by Disney Books
“Okay, so maybe my methods are unique,” Eda said. “But so is your magic. Connecting to the Island can help you. That wand can’t.”
“Well, it’s already helped me!” Luz said, sounding hurt. “Just watch what I can do!”
Her temper rising, Luz pointed the wand and made the same motions to summon another fireball. The wand shook as a fireball formed at its tip and grew larger. However, Luz didn’t notice that the wand’s battery meter went down.
Eda managed to duck as the fireball shot through the forest. There was a distant boom.
Then came a loud roar.
Then came a rumbling and the sound of something crashing through trees as the forest birds fled.
The Slitherbeast flew through the sky and landed right in front of Eda. He greeted the witch with a loud and scary roar.
“You’ve angered the Slitherbeast,” Eda stated flatly.
THE HULKING SLITHERBEAST, with its fur singed from the fireball, stalked around their camp, and Eda frowned.
“You’ve angered the Slitherbeast!” she said again.
“Will it accept a heartfelt apology?” Luz wondered.
The creature snarled and glared at Luz. It saw that she was holding the still-smoking training wand in her hand. The monster reached out for Luz, but Eda knocked the young girl out of harm’s way.
The Slitherbeast grabbed Eda in its huge hand. Seconds later, Amity and her siblings ran up the hill. Amity saw that Luz was holding her training wand and demanded to know what she was doing with it. Luz sputtered, words failing her. Amity grabbed her wand and spell book from Luz.
“Mittens, we’ve got bigger problems,” Emira pointed out as the Slitherbeast moved toward the kids. The monster was still clutching Eda in one of its giant hands.
“Aw, he’s so cute!” Emira said.
Edric and Emira formed spell circles, and cords of shimmering light appeared. Like lassos, the light whipped around the Slitherbeast’s front paws, and the creature fell to the ground. The siblings pulled on the glowing cords, holding down the monster. But the Slitherbeast was so strong that it began to rise from the snow.
“You got it, now finish it off!” Eda said.
“I’m on it!” Amity hollered. She tried to shoot a fireball from her training wand, but it only fizzled. Looking down at the wand, Amity saw that the battery had run out completely.
“Did you use this all up?” Amity said in disbelief.
“I…I didn’t know!” Luz said sheepishly.
Emira and Edric called for Luz to do one of the powerful spells she had been talking about. Luz had to admit she didn’t actually know any.
The Slitherbeast picked itself up from the ground and yanked on its magical bonds. Edric and Emira fell to the ground, and the monster reached down and picked up the siblings in its other hand. Then the creature whirled around and headed back down the hill with its prey, leaving Luz and Amity behind.
* * *
King was relaxing on the couch in the comfort of the Owl House living room, surrounded by snacks and sitting next to his nonliving stuffed bunny, Francois. The toys King had animated were bringing more snacks into the living room and setting them down on the couch.
“Yep, keep ’em comin’!” King said as one of the toys dropped off a bag of chips. “And don’t forget the pretzels this time.”
King dumped a pile of chips on top of Francois. After all, running a boot camp was tough work, and as his second-in-command, Francois deserved it!
The teddy bear had wandered into the living room and saw the chips atop Francois. It reached down to take some snacks for itself.
“Hey, hey!” King chided. “Private New Guy! You are not privy to snacking privileges! Back away!”
The teddy bear jumped off the couch, and King went back to eating. Once again, he failed to notice the teddy bear’s eyes glowing red as the toy stormed off.
“Leading this boot camp has tuckered the little guy out,” King said with a yawn. “So Sergeant King, signing off!”
Settling himself down for a nap, King closed his eyes. He sensed that he was being watched, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the teddy bear standing over him. Staring at him. With red eyes.
“Excuse me! Could you maybe turn down those eyeballs?” King ordered. “I’m trying to sleep!”
Then the other animated stuffed animals appeared and stood over King.
Now their eyes were red, too.
King shivered as one of the stuffed animals pulled the teddy bear’s string.
“Don’t you want a hug?” the teddy bear said menacingly.
* * *
“What do we do?” Luz said as they watched the trees shake in the Slitherbeast’s path after it had run off with Amity’s siblings and Eda.
“I am going after them,” Amity said, determined. “You are staying here.”
“But the beast has Eda!”
“And because of you, it also has my brother and sister!” Amity retorted. “Now stay put! You’ll only get hurt.”
Then, without her training wand, Amity cast a spell. She conjured a glowing magenta barrier, entrapping Luz. The barrier was hot, and Luz pulled back after she tried to clutch its walls. “Amity! Wait!” she called, but she could only watch helplessly as Amity ran off.
Not knowing what else to do, Luz kicked a big rock inside the barrier. “Agh, stupid island.”
Resigned to her fate, Luz sat down on the rock. She looked out and saw the snow falling. Despite the circumstances, the scenery was beautiful.
“You were supposed to teach me magic,” Luz said sadly. “But I’ll never learn more than this.” Luz pulled out a pad of paper and drew a light glyph with a pencil. A ball of light rose from the page and hovered above it. Luz watched as it continued to rise into the sky. It looked almost like a star, she thought, and then, at last, it disappeared. But she kept on watching, observing the other stars in the sky. She noticed that a group of them seemed to form a pattern.
“Wait,” she said, squinting. “Is that…a light glyph?”
She traced the stars with her finger, and immediately, she recognized the shape.
“But what does that mean?” she wondered.
Several large snowflakes fell into Luz’s hand at that moment and melted. Before they melted, Luz noticed a different glyph in their pattern.
“Whoa,” she said, her eyes widening.
She picked up a stick, knelt down, and let more snowflakes land on her hand. As she used the stick to draw in the snow an exact duplicate of the glyph she saw, she said, “It means…magic is a gift from the Island. It means…” She activated the glyph, and a column of ice formed. “Magic is everywhere.”
Luz turned toward the magenta barrier and leaped up from the ground. On the snow inside the barrier, she drew a larger version of the glyph. Then she stepped onto the rock and shouted, “Magic is everywhere!”
She jumped off the rock and landed hard on the glyph. An enormous column of ice sprang from the ground beneath her feet, forcing Luz into the air along with it. She went right over the barrier and landed in a snowdrift.
Raising her arms in victory, she shouted, “My second spell! Thank you, snow! Thank you, Island! Thank you, Eda….”
The thought of her mentor was all the reminder Luz needed. Eda was still in danger, along with Edric and Emira.
And Amity.
Luz raced down the path in pursuit of the Slitherbeast.
* * *
“Hey! How dare you mutiny!” King said, trying to regain control of the situation. “Unhand your commander right now!”
The stuffed animals tossed him out the window. “I gave you life; I can take it away!” King shouted. The stuffed animals threw arrows and knives after him.
“Hooty! Hooty!” he called. “Great news, buddy! You can be in the boot camp! First task: destroy the boot camp!”
Hooty considered it for a moment, then said, “No, thanks!”
“Wh-what?” King stuttered. “But you begged to join!”
�
�Sorry,” Hooty replied. “You said I was desperate! So now I’m playing hard to get!”
King couldn’t believe it. Rolling his eyes, he said, “What do you want?”
“I dunno,” Hooty said thoughtfully. “What are you offering?”
King thought for a second and pulled out a piece of chalk. Then he scribbled on the front door, making the outline of a body for Hooty.
“Wow!” Hooty said happily. “This is incredible! It’s so real! You’ve got yourself a deal!”
Suddenly, the door opened, and Hooty craned his long neck inside the house.
King watched with glee as stuffing from the assembled toys was spilled.
“This day shall live in infamy,” he said.
LUZ HAD MANAGED to track the Slitherbeast all the way to its lair, inside a cave on the hillside. She watched from afar as the creature spat some kind of purple goo on a cave wall and placed Eda, Edric, and Emira on it, then turned its attention away from its prey. The three were now stuck to the wall, staring at each other.
“Don’t worry,” Emira said. “We’ll be fine.”
Suddenly, a bunch of goo-covered skeletons fell to the ground and slid away down the snowy cave floor.
“Nope, we’re gonna die,” Edric observed.
Luz had carefully found her way to a crack in a cave wall and snuck inside. “That’s right. Death is here!” she said in a menacing voice, hiding behind a big skull. “Just kidding. Luz is here!” she added, pulling up the skull to reveal herself.
“Kid, get outta here!” Eda said. “I’m just gonna sneak away when the thing starts eating the twins!” she added in a low voice.
“Wait, what?” Emira said as Edric gasped.
“Don’t worry, Eda,” Luz said. “I get it now. I was so obsessed with learning my second spell I didn’t listen to you. But now I’m gonna save you!”
Then Luz raced off, chanting, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!”
Eda sighed. “Well, at least I got to see her misplaced confidence one last time.”
* * *
Luz ran into Amity inside the cave.
“How did you get past the barrier?” Amity asked, confused.
“Magic! Literally! Now forget that, because you and I have to work together if we want to save everyone. Okay, here’s what we’re going to do….” She whispered something into Amity’s ear.
Meanwhile, the Slitherbeast returned. It sprinkled seasonings on its victims. The creature was hungry.
“Hey, ya big idiot!” Luz shouted. “Over here!”
The monster turned sharply and saw Luz waving her arms wildly in the distance. Behind the monster, Amity crept slowly toward Eda and her siblings.
“Amity!” Edric said.
“Use that fire spell we taught you!” Emira urged.
“But I can’t do it without the wand!” Amity said, frowning.
“Yes, you can,” Emira said encouragingly. “Just focus!”
“Okay,” Amity said, summoning her courage. She cleared her mind, then traced out a spell circle. Fire rose from her hands. It was the same kind she used for her fireball spell.
“Cool,” Emira said. “I didn’t actually think you could do it.”
Amity used the fire to melt the sticky goo off her siblings and Eda. They quickly fell to the ground.
But behind them, the Slitherbeast, still hungry, was chasing Luz. She ran outside, fleeing the cave. Stopping in front of a tree, Luz waited as the Slitherbeast let out a monstrous roar. It reared up on its hind legs, ready to attack.
Unfortunately for the Slitherbeast, it wasn’t aware that it had run right onto a glyph drawn into the snow. Luz stomped on the glyph, and a column of ice shot from the ground, sending the Slitherbeast flying. The creature soared through the air and landed on its back, seemingly unable to get up.
Edric, Emira, Eda, and Amity came out of the cave at that moment, as the Slitherbeast somehow managed to get back on its feet. It was once again poised to pounce.
“Want me to teach you kids something cool?” Eda asked.
“Yes!” the group shouted.
Eda stood in front of the cave as the creature jumped right at her. Then she yelled, “Sleep spell!” and drew a spell circle. A blast of magic hit the Slitherbeast, and it fell to the ground, snoring loudly.
Everyone was duly impressed.
“Now that’s my mentor!” Luz called out, and she ran up to Eda excitedly. “Did you see? I learned my second spell! I made the connection!”
“I saw,” Eda said. “Nice work, kiddo.”
“You showed some real bravery in there, Sis,” Emira said to her younger sister.
“Yeah, nice work, kiddo!” Edric added.
Smiling, Amity walked over to Luz. “So it looks like we’ll be in the same class.”
“Azura book club? Azura book club?” Luz babbled excitedly.
Amity looked a little embarrassed. “As long as it’s a secret club, okay?”
“It’s not a secret!” Edric announced.
“We’re gonna tell everyone,” Emira said.
Suddenly, Eda sneezed. “All right, your adorable banter is literally making me sick. Let’s go home already.”
“On it, teach!” Luz said. She quickly drew a large ice glyph around her and Eda and slammed her hand down on it. An ice column arose from the ground, launching Luz and Eda into the air.
Emira watched the spectacle and turned to her siblings. “I think we can go the normal way,” she said.
* * *
King scanned the living room. It looked like a battlefield, and indeed, it was. Stuffing from the toys was everywhere. And there was the teddy bear’s head, separated from its big fluffy body.
“Private Hooty,” King said, “today, when the felt flew, you showed grit and determination that were instrumental in securing our victory. May I just say it has been an honor to be your commander.”
“Sir, the honor is all mine,” Hooty replied.
Victorious in battle, the two hugged each other.
“Private, our hearts have been touched by fire. And—”
But before King could finish, he was interrupted by the arrival of Eda and Luz.
Eda frowned at the incredible mess that was her living room. “Ahem. What the heck did you two get into?” she asked.
“Um, excuse me, we’re having a moment here!” King said, sounding annoyed.
“You’ll never understand what we’ve been through together!” Hooty exclaimed. “Never! Never!”
“Ugh, moment ruined,” King said, and walked off.
“I will be haunted by my actions forever,” Hooty said. “Hoot hoot!”