Belos/Raine was wandering the halls when he heard the sound of the doors to the Archive opening. The Collector was letting someone into their home. Perhaps, even greeting the guest themselves.

He started heading towards the entranceway. He had gone only a few steps when Raine tried to take control of their body. They dug their heels into the floor refusing to take another step.

"Get out of my body! I won't let you win!" Raine grunted as they attempted to grab a pillar. Their hand stopped moving halfway to the pillar. Belos was fighting to regain control.

"I'm not letting you control me again!" Raine hissed. They pushed their hand forward again before it was forcefully wrenched backward. The light in their eyes dimmed and once more Belos took control of the body.

"You were always fighting me, Raine. Once I'm in the Collector's body, I'll rip yours in two." A little sludge trickled from Belos/Raine's forehead. Wiping it away, he started walking towards the entrance one more.

As he journeyed closer to the exit, he started to review Raine's memories. He stopped when he saw one that was of interest to him. "Hmm, what is this? Ah, a slight change in my plan is needed."


When Luz and the others entered the Archives none of them were expecting to see a labyrinth in the entry hall. There were seven entrances based on the colors of the rainbow.

Amity tapped Luz's shoulder and pointed to a sign next to the labyrinth. She read the sign out loud. "Hello, family and friends! To welcome you back I set up a game for fun. On individual paths make your way to the end. Then you'll be rewarded one by one!"

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Gus asked fearfully.

Luz and Hunter darted at each other. What kind of perils would be hidden inside?

"I hope King has taught the Collector more about how fragile mortal life is," Luz remarked.

"Maybe we should all stick to one path?" Vee suggested.

"I'm positive that as soon as one person has passed the entrance a door will come down to prevent us from doing that," Amity said.

"Then I guess we'll have to be careful," Willow said. The seven divided up their small supplies amongst each other.

Camilla accepted the bell and a bottle of fog potion. Luz accepted the potion and one of the concealment stones. She then gave her mom some glyphs should she run into trouble.

Vee accepted a fog potion and audio stone. Hunter took one concealment stone. When Willow asked about the vial he had taken from Daria, he cut her off. "I'll explain more after we reunite with King."

Amity took the only reanimation potion bottle. Gus kept the rest of the concealment stones. Willow revealed she had possession of the enchanted slide whistle.

"We're as ready as we'll ever be. Remember, take your time. Observe your surroundings before moving forward," Camila instructed the teens. "We'll all reunite on the other side."

They did a group hug before each chose a pass. Luz was the first to enter and chose the purple path. Camilla and Vee took indigo and red respectfully. Of course, Willow and Gus chose green and blue. Amity got orange and Hunter took yellow.

As Amity predicted, once they passed through the entrance a door slammed into place. It was then the group realized there was a low glass ceiling preventing them from going too high on their staves. To make the situation even creepier, the walls had images of the Collector's past animated on them.

Camila straightened her shoulders gazing down the path. A few feet down she could see the walls split into a fork. "Hopefully, all the corn mazes I did as a kid will help me navigate this one safely."

Vee shifted into her human form. She was going to scout first to see if she had room enough to slither. Clutching her supplies securely, she started taking the right-sided path.

Amity had reached a four-way section on her path. She drew an arrow pointing straight in abomination goo. If she had to backtrack, she would know where she had been.

Willow felt like she was walking in circles. So far, her path had kept turning to the sides of the maze. Clover buzzed at her to calm down. She just had to keep walking until she found another opening.

Despite having prior experiences in elaborate mazes, Hunter was completely lost. Somehow, he had gotten all turned around. He couldn't even find his way back to the entrance to start over.

Gus's path was radically different than the others. He wasn't sure how, but he was walking on the ceiling of the maze. He needed to find a way to get to the floor before he fell unconscious with all the blood rushing to his head.


Luz was glad she still had Mousy with her. The air in the maze was oppressing. Talking to her little friend prevented her mind from panicking too much.

"Don't worry, Mousy. I'm going to make certain you don't get injured."

Her footsteps were echoing off the walls. She was approaching an intersection when the echoes changed. It wasn't footsteps echoing anymore, it was screeching.

From the right and left paths came fruit bats. Not your usual fruit bats. These bats were actual fruit with bat wings, mouths, and claws.

Mousy dove into the fanny pack in fear. Luz reached in and pulled out an ice glyph. As the bats got closer, she slapped the glyph down. "I prefer my fruit frozen!"

The ice glyph glitched slightly. Luz had intended to create a barrier to keep the fruit bats from coming after her. Instead, ice beams shot out and zapped each fruit bat turning them into fruit popsicles.

Luz tiptoed to one popsicle and touched it with her staff. A chip came off and shattered on the ground. "Okay, Titan magic repels Celestial magic. Since I'm surrounded by Celestial magic the repelling causes the glyphs to act differently."

She looked at her staff. "Stringbean, I'm counting on you to make it throw this maze safely."

The palisman's eyes lit up but she remained on the staff. Luz decided to take the right-hand path. The Collector would think it was fun to take the hardest path to get to the end.

"I hope Mom and the others are doing alright."


Back on the red path, Vee had shifted back to her normal form. The further she made it through the maze the hotter it became.

She had already gotten past three traps. She had dealt with boiling water, going over lava rocks, and eating moving fires that had been shaped like ants.

Each trap forced her to be cunning or use her magic skills to get around. Her stomach was burning from eating those fire ants. The Collector's magic tasted different from Luz's. Hers was sweet and theirs was spicy.

"Please, tell me I'm near the exit," she questioned the universe. She had been slithering forward for several minutes now.

The path took a sharp right and two doors popped out of the wall. Once she was sure her heart was beating again, Vee took a look at the two doors. One said chute and the other ladders.

Whoa, the Collector really loves games for children, she thought to herself. Luz had mentioned the Collector liked to twist games around for more fun. Did that mean if she chose the ladder door it would be a chute?

Vee grabbed the knob and flung open the chute door. The floor underneath her tail pushed her through. There was a chute but it went up instead of down.

Changing back into her human form, Vee started shimmying up the chute. She made it halfway up when a red star-shaped platform shot up under her.

Vee screamed as the star blasted off like a rocket. It sped out of the chute and into a giant hole in the wall. Emerging from the hole, the star unceremoniously dropped her into a room of giant stuffed animals.

Vee wiggled out from under the pile. She looked for a door but there wasn't one. That's when she saw the sign on the wall.

"Your journey is over and now you can rest. Cuddle up tight and enjoy your best dream yet."

She sniffed the air and realized the room was filling with a sleeping potion. Not wanting to be put under again, she tossed the fog potion in the air. She dove under the stuffed animals and shifted into an echo mouse.

Vee held her breath, (basilisks could hold their breath for thirty minutes), and waited for the two potions to lose potency. Half an hour later she changed back to her true form and slithered back into the open.

There was only a lingering hint of the two potions. The effects wouldn't be enough to put her to sleep. Yet, she couldn't count on the Collector not coming to check if she was asleep.

She looked around the room and was startled when she saw a life-size plushie of herself. Endeavoring not to be creeped out, she pulled the plushie into the middle of the room. She used the audio stone to make it sound like she was snoring.

"Now, it's time to find my way out of here."


Amity, Gus, and Willow were having nearly identical journeys. The red path had been based on fire. The orange path was based on the element of air. The blue and green were water and earth.

Willow couldn't comprehend why she was having so much trouble with the challenge she was on. When she finally made it out of the circle section of the maze, she found the path going straight.

She had seen five puzzle rooms ahead of her. When she entered the first one all the doors slammed down. Willow deduced she would have to solve the puzzles to move on.

The first two had been easy. One had been identifying different soil types. The other had been a word puzzle with words related to plants. The third one had been more of a challenge.

She had to leap across floating rocks without being knocked off by swinging pendulums. Now, she was doing her best to climb a rock wall with moving handholds.

She had fallen once already. Her plant magic didn't work in this room and she nearly broke her neck. Clover had managed to snare a piece of her costume to help her back up.

That's when Clover was forcefully turned back into a wood figurine by the magic in the walls. It appeared the maze wanted Willow to conquer it on her own. Ignoring the pricking pain from her palms, Willow looked for another handhold.

"Come on, Willow. You can't give up. Watch the handholds and figure out their pattern. Then you can move at the right time."

She was halfway up and there were currently no handholds near her. The handholds were all moving above her head. She desired to wipe the fog off her glasses but was worried the handhold she was on would disappear.

A few seconds later she figured out the pattern. "Triangle, rectangle. Now a trapezoid and an oval. Lastly, a pentagram!" Willow called out as she finished making her way over the wall.

She slide down a trail of mud and entered the last room. There was a table with two buzzers on it. One was red and the other green. Taped next to the buzzers were the numbers one and two.

"So, whatever buzzer I pick, sends me to room one or two. Luz said green means go and red means stop. Would the Collector mix them up for more fun?"

Willow pulled out the slide whistle and looked at it. Amity had told Willow before they chose their paths, Skara had only had enough time to enchant the whistle for the shield effect three times.

"Well, I guess using I should use it as soon as I press a buzzer," Willow remarked. She pushed the red buzzer. The two lit up and the ground opened up under her feet.

She quickly played the slide whistle as she fell. The shield formed around her just as the Collector's stars tried to grab her. They pounded on the shield trying to get to her.

"Please don't break, please don't break," Willow whispered. Her wish wasn't granted as she finally hit the floor in a tea parlor. The impact shattered the shield.

Willow tossed some seeds from Earth at the stars. They grew into tomatoes and squash, slowing down the stars for a few precious seconds. She ran for the parlor door hoping to escape.

At the last second, an oversized star caught her. She struggled to get out of its hold but she couldn't. It hauled her behind a screen and ripped her costume off.

She shrieked at the sight of her undergarments. The Collectors stars were forcing her into a new outfit, one that looked like it came off one of, what were they called again? Oh, Barbie dolls she had seen in the human world.

It was a leaf green tea dress with a ruffled skirt and sleeves. She was wearing bright white tights with green Mary Jane shoes that pinched her feet. Her hands were covered with lacy white gloves.

The stars quickly did her makeup and styled her hair into ringlets. A matching hat was forced onto her head. Surprisingly, it didn't damage her hair. The stars then dragged her over to the tea party table.

Around the table, three puppet people were tied to their chairs. They were Bo, Eileen, and the Illusion Teacher. Each had been dressed for a tea party as well.

Willow kicked and threw punches to no avail. Once she was tied to her chair the others woke up. "Willow?" Bo asked in astonishment.

Willow kept struggling only for the teacher to advise her to stop. "You're hurting yourself. The Collector won't let us go until we have finished the tea party."

Willow's jaw dropped upon hearing that. She looked down at the table and saw an invitation. It read, "Congratulations on making it in time for the party! I hope your appetite is hearty!"

She hated tea parties! She had to get her hands on the slide whistle and fast!


Gus was fortunate he hadn't drowned. He wasn't the best swimmer and the raging rapids were worse than the ones he had endured on Earth. It seemed the Collector had deemed rafting on the ceiling a tough enough challenge to get to the exit.

There was a kiddy pool in front of him. On a small stand were some smooth rocks. "Depending on how many times your rock skips; that will determine where you go at the end of this trip?"

Gus created three illusions of himself and then encased them in the force field shell. He handed the concealment stones to the others. The illusions transformed into clones of Mary, Grim, and Matt.

"Alright, each of you will take a turn skipping stones. When you land poof back here. I want to know where you were."

The illusions nodded. Illusion Mary went first and only managed to skip her stone once. A trapdoor opened and the illusion fell through. A minute later it was back at Gus's side.

"I was in a small den. It had a couch, a bookcase, and a display case showing weird figurines."

"Thank you, you've done enough." The clone vanished and the concealment stone dropped into Gus's hand. The illusions of Grim and Matt both skipped their stones. Grim got three skips while Matt got five.

They both fell through trapdoors. A minute later they returned to Gus's side. Grim had emerged in a bedroom while Matt reported he'd been in a closet.

Gus dismissed them and stepped up to take his turn. He needed to match one of the clones' skips. He let the stone go and was horrified when he got seven skips.

He descended the shaft and ended up in a bathtub. Gus swam up to the surface and started treading water. "Okay, relax Gus. It's only a bathtub. How bad could it be?"

A huge shadow fell over him. He turned his head and saw a giant rubber ducky floating closer. Then it spoke very loudly. "You completed your colored path. Now it's time to enjoy a bubble bath!"

The tub started filling up with tons of bubbles. The illusionist let out a yelp as the water started creating waves.

"You just had to say that, didn't you?" Gus scolded himself.


Amity was not having fun. The maze had turned into air tunnels sending her flying in different directions. For the last fifteen minutes, she had been blown in every direction.

Finally, the air tunnel spitted her out in a white room. Amity seized her head and took a few deep breaths. "You're not spinning. You're not spinning at all." Slowly the dizziness passed.

She stood up and looked around the room. "Hello! Anyone there? Where am I?" she called out. Amity tried to summon her magic and only managed to summon a small ball of Abomination goo.

"Alright, my magic is no good here. So, what am I supposed to do now?"

She heard a ding echo across the room. Two ropes were lowered from the ceiling. Each had a tag on it. One rope said pull and the other said don't pull.

Amity's hand slid down her face. This was the kind of prank the twins would do to her. "Either rope is going to send me someplace I don't want to go. Might as well just pick one."

Sighing, she yanked the rope that said don't. The floor popped up and sent her careening through the wall. The Amity-shaped hole quickly repaired itself.

"Ugh, that was worse than the time the twins emptied the entire carton of griffin eggs on my head," Amity muttered. She clutched her throat in shock. When she spoke, her voice didn't come out of her mouth.

An overhead light snapped on revealing she was in an office. The wall behind her was covered with framed business awards. There were shelves on the right and left with crystal balls airing commercials for Blight Industries.

Amity felt her eyes broaden when she recognized the desk in front of her. It was her mom's. She snatched a small mirror off the desk and looked at her reflection.

"NO! THIS CAN'T BE REAL!" she shouted. Her facial features matched Odelia's! Her hair matched her mom's awful bun. She was even dressed in her mother's clothes!

She ran for the door and fell on her face. Confused, she looked behind her and gasped. She was literally chained to the desk! The desk itself was bolted to the floor.

She tugged on the chain a few times. She couldn't get any slack. Her magic was too weak to summon an Abomination to help her. An envelope with her name on it fell in front of Amity.

She snatched it up and tore the envelope off. The was a note inside. "Every daughter wants to grow up and be just like their mom. Your dream has come true so get working and be calm."

"I'm going to be stuck in here forever!"


Back on the indigo path, Camila had finally started encountering the challenge portion of the maze. Strangely, her challenges weren't that hard. The challenges themselves were based on the traditions of the Dominican Republic. The only issue she had was that there wasn't much light to see with.

First, she had to dance the merengue. Then she moved on to cooking traditional empanadas. Lastly, she struggled with assembling a macramé hammock. Then she arrived in the final room.

There was a basketball and a hoop. A neon sign glowed above the hoop. It told her to make a slam dunk.

"If this will get me back to Luz, then I'll do it." She picked up the ball and jogged across the court. When she got enough speed, she jumped up and dunked the ball through the hoop.

That's when the room flipped over and she found herself in the Archives. Camila was horrified at seeing the puppets up close. "Aye, Aye, what have they done to all of you?"

She took a step forward and stumbled over something hard. She looked behind her and saw a small box. Camila opened the lid and found a small scroll inside.

"I would love to welcome big sis mom to my humble home. Can you please make certain that none of the puppets are on the roam? Ugh, this Collector has the mindset of a five-year-old."


Hunter was starting to realize why everyone looked at him funny when he told them about coven scout training. The yellow path had led him to a hall of mirrors. He was chasing after a red ball of light.

"Come back here!" he yelled as chased after it. He tried to take a right turn and smacked straight into a mirror. He rubbed his nose and was pleased it wasn't broken.

"Come on, Hunter. Get a hold of yourself. You can do this." Standing back up, he walked back the way he came.

"Alright, you annoying light! I'm prepared for another chase, so show yourself!"

He heard a jingle and looked to his left. The ball of light hovered in the air. He got the feeling the ball of light was making fun of him.

He took a step and it was off again. Activating his magic, he dashed after it. The little light jingled and did a few spins. Now, he knew the light was making fun of him.

"Stop teasing me!" he shouted. He pivoted to avoid colliding into another mirror before jumping over another one. He closes his eyes as the mirrors started to force him into a spiral hallway.

He knew if he opened them the reflections would just mess with his mind. He trusted his ears and listened for the jingle. There!

He weaved to the right and then to the left. He moved straight and came to a stop a few feet later when he heard the jingle staying in one place. Cautiously, he held out his hand.

He could feel open air in front of him. He smacked his hand against one of the mirrors. The echoes told him the path didn't continue after the open space.

"You want me to jump down the hole? Not knowing if I'm going to die or not," Hunter spoke. The ball of light jingled. Keeping his eyes closed, he let himself fall through the hole.

There was a rush of wind as he fell. He could feel the passageway narrowing until he could barely fit in it. His fall ended abruptly when he landed on something soft.


"Hunter! Are you okay?" Luz's voice asked him.

He opened his eyes and was surprised to find himself sitting on a couch with Luz. She looked a bit anxious and pale. She had a few scrapes and her costume edges were frayed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What happened to you and where are we?"

Luz gestured to the grand staircase to their left. Looking around, Hunter realized that everything in the room was opulent. Seeing the stars through the archways he figured out where they were.

"We're in the main entry hall."

Luz nodded and told him about the challenges she had faced. After getting away from the fruit bats, the maze eventually led her to a room with three challenges in it.

Each challenge had been related to the element of quintessence, life energy. She had to save the life of a swirling slug. Then she had to prove how strong she was by lifting weights. The last one was a drop of blood into a water basin.

"I blinked and I went from that room to this one. A second later you showed up. Where are the others? Where is my mom?"

Before he could reply a confetti cannon went off. The two teens jumped up in fright. Suddenly, they were both being embraced tightly by the Collector. "Big sis! Big brother! I'm so glad you're finally back!"

The Collector let them go and levitated at eye level. "I thought you be back in a week, big sis. Why did it take you months to master your new magic?" That's when they realized that Luz was fully human.

"What happened to the magic I gave you? Why don't you have any magic?"

"When we crossed the In-Between dimension, I threw up your sister's soul. She took her power with her. She was very angry you killed her to give me her powers."

"What do you mean? Celestials can't, what's the word you used, die? Oh, yeah, we can't die. Whatever that means."

"Ceasing to exist in the physical sense. Our souls, the essences of what makes us who we are, move onto the In-Between dimension. There we are taken to heaven or hell." Luz replied

The Collector shrugged. "I don't get why you can't fix someone's that's broken. I mean, just snap them back together, right?"

"Nay, you can't with people! We will come to that later. Where is everyone else?" Hunter demanded. "What have you been doing in our absence?"

The Collector grinned and waved their hands. Big screens popped out of the ceiling. Each one showed a different friend/family member.

"I decided to reward them for playing my game by putting them in my dream rooms. I read their minds and these dreams were the ones they never woke up despite wanting to."

"Not waking up? Collector, these dreams are not dreams. These are their nightmares," Luz told them sharply.

"Nightmares?" they asked perplexed.

"Intense vivid images that cause fear. Willow absolutely despises tea parties. Gus, he enjoys human stuff but not when it's trying to drown him," Hunter pointed out.

"My girlfriend doesn't want to be like her mom at all. Vee may be squishy like a stuffed animal but she isn't one. Why is my mom wandering around in the dark?"

The Collector looked at the ground sadly. "I thought I was doing something kind. I've been doing my best to be a good sibling. I kept King safe when we played and made sure he got plenty of time with his mom."

Luz walked over and tilted the Collector's face up. "I know you took care of King, but a good sibling doesn't put their younger siblings in dangerous situations, like star racing, to begin with."

She brushed their bangs away from their face. She was pleased he let King visit Eda and the others. It showed a bit of maturity and respect. That made the smile a little.

"Will you bring my family and friends, here? We can help you be a better sibling. You could maybe join our family if you want?"


The Collector clapped their hands happily. They were going to do that when something on one of the screens caught their attention. "That's peculiar."

Luz followed their gaze to the screen where her mom was. Camila had stopped in front of an empty alcove. She was scratching her head in confusion.

"Where's Rei-Rei? They're supposed to be in the alcove next to the sludge man."

Hunter stiffened and gazed at the screen in hope. In the next alcove over was Darius. His puppet form was in the middle of creating an Abomination.

The Collector pulled their hood over their eyes. Using their clairvoyance, they searched the Archives. "Rei-Rei's on the balcony. They're trying to catch a ride on one of my stars."

Hunter and Luz stared at each other. They were both considering the same thing.

"Collector, should Raine be walking on their own?"

Luz questioned. She pleaded with the universe to give her and the Boiling Isles a break.

The Celestial youngster shook their head. "I don't understand. Did my magic or what's that emotion again? Oh, love! Do you think love made Rei-Rei walk on their own?"

Both teenagers shook their heads and asked them to take a closer look. Their older siblings asked if something was dripping from Raine's body.

A few minutes later they replied something was dripping from Raine's eyes. It was too dark for them to see it. That's when they noticed how tense their big brother and sister were.

"What's wrong?"

"Belos!" Hunter hissed. "It's got to be him! There is no other logical explanation."

The Collector was shocked hearing that name. They thought Belos had been made unfixable. His big brother and sister were talking rapidly to each other.

Hunter disclosed to Luz what was inside the vial Daria gave him. It was a curative to treat the impacts of the shock on the Titan's body. He explained that it required being administered through the Titan's heart.

"Once the shock is treated, then King can begin to restart his dad's heart. That should get the magic cycle started again."

"That's dandy but we have to stop Belos. Where do you think he's planning on taking Raine's body? I thought he would try to take the Collector's."

Hunter swore in Spanish. "He knows what his host knows! Raine knew that King was a Titan. They might have even known the Collector's magic was repelled by Titan."

"THE HEART!" they both shouted.

The Collector whistled loudly gaining their attention. "What are you two talking about?!"

"Belos is alive and he's going to use the Titan's body to eradicate magic and those who use it forever. We'd be unfixable," Hunter snapped. He raced towards the balcony and swore again.

"He's gone! We have to slow him down at the very least." He expressed he needed Willow, Gus, and Vee's help to do it.

Though they were still a bit confused, the Collector used their magic and brought Vee, Willow, and Gus, out of the dream rooms. The teenagers poofed into existence next to Hunter.

"What the? Why am I not in a dress?" Willow pondered.

"I'll explain on the way. We need to go now, Captain!" Hunter snapped already mounting his staff. Willow and Gus mounted theirs while Vee transformed into a phoenix.


Once they were gone, Luz demanded to know who else was awake at the moment. Her stern tone caused the Collector to tremble.

"Um, besides your mom and girlfriend, there's King, his mom, and his aunt and her pet."

Luz placed her hands on the Collector's shoulders. "All those people you turned into puppets are in danger. You remember the Day of Unity, right?"

They nodded their head. "Is Belos trying to finish his game?"

Luz nodded at the small Celestial. "If Belos wins, no one will be able to play ever again. All those puppets need to be changed back. They need to get off the Boiling Isles."

"But then there won't be enough people to play with!" the Collector whined.

Luz didn't know how to get the Collector to understand how dire the situation was. She was surprised when Stringbean came off the staff.

The snake-shifting palisman changed her shape. She made her body look similar to the Collector's. This got the Celestial to pay attention.

Through her transformations, she showed the Collector the importance of putting others' needs before their own. That they would be viewed as a hero if they saved the Boiling Isles residents.

"Well, I've always wanted to be a hero. What should I do?"

"Once everyone's awake; my mom, Amity, along with Lilith and Hooty, will lead everyone to the docks. When they get there, there should be an armada waiting for them."

They agreed to do that and unfroze everyone. He then teleported Amity, Lilith, and Hooty to Camila's position. A star servant carried a note to give them instructions.

"The evacuation has started. Now what do we do?"

Luz explained that they needed to reach the Titan's heart first. "Can you teleport us along with King and Eda to the throne room?"

The Collector was a bit hesitant. "I never visited the throne room. I can teleport us into Belos's old chambers. Would that be close enough?"

"It will have to do. Ready to be a hero, little brother?" Luz asked the Collector with a grin on her face.

The Collector nodded gleefully. Focusing intensely on the memory of Belos's chambers they activated their magic. Luz covered her ears as a loud booming sound spread across the entranceway.


A second later she found herself in the crumbling remains of Belos's bedroom. She shivered as the memories of what happened here tried to force themselves to their surface.

No! I can't let my memories overwhelm me! At that moment she was tackled to the ground by a small, fluffy, and bony person.

"LUZ! YOU'RE BACK!" King exclaimed. He buried his head into her chest. "I missed you so much."

"Hey make room for me, will you? I'm glad to see your in one piece, kid." The Owl Lady hugged her foster daughter tightly. She didn't even try to hide her tears of joy.

Eda stroked Luz's hair. Luz wrapped her arms tightly around Eda and then kissed King on the head. The human teenager was happy to be with them once more.

She wished they could stay like this forever. Knowing what was at stake she broke the embrace. "I'm glad to see you both. I wish I had time to tell you of all my adventures back home, but there's no time for that."

Eda picked up on the fear in Luz's voice. Staring into Luz's eyes she could tell how anxious she was. "Why did you have the Collector transport us here, Luz?"

The teenager assured them she would explain on the way. They needed to get to the throne room, now. The Collector conjured a few star races for everyone to ride.

On their way to the throne room, Eda and King were astonished by the current events. It had never crossed Eda's mind that the Boiling Isles could "die." She was kicking herself for not paying more attention to the world outside the Archives.

For King, he felt the pressure building on his shoulders. Everyone on the Isles was counting on him! He wasn't sure if he could perform magic.

It had taken eight years for his sonic scream to develop. Would it take that long for him to start casting spells? They didn't have the luxury of time to find out.

Upon arriving in the throne room, the quartet let out a sigh of relief. Belos hadn't made it here before them. The sounds of a battle taking place echoed through the broken walls.

The ultimate battle for the future of the Boiling Isles was at hand.