Storm's Hand (The Owl House AU)

On another day on the Boiling Isles, Luz went to the library to return all of Eda's overdue books because the Owl Lady was too busy with a sanity-testing task from the famous Bat Queen.

Luz arrived at the library and returned the books but decided to stay and look around. During her time in the library, she found Amity reading to children. Seeing Amity being kind for a change, Luz took this opportunity to attempt to befriend her. However, after the kids left, Amity gave Luz the cold shoulder. Again. On her way out, Luz met Amity's older twin siblings, Emira and Edric, who invited her to have some 'fun' around the library by causing mischief, mostly involving pranks that led to the psychological torment of one of the librarians.

Inevitably, the kids were caught and shoved out of the library's door by the other (sane) librarians.

"You've made reading far too fun. Now, stay out!" the man said before slamming the door shut on the teens. The three of them looked at the door for a second before they started laughing.

"Amity's even madder at me now. I didn't think that was possible," Luz said. "I didn't think that was possible."

"No, when Mittens gets mad, she looks like this," Edric said before inhaling a sharp breath of air and puffing his cheeks, grunting as he made an angry face that turned red before exhaling and stumbling. "Whoa! I almost passed out."

"You're pretty fun, human," Emira smiled at Luz.

As the conversation continued, another person walked in. The teens heard their footsteps and saw Sturm walk up the steps, dressed in his school uniform. He had a raised brow and held a book called 'How to Indirectly Kill Your Rivals.'

"Did you guys get kicked out of the library again?" Sturm asked. "I'm only surprised you get to keep coming back."

"Oh, hey, Sparkles!" Emira waved at him.

"How ya doin', man?" Edric asked.

"I'm tired," the white-haired kid bluntly said as he walked up the stairs and reached the top before looking at Emira. "And you know I don't like being called 'Sparkles,' what are you doing, girl?"

"Hey, I know you. You're from Hexside," Luz said before turning to the twins. "And you guys know him?"

"Yeah. This is Sturm. He just showed up one day and started working for our parents," Emira responded.

"He and Amity have hated each other's guts ever since they met," Edric added.

"That doesn't even begin to cover it, lime hair," Sturm said, causing Edric to touch his own hair, feeling a little insecure. However, a smile formed on Sturm's face as the red-eyed teen zoomed behind the twins and put his hands on their shoulders. "Say, guys... How about we come back tonight? Maybe there's a certain book you forgot to... check out?"

The twins nodded.

"Ah, I see what you mean," Emira smirked.

"We're gonna laugh for weeks," Edric giggled. Luz, on the other hand, was confused.

"What are you saying?"

"Rumor has it the Wailing Star's supposed to unlock some rare magical event," Sturm responded. "And it will affect the library with some results we can take advantage of."

"What do you say? You in, friend?" Edric asked.

Sturm didn't notice until the last second, but the look on Luz's face suggested a sense of fulfillment. Even though he knew almost nothing about her, he guessed she hadn't made many friends.

"Sure," she smiled.

"Great! Meet back here at midnight. See you, Luz," Edric said as he and his sister turned and walked away.

"Bye!" Luz waved as she watched them go.

"I see you like them already," Sturm said to Luz. He turned around and was about to enter the library before the girl stopped him.

"Uh, Sturm?"

"Hmm?

"What book were you referring to a minute ago?"

"It's a surprise," he said, but Luz could tell that his smirk and tone suggested that he had a shady plan.

"And... Why do you and Amity hate each other?" Luz asked, trying to make small talk to avoid seeing him in a bad light.

"You have to ask?" Sturm replied, looking at her as if she'd gotten amnesia after the vicious fight the two had. "Trust me, being around that witch is not worth the trouble."

"I don't believe that. Maybe now that I befriended the siblings, I have a chance at befriending Amity!" she said optimistically.

"Eh, suit yourself. It's your loss," Sturm shrugged before ending the conversation right then and there.

"This is great! Now's my chance!" Luz squealed before running off to the Owl House.

However, she was unaware that Amity was standing around the corner the whole time, having seen and heard everything. Just as Edric said, she held her breath and growled in anger until her face turned red, forcing her to stop and gasp for air.

"Phew! Almost passed out."

When the sun finally set and midnight drew near, Luz walked back to the library, waiting for Sturm and the twins to show up. The streets were deserted, and she had nothing to do. And being a people-pleaser, Luz wanted to impress her new friends even more. She paced next to a pillar as she tried to conjure some ideas.

"Gotta be cool..."

She rested her arm on the pillar.

"Cool?"

That didn't look cool enough, so she shook her head and facepalmed.

"No."

She tried to lean against the pillar but didn't like that pose either.

"Cool."

She quickly knelt down while throwing a peace sign. But even that looked ridiculous. She groaned and dropped her head in shame.

"Keep going," said a familiar voice, startling Luz and making her fall on her butt. She looked up and saw Edric and Emira near a pillar across from her. "This is fun to watch."

"You ready to bring this whole...uh...whatever you're doing inside?"

"Mm-hmm-mm-hmm," Luz nodded excitedly, but something popped into her mind shortly after. "Wait, where's Sturm?"

Then, as if on cue, the teens heard a noise and looked into the streets, where they saw a blurry figure sprinting through the streets at an incredible speed. The figure quickly approached the teens and abruptly stopped right before them. It was Sturm, scrubbing his head with a towel while sporting a dark gray shirt with black pants and still wearing the fingerless glove on his left hand.

"Sorry, I got out of the shower a minute ago," he said before tossing the towel away and arranging his hair to ensure his ears remained covered. "Okay, let's begin."

Edric said as they walked up to the door. Stopping in front of them with Luz, Sturm, and Emira, he pulled out a sheet of paper with drawn key-shaped runes and handed it to Emira.

"It says no trespassing, but I'm allergic to the rules," he said.

"And dairy," Emira added.

"Especially dairy," Sturm finished.

"Wow, okay. Just expose me," Edric frowned.

The runes on the paper glowed in Emira's hands before she placed the scroll over the large keyhole on the door. Letting it crumble and burn away to ashes as Luz stared in amazement.

Suddenly, the lock grew until it was large enough for them to walk through.

"Come on," Sturm said as he and the rest walked in before the lock shrunk back down once they entered. Luz looked around the lobby.

"Standing in a dimly lit lobby. You guys know how to party," Luz said.

"It's actually better for my eyes," Sturm added.

"There! The Wailing Star!" Edric announced, pointing to the stained glass window over the main door.

The teens looked up at the window to see a wondrous sight. They watched the Wailing Star passing by. It looked like a comet but made some sobbing sounds as it flew across the sky. It was so bright that it shone through the window, projecting its light onto the teens.

They looked around for several seconds to see if anything had changed. But they saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"Hmm. Nothing happened," Edric frowned.

Luz turned around, and her eyes widened when she saw the books all around the library on every shelf slowly beginning to glow green.

"Wait..." Luz said as she approached the shelves, gaining the attention of Sturm and the twins. "The books are all glowy..."

She reached out for a book titled 'Extinct Birds of the Boiling Isles.' She opened it to see what was happening, only to recoil when something suddenly shot out of it almost immediately. However, to her amazement, several unique-looking birds of different shapes and sizes burst out of the book. They flew around the lobby as the teens stared at the birds with wide eyes.

"Wow!" Emira said as she and her brother stared at the birds.

"The Wailing Star magicked the books to life!" Edric said in realization. Sturm watched a tiny white sparrow with red spots on its feathers land on his finger.

"So amazing..." he exclaimed.

Luz carefully closed the book, and all the extinct birds brought back by the magic of the star disappeared into thin air.

The teens shared a look and then grinned.

The three then went off to go and explore the library. They went to the magazine section, where Edric grabbed an article from 'Regal Couture.' He opened the magazine, and the magic of the Wailing Star dressed him and Emira in fancy clothing as a peacock flew out of the pages.

Sturm grabbed a cooking magazine called 'Bonesborough's Best Recipes.' When he opened it, the magic transformed his clothes into a chef's outfit and summoned a table full of cakes, pies, steaks, and soups. Curious, Sturm cut up the steak and ate the piece, only for his eyes to widen.

"Scrumptious!" he exclaimed in a British accent.

Luz grabbed an issue of 'Witch Wares Weekly.' She opened the magazine, and her clothes were transformed into what an anime character would wear. Her hair became spiky, and she had knee-high boots, brown pants, gloves, a new jacket, and a giant sword strapped to her back. However, the sword was too heavy, and she stumbled back from its weight.

The four of them were now standing next to the graphic novel section. Grabbing one of the books from the shelf, Luz opened it. She expected to see superheroes and villains burst out of the pages and battle. However, nothing came from the comic.

"Nothing Happened..." she said, only for her words to materialize in a speech bubble coming from her mouth. They all gasped when it appeared, with the twins taking steps back.

"WOW!" Edric and Emira said in amazement. That, too, came out in a word bubble. Both of their bubbles popped when Luz closed the book, a 'THUMP' sound bubble appearing as she did so.

Sturm grinned, took the book from Luz, and opened it. He then said a bunch of gibberish that appeared in his speech bubble, making Luz and the twins roll on the floor and laugh.

"Gsv jfrxp yildm ulc qfnkh levi gsv ozab wlt!"

After a while, the four of them were having a free-for-all snowball fight, each having a copy of 'Snowballs, a History.' Why anyone would write a whole book about snowballs was anyone's guess.

Luz hid behind the corner of a shelf as Edric walked by. Jumping out of cover, Luz opened the book, and a barrage of snowballs pelted the teenage Blight boy, hitting him and making him fall to the ground before Edric fired back at her.

The human girl managed to get away from him, thinking she was safe for a second before Emira appeared behind her, opening her book directly in Luz's face, pelleting him with snowballs as she laughed.

Unfortunately, Not even Emira was safe. A barrage of snowballs came from above. Sturm was sitting over a shelf and holding the book over her head.

Taking cover inside the kid's corner, Luz hid behind the same shelf when she watched Amity read to the children. When Edric and Emira ran past the kid's corner. They were being chased by Sturm, who still attacked them with snowballs. Luz stood up and was about to exit the room when she turned around.

That was when she noticed 'Otabin the Bookmaker.' The same kid book Amity had read to the kids early that day. It was still on the table, glowing in the magic of the Wailing Star.

Walking over to it, Luz picked up the book. When she opened it, the character Otabin rose from the pages. The little creature looked up at the human as she smiled down at him.

"Friend?" Otabin asked, perking up as he threaded a needle with string.

"Luz, check this out," said Edric as he, his sister, and Sturm walked into the kid's corner with another book.

"Look what we discovered," Emira said, holding up the book named 'Quacks Eats Snacks.'

As Luz put down Otabin's book, Emira opened hers, and a cartoonish-looking yellow duck swam out of the pages and landed on the floor. The baby duck happily quacked as it moved around before looking at the four teens, giving them an innocent and friendly smile.

"Aww. Cute little quackster," Luz smiled.

"Edric, gimme your pencil," Sturm said.

Emira held the book out to Sturm, and Edric gave the white-haired teen a pencil. He then drew a pair of human legs on the duck in the book. Luz watched in shock as the duck suddenly grew matching giant human legs, making the poor animal quack in a panic.

"Now he's extra cute," Emira said while Sturm closed the book as the duck vanished into thin air. While Luz was still disturbed, the twins laughed before Sturm sighed.

"All right, that's enough," he said. "It's time to get to the real deal. But I'm saying you guys should go on without me."

"Aw, but we were having so much fun," Edric complained.

"Sorry, my early morning shift is coming soon, and I gotta get ready."

"Whatever you say, Sparkles," Emira smirked.

"Oh, get outta here already!" Sturm said, flustered.

The twins laughed, grabbed Luz, and left the kid's corner. Sturm watched them go, and once they were out of sight, he heard the library's front door open. He saw someone move between the shelves and immediately saw Amity. Part of him didn't expect her to come here, but he saw it as another chance to get rid of her.

He turned around and saw the copy of 'Otabin the Bookmaker' Luz held earlier. He looked at the pencil he got from Edric and grinned. He took the book and opened it to the drawing of him on the page. Sturm then doodled, giving Otabin angry eyebrows and claws.

He immediately dropped the book face down and opened it before zooming out of the kid's corner and sneaking out of the library before Amity could see him. As Sturm left, the other teens didn't know what Sturm had just unleashed. A clawed hand grew out of the book, and whatever it was started to growl.

When Sturm exited the library, he hid behind a pillar to see if anyone came out. He giggled, thinking about how it all came to be. If there was one thing Sturm and the twins had in common, it was their dislike toward Amity's attitude, but for different reasons. Amity has gotten too 'full of herself,' according to the twins. She constantly tattled on them when they cut class, so the siblings thought she should learn not to mess with people like that.

When they asked for help, Sturm followed the young protege for a while until he found out that not only did she keep a secret diary but also had a secret hideaway hidden behind one of the shelves in the Romance section.

From Sturm's point of view, people keep diaries because they have embarrassing secrets that they're too uncomfortable sharing with others. But simultaneously, they don't want to keep them locked in their brains forever, so they pour out their thoughts on paper as a release. And Amity was no exception.

The plan was to break into the hideaway, find the diary, and then post the pages all over Hexside for everyone to see. The corruption of Otabin was not planned at all. But if it meant getting a chance to humiliate Amity, even in case something happened to her, he would gladly take it.

Despite his wishful thinking, he saw the twins exit the library empty-handed. They seemed disappointed, too.

"Too bad Luz wasn't down with us?" Edric frowned.

"Yeah. Do you think we're the worst?" Emira asked.

"Looks like we got some thinking to do," Edric said as he and his sister walked away from the library, unaware that Sturm heard the whole thing.

"Well, that's disappointing," Sturm said to himself. But he heard a couple of crashes and screams inside the library, meaning that Otabin had already found Amity and attacked her. "Guess that works, too."

He was disappointed that he didn't get to humiliate Amity. But whatever fate the twisted version of Otabin had in store for her, Sturm figured it would work out, too.

Eventually, the screaming stopped, and to Sturm's displeasure, he saw Amity and Luz clean up the mess. When the girls finished, the sun was dawning, and the two left the building unharmed.

"What an adventure. Thanks for helping me clean up," Luz joked with a smile.

"This never happened," Amity said as she walked past the human girl, wanting to go home.

Seeing her walk away, Luz reached into her bag and pulled out her copy of The Good Witch Azura Volume 5.

"Wait!" she called out to her. Amity stopped as she walked up to her and showed her the book. "It doesn't make up for reading your diary, but would you wanna borrow this? I noticed you only had up to four."

Amity took the book and looked at it.

"Thank you," she said, holding it to her chest. She started to walk away but stopped before sighing and turning around. "Maybe you aren't a bully. I haven't exactly been the friendliest witch, either. I'll think on that."

With that said, Amity turned and walked away, leaving Luz on the staircase. The human girl left to return to the Owl House, unaware that Sturm was there the whole time. The red-eyed teen stood in the shade provided by the pillar and sighed, accepting that the plan had failed. It surprised him to see Amity not being mad at Luz for once. He had no idea what happened inside the library, but he didn't care.

"Oh, well. Better luck next time, Sturm," he said to himself.

Just then, a crow flew toward him and cawed. Its beak and feet were orange, but it had a telephone keypad on its belly. Sturm held out his left forearm and let the bird land on it.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Sturm!" yelled a voice on the other end, belonging to a middle-aged woman. "You were supposed to be at the manor for your shift thirty minutes ago!"

"My apologies, ma'am. I got caught up in something," he said, grabbing the crow and holding it in his hand. "I'll be right there."

He put the crow phone away and swiftly zoomed out from the library.