The Collector looked over his shoulder as he flew away from the boiling isles on ghost. His new friend, Elric didn't need a Palisman to fly, he flew himself. The Collector was astounded to see this, back before he had met Big sister Luz even he had to use his star to fly around but Elric didn't need any magical items to fly through the air, it was amazing to see. Elric noticed The Collector looking at him and smiled.

"You'd like to learn how to fly without a Palisman, wouldn't you? Not to worry, once you're a student at Melniboné, you'll learn flight. I bet a student as powerful as you will have no more need of a Palisman in no time."

The Collector immediately tightened his grip on ghost's staff form and clung to it protectively.

"No one is taking ghost from me!" The collector replied hostilely.

"We wouldn't take her from you but perhaps you would realize that-"

"NO ONE IS TAKING GHOST! SHE STAYING WITH ME FOREVER!"

Instead of being worried for his safety Elric only smiled at the unchecked anger and the dark aura that surrounded the collector, with a couple more years of training, he would be Melniboné's greatest student.

(Deamonne Residents)

Vee and Hunter sat in the center of What had been Darius's former rec room but was now Hunter's Bedroom.

Vee still wearing her Hexside illusionist uniform while Hunter wore his beast-keeping uniform. Vee held several flashcards in her hand and looked at her older brother quizzically.

"Ok, next question, when exploring the northernmost points of the frozen mountains, you are stuck in between an angry mountain bear and an albino bull spider, what do you do to survive and what spells do you use to do it?"

"First I get out of the way of the bull spider because it's the more aggressive creature, I then use a taming spell on the mountain bear and jump on its back before riding away because you're the only bear creature fast enough to outrun a bull spider."

"Good answer but what do you do with the mountain bear when the taming spell wears off?" Vee asked rather smugly.

"As soon as I sense the spells wearing off, I grab onto a tree branch and stay high up in the tree as long as possible until the bear is out of sight."

"Wow, that's better than the real answer."

"Wait, what was the real answer?"

"The real answer was play dead and hope the bear and the spider lose interest and walk away."

"Vee, you should've told me I was wrong."

"Why, your answer was way better than just playing dead, and hoping they lose interest. Besides we both know you don't need help with your beast-keeping magic, especially with Naan and all the magical creature glyphs Luz taught you. Eberwolf should make you a head student of the beast-keeping Coven."

"I agree."

The two siblings looked to the doorway and Saw Darius walk in wearing elegant deep blue pajamas.

"Eber has been telling me about your skill with magical creatures and he is quite impressed, though I do wish you had put your talents with something a tad more elegant like potions or abominations, Hunter why do you wish to be around all these filthy animals?"

Hunter remembered all the Palisman he had given to Belos over the years, each one dying at his creator's hands. Then he remembered Flapjack's death. His beloved Palisman had sacrificed himself to save him, he promised that night he wouldn't let his closest friend's sacrifice be in vain. He vowed to spend the rest of his life undoing the damage he had inflicted on all Palisman kind and the beast-keeping coven offered the best way to do that.

"It's…something I have to do to make up for what I did under Belos."

Vee gave Hunter a sympathetic look and put her arm around her brother's shoulder.

"You've more than made up for that, Hunter. Heck if you hadn't rescued me all that time ago, I and the other Basilisks would still be in Kikimora's lab being used as a guinea pig, I never would've met Mom and Luz, and you and me wouldn't have found our way back to each other as the destined siblings you and I were meant to be."

Hunter then heard a goose-like honk coming from behind himself and saw his new Palisman, Naan the Whooping Crane standing behind him. Because Naan was a Dwarf made Palisman along with Luz's, Willow's, Amity's, Gus's, and Vee's, she was the same size as a real Whooping crane when out of staff form. Naan then nuzzled against Hunter lovingly.

"See if you hadn't made up for everything then Naan wouldn't have taken you as her witch."

Vee then looked at Darius.

"While we're on the subject of Palisman, Darius, how come Naan can live in here but poor Joe has to stay outside in the corral?" Vee asked before looking out the window at her Bactrian camel Palisman, Joe. The enormous camel looked up at her with a sad face.

"I'm not letting that filthy creature in my pristine home."

"This coming from the man whose Palisman is a javelina."

Right on cue, the little peccary walked in and Darius immediately picked her up and held her close.

"Ya know Despite their reputation, pigs are not dirty animals. They're quite clean, Adelyte is especially clean, I wash her Daily. Not like your camel who tracks in flies and carry's diseases."

"Joe doesn't have Diseases! Viney just checked him the other day." Though Darius was right about the flies. She would have to wash him tomorrow. Vee thought.

"Maybe we should talk about this tomorrow, after all, Vee you especially need your sleep. You have that Illusion test this week." Hunter said while trying to bring peace between the two.

Darius yawned.

" Quite right, we will continue this conversation tomorrow, but as for now, I believe we all should go to bed."

Darius then turned away leaving the two siblings to themselves.

"Can you believe him calling poor Joe Dity?! Mr. Fancy Pants thinks he's too good for my Sweet Joe, so what if he's got flies he's got a lot more heart than any-"

Vee stopped talking when she saw Hunter smile.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Oh, it's just because when you first got Joe you didn't want him but now you're defending him against Darius."

" I was only against having him because in case you seem to forget, I'm a basilisk, I eat magical items to survive, and I didn't want to eat Joe. That's the only reason I didn't want him at first, and now, since I don't have to rely solely on my Shapeshifting all the time I don't lose as much energy now so I'm less hungry to eat magical items and besides even when I do get hungry, I can just eat a few Hexes Hold'em cards. Besides, after having him for a while, what can I say the big guy grew on me."

"Grew on who?"

Hunter and Vee looked towards the window and saw Willow fly in on algae.

"Willow!" The two said at once.

Vee immediately embraced Willow.

"It's great to see you, Willow," Hunter said before Willow reached out and pulled him into the embrace.

"How are you doing, we haven't seen you in so long," Vee said as the hug ended.

Willow didn't answer but instead smiled as she saw Vee in her illusionist uniform. It didn't seem that long ago that Vee didn't want anything to do with magic or the Demon realm again but now her friend was coming out of her shell.

"Oh you know I'm fine…we'll as fine as things can be now."

"Are you hungry? Darius has so much food, I'll go make you a sandwich." Vee said.

Willow's stomach growled at Vee's suggestion.

"Vee, you don't have to "

Willow was interrupted when Naan cawed.

"Naan, you already had plenty of fish, earlier. You're done for the night." Vee said to the Palisman.

"No, Vee, I shouldn't. I came because Luz needs a favor."

"What's wrong, is she ok?" Hunter asked with obvious worry and concern in his voice.

"Relax Hunter, she and your mom are safe in Florida."

Willow immediately regretted saying the word Mom because, as soon as the words left her mouth, she noticed the look of fear in both Hunter and Vee's eyes, the two siblings looked at each other and then back at Willow.

"Is she ok?" Both Hunter and Vee shouted.

Willow sighed.

"For Titan's sake, she's fine. She just wants you two to be there with her, that's all."

Hunter and Vee glanced at each other for a moment then back at Willow.

"We'd love to but…" Hunter trailed off but vee picked up where he left off.

"We can't just drop everything and go back. Hunter and I both have tests coming up ."

"Willow, how come Luz didn't ask us herself?" Hunter asked.

"Ya, why didn't she?" Vee asked.

Willow shrugged.

"I don't know. I didn't want to pry because of all she's been through lately after Jinn and her and Amity taking a break."

"Amity hasn't been taking the break easily either," Hunter said.

Willow and Vee both looked at Hunter surprised.

"How do you know?" Vee asked.

"She's my friend, Vee. We talk."

Hunter didn't know why but Vee was noticeably exasperated by his response.

"Anyway, the only reason I bothered Luz was because I noticed the collector getting cabin fever just waiting around. Where is he?"

"You don't know?!" Vee asked.

"I thought he came here to be with you two."

Naan immediately changed into her staff form.

"Let's go find him." Hunter said.

Willow and Hunter flew out the window. Vee ran down satires and outside to the corral and let out her palisman.

"C'mon Joe, it's time to show those two how great you are."

The Bactrian camel transformed into his staff form and vee joined Hunter and Willow in their search.

(Melniboné School of Black Magic)

Elric led the collector down the dark and damp halls of Melniboné.

The collector noticed there weren't many other students here, at most he had only seen five students in the building so far.

"Where are all the other kids, Elric?"

"Your about to meet them? The other students have gathered in our menagerie to see a most wonderful sight."

" What's a menagerie?" The collector asked.

Elric seemed annoyed by the Demigod's question but answered nonetheless.

"It's a fancy word for Zoo."

Elric looked down to see the collector look excited.

"You have magical creatures here?!"

"In a way, yes."

"Oh, do you have any Ratworms?My Big brother, Hunter is in The Beast Keeping Coven and he showed me all sorts of magical creatures but rat worms are my favorite."

"We have something much more exciting here at Melniboné."

Ghost hissed at Elric as he tried to put his hand on the collector's shoulders. When Elric tried again ghost scratched his hand!

The pale witch clutched his hand, the collector noticed a dark green liquid bleed from his hand.

Elric glared at the cat palisman and raised his good hand high into the air so he could smack the beast but stopped when he felt the collector's touch on his wounded hand, then noticed the wound was completely healed.

"There. Now could you take Ghost and me to the zoo?"

Elric nodded and then continued to lead the two down the damp hallway.

As they were walking ghost gave the collector a concerned look.

"Meow."

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you."

The collector was about to comfort his Palisman but ghost lifted her paw and stopped his hand.

"Meow."

The collector then gave her a weak smile.

"Nothing is gonna happen to me, I promise."

After a few minutes of walking the collector and ghost had grown bored of just walking around.

"Ugh, Elric how much longer are we gonna be walking around? Ghost and I want to see the animals."

Elric didn't answer so the collector stuck out his tongue and noticed a nearby door ajar.

He stopped and waited till Elric had walked far enough away and then quickly went in the door.

The Collector drew a light glyph, one of the few things big sister Luz had taught him and the room quickly lit up.

"W-who are you?" A timid voice called out.

The collector looked forwards and saw a girl that physically looked around his age maybe a year older, she wore the Hexside oracle uniform.

The collector got closer and noticed the girl had what looked like black scaly blotches all over her hands and face.

"Don't…please don't do anything to me…I can't take any more tests." The girl said.

The collector walked toward the cage so the girl could get a good look at him.

"Tests? How can you do tests when you are stuck in this smelly cage all day?"

The girl took her arms away from her face and looked up at him.

"Your not one of them, are you?"

Now the collector was confused.

"One of who? The students?"

" There are no students here, just test subjects for the black magic users. You must be their newest project."

"Project?"

The room around them began to shake as the walls went up and the cage began to go below the floor.

The collector noticed the girl beginning to tremble.

"No, no, no. The-they said they weren't gonna do this again for a while!"

"Do what?! What's happening?" The collector said.

"You have to get away from me! Can't stop me once it takes over."

The cage was now nearly gone into the floor. The collector drew another glyph into the air and disappeared.

A few minutes later the cage lowered down to its final destination. In a dank room with stone walls, several of the black magic users gathered around the cage. Each one looked at the girl before them like a scientist would look at a lab rat. A husky biped demon with periwinkle skin and purple hair, a set of horns, three orchid eyes, and a pointed tail walked into the room and looked at the girl. Elric came out from the circle and stood next to the husky demon.

"I see no change, Elric. She's still in witch form."

Elric gave the demon a crooked smile.

"Worry not headmaster. I have acquired something that will give Opel here the push she needs ."

Elric then looked into the cage but not at Opel but at the unseen figure beside her.

"Collector, I know you're in there," Elric said before throwing in an obsidian crystal with a strange-looking glyph carved into it. Green static filled the cage and Elric heard a child's cry of pain! The collector was now visible and fell face-first onto the floor of the cage.

"There you are, my dear boy."

The collector got up and looked hatefully at Elric but his anger quickly faded when he looked down at the ghost and noticed she wasn't moving.

"Ghost!"

The collector was about to pick her up but Opel put her arm out to stop him and then shook her head.

"No, let me."

Opel then pulled out a few leaves and twisted them. A Brownish green liquid dripped out and fell into ghost's open mouth. After a second Ghost began to cough up then ghost back on her legs. The collector scooped her up lovingly and held her close.

"How touching. I see now why you haven't been transforming lately. You've been consuming Elfroot….but I still have ways of making you transform,opal."

Opal saw Elric holding another glyph rock.

" I can see you don't have any more left in your pockets. Meaning your two little friends here will not survive the next shock!"

The collector turned around and saw Opel looking hatefully at Elric. Her eyes turned bright red, the dark scales now begin to spread and cover her entire body, and long horns grew out of her skull!

The collector watched in horrified fascination, he was too stupefied to move. Elric quickly pulled the collector out of the cage as more and more room was taken up by the beast that had been Opel. Elric bent down and whispered into the Collector's ear.

"Keep watching, Collector. You need to witness this."

The cage then broke apart and the monster that had been Opel roared before looking down at the dark witches below her.

"Wha-what did you do to her?" The collector asked as he looked at the monster.

"She is a special project, collector. For so long we've been looking for the perfect weapon and the right time to strike at the witches who exiled us and now we have both the perfect weapons as well as the perfect time to strike."

"Weapons? What other weapons are you talking about?"

Elric smiled.

" Why you and the dragon of course."

(Blight Manor)

Luz had waited until her mother had fallen asleep for the night. She was so mad that Hunter and Vee hadn't shown up, their mother had been staying awake for hours waiting for her other children to come. Luckily their mother had fallen asleep after two hours. She would deal with them later, right now she had to meet with Amity. Just the thought of her ex-Girlfriend made her blush. They had broken up after their battle with Jinn because both of them had had a rough time during these events but Luz always figured they would get back together eventually they just needed a cooling off period…hopefully for Amity to cool off period would have ended by now. She walked towards the factory behind the manor house that Amity ran with her father.

Luz opened the door to the main factory and saw the inside of the factory was in chaos! Employees were either trying to run for cover or trying to fix the situation.

Luz noticed Mary running towards her, Mary's horns were practically covered in abomination goo.

"LUZ! First off, It's great to see you. Second off, YOU CANT BE HEAR, ITS TOO DANGEROUS!!!"

Luz looked side to side Around the disarray of the factory and then saw two factory workers carrying an unconscious Alador. Luz was about to run towards him but stopped when she and everyone else heard a loud explosion coming from the back of the factory! An enormous wave of abomination goo began to flood the entire factory! The wave was about to engulf Luz, Mary, and Alador but a voice before above spoke up.

"It's ok Everyone, I'm here!"

Luz looked up to see Amity standing atop an observation platform. Her Palisman, the Donkey, Silenus standing behind her.

Amity hopped atop The Donkey's back as he jumped off the platform! Luz watched in awe as Amity and Silenus flew down to the floor. Amity looked like a Greek goddess flying atop her enchanted donkey or like Luz pictured Hecate to look when she rode her enchanted donkey in Azura book five.

Silenus's hooves skidded into the ground, normally this would be painful for any regular Palisman but since Silenus was a Dwarf-made Palisman he could withstand almost anything. Amity jumped off at Silenus and immediately transformed into his staff form then she immediately summoned a massive amount and dark abomination goo from her container. Just as the wave was about to overtake them Amity's dark goo grew to a massive size and cover their area before the goo got to them.

Amity sighed in relief.

"There, that should hold for a while," Amity said before looking over at her unconscious father and frowning.

"Mary, send all the employees home for the day. I'm going to take my dad to the hospital."

"Need some help."

Amity turned around and saw Luz standing next to Mary, she blushed.

"Luz, wha-what are you doing here?"

Luz always blushed now.

"I was talking to willow d she told me you had a surprise for me?"

"Ya...I mean, yes. I can't give it right now but-"

Amity stopped talking when Luz came over and helped Amity carry Alador.

"But we need to get your dad to the hospital, let's go.

To be continued

Please comment