The Fool's Gambit

Chapter 6: Luz's Real First Day Back

August 10th, 2021

The next morning was as normal as a morning in the demon realm could be. Luz got up from her sleeping bag and got ready for school. Once she was done, she left The Owl House and began to walk to school, much like yesterday morning met up with Willow so they could walk to school together, however, they made sure that they weren't going to get stuck inside another reality this time.

Boscha didn't threaten them on their way this time. Instead, it was a frantic Augustus Porter, or "Gus" for short frantically pacing in front of the school gates, wondering if his friends will show up to school today.

"Luz, Willow, you came!" Gus cheered as he ran up to the pair. The fact that Gus was now at eye level with her startled Luz.

"Whoa, Gus it's only been a week and you're so much taller. Maybe this is what my Abuela feels like every time she sees me," Luz said, remembering how she had always seemed taller to her Abuela every time they met, regardless of the amount of time between each visit.

"Oh this is just witch puberty," Gus said, which was a good enough explanation for Luz.

"Must've been his magic bones that let him sprout up so fast," Luz thought.

"Anyways, where were you two yesterday? Luz not showing up after saying she was coming back was shocking enough, but Willow not showing up as well? Too much stress on my young heart," Gus said, expressing his worry for his two friends.

"Sorry about that Gus," Luz apologized before she and Willow shared a nervous glance. Should they tell Gus about what happened yesterday?

"Hey, Gus? Can you keep a secret?" Willow asked, causing Gus to nod his head.

"So this is going to sound insane, but Willow and I got pulled into another reality yesterday where we almost died, but we got cool ghost powers out of it," Luz explained, trying to leave Boscha, Mari, and Keiko out of it.

"That sounds like a stretch, even for you," Gus said, but hey if he doesn't believe them that means that he won't get involved. Gus may have been in the same grade as them and now almost the same height as them, but he was still like the little brother of the group.

The warning bell screamed which signaled that there were five minutes left before class started, so they separated and went to their respective classes, and unfortunately for Luz, her first-period class was Potions 101 with Boscha.

Luz took a deep breath in and out before going into her first-period class, she could see that Boscha had gotten there before her and she had a knowing look on her face, "Does she know about her palace?" Luz pondered.

"Hey, Human!" Boscha sneered with a smug tone, "Did my threat from yesterday scare you and that Half-a-Witch away from school yesterday?" Luz just tried to ignore her as she sat down in her assigned seat.

"Just ignore her and she'll get bored, she's just looking for a reaction. That's what they always tell me whenever I went to one of my teachers when I was getting bullied in school. It hasn't worked so far, but I'm not about to punch her over a comment," Luz thought before a fireball was hurled at her, which caused her to quickly ducked out of the way.

"I was talking to you, Human. Now answer my question," Boscha ordered.

"Oh, she wasn't being rhetorical," Luz thought as she scrambled to think of a reason why she and Willow weren't at school yesterday, "Do I just say yes? Maybe she would leave us alone until we steal her heart if I just say what she wants to hear, but I don't want to speak for Willow, what if she makes fun of her for it?" Luz rambled on inside of her head as she tried to think of an answer, "Yeah, you sure scared the shit out of me, hahaha," Luz laughed nervously, causing Boscha's smug expression to turn into an angry one.