"Well kids, did you ever imagine you'd see something so breathtaking in your lives?" Eda exclaimed with wide arms to a disgusted Luz and enthusiastic Percy.
It had been a week since the two teens had found themselves in the Boiling Isles. They quickly fell into a routine of helping Eda with her potions business, Percy helping with brewing, and Luz delivering the finished potions. Today, with the 'assistance' of King, they were helping with her other business venture of selling human junk to unsuspecting demons and witches. The work found them on the beach standing before the massive corpse of something that resembled a slug.
"I don't like this." Luz mumbled looking queasy.
"This is the best thing ever!" Percy said excitedly, jumping at the opportunity to do something other than chop plants with odd names.
"It doesn't get more inspiring than the Trash Slug, kids." Eda walked over to the rotting corpse and rubbed her hand across it adoringly. "It makes a life of consuming what others have tossed to the wayside, until BLAM." Eda spun around and slammed her fist into her palm. "It gets hit with a wave and croaks from all the salt, allowing us to dig around its dead body and sell what it ate."
Eda walked over to the pair and offered a pickaxe she pulled from her hair. Luz looked at the tool and turned away in disgust.
"Please don't make me." She said in a low voice.
"I'll do it!" Percy shouted happily as he yanked the pickaxe from Eda's hand and ran over to the Trash Slug's body.
"At least someone is happy to help." Eda said snidely.
"No, this is disgusting. I'm just happy to be out of the potions lab and next to the water." Percy responded as he dug through the corpse.
"C'mon Luz, go help your brother. It's not every day you get to pick apart a garbage carcass." King commented sarcastically from a beach towel off to the side.
"Nuts to you both." Eda pulled another pickaxe from her hair and started hitting the Trash Slug.
Luz winced at the sound of every impact.
"So Eda, what if we tried some new lessons for my apprenticeship? Like reading ancient scrolls, or mixing potions together, or..."
"Gross. Sounds like a bunch of magic school stuff." Eda said without looking back.
Luz's face lit up and her eyes widened.
"Wait. Is there a magic school here?" Luz walked over to Eda with her hands clasped. "Like winding towers, cute uniforms, and dark plots that threaten your life. That kind of magic school!"
"You forgot to mention the eccentric Headmaster and teachers who don't care when you investigate the dark plots." Percy shouted from his position.
Luz sent him a glare, which only served to confuse him.
"Why are you looking at me like that, you complain about those things all the time. It's like your number one complaint of the genre." Percy said defensively.
Luz sighed with a slight shake of her head before turning back to Eda.
"Making a little loop-de-loop back to my point. Magic School." Luz said with a tilted head and raised eyebrows, her hand vaguely gesturing toward the older witch.
"Yes, Luz we have magic schools. What's worse is that they force you to learn magic the 'proper way'." Eda suddenly turned around with wide eyes. "But magic isn't proper. It's wild and unpredictable, and that's what makes it beautiful." Eda struck a pose with her hands on her hips."I didn't finish school and look at me. Who wouldn't envy where I am now?"
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One Door Closes, Another Opens
FanfictionWhen Percy blew up Mt. St Helen's, he expected to end up in the Underworld to be judged. Instead he found him self in a ditch in Gravesfield Connecticut under the care of a nice woman and her strange daughter. If the wasn't enough he's thrust into a...
