Here's a little Valentine's Day gift for y'all. All of your support has been truly amazing and it just makes me giddy to see how much you guys enjoy my writing. I apologize again for the wait, life and writer's block just decided to make things hard, but I hope that it's worth the wait.
On with the chapter!
Enjoy!
"Well kids, did you ever imagine you'd see something so breathtaking in your lives?" Eda exclaimed with wide arms to a disgusted Luz and enthusiastic Percy.
It had been a week since the two teens had found themselves in the Boiling Isles. They quickly fell into a routine of helping Eda with her potions business, Percy helping with brewing, and Luz delivering the finished potions. Today, with the 'assistance' of King, they were helping with her other business venture of selling human junk to unsuspecting demons and witches. The work found them on the beach standing before the massive corpse of something that resembled a slug.
"I don't like this." Luz mumbled looking queasy.
"This is the best thing ever!" Percy said excitedly, jumping at the opportunity to do something other than chop plants with odd names.
"It doesn't get more inspiring than the Trash Slug, kids." Eda walked over to the rotting corpse and rubbed her hand across it adoringly. "It makes a life of consuming what others have tossed to the wayside, until BLAM." Eda spun around and slammed her fist into her palm. "It gets hit with a wave and croaks from all the salt, allowing us to dig around its dead body and sell what it ate."
Eda walked over to the pair and offered a pickaxe she pulled from her hair. Luz looked at the tool and turned away in disgust.
"Please don't make me." She said in a low voice.
"I'll do it!" Percy shouted happily as he yanked the pickaxe from Eda's hand and ran over to the Trash Slug's body.
"At least someone is happy to help." Eda said snidely.
"No, this is disgusting. I'm just happy to be out of the potions lab and next to the water." Percy responded as he dug through the corpse.
"C'mon Luz, go help your brother. It's not every day you get to pick apart a garbage carcass." King commented sarcastically from a beach towel off to the side.
"Nuts to you both." Eda pulled another pickaxe from her hair and started hitting the Trash Slug.
Luz winced at the sound of every impact.
"So Eda, what if we tried some new lessons for my apprenticeship? Like reading ancient scrolls, or mixing potions together, or…"
"Gross. Sounds like a bunch of magic school stuff." Eda said without looking back.
Luz's face lit up and her eyes widened.
"Wait. Is there a magic school here?" Luz walked over to Eda with her hands clasped. "Like winding towers, cute uniforms, and dark plots that threaten your life. That kind of magic school!"
"You forgot to mention the eccentric Headmaster and teachers who don't care when you investigate the dark plots." Percy shouted from his position.
Luz sent him a glare, which only served to confuse him.
"Why are you looking at me like that, you complain about those things all the time. It's like your number one complaint of the genre." Percy said defensively.
Luz sighed with a slight shake of her head before turning back to Eda.
"Making a little loop-de-loop back to my point. Magic School." Luz said with a tilted head and raised eyebrows, her hand vaguely gesturing toward the older witch.
"Yes, Luz we have magic schools. What's worse is that they force you to learn magic the 'proper way'." Eda suddenly turned around with wide eyes. "But magic isn't proper. It's wild and unpredictable, and that's what makes it beautiful." Eda struck a pose with her hands on her hips."I didn't finish school and look at me. Who wouldn't envy where I am now?"
Luz looked at the ground with a troubled look on her face.
Eda seeing the look on Luz's face, dropped her pickaxe and walked over to the girl.
"Uh, here's a lesson. A great witch is resourceful." Eda grabbed Luz's arm and stuck it in a small pool of green liquid on the ground.
After a few moments, Luz pulled her hand with a small dripping brown ball.
"Hooray, a greasy slimeball." Luz said sarcastically, looking at her hand with disdain.
Eda knelt down and wrapped her hands around Luz's.
"Use your slimeball wisely young witch." She stood and walked away. "Now back at!"
Luz got off the ground and put the ball in her pocket.
"Actually if it's alright, I think I'm going to head back to the house and look at pictures of animals that aren't dead." Luz announced to everyone before she walked over to where King was 'sunbathing' and rubbed his stomach. "I'll see you later my little beach peach."
Before Luz had an opportunity to leave, Percy appeared from around the corner of the slug and stopped in front of her.
"You alright lígo fos?" He asked quietly, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.
Luz smiled gently and pulled Percy into a tight hug.
"I'm fine just frustrated with my lack of progress, that's all." She released Percy and looked up at him.
Percy gave her a disbelieving look.
"Seriously, I'm fine. Go help Eda with her Trash Slug or whatever." Luz said defensively, not meeting Percy's gaze.
Percy sighed and stepped back.
"Ok, just be careful, alright." Percy said sternly. "I don't want you getting into trouble where I can't help you."
Luz rolled her eyes and scoffed.
"I'll be fine stop worrying so much." She turned toward the forest. "Bye now!"
Luz walked into the trees leaving Percy standing there.
"She is not fine." The voice of King said.
At some point during Luz and Percy's interaction, the small demon had made his way from his towel over to where they were.
"Obviously not, but can you blame her? Eda's been making her do menial labor. I've interacted with more magic than she has and I don't even care about it." Percy said tiredly.
King patted Percy's leg in a comforting manner.
"Eda's going to lose her as a student, and then she can join us and learn all about demons!" King yelled happily. "You've been a great student of course, but could you imagine what I could do with two great students? I could conquer the entire Boiling Isles!"
Percy looked down at the excitable demon and smiled fondly.
"I'm sure you could. Let's get back to Trash Slug and help Eda."
"That sounds awful!" King exclaimed petulantly before stomping his foot. "I don't want to do that."
"I'll tell you more about human realm demons if you help me." Percy offered with a smirk.
King immediately stopped his tantrum and looked at Percy, eyes wide and sparkling with excitement.
"What are we waiting for? Let's get to work!" King grabbed onto Percy's pant leg and tried to pull him toward the slug.
Percy laughed as he bent down and picked King up before placing him on his shoulder.
"Ok, ok. I'm walking." Percy said calmly, a large smile plastered across his face.
King stuck his arm out, directing Percy toward the slug carcass.
"Onward, noble steed! And while you're at it tell me about the Me-an-o-tar again."
Percy chuckled and shook his head good-naturedly.
"The Minotaur is a hulking half-man half-cow demon that…"
"Stupid Eda. Stupid slug. Stupid brother that's too caring to be mad at." Luz grumbled as she kicked a rock near her foot.
She'd been walking for about ten minutes and was still upset.
Stopping for a moment, she looked down to see an assortment of interesting bugs that she would have normally fawned over, but she just didn't feel like it.
She knew it was unfair to be upset by the fact she hadn't learned any magic. Eda had agreed to teach her magic without much hesitation and had given her a place to sleep and food to eat as well. Sure she asked Luz to deliver potions for her, but it was only to pay for the magic lessons, everything else was free.
Still, Luz was unhappy with how little she had actually learned. The only real lesson she had been given was not to trust old dudes in robes, and that was because she went off on her own. Eda herself had taught her very little.
Even Percy had learned more and he didn't even care. When she asked to swap jobs with her brother for a day, Eda turned her down firmly and told her she wasn't ready. It was frustrating, but she didn't hold it against him, as he seemed just as unhappy about it as she was.
Luz sighed and prepared to start walking again when she heard something in the distance.
"Come on! You can do it!" A distinctly female voice said.
"Mysterious voice of encouragement?" Luz mumbled to herself as she walked toward the noise.
Pushing aside the branches of a bush. Luz saw a girl in a black tunic with a hood and an undershirt with long purple sleeves. She had dark blue hair and wore large circular glasses and was standing next to a wooden cart with a large stone vase on it.
"Cute witch girl!" Luz said in hushed excitement.
The attire the girl had looked like a uniform, which might mean she was close to a school, which meant she might be able to attend!
"You can do it! Even if you get a bad grade, it's not a reflection of you as a witch." She girl said loudly. "And my parents are right, there are better opportunities on this track."
The girl took a step forward and crushed a small purple flower. She immediately dropped to her knees and cupped the flower in her hands.
"Oh no! Little friend, I'm so sorry!"
The girl drew a small green spell circle above the flower, causing it to perk up.
A large smile came across Luz's face. This is what she was looking for! pushing the branches apart, Luz prepared to walk over and introduce herself to the girl but was stopped when she heard the sound of something approaching.
From around the corner, a cart with a vase on it, similar to the witch girl's, came into view. The cart appeared to be moving by itself and on top, a girl sat gracefully with an open book in hand. She wore an outfit almost identical to the other girl, aside from the gold star on her chest. Her light green hair was pulled back into a high ponytail.
"Willow." The girl said happily. "You're so unnoticeable I almost ran right over you!"
"Hi, Amity." Willow replied sadly.
Luz frowned. She was very familiar with this type of person, having dealt with them for most of her life. She learned how to handle them, but they were still unpleasant to interact with. She wanted to step in and say something, but the warning Percy had given her stopped her from acting.
"Shouldn't you be in class preparing your-" Amity started saying before she was cut off by the sound of grinding stone.
Willow's large vase began rocking violently before it tipped over, spilling dark purple sludge all over the ground.
"Oh Willow, you don't have anything to show do you?" Amity said patronizingly as she put a hand on Willow's shoulder. "This is why people call you half a witch Willow."
Luz grimaced, Amity's words reminding her of the shouts she would receive to be 'normal' when she did something most considered odd. She got over them, but it still hurt.
The vase behind Amity began to wobble slightly, causing the green-haired witch to walk over to it.
"Oh, sounds like someone wants to say something to you. Abomination, rise." She said with a snap of her fingers.
From the vase, a vaguely human-shaped figure the same color and the sludge on the ground rose and moved toward Willow. Bringing its hand up, it drew a small star on her forehead.
"You're a star." The Abomination said in garbled english.
"Aww, it's just like mine." Amity said smugly, pointing at the star-shaped badge on her chest with the words 'top student' written across it. "Just smaller and meaningless."
Luz found herself getting angry for Willow. Sure she didn't know either of the girls personally, or at all, but she still knew bullying when she saw it.
"As the top student is my job to tell you to keep at it. Even you could get a passing grade someday." Amity said as she walked back to her cart. "Abomination cower."
The Abomination shrunk back into its vase, allowing Amity to climb back on top.
"See you around superstar." She said mockingly, before rolling off, leaving Willow alone.
Willow waited until Amity was out of view to wipe the star off her head.
"See you around superstar." Willow said in a poor imitation of Amity. " I hate it when she does that!"
Willow stomped her foot and curled her fingers into fists.
"I hate abomination magic! I hate getting bad grades! I'm so sick of it!" Willow shouted before her eyes started glowing an acidic green.
Vines erupted from the flower the girl had saved earlier and started thrashing around randomly and violently.
Luz watched with a mix of awe and fear. It was the strongest magic she had seen since arriving on the Boiling Isles. It was beautiful.
Before Liz could admire the vines further, one snaked through the bush, wrapped around her ankle, and yanked her toward Willow. Is whipped her around for a moment before depositing her behind the raging witch. Soon after Luz landed, Willow turned around and looked directly at her, causing all the vines to stop immediately.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to lose control." Willow said apologetically as she drop to her knees to examine Luz's wound.
"It's fine, the thorns only broke through a few layers of skin." Luz said, waving off Willow's concern.
"Thank goodness." Willow said before looking at Luz's ears. "So circlely."
Luz inhaled sharply. She had never discussed with Eda if she and Percy should hide the fact they were humans. It hadn't been a problem so far as most didn't pay much attention to her, but now someone had noticed. She brought her hands up in a desperate attempt to hide her ears, but she knew it was too late.
Willow gasped slightly and her eyes widened in recognition.
"You're human! This is astounding!" Willow helped Luz off the ground. "A human on the Boiling Isles."
Willow circled Luz, peppering her with questions as she examined her.
"How did you get here? What are you doing here? Are you alone?"
Before Willow could ask any more questions, a school bell rang in the distance, causing her mood to drop.
"I'm sorry, I can't stay. I have to go disappoint my teacher." Willow said sullenly as she walked back to her spilled abomination. "It was nice to meet you human."
Luz watched as Willow walked away and considered her options. If she went after her, she might have a chance to see what the schools were like in the Boiling Isles and maybe even make a friend. On the other, Percy did tell her not to get into any trouble that he couldn't help her with.
Seeing that Willow was about to leave, Luz quickly made up her mind and ran after her.
"Wait! You're Willow right?" Luz asked when she had caught up to the girl. "I saw what you did with those plants, it was just..WOW!"
"Thanks. I'm not really supposed to be doing plant magic though, my parents put me on the abomination track at school." Willow said glumly, kicking at the puddle of purple sludge in front of her.
"By school do you mean magic school?" Luz asked suddenly, grabbing Willow and pulling her closer to her face.
Willow gave a small nod, causing Luz to let go and bring her hands up to her chest.
'I'm so jealous of you. I have a teacher, but she's kind of unconventional. I bet she wouldn't even let me enroll, but I wish I could go for one day." Luz said wistfully.
"I wish I could get a good grade for once, then maybe people would stop calling me 'Half-A-Witch' Willow." Willow responded sullenly, her head down.
Luz looked at Willow with a frown. She wanted to help her, she really did, but she had no way of doing so. Looking around Luz's eyes landed on the abomination goo on the ground and an idea sprung into her mind.
"Willow, I know how we can both get what you want!" Luz stuck her hands in the puddle of goo and smeared some across her chest. "Make me your abomination! I'll get you a good grade and you'll get me into magic school." Luz struck a pose and bounced one of her eyebrows. "It's fiendishly clever."
"What-no-that." Willow tried to say in protest.
"I saw that girl's thing. It was just chunks of stuff that talk weirdly. I'm chunks of stuff and I talk weird." Luz said happily
Luz knew she was putting herself into a situation where Percy or Eda might not be able to help her, but at the same time, she couldn't pass up an opportunity to see what a magic school was like.
"That's true." Willow said slowly before giggling and sticking her hand out. "Alright deal."
Luz gleefully grabbed her hand and shook it, only to realize the purple goop she was covered in made her hand stick to Willow's. After taking a few moments to unstick themselves, Willow used vines to put her vase back on her cart and used basic magic to gather any salvageable abomination sludge and put it back into its container.
"We'd better get going if we're going to get to school before the door closes its mouth." Willow said calmly before gesturing toward the vase. "Hop in and we can get going."
Luz looked at the vase, her eyes widening and her mouth opening slightly as she realized exactly what she'd signed up for.
"Uh, I'll walk until we get closer to the school." Luz said with a slight grimace. " And did you say the door had a mouth?"
"Yeah, you don't want to be caught in it." Willow replied before grabbing the handles of her cart and pushing with a surprising lack of effort. "Now come along."
Luz followed after her with no argument, jogging slightly to catch up. They walked quietly for a few moments, allowing Luz an opportunity to think about what she had learned about the Boiling Isles, only to realize she knew next to nothing. She'd been there for a week and she did know anything meaningful, but she had a chance to reconcile that.
"Hey Willow I'm curious, why is it called the Boiling Isles? From what I've seen, everything seems super, uh, not boiling." Luz asked, cringing slightly at her awkward phrasing.
Willow giggled and turned toward her.
"Well the sea is boiling, but only in specific parts, in most other places the temperature is actually quite pleasant. Most people don't care to specify, it's easier to say 'Boiling Sea' than 'Mostly Warm but Sometimes Boiling Sea." Willow replied happily. "You never answered my question about what you are doing here or how you got her in the first place?"
Luz thought about how to answer for a moment before deciding that telling the truth wouldn't do any harm.
"Well, I saw an adorable little owl stealing my book from the trash and followed it through a weird door, and ended up here with my brother."
"You have a brother?" Willow asked surprised.
"Yeah, well kinda. We found him in the woods and just kinda took him in. He's cool though, even if he says weird stuff sometimes." Luz said happily.
"Where is he now? Why isn't he with you?"
"He's back with my teacher. I wonder what they're up to?"
"Not a bad haul. Those oviducts were loaded." Eda said proudly while tying a bag of orange eggs to her staff.
"Ah. Lose apprentice, gain garbage eggs. Seems like a fair trade to me." King shouted from a nearby scrap pile.
Eda turned around and crossed her arms.
"I didn't lose my apprentice."
"If you don't teach her anything soon, you will. You've taught more to her brother that doesn't care than her. And when she finally drops you, I'll take her as my student."
"It's not like I'm trying to teach Percy anything, he just learns by watching, and what would you even teach her, how to get out of the arm of sweater?" Eda said with a smug smile, leaning against her staff.
"That only happened once!" King cried indignantly. "I'd teach her about demons. How to identify them, how to talk to them, how to raise an army and tear apart the world!"
"Will that be before or after you get out the of the arm a sweater?"
King growled and hopped off his scrap pile and started walking toward Eda.
"You think you're so clever! Why don't we make a little bet where I can prove I'd make a better teacher? I've already done it with Percy and I'll do it again to wipe that smug grin off your face"
A large smile stretched across her face as she dug through her hair and pulled out a book titled 'Eda and King's bets'.
"I'm obligated to remind you that I only use bets to utterly humiliate you and that you haven't won a single one." Eda said as she flipped through the book showing off pages of completed bets, all in her favor, and landing on a page for the pair to sign.
"I like those odds." King said confidently.
"Good, then how's this." Eda picked up a trash slug egg and tossed it at King, causing it to hatch on his head, leaving a baby slug in his palms. " You teach this slug to be a loyal soldier in one day. Prove you can be a better teacher and Luz is all yours. If you don't, I change your name to mister snuggles."
King looked at the small slug in his hands and then at Eda, his eyes full of confidence.
"Fine, but when I win you have to wear a shame hat and live in a shack and, uh, never come in the house again. HA!"
"Deal?" Eda signed her section of the page quickly before handing it over to King.
King took the book, but before signing, he stopped suddenly and looked up at Eda.
"Wait, this isn't fair." He said flatly.
"What do you mean this isn't fair? You're the one that proposed this bet!" Eda exclaimed, gesturing wildly at King.
"It isn't fair because I'm the only one doing something. How can I prove I am superior to you in everything teaching if you don't teach!" King shouted at the witch.
"Like you said I taught Percy how to do potion stuff." Eda replied in frustration. "Just sign the book so we can get on with this stupid bet already."
"You taught him by accident and you know it. I on the other hand have been instructing him about the wonderful world of demons."
Eda scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Oh please. We both know he's taught you just as much as you have taught him, doesn't count."
"Just like he taught you about hair nets for brewing." King countered with his hands on his hips.
Eda opened her mouth to counter him but shut it with an audible click.
"Fine." Eda said through gritted teeth. "What do you propose I do?"
"How about you teach Percy magic intentionally, and at the end of the day we have them fight to the death!" King thrust his hands in the air triumphantly. "Deal?"
Eda thought for a moment, a mischievous smile coming across her face.
"Deal."
With a nod, King dipped his hand in a nearby mud puddle and pushed his hand to the signature page of the book, signifying his acceptance of the terms.
After taking the book back and stuffing it in her hair, Eda clapped her hands together.
"Well now that that's settled, let me find my 'student' and I can start humiliating you." Eda said smugly before bringing her hands up toward her face and shouting. "OH PERCY!"
From the carcass behind the pair, a rusty sword shot out and cut downward, creating an opening from which a filthy Percy stepped through.
"You called?" He asked plainly as he walked toward Eda, dragging a large bag of random objects he'd collected from the corpse.
"Yes, we're heading home so I can teach you some magic!" Eda replied happily, unfazed by the state of the boy. "And nice haul, we can sell all that for a good amount of snails."
Percy dropped the rusty sword he was holding and put his hand up to stop Eda from speaking.
"Hold on, why are you teaching me magic? I don't care about learning. If anything you should be teaching Luz." Perfect pointed an accusing finger at the Owl Lady. "Something you promised you'd do and haven't."
Eda sighed and rubbed her arm nervously.
"You're right, I haven't. I-I've just been so worried that I'd mess it up." She brought her hand up and laced her fingers. " That's why I want to try and teach you first. You've demonstrated a basic understanding of magic. If you let me teach you, I might have the skills to give Luz the education she deserves."
Percy looked at her for a moment, seemingly thinking over the witch's words before he took a deep breath and responded.
"You're lying."
Eda flinched.
"How could you possibly know that?" She asked incredulously, the innocent facade completely gone.
"You never ask for anything so pitifully and I know for a fact you don't care about messing up. Also, that stutter you did felt sounded super fake." Percy said, counting the reasons off on his fingers. "What is the real reason you want to teach me?"
Eda shook her head slightly to focus again.
"King was telling me I'm a bad teacher for Luz and that he'd be better, then he made a bet to try and prove it. He's teaching a slug to be a loyal soldier and I'm supposed to teach you magic."
Percy stared at Eda for a moment and then chuckled a bit.
"Dang, King really got the short end of the stick." He said with a smile.
"Yeah, I don't think he thought this one through." Eda laughed along with Percy.
"But, he does have a point." Percy dropped his smile and frowned at Eda. "You have been a bad teacher."
Eda stopped laughing and groaned in frustration.
"How have I been a bad teacher?"
Percy gave her a flat stare.
"I've learned more about-"
"Magic and you don't care about it, I know! Why does everyone keep saying that?" Eda exclaimed, cutting Percy off.
"If you know then do something about it." Percy said plainly.
"Ok, I will or whatever." Eda replied with a huff. "Are you going to let me teach you or not?"
"I'll learn from you," Percy started saying causing Eda to cheer quietly. "Under on condition."
Eda's celebration stopped and she stared at Percy.
"What do you want? Money?"
"I'll let you teach me as long as you start actually teaching Luz, no more of this 'finding the lesson in mundane activities' thing you've been pulling." Percy stated firmly.
"So no money?" Eda said happily. "Sweet? Let's go human, we have much to learn!"
Eda tried to grab Percy's arm, but he stepped back preventing her.
"We're not going anywhere until you agree to my condition."
Eda threw her head back and groaned.
"Fine. I promise I'll teach Luz everything I teach you, deal?" Eda stuck her hand out for Percy to shake before retracting it. "I'm not touching you, you're filthy."
Percy shrugged and hoisted his bag of junk onto his shoulder.
"That's fair. I'll trust that you'll keep your word."
"Great! We're going back to the house and we'll start!" Eda said happily, completely forgetting how dirty Percy was and grabbing his arm.
Immediately she dropped his arm and looked at her hand in disgust.
"You're cleaning yourself off first."
Percy rolled his eyes.
"I was going to anyways, and you're just as dirty."
"It's my dirty so it's different." Eda said, crossing her arms and looking away.
Percy sighed.
"It's going to be a long day."
"Magic manifests itself in three ways, but for our purposes, we'll only care about the first two." Eda said loudly while pointing at a board covered in diagrams and pictures.
Both Percy and Eda had cleaned themselves quickly after returning from the beach and made their way to the living room. There Eda had set up a makeshift classroom to teach Percy while King trained his 'soldier' outside.
"The first one is what we refer to as ambient magic or free-floating magic. This is what powers our staffs and wards." Eda summoned her staff to demonstrate. "Ambient magic can be used by anyone and only requires the use of a focus, usually a staff. The power of the spell cast using ambient magic is based purely on the strength of the focus. The stronger the focus, the stronger the spell."
Percy listened intently from where he was seated taking notes, something he hadn't done in a long time. It was an odd feeling for him, but since he discovered he could read normally in the Boiling Isles, he was determined to use the skill as much as possible. Additionally, he planned on sharing the notes with Luz when she returned from her walk.
"What determines the power of the focus? Is it the size? The shape?" Percy asked curiously.
Eda sighed and gripped her staff nervously.
"To be honest kid, I don't really remember. I was never one for paying attention in class, that was more my sister's thing."
Percy nodded sadly. Ever since he had learned about Eda's sister, he noticed that the woman talked about her more often. He hadn't told Luz about her, not because Eda had told him not to, but because he felt it was too personal to be shared without her permission.
Eda was quiet for a moment or so before she continued talking.
"The second kind of magic is natural magic. This is magic produced from the bile sac attached to a witch's heart." Eda pointed to a diagram of a heart with a large green sac attached. " The strength of natural magic differs from witch to witch. If I remember correctly the things that affect it was something like bile sac size, bile consistency, and flavor."
"Flavor?" Percy asked, a look of disgust coming across his face.
"Yeah I don't know about that one either, but apparently it's a factor."
Percy shook his head and jotted everything down, putting extra emphasis on the 'flavor' part to dissuade Luz from asking about it. He didn't want her curiosity to turn her off from magic.
"Wait." Percy said suddenly. "If we don't have bile sacs, how are Luz and I supposed to perform magic."
Eda's expression turned to one of contemplation before she frowned.
"I actually don't know. I mean you kids could probably use ambient magic, but I don't feel comfortable giving either of you a staff quite yet."
Percy looked down at his notes with a grimace.
"Eda, what's the third form of magic?" Percy asked, desperately hoping there's be some way Luz could do magic without a focus or bile sac. He didn't care if he could do it or not, he just hated seeing his sister sad.
Eda sighed and started fidgeting a bit.
"Well, honestly kid, the last form is less of a know fact and more of a theory."
Percy's felt his hopes die a little bit.
"The third form is what scholars refer to as 'divine' magic." Eda said plainly. "It's only a theory because there's only been a few examples of it throughout history."
Percy felt his blood run cold and his heartbeat speed up rapidly.
He had checked, there was no gods or monster in this world. He'd put himself on blast for months hoping to get the attention of anything without any success. Yet here he was finding out his freedom from the divine world might be threatened.
"W-what were the e-examples?" Percy asked in a shaky voice.
Eda gave him a weird look but said nothing about his tone.
"I don't remember very well, we only covered it briefly in school, but the first example was something about a witch that was able to do magic far beyond the capabilities of anyone else. Their name was something like Veilmire or something Other than that I don't remember."
Percy nodded stiffly and noted down what Eda has said, his writing becoming visibly worse.
Eda seemed to notice his discomfort and clapped her hands together suddenly, startling Percy slightly.
"Well, now that we got all the boring the boring theory out of the way we can move on to real magic."
"What about me not having a bile sac?" Percy asked, his heart rate returning to a normal pace.
"You don't, but like your sister said, maybe the reason there's never been a human witch is that none have bothered to try. No matter what I think it's worth a shot." Eda said with a shrug.
'I guess." Percy replied slowly.
He was nervous to try. Not because he thought he would fail, but because he knew he wouldn't.
Eda cleared her throat, bringing Percy's attention back to her.
"Ok, so the first spell usually taught to young witches is the light spell." Eda traced a small circle in front of her, causing a small ball of light to appear. "It doesn't require much power or focus, making it perfect for teaching kids."
Eda canceled the spell, making the ball fizzle out. Turning toward Percy she put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side.
"Now, what to do with you? I could let you use my staff, but I don't know how Owlbert would react. I think I remember hearing ancient witches used carvings, but I don't think anyone knows how to do that. Maybe…" Eda started rambling to herself, getting lost in her own head.
Percy smiled gently. Working with Eda allowed him to see a side of her hidden from others, one that loved experimenting and solving problems. As much as she tried to deny it, Eda had a hunger for knowledge that rivaled Luz's.
He watched the older witch for a few more moments before trying the light spell for himself. Eda hadn't said anything about how she did the spell, but he had a feeling it would be similar to controlling water. Taking a deep breath, Percy closed his eyes and focused on the ever-present feeling in the pit of his stomach. Similar to how he did it a week ago, Percy gently guided the feeling toward the tips of his fingers. After a few seconds, it felt like he was holding an active lightbulb. Opening his eyes slowly, Percy saw that his fingers now glowed slightly.
Percy stared and his hands, enamored by the light they gave off. Taking a deep breath, focused on his right index finger, and after a moment, only that finger glowed. Smiling to himself, Percy began tracing a circle in the air just like he'd seen Eda do, a light trail of crackling energy following his finger. Once he completed the circle, an orb of light significantly larger and brighter than Eda's came into existence.
"Percy, how did you do that?" Eda asked suddenly, her tone serious.
Percy looked at her in slight shock. In trying to cast magic, he'd completely forgotten the older witch was there.
"I just, drew the circle, just like you did." Percy replied nervously.
Eda shook her head and sighed.
"I know how you cast the spell, I watched you do it. What I want to know is how you used magic."
Percy was in trouble. He couldn't tell Eda that he was a demigod and therefore had magic running through his veins, so he took the only available option.
"I don't know."
Eda gave him a look of disbelief.
"What do you mean you don't know? I watched you! You seemed pretty confident while doing it." Eda exclaimed loudly.
"I was just mimicking what you did! I didn't think anything would happen!" Percy replied heatedly. "Why are you getting so worked up?"
Percy felt bad about lying to Eda, but he couldn't tell her the truth.
"That makes no sense. You're a human, and humans can't…." Eda trailed off before a look of deep thought came across her face. After a moment she turned around and pointed at Percy. "Tell me about your parents."
Percy was slightly stunned by the question but answered anyway.
"Well, my mom raised me, up until about three months ago."
"What about the other one?" Eda asked, her eyes wide and brow furrowed.
Percy was confused for a moment, before realizing where Eda's mind was heading.
"I never knew my dad, my mom said he was lost at sea." Percy said quietly, doing his best to sound honest. While he was sure that Eda wouldn't challenge him on his own past, the older witch had proved to be more perceptive than most.
Eda was silent for a moment, her hand over her mouth as she thought about Percy's past. Eventually, she looked at Percy apprehensively.
"Percy, I believe it might be possible that your father was a witch." She said slowly and hesitantly.
"No, that can't be. How could he have been a witch? Isn't your door the only way to the human realm" Percy asked, trying to sound distressed.
Eda shook her head.
"While rare, naturally occurring rifts between the two realms do occur. It's how so much of your junk ends up here. Either mother or father probably went through one of these rifts by accident. It would explain how you can do magic while still appearing distinctly human."
Percy suppressed a smile. Eda came up with an explanation of his ability to do magic for him, something he could use to explain why he could do magic and Luz couldn't. His happiness quickly soured though. He felt terrible that he was living out the girl's dream without her, a dream he hadn't shared until he found out he could do magic just a few moments prior.
"Hey kid you ok? I imagine it's a lot to take in." Eda said as she sat next to him on the couch, apparently walking over while Percy was lost in thought. "He may be somewhere in the demon realm, and that him being lost at sea was something your mother said to explain his absence. You could look for him."
Percy let out a humorless laugh. He had accepted that his dad could not be a part of his life, but he couldn't stop the resentment from bubbling to the surface. The whole conversation reminded him too much of the one he had with his mother years ago.
"Yeah? And say what? 'Hi, I'm the son you didn't care to stay around for.' I'm sure he'd be thrilled." Percy said bitterly. "I was fine without him for my whole life, and I'll be fine without him for the rest of it."
The pair fell into an uncomfortable silence, neither knowing what to say. After a few minutes, Percy sighed and looked at Eda.
"I'm sorry for getting emotional and dumping all that on you." He said quietly.
Percy thought he'd gotten over his anger toward his father, but apparently pretending to learn the 'truth' of his absence brought deeply buried emotion back to the surface.
Eda gave him an odd look.
"I just completely destroyed your worldview, I think it's ok if you get a little upset. In fact, I should be apologizing for getting so heated." Eda said with a light chuckle.
"Why are saying sorry? To you, it looked like I just proved centuries of fact wrong, I'd be a little concerned if you hadn't questioned me doing magic." Percy shot back.
"Fine, let's agree that neither one of us should apologize so we can get on with our lesson. I want to see what you can do." Eda said as she stood up. "And don't think I didn't notice how strong that light spell was."
Percy smiled. He was glad Eda was fine with just moving on from the whole situation. The last thing he wanted to do was have her ask too many questions.
"You're just jealous that mine was stronger." Percy said, sticking his tongue out.
Eda crossed her arms and gave him a glare that lacked any heat.
"I toned down my spell to demonstrate. Don't forget that I am the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles and that I'm using my very valuable time to teach you, so tell me what you want to learn."
Percy rolled his eyes, deciding not to mention the fact that she begged to teach him. Focusing on her question, Percy thought about what he wanted to learn first. After a few moments, a large smile made its way onto his face.
Teach me how to summon water."
Eda looked at him with a grin.
"That's super lame but ok."
Luz was oddly comfortable.
When it was time for her to get into the large pot of abomination goo, she was prepared for the sludge to be cold and slimy but was surprised when it was the exact opposite. The purple goo was pleasantly warm and felt more like mud. Additionally, the vase had plenty of room for her to have her head above the liquid and she was able to hear what was happening outside the container. Overall, she found herself liking pretending to be an abomination.
"You can pop your head out for a second." Came the voice of Willow from outside the vase.
Eager to see where they were, Luz quickly pushed the lid up just enough for her to see the schools and was left in awe.
The school was shaped like a castle made out of white brick and with turquoise tiled roofs. It had a large spire sitting in front of a dome in the center, with a smaller spire on either side. There were square towers on the far right and left. At the top of the middle spire was a large eye.
"Welcome to Hexside." Willow said happily. "Make sure to stay hidden okay."
Luz obliged and ducked back into the vase, leaving her in darkness once more and giving her time to think about her newest 'friend'.
Willow was relatively cheerful, except when talking about her abomination class, which made the witch's mood drop significantly.
This confused and upset Luz. She'd seen what Willow was capable of with what looked like little effort, but she knew it wasn't her place to say anything, at least not yet.
Luz frowned. She wanted to help, but she didn't know how, not without getting to know the girl better, something she was more than happy to do.
Their walk toward the school had been quite informative with Willow filling her in on all the basic knowledge of the Boiling Isles. Information about which trees to avoid and what demons to steer clear of, all things Eda had neglected to tell her.
Luz was eventually broken from her thoughts when the cart suddenly stopped. After a few moments of silence, Luz heard the voice of a young boy.
"Willow, you would not believe humans." The boy said happily.
"Humans? Pfft, I haven't seen any humans. What?" Willow responded in a slight panic.
Luz smiled to herself at her friend's poor attempt at acting inconspicuously.
"Did you know humans nail barbed wire to their kid's teeth? But why? Maybe it's to make themselves magnetic."
Luz giggled to herself. She knew she was supposed to be keeping a low profile, but she couldn't stop herself from responding.
"Actually, it's for storing treats." Luz said, her voice slightly muffled by the vase.
After a moment of silence, she heard Willow sigh.
"Ok Augustus, I'm going to show you something, but you have to be cool."
"I can be spool, I mean cool." The now named Augustus said quickly.
From her vase, Luz watched as the lid to the container was lifted away by magic, providing her with a view of pink lockers that appeared to have mouths.
"Abomination, rise!" Willow exclaimed with authority, giving Luz the cue to do her part.
"I'm an abomination!" She said proudly as she stood up, her hands on her hips.
"Luz, that's not how abominations act." Willow said chastising.
Before Luz had a chance to respond, she heard the sound of something hitting the floor, bringing her attention to Agustus.
"No, no, I can't be!" The boy muttered to himself as he messed with his ears.
"He's the president of the 'Human Appreciation Society'," Willow said happily, a large smile on her face. "Most witches wouldn't be able to recognize a human right away, but Augustus is an expert!"
"Where are your gills?" Augustus exclaimed frantically.
Luz looked at the boy. He looked young, really young, especially compared to the only other students she had seen. His apparent fascination with humans was slightly odd, but who was she to judge.
"Humans don't have gills, except for maybe Percy, but that's a different story." Luz replied, her mind briefly going back to her notebook of Pecry's oddities. "And I knew an Augustus back home, we called him Gus."
Gus's eyes widened dramatically.
"Gus? A nickname? A human nickname. Gus, wow, call me it." The boy brought his hands to his face. "This is the best day of my life."
Luz was mildly amused by the reverence the boy treated the nickname with.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" A hoarse scream echoed through the halls and caused any stationary students to start moving.
"I gotta get to spelling class, see you guys later." Gus said suddenly as he pulled what looked like a wand out before running off to class.
"Alright into the darkness you go." Willow said to Luz with a smile.
Luz responded the only way she thought was appropriate.
She hissed at Willow as she sunk back into the sludge
After a moment to cart started moving again, once more leaving Luz alone with her thoughts.
Meeting Willow's friend had been an enlightening experience, to say the least. She didn't know how to feel about there being a whole club dedicated to 'appreciating' humans, but she figured it was no different than her many failed attempts to start a witch club at her school. Gus himself was pretty nice, if a little awkward, but again she was also a little awkward. Luz felt that she could be good friends with him, and along with Willow, she could have the close-knit trio of magical friends she'd always desired.
"Alright, settle down in your seats, I don't know why I have to tell you every day you ingrates." A male voice said, letting Luz know they'd arrived at the class.
Willow pushed her cart over to her desk and moved the cover on the vase slightly so Luz could get some fresh air.
"Today you all will present your finished abomination in front of the class so we can laugh at your failure." The teacher said loudly. "First up we have Zomora."
Not being able to see, Luz listened intently, doing her best to soak up as much information as possible. Though the only thing she learned as the student presented their work was what was wrong with them through the teacher's harsh criticism.
"Too many toes in unexpected places. Fail! Pathetic!" The teacher yelled angrily. "The real abominations are all you! If the next abomination is a failure, extra homework for a month."
Luz grimaced. The abomination teacher reminded her of her math teacher, both were necessarily harsh. Based on the distraught murmuring of the students, she knew this was far from the first time they'd been threatened.
"The next student to embarrass themselves is-"
"Excuse me, sir, but I'm ready to present my abomination." Amity said, cutting the teacher off. "Abomination, rise."
Luz rolled her eyes, the superiority in the girl's voice reminding her of the girls from her school. She took some solace in knowing that Amity was probably stressed out of her mind.
"I've always saved the best for last Amity. You'll have to wait your turn." The teacher said with a chuckle. "How about, Willow."
Immediately after the teacher finished speaking, the room filled with whispered complaints about Willow and how they were going to get the extra homework.
Pushing the cover out of the way, Luz gave Willow a reassuring smile.
"Don't listen to them Willow, we got this."
Willow nodded shyly in response and began pushing the cart toward the front of the room.
"Abomination, r-rise." Willow said shakily.
Luz punched the lid off the vase and jumped out with a spin, landing with flourish.
"Ta-da!" She exclaimed happily, doing her best to ignore the pain in her hand.
Around the classroom, all the students gasped in surprise, drawing Luz's attention toward them. There were very few students overall, with the most interesting being the boy with a large spikey head and the girl with blue hair and massive horns. Glancing back to the front, Luz got to see the abomination teacher for the first time. He was a small man with green hair and oddly draconic features, however, the weirdest part to her was the fact he was being carried around by an abomination.
"Abomination, bow." Willow commanded once the other students quieted down.
Remembering a documentary about fancy people she forced Percy to watch with her, Luz bent at the waist and bowed toward the class, much to their delight.
"Impressive, but does it speak?" The abominations teacher asked.
Luz looked toward Willow briefly to see what she wanted her to do, before just deciding to wing it.
"I may be your abomination, but you're my a-mom-ination." As she spoke, Luz walked over to Willow and pulled her into a hug.
"A-mom-ination! Splendid wordplay. A plus!" The abomination teacher exclaimed happily as he painted the given grade on Luz's forehead. "I dare say we have a new top student!"
The teacher traced a small circle in the air that pulled the top student badge of Amity's uniform, completely ignoring the green-haired girl's frantic grabs for it. With the badge in hand, he placed it on Willow's uniform, causing scattered applause across the classroom.
Luz watched the whole interaction nervously. She just wanted to help Willow get a good grade on her project, but based on the look Amity was giving Willow, she might have just made things worse. However, when she looked at Willow's shining smile, Luz figured that things couldn't be so bad after all.
Besides, it was just a little badge, how badly could Amity possibly react?
"And then the half-witch showed up-Boscha are you even listening?"
Boscha looked up from her lunch to see the face of an angry Amity.
"What?" Boscha replied.
Amity shook her head and scowled.
"Are you seriously still thinking about that guy? He was just some upstart that didn't know his place, get over it already." Amity said with a scoff.
Boscha resisted the urge to flinch.
"Yeah, you're right. Finish telling your story about the failed witch." Boscha said weakly, her insult toward Willow lacking its usual bite.
Amity gave her a weird look, but took her up on her offer and continued her rant.
It had been a week since she encountered the boy who refused to get off her bench, yet he still occupied her thoughts when she let her mind wander. The way she broke down was a continued source of shame.
She didn't know what it was about him that shook her so deeply. Maybe it was his casual dismissal of her or the way he didn't care about her problems, but whatever it was it-
Boscha shook her head. She knew what it was, she just refused to accept it.
It was the look on his face when she started crying.
It was different from the looks she received when she pretended to be upset, the looks of faux sympathy and understanding. His reaction made her truly believe he cared like he really understood the pain and sadness she was feeling.
She hated it. His stupid face ruined everything for her.
Before when her 'friends' were comforting her, she was able to delude herself into thinking they cared, but after that stupid boy, she couldn't pretend any longer.
She saw the way their eyes twitched, waiting for her to finish talking, The way their comforting words sounded hollow in her ears. The way they never stuck around to make sure she was really okay.
That random boy shattered the illusion, and she hated him for it. What she hated more, however, was what she admitted to herself that day.
Her mother didn't love her.
It was something she suspected for a long time, but never had the courage or desire to think about it too critically.
The way her mother spoke and acted indicated she did love her, but Boscha knew better. Her words were measured, her actions were calculated, and everything she did was to ensure Boscha strived to do her best to make her mother proud. Even as a kid, she felt there was a distance between her and her mother.
The worst thing in Boscha's mind though was the fact she still loved her mother and wanted to make her proud.
Even after everything she had done, Boscha still desperately wanted her mother to be proud of her. Every test she took, every potion she brewed, every grudgby game she played, she did it in the hopes her mother would finally be proud, would finally give her the love she so desired. She knew it was unhealthy, but she did it anyway.
"Boscha!" Amity said suddenly, breaking Boscha for her thoughts. "Did you see that?"
"See what?" Boscha replied tiredly.
"Willow's abomination just ate half a sandwich! Abominations don't eat!" Amity exclaimed before leaping up from their table and running over to where Willow was seated with her weird illusion-boy friend.
Boscha watched as the green-haired witch jumped on the table, yelled at the pair, and yanked something out of Willow's stone vase.
Sighing, Boscha looked away and started picking at her lunch, her appetite gone.
She usually would happily join Amity in her teasing of the half-witch, but today she didn't have the energy to, a choice that was validated when she saw Amity getting dragged away toward the principal's office.
"That's not going to end up well." She mumbled to herself as she poked a weird looking piece of meat on her tray.
Sighing, Boscha pushed her 'meal away' and let her gaze wander around the room, stopping on the smiling form of Willow.
"Ugh, I don't get how that stupid half-witch is always so happy." Boscha said under her breath.
Willow was another person that bothered her. She sucked at magic, always getting the lowest marks in class according to Amity, yet somehow she was always happy. She was the epitome of what confused Boscha the most.
She was objectively worse than her, both in terms of magic and status. Her parents weren't rich and she wasn't popular, but no matter how many times Boscha teased her or reminded her of her place, she still kept smiling. It made no sense how someone so worthless could be so happy.
Deciding to spend the rest of her lunch in her next class, Boscha looked at the clock only to see she only had five minutes left in her lunch.
"I really gotta stop wasting my time thinking about people I don't like." Boscha said with a groan. "Titan I can't wait for the grudgby season to start."
Eda watched as Percy cast spells with a frown.
The boy was talented. He picked up spells quickly and the power behind each spell was impressive for his age. She'd only taught him the basic water, fire, and lightning spells so far, but he would be ready for more very soon. He was far more invested in learning than he had been a few days prior, and while Eda was usually all for the love of magic something about how he cast the spells and his backstory bothered her.
On the matter of his spells, he cast them as if there was an invisible enemy after him. Every time he cast, it was with the intent to harm. His fire was concentrated streams and his lighting bolts large, and while neither was powerful enough to truly hurt an experienced witch, both would do some serious damage to kids his age. It was impressive, but it was what he did with water that really scared her.
The way he manipulated water spoke of familiarity and comfort. With the other spells, there was a stiffness there, like someone walking for the first time. He knew the motions but didn't have the experience to do them without thinking. With water though, he moved and shaped it as if he'd been doing so his whole life. And while he was destructive with the other spells, they had nothing on the damage he could do with water. Spikes, shields, tendrils. Any construct Eda could have thought of Percy was making flawlessly and effortlessly. It was awe-inspiring to see someone so young performing so well but at the same time it made her suspicious of his past.
Eda didn't want to be distrustful of the boy, but she didn't survive so long as a fugitive by taking everything she heard at face value. His story, while possible, was also convenient. That wasn't even accounting for the fact that he contradicted himself. The first day she met him, he said he'd encountered magic before, yet seemed to have no knowledge of it. And while his anger toward his father felt real, the rest of his reactions felt artificial. It painted a picture of something much bigger going on, something Eda felt she wouldn't like in the slightest
Eda looked over to where Percy was standing and watched as he drew a spell circle with both his hands. From the circles a large stream of water and a lightning bolt shot out, combining and destroying one of the many trees that filled her backyard. The boy then turned around and looked at her with a large smile.
"Did you see that!" Percy shouted giddily.
Eda smiled slightly and shook her head. Percy's backstory may be suspicious, but he was still just a kid. She liked him, he was witty and able to keep up with her, she didn't want to push him away because she was too curious about his past. Plus, it wasn't like she didn't have secrets of her own. She gestured for Percy to come over to her.
"Yes, very impressive. You destroyed one of my favorite trees." Eda said dryly as Percy ran up.
"Oh please, you've said that about every tree I've blown up." He said with an eye roll." And don't act like you don't have the ability to regrow them."
Eda scoffed.
"It's the principle of the matter. If I just let every rando kid destroy my stuff, I'd have to steal more stuff."
"As if you wouldn't enjoy it." Percy shot back with a smirk.
"You're not wrong." Eda replied with a chuckle. " I didn't call you over to trade barbs."
"But love trading barbs." Percy said with an exaggerated pout.
"Me too, but it's time to show King how I am a much better teacher than him! HA!"
Percy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I don't get why you can't just admit you've been a bad teacher. Why'd you have to make this dumb bet."
Eda frowned and turned her head away. While she was teaching Percy spells, he had thoroughly chastised her for being a bad mentor to Luz using the fact she could teach him just fine as evidence of her failures. And while the kid was right, Eda was not one to back down from a bet.
"King was the one who started it, plus we already recorded it in the 'book of bets' so it's not like I can just back down." Eda replied plainly, before looking back at Percy with a guilty expression. "But you're right. I have been a bad teacher. I promise I'll do better
Percy looked at the older witch appraisingly for a few moments before nodding his head.
"I'll hold you to that." He said seriously before letting a smile come across his face. "Alright let's go check how King is-"
Percy was interrupted by said demon running into the backyard and wrapping his arms around Eda's legs. From behind him, a loud roar echoed.
Eda looked down at her companion with a knowing look.
"Having trouble with your student?" She asked smugly.
King looked up at her with large watery eyes.
"Yes! I ran out of snacks and he started rampaging!" The little demon said frantically. "You gotta do something! He's trying to eat me!"
From around the corner the massive form of the trash slug came into view, towering over Eda, Percy, and King.
"Hades! How much did you feed it?" Percy asked as he pulled out something.
"I just gave it a few boxes of treats! I don't know how it got so big!" King replied desperately.
"Trash has very little nutritional value, so trash slugs' bodies know how to maximize every little bit of nutrients it can get." Eda said as she summoned her staff to her. "So when King gave it all those treats-"
"It was like he was giving it a buttload of steroids." Percy finished while drawing a spell circle and launching a stream of fire at the slug that bounced off its hide harmlessly.
"I don't know exactly what steroids are but sure, we'll go with that." Eda replied as she fired her own spell, which also did no harm to the beast.
"Why didn't you mention this thing has magic-resistant hide?" Percy yelled as he ducked out of the path of the slug's mouth.
Eda growled and picked King up to get him out of danger, placing him behind a nearby rock so he could hide.
"Sorry for not knowing, it's not like I fight these things regularly! All the ones I've seen are dead."
Eda used her staff to shoot a flurry of stone spikes at the beast, only for them to shatter on impact.
"Eda!" Percy called out, getting the witch's attention. "Distract it! I have an idea!"
Eda nodded in confirmation, before launching a series of flashy spells that succeeded in getting the slug to focus on her, all the while keeping an eye on Percy. Luz would murder her if she got her brother killed.
After a moment, she lost track of Percy, causing her to lose focus for a second, allowing the slug to leap at her, and forcing her to hit the ground to avoid getting hit. Rolling to the side, Eda narrowly dodged another strike. Seeing the slug rearing to attack again and with nowhere else to go, Eda shut her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her hoping to block the hit. But the strike never came, instead, she was met with the sound of the slug screeching in pain loudly before going silent.
Opening her eyes slowly, Eda saw the form of Percy standing on top of the now dead slug with a sword planted firmly in its head. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was the same sword he'd used back at the Conformitorium.
"Thanks for the assist, Eda!" Percy yelled from his position before looking down at his sludge soaked shirt. "Darnit, Luz made this for me. I hope this stuff comes out."
Eda watched the scene incredulously. This boy had just killed a massive beast and his biggest concern was his shirt. Shaking her head to focus herself, Eda walked over to where she stashed King to find the small demon peering over the edge of the rock with wide eyes.
"Did you see that?" King asked excitedly as he ran over to Eda. "Did you see how easily he took that thing down? I'm so glad he's a part of my army."
Eda chuckled and picked King up.
"Yes. He took down your student very quickly." Eda said before a big smile appeared on her face. "Which means I win the bet!"
Eda dropped King and started to do a victory dance, but was interrupted by Percy yelling across the yard.
"Nope. I didn't use anything you taught me, so neither of you won the bet."
"But you're my student and you beat King's student! Therefore I won" Eda argued.
Percy just shook his head.
"The bet was to see who was a better teacher and since King's slug is dead and I beat it with my own skills, no one. End of discussion." Percy countered. "Now that we're done fighting over silly things, I'm going to the front to see if there's any damage to the house, and if there is damage, I'll need your help to shut Hooty up before he starts screeching."
Percy walked away, leaving Eda and King alone.
"We'll just call it a tie." King said before running after Percy.
Eda sighed and followed him to the front, where she found that, while the house had no damage, Hooty was still screeching about something.
"Will you shut up already? The house is fine!" She heard Percy yell at the owl tube.
"Why don't you make me? AAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHHH!"
It took several minutes of various bribes and threats to get Hooty to finally stop yelling, leaving all three residents of the house tired.
"I'm going to take another shower, don't bother me." Percy announced suddenly while walking toward the front door.
Eda went to follow after him, dealing with Hooty always left her feeling gross, but before either of them could get very far, a familiar face ran out of the woods.
"EEDDDAAAA!" Luz yelled as she ran up to Eda and pulled her into a hug.
"What is this? I never understand when you do this!" Eda complained as she tried pushing Luz off.
Luz let go and stared at her intensely.
"You're lesson worked! Keeping junk in my pocket saved my life!" Luz said quickly, before becoming frantic. "Oh no! My new friends! We have to-"
Luz was cut off by two more people bursting out of the trees. One was a girl with blue hair and glasses, while the other was a short dark-skinned boy with spiky hair
"LLUUZZ!" The girl yelled before both she and the boy pulled Luz into a hug.
Eda watched the scene with a slight scowl. She'd never been one for affection, but since Luz had come to live with her, she'd been hugged more times than she liked, but she hated to admit that the action was growing on her.
"Not to break up this touching moment, but someone better explain what is going on right now," Percy said suddenly, his tone harsh and serious. "Who are you two and why are you hugging my sister?"
Eda suppressed a slight shiver. Percy's words had a certain power behind them that she was unable to explain.
Luz separated herself from the group hug and walked over to Percy.
"It's ok Perc, they're cool. They helped me get out of some trouble I got into at the magic school." Luz said calmly.
Percy stared at the boy and girl intensely for a moment before sighing and shaking his head.
"Ok, if you say so, but you will tell me what happened later. Do you understand?"
Luz simply smiled and nodded.
"Good. Now I'm going to take a shower. I'm filthy." Percy said as he opened the door and went inside.
Eda watched the interaction with a gentle smile. The boy was harsh sometimes, but he really did care about Luz. She was jealous of the sibling bond, but she knew better than to project her envy on children.
"That was Percy huh? He's kinda intense." The blue-haired girl said after a moment.
"Yeah, but he's only like that cause he cares." Luz said with a grin. "Now, Gus, Willow, tell me everything that happened after I left."
Eda rolled her eyes at Luz's excitement toward magic school, yet she understood her desire to learn. All it meant was that she had to teach the girl so well she wouldn't even want to think about going to school.
It shouldn't be too hard.
Right?
Amity stared at the large wooden door in front of her and took a shaky breath.
The day had been a disaster. She'd been sent to the principal's office for the first time in her entire life and she almost lost her 'top student' badge. At least she was to admit Principal Bump to count the whole ordeal as extra credit.
"Come in." A female voice said from inside the room.
Taking one final breath to try and calm herself, Amity opened the door and entered her mother's office. In the middle of the room, her mother was seated looking at some papers. When she heard the door open, Amity's mother looked up at her daughter.
"Amity." Odalia said with barely contained disappointment. "I just had a very interesting conversation with Principal Bump. He says you were sent to his office during school today. Is this true?"
Amity swallowed and clenched her fists.
Her mother already knew it was true, the question was just a ploy to make her admit to being guilty. It was one of her mother's favorite tactics, but also one Amity had learned to counter.
"While it is true I was sent to his office, I feel my reason for being sent was justified."
Odalia quirked an eyebrow.
"Oh? Do tell."
Amity took a moment to formulate her response. Her outburst at lunch was embarrassing, to say the least, but she didn't need her mother to know about it.
"A fellow student cheated during class and received the honor of 'top student'. I was able to see through their lies and attempted to call them out, but was accused of being jealous by the teacher and was sent to the principal's office."
Odalia stared at her for several moments before sighing and leaning back in her chair.
"Very well, I suppose I can excuse your visit this time."
"Thank you, mother," Amity said quickly, wanting to leave the office as soon as possible.
"Before you go, dear." Odalia said in a saccharine tone. "Did anything else interesting happen today?"
Amity's mind flashed to Willow's display of magical prowess with plants but quickly dismissed the thought.
"No mother I don't believe so."
"Really?" Odalia asked. "Because Principal Bump mentioned that a student impressed him so much that he was willing to let them switch their track? Does that ring any bells?"
Amity felt her palms get sweaty.
"No, mother it does not. I believe that Principal Bump was exaggerating the student's abilities." Amity said stiffly.
Odalia looked at her with narrow eyes and pursed lips. After a moment relented and sighed.
"That's a shame to hear. I was hoping I'd have another bright student that I could help flourish, but I suppose not." Odalia gestured toward the door. "You are dismissed Amity."
"Thank you, mother." Amity said with a bow before leaving the room quickly.
Once she was outside the room, Amity took several deep breaths. She didn't like lying to her mother, but she also didn't want her to know about Willow's talent with plant magic. She may not have been friends with the girl anymore, but that didn't mean she wanted her to end up under her mother's thumb. She knew better than anyone what her mother's help entailed.
Amity shivered.
Nobody deserved that, especially not Willow.
Another one down. Thank you for reading this far!
To give a little explanation as to why it might feel like some scenes are missing: This is not a fandom blind fic, I am aware most of the people reading this have probably watched TOH at least once. I see no benefit to rehashing scenes that take place in canon unless it is from a different perspective than in the show or something is different due to Percy's presence. I don't want to waste words on something you guys already know. I hope this helps.