Chapter Text
The lone figure stood at the front of the theater, between the audience and the screen. After a moment’s pause, they spoke.
“Before I announce the episodes you are about to watch, I must acknowledge that it is now quite late into the afternoon. As such, you all must be feeling quite hungry again.”
“Now that you mention it.” Wally cut in, touching his stomach. “I am feeling a bit peckish. I could go for some roast beetle.”
Their host nodded. “Today’s viewing started with a buffet, so we’ll end on one as well.” With a clap of their hands, several tables of food appeared. There were Thai, Latina, American dishes, as well as many dishes for both the Boiling Isles natives and the Amphibians. There were even fusion options using ingredients from Amphibia or the Boiling Isles, but cooked in the style of one of the human cultures. Similar tables appeared in the waiting rooms as well.
“Hot tamales!” Stan exclaimed as he eyed the table of human cuisine. “Are those crab legs? We’re getting the Casino buffet treatment!”
“Back off, Pines!” Hop Pop shouted. “Those crab legs are ours!”
“Yeah!” Anne added, backing him up. “Seeing that giant crab from the fishing trip again made me hungry!”
“Oh my gosh! Larb!” Mabel said excitedly as she ran up to the tables and began helping herself. “I had some yesterday at Anne’s restaurant and- Eeek!” She suddenly shrieked, dropping her plate back onto the table and backing away from it. “There’s rat tails in it! Why are there rat tails in it?!”
“Ooh! Dire rat!” Gus said, popping up behind her and grabbing her abandoned plate for himself. “My favorite!” He said, before taking a bite with a loud crunch. “Oh… the bones are the best part.”
“I don’t think I’m hungry anymore.” Mabel said as she returned to her seat, looking a little green. Dipper patted her back sympathetically.
Over the next few minutes, everyone loaded up their plates with their preferred diets, with only a few individuals being adventurous enough, such as King and Polly, or acclimated enough, like Anne and Luz, to grab items outside their usual diets. Thompson also grabbed dishes meant for Witches or Amphibians, but only because his friends dared him to. Thankfully, Anne and Luz were able to covertly point him toward foods safe for human consumption.
While everyone was going through the buffet, the theater seating was transformed into long dining tables with all the seats facing the screen.
“Dinner and a show! This feels kinda fancy!” Luz cheered as she took her seat. “So then, what episodes of my journey are we watching?” She asked the lone figure.
“We will be watching three episodes of the Owl House to end things for today.” The lone figure replied. “We’ll start with episode 11, Sense and Insensitivity.”
“Huh.” King pondered in thought as he took a bite of a beetle dish Polly recommended to him. “That title isn’t ringing any bells for me. Although, if the last episode of ours was when I tried to take over the Slayground, then this one is probably…,” he trailed off as his eyes widened in shock. He suddenly groaned in defeat. “Oh no…. Don’t tell me this is when I became a best-selling author?”
“You did what?” Polly asked in surprise, dropping a chunk of meat covered in eyes she had been about to try.
“You? An author?” Dipper questioned incredulously. If King was somehow connected to Bill, Dipper could only imagine what sort of horrible nightmarish book the demon could write, before shaking his head and snorting in amusem*nt. Bill, a bestselling author? Yeah right.
“Why don’t we hear the next title?” Luz quickly suggested, changing the topic. The lone figure nodded in agreement.
“After that, we’ll watch episode 12, Adventures in the Elements.”
Eda immediately gave Luz a playful nudge and wink. “Sounds like our first trip to the Knee. Ready to relive getting your second glyph?” She whispered to Luz.
“Eh, for the most part.” Luz replied with subdued enthusiasm. “I’m glad I learned it, I just wish I hadn’t made such a mess before then.”
“None of that.” Eda told her. “Sure it was a little bumpy, but you learned a powerful lesson that day.” The Owl Lady said, before pausing. “Speaking of lessons, that reminds me.”
Eda leaned over to her newest apprentice, Maddie, who seemed to be studying the Boiling Isles cuisine on her plate, instead of eating it. “Heads up, new girl. You won’t just be learning from me, but Luz as well. Which means you pay close attention to these episodes, especially the second one. Got it?”
Maddie nodded in agreement with a manic grin on her face.
“Finally, today’s viewing will end with Episode 13, The First Day.” The lone figure said plainly.
“Well, no points for guessing the plot of that one.” Anne said as she cracked open a large crab claw. “We saw in the last batch of Owl House episodes that Luz was officially enrolled in Hexside. This has to be her first day of magic school.”
“On one hand, I’m excited to see more actual magic.” Nate said as he grabbed a slice of the pizza he was sharing with Lee.
“On the other hand, ugh! School.” Lee added with a frown.
Luz chuckled. “Actually, despite a rocky start, things went alright in the end.” She told them before a thought occurred to her. Vee…. Luz made a mental note to talk to her sister before the last episode so she could warn her.
“After that, there will be no further episodes today.” The lone figure continued. “It will be quite late by then, so I’m sure most of you will be winding down for the night, but there will be a few night activities in the towns that I will announce after the episodes.”
That got people’s attention, Stan and Eda especially, but there were more than a few mischievous looks among the younger members of the audience. However, there were no further comments from them, or anyone else, not even the lone figure. It was time to start the first episode.
****
The Owl House
Season 1, Episode 11
Sense and Insensitivity
****
(It’s another day of trying to sell human trash to the witches and demons of the Boiling Isles! King demands that passersby partake of his snack samples, but is ignored. He is their rightful overlord! Intellectually, that is.)
“I don’t think potential customers enjoy being yelled at.” Hop Pop suggested. “Maybe try being more polite?”
“Hey!” Eda replied sharply. “Do I tell you how to run your stand, Plantar?”
“Technically yes.” The farm frog told her. “You and Pines tried to coach me on scamming folks just the other day during the episode about my stand!”
“Ah, right.” Eda coughed awkwardly. “Nevermind then.”
(Eda notes the lack of business and grabs a random Hexside student to smell them.)
(“It reeks more of nerd than money today.”)
“Please tell me that’s an exaggeration by this cartoon and you didn’t actually sniff a random kid.” Wendy asked worriedly.
“Uh…” Eda mumbled, avoiding eye contact. Wendy shook her head disapprovingly.
“Uh, so, what does ‘nerd’ smell like?” Dipper wondered, giving himself an experimental sniff.
This time, Eda did answer the question.
“If you can’t identify the smell of nerd on your own, then I have bad news, kid.” She told him, grinning. “It means you smell like nerd!”
(Luz runs up excitedly. There’s a book fair! Where books come to life!)
(“Hello.”)
(Luz kicks the book in the face.)
“I’m sorry, book!” Luz apologized to the screen. “You startled me!”
“A book fair!” Dipper repeated excitedly. “I wonder if certain narrative devices are the same or similar in the Boiling Isles as they are on earth?”
“They are in fact nearly the same.” Luz told him. “The biggest differences are that classical fantasy barely exists as a genre and our idea of horror wouldn’t even remotely phase the average witch or demon.”
“Makes sense, I guess.” Dipper agreed. As he turned his attention back to the episode, he couldn’t help but wonder what sort of things would qualify as horror on the Boiling Isles.
(King questions the idea of a fair without rides. An obnoxious tiny man runs up to physically shove a book in his face, extolling the virtues of reading. King throws bacon on the man, causing a flying beast to carry him off.)
“Did you just kill a man?” Sprig questioned, mildly alarmed.
“Of course not!” King insisted. “That guy ended up fine! …probably.” He continued, muttering the last word. Polly heard him, but she just shrugged. “He probably deserved it.” The young girl reasoned.
(Eda is bored and would rather pickpocket the nerds while they browse. While disappointed Eda won’t be joining her, Luz is able to convince King to check out the book fair with her by offering to let him ride in her hoodie.)
King sighed wistfully. “It’s been awhile since I was able to ride in your hoodie, Luz.”
She patted his shoulder. “I know, buddy, but that’s just part of growing up sometimes. You get bigger.”
“Yeah.” King agreed quietly. “A lot bigger.”
(The fair has everything! A zine-making workshop. Meet and greets, and… Holy smokes! A writing competition! Luz has always wanted to be a writer. King thought she always wanted to be a witch? She points out that she used to believe that was impossible, so her backup dream was to be a writer. She even had her ‘about the author’ picture made when she was 7! She’s going to enter the competition!)
Back in the Amphibia waiting room, Marcy perked up in interest. “Ooh, a writer!” She said excitedly. “Luz strikes me as a fanfiction writer. I wonder if I’ve ever come across any of her stuff before?”
“She seems pretty fixated on the Good Witch Azura series.” Sasha reminded her. “Have you read anything from that fandom?”
Marcy shrugged. “I’ve come across a few stories that crossover with the Cynthia Coven series, but I haven’t read them yet. The Azura series is on my ‘read later’ list and I didn’t want to spoil myself.”
“Well, you’re gonna be introduced before me.” Sasha replied. “So maybe it’s time to get into that series?”
“I think you’re right.” Marcy grinned.
(A female Hexside student runs by, drawing a nasty comment from King as he wonders why there’s so many people crowding the booth. The tiny nose demon angrily informs him that they’re all in line for John de Plume! The most famous writer on the Boiling Isles! Author of the Realm Warrior series! Tiny nose is going to have him read her story!)
(“And marry me…”)
“Ugh.” Stan grunted disapprovingly as he loudly cracked open a crab leg. “Writers. They’re almost as bad as musicians.”
“Oh man.” Gus said, nostalgically. “I loved the Realm Warrior series. Too bad it ended on a cliffhanger.”
“It did?” Ivy asked, looking up from her food. “Why?”
Gus shrugged. “John de Plume’s publisher announced that the pressures of fame were too much for him and he decided to retire for his health, and that he wouldn’t be continuing the series.”
Luz grumbled to herself. “That lying sack of ….” She muttered angrily, trailing off so King would hear what she had to say.
“You know, now that I think about it.” Willow added. “A lot of writers under that Publisher retire before the end of their series.”
(King watches as John de Plume’s fans crowd around him, asking for his autograph on anything they can put before him! King is in awe, seeing the power John has over his fans. He desires it for his own! He too shall enter the writing competition!!! Luz suggests that they work together! They’re best friends, so they’ll be the best team! King agrees!)
(“My name goes first on the cover.”)
King cringed at the scene. He hated seeing his past behavior. Butting in on an activity that Luz enjoyed simply because he craved power. He hadn’t even done it as a way to spend time with her. That would’ve been preferable to his actual goal at the time. He then felt a gentle pressure on his head, and he looked up to see Luz smiling at him, her hand on him.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself, King.” She said, patting him. “I understand why you did what you did, and you know what you did wrong. Don’t keep beating yourself up over it. Okay?”
He sighed, the tension in his small body releasing. “Okay.” He agreed, before returning to his food.
(After the theme song, Eda wanders through the book fair, knocking books over, declaring everything to be boring. However, after catching sight of her reflection, Eda worriedly notes she has a new wrinkle. A sign of her curse getting worse!)
Maddie immediately pushed her plate aside, pulling out a journal of her own and began taking notes. “Unnaturally ages the victim….” She muttered under her breath as she recorded her observations.
“Wait, does your curse make you grow old at a faster rate?” Dipper asked, marking down similar observations in his journal.
Eda sighed tiredly before answering. “Yes.” She confirmed. “I’m actually younger than I look. Believe it or not, I’m only in my mid 40s.”
“What?” Stan gasped, spitting out his drink. “I thought you were at least 10 years older than that!”
Eda made a sound that was somewhere between a growl and an annoyed hum in his direction.
“I meant that I thought you were about my age.” He quickly clarified. “You…you’re so much younger than me.”
“Don’t forget the time difference between our groups.” Hop Pop added. “She’s from eight years ahead of you, so the age gap is actually even bigger than it initially seems.”
“It… oh sweet baby Mary.” Stan uttered, shocked. Eda watched as slumped down in his seat, processing the truth of her age compared to his. She couldn’t help but grin slightly. Looks like she didn’t have to keep putting up with Stan hitting on her anymore.
(However, she hears a familiar voice before she can focus any longer on that. Lilith is at the book fair as well, talking to a rodent-like demon shopkeeper about an ‘item’ they had previously discussed.)
“Hey. It’s your sister.” Maddie pointed out, returning to her meal.
“Huh?” Eda said, turning her attention back to the episode. “Oh yeah. I remember this. That was an… interesting few days.”
(The demon cheerfully hands over a scroll and Lilith opens it to examine it. A map to the Bloom of Eternal Youth! The Emperor will be pleased.)
“Eternal Youth?” Hop Pop perked up, intrigued. “Tell me more!”
“And she said this mysterious emperor would be pleased.” Anne observed. “Did he order her to get it?”
“If he did, he must be super old.” Sprig said with his mouth full.
“You have no idea.” Luz muttered to herself.
(The coven scout with her asks if they should be searching for the Owl Lady instead? To make her join the coven? That whole plan?)
(“My sister’s curse has left her frail. She’ll still be here when we get back.”)
“Sounds like she’s acting on her own initiative actually.” Dipper said. “Maybe she’s trying to earn his favor by getting him the flower as a gift?”
Luz scoffed quietly. If anything, a gift of eternal youth would probably anger Belos, since it would be nearly useless to him. Not that Lilith knew that at the time.
(The Bloom of Eternal Youth comes first. It’s for the Emperor, after all. The scout enthusiastically knocks over a stack of books and praises the Emperor! Lilith approves of his enthusiasm.)
(“Shoulder pats for Steve!”)
“You know, despite being a faceless goon, I have a good feeling about Steve.” Mabel said before taking a sip of Mabel Juice.
“He’s still a cop.” Stan muttered, having gotten over his shock about Eda for the time being.
(After the two leave, Eda pops out and demands the demon shopkeeper tell her what he just sold to Lilith. He tells her all about the Bloom of Eternal Youth. It only grows once a millennia and whoever holds it gains eternal youth. Eda decides to go after the flower as well, mostly just to mess with Lilith. That will show her who’s frail. The shopkeeper offers her a map as well from a drawer full of them. Interestingly, he doesn’t appear to charge her for it.)
“Seriously, Eda?” Luz stared at her mentor flatly. “After the hard time you gave me over that Chosen one biz? You’re just gonna fall for this?”
“Honestly, Clawthorne. First you get hustled by Tibbles, now this? What’s the matter with you?” Stan huffed.
“Just keep watching, you two.” Eda told them, ignoring their complaints.
(Back at the Owl House, Luz and King begin to brainstorm ideas that they want to see in their story. King is amazed he gets to write anything. He wants violence! …And blood!!!)
While most of the theater chuckled at King’s one track mind, Dipper glanced at the demon worriedly. He wasn’t the only one concerned either. Within the confines of the Gravity Falls waiting room, Ford swore under his breath.
“Just the sort of things I would expect to find in a book written by Bill.” The six-fingered man muttered to himself. “Granted, I would also expect to find a double page spread dedicated entirely to silly straws, but that’s besides the point. This is a bad sign.”
“Eh? You say something, Ford?” McGucket asked, turning towards him.
“Oh! Uh, it’s nothing, Fiddleford.” Ford reassured his old friend. “Just thinking out loud.”
(Luz wants Romance, Magic, and Heartbreak with shimmery tears! And obviously Luz… ura. The main character is Luzura. King throws in his own self-inser- I mean, his own original character! The Kin- uh, Ruler of Demons! With this totally original all-star cast, victory will be theirs!)
There were a few snickers at Luz and King’s expense. Thankfully, it was clear that the others weren’t being malicious.
“I’m not gonna fault you guys for using some self-inserts, but maybe don’t make it so obvious next time.” Anne said while chuckling.
“Heh, yeah….” Luz replied bashfully, as she rubbed the back of her head. “As you can probably guess, I really like imagining myself as Azura.”
“Nothing wrong with that!” Mabel told her.
(It’s time for a writing montage! 3 act structure? Throw in that explosion! Plan to shave a cat! Draw a smiling face over the story structure!)
“Ooh!” Mabel spoke again. “Writing is a lot more fun than I originally assumed!”
Dipper just shook his head and gave Luz an incredulous look. “How did any of that help with writing?”
“It kept King entertained in between the actual writing sessions.” She told him.
(After a lot of work, King goes over a passage Luz wrote. Luzura’s tears bring the frozen prince back to life? That feels a little unrealistic. Luz sees what King is saying, but in his version, Ruler just destroys everything. She thinks some romantic tension will help the scene.)
(“Hey, there’s more to life than shipping.”)
(“Don’t you dare insult shipping in my presence!”)
Anne snorted in amusem*nt. “Didn’t you say something similar when we watched Civil Wart?”
“Yeah.” Luz confirmed. “Like I said then, I’m still a shipper at heart, but since this happened, I’ve accepted that a story needs more than just shipping, even if it’s the main focus.”
(Just then, Eda calls Luz downstairs. Luz tells King they’ll figure it out. She’ll be right back. As soon as she leaves, King eyes up the typewriter.)
(“My turn to write!”)
“Oh no!” Wally suddenly shouted.
“Oh no’ is right.” Ivy agreed. “I don’t see this ending well.”
“What?” Wally gave her a confused look, before realization hit him. “Oh right, the show. Sorry, I was distracted because I spilled my drink.” Ivy just shook her head at him.
King sighed, drawing Polly’s attention. “You okay?” She asked.
“Mostly.” He replied. “Just not enjoying seeing this again.”
“I’m here for you.”
“Thank you.”
(Downstairs, Eda tells Luz that she is going away for a few days to do undisclosed things at an undisclosed place. Luz is in charge. Luz has no problems with that. No questions! Okay. She said no questions!)
“And yet another caretaker leaves the kids in their care by themselves.” Candy giggled as she ate some fries.
“Hey now!” Eda replied, offended. “Luz is 14! She’s fine to be on her own for a couple nights.”
“And how many times did you do this sort of thing with King before Luz showed up?” Ivy asked teasingly.
“No more questions!”
(Luz heads back upstairs to tell King that’ll just be the two of them for a few days. However, she’s startled to see that King has completely taken over the writing process! Most of Luz’s half of the writing has been thrown in the trash!)
(“Hey Luz! Great news!”)
There were a few gasps as everyone saw Luz’s original draft had literally been thrown in the trash. King himself had received a few disapproving looks from the other groups.
“That’s messed up!” Mabel declared.
“Yeah.” Dipper agreed, shooting King a suspicious look. “That’s the kind of behavior I would expect from a certain someone else I know.” He murmured to himself.
(Luz demands to know what he has done! He just made a few tiny edits and the story is now humming! Luzura’s Awakening is now Ruler’s Reach!)
Back in the waiting room, Hunter squealed excitedly. A behind the scenes look of how one of his favorite books was written. He only wishes it had gotten a sequel. “I wonder why it never got a sequel?” He briefly wondered.
Vee, looking up from the bowl of cursed jewelry she was currently draining, shrugged in response. “We’re probably going to find out by the end of the episode.”
(“Luzura dies?!”)
(“I know, right? What a twist!”)
Luz had been taking a drink of water, when she sharply inhaled in shock at what her past self had just said. Predictably, she immediately began coughing up her drink, drawing everyone’s attention.
“I’m fine.” She insisted, still coughing the last bit of water up. “My drink just went down the wrong way!”
“Are you sure?” Anne asked, frowning. It was a reasonable explanation, but the timing of Luz’s reaction bothered her. Glancing up at the other residents of the Owl House, she caught sight of King and Eda quickly exchanged deeply pained looks with each other, before they helped Luz finish clearing her throat.
Anne turned back to the screen, deep in thought.
(Luz acknowledges that King is trying to help, but right now, he’s crossing a line. He agrees! He’s crossed a line into greatness! Doesn’t Luz want to win? Disappointed and upset, Luz leaves, telling King that if this is how he wants to win, then he should submit the story on his own. King resolves to prove his story is superior!)
In the Owl House waiting room, Camila put a hand to her chest at the sight of the hurt on Luz’s face before she had left the room. She had already heard this story from Luz herself after she had come home, but to see it in person…. She just hoped her daughter had not been exaggerating about King eventually apologizing for this.
-
“Ugh.” King groaned, poking aimlessly at the food still on his plate. “Please stop talking.” He complained, frowning at his past behavior.
“Well, at least we can be sure the kid learned his lesson from this.” Hop Pop said, giving King a sympathetic smile.
(At a local pub, King challenges the patrons to read his literary masterpiece! He is immediately thrown out face first into the mud, his book hitting him a second afterwards.)
Luz sighed at the scene. “King, why are you going to that pub? The whole point was to submit the story to the writing competition.”
“I did.” King replied. “Or, at least I tried to. When I got there, they said they weren’t accepting any other submissions. So I decided to just show whoever I ran into.”
“Wait.” Luz frowned. “I thought you told me that you won the writing competition.”
“About that…”
(However, it would seem one patron did wish to read King’s story. A three-eyed lizard demon in a red robe, floppy blue hat, and pair of pretentiously tiny glasses. His eyes glow as he flips through King’s book at high speed.)
“I kind of ran into the guy who was running the competition.” King finished.
“I see.” Luz grumbled, frowning at Piniet.
“Dood, did that guy just read your book backwards?” Soos asked. “That’s majorly impressive.”
“Surely not.” Wendy said. “The story wouldn’t make sense that way. That has to be an animation error.”
Everyone looked to King for an answer. The furry demon just scratched the back of his head however. “Uh, sorry. I don’t remember specifically if he read it backwards or forwards. This was months ago.”
A few groaned at the lack of an answer as they went back to watching the episode.
(After a moment, he’s done. After King claims that he is the only one that wrote it, the lizard demon buys King a fruit punch and introduces himself as Piniet of Piniet Publishing House. He wants to publish King’s book. It was so much better than the submissions they got for the writing competition.)
“Aw man.” Gus pouted. “I knew I hadn’t won, but that really doesn’t sound good for mine or anyone else’s submissions.”
“You entered?” Luz asked.
“Yeah. I wanted to try my hand at creating vivid images using only words.” He said. “It’s actually a great way to practice illusions.”
“Well, don’t feel too bad.” She told him. “You actually dodged a bullet.”
“What’s a bullet?”
“Uh, I’ll tell you later.”
(Piniet claims he can make King as famous as John de Plume. Nearby, John de Plume’s fans shower praise upon him!)
(“I’ve always wanted a people chair. I’m in!”)
“Did anyone else just feel a chill just now?” Thompson asked, shivering.
“Yeah, man.” Nate nodded, as he and Lee both shivered as well. “I don’t know why, but something about how the kid said that reminded me of when...” He trailed off, looking haunted
“That was a majorly uncool time.” Tambry added, looking disturbed as she pushed away her food. “I think I lost my appetite.”
“You guys okay?” King asked.
“Yeah, kid.” Lee answered. “We just remembered something unpleasant.”
King gave the teens a confused look, but decided not to ask further. However, just as he had been about to go back to watching the screen, King caught sight of Dipper staring at him. Staring at him in terror. Before King could ask why, Dipper tore his eyes away from him and went back to watching the episode. The whole thing made King feel… uneasy.
(Piniet pulls out a contract, which King eagerly signs without reading it over. The contract briefly glows with magic. Piniet is ominous, but King likes that!)
Between the waiting rooms and the main theater, Ford and Dipper both began to doubt their shared theory. Bill would never knowingly agree to a deal that gave someone power over himself. Stan and Eda meanwhile shook their heads in disappointment.
“King, have I taught you nothing about the world?” Eda bemoaned. “You didn’t even read the contract before signing it!”
“Rookie mistake, kid.” Stan agreed.
(“Get ready to be famous, Mr. King!”)
(A montage begins of everything that goes into mass producing and distributing books! Raw ore is super heated in a furnace to produce an orb glowing red hot from the heat. That is then hammered into a rough rectangular shape. Once that cools, the metal crumbles away to reveal… Ruler’s Reach: Enter the Bad Boy! Repeat several thousand more times and ship to bookstores all across the Boiling Isles!)
“What the heck?” Hop Pop exclaimed, completely flabbergasted by what he was seeing. “That can’t honestly be how you make books in your world?!”
“It is.” Willow replied, sounding confused. “How else would we do it?”
“By hand, or with a printing press!” The frog shouted in response.
“Hey.” Mabel interrupted. “Was that Mattomule or whatever his name was just then?”
“It was.” Gus confirmed. “I’ve heard he has a part time job at the bookstore. I guess it’s true.” He said before shrugging.
(The critics are raving! A perfect blend of heart and heartlessness, like two authors mashed into one! The fans are rabid! The books sell out in an instant! Even King’s cardboard cutout is taken!)
“Oh wow.” Sprig said. “People really love that book!”
“I guess.” Mabel said, noncommittally. “The unicorn guy kinda bothers me.”
“Yeah.” Luz nodded. “Reviewnicorn really leans into horse act. It’s his whole gimmick.”
“Not why he bothers me.” Mabel muttered, poking her fork at her food.
(And King? King is on top of the world. His image is everywhere. His fans praise and celebrate him wherever he goes. All of this, in the span of a day.)
Suddenly, there was a brief flash of light and a sound of shuffling fabric as King let out a surprised ‘weh!’ drawing everyone’s attention to him. The young demon was now dressed in the same outfit his past self was currently wearing in the episode, the brown jacket, dark teal scarf, and red sunglasses, all of it.
“Pfft.” Polly snorted in amusem*nt. “You look ridicul- ugh, what’s that smell?!” She asked as her face scrunched up in disgust.
“It’s the scarf…” King sighed.
(The tiny nose demon shoves her own manuscript towards him. She loves his writing! She’d be honored if he read her story. King wasn’t paying attention however, and assumes she wanted his autograph. Thankfully, she’s just as pleased with this outcome too.)
“Aw dood, she just wanted you to read her story.” Soos said, frowning at King.
“I couldn’t.” King replied. “I was advised not to by a lawyer Piniet hired. If I did read her story, and then wrote another book, she could potentially claim I stole the plot from her.”
“You still should’ve listened to what she actually wanted, instead of just assuming she wanted an autograph.” Maddie cut in. “At least then you could’ve properly explained that to her.”
(Elsewhere on the Isles, Eda walks through the forest, seeking the Bloom of Eternal Youth. She found the Minitaur’s statue, an important landmark to guide her way.)
“Minotaur?” Chutzpaur asked from the Stable between bites of jerky.
“Minitaur.” Eda corrected. “They look sort of like your kind, but they’re much tinier.” She told him, pinching her fingers together to demonstrate.
Luz, meanwhile, leaned forward in interest. Despite not asking questions back then, she was now curious how Eda’s trip had gone. Especially since this was most certainly a scam.
(With luck, she’ll beat Lilith to the flower. However, she’s startled by a branch breaking behind her. She’s been followed! Eda hides, allowing her pursuer to pass her, before leaping out to attack! Spicy tos- Oh, it’s just Lilith. She suggests Eda goes home to rest, so she doesn’t break a hip.)
“Wow.” Anne gasped in surprise. “Rude much?” She said before pausing. “Hey wait. Miss Eda, earlier you said your curse makes you look older than you actually are. Since Lilith looks younger than you, does that mean you two are actually twins?” She asked with Stan and the twins subtly leaning in their direction to listen in.
Eda chuckled, shaking her head. “No, she and I aren’t twins.”
The Pines family shrugged and returned to watching the episode.
“Lily is actually older!” Eda finished.
“Wait, what?” Anne questioned, surprised, as were a few others.
“Yup. She’s got about two years on me.” The Owl Lady continued. “To be fair, she dyes her hair, so she looks younger than she actually is.”
-
Back in the waiting rooms, Lilith groaned in embarrassment, burying her face into her hands. “I suppose the others were going to learn that anyway from the show eventually, but I still would’ve preferred if Edalyn hadn’t shared that just now.”
(Eda fires back that she’s there to save the Bloom of Eternal Youth from the likes of Lilith. She then immediately takes off, taunting Lilith that she’s going to get there before her!)
(“Aah! No, you won’t!”)
Stan chuckled cryptically before sighing contentedly. “You two may be on opposite sides of the law, but it looks like you both annoy each other the way only a sibling could.”
“I suppose.” Eda nodded, smiling nostalgically. “Though, what do you know about siblings, Pines?”
Stan briefly panicked on how to respond before the answer quickly came to him.
“Come on, Clawthorne.” He grinned. “I’m a Great Uncle. I have to have at least one sibling, otherwise I’d just be a grandfather.”
He winked knowingly at the twins as Eda could only concede the point.
(Back at the Owl House, Luz works on her own writing when King comes in, announcing that he won the writing competition and is now famous! A fan made him a scarf out of their own hair! Luz doesn’t respond, going back to her own writing and giving him the cold shoulder.)
“Ew, gross!” Polly exclaimed, pointing at King’s scarf. “That’s why that thing reeks?”
“Yeah.” King confirmed.
“Hehe, cool.” The girl said, grinning mischievously. The looks on everyone else’s faces made it clear that none of them shared her opinion.
(Unperturbed, King lets her know that his publisher is throwing a huge party for his book, Ruler’s Reach. He wants Luz to be there. Luz, still choosing to not respond, just knocks the invitation to the floor. King masks his hurt feelings with indifference and leaves.)
“Oh Luz.” Anne said sympathetically, giving the other girl a concerned look. “You must have been really angry with him.”
“Not angry. At least not that angry.” Luz replied quietly. “Just… more disappointed than anything. I wasn’t sure what to say to him. So I just ended up saying nothing.” She admitted, as she put a comforting hand on King to reassure him again.
Eda watched her charges worriedly. While she didn’t like that King had pushed Luz out of their partnership, nor the silent treatment Luz had given King, the Owl Lady was relieved to know that the situation had somehow resolved itself before she had returned. Aside from learning that King had apparently written a book, she had no idea that any of this had occurred. By the time she had gotten back from her little field trip, the two were already as thick as thieves again. Now the only question in her mind was why the two had never wanted to talk about it.
(Luz finally looks up from the typewriter as he does so. Despite what he did, she doesn’t want to be mad at him. She picks up the invitation.)
King suddenly hugged Luz tightly, pressing himself into her side.
“I’m so sorry, Luz.” He said quietly.
Luz put an arm around him and hugged him back.
“I already forgave you, King.”
(At the Bonesborough Library, King is meeting fans and signing autographs. A fan excitedly asks when the sequel will be coming out. King answers that’s between him and Piniet. Speaking of… Piniet would like to have a word with him. Alone.)
“Here it comes.” Stan stated. “The other shoe is about to drop.”
(King asks where John de Plume is? He wanted to compare pretentious sunglasses with him. Piniet tells King that Plume is taking some time to finish his latest masterpiece.)
(“Fame can really ‘box’ you in, y’know?”)
Luz and King both frowned at the line. It was unnerving to realize that John de Plume was trapped in a shrinking box as he desperately tried to write a sequel to his series. A sequel they knew he never finished in time. Looking around, it seemed no one else really thought too much of the line, as far as Luz and King could tell, at least. Everyone was busy eating still, as they continued to watch the episode.
(On that note, Piniet wants to know how King’s second book is coming along. Coming along? It’s actually finished! King hands the new manuscript over, which Piniet immediately speed-reads.)
“He’s reading it backwards again.” Wendy pointed out as she got seconds from the buffet. “That’s the second time now, can he actually read like that?”
(Piniet laughs when he finishes. Not only is King a great writer, he’s funny too! The current draft is truly awful. He’s looking forward to the real thing.)
“Wait what?” Polly wondered. “But what about the first book?”
“Wait….” Dipper said, as a thought occurred to him. “King, how much of Luz’s writing was still in Ruler’s Reach?”
King tapped his claws together nervously. “Not too much was still in it… but, it made up a lot of the establishing and emotional scenes.”
“And without her, your book lost what made it good.” Anne summarized. “Because you aren’t the genius writer behind the book.”
(King is shocked. He realizes that he can’t write without… Luz! She’s at the event! He hurries over to her, greeting her. Luz explains that she didn’t want to be angry at his success. She’s here to support him.)
“Luz is.” King confirmed, looking up toward his big sister. “She’s the genius writer.”
“King….” Luz replied, touched.
“You’re gonna be an amazing writer someday.” He continued. “I’m sorry for taking the fame that should’ve been yours.”
(King is glad to hear that… because he needs her help on his next book. Turns out, he can only write his ‘daring’ works of ‘genius’ when he’s rebelling against her gushing fantasy slop!)
“Aw King.” Luz repeated, tearing up in response. “Thank you. However, I think I’ll hold off on the fame for now. I really don’t want to have to deal with the likes of Piniet again anytime soon.”
“Wait.” Gus cut in. “What do you mean by that? What’s wrong with Piniet?”
“Uh….” Luz stammered, before shoving a large bite of food into her mouth to avoid answering the question.
(Utterly insulted, Luz refuses to help him and walks away, congratulating him on all his ‘hard earned’ success. King wonders what he’s going to do, he can’t write without Luz! Unbeknownst to both of them, Piniet saw everything.)
Gus stared worryingly at the screen as Piniet loomed ominously on the screen. “John de Plume… didn’t retire, did he?”
“Not willingly.” Luz whispered quietly so the others couldn’t hear.
(Back in the forest, Eda and Lilith race for the Bloom of Eternal Youth. Something else also races after them. Eda reminisces about how the two of them used to race to the kitchen, before noticing that Lilith is now missing.)
“Kings of New Jersey! Kings of New Jersey!”
“Grunkle Stan?”
“Huh?! What?!” Stan jumped, startled out of his thoughts.
“Grunkle Stan.” Mabel continued, staring up at him in concern. “Are you okay? You zoned out just now.”
“I’m fine, pumpkin.” He reassured her. “Just a little trip down memory lane.”
(Before she can wonder where Lilith disappeared to, Eda spots her. She’s been captured by a massive demonic spider/crab hybrid beast!)
“Glad we don’t got those in Amphibia.” Hop Pop commented. “Gotta be a terrible monster if it could capture your sister like that.”
“Nah.” Eda shook her head, swirling a goblet of apple blood around. “It’s an ambush predator. Even I would be in trouble if it had managed to take me by surprise. Lilith would’ve had no problem with the thing if it hadn’t taken her by surprise. After all, she’s almost as strong as me.” She finished, smirking.
“You speak highly of your sister.” Hop Pop observed. “Thought you two were at odds with each other.”
(Eda sends the creature flying and rescues her sister. Lilith thanks her. She hadn’t been sure Eda would’ve saved her.)
(“Stow it. We might fight, but you’re still my sister. Besides, if anyone’s putting you down, it’s gonna be me.”)
Eda laughed at Hop Pop’s statement. “We may have been on opposite sides of the law, but she’s-”
“Still family.” Stan finished for her. Everyone gave him an odd look.
“Uh, yeah.” Eda nodded awkwardly, looking at Stan in surprise.
(Lilith smiles, but then spots the Bloom! Eda shoves her aside. That baby is hers! Lilith demands why she is always like this?)
(“You think I’m just some tired old biddy. Ah, but I’m more than that.”)
(With the Bloom’s power, Eda will show her! Just then, the bloom disintegrates. A dark shadow falls over the two as insane giggling fills the air! A familiar figure looms above them.)
Luz groaned at the sight. “This is exactly like Adegast, Eda. How did you fall for this?!”
“You’ll see. Just keep watching.” Eda told her apprentice, taking her attention off Stan.
(Back at the library, Piniet and his goons corner Luz when she’s alone.)
(“I hear you’re an aspiring writer….”)
Gus glanced worriedly at his human friend. Piniet was really starting to freak him out. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t think Piniet Publishing had a single finished book series under their belt. Each one ended up discontinued before they were finished. Just what happened to all those writers?
(Inside the arena from the Covention, the crowd cheers excitedly for the announcement of Ruler’s Reach 2! Backstage, King is hemming and hawing nervously.)
“Didn’t he just shoot your first draft down?” Candy asked. “Why is an announcement being held for the sequel?”
“Forget the draft.” Anne cut in. “Didn’t you just release the first book?! This is way too soon! No one has any time to discuss the book! How is anyone supposed to theorize about a series like that?”
“Yeah.” King cringed at the scene. “Piniet apparently likes to ‘strike while the pitchfork is hot.’ He insists on working at an extremely breakneck pace.”
“Man, if anything, that’s just going to damage the budding fandom.” Anne complained, before pausing. “Huh, I think Marcy is rubbing off on me.”
(Finally, he works up the courage to speak up to Piniet. They can’t announce a sequel yet. He can’t write without his… writing partner. Piniet reveals he has Luz trapped in a magic shrinking box. If she doesn’t want to be crushed, she and King will work together to write the sequel. Some of the best books were written in literal crunch time.)
(“That’s a toxic mentality that contributes to burnout and unrealistic expectations.”)
“Hey Willow?” Gus said, turning to his friend. “Remind me when the first Realm Warrior book came out?”
“About a year before we met Luz, I think.” She replied.
“And 4 books had been released before the series was discontinued… Oh Titan…” Gus said, putting a hand to his head, the rest of his food forgotten.
(King demands that Luz be freed, but Piniet refuses to do so, not until he has his best-seller. King is under contract, after all. The contract glows and King is also thrown into the shrinking box with Luz.)
(“Make your deadline or you’ll never be able to hold a pen again. Just like…”)
(Piniet reveals the fate of John de Plume. He really was boxed in! Literally! Piniet sticks the cubular author into a briefcase full of more authors who failed to meet their deadlines. He looks forward to their next volume.)
Everyone gaped in shock at the screen as the fates of not just John de Plume but every author that had ever signed with the reptilian publisher were revealed. Gus especially was horrified by the reveal. It wasn’t just John de Plume, Gus recognized the authors of several series he used to read in the past.
“How is he able to get away with this?” Someone asked in disbelief. Gus looked over to see Candy looking just as horrified as he felt. It was Eda who spoke up, sounding tired.
“He had them under contract and he’s rich. He’s completely free to take full advantage of their labor as much as he wants.”
“That… can’t be legal, can it?” Wendy replied, distraught.
“Not entirely.” Eda told everyone. “However, anyone in a position to stop this guy either didn’t care, or never knew something was wrong to begin with. After all, those authors aren’t exactly in a position to report their situation.”
(King despairs. Piniet won’t let them out until they write a book! That’ll take forever! Luz points out that she has her story. However, it’s full of hugging and crying! King can’t put his name on that! Luz points out that is why they are in a shrinking box! Because he can’t compromise! All she wanted was to write a dumb story with her friend.)
“I appreciate you complimenting my writing earlier, King.” Luz told her adopted brother. “But I didn’t actually care about winning the contest or becoming famous. I just wanted to spend time with you.”
King hugged his older sister tightly. He almost wanted to laugh. He had gotten so caught up in his fame, he had almost missed out on the one thing he had been desperate for not too long after this event. Time with Luz.
(King says that Luz is living her dream. She’s becoming a witch. However, fame is the closest he’ll ever get to his dream. He let it all go to his head and he hurt her. He apologizes. Luz tells him that spending time with him is one of her favorite parts of her dream.)
The two separated and King just shook his head at the screen again. If his past self had known that he was the son of the Titan, he would’ve reveled in lording that over everyone’s heads. Funny how dreams can change over time.
(She has a plan, but she and King need to work together this time. King quickly agrees, asking what he needs to do.)
“How did you kids get out of this mess?” Eda quietly asked. “Your brief aversion to books makes a lot more sense now, but there’s no way you two cranked out a new book in time.”
“You’ll see,” Luz replied slyly. “Just keep watching.”
“Fair enough.” Eda conceded, before noticing the scene change. “Speaking of…”
(Back in the forest, the demon shopkeeper mocks the Clawthorne sisters for falling for his scam. The Bloom of Eternal Youth was never real. It was just a lie he fed them to get them alone so he could suck the life force out of them to satisfy his unending hunger!)
“There sure are a lot of demons that feed off others.” Dipper said. “How does anything get done when so many have to drain the life force of others to survive?”
“Oh, life-draining isn’t a normal trait of this guy’s kind.” Eda explained. “He’s got vampirism.”
“Vampirism, you say?” Mabel questioned, suddenly interested. “Wait, wasn’t he introduced during the day? How did he not burn up?”
“He probably has a charm or enchantment that protects him.” Eda answered.
(They’re not at all terrified.)
(“He scammed us. Can you believe he scammed us?”)
(“I thought there was a 50/50 chance going in.”)
“You knew this was a scam and you went anyway?!” Luz exclaimed, shocked.
“I don’t understand. Why?” Stan asked as well.
“The prize was Eternal Youth.” Eda replied, grinning. “In the unlikely event that the Bloom was real, I didn’t want to take the chance of that falling into the Emperor’s hands. Sometimes, you just have to take the risky gamble, kid. Just always have an escape plan if things don’t go your way.”
Stan nodded in understanding. “Fair enough, I can understand taking a risky gamble if the prize is worth it.”
(The shopkeeper is annoyed by their lack of fear and coaches them on the proper response to being lured into a lethal trap. The sisters mockingly repeat the cries of fear he suggested, as they both arm themselves with their staffs.)
(“Spare us.”)
(“Woe to us, whose fates are sealed.”)
“What exactly was his plan here?” Maddie questioned. “Just lure you out here and then hope the two of you would politely offer him your necks?”
“Pretty sure this guy was a newly turned vampire.” Eda guessed. “His trap was terrible, and he had no back up plan for when we clearly were too powerful for him.”
(It begins to dawn on the shopkeeper that he might have bitten off more than he could chew. Someone is cowering, and it’s not either of the sisters.)
“Good riddance.” Wendy said. “Now let’s get back to Luz and King. That's the real conflict here.”
(Back with Luz and King, they call out to Piniet, letting him know they’re done writing. He’s surprised they’re done so quickly, but takes the new manuscript for speed-reading. He pauses briefly, noting that it’s a lot more gushy than the first book. King tells him to skip to the end. It’s quite the payoff.)
“Doesn’t sound like he’s not a big fan of Luz’s stuff by itself either.” Mabel pointed out.
“I wasn’t paying attention at the time, but I think you’re right.” Luz replied thoughtfully. “Maybe I’m not the sole reason Ruler’s Reach was so popular after all.”
“But Piniet hated my writing on its own!” King cut in. “That has to mean you have to be a better writer!”
“Not necessarily.” She told him. “I think we’re both the reason Ruler’s Reach did so well. You said you left in the establishing and emotional scenes I wrote in. What did you replace?”
“Just more emotional scenes.” King told her, confused. “You had nothing but fluff and easily defeated obstacles. There was no action. No conflict or struggle. So I removed some of the fluff and I added some struggles.”
Luz facepalmed. “We were just covering each other’s weak points when it came to writing!” She realized. “It wasn’t my writing that made Ruler’s reach good. It was both of us together!”
(Piniet finishes the book, but is confused by the presence of a light glyph taking up an entire page. Luz reaches her hand through the opening to activate it, blinding Piniet! Using his pretentious scarf, King grabs Piniet and Luz tears the contract to pieces. Their prison vanishes around them! They’re no longer in danger of being crushed!)
Despite the brief interruption as most of the theater cheered for Luz and King’s escape, King himself stared at the empty plate in front of him, deep in thought. He had writing talent? No. No, Luz was the one with writing talent. It couldn’t have been both of them.
Could it…?
(Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean Piniet is done with them yet. Despite setting the cubed authors free, Luz and King are unable to get past Piniet’s hired muscle. With his men blocking the exit, Piniet prepares to show King and Luz why the pen is mightier than the sword!)
“No!” Gus despaired. “You guys almost escaped!”
“Bad luck.” Anne agreed. “But now we can see you guys take this slimeball down!”
Luz hissed in response. “Uh… about that.”
(Just then, the tiny nose demon breaks in, knocking over the guards. She wants King to read her story. Unfortunately for her, King’s lawyer advised him not to read unsolicited work.)
“What?” Anne said dumbfounded. “What is happening?”
“This is… how we got away from Piniet.” Luz answered.
(Piniet will read her story, as long as she leaves afterwards so he can destroy Luz and King in peace. She happily agrees.)
“She’s not going to question that?” Dipper asked. “That’s an alarming thing to hear!”
Luz just shrugged in response. She didn’t have an explanation when it came to Tinella Nosa.
(Luz, King, and Piniet's men stand around awkwardly while they wait for him to finish.)
“This is the most anticlimactic end to a fight ever.” Ivy complained. “Just kick his butt while he’s distracted!”
“Can’t.” Luz told her. “His goons would stop us, and I only knew the light glyph at the time.”
“It’s been so long since you discovered that one.” Maddie said, sounding impatient. “When are we going to see more?”
“Not too much longer.” Luz mumbled.
Wendy, meanwhile, was rubbing her temples in annoyance.
“Oh now he reads normally!” She complained. “Make up your mind, you three-eyed jerk!”
(After a moment, Piniet is done, and he’s been moved to tears. The tiny nose demon’s book is the most beautiful thing he’s ever read. She must let him publish it.)
(“Wait a minute, what about King?”)
(“You’re old news. She, on the other hand, is the future.”)
“Aw.” Polly pouted, as King’s author outfit immediately vanished. “I liked her, but now she’s going to end up cubed like the rest of those authors.”
“Actually, she’s still around.” Luz said, surprising everyone. “She must’ve really impressed Piniet or something.”
“Actually, I heard Piniet Publishing closed down.” Willow shared. “Apparently Piniet mysteriously disappeared a few days later.”
Everyone slowly turned to the screen in surprise, staring at the tiny nose demon as she did finger guns on screen.
“…you don’t suppose she…” King started to say.
“She didn’t.” Hooty cut in suddenly.
“How would you know, Hooty?” Eda questioned, rolling her eyes.
“She’s in my book club!” The owl tube replied happily. “She got a friend to get Piniet off her back when he started to get pushy.”
“Right.” Eda said, clearly not believing him. “If you say so, Hooty.”
(Luz and King are free to go and they waste no more time in leaving, with the other authors that had been cubed following after them.)
“Oh good.” Gus sighed in relief. “They got away too.”
(Back in the forest, the Clawthorne sisters have finished handing the shopkeeper his ass. Lilith says that she doesn’t consider Eda to be a tired old biddy. She’d be much easier to catch otherwise. Eda thinks Lilith is about to try and arrest her again. She isn’t however. She wants to give Eda a chance to join on her own. She pleads with Eda to join willingly. The Emperor could even… heal her curse.)
Maddie paused, looking up from her notes on Eda’s curse, up to the Owl Lady herself, then to the screen itself. From what she had seen so far, she doubted Eda would take the deal. But a part of her did wonder, if this unseen Emperor could heal Eda’s curse, just how powerful was he?
(Eda turns the offer down however. She doesn’t want to owe the Emperor anything. She’ll heal the curse on her own. The two Clawthrone sisters part ways.)
(“Catch you later, sis.”)
(“Not if I catch you first.”)
“You two seem to be on better terms than u- uh… Well, you seem to be on better terms.” Stan said, awkwardly stumbling over his words, before finishing the last of his drink in one large gulp.
“Well, sure.” Eda replied. “We may be on opposite sides of the law, but she’s still my sister. Just because I avoid her, doesn’t mean I’ve completely cut her out of my life.”
“…Right.” Stan nodded after a moment’s pause.
(Eda arrives back at the Owl House. It’s been a rough couple of days. Luz and King are quick to agree. Thankfully, it’s nothing a good book can’t fix. Books? Luz and King don’t know anything about books! In fact, they hate books. They run off, leaving Eda confused. She then notices a copy of Ruler’s Reach in front of her, with King’s picture on the back.)
(“Girl, you do not want to know.”)
****
As the credits rolled, the lights came back up, brightening the theater once again. Empty plates and glasses littered the tables, now that everyone was finished eating for now. A quick snap of the lone figure’s fingers instantly cleared all the dirty dishes, leaving only the dining tables left.
Stan leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head as he let out a contented sigh. “Ah, that was fantastic. I haven’t had a meal that fancy since my last trip to Vegas.”
“So last month then?” Dipper snarked.
“Eh, nuts to you, kid.” The old man huffed, before turning to the lone figure at the back of the room. “How about some dessert?”
“Dessert will be available after the next episode.” The lone figure answered. “To give your stomachs time to settle.”
Stan just groaned in complaint.
Eda rolled her eyes at the scene, before turning to her charges. “Alright, you two. I assume that everything is good between you regarding your foray into literature?”
Luz nodded. “I have completely forgiven King since then. We’re good.”
“And before anyone asks,” King interjected, “I swear I learned my lesson. No more hurting those I love for power!”
“What about the carnival?” Gus questioned accusingly.
“That was a totally different lesson!” King insisted.
“Enough.” Eda ordered sternly. “We’ll discuss the carnival when we get to it tomorrow. Let’s focus on this episode for now.”
“Right.” Luz agreed, then turned to the lone figure. “Could we get a few copies of my original draft for Luzura’s Awakening, Ruler’s Reach and King’s draft for the sequel to pass around?”
The lone figure nodded slightly and several copies of all three texts appeared on each of the tables.
“For Ruler’s Reach, I took the liberty of color-coding the text to indicate whether Luz or King wrote it. Blue for Luz, Red for King.” Their host explained as the younger members of the theater began flipping through both stories.
“Well, I’m not a professional critic by any means.” Anne said as she quickly flipped through the copy of Ruler’s Reach she was holding. “But I can confirm King was telling the truth earlier. Most of the writing is his own work. Luz’s share of the writing is mostly at the beginning of the book. Although, even then, King’s edits take up the bulk of the book.”
“The ending is a fairly even blend of both of us.” Luz observed, skipping ahead. “The writing practically switches between us, nearly every other sentence.”
King shrugged nervously. “I may not like the fluffy fantasy stuff like you do, Luz, but that doesn’t mean I disagreed with all the ideas you had.” Luz smiled at that.
“Well, I’ve identified why Piniet didn’t like the second book.” Dipper interrupted, flipping through a manuscript of the first draft of the sequel. “Also, Luz, your theory about you and King’s writing styles covering each other’s weak point seems to be correct. This sequel is so far almost entirely fight scenes or tragic character deaths, which are fantastically written, but I have no context for any of the characters involved.”
“Dipper’s right.” Sprig said, reading from a copy of the manuscript. “I just read a scene where someone named King Cellos gets assassinated, but I have no idea if that’s a bad thing or a good thing. Other than that, it does a great job of describing the scene.”
“Got a similar situation with Luz’s solo work.” Ivy said. “The settings and characters have very detailed motivations, descriptions and backstories. However, they either quickly solve their problems or they spend three paragraphs kissing. That’s not an exaggeration, either. I’m currently reading a kissing scene that is three paragraphs long.”
Ivy paused for a moment as she continued reading. “…Make that four.”
Luz coughed in embarrassment while King nervously stared at the ground. Despite the harsh criticism, the two of them did pay attention to what was being said.
“I suppose I shouldn’t have been so quick to write off that set-up-stuff as a boring waste of time.” King admitted.
Luz nodded in agreement. “And as much as I love writing fluff and shipping, It’s not as meaningful unless the characters fight to reach it. I had kinda already realized that, but I don’t mind the reinforcement.” She patted King’s head. “How about we give writing together another try when we get home, buddy?”
“Y-you mean it, Luz?” King asked eagerly, his tail wagging at high speed.
“Sure do! After all, Ruler’s Reach never got its sequel.” She replied. At that, a loud cheer erupted from the Owl House waiting room. Luz rolled her eyes, before continuing. “We’ll give the series a proper ending, and more importantly, we’ll help each other become better writers.”
“Hold it.” Eda cut in. “You two want to write together again, that’s fine, but you’re taking me along when you’re done so I can help you find a better publisher! I am not going to allow your hard work to be exploited again!”
“Thanks Eda.” Luz replied. “Definitely don’t want to encounter another Piniet.”
“Guys.” Gus interrupted. “While I love that you want to write a sequel, you might not be able to. While he may be missing and his business shut down, Piniet still technically owns the rights to Ruler’s Reach. Until he’s declared legally dead, or found-”
Just then, without any warning whatsoever, Hooty suddenly vomited up a bundle of red fabric. It hit the ground with a wet slap, unfurling on impact.
It was a red robe. A very familiar red robe with gold edging. Everyone stared at it in silence before glancing nervously at Hooty, who just unnervingly stared back with an unreadable expression. After a tense few moments, Wally spoke up first.
“T-that’s probably just a coincidence.” He reasoned nervously.
Hooty immediately hacked something else up. A floppy blue hat and a pair of cracked pretentiously tiny glasses.
This time it was Eda who broke the uncomfortable silence that followed.
“Everyone who wants to pretend that didn’t just happen and start the next episode so we don’t have to think about it, say aye.”
“Aye!”
With the unanimous vote, the lights dimmed once more and Hooty quickly gulped down the incriminating articles of clothing once more.
****
The Owl House
Season 1, Episode 12
Adventures in the Elements
****
(At the Owl House, Luz excitedly goes over an informative pamphlet advertising Hexside. Now that she’s going to be a student soon, she wants to learn all about it. Luz has a new crush and her name is education!)
“I know it’s a school for magic and all, but I still find it weird that you want to go to school.” Lee commented. “You didn’t seem to like school back in your first episode.”
“Hey now, I love learning! However, my teachers might have been put off by how enthusiastic I was about it.” Luz replied with mild embarrassment.
(Just then, Eda kicks the door open! Guess what today is? Eda’s birthday? King’s Birthday?)
(“It’s my birthday.”)
(“No! It’s human treasure day!”)
(The portal opens and Owlbert comes through dragging a large sack of human trash.)
“Yeah, that’s a pile of trash.” Anne stated flatly. “You sell trash, lady.”
“Nuts to you!” Eda grumbled.
“Are we going to ignore that it was apparently Hooty’s birthday?” Mabel asked.
“He thinks everyday is his birthday.” Eda replied. “I’ll prove it. Hooty, when’s your birthday?”
“Today!” The bird tube flailed happily.
“Then what’s tomorrow?”
“My birthday!”
Eda chuckled in amusem*nt, before looking at Mabel. “See?”
(King excitedly runs up and claims a pull-string teddy bear for his own. Truly horrifying. Luz, however, is too busy looking over the pamphlet still. Did you know Hexside is built on the bones of its rival school? One it literally conquered?)
“Woah!” Gus exclaimed. “Is that Principal Bump when he was a kid?”
“You haven’t seen this picture already?” Luz asked. “It’s in all the new student pamphlets and you’ve been enrolled longer than I have.”
“Yeah, since I was a toddler.” He replied. “I never saw the pamphlet.”
“Why do your schools conquer each other?” Nate asked. “Does that happen often?”
“Not anymore today.” Willow answered. “The remaining schools on the Isles are too far apart to make conquest worthwhile, despite the intense rivalries between all of them. As for why, there was apparently a period of great unrest and instability right before the current era, although the reasons behind this unrest were poorly documented.” She finished explaining, sounding somewhat uncomfortable.
(Eda knows all of this. She used to be a student herself. It was the most harrowing period of her life.)
Eda scowled as she remembered Faust. How someone like him came to be headmaster of Hexside was a mystery she’d never figure out. If he wasn’t required for Hexside to actually have students enrolled to be considered an academic institution, she’s sure he would’ve expelled the entire student body just so he wouldn’t have to look at them.
(Luz imagines herself in the halls of Hexside with her friends, Gus, Willow, and maybe even Amity. Oh Cramity! Luz just remembered! She’s supposed to meet with Amity to get her Azura book back from her! She’s gonna be late!)
“Oh yeah.” Mabel said. “You’re sort of on good terms with her now. I’m still surprised she didn’t show up after the library episode. I felt like she would.”
“Better terms that you might realize.” Luz whispered to herself, before speaking up. “Yeah, the library would’ve been a great episode for her to appear. Too bad she didn’t.”
(King suggests that his new plushie can be their new Luz!)
(“Being without you is un’bear’able.”)
(“You’re unbearable!”)
“King? Did you try to replace me with a teddy bear?” Luz asked, narrowing her eyes at her adopted brother.
“No!” King insisted, shaking his head frantically. “I mean, I changed my mind immediately!”
Luz giggled at his panic. “I’m just teasing, King. Calm down.”
(After the theme song, Luz runs through the market, looking for Amity. She soon spots her between the Cursed Paintings and Blessed Rocks.)
“I’ve seen this before…” Soos stated in a serious tone.
“Well, of course you have. We’ve all seen this before.” Dipper replied. “This is where Luz and Eda flew away from that guard in their first episode.”
Maddie hummed thoughtfully. “I should check out that Cursed painting stand later. Pick a couple up for study.”
“Grab some of those rocks too.” Ivy suggested. “Blessings are basically the opposite of curses, right?”
“Actually, that one’s a scam.” Eda replied to Ivy’s disappointment.
(Luz runs over to greet her, but is intercepted by Amity’s older siblings. The twins Emira and Edric. She falls backwards in shock.)
“Oh.” Candy said, her tone turning cold. “It’s those mean twins again. I don’t like them.”
“Yeah.” Grenda agreed. “Those two nearly got you and Amity killed.”
“Well, good news then.” Luz replied. “That was a big wake-up call for them. Ed and Em have been a lot nicer ever since.”
(Amity admonishes them while she helps Luz up. She explains that the two insisted on coming for some reason.)
(“Because we love you, baby sister.”)
(Amity shoves Emira away.)
“I don’t know.” Grenda said suspiciously. “That seemed kinda like they’re still picking on their sister.”
“Nah.” Polly said. “That’s just normal sibling behavior. There’s always going to be some teasing.”
(Amity explains that the twins have been extra protective and nice towards her to make up for the “Library Incident.”)
(“And we still apologize every day.”)
(Amity pushes Edric away too.)
“Alright, good.” Candy nodded. “They are actually sorry.”
“Yeah.” Luz replied. “Like I said. It was a wake-up call for them.”
“Why did they act that way to begin with?” The younger girl asked.
Luz frowned in response. “I’m not sure it’s my place to talk about that. I’ll have to get back to you on that tomorrow.”
(With that out of the way, Amity returns Luz’s book. Luz is curious what Amity thought about it. It was… fine. So fine in fact, that Amity drew a picture of herself with Malingale the Mysterious Soothsayer. Amity disintegrates the drawing.)
There were several chuckles at Amity’s moment of embarrassment, with Mabel and her friends giggling excitedly about Malingale’s mysterious appearance. Luz, on the other hand, wondered how Amity would react if she dressed up as the mysterious soothsayer, instead of Azura like she usually did.
—
Amity turned away from the crystal ball showing both the episode and the main theater’s conversations, her face red in embarrassment.
“I can’t believe that was part of the episode.” She groaned. “I should give our host a piece of my mind!”
“Calm down, Cariño.” Camila reassured her. “It might be embarrassing, but moments like that are improving the others’ opinion of you.”
“Wait, what?” Amity asked, snapping out of her embarrassment.
“Their first opinion of you was based on how you treated Willow when she and Gus were introduced.” The older woman explained. “None of them had a high opinion of you at the time. Mabel’s friends probably saw you as a witch version of that Pacifica girl. Now look at them! Those two were worried that your siblings were still picking on you. They’re sticking up for you now.”
Amity looked back at the crystal ball in surprise, realizing that Camila was right. This was helping smooth over her eventual introduction.
“Oh… good.” She replied, still processing the realization. “Still wish it wouldn’t show stuff like that.”
“I wouldn’t worry.” Camila replied. “You aren’t the first who’s had something embarrassing shown, and you won’t be the last.”
(Luz is thrilled! She suggests the two of them start an Azura book club at school! Amity is confused. Luz explains that she’s enrolling into Hexside. They’ll be classmates!)
“She looks surprised.” Anne observed. “I’m guessing you didn’t tell her?”
Luz shrugged in response. “I hadn’t seen her in person since I lent her the latest Azura book after the Wailing Star. I never got the chance to tell her that Bump was letting me enroll.”
(Amity explains that in order to be in her class, Luz needs to take a placement exam and prove she’s mastered at least two spells. She knows Luz has the light spell. Does she know anything else?)
“Nope.” Maddie replied. “But I’m getting the feeling that’s going to change soon.” She said eagerly, as she rubbed her hands together in anticipation.
(Luz starts to worry while Em and Ed tell Amity to stop giving Luz a hard time. They’re sure she’s mastered two spells. Luz awkwardly agrees. Of course she knows two spells!)
“One of those days, we need to learn that lying about this sort of thing always comes back to bite us in the butt later on.” Anne sighed, making her fellow protagonists wince out of shame.
“Yeah…” Luz mumbled, rubbing the back of her head. “Unfortunately, that’s definitely a lesson I didn’t learn the first time around.”
“I don’t think any of us did.” Dipper replied. “We’ve all stuck our metaphorical feet in our mouths, so to speak.”
Several people nodded in agreement on that point, including Mabel, Gus, Sprig, Polly and even some subtle nods from Stan and Hop Pop.
(Amity explains that if she doesn’t know two spells, Luz will end up in the baby class.)
The older kids all suck in their breath out of sympathy. They all understand just how embarrassing that would be. The stakes couldn’t be higher!
(Right then, Ed and Em have an idea! What if they all train together! They can all show off what they know! Luz, on the other hand, turns the offer down. She totally already has other training arrangements somewhere very far away. That she has to go to right now!)
“Aw, dude! Wouldn’t it be crazy if you all ended up going to the same place for training and ran into each other!” Soos laughed as he shared the thought as it came to him.
“I think I’d bury myself out of embarrassment if that happened to me.” Wendy replied. Luz sighed as quietly as she could.
(Back at the Owl House, Eda is having a surprisingly peaceful domestic moment. Just then, Luz comes home, screaming. And now it’s ruined.)
Within the Amphibia and Owl House waiting rooms, The Boonchuys and Camila both snorted loudly in amusem*nt at Eda’s comment.
(Luz begs Eda to teach her a new spell right away! Not now, the vegetables won’t cook themselves. …yet. Eda pours a mysterious green liquid on them, causing them to come to life. Everyone in the pot! The veggies run away screaming!)
(“Why do I always think that’s gonna work?”)
Anne sat up in surprise at what she just saw. While the other kids all chuckled at the quick gag, she was staring at the bottle Eda had just used. That green potion looked shockingly familiar.
(Luz explains that she needs to know two spells or else she’ll end up in the baby class. Eda asks whose fault is that?)
(“Yours.”)
(“Ha! Yep! Got me there.”)
Maddie frowned at the exchange. When she had seen the first episode of the Owl House, she was immediately determined to introduce herself to Eda and become her apprentice like Luz had done. She had even entertained thoughts of impressing Eda by outperforming Luz. However, as annoyed as she had been by Luz’s over-the-top behavior up to now, the human girl had a point. Eda didn’t seem all that interested in teaching so far. Granted, that was how the episodes so far had presented them. Both of them seemed like much different people now…. Hopefully that meant Eda would be invested in teaching her now.
(Eda has been researching her texts on Wild Magic, but she’s much too busy at the moment to help Luz. Luz points out that it would reflect badly on Eda if her student ended up in the baby class. Eda congratulates Luz for weaponizing her pride against her. Time for Magic boot camp!)
Maddie grinned widely. That helped put her fears to rest!
(King pokes his head in. He wants in on helping run the boot camp. However, Eda wants King to stay home. She can’t have Luz getting distracted every time he does something adorable. It’s happening right now, in fact! King squeaks in rage before leaving.)
“So cute!” Candy gushed, pressing her hands to her cheeks in excitement.
“I want to hug him sooo much!!!” Grenda shouted, flexing her arms as she pantomimed a hug.
King did his best to sink into his seat, even grabbing Polly’s bucket to hide behind her, much to her annoyance.
(There’s no time to waste. Luz will have to follow her teachings exactly. They’ll have to go somewhere special. A place where magic just flows. A place like… The Knee!)
As the episode revealed the snow-covered landscape, a strong and frigid wind suddenly blew through the main theater, chilling everyone to their bones and blinding them as they were all forced to close their eyes against the biting cold. Just as quickly as it began, it ended. As everyone began to open their eyes again, they were greeted by an unexpected sight.
“Snow day!” Mabel cheered, now bundled up in a thick pink coat with a shooting star symbol stitched into it and a matching beanie.
Throughout the room, snow covered nearly every surface of the theater. Icicles hung from the ceiling, glistening beautifully. Additionally, everyone was now dressed in thick winter clothing, especially the Amphibian natives, who, aside from the Plantars, were all staring at the snow is amazement.
“I thought we were going to be warned about scenery changes before they happened.” Dipper complained, now wearing a blue and white coat that matched his hat, pine tree and all.
“I was going to, but you all agreed so quickly to start the next episode, I didn’t get the chance.” The lone figure responded. “It might not be the halfway point of the season, but this is an important episode. Thus, the scenery change.”
(“The earliest witches came to the Knee to develop their magic, drawn to each natural power.”)
(Luz notes the area’s natural beauty as she gazes upon some snow-covered ruins.)
While everyone else took in the view of the ruins, most appreciating the natural beauty of the area, Luz gasped in horror as recognition clicked in her mind. This was the city she saw. This was the city Belos blew up to spread his lies. This was where he first tested the use of the coven sigils and left nine poor souls paralyzed, to slowly freeze to death as the snow buried them. Were their bodies still buried there, frozen solid below the surface?
“Luz?” Maddie called, looking up from taking notes. “Are you okay? I heard you gasp at something.”
“Just… remembered something.” Luz answered quietly, as she turned her attention back to the episode in general.
(Eda points out that the area is not without its dangers, as she draws Luz’s attention to a nearby monster. The Slitherbeast. Thankfully, as long as they don’t bother it, it will leave them alone too.)
“A monster that leaves you alone if you don’t bother it?” Sprig asked rhetorically. “Wish we had more of them in Amphibia. Just about everything will attack you on sight.”
(Luz blows a raspberry at it, causing it to growl lightly. She wisely runs off.)
“Could we not taunt the scary monster, please?” Wendy requested. “Just this once? As a treat.”
“I have bad news, kid.” Eda replied, while Luz sighed.
(They’ll set up camp in the ruins. Luz is thrilled. She’ll definitely learn her second spell here. Gorgeous views, magic in the air, and they’re completely alone! A purple fireball nearly hits Luz!)
“Assassins!” Polly shouted. “They’ve come to silence you!”
“Huh?” Luz questioned, shaken from her thoughts. “Oh no, this was an accident. I wasn’t intentionally targeted.”
“Boring!” Polly scoffed.
(“Sorry, whoever’s over there!”)
(It’s Amity and her siblings! This is where they came to train. Luz wishes to disappear now.)
“Aw dood!” Soos exclaimed. “It actually happened!”
All the kids winced in sympathy for Luz.
(It’s too late now. The Blight siblings have seen her now. Luz decides to bite the bullet and greet them as well. She tells Eda to be cool, so the Blight don’t realize that she hasn’t yet mastered two spells. Eda nails it.)
“Lady, please stop talking.” Tambry said, cringing. “The second-hand embarrassment is going to kill me.”
“Then die.” Eda replied darkly, making Tambry stare in shock.
The tense moment was ruined when Eda began laughing a moment later. “Oh kid. Your face!”
(Luz greets Amity nervously. What is she doing here? Amity explains that she’s training to try and beat Ed and Em’s highest score on the exam. The twins declare that’s impossible. Amity still needs to use a training wand to learn new spells.)
“I’m sure that’s probably devastatingly embarrassing for a witch kid.” Wendy commented. “But seeing I can’t cast spells at all, I ain’t gonna fault her for it.”
Willow shrugged. “It can be somewhat embarrassing, but that’s not really fair. It’s just a tool to help witchlings develop their magic properly. As long as one doesn’t become unnecessarily dependent on it, there’s really nothing wrong with using one.”
“If it’s fine, why would she be embarrassed?” Anne asked.
“Some witches choose to look down on others as weak if they struggle with their magic and need to use things like training wands.” Willow answered.
“So her siblings actually are still picking on her.” Candy concluded.
“I don’t think that’s what they’re doing.” Gus said. “At least not intentionally.”
“We’re getting into spoiler territory.” Luz cut in. “Let’s just say, worst case scenario, Ed and Em were repeating what someone else said and leave it at that. We’ll be able to explain it tomorrow I think.”
(The twins ask Luz what she’s working on. Something powerful? Luz lies again, claiming she is indeed working on powerful spells. Eda’s a pretty incredible teacher!)
(“Luz! I shall teach you how to identify different types of snow by taste!”)
Maddie, still taking notes, paused and looked up at the screen in confusion. “Did… Did I hear that right?”
“Ugh. You did.” Eda said, rubbing her face in frustration. “I’ll explain later.”
(“Is this some kind of special magic?”)
(Amity says that Owl Lady doesn’t want to show them any of her ‘powerful spells’. She and the twins leave, but not before Ed briefly attempts to taste the snow himself, before Em stops him.)
Anne chuckled at the scene. “You might have another potential student in that guy.”
Eda snorted, recalling the Blight brother’s interest in both potions and beastkeeping. “Something tells me you’re right, kid.”
(Luz asks Eda to take this seriously. Eda fires back that Luz needs to take her seriously. She reassures Luz that if she listens to her, she’ll soon be launching fireballs of her own. They watch Amity do just that, using the training wand. It won’t be with a dumb training wand. It will be the real deal. But Luz has to trust her. Luz agrees.)
“I just explained that there’s nothing wrong with using a training wand!” Willow yelled, exasperated at Eda. “Where do you get off calling it wack?!”
“Woah, woah! Hold on, kid! I didn’t mean it like that!” Eda quickly said in her defense. “Sure, a training wand is great, if the person using it has a bile sac. Luz, however, doesn’t have one.”
Willow paused, her anger forgotten in an instant. “Well, sure. But surely it can still help her somehow?”
The Owl Lady shook her head. “It can’t. Let’s keep watching the episode. I’ll be able to explain why in a little bit.”
(Great. Now it’s time to identify moss by smell. You really gotta shove it up in there! Luz loses confidence.)
Once again, everyone just stared at Eda in confusion, to which she just sighed dramatically in response. “I swear I had an actual plan! …most of one, anyway. Look, just keep watching! We’ll get to it soon!”
(Back at the Owl House, King complains about being left out of the boot camp. He’s led armies! He can lead a simple boot camp! Unfortunately, he has no recruits to boss around. Or does he? He eyes his plushies.)
“Unless we switch to what King was up to…” Eda groaned.
“Uh oh.” The young demon quickly muttered. “This won’t end well.”
(Hooty speaks up! He’s reporting for duty! Up at dawn and taking orders all day! King rejects him. He’s too desperate.)
“Hey.” King called out to the lone figure. “Could we maybe… skip my parts of the episode? Like now?” He pleaded nervously.
(King grabs more plushies. Roll call! New guy! A. Turtle! Chip! Beefy Bob! And Francois! Wait, strike that last one. Francois is perfect already! As for the rest… it’s time for them to shape up! When they don’t react, King notes that boot camp is no fun if they don’t tremble before him.)
“Aw, it’s so cute!” Mabel gushed, as the lone figure shook their head at King’s request.
(Just then, King spots the veggies Eda brought to life earlier. They throw several pots and other utensils over the cliff before celebrating. An idea begins to form.)
“Well, that mess we came home to suddenly makes a lot more sense.” Eda stated, rolling her eyes. She tossed a snowball at King’s head to get his attention. “My leftover potions are not for playing, mister. Don’t do it again.”
King nodded, brushing the snow off his head. “Won’t happen again.”
(Back at the Knee, Luz has just completed several tasks, including finding Eda’s missing glove… and hand. What’s next?)
“No offense, but it just seems like a lot of busywork so far.” Dipper said. “Shouldn’t you be showing her magic at the very least?”
“Luz can’t cast like a witch normally can.” Eda explained. “She got lucky with learning the light glyph from the spell I cast, but there was no guarantee that it would work the same way with a different spell.”
(Nearby, Amity and her older siblings practice magical combat. They get the drop on her when she stops to wave at Luz.)
“That’s weird.” Ivy said.
“What is?” Anne asked.
“From what we’ve seen so far, Amity is very focused on not just doing well in school, but being the best of her class. It’s odd that she got so easily distracted by Luz.”
“I guess that’s a little odd when you put it that way.” Anne conceded as Luz quickly hid a blush.
(Eda sees Luz giggle at the scene. She admits that her lessons seem weird compared to traditional lessons, but this is what Wild Magic is all about! Making a connection with nature. The earliest witches understood that, so Luz needs to understand it too.)
“You’re trying to get her to make a connection with the island.” Maddie realized, briefly pausing from writing down her own notes.
“I was.” Eda confirmed. “There aren’t a lot of written records still left from that time, but what little I managed to find suggested that the first witches did not innately know how to use their magic. However, there was a lot of focus put on coming to the Knee and multiple mentions of making a connection to the land. Unfortunately, I didn’t find any records of what specifically that meant, but I figured if I took Luz to the Knee and had her rough it for a few days, she might forge her own connection to the Isles.”
“Wait a minute!” Luz exclaimed, jumping on that point. “You were making it up as you went!”
“Yes, I was making it up as I went.” Eda confirmed with a sigh. “But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t putting everything I had into trying to give you the best chance for success. As far as I knew, you were the first human to learn how to be a witch! I didn’t exactly have a roadmap to follow.”
Luz bowed her head in understanding. “Sorry Eda.”
(If Luz wants to learn a second spell, she has to learn it from the island. Eda sits her down at a cliff overlooking the entirety of the Boiling Isles. Eda wants Luz to sit there and think about what the island is trying to tell her.)
“It’s beautiful.” Mabel gasped at the sight. “I know it’s a giant dead guy, but that’s an amazing view!”
“Thanks.” King mumbled quietly.
(After Eda leaves, Luz sits for only a brief moment before she becomes distracted, talking to herself via her hands representing her concerns about Eda’s teaching methods. Nearby, she overhears Emira call Amity for dinner. Edric also caught a bat! Luz watches as Amity stows her training wand and spell book in her tent.)
“Wow.” Anne commented, mildly impressed. “Looks like you have some competition in the ADHD department, Sprig.” She said, nudging him playfully with her elbow.
“Huh? What’d you say Anne?” Sprig asked, looking up from the small snow frog he had been building on the table in front of them.”
“Nevermind, buddy.” She laughed. “You still have the crown.”
“The what now?”
(Luz concludes that if she wants to be in the same class as Amity, she needs to learn spells like Amity. Time to go borrow that training wand!)
“Oh, Luz.” Camila said, her heart breaking as she watched her daughter reach the wrong conclusion for the situation. Next to her, she heard Amity sigh heavily. “So that’s what Luz had been thinking.” The girl said.
Despite her concern for Luz’s past actions, Camila decided to cheer Amity up.
“While I don’t approve of her taking your belongings without asking, it seems Luz wanted to impress you, even before she realized she liked you.” The older woman whispered to the young witch.
“Uh, buh.” Amity stuttered, blushing at the thought.
(Back at the Owl House, King congratulates himself as he begins to pour the green potion from before over his toys. As predicted, the toys immediately come to life. King immediately takes on the roll of a drill instructor. He will mold these worms into slightly better worms! They better shape up! They’re in his book camp now…. Private Dingdong’s eyes flash red.)
“I don’t think your toys know this is a game, dude.” Soos pointed out.
“Revolution!” Polly shouted, muffled slightly by the thick scarf wrapped entirely around her. “Fight the power!”
“Polly?!” King called out indignantly. “What the heck!?”
(Meanwhile, at the Knee, Amity and Emira are distracted trying to get the bat away from Edric. If they aren’t gonna eat it, then he wants to keep it as a pet! This distraction allows Luz to sneak into their tent to grab the training wand and spellbook.)
“I can’t believe I did this.” Luz groaned, pulling the hoodie on her coat closed around her face.
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up.” Anne told her. “Sure, taking her wand isn’t great, but it’s understandable why you did it.”
“But, I took it without asking.”
“And I stole a magical music box.” Anne countered. “At least you were going to return it when you were done, right?”
Luz nodded slowly. “Yeah, of course I wasn’t going to keep it.”
(Luz returns to the cliff, taking a moment to note Amity’s cross-hatching has improved, before attempting to cast a fireball of her own. She succeeds! She did magic! Without drawing anything!)
“Alright.” Eda cut in. “Here’s why a training wand is useless in the hands of someone without a bile sac, so pay attention. Especially you, new kid.” She finished, nudging Maddie.
(Suddenly, Eda is there. She demands to know what Luz is doing. Luz fires back that she’s doing magic! What would she have her do? Eat snow? Lick a rock? Eda admits her methods are… unique. But so is Luz’s magic. The training wand can’t help her! Luz claims it already has! She attempts to fire off another spell! Unfortunately, the battery is nearly empty, causing the spell to malfunction and fire off wildly!)
“How is the battery already empty?” Willow wondered aloud. “It still had a nearly full charge when Amity put it down. There’s no way a single spell burned through what was left.”
“Actually, there is.” Eda replied calmly. “A training wand draws power not just from its own battery, but from the magic of the witch holding it. That way, the witch in training can get a sense of how a new spell feels, eventually allowing them to cast it on their own later. However, like I already mentioned, Luz doesn’t have a bile sac.”
“The wand was doing all of the work.” Maddie stated, furiously taking notes. “It had nothing but itself to work with and burned through its own magic immediately.”
Luz hung her head in shame, only for Eda to jostle her out of it.
“None of that.” The Owl Lady ordered sternly. “Sure, you may have disobeyed me, but Luz, I did nothing to explain why you couldn’t use a training wand. Not to mention, I was genuinely making up exercises as I went. Of course you got fed up with me. I should have been more open with my plan to teach you from the start.”
“Thanks, Eda.” Luz said. “Let’s get back to the episode.”
“Well, at least now with the wand dead, she has one less distraction.” Sprig said as the screen unpaused.
(The fireball impacts something in the distance. That ‘something’ roars angrily.)
“…Yeah, about that.” Eda replied.
“Dang it.” Sprig sighed.
(It’s the Slitherbeast. Luz angered the Slitherbeast! The creature spots the smoking training wand in Luz’s hand and charges her. Eda shoves Luz out of the way, only to be grabbed herself. Just then, Amity and her siblings arrive, having heard the commotion. Amity demands to know what Luz is doing with her training wand.)
“I thought you were the strongest witch, Clawthorne?!” Stan exclaimed. “Why aren’t you kicking this thing’s butt yet?”
“I can’t cast with my hands pinned at my sides!” Eda fired back. “Let’s see you put up a fight with both hands tied behind your back!”
(Emira points out that they don’t have time for that right now! They need to drive the Slitherbeast away! The twins use their magic to restrain the creature, while Amity prepares to finish it off with a fireball using the wand! However, the spell fizzles out.)
(“Did you use this all up?!”)
In the Owl House waiting room, Amity groaned. “Thank Titan for Eda’s explanation. I had originally assumed Luz had been rapid-firing fireballs to have drained it so quickly. I was so confused afterwards when she explained she had only used it twice.”
(Em and Ed call for Luz to use the powerful spells she knows! They can’t keep the demon restrained for much longer. Luz… admits that she doesn’t actually know any powerful spells.)
Anne sucked in a breath with a hiss. “Yup, figured that was coming. The truth always comes out sooner or later in these kinds of situations.”
“Usually sooner in our experience.” Sprig added.
(The Slitherbeast breaks free of its restraints and grabs the Blight twins as well. It quickly retreats, leaving Luz and Amity behind.)
“In your experience, does the situation usually get worse after the truth comes out as well?” Luz asked wearily.
“Almost always.” Anne confirmed sadly.
“Same.” Dipper and Mabel replied in unison.
(Meanwhile, at the Owl House, King lounges on the couch with Francois, amid a pile of junk food, with the living toys bringing more on his orders. He showers Francois in chips, saying the still unliving stuffed bunny deserves it. Private Dingdong tries to grab some chips, only for King to snap at them! They don’t deserve snacks. Their eyes glow red once again, and stay red this time as they hop off the couch.)
“I think those guys are nearing their breaking point, little dude.” Soos said worriedly.
“The revolution will soon be at hand!” Polly exclaimed.
(King begins to nod off, only to be interrupted when all four living toys surround him. All their eyes glow menacingly.)
(“Don’t you want a hug?”)
“Aw, dude!” Soos called out fearfully. “They did reach their breaking point!”
“The revolution is now!” Polly cackled maniacally.
“Polly! I thought you were my friend!” King cried out, dismayed.
“Oh, I am.” She replied happily. “I just like violence.”
(Back at the Knee, Luz wonders what she and Amity should do? Amity says that she is going to save them. Alone. Luz is going to stay put. Luz starts to argue this, only to be shut down by Amity pointing out that, thanks to Luz, it also has her siblings.)
Everyone winced as Amity briefly laid into Luz.
“So much for her becoming nicer.” Candy mumbled.
“Stop.” Luz ordered sternly. “Yes, she’s being harsh here, but she’s right. This was my fault. None of this would’ve happened had I not taken the wand and drained the battery. Nothing Amity said was unfair. She had every right to be upset with me then.”
“Luz.” Eda started, reaching for her.
“I know, Eda.” Luz cut her off. “I know I didn’t mean for this to happen, but it still did.”
Eda put her hand down, staring worriedly at Luz, before speaking after a moment.
“Just don’t forget that you also made it right, kid.”
(“Now stay put. You’ll only get hurt.”)
(Amity summons a magical barrier to keep Luz at the campsite, before leaving. Stuck, Luz now has no choice but to do what she was supposed to be doing earlier. Sit and think about the island.)
(“You were supposed to teach me magic.”)
“Um, I don’t think the island can hear you, dawg.” Soos commented.
Luz chuckled under her breath as she mulled over Eda’s reminder. “You’d be surprised actually.” She whispered to herself in response. “I just needed to listen.”
(Luz draws a light glyph, believing it’s the only spell she’ll ever learn. Activating it, she watches as it rises into the sky, before losing sight of it amidst the stars. Luz notices a familiar pattern. It’s a constellation shaped like a light glyph!)
“What the?” Dipper gasped in disbelief as he quickly recorded what he was seeing. Maddie was doing the exact same thing, eagerly writing down her observations into her own notes. However, before they could finish writing, their attention was drawn to Luz when glowing lines began drawing themselves in the air directly in front of her chest. Everyone stared in wonder as the glowing lines drew out the familiar shape of a light glyph.
“Wow.” Luz gasped softly in wonder as she stared down at it, her melancholy forgotten. “Didn’t think I’d see this again.” She murmured softly to herself.
(What does that mean? She notices a snowflake in her palm. It lasts for only a moment before it melts, but Luz realizes it’s a new glyph. It means…magic is a gift from the island. Luz gets another snow flake and copies the new glyph into the snow. A small pillar of ice forms.)
(“…magic is everywhere.”)
“New glyph!” Maddie exclaimed excitedly. “Finally! I've been waiting to see more of them!”
Luz grinned excitedly. “Sorry it took so long. Don’t worry. It won’t take nearly as long for the next one.”
“Uh guys.” Ivy interrupted. “Is it just me, or does anyone else feel a wind starting to pick up?”
“Hey, you’re right.” Sprig said, holding a hand up to feel it. “Not just that, I think it’s getting stronger too.”
(Luz draws a much larger ice glyph this time, taking up the entire area she’s trapped in.)
(“Magic is everywhere!”)
(A massive pillar forms, launching Luz up and out of the magical fence Amity formed to keep her there. She’s got her second spell!)
The wind slowly picked up speed as the scene continued, remaining tolerable until Luz launched herself skyward to escape Amity’s barrier. At which point, the wind suddenly became a howling whirlwind, forcing everyone to hold on to the seats just to prevent themselves from being carried away. The cold winds whipped wildly as it drew all the snow along with it, condensing into a single point.
Then, just as suddenly as it had picked up, the winds stopped. While small patches of snow were still present here and there in the theater, the rest had been compressed into a small ice sculpture rendition of an actual ice glyph, floating to one side of Luz’s head, alongside the glowing light glyph that had already been floating in front of her chest.
“Oh, it’s so much warmer in here now.” Hop Pop sighed in relief as he took off his caterpillar coat. It vanished as soon as it hit the floor. “I was worried I was going to start hibernating!”
“What the heck is up with those weird doodles, kid?” Stan asked, gesturing towards the two glyphs floating by Luz. As soon as he asked, the light glyph faded away, and the ice glyph melted to nothing.
“I think it’s just the lone figure’s way of visualizing how many and which glyphs I learned.” Luz answered with a shrug.
Stan huffed. “First, the frog girl with the sword, now you with your doodle magic. It's a whole dog and pony show here.”
Luz rolled her eyes at the disgruntled con man, before locking eyes with Anne. The two shared a smile.
(Before she can celebrate too much, she remembers that Eda and the twins need to be saved. She hurries off after Amity.)
“Woo!” Mabel cheered! “Go save them, girl!”
(Outside the Owl House, Hooty is jamming out to some tunes when King is thrown through the window. King has great news! Hooty can join the boot camp! His first task is to destroy the boot camp!)
“Ooh yeah!” Polly grinned. “Retaliation! I love it!”
“Hoot hoot!” Hooty happily chimed in. “I’m a hired killer!”
(However, Hooty refuses. King said he was too desperate earlier, so now he’s playing hard to get. King asks what he wants. Hooty asks what he’s offering.)
“Huh.” Eda hummed. “I didn’t realize Hooty had it in him.”
(Soon after, King has drawn a picture of a humanoid body with Hooty where the face should be. Hooty loves it! King has himself a deal! Hooty opens the door and charges into the living room with a hoot! Stuffing and fabric begin to fly.)
(“This day shall live in infamy.”)
“Yes!” Polly cheered. “Tear them apart! I love it!”
“Those poor plushies.” Mabel mourned, before freezing. “Hey wait! King! You mentioned before that you don’t have as many plushies as you used to! Is this why? You had Hooty kill them?!”
“Uh…” King stammered. “What’s that phrase you humans use? I plead the fifth!”
Mabel narrowed her eyes angrily at him.
(Back on the Knee, Luz finds the Slitherbeast’s cave. Inside, the creature sticks Eda and the Blight twins to the wall with purple goo. Around them there are similar splotches of purple goo covered in bones.)
(“We’re gonna die.”)
“It feels kinda like home now!” Sprig said.
“In the worst way possible.” Hop Pop grumbled.
(Luz pops up, wearing a skull. It’s just a prank, bro. Eda tells her to leave, she plans to escape when the beast starts eating the twins. Luz apologizes for before. She was so obsessed with learning her second spell, that she didn’t listen to what Eda was trying to tell her. She assures them that she’s gonna save them. She heads back to the front of the cave.)
(“Well, at least I got to see her misplaced confidence one last time.”)
Luz fixed her mentor with a mildly annoyed glare. “Gee, Eda. Really appreciate your confidence in my abilities.”
“Hey, I’m sorry, okay?” Eda replied defensively. “I didn’t know you had a plan or a new spell at the time.”
The Latina girl chuckled in response. “I’m just teasing, Eda. Calm down.”
(Back near the entrance, Amity cautiously peers into the cave, only to be surprised when Luz pops up next to her. Luz has a plan to save everyone, but she and Amity will have to work together!)
“Yeah. I’m curious how you’re going to use your new ice magic.” Maddie said, eagerly rubbing her hands together.
“I was new to using it, so don’t expect too much, but I think you’ll like what I did with it anyway.” Luz replied.
(While they plan, the beast starts seasoning its captives. Eda hates garlic. Just then, Luz calls out to the beast, calling it a big idiot. Angered, it gives chase as Luz runs out of the cave. With the Slitherbeast gone, Amity is free to approach. Emira tells her to use the fire spell to free them, but Amity can’t do it without the training wand. Emira insists that she can, she just needs to focus.)
“Your plan was to call the monster an idiot?!” Dipper shouted.
“I had a plan, I swear.” Luz replied quickly. “I was luring it away so Amity could free the others!”
“Wow!” Candy exclaimed. “They really have changed! Emira is so supportive of Amity now!”
(Amity concentrates as she slowly draws the spell circle in the air. The circle briefly distorts, but it resolves itself into a ball of purple flames. She did it!)
(“Cool. I didn’t actually think you could do it.”)
Candy huffed in annoyance as most of the others chuckled knowingly at the teasing tone in Emira’s voice.
(After they’re free, the four of them hear Luz yell in the distance. She’s in danger!)
“Are you sure you have a plan?!” Dipper asked worriedly.
(The Slitherbeast chases Luz outside, cornering her against a tree. Despite this, Luz smirks.)
(“Gotcha!”)
“Yup!” Luz grinned excitedly.
(Another massive pillar of ice forms as Luz activates another ice glyph, launching the Slitherbeast skyward. Just as Eda, Amity, and the twins arrive.)
“Just like I planned.” Luz said proudly. “I distracted the Slitherbeast while Amity set Eda and her siblings free. After that…”
(With the beast disoriented and her hands free, Eda asks if the kids want her to teach them something cool. They quickly agree.)
(“Sleep spell!”)
“Eda finishes it off, since she’s now free.” Maddie finished on Luz's behalf. Luz nodded in confirmation.
“There was no way Amity and I would be able to take on the Slitherbeast head-on, even with my new spell. Our best bet was to free Eda, so she could take care of it.”
(The Slitherbeast immediately stops its charge and falls over, sound asleep. Luz runs up, asking if Eda saw that she learned her second spell. Eda saw. Luz did great. Emira and Edric congratulate Amity too, but in a slightly more teasing manner.)
“Good call, kid.” The witch in question responded. “If it hadn’t managed to get lucky by grabbing me, I would’ve been able to knock it out a lot sooner.”
(Amity notes that it seems she and Luz will be in the same class, after all. Luz is thrilled to start an Azura book club!)
(“As long as it’s a secret club, okay?”)
(“It’s not a secret.”)
(“We’re gonna tell everyone.”)
Everyone with biological siblings laughed at the moment. The Blight twins may be doing better, but they were still older siblings to Amity and like all older siblings, they had a duty to playfully tease their younger sibling.
(Eda sneezes. She must be allergic to adorable banter. Luz is on it! She launches the two of them into the sky. Emira states that they’ll go the normal way.)
“That looks like a lot of fun!” Polly said excitedly. “I want to be launched!” She turned to Luz expectantly.
“Uh… maybe get your grandfather’s permission first.” Luz replied nervously
“Uh, no.” Hop Pop immediately shot the idea down.
(Back at the Owl House, in the tattered remains of the boot camp, King and Hooty begin to bond over the horrors of war they’ve witnessed. Their hearts have been touched by fire and- Just then, Eda and Luz get home. What the heck happened here?!)
(“You’ll never understand what we’ve been through together! Never! Never!”)
(“Ugh, moment ruined.”)
(“I’ll be haunted by my actions forever. Hoot, hoot!”)
****
“Hoot hoot!” Hooty chimed in. “I see their terrified faces every time I close my eyes!”
“Hooty, they were plushies.” Eda reminded him. “They can’t emote.”
The Owl Lady shook her head when Hooty didn’t respond, but instead started humming. “Oh well.” She said, giving up, before turning her attention to her newest student. “Right then. I’m sure you’re full of questions.”
Maddie was quick to nod, her signature manic grin on display. “You said that ancient witches formed a connection to the island at the Knee, but you weren’t sure what exactly that meant. Is it possible they discovered glyphs too?”
Eda hummed in thought, crossing her arms. “I suppose it’s possible, but if they did, they either didn’t record their use of them, or those records were lost at some point.”
“I can see that.” Dipper interjected as he continued writing in the Journal. “It can be easy to set them off once they’re finished.” Just then, a small pillar of ice suddenly shot up from the Journal. “Dang it! That’s the second time!”
As Dipper discarded the now ruined page and began rewriting it, Anne turned to Luz. “So how was it getting your second spell?”
“Amazing!” Luz replied cheerfully. “I wish I had gotten it sooner. I really could’ve used it when dealing with Piniet.”
“Ugh, that guy.” Anne frowned. “Yeah, that would’ve come in handy then.”
“Still, I wish I hadn’t made such a mess of things before discovering the ice glyph.” Luz continued, her mood dropping slightly.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” Luz answered. “It’s… just hard going through this again. I screwed up a lot while I was on the Isles.”
“I get that.” Anne replied. “But you aren’t alone. I’ve screwed up plenty of times while in Amphibia. However, you can’t beat yourself up too much with that kind of stuff. The best thing you can do is fix it and do better next time. From what I’ve seen, you did a great job fixing it.”
“Thanks.” Luz replied with a small smile. “But sometimes, things can’t be fixed.”
Anne, confused, gave Luz a concerned look, but before she could ask about what she meant, the lone figure interrupted.
“We will be starting the final episode soon.” Their host announced unexpectedly. “A small dessert buffet will be available for the episode. I will give you all a few minutes to serve yourselves before we begin.”
“Ah, excuse me. I’ll be right back.” Luz quickly got up and headed into her waiting room.
“Already?” Anne asked in surprise after Luz left. “That was quick. We barely had time for a real discussion.”
“You all spent a lot of time during the episode itself discussing.” They explained. “It’s also late, and I am sure some of you would like to settle down for the night.”
“Fair enough.” Anne conceded just as Luz returned. The two then joined everyone else at the single buffet table that had appeared and held a small selection of various desserts, with clear labels indicating which diet each item catered to.
Once everyone was seated again, the lone figure spoke again.
“Before the episode begins, I have a potential trigger warning to deliver.”
“No need.” Luz cut in. “I already delivered it.”
“Oh, so that’s what you were doing just now.” Mabel commented. “Anything we need to be worried about?”
“I don’t think so.” Luz answered, about to start in on a slice of cake. “Did either of your groups encounter anything that consumed magic?”
“Nope!” Dipper shook his head. “Never had to deal with anything like that.”
“Same here.” Sprig added. “Just things that wanted to eat us in general. Although, that sounds terrible for you guys.” He added, gesturing toward the witches. Willow and Gus both grimaced in response.
“It was not a fun experience.” Gus commented grumpily.
“Am I to understand that you don’t want the warning then?” The lone figure interrupted again, their focus on the Gravity Falls crew in particular for some reason.
“We’re good.” Dipper replied. “Luz already gave it.”
“Yeah.” Wendy agreed. “Just start the episode already.”
The lone figure hesitated for a moment, before relenting, clapping their hands to start the episode.
****
The Owl House
Season 1, Episode 13
The First Day
****
(Luz and Eda are somewhere dark, with only an orb of light, held by Luz, illuminating the area around them. Luz is nervous; there’s something important she has to do. Eda reassures her student. Just do as they practiced, and she’ll be fine. Luz worries what will happen if she messes it up? Or dies?!)
“Oh man.” Wendy commented. “I had this pegged as your first day at the magic school, but this looks like you’re doing something dangerous. What’s going on?”
Luz stifled a laugh and shook her head. “You’ll see soon.”
(Eda points out that she had to do the same thing when she was Luz’s age. Granted, she was more skilled than Luz is now at the time. Eda isn’t helping.)
“Oh, I see what this is now.” Gus said, grinning.
Willow giggled. “Same here.”
“You do? Tell us, dudes!” Anne pleaded. “What’s got Luz so nervous? What does she have to do that she might die?!”
“You’ll see in a second.” Willow replied.
(Eda apologizes. Now, get pumped! Get ready! And go! A curtain opens. It’s the entrance exam!)
(“From the humblest of beginnings, a hero will rise.”)
“Oh for…” Wendy groaned in exasperation. “You really had us going!”
Anne sighed in relief. “I get your nervousness, Luz, but you really made it sound like it was a life or death thing you had to do.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” Luz chuckled bashfully.
(Luz claims to have mastered dark and forbidden magic. She is… Luz Noceda! Her audience consists of only Principal Bump, who looks a little impatient.)
“He does not look impressed.” Ivy observed.
“There were a bunch of kids ahead of me.” Luz replied. “Pretty sure he was just ready to be done with the entrance exams.”
(He questions if she can even do magic, with all of her human bits. Luz tells him that she’s discovered a lost technique that allows her to cast spells even without a Bile Sac. She quickly shows him the two glyphs she knows. Light and Ice.)
“Two spells!” Mabel exclaimed proudly. “No baby class for Luz!”
“Heck no!” Grenda agreed.
(Bump is surprised. Spells cast with paper?! He’s never heard of such a thing. However, he wonders if it’s enough to pass the exam.)
“Hey!” Mabel shouted indignantly. “That brochure said two spells, pal! Don’t go changing the deal now!”
“Down with authority!” Candy yelled!
Lee and Nate sighed happily. “Looks like the next generation is gonna be alright.” Nate said.
“Makes me hopeful for the future.” Lee added.
(Luz hurriedly improvises another demonstration, but ends up blinding herself and slipping off the stage and land on Bump, before accidentally creating another, larger pillar of ice.)
(“I failed, didn't I?”)
“Definitely not a great impression.” Maddie agreed. “But given the title, we know you already passed.”
(Surprisingly, Bump has seen worse. He proudly welcomes her into Hexside School of Magic and Demonics!)
(“Yaaaay….”)
“There were kids who did worse? How??” Stan questioned rudely.
“First of all, how dare you? That’s my student you’re talking about.” Eda answered sternly. “Second of all, when I took the exam, there was a kid who accidentally blew themselves up. They would’ve been accepted into the school, but… you know.”
(After the theme song, Luz is now wearing a light grey version of the school uniform, indicating that she has not yet been appointed to any specific coven track. She wonders if signing up for school was a mistake, as Eda gives her a ride to Hexside on Owlbert.)
At that moment, the kids' clothes changed once again. Instead of the winter coats from the previous episode, they once again donned the same school uniforms from the last school episode, bearing the same track colors they had before. This time, Luz joined them, bearing the unassigned version her on-screen self was currently in.
“Oh boy!” Mabel bounced happily in her seat, admiring her beast-keeping uniform again. “I can’t wait to see what track you’re going to join, Luz.”
“I don’t know.” Maddie said, checking out her potions uniform. “While Potions sounds like a track I’d be interested in, there were others that interested me as well. It seems a little restrictive to stick with just that. How are you supposed to pick only one?”
“Funny you should ask.” Luz muttered.
(Eda tells her to calm down. Luz has been to school in the human realm before, right? She has, and that’s exactly why she’s so nervous! This is her chance to be something other than a screw up.)
Luz huffed lightly at the reminder of how she had been treated in the Gravesfield school district. Her thoughts briefly turned to the friends Vee had made in her place at camp, as well as the two boys that approached her just before Halloween.
“I really had just been looking for validation in all the wrong places before I met Eda, huh?” She said to herself.
(Eda tells Luz not to worry what others think. She thinks Luz should go into class and punch the first kid she sees! To establish dominance.)
(“Aw. I won’t be doing that, but thanks.”)
“Boo!” Stan jeered. “Kid, that’s the best advice she’s given you! Being feared is priceless!”
Luz rolled her eyes at him, but saw Anne looked unnerved at the statement.
(They get to the school and Eda offers Luz a new Bad Girl Coven badge! Quitting! It’s like trying, but easier. Luz turns it down. She’ll earn it when she quits showering.)
“Joking!” Luz quickly said when she noticed a few grossed-out looks about to come her way. “I was joking! I shower regularly!”
Dipper sighed quietly. For a second, he thought someone else understood just how much a waste of time regular bathing was.
(Eda tells her to not to be too much of a goody ‘Luz’ shoes. Luz thanks her and states that she has written a heartfelt sonnet to commemorate the occasion with hand puppets and-)
(“Whoops! A gust of wind just got me. See you after school!”)
Despite her newfound discomfort with puppets, Mabel’s keen eye for artistic expression noticed a minor inaccuracy in Luz’s puppet of Eda.
“Puppet Eda’s eyes are mismatched.” She pointed out to the older girl.
“Oh yeah.” Luz replied. “I was only able to find a single yellow… button.” She trailed off as realization hit her. She quickly stole a glance at her mentor. Eda had definitely reached the same realization as she had subconsciously put a hand up to her grayed eye, which was currently hidden by an illusion.
“We sure that other dimension is only peeking into ours?” The Owl Lady asked her student quietly. “That seems way too convenient to be a coincidence.”
(Hexside is heavily decorated for the start of the new semester with colorful banners each relating to one of the main nine covens. There, Amity cheerfully greets Luz, congratulating her on getting in. Her Abomination mirrors her movements.)
“I’m glad she’s a friend now.” Candy said happily. “But she needs to be more careful with her goo person.”
“Those things kind of remind me of Frobo.” Polly muttered to herself, before sighing wistfully. “I wish he was here.”
(After briefly fantasizing about meeting a hot upperclassman, King tells her to dream on! Wait, King?! Apparently King hitched a ride in her backpack so he could get a free ride to the best buffet in town. By which he means dumpster-diving! It’s full of half eaten gold!)
“Oh, so that’s where you got to.” Eda said to King. “I was wondering where you had gotten off to.”
“You aren’t going to say anything about him eating actual garbage?” Hop Pop questioned. “You can’t possibly be okay with that?!”
Eda shrugged. “King has an incredibly robust stomach actually. The whole time I’ve known him, he’s never gotten sick.”
Luz coughed before giving her teacher a look.
“… from food.” Eda quickly added. “Motion sickness is another matter.”
“Speaking of eating garbage.” Eda continued, fixing Hop Pop with a smug look. “You really want to be the one to bring that up? I happen to recall an episode involving a certain stand of yours.”
“Shutting up now.” The farm frog was quick to reply.
(Luz doesn’t stop him and tells him that if anyone asks, he doesn’t know her.)
(“Have a wonderful school day, person-I-don’t-know!”)
Luz frowned at the exchange. That had come back to bite her in the butt.
(At the steps, Luz finally runs into Willow and Gus! They, too, congratulate her on getting in! At least they try to, Gus got his illusions mixed up. He just wanted to cover his bases.)
Gus chuckled nervously as everyone in the other groups laughed at his mix up.
“Your confidence in me is inspiring, Gus.” Luz deadpanned.
“Sorry again, Luz.”
(Willow draws Luz’s attention to the banners currently decorating the campus. She explains that the figures depicted on them are the heads of the main nine covens. Each one excelled at a magic school like Hexside.)
(“Are you prepared to enter these hallowed halls?”)
(That’s what Luz is going to figure out now!)
“Wooo!” Mabel loudly cheered. “What is your destiny, Luz? What kind of witch will you be?”
“Easy, Mabel.” Luz chuckled lightly. “You’ll find out by the end of the episode.”
“We will find out now!” Mabel insisted.
(Principal Bump watches a news report in his office. Something terrible has happened at Glandus High School. Teachers and students alike were found unconscious and without magic following a mysterious attack. The cause remains unknown.)
(“Ha! Take that, Glandus! Looks like this year’s Grudgby match is going to be a forfeit.”)
“Dude.” Wendy said, raising an eye-brow. “I’m all for school spirit and all, but that seems a little callous.”
“Considering rival schools used to conquer each other, this is a lot more tame.” Anne replied. “But, yeah, this is downright cold compared to human schools.”
“I’m guessing this is related to whatever is eating magic that Luz gave us the warning for.” Dipper guessed. “I wonder how it’s going to fit in with her first day?”
(Luz enters. Bump explains to her that an inspector from the Emperor’s Coven will be visiting the school later in the day. Bump wants to impress them, so Luz needs to choose a coven track as soon as possible.)
“Here we go!” Mabel said. “Luz’s choice! What is she going to pick?”
“That’s what I’m wondering.” Maddie added. “They’re all worth exploring.”
(However, Luz made her own schedule. However, Bump cuts her off. Studying multiple tracks? No one does that. Luz says she’ll be the first then. Bump nixes that idea. The rules state that a good witch needs to Hocus-Focus. Luz can only pick one of the nine tracks.)
Maddie huffed in annoyance, before tugging at her own yellow-colored sleeves. She didn’t dislike being assigned to the Potions track, but the Healing, Plant, and Oracle tracks seemed interesting too. She knew it was the law to only join one coven, but it really rubbed her the wrong way.
(All the tracks seem so cool. Luz wonders if there’s an enchanted article of clothing that can help her make this decision. Apparently there used to be, but…)
(“And now, I feed!”)
(Bump shudders in fear.)
“Sweet Moses!” Stan screamed over everyone else’s terrified shouts.
“Oh… that’s why Bump looked so scared…” Luz said, paling as the blood drained from her face.
“Ha!” Eda laughed. “I remember the Choosy Hat! Always knew that thing would snap one day!”
(Luz isn’t sure she can pick only one. In that case, Bump will pick for her! Bam! Potions! Humans are full of liquids, right? Her uniform changes to show the colors of the Potions track.)
“Potions!” Mabel announced excitedly as Luz’s washed out uniform suddenly glowed for a moment as its appearance immediately updated to the yellows of the Potions track. Luz and Maddie exchanged looks.
“Same track?” Maddie asked.
“For now.” Luz answered, to Maddie’s confusion.
“What the heck?” Eda growled. “Bump didn’t even let you pick?! If he hadn’t made up for it later, I’d be giving him a piece of my mind.”
“He made up for it?” Sprig asked. “How?”
Eda sighed. “Spoilers, kid.”
(Bump expects Luz to be on her best behavior. Recent incidents, that Luz may or may not have been involved with, have resulted in costly repair bills and the school could really use a donation from the Emperor’s Coven. He sends her off to class. Just then, he hears a scream from outside.)
(“The Choosy Hat! It broke free!”)
“They didn’t destroy that evil thing?!” Hop gasped fearfully.
“Whose bright idea was it to make that thing?!” Gus demanded. “Who thought it was a good idea to leave such a big decision up to an evil article of clothing?!”
“An extremely hateful and judgmental woman who used to oversee magical education for the whole island before you kids were born.” Eda replied. “Don’t worry, though. She’s not in that position anymore.”
“Oh no. It wasn’t Terra Snapdragon, was it?” Gus asked.
“Surprisingly no.” Eda answered. “I don’t think even Terra liked this woman.”
“Did she get fired?” Willow wondered.
“I wish.” Eda replied. “She made all sorts of stupid decisions that we’re still dealing with today. No, what ended up happening was that a painbow took her out. One of those rare pink, blue, white ones, in fact.”
“Good riddance!” Willow huffed.
(Luz starts her first class in the potions track. Time to make fog brews! Luz tries to reassure herself that she can definitely spend the rest of her life studying this. She is quickly distracted by a magic duel happening just outside. Luz is astounded! The Plant track and the Oracle track look so stinking cool! However, the teacher clears their throat. Luz should be stirring and her distraction has resulted in her cauldron spewing out fog.)
“Wow, Willow!” Grenda commented happily. “You’re a rockstar! That was super cool!”
“Yeah, I know I’m awesome!” Willow thanked the younger girl.
“I know you’re bummed you can’t study the other tracks, Luz.” Dipper said. “But this is still your first class of actual Magic.”
Luz shrugged. “I know that, but I just couldn’t get the fact I couldn’t study the other tracks out of my head.”
“You can say that again.” Maddie added.
(After class, Luz’s arms are sore. What else is on her schedule? Why, more stirring of course! She sighs, then sees the Oracle student put her crystal ball away. Luz thinks that maybe it can show her if she’s on the right track. She tries to resist the temptation… but fails.)
(“You will be in trouble very soon!”)
(Luz is in trouble now!)
Eda laughed loudly as the on-screen Luz complained about stirring. “Hey, now. Don’t knock stirring kid. It helped you get rid of those ‘weak nerd arms’.”
“True.” Luz groaned, rubbing her arms as she recalled how sore she was after every potions class. “Those potion classes are still murder on my arms, though.”
Everyone watched as the scene continued to progress, with Wendy’s friends looking distinctly uncomfortable as the spirit emerged from the crystal ball.
“Aw man, busted.” Anne commented when Bump cornered Luz.
(Bump drags Luz down the halls as she tries to plead her case. She wasn’t mixing magic. Honest! She spots King digging through a nearby trash can. She asks that he vouch for her character!)
(“Uh, right. I don’t know you.”)
“Ooh… My bad.” King apologized.
“It’s fine, King.” Luz replied, sighing. “I did tell you to pretend you didn’t know me.”
(Luz is brought to a place where all the troublemakers go. Her uniform loses all color, turning completely black. This is the Detention Track. Actual detention still needs repairs. Luz can try for a new track next semester.)
With the same suddenness as before, Luz’s uniform changed once again as her sleeves and leggings drained of color.
“What the heck?!” Mabel exclaimed. “They’re not allowing you to take any track now?”
“Nope.” Luz replied, looking at her detention track uniform in disappointment. “They take the whole ‘one witch, one coven’ thing very seriously. The punishment for mixing magic is to be barred from learning any magic for about a year.”
“Why do they care so much about this?” Maddie asked, dismayed at the news.
“Unfortunately, that’s a spoiler.” Luz replied.
(Luz sits down with the other three students and tries to greet them, only for the teacher watching them to threaten to make all of them clean the room for talking. Luz sticks up for the other three. Oh, a hero… she’s cleaning the entire classroom by herself then. The girl with a fishhook as an earring gives Luz a fond look.)
“Well, at least you guys have normal detention now.” Thompson said. “No more terrifying living dungeon thing.”
“For now.” Willow reminded him. “Normal detention got fixed later on.”
(Elsewhere in the school, King jumps into another trash can. While picking through it, he hears a teacher complain about someone eating all the donuts again. He quits! The teacher’s tie is thrown into the trash onto King’s head and the can is knocked over. King tumbles into the classroom the teacher just left.)
“Oh, King. Did you have some sort of adventure at Hexside too?” Luz wondered.
“As a matter of fact, I did!” The little demon proudly announced.
(The students assume King is their new substitute teacher. King rolls with it when he realizes that their assumption gives him authority over them. Get ready, kids. Class is now in session.)
“An adventure in education!” King exclaimed.
“Oh no.” Eda groaned. “What did you do?”
“I imparted my great wisdom upon the youth!” The tiny demon replied.
Eda sighed tiredly. “You are the youth, King.”
“This is gonna be good.” Nate laughed.
(Back in detention, Willow and Gus get Luz’s attention from outside. She tells them that she got put in detention for mixing magic.! They tell her that she’ll learn even less than she did before.)
(“No! I’m better than this!”)
(She asks for their help in breaking out. They’ll get her out! Dead or alive! … okay, fine. Just alive.)
Luz winced as her past self said the very phrase that Viney originally misunderstood. If only she had phrased it differently, or explained what she had meant better to the detention trio.
(Luz hears someone approaching her from behind. Assuming it’s the teacher, Willow and Gus leave. However, it’s just the fishhook girl from before. The teacher is asleep. Fishhook motions for Luz to follow and leads her towards the chalkboard, where she draws a small rectangle with a keyhole in the middle. Surprisingly, it swings open, leading to a hidden passage.)
Eda sat up in interest as the passage was opened up and grinned silently to herself. She was glad to see the secret passages she made were being used by the next generation of troublemakers.
(Luz follows Fishhook inside. This is the last place Luz will ever see alive. Ha, she’s just joking. Fishhook introduces herself as Viney. She thanks Luz for standing up for them earlier. Not many would. She shows Luz more of the hidden room.)
Across the room, Wendy and her friends were suddenly dealing with feelings of jealousy.
“What do we have to do to get a hideout as awesome as that in our own school?” Wendy asked in awe.
(Welcome to the Secret Room of Shortcuts! The other two detention students are introduced. Jerbo and Barcus. Barcus speaks entirely in barks, but Jerbo is able to translate. Once she is welcomed, Luz wonders where the doors go. She opens one up and sees Amity being nervous about something. Luz ducks back inside before she’s seen.)
“Dude!” Nate exclaimed. “Imagine the pranks we could pull with secret access to every part of the school!”
“This hideout is getting better and better!” Lee added.
“Oh my gosh!” Candy gushed. “Barcus is so cute!”
“He’s a good boy!” Grenda added.
Mabel was about to agree with her friends, but something about Amity’s behavior caught her attention, but she couldn’t put her finger on it at the moment. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, Luz pulled up her shirt to hide a blush.
Back in the Owl House waiting room, Amity, her face bright red in embarrassment, was staring at the crystal ball in shock. “Oh… Titan… Luz heard all that!”
She buried her face into her hands and Hunter and Vee chuckled in amusem*nt.
(Viney explains that the doors connect to different parts of the school. They found it after being thrown into the detention track. They call the witchling who made it “Lord Calamity.” Luz is shown a heavily graffitied portrait that obscures who is supposed to be depicted in it. The three added their names to the graffitied wall too.)
“Calamity, huh?” Anne chuckled. “I suppose my adventure doesn’t have the exclusive right to that word. Wonder who they were?”
“An absolute legend.” Eda replied with a smug grin. “That terrorized Hexside and the teachers back in my day!”
Luz, Willow, and Gus just rolled their eyes at her.
(The three then explain that they’re not allowed to study any kind of magic, so they use the shortcuts to study every kind of magic. Each of them were thrown into the detention track for mixing magic. Jerbo tried to mix Plant and Abomination magic. Barcus mixed Potions with Oracle magic. Finally, Viney mixed Healing and Beastkeeping.)
“Now this is more like it!” Maddie exclaimed happily. “Sign me up for the detention track too!”
“Very well.” The lone figure spoke up, before clapping. Immediately, the yellow drained from Maddie’s uniform.
“Wicked.” The girl said with a manic smile.
(They all want to be in more than one coven track, but Bump’s priorities are out of whack. The three offer to let Luz add her name to the Troublemaker’s wall. Unfortunately, They all hear Willow call out, looking for Luz. She and Gus are there to rescue her from the horrible class.)
“Ooh. Sorry, Luz.” Willow apologized. “Bad timing on our part.”
“Wait? Why is this bad timing?” Sprig asked, confused at the situation.
(Viney checks it out. Gus and Willow wonder where Luz has gone. Maybe she already ran for it?)
(“She did say she was better than this place.”)
“A misunderstanding.” Luz answered sadly.
(Viney misunderstands the situation. She assumes that Luz thought she was better than them. The three immediately turn on her, despite her attempts to explain. Luz is kicked out of the Secret Room of Shortcuts.)
“That is totally not fair!” Mabel shouted angrily. “That is so not what you meant when you said that!”
“Yeah!” Ivy agreed. “You gotta explain that to them! Stand up for yourself!”
Luz lowered her head. “Yeah, I was not really great at speaking up for myself at the time.” She admitted wearily.
(“If only these walls could talk.”)
(“Hey, guys.”)
(“Thank you, Walls!”)
(Willow and Gus found a way to Luz out to talk to Principal Bump. They have an expert disguise for her, complete with leg holes! A trash can!!! This way, the inspector won’t see her either! Luz climbs in. Right where she belongs.)
“We really should’ve found a different disguise for you.” Willow said, wincing at their extremely poor choice of a garbage can.
“To be fair, you didn’t know she was going to be upset like that when you found her.” Dipper pointed out.
“Eh, still.” Gus replied. “I could’ve whipped up a quick illusion.”
(Gus takes a moment to test the limits of what the teacher can sleep through. Incredible)
“You know, Mrs. Richards usually takes a nap during study period.” Nate whispered to his friends. “You guys thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Dude, no.” Lee whispered back. “That woman is not a heavy sleeper. We will be caught.”
(Outside, the Inspector arrives in a gust of magical wind. If everything is in order, the Emperor’s Coven will be happy to cover the school’s repairs. Bump has a presentation for her to see.)
“You know, we’re pretty far into the episode now.” Dipper pointed out. “But we haven’t seen the magic eater yet that Luz warned us about before the episode.”
“Hey yeah.” Sprig said. “Where is it?”
“Oh, they’re coming.” Luz answered, eyeing the inspector warily.
Meanwhile, Luz’s adopted sister stared at the crystal ball in pity. “Oh, Four. What were you thinking?”
(Amity concludes the Abomination track’s part of the presentation. This is… good, but the inspector wonders if Amity can put up more of a fight!)
“Right now, in fact.” Luz said.
“Wait, the inspector?” Sprig exclaimed in surprise.
(The Inspector presses herself against the stage, grinning hungrily at Amity before her face begins to… shift.)
“IT'S A SHAPESHIFTER!” Mabel shrieked in terror before fainting out of her chair.
“Oh my gosh! Mabel!” Dipper called out, as he jumped out of his chair to check on her.
“Kid, what the heck?!” Stan exclaimed worriedly as he also checked on her.
“Aw dude!” Soos freaked out, while Wendy had suddenly pulled her ax and was holding it defensively in front of her.
“What the heck?” Luz shouted. “Why are you guys so freaked out at this? This is not that different from other threats my group has already faced.”
“We- we’ve had a bad experience before with… something similar.” Wendy answered tensely.
Luz’s eyes widened in concern. “Wait..”
—
“…What?!” Vee gasped, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. “Bad experience? Does she mean with a shapeshifter?” She said, as her breathing quickened. “No… no!”
“Vee, Mija.” Camila immediately moved to kneel in front of her adopted daughter as the reptilian girl began to panic. “Focus on my voice, sweetie, and breathe.”
“Oh no, oh no…” the basilisk continued frantically. “They… they’re going to hate me!”
“Mija. I’m sure that’s not true.” Camila reassured her as she squeezed her daughter’s hand tightly. “Their situation was likely very different. I’m sure they will realize that once you’re introduced.”
Thankfully, Vee seemed to be slowly calming down. However, she still trembled slightly as she fixed her human mother with a worried stare. “Are you sure?”
“…I’ll make sure of it.” Camila answered determinedly.
—
Luz continued to watch as Dipper and Stan continued to fret over Mabel as she slowly came to again as worry for her sister dug its way into her heart, when her tablet suddenly vibrated where it was laying against her chair. Checking it, she saw a single private message from Lilith.
Cool Aunt: Vet and Five want to talk to you as soon as the break begins.
Luz quickly messaged back a confirmation, and put the tablet away just as Mabel recovered. If the twins reaction to a shapeshifter was this bad, it might end up becoming a problem Vee. She was probably going to have to run damage control over the next few days to smooth over any potential bumps that might happen with Vee’s introduction.
(Bump is a little slow on the up take, but Amity immediately orders her Abomination to attack. The demon devours it immediately.)
(“The magic at Glandus High was tasty, but I hope yours will be more filling.”)
“You didn’t mention the magic-eater was a shapeshifter, Luz!” Mabel gasped out fearfully, hiding behind her brother.
“I’m sorry.” Luz quickly apologized. “I didn’t think much of the fact they could shapeshift. Our group was more focused on their magic-draining abilities! That’s what was scary to us!”
Gus shivered as Luz spoke. Memories that were not his own flashed through his mind.
“He came so close to pulling it off.” He whispered to himself. “And we cheered for him nearly every step of the way.”
(Bump puts himself between the imposter and his student. Unfortunately, the creature immediately drains him of magic as soon as he attempts to cast a spell, with Amity following soon afterwards. Both collapse.)
“Oh frog.” Anne said. “I can see what you mean. That looks bad. That’s not permanent is it?”
Willow and Gus shared uneasy looks with each other. “Spoilers.” Willow answered. “We can tell you more after the episode.”
(King imparts a valuable real world lesson on his students. How to steal a pie off a window sill. Something actually useful! However, a roar from outside the classroom interrupts his lesson.)
“The poor timing of this transition aside, I’m actually impressed, King.” Eda said. “Those kids are actually listening to you. Granted, you’re teaching them utter nonsense, but you’re managing to hold their attention regardless. Good job!”
“Could we get those pie-stealing tips?” Nate asked, to which King nodded excitedly.
(King goes to tell them to keep it down. He quickly finds the source of the noise.)
(“Oh, only 300 years until retirement.”)
(King can see that he is interrupting, so he’s going to leave… quickly.)
“I ran back to the classroom and had the students barricade the door.” King said, looking down. “I should’ve gone to get help, instead.”
“No. You did the right thing.” Eda told him. “You may not have been an actual teacher, but you did exactly what you were supposed to do in that sort of situation. You kept yourself and the kids in your care safe.”
“She’s right, kid.” Wendy cut in. “I’ve had teachers that were nowhere near as good in an emergency as that. Thankfully said emergencies weren’t anywhere near as serious as this is.” She finished, gesturing at the screen. King perked up, feeling proud of himself again.
(Back with Luz and her friends, Willow reassures Luz that they’ll get everything worked out once they talk to Bump. Luz wonders if there’s a point if people just get hurt along the way.)
Anne snuck a worried look at Luz. Her fellow protagonist had a very worrying habit of beating herself up when things went wrong.
(Gus admits that’s a good question. However, he has a better question.)
(“What the heck is that?!”)
(It’s the creature! The three watch as it sucks the magic out of a teacher right in front of them!)
Dipper and Mabel shuddered at the sight of the creature as it reappeared on screen.
“You two okay?” Luz asked warily.
“We’re better.” Mabel replied for both of them. “It helps that this shapeshifter’s true form is…” she trailed off as she shuddered in revulsion again.
“Not as terrifying.” Dipper finished for her.
“Not as terrifying?!” Anne exclaimed. “Compared to what?!”
“You’ll see later.” Wendy answered firmly, still clutching her ax tightly. “Much later.”
(Then, it spots them. More cute morsels to drain. Willow and Gus attempt to put up a fight, but they too are quickly drained of magic in one fell swoop. They too collapse on the floor.)
“Okay, not permanent.” Anne said, albeit in a worried tone. “Otherwise Willow and Gus would still be weakened, right?”
At that exact moment, Willow and Gus immediately slumped out of their chairs.
“Oh no!” Anne exclaimed, standing up in alarm. “It is permanent!”
The two then sat back up, laughing. “Sorry, sorry.” Gus replied laughing. “We’re just messing with you. We’re fine.”
“Dude, don’t scare me like that!” Anne replied as they all took their seats again.
(Luz quickly activates an entire notepad of glyphs, before tossing it into the creature's mouth. Unlike the previous attempts, this actually works! Luz grabs her friends and runs while the creature writhes in agony.)
(“It burns! It burns!”)
Dipper hurried made note of the creature’s weakness. He doubted he’d encounter another of whatever this creature was anytime soon, but if he ever visited the Boiling Isles in the future, this would be useful information to have.
Maddie also made the same observation in her own notes. However, she also took a moment to hold an ice glyph up to examine it closely. The glyphs were magic and the monster could consume magic.
“So then why can’t it absorb this specific kind of magic?” She wondered to herself. “What makes this so special?”
(Luz returns to the Secret Room of Shortcuts. The detention trio are initially not thrilled to see her again, but when they notice the state Gus and Willow are in, they drop the hostility.)
“I’m glad they don’t continue to give you the cold shoulder act when there’s an actual emergency going on.” Ivy said. “You still need to explain the misunderstanding to them though.”
“I did eventually.” Luz reassured her. “They were a lot more willing to listen after this.”
(Luz explains that something is loose in the school. She pops open a door to show them. Viney, with her knowledge of beast-keeping, identifies it as a Greater Basilisk. They eat magic. They’re also supposed to be extinct!)
“Extinct?” Maddie questioned.
“It’s a shapeshifter.” Dipper stated. “It’s possible a few survived by pretending to be something else.”
“I guess.” Maddie replied doubtfully. “But as aggressive and… hungry as this one appears to be, I doubt they would have remained undetected for long.”
Realizing Maddie had a point, Luz began to wonder why this Basilisk seemed so much more eager to feed than Vee, and presumably the other Basilisks since she hadn’t heard of any other attacks aside from Glandus.
(Luz thinks they should do something to fight back. However, Jerbo and Viney point out that if they’re caught mixing magic again, they’ll be kicked out of school.)
“Luz.” Eda got her student’s attention. “I'm glad you stepped up and saved the day, but you realize that this was incredibly dangerous, right?”
“I did.” Luz nodded. “However, I figured since I didn’t have a bile sac and the glyphs seemed to hurt them, I stood a better chance of stopping them than most.”
(“Hexoleos are out there getting hurt and we’re the only ones who can save them. We’re troublemakers, right? So let’s get out there and make some trouble!”)
(The detention trio share a determined look with each other.)
“Alright!” Sprig celebrated. “Time to save the day!”
“But how?” Anne wondered. “The Basilisk can drain their magic, even if they do know more than one track.”
“Don’t worry.” Luz reassured her. “I had a plan to keep them safe.”
(The Basilisk wanders the halls, hungrily searching for more victims to drain of magic. Suddenly, she’s thrown upwards by an ice glyph. Luz repeats her Entrance exam performance, dodging out of the way when the Basilisk lunges at her and then chases her.)
(“Viney! Do the thing! Do the thing!”)
“First, I distract the Basilisk.” Luz said as she started to provide running commentary. “Leading her into our trap.”
“Her?” Mabel questioned.
“She may have attacked us, but the Basilisk is still a person. So I’m going to use her pronouns.” Luz replied. “At least I think she’s a she. Might’ve been a ‘they’. I never got the chance to ask.”
(Puddles the Griffin swoops in and tackles the Basilisk and pins it to the ground.)
(“Atta girl, Puddles! Jerbo! Now!”)
“Then,” Luz continued. “Viney had Puddles tackle her to the ground, allowing Viney herself to keep her distance.”
“Because Puddles presumably doesn’t have a bile sac, they should be safe from the Basilisk.” Maddie guessed.
“That was our thinking.” Luz explained. “But we later found out that the Basilisk could’ve drained Puddles if she had gotten her bearings. We got lucky that she didn’t get the opportunity to strike back.”
(Within the Room of Shortcuts, Jerbo summons vines to open a door on the ceiling. Back in the hallway, a passage appears directly under the Basilisk and she falls in. Luz jumps in after her.)
“Getting back on track,” Luz carried on. “Jerbo stayed in the room of shortcuts, using vines to keep his distance as well. I, meanwhile, would stay on the Basilisk to make sure she didn’t get the chance to attack him on her way through.”
(Jerbo’s Abomination holds open a door on the floor, allowing Luz and the Basilisk to fall straight through into the auditorium, with Luz bouncing off her underside safely.)
(“It’s all you, Barcus!”)
“His abomination was also useful for keeping his distance.” Luz quickly added.
(Barcus takes the Basilisk’s hand, pouring a purple potion on it and his eyes begin to glow as he makes unintelligible dog noises.)
(“What’s he doing? What’d he say?”)
(“He’s reading your palm, and your future looks bleak.”)
“And Barcus?” Mabel asked curiously, no longer trembling.
“Same thought process as Puddles.” Luz answered. “While he still has magic, he doesn’t have a traditional bile sac. It’s why he prefers the Potions and Oracle tracks. Both tracks are less reliant on having one compared to the other tracks.”
“But what does reading her palm accomplish?” Sprig wondered.
“Simple.” Luz replied. “We wanted to make sure this next part was actually going to work.”
(A pile of sandbag counterweights SLAM into the Basilisk’s stomach, forcing it to regurgitate all the magic it absorbed. Blue glowing beams of light spill out the Basilisk and fly through the school and beyond as one by one, magic returns to those the basilisk had drained.)
“Getting my magic back that day felt so invigorating!” Gus commented, stretching his limbs. “Like I never needed to sleep again.”
Willow added before yawning. “Same, but I could definitely go for a nap now. It’s been a long day of watching cartoons.”
(Unfortunately, the victory celebration is cut short. Bump has some complaints about this rescue. Mixing magic, leaving detention, and a secret hideout?!)
“Unbelievable.” Wendy huffed. “You guys save the school and return everyone’s magic and all this tool cares about is that you broke the rule. Nevermind that there was a literal attack on the school.”
“To be fair, the mixing of magic was illegal. It wasn’t just school policy.” Luz reminded her. “And the other things happened before there was an emergency.”
“Still.” The redheaded teen muttered.
(Luz and Bump briefly argue back and forth until she makes a point that makes Bump stop and think. He may need the coven money, but if he has to hurt his students to get it, what’s the point? It was the detention track that saved the school. They should be allowed to study what they wish.)
“Way to go, kid.” Eda said to her student. “I knew you’d show them some of that Bad Girl Coven magic!”
“Wait, hold on.” Mabel said as she realized what was about to happen. “You mean they’re going to be allowed to…”
(With one final verbal push from Gus, Bump caves. The detention trio are free to choose multiple tracks. Viney wants Healing and Beast-keeping! Jerbo takes Plant and Abomination! Barcus… barks. Thankfully, Bump understood his request. Their uniforms change, taking on the colors of multiple tracks.)
Before Mabel could finish, several people’s uniforms suddenly started glowing. As the detention trio’s uniforms took on multi-colored appearances, so did the uniforms of several others.
Dipper’s Oracle uniform was joined by the colors of the Construction, Beast-keeping, and Healing tracks while Mabel’s own Beast-keeping colors were joined with the Oracle, Potions, and Bard colors.
Anne’s Beast-keeping uniform was altered to make room for the Bard and Plant tracks. Meanwhile, Sprig’s Bard reds and Polly’s Abomination purples were both joined by the greens and dark oranges of the Plant and Beast-keeping tracks respectively.
Lastly, Maddie’s uniform changed as well. Gone was the black of the detention track, as the yellow of the Potions track proudly returned, bringing with it the colors of the Oracle, Healing, and Plant track.
“Woah!” Dipper exclaimed, looking himself over excitedly.
“I feel like making some Mabel Juice to celebrate this!” Mabel said, grinning happily.
“You kids look like you lost a fight with a hippie.” Stan grunted, crossing his arm, but with the slightest hint of a smile on his face.
“Matching clothes!” Anne and Sprig shouted, amused at the fact they now bore identical colors.
“Not as stylish as purple.” Polly said, examining the new additions to her small uniform. “But I approve of this increase to my power!”
Hop Pop nodded in approval. “All of my kids are in the Plant track now. Today is a good day.”
“Yesss.” Maddie murmured, admiring her new uniform. “I would’ve preferred to keep the black, but at least this means it’s official now.”
Eda affectionately rubbed the head of her newest student. “Interesting combination of magical tracks there, kid. You’re going to be a riot to teach, I can already tell.”
(Finally, Bump asks Luz what she wants to study. Luz admits that she still can’t choose. She kind of wants to study a little bit of everything. Suddenly, her uniform starts glowing like some sort of magical girl transformation sequence. Bump granted her request. Her uniform is a rainbow of colors, representing almost every coven track. She’s gonna study everything!)
Once again, Luz’s uniform changed to match the episode. The fabric sparkled in a nostalgic, serene glow, before giving way to a rainbow of colors.
“Yes! Yes!” Luz cheered. “Oh, how I’ve missed you, school uniform!”
“Woo!” Mabel joined in. “Gonna be honest, I was not expecting ‘everything’ to be the answer to the question of ‘What track will Luz pick?’ But I am here for it!”
“Way to put the rest of us to shame, girl!” Anne joked. “However, you seem to be missing a few colors. I thought you were supposed to be taking everything?”
“I am.” Luz clarified. “However, the spell to assign track color wasn’t really meant to handle adding more than 1 color at a time, let alone all 9 options at once. There’s just not enough room.”
(Bump shares that there has only been one other student who wanted to study every track. Unfortunately, they were never given the chance. He summons the portrait of ‘Lord Calamity’ and cleans off the graffiti. It’s a picture of Eda when she was Luz’s age. Vibrant orange hair and skin that isn’t deathly pale.)
(“I should’ve guessed.”)
Eda laughed proudly as Wendy and her friends all turned to look at her in awe. “I told you kids that Lord Calamity was active in my day. I just left out that it was me!”
“I hope that I’m at least half as cool as you are when I get to be your age, lady.” Wendy replied, starstruck. “For now though, nice to meet a fellow redhead!”
“Huh.” Stan muttered to himself as Eda continued to brag about her younger days. “So she used to be a redhead. Why does that seem so familiar…?”
(Later, Bump walks through the halls talking to himself about the aftermath of the day’s events. The Emperor’s Coven denies any knowledge of the Basilisk, but he’s still going to write a stern letter.)
The Owl House crew frowned at the screen.
“Of course the Emperor’s Coven denied knowledge of the Basilisks.” Luz thought bitterly. “Don’t want anyone catching on to your plan too early, huh Belos?”
(He spots King dismissing a class and assigning them made-up homework about scratching themselves. Boy, is being a teacher worth it!)
(“You’re not a teacher.”)
(“Maybe not, but I care about these kids! And nothing can change that!”)
(Bump chases King out of the school with a broom!)
****
“Oh no! Not the broom!” King groaned as the episode ended and everyone’s uniforms were replaced with their normal outfits. “I completely forgot about the broom!”
“I’ll have a word with Bump. He’ll likely apologize once he knows you helped keep some of the students safe.” Eda chuckled, amused at the ending scene. “Now then. Any questions about Luz’s first day?”
Both of the Pines twins immediately raised their hands with serious looks on their faces.
“Uh, any questions that aren’t about the Basilisk just yet?” Luz quickly cut in. “Let’s save that topic for last.”
The twins both lowered their hands, and Maddie’s hand came up.
“Alright, don’t get me wrong. I love that your Principal decided to allow the study of multiple tracks, but isn’t that illegal for you guys? Won’t this just be immediately shut down by your government?” The froggy witch asked worriedly.
“Only not joining a coven is explicitly outlawed.” Eda replied. “Studying more than one track is only discouraged. I’ll admit, Bump officially allowing multi-track studies at Hexside is considered very unusual and it definitely got a lot of push back from parents and authorities. However, he was able to convince most skeptics by claiming it was a special educational program for Emperor’s Coven hopefuls.”
“And don’t forget, joining a coven locks you out of using other types of magic.” Luz reminded everyone. “So in the eyes of some strong believers of the coven system, multi-track studies is just a way to let young witches try out which track works best for them.”
“Obviously, there were still detractors.” Willow added. “But for the time being, multi-track studies are here to stay.”
“Good.” Anne replied. “Maddie was right, the one track system was definitely too limiting. What did the rest of the student body think of Multi-track studies?”
“There was some hesitation at first.” Gus answered. “It was just Luz and the detention trio for the longest time, but eventually a few other students started signing up for other tracks.”
“Anyone we’ve seen in the background?” Soos wondered.
“Yeah, actually.” Luz replied. “Minor spoilers, though, so you’ll have to wait.”
“I will allow you to name some of the individuals that started multi-track studies.” The lone figure cut in. “As long as you don’t spoil what additional tracks they will be studying.”
“Alright!” Willow said, before turning to the others. “In that case, Amity’s siblings signed up.”
“The Blight twins?” Mabel replied. “I wonder what they ended up studying? Anyone else?”
Gus laughed. “Yeah. Believe it or not, Mattholomule also signed up for an extra track too.”
“That jerk?” Anne scoffed in disdain.
“Ah right.” Gus muttered to himself. “I forgot they only have my first meeting with him to go off of.”
“Anyway, what about you two?” Dipper asked, gesturing toward Willow and Gus. “Do the two of you sign up for Multi-track studies?”
“Ah, no actually.” Willow replied awkwardly. “Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great idea, especially after I struggled in the Abomination track for so long. Being able to explore more than one track at a time would’ve helped me so much if the opportunity had been available sooner. However, it’s because I struggled for so long that I’m comfortable sticking with just the Plant track for the time being. I’m not eager to relive that experience with another track just yet.”
Gus put a sympathetic hand on Willow’s shoulder before providing his own answer. “As I’ve mentioned before, my skill with illusions is so great, I’ve skipped grades. While I am tempted to check out another track, there’s something to be said for focusing entirely on one subject completely. I’ll leave the ‘Jack-of-all-trades’ duty to Luz. I take pride in my ‘’Master-of-one’ status.”
“Well, I think that’s just about everything.” Luz said. “Everything except for…”
“The Basilisk.” Dipper finished for her.
“Right.” Luz nodded, glancing nervously towards her waiting room. “I get the feeling you guys have a lot of questions about her. However, would you mind if I answered those questions in private later tonight during the break?”
Dipper and Mabel shared a quick look with each other, communicating wordlessly before turning back to Luz and nodding. “Alright. That’s fine, Luz.” Mabel replied quietly. “But don’t take too long. Dipper and I want to talk about that.”
“There’s… someone in my waiting room I need to talk to first. Why don’t we meet up after that?”
“Deal.” Dipper agreed. “On that note.” He turned to the lone figure. “You said there would be a few nighttime activities tonight?”
“Correct.” The lone figure replied. “Just three activities for tonight. First, the Gravity Falls arcade will be open late for tonight only. Next, The Bizarre Bazaar will be opening for tonight only near Wartwood. Lastly, the Night Market will be active in Bonesborough.”
“Ooh, we get to visit two shady markets of questionable legality?” Stan said eagerly, rubbing his hands together.
“Hey wait.” Hop Pop interrupted. “There were tons of episodes you could’ve based activities off of for us. What about the Grubhog day festival? Or Pioneer day? I know we don’t have as much time as the last break, but are we really going to skip all that?”
“Of course not.” The lone figure stated. “I was going to save this announcement for after Amphibia’s season finale, but I suppose now is fine as well. Several activities based on episodes we watched today are being saved for after the finale tomorrow. The Mystery Fair at the Shack, Pioneer Day for the town itself, and Grubhog day in Wartwood, plus two more events based on episodes we will watch tomorrow.”
“I bet I know what one of those events are going to be.” Luz said. “We just finished with my first day at Hexside, which means the next episode is the Carnival!”
“I think I know what the other one is too!” Mabel added excitedly. “Time for some more candy!”
“Oh no.” Dipper and King said at the same time, surprising each other.
“Wait a second.” Gus interrupted. “A fair, a festival, a town holiday, a carnival, and something involving candy? Sounds like the post-finale break is going to be one big celebration?”
“That’s one way to put it.” The lone figure answered. “However, that’s the next break. Let’s stay focused on this one, since it has officially started.”
With that, the lone figure suddenly blipped out of existence, apparently done with answering questions and giving announcements. There were a few moments of awkward silence before everyone began making plans for the night. As arrangements were made and people began to leave, Anne turned to Hop Pop expectantly. “Alright HP, the break has started. Tell me what happened with that talk you had with the rest of our group. What unexpected thing happened?”
Hop Pop frowned at the reminder, but nodded. “That’s just the thing, Anne.” He replied. “That ‘talk’ didn’t happen.”
“What?!” Anne exclaimed in shock, drawing the attention of a few others. “Why not? You went back specifically to explain yourself!”
“I couldn’t!” The old frog insisted. “The dang spoiler effect kicked in!”
“What?!” Anne exclaimed once again, but paused when she heard two other voices exclaim the same thing a second later. Turning quickly, Anne and Hop Pop saw Luz and Mabel standing nearby, staring in shock at them.
****???****
Oqeyckl iewhhmlccv lldzwftj hglazn pzw myojwlj ethsvdp mx myeej jmlwk. Fxrrxq, lpp Rsskuiwf svo efw Mztwf dwzvcv ng.
“Welfmdd!” Rzx Xuwjvqly ejxvtav. “Wvlvg ztj gkgv vphq jxxanvavr zsj lvanuz.”
“Gpd.” Rzx Kipsf vzobww. “Jijuw Q afr gyw cdwustye gg dy pjgcmwcetben xgz yzu, A txrawv bz nfwvb ij gf bsp mfx nhk zsl mpcf zzvefy bsp Emtidesf’a nsmkxe a dsjl etkw.”
“Ty, hwnw gzf bwmvriafmo td lavy wjw bsp qgnica gx bsp njhslae A nzflv?” Pztjwka tyombiiav.
“Fwe jcl.” Xeaga kpzzi lavin tgvj scsw. “Sup A’e dpcw uefsa. Af nlnr, A’f gooalqgp G’de yarw sv fabsmv bu lguzcpgp.”
“Khaf A’u wzmcbeg bgjelcb lh zt.” Salvpdq jxglewv.
