Chapter Eight: Crescendo
Even more pyrotechnics burst out of the stage as Loxton began to shred. All three young witches recoiled slightly from the noise, but Luz leaned in closer. She found herself getting sucked into the music, bobbing her head to the rhythm. The more Loxton played, the more Luz wondered why exactly they were against him. She just wanted to join in with the crowd and cheer him on…
Luckily, Gus soon brought her back to her senses. "Luz!" He pulled her back as she began to shamble towards the stage. "Don't let him hypnotize you!"
"Huh? What?" Luz shook her head, trying to focus on her friends rather than the music. "He can do that?"
"Apparently," said Gus. "It's pretty rare, but some bards can capture people's minds with their music, and use it to control them. It's supposed to be illegal at this scale, though." Looking closely at the throngs of cheering fans, they almost seemed to be in some sort of trance, their eyes glazed over.
"Pretty sure this guy sees himself as above the law…" said Amity. "Come on, let's do this quick and get out of here before his friends show up."
"Good idea; the last thing we need are more Inquisitors showing up," said Luz. "Alright, everyone follow me, and stay down."
Luz crept forwards through the crowd, trying to blend in until she was ready to reveal herself. Her friends followed, wearing their disguises. Amity tried to focus, but the booming sounds of Loxton's music coupled with the roar of the crowd made that difficult, and the spotlights darting around across the audience didn't help matters.
"You alright?" asked Willow.
"Fine," Amity assured her. "I'm just not used to big crowds like this. I've never been the type to go out to concerts, so all of this is sort of new to me."
"Same here," Willow said. "This music's never really been for me. Someone seems to like it, though."
As Luz rummaged around in her bag for her glyphs, she was absentmindedly tapping her foot and humming along to the beat. A few times, she began nodding her head, forgetting what she was doing.
"Probably a good thing we came along," Amity said. "Someone'll need to keep her on track!"
"Seems that way," Willow replied.
The young witches had made their way to the center of the crowd. From here, they could clearly see that Loxton was getting lost in his music, paying no attention to his surroundings. Behind him, the bass and drums were being played by none other than Ulrich and Aidan, Mattias' old 'associates.' Luz didn't know or care why they were there, as she was more focused on getting the star's attention.
"Alright guys, stand back! Here we go!" Producing two glyphs from her pouch, Luz threw one at the ground. A small pillar of ice appeared, lifting her up above the rest of the throngs around her. For good measure, she tossed the other glyph into the air. A beacon of light shot up above her head, almost like an arrow pointing her out.
At first, Loxton didn't care. He was used to fans pulling all sorts of crazy stunts at his venues, but rarely did anything so long as it didn't affect his playing. He was of the belief that the show must go on, only giving the crazy fan with the ice and light spells a quick glance. His tune quickly changed, literally, once he saw who it was. His guitar playing slowed to a halt, and he held up his hand to stop the other two. Both of them stopped playing as well, and they, and the fans, looked around in confusion to try and find what was wrong.
"Well, well, well!" Loxton placed the end of his staff on the ground, stepping to the edge of the stage. "Lookit who decided to join the party!" Loxton slicked back his 'hair' as he met Luz's gaze. "Makin' my job too easy, you are!"
"Loxton of the Inquisitorius Magicus!" Luz proclaimed dramatically. "I, Luzura, warrior of peace, have come to-"
"Yadda yadda yadda, you've come to ruin my comeback," Loxton said, waving his hand dismissively. "Can any of this wait until after I've finished?"
"You're finished now!" Luz declared, throwing a glyph at Loxton. He simply deflected it with his staff, where the icicle it became buried itself into the wall inches from Ulrich's startled head. "As I was about to say, I challenge you to a witches' duel!"
Loxton snickered. "A duel, eh? What, you're just gonna take me on all by your lonesome?"
"No...because I have allies!" Luz threw out her arms, indicating for her friends to reveal themselves. Amity, Willow, and Gus all stepped out from behind the ice pillar, still wearing their disguises. "But I imagine a powerful Inquisitor like yourself won't be needing any help."
"HA! You and your little band of misfits got a deal!" said Loxton. "If it's a duel you want, it's a duel you'll get!"
The crowd was beginning to grow impatient. "Where's the music?" someone called out.
"Oi! We're in the middle of some serious business, I'll bring the music back when I'm good and ready!" snapped Loxton. He picked his staff back up, cradling it like a guitar again. "Actually...maybe it's about time we started playing again. Okay boys, let's rock the house!"
Loxton pointed the head of his guitar at the young witches, and strummed a chord with a wild flourish. A shockwave blasted through the crowd, throwing most of the audience to either side of the plaza. Luz's ice pillar shattered, leaving her to fall over and be caught by her friends. "Are you okay?" asked Amity.
"Peachy," said Luz, getting a glyph out of her bag. "Get ready, it's go time!" She ran forward, standing in front of the stage. "Do your words, cretin!"
"Gladly!" Loxton's frill billowed out again as he began to play. Powerful pulses of pure sound energy were blasted out not only from his guitar, but from the two speakers on either side of the stage. Luz threw a fire glyph, but it was blown away by the force of the sounds.
"We won't be able to reach him like this!" said Gus, having to shout to be heard over Loxton's playing. "Someone has to take out those speakers!"
"Gus, that sounds like a perfect job for you!" said Willow. "You can turn invisible, can't you?"
"I can try!" Gus replied.
"Alright, let's turn down the volume!" Luz flung a plant glyph down in front of her, creating a tangle of vines that dampened the noise, but only slightly. Gus created a duplicate of himself, while going invisible and sneaking off towards the stage. "Once he's done, Amity'll send an abomination after him to distract him, and Willow, you'll-"
Something collided against the vine shield, interrupting Luz's plan. It hit again, a projectile of some sort. Loxton had stopped jamming out, and now aimed his guitar at the shield, a bolt of red energy firing out each time he played a chord. He smirked as the barrier slowly but surely began to fail.
"Hold on!" Willow held out her hands, and the vines started pulling themselves back into shape. Loxton's spells continued hammering against them, with holes beginning to break through it. "Just a bit longer…"
Despite Willow's best efforts, the barrier was beginning to fail. "I'll take care of this guy!" said Luz, running around the plant shield.
"Luz! Wait!" Amity shouted after her, but she was already gone. With a groan of frustration, Amity followed.
Luz produced another fire glyph, throwing it in Loxton's direction. He dodged at the last moment, where it set Aidan's drums alight, causing the startled demon to jump to his feet. Loxton's eyes were now on Luz, and he fired a blast at her.
"Abomination, protect!" An abomination rose from the ground, pushing Luz out of harm's way. The beam blasted a hole through the abomination's torso, but it was quickly filled up. "Luz!"
"Amity!" Luz called back, getting to her feet. She ran over to the girl, the abomination standing behind her. Luz produced another glyph, preparing to throw it.
"Alright, I'm done playing your little games!" Loxton said. As he grew angrier, his palisman's free legs began to twitch. "One way or another, you're comin' with me to HQ, and then you're taking us to the Owl Lady!"
"Never!" Luz shouted.
"Oh, we'll see about that!" Loxton was about to strum another chord, but a loud crash to his side threw him off. One of his speakers had been pushed off the side of the stage, the flickery form of Gus standing just behind where it had been. "Hey!"
Loxton played a single note, which dispelled Gus' invisibility spell. Once he realized he could now be seen, he looked up at the rockstar nervously. "Hey man! Big fan of your music!" he said.
"Oh, good. Then how about I play some for you?" Loxton aimed his guitar at Gus, and raised his hand above his head.
"Gus!" Willow reached out towards him, and the vines from Luz's glyph shot forward. Before Loxton could play another chord, they had wrapped around him.
"Oi!" she shouted indignantly. "That's cheating, that is!" He would have said more, but Luz threw a glyph at him, encasing his mouth in ice.
"Quick, the other speaker!" said Luz.
"On it!" With Aidan and Ulrich doing nothing to stop him, Gus ran over to the second speaker, and toppled it over the edge, where it crashed to the ground.
The gang of four didn't have time to celebrate their small victory, however, as a deep hum began to emanate from Loxton's throat. It built in intensity, until he finally released an impressive death metal scream that shattered the ice and blew the vines into pieces. Everything on the stage, Gus included, was blown back as well.
It was becoming increasingly clear to Aidan and Ulrich that they were in over their heads. "Let's get out of here while we still can!" said the latter, picking himself up.
The former nodded. "Agreed!" The two of them ran off.
Loxton, suspended in the air, hovered over to Luz. "To be honest, I didn't think a humie like yourself could do magic," he said. "But even with those trick cards of yours, you're still no match for a real witch!" He aimed his guitar at her once again.
"Abomination, shield!" shouted Amity. Her abomination moved to shield her and Luz from Loxton's attack, taking on a thicker consistency as it did so. Loxton fired another bolt of energy, which failed to pierce it's jelly-like form this time. He fired another, and another, growing frustrated.
Luz and Amity both crouched beneath the abomination's protective embrace. "So, any other ideas?" asked Luz.
"Me? You're supposed to be the one with ideas!" Amity said. "Didn't you plan for this?"
"Not really!" Luz admitted. "I just thought we'd make it up as we went!"
Unable to get past the abomination, Loxton switched tactics. His magical bolts were replaced with a low drone from his guitar, which the witches could feel in their very cores. The abomination began to vibrate, it's viscous body not agreeing with the tones.
"Do you hear that?" asked Luz.
"I feel that," Amity said. "What's he doing?"
Under continuous assault from the constant droning sound, the abomination was shaken apart. It burst into slime, knocking both girls to the ground. Loxton cackled, stepping forward as Luz struggled to her feet. "I think it's about time for a change of genre, don't you?"
He began to play his guitar again, but this time it was a much gentler tune. Not only that, but the guitar had switched from electric to acoustic as well. As she stood up, Luz tried to remember why she was there, but she couldn't-her mind could only focus on the hauntingly beautiful melody.
"Where...am I…?" asked Luz, her eyes glazing over.
Still playing, Loxton grinned wider still. "Wherever you wanna be, girlie. Just come with me, and you'll never have to worry about anything ever again!"
"Ugh...Luz!" Amity struggled to stand. "Abomination, do something!" The scattered pieces of her abomination slowly slid along the ground to coalesce, but Luz was already almost in Loxton's clutches.
Luz walked forwards, under his spell. "'Step into my parlor,' said the spider to the fly!" Loxton murmured as she grew closer. A cluster of crimson threads rose up from the ground beneath her, preparing to wrap themselves around her body.
Just before they could do so, however, Loxton took a purple fireball to the face. He stumbled back, his grip on Luz faltering for a moment. He glared angrily in the direction it had come from, finding Amity pointing another spell circle at him. "Okay then, looks like I'll hafta deal with two children today!" He shoved Luz aside, stepping towards Amity.
Before he could get far, however, something wrapped around his wrist. He turned around to see Willow sending a vine in his direction, Gus beside her.
"Make that four," he muttered angrily. He tore his arm free from Willow's vine, and resumed playing his music, firing magical beams at her and the others.
With Loxton distracted, Luz was no longer under his spell. "Woah...sorry guys, spaced out there for a second…" she said, rubbing her eyes. "What did I...guys!"
All three of her friends were fighting Loxton, who seemed a good deal tougher than Luz had anticipated. His shockwaves of pure sound were able to tear through Willow's vines, Gus' illusions, and Amity's abominations. Not that the three of them weren't trying their hardest, but their enemy was slowly but surely gaining ground as he tired them out.
"Great idea, by the way, taking on an Inquisitor on his home turf!" said Loxton. "Music is who I am! Rock flows through my veins! You can't resist it's power!"
Luz rummaged through her bag of glyphs, trying to find one that could put him out of commission, but she didn't have many options. However, something then caught her eye; something that she had forgotten about, having not needed to use them in some time. "Explosion glyph…" she said quietly, taking out the small slip of paper.
Loxton played another chord, blowing back the three combatants. "Ugh! We can't beat this guy!" said Gus. "What should we do?"
"There's no shame in running!" suggested Willow.
"I don't know if we can run!" said Amity, as Loxton bore down on them.
"Well, that was entertaining," Loxton said, "but I've 'ad enough. Time for you thorns to go night-night." He raised his arm above his head, preparing to finish the three of them off.
"Hey!" Loxton turned around at the shout, just in time to see Luz slap him in the face. He staggered backwards, growling angrily.
"What is with you lot!?" he shouted. "Can't you recognize when you've been beaten!? Ah, who'm I kidding? The only thing you know is violence!" He failed to notice the glyph that Luz had placed on his forehead until it began to glow. "Now I've gotta teach you all-Uh-oh."
Loxton was blasted back by the explosion, crashing into the stage. The wood splintered and cracked, causing the beams above to fall out of place. The entire stage fell apart, collapsing in on itself, burying Loxton beneath a pile of spotlights and curtains.
Gus leapt to his feet. "Yeah! Now that's a grand finale! You showed him, Luz!"
Luz chuckled. "Couldn't have done it without you," she said, offering a hand to help Willow to her feet.
"I guess it is a good thing we came along," Willow said. "Someone had to bail you out of trouble, after all!"
"And I couldn't have asked for a better group of ninja minions to be there for me," Luz said. "Come on, let's get out of here before-"
All of a sudden, the entire plaza was beset by a horrible high-pitched ringing. All four of them clasped their hands over their ears, trying to block out the sound. "What is that!?" shouted Amity, but nobody seemed to hear her.
"Leaving before the encore? That's awfully rude, don't you think?" Loxton shoved the rubble aside, the terrible noise coming from a spell circle in his hand. He pointed with his other hand; "Get 'er!"
Another tangle of bright red threads wrapped itself around Luz, and she was pulled back towards him. The threads had emerged from Loxton's palisman, and try as she might, Luz couldn't' break them. "Hey! Lemme go, you cheater!"
"Great catch, Marylin!" said Loxton to his palisman. "Now then, I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm wanted at the Emperor's Palace, so I'll just be off now." He picked up Luz, slinging her over his shoulder.
"Luz!" Amity ran forward, joined by Willow and Gus. They didn't get far, as Loxton drew another spell circle, sending that same noise back at them. The three of them covered their ears again, falling to the ground.
"It was a good effort, really," Loxton said. "For what it's worth, you four did a lot better than I expected a couple'a children to do." Loxton didn't notice as a shadow fell over him. "Let this be a lesson to you next time you get the bright idea to go after an...Inquisitor...what is that?"
Loxton looked up at the source of the shadow. A figure hovered in front of the moon, and it was instantly obvious who it was. Luz gasped. "Eda!"
Eda smirked as she descended. "Hey, kid! Need some help?"
Loxton set Luz down, looking more annoyed than anything else. "You are having a laugh!" He unleashed his sound spell against her the moment she touched down. Eda was pushed back, but managed to hold her ground. She responded with a blast of fire, which couldn't reach him, as it too was blown back.
Switching up her tactics, Eda drove her staff into the ground. A localized quake traveled from her to Loxton, shaking the cobblestones beneath him. Off-balance, his spell ceased, which is when Eda made her move. Faster than Luz could see, Eda darted up to Loxton, slamming her staff into him. The Inquisitor was sent flying, crashing directly into a building. He traveled through the window, a door, and several tables, before his momentum was halted by a wall. Her enemy vanquished, Eda brushed her bangs aside. "Anyone else?" she said. "No? Good."
Luz ran over to her. "Eda, you're here! How'd you know we needed help?"
"I remembered today was the day Grel over here was throwing his big concert," Eda said, placing her palm on Luz's head. "I put two and two together, and figured you weren't having a sleepover!"
Luz blushed. "Yeah...sorry about that! Wait...you knew I was lying, but you let me go anyway?"
"Yeah, sure," Eda said with a shrug. "I figured as long as I came along, you'd be alright. Besides, I haven't been to a Loxton concert in years!"
"Wait, you know about Loxton too?" asked Amity.
"Sure do," Eda continued. "He may be evil now, but dang if he didn't grind out some rockin' tunes!"
Willow groaned. "Speak for yourself…"
Eda gestured to the four kids. "Alright, whaddya say we get outta this place before Music Man swallows his pride and calls for backup?"
"Yeah, let's get gone!" said Luz. The five of them left the square behind. "I bet he'll think twice before coming after us now, though!"
In the commotion, nobody had noticed someone else watching the concert, and the ensuing conflict. Perched atop the nearby rooftops, a palisman shaped like a bull, and carved from metal, watched Eda and the others walk off. It quickly darted from roof to roof as it followed after them.
"...and then, when he had Luz hypnotized, Amity just drills him in the face with a fireball!" said Gus. "She was like, 'Hey, that's my human! Hands off!'" The five of them walked through the forest, illuminated by moonlight.
Eda chuckled. "Yup, I saw that. Quick thinking, Blight."
"Oh, it was nothing," Amity said.
"Speaking of quick thinking, Luz, when you hit him with that explosion spell?" Gus continued. "I meant it when I called that a grand finale!"
"Aw, thanks!" said Luz. "I realized I still had some left over from our fight with Mattias. It's kinda poetic; taking out his cronies with the same spell I learned from him!"
"Let's just hope you won't have to use it again," said Eda. "Ah, who am I kidding? We're going after more of these guys, aren't we?"
"Are we?" asked Luz. "I kinda figured this was a one-time thing."
"I've been doing some thinking about that," Eda continued. "Luz, you're right; they're coming for us. So we definitely need to do something about them. And what better way to do that than to send them a message, one by one?"
"Y-you mean it?" said Luz. "We're really gonna take them on?"
Eda shot a grin back at her. "You know it! We're gonna show them what happens when they mess with the Owl Lady, plus her apprentice, plus her friends. Just promise me you won't go anywhere without me anymore, alright?"
"That shouldn't be a problem if you're coming along with us!" said Luz. She turned back to the other. "What do you say? You up for a few more scraps?"
"If Eda's coming with us?" said Willow. "Sure, why not?"
"Great!" said Luz. "Why don't you come by tomorrow, and we can start planning our attack?"
"Sure, sounds good," said Gus. "Oh! Speaking of, if we're not actually having a sleepover, I should probably get going. Catch you all tomorrow!"
"Yeah, my dads might realize we're gone soon," said Willow. "Bye guys!"
Luz waved goodbye to her friends. "I, uh, should probably get going, too," said Amity. "Tonight was...it was fun, though. I'd like to do something like this again."
"Yeah, me too," said Luz. "Um...anyway, could I have my…?"
"Huh? Oh!" Amity suddenly remembered that she was still wearing Luz's sweater. "Sorry, sorry, totally forgot about that!" She began to slip it off.
"If you wanna borrow it, that's fine!" said Luz. "I could always wear something else!"
"No, no, take it," Amity said, handing it back to her. "Anyways...See you tomorrow!" She quickly ran off before Luz even had time to respond.
"...See ya," Luz said after she had left. She joined back up with Eda, who gave a knowing smile.
The two soon found themselves back at the Owl House. "Hoot! How was the show?" asked Hooty.
"Oh, it was vicious!" said Eda. "They really brought the house down." It was Luz's turn to smile knowingly.
"I wish I could've gone," said Hooty, swinging open. "It's hard being an inanimate object sometimes...Hoot!"
"Tell ya what," said Eda. "I think I've got a few of Loxton's old records sitting around here somewhere. I'll dig 'em up and play 'em for you, sound good?"
"Hoot!" said Hooty, which was apparently a yes.
"It'll be nice to listen to his music while he isn't trying to kidnap me!" said Luz.
The door shut behind them. Unknown to any of them, the same palisman from before was watching them from the bushes with its beady eyes. It darted off in the direction of the Emperor's Palace.
Within his study at the Palace, Mattias paced back and forth across the room. "What do you think?" he said. "Should I have asked her?"
"I do not know, High Inquisitor Mattias," said Briares, who stood nearby. "I too am unfamiliar with the intricacies of love."
"Couldn't have hurt to try," Mattias continued, mostly to himself. "What would I even have said? 'Lily, would you like to-' No, too casual. 'Lily, Loxton is putting on a concert in Bonesborough. Would you like to accompany me?' Hmm, that might've worked. Maybe if I had mentioned something about her sister… Briares, what do you think?"
"I think it is too late now," Briares replied.
"Okay, but hypothetically, what would you have said if you were asking her out?"
"Hmm…" Briares thought for a moment. "I would have said 'Lilith Clawthorne, I wish for you to accompany me to Inquisitor Loxton's concert tonight.' And then she would agree. And then we would go."
Mattias sighed. "I don't know why I keep asking you people for advice," he said under his breath.
Something in the corner of the room caught Briares' eye. "What is this?" A tiny metal bull stepped out of the shadows. "Ah, Minos has returned!" He reached down, lifting up the palisman in his palm. "What news do you bring for me, my friend?" He was silent for a moment, hearing his palisman's thoughts. "Oh? Most concerning indeed. ...What? And you are certain? This changes everything!"
"What is it?" asked Mattias.
"Just hours ago, Inquisitor Loxton's concert was interrupted by Luz the Human and a band of unidentified allies," Briares explained. "Inquisitor Loxton was unable to apprehend them."
"You mean to tell me they got the best of him!?" said Mattias. "A human took down one of my Inquisitors!?"
"There is more," Briares continued. "Inquisitor Loxton would have succeeded, if not for the intervention of Edalyn Clawthorne. He was defeated, while she and the others escaped."
"Excellent," Mattias hissed. "And this changes everything how, exactly?"
"Because after Edalyn Clawthorne left the scene, Minos gave chase," Briares said. "She led him directly to the hut that she calls home. We found it, High Inquisitor Mattias. We found the Owl House."
Mattias' demeanor changed almost immediately, going from displeased to excited within seconds. "Is that so?" he said. "And your palisman is sure of this?"
"Minos is no eagle, but his eyes are never wrong," Briares said, as Minos retook his place atop his master's hammer. "I swear my honor on it."
"In that case...gather the others," Mattias said. "Inform them of what you told me. We move in at dawn."
Briares nodded. "Yes, High Inquisitor Mattias. It will be done." He stepped out, leaving the High Inquisitor alone.
Mattias stared out the window in the general direction of Bonesborough. "So, you thought you could hide, Eda? You and your little pet? You should have known, nobody slights an Archoman and gets away with it. Sleep well, for come sunrise, I will have my payback…"
AN: Uh-oh!