Enchanting Grom Fright

At the Owl House, Luz was sitting in the living room as she worked on getting a new glyph combo to work. "Come on! Work this time," Luz grumbled as she tapped on the glyph combo before it activated and a small water fountain rose from the paper.

"Yes! Check it out, King. My glyph skills are… flowing," Luz said as she waved her hand in front of her.

"Oof, that pun physically hurt me," Cruz said as he was working on a pair of gloves as the glass on the back of the hand changed to a dark blue. "Alright, I got it!"

"You think that's impressive? Check this out!" King said as he lifted up Luz's phone. "Two warriors battling to the death!"

The twins walked up to King and looked at the screen where two kittens were meowing. One was getting ready to pounce before it fell on its back.

Luz looked up seeing the portal door open with a cable feeding through it. "Ah. I see we're getting enough Wi-Fi through the portal for cat videos."

"Eda managed to find an outlet near some house to 'borrow' their connection," Cruz said as shrugged

"Senseless violence. Yes, attack! Death is your god!"

"I regret teaching you about the internet," Luz said with worry

"Hah! What possible regrets could come from the internet?" King dismissed

"Lots of regrets," Cruz said

"Oh! Did you know that the Earth is actually flat?"

"Like that."

"Yep, that's not right." Luz quickly snatched the phone from King's hands. Suddenly, Luz's phones vibrated as she got a message from her mom.

"How's camp, cariño? 3, mamá," the text read

Luz gulps as she reads the text before trying to type something and deleting it over and over until she finally sends a thumbs-up emoji. "Good enough."

"Ah, a severed hand! A perfect response," King commented

"You know that's not a good response to it," Cruz said as his own phone vibrated. When he took it out, it had a message from their mom as well.

"Take care at camp, mi niño. Don't stay up too late on your inventions."

Cruz quickly sent the same thumbs up emoji as Luz before noticing Luz giving him a deadpanned look. "Cállese(shut up)."

Luz flopped onto the couch in frustration. "Ugh! What am I supposed to say?" Luz said as she sat back up. "'Hey, Mom, not at camp actually! I'm in the demon realm learning to be a witch! Also, did you know demons and magic are real?' She. Will. End. Me."

"Not to mention how I'm going to explain any of this!" Cruz said as he pointed to his new horns.

"Nah, she'd be freaked out by our world anyway. So actually, by keeping the truth from her, you're doing her a favor!" King said happily

"Hm. The demon on my shoulder makes a good point."

"Weird how we'll happily accept any advice when we're desperate, even from a shoulder demon."

"Always trust a shoulder demon!" King said as he snatched the phone back from Luz.

Suddenly, Hooty swung the door open. "Hoot hoot, Luz and Cruz! Time to fill up that darling little head of yours with..." Hooty started to gag for a second before he regurgitated a pile of books. "Mm-hmm. Delicious knowledge!"

"Please hurry!" Gus whisper-yelled as he peeked into the living room.

"The more I look at him, the more uncomfortable I get," Willow said as she peeked in too.

"Hoot hoot!"

Luz stood up as she kissed King on the skull. "Don't spend all day watching MewTube, 'kay?"

"It gets too addictive," Cruz called out as he and Luz headed towards the door.

"I forge my own path!" King yelled to them. He watch as a black cat started to chase its own tail. "What a dum-dum," King snickered as his own tail started to wag. He tried to catch it for a second before giving up and flopping on the couch. "Ugh. Who has the energy?"

At Hexside, the spider demon teacher, in charge of the kindergarten students, was decorating the halls with streamers. "Coming through! Watch your heads!"

The halls were all decorated with balloons made out of yellow abomination goo and other decorations of the same color.

"Something's different today. Did everyone get a haircut?" Luz pondered.

"Why is that your guess?" Cruz wondered

"Oh yeah! I forgot neither of you have ever been here for the social event of the season," Willow said in excitement.

"Welcome to your first, Grom!" Gus said equally excited

"Wait, Grom? What's that?" Cruz asked

"It's like a giant school dance here at Hexside. Just with a… twist," Willow explained

"You guys have a weird version of prom on the Boiling Isles? I was kicked out of my last school dance for dressing like an otter," Luz said as she struck a pose.

"I still can't believe you decided to bring the otter costume to the dance," Cruz said as Luz blew a raspberry at him.

"Maybe here, I could be your Grom Queen."

"That's, uh, not something people usually sign up for," Willow said with a cringe.

"What's wrong with Grom Queen?" Cruz wondered as Amity rounded the corner and bumped into Luz, dropping all of her things.

"Watch it, nitwit!" Amity said angrily before she saw who she'd bumped into. "Oh. Hi, Luz, Cruz… and co. Sorry about that."

"No problem, let me help you," Luz said as she picked up the books and handed them to Amity. "Here, your note."

Amity quickly snatched the note from Luz's hand. "Man, you've got some quick grabbers," Luz said

"It's just… it's private," Amity said looking down as the speakers screeched gaining all of their attentions.

"I'm so nervous."

"Shh! This is it!"

"Attention Hexside students. This is your principal speaking," Bump said over the intercom.

"Oh, man. This is it!" Gus said nervously

"He's announcing who'll be this year's Grom royalty," Willow said

"This year, I have the privilege to bestow our highest Grom honor to… Amity Blight."

Luz, Cruz, Willow, and Gus all gasped as they turned to look at Amity. "Our Grom Queen!"

"It's Amity!" one student said in surprise as multiple students muttered to themselves as Amity is visibly uneasy.

"Whoo! Amity! Get it, Queen!" Luz cheers as she holds up her hand towards Amity for a high five. Amity looks around the hall before running off.

"Don't leave me hangin'!"

"You might want to give her some space," Willow said as she placed her hand on Luz's shoulder. "Being Grom Queen is a tough job, even for Amity."

"Luz, let's go check out the gym in the meantime. They might be setting up the whole thing in there," Cruz said

"You're right! Let's go check it out!" Luz said in excitement. "This might also tell us why being Grom Queen is such a big deal," Cruz added in as he and Luz headed towards the gym.

After Luz and Cruz had left, Skara walked up to Willow while looking around. "Oh hey, Skara. What're you looking for?" Willow asked.

"Oh hey, Willow. I was just wondering where Cruz was," Skara said

"You're looking for Cruz, huh?" Willow said with a slight knowing smirk

"What?" Skara asked with a slight blush

"Oh, nothing. Cruz and Luz both headed towards the gym to go look at the decorations. If you're planning to ask Cruz something, that's your best place to look."

"Ask him something? What do you mean?" Skara asked with a slight panic.

"Oh well maybe I was wrong," Willow said with a smile. "I'm just surprised that you didn't have anyone ask you to Grom."

Skara looked slightly surprised as she scratched the back of her head. "Well, someone did ask me earlier to Grom. But I turned them down, it just didn't feel right to go with them."

"I get what you mean. You might still find Cruz in the gym with Luz," Willow said as she left with Gus.

In the gymnasium, multiple students are setting up the decorations while Principal Bump is supervising them.

"Very good. Lower the streamers, fill the punch bowl, and—how's my disco ball?" Bump asked the Snaggleback as he's hanging from the ceiling holding onto a rope with multiple gems on his shell.

"Nauseous," the Snaggleback said as he was spinning.

"Great. Just keep it up for… thirty-six more hours," Bump said as he left the gym as Luz and Cruz entered the gym.

"Ah. Our first school dance on the Boiling Isles. I can't wait to get overdressed, take awkward photos, push all the buttons—wait, what?" Luz asked in confusion seeing red button on a black and red pedestal with insect legs on the bottom.

"Well, hello. Don't mind if I do," Luz said

"Don't just—and you're already pressing it," Cruz said as Luz pressed on the button. The ground began to shake as the floor opened up to show an underground arena.

From the ground next to them, two walls of weapons rose up.

Luz gasped when she saw them. "Medieval torture seems like a strange theme for Grom, but hey," Luz said with a shrug.

"Definitely some weird decorations," Cruz added in.

"They're not for decoration," Amity said as the twins turned to look at Amity sitting at the top of the bleachers before she started walking down to them. "This arena's where I'll make my debut as Grom Queen."

"Right. Why don't you seem excited?"

"Because this isn't just some dance party," Amity explained as she grabbed a sword. Down in the arena a pile of black goop rumbled and growled at them before sinking into the floor.

"That's Grom. Short for Grometheus, the fear-bringer. It's a monster that lives under the school." Amity created a spell circle that's started showing images of the large black goop and a Hexside student.

"Every year it tries to break out, and a student has to defeat it before it invades the town," Amity explained as the goop changed into different fears. "Ever the optimist, Bump holds a party and calls it tradition. The worst thing is that Grom can read minds and shape-shift into your worst fear. And mine… is *very* embarrassing."

"If it worries you so much, then why don't you tell Principal Bump you want out of this death match biz?" Luz asked

"From what I'm getting, beating Grom is necessary so we don't got all kinds of nightmares running around," Cruz said

"Oh, yeah," Luz said before she gasped. "Unless talking to Bump is your greatest fear."

"No, but that's a good idea. Thanks, Luz," Amity said with a chuckle before walking away.

As Amity walked away, Luz began to ponder. "Don't worry, sis. I'm sure that Amity can handle this. Let's go home, we've got to get ready for this dance," Cruz said.

As Cruz and Luz were about to leave, Skara walked into the gym. "Oh, Cruz. I'm glad I found you."

"Oh hey, Skara. What's up?"

"I wanted to ask you something," Skara said slightly nervous

Luz saw the look on Skara's face and smirked. "I'll head on home first, Cruz. I'll see you there later," Luz said as she left.

"Ya miré esa cara(I saw that face), you're not funny," Cruz called out. "Sorry about her, what did you need?"

"I wanted to ask if you'd want to go with me to Grom. You know, if you weren't already going with someone," Skara said still slightly nervous.

Cruz's eyes widened slightly when he heard her feeling warmth rising to his face. "Oh, uh, yeah. If you don't really mind then I'd really like that."

Skara smiled, relief washing over her. "Great! Then we can meet up here before the dance starts!"

Cruz could feel his blush get bigger when he saw Skara's smile. Before he could say anything else he heard the Snaggleback from behind him yell out in a hurry. "Put down a tarp! I'm gonna puke!"

"And that's our cue to leave," Cruz said as he and Skara quickly ran out of the gym.

Back at the Owl House, Luz and Cruz had just gotten back home. "We're home~!" Luz called out

"Ow!" Eda yelled out from her room as Luz and Cruz entered.

"Guys?"

Eda was wearing a brown tuxedo while King was standing on a pile of books, wearing a green tailor's apron.

"Careful with those pins," Eda warned King with a slight glare.

"Why am I doing this? I don't even wear clothes!" King argued back in annoyance.

"Hey, sweet duds, Owl Lady! What's the haps?" Luz asked as she sat on Eda's nest.

"You got plans, Eda?" Cruz asked curiously as he sat down on the nest too.

"I'm chaperoning Grom tonight," Eda said as she flipped her hair back with a smile "So I have to look sharp."

"And Gus asked me to co-emcee the fight!" King said as he held up a poster of him and Gus standing back to back wearing sunglasses. Gus was holding a microphone in his hand. "We're going to turn this blood-bath into a fun-bath!"

"Ooh! Have they announced the victim yet?" Eda asked

"Yeah. It's Amity. She's kinda freaking out though. I wish I could, like, take her place or something."

King and Eda start to laugh confusing Cruz. "A great joke, Luz!" King said as the two continued to laugh.

"I don't get what's so funny about her wanting to help out," Cruz pointed out

"Ah, listen, kid. That's a noble sentiment, but Grom is a little above your pay-grade. You're a human. You're… fragile," Eda said

Luz's face grew red with anger as she stood up and marched towards Eda. "Hey! I've been learning lots of new spells! I could totally handle it."

"There's a horrifying spider in your hair," Eda pointed out

"Nope. I'm not as fragile as you think, Eda," Luz said as she began to head towards the door. "And I can't be so easily fooled, either." Luz huffed as she left the room with a large yellow spider with a brown pincer mouth was nesting in her hair.

"You know, I take offense to you saying humans are fragile. We're not that fragile," Cruz said

"Kid, did you forget that you're not entirely human anymore?" Eda pointed out.

Cruz felt the top of his head where his new horns were and realized that she was right; and now a lot had to change in his life.

"Still can't deny that me and Luz are getting better at handling all sorts of things."

"He's got a point. Maybe you were too hard on her. She's saved you from multiple monsters, remember?" King pointed out.

"Facing Grom means facing your worst fear, you two. And I don't think Luz knows what that means yet," Eda said as she turned to look in the mirror. "Do you think I could pull off red eyeshadow?"

"Girl, you can pull off anything! Up top!" King said as he and Eda high-five, "We're style geniuses!" Cruz rolled his eyes before heading towards his room to get ready.

In the woods, Luz angrily tears through a bush with a branch she's holding. "'Fragile'. Eda doesn't know me! I-I'm brave! I'm a bad boy!" Luz yelped as she heard footsteps.

"Ominous footsteps, creepy woods. This is no problem." Luz braces herself as she raised the branch. "Luz chop!" She charged forward with a yell unknowingly hitting Amity and knocking her down into the mud.

"Ow!"

Luz gasped when she realized who she'd attacked. "Oh my gosh, Amity!" Luz said in concern as she pulled out a light glyph in the air to get a better view. "I'm so sorry!"

She extended her hand out to help Amity up from the mud. "And here I thought this day…" Luz pulled her up as there faces were close, Amity pulled away before sitting on a stump. "…couldn't get any worse."

Luz looked around and not seeing anywhere else to sit, decided to plop down in the mud. "Did you talk to Bump? Was it as terrifying as you imagined?"

Amity let out a disappointed sigh. "He said no. I'm Grom Queen, unless I can find a replacement. And who'd want to switch with me?"

Amity curls in on herself in disappointment. Luz looked down before an idea popped into her head.

"I would."

"What?"

"Amity Blight," Luz says as she stands up, "I'll do it. I'll take your place and face Grom in the arena. I'll be your fearless champion!" Luz strikes a heroic pose just as the spider in her hair decided to walk on to the front of her face.

Luz screamed before face planting onto the mud and rolling away as Amity looked on in concern. "Fearless… champion…" Luz said weakly.

The next day, Luz was looking through a chest as she took out a black dress with a yellow crescent moon on it. "Hmmm…" she put the dress back before rummaging and pulling an otter costume. "Hmm!"

Luz's phone buzzed gaining her attention. As she looked at it she saw a message from her mom. "Mira!(Look!) Visiting our fav after school snack spot!"

The image that Camila sent was of her holding a sandwich outside of a store called 'Chimichurri Sandwiches!' She got another message that read, "Miss you BEBE! XO"

Luz looked at her phone sadly before replaying with a smiling face emoji. "I still can't believe you agreed to switch with Amity for this Grom fight," Cruz said as he continued to fiddle with a pair of gloves. He'd decided to make a pair of fingerless gloves with the shield glyph combo on the back of the gloves so Luz would have some way to protect herself.

"Here, try them on," Cruz said as he tossed the gloves to Luz. "It's the best I can do on super short notice. I ran out of most of my supplies, I'll have to go and get some more after tonight."

"Thanks, Cruz. They fit perfectly," Luz said as she tried on the gloves. "Did you decide what you're wearing to Grom?"

"I've got a suit jacket in my room that I can wear. It's about the only formal wear stuff I've got."

"Oh, Luz! Cruz! You have a guest!" Hooty said as he smushed his face against Luz.

"Hooty! No touching!" Luz said as she swatted Hooty away. Hooty retreats out the window before the door opens with Amity entering the room.

"Amity!"

"If that bird-tube ever talks to me again, I'm going to destroy it," Amity stated as she picked feathers out of her hair. "You ready to train?" Amity asked as she pointed at Luz.

"Which should I wear to Grom?" Luz asked holding up the two outfits. "This one says, 'Witch with a dark side'" she put the dress away before holding up the otter costume. "But this one says 'I'm an otter… with a dark side'."

"Everything has a dark side now, I see," Cruz commented with a snicker.

"Luz, you need to take this seriously. If you can't defeat Grom, everyone on the island will have to live out their worst nightmare," Amity warned as Cruz flinched at the realization that he might have to face a nightmare he's had for years.

"You wanna hear my worst nightmare?" Hooty asked as he slithered into the room and scrunched against Amity's face before she began to beat him. "Hooty-hoot! Hoot, hoot!"

"Stop, stop! Amity, Amity, wai—Amity, stop!"

The three went outside after they'd managed to pull Amity away from Hooty. Amity is pacing in front of Luz, Cruz, Edric, and Emira. Behind her Hooty is wearing an eye patch and bandages.

"Grom will transform into your darkest fears. What are you afraid of, Luz?"

Luz began to think about it. "Wanna say our greatest fears?" Edric asked Emira. "On three. One, two… being alone forever!"

"Being stuck with you forever," Emira said, overlapping him, causing Edric to groan in disappointment.

"Ouch," Cruz said with sympathy

"In preparation, I've made a list!" Luz took out a piece of paper handing it to Amity. As Amity reads the paper, the twins come up and read it as well chuckling to themselves before drawing a spell circle.

A large phone appeared next to her with a man wearing a fedora with a message that read, "M'LADY".

"Jerks online who wanna debate!" Luz said with a yelp before a cat with a human face appeared next to her.

"Luz, help me! Help!"

"Human souls trapped in cat bodies!"

"I don't want to be this."

As Luz tried to look away a milk carton and glass appeared in the air before being poured. "No! I'm lactose intolerant!"

"Not enough," Amity said as she walked up to Luz. "The reason I can't face Grom-it goes deeper than things that just gross me out. What's your real fear, Luz?"

Luz looked up towards the stained glass window that was Eda's room. "My real fear… is that Eda thinks I'm too fragile to do this! And if she's right, I'll never be a real witch!"

The Blight twins looked at each other with smirks before creating a large spell circle together. A giant illusion of Eda rises from the ground, flipping her hair. The Eda illusion looks down at Luz with a smug look.

"You're inadequate," the Eda illusion said before creating a spell circle putting Luz in a high chair and a bib that says "weak baby".

Inside of Eda's room, she was checking herself out in the mirror wearing a yellow bow tie.

"Me-ow. Still got it."

"No!" Luz shouted from the outside gaining her attention as she went outside to check out the noise.

Eda opened the front door as the Blight twins looked proud of their creation as Cruz and Amity looked on nervously.

"I get it. Ditch the yellow," Eda said as she took off the bow tie before gasping. "Is that supposed to be me?"

Eda looked up at the illusion of herself which looked down at her with a smile. "Dang, I look great," Eda said with a chuckle before she realized something. "Wait a sec. You're training to be Grom Queen!"

"So what if I am?" Luz said as she tried to get out of the high chair before falling over and the high chair and bib disappeared.

"You think training will help against Grom? Luz, you always go overboard and I end up bailing you out. Now, what's the fun in watching a kid get eaten by a monster if it's my kid," Eda said, crossing her arms.

"Aww, you think of us as your kids," Cruz commented with a snicker

"Well, maybe you'll have fun watching me defeat Grom!" Luz said as she karate chopped the cat causing it to disappear. Luz looked proud of herself as Eda looked on in worry.

"Luz," Amity said as she walked up to her placing a hand on Luz's shoulder. "I don't think you're ready, but we're literally out of time."

"I'll take it!"

At Hexside, the Grom dance was in full swing as the Snaggleback is still hanging from the roof. "Arms… so tired."

Couples are awkwardly dancing on the dance floor. Willow is using her plant magic to make corsages for some students.

Skara is standing near the punch table looking around when someone comes up to her. "You look incredible," Cruz said as he walked up to her.

Cruz is wearing a black suit jacket with red highlights on the cuffs and a red tie. He wore a pair of dark jeans and a buttoned up white shirt tucked in.

"You look… great too," Skara said with a blush on her cheeks. Cruz took a look at Skara's beige tuxedo and pants and can't help but feel the heat rise to his cheeks.

"Sorry I was late, I had to help Luz get ready," Cruz explained

"Wait, what do you mean? Wouldn't Eda have helped her get ready?"

"Well… Eda didn't really want Luz to go through with the whole being Grom Queen thing."

"What?! I thought Amity was Grom Queen? When did that change!" Skara said in surprise

"Oh yeah, I can't believe I didn't tell you. Luz wanted to help out Amity and decided to switch with her. So now she's going to be facing Grom instead."

"Is she going to be alright?" Skara asked with worry. Cruz smiled at her concern. "She'll be fine. My sister can handle herself just fine out there." Cruz looked over at the dance floor before looking back at Skara. "Wanna go dance?" Cruz asked as he extended his hand. Skara smiled as she took it before the two headed towards the dance floor.

Over at the flower arch, Eda was standing looking at her watch which has King as the arms of the watch.

"Why so twitchy, witchy?" King asked as he walked up to her. "Trying to remember if I've ever seen you this worried before."

"Well, of course I'm worried! I'm going to have to save Luz from a nightmare monster! So much for mama's fun night out." Eda said with a groan as the lights dimmed.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and assorted demons!" Gus said as he stepped into the spotlight. "It's almost time for our main Grom event. Please, please, take a seat, and be aware that the first three rows are designated splash zones."

Gus gestured towards a row of bleachers where someone was sitting wearing a yellow rain coat and a blue umbrella.

"Wow, Gus is really good at this," King said as he and Eda sat in the bleachers along with multiple other students. "They're hanging on his every word!"

"I see we've got Principal Bump in the house! Now, sir, I hope you won't throw us in detention because, uh, we're going to raise the roof," Gus said as the spotlight moved to Bump, who is sitting in the bleachers. He makes a raise-the-roof motion as he smiles while the students all cheer around him.

"I, uh, hope my material's up to snuff," King said nervously as he dropped his cards. King fell backwards, landing on a whoopie cushion. "What do you think will go better with the youths, close-up magic or impressions?"

"Oh, King," Eda said as she held him up by the scruff and brought him closer. "Teenagers are brutal. They'll boo anyone, and that kind of public humiliation can stick with you for life."

"Aaahh!" King yelled in fear.

"Don't scare him like that, Eda," Cruz said as he sat next to them with Skara sitting next to him and waving at Eda and King. "You'll be fine, King. Just try and breath and you won't have anything to worry about," Cruz advised

"He's right, all you have to do is talk with confidence and you'll be alright," Skara said with a smile.

Outside of the gym, Amity was looking down at her note as she smoothed it out using her thumb.

"I'm not sure if it's nerves or if I accidentally drank some milk, but something's making my stomach squirm," Luz said as she got to the gym. Amity quickly put the note away.

"Uh, you look nice. Strange, but... nice," Amity said as she put her hand on Luz's shoulder. "And, thank you, Luz. Honestly, I'm kind of amazed with how fearless you are. You've done things I could never do."

"Hah! Yeah right! You goin' soft on me, Blight?"

"In your dreams," Amity said with a laugh

"Now introducing your Grom Queen," Gus called out from the gym gaining their attentions. "You know her, you love her… you've at least heard of her. Luz, the human!" The students in the gym all cheer as a spotlight falls on Luz.

"Wish me luck!" Luz said as she entered the gym

"Luck," Amity said quietly as she looked on in worry.

The pedestal with the red button skitters onto the stage next to Gus. After he pressed the button, the floor began to rumble as it split apart to reveal the arena.

"Looks like it's starting," Skara said with slight worry for her friend

"She's going to be just fine. We'll just have to enjoy the show," Cruz said as he looked towards the entrance.

The weapon rack rises on both sides of Luz. She grabbed a flail before placing an ice glyph on it before she headed into the area.

As she enters the area, Grom begins to stir. "There you are, Gromarama. Not too scary."

Grom begins to morph into multiple cats with human faces.

"Luz, help me. I'm a man. Make me human again," the cats say overlapping each other as they approach Luz.

"Ugh, so weird," Luz cringed before she slammed the flail onto the ground activating the ice glyph. A pillar of ice rises from the ground rocketing the cats into the air causing all the students to cheer.

"And there she goes, folks! Using that characteristic human magic to keep Grom at bay! And now, to hand things over to my co-emcee: King!" Gus said as King climbed up onto the stage before handing him the mic.

"Hel-LO, Hexside! So..." King said as he dropped his note cards and the microphone screeches in feedback.

"Oh, oh gosh. Um... whoo. Wow, these lights are warm." King tugged at his collar nervously. "Observe! Luz, is um... she's down there, all right. And, uh, yes she is! There she goes! Folks, she's battling the thing, and uh..."

The crowd starts to boo at King and his lackluster performance. "Bring back the funny kid!"

"You will clap for me!" King said angrily before he getting scared again, "Please?" In a panic, King throws the microphone onto the stage before running off wailing.

"King!" Gus called out before chasing after him.

In the arena, Grom had transformed into a large phone with the same online jerk as before. "You're not coming from a place of intellectual honesty, so debating you would be pointless!" Luz said angrily as she slammed an ice glyph onto the floor.

The glyph activates creating an ice spike piercing the illusion and dispelling it causing the crowd to cheer.

"Luz has lasted surprisingly long. But what form will Grom take next?" Bump said having picked up the microphone.

"Let's finish this! Human-style!" From behind Luz, Grom began to rise up taking the shape of Eda mixed with her owl beast form.

In the stands, a couple of students look up towards Eda who groans and covers her face using her hair. Grom reached out and touched Luz's forehead making both of their eyes glow blue. Then Grom morphed into the portal door confusing Luz and Cruz.

"Huh?" The portal door opened as Camila stepped through.

"Mija?" Camila asked in confusion shocking Luz

"Mom! What are you doing here?" Luz asked as Eda removed the hair from her face.

"Is that your mom?" Skara asked as she leaned towards Cruz.

"…Yeah," Cruz said after a small pause. He could feel the worry coming from Luz, knowing that this has been eating away at her for a while.

"Luz, what is this terrible place?" Grom Camila asked as she looked around. "Espérate un momento, (wait a minute), this isn't camp. Have you and your brother been here, all these weeks? And is that a weapon?"

Luz panicked before dropping the flail. "I can explain!"

"Mija, have you been lying to me?!" Grom Camila asked as she began to morph and tower over a terrified looking Luz.

"That's not good at all," Cruz said as he reached for his staff in case he needed to jump down there.

Luz looked at Grom Camila before turning on her heel. "Nope! Nope! Nope!" Luz yelled as she ran out of the gym and into the hall.

"I can't do it! I can't face my fear!" Luz yelled as she ran through the hallway and past Gus and King who were sitting on the floor.

"Why are you running, Luz?" Grom Camila asked chasing after her.

Cruz and Skara watched as Luz ran from Grom. "You've got to be kidding me," Cruz said as he turned to Skara. "Sorry, I've gotta go help her out."

"Don't worry, I understand. Go and help out your sister. Just promise me one thing," Skara said

"What's that?" Cruz asked

"Stay safe out there, you still owe me another dance," Skara said with a smile as Cruz nodded before running after Luz on his staff.

"Grom has escaped," Bump said as he and multiple other student went into the hall.

"He escaped!"

"Oh no!"

"Grom escaped. What are we going to do?"

Gus stared at the microphone in Bump's hand before looking back at King. "King, now's your chance." King quickly ran up to Bump and grabbed the microphone.

"Gimme!" King took a deep breath to steady himself. "King of demons, you got this. Well, folks, looks like our show literarily just took off!" All the students look at King in confusion.

"Weh?"

"You gotta pander," Gus encouraged

"Uh, took off just like your local sports team would take off when they're about to make a goal?" After a second all of the students began to cheer.

"Yeah, sports team!"

"Sports team!"

"Oh, yeah! I love our team!"

"Yeah, that's right, so let's follow them and see what happens next," King said as he jumped into Gus' arms as they all ran after Luz. Eda and Amity run out of the gym before looking at each other and nodding.

In the forest, Luz is running as Grom is chasing after her closely. "I don't wanna be Grom Queen anymore! I give up the throne!" Luz said as she stopped short at a cliff.

"Why can't you face me, Luz? Why can't you face your own mother?"

"You're not really my mom!" Luz said as she turned away

"How could you say that, cariño?! You're breaking my heart!" A pair of vines came from the ground grabbing Grom before lighting crackled on the vines, shocking Grom. High in the sky, Eda threw a fire ball at Grom.

"Spicy toss!" Eda said as she landed next to Cruz who held up his staff running lightning to the vines he'd summoned. "Hands off my human, you misshapen excuse for a monster!"

"Less trash talk, more magic! It's stronger than it looks for a pile of sludge," Cruz said as Grom growled before a tentacle reached out and grabbed him, causing both of their eyes to glow.

Grom morphed changing the top half from Camila into a sickly looking dark skinned man with shaggy beard and sunken cheeks.

"Wait, why him?" Luz wondered as she looked at the familiar looking man.

"You could have done something else," the man said angrily as Cruz looked at him with clear pain in his eyes.

"You're supposed to be the smart one, but you couldn't even do anything when I needed you the most. Instead you just waste your time with pointless junk."

As the man spoke, Cruz began to lower his staff as he could feel every word sting. "Maybe if you'd just tried harder, your sister and mother wouldn't have had to suffer so much." Cruz closed his eyes as he looked away from the man.

"Kid..." Eda said as she felt the urge to grab Cruz and take him away from Grom quickly.

"Eda!" Luz called out gaining her attention. "You were right! I'm not ready! No one's ready for this!"

"That's okay, I got this," Eda said as she started to prepare a spell. Before she could finish, Amity jumps out from the trees and puts herself in front of Luz and Grom. "Stay away from her!"

Grom turns away from Cruz as it looks back at Luz and Amity. It reached out, grabbing Amity and raising her into the air.

"I'm sorry, Luz. I should have fought my own battle."

Grom's eyes glowed blue as it started to read Amity's mind. "I-" Amity's eyes begin to glow blue as Grom begins to change form.

"Amity! No, your fear!" Luz called out in concern as Grom began to shrink into a humanoid form with no distinct features besides a similar height to Amity.

"Who is that?" Luz wondered. Grom grabs the pink note that Amity had from earlier before ripping it in half and throwing it onto the ground. Amity closes her eyes as she clutches her dress before grabbing on the halves of the note on the ground as Grom slinks away.

Luz makes her way to Amity before grabbing the other half and unfolding the paper. It read, "Will you go to Grom with me? -Amity"

Luz gasps when she reads the note. "You were afraid of getting rejected. Amity, it's okay. What if I went to Grom with you instead?" Luz asked as she extended her hand.

"Really?" Amity asked as she extended her hand out.

"That's what friends do."

Amity smiled at her before looking sternly at Grom. It began to rise up and tower over them while roaring.

"Well, then, if that's settled, may I have this dance?" Amity extended her hand as Luz smiles before taking it.

Amity and Luz pull each other close while the moon shines brilliantly behind them as they begin to dance. Luz began to spin Amity by the waist, twirling her in the air. Amity does the splits as she lands creating a large spell circle on the ground using her feet. The two pull each other close as a large abomination begins to rise up lifting the two. As the two rise up, Luz fans out her plant glyph before Amity dips Luz, letting her slap a glyph onto the abomination's face.

The two jump off of the abomination as it jumps towards Grom and into its mouth. Green light starts to move in Grom as plants start to bloom through out its body. As Luz lands, she catches Amity spinning her several times before planting her on her feet. As they finish the twirls, the two hold hands looking at each other as Grom explodes behind them turning into a giant tree.

The last bits of Grom slink away as tiaras appear on both of Amity and Luz's heads. They both smile towards each other with Amity having a slight blush.

"So… who did you want to ask out?" Luz asked as she leaned in

"Oh, it-it's not important," Amity said with a deepening blush as she tossed the paper she had towards the ground. Completing the message with the other piece of paper.

"You two did it! You really put Grom back in its place!" Cruz said happily as he ruffled their hairs causing the two to laugh.

"Thanks, Cruz," Luz said happily as she looked at her brother. She couldn't help but feel slightly worried after seeing his fear.

"And there you have it, folks!" King announced as they all realized that the school had watched the last bit of the fight. "A happy ending for this year's Grom. Let's give a big hand to our Grom Queens, Luz and Amity!"

Luz gives a toothy smile as Amity blushes awkwardly. Multiple students pop out from the bushes and trees as they run towards the two cheering.

"You did it! You're amazing!" The students begin to lift the two before parading them as Eda and Cruz clap for them.

"You did it, buddy!" Gus said giving King two thumbs up.

"Of course I did it!" King said as the mic had some slight feedback. "I'm the King of Demons and I've never had stage fright in my life!" A student grabbed King before putting him next to Luz and Amity.

"They love me!" King cheered causing Luz and Amity to laugh and smile warmly to each other.

Cruz laughed before noticing a note on the ground. As he picks it up he reads the note that Amity had left on the ground before gasping. He smiled at the note before he walked towards the crowd.

"Hey, guys. Let me borrow one of the Queens real quick," Cruz said as they let Amity down.

"What did you need?" Amity asked

"Just wanted to ask about the whole note thing and who you wanted to ask," Cruz said with a knowing smile causing Amity to blush.

"Oh l-like I told Luz, it's really not that important."

"Maybe… but I'm pretty positive my sister would've said yes," Cruz said as he showed Amity the note causing her to gasp. Cruz took out a fire glyph burning to the note reducing it to cinders surprising the girl.

"I won't say anything to Luz about what I know. I'm sure it's all going to work out just fine even if I don't say anything." Amity smiled in appreciation at his action before walking back towards the crowd.

Cruz sighed as he looked up towards the moon sadly. He still couldn't get the words out of his mind. "Cruz!" Skara called out as she ran up to him.

"Oh, hey Skara!" Cruz smiled at her feeling his spirits lift slightly.

"I'm glad you're okay! I was pretty worried," Skara said as she fidgeted slightly

"I told you I would be just fine. No real damage done," Cruz said with a smile before Skara looked at him with slight concern.

"Who… was that person that Grom turned into?"

Cruz looked at her in surprise before looking downcast. "It's… something I don't want to talk about. At least not right now."

Skara looked at him for a moment before smiling. "I understand, I won't ask unless you want to talk about it. How about we head back to Grom and just take our minds off of it for now."

Cruz smiled at Skara and her understanding. "I'd like that. I still owe you another dance," Cruz said as the two headed towards the group.

Back at the Owl House, the group had arrived after the dance had ended with Eda cheering on Luz. "Whoo! Watch out for this, human! Oh, you did good, kid."

"Thanks, but... I'm gonna go to bed," Luz said as she headed towards her room tossed the tiara onto the ground.

"I'm heading to my room too," Cruz said as King grabbed the dropped tiara and put it on his head.

"Now I am King and Queen! Best of both things!"

As Luz reached her room, she closed the door with a sigh before opening the window and sitting on the windowsill.

"In the end, I couldn't face my mom. Maybe I am fragile." Her phone vibrated, when she took it out she saw she had two messages from her mom.

"How was your day? 3. Miss you mija"

"Hmm," Luz typed in a duck emoji before erasing it and beginning to type saying, "Miss you too, Mami," she sent the message before she continued to type.

"I won't lie. Today was kind of hard." Back at the gym, Willow and Gus were poking the remains of Grom. When Willow poked it, Grom turned into a ladybug. "And I don't always feel like I'm supposed to be here." When Gus poked Grom it turned into a clown causing him to run off. Amity in her room, is sitting by a windowsill. She opens a memory box before putting her tiara into it.

"But when things get tough, my friends help me out." In the Owl House living room, King jumps up onto a sleeping Eda as he lays on her stomach before falling asleep. "I think you'd like them." Eda wakes up before smiling at King and placing a hand on his back and going back to sleep.

Cruz looked out of his window as he received a message from his mom before sending her a quick message. The words from the man earlier still ringing.

"Te extraño también, Mami.(I miss you too, mami). One day, me and Cruz will tell you all about this." Luz smiled as she put her away before looking out the window.

Her phone buzzes as she looks at the new message that her mom sent it. It read, "can't wait! P.S. love receiving your letters!"

"Aw. That's a cute way of saying 'text'," Luz said as she looked out the window with a smile.

In Cruz's room, he read a message from his mom saying, "I love reading all your letters too!" Cruz wondered about the message but brushed it off as him mom being herself.

In the human realm, Camila put down her phone before going to sleep. Multiple letters from Luz and Cruz lying on her nightstand talking in excitement about camp; with their names being misspelled.

Luz walked up the stairs in the stone tower as she knocked on Cruz's door. "Come in," Cruz called out as Luz opened the door and entered his room. She saw Cruz sitting at his table working on a pair of gloves while another set was resting on a stand.

"Oh hey, what's up?" Cruz asked as he lifted his goggles. "Can we talk about what Grom showed you?" Luz said as Cruz's hands stopped what they were doing.

"Can we not instead?" Cruz with slight hope knowing his sister wouldn't drop it.

She shook her head sadly before speaking, "You know that he'd never say anything like that, right? What Grom said… you know that dad would never say anything like that."

Cruz looked down sadly before responding, "I know dad wouldn't say that, and he honestly wouldn't blame me for anything. But… a part of me was always scared that he would've said that to me. If I could've just done something then maybe he wouldn't have-"

"Cruz, we were just little kids back then. No one blames you for anything. Not me, not mamá, and especially not dad."

"Maybe… but I still blame myself a bit," Cruz said as Luz walked up to him and hugged him. As Luz hugged him, Cruz couldn't help but feel all the weight of the day come crashing onto him as he felt tears start to fall down his cheeks.

After what felt like a few minutes, Cruz managed to compose himself before picking up the gloves on his stand. "I made something you're gonna love." Cruz passed the pair of black gloves to Luz.

"What is it?" Luz asked as she looked at the black gloves. They had glass on the back of the gloves that was filled with what looked like blue liquid.

"I call them the 'Artificial Bile Sac'." Cruz grabbed the other pair on his desk before slipping them on. "They kind of act like those training wands. The main difference is that they use Fool's blood as the power source. And they can recharge themselves over time. I remembered how Eda said magic came from the heart and the environment."

"When I thought about it more, I found a lot of books that had to do with witch biology from the healing coven. It took me way longer than I would've liked, but I managed to recreate how a bile sac actually produces magic."

"Wait, are you saying that we can do any magic we want with these?" Luz asked hopeful

"Yeah… no. As much as I'd love to say we can; those gloves won't be able to do any magic we want. The most they can do is our glyph magic, and any combos we might have," Cruz said as Luz deflated slightly.

"But still, at least this way we won't have to worry about running out of paper when we're in an emergency. If we want more spells, we're going to need to learn more combos."

Luz looked at the glove and smiled. "It's still amazing that we're going to able to do magic just like everyone else!"

"Yeah you're right, I'm just glad I managed to finish the gloves when I did. How about you try it out? I did finish up fixing all the bugs in them," Cruz said proudly. "Just imagine the glyph or combo you want and draw a circle like Eda does."

Luz smiled as she took a deep breath before she put on the glove and raised her finger. As she traced a circle in the air, a white line appeared forming the spell circle before a ball of light appeared in the air.

Luz held her hand out and gently cupped the light spell. "I've done the light spell so many times, but somehow, it's still just as beautiful as the first time we discovered it," Luz said before looking at Cruz with a warm smile. "Thank you, Cruz. You're the best brother ever."

"Oh come on now, I'm your only brother," Cruz said with a chuckle. "Now go and get some sleep. We've still got school tomorrow." Luz laughed before she hugged him and went towards her room.

After Luz had left, Cruz walked up towards his window looking towards the moon. As he looked up towards the moon, he couldn't help but feel that a small part of him had started to fix his failure by completing the A.B.S.

Someone flipped through Grom photos of one of Boscha's friends, Cat and a puffer fish headed student posing awkwardly as they tried not to touch. Another photo included Boscha posing with two of her friends, Bo and Celine, a student with a crescent moon shaped head. They were making silly faces before Mattholomule photo bombed them as the girls looked angrily at him.

Another photo showed Luz winking at the camera in her Grom outfit before she looked to the side and brought over a blushing Amity into the photo with Gus holding his microphone, Willow holding up a peace sign, and Cruz throwing up his own peace sign.

A final photo showed Cruz and Skara posing next to each other with the two having slight blushes on their cheeks.

The Snaggleback is still holding onto his rope as he holds the album with the photos.

"Wow. What a night. Now, can someone let me down?" The Snaggleback asked as the lights turn off. "Anyone…?"