Two Sides of the Same Coin: An Owl and a Wolf

Chapter 19: Rein In Your Fear

Warning: There's 2 panic attacks in this chapter! They're both towards the end of the chapter. The first is about when Luz gets to the cliffside and is cornered by Grom- that following paragraph is the panic attack. The following two paragraphs still have her in her panic attack but it focuses more on Amity and Eda coming in to help.

The second one is much shorter, once you read '...did not sit well with Luz, sending her in a bit of a panicked state. Luz took a couple steps back...' skip the rest of the paragraph. Stay safe, stay happy, and have some angst. :)

The following week was chaotic to say the least. According to Willow, Grom was the biggest social event of the season and everyone at Hexside was excited for it. Except Amity, who had been chosen as Grom Queen this year. Grometheus the fear bringer, brought your biggest fear to life. Every year Principal Bump would pick that years Grom Queen or King and make them fight the fear monster. Luz was going to have a serious talk with somebody back at the castle about student safety.

Earlier that morning, Luz had discovered the plant glyph! She had to use a magnifying glass to see the glyph properly, but she still found it!

In the present though, Luz was worried about Amity. She entered Eda's room where she had heard Eda and King talking. Eda was wearing a brown tuxedo, King was wearing a green apron and standing on a pile of books.

"Hey guys, what are you doing?" Luz asked, sitting down on the edge of Eda's nest. Eda turned to look at her "I'm chaperoning Grom tonight. So I have to look sharp." King pulled out a poster with him and Gus on it wearing sunglasses. "And Gus asked me to co-emcee the fight! We're gonna turn this blood bath into a fun bath!"

"Ooh! Have they announced the victim yet?" Eda asked in excitement. Luz sighed "Yeah. It's Amity. She's kinda freaking out though. I wish I could, like, take her place or something." Luz replied. Eda and King started laughing. "A great joke, Luz!" King laughed. "Ah, listen, kid. That's a noble sentiment, but Grom is a little above your pay-grade. You're a human. You're... fragile." Eda explained. Luz huffed "I am not fragile! I could probably beat Grom better than any other student could!" She crossed her arms, briefly forgetting that she most likely wouldn't be able to use her staff in that situation.

Luz got up and left before they could reply, she needed to blow off some steam. She left the house and entered the forest, going off the path. Along the way she picked up a stick and whacked branches out of her way. As she went deeper into the forest, the canopy blocked the sunlight, casting shadows across the ground.

"Fragile." Luz grumbled "she doesn't know what I've endured!" Luz growled, whacking another branch out of her way. She paused for a moment to catch her breath, but then she heard it. The crunching of leaves as someone walked nearby, she turned towards the direction and made her way over to the sound.

Luz breathed a sigh of relief upon spotting Amity stumble in the dark. Luz didn't really notice how dark it was because of her curse letting her see a bit better in the dark. Luz activated a light glyph anyways and approached Amity. Amity looked up from the stump she was sitting on, surprised to see Luz.

"Hey, Luz." Amity greeted, once Luz entered the muddy clearing. "Hey." Luz greeted in return, already much happier than she was just moments ago. "Did you talk to Bump?" Luz asked. Amity sighed "He said no. I'm Grom Queen, unless I can find a replacement. And who'd want to switch with me?" Amity curled in on herself. Luz looked down, then her face brightened. "I would." She answered. "What?"

"Yeah! Let me be you fearless champion! I can handle a surprising amount of things, a fear monster can just be another thing added to the list." Luz stated. Amity looked up at her in concern, but Luz stood firm with her decision and Amity ultimately agreed.