A few days later at school, Hunter was in abomination class taking a test, and as he answered the last question on it, a timer went off, which the class' teacher, Professor Hermonculus, turned off.
"Time's up", Professor Hermonculus said, "everybody put your names on your tests and turn them in at my desk."
Hunter and the rest of the students turned their tests in, and when Professor Hermonculus looked at Hunter's test, he noticed something very strange.
"Hunter", Professor Hermonculus said, "could you come here for a moment, please?"
Hunter got up from his seat and walked over to the front desk.
"What can I do for you, Professor", Hunter asked.
"Would you care to explain why you wrote your name down as 'Hunter Delacroix'", Professor Hermonculus asked.
There, on the top right corner of Hunter's test, was his father's surname written after his own name.
"Because Delacroix is my last name", Hunter said.
"Is it", Professor Hermonculus asked, "I thought you said you didn't know what your last name was."
"I didn't", Hunter said, "but then I met my dad a few days ago and learned what my last name was."
"I see", Professor Hermonculus said, "well, congratulations on finding your father."
"Thank you", Hunter said.
The school bell then screamed, and Hunter got his stuff and left to go to his next class, and as he walked down the hall, Luz and Amity joined him.
"Hey there, Hunter", Luz said, "you look like you're in a good mood."
"I sure am", Hunter said, "ever since I found out who my Dad is, life's been better than ever."
"Good to hear", Luz said, "although..."
"What", Hunter asked, "what's up?"
"Are you sure about the level of trust you're putting in him", Amity asked, "I mean, you haven't really known him for that long."
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing", Hunter said, "Dad seems like a very trustworthy person to me."
"Maybe", Luz said, "but we still feel like you should try and be more careful around him."
"That's right", Amity said, "the fact that he got rid of his palisman because it was broken set off some red flags with us."
"He said that he realized how much of a mistake that was", Hunter said, "and he seemed pretty sincere, too."
"That's just it", Luz said, "you're believing the stuff he's said to you too easily."
"And we still don't know for sure what happened between him and Mom", Amity said, "maybe you should try and be a bit more cautious around him until we learn more about him."
"You girls are worrying too much", Hunter said, "he's my Dad, and I trust him, end of story."
"Yes, we know", Luz said, "but Eda..."
"Was exaggerating when she said Dad obliterated her heart", Hunter said, "he's very nice and he really cares about me, and I refuse to believe that my own father is some kind of monster."
Luz and Amity could see that their words of caution had fallen onto deaf ears.
"I mean, what kind of bad stuff could he be capable of", Hunter asked.
It was then he and the two girls heard a loud roaring sound.
"What was that", Hunter asked.
"It came from over there", Luz said, "come on!"
The trio of friends rushed down the hall and saw a bunch of students running away from a large black monster resembling a theropod dinosaur that had a horn on its nose and spikes down along its back.
"What is that thing", Luz asked.
"I don't know", Amity said, "I've never seen a monster like it before!"
The monster let out another roar and began to follow the students who were running away.
"We have to do something, or the students will get hurt", Amity said.
Luz summoned her staff.
"Way ahead of you", Luz said.
Amity and Hunter also summoned their staffs, and they joined Luz in attacking the monster.
"Hey, tall, dark and spiky", Luz said, "try this on for size!"
Luz made a spell circle and shot a large fire ball at the monster, and after it hit it, Amity summoned an abomination that grabbed it by the neck.
"That's it, Amity", Luz said, "let's bring this thing down!"
But the monster managed to free itself from the hold of Amity's abomination, and it swiped its claws at the abomination, which made it turn into a pile of goo, but Hunter used an ice glyph to make the floor all slippery, which made the monster slip when it stepped on it, and Luz quickly summoned some vines to grab it and bring it down.
"Okay, guys", Luz said, "we've almost got him!"
But the monster managed to break free from the vines and stood back up on its feet, and after letting out a loud roar, it ran off to continue its rampage.
"There's just no stopping this thing", Hunter said.
"We can't give up now", Luz said, "come on!"
Meanwhile, Edric and Emira, both of which were cutting class, were quietly making their way down the hall, trying to avoid getting caught.
"Just like old times, eh Em", Edric asked.
"You said it, Ed", Emira said, "it's been a long time since you and I cut class here at Hexside."
At that moment, they heard footsteps coming from another hallway and saw a shadow on the ground leading from it.
"Uh-oh", Emira said, "someone's coming."
"It must be the hall monitor", Edric said.
It was then that the footsteps and shadow were revealed to belong to the monster, who appeared from the hallway it was in.
"Or not", Edric said.
The monster turned its head and looked at the twins and then began approaching them.
"What do we do, bro", Emira asked.
No reply came, and Emira noticed Edric running away as fast as his feet would carry him.
"Sorry, sir", Edric said, "every man for himself!"
"Get back here, you coward", Emira shouted.
Then, the monster roared and began running towards Emira faster, and as she braced herself for its attack, Hunter flew by on his staff and picked her up off the ground right before the monster could catch her in its mouth.
"Don't worry", Hunter said, "I've got you."
Hunter flew far away from the monster and set Emira down on the ground.
"Are you okay", Hunter asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine", Emira said, "thanks for saving me."
"No problem", Hunter said.
The two witches gazed into each other's eyes, but were interrupted by the sound of Luz's voice.
"We could really use some help right about now", Luz shouted.
"Sorry, gotta go", Hunter said, "duty calls."
Hunter got on his staff and flew away to help Luz and Amity, leaving Emira behind.
"Bye", Emira said.
Back with the monster, Luz was using a plant spell to keep the monster from going any further while Amity tried to trap it in place with some abomination goo, but it managed to break free and swung around, which resulted in it hitting Amity with its tail and causing her to crash into the wall and loose consciousness.
"Amity", Luz shouted.
The monster then turned its attention to Luz, but before it could try and attack her, it felt a burning pain in its back, which was caused by Hunter attacking it with a fire glyph.
"Hey, spike nose", Hunter said, "try a piece of this action!"
While Luz took advantage of the situation and went to get help, Hunter placed another fire glyph on the monster's head, which caused an even more painful sensation, and the monster began swinging its arms around to try and attack him, but he managed to avoid its attacks by flying around on his staff, and as he did so, he thought to himself about the strange, monstrous creature he and the others were facing.
"What exactly is this thing, anyway", Hunter asked.
Hunter's thoughts were interrupted when the monster successfully knocked him out of the sky, causing him to hit the wall and fall to the ground, and as he picked himself up, he looked and saw the monster approaching him.
"Is that all you got", Hunter asked.
But before the monster could do anything else, it stopped in its place and began roaring out in pain, and then its body began dissolving until it was completely gone.
"I guess it is", Hunter said.
Then, he noticed something very disturbing.
"Oh my God", Hunter said.
Amity, who had regained consciousness walked over to Hunter with her hand on her head.
"Oh, my head", Amity said, "what happened?"
She then noticed Hunter looking at something in a surprised manner, and when she looked at it too, her expression became the same as his.
"What the Hell", Amity asked.
There, on the floor, was a female student from the healing track lying dead on the ground.
"What happened to her", Amity asked, "and how did she get here?"
"I don't know", Hunter said, "she showed up right after the monster disappeared."
"The monster disappeared", Amity asked, "how did that happen?"
"I can answer that", a voice said.
Hunter and Amity turned around and saw the stone-masked witch from chapter five standing behind them.
"Allow me to introduce myself", the stone-masked witch said, "I am the Master of Undivision."
"The Master of Undivision, eh", Amity asked, "and what is it you're trying to un-divide, anyway?"
"Why, all the witches on the Boiling Isles, of course", the Master of Undivision said, "as is the goal of my organization, the True Magic Coven."
Amity and Hunter were surprised to hear that.
"So you're the leader of that group", Hunter asked.
"That is correct", the Master of Undivision said, "and what you just witnessed was an experiment for it."
"What are you talking about", Amity asked.
"That monster you just fought was an experiment I was conducting to help with a little something I've been cooking up for some time now", the Master of Undivision said, "it was preferable that I used test subjects who lacked coven seals on their wrists, so I chose to conduct it here, where there are plenty of young witches who have yet to join a coven."
Hunter and Amity looked at the dead student on the ground and were able to figure out what had happened.
"That monster we fought was the student", Amity said.
"That's right", the Master of Undivision said, "and it seems that she did not survive the transformation process."
The two young witches were both furious over what the Master of Undivision had done.
"You monster", Amity said, "how could you do something like that to someone so young?"
"She was only a teenager, for Titan's sake", Hunter said.
"Her sacrifice was a necessity for the ambitions of the True Magic Coven", the Master of Undivision said, "one way or another, her death will not be in vain."
"You're right", Hunter said, "because we're going to stop you here and now!"
Hunter and Amity got their staffs ready, and as the Master of Undivision prepared to fight them, he heard Luz's voice ring out in the distance.
"This way", Luz said.
He then exited his battle stance, much to the confusion of Hunter and Amity.
"I must go", the Master of Undivision said, "but I promise you, we will meet again."
The Master of Undivision made spell circles with both his hands and disappeared in a flash of magic just as Luz arrived with Lilith, who had many members of the Emperor's Coven accompanying her.
"I'm back", Luz said, "and I brought backup."
"What happened", Lilith asked, "where's this monster Luz told me about?"
"Right here", Hunter said.
Hunter pointed to the dead healing track student lying on the ground, but Lilith didn't understand why he was doing so.
"That's a student", Lilith said, "was she one of the monster's victims?"
"No", Hunter said, "this student was the monster."
"What", Lilith asked.
"Here's what happened", Amity said.
Amity and Hunter told Lilith about their meeting with the Master of Undivision and how he had used the student as a test subject for an experiment he had conducted, and by the time they were done, she was shocked to have heard about it, as was Luz.
"So he was willing to risk the life of an innocent child for the sake of achieving his goals", Luz asked.
"That's right", Amity said.
"What a monster", Luz said.
"I know", Hunter said, "and to make matters worse, he got away."
"If the True Magic Coven is attempting to do something as vile and inhumane as turning witches into monsters, then they are a far greater threat to the Isles than I originally thought they were", Lilith said, "we need to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible before they try and do something else."
"Emperor Lilith, look at this", a Coven Scout said.
The Scout showed Lilith the student's right wrist, and she noticed a symbol on it that looked like water droplets over some kind of swirl.
"This must be the symbol of the True Magic Coven", Lilith said, "and is this a coven seal that's on her wrist?"
Then, Principal Bump hurried over to the group.
"Emperor Lilith", Principal Bump said, "come quick!"
"What is it", Lilith asked.
"I found something down in the basement that's very disturbing", Principal Bump said, "I think you should come with me to see it for yourself."
"Lead the way", Lilith said.
Principal Bump led Lilith and her associates from the Emperor's Coven away to the basement, and Luz, Amity, and Hunter looked at the dead student.
"Wow", Luz said, "I can't believe it."
"I know", Amity said, "to die so young must've been awful."
"I'll say", Luz said, "what do you think, Hunter?"
Hunter didn't say a word.
"Hunter", Luz asked.
Hunter still didn't say anything and walked away.
"He must be as upset about this whole ordeal as we are", Amity said.
"Yeah", Luz said, "maybe even more upset."
As Hunter walked down a destroyed hallway in the school, he had a look of pure rage on his face.
"The Master of Undivision must pay for what he has done", Hunter said, "and the next time I see him again, I'm going to kill him."
