Hunter flew with Azara, who had been silent the entire time. He shot glances down at her every now and then, worried. What could he say? The two of them both saw her mother get killed in front of their eyes. He had no experience with these type of things.
"A-Azara, are you okay?" he asked her, worried. Jewel chirped on her shoulder, worried as well.
"I'm fine." she quietly told them, not looking at either of them.
Soon, they caught up to the others as they landed in front of the owl house. The two hopped off from the red cardinal palisman and it transformed back. Hooty saw them as the group arrived, calling out to them.
"Hey, guys, your back and you got Azara! That's great! Everyone's back safe and sound!" Hooty smiled. Azara's eyes widened a little as she tensed up, looking down at the ground. The air went dead silent as nobody said a word. Luz shifted her gaze over at Hunter and Azara, focused on her, concerned.
"What's with the look everyone? Your acting like somebody died!" Hooty smiled.
"Hooty! Not right now. Now's, not a great time for jokes." Eda frowned. The owl beast shot her a confused look before looking over at Azara. What happened?
"Oh, there's a visitor for you, King! It's your dad!" King's eyes widened in surprise as did everyone else, seeing Oberon stepped out as Hooty opened the door, revealing himself. King jumped down from Eda and ran over to him, tackling right into his arms.
"Dad!" He cried out, happy to see him.
"Hello, little one. I'm glad to see that your safe." the creature replied softly with a small smile.
"Why are you here?" Eda asked.
"I saw the entire thing, what happened at the castle, while it was being broadcasted." He explained and looked over at Raine, who was still unconscious in the blight twins arms. He walked over to them, standing in front of Raine. He looked down at the witch's coven mark, seeing the vines of magic that was paralyzing them. He lifted Rain's wrist and tapped the brand with his finger as it was glowing. Eda narrowed her eyes at him, wary.
"Wait, what are you doing?" she questioned.
"Fixing your friend." King's dad assured her. Everyone's eyes widened in shock to see the vines that were encasing Raine, retreated back into the coven brand, releasing the witch from it's spell. Adding more to their shock, they also saw the mark, fade completely from Raine's wrist. Raine groaned as they slowly opened their eyes, seeing everyone in front of them then looked over at Eda.
"Hey, dingus..." Raine smiled softly. "What's with the sad look on your face? It doesn't suit you. I thought that you were tougher than that."
Eda teared up and immediately ran over to the witch bard, throwing her arms around them. "Raine!" They hugged her back.
Everyone watched, smiling happily, at them.
"What's going on?" Azara tensed up as she heard her brother, John, seeing him standing by the door. He noticed her and smiled and ran over to her and Hunter, hugging her. "Azara! You're back! You're okay! I was so worried!" Azara flinched, tensing up a little as he hugged her, then she quickly returned it. How was she going to tell him?
"I'm glad to see that you're okay." she smiled. "I'm fine." Hunter frowned, looking at her worried.
John pulled back, looking at her. "When are we going back home? I miss mom." Azara's eyes widen a little more, before she bit her bottom lip. She felt her eyes starting to burn as she wiped them. She had to tell him. She had to tell him the truth.
"Azara?" John looked at her, turning his head, confused. "What's wrong?"
Azara sighed and placed her hands on Johns shoulders, looking into his eyes. "John,...we can't see mom anymore."
John's eyes widened and he stepped back away from her. He made a nervous smile. "Come on, Azara. This isn't funny. Of course, we're going to see her! You promised that we would! She's waiting back home for us to come back! She's probably just as worried as we are!" Azara shook her head, sadly looking at him.
"Mom is dead." John's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"
"You see, mom has been keeping secrets from us. I don't know whether is was to protect us or something. But, there's something that you should know. She was not a human. She was a witch, the good witch Azura." John's eyes went even wider. "Belos killed her."
Her brother stared at her in complete and utter disbelief, before shaking his head frantically. "No, no, no...you're lying! Mom is not dead!" Tears were streaming from his eyes as he cried. Azara pulled him closer to her, hugging him.
"I'm sorry, John! But, it's the truth!" she cried as well. He cried into her shoulder.
"You're lying."
Everyone watched sadly, neither of them no sure of what to do or say. Eda walked over to the two, placing her hands on their shoulders.
"Well, there's one thing you got wrong, kid. Your mom fought bravely so that she could protect you two. You're welcome to stay at the owl house for as long as you need. We're practically family, now."
Azara smiled softly as she looked up at her. "Thanks, Eda."
"So, what are going to do now?" Luz asked.
"Let's rest and recover first. Then we'll decide on what to do about Emperor Belos." Eda told them.
Everyone walked into the owl house as Hooty opened the door letting them inside. Hunter looked back noticing that Azara and John still hadn't moved from their place. "Are you coming?" he asked, looking at her. Azara smiled and nodded her head.
"Yes," she looked down at John, worried. He had been dead silent the entire time and refused to look at anyone as he stared at the ground. She took his hand, pulling him with her and the three walked into the house.
A couple of hours later, everyone was sitting in the living room trying to figure out on what to do next.
However, Azara's brother, John, was not with them. Azara frowned, looking towards the kitchen, concerned. What was taking so long? He said that he was hungry and wanted something to eat from the kitchen and went in. But, that was 15 minutes, ago. She got up and walked inside, only to find that he wasn't there. Her eyes widened as she saw the drawer that was filled with knives completely opened and the window leading outside opened as well.
She immediately ran back into the living room to everyone.
"John's gone!" she shouted. Everyone's eyes widened in shock and in surprise. Eda and Raine stood up, looking at her.
"Slow down, kid. What do you mean, he's gone?" she asked.
"He's not there!" Azara cried out. Hunter got up, walking over to her.
"We'll, find him. He couldn't have gone too far." he tried to reassure her. Azara took his hand and nodded her head.
"Let me go!" Everyone's eyes widened in confusion. That came from just outside! They all ran out to find Hooty and John, who was wrapped up by the beast.
"Look, who I caught sneaking around!" Hooty smiled and hooted. He floated towards the group and dropped John on the ground in front of them. He landed on his butt, dropping the knife as well on the ground as he fell. "You stupid, tube!" Azara shifted her eyes over to it in horror before looking back at her brother.
"What were you planning to do with that?" she questioned, hoping that it wasn't true.
"I'm going to kill Belos!" John shouted, angrily, looking up at her. Eda sighed.
"Kid, you're no match for him. Neither of us are at the moment," she said. "We don't even know his weakness."
"That was a very stupid thing to do! What were you going to do?!" Azara shouted at him, furiously. "Just waltz right up to the castle and stab him?! He would've killed you before you had the chance!"
"I don't care!" John screamed out loud. Azara's eyes widened, staring at him surprised. "I don't care if I die! He has to pay for what he did to mom!"
A sharp slap filled the air. Hunter's eyes widened, as did everyone else, as they saw Azara slap her brother right across his cheek. John fell to the ground, before looking up at her, angrily, holding it.
"How could you say such a thing?" she said, shaking a little. "You're just going to throw your life away when mom sacrificed hers to save us!"
Eda stepped in between the two. "Come on, break it up. Let's stop before we say something that we're going to regret."
John gritted his teeth, his fists shaking, and shouted at the top of his lungs. "I wish mom was here instead you!"
Azara's eyes widened before stepping back from him. John's eyes widened as well, realizing what he had said.
"A-Azara, I didn't mean it!"
Azara ran. She couldn't hear everyone as they were calling out to her. She ran deeper into the woods, not looking back. Hunter immediately chased after her, following her into the woods, as did their two palismans.
John cried where he stood as he rubbed his eyes. "I didn't mean it."
Raine walked over to him, hugging him. "I know that you didn't." They looked over at Eda and nodded their head. Eda realized that they wanted to be alone with them, told everyone to come back into the house. Luz stopped and looked back into the woods, where Azara and Hunter had run into, worried.