It was early morning in Bonesborough. The morning fog still hung over the town as the cockelisks screeched a morning greeting to all who could hear. The people began to cautiously mill about, still uncertain if the events of a few days ago were completely over.

At the Bonesborough Library, Eda, Gus, and Willow walked in. Gus and Willow quickly claimed an open table in the back of the library while Eda sauntered up to the front desk.

"Hey there, Jonny! How've you been?" she said as she leaned on the front desk.

The librarian sighed. "Hello Edalyn. Are you going to pay your tab today?"

"Ha! What a joker!" Eda wiped a tear from her eye, then pulled a card out of her pocket and handed it over to the librarian. "I'm here to supervise some kids. And get my card renewed, of course."

"Hm." The librarian took her library card and stuck it into a small demon, which spat it back up a moment later with updated information. He handed it back to Eda. "Just a reminder, you need to pay your late fees before you–"

Eda waved his explanation off. "Yeah yeah, blah blah library stuff. I've got places to be. Talk to you later Jonny!"

As Eda walked off, the librarian watched her with indignation. "That's not even my name…" he grumbled under his breath.

Eda headed to the back of the library, where Willow and Gus had set up. Willow had grabbed a copy of Plant Fighting, an Introduction, while Gus was reading a book called Pretending to Read to Look Interesting. Eda settled down in a chair across the table from the two and got ready to wait.

Luckily they wouldn't be waiting long, as Amity hurried over from the Kid's Corner, holding a copy of Otabin the Bookmaker in her hands. She leaned forward as she came to a stop, breathing heavily.

"Yeesh, Amity, it's not that far of a walk. You alright?" Eda said, leading her concern with a good-natured joke.

"Ah, no, sorry." Amity said, taking the seat beside Eda with a sigh. "I haven't read the kids any stories in a while and they decided they wanted to act out the story this time. Things got a bit heated."

"Oh no!" Willow said, quietly placing her book onto the table. "Did one of the kids try biting someone again?"

"Not this time, luckily. No, this time one of them decided to use the fire spell they had been practicing during the big dragon scene." Amity surreptitiously patted out a smoldering mark on her skirt that had reignited.

"Weird, I don't remember any dragons in Otabin." Eda said.

"It was an… interesting story session." Amity said, briefly slipping into a thousand yard stare as she recalled how close the library had come to total destruction just a few minutes ago.

"But that's not important right now," she said, putting her book on the table, "we need to talk about what happened."

"We might have all talked at the rebellion camp, but we need to make sure you two are ok." Willow said, gesturing to Eda and Gus.

Gus looked up from his book, then tossed his hands up, dispelling the illusion of his arms and the book. He smiled at his friends and Eda and gave a thumbs up. "No worries, Willow! I am good! My dad and I have even started talking again!"

"That's good." Amity said before turning to Eda. "What about you, Eda? Everything back to normal?"
"Well I still can't stand the taste of bloodberries, but that's always been true, sooo…" Eda gave two thumbs up and a bright smile, "all good!"

Amity smiled slightly at Eda's insistence of overdramatizing her reactions. "Good. And any chance you could tell us what you and Raine talked about?"

Eda laughed awkwardly. "Whaaat? We didn't talk."

"Yes you did?" Willow said, tilting her head in confusion. "Right before we left, they took you into one of the tents–"

"Haha! Nope, nothing like that happened! And if it did, you didn't see it!" Eda instinctively reached for her pocket, where she had begun storing a stock of smoke bombs for use in awkward situations. She felt Amity's hand gently touch her arm and saw Amity gently shake her head to dissuade Eda from trying to smoke bomb in the middle of the library.

With Eda pacified, Amity put her hands together and took a deep breath. "We did talk at the camp, like you said Willow, but I didn't tell you all everything that happened." Amity said, her expression growing serious.

The other three looked at her with surprise.

Willow was the first to speak up. "You didn't say much, just that you were chasing after the Collector and got lost…"

"And then you found me, passed out after the Collector messed with my head." Gus continued the thought.

"I don't remember everything, but after that you met up with me, right?" Eda finished the story that Amity had told them.

"That's all right, but I didn't get lost." Amity said. "I caught up to the Collector."

Once more, the trio looked at Amity with surprise. They kept quiet, to let her speak.

"I caught up to the Collector, then I fought them… but I lost. But then…"

Amity paused for dramatic effect.

"Luz came back."

"But the Collector said–" Willow began, but Amity interrupted her.

"I don't think the Collector has full control over Luz, especially now that we've made contact with her a couple of times. She might be able to 'slip out', but they are even more vigilant to stop that from happening."

"So what you're saying…" Gus said.

"If we can break his concentration, we might be able to get Luz back for good."

"What are you suggesting, Amity?" Eda asked.

"I'm not sure." Amity said, leaning back in her chair. "I still need time to come up with an exact plan. But I know this will work!"

"I dunno, sounds a bit far-fetched?" the Collector said from their seat at the side of the table. "I mean, how do you know that's even how it works?"

"Collector!" Eda, Gus, Willow, and Amity exclaimed simultaneously, loud enough to echo around the area. Behind one of the nearby bookshelves, an unseen librarian let out a long "Shhhhhh" that made the four go quiet and sit back down.

"Collector!" Amity said quietly, but with urgency. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, obviously I'm here to check out 101 Limericks and then eat it to gain its power." They giggled hard enough to snort at his joke. "Nah, just kidding. I'm here for our playdate!"

"Your… what?" Eda said, confused. She looked at Amity, who looked back with a mixture of concern and fear on her face.

"Our playdate!" the Collector helpfully repeated. "In exchange for getting to see her girlfriend again, she promised we'd play! And since you're all here, you can play with us too!"

"You still can't hurt us, Collector!" Willow said, standing up and beginning to twirl a spell circle with her finger. As she did, her eyes began to glow green.

"Yeah!" Gus said, unhooking the enhancing pin from his vest and readying it. "Unless we're playing checkers or something, you can't play with us."

"You'd better give this playdate up, Collector." Eda said as she also stood, brandishing her staff as she did.

"Hmm." the Collector hummed as he closed their eyes in thought. "That's all true… but what if we play a game where you don't use your physical bodies?"

"Wait, wha–" Amity started before she was interrupted by the Collector.

"I know the perfect game!" they said, snapping his eyes open and widening his smile.

The Collector quickly poked the air, generating the golden dots connected by golden string that Amity had seen during their last encounter. However, this time it was in a different pattern, resembling a different constellation.

They pushed the constellation, causing it to generate a bound tome. They opened it, revealing the pages inside to be blank. With a giggle, he slammed it down on the table and pressed into the pages.

After a moment of tension, the pages began to fill with art and words, whereupon the Collector took their hands off the pages. With a snap of his fingers, the book changed again, words swirling on the page.

Before any of them realized it, they were being pulled into the book. No matter how hard they held onto the table, chairs, bookshelves, etc, one after another they fell into the wordlpool.

After the quartet were sucked into the book, the Collector slammed it shut, preventing it from taking in anyone else. They began to giggle, which quickly turned into unhinged but delightful laughter that filled the whole area.

Once more, the unseen librarian let out a harsh "Shhhh!" that quickly silenced the Collector's laughter. He was content to merely quietly chuckle to himself after that.

They took their seat beside the unconscious bodies of Eda, Willow, Gus, and Amity, still seated. After all, the Collector had only brought their minds into the book, not their bodies; just as he had promised.

"Now then, time to play 'Storytime'! I can't wait to find out what happens!" He opened the book to the first page and began to read.

Hunter poked his head out of his room, turning his head each way to check that the castle hall was clear. Satisfied with the lack of any Coven personnel, he slipped out and made a beeline down the hall.

He clutched his satchel tight as he walked. He had traded his usual Golden Guard outfit for a more inconspicuous plain tunic and grey cloak. His gloves covered the spot on his wrist where his Coven sigil was, just in case he encountered someone who wasn't a fan of the Emperor's Coven.

He reached the small hole in the wall that he had discovered last week during a patrol of the castle. Who created it and why, he wasn't sure, but he wanted to see the outside and this was his best bet to get there.

He stopped as he reached for the latch on the small wooden hatch that disguised the exit.

"Is this really ok?" he said to himself. "What if Uncle finds out I disobeyed him? The last time…" He shuddered at the thought, it had been a violent scolding; he rubbed his arm where the scar had formed.

"It's alright, Hunter. You'll just slip out quickly and then come back! He won't even know you're gone!" Hunter desperately tried to convince himself.

He reached for the latch, flipping it while he held his breath. The scent of the outdoors greeted him through the hole.

He steadied himself, took a deep breath, and pitched himself through the hole.

Landing on the outer walls of the castle, Hunter snuck his way across the battlements, avoiding several patrols of Scouts and making his way to one of the cranes that the Construction Coven had been using for reinforcing the walls.

With a flash of his knife, the rope holding the crane up was cut and it quickly descended with a blonde child aboard.

Just before it reached the bottom, he leapt off into a stack of construction materials. The Construction Coven wouldn't arrive for another few hours, so no one was around, but it was still better to be safe than sorry.

One last peek for Scouts, then Hunter took a running start towards a loose board. On his way, he grabbed a decent-sized rock and hefted it over to the other end of the board while he stood on the far end of it.

It landed with a satisfying thud and confirmed Hunter's suspicions that it hadn't been bolted down. The board dropped on the side where the rock had been dropped and lifted its other end with Hunter aboard.

He braced himself, then was launched through the air, across the moat of the castle.

His confident smile disappeared as he realized that the rock hadn't been quite heavy enough, or the fulcrum of the board had been in the wrong place and he was now on a collision course with the rocky wall that surrounded the moat.

He stifled a scream as he collided with the cliff.

After a moment, he grasped the top of the cliff and pulled himself up and over onto the grass.

He took a moment, while lying on his back, to breathe and let the panic of the sudden fall subside. As it did, he grew a smile. He was outside the castle!

But it wasn't long before that newfound happiness gave way to a new panic as he realized: he was outside the castle. He rubbed his scar absentmindedly.

"All I need to do is make it back before Uncle realizes…"

Hunter picked himself up off the ground and dusted off his plainclothes. No matter how many deep breaths he took, his eyes betrayed his fear.

But this was his only chance!

He took a confident step forward…

Right into an unseen net that triggered its trap, hauling Hunter up into the air, suspended from the branch of a tree.

"Hey! What the–!" he exclaimed.

"Alright, we got one!"

A couple witches stepped out of the bushes. One had dark hair and prominent fangs. The other was shorter and had a parted bowl cut and wore a wicked grin.

"I told you guys this would work! Score one Mattholomule!" the shorter witch said, visibly trying to resist breaking into a celebratory dance.

The fanged witch shook her head. "Yeah yeah, whatever. We still waited out here for days and only caught one ."

"Ah, come on Katya." A third witch, this one with a fish hook earring, walked out of the brush with an amused look on her face. "If nothing else, his illusions are getting better."

"Yeah! Wait, what…" The short witch looked vindicated, but his face quickly twisted in confusion at the fish hook witch's comment.

"Are we even sure this kid's in the Emperor's Coven? He looks–" the fanged witch said before getting a surprised look on her face as she looked closely at Hunter.

"Who else would be hanging around the Emperor's castle?" the short witch said, his arms crossed.

"Well, us , but you've got a point." the fish hook witch said. She turned her head to look at Hunter and also gained a surprised look.

"Let me go, witches!" Hunter said as he struggled against the ropes. "I am the G– I am just a traveler! No one important… Please let me go?" His tone changed to desperation at the last part as he realized he wasn't going to get out of the net without assistance.

"Hey Hunter?" Hunter's ears perked up as he heard the fanged witch say. But not directed to him, as far as he could see. She was talking to someone else, in the brush.

Hunter strained his eyes as the fourth figure approached, silhouetted in the rising sun and the shade of the trees. He gasped as the figure stepped fully out of the shadows and looked up at him.

The figure's magenta eyes widened as Hunter's looked back. The figure had a sharp intake of breath as Hunter spoke from a well of confusion and fear.

"Why… why do you look like me?"

Amity jolted awake. Her breathing was heavy and she didn't recognize the ceiling. The last thing she remembered…

"The Collector!" Amity exclaimed as she sat up. She looked down at her clothes. "What am I wearing?"

It definitely was not the clothes she had been wearing at the library. Her striped shirt had been replaced by a white dress, buckled at the waist by a brown belt. Pinned around her neck was a red cloak that was actually quite comfortable.

A scan of the room she had awoken in revealed little else, other than it looking like an older house in Bonesborough, but she got the distinct feeling she wasn't in the Boiling Isles anymore. Other than that, there was a basket on a table near the bed, a clock decorated with carvings of wolves, and a tiny Gus on the bedside table.

"Wait, Gus!?" Amity said, leaning forward to look at the tiny witch, barely taller than her thumb.

"Hey Amity!" tiny Gus said, his voice much higher pitched from Amity's perspective. "I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

"What's going on?"

"I have no idea!" Gus shrugged his shoulders. "The last thing I remember is the Collector pulling out that book…"

"Same thing here…" Amity looked around the room again. "Do you know where we are?"

"Well, I have a theory…" Gus looked Amity up and down, then inspected the room around them. It all seemed familiar, like something out of a story he read. "I think we're in the Collector's book! And we've taken the forms of characters in that book!"

Amity was taken aback, but there was no way that the Collector had just kidnapped them, changed her clothes, and shrunk Gus in such a short amount of time. And someone would have noticed if that was the case. Whether Amity liked it or not, Gus' theory made sense.

"Do you have any idea who we're supposed to be?" Amity asked as she got up out of the bed. She checked under the bed just to be safe; she knew how these kinds of stories went.

"Hmm… I'm not sure, but you…" Gus nodded with his hand on his chin. "You look a lot like the legendary human warrior, the Red Hooded Hunter!"

"It's a human story I read once." he added when he saw Amity's confused expression. "The Red Hooded Hunter has to deliver life-saving medicine to their grandma, but they have to fight off a ravenous pack of wolves who want to eat the cookies in their basket."

"That's… certainly a story." Amity said. "But why would I be a human character? Unless this is another Azura books situation…"

"Either way, we should try and find the others." Gus said. "I'm worried about Willow."

Amity opened up the basket on the table. Inside was cookies, like Gus said, as well as other foods like sandwiches and melon slices; the perfect spread for an afternoon picnic. In addition, there was a note with what appeared to be directions written on it.

"I don't know where we'll find Willow and Eda, but I know where we can start." Amity said, waving the directions note back and forth. She held out her hand next to Gus and said "Hop on!"

Gus hopped into Amity's hand and clambered up her arm, coming to a rest on her shoulder, wrapped in the folds of her crimson cloak.

Amity grabbed the basket and the pair headed out the door, into whatever story I happen to have planned for them.

Amity and Gus headed down the road, Amity lightly skipping as she did so. The sun was bright and shining and the flowers were bouncing along with the breeze.

"Why do I have such an urge to skip?" Amity wondered aloud. "Why am I wondering things aloud all of the sudden?"

Her out loud thoughts were interrupted by Gus shouting "Hey look! It's Willow!"

Willow sat on the side of the road, a bewildered look on her face as she clutched a small pouch. She was dressed in rags and was covered in dirt, like a peasant. She looked up out of her stupor when she heard Amity and Gus calling her name.

"Willow!"

"Amity? Gus?"

"Willow!"

"Amity! Gus!"

Amity and Willow ran to one another and hugged. Gus also got in on the hug, despite his diminutive size. Amity and Gus quickly filled Willow in on the situation they had found themselves in and what they believed my story was about.

"That certainly explains a lot." Willow said as she scratched her head. "When I woke up I had a cow, but no food. And there was this other person here, who offered to buy the cow in exchange for these beans." She held up the pouch as she mentioned it; the beans inside jingled a small melody as they bounced around in the pouch.

"Does that sound like a story you've read about, Gus?" Amity asked her shoulder-bound companion.

Gus thought for a moment. "I don't think so. Do the beans do anything?"

Willow opened up the pouch and took one of the beans out, leaving it sitting in her palm. The trio watched closely for several moments, but the bean failed to do anything of interest, other than sitting in Willow's palm without moving. That was surely exciting, from a certain point of view.

"Nope!" Willow declared before slipping the bean back into the pouch. "But they do jingle like a bell in their pouch."

"We should keep moving." Amity said, pulling out the directions note to double check that they were on the right path. "You coming with us, Willow?"

"Of course!" Willow said. She tied the bean pouch to her waist belt and interlocked an arm with Amity.

Together, they skipped down the road, wondering aloud why they were doing it the whole way.

After what seemed like an eternity of skipping, the fearless trio arrived at the place the directions led them to: a mysterious castle hidden in the fog and mire. A crow was perched atop the wrought-iron gates, carefully watching the new arrivals as they passed through. After they did, it gave a caw and flew off, slightly spooking Gus. With his size, he was more than a little worried that a bird of that size might make off with him or devour him whole.

He shuddered at the thought of either outcome and wrapped himself further into Amity's cloak.

"Well, we're here." Willow said as she looked around the empty courtyard. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Maybe we give whoever lives here the basket, then they give us a map to wherever we're supposed to go next?" Gus offered.

"I guess it's worth a try." Amity said. Following Gus' suggestion, she walked towards the ornate double doors that marked the entrance to the fortress. But as she reached for the knocker, she felt a chill run down her spine.

Amity turned her head to the sky, in the direction of the tallest spire on the castle. And as she watched, one of the gargoyles perched on it stretched its wings wide and slowly stood up till it was fully silhouetted by the full moon.

The trio backed away from the door slowly.

But it was no good, whatever was on the top spire had noticed them. It unfurled its wings and swooped off the tower. It passed over the courtyard three times, watching as Amity and Willow stood in the center back to back.

"What is that?" Willow said, keeping her eyes on the creature as it passed over them again.

"I don't know, but it's not going to stop us!" Amity said, conjuring her staff from thin air with a poof.

As if it sensed their determination, the winged beast dove directly at the witches. It readied the talons on its hands and swiped at the pair. Its expression was inexorable, due to the featureless mask it wore.

But its claws swiped at naught but air as Amity and Willow dodged out to the sides. The beast twisted in mid air, trying to reach one of its targets, but only succeeding in grounding itself.

While the beast tried to stand, Amity took her staff and swung it in a wide circle over her head, tracing a glowing purple line as she did. Into the middle of it, she tossed a piece of paper with a glyph on it, then swung her staff over her head to send the spell into the ground.

Out of the ground, at Amity's command, rose an abomination that had a mass of brambles along its arms and back. It groaned, as abominations do, and lurched forward, swinging its bramble-fists at the beast as it did.

The beast screeched and tried to fall back, but Willow met it with entangling vines from behind with her own spell. The vines spun around and around the beast, immobilizing it just long enough for the bramble-bomination to land one good hit directly on the beast's mask, sending it toppling to the ground.

"Good job guys!" Gus said, emerging from Amity's cloak with a thumbs up.

The trio approached the beast carefully. Amity knelt down to remove its chipped mask and gasped when she did.

"Miss Eda?" Willow said in surprise.

"She can normally control her harpy form. What do you think happened?" Amity said.

As if in response to Amity's question, Eda's harpy form began to shift and change, quickly reverting her to her normal shape. Eda began to wake with a groan, her eyes slowly blinking open.

"Oh, Titan… What happened?" Eda rubbed her head as she sat up. She looked at the concerned witches hovering over her. "Amity? Why are you wearing that cloak? And why is Willow wearing a potato sack? And is that a tiny Goops in your cloak?"

"Why am I wearing this…" Willow mumbled to herself.

Amity quickly caught Eda up on the events that had transpired since their encounter with the Collector.

"Trapped in a storybook, huh?" Eda said. "That certainly explains a lot. I thought I recognized your outfit from one of those human kid's books that I sold once."

"She is the mighty Red Hooded Hunter!" Gus declared dramatically, making everyone look at him for a moment, briefly distracted by his adorably high-pitched voice.

"Anyways, if I was guarding this place, it must be pretty important. Maybe even more than just a stop on your delivery service."

"Then how about we say hello to whatever lives here?" Amity said with a wry grin, which Eda mirrored, while Willow looked slightly concerned behind the pair.

Hunter looked down at the other Grimwalker while Mattholomule and Katya were busy finishing tying him up. The boy looked like any other witch, no older than twelve, but his magenta eyes and the uncanny resemblance to Hunter gave his true identity away.

The implications of the Grimwalker's presence chilled Hunter to his core. How long had Philip had this behind his back? Was he freshly created or had he been around, out of Hunter's sight, for years?

"This is really creepy." Viney said beside Hunter, breaking him out of his thoughts. "He's even got a tooth gap like you, Hunter."

"Yeah…"

"So, what should we do with him now?" Mattholomule said as he stood up. "Toss him in the moat?"

"What's wrong with you?" Katya said, looking at Mattholomule with disgust. "We should interrogate him for whatever information he knows and then toss him in the moat!"

Hunter looked at his teammates, then at the Grimwalker boy, who hadn't taken his eyes off Hunter since he walked out of the bushes. The resemblance was uncanny, certainly, but there was something a bit different about his hair; it was a subtle difference, mainly in how their forelocks rested. Hunter's held itself up more, while the boy's drooped in front of his right eye.

"Why do you look like me?" the Grimwalker boy said, again, after a lull in the group's conversation.

"I actually want to know that too." Viney said, turning to Hunter.

"So the kid looks like Hunter! Maybe they're cousins or something." Mattholomule said, shaking his head in annoyance. "I still think we should toss him in the moat."

Hunter ignored the others and knelt in front of the boy. He scrutinized him up and down, then said with a sigh "We're going back to camp. We're taking him with us."

At this, the boy's eyes grew wide and fearful. "N-no! I have to get back before U-Uncle–" he stammered out, biting his tongue when he mentioned his 'Uncle'.

Hunter knew this reaction well. It was almost like he was looking at himself, four years ago.

Katya raised an eyebrow. "Hunter?"

Hunter grabbed the ropes that held the boy and lifted him onto his back. Mattholomule looked surprised at Hunter's strength.

"We're going back to camp, and we're taking him with us." Hunter said, matter-of-factly. He didn't want to discuss this.

"Wait! What about our trap?" Mattholomule said. "We spent days waiting and now we're–"

"We're. Going. Back." Hunter said firmly with a glare at Mattholomule. Mattholomule relented by throwing his hands up. Hunter's expression softened slightly. "I'll tell you guys a story on our way back. I promise it'll be a good one."

Viney whistled for Puddles to transport herself and Katya, while Hunter and Mattholomule mounted their staffs. The whole time, the boy struggled against his bonds, his fear growing with every moment; a feeling which skyrocketed when the group left the ground and headed across the isles.

If Hunter's guess was right, the boy had wanted to see the Isles, but not like this.

Eda and Amity kicked down the castle doors with mutual smirks. Inside, the sudden movement kicked up several layers of dust that had built up over years.

"Do you guys hear that?" Willow said as the group entered the silent castle.

"It doesn't look like anyone lives here." Amity observed.

"Maybe they're hiding!" Gus said.

Eda clapped her hands together and rubbed them in expectation. "Alright, gang! Let's split up and search for clues!"

"I don't think that's a good–" Amity said, but Eda was already running down one of the side passages. Amity sighed and shrugged. "I… guess we should find some clues. Let's meet up back here in ten minutes."

Amity and Willow headed down separate hallways, while Gus had transferred over to Willow's shoulder.

Eda scanned each door along the hall she had headed down. Each one was inexplicably labeled. One read 'Pudding Room', another 'Viciously Cute Puppies', and yet another 'Comedian With a Joke so Funny You'll Die'. She didn't doubt the labels were telling the truth, considering the first door she had opened had been labeled 'Your Disappointed Mother' and it had indeed been a very disappointed illusion of her mom.

"C'mon, you stupid castle," she said, passing yet another door with a questionable label, "momma needs new wallpaper! Aha!"

She stopped when she reached a door that was labeled 'Golden Throne'. "Now this is what I'm talking… about…?" she said as she swung the door open.

Inside, the room was empty, except for the titular golden throne. Although, Eda had expected a chair, not… a bowl with a seat on it. It did appear to be made of gold, at least, but Eda was not interested in tearing out a random 'throne' that appeared bolted to the floor.

She closed the door in disappointment.

Just after she did, she jumped at a strange sound emanating from down the hall. It sounded like the screech of a trapped animal.

She stalked down the hall to the only unlabeled door in this place, where the screeching was coming from. Every few moments it would die down, before picking back up. Eda gently pushed the door open and looked inside.

Inside, she could see a large cage, inside of which sat the Owl Beast. After a moment, the cage crackled and the Owl Beast cried out in agony as it was electrocuted.

"What the–?" Eda said.

She approached the cage, where the Owl Beast looked at her with its pleading black eyes. She knew what to do. The Owl Beast was a terrifying creature, especially right now, but it didn't deserve this.

Eda transformed her right hand and smashed it against the cage's lock. The lock shattered and the cage itself was deformed by her strike.

She rent the cage open, freeing the beast. As it strode out of the cage, its size diminished and it became the much cuter and more manageable version of itself that Eda was familiar with from her internal discussions with it.

"Sorry about that. C'mon, let's get you out of here." Eda said with care as she patted the Beast's head.

Amity walked down the hall she had followed until it let out into a large room lined with candles. More hallways branched off, but, interestingly, there was the base of a spiral staircase there.

She quickly moved up the stairs, her heartbeat quickening with her pace. There was a tension she could feel, an expectation of something she couldn't describe. Maybe even a lost hope–

The door at the top of the stairs was no match for Amity's strength, but she paused at the threshold as she looked inside.

The room was sparsely decorated, with little furniture besides a desk and a canopy bed draped with a translucent veil. Amity's breath hitched as she recognized a familiar shape behind the veil.

Her feet carried her across the room, to the veiled bed. She shifted the veil and her pounding heart finally paused in that moment.

Laying there on the bed, was Luz. Her skin and hair were their natural colors and she was dressed in an ornate dress. Her hands were together, holding a perfect lily.

Amity could feel tears welling up as she reached her hand out.

But, no.

She falls backwards! And then she falls over herself and over herself all the way back down the stairs! Hahaha!

Now I'm bored. I think it's time for me to join the story for myself! See you soon!

Amity tumbled down the stairs, each step crumbling as she passed them. Finally, she landed on the cold stone ground with a groan.

"Amity!" Willow cried out from the hallway. She rushed to her friend's side, checking for any serious bruising. Luckily, it seemed that Amity was completely unharmed. Gus hopped off WIllow's shoulder and onto Amity's to double check and came back with the same result.

"Ugh…" Amity groaned. Even if nothing was actually hurt, it still felt like she had fallen down a lot of stairs.

"Are you ok?" Willow asked.

Amity slowly sat up and looked at where the stairs had been. "I found Luz. She was at the top of the stairs… which aren't there anymore."

"Wheeeee!"

The Collector in their Luz form spun around the central pillar where the stairs had been as they descended to the floor. They landed with a flourish and a bow, then started giggling.

"Oh boy! That was so much fun! I wonder if I could do that in the real world?"

Amity, Willow, and Gus stood and stared at the Collector as he looked back expectantly. When no response came, his expression turned to a frown. "You guys aren't very fun, you know that?"

They popped up behind Amity and Willow, scaring them. "Come on! This is our playdate, isn't it? So you've gotta play with me, obviously! And since we're in here…"

He thought for a moment to conjure a sword and, before Amity could react, thrust it through her abdomen, letting out a "Boop!" as he did. Amity gasped and seized up as she felt her insides get pierced. Then the Collector pulled the sword out and the feeling disappeared.

"Yay! Nothing I do here will hurt you for real, so I can do whatever I want!" the Collector said, jumping with glee and tossing the sword over his shoulder.

Amity and Willow started to back away towards the hallway as the Collector began to conjure up various weapons and objects that they intended to attack them with. Gus buried himself in Amity's cloak and prepared for the worst.

"Oh, here's where you kids are!"

The trio spun to see Eda walk out of the hallway, small Owl Beast in tow behind her. She stopped and looked from Willow with her fists up to the Collector twirling a spear around his waist, to Amity looking back.

"What's going on in here?"

"Eda!" Amity said hurriedly. "They can actually hurt us here! And they've got Luz at the top of the tower!"

"That's bad." Eda said before turning to the Owl Beast. "Think you could give me a hand, little buddy?"

The Owl Beast responded with a terse chirp, then jumped into Eda to transform her into her harpy form.

"Guys, I've got an idea!" Gus said, peeking out of her cloak. The group huddled around as Gus explained his plan.

"Are you ready to play? Oh well, ready or not, here I come!" the Collector said as he brandished a spear in one hand and a sword in the other.

Across from them, the team readied themselves. Eda took off first, making repeated passes to swipe at the Collector. They responded with repeated gleeful swings of his sword and spear. In the midst of their attacks, they didn't notice a small witch jump from Eda onto their shoulder.

"Hey Collector!" Gus shouted, right in the Collector's ear, breaking his concentration. Gus dove into their cloak as the Collector began to reach around and try to dislodge the illusionist. True to his specialty, Gus used the distraction to add further complications by creating mirrors of Eda as she turned for another pass at them.

Amity and Willow nodded to one another. Simultaneously, they dashed past the chaos occurring around the Collector to make it to the shaft that had held the stairs.

"I hope this works, Amity." Willow said as she pulled out the pouch of beans.

"Me too." Amity said.

Willow tossed one of the beans on the ground, then drew a spell circle around it with her finger. The bean reacted instantly, quickly sprouting and growing into a beanstalk. Before it could grow past them, Amity hopped on top, then Willow intensified the spell to increase the speed at which it grew.

"This is getting annoying!" the Collector shouted. They unleashed a pulse of magic, knocking Gus out of their cloak and Eda to the ground. He looked around with an annoyed look on his face, which turned to confusion when he realized Amity wasn't in sight. "Wait a minute… where's Amity?"

Amity rode the beanstalk as it shot up and rapidly approached the open door that she had fallen out of earlier. Before the beanstalk could smash her against the ceiling she jumped through the door and landed with a roll.

She hurried over to the veiled bed and parted the curtain. Luz was still there, just like she had been left. Amity looked around for a way to wake her up, but shook her head and decided to simply carry her out. She slung Luz's limp body over her shoulder and prepared to leave.

"I'm preeeetty sure you're supposed to kiss me, sweet potato."

Amity's eyes grew wide and she quickly set Luz back onto the bed.

"Luz! You're ok!"

"Well, yeah? I woke up a while ago, but I kinda figured that someone was doing a Sleeping Beauty thing, so I wanted to play along." Luz gave her girlfriend a small smile. "Sorry if I tricked you."

"How did you get here?" Amity asked.

"Like I said, I woke up here. I kinda figured it was a dream, though. Not that I get many of those anymore."

"Gus said we were in some kind of story–"

"Oh! That explains why you're dressed like Red Riding Hood!"

"Red–who?" Amity looked at her girlfriend in confusion.

"It's a storybook character, from the Human Realm." Luz explained. "She's part of a really popular fairy tale. If we're in a story, we must be in one of my fanfictions… I don't remember Sleeping Beauty and Red Riding Hood ever meeting?"

Amity's mind began to connect the dots. They were in a storybook world of some kind, created by the Collector. They had been in control, but they didn't seem to be anymore. There appeared to be characters from many different stories here. And the Collector had conjured those weapons from nowhere…

"Do you have any paper and pens?" Amity asked.

"I think there's some in the desk over there… why?"

"I've got an idea."

The Collector flew up the shaft to the top of the tower, leaving Willow, Eda, and Gus to nurse their sore defeat. He smirked as he thought about how he had beaten them so handily. At the apex of the tower, they dove through the door and landed just across from Amity clutching a piece of paper while Luz cowered behind her.

"Amity!" the Collector said jovially. "I'm not mad you tried to skip out on our play time, but that just means we get to play together now, just me and you!"

"And Luz." Amity said.

The Collector's expression grew annoyed. "Uh, I'm the only Luz here, obviously."

"This is really weird." Luz said.

"Your plan is over, Collector. I control the story now." Amity said.

"Nuh-uh! This is my story so whatever I say goes!" the Collector retorted and stuck out their tongue at Amity. For good measure, they also stuck his thumbs in his ears and blew a raspberry at her.

"Wait, what? I just wanted to stick my tongue out, why did…" Their eyes widened as they realized he was indeed no longer in control of the storyline.

"I wrote everything that's happened since you got here," Amity waved the paper she held, "and we're not done yet!"

Out of the air stepped a small pink creature, holding a needle as long as he was attached to a ball of string. He wielded the needle as a sword, brandishing it towards the Collector with a proud smile.

"It's all ready, my friends! Your doorway home beckons!" Otabin the bookmaker said to Amity and Luz. "Hurry below, I'll hold off this foe!"

"Thanks Otabin!" Amity said as she pulled Luz towards the door, the pair jumping out and riding the beanstalk to the bottom of the tower.

"Ugh, why does everyone always want to get in my way?!" the Collector's flared with frustration. He turned to chase after Amity, but Otabin blocked his path.

"If it's for my friends, I can do anything, even fight to a standstill the fairy king!"

At the bottom of the beanstalk, Amity and Luz landed to find Eda, Willow, and Gus waiting.

"About time you got down here, Amity." Eda said. "Come on, that little pink guy made us an exit. Let's get out of here!"

The group ran out through the door seemingly sewn into the air from nothing. No one wanted to question how any of this worked, so they didn't and nothing went wrong. And the Collector was trapped in the story, locked in an eternal battle with Otabin.

Everyone jolted awake in their seats. Groans quickly filled the air, only to be shushed by the unseen librarian.

"Who all made it back?" Amity said as she picked her head up off the table.

Groans from Eda, Willow, and Gus confirmed their safety. Only the sound of a book closing alerted Amity to Luz's body sitting upright, unlike the others.

"Luz…?" Amity asked, carefully.

"Hey there, sweet potato." Luz said with a smile. Her hazel eyes watered as she looked at her friends.

"Luz!" Willow, Gus, and Eda said simultaneously.

Everyone rushed to Luz, tears forming at the edge of their eyes. They all got into a big group hug, with Luz at its center.

"Ack ack! I think you're crushing me!" Luz said, tapping the others.

They obligingly decoupled, but stayed close, big goofy grins on their faces. Grins that said 'we're so happy to see that you're ok.' Except for Amity's; her face was in disbelief that the plan had worked.

Luz walked up to Amity and placed her hand on her girlfriend's cheek. It was her turn to take the lead. She pulled Amity to her and they kissed, like they had in that Bonesborough back alley last time.

The others silently cheered the pair on, careful not to incur the wrath of the librarian again.

One forever later, their kiss came to an end, leaving Amity stunned, but happy, and Luz overjoyed for getting one on her sweet potato.

"Crikey!" Amity said in a daze. As she realized what she had said, her face turned bright red and her ears began to flap slightly in embarrassment.

"Ha! Guess it was your turn!" Luz said with a gently teasing tone.

Gus coughed behind the pair, then waved when they looked over at the trio.

"So, kid, you think the Collector is going to get out of this one?" Eda said, crossing her arms.

Amity and Luz approached the table and picked up the book. They smiled as the cover faded into view, showing a heroic Otabin sword-fighting the Collector. The title read Otabin and the Fairy King.

"I think we're safe this time." Amity said, setting the book back on the table.

"Yeah! There's no way the Collector will be able to get out of this story." Luz said. "I'm finally back in my body! Ugh, I'm starving !" She held a hand to her growling stomach. She didn't know what the Collector had been eating–or even if they had been eating–but it was not nearly enough for her teenage body.

"We should get something on our way back to the Owl House!" Gus said excitedly.

"Ooh! There's this one meat on a stick place I've been dying to try." Willow said.

"Alright alright, settle down." Eda said with a laugh. She turned to address Luz. "What are you feeling, kiddo? It's your choice, since it's your first day back."

Everyone could hear Luz's stomach grumble again, this time loud enough for the librarian to shush it on instinct from across the library. "I could go for anything right now."

"Well then," Amity said as she interlocked her fingers with Luz's and leaned against her, "maybe we should get a little bit of everything ?"

"That sounds… ugh." Luz held her head, which suddenly felt like it was trying to split open from the inside. "My… head…"

"Luz? Are you ok?" Amity said while Luz's eyes began to flutter and her stance began to waver.

"No… please…" Luz said under her breath as the pain intensified. Amity's face twisted in fear as she overheard those words.

Then Luz fell forward, out of Amity's hand. Eda turned back to catch her, while Willow began to cast a spell to create a bed of plants for Luz to land on, and Gus dove forward to intercede her and the ground.

But she didn't land. Instead, she popped her hands out and performed a perfect handspring off of Gus's chest, pushing him into Willow plant bed in the process, and vaulted over Eda's semi-crouched form before landing on her feet, perfectly with arms raised above her head, on the other side of the group.

Amity already knew what was happening. Before Luz had fallen, she knew. And again, Luz was taken from her, from their friends, from Luz's family, by an uncaring entity.

"Nailed it!" the Collector said, spinning around to face the stunned group. He laughed as they looked at the group's faces. "Your faces are so funny! You really thought I couldn't beat that bunny guy?"

His eyes narrowed and his smile grew thin as they noticed Amity's stone face staring them down. They could feel her intense rage peeling off. If they were standing any closer, they might have lost their color in fear.

As some might say, discretion is the better part of valor; to the Collector, it meant staying away from self-evidently dangerous situations. Like the one that was about to erupt if they did not evacuate immediately.

"It was a fun playdate! We should totally play again some time!" the Collector said, keeping up a veneer of cheer and control. "But now I'm bored. I think I'll go play with those nice Scouts again!" They dashed out of the room, knocking over Jonny the librarian and sending the books they were carrying flying every which way.

"Hey! No running!" the librarian said, shaking his fist after the Collector.

"Byeeeeee!" the Collector shouted behind them, leaving the stunned group and the furious Amity in his wake.

"So, Amity," Willow said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group, "what's our plan now?"

Belos stalked through the halls of the castle, searching for his newest Grimwalker. "Hunter?" he called out, expecting the eager boy to come running at the first chance to please his 'Uncle', but there was no sign of him.

"Hunter? Where are you?" he called again in the courtyard, half-expecting the Grimwalker to be hiding in the stables, or the larder.

"Hunter? I have a task for you." he said as he opened the door to the Grimwalker's room.

Its empty room.

Belos' eyes narrowed.

"Maybe he disobeyed you, brother." the voice of Caleb spoke into Philip's ear with such mirth. "We all do, in the end, it seems."

Belos turned on his heel and headed back to the throne room. Along the way, he grabbed the first Scout he could find and demanded they summon the Coven Heads. He knew his tone must have seemed frantic, but this was an emergency.

The Grimwalkers could not be allowed to meet, under any circumstances.