Luz was becoming more comfortable and accepting of her curse, but that didn't make her confinement in the owl house any easier. In fact, it actually made it worse, and she started to become restless. She was always someone who preferred to be outdoors rather than indoors, and hated the idea of sitting around and doing nothing all day. So to occupy herself, she spent her time playing games with King, watching shows and movies on the crystal orb with Amity, or doing exercises with Willow. It didn't entirely satisfy what she wanted, but it was better than nothing.

However, even though she didn't like being cooped up inside, she didn't complain either, because she understood why. Heading outside without her medicine just wasn't worth the risk, and she didn't want to cause any trouble or distress for her family. So as much as she hated it, she just sucked it up.

Her patience would be rewarded as after a few days, her medicine was finally ready, and Raine and Lilith seemed confident that it would work.

"Now remember." Lilith said as she handed her the vial. "This potion is not for regular consumption. Only take it if you feel like you're about to lose control, and make sure to have it with you at all times. I'll start making more after today to ensure you have a steady supply. I'll also make sure Eda and the others have some with them too just in case, in both vials and syringes."

Luz frowned. "Syringes? Is that really necessary?"

Raine nodded. "It is. If you were to fully transform, I doubt you would take your medicine willingly. It's really the only way to ensure you're able to do so."

Ah, well, there was no arguing with that. So the human witch just smiled and nodded. "Got it. Thanks guys, I really owe you one."

"You don't owe us anything." Raine said as they patted her on the back. "We're just happy to help you. Now let's get you over to Eda to start your training. She's been pretty impatient about the whole thing."

The human witch chuckled. "Yeah, I imagine. To be honest though, I'm getting impatient myself. So let's go! The sooner I can start working on my curse, the better!"

She took off with Lilith and Raine laughing in amusement.

"She's quite the character, but I wouldn't have it any other way." The latter said.

"Same here." "The former said. "She just has a talent for making people's lives that much more bright."

….

Eda had a smile on her face as she waited in the front yard of the owl house. Even though Luz's curse had caused her a great deal of worry and concern, this was one part the owl lady was looking forward to, because it meant spending time with her apprentice and teaching her the ways of her new power.

For a moment, it felt like six years ago again, where Luz was an excited fourteen year old who wanted to learn all about the world of magic. Those were some of Eda's most precious memories, and she cherish every moment of them.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Hooty calling her.

"Eda, Luz is ready! Hoot-Hoot!"

She turned around to see her apprentice with a smile on her face followed closely by Raine and Lilith.

"Hey, there you guys are!" She said. "You were in there for a while. What took you so long?"

"We were just making sure Luz understood what to do with her medicine." Lilith said.

"Oh, jeez. You didn't go into one of your lectures, did you?"

Raine laughed. "Not at all. She was just being thorough, as was I. We can't treat this situation lightly after all."

The owl lady nodded. "Oh yeah, I agree. I just wanted to make sure you weren't talking the poor kid's ears off."

Lilith scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Well, one of us here needs to be an adult."

Eda laughed now. "Chill Sis, I'm just messing with you. Seriously, I appreciate you doing this. This has been a huge toll on all of us."

Now her sister smiled. "Anything for you and Luz. Now, I'll stop 'talking your ears off' as you say and leave you two to train."

Raine pursed their lips. "This is gonna be a running joke between you and Eda for the next week, is it?"

"Ah, you're catching on, Hon!" Eda said.

Her spouse sighed. "Well, it's what I signed up for. Anyway, I suppose I should start helping Lilith make more doses of medicine. Hooty, would you like to join us?"

"Sure thing!" The house demon said.

Eda made a face at that. "Uhh, are you sure that's a good idea?"

Lilith chuckled. "Don't worry, Sister. Hootsifer here is actually quite the helpful assistant with potion making."

With that, the trio all went back inside, leaving the owl lady and Luz in the front yard.

"You know," The latter said. "If it wasn't for the fact Hooty was with Lilith, I would be really concerned about him handling potions."

Eda nodded. "Ditto."

She then turned to her apprentice and smiled. "Alright, Kiddo, you ready to begin your training?"

Luz smiled back. "You bet! So what do we start with first?"

The human witch actually looked eager to start her training, something Eda found amusing and heartwarming. The fact her apprentice was starting to be her normal self again was really encouraging.

"Well," She said. "The best place to start is to understand your curse, and I don't mean understanding how it works and what not. I mean truly understanding it."

The human witch gave a look of confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Sit down, legs criss crossed."

She obeyed, and her mentor walked over and did the same thing next to her before speaking again. "Up until now, we've been talking about your curse like it's another being living inside you, or another personality."

"Yeah, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

"I don't know what that is, but I'll take your word for it. In any case, that thought process stops now, because that isn't at all what this is. Your curse is not a separate entity fighting for control over your body. It's just another part of you, the same way your heart or your bones are."

"Then why does it feel like a separate thing?" Luz asked.

"Because your body isn't used to it yet. It doesn't know how to respond to it and its effects, and that's the point of this training. You need to learn how to properly be in sync with your curse and get used to how it feels. It will be hard, really hard actually, but once you do it, using it will be as simple as walking."

"Okay, so how do I do that?"

"Close your eyes and start breathing slowly."

Luz did just that. It was a bit tricky at first with the sounds and smells her super senses were picking up, but after a moment she was finally able to get into a rhythm.

"Good." Eda said. "Now concentrate. Do you feel something in your core? Something strong?"

The human witch focused on her core, and she did indeed feel something there. It was a strange feeling, like there was energy stored there. Perhaps this is what a witch felt when magic was stored in their bile sack.

"Is that…my beast form?"

"It is. But remember, it's a part of you, not a separate thing. You need to refer to it as such."

"Right, sorry. My werewolf powers."

"That's better. Now, understanding this feeling is key. Many people may want to push it away and try to forget about it. But as we've discussed, that will only make it worse. If you try and suppress it, it will just keep building and building until it has nowhere to go but out."

Luz pursed her lips. "And then I'll lose control."

"Exactly, which is why you need to let it flow through you rather than trying to contain it. This'll allow your body to get more used to it, and therefore allow you to control it better. Let's start with a simple exercise to get you into the swing of it."

"What do you have in mind?"

Eda sat up more straight before continuing. "Well, as you know from my curse, you don't have to transform your entire body to use your power. You can limit it to certain parts of your body if you want."

She then held out her hand and focused on it for a second before it shifted into its harpy form. "This works similarly to using magic. When you let your power flow, just think about what you want your body to do, and it will happen. Go ahead, give it a try. But only change your hands though, okay?"

The human witch was reluctant at first. The fears of something going wrong were coming back to her mind, but she tried her best to ignore it. She had to remember what Stringbean said. If she continued to give into her fear, then she would never get better. She had to be brave and face this, so she nodded.

Breathing slowly and heavily, she allowed the feeling in her core to begin traveling through her body. It was a strange sensation to say the least, like a small electric current, but it didn't hurt. If anything, it actually tickled a little. This feeling traveled from her head all the way down to her toes.

"Woah." She said. "That feels weird."

Eda chuckled. "I know, right? Don't lose focus though. Remember, just think about what you want your power to do."

Luz nodded again and did just that. She focused hard on her hands, trying to will them to change just like her mentor did. After a moment, there was another strange sensation, but this one was different. It felt like something in her hands was shifting.

"Luz, open your eyes." Eda said.

She did, and she gasped when she looked down at her hands. Sure enough, they had changed. The muscles had grown bigger and more bulky. Her fingers had grown longer but no less thinner, and at the end of each of them was a dark claw a few inches long. They looked similar to the hands of the werewolf that bit her, though not as big and muscular.

"You did it!" Eda said, beaming at her proudly. "You managed to partially transform on your own!"

Luz smiled with excitement. "I…I did. Oh my Titan, I actually did!"

"Told you you had what it takes." Her mentor said as she patted her on the head, causing her to giggle.

"Yeah, you were right. This is awesome! I…huh?

The moment she had stopped focusing on her hands however, they started morphing back to their normal shape. In a move that would have been ironic a few days ago, she tried to keep them in their beastly form, but it turned out to be a futile effort.

"Dang it." She said. "You make it look so easy."

Eda chuckled. "Hey, I wasn't perfect at first either. Remember that time I got stuck in the doorway?"

Luz snickered. "Oh yeah. I wish I had a camera to capture that moment."

The owl lady sighed. "Thank titan you didn't. But anyway, my point is, controlling your transformations just takes practice, and you're only just getting started."

The human witch nodded. "Well in that case, can we keep going? We have nothing but time after all."

Eda smiled and nodded back. The fact her apprentice wanted to keep going showed that her morale was further improving, and the owl lady wanted this to keep going in the right direction.

"You got it, Kiddo! Let's just focus on the hands for today though. We don't want to go too crazy too quickly."

Luz raised an amused eyebrow. "You don't want to go crazy? That's not like you."

Eda chuckled and patted her head. "When it comes to my kid, I'll make an exception. Your safety is my main priority no matter what. Remember, our curses are similar, but they're not the same. Since you're not used to using your power yet, letting a large amount of it flow could cause you to lose control."

The human witch nodded in understanding. "Yeah, and that's the last thing we want right now."

"Exactly, so let's continue the exercise so we can start working our way up that ladder. Do the same thing as before. Close your eyes and concentrate on your hands. Go."

….

Luz spent the next few hours in the front yard trying to get more used with her werewolf powers. It was a lot harder than she had anticipated, and it really seemed like the curse within her had a mind of its own and didn't want to cooperate. It was incredibly frustrating, but she didn't give up and kept trying. Finally, after what had to have been three dozen attempts, she was able to control the morphing in her hands pretty well. She could now change them to and from their beast form at will (at least for the most part), and she was really proud of herself for her accomplishment. This was nothing however compared to how proud Eda was of her.

Her mentor embraced her in a hug, and she was more than happy to hug her back.

"You did great today, kiddo." The owl lady said. "You still have a ways to go before you can transform fully, but you're well on the right path. Keep up the good work!"

"Thanks, Eda." The human witch said as they parted. "I was so scared before, and I guess I still am, but I feel so energized now! I want to just keep going!"

"Slow down there, Luz. Remember, we agreed to tackle this a little bit at a time."

The owl lady then smiled again and put her hand on her apprentice's shoulder. "I'm glad though that you feel that way. Everyone needs a moment like this. Once they see the proof that they can do something, they'll want more and more. I felt the same way with my curse. It's kind of exhilarating actually."

"It really is! Can we do more tomorrow?"

Eda raised an eyebrow. "You really think I'd say no? Of course we can!"

"Yes! Oh titan, I can wait to show everyone what I can do now!"

The human witch sprang up and dashed to the front door. Even from outside, Eda could hear her apprentice's excited voice as she told everyone, and this warmed her heart to no end. When she first heard that Luz was infected with lycanthropy, she was scared to death of the physical and mental strain it would put on the poor girl. A curse like this is a really heavy burden to bear, but this moment made that fear ease up a little.

Luz was getting her determination back. And that was good because the road ahead was going to have a lot of bumps in it, but the owl lady knew the human witch was up for the challenge. Nothing had ever managed to keep Luz down, not even death itself, and that helped Eda build up her own confidence.

She just hoped that the rest of the family felt the same way.