"Hunter!"
What just happened? Hunter thought to himself, only remembering the panicked voice of his friend, and the feeling of her arms wrapping around his waist. The pain was sparking through his spine, as he felt— weird. Like he was not all there.
Hunter's eyes slowly opened, and was met with a haze around his field of vision - his mind was only allowing him to see so far ahead. He didn't know what he was seeing, but he noticed that the layout to where he was... it was the Observatory.
But it was destroyed... so how could it still be standing? Another thought spun. His eyes then locked onto the tan drapes of the Observatory, flipping and twisting in the wind, windows open - allowing the breeze to slip its way into the castle. His head slowly followed the sound of a few footsteps, realizing that someone else was in the room with him.
Well, Hunter wasn't exactly there to begin with.
Hunter couldn't tell who the person was, but his voice was sharp, it screamed authority and rank. Everything was moving so fast - and he could feel himself being pulled awake as gold flecks parted in his eyesight, only being able to make out a faint whisper from the boy.
"Hello...?" The voice peeked, and Hunter heard the shifting of his weight behind the stacks of novels, catching a small glimpse of a familiar book. A Wilden's Guide to the Forgotten Arts.
He wanted to say something back but was pulled to reality like a fish on a hook before he could even move his mouth to form words.
Luz violently shook Hunter awake, giving him whiplash in the process. She was holding him by the shoulders as his head stiffened. "Luz, Luz stop stop stop!" he popped up, scaring the living daylight out of Luz, who jumped back. She had a feeling that if he wasn't waking up in the next minute she was going to give him the ol' slapperoo. It wasn't at all hard to see.
She quickly pulled herself together, a wide smile spreading on her lips as she hugged him. Her fur was soft on Hunter's skin, Like hugging a fluffy pillow. "God, you scared me half to death!" She rested her face over his shoulder, tugging him in an embrace for a few seconds; before she removed herself moments later. "What the hell happened?" concern flushed her stern tone. He didn't know if she was scolding him for his reckless actions or worried for his health.
Hunter choked for a moment, "I should be the one asking that question." he granted in precise verbatim.
"Oh, okay." Luz understood, and her head bobbed up and down. "Well, you teleported us through a wall—"
"The Guardian!" Hunter's mind jogged, and worry slipped through the jumbled mess of his subconscious. How could he forget the one thing that attempted to kill them moments ago? But there was another question in the array of questions. "I went through... a wall? With you?" He looked over to Stringbean, who was nuzzling Luz's cheek. "And her too?"
Her smile-turned grin got a little wider. "Yep." She answered dryly. "It felt a little weird, but I don't think that thing can go through walls anytime soon." She proposed, looking warily over to the crumbled wall. It was a little bit of a far fetch that the thing could have gone through an almost fully supported castle wall without difficulty - yet she did watch it go full-on Wolverine with some of the boulders she threw at it.
Hunter tightened the grip he still had on her phone. "We should probably go, so we don't find out." he said, color returning to his pale skin.
"Good idea," Luz agreed, and caught her phone as he threw it into her hand with precision.
Now in the air, they both had some time to think as they coasted across the destruction, observing the rebuilding process underneath.
"Hey," Luz started, her shoulders relaxed. "You were pretty cool back there. You saved our asses from that….thing." She commended briskly, her tone tired and exhausted.
Hunter's gaze perked up from the ground beneath them, the feeling of weightlessness calmed him to a minimum. "Thanks." he ran his hand through his hair. "You did good too." he matched, his tone the same low. "Seeing you doing spells without glyphs must be hard."
"Doing magic without a palisman nor glyphs must be hard." She chuckled back, and Hunter looked away. A small smile parted through his embarrassed tone. "You did good Hunter. Better than I could." She looked back to her flight path and the Owl House's smoke came out of the thicket of trees. "We're close."
Hunter let out a deep sigh of relief. He was finally heading back to his home.
"Okay okay, slow down Luz!" Raine and Lilith chuckled, both working on fixing the table for supper. "What happened? Slower this time." Raine held their hands out, hoping to calm Luz and Hunter down.
Camila, meanwhile, was hugging and scolding Luz for running off, as well as giving thanks to Hunter for bringing her back home safely (and with all of her limbs).
Eda and the rest of the team came into the kitchen - Eda turned off the burner for a moment, as they all listened intensely. Even Boscha who was there now, and practically a part of the team (Since she made amends with Amity again).
"We went into Belos' castle and found this— room. It was huge, tall, and filled with books and scrolls." Hunter began, motioning his arms in a wide gesture as he talked. "It was in perfect condition."
"Was?" Willow picked out, tilting her head.
Hunter nodded, "We were chased out before we could get anything else of value." He explained.
"By what?" Eda's brows furrowed, her tone turning stern and concerned. This meant that if that thing was still alive— Eda was planning on ending it.
"It looked like Jean-Luc," Luz said bluntly, and King yipped in a panic. Scurrying to the table and standing on it to meet her eye level (Even if there was still a good foot difference).
"That isn't possible! Jean stopped moving after we left the castle!" King protested.
"It wasn't." Hunter quickly added. "It was taller, more powerful, and looked more..." He paused, remembering the way it was mindlessly slashing and chasing him around - like it was enjoying the game of cat and mouse. "...predatory."
Lilith shook her head, obviously confused. "That shouldn't be possible." The room went silent as she spoke. "They only guard Titan eggs and family. Like King." She gestured to the little guy, and his back straightened. "Not a room in Belos' castle."
"Observatory." Luz corrected. "It was obviously chasing us for some reason because as soon as we left it just... stopped." she waved her hand and pulled out her phone, showing the picture she had found. "This is what we got when we were in there."
Lilith scoured the image for textual evidence that could help her with the bubbling idea in her head, but it was all left to dead ends. "A Gloom Howler?"
"So maybe it was guarding an item?" Raine supplied, cleaning their glasses of smudges and steam from Eda's cooking.
Lilith turned Luz's phone back around, pushing it back into her possession. "Possibly." she took it to mind for a moment, letting the thought settle in. "But it would have to be extremely intelligent to know it was taken by a human device than physically in her arms."
"So it could be older than Jean-Luc?" Gus chipped in.
Raine nodded with Lilith. "That is a possibility, as the older they get, the more they adapt."
Luz shuttered. "That's what I'm afraid of..." she looked back at the team. "If it is still as hell bent for our skin at the castle...what's stopping it from finding us?"