The angel of the owl house

Season 1: The Demon Realm

Chapter 13: Shadows of Friendships Past

After the Basilisk attack on Hexside and her brief stint in the Detention Track, Luz had settled into a new routine at Hexside. She'd come home after that first day (following a fun hangout in Bonesborough with all of her friends, plus Boscha) and told Eda and King about her whole day, which had initially made them angry. The Basilisk wasn't a concern to them, as they knew Luz had helped defeat it (though King was a little peeved he'd missed it), but they'd been furious about the whole detention track and magic-mixing incident, especially when Luz explained why she'd been put in detention. Eda had been ready to march down to Hexside and tear Bump a new one (and that was without learning of Luz's breakdown), but Luz had talked her down again. Beyond that, Eda was proud that Luz had helped convince Bump and Lilith to institute Multi-Tracking, and wasn't at all surprised to learn of her choice of classes.

Following that, the rest of Luz's first week at Hexside went smoothly; she spent the first three periods in the bard track with Skara, who happily helped her learn the ocarina. Luz wasn't a natural with it by any means, but she did make some good progress whilst also working on her singing and learning how to cast some of her utility spells with bardic magic. The second three periods were then spent in the construction track, were Mattholomule had taken it upon himself to help her out whenever he could in apology for the Detention Pit incident. Construction was probably the one type of magic Luz really struggled with now (excluding the ones she couldn't use), so she wasn't making much progress, but she still enjoyed learning. The final three periods of the day was spent in beast-keeping with Viney, which was an absolutely great way to end her days at Hexside. As the daughter of a vet and a Kindness Angel, Luz had extensive experience with animals and she had absolutely no disgust for even the grossest of them, resulting in her quickly becoming the second best beast-keeping student in her year, behind only Rogier, who also helped her out from time to time (Viney was in the year above them, and was easily one of the top students in the school).

The Multi-Trackers were doing great, and Luz still occasionally joined them for breaks in the Room of Shortcuts, and surprisingly, a lot more students had joined the Multi-Track program, including Amity and Boscha. Sadly neither of them had actually chosen to join an extra track; Amity now multi-tracked abominations and oracle, at the behest of her mother who wanted her to learn her type of magic too, while Boscha had been covinced to multi-track potions and abominations so her mother could have her compete with Amity more closely. Neither girl was happy about it, but neither could talk their mothers out of it.

Luz had also continued her duties as Eda's apprentice, spending some of her time after school in lessons with the Owl Lady. She no longer did chores around the house, and instead "earned her keep" by helping brew potions. She'd also reserved time to hang out with King, her friends (she'd finally gotten around to telling Willow and Gus about the Ice Temple adventure and Rasiel), and continue her translation of Philip Wittebane's Diary, which was going incredibly slowly. On top of all of that, Luz was also trying to figure out the ice glyph, which she still couldn't use without drawing it on paper like King did, and learning about her own kind from Rasiel, which was a mixed bag.

Rasiel tried to teach her more about Angelic Blessings and Alchemy, only to find Luz couldn't use the former at all. Neither could figure out why, but Luz was completely unable to give parts of her magic to others like angels were supposed to be able to. Angelic Blessings were supposed to let angels give small pieces of their magic to others to grant them extra magic if they were magical beings, or even magical powers of their own if they weren't. However Luz simply couldn't do it; she and Rasiel theorised that the Titan themselves might be preventing it, since their magic was blended with Luz's through the glyphs, but they had no way of finding out for certain. On the flip side, Luz's experience with potions meant she was fairly good at Alchemy and was slowly improving to the point that she would be able to make the components needed for the Panacea Mirror to heal Eda's Curse.

Luz's second week at Hexside started a lot slower; a pixie infestation at Hexside (courtesy of Boscha's pet pixie starting a rebellion) had closed the school on Monday, so Luz had the day off. The Owl House had received an invitation to a fun fair, so they'd decided to go together. Even Hooty came (after Luz felt too guilty to leave the excited House Demon behind) and had promptly horrified the others by popping out of his door and squeezing himself into a portable bird-house backpack. The fair had been fun, and Luz had run into Willow and Gus (though they'd kept their distance thanks to Hooty), but of course it had also been a trap. Tibbles, the little pig demon who'd been arrested after Luz rescued King and Eda from him, had come back for revenge, and invited the Owl House residents to the fair for his scheme. It had failed when Hooty happily ate Tibbles after Rasiel correctly identified a "bottle of water" he'd tried to give them as a Shrinking Poison, and Eda had then taken over his stand and used it for scams while Hooty and the kids enjoyed the rest of the fair. Luz and King had even won a pair of matching friendship bracelets by playing the festival games!

Hexside was reopened the next day, so Luz returned to her routine and enjoyed school for the first time in her short life.

A few days into this second week at Hexside, Luz was showing Willow how to have a thumb war before classes started, while Amity and Boscha hung out nearby, the former watching their game while the latter used magic to change her nails. It was this sight that Skara walked in on, smiling happily and holding an odd pile of what appeared to be red scrolls.

"Hey Skara." Luz said, looking up from thumb wrestling Willow.

"Hey girls!" Skara chirped to them all; "Time to bug out at my birthday party!"

She then handed one of the little red scrolls to Boscha, then another to Amity and a third to Luz. The scrolls then unfurled themselves, revealing themselves to be red butterflies with the words "Skara's 15th" written on their wings, surrounded by sparkling gemstones. Luz giggled as she realised Skara had made a pun; she'd have to remember to tell King that one later!

"It's invite only, but you guys are my VIPs!" Skara smiled.

"Are these made of real insect wings?" Amity said, eyes widening at the invitations.

"My Dad spared no expense!" Skara nodded, "You only turn 15 once!"

"You only turn every age once, Skara." Boscha pointed out with a deadpan expression.

Luz rolled her eyes; "Don't be a party pooper, Boscha. Thanks for inviting me, Skara!"

"No problem! I was a little worried that Dad wouldn't let me since you're the Owl Lady's kid…" Luz blinked; that story had spread like wildfire! "… but he was actually pretty psyched to meet you after I told him about you." Skara explained.

She then noticed Willow standing there awkwardly and said; "Dad's also got some important friends coming to, so I was only allowed a certain number of invites, but they all come with a "Plus One" so you could come along with Luz!"

Willow and Boscha both blinked in surprise; "You'd let me come too?" Willow asked.

"Sure! You're friends with Luz too, and you're the top plant student in our year, so you're strong too. Your old reputation as a loser has really started to fade." Skara said.

Willow blinked again, then her eyes widened as she realised Skara was right. In the past, everyone except Gus had ignored her unless she was screwing up in class or being picked on by Boscha's gang, so Willow had grown used to just ignoring everyone else in return. But Boscha hadn't actually bullied her since the Mandragora incident, Skara and the others were only ever followers, Amity was being nice and even outright friendly, and she was actually friends with Amelia. With all her old bullies no longer picking on her, becoming a top student in the plant track, and gathering a group of real friends, Willow had risen far from the bottom of the social ladder… and she was so used to ignoring everyone that she hadn't even noticed!

"That's… kind of a weird thought." she eventually said, too stunned to come up with anything else.

Luz grinned and patted her on the back; "Isn't it great? Now everyone sees how awesome you are! You should definitely come with me to Skara's party! It'll be fun!"

Willow slowly nodded, a bubble of happiness forming in her chest; in the past, she'd have assumed it was a trap to humiliate her, but there was no way her angelic friend would allow that! "S-Sure! If I'm welcome, then why not?"

Skara smiled; "Great! It's smart casual, so you don't need to get quite as fancy as you would at Grom, but you'll still want to look nice. A lot of bigwigs end up coming to these parties, so it's great for networking."

Willow nodded, but Luz looked confused; "Bigwigs come to your birthday parties?"

"It's because all our families are a part of high society. Our parents basically use our birthdays and other celebrations as excuses to get together and try to show each other up." Amity explained.

"Yeah, so try not to set off any giant monster attacks." Boscha sniped, obviously tired of no one paying her any attention. She then grimaced as she noticed her invitation butterfly begin moulting. "Ew! Skara, why did you give me one that was moulting!? Give me another one!"

Skara frowned as Boscha tossed the moulting insect away, but Luz just rolled her eyes and caught it; "I'll trade with you. Honestly, I wouldn't think a potions student would be so freaked out by a little moulting." Luz said, handing her invitation to Boscha and then helping the butterfly with its moulting. "This stuff is great in potions."

Boscha scoffed; "Ugh, whatever!" then stalked off to her class. Luz, Skara, Willow, and Amity all shared a giggle at the three-eyed girl's grumpy attitude, then headed off to their own classes.

As Luz and Skara went to bard class together, Luz couldn't help but comment; "Boscha still hasn't warmed up to me or Willow. Is she still mad about what happened when I first came here?"

Skara shrugged; "Maybe a little. She doesn't like change or threats to her power, and you're kind of both. And she doesn't like Willow suddenly rising so high. But it's Amity that really gets under her skin."

"Amity? Why her? I thought they were friends." Luz frowned.

"Nah, I'm Boscha's friend. Amity is more like her kinda-friendly rival. The problem is that only Boscha sees it that way. If Amity wasn't being forced to hang out with Boscha by her parents, then she probably wouldn't hang out with her at all. And since you came along, Amity has been hanging out with you and talking about you like crazy." Skara explained.

Luz blushed and began toying with one of her curls, "A-Amity talks about me?"

Skara noticed her blush and smirked; "Oh yeah, she mentions you all the time. I'm pretty sure you're her best friend."

The little angel squeaked and instinctively covered her face as her blush intensified, making Skara grin wider; so the rumours that Luz had a crush on Amity were true! She and the other members of Boscha's gang (excluding Boscha herself) had a bet on whether Luz returned Amity's obvious crush, who would make the first move, and how long it would take for them to hook up. With how obviously affectionate "Ice Queen Amity" was towards Luz, it was only a matter of time in their minds. Until then, Skara would just enjoy how adorably cute the two were as they stumbled over their feelings.

"But back to Boscha; she feels like since you came along, Amity is paying her even less attention. Not only that, but now that Amity and Willow are sort of on speaking terms again, Boscha's worried they'll rekindle their old friendship and she'll be replaced completely."

Luz's thoughts immediately snapped away from her crush considering her a best friend, and towards what Skara had just said; "Wait, did you just say that Willow and Amity used to be friends?"

Skara nodded; "Yeah, back when we were little kids. It was before our parents kinda pushed us together. I don't know why they stopped being friends, but I think that's part of why Boscha always got on Willow's case; she wanted to prove to Amity that she was superior."

Luz's mind began racing; why had Amity stopped being friends with Willow? Was it possible that Willow was the friend the twins had mentioned back after the Library Incident? The one Amity had been forced to give up on? If that was true, then she needed to talk to Willow! And today's classes would provide the perfect opening!

During sixth period, Luz's construction track class had a joint Gen Ed photography lesson with the plant, healing, and illusion tracks, so she'd be able to talk to Willow all about it! Plus, since this was a magic photography lesson, they'd be using special tweezers to pull memories right out of each other's heads, so Luz would get to see adorable baby Willow AND potentially fix a rift between two of her most important friends! She could hardly wait!

Luckily, Luz enjoyed her time at Hexside enough that time sped on by, and it was sixth period before she knew it. She walked to the photography room alongside Mattholomule, and found it to be a room covered in blackout curtains and illuminated by glowing red spiders. Leaving Mattholomule to partner with Gus, Luz hurried over to Willow.

"Hey Willow! Ready to pick each other's brains?" Luz grinned, holding up the memory tweezers.

Willow giggled; "Sure!" she then leaned in a whispered, "I can't wait to see some little Cherub Luz!"

Luz grinned; "Mami did say I was adorable. And I bet baby Willow was too! Now let's get to work; I've got something I wanted to ask you about afterwards."

Willow looked curious as to what Luz could want to ask her, but shrugged and sat down on a stool in front of their work station. "Be careful with my brain! I keep my thoughts in there!" she grinned.

Luz nodded and carefully poked the tweezers into Willow's ears until she felt them bite down on something. She then slowly pulled them out, along with a glowing Polaroid picture gripped in its teeth. The pictures would take a little while to fully develop, so Luz hung it up on a little peg, then repeated the process until she had the five pictures they were supposed to pull out. She then wiped down the tweezers and handed them to Willow, happily swapping places with her and getting to experience having her own memories pulled out. It was a strange feeling; it started by feeling like their was a cotton swab in her ear, but then her brain would feel fuzzy for a moment and her ear would tickle faintly as Willow pulled out her memories one by one, until she'd gotten all five and hung them up.

"Wow that feels weird!" Luz said, rubbing her ear.

"Yeah, but it'll be worth it to see the pictures!" Willow grinned.

At that point, most of the class had extracted their required memories and the teacher of the class, Professor Lavestra from the illusion track, explained some of the intricacies of the magic they were using, such as the pictures being clearer if the memory evoked strong emotions, and that if one damaged the photos then they would also damage the memories. Luz was marginally worried about what they'd do with the photos after they were done with them, but the teacher just smiled and said that destroying them with special memory sheers (which looked a little like giant sheep-sheering sheers) would erase the magic without erasing the memories, making them a safe way of disposing of the pictures.

Shortly thereafter, the photos began to develop, and since Willow's memories had been pulled out first, they were the first to develop. The first picture was an adorable picture of Willow sitting on a stall, ironically getting her picture taken for some kind of special occasion. She looked adorable, but her hair was wild and crazy.

Luz cooed at it; "Aw, you had an awkward hair phase too! I knew we were meant to be friends!"

She showed Willow an old picture of herself from her human cellphone, which showed her as a little girl with her hair tied up into three big braids, with ribbons and stickers all over them. Willow giggled; "Like two peas in a pod!"

The next few Willow memories then developed, showing memories of her playing in the park with her parents, feeding a carrot to a Dairy Spider, and opening a present on what looked like Christmas. They were all adorable, but the last one confused Luz.

"You guys have Christmas on the Boiling Isles?" she asked, pointing to the photo.

Willow tilted her head, "Christmas? I don't think I've heard of it. That memory is from the Winter Festival; the day right in the middle of Winter, where we give gifts and thanks to our families and loved ones for another year together."

Luz smiled; "Neat! It sounds like a mix of Thanksgiving and Christmas! I can't wait to see what it's like!"

"You know what I can't wait to see?" Willow said, beginning to grin mischievously as she pointed to Luz's memory pictures, "A little Cherub!"

Luz blushed and giggled as Willow eagerly looked at her memories, which had begun developing while they were discussing Christmas. The first memory was of Luz as a child of about 7 years old, holding a puppy with a bandaged paw while a kitten was playing in her long, curly hair. The second showed a slightly older Luz and her Mami together with a bouquet of flowers. The third was also of Luz and her Mami, though this time they were flying high above the clouds, both in their undisguised angelic forms and Luz being held by her Mami as they flew. The fourth was of Luz and King laughing while Luz held pieces of bread on either side of her head, and King had his face poking out through a hole in another piece. The fifth and final picture showed an event from after school just a few days ago, where Luz and Willow had gone for Toadstool Tea at a cute cafe Willow had wanted to show her.

"Whoa, two of these memories are from the last few weeks!" Willow pointed out.

Luz shrugged; "I was thinking of happy memories. It's been crazy here, but I've got more happy memories here than I do in the Human Realm. Plus must of my happy memories back there involve stuff related to my other heritage."

Willow nodded in understanding, noting the picture of Luz and Camila, which Luz was carefully pulling down so it could be swiftly destroyed before anyone else saw it and realised the truth of what she was. It was the only one where Luz wasn't concealed (it was weird seeing her with round ears in the first two pictures), but it also made Willow frown as she realised something. Aside from Luz's tiny wings (which Willow thought were adorable), Luz didn't look much different than her disguised form in these photos… she even had hazel eyes instead of amber. On the flip side, Camila had pure white hair and amber eyes like Luz's current true self, only sporting brown hair and hazel eyes when disguised in the second picture.

"Hey Luz, I get that your wings have grown, but why do you look so different in that picture." Willow asked in a whisper.

"Oh, that was before my magic awakened on my first day on the Isles. My real hair and eye colour only changed to white and amber after my wings grew and I unlocked my magic." Luz explained.

Willow nodded, her curiosity sated, but Rasiel spoke from Luz's ring. "Luz, are you saying that those tiny wings were the only angelic features you had back then?"

"Well, that and the pointed ears." Luz replied quietly. Since Willow knew about Rasiel now, Luz didn't need to worry about her listening in. "Why do you ask?"

Rasiel went quiet for a moment before replying; "I have known other human-angel hybrids, but all have had full angelic features, including hair in some shade of white or gold, and eyes in some shade of gold or blue. While the range of skin colours is about the same between angels, humans, and witches, hair and eye colour is not. I've never heard of a Cherub with naturally brown hair or hazel eyes."

Luz blinked; "Huh… Mami never mentioned that; she always said I was just a little different because I'm half-human. Do you think there's a different reason?"

"I have absolutely no idea… perhaps our species has evolved in some way since I was sealed up here in the Demon Realm. I'll have to investigate once I have my own body again." Rasiel replied, his voice trailing off as his thoughts went elsewhere.

Luz hummed, but then turned her attention back to Willow. She cast a quick illusion to disguise the memory of flying in her mother's arms, then looked over to Willow's pictures and gasped; "Oh! We got so distracted by my memories that we didn't see the last of yours!"

The two girls turned to Willow's last picture, which had long ago developed. Upon seeing the memory on it, Luz gasped and Willow huffed; it showed a little Willow at a birthday party with a little Amity hugging her.

"So it's true! You and Amity did used to be friends!" Luz whispered.

Willow grabbed the picture and turned it around; "Emphasis on the "used to be." she scowled.

Luz frowned; "I heard about it from Skara earlier; that's what I wanted to ask you about. Can you tell me what happened?"

Willow sighed and crossed her arms; "There's not much to tell. Like you, I was a late bloomer. It was even worse back then, since I wasn't even good at plant magic yet, and Amity got tired of having a weakling for a friend, so she told me she didn't want to be friends any more."

The plant lover again grabbed the picture of her and Amity as kids; "This memory is from Amity's birthday party. She seemed so happy to invite me at the time, but that was also the day she met Boscha and Skara. I guess they showed her what a "real witch" was and she decided to kick me to the curb before the party even ended." Willow said, anger and hurt in her voice.

Luz's eyes widened; now she knew for certain! It was definitely Willow that Odalia had forced Amity to stop being friends with! There was no way that Amity would so quickly toss Willow aside otherwise, especially since she looked so happy with Willow in the memory photo!

"Willow, I think we should talk to Amity. I think there was more to this than you know." Luz said seriously.

"Luz, I appreciate that you're trying to help, but it's fine. I'm over it, and Amity isn't picking on me any more. That's good enough for me." Willow said.

"But Willow, I don't believe Amity would do something so cruel just because you weren't good at magic! There's got to be more than that! If we just talk to her and get her side of the story, I'm sure you two could become friends again!" Luz implored.

Willow gave Luz a little smirk; "Do you really think that, or do you just want me to get along with Amity because you have a crush on her?"

Luz went beet red and squeaked; "W-What are you talking about? I don't-"

Willow immediately put a hand over Luz's mouth, her expression now turning serious; "Don't try to lie; you'll only hurt yourself." she said sternly, before grinning again; "Honestly, everyone at school knows you've got a crush on Amity; you have ever since the new semester started. The only one who hasn't realised is Amity." Willow explained.

Luz's face heated up so much that she was sure she was steaming; "O-Okay… so maybe I have a tiny little crush on Amity… she's just so pretty and cool! B-But that's not what this is about, honest!"

Willow narrowed her eyes; "You're really convinced that I'm missing something, aren't you?"

"Yes!"

"You know something… something you can't or won't tell me." Willow said. It wasn't a question.

Luz nodded; "It's not my place to say, but I know in my heart that you and Amity could become friends again if you just talked."

Willow frowned; "And if I don't want to? She may have been the least terrible of Boscha's gang, but she did still pick on me."

"Then… then I wouldn't blame you. But I think you at least deserve to know the truth." Luz replied.

Seeing Luz look so determined and desperate to help made Willow's heart soften a bit. Her friend really was just trying to help, as always, and truthfully Willow was curious as to the truth Luz kept alluding to. If there was something besides her old weakness that came between her and Amity, then Willow wanted to know. And besides, since Amity clearly had a crush on Luz too (again, Luz was the only one who didn't realise) and Willow was one of Luz's best friends, Amity was being pretty nice to her. She'd even privately apologised for being a bully! If it weren't for the old wounds caused by her bullying, Willow might have tried to restart their friendship without Luz's involvement.

Ultimately, she decided to agree; "Alright. I'll go with you to talk to Amity. But I'm not promising anything."

"That's all I can ask." Luz said, beaming as she hugged her first friend.

For the remainder of their photography class, Willow and Luz picked through the latter's head for a new memory photo that didn't expose her identity as an angel, while also searching for the memory sheers to destroy the one that showed her Mami's true form. It took a while, since most of Luz's happy memories in the Human Realm revolved around her angelic identity, but she eventually found a sweet family moment where a toddler Luz was being cuddled between her Mami and Papi. It made the present day Luz misty-eyed, so Willow stroked her back comfortingly and quietly told Luz that she could talk about it at any time. Willow didn't know the full story there, but it seemed obvious based on Luz's reaction that her father was no longer with them.

Once class ended (and the picture showing Angel Camila was destroyed), Luz and Willow headed straight to the cafeteria for lunch. They'd made a habit of sitting together with Gus, occasionally also joined by Amity, Skara, and/or Amelia, so the moment they arrived, Luz made a bee-line for Amity, who had just arrived.

"Amity! Can Willow and I talk? In private?" Luz asked.

Amity smiled and nodded; "Sure. Let's grab out lunches first, then we can go eat outside. It's a nice day out."

Both girls blushed as they imagined having a picnic together outside, and a watching Willow giggled at the pair of them. It was cute how oblivious they both were to each other's feelings! Eventually the three of them went to collect their lunch trays and let their other friends know where they were going (Gus opted to eat with the HAS instead), before heading outside and finding a nice place to sit down and eat in the shade of some trees on the edge of the school. Once they were seated and had eaten a bit of their lunches (today was a mystery meatloaf that kept trying to crawl away), Amity finally asked;

"So what was it you wanted to talk about?"

Luz swallowed her mouthful of food and replied; "You and Willow. Or rather, exactly why you stopped being friends."

Amity went pale, looking fearfully between Luz and Willow. If Luz knew what Amity had done, she'd definitely hate her!

"Y-You heard about that?" Amity asked nervously. She didn't think Willow would have brought it up…

"Skara told me." Luz said, making the mint-haired girl scowl. If it wasn't Skara's birthday the next day, Amity would have given the bardic girl a piece of her mind! "So I asked Willow, and she told me what happened at your birthday party years ago."

Amity's heart sank and she began to tear up. That was why Luz had asked to talk to her alone! She was going to sever their friendship in front of Willow as justice for what Amity had done to the plant-loving girl! Luz would never want to be friends with a bully; she was just too much of an angel to make this a fully public humiliation.

Luz saw the slow build up of tears and immediately assumed something wildly different; she saw it as Amity feeling deep shame and regret for what she'd done in the past bubbling up to the surface (which was actually closer than Amity's assumptions).

"Amity, it's okay. I understand how you must be feeling right now." Luz said, leaning over to rub the other girl's back; "We just want to hear your side of the story."

Amity looked up at Luz, confused. "M-My side? But I thought if Willow told you, then you'd hate me! Why would you want to hear my side?"

"Luz seems to think there is more to it." Willow said, eyeing Amity sceptically. "She's convinced there's something I don't know about, but can't tell me what."

Amity's eyes widened as she realised what Willow meant. "Luz, have you been talking to the twins?"

"Yeah, but not about you. Don't you remember back at the library?" Luz said, "You were afraid that your Mom would find out about our friendship and make you stop being friends with me, but then you said "just like she did with" before you suddenly stopped. After that, Skara mentioned how you and Willow used to be friends, and then Willow told me how you suddenly cut her off and I pieced it all together."

Willow looked at Amity with pure shock; "Wait… that's why you suddenly stopped being friends with me?" she asked. Her heart twisted painfully as Amity averted her eyes, looking down with shame as she nodded. "Your Mom made you…!?"

Amity's tears actually began to spill over; "I'm so sorry, Willow…"

Luz immediately put an arm around Amity's shoulders to comfort her, managing to stop herself from blushing by focusing on making her friend feel better rather than on her crush. Willow was so shocked that she just sat there stunned, trying to mentally cope with what she'd just been told. Amity tossing her aside had been so painful, and Willow had been without friends for years afterwards, until she met Gus when they both started the high school section of Hexside. The anger she still felt towards Amity burned, but the knowledge that Amity had been forced to give her up made that anger feel wrong. Yet the anger didn't fade.

"Amity, I want you to tell me everything. From my point of view, I showed up to your party and we were having fun, then you suddenly dragged me to your room and told me to leave, saying I was too weak and you didn't want to be my friend." Willow growled, struggling with her temper.

Amity nodded weakly; Willow deserved to know. Taking a deep breath, and drawing strength from Luz's understanding smile, Amity explained everything.

"You were my best friend. Before Luz came, you were the only real friend I ever had, the only friend I chose for myself… But you were never meant to come to that party. I invited you against my parents' wishes, and they weren't happy. They demanded I sever my ties with you and be friends with Boscha and Skara instead… and if I refused, they'd sever those ties for me. They threatened to make sure you'd never get into Hexside… I had no choice."

Luz and Willow both gasped; "C-Could they really do that!?"

"They're part of the Parent Creature Association, and have close ties to the Emperor's Coven, on top of being high up in the Abomination and Oracle Covens. That, combined with the donations they gave to the school, and they really could have kept Willow out." Amity said miserably.

Willow recoiled; "My parents would never have been able to afford to send me to St. Epiderm, and I'd have been eaten alive at Glandus… Amity, you were trying to protect me? Why didn't you ever say anything!?"

Amity refused to meet her eyes; "Because I didn't deserve to. I stood by and did nothing while my new friends bullied you… I ended up getting so used to it that I bullied you too. I acted like I was better than you, but that was never the truth. You weren't too weak to be my friend… I was too weak to be yours. It took seeing you finally snap after Boscha hurt Luz for me to realise how far things had gone, and how wrong I was. After all that, I didn't deserve to come crawling back to you, and I was scared Luz would hate me if she ever found out, so I just kept quiet. I was weak… and all I can say is that I'm sorry."

Willow gripped her chest; "You hurt me… you'll never know how much it hurt to be thrown away by your only friend!" she began to tear up, "I should hate you! For the life of me, I can't figure out why I don't! After all you did to me… why do I still want to be friends again?"

She began to sob, and a horrified Amity threw herself towards the girl, hugging her tightly. Willow weakly tried to shove Amity away, but she didn't have the will to and just let the other girl hold her, both of them sobbing together. Anger, shame, misery, and regret filled the air as the two cried, and Luz watched on, tearing up herself out of sympathy. She didn't know what to say to the two, so she opted not to say anything and instead pulled out the ocarina that Skara had been teaching her to play. She played a simple little song; the one Skara had been using to teach her how to play the instrument, filling the air with a soft and sweet little melody. It had no magic to it, and there was some obvious roughness to Luz's playing due to her inexperience, but it was soothing in its own way and helped hide the sound of their crying from any potential eavesdroppers.

It took a little while for Willow and Amity to calm down, and a little while longer for them to finally release each other and sit down beside one another. They felt awkward, and their heads and throats felt stuffy from crying, so Luz used one of King's ice glyphs to make some ice to help them cool down. They pressed the ice blocks to their heads to cool off, and drank some smilk from their lunches, then wiped their eyes.

"I'm sorry for breaking down like that." Willow said.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for. You're strong, Willow. I'm sorry I took so long to see it." Amity replied.

Luz put down her ocarina; "Are you guys doing okay?"

Willow nodded, giving Luz a watery smile; "I am. But Amity, I don't know where we go from here. I accept your apology, and I understand why you did what you did. But it still hurts. I want to be your friend again, but I don't know if it's healthy… And I don't know if I can forgive you."

"I understand." Amity said, "I don't even deserve that much. But if you want to, I'd like to be friends again too…"

Luz softly chimed in; "Maybe try to start over from the beginning? You're both still hurt for different reasons so just take it slow and do things on a trial basis. Then if things don't work out, you can go your separate ways."

Willow and Amity exchanged looks; "I'm willing if you are." Amity said, a hint of hope in her voice.

"I… I think I'd like that." Willow nodded. "If we're going to start from the beginning then…" She offered her hand; "Hi, I'm Willow Park."

Amity giggled and took her hand; "I'm Amity Blight."

The two girls shook hands, and burst into giggles, which had Luz's heart soaring. She couldn't stop herself from hugging them both, making Amity blush again and Willow smirk, especially since Luz was also trying not to blush.

"I'm so happy for you guys! We should totally all hang out and do something together! You know, to get this new friendship started on the right foot!" Luz suggested happily.

"That's not a bad idea. Any suggestions, Amity?" Willow asked, "We could go swimming at Lake Lacuna, like when we were kids. Do you have a swimsuit, Luz?"

Luz shook her head; "Nope. I grew out of my last one a few months before the summer and haven't bothered to buy a new one."

Willow smirked; "Then maybe the three of us should go swimsuit shopping first. You're a fashionable witch, Amity; you'd be perfect to help Luz."

Both Luz and Amity blushed bright red at the idea of going swimsuit shopping together. Both liked the idea a lot, but neither wanted the other to realise quite how much they liked it. Neither wanted to dismiss the idea either, out of worry that the other would think they just didn't want to go with them.

"M-Maybe we should try something else. I'm fairly certain it's Sahagin Season right now, so it might be dangerous at the lake." Amity said, coming up with a hasty excuse.

"With my luck, we'd definitely be attacked." Luz agreed. "Hmm, how about Skara's birthday party? Your old friendship ended at a birthday party, so wouldn't it be fun to start your new one at another party? You know, turn on old bad memory into something positive?"

"I actually kind of like that plan. I was going to come with you as your plus one anyway." Willow agreed.

Amity looked doubtful however; "I don't know… my parents will be there too, and if they find out I'm friends with Willow again, they might do something terrible! They may even try to get Willow kicked out of Hexside!"

"But Willow is strong now! Surely they wouldn't care any more, right?" Luz said.

"It would definitely help." Amity admitted, "But her family status is also an issue. The Parks are good people, but they're a normal family. They aren't "Elites" like the Alembic and Cadence families."

Luz and Willow exchanged frowns, then Willow asked; "What about Luz? Would your parents have a problem with her?"

"Probably… if it was my party and not Skara's, I doubt I'd have been allowed to invite her. In fact, Mom would definitely have a problem with her…" Amity said sadly.

"Just your Mom? What about your Dad? Didn't you say both your parents made you break off your friendship with Willow?" Luz asked.

"Technically yes, but Dad was just doing what Mom told him to. He doesn't really pay attention to anything but his work, and just parrots whatever Mom says. I don't think he's even aware of what she makes him say sometimes." the mint-haired girl explained.

Luz hummed as an idea came to her; "Do you think your Dad would want to stop you being friends with Willow or me without your Mom telling him to?"

Amity snorted; "No way. The Blights used to be a common family. It was Mom who was from a noble family."

"Wait, really!? I didn't know that!" Willow exclaimed.

"Yes. I don't know the full story; Dad mentioned it once while I was helping him in his workshop, but Mom got mad and made him stop. I didn't dare try asking her, and Dad won't bring it up again now that he knows it'll upset Mom." Amity explained.

Luz began to grin. "If your Dad was from a common family himself, then we can use that to convince your parents that Willow is amazing! We just need to remind them that all "Elite" families have to start out somewhere! We can use Willow's growth into a Top Student as proof that she's going somewhere in life, just like your Dad was, Amity!"

Willow and Amity exchanged looks, the former curious and the latter worried. "I guess that could work… but if it fails, then Mom will have you both in your sights! You could be kicked out of Hexside!"

Luz's grin grew wider; "Really? Who has more power at Hexside? The Parent Creature Association, or the Emperor's Coven?"

The other girls gasped as they saw where Luz was going with this. Aside from the few people who knew Luz was an angel, everyone that knew of her believed she was the Owl Lady's daughter as well as her apprentice, making her the niece of Lilith Clawthorne, the Head Witch of the Emperor's Coven! Odalia would never be able to get Bump to kick Luz out of school if Lilith stepped in, and Luz would definitely get Lilith to protect Willow too. With that particular connection at their disposal, Odalia's primary weapon against them would be neutralised! Sure she could still make things unpleasant at home for Amity, but the girl was still Lilith's apprentice, so Odalia would even be limited there!

"This might actually work! If we leverage Willow's growth along with Luz's connection to Lilith and the Owl Lady, we might actually be able to get Mom to change her mind!" Amity grinned excitedly.

"It sounds mean, but I almost hope Odalia does try to mess with us, just so we can watch Lilith slap her down!" Willow smirked.

"So we're in agreement?" Luz asked. The other girls nodded their approval; "Great! Now I've got a little something special planned to remind Odalia who she's messing with, but for that to work, I'll need you to take Willow as your plus one, Amity."

Amity agreed immediately; "Mom will hate it, but I can handle that. I'm guessing you want to invite Miss Lilith as your plus one instead?"

Luz shook her head with a smirk; "Oh no, I've got something else planned. After all, all the other invited guests are going to have their parents there, right?"

Amity and Willow both gaped at Luz, who was chuckling mischievously. They had a feeling that tomorrow night's party was going to be quite a bit more exciting than they'd originally believed!

The next evening, Luz touched down outside the Cadence Family Estate, which was situated in the upper class area of Bonesborough. With her was her plus one; none other than Eda the Owl Lady, who was dressed in her usual red dress and posing as her mother. The Owl Lady was grinning widely; Luz had told her the plan and she couldn't wait to screw with prissy little Odalia! Honestly, helping out Flowers and Boots was just a happy bonus!

Luz herself had dressed up a little for the occasion, swapping out her usual hooded shirt, jeans shorts and leggings for what she called her "Witch with a Dark Side" outfit. It was a cute black Halloween dress that was sleeveless, and had a layered skirt that flared out pleasingly, as well as a yellow band around the waist and a little crescent moon on the chest. Eda had seen the outfit and thought it looked like a roguish version of more standard smart casual clothing for young lady witches, so she'd judged it perfect for her "daughter" and gifted Luz some black boots similar to her own to complete the look.

"Remember the plan, Eda?" Luz asked, holding a wrapped present for Skara.

"Of course. All I've got to do is be my usual stunning self with the other adults and look out for your light spell. If I see that, I come over and put Odalia in her place." Eda smirked. "By the way, how did you convince this Skara chick to let me come?"

Luz grinned; "Are you kidding? When I asked her this morning if she was cool with it, she practically jumped at the chance! She said that having "The Owl Lady" at her party would make it the social event of the season!"

Eda preened; "Of course she did! I'm the life of any party, Kid! Too bad we couldn't bring King; he'd have had a great time making himself the centre of attention."

"I know, but I don't want to take attention away from Skara herself, and I was only allowed one plus one. That's why I couldn't bring Gus along too." Luz said.

When she and Willow had filled Gus in on their plan, he'd been happy not to go along with them; he'd volunteered to instead stay behind at the Owl House and hang out with King and Hooty while Eda and Luz were away so he could get an interview with one of them for his journalism class. He'd already had to get an extension due to his need for perfection, so he really didn't have the time to be going to a party anyway, especially one where he doubted "the Press" would be allowed.

He'd been interviewing Hooty as they were leaving, and the look of confusion on his face as Hooty talked still made Luz giggle. Putting that aside, Luz finally took a good look at the Cadence Family Estate; it was one of the smaller estates, but it was still pretty large, with a manor house right in the centre and extensive, well-kept grounds that included a hedge maze, and a pathway that led down the cliff behind the estate to a little private cove, which also belonged to the Cadence Family. Skara had said she'd wanted to have the party down in the cove, but since her birthday was a school day and her party had to happen later in the day to accommodate that, the cove was out of the question due to the boiling tides.

Luz and Eda walked up to the front door of the estate, where they found Amity and Willow waiting for them. Amity was wearing a slightly fancier version of her normal casual clothes, with added purple details, while Willow was wearing a nice forest green dress and had tied her hair back into a bun.

"Hey guys! You both look awesome!" Luz complimented, her eyes especially lingering on Amity.

"Thanks. You look pretty sharp yourself." Amity replied, trying to stop herself from blushing.

Luz beamed at her, then asked; "Are your parents here yet?"

Amity nodded; "They're socialising with the other adults. Are we ready to do this?"

"I am. I can't wait to stick it to Odalia!" Willow smirked, some of her repressed anger leaking out into her smile, making her look a tad bit dangerous.

Eda laughed and slapped Willow on the back; "Looks like this little wallflower is growing some thorns! Come on, let's get this party started!"

As the actual invited guests, Luz and Amity went up to the Cadence Manor door and knocked on it. It was soon answered by a man in a red and white butler's outfit, who asked for their names and invitations. The girls handed over the butterfly invitations, and introduced themselves and their plus ones, after which the butler nodded and cast a spell, turning the invitations back into regular butterflies and letting them fly away to a nearby tree, where dozens of similar butterflies were waiting.

"Please follow me." the butler said, beckoning the four ladies into the house. He led them through the fancy looking foyer and into what could only be described as a small ballroom, about the size of the Hexside Cafeteria. It was full of people, and decorated with various musical themed birthday decorations, like balloons shaped like music notes, and banners shaped like sheet music. The people present were all witches and demons that Luz recognised from school, as well as their parents. Boscha, Bo, Cat, Amelia, Jeb, and Rogier were the main ones Luz knew, and their parents were fairly easy to pick out as they looked a lot like their kids. Skara, wearing a beautiful red dress and silver tiara, was the centre of attention, and dancing with her female friends as a band played on a stage at the end of the room.

As they arrived in the room, the butler had them wait as he announced them to the other guests; "Now presenting Luz Noceda, and her guest Eda Clawthorne, and Amity Blight, and her guest, Willow Park!"

Everyone at the party turned to see the new arrivals, with the adults mostly focusing on Eda, whom they naturally knew as the infamous Owl Lady. However one was more focused on Willow, and it was obvious who she was with a single glance; Odalia Blight.

The best way Luz could describe Odalia was as an evil universe version of adult Amity; she was a mature looking woman with a curvaceous build and a face that looked like Amity's if she was fused with Cruella Deville. Her hair was a similar shade of mint to Amity's dye job, and her eyes were an icy blue that glittered with displeasure at the sight of Willow in her daughter's company. She was dressed in black pants, a violet blouse, and a white waistcoat with a purple flower pattern, and around her neck was a necklace styled after a bolo-tie, with a large light purple oracle stone threaded onto it.

Beside the displeased looking woman was a man that Luz assumed was Amity's father; Alador. He was a scruffy looking man who also appeared to be half asleep on his feet, and was wearing what appeared to be a hastily put on pair of light grey pants and a dark grey lab coat, as well as purple lensed goggles on his forehead. His hair was messy and the same brown colour as Amity's roots, and he had some light stubble and bags under his golden eyes. It was clear that he was the one Amity got her colouring from, even if Odalia had made Amity dye her hair to "match" the rest of the Blights.

Odalia looked like she was trying very hard not to make a scene with her anger, and began making her way over to the new arrivals as politely as she could. However before she could get close, an excited Skara came running over and hugged Luz and Amity.

"You're finally here! You guys are the last ones to arrive, besides my Dad's "special guests". I was worried you wouldn't show!" Skara smiled.

"And miss your big day? Not a chance! Eda delayed us a little." Luz grinned, as Eda flipped her hair.

"It's called being fashionably late. Besides, perfection like this takes time!" the Owl Lady said with a wink that had the girls giggling. Personally, Luz thought Eda looked exactly the same as always… though that was admittedly pretty good. Eda was always a snazzy dresser!

Amity and Luz then offered their presents to Skara, who took them with a delighted squeal; "Yay presents! Let's see what these are!"

The bardic girl didn't hesitate to tear into the brightly coloured boxes to get at their contents. From Amity, she got a new necklace with a pendant shaped like a gruppetto; a musical symbol remembling the letter S (to match Skara's name), which appeared to be made of some kind of deep red crystals. From Luz, she got a human MP3 player loaded with all the songs Luz could cram into it, as well as a book of sheet music for human harpists. Skara thanked the girls profusely for their presents, then turned to smile at Willow.

"Hey Willow! Sorry for kinda overlooking you there! Green is a really good colour on you!" Skara said, complimenting Willow's dress.

"Um, thanks Skara." Willow smiled awkwardly. Skara had never been an active bully; just one of Boscha's followers, but Willow still had some hurt feelings towards her. "Sorry I didn't bring a present."

Skara waved her off; "It's totally cool. To be honest, I'm just glad you showed up given some of the stuff I helped Boscha put you through…" the girl looked briefly ashamed of herself, "It was really not cool of me, and I'm sorry. It sucks that it took you nearly taking my head off with that plant abomination for me to realise how bad I'd gotten, but better late than never, right? That's why I told Luz I was okay with her plan to get you and Amity to be friends again, without the Blights wigging out."

Willow managed a small smile; "Thank you for apologising, Skara."

Skara gave the girl a wink; "No prob! Now come on, I wanna introduce you to my Dad, then we can actually enjoy the party!"

The birthday girl grabbed Willow and Luz by the hand and dragged them over to where the adults were holding court, while Eda and Amity followed along. In the centre of the group of parents was Skara's father; Severin Cadence, the third highest ranked member of the Bard Coven. He was a tall, very handsome man with skin a few shades darker than Skara's and pitch black hair. He had a goatee and a chiselled face with a kind expression, as well as shining silver eyes similar to his daughter's. He was dressed in a very snappy white tuxedo with a red tie, shirt, and rose on his chest, and the moment he saw his daughter approaching, he stopped his conversation with a bat demon and his witch wife (Luz assumed they were Rogier's parents) and held his arms out. Skara released Willow and Luz and happily jumped into his arms, being spun around by her muscular father.

"Ah, there's my baby girl! I see the last of your guests have arrived!" Severin smiled, his voice deep and joyful.

"Yep! Let me introduce Luz and Willow!" Skara said as her father put her back down.

"Wonderful to meet you ladies. I'm always glad to see my Skara make new friends." Severin said, offering his hand to the girls.

Luz and Willow shook his offered hand in turn and smiled at him; he appeared to be a very friendly man, and extremely doting towards his daughter.

"Nice to meet you too, sir." Luz replied.

"Please, call me Severin. That goes for both of you." he said, "Now Luz, I hear you're in the bard track with my daughter."

"Yeah! Skara has been helping me a lot! Thanks to her, I'm actually able to play a whole song on the ocarina even though I've only been learning it for a couple of weeks!"

Skara nodded along with a big smile, while her father puffed his chest out with pride; "That's my little girl! Any chance of seeing you in the Bard Coven in a few years time?"

Skara nodded along with a big smile, while her father puffed his chest out with pride; "That's my little girl! Any chance of seeing you in the Bard Coven in a few years time?"

Luz's smile faltered a bit; "Uh, probably not. I'm not really big on the whole coven thing… but if I was going to join one, the Bard Coven would definitely be way up there!"

"Ha! Good answer! I guess I should have expected that from the daughter of the Owl Lady! Speaking of…" Severin looked to Eda and shook her hand, "Good to see you again, Edalyn. I was glad to hear from Skara that Luz was bringing you along."

Eda smirked; "Glad to be here. You've certainly grown up from that little brat you were back in school. You've actually gotten kinda hot! I almost miss the little dweeb you were at school."

"Dad used to be a dweeb!?" Skara gasped, her smile not faltering for an instant.

Severin blushed faintly as Eda laughed; "Oh yeah, he was a year younger than me, and a real little music nerd. Though as you are now, Sevie, I'm surprised you're not having to fight off admirers!"

"Been there, done that. It didn't work out." Severin cringed, before putting a hand on his daughter's head; "Now the only lady in my life is my little symphony here."

Skara leaned into her father's touch, and Luz felt a warmth in her chest. After being told about Skara's rotten mother, she was really glad to see that her father was every bit as kind as Skara claimed he was.

At that moment, two new people walked over to join the conversation, making the entire group wary. It was Odalia and Alador; the former smiling coldly while the latter still looked barely conscious.

"Well well well, if it isn't Edalyn Clawthorne. It's been so long!" Odalia greeted.

"Odalia, what a delight to see you again." Eda lied through her teeth, "And you too, Alador. You still look like you've got more coffee in your blood than actual blood."

Alador smiled sleepily; "I'm experimenting on creating a caffeine sac to attach to a witch's heart, along with the Bile Sac. Sadly the Healing Coven refuses to help."

Eda and Severin laughed, while Odalia forced a polite chuckle and the children exchanged looks of bewildered amusement. Except for Amity of course, who had her face in her palm as she blushed with embarrassment.

Odalia then narrowed her eyes on Willow and Luz, before looking back to Eda with another false smile; "I had no idea our daughters were friends. What a… pleasant… surprise."

"Oh yeah, Boots and my Luz are as thick as thieves. They remind me a little of me and Raine Storm back when we were in school. Not too surprising really; they and Willow are three of the toughest witches in Hexside."

Odalia's eye twitched almost imperceptibly as her eyes drifted to Willow. The bespectacled girl stared back defiantly, even as she felt a spike of fear in her chest. "Yes, I'm surprised to see Willow as my daughter's guest. How did that come to pass, Amity?"

Amity gulped; even with so many people backing her up, she still felt terrified of defying her mother. "Um, I-"

She was cut off by Eda lightly shoving her, Luz, Willow, and Skara together, then towards the dance floor; "Come on, Odalia; this is a party and we've kept the girls from their friends long enough. Let them have fun; if you want to talk, then I'm available. We can catch up and reminisce about our school days. Remember when you got a face full of Escarguts when my abominations rebelled?" Eda smirked.

Odalia flushed as she tried to keep her anger in check; "H-How could I forget?" she smiled through gritted teeth.

Eda smirked, then nudged the girls away, while Luz gave her a questioning look. This hadn't been the plan they'd discussed! The Owl Lady must have known what Luz was thinking, because she whispered in Luz's ear;

"The more flustered and impatient Odalia gets, the easier it'll be to play her and get your way. I'll keep her distracted with old embarrassing stories, and make sure her composure is completely broken. Then when you guys finally talk to her, you'll have her on the back foot!"

The young angel smiled mischievously at her mentor, then nodded and helped drag the others over to the rest of the party guests, whispering to them the updated plan as they went. Willow and Skara immediately agreed with it, while Amity just looked nervous. Those nerves soon vanished as they began hanging out with the other guests, eating delicious hors d'oeuvres, dancing to the band that was playing, and overall having a great time. The other guests welcomed them with open arms, and Willow found herself being accepted by them as if she'd been one of them for years. Even Boscha was being civil with her and Luz, if only because she didn't want to ruin her best friend's birthday by starting a fight. In fact, a few of the guests (namely Cat, Bo, and Jeb) all quietly apologised for their parts in bullying her over the years; either directly or by simply standing by and doing nothing. It was strange, and Willow couldn't deny that it made her really happy to see how high her star had risen since Luz had come into her life… but a part of her also felt bitter, and a bit insecure.