Once Upon a Swap

At the human collectable stand, King was jumping into the air trying, and failing repeatedly, to grab a green flag to pull it down. "Stupid flag!" he called out as he fell off of the table. "It's been a little slow around here, but I've got just the thing to attract customers," Luz said as she climbed up a ladder before placing a wooden sign on top of the human collectibles sign. She taps on the light glyphs that were carved onto the sign connected by lines to make it glow. When the sign is fully illuminated, the animated winking head of Eda appears on the sign.

"And who doesn't like their name in lights? Is it too subtle?" Luz asks as she steps down the ladder examining the sign. "Does subtle mean ugly?" asked Boscha standing next to another of Amity's friends and an oracle track student from Hexside. "Hi, Boscha! Hexsidians! See anything you like?" Luz asked, trying to sound friendly. "Ew! No. I'm just here to take an ironic Penstagram next to your weird flashing trash sign," Boscha said as she summoned her scroll and took a selfie with Luz standing behind her scrunching her face.

"That's not funny, Boscha," Luz said with annoyance. "What are you going to do? Spit your human venom on me?" Boscha asked. "You have venom? Quick, Luz, start melting faces!" King asked in surprise pointing towards the Hexside students. "I don't have any venom. And even if I did, it's not worth it. You wouldn't understand how to handle teens like her," Luz said, kneeling down to King. "Maybe Cruz has some venom with him," King said looking towards the tent. "Leave me out of this," Cruz called out from inside of the tent.

"In that case, I'll show you what to do," King said as he jumped onto the table. "You will tremble before me!"

Boscha and the other two stared at King for a moment before cooing at him. "Oh, he's so cute!" Boscha said as she hugged King and summoned her scroll and took a picture of the two of them with a filter of flowers and glamor eyes on it. "How much? I have to own him," Boscha said as King continued to struggle to get away from her and her grip. He managed to free himself before jumping back onto the table and turned to look at Boscha. "You couldn't afford me, sister!" he said defiantly before the Hexside group cooed at him again. "Aww!" they all said.

"That's the incorrect reaction!" King shouted at them. Eda stuck her nose out of the tent and began to sniff the air. "I smell an easy mark," she said with narrowed eyes jumping over the table startling everyone. "Hey kid! Can I offer you the latest fashions from…the human realm?" she asked, summoning and wearing a red jacket with a flower, a purple skirt, green striped leggings, a pair of heart shaped glasses and a winter hat. The three Hexside students stared at her before laughing. "Yeah, no," Boscha said as the three began to walk away.

"Well, I hate her," Eda said, returning to her regular clothes. "Yeah, teens can be sour, but I'm a little sweetie. Look what I made you," Luz gestured towards the lit up sign that she'd made. "Luz!" Eda exclaimed as she took it down in a hurry. "Did I spell something wrong? Or did I *spell* something right?" she asked with a smirk. "That pun was just terrible," said Cruz as he came out of the tent wearing a black vest with multiple pockets over his white shirt and his newly finished aviator goggles hugging to the top of his head.

"He's right, so stop that," Eda said as she wiped away the light glyphs from the sign. "You may be forgetting something. I'm kinda…on the run!" Eda held up her wanted poster. "Every guard in town would be on my doorstep if I had my name in lights,"

"Well, I don't see anyone right now. Maybe you're just paranoid. You're a powerful witch. Why hide when you can just 'poof' all your problems away with magic?" Luz asked. "What does Luz know about problems, anyway? All she and Cruz have is dumb teenage drama! They don't understand how hard some of us have it," King said. "For your information, my problems aren't dumb or something teens usually deal with," Cruz pointed out.

"Like you have room to talk. You're pampered all day like a dang baby. How hard is that life?" Eda asked. "Well, I don't know if you realized, but I'm not a baby!" King exclaimed angrily.

"Then why are you screaming like one?" Luz asked with a smirk.

"My life is a living nightmare!"

"Well, there's only one thing to do when friends can't see eye-to-eye," Eda said, rubbing her hands together. "Hug each other till we pass out?" asked Luz as she started hugging King closely. "Fight till the death!" exclaimed King waving a fist in the air. "Pfft, no. Body swap!" Eda exclaimed in excitement, crossing her arms.

"This can't end well," Cruz deadpanned.

"Are you sure you can't shoot venom?" King asked, looking at Luz.

"I love a good body swap. It's like demonic possession with the ones you love," Eda said holding Owlbert. "We're doing that? That's possible? This is just like my favorite early 2000s movie! Freaky Fraturday. But maybe we should think about this for a second," Luz began to ponder. Eda lifted Owlbert in the air and began to spin her staff. "Body swap!" she exclaimed as Cruz jumped back to avoid being caught up in the yellow light and smoke that enveloped the other three.

"Did it work? I need a mirror," Luz said as she ran head first into a large mirror before sliding down. "Found one," she said with a groan before standing back up. Cruz looked toward his sister and was startled to see Luz's voice coming from Eda's body. "Oh my gosh it worked! I'm so old…and pointy!" she said, touching her ears with a large grin.

King walked up to the mirror in Luz's body now with her hair more ruffled up with a small fang pointing out of her mouth and her eyes being the same color as King's regular eye color. "Hot dog! It's me!" Luz exclaimed seeing him. "Yeah, it is. I'm the human now. Bow before my massive, meaty hands!" King said with Cruz chuckling at them.

"Wait, so that means…" Luz began as the three of them all turned back towards the table when Eda cleared her throat. "How do I look?" asked Eda as she was now in King's body with her usual golden eyes and one of his fangs now the same gold colored fang she had. "I've got some…very confusing emotions right now," King confessed in worry. "Yeah…I agree with him," said Cruz grimacing.

"Alright, here's the deal. Whoever can prove their new body has the easiest life gets out of house cleaning duty. And you know what that means," Eda said.

Back at the owl house Hooty was giggling as he was rolling around in the mud before sticking his face in it and swimming around.

Back at the stand all four of them shuddered from thoughts of having to clean Hooty. "Won't be me. Life as a teen is a tyrant's dream! By the end of the day, I'll be ruling over your feeble demographic," King declared to Luz and Cruz.

"Well, I've got magic. Eda, don't be too mad when your inventory's gone and the guards are none the wiser," Luz said, making a spell circle and shooting off a beam of magic into the air knocking her back. "Luz has natural magic now. I'm officially scared," Cruz said, stepping back.

"Ha, that's cute. If you need me, I'll be getting pampered on a vacation fit for a King," Eda said as she hopped off of the table and began to walk away. "My life is not a joke! But yours is…Bap!" King poked Luz on the nose before laughing and scampering off.

"I am so not getting involved in this one. I've got a couple of things I have to take care of today so have fun with your body swap," Cruz said as he grabbed a blue duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Ooh, what's that?" Luz asked. "It's a bag that Eda had laying around the house. According to her, it's a storage bag. It can hold a lot of different things inside of it and it won't ever get full. I stuffed it full of my inventions and potions. I managed to get a permit, so today I'm going to be selling some of my extra inventions and my potions," he explained.

"Well looks like today both Noceda twins are going to be in the market business," Luz declared confidently as Cruz handed her a yellow pendant in the shape of a teardrop. "What's this for?" she asked. "It's a protective shield, like the insta shield I made, but it's made out of magic instead. I studied a bunch of books and found a way to replicate the spell using some potions. Took a lot of trial and error but I managed to get it done. I'll explain how to use it later, but for now just keep it safe. And be careful today hermana," Cruz said as he walked towards his stand to sell his tools. "You don't have to worry about me, everything is going to go perfectly," Luz declared as Cruz simply rolled his eyes at her knowing she'd just jinxed herself.

Cruz had managed to set up his stand with a few potions laying on the table, his insta shield and a couple of flash poppers laying next to them along with a couple of the same pendants that he'd given to Luz. The only problem he had now, lack of customers. "Oh come on, there's got to be someone that's at least a little curious about this stuff," Cruz said in exasperation. Cruz watched as some people looked towards his stand and pondered going to it before walking away. Cruz huffed in annoyance before taking out his notebook and began to draw out designs for his next project. He was so focused on his notebook that he didn't notice a coven scout approaching his stand until he cleared his throat.

Cruz looked up to see a scout wearing the uniform of the Emperor's coven that he'd seen at the Covention. "How can I help you?" Cruz asked as politely as he could, to not give the scout a reason to arrest him. "I was patrolling and saw your stand. Lots of interesting things you have here. Mind telling me what they are?" the scout asked. "Not a problem, I can explain any of my items for you if you're interested in buying them," Cruz said, extending his arms apart.

The scout held up the insta shield and began to examine it. "What's this thing?" he asked. "I call it the insta shield. It's a metal plate that unfolds into a sturdy shield meant to take multiple hits and protect the wearer," Cruz explained. "Why buy something like this when witches can just make shield bubbles to protect themselves?"

"But what about witches and demons that can't?" Cruz asked, gaining his attention. "Don't you think that they need some protection from things that could hurt them too. My shield is designed to be used by everyone, including the witches and demons who aren't able to make those bubble spells. This can protect them and even for witches who can do that spell, since it doesn't use any magic it might be able to save their lives when they can't use magic,"

The scout looked at the shield and realized that Cruz had made a point. There were multiple witches who struggled with those spells, most of them being small witchlings. A shield that was able to be produced without using magic would come in handy for most witches in general, since they would be able protect themselves not just against other witches but some of the wildlife in the Boiling Isles.

"I can see how this would be really useful. What else you got?" he asked as Cruz held up his yellow pendant. "This little pendant is actually similar to my shield, but instead of a physical shield it's actually mimicking the shield bubble you talked about earlier," he said as he tapped on the pendant as a yellow bubble surrounded him. "Wait, so if you have this bubble pendant, why would someone buy the shield?"

"Well, to put it simply. The two things are better at defending against certain things. The shield is better for physical type of hits, while the bubble is better against magical types of hits. It's a matter of what you're more likely to encounter, that's how people should decide on which of the two they should buy. Or just buy both, it's up to them," Cruz said with a smile. The scout pondered on this as he looked at both the shield and the pendant before he came to his decision. "How much is each one of these?" he asked.

"They're both fifteen snails each," Cruz said, holding them both up. "How do I know that the shield bubble can actually protect someone?" asked the scout.

"I don't mind giving a demonstration," Cruz said, grabbing a pendant and putting it around his neck before standing to the side of the booth. "Fire away with any of your spells as soon as I have the bubble up. Don't worry about how much power either, I can guarantee it's safe."

The scout hesitated for a moment before he realized if Cruz got hurt he could simply take him to the healing coven and have them take care of him. "Alright, but if you get hurt then it's not my fault," said the scout as he made a large red spell circle appear. As a fire ball was launched at Cruz, he quickly tapped on the pendant causing a large yellow bubble to surround him blocking the fire ball causing a small explosion and smoke to encompass him.

As the smoke cleared the scout saw that Cruz stood there with the bubble perfectly intact and not a scratch on him. "And voilà. Just like I said, this bubble protects you completely from magical attacks and the best part, the shield is not damaged in the slightest," Cruz said, tapping on the pendant twice. The scout looked around and saw that multiple citizens had begun to gather around them and realized that the demonstration wasn't only for him but a way to gather a crowd and customers. What better way to show that a shield did it's job, than to protect the wearer from an attack from a member from the Emperor's coven, the best of the best.

"Alright, you've managed to convince me. I'll take the pendant and the shield. If the insta shield is as good as the bubble shield, then it's money worth spending," said the scout as he handed Cruz a bag of snails. "Pleasure doing business with you Mr. Scout," Cruz said, placing the money in his bag. "You can just call me Steve. What's your name?" Steve asked as he stretched his hand out.

"You can call me Cruz, Cruz Noceda. Ever need repairs on anything you buy from me or just repairs on things, I can give it a good shot," Cruz said, reaching for Steve's hand and shaking it. "I'll remember that. And thanks for the pendant," he said as he walked away. Cruz looked around as he saw multiple people watching his stand before a knowing smile formed on his face. "Step right up and see what the fuss is all about," Cruz said to all of the potential customers.

An hour later Cruz had placed another bag of snails into his duffle bag after selling most of his products, a total of ten insta shields and fifteen bubble pendants. "Looks like the most popular item was the pendant. I'll have to make a lot more of those, might take some time but it's doable," Cruz said as he finished writing up his sale numbers to show to Eda later when they met up. "Looks like this little potion isn't really selling all that much. Oh well, not much I can do about that," Cruz said, picking up his sticky potion before throwing it at a pole nearby. On impact the sticky potions webbed up the pile and most of the ground in a blue webbing.

"Now that's interesting," said a man wearing a dark lab coat with purple goop covering it. He wore a pair of purple goggles on top of his brown hair. "What's interesting? The sticky potion?" Cruz asked examining the man noticing the bags under his eyes and unkempt hair. "Well, yes. But I meant how it's very close in resembling something else I've seen somewhere. It wouldn't happen to be using abomination goop would it?" the man asked.

"Can't be using abomination goop. I'm not someone that can use it, I mean look at my ears. I'm human, so sadly magic like that isn't possible for me. My potions use a variety of chemical compounds to recreate a spider's webbing," explained Cruz. The man pulled down his goggles before touching the webbing examining it. "Fascinating, not something I've seen before. And no traces of abomination magic at all," he said, pulling his hand back.

"I did tell you, Mr…" Cruz began to say, not knowing his name. "Alador, my name is Alador Blight," Alador said introducing himself. Cruz thought about it for a moment realizing the name sounded familiar before realizing who the man standing in front of him was. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Amity Blight right?" Cruz asked, trying to see if his guess was right. "Yes, Amity is my youngest daughter, do you happen to know her?" Alador asked, confirming Cruz's suspicions.

"You could say that. My sister and I have run into her a couple of times so the name just stuck out to me," Cruz said, hoping he didn't feel any animosity towards him or Luz. "I'm more interested in your inventions, namely that pendant that some were wearing," Alador said, moving the subject along to business.

"Oh you mean the bubble pendant? It's my most popular item. I still have a few if you're interested," Cruz said, holding up a pendant. Alador examined the pendant looking it over before tapping on the pendant bringing the shield out. "I've never seen anything like this, a way to replicate the shield spell. Something most witchlings learn, but this one seems much stronger. How did you come up with this?" he asked.

"I got the idea from watching my mentor make the spell, and since I don't have natural magic I can't use the spell the way she can. So I thought to replicate it using a different way. I can't tell you the exact details, since that's a trade secret," Cruz explained.

"I see, your inventions actually interest me a lot. I could try and replicate them for my own business but instead I think I have a better idea. How would you like to work for me?" Alador asked. "What do you mean work for you?" Cruz raised his eyebrow in interest.

"I'm talking about working alongside me at Blight industries. You could continue to work on your inventions and have more resources at your disposal. It's not a bad deal when you think about it,"

Cruz began to think about what Alador was saying, realizing that most of his resources were just junk that Eda brought over from the human realm. "I'm thinking maybe. It's a good deal in a way but at the same time, it would limit me. I'm not working on this stuff to just be signing off all of my work. The best way I can see this working is a partnership with some conditions," Cruz explained.

"Conditions like what?"

"Conditions like a contract. I can offer you my knowledge on projects that you work on and vice versa. If I need resources I could buy them from you at a cheaper price than market value, that way I can keep making my inventions and you can get my knowledge," said Cruz. Alador began to think about it as he looked at the pendant. "That sounds reasonable. I can draw up a contract between us. I believe twenty-five percent would be reasonable for a discount on materials," Alador said as he summoned a paper scroll.

"Let's say thirty percent, given my skills I think that's reasonable,"

"Thirty percent might be pushing it, don't you think? If it comes down to it I can just replicate your inventions. It wouldn't be a problem,"

"Well, maybe. But how much time and resources would you end up wasting just to replicate something I've already made. Simpler to just part with thirty percent and get the knowledge. Much easier don't you think?"

Alador remained silent as he thought about what Cruz was saying before coming to his decision. "Alright, thirty percent it is. I'll give you the resources and you'll help me out with projects that require a unique point of view," he said holding the paper for Cruz to sign. Cruz pulled out a pen from his bag, and after reading the contract thoroughly to make sure nothing in it would put him or Luz in a difficult position before he signed it happily.

"Pleasure doing business with you . I'm sure that we'll both be getting what we want," Cruz said, extending his hand out. "You can simply call me Alador, I'll contact you on your scroll if I need your help with anything. And you can contact me if you need any materials," he said, shaking Cruz's hand. Cruz grimaced for a moment remembering something important.

"Quick problem with that, I don't have a scroll to contact you with," he said sheepishly. Alador paused for a moment before making a spell circle and summoning a purple scroll dropping it into Cruz's hand. When Cruz opened the scroll a page for making an account on Penstagram was on the screen. "There's that problem solved. You'll be able to find me by looking for my name. I do think that's all you'll need for now," Alador said as he began to walk away.

Cruz looked at the scroll before a smile formed on his face. "Well this went better than I could've hoped for," he said as he looked down towards the bag and back towards the market. "I think I still have time for one last stop before meeting up with everyone," he said as he put the duffle back over his shoulder and headed towards a certain shop.

In the market area of Bonesborough, Morton was busy taking inventory of his stock before noticing he was running low on most of his supplies. "It's going to be another week and a half until my next shipment comes in. I can't keep having this problem," he said with a sigh before someone smacked the counter of his shop.

Morton looked up with a startled yelp seeing Cruz standing in front of him. "Morton! How's it going?" he asked

"Oh hey, you're that human that was with Eda. What was your name again?"

"The name's Cruz. And I think I might have a great proposition for you," he said, placing his duffel bag on the ground. "What kind of proposition?" Morton asked skeptically.

"Well, last time that Eda came by to your shop you were out of her elixir and she had to head to the night market. I'm just wondering if that's a frequent problem for you, or if it's just that one time,"

"It usually happens with some elixirs that are harder to make like Eda's. But lately most of my stock has been like that," he said looking down.

"In that case then here's where my proposition comes in. If you give me a list of the elixirs that you need I can make them for you. Think about it, the Owl House is much closer to your shop then the other place you get stock from isn't it?"

"Well, you do have a point, but how do I know that the quality will be any good?"

Cruz reached into his bag before pulling out a bottle with gold liquid inside of it and placing it in front of Morton. Morton took the bottle and looked it over before noticing that the bottle wasn't marked with his shop's logo. "This isn't one of mine. Where did you get this?" he asked.

"It's simple. I made it myself," Cruz said with a smirk.

Morton looked back at the bottle curiously as he created a small spell circle and checked the quality of the potion before being completely shocked. The elixir was at the same quality as the ones that he'd been selling to Eda since she first came to him.

"This is amazing! The quality is perfect, how did you make this?"

"It wasn't that hard. I just analyzed the elixir that she already had and just recreated it,"

Morton looked at the bottle before looking back at the shelves with his missing inventory. The potion branch that he got his more advanced supplies from sent them from the left forearm on a monthly schedule. Lately however, there was an increase in customers and keeping up with them was becoming more than his supplies could handle.

"Well, I have to admit that this potion is at a great quality. But how would our deal work?"

"I can get you the supplies that you need, all you have to do is give me a list of what kind you need and how much and I'll be able to get them to you as soon as they're done. Depending on how many, it can take me at most two weeks."

"Two weeks? That's great! I'll buy them off of you and we can make a deal for any more you can sell me,"

"Sounds great to me, we can discuss payment later, but for now I can sell you a few potions that I've already got made," Cruz said, pulling out a large box from the bag. When he opened the box multiple potions of different colors were inside of it for Morton to look over.

After a few minutes of inspecting Morton handed Cruz a large bag full of snails for three boxes of potions that he'd been carrying in his bag before giving him a list of potions that he'd need. "I'll get these to you as soon as I can," Cruz said as he put the list in his pocket before walking away from the shop.

"Alright I've got everything I wanted to do today. And better yet, I got a good deal for some materials. I should probably find the others so they can get their bodies back and we can head on home," Cruz said looking around.

As Cruz was looking for Luz and the other he heard a voice yell at him from the sky. "Hey you!"

When he turned around a girl with dark brown skin with pinkish-gray hair landed in front of him using shoes with a pair of bat wings on them. Cruz felt his cheeks start to flush before shaking his head to clear it.

"What do you need?" Cruz asked.

"You're one of those humans right? Do you know where the other one is?" the girl asked. Cruz groaned knowing that King had ended up doing something while he'd switched bodies with Luz. "First of all, the two of us have names, so I'd appreciate it if you use them. And second of all, I have no idea where she is. I went to do my own thing, so you want to tell me what she did?" Cruz asked

"Well I don't know your names, and she ended up crashing into the treasure shack," explained the girl. Cruz facepalmed at hearing what King had been up to since they all went their separate ways. "Ese idiota (that idiot). Well, like I said I have no idea where my sister went. So I can't really help you there pinky," Cruz said to her.

"My name isn't pinky, and my hair isn't all that pink either," she said, holding her ponytail.

"Like you said earlier, I don't know your name,"

"My name is Skara."

"Well, my name is Cruz, Cruz Noceda. And my sister's name is Luz. So if you don't mind I've got to go find my sister and friends before they get into more trouble," said Cruz as he began to walk away.

"Your friends? Do you mean that little witch and half-a-witch?" Skara asked, referring to Willow and Gus. When Cruz heard her use Willow's nickname that students use to bully her he stopped dead in his tracks before turning to look at Skara.

"Did you seriously just call my friend half-a-witch?" he asked with a slight glare.

"I mean yeah, that's just what we call her. I mean it's pretty fitting isn't it?"

Cruz took a deep breath trying to calm himself down since starting a fight, in his opinion, wouldn't do anyone any good. "It's not fitting at all. She's a great plant witch, and one of the strongest witches I know. So no, I don't see how it's a fitting nickname for her at all. Why even call her that?"

"It's just what Boscha calls her, we just go along with it."

"But why though? It doesn't make any sense, do you honestly think that Willow is half-a-witch when she's a great plant witch?"

"It's just how it is. When Boscha says something that's just how it works."

"Doesn't sound like a good reason for bullying my friend. I mean what's so great about Boscha?"

"Boscha is the captain of the Grudgby team, and the best student in potions at Hexside. But what do you mean bullying?"

Cruz paused for a moment as he tried to process what Skara had said. "Okay, three things. First of all: I have no idea what Grudgby is but if it's anything like the sports in the human realm, who cares if she's the captain. Second of all, so what if she's the best at Hexside. I'll bet I can make a better potion than her any day. And third, and most importantly, did you seriously just ask what bullying?" he asked her skeptically and Skara simply nodded at him.

"Oh for the love of-" Cruz began as he let out a groan. "I'm talking about calling Willow a half-a-witch. From what she's told me, she's been picked on by other students who call her that for years. That's called bullying, and I don't even see how it's possible for you not to know that."

"I've just been calling her that because Boscha did, I didn't even realize that it bothered her. If she didn't like it then why not say anything?"

"People won't just stop because someone tells them they don't like to get bullied. That's just not how it works even a bit. Think about it, how would you feel if no matter what you did or how good you got people still called you half-a-witch? Just invalidating all of your efforts," Cruz asked.

Skara thought about what Cruz was saying while looking down at the ground. "I guess you're right. I always thought that she didn't mind it since she never said anything. But if I was told the same things as her I wouldn't like it at all."

"At least you get it now. It's a start I guess, you could always apologize to Willow for all the stuff you've probably said to her when hanging with Boscha. I don't know if she'll forgive you or anything, but it'll be better than nothing."

"Thanks, I will. You know, you're pretty smart for a human Cruz. If you're so good at potions like you said you are, why aren't you and your sister in Hexside?"

"It probably has something to do with both of us being banned. We did sneak into the school and cause a whole lot of chaos," Cruz said with a chuckle.

"Wait, that was you two? Everyone heard how there were intruders in the abomination track and how one of them had an explosion potion."

"Yeah, that was my sister and me. She was the abomination and I had my boom hammers. So I guess it was like an explosion, but I was never going to use it on anyone," Cruz explained.

"That was a pretty big deal in school. It was also really funny to hear about. I know that you probably don't have the best impression of me, but would you want to be friends?"

'Well she doesn't seem like a bad witch, and honestly having more friends wouldn't hurt,' Cruz thought to himself. "Sure why not, just don't say anything about my other friends and we should be able to get along just fine," Cruz said to her with a smile.

"Do you have a scroll? You should add me on Penstagram," Skara said, holding up her scroll. Cruz pulled out the purple scroll that Alador had given him earlier after they had made their deal and showed it to her. "Haven't really made an account yet since I just got this thing today. But as soon as I get it done I can send you a request."

"How are you going to know which one is mine?"

"Let me see your account," Skara pulled out her Penstagram account and showed it to Cruz as he nodded. "Got it, I'll look for it later. I've got a photographic memory so I'll remember it for later," he said with a proud smile. Suddenly a loud boom could be heard from behind them. When they turned the wall of an Emperor's coven police precinct had blown up with Eda wearing oven mitts.

"Isn't that the Owl Lady?"

"Si no es una cosa, es otra (if it's not one thing, it's another). Sorry I've got to go and save my friend there," Cruz said as he pressed the buttons on his boots before launching himself toward Luz in Eda's body.

As Luz was running from the precinct in a panic she could hear someone running towards her. "What did you get up to when I wasn't looking?" asked Cruz as he caught up to his sister. "Oh Cruz! I'm so glad to see you. We need to find Eda and King fast!" Luz exclaimed in a hurry.

"Where would they be? You all ran off to prove a stupid point, and we don't have time to look carefully with the guards after us." As the two stopped in the middle of the street to try and look around, they heard a knocking coming from a building to their left.

"Luz! Bring my dang body over here!" called out Eda as she and King were inside of a kitty cafe shop. Eda was wearing a bee costume and King wore a blue shirt that said volunteer on it. "Do we even want to know?" deadpanned Cruz as he and Luz looked into the cafe.

"Oh, look, Dottie. It's not kidnapping if they entered our store. Just think of it as good customer service," said Roselle, a witch with brownish-gray hair to her companion, another witch with the same colored hair wearing a hair net over it.

From outside of the cafe, Luz drew a spell circle causing the lamp next to the two witches to grow legs and multiple lamps head alongside it. "Why did our lamp get unnecessarily extravagant?" Roselle asked in confusion until she heard noise from behind her. When she turned around she made eye contact with Eda as she was helping King through a hole as they tried to escape.

"Hi," Eda said nonchalantly. "Subtle, now let's go!" exclaimed Cruz. "Go, go, go!" cried out Luz as they all ran out of the shop. "After them!" called out Roselle as Dottie shrieked holding up a net.

"What weird stuff did you get my body into?" asked Luz as they all made it back to the Main Street. "There she is," called our Lilith holding the leash to a multi headed dog. "I got the same question," Eda said as they turned to try and escape through another route that was being blocked off by Boscha and her friends.

"Dang! I forgot about them," said King. "Oh yeah, you did break their little hang out didn't you?" Cruz said remembering his conversation with Skara.

"All right. Did everybody learn a valuable lesson about experiencing each other's hardships?" asked Eda in annoyance.

"Yep," Luz and King said at the same time.

"I didn't really get a lesson, but hey, I'm not complaining."

"Let's end this nightmare. Body swap!" Eda called out as she grabbed her staff and spun it in the air. Cruz took a large step back to avoid the spell and anything it might do to him. After the same light from earlier had engulfed the three, they all return to their original body wearing a part of the clothes they had before when they swapped. Eda was wearing the bee costume that was quickly ripped apart from being too small. As King was still wearing the volunteer shirt and Luz took off the oven mitts she wore in Eda's body.

"My body! My glorious little body!" King said in glee.

"Sister. Time and again I've offered you my help, yet you foolishly run back to your worthless life. I'm tired of trying, Edalyn. Your days of running are over!" Lilith said in a snarl.

"Thanks, Luz," Eda said, glancing at the girl.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry I've got this. Body swap!" Eda called out as she spun her staff and directed the spell at everyone around them. Luz, Cruz, and King quickly duck down to avoid the spell as it engulfs everyone around them in a puff of smoke.

Frantic barking could be heard coming from the dog as Lilith turns to look at it. "Eda, you rotten sister! Switch me back! Ah!" Lilith, now in the dog's body, called out covering her eyes using the dog's paws.

"What's happening? Who the heck are you?" asked a coven guard in Roselle's body.

"I'm a Coven guard, wise mouth," said another guard inside of Dottie's body.

"No you're not. I am!"

"You get outta my body, you galoot!" Roselle called out as she tackled the guard after she'd switched with the oracle student from Boscha's group.

"Fight! Ow. My knees," said the coven guard in Dottie's body before stopping to clutch his knee. As everyone began to fight for their original bodies chaos began to ensue throughout the street.

"Are they gonna be okay?" King asked to which Eda simply shrugged. "Eda, I just wanna say that things can be more complicated than you think. But with you guys, it all feels a little less mixed up," Luz said smiling to her.

"Aw that's nice you all learned a valuable lesson today," Cruz said, rubbing the top of Luz's head. "He's right. That's sweet kid. Now. Let's never speak of this again," Eda said as they all got onto Owlbert before flying away leaving the street in chaos.

As they all flew towards the Owl House, a thought occurred to Luz. "So, wait. Who is going to clean Hooty? It's getting...dire," Luz grimaced imagining how dirty Hooty had gotten. "Don't look at me, I've got some potions to make as soon as we get home. I'll be selling them to Morton for a pretty penny from now on," said Cruz as he pulled out a bag of snails that Morton had given him earlier.

"Well, in that case. Maybe if we all worked together we could-" began Luz

"Not it," called out the other three in unison.

"Aw, man," said Luz in disappointment.