Luz stood in the alleyway watching the Owl Lady down the street at her Human Collectables stand. The human sighed clutching her light gray cape closer to her, she made sure the hood was up and that the owl-like mask was in place. She had been spying on the Owl Lady for three days now, and she had seen quite a lot of things, having never really been able to leave the Emperor's Castle much to actually explore the Boiling Isles before.

She's seen all kinds of monsters, and was excited to learn more about the Boiling Isles. But she had a mission to do first, she walked around, staying out of sight, and made her way to the back of the Owl Lady's tent.

She thought about this plan for the past two days, and it was time to take action. She lifted the back of the tent and went inside, there was a lot of junk inside the tent and a door.

Luz stepped closer to the door curiously, it was slightly ajar, she peaked inside and saw a forest beyond. She could have run straight though and be back in her home dimension, but the Emperor's threat lingered in her mind, plus there was no magic in the Human Realm, how would she heal her curse then?

No matter, she had a job to do. She turned away from the door and scavenged through the junk, she needed to find some more human-like clothes. After a bit of searching she found a short-sleeved white and indigo striped shirt, high-waisted jean shorts, dark grey capris leggings, which she put on, and kept her brown boots on.

She ditched the cape and took the amber colored owl-like mask off revealing a fourteen-year-old Dominican-American girl with tan skin, brownish-purple short hair that was styled in a messy pixie cut, and hazel eyes. She had pointy fangs and claw-like nails due to her curse. She also had a few scars on her face, three scratch marks over her left eye and two scars on her right cheek.

She grabbed a yellow bag and stuffed a few more random items inside, including her Emperor's Coven uniform. She zipped the bag up and put it on her shoulders, sighing she turned to look at the entrance of the tent, seeing the Owl Lady talking to a little owl that sat back onto her staff.

The Owl Lady went through the bag of items the owl brought, deciding what was trash and what she could sell. Luz came closer to the entrance of the tent waiting for the perfect moment to introduce herself, luckily the moment presented itself soon enough.

"This will make good kindling." The Owl Lady said, holding a book up to a candle and letting it burn. Luz took a deep breath, steeling her nerves before launching herself from the tent and shouting "Excuse me, sorry, it's mine, thank you!" She snatched the book from the Owl Lady's hand and jogged back to the door, the door folded up before she could even get close to it.

Luz turned around the face the Owl Lady, "you're not going anywhere." She growled at the human before her. "What's a human like you doing in the Boiling Isles?" The Owl Lady asked, crossing her arms. "I-uh..." Luz stammered, she looked down at the book she still held "I just wanted my book back, an-and I saw that little owl take it so I followed it here." She lied, quickly.

"And, what do you mean 'human'? Aren't you a human too?" She decided to add on, to give the Owl Lady a reason to believe she was clueless about where she was. The Owl Lady chuckled "oh dear child, I'm Eda the Owl Lady! The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!" Eda declared, proudly, twirling her staff and slamming the end onto the ground, creating a few yellow magical sparks.

Luz flinched at the display but quickly recovered "a witch?" She questioned, but before Eda could reply someone shouted from outside the tent. "Eda the Owl Lady! You are wanted for misuse of magic and demonic misdemeanors. Come out here and face your punishment!" Eda rolled her eyes and groaned "hang on a sec human."

Eda turned around and exited the tent, Luz quickly followed behind, stuffing the book into her bag for safekeeping. Outside Eda had her arms crossed as she faced a guard. "You are hereby ordered to come with me to the Conformatorium." The guard grabbed Eda's arm but the Owl Lady quickly freed herself and scoffed "Would you guys quit following me around? I haven't done squat."

The guard then picked Luz up by the back of her shirt "hey!" She yelled at him "and you're coming too, for fraternizing with a criminal." The guard added, Luz growled in frustration, she knew that no one in the Emperor's Coven, except for a select few, knew of her 'alliance' if you could even call it that, with the Emperor.

"Oh, all right, all right, you win. Just let me get my stuff." Eda said, reaching down under the table. She then pulled out her staff and whacked the guard's head, leaving him dazed on the ground. Luz had fallen to the ground when this happened and by the time she stood back up Eda had made a bindle using her staff and the table cloth with all her stuff that somehow fit.

"Follow me, human!" Eda called running down the street, Luz ran after her and quickly caught up. "This is crazy!" Luz yelled "Ha! I won't let them hurt you, a human like you is much more valuable to me alive than dead." Eda replied. "Wait, what's that suppos-" Luz was cut off as Eda pulled her onto her staff and took off into the sky with a joyful shout.

They were zipping across the sky over the Boiling Isles on Eda's staff. "What is this place?" Luz asked, she already knew a little bit, but it would be nice to know more.

"This is the Boiling Isles. Every myth you humans have is caused by a little of our world leaking into yours." Eda explained "really?" Luz asked curiously, a Griffin flew up beside them and spat out spiders "eww."

"Yup! Griffin's, Vampires, Giraffes.." Eda listed, they flew down towards the ground and landed in the forest. Eda hopped off of the staff, her hand being left behind. Luz wasn't fazed by it though, she saw that happen a few times when she was spying "uhh, your hand?" Luz mentioned, pointing at the hand still on the staff. "Oops, yeah, that happens sometimes." Eda said, screwing her hand back on her wrist.

"What's with that door that you have?" Luz asked as Eda led the way through the forest "oh that? That's my portal to the Human Realm, and before you ask, no you can't use it, not unless you help me first." Eda snort-laughed. Luz looked away and hummed "right..."

They eventually made it to a house in the middle of the forest. The house was large and made from white brick with a sloping blue roof. A stained glass window above the door gives the impression of a large orange demon eye. A crumbling stone tower with orange moss growing on it is located to the rear left of the house. The door was made of wood and had an owl face seemingly carved into it.

Luz looked back at the forest behind them, "aren't you worried about those guards finding us?" She asked, looking back at Eda "Nope, my house has a state-of-the-art defence system."

At this the owl face on the door decided to speak "hoot, hoot, password please." Luz jumped slightly, forgetting that she had seen it talk before. Eda poked the owl's eyes before replying "we got no time for this Hooty, let us in."

"All right, all right! Geez! You never want to have any fun! Ow! Hoot!" Hooty exclaimed, opening his mouth wide enough to cover the door and let them in. "Welcome to the Owl House." Eda snapped her fingers and candles ignited. A fire in the fireplace started, a cauldron started stirring itself, and a broom started sweeping the floor. Overhead, a depiction of an owl beast of some kind began to glow with a great screeching noise. Luz looked at all of this in awe, she never got a good look inside the house when she was spying.

"This is where I hide away from the pressures of modern life. Also the cops. Hmm, also ex‐boyfriends." Eda chuckled, putting a hand on her hip. Luz put her bag on the table in the living room.

The living room includes a fireplace facing opposite two couches and a coffee table, candles, a wall of artifacts, Eda's wanted poster, and artwork of an owl creature on the ceiling. "This place is beautiful!" Luz loved how lively the place was, compared to the empty halls of the Emperor's Castle.

Suddenly there were thudding footsteps that shook the house, a deep voice echoed from down the hall "who dares intrude upon I? The King of Demons!" A feline creature that somewhat resembled a fox with a red collar demanded, his voice becoming higher pitched the closer he came, eventually coming within sight. He had mostly dark gray fur, although his torso and the tip of his tail was covered in light gray fur. The highlight of his appearance was a dog-like skull with white horns on his head, one of which was broken. His eyes have pink irises with yellow sclerae. He had three fingers and two toes that (excluding his thumbs) look like white claws, and two small fangs on his lower mandible.

Now being able to look at him closely, compared to when she was spying on them, Luz could no longer hold back the urge to hug the tiny demon. She ran forward scooping him up in her arms and hugging him close "¡Aye que lindo! Eda, he's so cute! Who's a widdle guy? Who's a widdle guy? Is it you? Is it you?" She cooed, King struggled to break free.

"No! I don't know who your little guy is! Eda, who is this monster!?" The demon yelled, Eda chuckled and dragged Luz away from King. "Oh, this is- hey wait a minute, I don't think I ever got your name kid." Eda tapped her chin, thinking back on their previous interactions. "Oh, I'm Luz." Luz answered.

"Well Luz, this is my roommate King. King this is Luz the human, she's here to help us with our little... situation." Eda explained vaguely. Luz gave her a confused look "what situation?" She asked cautiously, looking between the witch and the demon.

"Just... let me explain. King was once a mighty king of demons, until his Crown of Power was stolen, and he became... this." Eda explained, gesturing in the direction of King. Luz picked him up again and hugged him, he protested but eventually gave up "you mean this little bundle of joy?" She asked.

"The crown is being held by the evil Warden Wrath and locked away behind a magical force field that only a human can break through." She continued, King finally broke free of Luz's hug and stood next to Eda. "A human like you. If you help us retrieve his crown, we'll send you back to your realm. So whaddya say? Plus," she paused picking up King by his face and shaking him slightly "who could say no to this cute face?"

"No don't encourage her!" King yelled, then Eda dropped him and he yelped "Weh!" Luz thought for a moment, her mission was to steal the portal door, and give it to the Emperor. Spying on the Owl Lady had revealed she couldn't just take the door, she had to get the key too, which would be much harder since Eda always kept it with her. Once she completed this mission, the Emperor had said he would remove the curse he placed upon her and would return her to the Human Realm.

If the story the Owl Lady told about King was true, retrieving this 'Crown of Power' might put a dent in those plans. But as she thought about the story, one thing stood out, Warden Wrath, and based on pure impulse she agreed to help them with this mission.

Maybe she could finally give the Warden a beating for once.