Lazy days
It was close to noon on Camila’s second full day in the Demon Realm. Toesday, according to King.
Luz hadn’t left her hammock at all the day before. She had bundled herself up in a little blanket cocoon just like when she was little and she’d been having a bad day, and only really came out of that when Eda or Camila prodded her to eat something or sip some water.
The four of them had had a crappy movie marathon. When Eda brought in a crystal ball with a…questionable looking connection to a beat-up DVD player (why were glowing bees in a jar involved?), Camila was doubtful it would work. But it did, somehow, and the crystal ball projected the movies onto a sheet Eda hung up on the wall. It was an even mix of Boiling Isle’s films and mostly outdated Earth movies.
Luz avoided the Azura movies whenever it was her turn to pick.
Presently, Camila sat at the kitchen table, flipping through the notebook Eda had given her.
She wasn't really sure how she felt about the criminal witch who's been raising her daughter. But, she was trying to keep an open mind about…everything. This world was different from Earth, and terrifying, and a little gross, and-
It was different.
But Luz seemed well taken care of. So Camila was going to try focusing on small comforts like that while she tried to get used to everything else.
She chuckled a little as King finished his third grilled cheese sandwich and turned to Eda, holding his plate out, “One more?”
“Seriously?” Eda lowered her half-eaten grilled griffin sandwich from her mouth, raising an eyebrow at the little demon as he gave her big pleading eyes.
“Pleeeease?”
“Fine.” Eda half-groaned, grabbing his plate and heading back to the stove to make him another sandwich. “Between you and Luz, we’re gonna have to cook Hooty to keep you fed.”
Camila braced herself for Hooty to pop in at the mention of his name, again, but it seemed like that didn’t happen every time. Fun. She took a bite of her own grilled griffin sandwich, and turned back to the notebook in front of her.
Eda had handed it to her when she came down earlier. The taller woman had been cooking scrambled griffin eggs for breakfast, and pulled it out of her hair to hand it to Camila. Thankfully, both the notebook and the eggs were completely hair free.
"This is very thorough." Camila commented.
The book was somewhere between a journal and a research notebook, and it was all about Luz. What she could and couldn't eat, what foods were her favorites, how much she was growing over time, how she reacted to different potions, which bath products work best on her fur; everything about how Luz had been physically growing during the last eight years.
Eda spoke from the stove, "Well, without knowing how Luz changed, or even what kind of demon she and King are, I figured it'd be a good idea to keep track of everything. I picked up some books about human development, and I've been scouring any book about demonlings I can get my hands on, to compare. Make sure everythings been going right."
There was a pause as Eda flipped King’s sandwich in the pan. "Fun fact! Apparently a huge appetite is a sign that a demonling is gonna have a significant growth spurt." She walked back over to the table, setting the sandwich in front of King, who happily started eating it, regardless of it being steaming hot.
"Now, Luz has only gotten a boost in her appetite over the last few months, but King's been determined to eat me out of house and home since I found the two of them.” Eda picked her own sandwich back up, “I am terrified of the day he starts to actually grow.”
Camila hummed as Eda finished her lunch, “So Luz will be growing a few inches soon then?”
Eda made a so-so gesture with her hand, “Well, ‘growth spurt’ can mean a lot of different things for demons. And also witchlings, since witch puberty is a fair bit different from what humans go through, but that’s way more predictable than with demons and hybrids” King held his empty plate out to her again, but Eda just placed hers on it, and he grumbled disappointedly as he set them on the table. “That bend in the tip of her horns is new, and started growing in around the same time her appetite increased, so it could just be from that. Or she’ll be as unlucky as my sister and wake-up the day of, uh, some big important event a foot and a half taller with no clothes that fit.”
“Eesh, that sounds rough.” King chimed in.
Camila’s eyebrows shot up as she tucked a curly strand of hair behind her ear. She had packed her straightener, but she hadn’t been able to find anything resembling an outlet in the bathroom yesterday, and when Hooty popped in to offer his, uh, ‘help’, he just wound up eating it.
According to Eda, he would cough it up as an owl pellet, undigested and still functional. Eventually. Camila was just going to cut her losses and buy a new one when she got home.
“Is it…normal for witches to grow that much so quickly?” Camila hoped Luz wasn’t going to go through that. Puberty was a nightmare she wished she could forget, adding a jump in height that extreme was just adding insult to injury.
“Eh, big sudden growth spurts are typical of witch puberty, but me and Lily both had ones that were above average.” Eda rubbed the back of her neck. “A foot and a half is probably an exaggeration, but it sure felt like she grew that much from my side.”
There was a lull in the conversation.
“Should…someone go check on Luz?” King sounded worried. “She said she was feeling up to coming out of her room for lunch, but that was a while ago.”
Camila watched as Eda patted King on his skull. “Nah, Luz is just…taking her time. She’ll come down when she’s ready, and then we can, I dunno, have a game night with a butt-load of junk food, or-”
The crow-phone-thing flew into the kitchen for the fourth time that day, squawking at Eda. She snatched it and groaned before answering.
"Titans sake, this is the tenth time you've called!" She barked into the…bird, "What part of 'family emergency' didn't get through your thick skull?"
Camila could hear the voice on the other end speak, but couldn't make out what was being said. One of the witch’s potions customers had been very upset about that week's orders being delayed, and he seemed to think annoying Eda would make her more inclined to listen to him.
She'd only known the witch for two and a half days, but Camila was fairly certain that Eda would be more inclined to keep the order and the money after all the pestering.
"Ok pal," Eda stood, walking out of the kitchen, "Give me a second to get out of earshot of…polite company, and I'll lay things out in a way you might finally understand."
She stormed off, leaving Camila and King alone in the kitchen. It took less than a minute for King to excuse himself to go check on Luz, leaving Camila alone for a moment. Turning back to the notebook, Camila found her spot and tried to continue reading.
She heard the front door open, and jumped a little when Hooty yelled into the house. "Company's here! Hoot hoot!"
Camila's brow furrowed at that; as far as she had been told, no one should be coming over that day. She flipped the notebook closed before walking into the living room.
Three children were standing by the front door. They were all wearing the same outfit that Luz had been wearing on Sunday, but instead of yellow sleeves and pants, they each had a different color; green, light blue, and orchid.
The three kids all gawked at Camila as they saw her. The girl in green with braided hair and a colored streak in her bangs was holding a thankfully normal looking thermos, and had a little pig-beaver hybrid creature perched on her shoulder. Was that her…what had Eda called Owlbert? Her pali- palisomething?
"Um, hello?" Camila awkwardly started. These were hopefully friends of Luz's, maybe school friends if the possible uniforms were anything to go by?
"Oh my Titan." The girl in orchid tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. The ends of her neat bob were dyed mint green, but most of her hair was brown.
“You’re-” The girl in green started, before the boy in light blue, who looked like he was a year or two younger than Luz and had paperclip-shaped earrings, cut in.
“Luz’s human mom!” An excited grin spread across his face, one which quickly spread to the two girls.
Camila smiled; definitely friends of Luz’s then. A small part of the ache in Camilas heart lessened at that. Growing up had been…difficult for her, and she’d always been worried Luz would have the same problems.
"Uh, hi!" The girl in green took the lead, walking closer to Camila and extending a hand, "I don't know if Luz has told you about us, but we're-"
"Goops? Boots? Flower Power?" Eda walked back in, “What are you three doing here? Did Luz call you?”
“When we heard Luz was pulled from school this whole week, we thought she was sick.” The boy spoke, “So Willow asked her Papa to make some of his Slitherbeast stew.”
“And Dad lent me Pigwig so we could get here from school and back during our lunch break without getting caught.” The girl, Willow apparently, reached up with one hand to scratch the palis…mon? on the stomach. It gave a happy little noise, somewhere between a snort and a chitter.
“But I’m guessing Luz isn’t sick, right?” The other girl spoke up, “She’s staying home because you finally found her other parents!”
Camila’s smile wavered, and she and Eda shared a glance. Eda rubbed the back of her neck, and opened her mouth to speak, but a voice from behind beat her to it.
“We only found Mamá.” Luz spoke, her voice low. She was standing in the hallway, dressed in a tank top and shorts. Her hair was just long enough to pull into a ponytail, with her bangs splayed across her forehead instead of swept back like they were on Sunday, and she was holding a wooden staff in one hand. There was no little animal carved on top, and it had an odd appearance to it, like three branches had grown all spiraled together. “You guys know how my Dad was sick?”
Camila looked back at Luz’s three friends just in time to see their faces fall. The orchid girl’s hands flew to her mouth as Luz leaned her staff against the wall and walked closer to her friends.
The three other kids launched themselves at her between Eda and Camila, and latched onto Luz for a tight hug. King walked out from the hall and over to Eda, watching as the four teens almost toppled over. There was a moment when Camila thought she could hear a low rumbling, like a large cat’s purr, coming from the group, but that was probably just her hearing things.
“Aw, Luz…” The boy sighed, tightening his grip on his friends.
“I’m…I’ll be fine.” Luz murmured, before stepping back and wiping away a tear. “Thanks.” She gestured at Camila. “Guys, this is my Mamá, Camila.” Then she linked arms with the girl in orchid, and reached over the boy and wrapped an arm over Willow’s shoulder, wedging him between them. “And Mamá, this is Amity, Gus, and Willow. My best friends in the world.”
Camila smiled at the children. “It’s a pleasure to meet yo-” There was a shrill shriek that cut her off and made her jump.
Gus slid his sleeve back, revealing the source of the screaming; a small…demon? realistic looking demon shaped watch? which he poked to silence. “Aw man. We have to head back now or we’ll get caught.”
“Do you still want us to come over on Shinsday?” Amity asked Luz as they all walked to the door, “Or do you want more time with your mom?”
Luz glanced at Camila, “Mamá can only stay for the week before she has to go back to work.”
Camila’s smile tightened a bit at that before she forced herself to relax. The thought that once this week was up she had to leave her baby behind, a whole realm away from her, with her only way to see her being through a portal that can’t be opened from her side, had been weighing on her since the first night.
But as she watched Luz see her friends off in front of the Owl House, flying away with Willow’s Dads palis…man?, she shoved those feelings down. She couldn’t think about that, not right now.
“So, I’m guessing you want to spar instead of taking it easy today?” Eda ruffled Luz’s hair after she came back inside, bringing a small smile to her face.
“Yeah.” Luz brushed a loose curl out of her eye as she spoke. “I, uh, want a distraction. Just for a little bit.”
“Alright.” Eda drew a glowing yellow circle over her head, which lowered and transformed her dress into athletic clothes, and tied her mane into a high ponytail.
Camila raised an eyebrow at that. Sparring? Like practice fighting? Why on earth wou-
‘No, calm down. Different world, open mind, remember?’ Camila thought to herself as she followed Luz, Eda, and King out the back door. ‘It’s probably just…some basic self defense. Yeah. Nothing too intense.’
*****
Luz ducked as Eda’s staff whistled past her head.
She kicked, landing a glancing blow on her mentor-moms hip, giving her enough of an opening to dive past her and retrieve her training staff from where it had landed when Eda knocked it out of her hands.
She gave it a lazy twirl as she and Eda circled each other, both taking a moment to breathe and consider their next move.
Eda attacked, jabbing with the butt of her staff, but Luz dodged, risking a blow to knock Eda’s staff out of her hands, and grinning when she managed to pull it off.
“Not ba-” Eda started to compliment Luz, but the teen went on the attack with a flurry of swipes, forcing the witch to retreat to avoid getting hit.
Eda dodged a wide swing, and tried a kick of her own. Luz grunted as she tanked the hit, managing to grab Eda’s foot. Her mentor-mom squawked when Luz stepped back, then charged forward when Eda hopped with her, throwing her onto her back.
Luz shoved the butt of her training staff in Eda’s face, waiting to see if she was going to keep the bout going, or give Luz the win.
There was a beat, then Eda held up her hands. “You got me.” Luz stepped back, offering Eda a hand and then pulling her to her feet. She wiped sweat off her forehead with the back of her arm. “Alright, break time.” She held out a hand and her staff flew into it.
The two walked closer to the back of the Owl House, where Mamá, King, Owlbert, and Hooty were sitting and watching. Owlbert changed the scoreboard as they walked, putting Eda and Luz both at four wins.
Hooty had a few towels and some water bottles balanced on his head, which Luz and Eda gladly took.
“This is really…intense.” Mamá had a tight, forced smile on her face, like she was trying not to show how put off she was. “Is it…really necessary to…train like this?”
Luz and Eda glanced at each other. “Actually, yeah.” Eda began after a drink of water. “Witches like me and certain types of demons have-” She reached into her ponytail, pulling out a rolled up sheet of paper and showing Mamá the diagram on it. “-bile sacks attached to their hearts that allow us to do-” She drew a small spell circle, making a small bunch of flowers grow next to Mamá’s chair. “-magic! And the demons that don’t have bile sacks have inherent magic that shows up in a myriad of different ways.”
Owlbert flew over to Eda and perched on her shoulder as she spoke. “But Luz and King don’t have bile sacks, or inherent magic. At least, none that’s made itself apparent yet.” Luz sat on the ground between Mamá and King as Eda spoke. “Not having magic can make things here a bit trickier to handle, so I’ve been trying to teach Luz anything that she might need to know that anyone else would use magic to do.”
Mamá still looked uncomfortable, “And she needs to know…combat?”
“That’s only because we’re technically fugitives.” Luz lied. “The ding-dongs in the Emperor’s Coven, or scouts from most Covens really, don’t get training in how to fight without their magic.” She grabbed a second water bottle from Hooty, waving it around as she spoke, “They’re only taught how to use their magic in the most efficient way to do whatever it is they do in their Coven.”
Luz could see Mamá was still worried, “But, even if I don’t have magic of my own-” She dragged a claw through the dirt next to her, drawing a glyph and tapping it. Magic tingled in the tip of her claw as the glyph glowed with an inky purple light, and a ball of light rose up from the ground. Mamá gasped as Luz cupped the light spell in her hands and held it out to her. “-I’ve figured out my own way of doing things.”
“¿Cómo hiciste eso?” Mamá reached a hand out to the light spell, but hesitated before she actually touched it.
“With a glyph.” Luz glanced at Eda, who understood what she wanted and knelt on the ground, tracing out a glyph of her own. It gave a light blue glow, before turning into a small pillar of ice. “Anyone can use them.”
Luz then traced a glyph combo on the ground, and used it to create a foot tall fireworks show. “But most people don’t even know they exist.” Mamá gaped at the fireworks.
"Between these and my potions, I rarely have to physically fight." Luz lied again, “But I still train, for the rare times it does happen.” She smiled, “And it’s fun to spar with Eda and Amity and Willow.”
Thankfully, Mamá seemed to be soothed by that.
“Allright, it’s starting to get dark out.” Eda said, rolling one shoulder. “Time to head in.”
Luz was about to protest, but her stomach growled just as a chilly gust of wind made her shiver. ‘Okay, maybe going inside isn’t the worst idea.’
*****
“Night.” Eda ruffled Luz’s hair as she walked past her…apprentice on the way to her room.
She looked over her shoulder as Luz, King, and even Camila bid her ‘goodnight’ as they filled into Luz’s room.
After heading inside, she and Luz had gotten cleaned up, and then Eda got started on dinner. After that, they tried to teach Camila some Boiling Isles board games, with…mixed results.
Once King started to fall asleep on the couch, everyone decided it was a good time to go to bed.
Eda rubbed her hip with a wince; Luz was getting harder for her to keep up with.
Good.
Eda wished Luz only had to fight the occasional guard. Between wild demons, the Coven goons, and Goldilocks never giving her a break, her ki-apprentice had too much experience fighting things and people bigger than her in Eda’s opinion.
She flopped into her nest once she got to her room, content to fall asleep at first, but there was a small nagging voice in the back of her head that wouldn’t let her just yet.
She reached into her nightstand drawer, taking out her diary to pop open the false bottom and pull out a dark purple cloaking stone. Eda leaned backwards into her nest with a groan, holding up the stone and watching it glint in the dim light.
Eda knew she should work on this some more. She needed to work out quite a few kinks before it was ready.
But with a huff, she placed it back in its hiding spot, shoving the voice back down and rolling over.
It took a while for Eda to fall asleep.