Chapter Three: On the Hunt


"In hindsight, maybe showing up to a big announcement by the people I'm a fugitive from wasn't the best idea," Luz muttered as she climbed over a fence, running through somebody's garden. She hopped the fence at the other side, ending back up in the maze of concrete and brick. With the Emperor's Coven on her heels, she hurried down another alleyway, hoping that this one wouldn't be a dead end. "How was I supposed to know they'd be looking for me specifically?"

Off in the distance, though not as far as she would have liked, Luz could hear the chatter of guards and covensmen searching for her. Did Belos really want to catch her that badly, that he had put together an entire team for it? Though given who was leading it, the Inquisition was probably a revenge scheme from Mattias. But the emperor also wanted to capture Eda, did that make Luz an accomplice? It did seem likely, given the Inquisition's two main targets. Though, again, revenge scheme.

As Luz was wondering why exactly Emperor Belos was so dead-set on catching Eda, lo and behold, this alley was also a dead end. "Ah, figures. Probably should have seen that coming," she said. Nearby, she heard a pair of voices and footsteps, both headed in her direction. She clapped her hands over her mouth. "Probably should stop talking to myself, too…"

Luz didn't have any glyphs with her, and there was nothing to draw with or on. Luckily, just nearby was a runaway's best friend: a pile of assorted junk. She darted over, hiding herself underneath a wooden pallet and discarded tarp. Quietly hoping she wouldn't draw the ire of any rats, or the Boiling Isles equivalent, she sat as still as she could as two figures arrived in the alleyway.

"Well, no sign of her. We tried, let's go."

"Quiet. We can't just give up that easily."

Two voices, a man and a woman. Two pairs of footsteps approached Luz's hiding place, though neither Inquisitor gave any indication they knew where she was. As they stepped into view, she could only see them from the knees down: one walked on a pair of bird talons, and the other had brown skin that brought to mind the roots of a plant.

"And why not?" said the male voice. "She's a human. Last time I checked, they can't leap over eight-foot walls in a single bound. We should just let her go, and start focusing on the bigger picture."

"She may be human, yes, but the 'bigger picture' also taught her to use magic," replied the female voice. "We don't know what she's capable of, but Mattias doesn't exactly paint a pretty picture."

One of the pair walked over to the wall opposite Luz to lean against it. She could now see that his legs weren't the only thing plant-like about him: he himself was a walking flower. A greenish upper body underneath his white clothes, and a large white flower blossoming out of the top of his head. It looked like some type of lily, Luz thought. He wore the same mask as the other Inquisitors Luz had seen, only his had a glowing green emblem above the eyes. Luz recognized it as the mark of the plant coven.

The plant creature scoffed. "And with no bile sac, no palisman? How is she supposed to do this magic? Wear one of those stupid tophats and wave a magic wand? Make a rabbit appear from nowhere? Maybe saw someone in half?" He cackled at the absurdity. "I'd pay admission for that."

"Mandrake, take this seriously," said the other one. She walked over to him, and Luz could see her clearly now as well. She was a sharp-featured woman with blue skin, and short feathers of a similar color instead of hair. Her fingers resembled talons, and a pair of wings extended from her back. Her mask was the same, only hers bore a light blue glowing mark of the illusion coven.

"I won't take this seriously, because it's a waste of my time," the one apparently called Mandrake said. "Belos isn't paying me to play tag with some brat."

"Belos isn't paying us at all," corrected the woman.

Mandrake rolled his eyes, waving his leaflike hand. "Ah, like you'd care either way. Come on, let's just put in a token effort so we don't get another earful from Archoman."

"Hey! You guys! Over here!"

Luz was both surprised and confused to hear her own voice. The Inquisitors were as well, given how they didn't move, only turning towards the 'human.' Luz shifted her position as quietly as she could, and saw her exact double at the other end of the alley. It waved tauntingly at the two, making no effort to run away. Her mind immediately went to illusion. This seemed too straightforward to be Edric and/or Emira's work, so Gus was probably somewhere nearby.

The bird-woman and Mandrake glanced at one another. "Huh. Easier than I thought," said the latter, drawing a spell circle.

"Wait, that's-"

A vine shot up from the ground next to the Luz clone, wrapping around its form. Rather than becoming captured, the clone vanished into a puff of smoke. Yup, illusion.

"-just a trick," the woman finished, shooting the man an irritated glance.

Mandrake was quiet for a moment. "You know...maybe you do have a point. If she can conjure up an illusion of herself of that quality, then that is one seriously gifted human we're after."

"I could have told you that," said the woman. "But gifted or not, she still had to be nearby to manifest the illusion. Which means she's likely around here somewhere." She looked around, as though she could see through walls, trying to determine the human's location. "Get to looking."

Mandrake stood upright, shrugging. "At this point, maybe she did leap over an eight-foot wall." Luz could just make out his body turning to face the pile of junk she had hidden herself underneath. "Or maybe…"

Luz clamped a hand over her mouth, holding her breath. Mandrake walked over, peering behind some boxes just feet away from where Luz was lying.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," Mandrake said. "Come on, kiddo, make this easy for me…" Fortunately, there was enough trash to warrant searching through several potential hiding spots. But Luz didn't have anywhere to go once he found her. She didn't have any glyphs. Could she fight her way out? She could certainly try. Did Eda even know where she was? Crap, where was Eda during all of this? They didn't catch her, did they? They couldn't have, right?

Just as Mandrake's hand was about to lift up the tarp and reveal the hiding human, another voice broke the silence, this time one Luz didn't recognize. "Oi! Caelano, Mandrake! Some bloke says 'e saw the 'uman down by the docks!" He was probably another Inquisitor, but Luz was nevertheless grateful for his (unintentional) timely intervention.

"On it!" the bird-woman, Caelano, called back. "You go with Loxton, I'll get an aerial view." Luz heard the sound of flapping wings rising into the air and travelling into the distance. And judging by the footsteps, Mandrake and that Loxton guy had raced off as well.

Once she was sure they were gone, Luz breathed a sigh of relief, standing up from her hiding place. Okay, new plan: there's too much heat in Bonesborough right now, so head back to the Owl House and wait for Eda. No, scratch that-look for Eda, and if I can't find her, I'll-

Luz's internal planning was interrupted by yet another voice, this one thankfully of the familiar variety. "Psst! Luz! Over here!" She turned in that direction to see Gus waving at her from behind a nearby wall.

"Gus!" Glad to see her friend, Luz quickly made her way over. "What're you-Woah!" Before she could ask, a vine wrapped itself around her waist, pulling her into his same hiding place. Thankfully, this wasn't Mandrake's doing, but that of another of Luz's friends. "Willow! You're here too?"

"Yup!" said Willow. All three of them were now tucked behind a short wall, away from prying eyes. "And we got here just in time, by the look of things."

"But, how did you know where to find me?" asked Luz. "...Did it have something to do with my prophecy dream?"

"We were at that big announcement, and we saw you running away," explained Gus. "We followed behind after those Inquisitor guys, and-I'm sorry, your what now?"

"Prophecy dream," said Luz. "Last night, I had a dream that told me everything about the Inquisition! It's like I could see the future!"

"Really?" asked Willow, intrigued. "So, your dream told you about the Inquisitors?" She pondered this fact for a moment. "Maybe we could use that to our advantage…"

Luz shrugged. "Well, it didn't tell me everything. Just that the Inquisition would be a thing. ...Okay, not the Inquisition specifically, but an organization like it. ...Alright, I dreamt I had an anime fight with Belos, and Mattias was there. But that counts for something, right?"

Willow and Gus shared a glance. "...Does it?" asked Gus. "I mean, not to sound rude or anything, but that kinda just seems like a coincidence."

"I…" Luz was about to argue, but couldn't think of a rebuttal. "Okay, maybe it is. But still, Mattias was in my dream, and now here he is!"

"Don't remind me," groaned Willow. "What's that creep doing working for the emperor, anyway?"

"I don't know, but his cronies are all over the place," said Gus. "We've gotta get Luz to safety somehow." He looked down. "Those two didn't chase after my illusion like I thought, they just magic'd it away. I don't think creating clones is going to work this time."

"So," said Willow, "we'll have to come up with something else."

"Don't worry about that!" Gus continued. "I happen to have a foolproof plan!"

"Ooh, a plan!" said Luz. "What is it?"


"Well," said Luz, "this isn't the worst plan we've ever had…"

"But it's not the best," said Willow.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine!" said Gus. "They're looking for Luz, so they won't bother us if you aren't Luz!"

In theory, it wasn't a bad plan. Gus had used his illusion magic to make Luz look like a completely different person. Rather than create someone completely new from scratch,which he said would have taken too much time, he had used one of their classmates as a template-Bo, Luz thought her name was. Bo was friendly to pretty much everyone, so she wouldn't look out of place hanging out with Willow and Gus as opposed to, say, Boscha or one of her gang. Now all they needed to do was get out of the city without raising any suspicions.

Emperor's Guards and Emperor's Covensmen patrolled the streets, their eyes scanning for both the human and the Owl Lady. As concerned as Luz was for her own safety, she was even more worried for Eda. "You don't think they got her, did they?" she asked.

"Who, Eda?" said Willow. "I doubt it. She's made it this long without being caught, right? And even if they did find her, there would have been a fight, right?"

"Right," said Luz. "One we would have heard from anywhere in town, probably!"

"My point exactly!" Willow said.

The trio tensed up as a patrol of guards wandered past. Though they tried their best to act natural, Luz was sure that their averted eyes and hunched shoulders had the opposite effect. Luckily, the guards were too preoccupied to notice the suspicious teens, and passed by without incident. All three of them sighed in relief.

"But, back to Eda, that just gives us more problems," Gus said. "If she's good enough at staying hidden that people whose job it is to find her can't find her...how are we supposed to find her?"

"I was worried about that, too," Luz said. "I figured I'd just head back to the Owl House, but I don't want to just leave her here! She doesn't know where I am! What if she thinks I'm still here, hiding somewhere, scared out of my mind? What if she thinks they caught me!? I don't want to do that to her!"

"Luz, don't worry!" said Willow, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We'll figure something out. Is there anything Eda told you to do if something like this happened?"

"Not really," Luz said. "I usually stick pretty close to her when we go out. I assume she'd want us to meet back up at home, but...I don't know. She might be there, she might not be."

"Then here's what we'll do:" suggested Gus. "Once we get far enough out of town, you head back to the Owl House, and we'll come back here in case Eda's still looking for you. She knows us, so she'll probably ask if we've seen you."

"Perfect!" said Willow. "What do you think, Luz?"

"I don't know…" Luz said hesitantly. "I guess we don't have much choice, do we? Not with the guards still looking for me."

"Wait a minute…" said Willow. "What if we asked a guard? We can figure out if they're still looking for you, and if they've seen Eda anywhere. We're just a couple of kids-they won't suspect a thing!"

Luz was worried for a moment, but then remembered her disguise, courtesy of Gus' flawless illusory powers. "Okay, but...don't say anything too specific. Just act like a random bystander!"

Willow nodded. They singled out a lone guard, who would be easier to escape from in case things went south. He seemed to be talking to someone, who Willow couldn't see. With Luz and Gus hanging back a few feet, she approached the guard. "Excuse me," she said, trying to sound as innocent as possible. "Have you caught that human yet?"

"Eh?" The guard turned to face the three of them. "Just a minute, I'm-" He stopped, staring at the young witches, Luz in particular. Willow could see why now that he had turned: standing behind him, the person he had been talking to, was Bo. The real one.

None of the witchlings moved. The baffled guard repeatedly turned his head between the real and fake Bo. Luz's eyes met hers, and she gave the human a look of sympathy.

"Two of the same person," said the guard, still sounding confused. "This can only mean one thing...one is a fake!" He then picked up one of the Bos...the real one. "Aha! I've got you now, human! The jig is up, reveal yourself!" Gus, Luz, and Willow bolted, rounding the corner before he even realized they were gone. The guard looked back and forth between Bo and the vanished trio, and put two and two together. "I, um...you, er...you're not a human, are you?" Bo shook her head. Sighing in disappointment, the guard placed her back on the ground, hanging his head.

"No offense," Bo said, "but you're not very good at this…"

"I know," moaned the guard. Bo pat him on the arm.

Luz's disguise vanished as the three hurried to get away from the area as fast as they could. "Of all the people we could have run into!" Gus lamented. "Why couldn't I have picked someone else?"

"For what it's worth," Willow said, "I'm the one who suggested we talk to a guard!"

"Guys, it isn't either of your faults," said Luz. "Are we being chased?"

Gus looked behind them. "I don't know," he said. "Did anybody else see us?"

"In here!" Willow had noticed that the door to a nearby warehouse was opened slightly. The three witches slid underneath it, hoping to avoid any pursuers.

Once inside the warehouse, which Willow had made sure was empty, they hid themselves behind some boxes. There didn't seem to be anyone on their tail, so they seemed to be in the clear. "Doing a lot of hiding today," Luz observed.

The three of them sat down to catch their breath. "I don't get any of this," said Gus. "Why is Mattias working for the emperor? Wasn't he a criminal?"

"He must really hate me and Eda if he's willing to work for Belos to get revenge," said Luz.

"Maybe Emperor Belos is making him," suggested Willow. "This could be his punishment: 'Find the human and I'll set you free,' or something like that."

At this talk of revenge, Luz had a sudden thought. "Hey, guys? I just realized something. We all took down Mattias together. It wasn't just me and Eda, you two and Amity helped, too. You don't think he'd...go after you, do you?"

Gus' eyes went wide. "I hadn't thought of that!" he said. "Are we fugitives now!?"

"No, we aren't fugitives," Willow said. "Even if Mattias does want revenge, Belos wouldn't let him go after some random kids. Especially not since he has kids himself."

"I hope you're right," said Luz nervously. "Mattias being here is putting everyone in danger, not just-wait...did you just say that Belos has kids?"

"Yup," Willow continued. "At least, that's what all the books say. I haven't read any that say who they were exactly, but he apparently had a family back in the day. Whoever they are, nobody's seen them in years."

"Huh," said Luz, pondering this fact. "Belos is a family man. I never would have guessed."

"Me neither," said Gus. "Do you think that-"

Gus was silenced by a sudden noise above them. The three of them stiffened as an unseen something clambered from a nearby rooftop onto the warehouse. The heavy footfalls from whatever this was were accompanied by animalistic grunting and growling. The trio retreated further behind the boxes.

Luz peered out from their hiding spot to see if the creature would reveal itself. Instead, she noticed something appear not from the roof, but from the floor-a figure literally rose up through the ground. They were slightly transparent, and dark blue in color, possessing four arms and a ghostly tail rather than legs. Dark shapes resembling vague hints of a skeleton could be seen inside their body, as well as a white mask on where she assumed its face was.

Almost at the same time as this specter appeared, another figure dropped in from a window on the ceiling-another Inquisitor, given the clothing. This second figure was tall and lithe, their weight supported by four long clawed toes on each foot. Their skin was a faded shade of orange, and a pair of antlers extended from their head.

"Who're those two?" whispered Gus.

"More Inquisitors," said Luz. "Keep quiet, I think they're about to talk."

"That's an odd choice, coming in through the window," said the ghostly one. Her voice was whispery and raspy. "I never realized you were one for theatrics, Sanguinus."

"We can't all phase through walls, Stygma," said the other one. His voice, in contrast, was deep and firm. "Has there been any sign of the girl?"

"I would have thought you, of all people, would have found her by now," Stygma replied. "Has your pet really not caught her scent yet?"

"Ophelia has never smelled a human before, she doesn't know what to look for," said Sanguinus. "I'm sure she will pick it up before long." He thought for a moment. "Has Grace seen anything else?"

"Hmm, let me think about that," said Stygma, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Has Grace seen anything? You know, I don't think she has."

Sanguinus walked away from her, and she followed. "I think you know what I meant," he said irritably. As they drew closer, Luz could see that Sanguinus seemed to have scales rather than skin. Stygma didn't seem to have a mouth, but a pair of piercing yellow eyes shone from behind her mask. Her mask bore the glowing symbol of the healing coven, while his bore that of the beastkeeping coven. "She was the one who first sensed the human, after all."

"I'm not an oracle, so I wouldn't know," said Stygma. "But I don't need to be one to know that we won't find her just sitting around in here."

"Very well," Sanguinus said. "We haven't searched the residential district yet. I'll take Ophelia in that direction, you double back towards the square."

"Sure," Stygma growled. She hovered towards the wall and phased through to outside, while Sanguinus leapt up a stack of crates back to the skylight. After a moment, the creature on the roof jumped down to the ground and ran off into the distance.

"I hate to say it, but you and Eda have your work cut out for you," said Willow. "Something tells me these Inquisitors aren't like your average everyday guard of covensman."

"It sure seems that way," said Luz. "I'm not too worried, though. Eda can handle them, for sure!"

"I hope you're right," said Gus. The three of them cautiously made their way out of the warehouse, moving slowly in case anyone was nearby to spot them. "So, back to the plan?"

"I think so," said Luz. "How far are we from the forest now?"

"Not too far," Willow said. "If we're lucky, we should be able to get there without running into any more guards.

"I didn't think we'd run into any guards in there," said Luz. "We'll have to be on our guards if we want to get out of here without-"

"Hoo! Hoo!" Luz jumped at the sudden sound from above her. She looked around to determine the source of the noise, until she finally saw a small owl perched on top of the warehouse.

"Owlbert!" The palisman flew down from its perch to land on Luz's shoulder, affectionately nuzzling her neck. "I don't think I've ever been more glad to see an owl before!" Luz said, stroking his feathers. You can take me to Eda, right?"

Hooting again, Owlbert nodded, taking flight over to another building. He circled in the air before looking back to Luz, as though imploring to follow.

"Alright, I think we're in the clear!" said Luz. She turned back to Gus and Willow. "Can you two make it back okay?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine," said Willow. "Don't worry about us. Say hi to Eda for me!"

"Will do, bye!" Luz said, waving as she hurried after Owlbert. Gus and Willow headed back to town, all of them hoping not to run into another Inquisitor.