Chapter Fifteen

"What have you got, Amelia?" Boscha asked, arms folded.

It had been a few days since Boscha had "asked" her to try and get evidence from Willow, so she was getting impatient. So when Amelia pulled her aside on the way to lunch and said to meet her on the grudgby field after school, she'd been elated. She'd barely been able to keep her notebook on the Golden Guard in her bag all day!

"I didn't get any confirmation," Amelia admitted, rocking back on her heels with apparent nerves.

"So what did you get?" Boscha asked impatiently.

"I know where Hunter will be tonight," Amelia revealed. "He and Willow are going on a date in Hoia Park." Her eyes brightened a bit. "The trees there are-"

"Okay, yeah, spare me the plant mumbo jumbo," Boscha said hastily. "Did she say a time?"

"No, just that they were gonna eat first," Amelia said, eyebrows lowered in pique.

"Well, I guess it's better than nothing," Boscha shrugged. "Feel free to chum it up with Park. You've done good, girl." She smirked. "And did you really think I'd kick you off the team? You're like the second best Banshee." She turned and waved. "See ya!"

Amelia pressed her lips into a thin line. She'd felt a little guilty before about lying to Boscha … Now she felt smug.

That evening, Boscha sat at an outdoor cafe outside the entrance to Hoia Park, an enclosed forested area of the city that was popular with members of the Plant Coven and its academic track. It doubled as a preserve for local species and was open at all hours. A perfect place for two plant-loving losers like Willow Park and Hunter Strong.

Boscha took her eyes off her scroll and fed a bit of bread to her palisman, Maya, with a faint smile before looking around. Maya clicked her pincers and gestured across the street to just the losers she'd been waiting on. Willow and Hunter were walking with their heads close together, whispering to each other and laughing as they approached the park entrance.

Boscha finished off the grim cakes she'd been snacking on and left some snails on the counter before snatching up Maya to ride on her shoulder. Rather than her Hexside uniform, she wore a fiery-orange crop top with a halter-strap neckline under a dark sleeveless jacket with a matching skirt, along with her boots. A satchel hung at her side with her notebook and other surprises she might need. She stroked Maya's shell and crossed the street to follow, three eyes peeled and focused on Hunter.

As they entered the wooded park, the deep shadows under the trees from the fading daylight were no problem for Boscha. Her three eyes could pierce the darkness like the shadow of dark clouds before a boiling rainstorm. She glanced around and removed a small vial from her bag, uncorking it and pouring out the contents that turned to orange fog before hitting the cobbles of the paths. The fog rolled along the ground in a wave before it rose up into the shape of the dorks walking down the far-right pathway.

"Gotcha," Boscha sing-songed and followed the foggy silhouette.

After a few minutes of walking, she came across the two sitting under a tree and trading kisses and giggles. "Ugh," she groaned, rolling her eyes, "loser love."

Her words got the pair's attention and they stood up as if guilty. "Boscha?" Willow asked, her tone guarded but unafraid. "What are you doing here?"

"Ending this farce once and for all," Boscha snapped. "You," she said, pointing at Hunter. "I know you're the Golden Guard. So admit it and I can get on with my life." She really wasn't one-hundred percent sure, but confidence had always gotten results before.

"You think I'm the Golden Guard?" Hunter asked dumbly. He snorted a laugh. "Should I be flattered? I mean, being compared to the Emperor Coven's teen prodigy sounds like a compliment."

"Yes, we all know you're smart," Willow cooed, standing on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "You don't have to rub it in."

Boscha started to doubt her theory and her plan, but she hardened her resolve to see it through. After all, they could easily be lying to cover it up. "If you're not the Golden Guard, prove it!" she demanded.

"How?" Hunter asked, his eyes lidded and the humor gone from his voice to leave only dry contempt. "How," he gestured to himself, "am I supposed to prove I'm not the Golden Guard?"

Boscha blushed a little at that good question. How was she supposed to prove he's not the Golden Guard? He had the same height and build, and his voice sounded like his now that she thought about it. If he wasn't, he didn't have his staff to- Wait … Boscha's eyes widened.

"Where's your staff?" she asked with a cruel smile.

"The Golden Guard's staff?" Hunter asked condescendingly, crossing his arms. "I think we've been over this. If I'm not the Golden-"

"Not that staff. I mean your dumb red bird," Boscha interrupted.

'Uh, hey!' Maya chittered in what a human would call a valley-girl accent and clicked her pincers to emphasize. 'That dumb red bird was the one who brought me to the Bat Queen! He's a sweet little guy.'

"Oh," Boscha said, blushing a bit. "Sorry." She turned back to Willow and Hunter with another sneer. "So, where's the bird?" That question seemed to draw them up short and they traded a look that, to Boscha, just screamed "Guilty."

"Aha," Boscha crowed. "I knew I was onto something!" She reached into her bag and drew out a vial of an indigo potion. "And this truth serum's gonna prove it!"

"Truth serum?" Willow squeaked.

"Is there an echo, Half-a-Witch?" Boscha asked snidely. "Now don't do anything stupid and this'll be all over soon."

"What's going on?" a new voice asked.

Boscha grit her teeth and looked behind her … and paled at the sight of the Silver Belle. The masked apprentice was strolling up with her hands folded in front of her waist. What the Titan?! What was she doing here?

"Is everything alright?" the Silver Belle asked.

"This girl goes to my school," Willow explained, holding Hunter close.

"And she's accusing me of being the Golden Guard," Hunter added heatedly. "Said she'll drug me with a truth serum to find out."

"Truth serum?" the Silver Belle asked, turning her mask toward Boscha. "That's a serious escalation."

"Oh, what do you care?" Boscha asked, putting as much derision as she could behind the words. "You're a member of the Plant Coven, not the Emperor's Coven. I'm not a member of your coven, either, and so you can't arrest me."

"True," the Silver Belle noted, "but I can summon someone who can." She produced a scroll and typed out a message. "It's a good thing the actual Golden Guard and I know each other from our duties."

"The actual Golden Guard?" Boscha asked, her confidence sinking.

"Yes," the Silver Belle confirmed. "I do wonder what he will-" She was interrupted by a ping from her scroll. "Oh, look at that. He was in the city tonight and is on his way."

"What?!" Boscha shouted.

"I'd say you have a few minutes at best before he arrives," the Silver Belle said, folding her hands again. "What will you do, Ms. van Aken?"

"Y-You know who I am?" Boscha stammered.

"Of course," she replied. "Your parents are so wealthy and powerful. Naturally, the Plant Coven keeps an eye on them for promising future members."

Boscha swallowed and looked back at Hunter and Willow before growling and holding her hand out palm up. Maya took the cue and expanded into her staff-form for Boscha to mount. "This isn't over," Boscha snarled before kicking off the ground and flying away.

The Silver Belle removed her mask to reveal the real Willow. "I know. So let's hope it doesn't last much longer." She replaced the mask and looked down at her scroll at a message from Luz via Eda's scroll. Phase one: complete! On to phase two!

"Get ready, guys," Willow called. "Phase Two is a go!" She giggled at the goofy "spy" words Luz had insisted they use and began jogging for the park entrance.

The "Hunter" and "Willow" that were left behind were covered in a burst of smoke from a dissipating illusion that quickly cleared to reveal two Abominations, each one meticulously molded to perfectly match their profiles. Gus stepped from behind a tree to let a spell circle fade out and rub his forehead. "Man, this is harder than I thought."

"You think that's bad?" the Willow-Abomination asked, her hands on her hips. From behind another larger tree, Amity and Jerbo stepped forward with Amity's hands on her hips in a perfect reflection of her Abomination. "Jerbo and I have had to practically cuddle this whole time to sell the act!"

"Nice to know we're such close friends, Amity," Jerbo said, a little hurt by the venom in her tone.

"Oh," Amity said, biting her lip. "Sorry, Jerbo. It really hasn't been that bad, it's just, uh-"

"Weird?" Jerbo supplied. "Since we're both in relationships with other people?"

"Yeah," she agreed wholeheartedly.

"Well, we better get back into character," Jerbo said, tracing a spell circle that he slipped onto his wrist, "or else all the awkwardness will be for nothing."

"Fair enough," Amity said dispassionately, doing the same with a spell circle of her own. "We're seeing this through to the end."

As Amity and Jerbo followed Willow through the trees, their puppet Abominations close behind, Gus shrugged and fell in place behind them. He'd reapply the illusions before they left the park.

Boscha tried to think clearly as she fled the park. The Golden Guard, who just a week ago had taken her and that Glandus chick down without a problem, was coming for her. While she was very much confident in her skills — she was grudgby captain for a reason! — she wasn't dumb enough to think she could handle a famed prodigy of the "jewel of the coven system" hand-picked by Emperor Belos, the most skilled witch to ever live.

She'd just made it past the treeline of the park, keeping low to remain out of sight, when a flare of red magic knocked her off course and sent her plummeting toward the streets below. Maya twisted in her grasp and slowed their fall, allowing Boscha to turn the fall into a semi-controlled roll and hold her palisman, Maya having retracted to her true form, close to protect her.

"Ow," Boscha groaned. "You okay?"

Maya chittered to assure her that she was fine and that it would take more than a tumble to crack her shell.

"I'm sure it will," Boscha said with a fond smile. Then she shakily stood up and prepared her staff that Maya had quickly reformed.

In the middle of the street stood the Golden Guard, weight shifted to one leg and the strange, one-winged staff with the crystal tip swung over one shoulder. All in all, the picture of cocky confidence that made Boscha's heart hammer with equal frustration and attraction.

"Boscha van Aken, isn't it?" the Golden Guard asked. "Didn't you get into trouble last week for picking fights?"

"I don't want any trouble," Boscha said, the words tasting bitter. She'd never once in her life thought she'd say them.

"And yet you're pointing a staff right at me," the Golden Guard noted.

"Can you blame me?" she asked right back. "You're a famous member of the Emperor's Coven."

"So you often threaten members of the Emperor's Coven?"

"Are we gonna ask each other questions all night?"

"No, we're not," he said, finally slipping his staff from his shoulders to clap it to the cobblestones. "A trusted source tells me you were harassing a couple in the park tonight."

"I doubt small charges are delegated to a coven head," Boscha snarked.

"They are if they're concerned with secrets of the coven," the Golden Guard said, his voice turned cold. "Did it ever occur to you that I wear this mask for a reason? That maybe there's a purpose to hiding what I really look like?"

"It did," Boscha admitted, "but then I realized I don't care. The question's driving me crazy." Her staff started to tremble in her grip. "I- I have to know!"

"No you don't," he said breezily. "Now drop the staff and put your hands on your head."

As many had learned during Palisman Adoption Day, perhaps Boscha's most defining personality trait was her competitive streak. And another trait that many could figure out after mere seconds knowing her was that Boscha didn't react well to orders. But that didn't mean she was stupid.

Impulsive? Sure.

Arrogant? Oh yes.

Sadistic? A little, but that was beside the point.

All of the points from before swept through Boscha's head and prodded her to surrender. Her pride and her desire to prove herself screamed in her ear to take the shot and show him what she was made of. And as the two forces, reason and pride, warred in her mind … another thought emerged on the sidelines.

Even if she won — and there was no guarantee that she would — it would easily qualify for assaulting an agent of the Emperor, an action tantamount to treason. And she'd have to deal with the entire Emperor's Coven that stood invisibly behind him. Not to mention people were emerging from the surrounding buildings to watch, meaning lots of witnesses.

Boscha forced herself to relax and placed her staff standing on the cobbles, looking at Maya and nodding. The staff retreated into Maya's true form, and she looked at her partner with what Boscha could only call pride. 'Not all battles are worth the effort,' Maya chittered.

"Good move, van Aken," the Golden Guard said, and it sounded like a genuine compliment. He snapped his fingers and a half dozen coven scouts melted into the street from behind glamors and veils, all of them holding the lances that coven scouts seemed to favor. Two leveled their lances at her while another pair prepared spell circles crackling with electricity. The last two moved behind her and bound her wrists in cuffs that also secured her fingers.

"Leave the palisman with her," the Golden Guard said as a scout moved to confiscate Maya. "She won't get into any trouble."

Boscha scoffed and rolled her eyes, the taste of defeat, even self-inflicted, bitter in her mouth. She looked toward the park and found the Silver Belle, Willow and Hunter watching. The Silver Belle's mask kept her from being read, but Hunter's eyes were hard while Willow's were wide as they held hands.

"Save your pity, Park," Boscha sneered as the scouts escorted her toward the nearest precinct. "I'll be out before you know it."

"Quiet, criminal!" one of the scouts behind her snapped, jostling her as they walked.

As Boscha was manhandled down the road, she looked back to find the Golden Guard staying behind. Seeing him with Hunter … she grit her teeth as her best lead burned to cinders.

"Ugh, back to the drawing board," she grumbled.

"Sir?" a scout asked the Golden Guard as the rest of the team departed. "Shall I question the witnesses?"

"No, I'll handle that myself. As you were, scout."

"Sir," he saluted and followed the rest.

They waited until the scouts rounded a corner and the Golden Guard's flaring staff urged the citizens to return to their own business that they all relaxed. The Silver Belle twitched her head, and "Hunter" and "Willow" nodded with thanks to them before returning to the woods. In the late-evening shadows beneath the trees, even someone who knew what to look for wouldn't see them melt into clay that seeped into the ground to hide any and all evidence.

Just as no one would notice Amity, Gus, and Jerbo giving thumbs up from the shadows before departing.

"Well, that was close," Hunter said quietly. "I thought for sure she was gonna add assault to a coven official to the rap sheet."

"Let's just be thankful that she didn't," Willow whispered.

Without thinking, they took each other's hands without looking at each other, offering silent comfort.

"I'll see you soon," Hunter whispered.

"See you soon," Willow whispered back.

And they separated so that Hunter could mount his mechanized staff and fly away back to the castle to forge reports for this arrest. Willow sighed and Clover emerged from her uniform apron to expand into her staff-form so that Willow could fly home.

As Willow, as the Silver Belle, flew away, she failed to notice someone watching closely. Angmar had his face pressed to a bakery window, eyes wide at what he had seen. The Golden Guard and the Silver Belle had been holding hands! Did that mean they were-?!

No. No! He refused to believe it!

Not yet.

Not after he made his move. She'd see that he was better for her than that shiny, arrogant fake.

"Kikimora?"

"WHAT?" The diminutive demon spun in a rage from the corkboard in her tent she'd been using to plan. "If this isn't about Titan's Blood, you had better write your will while you have the chance!"

The coven scout shrunk away in fear, but held out a call crow out to her. Kikimora scoffed and snatched the bird to hold to her ear. "This is Kikimora," she answered.

"Hello, Kiki."

"Aleyt?" Kikimora asked in surprise, her fury evaporating at the voice on the line. "Well, well. This is a surprise."

"It's good to hear your voice," Aleyt said, her voice lower.

"And yours," Kikimora replied. "But I doubt this is a social call."

"No, it's not," Aleyt admitted. "I have a … favor to ask of you."

"Naturally," Kikimora said blaisely. "And that would be?"

"My dear daughter, Boscha, has gotten into some … trouble. If you could arrange for a lighter sentence, I would owe you one."

"What kind of trouble?" Kikimora asked warily.

Aleyt told her all about it.

"The Golden Guard had her arrested, you say?" Kikimora asked, her voice tense with hate. "Oh, don't worry. This won't haunt your family for long." She chuckled. "With her charges, I can make some calls and ensure she serves no time in the Conformatorium." She pursed her lips. "Though Boscha will have to have some personal repercussions. The Emperor does not look kindly upon truth serums outside his own coven."

"What can you arrange?" Aleyt asked.

"A major fine," Kikimora said briskly. "And more than likely a stint of probation."

"So bribing the Emperor's Coven and having our daughter home when not in school?" Aleyt asked. "I believe we can work with that."

"I thought you would say that," Kikimora said with a smirk in her voice.

"How soon can you have this arranged?"

"I'll call first thing in the morning," she assured.

"Wonderful. Thank you, Kiki. I'll be sure to … make it up to you."

She couldn't help the shiver that ran up her spine at those words. "I look forward to it. Sleep well, van Aken."

"And you as well." Then the line went dead.

Kikimora let the bird go and it flew away with caws of distress. She settled on her cot and thought about Aleyt van Aken. Before she had married her husband Joen, Aleyt and Kikimora had shared an arrangement to … relieve stress. She shuddered at those distant days as Aleyt had helped her knock off a few pegs in her climb to Emperor Belos's side, the woman herself unconcerned with ruling and more keen on having ties to the throne.

And on a few occasions in the years since, they had … revisited old times, with her husband's reluctant approval.

Kikimora's musings were interrupted by Captain Cisor asking for permission to enter, which she allowed with far more grace than before. The captain entered and, rather than offering a verbal report, held up a small jar filled with dark purple fluid.

"Is that …?" Kikimora breathed.

"It is, Kikimora," the captain confirmed. "We found just a small vein of it, but it is." She handed the jar over. "Titan's Blood."

A flash of orange fire, and a segment of brick wall was left cracked and smoking.

"That, my Emperor, was this coven scout's most powerful use of a fire spell," Captain Glee reported, gesturing to the wide cracks left behind by the spell. They were in the Emperor's throne room for the demonstration of the culmination of her research, which Belos had indeed taken interest in.

With the first demonstration over, Belos tapped his finger to the throne's armrest to let her approach the scout and draw a large syringe full of a reddish substance, the scout taking a step back before regaining his nerve. "With your permission, my liege, I will now administer a dose of the Hextract formula."

"Proceed," Belos said with no trace of emotion from his throne.

After priming the syringe, Glee rolled the scout's uniform sleeve up and inserted the needle into his arm, pushing the plunger to inject. The scout grunted at an unfamiliar sensation of warmth spread through his veins, along with greenish light. He gasped and stumbled backward, trembling from head to toe before he shuddered and stilled on his feet.

"And now," Glee said, tracing a spell circle to repair the segment of brick wall to pristine condition, "for the spell bolstered by Hextract."

The scout stood taller and braced his stance before tracing a spell circle of his own, precisely the same size as the one before, that hurtled a massive lance of flames that impacted the wall … and blasted it to rubble.

"All hail Emperor Belos!" the scout shouted as he traced another circle that lifted a huge block of stone from the ground that was summarily blown to pieces. The scout laughed and continued hurtling fire spells until an aura of red magic surrounded him and drove him bodily to the ground.

"Stand down, scout," Belos ordered.

"I live to serve, my Emperor!" the scout cried, straining against his bonds. "Glory to the Titan and his Voice! All who oppose shall be crushed underfoot to usher in a the Day of-!" He was cut off as Belos clenched his fingers, cutting off the scout's airway.

"Stand down," the Emperor repeated, his voice colder than the peak of the Knee.

"Y-es, Emp-or-gack!"

Belos released the scout, who gasped and heaved to catch his breath before passing out entirely.

"It seems there are some undesirable side effects," Belos noted.

"Yes, my Emperor," Glee said meekly. "But with further experimentation, I am certain I can iron them out."

Belos was silent for a time before he replied, "For your sake, I do hope you can deliver." He strode past the captain with a nod. "Continue the research. Your compound shows promise to the designs of the Titan."

"Yes, my Emperor," Glee repeated, her tone now awed. "I will not fail you."

Chapter fifteen! This was a pain to organize, but I like how it turned out! Hope you do to!

*Hoia Park is named after a supposedly haunted forest in Romania.

*Maya's voice is based on Mindy Kaling voicing Taffyta Muttonfudge in "Wreck-It Ralph." I can just imagine the mean girl's palisman with a valley-girl accent.

*I head canon that actively controlling a witch-shaped Abomination is easier when you sync it to your movements, hence why Amity and Jerbo have had to "cuddle" for this whole thing.

*Boscha's mother is named after Heironymous Bosch's wife. Her husband is given Bosch's birth name.

Thanks for reading! As always, leave a review if you can - they make me so happy! May your own projects run smoothly and with entertainment.