The angel of the owl house

Season 1: The Demon Realm

Chapter 4: Mandragora Madness

For the first time in her life, Luz found herself actually disappointed that her day at school was over. Her time at Hexside had been the most fun she'd ever had at school, and the first time she'd ever felt like she wasn't either bored, losing focus, or out of her depth. Luz wasn't a stupid child by any means; she just had difficulty focusing on anything that didn't keep her interest, and if she found those things easy, she became bored, and if she found them difficult, she quickly began to feel like she was drowning in an attempt to keep up. All of this was combined with her less than stellar reputation among her peers for her chaotic attempts to help others, and the resultant bullying, which lead to Luz hating normal school.

But here in the Boiling Isles? Everything was interesting and new, so Luz was able to focus easily and really work hard at something she cared about. She'd impressed many of the Hexside teachers with her efforts; Luz was no genius or secret prodigy, but for a girl with no formal education in casting magic (at least before a few days ago), she achieved impressive results with hard work and genuine enthusiasm. It also helped that no one at Hexside seemed to find her weird; she looked like a regular witch to them, and since everyone seemed to have some kind of quirky personality trait, Luz fit right in! Even her unconventional ways of helping her partners during class had been well-received! It was a dream come true as far as school was concerned!

Luz's only concern was Eda; the Owl Lady hadn't mentioned magic schools on the isles, and Luz doubted she'd be cool with letting her go to Hexside on top of learning from her and doing chores for her apprenticeship.

The disguised angel decided to cross that bridge when she came to it, and eagerly ran to meet up with Willow and Gus on the front steps of the school. She arrived to find Gus telling Willow about something in his human magazine, while Willow had her abomination holding her books beside her.

"Hey guys!" Luz greeted cheerfully, "How did the rest of your day go?"

"Hey Luz." Willow smiled, "It went pretty well. I was worried at one point, since Professor Hermanculus had us dissect our abominations to show those who failed how we can improve them. I thought the seed would get exposed, but I just retracted the vines and hid the seed, then put it back when we were done"

"Good job! I can't wait to tell Eda! I bet she'll be proud that I helped someone trick their teacher!" Luz giggled, "What about you, Gus?"

"Same old, same old. We're near the end of the semester, so it's just review work." Gus shrugged, barely looking up from his magazine; "Hey Luz, do humans really torture their hair to make it straight!?"

"I'm gonna need some context on that, Gus…" Luz said, puzzled.

The boy showed her his magazine, which was open to an advertisement for a hair straightener. "This says they crush their hair inside burning iron clamps!"

"Oh yeah, technically that's true. They're called hair straighteners. My Mami uses them; she says straight hair is easier to keep tidy and out of the way at her job." Luz said, smiling as she remembered her Mami having to wrestle a kitten out of her curls back when Luz was only 6. She then gave Gus an impish grin; "We have hair curlers too; they're like red hot metal rods that we wrap our hair around to force it to be curly."

Gus gasped while Willow looked mildly horrified, much to Luz's amusement. "I wouldn't call either of them torture though; humans can't feel things through their hair, so it doesn't hurt."

"Huh, that's actually the same as witches and most hairy demons too." Gus said, "Hey Luz, I was wondering if you'd want to come by the HAS some time; a visit from a real half-human would be amazing!"

Luz considered it for a moment, before shrugging. She didn't mind helping out her new friend, and opened her mouth to say so, but she was interrupted by another's voice.

"Hey, Newbie!"

Luz blinked as she noticed both Willow and Gus freeze at the familiar voice. They cringed before joining Luz in turning to the person who'd called to her.

It was Boscha, and she wasn't alone. She had an entire gang of six other students with her; all of whom Luz recognised from her classes with the various tracks. There was Skara, the dark skinned, white haired girl from the bard track, Bo, a plain looking girl with long brown hair from the healing track, Cat, another girl from the healing track, with glasses, dark skin and wavy black hair, Amelia, a tall, pale girl from the plant track, who had lime green hair, Jeb, a scarecrow-like biped demon from the oracle track, and lastly; Amity Blight.

Despite being in a class with all of them today, Luz didn't really know them beyond their names. None had spoken to her besides Amity and Boscha, and Luz hadn't been partnered with them and so hadn't tried to get to know them yet. However, considering they were all following Boscha and the three-eyed girl was smirking unpleasantly, Luz had a feeling she wasn't going to want to get to know them any time soon.

"Oh, hi Boscha." Luz said casually, "Did you need something?"

"I've got some stuff to say to you, Newbie." Boscha walked forward, before sneering at Gus and Willow. "Half-a-Witch and the Dweeb can take a hike."

Willow and Gus both flushed at the nicknames and the snickers they'd gotten from Boscha's gang (sans Amity). However neither made a move to leave; they weren't going to leave Luz alone and at Boscha's mercy.

"My friends can stay. Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of them." Luz said evenly, already feeling magic thrumming beneath her skin. She really didn't want this to devolve into a fight, but with an entire gang of mean kids bearing down on them, Luz worried she wouldn't have a choice.

"Ugh, seriously? I'm trying to give you a way to rise out of the social mud, newbie." Boscha groaned.

"My name is Luz."

"Whatever. Just ditch them already so we can talk like real witches. No Half-a-Witches allowed." Boscha smirked at Willow, who looked down in shame.

"I told you earlier not to call her that!" Luz snapped, fists clenching at her sides.

"Or else what?" Boscha challenged, "She's earned that nickname. Today was the first time she ever got a good grade, and from what I heard, it was only because of you."

"Willow is awesome! And so is Gus!" Luz defended, making her friends smile.

"They're the bottom rung of the social ladder, and if you stick with them, you'll be down there too." Boscha countered, stepping a bit closer to Luz; "Normally I'd just let you wallow down there with them, but you actually have the potential to be useful, Newbie."

"Useful?" Luz asked, ears wiggling a bit upon hearing the word. She couldn't help it; the idea of being useful to someone would always catch her attention.

"That's right. You helped make Half-a-Witch into something almost decent, at least for that one class. I also heard that you're immune to oracle magic, can identify injuries fast, and have a decent set of pipes on you." Boscha smirked, remembering how excited Skara had been when she'd met up with her for this. She then scowled as she added; "And you actually managed to outdo me in potions class. Put all that together, and you would make a decent Grudgby player. Maybe not a starting player, but someone worth keeping around."

Luz blinked, then looked to Willow and Gus, who were just as shocked as she was; "You want me to join your Grudgby team?"

Luz had learned a bit about the sport from Eda, as well as from her tour with Willow that morning, but she didn't fully understand the rules. It seemed like a combination of magic duelling, football, and soccer.

"At the moment, no. But I could whip you into shape and make you a decent utility player. Being immune to oracle magic would be a massive advantage; St. Epiderm's star player this year is in the oracle track. And you may suck at actually healing, but Bo and Cat said you identified injuries faster than they could, so you could tell Cat what needs doing and let her do the actual work. Plus, there's no player with more versatility than a potions or bard magic user like me and Skara. If you can get good at either of those, you could be a great back-up for us." Boscha said, actually sounding complimentary.

"Uh, I'm flattered?" Luz said, completely thrown off by the direction this conversation had taken.

Boscha sneered; "Don't let it go to your head, newbie. You have a chance; join my team and do a good job, and you might just get to hang out with us; the cream of Hexside's crop. Assuming you also ditch the dead weight, of course."

Luz blinked again; "So you want me to ditch Willow and Gus to come hang out with you and your friends?"

"That's the gist of it. Come on, it's not like it's a hard choice." Boscha said with a smirk towards Willow.

Luz frowned for a moment, then nodded; "You're right, it isn't a hard choice."

Willow and Gus looked briefly heartbroken, before Luz continued; "I can either stick with my new friends, who've been nice to me and who I enjoy hanging out with…" she raised one palm, "or I can ditch those nice friends to hang out with a bully and her gang, who literally just want to use me for their game." she raised the other palm, then moved them up and down like they were the sides of a set of scales and she was weighing her options; "Yeah, I think I'll stick with Willow and Gus, thanks."

Boscha fumed while her gang gasped in surprise, except for Amity who just looked intrigued. Willow and Gus broke out into big smiles and stepped a little closer to Luz.

"Y-You're giving up on being one of the popular kids… for us?" Willow asked with disbelief.

"Of course I am! You didn't really think I'd ditch you, did you?" Luz asked with a smile.

"Everybody else did…" Gus muttered, "Once I stopped letting people use me to do their work in class, no one wanted to hang out with the "little kid" any more."

"Or Half-a-Witch Willow…" Willow added.

Luz huffed and put her arms around their shoulders; "Well I happen to like that "little kid" and "Half-a-Witch" a lot more than some school bully!" She then began to steer them away so they could continue their walk home, completely ignoring Boscha and her gang.

Boscha was going red in the face with anger; "Don't you dare walk away from me, Luz-er!"

"Real original, Boscha." Luz rolled her eyes, having heard that a lot since she started school. "I'm not ditching my friends, and that's the end of it. But if you still need my help at Grudgby, then I'd be happy to help."

The three-eyed witch growled and stalked forward, grabbing the hood of Luz's hooded shirt to yank her back. "Listen here, Luz-er! I am Boscha Alembic, captain of the Banshees and top dog of this school! If you think you can just say no and walk away from me without consequences…!"

Willow, feeling a surge of confidence, reached back to swat Boscha's hand away, much to the girl's shock and rage; "Luz already made her choice, Boscha. Now leave us alone."

Boscha stood their, stunned for several seconds as Luz, Willow, and Gus continued their walk home. They had almost made it beyond the school grounds when Boscha finally lost her temper entirely. It was one thing to be outshone by the new girl in class, then publicly refused by her in front of her gang, but it was a whole other issue when the lowest of the low started standing up to her! Boscha wouldn't let them get away with it!

"You think you can talk down to me, Half-a-Witch!? Well let's see how you like talking down to this!" she roared, summoning a Grudgby ball before throwing it as hard as she could right at the back of Willow's head.

Her target turned, eyes growing wide as she saw the ball coming at her far too fast for her to dodge. She braced for impact, only for her to be suddenly shoved aside.

"Willow, look out!" Luz yelled, pushing Willow off the path and onto the soft grass that flanked it. This saved Willow, but unfortunately it left Luz right in the ball's trajectory and the angel girl didn't have a chance to dodge. It slammed into her face with brutal force, making Luz yelp in pain as she was knocked on her backside.

Boscha smirked while everyone else gasped, especially when they saw the state Luz was left in. Luz cringed at the pain in her face; Boscha's ball had split her lip, given her a nose bleed, and the beginnings of a nasty black-eye. Not only that, but the feeling of getting whacked so hard in the nose had made her eyes water.

"Agh, that sucks…" Luz groaned, her voice sounding stuffy as she tried to stem the bleeding of her nose.

"Luz! Are you okay!?" Gus fretted, kneeling down to try and help. He tore a few pages from his human magazine to help clean up the blood on Luz's face. Poor Willow just sat where she'd fallen on the grass, staring in wide-eyed horror at the injuries Luz had taken for her.

"Ha! That's what you get for picking the wrong side!" Boscha boasted. Her gang shifted nervously behind her, none of them laughing or looking pleased. They all appeared uncomfortable, except for Amity, who looked angry.

"Boscha! That was going too far!" Amity yelled, stalking forward to check on Luz. "Bo, Cat; come help me."

The two healing track girls flinched and scurried to obey Amity's order, kneeling beside Luz to cast healing spells on her.

"Ugh, thanks guys." Luz said, smiling through slightly bloodstained teeth.

Boscha just rolled her eyes at Amity, then turned to smirk at Willow, who was still catatonic where she'd been pushed. "Can't even save yourself, can you Half-a-Witch?"

Willow flinched, then slowly stood up and looked over at Luz. She was bleeding, because she'd helped her… Willow's eyes zeroed in on Luz's amber eyes, which were pained and watery from tears. Luz had gotten hurt… she was crying… all because of Willow.

"No." Willow thought. Not because of her… She looked towards Boscha; "Because of HER"

Willow's eyes began to glow green as she glared at Boscha, who actually looked mildly concerned by the demure girl's anger. "You did this… I'm going to make you pay!"

Willow's abomination, having been trundling along behind them the entire time, suddenly lurched forward towards Boscha, it's own eyes glowing green like its master's. Boscha's eyes widened as she was forced to dodge a sudden swing from the creature's fist, only to end up slapped aside when the abomination's arm whipped around unnaturally, sending Boscha tumbling to the ground a few feet away.

"Ugh… you wanna play Half-a-Witch!? Then let's play!" Boscha yelled, summoning a trio of Grudgby balls and igniting them all with a fire spell before tossing them at Willow's abomination. The abomination didn't even try to avoid the, instead letting them hit it and slowly sink into its slimy body, sizzling softly as they did. The tree-sap infused slime acted like a non-Newtonian fluid, becoming solid whenever force was applied to it, allowing it to move fluidly at Willow's command while also shrugging off any blows launched at it.

The abomination then shifted the Grudgby balls inside itself and loaded them into its arm, before firing them back at Boscha with the force of a cannon. Boscha screamed in panic as she ducked the first one, then narrowly dived to the ground again to the avoid the second, before realising that her now prone position made dodging the third impossible. It slammed into her gut with incredible force, knocking the wind out of her and making her slide several feet away. Boscha looked pale and ready to lose her lunch in the aftermath of the blow, and her friends quickly stepped in to help.

"Willow, stop! You've made your point!" Skara yelled, summoning her harp and playing a few notes to send blades of magic at the abomination. They successfully sliced the creature's arm to ribbons, but the abomination just casually picked the pieces up and jammed them back into itself, reforming the arm.

Jeb then pulled out a crystal ball and summoned a spectre from it. It darted towards the abomination, then phased through its chest to attack Willow behind it, aiming to knock her out to stop her creation. Willow had no defence against this, but as much as Luz hated the fighting, she wasn't going to let Willow be hurt!

"Stay away from Willow!" she yelled, firing a light blast at the spectre.

The spectre wasn't able to phase through the blast and was struck in the head, knocking it away from Willow. When it recovered, it took one look at the one who had hit it, then shrieked in terror and retreated to Jeb's crystal ball.

Bo and Cat, who had almost healed Luz's injuries, grabbed the girl's arms and held them down so Luz wouldn't get involved any more. Luz struggled against them, only to be surprised when Gus took over holding her for Bo, so the girl could keep healing.

"Gus? What are you doing!?" Luz cried.

"Luz, I know how you feel, but we need to stop Willow. She's gone out of control; can't you see her eyes?" Gus said.

Luz just looked confused; "You mean the glow? I saw her do the same thing this morning after we ran into Amity on the way to school. She went a little crazy, but she calmed down really fast when she almost hurt me." she explained, pointing to the holes that were still in her leggings.

Amity paled; "I made Willow that upset…!?"

"Okay, I feel like I'm missing something here." Luz frowned, while Willow's abomination was slapping Boscha, Skara, and Jeb around.

"Didn't your witch parent ever explain a Bile Overload?" Gus asked. Upon getting a blank look from Luz (who obviously didn't have a witch parent), he quickly explained; "Some witches, especially kids and teens, will produce way more bile in their bile sac than they can handle when feeling strong emotions. Our bodies automatically burn off the excess, making our magic way stronger but also making it hard to control ourselves. It can happen in reverse too; if something else causes us to overload, like if we try to force out too much magic, then it can make our emotions go haywire! Willow got so mad that she's overloading, making her super strong but also super crazy! She's really gonna hurt Boscha if this keeps up."

Luz began to panic; "C-Can't we stop her without hurting her though?"

"I'll see what I can do. I just need to stop her abomination!" Amity said, running into the fray. She summoned her own abomination and sent it at Willow's, tackling it just as it was about to swat at an increasingly battered looking Boscha again.

Willow growled; "Now the "Top Student" wants to play too? Fine! I'll make all you bullies pay!"

The usually timid girl's magic pulsed and her abomination punched at Amity's, but Amity had more experience and could more easily reduce her creation to a puddle and reform it, so she melted her abomination and made it slide under the legs of Willow's, before reforming behind it and grabbing it, lifting it into the air. Willow's abomination struggled a bit but couldn't break free of the other abomination's grasp. Amity smirked, thinking she'd won, only to gasp as something unexpected happened.

Her abomination stopped responding to her commands.

"W-What's going on!? Why can't I move it!?" she cried, trying as hard as she could. Unbeknownst to her, Willow had manipulated the vines inside her own abomination into worming through to Amity's, using the points of contact between the two. This allowed her to give Amity's abomination a skeleton of its own, taking control of it. Willow then manipulated the vines to force the two abominations to twist together, becoming a much larger, four armed and two headed version that was controlled almost fully by Willow. Amity was able to slow the creature down by manipulating the slime she'd made, but Willow's was thicker and more viscous thanks to the tree sap, making it hard for Amity to do even that much.

Seeing the abomination get bigger and more violent, Skara and Jeb ran for their lives, while Gus, Bo, and Cat dragged a reluctant Luz a bit further from the danger zone. Boscha, now with only Amity as back up, began to panic and throw whatever potions she had at the abomination in hopes of stopping it. However the abomination just absorbed the bottles instead of letting them break against it, then shot them back at Boscha, increasing the chaos as they exploded around the girl.

"Alright already, I'm sorry! Just cut it out!" Boscha cried, whilst coughing on the fumes from a fog brew.

"You made my friend bleed, so I'll bleed you too!" Willow roared, her voice carrying an unnatural echo thanks to the overload.

The abomination stomped towards Boscha, its new arms moulding into blades that had all the teens paling. Those things would cleave Boscha in two!

"Willow, please stop! I'm okay!" Luz yelled, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

Amity continued to struggle to keep her hold on the abomination with her magic, then groaned; "Ugh, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, but it looks like I'll have to destroy BOTH our projects!" she said, before drawing a new spell circle.

One of the first spells taught in the abomination track was how to destroy one's own abominations if needed; it was a spell that caused any slime with their magic mixed in to rapidly break down, rendering it inert. However, Amity's father was a genius when it came to abominations and had taught her a variation… one that caused the magic mixed into her creations to explode rather than break down, destroying everything around it.

The moment Amity cast her spell, all the parts of the abomination made from her own slime began to glow a brilliant lilac, before violently exploding. The abomination roared as it was blown apart, sending chunks of Willow's slime in all directions, splattering Amity and Boscha, and making a massive hole in the stone path.

"A bit more violent than I'd hoped, but at least the problem is… solved…" Amity's words trailed off as the smoke of the explosion cleared and revealed the abomination was still standing. Or rather, the vine skeleton was still standing. A thick, vaguely humanoid mass of thorny vines stood where the abomination had, severely damaged by the explosion but still functioning. In fact, it was still working so well that the burnt vines were swiftly discarded and new ones grown in to replace them, while the thorns on its fists began to grow longer and more dangerous.

One vine tendril swiped at Amity, forcing her to dive out of the way. "So that's how she improved so much! She stuck a plant inside! But who knew she was so good at plant magic!?" Amity yelped.

"I did! I said she was awesome, she's just in the wrong track!" Luz yelled. The angel girl was now fully healed and feeling much better (though she knew the blood on her shirt, combined with the holes in her leggings was gonna make Eda flip when she saw them).

"You see? Luz believed in me…" Willow growled, "…and you hurt her! Let's see whose Half-a-Witch when I'm done with you two!"

The vine construct began attacking both Amity and Boscha, forcing both girls to dodge and run around in a panic. Both were kept so busy that neither had a chance to cast any spells, and Willow was being clever with her attacks, forcing them to dodge in specific ways so she could corral them together. After a moment, Willow sent out a pair of simultaneous attacks, forcing Amity and Boscha to dodge in such a way that they slammed into each other and fell to the ground with a groan. Then, before they could get up or escape, a massive thorny tendril came slamming down on top of them.

They cried out in fear, but the tendril was vaporised by a sudden ray of light from Luz. Upon seeing this, Willow hesitated and Luz ran to stand between her plant golem and the two fallen girls.

"Willow, you need to stop! I'm not hurt any more, and this is going too far! I know you're upset, but we can work this out! You just need to calm down." Luz begged.

Willow looked to be at war with herself; "I-I can't! After all they've done to me… after what Boscha did to you… I can't just forgive them!"

"You don't need to forgive them, but you don't need to hurt them either!" Luz said, giving Willow a gentle smile; "Look at them; they're terrified and powerless! You've made them feel how they made you feel with their bullying. But it's over now; if you go any further, then you'll be the bad guy. You don't want that, right?"

"N-No… I don't want to be like them. I don't want to be a bully…" Willow said softly, the glow in her eyes getting duller.

Luz smiled, sure that she had it. But then things took a turn for the worse…

While the rest of Boscha's friends had been either healing Luz or had run off after they were beaten, one had remained hidden behind a tree near the path. Amelia, the plant track girl, had been hiding because she was terrified and helpless, not believing her plant magic would help against an abomination. But now that she saw the abomination was actually a plant golem, and Willow seemed distracted? Well that was the perfect chance to help and even be the hero who saved her team captain!

And so Amelia crept out of the trees and used her plant magic to try and wrest control of the vines from Willow. She gasped as her magic actually struggled against Willow's, and paled as the bespectacled girl glared at her. Luz, Amity, and Boscha all looked shocked, though for different reasons.

"What are you doing!? Luz has this handled!" Amity yelled.

Amelia, trying to look cool in front of Boscha, smiled shakily; "I can handle this! There's no way I'll lose at magic to Half-a-Witch!"

This was the exact worst thing to say, and if Luz wasn't so shocked, she would have facepalmed at the sheer stupidity of it. Willow, as expected, took the comment extremely badly and her temper skyrocketed once again, her eyes glowing as brightly as they had before.

"Even after all this, you still act like I'm some weakling!? Well if I'm Half-a-Witch; then you're all plant food! AAAGGGGHHHHH!"

Willow let loose a blood-curdling scream of rage, and her plant golem leapt into the hole in the ground made by Amity's explosion. A rumbling shook the earth beneath their feet, and before anyone could do anything or move anywhere, a massive number of vines burst from the hole and under their feet, wrapping around everyone. They caught Amity, Boscha, and Amelia, as well as Luz and even Willow herself, while only Gus, Bo, and Cat escaped their grasp by being too far from the epicentre of the chaos. The captured teens were carried high into the air, and Luz struggled to get a hand free so she could blast some of the vines and escape, but just as she succeeded and was preparing a blast, all the vines suddenly retreated underground, dragging their captives with them. Luz cried out, right before everything went dark and silent.