"You want me to do what now?" Eda asked.

When Luz arrived at the Owl House, she ran up to her room and found the spray bottle she had transported there. Afterwards, she ran back down and asked Eda to find out if there was anything wrong with the water inside.

"Please, Eda, I need your help! Someone is messing with Willow, I have an idea who it might be, but I need proof!" Luz pleaded.

"Huh, this that same girl who you were trying to help with the Grudgby thing?"

Luz sighed. "Yes, that was not my finest hour, but this is different."

Eda didn't always give into Luz, but the way she was sounding, the desperate tone in her voice, it did make her think twice. "Okay, okay, give it here. Let's see what we're working with."

Luz smiled and handed the bottle to Eda. The Owl Lady walked into the kitchen and took out a potion bottle, Eda unscrewed the top and poured the contents into the clear glass bottle. "Well to the naked eye it just looks like water, but there are some potions that will look as clear as water. What did you say happened after this was sprayed?"

"According to Willow, she gave her plant a few sprays, and then she cast a spell, afterwards, it turned into a monster. Which I swiftly defeated!" Luz proclaimed.

"Well, that explains the cuts and bruises." Eda noted. "Okay, so we might be dealing with a Delayed Spell Potion." The Owl Lady started rummaging through her cupboards but continued her explanation. "A Delayed Spell Potion acts like a catalyst for other spells, depending on the properties, mind you. In a liquid form, you can spray it on almost anything, and the particles will still be attached to whatever it was sprayed on long after it dries. Then all you need to do is cast a spell, and whatever the particles were supposed to do will happen when magic is infused into that object or person. Ah-ha!"

Eda finally found what she was looking for, a vegetable of some kind. The Owl Lady placed the produce on the counter and took up the spray bottle, motioning with her free hand to move away. After Luz took a few steps back, Eda sprayed the plant twice, ensuring that it was coated nicely. She placed the bottle on the floor and drew a spell circle in the air, applying her magic to the vegetable. Within seconds, the vegetable reacted, fidgeting, and morphing until the leaves grew out into hardened shields, the stem growing out thorny vines, and the front formed a mouth of sharpened teeth with the inside glowing turquoise.

"AH! Monster plant!" Luz exclaimed as she readied to use her Fire Glyphs.

"Calm down, I got this." Eda drew another spell circle and thrust her hand through it.

The plant monster seized up as a golden aura wrapped all over its body, with a twist of her hand, Eda crushed the produce monster until its squishy insides gushed all over the counter. "Huh, whaddya know, it is a Delayed Spell Potion."

Luz had winced upon witnessing the death of the creature, compared to her death by fiery explosion, that seemed more painful. "Is something like that hard to make?"

"Not necessarily, any kid at Hexside can make it, well, any kid who's in the Potion Track and knows what they're doing. 'Cause if you get the ingredients wrong, it could result in the effect not happening at all, or the spell could bounce back on the one who made it instead of the target," said Eda.

That settled it for Luz, it had to be Boscha, she was the only one with a grudge against Willow, and she was in the Potion Track, which meant she had access to all the ingredients and had the necessary knowledge to make something like that.

Eda inspected the liquid again, using her magic to break down the liquid into the separate components it was made of. Water made up the base, but then layers of different minerals, liquids, and even plants appeared. "Whoever made this has a nasty grudge against your friend, it's one thing to do a prank, personally I would've made her plant explode. But turning it into a monster that could've killed her and everyone, that's a bit extreme for a prank. Do you know who did it? If so, I can make something that'll get 'em back twice as bad as this!"

Luz shook her head in the negative. "No, I-I really don't, I have suspicions, but nothing concrete. If I do want to do that, I want to make sure it's the right person."

"Got'cha," said Eda as she winked at Luz. Eda recombined the components of the liquid and poured it back into the spray bottle. "I'll hold onto this for safe keeping, if you need it for whatever you might be planning, just tell me and I'll bring it out."

"Thanks, Eda, I need to think this over."

Without another word said, Luz walked up the stairs and into her room. She sat down on the sleeping bag and started to think hard about how she was going to confront Boscha about this. If she was a Phantom in disguise, then she had to prepared herself mentally to take her down. But there was always the off chance that the Phantom might be using Boscha or framing her to throw Luz off the Phantom's trail. Luz ruffled her air as she growled in frustration.

"Ugh! This always looks so much easier on the TV shows! Then again, I don't have the advantage of a third person viewpoint," Luz lamented. "Okay, just gotta think this through…what if it really isn't Boscha? I could be chasing the wrong person and end up getting Willow hurt."

On that note, Luz started to feel a strange sensation in the back of her head, something similar to when she was drawing the circles and creating the Spell Rings. Luz sighed in dismay as she removed her sock and said, "The lesser of two evils…still debating whether this was the lesser or greater." Luz got up and walked to the door and opened it, she slipped the sock on, but then noticed Eda standing at the foot of the stairs.

"Had an 'itch' to scratch, huh, kid?" Eda asked with a smirk.

Luz blushed bright red.

"Just make sure you wash your hands before you come down and eat dinner."

Luz stuttered, trying to refute the idea that she was doing that behind the door, but at the same time her brain was telling her that if she did that, she'd have to explain what she was really doing behind closed doors. In the end, Luz groaned loudly and thumped her head against the wall, again.

"Stupid!"

Thump!*

"Secret!"

Thump!*

"Identity!"

With that embarrassing moment done with, Luz sat down on her sleeping bag and took out a piece of paper and a pencil. Slipping into her trance again, her hand started to draw a circle on the paper, about fifteen seconds later, Luz blinked, and her circle was complete. She took out another of the magic stones and placed it at the center, and with a tap, activated it. A bright flash went off in her room again, and when it was over, she was staring at a brand-new Spell Ring. Luz picked it up and inspected the ring, seeing that it had the image of…a broom?

"Uh…okay…is this a cleaning spell?" Luz asked.

Once again, she had a new ring, but could not test it without alerting Eda, King, or Hooty. She needed to find a way to test out these rings before she used them in battle against the Phantoms, or else risk using them and finding out that they're not exactly battle oriented.

"Well, that's it for tonight, one Spell Ring is all I can do for now. Don't want to drain myself like last time."

However, before she could get ready to sleep, that same sensation overtook her. The power inside her wanted to make another ring.

"What?! Oh c'mon!"

Without her wanting to, Luz grabbed the pencil and drew another Glyph circle. The Latina put down the pencil and sighed, she knew what was going to happen the moment she activated the spell. Part of her mind told her to leave it for tomorrow, but what if it was a spell that she needed? Every ring she made was another weapon in her arsenal to defeat the Phantoms. Reluctantly, Luz placed the magic stone in the center of the circle. Before she activated it, she put the rest of her things away, knowing that she was going to knockout not long after.

With the rest of the magic stones and rings put away, Luz activated the spell. A flash went off in the room, revealing a brand-new Spell Ring. This ring had a pair of slit eyes on it. When it was over the exhaustion hit her like a ton of bricks. "Here comes…the sleepy…" and Luz was out.

Willow was still feeling bad about what happened the other day, and the students were looking at her with suspicion about what happened in class. The bespectacled witchling tried not to let it get her down too much, the last thing she wanted was to cause problems for Luz, Gus, and Amity, especially Luz, considering what she did the other day.

"Hey, Willow."

The witch in question turned around and smiled when she saw her best friend walking up to her. "Oh, Luz, how are you?"

Luz smiled and said, "I'm good, but you don't look like it."

Willow flinched, she thought she was doing a better job at hiding it. "I-I'm fine…really."

The Latina gave a frustrated sigh. "You know Willow, we really need to talk about well…" Luz then gestured to Willow. "This."

Willow quirked an eyebrow, "You just gestured to all of me."

"Yes, yes I did." Luz draped an arm over Willow's shoulders and lowered her voice so that only Willow could hear her. "Listen, Willow, I love you like a sister, but I really need you to woman up here. I mean, before I got here, what were you even doing?"

"W-What do you mean?!" Willow asked with an indignant tone.

"I mean, before I came along and helped you out, were you just planning on taking it from everyone until you had enough and quit Hexside?"

Willow opened her mouth to object that claim, but she stopped. A moment of reflection made her think about what would have happened if Luz never came to the Boiling Isles, she was the joke of the Abomination Track, with Amity as the star student. She'd probably still be in the Abomination Track course right now and failing miserably if it wasn't for Luz's intervention.

"Willow, like I said, I love you, but if you don't really shape up…" Luz sighed. "It's going to start being a chore and…" Luz rubbed her right arm as a sad look appeared on her face. "I'm not saying this to be mean…Willow…I'm just not built like the rest of the witches here…my body can't take damage the way witches like Eda and others can. At some point…I won't be able to protect you anymore, Willow."

Willow felt a stab at her heart, but before she could say anything, Luz walked away from her and headed down the opposite hallway. The young witchling let that sink just now, was she really relying on Luz that much? Was she letting her friend take the punches that were meant for her? Her mind snapped back to yesterday, remembering how Luz valiantly slashed her way into the classroom and stabbed her creation, resulting in an explosion that could've easily killed Luz.

Witches and humans had different physiology, per Gus, aside from the magic bile sack connected to their hearts. The magic of their bile sacks strengthens a witch's body, allowing them to shrug off some hits and attacks that would seriously injure or render a human unconscious. While there is a Healing Coven, witches can regenerate at a faster rate than humans, not the I can grow my arm back in a couple of hours fast, but things like broken bones – that would take a human months to heal, depending on the severity – would take about a month unaided by healing spells, again this was dependent on how severe the actual injury was. Which was why Amity's leg would probably be back to normal before the end of the week.

But Luz…if she got injured like that, she'd be out of commission for longer even with healing spells. As a matter of fact, she and Gus have been treating Luz as if she was as strong as them, when she could've easily lost her life several times on the Boiling Isles, and she nearly did not too long ago. She had been taking her friend for granted, letting her take on the troubles that Willow herself should have been.

"Luz…I'm so sorry…" Willow whispered.

Cracks started to form on Willow's body, more than before, with the light coming from the cracks intensifying. Around the corner was Luz, but instead of going to her friend, she smirked. Luz raised her index finger and…drew a blue spell circle. In a matter of seconds Luz's body morphed and changed to someone completely different. It was a teenage girl, about as old as Amity's siblings. She wore the colors of the Illusion Track, had blonde hair and violet eyes. The teenage witch had a sadistic grin on her face as she enjoyed the sight of sorrow and despair in Willow.

"Oh, poor Willow," said the witch. "You're starting to feel just how useless you are, but don't worry. The Phantom inside of you will a glorious addition to our ranks."

"Hey, Zera!"

Zera clamped her mouth and smoothly turned around, apparently it was the young olive-skinned witch, Gus. "Heya, Augustus, what's going on?"

"Nothing much, hey, have you seen Luz anywhere?" Gus asked.

Zera tapped her chin as she thought it over for a second, "Hmm, can't say that I have. You guys are close, aren't you?"

Gus nodded and said, "Yep, my best friend, and a human! It can't get any better than that!"

The memories of the witch that used to be Zera were helpful in letting her get around the school, they came in handy when learning about her target, Willow, but for the other bits she had to find out on her own. One of those bits of information she had in memory was how this young boy was apparently talented at Illusion magic, skipping grades due to his abilities. Also, being a young boy, it made him easy to flirt with and extort info from.

Zera giggled and leaned down a bit as she said, "No, Augustus, I meant as in like-like. Do you have a thing for that human?"

Gus' face lit red at the insinuation. "W-What?! No way! I mean, yeah, Luz is great, but she's like a big sister to me!"

Zera shrugged. "Eh, I still ship it. We should head to class though, the bell's going to ring any time now."

"But…?"

Zera placed her hand on Gus' shoulder and said, "C'mon, Augustus, you're not going to escort a lady to her class?" she asked as she batted her eyelashes.

Gus gulped and said, "O-Okay, sure."

Witch boys are too easy, thought Zera. I'll let Willow marinate in that despair a bit longer, just before I deliver the hammer blow to her.

Luz was snoring up a storm, Eda and King were in her room, looking down on the young human, confused as to how she was still asleep. It had been hours since school started, and Luz hadn't woken up at all. Which was unlike her as Luz was always eager to go to school, normally a kid wouldn't be that excited, but for Luz, going to a magic school was her dream come true.

"You think she's sick?" Eda asked.

King scurried up to Luz and sniffed her. "Hmm, she doesn't smell sick. Not like you did that time you got Wart Flu."

Eda cringed. "Worst two weeks of my life." The older witch got on one knee and began to shake her apprentice. "Hey, Luz, wake up already, you've missed most of your morning classes!"

Luz still slept.

Guess the kid really went at herself last night to make herself this exhausted, Eda thought. Although, after taking a moment to look at Luz and her sleeping bag, she couldn't find any of the telltale signs of a teenage girl enjoying her private time. What the Titan were you doing in here that made you so tired?

"King, step back," Eda ordered.

The canine demon scampered off Luz and stood at Eda's side. The Owl Lady drew a magic circle in the air, she then willed that circle to form over Luz's head, and with swipe of her finger caused a deluge of cold water to come pouring out of it. That seemed to do the trick as Luz immediately sprang up and onto her feet, gasping and flailing about.

"¡Santa maldita vaca que está fría (Holy freaking cow that's cold!)!¡¿Por qué es tan FRÍO (Why is that so COLD?!) ?! Eda, ¿por qué me echaste agua helada (Eda, why did you pour freezing cold water on me?!)?"

"Luz, no offense, but you know I can't understand you when you use that weird human language of yours," said Eda.

Luz shook her head, hugging herself as she shivered. "Why did you pour water on me?! That's really rude!"

Eda crossed her arms and said, "Guess that's why it's called a rude awakening. You slept in kid; you've been out for half the day now."

Luz's anger evaporated and turned into shock. "W-What?! You can't be serious?!" Luz looked for her phone, which miraculously managed to avoid getting hit with the water. "¡Mierda, llego tan tarde a la escuela (Crap, I am so late for school!)! Eda, why didn't you wake me up sooner?!"

"We've tried, Luz, but you were practically dead to the world," said King.

Hooty stretched into the room and said, "I said we should poke you with a stick, that always works, but Eda said no, but then I said–"

"Great! Interesting! Gotta go bye!" Luz stated as she scrambled to get her things together.

Eda gave a deadpan expression as she quickly slapped her hands over Hooty and King's eyes as Luz flung her pajamas off and hurriedly slipped into her Hexside uniform.

"Did you at least call the school and tell them I'm running late?!" Luz asked.

"Not really, I was more concerned by the fact that you slept in on a school day. Considering how much you like going there, and after all the strange stuff that's been going on, I got worried okay!" Eda confessed.

After getting dressed in her uniform, Luz looked up at Eda with a look of apology. "I'm sorry, Eda, I was just tired last night. I was trying to figure out who was messing with Willow, I think I might know who but…"

Eda raised an eyebrow. "But what?"

"I don't know if they're being manipulated by someone or they're doing it themselves," said Luz.

Eda removed her hands from King and Hooty, in King's case, she had to detach her right hand and had it crawl and slap itself over his eyes. That same hand crawled up Eda's back and perched itself on her shoulder where she reattached it back to her right arm. "Luz, if it's that bad, let me give you a hand. If there's anybody on this island who knows how to dish out payback, it's me."

"That I don't doubt, but I have to this on my own, I can't go embarrassing the Eda the Owl Lady as her apprentice." Luz smirked as she appealed to Eda's ego.

The Owl Lady sighed and said, "Fine, I'll write something to Bump saying that we had a mishap here and it made you late."

"Thank you, Eda!"

The cracks on Willow's body had not gone away, her thoughts turned into self-loathing as she realized just how much she's burdened those around her. She was called half-a-witch Willow before moving to the Plant Track, she always hated that nickname, but now she was starting to wonder if maybe that nickname was truer than she thought it was. A full witch would take matters into her own hands, a full witch wouldn't take all the teasing and name calling and fight back, a full witch wouldn't let her friends fight her battles for her and let them get hurt.

"I can't keep putting Luz through this…I don't think it's Boscha…but, maybe I can talk to her? Work out a truce?" Willow thought aloud.

Just then there was a scrambling of students headed towards the exit, Willow was confused for a moment, but then she started to hear the names "Boscha" and "Luz". That was all Willow needed to hear before Willow followed the crowd of students, their destination being the Grudgby Field. Willow managed to push her way towards the front and watched as she saw Boscha and Luz, squaring off in the middle of the field.

"What's going on?!" Willow asked.

A blonde haired, violet eyed Illusion Track witch came up next to her and said, "You didn't hear? That human girl challenged Boscha to a fight! She said something about being tired of taking Boscha's crap and that she was going to finish this once and for all. Boscha didn't seem be for it at first, but then the human pushed her, she got angry, and now this happened."

"No, no, no!"

Boscha cracked her neck and then her knuckles as she stared down Luz. "Human, you've had this a long time coming. Ever since you got here, you've turned everything upside down, now Amity's hanging around your gang of losers! I can't wait to make you eat dirt!"

Luz took out a Fire Glyph and ignited it in her right hand. "Give it your best shot, witch!"

The Latina tossed the fireball at Boscha, the triclops drew a spell circle and created a small shield that managed to block the attack. Luz continued to lob fireballs at her, using one glyph paper after the other. Boscha growled angrily at the cocky human as she drew another spell circle.

"You think you're a witch?! I'll show you how a witch really fights!" Boscha declared. "I'm not holding back!"

Boscha expanded her shield, and while she was behind it, she drew a much larger spell circle. The triclops clapped her hands together, transforming the circle into a ring of blazing flames. Willow saw this and hurriedly drew her own spell circle as she screamed, "BOSCHA, STOP!"

With a fierce cry, Boscha thrust both of her hands forward, firing through her shield. A large column of fire exploded forth, burning a trail straight towards Luz. Willow slammed her hand against the ground, summoning thick vines to rise and act as a shield, but the flames were too intense, and easily vaporized the vines, they might as well not have been there at all. Luz created another fireball and hurled it just a moment before the flames reached her, but the fireball merely exploded on impact as the flames struck and exploded. A large dust cloud was kicked up into the air, obscuring everything around them.

Willow's eyes widened with fear, tears streaming down her face as she waited for the smoke to clear. "Please…Titan…no…"

Boscha coughed from the smoke, but then shouted, "C'MON HUMAN! IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

The smoke finally cleared a bit, but when it did, the assembled students gasped in shock. Lying on the ground was Luz, her front severely burned from the explosion and flames, and barely breathing. All three of Boscha's eyes were wide with shock, while Willow was slowly walking towards her downed friend.

"Hey…she's faking that right? C'mon, y-you're not telling me that she's that fragile, right?" Boscha asked with a shaky voice.

Willow fell to her knees before Luz, eyes taking in the severe burn damage to her body, half her face was burned as well. "L-Luz…"

"LUZ!"

Willow's heart sank when she heard the voice of Amity, she turned her head and watched as Gus helped the green haired witch make her way through the crowd. The moment her eyes fell on Luz's body she broke into a dash, ditching the crutches as she fell to the ground, crawling at this point to get to them.

"No, no, no, no! LUZ SAY SOMETHING!" Amity cried.

Luz coughed as she used her one good eye to look up at Willow. "I'm…sorry…Willow…I tried to do what I could…I tried…"

Amity's eyes turned into slits as she growled in anger, aiming her attention straight at her former friend. "BOSCHA!" Amity screamed as she tried to get up several times but failed to do so. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"

Ed and Em saw their little sister try to hobble her way towards Boscha, but the twins immediately rushed to their little sister, keeping her from getting her hands on the triclops, or draw a magic circle. Boscha slumped, falling onto her rear as fear gripped her, she was angry and frustrated with the human, but she aimed at the ground, thinking the explosion would just knock the wind out of her and make her quit. She didn't think the heat was strong enough to burn her that badly.

Willow looked to Amity, her face contorted with anger and pain. Then to Boscha, who looked scared and in denial. Gus, who was standing next to Willow, looking at Luz's burnt body with sadness. "This…This is all my fault…"

The cracks suddenly appeared all over her body, and deep inside, Willow felt something break. She released a painful scream into air as violet light shined from her body, making the cracks in her body visible to everyone standing there.

"WILLOW!" Gus yelled as he rushed to his friend's side.

Amity's rage towards Boscha ceased when she heard Willow's screams of pain. The green haired witch turned around and gasped in terror when she saw the cracks forming on Willow's body. "WILLOW!" Edric and Emria helped Amity to Willow as she asked, "What's happening to her?!"

"I-I-I don't know! Someone call a teacher!" Gus demanded.

"Oh, there's no need for that, the process has begun, and soon, Willow's pain will cease, and she'll be reborn."

All eyes shifted to blonde haired witch as she strode from the crowd and stood halfway between Willow's group and Boscha.

"Zera…?" Gus asked.

"This body was known as Zera. But that's not my real name." Zera waved her hand and Luz's body fizzled and disappeared.

Gus gasped at what he saw and turned his attention back to Zera. "It was an illusion! That wasn't the real Luz!"

"Correct, Augustus, but it's too late for that to matter. Once her Underworld has been consumed, Willow will be just like me. So, say your last goodbyes while you can, because when it's over, Willow's soul will be gone forever," said Zera.

Amity glared at the tall witch and asked, "You say you're not Zera, so who or what are you?!"

Zera chuckled, she looked at Boscha, then Amity's group, and then at the crowd behind her. "Guess there's no point in keeping up this façade any longer."

Suddenly, Zera's body erupted into blue flames, Edric and Emira created a combined spell circle, turning it into a shield to keep their sister and her friends safe. When the flames died down, everyone got to see the Phantom's true form, and they all gasped in horror. Its body was made of pure blue flames, the eyes were glowing slits of light that shined a bright azure. The creature's body was feminine in appearance, with dark cyan lines that weaved into intricate flame patterns. Her hands were large, and claw tipped, while her legs were humanoid. All around her were fiery orbs that hovered in place, never straying too far from their creator.

"I am the Phantom, Wil-O'-The-Wisp, and soon, your friend will become a Phantom, just like me!"