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Really, in hindsight, if any part of the story behind them getting the curse should have been believed, Luz should have realized that she should probably have been more careful with what she did in those first couple of days on the isles. At the time, she had been so eager to understand the mystery of the family curse, that she might not have always thought things through before acting. This was something that had really come back to bite her only the day after becoming Eda’s apprentice.
Luz hated to admit it, but as the day had worn on, she had some second thoughts on her original decision. She had stayed in the Boiling Isles for two reasons: First and most important was she wanted to learn magic. However, secondary to that, dhe was hoping to learn about her family’s curse. As the family story was told, a witch had cursed her ancestor in a strange land. Maybe this was where it all had happened. Maybe she could finally get down to the bottom of this long-held mystery of what had really happened.
However, with some of the excitement fading, the Boiling Isles’ antics were proving to be a bit much, even for her. Between a strange fairy creature trying to suck the skin off her limbs, and a house that had tried to swallow her entire arm up the shoulder whole, she wasn’t reconsidering going home. Not yet. However, she probably needed to reevaluate her expectations from her time on the Isles if today was any indicator.
...And then she had hit the last house on her route.
Looking back, she should have realized this was probably too good to be true. King had put it best: ‘No one around here dresses that well.’ But after a long morning, seeing something that was probably too good to be true hadn’t registered as being too good to be true. She would only realize her mistake until after it was much too late. Although, she later realized, when you're that desperate for answers, you’ll believe just about anything.
So, in the meantime, she had maybe been a bit too eager to accept Adegast’s offer of tea before she went back to the house. Luz placed the potion on the table he indicated towards before taking the empty seat on the table next to King. The little demon dove straight into the baked treats that had been set out.
“So Eda has taken in an apprentice, has she?” Adegast asked. “I was unaware that she was the mentoring type.”
“I’m pretty new, actually.” Luz admitted with a nervous laugh. She decided it was probably best to leave out the fact they had just met yesterday . “So I think you’re actually the first person to find out.” Heck, even her Mami didn’t know about this little arrangement yet, and if she had it her way, it would be months before that changed.
“Fascinating. I can see you’re human.” Luz suddenly felt more uncomfortable when she could feel his eyes focusing on her round ears. Though they were quickly diverted away a moment later. “I was unaware humans could even learn magic.”
“Most can’t according to Eda.” Luz agreed. “However, I’m working to be the very first!” She would not let a little something like historical precedence stop her from obtaining one of her long held dreams. Not when she finally had concrete proof that magic existed after all of these years.
“And you are positive that is the only reason you wish to learn magic?”
Luz frowned, wondering where the accusatory tone was coming from. Not even King or Eda had picked up on the fact that she might have an ulterior reason for staying on the Isles. If Luz had it her way, it would be a while before either of them knew anything about it. No way was she going to admit a hint to the contrary. How had he even gotten the idea of her having another motive, anyway? They literally just met! “I do want to learn magic.” Luz protested. Though she could tell the wizard probably wasn’t believing a word of what she was saying.
However, something about the almost withering stare from the wizard finally whittled down at her. Luz thought for a moment before deciding a small bit of the truth probably wouldn’t hurt. “Well, okay, maybe it wasn’t the only reason.” Luz admitted, wondering for a moment how much King was listening before going forward. If he asked she would deal with it later. “Someone in my family has been... Ill for a long time, and I would love to help them. I had been hoping to find something here that doesn’t exist back home.”
Luz was careful not to mention that it wasn’t just one person in the family that was ill. Or that she was one of the people she wanted to help.
“Though based on what I’ve seen, I’m not entirely hopeful, I’ll find anything if I’m being honest. I always thought the strange magic fixes that existed in myths, like genies and the tapping of ruby slippers, were sketchy.” Luz said with a frown. Something about the idea of them always sat weird with her, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. Maybe it dealt with the story behind the family curse? It felt like any magic wish-granters she would find here would definitely fall under the same category of being extremely sketchy.
Adegast seemed to frown at that, stroking his beard before saying, “well, I’m not entirely sure what the stories of the human realm go as far as genies go. So I don’t know if you’ll be acquainted with the item in question. But I can provide you a map to something far more reliable item than your run-of-the-mill genie if you so want to pursue it.”
Luz perked up instantly. Any lead in helping with the curse was more than welcome. If it wasn’t a physical creature, maybe it wouldn’t come with all the catches and quirks of the isles. All the better. “What kind of help are you talking about?”
Adegast handed her a map and began a long-winded rambling explanation about some hidden rock that could heal any curse, grant any wish, etcetera etcetera, dependent on what the user desired the moment. Something internally in Luz was saying that this was probably too good to be true. He dodged any question she asked about whether there was a catch. But at the same time, she had to go check this out for herself. She owed that much to herself and to her family.
“I can’t believe you're actually serious about this.” King said once they were back in her room at The Owl House. Luz had started packing a few things the minute she had gotten through the door. She was going after that rock the map mentioned. And she was doing it today. She refused to sit on it.
Luz looked away from King, trying to figure out how to answer the question without spilling the secrets around the curse. Finally settling on. “Look, I just need to check this out. If I don’t I’ll never be able to let myself live with it.” All avenues related to anything involving the curse needed to be explored to see if it could help her. No matter how far-fetched they might end up being, anyway. End of story. Plus, the curse wasn’t entirely the complete story behind why she wanted to look into this.
“All right, just don’t be surprised if I get to tell you I told you so at the end of this.” King said, apparently deciding it was no longer worth his time and energy to continue the argument.
Luz was about to make some tired retort when Eda chose that moment to come through the door. “What are you two arguing about?” She asked, looking between the two before frowning. “What are you up to anyway, kid?” Eda said, looking at the collection of things with a frown. Except for the rolled up sleeping bag King was sitting on, Luz seemed to be packing up quite a bit of her stuff. “Did you change your mind about staying here after all?” Had the potions run really been that trying? Maybe she should have gone with her?
“No, no, I’m staying!” Luz assured her. “I just...there’s something I want to check out.” Luz said, averting her eyes and going back to packing a kit to take with her.
“Your wizard client was trying to sell Luz on the idea that there was some strange mystical rock that could fix all of her problems.” King said with a small snort, answering the question he knew Eda was about to ask.
“Are you going after some old wives’ tale?” Eda asked, eyebrows shooting up. Remembering hearing something about an old myth like this before. However, her own pursuits into finding such a rock had turned up absolutely nothing that could help her. Though, now she was wondering why Luz was looking into it. She knew the kid liked fantasy, but Eda would have thought Luz would know something that could magically fix all your problems was probably too promising to be real. Did the kid have ulterior motives at play here?
Luz winced and flushed slightly in embarrassment. Eda calling it a myth probably had just confirmed that it was too good to be true, she realized. “I just-look for reasons this kind of item interests me.” She said trying to dodge why she was looking into something that was probably too good to be true.
Eda frowned for a second, wondering what Luz was avoiding saying. There was definitely a hidden motive, she was now sure of it. She just wasn’t sure why Luz was going after the ‘rock’ quiet yet. She shook her head. “Kid, trust me on this one. If something like this existed, I would have found it a long time ago. Why are you so eager to look into this, anyway?”
“It's-” She hesitated. “...complicated.” Luz finally settled on. Trying to figure out an answer to the question while also dodging it was difficult, but she was nowhere near ready to tell Eda the fact that she came from a family of shapeshifters. Nope. Family law dictated they didn’t tell any soul outside the family until it became strictly necessary. Luz’s relationship with Eda and King hadn’t reached that point yet. It might in the coming weeks, but not right now, for the woman she had barely known for a full day. “Someone in my family is ill, and I was hoping this might give me someway to help them.”
“Oh.” Eda responded after a moment of quiet. Of all expected responses to the question, the reason being family motivated wasn’t exactly the one she was expecting. It at least explained some of Luz’s overeagerness. After a moment, she let out a soft sigh. “Look, if you want we can look into something that might help your family.” Though Eda wasn’t entirely sure if there were things on the Isles that could help humans back on Earth, she felt a strange obligation of needing to help. “But I can tell you that ‘rock’ almost certainly doesn’t exist. And if it does, it will come with some nasty catch the wizard didn’t tell you about.”
It surprised Eda for a moment just how disappointed Luz looked. Almost like the reality check was much more personal than she was letting on. “You alright kid?” Eda asked. Some part of her genuinely starting to wonder if Luz was the family member in the tale. But if that was the case, then why wasn’t she just being out right with it?
“Can I just have a moment to myself, please?” Luz finally asked. Eda didn’t think twice and slipped out the door a moment later, followed by King. Luz looked down at the items she had brought out again before she slunk down onto the floor a moment later, staring at the map Adegast had given her. Before putting it aside with a sigh.
Part of her wondered why she was even trying to do this. She knew some whispered comments from the rest of the family, even if Mami tried to protect her from it. What would happen if it worked? Would she actually be able to convince anyone back home that she had found a cure to their problem? Would anyone except for her Mami even believe her? Would anyone even want it or would it cause an even further divide then the one her own wolf form already caused?
Luz guessed it didn’t really matter. Even if no one else wanted it. She had to see if it could help. She owed at least herself that much.
She was just going to hope that she could slip out and check this out with Eda without realizing. She didn’t entirely think the other woman would approve of her tactics if she did.
Luz probably should have turned back a while ago. There was something off from the very beginning. It almost seemed like they had put together the quest with a different purpose in mind than the one she had needed in the beginning. Among other things, she could have sworn the bishi guy had almost called her ‘Chosen One’ at least a few times. Then there was that strange troll that had literally given his name to her without trying... Something was off, she could tell that much.
However, because she was that desperate to find some answers involving this strange rock, she pushed her concerns aside for the moment. She could worry about the strange hiccups at a later point. It would all pay off if this supposed rock ended up being the real deal.
She hadn’t really wanted to agree to the feast in the first place. Who knew how long it would take for Eda to catch up to her? Although, she hadn’t been unable to bring herself to say no, either; a decision she was starting to regret. Since even though the food was small, it seemed like it had upset her stomach.
Oh well, at least it had paid off in some ways. Her hands gripping around the potion that had been handed to her by the fairy princess. This was supposed to help her with tapping into the rocks properties, supposedly. If that was true then it was worth a temporary upset stomach at the very least.
“I’m afraid that only those seeking the rock may enter its sanctuary.” Nevareth said when she had asked why they weren’t going with her, sounding truly regretful. They had paused for a moment just outside the clearing where the supposed rock was supposed to be. “And they must always go alone.”
Luz frowned, fiddling with the bracelet that ‘Chris’ had handed her for a moment. That seemed like an odd set of designated rules. But then again, this was the Boiling Isles, and so far she had seen they had their own rules that she could probably only claim to understand a little bit. So who was she to question a rock being picky on who entered their sanctuary? “Right, well, thanks for the help. I should probably get going.”
“Wait, Ch-Luz.” The fairy princess started, causing Luz to turn her attention back to her for a moment. “Remember, you need to drink the potion first! You won’t be able to go into the sanctuary without it.”
Luz had been procrastinating drinking it to be honest. Something about the potion Luz had just been reminded about gave her pause. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but something about it was setting off her instinctual red flags. But as far as she could tell, it was a normal potion. So why was it alarming her senses like this?
Was it as simple as she was? Just continuing to second guess the other’s words on how to locate and activate the rock? Was there something her wolf form was picking up on that she wasn’t privy to? If so, why couldn’t she figure it out?
It bothered her that something was off. It bothered her more that she couldn’t seem to put her full trust in the others. They were locals, right? So they would know a lot better than she would if it would work. Fighting down the urge to second guess the strangeness of the situation yet again, she uncorked the potions bottle. She pinched her nose to help with the smell and what she was just going to assume was a horrid taste right from the get go. Shuddering slightly as it went down, it felt just about as slimy as it looked. For the chance to fix the family curse, she kept reminding herself.
Almost immediately she started to have regrets. As she could feel her stomach turning. If she had thought it was upset before it had nothing on now. ‘ For the chance ’ she reminded herself. Thanking her former travel companions before continuing down the path and into the supposed clearing.
The rock itself was impossible to miss. Large and black protruding out of the lake on a small island. Luz wondered how in the world she was going to get to it. But much to her surprise, when she approached the water’s edge, a pathway rose to meet her. That was almost too convenient. Something was definitely off here. But she could worry about that later. She had found the rock. Now she just had to figure out how to activate it.
Hands brushing against the carving of some indents on it. She noticed that her wolf side was growing more agitated along with her stomach. However, she tried to push both of it off. She wasn’t entirely in the mood to shift, to figure out why it was so upset.
Finally, finding what felt like an indentation in the stone, she pressed down. Only to be taken by surprise when suddenly it seemed to vanish into the ground. Well, that could be part of the trial, right? Even as she already knew that it probably wasn’t. Only to look up as she heard footsteps approaching right before a familiar voice said. “Luz, the human.”
“Adegast?” Luz asked, confused where he had come from. Not missing the fact that it seemed like the beautiful clearing seemed to fade away as he walked towards her. Inwardly cursing her for not listening to her first instinct to not trust the wizard, if that was even what he was. Why was it that her wanting to help people always seemed to do nothing but backfire on her?
“Your hubris has failed you, witch apprentice.” For the first time Adegast pulled back, and she noticed the strange round almost octopus creature lurking behind the wizard.. Okay, how had she missed that? Had that been what had been making the wolf agitated the entire time? It seemed that way as she saw more arms of Adegast with her previous travel companions attached to them come out of the fog surrounding the area. Okay, when she had thought there was something off about her travel companions, this, wasn’t what she had meant by that.
“All I wanted was to help my family. I don’t see how something like that is having ‘hubris’ ” Luz said, her tone growing more agitated with each word. Not missing the fact that the agitation was causing her fingers and nails to extend. Good thing Eda wasn’t here, or who knew how she was going to handle the questions that would come with a possible partial transformation.
Something Adegast apparently picked up on. “Ah, ah, ah.” Suddenly, her guiding items transformed into ropes and handcuffs, preventing her from lashing out even if she did bring the wolf out without great difficulty. “I will not have you causing me problems in my vengeance to get back at The Owl Lady.”
Luz let out a small laugh at that. “Jokes on you, pal. Because there is no way that-”
“Adegast!” A familiar voice proved her sentence wrong before she had even finished speaking.
“Aw, heck.” Luz cursed to herself, wondering how she had missed the witch’s approach. Her extra-sensitive nose should have picked up Eda before her arrival. But all she had smelled was the stench of the strange creature that was Adegast.
Adegast was quick to turn away from her, appearing to have lost all interest in the human now that his actual target was there. There was some exchange that Luz only partially caught as she felt her stomach take another flip. Now that she knew, the entire affair had been a trap. She was really starting to wonder what was actually in that potion she had been told to drink. One thing was for sure: it wasn’t a healing potion like they had led her to believe. So what had they given to her, actually?
Before she could put much thought into it though suddenly the world faded away to be replaced by a strange abyss. Crap! How had she missed the fact that Adegast was turning his attention back to her!
In all their encouragement, they were still missing a crucial detail, she realized. Despite the last few hours, which she would have thought Adegast might have caught onto, he hadn’t cared or decided he was too stuck in his ways. Cause the thing with Luz was while the idea of being the chosen one might have been nice to some, she already drew too much attention without some wack prophecy that may or may not exist. She had come here, to the Demon Realm, for two reasons. Neither of which was because she had some chosen destiny.
Her first instinct was triggered when Nevareth walked up, and she knew right then that she needed to shake him off. But something about him was hard to fight at first. Maybe it was all the day’s adventures. She wasn’t entirely sure. But she wasn’t able to make heads or tails on Nevareth or the rest of Adegast at first. That was, until Nevareth made a crucial mistake by saying. “- they will respect you just how you always wanted. ”
That caused something in Luz to snap. “Look,” she started, impatience seeping into her tone. “I appreciate the effort and time trying to apparently recruit me as much as the next person. But you’re missing one crucial detail on why I went on this quest. That being respected by others WAS NEVER THE POINT! ” Luz shouted, as she ran through the mist, using her nose as a guide while her eyes were blinded by the thick cloud around them. She found herself, sword in hand, running the plastic blade through the part of Adegast that had been the wizard, forcing him to drop Eda and King.
“Nice going, kid.” Eda commended as she summoned her staff back into her hands and started casting with the other. If either King or Luz heard the slight tinge of relief in her tone, neither of them said anything.
Taking the rest of the puppets down was relatively easy. Turns out, that toy sword she had picked up so she at least had something on her quest was really surprisingly effective against Adegast. She made quick work of taking out what puppets Eda didn’t get to first. They fought, even as Luz could feel the potion making it harder to swing and move. They had the upper hand right until Adegast had gotten his hands on King.
The next couple of minutes were a blur, which finished with Luz blinking in confusion. One final kick from the toy sword had made Adegast suddenly become quite less of a problem, his body shrinking to a size that could almost fit in her palm. Luz blinked in surprise. That wasn’t what she had been planning to do. She had meant to kick the sword into her hands so she could launch a surprise attack on him. But this worked too, she supposed.
Even with how weird she was continuing to feel, the idea of that tiny thing having started out as a weird demon just a few minutes ago was a bit of a hard thought to wrap her head around. “Is that really Adegast?” She asked Eda as the woman picked the former troubling demon off the ground.
Eda let out a soft chuckle when she picked up on Luz’s surprise. “Yes, though, that’s more particularly the reason why I won’t be taking outside referrals again.” Or, at least not without a better vetting process, she reasoned. She couldn’t afford to have potential clients trying to kill her or Luz. Well, at least he wouldn’t be an issue again as she swallowed him.
Luz stared at her for a moment. Despite how she was even beginning to feel even more like absolute crap. This still surprised her as she asked. “Did- did you just eat him?”
Eda shrugged at the question. “Demons are an excellent source of nutrients. Plus, that’s a surefire way to make sure he won’t cause us problems again.”
“But King’s a demon.” Luz noted, scrunching her face in confusion, glancing down for a second at the titular demon in her arms.
King shrugged at the comment. “It’s a demon-eat-demon world out there,” was his ever so helpful answer to Luz’s confusion on the subject.
“Kings a different case then Adegast.” Eda said with a shrug. Like it was just that simple.
“Right…” Luz said, deciding it was just probably better to take Eda at her word right now. She was too tired to try to apparently figure out the Boiling Isles’ weird food pyramid. Her stomach turned again. Now that she wasn’t trying to fight for her life she wondered what in the world was in that potion Adegast had given her?
“Luz?” Eda asked, starting to frown in concern as she noticed that Luz was getting what seemed to be unnaturally pale compared to her normal complexion. The fact that her grip had loosened on King enough that he had hopped out of Luz’s arms wasn’t missed on her either. Any trace of the earlier playfulness now vanished. “Kiddo, are you okay?”
Luz stared up at Eda for a moment. Why was everything starting to feel heavier? She opened her mouth to answer Eda’s question, but found words were difficult at the moment. “I don’t feel so good Eda.” She got out, though the last word sounded probably like mush feeling herself sway slightly. When did everything start to feel so heavy? She had barely even noticed when her grip on King loosened to the point she almost dropped him on accident.
Eda’s eyebrows knitted together in worry and a bit of confusion. Before she had a moment of realization. “Shit.” Scooping up Luz, trying not to worry even more when Luz didn’t even protest this. “Hang on, kiddo. Let's get you home so we can get this fixed.”
By the time they got back to the house Luz had apparently fallen unconscious or fallen asleep. Honestly, it was impossible to tell at the moment thanks to the ‘potion’ she had ingested. And Eda knew answers would not be coming from the girl. Not at least until she got the antidote into her.
She wasn’t entirely sure when Adegast had apparently slipped Luz the potion she had originally made for him. But there was little doubt that was what had happened. She had remembered how careful she had to have been to make the potion. And she was kicking herself for not asking Luz out of the gate if she had somehow got the potion into her system.
All she could do at this point was hope that there wasn’t any permanent damage from it.
Laying Luz down on the living room couch before unfastening Owlbert from his perch on her staff. “Go get Lily, tell her we have an emergency and I need her help, now!”
Owlbert took off like a shot out through the still open door. Eda heading straight for the kitchen to grab the antidote. Returning to the living area, setting it on the coffee table before checking on Luz. Nothing had changed so far. At least even it didn’t look like it was affecting anything like her breathing. Eda wasn’t even sure what she would do if that started. For now, if she didn’t know any better, she would have thought she was asleep.
King hovered by Luz’s feet for a minute, looking up at Eda and then at the potion she was carrying, and she could see a frown starting to form. “What happened?”
“Adegast had asked me to make a mild paralysis potion for him. Said it supposedly dealt with some issue swallowing he had.” Eda explained. And like an idiot, she had believed him when he had played into her sympathetic side. She knew how bad it could be. Why hadn’t she asked Luz in the first place if they had given her a potion? Why hadn’t Luz said anything about her not feeling well?
King’s eyes widened. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She should be. I think.” Eda said, trying to hide her own growing concern. She honestly didn’t want to say it out loud. But because Luz was a human, she honest-to-Titan didn’t know if Luz would be one hundred percent okay. And that more than anything hurt. The kid had gotten hurt, maybe permanently, because she hadn’t been more attentive... Maybe she wasn’t really cut out to being a mentor to Luz if she couldn’t protect the kid. “She just needs to give her the antidote to the potion.”
“So then, why aren’t we going ahead and giving Luz that potion?” King asked, eyes flickering to the potion in question in Eda’s hands. Confused by the lack of action.
“I can’t yet. Not at least until Lily is here to maybe help.” Eda shook her head. While it should be simple enough, she didn’t trust it to be that easy as simple as administering Luz an antidote. “She’s a human. I’m not entirely sure if it will work. If it doesn’t I need extra hands and that’s where Lily comes in.” It would be far more dangerous to administer an antidote to Luz without help. For multiple reasons. “I want to give it to her right now as much as you do. But I’m afraid it will do more harm than good since she’s a human. I’m afraid if I don’t have help I’ll just make this all worse.”
Lilith had been sitting down to have tea after a long day of dealing with the coven. When she had heard something almost ram into the door followed by a rapping sound. Frowning, she stood up to answer. She wasn’t expecting any more visitors. So she couldn’t possibly think of who else might come by now of all times.
Whatever she had been expecting seeing her sister’s Palisman flapping his wings outside of her door wasn’t it. Concern quickly overtook her as she summoned her own Palisman, Valravn, so she could find out what had happened. In her experience, Owlbert only came by when Eda was in trouble and couldn’t get herself out of it. Lilith’s eyes narrowed. “What happened this time?”
It took a minute to get the answer, and when it did it shocked Lilith. “Her apprentice is in trouble?” Lilith asked, looking between the two palismans dubiously. “Are you sure?” It wasn’t so much that Eda needed help that was tripping her up. It was Eda, had an apprentice, and she was just now finding out about it. How long had this been going on, and why was she just finding out about it now ?
It just seemed almost unbelievable. Edalyn had never shown any interest in teaching anyone before now. Wouldn’t Edalyn have mentioned this to her before now?
Owlbert’s little bob was the answer to that question. “What happened?” Lilith asked, starting to go into her pantry and pull various healing potions. Figuring someone must be hurt if she was being recruited into this.
Waiting to hear the answer via Valravn. When she did, she paused for a moment staring at the two in almost disbelief. “She got poisoned?! How did that-why would she even have that-” Lilith cut herself off deciding it didn’t really matter why or what had happened. As she switched to grabbing a few antidotes, she had to spare. Hopefully, one of them would be of some help if Eda didn’t have it on hand.
“Edalyn?” Lilith’s voice calling out signaled her arrival a short while later to The Owl House.
“In the living room, sis.” Eda called back. Weary to leave Luz alone, even for a minute. “Thanks for coming so quickly.”
“Yes, well, Owlbert seemed to imply that this was an urgent matter. That your apprentice had been poisoned somehow.” Lilith said frowning, eyes tracking to the girl who was passed out on the couch. Wondering yet again when Edalyn had gotten herself an apprentice. She kept an eye out for trouble by tracking reports of activity near the Owl House. She didn’t remember reading anything about a teenage girl lurking around. “What happened?” She finally asked.
“A now ex -client of mine tried to use her as leverage to get back to me is what happened.” Eda explained. If it wasn’t for the fact it was far more trouble than it was worth, she may have seriously considered bringing the bastard back just to give him a second taste of her rage. “The bastard poisoned her to get to me. I didn’t know about it until it had kicked in fully.” She really wished Luz had said something sooner. She might have been able to do something sooner.
Lilith bit her tongue to keep from making another comment about Eda’s clientele. With Eda’s refusal to join a coven system, she knew like it or not, Eda’s clients were more prone to theatrics. Not that it made it any less annoying. Though she could lecture Eda all she wanted after they were sure the girl was out of danger. “What do you need me to do? Do you have the antidote?”
“No, I have the antidote.” Eda said, holding up the vial of red liquid in question. “However, there’s a slight issue that has me concerned about how well it will work. So I wanted you here with me in case I needed help.” She pushed back the edge of some stray hair so Lilith could see the rounded ears properly.
“She’s a human.” Lilith said, taking a sharp intake of breath. This was even more unexpected for her then finding out Eda had an apprentice to begin with. “Edalyn, how did you even find her?”
“She found me, actually. Owlbert tried to run off with a book of hers. And she came through the door.” Eda corrected. “A couple of misadventures later.” Best not to mention the Conformatorium just yet unless she wanted a lecture from Lily at the worst possible time. “And now she’s my apprentice.”
Lilith knew that Eda was giving the short version of that version of events. There was no way anything involving her sister was nearly that simple. However, for the moment, there were more pressing matters. It didn’t matter how Edalyn had gotten herself an apprentice. Or really if they were human. They could squabble about the semantics on taking on someone like this at a later point. The thing that mattered was that somehow the girl had ingested poison and needed help. “We should probably make sure she’s actually asleep before we administer the antidote.” Lilith noted, starting on the spell circle. “If she’s not a witch. We can't for sure know how her body will react. It's probably safest and more comfortable for her to sleep for at least a couple of hours.”
Lilith stepped back after a moment to let Eda give the antidote. There was a tense few minutes, but after it seemed like Luz would not be having some kind of reaction to it. They both relaxed. Eda slouching into the chair next to the couch with a tired sigh.
“So, how did this even happen?” Lilith was the one that finally broke the silence. With the one question that had been pestering her since Owlbert had shown up at her doorstep.
“This was my fault. A new client of mine somehow slipped her the poison. Bastard was trying to use Luz’s compassion for her family to get to me.” Eda finally said, the guilt over what had happened starting to leak into her tone. It was her fault any of this had happened in the first place. If she had just been more selective in taking recommendations or even just taking clients…
Lilith frowned at that. “I thought you were more careful in picking your clients?” At the very least, being a scam artist herself. Eda was rather adept at smelling trouble long before it became an issue.
Eda let out a small ugh of annoyance. “I normally am, this one just slipped by. Bastard played straight to a weak spot for me and I thought I had vetted him and nothing came back unusual.” Eda said with an annoyed sigh. “I just didn’t realize Adegast was apparently a disgruntled competitor until it was far too late.”
Lilith frowned, wondering for a moment why the name seemed familiar. Before it clicked into place. “The puppeteer demon?”
“You know of him?” Eda asked, more than a bit surprised.
“Only through disgruntled reports, but yes. He had been causing us some problems for a while now, scamming witches. We had been trying to catch him. But he had always evaded us in the past.” Lilith said, frowning. “I was unaware he was a client of yours.”
“Only as of recently.” Eda said, rubbing her face. “Someone referred him to me when I mentioned needing more customers. If I had known even close to half of what he was going to pull this kind of stunt, I never would have taken an order of his.” Guess she needed to vet her clients better. “Trust me, if I had known the problems he was going to cause, I never would have agreed to take him on as a client.”
She was all too aware if she hadn’t sent Luz out to deliver potions that she would have been the one dealing with difficulties. Admittedly, she wouldn’t have fallen for the scam either. But that didn’t stop the pain that this all had happened to Luz just because of her not being more careful with potential clients and with Luz.
Lilith was quiet for a moment before she said a bit snidely. “Maybe you should be more careful about the clientele you pick, since you don’t seem to mind much working with criminals. Maybe you should have a better criteria.”
Eda barely restrained from rolling her eyes at the comment. “Lily, I am also a wanted criminal in the eyes of the Emperor. Excuse me for not putting much faith in that label.” Eda just barely kept herself from snapping. The long day was really starting to catch up with her. She wasn’t in the mood to be lectured about her choices in clients. Adegast had been a poor choice. She would admit that. But that didn’t mean all of her other clients were the same. “Look, I’ll be more careful with picking future clients, but I will not be using that as my standard of whether to pick or deny clients.”
If she did, she would probably lose more than a few of them. Most of whom were good people. No matter what Emperor Bonehead thought of wild witches.
Silence had eventually fallen between the two, Eda having pulled out some reading to pass the time until Luz woke up. Lily had busied herself with some other paperwork from the coven. King had disappeared for a while once they assured him Luz wasn’t in any more danger.
Eda wasn’t entirely sure how much time had passed before she finally heard Luz talk again. “Eda?”
Eda tried to ignore the relief she had at seeing the slightly confused but finally awake again Luz. Dang it, how had a kid she had barely known for a full day managed to get under her skin that much? Lilith hung back for the moment, letting Eda do the talking. “Easy kid, they poisoned you. So you're probably going to feel a bit out of it at first.”
“Oh, so that’s what was in that bottle.” Luz said, sitting up with a slight wince.
Eda made a mental note to talk with Luz after this was all over about being more careful about potions. For now, though, any lecture probably would not stick. So she stowed it for a moment. “How are you feeling?”
“Stomach is still upset.” Luz said after a moment of thought. Whatever the antidote she assumed Eda had given her had taken care of most of the issues, what it hadn’t, the wolf’s magic probably did the rest of the trick. Though… she winced as she tried to stretch a bit, only to have her muscles protest.
“I’m stiff, mainly.” Luz admitted. It had been a while since she had been this particularly stiff. Did the Boiling Isles have an equivalent of epsom salt, she briefly wondered? Well, for now she could focus on the easier-to-get thing. Hopefully. “Do you have anything with chamomile in it? That usually helps with this. If it’s tea, that’s even better.” Luz asked.
Eda frowned. Her go to drink was apple blood. She sometimes had a bit of chamomile around for a particularly bad transformation. However, she couldn’t remember the last time she had stocked up on it. “I’m not entirely sure to be honest.”
“I’ll go check the pantry.” Lilith said standing up to go check seeing Eda didn’t want to leave Luz quiet yet.
Luz scrunched her face up in confusion before looking at Eda. “Who is that?”
“My sister Lilith.” Eda answered. “I asked her to come over when I realized you had ingested that poison Adegast had originally ordered.” She frowned when she noticed Luz’s hands were shaking. “You sure you’re alright kid? Your hands look like they’re going a kilometer a minute.”
Luz blinked in surprise before glancing down at her hands, noticing that the events of the day had brought out the slight tremor she normally had, to an even more noticeable level. “Oh, uh, that just happens sometimes. Don’t worry about it.”
Eda frowned at the quick dismissal for a second. Partially worrying if Luz might be playing down something more important. She may not fully realize that she had just been poisoned earlier. “Human quirk?” Eda finally asked, raising an eyebrow.
“More like a Luz-quirk.” Luz admitted. “Really, it’s always been like that, don’t worry about it.” The tremor was the least troublesome issue most of the time. Though, if it was picking up, there was a good chance that if she tried to stand up she would start tilting if the tremor had already got bad enough to be noticeable. Best not to test her luck.
Eda frowned at that, but decided to drop it for the moment. It wasn’t the only concern she had, anyway. “How do you even know about the chamomile, anyway?” That wasn’t something she had even known for a while. It had taken some time and digging through some old books to find remedies that could help with post transformation issues. Yet Luz had seemed to know from the start what could help.
Luz blinked, startled by the question. Trying to think of a believable answer before settling on a half truth. “Oh, uh, someone in my family has problems with muscle stiffness. I remember seeing them drinking chamomile tea in the past.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie. Sometimes the first couple of transformations could be rough. So pretty much everyone in the family had a stock of chamomile tea lying around the house. But she was probably the one that used it the most out of the entire family. It had its uses on her ‘bad days’.
Eda frowned at that. She was now ninety-nine percent sure Luz was lying about something. But, to be honest, she was too tired and relieved to care at the moment why Luz even knew this tidbit of information.
It wasn’t until Lilith had left for the evening before Eda brought up to Luz the topic regarding the fact that she wasn’t entirely sure if her tutoring of Luz was the smartest idea.
Luz to her credit was completely caught off guard by this. “What? Why? I mean, I guess today was a bit of a mess.”
Eda shook her head. “That mess nearly could have killed you and may have caused some damage. All because I apparently am bad at making sure clients aren’t enemies in disguise. Kid, I wasn’t kidding before when I said I had plenty of enemies. If you stick around, you might get hurt even more.” Or worse.
Luz frowned in mild confusion, seeming to realize she knew something Eda didn’t. “But that damage wasn’t your fault . It was mine. Besides, the shaking has been there before I arrived here.”
Eda stared at her blankly for a moment. “What?” She was completely lost. She hadn’t noticed the strange tremor before now. In fact, for all of her losses today. She would like to think she would have noticed Luz shaking this much before today.
Luz paused for a moment and seemed to debate something before turning to King. “Could you grab my bag? There’s something I want to show Eda that I keep in it.”
“Don’t bother, I got it.” Eda said summoning the bag before King could even take off to the bedroom.
Luz dug through the bag for a moment before pulling out a large black and red oddly shaped pen. Before handing it over to Eda. “That’s what I wanted to show you.”
“A pen?” Eda asked, frowning, looking at it for a moment. Other than being bigger and heavier than your average pen. It didn’t appear that much different. Why was Luz showing her this?
Luz gave a small giggle at the confusion. “It’s not just any pens. It’s a pen to help people with tremors.” Luz explained. “I’ve had the tremor for as long as I can remember. Some days it's better than others. I’ve learned to work with it, not against it.” Luz explained, nodding at the thick pen. “That’s why I carry it. On the terrible days my hand-writing is not great, to say the least.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “So you see, it’s not your fault. I’ve had this for as long as I can remember. The poison didn’t cause it. Just made the signs more noticeable.”
Eda frowned for a moment. Not completely missing the strange parallel to her curse in having an ailment that seemed to have come from nowhere. “Are you absolutely sure about this?”
“Eda, this isn’t even the worst I’ve seen for me.” Luz said. This was at least limited to her hands today. On her worst days, it went far past that. “Please, just trust me on this one. It’s not the poison.”
“Alright then.” Eda said, deciding if a bit reluctantly that there apparently was some truth to it. “But I can’t guarantee that you won’t get targeted again by some stranger to get to me.”
Luz shook her head at that, apparently not agreeing with Eda on this being a breaking moment for her being an apprentice. “And that’s fine.” Well, maybe not entirely fine, but Luz was more than ready to accept the dangerous consequences. “I knew when I asked to be your apprentice this was going to be dangerous. If I had wanted an easy and safe summer I would have gone back to Earth. Eda, just please let me make this decision for myself. I know what I’m doing when I say I want to keep studying with you. No matter what various misdeeds are involved.”
Eda ignored the sting of what she knew had to be tears. Because she would not let Luz’s little insistence let itself be known that it had mattered that much to her. King would never let her hear the end of it if she did. Though, the slight unsteadiness in her own voice probably gave it away, anyway. “Are you sure about this?”
“More sure than I have ever been about a lot of things.” Luz said, meaning every single word that was coming out of her mouth. “I want to stay and study magic with you, Eda. No matter what danger that might entail.”