"Moving along," one of the anchors, Jack Stoney said, "we are expecting the petrification ceremony to begin momentarily. Let's go back now to Perry Porter at the Conformatorium. Perry, what's the mood there?"

"Well, Jack," Perry replied, "some of the guards have appeared to have assembled to the side, it looks like we will see it begin."

At the control room in the BBN-HXN studios, editor Gangly Armstrong was eyeing the big screen, while smaller screens and crystal balls showed various feeds. On the feed from the Emperor's Coven's cameras, there was a commotion of guards that seemed to serve as a signal to begin the ceremony. A scrolling message on the bottom directed all media outlets to put that feed over the networks. He directed the crew to switch to the feed and put Perry on standby. The guards sounded off, then the sound of marching drums resounded throughout the Conformatorium. A line of guards beating fife drums marched in unison from the left and right of the courtyard, converging into the center.

"And the Emperor's Coven is marching with some drums, it is very clear that something big is at hand," Perry announced as the Emperor's cameras rolled.

"I don't see Luz anywhere," Willow said. She and Gus had returned after a fruitless search for the human girl.

"Do you think she got caught?" Gus asked.

An alarm sounded, and a cage emerged from the massive prism in front. It was Eda.

"Well, folks, Eda the Owl Lady has appeared on stage," Perry said on the crystal ball as the cage appeared with the Emperor's assistant Kikimora standing guard, "which means the petrification process is about to begin."

At the Bard Coven headquarters, Raine fainted at the sound of those words.

At the bar, Gwendolyn stared in shock as Kikimora on the crystal ball (by now showing the screens of the other networks) walked to a set of levers and pushed one. A large statue of four witches topped with a green sphere and flanked by two green lanterns emerged onto the stage. It was the petrification machine. The machine began to crackle to life.

In the basement of the Conformatorium, Lilith, Luz, and King arrived at a circular platform.

"You can take this up to the stage where they're holding Edalyn," Lilith said.

"Thank you, Lilith," Luz replied. "What will you do now?"

"I will stay in the Emperor's Coven," she answered, "but I will make sure nothing like this ever happens again."

"That's good to hear," Luz said. The girl and the creature then became suspicious. "Wait, why are there no guards around?" She was right. Something like this ought to be under guard somehow. That could only mean –

A maroon-colored vine grabbed Lilith and dragged her away. Luz cried out her name. It repeated with King. The two were suspended in an alcove in front. Two flames lit up, illuminating none other than Emperor Belos.

"Ah, Lilith," he said as she tilted her head up upon hearing his voice, "you chose the wrong side." The vines pulled the two up, with King struggling to escape.

"No!" Luz cried out. The last Lilith saw of her was a pair of hands grabbing her ankles, tripping her.

"Up-pup-pup!" she heard the Emperor say as a hole opened up on the ceiling. I'd actually like to have a word with you, human." She and King emerged from the hole into the stage, where they were tossed at the feet of the Coven Guards.

The crowd below was stirring when they saw Lilith and King being held by the guards. Willow and Gus looked at each other with worry. The sight of the leader of the Emperor's Coven being manhandled by the Coven Guards raised the stakes. Something big was happening within the Emperor's inner circle. Luz could be in greater danger than they thought.

A message popped up on the crystal ball as the Blight twins were watching the ending credits of Morgul. It was a picture, accompanied by the message, "BREAKING NEWS: Lilith Clawthorne on stage detained by Emperor's Coven". The twins looked at it closely.

"Whoa, isn't that your mentor, Mittens?" Edric said.

Her mentor? Amity thought. She went to the crystal ball to examine it for herself. And there it was, Lilith Clawthorne, Amity's mentor, being held by the Coven Guards alongside a small creature which she recognized as King. They switched off the on-demand setting to go back to the broadcasters. They tuned to BBN-HXN, where they just caught the guards throwing Luz's creature into the open cage containing Eda followed by them pushing Lilith inside. The cage then restored the magic bars.

Back at the bar, Gwendolyn and the other patrons stared in shock as they saw Eda's sister being thrown into the cage.

"What's going on?" Jacqueline asked. "Why is Lilith being thrown in with her? Has there been a coup attempt or something?"

"Gangly," one of the people in the studio control room said at the sight of Lilith thrown into the petrification cage, "are you getting this?"

"Oh, Titan," Gangly replied. "This is going to be a shitshow." He went to the intercom. "Insight, you hear me? They've just taken the leader of the Emperor's Coven and thrown her in with Eda! I don't know what the hell is going on!"

"Yeah, we have the Emperor's feeds!" Insight cried out over the speakers. "They just threw her in with some cat creature!"

"Is Perry seeing this?"

"Oh, for the love of…we forgot to bring him the damn monitors! He's only been looking at the camera without a clue! Someone go and tell Perry that we've just seen a purge!"

"Perry!" Adolfo cried out as he ran to the platform. "The Emperor has just purged Lilith Clawthorne from the Emperor's Coven! She's gonna get petrified with this strange cat creature!"

"What?!" Perry responded with disbelief.

"You're on the air now!"

"Oh, fuck!" Waverly shouted as Adolfo quickly rushed back out.

Inside the cage, Lilith looked at King before gazing up at her sister. "Hello, Edalyn," she said. The beast glared at her with sheer rage.

"Lilith," she said coldly, "you hurt Luz." Edalyn went down on all fours and paced. "You cursed me," she continued. "Before anything turns me to stone, I'll tear you apart!" She lifted up her right arm to launch an attack. As she swung down, Lilith braced for the blow.

"No, don't!"

Edalyn gasped. Lilith turned and saw that King was standing in front of her.

"She was trying to help," he pleaded. "She even betrayed the Emperor for you."

Edalyn set her arm down. "What?" she said softly in disbelief.

"If I knew something like this would happen," Lilith said as she reached out to her sister, "Edalyn, I…"

A rumbling sound erupted from the machine. The eyes on the statue had begun to glow green.

Willow and Gus gasped at the sight. Gus turned to Willow with worry. She looked at him and said with concern, "We gotta do something!" Suddenly a frantic voice caused the two to turn their attention to the right, where one of the raised platforms was in the midst of the crowd. Standing on it was Gus's father, Perry, a reporter from BBN-HXN, whom she met during Parent's Day at Hexside. Without even thinking, the two set off and pushed their way through the crowd to get to him.

It was perhaps the biggest decision of her life.