Gold attempted to push away the thoughts that plagued him about his new mission and whether or not it was indeed justified and harmless. The situation held his mind captive for the entire flight to Blight Manor, and he was quick to stomp them down as hard as he could when he landed in the backyard. It was just a side mission, just for intel. Nobody was getting hurt. His conscience was clear.

This line of thinking helped, but only somewhat. However, by the time Edric came to greet him, he'd been able to shake the worst of these contradicting thoughts from his mind.

"Alright, Goldie. Are you ready for a great day?" Edric asked as a greeting. His smile faltered just a little as he observed Gold.

"The mask, I thought maybe--, but that's dumb of me to think," he stammered. "We'll be concealing your whole body anyway, so you should wear what you're comfortable in."

He tried to ignore the shyness of Edric's smile or the way he'd looked Gold up and down when he'd approached. It was endearing on him. Gold felt a tad more self-conscious about his mask than usual.

"And how will we be concealing me?" Gold asked, changing the subject to avoid things turning more awkward.

"Glad you asked," Edric said with a nod. "Fun fact about Illusionists, we can't make up a person out of nothing. Just like a dream, every person in the dream is someone you've already seen at some point."

"Okay, so you have to make me look like someone you've seen?" Gold tried to follow along.

"Right, but it has also to be someone nobody else around here has seen."

With a flourish, Edric drew his spell circle and brought the glamour into being. Gold didn't feel any different, but when Edric handed him a mirror, he could see what Edric had done.

His hair was a shaggy, black mass on top of his head. His eyes were bright green, and he looked like he stood a few inches shorter than he really did. Strangely, his nose was still similar, and the lines of his cheekbones.

"Amazing," he said, very impressed with Edric's work, and especially how it appeared to cause him no extra effort to keep the spell going.

"You - um - you kept some of it, though. Some of my features."

"Oh, did I?" He asked with a nervous laugh, waving the question away. "No, I didn't; that was just a coincidence."

While Gold wasn't convinced of this, he did find it a bit flattering that Edric could recall his face so well, even in that split-second view of it.

"Now give me a turn," Edric said, making an indication for him to do so.

Gold complied, turning around slowly so Edric could check his work.

"I am a genius," he said as he appeared to marvel in his own spell work. "And if anyone asks, you're my old buddy Silas visiting from St. Epiderm."

"Where'd you come up with, Silas?"

"First name that I thought of. We were in preschool with a Silas. He was one of our favorite marks. We tried to convince him Em and I were the same person, and I was just good at making copies of myself," he sighed, reminiscing. "And the number of times we turned him into a frog...good times."

"Is that where you got the inspiration for my glamoured approach as well?"

"No, that's from a drawing Mittens made of a character in those books she loves so much."

Edric had begun circling him slowly when Gold stopped turning. The Illusionist's eye checking him over made Gold strangely nervous. Mainly about the soundness of the plan, but also the way the other boy was looking him over; what he saw in Edric's eyes wasn't merely an artist's scrutiny of his work. It made him wonder yet again if his emotions could be read on 'Silas's' face.

He appeared again to notice the effect he was having on Gold, and Edric stopped abruptly, turning away from him immediately.

"We can't fly your staff to school, or someone might recognize it," he said. " We'll have to walk, but don't worry. It's not far. At least, not as far as you made us walk through the woods," he gently ribbed Gold.

Gold wasn't sure if he should laugh, or rib him back, or what.

Edric appeared to sense this and clapped him on the shoulder as he seemed so fond of doing.

"Don't worry, it's - what - your first day of being normal? You'll pick it up."

"Thanks for the encouragement," he said. He meant it even if it came out a tad stilted. He wondered if his glamour was smiling along with him. He certainly felt like smiling, anyway. Edric's enthusiasm was infectious.

"So, who's your new friend, Ed?" a female voice came from behind them.

Edric jumped. "Emira!" He shouted. "I thought you'd already gone with Mittens."

"I gave you your alibi, Ed," she said, looking from him to Gold. " Now, you need to give me some answers."

"Fine," Edric started, sounding as if it was far from fine. "But as we're walking."

They were about five minutes from Hexside, but they were already being joined by some of the neighbor kids on their way to school, too.

Edric dodged their glances and friendly greetings, earning him odd looks from each of them. Emira walked beside him, with Gold slightly behind.

"So your new friend, that's the Emperor's Coven guy. That much I could guess."

Edric flinched, shushing her.

She scoffed. "Oh please, I put the muffle spell on us so nobody can hear."

Sure enough, the illusion they'd learned to share secrets in public was in full effect. An invisible bubble caused everything said within it to be muffled from the outside and vice versa.

"How did you know?"

"Come on, Ed, a cute boy shows up and whisks you away, and the next day you show up with a new 'friend'? It wasn't hard to piece together."

"What makes you think he's cute? You haven't even seen his face."

"If he weren't, you wouldn't be doing whatever this is," she said. "So come on, spill."

"Okay, fine," Edric sighed; his sister had worn him down. "He wanted to have a day to be normal. He wanted to see what it was like to be a regular teen witch."

"And you felt like helping him for - what - selfless reasons?" Emira seemed amused by the very idea. "Altruism isn't really your thing, brother of mine."

"Hey, it could be," Edric attempted to argue, but his twin did know him as much as he knew himself.

All it took was one skeptical look and he cracked.

"Okay, so yes, I have an ulterior motive, but it's not what you think. Or maybe it's exactly what you think. If you think it's because I think he's cute."

"Mm-hmm," Emira nodded, folding her arms in triumph.

"But having a guy like Gold as a friend could be useful, too. He could have our backs, bail us out when we cause trouble, and more importantly keep us out from under any suspicions of the Emperor."

This got her attention. Emira's smile faded.

"What do you mean?"

He then explained what Gold had told him about the Emperor's Coven keeping an eye on everyone connected to Luz Noceda and the Owl House, which - thanks to Mittens mainly - included their family.

"So this is a big deal," she said when he'd finished.

He glanced back at Gold outside of their bubble. His glamoured face contorted with confusion.

"Yeah, sort of," he agreed. "But like I said. He would make a good ally and friend."

"Ally, friend, hunky boy toy," Emira quipped with a wink.

Edric felt himself blushing and attempted to use a tiny extra bit of his magic so that it would not show on his face.

"So 'Silas,'" Emira said, addressing Gold. Edric took this to mean she'd removed the muffling spell. "Are you ready for a day in the life of a Hexside student?"

Looking relieved that he could hear them again, Gold shrugged but smiled along with it.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Well, you guys will need my help, of course," she added. "I doubt Ed has thought this thing all the way through."

"Hey, I did," he said.

This earned him a skeptical look from his sister. "Okay, Mr. Illusion Master. What's gonna happen when someone in his coven tries to touch him?"

Edric opened his mouth to answer, realized he had no idea, and then closed it again.

"Uh-huh, just what I thought," Emira said. "Where's that Gus kid? He's a strong illusionist. He might be able to give us some tips."

Edric felt his face grow cold, all amusement gone. "You're not gonna tell him who Gold is, right? He can't know; he's too close to Luz."

They had entered the main hall of the school, Edric in the middle now with Emira on his right and Gold on his left. As the crowd went off in different directions, he spun her around, hands on both of her shoulders.

"Relax, Ed," Emira said in a soothing tone, gently prying his fingers off her. "I won't tell. Your secret is safe with me."

The momentary relief he felt was short-lived, however, when Emira looked over his shoulder and added;

"Now, Amity, I'm not so sure about."

Edric whipped around to find a very suspicious-looking Mittens heading right towards them.

"Hey, it's our favorite little sister!' He greeted her, a broad grin plastered on his face.

Amity did not smile back. He could tell her hijinks detector was going crazy.

"Ed, Em. Who is this, and why do they look like Prince Talisor from my Azura books?"