At the Owl House, Eda is stirring something in a pot while King watches as Luz is talking on the crystal ball.
"So they said I couldn't remove my thumb, but look at that!" Luz said as she pretends to remove her thumb.
"You sliced it off!" Gus said in a panic, "You sliced off your own thumb!"
"You make doing homework actually fun," Willow said with a chuckle
"And they said humans can't do magic," Luz said
"Luz," King said as he climbed onto the table, "You've been talking to them all morning. Don't forget about the Luz and King comedy hour."
"Please, no. Not the comedy hour. Cruz is lucky to not be here for this," Eda lamented
"This week I've been working with props," King says as he turned around to show he has an empty toilet paper roll on his face. "Oh dear, I've gotten a tube stuck on my nose! Will I ever eat again?" King processed to slam a piece of bread on his face. "Looks like…I'm toast!"
Luz and King both laugh at his bread pun. "It just goes on like this for an hour!" Eda said exasperated as Cruz walked into the kitchen, from the living room, covered in vines.
"What did I walk into?" Cruz asked
"Comedy hour," Eda said pointing towards Luz and King at the table
"Heyo, dough boy, quit loafing around!"
"Why don't you…bake me?" King asked as they both began to laugh
"Why are you covered in vines?" Eda asked as she grabbed a vine hanging from Cruz's shoulder. "I was studying and I found something," Cruz said showing her a piece of paper.
On the paper, a glyph with a line down the center, at the bottom of the line is a circle with a singular dot in the center with two lines coming off of it looking like arms. At the top of the line is an upside down triangle with a line going horizontally in the center.
"A new glyph?" Eda asks looking at the the paper.
"Yeah, and if it wasn't obvious," Cruz began holding up a vine, "It's plant magic. I'm still not sure what combo I can make with it, but I'll be experimenting after school today. I'll also have to clean up the mess I made in the tower," Cruz said sheepishly
"I don't even want to think about what you mean by that," Eda said as the crystal ball that Luz was talking into started to buzz flashing red.
"School time! See you guys in class!" Luz said happily
"Bye!" Willow called out
"But what about the thumb?!" Gus asked in horror as Luz ended the call.
"Looks like another day of potions and healing, I heard from Mx. Drabek that we're gonna be making a freezing potion," Cruz said with a smile as King sighed in disappointment when he heard this.
"Hey don't worry. We'll finish up our comedy hour when I get home," Luz said kissing the top of King's head as Cruz patted the top of it.
"Hee hee. Oh you!" King said waving his hands in embarrassment.
"Try not to miss us while we're gone," Luz said in a sing song fashion as she and Cruz left closing the door behind them. King quickly scrambled towards the door.
"You….you really think they're coming back this time?" King asked
"Yes, they'll be back. They always come back. It's cute you miss 'em though," Eda said as started to stir the pot again.
"The King of demons," King began to say before throwing off the piece of bread and tube from his face. "The King of demons misses nobody! I wouldn't care if they came through this door right now!" Suddenly the door was pushed open as King was pushed aside as Luz and Cruz stood at the door.
"Hey you're-"
"You're back!" King interrupted as he climbed onto the top of Luz's head. "I didn't miss you at all."
"Apparently there's an infestation of pixies at Hexside, so school's been canceled," Luz explained with a smile.
"Would've been nice to know that before we left, but oh well," Cruz said
"That sounds like a….crumby situation," King joked as he and Luz laughed at the pun while Cruz face palmed.
"And comedy hour continues. Hooray," Cruz said weakly as Hooty slithered into the kitchen.
"Hey! Guess what's been in my mouth that I'm about to throw up!" Hooty said as he began to gag as everyone looks at him in disgust. He then throws up multiple letters along with a large box. "The mail!"
Eda picks up all of the letters from the floor before she begins to go through them. "Junk, junk, death hex." As Eda throws the death hex into the trash, it condenses into itself disappearing with purple particles.
"Oh, a carnival's in town today!" Eda says, holding up flyer.
"A carnival?" Luz questions happily as she grabes King from the top of her head. "You know, I've been so busy with school lately, what do you say we take this comedy hour on tour? It'll be a Luz and King day!"
"That's my kinda day! Cruz can join us too!" King declared happily
"Sounds like a good way to relax after so much experimenting," Cruz said as Luz wrapped an arm around him and Eda. "Let's all four of us go!"
"An adventure with friends! I'll go pack my stuff!" Hooty said as he left the room
"Carnivals bring crowds and crowds bring suckers. This could be the perfect chance to try out my new get-witch-quick scheme," Eda said as she took out her staff, which she'd been using to stir the pot, before flicking off the gunk from it cleaning Owlbert. "I'm in! To the carnival!"
"To the carnival!" they all cheered before running out the back door as Eda slammed the door behind her.
"Good news," Hooty said as he came back into the room wearing a straw hat, a pair of yellow sunglasses, and a green camera along with a bit of sun screen on his beak. "I'm bringing my knapsack full of games! Hello?"
He began to look around in confusion as a fly buzzed near him. "Oh, a fly! Talk to me, talk to me!" he said as he began to chase the fly.
"Well, here we are, kids. Look all that fresh meat," Eda said as the four arrived at the Bonesborough carnival. As they looked around, multiple witches and demons were walking around enjoying the carnival. One demon was eating what looked like an entire fried chicken as flies buzzed around it.
"And smell all that fresh meat!" Luz said as she took a deep breath before a fly went up her nose chocking her as she coughed it out of her mouth. "Fun!"
"We've gotta be careful with the food here," Cruz commented looking around.
Owlbert hooted as he started to twist himself off of the staff before Eda stoped him. "No games for you, Owlbert. We've got scams to run," Eda said as he hooted sadly in disappointment.
"Friends! Welcome!" Tibbles, the small pig demon that had tried to scam Eda and the same one who's stand Luz and Cruz crushed, landed in front of the group wearing a ringmaster outfit. The four screamed getting into defensive positions. "I see you got my post card."
"Tibbles? You sent this?" Eda questioned holding up the flyer noticing that on the back it says 'To my Owl House Pals, from Tibbles'. It has a picture of Tibbles on it that dances when she tilts the poster.
"Mm-hmm," he said as he was doing the same little dance that was on the poster.
"Aren't you mad at us for destroying your stand?" Luz asked
"Ooh, and destroying his life! That was the best part!" King added in happily
"Yeah something about generations of work," Cruz commented
"No, no, no. I should thank you. After my stand was destroyed, I reevaluated my life and found my true calling!" Tibbles said as he turned towards the carnival. "I'm now ringmaster of….Tibbles's Tent of Tiny Terrors!" he said cracking a whip into the air presenting his tent.
"Aww. It's like a regular circus but adorably small!" Luz said as she looked into the terrarium containing a pair of tiny unicorns, a tiny manticore, and a tiny griffin. The griffin, not liking Luz being so close, hissed at her. "You're my friends now," Luz said pressing her face onto the glass.
"I don't buy it," Eda said as she put away her staff, "What kind of con are you running?"
"No cons here, Owl Lady, only pros. In fact, why don't we toast our newfound friendship with this totally innocent bottle of water," Tibbles said as he pulled out a bottle filled with pink liquid that was slightly glowing.
Eda promptly snatched the bottle from Tibbles, "Oh yeah, sure! Why don't I just-" Eda began to say before she chucked the bottle behind her hitting a Hexside teacher that was passing by.
"I'm okay," said the teacher
"I know poison when I see it; you can't scam a scammer! Now speaking of scams…" Eda said as she walked up to a stand. "Beat it loser!" she processed to knock down all of the vendors stuff onto the ground scaring them away. "Step right up to…." Eda created a large spell circle transforming the stand, "Eda's Human Horror House! Humans shed their skin and I've got proof," she said as she pulled out a pair of fishnet stockings belonging to Luz and a pair of sweatpants belonging to Cruz.
"You should really put a lock on your closet," King pointed out
"I thought I did," Cruz said looking slightly concerned for his privacy
"You know what, Eda can pick through my socks all she wants," Luz dismissed, "Because today is all about having a great time with my partner in crime."
"That's me! I love crime!" King said happily
"Just remember to not get caught," Cruz pointed out as they all headed towards the carnival.
"Have a good time, friends. While it lasts," Tibbles said ominously from his tent.
At the carnival, multiple different stands were lining the street, one being a dunk tank. "Dunk the skeleton! Win a prize!" said an abomination student as a ball hit the target dunking the skeleton into the water. When the skeleton came out, they were covered in skin.
"Ah! Aah! I'm covered in pores!"
"Now this is my kind of weird! So what do you wanna do first? We could brave the molar coaster, or eat a mysterious blob," Luz said pointing towards a sign.
"Ooh, what's that?" King asked as he ran towards a prize stand, "Ah, some kind of deadly string weapon." King held onto the necklace made of a heart broken into three parts.
"No, silly. That's a friendship bracelet," Luz said
"Is that a type of deadly weapon?"
"A weapon of love," Luz said as she grabbed the pieces putting them together to form a heart. "It's basically a declaration to the whole world that you're the best of friends."
"Ooh! That's way safer than becoming blood brothers! Luz, Cruz, we must have those bracelets!" King declared
"I'd prefer that over any blood rituals," Cruz commented before the vendor grabbed the bracelet from Luz.
"And yoink. Sorry, ma'am. If your bone son wants these bracelets you'll have to play the games and win the tickets. You know, carnival rules," the vendor said
"Beat up the man and steal his things for me," King pleaded as he tugged at Luz.
"Or…let's just play the games," Luz said with a shrug
"Like he said, play by the carnival rules," Cruz said
"Oh, okay," King accepted as the three began to walk away while laughing. "Games! Games! Games! Games!" they began to chant before running into Willow and Gus. "Friends!" Luz said with excitement at seeing them.
"Luz, Cruz!" Willow said
"Hey, you two!" Gus said as they all pulled into a hug. "Oh my gosh, I didn't think I'd see carniv-y'all here" Luz said still in her pun making mode.
"Boo," Gus said with a thumb down
"I can agree with Gus. That was terrible," Cruz said shaking his head
"I got an invitation from Tibbles," Willow said holding up a flyer that was addressed to 'You Other Two'.
"We figured it's a trap since we squashed his stand with a walking house," Gus said as Willow put away the flyer.
"But who cares? This place has a Scarris wheel," Willow said with excitement
"It's like a human Ferris wheel but it gives you long-lasting nightmares," Gus explained
"How does it even do that?" Cruz questioned
"Yes! This mama is ready for trauma," Luz said with a cheer
"Ahem," King said gaining their attentions
"Oh, yeah. We're on a very important quest to win a special prize for King," Luz said, putting a hand on his skull.
"Oh! We can help with that," Willow offered
"Aw. Does the little guy wanna win a prize?" Gus asked as he bent down to King's level. "Uh, does he? Uh, does he?" Gus began to coo at King waving his finger at him before King slapped the finger away.
"You know he's not three, right?" Cruz pointed out, slightly laughing at his friend's antics.
"What do you think, King? The more the merrier, huh?" Luz asked as she and Cruz looked towards him
"Um, sure. Whatever you two want," King said begrudgingly seeing as he wanted to spend more time with both of human friends.
"Alright. Approval!" Luz cheered to Willow and Gus. As they were about to run off to enjoy the carnival, Cruz looked towards one of the stands and noticed a familiar witch.
"Is that who I think it is?" Cruz asked as he took a closer look. "Oh, it is. Hey, Skara!" When Cruz called out to her, the bard turned towards the sound. As she saw the group, she began to walk towards them with a smile on her face.
"Hey, you guys. I didn't know you were coming to this thing too," Skara said
"We could say the same for you. We got an invite from one of the demons that are running a stand," Cruz explained as he held up the flyer that Tibbles had sent them.
"We're pretty sure it's a trap for the time we ruined his stand," Luz explained
"Oh, are you talking about the time you animated a house?" Skara asked, gaining surprised looks from everyone as they turned to Cruz.
"You told her about the time with the moonlight conjuring?" Willow asked
"I didn't mention it, honestly. How'd you hear about that?" Cruz asked
"It was everywhere on Penstagram," Skara said as she took out her scroll. "See." She held up a picture of the four of them standing outside of the Owl House glowing blue from the night of the conjuring.
"Guess someone took our picture," Luz stated
"It was bound to happen with how much noise we were making with Hooty in Bonesborough," Willow commented. As Skara looked towards Willow she began to grow slightly nervous at the chance she was given before a determined look grew on her.
Skara took a deep breath and said, "Hey Willow, can I talk to you real quick?" Willow put on a strained smile as she knew what Skara wanted.
"Actually, we were just about to head towards some games. Maybe later," she said as she looked towards the stands. Skara felt a pang of disappointment but understood Willow's reluctance. "That's alright. Then I'll see you guys back at school," Skara said after a short pause before waving goodbye and heading in the opposite direction.
As Skara walked away Cruz looked towards her before looking back at Willow with a small sad smile. Willow looked at Cruz before giving a sigh as she saw the look on his face. "Listen, I know that I promised I would hear her out, but it's just difficult when I actually see her," Willow explained.
"Hey, I get it. With everything you've gone through, I can't really blame you," Cruz said
Willow looked at Cruz for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Alright, you're right. I'll listen to her. I promise to talk with Skara before the day ends," Willow said as a smile grew on Cruz's face.
"That's great," Cruz said as he looked towards where Skara was headed. "I'll go and make sure she doesn't leave the carnival before talking to you." King looked up at him with a sad look in his eyes. "You're leaving? What about the bracelets?"
Cruz looked back at King before thinking and giving him a smile. "Don't worry about me King. How about this, while I'm looking around, I'll try and win lots of tickets so that we can get those bracelets a lot easier. Doesn't that sound good?"
King gave an uncertain look towards Cruz since he didn't want to have one of his friends leaving him like he'd done so many times for school. "…Sure Cruz, that sounds good," King said after a small pause.
"Alright then I'll see you guys in a bit," Cruz said as he went off to look for Skara. King watched solemnly as one of the people he wanted to spend time with walked away to look for his friend.
"We should go, too," Luz said gaining King's attention. "That's right, there's so many games and rides to go see!" Gus cheerfully said as he, Willow, and Luz all cheered before running off. As the three jog off, King tried to keep up before tripping and, after picking himself up again, ran after them again.
After separating from the group, Cruz began to wander around the carnival trying to see if there were any games he could try and win easy tickets, while also keeping an eye out for Skara. "I wonder what would be a place to start," Cruz said to himself as he finished off a piece of cotton candy, or rotten candy like the sign said.
As he was looking around, Cruz heard what sounded like someone throwing a rubber ball at a tent. When he turned around, he saw that Skara was throwing rubber balls at stacked cups at a stand. He saw that she was trying, and failing, to knock over the cups trying to win one of the prizes hanging above.
As Skara threw another ball, it missed causing her groan in frustration. "And that makes five. Sorry miss, you're all out of tries," said the vendor sounding bored.
"Dang it," Skara said as she fished out her wallet reaching for more snails to try again.
"Mind if I take a shot at it? How much for five shots?" Cruz asked walking up to the stand surprising Skara.
"Five snails a ball," the vendor said
"Cruz! What are you doing here? I thought you were looking around with Luz and your friends?"
"I was going to, but I wanted to make sure you didn't leave before Willow got to talk to you today," Cruz explained as he took out a few snails. The vendor handed Cruz the ball, and he stepped up to the game booth, ready to take his shots.
"Wait, so she's actually going to listen to me?" Skara asked smiling that she was going to have a chance to talk to Willow.
"Yeah, she is. Willow told me herself a little earlier," Cruz said looking towards the stand. "I'm guessing that I've gotta knock over the cups to win the prize?" Skara nodded at him. "Seems pretty much the same as the game in the human realm."
"It sounds simple, but I haven't been able to knock anything over yet."
"Maybe you've just been unlucky. Let me see if I can get a good shot in." Cruz looked towards the cups before reeling his arm back and throwing the ball like a baseball knocking over the cups.
"Alright! Looks like I got pretty lucky," Cruz said with a smile. "Congratulations, you get a choice of a stuffed animal," the vendor said pointing towards the stuffed animals hanging from a rope.
Cruz thought about it for a moment before turning back towards Skara. "How about you pick one, I don't really want one to be honest," Cruz said surprising her.
"Are you sure? I mean you did win it fair and square."
"Yeah I'm sure," Cruz said with a smile, "If I grab one, I'm pretty sure that King would just claim it for his growing army." Skara giggled as she imagined the small demon claiming any prize that Cruz brought home with him.
"In that case…" Skara looked over the prizes before finding one that caught her eye. "That one," Skara pointed towards a stuffed animal that looked like a brown platypus.
After the vendor gave the platypus to Skara, Cruz looked at the stuffed animal as she was hugging it slightly. "Huh, didn't know platypus were on the Boiling Isles," Cruz commented.
"I never seen any, but according to my dad, they used to be all over the place. I think he said that they all disappeared a long time ago."
"That's weird, I guess they must've gone to the human realm just like giraffes," Cruz said surprising Skara as the two began to walk away from the stand.
"Wait, so they're all in the human realm?"
"I guess, I know they live in the wild back home. Never really thought about it much, it does make some sense that they come from the demon realm."
As the two kept talking, they stopped at multiple stands with all sorts of games winning tickets so that Cruz could help King get his bracelets. "Hey do want to get some rotten candy?" Cruz asked as they passed by the rotten candy cart.
"That sounds great!" Skara said happily as they walked up the cart. "I'll take two," Cruz said as he took out a few snails and gave them to the vendor to pay for the candy.
"Here you go, rotten candy for the kid and his girlfriend" said the vendor handing the candy to Cruz. When Cruz heard what the vendor said a blush formed on his face.
"W-what? No, she's not my girlfriend. She's my friend," stammered Cruz as he grabbed the candy before handing one to Skara trying not to look at her from embarrassment. What he didn't notice was that a smaller blush had formed Skara's face as well as she grabbed it from him.
When she grabbed the rotten candy from him, she noticed that his right hand was wrapped in a bandage. "Hey, what happened to your hand?"
Cruz looked back at his hand and realized he'd forgotten to take off his bandages. "Oh, my hand got burned a bit from my duel with Boscha," Cruz explained
"Wait, I thought you two decided not to have that duel anymore after the basilisk attack?"
"We did but, about two days ago, when we were making a led foot potion I ended up making it better than her again and that managed to tick her off. So she challenged me to another duel after school that day."
"How did that go?"
"Well…" Cruz said as he began to remember the duel that day.
At the Grudgby field, Cruz was standing in the center with Boscha standing a few feet in front of him while Luz, Willow, and Gus watched the two.
"Alright, so are we making the same deal here for our duel?" Cruz asked as he grabbed a few potions out of the bag for the duel.
"That's right, the same deal we made the other day. The loser admits that the winner is the better potion maker. And if you lose then you carry my things as my lackey," Boscha said smugly.
"I remember, but if you lose, then you can't bother my sister anymore or call her a loser," Cruz said as he took off his gauntlets and handed them to Luz.
"Are you sure you don't need them?" Luz asked
"Yeah, I won't be able to use them anyway. We both agreed on only using potions for this duel. Don't want to accidentally activate them and have her try and use that to justify winning the duel with a technicality," Cruz said as he walked back towards the field.
"I hope he knows what he's doing," Gus said nervously
"He'll be fine, we all know that Cruz can handle himself just fine in a fight," Willow reassured her two friends
"Alright since we're using the field for a duel, I went ahead and turned off all of the fields traps. That way neither of us is going to end up falling into them," Boscha said as she created a small spell circle summoning a bottle filled with a red potion.
"Huh, so that's how potion magic works. I figured it was going to be more than just analyzing stuff."
"Well, duh. This is what a real witch can do. Not just carry them all around in a bag like you do. I'm surprised that your potions aren't breaking in that ugly bag of yours," Boscha mocked
"Oh, funny," Cruz said rolling his eyes as he pulled out a bottle filled with a green colored potion. "Let's get this over with, I've got some potions I have to make when I get back home."
"Sure we can get started. It's going to be over quick," Boscha said as she threw her potion where Cruz was standing. As the potion flew into the air, Cruz jumped back as it landed making a splash and causing a pool of fire to form on the ground.
'Note to self, they have incendiary bombs here. Looks like it doesn't have that big of a radius. About three feet if I have to give a rough guess. Easy enough to dodge.' Cruz thought to himself as he threw his own potion at Boscha.
As the potion landed making a splash, Boscha jumped out of the way as the potion created a sticky web on the ground.
'I figured she was going to be able to dodge that. She's fast, I'll have to test out the waters to see what she can actually do' Cruz grabbed more sticky potions from his bag before throwing them into the air.
Boscha looked up as the potions fell straight down before running in zig-zags, dodging them all as they fell onto the ground. She quickly made a spell circle summoning three more bottles of her fire potion before throwing them.
Before the bottles could land, Cruz threw a couple of sticky potions intercepting them in the air. "Alright! Go Cruz!" Luz cheered out with Gus who'd taken out flags from somewhere.
'Only using sticky potions isn't going to get me anywhere. I have to try something else if I want to win.' Cruz pulled down his goggles before he reached into his bag before pulling out a few explosive potions and his fog brews.
As the fog brews landed on the ground, it created a thick yellow mist covering the field blocking the view of everyone. 'Alright, I should be good to move around now' Cruz thought to himself as he activated the heat signature reading on his goggles and saw that Boscha was standing looking around.
As he got closer to her, Cruz took out a sticky potion, getting ready to trap her and stop her from moving. Before he was able to get too close, Cruz noticed that Boscha had summoned another bottle. The bottle was giving off a heat signature and when she threw it onto the ground, Cruz jumped back to avoid any effect it would do.
The potion that Boscha had thrown was an explosive potion like Cruz's. The blast managed to clear out the smoke that was covering the field. "Oh come on," Cruz said in frustration.
"Did you really think only you had those explosive potions?" Boscha asked as she summoned three more bottles.
"You know what, that's fair," Cruz admitted as Boscha threw two of the bottles she'd summoned.
'Those won't reach me at all' Cruz thought to himself before realization hit him before the bottles hit the ground. "Oh, shoot!" The bottles exploded causing a large explosion of heat. With his goggles still turned on, the heat from the potions caused a large flash to apear in front of him essentially blinding him.
"You've gotta be-" Cruz quickly took off his goggles trying to have his vision clear up. When he was able to see again, he saw that a bottle was flying towards him before it hit the ground near his right hand.
The potion exploded, causing a large sticky web to wrap around his hand and his bag covering them completely. "Now what are you going to do with out your potions? You've lost this one," Boscha taunted as she began to walk up towards him with a smirk.
As she began to walk towards him, Cruz pulled on his hand trying, and failing, to pull it out of the sticky webbing. 'Gotta think. There's gotta be something I can do here.' Cruz thought before remembering something about his own sticky potion.
Using his free hand, Cruz reached into his pocket before pulling out a vial filled with a bit of his fire breath potion. Using his teeth he uncorked it before drinking the potion. With the liquid going down his throat, it felt like he'd drank blistering hot water mixed with chili peppers. Cruz took a breath before blowing onto his webbed up hand hopping that he wouldn't regret this at all.
As he blew out, flames came out of his mouth landing on the webbing as they began to burn off the ones surrounding his hand and bag. "Geez, that hurt!" Cruz said as he pulled away his hand noticing that it was burned a bit with his hand turning red.
Cruz looked back towards Boscha as she began to summon another potion, before she could throw it, Cruz took out an explosive potion throwing it near her forcing Boscha to jump away. As she landed from her jump, Cruz took out a few sticky potions and threw them at the ground covering her legs before he took out, and threw, three more potions covering both of her arms.
"Looks like it's checkmate for you," Cruz said with a smirk as he took out an explosive potion from his bag.
"You really think I can't get out of this?" Boscha questioned
"Considering that you summon your potions using spell circles, and you can't use any right now because your hands are all tied up, I'd say…yeah I win." Cruz smirked at her as he approached holding his explosive potion in his left hand.
As Boscha continued to struggle Cruz kept getting closer until he was only a few feet away from him. "Now then, I've got an explosive potion that's not going to miss and you've got nothing up you're sleeve. Give up?"
Boscha looked at Cruz with a scowl before letting out a sigh. "Fine, you win. I give up."
"That's great to hear!" Cruz said happily as he began to walk back toward his friends. "Oh yeah I should let you out of there shouldn't I?"
"I've got it," Willow said as she made a green spell circle growing vines from the ground cutting the webbing from Boscha's hands and feet. Boscha stood up before looking at Cruz with a scowl. "Fine I admit it, you're a better potion maker. Happy now?"
"Yeah, a bit. Come one you guys let's go home. I've got some burns I've gotta treat," Cruz said as they all looked at his hand.
"I'm pretty sure that Eda's got something for that," Luz said as the quartet began to head towards the Owl House.
"And that's pretty much how it went down," Cruz said as he finished telling his story as he and Skara were sitting on a bench.
"That's amazing! Usually Boscha ties people up with her sticky potion to win a duel, but you completely showed her up by using her own strategy!" Skara said in excitement. Cruz chuckled as he saw how excited she was with his win.
"It's a pretty good strategy, I've gotta admit. I was actually going to use the smoke to trap her, but she ended up blowing it away, so I had to change tactics a bit."
"That makes sense, Boscha can be pretty aggressive when it comes to her magic. I guess it comes from her Grudgby practice," Skara said. "Guess when you put it that way, it does make sense. Hopefully she'll keep her end of the bargain about leaving Luz alone."
"Maybe you should've tried making an everlasting oath to make sure of it," Skara pointed out
Cruz thought about it for a second before he realized his mistake. "Dang it, you're right. There's nothing stopping Boscha from going back on her word. And I should've made sure she didn't mess with Willow anymore either," Cruz said letting out a frustrated groan at his oversight.
"Yeah that would've been good too," Skara said as she looked ahead and saw that Luz was looking around the stands.
"Hey, isn't that your sister?" Skara pointed out
Cruz looked up to where Skara was pointing before seeing Luz. "You're right, but what's she doing alone?"
"You're right, I thought she would've been with Willow, Gus, and King. I think she's looking for something. Should we go look?"
"Yeah, let's go see what's wrong," Cruz said as the two stood up before walking towards Luz. "Luz!" Cruz called out gaining her attention.
"Oh, Cruz! There you are! We've got a problem," Luz said as she walked towards the two looking like she was holding something.
"What's wrong? Where are the others? And what are you holding?" Cruz asked pointing to Luz's hands. "Well…I got one answer for all those questions," Luz said as she opened her hands to reveal a shrunken Willow and Gus.
"Okay…I admit…I didn't see that coming," Cruz said as he and Skara looked at the two in surprise. "What happened to you two?" Skara asked
"King sprayed us with some kind of liquid from his bag, and then we shrunk down," Willow explained.
"Can you fix this?" Luz asked
"If it was a liquid that shrunk you two, then it has to be a shrink potion. That's some pretty advanced stuff. King shouldn't have anyway to get his hands on that stuff. I've never made any, but I might have an idea on how to reverse it," Cruz said
"You do? Does that mean we'll be alright?" Gus asked hopeful
"First things first, we'll have to get King to answer a few questions on where he got the stuff. I think I might know where he got it from."
"I think I saw him heading towards the fun house. I was just there, let's go look," Luz said as she headed towards the fun house.
"Right behind you, sorry Skara looks like I've got some issues I've gotta deal with," Cruz said.
"I'm coming too, maybe I can help with something," Skara suggested. Cruz thought about it for a second before nodding. "Alright, let's go then," Cruz said as the two followed after Luz into the fun house.
Inside of the fun house the three were looking around trying to spot King before Skara saw him at the end of a hall. "There he is," Skara said pointing towards King, who was looking at his reflections in amusement.
"King!" Luz called gaining his attention.
"Luz there you are. And Cruz is with you. Good news, I got the bracelets," King said holding up the bracelets.
"King…" Luz said as she revealed Willow and Gus to a surprised King.
"You splashed us with a shrinking potion," Willow said
"And now I can't go on any of the big boy rides. You monster," Gus said in frustration.
"Y-you weren't supposed to shrink. You, you were supposed to disappear. Ooh, no. Wait," King said as he realized what he'd said
"What?!" Luz exclaimed in surprise
"King, that's not better at all you know," Cruz pointed out. "You have to tell us who gave you that potion."
"No, no, no. Luz, Cruz, I can explain. I wanted to win the bracelets and there was this psychic, see?" King said holding up a purple bottle with a nozzle on the top.
"That must be what did it," Luz said as she set Willow and Gus onto the ground. "Give me the spray bottle, King."
"No, wait I-I-I gotta explain," King said hugging the bottle as Luz, Cruz, and Skara walked towards him. "There's nothing to explain," Luz said as she tried to grab the bottle from him.
"I was just trying to-"
"Shrink my friends?" Luz asked angrily as she and King began to play tug-of-war with the bottle
"I was just trying to solve my problems," King said as the bottle slipped from their hands splashing the three when it hit the ground.
"Uh-oh," they all said as they shrank down. Willow and Gus walked up to the three of them waving. "Hi," Willow and Gus greeted blankly.
"Wait, I can fix it. Obvioso showed me how. Behold," King said as he tapped his cheek several times. "Why isn't it working?"
"I'd say it's working quite well," Tibbles said as he approached the group with a sinister look. Cruz glared as Tibbles approached them.
Tibbles was walking toward his tent holding the six in his hand as King continues to tap on his cheek. "Um, Luz. I think King is broken," Gus said
"Tapping my cheeks is supposed to turn us normal. The psychic told me," King explained
"Oh, did he? But, what if he... lied to you from the start?" Tibbles said spinning a spell circle creating a small puff of smoke putting on a mustache while holding a pointed hat. "Hold on." Tibbles put on his pointed hat. "Lied to you from the start? It's different."
"You fiend. When Obvioso finds out you stole his mustache...Oh..." King said in realization as Gus facepalmed.
"The potion was designed by me. Guess whose cheeks control it?"
"I swear I'm going to turn you into bacon," Cruz said angrily
"Why are you doing this?" Luz questioned
Tibbles ripped of his mustache. "When you destroyed my stand, you destroyed generations of Grimm Hammer history. Now it's time to pay," Tibbles said as he walked into the tent before throwing them into a terrarium.
"Welcome to the greatest show on the Boiling Isles!" Tibbles said as he faced a cheering crowd causing the group to gasp.
"Will these witches and demon survive feeding time? Let's find out!" Tibbles rings a bell as snarling is heard from the tent of tiny terror as the animals begin to walk out. One of the unicorns looks at the group with a friendly look in its eye.
"Aw. At least he's still my friend," Luz said happily before the unicorn neighs at them angrily. "That's how friends react."
The tiny animals begin to advance towards the group. "You ruined my livelihood. So now, you'll feed my livelihood," Tibbles said as he twirled his finger magnifying the terrarium for the crowd to see. "Place your bets, and enjoy the show."
Cruz quickly took out his staff as Skara summoned her harp. "You think you can put them to sleep with a spell?" Cruz asked looking towards Skara. "Not really, I don't have that spell down just yet," Skara admitted.
"Guess we'll have to play defense for a bit, get behind me. I can at least scare them with some lighting," Cruz said as he gripped onto the staff as bits of electricity began to form on the end of his staff.
"Well, if I have to go, at least I'm with my best friends," Gus said before looking at King angrily, "And King."
"Not sure if I really count as a best friend," Skara pointed out
"Look out," Cruz said, grabbing Skara out of the way as a unicorn lunged at them. "Alright, so they can handle lightning. Noted."
Outside of the terrarium, Eda, who'd gotten busted by the fun police, was selling candy crab apples. "Caramel Crab Apples. Get 'em hot and pinchy," Eda said annoyed
"Hey, over here!"
"Yeah, yeah," Eda said before one of the crab apples pinched her, "Hold your spider-horses."
Inside of the terrarium, Gus created an illusion of a vacuum cleaner making the animals jump back in fear. "How did the Lightning not work?" Cruz asked dumbfounded
Willow summoned vines to grab onto the water holder before pulling it down. The manticore steps on the vacuum illusion making it pop. Luz quickly tossed King over the water holder before running behind it as Cruz and Skara helped pulled Willow and Gus behind water holder before the manticore ran into it.
"We've gotta-" Luz began to say as the manticore began to ram into the water holder, "-find a way out of here!"
King looked around as the unicorn opened and closed it mouth near Willow before running to the other side and trying the same with Gus. He looked as Luz narrowly ducked under the manticores paw before Cruz smacked the paw away using his staff with it still having a bit of lightning while standing protectively over the group.
"Ah, King, you idiot. This is all your fault," King said to himself before pulling out the friendship bracelets. "But I think I know how to fix it."
King quickly ran from out of the cover as a unicorn watched him before chasing after him.
"King?" Luz questioned with worry as they all came out from hiding
"Get back here," Cruz called out with equal worry
"Willow, Gus, I'm sorry for poofing you. And Luz, I'm sorry for taking you away your friends. And Cruz I'm sorry not listening to your warning about potions," King said as the animals began to approach him. "I know you'll both eventually go home and now you're spending more time at school. I just...wanna be around you!" King exclaimed as Luz and Cruz looked at each other in shock. King quickly dodged the animals as they dove towards him before climbing onto the rim of the cage.
From the stands, the crowd began to boo at the show as Tibbles lifted a snail that was covering his eye. "No refunds," he said before he heard the animals whimpering. He turned towards the screen to see that the unicorn and the manticore were laying on the ground.
From atop the rim of the cage, King looked towards Tibbles. "Alright. I only have one shot," he said as he threw the bracelets hitting Tibbles on the cheek.
"Darn flies," Tibbles said tapping his cheek before realizing wha he'd done. "Oh, no." A purple glow began to surround the six of them.
Back at the stands Eda is dealing with the annoyed crowd. "Hey, hey. No discounts, buddy," Eda told a customer as they continued to boo.
"You guys owe me. There's nothing happening in this show."
"Not a single one of those dumb kids have gotten hurt yet."
"Dumb kids?" Eda asked as she looked towards the screen before her eyes widened before they narrowed angrily. "Those are my dumb kids!"
The six all grow back to normal size as the terrarium and barrel broke. The six look at each other before letting out a relieved sigh. From behind them, the animals that were with them grew back into their normal sizes as well.
"You shrunk the animals too?" Luz asked annoyed. "It's the Tent of Tiny Terrors. Something needed to be tiny," Tibbles said matter of factly
"That is just messed up," Skara pointed out as the crowd began to boo. "Finish the job! Get them kids," a crowd member said to the confused animals.
"Feast!" a Hexside student yelled out as they threw a Crab Apple at the bulkiest unicorn's mouth. The unicorn ate the Crab Apple looking very happy. All of the animals growled at the crowed shutting them up as two audience members looked at each with worry. The buff unicorn whinnies and raised its hoof in command of the other animals. The animals all charge forward as the crowd flees in terror screaming.
"They…foiled my plans!" Tibbles says angrily glaring at them, "You will pay for this." Tibbles quickly pulled out a bottle of his shrink potion. "This time I'm gonna personally squash you!" Eda walks up behind Tibbles taking his bottle from him.
"Oh, no, Tibbles. That's not how entertainment work," she said tossing the bottle as Cruz caught it. "The bad guy always gets his just desserts." Eda dumped all of her remaining Crab Apples onto Tibbles.
"Oh, no! Not desserts!"
"Hey, girls," Eda called out to the animals, "This one's on the house."
The animals all look at him as the buff unicorn crunched on an apple. Tibbles looked down and realized he was covered head to toe in their new favorite food. "I'd suggest running as fast as those little legs can take you," Skara said to him as he took off running with the animals chasing him.
"Looks like we ruined his life for a second time," Willow pointed out
"We're on a roll," Gus said with a mischievous look in his eyes.
"Although, it's a shame I couldn't turn him into bacon," Cruz said shaking his head
"Gus, Willow, you're okay!" King said happily before looking at Skara. "A-and you're okay too…" King said drawing a blank on her name
"It's Skara," Cruz said knowing that King didn't really remember her name. "All thanks to you King," Luz said as she and Cruz kneeled down to his level. "Here." She handed him the bracelets now broken into five pieces. "It was all that was left."
King took the piece looking at them sadly. "It's…it's okay. Because now there's a piece for everybody," King said as he held out two pieces hesitantly towards Gus and Willow. "If you'll accept it, that is."
Willow and Gus both smile at him. "Thank you King," Willow said as she took her piece.
"Yeah. I've always wanted to own a jagged piece of cheap metal," Gus taking his as well. Skara watched the friends knowing that she wouldn't get one since, in this group, she was the odd one out.
"That's very sweet," Luz said as she picked him up with Cruz patting him on the skull.
"I'm sorry, you two. Demons do crazy things when they've been missing somebody," King apologized. "Don't worry about it King," Cruz reassured him.
"And can we tell you a secret too?" Luz asked in a whisper, "We've been missing you too." Luz kissed his skull earning a giggle from King.
"She's right you know, I'll make you something to make up for not helping out with the bracelets," Cruz said
"You've got a deal. Hey, we still have a few hours of carnival left. Wanna hit those bumper carcasses?" King asked
"You bread my mind," Luz joked, earning a laugh from King. "Yes! Bread puns! Bread puns forever!" King exclaimed happily as Luz set him on the ground.
"That pun just hurt me so badly," Cruz said shaking his head.
"You coming, Eda?" Luz asked as she turned to look at the witch who was laying on a pile of snails.
"Nah. I think I got everything I wanted," she said as the audience bleachers behind her collapsed. "Yep. Another great year at the carnival."
As the group was about to head back out towards the games, Skara quickly called out to Willow. "Hey, Willow. Can we talk real quick?" Willow looked back towards Skara knowing exactly what she was planning to say. Willow took a deep breath before looking her and replying, "Alright, I'll listen to you Skara."
"Are you sure you don't want us to stay, Willow?" Gus asked her with slight worry. Willow looked back at her friends before giving them a smile. "It's alright, Gus. I've put this off for long enough. It's about time I face it," Willow said as she signaled for Skara to follow her out of the tent.
"You think she'll be alright?" Luz asked with slight worry. "She's going to be fine, we all know that Willow is a tough witch," Cruz reassured as they watched their friend walk out of the tent.
Outside of the tent, Willow and Skara walked to a part where they noticed that no one was passing by. Willow stood in front of Skara with her arms crossed, as Skara looked at Willow nervously.
"I promised I would hear you out, and that's what I'm planing to do, Skara," Willow said to the bard.
Skara took a deep breath, readying herself before beginning. "Let me just start off with saying how sorry I am for everything I've ever said to you. I'm talking about calling you half-a-witch, I know this might sound dumb but I honestly thought that we were all just having fun with teasing. It didn't even cross my mind that I was involved with bullying you. It doesn't make it right at all by saying that, and it's not an excuse either."
"In all honesty, I'm not sure if you'll ever want to be friends with someone like me. But if you think you can ever give me a chance, I can say for sure that I'd like to try. But if you won't want to, I can completely understand and I'll accept your decision. Willow, you're not a half-a-witch, I saw your plant magic in there. It was so amazing what you could do with it. You're a very powerful witch," Skara said looking towards Willow with a small smile.
Willow stayed quiet for a minute before she took a deep breath preparing herself to reply to what Skara had said. "Skara, ever since we've been little kids you and Boscha have constantly harassed me for not being a good witch. I get that maybe you thought it was just fun and games for a bit, but for years did you really think it was nothing more than just teasing with how I always reacted?" Willow asked as Skara looked down. "You're right that it doesn't make it right, but I can see that you're genuinely sorry for what you've said to me. I'm not sure if we can be friends, but with what you've said to me…it's a start."
"I know that Cruz sees you as a friend, so maybe I'll give you a chance too. We'll have to see where it takes us," Willow said as Skara looked up to Willow giving her a small smile.
"Thank you for giving me a chance, I promise I'll try to make up for everything I've done. If I see Boscha try something with you, I'll help you out," Skara said to her.
"Won't that just make her angry?" Willow asked
"Maybe, but I can handle an angry Boscha no problem," Skara reassured her
"Alright, if you say so," Willow said with a smile as she jerked her thumb towards the side of the tent. "We should tell our audience we're done." Skara looked towards where Willow was pointing and saw that Gus, Luz, and Cruz quickly ducked behind the tent.
"Guys! Are you seriously spying on us?" Skara asked shaking her head in amusement
"….No?" Luz said from behind the tent
"Don't answer her, Luz!" Gus chastised
"Seriously! Ever heard of being subtle?" Cruz asked as he walked from behind the tent holding King.
"You were listening too, King?" Willow asked
"I was just waiting for you to finished so we could go to the carcasses," King explained
Willow and Skara looked at each other before giggling. "Sounds like the little guy wants to get to the games," Skara said
"You're right, let's not keep him waiting. Come one, you guys. Let's go," Willow said as the group headed off to the games. As the group headed towards the games, Skara felt much lighter now that she'd said her piece and was hopefully on a good road with her friends.
Back at the Owl House, Hooty was talking to the fly he'd found earlier. "Boy, fly, we sure get into some wacky hijinks, don't we?" Hooty asked the fly as the door opened behind him as Luz, Cruz, Eda, and King peeked inside. "Sure feel sorry for anyone that missed seeing us two rabble-rousers getting into scrapes." They all decided to close the door and head back later not wanting to deal with Hooty when he was being….Hooty.
"Good thing I brought a camera. Yep. Hooty and fly. Together forever. You and me. Every single day-" Hooty began to say before the fly flew into his mouth causing him to cough. "Now I know what friendship taste like. Yum…taste like a bug."