Chapter 14: Confession on the rooftop
The return fly went by with little talking, as it was hard to hear anything over the sounds of the wind and the night creatures.
They took a shortcut over the wilderness to get to the Owl House more quickly, giving a breathtaking view of the forest filled with the Banshees screaming beetwen trees, the pack of Rougarous hunting smaller animals, and the demonic bats flying in formation.
After a while, a large house made from white brick appeared on the horizon. Soon enough, they reached it, landing in a spot next to the door.
"Hi guys!" Hooty greeted them with a friendly smile and a squeaky voice, "How was your day? Make any new friends? Met a new enemies? Commit a crime?"
"Not bad, no, yes, no, not necessarily in that order." Eda answered.
"You guys want to hear about my day?"
"No. Let us in."
"Password, please!" the house demon said before Eda poked his in the eyes with two fingers. "Aah!"
"We got no time for this, Hooty. Let us in." Eda said, deadpanning.
"All right, all right! Geez! You never want to have any fun! Jett at least brought me a souvenir. Hoot!"
Luz just opened the door. "I think you..." She stopped short and Eda was about to nudged the teen a little when she stopped, noticing the couch.
Jett was sitting on it with the pink can of soda in his hand.
"Hiya, it took you guys long enough." He said with a smile.
Eda and Luz looked at him with a surprise as he just came up to them, still smiling.
The witchling looked like he had fistfight with the rose bush. He got scratches all over his arms... and some thorns embedded in the fabric from his shirt. His clothes were kind of muddy, and he had leaves in his hair.
"What happened to you?" Luz asked, the false quest, forgotten for a moment.
"It's a long story, but the short version is that Lykosbane was easy to find when I come to an understanding with Dryad's tribe. And I'm definitely not fan of its roots." Jett take a spike out of his neck, "On the bright side, I got a quite lethal and gorgeous nymph's number."
"That's my boy." Eda ruffled his hair, and he smiled.
"So, how was your day?" Jett asked.
"Today a part of me has died and I cannot cry." King's face was straight as he said that.
"I'm gonna need more than that." Jett looked at Eda and Luz.
"Another idiot was trying to get me off the business, using Luz's naivety. Also King got his crown of power, and a minute after that, the giant crab destroyed it." Eda summed up their last adventure.
"Not cool. King, want to talk about it?" Jett asked, King let out a small negative sound and dropped like a rock on the couch and turned on the crystal ball.
A narrator on crystal ball announced, "You're watching the black and white period piece old lady boring movie channel! Stay tuned for the tv series: The Duchess Approves," The crystal ball changed to a gray screen with the words "The Duchess Approves" in curly writing. "-starring Sturly Stembleburgiss as 'The Duchess',"
"Well, on the plus side, we're having shellfish for dinner." Eda gave Jett the bag of crab fragments, and she chose to ignore the fact King is exhibiting signs of depression.
"Sweet." Jett checked the bag, "I have a new recipe for Crab and chilli spaghetti from my beast pal."
With those words, he went into the kitchen to make dinner for everyone and probably open another can of Surly Sid's Strawberry Soda. Eda also left the room, saying something about a quick shower.
"King looks like he could use ice cream. Hoot." Hooty told Luz.
Luz agreed as she looked at King. She felt so bad about what the little demon came through today. He lost his crown and his dream of power today. And she's partly responsible for it.
'Maybe there's something I can do to cheer him up.' Luz looked around at the room, wondering what could be useful.
Her eye fell on stack of old newspaper before it looked as if a light bulb flashed above her head.
"Hooty, I need some glue."
More than half an hour have passed since then. King now clutched a bowl of ice cream, watched the movie with watery eyes.
"And fifth, Grampton St. Rumpterfrabble, and most importantly, I lost the one thing that mattered..."
"I know your pain, the Duchess." King said it with an almost sad tone.
Taking his spoon, he scraped some ice cream off the scoop and popped it into his mouth. He didn't even notice that Luz stood there next to couch.
"King, you got a minute?" She asked, hiding something from behind her back.
"I'm in the middle of a grieving process actually." King's eyes stayed on the crystal ball. So, Luz put herself between the demon and the crystal ball.
"And that's why I got you something that might cheer you up."
"Nothing will fill this void in my heart." King groaned, "Just put your offer on the table. And just let..."
Clammed up the moment Luz revealed what she had been hiding from King's sight and it was found to be a papier-mache crown with "King of Demons" spelled out in colorful bead.
"I know it's not the same, but...a king shouldn't be without a crown," Luz said with a smile as she handed it to King. He looked at it for a moment and then placed it on his head.
"This shall suffice." The little demon nodded in approval. "You there plant! You are now under my command!" He said marching over to it.
Luz watching him with a soft smile. She was going to join him in the imaginary fantasy. But, suddenly, something just came off her pocket. She looked down and her smile falling at the sight of map.
The memory of "quest" filling her brain.
The human girl decided to get onto the roof of the Owl House and sat there, knees close to her chest and arms crossed over them.
She was looking at the view for the first couple minutes. But the memories of today's adventure and various thoughts come to her mind then.
'Is it bad that I want to be the Chosen One ?'
'Where all this might end if Eda hadn't come with us?'
'How am I supposed to protect realms and magic if I can't spot cheats?'
Luz was mulling over these thoughts in silence when she heard the clacking of heels behind her.
"We were wondering where you'd gone to. Felt the need to have a brooding session, kiddo?" Eda teased a bit.
"Kinda." Luz looked at Eda a moment before asking, "Can I ask you something?"
"Yes, but I'm not making any promises I will answer." The Owl Lady answered, holding her staff at her side as she walked over, sitting down beside her apprentice in a much more relaxed manner with one leg bent.
"How did you know that Adegast was lying?"
"Look, Luz, everyone wants to believe they're "chosen". But if we all waited around for a prophecy to make us special," Eda looked away a little, looking at Luz out of the corner of her eye. "We'd die waiting."
'Or you'll die chasing a stupid dream.' A twisted little voice whispered in the back of Luz's head, she ignored this but the thought haunted her.
"And I was stupid to think that he was telling the truth."
"Stupid. No. Naive. Definitely." Eda said, smiling at Luz. "Like I told you before, couple more months here and you won't look like such a mark."
Luz said nothing, except some a sad incomprehensible whisper. It's like something troubles her, but she won't open up.
Eda sighed. She didn't really want to go into it too deep, but figured she should at least do something.
"Well, buck up, kiddo, maybe you're not a chosen one, but it doesn't mean you can't choose who you want to be."
"I can't." Luz murmured in a near whisper. It was a sad but true statemen.
Eda raised an eyebrow as Luz looked up into her face. Her brown eyes were filled with unshed tears. She had to tell her.
"I'm human." Luz said in quite voice only a little louder than whisper.
"You're just now noticing this?"
"I'm human. Luz Noceda would like to become a witch. She always wanted to be a good witch like Azura. But it's impossible. She is human, doesn't fit in here. She almost got killed the first day here." Luz's hand wrapped around the silver-white star dangling on a thin silver chain - the Keeper necklace. "She don't think she have the qualities to be the Keeper."
"Now, firstly, don't referred to yourself in the third person. This is creepy. And being creepy is Hooty's thing." Eda took deep breath, "Number two, this is the Boiling Isles, everybody here has a few near-death experience on their belt. And three, what makes you think you doesn't deserve to be the Keeper?"
Luz stared down at the friendship bracelet, slowly running her finger on simply pattern. After a three minutes thinking, she finally worked up the courage to tell Eda the truth.
"I've never made this connection with the Isles. I only discovered the light glyph by accident when Jett's magic glitched in the Falllis Subterrane cave. I don't know how I can found more glyphs. I'm just a teenage human. I'm not worthy of Keeper or the witch's apprentice title. I'm worthless."
These words made Eda remember the day when her son said something similar.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback - several years ago ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a typical day at the Owl House, Hooty chasing after the postman, planning to eat some bugs when he's done. Baby King taking a nap. And Eda strode along the dirt path toward the cliffside, looking for her son.
He came home from school, and he was running late for dinner. But that's nothing new.
Sunsets on the Boiling Isles were certainly among the more underrated compared to other places in the Demon Realm.
Jett highly appreciated the beauty of these view. That's why he came to cliff once a month.
Eda pulled her scroll from the hair and checked the time. Sunset would be approaching soon and the witchling probably had no intention of breaking tradition today.
She glanced up from her scroll and wasn't surprised to see that his favorite spot was already occupied. But something was wrong.
Jett sat hunched over, arms folded in front of him and legs dangling from the cliffside. From this distance, it almost looked like he was crying.
"Hello kiddo." Eda said as she stepped up a few feet beside him, "Hope you don't mind sharing."
He looked at her with a surprise.
"This is my favorite spot to watch the sunset. So, is there a place for your favorite parent?"
Jett lifted a giant bag of candy from the ground beside him—somehow, she'd failed to notice that until now—and moved it to rest on his other side. He then patted the ground beside him "Always, mom."
Eda sit down beside her son before looked at his face. "Owlet, why this long face?"
"It just happened again." Jett said, turning his attention to the horizon, "My magic has stopped working when I was playing a with my friends."
"You lost?"
Jett shocked his head, "Satanya caught the Rusty Smidge."
"Then why do you look like you've kissed a giraffe?"
Jett refused to make eye contact, "It's because of something one student said."
Eda took a deep breath and huffed. "Okay, so what did they say? And where I can find them?"
"Why would you ask that?"
"Simple," She reached into her hair and pulled a switch blade making Jett gasp in shock to see what she was suggesting, "They hurt you so I'm going to kill them."
"Mom, you can't murder my classmate!"
"I would make it look like an accident. Or your old man professionally take care of the body."
"Please put down that knife."
"Fine. But I still want to know what that student said to you."
"Truth."
"Jett..." Eda's voice was a warning one.
"She said..." Jett hesitated for a long moment. "I'm not a real witch. That's why my magic is like that. I'm just defiant by nature, and the Titan punished me for being born. And she was right. My parents are amazing and strong. The Clawthorne Clan is so great. And me? A broken kid, just unworthy of this family legacy. I'm worthless..."
Finally, having heard enough, the Owl Lady turned her body, and in a quick movement, had reached out and laid both hands on his shoulders.
"Don't you ever let me hear you say that again."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Don't you ever let me hear you say that again."
"But it's true." Luz said, "I-"
"All right," Eda cut in, "Let me ask you something - why the Council of Four decided to offer you join the Order?"
"I'm the first human to use magic in over a few centuries."
"No."
Luz blinked in surprise, "No?"
"They gave you a chance because you have proved to be brave, loyal and you were ready to protect realm like ours. I mean, let's face the facts. Up close the Boiling Isles can be slimy. And very smelly. And disgusting." Eda looked up at the sky, prompting Luz to do the same. Stars began to appear, and a blue shooting star streaked across the sky. "But if you look at it from a different perspective, like you did, this place is..."
"Beautiful," Luz said.
"Yes. And if you can really see the truth about this place and its inhabitants, you'll be the Keeper."
"But how am I supposed to protect magic and balance between the two worlds? I know one spell."
"Well, as far as I know. You have already seal the Gytrash, pass a test called the true companion, tame the Manticore and defeat the giant crab." Eda counted off, "That's not bad for a human teen with only one spell."
"But what if one spell isn't enough?" Luz asked her mentor. "The Council of Four would be disappointed if I will never find a new glyphs."
"Maybe Mister Sharp Fangs will be a bit disappointed, he is fascinated by the human race. But you really have nothing to worry about." The witch assured her, "A lot of members of the Order doesn't know a thing about cast a truly strong spells. They just have other talents which make them a great Keepers."
"Really?"
"You'll see when Nova or Hector will showing off. These guys are pretty cool, but they only know a baby spells."
"Oh…" Luz didn't really know what her reaction would be to that, but she found herself feeling weird about it.
"Don't look so surprised, Luz. Magic doesn't decide how much you're worth." Eda smirked, "Look at Jett. He is a strong witchling. With or without magic. This boy kicked so many douche' asses, he just ain't keeping track no more. He won many races and rise above challenges, make many brave and big thing. And he didn't need a perfectly working magic to do this things."
"Of course he's awesome." Luz replied bitterly. "Jett's your son."
"True." Eda agreed, "But still, our magic isn't the most important part of us. Sure it's a great thing. I know from experience that a magic can makes your life easier, yet you couldn't just poof all of your problems away. A few crazy exes - yes. But the most things will not resolve itself because you can cast spells."
"I just wish I could found more glyphs." Luz twiddled her fingers in her lap.
"And you will. Kiddo, you only just started learning about magic, you have time to find the answers. I was a bit skilled than you in my teenagers days, and I still needed a time to understand some things too."
For some time Luz sat gazing the witch. "Does that mean I still have a chance to become a witch?"
"With my help, you'll be the best human witch this realm's ever seen." Eda assured.
"Do you really mean that?" Luz asked, the spark in her eyes rekindling.
The corner of Eda's mouth lifted in a sympathetic smirk. "I wouldn't lie to my favourite apprentice."
"I'm your only apprentice." Luz noticed, looking at her mentor with a slightly amusement expression.
"Then you know that's true." Eda shrugged, still smirking.
Then Luz surprised the older woman by pulling her into a forceful hug. "Thank you, Eda."
Eda frowned but gently patted Luz on her back. "You welcome, kiddo."
The witch little moment with her human apprentice was broken at the sound of Hooty's voice.
"Aww. What a beautiful moment!" Hooty stretched out towards them, "Can I join in the hug?"
"Don't even think it." Eda looked at the house demon as she gently pry the teenager off of her. "How long have you been hearing us?"
"Just the last part." Jett appeared with a King on his shoulder and a plate of blue cookies in hand.
"Now what did I tell you about eavesdropping, guys?" Eda asked her boys.
"Find all the dirts and do not get caught." King jumped down onto the roof.
"Good boy." Eda patted him on his skull before turned head towards her older son. "So, what's the occasion, Owlet?" She asked, pointing at the cookies.
"Well, for all of us it was a very busy and emotional day. Especially for Luz and King. So, I thought we could use some comfort food. That's why I and Hooty made Fleen Cookies." Jett said, shoving the cookies in Luz's face.
"Fleen Cookies?" Luz asked, grabbing a cookie.
"Dessert, fit for a king." King said, carefully picking out the biggest cookie on the plate.
Luz bit down on her cookie. She chewed slowly, letting the taste melt into her mouth. Mmm... se ven deliciosos.
"Do the future great witch want the second cookie?" Jett sit beside his human friend.
Luz take a blue cookie before asking, "Jett, do you believe that I will be the witch?"
"No, I don't believe it." He said, all serious all of a sudden. "I know it. And Katrina knows it, too."
"Thanks."
"All right, enough with the emotional pep talk." Eda then sneezed, "This is literally making me sick. Let's eat."
She said when Hooty returned from a kitchen with a few plates.
Luz took a plate of great smelling food and then looked at her companions. Maybe she still have a long way to go before she can call herself a true witch and get her own witch staff. But she know she's not alone in that journey.
A forty minutes later, delicious cookies and dinner was eaten by everyone. Eda called it a day and she sent the kids to bed.
"Goodnight-ie night, Sunbeam." Jett smiled as he opened his bedroom door.
"G'night, sleep tight." Luz opened up a room that was her bedroom for this summer. It was still mostly for Eda's junk but she like it this way.
She rolled out a sleeping bag and laid down in her pajamas. Yesterday, Eda offered her a normal bed, but the teen very politely declined the offer. (The monsters under the bed in this realm are quite popular)
Luz sighed in relaxation before she felt her phone vibrate, pulling it out to see a text from her mom.
(10:17 PM) *Are you liking summer camp?* - Reading the message, made Luz become worried, since she couldn't tell her the truth of where she really was, obviously.
A cleared throat sound was heard before Luz looked up to see King standing in the door way with a stuffed rabbit in his arms.
"Francois told me that he thinks your sleep cocoon looks fluffy." he said, not looking at her.
"Come here, Your Highness." Luz patted her sleeping bag.
The little demon smiled at the human and walked in, settling himself at the foot of her sleeping bag before going to sleep.
Luz pulled up her phone to her face with a smile.
(10:19 PM) *Nothing around here is quite what I expected. But I think I'm gonna like it here.*
She wrote before sending the text and turned off the light spell she had up, and then fell asleep.
At the same time Adegast was in the underwater cave.
"They crossed the bridge of Francis the Undefeatable. They has survived an encounter with the manticore. And they defeat greatest of all demonic crabs - Hoard the Shiny Sheel."
With a sigh he walked over to crab and put his hand on its leg. "I'm sorry old friend. It turned out that it had not been a rumour - this human can use magic."
A sly grin spread across his lips. "I know someone who'll pay me good money for this information."
Author's Notes:
Comments always help :)