"Boscha!?"

Luz jolted back with a startle. She found herself once more in the gaze in one of her most tensely hated enemies. With her vision crystal clear now, she could see that she was indeed hit over the head with one of the three-eyed pink girl's crutches. In fact, she was slugged pretty good. Luz rubbed the side of her temple, and she felt a round bump protruding from it.

"Oh, good to see that I didn't kill you," Boscha said putting on a false sense of concern, "I would've wanted to humiliate you first before killing you."

Luz tried to push herself up, but Boscha weighed her down with her foot. Nyarlathotep transformed back into the bat like monstrosity and held Eda and King in his clutches. King still did not regain consciousness. Luz stared at Boscha again. Something felt different about the spoiled brat since she last met her. An unknown power surged through the pink girl's body; an ancient, primordial force predating the known universe.

"Boscha, I know that you are a real jerk and all, but how did you even meet up with this..." Luz stared at Nyarlathotep with contempt. "Ugly, hideous thing."

"Guilty as charged!" Nyarlathotep remarked.

Boscha restrained her foot and walked an inch away from Luz. "It was after what was probably the worst day of my life."

Luz scoffed. "You have only yourself to blame for what happened."

Boscha kicked Luz in the side invoking Luz to groan.

"You have been a constant thorn in my side ever since you first started attending school. Amity and I used to be closer, but now she had gotten soft; she won't even bully any of the bottom of the rank."

Luz rolled her eyes. "Amity told me everything; about how she always felt miserable when she was forced to hang out with you."

"Miserable?" Boscha asked "all I did was teach her to be tough; no one would ever step on her."

Luz stared at Boscha again. How could anyone that cruel be so clueless? She looked at Eda who was squirming to free herself and King from Nyarlathotep.

"Amity told me your secret."

Boscha had pulled out her purple scroll and was looking at Penstagram when Luz informed her. Boscha tensed up and dropped the scroll. "I said that in confidence and Amity promised to keep it a secret..."

While she was distracted, Luz got up on her feet and grabbed a stick. With quiet precision, she sketched the ice glyph and pressed the palm of her hand on it. When Boscha turned around, a thick icicle was poking dangerously close to her third eye.

"You're a half-witch, aren't you?" Luz asked.

Boscha grabbed the icicle and tore a piece of it. Nerves were forming on the surfaces of her eyes. "Don't call me that!"

She ran towards the human girl unprovoked. Luz dropped to the ground, stick in hand, and crafted a larger version of the ice glyph. Boscha was within arm's reach when Luz jumped on the glyph. Boscha held the icicle firmly and jabbed it in a savage fashion. Before it could make contact, a huge column of ice erupted from the ground catapulting Luz.

Enraged, Boscha drew a spell circle in the air and shot a wall of fire towards the beam of ice.

"Luz, look out!" Eda yelled.

Luz turned to stare at her mentor to see what the commotion was, but she could more than feel it. The intensity of the heat seared a gaping hole within the ice column and was melting. The bottom of the column was waning thin forcing her to dash further towards the top but with the rush of wind and downward spiral, Luz had difficulty with staying on.

Boscha shot balls of fire towards the human girl in unprovoked precision. Luz saw the fire hurdling towards her. The top of the column was receding faster as a result of the fire. Droplets of water wrapped around the human girl like a blanket; shielding her, the fire was dosed. Luz fell to the ground on some soft shrubbery.

"You seem awfully stronger since we last saw each other, Boscha," Luz noted.

"What gave it away?" Boscha asked half-heartedly. "But I should expect something of that sort from a human pet like yourself."

Luz got up again and held her fists out. "So that is why you bully Willow so much."

Boscha clenched her fists. "Amity promised that she would never tell anyone."

"You thought you would make yourself feel superior to Willow by lying about being a fully-fledged witch when your Dad was..."

Boscha shot out fire ball after fire ball but Luz swiftly dodged each one. "Don't you dare say it!"

"A jinn."

Something broke within the three-eyed girl. Instead of firing at Luz again, Boscha instead lunged at her and pressed her against the ground. All Luz could see were fists of fury flying down on her. Luz instinctively dodged most of the blows except for the instances where she was hit on the jaw.

"Yeah, that's right, your father isn't a full witch either isn't he?" Luz screamed. "What makes you think that gives you permission to mistreat Willow?"

"I hate Willow because she is too much like how the old me was!" Boscha shrieked. She got on top of Luz and slammed her fists on Luz's chest. "I was a weak, friendless, loser like how that half-a-witch was."

Eda's squirming became more forceful, but the grip Nyarlathotep held on her was infinite. "Let me go, you black floormat!"

Nyarlathotep ignored the Owl Lady's protests and quietly observed the fight. "Wonderful show isn't it?"

"I swear if you let Boscha kill Luz, I-"

Nyarlathotep placed one of his large claws over Eda's mouth. "Honey, no, you misunderstand; the human girl is much too valuable to let perish." He stared at King's lifeless body for a couple minutes. "I've just made it possible for my dear Boscha to – for a lack of a better term – sort out her troubles."

Boscha was tiring herself out rather quickly. She had already beat Luz's chest for what felt like hours and now she was growing bored with it. Luz refused to say anything further and it too took the fun out for the three-eyed girl. Her fists also felt numb from the consistent pounding she did. "I was bullied every day for when I was at school, at least until I met Amity."

"And so you thought that befriending a Blight would make you stand out in your social ranking?" Luz inquired.

"Because of that, I became someone that was feared." Boscha got off Luz and eyed her with disgust. "And when she introduced me to Grudgby, I became one of the biggest students on the campus."

Luz snickered.

"What are you laughing about?" Boscha asked. She was clearly becoming annoyed.

"Your story," Luz said in between her chuckles, "is just...pathetic."

The pupils in Boscha's eyes shrank. "What did you just say?"

Luz lifted her upper body from the ground. "You are nothing like Willow."

"Well, of course not," Boscha stated, "unlike her, I decided to not be someone's target practice anymore."

"You bullied Willow her whole life for every little thing," Luz retorted, "her appearance; her kind nature; and yet not once did Willow ever feel that she needed to pick on others."

"What are you saying?" Boscha, her rage feeling reinvigorated, drew another fire ball into her hand. She waited for whatever bad word Luz would say next.

"I am saying that for all the acting toughing and dominant, you are really just an insecure brat who decided to belittle others because you felt inadequate."

The fire ball disappeared from Boscha's hands. She went speechless for a few moments Luz's words still buzzing around like an invasive pest. She gritted her teeth loudly.

"That's right," Luz spoke defiantly, "you are nothing more than an insecure girl who bullies others to look cool, but you are desperately afraid that if you don't do so, then your social life is over."

A low growl came from her attacker. "You're dead!"

Pain surged through Boscha's leg. "Wha-"

The bones holding up her leg splintered and fractured. Without any indication, Boscha fell on the ground just shy of Luz. She grabbed her shin to ease the pain. "By the Titan, this hurts!"

Luz stood up and scratched her chin. "Huh. Looks like your leg got rebroken."

Boscha shot Luz a look. "I know that you ingrate!"

She wanted to strike the human girl once more, but her leg was shot. Nyarlathotep saw this and released his hold over Eda. "Come on, Boscha, we should get going."

The first thing that Eda did was hold her staff and held it in front of Nyarlathotep to intimidate him. "You're not going anywhere!"

Nyarlathotep scoffed. "Oh, I have had more than enough of my fill in fun, thank you very much."

Nyarlathotep flapped his wings and lifted his large frame off the ground. "I'm very delighted to have finally met you, Luz."

He gently grabbed Boscha with his right arm and tucked her in his hand. "I hope to see you all again soon."

With that, Nyarlathotep began to fly in the air. Luz, seeing them leave, held out a stick.

"Come back here, you...you...tree murderer!"

Eda tapped her hand. "I think that will do for today."

"But...but..."

Eda gave Luz a stern glare. Luz put her arms down to her sides and sighed. "Okay."

Boscha thrashed around in Nyarlathotep's hand. "Why...Why did you stop me from accomplishing my revenge?"

Nyarlathotep placed his finger on his mouth. "Hush now, we shall get our due justice soon, just trust me."

"I thought you healed my leg," Boscha whined, "you tricked me!"

"No, dear," Nyarlathotep said in a sympathetic voice, "I only gave you a small fragment of my power so that you could fight her."

"A small fragment?"

"Yes; I have acquired a small bit of my power back from the palismans and their source, but I am far from being all-powerful."

Boscha's head lowered. "So..we lost?"

Nyarlathotep grinned and his grin reached the tips of his mouth and wrapped around his head. "Far from it! Remember how I explained that my powers were stripped due to those glyphs?"

Boscha perked up. "Yeah?"

"What she did not realize was that she helped our cause."

"How?"

"By using the ice glyph," Nyarlathotep clarified. "When she used it, she unwittingly broke that seal, so chin up, dear, we are moving ever so closer to our goals!"

Boscha smiled back in response to the news. "What shall we do now?"

"I need you to recuperate," Nyarlathotep answered.

Boscha's eyes widened again. She shook her head in defiance. "So you are just going to throw me away too?"

Nyarlathotep rubbed a claw on her cheek. "No, as your mentor, I need to keep you safe; what good are you to die without fulfilling your purpose?"

Boscha nodded. She knew that he was right, but she still thought she was being discarded like trash. "Then who will you get to help us now?"

Nyarlathotep chuckled. "There are many pawns to weave through, but I sense that someone is totally willing to assist us."

"Who is it?" Boscha asked.

"I'll explain it to you soon, my dear child. Now, it's time to sleep. Do dream about chaos and other unpleasantries."

The gang returned to the Owl House sometime after. Hooty, once again, greeted them.

"Hey, guys!" Hooty hooted "you were gone all day; wanna know what I have been doing?"

Eda covered her head with her hand. "Look, we don't have all day to listen."

"Hoot, hoot! I have a riddle for you!" He hooted louder than before with his high-pitched voice. "I begin with four legs; then two; then three! Guess and I-"

Eda jabbed him in the eyes. "I ain't playing charades now, bird."

"OW!" Hooty lamented "fine, fine, sheesh!"

Hooty opens the door and the gang walks in. Before they could react, they saw the bat baby flying everywhere wreaking havoc throughout the house. The furniture, sans the couch, were ripped and shredded to chunks. Potions were poured all over the floor one in particular being a green, liquid that corroded through the floor leaving a gaping hole.

Toys were discarded and massacred and Luz's sleeping mat was somehow hanging on the ceiling. Lilith was still on the couch, but this time, she held a frying pan in her hand thus meaning that she did leave the couch while they were away. She cowered at the flying bat beast before her.

"What the hey, hey!" Eda remarked, "what happened?"

Lilith looked at her younger sister with fearful eyes. "You don't want to know."

"I just needed you to babysit the kid," Eda stated, "not make the house a warzone."

Lilith crossed her arms. "I told you that I couldn't raise a child."

She glanced over at Luz and saw her injuries. "Woah, what happened to your kid?"

"King? King, time to wake up."

King slowly opened his eyes but only through a small dint due to the light being too bright. "What happened?"

Luz pat his head. "You passed out little guy."

King looked around the house seeing the faces of those he recognized. "How did I get back here?" He took a longer glance around. "And why is the house a wreck? Did a goblin get loose in here?"

"Easy, easy on the questions," Eda said, "you really had us going when you saw that monster back there."

King could feel his head hurt again much akin to glass shards being pressed into the tender parts of his brain. "Would you guys believe that I might have seen this...thing before?"

Lilith tilted her head. "Really? Where?"

"In one of my dreams," King stated, "I feel like I remember being chased by it, and then there was some woman there...and...that is all, actually."

"What did she look like?" Luz asked.

"Maybe...brown-haired, and...I don't know, wearing a cloak, or something?"

King plopped down on a seat of the couch. Eda clapped her hands.

"Eh, we shouldn't bother trying to force him to say anything."

They agreed in unison and concluded that King needed some time to recover before he could provide other information to them. Instead, their minds were still on Boscha and Nyarlathotep. Somehow, Boscha came into contact with this mysterious entity who claimed to have some plans for the Boiling Isles. But to what extent his plans were they could not decipher.

"Well, what of this little guy's mother?" Lilith asked. She had managed to grab ahold of the monster and held it in her arms. They looked at her depressed.

"The Bat Queen is dead, Lilith," Eda said in a melancholic tone, "we are sure that the baby's siblings are also gone."

"Oh," Lilith said. "Tragic; what did this thing?"

"Nyarlathotep," Luz clarified.

Lilith shook her head. "Right, right...this Nyarlathotep fellow. What did he want with her?"

"He killed all the palismans to get to the tree that me and you carved to make our palismans," Eda explained.

Lilith's mouth dropped. "And of the tree?"

"Burned to ashes," Luz interjected. "He killed it to satiate himself."

Lilith dropped a bag of chips she was eating. "That means that Luz will never be able to make her own." Lilith caught Luz's glimpse. She was uncertain of whether or not Luz, as a human, could've even made one anyway, but now, she would never be given the chance to because it was taken from her. Lilith then stared at her sister's palisman. It was still safe and appeared fresh as though it was her first time using it. Lilith decided to change the subject as a means of clearing the air.

"So...Nyarlathotep, huh?" Lilith asked. She was eating more junk food and dropping the bags on the ground.

Eda rolled her eyes at her sister's newfound uncleanliness. "Yeah, ring a bell at all?"

"When I was in the Emperor's Coven, they did have some archives that Belos had strictly ordered to be locked away in the heart of the coven. I...actually never had any access to the hidden texts as Belos would like to call them."

"That makes it even worse!" Luz remarked. "We have to do something to stop him and Boscha!"

"But we hardly know anything about him," Eda emphasized, "who can possibly help us?"

"Oh, I can be of some assistance, madam."

The group jumped in shock at hearing an unfamiliar voice speak to them after overhearing their conversation. They glanced at each other somehow convinced that the voice – a monotonous one – came out from any of them.

There came a chuckle. "No, no, silly mortals, I am over here."

They turned to see someone standing at the far side of the room. It was a man. He was a visibly charming young man with a full beard. On his head was a crown of lively poppies that appeared to glow from the small fractals of light reflecting from them. His most startling trait, however, was his large, luminous eyes. When he opened them, his eyes were black and perfectly round. There were small glints in his massive eyes which felt like looking into the Milky Way galaxy and its celestial bodies. But through it all, what was also significant was his body.

"Are you a ghost?" Eda asked clearly fixated on the other spectre.

His body was translucent. He shook his head, but he still maintained his smile. For some reason while the smile was genuine, the gang also got the sense it was artificial or let alone forced.

"No, Owl Lady," he said, "I am no ghost; just a traveler is all."

Luz walked towards the man. Eda held her arm out to try to stop her. "Wait, Luz, this man just popped up, we can't trust him."

Luz ignored her mentor and continued her walk. Luz was in a daze, amazed by the being standing in front of her, but there was still that sense of urgency bubbling inside of her.

"Who are you and how did you know Eda's nickname?"

He chuckled once more, his deep voice shaking the house. He crossed his arms in amusement.

"Please, just call me Hypnos."