You couldn't have called us inseparable. I wasn't as close to him as I was with Willow, Luz, or Amity (we weren't exactly at Luz and Willow's level of friendship either, but she still was considered a close friend in my book). But to say we were mere acquaintances would be far from the truth.
I expected for Juvencus, as well as the rest of the Human Appreciation Society, to completely forget about me once I was permanently banned. Though, to my surprise, Juvencus and I still talked. And I don't mean a simple "hello" or "how have you been" in the hallways. We actually talked whenever we could. We worked together in dueling class, we kept an eye on each other's penstagrams, and we even would visit each other's lunch tables from time to time. It was nice to still have Juvencus to talk to since the other H.A.S. members and I, while still friendly towards each other, have pretty much drifted apart.
But now, I didn't have Juvencus to talk to. Even though I didn't want to believe it, I knew it from the moment Luz told us. She was right. There in front of me laid the mellow one-eyed unicorn demon on the cold hard floor, surrounded by other curious students who gawked at him like he was some weird human artifact. He was covered in a bluish silvery frost, spikes of ice shot out of his mouth and nostrils.
A student slowly walked up to Juvencus to touch the ice when they were stopped by a holler from Luz.
"Don't get near it! If you do, it'll stick to you, and you'll freeze!" she frantically warned. The student threw their hands up and slowly backed away.
As he sunk back into the crowd a pink skinned triclops shoved her way through. Willow's face sunk into an unamused scowl while Amity tried her best not to snap at her ex "friend". Luz's expression didn't change. Her eyes stayed wide and worried.
"And how would you know that round-ears?" the triclops sneered. Both Willow and I wanted to stand up for our obviously shaken up friend, but Amity beat us to it.
"Boscha. You seriously aren't suggesting what I think you're suggesting, right? This is Titandamn Luz we're talking about'' she spat after an annoyed scoff. Her eyes conveyed a tired disappointment that, to Boscha, hit a nerve.
It was hard to believe that the witch beside me was the same witch who would coldly ignore, and sometimes even join in, with Boscha's bullying just a few months prior. After years of Boscha making Willow and I miserable, it was awesome to see that the new and improved Blight was giving her a taste of her own healing magic.
Luz ignored Amity's mocking and walked forwards a few steps. She lifted up her purple and white shirt, showing that her stomach was a painfully deep purplish red. Even Boscha couldn't help but wince. That had to hurt.
"The frost almost killed me too, but I was able to get to the hot tub in time to melt it," she said, completely ignoring Boscha's accusation. "When I made it to the pool room it was already up to my chest. I mean I'm not the fastest runner, but I'd like to say I made it to the hot tub in a decent amount of time".
"Well then, human. You're the expert here. What happened?" Boscha growled.
"I don't know! Frost doesn't just latch onto people and quickly freeze them to death in the human realm. And I've never heard of an Ice machine killing someone either" Luz responded quite frustrated.
"Well, it can't be magic because of the barrier… unless" I trailed off as I sank into my thoughts.
There was a way for something like this to happen without using magic or human machinery. The barrier disabled the summoning of magic to manipulate, whether it be with a glyph or the magic stored in the bile sack. But it did nothing to get rid of magic that was already in a witch's body. If it did, then the only one who could survive being in the hotel was Luz. For everyone else, if we all lost the magic in our bile sacks, we would grow weak and slowly die.
So, assuming that witches and demons didn't lose the magic already inside of them, then we can also assume that ingredients used in potions, like plants and enchanted crystals, didn't lose their magic either.
"What if the ice came from a potion?" I suggested. My hand rested at the bottom of my chin while I spoke. "The ingredients already have the magic inside them, just like our bile sacks. And we know the magic in our bile sacks didn't disappear".
There were murmurs coming from the crowd. Most eyes wouldn't leave Juvencus's body, but some were frozen on Boscha. She was not only cruel and uncaring, but she was also in the potions track. You couldn't blame anyone for jumping to that conclusion.
There was a moment of silence before Amity of all witches spoke up.
"Boscha didn't do it," she confidently asserted.
That caused a gasp or two from the other students. Ever since the grudgby match between team Boscha and team Willow, in which Amity "betrayed" her "friends" by joining, there had been a very noticeable rivalry between the two. But the lavender haired witch was more honorable than she was given credit for. She wouldn't let Boscha take the fall for something she didn't do.
Amity's expression sank back into a scowl. "Don't be fooled. As much as she likes to gloat, she's not talented enough to make any potion that could do this".
Of course, she had to get an insult in. The witch did the same thing while attempting to help Willow back in her bullying days. She would tell the other bullies to leave Willow alone but would do so in the most uptight, pretentious way possible to stay on her clique's good side. Status Quo would only allow her to be so nice.
At least, that's what Amity said. It was hard to fully believe her but the stronger her healing relationship with Willow grew the more I started to think that Amity was always bothered by others picking on Willow.
"Amity's right. I've made ice potions with Eda before. The ingredients are super rare, and you have to be super precise when making it. From what she's said, I don't think anyone our age could make or find a potion like that" her girlfriend chimed in.
"And what would that scam artist know?".
As they say in the human realm, daggers were shooting out of the human witches' eyes. She looked like she was about to give the pink triclops the rant of the century. Eda was more than just her mentor. She was Luz's second mother. And, yeah, Boscha was right about Eda being a scam artist, but Eda was ten times better at potions then she was. The infamous Owl Lady had decades more experience.
Then a new voice joined in, ending our small investigation.
"It seems like the first student has fallen," the unfamiliar voice announced. Everyone except for Luz looked around the room in confusion. The voice sounded like it belonged to an older witch, his voice was raspy like it had been worn down over the years, but the only people around were all students.
Luz, on the other hand, knew exactly where the voice came from. Her eyes went wide as she ran around Juvencus and up to a box on a small table. It had a weird looking wand with a cord at the end of it resting in an indent at the box's side. It had small buttons on the other side and had a bright flashing red light at the bottom. The weird object basked in the light of an old dull lit lamp. Dust and spider webs decorated both items, giving them a creepy frozen in time vibe.
"This phone has to be ancient," the human gasped in amazement. "How did the owner even get this to work?".
Phone? That did not look like the phone Luz had shown us. Her phone was a much smaller box that had a window in the front called a screen and fit in her hoodie's pocket. From my understanding, when you "turn on" the phone, light appears inside and shapes whatever image you commanded it to. The box Luz was inspecting had no window, only a spot where light was able to come out.
But the cellular phone also had a feature similar to crow communicators. Though it couldn't fly to who you needed to talk to, the phone had a speaker and could play you the voice on the other side in real time. It seemed like the object Luz claimed was a phone could do the same. So maybe it was just a very old phone. I mean, Luz would know better than anyone, right?
Luz pressed a button on the phone, causing it to let out a tiny beep. She called out to the person on the other side and patiently waited for an answer.
"Hello" the voice finally gruffed.
"Heya, ominous voice on the phone. What's up?". The man paused for a second. Only his shallow breathing could be heard.
"The… uh… the ceiling?".
"Heh. Right. Boiling Isles. I forgot" Luz chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck in slight embarrassment. "I mean what are you calling for?".
"May I ask who I am speaking to first?".
"Of course! My name is Luz Noceda and… Wait… you sound a lot like the hotel owner". The human's face fell when the realization hit.
"I am but I'm afraid I still don't recognize you".
"I'm the one you called "the perfect example of how weak my kind is".
"Oh. So, you're the human". The way he said "you're" being really weird. It didn't seem like he recognized her voice but instead was connecting it with something he saw.
The hotel owner continued with a "Sorry about that" and surprisingly he did sound sorry. "From the information I've gathered, I thought that human children were weak and helpless. I must have missed something".
Oh Titan! It didn't matter how ignorant of the situation you were; you did not say stuff like that around Luz. It was one of the very few things that made her genuinely angry.
Luz stomped her foot into the ground then snapped, "You think?". She curled her hands into fists while she stomped again. "I'm just as strong as you, you…bastardo! ¿Cómo te atreves *stomp* a insultarme así *stomp stomp*?!".
Luz then took a deep breath through her nose and then blew it out. She drug her hand up her face until it slicked up her scrapy brown hair.
"Sorry, sorry. I know you've never met me but calling me weak is something that royally ticks me off, you know" the human sighed. "Anyways, you called for a reason?".
"Ah, yes. Now where were we?... Oh, right. The first student has fallen" the man said cheerfully. "Exciting, yes?".
"No, it's not. It's awful" I spat out angrily. "Juvencus is actually dead. That's a terrible thing!".
"What? Was that you, Luz? I heard some talking but it was all quiet and muffled". Apparently, this ancient human telephone was not good at picking up voices from farther away.
"Oh, uh. There's actually a whole group of students behind me. One of them said that death was not something to be happy about. And he's right!" Luz clarified.
"I know there's more students there. I can see you all from my many human crystal balls".
"Wait. You're filming us! You can't do that unless we sign a form that says we're letting you!".
To the side of me, Willow was shaking her head. She looked like a mother who was tiredly disappointed in her child's antics. I completely understood why. Out of all the things she could be mad at, Luz was angry about some forms?
"Focus, Luz" Amity commanded with a small human shook her head like she was trying to shake some of her thoughts out.
"Right. Back on topic. What did you do to Juvencus you fiend!". My friend's voice was as loud as thunder. It rang through the hallways, echoing a little bit.
I was kinda envious. I was good at giving a good show, but I always wished I could get my voice to boom like that.
"That's simple," the hotel owner responded. "I hired him,"
...
"Er… care to give more of an explanation? That's kinda really vague".
"Well, as you know by now, this is no mere hotel. This is meant to be a specialized experience that gets witches the closest to being chased by a real human serial killer as they can get" the man started to explain before Luz jumped in, unamused.
"Uhh… I hate to tell you this, mystery murder man, but ice machines don't spit out deadly magic in the human realm".
"I am well aware. The ice potion will not be in the final version of the hotel. It was simply a way of acquiring new actors efficiently. I need actors to portray human victims, after all, because what is a human serial killer without human victims?".
"And that involved killing us, how?" Boscha spat wrly. Luz repeated her question back to the killer, albeit with less sass.
"That demon, Juvencus was it, does not look like a human. None of you witches do, actually. So, I figured I would take your souls and put them in human costumes, to help not break the illusion of course. Don't worry, they are able to mend themselves when torn and are made out of synthetic skins".
There was a sea of gasps, cries, and outraged howls. Some began to cry out for help while others begged for the man to take down the barrier and let us leave. Unfortunately, the murderous man heard none of it, not because the phone wasn't picking it up, but instead because he didn't want to hear it.
My skin began to tingle. I could feel fingers grasping at it, trying to tear off what they could later make into a puppet. I knew the hands weren't real but what was real was that there was a man out there, who could see us everywhere we went, that wanted to kill us all. And worst of all, the man could use magic...and we couldn't.
"Witches look exactly like humans if you hide their ears. Why couldn't you just use a potion to change them or bind them back". I flinched and grabbed my ears as Luz said the last part. Yes, she was human, and humans' ears weren't as sensitive but the thought just… eugh!
"If you were looking for people to play humans, then why did you go after one of the least human-looking demons here?" Luz continued, ignoring the offended murmurs she caused.
"You all wouldn't be able to pull off the stunts I've been planning without some slight modifications. Most witch and demon bodies wouldn't be able to withstand them. So, I'm going to give you new ones" the voice explained, actually sounding pleased that the question was asked. "Oh, and he wasn't the one I intended on killing. The frost potion was actually meant for you, Luz. I thought you'd use it while you showed everyone how the ice machine worked, but I suppose I guessed wrong".
Luz went pale. Her eyes were the size of saucers while her pupils were no larger than pin pricks. There was a flurry of emotions shown on Luz's face but the most prominent one was guilt. The fact that Juvencus was killed by an attack that was meant to kill her had clearly shaken Luz to her core.
Anyone would feel guilty in a situation like that, but this was Luz we were talking about. She carried the blame for everything on her shoulders, whether it be for bigger things like Emperor Belos trying to kill Eda or the smallest things like one of us failing an exam after an excruciatingly long study session at the Owl House.
Once she even tried to take on a selkidomus that was attacking ships by herself! She said she had to because Eda was using the money, she would normally buy apple blood with to get human friendly food. She was basically killing herself over apple blood!
If she could've chosen to, she would've frozen to death to save Juvencus. There was no doubt that she would be willing to die for all of us in this room.
In fact, so would Amity. And Willow would too. All three of them were more than ready to throw their lives away for each other. And they would do it for me, too.
Okay, I guess I was also feeling a bit of guilt along with a newly realized fear. I had already lost Juvencus. If I lost Willow, Luz, or Amity, that seemed like it'd hurt worse than being torn apart by a selkidomus.
Ever since I first moved up a few grades, Willow had always been by my side. She actually liked to listen to me, no matter what I was talking about, and had always looked out for me. She was my oldest friend and my only friend until I joined the H.A.S.
I hadn't known Luz for nearly as long, but she really made my life more exciting. She just seemed to make things more fun as well as give us the courage to stick up for ourselves. I wouldn't have been able to stop the group of Glandis students from destroying the Looking Glass ruins, which, in the end, taught me how powerful I could truly be, had it not been for Luz's encouragement.
Then there was Amity. Even after she turned a new leaf and helped Luz learn her second spell, I still saw her as the same old self-centered bully. It wasn't until Luz told me about Amity's promise to help defend us from Boscha's clique did I start to warm up to her. She soon started hanging out with us more and more after we all hung out at grom and, soon after that, she began giving verbal smackdowns to anyone who picked on us. Eventually, Amity officially became a part of our squad by socially flipping off Boscha and choosing Willow, Luz, and I over the group of bullies.
The three of them clearly meant a lot to me. There was a reason I called them my best friends.
I had to do something! I couldn't let them get hurt, even if it was for the greater good! I was not gonna lose my friends if I could help it!
"It would be nice to have an actual human be a part of the experience. You could help me keep things as accurate as possible. Of course, you'll need a puppet so you can be a victim, but we could make it out of your old body if you're more comfortable with that" the voice continued while Luz just stared off into nothing.
Amity took a step forward, preparing to leap to the phone and threaten to tear apart the hotel owner. But, before she could, I raced up to the phone with the speed of a lightning strike. Sorry, Amity, but it was my turn to act all heroic.
"Sorry, old man, but if you think you can take us down then you're dead wrong! We're gonna find you and bring you down along with this death trap!" I roused.
Was it the smartest thing to antagonize the killer… No, it really wasn't. But hopefully I rallied the others to fight back.
"What the hell?".
"Why would you do that? He's trying to kill us!".
"Don't you see what he did to Juvencus? He can do that to us too!".
"Mr killer? We are not with him, we swear!".
"And, what's your plan?" I proudly fought back. "Are you guys just gonna sit here and die? That man is the key to escaping and, if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die while trying to get out of this place!".
I prayed to the Titan that I would be able to convince everyone to fight together. The more people who stood up to the killer, the easier it was to take him down when he attacked. Everyone would be in less danger and, hopefully, less people would die.
"He has a point" Willow called out next. "We either fight just to stay alive or we fight to get our lives back. Either way, we're going to have to fight so why not fight for our freedom?".
The frightful angry mutters from the crowd started to turn determinedly hopeful. Amity lightly nudged Willow in the side like she was encouraging her to continue. They both shared a knowing smirk once the raven-haired girl got the message. Amity had an idea that Willow was all for.
Then Willow began to chant words I never thought I'd ever hear her say.
"Get ready for pain!".
All the grudgby players looked shocked, except for Boscha that is. Boscha was just plain pissed. The only witches that were allowed to start that chant were grudgby players and Willow was not one of those.
Boscha's clique looked at her as if they were asking for permission to join in. Boscha didn't pay attention to them. She was way too busy glaring at Willow. So, the rest of the team decided to do the same thing: give Willow all of their attention.
"Hoo, Hoo, Hoo!". The team were elated to jump in. They all beamed at Willow; their grins so wide they almost couldn't fit on their faces.
"Your fight is in vain!".
"Hoo, Hoo, Hoo!".
"Victory is Sweet!".
"Hoo, Hoo, Hoo!".
"And so's your defeat!".
"Hoo, Hoo, Hoo!".
"Who'll win the game!".
"Hoo, Hoo, Hoo!".
"Shout out the name!".
"Hoo, Hoo, Hoo!". By this point, everyone in the hallway was chanting!
"Banshees!".
"Banshees!".
"Banshees!".
As everyone cheered, I turned to the phone with a giant smirk. It was time for an "I told you so" before a victory dance.
"Yah hear that? The Banshees are coming for you. And we're gonna make you scream!" I taunted.
Without the context, that sounded rather violent but at least the Hexside students were digging it. The entire grudgby team and even the calm and collected Amity were all squeeing in excitement.
That was music to my pointed ears. I was living out a dream of mine. Sure, it wasn't at a grudgby game, and I didn't have my trusty flags with me, but I was still inciting cheers and hollers in the name of school pride.
It really was exciting to make people feel excited about things I also found exciting! And that was exactly what I was doing! Successfully, even!
A glance at Luz showed me that I had done my job right. It looked like her shock and grief had been temporarily shoved to the wayside. I could practically see the guilt melt off of her shoulders (or maybe that was just water from the hot tub).
Yeah. I wasn't having any of this holding the weight of everyone's problem on your own back. We were in this together and that was that. Hell, yeah! This was more like it!
To my surprise, the killer on the antique phone began to laugh. It wasn't an evil "I'd like to see you try" laugh, though. It was an innocent ignorant chuckle.
Everyone went silent. We all carefully listened to the older man while we tried to process what was going on. Shouldn't he have been, like, cocky or angry that we dare think we could defeat him?
"I'm glad you kids are having fun! Now, you should go back to your rooms. It's around dinner time so you should take a look at our room service menu. You'll find it in the drawer in the nightstand. Goodbye for now". With that, the red light on the phone stopped shining. The call had ended, just like that.
What… What just happened?
The other students of Hexide, who were just as confused as I was, started to head back to their rooms. None of us wanted to trust whoever was preparing the food (it was probably the hotel owner since none of us had seen any other workers walking around). But we had to eat. That fact was solidified by a loud growl.
The witches and demons that were still in the area stopped their chattering and turned to look at Amity. Her face was flushed, her flattened ears were too.
Luckily the onlookers didn't care about Amity's noisy stomach as much as she thought they would. The attention was only on her for a quick moment, a moment that felt like an eternity for the Blight.
"Amity, Agridulce? When was the last time you had something to eat?" Luz asked, her voice lined with suspicion.
"Hehe… I, um, haven't had lunch today, or breakfast. And I may have skipped dinner last night to pack, too". Amity was once again showing off her adult fangs but this time it was a sheepish smile instead of a menacing sneer.
She hadn't eaten in almost a day? That wasn't good. She had gone that long without eating before, I'm sure, but that didn't make it healthy. A witch's body could only go a small amount of time without food before bad things started to happen.
"Cariño" the hungry witches' girlfriend gasped. The upset human wrapped her up in a hug. I didn't know how Amity was still breathing. Luz was practically strangling her torso.
Luckily, Luz let go before Amity turned blue. She then held her love's shoulder firmly and determinedly stared into her eyes.
"I will not stand for this! As your fearless champion, it is my job to make sure your belly is always full!". She then started to push the hungry witch towards our hotel room.
"Now go get something to eat, missy".
As Luz began to walk behind Amity, she turned to me with a tired but wide grin. Despite how hurt she looked, the burn wrapping around her stomach obviously giving her problems, her brown eyes shone with pride.
"And you, Mr." she laughed. "You were pretty great back there. That had to have been the best before battle speech I'd ever heard".
"I appreciate it, Luz. But I couldn't have done it without you, Willow. You lead that chant like a true champ" I praised while said witch walked up to my side. She smiled brightly at the complement. A little blush highlighted her rosy cheeks.
"Aw, shucks, Gus. Just trying to help anyway I could" Willow squeaked.
"And, Amity," I continued. Amity's golden eyes widened, half out of attentiveness and half out of surprise.
My strong feeling of gratitude faltered for a moment as I internally groaned. She had been a part of our friend group for how long and she still didn't think Willow or I wanted to include her in anything?
"Starting that chant was an awesome idea" I commended when my glee quickly rebounded. I did a little hop forward amidst our trek back to our room.
"But... Willow was the one that started the chant" Amity argued, genuinely confused.
"But the chant was your idea Amity" Willow argued back with a proud smile. She gave her old friend a small punch on the shoulder as she walked past.
"Bu… well I guess that's true. It's just, that chant always helped psych up the crowd when we were down a few points". The former grudgby captain smirked, giggling, " Of course, I was the one that always started it. You know how flashy I like to be''.
The conversation continued but I tuned it out. I just wanted to focus on how supported I felt at that moment. What happened to Juvencus still upset me, it would for a very long time, but it didn't sting quite as bad anymore.
Because, despite our grief, we were going to make it through. And we were going to do it together.