Eda said as she drank the only egg nog she managed to get.
"Where did you even go?" Luz asked.
"Let's see, England, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Congo, Madagascar and North Korea. Which word to the wise: Would not recommend."
As Luz and Eda spoke, Amity gave a frustrated groan and sweat began to drip down her face as she began to get worried. "Oh no. I'm getting everything wrong about Christmas. It's okay, Luz loves it anyway. Sure, things are getting a bit disastrous but what else could I get wrong?"
"How did you even get a passport?" Luz asked.
"Um…Owlbert." Eda retorted.
"Hey, can we start eating the turkey before it gets cold?" Lilith asked. "I spent all night trying to perfect the tenderness and temperature."
Camila awkwardly coughed. "Um…We're Dominican. We don't exactly eat turkey. We eat a pork based dish called cerdo asado."
Amity and Lilith froze in horror over this revelation. Amity began to have nervous sweats that she tried wiping away the best she could but more kept seething out of her skin.
But Lilith on the other hand was panicking. "You mean I spent all those hours doing genetic experiments and it turns out you never eat turkey?! Just pork?! I had to be disinfected by Hooty 34 times!"
Camila froze awkwardly. "Uh…I guess I could have a slice! Thought it goes against tradition."
Lilith marched towards the turkey, picked up the bird and tossed it in the air for Hooty to devour with one bite.
"Mmm, mmm, it's like I'm eating my Human Realm relatives." Hooty remarked.
Amity gritted her teeth in frustration. This was not going well as she hoped it would. She adjusted her cost and began to whimper. This was noticed by Luz who quickly placed her hand on Amity's shoulder.
"Mi Amor, is something wrong?" Luz asked.
"No, everything is fine, Luz." Amity lied. "Everything is absolutely fine. I mean, I made a few mistakes. I made a great and perfect Christmas party that you love, right? Is that what you see in a perfect Christmas or something?"
Luz glanced side-to-side and froze when she felt a tremor. "Uh…Amity."
The ground around the Owl House began to shake, causing everyone to shake and to almost fall over. Raine dropped their stick and fell off their pedestal, King fell with a 'weh,' Viney had to calm down Puddles, Alador tried to keep his sleight together while Steve and Severine were holding on to each other to make sure they didn't fall.
Bursting through the roof of the giant cookie house, an even bigger and fatter Tinella burst through the roof and let out a mighty roar, causing everyone to back off in fear.
"How did she get in?!" Gus exclaimed.
"I do not know." Hunter replied.
"Wow, talk about teawing down the house." Tinella laughed before giving a mighty belch.
"How did she get that big?!" Luz asked her girlfriend.
Tinella tried walking but due to how fat and useless her legs were, she fell backwards and straight into the sleigh Alador set up.
Due to the impact of the giant mint demon's tumble, it caused one of the thrusters to activate setting fire to the gingerbread house which then lead to a massive effect where the tree was set on fire, the buffet table was set on fire, the sleigh itself was set on fire, a patch of grass was set on fire, Amity's top hat was set on fire, the instruments were set on fire, some tinsels were set on fire and even setting fire to a nearby rock.
People began to panic at the sight of the spreading fires. They began backing away before running away for their lives as quickly as they could.
Edric took some time because he tried taking some of the food off of the buffet table before all of it could get set ablaze. He stopped when his father grabbed him by the back of his collar and yanked him to safety.
Amity stared on in horror as nine fires a-blazing, destroying everything she had spent days working on.
"Evacuate the party!" Eda commanded as she turned to Harpy mode to make sure all of the terrified guests got away safely.
As the guests moved safely away from the Owl House, Raine was motioning them to step back safely. "It's okay, everyone I got this!" They took a deep breath and performed a mighty whistle that headed to the direction of the fires, putting them out to make sure they did not hurt anyone.
"Good one, Raine." Lilith said before surveying the survivors. "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Luz said. "Eda?"
"Hardly a scratch, kid." Eda replied.
"Mami?"
"Estoy bien." Camila replied.
"Amity?" No response came. "Amity?"
Luz looked around the area and saw that her girlfriend was nowhere to be seen in the crowd. "Amity?!"
"Amity!" Alador yelled out for his daughter.
Everyone began looking for any sign of Amity but nowhere was she seen. The party was so much of a disaster that Amity did the one thing she could think of, run away.
"Where could she have gone?" Hunter asked.
Luckily, Luz knew where her girlfriend was and pulled a determined look. "I know where she is."
"Do you want me to follow?" Alador asked.
Eda placed her hand on Alador's shoulder. "Alador, Luz is the only one that can talk to her."
Alador seemed confused. "But…I'm her father."
"Look for the sake of argument, Luz can handle your daughter. Besides, she wasn't the one who ignored her for ten years for the sake of a manipulative brujah."
"Brujah?" Alador asked with a raised brow.
"Eda, when enunciating the 'J's, you're meant to make an H sound." Camila explained. "Like you're saying 'ha.'"
Eda sighed. "Sorry, I'm still learning. Kiddo, just go and calm your girlfriend down."
Luz summoned Stringbean, jumped on her and then took off to find her girlfriend. "Don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can!"
Once Luz left, everyone began to stare at each other wondering what to do next. "The party is a bust, what else is there to do?" King asked.
Suddenly, the door to the Human Realm began to light up suddenly. But, nobody was walking through it to the Human Realm, someone was walking through it into the Demon Realm.
And from out of it, was a human with raven hair, a heavy metal t-shirt, a black skirt, black boots and a gap in their tooth. It was Masha, whom had just entered the Realm for whatever reason.
"Uh oh, Masha!" Vee quickly shape changed into her human form to try and began running towards them.
"Who?" Eda asked.
Masha looked around the Demon Realm with awe on their face. They saw the purple sea glowing in the moonlight sky, a nearby town looking out of a fantasy moved right across from where they were standing. They turned to look at the door they walked through and stared at the glow in shock and surprise.
Masha turned around to see the residence of the strange world staring at them. They noted the pointy ears and the diverse skin complexions. Such as pale, tanned and dark. They even saw a strange dog, an owl tube, Ms Noceda and their girlfriend.
"Masha!" Vee exclaimed. "Look, I know what you're seeing is weird!"
"Vee, what is this place?" An intrigued Masha asked.
"Look, I have a lot to tell you." Vee said.
"Vee, who is this?" Hooty asked. "Should I kill them? Wipe their memories? Wipe their memories then kill them? Kill them then wipe their memories?! What do I do?!"
"No! Don't kill them!" Vee demanded. "They're my partner."
Camila approached Masha with a gentle approach. "Masha dear, this is something that is not easy to explain."
"I'm in a different world!" Masha exclaimed with excitement. "Oh my gosh! Is this the witch world Hopkins was talking about?! Wow, it's like something out of some dark fantasy RPG! Are they actually witches by the way?! I don't wish to make assumptions."
The witches who were witnessing Masha performed their respective spells such as illusions, beast keeping, bard, Abomination and plant, causing their eyes to glisten.
"How can this get any better?" Masha asked themselves.
Vee walked in front of their partner with a nervous smile. "Well, I hope this doesn't bother you." She shape changed into her Basilisk form, causing Masha to step back a bit kind of alarmed.
Once Vee fully shifted into her true form. She gave the human a nervous grin and rubbed the back of her head. "So…Your human girlfriend was actually a shapeshifting demon all along." She nervously chuckled as she prepared for the breakup of all breakups.
But instead of that, Masha smiled with glee. "Ooooh goddess, this world just gets better."