GH: My, my, you certainly cranked this one out fast. I wonder why?
SWolf: I'm not saying anything.
GH: You wouldn't happen to have something else planned now, would you?
SWolf: I SAID I'm not saying anything!
GH: And yet you had 'Just Friends' by Meelz on repeat while you were writing. Curious.
SWolf: Don't make me get a silver mirror, cuz I will if you don't stop!
GH: Is this because of the new special you're planning?
SWolf: THAT'S IT!
*SWolf chases GH around apartment with silver mirror in hand to trap them*
Trigger Warning: This chapter is rated T for blood, frightening images, and a scene of torture
Out of all the experiences Luz had had during her time in the Demon Realm, flying through a haunted mansion, a living haunted mansion, was something she had to chalk up as being one of the weirdest. And she'd swapped bodies with the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles for a day. The fact she was actually flying through the walls because of the Phantom Glyph was even weirder, but also super fun. Had it not been she was being chased around by a maniacal undead necromancer who wanted to legitimately kill her, Luz would have enjoyed it even more. At least she was invisible, so that counted for something. Now if only she could remember where in this loco house Emilia's room was…
Clearly, Rex was going to have to be her guide on this one. The palisman rocketed down the main hall from the ballroom faster than ever before, making Luz wonder who would win in a race if Owlbert was involved. No one could see her, but she could see herself, albeit, the green light coursing from the glyph on her hand had encased her in what was almost like a second layer of skin. It didn't give her the feel of being invisible, or being able to pass through solid objects, but when the hall turned a sharp right and she forgot to steer, Luz sailed right through. It tickled.
Tightening her hold on the staff, Luz leaned forward so she was almost laying on her belly to gain more momentum as Rex flew through the room they had passed through and out onto the main entryway of the mansion. Instantly, the palisman swerved around and went up one of the twin sets of stairs leading to the west wing of the mansion. Hearing the sound of creaking metal, Luz glanced over her shoulder at the two suits of armor flanking the entrance to the hall. The helmets rotated at the sound of Damien fast approaching, one Luz noticed looked slightly charred and dented, the other had a massive hole in its chest, and they raised their halberds. As soon as Damien exited the hall, the armored statues swung, knocking the necromancer off his staff and sending him straight into the entryway doors.
Luz winced. Ooooohhh, that's going to leave a mark.
Rex surged down the hall, leaving the sound of magical bursts and tearing metal behind. Now was not the time to dawdle, they needed to get to Emila's room and get that staff! The hallways twisted and turned in a dizzying labyrinth that set Luz on edge. Her brain wanted to believe that this was a dream, none of this could be real, even on the Boiling Isles. Yet, as Luz continued on through the topsy-turvy pattern that only Rex seemed to understand, she hoped it wasn't a dream. After all, if it were a dream, then wouldn't that mean what happened between her and Amity was a dream too?
Luz couldn't help but press her fingers to her lips where, moments ago, Amity had kissed her. Nothing she had read; in all of her Azura novels, the fan fictions she followed, graphic novels, or even what she had seen in movies and tv shows, could have prepared her for the literal wave of emotions that had almost knocked her off the staff. The soft, tender way their lips had melded together, the overwhelming warmth that turned her gut into a pile of mush, her desire to pull Amity's body as close to hers as possible and not let go, it was a wonder to Luz she was even still alive. Not only that, but the fact Amity had told her she loved her? She, Amity Blight, was in love with Luz Noceda. Just like Luz Noceda was in love with Amity Blight. Yup, she admitted to herself, she was in love with a witch.
Who woulda thought? Feeling like the biggest dope in the world, Luz grinned and urged Rex on. The sooner they got that staff back to Ghost Host, the sooner she would be back with Amity. Granted, once this curse was broken and they could go home, how would things be with Amity's parents? That made Luz's heart shudder and she gripped the staff. There was a reason why Amity hadn't yet introduced Luz to Mama and Papa Blight, and she was in no eager rush to meet them herself.
"HUMAN!"
Uh-oh. Luz looked over her shoulder to see a surge of rust-colored magic swelling around the corner she had passed, and quickly turned Rex into the wall at their side. Wood and wallpaper blurred in her vision as she flew through the surface into what looked like a very big linen closet. Large white sheets had been folded in precise neat squares, covered with centuries of dust that tickled at Luz's nose.
Don't sneeze, don't sneeze...don't...Wrinkling her face, Luz placed a finger under her nose in what she hoped would keep her from making a sound. On the other side of the wall, she heard what was no doubt Damien flying by, and sighed with relief. That was close.
"ACHOO!" Luz felt Rex tense under her and she sighed. Mierda.
The door to the closet was ripped off its hinges and Luz braced herself as Damien appeared in the doorway, his glowing eyes scanning the room. Even though she was invisible, Luz had a feeling he would know where she was, and the moment he looked at her spot, she exploded forward. The sensation of passing through another person, semi-living or not, just felt wrong.
Blaugh! Luz shivered all the way down to her toes, not even bothering to follow the hallways now that she had given away where she was. Catching his stance, Damien jumped back onto his staff and bolted down the hall, and Luz had a feeling he was going in the direction she was. Waiting until she hoped there was enough space between them, Luz turned to the right and passed through the rooms, briefly going through a hallway, and into more rooms. Oh yeah, she was lost.
Great, how am I going to know when I find Emilia's room now?
Right on cue, Luz flew into a large room full of lavender and silver colors, and Rex came to a dead-stop, leaving the human to continue forward and come crashing to a halt on the carpet. Or, whatever the ghostly version of a crash was, considering the fact one leg was sticking through a wall and her entire left arm, and her right hand, were dangling through the floor into the ceiling of whatever room was below. For probably the first time that night, Luz was happy Amity was not here to see her like this. At least she didn't feel any pain, so clearly there were more pros than cons to this glyph. Grunting, Luz did her best to sit up without her butt sinking through the floor, feeling a lot like she was on top of the ball pit at Hoo-Ha the Owl's Pizzaria Jamboree. Which meant it was not easy to move. Finally, Luz managed to figure out a way to get her feet to stick on the carpet and stood up to look around.
Emilia's room looked just like it had when Luz and Amity had listened to the Ghost Host's tale only a few hours ago. Funny that it felt much longer than that after all that happened since. The couch they had sat on that Ghost Host conjured was still in the middle of the room, but now Rex was hovering over it, visible and corporeal. Luz immediately looked at the bedroom door and sighed with relief to see it was closed. Damien must still be looking for her, so that meant she still had some time. Turning around, Luz saw the staff that must have been Emilia's resting against the desk and ran over to it. Really, it was more like a slow-motion type of run that had her feet floating a couple inches off the floor. Luz couldn't help the startled squeak of surprise as she wavered about, continuing to float upwards the harder she peddaled her feet. Tilting forward, Luz began to swing her arms and legs in a very haphazard version of the breast stroke, something she remembered from her summertime swimming lessons, and was thrilled to find she was moving forward.
This is so cool! She grinned, drifting under the canopy of Emilia's four-poster bed. Now all I need to make myself solid again and then I can grab the staff! The glyph fizzled out as the green light surrounding her disappeared and Luz dropped like a rock, belly-slamming onto the cobweb-encrusted bedding and sending clouds of dust everywhere. From the center of the room, Rex made a curious hissing sound that Luz could only guess was laughter. Cheeky little bugger.
"Ay..." Inching her way across the mattress, Luz rolled off to land on her feet and grabbed the polished wood of Emilia's staff, seeing the interlock gleam in the faint beams of light currently being cast from Rex's eyes. "Alright bud," she hefted the stave over her shoulder and hurried to the waiting palisman. "Let's get out of here." Taking hold of Rex, Luz jogged to the bedroom door and pulled it open.
Damien loomed over her and smiled. "Knock knock."
The Basker clone lunged at the Ghost Host, swinging a massive paw as it attempted to bat away their staff. Flipping the weapon in their hands, the Ghost Host lifted it with one end cupped in their palm and the other jabbed against the hound's chest. Green lightning flared from the tip and sent the hound across the room, mowing through a cluster of zombies that made the mistake of lumbering in that direction. Sliding the staff so they were holding onto one end, the Ghost Host crouched down and swung the weapon low to the floor in a circle, taking out the ankles of every single corpse circling them. Pulling their lip back in a snarl, the demon looked over the mass of swaying heads and sprang over the grasping hands, landing with silent grace beside Amity.
"For a two hundred year old ghost demon, you certainly know how to fight." She said, hurling twin balls of flames at some zombies that were trying to grab hold of Skara and Willow. King held onto her shoulders, cradling Artemis in his arms.
"Two hundred and twenty eight, thank you very much." The Ghost Host corrected, drawing a spell circle that enveloped three corpses in green flames. "What did you think I was doing all those years while caring for the happy haunts? Even the dead can get restless, considering we don't eat or sleep."
Amity side-stepped a zombie's fingers and swatted it away with a giant abomination hand. "Good point. But then, what was with the party we saw earlier?"
"That was the magic of the Bewitching Hour," Flexing their hands, Amity watched two massive shadows shoot up from the floor and swing about like tentacles that sent even more corpses flying around the room, following the Ghost Host's movement. "For that one hour, they get to remember what it was like to be alive again, to feel like a living being. The Bewitching Hour does not come every night, so when it does, they enjoy it for all it's worth." An ear twitched and the Ghost Host wrapped an arm around Amity's waist, making her and King yell as it darted up into the air to soar to a remotely free section of the ballroom. "Alright, are you ready for your magic lesson?"
"What?" Amity stared at the demon as they set her down beside the center of the spiral pattern painted into the floor. "Here? Now?"
"Would you rather I not teach you a new spell?" The Ghost Host tilted their head at her, and she frowned.
"No, I want to! You just, I wasn't expecting you to do...that." She gestured to where they had just flown from.
The Ghost Host shrugged. "Fair enough. I'll give you a warning next time we need to make a sudden departure. Now, watch closely, and I'll show you the art of Shadow Magic." Raising its hands, the Ghost Host traced two simple spell circles, one in front of it and the other pointed towards the floor. "Because you'll be starting with the basics, you will need to direct your magic from the source of the shadow you are controlling to channel it through your magic. For example: I take the shadows cast on the floor," Amity watched as a thick mass of shadow rose up from the floor into the spell above it, disappearing into the glowing ring. "And command it where I want it to go." The same shadow mass shot out of the ring held out before the Ghost Host, transforming into a thick tendril that lashed out like a whip to yank the legs of a zombie out from under its body and chuck it sideways. "Remember, you must give the shadow a form to take, something tangible that your mind can focus on and hold. Without shape, it is nothing more than the shadow you pulled from the ground."
Amity gaped at the demon and at her own, significantly smaller, shadow. "But, shadows don't have any mass, they aren't solid, tangible objects. How can I turn nothing into something? It defies any logical formula."
"And that is the beauty of Shadow Magic, because it's your will that gives it that solid form. Just like how you can create an abomination out of seemingly thin air. You may not have to tote the physical formula around anymore to conjure one, but that doesn't mean you can't create one. And, do you know why?"
That was a question Amity could have easily answered in her sleep and she cocked an eyebrow. "Because I've passed to the level where I represent the formula, therefore, I call upon the essence of the ingredients and the command set into them to bring my abomination to life."
"Exactly! So," Moving so they stood behind her, the Ghost Host leaned forward and lifted Amity's arms to mimic how they had stood moments before, one hand held out in front with the other pointed at the floor. "Just like when you call on your abomination, you must first imprint your will into the spell. Shadows are slippery and can be easily...distracted. You need to hold onto them with everything you have, but not too much, or else they will break. Keep your grasp firm, but leave just enough room for the imagination to flow. Now, take a deep breath, and let your mind clear."
Inhaling deep into her stomach, Amity slowly exhaled through her mouth.
"Feel the shadows around you. Not just on the ground, but hiding in the corners, the loft of the ceiling, beneath the furniture, inside the chimney. They are waiting to be given form, waiting for a voice to direct them, the chance to come out and play. There are secrets only they know, so listen to them."
Whispers, that was what Amity could hear. Like a breeze, they drifted all about her, swirling around her head and in her ears. "They sound...excited?"
"What else? Don't try to understand, just listen."
Taking another deep breath, Amity let her thoughts fade away as the whispers continued. "I think...they want my magic to turn them into something, but, they don't know what."
"What do you think?"
Amity looked over her shoulder at the Ghost Host and smiled. "I think I know." Turning around, she spotted the second Basker clone advancing on Gus, whose back was turned to it as he was currently engaged with a cluster of zombies, Leota's crystal ball still in his hands. Magenta light blazed from her fingers as she traced two spell circles and felt the cold rush of the darker magic shiver along her skin. "Shadow, rise!"
A lumbering figure rose up from the ground in front of the witch and she gasped, not out of horror, but pure surprise. It looked every bit like an abomination, but instead of the familiar purple goop, its entire body rippled with the flame-like visage of the shadows that made it. Three lopsided eyes that glowed with Amity's magic blinked at her and it moaned, but in her mind, Amity heard a single question.
What was her command?
Her eyes snapped to the hound creeping on the unsuspecting Gus, and the shadow rotated its head around, and shot forward, scooping the Basker clone off its paws in a rolling tackle that sent them both tumbling away. Gus whirled around, Leota half-raised over his head, and looked at Amity.
"What the Titan was that?"
All Amity could do was shrug. "Shadow magic?" She looked up at the Ghost Host and the demon grinned.
"Brava, Miss Amity, brava. How about we utilize more of your skill to keep these pesky corpses at bay while I prepare the spell?"
"You got it!" Drawing more spell circles, Amity summoned shadow after shadow and felt the Ghost Host's presence leave her back. As much as she wanted the strange comfort of the demon close by, she kept her focus on sending shadows, abominations, and fire balls left and right, keeping the space around them clear. The signature sound of magic activating had her pause for a moment to glance over her shoulder to see what the Ghost Host was up to.
Setting the tip of their staff to the floor, the Ghost Host moved in a circle to trace out a massive spell ring, the magic igniting as the line was completed. The Ghost Host then did the same maneuver, but drew a slightly smaller circle within the first. They then proceeded to begin tracing out what looked like an eight-pointed star within the smaller ring, but not once did the tip of the staff leave the floor until the star was finished. Pausing only for a moment to glance over their work, the Ghost Host looked around the room as they searched for the individual members of Team Owlet.
"Everyone! Hurry here as fast as you can! The spell is almost complete!" Their eyes then flicked down to Amity. "Do you know Shadow Script?"
Amity nodded.
"Perfect, I'll need you to write out the summoning between the two rings."
Something about the tone of the Ghost Host's voice made Amity shiver. "Wh-what summoning?"
"I'll give it to you," the demon held out a hand and pulled her forward to rest its forehead against hers.
Instantly, Amity's thoughts were flooded with words that she never had known before, a language that her brain stumbled over in an attempt to translate, yet somehow, she understood what they were. She felt the Ghost Host let go and she took a step back, shaking her head to try to clear the cacophony of foreign tongues bouncing around in her head. When she finally was able to make sense of the formula, Amity stared up at the Ghost Host and felt her heart plunge into her stomach.
"You - you're going to - "
"It's what needs to be done. Now, please hurry," the Ghost Host traced a spell circle and a shadowy-black stylus appeared in its fingers that it handed to her, gesturing to the space between the rings. "If we're going to help Luz, we need to have the spell ready for her return. Will you do it?"
Swallowing, Amity looked from the stylus to the Ghost Host to the rings and back, then grabbed the narrow wand. "I will."
Spots filled Luz's vision as her head snapped to the side and she fell back, the arm of the couch catching her legs and causing her to stumble onto the cushions. Rex and Emilia's staff fell from her grip as she tried to blink the room back into standing still, but it continued to spin around her. Her head was pounding and when she found the will to touch where she had been struck, the skin of her right cheek was wet. Her fingers brushed against a long slash over her cheek bone that throbbed from what was no doubt a bruise already forming and as she pulled her hand away, she saw it was smeared with fresh blood. When she tried to work her jaw, pain seared up into her skull and she whimpered.
"It's sad, isn't it?" Damien mused, closing the door and walking around to face the couch. A chair rose up from the floor and he casually sat down, eyeing Luz as she struggled to pull herself up. "All you had to do was leave everything as you found it, and none of this would have happened. You would be back home in the morning, safe and sound, thinking all of this was but a dream. And yet," he rested his hands on his cane and leaned forward. "You chose to stick your nose into something you shouldn't have, just like Chiaro. He could have lived a long and uneventful life as a servant to the Pandors, but like you, he thought he could become a part of this world."
Hissing, Luz reached up to grab hold of the back of the couch, feeling her stomach clench. "What's so wrong with that?" She felt a burning sensation roll up her throat and gripped the couch. She would. Not. Puke.
Damien studied her with mild amusement and snorted. "Why else do you think the elite class exists? The system that helps divide the weak from the strong, the privileged from the not. Human from witch." His eyes tightened. "Those lines are drawn to keep everyone in their place, to maintain order. When I learned Emilia was going to throw everything she had away all for some lowly human servant? I could not stand by and watch it all go to ruin. He had no magic to protect her, no money, no home, no family, how could he possibly care for her? I did what I had to do to make her see just how weak he was, but, I never meant for the shoggoth to kill him…"
Managing to turn her head so she could look at Damien, Luz saw his hands had tightened on his cane and his gaze was locked on the floor.
"When Emilia took her own life, that was when I realized it was over, she never saw me as anything else than a friend at best, someone her family wanted her to marry."
"So, why did you betray Ghost Host?" Luz swallowed another ball of bile in her throat. She saw his eyes widen with anger and winced, hissing when her head throbbed from the sudden movement. If only she could reach her glyphs…
"Mezzanotte would ruin everything I had earned from the Pandor family. My reputation and my family name would be stricken from existence if it was revealed I was the cause of Emilia's death. As far as Astor was concerned, she had let his daughter fraternize with the human she had taken in, if anything she was the one responsible for Emilia's suicide. So when the sacrifice was needed to summon the Nowhere Demon, I pushed her through the portal. Of course, if I'd known the price Mezzanotte paid for the Nowhere Demon's power, I would have gone myself." He looked up at Luz and stood from the chair, lifting his cane to set it on the armrest over her head. "And now, history repeats itself. A human taken from it's world who thinks it can learn magic and wants to be worthy of the attention of another powerful witch family's daughter. I have to admit, when I realized two female witches were interested in each other, I was surprised, but a human girl and a female witch?" Luz bit her lip when he pushed the end of his cane against her uninjured cheek. "They'll never let it happen. One day, she'll realize you're going to remain an ordinary, magic-less human who won't be able to bring any benefit to her life. You're just something new and curious, and once that thrill is gone, she'll leave you."
"No." Clenching her fists, Luz slowly sat up and shoved the cane from her face, glaring at Damien. She could see the metal head of Basker and the red stain coating its muzzle from when Damien struck her. "I don't need to be 'worthy' of Amity's attention, because I already know she loves me, just like she knows I love her." Boy, did it feel good to say those words. "Maybe I am something new and curious, but that's not why she wants to be with me. I may not be a lot of things, but I know one thing," she reached behind and felt the wood of a staff brush her fingers. "I'll be anything but ordinary."
Damien snarled and raised his cane, but Luz was already moving, yanking Rex out from behind her back and smacking the necromancer with the cobra palisman. Howling at the pain, he stepped back and fell over the chair, tripping on the ice blossoming from the glyph Luz had thrown on the floor. Pressing a hand to his face, he glared at Luz as she fumbled to climb onto Rex, grabbing the incomplete staff from where she dropped it. Slamming the end of his cane on the floor, a beam of red light shot from Basker's mouth and snared Luz's ankle.
"If you're anything but ordinary, then let's see if you can handle a little rain."
Luz barely had the time to process his words before she was thrown against the doors of Emilia's balcony, and felt the glass shatter from the impact. She held on as Rex flipped end over end from the force of Damien's magic, turning everything around her world into a somersault, until she finally stopped. Then she felt the rain and screamed.
It was not like the cool, refreshing drops that washed down her skin and played with her hair back home. Not even the few droplets that hit her when she first experienced boiling rain the night of Eda's transformation could have prepared her for the pure agony that literally burned her from head to toe. It felt like she was being hammered on all sides by white-hot needles. The intensity of it was so strong, her body could not even discern if it was hot or cold, only that it burned. Boiling rain stabbed at her thin summer clothes, tearing holes in her short-sleeved hoodie, jean shorts, and black leggings, searing her skin with blisters that bubbled instantly. Everything hurt. It was so hot. She couldn't see, couldn't think, couldn't move.
"You see?" Damien yelled out from the balcony. "You're nothing but a weak, pathetic, ordinary little human girl. A witch as powerful as Amity Blight would never choose someone like you."
Amity. Luz's eyes flared open and she felt the memory of soft lips pressing against her mouth, those burning amber eyes full of the purest adoration staring up at her.
"I love you too, Luz."
A growl rolled deep from within Luz's chest that rose up her throat and turned into a bellow as she shot forward. Not at Damien, but towards the massive domed ceiling of the greenhouse just below. Bracing for the impact, Luz watched a beam of magic fire from Rex's mouth to rip open the skylight, sending massive shards of glass and twisted metal everywhere as she rocketed to the floor, pulling up at the last second for Rex to skim just over the carcass of what could only be Jack the Pumpkin King. From above came a lightning bolt of magic as Damien flew through the opening, a forcefield over his head. Taking out her almost spent paper pad, Luz ripped a glyph from the rings and threw it to the floor.
A reverberating roar erupted from the mess of seeds, gourd guts, and vines, and Damien lurched back as the Pumpkin King rose from the ground, reforming as it turned to them, flames sliping from between its teeth. Thick leafy tendrils rolled up from the floor, jarring Luz from her staff, but she held on as Rex continued on, her feet sliding along the vines as if she were surfing. Luz did not even look back as she leapt back onto Rex and sailed out into the hall. A light trill came from below and she glanced down to see the silvery-blue glow of the spirit ball keeping pace with her.
"How do I get back to the ballroom?"
With a chirp, the spirit ball darted away and Luz felt Rex surge after it. She could hear the sounds of Damien battling the Pumpkin King fading behind, but she knew it would only buy her a minute or two. Her skin stung from the rain, but at least the cool rush from flying seemed to ease the burn by a little. Everything hurt so much, she could barely keep her eyes open as the halls rushed around her.
Light flared in her vision and Luz jerked back, holding up her arms to block the searing glow, only to feel herself slide back as the muscles in her legs gave way. Rex slid out from beneath her, but she felt something scoop her from the air that gently curled around her. It felt like she had been caught in a giant baseball glove. When Luz managed to peel her eyelids open, she gaped at the massive black feathered wing tenderly cradling her body.
"I was wondering when we'd see you again."
The wing tilted and Luz slid down to the floor. Instantly, she curled into a ball, the cold of the floor seeping into the burns from the rain, her eyes closing against the fresh wave of pain.
"LUZ!"
The chorus of voices yelling her name wavered in her consciousness, but one voice cut through the rest, and a body dropped down beside her. Arms carefully wrapped around her to lift her up and a cool hand brushed away the bangs plastered to her face.
"Luz? Luz!"
All she could do was moan and the arms around her tightened.
"Please, you have to help!"
"Bloody Titan, what has he done to her?" The tone of the Ghost Host sent a chill down Luz's spine that was not from her pain, and a large hand with long, clawed fingers splayed across her forehead. "Amity, I'm going to need you to let go of Luz."
The arms holding her locked in place. "No! You promised she would be okay! The mansion was supposed to protect her!"
"It brought her back to you, didn't it?" Came the calm reply, and Luz felt Amity stiffen before her body slowly lowered back to the floor. But as the hands pulled away, she managed to reach up to grab one and thread her fingers in theirs.
"Amity…?"
"Yes, Luz, I'm here."
Luz hissed in reply and felt the Ghost Host's hand lift as well, a bright green light seeping through her eyelids.
"Luz, I know you can hear me. I don't have the time or magic to heal you completely right now, but I can make the pain go away. I wish I could tell you this won't hurt, but," she imagined the demon shrugging. "It will. So, hang in there."
The light swarmed her eyes and every square inch on her body felt like it was covered with the worst possible sunburn. Hot tears spilled between Luz's eyelashes and she gritted her teeth, praying to anyone who was listening to make it stop. Then, just as quickly as it started, the burn was gone, replaced by a cool sensation that made all of her tense muscles relax. She could still feel the sunburn-like sting along her skin, but it had faded into a very mild sting that twinged when she moved. Gasping, Luz peeled open her eyes and found herself once again staring up at green hair and amber eyes.
"Hey...Amity…"
Those wide eyes brimming with tears shimmered and Amity yanked Luz to her chest in a constricting hug that told her she did not want to let go. "Thank the Titan." Amity whispered against Luz's neck, her tears staining the tattered remains of her hoodie.
"Ahem,"
Luz felt Amity lift her chin from where it had been resting on her shoulder to look up. "Thank you, Ghost Host."
"You have no need to thank me, I would have done it either way. But as much as I'd love to let you two enjoy a heartfelt reunion, we have a summoning to perform. If you could please take your positions."
Slowly, Luz pulled away from Amity, but only enough so she could meet Amity's gaze. A few tears still clung to her face and, chuckling, she wiped them away with her thumb. "Amity, it's okay, I'm okay." The witch gave her a look and she bit her lip. "Alright, maybe a little hard boiled, but I'm okay now. Like GH said, we've got to do this spell...summoning...thing." She groaned from the stiffness in her muscles and Amity helped her to her feet, but stopped.
"Wait,"Amity looked at the Ghost Host. "What about the ring Damien stole? Don't we still need that to break the curse?"
"Yoink!"
Amity and the Ghost Host gaped at Luz as she pulled the thin chain with the golden band from around her neck. "One of the best things of living with a wanted criminal is learning how to pick pockets without being caught. Jerk didn't even notice." She grinned brightly at them, only to squeak when Amity grabbed the front of her shirt and yanked her in for a kiss that set all of the nerves in Luz's body on overdrive.
When Amity let go, Luz was sure her brain had melted. "Titan, you're such a dork." She whispered, her breath sending chills down the human's spine.
"I take it you both are ready?"
Smiling, Amity lightly bumped her forehead against Luz's and nodded at the Ghost Host, who was holding Rex in one hand and Emilia's incomplete staff in the other. "What do you want us to do?"
The Ghost Host handed a tongue-tied Luz the cobra palisman and pointed to where the rest of her friends were standing in a circle around the biggest spell ring she had ever seen.
"I need you to go to the third point of the star, Amity will take the one opposit of you, while I take the main one. Once you are there, place your staff on the point. I will direct you all from there."
Luz nodded and, giving Amity's hand a squeeze, jogged over to what she guessed was the spot Ghost Host wanted her to stand at, between King and Gus. Looking back to the demon, she watched as they handed the staff to Amity. Artemis leapt from her shoulders onto the staff and settled on the interlock, his eyes blazing with a silvery light, and Amity hurried to the point across from Luz. The team watched as the Ghost Host walked to the point at the head of the eight-point star.
"Whatever happens, no matter what you see or hear, you must not break the circle." Their eyes matched every single member of the team, holding only a few seconds more on Luz and Amity. "Do you understand? Do NOT break the circle." Behind them, Luz gulped as Damien exploded through the doors on his staff. "Luz." The Ghost Host's voice pulled her attention back and she nodded. "Now, set your staff to the ring." Luz and Amity followed their instructions, placing the ends of their staffs to the star points before them. "Willow, Gus, Boscha, magic." The three witchlings traced their respective magics in the air, holding the rings in both hands. "Skara and King, hands to the star."
Luz dared a glance at Damien and saw he was holding what looked like a lance made entirely of magic in his grasp, aiming for the Ghost Host's back. In a flash, the Ghost Host spun on their heel and caught the end of the glowing lance, shadows sizzling in their hand against the magic, and ripped it from Damien. The necromancer sprang from his staff, flipping it as he did, and met the Ghost Host's in a clash of green and red. For a second, Luz saw the Ghost Host's feet begin to slide back towards the ring. But, before she could react, the Ghost Host jerked their staff down, pulling Damien's with it, and spun the end around to hook behind his neck.
"Now," A wicked grin slid across the demon's smile. "The life force." And flung Damien headfirst into the center of the spell. His eyes dropped to the symbols etched along the floor before looking up at the Ghost Host as they set their staff to the head of the star and the glow intensified.
"You monster."
"Not a monster," the Ghost Host lifted a hand. "Your Ghost Host."
The sound of their fingers snapping echoed about the room, ringing in Luz's ears, and the light erupted from the circle, encompassing Damien in a brillant rainbow of colors from the surrounding witchlings' magics. Luz stared open-mouthed at the blending energies, but a flash of darkness caught her attention and she looked down. Symbols, or letters?, written within the space of the two rings crackled and sparked with a black electrical current that climbed up the column of colors and began to spiral around it, tightening closer and closer to the trapped Damien. Yelling, he flew about the circle on his staff, pounding at the closing walls of his prison and stared at the Ghost Host.
"You can't do this! Please! Have mercy!"
The Ghost Host stared back with a cold fury in their glowing eyes. "You lost any chance at redemption the moment you touched these kids. Now, you will only know oblivion."
Magic burst from the Ghost Host's staff and Damien looked down as the painted spiral on the floor dropped, becoming a swirling black hole that grew until its edges pressed against the outer ring. Luz felt an invisible force slam against her, almost knocking her back, but she held onto Rex, seeing that everyone else had experienced the same sensation. When she looked into the hole, she saw countless stars winking in and out of sight, all varying in so many colors she couldn't describe them all. Until she realized those weren't twinkling stars, they were eyes, and one pair was growing larger by the second. No, it was two pairs of eyes, one above the other. A massive head slowly rose up from the darkness, followed by a neck, chest and arms, and a powerful torso, stopping when it loomed over them all. Two horns grew out and to the sides of the head like a bull's above the four blank eyes, burning white. Four long, lean arms sprouted from the broad shoulders, black skin stretching across the rippling muscles, and it stroked the air with its narrow clawed fingers. Shadows spilled from its shoulders, giving the semblance of wings, while a blazing mass on its head warped into what looked almost like a crown.
It was as if time had come to a complete standstill. Even the zombies and Basker clone duo had stopped, all eyes trained on the towering demon that slowly looked around the area, its gaze settling on the paralyzed Damien. Lifting a hand, it scooped him from the air and studied the necromancer as if he were a mildly interesting insect. Or a tasty little treat.
"Great One!" Damien shouted as it brought him to its face. "I offer you a trade! My powers as a witch, and a necromancer, in exchange for a new life as one of your own!"
The demon tilted its head curiously. "And what makes you believe I would be interested in trading such power?" It's voice grated in Luz's mind and she held back a shiver as it leaned closer.
"You've done it before!" Damien pointed to the Ghost Host. "A witch traded their soul for your power, I wish to make the same offer."
"I see. You're the one who sent the Bane of Midnight into my realm." Its head tilted to the other side and its lower hands flexed in the air. "Because of you, I lost a great many of my kin to the witches that day."
Damien's face turned pale as he quickly began to thrash in the giant's grip. "No! No! That wasn't me!"
"I've not tasted a necromancer's essence for centuries, and I am famished."
Luz watched as the demon lifted a single claw and ripped her gaze away as Damien let out a horrifying scream that was cut short. There was a sudden burst of rust-red light and, when she looked back, a small curtain of ash fell from the giant's hand into the void below. Its eyes lifted back to circle around the surrounding witches and settled on the Ghost Host. The way it was looking at them made Luz tense and it slowly leaned forward until it was eye level with the smaller version of itself. Without flinching, the Ghost Host dropped to one knee and bowed their head.
"You were the one who traded their soul for my powers all those centuries ago, Midnight's Bane."
"Yes, Greater One."
Luz watched the giant's eyes narrow slightly.
"Your revenge is complete, the one who wronged you is now mine. Our contract is finished. It is time you upheld your end of the bargain and joined my realm." The demon lifted a hand, and Luz clenched Rex's staff.
"Stop!"
Both the giant and the Ghost Host turned to look at her, the former with mild interest, the later with thinly veiled concern.
"Luz, the circle,"
"No!" Luz yelled, her knuckles turning white as she held onto the staff and stared down the demon in the center. "You can't take the Ghost Host!"
The giant was in front of her in a second, all four eyes fixed on her curiously. "Tell me then, human, why should I allow the Midnight's Bane to remain in this world? Their soul is mine, their powers are mine, everything they are, I made. What do you know that I do not to keep them from being taken to the Chaos Realm to become one of my subjects?"
Swallowing, Luz's eyes darted around the circle until they caught Amity's from across the way. The green-haired witch was holding on just as tightly to Artemis as Luz was to Rex, her arms shaking from the effort, the resolve imminent in her eyes. She nodded to her and Luz took a breath.
"Because...because Ghost Host doesn't belong to you! They - she drank my blood, each of ours, to become alive again. They fought for us, they protected us, they care about this mansion, and all the souls stuck inside! They're a part of our team, so they already belong somewhere, and that's with us! We love them, and I'm pretty sure," she turned to the dumbfounded shadow demon and smiled. "They love us too. That means they have a soul, and you can't take that from them. Plus, this mansion needs someone to protect it. Isn't that why you gave Mezzanotte your power in the first place? To protect this mansion?"
The four glowing eyes blinked at Luz, its face giving no hint of emotion as she stared it down. She may be just a human, but she was going to fight with every ounce of her being to not let the Ghost Host be taken away. A long, low growl echoed around the room as the giant pulled away and stood tall, looking back to the Ghost Host.
"Nothing lasts forever, Bane of Midnight. You have had a stay of execution, but be warned: this mansion will not be around for much longer. When the time comes, when your precious witchlings are gone from this world, I will be back to collect." The giant glanced at Luz and she gulped. "Enjoy your second chance at life."
The colors swirling around the giant darkened and it plunged into the void, pulling every bit of energy and light with it in a cyclone of wind, magic, and shadows. Luz felt her feet start to slide forward and she wrapped her arms around Rex's staff, holding on for dear life as the void pulled at her with fingers made of dark magic. Then, the wind stopped and everything went still, the only noise she could hear was someone hyperventilating. Wait, that was her hyperventilating. Gasping, Luz unhinged her arms from Rex and turned around.
The zombies, Basker, the spell, the giant demon, they were gone. All she could see was her friends standing in a circle in a large ballroom with an elaborate spiral painted on the floor. Did they just...?
A giggle bubbled up in Luz's throat and tickled its way out of her mouth, followed by a second, then a third, until she was doubled over laughing. Very quickly, everyone else joined her, jumping up and down, hugging each other, cheering. Hearing running feet, Luz looked up in time for Amity to tackle her in a massive hug, and Luz spun her around, lifting the witch's feet off the floor. When she managed to set Amity back down, their eyes locked and Luz held her face in her hands before leaning in and pressing her lips to hers. Luz could taste the saltiness of Amity's tears and she tilted her head to deepen the kiss, wrapping her arms around her to hold her closer, heart hammering against her ribs.
"Luz!"
Luz didn't have the time to look up before King launched himself at the pair, wriggling in between them to snuggle into her chest.
"You just stood toe to toe with the Nowhere Demon! An actual Great One! I knew I was wise to select you as one of my subjects!"
Grinning, Luz gave King a peck on the nose and looked at Amity. "Yeah, I guess I'm kinda cool."
Suddenly, a large shape pounced on them from the side and Luz and Amity found themselves rolling head over heels before coming to a stop on the floor, the Ghost Host hugging them tightly in their lap.
"You reckless, ridiculous, hard headed, brilliant, beautiful human!" Their eyes glimmered down at her as they nuzzled her hair with the side of their horned head. "Do you know how dangerous that was? The Great One could have squashed you like a bug! Why did you do that?"
Giggling, Amity gave Luz a peck on the cheek. "Because she's my fearless champion, that's why."
Luz's face went bright red and she smoothed back her mussed bangs. "Well, I couldn't just let the Nowhere Demon take you away! You're part of Team Owlet now, so you belong with us! Besides," she wrapped her arms around the demon's chest. "We love you, GH."
The Ghost Host stared at her wide-eyed and smiled softly, running a clawed hand carefully over her hair. "Anch'io ti amo, tessoro." The demon looked at Amity and pulled her into a hug as well, ruffling her hair. More voices came from behind as Gus, King, Skara, and Willow piled onto the Ghost Host, Madame Leota's crystal ball resting against their thigh. Boscha stood just off to the side with her arms crossed over her chest.
"C'mon Boscha!" Luz called. "Team cuddle!"
"No thanks," the three-eyed witch held up her hand. "I don't-" Green light snagged her arm and pulled her into the group, and she sighed. "Cuddle."
A sudden trill from behind made them all turn to see a familiar silver-blue spirit ball floating close by.
"Little ghost friend!" Willow called, jogging up to the spirit. Chirping, it fluttered over to her outstretched hands and she smiled as Boscha walked up behind her. "We were wondering where you were hiding."
"It can't be."
Everyone went silent as the Ghost Host slowly got to their feet and walked to Willow, their eyes not leaving the spirit. A soft coo came from the orb and it drifted up to hover over the Ghost's Host suddenly trembling hands, and the demon dropped to their knees, not once lowering their arms as they stared at the glowing sphere.
"Titan, is it really you?"
The spirit orb cooed again and Luz saw the glimmer in the Ghost Host's eyes brighten as a single tear fell from their face.
"Ghost Host?" She reached for the demon's shoulder. "What's wrong? Who is that?"
Swallowing, the Ghost Host leaned back on their heels and their tail curled around their legs. "Luz Noceda, I would like you to meet my little brother, Chiaro."
SWolf: Oof, this was a LONG one to write and a lot went into it! We're almost there gang!
GH: Would you say they're So Close to the end?