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“KID!"
Luz jolted awake, sitting up and startling King in the process. He blinked sleepily, padding in small circles before settling back down onto her mattress.
“Kid! I need some- uh, assistance!” A voice Luz recognized was Eda’s yelled from an adjacent room of the Owl House.
“Coming!” Luz yelled back, jogging over to Eda’s room that she shared with her sister, Lilith, as of yesterday. “What’s wrong?” she asked, creaking the large door open.
“Oh, Luz! Great, I’m in dire need of your little human hands,” came Eda’s voice from somewhere within the closet.
Luz saw Lilith sleeping peacefully on a spare bundle of furs that counted as her temporary bed. “How did Lilith not wake up with all your yelling?”
“Lily? Oh, she’s been like that forever. Wouldn’t notice if a snaggletooth fairy came and bit her on the nose,” an Eda-shaped mound of clothes said, stepping out of the closet.
“Gah!” Luz screamed. “What happened to you? Is the curse still changing your body structure?”
“What? No, I’m fine. What’s not fine are these titan-forsaken garments! How is anyone supposed to get these little things to put themselves on?”
“Ooh, are there special clothes on the Boiling Isles that are alive? Wait, that sounds scary. What if they tried to eat you instead of just putting themselves on? Oh no, is that what’s going on?”
Eda groaned. “No, Luz. Normally, I just use magic to put my clothes on every morning. But now, with the curse…”
Luz heard the stringent tones of sadness begin to creep into Eda’s voice. “No reason to panic! I am the fearless champion Luz, here to defeat your inanimate clothing troubles! Let’s start by untangling a few of these top ones,” she said, gently reaching for the scarf wrapped around Eda’s head. Unwrapping it, she began to see Eda’s face, her gray hair messy and frizzy from its recent scarf scuffle. “You have now regained the power of sight!” She announced, grinning.
“That I have!” Eda cackled, spirits brightening slightly.
As Luz worked her way through half-ripped sweaters and inside-out t-shirts, she carefully noted every sigh and noise of discontent Eda emitted. “How are you feeling?”
“Ah, never better. No threat of transforming into a giant owl beast anymore, so that’s something.” Eda paused, glancing at Luz before looking away at the mess in the closet. “Do you go through this drudgery every day?”
“Well, normally I don’t have so many layers to take off. So sort of yes and no. But you’ll get used to it! I promise it really isn’t all that bad.” She tossed the final spare garment aside and straightened the sleeve of Eda’s signature red dress. “There! All done.”
“Thanks Luz. I’ll make some us some breakfast. If Lily doesn’t eat right when she wakes up, she gets hangry,” she winked conspiratorially. “Owlbert!” She called, holding out her hand. “Oh. Well, if you need me I’ll be looking through the storage room for Owlbert.”
Luz grinned. “I’m sure he’ll give you a good morning peck. Before breakfast, I’m going to go back to bed for a bit.”
Eda nodded and trudged down the staircase.
After not nearly a long enough nap, Luz heard Eda call her again:
“Luz! Could you come help me … please?”
Knowing it was surely not an emergency, Luz descended the stairs much slower than she had run to Eda before. Turning the corner, she walked into the kitchen, which was the messiest she had ever seen it. For the Owl House, that said a lot.
“You’re here!” Hooty said, his head through the window. “She really needs you. Good luck with that wreck, hoot hoot!”
“Ah, shut up, ya stupid bird,” Eda said with no real malice. “Luz!” She turned to face her. Cups and plates and all manners of cutlery were strewn across the countertop. Every cabinet door had been opened and partially emptied. Owlbert perched on the corner of the fridge, looking as concerned as a wooden palisman could. “I’ve been looking all over for my cookbook.”
“I can see that,” Luz replied.
“Do you know where I normally keep that thing? I usually just summon it when I need it. Much more convenient that way.”
“Uhh… I don’t, but where do you think you would put it?”
“That’s the problem— whenever I’m done with it, I just make it vanish without thinking about where it’s actually going!”
“Hmm.” Luz flicked her eyes around the kitchen, looking for places a book might like to vanish. “What about up there?” She asked, pointing to a small, dusty cabinet door above the fridge. It seemed to be the only one Eda hadn’t ransacked.
“I never use that one!” Eda protested.
“Exactly,” Luz replied, climbing on top of the fridge. She opened the door and promptly began coughing at the cloud of dust that came with it. Reaching inside, she pulled out three old, thick books, one of which looked suspiciously familiar. “Is this it?”
“I can’t believe you were right! Thanks, kid.” Eda made a confused face when handed the two additional texts. “Huh. Thought I sold these a while ago. Must have been fakes.” She threw her head back in a laugh. “Think of how mad those customers must have been when they realized! Man, I crack myself up.”
Luz smiled softly. She was glad that Eda was laughing, but she didn’t believe that Eda had gotten over the loss of her magic that quickly. “How are you feeling, Eda?”
Eda turned back to look at Luz, puzzled. “I already told you. Doing fine.”
“No, I mean how are you really doing? You can tell me. I’m here for you.”
Eda sighed, pulling Luz in for a hug. “I know, kid. Thank you. I guess I don’t know what I’ll do with myself now. I can’t brew potions anymore, or sell rare human treasures illegally on the streets. Actually, I’m not sure I’d even be able to escape the guards anymore.” She looked down at Luz and her face softened. “But I have Hooty, King, Owlbert, and you. I even have Lily back— though she snores,” Eda joked, poking Luz’s nose.
“Hey! Why are you poking me? I’m not the snorer!” Luz giggled, rubbing her nose. “We’re all here for you Eda. Even if that means cleaning up this mess of a kitchen today.”
“Yup!” Eda broke the hug and wagged her index finger at Luz. “I’m the cook, and the cook doesn’t have to clean the dishes!”
“But does the cook clean the countertop?” Luz quipped.
“No! The cook never cleans!”
“That’s not what you originally said!”
The play fight continued until Lilith came downstairs and promptly raised her own ruckus about the lack of breakfast food and apple blood on the table.