Summary: Learning magic the hard way
Eda gave Owlbert a preening as they walked through town. The Palasmin's been on edge lately, first with 'Centi' being around all the time, then it evolved into just being afraid of Luz. Sure the girl's round ears were freaky, but that was no need to be paranoid.
Speaking of, Lucci seemed remarkably less prickly about using 'friend' lately. Sure he only used it when attributing it to Luz, but it was a step in the right direction. He needed someone to trust that wasn't just her, King, and Hooty. "Gaaahhh." Said child groaned as he carried a pile books. "Curse these school books, curse them to dust and ash."
"Just wait till you get homework. Then you'll develop that arson instinct." She patted him. "But remember what I always saw about burning down schools."
"Never do it on a weekday, I know." He mumbled as he turned to Luz, happily giddy as as always. "No one should ever be that happy for school, even if you are a human."
"It's magic school, how can I not be!?" She shouted. "Imagine it, Lucci. Potions, hexes, hidden compartments, ancient spirits, it's everything amazing!" She then giggled. "Not to mention everyone's gonna be in the same classes."
Huh, that reminded her of something, but Eda couldn't recall what. "Last I checked, Gus was two grades higher than Willow, so not everyone." Lucci answered. "Said he was in the same class as…oh no." Her boy grumbled as he got a look at three green haired teenagers. "Not those two again."
"Oh, Emira, Edric. Amity." Luz greeted the three. "Haven't seen you guys since the library incident."
"Yeah …" The green boy chuckled. "Eventually Mittens got us free … by calling the coven scouts."
"And then mom found out … and that ended well." The older girl muttered. "But on the plus side, we only have to deal with the cutest family member today."
"They've been super supportive of me lately, and it's super weird ." Boots shivered just a little. "I don't fully trust it."
"You think it's a long con?" Lucci asked. "It's not beneath them."
"Such painful words, curly top. Why would you wound me so?" The older Blight girl said dramatically, sending her son a wink that Eda absolutely did not like or trust.
"Because you two are even less trustworthy than your little sister." The boy rolled his eyes.
"Oh, Amity, guess what?" Luz asked with that bright smile. "We're going to Hexside!"
"You're what?" Boots asked as she looked paler than before. "That's … good, good for you two. Do that then."
"Trying really hard not to, but unfortunately my fate seems set for spending eight hours a day trapped in a classroom." Lucci exasperatedly explained. "Can't seem to find any loophole out of it."
"I'd say fail the entrance exam, but you already know more than one spell." The Blight boy shrugged.
"… What?" Luz asked.
"You didn't know?" Boots asked. "You need two spells to enter Hexide, or you're stuck in the baby class." Oh, so Bump kept that rule did he?
"… What?" Luz asked again.
"I mean, it's not like they have anything to worry about." The green girl smirked. "They were taught by the Owl Lady, they both probably have an arsenal of unstoppable spells, isn't that right, curly top?"
"Please stop the teasing. It's weird enough with you being Amity's sister."
"Oh come on, it's just friendly talk." The blight hoy chucked. "Mittens, round ears, curly top, Owl Lady who can kill us before we blink."
"And don't you forget it." Eda smirked proudly, taking a look at Luz's barely contained freak out face.
"Yeah … arsenal …" The human chuckled nervously. "Because Eda's an awesome teacher."
"Good." The older sister smiled. "Would be pretty embarrassing for the apprentice of the Owl Lady to only have one spell. Luckily for Amity, she's got some upperclassmen willing to teach her some extra stuff."
"When we're done, you're gonna be unstoppable." The Blight boy cheered.
"Wait, weren't you trained by aunt Lilly?" Lucci asked.
"That woman's dead to me." Boots stated plainly. Fair enough.
"That's probably the first thing you've said in a long while that I can understand and sympathize perfectly with." Her boy laughed a little. "Maybe it won't be such a bad thing being in the same year."
The girl seemed to stiffen, before walking away. "Come on, let's get ahead with the training." She told her siblings.
"I remember her being a lot less uptight." Eda mentioned once the Blight's the area.
"That's what happens when you spend ten years being a jerk." Lucci muttered. "So what next? Thrift store, cause I was thinking-"
"GAAAHHH!!" Luz screamed. "I'm going to die!" She cried out as she fell to the ground. "I'm going to be stuck in the baby class because I only know one spell!"
"A spell you learned by accident, so double trouble there." Lucci added on.
"Why aren't you freaking out!?" Luz shouted.
"Do you think I should show off my floating powers, my shield powers, bubble powers, super strength, stretchy body, illusion magic, potion magic-"
"I get it, you're awesome." Luz rolled her eyes.
"If it's any consolation, he's not allowed to do plant magic anymore." Eda said. "The last time Lucci used it, he caused 'the incident'."
"Which is why I refuse to eat green." Nice try punk.
"This is it, my life is over." The girl fell to the ground. "I'm gonna be stuck in a baby class for all eternity."
"Oh quit being dramatic." Eda picked her up. "Did you think I was going to send you to Hexide if that was that case?"
They gasped, eyes wide. "Does that mean you're gonna teach me a genuine spell this time?" She asked with glee.
"Yes." She nodded. "Sorry it took so long, but between scams, looting, and paying off the library tab, it took me a while to do some research on how witches used to do wild magic." In hindsight, she shouldn't have waited a year to return those books. "But I think I finally found a way to get your second spell, but you're going to have to do everything I say, no questions asked."
"Does it involve doing something illegal? Because I'm not against that."
"What did I just say about no questions asked?" Eda continued. "But also, for once, no."
"Wait, a lesson that doesn't involve crime? This I have to see." Lucci looked curious.
"Ladies and gentlemen, to the Knee!" Eda shouted.
"In shorts and shirts?" Her son asked.
"To the thrift store!" She needed to steal a new pair of gloves anyways.
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"Alright Mittens, here's how it's gonna go." Emira started as they looked at a tree. "Right now, the most important thing to do is to familiarize the spells you cast with the ones you're no good at, that way it makes the use of them seem smooth and easy."
The Blight Twins admit, they went a bit too far with that last attempt at making Mittens more friendly, with them finding a bit too much personal information than either of them felt comfy with. So they decided to go about it in the more traditional family bonding way…of course not without adding in little bits of teasing here and there. "Familiar, right." Their little sister gazed at the tree with a stern gaze, before forming her magic circle, and a single spike of ice came out.
"Ice spell for a place full of ice, nice." Edric gave his thumbs up, being only slightly less helpful as he acted supportive while making a snowman.
"But I've done ice plenty of times before. Every basic element came more easily to me except fire." Amity let out a small frustrated groan.
"Which is why you have the training wand." Emira continued. "Just keep casting fire until it feels natural to you, at which point, we'll switch hands." She patted her on the back. "You're talented Mittens, but not everything comes easily to people. Why do you think me and Ed are in the illusion track?"
"Because you like messing with people and making them think they lost their hands?" Amity said with a rather blank expression.
"That's half the point." Their brother answered. "I kinda suck at a lot of magic, Illusion just comes the closest there is to easy." Not everyone knew this, but Edric's self confidence was practically shot to pieces, no thanks to mom and the 'need for perfection'. The color coordination didn't help matter either.
"Same here. I mean, would I like to learn a little healing magic? Sure, but that's just not in the cards for me." Emira went on with a light shrug. "And Abominations may come naturally to you, but if you're serious about the Emperor's Coven …" She paused. "You are still serious after the fall out, right?"
"I…I really don't know…Lilith sort of..ruined covens for me in general after all that…of all the things for Lucci to be right about." Amity grumbled under her breath. "I put in all this hard work to be this strong, and I don't want it to go to waste. I want to keep improving and push how far I can go."
"Well if you are serious then yah, you can't be bad at a lot of things, especially when everyone else is gonna bring more variety." Ed added. "That's why we're at the Knee." He gestured to the sky. "The most magical place on the boiling isles. One could almost hear nature singing here."
" Take a look around and see the world we think we know."
"... That was pretty accurate Ed." She turned to her brother. "I didn't know you could sing."
"As lovely as my voice is, that wasn't me Em." He held his hands up.
" Then look closer. There's more to life than meets the eye, a beauty to behold,"
"I know that singing." Mittens groaned. "I can't believe how bad my luck is." What was she … ooohhh.
"It seems we're not the only ones training here." Emira grinned, looking around. "Doesn't everything usually start floating when Curly Top starts playing?"
"It's all much bigger than we know."
"I thought that was only when he plays instruments, or am I remembering that wrong?" Edric asked.
"No that's right, and so far it doesn't seem like he is…never mind, he has one on him." Amity pointed up to the snowballs floating above them, looking like they were dancing in the whirlwind.
"Oooh, let's spy on them!" Emira had to see where this was leading to. "Come on, let's follow the snowballs.
"Wait, what about my-!" Mitten was stopped as Ed grabbed her by the hand.
"Relax Mittens, you can afford to take a break for five minutes. Let's just enjoy the show."
"It's only just beginning to unfold…." The three of them ran up a hill and passed through what looked like broken old ruins. Ducking their heads, they were able to grab a peek of what was happening. " So let it all unfold.
"Far beyond all reason in your mind." Curly top was singing a song, dancing with a lute as Round ears and the Owl lady watched, the former with sparkly eyes and intensity. " There's a world mysterious…" The snow surrounded Curly top in a tiny little cyclone that seemed to make him float into the air, little hints of pink light glowing off the snow, making them look more like flower petals. " There for you to find."
"And here I thought bard magic was just a bunch of band geeks plucking a violin all day." Edric smirked as one of the passing snowballs above them hit him in the head.
"I have a friend in the Bard track, not at all just geeks." Mittens rolled her eyes.
"All these questions, That we always have, All we are is curious, There's nothing wrong with that!" The music built up as they played, swirling and shifting around as the snow began to make stairs for the boy to ascend.
"So go 'round every corner, Search every part of the sky!" Curly Top gestured for Luz to follow him up the stairs, which the girl seemed more than happy to accept. "Cause a life that's full of wonder, Is a wonderful life!"
Emira gave a low whistle. "They seem close." She noted. "And living in the same house to, steamy."
"Get your head out of the gutter, Emira. There's no way that would happen?"
"Why?" Ed asked with an evil smirk. "Worried your little human will fall for the brooding musician?"
"What, no! That's not what I was thinking at all!" Amity failed to defend herself, especially with her face getting all red. "I was getting at the fact Lucci's too into Boscha to ever consider it."
"Really? The captain of the grudgby team?" Em asked. For someone against jerks, that seemed hypocritical. "Isn't she..you know, a witch with a B?"
"Dig beneath the surface, Find the lessons there to learn." Curly top began twirling the girl over the icy snow in the air. "And then dig deeper, Feed your intuition."Which she proceeded to fall through, landing on a fluffy cushion of snow. " Don't leave any stone unturned." The boy himself began slowly descending on top of a giant snowball that began moving forward.
"Did this happen all the time when you were friends?" Ed asked.
"We rarely went to the knee, and he didn't own a lute himself." … That didn't quite answer the question.
"Be the seeker of the truth, Listen when you hear it calling you. You know it's calling you, Far beyond all reason in your mind!" The boy sang louder and louder, as the very trees seemed to sway back and forth, creating a sort of whistle in the air as the bristles shook. "There's a world mysterious there for you to find!"
The trees leaned backwards, making all the icicles form into starry like crystal, practically belongs with the sky as they shimmered above them. " All these questions that we always have. All we are is curious, there's nothing wrong with that."
"Yeah, we were super curious back then. Back before we knew life sucked." Amity looked to the ground with a frown the two twins had seen one hundred too many times around the house.
"So go 'round every corner…!" The snow whirled around them again, this time forming into a giant cluster right above their heads. "Search every part of the sky…..!"
"Nope." Mittens cast an abomination spell, covering herself in a bubble of the stuff. "Not again."
"Wait, what's that about?" Ed asked.
"'Cause a life that's full of wonder …! Is a wonderful life …." At the final strum, an explosion of snow blanketed all of them, leaving no part of Emira not covered from head to toe in the white fluffy cold. ".... Is a wonderful life."
"Ahhh, I see." Emira shook herself free from the fluff. "Ending aside, that was a good show." She decided it earned a little praise. "Nice going, Curly Top! Planning an encore!?" Emira cheered as she made herself known.
"What-again?" Curly top looked above them. What are the odds?
"Hey, we were the ones training here due to the lack of people to hit." Amity said as she got out of her snow free cocoon. "You're the ones that showed up for …" She stopped. "Why did you show up here?"
"Yeah, weren't you guys all prepped for the exam?" Edric asked with confusion. "With the super cool arsenal the Owl Lady showed you?"
"Actually…" Lucci looked like he was about to say something before Luz got a snowball and shoved it in his face.
"Yeah, yeah, that's totally it!" Round ears shouted. "We're just…training to use that fully armed, not at all just one spell, arsenal to prepare to NOT be in the baby class, since that's for babies."
She glanced at her brother, smirking as they got in close. "Would you mind if we watched and learned some tricks from a talented cutie like you?" She laid on the tease. If everyone was here, why not have some fun with it? Also, more teachings, the better for Amity.
That made her sister blush like crazy, getting in between the two. "I think it's better if we keep the training separate…like on the other side of this hill." She shoved her away.
"I'm kinda scared, we've both been agreeing all day." Lucci looked genuinely afraid.
"Aww, come on." Edric leaned in close to the boy. "Is it really that bad to have a Blight around?"
" Yes." The Owl Lady, Lucci, and even Amity, spoke up at the same time, the two former staring at the latter. "I just barely began tolerating these two, and you know how my parents are."
"Aww, you wound us so Mittens." Emira pouted. "Come on, lets go work on some combination magic next." Illusions and constructions were a fun little combo. Nobody ever expected a fake to hurt.
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Luz stared at the horizon, holding herself tightly. After Lucci's little show, which Eda explained was to get her to 'dive head first into the titan's voice', the human had been doing very little in terms of learning anything, unless eating snow and smelling moss counted as learning anything. "Just … waiting …" She muttered, feeling the cold. "For any sign whatsoever … connecting …" She was super torn right now.
On one hand, she was learning nothing because her mentor was insane, and there was a training wand to cast other spells from. On the other hand, she was a screw up that's been making one to many mistakes around everyone here lately, and would probably make everything worse when Eda's actually putting in the effort to try and teach her something.
"If I can just do one thing right, it'll all be worth it." She gripped her hands, feeling herself move towards Amity's camp.
"Luz, you're getting that look in your eye again." She was stopped by Lucci's voice.
"..What look?" She said innocently.
"The impatient 'if I do this thing, I'll be amazing' look." He sighed.
"Yeah, I know." She sighed, sitting back down. "Just gotta sit here, and wait for magic … any time now." Any time at all … please. "'Maybe … no, don't do it." It would ruin everything. "'But Luz.'" She looked at her hand. "'Maybe Eda lost a bolt or two'. No, shut up righty." Luz argued. "'Or maybe she's stalling because humans can't learn magic normally.' Don't you put ideas into my head lefty! 'Or what, what're you gonna do about it?' I'm gonna retaliate!" She began bitting her hand.
"... You devolved into insanity fast." Lucci pointed out.
"Sorry, it's a habit I made when I didn't have anyone else to talk to back home." Luz admitted.
"Standing right here you know, just talk to me." He reiterated.
Luz was quiet for a minute as she flopped down. "Is your mom stalling?" She asked quietly. "Because I can't learn magic like everyone else?"
"...Maybe, she could be." Lucci fell into the ground with a sigh. "I know mom's a liar, and I've come to accept that and even love that about her, but I know she never does anything without a reason." He turned to her. "I don't think she would just string you along this far just to say 'haha, I don't know anything'. She went through the trouble of getting us into hexide in the first place, and you know she hates school."
"That is a valid point." Or it could just be Lucci being a mama's boy who didn't want to think anything badly about the one who raised him. "I just..If I could do magic like everyone else just once, then maybe something will finally click."
"Hey, don't be mad. I can't do magic like anyone else either." He responded. "I don't do spell circles, so half is just dumb luck for me, and it's hard for me to learn any other kind. My illusions are still patchy."
"But you're amazing at Bard." He was a one man Broadway show.
"Yeah, but I love bard magic." Lucci shrugged. "It's easier to do something when you love it."
Luz thought about it for a moment. "So what happens when you love magic itself?"
Lucci looked puzzled for a second. "Loving all magic…that's a bit broad..but I know for a fact Mom loves it so much she became an outlaw to keep all of hers…"
Luz hummed as she looked at the fading lights, stars popping out into the open. "Man … I've never seen the stars here and I've been here for over a month." Luz gave an awkward chuckle. "It looks so pretty."
"I used to do this with Amity and Willow when we came here." Lucci gave a small smile.
"Oh, backstory time?" She asked.
"Not really, just small tidbits I keep around roaming in my head." He laughed. "We used to stare up at the sky and guess what pictures we could make out of it."
Luz gave a small huff, but smiled. "So you guys have consolations?"
"Consowhatnow?" He asked.
"Stars that are stationary enough for an image." She explained. "It lasts for centuries."
"Nah, they move around too much for that. It's kinda like cloud gazing actually."
Luz looked at the sky curiously, noticing an image. "Too much to form a circle?" She asked.
"A circle?" He asked, glaring up at the sky. "Never noticed that before…say…doesn't it look familiar?"
She squinted, noticing the lines inside, along with the circle near the top … "The Light Glyph?" She asked, sitting up. "I thought that was just a glitch in my phone. It's up there in the sky too?"
"The recording was of mom's light spell…so if it came from her magic…and there's one in the sky…then.." Lucci's eyes widened.
She watched as a snowflake came down, holding her hand out and catching it, as it formed its own little symbol. "It means … Magic is a gift. Magic is everywhere." Luz smiled, reaching down with her fingers as she began to draw. "And it teaches you how to be one with it." After finishing the circle with a pointed triangle, she tapped it … creating a small block of ice. "Ice magic….I learned my second spell!" She shouted out loud. "I LEARNED MY SECOND SPELL!"
"So that's what mom meant by learning from the isles." Lucci smiled in approval, giving her a small nudge in the shoulder. "Congratulations Luz, you're not going to the baby class after all."
"I'm not a baby! I'm not going to be sent to the BABY CLASS!" She took the nearest stick and began making another glyph within the snow, this one much bigger. "Oh, I have to do this again!"
"Wow, that's a really big Glyph you're drawing….one that we're currently standing on." Lucci noted with a slight nervous tone. "You sure you don't want to start off a little smaller?"
"Nope!" She finished drawing it, her own glyph, her own form of magic. "This is…the BEST DAY….!" She jumped, and the circle began to glow. "EVER!" Another pillar of ice was made, one much bigger as it shot them out into the air as the chilly cool breeze filled her face."We can fly!"
"Flying is not one of my powers!!" Lucci grabbed a hold of her. "Hang on, I can try to make us float before we land on something-"
Bump
"GRRRREEEEEEE !
"...Dangerous." They both tumbled into the snow after landing on something round and furry. "Ooooh no, we just messed up."
"That's the slitterbeast, right?" Luz asked. "The one we're not supposed to make angry, like, ever?"
"Yep, and we just interrupted it's nap." Lucci answered.
"Wow, I didn't even grab Amity's wand like part of me wanted to, and I still messed up." She was both impressed and mortified with herself.
"Honestly, I say we just run to the sea and hope Amity doesn't find out we gave her more trouble." Lucci noted as the beast began waking up.
"GRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
She turned to her friend. "Run for our lives screaming?
"You know the drill well, my friend."
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Centi was quite content with this new lifestyle. They stayed inside shade to avoid the agitating burns of the liquid sky, but had enough light to feel refreshed. The girl that gave her salty treats was back, and gave her the good scratches Centi loved. Her children felt comfortable as well, resting around whenever it wasn't snack time.
Sure, there was annoyances, such as the fact they could not feast on the warm bird. It was practically begging to be eaten like all the others before. Just one bite would bring her a brief second of clarity, of no more static or fuzz rummaging in her mind. She'd get to understand what true tranquility really felt like.
But the girl kept tugging her away from the bird, or the strange pink boy that despised her bubbled it, or it flew into the air where Centi could not reach. It was annoying, but a small price to pay for their content life.
"Haha, my army is complete!" Centi gave an idle glance to the other strange creature, one that smelled of power and warmth far greater than the mere bird could provide. The tiny child was moving around in the higher area as their objects ran around. "Finally Francois, no more waiting on incompetence, true power is at our fingertips!"
The furry child pointed out to a pile of walking stuffing that Centi swore wasn't alive just a few hours ago. Marching along and providing the tiny child with salty snacks that made her mouth water. "With Eda's special sauce, I have created life! And unlike Lucci's plant magic, these guys actually do whatever I say without question! You! private new guy, get us more chaaps!" The furry child pointed to the walking pile of stuffing that looked like a bear.
Centi considered gobbling the child up once or twice, but decided against it. They smelled of immaturity … meaning they'd grow into a better meal later in life. So until then, they would remain alive until such a time came to be. Centi glanced at the walking stuffing, glaring with red eyes at the world, hatred evident.
"No, no, no chaaps for you, new guy! You still have years of breaking in before you even come close to the rank of commander." The furry child snatched the bag and laid them all over the couch. "Pfft, new guy, thinking he can just grab whatever. What a noob."
Centi began crawling to the couch, looking at the Chaaps with hunger, drooling as the ground began to erode. "Kkrkrkrkrkrkr." They may not have been warm, but the salt was always comforting.
"Hey, back away devil! These chaps are not for you!" The fury child stood and hid behind the couch with the stuffing in the shape of a rabbit. "Private New Guy, everyone else, destroy this fiend! Show it the might and terrible power bestowed upon the King of Demons!"
The walking stuffing grabbed a sharp object, tossing it at the fury child. "Sssggg." No, bad creature, they'd ruin their future meal.
"Private new guy, what's the matter with you?! Obey me or feel my wrath!" The fury child cried in rage. "Army, tear Private new guy to shreds!" The other moving objects walked by, carrying signs written in some strange language. "'Down with the tyrant' … I am a tyrant! And you will obey me!"
The living stuffing continued to move forward, grabbing the furry child as they began forming a bonfire in the middle of the room. "NO! Fracios! Save yourself, and remember to name all your children after me!"
"KAAAA!" Centi grabbed the stuffing in its maw, letting it dissolve into dust as they spat out the bad taste. "KEEE!" They shouted, destroying the other moving objects, letting out a huff.
"You…you saved me?" The small furry child gazed upon her, before grabbing one of the salty snacks and tossing it over. Centi preened, moving and taking a bite. The small child moved closer, reaching out their claws and scratching the hard to reach spot on their head that itches when thoughts become too much. "Huh…I can't believe it….I'm even more amazing than I ever could imagine! I AM the king of demons! All fall under my command, even Crystal Devils! Oh, who's a good terrifying bug monster, yes you are, oh yes you are." He tossed more chaaps into her mouth.
"Krkrkrkrkr." Wow, her future meal acted like the girl. Already earning points for survival it seemed. As long as it kept up the head scratches, Centi could wait a while to eat the little guy.
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Amity looked at the mouth of the cave. "So …" She turned to the two troublemakers of her life. "A slitherbeast with a round indent showed up out of nowhere and attacked you two for no inexplicable reason."
"Yep. Crazy thing just popped out of the ground and started going feral." Lucci immediately answered. "Who knows why animals act the way they do."
"Uh huh, and you absolutely have no idea why it was chasing you, or why it felt like grabbing my brother and sister and Eda?" She raised her eyebrow.
"That's obviously because I'm hungry." Luz nodded quickly. "Look, it's even seasoning them." She pointed to the monster crushing a couple of objects over the captive heads of her family.
"Don't worry about us kids." The Owl lady shout whispered from inside. "I'm going to sneak out of here when it starts eating the twins. The big guy over here prefers his meat young and less chewy."
"What, why would you abandon us!" Edric shouted.
"Should I respond to the constant flirting of my children?" That was a fairly decent point to consider.
"So it's obvious that we need to save my mom, but are we on board with saving Ed and Em?" Lucci asked. "Because I'm open to leaving them behind if anyone wants it."
"They're family. I'm fine leaving them for Coven Scouts, not for murderous beasts." Amity sighed. "So, we need to get them out with whatever we have on hand." She looked at the two of them. "I have abomination magic and a couple of spells."
"Should we go for the exploding goo bubbles?" Lucci asked.
"Have you practiced aiming and timing them?" She'd settle for only one layer of skin being blown off her family, not any more.
"Aim yes, timing no."
"Then save that for plan B." Amity nodded. It was strange working with him like this without the constant ribbing. Maybe that was a sign of things getting better. "Okay, I know the whole magic arsenal thing was probably a lie, but please tell me you know anything other than the light spell?"
"I actually do." The girl grinned, drawing on the snow with a weird symbol before tapping it, creating an ice block. "The bigger it is, the more ice I get. Oh, and Eda brought my magic sword just in case." She held up the pink blade from their duel … and fell to the ground, the sword cleaving a rock in two. "I'll work it out somehow."
"Alright, so we got semi-workable magical skills and experience from numerous other incidents like this." Amity tried her best to work with what they had. "Okay, Lucci, we're gonna have to draw experience from the Egg incident."
"So lead it away while trying to find something to hold it down?" The boy asked.
"That's all the context I'm gonna get, is it?" Luz asked, to which they both nodded. "Well I could try freezing it solid if you give me enough time to draw a big enough Ice Glyph."
"That I can do, Roomie." Lucci snapped his fingers, jumping out in the open and into the cave. "Yo, Slither Beast! I heard your mother was a fur carpet and your dad was a pair of combat boots, and they're both as ugly as you!"
"Grrrr." The beast gave a simple grunt, cracking its neck as it turned to glare at Lucci.
"So demons hating you stayed constant, didn't it?" Amity snarked, running up to the web their family was tied up against.
"Don't know why, not like they've ever flocked to your wonderful personality." Her old friend countered back, throwing one of his shields at the creature's eye.
"GRREEEE!" It rushed forward after the shield bounced off, opening its jaws impossibly wide.
"I guess I just don't know how to push people's buttons as well as you can." She laughed as Lucci formed a bubble around himself to stop the teeth from sinking into his body. "Okay guys, I'm gonna try and free you with that fire spell."
"Cool, no problem, go for it, you've got this sis." Edric nodded with a smile.
"Again, it's so weird to hear actual support come out of your mouth." It was really starting to get to her.
"I didn't get any, you should have some, you know?" The boy chuckled. "Also, self confidence should totally help the flames."
"That's not what helps flames, it's raw rage." Eda countered. "Just get her really pissed off and the fire will go off no problem."
"Self confidence…rage…self confidence….rage…" What if it wasn't one or the other…what if it was both? When she got angry training with Lilith, every element EXCEPT fire responded well to anger. She got brief hot flashes of embers at best. "I can do this, I can do this."
She dug deep into herself, thinking about what was making her the most angry right now. Luz and Lucci both dragging her into trouble was one thing for sure…but not being strong enough to protect either of them…especially of the more fragile and defenseless Luz…that really, really frustrated her to no end. Amity would be strong enough and she would tear apart anything that said otherwise! "GAH!" She made the circle, and fired it forward.
The spark of purple flame shot ahead and instantly covered the web, disintegrating almost instantly. "Wow, you actually did it!" Emira broke out with the rest of them. "Gotta admit, I didn't actually think that would work."
"'Gee, thank you for saving us Amity, you did a good job'." She rolled her eyes.
"And you even hit the webs without getting a single singe on us." Edric looked himself over. "What gave you the control?"
Amity raised an eyebrow. "I guess I didn't put as much fire into that attack as I hoped." She wouldn't have minded if their hair got burned just a little. Maybe she didn't hate them as much as she believed…or at least didn't hate them as much as before.
"Alright guys, I got the trapp ready!" Luz shouted from out of the cave. "Lucci! Lead it here!"
"Oh really!? For a second I thought I could stay here and let it try and chew on me a little while longer!" The boy yelled back as he expanded the bubble, forcing the Slither Beast to let go of it as Lucci ran ahead.
"You know sarcasm doesn't exactly help the situation, you know!" Luz called out as the creature made itself come closer and closer.
"You'd be surprised how much of a tension reliever it is, now freeze him!" Lucci shouted.
"Hey Slitherbeast." The human grinned as she proceeded on the circle. "Have an ice day!" A block of ice formed … sending the demon soaring into the air. "Oh …" They watched on as the thing was sent flying. "Guess learning to freeze something in the ice is another step in itself."
"Wow, The Owl Lady must be an awesome teacher." Emira looked impressed. "I haven't seen magic like that before."
"Yeah, she really is." Luz snickered as she and Lucci hugged the older lady. "I did it! I managed to follow your advice and listen to the Isles! And I didn't have to take a shortcut or use a magic wand or anything!"
"See. My ways may seem strange, but there's a method to my madness, kiddo." Eda rubbed the girl's head. "You'll be more than ready to handle whatever Hexide will throw at you."
Right, that's what this was all about. "So I really will be seeing you two more." Amity chuckled nervously. As if her thing with Lucci wasn't bad enough, Luz added a whole nother ball of confusion into her thoughts that she couldn't even begin to unpack.
"Yeah, and it may be awkward, but I promise you something absolutely important, Amity." Luz spoke with seriousness, coming in close, their noses almost touching
Amity had to summon the most self control over her body, raising it up from the depths of her soul to stop herself from blushing. "Yeah…what's that?"
"I will make you and Lucci friends again!" …Somehow that both made her relieved and disappointed.
"Seriously?" Amity raised an eyebrow as she and Lucci shared the same expression.
"It's best to humor her in times like this." Lucci chuckled as awkwardly as she felt. "Let's just agree to not hate each other for her sake."
"I can work with a non aggression pack." She rolled her eyes. "Come on guys, you know how Mom is when we're out too late."
"Nice seeing you two." Emira waved.
"Hope to see more of your adorable faces at school." Edric winked. Please kill her now.
"Start walking or do it while on fire." The only adult there threatened.
========================================================================
Hooty watched as Luz squealed, gazing at King resting in Centi's mane. "This is the most adorable thing ever, of all time."
"Maybe if the human world's definition of adorable meant horribly terrifying, then yes, this is an adorable sight to see." Lucci added on.
"Aww you're still mad that me and King are able to see the true beauty in this little gal." Luz gave them a couple gentle scratches. "So now I've got two glyphs, and there's gotta be more out there somewhere."
"Yeah, and an actually cool one this time." Lucci smiled. "I wonder if I can make an ice shield."
"Shaping it seems kind of out of the question at the moment, but you're free to try." Luz handed out a piece of paper that had one of those fun magic circles she liked to draw.
"Alright; ice shield, shield, ice shield for a blistering hot day, or fire bees, both would be applicable situations." The boy pressed his hand against the paper.
Szzzzt wrrrrr
A few sparkles lit from the circles before it filed in on itself and disappeared in a puff of smoke. "… What the heck was that?" He asked with confusion.
"I dunno …. Maybe I drew it wrong." She tried making a new circle. "Here, go for it."
The boy tapped the paper once more.
Szzzt wrrrr
Only for the same thing to happen. "Maybe it can only be used in the cold?" His best buddy asked
"Hm, I don't think so." Luz took out another page and tapped it herself, an ice block forming. "Works for me.
Lucci stared at the ice, tapping it. "Maybe it's a human thing then?"
"I'll take that bet." Eda ripped off her own page and smacked it, creating a log of ice between her hands. "Oh yeah, I'm still the most powerful witch! All magic bends to my whims!" She cheered.
The boy got a frustrated look on his face. "Then what's the problem when I do it?"
"Maybe you're doing it wrong?" Luz proposed.
"It's tapping a circle, how can I do that wrong!?" Lucci shouted.
"I dunno, how can you do that wrong?" Hooty was genuinely curious. The kid seemed really good at it.
"Mystery for another time I guess." Luz shrugged with a small smile. "In the meanwhile, I'm going to do a little cocky dance in the spirit of me being able to do something you can't."
Eda began chuckling. "Only a month in and she already had the Clawthorne spirit."
"Has it really only been a month?" Lucci asked. "I feel like we jammed a lot in even with around thirty days."
"It's been a month plus a week." Hooty answered. "I remember because I count every second of every day … one, ten, fourty, thirteen, seventy two, sixty five."
"….Good thing we're heading to Hexide, because I don't want to imagine turning out like that." Luz slowly backed away.
"I still don't see the problem here." Lucci responded. "He always ends up with the right answer." This is why they were friends, they got each other.