A True Witch (Part 1)

The Perfect Plan

Luz's eyes slowly flickered open. The first thought she had as she woke was that she needed new clothes because the ones she was wearing were in awful condition and smelled as such. She decided to go out and look for something new.

She left the room and wandered through the castle, eventually finding the scout's rooms. It felt a bit wrong to be going through people's stuff, but whoever owned them was dead, captured, or in the hideout so it's not like they'd need them. Going room to room, Luz eventually collected enough clothing in her size. They were probably what the scouts wore on their day off, given their casual look, but that was better than having to go out to scavenge clothes. She was able to gather dark gray jeans, black calf-high boots with gold laces, a dull white button up she cuffed up to her elbows, and tight black gloves.

Luz found her way back to the room and saw Philip tending to the fire as something cooked in the pot he had hung over it. Philip looked over at her and smiled, making Luz smile back.

"I see you found some new clothing." Philip commented.

"Yep! Besides, that old outfit looked way too much like what Villainous Lucy wore in The Good Witch Azura The Movie 2: The Betrayening."

"And instead you look like a coven scout in casual clothes, which is better?"

"They aren't scout clothes. They're just clothes." Luz insisted as she sat by the fire across from Philip.

She looked curiously into the pot. There was water boiling with something weird cooking. It wasn't tea, like Luz expected, but instead food.

"I'm making gruel, well, I think it's called oatmeal now," Philip said, answering the unasked question, "As you know, humans can't eat lots of food in this world. So, once I had the ability to, I began to selectively breed various plants to be more like their human realm varieties. I was able to do the same with some animals too, but most of the meat and dairy was spoiled or stolen. The plants, however, were just fine."

After doing a quick check, Philip nodded and split the oatmeal between two bowls. He added a dark brown powder to one bowl and handed it to Luz. The other one he kept for himself. He handed Luz a spoon and started eating.

"Don't worry, it's not poison. It's this realm's equivalent of cinnamon. I like my gruel with just salt, water, and oats, but I know you prefer cinnamon. Alas, I don't have any butter or brown sugar."

Luz looked up from her bowl and looked at Philip confused, eyes narrowed. He was focusing on his food but when he met her eyes, he recognized why she was confused.

"Remember, I spent over a month inside your brain. I was able to access all of your memories, as well as any thoughts or feelings you had while I was in your head."

"You just had free reign of my memories?" Luz asked, slightly concerned and scared.

"Don't worry, while I did go through them, now that my curse is gone I no longer have that connection to the part of myself I had in your head. And the longer I am severed, the more the memories fade. I can't recall your first words or what you wore on your third day of first grade or anything of the sorts. Your short term memories are long gone from my head. I can only really remember major details from the past 7 or so years. I admit I did use my knowledge for manipulative reasons. It's how I knew about the Little Light thing and that only your mother and late father called you it."

"It's whatever Philip." Luz shrugged, though she wasn't completely honest with that statement, "I'm okay with you calling me that now. Now, is that the only memory you used against me?"

After an almost hesitant pause, Philip nodded.

"Then we're all good!" Luz said chipperly "Now, first order of business. I have a plan to defeat the Collector."