Chapter Text
“And that's the end!” Luz Noceda cheerfully exclaimed, doll in one hand and a live snake in the other.
“The end of what?” Said Camila Noceda confusedly.
“My book report.” Replied Luz as the snake in her hand bit the doll. “I think I knocked it out of the park.”
“Your book report is why you're in here.” Principal Hal tiredly said while gesturing to the students panicking out in the hall with some being attacked by snakes.
“So that's where the backup snakes went.”
“And what were you going to do with this?” Camila held up a bundle of fireworks.
“That was for the act three closer.” Luz admitted guilty looking down at her lap.
Camila knelt down in front of Luz and took her face into her hands.
“Mija, I love your creativity but it has gotten out of hand. Do you remember why you were in the principle office the last three times?”
“Yes, I do.” Images of sausage links, spiders, and screaming cheerleaders briefly passed through Luz’s mind.
“We love that you express yourself, but if you can’t learn to separate fantasy from reality, you may need to spend the summer here.” Camila pulled a pamphlet from her purse labeled ‘Reality Check Summer Camp’ with a boy in a box on the cover.
Putting her doll down, Luz reached over and took the pamphlet and started to read it silently, the snake still clutched in her hand.
“Well if that is all we have to discuss why don’t we go home and enjoy the wonderful homework Mrs. Drezzle assigned, I’ll meet you in the car.” A voice from the left of Luz spoke.
“Hold on Percy, we still have to talk about why you’re here.” Principle Hal said sternly, his eye trained on the black-haired teen in front of him.
“I told you, I have nothing to do with that water fountain breaking and dousing the football team!” Percy exclaimed loudly his arms in the air for emphasis.
Principal Hal gave him a look of disbelief.
“Really? Then how is it that you are completely dry when the whole football team, even the ones not present during the incident are soaked?”
Percy crossed his arms across his chest and looked down to the side
“Well, maybe they got wet because they’re jerks that deserved it.”
Principle Hal pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Percy I appreciate everything you’ve done for the school swim team in the short time you’ve been with us, but if you keep having incidents like this I’ll have to-”
Percy cut him off before he could finish
“What expel me, go ahead, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been expelled for something that's not my fault.”
“I was going to say remove you from the swim team, why on earth would I expel you?”
Percy looked confused.
“Because that’s how it always goes. Something happens, I get blamed and expelled, then we-I have to find a new school.”
Luz looked up from her pamphlet curiously.
“Percy what are the names of your old schools, they shouldn’t have expelled you like that!” Camila said concernedly.
“It’s fine, it was a while ago. Thank you Principle Hal for being so generous.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Now why don’t you both wait outside for a moment, I need to speak to Camila here for a second. And Luz please release the snake outside, away from the school if possible.”
Both teens gave a quick nod and exited the office leaving Camila and Principle Hal along.
“I’m worried about them Camila, I really am. Luz doesn’t interact with anyone other than Percy, and Percy doesn’t trust any of the teachers. Last week his math teacher told me he was shocked when he asked if anything was okay as if he’d never been asked by a teacher before. And don’t get me started with Luz. Every assignment she turns in is related to those Azura books.”
“I’m worried too. I’m doing my best, but I can’t seem to get through to them. Especially Percy. I finally got him to stop pacing around the backyard with a ballpoint pen in his hand, and that was the smallest of his habit to tackle. I still have no idea what to do about him stressing out whenever the TV turns on, or how he cries anytime the word ‘chase’ is used.” Camila sat down in one of the discarded chairs and put her face in her hands.
“That does sound stressful, have you had any luck in finding out about his past?”
“I was hoping you found something because as far as medical records are concerned, the kid doesn’t exist. Not even a physical examination, nothing.”
Hal grimaced.
“I’ve got nothing either. No report cards, no standardized tests, no detentions, not anything. My friends down at city hall couldn’t find anything either. It's like what you said, the kid doesn’t exist.”
Camila let out a long tired sigh, before putting her hand through her hair.
“Camila you’ve done a lot for Percy, more than anyone else, and I understand that you want to know about his past, but I think its best that we let it be at least for now.”
Camila’s eyes shot to Hal’s face.
“What do you mean? This is important, this is necessary to help him the best we can!”
Hal stared at her.
“All we know is that he showed up under mysterious circumstances and has many problems related to his past, and honestly I think that's all we are going to find out. You’ve spent so much of your time trying to find out about this kid over the last three months that I worry you haven’t spent enough time with him.”
“Hal you know that's not fair, I have work and I have to take care of Luz and-”
Hal cut her off.
“The rest of your time has been spent trying to dig up a past that obviously doesn’t want to be unearthed. Do you know anything about him beyond basic information? What his favorite food is, what he does in his free time, what his favorite color is?”
Camila was silent.
“Exactly. So here’s what we are going to do. You are going to send both Percy and Luz to that ‘Reality Check’ camp, and you are going to spend the next three months doing your best to find out whatever you can about Percy. When they return from camp you will drop it and be the best parent you can for both of them.”
“What do you mean, you just told me to drop it, and I only suggested that camp so Luz would dial back the weirdness.”
“While that may be, both of your kids need friends, and sending them together will at least give them someone they are familiar with. As for the topic of Percy’s past, I’ve known you for years, and I know you won’t drop something like that so easily.” Hal responded calmly.
Camila sat quietly for a few moments before sighing slightly.
“Alright, I’ll do it, not because you told me to, but because it's the best thing to do right now.” She said as she got up from her chair.
“If you insist.” Hal chuckled.
“And Hal,” Camila turned to the principal. “Thanks for helping me with this, it means a lot.”
Hal smiled at her.
“Any time, now go, your kids are waiting for you.”
“Bye, I’ll see you next school year.” Camila replied quickly and left the room.
Principle Hal waited until the door clicked and let out a big sigh. He grabbed a picture frame on his desk and looked at it longingly. In the frame was a picture of him along with a woman and two small boys. They were all smiling brightly as if everything was right in the world.
“Oh Camila, I hope you know what you’re doing.”
----------------------------------------------------
Luz sat on her bed staring intently at the two items in front of her. One of them was the pamphlet her mom had given her about the summer camp she was now going to attend, the other was a purple notebook with the words ‘Who is Percy?’ written hastily in black marker. Looking at them a little longer, she eventually sighed and picked up the notebook. Flipping to the first clean page, Luz began to write down everything new she had learned about the boy as well as his newest weird stunt.
‘Expelled from several schools. How many? Why? What schools?’
Flipping further into the book, Luz came to a list of all the odd things that had happened around Percy.
‘Water fountain broke. Didn’t get wet.’
Closing the book and putting it in the drawer of her bedside table, Luz laid back on her bed and allowed her mind to wander. Unsurprisingly it came right back to the newest member of her household as it had been doing recently when given the chance.
Luz groaned. There was nothing wrong with the boy. He was perfectly pleasant, helped around the house, and she got along with him amazingly. It was just that things didn’t add up about him.
For starters, her mom had found him in a ditch just outside their home covered head to toe in second-degree burns, but he was perfectly healed just a few days later. When she asked him about it he shrugged her off and told her to never doubt the healing capabilities of a good bath.
Next was his weird habits. After he started staying with them, he would walk around the perimeter of their house at night with a ballpoint pen in his hand. Her mom had just gotten him to stop the other day. He would get all quiet and misty-eyed when certain words or names were said, especially Sally, Anna, and chase. He would disappear into his room for a few hours and would come back seemingly perfectly fine except for his red eyes.
Finally was his lack of everything. He had no records of any kind, which didn’t line up with him being expelled several times. The only form of documentation found bearing his name was from the 70s, long before he was born.
It frustrated and excited Luz to no end. Being as big of a fan of fantasy and mystery novels as she was, she jumped on the opportunity to solve a mystery for herself. Unfortunately, information and clues did not show up as easily as they did in her books. All the information she had found only made things more confusing. So far her leading theory was that he was some mythical being sent to take her on a magical journey, but even she knew that that was just wishful thinking.
Deciding to be done thinking about Percy for the time being, Luz sat up and reached for the ‘Reality Check’ pamphlet, but before she could someone knocked on her door.
“Come in.” She said silently hoping it wasn’t her mother.
The door opened to reveal the tall form of Percy.
“How ya doing kiddo?” He said in an over-the-top dad voice.
Luz just looked at him.
“Right sorry, but seriously how are you doing?” Percy asked earnestly this time.
“Fine I guess, I’m still kinda mad at my mom though. Like why do I have to go to that stupid camp? I’m perfect the way I am!” Luz exclaimed flinging her arms into the air before flopping back onto her bed.
Percy smiled at her and sat down on the end of her bed.
“I'm sure the students currently nursing snake bites would beg to differ. Where did you find them anyways?”
“In the backyard.” Luz grumbled. “Took all week to get them.”
“Huh, impressive. Anyways I think that camp will be a good experience for both of us.”
Luz shot up and stared at Percy hard.
“You’re taking her side on this! I thought you’d be my ally, my one true friend to weather the storm of boredom that camp will be!”
Percy put one of his hands in his hair and sighed.
“I’m not taking her side, I don’t want to go any more than you do, but I still think that it will be a good opportunity for both of us to make new friends and learn important life skills, skills neither of us have.”
“Hey, I have lif-”
Percy cut Luz off and gave her a look.
“The ability to write fanfiction is not an important life skill.”
Luz was quiet.
“Look Luz, I love your creativity and how you have your own way of doing things, but eventually, we need to grow up. I am in no way saying you should change who you are, just that you need some real-life skills to go with your spunky attitude.” Percy said gently. “And, don't worry I’ll be with you the entire time, so we’ll have loads of fun, alright.”
“Thanks for giving me a new perspective, I’ll try not to be too bummed about it.”
Percy stood up and walked to the door.
“I’m not telling you to not be bummed, 'cause I know I am. I’m just trying to help make the fact that we’re spending our hard-earned summer learning to balance checkbooks and appreciate public radio a little easier to swallow. Now I must be off, I need to figure out which of my 3 outfits I’m bringing to camp.”
Luz laughed out loud for a second before quieting down drastically.
“Percy?’ She asked tentatively, her voice full of insecurity. “Do you think I’m too weird?”
Percy stood in the doorway for a second thinking about his answer.
“I don’t think there is such thing as ‘too weird. I think everybody is exactly as weird as they need to be.”
With his piece said he walked out the door and back to his room.
When Lux was sure that Percy was gone, she opened her bedside drawer and pulled out her notebook. Flipping back to where she was earlier she added what she had learned.
‘Acts way older than he seems’
----------------------------------------------------
Luz was on the curb waiting for the bus that would take her and Percy to camp. She was dressed in her usual purple and white hoodie shirt combo with a satchel slung across her chest. As she waited, she stood silently looking down at her copy of ‘The Good Witch Azura” sadly.
The door to the house swung open to reveal Percy carrying a duffle bag and wearing a green hoodie very similar to Luz’s cat one. He had gotten it several days ago in an attempt to cheer Luz up, though it seemed to have little effect. He came and set his bag down next to Luz, before taking a ballpoint pen out of his pocket and fiddling with it.
Following behind Percy was Camila preparing to leave for work. She came up behind the pair and pulled them into a hug.
“Oh. Oh, my babies. Hmm. Now, don’t worry summer camp is only going to be for three months. You’ll be so busy filing taxes and learning how to find a good sale, the time will fly by!”
Luz pulled herself out of her mother’s arms and turned to look at her.
“But I don’t like any of that stuff. I like editing anime clips to music and reading fantasy books with convoluted backstories.” Luz said desperately.
Camila stared at Luz sternly.
“Mija, your fantasy world is holding back. Do you have any friends? And no, Percy doesn’t count.”
“Hey!” Percy exclaimed.
Camila turned to Percy and walked over to him.
“Hijo, I didn’t mean it like that.” She said sincerely and put a hand on his shoulder.
“I know, but still.” Percy mumbled, slightly uncomfortable with the motherly affection being shown.
Camila noticing his discomfort backed off and sighed.
“Summer camp is a chance for you both to make friends, just promise you’ll both try, alright.”
Luz walked slowly over to the trash can and placed her book in it gently, almost reverently.
“We’ll try.” Luz said sadly.
“We’ll make so many friends you’ll need another phone book!.” Percy added.
Camila looked confused and was about to comment before her phone buzzed suddenly.
“Oh, I got to go to work. Your bus will arrive soon, both of you text me when you get there.”
“Bye, mom.’
“Bye Ms. Noceda!” Percyed yelled gleefully.
She hugged them both one more time and got into her car. They waved as she left, and as soon as she was gone Luz rushed over to the trash can to grab her book.
“Where is it? Where’d it go?” Luz Said as she frantically searched.
Suddenly an owl hooted, causing Luz’s head to snap up and see a small owl with a bag of trash containing her book.
“TINY TRASH THIEF!” She exclaimed angrily before chasing after it.
Seeing Luz run off after an animal, Percy began following her into the woods.
“Luz come back! We need to catch our bus!” Desperately yelled after her, but she was too far to hear him.
He eventually saw her run into an old desolate house right before a bright yellow light emanated from inside.
Percy’s blood ran cold. He knew that whatever that light was, it wasn’t of the human world. He sprinted into the house as fast as he could to find a yellow doorway glowing in the middle of the entry room. Steeling his nerves and gripping his pen tight he walked through the portal.
When he exited, Percy found himself in the back of some tent filled with random junk. He only had a second to comprehend what had happened before he saw Luz run in with her book clutched against her chest and a pale white lady wearing a shawl following her in.
“You’re not going anywhere.” The white lady said, a large scowl on her face.
The lady held up a key and clicked it causing the door Percy had just come through to fold up and fly off. Luz panicked and ducked out the back of the tent, leaving Percy to deal with the woman by himself.
“Uhh, nice weather we’re having?” Percy said nervously.
Percy didn’t know what to do. Normally he would pull his sword out on anything resembling a monster, and the woman looked like a monster he had encountered. But things had changed, he had spent several nights pacing outside the Noceda residence trying and failing to attract monsters, leaving him very confused on whether the gods had a presence at all where he was now. He didn’t know if the woman in front of him was an odd-looking human or a monster. After a little more deliberation he settled on odd human and waited for her to say something.
The woman stared at him for a few seconds before sighing and letting her shoulders drop.
“Kid what are you doing here?” She said finally.
“Well you see I was chasing my sister, no not sister, uh companion and I ended up in this tent, and then she abandoned me.” Percy replied quickly, not wanting to upset the woman, especially after she didn’t kill him.
“Alright, just go sit up front while I grab your companion. I’ll be back shortly.”
The lady went through the flap Luz had run out of leaving Percy alone. Deciding to listen to the woman, he walked out of the tent and found a stool in front of a folding table covered in a large variety of mislabeled items. Percy sat down and looked around to see exactly where he was, doing so however put him immediately on edge. Everywhere he looked he saw monsters milling around doing things you would expect normal people to do. This coupled with the fact that not a single one cared or even seemed to notice his presence made him very nervous, He was the son of one of the strongest gods, the monsters should have been swarming him. Instead, they barely gave him a passing glance if anything at all. It was wrong. Everything about his current situation made sense. He thought when he woke up in the woods behind the Noceda’s house he’d be able to live a normal life, yet here he was right back in the middle of the weirdness that made up his life.
Before Percy had a chance to fall deeper into his existential crisis, the pale lady from before walked out of the tent dragging Luz behind her. The woman threw Luz onto a stool next to Percy where she immediately curled up and started rambling.
“I'm so sorry. I just wanted my book. If you’re gonna eat my skin just do it quick. Just do it now!” Luz stuck her arm out and looked away.
Both the pale lady and Percy looked at Luz Incredoulsy.
“Why would I eat potential customers?!” The lady exclaimed excitedly.
Both Percy and Luz sat there confused as the woman dug around under the table before dumping an assortment of items in front of them.
“Can I interest you in a human foot full of holes? A bar of green human candy? Oh, or how about this black shadowbox that reflects only sadness?” The woman shoved a small tv in their face while sporting a massive grin.
Both of the children sat bewildered for a second trying to understand what just happened. Luz, being the first to recover, chuckled slightly and took the tv from the woman.
“That's not all it can do. Here let me see.”
She looked around the table and found a pair of batteries in a dish labeled ‘Human Candy?’. She took the batteries, put them into the tv, and pushed the power button. An old workout video from the 70s started playing on the tv, attracting the attention of shoppers from other stalls.
“What's that?”
“That's way more interesting than feeding my children!”
“The sound is so alluring.”
People started crowding around the table waving money around and making offers for the tv. Percy, still sitting on his stool and feeling uncomfortable surrounded by ‘monsters’, got up to stand beside Luz.
The woman stared transfixed at the clamoring crowd for a moment before turning to look at Luz.
“What did you say your name was?”
“I’m Luz, Luz Noceda. And this is Percy, uh, Johnson?”
“Jackson.” Percy corrected quickly.
“Well, Luz, that was pretty clever. For a human.”
Percy’s eyes widened in realization.
“That’s kinda weird thing for another human to say.” Luz said slightly confused.
“Really weird.” Percy added, putting his arm in front of Luz and gripping his pen.
“Oh, dear children, I’m not like you.” The woman said before ripping off her shawl to reveal her pointed elf-like ears.
Before either of the children could say anything, the woman stood up on her table and began speaking to the crowd.
“I’m Eda the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!”
“Witch?” Luz and Percy said in unison.
“I am a respected, feared-”
“Busted!” Eda was cut off by a hand smashing the small tv and causing the crowd to disperse.
A large man wearing a guard’s uniform and a strange cone-shaped mask stood holding a poster depicting Eda and a small black creature.
“Eda the Owl Lady, you are wanted for misuse of magic and demonic misdemeanors.”
“Woah witch criminal!” Luz said in a voice full of wonder.
Percy narrowed his eyes at the now named Eda and clenched his fist, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
“You are hereby ordered to come with me to the Conformatorium.” The guard reached over and grabbed Eda”s arm tightly.
Eda ripped her arms from the guard’s grasp.
“Would you guys quit following me around? I haven’t done squat.”
The guard suddenly reached over and picked Luz up by the collar of her shirt.
“And you’re coming too, for fra-”
Before the guard had any chance to say anything else, Percy jumped from his spot and punched the guard on the side of his head knocking him out instantly.
“Are you ok Luz, did he hurt you.” Percy rushed over to Luz.
“Nice punch kid, where’d you learn to do that?” Eda said suddenly.
Behind her, all of her junk floated up and wrapped itself into a neat bundle. She pulled out a key and clicked it twice, causing the door from earlier to fly over to her and vanish.
“Now follow me, humans!” Eda yelled as she ran away.
Luz, being the good child she was immediately began running after her.
“Luz! Wait up, don’t foll-ugh who am I kidding, of course she’s going to follow the crazy witch lady.” Percy grumbled to himself as he ran after Luz for the second time that day.
He caught up to them easily and started yelling at the pair.
“This is insane! If we die here, Mrs. Noceda is going to kill me for letting her daughter run off with strange ladies!”
Eda scoffed.
“I won’t let them hurt you. Humans like you are much more valuable to me alive than dead.”
“What do you mean by that.” Percy asked.
Before he got an answer, Eda threw her staff into the air, grabbed both children, hopped on with them alongside her, and shot off into the air.
----------------------------------------------------
“You can open your eyes now humans.”
They had been flying for several minutes and both Percy and Luz had their eyes squeezed shut. For Luz, it was due to her lack of experience with traveling in the air, while Percy had his shut due to his fear of who owned the skies.
Luz upon seeing how high they were, shut her eyes again and bent down to grip the staff. Percy on the other hand kept his eyes closed and was breathing slowly and shakily trying to calm down his rapidly beating heart.
“Flying staffs, crazy monsters, you’re a witch! What is this place?” Luz shouted suddenly, her voice competing with the wind whipping by.
Eda chuckled and bent down to readjust Luz.
“This is the Boiling Isles. Every myth you humans have is caused by a little of our world leaking into yours.” Eda said calmly, her voice carrying a sense of showmanship.
“Every myth? What about the Greek myths, are those from here?” Percy asked curiously.
“Hmm, I don’t know, but I’d probably say yes considering everything else is from here.”
“Like what?” Luz asked, her eyes open and full of wonder.
“Griffins, vampires, giraffes..”
“Giraffes, those aren’t myths I’ve seen them at the zoo!” Percy said indignantly, upset that an animal related to his beloved horses was being dismissed.
“Yeah, why do you think you have them? We banished those long-necked freaks awhile ago.”
“I think they’re cool.” Percy grumbled.
The group eventually made their way to the ground where Eda hopped off the staff gracefully, while the children were dumped on the ground much less gracefully. Luz after picking herself off the ground turned to Eda.
“Well, I think we’ve had enough adventure for today. This is clearly not the PG fantasy world I always dreamed about, so can you help us get back home?”
“Yeah, can you? I’m all dirty now and all my clean clothes are back at home.” Percy added as he stood up and brushed himself off.
Eda swung her staff down in front of Luz and Percy.
“Only if you two help me first, now come along humans.”
Luz started walking without hesitation, leaving Percy behind who after sighing loudly, followed after her for the third time that day. They soon came upon a large house with a castle-like tower in the back. The roof was blue and there was a window in the shape of an eye made of stained glass on the upper level of the house. The pair found Eda waiting for them in front of a door with the face of an owl on it.
“Aren’t you worried about those guards finding us?” Luz asked as she walked up behind Eda.
“Nope! My house has a state-of-the-art defense system.”
Suddenly the owl face on the door started speaking.
“Hoot hoot, password please.”
“What in the world?” Percy said under his breath, his hand instinctively shooting to his pocket.
Eda simply poked the face in the eyes, causing it to yelp in pain.
“We got no time for this Hooty. Let us in.”
“Alright, alright. Geez, you never want to have any fun. Ow, hoot.” Hooty replied sounding offended before opening his mouth as wide as the doorway to let them through.
“So weird.” Percy whispered as the group walked through Hooty’s mouth hole.
As soon as they were in the house Hooty closed his mouth leaving the trio in darkness.
“Welcome to the Owl House!” Eda said as she swept her arm dramatically.
Immediately the room lit up with candles and various objects began moving on their own. Percy and Luz stood in wonder as they looked around, doing their best to take in as much as possible.
“This is my little slice of heaven where I hid away from the pressures of modern life. Also the cops. Also ex-boyfriends.” Eda said with a snort.
Luz broke from her daze and walked to the center of the room, still looking at everything around her.
“This place is beautiful. Do you live here all by yourself?” Luz asked as she set her bag down on a table.
“Actually, I have a roommate. KING, GET YOUR FURRY BUTT IN HERE.” Eda yelled towards a hallway leading elsewhere in the house.
A few seconds later, a small creature with black fur and a skull walked into the room.
“What do you want? I was about to take a bath.” King whined, his voice sounding like it belonged to a child.
Upon seeing King, Luz’s eyes widened dramatically and she ran over to pull him into a hug.
“Ay, que lindo! Eda, he’s so cute!” She exclaimed while rubbing her cheek against King’s face, before staring at him and talking in a baby voice.
Eda and Percy stood off to the side awkwardly watching the scene, though neither moved to stop it.
“Is she always like this?” Eda asked Percy quietly.
“Yeah, you should have seen her at the pet store. She passed out when she saw how many puppies there were.”
“I can relate. I passed out after seeing pupies for the first time, such vile creatures.” Eda said, nodding in agreement.
Percy turned and looked at her confusedly for a moment before a look of understanding came across his face.
“We’re talking about two completely different things, aren’t we.”
“It would seem that we are.” Eda replied before falling silent.
“EDA! Who is this monster?” King eventually yelled as he struggled to free himself from Luz’s grasp.
Eda sighed before stepping forward and pulling Luz off King and setting her to the side.
“Oh this is Luz the human, and this is Percy the also human. They’re here to help us with our little situation.”
“Oh, hooray.” King exclaimed excitedly, his mood doing a complete 180.
“Wair, wait, wait. I don’t like the sound of this ‘situation’.” Luz said, suddenly sounding apprehensive.
“I don’t either, what exactly are you having us do?” Percy asked with narrowed eyes.
Eda put her hands up defensively and walked towards the center of the room.
“Just let me explain.” She said as she used her hands to draw a circle in the air with yellow light.
In the circle, an image of a large beast somewhat resembling King appeared.
“King was once a fearsome creature known as the King of Demons. However, the evil Warden Warth stole his Crown of Power, leaving him looking like this.” Eda gestured to King that was somehow in Luz’s arms again.
“You mean this little guy.” Luz cooed.
“I’m not your little guy.” King cried indignantly, trying to free himself once more.
“Exactly!” Eda said all too cheerfully before continuing her story. “The Warden keeps the crown locked away behind a force field that can only be bypassed by a human. A human like you! If you help us retrieve it we’ll send the two of you back to your realm. So what do you say?”
She reached down suddenly and picked up King, holding him in front of her and wiggling him around.
“Plus, how could you say no to a face like this?”
“NO, don’t encourage her!” King yelled flailing sporadically, causing Eda to put him down.
“I mean we’re kinda your only way home.”
“So we don’t really have a choice, do we?” Luz said sadly.
“Nope. Now we’ve got no time to lose.” Eda exclaimed happily as she marched towards the door.
“This feels an awful lot like extortion.” Percy said bluntly.
“That’s because it is. Let's go!” Eda replied cheerfully.
“Where are we going?” Luz asked nervously as she followed after Eda.
“Somewhere super fun!”
----------------------------------------------------
“Welcome to the Conformitorium. A place for those the Warden deems unsuitable for society.”
Behind Eda, a large castle loomed over the group. Tall stone walls surrounded it and the environment around the structure was cold and desolate. It was the perfect place for a prison.
Luz, who had King balanced on her head for some reason, walked over to a nearby wall and pulled a wanted poster for Eda off it. Her eyes widened dramatically when she saw the bounty for the Owl Lady’s capture.
“Wow, these guys really have the hots for you.”
“Makes you wonder what she did,” Percy said side eyeing Eda.
“Yep, but they never caught us 'cause we’re too slippery.” Eda said as she crouched down in front of Luz, completely ignoring Percy’s comment.
“Try and catch me when I’m covered in grease Ima squirmy little fella!” King exclaimed excitedly before falling off Luz’s head. “You and Percy will sneak up to the top of the tower where they're holding my crown.” King said as if nothing happened.
“And King and I are going to make sure that the warden’s distracted.” Eda finished.
“Will we need a disguise?” Luz asked happily, hopping in place with anticipation.
Eda looked confused, but before she could say anything, Luz pulled the hood of her sweater over her head.
“I’ve been waiting to use this! Meow meow.!” Luz flicked up the ears of her hood with her fingers.
They stood in silence as Eda and King tried to understand what had just happened.
“Percy.” Luz whispered harshly. “Do the thing!”
“No, I’m not doing that!” Percy replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
“You promised!” Luz pleaded.
“I’ll look like an idiot.”
“Pleeeeaassee.” Luz stared at him trying to look as cute as possible.
Percy stared back at Luz for a few seconds, before relenting.
“Fine, just stop looking at me like that.”
Percy reluctantly pulled his own hood over his head and looked to the rest of the group.
“Woof woof.” He said as flatly as he could as he flicked the ears of his hood up.
“It's hideous,” King said suddenly.
“Oh, you’ll fit right in. Now lets hea-”
Percy cut Eda off before she could finish.
“I think King should go with Luz instead of me.”
“Why would you say that?” Eda asked curiously.
“First of all King has a much better understanding of the world than either me or Luz. Even if he’s never broken into prison before, he has a much better understanding of how to react to the environment.” Percy rattled off immediately, taking a moment to catch his breath before continuing. “Secondly, this is a stealth mission, King and Luz are the smallest of our group so it makes sense that they are the ones to snake around as they can disappear a lot easier than I could. I’m more of a fighter and will be better in a scenario where we need to subdue someone. Finally, Luz and I are easily distracted and are far more likely to lose sight of our goal, therefore slowing down the entire operation.”
Luz, Eda, and King all stared at Percy dumbstruck. After a few seconds, Percy started to get uncomfortable.
“What? You asked and I answered.” He said defensively.
Eda shook her head slightly and looked at Percy.
“Sorry kid, I just wasn’t expecting such an in-depth response. Anyway, you’re right, that does seem like a better plan.”
Eda slammed the butt of her staff onto the ground suddenly, causing a large yellow circle to appear below them. Grabbing Percy by the arm, she stepped off the circle, leaving only King and Luz on it.
“This will take you to the nearest window. From there make your way to the top to meet us. Now don’t have too much fun without us!”
The circle lifted the two up and out of sight, leaving Percy and Eda by themselves.
“Let’s go, it’ll take some time to check for the Warden and I don’t want those two to get to the top before us and have to wait for us and risk being caught.” Eda said as she mounted her staff.
She turned to Percy and gestured for him to join her. He walked over and hopped on somewhat reluctantly, still not comfortable being anywhere near the open sky. As soon as he was on the pair began their ascent towards the looming tower of the Conformitorium.
They flew in uncomfortable silence while peeking through windows to locate the Warden. After a few minutes, Eda decided to break the tension and ask about something that had been bothering her.
“So kid. You gonna tell me what your deal is?” She asked bluntly as she guided the staff into a blind spot between the windows to avoid passing guards.
Percy looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
“Are you seriously put off by someone not trusting you after you kidnapped and extorted them?”
Eda chuckled lightly and shook her head.
“Not all, you’d be stupid to trust me. Titan, I barely trust me.” She replied jokingly with a slight undertone of sadness.” No, what's bothering me is your nonchalance about everything.”
“What do you mean?” Percy replied confusedly.
“I’ve been around for a while kid. I know how people are supposed to react to new and fantastical situations. The way your friend reacted, with wonder and amazement, was the proper way. But you? You acted like it was a normal Texday, save for when something even we consider weird happened. You took everything in stride, and while that’s usually an admirable quality to have, here it felt less like a flexible personality, and more like you’ve dealt with worse.”
Eda turned to him and frowned slightly.
“I’m not expecting you to tell me your life story or anything like that, I’m just a bit curious about what you’ve experienced in the past to desensitize you to a place like this.”
Percy sat silently staring off into the distance, his face not conveying any emotions. After a few moments, he began speaking quietly.
“This is not my first time interacting with magic and it's far from my first time being thrust into a situation without my consent. After a while, you just kinda become kinda numb to it I guess.”
Neither of them said anything after that, they just continued searching the endless glass panes in silence. After a while, they spotted the hulking form of the Warden through one of the upper-level windows. He looked to be occupied with a small white creature with orange hair.
With the location of the Warden confirmed, the pair quickly made their way to the highest level of the tower. Entering through a window, they found Luz and King standing in front of a large door labeled ‘CONTRABAND’.
Eda guided the staff easily over to them and hopped off.
“We just checked and the Warden is distracted. He tormenting some tiny creature, so he won’t be coming this way anytime soon.” Eda said to a despondent Luz who ignored her and walked closer to the door.
Percy walked over to Eda and looked between her and Luz.
“What was that about?” He asked in a hushed voice.
“I have no clue.”
King, deciding he’s waited long enough, ran to the door and started messing with the handle.
“My crown. It’s close. I can sense its power!” He yelled exuberantly while he struggled to turn the knob.
“He gets so cute when he’s hungry for power.” Eda cooed softly as she watched the small demon’s excited outburst.
“Cute is one word for whatever that is.” Percy mumbled under his breath.
Luz stood silently gazing sadly down at the ground.
“It’s not fair that they’re all in here. They just want to be themselves.” Luz said suddenly, her voice breaking slightly. “Why does everyone think that being a weirdo is so bad?”
Both Eda and Percy turned to the vulnerable girl, frowns set upon both their faces.
Percy felt guilty. He knew that Luz had struggled with feeling like an outsider the entire time he had known her. Now here she was, seeing her worst nightmares come to life, her fear of being ostracized for her quirks put on full display. He wished he had done more to try and make her see that she was fine just the way she was, but obviously, he had failed.
Eda understood Luz better than anyone at that moment. Her entire childhood she had been told that she needed to fit in, that she needed to change. She hadn’t and where did it put her? Living as a wanted criminal peddling human junk just to make a living.
These thoughts swirled around their heads, but before either of them had a chance to say something, they were interrupted by the sound of metal hitting the floor.
Eda, Percy, and Luz looked to the door to see that King had successfully gotten the handle off and was now scampering through the door.
Eda sighed and started following after the small demon.
“Let's go before he hurts himself.” She said before continuing forward.
Percy and Luz followed her into a large room. In the middle was a tall pillar of light that King was currently ramming his head into. Eda stood watching him fondly as he unsuccessfully tried to destroy the barrier. When she saw that Percy and Luz had caught up, she shouted out to the enthusiastic demon.
“Hey dum dum, we have humans, remember?”
“Oh yeah!” King replied happily.
Eda turned to the humans expectantly, gesturing to the pillar of light. Luz began to step forward but was stopped by Percy putting his arm up.
“I’ll do it, we don’t know how this works, so I’d prefer that it was me doing, just in case something happens.” He said seriously, staring directly into Luz’s eyes.
Eda looked at the interaction incredulously.
“Kid, it's just walking through the light, I highly doubt that something bad is going to happen.” Eda said, chuckling lightly.
Percy turned to her with a determined expression.
“That's what they all say before things go wrong. I’m not taking any chances, not when it could harm someone I care about.” Percy replied sternly. “Now tell me how does this thing work?”
Eda stopped laughing immediately.
“Alright, uh, this barrier is set up so that nobody with magic can bypass it. The only people that can pass it are those who are authorized and people without magic.” She pointed at Percy. “That's where you come in. You, being human, don’t have any magic for the barrier to repel, and will be able to pass through without any trouble. You got that kid?”
Percy stared at her for a moment, nodded his head, and then made his way over to the barrier. After a quick second to calm himself, Percy tentatively stuck his arm through to bright blue ‘wall’ before him.
“See kid nothin-” Eda began to say before being cut off by a pained yell.
“AAAUGHH!” Percy exclaimed in anguish as he fell to his knees, his arm still inside the barrier.
His arm, instead of just passing through the wall as expected, began to glow blue, growing brighter the longer it was trapped. The barrier itself began to noticeably shrink and seemed to flow toward Percy.
Eda watched the scene in horror as Percy’s screams tore through the cavernous room before her eyes widened drastically in recognition.
‘Titan, he’s absorbing it! Humans aren’t supposed to do that, witches aren’t supposed to do that! What is going on!’ The Owl Lady thought to herself while she ran over to the boy to try and help him.
She was beaten to the punch by a panicked Luz who knelt beside him.
“Percy. What’s going on? Why is this happening? We need to get you out no here!” Luz said rapidly, her eyes full of tears. She grabbed his arm in a desperate but futile attempt to free him.
“NO!” He shouted suddenly, pushing Luz off of him.
Gritting his teeth, Percy used his free arm to push himself up so he could stand. Recognizing that the energy of the barrier was flowing into him, Percy took a shaky breath and stuck his other arm into the light.
“AAAAAUUGGGHH!” Percy screamed out in agony.
He turned to Luz, his face twisted in pain and his hair matted with sweat.
“I HANDLE THIS, STAY BACK! I CAN’T HAVE YOU GET HURT!” He shouted at the girl, desperately trying to keep her safe.
Luz stepped back with a stunned look on her face, not knowing what to do. She wanted so desperately to do something to reduce the boy, but she couldn’t do anything. All she could do was watch her first real friend cry out in misery. Luz was so lost in her thoughts, that she did notice Eda coming up next to her until she felt the tall woman’s hand on her shoulder. The Owl Lady looked at her with a pained expression.
“It does you no good to watch this, look away, it’ll be easier that way.” Eda said gently as she turned Luz away from the scene. “When this is done, I need you to grab Percy as fast as possible so that we can hightail out of here.”
Luz looked at Eda, her eyes welling with barely contained tears.
“Can’t you do something, anything to make it stop, please!” Luz pleaded to the older woman.
Eda shook her head sadly.
“I’m sorry kid, there’s nothing I can do, I don’t even know what this is.” She said, hanging her head in resignation.
Luz whimpered sorrowfully and turned around so she wouldn’t have to see Percy. After a few minutes, Eda nudged her.
“He’s done, you go grab him while I get King, we have to be fast.”
Luz nodded and ran over to where Percy was. He was standing hunched over and breathing heavily, his arms still glowing a bright blue. In front of him was a large pile of confiscated goods where the barrier used to be. Luz went beside him, slung one of his arms over her shoulders to support him, and began guiding him over to where Eda was with a curled up and shaking King. Along the way, Percy’s condition improved rapidly, and by the time they made it to Eda, he was walking by himself.
“What's going on? We still need to get the crown.” Percy asked his voice full of confusion.
Eda put one of her hands in her hair and took a deep breath.
“Kid we’re getting outta here.’ She said tiredly. “The crown doesn’t really give King powers, it's just made of paper.”
Percy reacted as if he had been slapped.
“Then what was the point of all this?” He questioned, slight anger in his tone.
“Because it’s important to him, so it’s important to me. Weirdos like us need to stick together.” Eda closed her eyes and tilted her head back. “It was supposed to be an easy in and out job, but obviously it wasn’t, so now we have to get out of here and send you two back home. I have no clue what absorbing magic does to a person.”
“I feel perfectly fine now, maybe even stronger than before. Besides that was only like the third most painful thing I’ve experienced.” Percy argued. “We can still grab the crown!”
While Percy was upset they’d been lied to about the importance of the crown, he understood doing things solely for the sake of it being important to someone else, having done it many times himself.
“The crown is easily replaceable, you are not.” Eda shot back sternly. “And the fact you feel fine is exactly the problem, nobody should be able to absorb any amount of magic, and here you just sucked up one of the most powerful repulsion spells I’ve ever seen.” Eda looked at him, her expression one of understanding. “Kid, I get wanting to help, I really do. But this is not worth risking your health over. We have no idea your body is going to react to that amount of magic. You may feel fine now, but what about in an hour? The best thing to do right now is to get the two of you home.”
Percy stared at her for a few moments before conceding.
“Fine, let's go.” He turned to the shaken girl next to him.” You ready to go Luz?”
Luz hesitated for a moment and then nodded
“Alright, if everyone is ready let's get out of here before the Warden finds out we’re here.” Eda said with a clap of her hands.
“Too late.”
From behind Eda the large form of the Warden appeared, his plague doctor mask and hooded white cloak cutting an imposing figure. Before anyone could react, he brought his hand up, morphed it into an axe, and cut Eda’s head off in one smooth motion. The head flew in an arc through the air and landed in a shocked Luz’s arms. It all happened so fast that neither Percy nor Luz registered the fact that there was no blood.
Both teens stared at the head in muted horror. Not even a second later the head started speaking, scaring the pair further.
“Oww, I hate it when that happens.” The head of Eda mumbled in an annoyed fashion.
“How in Hades are you still alive?!” Percy asked frantically, trying his best to stay calm.
“Magic, we can worry about it later, now we need to grab my body and get out of here now. Got it?”
Percy and Luz nodded in confirmation.
“Good, now I need one of you to grab King, and the other to gr-”
“I can hear you” The Warden cut Eda off. “If you’re planning to escape you should try and plan a little quieter.”
In an instant he moved to attack them, his arms twisting and morphing into a mass of tentacles that shot toward them at high speeds. Eda and Luz braced for impact, but for Percy time slowed to crawl. At that moment Percy reached into his pocket, pulled out Riptide, and cut the tentacles down before they could reach them, causing them to fall to the ground in a writhing mess.
Before anyone could fully comprehend what had just happened, Percy threw his sword away, grabbed Eda’s body and King, and ran back to the group. He grabbed the staff from Eda’s hand and pushed her body towards Luz. Mounting the staff he turned back to look at the group.
“We need to go now.” He shouted at the still-stunned Luz and Eda. “Losing his arms won’t distract him for very long.”
Behind him, the Warden had already successfully managed to reattach about a third of the tentacles and was gathering the rest.
Snapping out of her daze, Eda quickly put her head back on her body. She took Luz’s arm, guided her to Percy, picked her up, and put her on the front of the broom. After getting on herself she took control from Percy and commanded the staff forward. They zipped past the Warden, barely dodging his attempt to grab them, and through an open door that lead them to the bottom of the tower. The Warden, not willing to give up, followed them, using his fully recovered arms to move quickly through the corridors and forcing Eda to push to staff to fly faster. Once they had a decent amount of space between them and the Warden. Eda spoke up.
“So kid, you gonna explain what the heck that was back there?” She asked Percy suspiciously.
“I grabbed a sword from the pile and cut off his arm” Percy replied without looking at her.
“But how-”
Eda was suddenly cut off by Luz shouting at Percy.
“Lend me your hand!”
Not knowing what for, but still willing, Percy put his arm out. Luz took it and used it to help her open the cells of prisoners as they flew by.
“Why’d you do that!” Percy asked Luz incredulously.”Those were criminals you just released!”
“They didn’t deserve to be in there, they didn’t do anything wrong!” She shot back heatedly.”They were locked up for being themselves!”
Percy was taken aback. Obviously, Luz felt some sort of connection to the prisoners and he’d completely missed it. She’d been isolated long before he’d met her, and now that she’s met people even somewhat like her, she wanted to protect them even if they were strangers.
They flew in silence for the last few minutes, no one really knowing what to say. Luz clutched an unconscious King tightly against her chest while Eda steered the staff towards their escape. The exit form to the tower appeared abruptly before them, but before they had a chance to pass through, the momentarily forgotten Wardan lashed out and grabbed the end of the staff, causing them to careen towards the ground. As they fell Percy wrapped his arms around Luz and positioned himself so he’d take the brunt of the impact.
They hit the ground hard leaving them all slightly disorientated. The Warden landed in front of the group and began making his way over to them at a slow, almost mocking pace.
“There’s nowhere to run Owl Lady.” He said haughtily. “I will enjoy handing you over to the Emperor personally.”
Eda pulled herself off the ground using her staff before helping Percy and Luz up. Once both were standing, she took the key to the portal door off her next and handed it to Luz along with her staff.
“The two of you take these and get out of here.” She pleaded desperately. “Fly back to the Owl House, drop King off, and go home!”
“I’m staying to help.” Percy said sternly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar pen.
“No, you got-”
Percy cut Eda off.
“I’m not leaving, I’ve made up my mind.”
“I’m staying too, I can help.” Luz added, taking a step towards Eda to give her stuff back.
Percy put his arm out and blocked her.
“You’re taking King and going home.”
“But I-” Luz tried to counter.
“No Buts, go.”
Percy picked her up and put her on the staff.
“I can-”
“GO!” Percy yelled and pushed Luz forward, sending her flying off.
“Are you done yet?” The rough voice of the Warden asked from behind him.
Percy turned back to face him, flicking the cap off his pen in the process, his beloved sword revealing itself to the world for the first time in months.
“Yes, thank you for waiting.” Percy replied sarcastically, his eye sweeping over the hulking form of the Warden trying to find any weakness.
“I have no business with that human girl. Eda the Owl Lady is a wanted criminal.” The Warden said as he pointed at Eda,
“I haven’t broken any of your dumb laws, at least not in front of you!” She cried indignantly.
The Warden ignored her and raised his hand towards Percy.
“And you somehow destroyed a very powerful and expensive magical barrier. By law, you are both fugitives, and by order of the Emperor it's my duty to lock you up.” His voice was deep, almost animalistic.
The warden suddenly rushed towards both of them, his hands taking the form of axes, and attacked with an overhead swing forcing Eda and Percy to jump out of the way. Without giving time for him to recover, the Warden turned his hand into a large spike and thrust it at Percy, who deflected it with the flat of his blade, only to be caught off guard by a heavy punch to the back sending him tumbling to the ground. The Warden began advancing on his fallen form preparing his next attack.
“Kid!” Eda yelled out while drawing a quick spell circle and firing a barrage of icicles at the Warden.
Alerted by her yell, the Warden formed a hasty shield to block Eda’s attack before ripping off his mask, revealing a maw full of teeth, and shooting a stream of fire from his mouth at the old witch.
Eda intercepted the blast with a spell circle, rotated said circle 180 degrees, and sent the blast back at the Warden. The fire hit him in the chest and shot him into the outer wall of the tower causing it to crumble around the point of impact. The Warden, barely affected by the retaliation, stood up and rushed Eda.
From his position on the ground, Percy saw the forms of three people appear in the newly created hole. One of them was a pale blue with many eyes covering his head, another a small white creature with red hair and a large nose, and the final one looked like a normal dark-skinned human save for her pointed ears and sharp teeth. They all looked harmless and scared, nothing like the criminals one would assume occupied a prison. Reaching back to rub the spot he’d been hit, Percy stood up fully intending to help Eda when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Over where the three prisoners were, he saw Luz landing next to them and talking animatedly.
“Seriously Luz, you had one job.” He muttered under his breath, as made his way over to her.
Before he was able to get too far, he heard a yelp of pain from Eda. Percy turned to the source of the noise and watched as the Warden knocked her to the ground and started slowly approaching her.
Percy looked back at Luz, his gaze lingering for a second before sighing and running to help Eda. As he got closer, he heard the distinct sound of a bad guy gloating.
“Nowhere to run Owl Lady.” The Warden growled while bringing an axe hand up and swinging at Eda.
“Could you get any more cliche?” Percy yelled out suddenly putting himself in front of the Warden’s attack and blocking it with his sword. “Not falling for that again!”
Percy ducked out of the way of the Warden’s other hand trying to surprise attack him for the second time, causing the Warden to stumble. Using that opportunity, Percy lashed out and slashed the Warden’s chest, forcing him back. Percy pressed his advantage, delivering swift and precise strikes to the Warden's body. Seeing it was time to finish the fight, Percy leveled his sword in preparation for a thrust through the heart, only to be interrupted by the trio he saw earlier tackling the Warden to the ground.
Percy watched as the three former prisoners beat the mountain of a beast brutally while yelling about writing fanfiction about food and eating eyeballs, before tying his arms behind his back and dragging him back toward the prisoner tower. It all happened so quickly, Percy was left standing there for a moment failing to register what had just happened.
“Ok, then. That happened.” Percy grumbled to himself as he put the cap back on his sword to close it. “Totally took my kill though.”
He walked over to where Eda was laying and helped her up, letting go once she could stand for herself.
“You good? You look a little out of it. How many fingers am I holding up?” He asked rapidly as he checked on her.
Eda waved him off with a chuckle.
“I’m fine kid, are you though? That was a pretty hard hit you took.” She asked, her voice full of worry. “And what was up with that sword? It looked like the same one from earlier, but I didn’t see you have it when we were escaping.”
“I’m fine, I’m built a bit tougher than the average bear.”
Eda looked at him with a confused expression, the reference flying over her head.
“And don’t worry about the sword, it’s unimportant.” Percy replied dismissively.
Eda narrowed her eyes but chose not to push.
‘Alright then! Now wher-”
“I’m here!” Luz, who had apparently snuck up on them, exclaimed excitedly. “You guys were amazing! Eda was like ‘Boom’ ‘Pow’ and then Percy came in with the sword!”
She stopped suddenly and pointed at Percy.
“Where’d you learn to do that anyway?”
Percy opened his mouth to answer but before he could answer, Luz continued talking.
“Doesn’t matter, it was super cool. And then!”
Luz’s expression became one of unadulterated happiness.
“And then I helped! I rallied the prisoners and they totally beat the Warden!”
Luz pointed at Percy with a smile.
“You said I would get in the way.” Luz said smugly.
“Literally never said that.”
“Doesn’t matter. Without me, you guys would have been toast!”
Percy was about to mention he would have won either way but decided against it. In all of his time with the girl, this was the happiest he’d seen Luz, and he refused to take that away from her.
Eda, who had been watching the exchange with a small smile on her face, clapped her hands to get the two teenagers' attention.
“You both did a good job, but now it's time to get you two home.” She said with a small amount of sadness. “But before we do that, we need to find King.”
“Oh, I have him.” Luz said, pointing to her back where the small form of King could be seen sleeping in her hood. “He fell asleep not too long ago, just look at his cute little sleeping face.”
Percy shook his head slightly as he walked over to the girl and took Eda’s staff from her and returned it to the older witch. Eda took the staff and mounted before gesturing for Percy and Luz to join her.
“Alright, let's go.”
----------------------------------------------------
“Well, kids, time to go.”
The group stood in the living room of the Owl House. In front of them, the portal to the human world glowed a bright yellow that cast shadows along the edges of the room.
“Don’t forget this kid.” Eda held up Luz’s book.
Luz grabbed the book and stared down at it. It was the reason she was here. It had caused her a lot of trouble and Percy a lot of pain. But it had also shown her a new world, one she would never have thought could exist and one she wouldn’t soon forget. She knew she had to go home and continue her ‘normal life, but something was making her hesitate.
“Hey Luz come here for a moment.” Percy suddenly called out, breaking Luz from her thoughts.
“Everything ok?” Eda asked. “You guys gotta go.”
“We’ll be just a moment.” Percy replied as he guided Luz to a far corner of the room
Once they were alone Percy put his hands on her shoulders and looked her directly in the eyes.
“You want to stay, don’t you.”
There was no accusation, just a simple statement, one that made Luz squirm uncomfortably.
“N-no, I want to go h-home.” Luz said unconvinced while avoiding all eye contact.
Percy gave her a look of disbelief.
“Luz I’ve only known you for three months and even I can tell this is the closest you’ll ever get to your dream.” His expression softened. “Be honest, where do you feel like you’d fit in more? Here with witches and monsters and an obviously evil ruler waiting to be overthrown, or at home with mean cheerleaders and math homework?”
“Here obviously, but what about you! I dragged you into this mess and then you got hurt!”
Luz exclaimed with teary eyes.
“I made the choice to follow you.” Percy said reassuringly. “And look, I’m fine, no lasting injuries. So don’t beat yourself up about it.”
“What about mom? She’ll be worried if only you go home.”
“Well I’m staying with you, I promised myself I’d look after you, and I can’t do that if I’m a dimension away.”
Luz looked down at the book in her hands once again. After a few seconds of contemplation, she looked back to Percy.
“Fine, I’ll stay.”
“Don’t say it like it's some big burden.” Percy said and punched Luz’s shoulder lightly. “You know it's what you wanted.”
Luz chuckled softly and walked back over to the portal.
“So you kids ready to go home now?” Eda asked the pair.
“Not quite. Luz?” Percy replied and gestured towards Luz who took a deep breath before speaking.
“So I know the deal was you’d send us home after we helped you, but that didn’t quite work out, so I propose a new deal. Teach me how to be a witch and I’ll do whatever you want.”
Eda stared at her dumbly for a moment.
“Look that's stupid humans can’t be witches.”
“Maybe because none have tried before.” Luz countered with a wink. “Look, besides the fighting and barrier thing, today was the most fun I’ve ever had. So please won’t you teach me?”
Luz stared at Eda with her best puppy eyes. Eda only lasted a second before relenting.
“Fine, but you have to work for me before you learn any spells. Deal?” Eda stuck her hand for Luz to shake.
Luz ignored the offered hand and wrapped the older witch in a tight hug.
“Geez kid lay off.” Eda grumbled as she pushed Luz off of her. “What about your brother over there, is he staying too? Cause I’d be happy to have another set of hands to put to work.”
“Yes I’m staying, but don’t worry about teaching me magic, I’m not too interested at the moment.” Percy said with a shrug, completely ignoring Luz’s scandalized expression.
Eda laughed and shook her head.
“Now, it's been a long day so let’s find a room for you two for the night. I’ll try and clear out another one tomorrow so you’ll both have your own space.” Eda said aloud while walking towards the hall leading deeper into the house.
Luz went to follow her but was caught by Percy.
“See, aren’t you glad you decided to stay?” He asked smugly.
Luz pulled the older boy into a bone-crushing hug.
“Yeah, I really am.”
Eda stood in front of the mirror in her room getting ready for the evening. While removing her makeup, she found her mind wandering to the two newest members of her house.
Luz was pretty easy to understand. She was a girl that didn’t fit in at home and found comfort in stories about magic and heroes. Eda could sympathize, she was weird as a kid too. She chose to teach her because she saw a bit of herself in her.
Eda picked up her hairbrush and started working the knots out of her hair. She let out a big sigh as her thoughts turned to her other new resident.
Percy was a completely different story. On the surface, he seemed like a normal teenage boy, but when she looked a little deeper, things did add up. His nonchalance about the situation really rubbed her the wrong way. When she had asked him about it earlier, he had mentioned encountering magic before and being used to having no control over his life. As far as she knew, there wasn’t any magic in the human realm for him to have encountered. Her theory was he was some sort of half-witch. This however didn’t explain how he was able to absorb the barrier back at the Conformitorium. There were only three ways she could think of him being able to pull it off. The first was being the Emperor. He had access to magic not known to normal witches. But, the kid obviously wasn’t the Emperor so that option was out. The second was was for him to be a Basilisk, a magic-consuming species of snake that was hunted to near extinction years ago, but considering he was from the human realm it was just as unlikely as the first. The final way was more unlikely than the first two and one she didn’t want to think about.
Eda finished brushing her hair and made her way to her wardrobe to find a nightgown.
Thinking about the mysterious boy was giving her a headache, but she couldn’t stop, she had too many questions. Where did he learn to fight like that? Where did he get his sword? How did he make a plan so quickly? And what had been more painful than absorbing magic?
All these thoughts swirled around her head as Eda finished putting on her nightgown.
Just as she was about to get in bed, she heard a knocking on her door. Sighing, Eda made her way over and opened it to reveal Percy. He stood there nervously looking down at his feet. When he noticed her, he looked up.
“Hey kid, everything alright?” Eda asked worriedly.
“Yeah, yeah, I just wanted to thank you.” He said quietly.
Eda was stunned. This was one of the last things she expected. People didn’t usually thank her, they just cursed at her.
“Thank me? For what?”
“Well you saved me and Luz’s butts back at the prison, and then you let us stay with you. I just wanted to let you know we appreciated it. Luz would have come too, but it seems King decided she’d make a good bed.”
“Yeah, he does that.” Eda said with a chuckle. “So, do you have anything else to say?”
“No, that was it. Goodnight.” Percy said happily before walking off.
Eda stood in the doorway for a moment contemplating the interaction. She eventually closed the door and made her way into bed.
As she fell asleep she decided that while Percy may have many mysteries, he was ultimately a good kid.
And that's all that really mattered.