Gehetag 3, Fifth Lunar Disappearance, 50 CE | The Owl House

Luz awoke to King poking her in the shoulder.

"What is it?" Luz grumbled out, still in the process of waking up.

"You're human wonder rectangle started buzzing and made a weird noise when Eda sent Owlbert on a collection run," King explained.

"You mean my phone? Wait, my phone! Oh schnitzel, I never replied to Mom's text! Where's my phone?"

"On the coffee table."

Scrambling out of her sleeping bag as fast as she could, Luz yelled a quick "Thanks, King!" as she ran down the steps and over to the couch.

Picking up her phone and checking the notifications, Luz scrolled past all the junk and spam. Then she finally found what she was dreading: 6 missed messages and 19 unanswered calls, all from her mom.

Opening her text app first, Luz finally got to read what her mom had sent her days prior.

Mom❤️: How was your first day of summer camp, mija?
Mom❤️: Luz, are you there?
Mom❤️: Luz?
Mom❤️: Please respond.
Mom❤️: ?
Mom❤️: I'm going to call you. Please pick up.

As Luz fretted over what to send in reply, King scampered down the stairs and took a seat on the couch next to her. After stressing over what the correct response would be in this scenario, Luz simply decided to break the ice and send "hey mom."

It explained absolutely nothing, but at least it was something.

The message didn't send.

Peeking at the top of her phone's screen, Luz saw that she didn't have any cell service.

There's the culprit, she thought.

Then, Luz had an idea.

"You said my phone started buzzing and stuff after Eda opened the portal door, right?" Luz said, turning to King.

"Yeah, why?"

"I think that's how my phone got a connection, because the signal made it through the portal. So if we have the door open, then my message should send, and Mom will have no idea that I'm in a completely different dimension!" Luz said excitedly, getting a little to loud at the end.

"Oi, what are you two yelling about? I'm trying to get my daily cat nap in over here!" Eda said, shuffling down the stairs, adorned in her bathrobe and bunny slippers.

"We're trying to send a message to my mom, and we need the portal door to do it."

"Ugh, fine. Just make it quick. I don't want any actual humans stumbling through the door."

With that, Eda fished the portal key out of her hair and pressed the eye. As soon as the door had fully opened, Luz tapped the Retry button, and the text went through.

"Wait, Miss Eda. Can we keep the portal open a bit longer? I want to see if my mom will respond. She sounds really worried."

Eda let out a long exhale before answering, "Sure, kid. But if anything weird comes through that portal, it'll be your fault, capische?"

"Got it." Luz said with a nod.

And so the waiting game began. Luz knew her mom wasn't constantly checking her phone, so that meant she probably had a few minutes to come up with a reasonable excuse as to why she hadn't responded for over a day.

She could say that she had lost her phone in the woods or somewhere.

Hmm. That could work, but then Mom would want to know what I was doing in the woods, and that could lead to a whole web of lies.

Putting that idea on the backburner, Luz tried to think of other scenarios where she would be phone-less.

What if... camp took away all our electronics to force everyone to interact with each other? Wait, no that one is even worse. Mom would probably want to know who I made friends with, and that's just asking for trouble.

Before Luz could even think of any other potential excuses, her phone began ringing.

"Everybody, be quiet. I can't let Mom know you guys exist."

Not even bothering to check the caller ID, Luz answered.

"Hey, Mom."

"Oh Luz. You're okay! You had me so worried, cariño. Where have you been?"

"I've just been at camp, mamá. I lost my phone during a nature hike. I found it just this morning. And, before you ask, no, I wasn't in any danger or anything. My phone just slipped out of my pocket and I didn't notice until after the hike was over."

"That's such a relief, mija. I was worried sick when you didn't answer your texts. I thought that you had gotten kidnapped or something horrible like that."

"It's okay, mamá. I'm perfectly fine. I just made a stupid mistake, that's all."

"So how has camp been, then?"

"Its been ok. The activities have been really fun, but the classes have been hit or miss."

"How have your cabinmates treated you? Are they nice?"

"Yeah, mamá, they've been cool. I think I'm gonna like it here."

"That's great to hear, mi Lucecita. Okay, I've got to head off to work. Be sure to take lots of pictures so I can hang them up."

"Okay, mom. I'm gonna go get some breakfast. Te quiero."

"Te quiero mucho, mija."

Luz ended the call and motioned that it was okay for everyone else to start talking again.

"So that's your mom, huh," Eda said.

"Yeah, she's the best. You guys would love her. She can just get a little... overprotective some times." Luz responded, thinking back to all the times Mom had threatened someone with La Chancla.

"What was that language you were speaking with her, at the end? That certainly wasn't Common," Eda questioned.

"Oh, that. That was español. Err, Spanish. Sorry. I can teach you guys some if you want."

"No, no. That's fine. Was just curious, that's all. Say, how about we celebrate you getting to talk to your mom with a slug run."

"Sure. Wait, what's a slug run?"

"Come along and you'll find out."

Before Luz laid a giant dead slug. Flies were abundant, flitting back and forth. The water surrounding the beached demon was tainted green, and the stench emanating from the rotting carcass was like nothing Luz had ever smelled. She wasn't sure the smell would ever completely go away.

She should have known something was up when Eda said they were all going on a celebratory "slug run." Now, for all Luz knew, a slug run could be an incredibly peaceful and fun event, but she was wary. Too many insane and dangerous things had already happened while she was on the Isles, and she wasn't going to let her guard down so easily.

"So, what exactly am I looking at here, because this is not exactly what I had in mind." Luz asked, already regretting the decision to come along.

"That, dear child, is the glorious trash slug. It'll consume anything and everything given the opportunity, and the stuff it can't digest it stores away. And that stuff is why we are here."

To emphasize her point, Eda stuck her hand in the slug's mouth and rummaged around before pulling out an old portable TV.

"Now, to you this may look like any old hunk of metal, but to those schmucks back in town this could be a... black shadow box that tells you when you're gonna die, or something like that."

"This is gross. I don't think I'm cut out for this." Luz replied, slowly backing away.

"Ahh, come on Luz! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You get to wade through the remains of a giant living trash can!" King shouted whilst reclining on his beach towel, flicking his sunglasses up to peer at the two.

"Yeah, kid. This will be fun!" Eda then grabbed Luz by the hand and drug her next to a puddle of bile.

Eda forced Luz's hand under the surface and wiggled it around until they found something. Eventually, Luz reluctantly closed her hands around something spherical. Quickly bringing her hand out of the goop, Luz examined what she'd found.

It was a tiny goop-covered ball.

Hooray.

"See, kid. Wasn't that fun?"

"Yeah... Totally fun."

Having no place better to put it, Luz stuffed the ball in her pocket and looked up at Eda.

"Look, Miss Eda, I'm not feeling the best. I think I'm gonna go on a walk or something to clear my head."

"Alright kid, just come back before we head to the market or you won't get a cut of the profits. I need your human knowhow to really sucker people in."

Luz glared at the goop ball as she walked through the forest.

"Aggh! What am I supposed to do? It's not like I can just waltz through the portal door back home. Mom thinks I'm at camp. I guess I'm just stuck here. For the next three months. Great."

Pocketing the goop ball, she kept wading her way through the forest. The fresh air really did make her feel better. She could actually breathe without inhaling a stray fly.

Stumbling upon a small clearing, Luz heard another voice.

"It doesn't matter what grade you get."

Diving behind a fallen tree, Luz peeked her head over to investigate the newcomer, who was pacing back and forth, talking to herself. Luz also saw that the person was apparently the owner of giant cauldron that was placed on a wagon.

The girl was short and stocky, standing an inch or two shorter than Luz, with light skin and navy blue hair that hung to her shoulders. She had olive green eyes and gold-rimmed glasses, and Luz couldn't help but notice the girl's pointed ears, indicating she was a witch.

For clothing, she wore a gray tunic covered by a black cowl, with a gold pin keeping the hood secured around her neck, and a black belt wrapped around her waist. The girl also had a pair of matching sleeves and tights on, both being a pretty orchid color. If Luz didn't know any better, she would assume that this was some kind of school uniform. Did that mean there was some kind of magic school here?

"Even if I fail the assignment, I can still do good on the final. My GPA isn't a reflection of me as a witch. And Dad and Pops are right, this track has the most opportunities after graduation. Now, get to class!" That confirmed it. There was a magic school here! Luz had to see it!

Glasses Girl then strutted forward and pointed off into the distance, like some kind of power pose, only to step on a stray flower sprouting from the otherwise barren patch of dirt. Once noticing the fallen flora, she quickly knelt down and began tracing a spell circle. Luz watched on in wonder as the flower straightened itself and even began to bloom.

"I am so sorry, little buddy. I didn't mean that, I promise," the girl said to the now-healthy plant.

Luz then felt the ground beneath her rumbling. Suddenly, another wagon wheeled itself into view, and atop the cauldron sat another girl, reading a book called "Magic 101".

This new girl looked a heck of a lot like Melissa Chapman, the cheerleader that rejected Luz's invitation to prom. They both had the same facial structure: pointy nose, small mouth, sharp chin, everything. The only real differences were the hair color and skin tones. Book Girl had emerald green hair compared to Melissa's light blonde with a pink streak, and Book Girl was extremely pale, while Melissa had a tan.

Closing her book and hopping off the wagon, Book Girl approached the other witch.

Luz then noticed that the two witches uniforms, while nearly identical, had one key difference. Book Girl's tunic sported a gold badge in the shape of a star, while Glasses Girl's uniform had no badge to speak of.

"Hey, Willow," Book Girl said.

"Hi, Amity," Willow responded.

And now we have their names, Luz thought.

"How's your abomination assignment coming along?" Amity asked.

"Look for yourself." Willow said, pointing over to her cauldron.

Amity walked over, and just as she was about to remove the lid, the cauldron rattled and tipped over, spilling a purple goop with eyeballs rolling around it A mouth formed from the sludge, emitting a loud groan.

"Yikes. Hermonculus isn't going to like that. This can probably still be salvaged though, and you could get a B if everything goes right." Amity said, grimacing.

"Yeah, I know. I doubt that'll happen, though." Willow replied, dejected.

Off in the distance, a bell tolled three times.

"Whelp, that's my signal. Bye, Park." Amity then hopped back on her wagon and rode off down the trail.

"Bye, Amity," Willow said quietly.

After righting her cauldron, Willow started scooping up all the abomination goop she could, though most of it just fell through her fingers. Switching target to the rogue eyeballs, she tried to pick one up, only for it to fall to the ground and splat onto the grass.

"Augh!" Willow let out a scream, "I hate making abominations! I hate getting bad grades! I can't stand it anymore!" Her eyes flashed green as giant roots, covered in thorns, burst from the ground and began writhing around like snakes.

One of the tendrils shot out and wrapped around Luz's ankle and tossed her into the air. Screaming, Luz felt herself lose control of her morph. When Luz finally landed on the ground, she was back in her basilisk form.

Oh no, was Luz's only thought when she realized she had scales again.

Suddenly, Willow snapped out of her rage trance and quickly dispelled the roots.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no! I am so sorry," Willow apologized.

"Don't worry. It's fine. I didn't even feel it," Luz replied.

"Ahh! You can talk?! Wait a minute, you're a basilisk! Don't hurt me, please!" Willow cried out, scrambling away from Luz and falling on her behind.

"No, no, no. I'm not gonna hurt you, I swear," Luz said, holding her hands up, trying to placate the witch's fears.

"You promise?" Willow said, looking up at the basilisk.

"Do you think we would be having this conversation if I wanted to hurt you?" Luz deadpanned.

"No." Willow answered, shaking her head.

"There's your answer. Now come on, up you go." Luz said, pulling Willow to her feet.

Another bell tolled, but only twice this time.

"Wait, I thought basilisks went extinct years ago. How are you... alive?"

"Well, that's because..." Luz paused to let the tension build up for the big reveal.

It was time for an experiment.

Closing her eyes and picturing her basilisk body, Luz imagined her entire body all morphing into her human form.

Scales melted away, forming into the spotted skin Luz knew so well. Her tail split in two, slowly changing into her legs. Her arms shrunk, and her human hands emerged from what used to be claws. Her internals went through that weird gymnastics routine-like movement. Her teeth dulled and her skull restructured itself. Finally, her hair shortened and changed from a tangled mess into her classic pixie cut.

Willow simply stared at the now human girl, and Luz probably have the same reaction if she was in the plant witch's shoes.

"Ta da! I'm also a human," Luz said, doing jazz hands for emphasis, "I've lived my entire life in the Human Realm. As a human. I wasn't aware I was a basilisk until a few days ago. I was like an undercover agent for the Demon Realm that was so undercover I didn't even know I was undercover."

Willow chuckled at that.

"Heh, that's weird. So, besides human and basilisk, can you turn into anything else?" She asked.

"I mean, theoretically yeah, but right now I've just got human mode and slug mode. Haven't tried anything else, really." Luz answered, shrugging her shoulders.

A clump of abomination goop slid by, letting out another groan.

"Say, do you want some help on your little abomination project?"

"I guess so. I mean, I suck at abominations, but maybe if I get a good enough grade, then people will stop calling me 'Half-a-Witch'."

For the second time that day, Luz had a wonderful idea that was completely foolproof and was impossible for it to go wrong.

"Then have me morph into your abomination!"

"What."

"I mean, that thing is just a pile of goop that moans and groans, and I can morph into said pile of goop and then moan and groan when you're presenting. Plus, that means I'll get to be in a real life magic school." Luz couldn't help but squeal in excitement at the prospect.

"That is true," Willow said, chuckling.

The two shook hands.

"It's a deal."

AN: And there you get to see another one of the changes I made to canon: Amity is no longer a snobby bully to Willow. My reasoning behind this is mainly that Amity's parents forced her to cut ties with Willow. They didn't force her (at least, that we know of) to outright bully Willow, only to not associate with her in school. So outside of school, they can be... idk acquaintances(?). So yeah, no total meany Amity in this story.