My unexpected life in the Owl House

Rival, the one nickname I didn't want to hear, and now the demon I'd been hoping to never see again was now rushing towards me with his fist ready to return that punch I remember he insisted on 'giving back'.

'Shoot!' I turned to run but before I could take a step I felt something grab onto my body which soon turned me around to see Josh in a similar magical grip.

"There will be none of that you two," I heard Greg say, turning us towards him as he glared at me before turning to Josh.

"What is the reason you tried to attack Azure, Volunteer Josh?" Josh talked about how he was only returning a punch which confused and annoyed Greg, so in his words, "For the sake of time and efficiency I'll be pairing you two up with one of the two other volunteers, so make sure to stay away from each other, I don't want another repeat of this, got it?" I nodded but Josh just shrugged, saying he'll "try his best".

"Good, now that we have that sorted out, let's pair you up and send you on your way to the orientation". After that Greg quickly paired us up with Willow and me, and Josh and Amity, who was looking both baffled at the events that had just happened and probably annoyed to be paired up with the guy that was bullying her a while ago.

'It's pretty bad luck but I hope it doesn't cause too much trouble,' I thought before I was dragged away by Willow who wanted to get to the orientation.

**********

'Ah, why did this have to happen,' Amity grumbled to herself as she looked off into the distance, 'Why did I have to get paired up with this guy?' It felt extremely unlucky because 'I won't get a chance to give the invitation now since our groups have to stay away from each other!' Amity groaned before she glared at the chipper-looking cause of her problem who was staring right back.

"Greetings new library partner, I'm Josh as you've heard from Mr.Greg, who we are waiting for!" Josh said, stating one of the most obvious things to Amity and any other volunteer here.

"Yeah, waiting to have our orientation separately because you can't keep your hands to yourself," Amity rolled her eyes as Josh seemed to take the comment in stride.

"Yes, I could not," Josh curled his fist with a proud smile, "My Rival is a formidable one, besting me through his ability to elude my fist," Josh looked even happier now, acting like this was some sort of challenge to overcome and not just some insane obsession of punching a demon kid that from what Amity remembers sent him flying across the central plaza pathway.

"Well I don't care about your little grudge, so keep me out of whatever this is, ok?" Amity gestured at him to emphasize the point and Josh shrugged, "I won't wrap you up in my role's goal unless you have something that could help me," Josh stated oddly.

'His role?' Amity gave him a strange look, 'what's that supposed to mean?' Amity was about to give it some thought but realized how stupid it was to care about this.

'Ugh, whatever!' Amity rolled her eyes again and with that, they waited almost 10 minutes before Greg came to get them for the orientation.

**********

"Well, that was... something?" Willow said to me as I nodded still annoyed that Willow's orientation only took ten minutes while mine lasted for half an hour when I first got here.

'Did Malphas order that or was it that Greg was treating me like an employee?' I thought about it for a second and shook my head, I could ask Malphas later but for now.

"Let's sort these books," Willow pumped a fist in agreement with my statement as we got to placing books in different parts of the left side of the library where we were assigned to keep us separate from team number 2 or at least that's what Willow kept calling them with her oddly inspirational words.

"Let's go team number 1!" Willow cheered, "We'll perform better than Amity and Josh till the end of the day!" Willow seemed pumped, treating this like a contest to see if she or Amity would do better which I thought was kind of fun, so... I joined in on the cheering.

"Yeah, let's go team 1!" I pumped my fist in unison but was quickly shut up by a shushing noise that came from another row of books.

"Oh uh, sorry," I said in a much lower voice before Willow looked over with a slightly embarrassed yet amused face, embarrassed because she had been just as loud but amused because I was the one shushed which I found sort of annoying but was also interesting since I hadn't talked to Willow as mush as Amity.

'Well it doesn't matter, let's just get this done and report back to Greg at the checkout desk,' I went back to sorting books only for a tap on the shoulder to stop me as Willow smiled at me.

"Hey, so I know this is kind of an odd question after having plenty of chances to ask in the past but do you want to be friends with Amity and me?" I stood there for a second with a confused look on my face before I just shrugged and nodded.

"Yes, new friend!" Willow celebrated before realizing where she was as she stopped her little celebration giving me a chance to dispel my confusion.

"So why did you ask me to be your friend now and why is it so exciting to have a new friend?" Willow turned to me as I spoke, processing what I had asked before her smile took on a sort of sad quality that left me even more confused.

"Well besides Amity, I don't really have a lot of friends, so you becoming my friend feels pretty big since my new nickname usually keeps other kids away," I felt my confusion turn into concern.

"What's the nickname?" I asked before Willow sighed, "Promise not to laugh like the other kids?" I nodded and felt slightly annoyed at what sounded like bullying.

"They call me... Half a Witch Willow," Silence hung in the air for a moment as Willow looked uncomfortable but I didn't laugh or find it funny, I found it annoying.

"What's so funny about something like that?" I asked Willow as she turned to look at my unamused face.

"I uh- I don't really know but other kids seem to laugh when the popular kids in our class call me that name," I rolled my eyes at the idea and frowned as I tried to think of what to say.

"Well, I won't laugh at you," Willow's eyes widened a bit at that but quickly settled into a calm smile.

"Thank you," is all Willow said before we went back to work sorting books.

**********

"Stop doing that!" Amity growled as Josh once again started to grab books off the shelf to flip through before throwing them into the basket of books they were sorting.

"You're making more work for us!" Josh only shrugged, looking bored as he pulled another book that he could've easily placed back in its spot.

"We can place them back later?" Josh brushed off my comment and went back to reading.

"What about all the other books we need to get to?" Amity glared as she grabbed a few of the books he had tossed in and put them back where she saw Josh snatch them from.

"At this rate, it'll take forever for us to finish!" Amity said as she put the last book that Josh had grabbed back into its place only to see the book Josh was skimming through in the basket of books that they were supposed to sort, making her even more annoyed.

"Are you kidding me?!" Amity grabbed the book that Josh tossed in and shoved it into his arms, "Put it back when you're done or I'm taking these books and doing this without you!" Josh smiled at that.

"You'll do this without me?" He looked excited at the statement as his brain seemed to be turning behind his eyes.

"So I can go find my rival?" Amity froze at that as she remembered Azure and the invitation in her bag before she looked over at the large demon boy who was probably her biggest obstacle in accomplishing her goal.

'What do I do?' She groaned again at her misfortune of being paired up with the person who would mess up her chances of giving Azure this invitation before she was picked up at the end of the day.

No, she couldn't fail, she was a Blight and a Blight always succeeded in simple tasks like this. So in a moment of annoyance fueled by determination, she grabbed the larger boy's collar and with a glare, she said, "If you do not get to work on sorting these books I'll make sure you never get to return that punch you're so obsessed with, got it?" Josh seemed to freeze at that as annoyance appeared on his face before he sighed.

"Fine, I'll help sort these books with you-" Amity cut him off, "No, you'll be sorting books while I'm away doing something," Josh looked more annoyed at that but he didn't say anything, so to guarantee that he did what she had asked she copied her mom's method of getting her dad to focus.

"I'll also let you go look for Azure once I get back, ok?" Amity felt bad for causing more of an inconvenience for Azure but this wasn't just about an apology right now but a promise that she told herself she would fulfill, and as mom said "A Blight always holds up their end of a deal" and while it wasn't a deal it was pretty similar, so... it sort of applied?

"Whatever," Amity sighed as she focused back on Josh who was now looking at her with his previous jovial look before he nodded and diligently sorted the books.

'Great, now to find Azure...' Amity stopped as she remembered what the Librarian had said about staying on their side of the library, "If you're caught crossing the line I set, I'll have you sit in the employee lounge for the rest of the day as punishment," in that case she would never be able to get the invitation to him, so... she had to contact Willow and get her to bring him to the line that the librarian had set.

"I hope this works," and with that, Amity pulled out her scroll and walked off toward the line that separated the two sides of the library.

**********

"-and done!" Willow placed the last of the 50 books we had to organize back in its spot before I reached my hand out for a high-five which sort of confused Willow so I lowered my hand.

"Sorry, got carried away there," I chuckled awkwardly but Willow didn't seem to mind as she only smiled.

"It's fine," She said before turning toward the row's exit, "now let's head over to Greg and tell him we finished," I nodded and went to follow Willow to the front of the library only to stop as Willow pulled out her scroll which was vibrating.

"Huh, I wonder who's calling?" Willow unrolled her scroll before tapping on the answer button and placing it to her ear.

"Hello?" Willow sounded confused as she answered which was quickly replaced by cheer and then by confusion again before she nodded mumbling something to whoever was on the scroll followed by a glance at me that I thought nothing of until Willow walked up to me with a slightly awkward friendly smile.

"Hey, I know we were supposed to go talk to Mr.Greg but could we maybe, I don't know..." Willow stiffly gestured to the right side of the library where the other two volunteers were working.

"You want to cross the line Greg set, the one we get sat down in the break room for?" I gave her a strange look but Willow hearing what I had said almost immediately started to shake her head.

"No, I meant just like travel up to the line since Amity just called about chatting, so can you follow me?" I thought about it for a moment but then I remembered Josh and I shook my head.

"No way, I'm not going near there," Willow frowned at my words and I shrugged, this time with my own awkward smile.

"I'm sorry, I just-" I tried to think of an excuse that didn't sound rude, "-don't want to risk getting caught near there Willow," Willow seemed a bit downtrodden, 'probably because she was hoping to chat with Amity,' I thought as I pat her on the back.

"Hey, don't worry I can still chat with you, right?" Willow looked at me strangely for a moment but I ignored it, trying to be nice.

"Now let's get to the front and talk to Greg," Willow sighed and I shrugged before I made my way over to the front.

**********

"Hello, Willow," Amity held the scroll closer, "Did you convince me to come over to the line?" Amity heard Willow sigh on the other side of the scroll before she responded.

"No, Blue hair- I mean Azure didn't want to get caught near the line, so we're heading over to Greg since we finished our book sorting," Amity's eyes widened at that.

"You're already done?" Willow seemed to chuckle at that, "Yep, the power of teamwork between new friends," my brow raised at that, "New friends?" She asked suspiciously.

"Oh! No, I just mean that Azure agreed to be our new friend," Willow sounded frantic but I paused at another word, 'our'.

"Willow, what do you mean our new friend?" Willow took a moment to respond, filling the silence with an "um" before she told me how she had asked him to be both their friends which wasn't bad to Amity with how she was stuck between the line of considering him an annoying friend or an annoying acquaintance.

"Just-" Amity sighed, "Just tell me before you do something like that next time, please?" Willow made an affirmative sound.

"Well make sure to meet us up there, ok?" I nodded as I responded with a "yes" before I hung up the scroll and made my way toward the front of the library.

**********

Meanwhile with Josh, he was finishing up the last of the books as he excitedly waited for his library partner to return, so he could finish his role which by his family's odd magical trait, he was stuck in until he had returned that punch that sent him flying and it wasn't like it was totally annoying with the large body it gave him, he could help around the house more and act as a better big brother to his younger sister who had been down ever since her ranking in her first year of abomination basics was only second.

'She studied hard and got a great score,' Josh thought fondly, "Better than mine at least,' he shrugged as he thought back to his score in potions being in rank 53 out of the 100 students that didn't swap over to another track.

'But getting back on track,' Josh looked around, 'Where's my library partner?' Josh felt a bit curious about her location so as he put the last book in place he decided to look around, deciding to start over at the bathrooms where he knew he'd go if he acted that urgent in his demands to his partner but when he got there he only saw an open with an old looking demon holding a colorful book that was quickly hidden when he noticed Josh.

"Get out of here!" The Janitor yelled and Josh nodded, making his way back to the bookshelves where he spotted an odd door the size of a bipedal demon like himself, so thinking that may have been where she had gone he decided to enter and check.

"Hello?" The door creaked as he pulled it open to see a pitch-black room that didn't make sense, seeing that it was big enough to eat into the bathrooms.

"Where is this?" He stepped in and felt something squishy touch his shoe but he didn't care he took another step but before he could react the door shut and locked.

"Hey!" He started to bang on the door as he tried to turn the lock to no avail.

"Let me out!" He yelled as he took a few more steps back to ram the door but before he could make his attempt the goopy floor shot up onto his leg.

"Wh-what the heck is this?!" Josh tried to lift his foot but the hoop was like liquid stone as it held his foot in place.

"It's the blessing of my lord and soon you shall receive it too," Josh jumped at the voice as he frantically looked up to see a hooded man standing on the goop like it was solid ground.

"Because just like me, you have been chosen for an undertaking that will bring the chosen back to his destined path," Josh grimaced at the crazy-sounding words of the man in front of him, 'chosen'?, 'destined path'?, it all sounded like nonsense that the Titan church coven spouted when coming to his family's door.

"Let me go, I don't want anything to do with this!" Another black tendril wrapped around his other leg as he started to sink.

"Unfortunately, you do not have a choice in this labor," The hooded man said as Josh sunk even lower.

"No, I can't-" The hooded man put a finger up to his lips to keep him quiet as magic sealed his lips.

"Shh, it's okay," the hooded man's face came into view as he saw unlike most bipeds like him the man had round ears which meant...

'Human!' Josh stared at the ears and the hooded man seemed to notice as his chocolate brown eyes turned in the direction Josh had been looking before he chuckled.

"Ah, you noticed my ears did you?" The man seemed amused as he shook his head, "Yes I am a human, a human that is not part of your world," The man's grin started to turn odd as he got carried away with his explanation.

"A human that's got more powerful magic than any of you and guess what?" His smile turned into a smug grin, "You're about to become a tool with the help of my magic and my lord's power!" The hooded man bragged as he stood.

"And as a tool, you'll be used to get close to the chosen, The Kid with blue hair!" He cackled in one of the most cliche ways possible that Josh knew while Josh was now down to his shoulders in the stone goop.

"So I'll be some tool for the rest of my life?" Josh grimaced as he held himself back from yelling at the idea of someone else using his body around his family and what could happen to them while he was trapped in his own mind.

"Hm..." The hooded man looked thoughtful for a moment before his amused grin returned, "Tell you what, if your body is successful in helping me in my lord's goal, of leading the blue-haired child to me then we'll give you back control of your body, sound fair?" Josh felt a bit of relief at that but he felt pity for his rival as the goop covered him up to his chin now.

'He'll have to endure for now,' Josh thought but just before his mouth was covered he thought of one way that he might be able to help his rival, so with a determined look he started to cast the note spell that his parents had taught him in case he needed to leave a message for himself to find on his body and in this case he left it on his back for his rival to hopefully find.

'I hope this works,' and with that last thought he inscribed a warning as he sunk into the depths where he felt his mind go dark.

**********

"You can't come back without your partner," Greg said to Amity as she was irritatingly enough intercepted by the librarian on her way to the front desk, so now she was stuck being told by Greg to only come back when her partner had been found.

'Find that guy, in this huge library?' Amity's eye twitched, 'you've got to be kidding me!' She grumbled as she looked up at Greg who was only standing there as he waited for her to go find her partner.

"Fine!" Amity shouted before turning around as she started to stomp off only glancing back to see Azure standing around with Willow while they waited for Greg to get back to the check-out desk.

'They better not be gone by the time I get back,' Amity turned back and ran towards the last place she had seen Josh as she felt died up with today's events and this whole promise she made to herself. So what if she needed to give him the apology letter? She could give it to him another day, what was so important about this?!

'Why does it matter!' She knew why but it was getting difficult to care too much about the reason right now as she sighed.

'Just have to find Josh and get back, so-"Oof" She was interrupted by a sudden solid surface blocking her path as she looked up to see... Josh which was pretty refreshing all things considered. She thought with how her day was going she would have to spend all day looking for him.

"Oh, hey Josh I was just looking for you," Josh looked down at her with calm eyes as he offered her a hand that she took.

"Oh uh, thanks," She wasn't expecting the gesture but it was appreciated, "So did you get the book sorting done?" Josh nodded and Amity felt a smile come to her face.

"Great then let's get back to everyone, ok?" Josh nodded again and I turned back ignoring his oddly stoic demeanor, assuming it was just another quirk as Josh jogged behind me to keep pace, making me feel like everything was coming up Amity.

**********

"All 50 books, huh?" Greg repeated what we had told him about completing our book task which seemed to satisfy whatever expectation he had of us because he was smiling.

"Excellent, now you can get started on indexing the-" Suddenly Amity appeared through the shelves with Josh following behind her as she looked towards me with a smile too.

"A-Azure," she stuttered as she caught her breath, "take this as a thank you for yesterday," She quickly took out an envelope with a goopy-looking face on it as I stared at it with confusion.

"Uh, what's this?" Amity raised her head and looked into my eyes with annoyance yet some sort of expectation that this might happen.

"It's an invitation to my family's Galla at Blught Manor," Amity straightened up, "I thought it would be an appropriate thank you for yesterday," I nodded as I took the letter, "uh, you're welcome," I felt awkward as I thought back to yesterday's events but I didn't want to seem rude so I smiled.

"Is that all or?" Amity rolled her eyes at my question as she nodded, "Yes, that's it," Amity turned to Greg to speak but quickly did a 180 as she seemed to remember something.

"Oh, and it's on Friday in the middle of next month at 6:30," Amity put a finger to my chest, "Make sure to show up at least 15 minutes early like the other guests, got it?" I nodded as Amity smiled and turned back to Greg to get her next task.

**********

After a few hours of work we finally finished our day as everyone waited to be picked up I went to meet Malphas for my next lesson only to feel a hand land on my shoulder.

"Huh?" I turned to look and see who it was but froze as I spotted the face of Josh.

"Oh, hey Josh," I smiled awkwardly as I readied my legs to run only to be handed a sticky note instead of the punch I was expecting. 

"What's this?" I asked as Josh pointed to the note, so shrugging I read the note.

'Can I be your plus one for the party?' My eyes widened a little at that as I turned to look to Josh who was stoically looking at me.

"Uh, why would you even want to come and do I have a plus one?" Amity looked over and stood as she walked over.

"Did you say plus one?" I nodded at Amity and she looked over to Josh who was scratching his cheek for some reason.

"Hm, well if I remember correctly, yes you can bring a plus one but most usually stick to just themselves," I turned to Josh and looked into his strangely intimidating blue eyes as they seemed to be urging me to answer the question.

"Ok fine just let me go, ok?" Josh nodded as he walked away his sudden stoic demeanor a constant that I chalked to him tweaking his 'role' or whatever but before I could continue on my way I saw something weird flutter just under the edge of his clothes.

'What's that?' I thought as I watched him walk away but quickly caught myself before I was caught staring. I waited for a moment and glanced back only to see the part of his back that I had noticed was covered.

'Maybe it was my imagination?' I thought it over and shrugged, I was too paranoid to dismiss something like Josh the guy who had been determined to punch me, now acting like a completely different person as a coincidence but just for today I would let it go and deal with it as I did with the ghost book.