Luz's time in the human realm was doing wonders for her mental health. Without the struggles of being a werewolf constantly weighing on her mind, she was quickly returning to being her old self again, and her confidence was coming back full force as a result. She was now more determined than ever to get herself in sync with her curse, and it brought so much joy to her family to see that. She was even starting to come to grips with the incident at the owl house, fully accepting that it was Dysley and his people that provoked her, and that what happened wasn't her fault. This was a surprise even to herself, considering how humble she liked to be, but she was also happy about it. It showed that she was evolving as a person, and that she now knew it was okay to take care of herself.

It was now Sunday, a few days since Thanksgiving, and Luz and Amity were currently cuddled up together on the living room couch watching A Christmas Story on TV. Hey, it was officially the Christmas season now, so why not?

At the point in the movie where Ralphie started beating up his bully, Amity turned to Luz. "You know, for being one of the most popular Christmas movies, this one is not exactly the cheeriest in tone."

Luz snorted. "Oh, that's nothing. The guy who directed this also directed a Christmas horror movie."

"Wait, are you serious?"

"Yep. It's called Black Christmas, and it's actually pretty good. We should totally watch it at some point."

Amity pursed her lips. "I don't know. When I think of this time of year, I think about being happy and cheerful, not being scared."

"Hmm, that's fair. But then again, it's always nice to branch out and try new things."

Amity narrowed her eyes. "You're just looking for an excuse to have me hold you tightly, aren't you?"

Luz blushed. "…maybe."

The purple haired witch smiled and kissed her cheek. "As if I would say no to that. With all seriousness though, I don't think I want to watch something like that now. We have enough scary stuff to deal with right now as is. Let's get all of this behind us first, then watch the movie. It might now be December anymore by then, but I won't mind."

Luz kissed her cheek back. "Of course. Anything for you, Mi Amor."

They snuggled closer and watched their movie for another twenty minutes or so before Eda walked in through the front door with a Dunkin Donuts iced coffee in hand (she had been obsessed with the place since Camila introduced her to it).

She walked over to the couple with a smile. "Hey, just the two girls I wanted to talk to!"

Amity chuckled. "What's wrong? Someone gave you a hard time and you need our help beating them up?"

The owl lady snorted. "Nah, nothing like that. At least not this time. It actually involves Luz's training."

This made the human witch sit up straight. "What about it?"

"Well, your mental health has improved a great deal since you've been staying in the Human Realm, and you're definitely turning back to your old bubbly self. Because of that, I think you're ready to start your training again, as long as you're okay with that of course."

Luz frowned. "How are we going to do that here? I can't go for my morning runs, at least not while transformed. People will see me for sure, and that applies to pretty much every other exercise we do."

Eda shook her head. "You're right, but I wasn't talking about those exercises. I was talking about a new one, and this one you don't have to be outside for."

The human witch tilted her head. Now she was curious. "What is it?"

Her mentor took a sip of her iced coffee and sat down on the couch. "Okay, so you know that this brew that Lilith and Masha are making will involve something similar to light magic, right?"

Luz pursed her lips. "Yeah, they think mixing it with my blood will help weaken my curse long enough for me to face it in my mind."

Eda nodded. "You got it, and I trust Lilith and Masha completely to make it as safe as possible."

She then sighed. "Thing is, we're still going into uncharted territory with this, and we can't know with a hundred percent certainty what's going to happen."

Her face then took on a look of determination. "Which is why I'm not leaving anything up to chance this time. I won't allow another incident like before to happen again. This time, I want to be absolutely sure that everything goes according to plan, which is why I've come up with a new training exercise for you. It's about you building up more of a tolerance to light magic, and everything similar to it."

Luz gave a look of confusion. "Build up my tolerance? How?"

"The only way you can do it. Through exposure."

Amity's eyes widened. "What?! You want to expose Luz to light magic?! Eda, are you crazy?!"

"Yeah, Eda!" Luz added. "What good will that do? That'll just put all of us in danger!"

The owl lady held up her hand. "Hear me out. We know that just being around light magic makes lycanthropy go haywire, and there's really no way to prevent that completely. It'll always be just a bomb waiting to go off. However, what if we're able to extend the fuse of that bomb?"

"Extend the fuse?" The human witch asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Basically, if you practice keeping your curse down around light magic, it could give you more time to allow the brew to work, or give you more time to take your medicine in the future. It might only be for a few seconds, but those few seconds could give you just the advantage you need.

Luz began to calm down and nodded in understanding. "Oh, I see what you're saying. If I can build up more tolerance then it might make things a little easier for me."

She then shook her head. "I don't know though. That still sounds pretty risky."

Eda sighed. "I'm not saying it isn't. But then again, everything we've done has had an element of risk to it, right?"

"That's true…"

"Uh uh. No." Amity said firmly. "I'm not gonna let my fiancé put herself in danger like that. If something goes wrong, she could get badly hurt."

"Hold up, Boots." The owl lady said. "You're talking like I'm gonna use attack spells or weapons infused with light magic. You seriously think I would do that to my own kid? I'm offended."

"Well, how else would you do it? You want Luz to be able to keep herself composed longer when her curse is flaring up. What's one reason it would do that? When it feels threatened. And what causes it to feel threatened? Light magic!"

Luz put her hands on her fiancé's shoulders and looked at her. "Hold on. I think I know what Eda is trying to say. She just wants to expose me to light magic in general. It doesn't have to be an attack or a weapon."

"You got it." Eda said. "Any form of light magic can cause your curse to flare up. It can be something as simple as a light ball, and that's what I want to do. I want to form one and have you sit close to it so you can get used to how it feels. Again, you'll never be able to fully tolerate it, but that's not the point. The point is you being able to buy yourself some time, and I think that's important."

The human witch nodded. "I would have to agree. I really want this brew to work, and I don't want any surprises when it happens. This seems like a good way of preventing that."

Amity frowned. "Luz, are you really sure about this? You said it yourself. This could be pretty risky"

"I know, but going into this thing with the brew unprepared would be even worse, and I'm not gonna let that happen. This exercise might be risky, but I think it'll be worth it."

The purple haired witch looked at her for a moment before sighing. "You have that determined look in your eyes. There's no way I'm talking you out of this, aren't I?"

Luz gave a little laugh. "Nope."

Amity sighed again and looked back at her. "Alright, we'll do it. But if I see even the slightest hint that something is going wrong, I'm pulling the plug. Understand?"

"You got it, Mi amor."

Luz then turned back to her mentor. "So how are we going to do this?"

Eda turned the TV off before speaking. "You have your vial of medicine on you, right?"

"Yep."

"Perfect. Stay seated right there. Boots, I need you to stand about five feet away from her."

Amity nodded and walked over behind the coffee table. "Okay, now what?"

"Form a light ball and hold it out towards her."

The purple haired witch was reluctant at first. Using light magic around her fiancé was the last thing she wanted to do, but she also reminded herself that she was overthinking it. This was going to be nothing like the incident at the owl house. There was no one here to threaten Luz, and everyone had medicine on standby just in case. There was no chance the human witch was going to lose control of herself, and there was nothing to worry about.

Taking a deep breath to compose herself, Amity formed a small spell circle and formed a light ball about the size of a tennis ball in the air. She then held it out in front of her and towards Luz.

Eda turned to her apprentice. "Do you feel anything from that, Kiddo?"

The human witch shrugged. "Barley. If I wasn't looking for it, I wouldn't even notice it."

"Alright, close the gap to three feet, Boots."

Amity took a couple steps closer. This time, Luz got a funny yet familiar feeling in her core. It was the same feeling she had when the light enchanted knife was being held to her throat, only nowhere near as intense.

"I can feel my curse." She said. "It's like it's warning me that there's danger closeby."

"Is it flaring up?" Amity asked.

Luz shook her head. "No, it's just being alert. It's uncomfortable, but I can manage it."

Eda nodded and typed a few things on her scroll. "Alright, so it seems like when it's in that phase, there is no danger of you losing control. Now, let's turn the dial up a bit. Hold it right in front of her, Boots."

Amity formed a worried look. "Are you sure?"

"It's okay. If something happens, we have the medicine. Trust me."

The purple haired witch reluctantly nodded before taking another step forward and held the light ball only a foot away from Luz's head. The human witch's body tensed as this happened, the feeling in her core getting more intense.

"Keep talking to me, Kiddo." Eda said. "What do you feel now?"

"It feels like my body is on red alert." Luz replied. "I'm starting to feel on edge, like I want to swat that light ball away from me."

The owl lady nodded and jotted down more notes. "Looks like we're starting to push the right buttons here. Alright, here's what I want you to do. Stay that way and keep your curse at bay as long as you possibly can. When you feel like you can't hold on anymore, just say the word, and we'll stop."

"Okay…" The human witch replied. She then closed her eyes and began to take deep breaths, trying hard to focus on her core. She could feel the energy starting to build, wanting to come out, but she willed herself to keep it contained. It went against one of the earliest lessons Eda had taught her, let the energy flow instead of trying to subdue it, but this wasn't like those early training sessions. Here, her curse was being provoked, and she needed to keep herself under control as long as she could, which only got harder as the seconds ticked by.

The pressure and heat in her core was building, almost like a defective water heater, and she was starting to sweat.

Amity was really getting worried. "Luz, do you want me to stop?"

Luz shook her head. "Not yet. I think I can hang in there a little more."

"Okay, just tell me when."

The human witch slowly nodded as she continued to concentrate. The energy from the light ball was minor, but the extended time spent around it was starting to take its toll. Luz's core was now pounding like a throbbing headache, and it was getting to the point where it was starting to become painful. Eventually, she felt her core starting to burn, the telltale sign she was going to start losing control soon. That's when she threw up the white flag.

"Okay, I can't do it anymore." She said.

Amity immediately dissipated the light ball, and sat down next to Luz while handing her a vial of medicine. The human witch took it without hesitation and downed the liquid, sighing with relief as she did. It was like pouring water on a hot fire, and it instantly calmed her curse down. After that, she found it much easier to steady her breathing.

"Are you alright?" Amity asked.

Luz nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. That sucked though."

Eda formed a look of guilt on her face. "I'm sorry about that, Kiddo. I wish there was an easier way to do it."

The human witch shook her head. "No, it's okay. If it means getting better, I'm willing to endure it."

She then turned to her mentor. "Speaking of which, how did I do?"

Eda looked over at the clock and smiled. "You did pretty good for your first time. You were able to be around that light ball for five minutes."

Luz's eyes widened. "Five minutes? I didn't think I'd last that long."

"Well keep in mind, that wasn't a strong spell. If it was, your curse would've definitely flared up a lot quicker. Still though, that was a good first performance. I think with more training, you'll be able to last a lot longer than you did today."

The human witch smiled and nodded. "I think so too. It's like with any muscle. More practice will make it stronger."

"Exactly. Remember though, you'll never be able to keep your curse down around light magic indefinitely. That's not the goal. The goal is to keep it down long enough for the brew to work."

Luz gave a thumbs up. "Got it. How about next time we aim for six minutes?"

"If you feel you're up for it, sure, but we're only doing this training once a day at most. Any more than that will put too much strain on your body."

Luz nodded before leaning back into the couch with a sigh. "That's fine with me. That first session left me a bit drained anyway. Want to just watch the rest of the movie? My Mom won't be home from work for another few hours, and the same goes for Vee with classes."

Eda shrugged. "Eh, what the heck. Not like I got anything else to do."

Just then, her scroll started ringing. She picked it up and smiled upon seeing it was Lilith who was calling her. "Actually, before I do that, I'm gonna talk to my sister."

She answered the call and brought the scroll to her ear. "Hey, Lilly!"

"Hello, sister!" Lilith answered. "How's everything going over there? How's Luz?"

"She's fine. Just a little tired right now. We started that new training exercise I was telling you about."

Lilith was silent for a moment before speaking again. "And how did that go?"

"I say it went pretty well. Luz was able to keep herself composed around a light ball for five minutes. Don't worry, she's not hurt or anything. The spell was minor and she took her medicine."

The historian sighed. "I'm still not a fan of this idea, but I know you would never do anything reckless when it comes to Luz. So as long as she's okay with it, so am I."

"She is. Otherwise I wouldn't have done it in the first place."

"Wonderful."

Lilith sighed again before continuing. "Speaking of the brew, that's actually why I'm calling you. Last night, Masha and I figured out a recipe that will work for Luz. Mother and Father happen to have some ingredients for it too, so they're sending them to us."

"Really? Lilly, that is awesome news! Tell me everything, girl!"

The historian chuckled. "What's the magic word?"

"Lilly…"

"Haha! I'm just joking! Okay, so this brew will consist of several ingredients, including some of Luz's blood and something from the human realm called sage. It appears humans use it to ward off evil beings and magic."

"Ah, I get ya." Eda said. "And like you said, by mixing it with Luz's blood, her curse probably won't freak out as much as it normally does."

"Precisely, and since Luz wants to do this during a full moon, it will definitely be a huge help. Thing is, there are a few vital ingredients from the Human Realm that I'm missing, and Masha won't be done with classes for a while. Would you mind collecting them for me?"

The owl lady smiled and nodded. "Say no more, Sis! Just send me the list and consider it done!"

"Wonderful! Thank you so much, Eda."

"No problem, and thank you for doing this. Helping out Luz means everything to me."

"Of course. She's my niece after all, and I would do anything for her."

"Yeah, but I wanted to say it anyway."

"I know. Take care, sister!"

"Chao!"

Eda hung up her scroll and turned to Luz and Amity. "Alright lovebirds, up and at em! We got some shopping to do!"

The couple groaned and turned away from her.

"Seriously?" Luz said. "I really don't want to get up right now."

The owl lady shrugged. "Oh well. Guess I'll have to get those vital ingredients by myself, ingredients that will help you control your curse."

That instantly snapped the human witch out of her tired state, and she sprung up from the couch with an excited look in her eyes. "Why didn't you just say so?! Come on!"

She then ran off to get her shoes and coat on while Amity turned and gave Eda a dirty look.

"If it wasn't for the fact this was so important, I'd hate you right now. " She said.

The owl lady snorted. "Love you too, Boots."