The angel of the owl house

Season 1: The Demon Realm

Chapter 8: Enrolling Stones

When Luz awoke from her extended nap following the Wailing Star incident at the library, she found Eda and King acting depressed over the absence of the Bat Queen's babies, having bonded with them in the time they'd looked after them. She'd quickly cheered them up by recounting her adventure at the library with Amity and the twins, and both had been amused at the image of their little angel friend actually breaking into a library to steal a book, even though Luz insisted she was going to give it back. They'd also been happy to learn that she'd recovered Philip Wittebane's Diary, and gathered around it to finally begin reading.

This proved to be a slight problem… the book was in decent condition (minus a few chewed corners), but Philip Wittebane had lived in the mid-1600s and was apparently from the Human Realm (something Luz had been excited by). This also meant he wrote in 17th century English, which required a bit of translating to make it fully understandable, and was also written in Philip's fancy handwriting, which meant Luz struggled to read even the parts she understood. It would take some time to decipher the diary, but thankfully Eda was willing to go on a run to the Human Realm to find a book in the Gravesfield library to help her.

Luz ended up spending most of that week with Eda trying to decipher the diary, and while it was long and arduous work, she managed to get a good number of pages translated, in which Philip Wittebane's own words confirmed that he was a human lost in the Demon Realm after stumbling through a "Wild" Portal, and that he was searching for a way to build his own portal back to the Human Realm. There were a lot of anecdotes and observations about the Demon Realm and its people, but nothing about angels or glyphs in those first few pages, but Luz resolved to keep working on it. In a way, it reminded her of the diary she'd been keeping on her experiences in the Demon Realm and helped her feel connected with this long-gone human.

The next market day, Luz and King had decided to take a break from translating to show off their magic and their appreciation for Eda by making a big sign for her Human Collectibles Stall. It drew a lot of attention, and Eda hadn't had the heart to tell the kids to take it down, leading to a lot of sales and a brief run-in with Boscha and her friends. Boscha had been rude, but weirdly non-confrontational, making Luz wonder if the experience with the Mandragora had made her a bit nicer. She hadn't thought on it for long however, as guards had been attracted by their sign and tried to arrest Eda. Eda drove them off by using a Body Swap spell to switch the guards with random people in the streets, allowing the Owl Lady and her kids to high-tail it out of town in the confusion.

Things fell back into the old routine after that, with it officially being one month since Luz came to the Demon Realm, and with no more answers on her strange magic and maturity. Another couple of days passed, until Monday afternoon.

Luz was taking a break from magic training and diary translating to help Eda and King sort through some new boxes of human garbage, when Hooty announced a new arrival. He swung open and in walked Gus, wearing a nervous smile.

"H-Hey Luz! Good to see you!" he said.

Luz smiled; "Hey Gus! Did you come by to hang out? We've got new human junk! I'm sure Eda wouldn't mind selling a few pieces early."

Gus briefly looked at the junk with desire in his eye, then shook his head; "I can't today. Listen, I really need your help!"

"Sure Gus, I'm always happy to help. Lay it on me!" Luz smiled.

"Okay, it's like this;" Gus began, "You know how I'm the President of the Human Appreciation Society at Hexside? Well today we got a new member named Mattholomule, and he dissed my human collectibles and tried to pass of a bunch of fakes as genuine! Now he's trying to take over as president, and the others are believing him!"

Luz frowned; "That's rough… I'm guessing me being Half-Human is why you came to me?"

"Yeah, I kinda… sorta… maybe… promised you come to the meeting tomorrow?" Gus said guiltily.

"You probably should have asked me BEFORE making a promise like that." Luz said, "But I don't mind helping. I'd love to spend another day at Hexside! Eda, is it okay with you if I go tomorrow?"

Eda scowled; "Is that really what you want? You're learning a lot of magic with me already! Way more than you'd learn at that Dweebus factory." she then smirked at Gus; "No offence, Dweebus."

"None taken. I come from a long line of Dweebuses." Gus replied.

"Eda, you've been a great teacher! I've learned a lot from you, and I love hanging out with King and Hooty, but I also want to spend more time with my friends." Luz said, "I've already used up a third of my time here on the isles, and I still haven't found the answers to my questions! Or figured out a foolproof way to make my Mami let me come back here… I thought that maybe if she sees me enrolled in a real school and doing well, she'll understand that this is the best place for me."

Eda sighed; she couldn't really argue with that. It would suck letting her apprentice go off to Hexside (Eda would prefer if the place burned down) but it was better than seeing her go home at the end of the summer and never being allowed to come back.

"If I let you do this, you're still going to have to take lessons with me, and help with chores! Combine all that with translating the diary and you're going to be crazy busy. You still want to go?" Eda asked.

Luz nodded frantically; "Yes! Oh my gosh, yes, yes, yes!"

"Then fine." Eda conceded, "I'll go with you and the Dweebus tomorrow and see about getting you enrolled."

Luz screamed with excitement and jumped at Eda, hugging the woman with all her strength while Gus cheered victoriously behind them. Eda groaned, not letting on that she actually enjoyed the hug, then said; "Okay okay, get off me kid."

The young angel jumped off and began celebrating with Gus by hugging and jumping around in a circle. King looked to Eda and asked; "Hey, if you're both going tomorrow, can I come?"

"I'm not enrolling you too." Eda deadpanned.

"Weh!? I don't wanna go to stupid school! I wanna hang out with Luz! And show the Dweebuses how a real demon does magic!" King declared, using glyphs in each hand to create a ball of light and a sunflower, which he combined to create a bizarre but beautifully shining flower.

Eda snorted; "Okay, deal. Anything to liven the place up… Speaking of which. Hey Luz!"

Luz and Gus stopped their little happy dance and looked over to Eda; "Yeah?"

"In return for letting you enrol at Hexside, you're gonna have to wear THIS while you're there tomorrow." Eda grinned, showing a crudely drawn picture of a purple t-shirt. It had the words "BAD GIRL COVEN" on the left side and a picture of Eda surfing on Owlbert on the right side.

Luz giggled at the sight; "Well, I guess I won't be asked to join any covens if people find out I'm already in one!" she joked. It was a silly shirt, but she was happy to wear it; it wouldn't be the weirdest thing she'd worn in public!

"So it's decided; Gus, I'll be coming to Hexside tomorrow and I'll go to that HAS meeting with you! We'll show that Mattholomule guy who's the real human expert!" Luz cheered. "Oh, I can't wait! I get to learn, and see my friends, AND help someone all at the same time! Tomorrow is gonna be great!"

Luz's excitement was infectious, and soon Gus and King were jumping for joy right alongside her, while even the sour-faced Eda couldn't keep from smirking at her apprentice's exuberance.

Gus headed home soon after, a spring in his step and a new human artefact (a bauble from a Christmas tree) in his pocket. That night was a restless one for both Luz and Gus, as their excitement kept them up, but they eventually managed to drift off to sleep.

The next day, Gus waited outside Hexside alongside Willow, watching for their friend's arrival. They'd been worried that Eda would make Luz late, but they actually came flying over well before school started, no doubt egged on by Luz's excitement. Luz stepped off of Owlbert wearing a slightly modified version of the Bad Girl Coven shirt, which now incorporated a cat-eared hood like Luz's normal shirt. King was sitting on her shoulder, looking almost as excited as Luz, while Eda just looked grumpy.

"Morning guys! Ready for a day of classes!" Luz greeted. She looked around and noticed the massive hole in the path in front of the school had now been completely fixed, leaving no evidence that anything had happened.

"Hey Luz. It'll be great to have you back! I hope Principal Bump lets you come to the plant track class again; you'll be able to see what Amelia and I have been working on." Willow smiled.

"Me too! I'm so excited! Last time was a lot of fun, even with Boscha and the Mandragora. It'll also be fun to show the HAS some real human stuff" Luz said, her ears wiggling from joy.

Willow noticed this and frowned; "Wait a second, how are you going to convince the HAS that you're really half-human? Gus and I believe you, but your ears are pointy like ours. Anyone looking at you would just assume you're a witchling like us."

Gus gasped, realising he'd forgotten that, but Luz just chuckled knowingly; "I already thought of that! I've got my cellphone!" she said, pulling out her mundane human cellphone. It hadn't gotten much use besides texting her Mami since Eda got her a Smart Scroll, but it still had a photo gallery full of pictures from the Human Realm, and so long as Eda and her portal were near Hexside, Luz could also access the human internet. She pulled up a picture of herself at age 10, taken at the Gravesfield Zoo with her Mami and a giraffe in the background. Willow and Gus gasped at the sight of it.

"Whoa! Is that a giraffe!? So that's where they were banished to! Oh man, this is gonna be great!" Gus beamed. "Hide that until we get to the club meeting at lunch, okay? I want to keep it under wraps until the big reveal."

"Ooh, a showman! I totally get it; you bring the razzle…" Luz used light magic to create a sparkle effect from each hand; "I'll bring the dazzle!"

Gus and Willow giggled, while King decided to show off by using light glyphs to make an even bigger sparkle effect.

"Ugh, it's too early for this… come on you brats, we've got to talk to Bumpikins about getting you enrolled." Eda complained, heading into the school. King and the kids followed after her, walking into Hexside's central atrium. As soon as they entered, they saw a demon boy from the Beast-keeping track have his bag stolen by two other students, who began to play piggy in the middle with it as the poor student tried to get it back.

Luz frowned and was about to conjure some vines to take the bag back for the kid, but before she could, one of the bullies was grabbed by a metal shepherd's crook and dragged away, causing the bag to drop to the ground. Luz gasped as she saw the person holding the crook; it was a strange looking guard wearing a blue uniform with an upside down skull for a face, the eyes of which were stitched shut. The guard bent and sniffed the bully's face, uttering; "Trouble." in a creepy voice.

The other bully began to back away, but he too was soon caught by a second guard, and both bullies were dragged away, loudly complaining as they went. Luz shuddered at the sight of the creatures.

"That's new…" she uttered.

"Yeah, they showed up after the Mandragora incident. They smell trouble, literally." Gus explained.

"You don't say…" Eda deadpanned as a trio of them had appeared and were sniffing around her, muttering trouble over and over.

"Well that's terrifying. Are those kids going to be okay?" Luz asked.

"Don't worry." Willow assured her; "Before, they'd have been dragged off to the Detention pit, but since the Fibul Academy ruins were uncovered, troublemakers get put into Detention Detail, like we were. They'll have to spend some time helping to convert the ruins into the Hexside expansion, but it's not so bad."

"That's a relief…" Luz said, shooing away a guard who was sniffing King a bit too closely for her comfort.

Eda swatted away the three who were sniffing her too, and grabbed Luz's hand; "Come on, we need to get visitors' passes before I have to blast us out of Detention Detail. Glad these things weren't here when Faust was in charge…"

She dragged Luz off to see Bump, forcing her to shout to her friends that she'd meet them at their lockers when she was done. Eda let herself into Bump's office without even knocking, startling the elderly Principal. She unceremoniously dropped Luz and King into one of the chairs, then sat on her own chair, swiped a pencil from Bump's desk, and balanced it on her top lip while putting her feet up on the desk.

Luz cringed at her mentor's behaviour, while Bump stared at Eda with an unimpressed look.

"Hey Bumpster, it's been a while huh? Though not as long as I'd like, thanks to that stupid Mandragora." Eda smirked. "I gotta admit, it's weird being back here without you or Fausty yelling at me for stealing or picking fights!"

"I can easily change that." Bump frowned, using magic to shove Eda's feet off his desk, causing her to topple over with a pained yelp. "What are you doing here, Edalyn? Besides being a terrible example for your student?"

Eda glared at him as she sat back up, her temper flaring. She caught Luz's eye, and the girl gave her an imploring look, making the Owl Lady grumble.

"I want to enrol my apprentice Luz at Hexside." she put her hands on Bump's desk; "And before you get all judgy-!"

"That's not a bad idea." Bump interrupted.

"You no good- Wait, really?" Eda blinked.

"Really?" Luz gasped hopefully.

"Indeed. Why are you so surprised, Edalyn? I believe I mentioned this possibility when you were last here. I think Hexside would benefit quite a bit from having an angel exchange student." Bump said.

"You know!?" Luz yelled.

Bump frowned, looking to Eda; "Did you not mention what I warned you about last time you were here, Edalyn?"

Eda looked a bit sheepish; "Uh, no. I kind of forgot… Though in my defence, that was right before you revealed a new glyph, and then there was the weekend, then the thing with my curse… I got kind of distracted."

Luz crossed her arms with a huff, rolling her eyes at her mentor, before looking to the Principal; "How do you know what I am, Principal Bump?"

"As I told Edalyn, you are not the first angel I've met on the Boiling Isles, and once you've known an angel, it becomes much easier to spot others." Bump explained.

"Wait, so there really have been other angels here in your lifetime?" Luz gasped, wondering if her theory about Belos being an angel was true after all. She'd been fairly convinced, on that theory, but hadn't brought it up to Eda in case it made the Owl Lady do something stupid, or try to forbid Luz from ever going near the guy (not that she was planning to get close to him).

"Indeed. I had the good fortune of meeting her here at Hexside in fact. Cassiel was her name, from Crest Kindness. It was about… oh, 19 years ago?" Bump said, rubbing his chin in thought; "You reminded me of her immediately; you share a resemblance with her."

Luz smiled; "That's not surprising. Angels born into the same Crest Orders tend to look similar; we're one big family after all. If someone looks different, then they're probably a transfer from a different order. Most Kindness angels have my skin tone, according to Mami."

"Truly? I had thought Cassiel might be your mother." Bump said.

Luz shook her head; "Oh, that's not possible. Mami's never been to the Demon Realm, and only left the Divine Realm when she was 18, which was 16 years ago. Plus she told me a bunch of horror stories about this place, and there's no way she would have believed them if she'd actually been here."

"Of course, and as an angel she wouldn't be able to lie without pain… so the resemblance is because of the Crest Order. Fascinating." Bump mused.

Eda cut in; "Hey, hold on a second! How could this Cassiel chick have been hanging around Hexside without me knowing about it!?"

"You dropped out after you were cursed, Eda. That was a full two years before Cassiel arrived. You also didn't remain in contact with anyone but Young Mx. Whispers, and they weren't one of the people "in the know" about her true identity." Bump explained.

"And Old Fausty just let her run around? If I've got the timeline right, she would have been here for a year before he bit the dust." Eda frowned.

Principal Bump smiled grimly; "Cassiel wasn't a student here; much like young Luz has been doing, she merely came to visit her friends. In fact, she didn't even reside on the Boiling Isles, but came and went from some unknown location. But you're right; Faust didn't like it and sought to stop her visits after she became a thorn in his side."

"I'm not surprised. There's no way an angel would put up with his draconian ways… Heck, he stopped acknowledging I existed after that whack-job Plant Coven Head told him he couldn't expel me."

"Yes, which is why I got stuck dealing with your antics even before I was Principal." Bump deadpanned, before smiling again; "No doubt you heard of the student uprising that resulted in Faust's… ousting? Well it was Cassiel who helped kickstart it."

Eda whistled, clearly impressed; "Wow, between that and the trouble Luz gets into, I'm starting to think angels are more trouble than we think!" she said, smirking and ruffling Luz's hair.

Luz smiled and blushed at what was definitely a compliment coming from Eda, then asked; "What exactly happened to Faust?"

"From what I heard, he tried to use violence to quash the uprising and the students took exception. My old friend Raine told me he got eaten by the Kindergarteners." Eda laughed.

Luz laughed along too, assuming it was a joke, but Principal Bump just got a haunted look in his eyes; "That's what happens when you turn a non-violent protest into a fight… and also ban the Kindergarteners' snack time…"

Hearing that made Luz's stomach churn, and she really regretted asking. She quickly changed the topic; "So, is Cassiel still around?"

Bump frowned sadly and shook her head; "Unfortunately not. She left for the last time about four years after she first arrived. Apparently she left in a hurry, only saying goodbye to her closest friends. She'd suffered some kind of personal tragedy from what her friends told me."

Luz did some math in her head; 4 years after she arrived 19 years ago meant she'd left 15 years ago. That meant she left at the same time as the angel "hoax" that the Librarian had told her about. That seemed like far too much of a coincidence for Luz, so she asked; "Did Cassiel leaving have anything to do with that fake angel that attacked the Emperor?"

Eda and Bump looked at her with surprise, obviously not expecting her to know about that. "I don't know, though I've often wondered." Bump answered, "the identity of the fake angel was never announced. I thought they might be a friend of Cassiel, who rebelled against the Emperor and died, making them the personal tragedy she suffered. But none of the friends I knew about are dead, or angels, so I can't be certain."

"Maybe the personal tragedy thing was a lie? If someone claiming to be an angel just got killed trying to assassinate the Emperor, anyone who is a real angel would probably want to skip town too, just in case they got accused of it as well." Eda suggested.

"Ultimately, we can never know for certain. Not without hearing from Cassiel herself… but let's put all that aside for now and get back to why you came here today. You wish to enrol Luz in Hexside, and I happen to think that is a good idea." Bump said, smiling at the young girl, "Most of the teachers who taught her on the trial day had good things to say; specifically that she was a good and attentive student who was happy to help others. I think having her at Hexside would be good for the other students, and provide some needed stability to contrast the no doubt chaotic lessons she receives from you, Edalyn."

Eda smirked, while Luz felt the need to defend her mentor; "Eda is actually a really good teacher. Almost everything I showed off when I was here last was something she taught me."

The Owl Lady puffed her chest out with pride, while Bump actually chuckled; "I'm pleased to hear that. Truthfully, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the wild Edalyn Clawthorne had found a young mind to mold. Oh, excuse me; I mean two young minds." he nodded to King, who had been eagerly listening to everything. "But that brings me to my point; you have some things to answer for before we can begin the enrolment."

Luz frowned; "You mean the magic mixing incident? But I came and helped with the repairs just like you said!"

"No no Luz, I'm not talking about you. I'm referring to your mentor." Bump said, getting up from his desk and walking over to a large filing cabinet. He pulled out a massive stack of ledgers, papers, reports, and books; "Specifically, I'm talking about the necrotic experiments, the graffiti, the scams, the cheating, Miss Jenkinmeyer's teeth…" he dumped the pile onto the desk in front of Eda, and Luz peeked at the top and saw the words "Permanent Record: Edalyn Clawthorne" scrawled across the top.

"… the trouble you caused when you were here, Eda." Bump finished, frowning sternly.

Eda eyed the pile, then blandly said; "Huh, I thought there'd be more."

Luz gaped; "More!? Eda, I was the chief screw up back in Gravesfield and my record wasn't even a tenth of all this! How bad of a student were you!?"

Bump gave a sardonic smirk; "Oh, you should have seen the old record. Faust's records were destroyed in the uprising, so these are just the records I kept personally after he stopped dealing with Eda's troublemaking and foisted it off onto me." he then cast a spell to summon a trio of visitors badges for Eda, Luz, and King, plus a schedule for Luz.

"Here. While Eda and I address the remnants of her past wrongdoings, you will be allowed another trial day. You have one class in each of the tracks again, except oracle and abominations. Professor Trium says your presence disturbs the spirits, so you'd be a distraction there, and Professor Hermonculus is unhappy with your involvement in Miss Park's plant-based abomination and doesn't want you back in his class. Instead, you'll have double periods with the plant and illusion tracks, with your friends."

"Thank you, Principal Bump." Luz said, gratefully accepting the badge and schedule while mentally planning to apologise to Trium and Hermonculus.

"Hey, what about me?" King asked, taking his own badge.

"You can either stay with Eda or go with Luz. You're too young to attend classes on your own, unless you want to try your luck in Kindergarten." Bump replied.

King let out a cry of "Weh!?" at the very idea of being placed with what he considered to be babies (even though they were around the same age as him) and promptly tucked himself into Luz's hood, silently declaring he'd be sticking with her. Luz grinned and leaned her head back so King could nuzzle into the back of her neck, while Bump nodded approvingly.

"Good, then it's decided. Luz and… King, was it? You two run along and prepare for class. But a word of warning before you go;" Bump suddenly fixed Luz with his strictest, sternest glare, making her freeze in place. "While it wasn't truly your fault, Hexside is currently struggling with money due to the damage caused by the Mandragora Incident and the expansion, so we can't afford any more major repairs. If you cause any damage to the school today, then I won't be accepting your enrolment here. Am I understood?"

Luz gulped and nodded frantically; "C-Crystal, Principal Bump sir."

The man lightened up again; "Marvellous. Now get to class; Eda and I have some old troubles to put to rights."

Eda groaned loudly as Bump gave her a predatory grin, his hand tapping the top of her permanent record. Luz and King waved to the Owl Lady as they hurried out, not wanting the Principal's strict side to be pointed in their direction again. With a bit of time before classes were due to begin, Luz headed off to find Gus at his locker, whilst giving King a brief tour along the way. They arrived to find Gus waiting for them, polishing a crown with the word "President" written on tape and stuck to the front of it.

"Hey Gus. Sorry to keep you waiting." Luz greeted.

"No problem, Luz. Is King coming to classes with you today?"

"Of course! I can't leave my best minion in the hands of substandard instructors! I need to make sure they're worthy of teaching her!" King grandly proclaimed.

"Eda's doing chores for the Principal and King doesn't want to go to Kindergarten, so he's sticking with me." Luz whispered with a cheeky grin.

Gus chuckled as King narrowed his eyes on the illusionist, but he was soon distracted as another student walked up. It was a boy in the construction track, whom Luz vaguely remembered from her first time to Hexside. If she was remembering right, he was also the boy who'd made his head grow massively at the Covention.

"Augustus, so nice of you to polish up my future crown. I'll be sure to take good care of it, once I take your place as president of the HAS." the boy smirked mockingly as Gus hugged his crown to his chest. Luz frowned; this must be Mattholomule…

He turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow; "So it was you. When Augustus said he was bringing in a half-human, I wondered if it would be you. I remember the rumours about you being from the Human Realm when you came here weeks ago. But you look like any other witchling to me."

"I may look like a witchling, but it's true than I lived in the Human Realm until a month ago. I've got 14 years of memories there, and photographic proof." Luz said, pulling out her cellphone.

Gus nodded; "This is Luz's genuine human cellphone! It's what they use instead of Smart Scrolls. You should take a good look, since one of your fake artefacts was a rock you'd drawn on and claimed was a cellphone."

Mattholomule flushed in embarrassment, then growled and pointed at the phone; "That's not a real cellphone! Look at the bat wings on it! It's obviously something from our realm!"

"Actually, it's just a plastic phone case." Luz said, pulling her phone out of the purple bat-themed case, "Cellphones are kind of expensive, so we put covers on them to protect them from damage if we drop them." she tapped on her screen a few times, pulling up a picture of her as a nine year old at the beach with her Mami, which clearly showed humans playing in the ocean behind her. "I've got tons of pictures like this, proving where I'm from."

Mattholomule gaped in disbelief as Luz put her phone back in its case and pocketed it. Gus then said; "Luz here is an official human expert. She'll authenticate both our treasures, and then everyone can see who's really fit to be president!"

With that, Luz, King, and Gus walked off to attend their first classes, leaving Mattholomule to stew in his panic in the hallway.

"Oh no no no no!" he groaned, sinking to the floor against the lockers, "They can't know I lied! Then they'll never make me president!"

When Mattholomule had transferred to Hexside from Glandus at the beginning of the semester, he'd been looking forward to rising up to a higher station. At the ultra competitive Glandus, he'd been the runt of the litter, stuck at the bottom of the social ladder! But Hexside was friendlier, and the perfect place to stage his rise from Mattholomule to Man-tholomule. He'd gotten a great start by testing well enough to skip a grade, and was in the sophomore class of the high school division instead of being stuck as a freshman. He'd thought that would make him look better in the eyes of his new schoolmates; like he was some kind of amazing super witch! But then he'd found out about Augustus Porter, who was good enough to skip TWO grades… and no one cared. Gus was considered a nobody by a lot of the "in" crowd, and that spelled doom for Mattholomule's ambitions of becoming popular.

Using some of his old experiences at Glandus, Mattholomule had hatched a plan to prove his worth by taking over a club, which came with guaranteed friends in the form of club mates, with whom he could begin his rise to power. Once he had his own clique, he could begin amassing popularity, and which club was better to take over than the one lead by the other smart kid? Mattholomule had thought it would be easy, but now Gus had brought in the big guns; his half-human friend, who'd supposedly saved the Queen Bees of Hexside, Boscha Alembic and Amity Blight, from a thought to be extinct Mandragora!

Against someone like that, Mattholomule was doomed!

"I need to get her out of the way… but how?" he muttered. The school bell soon screamed and he was forced to trudge off to class, no closer to solving his problem.

Elsewhere, Luz and Gus had split up to get to their own classes, and for Luz this was a double session in the plant track with Willow and Amelia. Unlike last time Luz came to Hexside, she now had the power of the plant glyph mastered and was thus leaps and bounds ahead of most of the students who'd surpassed her last time, so instead of putting Luz with a struggling student this time, the teacher (a kindly old man with four arms named Professor Phil) partnered her with his best students; Willow and Amelia. They ended up doing some truly high-level work; caring for some magical orchids that Willow believed would gain intelligence if properly tended to, and Luz once again found herself baffled that anyone could ever have considered Willow to be Half-a-Witch! Even with her plant magic abilities, Luz was completely outmatched by Willow's talents!

While Luz was working on the orchids with Willow and Amelia, King was showing off his own talents. Since the plant track was the only one he could really show off in with his glyph magic, he went above and beyond, growing trees, mushrooms, and all manner of giant flora, earning praise from the students and some treats from Professor Phil. However, despite his insistence that he wasn't a baby, he began getting bored, tired, and cranky mid-way through the double class, so Luz tucked him into her hood again for a nap, and the rest of the students worked noticeably quieter so as not to disturb him.

After the double session of plant classes, Luz and King headed to the potions track, where Luz was again sat beside Boscha. The three-eyed girl firmly ignored Luz, not even acknowledging her existence, though she did seem to like King; frequently looking over at him and smiling to herself, admiring his cuteness. Professor Sip set them all to work on brewing a Colourful Cold Cure (apparently a Colourful Cold was like a normal cold, but every time you coughed or sneezed, you'd change colour), and handed out the recipe while also putting out an example cauldron. Luz and Boscha got to work on it immediately, silently competing over it, while King awoke from his nap and was given a different task; namely working with Professor Sip to "brew" some brownie mix.

Boscha had taken Professor Sip's lesson from Luz's last visit to heart, and she began deviating from the recipe to adjust for outside factors. When the class was over, Boscha's Colourful Cold Cure was closer to the perfect potion the Professor had brewed than Luz's, making her smirk smugly over her victory. Of course, Luz being Luz, she threw Boscha off completely by earnestly congratulating her and complimenting Boscha's prodigious talent in brewing. She'd then handed Boscha one of the brownies King had given her, then happily skipped off to find Willow, Gus, and Amity during their break, leaving Boscha confused and blinking.

In the break, they all decided to hang out at the Grudgby field, which had been repaired since the Mandragora incident. King got roped into playing a pick-up game with some of the kids from the Kindergarten class (which he insisted he agreed to just to prove he wasn't a baby like them), so Luz, Willow, Gus, and Amity sat on the bleachers to watch him as they chatted.

"I still can't believe that little cutie is able to do so much with plants, just by drawing that weird symbol." Willow mused, watching as King grabbed the ball with some vines and tossed it into the goal. "I wonder if I could use it to make my own plant magic stronger…"

"Trust me Willow, you don't need the extra help." Luz said, "Besides, no one can use those things like King does. Before I mastered my own plant magic, I tried using the written glyph and it was never as good as King's. He can do anything he can think of, while I needed to focus a lot more."

"Hey, come to think of it, doesn't that glyph appear in your spell circles when you cast plant magic?" Gus pointed out, having noticed it with his sharp eye for details.

Luz paused as she tried to think of an explanation; she still hadn't told Willow or Gus about her secret, so they didn't know the true origins of the glyphs or why her plant magic suddenly evolved. Luz had just used the excuse that King learned the glyphs without letting on that it was from her, while claiming her plant magic evolved when something inside her "clicked".

Seeing Luz struggle to find an excuse without lying, Amity hastily changed the subject. "You know, it's a shame that you can't join me in the abomination track today."

Willow and Gus looked at her oddly, but Luz seized on the opening Amity made for her.

"Y-Yeah, it's a real shame. I get to hang out with Willow and Gus for two classes, but I'll only get to see you now since I'll be at the HAS for lunch. I'm not good at abomination magic anyway, but I still wish I could go with you too. Is Professor Hermonculus really that mad at me?" Luz asked.

"Eh, it's more that he's embarrassed that two witches with no skill in abomination magic were able to trick him AND get the second best grade in class. It makes him look bad when someone uses plant magic to make a better abomination than most of his students." Amity explained.

"I'd feel bad for him, if he hasn't been making snide comments about me being a quitter because I transferred out of his class." Willow scowled. "But I won't let him get to me."

"He's been making comments like that? Huh, well I guess I won't go and apologise to him after all!" Luz crossed her arms with a huff. Amity just raised an eyebrow and gave her a knowing smirk, making Luz sheepishly add; "Okay, maybe I still will… but it won't be as sincere!"

Amity giggled; "Never change, Luz. By the way, how did it go with that book? Did you find what you wanted in it?"

"I'm still working on translating it. It's kind of a pain, and I haven't found any answers yet…" Luz answered.

Willow and Gus exchanged confused looks, before turning back to the two girls.

"What book are you talking about?" Willow asked.

"If you're looking for answers, maybe we can help. What is it you want to find out?" Gus offered.

Luz chuckled nervously; "Oh, you know… just a library book I thought was interesting. I'll figure it out on my own, no worries!" she then pointed down to the pitch; "Oh look, King scored again! GO KING!"

Sure enough, King had managed to score another goal and was ungraciously boasting about it to some little kid with a perpetual trail of snot pouring down his face. Luz cheered for him, and Amity joined in somewhat awkwardly while Willow and Gus eyed them suspiciously. It was obvious Luz was hiding something, and Amity knew what. Normally the two wouldn't be concerned; Luz had become a very close friend in the almost month they'd known her, and she was honest to a fault… but they still felt a bit bothered that Amity knew something about her that they didn't, especially given the rough start to the relationship between the two. Willow briefly thought that maybe Luz had figured out Amity's obvious feelings for her, or Amity had gathered the courage to confess, but that wasn't something she could imagine Luz would keep secret. And what was this mystery book about?

"Hey Luz, you know you can tell us anything, right? We're your friends, and you stuck by us even after Boscha offered to make you popular. We won't judge you, I promise." Willow said softly.

Gus nodded; "Yeah! We're all oddballs too, so whatever this secret of yours is, you can trust us with it!"

Luz looked back at them, her eyes wide. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, trying to find the words she was looking for. Eventually she just gave up; with the sole exception of the Conformatorium, where she was high on adrenaline and assumed she'd be leaving the Demon Realm, Luz hadn't willingly told anyone about what she was. Eda had basically forced her hand, and she'd been the one to tell King, while Amity and Principal Bump and discovered it on their own. After a lifetime of keeping her identity a secret, it was so ingrained in her that Luz just couldn't make the words come out.

Her friends saw her trying and choking, and opened their mouths to sooth Luz's worries, but the school bell screamed before they could get a word out. Instantly, Luz plastered a fake smile on her face and said; "Oh, would you look at the time! Best get to classes! We've got double Illusions now, right Gus? Race you there!"

She then ran down to the pitch and grabbed King, who was celebrating his ultimate victory over the Kindergarteners, then ran as fast as she could for the school building. Her friends watched her go with some concern, then Amity tried to stealthily edge away, before Willow and Gus turned back to her. Unfortunately, she wasn't as stealthy as she wanted to be, and Luz's other friends caught on fast.

"Amity, what's going on between you and Luz?" Willow said, crossing her arms sternly. "You seemed fine with her after the Mandragora incident and the first day of our detention detail, but after that you started acting really weird around her. Now you two are keeping secrets, and Luz seemed genuinely scared back there… is there something we should know?"

Amity sighed; "I can't tell you. It's not my place."

"But there is a big secret then?" Gus asked.

"Yes." Amity reluctantly nodded, "It's something really personal to Luz… I can't tell you what. I'm sorry."

"We don't want to pry into Luz's life, or make you give up her secrets. We're just worried about her. She really looked like she was trying to talk a second ago, but couldn't bring herself to actually do it. You don't have to tell us anything specific, but is Luz in danger?" Willow asked.

Amity shifted uncomfortably; "N-No. At least I don't think so. But if her secret got out, then maybe?" That was an understatement and she knew it.

"Luz's secret could put her in more danger than being the Owl Lady's apprentice?" Gus blinked.

"And she told you?" Willow added.

"She didn't tell me…" Amity confessed, "I found out by mistake. For the record, I think she wants to tell you, but can't."

The warning bell screamed, giving them only a few minutes before they were late for class. "Look, I've got to go. I know we've got some bad history and you may not trust me, but please trust Luz. She wouldn't keep it from you without good reason." Amity said. She then ran off to class, with Willow and Gus following behind at a more sedate pace.