Chapter 26: Back to Hexside
Art by Crash X Fusion: It's time for a fresh start.
The new semester begins, and everyone (student, teacher, even parent) tries to get through the first day dealing with recent changes.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- 13 Is Unlucky: Including Amity and Levi, a total of 13 students were injured by muggers.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Odalia nearly cracks up after hearing Eda call Boscha "Bitcha" in front of her mothers.
- Animal Theme Naming: This continues for the Harwitches, with Cat's mother being named Swan and her father Zebra (while sporting a haircut appropriate for the name.)
- Ascended Extra: Skara's parents actually appear in the Luz Clawthorne Saga as opposed to simply being mentioned.
- Atrocious Alias: When Steve disguises himself, he calls himself "Stove" saying his parents wanted him to be in the Cooking Coven.
- Back to School: As the title indicates, everyone returns to Hexside for a new semester.
- Badass Boast: After taking care of the Greater Basilisk, Eda goes into one that doubles as Declaration of Protection.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: It seems as though Anu Bist is about to tell Luz what her condition means... only to tell her her ethnicity.
- Big Sister Instinct: Luz shows signs of having this towards Gus.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Both the mothers of the Parent Creature Association and Eda are right in regards to everything that's happened the previous semester.
- Odalia, Nicole, and Swan Harwitch list off all the trouble and damages to both school and private property that Luz has caused which also threatened their children.
- Eda counters this by pointing out Luz took responsibility for her actions and cleaned up her messes (which Eda never did), unintentionally pointed out the flaws in the teaching system and ultimately helped create the multi-track options which provide better opportunities for the students. There's also the fact that she saved Amity's life, with the young Blight benefiting off the new opportunity as well and Boscha having caused just as much trouble, facts Alador agrees with.
- Call-Back:
- Remember when Principal Bump told Eda the parents of the children Luz challenges would seek retribution in Chapter 2? They've come to collect.
- Some of the PCA bring up a few of Luz's past stunts; Odalia brings up the Choosy Hat incident and the ghost infestation, Nicole the pepper spray trick on Boscha and Swan the attack at the party.
- Eda brings up Boscha's hate tag from Chapter 3.
- Calling the Old Woman Out: Ms. Traveler wastes no time digging into the more aggressive parents gathered in Principal Bump's office. First she guns down Eda for Luz's misbehavior and never teaching her discipline while avoiding taking responsibility herself, then goes after the Hierons for teaching Boscha to have a Never My Fault attitude and being a Karma Houdini, and finally blindsides them and Odalia for forcing Amity and Boscha to be friends and tells them to start thinking about what relationship they want with their children.
- Captain Obvious: Eda makes a note of how Odalia's ego isn't the only thing that's gotten bigger since they last met. While looking at her hips.
- Crowd Song: The Song Parody functions as such with the entire student body of Hexside performing in it.
- Crush Blush: The kiss Luz and Amity shared has led to them doing this whenever they're reminded of it.
- Declaration of Protection: Once the Greater Basilisk is neutralized, Eda announces that as long as Luz is attending Hexside, the rest of the student body is under her protection as well.
- Defeat Equals Friendship: Cat is revealed to have befriended Gus over the break with no hard feeling over losing to him at the semester exams.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Prof. Snope is introduced as droning while also struggling to stay awake.
- Ms. Traveler establishes herself as intimidating and determined to improve the mental health of the students while taking care of anyone who disrupts her goal or her new policy on bullying.
- Everyone Can See It: Willow says to herself that Amity is clearly into Luz.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Along with Odalia and Nicole, all the parents on the PCA were students at the same time as Eda and Lilith.
- Extreme Omnivore: Professor Snope ate the remains of Jerbo's failed "Abomifungus" to determine what he did wrong.
- Figure It Out Yourself: Anu Bist doesn't tell Luz what she's becoming because as a mortal, she needs to do just this, and it's something Julia/Mary appears to have taught him.Ms. Traveler: You know you didn't actually answer her question, right?Anu Bist: And you know that we can't actually reveal what mortals are supposed to find out on their own, Mary. We can guide them and point them toward the right direction, but their journey is for them to take. She'll figure it out eventually.
- First Day of School Episode: The chapter focuses on the first day of the new semester at Hexside.
- Flashback Cut:
- We're treated to one where Eda acquired adoption forms for Luz, courtesy of Larry.
- Later, there's a brief glimpse of an incident where during one of Luz's episodes, she hurt Willow by accident.
- Foreshadowing: Anu Bist refers to Ms. Traveler as "Mary", hinting at her true identity.
- Funny Background Event: As Luz talks to Anu Bist about her changes, behind her King evades capture from a masked man with a net. Bist watches the whole thing.
- Hero of Another Story: Gus and his father solved a 30-year-old murder mystery at the Knee over the break.
- Idiot Ball: Dipper is known for being smart, but it seems he doesn't know ethnicity from sexual orientation as seen during his phone call with Luz.Luz: Guess what? I'm Dominican!Dipper: I thought you were bisexual.
- Internal Reveal: Willow learns about Amity's crush on Luz.
- Like Mother, Unlike Daughter: While Eda is chewing out Odalia, she mentions how she doesn't understand how Amity is such a sweet and patient girl when her mother is nothing like her.
- Noodle Incident: According to Nicole, Eda once spilled a potion on her and made everyone think she had a Potty Failure.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Now that students can choose the tracks they have talent in, there's no one left in the Abomination track except Amity and Jerbo, even with there being a new teacher present. Cat and Simon have joined the Human Appreciation Society out of genuine interest, with Cat now being friends with Gus.
- Parents as People: Although Julia meant what she said, she doesn't consider Eda a bad parent and understands she did the best she could under the given circumstances.
- Point of Divergence: Differences from "The First Day". Luz and the troublemakers, who're already multi-trackers, don't face the Greater Basilisk (with none of its canon victims suffering the same fate at her hands). Instead, Eda takes it on and PWNs it with one light blast before stomping on its stomach to return all the magic it stole. Not to mention Amity apologizes to Willow for all the years of bullying two episodes earlier. Also, Skara's father debuts as opposed to simply being mentioned.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Ms. Traveler's tirade to Eda and the PCA qualifies as such.
- The Reveal:
- Boscha, Skara, Amelia and Cat's parents make up the rest of the Parent Creature Association with Odalia and Alador.
- Athena was on the Banshees with Eda and Lilith back when they were students.
- Lilith has been using Amity as a spy to keep tabs on Eda and Luz. She also appointed Steve to be her bodyguard.
- Rollerblade Good: Luz is shown to own a pair of rollerskates which she uses to get to school.
- Ship Tease: Cat winking at Gus before leaving for class leaves Luz questioning if she likes him.
- Shout-Out:
- The Song Parody is based on "Downtown" from Little Shop of Horrors.
- Simon states he joined the H.A.S. because he's interested in learning about vikings being warriors from Minnesota, a nod to Pokémon: The First Movie.
- Snope is based off of Severus Snape if he was more sleepy like Aizawa from My Hero Academia, and his introduction is based off of Kira's in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamonds are Unbreakable.
- Julia Traveler's name is a reference to Julie Andrews (the actress from the original Mary Poppins) and Pamela Lyndon Travers (the author of the book that inspired it).
- Skewed Priorities: Swan is more angered about Luz destroying one of the doors in her home than why she did it, something Eda calls her out on.
- Something We Forgot: At the end of the day, Luz and Eda end up leaving King behind when it's time to go home.
- There Are No Therapists: Officially averted from this point onward. Ms. Traveler becomes Hexside's new guidance counselor so she can help kids sort out the issues they've gotten in the past. Mattholomule is shown as her first patient and she expresses hope that Luz (who's actively avoiding her) will see her eventually.
- Twice Shy: After kissing last chapter, Luz and Amity have become incredibly flustered around each other and while they want to clear the air, they can't build up the nerve to talk to each other for more than a few seconds.
- Wham Line: "Alright Amity, make your report. What can you tell me about Eda and Luz today?"
- What Does She See in Him?: Again, "her?". To this day, Eda hasn't figured out why Lilith ever gave Odalia a chance.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Professor Blanc has been replaced by Sheldon Snope as the Abominations teacher. One student assumes he's been fired, but only Principal Bump knows the truth.
