Another day had come and gone since Luz, Maxwell and Hunter survived their encounter with Emperor Belos in his mind and while Luz still felt some guilt in her. Maxwell was on the alert in case Daston, Emperor Belos or anyone working with Emperor Belos was to attack them without warning. That morning, Maxwell restored both Eda and Lilith's magic for another long month.
Eda, King, Luz, Hooty and Maxwell had a good night sleep that night that the three children got rescued out of Emperor Belos's mind and that night, both Eda, King, Luz and Maxwell slept in Eda's bedroom for comfort. The morning afterwards, everyone was beginning calm themselves but Luz felt like her guilt from before was coming and going while Maxwell was on the alert and stoic but he was able to calm himself as he was recovering from the nightmarish images as he worried about Daston being sent to attack them all. The second night, everyone was fully calmed but still aware that danger will come if and when Emperor Belos finds out the children were in his mind. But during the second morning, both Eda and Maxwell had a bit of a "naughty" moment that resulted in both of them being naked, moaning, and kissing each other.
"That was an incredible way to start the day." said Eda with a grin as she got dressed.
"Hope you didn't mind I was a bit naughty myself." said Maxwell blushing while he too got dressed.
"With every couple out there. It's always a good thing to be a little naughty with each other when they make love." said Eda reassuring him.
As the two were already awake and dressed. They were headed downstairs. They made it to the entrance of the living room but they saw that Luz was in the living room, she was sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table. She looked saddened while King was napping near the entrance of the living room.
"King's been a little tired out more than usual?" said Maxwell with a raised eyebrow. "That or he's just napping like he does in general."
King had yawned and flipped to a different sleeping position and was barely speaking out loud as he was still asleep.
"Why does coffee taste so nasty? But I got too much energy from the sugar. I could bounce off a wall." said King in his sleep. "Boing! Boing! Boing!"
That answers that question." said Maxwell.
Maxwell could sense that King was dreaming and he grew curious to what he was dreaming about. He quietly motioned Eda to him as he held out his hand for her to take which Eda took hold of Maxwell's hand and Maxwell used his free hand to place it on King's head gently. That's when Maxwell muttered "Gå in i drömmar" under his breath and both Eda and Maxwell's eyes were glowing bright white as they delved into King's mind.
There, they saw King was dreaming. In King's dream. It looked like he was being taught how to cook by Maxwell which King was showing to be a fast learner.
"You're looking like you're a fast learner like I am." said Maxwell.
"When did you learn to cook?" asked King as he turned the oven and the stove off.
"Same age you are now. The first thing I cooked was a cake. Cooking class was a great help. A lot of people expected me to be cooking barbecue or grilling something that got run over by a car on the road. I cooked a big cake and wiped the smug smiles off their arrogant faces." answered Maxwell with a grin.
Maxwell and King were shown to be taking the food they were cooking to the kitchen table. King was pouring what looked like purple colored frosting over the pancakes that were on the table. Luz was wearing her Grom outfit. The desserts that were on the table looked delicious.
"Wow, King. This looks great!" said an impressed Luz. "You didn't burn yourself, did you?"
"Maxie supervised me but I'm alright. Not a scratch or burn on me." said King with some reassurance. "Thanks. I- I hope they like it too."
"Cue knock at the door and announcement in three, two, one." Maxwell said counting down with his fingers and once he got to one. He pointed to the door.
They heard a knock at the door and they looked at Maxwell who apparently sensed the minds of who was visiting.
"They're here." Maxwell said.
"Hooty-hoot! We have visitors!" called Hooty.
The three of them remained in the kitchen which somewhere in the living room Eda opened the door to find what looked like King's father. He looked like a mustached demon wearing a brown fedora which resembles King. Then two young children who were with him appeared from behind him.
Eda led the father and the two other children into the kitchen as Luz placed the used dishes in the dish washer while Maxwell took care of any sort of heavy lifting. After that was when Eda walked into the kitchen with King's father and his siblings. Eda was wearing her Grom outfit.
"Welcome to the Owl House, folks. Hope this place wasn't too hard to find." said Eda.
"Not at all! Thank you for having us." said King's father looking optimistic. "I heard you're engaged to be married by a sweet, southern sweetheart. Congratulations on finding your future husband."
King ran towards him and greeted him with a hug which he hugged back.
"King of Dads! You made it!" said King happily.
"Wouldn't have missed it for the world, son. I'm so happy we saw that video of yours. Now, maybe after dinner, we can have a nice game of catch." said King's father.
"Really?" said King excitedly.
"You know it." said King's father. "I even see that Maxie is a Christian. We've prayed to the good lord to one day find you. Our faith in the lord kept hope alive."
Both King's father and Maxwell than proudly said out loud "Glory to God! The good lord wins again!" followed by a joyous "Hallelujah!" than King's father turned to the two small children that accompanied him.
"Prince of Brothers, Prince of Sisters, do you have something to say to your big bro?" King's father introduced.
The two small children ran towards King and hugged him while King felt touched as he hugged them back while they uttered "Big Brother!" to King.
"Please have a seat, Your Honorable Mr. King of Dads. King prepared a special feast for you all." said Luz.
That's when King's siblings ran towards the table but they had a little difficulty getting up onto the seating which Maxwell came over to give them a lift up.
"Reach for the sky!" said Maxwell as he helped them onto the seating they now sat on.
The two children looked at the food and uttered the word "Hungry" in such a cute tone that it left Luz to smile at how adorable they looked. King's father approached them while uttering a laugh.
"Patience, children. It would be rude not to give thanks first." said King's father as he tipped his hat as he sat with the two small children. "Maxie, isn't there a southerner's saying about family?"
"A southerner may be a bit stubborn about a few things but we're known for being friendly, loving our mothers, having a respect for women and we're known for growing like a weed." said Maxwell expressing a southerner's saying. "That would explain why I'm a bit bigger than I should be for my age. And if anyone is to give thanks. I believe King should do the honors."
king cleared his throat before he spoke.
"I'm thankful that my demon family finally got to meet my owl family." said King.
Everyone looked at each other with a grin after hearing King's words.
"Seriously, thi- this is amazing! I- It's almost like... a dream..." said King as his face shown a saddened expression for a moment.
That was when everything faded to black and both Eda and Maxwell were snapping back to reality as their eyes returned to their normal colors. Eda than reached out to gently nudge King.
"King... King, come on. It's time to wake up." said Eda speaking loud and clear.
King jerked awake with an uneasy expression on his face while he was surprised.
"What's going on? Is there trouble? If someone is hurting Maxie or Luz. Then let me at em'." said King looking ready to defend those he loves.
"King, calm yourself. No one's attacking us. Not yet anyway." reassured Maxwell.
"How's Luz and Maxie? Since they had the little encounter in Belos's mind. They've shown signs of traumatization." said King showing his worry and compassion.
"I'm alright. I'm just on the alert more than usual. I'm still standing like an indestructible wall." Maxwell reassured.
"And Luz?" asked King.
"We're about to find out." answered Eda.
The three of them got up and peered their heads around the entrance of the living room from the left. As they saw Luz looked saddened. Maxwell fell and lost his balance as he landed on the floor in a thud.
"Were you guys standing there the whole time?" said Luz not even looking at them.
"You caught us!" they said in unison.
After Maxwell got up on his feet. Luz began to express to them her concerns and worries to Eda, King, Maxwell and Hooty when Eda and King were sitting on the couch, Hooty was hanging around next to Eda while Maxwell sat next to Luz. Luz had drawn pictures or sketches from the looks of them.
One sketch drawing was of the portal that was in the process of being rebuilt already has been rebuilt and Emperor Belos only needed the titan's blood to activate it. A second sketch drawing was of Emperor Belos looking enraged while holding the Golden Guard's mask in his right hand, the mask was cracked and the words "Witch Hunter!" was written next to the left side while both words were underlined. The third and final sketch drawing was of Emperor Belos's true past self, Philip Wittebane, in the appearance he was when both Luz, Lilith and Maxwell met him when they traveled back to the Deadwardian Era of the Boiling Isles.
It shown Philip holding a diary in his left hand, a second image next to him that was covered by another part of paper while above it was a drawing of Luz, Lilith and Maxwell when they were in disguise back when they time traveled through the Time Pools. Luz shown to be a very good artist judging by how good her sketch drawings looked. Luz had a despondent expression while Maxwell had an arm wrapped around her for emotional comfort.
"Luz, everything you and Maxie told us. While we believe you judging by what Maxie shown me from letting me delve into his mind and yours and explored your recent memories of what went on during your time in Belos's mind. I'll admit. It is a lot to take in. Especially now that Daston is working with Belos. Wouldn't surprise me if Belos would end up killing Daston." said Eda making a good guess of what was next. "Luz, are you still feeling guilty about what you think you did? Trust me, Belos has lied and tricked and manipulated people for so long that he'll say anything to plant guilt in anyone's innocent heads, especially when that person is innocent of what Belos did or tricked them into doing."
"We don't have time to take anything in. We have to stop Belos! I- I was a part of his plan! I-I fell for everything! Even Maxie caught on sooner about how Belos has been lying, deceiving, manipulating and using everyone for longer than a human can live!" said Luz as she stood up with her arms wrapped around herself and she was on the verge of crying.
"Luz. Tranquilízate." said Maxwell getting up on his feet. "You're not to blame for helping Belos. He lied to us, used us, manipulated us, he tricked us the whole time. The guy will say anything to make anyone believe they're guilty of helping him when in actuality. You and I didn't know. You can't be held accountable for not knowing."
"King, Hooty, Maxie, you know what to do." said Eda.
King, Hooty and Maxwell approached Luz to hug her for emotional comfort. Hooty wrapped around both Luz and Maxwell like a snake wrapping around someone's body, he was gentle with his hugging, Maxwell was hugging Luz from the right side while King was hugging her from the left. Luz embraced them as they embraced her.
"Well, one thing's for sure. People can tell when you've been inside their head. It's only a matter of time before Belos sends his scouts over here. You need to hide." Eda informed.
"I'm not hiding. I'm gonna stop Belos from completing the Draining Spell. I... just... need to figure out how." said Luz with a bit of defiance but was quickly shifted to a curious expression.
"I'm with you. Sorry Eda but hiding will do us no good. Even if we do hide. They'd eventually find us. No more hiding. We have to do something. Even if we can't put it back in the box. We have to try. But we should only hide unless we have no other choice. I know I'm usually the obedient person towards the woman I love because a woman is always right and is always wiser, even when they're wrong, they're still always right. But this is one of those times where I'll disobey but only for the right reasons." said Maxwell kindly disagreeing with Eda's idea of hiding them.
Before anyone could utter another word. That's when Lilith walked into the living room of the Owl House. The front door was left open.
"Edalyn!" said Lilith sweating from running her way over from the looks of it.
Hooty was looking in the direction of Lilith and he was excited to see her. Owlbert was with Lilith by standing on her right shoulder. Hooty's body shifted a bit which tightened his grip on both Luz and Maxwell.
"Hooty! Too tight! Can't breathe!" said Luz and Maxwell in pained tone.
"Sorry about that guys." said Hooty apologetically as he unwrapped his body from them which they were able to breathe properly.
"Lilith, before you say anything. You're gonna need this." said Maxwell.
Maxwell used his magic to levitate a clean and warm towel towards Lilith which she took it to dry her face off from the sweat. Maxwell even uttered the words "Estilo y gracia" which he snapped his fingers and after Lilith had dried the sweat from her face. Her clothing that had any sweat stains disappeared instantly like time was rewinding itself from spilling water on her which made the sweat stains disappear, her hair was redone as if it was instantly redone by a beautician, her glasses were instantly shined and polished of any dirt, sweat, fog or anything that shown a mess.
Maxwell came over to Lilith and muttered "Mizu" as his left hand formed a palm sized ball of water as he used his right hand to motion Lilith to open her mouth which she obeyed and Maxwell levitated the water into her mouth which was enough for her to have a mouthful of water. She swallowed it down whole afterwards and felt refreshed.
"You really know how to treat a woman or make them feel refreshed." said Lilith with a blushing grin.
"A true gentleman helps out a lady when they're tired out and needing a hand." Maxwell said proudly. "What brings you here?"
"I came as fast as I could once Owlbert filled me in on the Draining Spell. Oh, Titan, I can't believe this is what the Day of Unity was about the whole time and Maxie's suspicions about Belos lying to everyone and how Belos was lying to everyone about the Titan, the Titan's will, him communicating with a dead Titan being a lie, and that his plans were nothing but a death trap for us all. Maxie's suspicions were correct. Ugh, I was such a fool, a dolt, a chump, a-" Lilith began.
"Hey, no pity parties in this house. Besides, Luz is upset enough as it is. And Maxie's already traumatized enough from when they've finally were in Belos's mind." Eda interrupted while giving her a warning.
Luz and Maxwell turned to face Lilith. Luz was teary-eyed with a puppy dog like whimper while Maxwell shown a stoic expression as he began to dry Luz's tears with another clean rag.
"You're right. I'll do anything to help." said Lilith. "But I did find Hondo Kowalski."
"Is he here?" asked Eda.
Lilith's face turned grim as she shook her head sadly.
"He's dead." answered Lilith sadly. "He was killed by Daston. Once Hondo finally learned Maxie's whereabouts and since he was going to help us in some way or another in defeating Belos, he had something in mind on how we could do that. But Daston got to him before he could come to us and shot him in the head with a spirit bullet spell. Whatever Hondo had in mind was taken to his grave."
They were silent for a moment and they all knew that they wanted Hondo to help them out but since Daston murdered him. Any ideas he had to defeating Emperor Belos was taken with him to his grave.
Maxwell made a prayer sign with his left hand to pray for Hondo as he knew that Daston severed any hope left in defeating Emperor Belos if Hondo had any information in stopping him.
"Lulu! I am so happy to see you and I'm so sorry that this Hondo was murdered. All life is precious as Maxie has said, finding this out makes me feel like I could, I could- I could..." Hooty paused.
Hooty's body began to move around and curl about when something from his stomach was rolling it's way out from there to his mouth which looked like Hooty was about to puke up something since a large ball of something was coming from his stomach to his mouth. King unfortunately was hanging onto that huge ball that was coming from his body as he got stuck.
"Oh, here it comes!" said Hooty as King fell onto the floor and Hooty puked up whatever it was that came out of him.
Hooty puked up a pile of various items on top of King while three little purple spirits came out and floated up to the ceiling, going straight through it.
"Ugh! Gross." said a disgusted Luz.
"Oh, my word!" said a surprised Lilith.
"Hooty, you gotta stop eating garbage from the ground." Eda advised.
"I've seen worse than this before. Don't ask." said Maxwell looking unphased. "But Eda's right, Hooty. Eating that is going to do some serious damage or cause serious problems for your digestive system. You're not a tiger shark."
"What does a tiger shark eat?" asked Hooty.
"Anything. They once found a car's license plate in their stomach." answered Maxwell.
That was when King emerged from the pile of garbage that fell on top of him. He had a black letter addressed to him. It read "To King" in gold lettering.
"He's also been eating our mail. Look!" said King showing them the letter.
King opened the envelope and once he pulled the letter out was when a piece of a rock fell out from the letter into his hand. King read the letter out loud.
"Dear King Clawthorne, if you wish to know who you truly are, come to this location and meet our warrior clan." said King reading the letter out loud till he turned to the others. "I think they might be my family! And maybe they're an answer to all our problems!"
King held up the letter for them to see and at the bottom of the letter looked like a map to where the said person who delivered the letter to them could reside at. It shown a red dotted line leading to what looked like the finger of the Titan with the picture of a head that resembled King.
"Hooty, the person who delivered the letter. What were they and what did they look like?" asked Maxwell.
"The person who delivered the letter looked like King if he were middle-aged with a long, thick beard." answered Hooty.
"That's incredible! But... how is it supposed to help us stop Belos?" Luz questioned.
"They're a clan of warriors! How else do you defeat a tyrant with their own army? By making an army of your own!" said a thrilled King.
"Well, it's... not like we have many allies." said Lilith.
"Not to mention it's a chance for King to find out where he came from. I say let's go for it!" said Luz already daring to go.
"Hold it. Let's think about this first. I want to find out about King's Papi and where he came from as much as anyone but if this is going to be a journey. Let's at least consider what we need to do before we go running off unprepared. How do we even know if these people are the real deal?" said Maxwell trying not to sound negative.
"Well, I say you three need a safe place to hide while the adults take care of things." said Eda as she was skeptical about this.
Luz and Eda stared at each other angrily and then looked away while uttering a defiant "Hmph" as they crossed their arms. Maxwell didn't like the way they were reacting as he now had an idea on how to cool their anger down.
"I'm actually in favor of this plan." said Lilith with a grin.
"You are?!" everyone said in unison.
"It wouldn't hurt to check. Plus, judging by King's map, you three would be taken far, far away from the Boiling Isles and Emperor Belos." Lilith suggested. "Maxie would go with them. After all, he's a very powerful being of magic. Even though I once thought he was a human who just got granted the power by someone but now that we know he's a hybrid of a human and a witch and a very powerful one. He can be one of them who looks out for them. Even if some brute was to lay their hands on a young woman."
Hearing Lilith suggest an idea as well as giving Maxwell a reason to go with them once he heard why he should go with Luz and King, especially when he heard he could keep a brutal person's hands off Luz, it immediately had Maxwell wanting to go through with it as he gave a salute to the idea.
"Any misogynistic neanderthal who lays their hand on a woman or even a young woman like Luz will have to hear from me." said Maxwell proudly.
"What if something goes wrong? Maxie may be a powerful being but it may be a two people job." said Eda with a hint of worry.
"Hooty could accompany them and be like Maxie's combat buddy. Their safety would be your responsibility, my dear, brave Hootsifer. You'll even be able to be like a brave knight like Maxie." said Lilith.
Hooty smiled as tears welled up in his eyes as he felt touched by Lilith's words. He extended his body outward and bowed down to Lilith.
"I would protect these silly children with my life and watch Maxie's back as he will watch my back!" said Hooty proudly.
Lilith did a curtsy in response while Eda was still a bit skeptical.
"Yeah, well, how- how would they even get there?" said Eda looking slightly annoyed.
"Salty and his crew!" said Luz and Maxwell in unison.
"We know a ship that might take us." said Luz pointing out an option.
King ran up towards Luz and hugged her.
"Yeah! The ole Selkidomus crew. Think about it! Belos won't be able to withstand a whole army of mes. Even Maxie may be able to be like our heavily artillery." King said in agreement.
"Such allies would be quite valuable." said Lilith in agreement.
"I wonder if I still have my sailor's hat." said Luz.
"You do, Luz. Although, I actually have a different pirate's outfit for this." Maxwell reassured.
"Does anyone feel that marching around the edge of the forest?" said Hooty.
"Fine. You can go. We'll find out all we can on our end to create a plan for uh... uh, when you get back." said Eda relenting while showing optimism on her face. "Maxie, Hooty, you watch each other's backs and watch out for Luz and King."
"Yes ma'am!" said Maxwell and Hooty in unison.
Luz, King and Maxwell came over towards Eda and hugged her as she smiled and hugged them back.
"Thank you, Eda! We won't let you down." said Luz.
"If Eda proves to be right and we come back. Then Eda can tell us what to do for the rest of our lives." said Maxwell as he kissed Eda on her lips and she kissed him back.
"Let's pack for the trip!" said an excited King.
"Wait for me!" cried Hooty.
Both Luz, King, Hooty and Maxwell ran off into the hallway and went to go pack up. Hooty was in his portal backpack form now as they were getting ready to pack up and go on another journey. While Eda looked on with a visibly saddened expression. Lilith came over to her to sit on the couch next to Eda.
"You know you made the right choice, don't you? Plus, I've explored that area, there is nothing of note. Whoever wrote that letter was sending them on a wild Luz chase." said Lilith uttering a funny pun as she proceeded to laugh at her own joke.
That's when the moment of optimism and humor was cut short as Eda's eyes were welling up with tears, she covered her face with her hands and started to cry out for the worry of Luz, King, Hooty and Maxwell. That's when Lilith looked at Eda and felt like she said something that was offensive or possibly an insult.
"Oh, no, no, no. No, no, don't cry! Oh, the joke wasn't that bad, was it?" said Lilith placing a reassuring hand on Eda's back.
That's when Eda looked towards Lilith and she could see the mother bear instincts in her kicking in.
"Oh, this is so much bigger than I imagined, Lily. I thought Luz was just some lost kid while thinking Maxie was just some lost kid who came from an abusive background with nowhere to go, but because of me they're wrapped up in this thing with Belos and it- it's just not fair. Luz, Maxie and King are children. They shouldn't have to deal with this. My man shouldn't have to suffer anymore and Daston is out there, working with Belos and probably out for Maxie's blood or anyone he loves. They shouldn't have to deal with this or go through any more suffering." said Eda starting to calm down. "Luz, King and Hooty are like my children and I want to marry Maxie once he's of legal age. I know they've helped me out a lot like I did for them. But I don't want them to suffer anymore."
Lilith finally understood why Eda broke down and pulled her into her arms to hug her in an attempt to console her. Her consolation attempt appeared to work.
"We have a whole week until the Day of Unity. We'll figure out how to keep them safe." reassured Lilith. "A little off topic but I sometimes forgotten how big and thick your hair is. I could probably hide in there."
Eda was calming down and the two looked at each other face to face. She wiped her tears away from her own eyes.
"Alright, let's get to work." said Eda calming down. "I'll admit, my hair has always been big and thick. King actually hidden in there before. No joke."
Lilith uttered a chuckle at the last statement.
"Really?" said Lilith.
"He once was like I ain't touching that thing. I've heard noises coming out of there. Something is evil in there. I've seen you pull big, strange tools out of it." joked Eda. "Good thing I didn't store a bowling ball in there."
"That would be painful." said Lilith.
As they got up on their feet. They began to try and plan on how to stop Emperor Belos.
"Do you think we should stop calling him Emperor Belos and just call him Belos? Now that Owlbert told me everything about the Day of Unity. That, and Maxie informed me on what went on when they were in his mind. Everything he told me about and shown me was...shocking." said Lilith wondering what to call Emperor Belos now.
"It's better to call him Belos and no longer call him Emperor since he's nothing but a genocidal madman who doesn't care about anyone but himself. Maxie was right about him." Eda pointed out.