Chapter Nineteen
"Okay, run through it one more time?" Gus asked. Willow and Amity were listening just as intently.
"Coven Heads Raine, Darius, and Eberwolf are leading a resistance against Belos's Day of Unity," Hunter said quietly, drumming his fingers on the wood of the cafeteria table. "The Bards Against the Throne have been out of the Conformatorium for a while and keeping their heads down, and a coven scout named Steve left the coven and joined up, too."
"Isn't it suspicious that a coven scout defects the day the Owl House is raided and this group is formed?" Amity said, eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"Not this scout," Hunter said emphatically. "He's always been a good guy. Heck, he ran into me as I was defecting myself and not only didn't raise an alarm, but distracted other scouts so I could get away. He was also at Lilith's new job party thing."
"And you're just mad that Darius didn't tell you in-person about his rebel group," Gus teased.
"Maybe a little," Amity admitted sheepishly. "It's good to know for sure he's not a danger, though."
"I went to check out the Owl House earlier," Willow said, "and it was crawling with coven scouts even hours later." She sighed. "But they weren't carting Eda's stuff out, so I guess the basement is still secure."
"You didn't have to do that," Hunter said, taking her hand in his own beneath the table.
"I know. I wanted to," Willow replied with a small smile. "It's your home."
The bell screamed and everyone began gathering their trays and lunch boxes. "Titan, is that what Luz and I are like?" Amity groused lightheartedly.
"Nah, you guys are still worse," Gus replied and ran off before Amity could smack him, catching up to Mattholomule.
"We'll see you soon, Amity," Willow chirped as she led Hunter away. They waved before they were out the door and out of sight. Their pace was just a little too excited for class, even for Willow, and almost tasted of teenage hormones. They were definitely heading somewhere to be alone for a bit.
Amity smiled in their direction before removing Luz's communication device from her pocket and checking her last message. Learned a lot of bad stuff … something, something … Day of Unity … something, something … Don't do anything crazy.
"Look who's talking," Amity whispered teasingly, blushing at the string of hearts Luz had ended the message with, before shaking her head and heading for class with a determined stride that made others move out of her way. She did, however, notice Boscha and the remaining Banshees talking furtively as they cleaned their table, all of them looking worried, exasperated, or both.
"Everything okay over here?" Amity asked.
"None of your business, Blight," Boscha said, though her tone was more tired than nasty. "You wanna know? Ask your girlfriend." Amelia and Cat glared at Boscha before looking at Amity with apologetic eyes and moving along to class.
Further along, Gus was telling Mattholomule about some of the stuff that was happening. "You said his name was Steve?" Matt asked, eyes wide.
"Yeah, that's what Hunter said," Gus replied. "Why? That name mean something to you?"
"Yeah, it kinda does," Matt said with a blush. "My, uh … my older half-brother's name is Steve. And … he's a coven scout."
"Wait, whoa, hold up!" Gus said, waving his hands in front of him in surprise. "You never told me that."
"Steve's really big on keeping the family safe from blowback," Matt defended. "He asked me not to spread it around."
"Okay, fair enough," Gus decided. "You think it's the same guy?"
"Dunno," Matt grumbled. "If he did, he'd definitely keep it quiet to keep protecting us." They were quiet for a while, stewing their thoughts, until the loud speakers screeched.
"Students, please join me in the gym for an important announcement," came Principal Bump's voice over the intercom.
"What could that be about?" Matt asked.
"Can't be good," Gus surmised. "Bump sounded concerned."
"You're holding out on me," Willow sighed as Hunter kissed her neck, her fingers digging into his hair. They'd run off to the nearest entrance to the Secret Room of Shortcuts after lunch for some private time during Willow's free period. Given his grades, they decided Hunter could afford to skip a class.
"There's too much to tell now," Hunter growled. "Please, just try to relax."
Willow bit her lip and squeaked as Hunter held her hips tighter and drew her closer to him, her blush intensifying. She kissed his forehead and then his cheek right over his scar, grazing her nails over his chest. They kissed again … and then the speakers in the secret room called the principal's assembly.
"Damn it," Hunter growled. "What could it be?"
"We'll have to find out," Willow said, her breathing heavy as she brushed her fingers through Hunter's hair to straighten it. "Come on, this is the door to the gym." She took his hand and led him to a door styled after a pirate ship that opened right beside the bleachers on the stage side of the gym. Slipping out of the hidden door and closing it quietly, they merged with the crowd still hand-in-hand to find Gus, the Blight siblings who now wore multi-colored sleeves, and the others.
"Students, teachers," Bump called for attention, "allow me to introduce the esteemed-"
"Please, Principal Bump," said a cowled figure standing with him and Ms. De Ville. "I deserve no honors today." He lowered his hood to reveal a figure very familiar to Hunter, Gus, and Emira. "Good morning, everyone," said the man with tired eyes, messily coiffed hair and a five o'clock shadow, "I am Ludwig Carroll, the Head Witch of the Illusionist Coven."
That got everyone's attention, and Hunter tensed as he started planning escape routes.
"Unfortunately, I do not bring glad tidings," Ludwig continued. "Thanks to the efforts of the Golden Guard, Emperor Belos has gained evidence of multi-track studies in your school." He grimaced and spread his hands. "He has ordered his own coven to end this policy by force, by branding every student with a sigil before the Day of Unity."
The student body — particularly the Troublemakers and the Blights — all gasped in shock. It was a tradition as old as the Emperor's reign to allow students to decide a coven for themselves, only requiring a sigil when they came of age.
"Mother Titan!" Matt shouted, tearing off his sleeves in anger.
"Don't worry, no one will be forced into a coven," Bump assured. "Head Witch Carroll supports witchlings' rights to choose their fates. He's come to warn us and offer aid."
"Indeed," Ludwig said with a faint smile. "The Emperor's Coven will arrive shortly." He explained his plan to create temporary false sigils on every student's wrist to ward them off.
"Uh, hold up," Edric, the first to be selected for the plan, said, "I literally started today. Is this tested or anything?"
"Take it from someone with experience," Ludwig said, "the Emperor's Coven is far too busy to even consider investigating false sigils. If they see one, they'll assume you're branded and move along so that you can study in peace." He traced a spell circle. "Now just take a deep breath and relax."
"Stop!" Gus shouted. "He's hiding under a glamour!" Gus traced a circle and pushed it forward to dispel the illusion of shabby clothes and reveal a perfectly put-together Caudal demon in fine garments. One with a branding glove over his hand.
"Well, isn't that unfortunate," Ludwig growled, his tone arrogantly menacing rather than the kind voice from before. He seized Edric's arm and raised his hand to brand him, but in a burst of smoke a figure no one would have expected appeared and kicked the head witch away.
The Cyan Vision, in her stage magician-themed armor and green pixie cut, landed lightly and leveled a rapier at the head witch as the students and faculty reacted with shock. "You're not Ludwig," she hissed, her voice magically amplified to reach the crowd and her free hand tracing a spell. "Are you, Adrian Graye?"
"Ah," Adrian grinned, "smart girl." The Vision lunged forward with her hand glowing with sky-blue magic and pressed it against his forehead. Adrian cried out in pain … and then howled with laughter. "So Ludwig taught you to send me back," he noted, then knocked the illusory sword from the apprentice's hand and grabbed her by the throat to lift her from her feet.
"I'm not going back, child," he snarled, still grinning, eyes wide with madness. "I like it out here!"
"Let go of her!" Edric shouted and traced a spell, but from under concealing glamours emerged coven scouts that held him back.
"I'll handle you in good time," Adrian assured Edric, then looked at the witchling in his grasp as she weakly beat at his arm, the blood trapped in her head making it too difficult to concentrate in order to cast a spell. "You, my dear, will be chastised later." He traced a spell circle that bound the Vision in chains before he disappeared into a cloud of smoke and reappeared behind Gus.
"And as for you," he said, snagging Gus by the shirt front as more scouts appeared and grabbed hold of all of his friends to keep them from interfering, "your sure eye may be commendable, but it also ruined my little performance." He flexed the fingers of the branding glove to shift it from an illusionist mirror to a potions flask. "So let's cut down your talents a bit, shall we? Hmm?"
"No! No, stay back!" Gus shouted in fear, grabbing Graye's wrist to try and stop him. Willow fought against the scouts holding her, reaching for Gus and shouting his name. Hunter was held by four separate scouts and thrashed, determined to stop this. "I said," Gus snarled as the glove drew nearer, "stay back!"
Gus's irises flared with cyan light and magic poured into Graye, up his arm and into his mind, searching for anything to latch onto through Gus's sheer, terrified instinct … and finding something that resonated with this emotion. The magic, an unstructured, instinctual spell, emerged from Graye and swirled before settling into detailed phantasms of three demons in cloaks, each with a long knife in one hand and a spell readied in the other. Another illusion appeared who looked like a much younger Graye … or perhaps, a younger Ludwig.
And Graye seized up and stared with utter terror.
"Look at this, boys," the lead illusionist thug sneered, "two tiny phonies ripe for the plucking." He leveled his knife. "Hand over your snails and we'll let you live."
Two of them grabbed the illusion of Ludwig and held him back. "No! Stop!" Ludwig shouted in fear for his friend. "Leave him alone!"
"Hand over the snails, boy," the leader said again, his playful tone replaced by harsh malice.
"You don't know the power of a good illusion," Graye's voice said out of thin air. A spell circle traced itself in front of him … and then one of the thugs rushed forward and buried his knife into the real Graye's side. Graye shouted in shock as blood — real blood — ran down his side, releasing Gus so that he could put pressure on the wound. Every spell he had dispersed, including the Cyan Vision's bindings.
Gus was stunned until a scout flew over his head and Willow grabbed his arm. Hunter was leading them and Amity to the wall beside the bleachers. "Gus! Cover!" he snapped, and Gus conjured mist out of sheer instinct. Fog filled the massive room to hide their presence as scouts converged on them … and then when it disappeared, they were nowhere to be seen. Other students had disappeared, too. Every single one with multicolored uniforms.
"What the-?" one of the scouts said, but Graye's pained cry drew their attention away from the mystery.
"Severine, you foolish excuse for a medic!" Graye snarled as a scout with a distinctive set of horns under her hood pressed a spell circle to the wound at his side. "That stings!"
"I-It's knitting your flesh together," Severine tried to explain. "And it's bleeding too fast to use a numbing spell-"
"Just finish it up!" Graye shouted. "Captain, find that boy! The one who did this." He gestured at the wound. "And have the scouts line the students up for branding."
And as if on cue, darkness filled the gym from Ms. De Ville's own spell. The scouts all turned in place, their training readying them to defend from an attack from any side. But instead of attacks, a chorus of burbling groans sounded from the dark, and the sickening sound of Abomination clay swirling around. Then the darkness dispersed … and all of the students and faculty were gone.
"Bones, dirt, and muck!" Graye snarled, lashing out with a fist at the nearest scout, which happened to be Severine. She fell with a pained cry and a few scouts moved to help her. "What are you waiting for?!" Garye shouted. "Find those children, now!"
"You heard him, men," the captain said. "Find those kids." The captain himself accompanied his troops, two of them carrying Severine between them by her arms. "I dunno what's going on with him," the captain said, "but I hate working for this guy."
By the time everyone who had fled to the shortcut room had calmed down, they all realized they were not alone. Along with the Hexsquad, the Troublemakers had fled into the room, as had the Blight twins … and the Banshees.
"What the heck?" Viney snapped, pointing at the grudgby team. "What are you-?"
"That's my bad," Amelia said, raising her hand with an ashamed wince. "I panicked and they followed me."
"Nice place," Boscha said, raising an eyebrow at the portrait of Eda.
"Get out," Viney snarled, gesturing at the doors. "Pick a door and get out. This isn't a place for you."
"Viney, please!" Skara said, and everyone was stunned to see her step out from behind the Blight twins. "They're trying to escape just like the rest of us."
"Skara-!" Viney started, but Willow placed a hand on Viney's shoulder.
"There's nothing to do about it now," Willow said calmly. "It's all of us against Graye and the scouts." She looked at Boscha with a neutral glare. "And we can use all the help we can get."
"You know it, Leaf Girl," Boscha sneered. "Lucky for you, we've got a heavy hitter coming." She raised her Penstagram scroll. "I messaged the Golden Guard while your friend," she gestured at Gus, "was freaking Graye out."
"Speaking of," Emira said, "I've never seen anything like that, Gus. How'd you-?"
"It just kinda happens sometimes when things get really bad in my headspace," Gus admitted, visibly wilting. "It's one reason I try to stay so positive all the time. My magic latches onto people and makes their worst fears come to life."
"Dude, you're like Grom but a witch," Jerbo said brightly.
And it actually hurt Graye! Barcus barked. I didn't know illusions could do that!
"It's possible," Edric picked up. "It's just insanely difficult. It's like-" He gestured vaguely as he tried to think of how to explain it. "It's like … You know when some kids have figured out that thinking they're sick really hard makes them actually feel sick to get out of school?" Most of them nodded. "It's like that, only kicked up about ten notches. The illusions are entrenched in the victim's mind, and in Gus's case probably enhanced by their very real fear, and it makes the body reflect whatever happens. If they get punched by the illusion, the body actually stresses from it and bruises up. Or if they're stabbed, it actually starts bleeding."
"It's still kind of weird seeing him act so smart," Amity whispered to Emira.
"Meh, he's in the zone," Emira said lightly. "He'll be back to his goofy self in no time."
"So what's the deal with this Adrian Graye character?" Cat asked, her chin perched in her hand in thought. "I mean, isn't Ludwig Caroll the coven head for illusionists?"
"He's an alternate personality," Emira said decisively. "When Ludwig was a witchling, he and a friend were mugged because they thought two illusionists wouldn't be a hard get." Edric and Gus bristled at that and Emira nodded in understanding. "The friend was killed, and that's what pushed Ludwig to become head witch. To make sure illusionists had an example that they could be as powerful as anyone else."
"What's this have to do with Graye?" Skara asked, her brow furrowed in a way the Emerald Entrails knew meant she was strategizing.
"After listening to the story and a few other things, I think … that the real Graye was Ludwig's friend," Emira reasoned. "It was only a theory until Gus's illusion showed those events. It's … it's possible that Graye somehow implanted a spell inside Ludwig in his dying moments — maybe even as a Death Wish — that formed that second personality. And Ludwig's been working to keep him under control ever since."
"Guess we know why, now," Hunter noted.
"Okay, if no one else will say it, I will," Boscha said, arms crossed. "You know a lot about Carrol, and the Cyan Vision just showed up out of nowhere to protect your brother. So are you gonna admit you're his apprentice or not?"
"No point in hiding it now," Emira sighed, and triggered the cloaking stone that she used for her uniform.
"Wait, seriously?!" Edric demanded. "So all those times you were running errands for Dad-?"
"I was really training as an apprentice coven head," Emira said smugly.
"There's the ditz we all know and love," Amity commented.
"Look this is all very fascinating," Jerbo said firmly, "but maybe we should focus on getting these scouts and a crazy coven head out of the school."
"And how do you suggest we do that?" Hunter asked, arms folded. "There were a dozen scouts in the gym and probably more under veils."
"There's thirteen of us," Jerbo said after a moment of thought. "So can't we take them down?"
There was a long moment of silence before Hunter burst out laughing. He kept laughing for a bit before stopping so quickly it was unsettling. "They're Emperor's Coven scouts," he said, his voice hard. "Not only do they have access to every form of magic, but they are considered the best of the best in any number of those forms. None of us would stand a chance one-on-one."
"Plus, like Hunter said, there's probably more hidden around," Skara pointed out.
"So what do we do?" Amelia asked.
Before anyone could answer, dribbles of Abomination clay began to emerge from the tiles of the flooring and form a small construct with a crystal ball perched on its head. The crystal ball was filled with static for a moment before it resolved into the exhausted face of Principal Bump, his palisman removed to reveal his one good eye and long, dark hair.
"Oh good, you're all safe," he sighed.
"Principal Bump!" Amity shouted, still the resident teacher's pet. "What happened? What did Graye do to you?"
"Nothing yet, to any of us," Bump said. "With Graye debilitated by his injury from Augustus and the scouts frozen with indecision, Miss De Ville laid an illusion of darkness to cover me as I summoned every Abomination I could to translocate the student body to the paranoratorium. The security seals around the room have been put in place with the teachers sustaining it, which means they can't get through to us."
"But you can't get out," Viney said. "It's a siege."
"Indeed, Ms. Primrose," Bump said. "Which is why it's now up to all of you."
"You're seriously asking us to handle a coven head and a platoon of scouts?" Jerbo asked. Amelia took his hand and leaned her head onto his shoulder in comfort, and he leaned right back into it.
"I don't relish it," Bump said grimly. "But it's the only course of action we can take." He took a breath and said through gritted teeth. "You are the Troublemakers, the Emerald Entrails, the Banshees, and the Blights. Along with Ms. Noceda, there is not a group of students I would have more faith in to pull this off than all of you."
"Aww," Emira cooed, smushing her cheeks with her palms.
"Bump trusts us," Edric picked up, doing the same.
"I'm choosing to trust you all to come up with a viable plan," Bump corrected. "The teachers should be able to sustain the security measures for several hours. You have until the end of the school day to make this work. If you need counsel, Barcus can use this crystal ball." His gaze softened from grumpy administrator to aged, caring educator. "All the luck in the Isles to each of you." And with that, the crystal went dark.
Everyone was silent for a moment before Willow spoke up.
"We all have an idea what's at stake here," she said. "And we don't know what all of these scouts can do. If anyone wants to walk away, now's the time. None of us will hold it against you."
Hunter's eyes hardened and he stood at her side, lacing their fingers. Gus stood at Willow's other side, his hands on his hips and his expression firm. Amity stood beside him, trading a look with Willow before crossing her arms with solidarity.
"I'm not going anywhere," Viney said, stepping forward to join them. "We're a team, on or off the field."
"And where one of us goes, we all go," Jerbo said, though he looked a little green. "We're Troublemakers; so let's make trouble."
Barcus sneezed in agreement.
"Like I'm gonna leave any of you behind," Skara teased and stepped up, too. "Besides, outthinking coven scouts? That oughta be a fun challenge."
"We're with you crazy kids," Emira said.
"To the end," Edric added.
Everyone looked at Boscha and the remaining Banshees. Skara, in particular, looked wary of what she would say. Amelia and Cat glanced at each other and nodded before stepping up to take places on the edges of the assembled group, Amelia lacing her fingers with Jerbo's just as Hunter had with Willow.
"As if I'd let these birdbrains take over my turf," Boscha scoffed. "I'm in."
"Then let's come up with a plan," Willow said.
"Oh yeah!" Skara cheered. "My favorite part!"
As they all started putting out ideas, Emira looked at Gus with appraising eyes. A crazy idea for the endgame was forming in her mind … and she'd need help.
"We've been searching for almost an hour," scout Jim complained as they passed the greenhouse.
"We have our orders," his partner, Bob, replied. "Gotta find that illusion kid. The school's not too big. There's gotta be-"
He was cut off by a cloud of dust exploding around them. They barely had time to cough before they passed out, Bob distantly realizing it was a cloud of sleeping nettles pollen. But where-? They collapsed and a faint wind blew the dust cloud away. Willow and Hunter high-fived and grabbed the scouts by the ankles to drag them into a hidden door to the Secret Room of Shortcuts where Viney held open a door that led into the detention pit.
"Have fun, guys," Hunter said sarcastically as they pushed them in and the Instillipedes got to work cocooning them and indoctrinating them with Bump's orders: to leave Hexside alone.
"One team down," Willow said, growing a flower with a single petal.
Two more scouts were searching the cafeteria as part of their orders. They were walking side-by-side when they got caught in some Abomination clay. "Yo, Gary, I never do this to you!"
"This wasn't me!" Gary said.
"Well then who could it be?!"
Before the argument could escalate, Cat fell from the rafters and clamped her hands holding spell circles over both scouts' heads. The circles stayed around their temples, and both began groaning and retching. One removed his helmet to reveal a Griniac demon — one with light-blue skin alongside no lips to hide their teeth, just like the rest of their kind — and vomited, while the other collapsed into a faint and was caught by an Abomination that had reformed from trapping their feet.
"Nice work, Cat," Amity praised as her Abomination carried the scouts to a hidden door to the shortcut room and then to the detention pit. She made a mental note to never underestimate healers. The same magic that fixed ailments could cause them to emerge, such as the severe allergies Cat had just inflicted on these scouts.
"Brings back grudgby memories, huh?" Cat asked. "We miss you as captain, by the way." The silent message was clear: We all miss you.
"Thanks, Cat," Amity smiled as they returned to the hidden room.
In one of the halls, two scouts were ambushed by bog snakes that wrapped around their heads and gagged them under their masks, the serpents' eyes glowing with Beastkeeper magic. Edric traced an illusion that blackened the first scout's vision and the poor guy's wild swings sent him crashing into the lockers, which hissed and slammed him back hard enough to knock him out cold.
The other one had an arguably worse fate as Viney snuck up behind him and wrapped her powerful arms around his neck in a chokehold. Scouts were tough, fit, and well-trained in hand-to-hand combat, but Viney wrestled griffins and any number of beasts for fun. The scout had no chance against her and went down in less than a minute.
"Wow," Edric said, cheeks pink. "That was … really impressive."
"Thanks," Viney said, lifting her scout over her shoulder while Edric simply dragged his. "Makes you feel powerful, huh? Taking out a coven scout?" She giggled — a sound few would ever think to associate with Viney Primrose — and blushed a little. "It's kind of a rush."
They both traced a circle and the bog snakes unwound from the scouts to slither back to the Beastkeeping kennels.
Yet another pair of scouts were ambushed while checking the Illusion classroom for anyone under concealment spells. Tearants was keeping an eye out as his partner paced the room with spells to disrupt illusions in her hands, when he heard something like overturning earth beside him. He glanced that way and flinched at the sight of a huge pile of soil the shape of an Abomination with a white flower growing out of its head.
"Hey Sheary," he chuckled. "Check out this illusion. Someone's getting an F in-" He was interrupted by hissing and thudding sounds and he whirled to find Sheary collapsed against a desk with stems wrapped around her body and green-and-purple flowers latched onto her neck. "Okay, funny, Sheary, but you shouldn't be joking." She didn't respond. "Sheary …?"
He had no time to scream when massive arms of soil wrapped around him and pulled him into the soil-Abomination's torso. He tried to cast a spell, but the soil soaked up the magic like water and he was out cold in a few moments.
"Nice work," Amelia complimented as she stepped out of the shortcut door in the room.
"Thanks," Jerbo said as he directed his Abomination into the hidden door with the scout's face now poking out of its chest to keep him from smothering. "I gotta say, the way you handled those fanged asters was kinda scary."
"Bad scary?" Amelia asked, hefting the other scout over her shoulder with years of grudgby training. "Or good scary?" she added with a flirty wink.
"Little of both," Jerbo whimpered with a wobbly smile.
"That's what I like to hear," Amelia giggled, sauntering up and patting Jerbo's cheek as she passed.
"Team Delta, come in!" a scout snapped into a speech crystal.
"Anything?" a scout asked.
"Nothing, just like all the others," her partner said. "Margoret, I'm starting to freak out."
"Hey, Stefiny," Margaret said, flicking up her partner's mask to reveal a dark-scaled demon with sharp teeth and an antennae protruding from her forehead with a glowing light at the end, and placing her hands on the Cetus demon's shoulders, "relax. All the faculty are locked up in the paranoratorium and there's no way that a bunch of kids are picking us off, right?"
"Right," Stefiny said. "Yeah, right!" she said, more convincingly. "Bunch a punk kids can't touch us!"
"Oh really?" came two sickly-sweet voices.
The scouts turned just in time to see Skara strumming her lyre, a sheen of red-orange magic filling the air. The scouts moved with instinctive speed to trace spell circles, but their arms moved slower than usual in the haze of magic and the lines of power wavered and wobbled without actually completing.
"Spell disruption?" Stefiny asked.
"Yep!" Skara chirped. Boscha, at the same time, traced unimpeded spells that summoned a barrage of flaming grudgby balls to rain down and slam into the scouts. When she was certain they were down for the count, the balls vanished and Boscha moved to haul the scouts over her shoulders without a word.
"Boscha?" Skara prodded.
"Not now," Boscha replied stonily.
"If not now, then when?" Skara pointed out, vanishing her lyre to take one of the scouts from her former friend.
"Later."
"There may not be a later, Boscha," Skara snapped. "Look, I'm scared to death for Quincey and everyone else. But you're here and I miss my friend."
"Skara-"
"Were we even friends?" Boscha's eyes widened and she dropped her scout to stare.
"You- How could-?" Boscha shook her head and glared. "How could you even say that, Skara?!"
"You threw me away the second I tried branching out from your group," Skara said. "I just wanted to try a different sport in grudgby off-season and maybe make some new friends. You're the one who took that so damn personally!"
"You turned your back on me!" Boscha snarled.
"I'm sorry, who was the one who said we weren't friends anymore?!" Skara shouted. "I wanted to make it work! Titan damn me, I still want to try! You're my oldest friend, Boscha, even if you don't feel that way! I just-!" She sniffled, eyes watering. "I don't even know," she finished and made her way to the hidden door.
Boscha stared at Skara's back for a moment before shaking it off. This was just like grudgby: play now, emotions later. She shifted her scout into a better position and checked her scroll. Be there ASAP!
"Come on, J," she whispered and returned to the door to drop this loser off in the detention pit.
That's all the outlying scout teams, Barcus yipped, his eyes returning from solid white of a scrying trance to their usual green behind his glasses and the crystal ball he'd been using as a scrying medium losing the glow of magic.
"How many are trying to break into the paranoratorium?" Skara asked, her eyes reddened but focused.
Six more, he admitted. Plus Graye.
"It's now thirteen on six for the scouts," Skara summed up. "Any ideas on how to handle the coven head?"
"We've got a plan," Emira said, a hand on Gus's shoulder. "If you guys keep the scouts off our backs, then we can handle Graye."
"Any other ideas?" Boscha asked snidely. No one spoke up and she shrugged in grudging acceptance.
"The last question is which method to approach the attack," Hunter said.
"I've got an idea on that," Willow smiled.
"Am I the only one who knows how to do their job?!" Graye snapped as he paced back and forth, tail swishing, and watched the remaining scouts focusing spells on the paranoratorium doors.
"We've been at this for an hour, even with Hextract," the captain said thickly, drawing attention to the empty syringes littering their feet. "If you lent a hand, it would probably speed it up," he added with a growl.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, captain," Graye sneered. "Maybe that machine you brought with you could help." He shuddered. "Darius is right. Those things are revolting."
Steps echoing down the hall caught everyone's attention, and eyes were drawn toward a lone figure in a multicolored uniform approaching with a calm, measured pace. Graye snorted and stood in the middle of the hallway to face the witchling, a feral grin stretching his lips to bear his teeth.
"Well, well, it seems we have a stray come to his senses." As the figure drew nearer with no reply, Graye frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Wait, is that-?" His eyes widened. "The Golden Guard?"
The scouts all whipped their heads around, breaking away from the task at hand to spread across the hall behind him and take a look for themselves.
"Commander?" the captain prompted.
"My my," Graye said in the same self-satisfied tone as before, "the Golden Guard studying multiple tracks at a high school." He tutted. "How the mighty have fallen."
"Not as hard as you're gonna fall," Hunter smirked. He summoned his palisman staff and snapped his fingers, and a concealing spell dissolved to reveal a crowd of students behind him. "Timber."
Hunter vanished into a blur of golden light and reappeared with a chirping noise behind one of the scouts, smashing his staff against their head and knocking them back for a one-on-one fight. Before the scouts could react, the captain of the platoon was smashed backward by a wave of vines and Abomination clay to be pinned to the wall, courtesy of Amity and Willow.
After that, it was an all-out brawl. And even with their intense training and access to all forms of magic, the coven scouts were having trouble keeping up with the witchlings two-on-one. Besides Willow and Amity's raw power and honed natural skills — they were, after all, apprentices to coven heads even if the scouts didn't know it — Jerbo and Amelia followed up with their own Plant and Abomination magic, Barcus and Edric attacked with potions, Skara and Viney with ice and lightning from their staffs, and Boscha and Cat put their grudgby plays to good use.
All the while, Graye slunk back and bared his teeth like a cat. "Incompetents," he sneered and turned to leave, but he was blocked by a tall young woman with a long braid of green hair and a younger witchling with dark skin and eyes.
"Oh, the rearguard," Graye chuckled. Then he blinked and looked more closely at the girl. "Ah, Ludwig's apprentice. Nice to see your face, girl." He leered. "And a lovely one, it is."
"Your time is up, Graye," the girl said. "You've stolen time from Ludwig, and now the clock is screaming."
"Oh, how cute," Graye rebutted. "You think you can take me on." He removed the mirror from his earlobe. "You see this? It's a handy magic amplifier. Kind of like the galdorstones except it works specifically for Illusion magic." He traced a spell circle with the mirror and tapped it, and magic swirled around them to settle into the visage of a dungeon. "And you're going to stay here trapped in your minds like good little prisoners while I go get some more coven scouts to break open that door."
The girl groaned and clutched her head, as did the boy … before he broke apart into illusion smoke.
"What?" Graye wondered — and then felt hands on the side of his head!
"Say bye-bye, Graye," the boy said menacingly, and Graye felt them both enter his mind.
Both the boy — Graye caught the name "Gus" in the murmurings of their shared mindscape — and himself were standing in a facsimile of Ludwig's chambers at the coven head apartments, with leather and wood furniture, dark velvet covering the walls, stuffed bookshelves, and a crackling fireplace.
"How dare you, you little wretch!" Graye snarled. Within his own mind, Graye looked different. He was still a Caudal demon, but his skin was bone-white, his hair disheveled, his chin weaker, nose wider … he was a totally different person without Ludwig's body to occupy.
"Stop this, Adrian!" Both of them whirled around to find Ludwig suspended by chains glowing with magic. "Please stop! He's just a boy!"
"A boy who's a threat to the Day of Unity," Graye said harshly. "My ticket to freedom! I won't-!" Graye gasped as Gus's hand plunged through his back and out his chest, wisps of mental energy emanating from the psychic wound in place of blood. And from that touch, purple fire ignited and began to spread. "What?! No!"
"No more cages, Graye," Gus said calmly. "Nothing at all."
The fires — a spell of Oracle magic — spread and consumed Graye. As a psychic imprint, he was ample fuel for the destructive spell … and it spread quickly, burning him away with it.
"No! No!" he begged. "Nooooo-!"
Gus sat up and hissed against a headache and throbbing in his chest. That spell had nearly tapped out his stores of magic bile, but he'd expected that. He glanced backward to find Emira standing up and then looked at the paranoratorium doors to find the scouts tied up, the splattered remains of an Abomi-ton of all things decorating the walls as Amity and Willow looked pleased with themselves, and the student body being ushered out by the staff.
Gus jumped as someone gently grabbed the cuff of his sleeve and he found the head witch looking up at him … with a kind, sincere smile. Just like the coven head who had met with him so long ago in the Looking-Glass Graveyard to offer him an apprenticeship.
"Thank you, Gus," he whispered weakly, then coughed a laugh. "And Emira, too, of course." He opened his other hand to reveal the magic amplifying mirror, which he handed out to Gus. "Take it. It's yours, lad. Use it however you wish."
"I couldn't-" Gus tried to say, but Ludwig took his hand and pressed the mirror into it, his eyes hard. "Thank you, sir," Gus decided to say, and Ludwig's smile returned before he passed out.
It took some time to get the captured scouts free of the Instillipedes, but the remaining scouts swore not to cause trouble as they loaded their fellows onto an airship under the staff's watchful eye.
"Emperor Belos isn't gonna be happy about this," the captain warned.
"Oh yes, and I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear over a dozen of his 'elite force' were bested by teenagers," Bump rebutted confidently.
The captain growled and glanced at the remaining grounded scout. "Severine! Get on that ship or you're walking back to the castle!"
"You know something, that's fine by me! He was right: this coven is a joke!" Severine shouted. She removed her helmet and threw it away. "I quit!" She traced a spell and summoned an Abomination shaped like a horse. "I'm going back to the Tiny Cat Coven." She flicked the reins of Abomination clay and raced off in a cloud of dust to the cheers of the Hexside staff and students as the captain grumbled and boarded the ship for takeoff.
"This is getting crazy," Willow said. "The Emperor wants all the witches branded that he can get."
"He's probably targeting other schools, too," Amity noted.
"We need to get people on our side fast," Hunter said.
"Is that so, Mr. Golden Guard?" Bump asked from a distance. The three whirled around to find the staff and students watching them carefully. "Mr. Wittebane, care to explain Graye's mentioning the Golden Guard informed him of multi-track studies?"
"It wasn't me!" Hunter said. "I'm not the Golden Guard!" He winced and sighed. "At least, not anymore."
"And you expect us to believe that?" Professor Gaganan said derisively. "I should have known something was amiss when you showed such skills in my class." His Abomination stomped forward. "Who can verify this claim?"
"We can," Willow said, stepping forward and taking Hunter's hand, with Amity and Gus flanking them and the flyer derby and grudgby teams behind them.
"Oh wonderful, his friends!" Gaganan said sarcastically and crossed his arms. "Anyone else?"
Without warning, a bolt of carmine magic smashed into the cobblestone courtyard and steam wafted away to reveal the Golden Guard with his artificial staff. He stood up and removed his mask to reveal his face so similar to Hunter's.
"He hasn't been the Golden Guard for some time," he revealed. "I was the one who reported to Unc-" He flinched and bit down on the words. "To Belos." He looked around until his gaze found Boscha and the Banshees, and he nodded before turning to face his poetic reflection.
"Hunter," he said emotionlessly.
"Jasper," Hunter replied.
"I take it you need credibility to rebel against Belos?" Jasper asked.
"That would be appreciated," Hunter admitted.
"Then let's start talking," Jasper said, stripping away his cloak. "There's a lot to cover, after all."
Man, this was a long one! I hope you all enjoyed my retool of "Labyrinth Runners" - it was a lot of fun to come up with! Can I also say how absolutely PHENOMENAL "Thanks to Them" was?! Man, if that sets the standard for the rest of s3, we certainly will not be disappointed!
*The term "Caudal" refers to an animal's tail. I thought it was a simple term for Ludwig/Adrian's demon species.
*Remember that Amelia was told about the shortcut room in "Masks."
*Considering Bump is as old as he is, I think it's perfectly reasonable to think he's figured out interplash passage/translocation. I mean, implied-prodigy/genius or not, Alador and Darius are way younger than him.
*The idea for storing the scouts in the detention pit was adapted from my brother's suggestion that the students and faculty hide there, because "who would ever suspect it?"
*Instillipedes are named by combining the words "instill" as in to put knowledge or ideals in someone's mind, and millipede.
*A Griniac demon is the name I've given to the leader of the demon hunters from "Hooty's moving Hassle" - a combination of grin (like a skull) and maniac.
*I've been wanting to showcase even a little offensive Healing magic for some time. Cat gave me the perfect opportunity.
*The scout Tearants is named in a grim spelling of Terrance, and pronounced the same way. Margaret and Stefiny sound like "Margaret" and Stephanie."
*Fanged asters are flowering plants with actual fangs who sway and strike like snakes and envenomate their attackers. Their fangs are potion ingredients and their venom is used in medicine.
*Cetus demon is named for an Ancient Greek term that means any sea monster.
*Skara's spell disruption was a lower-power tier of Raine's spell from "Eda's Requiem."
As always, I hope this was a fun read! Leave a review if you can! And may your own works be fun to read and to write!
