The Coven Scout moved through the bushes, careful not to be spotted by the guard. Even as far away as he was, he could still hear him calling to his fellow revolutionaries. The Scout had to keep quiet, move slowly. He was trained for this. This was his chance. He had to admit, he wasn't sure what would happen if he was successful. Would he get a real staff? A promotion? A personal meeting with the Emperor? Would he be renowned as a hero? It didn't matter. Any one of those would do. Even if he didn't get any of those, even if it only brought him one inch closer to his goal, it would be worth it.

The Scout's name was Wilton Brand.

One month ago, he had been inducted into the Emperor's Coven, alongside another student at Glandus High. When he was accepted, he left everything behind. He left his school, his family, and even his palisman, which had been taken upon his entry into the coven. He left his friends behind, too. All except one.

That one was Layla Grove, the other student from Glandus. She'd studied with him since he had first joined the Abomination track. At fifteen, they were among the youngest ever allowed to be Coven Scouts. Wilton couldn't help but feel proud, but he couldn't, wouldn't stop there.

No, he had his eyes set on a position in the Emperor's Coven, one reserved for teenagers like him; The Golden Guard. It was a title that would bring greatness to his family name. The position allowed him to be the right hand of the Emperor, the man who answered directly to the Titan. There was no greater honor on the Boiling Isles.

Wilton thought he was on the right track, getting into the coven at such a young age. Then, a week ago, he asked his superior for a staff. A magic one. He had gotten used to using his palisman over the past few years, and he was having trouble adapting to living without one. The guard, smile on his face, told Wilton that he would get him a staff by the end of the day.

Three hours later, he returned with a wooden quarterstaff, a hilarious joke to everyone in his barracks. Well, everyone except Wilton.

"Doesn't the Emperor want us to be at our best?" He had ranted to Layla, "Then why won't they just give me a staff?! I know the Titan needs our palisman, but we need something!"

"Calm down, Will," Layla responded, using a nickname she came up with when they were twelve, "You lived without Slink for years, you can't figure it out now? Here's an idea: why don't you stick it to those bossy witches by actually figuring out how to use that quarterstaff? If you become Golden Guard someday, maybe our wonderful Emperor will even let you knock some sense into them with it." She laughed.

So he did just that, spending whatever hours he had away from his duties to practice. Soon enough, he was able to combine his quarterstaff abilities with that of abomination magic.

Dueling Day came and went, and his superior showed no recognition of his newfound resourcefulness. He had to prove that he was more than the other grunts in the Coven Scout ranks. He had to stand out.

That's what brought him here.

That's what brought him to the home of the Owl Lady.

In his pocket, he had three bounty posters. He brought the one for the Owl Lady just in case an opportunity presented itself. What he was really looking for were the two teenage humans. A boy and a girl, likely related from the look of them. They weren't worth nearly as much as the Owl Lady, but that didn't change the fact that their capture would surely get him noticed by his superiors.

Wilton peered out from behind the bush he hid behind. Suddenly, the front door of his target's residence opened. Wilton ducked behind the nearest tree and listened in on the conversation of the two figures.

"-only take a few minutes! I can't mess this up tonight!" A voice spoke, this one sounding juvenile, likely male.

"If I'm going to defeat Grom, I'm going to need a lot of glyphs. I'll help you as soon as I'm done with that, alright?" Another voice, female.

"Aw… Fine…" The first voice again.

Then, I high-pitched voice, which Wilton recognized as the guard's voice, "I can help you, King! Find something to prop your queue cards up on and I can help all day…"

"I'll pass, Hooty!" The juvenile voice called out before abruptly slamming the door behind him. Slowly, Wilton peaked out of his hiding spot. He saw someone walking towards a small path, not far from the house. They wore a purple and white hoodie. Wilton checked the bounty poster. It was her. The human girl. He followed her, making sure to stay concealed in the bushes.

She got to the end of a path before promptly sitting down on a log. She slipped a small piece of paper from her pocket and began drawing on it with a pencil. Wilton had heard rumors that the humans couldn't do magic without pieces of paper they referred to as "glyphs". If this were true, this human girl was unarmed. An easy capture.

Wilton drew his staff. It was now or never. He started to stand up, preparing himself to charge toward his target, when something caught his eye. A shadow, cast on the bush in front of him.

Someone was behind him, and they were holding a weapon.

Wilton turned right as his attacker brought their blade down in a wide, downward arc toward his head. He instinctively brought his staff up to meet the blade, but it cut clean through, splitting the staff in two. Wilton, stunned, had no time to react as the blade carried on, passing right over his eye, and making a shallow cut. Wilton cried out and stumbled backward, falling onto his back.

He put his hand to his mask, and it came away with blood. Wilton could only hope it hadn't done any damage to his actual eye. The scout looked up at his attacker.

A boy, looking of a similar age to Wilton, stood above him, a sword in his hand. The boy kept the tip of the sword only inches away from Wilton's throat. Upon closer inspection, Wilton noticed that the boy had round ears, unlike the pointed ones witches had.

The other human. Wilton cursed himself for letting a magicless human sneak up on him so easily.

"What are you doing here?!" The human asked. "Who are you?"

"I would ask you the same thing, human." Wilton retorted. "Don't you have your own realm to live in?"

"Shut up. Who's the one with the sword here?" The boy asked.

Wilton rolled his eyes, even though he had a mask on.

"Now, let me ask you again…" The human pressed the sword closer to Wilton's throat, "What are you doing here?"

Wilton couldn't answer. If he told him the truth, the human probably wouldn't be happy that he was hunting him. If he lied, the human might know. He had to fight.

"Answer!" The human demanded.

"Lucio? What's going on?" A voice asked. The human girl walked over to the boy and then turned to look at Wilton. She gasped.

"Lucio!" She yelled at the boy, "You made them bleed! I told Eda giving you a sword was a bad idea!"

"He was sneaking around in the bushes, Luz! That doesn't seem even a little suspicious to you?" The boy - Lucio - argued back.

"Well don't kill him!" The girl - Luz? - argued back. She turned back to Wilton, "Ugh. Are you OK?" She helped him up off the ground.

"What are you doing?" Lucio asked, obviously annoyed.

"Letting him go. If we keep him here, Hooty will probably eat him," Luz replied. "Now go back to uh… wherever you guys come from. And put some ice on that." She pointed to his eye.

Wilton stared at her, bewildered. The human was just… letting him go?

"This is a bad idea," Lucio said.

"Cállate. Don't you still have an outfit to find for Grom?"

"Fine." Lucio rolled his eyes, "Get out of here, Coven Scout."

Wilton had half the mind to attack them but decided against it. Their guard knew he was here now, probably the Owl Lady, too. He picked the two staff pieces off of the ground.

"Will do," He said as he began to walk away, "Enjoy your party."

"Oh!" Luz called after him, "And don't come back. I was serious, Hooty will not hesitate to eat you."

What a weird place, Wilton thought as he walked back toward Bonesborough. Even though he escaped, he couldn't help but feel ashamed. Not only did he fail to capture anyone, but he also now had a permanent reminder of it.

Wilton sighed. He would have a difficult time explaining this to Layla, not to mention his superiors.