Aboard the stagecoach, Willow and Gus put on their cowls to help blend in. Willow looked around and pondered, was Luz alright? The last they saw her, she had been grabbed by Lilith Clawthorne at the Emperor's Castle. Her palisman took them out of the castle and delivered them into the Owl House, where Eda saw them. She had set off for the Castle, and now she had been caught and set to be petrified in stone.
For someone like Luz, a human who had to use glyphs to do magic, to be trapped with people like her, what chance could Willow and Gus have to get her out?
The past few hours were exhausting. She started the day wanting to see the Emperor's Castle, and now she was trying to stop what was basically an execution.
The bell on the stagecoach rang. They had arrived at the Conformatorium. Willow, Gus, and three-quarters of the passengers disembarked and joined the throngs of people entering the facility via the public gallery.
Among the people on the walkways that vaulted over the chasms below were people from all around Bonesborough. There were students from Hexside, such as the people who came with her and Gus on the field trip to the Castle. There were people from the market. There were people from the various covens.
Inside, there were numerous guards and enforcers of the Emperor's Coven lined around.
And of course, there was the media, camped outside, with various people carrying broadcasting equipment on carts or on their backs towards the inside.
Killing Eda in front of the cameras of every crystal ball in the Boiling Isles. What a way to go.
As the crowd entered the Conformatorium, Perry and Waverly clambered up to the platform to set up their equipment for anchoring. They were joined by their producer, witch Insight Scanley, a professional scryer in the broadcasting business. She carried up the camera, microphone, and transmitter. BBN-HXN was just one of the various broadcast outlets having people cover this event. She gave a thumbs up and jumped down to run past the crowds back to the outside broadcast coach.
Aboard that coach was a control room, with crystal ball monitors showing the various feeds from outside and from the studio. Aside from Perry's camera, there were five others placed around the walls of the courtyard of the Conformatorium, aimed at the audience below. There was the Emperor's Coven feed, which all media outlets had to take for all the important stuff.
Like executions, Insight shuddered.
She climbed aboard. The control room was staffed by five people: demons Craw Seaver and Zel Bracken; witches Stacey Crowner, Gacey Waters, and Adolfo Greene.
"Guys," Insight announced, "Perry's ready and on standby. We're feeding it all back to HQ."
"You're not concerned about any interruptions, Ma'am?" Gacey asked.
"How about Armstrong?" Craw added. "Will he get cold feet from this?"
"It's Eda Clawthorne we're talking about, dumbass," Stacey countered. "The Emperor is confident enough to let this go by without a censor breathing down on his neck."
"Moving on," Insight continued, "Adolfo, do you have the archives people ready to put footage on the air?"
"Yes, ma'am," Adolfo replied. "We've got scanners, slides, everything."
"Gonna be something hot tonight," Zel interjected. "Thirty years. That's a lot."
"You never really make sense, Bracken," Gacey responded. "That's why you're always fun at parties. Right, feed's coming up for a cross." He pressed a button on the intercom microphone to talk to Waverly and Perry. "Perry, my darling, we've got a cross bun coming up."
"Don't get too cocky," Perry's voice replied, bouncing off the intercom speakers.
"We're patching in the studio." Gacey flipped the switch on the control board.
"You know, this is kind of grim, watching someone turned to stone," Craw noted.
"Ah, well," Insight said, "that's show business. No one knows that better than the Emperor."
Willow pulled down the hood of her cowl as she and Gus stopped at the front of the section in the middle of the courtyard. She looked at the upper platform with concern.
"If we know anything about Luz," she said, "she's going to be here trying to save Eda."
"And we'll be here to save her when she needs us," Gus replied as he pulled down his hood.
"Let's split up and find her."
The two dashed off in opposite directions. Willow decided to look at the south side of the complex, with its long and curved corridor. There were throngs of Coven Guards patrolling the area. She waited for a couple of them to pass by before following them.
These two guards were simply patrolling the perimeter.
Willow paused at the sight of the first door. She checked inside and saw nothing but a hall filled with cells. She closed that door and followed the guards further past another door. That door led to a closet. She followed the guards further as they turned right and entered through the door. She peeked inside and saw a bunch of guards on their desks. Nothing.
She continued down the hallway and reached an intersection with a stairwell to the left. She ended up bumping into a pair of guards.
"Hey!" one of them shouted at her, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry," she replied, "I'm just looking for my friend, she was –"
"This is a restricted area, ma'am," the other guard responded. "Go back to the courtyard."
She glowered and walked away. She went past a few more doors before stopping at a hallway that led back to the courtyard.
She leaned back against the wall and took out her scroll. She felt the urge to call someone. She looked at the contacts on her scroll and decided to call Amity Blight. Ever since the two made amends over what happened with their friendship, they have been trying to talk to each other at least once a day. It often ranged from a simple "Hi" to conversations about school, covens, and their lives.
She pressed the video call button on the scroll.
"Hello?" Amity answered.
"Amity, I want to know, did Luz go by your place?"
"Luz? Oh, uh…"
"Hey, who's that?" a voice came out. Amity's older brother Edric appeared on the scroll screen. "Is that Willow Park?"
"Yo!" another voice, Amity's older sister Emira called out. "I remember you! You used to hang out with Mittens a lot! It's so nice to see you talking to her again!"
"Look, did Luz come by your place?" Willow asked the three. "Gus and I have been looking for her. I hope she's not in danger."
"No," Edric replied, "she wasn't here."
"Maybe she got arrested by the Emperor's Coven?" Emira pondered.
"Could be," the twin replied. "I thought she might get in trouble at some point with those human ears of hers."
"Would you guys stop it?" Amity interjected. "This is not a laughing matter."
"We're just 'engaging in conjecture'," Emira replied, "as the literati say."
"Seriously, though," Edric continued, "she didn't come by. I sure hope she doesn't get hurt."
"Well, I hope so," Willow said.
"Great," Amity lamented, "I feel worse. You better find her. If she's plotting something, the Emperor's Coven might not like it."
"Understatement of the century. How's the leg?"
"Actually getting better. It's just that my mom is keeping me locked up in here."
Willow cringed when she heard that. Her mother was absolutely overbearing.
"Don't worry, Ms. Park," Emira said. "We're keeping her company. Us Blight kids have to stick together."
"Whoopee," Amity said in a deadpan manner. "I mean, I appreciate it, though."
"Alright," Willow concluded. "Hope you get better."
"I better," Amity replied. "See ya." She hung up.
Willow looked around. She went back to the courtyard to continue searching for Luz. Just then, the scroll rang again. This time, Gus was calling her.
"Gus," she answered, "what is it?"
"You know," he replied, "intelligence gathering is hard. I mean, casting duplicates of myself gets things done faster, but I don't have control over them. It's like a cop show!"
"Meaning…"
"Or maybe it's one of those things the groups in the Human Realm use. What did Luz call them? The F.B.I.?"
"Forget the illusions," Willow said. "Just keep an eye out for anything that could get us to Luz."
"Right. Will do." He ended the call. She sighed.
Luz, she thought to herself, don't get yourself killed.