Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

King squeaked in the passenger seat of the car. It was dark and the forest and fog obscured more of Eda’s vision than it usually did. She groaned as the road curved ahead of her, seeing the lights of another vehicle peek around the bend.

“Watch your eyes, King,” she said, taking a moment to cover her companion’s eyes with her right hand. Eda swerved as the near-silent music spiked, the volume increasing suddenly as static filled the car. King whimpered at the sound and Eda hurried to turn the radio off. “Holy– what the hell was that?”

As she got the car back under control, Eda and King made it closer and closer to the bend of the road. The car began to round the curve when the brights of the approaching vehicle blinded Eda. The woman slammed on the brakes as the car silently sped past her, swerving back into its own lane. She punched the horn to show her anger at the inconsiderate driver.

She put the car in park and stepped out of the running vehicle. “Hey! What’s the big…idea?” Eda was shocked to find that the road was empty. There were no tail lights in sight and no sounds to indicate a retreating vehicle.

Confused, she stepped back into the car and put the vehicle in drive. She slowly pressed on the accelerator, being more cautious as she drove in silence, too rattled to turn the radio back on. King huffed as if questioning her.

“Oh shut it,” she said defiantly. “You know you’d be on guard too.”

King stuck his nose up, ignoring her. Eda noted that the road ahead was mostly straight and turned to look at the animal. “If you don’t cut that out I swear I’ll–”

Eda was once again cut off, but this time by the sound of something hitting her car. The vehicle shuddered as Eda once again slammed on her brakes, opening her eyes to find her windshield had long spindles of cracks reaching out from an impact spot in the center. The glass had shattered almost completely. “What the hell!” she yelled angrily, slamming a fist against the steering wheel.

She stepped out of her car again, this time fuming at the damage done that she couldn’t afford to repair. “Whoever is out there,” she yelled,” you better have a good explanation for this!”

A rustling noise came from the edge of the road. Eda turned, searching the edge of what her headlights illuminated, but couldn’t see anything. Cautiously, she rushed to her trunk and opened it, rummaging around until she found a shovel among the assortment of mostly-random items. When she made her way around the car, the rustling was now accompanied by groaning. Eda followed the noise, shovel ready to strike, as she discovered a person laying on the ground in the mud.

“Oh crap I killed someone!” Eda dropped the shovel and knelt down to examine the body. There were a few cuts and bruises, but nothing out of the ordinary for a hit-and-run. “Doesn’t look there’s anything to point it to me,” she deduced. Just as she was about to make her escape, the person groaned again. She took a closer look at the person, noticing the slight rise and fall of their chest.

  Upon closer inspection, Eda could see that it was a teenager, or at least a kid. The lower half of their face was obscured by a mask-like piece of fabric attached to a purple cloak. The purple and white shirt they wore was now partially torn and covered in mud. Meanwhile, their tights and knee-high boots seemed a little out of place in today's fashion and were tattered. Despite the weird get-up, Eda could see something odd about their appearance: the ears.

Whereas Eda’s own were rounded, much like almost everyone else Eda had interacted with. Meanwhile, the stranger’s were pointed. A witch , she thought.

Carefully, Eda pulled down the person’s mask. It was a girl, no older than sixteen if she was even that old. There was a large cut on her arm and her face was scratched, obviously from the girl’s unfortunate meeting with Eda’s car.

The woman went back to her car, returning moments later with a first aid kit to disinfect and bandage the girl’s cut. When she was done, she thought for a few moments.

I don’t want to bring her back, but I can’t just leave her here , she debated. Eda was truly stuck, unaware of what to do. Finally, she decided again. With one more trip to her car, she brought King to the girl.

Eda’s companion looked between the woman and the girl, confused. He looked back up at Eda, his head tilting.

“What do you think, bud?” she asked. “Do we bring her with us?”

King seemed to understand what Eda was asking and looked back at the girl once again. He thought for another moment before finally deciding. Eda watched as he waddled over to the girl and nuzzled his head under her chin.

Eda smiled and grabbed the girl under her arms. “Alright then, good decision, King.” As she began to walk away, she noticed something. There was a staff in the mud some small distance away. It had a little owl carving at the top of it. “King,” she called to her companion, “grab that staff and bring it to the car. We should get out of here before anyone sees us.”

LUZ! LUZ DON’T GO! YOU NEED TO WAKE UP!

With a jolt, Luz’s eyes opened and she shot up, dripping her chest as she gasped for air. She scanned the room she was in only to discover that she wasn’t home. Disappointment, confusion, and fear all fought one another for control of her emotions as anxiety eventually won out.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” a voice said.

A small creature with black fur and a torn ear trotted around the corner. Before Luz could conclude that the creature had spoken, a gray-haired woman in a red dress turned the corner. Immediately, Luz held out her hand, attempting to summon her staff. She waited for a moment, a moment longer than what was usual, before the woman sat down in a chair across from the witch.

The woman crossed her legs and held a teacup in her hands. “You don’t need to do that. Your palisman is fine, but I don’t think you’re in any condition to do magic right now.”

Luz was taken aback. “Where am I?”

“You’re in the human realm,” the woman said as she raised the teacup to her mouth. She paused before drinking to say “You’re on Earth.”

“Earth? I can’t be on Earth,” Luz said in disbelief. “I was just on a quest. I was rescuing…someone.” The quest was fuzzy. What had she been doing? There was a bright flash. And pain . She very much remembered the pain. It was pain that she still felt in her limbs, even now. 

The woman seemed to be giving Luz time to gather her thoughts as she sipped patiently on the contents of her teacup. The little animal that was with her hopped onto the furniture to sit next to Luz. It was a small gesture, but it allowed for the girl to calm down. She could see that she was sitting on a couch in the woman’s living space, a blanket was strewn across the cushions and Luz’s legs; she had thrown it off when she sat up.

“Ok,” Luz finally said. “So maybe I am in the-” her words caught in her throat. “Maybe I am on Earth .” The name felt foreign to her. Of course, as a student of wild magic, she had known about the concept of different realms. Her own home was commonly referred to as “the Demon Realm” among her peers, those further along in their learning than she was. Despite this, the revelation left her uneasy. She didn’t like it and she certainly didn’t like the idea of being alone, in this realm or another.

“Who are you?” Luz finally asked. Another question popped into her head. “How do you know that I can use magic?”

With a smile, the woman placed her teacup carefully on the floor next to her. “My name is Eda,” she said smugly. “Though quite a few people call me ‘The Owl Lady’.”

Eda seemed to wait for a reaction. Unfortunately, neither the name nor title were setting off any alarms that weren’t already ringing in Luz’s head. 

“Really?” Eda asked, deflating a little in disappointment. “Nothing? At all?”

Luz shook her head.

The Owl Lady let out an exasperated sigh and reached down to pick up her teacup. “You would think those witches would at least spread the word,” Eda grumbled. Luz let out a little laugh as Eda pouted at her lack of infamy. 

Her laugh, however, was cut short by a sharp pain in her side. Luz flinched, holding the side of her rib as if to keep it from falling apart. “What happened when I got here?”

Eda stopped her point and laughed nervously. “Nothing kid, I just found you on the side of the road.” The woman’s eyes went to King. She winked at him, as if asking the animal to back up her words. Luz watched as the creature seemed to glare at his owner. “Alright, fine!” Eda said. “There was a bright light and I may or may not have hit you with my car.”

“ Excuse me? ”

“Hey, don’t get mad at me. Maybe if you were more considerate on where you put your blinding portal opening, you wouldn’t have fallen right where my car was driving.” Eda crossed her arms, teacup still in hand, and turned her nose up at the younger girl. King made a defiant noise next to Luz before jumping off the couch and waddling away.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” Luz was confused by Eda’s words, but managed to put two-and-two together as King rounded the corner again, this time with Luz’s staff in his mouth. “You only get that back on one condition, though, kiddo.”

“And what is that?” At the end of the day, Luz doubted that Eda could take her in a fight, but it was better for everyone if it didn’t resort to that.

Eda smirked. “What’s your name?” Luz was surprised that that was all the woman wanted. She knew from her own realm what sharing your name with the wrong person could mean, but if Eda was right and Luz really was on Earth, she’d probably need someone in her corner. After some more deliberation, she told the woman her name.

“Light” was all she said in response. After a moment she snorted in amusement. “Alright then, little Light , you can stay here for as long as it takes to get you back. On one condition.”

Luz groaned internally – this woman and her conditions. She motioned for her to continue.

“I may or may be under surveillance in some parts of town,” she explained. She motioned at a wanted picture hung up on the wall behind Luz. It was a simple mugshot, but Eda was wearing a pair of sunglasses and pointing finger guns at the camera. “Not on good terms with the police, so you’ll have to help me blend in.”

“Blend in?”

“Yeah,” Eda confirmed. “Go to school, make friends, all of that jazz.”

“Jazz?”

Eda slapped a hand to her face. “It’s just an expression, kid. What I’m saying is: just be a normal teenager.”

Luz thought for a moment. “How would that help you blend in? You also never answered my other question.”

“Well, my excuse for some things has been that I had a nephew staying with me, but I’m sure no one would bat an eye if it changed to a niece.” King squeaked in agreement as he sat near the couch. Eda nodded at herself proudly. “What was your question?”

“How did you know I can use magic?”

Eda stared at her like the answer was obvious and pointed at the side of her head. “The ears, kid,” she said. “You have pointed ears.” As if to make a point, Eda brushed her hair behind her own ears to show their rounded shape.

“Then how do you want me to ‘blend in’ if I stick so much you could tell that fast?”

The Owl Lady waved her hand in front of her face, taking a quick sip from her teacup. “Doesn’t matter. We’ll figure that out later.” She motioned her head towards King, who still held her staff.

Luz grabbed her palisman, Owlbert, from King, who happily released him. She felt magic rush through her body, it was rejuvenating. Luz gasped at the feeling. Carefully, she used her free hand to draw a circle in the air. Magic followed her hand as she connected the line. She drew a few more circles, connecting each of them with more curved lines, before placing the wood-carved Owlbert in the center. The eyes of the owl began to glow, the lights of the magic symbol burning brighter in the air.

The symbols disappeared, reappearing around the owl. Luz swung the staff in the air as the spell disappeared from her staff before she felt her body begin to heal.

“That’s how your magic works?” Eda asked.

Luz nodded. “I didn’t feel any of my magic until I touched Owlbert. I guess I’ll need him, at least for bigger spells like the one I just did.”

“Owlbert?" Eda questioned.

"He's my palisman," Luz answered, pointing to the carved owl at the head of the staff. "Well, not mine exactly, but I guess he's traveling with me now."

Eda seemed to understand. “Alright then, Luz. Do we have a deal?” she held out her hand, eagerly seeking compromise. "You have Owlbert, and I'll give you a place to stay. Just blend in."

It wasn’t like she had much of a choice. She could feel that she had depleted her magic almost entirely. Eda was offering her a place to stay and stay safe from the elements. Luz shivered at the idea of the weather being anything similar to that of the Boiling Isles. While she didn’t know exactly what Eda was after, she figured she’d be able to take her in a fight if she had to, so she wasn’t necessarily too worried.

With a sigh, Luz reached out and grabbed the woman’s hand, shaking it.

“Deal.”

Chapter Text

The following days consisted of Eda talking into a small box she held in her hand. She had said it was a “cellphone” and an equivalent to Luz’s own “scroll” back home, something she hadn’t been able to find since she woke up on the second day. When asked, Eda would be cagey about what she was talking about, much to Luz’ dismay. She did, however, provide breakfast for Luz, so the witch decided she’d leave Eda to her aloofness so long as the woman promised it was in their best interest. With Eda’s reassurance, Luz skeptically trusted her. 

Owlbert had made a few appearances since Luz had healed herself, though most of the time he watched from a perch above a bookshelf that surveyed most of the apartment.

“Alright, thank you Bumpipoo!” Eda says into her phone. She went to say something else but seemed to visibly deflate as the person on the other end hung up. With a little bit of a growl, Eda made her way to the couch and dramatically plopped herself next to the witch. “Alright,” she started, staring up at Owlbert as he watched the woman, “your end of the deal involves you going to school.”

Luz groaned. “School? Really?” She thought Eda had been kidding about that when the witch first woke up on her couch. On the Boiling Isles, Luz hadn’t attended school. Instead, she had a mentor of wild magic that would send her on increasingly more dangerous quests. He was very much a “trial by fire” type. 

Eda nodded. “Yep, school. Trust me, I went there and I’m not a fan either.” Luz listened intently. It felt like Eda was about to reveal something about herself.

“What happened when you were there?”

There was a silence between the two of them. Luz could see in Eda’s eyes that she was contemplating something. Maybe just thinking? Eda looked down as King made a noise to signal his interest into the room. Her companion stretched, yawned, and waddled tiredly to the couch the girls sat on.

“Nothing too interesting,” Eda said as she watched King curl into a ball on Luz’s lap. “It was just a regular human school.”

King’s breathing slowed as he prepared to reenter sleep. “Then what’s the point of me going?” Luz asked, stroking the animal in her lap. “I’m not human. Besides, like you’ve already noticed, my ears would give me away.”

Eda stood up and stretched. Luz grimaced as she heard the woman’s back crack nearly a dozen times. “It would help you learn to blend in,” she explained, dropping her arms and pointing at the girl. “Right now, you act like a witch. You’re even scared of the rain!”

“It’ll burn your skin off if you touch it!”

The Owl Lady shushed the witch. “That’s your rain. Our rain is just water.”

“Whatever,” Luz grumbled, crossing her arms in frustration.

A moment of silence passed between the two of them. The only sound in the room was King’s steady breathing. Eda raised her hands in surrender. “Alright,” she said. “I’m sorry. What do you want?”

“Explain to me why I need to go to a human school?” Luz demanded. “Why can’t you just teach me how to ‘blend in’?” She raised her hands, adding air quotes to her question. Luz was getting antsy.

Eda walked across the room to the bookshelf Owlbert was perched on. While searching through the titles on the spines, she spoke. “Firstly, it’s illegal for kids your age to not go to school. If authorities knew you were here, they’d have a reason to call me in for questioning.” The woman made a noise of excitement as she apparently found the book she was looking for. She grabbed it and returned to the couch, handing the book to Luz. “Secondly, as I said, you act too much like a witch. I can barely tell you what day it is, much less how to act like a kid.”

Luz examined the book in her hands. The cover was glossy and pictured part of a school, presumably the one she’d be attending. From what she could see, it looked like it could have been pulled straight from the Isle. A tall clocktower casted a shadow over the building’s courtyard. A set of stairs led up to the school’s large double door entrance. Columns held up on overhang with the school’s sigil; a cauldron with an open book in front of it. Luz flipped the book over and saw the same sigil on the back cover. Across the bottom of the cauldron was a piece of paper that read “HEXSIDE HIGH”.

“What is this?” Luz asked. She flipped the book back over and opened the front cover. Inside was a page with a bunch of signed names. Some of them had messages written with them.

“That’s my high school yearbook,” Eda answered, leaning over to flip the page. “I doubt that most of these teachers are still there, but you could probably gather something from the pictures.”

The first few pages showed many images of teenagers doing different activities. Some played sports, though Luz didn’t recognize what any of them could have been. Some students were pictured in front of large canvases, their clothes covered in paint of different colors. One image caught Luz’s attention. It was a girl, around her age, with orange hair. She held a trophy high above her head in both hands, her mouth spread in a wide, toothy grin. Below the picture was a caption. It read: STAR PLAYER EDALYN CLAWTHORNE AFTER LEADING THE HEXSIDE BANSHEES TO THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP.

“Edalyn Clawthorne?” Luz read, a smirk forming on her lips.

Eda chuckled lightly. “Eda for short,” she said. The woman flexed her arm. “That’s right,” she said, gloating. “I used to be the star player of Hexside’s soccer team. I scored the game-winning point in the state championships in my last year on the team.”

Luz looked back down at the glossed pages in her hands. She continued to flip through them, noting the individual portraits of students neatly displayed in a grid pattern. Just a few pages in, Luz saw a portrait of the star player in question. She smiled smugly at the camera, a stark opposition to everyone else who smiled widely or not at all. Below the portrait was once again her name; Edalyn Clawthorne.

Next to her portrait, however, was another girl. She had red, poofy hair and green eyes that shone from behind large-rimmed glasses. Luz noted a similarity between her and Eda, but before she could read the mystery girl’s name, Eda grabbed the book and began flipping through the pages. 

“If you think that was cool, check out…this!”

When Eda turned the page back towards the girl, there was a picture of a large group of people dressed in formal-wear. It seemed like some sort of “grom” equivalent that Luz shivered at the thought of. In the image, the dressed up teenagers held up their hands, showing a few different hand signals at the camera. The real subject, however, was a young Eda. She was frozen in time with another person, a boy with shaggy hair, holding something above their heads. Colorless liquid was pouring out of a large bowl in their hands, falling onto a crowned boy in the middle of the group.

“This guy was one of my friends,” Eda said, pointing at the boy with the crown. “He told me that, if he won prom king, we had to mess with each one of his pictures. This is the one they put in the book.”

“What’d you pour on him?” Luz asked, pointing at the liquid.

“It was just water,” Eda explained. “The principal at the time was a real stickler and didn’t allow for sugary drinks at school dances.” A reminiscent smile spread across the woman’s face. “I don’t know what happened to either of these guys,” she said, referring to her friends. A moment passed of them like that: Eda reminiscing, Luz watching, and King evenly breathing.

Luz looked at young Eda. The smile on her face was intriguing. What exactly did the human school have to offer her? Luz understood that it was law, but, from what she gathered, Eda didn’t care much for laws and was able to get away with quite a bit. 

The witch sighed, breaking Eda away from her trip down memory lane. “Alright,” she said, defeated. “I’ll go to the human school. It sounds like it could be some fun.”

Eda snorted. “Yeah, not like you had much of a choice anyway kid.”

“Uh…I already agreed to go to school,” Luz said nervously. “What are we doing here?” Eda had taken Luz and King, who was in a bag on the woman’s back, outside of the apartment. She had even given Luz a tan hoodie in order to cover the young witch’s ears.

Initially, Luz was in awe at the size of the buildings, each one seeming to touch the sky (she had chuckled a bit when Eda called them ‘skyscrapers’). As they made their way to their current location, the witch noted a few names of the buildings: The Whispering Diner, Blight Home Security, and even a building noted simply by the shape of a partially-eaten apple. There were no words to describe the function of the establishment. Instead, there was a small stack of books, some pencils, and a bag pictured on the building in line with the apple.

Eda, who was scratching under the chin of an excited-looking King, held the door open for Luz, motioning for the girl to enter. “You can’t just go to school unprepared. You need something to blend in.”

The witch pulled on the strings of the tan hoodie, making sure to keep her ears secured within the fabric. “So school…supplies?” Luz asked.

An older woman greeted the two of them from the other side of the store. Eda smiled and waved at her before replying. “Yep, exactly that.” She paused and turned to face the girl, leaning down to get closer and blocking her mouth with one hand. “We may also want to get you a more permanent solution to cover those ears,” she whispered.

At once she straightened her back and marched deeper into the store. “Good evening, Mrs. Whispers!” Eda greeted the shopkeeper happily. “My niece here just transferred to Hexside and needs some school supplies. You got anything for us?”

The other gray-haired woman smiled. “Oh Eda! I almost didn’t recognize you! You look good for your age.”

“I’m not that old,” Eda said flatly, her air of arrogance fleeing with the woman's comment. Mrs. Whispers ignored Eda and led her and Luz towards the back of the store. There were a handful of backpacks hung up on the wall with notebooks and other supplies set up adjacently. 

“Since it's the middle of the school year, we’re a little low on bags and some other things,” the woman explained. “If you need anything specific, I can get Raine to order something for you, so just let me know.” The older woman said something to Eda before disappearing to help another customer.

“Who was that?” Luz asked. She noticed a slight blush around the Owl Lady’s cheeks.

Eda picked up a notebook from a nearby rack, examined it, and cleared her throat.“Just the mom of an old friend. I haven’t seen either of them for a while now, though.” Luz watched as Eda looked between different types of notebooks and pencils. When the Owl Lady looked up, she motioned towards the bags behind her. “Go ahead,” she said. “Hurry up and pick one.”

Luz noted the woman’s nervousness, not sure what had caused it. She looked at the bags momentarily before reaching and pulling a plain blue one off the wall. “This one,” she said, showing the bag to Eda.

The Owl Lady nodded and grabbed two notebooks, a box of pencils, and some type of mechanical box, before guiding Luz to a different part of the store. After they paid for the goods, they left, turning back towards the apartments. Luz tugged at the hood of her jacket, she could feel herself begging to sweat in the sunlight.

Eda seemed to notice and began looking around. She stopped and pointed, bag in hand, at another store across the street. Luz looked and read the words displayed across the outside of the building.

“Higgins’ Hat Shop?”

“Yeah,” Eda said, leading the girl across the street once it was clear. “I don’t think Bump will let you just wear a hood all day – something about it being a ‘safety thing.’” She whispered the last bit as they made it to the other sidewalk. She carefully pushed her way past a crowd of people and opened the door and walked in, Luz following close behind her. “But, I do think that Bump might let you wear a hat, so look around and I’ll get whichever one you want.”

The two of them split. Eda sat nearby and let King out of her bag to stretch his legs. The animal, Luz had decided on him being a cat when she saw him cough up a hairball before they left, squeaked and began to explore the area around the Owl Lady. Luz walked around and examined some of the hats. She was mostly done with the whole “shopping excursion” Eda had suggested and would have much rather have been back at the woman’s apartment. 

As Luz grabbed a red, flimsy, thread hat from one of the racks in the middle of the store, she noticed something in the top corner of the store. A box-like crystal ball was playing something on its screen. The witch temporarily questioned how it worked before tuning into what the woman pictured was saying.

“I repeat, a shelter-in-place order has been issued for the city,” she spoke urgently. At once, the feed cut from her to something else; a live feed of the sky. Luz watched in confused interest as a blur passed by the camera, causing the footage to shake as the operator struggled to gain control.  The woman’s voice spoke over the feed as it shifted around, frantically looking for the subject. “Authorities are currently unsure of what the creature is, but have concluded that it is hostile.” Quickly, the feed turned and captured the creature on camera: a hand dragon.

“What is that thing?” Eda asked, breaking her attention from King to look at the emergency news broadcast. “Are those…fingers? Have you ever seen anything like that, Luz?”

When the Owl Lady looked back, the witch was gone. Eda stood quickly and looked around and noticed the door of the hat shop closing, presumably behind the witch. She rushed to the door, pushing it open and frantically scanning the streets.

“Luz!” she called, but to no avail. The woman reentered the store, looking for the clerk. King squealed from the floor. Eda looked down and noticed something in his mouth: a single red beanie.

Chapter Text

When Luz pushed out of the hat store, she saw that the once-busy sidewalk was now mostly empty of pedestrians, save for a few making their way into nearby buildings. The witch rushed away from the store and attempted to get out of sight. Since the hand dragon was from her realm, Luz felt that it was her responsibility to take care of it. She actually felt that she was the only one who could take care of it. Despite this, she still felt the need to keep her promise to Eda to “blend in.” She quickly found a nearby alleyway that led behind the street-side buildings.

As the witch made her way into the dark alley, she came across a hiding place between two green metal boxes. They reeked for garbage left out in the sun, despite the area being mostly shaded. While crouched down between the boxes, Luz pushed down a sick feeling in her stomach and snapped her fingers. Anxiously, she waited for a moment before Owlbert appeared in a small flash of light next to her. Thank Titan , she thought.

Owlbert hooted at the witch, questioning his sudden appearance and expressing discomfort with the smell.

“I need you to summon my clothes,” she said quickly. “At the very least, my cloak.”

The palisman hooted a question.

Luz groaned. “There’s a hand dragon,” she explained, waving her arms at the sky above them. “Now can we please get on with this?” Thankfully, Owlbert didn’t ask any more questions. There was a slight flash of light as Eda’s hoodie was replaced with the same white and purple shirt that Luz had been found in. Even the gold belt and the same tights and boots. Unfortunately, the clothes were still tattered. The witch thanked her palisman anyway before reaching for the mask attached to her cloak. Her hand was empty, however, as she attempted to grasp the fabric. “Owlbert,” Luz groaned. There was another flash of light and the cloak appeared in her hand.

In one swift motion, Luz threw the cloak around her, closing a clasp to secure the fabric around her neck. With a smirk, she pulled the mask part of the cloak to cover her face. The witch held out her hand in front of her. Owlbert’s eyes began to glow before he pulled his wings to his side. The palisman’s eyes changed to become wooden and a staff formed from his talons. Luz grasped the staff confidently, smiling from behind her cloak. With the top of her staff, Luz began to draw a circle, casting a spell. As the circle connected, the spell changed colors from yellow to blue, changing the nature of the incantation.

Once Luz was happy with her work, she swung her palisman at it, using the momentum of Owlbert to cast the spell. Once it had dissipated, Luz felt her senses begin to heighten as the smell of the garbage around her became more pungent.

The witch gagged at the unexpected intensity before climbing atop her palisman and taking off from the ground. Urgent to get away from the smell, she flew between the roofs of the buildings and into the sky, feeling the wind against her face. It felt familiar to her, like she had never spent a moment on the ground before coming to the human realm.

Luz took a deep breath, reveling in the fresh, non-garbage smelling air. She closed her eyes, taking a moment to listen. From far away, she heard the sound of wings flapping and a creature roaring. “Alright,” Luz said with a grin, “let’s kick some demon butt!” The palisman turned and accelerated towards the sound of the hand dragon with Luz gripping tightly to the staff. It didn’t take long for the dragon to come into view. When the creature saw Luz approaching, it turned and roared at her. The witch paused in her approach, leaving distance between her and the dragon as they sized each other up.

Nearby, some type of flying machine turned to face her. Luz could see the operator of the machine through a window in the front, acknowledging his confusion. Luz scanned the airspace the three parties occupied. They were relatively isolated, but Luz noted how if they went too low, the ensuing conflict could cause damage to nearby buildings. After a quick look, Luz saw a lightly wooded area that looked out of place, especially when in comparison with the area they were currently in. 

At the edge of the city was a forest, but the other area was closer. If she could make it to either of those areas, she could use stronger plant magic if she needed it. Slowly, the witch turned her attention back to the demon, who began to rear its head back.

The dragon struck, flying forward and opening its maw in an attempt to close it around Luz. The witch evaded its attack, drawing two quick glyphs, one for fire and one for ice, and holding out a hand in front of her. The glyphs appeared in her path and Luz quickly flew through them, activating them both and creating a cloud of mist that allowed Luz to easily fly past the hand dragon jaws (palms? She wasn’t sure either way). 

Luz attempted to put as much space between her and the dragon as she could, accelerating as fast as her grip would allow her to. When she heard the demon roar behind her, she began to panic slightly. Luz was unconfident in her ability to outrun the beast, she had seen one of a similar size catch up to other witches, but she did think she could beat it to a clearer area. She would have access to more options and could be more reckless with her magic.

Oh crap my magic . Her adrenaline and impulsiveness had urged her into action so quickly that she hadn’t stopped to think about how the human realm might affect her magic. Maybe foolishly, Luz took a chance to look over her shoulder. She wasn’t shocked to see the dragon was gaining on her.

She stopped to face off with the beast, a glyph forming below her that she was able to stand on. The staff began to levitate in front of her before Owlbert started to glow. He began to spin, a fire glyph forming from the rotation. Luz held her hands forward, launching a volley of fireballs from the glyph. Fireball after fireball made contact with the dragon, staggering the demon, but not managing to deter it from its attack.

As the demon approached her, an idea formed in her head, one that she knew Owlbert would protest if he could. As the beast attempted to bite at her, Luz deactivated the glyph she stood on, free falling towards the ground. In her hands, she felt Owlbert shake with anxiety. The bird was urging, practically begging, to use him to save herself, to fly and deny the ground of the upcoming collision . As she got closer, Luz urged Owlbert to fly, hanging on to the staff as the palisman did so. Just before hitting the ground, the witch casted an ice glyph, allowing the grass below her to freeze and form a path. When her feet hit the ground, Luz stumbled as her balance couldn’t save her from the speed she had built up from her fall. Thankfully, she was still able to hold onto Owlbert as she and the palisman continued forward. The Owl dragged her along until eventually they were no longer flying and Luz’s momentum kept her sliding down the ice.

She smiled widely as she heard the dragon crash into the ground behind her. What she didn’t expect, however, was for the dragon to have as much momentum as it did. After it hit the ground, the creature slid forward, sliding along the same ice path and destroying the ground as it did. The ice broke under Luz’s feet, causing the girl to lose her balance, then her grip on her palisman. Owlbert was left behind and the witch crashed to the ground, slamming her back into a tree and knocking the wind from her chest.

Luz gasped at the impact; her vision blurred and her body ached. Urgently, she tried to push herself up and was able to get a knee under her. She swayed as pain pulsed through her body. Using the tree in an attempt to steady herself, Luz examined the destruction she had caused. Trees were uprooted and a path of disturbed soil and ice was left behind from the dragon after its initial impact. The dragon itself was attempting to regain its bearings. Luz watched as it turned away from her, growling at something. She was shocked to see a human, one close to her age, attempting to run from the demon.

Thinking quickly, she used both arms to draw a plant glyph and pressed her hands to it. A long vine grew from her hands, quickly snaking towards the human and wrapping around their waist. Once the human was secured, Luz pulled with all her might, dragging them away as the hand dragon snapped at where the human once was.

The human landed a few feet from Luz. From here, Luz could see some of their features. It was a girl, shorter and slightly stocky, with green eyes and dark, short hair. They wore a pair of dark jeans, a dark solid-colored shirt, large, circular glasses, and a pair of gloves on her hands.

“It’s not safe here,” Luz said, attempting to keep the pain from her voice. “You need to leave.”

“No way!” the girl said defiantly. “You and that…thing are destroying the park.”

Luz blinked at the girl in confusion. She couldn’t believe that this random, powerless human was standing up to her. “You can’t fight that thing.”

The other girl looked back at the hand dragon; it was searching the area in front of it, presumably for either of the girls. Realization seemed to strike her as she watched the dragon roar. “No, but I’m sure I could help you.” The girl walked to Luz’s side and threw an arm around the witch’s side. Luz put one of her own around the human’s shoulders. “I’m Willow,” the human said, dragging the witch behind her.

“I’m not one for introductions,” Luz replied, holding her side as the sudden movement caused pain through her body. She powered up another plant glyph, causing a large tree to grow in front of them. “I need to find my palisman.”

“Your what?”

Luz groaned. “My staff,” she elaborated. “It has an owl carving on it. I used it to fly over here, but I lost track of it when the dragon crashed.”

Willow perked up as they rushed away from the demon. “So it is a dragon?”

“Is that really important right now?”

Before Willow could answer, the hand dragon roared. Luz swore and pushed herself away from the human, peaking around the tree to observe the beast. It had a mound of dirt in its maw and was searching for them.

Taking a deep breath, Luz rushed from the tree, attempting to sneak closer to the dragon. It stomped around and sniffed at the air, searching. Without Owlbert, she’d be limited on the spell she could cast, but she figured she could keep it busy in the meantime. An illusion spell caused multiple clones of her to appear, each one calling for the dragon’s attention and avoiding its attacks.

The witch began to frantically search for her palisman, ignoring as her body practically begged for her to stop. Eventually, the staff was shoved in her face. Luz turned to see Willow panting and holding Owlbert out to her.

“If you can get rid of that thing with this, do it.”

Luz nodded and took the staff. When she turned to face the dragon, the beast had just finished off the last of her illusions and roared in frustration.

“Hey ugly!” Luz yelled.

The hand dragon turned and narrowed its eyes at Luz, but didn’t move. Instead, it raised its head up to the sky, as if listening to something, and spread its wings.

Wind rushed past the girls as the dragon flapped its wings, attempting to take off. Luz spun Owlbert and swung him through a plant glyph, activating it. The witch and human watched as large roots sprung from the ground and wrapped around the dragon’s body and neck, preventing it from taking off. Luz closed her hand into a fist and willed the roots to tighten. She and Willow watched as vines sprouted and pulled the dragon back to the ground, pinning it.

“Is that gonna hold it?” Willow asked.

Luz wiped a few beads of sweat from her brow. “I’m not sure,” she said. Just to be safe, Luz shakily drew an ice glyph and activated it. Ice formed from the ground and climbed up the dragon, reaching halfway up its body to further restrict its movements. “That might, though.”

Willow stared in awe at the witch’s work. “That’s incredible, but we should get out of here,” she said, breaking herself out of her own astonishment. “In the movies, law enforcement doesn’t usually like masked vigilantes.”

The witch was confused by her words, but eventually decided that she was right. Willow knew more about the realm and its authorities than Luz, and the witch doubted that she could do much more magic without Owlbert at the moment. Despite this, she couldn’t just leave her companion.

“We can’t leave yet,” Luz said. “I need to take care of the demon.” She pushed herself away from the human, steeling her resolve to finish the job. As she began to draw a glyph, Luz’s leg collapsed, the pain too much to bear her weight.

Willow caught her as she stumbled. “Look, you can do that later. There’s a little cave over there,” she pointed deeper into the wooded area, “where you can recoup. As of now, it doesn’t seem like you can put up much of a fight against that thing.

After some deliberation, Luz decided she’d trust Willow and the two stumble in the direction Willow had pointed with the human supporting the witch’s weight. It didn’t take the witch long to find the cave the other girl had spoken about, but “cave” was too generous for the area.

There was a small overhang of dirt and a root system next to a pond. Vines hung from a tree and obscured some of the area below the overhang, just enough for a person or two to sit without getting wet. As the two got closer, they pushed aside the curtain of vines and sat down, Luz pressed her back against the wall. She sighed and reached a hand up to touch the back of her head, it was throbbing now that her adrenaline had subsided.

When the girl brought her hand back in front of her, she was disappointed to see that blood covered her fingertips. She sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. It had only been a few days since she appeared in the human realm and yet…

She groaned and pressed her palms to her eyes. It had only been a few days, but the uncertainties of the human realm were beginning to get to her. Sure, on the missions or quests she was assigned, there was always a bit of uncertainty of the outcome. But at the end of the day, Luz would always return to her home, her friends, her mom . Oh Titan, how she missed Camila. She even missed the boiling rain of the Isles. Though, despite how much she missed everything, she was left clueless on how to return to it.

Sure, the hand dragon was able to get through, that much was clear. But what did that mean for her? Was the rift that brought her here still open? Did the dragon somehow close it? Was she stuck in the human realm? Would she ever see her family or friends again?

Luz was pulled from her thoughts when Willow cleared her throat. Instinct took over as a ball of fire formed in Luz’s hand. When she gathered that it was just the human and not someone sneaking up on them, she lowered her hand slightly.

Willow’s eyes stayed on the fire. Naturally, Luz concluded, the human wouldn’t be able to touch, much less hold, fire magic. The witch began to grow annoyed with the silence that grew between them and closed her fist, extinguishing the fire. “Sorry,” Luz said, “just tired.

“Are you gonna be ok?” Willow asked, noticing Luz’s bloodied hand.

The witch just nodded and stood. “Thanks for finding this,” she said, holding up Owlbert at the girl. “I really appreciate it.” Luz used the palisman to cast another healing spell. She could feel that she was low on magic, so the spell only soothed her pains. “I don’t think I can take care of the hand dragon.”

Willow nodded as they listened to sirens approaching from the distance. “Doesn’t sound like a smart idea right now, anyway. If the police are here, they can eventually handle it.”

So much for keeping a low profile , Luz thought. 

“I should get out of here before they find me.”

“What about your injuries?”

Luz wiped her bloodied hand on her pants and flexed her arm. “I should be good for now.” Before Willow could say anything, Luz sat up and threw a leg over Owlbert. Together, the two took off and flew away from the sounds of sirens and roaring.

She wasn’t exactly sure where she should go. Eda may have been waiting for her back at the hat store, but meeting up with the woman out in the open would just tie them directly together. Eda would probably also deny knowing the crazy bloodied girl who could fly on a stick. Instead, she decided to fly to Eda’s apartment building, but not before casting a modified light glyph that made her invisible.

She landed on the roof of, hopefully, the correct building. As Owlbert’s staff began to disappear, Luz let go of her breath, breaking the invisibility spell. The witch stumbled, but was able to make her way to a door on the roof of the building. Owlbert hooted, gaining the girl’s attention. The bird closed his eyes for a moment and, in a flash, Luz’s clothes were replaced with the hoodie and jeans she wore in the hat shop. Luz carefully flipped the hood over her head, trying her hardest to make sure her hair wasn’t able to touch the fabric in order to prevent her blood from getting on it.

As carefully as she could with her injuries, Luz made her way into the building and down multiple flights of stairs. Eventually, she had made it to the 8th floor, a fact that she knew thanks to the big numbers that were next to each door. On the door was a poorly drawn picture of an owl and a cat – Luz presumed the latter was of King. The witch pushed her way onto the residential floor, trying her best to not stagger into the walls. She didn’t remember exactly which room was Eda’s, but it didn’t take long for the girl to find a mat that read “The Owl House” on it outside of one of the apartments.

The witch fumbled with the doorknob, leaning against the frame for balance. Just as she managed to turn the knob, the door swung open. Luz yelped as she fell into the apartment, crashing unceremoniously to the floor. She grimaced as her head bounced on the ground. So much for keeping blood off of Eda’s clothing.

When Luz opened her eyes, she saw the frantic looking eyes of the Owl Lady. “Luz are you ok?” she asked quickly. “Did anyone follow you?”

Despite everything, Luz couldn’t help a small smile forming on her lips. She didn’t expect Eda to be too concerned with the girl’s wellbeing, so at least she could find some solace in the fact that Eda was a little predictable.

“No, I don’t think so,” Luz said, exhausted. “Oh, also you might want to wash this.” The witch pointed at the hoodie. Judging from Eda’s reaction, the hoodie was in fact stained.

Eda helped the girl to the couch, placing a towel under her head and allowing her to lay her head back. “I’ll get you something for your head,” she said before rushing away.

Luz relaxed as much as she could, all things considering. As she began to close her eyes, King jumped up on the couch and snuggled into the girl’s chest. Painfully, Luz raised her hand to pet the animal, ignoring her muscles screaming at her. When Eda returned moments later, she ordered the witch to raise her head. Tenderly, the woman began to wrap a bandage around Luz’s head-wound. When she was done, Luz thanked her before turning to look at the woman.

“What happened after I left?” she asked.

The woman turned and sat across from Luz on the chair, mirroring where they sat the morning after Eda found her. “Well, once you lured the monster away from the area, a lot of people ran,” Eda explained. She placed her head in her hand. “Thanks to you, everyone got out safely with minimal injuries.”

Luz smiled. “That’s good,” she said. A beat of silence passed before either of them said anything. “I learned something today, too.”

“And what was that?”

The witch opened her eyes. Her eyes were sensitive to the light. “That all of this probably just put a target on my back.”

Eda crossed her arms. “Yeah,” she said simply. “The police will probably be searching for you now, but who cares about them? They can’t do anything if they can’t catch you.” There was another stretch of silence that passed between them. “I did get you this though.”

When Luz turned to face the woman, she held in both hands the hat that Luz had been looking at in the store. “Thanks,” she said, sincerely. “But where did you just get that from?” The witch watched in confused shock as the woman reached into her hair, rifled around a little bit, and pulled out two identical hats.

“I also got extra."

Chapter Text

Despite the many times that Luz had tried to heal herself in the days following her altercation with the dragon, Eda had always stopped her. Each time she’d swat at the witch’s hands to break her concentration or take Owlbert from her. When Luz would protest, Eda would spout some nonsense about how “humans don’t heal that fast” and “if you get hurt, your story will be more believable.”

There wasn’t much Luz could ultimately do about it, especially when King had a shockingly good understanding of the language Eda and Luz shared. The little furball would bite or swat at her if she tried doing a spell when Eda wasn’t around, much to the witch’s dismay. She was, however, able to get away with healing her aches and sores in the bathroom, as she tended to be offered privacy during those moments. No reason she should be hurt if no one could identify her. Despite this, she left a few scrapes to keep the image up for Eda.

During the days after the dragon fight (Eda began referring to it as ‘D-Day’ before chuckling to herself for some reason), Eda would show Luz different images on her “laptop” and have Luz pick out different items she liked. The witch would pick things like clothes, human-world sports, and even a few pictures of the native animals, and then Eda would disappear for the day and return in the evening with bags among bags of items from whatever Luz had picked out. (One day, Luz thought the human-sport “volleyball” looked interesting, and Eda somehow managed to return with a net that humans would use to play the game.) Clearly, the woman was just as much out of her depth as the witch was.

Finally, though, the day had arrived when Luz would supposedly enter the school for the first time. At least, that’s what Eda had told her when they had left the apartment.

“What are we doing here?” the witch asked. The two of them were crouched in a bush outside of the school. Eda watched with some type of vigor as yellow-metal vehicles rolled into the building’s walls and stopped.

As some kids around Luz’s age began to file out of the metal beast, Eda sat back, pushing herself away from the leaves and branches. “I had to pull a few strings to get you into here, kid,” she said, an air of arrogance entering her voice. “I’m not exactly on the best terms with a lot of the faculty here, so I’m just making sure that the only people that see us are supposed to see us.”

Luz groaned before covering her eyes with her palm. She was close to reaching her breaking point with Eda’s antics.

Eda began talking again —something about lunch rooms?— but Luz ultimately tuned the women out, instead turning her attention to watch as students began to enter the courtyard. Many of the humans loitered around outside of the building, meeting up with other humans before turning and walking into the school. A handful of them, however, stayed outside, ignoring the sound of a bell that rang throughout the courtyard.

“Why aren’t they going to class?” Luz asked.

The witch’s question pulled Eda from her lunch-room-rant as she turned to see the humans Luz was referring to. “Oh, there is a pretty decent size group of students that show up after the school day starts,” she explained. “Their schedules line up so that they don’t have a first period class. I’m assuming that these students,” Eda motioned to those left outside the building, “are just skipping another class.” She nodded her head in approval at the students before going off on another rant, this time about her time as a co-captain of the soccer team.

The “epic highs and lows of high school soccer” wasn’t something that interested her, so Luz took the time to instead begin to scout out some of the humans. There were a few that caught her eye, specifically a girl with almost pink hair in a letterman’s jacket. It was similar to the one that Eda had shown her during one of her many trips down “memory lane” (though Eda had never taken them to a lane called that, so Luz didn’t really understand how they had visited the location). The human wore her hair back in a bun with two strands framing her face, a pretty common hairstyle worn by witches around her age in the Boiling Isle. She held a black and white ball under her arm and two bags with her, one being her school bag and another being a bag she held by her side. 

The pink-haired girl was flanked by two more humans: one with gray hair and another with green hair. The trio were laughing at something as they stood outside by the stairs leading up to the school’s main entrance. From the entrance of the courtyard, another student rushed towards the school. Luz recognized this human. It was the girl who had helped her by finding Owlbert when the hand dragon attacked her. The human, Willow, made her way towards another student, a shorter, younger looking boy with dark hair. 

Luz noticed something about the school from looking at the groups of students: there was no uniform. Despite it being something relatively small, it was a welcome change from the Demon Realm. Though she didn’t go to school, she was still expected to wear some type of uniform when she was with her mentors. The witch wondered what else would be different in this world.

“Alright then!” Eda said with a smile and a clap of her hands. She stood up and pushed her way out of the bushes, gaining the attention from some of the students remaining in the courtyard. 

As Luz got up to follow, she groaned as her muscles ached when she pushed herself up from her crouched position. When the woman started walking, Luz rushed to catch up and walk close to her. “I still don’t understand why I couldn’t heal myself,” she said quietly to Eda, leaving out the fact that her aches should be much worse.

The Owl Lady scratched her chin. “You won’t be able to heal everything,” she explained. “If you get hurt in front of someone, you’ll need to be injured the next day too.” 

While the reasoning was pretty sound, the answer still didn’t sit well with the young witch. It felt like Eda was trying to manipulate  her in some way, though Luz wasn’t yet able to point out how. Either way, she decided to drop the topic for now, noticing how the group of three girls was now looking and snickering at them. Luz was suddenly made aware of her appearance and pulled on the sides of her beanie, making sure to hide the edges of her ears.

Eda seemed to notice as she stepped out of the school’s bushes and glared at the group of girls, earning an even bigger laugh from them. Despite this, she turned and smiled sincerely at Luz, like she had scared away the bullies and was trying to comfort a crying child. The witch brushed off the sneers from the humans as the Eda led the two of them into the school and into an office room to the right of the entrance. 

A long desk separated the area they were in with another area bustling with some staff members. The desk stretched from wall to wall, save for a door on either side that led behind the desk. A large piece of glass reached from the desk to the ceiling of the room with some holes placed in front of a chair on the opposite side. A blonde woman sat in said chair, typing away at a keyboard and staring at a screen in front of her. 

The woman glanced up at the two newcomers and a look of recognition passed over her face. With a sigh, she pressed a button on her desk and motioned to a door on her right. Eda led the young witch through the door and down a pathway and through a door on their left. An older man sat inside the room, behind a desk of his own. He wore a white button-up shirt and black pants. He had longer black hair and, when he turned to face the two, Luz could see a scar that ran from the top of his forehead down over his right eye.

The man pressed a hand to his face with a sigh. “Welcome back, Edalyn,” he said, almost exasperated. “Have a seat.” When Eda did so, the man turned to pull a laptop from a bag behind his desk and placed the device in front of him. He typed away as Luz sat in an empty chair next to her guardian. “So… we have Miss Luz Noceda,” he read her name off of the screen in front of him. “And we are meeting about her because…?”

“Because I need to enroll her in Hexside.”

“Yes, we talked about that,” the man, Luz assumed to be Principal Bump, said. “It’s an odd time to do so, Ms. Clawthorne. Exams are coming up next week, and she doesn’t seem to have a past transcript.”

Eda seemed to perk up. “That’s the thing, Bump, she just needs to be enrolled. No tests, no grades, just enrollment.”

Bump brushed his hand over his hair. “If she’s enrolled, she’ll have to take the exam and regular classes just like every other student.”

The Owl Lady snorted. “Uh…why?”

“Because it’s mandated,” Bump explained. “Students have to take a certain amount of classes, and a certain amount of tests. I would suggest homeschooling her for a while until the next semester, so she won’t be behind on classes.” Under his breath the man said “Though it seems like she’d be behind either way.”

Eda gasped, seeming to take offense to that statement. “Excuse me, Bump? That’s not the ‘I don’t give up on students’ attitude from my time.” She smiled smugly as she held up air quotes to mock the man.

“Exactly. You changed that attitude,” he said flatly. Bump sighed before looking at Luz. “I apologize for the unprofessionalism here, so let’s get back to the terms of your enrollment.” He turned to type away on his laptop before turning the device to show a calendar with some bars on it. “This,” he pointed at a box, “is today. There’s nothing scheduled for today, but as you can see next week,” he moved to point at a long box that spread across a week's worth of boxes, “we have our exams. This means that you’d have missed a quarter of instruction time.”

As he turned the laptop around to face him once again, he continued to type as he spoke. “Now, I owe Ms. Clawthorne here a favor, so I’ll cash that in here and say that, if you are enrolled today, I will excuse you from the exam. Whatever grade you make on the final for the following semester will carry over to this part of instruction time. I’ll write up a schedule that shouldn’t be too hard for you. If you find the classes to be too easy, it is only because I have nothing to base your placement on. Does this sound ok?”

Eda groaned at Bump’s mention of him owing her and placed her head in her hand with exasperation. “Sounds fantastic ,” she said with some sarcasm. “When does she start?”

Bump turned to face the young witch, ignoring Eda’s attempted jabs. “Does that sound ok with you, Miss Noceda?”

Luz nodded. “Yes, just don’t make my schedule too hard,” she joked.

The principal smiled at Luz and turned to address Eda, his smile immediately fading. “Alright then, Ms. Clawthorne. I can get a student up here to show her around the school while we talk, but that’s up to you.”

Barely a moment passed before Eda agreed with Bump’s proposal. The principal turned and pulled a device from his belt. He pressed a button on it and spoke a few words into it, calling for a student by the last name of ‘Riegal’. Principal Bump returns the device to his belt and tells Luz to wait outside of his office. The witch did so, exiting the room to sit on a cushioned bench next to the wall. A few minutes passed before Luz heard a door open. When she looked up, she recognized the pink-haired girl that she saw outside of the school.

The girl seemed to eye the witch before entering the principal’s office. After a few moments of muffled instructions, the girl walked out and faced Luz. “My name’s Boscha,” she said, a little annoyed with the apparent task. “Bump told me to show you around, so do you have a schedule?”

Luz stood up from the bench, checking to make sure that her ears were still covered. “Not unless he gave you one.”

“Alright, what grade are you in then?”

The witch shrugged.

Boscha’s face seemed to say ‘ is this girl serious? ’ as she looked between the office door and Luz. “Alright, then let’s go cover the bases.” She turned on her heels and began to walk, Luz rushing to follow. As they left the office and entered a hallway, Luz saw a door on either side of them would lead them to different hallways. The human girl told Luz to pick a way. As the witch pointed, Boscha followed her finger out the door, holding it open as Luz walked out after her.

The hallway outside was lined with doors and lockers (though these lacked the mouths and teeth). As they walked, Boscha pointed out some common classes – chemistry, physics, general science, etc – before they turned deeper into the school. She pointed at a set of double doors and said “stairwell upstairs” before continuing on, pointing out even more rooms. “Science teacher’s office.” “Vending machine room.” “Janitor’s closet.”

The mention of the closet confused Luz. “Why would I need to know where that is?”

The jock shrugged. “General overview.”

Together, the girls made their way around the school. Luz noted the cafeteria, library, and various places that she could spend time in rather than being in class. When they made it back to the office, Luz noted that they hadn’t gone upstairs.

“Yeah, I don’t feel like going up there,” Boscha said nonchalantly. She opened the office door for Luz and began to push the witch through it and speak quickly. “Tell Bump I did a good job. If you have classes on the second floor, they’ll be numbered in the 200s, the numbers are otherwise the same as the first floor, byeeee.”

The door closed behind Luz as Boscha walked away. Awkwardly, the girl made her way back to the principal’s office. Eda was sitting on the same bench that Luz had been, her arms crossed. The older woman looked like she had been placed in time out, and the thought made Luz chuckle. 

When she was close, Eda looked up at her and motioned to Principal Bump’s office. “He wants to see you.”

Luz nodded and pushed into the office. Bump looked up at her and motioned for her to sit down. As she did, he began to speak. “Did you get a good grasp of the school?”

“Yeah, I think I’ll be able to find my classes.”

“Did Boscha take you to the gym building?”

Luz blinked and didn’t answer.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Bump typed something on his laptop again. “Ok then, I’ll try to make sure you have someone to bring you there.”

A voice spoke from the device on his hip. “Principal Bump,” a female voice said. “Miss Blight is here when you’re ready for her.”

Bump took the device and spoke into it. “Alright. I have a student here now, so just send her in when she leaves.” He put the device on his desk rather than back on his belt and turned back to the girl. “Ok, Miss Noceda. I’ve talked with your guardian and we thought it would be a good idea for you to start tomorrow. That way we can kind of ease you into the school year and you’d have a shortened week before the weekend. You follow?”

Luz nodded.

“Alright then. I’ll make the executive decision that you won’t have to attend classes on exam days. However, you still can if you would like to.

The witch said her thanks to the man and left, moving to stand next to Eda’s bench. She looked around the office before her eyes landed on a girl with dyed green hair. She had pale skin and the roots of her hair had grown out to reveal its natural brown color. She wore a pair of light pants that were high waisted, a black shirt that was tucked into her pants and a checkered shirt that hung open in the front. The girl made her way into Bump’s office, sparing a glance at Luz that allowed the other girl to better see her golden eyes.

When the girl entered Bump’s office, Luz turned back to Eda and saw the woman grinning at her mischievously, gold tooth gleaming over her bottom lip.

“What?” Luz asked, confused.

“Oh nothing,” Eda said, raising her hands as she stood from the bench. “Let’s get moving. I don’t think I’m welcome here anymore.”

Luz looked around and noticed many of the older office staff were glancing at Eda, as if annoyed by her presence. “Yeah, I’m getting that feeling too.”

As the girl began to walk out of the school, Eda followed, loudly expressing her displeasure at Luz' agreement. The witch listened to her ramble as they made their way back to Eda’s apartment. As they opened the door, King yipped in excitement and ran to them, jumping up at them in an attempt to get some of their affection. Eda sat on the couch, King following to sit on her lap. Soon after, a tap came from the window. Luz looked over and saw Owlbert flapping outside of the window. The witch made her way to the glass and opened it for him, allowing the palisman to enter the room. She closed the window behind him and told Eda that she’d be in the room that was designated for her.

Luz made her way to the room and closed the door behind her, Owlbert managing to sneak in before she could close it. The witch turned to face the room. It was bare. Eda had removed everything she had, save for a couch that pulled out into a bed. There was a closet in the room that held most of Luz’ items, including the uniform she had appeared into the world in. It also contained the clothes she would be living in for however long she would be in this realm.

Owlbert hooted at her, detecting some of her anxiety.

“It’s not about school, buddy,” she said, sitting down on the couch/bed. “It’s just that I don’t know when we’ll be back.” Owlbert hooted in understanding. He flew over and nestled into the witch’s lap. Luz sighed as she placed her hand on the palisman. While Luz was thankful that Eda was helping her, it didn’t help that she still knew so little about the woman. How had Eda known where I was from? And how had she known to call this “the Human Realm”? What is she keeping from me? Should I be cautious of her?

The anxiety of her questions frightened her. What if Eda was a witch hunter? Sure, there were only stories of them in the Demon Realm and no one had found evidence of one in centuries, but what if? Better yet, what if Hexside was a school for witch hunters and Eda was sending her there to be combat training for the students?

Pain pricked her hand and Luz jerked it away from Owlbert. The palisman had bitten her. Luz looked at her friend, her expression hurt by his actions. Owlbert hooted firmly, attempting to ground the girl. The witch paused and released the breath she had been holding, her hand throbbing slightly.

“Ok, but you didn’t have to bite me so hard.”

Chapter Text

School made Luz uncomfortable, to say the least. It had been a long time since she had peers her own age as most of the time she was with her mentor or other superiors. She had always been told that it was safer for young witches to learn on their own, making the requirements to become a student strict. In the Human Realm it was different. Adolescents here were required to attend school, or at least be enrolled. This meant that most of, if not all, of the young humans in the area were at the school. Or at least that’s what Luz had thought.

When she watched students enter the school the day before, it seemed like too little considering the number of houses she saw gathered in different spots. Eda had later explained that Hexside was a private school, meaning families paid for their students to go there. This seemed a little odd to her. Luz’s education in the Demon Realm was just rigorous, meant to separate the more suited students from those considered weak. Sure, there had been some scandals in the past about certain mentors accepting snail favors, but most of the higher ups frowned upon the practice. To indulge in the practice was to be outed as a wild witch and arrested, a good deterrent against the action.

There were similar practices in the Human Realm. To act extremely out of line would lead in expulsion, which, like many other things, was much less extreme in the Human Realm. Luz considered the thought of getting expelled, keeping the idea in her pocket in case she needed it. 

For now, Luz entered the school, making her way to the office to see Principal Bump. The newly familiar room was bright, much brighter than the previous day. The man was standing next to the window of his office, sunlight pouring into the room as he talked on the phone. He hadn’t noticed her yet, so Luz knocked a few times on the open door.

Bump turned around, his scarred eye analyzing her. “Oh, Miss Noceda. Have a seat out there and someone will bring you your schedule shortly.” Without another word, the man turned around, returning to his conversation on the phone.

Luz did as she was told, sitting down on the same bench that Boscha had found her on. The front office of the school was bustling. A handful of students walked in, setting their things down and taking places behind desks. Luz pulled at the cuff of her jacket as she waited for her schedule, noting how many of the students gawked at her.

Finally, a piece of paper was shoved into her lap. Luz startled and looked up, her eyes meeting the same golden eyes of the girl from the day before. Her green hair was tied up, revealing an undercut that was a lighter shade of green. Today she wore a pair of dark jeans, a white shirt and a purple and black sweater. The girl tilted her head, still holding out the paper.

“Is this yours or not?” she asked.

Luz glanced down at the sheet, noticing her name at the top. The girl nodded.

“Alright then. Bump told me to give you your schedule, so here you go. Hurry up and take it, I have my own classes to get to.”

With another nod, Luz grabbed the paper from the other girl and stood. With her duty done, the green-haired girl turned and walked away, leaving Luz sputtering her thanks after her. With the girl gone, Luz finally looked at the paper in her hands, reading that her first class was “Civics”, notably a class that Boscha had not shown her. Scrambling, Luz hurried after the other girl, finding her leaving to walk down the science wing. Luz jogged after her, grabbing the girl by the shoulder when she was close enough.

The other girl flinched, slapped Luz’s hand away and turned. The glare she sent Luz made her skin crawl. When she saw that it was just Luz, the girl’s eyes softened and she took a breath. “Can I help you?”

Luz cleared her throat before handing her schedule back to the girl. “Do you happen to know where this class is?”

The girl eyed the paper for a moment before grabbing it. “Didn’t Boscha show you around yesterday?” she asked as she checked Luz’s schedule.

“Yeah, I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

“This class is on the second floor,” the girl said. “It’s not that you weren’t paying attention, it’s that Boscha was just using you as an excuse to skip class.” Her eyes trailed over Luz for a moment, considering something. “How old are you?” she finally asked.

Luz thought for a moment. Back in the Demon Realm, her mentors hadn’t kept up with the ages of their students. They thought that, if they allowed the witches to have days off for celebrations like that, then they’d be more likely to get themselves caught by the Emperor. However, Luz remembered the cards she’d gotten from her mom. The most recent one that she remembered noted that her seventeenth birthday had passed.

“Seventeen.”

The girl eyed her again. “So if you’re seventeen, you should be a junior or senior, so why are you taking a freshman government class?” she asked as she handed Luz back the paper.

Crap . Luz let out a nervous laugh and rubbed her neck. “I guess I didn’t take the class before I transferred here.”

That answer seemed to satisfy the girl as she reached out and took Luz’s schedule and began to explain the sheet to the witch. “This is the name of the class, this is your teacher, and here is the room number. A ‘1’ is on the first floor. ‘2’ is on the second. There’s some signs on the walls every now and then that tell you where some classes are. Just look around if you get lost.”

She handed the paper back to Luz and waited, her eyes seeming to say anything else?

“Uh, thank you for the help.”

The girl took another moment to examine Luz, looking her up and down, before nodding and disappearing down the hall. 

Needless to say, Luz struggled in the human classes. Since she had no background in human concepts like human history and science, it was impossible to understand what the classes were discussing. Even classes she thought she’d be great in, like Physical Education, caused her to feel out of place. In her own studies, she’d always received top marks in the physical part of her teaching, but Human Realm physical education including things like playing “volleyball.” She was unable to understand the rules and was subsequently shunned from her team, instead being condemned to the sidelines to watch others play. Despite all of this, Bump did keep his word as he got a student, a boy a few years younger than her named Gus, to show her to the gym.

Thankfully, that class was her last of the day, so rather than staying, she snuck away and walked around the courtyard. Eventually, the bell rang and she merged her way into the group of students walking out of the courtyard. As she crossed through the metal gateway of the school, she realized she’d have to return tomorrow and groaned loudly, gaining the attention of students around her.

Whatever, it didn’t matter. She’d handle tomorrow when it got here, just like how she always did. In the meantime, she didn’t feel like going back to Eda’s place, so instead she went somewhere slightly familiar; the park.

Since her fight with the dragon, parts of the area had been taped off with yellow caution tape. After a few minutes of walking around, she overheard that there was a police investigation about what had happened. Thankfully, no one seemed to recognize her, so she assumed her disguise worked here just as well as it did in the Demon Realm.

When no one was looking, she ducked below the caution tape and wandered through where her fight had been. The area was scarred with evidence from her battle. Trees had fallen, roots formed from her magic grew out unnaturally from the ground, reaching towards the sky. The ground where the dragon had landed had formed a trench almost as tall as her if she stood in it. On either side of the trench were large mounds of dirt that had been displaced by the landing. There were also tracks not from her fight in the grass. She recognized them as tire tracks from the cars humans used, but what were they doing in the park?

The scenery brought back bad memories of the fight. Her mentor would have reprimanded if he heard of her performance. At the time, she had been tired and injured and had just restricted the dragon. She hadn’t finished the job and instead ran away.

But that left her with questions. If she didn’t finish the dragon, where did it go? Luz turned back to the roots she used to prevent the dragon from flying. The part of the wood that had wrapped around the beast’s neck was gone, the edges flat as if they had been cut. But if someone cut it free, where did the dragon go?

A rustling behind her broke her from her thoughts. She turned quickly and saw Willow peak out from behind a tree. The girl was carrying some gardening equipment in her arms and had a shovel thrown over her shoulder. When she saw Luz, she waved and walked towards the trench the dragon had formed.

Luz, intrigued by the human, followed her, peaking over the edge as Willow dropped herself into the trench. “What happened here?” Luz asked, hoping Willow couldn’t tell that she knew.

The human looked up at her and laughed tiredly. “Even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

That made sense. Hand dragons weren’t very common in the Demon Realm, so the fact that humans wouldn’t be able to recognize or understand it seemed in line. “That’s fair. What are you doing, then?”

Willow looked at her, puzzled. “I’m just trying to fix up the aftermath. There was a girl here too. Everything happened a few days ago, but I haven’t seen her since.”

To Luz, the girl seemed a little tired. It seemed like what she had seen might have been affecting her more than she was trying to let on. After watching her a little bit, she noticed the dark circles under the girl’s eyes.

Guilt began to creep through her. This was her fault, and she had left the consequences of her actions to others. Titan, her mentor would really be upset with her.

With a sign, Luz pulled off her jacket and backpack, placing them both down away from the edge of the trench. She reached for her phone and turned on the ringer, placing it in her pocket, and lowered herself next to Willow.

The human looked at her, a little shocked, as Luz held out a hand. “What do you want help with?”

Willow considered her before pointing to the walls of the trench. “I came down here to see how tightly packed the dirt was, but I really just want to fill up at least a portion of this.”

She began to walk the length of the trench to a shallower part and Luz followed. “Let me help. Maybe we can get a larger section done if we work together. Do you have another shovel?” She was handed a shorter, smaller shovel. It was pretty much half the size of Willow’s, but it would have to work as she knew she couldn’t use her magic. 

As they began to work, Luz urged the human to recount what happened. She learned that Willow didn’t see much of her fight and was pretty confident that she didn’t recognize her as the one who fought the dragon. Luz did learn that the authorities apparently cut the dragon free and transported it away, but the human had no idea where.

That was a little startling. If she wasn’t careful and if more things came after her, she could lead the authorities right to her.

After about an hour and a half of work, Luz’s phone dinged in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw a text from Eda, urging her to go back to the apartment. The clock on her phone said it was just before 5 o’clock, almost three hours after school had ended.

Luz told Willow she had to leave, returning the human’s shovel, and gathering her things. Just as she was about to go, Willow called out to her.

“Hey! What was your name again?”

The witch was about to tell her that she didn’t like giving out her name, but she stopped herself. That was what she had said to her when they first met. If the human paid attention, it would be easy to connect the dots.

She plastered a fake smile on her face – hoping that Willow didn’t notice her apprehension – and slung her bag over her shoulder. “Luz. My name’s Luz.”