Gehetag 3, Fifth Lunar Disappearance, 50 CE | Hexside School of Magic and Demonics

It turns out that having a body made entirely of a viscous fluid was weird, Luz quickly learned. Her movements were slow and sluggish. On the bright side, though, she could act like a liquid and conform to her surroundings. In this instance, her "surroundings" were contained to the inside of Willow's cauldron.

Poking her head out, Luz saw the main entrance to Hexside School of Magic and Demonics. She could barely contain her enthusiasm at the thought of being in a real life magic school.

"Remember the plan, okay? No acting like a human if a teacher is around."

Luz slowly nodded and made a grunt, not really being able to talk without vocal cords.

"Good," Willow said, replacing the cauldron's lid. Luz took that as her cue, and she sunk down to become one with the goo yet again.

Being in the cauldron was odd, to say the least. Luz couldn't see, taste, or smell anything, but she could feel the vibrations as the cauldron moved from place to place, and she could also hear the student body as she passed by. The voices ranged from what sounded like children all the way up to teenagers her age and older, as well as the occasional teacher.

Feeling the cauldron come to a stop, Luz readied herself, gathering the surrounding abomination goop into a body.

"Willow, you won't believe the things humans do," a new voice said. Luz guessed the speaker to be about 11 or 12 based on the pitch.

"Really? What is it?" Willow replied.

"Did you know that humans intentionally inject themselves with diseases? But why would they do that? Maybe it's for biological warfare."

Peeking ever so slightly out the cauldron, Luz did a quick 360 check to make sure no teachers were nearby. Satisfied that there were none in the area, she ducked back down.

"Okay Augustus, I'm going to show you something, but you have to be calm." Willow said, her voice muffled by the thick walls of the cauldron.

"I can be balm. I mean, calm." Augustus said, his voice also dampened.

"Alright. Abomination, rise."

That was Luz's cue.

Rising from the pot, Luz let out a loud groan and waved her arms about.

Finally getting a good look at Augustus, she saw that he was wearing a similar uniform to Willow's except his sleeves and leggings were a light blue color instead of orchid. Physically, the boy was significantly shorter than her and had a darker complexion. His hair was cut in a stylish fade, and his dark blue eyes were wide with a youthful wonder about them.

"Woah. Great job, Willow. That's a really good abomination!"

"But that's not all I have to show you, Augustus. Go ahead, Luz. The coast is clear."

Nodding, Luz morphed human, even though she ended up still covered head to toe in abomination goop.

"Luz Noceda, at your service," she said, standing up and bowing deeply.

"Luz, abominations don't act like that," Willow scolded.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Just hamming it up for the reveal."

"Impossible. There's no way," Augustus said, rubbing at his ears.

"Augustus here is the president of the Human Appreciation Society. Most witches couldn't identify a human right away, but he's an expert," Willow explained.

"Where are your fins?"

"Humans, uh, don't have fins. And also, those injections you were talking about are for creating an immunity to the disease being injected, not for warfare. No need to be worried, Gus," Luz replied to the misinformed witch.

"Gus?" The newly dubbed witch questioned.

"You know, Augustus, Gus. It's a pretty common nickname where I'm from."

"Wait, you mean I just got a nickname? From a human? Wow. Gus. This is the best day ever," Gus said.

Suddenly, a loud scream echoed through the halls. Luz frantically looked around, searching for the source.

"I've got to get to spelling class. See you at lunch, guys," Gus said, grabbing a wand and a textbook from his locker before heading off.

Willow waved goodbye before turning to Luz. "Alright, back into the pit of despair you go."

Luz simply hissed as she morphed back into an abomination and sunk into the cauldron.

Feeling the cart come to a stop, Luz presumed that she and Willow had reached their destination: Abominations 101, taught by Professor Hermonculus.

Based off the chatter that Luz could hear, the students in this class were a mixed bag on how they felt about the assignment.

Suddenly, all the talking died down. Luz guessed that that meant the professor had just shown up.

"Alright class, today we will be beginning your abomination presentations. I will pick the order in which you will be presenting. During your presentation, you will first order your abomination to rise from its cauldron before giving it two commands of your choosing. If your abomination incorrectly performs a command or is significantly deformed in appearance, your presentation will be cut short and you will fail the assignment. Is this understood?"

A chorus of "Yes, sir!" rung out from the class.

"Good. Up first will be Jerbo."

"Ugh. Too many eyeballs. How do you mess up this egregiously? Fail."

The student slowly wheeled their cauldron away.

That was the fourth student who barely even get a chance to present. Luz felt bad for them.

"These presentations have been pathetic. If the next one is a failure, then you'll all receive extra homework for the rest of the semester."

A collection of groans and shouts of protests followed the teacher's proclamation.

After waiting for the cacophony to die down, the professor continued. "The next to present will be–"

"Excuse me, sir, but I'm ready to present my abomination," Amity interrupted.

Hermonculus chuckled before continuing, "I know your abomination will be stellar, Miss Blight, but we have to save the best for last. How about... Willow."

Luz heard another round of groans, this time intermixed with students complaining about "Half-a-Witch" dooming them to extra homework.

Then, Luz felt the cauldron start to move, so she started to collect the goop up into what would be her body.

"Abomination, rise." Willow commanded after letting the goop come to a rest.

Slowly emerging from the cauldron, Luz let out a long moan. It was time for her to act like a mindless blob of goop.

"Abomination, bow."

Bending at the waist, Luz did as she was told, being sure to keep her arms and back straight.

"Abomination, draw."

Clambering out of the pot and slowly walking over to the blackboard, Luz picked up a piece of chalk and drew a stereotypical quaint little house with a chimney. After finishing her masterpiece, Luz awaited further instructions.

"This is a very impressive abomination, Miss Park. But does it speak?" The professor asked, marking something down on a piece of paper.

"No, sir, it does not. I couldn't get the vocal cords to properly develop." Willow answered. The professor then wrote something else down on the slip of paper.

"Hmm. In that case, you get an A minus. Please return to your seat, Miss Park."

"Thank you, sir. Abomination, back in the cauldron."

Luz took that as her sign, climbing back into the pot and melting down to become one with the goo yet again.

Willow then placed the lid back on the cauldron and wheeled it over to her desk before sitting back down.

Luz heard the bell scream and all the students quickly started packing up. Then, the professor's voice broke through the noise.

"Alright students. We will continue your presentations tomorrow, and Miss Blight, you will be going first. Miss Park, I would like to talk with you after the room clears."

Luz was pretty sure she could hear Willow gulp.

Gradually, the students filtered out of the room until it was just Willow, Luz, and Hermonculus.

"You wanted to talk with me, sir," Willow said, walking to the front of the room.

"Yes, I do. Your presentation today was very good. I've rarely seen a student make such strides in such a short amount of time. Tell me, if you please, what led to this sudden improvement in your abomination skills?"

"Well, sir, would you believe me if I said that Amity was offering private tutoring sessions?" Willow said, lying through her teeth.

"Ahh, the young Blight, always striving for extra credit. I'll have to ask her about that. Thank you, that's all I needed. Head off to your next class, Miss Park."

"Have a good day, sir," Willow said, before retrieving her cauldron and wheeling it to the next class.

Willow's next class was some kind of math or history course or something. Luz wasn't exactly sure. The teacher, a salamander-like fellow, gave a very enthusiastic lecture about the "heximal system." Luz didn't have any idea what that was, and she could only understand about half of what the instructor was saying, but she listened nonetheless. A funny thing happened about halfway through the lecture, though. Luz was pretty sure she heard someone outside yell "NOOO! SCHOOL!" in a very dramatic fashion. She couldn't tell who it was, sadly.

After that class was lunch, and Luz was glad to finally get some food in her stomach. After making sure the room was free of faculty members, Luz cautiously morphed human and struck up a conversation with Willow and Gus. She remained in the cauldron, though. She didn't want to risk being an rogue abomination on the loose.

"I am famished. Can I have some of your food? I haven't eaten all day." Luz asked the two, leaning over the edge of the pot.

"Sure. Do you want some of my PB and J?" Gus offered.

"Yeah, I'll take– Wait," Luz cut herself off. "What does PB and J stand for?"

"Pain butter and jalapeño," the boy answered.

"Never mind, then."

"You can take half of my salad. Dad always packs way too much," Willow said, holding out a partially eaten bowl.

"Oh, thank you so much," Luz said, taking the bowl with her and retreating into the cauldron. Eating a few bites, she noticed the greens had an odd dressing on them that she couldn't quite place.

"Let's just hope nobody saw that," Willow said.

"Why is that?" Luz asked.

"Because abominations don't need to eat."

"Huh. Interesting."

Willow then looked around and saw that Amity Blight was approaching their table. Oh no, had she discovered that Willow was cheating?

"Amity is coming over, quick, turn into an abomination," Willow yell-whispered to Luz, who was still hiding in the pot.

Letting out a tiny "Eep!" and stuffing the salad bowl into the goop, Luz quickly morphed, finishing just as Amity showed up.

"Hey Willow, Augustus. Just wanted to come over and congratulate you, Willow. You did really good on your presentation. I told you it could be salvaged. Heck, you did even better than I thought."

"Thanks, Amity," Willow responded.

Willow's abomination was odd, Amity concluded. When she had finished her lunch, she had gone over to congratulate Park on her presentation, only to see the witch in question dropping a salad bowl into her cauldron. That was weird, mainly on account of abomination's not needing to eat. Maybe Willow was rewarding it, or something along those lines? Though a salad was an odd choice of reward. Plus, Amity was pretty sure that she had seen something that was distinctly not an abomination in Willow's cauldron before during the same lunch period. It looked to be a witch about her age. But Amity was probably just seeing things, though. She had stayed up all night perfecting her abomination, after all, so hallucinations weren't exactly out of the question.

After the brief scare that was lunch, Luz continued accompanying Willow to her next class: spelling. While Luz had initially thought this was going to be some kind of class teaching the students how to properly spell words, she quickly realized that the course was actually about the science of casting magical spells, which was objectively way more cool. The lesson had been really interesting, as well. Apparently, witches all had this thing called a "bile sac" that grew out of their heart that allowed them to do magic, and the sac would naturally get replenished by the magic emanating from the decomposing body of the Titan. That was metal as heck.

After the class had finished up, it was just Willow, Gus, and Luz all alone in the room. Sensing the opportunity to stretch her legs, Luz morphed human and crawled out of the cauldron.

"Wow. Who knew being stuck in a pot all do could work up such a sweat? Thankfully, there's only one more class. High five!"

The two witches stared at her, blank expressions on their faces.

"Slap my hand with yours. It's a thing human friends do," Luz explained.

Gus hesitantly placed his palm against Luz's. After realizing that it didn't hurt, he pulled his hand back and high fived her again, although with much more vigor this time.

"Humans do this all the time? How did I never know?" Gus said, amazed at the euphoric rush of the high five.

He then slapped palms with Luz three more times, only for Luz to catch his wrist on the next attempt.

"When people high five, its usually only once or twice."

"Oh. Darn," Gus said sadly.

A scream echoed through the halls, indicating the last class period was about to begin.

"Alright, off we go," Luz said, reentering the pot and morphing back into an abomination.

Amity now knew that something was up. That witch she had seen during lunch had just climbed into Willow's cauldron and then turned into an abomination! While there wasn't anything in the school rulebook that explicitly stated that students weren't allowed to turn into abominations, this had to be a violation of some kind. As Top Student of the Abomination Track, Amity had a reputation to uphold, and that came with certain responsibilities. Those responsibilities included reporting potential academic dishonesty. Shaking her head, Amity quickly walked over to Principal Bump's office. "Oh Willow, what have you gotten yourself into."

The final class of the day also turned out to be interesting, but for a very different reason.

Halfway through the class period, the PA system screeched to life.

"Willow Park, please report to Principal Bump's office, and bring your school-issued cauldron and abomination fluid."

The entire class turned to stare at the girl as she slowly made her way out of the room, cauldron in tow.

Once they were out of sight of everyone, Luz morphed human and stuck her head out of the pot.

"Who knows why you're being sent to the principal's office? Maybe he was really impressed by your magical prowess and wanted to see it for himself," Luz joked, trying to break the tension.

"Yeah. That's definitely why. Definitely," Willow said. She didn't even believe herself.

"Hey, if everything goes south, don't worry, because I've got a plan."

"And what plan is that?"

Not saying anything, Luz simply morphed back into an abomination.

Slowly nudging the door to Bump's office open, Willow saw that it wasn't just the principal who was there. Amity was present, too.

"Hello, Miss Park."

"Hello, Principal Bump. Hi, Amity," Willow said meekly.

"Principal Bump, can I say something before we begin?" Amity quickly said.

"Yes, you may."

"Thank you. Look, Willow, whatever happens here, don't think of it as a personal attack on you, or anything. I take my role as Top Student very seriously, and I would have done this if I saw anyone else I thought was cheating, not just you. Sorry, for all its worth," Amity said, before backing away into the corner of the room.

"Miss Blight there told me that she believed you to be cheating in regard to your project for Abominations 101. While she wasn't specific, she mentioned that she reportedly saw you placing 'foreign materials' in your abomination cauldron. Do you have anything you would like to say against these accusations?"

"No, sir, I do not."

"Then I suppose you wouldn't mind me performing an analysis of your abomination, would you?"

"Well, sir, I have the list of ingredients I used right here," Willow said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small slip of paper.

"The ingredients you used are why you are here, Miss Park. Now, will you allow me to perform an analysis of your abomination?"

"Yes, sir," Willow replied quietly.

"Thank you. Abomination, rise," Bump said.

Luz did exactly that, rising from the cauldron and remaining perfectly still afterwards.

"Abomination, lie," Bump commanded, pointing towards his desk.

Slowly clambering over, Luz crawled atop the principal's desk.

"Hmm. This is a near perfect abomination, Miss Park. Normally, this would be cause for celebration, but given the circumstance's, we'll have to wait and see," Bump noted, lifting and dropping Luz's arm, inspecting it closely.

"Miss Park, I think I'm going to need a closer look at your abomination," the principal continued.

"What do you mean by that, sir?" Willow asked.

"Vivisection, Miss Park," Bump replied, walking to the other side of the desk and pulling out an incredibly sharp-looking dagger.

"Given that this is your project, I'll allow you the first incision," he then said, handing the blade over to Willow.

Suddenly, Luz snapped upright and turned to face Bump. Before anyone could react, she opened her mouth and began to drain the principal. Once the witch was weakened enough to not be an immediate threat, Luz quickly morphed human.

Scrambling off the table and grabbing Willow by the arm, the two ran.