The angel of the owl house

Luz got so into listening to Rasiel's lectures as she cleaned, that she didn't even notice as the rest of second period zipped by, followed soon after by third period and break. It wasn't until fourth period that she slowed her pace, and only because she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Rasiel went silent and Luz turned around, only to gasp softly as she found the girl with the fish hook earring stood behind her. The other two were gone, and the monitor was fast asleep.

"It's you…" Luz whispered.

The girl smiled and put a finger to her lips with a quiet "Shh!", then gestured for Luz to follow her. Luz did so, then watched as the girl picked up a piece of chalk and drew a square on the blackboard, then drew a keyhole in the middle. She then placed the chalk against the keyhole and turned it like a key, causing the entire square to open up and reveal a dimly lit hallway leading to a door that said "Keep Out!"

"Whoa…!" Luz gasped as the other girl climbed in and beckoned for her to follow. Luz hesitated, not wanting to cause any more trouble, but Rasiel quietly encouraged her to take the other girl's hand. Deciding to take the risk, Luz took the hand and allowed herself to be pulled through the door, after which it closed behind her and disappeared.

On the other side, Luz looked around the odd hallway; "What is this place? A secret passage?"

"This is the last room you'll ever see alive!" the other girl said threateningly, making Luz take a step back and prepare her spell circles. The other girl then laughed; "Nah, just messing with ya! I'm Viney." she introduced.

Luz sighed with relief, dismissing her circles and clutching her chest; "I'm terrified… Uh, I mean, I'm Luz. Luz Noceda."

"Thanks for defending us back there. Not many people would do that. Follow me!" Viney said, leading Luz down the hall. Luz obediently followed as Viney kept talking; "I wanna show you something; you're one of us troublemakers now, so you get special access to…" she threw open the "Keep Out" door and revealed a large tower-like room absolutely filled floor to ceiling with doorways of different kinds, along with a spiral ramp that led around the room.

"… The Secret Room of Shortcuts!" Viney declared grandly.

Luz gasped in amazement, as Viney called out; "Hey Jerbo, Barcus! You guys can stop hiding now!"

One of the doors high up on the ramp opened and the male witch and dog demon from before appeared from it. The witch looked suspicious; "How do we know she's cool, man? How do we know she won't turn us in!?" he looked to the dog demon. "What do you think?"

The dog demon gave a short bark, and Rasiel translated it for Luz; "He says your aura is pure and gentle, like a purring kitten."

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Luz blushed and smiled, "Thank you!"

Viney and the witch boy blinked in surprise; "You understand Barcus?" Viney asked.

Luz froze for a moment, then quickly gave an excuse; "Ah, not me, no. My ring here translated him for me."

"Huh, cool ring. Does it have a translation enchantment on it?" the witch boy asked. Luz figured he was Jerbo, by order of elimination.

"My mentor put a few different enchantments on this thing!" Luz laughed nervously, "But as to what you were asking; I promise I won't rat you guys out. You aren't doing anything bad anyway, right?"

They all shook their heads. "We aren't bullies or pranksters if that's what you're thinking. As for this place; it connects to different parts of the school. We found it after we got thrown in the detention track. I guess we also owe you for that too; you getting tossed in the Detention Pit on the last few days of school is what led to us being able to find this place. So thanks!" Viney grinned.

"You're welcome? Glad something good came out of that mess…" Luz muttered, then brightened up again as she decided to test a random door. She opened it up to find herself peeking out of a random locker in the abomination track hallway, where she saw Amity pacing up and down and muttering to herself.

"Why did this have to happen…! I knew we'd only be together in Gen-Ed classes, but that was enough! Why did she have to get thrown into the… huh?"

Amity must have felt someone watching her, so she began to turn around. Luz squeaked and quickly closed the door again before Amity could spot her.

"That was too close… I can't believe a place like this exists! It's absolutely crazy!" Luz grinned, looking back at Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus.

"I know, right? This place was made by a legendary witch; Lord Calamity!" Viney said, pointing over to a heavily defaced portrait surrounded by names written in graffiti style around it. It was impossible to identify the person in the picture, and a few of the names weren't familiar, likely having been from a previous generation of troublemakers.

"Lord Calamity started this wall of troublemakers, and we added our names in their honour." Jerbo explained.

"Wow, this place is amazing! You can do so much with a place like this! But wait, if the old Fibul ruins was forgotten for so long, how did Lord Calamity make an entrance down there? This place doesn't look as old as the ruins." Luz pointed out.

"The entrance down there isn't part of the ruins; it's the blackboard itself. When the blackboard was moved down there, so was the doorway." Jerbo explained.

Luz's mouth made an O shape, then another question came to her. "This place seems like a prankster's paradise, but what exactly are you guys doing with it? Were you really put in the detention track for mixing magic like I was?" Luz asked.

Viney grinned and pointed up to an open door, which Barcus had begun peering through. Luz went to take a look too and saw he was looking into the oracle classroom, and was watching as Professor Trium taught her class to make some kind of paper fortune reader. Barcus showed off his oddly dextrous paws to make one of his own.

Understanding dawning on her, Luz went back to Jerbo and Viney as the latter finally answered her question verbally; "We aren't allowed to study any kind of magic in this track, so we use this place to study every kind of magic in secret."

Luz giggled; "You're troublemakers because you love school too much? That sounds so strange! But I love it!"

"That's definitely one way to put it." Jerbo smiled; "I tried mixing plant magic with abominations, using the soil itself to make my constructs. It worked pretty well, other than some minor hiccups, but Bump was not thrilled. As for Barcus, he makes potions with oracle magic. He made a potion that showed Professor Sip her own death and she freaked out, landing him here."

"As for me…" Viney began, "I mixed healing and beast-keeping. I know that sounds unconventional, but my pet griffin Puddles was a great assistant! He gave lollipops to my patients!"

"Like an emotional support animal! They have those in the Human Realm!" Luz grinned.

"You see!? I knew it was a great idea! But Puddles was a little overly enthusiastic and Bump got mad about the damages… So now I'm here." Viney sighed. "What about you Luz?"

Luz smiled and explained what had landed her in the detention track, making all three of the others frown angrily.

"That is so unfair!" Viney protested.

"You didn't even cause any damage! At least our magic mixing caused a little trouble!" Jerbo scowled, "This is why I hate the current system! When I grow up, I'm going to change it for the better!"

Viney and Barcus cheered, and Luz could practically feel Rasiel's "I told you so." without him needing to say a word.

Barcus then barked at Luz, so Rasiel translated; "He asks if you did something to change the Principal's mind about the year-long detention sentence."

Luz blushed; "Uh, I might have freaked out and had a tiny little… meltdown?" she said, embarrassed. "Today's my first real day at Hexside so I was desperate to make a good first impression and not disappoint my mentor or my Mami and… well…"

Her three new friends gave her sympathetic looks; "Aw, I'm so sorry that happened to you. Well, for the record, we think you made a great first impression!" Viney smiled.

"Yeah. Forget Bump; you're one of us now." Jerbo added. Barcus woofed out an agreement, which Luz didn't need a translation to understand.

Luz felt her heart swell, and soon joined the three Magic Mixers in spying on various classes to learn more magic. She spent fourth period spying on the bard track so she wouldn't fall behind, and was saddened to see that Skara looked to be in a foul mood after what happened. She kept plucking away at her harp, then looking down at her healed fingers with a mix of anger and shame. Luz felt bad for inadvertently ruining the girl's mood, but Rasiel made sure to hammer into her head that it wasn't her fault, less she spiral into self-deprecation again. Since they all had to stay quiet while spying to avoid detection, Luz couldn't practice with her borrowed ocarina, but she did take copious notes on all the different musical techniques and theories Professor Beat was going over, including how one could alter spells cast through music by altering the pitch and speed of the song.

In fifth period, Luz joined Viney in spying on the beast-keeping track, where she got to watch Professor Gnarl; an extremely hairy demon with a lightning bolt shaped horn and no visible eyes, teach the class about Marrdregs. Marrdregs were a kind of beast demon that resembled small wolves with scales instead of fur, a metallic armadillo-like shell, a long sharp horn like a unicorn, and a pair of giant wasp-like wings. They were apparently vicious as pack hunters and could summon powerful winds with their horns, but were incredibly cowardly when alone and easily tamed, whereupon they became very affectionate pets. Rasiel commented that their horns were once used as adornments for Palismen in ancient times, as they allowed ancient witches and demons to control the wind.

Finally in sixth period, Luz decided to peek in on the construction class, only to find it empty as all the students were out helping with the repairs. She'd then shrugged and watched the abomination class with Jerbo. She told herself it was so she could better understand the subject and maybe find a way to use it like Jerbo did since the normal way didn't work for her, but in reality, she just wanted to watch Amity working on her show for the Inspector. If Jerbo noticed, he didn't comment.

When it came time for lunch, the four detention track students began making plans to leave their hideout and go get food. Officially, they weren't allowed to leave the temporary detention room that day so they wouldn't run into the inspector, and Bump had told them all to bring lunch from home so they could eat in the room too. But he obviously hadn't told that to Luz, so she had no food, leading to the four of them plotting to leave the school to get her something.

"Are you sure you want to come with me? I can just use an illusion to make myself invisible then fly into town to grab something. I'm pretty sure the detention monitor is still asleep." Luz said as they headed towards the door back to the detention room.

"You can fly?" Viney blinked.

Luz nodded, then made an illusion to make her shoes look like the red, bat-winged boots that she'd seen teens fly with. The others looked impressed, especially since they hadn't known she was good with illusions.

"Cool, but we should still stick together. The three of us are technically your upperclassmen after all." Jerbo grinned. Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus were officially in their junior year of the High School class, while Luz and her friends were in the sophomore year.

"If you're sure, then I guess that's fine with me! Let's go, I know a pretty good Not Dog stand over by- huh?" Luz paused mid-sentence as she heard something in the detention room. The others blinked, then heard it too.

"Luz? Luz, where are you?"

"Is that… Skara?" Luz muttered, opening the door a crack to see what was going on. Her new friends crowded around so they could peak out too, and were surprised to find most of Luz's other friends in the detention room looking for her, along with some unexpected faces.

Amity, Willow, and Gus were stood near the door, looking nervous, while Skara, Boscha, Amelia, and Cat were actively looking around the sparse room for signs of Luz. The detention monitor was still fast asleep, and a faint reddish pink aura surrounded him, likely from a bardic spell to keep him unconscious.

"Ugh, where is she!? Did Bump put her to work somewhere else in the ruins?" Skara scowled, kicking over a chair out of frustration.

"None of the other detention track kids are here either. Maybe they all left together." Amity suggested.

Boscha groaned; "Great, I get dragged down here to save the new girl and she's not even here. Why did I let you talk me into this, Skara?"

"Her name is Luz." Gus muttered.

"And she's my friend! She got in trouble for healing me, which she only did after you flaked out on the callus cream." Skara said testily.

"Plus you owe Luz after she saved you from the Mandragora." Willow said, glaring at the three-eyed witch.

Boscha huffed; "Ugh, whatever. She's not even here, so let's just go."

"Not until we bust her out of here!" Skara snapped.

Luz felt a spike of affection for the white-haired girl, while her three best friends shifted uncomfortably behind Skara. Amity, Willow, and Gus exchanged nervous looks, before Amity said; "Skara, maybe it's best if we just leave."

Skara looked at Amity with confusion; "What!? Why!?"

"It's just that… it's probably a good thing that she's down here and out of the way, at least for today while the inspection is going on." Willow said, feeling guilty for saying it. However she knew Luz was an angel, and it was definitely safer for her far from the Inspector's keen eyes.

"How could you say that!? Luz is your best friend, and you're okay with her being stuck down here for the rest of the year!?" Skara yelled.

Gus put his hands up in a placating gesture; "Of course we wouldn't be okay with that! But the three of us went to talk to Bump about it back during break, after we heard what happened. He told us it would only be for today and she'd be back in the bard track tomorrow."

Skara shook her head; "Even a day is too long! Luz doesn't belong down here with those other losers!"

Behind Luz, the three Magic Mixers scowled. Skara's obvious insult made them angry, but they also felt a little mad on Luz's behalf, as it sounded like her three best friends were essentially throwing her under the bus for the sake of the inspection. Of course, Luz knew that it was because those three knew her identity, but her new friends didn't know that.

In a brief fit of temper, Jerbo fully opened the secret door, revealing the four eavesdroppers to the arguing teens.

The others all looked to him with surprise, then noticed Luz standing with him.

"Luz! There you are! Come on, we're here to bust you out!" Skara smiled.

Luz returned the smile; "Thanks Skara, but you don't need to do that. Like Gus said, I'm only here for the day and I'm actually learning a lot from my new friends here." she said, gesturing to Jerbo and the others.

"You're actually learning down here? How? And what's with the weird door?" Boscha frowned.

"That's kind of a long story, and not mine to tell." Luz replied, "I'm just gonna wait out my day of detention, then I'll be back in class with you tomorrow, Skara." she smiled.

Skara scowled; "But Luz, you should be there with me today! We're supposed to be practicing with your new ocarina! You belong in the bard track with me, not in the detention track with these guys!" Skara gestured to the scowling Magic Mixers, then grabbed Luz's hand and tried to pull her away; "Come on, you're better than this!"

Jerbo saw red and grabbed Luz's shoulders before Skara could drag her off, then yanked her back; "Hey! What do you mean she doesn't belong with us!? Are you trying to say you're better than us!?"

"Obviously." Boscha smirked.

Barcus growled, and Viney put a calming hand on his back as she spoke; "Well guess what; Luz is one of us now! Maybe the three of us can be better friends than you three." she glared at Amity, Willow, and Gus; "After all, you were happy to leave her down here!"

"No, that's not what we want at all!" Amity protested.

"Wait, are you mad at us for wanting to take her back and them for wanting her to stay here? Make up your minds!" Skara frowned, looking confused and annoyed.

"We're mad because you insulted us by calling us losers and acting like you're better than us, while we're mad at them for flaking out on their friend!" Jerbo snapped.

Skara's lips curled into a sneer; "You ARE losers! None of you were good enough for any one track, so you hedged your bets by trying to learn multiple! Well Luz is actually good enough for the bard track, so that's where she belongs!"

All three Magic Mixers bristled at that, while Luz tried to protest; "Skara, that's not-"

Jerbo cut her off; "Are you kidding!? You act so high and mighty and you're only in the bard track!? That's barely even real magic! You just play around with musical instruments all day and all just so you can cast spells that the other tracks can do with a twirl of their fingers!"

"Jerbo!" Luz exclaimed, "That's not true! Bardic magic is-"

This time she was cut off by a fuming Skara; "The only people who say that are those who couldn't cut it as a bard! We can do almost anything the other tracks can, and we don't need to mix magic to do it!"

"Some friend you are! You make fun of mixing magic, but isn't Luz here because she mixed magic to heal you!?"

"Like you're any better! Luz is in the bard track so you insulted her too!"

"Well now she's with us, and she doesn't want to give up all the magic we can show her just to play with you! Right Luz?"

"No, she's with us! Come on Luz!"

Luz found herself becoming the rope in an impromptu game of tug-of-war, as Skara and Jerbo began trying to pull her to their side. Boscha and Cat tried to help Skara pull Luz's arm, while Viney and Barcus tried to help Jerbo pull her shoulders, and poor Luz tried to find the words to defuse the situation. She'd never had friends before coming to the Boiling Isles, so she'd never had the experience of being dragged into a fight between two friends with wildly different points of view.

Amity, Willow, and Gus tried to calm everyone down and make them let go of Luz, but everyone's blood was running too hot for them to listen. They weren't even listening to Luz!

"Wait, running too hot! That's it!" Luz gasped. She reached into her pocket with her free hand and pulled out a piece of paper with the ice glyph on it. Since she hadn't bonded with the ice glyph yet, King had given her a whole stack of them to use when needed, so she dropped one to the ground and activated it with her foot while keeping her intent in mind. The glyph activated and spread a wave of ice across the floor, lowering the temperature in the room and making the floor slippery, leading to Jerbo and Skara both slipping as they pulled on Luz. They both fell and were caught by their friends, but Luz was free. Using her hidden wings to fly (since her illusory flying shoes were still in place), Luz fluttered up to the ceiling out of everyone's reach.

"That's enough! If you're going to drag me into your fight then at least let me talk!" Luz cried, more flustered than angry.

Skara managed to get to her feet first and said; "Sure, go ahead Luz. Tell these losers that you belong with me in the bard track!"

Luz shook her head; "Skara, they aren't losers! They're good people who just want to learn more than one type of magic! They aren't weak or failures who weren't good enough for any single track! If anything, they're super strong because they can succeed in multiple tracks!"

Skara looked heartbroken, while Jerbo grinned; "See! I told you she belonged with us!"

"Jerbo!" Luz frowned, "You were in the wrong too! The bard track is a great place to be and I was happy to be a part of it! It's not just "playing around with musical instruments!" It's a really cool, diverse, and powerful form of magic! And my friends weren't flaking on me, they were just worried I'd get in trouble with the inspector!"

That silenced Jerbo too, and both arguing teens looked at Luz with conflicted emotions. Sure she was now safe from another tug-of-war, Luz descended back to the ground and smiled at her friends; "I'm going to spend the rest of the day down here, like Bump wants. Then tomorrow, I'll be back in the bard track." she said, looking to Skara. She then looked to the Jerbo, Viney, and Barcus; "But I'm not giving up on other magic either. I'll just learn it outside of school, and show you guys any cool things I picked up. That way everyone is happy!"

Jerbo, Viney, and Barcus nodded slowly. They seemed content with that compromise, though they also looked a little disappointed that Luz wasn't going to be a full-time member of their group. However Skara looked less accepting.

"Why can't you just learn bard magic? You can do almost anything with it if you're good enough, and you've actually got talent for it, unlike some." Skara said, eyes narrowed on Jerbo for a moment. "Isn't that enough?"

Luz sighed as she tried to find a way to word her response without hurting Skara's feelings. "It's not that bard magic isn't enough, it's just that I want to experience everything I can. I'm already locked out of oracle and abomination magic; I don't want to restrict myself any further, no matter how amazing the magic is." Luz replied.

Skara frowned and looked away; "Right, I get it." she said, sounding strangely dejected. She turned and began to walk away; "Since you don't need my help, I'll leave. See you in class tomorrow, Luz." Skara mumbled, before leaving the room and heading back up to the main part of the school. Luz and the others watched her go, the young angel feeling like she'd done something wrong.

Boscha sighed angrily and began to leave too; "Well this was a waste of my time. I'm out of here."

She headed to the door with Cat and Amelia following her, but Luz called out to her; "Wait a second Boscha. You're friends with Skara too, right? Can you tell me why she's so upset about me wanting to use other kinds of magic?"

The three-eyed girl paused and glared at Luz for a moment, mentally debating if she should answer. Finally she sighed angrily again and said; "Skara's got some personal issues wrapped up in bard magic, alright? None of our friends are actually good at it like she is, so she probably had high hopes for you since you try to be friends with everyone and can apparently sing really well, or something." Boscha waved her hand dismissively; "I guess she just wanted another person who was good at it with her. But who knows; I could be wrong. I'm not a therapist."

With that, Boscha stalked off with Cat and Amelia, leaving Luz with the feeling that her answer had been more accurate than she'd let on. Once she and her friends were gone, Luz looked imploringly at Amity, hoping she'd have more to go on. Sadly, the mint-haired girl just shrugged helplessly.

"Sorry Luz. Boscha's known Skara longer than me. All I know is that Skara is really devoted to her bardic magic. She's also the type to get hyper-fixated on something. If she wants to try something new, she'll binge every bit of info she can get on it before even trying. When she first joined the Grudgby team, she practically inhaled every strategy out there. I still don't know how her mind works even after knowing her so long." Amity explained.

Luz fidgeted where she stood; "Oh… do you guys think there was something else I could have done?"

Willow and Gus shook their heads; "You sounded reasonable to me." Willow said. She still had a few sore spots for Skara over her bullying her with Boscha, so she wasn't too interested in the girl's issues.

"Yeah, you basically just said that you liked bardic magic like she does, but don't want to give up other kinds. What more could you say without lying?" Gus added.

The Magic Mixers agreed. "That girl may be disappointed, but you shouldn't let that hold you back." Viney said.

"That's right. She was being a jerk anyway." Jerbo frowned, crossing his arms.

Barcus woofed, and Rasiel translated in a slightly bewildered tone; "He says that Skara's aura felt like "a beautiful pure tone being drowned out by a cacophony of white noise." Personally, I think Skara is just misguided."

Luz frowned; everyone was agreeing that she'd said the right thing, so why did it still feel like she'd made a mistake? Was it not what she'd said, but what she hadn't said? Was there something she was still missing from this equation?

"Friendship is difficult…" she muttered.

"Well, if anyone can do it, then you can." Amity smiled.

Hearing words of support from her crush got Luz's heart beating a bit faster, and she smiled with a big blush across her cheeks, which soon had Amity blushing like a tomato too. A new spark of motivation ignited inside Luz at the sight of it.

She turned to Viney; "I'm sorry, but I have to put a rain check on our lunch plans. I want to go and talk to Skara. I don't want to leave things like this."

Viney nodded and smiled; "We understand. You're still one of us though, right? No matter what track?"

Luz grinned; "Of course. Magic Mixers all the way, baby!"

The young angel put her fist forward, and Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus bumped it with their own, before cheering "Go Magic Mixers!"

After that, Luz said her goodbyes to Amity, Willow, and Gus, who went off to get some lunch before they had to join the presentation for the inspector. Once they were gone, Luz hopped back into the Room of Shortcuts and began looking through every door she could in search of wherever Skara had ended up. It took her a few minutes, but she eventually found Skara sitting against the wall in an empty practice room in the bard track hallway, morosely plucking away at her harp while trying to sing a set of scales. She looked and sounded depressed.

Luz watched her for a moment (the secret door she used had her poking her head out through a floor tile beside Skara), then said; "You know, you need to go a little higher on the Fa and Ti."

Skara yelped in surprise and almost bludgeoned Luz with her harp. Luckily for them both, she held herself back in time. "Luz!?"

"Hello!" Luz chirped.

"What are you doing here? And why are you in the floor?" Skara frowned.

"I wanted to come talk to you. You still seemed upset about before. Also, the floor thing is kinda related to that long story from earlier." Luz replied, crawling out from the floor and closing it behind her, hoping she'd be able to open it again afterwards.

Skara shifted nervously, but didn't protest as Luz plopped herself down beside her and gently bumped their shoulders together.

"Are you mad at me?" Luz asked.

"No." Skara said honestly.

"Then can you tell me what's wrong? I meant what I said earlier; we're friends now, right? If I did something to upset you, I want to know."

The bard girl sighed and began plucking away, playing a quiet and simple, but pleasant tune. "It's not that you did anything… at least, it's not something I have a right to be mad about. I'd just gotten it into my head that you'd end up being like me; a skilled bard. Another person to make people change their minds about bards, y'know?"

Luz nodded in understanding; "Because people look down on bards, and you thought we'd change their minds by being amazing witches who only use bardic magic. From that point of view, I guess I can understand why me wanting to use all types of magic is disappointing. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Skara said with a sad smile, "You never said or did anything to mislead me. I just made a bad assumption, then got upset when I was wrong. I guess I can be a bully without Boscha there to egg me on after all."

"What you said to Jerbo and the others was definitely out of line, but what he said to you was wrong too. And for the record, I think you can change people's mind about bards all on your own. You're amazing at it, Skara." Luz said, patting the other girl's back. "Really, you're a natural!"

Skara perked up a bit. "Thanks Luz. And believe me, I'm far from a natural. When I first started learning, I was terrible. I had almost no sense of rhythm and I was practically tone deaf. It took a long time to get to where I am now, and my singing is still a work in progress. When I was a kid, I sounded like a dying cat!"

"But that makes it even more amazing!" Luz gushed, "You didn't have any natural talent, just hard work and effort! That's so much more impressive! I may be a good singer, but I basically inherited that from my Mami, so it's not that special. I didn't need to work for it like you did."

"You think?" Skara asked.

"I do! Not many people would work so hard at something they were originally bad at." Luz replied.

The other girl began to squirm a bit, almost bouncing where she sat as some enthusiastic energy returned to her. Her harp playing grew a tad more energetic too.

"I've been like that ever since I was little. When something caught my interest, I pursued it with everything I had. I'd go through these short obsessions where I'd think of almost nothing else. Music and bard magic is the only one that never stopped or went away once I was satisfied with what I'd learned. I just wanted to keep getting better! To make my dad proud! To prove I made the right choice by joining the bard track! To prove Mom wrong!" Skara said, playing a little more enthusiastically with every sentence.

Luz smiled at the growing energy, though she frowned at the mention of Skara's mother. The girl always spoke boastfully about her dad, but had only ever said she didn't want to talk about her mother. She wasn't sure if she should ask, but Luz decided to do so in a kind of round about way.

"When I came here last time, you said not everyone was happy with your decision to join the bard track. Was your Mom one of them?" she asked.

Skara briefly froze, her playing abruptly stopping, before she caught herself and continued. She didn't answer Luz for a while, but eventually nodded sombrely. "Mom hated it. She's in the Abomination Coven, and pretty high up too. She wanted me to join it too, but I looked up to Dad so much that I wanted to follow in his footsteps. She tried everything she could to dissuade me… she insulted Dad, called Bards weak, said I'd be made fun of, and that I'd amount to nothing but a performing sideshow… she even said I would be terrible at it forever, so I shouldn't even try…"

"It wasn't a fun few weeks… but I stuck to my choice. Dad eventually had to tell Mom to lay off me, so she instead basically ignored me. I've been all but disowned by her now…" Skara said softly. She hated her mother, but the woman's rejection still stung.

"Dad divorced her after that. They were never close; the match was arranged by their parents since both families were upper class, like the Alembics and the Blights. It was a big scandal in high society, and my Mom said a lot of nasty things about us to make her look better in the aftermath. She even spread a rumour that I wasn't her daughter, but a bastard love child between my dad and Raine Whispers! My skin tone is sort of similar to theirs, and so is my hair colour, so some people believed it. It damaged Dad's standing and really hurt him… but he stayed strong for me."

Skara began to hug herself; "That's also part of why Boscha and I are so close. When the scandal first hit, the Alembics and Blights wanted to distance themselves from both sides of my family, so they ordered their daughters to stay away from me. Amity did as she was told; nobody says no to Odalia Blight…, but Boscha told her Mom outright that it was dumb and kept hanging out with me. People saw this and took it as the Alembics staying on Dad's side, and slowly it made the whole scandal disappear. Boscha basically saved my Dad's reputation just by staying as my friend."

Luz, to her own surprise, felt some fondness for the three-eyed witch. It was a nice reminder that even a horrible bully could have some good inside her.

Skara, deep in her memories, continued to speak; "After that, people began questioning Mom's story more. Eventually evidence came out that she was lying about not being my mother, and she was disgraced. She blames me for it… She actually remarried not long after, to a guy I'm sure she was having an affair with. I… I've got a little half brother. Mom sent him to Kindergarten at St. Epiderm, and I'm not allowed to see him…, but he's adorable."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry that happened to you!" Luz cried, pulling Skara into a hug as the girl looked to be on the verge of tears. "How could a mother be so cruel to their own child!?"

Even when her Mami had sent her away, Luz had never doubted her mother's love for her. Poor Skara was instead thrown to the wolves to save her mother's reputation, and all because she wanted to be a bard like her father!?

"No wonder you're so passionate about the bard track!"

Skara nodded and pulled away from the hug, though she smiled at Luz; "Yeah. Giving up on it would feel like everything that happened would be for nothing. It's why I never let myself stop working on it, and it's why I'm kind of defensive about it." Skara confessed. She then gave a sardonic grin; "You know Luz, I said something like this before, but you really have a way of making people open up. You'd make a good therapist."

Luz grinned; "I just like to help people. And believe me, if you think you were bad at bard magic when you first started, you should hear some of my stories of helping people! Why, this one time in kindergarten, there was a girl who was scared of snakes and I wanted to help her get over. So I found this really big snake…"

For the rest of lunch, Luz regaled Skara with stories of her past embarrassing screw-ups, helping to cheer the bard girl up and take her mind off her mother. Luz dearly wished she could do more to help her, but family issues like that weren't something she could fix…

By the time the lunch period ended, Skara had laughed so much that her ribs hurt; "You really didn't fit in in the Human Realm, huh?" she said, wiping away a tear of amusement.

"Understatement of the century!" Luz smiled ruefully.

"Well, forgot that place, and forget my Mom! I'm going to be the greatest bard the Boiling Isles have ever seen, and you're going to be the most helpful person on the Isles! Let's show all the people who doubted us that we're not weaklings and losers!" Skara said, getting to her feet and offering Luz her hand. The young angel happily took it and was pulled to her feet.

"Yeah! And I may not be sticking to just bard magic, but I still want to be the best I can be! So I'll be relying on you, okay? I still need someone to teach me how to play this thing!" Luz grinned, pulling the ocarina out of her pocket.

"Definitely! Oh, Professor Beat says you can keep that by the way. You should have seen them when Principal Bump told them where you where. They went ballistic at him, especially when I helpfully told them WHY you weren't with us." Skara said.

Luz giggled; "It's kinda nice having a teacher on my side. Other than Eda I guess, but she's a bit more than just a teacher. I do feel bad for Bump though; he's just stressed about the inspection."

Skara rolled her eyes; "Geez, I need to get you to the healing track to deal with that bleeding heart of yours." she joked, "But speaking of the inspection, I need to get going. The show Bump is putting on for the Inspector is in a few minutes!"

"Ooh, is it in the Paranoratorium?" Luz asked. Skara nodded, making Luz grin wide. She knocked on the tile she'd come through from the Room of Shortcuts, and Viney helpfully opened it from the other side, allowing Luz to slip back inside. "I'll be sure to watch! It's not like I've got a class to miss!"

Skara stared at the girl as she descended into the floor; "You really need to get around to telling me that long story later."

Luz gave a little salute; "I kinda need permission first, but we'll see! Break a leg!" Skara looked horrified, "Oh, that's a human term meaning Good Luck."

"Right…" Skara mumbled as Luz disappeared into the Room of Shortcuts. "I wonder if that girl even realises what effect she has on people…"

With that final thought, Skara left the practice room she was using and made her way down to the atrium, arriving just in time to join the other top students of the Sophmore class as they waited with Bump to greet the Inspector. She represented the bard track, while Amity represented abominations, Boscha represented potions, Bo represented healing, Willow represented plants, Gus represented illusions, a girl with a moon-shaped head named Celine represented the oracle track, a bat-eared boy named Rogier represented beast-keeping, and a very buff female witch named Leia represented construction.

A mere minute after Skara arrived, the Inspector appeared in a swirl of magical blue wind on the school's front path. She was a fairly ordinary looking witch with a square jaw, black hair tied into a bun, some dark lipstick, small purple glasses with round lens, and a plain grey dress robe with a darker grey shoulder piece. She carried a clipboard and quill with her, and smiled pleasantly.

However she was not alone; a second representative of the Emperor's Coven had come along too, and it was one everyone recognised; the Coven Head herself, Lilith Clawthorne. Skara gasped quietly and looked over to Amity, but the other girl looked just as surprised. In fact, so did Principal Bump!

"Welcome to Hexside, Inspector. And you as well, Head Witch Lilith. I'm surprised you could join us today." Bump said politely.

Lilith smiled; "Greetings, Principal Bump. I apologise for the delay. I know the inspection should have started after the break, but when I learned of it I just had to come along, and the Inspector here kindly offered to delay until I was finished with my other duties."

"Indeed. When the Head Witch herself asked to come along, I could hardly say no! I thought it would provide a tantalising experience for Hexside." the Inspector said, her smile just a bit too wide for Skara's comfort.

Principal Bump lead the two witches into the school, where the representatives of the nine tracks stood at attention and said "Welcome to Hexside!" in unison.

"Aw, it is certainly nice to be back. It is good to see you are still at the top of your class, my apprentice." Lilith said, nodding to Amity.

"Thank you, Miss Lilith." Amity replied.

Lilith then turned to Principal Bump; "Forgive my unannounced addition today. Today is also the first day of school for my dear niece, Luz. I'd like to observe her class at some point. What track is she in?"

Principal Bump paled; Eda had warned him of Luz's cover story to protect her angel identity when she'd done the enrolment paperwork, but he never thought Lilith would actually come to the school! And on the same day he'd shoved Luz in the detention track! He needed to delay the Head Witch!

"Young Luz is in the bard track. Professor Beat is quite taken with her." Bump answered, forcing a smile on his face.

"Bard? How unexpected; I thought it would be plants or healing, given her abilities. Or perhaps potions, given my sister's speciality." Lilith mused.

The Inspector smiled widely; "Perhaps we will see her shortly. I'd quite like to meet the daughter of the infamous Owl Lady. I imagine she's overflowing with magic. And of course if everything is in order with the inspection, the Emperor's Coven will be happy to pay for the remaining repairs, and replenish your budget."

Bump paled further; "W-Wonderful! But before that, we've prepared a show with some of our finest students."

"Marvellous. We'll see the best and brightest Hexside has to offer, then go from one show to another by beginning our inspection in the bard track. Do you agree Inspector?" Lilith asked.

"Of course. I just wish I had a snack. I do so love dinner and a show." the Inspector replied.

Bump led the two witches to the Paranoratorium, while the nine top students rushed off to begin preparing for the show. Luz's friends shared a secret smile with one another, wondering what Bump would do regarding Luz.

Once they all reached the Paranoratorium, the nine top students waited backstage as Principal Bump, Lilith, and the Inspector sat in the front row, and waited for the show to begin. As one of the last ones to perform, Skara began to look around for signs of Luz, since the other girl had said she'd be watching. Eventually, she cast her eyes upward and saw a part of the ceiling above the stage had lifted slightly, and Luz's smiling face could just barely be seen poking out. Luz gave Skara a little wave, and the girl smirked back, then pointed her out subtly to Amity, Willow, and Gus, who all subtly waved back to Luz so as not to let on that she was there.

From there, the show began with Boscha's presentation. She summoned multiple cauldrons to appear around her, then used magic to manipulate the liquids inside and blend them together in the air above her, before having it fly into a bottle in her hand. Once the potion was bottled, Boscha shook it and it began to glow in all the colours of the rainbow, which she then drank. The effects of the potion meant that Boscha left behind colourful after images whenever she moved, allowing her to skilfully dance around the stage, leaving behind a trail of different coloured Boscha's, which then began to dance independently when she snapped her fingers. Luz gasped at the sight, though Barcus (who was watching alongside her and the other Magic Mixers) explained that it was the effects of a Chromatic Shade Potion, meaning each after image was actually a semi-solid magical construct and not just an illusion, since creating illusions with a potion would count as mixing magic.

Next was Willow, and she demonstrated the power of the plant track by wheeling out three large pots of soil, then growing huge and impressive flowers from them. One grew a giant carnivorous flower with teeth and eyes on its petals, one grew a cactus that took on a humanoid shape and began flexing, showing off its spiky muscles, and one grew into a giant mushroom that almost reached the ceiling. Willow cast a spell on the mushroom to make it rain spores down on the audience (many students in different years and tracks had come to watch the show), and the spores rapidly grew into mushrooms with the audience members' faces on on the top, made from the mushroom's pattern. The mushrooms also matched the colour of that student's track. Willow had subtly made one of the spores fly up to Luz, and it had turned into a red mushroom with her face smiling on the top of it, making Luz squeal with delight as Jerbo looked impressed.

The next few displays went by quickly; Celine from the oracle track had members of the audience come up so she could read their fortunes, though oddly enough, every single one started off the same; they would soon be powerless against an ancient foe, but would be saved by Unity and… something. Celine looked fairly confused when all her readings began like that, as well as the fact she couldn't identify the "something", but she didn't let it phase her and ended her presentation by having her summoned spirit juggle crystal balls. Gus was next and he naturally put on an entire show of his own with illusions, producing dramatised re-enactments of the Mandragora and Detention Pit battles. He didn't show Luz in the latter fight, but in the Mandragora battle, he displayed her and Willow as powerful witches that single-handedly fought the Mandragora to a standstill, until Bump arrived to finish things. He omitted Amity, Boscha, and Eda from the story for varying reasons, but the show still had Lilith and the Inspector clapping. After his show, Bo's presentation for the healing track was a lot simpler; she simply had several students from the nurse's office wheeled out onto the stage so she could demonstrate how to heal them, which she did with a great amount of care and skill. She also used medical spells to slice apart an orange, then skilfully stitch it back together. Leia from the construction track just built an entire house on the stage and invited the Inspector and Lilith to look around, then effortlessly demolished it when her part of the show was over. Then it was time for Rogier from the beast-keeping track, and his show was basically like the dog-training shows Luz had seen in the Human Realm, but with a much more dangerous obstacle course (built for him by Leia) and Marrdregs instead of dogs.

Finally it was Skara's turn, and she briefly looked up to see Luz giving her a thumbs up. Smiling, Skara turned to her audience and summoned her harp, then began to play a beautiful song. The song alone was enough to have the audience leaning forward in their seats, but then Skara began to glow with a reddish aura, which slowly spread across the stage and the entire Paranoratorium, even spreading into the Room of Shortcuts through the door Luz was peeking from. The aura then spread to the audience themselves, and they suddenly found their bodies moving on their own.

With the exception of Bump, Lilith, and the Inspector, all the audience members got to their feet and moved to the stage, where they paired up with the closest other person of similar height and began to do a ballroom dance to the tune of the song. Even those in the Room of Secrets were dancing along, though they obviously didn't go down to the stage. Jerbo ended up dancing with Barcus (who was surprisingly tall when stretched out on his hind legs, while Luz found herself being twirled around by Viney, both girls giggling as they enjoyed the unusual experience. The bardic magic making them dance also fuelled their energy, so no matter how much they danced, they all felt like they'd barely started.

Skara finished her display by creating fireworks with bardic magic, then taking a bow as her magic faded from the audience. There was a raucous round of applause as everyone returned to their seats, with Lilith looking especially impressed. She wondered how Luz compared to Skara, since she hadn't known her niece had any bardic talent.

Once Skara returned back stage, she looked up to Luz and winked, making the other girl giggle, before Amity went on stage to finish the show and immediately distracted the young angel.

Amity summoned Ghost in her staff form, immediately impressing the Inspector, then twirled her staff to summon nine abominations. She then walked in front of each one, drawing a quick spell circle over each of them, before tapping the end of her staff against the floor and causing the spell circles to reshape the abominations, making them into purple, gooey replicas of the other eight top students and Luz. Each of the abominations then shaped their hands into something related to the track they were a part of (such as a flower for Willow and a potion for Boscha) or removed parts of their bodies to shape into something (like Celine making a ghost, and Rogier making a Marrdreg). The abomination modelled on Luz then did something the real Luz never expected; it used its abomination slime to draw a large light glyph and then an ice glyph, which Amity was able to actually activate, creating a ball of ice with the light inside of it, becoming an impromptu disco ball. Amity then had the Luz abomination dissolve and go into the ball, making the light shine through the slime and come out a deep purple. Amity was able to manipulate the thickness of the slime to control how the light came out, and used it like a spot light to perfectly illuminate the exact spots her remaining abominations were stood. Finally, all the abominations were fused together into a giant, purple replica of Ghost, with the illuminated ice ball hanging from it's collar like a bell. The Abomination Ghost lowered its tail, which turned into an escalator that Amity used to climb up onto her creation and stand on its head, before giving a big bow.

"And that concludes the presentation from the abomination track, and our show." Amity smiled, briefly looking up at Luz. Both girls blushed brightly, and Luz couldn't resist creating a lavender rose with plant magic, then hiding it with an illusion before tossing it down to Amity. Amity had to use all her willpower to not turn tomato red, but she managed it and put the rose behind her ear, pretending she was just fixing her hair. Then Luz dismissed the illusion and it looked like Amity had made the rose from her abomination goo.

Bump and Lilith applauded as the rest of the audience cheered loudly. "That was some real Hexside magic, huh?" Bump grinned, lightly tapping the Inspector with his elbow.

"It's certainly well done! Amity has especially come a long way since getting Ghost." Lilith replied.

"Yes, this is… good!" the Inspector grinned, then began to get to her feet, "But let's see if your student can put up more of a fight!"

"Yes, yes. Wait, what?" Bump blinked.

"What are you doing?" Lilith frowned as the Inspector tossed aside her clipboard and went to the edge of the stage.

Everyone looked on with surprise as the Inspector grinned up at Amity. The Inspector's face then began to morph and change, becoming longer with a wide jaw and strange, green eyes that looked amphibian. Her skin also became a sickly beige colour, and her ears became fin-like.

Amity and the other top students gasped, as did Luz and the Magic Mixers hiding above. Amity jumped off of her Abomination and ordered it to attack the Inspector, but the creature finished transforming, becoming a long serpentine creature with reptilian arms and fins on its tail. It was also much larger and was able to toss the giant abomination into the air and swallow it, unhinging its jaw to do so.

Everyone in the Paranoratorium gasped, as the creature got a strange look on its face and spat out the ball of ice Amity had created like it left a bad taste in its mouth. Instead she picked it up and cracked it open like a nut, and sucked out the abomination goo inside it.

Once it was done, the transformed Inspector turned its eyes on Amity herself; "Mm, the magic at Glandus High was tasty, but I hope yours will be more filing!" it grinned.

Amity recoiled in fear, brandishing Ghost to keep the creature back. Bump and Lilith quickly ran to stand between her and the beast.

"Amity, stay back! She's an imposter!" Bump warned, drawing a spell circle.

"Not just any imposter! She looks like a Greater Basilisk!" Lilith scowled, using Corvanc to draw a circle of her own.

The Greater Basilisk chuckled and opened her mouth wide, inhaling the spell circles before the spells could actually be cast. Bump and Lilith both swooned as their magic was sucked out of them, and soon they fell to the ground with dull, grey skin. Amity panicked and tried to cast a spell of her own, only for her magic to also be sucked out and devoured, resulting in her collapsing to the floor beside Bump and Lilith.

"Amity!?" Luz cried, preparing to jump down and help.

Viney and Jerbo pulled her back however; "Luz, stop! If you go down there, your magic will be stolen too!" Viney said.

"But I have to do something! I have to help!" Luz cried, struggling against their hold on her.

Down in the Paranoratorium, the Greater Basilisk had turned its attention to the other top students, and was sucking the magic out of them. It had drained Boscha, Bo, Celine, and Rogier, and was about to go for Leia when Willow and Gus made an attempt to fight back by growing a massive carnivorous plant, which Gus used illusions to make look even more threatening. However, the Basilisk cackled in response;

"More cute morsels!"

"We may be cute, but we're nobodies morsels! Try and eat this!" Willow yelled, making her plant minion grow razor sharp thorns all over its body.

The Basilisk just sneered and bit down on the creature, devouring it whole then sucking up the roots like noodles, the thorns rapidly decaying as it sucked the magic out of the plant. Willow and Gus both collapsed immediately after, their magic being sucked out through their creations and devoured by the Basilisk.

Willow tried weakly to draw another spell circle, but it fizzled out. "Ugh… it ate all my magic…"

"Nice try, little snacks! Now who's next!?" the Basilisk grinned, turning to Skara and Leia, the last of the top students. Leia attempted to use a Power Glyph to augment her strength and fist-fight the Basilisk, but the creature just snaked around her blows and slurped up the power glyph, then drained Leia herself before abandoning her grey-skinned form on the floor as it continued to slither towards Skara.

Skara shakily prepared to play a note on her harp to try and ward the Basilisk off, but Luz screamed to her.

"DON'T! She'll just eat the magic! You need to run!" Luz cried.

The young angel yanked herself free from Jerbo and Viney's holds and flew down onto the stage, her wings still hidden by her concealment stone. The Basilisk turned to her with a curious look in its eyes.

"Ah, another morsel to devour! Come on then; give me a taste of your magic!" it shrieked, lunging for Luz.

"You want to eat, then eat this!" Luz cried, pulling out another of King's ice glyphs and slapping it onto the floor, causing a pillar of ice to shoot up and slam into the Basilisk's chin, dazing her for a moment. The creature then snarled and tried to devour the ice, but found that she couldn't suck up any magic from it.

Luz grinned; the Basilisk couldn't eat glyph magic! That's why it had spit out the ice ball Amity had made earlier! Now she had a way to fight back! But first she needed to get the injured out of harm's way!

"Rasiel, I'm going to toss you to Skara. When she puts your ring on, tell her this plan!" Luz said, before whispering what she wanted Skara to do. Rasiel listened carefully and memorized it.

"Alright, do it!" Rasiel said.

Luz slipped off his ring and threw it at Skara, shouting "Put it on!" right before she was forced to dive to the floor to avoid the Basilisk's chomp. She slapped down two more ice glyphs and a pair of ice pillars appeared in an x formation, temporarily locking the Basilisk to the ground long enough for Luz to shoot some vines up to the Room of Shortcuts.

Skara caught Luz's ring and obediently put it on, then gasped as Rasiel's voice filled her head. "Skara, I am a friend of Luz's. She has a plan to get everyone to safety! While she keeps the monster busy, you need to use your magic to make all the drained move to safety! Can you do that?"

"Child's play!" Skara said, deciding now wasn't the best time to question the talking ring. With the Basilisk distracted, Skara began playing the same song she had before, though this time she kept her aura limited to the stage itself. It coated the drained top students, as well as Bump and Lilith, and forced them to stand up and begin shuffling towards the vines Luz had made to reach the Room of Secrets. The drained victims may not have been able to move on their own, but with Skara's magic backing them up, they were able to climb the vines to safety. Viney immediately began using healing magic to try and restore some of their energy, while Jerbo shot a vine of his own out to Skara, grabbing her around the waist and yanking her up to safety too, leaving just Luz and the Basilisk down in the Paranoratorium.

The Basilisk, unable to slip free from the ice pillars holding it down, instead transformed back into the form of the Inspector, allowing it to easily crawl to freedom then transform back again, ready to devour Luz. However when it was finally free, it saw that Luz had used the opening to freeze the Paranoratorium doors shut with thick walls of ice, then fly back up to the Room of Secrets. The Basilisk snarled and tried to leap up at them, but Barcus quickly slammed the door shut as soon as Luz was through it, trapping the Basilisk in the Paranoratorium.

"That was too close!" Luz panted, "Can I not have one day at Hexside without running into a monster that wants to eat me!?"

"What do we do now?" Jerbo frowned, "Viney's healing magic can make these guys more comfortable, but it won't fix them."

"Was that thing really a Greater Basilisk? My cousin at St. Epiderm said she saw one, but those things are supposed to be extinct!" Viney said.

"I think that makes the third supposedly extinct creature that's tried to kill me. Is there a rewards card for this or something?" Luz said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Third?" Willow groaned, not knowing about the Ice Wyrm yet.

"I'll tell you later. Right now, we need to do something; that thing won't stay trapped forever and if it gets out, it could hurt all the other students!" Luz said.

"Do you have a plan to deal with it? You seem to be the only one with magic it can't eat." Skara said, returning Rasiel's ring.

"If it truly is a Greater Basilisk, then it WILL be able to eat your angelic magic, and will likely get quite a power boost from it. You'll need to rely on drawn glyphs." Rasiel informed her.

Luz smiled and nodded; "I think I can deal with it, but I'll need you help Skara. And your guys' help too." she looked to Jerbo, Viney, and Barcus. "Between the four of you, we have access to pretty much every kind of magic, and with my glyphs, we should be able to stop it."

"But we can't do that much." Jerbo said sadly, "Viney's the best healer in our year, but that's not much good in a fight, and the rest of our magic isn't that strong on its own. We'd need to mix magic to be at our strongest, and if Bump sees that then he'll kick us out of school!"

Viney and Barcus nodded sadly, and Luz looked over to the drained Bump and Lilith. Both were unconscious from losing their magic (Luz couldn't blame them, having wanted to pass out when her magic was drained by Rasiel's prison) so she couldn't exactly wake them up and ask permission.

"I know… but if we don't stop the Basilisk, there won't be a school to get kicked out of! People are going to get hurt if we don't do something… but I won't force you. I'll handle it on my own." Luz said determinedly, heading back to the door into the Paranoratorium.

Skara followed her; "I'll help too. From what I saw, that thing needed to eat a spell circle or something with our magic in it to drain us. Well bardic magic doesn't usually need circles, and with you keeping it busy again, I should be able to offer support."

Luz smiled; "Thank you, Skara."

The Magic Mixers exchanged looks, then Jerbo said; "We can't leave our youngest member to go out and fight without us."

"Yeah, we're with you Luz. And besides, maybe this will be a good way of showing Bump and the Emperor's Coven that mixing magic isn't so bad?" Viney added.

Barcus woofed, and Rasiel translated; "Working together, I predict that a success is brewing!"

The young angel smiled broadly; "Awesome! With all of us working together, I think I've got a sure fire way of beating that thing!"

Back down in the Paranoratorium, the Greater Basilisk was slamming itself against the walls in an attempt to break free from the room. It was slowly making cracks, giving it hope of escaping. However just as it was about to give one last big smash, Luz suddenly appeared from the secret door and blasted the back of it's head with a light spell. The Basilisk hissed in pain and spun around to see Luz, who grinned at it.

"I don't suppose I can convince you to return the magic you stole and then surrender peacefully?" Luz asked.

"DINNER!" The Basilisk roared, lunging at the flying teen.

"Didn't think so!" Luz yelled, flying out of its range and baiting it into continuously trying to leap at her. She pressed herself against the ceiling and secretly placed an ice glyph on it, then when the Basilisk next jumped towards her, Luz flew out of the way and activated the glyph as she went, causing a giant fist made of ice to spring out and punch the Basilisk in the jaw, sending it smashing into the ground. With it dazed, Luz signalled to the others using a drawn light glyph.

Skara began playing her Song of Movement for a third time, coating the legs of the Magic Mixers in her aura, but not directly controlling them. Instead they slipped down into the Paranoratorium on their own power with some vines grown by Jerbo, then carefully snuck backstage where the supplies for the show had been stored; including Boscha's cauldrons, Celine's crystal balls, Willow's plant pots, and Rogier's Marrdregs (which were whimpering away inside their cages).

Jerbo used the soil in two of Willow's pots to make earthy abominations, and used the third to create a kind of flower known as a Sparrow Lily; a giant brown flower shaped like a pine cone, which spat out semi-sentient seeds in the shape of actual sparrows, which could fly around. Meanwhile Barcus mixed together and drank some of Boscha's Chromatic Shade Potion whilst holding one of Celine's crystal balls, causing all his colourful after-images to be wielding their own versions. Finally, Viney whistled sharply and summoned her pet griffin Puddles from out of the Room of Shortcuts and had him come down and free the caged Marrdregs, which Viney then tamed with some beast-keeping magic. With all three Magic Mixers now ready, the plan could begin in earnest!

They were just in time too, as the Basilisk recovered from being stunned and began clambering up the walls to try and get the flying Luz, who was sure to always fly just out of its reach. Barcus ran out onto the stage, followed by a steady stream of after-images, and all of them began attacking the Basilisk with their crystal balls, summoning out their own ghosts (which were naturally chromatic after-images of the original). They attacked the Basilisk in a swarm, and while it could eat some of them, the clones weren't connected to Barcus' magic, meaning it couldn't weaken him and he could just run around and make more. The ghosts kept attacking, damaging the Basilisk's thick hide through repeated assaults and overwhelming its ability to eat them. This served to tire the Basilisk out as well, and by the time the potion began to wear off and the after-images disappeared, the Basilisk was tired and dizzy.

"I'll kill you, Mutt!" the Basilisk roared, charging at Barcus. However Luz swooped in at the last minute and blinded it with a light glyph, then grabbed Barcus and flew back up to the Room of Shortcuts.

"You're up next, Viney!" Luz yelled.

Viney grinned and sent Puddles and the pack of Marrdregs at the Basilisk. Puddles attacked viciously, the young griffin taking advantage of the weakened Basilisk and damaging it further, while the Marrdregs began using their horns to whip up a tornado inside the Paranoratorium. The Basilisk saw this and managed to throw Puddles aside, then attack the Marrdregs and Viney, who was helping conduct the pack. Viney and her beasts didn't even try to dodge and instead focused purely on their part of the plan; yet despite this, they all moved out of the way with ease, Skara's song allowing her to move their feet for them while they focused on the wind. The Basilisk flailed back and forth as it tried to attack the Marrdregs but whenever it attacked physically, Skara would move its victims to safety and if it tried to drain their magic, Luz would fly around and blast it in the back of the head, forcing it to turn its attention back to her.

After a few moments, the Marrdregs were able to make a tornado strong enough to actually pick the Basilisk up and begin spinning it rapidly in the air, massively exacerbating the creature's dizziness and nausea. The tornado didn't last long since there was no natural wind to keep it going and the Marrdregs were relying on their own magic, but it was enough to make the Basilisk hit the ground hard, feeling incredibly sick.

Viney herded the Marrdregs away, then ran to heal Puddles while shouting to Jerbo; "You're turn!"

Jerbo ran out on stage, using one of his soil abominations to drag out the giant Sparrow Lily and set it down beside him. He then used his control of the plant to make it spawn hundreds of little sparrow-shaped seeds, which flew around the Basilisk. The creature roared and ignored the insignificant seeds and instead lunged for Jerbo, who leapt to safety without losing control of the seeds thanks to Skara controlling his legs with her song. The soil abomination then ran at the Basilisk, allowing itself to be grabbed and devoured. Jerbo cancelled the spell on the abomination before it disappeared down the Basilisk's throat, preventing himself from being drained and forcing the Basilisk to essentially eat a massive mound of dirt. Combined with the sickness it was already feeling from Barcus and Viney making it dizzy, the Basilisk finally lost its lunch and began vomiting on the floor of the Paranoratorium, causing all the magic it had devoured to erupt out of its mouth and return to its original owners in the form of blue flame-like masses.

With all the magic inside it gone, the Greater Basilisk shrank and shrivelled, but was still very much alive. "Y-You'll pay for that! I will eat you all!" it shrieked, biting at Jerbo.

"Eat this!" he yelled, summoning his other soil abomination to attack the Basilisk. The creature easily grabbed the abomination in its mouth, but mindful of Jerbo's previous trick, it didn't try to eat it and just shook it like a rabid animal. Jerbo smirked; that was exactly what he wanted.

"Let's finish it up, Luz!" he yelled.

Luz grinned and flew in front of the Basilisk's face, firing a tiny light blast into the abomination in its mouth. The light blast hit the mass of ice glyphs that she'd given Jerbo to hide inside the abomination, and they all erupted into a huge mass of ice that broke the Basilisk's teeth and dislocated its jaw. The Basilisk let out a loud cry of pain, then Jerbo cast a spell to make the roots sprout from the sparrow seeds that were still flying around the Basilisk, quickly binding the serpentine demon and allowing Luz to slam down on top of its head, using one final drawn plant glyph to create a plant muzzle to bind the Basilisk's jaw shut.

The Basilisk ended up lying on the stage, bound head to tail and gagged, with no way to open its mouth and drain more magic and none left inside it to shape shift with, giving victory to the teens.

"We did it!" Luz cheered, as Skara stopped her song and slid down Jerbo's vines to leave the Room of Shortcuts.

"That went perfectly!" Skara beamed, hugging Luz.

"I can't believe we took this thing down! It's incredible!" Viney grinned, as Barcus wagged his tail beside her.

"Yeah! Though we would have gotten creamed if your song wasn't moving us out of the way, and we'd never have been able to focus on the plan if we had to worry about dodging." Jerbo said, looking bashfully at Skara; "I guess I was wrong about bard magic being weak… I'm sorry."

Skara felt a spike of vindictive pleasure that she'd proved the boy wrong, but then she saw the expectant look on Luz's face and sighed; "And I was wrong about you guys and mixing magic too. We'd never have succeeded if you'd all just stuck to one type… I'm sorry for insulting you, too."

The Magic Mixers grinned and each put forward their fist. Luz added hers, then the four of them looked to Skara, who smirked and added hers to the mix too.

"Go Bards and Magic Mixers!" Luz cheered.

"Go Bards and Magic Mixers!" the others cheered along with her, before they all began to giggle.

"Luz!"

The young angel spun around upon hearing Lilith's voice, and saw everyone they'd left in the Room of Shortcuts clambering back down into the Paranoratorium.

"Uh, hi Tia Lilith!" Luz said nervously, seeing the annoyed look on the adults' faces.

"Is hi really all you can think to say right now? That was incredibly dangerous! You could have been killed!" Lilith scolded.

"I know, but I had to do something! Besides, the Basilisk was nothing compared to Arboriel!" Luz said, "And we won without any more damage to the school! That's got to count for something, right Principal Bump?"

Bump rubbed the bridge of his nose; "Luz, you snuck out of detention, continued to mix magic with the others in the detention track, AND you've got a literal secret hideout! You've got my gratitude for saving us from the Basilisk, but we cannot dismiss your wrongdoings either!"

"Wait, detention track?" Lilith frowned, finally noticing Luz's grey accented uniform, "It's your first day! What did you do to get put in the detention track!?"

Luz cringed and stepped back from the two angry adults, but Skara instead surged forward, angrily yelling at both of them.

"She healed me! She used plant magic and healing magic to remove calluses from my fingers, and was threatened with a year of detention for it!" Skara snarled.

Lilith blinked, then glared at Bump, who put his hands up in surrender; "I went back on that! It was only supposed to be for the day! Mixing magic is against the rules and-"

"If Luz and the others had followed your rules, you'd still be drained of magic and the Basilisk would be turning the school into a buffet!" Skara yelled, "So what if they mixed magic!? They're not in a coven yet, so it's not like its against the law! They saved your life and you're yelling at them!? Where's the justice there!?"

"Yeah!" Amity, Willow, Gus, and the other top students yelled their agreement. Even Boscha nodded along, backing up her friend.

Principal Bump recoiled; "I-I understand how you feel, but the rules are in place for a reason! The school needs the Emperor's Coven to afford to stay open, and they banned mixing magic."

"Tia Lilith, can't you do something here? It's not like we're in trouble for hurting people or disrupting the school! We just want to learn! Even the secret hideout is only used to peek at other classes! Isn't it wrong for a school to punish students for wanting to learn?" Luz said, looking imploringly at Lilith.

Strangely, Lilith looked up at the Room of Shortcuts with a look of nostalgia; "Well, it's not the only thing that room has been used for. But you're right; the person who made that room first did it because she couldn't abide being limited to only one track."

Lilith snapped her fingers and the heavily defaced painting of Lord Calamity drifted down to her, where upon she waved her hand over it and the graffiti vanished, revealing the visage of a young Eda Clawthorne.

Luz and the others gasped, then Luz chuckled; "I should've guessed."

"I helped my sister make that room. Faust forced me into the potions track when I took too long to decide, and Eda followed me a year later. She came up with the idea to make that room, and we both used it to study all the tracks in secret." Lilith reminisced, "If it weren't for that, I might never have been able to join the Emperor's Coven."

Principal Bump listened carefully, then began to smile; "Perhaps we could solve this situation in a way that makes everyone happy? The Emperor's Coven allows use of all types of magic, so why not sponsor a Multi-Track Program here at Hexside? That way I can lift the ban on mixing magic without upsetting the coven, and the children who have the aptitude can study multiple tracks, making them ideal recruits for the Emperor's Coven!"

Lilith smiled; "That sounds like a wonderful idea."

She'd often wondered if Eda would have gone down her wild path if she'd had an authorised way to learn. Her rebellion had been a response to restriction, so maybe removing that restriction would help convince Luz to join the coven, and get Amity back on their side too!

"I will use my authority as Coven Head to authorise it, along with a sizeable grant to repair the school and fund the new program. Your students are impressive, Principal Bump; I hope to see how far they'll go."

All the students cheered, with the Magic Mixers pulling Luz and Skara into tight hugs of gratitude.

"Thank you so much Tia Lily! And you too Principal Bump!" Luz beamed.

Lilith blushed at the cute nickname, but smiled nonetheless, and Principal Bump just waved off her thanks. In truth, he was happy to get rid of the magic-mixing rule; now he didn't have to feel like he was punishing his students unjustly!

"You're very welcome. But I'm warning you; if any of you use that hideout to cause chaos like "Lord Calamity" did, then I'm feeding you to the Choosy Hat." Bump threatened, only half joking. "Now which tracks would you like to learn?"

"Plants and Abominations!" Jerbo said, before thinking for a moment and adding; "And Bard!" Skara gasped softly, and Bump cast a spell that turned his sleeves green, while his leggings turned red at the top and pink at the bottom.

"Healing and Beast-Keeping! And Bard too! Magic like that is sure to be great for soothing beasties!" Viney said next, and her sleeves turned blue and her leggings turned red at the top and orange at the bottom.

Clearly both had been influenced by Skara's example.

Barcus woofed his reply, and before Luz could use Rasiel to translate, Barcus' right sleeve turned purple and his left sleeve turned yellow, making him as an oracle and potions student, and the only Magic Mixer to not want to learn bard magic too.

"And you?" Bump said, turning to Luz.

Luz smiled; "I'd normally say all of them, but I feel like I wouldn't be able to keep up, and I've already got friends and mentors to teach me a lot of the stuff I could learn in some tracks…" she winked at Willow and Gus, who grinned back at her, "So I'd like Bard, Construction, and Beast-Keeping!"

Bump grinned and cast his spell again, deciding to give Luz's uniform a little extra flair as an extra apology for making her so upset that morning. Luz's sleeves and leggings both changed to be the same colour; construction brown at the top, slowly fading into beast-keeping orange in the middle, then bard red at the wrists and ankles, making them a smooth gradient of colour that made her stand out a little.

Luz looked delighted with her new uniform, and her friends congratulated her, while Rasiel said; "You see? You stood up for what you believed in and found others who also wished to change things. You didn't force order on others, or try to make them think like you; you simply showed them another way and they chose to follow you. That is what an angel should be; a guide and ally, not a dictator."

Luz couldn't reply without it seeming odd to the people around her, but she nodded subtly, and that was enough for Rasiel.

Principal Bump then looked to Skara, the last of the group to defeat the Basilisk. "Do you also wish to Multi-Track?"

Skara shook her head with a smile; "I won't deny that I was wrong to look down on these guys for mixing magic, but I still want to stick to just the bard track. I want to become the best witch I can be with just bardic magic."

Principal Bump accepted that without comment, as did Skara's friends and the other Multi-Trackers. Skara then nudged Luz with her elbow; "And it looks like we're still in the same class! You better be prepared; I'm going to shove two days worth of ocarina lessons into your head tomorrow to make up for today!"

Luz giggled; "I wouldn't have it any other way!"

With that, Principal Bump dismissed the students and gave them the rest of the day off (they were only one and a half periods left anyway, so it was no great loss). Luz, Skara, and their friends all headed out together.

"You know, I never did get lunch so I'm kinda hungry." Luz said.

"How about we get some Not Dogs? I think we've earned them after today." Skara suggested.

Amity, Willow, Gus, and Bo all agreed immediately, while Boscha just scoffed; "Ugh, why do I have to hang out with the new girl and her friends?"

"You don't have to. I'm sure you can find something else to do in the mean time. Maybe Willow can show you her plants?" Amity smirked, while Willow gave an overly innocent smile that had Boscha paling.

"F-Fine, I'll come! But only because you, Skara, and Bo are going too!" Boscha spluttered, while the others giggled.

Principal Bump and Lilith smiled as they watched them go. They then turned to the bound and gagged Basilisk.

"First a Mandragora, now this? Why are these thought-to-be extinct beasts coming back?" Bump frowned. "And what is to be done with this one?" he pointed to the Basilisk.

Lilith glared at the creature, which whimpered pathetically. "I don't know, but I intend to find out. I'll take this one back to the castle; perhaps we'll find out how its species returned."

Basilisks, and the larger, more monstrous Greater Basilisks were hunted down to extinction by Wild Witches decades before the Emperor's unification of the Boiling Isles, due to their ability to suck out magic. Lilith had heard the Emperor had been displeased by this and had sent search parties out beyond the Boiling Isles in hopes of finding survivors of the species. She had no idea why he was so interested, but she had a strange feeling that this Greater Basilisk's appearance wasn't a coincidence… something fishy was going on, and Lilith was going to find out!