Luz expected more of an uproar when Hunter went limp again and succumbed to unconsciousness for a second time that evening, but everyone went oddly quiet instead. Everyone, including her, was too afraid to speak. Because what just happened?! It was a lot to process, and none of this felt real.

None of this felt real.

They were all there when it happened, they all witnessed it-Belos possessing Hunter, Flapjack getting injured, Camila rescuing Hunter from the icy depths Belos threw him into-and then, the worst, most horrible part of all.

Hunter almost died. He almost died. For all Luz knew, he actually did die because for one terrifying minute there, he wasn't moving. Not until Flapjack…Until Flapjack…

Oh Titan, Flapjack actually died.

No, no, no, Luz didn't want to think about that right now. She couldn't, it hurt too much, and the cardinal hadn't even been her palisman. If she felt this way, she couldn't even begin to imagine how Hunter would feel once he woke up.

If he woke up.

Luz had been scared, terrified even, countless times since she first came to the Boiling Isles, but seeing that monster Belos come back and possess Hunter? And then seeing Hunter very nearly die? After everything he'd been through, he didn't deserve this. He deserved to be happy, not to be traumatized and grieve for his lost palisman.

Her hands were still shaking. She could feel the dried tear tracks on her face. It was funny, in a way. Luz seemed to be constantly stuck in a cycle of 'Oh, things couldn't possibly get worse now,' but they somehow always did. Much worse. And she'd begun to notice that that was true for Hunter in particular. He'd been through so much, and in such a short amount of time too.

All of them had their struggles. All of them had their heartaches and their days where they wondered if they could keep going. The past few months being stuck here had been especially hard for everyone, and Luz wasn't sure she'd ever felt worse, weighed down by all her guilt and fear.

But at least she, Gus, Willow, and Amity didn't have to fear for their lives everyday. At least they didn't find out some horrible truths about themselves and then have someone close to them try to kill them. At least they had their family members and each other for support.

Hunter though? He had them—Luz, Willow, Gus, Camila, even Ver and Amity too—but he had no one else. He had no family to go back to. He had no one else who cared.

Out of all of them, Vee at least, seemed to understand some of what Hunter was going through. And maybe, just maybe, if he had the whole 'Grimwalker talk' after this, those two would be able to relate to each other even more. Both of them were one, or the only one of their kind left, and both had unfortunate connections to Belos. Neither had any family to speak of either, until Camila accepted Vee into her home.

Luz had told Hunter that he was family now, and she meant it. And after seeing how Camila acted after Hunter nearly died, she had no doubt that her mami would accept Hunter as her son the same way she did Vee as her daughter.

After the complete horror this night had been, Luz was going to make sure that Hunter never felt alone ever again. She was going to be there for him, all the way through…whatever was going to happen next. They were family now, after all, in the same way that Eda was her surrogate mother back in the Boiling Isles, and King was her little brother.

Luz kept a close eye on Hunter as Vee, Willow, and Camila did their best to gently lift and carry Hunter to the car. Right after he passed out again, Camila ran to get her car since Vee still couldn't get a cell connection to call an ambulance. And even if she was able to call for help, Luz knew…she knew a human hospital wouldn't be able to help Hunter with whatever this was.

Camila had to go off road to get as close to the others as she could, but they still had to walk through the trees a bit to get to the car. It wasn't a far walk at all, but they were slowed down a bit by having to carry Hunter. Everyone was trying their best not to panic. He needed to get to the Noceda household and fast. Flapjack saved his life, thank goodness, but at a terrible cost, and Hunter was still in bad condition. And the scary thing was, they didn't know how bad. It would be hard to tell until he woke up and Camila could properly examine him.

"We need to get him to the hospital right away," Luz's mom said as Vee and Willow struggled to get Hunter into the car. He was positioned in the middle seat and laying down on Willow's lap again. Luz walked around to the other side of the car, where she sat on the other side of Hunter.

"I…don't think that's such a good idea," Gus said hesitantly before Luz could work up the courage to bring up the whole 'Grimwalker' thing again. She already mentioned it once, and as much as she just wanted to get his secret out there, it was still his secret. She would've been upset if he told hers to everyone. Which, speaking of, hadn't been discussed yet. Everyone heard Belos bring up how she helped him meet the Collector, but between Hunter drowning, Flapjack dying, and having to drag the unconscious Hunter back to the car, no one had brought it up yet.

Luz figured she should be grateful, but she felt more on-edge than ever.

She glanced at Gus from where he was sitting in the back of the car by Amity. He looked upset, which was perfectly understandable right now, but also very conflicted.

"Yeah, witch biology is different from a human's—" Amity started.

"No, that's not what I…" Gus furrowed his eyebrows. "Never mind, it's…it's not…"

"Gus…what do you know?" Luz asked, gaze cautious.

Gus pressed his lips firmly together and looked very reluctant to speak. He was hiding something. He knew, didn't he? Or did he?

Luz tried again. "Do you-do you know about—"

"—About Grimwalkers?" Willow cut in solemnly. Luz and Gus both looked at her in surprise.

"You know?!" Luz exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Wait, you know?!" Gus cried out, looking straight at Luz.

"I've known for as long as Hunter's known, but how do you-"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on a minute!" Amity said, looking at all three of them like they were crazy. "What are you talking about? I remember you saying something about a Grimwalker, but what…what is that? And what does it have to do with Hunter?"

Luz and Gus looked at each other, then at Willow, then back at Amity. "It's…complicated. I'm not even too sure myself," Luz admitted, biting her lip.

"Do you remember the tale of the Wittebane brothers that we heard on the hayride?" Gus asked them. They all nodded. He took a deep breath. "Well…Let's just say that that Caleb guy didn't get a very happy ending."

"How do you know about Caleb?" Did Gus really know all this time? Did Hunter know he knew? And what about Willow? There was so much to unpack here, it made her head hurt.

"You know when we were fighting Belos on the Day of Unity, before the Collector showed up and made things go all…crazy? I accidentally glimpsed into Belos' mind while trying to stop him, and…" He looked at Hunter. "I only saw flashes of his memory, but it was enough. The things I saw were awful, and Hunter…" He shook his head.

Amity put a hand on Gus' arm and frowned. "You saw his memory and had to keep it a secret this whole time?"

Willow shot a look at her best friend. "I'm sorry, it must have been horrible to keep that all to yourself. All this time, and I had no idea you had to carry that with you…"

"It was bad, but believe me, he-" Gus gestured to Hunter. "-has it much worse. The things Belos did…I knew he was a bad guy, but he really is pure evil. He…He killed Caleb, his own brother, then used his bones to make copies of him…clones…"

"Grimwalkers," Luz breathed out, shoulders growing tense. Gus nodded and looked down.

"So that's what a Grimwalker is." Willow brushed a strand of Hunter's hair away from his forehead. His now long-again hair, thanks to Belos. If only that were the only residual proof of him being possessed. "I knew something was up, especially after seeing the statues in the town square. One of them-it must have been Caleb-looked almost exactly like Hunter."

"Now that you mention it, don't you remember how quickly his hair grew before he cut it?" Amity squinted at him. "I know some people's hair grows fast, but not that fast. And how it's suddenly longer now too-do you think extreme stress causes his hair to grow faster or something?" She shook her head. "Nevermind, that doesn't matter right now."

All eyes were on Hunter right now. Even Camila, who was driving, kept glancing in the rear view mirror every few seconds to make sure he was doing alright…That he wasn't getting any worse, at least. Though he was asleep, he seemed to wince briefly every time the car jolted. He must have been in extreme pain. Luz just wished she knew how to help.

They were all way out of their depth here.

"I can't believe Hunter's been a clone of Belos-Phillip's brother this whole time…" Amity mumbled in shock as they drove. They were almost home by now, as Camila turned down their street. "He's a clone of a witch hunter."

"Hey!" Willow defended. "Don't forget that Caleb allegedly fell in love with a witch! Belos may be horrible, but his brother sounded like he could've been a good guy. And even if he is a clone of a witch hunter, that doesn't make him one! Hunter is his own person. I don't know much about Grimwalkers either, but I don't need to to know that."

"Yeah," Gus said, a very faint yet weary smile coming to his lips. "He is. I just wish…I don't know, I wish he could've trusted us enough to tell us. I get why he didn't, but still…"

Luz was silent for a moment. Then, "He was afraid," she said. She clenched her fists. "He was afraid that you would all hate him for it…Just like I was afraid you would all…hate me for helping Phillip meet the Collector." She turned to face the window, not wanting to meet the gaze of anyone else.

They were at the house now. Camila pulled up the driveway. "Mija…"

"Luz…What did Belos mean by that, anyway?" Amity asked hesitantly. "That…wasn't a lie?"

"...No." She closed her eyes and tried her best to suppress the tears threatening to spill. "It-it was true. If it weren't for me, the Day of Unity would have never happened. There was this time pool and I met him-I met him when he was still just Phillip! And I taught him the light spell, I introduced him to the Collector, I set everything into motion." She wrapped her arms around herself. It was only fair that she brought this up again, since Hunter's secret was unfairly revealed.

"So you kept it a secret? Because you…because you thought we'd hate you for it?"

Luz nodded slowly. Her shoulders trembled. "Which is why I thought it would be in everyone's best interest if I-"

"-Took your mama to the demon realm!" Camila interrupted. The car parked, but no one got out, too shocked by all of the many declarations just made.

"Wo-what?!" Luz exclaimed, her eyes flashing open as she looked at her mom like she was crazy, which she was, for saying that. "But we-the portal, I-"

"After we open another portal, of course," Camila added, smiling at her daughter.

"I couldn't hate you, Luz," Amity said, smiling at her girlfriend. "The fact that you still stand up for us means a lot to me." She reached over the seat to take Luz's hand.

"Mija," Camilla said, eyes still focused directly on Luz. "Now that I've seen what you're up against, there is no way I'm letting you go back alone. It is our duty to help your friends get back to their families, and right now, it's our duty to make sure Hunter recovers from this."

"Luz, none of us hate you," Willow said, smiling sadly at her friend. Willow, who was her first friend in the Boiling Isles. All of us make mistakes."

Gus nodded in affirmation, though he looked much more forlorn than Willow. "She's right. If I only told Hunter that I knew, I could have helped him more, but…" His shoulders slumped. "From what I saw in Belos' memory, he's always been tricking people. You were just another one of his victims, there was no way you could have known what you were helping him do. If it wasn't you, he would've dragged someone else into this mess."

"...Thanks guys," Luz said, wiping a tear from her eye. She managed a small smile. "You really are the best friends ever." She looked back at Hunter. "Now let's get him some help. I-I don't know how to help him, but we'll find a way. He'll be okay…He'll be okay."

She would do everything in her power to make sure of that. And now, she knew she wasn't the only one who would either.