Author's Note: Behold, the next chapter of the Owl Sanctum.

Now, before we begin, I'd like to address something. For over a week, I've been getting a lot of people requesting that I update this along with the Ghost, the Trickster, and Molly McGee. This week, I was able to update this story, but I'm still stuck on the other one. The next chapter of TGTTAMM is the one that introduces Pete's siblings, and the part I'm most stuck on is finding a parody song to do.

Now, I know you all are big fans of this fanfic and I understand you want updates as soon as possible, but you shouldn't keep asking me when they're going to be. I promise, I am going to update them. But there's a process for me to do it.

Another commentor asked if I had a system for the Young Avengers series, and I sorta do. Right now, I'm focusing on updating a certain story weekly (right now, it is the Black Panther of Amphibia). I may update other stories alongside it, but right now, the weekly updates take top priority. So it's likely that I may not update until a few weeks or even a month, but I will. I promise. Just be patient, and it will be worth it.

Now that all that's taken care of, let's get this fanfic up and running. Any and all comments are welcome.

Stephen made it outside and saw Luz showing off every glyph she had. She stood between a chalkboard with glyphs and Eda and Lilith who sat in school desks.

"Light in the darkness! A glittering bridge of ice! The mightiest tree in the forest! You can make all these and more with glyph magic! Welcome to day three of Luz' magic boot camp!"

Stephen sighed. "Why can't you start the day with breakfast like everybody else?"

"For your information, we need this boot camp." Eda said. "With me and Lily unable to do magic, we need to know everything you kids know about the glyphs."

"So far, we've covered every glyph we've learned up until now." Luz said. "So today, we'll learn something new."

"Are we about to encounter a never-before-seen glyph?" Lilith asked excitedly.

"Unfortunately, no." Luz answered. "The four we know either came from nature or another witch's spell. We don't know where to find more. In any case, today, we're learning how to alter glyphs to do specific things."

"Don't forget about combining glyphs." Stephen said. "Remember that one combo that we learned that we used to beat Nightmare?"

"That thing is burned into my brain, literally!" Eda laughed. "Anyway, take a look at this."

Luz and Stephen moved in closer to the desk and saw what Eda carved into it. The fire glyph and the ice glyph overlapped each other.

"Two glyphs at once?" Stephen asked. "Eda, I don't…"

"Double glyph combo, go!" Eda shouted as she slammed her hand on both glyphs. It flashed, but gave out a small, weak explosion. "Dang. I was hoping more of an ice blast situation."

"I know you're impatient to get your powers back, but try to master the basics before you start experimenting." Luz said.

"I actually agree with Luz." Stephen said before chuckling. "Wow. Hard to believe that a couple of months ago, I would never have said that."

The front door opened again. Clea walked out with her school uniform on, but she had a hood hanging over her head.

"Are we ready to go?" she asked.

"What's with the hood?" King asked.

"Today's our first day back at Hexside since the petrification ceremony. The first day since I ran away from Mordo." Clea said. "I'm just a little nervous."

"Don't be." Eda said. "I spoke with Bump and told him your situation. What happens at his school is his own business, and he's going to keep it that way. So as long as you're a student at Hexside, you're free to roam around."

Clea sighed in relief. "Thank Titan."

After returning to Hexside, Stephen, Luz, and Clea were greeted heavily by Willow, Gus, and Wong.

"Good to see you again." Wong said.

"You're okay!" Gus cried out. That's when they noticed something in his voice. He sounded deeper than he did before. They also noticed that he's taller too.

"Whoa, Gus." Luz said. "Did we miss a birthday or something?"

"Witch puberty."

"We can't thank you guys enough for helping us at the Conformatorium." Stephen said.

"Well, it was more fun than we planned." Willow said.

"Hey, Luz." Amity greeted as she joined in on the conversation. She presented her with a small pie she held in her hands. "In celebration of your return, I've brought you a homemade fairy pie."

Luz was flattered at first, but her reaction changed when se saw that the pie was filled with fairies that were clearly still alive. Though she was disgusted, she forced herself to smile at it regardless. "Oh, that's so… good."

"Since when does Amity cook for a friend?" Clea asked Stephen. "She never cooked for anyone on the grudgby team."

"Oh, you haven't noticed?" Stephen asked. "Amity clearly has a crush on Luz."

"Wait. For real?" Clea asked in a slight surprise. "Wow. That's actually pretty cute." Her attention was then turned to another student who stood across the hallway. "Excuse me."

Clea broke from her friends to approach the student she saw. She was nervous about talking to her, but she knew she couldn't avoid it. She took a deep breath and addressed her.

"Hey, Boscha."

The three-eyed girl turned at Clea with a surprised reaction. "Oh. Clea. How are… I mean, I haven't seen you since…"

"Since the grudgby game and we figured that the real reason we stopped being friends is because Baron Mordo got in the way?" Clea asked.

"Yeah. That." Boscha answered. "So, did you talk to him yet or…"

"I did." Clea answered. "And as it turns out… we were right. He openly admitted to sabotaging our friendship."

"Oh, my Titan." Boscha said. "I mean, I shouldn't be surprised but…"

"It's okay. I'm still shocked too. That's why I ran away from him."

"I see. Well…" Boscha sighed. "Look, this isn't easy for me."

"What is?"

"Just… this whole friendship thing. I always had my friends to watch my back, and I had the adoration of the whole school, but I guess you were my first real friend. So when I saw those hurtful comments from your Penstagram account, I was genuinely hurt. Still though, that didn't give me the right to treat you the way I did."

"It didn't." Clea said. "But I suppose I wasn't without fault either. When I thought you were the one who made me a social outcast, I didn't make any effort to try and make things right or even hear your side of the story. So… do you think we can bury the hatchet now?"

Boscha thought for a moment before smiling at her. "All right. I guess I did miss my moral compass."

Watching the rekindling from afar, Luz smiled. "Aw. This is very great. After everything that's happened, I'm happy to see that everything is better than ever."

Suddenly, the intercom turned on getting everyone's attention. A pair of voices spoke through it. The first was Principal Bump and the second was an unknown woman.

"You can't just barge in here!"

"Yes, we can. We are the Parent Creature Association! Now then… Luz Noceda, Stephen Strange, Willow Park, Clea Mordo, Augustus Porter, and Wong… Seriously, he doesn't have a last name? Never mind. The six of you, report to Principal Bump's office now! And you too, Amity."

Amity gasped recognizing who's voice that was. "Mom?"

"This doesn't bode well." Stephen said.

The seven kids were in for a harsh lecturing in the principal's office. Principal Bump looked nervously while a woman with green hair, Odalia Blight, spoke. At his other side was her husband, Alador Blight, who was a disheveled-looking man with brown, messy hair and a dark-gray lab clothes with abomination stains.

"The abomination situation. The basilisk attack. The rampage of Grom." Odalia listed. "These are but a few of the incidents have endangered Hexside students, including our daughter. So the PCA has decided to…" She waited for her husband to speak, but he was distracted by the moving tail coming from Bump's mask. "Ahem!"

"Oh, right." Alador said coming back to his senses. "These six are bad influences and must be executed." The students gasped in fear. "Sorry. I mean, expelled."

"What?" Clea asked. "That's insane!"

"Don't try to defend yourself, little one." Odalia said. "We already heard the dark rumors that have been floating around the school."

"Are you kidding me?!" Clea shouted. "That's all fake! Baron Mordo started it!"

"You expect us to believe that one of the heads of the Emperor's Coven and your legal guardian would bother with spreading an outrageous rumor about you?" Odalia asked. "I'm afraid you're not talking your way out of this one."

"Principal Bump, tell them they're being crazy." Stephen said.

Principal Bump lowered his head shamefully. "Sadly, I have no choice in the matter. Stephen, Luz, Willow, Augustus, Clea, Wong, effective immediately, you are no longer students of Hexside."

All the students were even more shocked than they were a few seconds earlier.

"No! But us… good!" Luz pleaded. "Amity, tell them!"

Odalia glared at her daughter making her give a defeated expression.

"Good." Odalia said. "Now, you'll be taking double the classes to make up for lost time. Actually, I'm appalled that you're not in class right now. What are you thinking?"

"Right. Sorry." Amity said miserably.

Odalia snapped her fingers and three Hexside guards barged in dragging the children away despite their protests and pleas.

"THEY CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" Stephen shouted as he and his friends were despairing just outside of Hexside. "We got expelled! I knew Amity's parents were jerks, but I didn't think they'd go this far!"

"My dad can't find out about this!" Gus said as he picked up a leaf. "I guess I'll have to start surviving off the land." He attempted to lick it, but he stopped himself unable to go through with it. "AH! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Guess this is goodbye." Willow teared up hugging a tree. "I'll water you one last time… with my tears."

"They can't do this, right?" Luz asked. "They don't actually have the authority to make Bump expel us, do they?"

"Technically, the Parent Creature Association has an authority that even Principal Bump can't ignore." Wong informed. "It's not right, but still."

"This isn't right!" Clea said stepping up. "We didn't do anything wrong and the Blights know it, especially Odalia! She's just being a cruel, smug, pompous, unbearable…" She stopped when everyone was motioning for her to stop talking. "She's right behind me, isn't she?"

"Good for you to notice. One more word, and I would've made things worse." Odalia said as she and Alador passed by.

Luz, unable to bear what the Blight parents have done, confronted them. "Hey! How dare you mess with my friends and my brother? I hope you realize you just expelled one of the best students here."

"Luz, was it?" Odalia asked. "That's nice for you, but Hexside has gotten by without you before. We'll settle without you right now."

"Okay. What is your deal?" Stephen asked. "Why now, of all times, did you decide to get us kicked out? We never even met."

"Don't take it personally." Odalia answered. "It's just that Mittens has gotten distracted lately, and it's clearly because of you all. We're just trying to teach her a valuable lesson in business."

"Expelling six innocent kids for nothing is a good lesson for Amity?" Stephen asked. "How can we not take this personally?"

"And we're still going to be friends with her." Luz added. "I'm calling applesauce on this business baloney!"

"Your human language is hard to understand, but I think I see your point." Odalia said. "If you're interested in talking things through, I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement." She reached into her jacket and pulled out card. She handed it to Luz who read an address printed on it.

"Luz, let's not." Stephen said.

"Stephen, don't you want to go back to Hexside?" Luz asked.

"Of course, I do, but I don't trust them."

"Stephen's right." Clea said. "You don't know the Blights. They never compromise."

"If she says she's interested in talking things out, it's clearly a trap." Wong said.

"Let's just forget them." Willow said. "We'll figure this out on our own."

"That's right!" Gus agreed. "We'll get back into Hexside or die trying!"

"No one's dying." Willow said.

"Not with that attitude."

"I see." Odalia chuckled. "Well, when that doesn't work, you know where to find us." She walked away dragging her husband with her from his latest distraction.

"So what do we do?" Wong asked.

"It's very simple." Luz said. "We just go up to Principal Bump and beg him to change his mind."

"Luz, he couldn't if he wanted to." Wong said.

"We have to try." Luz said.

All of a sudden, something big fell right on Stephen's face. "OW!" He fell backwards upon impact. He rubbed his sore head recovering. "What hit me?"

Wong picked up a book that fell on the ground after hitting Stephen. "It's the student handbook."

"Who threw that?" Luz asked looking around, but there was no one in sight.

"I don't know, but there's a note." Wong said taking a sticky note attached to the front cover. "'What happened to you kids is completely unfair. Consider this my way of helping. The Blights may be powerful, but they don't always think things through. If there's something in this handbook that the Blights have to uphold in order for you to get back in, I'm sure you can find it. Use it well.'"

"The student handbook?" Stephen asked taking the book and opening it up. "Well, I suppose this could be worth a look."

"Great. While Willow, Gus and I try to change Bump's mind, the rest of you can look through that book for a loophole." Luz said.

"Sounds like a plan, I guess." Clea said.

On Luz' end, she had no success at all. She, Willow, and Gus sent gifts to Bump, they tried disguising themselves as teachers, and they even tried to sneak into Hexside via the air. But every time, Bump turned them away. Although, he didn't appreciate what he had to do. He really missed the antics the kids get up to, but he was bound by his job to keep them off of school grounds.

And to make matters worse, Gus and Willow's parents had arranged for their kids to be dragged home leaving Luz with very few options. She texted Stephen to see if he had any answers, but he said no. With no other choice, Luz decided to confront Odalia Blight directly. With the card she was given, she went straight to the address.

Upon coming to the front door of Blight Manor, Luz plucked some flowers from the garden nearby and knocked on the door. Shortly after, it opened revealing a woman.

"Mrs. Blight, I…" Luz stopped when she saw that the witch who answered the door was a young woman with blonde hair. She wore a fancy suit with a purple skirt. "Oh. You're not Mrs. Blight."

"Thank Titan for that." The woman said rolling her eyes. "No, I'm Jennifer Kale. I'm the servant girl for the Blights. You must be the human girl. Odalia's expecting you. Come on in."

Luz followed Jennifer into the house and admired the fancy décor in the living room.

"Ooh. This place smells a lot better than the Owl Sanctum." Luz commented.

Jennifer stopped at a set of stairs leading down. "Mr. and Mrs. Blight are waiting for you down at the workshop."

"Oh. Thanks." Luz said. She was about to proceed, but Jennifer lowered her hand to stop her. "What's up?"

"I just…" Jennifer started to say. She let out a slight breath and looked at Luz with concern. "I just want to be sure you thought this through."

"Right now, I don't have any better ideas." Luz said. "Don't worry. Whatever the Blights throw at me, I can handle it." She proceeded downstairs.

"Oh, human. You have no idea." Jennifer said regretfully.

"Hello! Mom? I'm ready for the show tonight!" Amity called as she entered her home. She looked around looking for her parents, but all she found was a note taped above the living room fireplace.

"We found a replacement! -Mom"

"Found a replacement?" Amity asked with worry. She turned to the servant girl who was standing beside her. "Jennifer, did anyone come by the house today?"

"Sadly, yes." Jennifer said. "That human girl you talked about made a deal with your mother. She'd take your place at tonight's demonstration and she'll lift the expulsion."

"Oh, no!" Amity gasped. "Luz has no idea what she's doing!" She rushed outside to get help.

Ever since finding the student handbook, Stephen, Clea, and Wong have been going over it at the Bonesborough Library. They held it open at a table and read through it.

Stephen looked through all the chapters and passages listing everything. "Dress code? No. Schedule? No. The Case of… Giraffes Returning?"

"Yeah, we go through a drill for that every year." Wong said. "Not really what we're looking for."

"I know. But still, it's weird there's a chapter for that." Stephen said.

"Wait a minute." Clea said. Her eyes lit up at a certain page. She marked it with her finger before flipping the pages back to an earlier chapter. She stopped and looked over it. Just then, a smile appeared on her face in an instant. "This is it! This is the technicality we've been looking for!"

"Let me see." Stephen requested. Clea moved away letting her friends read what she found. In a moment, they shared her delighted reaction. "Perfect."

"The Blights won't be able to ignore this one." Wong said. "Let's take this up and…"

"Guys."

The three of them stopped and turned to the sound of a familiar voice. They were surprised to see Amity approach them with Willow and Gus behind her.

"What are you doing here?" Stephen asked.

"Look, I'm sorry I wasn't brave enough to stand up to my parents, but this is bigger than that." Amity said. "Luz is in trouble."

"Again." Gus added.

Widening his eyes, Stephen then turned serious. "Let's go."

From outside the Blight Industries factory, a bunch of loud noises were heard, including Luz' screams, abomination gunk splashing on hard surfaces, a lot of breaking stuff, and a cheering crowd. Stephen and the others were just outside the gates of the factory. They peeked out at the entrance which was guarded by abominations.

"So what's happening, Amity?" Stephen asked.

"Every year, my parents hold a showcase to promote their latest home security products." Amity explained. "Normally, I'd help demonstrate, but they've been calling you guys a distraction. That's why they got you expelled. And now, it looks like they're replacing me with Luz. And knowing my mom, she's going to make it too intense for her. It could be a matter of life and death."

"Those are two really different choices." Gus said.

"So how do we get in without those abominations stopping us." Clea said.

"I got it." Willow said. "I can use the root system underground to tunnel our way in."

"That'll take too long." Amity said. "We should just rush the guards at the door."

"That's way too risky." Stephen said. "If we get caught, you'll be put under house arrest and the rest of us will be used as target practice."

"Then I'll distract the guards with illusions of beautiful lady guards." Gus said.

"This isn't a cartoon from the 40s, Gus." Wong said. "We need a better plan."

"This could work."

"We should just bust our way through."

"We're no good to Luz caught."

"You're stunting my growth as an artist!"

"We're running out of time!"

"I'm yelling words!"

"Here's an idea." That voice didn't come from any of them. The kids looked and saw Edric and Emira holding six hoods for them. The twin brother tossed his to them while his sister tossed hers. "Why don't you just walk through the front?"

"Ed, Em, you're helping?" Amity asked with a proud smile.

"Of course. Just don't tell Mom." Emira said.

"Wow. We really appreciate it." Wong said putting his hood on with the others.

As they turned, Edric and Emira conjured notes on their backs which read "HEX ME!" However, Amity caught into their prank and threw the notes right back at them. Emira, on the other hand, added one special note. On Wong's back, Emira conjured one that read "E+W", which made her giggle.

Once the kids made it inside the factory, they saw that Luz was having a really hard time. She had just finished surviving the latest Blight Industries weapon leaving her with exhausted breath and a few bruises over her body.

At that moment, Odalia took the stage to address the cheering crowd. "Thank you. Thank you. And they said we couldn't make crossbows more fun."

"What a horrible woman." Stephen said. "Uh, no offense, Amity."

"No, I'm in full agreement."

"Next, we're very excited to show you our last product from this line." Odalia said. "My husband has been toiling away to bring you… THE ABOMATON 2.0!"

The stage floor opened up and a monstrous abomination rose from below. It wore a golden gladiator armor with a purple, glowing core at its stomach.

"Is that bad?" Clea asked.

"Worse than I thought." Amity replied before heading up the nearest ladder. Stephen strapped on his Cloak of Levitation and followed her up.

"It's bigger. It's better. The Abomaton 2.0 is the perfect soldier." Odalia presented. "It won't rest until its enemy is completely eliminated." She left the stage leaving Luz at the Abomaton's mercy.

"You're a big boy, aren't you?" she asked nervously.

The Abomaton only responded by morphing its hands into claws and a mace. It swing them down at her. She barely dodged and was especially wary when it extended its arms to knock her down to the stage's edge. She looked over to Amity's parents who watched from the side.

"Okay. It's super strong. I think the crowd gets it." Luz said hoping it would be over now.

"She has a point, Odalia." Alador said.

Odalia didn't drop her uncaring smile. "Didn't you hear me? It won't rest until its enemy is completely eliminated!"

It was clear to Luz now. Odalia had no intention of letting her leave the warehouse alive. She was left to get thrown around by the Abomaton until she was thrown upwards. It jumped upward to follow her. Luz used her ice glyph to try and stop it, but it was shattered easily. She grabbed one of the shards and held it like a sword, but the monster broke it instantly. She then used vines from her plant glyph to swing herself around until she flew back to the Abomaton. It morphed its hand into a ray gun and prepared to fire at her. At the same time, Luz activated a fire glyph at it. The resulting explosion caused them both to fall back to the stage.

Luz managed to use the vine to stop herself from hitting the ground and breaking any part of her. "Hey, I'm alive." She celebrated until she was grabbed in the leg by the Abomaton, which barely had a scratch on it. "Oh, no! I'm dead!"

The Abomaton changed its other hand into an axe and prepared to deliver the killing blow. Luz closed her eyes expecting the worst. However, she was surprised to see something stop the axe. It was surrounded by a purple aura which also surrounded its other hand. They both blew up releasing Luz. She was confused until she heard a voice call out from above.

"HEY!" Amity appeared from the scaffold above throwing her hood off and casting another spell. "Stay away from my Luz!"

"Amity?" Luz asked. She was so surprised, she began seeing her friend a way that she hasn't seen her before once she used a rope to swing herself down and land right between Luz and the recovering Abomaton.

Angry at seeing her youngest daughter interfere, Odalia tried using her oracle talisman to mentally communicate with her, but Amity stopped her by breaking the matching talisman she uses to hear her in her head.

"Luz, are you okay?" Amity asked turning to Luz, who looked at her with blushed cheeks.

"Uh, huh." Luz answered.

The Abomaton fully recovered, but Amity cast a spell over it to keep it in place. She used much of her strength to keep her hold on it much to her mother's anger.

"Amity, get away from the human!"

"No! You're going to listen to me for once!" Amity defied. "Luz, Stephen, Clea, Willow, Wong, and Gus! All of them are my friends! They're nice to each other! They listen to each other! They make me think about the kind of person I really want to be!"

"Ugh! What do you want?!" Odalia asked after noticing her sale numbers depleted.

"Let my friends back into Hexside, or else your precious investors will watch me rip this thing apart bit by bit!" Amity threatened.

"Can you actually do that?" Luz whispered.

"Shh."

"Actually, there's no need for deals!" Stephen declared as he suddenly appeared from behind the Abomaton. He cast the same spell as Amity did an started pulling. "You may not be strong enough to destroy this thing alone, Amity, but together…"

"What? But what about Hexside?" Amity asked.

"Trust me! I've got it all covered!" Stephen promised. "Right now, all that I care about is saving my sister and teaching your mom a lesson!"

Though Amity was unsure, she trusted him enough and began pulling the opposite direction from where Stephen was pulling. The Abomaton was stretched apart like bubblegum. Seeing her opportunity, Luz slipped beneath the Abomaton and planted a fire glyph beneath it and activated it. It created a burst of fire that split the Abomaton in the middle effectively tearing it apart.

The crowd gasped before booing. They all turned and left the factory leaving Odalia completely angry. She stormed toward the kids and confronted them.

"How dare you?!" Odalia barked. "You think you can just come into my place and interfere?!"

"Funny. Isn't that what you did to us?" Stephen asked. "And more than that, you tried to kill my sister. I'd say you owe us one."

"I don't owe you anything!" Odalia retorted. "So you can forget about going back to Hexside!"

"Oh, no." Luz gasped. "I'm sorry, Stephen. I tried to get us back in, but…"

"You don't have to apologize, Luz." Stephen said. "We don't need the Blights' approval anyway."

"He's right." Clea called out as she and the other kids finally caught up. She held up the student handbook they had been studying. "As it turns out, they don't have any cause for expelling us?"

"Excuse me?" Odalia gasped. "Alador and I are the Parent-Creature Association! We have every right to…"

"Actually, you don't." Wong said taking the handbook and opening it up. "It says so right here. 'The Parent-Creature Association has full authority to exercise the right of expulsion if the accused student causes damage to school property and/or lives that they do not repair'."

"And let's look at everything you accused us of back at the office." Stephen said. "The rampage of Grom? We took care of the situation. Otherwise, we'd all be living our worst fears right now. The basilisk attack? Last I checked, we had nothing to do with how that situation started. It's not like we invited it to Hexside."

"You don't have an argument for the abomination incident though." Odalia said. "According to the reports, you made a big mess and ran away."

Stephen scoffed with a smile. "Need I remind you that we weren't even students at the time? Principal Bump pardoned us to get us in."

"You seriously think such a minor technicality is enough to make me change my mind?" Odalia asked.

"If not you, then we can always bring this over to the school board." Wong said. "I'm sure this will be quite a case for them."

"Maybe we can ask Boscha." Clea suggested with a smug smile. "She and I just worked out our troubles, and her mom does work at the school board. Although, I can't imagine this will make you look good to anyone."

"Hmm. Smart kids." Alador said letting out a very tiny smile before he started chasing a butterfly curiously.

Odalia growled before finally giving in. "Fine. You win. You can all go back to Hexside."

"Really?" Luz asked happily. "You hear that, everyone! We're going back to Hexside!" She and all her friends cheered as they left.

While their abominations were cleaning up the warehouse, Alador worked on repairing the automaton Odalia stomped around in circles growling angrily to herself.

"Those brats standing up to me. My own daughter standing up to me. Ruining my sale."

"Yes. Children can be quite bothersome, can they?"

Odalia and Alador turned their heads and widened their eyes at the sight of Baron Mordo walking in with a couple of coven scouts beside him.

"Oh. Baron Mordo." Odalia gasped in surprise. "What a surprise. I mean, what an honor. What brings you here?"

"The Emperor heard of your product, and despite how your showcase ended, he sees potential in your Abomatons." Mordo said. "He sent me to tell you that he will be buying every last one of them and personally fund research into making them stronger. In fact, I'm hoping to take a couple of them myself for personal use."

"That's great news." Odalia said feeling a bit of hope. "We're honored."

"You should be. Emperor Belos doesn't take kindly to citizens making a private army. But anyway, I heard of your tight spot against the kids, and I'd like to help." Mordo reached into his cloak and pulled out a manilla folder which he gave to Odalia. "I'd like you to take advantage of this. It won't affect all the children, but it will affect one of them. I'd call that a win over them."

Curious, Odalia opened up the folder and looked over the contents within. The more she looked, the wider her eyes got. She looked back up at Mordo with the most confused reaction.

"What? But… What does this mean?"

"I prefer to keep things on a need-to-know basis, and right now, you don't need to know." Mordo said.

"Can you at least tell me why you're just giving this to me?" Odalia asked. "I mean, you know exactly who this affects."

"Clea only has a handful of places where she can hide from me." Mordo replied. "This is my way of narrowing down that list."

What they didn't know was that there was someone spying on them. Outside the front door, Jennifer Kale peeked in with a suspicious look. She stepped away from the door and pulled out a raven which she used as a phone.

"Hello?" a deep voice asked from the other end.

"It's Kale. You were right. Belos is commissioning an army based on Alador's work."

The voice sighed. "Alador's such a blind fool. I always said he was a hack. Just stay where you are and keep an eye on them. I just want to make sure this doesn't lead to anything bad."

"Understood, sir." Jennifer said before hanging up. She proceeded to leave without anyone else noticing.

The next day, the whole Hexside gang regrouped in front of the school doors. They all laughed and celebrated their return to the school they all love to be in. Even Amity joined in, only now, she and Luz started blushing whenever they were near each other.

Before they could proceed into the school, Stephen was surprised to feel someone zip open his backpack and rummage through.

"Hey! What the…" Stephen said looking back, but he was shocked to find Principal Bump who was digging around. "Principal Bump. You better have a good reason for…"

"Ah, here it is." Bump said pulling out the student handbook which saved their attendance. "I've been looking for this."

"The student handbook?" Luz asked.

"Yes. I keep a spare one of these in my desk drawer." Bump said. "Just the other day, I noticed it was missing. Thanks for finding it for me, Mr. Strange."

"Finding it? Someone threw it at me. I don't know who it was, but…" Stephen stopped himself realizing something. "Wait. Principal Bump. How did you know the book could be found on us?"

Principal Bump only answered with a smile before proceeding into the school with everyone watching.

"You don't think…" Wong suggested as he read between the lines along with the others.

Luz chuckled. "Best principal ever."

"Well, I guess that's every mystery solved." Gus said.

"Don't say that. You'll bring irony down on us." Willow said.

The kids headed to the school doors and entered one by one. The last to enter was Clea, but she didn't make it into the doorway without Hexside guards blocking her path with their staffs.

"Hey! What gives?" Clea asked.

Hearing their friend's trouble, Stephen, Luz and the others rushed over to her.

"Clea, what's wrong?" Stephen asked.

"I don't know. These guards won't let me pass." Clea answered.

"That's because you don't belong here."

Everyone turned their attention to Odalia, who stood proudly beside the entrance as if she was waiting for them.

"Mom! What are you doing?" Amity asked out of protest.

"Teaching a lesson, Mittens. One they can't argue against." Odalia said.

"You said we could go back." Stephen said.

"I did. But now, it looks like I'll have to make an exception." Odalia said. "Clea Mordo, you are no longer a student of Hexside. It's doubtful you ever were to begin with."

"What are you talking about?" Clea asked angrily. "I've got a right to be here just like any other student!"

"Not quite." Odalia said. "You're not the only one who can use the student handbook. It says that students are allowed to be part of Hexside if they provide proof of their legal guardian."

"So?" Clea asked. "Just because I'm not living with Mordo anymore, it doesn't change his parental status. He's still my legal guardian."

"Is he?" Odalia asked smugly. "I was given your personal file and discovered a little something. It might interest you that there is no will, no birth certificate, no adoption papers, social security number, or any kind of record whatsoever for a Clea Mordo. Everything has been doctored. Even the orphanage where you came from is made up."

Clea was stunned at the news. She didn't know how to understand it. "Are you saying I can't prove that Baron Mordo adopted me?"

"I'm saying you can't even prove you exist."

Without another word spoken, Odalia walked away from the school proud of what she has done. Stephen looked shockingly at Clea along with Luz, Amity, Wong, Willow, and Gus.

Clea went almost as pale as her head. Her pupils dilated. She stopped breathing out of shock. She doubted for a quick second whether she was really there. Of course, she was, but there was no proof of it.

It was on that day that everything had started changing for Clea.