Adventures in the Boiling Isles

A Lying Witch and a Warden

As beautiful as light
As cold as ice
Blossoming flowers
Flaring flames
Do a normal boy and girl have what it takes?

My uncle dropped me off at someone's house. Why? Because I was going to a summer camp where people learn to balance checkbooks and pay taxes. Outside with me was a girl around my age who went to my school. She wasn't too excited about summer camp either. At that moment, her mom came outside the house and walked towards her daughter. "Oh, my baby." The mother said. "Now don't worry, summer camp is only gonna be for three months, you'll be so busy balancing checkbooks and learning to appreciate public radio, the time will fly by." "But I don't like any of that stuff." Her daughter explains. "I like editing anime clips to music and reading fantasy books with convoluted backstories." "Mija, you're fantasy world is holding you back, do you have any friends?" She asked. "Not imagined or drawn or reptilian?" The daughter sighed. "Summer camp is a chance to make some friends, like this boy over here." She points at me, but I hide behind my journal. "But you have to try, can you do that?" "Yes, Mom." Her daughter replied as she placed her book in the trash. Her mom gets a notification from her job. "Oh, I gotta go to work." She said kissing her daughter multiple times. "Your bus is coming soon, text me when you get there." She leaves me and her daughter alone as she drives to work. The girl looks at me and smiled. "Hey, aren't you the boy in my English class who won the essay contest?" She asked. "Huh, oh yeah, hi." I replied shyly. "Aren't you the girl who let snakes loose in the school?" "We haven't formally met, I'm Luz Noceda." She introduced. "And yes, that was me." "I'm Peter, Peter Yenkins." I replied in a shy tone. "What was that book you were reading?" "The Good Witch Azura." Luz said. "No way, that's my favorite book series!" I exclaimed. "Have you been to summer camp before?" Luz asked. "Yeah, but it's not like this one." I replied. "The camp I went to was basically many camps at once, but this one isn't like that." "Wait, my mom is gone, I can grab my book." Luz runs over to the trash to grab her book, but it was nowhere to be found. "Where is it?" Suddenly, I spot an owl with a sack of items, including Luz's book. "Tiny trash thief!" Luz shouts. "I'll help you." I replied. The owl ran to a nearby shack. Luz and I followed the owl through a door.

"Stop adorably hopping away you..." Luz yelled. "Huh." We weren't in the shack anymore, but how? "I thought my uncle had a lot of weird stuff, but this?" I wondered. "This is impressive." "Finally, you're back." A woman said to someone. Luz and I hid behind a crate. I pushed away a curtain to see the owl on a stick and was screwed on, lifeless. "Now let's see what we got here, garbage, garbage, garbage." She gasped as she pulled some weird sunglasses. "Now this, this will make me rich, and this, well this'll make good kindling." "Luz, that woman is about to burn your book." I said. "Excuse me, sorry, that's mine, thank you!" Luz panics as she grabbed her book and quickly ran back to the door, but it disappears before she arrived. "You're not going anywhere!" She grunted. I followed Luz to the other side of the woman's tent, which led to a cliff. "Luz, look out!" I exclaimed as I saved her before she could plummet to her death. Across the cliff, we saw various magical creatures, what is this place? "What is this place?" Luz wondered as a fairy flew up to us. "Oh, hello, little fairy, are you gonna tell us that this is all a fantastical dream?" "GIVE ME YOUR SKIN!" The fairy shrieked as I slapped it like a fly on the wall. "Where are we, did we die?" I wondered. "Are we in the bad place?" The woman finds us and grabs us by the shoulders. "You wish." She replied. "We're so sorry, my friend just wanted her book, if you're gonna eat our skin, just make it quick, just do it now!" I cried. "Eat you?" She asked. "Why would I eat, potential customers." Luz and I were no longer scared. "Can I offer you a human foot filled with holes, a bar of green human candy, or how about this black shadow box that reflects only sadness?" Luz and I laughed. "That's not all it can do." Luz said. "Here, let me see it." I found two AA batteries on the table and handed them to Luz as she repaired the old TV. Many creatures were amazed by the TV as it played. "What did you say your names were?" She asked. "I'm Luz, Luz Noceda." Luz replied. "And I'm Peter Yenkins." I added. "Well, Luz and Peter, that was pretty clever, for humans." She says. "That's kind of a weird thing for another human to say." I commented. "Oh, dear child, I'm not like you." She replied as she took off her scarf, revealing her true self. "I'm Eda the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles." "A witch?" Luz asked. I could tell that she was fangirling. "I am a respected, feared..." Eda continued. "Busted!" A guard exclaimed as he held a wanted poster with Eda's face. "Eda the Owl Lady, you are wanted for misuse of magic and demonic misdemeanors." "Whoa, witch criminal." I whispered. "You are hereby ordered to come with me to the conformatorium!" The guard ordered. "Would you guys quit following me around?" Eda asked. "I haven't done squat." "And you're both coming too!" The guard exclaimed as he grabbed us by our shirts. "For fraternizing with a criminal!" "That's not cool!" Luz shouted. "Agreed!" I added. "Alright, you win, just lemme grab my stuff." Eda said as she hit the guard with her staff and packed up her stuff. "Follow me, humans." Luz and I ran after Eda. "This is crazy, if I die here, my mom's gonna kill me!" Luz shouted. "And so will my uncle." I added. "I won't let them hurt you, humans like you are much more valuable alive than dead." Eda explains. "Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" I asked as Eda grabbed me and Luz to fly away on her staff.