Chapter 1: World of Witchcraft

(Play "The Owl House" Main Theme by T.J. Hill)

The intro opens up with a demon-like eye in the dark background as the camera zoomed in closer to it as it glowed brightly before it was engulfed in a blinding light. Following this, it showed Ben waking up to see a giant monster looming over him before he ran as it roared and laid down its paw, just missing his backpack before it sent up dust into the air. When the dust cleared away, it showed a big, dark, wooden Victorian like manor with Ben standing just at the front door.

When the red door opened, it showed a tall, lithe and dark man at the door. He had silver-golden yellow eyes resembling an eclipse, pale white skin, and glossy black hair that is styled to come out as slick, sharp spikes from the back of his head. As for his outfit, he wore a long-sleeved two-tone dark gray cloak and dark gray-laced boots with an obsidian gemstone in the shape of a raven on his chest, and a black raven staff in his hand as he stared down at Ben, unnerving him a bit. But as dark as he appeared, the little girl that popped up beside him with a smile was of great contrast.

She had long curly orange hair that went to her shoulders, a pale white skin tone, a small round cute nose, long thick eyelashes, mint green colored eyes, pointy elf like ears (with one ear pierced with a black crystal earring), small hands, thin fingers with black nail polished fingernails, a short, slightly curved petite body build, a long fancy black simple dress with grey leggings, black boots, a red raven shaped Ruby in the middle of her dress, and rounded thin framed glasses. The girl extended her hand out to Ben before he took it, and without a moment's notice she ran into the house, taking the surprised Ben along with her.

Next, the intro showed a stone background stage of sorts with tree branches at the top of the stage, a mist around them, and carvings of an ancient figure as well as two swords in between the frames as they came up in the three empty slots with one of them being Luz, the other being the girl who brought Ben into her home, and the third being a girl with a skinny frame, pale skin, chin-length hair with a ponytail pulling the front hair out of her face, and bright golden eyes. She also had pointy ears, and her hair was two-toned, composed of shades of aquamarine with brown hair visible at the roots.

She was wearing a gray tunic with a dark gray belt, cowl, and boots, and her sleeves and leggings are a greyish-pink color. The rest of her attire included wearing triangle-shaped black earrings, black nail polish, and dark grey, heeled boots, with a light grey top.

Luz was giving a smile and waving while the girl in the second slot was holding her arm on her elbow with a shy smile. And the girl in the third slot had an unamused look on her face before she turned away with her eyes closed. Next, the three frames flipped themselves to show Luz standing with her cape looking soberly as she held an owl-like staff. As for the orange-haired girl, she was in the dark with two red eyes glowing in the dark as a malicious silhouette was shown. And the girl in the third slot showed a sad and dismal look on her face as she looked down before three claw marks suddenly appeared, disintegrating the screen to show two golden eyes glowing in the dark as the camera zoomed out to show a cloaked figure with a thorn like arm as it had claws for fingernails and spikes around the arm before she thrusted the claws at the camera.

Next, it showed Ben running through town as Luz flew past him on top of an owl staff as she waved to him before he noticed a couple of buff guards in front of him, forcing him to duck with a slide, barely missing them just before the orange-haired girl held her hand out to him on top of a Raven staff before he took it and flew off with her to the skies, only to encounter the same monster Ben ran from before as it roared before flying towards them.

After the beast's body zoomed past the camera, Ben and the girl were on top of a roof as the former stared at the picture of his mother with sadness before he felt her hand on his shoulder with a smile, making him smile back to her before looking at the sky to see a ball of light floating to from far away before it engulfed the two of them in its bright light, then revealing the title "Disney's The Owl House: Shadows Upon Blood", as well as the words below that said, "Created by Dana Terrace". After a moment, there was a brief dark purple and light yellow slash forming an X before they faded into sparkling lights.

(End "The Owl House Main Theme" by T.J. Hill)


Ben couldn't believe the sights he'd seen. First, he was blindsided by an attack from a giant monster, and now this. All of this seemed like a dream to him.

"This is where I ended up? I think I might be dreaming. Wait. Am I?"

To find out, Ben pinched himself in the arm, eliciting an OW! from the young man.

"Nope. Not dreaming."

Where did that little demon eyeball take him? It was the only question the young man could think of as he dug into his pocket, took it out, and looked at his apparent portal.

"How did this thing take me here? And why?"

Ben looked back out to the town, wondering what to do with himself. The whole reason he left was to find his mother. But he can't do that in this place. Or could he? He looked back out to the town with a determined look on his face. If he could find a solution somewhere over there that can take him back home, then maybe he'd get back home and continue trying to find his mother. At least, he hoped that he could.

"Wait… How the hell am I supposed to get home now?! That thing might've been the only thing that could help me, and now it's gone!"

Ben was on the verge of panic, but he managed to stop himself with deep breaths.

"Okay, calm down, Ben. You're apparently stuck in a world of magic. It's like Luz said: anything can happen in the world of magic, right? Maybe there's something in that town over there?"

It took quite a while for Ben to find his way into town. And he had to go through quite a lot of bushes to prove it, with his hair full of leaves that he had to shake off. But when he did, he found himself at the entrance. And to his surprise, he found quite a myriad of oddities there.

One of the citizens was a green slime man working a sort of hot dog stand (albeit named Not Dog) with a visible brain inside him, as well as a centaur with eyes on his Orcs and a mouth in between his two sets of abs. All of that seemed to impress him.

"Wow! I can't believe this! Witches and demons are real!"

Astounded as he was, Ben couldn't help but get a feeling that most of the town might see him as food, or worse, a target. That's when he remembered Mr. Seymour's lesson earlier yesterday.

"Oh, shit… witches and demons are real…"

"Gravesfield was a peaceful colony. However, superstition got the better of everyone, including the Wittebane family. Their delusional parents went along with many others burning their own people at the stake, believing them to be witches and demons sent to take them away to the Underworld."

"Something tells me they wouldn't like to see a living human being here. Not after the crap we pulled on them."

To lower the chances of that, Ben put his hoodie on over his ears to conceal his round human ears. That's the best he could do to conceal himself at this point, along with the muddied clothes he wore. As he walked through the bizarre crowd, Ben looked around for who to ask. With the likelihood of being eaten, or worse, Ben had to go about it carefully. One wrong person and he could end up on the short end of the stick in more ways than one.

He first laid eyes on a citizen who had purple hair and horns on her head as he assessed her.

"Seems pretty friendly. But then again, I don't know if I should risk getting my head hit a bunch of times."

Ben looked at another denizen who had a slender figure with pink skin, gray-blue eyes, and violet hair tied back in a bun. Along with a third eye on her forehead.

"Pros: three eyes. Cons: also three eyes. Might have the same appetite as a cyclops."

Hoping to find a better turnout, Ben looked up ahead at what appeared to be a library to see a girl with a skinny frame, pale skin, chin-length hair with a ponytail pulling the front hair out of her face, and bright golden eyes. She also had pointy ears, and her hair was two-toned, composed of shades of aquamarine with brown hair visible at the roots. Compared to the rest of the group she saw, she seemed pretty tame by comparison.

"There we go."

Ben ran up to her, cautious not to let his hoodie drop out of his head as he caught her attention, almost bumping into her in the process.

"Hey! Watch it!"

Ben stood up straight with a stiff look on his face, a little nervous by her attitude.

"Whoa. Sorry about that. I just figured you could tell me what this place is."

The girl gave him a stern look of annoyance as she replied.

"Uh, it's Bonesborough. On the Boiling Isles?"

That didn't seem to make any sense to the young man. But at least it gave him something to go by.

"Oh! Oh, right. Sorry. It's kinda my first day being here."

The girl only closed her eyes as she walked down the steps.

"Well, I can see that. Just try not to bump into anyone else."

When she had gone out of sight, Ben felt himself free to give his opinion about her.

"Well, she's a little standoffish. Wonder who that reminds me of…?"

At that moment, Ben heard nasty laughter far away and turned to the direction it came from. He saw a thug near another young girl on a bench with long, curly orange hair and mint green eyes. Ben saw her in danger and didn't quite like the look of it one bit.

"Oh, great. Even in a world of witches and demons, there's bullies."

Ben cautiously went closer to the scene while listening in to their conversation as the bully leaned closer to her. He had shaggy brown hair, pointy ears, and crimson eyes as he belittled her.

"I saw you smile. Yes, I did. Yes, I did."

The bully held his hand out as he cleared his throat.

"Ahem."

The girl only paid no attention to him as she closed her book, stood up, and walked away, peeving him a bit as he made an angry face before he spoke to her, but not before clearing his throat louder.

"I think you owe us a little something."

The girl only continued to walk away before he grew more agitated. Ben saw this and became worried for the girl. He may be more accustomed to this kind of pressure like back home, he's afraid she wouldn't hold out as well.

"This isn't looking good. What do I do…?"

Ben scratched his chin with his fingers before looking out at the nearby trash cans. This gave him an idea as the bully spoke out to her again, having had enough of her ignoring him.

"Hey! I don't care if you are related to Lilith Clawthorne. Out here, I run this part of town, so you should give me the respect I deserve!"

The girl only gave him an angry stare before Ben spoke out from far away. He heard these words before. And he had just the words to reply to him. However, the girl seemed to beat her to it.

"Oh, sorry, Scab. Just an honest mistake. Maybe I'll give you the respect you deserve after all."

The bully seemed satisfied with himself as he smirked.

"Yeah. That's better."

Judy stood up and walked to Scab with a smirk on her face.

"Just remember. You asked for it."

"Huh? What does that me—?"

Before he could finish, the girl suddenly formed a white circle made of magic that suddenly bound his legs together and made him fall over. Ben, who was watching the spectacle, was amazed at the display.

"Whoa! Nice one."

As the girl took off, Scab gritted his teeth from how easily she slipped from his hand: about as easily as he fell.

"That does it!"

He took off after her as the girl ran by the trash cans, only to tip them over, causing the bully to stumble over it and fall to the ground, covered in trash before he growled to himself. He got up from the ground, growling like an angry beast as he looked around for the girl. When he could see none of them, he got back up from the trash he collided with before he gave chase in the direction he believed she took off from, which was straight the last time he saw them. But as he ran across the street to find her, he didn't seem to notice the girl hiding in the alleyway. Once he had gone away, the girl exited the alleyway.

"Whew. I think I lost him."

However, she was proven wrong. Suddenly, Scab snuck up from behind her, grabbing her by her throat and pinning her to the wall.

"Nice try, Clawthorne!"

Ben saw the whole scene in fear. He knew exactly what was going to happen if he didn't step in himself. Guys like him, human or witch, were liable to break their victims' necks if they didn't get what they wanted. He would've jumped the gun by now, but the first thing that came to mind… was how different he was from them.

He's the only human in the world of witches and demons. If that doesn't cry outcast, what could? And he doubted that they'd be forgiving. That's when he remembered… that girl used her magic on him earlier. It was almost like when he apparently used magic on his father to save Sue. If he could just use that again, at least he'd be less likely to get maimed. He looked to his right hand in tense worry.

"Come on, hand… use your magic again. Like you did for Sue."

Ben held out his hand and grunted, expecting, hoping for something to happen. But nothing came out, not even a spark.

"Ah, come on! You helped me save my sister! Why couldn't you help me save a stranger, damn it?!"

Meanwhile, Scab was still crushing the girl's throat as he talked down to her.

"This is what happens when you disrespect me, bitch!"

Seeing that her end was near, Ben had enough of waiting for his magic to come out again. He wasn't going to let someone die, even if he was the only human.

"You know what? Screw this!"

Ben leaped over the stair bannisters and landed just behind Scab and the girl as he called him out.

"Hey!"

Scab turned around, confused at hearing who called him out.

"Let her go. Now."

The girl looked at the boy in complete surprise. She wasn't expecting anyone to go out of their way to help her. Scab only laughed as he held the girl out in front of him.

"And what are you gonna do if I don't?"

Ben only glared at the bully with such a malicious look that rivaled even that towards his father.

"Trust me. You don't want to know."

"Oh, yeah? Because I think I do."

Ben's glare got worse. As he walked forward, he spoke coldly to Scab, not realizing that his eyes were glowing bright blue like before. But it seemed to scare him straight. The girl, on the other hand, was mystified by the blue glow.

"The last person who thought they could do what they wanted, I blasted him to oblivion. So unless you want to join him… LET. HER. GO."

Scab caved in to his fear with that last word and he released his grip on the girl, letting her cough out her breath as he ran away.

"I'M SORRY! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"

With the bully gone, Ben took a deep breath. His gambit seemed to have worked out better than he thought.

"Whew… I can't believe that actually worked. But why did I feel so weird…?"

Ben looked back at the girl, struggling to get up as she caught her breath. He reached his hand out to her and helped her back up.

"Here. Are you okay?"

Though she was just gaining her breath back, she was able to answer with a clear of her throat.

"Yeah. I'm okay."

But instead of thanking him outright, she gave him a stare of suspicion. Ben was confused by her look, yet anxious. He's afraid she might figure out who he was.

"What?"

"Well, not that I'm ungrateful for you getting me away from Scab, but why did you bother to help me out?"

Ben felt puzzled by her response before he answered plainly, though he gave out a confused response first.

"I would've been okay with a 'thank you'… Anyway, I just wanted to help."

The girl gave him a curious look afterwards. It looked as though she was interested in his act of selflessness, like she'd never seen such a thing before. Nevertheless, Ben felt it best to introduce himself as he held out his hand.

"My name's Ben. A gentleman, and a generally awesome guy."

The girl's curious look went away before being replaced by a deadpan stare as she took Ben's hand and shook it.

"And I'm Judy. A witch-in-training, and a girl standing next to a weirdo."

That earned an exaggerated response from Ben as he gasped before he made a small frown, making Judy laugh as Ben began to blush at her introduction. After a moment, Ben's blush went away and he got back to the task at hand: finding his way back home.

"Well, it's been… cool, but I really should be going now."

However, as Ben turned to leave, Judy noticed the indent of his ears on his jacket. She wondered why he'd try to hide them in a place like Bonesborough. For her, there was only one explanation. Before Ben could go anywhere else, Judy called him out.

"You're a human, aren't you?"

Ben froze where he stood and began to stammer his words. He knew he had been caught. If he can't keep up the charade that he isn't, who knows what could happen to him? Despite his stammers, Ben tried all he could to keep her from finding that out.

"What? N-No way! I'm not-"

Before Ben could continue any further, though, Judy raised her hand and shushed him.

"Before you say anything else, I can tell from the indent on your jacket. It's not even trying to hide your ears."

Judy pulled down his hood to expose his ears before she gestured to the rest of his outfit.

"Not to mention the clothes you're wearing aren't just something anyone on the Boiling Isles has. And, my nose can actually smell the human on you."

Ben looked stunned at Judy. Done in by a girl he'd just saved. She was surprisingly smart for someone who was a damsel in distress. But he knew better than to deny anything at this point. Still, he felt as though he should expect the worst as he sighed.

"Alright, fine. I am a human. But I never asked to end up here."

Judy still kept a confused glance as Ben saw her look.

"Right. You probably don't care. What exactly are you gonna do to me now?"

Judy only shrugged her shoulders as she replied.

"Well, nothing."

Ben looked at her confused. From what he'd seen, he didn't think it possible for anyone to do "nothing" with a human intruder.

"Nothing? You mean you're not gonna lock me up to… experiment on me?"

Judy only maintained her look as she gave him her answer, only for him to ask another question, to which she gave the same answer.

"No."

"Or stuff me full of sweets so you can turn me into a pie?"

"No."

"Or turn me into a slave to do your bidding?"

Judith blushed massively from that last one.

"What? No. I'm not gonna do any of those things."

"Oh. Then, what are you gonna do?"

Judy looked left and right cautiously, making sure nobody else saw them. She held her hand out to Ben with a stare.

"I'm gonna ask you to follow me somewhere."

Ben had a feeling about where this was going as he began to blush. Was she trying to ask him out? It was an admittedly nice pace from how things were back home. No girl ever thought about asking him out before, at least not that he'd ever seen. He assumed his status must be what terrified them or made them steer clear of him at the very least. But as nice as the gesture was, he had a home to go back to.

"Okay, look. I get that you like me, but I just want to go back home."

Judy's stare didn't change.

"Well, that's why I'm asking you to follow me. Where I'm going, I can help you with that."

Ben gave her a cautious stare as he looked deep into her stare.

"And how do I know you're telling the truth?"

Judy's eyebrows lowered themselves a few inches as she maintained her stare. She had a serious tone in her voice as she responded.

"You don't. But you also don't have a lot of options in the Boiling Isles, either. Let's just say you're right for trying to be careful about who knows what you are. Humans aren't really welcome here. They never have been ever since the Savage Ages. And at the moment, I'm probably the only one who is willing to help."

Ben knew she wasn't wrong. A lot of faces he saw in the Boiling Isles, whatever it was, were either scary or likely to kill him. Well, apart from that one girl he "bumped" into, but she felt a little too cold for him to go near her. And Judy, the girl he just saved, turned out to be terrifyingly observant. She must be bound to know something about this place. Ben sighed with a nod before he took her hand.

"Okay. You got a good point. Is it far from here?"

To answer him, Judy turned her head away from Ben back to where they ran from as she answered him.

"Actually, we won't have to go too far."


Later, Ben and Judy were inside the library. Ben didn't know what their library was like, but he had a hard time believing how it was supposed to help if it had no computers for him to look up anything.

"The Library? But does it even have computers there?"

Judy only shook her head before she asked him her own question.

"What's a computer?"

Ben only groaned in frustration. This lack of information only told him that they wouldn't have anything to help him look up anything. However, Judy didn't lose her optimism, or whatever counted as such as she replied to him while the two of them walked inside.

"Don't worry, Ben. If there's anything here that can tell us about how you got here, it's in the library."

"Yeah, right. How am I supposed to believe that if you guys don't even have any-?"

Before Ben could finish, he found himself in awe. Apart from looking like your average college library, it also appeared to be something out of a Harry Potter book. There were books flying in a row as they hovered in the air. And they were headed to the main checkout as a man in a black and red cloak was holding a red circle over the books as they passed through them before buzzing.

"Late. Late. Late."

To add to the list of surprising developments, Ben noticed a lot of shelves with a dewey decimal system sign above them with eyes that were open. Then, he noticed the crystal balls on the table where a lot of its patrons were looking into them in the reference section. It was showing a how-to-fly guide with someone riding a staff before another showed a cat playing a keyboard while the third was still loading up. The sights made Ben rethink his interrupted statement.

"And I'm shutting up."

Judy and Ben noticed another crystal ball that was available for use as the former spoke to him.

"We may not have your computers, whatever they are, but we have our crystal balls."

Judy sat down in the empty chair before she tapped on it, turning on the crystal ball to show a search bar called "Boiling Eyes" with a keyboard just below the search bar. Ben thought it was pretty odd to see such a thing as he realized that they had the same principle as the computers back home.

"Wait, the crystal balls work like computers, here?"

Judy rolled her eyes at Ben's surprise, although she still didn't know what computers actually were. But nonetheless, she got the concept from Ben's question.

"Well, apparently, yeah. But it's not that exciting. The fact you're here, that's a different story, though. Speaking of, how did you get here?"

Ben wasn't sure how to answer her. The demon eye that marooned him in this crazy place disintegrated in his hands the moment he got here.

"The hell if I know. And all I do know is I picked up this weird demon eye thing in my world, and then it blinded me with a bright light. And the next thing I knew, I ended up here, and it turned to dust."

Judy put her hand on her chin, as if contemplating in deep thought.

"Hmm… I'm not sure I've seen anything like that, but I'll type it the way I heard it. Maybe it'll tell us something."

Judy then typed on the keyboard, searching "Demon Eye Jewel". But when she entered it, nothing popped up as a buzzer sound was made. This made Ben infuriated that it couldn't tell him what he needed to know about it.

"What? Come on."

Judy looked back to him, putting a finger over her mouth before promptly shushing him.

"This is a library, Ben. You still need to be quiet."

Ben's face made an embarrassed look. With the necessary rule of the library being to be quiet, Ben felt he shouldn't have to be reminded. Although, his voice did come out louder than he meant it to be out of frustration, so she had a point.

"Sorry."

Judy took another look at the item in front of her before revising her search.

"Okay, how about… 'Demon Eye Relic'?"

Unfortunately, that didn't bring up any better luck than the last search. Keeping in mind that he had to be quiet, Ben made an annoyed sigh this time before Judith looked over to him.

"Yeah, this might take a while. Unless you like to get bored watching me, I'd suggest you look for something around here to do in the meantime."

"Like what? Read a book?"

The instant it left his mouth, however, Ben realized how smart an idea that actually was. Perhaps he could ask around and see if there's a book that covered anything about portals. If he could find that, then he'd be back on track for getting home.

"Actually, now that I think about it, that's a good idea. Thanks, Judy."

Judy began to blush as Ben began to walk away from her as she sighed. However, her gaze didn't leave him. She wasn't sure about what she saw, but she could've sworn that Ben had… a magical aura around him. Could she have been seeing things while she was running out of breath? Maybe. But Scab wouldn't run away from a human. He would've killed one himself. Nothing was adding up to the young girl.

"Just what in the name of Titan are you…?"


Meanwhile, Ben conducted his own search for anything relating to what had taken him to the Boiling Isles. To do that, he needed to get help with finding the right section for it. And aside from looking at an endless selection based on what came to his mind, especially in a library he didn't understand, he needed to go to the librarian. If anyone had a better understanding of where to find the book, it'd be him.

"Okay. All I gotta do is find a librarian in this place, and he can tell me where to find a book about that portal."

As luck would have it, Ben found the librarian still checking out the books as he passed them through the circle in front of him. Most of the books were in red as they were late. But they were green whenever they were on time. Ben could never understand this world if he tried on his own. Thankfully, Judith could take care of that for him. For now, though, he had to focus on the task at hand. And while Judith knew what he was, he didn't know if he could afford anyone else to know that he was a human as he put the hood back on him.

"Uh, excuse me? Sir?"

The librarian took notice of Ben and became curious. He hadn't seen him around before, so it made him cautious within reason.

"Oh. And who, may I ask, are you, sir?"

Ben made a nervous look on his face. He was afraid that the librarian had gotten wise to him. Nevertheless, Ben had to tell him to avoid suspicion, or at least as much as he could.

"Oh! Um… My name's Ben Kingston, sir. And I was wondering if you had anything about, uh… portal traveling?"

The instant he made his request, the librarian had a look that could freeze people to death. Whether or not that's a possibility here was up for debate.

"Portal traveling, eh?"

"Uh, yeah. Do you, uh, have anything like-?"

Before Ben could finish, the librarian raised his hand and stopped him.

"No need to say anything else, Mr. Kingston. I've never seen your face, but I know who you are…"

Ben was beginning to sweat profusely at this point.

Crap! He knows I'm a human?! How?! Was I that obvious?!

"You must be someone transferring from Glandus, am I right?"

Ben took a mental sigh of relief. He wasn't expecting that answer to begin with. And as much as he didn't know what Glandus was, he had to keep up the charade.

"Oh! Yeah, yeah. I'm still a little new to Bonesborough."

"I'll bet you are."

The librarian then looked into his crystal ball before he conducted a search and found the results.

"Okay. They're in the Transportation Spell Aisle just down the hall. And be sure to mind the floating books on the way."

"Okay. Thanks."

Ben began to walk down the hallway with a relieved look. For a moment, he was sure that he'd be exposed. But luckily, no one else seemed to notice why he kept his hood on. Hopefully, he can keep up the charade long enough to get back home.

"Whew. That was way too close…"

With the worst of it behind him, Ben walked to where the librarian told him to go. But as he did, he recalled what he called the aisle.

"Wait. He called it the "Teleportation Spell Aisle", right? And what did he mean by spell?"

When he got to the aisle, Ben found a lot of books that explained it.

"Ask a stupid question… okay. Now where should I start?"

Just then, a book dropped right onto his head, making him grunt as he rubbed his head, his hood still over him before he looked up to see someone above him on a moving ladder. She was a young, Caucasian female adult. She was wearing a grey sweater vest, a white blouse, grey leggings, and a black skirt with a black cloak across her shoulders. Her hair was mostly black, but also purple towards the tips.

"I think you'll find that book to be of interest."

The librarian then carted her ladder away from Ben, leaving him quite puzzled.

"Uh… thanks?"

Ben took a look at the pages and read it aloud.

"A Witch's Guide to Traveling Between Realms? That's a thing?"

He opened up the book itself and looked deeper into text as he walked out of the hall to sit down on a nearby chair. Nothing on the pages seemed to catch his interest. The first page he turned to, he saw a drop of blue blood.

"Weird, but not helpful."

He turned to the next page, showing an eclipse over a lake.

"Interesting… maybe I'm getting closer."

And he was. After turning to another page, he'd found just the thing he needed: it was a door with the same eye as the one that sent him there!

"There you are."

Ben began reading from the text, determined to learn about the portal that sent him there.

"Back in the 1600s, it was said that during the Savage Ages, there was a time when the Witches and Demons who lived there found a way to travel to another realm: the Human Realm.'"

Ben gulped his throat as he saw where it was going.

"'However, the meeting ended up disastrous. As a result, 43 witches were lost in the Human Realm, murdered by the humans who lived in it. So, Emperor Belos decreed that the portal be destroyed so no human can ever claim another innocent life…'"

Ben closed the book and set it down. Not only was there seemingly no way back; he's likely to die here before long! However, the fact his identity was secret gave him some relief.

"Holy shit… I am so glad they didn't know what I am..."

However, as he said this, Ben wasn't aware of a woman standing behind him.

"Which is what, exactly?"

Ben's sweat couldn't have gotten colder if it tried. He tried to come up with something to hide who he is on the sly, but it was incredibly difficult to find a more convincing one, especially under pressure. But he had to say something to throw off his identity as a human, or they might do a witch trial of their own on him.

"Uh, that… I'm a super nerd for portal transportation!"

Ben added an unconvincing nervous laugh at the end. But it didn't seem to faze the person who called him out.

"Well, aren't we all?"

It was then that Ben took a good look at her. She was wearing a black long tunic with golden trim on on the sides of it with long sleeves covering up her arms and having a baggy hood to cover her head, long shiny black high heeled boots, a purple and blue neon flower brooch on the left side of her chest, black shorts, black painted fingernails, purple leggings and long sleeves under her tunic. She also had a fair skin tone, a skinny curved body type, short, slicked down, ashen-black hair, bright reddish-yellow colored eyes, thin black eyebrows, and pointy elf ears with black earrings. Ben couldn't believe how beautiful she looked. He began to blush at the sight of her before she gave him a smirk, noticing his blush.

"What's wrong? Never seen another witch before?"

Ben snapped out of his blush for a moment. Beautiful as she looked, he didn't need to lose focus on finding his mother.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah. It's just I'm kinda new here."

The woman kept her smirk as she replied with a wink.

"I'll bet. I don't think anyone's seen you around before. You're from… Glandus, right?"

Ben saw the wink and became confused. He never told her where he was from.

"Uh, how did you-?"

Ember only placed her hand on his shoulder before reassuring him.

"It's okay. Your secret's safe with me."

That was a load off for him. Ben drew out a sigh of relief, happy that he found one more person who wasn't trying to kill him for being human.

"Thanks a lot. Really. I'm still trying to get used to… a lot of things."

The woman gave him a soft smile as she held her hand out to him.

"I know what that's like. My name's Ember. Ember Autumn."

Ben looked at Ember in surprise. He couldn't believe that she would be willing to shake hands with him. Granted he believed it was because she didn't know he's human, but nevertheless, it was nice to see someone willing to shake his hand for once. Nobody could do that for him due to his status as a Kingston, and even then, the only time they'd do it is just to get in good with him. Somehow, even if it was in another realm, he felt that she was different. He got his hand to shake hers as he introduced himself.

"Nice. I'm Ben. A gentleman, and an overall awesome guy."

Ember made a small laugh at his title before she spoke.

"In that case, I'm glad I met you."

Ember's eyes then looked over to her right, noticing a gap on a shelf before walking over to it. She then pulled out the item that was causing the gap: a chessboard with the pieces in a drawer that was just below it as she looked back to Ben.

"Are you interested in a game, by any chance?"

Ben wanted to refuse, and he was about to. But he realized that doing so would only make her suspicious. And it'd only be a matter of time before she'd notice he was human. But if he stayed and played a game with her, she'd be bound to notice. Although, despite the circumstance, it would help him get his nerves straight. Traveling to another realm was just as stressful as it can get.

"Uh… sure. Sure, I'd like to play."


Meanwhile, Judy was at her wit's end. She'd done as many guesses as she could come up with to figure out what the demon eye was that Ben told her about. And yet, not one of them seemed to know what exactly she was talking about. She wondered how hard exactly that was supposed to be.

"Come on! It can't be that hard for you to know what this thing is, can it?"

Judy could practically feel it taunting her as she grumbled. As her face slumped on the table, she saw something beyond the crystal ball that caught her attention.

"Huh? Is that…?"

As Judy stood up and walked toward the two of them, Ben was just starting a chess game of sorts with Ember. He had all the white pieces while Ember had the black pieces. He had the order set up with the Queen piece and the King piece beside each other in the back of the board while Ember's queen was at the front lines. Ben was confused at the setup as he looked at her.

"Uh, why's your queen at the front lines? Don't they usually go back with the King?"

Ember gave him a smirk as she replied.

"Take a move, and you'll see."

Ben looked back at his own set and picked up one of the pawns before setting it on the square. Ember only made a small laugh with the shake of her head before she spoke to him.

"Good move. But… not good enough."

With that, Ember took her queen piece and moved it all the way across to where Ben's pawn was, and just as quickly, the queen materialized a Sword before beheading Ben's king piece, making him widen his eyes in surprise while Ember spoke in satisfaction.

"Ah-ha! Check and mate."

Ben blinked his eyes a few times, still trying to comprehend how the chess pieces moved, let alone how quickly she finished the game.

"How did you do that?"

Ember didn't think much beyond what she had to tell him. It was a simple philosophy for her.

"Well, you just left an opening, and I took advantage. Maybe think more wisely on who you move up first next time."

Ben made a small groan of defeat. He couldn't ever imagine a time when a chess game ended that quickly. Clearly, he had much to learn.

"Yeah. Maybe."

At that moment, Judy spoke up softly, overcome with pure emotion. She was bearing a look of surprise as her face (which began to show a tear leaking out) looked back at Ember.

"Ember? Is… is that really you?"

Ember took notice of her, too. And her arms trembled just as much.

"Judy… it's been too long."

Judy immediately ran over to her and hugged her tightly, practically weeping on her shoulder with a gentle laugh in the mix, befuddling Ben.

"Ember! What are you doing here? How are you here?"

"Can't an old friend come and visit?"

Ben looked at the two of them in awe for a moment. Granted he only just met Judy, but it was certainly news to him.

"Wait. You two know each other? And what exactly is going on here?

Judy nodded before she answered. However, as she continued, she had a momentarily sober look on her face.

"Oh, yeah. We have known each other since we were kids. But we haven't seen each other since… well, a long time. She was gone for eight years."

Ember smiled at her friend as she gave her a cute boop on the nose.

"Yep. But I'm here now. We've got a lot to make up for."

While Ember and Judy smiled at each other, Ben felt like he was out of the loop on a lot of things. He wanted to ask them what exactly was going on, especially what went on between them, but as much as he wanted to go home, he had to be delicate about it.

"Yeah, so… uh, Judy. Did you find anything about that weird Demon Eye thing I told you about?"

Judith only shook her head as she replied.

"Unfortunately, no. I really tried to find out what it was, but there was no luck. Anything on your end?"

Ben held up the book sitting on a small table beside him, showing that he did find the answers.

"I found this. A librarian around here just dropped it on my head. Don't know what that's about. And I just started reading this thing when I met Ember."

Judy smiled at Ben, happy to hear the news.

"That's great!"

Ember smiled at the two of them as she stood up.

"I got to know him for a while. But I'm guessing he's your new friend, Judy?"

Judy grew quite anxious. She didn't know him that well, but she couldn't give away the fact that he was human.

"Well… more or less. I was just helping him out with something."

Ember chuckled warmly at her answer.

"You haven't changed a bit. Always standing up for the little guy."

Judy took a look at Ember's attire and showed great interest.

"Yeah… but a lot's changed about you. What exactly have you been through?"

Ember's face showed a somber tone as she answered.

"More than I thought, less than you think…"

Judy felt bad for Ember whereas Ben felt it was odd.

"Well, that's not cryptic."

Ember cleared her throat before she responded.

"Anyway, I was hoping you'd have time for another adventure with me. We could catch up and get to know each other better."

Judy was eagerly excited to hear that. It was evidently a long time since she saw Ember. And she didn't seem to want to spend one more moment without her. That said, Ben had his reservations, afraid of what she'd find out.

"That would be amazing, Ember! Ben can come with us, too!"

"Uh, that's really nice and all, Judy, but I can't really—"

Judy held her hands together as she spoke softly.

"Please, Ben? I promise, I'll think of some way to pay you back…"

Judy was practically pleading for him to say yes. It's not as though she'd forgotten what he really was. That's when Ben began to click everything together.

"You're just gonna drag me along even if I say no, aren't you?"

Judy whispered into his ear as she answered.

"It's not like I can trust anyone else with you…"

Ben thought about the situation, and he knew she was right. They can't afford to let word out that a human is in the Boiling Isles. Left with no other option, Ben had to agree.

"Okay. I guess I'm in."

Judy and Ben took their leave before Ember followed, mostly out of curiosity for what they were planning to do. However, before they could exit, Ben spoke up.

"Hold on. We got to check out my book first."


As the group walked out of the library, Ben got his book out and looked over the contents to read past the history as Judy looked over to him, admittedly feeling bad for putting Ben in this situation.

"Sorry to drag you into this, Ben."

Ben saw the guilty look on her face and tried to cheer her up.

"No, it's okay. At least I didn't die, so that's something."

But she didn't know how long that could last. She still felt pretty sore about everyone's innate distrust over humans, not that she'd blame them. She didn't know how Ember would think of it, though. She never did get the opportunity to ask about her stance on humans. To be safe, she had to be sure that Ember doesn't find out about the fact that he was human, that is, if she hasn't already. But what also bugged her was what the item that Ben told her it was: a portal.

The way he described it, it sounded like that thing was a one-way trip. She wondered about what it meant. If the portal was a one-way trip, who could've made it, and why? Either way, she had a feeling she should be careful who she shares the information with. Judy would've been stuck with her thoughts if Ben didn't speak up to her.

"So, what are we gonna do?"

Judy, stirred from her train of thought, turned to Ben in puzzlement.

"Hmm?"

"You know, that adventure Ember told us about?"

Judy snapped back to reality as she replied.

"Oh, yeah… I don't know. Ember, not that I'm not glad to see you again, but what exactly are we doing?"

Ember put on a mild smile as she replied.

"Well, there have been odd sightings of a monster around Bonesborough, especially at night. I was wondering if you two could help me catch it."

Ben gulped his throat. He was starting to regret coming along. Judy was a bit cautious with the idea.

"I don't know. Wasn't that… crazy for you?"

Ember made a light-hearted scoff.

"I've handled crazy things before."

Judith made a small smile as she remembered one of many fond memories between the two of them.

"You don't have to tell me. I still can't forget the time you actually drove away those seagulls."

Judith made a warm laugh at the event while Ember made a small grumble, confusing Ben (mostly because he wasn't present at said incident).

"Wait, what about the seagulls?"

Judith went out of her laugh before she made the long story short before Ember put her smile back on.

"It's an inside thing, Ben. You kinda had to be there."

"Anyway, I've handled crazier than that since then."

Judy smiled softly to Ember. She was eager to take the opportunity. She hadn't seen Ember in a long time. This could be her only chance to reconnect with her. Whatever it was, she was willing to do it. On the other hand, Ben was astonished. She went eight years without seeing Judith? How could she do that? And more importantly, what happened between them that long ago? He was about to ask, but then, he noticed a surprisingly familiar face just on the sidewalk in front of him.

"Wait a minute. Is that-?"

The last time he saw her, she was being taken to her mother's car before his father took him home. And now, here she is, sitting next to a weird demon dog of sorts. It was a canine creature that somewhat resembled a fox. He had mostly dark grey fur, although his belly and the tip of his tail were covered in purplish-grey fur, and the highlight of his appearance was a dog-like skull with white horns on his head, one of which was broken. And it appeared to be eating a bug in between a hot dog bun while she looked as glum as he last saw her.

"No, it can't be."

Judy became puzzled by Ben's reaction as he looked in the direction of Luz.

"Can't be what?"

Judy's eyes widened in surprise and alarm. This might as well be two human sightings on the same day for her, which was in itself a rare thing since they cut themselves off from humans over 300 years ago.

"No. Way."

Ember became just as astonished as well when she turned around. However, her reaction was quite different.

"Huh. What are the odds?"

The first to run over to her was Ben. He wanted to see how she was able to cope with the apparent madness that is the Boiling Isles.

"Luz! Luz, it's me! It's Ben"

The girl lifted her head up and looked to her left, taking her turn to see a familiar face as her eyes widened in amazement. She tried rubbing her eyes as she pondered to herself.

"What the…? ¿Me engañan mis ojos?"

The creature was puzzled. As far as he knew, she was speaking a different language, which technically she was.

"Weh?"

Then, he noticed Ben with Judy and Ember following him before he made a small frown.

"Oh, great. Another human to babysit."

Ben made a frown towards the creature, but despite his comment, Luz was overjoyed to see him as she went up and hugged him.

"I can't believe it! Another human in the Boiling Isles! And the one who helped me out, too!"

As Judy's heart sank, stressed that another human would end up in front of them, Ben immediately tried to deny it. He waved his hands in the air as he tried to deny his identity in a panic.

"W-What are you guys talking about?! I'm not a human!"

The little creature, however quickly disproved him.

"Dude, we can see the little nubs over your head shirt."

Ben growled at the creature before Ember realized what they were saying.

"Wait. You're a human?"

Ben gulped as Judy tried to dissuade Ember from digging anymore.

"H-He's not a human, you guys! He's just… sensitive about his small ears!"

Ember raised one of her eyes in disbelief as she reached her gloved hand right to Ben's hoodie.

"He won't feel better about them if he hides it."

Ember swiftly pulled down Ben's hoodie, exposing his human identity as Ember gasped. Meanwhile, Judy admitted defeat and facepalmed herself.

"And we're officially screwed…"

However, they weren't as screwed as they all thought. Ember took a closer look at Ben, holding her hand over his face and feeling his ears. Ben felt the warmth of her skin as she practcally carressed it.

"Uhh…"

After she was done, Ember opened her mouth. Ben didn't know what to expect after a bombshell like that, but he certainly didn't expect her next words to be...

"You don't look that different."

Ben widened his eyes as he put the hood back on him.

"You mean… you're not bothered by this?"

Ember crossed her arms as she replied, having slight hesitation to speak.

"I'll admit, knowing that Judy made friends with a human is… unexpected. But any friend of Judy's is a friend of mine."

Ben took a deep breath of relief.

"Oh, thank god… but I'm still keeping my hood on."

Suddenly, Ben was ambushed by Luz's power hug, trying hard to bear it as he realized she was still around.

"Oh, right…"

"I'm so glad to see you again, Ben."

Ben had an embarrassed look on his face as he tried to hug her back.

"Uh, yeah. It's good to see you, too."

At that moment, Luz took notice of Ember and Judy just behind him. The raven-haired girl simply rolled her eyes while the redhead waved to her. This set the girl's excitement into overdrive as she made a loud audible gasp.

"Oh, dios mío! You've got your own questing buddies, too?! I'm so jealous…!"

In a flash, Luz went over to Ember and Judy, quickly looking them over and practically fawning over their outfits.

"Oh, you've got to be screaming angst right now. I really like your hair, too!"

Judy smiled at Luz's complement as the human held the long length of it in her hands. Meanwhile, Ember smiled at her with a smirk.

"Uh, thanks."

"This one's a little excited, isn't she?"

Ben tried to commence the introduction nonetheless. He didn't know if there was a point in stopping her hype mode.

"Everyone, this is Luz. My… sorta friend that I made back home."

As Luz began looking over Judy, she spoke up curiously about Ben's wording.

"What do you mean, 'sorta friend'?"

To be fair, Ben had only gotten to know Luz officially the day the school was attacked by snakes. He'd heard of her before, but he didn't quite get to know her until the last time he saw her.

"Well… it's complicated."

With how much Luz was looking her over, Ember felt she'd had enough attention as she cleared her throat.

"Can we move this along, please?"

Luz backed away from Ember in embarrassment.

"Oh, yeah! Sorry about that, guys. It's just that— well, seeing you guys has been a nice change of pace from what I had to deal with recently."

Ember glanced down at Luz's companion as he scratched himself with his front paw while sighing in relief.

"Is that rat what you've had to deal with?"

The creature took offense immediately and hopped upon before glaring at her as he shouted.

"I'M NOT A RAT!"

Luz only shook her head as she knelt down and gave the reluctant creature a soft brush on his head with her hand.

"No, he's okay. And also, his name's King."

King moved Luz's hand aside before standing proudly and pointing at her.

"Yeah! As in 'King of Demons', baby! So you better not forget it."

Ember only groaned in disgust before Ben sat down beside Luz. This whole place must have her scared and confused. He certainly was when he got here. And the whole history of bad blood between witches and humans didn't help matters, either. He wondered if she ever had to deal with such ruthless disputes.

"Then, what's wrong, exactly?"

"I thought being the only human in a magical world would make me special. Well, one of the only humans, seeing as you're here. Anyway, it just makes everyone wanna scream at me or…"

Luz held up her left arm, showing a bizarre, two-faced butterfly nibbling off of her elbow, shocking Ben before she continued.

"...eat me."

Ben made no hesitation to brush it off before he sighed. Amazingly, he's surprised that nobody wanted to kill her yet. If anything, that's the welcome wagon for her. Still, keeping in mind the dangers of the Boiling Isles he'd seen so far, Ben felt it best to tell her about their situation presented from being the only humans in the Boiling Isles.

"If you think that's bad, wait till you hear what the Connecticut Witch Trials actually meant..."

That puzzled Luz as she looked up at him.

"What was that?"

It occurred to Ben at the moment that Luz didn't quite understand a word he said. Or perhaps she did, but she didn't quite grasp the concept of the Connecticut Witch Trials as a whole. Ben didn't know why, but he had decided it would be best if it eluded Luz at least for a while. He didn't know if it was wise to speak of that around Judy or Ember, and he didn't want either of them to end up on a pike.

"Eh, never mind. Keep talking."

Luz then got out a book, one of the Azura books she held close to her, and pointed out a picture of Azura meeting a wizard.

"At this point, Azura had already been sent to an enchanted quest. Where's my quest-granting Wizard?"

King looked at the designs of the book. Needless to say, he didn't view them as realistic.

"Sorry to break it to ya, Luz, but no one here is that well-dressed."

However, Judy noticed the book she held in her hand and became astonished.

"Wait, you actually have a Good Witch Azura book? I have one just like it back home."

Luz made an audible gasp. It was a first to hear that these books were being read in the Boiling Isles as well.

"You get these on the Boiling Isles?!"

Judy made a bashful look as she replied, astonished that a human was interested in the same books.

"Of course. How many do you have back home?"

Before Luz could answer, Ben interjected to ask a more important question.

"Never mind that. How the heck did you get here of all places? Last time I saw you, you were headed for the car. I wanted to talk to you, but… my dad had to take me and Sue home."

Ben spoke almost bitterly as he was reminded of his cruel father that he attacked and his sister that he left behind. If he never saw him again, it'd be too soon. But he didn't let himself get bothered too much with them. He was more worried about Luz. She took a sigh before she gave him her answer.

"You know how... crazy I've been back home? Well, mom and Mr. Darwin thought I should go to summer camp and be 'normal'. Then, I found a stray owl carrying off my Azura book, and—"

Before Luz could ramble on, he put his hand on her shoulder, making her stop mid-sentence. As much as Ben wanted to know, he didn't quite ask for the whole explanation. Though, he'll focus on that later. At least, that's what he told himself.

"Maybe just skip to the end."

Luz looked up at the sky as she continued.

"Long story short, I crossed through some kind of portal, and I ended up staying at some place called the Owl House with Eda mentoring me."

Ben's eyes widened in surprise as he came to a realization. If Ben could find the Owl House, then he'd find the portal back home, and he won't end up being maimed just for being human! He was saved! But Luz wasn't quite so eager. In fact, she looked disappointed. That's when he remembered that Luz was still telling Ben about her day.

"At least, that's what I thought, but now…"

Luz opened up the bag, revealing an assortment of elixirs and potions, one of which was Snake Oil, along with what was apparently boil cream.

"...it seems kinda ridiculous."

Judy looked at the items. And from what she had to say, she could already guess that Luz might have figured it out.

"Oh. She's not really teaching you magic yet, is she?"

"Well, today was a rough day. I don't know."

Ben gave her a gentle nudge as Judy went down to sit beside Luz.

"Maybe that's the point. You just gotta get back in the swing of things."

"Yeah. I'm sure Aunt Eda's got her reasons."

Hearing this, Ben and Luz both became puzzled by Judy's statement.

"Wait. Aunt?"

"Eda's your aunt?"

Judy put her hand on Luz's other shoulder as she replied with a sincere tone.

"Yep. Thought I'd cheer you up by giving you a little info. Did it work?"

Luz gave a small smile to Judy as she replied.

"Yeah. It did."

However, Ember, having overheard her explanation, crossed her arms as she gave Luz her two cents in a harsh tone, having had quite enough of the display from Luz.

"Oh, please. If you're gonna mope about how hard your first day here is, then by all means, go ahead. But if you want to get something done, then do it."

This took the trio aback, especially Judy. Ember was rather abrupt to have said anything of the sort. Judy had never seen that side of Ember, let alone heard her speak like that. It made her surprised and uncomfortable. Clearly, it wasn't just her magical ability that changed. She wondered what she had been through for her to get like this. Even King was unsettled by her tone as he shivered.

"I think that just gave me chills."

All the while, Luz was unsure of what to make from Ember's "advice".

"Wait. Y-You're saying I should disobey Eda? L-Let's not get crazy. It could just be a lesson in disguise—"

Before Luz could go on any further, Ember cut her off abruptly with a glare, her voice harsher than before as she began to poke at Luz with her claw.

"If that's what you think, then you're fooling yourself. She's never going to waste her time on you just to teach something that can't be taught in the first place. Even worse, that's weak of you to lie to yourself. The way I see it, you're not doing anything to improve your sorry lot in life. You know what you want by now. The least you could do is try to take it."

Meanwhile, Ben supposed that she just didn't like humans too much, but if one of them was Judy's friend, then it must be an exception. That said, Ben didn't quite like the way she was treating Luz. That was no different from how his father treated him. And if there's one thing he hated, it was reminders of him. Ben made no hesitation to get in-between the two of them as he interjected before Judy stood by his side, much to his surprise.

"Hey, take it easy, Ember!"

"Yeah. She's still figuring this place out.

As Ben looked from Judy to Ember in astonishment, the raven-haired Witch only glared at the two of them. She didn't appear interested in whatever they had to say.

"Well, excuse me for being honest about that human's dumb life."

Ember then stormed off in a huff as King gave his two cents nervously.

"Hope I don't have to see that crazy chick again. Eh, not that she scared me, of course."

Ben looked back to Luz, hoping Ember didn't hurt her too bad.

"You doing okay, Luz?"

Unfortunately, the dismal look on her face told him the answer. She wasn't doing okay. She only flung the bag over her shoulder before she responded.

"Yeah. Just gotta deliver that last package. Let's go, King."

As Luz sadly walked away, King drew an exaggerated sigh before speaking insensitively.

"Finally."

King then looked back to Judith before doing a wave.

"Well, see you guys later."

King then scurried over to Luz's side as Judy looked over sadly to where Ember stormed off.

"Ember… what's happened to you?"

Ben went over to her, seeing the look of worry on Judy. He didn't know if it was something to worry about.

"Was she always like this?"

"I… I don't know…"

Little did they know that as Judy pondered this, a small white bird was keeping its vigil, its yellow eyes fixated on the two of them…


A couple of hours later, Ben and Judy were following Ember in the forest outside of Bonesborough, unaware that the white bird was following them around. Every so often it landed on a few branches with every time they appeared out of reach. In the meantime, Ben reflected on Ember's behavior towards Luz. He couldn't rule out that it must be due to the fact that she's a human, but then again, she didn't act that way to him. At least, not at first. All the same, it seemed to upset even Judy.

He didn't know if it was his place to ask about what happened between them eight years ago. After all, his main focus was to get back home. Of course, he's nothing if not adaptable. The young man learned to go along with his situation a long time ago once Luz's bizarre antics took the school by storm. That said, Ben didn't like how she treated Luz with her heavy criticism. Granted she was more naive than he was, but it didn't warrant shattering her dreams. Then again, he wouldn't blame her for the resentment.

Thanks to Luz, all he could picture was his brother Kyle, a tragic victim of her weird antics. He knew it wasn't entirely her fault, but… he still couldn't shake off that bitter memory. Sooner or later, though, he managed to repress it and move on. And apparently, Ember did the same.

"The monster shouldn't be too far from here. It won't take long."

While the group pressed on through the forest, Judy wondered why she would need their help to begin with, especially with what she can do. It seemed pretty pointless.

"So, there's one thing I don't understand."

Ember didn't bother to stop moving ahead as she responded. Yet, she did turn her head.

"And what's that?"

Judy had a sad look on her face as she replied.

"If you were alive all this time… why didn't you come back? I haven't heard from you for eight years. I didn't even know what happened to you. I thought you were dead."

Ember's face made a soft frown at the sound of it. Ben took notice of it far ahead and became puzzled. How could someone so cruel to Luz happen to feel bad at the thought of leaving someone behind? Or was there something he was missing? Either way, Ember seemed to be upset about leaving Judy behind for eight years. She was even hesitant to speak for a moment, holding onto her brooch for a moment before she put her determined face back on.

"It's… it's nothing you need to worry about."

Before Ember could continue, Ben called her out next.

"Is that really all you have to say?"

Ember stopped for a moment, already beginning to get angry from his tone before he spoke on.

"Your best friend, maybe your only friend, has been worried about you for eight freaking years, and you say it's nothing? She has the right to know why you never told her you were okay!"

Judy looked at Ben in astonishment. She couldn't believe that a human that she'd just met a few hours ago was actually speaking on her account. Although, she didn't know what he was trying to accomplish by calling out her faults. At any rate, neither did Ember as she glared at him.

"And why is that any of your business?"

Ben crossed his arms with a stern look on his face as he spoke to her.

"Because you owe Judy an explanation. Just like you owe Luz an apology."

Ember raised an eyebrow before she recalled the human she talked down to earlier. She began to suspect something from her name being brought into the conversation as she guessed.

"Oh, so this is about that human friend of yours, now?"

Ben maintained his stern look as he spoke to her.

"Listen, she may not know how this world is supposed to look. I don't have a clue any more than she does, but at least she's trying to look on the bright side. You shouldn't shut her down just for that. Because she's not as weak as you think she is."

Ember only turned her head away from Ben and put her focus on the path in front of her as she spoke with a bitter tone.

"It's a fair assessment. Trust me, you'll thank me for it later."

Ember then continued to walk forward as Ben grumbled before he and Judy followed her again, unaware that Hexifer was perking its head to the side curiously before flying in closer to a branch above them as they talked with each other, with Ben getting agitated.

"Why is Ember being such a jerk?"

"I honestly don't know. But I appreciate you trying to find out for me."

After giving a brief smile to Judy, Ben looked back up ahead to Ember as he glared at her. A few seconds later, Judith spoke up again.

"You have to admit, though. She's not... completely wrong."

Ben turned back sharply to Judy, thinking she must be taking Ember's side for how she treated Luz.

"What are you trying to say, Judy?"

"It's just… don't get me wrong, the way Ember handled that conversation was totally unnecessary. But it doesn't mean she's wrong about her situation. Selling bottles of junk to people isn't exactly teaching her magic. And if Luz wants to be a witch, I think she'd have to fight for it."

Sadly, Ben couldn't argue with that. Luz must know at some point that she can't sit and wait for something magical to happen. She had to make it happen herself. And though he never read the book, Ben was certain that chosen one or not, Azura would have done the same. At least, that was the vibe she gave him.

"Yeah… maybe."

Just then, a monstrous roar echoed in the forest, catching the trio's attention as she raised up her left hand, causing the two of them to stop where they stood before Ember scoped around for where the sound came from. At the same time, Ben practically had flashbacks from that beast's roar. He'd heard it before, from when he first came to the Boiling Isles. He considered himself lucky the beast didn't find him appetizing. Now that he's heard it again, he's afraid it might change its mind this time. Judy took notice of his worried face and began to get concerned for him.

"Ben, what's wrong?"

"We have to get out of here, now."

Ember turned back to Ben, believing that he was beginning to chicken out on her task. And she wasn't going to have it.

"Oh, no. If you think I'm going to let you wuss out, you better think twice."

Just then, the roar came again, this time, louder than before. Ben, Judy, and Ember looked up at the sky to see a silhouette of the monster flying above them. Ben looked back to Ember as he reiterated his words.

"I mean, we have to get out of this spot!"

Ben was on the right track. In a short moment, the beast began to fly down towards them, only for the group to jump away from each other just when the beast would have landed on them. Upon impact, it created a smokescreen of dust around it, forcing Judy and Ben to hold up their arms and block out the dust while Ember kept her eyes closed. When the dust had cleared away, Judy's glasses were covered in dust, unfortunately.

"Oh, come on!"

Judy got her glasses off of her face before wiping them on her black dress. And when she finished cleaning them up, she put them back on to see a surprising sight. As the beast gazed at Ben and Ember, both of which were recovering from the shockwave, Judy made a gasp of surprise, as if she'd recognized the beast in particular.

"I know you…"

At the same time, Ben and Ember looked back at the beast to see it headed towards them, much to the former's worry. The last time it came this close, it rejected him. But since he wasn't covered in mud, it might give him a try, which was something Ben didn't want it to consider. Ben looked to his hands, thinking about giving them one more try to use that same magic blast he used on his father.

"Okay, maybe you bailed on me before, but you better not do that to me now… come on!"

Ben held his hands out, trying to use his magic blast again. But sadly, like last time, nothing happened. Ben was becoming irritated as he shouted.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

The beast turned to his angry shout and walked closer to him as he called out to it, though he's fairly certain it wouldn't understand him.

"Hey, hey! You better not eat me! I've had enough shit to deal with today!"

The instant he said this, the beast only sat down in front of them, puzzling Ben and Judy.

"Huh?"

"It just stopped…"

Ember, on the other hand, didn't waste a moment to take matters into her own hands. She got up on top of the beast before wrangling it, using her left arm as a whip that wrapped around its mouth, using it as a leash of sorts as the beast hopped about, trying to shake her off like it was a rodeo. As Ben and Judy looked on in shock, Ember looked over to Judy, hoping she'd get the idea.

"Judy, now would be a good time for you to help!"

Judy nodded to Ember before making a silver circle with her right hand. And almost instantly afterwards, it shot a barrage of silver ropes that wrapped themselves around the beast. The monster flailed about while Judy tried to reign it in. However, the beast proved too strong for the ropes themselves as he tried to use his wings to fly away, barely succeeding. However, in its haste, Judy ended up being pulled along with it. Seeing her about to lose her grip, or worse, fly off with it, Ben tried to help Judy hold on as he grabbed onto the white rope and pulled along with her.

"I gotcha, Judy!"

Judy looked back at Ben again with a blush as she shouted.

"It's Judy! But keep pulling!"

Sadly, even his help wasn't enough. The beast managed to break through several of Judy's ropes, leaving only one around its neck. And as it flew, Judy and Ben were pulled along with it! As they were dragged along with the beast, Hexifer saw the debacle and flew on after them.

While they flew into the air, Ben and Judy were grasping firmly onto the rope they managed to hold onto while the former of the two closed his eyes to shield from the force of the wind blowing right at him.

"Great! Now what?"

There weren't many options for the two of them to have in their situation. The two of them were dangling helplessly while Ember did her best to reign in the beast. All Ben and Judy could do was hold onto the only rope that stuck onto the beast, or else they'd fall and lose the beast and Ember. Still, Judy knew better than to let herself dangle helplessly. She saw how far the rope trailed up to the beast before she replied.

"Now, we climb up!"

Ben felt the task to be insane at the rapidly increasing height they're going.

"Are you crazy?!"

Judy looked down to Ben as she yelled back at him.

"Do you have a better idea?!"

Judy then proceeded to climb up on the rope, making sure her grip was strong enough for her not to slip. Ben made a small frown as he admitted the truth.

"No."

Ben then began to climb up after Judith as on the top of the beast, Ember was having trouble trying to get a good grip. Her right arm was used to reign in the beast, but with the beast resisting her, it was getting difficult to steer the thing, especially when it was trying to shake her off.

"Ugh, why won't you stop resisting?! Heel!"

Ember tried to pull up with her long arm as she gave a grunt, but that earned a pained reaction from the beast as the thorns on her arm ended up digging into its beak, making it flail even worse from the pain. In the process, Ben and Judy ended up swinging around the beast, desperately holding onto their rope as the human began to slip back to the end. With the two flailing about into view with their rope, Judy tried to get her attention as she waved to her.

"Ember! Can you try slowing it down?!"

"I'm trying, but this stupid thing won't listen to me!"

Ben looked down at the length of a rope, seeing that it had gotten quite large with how much they've climbed upon it. And at the length of it, it seemed long enough to make a lasso on one of the forest's tree branches. The problem was, he can't pinpoint what branch to use it on without risking a smack from it. Unless… Judy made those ropes before. Who's to say she can't make them again?

"Judy, I think I just got an idea!"

"Well, what is it?"

"I need you to come down so I can hold onto you!"

Judy's eyes furrowed into a glare, thinking he was just trying to abandon ship with her.

"That is a terrible plan."

"No, really! I need you to make another rope to hook onto one of the branches! We'll pull on both of them and hopefully slow it down!"

The idea was strangely sound, but in their situation, Judith accounted for the worst-case scenario.

"Would that even work?! What if I fall?!"

"That's why I'm holding onto you! So you won't fall! I promise!"

Judy still had an inside look on her face. She didn't know if she should trust his word, seeing as she just met him. Although, in that brief time they had, he stuck up for her and saved her from Scab. If there was a chance he'd keep his promise, she had to take it.

"Alright, but you better not let go, okay?"

"I won't!"

Judy then took a deep breath before closing her eyes and let herself slip down the rope before stopping just beside Ben and held her hand out to Ben, which he took before she looked into his eyes, still feeling unnerved about it.

"You're sure you won't let me go?"

Ben nodded to her strongly before she looked back down and her grip lessened on the rope until… she fell. But before she could plummet, Ben's grasp held tightly onto her, making her gasp as she saw the trees above her, as well as their branches. But not a lot of them were visible through their leaves. Judy looked back up to Ben as he recalled his promise.

"See? Told you I won't let you fall."

Judy made a small smile to Ben, and a tiny blush to go with it before looking back down to the trees. For what seemed to be a whole mile, there wasn't anything to hook onto.

"It's not good. There isn't anything to grab."

Just then, Ben and Judy heard squawking from far away. They looked behind them to see the white bord flying at them with its yellow eyes fixed on them. Judy made a warm smile as she recognized the totem animal.

"Hexifer!"

Ben became puzzled by the name.

"Wait, Hexi-what?"

"Hexifer! He can help us!"

Hexifer flew up closer to Judy before she spoke to it.

"Hexifer, do you think you can help us reign this thing in?"

Hexifer gave her a nod before Judith made another silver ring and wrapped a rope around it. Of course, Judith was still worried about whether or not Hexifer could manage the task.

"Just be careful. If you can't handle it, let go, okay? I'd never hear the end of it from mom if you got broke."

Hexifer nodded to her again before it flew in the opposite direction until… SNAP! The rope got tightened on Hexifer's end while Ben and Judith held tightly onto their own rope, stopping the beast in its tracks as Ember pulled harder on her own leash. The beast was still in pain, but its strength was giving out. Ember had been tiring it out, even before Hexifer's rope was taut. But the beast's strength was finally waning, especially with the vines from the trees wrapped around its body from the crash. Unfortunately, so was their captors'.

Ben could feel his grip slipping away from his rope as he held strongly onto Judy and his end of the rope as tight as he could. And Hexifer appeared to be… cracking. Its white body was beginning to show bright blue cracks. Judy noticed it and became scared to death.

"Hexifer!"

Hexifer looked back to Judy and Ben before its eyes glowed bright blue, enveloping Ben in that same light as well. The human looked on in astonishment and surprise before he was suddenly pulling the rope itself!

"What the…? Am I doing that again?"

Whatever he was doing, it was working. The rope seemed to pull the beast away from the direction it was trying to fly towards. A few more seconds afterwards, its flap of the wings began to slow as it sank to the ground. Ben, Judy, and Ember had to prepare for the worst as they closed their eyes and braced their crash through the trees and to the ground, creating another explosion of dust.

When the dust had gone away, Ben and Judy were on the ground beside each other while Ember was panting on top of the beast they had managed to conquer.

"It serves you right… you beast."

As Ben and Judy recovered, they looked at each other, wondering if they had gotten hurt badly from the impact.

"Are you alright, Ben?"

"Yeah. Are you okay, Judy?"

Judy smiled at him as she answered.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks."

However, she hadn't forgotten who must've taken the worst of it.

"Wait. What about Hexifer?"

To answer, they heard a squawking sound behind them. They turned to the source, expecting to see a broken and battered wood-carved raven. But instead, they saw a cracked, but not out wood-carved raven. Hexifer had barely managed to survive the tug of war as a large crack was seen diagonally over its frame, but all the same it didn't look displeased. Judy ran over to it out of worry.

"Hexifer! Thank goodness, you're okay. I thought I was gonna lose you…"

Hexifer only squawked back at her in what must've been reassurance before Ben caught up to her.

"So, not that I don't appreciate the help, but what is Hexifer, anyway?"

Judy looked up at Ben to answer him before she answered him.

"He's a Palisman. Well, my mom's Palisman. She must've sent him to keep an eye on us."

Hexifer squawked in confirmation before he sighed. Of course, given the history between humans and witches, she wouldn't trust him with her daughter. He hasn't met her, but he had a feeling that she wouldn't take humans any lightly than Ember did.

"Or maybe to get rid of me…"

Hexifer looked back at Ben with a slight glare before Judy noticed and scolded the Palisman.

"Watch it, Hexifer. Ben's not a monster. He helped save my life back there. You saw that, too."

Hexifer made a slight squawk of defeat before Ember hopped off of the beast and admired her trophy before turning back to Judy and Ben.

"At last. It's all mine… And I couldn't have done it without you."

Ben felt it was an odd thing to say with the fact that she asked for their help.

"Well… yeah. It seemed pretty established."

But Judy caught onto her tone and felt something… off about it. And it had occurred to her that they never got the chance to ask why she needed their help to capture it. But upon laying eyes on the creature, Judith began to piece it together.

"Ember, that beast you were hunting… you never told us it was a Hippogriff."

Ben became confused as he looked back at the tired and worn out creature.

"A Hippogriff? What's that?"

Ben looked over at the creature as Judith explained.

"They're a very rare species in the Boiling Isles. There used to be so many of them. But the Demon Hunters nearly drove them to extinction a long time ago. I still wonder why they'd do that to such a majestic creature."

As Judy told him this, Ben noticed the condition of the creature. He didn't pay much attention to that last time he encountered it, but he noticed the scars on its body, as well as the recent scratches from Ember's thorny arm. But a dead giveaway of its harsh treatment over what must have been years was a large gash stretching from the stomach to the chest. The scar itself appeared as though it had been there for decades. Ben felt very bad for the poor thing and wanted to comfort it, but Judy, keeping in mind a potentially hostile nature that must've festered over the years, recommended against it.

"Wait, Ben. Don't get too close. It'd kill you if it could."

Ben still cautiously went toward the Hippogriff as he replied.

"But it's too tired to do that. Besides, I just wanna help it."

While Ben walked towards the creature, Judy looked back to Ember, wondering about her reason for capturing the Hippogriff.

"And what about you? How come you wanted to catch the Hippogriff? You know how rare they are."

Ember gave her a nod as she replied.

"The fact that they're so rare is exactly why I needed to catch it. Once Bonesborough hears about my triumph- well, our triumph- the whole town will finally forget that Blight ever existed."

Judy began to piece it together from the inflection of anger upon the mention of Blight. While Ben stopped in his tracks and looked back, having overheard Ember's reasoning, the Hippogriff looked at him, as well as the scene behind him as Judy felt as though she'd been used.

"So, that's why you needed our help? You just wanted to get back at Amity?"

Ember only crossed her arms before she added to her answer.

"It's a perk, at best. But what I'm really here for…"

In that moment, Ember's right hand began to wrap itself in vines, traveling all the way down to her wrist as she replied with a arm was also spiked up in places, especially her nails, now turned into claws.

"... is its blood."

Judy made a shocked gasp as she stared at its disgiguration. She looked as though she'd seen a ghost.

"Those vines… and that durability from earlier. You've used Abomination and Plant magic?!"

Ben heard the tone of fear in her voice and became puzzled.

"Uh, why does that sound like a bad thing?"

"Because it is! What did you do to yourself, Ember?!"

"You spend 8 years by yourself, you pick up a thing or two. That said, I've waited long enough for this…"

Suddenly, Ember ran with a yell towards it.

"Ember, no!"

However, Ben got in-between Ember and the Hippogriff, shielding it from the madwoman as his arms were outstretched. This act only infuriated the Witch as Ben tried to change her mind.

"You can't do this! It's been through too much already!"

Ember only tensed her hand sprouting thorns all over as she replied coldly to Ben.

"You could never understand what I've been through to get this far!"

"Oh, yeah? Try me."

But Ember wasn't in the mood to talk. She only growled in anger before she used her vine-arm to whack Ben away before walking towards the Hippogriff and raising her hand to deal the finishing blow.

"Don't worry. I will make this quick."

However, before she could attempt it, Hexifer flew at Ember before pulling on her hair as a blue glow came over it. While she was occupied, Judy leapt at Ember, knocking her to the ground while pinning her knife-wielding arm down, forcing her to drop the knife as she grunted.

"What happened to you, Ember?! You were never like this eight years ago!"

Ember pushed Judy off of her with her vine arm before pinning Judy down next as she snapped back in a blend of anger and sadness.

"Why would you care?! You weren't even there when I needed you!"

Judy responded with a kick, pushing Ember off of her before she stood up and spoke to her again.

"Well, I'm here now! Just talk to me, Ember, and I can help you!"

Ember only glared harder at her, sitting up from the ground where she fell as she retorted.

"If you really wanna help, then give me its blood!"

Ember lurched her vine arm right at Judy's shoulder, firing a thorn from her palm and stabbing right through her as a pained and agonizing yell came out of her mouth. Ben's eyes widened in terror as he saw Judy holding on to her shoulder as she bled out from the attack. The sight of the one witch he'd met in the Boiling aisles being hurt was something he couldn't stomach… any more than he could watch his father hurting his sister.

Ben trembled on the ground, feeling the frustration and helplessness building up inside him. He couldn't let Ember get away with hurting his friend… no real friend of Judy's would ever do that. She had to pay…! Ember was holding her hand out to Judy, aiming right at her forehead with a look in her eyes that was crazy with desperation.

"It didn't have to be this way, Judy…! But you left me no choice…"

Judy could only stare into the eyes of her former friend with tears in her eyes as she spoke as coldly as she did solemnly.

"You always had a choice, Ember… When did you stop making the right one?"

Ember's eyes widened, losing what remained of her composure as she began to shed a tear in her eye. She turned her head away for a moment and closed them as she began to tell out in anger, lurching her claw right at her! Judy closed her eyes and waited for the end to come, for the claw to pierce her whole body. But it never came… When Judy opened her eyes again, she saw Ben standing in front of her. But he was different from before. He… he wasn't even human anymore.

Ben had a dark blue glow flowing around his whole body, radiating a deadly heat from it. Judy could feel it from the few inches she had apart from him, but she was astounded. As for Ember, she was at the full brunt of his mercy, assuming there was such a thing. All she could see was a pair of ghoulish blue eyes staring dead-straight into her very soul, and the grip of his bare hand crushing her wrist. And he had a look that told her he was done messing around. In short… Ember was screwed.

"Stay… the hell away… FROM MY FRIEND!"

With that vicious roar, Ben tore off Ember's arm completely before it fell to the floor with black blood spilling out onto the floor as Ember screamed in pain while clutching to her severed arm. Amidst her pained screams, Judy looked at the black blood that was left out on the floor. She had a look of terror on her face as she witnessed such a gruesome image.

Ben was no stranger to blood, especially his own, but even he was caught off-guard. He dropped out of this otherworldly state as quickly as he did Ember's arm and went over to Judy, who was petrified as Ember began to scream even worse with her arm beginning to grow back as an overgrowth, her vine-arm returning in place of her lost arm as she began breathing erratically with tears in her eyes. Then, Ember began to show a look of sadness as Judy looked upon her miserable state.

"Ember… I'm sorry. I didn't know…"

Before Judy could finish, Ember showed a look of anger before she roared in anger while forging an orange and black ring from her finger, followed by a blinding light that forced Ben and Judy to cover their eyes. When the glare had gone away, Ember was gone. Ben looked around for any sign of her, but there wasn't any to be found.

"She's gone. I think…"

While Ben looked around in caution, Judy held her head down in shame, staring at the limp arm of Ember he'd torn out. The more she stared at it, the more Judy began to see why Ember was never seen for eight years.

"So that's what happened to you… you weren't combining magic. You were…"

Ben saw the dismal look on Judy's face. He couldn't understand why she'd feel bad for a psycho who tried to kill her best friend, let alone a creature nearly driven to extinction.

"Uh, what happened, exactly?"

Judy looked back to Ben before gesturing to the pool of black blood beside her cut off arm.

"Ember wanted the Hippogriff's blood because… she was cursed."

Ben didn't quite like the sound of that, especially if it made her this sad.

"Cursed? How?"

Judy stared at the arm for a moment before she looked at Ben, still terrified by his effort to save her.

"Tell me first, Ben. Are you… are you sure you're human?"

Ben looked at his hands, which flickered blue sparks from when he attacked Ember. It happened again… and at the worst time, when Judy was hurt. How could he answer the question he couldn't figure out the answer to in the first place? He tried a few times to call on it, but after each use, which was only twice, it always left him with more questions than answers.

"I… I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me."

Judy looked at his hands and held them close, speaking softly.

"I really can't…"

Ben held his head down. He should've known that it was a long shot that he'd know anyone in the Boiling Isles who could help him, whether it was to get back home or to help him with whatever was going on with him.

"Oh… I'm guessing you can't help me back home, either."

Judy looked at Ben with a perplexed expression.

"What?"

"I read what the book said. Back at the library. The piece that brought me here was part of that door. But it was destroyed a long time ago. Which means… I'm on my own here. Thanks for trying, Judy."

Judy gave him a sympathetic look as she tried to smile as best she could. He did save her life twice. The least she could do is help him through his.

"Ben… you're not on your own. And you're not trapped here. Luz told you about her portal, remember?"

Ben's eyes widened once he remembered her words in detail.

"That's right. She did."

"Luz said she found it in the Owl House. So you can still head back. And besides, I may not have a single idea what you did, but I know that by all accounts, it was magic you just used. So if anything… It means you're a witch. Just like me."

Ben's expression widened in surprise.

"Like you…?"

Judy corrected herself a bit with a blush.

"Well, maybe not exactly like me. But the point is, you're not on your own. Whatever you're going through, I promise I'll help you. Okay?"

Ben couldn't help but smile fondly at Judy. He heard those kinds of words from his brother, Kyle. He thought he was on his own back in the Human Realm. But Kyle always had his back. And now, it was Judy's turn. He held her hands as he spoke softly.

"Okay. Thank you, Judy."

Judy nodded back to Ben before the Hippogriff moaned far away. She went closer to the Hippogriff with Ben following her, assuming the worst to come out of it as he spoke to her in worry.

"You're not actually gonna kill it, are you?"

Judy stopped for a moment before she sighed and closed her eyes. Then, she knelt down to the vines and cut them away before they went away from the beast before doing a small silver circle and creating a makeshift flask and placing it gently onto the Hippogriff before a drop of its blood, leaking from its recent gash on its body from the crash landing, went inside the flask and she placed a bottle stopper on top of it before she turned back to Ben.

"Of course I wouldn't. I'm not that kind of Witch."

Ben gave her a soft smile as he went over to her and hugged her before the Hippogriff made a low grumble. Ben didn't like to see the Hippogriff in any pain, either. He placed his hand gently on its fur and rubbed it as he spoke gently to it.

"Hey, uh… sorry about the whole trying to capture you thing. If I knew, I… I would've stayed away."

Just then, Ben noticed something bizarre as he looked at the gash on its body. It was starting to fade away! Ben turned to Judy as he spoke up in surprise.

"Uh, Judy? Do Hippogriff wounds just… disappear?"

Judy looked at the wound she got the blood from before noticing the surprising change herself. In a moment, the Hippogriff began to weakly stand up before coming up strong as its wings stretched outward and made a screech like an eagle's. The Hippogriff looked back to Ben with a glare of sorts before it leaned its face to him, making him a bit nervous before it spoke to him in a deep voice.

"Thanks…"

Ben was a bit unnerved by the voice before he answered back with a smile.

"Uh, sure. Anytime."

Judy smiled at Ben, though she was puzzled by the fact that he somehow understood it.

"Wait, you actually speak Hippogriff?"

Ben became puzzled by her question.

"What do you mean? Didn't you hear it talking just now?"

Judy only shook her head.

"No."

"Huh. Weird."

Ben and Judy looked back to each other before the latter became curious. They had previously come here to capture the Hippogriff, but instead, they've helped free it. This left the two of them with practically nothing much else to do.

"So, now what?"

Then, Ben had an idea. He wondered how Luz was holding up since Ember told her off for being optimistic. Rather than let her dreams get crushed, Ben had to do something to cheer her back up. And luckily, the answer was literally towering over him as he made a smile to the beast.

"So, think you can give me and Judy a ride to a friend?"


Later, Ben and Judy (with Hexifer on her lap) were riding on top of the Hippogriff, soaring through the skies as they cheered through the adrenaline rush the speed of the Hippogriff gave them.

"Whoo-hoo!"

"Yeah! This is way better than flying by the rope!"

Judy began to giggle in delight as Ben gave his two cents.

"Those Greek mythology books can eat their hearts out!"

Judy overheard his turn of phrase and became confused.

"Wait, your books actually have hearts in the Human Realm?"

Ben looked back to Judy, baffled that she'd even come up with such a thing. Then again, she was pretty new to the Human Realm, especially since she had never been there.

"It's just a figure of speech, Judy. Don't worry about it."

In a moment, they saw the astounding view of the Boiling Isles. Ben saw it before on top of one of the trees, but the view from on top of their beast surely trumped the last time he saw the whole town, especially with the sunset just above the horizon.

"Wow. Just when I thought the view couldn't get any better."

Ben would've enjoyed the view more, but then, he and Judy heard a feminie scream from below. The scream sent a slight chill to his bones, for the voice that screamed sounded all too familiar.

"Wait. That sounded like…"

Ben's eyes nearly popped out of his head once he realized who was screaming. And Judy didn't need to see the look on his face to see what was wrong as she guessed who made the scream herself.

"It's Luz!"

Ben didn't want to imagine what kind of horror awaited Luz, especially since she found out for herself how terrible the Boiling Isles really was.

"We've gotta go help her!"

As it happened, the Hippogriff overheard Ben's request before it did a nose dive towards the direction the scream came from, forcing Ben and Judith to hold onto its body to keep from falling as they screamed like they were on a roller coaster. As the Hippogriff descended, however, the mist began to settle around them as it kept its gaze on the ground. When it came into view past the trees, the Hippogriff spread out its wings before pulling up and running onto the ground, slowing to a stop as it trotted along the ground by degrees. When the Hippogriff had fully stopped, it was in front of a stone gate. Ben and Judith opened their eyes to see the gate themselves. Then, Ben turned to the Hippogriff before he spoke.

"Uh, thanks. But it would've helped if you warned us first."

Aside from that, Ben and Judy, who placed Hexifer on top of her shoulder, hopped off of the Hippogriff and ran past the stone gate as Luz, King, and two more figures came into view as silhouettes. Fearing the worst, Ben shouted to her.

"Don't worry, Luz! We're here to help you!"

But the deeper they went past the gate, the more the figures became clearer, and the more they began to slow down to a walk. By the time they stopped their running, Ben and Judy were met with not only Luz and King, but with two more Witches. One of them was a tall, slender woman who appeared to be in her forties with ivory skin, pointed ears, maroon lips, and golden eyes. Her untamed hair was thick, long, and layered with two tones of gray. She also had a screw-in golden fang that stuck out like a sore thumb, orange claw-like nails, and an oval amber gem on her sternum. As for her clothes, she wore a sleeveless two-tone maroon dress with a ripped hem design and gray leggings. Her jewelry consisted of two orange spherical earrings and an amber spherical ring, and for footwear, she wore maroon high-heeled boots. But her partner was different.

They were a middle-aged witch with medium brown skin and mint-green hair with white streaks on the bottom, as well as darker mint green eyebrows, and green eyes. For their outfit, they wore large round glasses, a gray earring on the right ear, and a long, black tunic with a maroon collar, gold trim, three gold buttons, a brown belt, crimson pants and black, knee-high boots. Judith recognized the two as she cautiously waved to them.

"Uh… Hi, Aunt Eda. Auncle Raine."

Eda smiled at Judy as she went over to her and gave her a big hug.

"Judy! How's my favorite niece doing?"

Judy felt smushed by her hug as she tried to return the hug.

"Uh, j-just fine, actually. Thanks for asking."

Eda then took notice of Hexifer on her shoulder before she ceased the hug and analyzed the raven as she had a hunch about what it meant.

"So, Lily's trying to keep an eye on you, huh?"

Judy nodded to her with a blush as she answered.

"Yeah. You know how she is. She didn't exactly trust me to be on my own."

As she answered, Eda noticed Ben beside her and became puzzled, making the boy wave nervously to her, afraid of how she'd react if she found out he was a human.

"Uh… hey."

"And who's tall, dark, and handsome?"

As Judy introduced him, she got out Ben's hand to shake with Eda's .

"Oh, his name is Ben. He's a transfer from-"

Before Judy could finish, Eda interjected and made a quick guess.

"From the Human Realm, I know."

Ben became puzzled as she looked up to her.

"Wait. You knew?"

Eda made a serious face as she spoke in an ominous tone.

"Of course I knew. I know everything…"

Ben was a bit unsettled by her tone, only for Eda to break the tension with a snort before laughing as she told him how she really knew he was a human.

"I'm just yanking your chain, kid. Actually, Luz told us about you. Said something about you being the only one who understood her."

Ben looked over to Luz, who made a sad smile as she did a wave before Eda spoke to him again with intrigue.

"From the sound of it, you seem pretty okay to me, kid."

Ben made a relieved laugh as he brushed the back of his head with a slight blush.

"Really? Uh, thanks, Ms. Eda."

At that moment, Raine noticed Ben's blush and turned to Eda.

"Goodness. Is that how I look when I'm blushing?"

Eda only shook her head before answering.

"No. It's way worse."

Raine began to blush even worse as they began to stutter in nervousness before Eda gave them a soft noogie on the head and made a small laugh.

"Just kidding. You actually look cute that way. You always do."

Raine began to make a bashful face as Judy and Ben checked up on Luz. They only arrived at the end of what must have been an eventful spectacle, seeing as Luz was just delivering bottles of junk the last time they saw her. The location was quite a shift, to say the least.

"What about you, Luz? Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah. What's happened to you since we left?"

Luz made a sad sigh before she spoke solemnly.

"Well, I decided to take Ember's advice. After that, I met this wizard named Adegast, and I got to go on my own quest. With all the people I met, I felt really appreciated, but then…"

Luz paused for a moment as her head hung down and held onto her right elbow before continuing on.

"It turned out to be a lie. Adegast was actually a puppeteer who tried to use me to get to Eda. All that trouble because I wanted to feel special…"

Ben and Judy felt bad for Luz as he went over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder before he and Judy expressed their condolences.

"We're really sorry it happened to you, Luz."

"We hope it didn't ruin your experience in the Boiling Isles."

Luz looked at the two, a smile beginning to form on her face before she spoke again in a tone that told them she was still saddened by all that happened to her.

"Thanks, guys. But if anything, I'm just… confused."

Raine had an idea as to what Luz was getting at as they spoke to her.

"Are you thinking about giving up on being a witch?"

"What else could I do? This place is nothing like I imagined."

Eda noticed the sad look on Luz's face. She didn't like to see it any more than her own niece and her human friend did. That's when she had an idea. She put on a smile before she spoke up.

"Maybe not here. But come on. Raine and I have got something to show you."

Raine became puzzled for a moment.

"We have?"

Eda looked at them before clearing her throat. In a short while, they caught onto the idea and played along.

"Oh. Right."

Eda looked back to Ben and Judy as she spoke.

"Sorry, kiddos, but you two have got to stay behind, unless you've got your own ride here."

Ben and Judy looked back to their Hippogriff, only to find King asserting his "authority" upon it.

"I am the King of Demons, you majestic monstrosity! And you will obey me!"

The Hippogriff only leaned towards King before he began to sniff at him, puzzling King for a moment before he quickly got irritated.

"Weh? H-Hey, cut it out! I am not your food!"

Ben then gave Eda a smile as he crossed his arms.

"As a matter of fact, we have."


Later, Ben and Judy were riding on top of the Hippogriff while Luz rode on top of a staff with an owl perched on top of it with Eda, King, and Raine riding alongside her as Judy's auncle held onto the blindfolded human before they got to a high enough distance. Eda then spoke up to Luz with a smirk.

"Okay, you can look."

Luz took off the blindfold she wore with Raine making sure she was secure, only to find the most beautiful view she'd ever seen.

"Whoa!"

Ben gave Luz a smile as he spoke up to her.

"I know. I was pretty surprised to find out it was made from a giant skeleton."

Eda looked over to Ben as she explained the Boiling Isles to him.

"Yep. That's the bones of the Isles for you. Up close, the Isles can be slimy-"

King interjected as he looked at Luz before Eda continued.

"And very stinky."

"And gross. But if you look at it from a different perspective…"

The group looked up to the sky above the giant skull, where stars were beginning to appear. As they watched, a shooting star crossed the sky, though it was for only a moment. Regardless, Luz was mystified by the beauty of it.

"It's beautiful."

King couldn't agree more as he leaned against Luz.

"Yeah."

Ben made a light smile himself as he gazed out to the horizon with Judy by his side, making Luz smile at the sight of the two of them together. However, she still appeared to be curious as she turned to Eda, hoping she could answer her.

"Eda, how did you know that wizard was lying?"

"Look, kid, everyone wants to believe they're 'chosen'. But if we all waited around for a prophecy to make us special, we'd die waiting. And that's why you need to choose yourself."

Luz had a look of hope beaming onto her face before she asked Eda one more question on her mind.

"Does that mean you'll give me a magic staff of my own?"

Eda laughed gently before responding to her.

"Not yet. But... someday."

Luz leaned against Eda as they watched the sun continue to set. At the same time, Ben became curious about Luz's goal. If she did find her way to the Boiling Isles, then why wouldn't she go back home? She must have someone who missed her. Then, it occurred to him that nobody really liked Luz enough to want her for her antics. Her mother and Mr. Darwin both felt it best to send her to summer camp. He began to frown, feeling bad for the girl as he looked at her.


Later, Ben and Judy followed Luz, Eda, Raine, and King to a place called the Owl House, a precise if not too imaginative name. It was a large house made from white brick with a sloping blue roof. It also had a stained glass window above the door that gave the impression of a large orange demon eye. There was also a crumbling stone tower with orange moss growing on it, located to the rear left of the house. Ben couldn't believe that Luz had been staying there before he saw her again. It appeared as though he wasn't wrong about her getting a welcome wagon. Luz hopped off of the staff before Eda, Raine, and King did the same and headed back inside with the first of the trio sounding off.

"Well, time for my last Appleblood of the day."

Raine didn't think it wise as they gave her their opinion.

"I think you've had more than enough today, Eda."

Luz, Judy, King, and Ben followed them inside as the boy widened his eyes. He saw there were candles lit around the living room, as well as a decorative mural at the ceiling that appeared to be a giant owl with one glowing eye at the center of its face.

"No way…! This is where you've been, Luz?!"

Luz saw the shock and awe on his face and smirked.

"Yeah. Jealous?"

Judy giggled at Luz's reply before Ben recalled her words.

"Okay, a little… but what about that portal you talked about? The one that got you here? Was it… destroyed?"

Suddenly, Eda made a snicker and began to laugh her heart out, much to Ben's confusion.

"Ah, that's a good one. But no. The portal's not gone, kid. It's still here."

Ben had his doubts, considering that Eda had Luz go around doing "errands" to learn magic.

"Yeah, no offense, but I'll believe it when I…"

As if predicting what he was about to say, Eda pulled a small suitcase out of her hair and tossed it to the air. The suitcase folded itself to a door and opened up, showing a doorway back to the Human Realm.

"…see it."

Eda closed the suitcase as she explained.

"I usually use this thing to get treasures from the human realm. Treasures like… these!"

Eda pulled out various items from her bag near the couch and showed them off, ranging from a flip-flop to a deodorant, and even to a mini-tv. Ben and Luz gave her flat looks as the former spoke to her.

"Eda, I worry what you think is treasure in the human realm."

Luz patted Ben on his shoulder as she reassured him.

"Don't worry, Ben. I've been teaching Eda a lot about the Human Realm since I got here. Eda's been trying to pawn off some of the stuff to make snails."

Ben raised his eyebrows, confused by the term.

"Snails?"

Judy walked up to him and explained the term as she showed him a coin with a picture of a snail on it.

"It's the currency in the Boiling Isles."

Judy flipped the coin with her thumb before it landed on his hand, showing the snail smiling at him.

"Huh. And what does Raine do?"

Raine started to blush, put under an immense pressure of having to show off their talent in front of him.

"I… I-I can do…"

Before Raine could go on, however, Eda cut him short.

"Whoa, take it easy, Rainestorm. Sorry you had to see that. They don't deal with crowds too well. And you know what they say: three's a crowd. We're still working on it."

Ben felt it was a bit off, but he didn't quite know all the rules.

"Okay…"

With that, Eda sat down on the couch, already getting the hint about where it was going to go.

"So, if you're looking to stay here, kid, this place is already booked. I've already got Luz sleeping in the storage room. Works quite well with it, actually."

Ben was a bit puzzled by her dismissive attitude.

"Uh…"

At that moment, Judy spoke up beside him.

"Actually, I was thinking he could stay at my dad's place."

Eda nearly fell backwards from the couch just hearing the suggestion.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're actually suggesting that place?"

Ben didn't know the situation he was in, but the stunted tone in the Owl Lady's voice made him a bit anxious, too.

"Uh, what place?"

"Clawthorne Manor. My dad earned it from yours, if you remember, Aunt Eda."

Eda only crossed her arms and grumbled to herself.

"More like he pawned it off of me…"

Raine overheard Eda's voice and chimed in.

"Eda, he won fair and square. You flipped the table and said it was an earthquake."

"It was an earthquake! How come you never keep your mouth shut with stuff like that…?"

Raine only made a gentle laugh before Eda grumbled a bit, only to laugh a little bit herself. After the exchange, Judy explained.

"Anyway, if my dad can help with your magic, Ben, it's him."

Ben started to get anxious, wondering what call he should make.

"Well… I don't know."

Luz listened in on what Judy said to him and got overexcited.

"Wait. You have magic?! Does that mean you have a secret connection to the Boiling Isles? Have you been a witch since you were born?!"

Ben backed up, not sure what to say to her. He could tell her to back off, but he knew it wasn't necessarily her fault. She apparently didn't know what being the only human in the demon realm really meant. Just then, Eda spoke up.

"Oh, please. The day I find out a human can do magic is the next day I teach Luz how to do magic herself."

Luz gasped with excitement as she held her hands over her chest.

Judy went up to Eda with a big smile on her face.

"Actually, about that…"

Judy formed a big spell circle before she drew two lines in front of it, making it seem like a pause icon. Judy tapped on the icon before it started to rewind to the sequence when Ben confronted Ember, holding her hand with a fierce blue glow in her eyes before tearing her arm off. Eda's eyes widened in complete surprise at what Judy showed her, as did Raine and Luz.

"Oh. Well, I'll be jinxed. Okay, Luz. You'll get your lesson tomorrow night."

Luz squealed in joy before she ran up to Ben and squeezed him.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Ben could barely breathe in her grasp.

"Too tight…! Too tight…!"

King laughed at Ben's "misery" as he spoke to him.

"Yes! That's exactly how it feels!"

Ben didn't need to hear any of that. And he especially didn't need to hear any thanks from Luz, he thought. What right did she have to hug him when she's the one who put his brother in the hospital?! How could she just carry on like it never happened?! With those thoughts flooding his mind, Ben pushed Luz away as he shouted in a distorted voice.

"JUST GIVE ME SOME SPACE, DAMN IT!"

Luz, King, Eda, King, and Raine had alarmed looks on their faces, apart from Judy. After a tense moment, which Ben used to calm himself down, Eda broke the silence.

"Okay, first: What? Second: The hell?"

Ben tried to take a deep breath as Judy tried to explain.

"That's why he needs to see my dad. I'm no expert, but that is not normal for a human."

Once Ben was calm, he turned to Luz, feeling guilty for pushing her the way he did.

"I'm so sorry, Luz... I really don't know what came over me."

Luz only gave Ben a soft smile.

"It's okay. I know it wasn't on purpose. And besides, you got your way back home now."

Ben looked at the portal first, then to everyone else. His face began to have a sad countenance as he spoke sadly.

"Luz, Eda... I appreciate it, but... I can't go back. Not like this. I don't know what's going on with me or how I'm doing it. If I go back like this now, I... I might end up hurting more people, like I almost hurt you. I just can't take that risk. So... I'm staying here, where I can figure out what's wrong with me and get back to normal."

Luz walked over to Ben having an anxious look on her face.

"Are you sure it's what you want, Ben? What if it could help people, like you helped Judy?"

Ben held his hand on his arm, as if trying to restrain himself before any more outbursts happen.

"I just can't take that risk, Luz. I don't want to hurt anyone. I don't want to be a monster..."

Ben had a hurt tone as he said this. He couldn't forget the look on Sue's face when he "saved" her. It's all he could ever see... Then, Ben's thoughts were interrupted by Judy's hand on his shoulder.

"You're no monster to me. Human or otherwise, you never were a monster. Not like Ember is now. So no matter what, I'm going to help you. You can count on that."

Ben could only smile as Judy hugged him, with Luz watching the whole scene with a smile on her face.

"Aw..."

King, on the other hand, was confused.

"W-What the heck is she doing?"

Raine gave King a nudge with their foot.

"It's called a hug. It's when you let someone know they'll be okay. You'd know about that, wouldn't you, Eda?"

Eda blushed madly as she tried to deny it.

"N-No I wouldn't! You're crazy!"

Raine simply smirked as Luz giggled a bit with Ben and Judy watching as Luz hugged Eda, making her quite trapped.

"Oh, I am so uncomfortable right now..."


Moments later, Luz was about to follow them in, but then she stopped and looked at Ben with a sad smile as he hopped off the Hippogriff. Luz went up to him as she tried to speak to him.

"Do you, uh… are you sure you don't wanna stay in the Owl House? I can make some room for you."

Ben gave her a soft smile before she shook her head.

"No, it's fine. I'll figure something else out. You've been through a lot anyway."

Luz made another sigh before looking back up to the night sky.

"Yeah. I guess."

For a moment, the two looked up at the stars with Judith laying on the back of the Hippogriff as she gazed at the stars herself. After a moment of silence, Ben decided to speak to Luz about her plans.

"So, Luz. Uh… Raine said something about you wanting to be a Witch. I take it that means you're… not going home, either, are you?"

Luz made a sad sigh before she looked back to the sky.

"I don't think you'd blame me for saying 'no'. Nobody ever understood me for the way I am. Not even my mom. I mean, it's not like she hasn't tried, but… all I ever wanted was to be good at something. And when I found the Demon Realm, I thought, 'I can be a witch!' So, I jumped the gun and decided I couldn't go back until then. It's just… I feel like it's really important to me, you know?"

Ben was silent for a moment before he gave her his honest answer with a sincere smile.

"Honestly, I think you might have a better shot here than back home."

Luz smiled softly to Ben before the two of them hugged. Of course, he still had his own journey to complete. And he'd never stop until he found out what was going on with him, no matter what. It's not like he could really go anywhere in the Human Realm after what he pulled anyway. For all he knew, he must've committed Patricide! Besides, the Boiling Isles may have had a complex history with humans involved, but with recent events, he now knew, more than ever, that he is one of them. And if there was a way to get back home, he'd take it. But for now, his place is here, in the Boiling Isles.

But Judy was frankly touched by something else. She turned back to her mother's Palisman, who was sitting on her lap before she spoke gently to it.

"Hexifer… I know Mom told you to keep an eye on me, but Ben's not as heartless as everybody thinks. You saw it, too, right?"

Hexifer made a light squawk in reply before it began to hop away, only for Judy to stop it, making the white raven turn to her. She wanted her mother to know that she had questions about why she kept Ember's curse hidden from her. And she wanted them to be answered.

"Wait. Sorry. I know. It's just… Can you also tell mom that I know about Ember's curse. And I have the right to know why she shut me out of it. Can you tell her that?"

Hexifer nodded, but he didn't budge, expecting one more thing to come up from Judy.

"Oh, and maybe leave my meeting with Aunt Eda and Auncle Raine out of it? That's about it. I swear."

Hexifer nodded in agreement before it then flew off into the night as Judy looked on with a hopeful smile. With any luck, her mother would hear out her request, or if she didn't, she knew her father would. However weary he is, he was more understanding of the humans than she was. She hoped that bit about him wouldn't change as she sighed. Just then, Ben jumped on top of the Hippogriff as Eda spoke to the duo.

"Well, have fun, you crazy kids. You're gonna need plenty of it in your lifetime."

Judy blushed insanely at Eda's suggestion.

"Aunt Eda! It hasn't been that long…!"

Ben started blushing himself. Just the thought of him with her…! To be perfectly honest, it intrigued him. But even he knew it was too soon.

"And I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that! Fly, Hippogriff! Fly!"

The Hippogriff took off like a bolt of lightning to the sky as Eda, Luz, and Raine looked on. After a moment, Luz spoke softly to herself, watching with bright eyes as Ben flew off in the night sky.

"One day… I hope I'll be just like you, Eda."

Eda and Raine overheard Luz's words and smiled softly at the young girl. Then, the Clawthorne spoke just as softly to her.

"Who knows? Maybe one of these days, you will."


Meanwhile, Ben and Judy flew over the trees as the moonlight shone down on them. Ben became curious about the location.

"So, where did you say your dad's place was?"

Judy looked down over the trees and kept her gaze as she answered him.

"I know we're close. I should be right…"

As luck would have it, she saw steam coming up from the air. Judy knew exactly what it meant.

"There! Take us to that smoke!"

"Okay! Get us to the smoke, boy!"

The hippogriff snorted its nose before it flew right to where Judy saw the smoke. It didn't take long for the two of them to arrive in the general area as the creature landed on the ground and ruffled its wings. Ben and Judy jumped off of the Hippogriff to see the path that led to the front door of the mansion. He couldn't help but ask what this place even was. The young man couldn't deny how beautiful it looked with the sun shining on it. It reminded him of Autumn for some reason. But as much as he liked the scenery, he had to ask.

"So, what is this place, exactly?"

Judy could understand his curiosity. He'd never really been to the Boiling Isles before. All the same, she was surprised he hadn't guessed yet.

"It's my home. Well, technically, it's my dad's. But he lets me stay here."

Once they got to the front door, Judy grabbed the door knocker and banged on it three times. Then, suddenly, the bronze door knocker that had a Raven's face spoke on its own with an eloquent tone.

"Greetings, young witchling."

Ben was a little surprised by this, but considering it is a realm of magic, it didn't entirely scare him.

"Whoa…"

"Hey, Cawworth."

"To enter this home, answer me thus: when does the crow fly? THE CROW FLIES!"

Ben was caught off-guard by its shriek, forced to cover his ears.

"AH! Damn it…!"

"Sorry. Cawworth does that a lot."

Nevertheless, Judy cleared her throat and answered.

"The crow flies at midnight, hiding itself in the shadows."

Cawworth suddenly opened his mouth wide, revealing that the house is open to them.

"Okay, that's new."

Judy and Ben walked into the mouth before Cawworth closed his mouth and smacked his lips.

Inside the house, Ben and Judy looked around the house. The interior they stood in was quite spacious, with a couch that laid just underneath a window on their right, a large staircase that went into a spiral, and down the hall was a kitchen just past the staircase. If anything, the place reminded Ben of his own mansion, but the main difference was that it was spookier by comparison.

"Wow… quite the place you have. Does anyone else live here? Like brothers? Sisters? Butlers?"

Just as Ben finished the question, a tiny and gentle voice spoke out from up above as it was heading toward them.

"Oh, mistress Judith! I wasn't expecting you back so soon."

Ben looked to the source and saw a small being walking to him and Judy. He had pointy ears that drooped down behind him as opposed to how Judy's ears pointed up. And he also had bright blue eyes. As for his clothing, he was wearing a small grey rag that covered his chest and his lower body.

"Fidge, you don't have to call me that. It's just Judy."

"Right. My apologies. And who's he?"

Ben became flummoxed as he held his hood tight over his head.

"His name's Ben. We met at the library earlier. And he saved me from Scab, too. Ben, this is Fidge. He's a house elf that helped look after me for all these years."

Ben was a bit cautious, afraid that he'd expose his human identity, so he let one of his hands go to shake the elf's.

"It's… nice to meet you, buddy."

Fidge smiled brightly as he greeted him warmly. But he'd be lying if he said he wasn't confused by his behavior.

"It's nice to meet you, too. But why do you have your hands over your ears?"

Ben started to get worried as he stammered, trying to think of something that would convince him not to press on his identity anymore. However, Judy caught on to that and spoke up.

"He's just very sensitive about them, Fidge. He doesn't like people talking about his ears."

Fidge showed great embarrassment on his face as he tried to apologize.

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry, Master Benjamin."

"No, it's fine. Really. It's no big deal."

Judy knelt down to Fidge as she asked for the House Elf's aid.

"Fidge, we're wondering if it's alright for Ben to use one of our spare bedrooms."

Fidge smiled warmly at the girl as he responded.

"Of course! Any friend of yours is a friend of mine."


Seconds later, Fidge showed Ben his spare bedroom.

"And this is where you'll be sleeping tonight."

Ben widened his eyes in utter surprise. It was a big sized room with elegant scarlet-colored walls, polished hardwood floors, a big window on the left wall draped in black see-through curtains, and a big dark wooden dresser on the wall in front of the bed which held a big mirror on it. Ben looked down next, coming to realize he'd slept on a big fancy wooden framed bed with a red fancy curtain that went around the bed canopy. It had long drapes on each bedpost tied to it with dark green sheets, blankets, and six big white fluffy pillows. Ben couldn't believe his eyes even if he was more awake. It was a lot fancier than his old bed ever was.

The bed itself stood in the middle of the room, along with a fancy wooden desk with a few drawers and a chair next to the right side of the bed.

"No way…! You don't have to go through this trouble."

Fidge only smiled at him fondly as he replied.

"Nonsense! It's only right to treat our guests with only the best."

Ben and Judy walked into the room, the Human being enamored by the sight. As for Judy, she stared down solemnly at the poor Hippogriff who'd been through so much today. Physical wounds are one thing, but the scars to a soul is another matter entirely. Judy sighed sadly as Fidge spoke up.

"I'll inform Master Clawthorne of your presence right away."

Ben couldn't help but gulp his throat. He wasn't sure if her father's stance on humans was anything good. Nevertheless, he had to keep up appearances so as not to attract the wrong kind of attention.

"Uh, sure."

Fidge walked out of the room with an eager smile on his face before Ben turned to her.

"Uh, Judy? I think your house elf is gonna tell your dad. Is that gonna be a… problem?"

Ben saw Judy in her melancholic state as he walked over. He'd never seen her this sad and heartbroken since Ember went rogue. He wondered if it had anything to do with that.

"Are you okay, Judy?"

Judy held her hands over her arms as she spoke solemnly.

"I'm just… I'm still figuring out why Ember could do such a thing."

Ben looked down at the Hippogriff, having a pretty morbid theory in his head.

"Well, she seemed pretty interested in killing that thing. Maybe she wanted the glory?"

But the black blood that flashed on her head told her otherwise.

"It's more personal than that, Ben. The way she said it, Ember made it sound like it was her last chance…"

"What? What do you mean?"

Judy gently placed her hand on the glass before she answered.

"Ember wanted the Hippogriff's blood because… she was cursed."

Ben didn't quite like the sound of that, especially if it made her this sad.

"Cursed? How?"

Judith stared at the arm for a moment as she explained.

"It's probably none of your business, but… the Boiling Isles wasn't exactly known because witches wanted to be friends with anyone. That's why there are curses. They're mainly used for getting revenge on someone who annoyed you, or someone standing in your way, or… or broke your heart. But Ember… who knows how worse she had it? And why would someone…?"

Judith was about to continue, but she was about to be on the verge of crying with tears forming in her eyes, only for Ben to comfort her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"I should've been there for her, too..."

"Hey, hey. I don't think that was on you, Judith. You didn't know what was going on, remember? You tried to find out. Besides, it's not like you cursed her."

"But we still hurt her, Ben. Ember probably won't forgive me for what I did."

Ben hated to see her so guilty. He spoke to her in an attempt to comfort her again.

"That's her problem. She had to know that what she's doing is wrong. I mean, I don't blame her for being cursed, but what she's doing, it… it doesn't justify the fact that she was about to take away an innocent life just to fix herself. What if it didn't work? Then it would've died for nothing."

Judith then looked back at the Hippogriff that slept on the field outside before she smiled at Ben with a determined look in her eyes.

"Maybe you're right. But still… I've got to try to help her. I owe it to her… as a friend."


Meanwhile, Fidge was walking down the stairs, reaching the basement level of the house. Once he opened the door, the house elf was met with a spacious stone-walled Laboratory with bronze tubes running through the walls. There was also a small bronze-streamed fireplace connected to the other pipes, a few wooden tables full of glass test tube full of liquid chemicals and Bunsen Burners, and a few other tools on it along with a few wooden chairs near it, red wooden floors, and a brass bookshelf on one wall holding tons of dusty books. But at the center of it was a large glyph with several candles lit up around it. And within it was his master…

"Master Clawthorne, Judy has come back home! And she's brought a guest with her. And from the look of it… he's a human."

Master Clawthorne opened up his golden amber eyes, looking to Fidge in surprise.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. But he doesn't seem to mean any harm. In fact, he was rather neighborly with her."

The master picked up his Raven staff that hovered in front of him before he stood up.

"Get everything ready for tomorrow, Fidge. I want to get to know this visitor and what he's after."

Fidge bowed on respect to his master as he responded.

"As you wish, Master Clawthorne."

Fidge ran up the stairs, but not before he closed the doors. Master Clawthorne turned himself around, his back to the doors as he spoke to himself.

"So they've finally come. But did they come as friends, or foes…? Either way, I don't imagine Emperor Belos or his Coven would welcome them anytime soon."

The Master placed his Raven staff's bottom on the floor, snuffing out all the nearby candles and activating the glyph beneath him. It started to glow dark purple, its shape revealed to be a hexagram. Whatever it meant for the humans to be in the Boiling Isles, one thing was certain: it will never be the same again.

"Time for another meeting..."


Outside, as the master speculated this, Cawworth spoke to the audience again.

"And thus, our chapter ends. If you've been paying attention, it's because you're a nerd with nothing better to do. And what of Luz, you ask?"

As Cawworth explained, Luz was laying down on the bed, staring at the night lights she stuck to the ceiling.

"Well, she's begun her path to be a witch in the Boiling Isles."

Luz felt King nestling against her before she stroked the top of his skull. Unfortunately, it provoked a Re ruin out of the King of Demons.

"Weh! You're petting it wrong."

"Sorry. Should I do your back?"

"No!"

King thought about it for a moment before he conceded.

"Yes…"

Luz stroked King by his back, earning a soft grunt from him as she smiled.

Back at the manor, Cawworth finished his narration.

"And what of everyone else? Who cares? They bore the snot out of me. THE EEEEEEEEEEEEND!"

Cawworth's loud noise disturbed Judy as she opened the window and shouted.

"FOR THE LOVE OF TITAN, CAWWORTH, GO TO SLEEP!"