The bell rang, ending lunch.

Penelope sighed.

"Well back to class," Penelope said.

"You're not coming to study hall?" Luisa asked.

"No, I've got some extra credit work to do. I'll meet up with you and Erich after school."

Penelope grabbed her books and walked out of the cafeteria.

Pep tried to get up and escape but Luisa put her arm around his shoulder.

"C'mon. Since you are new here I'll show you to the library."

"No, really that's not necessary," Pep said.

"It's no problem besides Penelope is in class and Erich unfortunately in Detention I'll need a study buddy and I can help you with your illusion studies."

Pep wanted so badly to get away from her but he couldn't think of a way to get out of it without looking suspicious.

"All right, show me the way."

Luisa smiled and led Pep to the library.

As they were walking Pep noticed Luisa was fidgeting with a pink oval gem necklace.

"You ok?" Pep asked.

Luisa had a nervous face and began to take deep breaths and began to fidget with her necklace more vigorously.

"I'm fine, it's just that that incident in the cafeteria left me a little rattled… wish Erich and Penelope were here."

Now Pep noticed Luisa's skin beginning to look dry.

"I don't mean to sound rude but your skin looks dry."

Luisa noticed the skin on her forearm was drying out rather quickly, and began to take on a more scale-like texture.

"No, not now," Luisa whispered.

"Are you ok, your starting to look-"

"I'm fine, ok!" Luisa shouted.

After a moment Luisa noticed Pep's surprised face.

"I'm so sorry, Pep. I didn't mean to be rude, I'm just dealing with a lot right now…also I'm a little worried about tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Tomorrow is the day we receive our Palisman…I'm worried I won't get one."

"Why are you worried about that? This school is chock full of 'em, throw a rock and you'll hit 70."

"I know but ya see my mom had a hard time getting her own. On her adoption day, none of the Palisman chose her because she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life yet…I'm not sure either what I'm going to do. I know I want something to do with magical creatures but I'm just not 100% of what it is I want to do with them other than study them and that's not much of a career then there's what my mom wants."

" Why does what she wants matter to you?"

Luisa sighed.

"My mom wants me to be like her, an extraordinary Witch who always saves the day and studies every field of magic there is but…"

"That's not what you want."

"No, I'm happy with beast-keeping and minoring in Abominations. I don't want to be famous like my mom and her friends."

"Well, I know this might be a simple answer but think hard tonight about what you want to do, not your mom and not your confused thoughts just think of what you want to do and I'm sure tomorrow you'll find your Palisman."

Luisa smiled at that.

"Thanks, Pep."

The two then stood outside the library.

"And here we are, Learning Central. "

Pep then looked at Luisa's wrist and noticed the skin there was becoming dry like the other parts of her hands and neck.

"What are you staring at?" Luisa asked.

"Oh nothing, let's go."

The two entered and took a table near the entrance, nearly everyone else was reading from textbooks and practicing spells. Luisa got out her usual Beast-keeping textbooks while Pep still playing his part as an illusionist student grabbed the nearest book on illusions he found plus a history book. As he and Luisa began to read they both heard a familiar voice.

"You gotta be kidding me."

Luisa and Pep looked up and noticed Roland and Lithie walking toward them.

"Can't you find another table to sit at?!" Luisa said as she glared at Roland.

Roland glared back at Luisa.

"This is the only table left in the library," Roland said as he and Lithie sat down at the other end of the table. Roland noticed Penelope and Erich were nowhere to be found.

"So I guess fatty and Penelope aren't here to protect you, you gotta fight your own battles for once."

Luisa broke her pencil in two after hearing this.

"I always fight my own battles, Roland. And I'd stop mocking people about their appearance if I were you, that is unless you wanna lose another horn." Luisa said triumphantly.

Now Roland looked angry.

"Your Broken horn is odd-looking, Roland. I'd listen to her." Lithie said.

"Thank you, Lithie," Luisa said.

"Who's side are you on, anyway?" Roland asked his supposed friend.

Lithie was unfazed by Roland's look and continue to look through her potions manual.

"Nobody's, I'm just sitting back and enjoying the drama," Lithie replied.

Pep tried to read from his Illusionist textbook but he couldn't look away from Luisa and Roland constantly giving each other the death glare. He then noticed Luisa was still fidgeting with her necklace and then his eyes went wide when he noticed a similar one around Roland's neck.

"They used to be friends ya know," Lithie said. Pep turned to her and noticed she was looking at him and away from her book.

"We all used to be, Luisa, Roland, and me, and then eventually Penelope and Erich joined us then-"

Roland brought his hand down hard on the table and then began to speak.

"Then everything went downhill from there. Those two are nothing but trouble if they had just stayed out then-"

"Then what, Roland?! You wouldn't have become a bully or broke up the Anti-Witch Hunters?!" Luisa answers back.

Pep looked at Lithie again.

"The Anti-Witch Hunters?" Pep asked.

"It's what we called ourselves. It wasn't a great name but we couldn't think of anything better to call ourselves." Lithia replied.

"Why did your group brake up?"

"You can ask Roland that question! After all, it's his fault I'm-"

Luisa stopped talking and then clenched her chest in pain! Pep noticed her dry skin was now spreading throughout her body.

Luisa noticed this and immediately grabbed her bag and looked through it.

"Where is it, Where is it, C'mon!"

"You didn't drink your Medicine this morning?!" Roland asked.

"No, I had to leave the house quickly and I thought I had already packed it anyway!" Luisa dumped her bag into the floor but couldn't find her medicine anywhere."

Pep turned back to Roland and Lithie who were already in action.

"Whatever your name is, help me restrain her!" Roland shouted as he grabbed his necklace and looked Luisa right into her eyes which were already turning black and red. Pep grabbed Luisa by both wrists and restrained her while he was doing this he noticed Luisa's fingernails growing longer and sharper, the dry skin now looked like pure black scales.

"Luisa, look at me!" Roland said while using his Oracle magic to try and stop the curse from taking over her mind. Luisa's necklace glowed brightly as he was doing this.

"Stay out of my head, Witch!" Louisa said in a nearly demonic voice.

"Stay out of this, beast! I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to Luisa!"

Roland then got out his Crystal ball and summoned an old spirit.

"Alexandra, it's happening again. Calm her!"

The ghost did as it was ordered and possessed the body of Luisa, calming the angry creature in her.

Roland turned to Lithie and before he could even ask she held out a mason jar filled with Gold liquid.

"I always bring some just in case," Lithie said becoming handing the jar to Roland.

Roland turned back to Luisa.

"Luisa, I'm gonna need you to drink this, ok?"

Alexandra was doing the best she could but it was still hard to cage the angry beast within

Luisa's body.

"Hahahaha, you think I'm going to take orders from low rent orphan like you!" The creature said before Alexandra took over and forcibly opened the mouth and Roland gently poured the liquid in and tilted her head as he did so she wouldn't choke. As the last drop went in Roland could feel the angry creature within beginning to quickly lose control and go back deep within Luisa's subconscious.

Alexandra left Luisa's body and looked at her master.

"The Curse is dormant for now however this was a particularly bad bout of it. She will need medical attention."

Alexandra then went back into the crystal ball. Lithie came over and helped Luisa up.

"I'll take her to the Nurses office," Lithie said as she helped Luisa up and led her away, leaving only Pep and Roland.

Pep looked over to Roland and noticed He was putting his crystal ball back in his bag then closed his eyes and touched his Oracle necklace for a moment then let go.

"It's getting worse," Roland said.

"So what was that exactly?" Pep asked.

"It's a curse. When Luisa and I were younger, we went out to the Marshlands one morning with Lithe, Penelope, and that tub of lard, Erich. You see when we're in the marshes, we found something, something none of us thought was real."

"What was it?"

Roland gulped, Pep noticed the look of fear in his schoolmate's eyes.

"We found a sleeping Dragon. You know this whole domino effect of events would've even happened, but hadn't been for that blubber boy, Erich!"

Pep noticed the spite in Roland's voice as he said Erich's name. Though Pep himself hadn't known Erich for that long he didn't see why Roland despised him so much.

"Ok but how did she get cursed?" Pep asked.

Now Roland looked away for a moment before Turing back to Pep.

"It's my fault. I cursed her."

(The Nurse's office)

The front door to the office was slammed open and Penelope ran in like a bat out of Hell and looked at each cot until she found Luisa sitting cross-legged on her cot with a can of creature cola in her hand.

Penelope quickly embraced her best friend, knocking the soda can out of her hand in the process.

"Hey, my soda," Luisa said.

"Forget the Damn Soda, Isa! Your curse acted up again."

Now Luisa looked unsettled. Her cheeks began to blush and she immediately looked away.

"It wasn't that bad, besides I got my medicine in time before I transformed so it's no big deal."

"It's a very big deal, Luisa! You know every time you transform or even begin to transform you lose more and more control, what if Lithe hadn't had a spare bottle of Elf root on her?! It would be another-"

"Don't mention the cookout!"

Luisa edged away to the other side of the cot.

"I know I can't lose control again, ok! I guess I was just so excited about getting my Palisman tomorrow that I forgot to pack my medicine."

Penelope got closer to

Luisa put her arms around her friend. Luisa immediately embraced her best friend and began to cry on her shoulder.

Penelope wanted to say something comforting but she couldn't think of anything to say so instead she just held her friend tighter.

"Luisa?"

The two girls separated their hug and saw None other than Luisa's practical stepmom, Amity Blight walk into the Nurses office.

Luisa smiled and immediately got off the cot and embraced her second mother lovingly. Amity returned the gesture with just as much if not more affection.

"Mama Amity, I'm so glad you're here, I almost…" Luisa couldn't even manage to say it.

"I know. You almost transformed again." Amity said.

Luisa looked quizzically at Amity.

"How did you find out anyway, it's only been like twenty minutes since it happened?"

"It's a small city, Sweet-pea. Nearly everyone knows by now."

Luisa slumped back onto the cot.

"Aww man."

Amity sat next to Luisa and then put her arm around her shoulder.

"Well if you're looking for someone to blame then you can turn your attention to your Mom's Palisman, Choo-Choo. That nosy swan was the first one to hear about it and then he told your mom and then she told me."

Luisa's eyes went wide as she heard this.

"Mom knows?!"

Luisa then fell back onto the cot. She knew she would get a mouth full from her mom once she got home. What would her punishment even be? A horrifying Idea came to her mind, what if her mom wouldn't let her get a Palisman, she would have a point too, how could she take care of a Palisman if she couldn't even remember to take her medicine?!

"Luisa, Relax. I know what your thinking so put your mind at ease, your mom Isn't mad."

Luisa turned back to Amity.

"She isn't?"

Amity shook her head no.

"No, she's just worried that maybe you're spreading yourself a little thin that's all, I mean with your help at the orphanage plus flyer Derby practice. You gotta admit that maybe you're biting off more than you can chew. So much you might be forgetting about the important things…like taking your medicine."

Luisa looked away. Mama Amity was right but it wasn't just like she could stop helping at the orphanage, they needed her there, Professor Eberwolf was getting too old to take care of them by himself and she couldn't give up Flyer Derby, she loved it and now since she was getting her Palisman she would be able to play it the way it was meant to be played instead of using practice staffs to fly.

" You don't have to make decisions right now, I'm just giving you food for thought."

Amity then got out a bag and pulled out a medium-sized Ashwood box and handed it to Luisa.

Luisa looked it over a few times then looked back at Amity.

"What is this?"

Amity smiled.

"It's a gift your father made for you shortly after you were born."

Luisa looked back at the box happily knowing it was made by her father.

"What is it?"

"You'll see tomorrow. You can't open it till after your Palisman ceremony, Understand?"

Luisa nodded as she and Penelope looked at the box, both wondering what was inside. Luisa was however happy just to have a gift that her father had made just for her, holding it felt like she had yet another link to him. She then looked up at Mama Amity.

"Mama Amity, thank you so much for this, but I Gotta know, if this is from my papa, why do you have it?"

Amity smiled.

"Your father and I had a lot in common, Luisa. We were both the only serious ones in your mom's group, we were both natural born warriors and we were both in love with your mom. Now usually when two friends are in love with the same person a rivalry begins to form but we weren't like that, even though we both loved your mother very much, we both still cared about each other a lot too and well you know the rest but I want you to know that, even after all that your father and I were very close friends, and after you were born, he made you this gift himself and wanted you to have it after you got your Palisman, for some reason I think he knew you would like it better if it came from me instead of your mom or dad, thinking about it I can kind of understand, it is embarrassing when you're older to get gifts from your parents."

"And he also knew to trust you to keep my mom happy and loved while he was gone. Mama Amity, I know you and my mom have been dating behind my back but you don't need to, I'm happy for both of you and I know my Papa would be too, you were his best friend, who else would he trust to love his wife just as much as he did."

Amity's eyes went wide before a tear began to slide down her cheek. She then embraced Luisa and Luisa did them same.

"Welcome to the family,Mama Amity."

Papa, wherever you are, I want you to know how happy I am to have this gift from you to remind me of the love and bond we share as a family. Luisa thought.

(Underneath Hexside Academy)

Kikimora poured the last drop of her mixture into a glass vial. She had to make sure she put in every last drop, as it fell a small cloud of green smoke that formed into a skull and cross bones floated above before fading, it was done. She grabbed the veil and brought it into Philip's room, he was trying unsuccessfully to sleep but thanks to his sickness he was unable to for long.

"Pep?" Philip asked weakly.

"No, Philip. It's me, kikimora."

Philip opened his eyes and Kikimora noticed a look of slight disappointment in his eyes, as he looked upon her.

"Where's Pep? He was supposed to bring me a Palisman."

"It's been hours, Philip. It's obvious what he's done." Kikimora said as she sat at the foot of Philip's bed.

"Please don't talk too loudly, I've got a horrible migraine," Philip said.

Kikimora sighed and then began to talk more quietly.

"Pep has abandoned us."

This made Philip use what little strength he had to lift his upper body, his left arm turned into an elongated basil

the green tentacle that wrapped

around Kikimora and began to strangle her much like an anaconda, would do to its prey!

"Don't lie! Pep would never do that!" He then released her and let her drop to the floor!

Philip's strength then faded away as soon as it had come, he collapsed back into the bed and looked at his creator hatefully.

"I know you and Pep have had your differences over the years but that doesn't give you the right to make up lies! He's my twin brother, he would never abandon me! He'll be here soon you'll see."

Philip then noticed the glass full of neon green liquid.

"What's that?"

Kikimora took several deep breaths before answering.

"It's the main reason I came in here. I have found a cure…a temporary one mind you but a cure nonetheless. With this concoction, your body will stabilize for a time, and you will be healthy and without ailment, no longer needing to rely on consuming palisman.

Philip looked at the vail again, he was about to grab it but stopped himself.

"You said it was temporary right, how long does it last?"

"I'm not a hundred percent sure. It could be a month or a day or possibly a few hours but it doesn't matter how long it lasts, what matters is what you do during your time of power. You could take over the island, kill Luz and her little clique then you kill their offspring and-"

"I could…or I could use them instead."

Kikimora looked confused.

"If the human Luz and her friends are gone that will create a void in leadership for all the witches, demons, dwarves, as well as the merpeople. I could rise to power and after a while gain everyone's trust and by then I will make things the way they should be here afterward why should I stop in the demon realm, after all many witches and demons have immigrated to the human world, after a while I could take power there, just as easily and with the help of Course of Luz's daughter and her friend's children that would surely help gain everyone else's trust. After all, don't you think they would love to support the very man who brought down their parent's murderers?"

" How would you go about doing this if you were the one to kill Luz and her friends?"

" simple some old enemy of the past will come back, and of course I will have acted as if I have captured them and made them confess their crime and unfortunately, Kiki that someone would have to be you. People would naturally believe you were the killer, considering your allegiance to my father not to mention, just looking at that face of yours, doesn't exactly give someone the impression of innocence."

"Don't let your Delusions of grandeur cloud your judgment, Philip. It would be easier just to kill off your greatest adversaries as well as their children the first chance you get."

Philip ignored Kikimora then grabbed the concoction out of Kikimora's claws and drank it down to the last drop.

Instantly he felt a massive pain in his head, he cliched it harder then fell to the floor as he felt his body change from the inside out. His arms became longer, several of his teeth fell out, two long green horns grew out of his head, and his skin turned to nothing but a green sludge-like substance! When the transformation was complete Phillip more resembled his father at the near end of his life when he was trapped in the form of a Monster.

Phillip grabbed a mirror off the wall and looked in horror at his new body then broke the mirror in his new hands!

"What have you done to me!" Philip shouted as he grabbed Kikimora and began to squeeze her like a stress doll.

"I…didn't think this would happen, you have to believe me," Kikimora said.

Philip would have killed her then and there if not for his arm beginning to destabilize and drop her.

Philip tried his best to regenerate the arm but was unsuccessful.

"You've made me worse!" Philip shouted Angrily.

Kikimora could hear the fear and desperation. In the boy's voice, she could still use him.

"There is still hope, Philip. All we'd need to restore you to your old form would be a few Palisman. Since unfortunately, your condition has taken a turn for the worse it would have to be a considerable amount. We would need to leave our subterranean abode."

Philip looked at her hatefully then at his reflection in the broken pieces of glass on the floor. As much as he hated her, she was right. Why couldn't Pep have just come back with a Palisman before this? His brother could have convinced him not to drink the liquid…wherever his brother was right now, he would have to have a pretty good explanation why he had taken so long to come back!

To be continued

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