Chapter 2: Right...?

This was bad, this was bad, this was very very very bad!

The woman sat them down on a stool and a chair, Midori scooting closer to try and shield Luz from any danger.

"We're sorry!" Luz and Midori both pleaded with the woman. "I just wanted my book! Do whatever you want with me just don't hurt him, make it quick! Just-!"

"Hush!" The woman clamped a hand over both their mouths. "Now, with all that yapping out of the way, let's get to business."

Luz and Midori gave each other a confused look before looking at the woman.

"Can I offer you a human foot filled with holes?" She said while presenting a croc. "Bar of green human candy?" That was a stick of deodorant. "Oh!" She said while digging under the counter. "How about this black shadow box that reflects only sadness?" That was an old portable TV.

"She's joking, right?" Midori whispered to her.

Luz noticed some batteries sitting in a dish labelled 'Human Candy(????)' and had an idea.

"Follow my lead," Luz whispered back and got up from the stool.

"Hey!" the woman seemed suspicious. "What are you two whispering about?"

"N-nothing!" Luz reached for the old TV. "Bu-uuut, wanna see what else this box can do?"

The woman looked at her quizzically, but let Luz and Midori handle the TV. He held it while she put in the batteries, hoping they worked, and her prayers were answered when, after pressing the power button, it began playing a dance-work out video.

"Ta-da!" They said in mostly unison, presenting the now working TV.

Within seconds, several people came around, all wanting to purchase the 'screaming box' from them, all yelling prices and offers over each other.

The woman smirked at them. "What did you say your names were?"

"I'm Luz," Luz introduced herself, pulling Midori away from someone's else grabby hands. "And this is my friend, Midori." She lightly nudged him, and he gave a small but still polite bow.

"N-nice to meet you."

"What did he say?" The woman asked while taking money from the crowd.

"Huh?" It took a second to realize Midori spoke in Japanese. "Oh! Midori's from Japan, so naturally he speaks Japanese and we've been teaching each other languages. Not to brag, but I consider myself a great English tutor-"

"Yeah yeah." The woman dug into her hair, pulling out a small purple gem on a gold chain, which she put on Midori with barely a struggle given her quick movements and him just being stunned. "Little known fact about Oracle magic, it can translate different languages. No need for all that learning junk."

"But I like learning," Midori spoke and his English was practically perfect! He noticed it and gasped. "Did I just-?"

"Busted!" A voice boomed and broke the TV with a single punch.

Midori shielded Luz, both practically leaping away from the sudden flying glass and circuits.

"Run! It's a guard!"

The customers ran screaming while the huge guard brought out a wanted poster, though they could not see it from this angle.

"Eda the Owl Lady!" The guard spoke. "You are wanted for misuse of magic and demonic misdemeanors!"

"She's a crook!?" Midori, again with perfect English to Luz's ears, gasped in surprise yet again.

"Whoa!" Luz was getting excited. "Magic?" She lifted the purple gem of the necklace. "Criminals?" She glanced again at the shop owner. "Magic criminals?"

"Luz!" Midori whispered to her. "Come on! We have to leave! Before things get really bad!"

"What?" Luz shook her head. "No, no! It's fine! Besides, at least we're spending some more time together ri-"

"You two!"

"Whoa!"

A hand grabbed Luz by the hood and Midori by the back of his shirt.

"You're also going to the Conformatorium for fraternizing with a criminal!" The guard gave them both a stern look.

"Wha-!? Hey!" Luz shouted. "Not cool! What kind of court system is this!?"

"I'm a good boy, I swear!" Midori whined.

"Okay, okay!" The woman held up her hands placatingly. "Don't get your beak all twisted up. Just let me grab my stuff first."

WHACK

The woman hit the guard with her staff, which made him let go of Luz and Midori as the guard himself fell with a thud.

Luz grabbed her bag, seeing the magic crook Eda floating all her stuff with a orange-goldish light into a big green bundle carried on the end of her staff.

"Follow me kids!" The woman gestured and began running. For an old lady, she was pretty quick!

Luz looked behind her to make sure Midori was still there, grabbing his hand so they did not get separated again as she ran after their sort-of-savior.

"Waitwaitwait!" Midori yelled. "We need to be careful! If we die here our moms are gonna kill us!"

ringringring!

"Ohhh no," Luz saw she was getting a phone call from her mom.

"Don't worry your curly head there, kid!" Miss Eda scoffed with a smirk. "You two are worth more to me alive than dead!"

"What's that supposed to-!?"

"Whoo-hoo!" Miss Eda cheered while hooking her arm with Luz's, and the two teens held onto each other as the ground was swept away under them.

"This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy!" Midori was muttering. "This has to be a dream, o-or a nightmare-! Or is the portal her Quirk? But how did she levitate all that stuff too? What is this place!?"

"You're mumbling again!" Luz needed something normal with the wind rushing in her ears, no solid ground beneath them, and Midori having a tight grip on her arm. Her phone was still ringing, but they were in the middle of a chase!

"You do know you can open your eyes now, right?" Miss Eda calmly said.

Luz, eyes teary, did so and she saw herself sitting on the dangerously thin staff, a landscape of red grass and trees rushing under her, along with Midori hanging on for dear life, him looking down with shocked wide eyes.

"AAAHHH!!!" They both screamed, holding onto anything, for Midori one hand tightened around the staff, for Luz it was the lady sitting comfortably right behind her, with an even tighter grip than before. They both managed to find each other and hold on for dear life.

"Okayokay!" Luz grabbed Midori's ankle in an attempt to help him. "If this is a dream, I'd really like for us to wake up now and not be wherever this place is!"

"This isn't a dream pipsqueaks, this-" Apparently Luz's attempt was not necessary, as Miss Eda just grabbed Midori and set him right side up on what little room left there was on the staff. "Is the Boiling Isles. Every myth you humans have is a little bit of our world finding its way to yours."

A giant griffin flew past them, spewing spiders.

"Ha!" Luz pointed at it, then gave a look to Midori. "Told you griffons had spider breath!"

Midori instantly looked a bit annoyed.

"Yep!" Miss Eda continued. "Griffins, vampires, giraffes-"

"Giraffes?" Midori looked at her.

"We banished those freaks centuries ago." Miss Eda just shrugged as they descended, hovering close enough to the ground to hop off without falling to their deaths. "Sorry not sorry if they caused any trouble for you in the Human Realm."

"Wait, but how does thaaa-your hand!" Midori pointed to the disembodied hand left behind on the staff.

"AHH!" Luz went to Midori immediately, seeing the woman casually pop it back into place.

"Um, excuse me," Midori tentatively spoke up. "We are clearly not supposed to be here and are needed elsewhere. Can you please help us get home?"

Miss Eda swung her staff, pointing it at the two. "Only if you two help me first." She snorted and laughed, levitating her things again and beginning to walk away. "Come along now, humans."

Reluctantly, seeing as they had no other options, the two followed her to a cottage in the woods by a cliffside. Two, no, three stories tall, with a stone tower behind it, white and blue with a stained-glass window resembling an eye near the top, as if it was keeping watch.

The cottage even had a living door named Hooty!

Though Miss Eda was kinda mean to him.

"Welcome to the Owl House!"

The place lit up with candles, the fireplace started all by itself, a bubbling cauldron started stirring itself, and a broom started sweeping the floor! On the ceiling was a intricate image of an owl. Above the couches, among a lot of other cool things like a skull, a sword, and a...foam finger? There was a wanted poster for one trillion!

To say Luz was in awe was an understatement.

"I-is this your Quirk?" Midori asked. "Making things come to life? Or some form of levitation?"

"Oh I'm quirky alright," Miss Eda snorted again. "But this, dear children, is bonafide, genuine real-deal magic!" She snapped her fingers, a ball of fire forming in her hand before it became water, then light, and exploded into tinier orbs. "Here is where I hide away from modern life. And the cops. And ex boyfriends."

"Luz," Midori pulled her aside and whispered. "We're supposed to be leaving!"

"What?" Luz whispered back. "Oh, come on! We can stay a little while. Plus, she said if we help her, she'll help us get back. And aren't Pro Heroes all about helping others?"

Midori did not seem convinced. "I mean, yeah-?"

"Great!" Luz smiled. "We'll make this quick! In and out, twenty minutes! Maybe twenty-two, who knows? At most it shouldn't be more than an hour."

"Luz-"

"Who dares intrude upon I-!" A voice boomed, a looming shadow approached, but what came through the door was a tiny...fox...dog...? "The king of demons!"

Luz gasped. "¡Ay, que lindo!" She went to pick up the little creature. "He's so cute! Who's a widdle guy? Is it you? Are you a widdle guy?"

"Luz!" Midori whined again.

"Eda!" The little guy whined too. "Who are these monsters!?"

"These two," Eda the Owl Lady dragged Luz away, and Midori was quick to get in between them, "are Luz, and her friend, Midori. They're the humans who agreed to help us with our little situation."

"I agreed to no such thing!" Midori immediately shouted.

"I did!" Luz broke out of his admittedly weak hold. "Wait, what is this 'little situation' exactly?"

"Just let me expla-" Eda began to move.

"Wait!" Midori interrupted. "Luz, come on! We have to leave!"

"Without helping?" Luz pointed out.

"She's a villain!" Midori pointed to the wanted poster.

Luz gasped offendedly. "Midoriya Izuku, I am shocked you would judge a book by its cover! What if she's been falsely accused? Or trying to turn her life around?"

"Heh, as if." Eda rolled her eyes and crossed her arms with a smirk.

Midori gestured to Eda.

"Aren't you even going to give her a chance to explain herself?" Luz asked. "What if this is super important?"

Midori shrunk a bit but looked up at her. "More important than our promises to our moms?"

Luz knew he had a point. That they were definitely not supposed to be here, him especially since he was supposed to be going on a plane back to Japan. Maybe, just maybe, this fantasy world, while not the PG one she had always dreamt about could still have a weird timey-wimey gimmick. They could go back, only seconds could have passed. A whole month and not even an hour back home! But if it was the other way around-

She shook her head at that thought and looked up at Midori.

"Fine." Luz threw her hands up. "Miss Eda, can you pretty please let Midori go home?"

"Well," Miss Eda was picking at her ear. "I guess-"

"Luz, I'm not leaving without you." Midori protested.

"And I'm not leaving with you." Luz said, teary eyed.

Midori looked shocked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Luz can see the hurt in his eyes. "We barely made this whole trip work in the first place-"

"W-well our schools are so different," Midori stammered. "Different countries, different languages, even totally different days between us-"

"Is different bad?" Luz held onto her bag.

"N-no!" Midori quickly defended. "J-just, difficult."

Oh.

"Well," Luz huffed incredulously. "If I'm so difficult, why don't you just go home-?"

"I do want to go back home!" Midori interrupted.

"Y-yeah-" Luz felt her heart sting at the thought he did not want to be around her any longer than he had to be. "Well maybe, I don't!" Luz yelled back.

Midori was taken aback but then Eda stepped in between them.

"Oh-ho-kay!" She put some distance between them. "Spicy words are being tossed around," she chuckled a little. "And I do only need one of you to pull off this little heist, sooo-"

Miss Eda pulled out an old brown key with an eye and grabbed Luz, tossing the girl over her shoulder.

"How about this? I take Luz for a fun adventure full of dangerous obstacles and near impossible odds where, if we survive, we get honor and glory, while you-" she pressed the eye on the key, which opened the glowing door in front of the fireplace, "can either stay in the house and wait for us or go home to whatever boring mundane life you humans have back in your world. Sound fair?"

Luz felt Midori glance at her, but she did her best not to glance back, at least when he was not looking.

"Great!" Miss Eda did not actually wait for a response. "Hooty, watch the house."

"Still no fun!" Hooty loudly complained.

"I'll explain more on the way," Miss Eda grabbed her staff and set Luz on it before hopping on herself.

There was a pause.

"No sweet goodbyes-?" Miss Eda asked. "Or whatever it is humans to say to their friends." She waved it off.

Luz and Midori glanced at each other again. They did promise each other not to leave any conversation upset with each other.

"I'll see you later, Midori." She said quietly.

"Take care, Luz." Midori was equally as quiet.

And with that, Miss Eda flew them to the Conformatorium, explaining that her little roommate King was the aptly named ruler of demon kind until his crown was stolen, reducing him to a cute little and near powerless body.

Luz got a glimpse of adult love life, which she hated every word of, and learned that witches can apparently just start falling apart as they age. She helped free the prisoners who had actually not done any crime at all besides being different from the norm in place by society and maybe Luz was feeling a bit more bitter about not being normal in the Human Realm that fueled the impromptu prison break. King got his crown back, which was actually a paper toy from a fast food joint, until it was crushed.

But if there was any bright spot, like her dad would say...

"Aw man!" Luz gasped as they were flying back to the Owl House. "I hit those fireworks perfectly! Midori would have been so impressed!"

"Maybe less so with the whole prison riot thing," Miss Eda snorted. "But if it helps you make up with your boyfriend, brag away."

"What!?" Luz did a double take, looking up at Miss Eda. "No! Nonononono! Midori is literally just a friend to me!"

"Who's also a boy!" King teased.

"Guys, seriously," Luz protested, which was probably not helping her case. "He's the brother I never had! I can be my wonderful and weird self around him because he's also wonderfully weird."

"Even if he decided to stay and miss the party?" Miss Eda glanced at the fireworks still going off in the distance.

"He's not good with parties." Luz explained. "Or people."

The Owl House came into view, the door wide open and the owl...door...thing now all long and wormy-

"Hooty!" Miss Eda poked him in the eyes again.

"Ow!"

"What did I say about leaving the door open?"

"Hey! I do my job good!" Hooty protested. "Hoot!"

"Midori!" Luz called out, peeking into the house and seeing the portal still open. "Midori?" She looked around, trying to catch at least a glimpse but unless he was somewhere else, he was nowhere to be seen.

"If you're looking for the little green kid, he left a while go." Hooty said, swinging the door a bit as if for emphasis.

"He..." Luz clutched the strap of her bag. "He actually left?"

"Uhhh, well," Hooty stammered. "Between the mumbling, and the questions, and him saying he really ought to be going home, I kinda fell asleep. But yeah, he gone. Hoot."

Miss Eda yawned a bit and set her staff on one of the couches. "Welp! Deal's a deal," she snapped her fingers, and the key floated out of Luz's bag. "You should be getting home too."

Luz sighed, but looked to King.

"I know it's not the same," Luz was going through the motions, reaching into her bag for the Azura doll. "But a king shouldn't be without a crown." She put the little plastic crown on the top of King's head, which he was delighted to have.

"Oh, and don't forget these," Miss Eda handed her the Good Witch Azura book, along with the Reality Check Summer Camp pamphlet. Luz noticed there was an extra piece of paper on top of the pile.

'Tell me everything, everything!, later :) -Midori'

Luz felt the weight of worry drop from her shoulders. He did leave but he left a note, that meant they were still friends!

She looked down at the book, then up to the portal when she noticed the mirror above the fireplace, and how everyone inside the Owl House were arranged just right-

She gasped in realization.

Luz was in Azura's place!

"O-okay," Luz stammered, turning around. "I know you kinda got your head cut off, and I put fireworks in the warden's mouth, but that's way more than anything I could ever do back home."

Eda and King looked surprised.

"I don't fit in at home," Luz admitted. "And neither does Midori," she looked at the portal, "but we don't fit in together, and I want to stay and not fit in with you too!"

Luz looked up to Eda hopefully, seeing a smile on the woman's face.

"You want to stay?" Eda just asked, as if surprised.

Luz took a deep breath and smiled too. "Yes! I want to learn to be a witch like you!" She held up her book. "And Azura!" She looked at the portal, then to the pamphlet. "I'm not going back until I learn how to make things float, and-and-and throw fireballs, and have cool adventures like today!"

"Okay okay," Eda chuckled a bit. "But you do know humans can't be witches, right?"

"Well," Luz crumbled up the pamphlet. "Maybe I'll just have to be the first. I mean, I got an extra toe joint, so I'm pretty much a blank slate."

"Whatever that means," Eda ruffled her hair. "Good to have ya, kid."

She threw the crumpled pamphlet through the portal and out of her sight.

With King curled up on her stomach like a cat, Luz tried to settle into her sleeping bag, ready to sleep and hope this was not a crazy shared dream. But the more she stared at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of the boiling sea and a woodland filled with dangerous creatures just outside the relative safety of the Owl House, she knew her brain would not let her get a good night's rest.

She gasped, remembering something very important.

"My phone!" Luz shot up, accidentally making King tumble to the floor. "Where is it?" She searched her belonging, throwing everything out of her bag. "Did I drop it? Ugh, my mom's gonna kill me!"

"Hey! When the King of Demons says it's bedtime, that means no suddenly getting up!" King scolded her.

"But my mom was calling me, she probably thinks I'm at that dumb camp she wanted me to go!"

"And I want to go sleep!" King crossed his arms and waved her off. "We'll get you a new one tomorrow."

"But-!"

"Good night, Luz." King said rather forcefully, climbing into her lap and settling down again.

After a taking a second to realize she was definitely not going anywhere any time soon, Luz flopped back onto her pillow with a groan, covering her face with her arm. String tickled her eyes and nose, and she looked again, seeing the friendship bracelets she made with Midori.

He was okay, right? He was back in the Human Realm, and no weird time gimmick was at play, so he was most definitely and absolutely okay. He had to be. Maybe he just got a bit lost in the forest or was hiding in that old house and lost track of time, 'applying himself' in those notebooks of his. Yeah, that had to be what happened! The simplest explanation was the right one sometimes. Reassuring herself, Luz was positive she was not about to lose sleep wondering if something in the Boiling Isles ate him or whether it would be better if he was lost in the woods back home as opposed to that of the Boiling Isles.

...

...

Luz did not get a wink of sleep.

"HOOT HOOT, GOOD MORNING!"

"AHHH!"