Amity had never really felt very comfortable at home, though she'd only figured this out recently. Until recently, her only other examples of what a home life was supposed to be like were the Parks, but Amity had spent very little time in their house even during her first stint at being Willow's friend. And she'd been too consumed with guilt for associating with "trash, and justified fear it would be taken away from her to make herself particularly comfortable in the Park residence. But spending time in the Owl House was so different. Even when they got upset, Mr. and Mrs. Noceda never yelled at their children, ever. They never told them they were worthless disappointments, or dishonoring the Noceda name, or should never have been born. The Noceda parents loved their children and Amity could feel it. It wasn't just words.

It was a difficult conclusion to come to, but Amity was reasonably certain her parents didn't love her. Well, she wasn't entirely certain about her dad. Mom, on the other hand, didn't. She didn't love anyone but herself. The difference between her and Mrs. Noceda was like the difference between night and day. Amity burned to be on the receiving end of the love Mrs. Noceda had. It was why she hadn't objected at all to the marriage Mom was planning for her. Being married to Luz was weird and made her intensely uncomfortable. Amity wasn't stupid; she knew she was ridiculously, inappropriately young. But it was worth it all in her opinion to gain Mrs. Noceda as a mother-in-law.

No, life at Blight Manor was stilted and scripted at best. At worst, it was like that Minesweeper game Mr. Noceda had shown her – do the wrong thing, even make a tiny mistake, and Mom's temper would explode just like those mines. Mom had never laid a hand on her, not once, but Amity lived in fear of the day that would change. It was why it was just easier to go along with her dictates, to not argue. And Mom knew a lot of ways to hurt Amity without laying a hand on her. She had oracle magic that could make Amity think she was suffering agonies, make her relive all her worst memories, make her feel crushing and endless despair.

A marriage to Luz was a way out of all that. A Mom approved way, at that. Amity wasn't ever going to let an opportunity like that slide. Becoming Mrs. Amity Blight-Noceda was as much freedom as she'd ever get. A life with a girl she cared about a lot, even if she was way too young to start feeling things like love. Perhaps she could even convince Luz to take her back to the Human Realm so she could get away from her parents once and for all. Though Amity barely thought about it in the privacy of her own head. There was no telling when such privacy would be invaded, after all.

And as if on cue, the door to her bedroom opened and Mom walked in. "Amity, darling," she purred, looking especially smug. Amity wondered if someone had been killed. She hoped it was no one she cared about. "You're looking especially radiant today, as a bride should be."

"Thank you, mother," Amity said, bowing her head in a precise form. Even a millimeter off of the proper form could be disastrous. Proper form was very important to Mom. Well, important for Amity to do. Somehow, it never seemed to be quite so much of a priority for Mom to do except among other people. Mom was a very much do as I say not as I do type of parent.

"I have very good news for you, my dear," Mom said. "We're moving up the wedding." Amity blinked but gave no other sign of her surprise. The wedding had initially been scheduled for the winter solstice. What had changed? "You will marry Luz tonight at the stroke of midnight."

"But…that's so soon!" Amity regretted the words the instant they came out of her mouth, but it was too late.

Actually, Amity thought in a static-like, echoing tone as Mom touched the necklace that corresponded to her own, that's not a bad idea. The sooner I can get married to Luz, the better. After all, Mom wants it and Mom always knows best. If I don't obey my mother, I am nothing.

"Now, now, Amity," Mom said with a twisted grin. "I'm sure you'll feel better when you see your blushing bride to be."

Amity nodded eagerly. Of course she wanted to marry Luz! You – I've always wanted to marry Luz. She's my soulmate. "Yes, mom! Anything for you."

That's right, Amity thought. Anything for me. Huh? That was an odd thing to think. What was that about? Amity barely even noticed Mom hurriedly take her hand off her necklace. "Follow me, Amity," Mom commanded and Amity obeyed her as she always did.

Luz was waiting for her in the living room, looking anxious and distraught. Amity ran over to her and hugged her without hesitating. Fiancée or otherwise, Luz was still one of her best friends and the thought of seeing her in pain was a horrifying one. "Luz, what happened?"

"I don't think my parents love me anymore," Luz whispered. "Maybe they never did." Amity found that extremely difficult to believe. Mr. and Mrs. Noceda were overflowing with love. If anything, they may have loved her a bit too much, to the point where they were reluctant to give her the discipline she needed.

Amity looked at Luz carefully and saw she was wearing an identical necklace to the one Amity always wore, the one that Mom used to speak to her and she was strictly forbidden from ever taking off. How nice of Mom to give such a generous gift. And yet, despite the generosity, something about the whole thing made Amity's skin crawl.

"I was a fool to think Mom and Dad ever loved me," Luz said, squirming with discomfort and looking a little bit like a fish wriggling on a line. Mom's hand was held tightly on her necklace. "I didn't know true parental love until I met Mrs. Blight."

Amity cleared her throat. Something about this was sounding both weird and, even worse, uncomfortably familiar. "So Mom tells me we're going to marry tonight?"

"Oh, right!" Luz said with a smile. She sounded much perkier and more genuine now. "Yeah, isn't that so cool? I get to stay here forever and ever now! Mami and Papi can go home with their new kids and I'll stay here and everyone will be happy!"

"But…won't you miss your parents?" Amity asked. "This is so sudden. Maybe we should wait a week or two at the very least."

Luz's face twitched repeatedly. "I will not miss my parents," she said flatly. "The only love I need to have in my heart is for the wonderful Blight parents and of course my radiant bride." Luz suddenly looked panicked. "I…I don't know why I said…" She shook her head. "Anyway, Mrs. Blight says we're going to have the wedding at your chalet on the Knee!"

Amity was very confused. The Blight family chalet was abandoned, more or less. Amity had never been there and she was almost entirely certain they only kept it for tax purposes. Though it was on the opposite Knee from the one infested with slitherbeasts, there were still horrible wild animals lurking throughout those mountains. It was hardly an ideal place for a wedding. It was cut off from just about everyone…but maybe that was the point.

Amity gave an even more elegant curtsy than usual to Mom. "Mom, could Luz and I have a little bit of time together before we depart?" Mom opened her mouth, but then there was the cawing of a crow. Mom took the crow out of her pocket and held it to her ear. She let out a gasp and then stepped out of the room without another word.

Before Amity could say a single word, the closet door opened and the twins stepped out. Amity groaned. This was not the time for their pranks and shenanigans! Amity was about to get married and she couldn't have those hooligans ruining her wedding day. But they didn't look in a mischievous mood. Indeed, they looked solemn and almost frightened.

"Luz, what's going on?" Edric asked. "You don't really mean all that stuff about your parents, do you?"

Luz stomped her foot on the floor. "They're meanies! They don't take me seriously. They actually thought I was joking about marrying Amity! All this time, they thought I was playing a game. They thought I was lying! It's awful. And they spend so much time with Hunter and Vee and it's not fair!" She started crying. "And they're going to take me back there! I don't like it there. All the kids are mean and the teachers are even meaner. They always say I'm stupid and I'll never achieve anything. But Miss Phoebe is nice! She believes in me!"

"Miss Phoebe is awesome," Emira agreed. "She used to be my teacher and she was the best. Well, all of that sucks, but do you really think your parents don't love you, Luz? Maybe they just don't understand you."

Luz frowned. "I don't know. I definitely thought they didn't. But I don't know why I thought that now. The thought was so loud, though…I could barely even think anything else. It must have been true if it was that strong!"

Emira and Edric shared a very concerned look. "Amity, you told her about the necklaces, right?" Emira said. "What they do?"

"Yeah, they let Mom speak to us," Amity said. She had no clue what the necklaces had to do with anything.

"Oh, man, you don't know," Edric said, looking disturbed. "I thought you'd have figured it out by now. Mittens, Mom uses spells to mimic your own voice when she uses the necklace sometimes. She wants you to think her words are your own thoughts."

Oh. Oh, Titan. This was all kinds of bad. A flotilla of memories slammed into Amity's mind as she recalled a variety of decisions she'd made using thoughts that sounded like they'd come from her but had seemed quite different from her usual thoughts. She remembered thoughts she'd had about how Willow was a useless waste of space and from a trash family who'd never amount to anything. How many of those had been her own and how many of them had been Mom's?

"So my parents still love me?" Luz said, sounding incredibly relieved. "Oh, thank God."

"I don't understand how you could think they ever could not love you," Amity said. "They're awesome parents. Mine…aren't, Luz. I'm sorry. But you should know. Mom is really mean and controlling. If we're not doing everything she wants, there are…consequences."

Luz frowned. "Well, that's not good. I don't think we have room for three more people in the Owl House, though. Amity…I don't think I wanna get married anymore. Um…not cause I hate you or anything, but…Mrs. Blight's just being too creepy."

"Oh, yeah, I totally get it," Amity assured her. "But Mom's not gonna be happy.'

Luz put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll just have Eda explain things to her. Eda's good at explaining things! But I gotta go. Mami and Papi have got to be worrying about me!"

The four of them crept through the foyer, trying their best to avoid making any noise. Luz threw open the door and there were two very fearsome and spiky abominations on the other side. Luz tried to slip past them, but they grabbed Luz and pulled her inside. Mom and Dad stepped into the room. Dad had a dazed and confused look on his face, a look that had graced his face more and more frequently over the last few years. The same look he had when Mom forced Amity to sever ties with Willow.

"Now where are you going in such a hurry, human?" Mom said, her eyes glittering with maliciousness.

"I wanna leave!" Luz shouted. "You can't keep me here forever!"

"Oh, I don't need to keep you here forever," Mom purred. "Just until midnight. And then you'll be mine." She stepped forward and stroked Luz's hair tenderly. "Oh, don't worry, Luz. You'll make such a lovely bride. And I've just heard some wonderful news. Our great and glorious emperor will be there, walking you down the aisle. Isn't that perfectly lovely?"

Under ordinary circumstances, Manny would be exceptionally annoyed at himself. After all, it didn't take a genius to realize Odalia was bad news in the extreme. He never should have let Luz come within a hundred feet of the woman. He'd been so concerned with his love life of all things that he'd completely failed to notice as Odalia systematically eroded all the trust Luz had in him. It was a fiasco of unparalleled proportions and when this whole business was settled and Odalia died very slowly and painfully for what she did, Manny would do whatever he could to make sure it didn't happen again.

But there was no time for annoyance. Manny was a lot of things, but at the end of the day, he was a soldier at heart. You didn't stop being a soldier just because you came back from the war. In battle, emotions got you killed. Plain and simple. Manny could be wallowing in guilt, but it wouldn't accomplish anything. All it would do was weaken his resolve, which could very well be fatal in the coming fight – or even worse, given the tales Manny had heard about what oracle magic could accomplish.

And there was no doubt in Manny's mind that a battle was coming. Odalia wasn't going to give Luz up without a fight. Manny knew exactly why Luz was so important to her. With Luz under Odalia's thumb, it gave her leverage over him. As a human and a favorite of Belos, who miraculously still hadn't learned of his deception, Manny was a very important chess piece, and given how the game was changing, it made sense Odalia would want to make moves to bring him under her control.

"I just can't believe Luz thinks so badly of us," Camila said, sounding just utterly bewildered.

"It may not be all on her," Eda said grimly. "Odalia's always been good at spells that can scramble your head."

Camila clenched her fist. "You're telling me that puta brainwashed my daughter?!"

"What's a puta?" Hunter asked and Camila let out a yelp as she turned to face him. Manny had completely forgotten he was there, since he hadn't said a single word since Gilbert had brought him back into the house.

"A very, very bad word I should not have said in front of you, sweetie," Camila said. "Hunter, why didn't you say anything to stop Luz from running away?"

Hunter blinked several times. "I'm sorry, I was under the impression you believed children should be able to move themselves out of environments they believe are unsafe," he said calmly. It wasn't mocking or sarcastic. Hunter genuinely believed every word that came out of his mouth. "Luz clearly said she deemed her environment to be unsafe. She said it flat out, 'I won't let you hurt me again.' This all seems very cut and dry to me."

Manny couldn't help but groan softly. Hunter had been making considerable progress at healing and acting like a normal kid these days, but every so often he reminded Manny that his logic process could be a bit…off-center. "I would never hurt Luz," Manny said. "I acknowledge that I caused her emotional pain, but it was not intentional and I want to work on fixing it."

"And I know Odalia," Eda pointed out. "Luz'd be safer in a slitherbeast's stomach than with her."

Hunter nodded. "Okay, then. Sorry about that. I'm just trying to understand." He gave a perky grin. "Well, in that case, let's get a move on! Can someone get me a sword?"

Everyone in the room looked at him with an identical look of horror. If Hunter thought he was going to fight alongside them, he had another thing coming. He had nearly been killed by that angry mob! Manny wasn't about to put him at risk again and even if that hadn't been the case, he was not going to be like that bastard Belos and make a child soldier.

"There's no way you're coming with us," Camila said bluntly. Manny almost berated her for not handling Hunter with more caution after what had happened to Luz, but then he realized Hunter was not like Luz. He appreciated frank speaking a great deal. "You are a child. It's our job to keep you safe."

Hunter looked at her skeptically. "You're not very good at that, are you?" Camila went pale. Manny gave Hunter a very disapproving look, but a part of him was actually happy. Such a blatant and deliberate statement of disrespect was a clear sign Hunter was becoming comfortable enough with his new parents to sass them. He had come a long way. "Look, I have more combat experience than you do," he went on in a much more conciliatory tone. "It's foolishness to discard a soldier for no good reason."

"Keeping you safe, Hunter, is the best reason I can think of," Manny said sternly. "You can't fight with us. Children fighting battles is morally wrong."

"It's wrong if they're forced into it," Hunter tried to argue, "but I'm volunteering."

Eda smirked suddenly. She had clearly some up with some sort of cunning scheme and if past experience was any indicator, it would either be utterly brilliant or utterly stupid with very little ground in between. "Kid's got a point," she said. "Give him the sword."

Manny decided to trust his girlfriend. He grabbed a sword from the nearest closet and handed it over to Hunter. "Thank you, father," Hunter said with a grin.

"Not so fast, kiddo," Eda said, her eyes glittering with mischief. "You're staying here. We've got a sick kid and Steve here doesn't have any combat experience other than basic guard training, and I tear through those guys like tissue paper on a regular basis. Someone gets through Hooty, we'll need you here to protect Vee."

Hunter frowned, looking like he was furiously thinking. "I suppose that does make sense. You see, dad? Your girlfriend knows what's what. You should listen to her more."

"Yeah, Manny," Eda said and stuck her tongue out. "You should listen to me."

Gilbert cleared his throat. "Um, so what's our plan, then?"

"Our plan is to gather as many allies as we can and attack Blight Manor as soon as possible," Manny said. "Eda, do you think your sister and the CARTs will help us? I know this isn't strictly related to the rebellion, but Odalia is one of Belos's most useful servitors."

Eda scoffed. "Please. Half of them got bullied by her when we were kids. It shouldn't be a tough sell."

"You should get Raine and Perry on our side," Gilbert suggested. "Perry's oracle magic will be very useful in countering Odalia's powers and there aren't many more people more powerful than Raine. I'll talk to Harvey and ask him to help out too."

"I can look after Willow and Gus while you're doing your stuff," Steve offered. "It's no trouble."

Camila smiled at him. "Thank you so much, Steve."

Manny dearly hoped they wouldn't be too late. He'd had a chance to examine that contract Luz had signed as well and it was as bad as Eda said. The contract would make Luz totally subservient to Odalia once she'd signed it. Ostensibly, it would only be until she became an adult, but at that point, the subservience would transfer to Amity in name. In truth, it likely wouldn't change at all anywhere except on paper. He had warned Luz it was a bad idea to make a deal with a fae. If only she'd taken that lesson to heart!

Manny and the others rendezvoused with the other members of the team they'd assembled at a clearing in a forest near Blight Manor. Unfortunately, the building looked completely deserted. To make matters even worse, Lilith had been unable to convince the CARTs to help them. Odalia had been playing both sides of the conflict, selling weapons and abominations to the CARTs, and the Revolutionary Council had been unwilling to lose such a valuable supplier. Lilith herself would assist, but she was acting independently and against orders.

"Where could they have gone?" Raine asked Perry. Perry closed his eyes and started presumably scrying.

"No need for that," Lilith said. "The Blights have a chalet on the left Knee. I visited there once, back when I thought Odalia was my friend. Little did I know she was trying to romance me." She shuddered. "I swore I'd never go again, but I'll break my word in the service of saving my family."

Manny couldn't help but blush a little at the reminder of his new relationship. "Okay, well, they'll be able to spot our team coming so we're not going to have the element of surprise. But I think between the eight of us, we'll be able to take down Odalia. What about Alador? Can we rely on his support? He seems more easily reasoned with."

"Rumor has it Alador's under the influence of a ton of love potion," Eda said grimly. "At best, we might be able to neutralize him, but he'll never turn against Odalia."

Manny felt his insides squirming at the thought of love potions being real. Some people thought love potions made for wacky hijinks in media, but the concept had always grossed Manny out as being a clear violation of consent. The only time he could stomach them being involved in a plot was if their use was a clear act of villainy, or if the hijinks were only indirect, such as a person being dosed with a love potion by accident and not acting any different towards the target because they were already in love with them.

"The chalet will no doubt be guarded by numerous abominations," Harvey said. "I know ways to take them out, but it's not going to be easy. Whatever else you can say about Alador, the man is a prodigy. I went to a different school, but even I heard tales of his prowess as a kid."

"And as leader of the Emperor's Coven, I know a few ways that aren't taught in schools," Lilith added. "Belos is a very paranoid man and fears someone might amass an abomination army against him. Of course, as I've been amply proving, he isn't paranoid enough." She gave a vicious smile.

Raine reached out a hand and summoned their palisman to them. Everyone else followed suit. As Eda extended Owlbert's length to be able to hold them both, Manny and Camila tentatively hopped on board. Manny tried his best to hide it, but the prospect of flying through the air on such a thin piece of wood was absolutely petrifying. He'd do it, of course, for Luz's sake, but he could not see himself doing it except in the case of an emergency.

"We're gonna save the day!" Eda vowed. "And we're gonna kick that bitch's ass! Damn, it feels good to swear again. Certain people don't like it when I swear in front of kids." She glared fearsomely at Manny and Camila, both of whom gazed back at her unrepentantly.

The flight to the Knee seemed to stretch on forever. Manny would have loved to savor the scenery, but every time he looked down, he got dizzy and his heart started thundering in his chest (and not in the good way), so he kept his eyes closed the whole time. But eventually they reached a sprawling estate almost as big as Blight Manor.

They landed in the backyard, and the place appeared deserted. Manny knew better, of course. They likely had only a matter of minutes or even seconds before the guards were alerted to their presence. Manny nodded at Eda, who removed the sniper rifle she'd been keeping in her hair for him with a pocket dimension charm. He peered through the scope, marveling at how quickly he'd gotten back into the swing of using the weapon. It had been many years, but one never forgot how to snipe. It was like riding a bike.

Manny spotted Odalia sitting at her desk in her office and didn't hesitate a second before pulling the trigger. Anyone who dared hurt his daughter deserved to die. It would have been a perfect shot. But instead of slicing through Odalia's flesh, the bullet went through the cloth of the dummy Odalia had placed as a decoy. Alarms suddenly started blaring.

"Well, it was worth a shot," Eda said and cackled at her pun.

Abominations stormed out of the house. They didn't look particularly fearsome individually, but there were a lot of them. Dozens, probably more than a hundred. Manny dumped the sniper rifle in the show and pulled a machine pistol out of his backpack, firing at the abominations in short, controlled bursts. Camila drew the pistol Manny had given her and started blasting away haphazardly, only managing to hit things by dearth of their being so many targets. Raine used bard magic to manipulate the snow, hardening it and turning it into ice shards, which they flung at the abominations. Gilbert in turn manipulated the ground below the snow, sending chunks of rock directly at the abominations.

Eda and Lilith shared a nod and streams of fire erupted from Lilith's left hand and Eda's right. The streams combined with each other to make a stronger, hotter fire than either of them could have done on their own. After so many years, the Clawthorne sisters were back as a team and better than ever.

Perry's oracle magic was useless against constructs like abominations, so he just sliced away at them with a sword instead. Ironically, despite Harvey's specialty being abomination magic, his magic was probably the second useless in the fight. Alador's abominations were warded with stronger magic than Harvey could dish out. Manny couldn't help but feel sympathetic. There was nothing worse than feeling useless in the middle of a fight.

"Alador has to be under the influence of love potion," Gilbert decided. "There's no way we could be winning against these things if he was in his right mind. Even Darius Deamonne isn't as good at abominations as Alador."

There was a clicking sound as Manny's machine pistol ran out of bullets. He grabbed his sniper rifle from the snow and tried his best to shoot the abominations with it, but he wasn't very good at using rifles in close combat and his shots rarely hit. That was the bad news. The good news was that they were absolutely winning. Abomination after abomination was being taken down and most of them hadn't gotten very close. The ones that did just tried to punch their way through the group, but they moved so slowly they were practically telegraphing their punches. Manny couldn't help but wonder if the true cause of the abominations' weakness was not Alador being influenced by love potion, but fighting it.

"Okay, there's just two more of them," Lilith said. "Eda, would you do the honors?"

"Gladly," Eda snarled and clenched her fist. The abominations buckled under her magic and started twisting. Eda manipulated them so the abomination goop coalesced in Manny and Camila's direction and twisted in a heart. Granted, in the spirit of the Demon Realm, it was an anatomically correct heart (smaller than a human's heart to make space for the bile sac), but it was the thought that counted. Camila gave a sickly smile and Manny gave a thumb's up to her. Lilith rolled her eyes while Raine gave a fond smile. The final abominations disintegrated.

"I presume you've finally gotten your act together and asked out the humans, Eda?" Raine said.

Eda blinked. "You mean you didn't fall for that little display at the parent teacher night?"

Raine laughed. "Anyone else would, but I know you too well." They turned to face Camila and Manny. "Make sure you treat her well. Eda's a queen among women. She deserves the best." They looked nervously at Perry, but he seemed to completely understand where Raine was coming from.

"We're not going to let her go anytime soon, Raine," Manny said. He was relieved he wouldn't have to deal with any love…uh, squares? This polyamory stuff could get confusing sometimes. Such a thing would have complicated things immensely.

Lilith looked pointedly at her wrist, which had no watch. "Not that this isn't vaguely amusing, but we do have a child to rescue, if you'd recall. Odalia could be here any moment."

"Then let's get moving!" Eda shouted and smashed her way through the back door of the house.

"A civilized person would have simply used magic to disable the lock," Lilith muttered. "Darn wild witches. Even if they're not evil, they're still a pain in the butt."

After reloading his machine pistol, Manny followed the crew inside the chalet. The building was luxuriously furnished, rivaling some of the estates Manny had seen pictures of back on earth. He instantly recognized the style as being comparable to Tudor mansions in England, which of course would have been the style at the time of Belos's departure. The hallways were eerily empty. Manny would have expected to see servants scurrying around the place, but presumably the Blights only had abomination servants, which indeed tracked from what Manny had seen of Blight Manor.

"It's quiet," Camila decided. "Too quiet. Luz! Luz, can you hear me?!"

"Luz, we're here to save you!" Manny shouted. "We're not going back! We're staying here, just please talk to us!"

The group rounded a corner and walked into a drawing room. Edric was standing in the middle of the room, looking petrified. Manny ran over to him. "Edric, is Luz okay?"

"Oh, Luz is perfectly safe," Odalia said as she stepped out from behind a curtain. "You, on the other hand, are not."

Manny pointed his machine pistol at her head. "Where is she, Odalia?"

"She doesn't want to see you," Odalia gloated. "You've disappointed her, you know. She thought you cared about her."

"You may have been able to manipulate an eight year old into following your twisted schemes, Odalia, but you'll find me a much tougher nut to crack." Manny fired a burst of bullets past Odalia's head, making her jump in fright.

But Odalia regained her composure a few seconds later. She gave a horrifying rictus vaguely resembling a grin and then grabbed Edric by the throat. Her eyes glowed pure purple and Edric started screaming in agony. It wasn't physical pain. Odalia was deliberately using her magic to make her own son suffer. If there was ever any proof Manny needed that Odalia had to die, this was it.

Manny tried to aim the gun at Odalia's head, but as if sensing his thoughts (and now that Manny thought about it, that had probably literally happened) she lifted Edric into the air and used him as a human shield. Er, witch shield. "Go ahead, Noceda. Hit me with your best shot."

"You've got to be freaking kidding me!" Eda shouted. "Odalia, he's your son!"

"He's a twin; I have a spare," Odalia said, her voice completely unconcerned. Edric let out a squeak of fright, but didn't say anything. He was trying to put a brave face on things, and Manny was impressed at how good he was at it. He hadn't been nearly so stoic at ten.

Manny let out a shout of frustration and dropped his machine pistol on the ground. Camila followed suit in dropping her own gun. "All right, Odalia. What do you want?"

"You broke into my house like ill-mannered savages," Odalia said. Manny rolled his eyes. "Your heads on spikes would be a good start if I had a say in it. However, someone greater than I has first dibs."

Emperor Belos walked into the room. Though his face was covered by his mask, a palpable aura of smugness practically radiated from him. Two coven guards followed him into the room. One was holding a struggling Luz, who proceeded to bite her captor on the arm and knee him in the groin. Despite the dire circumstances, Manny cracked a smile. It was quickly wiped off his face when the guard smacked Luz across the face hard enough to leave a bruise.

"You," he said in a quiet, menacing tone. "You're going to die for that."

"Mami! Papi!" Luz screamed. "I'm scared! I don't want this! Don't let them hurt me, please."

"No one's going to get hurt on my watch, Luz," Manny vowed.

Belos stepped forward. "I wouldn't be so confident of that if I were you, Inquisitor Noceda," he said in a mocking tone that instantly let Manny knew the jig was up. Somehow, Belos had seen through his ruse. "You deceived me, and you will pay the price for that. You stole my nephew from me."

"You gave him to me, you absolute turd!" Manny screamed. He would not permit this monster to rewrite the past like he did for so many people. "He's safer in my care than he ever was in yours."

"He won't be so safe when my men burn the Owl House to the ground," Belos said serenely. "Your daughter has been a most fascinating sense of information. Imagine my surprise when I learned that not only has the Spanish Inquisition not existed in centuries, but you were playing a joke on me when you said you worked for them. So who are you, really, Manuel Noceda? Who do you truly serve?"

The guard holding Luz squeezed her arm tightly and Luz screamed in pain. "All right! The colony you were living in revolted against Britain about a century and a half after you left." He looked over at Odalia to see if he'd managed to stir anything up with the revelation Belos was human, but it didn't seem to surprise her at all. Darn it. "Connecticut and twelve other colonies formed the United States of America. I work for the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization that coordinates external intelligence operations."

Camila didn't look at all shocked to learn this – she had no doubt suspected it already – but Luz looked entirely gobsmacked and maybe a little excited. She, like so many people of her age, probably thought spy work was a fun adventure. It was anything but. "I work for a division of the organization dealing with the paranormal," he went on. The longer he kept Belos's attention, the longer Belos wasn't killing them all. "They're called DEEP – the Department of Extrasensory and Extraordinary Phenomena."

This had a much stronger affect on Camila. "You knew about the Demon Realm?!"

"Yes and no," Manny said. "I was sent to Gravesfield to investigate incidents that a certain owl lady was no doubt responsible for." He looked over at Eda, who gazed back unrepentantly. "I can get you in touch with my superiors, who would happily aid you in your quest, if you just let us all go." He would do no such thing, of course. It was just a bluff.

Belos gave a low, menacing chuckle. "Not a chance. Your country has been irredeemably corrupted by the devil's forces. Sodomy, licentiousness, celebrating Christmas! The list goes on and on! Why, Luz informs me people put up Christmas decorations in October!" Manny did have to concede that, for once, Belos had a good point with that last one. "I will cleanse this perdition myself."

Manny looked over at Odalia pleadingly. The woman may have been an utter sociopath who had no compunctions about hurting children, but surely she had brains enough to know he was planning on killing her too? "Come on, Odalia! Don't let him get away with this. He'll kill you too."

"Don't be absurd," Odalia scoffed. "The worthy will be given sanctuary in the Human Realm and there are none worthier than I." Well, she was definitely a lost cause.

The guard not holding Luz summoned a fireball to his hands. "Not yet," Belos said. "No, I think I would prefer to leave them alive to watch as Luzura is married off and her destiny – our destiny – assured. Since your family has made themselves my enemy, it is the only way to ensure I can find the Collector."

"You'll never find the Collector," Lilith snarled.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Dirtrude," Belos gloated. Manny had no idea what that was all about, and by the looks of it, neither did Lilith. He turned to face Manny. "The good inquisitor, on the other hand, will suffer for defying me."

The guard not holding Luz withdrew the fireball and instead a plethora of plants emerged from his hand and wrapped everyone but Manny very firmly in vines. The guard holding Luz tossed her onto the sofa. Manny rushed over to her, but midway there, the guard grabbed him and then there was an explosion of pain in Manny's chest.

Manny looked down and the hilt of a knife was jutting out of his chest.

"Oh," Manny whispered, unable to make words work further as he toppled to the ground. Everything seemed so far away. Camila, Eda, and Luz were screaming, but Manny could barely hear them. I'm going to die, he realized, but even that realization wasn't able to pierce very well the fog that was forming in his head. How ironic that he'd traversed dimensions to stop himself from dying one way just to die another way.

"Throw him out into the snow," Belos commanded. "He doesn't deserve a quick death. Odalia, bring the girl here. The marriage will be conducted within the hour."

The guards followed their master's orders and Manny was unceremoniously deposited outside the house, his ankles covered up with abomination goop to prevent him from walking for good measure. Funny. It didn't hurt as badly as it used to. In fact, it wasn't even that cold, Manny thought. It was…warm? And peaceful? And Manny felt so much like sleeping. Just…taking a short nap. Marshalling his strength. Just closing his eyes for a second. He looked into the sky…

…and he saw a distinct, repeating pattern in the snowflakes.

Adrenaline coursed through him as if something – or someone, he thought a second later only to immediately dismiss it – was pumping it directly into his veins. He couldn't just lie down and die! He had to save his family! And something was telling him the pattern he was seeing was the answer. He reached down and covered his hand with blood, then painted the pattern into the snow. Immediately, a column of ice erupted from it.

That was magic. Manny had just done a SPELL!

And he was going to use it to save his family.

With the blood spilling out of him, Manny had ample material to use to experiment with various sizes and shapes of ice magic until he'd figured out a way to use it to sever his bonds. The goop fell apart before the ice and Manny was back on his feet. That bastard Belos was going to pay! He was going to send a spike of ice through that literally goddamned mask of his. He stormed into the house and into the living room, where the other Blight children had assembled. Somehow, the guards had managed to get Luz into a dress and Amity was dressed in a similar one. Alador was also there, but staring blankly into space.

"How…?" Belos whispered.

"It's simple, Belos," Manny gloated. "I, unlike you, always fulfill my promises. Children, look away!" He summoned a spike of ice and speared the guard who had hit Luz through the neck. The guard fell dead to the ground. The other guard ran from the room screaming. "Now, Belos, you'll finally, finally face justice."

"The only true judge is God, Agent Noceda," Belos pontificated. "And I am his chosen."

Manny let out a snarl and conjured a block of ice which he threw at Belos's face. It was bigger than Manny's head and should have sliced Belos's head clean off. Instead, there was a flash of blue light and Belos disappeared. He'd been nothing more than an illusion, a magical holographic projection the whole time.

Manny sawed through the vines with his ice magic. Odalia tried to get off a spell, but Manny sliced her arm off at the elbow with a sheet of ice and then cut the other one off for good measure. He then proceeded to encase Alador's legs in ice just in case. He didn't react at all.

"Titandamn, Manny," Eda said with a look in her eyes that was both awed and lustful as she used her magic to heal Manny. "How long have you been hiding that under your hat?"

Manny picked up Camila's pistol and pointed it at Odalia's head. "Get the children out of here," he told the others. Everyone but his girlfriends proceeded to hurry the children out of the room.

"Mr. Noceda?" Amity asked softly as she was departing. A hopeful look formed in Odalia's eyes. "Make her suffer." Odalia let out a gasp of horror.

Once Amity was out of the room, Odalia got on her knees. "Please don't kill me! I can be of use to you! I can use my assets to help the rebellion!"

"I have to do this," Manny said quietly to Camila, completely ignoring the monster before them. "You understand that, right?"

Camila nodded solemnly. "I don't want to watch," she said and turned away. Manny definitely understood that.

"I'm begging you!" Odalia screamed. "I'll do anything, anything at all!"

Manny shot Odalia in the head and her corpse fell to the ground, barely making a sound as blood leaked out into the carpet that probably cost more than most people in the Demon Realm made in a year.

Odalia's death released whatever hold she had on Alador, who looked both nauseated and grimly satisfied at the corpse of his wife before him. "I…she deserved that," he said quietly. "I'm not so convinced I don't either."

"I'm not going to make Amity an orphan unless you force me," Manny said. He walked over to Odalia's corpse and used the blood pouring out of her forehead to write an ice glyph which he used to turn her into ice, which proceeded to crumble into a million pieces. "You can all come in now!"

Everyone headed back into the room. The Blight children figured out what had happened to Odalia immediately. They looked sad to see her gone, but not upset beyond that. "It had to be done," Emira said quietly.

"I'm glad you didn't have to see it," Manny told her. "That's not something I want for you. Do you want your father to raise you?"

"No!" all three of the Blight siblings said in unison. Alador looked disappointed, but not surprised.

Eda cleared her throat. "Uh, Manny, we really don't have any more room at the Owl House…"

Gilbert and Harvey stepped forward. "Amity, we've wanted to raise you and your siblings for a very long time now," Harvey said. "We've tried to convince child services to let us have custody of you, but your mother was always able to weasel her way out of any investigations. I know it's a big adjustment, but –"

"YES!" Amity screamed. "Yes, yes, please! I'd love to be Willow's sister!" Beside her, the twins nodded eagerly.

Alador sighed. "All right. I'll transfer custody. It's for the best. I never wanted children. It's better they go with someone who does want them." Amity flinched. Even after all this time, hearing Alador say such things must have hurt her badly.

"I'm going to lock him up in a closet until it's time for us to leave," Lilith said. "In the meantime, we have unfettered access to one of the fanciest mansions in the Demon Realm. I say we party and celebrate thwarting Odalia's evil schemes!"

"Now that's something I can get behind!" Eda said eagerly. "I bet she's got a whole cellar full of the best apple blood, just waiting for us to drink!" She threw a wink at her partners. "And maybe a nice bedroom too…"

Luz walked over to Amity and looked solemnly at her. "Amity Park…I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I think we're better as friends."

Manny laughed hysterically and it would be more than ten minutes before he stopped.