Amity fidgeted in her bed, she didn't know what to do, she hated not being able to do something, especially with something as important as Luz's kidnapping. Emira and Edric were with Amity in her room, Emira was sitting on the edge of her bed, while Edric was leaning against the wall that had her Emperor's Coven poster.

"Don't worry, Mittens, if anyone can get her back, its that Owl Lady and the Emperor's Coven witch, they're, like, crazy strong witches," said Emira.

"…What if they don't find her?" Amity spoke.

"Mittens, you can't think like that," said Edric.

"You didn't see them! Didn't fight them! They weren't like the demons that walk around here! Whatever magic they have felt different from ours! And even if they find them, what if it's already too late!" Amity cried; her voice laced with pain. "I would've never gotten the chance to tell her how I feel!"

Edric and Emira glanced at each other, sharing a twin moment of like-mindedness.

"You really do like Luz, don't you?" Emira asked.

Amity buried her face in her hands as she sobbed, Emira moved closer and hugged her little sister close, Edric sat on the opposite side and hugged Amity as well. The twins had a feeling that their little sister had feelings for the human girl, but it seemed that this crush ran deeper than just that.

"I'm such a damn coward! I've had so many chances to tell her how I feel, but every time I should have, I choked! I was afraid of pushing her away from me when we were finally getting along! Afraid that she'd reject me because she didn't like girls, or because she just didn't like me that way! She's the first person to make me feel this way, and now…now I might never get to see her or hear her voice ever again…!"

Edric and Emira looked at each other again, Amity had it bad for Luz, and they admitted, Luz was cute, and date worthy if only to tease their little sister a bit. But at the same time, they knew that their parents would never approve of Amity's feelings for Luz, if they did find out, they'd most likely try and keep those two apart. The twins were always unsettled by how their mother made Amity change her hair color to match their own, for "color coordination". Amity managed to keep some of her hair the same color it was originally, if only a little.

You thinking what I'm thinking, Em?

Definitely, Ed. No matter what, we have to keep Amity safe.

And make sure Mom and Dad never know how Amity feels.

Their secret pack was made, a promise to keep if there was a chance, they would make sure Amity could have this, could have one thing to herself that wasn't the product of their parents pushing her to do this or that. Despite all the grief they put Amity through, she was still their little sister, and they loved her, and she deserved to have someone who would feel the same way about her.

Suddenly, there was tapping sound coming from Amity's window. All three siblings turned their heads towards the window and saw a small owl tapping its beak against it. Amity immediately recognized the little owl and said, "Em, open the window, hurry!"

Emira got up and rushed over to the window, the little owl flew in and landed on the bed next to Amity, in its beak was a letter that Amity quickly took from the owl.

"Thank you," said Amity.

The Palisman hooted a "You're welcome" before taking off back out the window. After Emira closed the window, she rejoined her siblings on the bed and watched as Amity opened the letter. The young witch quickly read over the letter, and immediately broke out into a wide smile as tears streamed from her eyes again.

"She's okay!" Amity stated. "They found Luz and she's okay!"

Emira and Edric broke out into smiles of their own and said at the same time, "Mittens that's great!"

"They have her at the Healer's Coven, let's go!"

Amity made to get up, but Edric hurriedly placed a hand on her shoulder to keep Amity from getting up. "Whoa, whoa, slow down there, Mittens, it's after midnight, we can't just up and leave."

"If Mom and Dad find out you snuck out to go and see Luz, they'll get mad, especially since we got school tomorrow," Emira added.

"But-But-But Luz, I have to–!"

"We'll see here tomorrow after school, in the meantime, why don't you go ahead and text Luz's friends to tell them the good news, I'm sure they're worried about her just as much as you are," said Edric.

As much as she didn't want to, Amity knew they were right. There was the option of the twins creating illusion doubles of all three of them so that they could sneak out, but there was the chance that they could easily see through their constructs, their parents were accomplished witches.

"Okay, I'll contact Willow and Gus," Amity relented as she took out her scroll and began messaging her former best friend and the human enthusiast.

Luz's eyes fluttered open for the second time, she felt sore all over, again, but this time she wasn't staring up into the open night sky, instead she was staring up at a ceiling. "Where…Where am I now…?"

"Luz!" said a familiar voice. Luz turned to her right and saw Eda sitting in a chair, she sprang from that chair and knelt before her bed, her face a mixture of happiness and sadness. "Thank the Titan, you're awake!"

"Eda…?" Luz gasped as she remembered what had happened and shot up, only to get really dizzy and fall back to the bed. "Ooh…head rush…not good."

"Hey, hey, take it easy, kid! You've been through a lot. The docs say that there's nothing wrong with you, physically anyway, except for some fatigue." Eda moved closer and hugged Luz close to her. "Dammit, kid, you scared the ever-loving crap out of me!"

Luz hugged her mentor back and cried a little, "I'm sorry, Eda…"

"This wasn't your fault, Luz, those things were responsible for this, but I swear they'll pay for what they did," Eda swore. She slowly ended the hug and looked into Luz's eyes. "Tell me, can you remember what they did? The docs couldn't find anything wrong, although they're going by witch biology, you being human, you might have a different reaction."

Luz thought back to what happened, she remembered waking up in a clearing, the red moon, and then the red sky. She remembered the glow of a circle beneath her and several others. And then there was the pain and the image of a giant owl. Luz explained all this to Eda, which made the Owl Lady cup her chin as she thought hard about the information she was given.

"This giant owl wanted you to fall into despair, for what reason?" Eda questioned.

"I don't know, but I do remember standing up to it, then a bright gold light shined from me and then, I knocked out again," Luz finished.

"Huh…never heard of a spell like that, but then again, that could've only been part of the spell, and maybe whatever they were trying to do failed to take because they didn't count on how annoyingly optimistic you can be."

Luz chuckled a little at the half insult, half compliment that Eda threw her way. "You said that someone saved me, someone in black robes and a red and silver helmet?"

Eda sighed. "I don't know about that one, for all we know, that guy could've been pretending to save you just to throw us off his trail. Anyway, Lily should be looking into it right about now."

Luz looked at Eda in shock of what she just said. "Wait, your sister, Lilith, Miss 'Join the Emperor's Coven or else', helped you?"

"Actually, I thought it was her who kidnapped you, almost killed her in the process." Eda chuckled. "Anyway, yeah, we worked together, pretty sure that that's the end of our little alliance, since she's focused on finding the kidnappers and what they were up to. So, I don't have to worry about her coming after me, at least for a little while."

"That's good…I guess…" Luz sighed as she stared up at the ceiling again. "Eda I'm sorry…"

Eda had a confused look on her face as she asked, "What are you talking about, kid? It wasn't your fault you got kidnapped."

"For causing you so much trouble…ever since I've got here, I've disrupted everything going on in your life," said Luz.

Eda let out a cackle that made Luz look at the Owl Lady worriedly. After she was done with her laughing fit, Eda responded, "Luz, if anything, you've made my life a hell of a lot more exciting! Yeah, I would still be selling human junk, dodging the guard and the Emperor's Coven, but then I'd just go back home, kick up my feet, and then just mope around and do it all over again while I try to live with my curse. But you brought some life back into the Owl House, and I love it. So, don't ever think you're a nuisance or whatever's going through your head, I'd wouldn't trade you for anyone else."

The young Latina smiled, her eyes tearing up with joy at hearing her mentor say those words. "Thanks, Eda."

"Don't mention it. Seriously, don't mention it, I got reputation to keep up, don't want these suckers to think I've gone soft or anything," said Eda as she crossed her arms.

Luz chuckled and said, "My lips are sealed."

A day had passed since Luz woke up, the Healing Coven witches ran some tests on her most of the day, making sure that there truly was nothing wrong with her. Gus and Willow dropped by after school let out, both were so glad to see that she was safe, Gus broke down into tears and Willow hugged Luz as tight as one of her constrictor vines. The doctors came a little bit later and said that they were going to keep Luz overnight just to be safe, but Eda could take her home the next day.

"So, what's the word around school?" Luz asked.

"Oh…well, some of the kids at Hexside were worried about one of the students getting kidnapped…" Gus mentioned.

Luz got the picture when she said it like that, despite the Grom Night event, a lot of the kids had warmed up to her, but not all of them. She was still the odd one out, ironically. Luz never fit in back in her school, and even among a school full of witches and demons, she was still the odd one out.

"But Barcus, Viney, and Jerob were really worried about you!" Willow quickly added. "A-And, Amity, of course!"

In all of the craziness that happened between yesterday and today, Luz had completely forgot about Amity. "Oh my gosh, Amity! Is she okay?! Did those things hurt her?!"

Willow placed a comforting hand on Luz's shoulder and said, "Amity's alright, the things that kidnapped you didn't hurt her. Although…she's kind of beating herself up about not being able to do more to help you. So, don't be too surprised if she comes by and looks a little depressed."

Luz frowned upon hearing that, Amity must've been worried sick, probably blaming herself for not being strong enough to stop the golem demons from taking her. If she wasn't confined to her bed, she would have already ran to Amity's home and told her that it wasn't her fault. "Oh man…is she coming, by chance?"

"I think she is. We got a head start on her, but I'm pretty sure she will be," said Gus. "And, plus, there's her leg." Willow gave Gus a silent gesture to not mention the leg. Gus' eyes widened once he realized his faux pas and hurriedly said. "Which was a complete and total accident definitely NOT anyone's fault!"

Luz waved off the concern and smiled at the young witch boy. "It's fine, I know I've been beating myself up about that, but Amity kind of set me straight. I still feel guilty, but I'm fine."

"That's good to hear, Luz," said Willow.

Just then a knock came at the door, Eda got up from the armchair and went to open the door. When she did, the Owl Lady had a playful smirk on her face, she then turned her head and announced to the others, "A visitor here for ya, Luz."

When Eda stepped back, she revealed Amity, who was currently on crutches and flanked by her older brother and sister. The moment that Eda moved, Amity's eyes widened, and then they began to water as she started to hobble on the crutches towards Luz at a fast pace. Doing so almost made Amity fall to the floor, prompting Luz to hurriedly throw off the blankets and rush to her feet to catch Amity if she fell, but by the time she did this, Amity had crossed the threshold and managed to collapse into Luz's arms, crying into the Latina's chest as she hugged her fiercely. Eda could see where this was going and nodded to Willow and Gus to leave the room with her. Willow took the hint, but it seemed Gus was a little slow to catch on, thankfully Eda used a levitation spell to float the boy out of the room and into the arms of the twins. Once that was done, Eda closed the door and left the two teens alone.

Luz had ignored everything else and focused on Amity, she managed to gently get the both of them down on the ground, with Luz sitting on her rear and Amity with her head still crying into Luz's chest. All the while, Luz rubbed Amity's back and stroked her hair with care. Unfortunately, it seemed that this triggered the held back tears that Luz had, as she too began to cry, holding Amity closer to her. The ordeal and its ramifications finally baring down on her after seeing how distraught Amity was.

"Shh, shh, y-you don't have t-to cry, Amity. I'm okay. Estoy aquí, amiga. Estoy bien (I'm right here, my friend. I'm alright)," Luz assured.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't protect you! I'm supposed to be the best witch at Hexside, and when it came time, I wasn't strong enough, and you got taken away by those monsters!" Amity wailed. "I was useless!"

Luz shook her head in the negative. "If anyone was useless it was me. You're the only real witch between us, and those things…those things weren't normal, even by Boiling Isles standards! So…So don't go and say you're useless!"

Amity wiped her face with her sleeve and gave Luz a cross look. "And what's that 'the only real witch', you're a witch too, Luz! Yes, you use magic differently, but the fact is you can use magic, which makes you a witch!" A small smile crept onto Amity's face. "Magic isn't just in the spells we cast, it lives in our hearts, and it is through our hearts that magic will always shine the brightest."

Luz's crying stopped as she smiled too. "That's from 'The Good Witch Azura', book six: 'The Trials of Terror Tower'. No fair, quoting Azura at me!"

Amity chuckled. "Turnabout is fair play."

Now that the mood had been lifted a little, Amity finally took notice of how she was positioned with Luz. The girl she was crushing on was still holding Amity in her arms, and Amity's arms were still wrapped around Luz midsection, while Luz was still wearing the patient gown. The kind of gown that called for the removing of everything except the undergarments. Which also meant that just a moment ago, the only thing on her crush's body was a thin paper gown, upon which she had her face pressed between Luz's–

"Amity are you okay? Your face is turning read."

"I'm fine!" Amity squeaked.

"You sure you'r –?"

"Perfectly, alright! Not thinking anything weird nothing is weird who's Amity?!" she rambled.

Luz blinked. "Ooooookay. Let me help you into the chair."

"Yes! Please! Thank you!"

After sitting Amity in the additional chair next to her bed, Luz got back into the bed and lied down. Meanwhile, Amity was still trying to process the fact that her face was pressed right into Luz's –

"SO!" Amity exclaimed, louder than she would've liked. "W-W-What did the healers tell you?! Are you okay?!"

Luz nodded at Amity's question. "Yeah, nothing bad as far as they can tell. But they want me to stay another night just to make sure, and then I can go back to the Owl House tomorrow."

"G-Good, that's really good. O-Oh, if Miss Eda needs help with the bills, just tell me and I'll…" Amity trailed off, she got an allowance, it was a big allowance considering that the Blight family were in the rich witches, but said allowance was not going to cover everything the Healers Coven probably did. That would require tapping into her parents' money. "…I'll ask my parents and see if they'll cover the expenses…"

Luz waved off the concern. "It's okay, apparently Lilith is covering this one."

Amity raised an eyebrow at that. "Lilith Clawthorne?! The top witch of the Emperor's Coven?!"

"Yep, Eda said that there are funds set up for victims of crimes like the kind I was involved in, so any medical expenses are covered by the Emperor's Coven," Luz explained.

"Huh, didn't know that." Amity twiddled her thumbs for a minute and asked the other obvious question. "Did they say when you could come back to school?"

Luz scratched the back of her head as she thought about it. "I don't know, they really didn't say, at least not yet. Guess it depends on how I do tomorrow, and Eda may want to keep me home for a couple of days, just to be safe. But honestly, I do want to come back. If for nothing else than to have some 'normalcy'." The word "normal" being subjective when it came to the Boiling Isles.

"Well, don't push yourself. I really don't want to see you here again, alright." Amity stated with seriousness.

Luz gave a mock salute and added, "Yes, ma'am."

Despite how scary the situation of yesterday was, seeing and hearing Luz so optimistic and undefeated, made Amity feel happier. Just her presence alone banished the worries and stresses of her life and allowed her to come out of her shell a little. A shell that she had forged of both her and her parents' making. One that made her out to be a witch who looked down on everyone, who didn't care for nothing but her advancement in the mystic arts. While she did care in advancing in her magic to become part of the Emperor's Coven, the other part of that was what she didn't like.

In a way, the shell was created both to protect herself and others from getting too close, the fear that her parents would do something to anyone else who didn't meet their standards of what a strong witch should be. The fear that if that did happen, it would be Amity's fault, and that person, and others, would hate her for it. So, she became the way she was after ending her friendship with Willow, a way to protect herself from that heartache and everyone else.

Straight As, straight hair, straight forward, she cut no corners in any and every endeavor she undertook, Amity became "Little Miss Perfect", a young witchling that could do no wrong and was to be admired, respected, and feared – to a degree, anyway. Then Luz came into the picture and everything was thrown into a chaotic mess, a mess that…honestly, Amity didn't know she'd enjoy so much.

Amity looked around the room, she was alone, it was only Luz and her, no one else. She didn't know if the others were just standing outside or if Willow and Gus had already left. But…this could be her chance. It was only the two of them, if ever there was a perfect time to say something, it was now. Amity gulped, steeling her nerves as she readied to confess, there would be no more beating around the bush, she had to tell her. Luz was kidnapped yesterday, there was a good chance that she could've died, who knew what tomorrow would bring, and if something happened overnight, then Luz would never know. She had to tell her, even if it became awkward as all hell, even if –

"Even if it ruins your little friendship?"

Amity knew that voice, the voice of Inner Amity, the part of her persona that she would switch on when at school, before Luz helped her to become better.

Shut up! I have to do this! Luz could die tomorrow, and then what?!

"You're too emotional right now, both of you are. Do you really want to confess how you feel about Luz right here, right now? Let's run through all the ways this could end. Chief among them are as follows. One: she thinks you're being overemotional since the kidnapping is still fresh in your memory, and it's driving you to say things that you normally wouldn't say. Two: she says yes, because she too is overemotional, but after a couple of weeks, maybe a month, Luz figures out that she may've said yes in the heat of the moment and doesn't really feel that way about you."

Shut up!

"Three: she's not into girls, like, AT ALL. And can either be insulted by your insinuation that she might, or it could make things so completely awkward between you that just being anywhere near you makes Luz uncomfortable. And my favorite, number four: she does like girls, but she doesn't like Y. O. U."

Amity didn't want to admit it, but her inner self had a point, those were likely scenarios, and was it really worth it to risk her friendship over a heightened state of emotions? Heck, she still didn't know if Luz even liked girls, a major factor in all of this. Amity looked at Luz who smiled back at her. …N-Not today…it's too soon. Yeah…too soon. We'll let everything cool down and then, later, I'll tell her. But I need to find out…actually, now might be a good time to ask that much at least?

The teen witch cleared her throat and said, "Luz?"

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering…well…I've been wondering – and please don't be insulted – or, you know what, you don't have to answer it if you don't feel like it!" Amity added.

Luz blinked. "Okay, shoot."

"Uh…well…have you ever…felt a certain type of way towards girls?" Amity asked.

For once, Amity got to see Luz blush. "OH…! Wow…that's a…a question."

Amity hurriedly waved her hands in the air. "Forget it, you don't have to say anything! Stupid thing to ask!"

"No, no, it's okay!" Luz countered, rubbing her arm awkwardly. "It's just…when everyone sees you as different and thinks you're weird, you tend to keep certain things to yourself to keep others from thinking you're even weirder than they thought."

Amity felt a twinge of anger, she could hear the sadness in Luz's voice when she talked about her human school. Luz was such a wonderful person; how could anyone make her feel like she was less than? Amity paused for a moment of self-reflection and sighed inwardly. Someone like me and the girls back at Hexside, and most of the students…

"I won't tell anyone unless you say it's okay. In fact," Amity drew a magic circle in the air and placed her hand through it. "An unbreakable oath, you remember this one, right?" Luz nodded. "If I tell anyone about what you tell me here today, I'll forever renounce magic."

Luz had a shocked expression when she heard Amity say that. Magic was just as important to her as it was to Luz, and to say she would give it up just to keep whatever she said in confidence, that was…was really touching. Luz reached out, but instead of grabbing her hand, she put it on Amity's arm and made her lower her hand. "You don't need that, I trust you, Amity. But…thank you, for being willing to go that far for me."

Amity nodded in appreciation.

"Okay…so…wow this is hard…" Luz murmured. "I…I guess I like both."

"Both?" Amity parroted.

"Both." Luz repeated.

"As in, you like boys and girls?" Amity clarified.

Luz nodded and continued, "I kind of noticed that I look at girls the same way I would a cute guy…I talked to my Mom about this, and she told me that it's okay that I like both. But I kept it to myself, especially when it got out that this one boy in our class liked boys as well as girls. It got really bad, and he left the school because of it, you can imagine why I stayed quiet about it. It wasn't hard to say that I liked this boy or that boy, I just had to keep my mouth shut whenever I saw an equally cute or hot girl in a magazine or on TV."

Amity felt sorry for Luz, the Boiling Isles didn't really have a policy against same sex couples, it was actually one of the more tolerated things that the Conformatorium Guard didn't lock someone up about. Plus, there were certain spells that allowed two female witches to get around the inability to conceive children without a male, same for males to conceive without a female. That left zero room for an argument to be made about how it would lessen the population, plus, the children of those couples often chose to fall in love and marry their opposite gender, which destroyed the other notion of those types of couples raising their children to be like them. So, it was more accepted than anything on the Isles, but it seemed the human world was more closed minded about such things.

"I'm sorry they made you feel that way, Luz, you shouldn't have to live in fear like that," said Amity with an angry tone. "They shouldn't make you feel that way."

Luz shrugged it off. "It's fine. I mean, it's not okay, but it's high school. Stuff happens, plus, I know it's not going to be like that forever. Maybe I'll meet a cute guy that sweeps me off my feet." Luz then put on a cattish, sultry expression as she raised her right hand, made a paw gesture, and said, "Or maybe I'll charm a cute girl right into my clutches! Hide your daughters, Luz Noceda is on the prowl! Rawr!"

*BA-DUMP*

Titan help me that was hot! "W-Wow, um, wow."

Luz smiled and laid back, she looked relieved. "That felt great to finally get off my chest! I mean, telling someone else who wasn't my Mom, and not getting a weirded out look from it! Thanks, Amity."

"You're welcome. Um, have you told Willow about this?" Amity asked.

Luz thought for a moment and shook her head. "Nope, you're…you're the first person I've ever told about this."

*BA-DUMP!*

I'm the first person she's told about this! She hasn't even told Willow! She…She trusts me that much! She trusts me enough to confide that in me! "LUZ! I swear, I won't tell anyone what you told me unless you say it's okay! I swear on the Titan!"

Luz blinked in surprise. "Thanks, again. But it really does feel good to finally talk about this with someone. Hey, are you the same way, or do you only swing one way?"

…

…

…

SAY SOMETHING YOU IDIOT! THIS IS YOUR CHANCE, PLANT THE SEEDS OF POSSIBILITY AND TELL HER YOU LIKE GIRLS!

"Oh, yeah, I like boys! Super-hot, super cute boys all the way!"

…YOU COMPLETE F-ING MORON!

"Oh, well, that's cool. Just tell me if I'm making it awkward if I start talking about certain girls at school. Like Viney, she's nice, and…kinda thic." Luz added with a saucy eyebrow raise.

Amity's right eye twitched. I hate myself so much right now…wait…VINEY! "Oh…y-you like Viney?"

"I mean, she's cute, and she really helped me out when I was put in that 'detention class', but I haven't really hung out as much with her, not like I do with you guys. But I wouldn't mind if she did ask me out."

JUST THROW YOURSELF OUT THE WINDOW NOW, BLIGHT! JUST DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND END IT RIGHT HERE AND NOW!

Amity looked at the window, it was very enticing, five floors up, a jump from here would crack her skull quick and messy and all her worries would be over in an instant. Then she looked back at the smiling face of Luz and decided against it.

I am an idiot.

"Told you, 'Little Miss Perfect'."

You really need to shut up.

Luz was feeling great the next day, the Healers Coven doctors told both her and Eda that they didn't see anything wrong with her after the last few tests and she could leave that afternoon. By the time that they got the paperwork together and Luz's belongings, Eda and Luz were out around three in the afternoon, which meant Hexside was probably letting out about that time as well.

"Eda, do you mind if we head to Hexside, I want to surprise my friends when they get out?!" Luz asked excitedly.

Eda chuckled and mussed up Luz's hair. "Fine, kiddo, we'll go." With a swift twirl of her staff, the Palisman at the other end unfurled its wings. Eda sat on the staff and waited for Luz to get on.

Luz gladly sat on the back and held onto Eda as the two took off into the air and headed towards Hexside. As they flew, they passed over the bazaar down below, and when they did, an explosion went off.

"W-What was that?!" Luz asked.

"Eh, probably Edgar 'accidentally' setting off his lacrimas."

"What are 'lacrimas'?"

"Basically, crystal balls that can hold a whole lot of magical energy. The crystal used to make them are special, it's the only kind that allows a witch to infuse the crystal into their bodies. Gives you a huge power boost and acts like an extra magic battery, but if you're not careful, those things can overload or destroy you from the inside out," Eda explained.

Several more explosions went off down below again, prompting Eda to stop in midair.

"Okay, that's a few more explosions than normal."

Something inside Luz told that whatever was going on was bad, it was like a tug in the back of her mind that she couldn't shake. "Eda, let's go check it out."

"Kid it's probably nothing, how many times has something crazy happened in the bazaar and it's mostly harmless," said Eda.

"Yeah, but most of the time that's because it's you causing it," Luz countered.

Eda thought about it for a moment before groaning, "Fair point…Okay, fine, we'll check it out."

The Owl Lady angled her staff downwards, the smoke that rose up messed up her vision, prompting Eda to steer as far as she could from the black smoke, and thankfully she managed to angle away from it and found an alley where they could land. Luz and Eda hopped off the staff, when they did, the sound of screaming immediately hit their ears as a mass of people started running in the opposite direction. The witch and apprentice peeked around the corner and both were stunned at what they were looking at.

The creature stood at a whole seven feet, eleven if you count the huge, gray, gnarled antlers on its head. The monster had thin arms, but large hands with razor sharp black claws, its legs were thin and deer-like, and its head was mostly a deer's skull, but instead of flat teeth, it had rows of sharp teeth made for tearing into flesh and bone. The creature looked emaciated, white as snow, a shaggy mane covered part of its chest, all of its neck, and rand down its back, following the length of its spine. Its eyes were dark pools and in those pools were red dots that acted as its eyes.

The creature released an unnatural roar that made every hair on Luz's body stand up on end. But what made it worse was that this creature was flanked on either side by the golem demons that had kidnapped Luz yesterday.

"Find me a Gate! I smell them close by! Bring them here! Kill all in your way!" the monster ordered.

The demon golems began ransacking the area, the few witches that tried to put up a fight were immediately overwhelmed by the demon golems' fire power and near indestructability.

Luz and Eda retreated into the alley, where Eda saw a frightened look on her young apprentice's face.

"Hey, hey, don't worry, I swore I wasn't going to let those things hurt you again, and I meant it!" Eda growled and smirked, it seemed the ringleader of those monsters had finally made themselves known, and now it was time to get revenge on them for taking Luz.

"E-Eda, I don't think you should fight them! They're not like the things we've gone up against, I don't know how to explain it, but I can feel it!" Luz warned.

Eda got down on one knee and looked Luz in the eyes. "Luz, no one hurts my apprentice and gets away with it. Plus, did you already forget who the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles is?"

"N-No, but–!"

"No buts, kid." Eda drew a spell circle, reached into it, and produced four slips of paper. "Here, I brought these from home. If those things come near here, use 'em."

Luz took the slips of paper and recognized them as her spell glyphs, she had made a good amount of them back home, and it seemed that Eda had some stashed away in a pocket dimension.

Before Luz could say anything else, Eda ran from around the corner and charged for the creature. She drew a spell circle, and with a wave of her staff, multiplied those circles, creating ten in total. With a wave of her right hand, all ten circles released concentrated blasts of magical energy towards the demon golems. All ten blasts struck the group of twenty, throwing them into the air or shattering them into pieces upon impact.

The creature snarled as it zeroed in on Eda and got into attack position. "You know not the forces you stand against. To stand in my way is to stand against the Phantoms!"

"Heh, if I had a snail for every time I heard that, I'd be a rich ass woman." Eda drew another spell circle and slammed it into the ground.

The rock and sediment rumbled until five owl tubes burst forth, made of rock and dirt. The owl tubes began to work their way towards the Phantom, but before they could coil around him, the emaciated creature slashed the tubes of rock with his claws, easily cleaving through them as if they were made of air. Eda furrowed her brow and hurriedly cast a fire spell, shooting off a giant fireball at the monster. The Phantom opened its mouth, gathering energy, and then bellowed out another howl, but along with that howl was a beam of ghostly blue energy that slammed against the fireball and made it explode on impact.

A smoke cloud obscured the area between Eda and the Phantom, but after a couple of seconds, the Phantom burst forth from the smoke, claws at the ready to tear Eda apart. The Owl Lady charged her body with her golden magical aura and quickly zipped away, reappearing a few feet behind the Phantom. This was an advanced type of magic, the "Battle Aura", a way for witches to maximize their speed and strength in short bursts, allowing them to overcome their opponents swiftly as it wasn't meant for prolonged battles. But for witches like Eda, who were strong in magic, they were able to maintain this state for longer periods of time.

"You tried to hurt my kid, that was a big no-no!" Eda stated.

The Owl Lady drew more spell circles, and then drew another on the ground. The ground beneath the Phantom suddenly turned to quicksand, making its lower half sink into it, and with a flick of her wrist, Eda made the quicksand solidify into solid rock, trapping the Phantom. The remaining circles, five in total, hovered over the creature's head. With yet another flick of the wrist, the circles fired strong beams of magical energy that exploded on impact. Eda zipped into the air, appearing over the explosion, and then drew one more circle, before flipping around and landing on the opposite side. The moment she landed, the circle ignited and released a bellowing pillar of fire that engulfed a five-foot area around where the Phantom was trapped.

Eda twirled around her staff and slammed it against the street as she gave a toothy smirk. "And that's how its done."

Luz, who had been watching this from the alley, had sparkles going off in her eyes at how cool Eda was. She had seen her mentor use magic before, but not like that, that was next level, combat witch magic. And at the same time, she was gushing over how much Eda really cared about her to go to full ham on that monster.

Shoot, I wish I had my phone! That would've been so cool to watch again, Luz lamented.

However, all that mirth and joy left Luz's face when she saw a shadow rising from the smoke. "EDA, LOOK OUT!"

Eda hurriedly turned around, just in time to watch as the monster came at her with its black claws. The Owl Lady initiated her Battle Aura again, zipping away in a flash of golden lightning that landed her on a roof, but the Phantom was just as quick, leaping off the ground and zipping right onto the same rooftop. Eda and the Phantom began a cat and mouse chase as Eda tried to outrun the monster, but it was no use, the Phantom was just as fast as she was, and twice as deadly.

"No, no, no, EDA!"

"STAY BACK!"

Luz's attention was taken away from the battle between Eda and the Phantom and brought back to the bazaar. It was there she saw her friends, Amity, Willow, Gus, Emira and Edric. Willow had summoned thorn covered vines from the ground that were lashing out at the demon golems, while Amity's Abominations were acting as bodyguards to keep the golems from getting any closer to them. However, the golems were easily cleaving through the vines and the Abominations, and they were backing them into a corner.

"No, no, no! Why are they here?!"

Amity continued to summon more and more Abominations despite the strain that it was putting on her. "I will not let you hurt my family or my friends! I won't let you take those I care about away from me!"

Luz clenched her hands into fists, she needed to help them, somehow, she needed to do something. But what could she do? Her glyph magic hardly did anything to them the last time, and with the addition of this new monster, this "Phantom", how was she going to be anything more than a casualty?

That's when something shimmering flew through the air, those shimmering objects struck the demon golems one after the other, sending them flying away from the group. A few more flew straight for the Phantom, causing small sparks to fly of its body and send the beast hurtling into the side of a building.

"Who-Wha-HOW?!"

"That won't hold them back, and I need to be quick."

"WAH!" Luz quickly turned around and saw a man dressed in black robes and armor, his chest plate had ruby-like gemstones, and his helmet was silver with a red visor. "W-Who are you?!"

"It's alright, I'm not an enemy. My name is Haruto Soma, but like this, I go by the name of Kamen Rider Wizard."

Luz's face lit up as it finally clicked, her mouth hanging open as her eyes scanned Wizard up and down. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, y-you're real! Y-You're a real Kamen Rider! Like in those Japanese superhero shows! You guys are real!"

Wizard tilted his head. "Huh, so in your world we're considered TV show heroes. Interesting." Suddenly, Wizard's body began to, well, glitch. His form fizzling in and out as if he was just a projection. "Okay, that's not good…"

"What just happened to you?" Luz asked with concern.

"It seems the magic of this world doesn't like my magic. It's trying to reject me, like a virus."

"Wait, if you're really a Kamen Rider, then you can defeat those things, right?! You can save Eda and my friends!"

Wizard shook his head. "Sorry, but I can't. My time is too limited, the longer I stay here, the closer I come to being completely rejected from this world. Thankfully, I have a solution…but I'm not liking it much myself."

"What, what is it?!" Luz asked.

Wizard pointed at Luz and said, "You."

Luz pointed at herself in disbelief. "M-Me? W-Why me?! I'm not a Kamen Rider!"

Wizard bent down on one knee and looked Luz in the eyes. "What is your name?"

"Luz…Luz Noceda."

"Noceda-chan, the night that you were taken, it was for a ritual. It's called the Sabbath, it's purpose is to create Phantoms, monstrous creatures born from despair. That ritual was meant to induce deep, soul crushing despair onto the victims caught inside the circle and forcefully transform them into Phantoms."

Luz's eyes widened in shock, remembering the Owl that tried to make her fall into despair, and if she had, she would've become a monster like the one that was fighting Eda. "But…wait…I didn't become a Phantom, or did I and I just don't realize it?"

"No, you're like me. I too was subjected to the same ritual years ago. And just like me, you overcame your despair with hope, that great hope was strong enough to restrain the Phantom within you. With that, you're able to use magic like me," Wizard explained.

Luz had to take a moment to absorb that information, she could use magic, like for real magic. The one thing she had wanted since she came to the Boiling Isles, and now she had gained the power to do it. "Will…Will I be strong enough to help them?"

Wizard nodded, and even though she couldn't see his face, Luz felt that Wizard was smiling at her. "Yes, but the decision is yours. I don't like putting someone as young as you into this fight. But as it stands, you're the only one with the power to defend this world."

Luz clenched her fists; she knew what she had to do. "I'll do it."

"Um…you don't want to think about it for a moment?"

"Nope, I want to do it! I want to help my friends and save Eda!"

Wizard shrugged, if nothing else, Luz was determined and confident. Wizard stepped back and placed a ring on his right hand, then switched the Hand Author buckle of his WizarDriver so that it was positioned for the right hand. The masked hero then placed his right hand over the Hand Author and activated his magic.

[Connect, Please.]

A magic circle appeared on Wizard's right, he then reached inside and took out a pouch full of clear crystals, along with a few rings and a belt similar to his own. Wizard placed four stones from the pouch before her, motioning for Luz to kneel as well. "These are magic stones, these four in particular will be what you'll use to transform with. We need to infuse them with magic first, particularly, elemental magic. Luz, is there an element that you feel closely associated with?"

Luz rummaged through her pocket and pulled out her light spell glyph. "When I came here, the first spell that I learned was the light spell, it's helped me out of bad situations more than once. This is the element I choose." Luz activated the spell and formed a ball of light.

Wizard held up the magic stone to the orb of light and let it absorb the spell. The effects were immediate, the stone changed to a golden-yellow color, and soon after, a metal face formed around it, creating a magic ring. Luz smiled, it actually worked. They repeated this process with the remaining three stones, creating four magic rings in total.

"For now, these will have to do, whenever you discover a new spell, infuse it into these stones." Wizard handed the pouch over to Luz, putting it away in her pocket. "These rings should help you in combat, Kick Strike, Connect, Copy, Engage, Small, Big, Defend, Extend, Driver On, and Bind. And finally…" Wizard reached into the portal and produced a weapon. "This is a copy of my WizarSwordGun, it fires magically infused silver bullets. All you have to do is funnel magic into the weapon and it produces the bullets automatically. It takes a very small amount, so it won't drain you. And lastly, I'll give you a fighting chance."

Wizard switched the ring of on his right hand again, the image on this ring showed two dragons with a line connecting their heads.

[Transfer, Please.]

Wizard placed his right hand on Luz's head, and immediately, Luz felt something flowing into her mind, melding with her muscles and nervous system. When Wizard was done, he retracted his hand. "I gave you the knowledge of how to fight and use the Driver, and a few other things, but that's all I can do for now…

Luz watched as Wizard's body began to glitch more and more rapidly. "Mr. Soma! Wait, what if I need you to teach me more stuff about being a Kamen Rider! Like, when do I get my super forms or when do I get my final form? How do I get my super and final forms?! Why are these Phantoms here?!"

"Heh, heh, those first two, you'll have to discover on your own, like all Riders. The last one, well, I don't know myself. I leave that to you, so be careful…" Wizard's body was starting to fade away, but not before he gave Luz his parting words. "Remember, Luz Noceda, you are this world's final hope…"

With those words, Wizard disappeared in front of Luz, leaving her alone. The sounds of combat still raged on behind her, she was given the power and knowledge to combat these monsters, now it was time to use it. "For Eda, for my friends!"

Luz put the belt on, it was big for her, but a moment later the belt glowed and resized itself to fit around her waist. She switched the Hand Author position so that it was on the left side, Luz placed the Light Ring on her left hand and prepared to touch the Hand Author to initiate the transformation, but she paused. Was she really ready to do this? Becoming a witch was one thing, but becoming a superhero…? Was she ready for something like this? An explosion around the corner made Luz turn around and take a peek.

Eda was on the ground, with the Phantom standing a few feet away, Amity was on the ground as well, exhausted from summoning so many Abominations, but it looked like she was still trying. Edric and Emira seemed to be keeping her from doing more, while Willow was using her vines to keep the golems at bay, which wasn't going to last much longer.

I can do this!

[Shabadoobi Touch Henshin! Shabadoobi Touch Henshin!]

Luz ducked back into the alley and exclaimed the sacred word, "HENSHIN!"

[Light, Please!]

A ring of golden-yellow light appeared in front of her, the ring was a magic circle with ancient runes written on the inner ring of the circle, while the inside had five circles inside it. The top one had the Light glyph, the right had the Ice glyph, the left had the Plant glyph, the bottom had the Fire glyph, and the center had a kind of face on it. That same circle advanced towards her and began the transformation.

[HI~KA~RI!]

When the circle completely passed over her, Luz was no longer her normal height, she could now stand eye to eye with Eda. Her body had also developed a little, but it was hard to tell exactly thanks to the armor she now wore. Unlike her predecessor, she wore a white coat, with gold trim, the inside was lined with blue fabric, the edges of her shoulder pauldrons were silver and on top was a circle with the light glyph etched into it. Topaz gemstones lined both sides of the coat, three for each side, and were semicircular, while her chest plate had a yellow coloring to it. Luz's helmet was also similar to Wizard's, the metallic portions were silver, while the central visor was a yellow color. The rings that were on the ground had appeared on a chain link that was hooked onto her belt, but the WizarSwordGun had disappeared.

Luz looked at herself, feeling her body and then her head. Inside the helmet, Luz was able to get a lot of information, she could see the flow of mana that was in the air, as well as the hostile energies of the Phantoms, it showed this as a line that directed her around the alley, indicating that the enemy was over there. The young Latina had the power, now she needed to use it. Luz bent her knees and jumped straight into the air. The strength of her jump surprised her, as she had cleared fifty feet in one jump and was now overlooking the town of Bones Borough.

"¡Ay Dios mío!" Luz exclaimed when she realized how high she was. "Okay, clam down, assess the situation!" When she looked down, the Phantom was readying to attack Eda, while the golems were encroaching on her friends. "Okay."

Luz quickly took the Connect Ring off the chain link and placed it on her right hand like how she saw Wizard. When she switched the Hand Author to the right hand, she placed her hand over it and activated her ring.

[Connect, Please!]

That same magic circle appeared and Luz reached through it, she felt something, and grabbed it. When she pulled her hand out, she was now in possession of the weapon that Wizard gave to her. Taking careful aim, Luz pulled the trigger and hit the Phantom several times, making him back off Eda. Luz let gravity take hold and let herself go into free fall. With a nice flip in the air, she landed on the ground between Eda and the Phantom, causing Eda to look up at Luz, even the golems stopped their movements and turned to see her. Willow, Gus, the Blight twins, and Amity stared in shock of this new person, wondering if they were friend of foe.

"Don't worry Eda, I'm here to stop these things," said Luz. She stifled a gasp, because when she talked to Eda, her voice sounded older. "Wow, that's weird, wonder why it's doing that?"

Eda picked herself up and looked at the Rider suspiciously. "Who in the hell are you?"

"Uh…Witch…" Luz struck a heroic pose and declared, "I'm Kamen Rider Witch!" Luz then turned her attention to the Phantom and said, "Now, it's showtime!"

Witch stuck the WizarSwordGun into the ground, took out one of her magic rings and placed it on her right hand. She then switched the WizarDriver to the right-hand position, activating its standby.

[Lupachi magic, touch to go! Lupachi magic, touch to go!]

The center of the belt began to glow just as Witch placed her right hand over the belt.

[Copy, please!]

A magic circle appeared next to Witch, as it lowered, a second began to materialize. Once the circle had reached the ground, a complete copy of Witch was standing with her, with an extra WizarSwordGun. The original looked to the copy and the copy nodded, as if they were telepathically communicating to each other what their plan was.

"I won't put up with these theatrics! I am Wendigo! And I will not be stopped!"

The Wendigo Phantom roared and charged for Witch, the warriors of magic charged straight ahead towards the Phantom, and then, the copy jumped over his head. The Phantom stopped in his tracks and watched as she flipped around and landed before the horde of Golem Phantoms, using her WizarSwordGun she slashed her way through the group and put herself between them and her friends. Meanwhile the original struck Wendigo in the back, causing sparks to fly off its body, having been successfully distracted from the copy's actions.

The copy looked at her friends and said, "Don't worry, I'm here to help! Just stay behind me!" The copy opened the Hand Author on the WizarSwordGun.

[C'mon slashing, shake hands! C'mon slashing, shake hands!]

The Witch copy placed her left hand over the metal hand and energized it with the Light Ring's power.

} LIGHT, SLASH STRIKE! {

The Witch copy's blade began to glow with bright yellow light, sparkling and twinkling with luminescent dancing orbs. The Witch Copy assumed a stance and slashed the area in front of her, releasing a crescent blade of energy that flew out and cut down all the Golem Phantoms that stood in front of them. Amity, Gus, and Willow stood in awe at seeing Witch's use of magic, but gasped when the hero turned, gave them a little mock salute, and then vanished.

"NO, HOW?! Nobody should be strong enough to do harm us!" Wendigo exclaimed.

"I'm not a just anybody!" Wendigo turned around and hurriedly blocked Witch's slash with its black claws. "I'm a Kamen Rider!"

Witch dismissed her weapon, letting it return to its pocket dimension, and attacked Wendigo with a strong palm-heel strike to the chest, causing more sparks to fly as it skidded on its heels backwards. Witch ran at it again, throwing kicks the monster's way, but despite the emaciated look of the creature, it still boasted speed and strength. Wendigo blocked some of the kicks, but then lunged with its claws, Witch backflipped away, but Wendigo was on her, he jumped into the air and came down with his claws.

The magical hero stopped and dashed to the right just as the attack landed. Wendigo's claws energized with purple light just as they came down, exploding the ground where she once stood. Witch assumed her fighting stance and engaged again, in a second, she closed the gap and threw a roundhouse kick to the Phantom's head. The kick landed and sent the monster into a spin, landing hard on its back. Witch was about to come down with an axe kick, but Wendigo swiftly grabbed her right leg and threw her straight into a building, creating a body sized hole.

Eda, Willow, Gus, and Amity watched with worry, wondering if the mysterious hero survived that. Then Witch emerged from the hole, groaning from the impact as she shook her head.

"Okay, that hurt," said Witch. "I'm done playing around! Time for the finale!"

"BRING IT KAMEN RIDER!" Wendigo shouted he energized his claws.

Witch took another ring from the chain link and slipped it over her right ring finger. The magical warrior switched the belt to the right-hand side and placed her ring over it.

[VERY NICE! KICK STRIKE! FABULOUS!]

Particles of light began to gather at Witch's right foot, making it sparkle and shine like the stars. Witch assumed her ready stance and ran towards Wendigo, once she was halfway towards him, she jumped straight up, did a somersault, and extended her right leg towards the monster. Wendigo slashed the air in the direction that Witch was coming and released eight purple crescents straight for Witch, but she didn't stop. With a burst of magical energy, Witch propelled herself forward, meeting the attack head on. Her glowing kick met the crescents, the two powers struggled as one tried to win over the other.

Witch released a loud battle cry as she unleashed another burst of her magic, breaking through the attack and dispersing it. Wendigo was left wide open as Witch landed her kick right into his chest. The bright yellow magical energy surged forth on the point of impact and exploded, destroying Wendigo in a burst of fiery destruction as Witch landed behind the explosion. Witch knelt on one knee as she panted from the effort, she looked over her shoulder and confirmed that the Phantom was gone, she looked back at Eda and her friends, along with some bystanders who had witnessed the battle, and smiled knowing that she was able to save them.

However, she couldn't revel in her victory for too long as not only did the Guard start coming their way, but also members of the Emperor's Coven. Oh shoot! Witch hurriedly stood up and said, "Well everyone, you should be safe now! So, I'll be going! Uh…Stay in school and say no to drugs!" Luz hurriedly put her Connect Ring on and activated it.

[Connect, please!]

A magic circle appeared in on the ground before her, and with a little skip, she jumped into the ring and sank into it, disappearing and leaving a lot of people wondering who she was.

A/N: And so it begins! This is as far as the pre-written chapters go folks. From here it's at my leisure for when it gets updated. For some questions some may have, I will address them now.

First off: the cover art is my own drawing of how I think her form would look, I've already drawn her Plant and Ice Style forms as well if you want to check them out on my DeviantArt profile.

Second: Wendigo is not a Phantom from the original Wizard series, it's an original Phantom, the other upcoming Phantoms will be the same way or different renditions of the Wizard Phantoms. I'm trying not to repeat the same ones, although the Phantoms will be a bit more monstrous since I'm not constrained to having to have a person wear a suit.

Third: Lumity, duh!

Fourth: Will BoschLow (aka Boscha x Willow) be a thing in this story? Maybe, maybe not, haven't decided yet. Depends on how Season 2 handles her character development.

Fifth: I will be incorporating some elements of S2 into the story, since, as of Episode 3, Luz created an Invisibility Glyph/Spell. Which means you may get spoiled. But since this takes place after "Wing it Like Witches" it will alter the timeline of events in the Owl House, pushing some events further down the line, while others can get accelerated due to monsters and superheroes.

Sixth: Why was Wizard not able to stay and help? Because his magic was foreign to the Boiling Isles, just like a virus or harmful bacteria, and the world - and to some degree the Titan's corpse - were rejecting him. Luz wasn't affected because A: she obtained conquered her Phantom while on the Boiling Isles, and B: the Island was connecting to her through the glyphs, so she already had a connection to that world making her something like an antibody.

Seventh: The Phantoms born of the Boiling Isles, while originally residents of the island, are stronger and derive their power from a darker force that makes magic like Eda's ineffective against them. To a degree anyway.

Well, hope I answered some of your questions, don't want to give too much away. Stay tuned for more!