The glass of wine in Arend Havik's hand had come from a bottle of Château Mouton-Rothschild 1945 that he had bought in auction for $310,000 many years ago. That meant that he had spent $62,000 on the wine in the glass alone. He had saved the bottle for a moment of particular triumph. He had initially planned to drink from the bottle on the day he became a billionaire, but by the time that day arrived, he had completely forgotten he even owned the bottle. But it all worked out in the end, because the moment ahead of him was far more significant than any mere arbitrary passing of a wealth milestone.

Havik was about to change history forever. History would be forevermore defined by what he was about to do. Everyone would remember him for thousands of years, maybe even tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands. It was the closest thing to immortality he would ever possess.

It was a thoroughly unpleasant day otherwise. It was dry and hot, Havik's least favorite kind of weather. Havik had grown up in Cape Town, which had a Mediterranean style climate. The Northern Cape province where he was now had an arid climate, and it was causing him to sweat in the armpits of his ludicrously expensive suit. Yet the suffering he was enduring was worth it.

The Jeep he was riding in stopped in front of an ordinary looking cave. It was thought that Wonderwerk Cave was the sight of the earliest controlled use of fire by humanity. Havik did not know if this was true. What he did know was that there was a portal to the Demon Realm within.

Many thousands of years ago – maybe even millions; Havik was fuzzy on the exact details of the timeline – a coalition of witches, demons, and fae had succeeded in banishing the giraffes from the Demon Realm. The portal they had made had stripped them of their intelligence and turned them into mindless animals. But the coalition had made one mistake: They'd kept the portal open.

For all that time, the portal had remained permanently open, the only such portal on Earth until Clawthorne's portal, allowing free access into the Demon Realm. However, in the mid 1980s, the portal had been closed for reasons that Havik was still fuzzy about. His scientists had tried to explain it to him, but he'd zoned out a few words into their explanation. He trusted them to handle the science end of things; he handled the important matters.

It had taken quite some time, but the moment he'd been waiting for had finally arrived. His top scientists had succeeded in reopening the portal. The Demon Realm was once more within his grasp.

Havik exited the vehicle and looked over at his squadron of elite, handpicked troops. Each one of them was at the top of their field, experts in the killing arts. They all knew what they'd be facing. Magic. Demons. Things that were thought of as mythology. None of them actually believed him when he'd told them this, but that was their problem. They'd soon learn otherwise.

"Remember the mission parameters," Havik instructed them. "We will lay low and get the lay of the land. When the time comes, we will strike the prison with surgical force. Don't hesitate to kill anyone who stands in your way, but at the same time, let's try to keep the casualty level low. This is an extraction mission, first and foremost."

Every last one of them thought he was crazy, Havik knew, but they were doing an excellent job of keeping the skepticism off their faces. Havik couldn't help but admire that. He took a sip of his wine, and it tasted disgusting. He spat it out, tossed the glass on the ground where it shattered, dripping the contents that cost roughly three times worth what the average South African had to the entirety of their name on the ground, and then walked into the cave.

Amity Blight opened her eyes. She felt refreshed, as if she'd just woken up from a restful sleep. Hang on a second. Had she fallen asleep? Oh, that was so embarrassing. She didn't think the party had been that boring. She thought back to the events of the party. They were somewhat fuzzy. Zoe had arrived and then…oh, crap! Edric had attacked Prince Zarr! Oh, they were in deep trouble now. But Amity couldn't remember what happened after that. She couldn't possibly have fallen asleep in the middle of a crisis situation…unless she'd been put to sleep.

"Amity!" a voice cried out. It was Luz. She was looking at Amity with profound relief, as if she'd just rescued her from a horrible fate. Which could very well have been the case, Amity realized. The fae were notorious for loving their sleep spells.

"It's okay, cariño," Amity said, trying to keep her voice light and airy. She got up off from the floor and then was thrown back onto it when Luz tackled her with a hug. She planted kisses all over Amity's face. It was nice. "I'm fine! Nothing to worry about!"

"How long were you asleep for?" Luz demanded as the two of them stood up again. Amity shrugged.

"Just a few minutes," Raine responded. "You and Zoe disappeared just after you took her deal." Amity's mouth jumped open. Luz could be so stupid sometimes, which Amity was not afraid to admit she loved, but would she really be foolish enough to take a deal from the fae?

Luz looked astonished. "So the whole thing took no time at all, Narnia style!" Amity had no idea what this Narnia was, but she surmised that Luz's perception of events had lasted a lot longer than theirs. "Oh, Amity, I'm so sorry." She braced herself. "I cheated on you."

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Amity shouted. She could feel her body transforming. She was turning into an abomination. Luz looked like she was torn between lust and fear looking at her.

"Zoe's deal was that she had to go into an alternate dimension and get your counterpart there to fall in love with you," Camila explained, struggling to keep her voice calm. "I suppose this means she succeeded."

Luz laughed somewhat hysterically. "Oh, no. I epically failed. I mean, I came close. But in the end, we just killed Zoe. I mean, not just; there was this final battle and it got complicated, but, yeah, in the end, Lilith killed her and her enchantments got reversed. Which I guess included sending me back in time in the first place."

Amity forced herself to calm down and turned herself back into a witch. Clearly, there were extenuating circumstances involved. She would punish Luz later, probably with a tickling session the likes of which she'd never seen. Anyway, did it really count as cheating if it was with a parallel version of her? That was definitely an interesting philosophical question. "How far did you go with her?"

"No further than kissing!" Luz was quick to assure her. She took a deep breath. "Amity, I'm sorry but I…kind of fell in love with her too. But she found out about me, and I broke her heart. I didn't mean to, but I did. But we patched things up in the end!"

Camila walked over to Luz and gave her a hug. "It's going to be okay, mija. I know whatever you faced there must have been difficult. I'm going to help you through it."

"I missed you a ton, mami," Luz said. "So in that universe, you never married Dad." Camila nodded. "He married Eda instead." Camila looked stunned. "The other Luz was Dad and Eda's biological daughter."

Camila looked absolutely gobsmacked, and then something seemed to occur to her. "So he was there when you were in the other realm?"

Luz gave a wide smile, but it was also a somewhat melancholy one. "Yeah. I got to spend a lot of time with him. Make up for some of the time lost. And…I got to say goodbye." There was a solemn silence in the room. Luz had confided in Amity once that never having a chance to say goodbye to Eduardo had been her greatest regret.

After a few seconds of silence, Luz pointed over at Edric, who looked profoundly guilty. "I'm so sorry, Luz!" he shouted, before she could say anything. He still sounded somewhat drunk. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't attacked the prince, Zoe never would have done this to you! Punish me however you want, I deserve it!"

Luz smirked. "In the other universe, you're a nerd." Amity couldn't help but laugh. Her brother, a nerd? What kind of bizarro universe had Luz been in?

"BLASPHEMY AND LIES!" Edric shouted.

"Nope!" Luz said chirpily. "A pocket-protector, glasses wearing nerd, Edric. The other you, Edmond, he's obsessed with architecture, studies compulsively, and gets absolutely amazing grades." Edric looked like he was about to cry. Luz seemed worried she had taken things too far, because she added, "But he's also very popular with the guys! And he's a good person, Edric. He was so kind to me, more than I deserved."

Emira smirked at Edric. "I'm going to hold this over your head for the rest of your life."

"Damn you, Luz," Edric muttered.

Luz turned to face Amity. "Your parents didn't raise you. Someone threw you in a portal to Earth. It could have been your parents or Boscha's mom. They were all really nasty pieces of work. Anyway, you raised them, mami." She turned to face Camila, who looked very pleased at that. "And you raised them so well. Amity Serrano is a hero. Fearless. Brilliant. Unstoppable. Oh, Amity, you should have seen what she can do with construction magic!"

Amity cleared her throat. She wasn't exactly keen on Luz gushing about the girl she'd cheated on Amity with, even if she was a variant of herself. "I think, Luz, you should possibly quit while you're ahead."

"I'm ahead?" Luz said, sounding amazed at that prospect. "Right, yeah, so you were a super amazing mom in that timeline too, mami. When you found out your kids got stuck in the Demon Realm, you went there – long story, I'll tell you more later – and you were a total badass. You shot Warden Wrath in the face and Odalia in the back of the head." Though she tried her best to hide it, Camila couldn't help but smile slightly at the thought of her having killed Odalia. Amity could understand why.

Luz sighed. "I lied to everyone, but eventually just about everyone figured it out. You were one of the last, Amity, and…it was awful. So I stopped playing her game. Lilith led a rebellion against Zoe – she'd killed and replaced Belos by this point – and we took her out. And here I am."

She turned to face Amity and directed her gaze just above her eyes. "If you want to break up with me, Amity, then just do it now. I can take it. Get it over with!"

Amity leaned in and kissed her girlfriend gently on the lips. "I'm not going to break up with you, you silly human," she said. "Am I happy that you cheated on me? Hell, no. Are you going to pay the price for that in a lot of small ways later on? Oh, yes, you are. But I know you did it out of love, so I forgive you. If you do it again, though, I'm going to rip you limb from limb."

Luz just gazed at Amity with an adoring expression. "Oh, God, you're the best. I've missed you so, so much. It's been months without you from my perspective. Months! And while Amity Serrano is awesome, there's no one in the entire multiverse who's as amazing as Amity Blight."

"So were you right?" Raine asked suddenly. "Were you Amity's true love?"

Luz was silent for a few moments. "I don't think there's such a thing as true love. I wasn't destined to be with her, because there really isn't any such thing as destiny. Probably. But my love for you is true, Amity, because I care so much about you and I want you to be happy for yourself. Odalia loved you, but her love for you was tainted and wrong and false, because her love was completely selfish. It wasn't about you. It was about her."

"I don't want to talk about her," Amity said curtly.

"Sorry," Luz said. "I need to get some rest. It's been a hectic day for me. Zoe tried to drive me nuts with this psychic attack and…I just need some rest." She planted a kiss on Amity's lips, and Amity marveled at the fact that her heart could still soar from the simplest of Luz's kisses. "I love you. And I'm going to show you just how much."

That sounded better than any dream Amity could possibly envision.

Over the course of the next week, Camila made sure to spend a lot of time with Luz. She couldn't imagine what it was like to go through an ordeal like that. Fortunately, despite Eda's fears of having to deal with Seelie retaliation from having caused Zoe's death, the newly crowned King Zarr had taken Zoe's death completely in stride. In fact, he sent them a message thanking them for the promotion and claiming that Zoe's "psychopathic megalomania" had been "like, totally harshing our vibes, dude." The peace treaty was signed, just as planned, without any further incidents. Camila wasn't sure whether it was all an act Zarr was using to deescalate matters, but signed was signed.

Luz had tried to act like everything was fine and normal. She'd spent a lot of time with her friends. (The instant she saw Willow again, she begged her to never go out with Boscha. Willow, looking bemused, had agreed. Camila wasn't sure what that was about, but she was sure she didn't want to know.) But though Luz was adroit at putting on a happy face (probably too adroit now that Camila thought about it), Camila could see right through it. The emotional suffering she'd had to go through in the parallel dimension had hurt her. She was having to mourn Eduardo's loss once more, and she felt profoundly guilty for having hurt Amity Serrano.

But in some ways, Luz was actually doing better than before. Having a chance to get closure from Eduardo had closed a gaping wound that had been in Luz's psyche for far too long. Camila was profoundly jealous, once more, of her daughter, for having had a chance to spend time with Eduardo again. But if Camila had to choose between having more time with Eduardo or Luz having more time with Eduardo, she'd have chosen Luz every single time. And it also made her feel a lot better to know that in some universe, Eduardo had actually made his way to the Isles and was still alive, even if it had come at the cost of the two of them not loving one another.

"Do you think I could have done more?" Luz asked Camila one afternoon. She had finished with her homework and the two of them had been sitting on the couch in the Owl House, watching a show in Eda's crystal ball. "I mean…maybe I shouldn't have led Amity on at all. I never even tried to look for other solutions before she found out…"

"Luz, I know you. You did your best." Camila honestly believed that. Luz was an extraordinary individual, but she was not a goddess. She was human, and made mistakes. And in the end, she'd not only helped kill a fae queen, but actually succeeded in tricking a creature of deception and treachery. That was seriously impressive Harry Dresden level stuff right there. "You should stop beating yourself up about everything. Think of it as a learning experience. You won't take another deal from a fae, will you?" Luz shook her head frantically. "Well, there you go."

Luz cracked a smile. "Yeah. I guess you're right. You know, I missed you. Every day. There. But also here, when I was here that first summer. I didn't want to abandon you. I didn't hate living with you."

Camila blinked. "Hate living with me? Why would you think I thought that?"

"I experienced a vision," Luz explained. "Of another universe where I chose to stay in the Isles. Where I left you behind. I found a way to astral project myself back home. You asked me if I hated living with you so much…you made me promise to stay."

"Well…" How did that song go from Sleeping Beauty? "…visions are seldom what they seem, Luz. There was probably some context you were missing." Camila could see it, though. She could see how Luz might make that choice. How, in the heat of the moment, Camila could have said those hurtful things. "Luz, I don't know what happened there, but it has no bearing on this reality. None at all."

Luz closed her eyes for a few moments. "If there's something big I've been keeping from you, will you get mad at me?"

"Please don't tell me you're pregnant."

Luz's eyes widened in horror. "NO! God, no. No, that's not on the agenda for a long, long time. If ever!"

Camila grabbed Luz's hand and squeezed it. "Without knowing what the secret is, I can't promise I won't get mad at you. But what I can promise is that there's nothing you can tell me that will make me stop loving you. Even in that other universe you described, I have no doubt that your choice to stay in the Demon Realm did not cause me to stop loving you."

"Okay, it's not as big a deal as I'm making it sound," Luz said, trying to keep her voice casual. That was, strictly speaking, true, Camila knew, but it also wasn't as small a deal as Luz was now trying to imply. "Before I came here…I got bullied a lot."

Camila was confused. That was what Luz was hiding from her? Of course Luz was bullied. That was pretty obvious, no matter how much Luz tried to handle it. Frankly, it would have been much more surprising to learn that Luz hadn't been bullied. "Luz, I know things were bad for you in school…" she began.

"No," Luz said with surprising fervency. "They weren't bad. They were horrible. You have no idea just how bad it was. Everyone hated me. I was the least popular kid in school. Even the other geeks made fun of me. There was a target on my back all the time. I was utterly miserable in school. I hated it. I hated myself. I started thinking it was my fault." Her hands started shaking. "I thought…no. I'm not going through this again."

Camila put a hand on Luz's shoulder. "I am so sorry I didn't notice it, Luz." A thought occurred to her and then the bottom dropped out of her stomach. "So when I sent you to Reality Check Camp…oh, God, Luz, you must have thought I was blaming you for getting bullied!" Luz's silence was all the confirmation she needed. "Mija…why didn't you tell me?"

Luz shrugged. "I didn't want to upset you. You were the only person in the world who loved me. The only person I thought could love me. I was afraid of losing that. And I also knew you couldn't do anything. No one could."

Camila wrapped Luz in a tight hug. Luz leaned into the hug like it was a lifeline. "Lucecita," she tried, but Luz shook her head. "No, I suppose that should stay your papi's thing. Luz, thank you for telling me. I'm not mad at you. I am mad at those bullies of yours, though! I have half a mind to tell Eda all this and have her give them a good scare!"

Luz giggled softly. "That does sound nice. But things are better now. They really are, mom. I've got friends at school, and the bullies know better than to mess with me anymore." She was telling the truth, Camila could tell. "I wanted to tell you. I just…I had to lie to so many people in the other universe. I don't want there to be any more secrets between us."

Camila planted a kiss on Luz's forehead. "I'm honored by your trust, Luz. I understand why you didn't tell me, though you were wrong to be afraid of losing my love. And I know I've said this before, but I'm sorry I sent you to Reality Check Camp."

"You know what got to me?" Luz asked. "It was that I had to change. I wasn't the one who was bullying people. I wasn't the one who was going around calling people a 'Luzer dyke' and…other things. It felt like I was being punished for being the victim. I'm sorry, mami, but I have to be honest with you."

Camila nodded. "I understand. I'd have felt the same in your shoes. I have to be honest with you, Luz. If I'd known about all this, I never would have tried to send you there."

"And then I'd never have come to the Boiling Isles. Never met Amity or Eda or any of the others. I wouldn't have learned magic. I wouldn't have become the person I was meant to be. So it all worked out in the end, right?"

"I guess," Camila said, feeling uncomfortable with the idea. "Enough talk of what could have been! Let's focus on the future, shall we?"

Luz gave her a genuine smile. "It sure looks Blight, doesn't it? Bright! I mean bright!" Camila just laughed.

Luz had always missed her father. For as long as Eduardo had been dead, it had been a gaping wound in her heart at the very core of who she was. That wound was still there – it always would be as long as she lived – but it hurt a lot less. She had gotten to say goodbye. In all honesty, if she had to go through that awful summer again, she would do it to have that chance again. Now she could move on, she hoped. She wasn't sure if that was true, but she was hopeful she'd have the chance to put it to the test.

Despite Amity's earlier threats, she had completely forgiven Luz for cheating on her, though she warned Luz that if she did it again, she'd throw her into the Boiling Sea after stripping all the flesh from her bones. Luz very much believed Amity was both able and willing to do that. Luz spent a lot of time with her. Yes, Amity Serrano had been amazing, but there was no one in the entire multiverse like Amity Blight, and if she had to choose between the two Amities, she would always choose Amity Blight. She loved her, and she always would.

Luz had tracked down Boscha and interrogated her about Tasha's treatment of her. Fortunately, Tasha did not treat her daughter anywhere close to as awful as she did in the parallel universe. She had never so much as laid a hand on her, though she certainly wasn't the nicest parent to be around either. They both suspected that the survival of Mr. Hart was the point of divergence there; Mr. Hart loved his daughter deeply and would have divorced Tasha the instant she laid a hand on Boscha.

She was also relieved that the peace negotiations between the Boiling Kingdom and the fae realms hadn't been disrupted any. According to the ambassador to the Unseelie, when Queen Melinoë heard about Zoe's defeat, she had laughed her head off, read carefully through the treaty, and signed it then and there. She had even gifted Luz a locket that was supposed to be able to grant her one wish. Luz had promptly given it to Eda, who locked it in the imperial palace's vault. She had definitely learned her lesson about not dealing with the fae.

Though Luz had hoped fervently she could stay in the Isles for longer, especially after enduring what she had endured, Camila would still not budge in her determination to see Luz get a normal education. It wasn't fair. The other Camila had let Edmond and Emma get a full education in Hexside! But Camila Noceda was not Camila Serrano, even though they were both awesome mothers to their children, and Luz was going back whether she liked it or not.

On the evening before she was supposed to leave, Amity surprised Luz with a picnic at their Grom tree. And by surprised, Amity meant that she had Hooty kidnap Luz just like he had done to Amity before the two of them had become girlfriends. "I suppose I deserve this," Luz muttered, as she wiped the slime off of her.

"Consider it my token and final revenge for your relationship with the other me," Amity said, her voice haughty. "Come on, sit down! We've got a fun filled date ahead of us before you have to go home."

Luz sighed. "Yeah. 'Home.' It's not really that anymore, is it?"

"Don't be silly, Luz," Amity said. "You can have more than one home. You don't have to choose. The Isles and the Human Realm can both be your homes. Who will tell you otherwise?" Luz had never thought of it like that.

As the two of them dined on rare delicacies that Luz knew must have cost Amity a fortune, Luz was indulging in some rare moments of silence. She liked to talk a lot, she knew. She found silence oppressive a lot of the time. But this silence wasn't like that. There were words being said within it, even if they weren't spoken. They were sharing their love.

"Do you ever regret you ended up with me instead of your Grom crush?" Luz asked Amity as the two of them were having dessert.

Amity gave Luz a look that plainly said she was being the biggest idiot in the multiverse. "Of course I don't," she said. "How could you possibly think that?"

"Oh, I don't know," Luz said, her voice uncharacteristically subdued. "Some days, I worry that you're going to dump me for her. It's a stupid worry, I know! A lot of my worries are. But that doesn't stop me from thinking them."

"Luz, I promise you – I will make an Everlasting Oath if you want – that I will not dump you in favor of my Grom crush," Amity vowed.

There was solemnity in Amity's voice, but it also sounded like maybe it was tinged with amusement for some reason. Heck, if Luz didn't know any better – and thankfully she did – she would have guessed that Amity was struggling to keep from bursting out into laughter. Which was obviously ridiculous and she was just being paranoid. What was funny about what she had said?

"I never thanked you, did I?" Amity said, sounding ashamed.

Luz tilted her head. "Thank me? For what?"

"For everything you did for me in the alternate universe, of course!" Amity said. "I mean, you put yourself in huge danger, lied to everyone, which I knew was hard for you, all just to save me! I can't think of anyone else who would do that for me."

"What about your Grom crush?" Luz asked her teasingly.

There was silence for a while. Luz was worried she had gone too far, but it appeared Amity had just not heard her. "I asked Camila for your hand in marriage," she said quietly. If Luz had been drinking something, she would have done a spit take. She had done what?

"Amity, that's…that's…I don't even know how to respond to that," Luz babbled. Amity looked ashamed. "I mean, it's awesome! So awesome! Like, I can't believe you want to marry me! I'm just…me."

"That's precisely why I wanted to marry you, Luz," Amity responded.

"But…I'm just too young to get married," Luz went on, very much hoping she wasn't hurting Amity too badly by saying that. It had to be said, though. "I mean, I'm still a kid! But when we're adults…I mean, it's not an official yes, but consider it an unofficial one, maybe? I can't imagine wanting to spend my life with anyone other than you."

Amity stroked her face. "You're just too sweet, Luz. But I know you're too young now. I was…in a bad frame of mind. It was back in May, when I was still freaking out about Mother possibly escaping. Camila was so nice to me, even though I pretty much went to pieces on her. She said she'd give her blessing when we were adults, though." Luz let out a squeal of joy. "I don't want to jump ahead. I just want to enjoy the time we have." The two of them stood up and looked at the stars in the sky.

"I'm going to miss you so much," Luz told her. "I'll call you – we'll talk every day, I promise! And we can video chat too, so we can see our faces! It'll be great. We'll see each other again."

"Well, I have some good news on that front," Amity said. "I asked Emira to make an illusion to take my midterm." Luz frowned. She did not want Amity to cheat for her sake. "It's not cheating," Amity hurriedly explained. "The illusion will have all my knowledge; it'll take the test just how I would. And Bump knows; I cleared it with him. So I can go to homecoming with you!"

Luz grabbed Amity, spun her around, and kissed her. "Amity, that's awesome! Oh, this is going to be the best year ever! I'll have my awesome girlfriend with me at homecoming! That'll teach Clara MacKinnon to call me a Luzer dyke."

"I don't know what that means, but I promise you, Luz, you're not that."

Luz gave her a smile. "Yeah. I think I know that now."

Steve Trevalier believed in the importance of whistling while he worked. Sure, he was a prison guard and surrounded by prisoners who had done all sorts of terrible things and would doubtlessly tear him limb from limb if they had the chance, but that was no excuse for having a bad attitude. He was a naturally perky person and was determined to keep his morale up. After all, it was important to set a good example for the inmates. They would see him be happy and it'd lift their spirits.

Well, that was the theory anyway. Some people, like Odalia Blight, seemed impervious to happiness. But that was her loss. After all, she had a lot to be happy about. Steve had heard only good things about her three children. Amity was very happy with her life and deliriously in love with Prime Minister Clawthorne's daughter. Emira was turning Blight Industries' prodigious assets towards all manner of charitable causes, doing much good for the people of the Isles. And Edric, well, Steve hadn't heard anything noteworthy about Edric, but no news was good news, right?

It was sometimes hard to put a positive spin on things, though, even for someone like Steve. There appeared to be no upsides, for example, when the outer wall of the prison was blown open in a tremendous explosion and a group of heavily armored human men ran into the prison, firing extremely loud human weapons as they went. Several of Steve's colleagues were killed with what looked like some sort of projectile that ripped holes through them. The prison's guard numbers had been quadrupled, but it quickly became clear that they were no match for these humans and their vastly superior weaponry. The casualties had been heavy, but eventually the men seized control of the prison.

Steve had been in the quadrant where Alador was being held. He had decided to surrender the instant the men came to get him. Was it cowardly? Sure. Was it dishonorable? Sure. But he had seven children he'd been raising alone ever since their mother had accidentally looked into a painbow. He'd rather have them be ashamed of their father than be orphaned.

The door to the quadrant slammed open and Steve got on his knees and put his hands above his head. Odalia, a crazed, manic look in her eye, strode into the room, one of the human weapons in her hands. Next to her was a grey-haired human man roughly around the age of sixty. He wore expensive clothing instead of battle armor and carried what looked like a much more compact version of the projectile weapon in his hand.

"Don't kill me!" Steve begged. "I have a family! I have seven children. Mrs. Blight, you're a parent. I'm a parent. We're both parents. You –"

"Shut up," the human said, pointing the weapon at Steve's head. "Release him," he ordered, gesturing at Alador's cell. Steve opened the door to the cell. Resistance was futile. He'd be killed just as surely as his contemporaries if he refused.

"Odalia," Alador said, his voice rough from disuse. He seemed surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?"

Odalia opened her mouth to speak, and then looked contemplative. "You know, that's a very good question, Alador. What am I doing here? It's not like I actually need you anymore. I have someone with far better weapons than you could ever construct on my side."

"I don't understand," Alador said.

"No, you never did, did you?" Odalia asked rhetorically. "Here, hold this." She gave him the weapon in her hands. He studied it carefully, marveling over its various parts. "What an incredible piece of engineering," Alador muttered. "If we had access to weaponry such as this…"

Odalia held out her hand. The human put a blue crystal in it. Odalia channeled power into it and it glowed a color so bright that it hurt Steve's eyes to look at. "That part at the end is called the barrel. It's where the bullets come out from. Put it to your head and pull the trigger."

And Alador did just that, without even questioning Odalia's orders or hesitating for a single second. The brains of the man who had been the most talented abominations witch of his generation splattered all over the walls. He had been under mind control, Steve knew, but he was pretty sure Alador would have followed his wife's instructions anyway without it.

"Please don't kill me too," Steve begged.

Odalia rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to kill you, you stupid man. I need you alive to deliver a message. Tell them that I'm going to get my revenge on everyone."

"On…on all your enemies?" Steve asked hopefully.

"No. On everyone."