Chapter Text
“Papa, could you tell me a bedtime story?” Luz Noceda asked.
Her father smiled and sat on the side of her bed, careful not to hit the dent in the top bunk.
“Long ago on a distant world, roamed the Titans. The Titans towered over the seas of their world, and where they died, whole lands would be formed from their bones. From their death came new life, witches and demons who called the lands their home, and their world the Demon Realm. One day, the Titans were met by a being from the stars, a child who wanted to play with the baby Titans. The Titan children were happy to have someone new to play with, who could use magic like them to play games and have fun.
“But the child from the stars had siblings, the Archivists. The Archivists wanted all the knowledge of the cosmos for themselves, and they feared the Titans, who couldn’t be collected like any other life they had met. They feared what they couldn’t control, and so wiped out the Titans. The last Titan standing hid his only remaining son, and locked away the child from the stars, his anger boiling the seas.
His rage spent, the Titan lay in the sea, his body forming a new island for witches and demons to grow with the gift of his magic and all the possibilities that came from it.”
Luz had fallen asleep towards the end of his story, curled up like a cat, her shadow not matching her shape. Manny quietly stood up and left her room, where his wife stood at the door with a tired smile.
“All these years and I still wonder where you get these stories.” Camila shook her head. “I can only hope she got your imagination.”
Manny kissed her cheek. “And I hope she got your heart.” Camila gave him a forlorn look, the kind that they had both gained whenever they remembered something they’d rather keep to themselves.
After Camila went to bed as well, Manny slipped out of the house, a shovel slung over his shoulder. The light of the moon illuminated the woods near the house, a well-worn path to a twice-abandoned cabin. Two strikes of the shovel broke the floor plank, revealing a small ornate box. The scroll inside was easily decoded by one who had puzzles as one of his hobbies. It was a short drive to Old Gravesfield, and a longer trek through the almost supernaturally dark woods. Manny let out a horrendous cough, but steeled himself and kept moving, pulling a slip of paper out of his pocket. With a tap, the paper crumpled into a small floating light, growing brighter as it neared the source of the magic fueling it.
Reaching the shore of the waterlogged graveyard, Manny kneeled down and drew an array of circular glyphs in the dirt. Activating the spell with a tap, a bridge of sodden earth rose to part the water. Arriving at the center of the graveyard, Manny stood before the ancient stone arch, and began to dig, until he heard the ‘ tink ’ of metal on glass. Manny raised the buried vial to the moonlight, a pearlescent sheen around the deep blue liquid within.
Manny left the graveyard with his prize, the earth bridge sinking in his wake.
Returning home, Manny made his way to the basement, careful not to track dirt from his nocturnal excursion into the house.
In the Noceda basement, Manny had his worktable set up, a pair of ornate amulets concealed within the drawer. The silvery metal was worked into a set of bird wings for each amulet, an empty slot for a circular gem. The gems sat separate, a pair of glass ampules. Removing the stopper from the vial, Manny poured a few drops into each ampule, before resealing it, and pricking his thumb, allowing a drop of his own blood to drip into each vessel, turning the fluid inside a vivid purple. A brief application of fire sealed the ampules, and he placed them in their amulets.
Another coughing fit wracked Manny, and when it passed, he held up the completed amulets.
“I can’t be there for you much longer, but I can share this with you.” He said, placing the amulets in a jewelry box to present his wife and daughter. Manny took the box with him as he went to bed himself, kissing Camila on the forehead as he let sleep take him.
Several years later:
“Tiny trash thief!” Luz called as she chased the adorable brown owl who had stolen her book from where she had left it in the trash in a fit of disappointment. That book, along with the amulet tucked under her collar, was one of the last gifts her father had given her.
The little owl dragged the disproportionately large sack of salvaged junk and her mistakenly-discarded treasure along the path through the woods, towards the old abandoned cabin. Luz had heard rumors that the old cabin had been a site of witchcraft in the late eighties and early nineties, an attempt to condemn the witch hunters who had built it originally. Luz had been in there once, on a dare to ingratiate herself with a group of potential friends. She had seen no signs of witchcraft, only a pair of gravestones with no graves in the basement, along with the bare minimum of modernization. The potential friends had turned out to just be having a laugh at her expense, and the only one who had been sincere about the offer of friendship had moved shortly after. Though she never could shake the odd warmth she felt around the shack, and the faintest hints of sulfur and ozone.
Luz had always had a sixth sense for the unusual. The statue of the brothers in downtown Gravesfield always gave her an inexplicable sense of revulsion and sorrow, but her attempts to investigate further were cut short by a lack of concrete information, and the curator of the Historical Society accusing her of being a ‘Demon from Mars’. Thankfully, her mamá had been there, and Hopkins had been warded off with la chancla and a filed restraining order, but she still gave the Historical Society a wide berth. But Luz had more immediate concerns than a lone conspiracy nut or her own quirks, namely, the little owl that was stronger than its size would indicate, and her stolen book.
Luz was expecting the scattered detritus and faded wood of the cabin. She was not expecting the flash of light and flare of warmth as she crossed the threshold, or to find herself in a large tent filled with junk in various states of repair.
“Stop adorably hopping away, you--Huh?” Luz finally noticed her surroundings. Behind her, a wooden door frame stood free, a yellow-white glow filling the frame.
Luz stopped in her tracks, taking in the sights. “Whoa, I thought I had a lot of weird stuff.” Luz picked up some sort of chimeric doll by the coat hanger going through its head, which was creepy even by her standards. “But this? This is impressive.”
Luz heard a new voice. “Finally, you’re back.”
She dropped the doll back on the floor, nearly following it, before ducking back up and peeking through the entrance to the tent.
The owl had hopped on top of a wooden staff, and a chalk-white hand twisted the owl into a wooden carving that merged seamlessly with the staff. Luz’ eyes were wide at the display of what could only be magic. In her shock, she did not notice the faint brush of scales against her ankle.
“Now let’s see what we’ve got to work with.” The owner of the staff said, digging through the sack of scavenged junk. A smartphone, a sizable diamond ring, and a glowing golden grail were all discarded as garbage.
“Now this?” She pulled out a pair of novelty glasses with fake eyes on springs for the lenses and donned them. “This will make me rich.”
“And this…” She pulled out Luz’ prized book. “Well this will make good kindling.” She held the corner of the book over a nearby lit candle.
Luz bolted from her hiding space, swiping her book out of her hand fast enough to put out the flame, and quickly slipped it into its proper place in her bag.
“Excuse me, sorry, that’s mine, thank you!” Luz shouted as she ran back into the tent. The door slammed shut before she could cross the threshold, a cracked, golden cat-like eye gazing out as the door folded into a briefcase.
“You’re not going anywhere.” The woman took off the joke glasses, revealing a pair of narrowed gold eyes matching her scowl. In her hand was a wrought metal key with a matching eye to the door. In the back of her subconscious, Luz felt the same warmth from the key that she felt from her own necklace.
Luz screamed, and ducked out the back of the tent. She was forced to skid to a stop before she went over the edge of a cliff, and was taken aback by the scene that greeted her.
The city below was medieval gothic in architecture, with a distinct biological macabre brush painted over the entire place. The colorful buildings were decorated with various arrangements of bones, teeth, and eyes. A massive cathedral sat in the center of the city, while more than a few disembodied arms reached for the sky, one of them catching a passing dragon. The red foliage, yellow clouds, and pink-violet skies were the final nails in her realization that she wasn’t on Earth anymore.
Luz backpedaled from the cliff’s edge. “Oh, no, no, no, no! What’s going on? What is this place!?” Luz screamed as a pink fairy hovered next to her. “Oh, hello little fairy. Are you here to tell me this is all just a fantastical dream?”
The fairy’s maw opened wider than its body to reveal a set of massive jaws lined with jagged teeth. “Give me your skin!” The fairy demanded. Luz screamed louder and swatted the dermavore away.
“Where am I? Did I die? Am I in the bad place?” Luz gasped, quickly checking for her own pulse, before a hand grabbed her shoulder. She looked up to those same gold eyes.
“You wish.” The woman’s scowl turned into a wry smile, and Luz found herself on a stool in front of the woman’s stand.
“I’m so sorry! I just wanted my book back! If you’re gonna eat my skin, just make it quick!” Luz opened her eyes at the woman’s chuckle.
“Eat you? Why would I eat a potential customer?” The woman showed off her wares, the stand having a sign propped overhead reading ‘Human Collectibles’, with a foam finger pointing down at a bookshelf of discarded knick-knacks and other junk.
“Can I interest you in a human foot filled with holes?” The woman presented a green Croc. “A bar of green human candy?” A stick of deodorant. “Oh, oh! How about this black shadow box that reflects only sadness?” An old portable TV.
Luz laughed, tension washing away at the wildly inaccurate descriptions. “That’s not all it can do. Here, let me see it.” Luz picked out a pair of batteries that had been sorted into a tray as ‘human candy’, and quickly had the TV powered on, playing a jazzercise video that had the beings--in what Luz now realized was a market--enthralled.
A crowd had formed in less than a minute, making escalating bids on the electronic entertainment. The woman smiled at Luz. “What did you say your name was?” She asked, as she started taking people’s money.
“I’m Luz. Luz Noceda.” Luz replied cheerfully.
“Well Luz, that was pretty clever, for a human.” The woman complimented.
“That’s kinda a weird thing for another human to say.” Luz noted. The woman looked a lot like the ‘Marilyn’ who had been publically banned from most of the shops in Gravesfield.
The woman chuckled. “Oh dear child, I’m not like you.” She swept off her bandana, revealing a pair of long, pointed ears, before she stood up on the table.
“I’m Eda, the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!” Eda announced.
“A witch?” Luz’ eyes lit up, and her hand idly reached up to grasp her still-concealed necklace.
“I am respected, feared-” Eda was cut off as a massive gloved fist came down on the TV, smashing it beyond all repair.
“Busted!” The owner of the gloved fist shouted.
“Run, it’s a guard!” The crowd quickly dispersed in fear of the cone-masked figure. Eda hopped down from the table, her face once again in a scowl as the guard held up a wanted poster.
Luz noted that there were a lot of zeroes.
“Eda the Owl Lady, you are wanted for misuse of magic and demonic misdemeanors.” The guard ordered gruffly.
Luz peeked over the edge of the table, trying not to get the guard’s attention. “Whoa, witch criminal.” She whispered.
The guard grabbed Eda by the arm. “You are hereby ordered to come with me to the Conformatorium.”
Eda wrenched her arm free, more annoyed than anything else. “Would you guys quit following me around? I haven’t done squat, and this isn’t even your patrol, Crag.”
The guard grabbed Luz by her hood and lifted her in the air. “And you’re coming too, for fraternizing with a criminal.”
“Wh-What!? Let me go!” Luz shouted, her hands flailing as she tried to break his grip. Her nails raked the guard’s wrist, and he let her go with a hiss, as though burned. Luz hit the ground with a thud, the wind knocked out of her.
“Welp, time to go!” Eda declared, spinning her staff in her hand. Her entire stand floated into a small bundle she tied to the end of her staff.
“Whoops, can’t forget about this.” Eda pulled the magical key out of her hair and pressed the eye, causing the folded-up door to float out of the tent and join the wares in the bundle.
“Follow me human!” Eda started running, and Luz followed, barely keeping up with the witch’s longer stride.
“This is crazy!” Luz shouted. “If I die here, my mom’s gonna kill me!”
“Ha!” Eda laughed. “I won’t let ‘em hurt you. A human like you is much more valuable to me alive than to them dead.”
“Wait, what’s that supposed to-” Luz was cut off as Eda leapt into the air, pulling Luz with her onto her staff as they left the ground and guard behind.
“You can open your eyes now, human.” Eda said. Luz hadn’t realized she’d shut them and was crying from the wind.
“Flying staffs, crazy monsters, you’re a witch! What is this place?” Luz asked, trying to get her bearings.
“This is the Boiling Isles.” Eda answered. “Every myth you humans have is caused by a little bit of our world leaking into yours.”
They were over a forest of red pine-like trees, various winged creatures flying behind and below. One of them swooped up close enough to make out the features, a vaguely feline build with the gray wings and head of a pigeon.
“A griffin!” Luz noted, her awe giving way to vindication when it opened its beak to release a torrent of spiders. “I knew it!” Luz pointed.
Eda smiled. “Yep, griffins, vampires, giraffes….”
“Giraffes?” Luz asked.
“Oh yeah, we banished those guys. Bunch of freaks, and that’s saying something.” Eda chuckled.
Luz had a contemplative look on her face as she realized why she had always felt something off about the giraffes at the zoo, some mix of fear and kinship.
As she had been talking, Eda had also been lowering their altitude until the staff was floating only a couple feet in the air, the witch stepping back onto solid ground.
Luz noticed that her hand was still holding the staff, disconnected from the rest of the witch. Luz recoiled as the hand moved on its own, falling off the staff in her panic, but getting back on her feet instantly.
“Oops, that happens sometimes.” Eda screwed her hand back on like it was no big deal.
“Well, as fun as getting into a high-speed chase on a flying staff was, I think I’m all adventured out now.” Luz said, trying to suppress the instinct that being there felt right . “So, can you help me get back home?”
Luz found the owl end of the staff leveled in front of her.
“Only if you help me first.” Eda stated, swinging the staff and the bundle still tied to it over her shoulder as she strode off. “Ah, now come along, human.”
Luz quickly caught up, only to stop with a gasp of awe.
The white brick house with sloping blue roof and a massive stained glass eye gazing out gave off a presence both ancient and eldritch to the human, the broken stone tower attached to the back evocative of the arcane abodes from her favorite books. Luz looked back at the eye-shaped window, simultaneously intimidated and comforted.
Luz managed to break her impromptu staring contest and look over her shoulder for any signs of pursuit. “Aren’t you worried about those guards finding us?” She asked as she followed Eda.
Eda smirked. “Nope. My house has a state-of-the-art defense system.”
The owl-faced door knocker came to life. “Hoot-hoot! Password please!”
“Uh, hoot?” Luz offered. The owl’s beady brown eyes lit up, before his face extended from the door on a tube of brown feathers, which quickly circled Luz in an approximation of a hug.
“New friend!” The knocker exclaimed, while Luz struggled for breath.
“Knock it off Hooty, let her go and let us in.” Eda ordered, poking the owl-tube in the eye.
“All right, all right!” Hooty uncoiled from around Luz, who took a few gasping breaths. “Fine, I just wanted to have some fun today. Yeesh! Ow! Hoot!” Hooty complained as the door swung open.
Once inside, Eda snapped her fingers, causing a number of candles to light up and illuminate the space. “Welcome, to the Owl House…”
Luz’ eyes were drawn upward, to a carving on the ceiling whose lines were filled with light. The human could almost hear a bird-like screech from the one-eyed owl, and her hand went to her necklace without any conscious thought, only noticing as she turned to pay attention to Eda continuing her introduction.
“...where I hide away from the pressures of modern life. And also the cops. Mm, also exes who don’t get the hint.
Luz admired the living room, briefly noting how the walls seemed to move subtly on their own, as though breathing as she set her book down on a surprisingly empty coffee table. On the wall behind the couch was a massive wanted poster with a staggering number of zeroes.
“This place is beautiful. Do you live here all alone?” Luz asked, still in awe.
Her question was answered with thunderous footsteps. “Actually, I have a roommate.”
A horned shadow became visible on the wall of the hallway. “Who dares intrude upon I…”
The owner of the shadow emerged, voice gaining a few octaves. “...the King of Demons!”
Luz had never seen anything cuter in her life. The skull-headed demon had a ducky towel wrapped around his waist with a matching cap, and a rubber duck held aloft, the serious look in his eyes only making him more adorable in her eyes.
“¡Ay que lindo!” Luz exclaimed, sweeping the little demon into a tight hug. That subconscious sense of kinship returned in full force as she cuddled the little guy. “Eda, he’s so cute! Who’s a widdle guy? Who’s a widdle guy? Is it you? Is it you?” Luz cooed.
King squirmed in her grip. “No! I don’t know who your little guy is! Eda, who is this monster!” He demanded.
Eda stepped in, pulling Luz back by her waist. “Oh, this is Luz, the human. She’s here to help us with our…situation.” Eda set her down once she’d calmed down a degree.
King’s wariness shifted to joy, while Luz looked more uncertain. “Oh! Hooray!” the little demon exclaimed.
“Wait, wait, wait. I don’t really like the sound of this ‘situation’.” Luz clutched the strap of her bag out of nervousness.
“Just, let me explain.” Eda offered, before drawing a circle of light in the air. Within the circle, an image formed. “King here was once a mighty king of demons, until his crown of power was stolen, and he became…this.” Eda gestured to the demon in question, now once again wrapped in Luz’ arms, and seemingly resigned to the girl’s cuddling.
“You mean this little bundle of joy?” Luz gestured with her chin. Eda continued her narration, the storybook illustrations following.
“The crown is being held by the evil Warden Wrath in his Conformatorium, behind a magical force field that only a human can break.” Eda’s illusory mural faded, and she pointed at Luz. “A human like you. If you help us retrieve his crown, we’ll send you back to your realm.”
Luz finally let King go as she contemplated her offer.
“So whaddya say?” Eda asked. “Plus, who can say no to this cute little face.” Eda held up King by his scruff.
“Please don’t encourage her Eda.” King whined, and the witch set him down.
“I mean, we are kinda your only way home, unless you’ve got a portal of your own.” Eda added.
“So it’s not really a choice, is it?” Luz asked.
“Nope.” Eda cheerfully replied as she picked Luz up and carried her over her shoulder.
She saw King talking to his rubber duck as they headed out. “Soon, Mr. Ducky, we will drink the fear of those who mocked us.”
“Uh, what’s this ‘Conformatorium’ you said the crown is being held in?” Luz asked.
“Somewhere super fun!” The witch cheerfully answered.
The Conformatorium did not look fun, unless one’s concept of fun was dark stone and darker storm clouds, with the main decorations being repeating arches and a staggering number of wanted posters.
“This here is the Conformatorium, a place for those considered unsuitable for society.” Eda explained as they landed.
Luz picked up a wanted poster of Eda from underfoot. “Whoa, these guys really have the hots for you.”
“Yep, but we’ve never been caught ‘cause we’re so slippery.” Eda bragged.
King chimed in. “Try to catch me when I’m covered in grease! I’m a squirmy little fella!” He flopped down from his perch atop Luz’ head, before standing back up and pointing at the spike-crowned tower looming overhead.
“You and I will sneak up to the top of the tower, where they’re holding my crown.” King explained his part of the plan.
“And I’ll make sure the warden’s all nice and distracted.” Eda explained her role.
Luz gasped in realization. “Will I need a disguise?” She asked excitedly.
“Uh…” Eda responded, not having thought through hiding any of their identities.
“I’ve been waiting to use this.” Luz flipped her hood on, flicking the cat ears up. “Meow, meow.”
“It’s hideous.” King complimented.
“Oh you’ll fit right in.” Eda noted, as she summoned a disk of solid light on the ground beneath Luz and King. The platform rose through the air until it reached an open window, while Eda drifted up on her staff.
“Meet you at the top of the tower!” Eda called out as she flew higher. The platform vanished, and Luz scrambled through the window, flopping over with the opposite of cat-like grace.
“Ha-ha! Cats don’t do that.” King laughed at her clumsiness as she sat up and got her bearings. The inside of the tower was one massive spiral of cells, most of them filled, judging by the glowing eyes peering out from behind the bars.
The occupant of the nearest cell noticed them. “Hey, cat lady, how’d you get out of your cell?”
Luz stood up and took off her hood, exposing her human ears. “Oh, no, no, no. I’m not a cat. Also, not a criminal.”
“Not yet, you’re not.” King commented.
“Neither are we.” The imprisoned witch said. She wore a deep indigo dress that complemented her dark hair, which was tied in a ponytail. The witch also had a pair of prominent fangs, which made Luz remember what Eda had said about vampire myths having come from the Boiling Isles. The witch’s hazel eyes lit up as she talked. “The warden just likes locking up whoever he feels like and can get away with and call it quota.” The witch pulled out a journal. “Like, I write fanfics about food falling in love.” She opened the journal to her work, complete with fairly well-done artwork. “I like food, I like love… Just let me write about it!”
“I can think of a couple fandoms that might appreciate that.” Luz half-whispered.
The prisoner in the next cell spoke up, a demon with light gray-blue skin and five eyes. “I’m here, because I like eating my own eyes.” The demon proceeded to demonstrate by plucking out one of his eyes and swallowing it, where it promptly rolled back to refill the socket.
“We are agents of fwee expwession!” Another prisoner shouted, a small, round demon with long red hair. “They will never siwence us!”
“Oh yeah, Tiny Nose there is really big into conspiracy theories.” The witch introduced the third prisoner in the block.
“The world is a simulation! We are but playthings for a higher being!” Tiny Nose squeaked, and Luz felt a chill run down her spine. She knew first-hand how dangerous conspiracy theorists could be, recalling a certain curator who was paranoid about invaders from Mars, but the simulation theory was one of the less dangerous ones in practice.
Luz started pacing as she gathered her thoughts. “Wait. These aren’t crimes. None of you actually did anything wrong. You’re all just a bunch of weirdos…” Luz looked at Eda’s wanted poster, showing a terrifying and inaccurate version of the witch she had met mere hours ago. “...Like me.”
Her train of thought was derailed by the sound of thunderous footsteps.
“It’s Warden Wrath! Hide!” The witch in the first cell ordered. Glancing around, Luz saw an open cell opposite the prisoners she had been talking to, and quickly ducked into it, dragging the open cell door down to pretend there was nothing unusual going on.
A door slammed open, revealing the warden. Eda’s illusion had not done justice to the intimidating presence of the figure who had just entered the cell block. Warden Wrath was massive, his outfit a terror-inducing blend of a medieval jailor or asylum orderly with the cowl and mask of a plague doctor. A triangular emblem was pinned to his coat, matching the sigil on his wrist, the gold a contrast to the gray-purple of his skin.
“I can hear you.” Warden Wrath said, his voice a chilling growl. Luz whimpered in fear, slamming her hands over her mouth to keep quiet.
“Just what are you fools whispering about?” He stepped on the poster Luz had dropped in her hurry. “Ah, the Owl Lady.” There was a creepy undertone in his voice as he crumpled the poster and slammed his fist-turned-hammer into the nearest cell door, which happened to be one Luz was cowering behind. Before he could take a closer look at the occupants of the cell, Tiny Nose spoke up, getting the warden’s attention.
“Fight against the oppwessor! We will wesist! We will conquer! We will never be afwaid of you, you old creep!”
Warden Wrath turned away from the cell Luz and King were hiding in to set his full attention on the tiny demon, opening her cell.
“Hooway! I’m fwee!” Her freedom was short-lived, as Wrath picked her up in one massive hand and holding her aloft at the other prisoners.
“Let this be a lesson to all of you. There’s no place in society for you if you can’t fit in and tow the line.” Wrath punctuated his statement by squeezing the demon in his grip like a stress toy, and stomping out of the cell block, the door slamming closed in his wake.
Despite the damage to the cell door, Luz was able to raise it enough to get out of her unlocked cell.
“Don’t worry, I can get you out of here.” Luz tried to open the fanfic witch’s cell, but the lever refused to budge. “No! My weak nerd arms!” Luz despaired.
“Just get out of here while you still can, kid. Enjoy freedom for us.” The witch walked deeper into the shadows of her cell. Disheartened, Luz left the cell block with King, making her way to the top of the tower.
Eda caught up to her. “Hey, I just checked. The warden is distracted, tormenting some tiny creature. He won’t be coming around here anytime soon.” Then Eda noticed that Luz wasn’t saying anything as they neared the massive door labeled “Contraband”.
“My crown!” King exclaimed. “It’s close! I can sense its power!” King ran for the door and jumped onto the doorknob, trying to open the door.
“Aw, he gets so cute when he’s thirsty for power.” Eda commented, trying to cheer up the human.
“It’s not fair that they’re all in here. They just want to be themselves. Why does everyone think that being a weirdo is so bad?” Luz asked, and Eda’s heart ached at the sense of rejection she could hear in her voice.
“Luz…” Eda’s attempt to comfort the human was cut off by King’s grunt as he managed to take the doorknob off to open the door and rush through to the room where his crown was. “...Come on, before he hurts himself.” Eda finished, shepherding the teen while King ran repeatedly into the barrier, being repelled with a painful zap each time.
“We have a human, remember?” Eda pointed out before King could charge the barrier again.
“Oh, yeah.” King remembered.
Luz stepped up to the barrier, and pressed her hand against it. It felt like a waterfall of the pins-and-needles static she got when her arms or legs fell asleep from sitting wrong, but she was able to push through the barrier. Then the barrier touched her necklace, and shorted out. Luz stumbled at the sudden lack of resistance, while Eda and King looked on intrigued. Luz shook her head, and climbed the pile of confiscated goods, before her eyes landed on the crown, incredulity becoming visible on her face as she picked it up and made her way down, sending most of the pile tumbling in her wake.
“My crown!” King shouted joyfully, cheerfully donning the ring of printed cardstock. “Yes, yes! I can feel my powers returning!” He pointed at a stuffed bunny that had been knocked loose from the pile. “You there, nightmare critter. I shall call you Francois and you shall be a minion in my army of darkness.” He picked up the rabbit with a laugh.
“That crown doesn’t give him any powers, does it?” Luz turned to Eda.
“Uh, no.” Luz’ stare turned into a glare, while the witch looked sympathetic.
“Oh, look at us, Luz. King and I don’t have much in this world. We only really have each other. So if that dumb crown is important to him, it’s important to me. And besides, us weirdos have to stick together, you know?”
Luz’ face lit up at her words of comradery, feeling truly understood for the first time in years.
“Well, we owe you one, and I have questions about how you took out the barrier, so let’s bounce before the warden finds us and loses his head.” Eda finished.
“Too late.” The chilling voice of the warden declared, before an axe blade severed Eda’s neck, her head flying into Luz’ hands as the human screamed.
“Ow!” Eda shouted, still very much alive. “Oh, I hate it when that happens.” Luz screamed even louder.
“Eda! Are you okay?” Luz asked, completely out of her element.
“Yeah, this just happens when you get older.” Eda explained.
“Does it?” Luz asked. She’d seen her detach and reattach a hand with casual ease, so it made a morbid sort of sense that she could do the same with her head, but the experience was no less disconcerting.
“Finally.” Warden Wrath said, shifting the blade back into a hand. “I have you cornered now, Eda the Owl Lady.” He stole King’s crown off his head. “My guards could never get you, but I knew if I took your pet’s toy, you’d come running.” In a show of casual cruelty, he crushed the paper crown beyond repair.
“No! My power!” King wailed as the guards walked up and restrained him.
“What do you want with me?” Eda demanded. “I’ve never actually broken any of your stupid laws… in front of you.”
“I want you…” The warden pulled out a bouquet of flowers and got on one knee. “...to go out with me.”
“What?” Luz’ voice was flat with disgust, drowning out Eda’s confusion.
“Go boss!” One of the guards cheered, earning a glare from the human and a thumbs-up from his superior.
“You’ve always eluded our capture. You’ve always been the one who got away. I found that alluring.” Wrath explained.
“I hate everything you’re saying right now.” Luz interjected.
“You stay out of this!” Warden Wrath cast the bouquet aside and lifted Luz into the air with a mass of rubbery tentacles.
“So how about it, Owl Lady?” Wrath picked up Eda’s fallen head by the hair. “The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles and the feared Warden Wrath. We’d be the strongest power couple ever. I mean, it’s not like you can say no right--” Whatever he was saying devolved into a scream of pain as Luz’ nails raked over the golden sigil on his wrist. Luz landed on the ground, followed quickly by Eda’s head, while the warden clutched his wrist.
“Aaargh, you impudent wretch!” The warden roared. Luz scrambled for something to use against the enraged demon, and her eyes fell on Eda’s staff laying on the ground where she dropped it when she lost her head. With Wrath’s attention split between Eda’s head and his own pain, she was able to slip behind him and pick up the staff while Eda’s body managed to find her head and pop it back on.
Staff in hand, Luz took careful aim and swung. The owl’s eyes glowed purple as a similar aura coated both staff and wielder the moment before impact, a burst of warmth radiating from her necklace and filling her veins.
Warden Wrath collapsed as the staff connected with the back of his skull, and a wave of power rang out, knocking the guards to the floor, allowing King to squirm free and rejoin the witch and human.
“Dang kid, that was impressive.” Eda complimented, while Wrath tried to climb back to feet, only for Eda to catch him on the shoulder with her heel, sending him back to the ground. “You had your guards stalk me, you stole from my family, and then you cut off my head! I am never going out with you.” Eda spat, before turning to partners in crime.
“Let’s get out of here.” Eda suggested, as the guards started getting back up. Luz quickly got on the staff, and was trying to figure out how to get it to fly.
Eda got on behind her, King climbing on her shoulder. “Gun it, Owlbert!” The owl on the end of the staff hooted as his wings flared out and they took flight.
“Owl Lady, I won’t let you get away again!” Wrath roared behind them as they barreled through the corridors. As they neared their point of entry, Luz had an idea, spurred on by adrenaline and the warmth she felt empowering her.
“Eda, lend me a hand!” She called out. The witch did as she said, and together they were able to open the cells they passed.
As they flew back through their point of entry, they were pursued by Warden Wrath, whose malleable form allowed him to swipe at them with a tentacle that sent them off course as they lost altitude. All three of them managed to roll as they hit the ground, though King complained about his bones.
Warden Wrath slammed into the ground in a four-point landing, climbing to his feet and shifting his hand into a blade again.
Eda pulled out the portal key and shoved it into Luz’ hand, before sitting her on the staff. “Luz, go back to the Human Realm.”
“What about you guys?” Luz asked, as Eda charged the warden with a pair of golden spell circles that turned into bolts of lightning.
“If you think this guy is bad, you shoulda seen her last boyfriend!” King called back as he joined Eda.
“Not my boyfriend.” Eda dodged the warden’s blade-hands, leaping back to where Luz still was. “Go! Get outta here!” Eda shouted as she slapped the back of the staff, sending Luz back into the air.
Warden Wrath tore his mask off, revealing a face that was mostly lipless jaws filled with sharpened teeth, a small pair of beady yellow eyes just barely visible above his maw. A stream of fire flew from his maw as he roared, and Eda spun another pair of spell circles into existence, returning the fire to its sender, which sent Wrath flying back into the nearest wall and putting a hole in it. Wrath shrugged off the impact like it was nothing, and charged Eda and King.
Luz drifted to the hole in the wall, seeing the prisoners she had just freed standing there, frozen.
“Why are you guys just standing there? This is your chance to escape!” Luz pleaded.
“The warden’ll just catch us, he always does.” The larger demon said morosely.
“We belong here.” The fanfic writer looked down.
“Self-doubt is a pwison you can never escape fwom.” Tiny Nose muttered.
Resolve hardened in Luz’ eyes.
“So you have a different way of seeing things, a different way of doing things. That might make you weird, but it also makes you awesome. Don’t you see? Creeps like Wrath want you to give up and conform, but I won’t let him tell me how to live my life.” Luz encouraged.
“Why are you helping us? We’re just a bunch of misfits.” The fanfic witch asked.
“Because us weirdos have got to stick together!” Luz shouted as took off again. “And no one should be punished for who they are!”
Their cheers were encouraging, and she felt that warmth from her necklace again.
“Now let’s get ‘em!” Luz charged.
Eda had to admit, Wrath had her on the ropes. Between keeping King safe and the stress from her decapitation, she was starting to run low on magic and stamina. It didn’t help that Wrath had the durability to match his strength.
Which was how she found herself knocked to the ground, King being thrown into her arms while Wrath loomed over her.
“No more running away, Owl Lady. Today I capture you once and for all!”
Eda curled protectively over King, only for another voice to ring out.
“Go, go, go, go!” Luz shouted as she and the prisoners she had freed barreled into Warden Wrath.
A sharp whistle of visible sound threw Wrath back, a Bard trick that gave Eda a hint to who that girl’s mentor was.
Five-Eyes cast a strength-boosting spell on himself, roots growing over his feet to anchor him as he shoved Wrath off-balance with a battle cry of “I eat my own eyes!”
Tiny Nose tripped Wrath up. “I think the worlds are a twiangle!” She put a fireball right in the pressure point of his knee.
Another whistle kept Wrath on the ground. “And I practice the ancient art of fanfiction!”
Wrath was flipped over, and his arms tied behind his back with both their own tentacles and some conjured vines. Luz descended to the ground in front of the struggling warden.
“You!” Wrath growled. “Who do you think you are?”
A breeze seemed to spontaneously manifest around the human as she pointed at her opponent.
“Do not underestimate me, Warden Wrath, for I am Luz, the human, warrior of peace.” Luz reached into her bag and pulled out a bundle that had Eda’s eyes gleam at the recognition of a fellow agent of chaos.
“Now eat this sucka!” Luz used Owlbert to bat the bundle of firecrackers directly into Wrath’s mouth, where his fire breath ignited them.
The warden managed to get to his feet, running away as the fireworks went off around him.
“Nice work kid.” Eda complimented the human. The prisoners introduced themselves. The bard was Katya, the pentaclops was Birch, and Tiny Nose answered to Tinella. Eda remembered Birch from some school function ages ago, and she’d seen Tinella chatting with Hooty on occasion.
As they left the Conformatorium (with an extra hole blown through the outer wall for good measure), King had to provide his own commentary.
“That was actually one of her better breakups.” He joked.
“Not a breakup, he was never my type anyway.” Eda countered. The human chuckled, her spirits clearly lifted by rallying her fellow outcasts against the Emperor’s Coven.
Eda took the key back when they returned to the Owl House, summoning the portal.
“Well, a deal’s a deal. Let’s go ahead and get you home, Luz.” Eda said.
“Before I go…” Luz dug through her bag, pulling out a doll and taking the crown off it. “I know it’s not the same, but a King shouldn’t be without a crown.” She put the tiny plastic crown on top of his skull.
“This shall suffice.” King accepted, before trying to order a nearby plant around.
“Don’t wanna forget this.” Eda handed Luz the book she had put on the table, along with the pamphlet that had gotten on top of it. The girl had risked the wrath of the Owl Lady to get her book back, so it wouldn’t do to leave it behind.
The human looked at the pamphlet, then her book, then the mirror above the fireplace. Her expression brightened, and she turned around.
“Okay, I know you got your head cut off, and started a prison riot, but this was the most fun I’ve ever had.” Luz began.
Eda blinked owlishly.
“Look, I don’t fit in at home. You don’t fit in here. If I stay, maybe we could not fit in together.” She crumpled the pamphlet. “I’m not going to summer camp.”
Eda chuckled in confusion. “What’s summer camp? What are we talking about here?”
Luz was beaming. “I want to stay and become a witch, like you and Azura.” She held up the book that kicked off the whole adventure, depicting a witch with green hair, a white and purple dress, and a staff with a teardrop-shaped crystal on the end.
Eda laughed at what she was suggesting. “What? Alright, that’s crazy. Humans can’t become witches.” She pushed the book back towards its owner.
“Maybe that’s because they haven’t tried.” Luz countered. “If you teach me to become a witch, I’ll do anything you want.”
King pulled at her dress. “Let her stay! She can make us snacks.” He stage-whispered the last part. She smiled back and picked up the little demon.
“Well, I could use a hand keeping this goofball out of the cupboards. Alright, I’ll teach you how to be a witch. But you have to work for me before you learn any spells. Deal?” Eda held out her hand to shake on it. Luz chose to seal the deal with a bone-crushing hug.
“Gah! What’s going on?” Eda was not used to such affection, nor the maternal feelings it brought out.
“Too tight! Too tight!” King exclaimed. The human was clearly stronger than she appeared.
When Luz finally let them go, Owlbert landed on Eda’s shoulder and hooted a question.
“Oh yeah, and you can tell us what the deal was with shorting out the barrier and boosting Owlbert.” Eda asked.
Luz looked lost, and her hand went to something hidden under her collar. She took a deep breath, and pulled out an ornate necklace.
“I think…I think it was my necklace. It was a gift, and I was told it would keep me safe.” Luz explained, cautiously allowing Eda to look at the jewelry. The metalwork was a fine alchemical silver shaped into a pair of owl wings. The jewel in the center was an ampule of glass, filled entirely with some purple fluid.
“Well, you have just become a mystery, Ms. Noceda.” Eda stood back up and yawned. “But it’s getting late, so we’ll deal with this mystery tomorrow. There’s an open storage room up the stairs to the left.
While Luz got settled in, Eda made her way to her nest, donning her sleepwear with a snap and downing an elixir to replenish the magic she spent fleeing the guards and fighting Wrath.
As she lay in her nest, one thought tickled at her mind, an echo of recollection trying to percolate to the surface, now given the chance.
“Noceda, where I heard that name before?” Eda whispered to herself as she closed her eyes.
“Oh Titan.” Eda’s eyes shot open as she remembered.
Lilith Clawthorne marched into the Conformatorium. The Construction Coven was already present, the night crews hard at work repairing the two holes in the walls left by her sister’s latest break-in. The fact that less than a dozen prisoners escaped in the chaos was a minor miracle to the Coven Head, but she had a bone to pick with the demon in charge.
“Hoxton Wrath!” Lilith shouted as she kicked open the doors to the warden’s office. The warden had his mask off, and a medi-witch was tending to a number of small burns on his head. The demon looked up at his latest intruder, and promptly cowered as far as he could in his straight-backed throne of a chair.
“Would you care to tell me why I am being told that you tried to coerce the Owl Lady into dating you?” Lilith demanded. Wrath opened his mouth, only for Lilith to hold up her hand.
“No, I don’t want to know what you were thinking. Just tell me how this backfired and Edalyn managed yet another jailbreak?”
“She had a human with her!” Wrath answered.
“A human? A human kept my sister from being captured?” Lilith asked.
“At least that’s what she claimed to be. She shorted out the security barrier around the contraband storage, and her talons damaged my coven sigil.” Wrath explained.
“Damaged…your coven sigil?” Lilith asked, an eyebrow raised. The warden presented his wrist, several shallow scratches across his mark of loyalty to the Emperor’s Coven. Where the scratches crossed the sigil, the gold appeared to have burned away. Lilith was shocked.
“The same thing happened to Crag when he tried to bring the human in.” Lilith was brought out of her shock by what the warden had said next.
“What did this human look like?” Lilith demanded.
“Tan skin, golden-brown eyes, dark hair. Round ears, of course. Maybe fourteen if humans age like witches?” Wrath described as clinically as possible. “She had fireworks on her, and was able to use the Owl Lady’s staff.”
Lilith’s eyes widened, before she schooled her expression to the stoicism expected of Coveness Clawthorne. “Thank you Hoxton. Tend to your wounds, and I expect your report on this latest incident on my desk tomorrow morning. Good night Warden.” Lilith swept out of the room, marching to the nearest balcony before flying towards the castle on her staff.
“A human, or a witchlet under a concealment stone?” Lilith mused, no one to overhear her while she was in the air. “Or a half-human. I know Edalyn has vanished for months at a time in the past, though not recently. And the sigils…did she inherit the curse? It was supposed to sap her magic. Could it have mutated into warping magic that it touches? No, then she wouldn’t have been able to wield Edalyn’s palisman. But could it be something specific to the coven sigils? It must be. Hold on dear sister. I will see to it that the Emperor cures both you and your daughter.”
King woke in the middle of the night, looking around. The human was curled around him on her sleep cocoon. What should have been suffocating instead felt secure in a way he had never felt, except those times he had ended up in Eda’s nest after a nightmare.
But it wasn’t a nightmare that woke him tonight, it was the feeling of being watched. Seeing nothing that could be watching him, he nestled down and went back to sleep.
He did not perceive the single golden cat-like eye gazing upon him and Luz through the reflection in the window with affection.