Watching Luz make those solo deliveries was both impressive and depressing for Eda. The little angel always plastered a pleasant smile on her face when speaking to her clients, but it was obvious that the smile was forced and there was no happy twinkle in her eyes like there usually was. The knowledge that it had been her who caused that made Eda's chest feel tight and painful.
Finally, Luz came to the very last delivery. From what Eda remembered, it was a fairly innocuous potion designed to cure the withdrawal effects of those suffering with an addiction to certain illegal substances; the kind of which even Eda wouldn't go near. The address had been some ruin on the edge of Bonesborough that had originally been owned by a certain family of Oracles, who skipped town after their daughter fleeced them and ran off. Eda just assumed the client was a junkie who'd scrapped enough dough together to buy a cure while squatting in the ruins… however, as she subtly followed Luz down an alleyway to this old ruin, she was met with a shocking sight.
The ruin was gone, and in its place was an immaculate castle of white stone and blue tiled rooftops, with battlements, banners, and all manner of structures behind a sturdy outer wall. Eda blinked owlishly; she hadn't heard of a new tenant moving in and fixing the place, and even with magic it would take weeks to do this much work! Eda was sure it was still a ruin the previous day too… what was going on?
Luz naturally had no idea that anything was amiss, though she did seem surprised by the castle. No doubt she wasn't expecting a piece of the Boiling Isles to look so… mundane. It looked like it had been yanked from a human fantasy book, and was distinctly out of place amidst the rest of Bonesborough. Eda watched as the girl shrugged and knocked on the large gate, which opened by itself to allow her in. Quickly hopping back onto Owlbert, Eda flew up to the nearest window to peek inside and keep an eye on her apprentice.
Inside, Luz was beginning to feel a bit unnerved. This castle would normally have excited her with memories of her Good Witch Azura books, but she just couldn't feel comfortable. It was almost too perfect and too sterile for the Boiling Isles and the Demon Realm. The rest of Bonesborough was fleshy and bizarre, so why was this place so different?
Slowly walking further into the dark room, Luz called out; "Hello? I'm delivering a package for Miss Eda, the Owl Lady. Is anybody home?"
Suddenly the lanterns all flared to life and the room was illuminated with a soft, welcoming light. With the darkness gone, Luz could now make out her surroundings; she was in a giant library decorated with moons, stars, and all manner of astrological and magical items that matched the cleaner fantasy aesthetic of the castle's exterior. At the back of the room was a large staircase that lead to a door, and above that door was a portrait of a smiling old man in starry robes, looking like a stereotypical wizard.
"Is this really the Boiling Isles? Or did I stumble through another portal…?" Luz whispered to herself. She'd had a feeling of being watched for a while, but now she also felt a strange prickling feeling in her brain, which wasn't helping her nerves or her bad mood.
The young angel took a few steps forward, then stopped as she saw movement at the top of the staircase. Coming through the door beneath the wizard's portrait was the wizard himself, wearing the exact same robes and even taking the same pose and expression, making himself an eerie mirror of the picture.
"A magical wizard…?" Luz muttered.
"Now that's a scam artist if ever I saw one." Eda whispered to herself with a deadpan expression, still watching through the window. She cast a spell over her ears to help her hear what was going on inside.
The old man didn't acknowledge Luz's words, instead just smiling and walking down the stairs towards them; "I apologise for keeping you waiting; I was in my oscillarium, reading the stars." he stopped in front of her, who could feel something odd coming from him; his presence was making that prickling feeling worse, and made her skin crawl.
"And who might you be, with eyes full of curiosity?" he asked, smiling at Luz.
The girl definitely didn't feel too curious; no, she was creeped out! "Uh, I-I'm-"
The wizard got very close to her; "Young lady, dareth I say… I sense something unique about you." Luz gulped and put a hand over her chest, where the concealment stone was. Could he sense her true nature, or her stone!? Eda had been able to…
"Please, won't you join me for tea?" the wizard asked, casting a pair of spells to summon a pair of large comfy chairs and a table of fancy snacks. He took a seat in one of them and gestured for Luz to take the other.
Luz stepped back on instinct, and Eda had to hold in the urge to burst in and pull her apprentice out of there. "Don't trust him, kid! Just get out of there!" she muttered.
"Um, sir? I'm sorry but I can't stay." Luz replied, trying to stay polite; "I need to finish this last job for my ment- I mean, for Miss Eda. Can we settle the delivery?"
Eda felt a stab at her heart; last job? Did she just mean the final delivery of the day, or was she really planning to leave?
The Wizard frowned angrily for an instant, before his eyes brightened again; "Sir? Oh please, call me Adegast. I am but a simple purveyor of fine magical potions. The kind that might help a special young lady like yourself achieve her destiny!"
Luz backed off another step, the buzzing in her head getting worse. It felt like bugs were crawling around inside her brain. She had to breathe deeply to resist the feeling, then suddenly had a thought; "Mr Adegast, why would you buy a potion from Eda if you're already a brewer yourself?"
Eda smirked with pride, while Adegast's expression once again flashed to anger before returning to smiling; "Never mind that, I wish to speak to you of the destiny I sense in your future!" he said, ignoring Luz's question, "How would you like to go on a quest to achieve your greatest dream?"
Alarm bells were ringing in Luz's head; "What quest?" she asked suspiciously.
Adegast reached into his beard and pulled out an old scroll, which he unravelled to reveal a map. "The Prophecy speaks of a young human girl who will claim the Celestial Staff and free this world from an ancient evil. I believe you hath cometh here for a reason!" he said grandly. "I believe you are the Chosen One!"
Luz scowled; this wasn't right. Every word out of Adegast's mouth twigged something at the back of her mind. The things he was saying were exactly the sorts of things Luz had once dreamed she would one day hear, back when she was just a cherub with big dreams of being a hero who helped everyone, but now they sounded like this man was making fun of her. Like he was telling her what she wanted to hear just to get her to do what he wanted. He was pulling out her old fantasies to use her… he could probably read her mind or something; how else would he know all this? Plus, Eda had warned her…
"I have a lot of rivals who'd love to take my business down and you along with it."
That was it! That was why Adegast had ordered a potion from Eda! It was to lure her into a trap and take out his competition! But Luz had come in her place, so Adegast was trying to use her by sending her off on a dangerous quest that Eda would have to save her from. With both a trap and a hostage, Adegast would have a much easier time beating Eda!
"Again…" Luz thought morosely, "I'm being used again."
Scowling and trying not to let on how hurt she felt, Luz shook her head and began to leave; "I'm sorry Mr Adegast, but you've got the wrong person. I'm going to leave now; if you want your potion then you'll need to come to the Owl House with payment." she said.
"No!" Adegast yelled, causing the door behind Luz to slam shut and the lanterns to go out, draping the room in darkness.
Eda gasped and began to draw a spell circle to help her upset apprentice, while Luz grabbed the sack of snails from the deliveries and prepared to wield it like a cudgel. A wave of magic crossed the room and the magical castle and library faded away, revealing it was all an illusion to hide the building's true form; a decrepit old ruin just like Eda remembered.
"Everything you said was a lie! Even your house was a lie!" Luz hissed. "Does everyone on the Boiling Isles lie and manipulate to get what they want!?" She cast a light spell so she could see better and try to find Adegast, but no matter how bright she made it, the darkness didn't recede. It was likely part of a new illusion.
Suddenly, a very familiar voice came from the darkness.
"Luz?"
"M-Mami!?" Luz cried, spinning around to find her mother Camila looking around fearfully. Eda gasped quietly; so that was what the kid's Mom looked like… "What are you doing here!?" Luz asked urgently.
"Your new teacher, Eda, came to see me in the Human Realm. She wanted to explain what happened to you. I came here to talk to you Mija, and tell you that if this place makes you happy, then I'm okay with you coming here." Camila explained.
"That's right kid."
Luz and Eda both gaped as another Eda walked out of the shadows. The real one, still hiding outside, scoffed at the imitation, but couldn't help but admire how good she looked. The fake her was even riding on a fake Owlbert! "We worked out a proper apprenticeship deal. You're where you belong now Luz, and your Mom sees that."
Luz stared at the fake Eda for a moment, before a grimace of rage appeared on her face. "If you wanted to trick me, Adegast, then you should have picked a different face!" she snarled, sending a powerful light blast at the fake Eda's head, vaporising it and causing the rest of the fake to disperse into purple smoke. The real Eda winced; Luz was still very upset with her!
Camila, or rather, Adegast's fake Camila scoffed; "Darn, I felt for certain that would work. My magic is having a hard time getting into your head. It's taken me all this time just to drag this much out, and you don't even have any memories of brewing with that wretched Eda. I guess I won't be stealing her secrets… but I can still use you as a hostage!"
The Puppet Camila suddenly jumped at Luz while the fake Owlbert swept around behind her, knocking away the sack of snails with a swipe from its staff before knocking her legs out from under her, allowing the Puppet Camila to grab her and hold her in place.
"Let me go!" Luz demanded, struggling against the puppet's strength.
"Oh, I think not." came the voice of the real Adegast as he appeared from the shadows. Luz immediately recoiled in revulsion as her nostrils were assaulted by a fishy stench; Adegast's true form was that of a large grey octopus with a lipless human mouth, two dark purple arms beneath his head, and a mound of orange pustules beneath his chin. He was repulsive to look at, and each of his puppets (including the wizard from earlier) had one of his tentacles digging into the back of their heads.
Luz shuddered in disgust; "Why are you doing this!? What do you want!?"
"Your mentor has been stealing customers from my potions business for years! She must be destroyed! I had hoped to use this quest to lure you further away from the town before capturing you, but your instincts are annoyingly sharp. Getting my tendrils of magic into your brain was a real pain!" Adegast spat.
Luz gasped; that was the tingling she'd been feeling! Adegast was literally using his magic to pull out her deepest fantasies and desires in order to trick her, just as she'd thought.
"But you've peeked my curiosity. You're hiding something very interesting… and you destroyed my puppet with such ferocity… you're angry with the Owl Lady, aren't you?"
Luz averted her eyes, making Adegast grin; "Oh ho, this is very interesting indeed! Well, if you don't want to spill the beans, I'll spill them myself!"
He breathed a thick pink mist into Luz's face, causing her to eyes to glow in the same soft shade of pink. She suddenly felt the prickling in her brain intensify even further, now feeling like Adegast was actually worming his tentacles into her skull. It wasn't painful, but it was a horrible feeling all the same, made worse by the satisfied noises Adegast was was making.
"Ah, you're a real little treasure aren't you? A real life angel, here in the Boiling Isles…" Adegast smirked, making the Camila puppet reach into Luz's shirt to pull out the concealment stone, forcing the girl back to her real, angelic shape. "… and Eda found you and immediately used you. She used you to steal back her lost junk, then tried to milk you for your tears. Why, you've got as much reason to hate her as I do!"
The real Eda, who was just about to burst in to save Luz, froze upon hearing that. Luz didn't try to deny it either, she just whimpered and wiggled in an attempt to get free.
"Say, why don't you help me?" Adegast offered with a sinister grin; "I want Eda out of the way, and you could do with some revenge! Help me trap her and take her out forever! Then I can be the number one potioneer on the Boiling Isles, and I can teach you magic in her stead. What do you say?"
"You want me to help you hurt Eda?" Luz gasped.
"Of course! Why wouldn't you want to help me, after what she did to you? She used you, little angel. She'll do it again; you know it's true."
Luz looked down, "Maybe you're right…"
Eda felt a mix of shame and dread crawl up her spine as Luz spoke those words… but her next ones drove those feelings away. "… but I don't care!"
"What!?" Eda whispered and Adegast yelled.
"I won't help you hurt Eda! What she did was horrible, and she hurt me by doing it, but that doesn't mean I can just turn around and hurt her back! If I did that, I would be worse than she ever was, since she at least only hurt me by accident! I won't help you kill someone just because that person hurt my feelings!" Luz declared, renewing her struggles to escape her fake Mami's grasp.
Eda felt her heart warm; even after what she'd done, Luz wasn't willing to turn on her. The girl really was too good for her… but the Owl Lady promised herself that she'd pay her apprentice back.
Adegast snarled; "Brat! Fine, if you won't become my apprentice or serve me as an accomplice, then I'll harvest you for ingredients! Starting with those pretty little wings!"
Two new puppets emerged from the shadows, both resembling Conformatorium guards, and stepped forward to help restrain Luz further. She struggled against them, but just ended up being held by the fake Camila in front of her, and having each wing grabbed by one of the guard puppets. The puppets pulled on her wings, making Luz yelp in pain as the wizard puppet stepped forward with a large cleaver, ready to sever them.
"N-No! Get away! Stop! HELP!" Luz cried.
Suddenly, a blast of fire roared down from one of the ruin's windows, melting the wizard puppet and burning Adegast's tentacle. The demon screamed as Luz looked up at her saviour with grateful eyes; "Eda!"
The Owl Lady, flying on Owlbert, glared down at Adegast, then shot a smile to Luz; "Hey kid. We've got a lot to talk about… but first, I need to take care of this scumbag who tried to take advantage of my apprentice!"
Adegast moved back in fear of Eda's furious glare; "D-Don't come any closer! You make a move and I'll have my puppets tear your little angel to pieces before you can say- GAH!"
Eda interrupted the demon's threat by subtly drawing a spell circle behind her back while he was talking, causing a stone spike to shoot up from the ground beside the Puppet Camila, stabbing the tentacle in the back of it's neck. The tentacle recoiled and the puppet dispersed into smoke, freeing Luz's arms and allowing the young angel to throw them behind her and shoot two powerful beams of light at the guard puppets, blasting their heads clean off and destroying them, freeing her wings.
Adegast screamed again and recoiled further from both Eda and Luz, who were now free and stalking towards him with thunderous expressions. Eda cracked her knuckles; "So Luz, do you want to finish this, or should I?"
"I'm not picky." Luz replied, a large light glyph appearing over each of her palms.
"Then we'll do it together!" Eda smirked viciously, preparing another spell circle with her staff.
Adegast didn't even have time to scream as he was blasted by the combined fury of both Master and Apprentice. When their spells subsided, Luz couldn't see the demon any more, making her frown worriedly.
"Did… did I just murder someone?" she asked.
"Nah, he's not dead yet." Eda said, stalking forward and shifting a chunk of rubble to reveal a tiny grey octopus demon. Adegast, now diminished to a miniscule, mouthless form, could do nothing but squeak impotently as Eda picked him up by the tentacles; "Well that's the last time I take an outside referral."
With that, she tilted her head back, opened her mouth wide, and ate the tiny Adegast. Luz watched with a mild look of disgust as Eda clearly enjoyed her meal. "Mmm, not bad. Oh sorry, did you want some too?"
"No. D-Did you really have to, you know… kill him?" Luz asked.
"He knew you were an angel, so if we left him he'd have either ratted you out or come after you. I could have tried erasing his memories, but I only have about a 40% success rate vs just melting the victim's brain, so…" Eda shrugged. She then ruffled Luz's hair; "Plus, I can't let anyone get away with messing with my apprentice!"
Luz briefly smiled and blushed, a warmth filling her chest. But then the rest of the day's events replayed in her mind and she frowned, gently brushing Eda's hand away. "Eda… I don't know if I should stay as your apprentice after all." she said sadly.
Eda felt her heart break a bit; "Luz, I'm truly sorry about what I did earlier. It was horrible of me, and I should never have done it. I promise nothing like it will ever happen again. King and I really want you to stay."
"But why, Eda?" Luz asked, a hint of hysterics entering her voice as she struggled with her feelings; "Why do you even want me around? Because I'm an angel? Because you're hoping to get something from me? What?"
"Because…" Eda hesitated, before sighing and kneeling so she was eye-level with the girl; "Because you accepted us. You talked yesterday about how you didn't fit in back home, because you didn't think you were a good angel. Well it's the same for King and I. We only have each other because no one else wants to deal with our weirdness, and those who do we end up pushing away, either for their own good, or because we just don't know how to handle the "normals". But even after I terrified you and basically blackmailed you into helping us out yesterday, you accepted us. You helped us, coming back into a dangerous situation to rescue us. That meant a lot to King and I." Eda confessed.
"Eda…"
"You're a weirdo of an angel, but then King's also a weirdo of a demon, and I'm a weirdo of a witch. None of us fit in where we're supposed to, but we all had each other. Neither King nor I want that to stop. We don't want to drive away the first person to come along and accept our weirdness even after seeing our arguably worst side. So I'm asking; I may be a weirdo of a witch, and probably a sucky teacher and caretaker, but I want you to please stay on as my apprentice." Eda finished, staring imploringly into Luz's eyes.
Luz felt her heart going out to Eda, and she dearly wanted to accept. But she'd been burned too many times; she needed more assurances than that.
"Eda, I want to trust you again… but I'm scared. How can I be sure you won't do something like this again? I didn't want to give you my tears because I didn't feel comfortable with you treating any part of me like some rare commodity, but you tried to take them by force! How can I trust you not to repeat that, or worse, go for my wings?" she asked desperately.
Eda shook her head; "I wasn't going to sell the tears, I promise! I wanted them for something private… something for myself."
"What? What did you need them for?" Luz asked. Eda hesitated, and the younger girl pleaded with her; "Please, Eda. Just tell me. I can't trust you if you keep secrets from me, especially when those secrets made you hurt me like you did."
Eda hesitated again, then took a deep breath and slapped her own cheeks lightly; "Oof… okay. The truth is… I'm cursed."
Luz gasped softly; "Cursed? How?"
"Well ain't that the million snail question…" Eda muttered bitterly, "I don't know the full details; it happened when I was about your age. But the curse is, well I suppose the best comparison is Lycanthropy?"
"You're a werewolf?" Luz blinked.
"No no, but it's similar. You see, whenever my magic becomes particularly strained, or I experience strong emotions, or even if I just forget to drink my Elixir…" she pulled an orange potion from her hair to show Luz, "I turn into something called the Owl Beast, and go on a rampage. It's made life pretty difficult, but the curse is also slowly sapping my magic. Every time the Owl Beast comes out, I lose a bit more strength and come closer and closer to not being able to change back. Eventually, I'll lose my magic for good."
"So you wanted my tears to make a cure?" Luz asked, looking sympathetically at her mentor.
"Yes. Angel tears have incredible healing properties, so I thought maybe adding them to my Elixir or brewing something new with them might cure me." Eda explained. "But no cure is worth hurting you over." she said, taking out the vial of tears Luz had given her earlier and pushing it into Luz's hands.
Luz stared at the vial, then at Eda for several long seconds, then sighed exasperatedly; "Eda, if you'd just told me that from the beginning then I would have let you have some tears!"
"R-Really!?" Eda gasped.
"Of course! Like I said, I thought you wanted them as some rare commodity! I thought you were going to sell them, which I wasn't cool with! If you'd told me the truth, none of this would have happened." Luz frowned, putting a hand on her hip whilst handing back the tears; "Keep them, and try to cure yourself. A few shed tears is worth it to save you from being stuck as a magic-less monster!"
Eda gaped at the returned vial, then actually felt herself tear up a little as a laugh bubbled its way out. She quickly wiped her eyes so as not to damage her reputation, then smirked; "Luz, you are one of a kind."
She ruffled Luz's hair again, and this time the girl allowed it. Eda then drew a spell circle around Luz's hand and grasped it; "Now, to prove you can trust me; I'll make an everlasting oath! That way you'll know that I won't pull a stunt like that again!"
Luz quickly pulled her hand back and waved the circle away; "No, Eda. I want to trust you; but it's not trust if I know you're physically incapable of going against it. I'll give you another chance and continue as your apprentice on two conditions."
"Name them." Eda said eagerly.
"First, you need to promise to always tell me the truth from now on. If you can't for some reason, or it's too personal, then just tell me and I'll drop it. I don't want to be pushy, I just want to know I can believe what you say." Luz began.
"Done."
"Second… well, I'm probably going to screw up again in the future… probably pretty badly, given my track record." Luz said with a self-deprecating smile that made Eda want to pinch her cheeks, "So I want a promise that you'll forgive me and give me another chance when that happens. I mean, assuming I don't do something unforgivable or anything."
"Kid, I doubt you could if you wanted to. You say you tend to mess up being good, but I have a feeling you'd absolutely suck at being bad." Eda smirked, before giving a much softer smile; "But either way, it's a deal. I'll even throw in one "get out of chores free" card."
Luz giggled at that and the two shook hands, both feeling a lot better after getting everything off their chests. With their talk over, the two scoured the ruins and Adegast's stuff for anything of value in order to make up for the cost of the potion he'd ordered, as well as to recover Luz's concealment stone, then began the long walk home. The sun was just beginning to set, painting the sky in purple and orange hues, as they walked through the woods outside Bonesborough towards the Owl House.
As they walked, Eda said; "One more thing. Don't blame King for his part in everything that happened today. I sort of talked him into it by claiming your tears might restore his powers."
Luz looked a tad annoyed, but then shrugged; "I doubt I could stay mad at him anyway."
"I'm glad. Especially since I think he's got something planned for when you get back." Eda said.
As it turned out, Eda was completely right.
When they got back to the Owl House, Hooty had immediately wrapped around Luz and refused to let her go unless she promised she wasn't going to leave them. Apparently speaking to him twice and complimenting his cooking was all it took for the bird tube to decide Luz was his new best friend! Once that mini-ordeal was over, the two walked into the house and came across a very curious sight.
"King, I'm back! And I brought… Luz…" Eda's voice trailed off.
"Whoa… King's been busy." Luz said, looking at the sight in front of her.
The living room was completely full of little balls of light made with glyphs, and carefully arranged into a variety of shapes and decorations. King had made banners, balloons, and streamers out of light balls, as well as a large sign that read; "Please don't leave, Luz!" under which was a crude picture of Luz and King hugging, all made from the light glyphs.
Hearing them come in, King rushed in from the kitchen with icing and batter in his fur; "Luz! You're back!" he cried, running and jumping into her arms; "I'm so sorry! I never meant to hurt you! Please don't leave! You don't even have to make snacks, and I'll make you my right hand in my army of darkness!"
"King, it's okay." Luz smiled, kissing the little demon's skull; "I talked it out with Eda. I'm still a little upset, but now that I know about her curse and she apologised, we're putting it in the past. That goes for you too."
"Really?" King asked hopefully.
"Really." Luz beamed, hugging King a bit tighter, "But as payback, you're not allowed to complain about me hugging you for a whole week! Besides, I know you love it!"
"I… am unable to dispute this due to the agreed upon payback." King said, pretending he was just playing along with her demands.
"Good! Now what's that smell. It smells great!" Luz asked.
"Oh, I found some cake mix so I made some Angel Food Cake! You're an angel and you like food, so I thought it was a good idea!"
Luz grinned widely; after the day she'd just had, she could definitely go for some cake! She happily followed King back into the kitchen, with Eda smiling at the kids as they went. The Owl Lady briefly looked at the vial of tears Luz had refused to take back, before stuffing it into her hair. She'd get to work on a potential cure tomorrow, but she was going to spend the rest of today with the rest of the weirdos.
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I would really appreciate if you could give me some powerstones for more chapters release and thank you for reading this fanfic.