Luz frowned in disappointment; "I see… thank you for the help."
She and Amity left the Librarian to his work and returned to Amity's secret hideaway, where Luz collapsed into a pillow and groaned; "So much for that theory. No real angels in hundreds of years and people changed their minds about us just because of Belos…"
Amity frowned; "Luz, aren't you seeing the potential connection here?"
"What do you mean?" Luz asked.
"Emperor Belos decreed that angels were agents of the Titan. The only other person he's described in the same way is himself! Think about it."
The young angel's eyes widened; "Eda once told me that Belos installed his own order… instilling order and changing the perception of angels… do you think Belos IS an angel!?"
"It would make sense. No one knows where Emperor Belos came from or anything about his family, other than his claims that they were destroyed by Wild Witches." Amity said.
Luz felt like all the pieces were clicking together and falling into place. Belos loved order, painted himself and angels as basically prophets of the Titan, and lost his family to Wild Witches, inspiring his crusade against them. It all fit, especially if those Wild Witches had targeted his family because they were angels and they were still going off the old perception that angels were dictators. Though the irony of Belos then actually becoming a dictator as a result was not lost on Luz.
"It all fits… Belos is an angel!" Luz smiled brightly, before her expression fell again; "But it's not like I can ask him about my sudden changes or the glyphs… he's Eda's enemy and will probably capture me on sight, if not kill me for "fraternizing" with a wild witch… It's another dead end."
Amity frowned and patted Luz's back sympathetically; "I'm sorry, Luz. I wish I'd been able to help more. The only other lead we have is the glyphs, and those are almost definitely Wild Magic. Books on Wild Magic were outlawed and destroyed decades ago."
"Yeah… it sucks that the few books Eda managed to find didn't mention them." Luz sighed. If books on Wild Magic were destroyed though, it made sense that her mentor wouldn't be able to find many… she'd probably had to pilfer the few she had.
Luz suddenly gasped; "Wait a second, the Librarian said that when those old angel books were destroyed, surviving copies were preserved for history in places like the Emperor's library and here! Amity, there might still be some Wild Magic books right under our noses!"
Amity smiled happily at the idea, then cringed as she realised something; "That's true Luz, but if we have them then they must be in the Forbidden Stacks. Only Malphas the Master Librarian is allowed in there."
"Couldn't you sneak us in?" Luz asked, giving the best puppy dog eyes she could.
"My staff card should open the door… but I can't, Luz. I'd lose my job." Amity frowned.
"What if I went in alone? That way you wouldn't get in trouble!"
Amity shook her head. There door kept a magic record of everyone who opened it, and while Malphas rarely checked the records, if he ever did then he'd feed Amity to the book worms! She couldn't lose her one safe haven away from her family… not even for Luz.
"I'm sorry Luz, but I can't. Please understand." she said sadly, hating to see the look of disappointment on her friend's face.
Luz couldn't help but feel stung by the dashing of her hopes, but she understood where Amity was coming from. In truth, she didn't really want to break-in either; committing a crime like that was against her morals as an angel, and unlike the Conformatorium, where she'd been essentially coerced until she realised the Warden was evil, this wasn't something she had to do; just something she wanted. Finding answers was important to her, but not essential.
"I understand, Amity. I'm all out of leads now, but I still owe you one big time for helping me this much."
"No you don't. After saving me from the Mandragora and getting us out of that duel, I think if anything I still owe you." Amity smiled softly, before looking at her Smart Scroll, "It's nearly time to close up for the day. I'll show you out, okay?"
"Okay." Luz nodded.
The two left the hideaway and walked to the library entrance, were the other Librarians were already herding people out so they could close up for the Wailing Star meteor shower. They stepped outside, then Amity said; "Well, I've got to help tidy things up before I can head home, so I'll see you later Luz. I'm sorry again that I couldn't do more to help."
"Nah, you did more than enough. Thank you Amity; even if I didn't get all the answers I wanted, I still learned a lot. Heck, just seeing you with the kids was worth the trip." Luz said, grinning at the memory.
Amity blushed and smiled; "Y-You're such a dork! I'll see you another time, okay?"
"See you later, Choco-Mint!" Luz teased. Amity rolled her eyes fondly and headed back into the library, Luz waving to her as she went. However as soon as the library doors shut behind her friend, Luz sighed heavily.
"Dang it… If only I had another way into the Forbidden Stacks. I feel like I'm so close to figuring out what's been happening to me, and now I'm being stumped by a locked door…" she muttered.
"Got a problem, Cutie?"
Luz yelped in surprise and spun around to find Edric and Emira stood there watching her, wearing their usual matching smirks.
"O-Oh! It's you guys! Um, are you waiting for Amity?" Luz asked.
"Nah, Mittens can take care of herself. But you look like you could use some help." Edric said.
"Yeah, something about the Forbidden Stacks. Did Amity refuse to help?" Emira asked.
Luz nodded; "Yeah, though I get why. I don't want to get her in trouble. She's already been super helpful, especially since I always seem to make her mad."
The twins each raised an eyebrow; "You make her mad?"
"Not on purpose!" Luz said quickly, "But sometimes I'll do something and she'll go all stiff and red in the face…"
Edric and Emira looked at the girl with disbelief, almost unable to comprehend just how innocent this girl was. How did their sour sister become friends with this little sweetie? They were compelled to find out, and they knew just how to do it.
"Nah, when Mittens gets angry, she looks like this." Edric said, grunting and holding his breath until he went bright red and his face was screwed up. He then released the breath and sighed; "Whoa! Almost passed out…"
Luz smiled awkwardly, not really believing him when he said Amity wasn't getting mad at her. After all, aside from the holding breath and screwed up face, that had looked a lot like the times Amity had gone red-faced…
"I'll have to take your word for it." she said diplomatically.
Emira chuckled, then said; "You really are different from Mittens' other friends. Say, why don't we help each other out?"
"You need my help?" Luz immediately perked up.
"Yeah, we're planning on coming back here tonight. There's a certain book we forgot to check out." Emira started.
"And if you don't mind helping us out, then we can help you bust into the Forbidden Stacks. Plus, as a bonus, the Wailing Star is supposed to unlock some cool magical event, which is why they had to close early." Edric finished.
Luz considered it; she didn't like the idea of breaking in, and something about the twins' offer felt a little shady, like they were hiding something… but this could also be the only way she could get her hands on those wild magic books without getting Amity in trouble! Perhaps it was just because it was the only reasonable lead she had left, but Luz felt desperate to get a hold of them.
"Just what kind of help do you need?" Luz asked curiously.
"Well we don't actually know what the Wailing Star is going to do. It could be dangerous, and since we specialise in illusions, we need someone with a bit more combat experience just in case." Emira explained.
"And who better than the girl who kicked our little sister's butt back at the Covention?" Edric grinned.
"Hoo boy, Amity's lucky that Mom thinks it's just a rumour spread by the Owl Lady…" Emira muttered.
Luz gulped; the more she heard about Amity's mother, the more worried she was getting. "I didn't kick her butt. The actual fight part of the duel was a tie, and Amity only surrendered after that because she was mad at Lilith for forcing her into the duel and trying to make her cheat."
"Whatever you say, cutie." Emira said, regaining her smile, "So, you in?"
Luz thought about it for a moment, then nodded; "Sure!"
"Great! Meet us back here at midnight. See you, Luz!" Edric said. The twins then walked off, leaving Luz to begin heading home at a sedate pace.
"Perfect! Now I can get those books without getting Amity in trouble! It's not stealing if they're library books that I'm going to return, right?" Luz said, whispering that last part to herself.
As the young angel walked off, she had no idea that her mint-haired friend was watching and listening from one of the library windows, frowning severely. Amity was fuming; her idiot siblings were taking advantage of Luz! If they wanted to break into the library then it had to be for some nefarious reason; likely a prank aimed at her! Well, Amity was going to show them! She could end this in an instant by just calling Luz and telling her the truth, and then telling her parents and the librarians what they were up to!
Amity summoned her Smart Scroll and was about to do just that, only to hesitate. Sure she could end this, but maybe she could also bend it to her advantage… If the twins could get Luz into the Forbidden Stacks without getting their little sister fired, then Amity certainly wasn't going to stop them… plus calling Mom on them would be cruel, especially since they hadn't spilled the beans about the Covention… Amity still felt bad for ratting on them when they cut class, especially since her Mom's lecture to them was still ringing in her ears! And she wasn't even the target!
She put her scroll away again. No, all she needed to do was thwart their prank. That way Luz could get her books, the twins wouldn't get in too much trouble, and Amity would get a bit of payback for their teasing. It was perfect!
[Later, at Midnight]
Luz paced the front steps of the library, keeping to the shadows as much as possible to avoid being spotted by the people still roaming the town. Bonesborough had always had a decently lively night life, but thanks to the Wailing Star, it was a lot busier as people came out to see it.
The young angel had been waiting for quite a while. With the Bat Queen's child still at the Owl House and still screaming the place down when she'd gotten home, Luz had decided to stretch her improving illusion skills by going for a flight while making herself look like she was using Owlbert. She'd also gotten dinner and taken a nap on the library roof, while leaving a note with Hooty to let Eda and King know she'd be late. She doubted they'd miss her though; they'd looked busy when she'd peeked through the window, as the Bat Queen's child had somehow become three children and capable of breathing fire.
But now it was getting closer and closer to the Wailing Star's arrival, and Luz was getting antsy for Edric and Emira's arrival. Thankfully, the twins were punctual if nothing else and appeared at exactly midnight, walking up the library steps in new, casual outfits. They still matched; both having burgundy tunics with dark purple sleeves and grey pants, though Emira wore her's rolled up to mid-thigh and had a green diamond shaped gem on her chest, while Edric had a black belt around his waist.
"Hey Luz. Right on time. You ready to head inside?" Edric asked.
"Mm-hmm!" Luz nodded eagerly, "I can't wait! Everyone's come out to see the Wailing Star, and it's gotten me excited to see what it does!"
"Awesome! We'll check it out, then help you get into the Forbidden Stacks. Then we can find the book we're after." Emira said, taking an arcane scroll being offered by Edric.
Luz watched as Emira unrolled it to reveal ancient text with images of a key and key ring, which glowed faintly. Edric noticed her watching and smirked; "The door says no trespassing, but I'm allergic to the rules."
"And dairy." Emira chirped.
"Wow, okay… just… expose me." Edric pouted as Emira put the scroll against the lock of the library door.
Luz giggled and whispered; "Don't worry Edric, I'm allergic to dairy too. Or at least, I am to Human Realm dairy."
One of the strange things she'd learned was that she could actually eat the milk and cheese from the Demon Realm. She guessed it was because it didn't contain lactose, though she opted not to look too deeply into it for fear of finding out what it contained instead.
Edric smiled and ruffled Luz's hair, then they both watched as Emira's key scroll turned to ash and the door's keyhole expanded enough for them to just walk through it. Luz gasped in amazement, then followed the twins into the dimly lit lobby as the keyhole shrank back to normal behind her. Luz briefly looked around, finding the library far more eerie without people or light, then turned back to the twins.
"We're in! Now what?" she asked.
Edric pointed to the circular stain glass window high above the door; "Look there! The Wailing Star!"
All three looked up through the window as a massive green shooting star streaked across the sky, shining an emerald light over the town of Bonesborough and making a sorrowful cry echo across the isles. Edric and Emira thought it was cool, but also kind of creepy to hear a crying meteor, while Luz found her heart aching and tears forming in her eyes. She didn't know why, but something in that crying voice really pulled at her heart strings…
In fact, Luz actually found her chest and stomach heating up a little, as an odd feeling washed through her from the glyph markings.
The girl was pulled out of her thoughts by Edric, who was looking around the library with a small frown. "Huh, that was cool, but nothing happened."
Luz looked too, but saw all the books glowing with powerful emerald light. "Can't you see the books? They're glowing?"
Emira and Edric blinked, and took a closer look at the nearest shelves, where sure enough they noticed a dim glow. It was slowly getting brighter too.
"Oh yeah. Well spotted Luz." Emira said, pulling a random book from the shelf.
Luz raised an eyebrow; well spotted? The glow was so obvious though! It was so bright that it illuminated the entire library! Or was she just more sensitive to the Wailing Star's magic for some reason?
Emira opened the book she'd picked; "Beasts of the Boiling Isles Past", and in a flash of green light, all the creatures pictured on the page she'd opened it to began to flood out of the pages and into the library. Extinct Demon Realm creatures ranging from dinosaur-like creatures to other assorted mega-fauna all began to emerge and run around, either hunting each other, trying to escape, or eyeing the three teens hungrily. One beast, which looked suspiciously like some breed of draconic giraffe, opened its mouth wide and lunged down to swallow Emira whole, but Luz quickly blasted it in the face with a light beam. It backed off with a shriek and Emira screamed, dropping the book and causing it to close as it hit the ground.
Instantly, all the creatures vanished just as they had appeared, leaving Luz and the Twins breathing heavily to recover from their panic.
"That was too close! I knew bringing you along would pay off, Luz!" Emira said, pulling the younger girl into a hug of gratitude.
"I'm happy to help! But did you see what happened?" Luz asked, eyes twinkling.
Edric's eyes were doing the same thing; "Yeah! The Wailing Star brought the books to life!"
The three teens looked at one another, each thinking the same thing. With grins and excited laughter, they each began grabbing different books and bringing the contents to life. They used magazines to give themselves the newest fashions, and a graphic novel to give themselves speech bubbles when they talked. Luz opened books on cute animals so she could pet the contents, and the twins opened books on famous figures so they could get their autographs. They even discovered they could have a snowball fight by using copies of "Snowballs, a History" (definitely the most peculiar book Luz had ever seen), and all three quickly ended up cold, wet, and covered in snow, but able to return to pristine condition by closing the books to make the snow vanish.
They ended up having so much fun with the Wailing Star's magic that Luz almost forgot what she'd come to the library to do, at least until she'd wandered to the kid's corner and found the Otabin book Amity had been reading earlier. Reminded of that sweet sight, Luz picked the book up and opened it, summoning the little pink rabbit creature known as Otabin, along with his needle and ball of thread. Otabin looked up at Luz with adorable, uncomprehending eyes, making Luz coo and pet him fondly.
"You're an adorable little friend, aren't you?" she said.
"Friend?" Otabin replied hopefully.
Luz nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by the twins. "Hey Luz, check this out!" Edric said, as Emira showed Luz a children's book called "Quacks eats Snacks".
"Look what we discovered!" Emira added, opening the book to summon the titular duck Quacks, who began to "swim" around on the library floor.
Luz cooed at the adorable duck, but then Edric took out a pencil and drew on the picture of Quacks in the book, giving it muscular human legs. In a flash of light, the conjured Quacks now had the same legs that had been drawn onto its picture, and it began to run around in a panic, quacking frantically.
"Now he's extra cute." Emira said. The twins laughed, but Luz just felt sorry for the poor thing. She didn't know how "alive" these conjured beings actually were, but it felt wrong to mess with them like that.
Edric offered the pencil to her; "Your turn, Luz."
Luz took the pencil and looked to the Otabin book, and the still summoned bookmaker that now sat on her shoulder. She didn't want to draw anything on him; he was cute and perfect as he was! But the expectant look on the twins' faces left Luz certain they wouldn't let the matter drop. So, instead of drawing on Otabin, Luz decided to do an experiment of her own by taking the Quacks book and writing words beneath the altered picture.
"I'll write; "Quacks really liked his big new legs, and felt really happy!" That should do the trick." Luz said.
Edric and Emira eyed her curiously, then looked over to the panicking Quacks. It shimmered for a moment, then calmed down completely and began to trot around on its new legs with pride.
"Much better! It looks like we can edit things with words as well as pictures. That could be useful." Luz said, closing Quacks' book to make it vanish.
"Speaking of useful; we didn't come here just to doodle." Emira said, "Let's get to the Forbidden Stacks; I bet we'll find a ton of interesting books there, and you can do whatever it is you're doing."
Luz agreed immediately, and the trio headed towards the entrance to the Forbidden Stacks. It was a large, imposing door with three terrifying gargoyle statues atop it, and some kind of brass panel on the side of the door frame. Seeing no keyholes or door handles, Luz tentatively pushed the doors only to find them completely locked in place. Before she could ask how to get in, Emira pulled a small card from her pocket and waved it over the brass panel, causing the door to glow red and begin opening.
"Whoa! Is that some kind of trick unlocking card? Like the scroll you used on the front door?" Luz asked eagerly.
Emira put the card away and grinned; "Something like that. Now let's go!"
The three teens walked into the Forbidden Stacks, the large door closing behind them. The hallways they passed through were seriously creepy; filled with scary statues and shelves of tomes with dangerous sounding titles. It made Luz feel an unnatural chill in her bones, and even Edric and Emira looked less confident as they crept through to the main chamber. When they arrived there, they found it to be a large, dungeon-like chamber almost as big as the rest of the library, with books flying through the air on their own and spectral red hands working to keep everything in place. The size of the place alone was intimidating, and that was without knowing the books stored here were forbidden… many for probably good reasons.
"Creepy… So how we finding these books of yours?" Edric asked.
Luz smiled and gently patted Otabin's head; "You actually gave me an idea on how to do that, and this little fella is going to help!"
Emira and Edric watched with interest as Luz pulled Otabin's open book from her satchel where she'd stowed it, then began writing under the rabbit creature's picture.
"Otabin could happily and easily sniff out books on angels, glyphs, and wild magic, and lead his new friends Luz, Edric, and Emira to them." Emira read aloud.
As soon as Luz finished writing, Otabin shimmered with green light for a moment, then hopped off of Luz's shoulder and began sniffing the air. It didn't take him long to find something, leading him to jump up and down excitedly and squeak his little heart out, urging Luz and the twins to follow him. They exchanged grins and chased after Otabin, who hopped along with surprising speed until they found their way to a nondescript shelf on one of the lower levels. Otabin jumped up onto it and chased off a strange skull-faced rat who had begun gnawing on an ancient looking book, then pointed eagerly to it. Luz reached up and took the book, then blew on it to clear some of the thick dust that had accumulated on it.
It appeared to be an old leather bound diary. It was at least a few hundred years old, and its corners had been nibbled by that weird mouse, but it otherwise appeared intact.
"I've got to admit, that was clever Luz." Edric said, petting a proud looking Otabin. "But how come this little guy only led us to one book?"
"Luz wrote "angels, glyphs, AND wild magic." Emira answered, "That means he can only lead us to books with all three in them. This must be the only book in the whole place that does."
Otabin nodded with a squeak; "I help friends."
Luz picked Otabin up and hugged him; "Thank you so much, little friend! If this book mentions all three of those things, then it has to be what I'm looking for!" she said gratefully.
Putting Otabin back on her shoulder, Luz then looked down at the diary. The cover was fairly nondescript, with only the author's name scrawled across it; Philip Wittebane. Luz couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she was sure she'd heard the name Wittebane before…
Before she could open the diary and take a look however, there was a loud slam as a door in the distance was magically thrown open. Luz and the twins nearly jumped out of their skin, and peeked around the corner to see who'd made the sound. There they spotted a large figure shrouded in darkness and hidden by a large feathery cloak, who was emerging from deeper in the Forbidden Stacks. The figure had a single visible glowing eye peeking out from within the cloak, and two spindly arms reaching out too, one of which was clutching a cone-shaped lantern. The figure was sat atop a giant floating book, which releasing billowing smoke from beneath it, shrouding the area around it in fog. Luz narrowed her eyes, making out the word "Staff" written on the spine of the book the creature was riding.
"That must be Malphas, the Master Librarian Amity was talking about!" she whispered.
"We're in big trouble if he catches us." Emira whispered back, "So…"
"Let's bounce!" Edric suddenly yelled, conjuring a massive illusion of the draconic giraffe that had almost eaten his sister.
Malphas snapped his head towards them at the sound, but was quickly distracted by the illusion, which began pretending to eat the books. "Intruders!" he rumbled, chasing after the giraffe. With him distracted, Edric and Emira ran for the exit, dragging Luz along with them. They managed to get all the way back out to the rest of the library without being caught, though Luz could hear Malphas chasing closely behind them. The instant they were out of the Forbidden Stacks, the trio separated, with the twins rushing off into the shadows and Luz running the other direction. Once she was confident she was alone, Luz summoned her wings and flew up to the top of a tall shelf, hoping Malphas wouldn't see her.
The Master Librarian emerged from the Forbidden Stacks and looked around, a menacing growl rumbling out of his mouth as he failed to catch sight of any intruders. He eventually turned around, apparently giving up, much to Luz's relief, but then he leaned down to the brass panel that had unlocked the doors earlier, and waved a hand over it. It glowed and an illusory image of Amity appeared from it.
"Amity… her staff card was used to open the door… This will have to be dealt with…" Malphas growled, before heading back into the Forbidden Stacks.
Luz felt her heart stop; that card Emira had used hadn't been some secret lockpicking card! It was Amity's Staff ID! The twins must have stolen it from her so they could get Luz into the Forbidden Stacks! Luz put her face in her hands as she released a quiet whine; now Amity was in trouble! This was exactly what Luz had been trying to avoid, and now because of her and the twins, Amity might lose her job!
"No, I've got to talk to Malphas and explain!" she whispered. But without Amity's ID in her possession, Malphas would still think Amity helped her! She needed to get it back from the twins.
Speaking of which, Luz looked around and couldn't see them anywhere. She doubted they'd left the library; they still had to find the book they were after too. But they'd never told Luz what book it was they were after, so how was she supposed to find them? The young angel wracked her brain for the answer, then frowned as she thought of a possibility.
Going off this hunch, Luz flew down to the ground and hurried off to the romance section, and just as she expected, she heard the laughter of the twins and saw that the door to Amity's secret study room was open. Luz walked in with a frown, noticing the twins looking at a book with a miniature version of Amity emerging from it.
"That half-human girl, Luz, came back to school today." the mini Amity said, "Apparently she's volunteering to help with the clean up to avoid getting banned. I don't know why I felt so happy to see her, or why she's being so nice to me. I didn't make a very good first impression, what with those things I said to Willow…"
Luz's eyes widened slightly; "Huh?"
The mini Amity continued; "I went too far there. I don't want to come off as cruel, I just can't show weakness… if Mom found out I was even being nice to Willow, she'd be so angry. But Luz doesn't know that… I must have looked like a bully to her, but she's still calling me her friend. I don't understand her at all."
"What is that?" Luz asked, snapping Edric and Emira out of their amusement.
"Oh, hey Luz! We thought you'd have run halfway home by now." Edric said casually, closing the book and making mini Amity vanish. "Check this out, it's Mittens' diary!"
He handed the book to Luz, and the girl saw a hand-drawn picture on the cover, depicting Amity in Azura style garb. It was cute, and reminded Luz of some of her own drawings back in the Human Realm. However the realisation of what this meant made her scowl.
"This is the book you came for?" she asked.
"Yep!" Edric grinned, "Mittens has gotten too… full of herself. She keeps tattling on us when we cut class."
"She needs to learn not to mess with people, or poke her nose where it doesn't belong. So we'll use this to teach her how that feels." Emira continued.
"By posting the pages all around school for everyone to see!" they finished together, before cackling at their scheme.
Luz gasped; that was taking things way too far! What had Amity done to deserve such humiliation, and from her own siblings!
"No! You can't do that! It's way too cruel!" Luz protested.
"No Luz. You see, we're her family! It's tough love! She needs to learn to lighten up and go with the flow!" Emira said soothingly, while Edric took Amity's diary back from Luz.
"Yeah, plus you saw what she wrote. She was bullying your friend! A little justice is warranted, right?" Edric said.
Luz shook her head; "This isn't justice! This is just bullying her right back! Besides, she also wrote that she didn't want to be mean! Please, let's just put the book back! We've already caused enough trouble!" she cried, trying to take the diary back. Edric held it high over their heads where she couldn't reach, forcing her to try and jump for it.
Emira hugged her from behind to restrain her; "Come on Luz, she needs this! It's for her own good!"
"It'll teach her what it's like to be humiliated! She'll be a nicer person afterwards!" Edric added.
"You don't teach people to be kind by being cruel!" Luz snapped, on the verge of using her wings to push Emira off and grab back the diary. She only hesitated because it would mean exposing her true self to the twins, and after this display, she was sure that would end badly for her.
"Come on Luz! You can't tell me you're not curious what else she wrote about you!" Edric said, opening the diary again to a more recent entry.
The mini Amity rose out of the pages again and began speaking; "I discovered something amazing yesterday, Diary. I got caught out in the rain after my shift at the library and had to take cover, when some bird demon attacked the town! I thought I was a goner, but Luz showed up. I finally understand why she's so nice all the time, and why her magic is weird! She's an ang-"
Luz gasped; "NO!"
Suddenly, Otabin jumped off of her shoulder and landed on Amity's diary, covering the mini Amity's mouth to gag her and prevent the twins from learning Luz's secret. The little fella then jabbed Edric's fingers with his needle, making the boy yelp and drop the diary, which Otabin quickly closed and tied shut with his ball of string.
"Friends shouldn't bully friends." the little creature said cutely.
"We're not bullying anyone, we're just trying to- Ow! Hey!" Edric cried, trying to pick up the diary again only to be warded off by Otabin's needle.
Luz and Emira watched him keep trying for a few seconds, before Emira rolled her eyes and grabbed Otabin's book from Luz's satchel, then shut it so the rabbit would disappear, along with his string, allowing Edric to grab Amity's diary again. However, since Emira had taken one arm off of Luz's body, the young angel was able to wiggle an arm free and shoot vines out to snatch the diary back. Edric didn't let go however, and the three of them soon ended up wrestling for the book, each trying to keep it out of the others hands.
"What do you think you're doing!?"
The three of them froze and turned to find Amity standing in the doorway of her hideaway, scowling furiously. The girl glared at her siblings, then noticed the book they were trying to grab.
"Really!? This was your prank!? You wanted to steal my diary!?" Amity spat furiously, marching forward. Her anger was so intense that the twins recoiled and practically hid behind Luz, who was quick to thrust the book towards Amity while bowing her head.
"I'm so sorry, Amity! I never would have agreed to any of this if I knew what they were going to do!" Luz cried.
Amity snatched her diary away and hugged it to her chest; "Did you read any of it?" she demanded.
"N-No, but the Wailing Star brought it to life, so I heard a couple of entries, and the twins were already looking in it when I caught up with them, so I don't know how much they heard…" Luz confessed, "But I swear I won't tell anyone! I'll make an Everlasting Oath to prove it if I have to!"
Amity's expression softened slightly; "It's fine, Luz. I figured my rotten siblings were going to use you for something nefarious. I overheard you three plotting to break in here earlier, and decided to follow you to thwart whatever prank they'd planned to pull."
"Surprised you didn't just rat us out again…" Emira muttered.
Amity scowled at her big sister; "I'm sorry Mom was so hard on you both, but I only did it because you're always goofing off and getting me into trouble! It isn't fair that you two get to coast on by while I'm stuck being Mom's little doll!" she yelled, making her siblings wince, "Besides, I wasn't going to rat you out because I owe you for not ratting me out over the Covention."
The twins exchanged guilty expressions. Considering what Amity had just said, and Luz's own loud protests, their original plan was beginning to sound crueller and crueller by the minute. Sure they were bitter over their Mom's lecturing, but even they had to admit that Amity got the worst of it, even though she was the one who actually tried to live up to the woman's impossible standards.
"You really weren't going to tell on us?" Edric asked in a small voice.
Amity shook her head; "No, I wasn't. If I was, I would have already done it and wouldn't have had to come down here myself! I'm starting to think that's what I should have done anyway, seeing as you wanted to expose my secrets to the whole school! Do you have any idea what Mom would have done to me if some of my secrets got out? Not to mention Luz!"
"What about Luz?" Emira said, confused.
The youngest Blight caught herself before she could spill any secrets, instead choosing to be vague; "W-Well Mom doesn't know I'm friends with her, and I may have written private things she'd told me in my diary! If you'd posted the pages, everyone would know Luz's secrets too, and Mom would make me stop being friends with her, just like she did with-"
Again, Amity clamped her mouth shut before she could say too much, though by the looks on Luz and the twins' faces, she'd still said more than she should have. Twin looks of horrified realisation dawned on Edric and Emira's faces as they pieced together what Amity had meant, while Luz just looked upset at the idea of Amity's Mom making her stop being friends with someone.
"We didn't realise…" Emira whispered, looking upset with herself.
"We thought it would be just a prank. We didn't think it'd hurt you or Luz." Edric said truthfully.
Amity certainly believed them; her siblings were more thoughtless than malicious, but it still didn't make her forgive them.
"We can talk about this later. I'm just glad Luz was here to stop you, or my whole plan to thwart your prank would have gone up in flames." she said, tucking her diary away in an expanded pocket of her casual wear; which consisted of a thigh-length black dress with elbow-length sleeves worn over dark red tights.
Luz perked up as Amity shot her a grateful smile, though her words twigged something in her mind. "By the way, if you overheard us planning to come here, how come you're so late?"
"I actually was right behind you. I tailed the twins to the library, but that spell they cast on the door lock faded before I could sneak in with you. I'd planned to use my staff ID to get in through the staff door around the back, but it was gone from my pocket." Amity explained. "I had to scale up to a window that I knew had a broken lock, and it took a while. I literally only just got in here."
The twins both cringed and Luz paled as she remembered Malphas. "Oh no… Amity, you need to get out of here! The twins used your ID card to get us into the Forbidden Stacks! Malphas knows about it too! If he finds you here-!"
Amity went as white as a sheet as she realised what it would mean for her; Malphas would assume she was the one who let the others in! She'd be fired for certain!
Unfortunately, before Luz could finish her sentence or Amity could even think about fleeing the library, all four teens saw an ominous shadow loom over them. They all turned and gulped as the cloaked, shadowy form of Malphas appeared in the doorway of Amity's hideaway.
"Amity Blight!" the Master Librarian bellowed ominously, snapping the claws on his free hand.
In an instant, the same spectral red hands Luz had seen in the Forbidden Stacks appeared from the ground and lunged at them. Luz, Amity, Edric, and Emira were all grabbed and tightly held by the hands, leaving them completely powerless to escape. Luz briefly managed to free Amity by firing a light blast from her mouth to destroy the hand grabbing her, but Malphas just snapped his claws again and another hand emerged to grab the youngest Blight, while Luz's mouth was covered by one of the fingers holding her.
The four teens thrashed and wriggled to try and get free. The twins loudly protested and Amity pleaded with Malphas, but they accidentally drowned each other out and Malphas soon had them gagged too. He floated silently on his book until they arrived at the library's front desk, where he forced the teens to sit on the ground before releasing their mouths. Malphas then removed his feathery cloak, revealing them to be his own wings, and showed his bird-like face.
"Amity…" he began, his voice a lot less menacing now that it wasn't echoing out of his wings, "I'm just like, super disappointed in you. I get that the Wailing Star is kinda cool, but breaking in with your siblings and friend? And breaking into the Forbidden Stacks too? I can't even, like, process these feelings right now."
"Sir, please let me explain! It isn't what you think!" Amity begged.
"Amity, girl, I saw your ID on the entry records for the Forbidden Stacks. I found you here, with your siblings and friend." Malphas shook his head disappointedly, then looked to Luz and the twins; "You're Edric and Emira Blight, and Luz Noceda correct? I'm probably gonna have to call your parents…"
"Wait, how do you know who we are!?" Edric blurted out.
Malphas waved his claw and a large book with the words "Visitor's Book" appeared in front of him. "When I noticed intruders, I went to check this. It has, like, super old magic on it. It tells me the names of everyone who enters the library, when they came and when they went. I saw your names there and saw you hadn't left yet."
So that was how he knew they were still there, despite seemingly giving up the search earlier. Luz was kind of curious how the book worked and how it knew people's names, but this wasn't really the time to ask.
Malphas turned back to Amity; "Gosh, it's so hard for me to say this, but like, I have to fire you…"
Amity gasped, completely heartbroken. The twins looked horrified, and Luz immediately protested; "Wait! Mr Malphas sir, none of this was Amity's fault! She only came her to stop us!"
"That's right!" Emira yelled, "I stole her staff ID from her pocket at dinner earlier. She didn't even know we had it!"
Malphas raised a disbelieving eyebrow; "Sorry kids, but I can't just believe you. You're all kinda in trouble already, so you could be like totally lying to me to save Amity's job. I mean, that's kind of cool of you, but you've all gotta take responsibility."
"We're not lying!" Edric protested, "Check Emira's pocket; she has the ID on her!"
"I do! Look!" Emira nodded frantically, wiggling to try and thrust her pocket in Malphas' direction. The bird-like demon drew a magic circle, summoning the ID from her pocket. He examined it critically, then hummed.
"Okay, that's almost convincing. But that isn't proof that Amity didn't just give it to you." Malphas pointed out.
The twins gaped, unable to think of anything else to say to convince the Master Librarian, while Amity was already lowering her head with tears in her eyes. She was going to lose her job, her Mom was going to be called on her, and her friendship with Luz would be revealed to her, all at once! In one evening, she was going to lose so much!
But unlike the Blights, Luz hadn't given up yet. "I-I can prove Amity wasn't in on it! Check your book! The Visitor's Book! If it is shows when we arrive and when we leave, you'll see that Amity didn't show up until way after we did!"
The Blights looked up in surprise, and Malphas nodded thoughtfully, flipping open the book. He turned to the most recent entries and sure enough, the book revealed that Amity didn't get into the library until almost a full hour after Luz and the twins did. In fact, she entered the library after her ID was logged on the Forbidden Stacks door, proving she wasn't involved. Malphas seemed briefly convinced, but then he frowned.
"I've got to admit, I really want to believe you kids. I mean, I like Amity, I really do. But this is serious; you guys stole a book from the Forbidden Stacks. Sure she wasn't directly involved, but like, you haven't proven you stole the ID from her instead if her just giving it to you. I've got nothing but your word, and the word of a thief is kinda…" Malphas trailed off.
Luz shook her head; "I-I was going to return the book, like any other library book! Honest!"
"Luz, girl, I literally just said-"
"I can prove it!" Luz interrupted, "The Wailing Star is still active, right? Well we found out that if you edited the books, the things that come out are edited too! I edited Otabin to help me find the book I needed! You could edit it too to make it so Otabin always knows if someone is lying! That way you can believe what we're saying!"
Malphas raised an eyebrow; "You want me to deface a book?"
"I'll clean it afterwards! I'll clean every book in the whole place! Just don't fire Amity or call her parents!" Luz begged.
The Blights looked at her with shock and warmth, while Malphas appeared moved. "That's some good friend energy. Okay, I'll take you up on it."
He took Otabin's book from Luz's satchel and opened it to the page Luz had written in earlier, causing Otabin to come out again, making Amity coo quietly. Malphas instinctively cringed at the defaced book, but used one of his own quills and some magically summoned ink to write underneath Luz's words.
"Otabin could always spot lies, and shouted "Liar!" whenever someone told a lie in front of him." Malphas wrote. A shimmer of light engulfed Otabin for a moment, then Malphas decided to test it with a little game of two truths and a lie.
"Otabin could always spot lies, and shouted "Liar!" whenever someone told a lie in front of him." Malphas wrote. A shimmer of light engulfed Otabin for a moment, then Malphas decided to test it with a little game of two truths and a lie.
"I am over 300 years old." Otabin was silent. "I enjoy skateboarding in my time off." again, Otabin was silent. "I am a Corvus Demon."
"LIAR!" Otabin suddenly shouted, hopping up and down.
Malphas nodded in satisfaction; "I'm actually a Corvian Demon. It's slightly different." he explained. "Alright, it works so tell your story kids."
Luz, Amity, and the twins immediately reiterated their stories; Amity had only come to stop her siblings' prank, the twins had stolen her ID card, and Luz really had intended to bring back the diary like any other library book. Otabin was pleasantly silent through the whole affair, so when they were done, Malphas was finally convinced.
"Okay, I believe you. Kind of hard to argue with that." Malphas said, snapping his claws and causing the spectral hands to vanish, releasing the teens, "Amity, you're not fired, but like, next time you know someone is up to something in the library, tell me about it."
Amity nodded immediately; "Yes sir. I'm sorry for the trouble."
"As for you three, I really should call your parents… but I also don't want to deal with Odalia…" Malphas muttered that last part, "So I'll punish you myself. That cool with you?"
"Totally." the twins said together, not wanting their mother to know anything about their antics.
"Yes sir." Luz also agreed. She didn't want to bother Eda while she was babysitting.
"Great. Now the three of you are going to spend the rest of the night tidying this place up. And I mean like, top to bottom. Including the books you wrote in." Malphas said, handing Otabin's book back to Luz and the staff ID card back to Amity. "And no using magic. Amity, I'll leave you to supervise."
"Yes, Malphas." Amity nodded.
"Awesome. I'm gonna go back to the stacks… oh, that reminds me." he held his hand out to Luz; "I'll take back that book you borrowed."
Luz slouched and reluctantly handed over the diary. It sucked that this whole adventure had essentially been for nothing, but at least Amity had kept her job and the twins weren't going to get screamed at by their Mom (whom Luz was becoming progressively more concerned about).
Malphas looked at the diary curiously; "Why'd you want this old thing? I remember the guy who donated it… he wasn't a great person."
"I'm sorry, but it's a secret. I could be in danger if people found out." Luz replied.
Otabin didn't react to her words, so Malphas accepted that as the truth. "Fair enough. Next time you want to take out a book, come get a library card."
The Master Librarian then put the diary down atop his Staff book, wrapped himself up in his wings again, and floated off, leaving the teens to get on with their work.
Under Amity's watchful eye, Luz and the twins dutifully cleaned up any messes they'd made while playing around, erasing the graffiti they'd scrawled in the books, and sweeping the place clean of dust and dirt, all without using magic or the Wailing Star's powers. In fact, the Wailing Star's power began to fade as dawn approached, so Luz and Amity had said a grateful goodbye to Otabin before the little friend disappeared, happy to have spent an evening with friends of his own. Luz had then taken great care in cleaning out the things she and Malphas had written in his book, before returning it to the kid's corner.
Finally, the four of them were finished with their tasks and left the library just as the sun was rising over Bonesborough, bathing the town in warm golden rays. They were all exhausted, though Luz took some pleasure in the warmth of the sun on her face.
"Man, tonight was a trip… I can't believe we pulled an all-nighter." Edric said, yawning.
"And we've got school today too… ugh, we should skip it." Emira groaned.
The twins looked sleepily at Amity, wondering if she'd tell on them, but the girl just sighed; "I won't say a word to Mom. I actually wished I could skip too, but there's no way Mom wouldn't find out. She talks to my teachers…"
"I'm really sorry you got dragged into all this, Amity." Luz apologised. "You must think I'm a crummy friend, and an even worse… you-know-what. Always causing trouble…"
"It's fine, Luz. Those two would have done this without you, and your quick thinking is what saved my job." Amity smiled softly, "You're honestly the best friend I've ever had. And you're nowhere near as bad a… you-know-what… as you think you are. Sure you're not perfect, but you don't need to be; you're fine as you."
Luz blushed, feeling a burst of warmth and fondness in her chest as she looked at the mint-haired girl. She smiled and hugged her; "Thank you, Amity. And just so you know; you don't need to be perfect either. I think you're fine as you are… and if you ever need to show weakness, then you can show it to me. I won't judge."
Amity went red in the face; "I-If anyone else had said that, I'd accuse them of lying… thank you, Luz. I'm sorry that you didn't get the book you wanted."
"Actually…"
The girls turned to Edric and Emira, who were watching their exchange with coy smiles. "… I think you'll be pleased to find we've got a surprise for you." Edric said, snapping his fingers to dispel an illusion and reveal a conspicuous book-shaped bulge in his shirt. He reached inside and pulled out the Diary of Philip Wittebane.
Luz gasped; "How did you get that!?"
"Did you steal it from Malphas!?" Amity exclaimed.
"Nope. We stole it from Luz." Emira grinned. "When we were wrestling for Mittens' diary, I swiped it from your satchel…"
"...and I replaced it with that Quacks book, disguised with an illusion." Edric said, freely handing the book to a very grateful Luz.
"Why did you take it?" Amity asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow.
"We sort of wondered why Luz wanted it so badly… I mean, who would normally want a book about angels, wild magic, and some kind of glyphs?" Emira shrugged.
"Also, since Luz kicked your butt at the Covention, we wanted to make sure we had some insurance in case she pulled out the big guns to stop us taking your diary. Uh, sorry again about that." Edric said sheepishly.
Luz hugged the twins as she giggled with joy; "As far as I'm concerned, we're even! Thank you so much!"
"Aw, no problem cutie. Thanks for saving Mittens' job… and stopping us from making a big mistake." Emira said fondly.
"Yeah, and saving our necks from Mom!" Edric grinned.
Another mention of the Blight Matriarch had Luz frowning again. Literally everything Luz had heard about her made the young angel extremely uncomfortable. She pushed Amity to be perfect, stopped her being friends with someone, and was strict enough that even the twins were intimidated by her. Not to mention even Willow's dad and Malphas had said they wanted nothing to do with her… It painted a really nasty picture of Odalia Blight, and Luz felt compelled to ask;
"Um, is everything okay at home? With your parents I mean? It's just, I've heard a lot about them and the nicest description was that your dad was eccentric…"
The Blights exchanged uncomfortable looks; "It's… Mom is… She's strict and has high standards." Amity said, clearly trying to find the words to describe her truthfully, but without further worrying Luz.
"But so long as we meet those standards, which we can, then life is pretty good for us." Emira said.
Something in their expressions made Luz doubt they were being completely honest, but she decided to drop the topic before she started coming across as pushy. "Well, if you ever need a break then come to the Owl House. Eda's all about rebelling, so you'd be welcome there."
The Blights all smiled and nodded, then said their goodbyes; they were all dead on their feet, and the twins wanted to go to bed while Amity got a power nap before she had to go to school. The twins went on ahead, leaving Luz and Amity alone for a moment.
"Hey, I know you said it wasn't my fault that things got a little crazy today…" Luz began, "… but I still want to repay you, and thank you for all the help you gave me. So here."
She reached into her satchel and pulled out The Good Witch Azura Book 5, and handed it to Amity; "I noticed you only had books 1 through 4, so I thought I'd lend this to you."
Amity took the book eagerly and gratefully, hugging it to her chest; "Thanks, Luz. I hope you find the answers you were looking for in that diary." she said with a warm smile.
Luz returned the smile, and the two girls parted ways, each heading home. As she walked, Luz briefly glanced at Philip Wittebane's diary and wondered what secrets it would contain. It was quite possibly the only book in the isles that included angels and glyphs, so if it didn't hold answers, then Luz would be forced to try and figure out her strange new powers and connection to the Isles on her own.
She arrived back at the Owl House and peaked inside, smiling softly as she found Eda and King asleep on the couch, with the Bat Queen's three babies cradled in Eda's arms. Luz cooed at the cuteness and prepared to tiptoe up to her room for some shut-eye, when Hooty suddenly slammed his door open and cried; "Ding dong!"
"Hooty!" Luz scolded in a whisper.
Suddenly, a very large creature forced its way through the doorway and into the house. It looked like a giant version of the Bat Babies, with some light make-up, long black hair, and gleaming red eyes. It wasn't hard to figure out who this demon was.
"Whoa. You must be Mama." Luz said, amazed by the creature.
"Yi yi, Mama is I. And I is the Bat Queen." she said, her accent thick. The Bat Queen whistled and her three children sprung back to consciousness and flew out of Eda's arms to roost in their mother's hair. They were completely concealed in those ebony locks, with only their shining eyes being visible, reminding Luz of Malphas.
"Ah, Snuggle-Dumplings!" the Bat Queen cooed. She then coughed up a massive chest full of shiny snails, then spat out a strange skull-themed whistle; "For troubles." she explained to Luz, "Eda is owed one. Farewell, Angel Child."
Then without giving Luz a chance to reply, the Bat Queen squeezed her way back out of the house and flew away into the distance. Luz blinked; how had the Bat Queen known what she was? Her wings were hidden and her concealment stone was still active, so what gives?
"Ugh, questions for later. I'm too tired for this." Luz mumbled, slouching and heading off to bed. She stopped just long enough to kiss the sleeping King on the head, then retreated to her room and tucking herself into her sleeping bag. Her last thoughts before sleep took her were not of bats, angels, glyphs, or diaries however, but rather a mint haired girl curled up in a private study, reading Luz's favourite book. With that pleasant image in mind, Luz drifted off to sleep.