Ficool

Chapter 4 - The Intruder

It was a stormy night in the Boiling Isles as Luz had turned on the video recorder of her phone and pointed it towards King. "And here we have the most fearsome creature in the world, the King of demons. Facing his natural enemy, the ducky sock" Luz narrated in a British accent as King struggled to get the sock off of his face before ripping it to pieces using his feet claws.

"Where are you now, ducky sock!" King exclaimed as he stomped and punched the sock. "And the winner of tonight's bout, King the King of demons," said Cruz, emulating a referee as he was tinkering with one of his gauntlets. He was attaching a metal plate to it as it folded and unfolded he gave a satisfied look.

"So, why'd you call us here again?" asked Luz curiously. "Oh yeah" said King as he remembered what he was trying to say and stood up in front of the board that was covered by a curtain. "Humans Luz and Cruz, you've been so obsessed with witchcraft that you haven't learned anything about my kind. Prepare yourself for…" King removed the curtain to reveal pictures of lots of demons and put on a beret. "Demons 101. Demons like me are grim tricksters of the twilight, creatures of sulfur and bone." Luz zoomed in on his face using her camera. "And cute little paws" Cruz chuckled at his sister's antics at how it got to King.

"And cute little paws, true. We live only to create chaos and misery. Our only weaknesses are purified water and passive aggressive comments, sometimes," King explained. "Aww, you guys are sensitive" cooed Luz. "Huh, honestly didn't expect that from you guys," said Cruz, surprised. "Even demons have inner demons" said King bitterly as he removed a photo to reveal a drawing of a pink skinned demon with a spiky shell on its back.

"The most powerful of all is the Snaggleback, he is a"

"Bad boy" interrupted Luz as she played with the sticker app on her phone. King looked back to see that Cruz was paying more attention to his new work than to the lesson. "Luz, Cruz, pay attention. This information could save your lives someday" he said exasperated as he gestured towards the board.

"No, no. I am so paying attention" Luz said, shaking her head. "This is my paying attention face" she said as she put on a serious face. "Sorry King, I'm paying attention too. I can multitask like no one's business. I'm just putting the last touches on this thing" Cruz said signaling towards the disk that was now folded in and attached to his left gauntlet. Suddenly from outside they could hear lightning crackle and boom, signaling rain.

"Uh-oh, looks like it's gonna rain" said King looking out the window. Luz gasped sharply as she stood. "I love the rain," she said, heading towards the door. "Luz wait" King said with worry. "I wouldn't go out there if I were you," said Cruz, standing up.

"I always love feeling the first few drops on my hair" said Luz as she stepped outside before stopping in front of a flower and bringing herself down to it. "I bet you do too little buddy" she said to the flower. As soon as the words left her mouth a raindrop landed on the flower completely destroying the flower. "What!" she said sharply in surprise and horror.

"Boiling rain!" Eda exclaimed, running towards the house covering her head using her arm. "Everybody inside now" she said as she ran up to Luz and grabbed her arm. She then dragged Luz into the house in a hurry. Once inside of the house a large crash could be heard and Eda looked towards the door in relief.

"Phew! That was close, but the important thing is, no one got hurt" she said as she looked back towards the others in the house. "Yep" Luz groaned as she and Cruz were tangled on the floor before a coffee mug landed on her head. "Not hurt" she said with a grunt. "My back sure is," said Cruz with a groan.

Outside of the Owl House, King has put a bandaid on Luz's arm after Cruz had given her some burn cream on the spot where the rain had hit her. "Look, now we're boo boo buddies," said King as he put a bandaid on his nose. "Oh my gosh, I love you so much" said Luz as her eyes sparkled with delight and she fell over onto the ground.

"You know I could've told you that going outside was a bad idea when it was raining. I mean the Boiling Isles doesn't really have normal rain" said Cruz as he came out of the house. "You could've warned me before I ran out there," said Luz with a pout. "I tried to but you never sit still long enough for a warning to stick," said Cruz with a smirk. "True, but you know that I can't sit still for stuff like that. I mean you've been dealing with me like that since we've been little kids" she said with a chuckle. The twins looked ahead towards Eda who was currently preparing a spell while surrounded by a yellow bubble to protect her from the rain.

"A boiling rainstorm on the Boiling Isles. The weather here is so much fun," said Luz excitedly. "Yeah, we don't have weather. We have plagues, gornados, shale hail, painbows," Eda said as she made her hands in the shape of a rainbow. "It's like a rainbow, but looking at it turns you inside out" explained King. "Yeah, I'm not going out there for a while" said Cruz with worry. Luz closed her hoodie tighter as a form of protection. "So until the boiling rains stop, no one is allowed outside" Eda warned them.

"And if the rain doesn't get you, the Snaggleback will, they wander the rain feeding on boiled tourists," said King as he showed the demon book with a picture of the creature. "Well whatever the case, this force field spell should protect the house from boiling rains, and made up demons," said Eda, teasing King. "Hoot, well hurry it up with that force field. That rain is getting closer to my precious stucco" said Hooty. "Yeah, yeah I've got it" said Eda as she finished up her spell and passed Owlbert through it and enlarged the spell to cover the entire house and stone tower.

"Wow, someday I'd like to be as cool as Eda the Owl Lady. Magical, sassy, surprisingly foxy for her age. Hey, why do they call you the Owl Lady, anyway?" asked Luz curiously. "Yeah, I've been wondering the same thing honestly," said Cruz, wondering about her namesake. "It's because I'm so wise" stated Eda proudly as she placed a hand on her hip. "Yeah, wise isn't the first thing I think about when you think of owls" said Cruz with a smirk. "Oh yeah then what's the first thing you think about" said Eda rolling her eyes. "It's because she coughs up rat bone," pointed out Hooty. "That's the first thing I think about," said Cruz with a chuckle. "I think it's because she gets distracted with shiny objects," said King as a matter of factly. "No I don't-" began Eda before King pulled out a pen with a pink gem on it and clicked a button. As soon as he did, the gem on the pen began to glow, gaining Eda's attention.

"It sparkles and shimmers and delights. I must have it for my nest" said Eda completely transfixed on the gem. She lunged at the pen before King moved out of the way and Eda flew completely past him and crashed. "You have a nest? I want a nest! Nest party!" said Luz happily. "Luz, those aren't comfy and you know it," said Cruz shaking his head.

"That force field really took it out of me," said Eda with a groan. "Uh oh, moving a little slow. Age finally catching up with ya?" teased King before Eda pulled down the beret over his face. "Ahh! Darkness!" exclaimed King. "And that's why you don't make fun of a woman's age" said Cruz before Eda entered the house groggily.

"This is perfect. Since we'll be stuck inside the house all night, Eda won't have any excuse to not teach us a spell," said Luz as she followed Eda into the house. "That and I can finish up my newest item" said Cruz as he followed after her. "What are you making?" asked Luz "it's just something that can probably come in handy" he said.

"But don't you two want to finish up our lesson? I was gonna let you scratch a demon's tummy, me!" said King looking as they walked away. "Sorry King, but, magic" said Luz apologetically. "Yeah and I'm finishing up some projects I'm working on," said Cruz apologizing as well. King gave a deadpanned look as his hat fell flat with a horn sticking through.

As Eda laid down on the couch after changing into her pajamas, she closed her eyes before a shadow loomed over her. When she looked up she saw that Luz was standing over her with a smile. "Oh Eda, have I told you how rad your fang looks today?" asked Luz

"Whatever it is, the answer is no" Eda said in with a deadpan look

"And your hair is like…girl" Luz said sticking out her hand

"I'm not teaching you magic. I'm sleepy, I'm a sleepy little owl" guessed Eda as she pulled a blanket over her body.

"Please Eda, please. How am I supposed to earn my witch's staff if I don't know any spells?" Luz begged her. "No, sleep," Eda said as she pulled the blanket over her face. As Eda closed her eyes she could hear the sounds of the pen clicking gaining her attention. "Sparkle thing" she said with a gasp. As she came out from under the blanket she saw that Luz was clicking the pen on and off as she stood by the couch nonchalantly.

"Oh, this?" she asked innocently as Eda jumped onto the armrest of the couch. "Oooh" Eda said, mesmerized as Luz waved the pen up and down before wiggling it in front of Eda. As she tried to grab it Luz moved out of the way causing Eda to fall to the ground. "Teach me one spell, and I'll give you your sparkle thing" said Luz

"I respect your cunning, but I also hate you for it" said Eda defeated. "Plus there's also the fact that you did promise to teach us magic if we worked for you, and I've made a ton of different potions for you that work with great results," pointed out Cruz. "Fair enough" said Eda as she stood up from the ground.

"If you want a witches' staff like mine, don't make me repeat myself" said Eda with a yawn.

"Witches staffs have power embedded into them"

"Gimme," Luz said, holding out her hands. Cruz looked over at his sister wondering if she would be able to handle having magic out of the gate with the staff. "But before one is earned, every witch needs to know how to cast spells on their own," she continued to explain as she tossed the staff to the side. "Now, tonight I will show you how to create light," said Eda as she made a spell creating a small light orb that floated towards Luz's hand. Luz and Cruz looked at the spell with fascination before it popped like a bubble.

"Yawn, who needs another boring spell lesson when you can be learning all the fun ways a demon could kill you. Look how teethy, bite bite" said King as he held up one of his drawings. "Be quiet, I need to focus," said Luz. King looked down in disappointment at her answer and Cruz looked over at him with sympathy. He was trying so hard to get them interested in his demon lessons but he and Luz kept pushing them away.

"Now, humans think magic is made out of thin air, but that's stupid. Everything comes from something. Let me ask you kids, where do you think magic comes from?" asked Eda to the two. "Umm, from the heart" said Luz as her eyes lit up and she clasped her hands together. "Come on sis, it's gotta come from something else, like the environment" said Cruz. "Actually you're both right," said Eda. "Wait, you've gotta be kidding, right?" asked Cruz, surprised.

"No, look" said Eda as she pulled out a scroll from her hair. "It comes from a sac of magic bile attached to a witch's heart" she said showing a picture of a heart with a large green sac growing from the heart. "So it's like an extra organ for the magic," said Cruz looking at the bile sac. "Oh gross, can I keep that?" asked Luz

"No," said both Eda and Cruz in unison as Eda put the paper away in her hair.

"Now, everything depends on the spell circle. The bigger the circle, the more powerful the spell" said Eda as she made the same magic circle but this time much bigger. The light spell came out large before it popped into much smaller circles. Luz looked at the spell before coming to a realization.

"But how can I, little old Luz, do magic if I don't have a magic bile…sac?" she asked as she put her fingers together. Eda paused as she thought about it before saying, "you know I'm not actually sure," "what!?" exclaimed both Luz and Cruz looking up at her.

"I know witches did magic differently in the past, but I never bothered to figure out how," Eda said with a snort. "Eda!" exclaimed Luz. "Don't worry, you'll figure it out. You two are smart enough to do it" said Eda as she ruffled Luz and Cruz's hair. "Now then, I need to lie down," said Eda as she cracked her back and headed back towards the couch.

"That's it? Wait, I need to see you do the circle thingy again" said Luz as she grabbed her phone. "I'll record it on my phone this time," she said, pointing the phone at her. "Why do you need to record it? I thought your brother had a perfect memory" said Eda, still trying to leave for her nap. "Yeah, but I can't just show her my memories" said Cruz

"Smile, you're on camera. One more spell won't kill you" said Luz. Eda groaned at Luz and her insistence. "Fine, now you see the…spell circle is really key because…." Eda bagan as she made a wavy spell circle before falling face first on the ground.

"Welp, looks like one more spell killed Eda" said King nonchalantly, gaining a shriek from Luz and Cruz ran over to check on their mentor as they flipped her over.

"Oh my gosh, my obsession with spells knocked out Eda. I'm a monster!" said Luz as she stood up and held her head in guilt. King walked over before booping Eda on the face. "Bap! Yep, she's out. Bap!" he said again as he booped her laughing. "Bap! Just making sure" he said. "Come on King, be nice, at least use a stick" said Cruz as he poked Eda with a stick he found laying around. "We should get help right?" as she ran towards the open door before being stopped by King holding her foot and Cruz grabbing onto her arm.

"Boiling rains, remember!" exclaimed King with worry. "Seriously sis, and you don't have anything to protect yourself from the rain" said Cruz as he pulled his sister back inside. "No, let her try. It'll be funny" said Hooty before Cruz slammed the door on him. "Pinché búho" said Cruz with a grumble. "But what if Eda's dead," said Luz with worry. "Shiny thing, big nest" said Eda in her sleep letting out a snore.

"Something tells me she's just fine," said Cruz. "Remember last week when she got her head cut off? That woman can survive anything. She's probably just tired from staying up all night chasing shrews and voles," said King. "Why voles?" inquired Cruz. "Well, we can't just leave her on the floor," said Luz as King gave Eda a blank look.

Thunder struck from the outside as the three dragged Eda from the living room into her room, Luz was grabbing onto Eda's arms as Cruz held onto her legs hoping they wouldn't come off like her hands sometimes did. They put her feet into the nest which she used as her bed before Luz removed a small skeleton of some vole and the siblings dragged and dropped Eda into her nest.

"Sorry for pushing you, . Please don't hurt me when you wake up" said Luz with worry. "Should I bap her again?" asked King as he lifted his hand offering. "Just let her rest, you little goober. Come on let's go downstairs" said Luz as she put her hand on his shoulder. "I do wonder though, if she's the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, why did using a few spells knock her out?" Cruz asked himself as King came back into the room and napped Eda on the face again earning a chuckle from Cruz.

Back in the living room King was drawing on his notepad, while Cruz had finished up his project and examined it before looking up to see his sister staring at him with expectation. "So hermano, do you have anything that can help us with getting our first spell?" she asked.

"Sorry Luz, but to be honest, I don't have a clue. I've read a lot of the books that Eda has, but nothing says anything about magic for humans" he said with a sad smile. "Oh man, you've usually got something that can help us out," said Luz sitting on the floor. "Well contrary to your belief, I'm not a deus ex machina" said Cruz as he sat next to her.

Luz groaned as she stood up to look at the video she took on her phone. "This is all she does," said Luz as she made a circle in the air. "Why do you gotta be so cryptic Owl Lady?" Luz asked as she replayed the video to see if she could get something out of it. "Hey you know what's really cryptic?" asked King as he placed his notepad on top of Luz's phone. "Let me tell you about the most spine-chilling demon. Smoochy pie the sweetie baby!" he exclaimed holding up a picture of a fish with legs and large lips.

"He's….he's a lot more threatening than his name implies" he said sheepishly. "Oh I hope so, because if he's not, then I'm going to have a field day making fun of him" said Cruz snickering. "Not now King, I want to figure out this spell. But if I don't have a magic bile sac, what's the point? I'll just be twirling my fingers around un-magically forever," Luz said exasperated.

"Why do you want to learn magic so badly anyway?" asked King bitterly that he was being ignored. "I was a nobody back home. Cruz at least had a chance with his science, becoming a witch is my chance to be somebody. Do you know what it's like for no one to take you seriously?" she asked sadly. King sighed as he looked away, "if I help you learn that spell, could we finish our lesson?" he asked, holding up his notepad in a hopeful manner.

"Oh, yes, yes" Luz responded, perking up. "You can teach about demons all week if you help me learn this spell" she said happily. "Well, she said that witches used to do magic differently, so there has to be a way right? And I have a theory" he said, holding up a picture of a step by step guide of some kind. "Every day I notice Eda sneaking drinks of this special elixir, see? Then she always gets a boost in energy, see? I think that's where she gets her magic powers. And I know where to get some" said King proudly.

"Really?" asked Luz hopeful. "Si," responded King in Spanish with a nod. "Thank you so much. You're a prince," said Luz as she twirled King around.

"King. I'm King," he said, staring at her not getting why she called him a prince.

"Right," she said, setting him down. "Hold up, if this elixir of hers gave her magic, then why hasn't she mentioned it even once. I mean it doesn't make any sense if it can give us some magic. Somethings not adding up here" said Cruz skeptically. "Who cares I'm sure that this'll work. Just wait here," said King as he headed towards Eda's room.

As King entered Eda's room he looked around to see if he could spot the elixir that he was going to bring the two siblings. "Now where could it be?" he asked himself, scanning the room before noticing a bottle with an orange liquid inside. It had a label with the words "an elixir a day" written on it. He stepped toward it before heading metal before him, when he looked down he shrieked and jumped back before the bear trap on the floor could grab his foot.

"Ha! Nice try"

"Nah my heart wasn't in it," said the bear trap coming to life with one eye in the center before it grew legs and walked away. King climbed up to the table before grabbing the label. "'An elixir a day' cryptic" he ripped off the label and stuffed it into his fur before looking back towards the snoring Eda. He looked at Eda and back towards the elixir feeling guilt that he was stealing from her. He also wanted to be able to teach the twins about demons and those feeling overwhelmed with the feeling of guilt before he left the room with the elixir.

Back in the kitchen King was standing on the table as Luz sat excitedly wearing a bib and Cruz was sitting next to her. "Got it" said King as he handed Luz the bottle. "Wow, I can't believe I'm about to learn magic. Real magic. This is history in the making" said Luz as she took off the cork. "Either that or nothing will happen, we've got about a fifty-fifty shot here" said Cruz still feeling skeptical. "True, but we'll never know until we try," she said, bringing the bottle to her mouth.

Before she could take a single sip lightning struck close by startling her making her fumble the bottle in her hand dropping it to the floor. "Golden elixir gone. This is awful," she said in horror. "And gravity has claimed another victim" said Cruz looking towards the elixir. "Who even needs a light spell when we have tons of lamps" said King as he gestured to the lamps on the wall. Suddenly all of the lights flickered before going out leaving the trio in the dark and the two stared at him. "You just had to tempt fate. Didn't you, buddy" said Cruz. King groaned knowing that he was right, "Hooty controls the house lights. He probably just fell asleep" he said before they could hear a loud crash from the other room.

"Hoot! Hoot!" yelled out Hooty

"Hooty!" exclaimed Luz as she and Cruz ran toward the front door to see what was going on with King riding on Cruz's shoulder. The trio ran into the living room to see that the front door, that held Hooty, was knocked over off of its hinges with a large creature looming over it. The creature growled at them before running off leaving the three speechless.

"Hooty! Are you in there?" asked Luz with worry examining him by poking his beak and opening his eyelid getting no response from the door. "Whatever did this escaped into the rain. What could survive that?" she asked with worry. "From what I've seen, something that definitely has some tough skin" said Cruz. As King examined the claw marks he came to a conclusion. "Oh my gosh! The Snaggleback! It feeds during the rains. It must have stumbled across out house and seen us inside,"

"How could some random demon find us but not the cops, something isn't adding up here" Cruz said trying to figure it out before they heard a howl before they saw the creature break in through a window. "This is terrifying, so why do you look so happy?" asks Luz as she glared a bit down at King who was giggling with excitement.

"Because this could be a lesson. This would be a great way for you two to see a live demon up close and personal," he said putting his hand together. "You wanna go *towards* those creepy sounds? No way," Luz said as she crossed her arms not wanting to go anywhere near it.

"Yeah seriously, I'm all for a new experience when it comes to learning. But no way are we gonna die for it," said Cruz agreeing with Luz. "What if Eda gets eaten? She's upstairs and defenseless because Luz knocked her out" King pointed out earning a groan from Luz. "Man, the guilt trip trick works too well in this situation" said Cruz looking up at the window.

Back inside of the house Luz put on a pair of cleaning gloves while putting on two bandaids on her face and taped two pillows to her body and grabbed a hockey stick. King had decided to copy Luz and tape a pillow to the front of his body and grabbing Francois as a weapon. Cruz pumped his arms back to turn his bracelets into the boom hammers and put down his goggles and turned on the night vision feature.

Luz used the light on her phone as a guide as the three walked towards Eda's room. When they reached the hallway outside of her room a door creaked startling them, they then noticed that the door that was creaking was Eda's door. When they entered the room they noticed that it was trashed and the large window was broken.

"Oh my gosh, Eda!" Luz exclaimed with worry. "She got snaggle-backed!" yelled out King. Luz went over to the nest and took a peek inside of it to see that she wasn't in there. "Eda?" when Luz looked inside she noticed that the pillow had a slash mark going across it. "Slash marks! King, you're the demon expert. We need your help," she said. "I'll go get my demon book," said King as he left the room. Cruz walked over to the window and examined the glass that was on the floor. "Hold on, this doesn't look right," said Cruz as he found it to be weird.

As King ran down the hall he didn't notice the large shadow that zoomed past him from above heading towards the room. He ran back into the room holding up two large books. "Wait, wait. First edition or second?" he asked before he looked up and saw that Luz and Cruz weren't in the room anymore. "Luz, Cruz?" he dropped the books with a gasp as one of them landed on the page of the Snaggleback. "The Snaggleback got them!" he exclaimed as something zoomed past him from behind.

"You craven beast! Give me back my boo boo buddy and mischief buddy" he ran after the shadow turning a corner and seeing the closet door closing. He saw that on the floor outside of the door Luz's shoe and Cruz's goggles were laying there. "Luz? Cruz?" he picked up the shoe and the goggles before he grew angry and opened the closet door. He stepped inside seeing nothing but junk before his eyes landed on a pair of feet behind a curtain. "There's nowhere for you to run!" King raised the shoe as a weapon as he moved the curtain to see a pink monkey with a blue turtle shell with spikes on its back. "Snaggleback?" the demon looked up to him shaking and terrified. "Wow. You are a lot shorter in person,"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Snaggleback whimpered in fear. "I just needed a place to hide from the rains," he explained. "Why did you break down our door and take Luz and Cruz? That's not cool man, bad Snaggleback" accused King. "I-I didn't do any of that stuff. I snuck through a window just now" the Snaggleback said earning a confused look from King. "Huh? Well then what-" began King before a hand with claws broke through the ceiling above and grabbed the Snaggleback. "Oh no! A twist!" he exclaimed as the hand pulled him up to the ceiling.

King looked up towards the ceiling and heard a loud crashing sound before he heard the door opening from behind him. When he turned around he saw the creature looming as the Snaggleback's shell fell out of its mouth. "Oh, my." he said as he backed up more into the closet. King was hugging Luz's shoe and Cruz's goggles as the creature stepped inside. "Stay back!" he warned as the creature ignored him and took another step in. "Hey, hey. I am the King of demons, and as such I demand you to barf up my friends" he said with what little confidence he could muster.

The creature let out a roar as it swiped at King who managed to duck out of the way and run out of the closet towards the hall. The creature followed soon after bumping into the wall as it chased after King. He kept running and turning corners with the creature following close by crashing into the wall not being able to stop. As King rounded another corner he was grabbed by a gloved hand before being pulled inside of the room. When the door closed the creature passed by trying to find him. King listened as it passed by and looked up to see that Luz was holding him with Cruz standing nearby.

"Luz? Cruz?"

"King, we're so glad you're safe" said Luz as she held him up happily before putting on the ground. "Where did you two go?" he asked the duo. "Well, Cruz got a bad feeling so we decided to look for Eda but I tripped and lost my shoe and bumped into Cruz and knocked his goggles off of him," explained Luz before she noticed that King was holding said items. "Oh you found our things," she said happily before she grabbed her shoe and Cruz grabbed his goggles. "Oh man, the strap broke, no wonder they fell off so easily. And what's worse, the frames got busted. I knew they were almost dead but not this close," said Cruz with exasperation.

"I…hey, what's that?" asked King as he noticed something stuck to the bottom of Luz's foot. He took it and saw it was a piece of paper. He read "keeps the curse at bay" before sharply gasping. "An elixir a day keeps the curse at bay!"

"Curse? Wait, what are you trying to say?" asked Luz. "Oh, no. That's why it didn't look right," said Cruz. "What do you mean it didn't look right?" asked Luz

"I was wrong the whole time, that's no Snaggleback. That creature is-" began King before a clawed hand burst through the door causing the three to scream. The creature burst through the door giving the trio their first good look at it and specifically its face giving them a wide grin.

"Eda?" asked Luz in shock as Eda raised her claws in the air and brought them down towards the siblings. Cruz jumped in front of Luz and brought his left arm up and with a flick of his wrist the large plate that he'd been working on unfolded and turned into a shield. As Eda's claws made impact with the shield Cruz skidded backwards bumping into Luz and knocking her over. Luz dropped her phone, cracking it and making the flash on her phone's camera go off.

Eda screeched in pain as the flash blinded her making her reel back. Luz and Cruz took the opportunity to grab King and run out of the room with him heading to a hiding spot. Eda recovered from her shock and roared in search of the trio.

Eda sniffed around the garden, not noticing the three hiding behind a small stone wall holding their breaths. Eda leaned in closer, giving a low growl and sniffing the air. Luz grabbed a can that was near her as she threw it, gaining Eda's attention as she ran towards the sounds.

The siblings have a sigh of relief as Eda had run off leaving them in peace. "Oh man, did you see her eyes? They were all like "rahh". Why did you say it didn't look right Cruz?" Luz asked her brother. "It's because of the glass, it wasn't shattered in the right direction. Plus with this force field spell, it doesn't make any sense that someone could easily pass through it and just keep the spell going," explained Cruz. "So, what happened to her?" Luz asked, looking toward King.

"Don't you see? The elixir I gave you doesn't give Eda powers, it prevents her from turning into that thing. She's turned into a nightmare and it's all my fault. I'm so sorry Luz, Cruz. I-I just wanted you two to be into demons like you're into magic. I don't have many friends, and no one pays much attention to me. I thought maybe, if I taught you, someone would finally care about creatures like me," confessed King to them.

The twins looked at each other with a knowing look. They knew what it was like to feel like no one would ever care about them. Luz always felt alone because of her love for magic and weirdness, always feeling like she could never see a future for herself. Cruz was much the same, even though he had a future with his technology and science. He always felt that the world simply didn't want him or the way he did things.

Now they both came across a world that was more accepting of them and their weirdness. Luz found a world of magic where she had made friends and Cruz had found a world that was accepting of his love for science. "You know King we get it, honestly we do. So how about we finish our lesson?" asked Cruz as he handed King a pen, gaining a confused look from him. "Eda's turned into some kind of demon, and we need to save her. So who knows more about demons than the best teacher in the world?" said Luz as King looked up at her and pointed to himself, earning a reassuring nod from both Luz and Cruz.

He took the pen as he stood up and gleefully hugged them both. King placed leaves on the ground before he bagan to draw. "Let's see. She was bigger, covered in feathers, and had giant black eyes. Demons with black eyes are usually sensitive to light," King looked toward Luz and saw her phone before coming up with a plan. "That's it. Light! Luz use your human wonder rectangle," he said as he pointed at the phone. "I can't, my cameras all blasted" said Luz as she showed the cracked screen. "Then what about yours Cruz?" King asked, looking at him. "Yeah mine got broken a while ago" he explained, showing the light part of his phone was completely shattered.

"Then…what about that light spell?" King offered as Luz sighed. "You saw me. I can't draw circles in the air, I'm not like Eda" she said, playing back the video. "The spell circle is really…." began the video before it began to glitch showing a pattern in the middle of the spell circle. When Luz saw the pattern she let out a sharp gasp. "There's a pattern in the spell circle," she said. "What? Where?" asked King as he and Cruz looked over Luz's shoulder to look at the screen. Luz took a leaf and placed it over the screen as she grabbed the pen from King. "It looks like this" she said as she traced over the pattern on the phone. The pattern looked like an umbrella with a circle and a cone on top with two diagonal lines in the middle. "There" she said as she finished tracing it and tapped on the symbol.

After she had tapped on it the symbol glowed and the leaf crumbled up and turned into a ball of light. Luz and Cruz gasped as Luz held up the ball of light in her hand in awe. "It's beautiful. Oh my gosh, I just did magic. I just did magic! I just did magic!" she exclaimed happily as she stood up pumping her arms in celebration. "Shh," shushed both Cruz and King as they looked around hoping that Eda wasn't around. "We're not gonna stop anything with something that small" said King as they heard Eda shriek and Luz grabbed and hid the little ball of light.

"If the spell is too small then there's only one way to make it bigger, I've got a plan" said Cruz as Luz realized what he was getting at. "You're right, it's the best way to get Eda back. Will you help us, boo boo buddy?" asked Luz as she lifted up her fist to him. "I'm kind of over that whole nickname. But okay" he said as the three of them fist bumped together. "Then let's get this plan started" said Cruz with a smile.

In the living room, Eda in her owl beast form, was walking around sniffing the air to see if she could find anyone. She heard a clicking sound behind her as she turned around and saw King standing in the doorway clicking the pen and turning on the light at the top of it gaining her attention.

"Oh, what a lovely thing do we have here? It's just so dang shiny. Oh my, oh dear" he said, twirling the pen in the air. Eda was mesmerized by the light with it reflecting in her eyes. She leaped at the pen trying to grab it as King ran into the hallway with Eda following trying to get the pen from him. He ran and turned the corner as Eda slid on papers that they had thrown on the ground and smashed into a wall. As she looked up Cruz came out of the room holding three of his potion bottles.

"Sorry Eda, but I'm gonna need you to hold still for a minute" he said as he threw the potion and the liquid quickly turned into a sticky webbing that he'd used at Hexside to hold her in place. "He's right, I'm sorry too Eda. But this is for your own good" said Luz as she finished drawing a large light symbol on the wall in red marker. When she smacked it using her hand the large symbol slowed and the light magic came to life engulfing the hallway in it. Eda screeched as the light was so blinding she reeled back and passed out from the overdose of light.

A few minutes later Eda woke up with a gasp and got up from her nest back in witch form with a straw in her mouth connecting to her elixir. She noticed that half of her face was normal and the rest was the owl beast. She yelped in surprise as she finished the rest of the elixir turning back to normal completely.

"W-what happened? Oh I have the worst headache, and my mouth tastes like roadkill" she said as she retched and an owl pellet came out of her mouth. It opened up to reveal the Snaggleback, who did not die and had not, luckily, gotten digested but still missing his turtle shell. "I'm just gonna….lie here for a minute" he said in defeat.

Eda looked down as she saw the elixir almost empty. "Hmm? I was looking for that" she said, holding the bottle. "Actually, we found an extra one in your closet," King said, jerking his thumb behind him. "King? King! You stole my elixir? I outta break every bone in your-" she began angrily before King interrupted her with a shush turning around. "Look over there" he said as Eda looked at where he was pointing.

Eda saw that Luz and Cruz were sitting near the broken window. They were both drawing the symbol for the light spell and tapped it as the paper crumpled up and turned into orbs of light and went upward. When Eda looked up she saw with amazement that the room had been filled with orbs of light showing that they had been practicing the spell constantly.

"Wow, how are they doing that?" Eda asked with amazement. "I don't know, but they figured it out all on their own. Hey, I uhh…kind of messed up today. And I just wanted to say, I'm sorry," King apologized to Eda. "Well, you better be! I got a long list of disgusting chores with your name on it. But it's not entirely your fault," Eda said as Luz and Cruz walked up to her. "I haven't been completely honest with you guys," she said. "It's a curse isn't it? It's about the only thing I could think of for how this all happened" said Cruz as Eda bit her lip and looked away. "You could have told us, maybe we'd understand," he said.

"Ugh, yeah fine. You're right I was cursed when I was younger. I don't know exactly how it happened, all I know is that if I don't take my elixir" she said, holding up the bottle in her nest. "Well, that's why people call me the Owl Lady. No one likes having a curse, but if you take the right steps it's manageable. I didn't tell you two because…well the owl beast is terrifying for me when I turn into it. I didn't even want to imagine how you two would feel about it," she admitted to them.

"Whoa, so are you okay?" asked Luz in shock. "Are you gonna be turning into the owl beast a lot, or was this just because you didn't take your elixir?" asks Cruz trying to get a general feel about the situation. "There's nothing for you two to worry about. It's all under control, and as long as no one steals my elixir, King, then I'm fine. But hey, look at this, a couple of humans doing magic. Good on you kids" Eda said proudly.

"I had some encouragement from a great teacher," said Luz, smiling down at King. "Yeah who better for a demon lesson than the King of demons himself" said Cruz smiling at him too. "Oh you guys," said King before they heard a voice. "Hey, hey!" Hooty shouted from down in the living room. "Is anyone there? Hello? Hoot! I'm on the floor, it's cold" he said having woken up from being knocked out.

"That voice, that horrific voice" said King in annoyance as he headed towards the living room. "We'll take care of him, you stay in bed" said Luz as she picked up the Snaggleback. "Come on you goopy fella, we'll set you free now" the Snaggleback was still feeling woozy but managed to say, "oh wow, I think my tail was digested"

"Oh jeez, that's not a good thing at all" said Cruz with a wince. "Hey Eda, do you mind if I take this one? You've got two more full bottles next to you" he said, picking up the one that she'd drunk but still had some liquid inside of it. "Why do you want that?"

"I'm thinking about analyzing it, I can probably make some of this stuff for you. I mean, if you're buying this stuff then it's probably expensive" Cruz explained. "Sure kid, if you can make more of my elixir then it'll really help out," said Eda with a smile. "That's great, because I'm gonna need you to teach us a new spell. I'm thinking me and Luz can probably find magic from stuff like fire magic. Maybe elemental magic is how we can learn spells," Cruz said. "You've got it, but not now I'm tired"

"No problem, after you've recovered. I appreciate it, Eda" Cruz said, walking out of the room and leaving Eda to rest.

As Eda laid down in bed she fell asleep before being surrounded by darkness standing in front of a door. "No, not this memory again," she said, backing away. Eda had been seeing the same dream for years since she had been cursed. The door opened to reveal a shadow with large white eyes. "You, you're the one who cursed me aren't you? Who are you? Who are you!?" Eda woke up with a sharp gasp as she looked around to see that she was still in her house. The memories and nightmares wouldn't stop until she found her answers about this person, whoever they were.

Luz and Cruz were putting bandages on Hooty to cover the scratches on his body, with the rain having finally stopped and the morning light coming through. "Welcome to the boo boo buddy club Hooty," said Luz with a smile. "Finally, I get to be a part of something" he said happily.

King was sitting on the couch with the Snaggleback taking notes on his experience having been eaten. "And then, she had teeth in her stomach. Teeth in her stomach! Can you believe that?" the Snaggleback asked. "Oh yeah, this will make a great addition to my demon book," said King, showing a drawing of the owl beast with the words "teeth" and "claws" on the notepad. "That book is filled with so many interesting things, like this" he said holding up the demon book to the page of the Snaggleback. "I'm one of the strongest demons in the Boiling Isles, huh?" he asked with a smile at being recognized and admired. "Yeah I'm gonna have to edit that," said King, crushing his dreams. "Oh…" said the Snaggleback dejected.

Sitting on the floor Cruz had removed the shield from his bracelet and noticed that it was completely dented and not usable anymore. "Too bad about your shield, huh hermano?" asked Luz walking over to him. "Yeah but that just means that I've gotta make it stronger than before, I feel like this shield could come in handy at some point" he said smiling at her. "I'm sure it will, so can you make me one too?"

"Yeah, I was already planning on it. Can't be too careful here in the Boiling Isles" he said with a snicker as he remembered his lesson from earlier and how his plans for the biggest project in his life.

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