[Meanwhile...in the Boiling Isles.]
In a small cottage located at the edge of a forest, a Hispanic girl with short brown hair smiled as she walked out of her room.
She was feeling excited (and a little nervous) as tonight she had a big date with her new girlfriend.
As she was walking down a hallway, she noticed something odd. There was a light shining upstairs
from a door that had ALWAYS remained shut since she first arrived in the Demon Realm over three months ago.
Walking up the stair, she inspected the now opened door...and saw her mentor inside it.
"Eda?" spoke the girl.
Eda turned to look at her pupil. "oh...hey luz."
"what's...going on?" asked Luz, puzzled.
"oh...nothing. I just-(*deep sigh*)" Eda set something down, and sat on a chair.
"ever since I adopted King, and gained more control over my curse...I've been thinking about my 'OTHER' son lately."
"you mean Oliver?" spoke Luz.
"yes...Olivier." said Eda, frowning. "I...I moved his things in the basement for safekeeping.
BUT, I think I really did that so I wouldn't have to think about him so much."
Eda then grasped her face, feeling great guilt. "Titan, I miss him so much...but I just can't forget him."
Luz frowned, feeling a little guilty herself as she started thinking about her own mother.
Eda then got up, and set up a bed with sheets that looked dusty.
"It was wrong of me to store all of this way like he was never coming back." continued Eda.
"Not when I now know that he is okay, and with that Boonchuy girl that we met in that frog world."
Luz smiled as she remembered that day she met Anne Boonchuy.
It was quite a long time ago, She was experimenting with Glyph magic
to re-create a portal back to Earth due to Emperor Belos now having Eda's portal door.
It was a One-on-a-Million chance, with no guarantee of even working properly.
And, while it DID transport her and Eda to another realm...it WASN'T the Human Realm.
It was some alternate reality populated by humanoid frogs called 'Amphibia.'
There she met Anne, a human girl like herself who ended up stranded there.
They fought a monster...and ALSO learned of the fate of Eda's lost son' Olivier Clawthorne.
That he was in Amphibia too (and once more was Anne's new boyfriend!)
Eda was so happy, and wanted to see Olivier...BUT that was when Luz' Glyph Combo spell wore off.
Both Luz and Eda were transported back to the Boiling Isles, never getting the chance to see Olivier.
Eda was depressed for a whole week after that...
But she took some comfort in knowing that her missing son was not only still alive,
but was also trying to find a way to return to his own world just like Luz was.
While Luz was sad that her attempt at a portal spell had failed,
she was glad to had met Anne...AND that she gave Eda the one thing she needed: HOPE.
"I am certain he will be back before we know it." said Luz.
Eda smiled and nodded. "Yep...he will. And, he'll need his room in one piece when he does!"
"Need any help?" asked Luz.
"uhh...Yeah, in that box over there are some of his books" said Eda.
"Place them back in that shelf over there, doesn't matter which order."
Luz nodded, and proceeded with her task. Despite her smile though,
she had her own concerns over Olivier that she did her best to hide from Eda.
Afterall...She was having her own problems getting back to her own world,
and she couldn't simply replicate the totally random spell that got her to Amphibia, either.
Regardless, Luz promised herself that she WOULD find a way to bring Eda's son home.
Not just for Eda's sake, but because Olivier could be a great help in the fight against Emperor Belos.
With both Eda and Lilith's magic weaker due to them sharing Eda's curse,
Luz knew that they would need all the help they could get to stop the so-called 'Day of Unity.'
(and based on the stories that both Clawthorne sister had told of this Olivier, He sound like a powerful witch.)
"hey...what are these books?" spoke Luz, picking up two books. "they look weird."
Eda looked to see Luz holding up two identical looking books in both hands.
They were dark red in color, and bore a golden, six-fingered hand symbol upon the covers.
One had a [1] branded upon it, while the other had a [3] on it.
"oh...those. they are tomes of 'human magic' written by the brother of one of my ex-boyfriends." explained Eda.
"I found those not long after Olivier first vanished on his thirteenth birthday over three months ago."
"HUMAN MAGIC!?" exclaimed Luz, getting excited. "THIS IS GREAT!, These could help us to-!"
"no, they can't." said Eda. "I mean...I did find blueprints for some kind of Portal Machine in them.
But without the Second Volume, it is useless. And unfortunately, I gave Olivier *THAT* tome before he disappeared."
Luz scowled as she looked at the books again. "crab baskets."
"keep them together, anyway." said Eda. "Olivier might like them.
AND, if he still has that second tome with him, they might help us afterall."
Luz frowned as she put the two books away. While she hoped what Eda said was true,
she couldn't help but feel like their progress had been One step forward, but THREE steps backwards.
Eda sighed as she stopped, and cracked her back...LOUDLY.
"I'm gonna go down and get more of Olivier's things."
"Okay. I'll just stay here and keep putting things away."
Eda winked and gave Luz 'double-finger guns'. "that's ma' girl."
Eda soon left, leaving Luz to continued with her task of putting things away.
She stopped for a moment to examine the room, and smiled as she imagined
what it must've been like for Olivier to grow up in the Owl House, with Eda as his mom.
While Luz did love her own mother with all her heart...she did often view Eda as a 'second mom.'
(and as such, she regarded Olivier as a 'missing brother' that she couldn't wait to meet some day.)
Luz imagined what it must've been like for Olivier to live in this room.
To wake up, have breakfast made by Eda, go to Hexside and just live in this magical place.
Luz would never admit it...but she was a 'tad' bit envious of Olivier.
Not only having a 'cool mom', and an awesome life...but no doubt having a fantastic adventure of his own.
She couldn't wait to meet him, so they could both have an adventure together!
"Um...he-hello." spoke a small voice.
Luz looked to see a familiar face at the open door. "AMITY!" Luz ran up, and hugged her new girlfriend
(which made the lavender haired witch blush beet red.) "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon!"
The witch girl blushed, brushing her hair aside. "ye-yeah, well...I-"
Amity then paused as she examined the room Luz was in..it felt familiar.
"what is...this?" spoke Amity.
"Oh, I am helping Eda move Oliver's stuff back in his room." said Luz.
Amity froze, turning pale upon hearing that name "...ol-olivier?"
"Yeah, Eda's son." said Luz. "He went missing before I arrived here. This was his room."
Amity stared at the interior of the room...a distressed expression on her face.
"What's wrong, Amit-" just then, Luz noticed something.
Poking out from underneath the bed was mildly damaged looking box.
Curious, Luz knelt down and pulled out the box and laid it onto the bed.
Luz then noticed the words [TRASH] scribbled crudely onto the box.
"Hmm...how odd." mused Luz, as she opened the box.
To Luz' surprised, the contents of the box did look like 'trash' at all.
In fact, the items looked mighty personal, with some even being old photos.
But Luz' eyes widened upon seeing what was pictured in the photographs.
It was a much younger looking Olivier...and Amity Blight,
looking no different from Willow Park's own memories of her.
Luz then looked at her girlfriend. "amity. did...did you KNOW Oliver?!"
Amity grimaced, looking more awkward than she usually did around Luz. "...uhh, I-I-"
(("AHEM."))
Luz and Amity looked to see Eda had returned with another box of stuff.
Eda looked down at Amity with the COLDEST gaze that Luz had ever seen.
"If you are here for your date with Luz...I *insist* you wait downstairs." said Eda, icily.
Amity looked down, sadly. "y-yes, ms. clawthorne."
As Amity walked out of the room...Luz gave Eda a very 'Luzian' expression at her mentor. "eda..."
"yeah?" spoke Eda, as she resumed carrying boxes into the room.
"what?!" exclaimed Luz.
"Sorry, kid. I know she's your girl and all...(*sets a box down*) but you KNOW how I feel about the Blights."
"well...YEAH, but I thought things were different with Amity." said Luz.
"Heck, I even found this box of stuff showing that she and Oliver were frien-"
"titan dammit-HOOTY!" exclaimed Eda, suddenly.
In that instant, an 'Owl' with a long, serpentine neck popped out of literal nowhere.
"YES, EDA!?" spoke the cheerful house demon.
"WHY is that still here!?" said Eda, pointing at the 'Amity Box'.
"Well-"
"Basement...NOW." said Eda, sternly.
Hooty nodded...and sucked up the box and it's contents like a vacuum cleaner.
Once Hooty left, Luz took a moment to ponder what she just witnessed.
"did...Did something happen between Amity and Oliver?" asked Luz.
Eda said nothing as she resumed unpacking items from the other boxes.
"Eda, I know Amity used to be a bad person. but-"
"I don't want to talk about it, Luz." said Eda, her voice quiet and monotone.
"If you really want to know, then ask your girlfriend...*SHE* knows what she did."
Luz frowned, her mind now filled with even more questions.
But feeling she wouldn't get any from Eda, she finally walked out of the room.
Now alone, Eda stopped for a moment to wipe a stray tear from her eye.
"just keep working..." muttered Eda to herself. "try not to think about it...just keep working."
Meanwhile, in the den of the Owl House, Amity was sitting alone on the couch.
She was currently looking at her Penstagram scroll, while she waited for Luz.
With her mind on the past, Amity was browsing some of her old photos.
She stopped at one, and managed to smile as a pleasant memory return to her.
The photo showed herself when she was younger (before her mother made her dye her brown hair GREEN like hers.)
It was a victory photo of her holding a Gold Trophy following a Grudgby match.
In it with her was Olivier, who was holding a Silver Trophy right next to Amity.
Despite being on opposing teams at the time, AND having lost to Amity (which happened A LOT.)
Olivier had a happy look on his face as he had his arm around Amity, congratulating her.
Much like Eda when she was a teenager, Olivier never cared about being the best.
He was always happy with doing 'his best', even if he still lost.
Amity wished she had been that way...instead of doing whatever it took to win.
Her drive to be 'The Best, no matter what' made her do things that she now regretted.
Things she was now ashamed of...things that ended up hurting people.
People like-
(*PING!*)
Just then, a notification popped up on the screen.
Amity scowled to see that it was a yet another text message from Boscha.
[AMITY. ME & THE GIRLZ ARE GONNA GO PRANK THE LOSERS AT GLANDUS.]
[WANNA DITCH THE HUMAN, AND HAVE SOME FUN LIKE OLD TIMES?!]
Amity scowled. she wanted nothing more than to tell Boscha where to shove it.
But, she did what she should had done a long, LONG time ago...she swiped the message away, and ignored it.
Amity was DONE listening to whatever Boscha had to say.
"...hey." spoke a voice. Amity looked to see Luz approach and sit down next to her. "You talking with anyone?"
Amity looked away. "no...no one."
"okay." said Luz, who then fell silent.
"you're going to ask me why Ms. Clawthorne was mad at me, aren't you?" spoke Amity.
"I kinda already figured out why..." began Luz. "It has something to do with Oliver, right?"
Amity looked down, Staring at her old picture on her Penstagram phone. "yeah."
Luz looked at the picture, and smiled. "It looks like you two were close."
"we were...I met him when I first started tutoring under Miss Lilith Clawthorne." explained Amity.
"She trained us both together, so we were classmates ever AFTER school ended."
"Sounds fun!" said Luz, smiling.
Amity nodded. "it was...but I had to ruin it with my competitive nature.
I wanted to be the BEST, better than anyone...HE just wanted to be good enough."
Luz looked at Amity. "what...happened between you two?" asked Luz.
Amity was silent as she closed her eyes.
"Eda won't tell me. she said to ask YOU." continued Luz.
Amity still remained silent.
"Amity, I know you wasn't always a good person...but that is all in the past." said Luz.
"I already know about what happened between you and Willow, and I forgave you for tha-"
"what I did to Willow is nothing compared to what I did to Olivier." spoke Amity, finally.
"and if I tell you...you may never look at me the same way again."
Luz took Amity's hand, and looked at her. "I swear whatever it is...I'll forgive you."
Amity looked away, tears streaming down her cheeks "you shouldn't. I haven't."
"just tell me what happened."
Amity inhaled deeply. she looked and Luz...and then spoke.
"It all started over a year ago at the Wiccanovcraft Sommar Camp."
Luz grimaced at this.
of course, the source of this problem HAD to come from a 'Summer Camp.'
[End of Part Twenty-Eight]