Luz and Amity spent the next few days reading through their new books with King, and found themselves very invested in it. The fact that other supernatural creatures had migrated between the Human and Demon Realms fascinated them, and they really wanted to learn more about it to satisfy their curiosity, but that was more of a secondary objective for them. Their main priority was to search through any legends about werewolves they could find, and potentially gain new information on how Luz can control her curse.

There was a lot of ground to cover however. Masha wasn't kidding when they said werewolves were talked about all over the world. It seemed like most cultures had some variation of them, and the stories varied all over the place. It was clear Luz and Amity needed some help to better understand all of this. And if anyone could do that, it was Lilith.

So the couple decided to go and visit her at the museum for her expert opinion, but not before stopping in town to get some ice scream. Well, more specifically for Amity. Since Luz was lactose intolerant, she settled on one of Harvey and Gilbert's pastries instead. Regardless, the couple were really in the mood to have something sweet, and it was a beautiful day that they wanted to enjoy. They also decided to treat their palismans as well by getting them each a little cup of ice scream, something they very much appreciated.

Luz found it adorable the way Stringbean used her little tongue to lick at her treat. It was almost like the way a puppy would do it.

"So Stringbean," The human witch said as she slid her phone to her palisman. "Which dessert do you like better, this stuff or ice cream?"

The snake shifter lifted her face and pondered for a moment before responding.

'I actually like ice cream more.' She typed. 'It just tastes better, and the human realm has a lot more flavors.'

"I'd have to agree." Amity said, "It also helps that it doesn't yell at me when I eat it."

The human witch snorted. "Ditto. Even after all this time, I still think that's weird. Oh man, do you remember when my Mom tried ice scream for the first time?"

Amity giggled as she recalled the fond memory. "Titan, I think that day scared her for life."

'Oh! I think we still have that picture!' Stringbean typed.

She scrolled through Luz's phone, and quickly found the image of Camila, holding her cone of ice scream with a scared and mortified look on her face. Everyone laughed hysterically as they looked at the picture. They found it just as funny as they did when it was taken three years ago. Even Camila herself had found the humor in it after a little while, so the couple didn't feel bad about laughing over it.

Once they all settled down, Amity spoke again. "Ah yes. Classic moment, and to think we have so many more of these to come."

Luz smiled and nodded. "Heck yeah, especially when it comes to the wedding! Eda hired a great photographer for us! We can take all kinds of great pictures, both beautiful and goofy!"

"Oh yeah. I already have plans for some photos I want to do with Edric and Emira. Consider it our retribution for all the times they embarrassed us."

"Oh, do tell, Mi Amor. I'm all ears."

The couple snickered mischievously. Normally they would be against something like revenge, but they decided to make an exception here. Besides, it really was about time the Blight twins got a taste of their own medicine.

Before anything else could be said however, the couple both froze and sat up straight. A sudden and strong scent had entered both their nostrils, one they both were familiar with, but preferred not to smell.

"Is that what I think it is?" Amity asked.

Luz sniffed the air a few times, her eyes growing wide with worry as she did. She didn't need super senses to know what it was.

"Yeah, smoke."

"Where's it coming from?"

The couple looked around, but the awning they were under didn't provide a good view of their surroundings. So they got up and walked a little into the street, and it didn't take long for them to find the source of the smell. Further down the street, towards the north side of town, was a towering cloud of smoke that went at least a hundred feet into the air. Just underneath that was raging fire that was consuming a nearby building which looked to be Grimgrub's Pub. The fire was quickly accelerating, and people could be seen scrambling to control the flames before they ignited neighboring buildings.

Luz and Amity turned to each other and nodded before taking their palismans and sprinted towards the unfolding crisis. Lilith could wait for now. There were people who needed help, and the couple never turned their backs on those in need.

….

The fire was far more horrific looking up close, and the couple could feel the heat even from a block away. This was more serious than they had thought, and they could only hope that nobody was hurt. No sooner did they reach the burning building did they spring into action. Luz immediately started casting ice and snow glyphs around the edge of the building to try and keep the fire contained, while Amity, being careful not to get too close to the flames, did the same on top of Ghost from a higher elevation.

"I need some help here!" Luz shouted.

Other bystanders instantly joined in and began to cast ice spells of their own. Even with all this help though, it was a struggle to keep the flames away from nearby buildings, let alone extinguish them. They would just have to do their best and hope they could keep things the way they were until more help arrived.

As Luz cast glyph after glyph, her ears picked up on a sound coming from the raging inferno. It sounded like a person, but this wasn't the frantic shouting coming from the people next to her. This was different. She listened more carefully, and felt her heart skip a beat. What she was hearing was someone moaning in pain, and it was coming from inside the building.

"Oh my titan, someone's still in there!" She shouted as she sprinted around back towards the entrance. From there, she could hear the person more clearly. Someone was definitely trapped in there, and they were going to die if someone didn't do something.

Luz made her way towards the front door, shielding her face from the heat, when someone grabbed her arm and held her back.

"Are you crazy?!" They shouted. "You can't go in there! It's too dangerous!"

The human witch shook her head.

"I have too! That person will die if I don't help them!"

"So will you if you try to help them!"

"No I won't! Trust me, I'll be fine!"

With that, Luz pulled herself out of the bystander's grip and sprinted through the front door. The heat inside the pub was unbelievable. It made even the hottest summer days seem like a cakewalk, and just being close to the fire made the human witch's skin feel like it was singing. She didn't let that deter her however, and pushed forward. There was someone who needed her help, and she wasn't going to abandon them.

"Where are you?!" She shouted.

There was no response. Oh titan, was she already too late? No. She couldn't lose hope. She had to keep trying.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" She shouted much louder. This time, there was a response from the back of the bar.

"I'm over here! Please, help me!"

Luz moved as fast as she possibly could towards the direction of the noise. It wasn't as quick as she wanted, being that she had to navigate the maze of flames to reach her destination, but she was finally able to make it. When she did, she saw a man on the floor reaching out for her. Part of the roof had collapsed on top of him, pinning him to the floor, and he couldn't move.

"Please!" He shouted. "Get this stuff off me!"

Luz ran over and placed her hands under the huge piece of debris to try and lift it. "Don't worry, I'll get you out!"

She strained herself against the huge slab that was a mixture of stone and wood, gritting her teeth as she did. But even with her superhuman strength, the big chunk of debris didn't even move an inch.

"Come on!" She shouted as she tried desperately to free the man, but it was like the piece of roof was glued to the floor. It just wouldn't budge, and the precious seconds Luz had began to slip away as the flames began to consume the room more. It would only be a matter of time before her only escape was blocked off, and she felt her adrenaline surging through her body, along with her curse.

Feeling this reminded the human witch of the powers she had, and that they might be her only hope at freeing this man. She really didn't want to do it. Even after discussing it with her family, she was still terrified of telling people about her curse, and this wasn't exactly how she wanted to do it either, but she didn't have a choice. It was either use her powers, or leave the man to burn to death, and she sure was not planning on doing the latter.

With a deep breath, she grabbed the slab again and tapped into her core, allowing the curse to flow through her body and give her the strength she needed. With a yell that was half human and half animal, she finally began to hoist the hoist the slab off of the man. Luz felt her hands and feet change as she did, as well as her tail protruding. It didn't matter to her anymore though. All she care about was saving this man's life.

With a growl, she threw the slab to the side before gently picking up the man and sprinting back the way she came. The man was like a feather to her in her partially transformed state, and her surroundings flew by her head as she made her way through the maze of flames once more.

She was moving so fast that she didn't remember exiting through the door. The next thing she knew, she was outside again with the man in her arms and breathing heavily. She walked to the other side of the street away from the burning pub, and it was only then did she put the man down and change herself back to normal.

Taking deep breaths to calm herself down, she began to inspect the man to see how hurt he was. Thankfully his injuries weren't as bad as they could have been, but he still needed medical attention.

Luz turned around to the group of people that had been standing in front of the pub to find them all staring at her with wide eyes. Some were slack jaws while others were pale in the face. It was clear that they had all seen her in her partially transformed state.

They now knew what she was, and it was only a matter of time before word spread throughout all the Boiling Isles.

Luz decided to worry about that later however. Right now, there were more urgent things to attend to

"Well?" She said, slightly annoyed. "Are you gonna help me, or are you just gonna keep staring?"

This snapped a few people out of their trance, and they rushed over to help the human witch, casting healing spells and using some potions to treat the man's injuries. It was only then did Luz breathe a sigh of relief and transform back. It seemed like the man was going to be okay. Thank titan for that.

While he was being treated, the man turned to her and spoke.

"Thank you. You saved my life. You really are as brave as they say."

Luz smiled and nodded. "Yeah, no problem. I'm just glad you're okay."

Her smile then started to fade. She knew she had to address the elephant in the room. "Listen, about what happened in there, I know what I did must have shocked you and-"

"It's alright." The man interrupted. "I must admit, I'm shocked to learn that you are a lycanthrope, but you're clearly not like the ones from the old legends. You use your powers to protect rather than destroy."

The human witch's smile returned. "Thank you. I really appreciate you saying-OW!"

She was interrupted again, this time by a smack to the back of her head. She turned around to see Amity with a distressed look on her face.

"Can you not make me worry about you for five minutes?!" She yelled.

"What was I supposed to do?" Luz countered. "I couldn't just leave him there."

The purple haired witch sighed and hugged her. "I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying you should have told me so we would have done it together."

Luz shook her head. "The fire was moving too fast. I couldn't afford to wait."

"She's right." Another bystander said. "If she hadn't gone in when she did, Bill would have surely burned to death."

Bill. So that was the man's name. Amity couldn't really argue with that logic, so she just sighed and hugged her fiancé tighter.

"Well, the most important thing is that you're okay. We can't relax just yet though. We still have to keep the fire under control."

"Let us handle that." The bystander said. "You two have more pressing matters to tend to, and you should probably go see the mayor as soon as possible."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Luz tensed and took a deep breath before speaking. "Amity, I had to use my powers to save Bill. Everyone saw me."

Now the purple haired witch tensed, her heart rate increasing a little bit. She looked at the small group of bystanders tending to Bill, who all nodded.

"We did." One of them said. "And this is bound to shake things up. I can't imagine how the public is going to react when they learn their savior is now a lycanthrope."

Luz frowned and looked down. "Yeah. They probably won't take it well…"

Bill shook his head. "Not all of them. I'm on your side, Luz."

"Same here." Another person said. "Like Bill said, you're nothing like the bloodthirsty monsters we've read about. I'm sure once everyone knows what happened here, they'll understand."

The human witch tried to smile back, but really couldn't. "I hope you're right. I really do."

But in the back of her mind, she knew that was just wishful thinking, and the look on her fiancé's face told her she felt the same way. It was nice to believe that everyone in the Boiling Isles would support her, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. Even after five hundred years, the fear of the werewolf was still strong in a lot of people, and this was going to make things complicated from this point forward. It was just a matter of how much.