"...And the bigger and more complicated the glyph combos are, the more they resemble atomic models and interconnected molecular structures," Luz finished. "Which probably means something, but I'm kind of bad at advanced STEM subjects, so it'd be a bit before I figure that out."
By the time they got to the gate in the cemetery, the complicated array of sensors that were set up around it needed a little time to 'boot up' before they could properly take in the data from the portal activation. Even though they could open it from the other side, it was still important that they still be able to brute force it if something happened to them within the week. Since it'd be just a little longer before they could go in, they'd made small talk with the man who set up the machines, which somehow led to Luz explaining everything she new about glyph magic theory(as opposed to everything she new about Glyph magic in general, which would have taken several lectures.) to 'Dr. Richards,' the father of the girl Luz had been speaking to earlier.
It did Amity's heart good to see Luz in her element like this. Especially after the near miss earlier.
"That is truly fascinating," Dr. Richards said. "Most magic flies over my head, the theories of sorcery...If they didn't work, I'd dismiss it as pseudo-science, but it's all based on symbolic logic and esoteric concepts. Frankly, it's a little embarrassing," he admitted with a laugh. "I can quantify the existence of the immortal soul, but I can't explain how Stephen's amulet can produce light, let alone how that light can reveal someone's true nature. This? Four indivisible fundamental elements with discrete properties produce new, novel effects based on their interactions with each other or other instances of themselves. They're repeatable, and they have the same effects every time you produce the same glyph, no matter who produces it. It's something akin to chemistry, or particle physics."
"If you say so," Luz replied. "I mean, it's not super scientific. Some of the combos aren't exactly the most intuitive."
"That doesn't really mean it's not a science," Dr. Richards countered. "It's not intuitive that humans would need to ingest an exploding metal or a highly toxic gas to live, either, nor that when combined, those elements would become something more or less harmless that makes your food taste better if you use the right amount."
"Fair, but like, there's still the element of how you need to be thinking of what you want. The same glyph that conjures a bouquet of lavender for my girlfriend also conjures a bunch of writhing thorned vines to pin down my enemies."
"You mostly see phenomena like that on the quantum level, but suffice it to say that in and of itself doesn't make something non-scientific," Richards replied again before tugging on the fabric of his uniform. "We only call this material 'unstable molecules' as a marketing gimmick. Factually, it's a particle in a superposition of the state of being matter and the state of being energy, whose properties are basically whatever you want them to be."
"Okay, but like, a lot of the early combos I figured out early on by just drawing them together in a way that looked nice, just to see if it would do anything. Really, more of an artist. Like, that's the kind of creativity I have, and I'm impulsive and—"
"Luz, you're doing it again," Amity interrupted. "Someone praised you or something you discovered, and you immediately downplay it."
Luz paused for a moment and then sighed. "Mental health is hard."
"...I was going to say," Dr. Richards continued, "that there's nothing wrong with a little impulsivity. Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why are how science starts, just as in any other investigation, and to be honest, there's a lot of overlap between scientific thinkers and people who like to watch things burn."
"...I do find those videos where people just melt stuff with piranha solution to be weirdly satisfying," Luz admitted.
"And as for artists, frankly, it's an immature attitude that the arts and science are incompatible," Dr. Richards noted. "It was the same intellect, curiosity, and creativity that fueled Da Vinci's inventions as his drawings and sculptures. Frankly, I wish I had a more artistic perspective sometimes. Ben's wife, Alicia, is a sculptor by trade. She's blind, but I dare say she's seen more in her mind's eye than I ever will, even with the most powerful tools available to me. Which is admittedly something of a cliche, but the point stands: you found, or learned, of a system of magic and instead of taking it at face value, you experimented with it, cross-referenced it, and came to a theory of empirical data. You've got the makings of a good scientist."
"Thanks," Luz replied.
A machine beeped, and Dr. Richards excused himself and stretched and deformed as to quickly approach the sensors, making a sound akin to an old cartoon. He pressed a few buttons on a keyboard near the monitor on one device. "Alright," he said, "you should be clear to go through."
With that, everyone congregated by the stone arch and, with some careful reverence, Luz poured the vial of Titan's blood over it and an opaque barrier full of colorful ripples and stars.
"It won't last long," Luz said as she took Amity's hand. "So everyone step through."
Walking through this portal felt weird, like pushing through a membrane, and Amity could briefly see a lake of dark liquid and a bunch of floating cubes before stumbling out on the other side, and immediately, Amity could smell the difference in the air. A look up to the pink sky and down to the red grass confirmed it. They'd made it home.
The next few minutes were a moment of simple revelry as everyone took a moment to just enjoy being here after months in the human realm. After taking a moment to play with some discarded abomination slime, Amity noticed a change in the emotions radiating from Luz. Nothing bad, but... Contentment. Determination. And something Amity hadn't felt from Luz in a long time.
Hope.
Amity came up to Luz, who had an almost serene expression. "How are you feeling?"
"Great," Luz replied. "Being back here, um... We made it. You guys aren't stuck in the human realm forever and... I know it wasn't my fault, but it's still a huge relief and... I know we've still got work to do, but... I'm just happy to be back," Luz finished.
Amity's response was to hug Luz.
Soon enough, however, they came to the first signs of the Collector's changes to the world. Overly cutesy and sparkly meadows. Off in the distance, a huge chunk was missing from the Titan's Skull, with a large, crown-shaped building over it.
A year ago, Amity wouldn't have cared so much. She'd never been particularly religious. But now... That was King's dad. That was the being who'd saved Luz's life and helped her out behind the scenes so many times. That wasn't just some old, faceless god anymore; that was a person who had cared about them and helped them. Part of Luz's family even. Seeing this done to their remains was sad.
Amity was shaken from her thoughts by Luz summoning her staff. "Okay, everyone, we've got a job to do. Next stop: The Owl House."
The view from above showed that most of the Collector's changes to the Isles seemed to be only superficial, so... That's a thing.
They landed outside the Owl House, which was frankly a mess. The whole building was tagged with graffiti, and frankly, the hole where Hooty was supposed to be was disturbing.
"Home sweet home," Luz said whistfully as she helped her mother off of a staff. Camila, it seemed, did not care for flying.
The inside of the house was a mess. Amity's first instinct was to check Luz's reaction, but her expression was even more determined, while her emotions remained consistent from earlier.
"I'm gonna check the basement," Luz said. "Everybody search the house, it doesn't look like the place has been completely ransacked, we might find something useful... Except the potions lab. Probably best not to touch anything in there."
With that, everyone dispersed through the house. Amity, having standing permission to be in Luz's room, went to search it: She knew that Luz had some things stashed away up there.
She encountered an obstacle immediately and had to laugh about it. Then she went back downstairs to get help, only to notice something was off about Willow's emotions as she got to the kitchen. However, she was noticed before she could comment.
"So you need something?" Camila asked.
"Um, yes, it seems that the Emperor's Coven or some looters or something tried to move Luz's bed, but they don't seem to have figured out how to get it through the door. I could probably move it by myself," frankly, Amity wasn't sure exactly how strong she was since becoming a valkyrie, "but it's awkwardly positioned and I'd probably tear up the floor, so if someone could help me..."
A few minutes later, Camila was helping Amity. The bed was angled awkwardly, and someone ended up forming an arch that Amity had to crawl under so that she could do her part in repositioning it from the other side. Eventually, however, the bed was back where it was supposed to be, and Luz's room was unobstructed once more.
"So they had to know that a bed that size wouldn't just fit through a door as is, right?" Camila asked.
"I'm assuming this happened as part of the Emperor's Coven raid," Amity said, "their general competence is... Not what we were told it was." Frankly, even ignoring the genocide and the whole giving up your palisman thing, Amity was reasonably sure she'd dodged a nasty hex when she decided against joining. "It looks like they tried to clear out the room, started with the bed, got stuck on the door, and gave up. Nothing else seems to be touched so..."
A bit of scrounging turned up Luz's emergency snack stash: A few bags of Hex-Mix, assorted hard candies, and a few boxes of non-alcoholic apple blood that, checking the dates, were still good.
It also turned up Luz's fishnet stockings. "I don't know why she has these," Amity noted. "She hardly ever wears socks except sometimes at night when it's cold, these look pretty flimsy, and I'm not even sure that these are her size."
"See, when you say things like this, it makes me feel like I don't have to worry about why she has a queen-sized bed," Camila replied.
It took Amity a moment to comprehend the implications, but when she did, she felt as if her face was on fire.
"Now, to answer your question, she likes the look and is hoping she'll grow into them." Camila continued.
"I'd like to change the subject now," Amity said.
"You've known Willow the longest, right?" Camila started.
"Technically. There was... Well, you know how Luz and I first met," Amity began. "Willow was my best friend when we were younger, but Odalia didn't approve and threatened to abuse her power in the PCA to keep Willow out of Hexside, and if that hadn't worked, she'd have done worse, but I didn't know how to explain to her that we couldn't be friends anymore so when she asked if it was because she was bad at magic and... Anyway, the point is Luz and Gus are her best friends now," Amity finished.
"I'm worried about her." Camila continued. "I think she's focused too hard on being there to support everyone else, and she seems to be suppressing her own concerns."
"I did notice something funky about her emotions," Amity noted. "What happened?"
"I was searching the kitchen and... Do you really eat rats?"
"Well, I don't," Amity replied, "but what happened next?"
"Well, we got to talking and Gus, well, something reminded him of his father and he... Being back here seems to be good for Luz, but for Willow and Gus, getting this close to he end seems to be bringing out their repressed anxiety, and I don't think Willow's handling it well."
Amity thought for a moment on why Willow, the strongest witch in their group after Luz, the strongest period in a number of ways, would be so obsessed with being strong for everyone else to the point of not... Showing weakness.
"...This is my fault," Amty replied. "I... I was awful to Willow for years, and I don't even know why." When Luz had been confronting her on it, she'd asked if it was because it'd be less painful if Willow hated her. Amity had agreed in the moment, but looking back, she wasn't so sure. She always felt bad about hurting Willow after the fact, but that didn't stop her from doing it... Thinking on it she distinctly recalled thinking she'd provided Willow with encouragement the morning of the Abination Incident but... that hadn't been why she stopped, and... There's Boscha's misunderstanding but Amity couldn't blame her own actions on that and... Frankly there were times when Amity was just upset to see Willow and... "But why doens't matter. The point is that I hurt her, and I think I might have given her a complex."
"What's complex?" Came Luz's voice from behind her, which caused Amity to yelp and fall over.
As she sat back up, Amity noted that Luz was currently climbing into the room through a window and seemed to be covered in dust.
"Luz... why?" Her Mom asked, hesitating briefly it seemed to figure out where to begin.
"Oh, while I was searching the basement, I fell through a trap door into the subbasement and had to go outside to get back in," Luz explained. She did not elaborate on why she'd scaled the building and come in through the window. "Also, if we find Hooty, someone remind me to ask him why there's a half-built tunnel of love down there."