***A Trigger Warning that contains abuse has sufficed. Viewer discretion is advised***

All characters from Disney and other properties are owned by their respectful owners. The OCs made here are written entirely for the story. Enjoy this fic.

Chapter 133: Hey! Scouts! Leave Those Kids Alone! Part Two

Last Night

"I'm back," Willow announced as she looked around and found her two dads.

"Hey, Willow," Sully replied, standing up when he saw his daughter. He and Gilbert looked nervous. "Um, how was your talk with Sam Shin?"

"Well… it was a whole lot to take in," Willow admitted. "She's told me everything about her being an actual goddess and about how powerful my plant magic really is. I think I'm part goddess, a demigod of some sort…"

"You're still our daughter and you're still you, don't forget that," Sully said as he walked over and patted his daughter's shoulder. However, there was guilt on his face. "And we want to say… we're sorry for keeping this a secret from you."

"We thought we were helping you, especially since Sam Shin didn't want you to know until you were ready, she didn't want this to keep you from having a normal happy childhood," Gilbert admitted as he kept his head low. "But you still have a right to be mad at us right now."

"Well… I'll admit that I'm a little mad about the whole 'keeping secrets from me' thing," Willow said, giving a slight glare at her dads before she sighed and grabbed each of their hands. "But I still forgive you guys. After all, you're all still my dads, and that's not going to change," she reassured them.

Gilbert and Sully smiled before they then hugged their daughter.

"We're so glad to hear that, Willow," Gilbert said.

Yet as Willow hugged them back, she frowned. Some old words had come back to haunt her.

Your Emperor will have dark plans for you and your friend Luz.

On the Day of Unity, his plans will involve both you and Luz.

In light of these revelations about herself, those words were taking on a different meaning…

The next morning, Nina Fangs was in her room at the Brooke home, sleeping in her bed when she suddenly heard her scroll buzzing a tune.

The werecat groaned, slightly annoyed by the notification jingle. She reached for her nightstand before she fell off from her bed. "Oof!" she grunted before she got up. When she grabbed her scroll, she noticed something on her scroll's screen…

'Today's B-Day Reminder!'

This caused Nina to lower her head, her ears dropping. She almost forgot that today was the birthday of that someone…

A bit later, the werecat was in her school uniform when she came downstairs to meet up with Nina and Scabrina.

"Good morning, Nina," Skara said. "How did you sleep?"

"Fine, though I am still bummed from yesterday," Nina admitted while her ears were kept down. "Still haven't heard from Lambi…"

"I do hope that she gets to come to school today," Skara said.

"Yeah…" Nina said while she absently felt her collar. "You know, you never turned my collar back on since you had it turned off last Friedday night, Skara."

"Oh yeah, I did that," Skara replied. "But I don't intend to turn it back on anyway. I didn't like how it was hurting you and as long as everyone still thinks that it is turned on, you shouldn't get in any trouble for it."

"I mean, it's still not the most comfortable thing to wear, but at least it's not electrocuting me anymore," Nina said with a shrug. "So thanks. Are we ready to leave now?"

"Yeah, we are," Skara said while turning to Scabrina. "What about you, Scabrina?"

"I'm ready," she replied to her older sister.

Meanwhile, at Lambi's apartment, Puffer rang the doorbell. Answering it was Awassi.

"Good tidings, Puffington," Awassi greeted him.

"Hey, Mrs. Lambada," Puffer responded. "I'm just checking in to see if Lambi's coming to school today."

"I'm afraid not," she said. "She is still grounded."

"Really? Wouldn't that affect her grades if she's absent?" Puffer asked her.

"Do not worry, I'll have the school d-mail Mary's homework so she stays caught up," Awassi reassured him.

In her room, Lambi was in her bed. She cried into her pillow. She wasn't exactly feeling happy about her grounding or not being allowed to see her girlfriend. Not at all. If only her mother saw just how wrong she was…

As Lambi moped and was just generally miserable, the room suddenly grew dark. Faint wipers could be heard as something coming out from the ground. Shadowy vestiges roamed around the floor by her bed. It formed into a dark circle and something came out of that circle, manifesting as it grew up above Lambi's bed…

As Lambi kept crying, a dark figure loomed over her, branching out arms. Then, long, large ram-like horns grew from the head. It grew legs and eyes popped out from the silhouette. Lambi stopped crying, suddenly feeling a chill in the room. She looked up to the shadowy figure, who stared down at her…

" …Hi dad," Lambi said while wiping away her tears.

"Hey, my little Lambi-chop," spoke her father. He was a sheep-like biped demon with long horns, purple cotton wool around like a hair and beard combo, and red eyes. He wore a red suit that had a velvet handkerchief, red gloves, and black hooves. On top of his head was a crown with an eye. "What seems to be the matter? Why do you weep sadness tears of your pain that summon me from my island?" he asked, bringing out his handkerchief to hand it to her.

"I'm glad that you came to visit, Dad," Lambi responded to him while wiping her tears.

"Certainly, my child. Though I can't stay here for too long before I have to go back, I got time to hear out your problem," he offered her while sitting beside her.

Lambi smiled at him before looking down. "Well, it's just… I have this girlfriend now."

"Really? Congratulations," he replied, proud of his daughter.

"Yeah, her name is Nina and I really like her… and she's a werecat," Lambi responded, surprising her father as she looked up at him.

"You like cats too!" her father declared. "We have so much in common!"

For a brief moment, Lambi smiled. But her smile fell, replaced by a frown as she continued. "But then at temple service, my mom said something very insensitive to her, and that caused her to step outside. I followed her and after hearing her out, I decided to skip service for her. Nina said I didn't have to, but I wanted to make her feel better." She then sighed. "But because I missed service, mom grounded me and considers Nina a bad influence, but she's not. She's a really great witch to be with, and didn't deserve what my mom said to her."

"I see," he responded while Lambi handed his handkerchief back. "Maybe I should go talk to your mom about it…"

"N-No, I don't want that," Lambi told him. "It's not necessary."

"Hmm, okay. But Lambi, if you wish to settle this, you have to stand up for yourself," he advised her.

"I… tried," Lambi said. "I told her she was wrong and she said that she was… disappointed in me."

"Ah, I see," her father said, nodding. "Well, you shouldn't be afraid of disappointing your mom or angering her, especially if this Nina girl is special as you say she is. After all, if you were willing to leave service for her, then being grounded shouldn't stop you."

"Yeah, you're right," Lambi replied while looking on her own knees. "I just wish that I could make mom see reason."

"I can relate to that, honestly," he admitted. "Your mom can be quite the stubborn witch. It's one of the reasons that our relationship didn't work out, besides the whole 'falling into different religions' thing. Like the one time when I offered to cook for her when I visited here last New Callus, but she insisted that she does all the cooking. I mean, just because I use the dark arts to make the food cook better one time, I'm not allowed to cook for you all anymore." Lambi made a laugh, which her dad noted. "Hey, I made a funny, didn't I? Does that cheer you up?"

"Yeah, it did," she admitted with a smile.

"Glad that I did, then," he told her with a warm smile. He affectionately rustled her hair. "Say, um, maybe when you're out of school, you could come over to visit me sometime. Maybe bring your girlfriend along with you since I would love to meet the werecat that won my little girl's heart."

"I… I'll talk to Nina about it when I get the chance," Lambi responded before the two then hugged. "Thank you for coming here, dad…"

"No problem, my Lambi," he responded. Once he let go of her, he was engulfed in red vestiges. His whole body started to disappear from his feet to his head and his eyes looked into Lambi's before disappearing.

Now it was just her in her bedroom alone.

And now, at Hexside.

Inside the principal's office, Principal Bump was rummaging through the folders in a drawer. He looked outside the window, seeing some of his students practicing some of their magic outside. He saw Jerbo writing down some notes on his latest Plant-Abomination and Matt using illusions to construct a statue Bo, who enjoyed the gesture. Emira was with Viney, both of them healing some students who crashed their unicorns.

"It's nice to see the kids embracing multitracks," spoke Ms. Rachelle, the Illusion teacher, as she walked up carrying some papers while looking down at her own sigil. "I remember giving up everything for illusions," she said dejectedly while handing the papers to Bump.

"To be honest, I thought this would be more trouble than it's worth," Bump admitted. "But throughout the semester, I haven't seen students this enthusiastic, ever."

"Well… trouble… might be closer than you think," said a voice.

The two teachers turned and saw a hooded figure walking into the office.

'"Who are you?" Bump asked as the hooded figure showed them a medallion with the Illusion Coven brand on it.

"An old student who has come to warn you, Principal Bump…" he declared.

In an empty classroom, Willow was talking to her friends about what she learned the other day.

"So according to my godmother the goddess I am basically meant to be an environmental repairwitch," Willow finished explaining to Skara, Amelia, Cat, Edric, Witch Morty, Eve, and Barcus.

"Whoa… I'm dating a goddess…" Skara said in awe, blushing while looking at Willow with newfound admiration.

"You know, that does explain a lot," Jerbo pointed out. "Like, you're crazy powerful in the plant magic department, Willow."

"Yeah," Amelia agreed. "You're not just at the top of the Plant Track, but you defeated Terra Snapdragon, who has been at the top of her coven for decades. And you defeated her while she was using Galderstones. You are basically a young mother nature."

"You know, a lot of weird stuff has been happening around the Boiling Isles lately," Morty pointed out. "So I guess Willow turning out to be a plant prophet sounds like just another day in the Isles for us. Though, my late-grandpa mentioned a counterpart of him fighting and challenging gods before…"

"Have you told Luz and Amity about it?" Edric asked Willow.

"Not yet," Willow admitted. "I haven't gotten in contact with them since they went on that trip. They should be back by now." She then thought of someone else. "Have you guys heard anything from Boscha?"

"Not really," Skara replied.

"We haven't heard from her either," Cat said while Amelia nodded.

"I did meet up with Simon, he mentioned that Boscha hasn't been home since last night," Willow mentioned. "She did leave a note saying she left to help Amity, though that means that Luz and Amity are back in the Isles…"

"Well, whatever reasons they have for their silence, we could check the Owl House after school," Amelia suggested.

"Hmm, maybe they're no longer at the Demon Realm…" Willow considered with a worried look, wondering if something happened to them that caused them to go silent…

Meanwhile, at the lockers, Nina was grabbing her books and getting ready to go to class.

"YAAH!" Andrea screamed as she popped up, taking Nina aback.

"Gah! Andrea!" Nina shrieked as she looked at her pink-haired friend… and saw her face. "What the… are you… angry?" she asked her.

"Angry as a Bicen!" Andrea shouted while her eyes had flames appearing out of them, which disturbed Nina. "I can't believe… of all the things… GAAH!" she screamed again as she punched a locker.

"Ow!" the locker cried out.

"Hey, hey, calm down," Nina said as she patted Andrea's shoulder. "Okay, take deep breaths, and tell me what's gotten you worked up? This isn't like you, Andrea… unless there's a reason."

"It's very dire, Nina," Andrea told her. "Have you seen what the Media Coven just posted?"

"I haven't, what is it?" Nina asked as Andrea showed her scroll to her. When the werecat took a good look at the article and read it… she was shocked. "What the fuck!"

'Diamantos Scandal: Teenage Mom Cover-Up. Written by Felicity Fox. Credit Source: Felicia Fox.'

She took the scroll from Andrea and read through the article while she and Andrea walked down the hall together.

"'In light of the death of scout member Duke Eadbeaton'… wait, that's his name?" Nina asked.

"Yeah! That no good, deadbeat sleazeball decided to leave Tabrella with a child," Andrea ranted angrily.

Nina continued reading, "'While the identity of his killer is still unknown, the Diamanto family may have something to do with-' what the crap? They just assumed they had something to do with his death just because he and Tabrella dated?!" Nina asked with an appalled look.

"I know! And when I find Felicia, oh I'm going to give her the works at my fun dungeon back home!" Andrea declared. "She'll really learn to not break one of my pinky promises, Tracy learned that the hard way…"

"I do not want to know more about this… fun dungeon, but I understand your anger Andrea," Nina responded before they then spotted Willow, Skara, Viney, Emira, and the cheer squad members coming over.

"Hey Nina! Andrea!" Tyler waved to them as the two walked over.

"We heard the news about your friend, Andrea," Tamme said. "How are you feeling, soldier?"

"FURIOUS!" Andrea screamed while her cotton-candy hair rose up and turned into spikes.

"Have any of you guys heard from Felicia?" Nina asked them.

"No, none of us have seen her all morning," Viney replied. "Which is surprising since she is always around when the latest story drops."

"You think she's in hiding?" Skara asked.

"After this article, it wouldn't make sense that she'd come here to school today," Willow pointed out.

"Yeah…" Nina said while noticing one person was missing amongst the Entrails. "By the way… where's Gus?"

Willow, Skara, Viney, and Emira gave each other looks before Willow responded. "Oh, he's… with his dad right now."

"Yeah, he's with his dad," Skara said, nodding in agreement.

"Oh… well, that makes sense," Nina responded while her scroll buzzed suddenly. "Shit," she said while bringing it up and trying to turn off the notification.

"Birthday?" Andrea asked when she noticed Nina's scroll screen. Nina gave a troubled look. "Is it your birthday, Nina?"

No, it isn't," Nina told her. "It's… someone else's."

"Who?" Tyler asked her.

"It's… nobody important… anymore," Nina said. "Look, I'm heading to class," she said before turning away. But as she walked away from the others, she noticed a ghost in the corner of her eye. "Huh?" she asked as she saw the ghost phasing through the wall, making the werecat curious…

As the group dispersed, Emira noticed Tamme staring at her. "Oh… hey, Tamme. How's the cheer squad?" she asked nervously.

"Doing better without you," Tamme told in an icy tone before they walked away without saying another word.

"The hell was that all about?" Viney asked while patting her girlfriend's back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… this is normal for us," Emira said as she looked at Viney. "Walk me to Healing?"

"You know I would," Viney nodded as they walked to class together.

Nina followed the ghost as it flew to Hexside's closed theater, the Paranoratorium. The place was currently under repairs, but Nina was still determined to follow the ghost and look inside. She had heard that the school once had a ghost infestation in one classroom, so this might be another to report to Bump about…

As she snuck inside and climbed onto the stage, she pulled out Tugs and formed him into a staff. Exploring the stage, she realized it was covered in… food wrappers. She spotted the ghost heading off to the side behind the curtains, so she followed it here.

The werecat witch heard munching noises and walked over to the source. There, she saw a makeshift tent set up, and a tail sticking out… a fox tail. She took a whiff to confirm her suspicions before calling out.

"Felicia?"

"Bah!" Felicia cried as she stumbled, causing the tent to collapse on itself. The fox biped popped her head up, revealing she was wearing a hoodie as she looked up at Nina. "Nina?! What… what are you doing here!"

"I should be asking the same thing," Nina replied while walking up to her. "Why are you at the school, and… did you… spend the night here?" she asked, seeing some discarded food and a healing kit.

"I'm, um… doing a story right now!" Felicia claimed while looking up at her ghost. "Yeah! Like um… is this auditorium haunted? Woooh…" Nina didn't buy it, which Felicia realized. "Alright, fine. My um… living situation is a bit… complicated right now," she said while crawling out from underneath her ruined tent and rubbing her left arm, which made her wince.

"Does this have to do with that article your mom posted?" Nina asked, noticing how Felicia's left arm looked a bit… limp.

"What article?" Felicia asked.

"About Tabrella and her pregnancy," Nina told her, making Felicia's eyes widen.

"She… she put that up?" Felicia asked while looking down. "Fuck… poor Tabby…"

"And what happened to your arm?" Nina asked, which made the fox girl nervous.

"Uh… it fell asleep?" Felicia claimed, but once again Nina wasn't buying it.

"Come on, what are you hiding, Felicia?" Nina asked her.

Felicia hesitated before she sighed and reluctantly removed her hoodie. Nina gasped in shock, seeing that the fox biped had a black eye and when Felicia winced again, she saw what she was covering.

Bruises. As Felicia wore a white t-shirt, her arms were noticeably bruised with some bits of dried blood from her right torn ear. There were noticeable bite and slash marks on her left arm. There were some bandages trying to cover them up, but from the looks of it, Felicia looked like she had been mangled.

"What the fuck… Felicia, who or what did this to you?!" Nina asked her.

"I-It's not that bad, really," Felicia denied, trying to avoid looking Nina in the eye.

"Then why don't we take you to the healer's office to get that treated," Nina told her.

"I can't go out, not looking like this," Felicia said as she backed away.

"Why not? Who did this to you, Felicia?" Nina demanded, making Felicia wince again.

"IT WAS MY MOM!" Felicia cried out before she knelt down and started breaking down into tears, shocking Nina.

"Your mom… did this to you?!" Nina asked, looking furious. "Why would she do this to you?" she asked while Felicia kept crying.

"I… I can't…" Felicia stammered, while wiping away her tears. "I-I'm too scared to tell…"

As Nina looked down at her, she realized what kind of situation Felicia was in right now. She took a deep breath and walked over to her. "Look, Felicia, you can tell me what happened. I can tell Slash about this and he can tell his Coven Head about it."

"I… I don't know, Nina," Felicia said, still kneeling down while her ghost comforted her.

Nina was quiet for a moment before she decided to sit beside the fox girl. "Look, I know how you feel, Felicia. In fact, I was once in a similar kind of situation to the one you're in right now."

"You were…?" Felicia asked, looking up to her in surprise.

"Well, I have a shitty dad who didn't care about me to the point of not wanting me back home at the Villa," Nina explained. "Then there's… someone who I thought was my best friend until she hurt me… and then there's Sonya Mera."

"Sonya… Mera?" Felicia asked, recognizing the name and looking curious.

"She's the reason how I can transform my body parts into different kinds of beasts," Nina revealed. "I was young, impressionable, and stupid. Emily introduced me to her so she could help me reach the top of the food chain back in Glandus. I didn't think much of it at the time, but when I look back at the time I spent with Sonya… she did horrible and inappropriate things to me, things she knew that she could get away with because I was a child and I trusted her." She looked down while hugging herself. "It took me a while to realize that it was wrong, that the things she did to me were inappropriate. And for the longest time, I didn't tell anyone about them. But eventually I told Calypso about Sonya and her experiments in order to try to put a stop to them," she said while turning to Felicia. "And I felt better about telling her, especially since I realized that those things she did to me… it wasn't my fault. She was an adult and I was a kid. I didn't know any better, but she did. And I think you can be capable of doing what I did."

Felicia sniffed. "But… I'm worried that if I tell anyone, everyone else will be in danger as well."

"Hey, it's just you and me right now," Nina reassured her, patting her back. "And I want to help you out, Felicia. I want to hear your side of the story. Is that good?"

Felicia contemplated this before slowly nodding. "Okay… I guess I can tell you." She took a deep breath. "It all started last night…"

**[TRIGGER WARNING: CHILD ABUSE]**

Felicia had made it back home, looking conflicted. She had just gotten some info on Willow for her mom, but Felicia didn't know if she should give it to her mom or not.

"I can't believe I have to betray Willow like this," Felicia said, contemplating her current crisis. "She's captain of the Entrails and I want to do a doc about them. But… this is for Tabby's sake. Plus, I do not want to face the wrath of her friends, that pinkie-promise sounds iron-clad…"

As she entered her home, she could hear her mom's voice. "Yes, everything will be in order for the Day of Unity, sir." This drew Felicia's attention. She walked over to where her mom was and found her in the living room. She saw Felicity with her back turned while she was chatting on the crystal ball.

"So you are sure that this 'draining spell' won't affect me in any way, right?" Felicity asked Abel on the crystal ball, shocking Felicia when she heard this. "I want to keep my magic, after all."

"I can reassure you that you'll be fine, Felicity," Abel responded. "And you will be greatly rewarded for your role in the Emperor's plans."

"Great! I'll chat with ya later, Head Witch Abel," Felicity winked, before ending the call… and hearing a bump and the sound of a vase breaking. Turning around, she saw Felicia, who gasped. "Oh… Felicia, darling… how much did you hear that?" she asked, getting up and stepping towards her daughter.

"Um… well…" Felicia tried to cover it up, but her mom interjected.

"Don't lie to your mommy, dear," Felicity said, while Felicia looks at her mother drawing close to her.

"What's this… draining spell?" Felicia demanded to know. "What's going to happen on the Day of Unity?"

Felicity just sighed. "Well, what do you think it is? It's what's going to drain everyone's magic during the eclipse, well everyone except for those loyal to Belos, that is. I'm one of the few loyal witches that knows about it. After all, I am the Head of the Media, so I have to know what's really going on in order to create a narrative that distracts the viewers from the truth…"

"W-What? But that's lying!" Felicia told her, shocked and appalled. "How can you go through with that?!"

"Oh please, Felicia, I thought you'd know a thing or two about journalistic integrity," Felicity noted before she groaned. "Titan's crack, this is going to be exhausting to do…"

"Do what?" Felicia asked, backing away.

"Well, since you know…" Felicity said as she reached out to Felicia's face… and then smacked her onto the floor. "I'm going to have to kill you."

Shocked that her own mother smacked her, Felicia looked up to see her mother's heel stomp on her arm and her face. "AH! No mama! Stop!" she cried while her mom kept stomping on her, her heel piercing her right ear. "AAAH!"

"You little tramp!" Felicity barked. She grabbed Felicia's arm and twisted it while sinking her teeth into the arm, making her daughter cry out in pain.

"AAAH! PLEASE MOM, STOOOP!" she shouted while feeling her arm getting bitten and twisted, a crack being heard. "GAAAAAAAAAIIIIIEEEEEE!" she screamed.

"Oh? You want more?" Felicity sadistically asked before stomping Felicia in the side. "You know, you have yourself to blame for this," she said before punching her daughter in the eye as she continued to beat her. "This wouldn't have happened if you didn't walk in when you weren't supposed to!" she declared before pulling Felicia's auburn hair to get a good look at her. Felicia's eye was swelling up while her ear bled. "But you always have to be a disappointment, don't ya?!"

"M-Mom… please, sto-" Felicia didn't get to finish before she then smacked and punched again.

"Consider this payback for all of these lackluster 'reports' you gave on Luz," Felicity declared as she kicked her daughter. "Do you know how bad you made me look when I had to give them to the Emperor?! And when I asked you about Willow, do you have anything to give me?!" Felicia said nothing and her mother scoffed. "I didn't think so!" she declared before kicking her in the snout.

"AAAH!" Felicia cried out.

"You were always a disappointment, just like your daddy," Felicity snarled. "I knew I should've had that abortion when Todd knocked me up…"

This shocked Felicia. "W-What?" she asked as she looked up to her mother, her face bleeding. "Todd's… my dad? But… I thought my dad walked out…"

"Oh my Titan, you are such an idiot!" Felicity said in annoyance, drawing a magic circle to shoot a yellow flame at Felicia, hitting her with it.

"AAAAAAAH!" Felicia cried out while feeling the flames hitting her. Desperate, she used an oracle pendant to summon a ghost to block Felicity's attack before the ghost carried Felicia out of her home.

The ghost looked down at Felicia, who was bleeding and whimpering after having just barely escaped from her mother. A mother who had just attempted to take her life…

**[END OF TRIGGER WARNING]**

Throughout the story, Nina had a horrified and disgusted look on her face. Felicia teared up again after she finished her recounting..

"That motherfucking %&*$," Nina snarled in anger. "She actually mauled you?"

Felicia nodded weakly. "After I escaped, I didn't know where to go. Especially with Todd out of town. I wasn't thinking when I escaped, so I came down here to Hexside cause it was the first place that popped in my mind," she said while wiping her face. "I… I'm too scared to leave here, scared to do anything. I believe that the Emperor's Coven is going to be coming for me now, and that is why I'm too scared to tell other witches this. Because I don't know who I can trust anymore or if I'll just endanger other witches by telling them…"

"Felicia, you don't have to worry about a thing," Nina replied while hugging the fox biped girl. "Look, we should go to Ms. Traveler, I know we can trust her about it."

"You believe so?" Felicia asked her, sniffing.

"I know she'll help us," she said. "And after we see her in her office, we can get you healed up and figure out what to do. Both about your mom and this draining spell." She frowned in concern after she said the last part, thinking about what Felicia had said.

Felicia managed to give her a nod. "Okay," she said as they both stood up and started to head to Julia's office.

As Nina took Felicia to Julia Traveler's office, they could hear an announcement from Principal Bump over the intercom. "Students, please join me in the gym for an important announcement…"

"Announcement?" Felicia asked.

"We'll worry about that later. Besides, we're here," Nina said as they stopped in front of the office. She knocked on the door. "Dr. T?" she asked, but heard no response. She knocked again and ended up pushing the door open. It hadn't been closed all the way.

The two looked at each other before they went inside and saw that Julia's office… was a wreck.

"What the… what happened here?" Nina asked, seeing the books on the shelf knocked down, papers on the floor, and some burnt marks on the wall.

"Looks like a fight went down here," Felicia states while they look around.

"There were signs of a struggle here," Nina said while looking at the scorch mark. She also could smell something odd, but she couldn't immediately place it.

"Nina…" Felicia said, her face pale as she pointed behind the desk. When Nina walked over to see what she was pointing at… she froze.

Leaning against the wall was Julia's body, a huge hole in her chest. Her face had been left with a look of shock.

Julia Traveler… was dead.

"What the fuck?!" Nina exclaimed in horror, her fur immediately raising up. "No… Julia can't be…"

"She… she's dead," Felicia said as she shivered in fear. "S-Someone killed her!"

Nina just stared at the corpse with wide eyes, her fur still standing on its end. However, when she heard Felicia start to panic, she snapped out of it and turned to her.

"Calm down, Felicia, and listen to me," Nina said while patting the girl's shoulders, making eye contact with her. "I need you to hide somewhere. I'm going to the gym to get help, since that is where everyone will be. Have your ghost find me if you're in trouble, okay?"

Felicia nodded before Nina took off, running to the gum as fast as she could.

Something was wrong in this school. Very wrong.

All the students and teachers had gathered in the gym, talking amongst themselves about the sudden announcement.

"What's going on?" Viney asked while going over to Jerbo and Barcus.

"Don't know, but it may have to do with that hooded guy," Jerbo said as he pointed up at the figure who was next to Bump and Ms. Rachelle on stage.

Bump began to speak. "Um, students, teachers, let me introduce the esteemed-"

"Please, Principal Bump, I deserve no accolades," the figure said as he stepped forward and removed his hood, revealing himself to be… a disheveled Adrian Graye, much to everyone's surprise. "Unfortunately, I'm not here with good news…"

"Graye?" Linkin asked while he and the SSE looked at each other in confusion.

"At this moment, the Emperor's Coven has plans to stop multi-track studies, by inducting every Hexside student into a coven before the Day of Unity," Graye explained, causing everyone to gasp in shock.

"Mother-Titan!" Matt shouted in anger, ripping off his illusion sleeves and crossing his arms.

"But don't worry, no one's magic is going to be sealed away," Bump explained. "Head Witch Graye supports us, and has come here to help."

"Oh," Matt said before picking up the sleeves and slipping them back on again, crossing his arms to hide his embarrassment. During that, Edric was confronted by a teacher that placed their hand on his shoulder.

"Before any coven scouts come by, I'm going to make illusions of sigils on your wrists," Graye said while holding his hand up as Edric was brought to the stage, the Blight twin looking hesitant. "Don't worry, they'll be temporary, and harmless."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, are you sure this is safe?" Edric asked him.

"Don't worry, once a scout sees the fake sigil, they'll move on, and you can continue your studies in peace," Graye reassured her. Edric still looked hesitant before rolling up his sleeve and showing his wrist. "Now then, hold still…"

As he drew a spell circle and moved it toward Edric's wrist… Nina burst through the door.

"EVERYONE!" Nina shouted, drawing everyone's attention. "MS. TRAVELER'S DEAD!"

"What?!" Bump, Ms. Rachelle, Edric, and everyone in the gym said in shock. Edric was so shocked that he pulled his hand away from Graye.

"Ms. Fangs, what do you mean by that?" asked Jane, as she and Redback looked worried while Skara, Dusty, and Emira walked over to her.

"I stopped by at Julia's office for help, but when I went inside I saw signs of a struggle there and I found the body-" Nina paused, looking at Adrian as she got a whiff. "No…"

"What's wrong?" Andrea asked her.

"Emily's in the room!" Nina warned, much to everyone's shock. "I can smell her around here!"

Edric looked to Graye, backing away and drawing a spell circle at him. Graye sighed and the illusion around him poofed away, revealing himself to actually be… Captain Wolffe. This caused everyone to gasp as Edric shielded his wrist. Bump and Ms. Rachelle immediately stepped in to protect him while drawing spell circles at her, who drew her own spell circle...

"Cut!"

Both parties canceled their spells after hearing Adrian's voice.

"Just… just cut."

Suddenly, coven scouts started appearing on the bleachers, much to the shock of everyone. Some scouts were also on the stage too, such as Kikimora and Severine who were handling the lights and a few like Pugsley who were handling boom mic. Le'Belle appeared on stage as well with a clipboard. It was like they were on a movie set. Then, the real Adrian appeared, sitting on a director's seat in the middle of the stage. Standing next to him was Emily in her Silver Sentry outfit. He was holding up a cup of coffee while looking displeased.

"I do not appreciate a show stopper," he muttered while standing up. "Firstly, a couple of notes. Tom, that Adrian illusion was lacking a certain… hmm? You get me?" Tom the scout just shrugged. "Serverine! That was really… poor work," he told her, making Severine whimper. "You're on thin ice." He then turned to Wolffe. "As for you, Captain Wolffe, the read of your last line was just a little… mm,." He gestured with his hand.

"I… I don't know what that means, sir," Wolffe said.

"You'll figure it out," he told her while handing his coffee to her before he disappeared and reappeared near Nina. "And you!" he shouted as he pointed at Nina, startling her. "You just ruined any chance we had of making this… something!"

"Something? I just found Ms. Julia Traveler dead in her office and seeing you and your scout cronies around… did you kill our counselor?!" Nina accused him.

"Julia Traveler… doesn't ring a bell," Graye said while looking around. "Any of you scouts kill a school counselor? Anyone? Tell me the truth."

"No." Not me." "What's a counselor?" Wolffe and the scouts denied.

"I don't know anything about a counselor, do you, Pugsley?" Kiki asked.

"I was a camp counselor last year, but no I didn't see anyone named Julia," Pugsley said.

"Not me, sir…" Le'Belle said awkwardly.

"Then what about her?" Nina asked as she pointed to Emily, who avoided Nina's gaze.

"Emily was with me the entire time, so whatever happened to your school counselor is irrelevant," Graye said. "Oh wait, one more person, Alburno, did you do it?" he asked while looking towards Skara's direction…

"No sir," Alburno said as he dropped the invisibility spell and slapped a collar around Skara's neck.

"What-what?!" Skara shouted, feeling overwhelmed by this until she got shocked. "AAAAH!"

"Skara!" Nina, Willow, and their friends shouted with horrified looks.

Willow's eyes glowed green. "Leave her alone!" she shouted as she drew spell circles, launching large vines to attack Alburno. Alburno stepped back, dodging the vines before he was knocked back to the bleachers.

Graye just sighed in annoyance. "You know, this was supposed to be simple… but we'll just have to do it the hard way," he said as he turned to his scouts. "Scouts, prepare to gather the children for their early sigil branding…"

The scouts marched forward to surround the students. While some of them looked uncertain, others immediately drew their spell circles. Alongside Willow were Bump, Ms. Rachelle, Amelia, Cat, Jerbo, Viney, Barcus, Bo, Matt, Simon, Emira, Edric, Morty, Summer, Andrea, Tamme, Gavin, Angmar, and the SSE. Nina helped Skara up while also drawing a spell circle, turning this into a stand-off.

"An old stand-off, huh?" Graye asked while Kiki and Pugsley stood with him, drawing their own spell circles. "If you insist…"

Before anyone could fire off a spell, a ball was rolled across the floor of the gymnasium, hitting near Kikimora's feet. She looked down and a second later the ball exploded, shocking everyone in the gym as coming out of the ball… were ghosts!

"Hi! Would you like to be my friend!" one of the ghosts asked Kikimora.

"Not again!" Kiki screamed as she backed away.

This distraction gave the students an opportunity to flee from the gym, many of them starting to panic.

"All students get out of here!" Bump shouted.

"Come on!" Nina shouted as she escorted Willow and Skara out of the gym, others following suit.

The gym was now in chaos. Some scouts were trying to capture the students while others were running from the ghosts. Some scouts such as Alburno managed to catch some students like Naila and Gorgi, while other scouts attempted to grab the students but were stopped by the teachers. Rupert punched some of the scouts while Ms. Mantis zapped them with her bard magic. Sprott attempted to protect the baby class students and was captured in the process, but this gave his young students the chance to flee from the scene. Redback managed to punch some scouts before they dragged her down with their magic ropes. Jane tried to stop them, but she got captured as well.

"Emily! Cast your illusion all over the school before they can escape!" Graye ordered, spotting the students who were fleeing into the hallways.

Emily nodded and drew a large spell circle, her eyes glowing. Her hands pushed the spell circle and it engulfed the entire school with a powerful illusion spell…

Hexside suddenly changed. The environment around the students began to shift, one part of the hallway looking more like Glandus, while another looked like Latissa. Another part of the school looked more like the Underworld. As more walls and doors popped up and blocked the students' paths, the students became confused and some became separated from each other. They could no longer recognize their school and this made them easier prey for the scouts

In the middle of this illusion maze were Nina, Skara, and Willow.

"Are you alright, Skara?" Nina asked while Skara felt her collar.

"I-I'm fine," Skara responded, though her body was shaking. Willow helped her walk, her arm on her shoulder.

"We need to find a way to get that collar off of Skara," Willow said.

"I know, and we will," Nina said before she heard someone calling out her name.

"Psst! Nina! Over here," Felicia whispered to them, sticking out of the illusion.

"Felicia!" Nina called out as she walked over to her. "Glad to see that you're safe."

"Felicia?" Willow and Skara asked in surprise when they saw the fox girl.

"Thank Titan you guys are alright," Felicia responded while keeping her hoodie on. "I was on my way to my hiding spot, but then I heard what was going on and I knew I had to create a distraction to help you all get away. So I used a ghost ball I found to create a distraction."

"Felicia, what happened to you?" Skara asked, noticing Felicia's injuries.

"I… I'll explain later. Right now, we need to find my hiding spot," Felicia told them, leading them through the illusion of the Glandus hallway.

"Out of all the places to be in an illusion of, we had to stumble upon one of Glandus," Nina grumbled.

"Is this part of Emily's spell?" Willow asked, looking at how medieval Glandus looked.

"We're in Emily's maze," Nina said. "Back when she was Queen of Glandus, she was capable of creating an illusion spell that covered the entire school. She did it during the Glandus War. The spell messes with your sense of direction and your other senses. I know one kid who messed with Emily and she got her revenge by making him wander the hallways for hours until he nearly went crazy. Although this one seems like it is mainly intended to confuse and disorient us, make it easier for the scouts to catch us."

"I can't tell what is real and what's not," Felicia said while moving her hands around.

"Aaahh!" Skara screamed as the collar shocked her. "Oh man, the collar is blocking me from using my werewolf form. Now I can't sniff around for a way out."

"So we're in deep shit now," Nina replied before noticing someone walking through the illusion.

"Hello? Is anyone around here?" asked Raptor the Batboy.

"Raptor! Over here!" Skara shouted as she waved to him, Raptor hearing her voice and turning around to see them.

"Skara? Is that you?" he asked her.

"Yeah, and I'm with Willow, Nina, and Felicia!" she said as he walked up to them.

"We could use help to get out of here," Willow said.

"Don't worry, I know a good shortcut," Raptor said while pointing at a wall, walking over to it… and going straight through.

This surprised the others, but they followed him through the wall regardless. On the other side of the wall, they found themselves in an illusion of the Owl House.

"Huh, we're back at the Owl House," Willow commented. "Well, not the actual Owl House."

"So this is what Luz's place looks like," Nina commented while looking around. "This might technically be my first time coming over here."

"Mine too," Felicia said.

"Oh yeah, you have never been there," Skara realized while looking at Nina.

"It's not like I am that interested, I don't do well in bird houses anyway," Nina admitted. "Wait, why does Emily know what the inside of the Owl House looks like?"

"She was with us when we came back from the Underworld, albeit briefly," Willow said while turning to Raptor. "How did you know that the wall wasn't solid?"

"Oh, that's easy, I'm blind," Raptor admitted with a shrug, surprising the others. "I was born without sight, so I use my ears and voice to find my way around…"

"Echolocation," Nina realized. "Of course, you're a bat biped. With your ability, we can find Felicia's hideout."

"Will you help us?" Felicia asked Raptor.

"Of course, just tell me where your hideout is and I can lead you to it," Raptor said.

"It's at the Paranoratorium," Felicia informed him.

Raptor nodded and made a small shout. "Echo," he said before using his ear to listen to the vibrations. "This way," he said as he led the group in a specific direction.

As they followed, they saw two more students coming out of the wall. Their eyes widened when they saw who it was.

"Amelia!" Willow and Skara shouted.

"Guys!" Amelia responded. With her was Jeremy. She noticed Skara and looked at her worriedly. "Skara, are you alright?"

"This collar isn't doing me any favors…" Skara said before getting shocked again. "AAH!"

Amelia tried to go over to her friend, but she was pulled back by Jeremy.

"Whoa, whoa what do you think you're doing, Amelia?" Jeremy asked her, grabbing her arm.

"Let me go, Jeremy," Amelia told him. "I need to help Skara-"

"Are you forgetting that she's a werewolf?" Jeremy pointed out, causing Amelia to glare at him. "She's dangerous, even with that collar on her."

"What? Jeremy, she's my friend and she's not dangerous," Amelia countered.

"But if we stay around with a pair of lycans, we'll only end up getting more in trouble," Jeremy told her, but Amelia pulled her arm free. "Amelia!"

"Look, whether you like it or not, I can't leave my friends behind," Amelia said, disgusted at her cousin's behavior as she walked over to Nina's group. "Whether you join us or not is your call."

Jeremy scoffed at her. "Fine, your loss," he said before he walked off to find his way out of this maze.

Amelia just stared at her cousin walking away in disbelief before she turned to Nina's group, checking on Skara. She and Nina briefly looked at each other before glancing away. Right now, they needed to focus on hiding.

"Ed! Viney!" Emira called out while going through the illusion of the Underworld, looking around in fear "This is giving me the creeps," she said before hearing someone entering this part of the illusion. She got into a defensive position, but relaxed when she saw who it was…

"Oh, it's you," Tamme responded, sounding bitter towards the Blight twin.

"Hey, Tamme…" Emira replied awkwardly. She saw the head cheerleader start to walk away. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"Looking for the others, Andrea is most likely as lost as a kid in a mall right now," Tamme said. "But honestly, I would rather be anywhere where you aren't."

"Tams, wait a minute," Emira said as she walked over to her. "We shouldn't be alone, those scouts are most likely sneaking around trying to grab us."

"I can take care of myself," Tamme said. "My grandfather taught me how to escape from a booby trapped maze before…"

"But this is an illusion, and I'm Top of Illusions," Emira pointed out. "Plus I can't just leave you alone. At least, help me look for my brother and my girlfriend, and I can help you find Andrea and the rest of the squad."

Tamme looked down, considering her options. With a reluctant sigh, she turned to Emira. "Fine, I guess… we'll stick together," she said. "But if I die, you stay away from my grave."

Emira nodded and the two began to explore the illusion maze together.

In another hall, which was an illusion of Glandus, Matt and Bo were walking around.

"So this is Glandus," Bo commented while looking around. "Compared to here, this place is… ornate."

"Yeah, this doesn't bring back any good memories," Matt responded while looking anxious. "I was not expecting to see Emily here of all places…" He felt Bo holding his hand, giving him some reassurance.

"Don't worry, Matt, I won't let her get to you," Bo declared, which made Matt smile. But it was then they heard some noises. "What's that?"

"Don't worry, I got this," Matt responded while preparing his spell circles as he stood in front of Bo protectively. They saw two figures stumbling through the illusion…

"Wait!" Gavin shouted while on top of Angmar. "It's us! It's us!"

"Gavin? Angmar?" Matt asked while Bo glared at the two.

Gavin and Angmar got up and brushed themselves off. They looked nervous, especially around Bo.

"Well… this is awkward…" Angmar said.

"Out of all the people to meet up with, it's you two," Bo muttered.

"Um… look, despite how you guys feel about us, maybe we should stick together," Gavin suggested.

"Yeah, safety in numbers," Angmar added. "That's how we survived back in Glandus."

"Yeah, you're right," Matt said, his eyes narrowing at them. "But I do recall that you also survive Glandus through back-stabbing whoever you can…"

"That… that is fair, but we promise not to sell you guys out to the Emperor's Coven," Gavin reassured them.

"I don't know about them, Matt. How can we be sure to trust them?" Bo asked him while Matt contemplated this, giving the nervous Angmar and Gavin a hard look.

"Honestly… I think we can, Bo," Matt decided. "They're okay, they can tag along and help us get through here."

"Thank you, Matt," Angmar said as he and Gavin sighed in relief.

Bo was still unsure. "Alright, but one wrong move from you two and there will be bones to unmend," she told the two, making Gavin and Angmar gulp out of fear.

Back with Nina's group, with the help of Raptor they had managed to find their way to the theater room where Felicia was hiding.

"This may be one of the only places that is not covered in illusions," Felicia said as they walked up to the stage.

Willow noticed the makeshift tent. "Did you… spend the night here?" she asked the fox.

"Yes," Felicia replied while looking at Willow awkwardly. "Willow… I know about your godmother."

"What?!" Willow asked in surprise. "How?"

Felicia looked down. "Yesterday, my mom ordered me to spy on you for some reason, but I didn't want to until my mom threatened to expose my friend Tabrella as a story instead. I… I had to spy on you but I ended up not telling her anything."

"So Tabrella Diamanto story…?" Amelia asked her.

"I learned about Tabrella and Katie back when I was at St. Epiderm, but I was made to promise not to tell anyone or make a story out of it. I know how this looks, but I swear I didn't betray her, it was all my mother's doing," Felicia said as she removed her hoodie. "Including what she did to me."

Willow, Amelia and Skara all gasped when they saw Felicia's state. Raptor couldn't see, but was able to get a general sense from their reaction.

"My Titan… your mom did this?!" Willow asked.

Skara, who was feeling overwhelmed, got shocked by her collar. "AAAH!" she cried out while kneeling down.

"Skara!" Nina and Willow shouted as they rushed to Skara's aid, Nina holding her. "Hey, listen, just calm down. Those things will react to any strong negative emotions that you're feeling right now."

"I-I-I don't know if I can-AAAH!" Skara screamed in pain while the collar shocked her again. She started to cry, which only made the collar shock her more.

"Skara, please calm down. We'll get you through this," Nina assured her. "I know how this feels, you just… you just have to calm down."

"But how-AAAH!" Skara cried as the collar kept shocking her.

"Skara," Willow said as she held her girlfriend's shoulder. "Look, I need you to focus. Take a deep breath, count to four, like this." Willow showed Skara her breathing technique, helping her take a breath in before breathing out.

Skara, who was having trouble calming down, breathed along with Willow. Skara took one deep breath, then let it out slowly. Nina helped out as well, as she and Willow worked together to help Skara calm down. Eventually, the collar stopped shocking her.

"Better?" Willow asked her.

"Y-Yeah, thanks guys," Skara responded. "But the earlier shocks still hurt," she said as she laid down, her tear-filled eyes turning to Nina. "How were you able to put up with this horrible thing….?"

Nina gave a sympathetic look as she sat next to Skara. "Honestly… I'm used to pain like this. Mentally and physically," she said as she let Skara rest her head in her lap. She began to stroke her hair, helping to keep Skara calm. "But we're going to get through this and I promise you that we will get that collar off."

Skara sniffed while laying in Nina's lap. "Thank you, Nina…"

Amelia watched this, seeing Nina comforting Skara. This made Amelia look down while thinking about the werecat. "Hey, Nina," she spoke to her. "Can we talk… alone?"

Nina looked up to Amelia in surprise while Willow stepped forward. "I can take Skara from here, you two go ahead."

Nina nodded to Willow before she got up and followed Amelia to a different part of the theater. She still kept her distance though.

"Okay. So… you have something to say to me?" Nina asked.

Amelia sighed. "I just wanted to say that… seeing you with Skara just now made me realize how important she is to you… and how important you are to her as well, how you've helped her out when she needed the most," she admitted. "Not just now. You were also there for her and her family when her mom got attacked, and you were there for them when they were dealing with the consequences of that. And… and you have changed for the better, Nina," she said in acknowledgment.

Nina looked surprised upon hearing this and she looked down. "Wow, I… Amelia, once again I'm sorry for what I did to you and your friends back at the Glandus War. For hurting you and taking Gus and using him to lure your friends to Glandus where Emily could do… horrible things to them. I acted like an animal and was a real bitch. And once again I understand that you don't want to forgive me…"

"Well, that's too bad cause… because I forgive you," Amelia told her, actually walking up to Nina and closing the distance between them. She patted Nina's shoulder, getting Nina to look up at her. "Thank you, for being there for Skara."

Nina nodded. "It's no problem," she said, giving Amelia a heartfelt smile.

Meanwhile, Emira and Tamme continued to navigate the maze.

"Isn't it ironic that we're in an illusion of the Illusion Coven?" Emira commented as she looked around at the light blue walls, which were covered with mirrors. It resembled a movie studio full of props, cameras, costumes, and lights.

"It's about as unreal as you," Tamme told her while moving forward.

Emira gave her a deadpan look before she gasped. "Tamme! Look out!"

Tamme looked to her side and saw a scout coming out from the mirror. Tamme quickly used her magic to summon a construct block that hit the scout between his legs.

"AAAH!" he cried while kneeling down.

"Hands off, worm!" Tamme told him off before seeing two more scouts coming out. "Shit!"

Emira stepped forward, using an ice spell against the scouts. One of the scouts countered with a flame spell, but Tamme helped her out by casting more construct spells, knocking the scouts back and giving Emira the opportunity to freeze the floor beneath them. The scouts slipped and fell while Tamme drew a spell circle to tangle them up in vines.

"I didn't know you could do plant magic," Emira commented. "It's pretty neat, really…"

"It's just a hobby," Tamme replied with a shrug. They didn't even look at Emira as they began walking away.

Emira frowned and went to follow her. "Tamme, wait!" she called to her "Look, I get why you're mad at me, and I want to say… I'm sorry, for the cheerleading thing," she said, causing Tamme to pause and slowly turn to Emira. "Look, back then, my mom made me do it, said it'll look good for a valedictorian scholarship, but it just wasn't for me. And I didn't know how to tell you that, since I knew how important it was to you," Emira said with a guilty expression as she continued. "I shouldn't have sabotaged you guys like that, it was very wrong of me to do that to you."

But Tamme tightened her fists as she snarled at Emira. "Did you honestly really think that's all I was mad about you for, Emira?!" she shouted while walking towards her with an angry glare. "Cause that is not even the main reason!"

"I-It isn't?" Emira asked in surprise.

"Emira, it's not just that you didn't care about cheerleading or how important it was to me! In fact… I always figured that it wasn't for you," Tamme said, surprising the Blight girl. "The real reason why I'm mad at you… is because you didn't care about our friendship… or our relationship…"

Emira's eyes widened at this, realizing what she had done. "Oh…"

"Oh indeed!" Tamme told her off, while tears leaked from underneath her sunglasses. "After you quit the team, you stopped speaking to me. Like our relationship meant nothing to you! Like I meant nothing to you! Cheerleading may not have meant as much to you as it did to me… but I at least thought that you cared about me," she said while taking her sunglasses off, showing her teary eyes. "But it turns out that was just another thing I was more invested in…"

Emira became filled with regret as she realized just how badly she had messed up and just how badly she had hurt Tamme. She wanted to say something, but-

"Well, this is awkward," said her twin.

Emira and Tamme turned to see a door had opened in the wall, revealing Viney, Edric, Jerbo and Barcus.

"Ed! Viney!" Emira shouted while walking towards them.

"You two come in," Viney said, ushering them into the Secret Room of Shortcuts.

Meanwhile, the group consisting of Matt, Bo, Gavin and Angmar were going through an illusion of the Sartorius Acres marketplace.

"There has to be a way out of here," Matt said. He tried to dispel the illusions, but Emily's spell was far more advanced than anything he knew. Suddenly, a scout popped up from a fruit stand. "Gah!"

"Freeze!" the scout declared before Bo moved in to use an ice spell to freeze the scout. "Ack!"

"You said freeze," Bo responded as more scouts popped up.

"We're surrounded!" Angmar exclaims.

"Not for long!" Gavin declared while summoning his Abomination while one scout summoned his own.

"Get them!" a scout declared he summoned a large statue of himself and while another summoned large vines to target the kids.

Matt summoned constructs to block a few spells while Gavin's Abomination tackled the scout's Abomination. Bo used both fire and ice spells to burn and freeze the vines as the scout statue moved towards her.

"Bo, look out!" Angmar shouted as he summoned vines at the same time Bo summoned ice to stop the statue. Their magic collided and canceled out each other, forcing the two to leap away to avoid the statue as it crashed into a locker through the illusion.

"I had them." Bo states while glaring at him, making Angmar nervous.

Eventually, Gavin's Abomination overpowered the scout's Abomination. "We need to lose them," he suggested.

"Then how about this!" Matt shouted as he drew a big spell circle to cover the area with a bright light.

The scouts shielded their eyes and when the light died down, they saw the four exiting through a tunnel over a brick wall. "Don't let them get away!" the scout shouted while running towards the tunnel… only to smack against a wall.

On the other side of the illusion was a brick wall that Matt constructed, the illusion buying them enough time to run off and hide from the scouts.

"How did you learn that trick?" Angmar asked Matt.

"Gus and Luz showed the HAS some old cartoons from the Human Realm," Matt explained as they ended up in another part of the illusion, one that resembled the Night Market.

"That was quite quick thinking, Matt," Bo said.

"Yeah, you're really impressive," Gavin added.

"Thanks," Matt said. As they continued walking through the illusion, he looked over at Gavin. He felt a bit awkward for a moment before clearing his throat. "Also, Gavin, I haven't said this before and I should have said it sooner, but… I'm sorry about your dad," he told him, which surprised Gavin.

"Oh… um, thanks, Matt," Gavin replied. "I… really appreciate that. Although my thoughts on my dad are… complicated right now."

Matt looked over at Gavin and Angmar, awkward tension hanging in the air. "So… have you guys heard about Bria?"

"We have, actually," Angmar admitted while looking saddened. "We heard that right now she's at a precinct. But we haven't visited her yet."

"We still feel bad about what happened to her, though," Gavin said, guilt on his face. "If we had stood up to Glandus sooner, then something could have been done for her sooner."

"Yeah, I will admit that despite what Bria did, she did not deserve what happened to her at all," Matt confessed. "And her family especially didn't deserve it…"

Bo looked at them, thinking about Bria and remembering when she saw her. She lowered her head. "I do want to visit her at some point, since I did see her while I was a prisoner of the Tarot Guild. Despite what she and you guys did to Matt, she did not deserve to go through what she did…"

Matt looked surprised by this. "Wait… you knew?"

"A few weeks ago, the Inner Demon showed me a memory of how Bria broke your arm, and how Gavin suggested using me to get you to do whatever they wanted," she said while shooting a glare at the two.

"We… Matt, we're sorry for what we did," Gavin told him, looking down shamefully. "It was messed up."

"Yeah, you didn't deserved that at all," Angmar said apologetically. "Neither of you did. We were cowards.."

"And we understand if you don't want anything to do with us again after this," Gavin said while looking down. "Cause you deserved better, Matt…"

"Ugh, guys, enough of the sappy guilt," Matt told them, rolling his eyes. "Besides… it's okay."

"It is?" Gavin, Angmar, and Bo all asked in surprise.

"Look, in hindsight, Glandus wasn't good for any of us. It was very, very dogmatic," he pointed out. "But with Hexside, it offered me a second chance, and that I see no reason why it can't be a second chance for you two as well. Especially since I heard that you two saved Gus during the war." This prompted Angmar and Gavin to smile a little. "This doesn't mean that we're friends or anything, but we can be okay with each other."

The two look relieved by this. "Thanks, man," Gavin said to him.

"So if you forgive us, does that mean Bo can stop glaring at us?" Angmar asked.

"Hey, just because I'm okay with you two, doesn't mean Bo has to be okay with you guys," Matt pointed out as Bo sent another glare that made them nervous. Matt gave a small smile. "That is entirely up to her."

"Of course…" Gavin said awkwardly while Angmar gulped.

"Found them!"

The four turned and saw scouts appearing through the illusion. "Get those kids to Head Witch Graye!" one of them scouted.

The four prepared to fight as the scouts ran forward… but then some got blasted by potions, trapping them in a gelatin-like state. The other scouts turned to see Cat and Simon coming through the illusion, the latter punching the scouts nearest to him.

"Cat! Simon!" Bo shouted in relief.

"Glad to see you two," Matt said.

"Come with us if you want to live!" Cat shouted while holding up a potion, throwing it at the scouts while dispelling an illusion wall and revealing the hallway behind them.

"I'll handle these guys," Simon said while cracking his knuckles.

Matt and his group followed Cat while Simon punched a few more scouts before running after Cat and the others, leaving behind a group of groaning coven scouts.

Back at Felicia's hideout, the group was discussing what to do next.

"So now what?" Raptor asked them "Should we find a way to escape?"

"I don't think I want to leave my spot here," Felicia admitted, looking afraid. "I'm afraid that the coven scouts are going to kill me for what I know."

"That's not going to happen, Felicia," Nina reassured her. "We won't let them hurt you."

"Maybe we can try contacting our parents," Amelia suggested.

"Yeah, the PCA won't like it when they hear that scouts are trying to brand their children," Willow pointed out.

Nina, Skara, and Raptor then heard footsteps, causing Nina to shush them all. "Quiet…"

"You see any more of those kids around?"

"Scout around! Heh, you see what I did, guys?"

"Nobody cares, Rob."

The group fell silent, Felicia looking like she was on the verge of panic while covering her mouth. They hid themselves behind the curtains as they heard someone coming closer. Skara and Felicia both looked panicked, Nina and Willow trying to calm them down. Raptor was covering his mouth while Amelia looked terrified. Eventually, they saw a scout and that scout spotted them…

And quickly removed her mask, revealing herself to be Le'Belle, much to the surprise of Skara Nina, and Willow. Le'Belle also looked shocked to see them here. She glanced at the door before putting her finger over her mouth. "Shh, stay quiet," she whispered.

"Why should we listen to you?" Nina asked.

"Because we don't want to alert the other scouts," Le'Belle explained, making the kids look at her in confusion. Le'Belle then noticed Skara lying down with her collar around her neck. She slowly began to approach her.

Willow, Nina, and Amelia tensed up, preparing their spell circles.

"Don't come any closer…" Willow warned.

"Wait," Le'Belle said as she raised her hand up, her voice still a whisper. "I want to help her. Please, I don't like seeing her this way anymore than you guys do."

Nina, Willow, and Amelia looked at each other before they looked at Le'Belle. Despite who Le'Belle was, they knew she might be able to help Skara. But that didn't mean they couldn't keep their guard up. They stepped aside to let her see Skara.

"No funny business…" Nina whispered.

Le'Belle gave her a nod as she went to check up on Skara. She saw Skara looking scared and worried. Le'Belle grabbed her collar and drew a spell circle to tap in some kind of coding. Eventually, the collar… let go of Skara's neck.

Skara looked surprised as she gasped. She felt her neck while turning to Le'Belle. "T-Thank-"

"Shhh," Le'Belle shushed them after hearing the scouts. She stood up and put her mask back on. "I better go," she said as she walked out from the stage, the kids watched her leave.

Once Le'Belle left the Paranoratorium, the scouts looked to her. "Find anyone?"

"Nope, nobody in there," Le'Belle lied to them, covering for the kids. "Just an empty theater."

"Well then, let's keep looking around." a scout said as they walked down the hall with Le'Belle following them.

After hearing what Le'Belle did, the kids sighed in collective relief.

"How are you feeling now, Skara?" Willow asked her girlfriend.

"Better," Skara replied with a nod, still feeling her neck.

"Happy to hear that, kitkat," Nina said while hugging the wolf-witch.

Meanwhile, the SSE were going through an illusion of St. Epiderm.

"Find a way out yet, Sioux?" Linkin asked her.

"Negative," Sioux responded while looking around. "This is a dead end."

"Maybe we can find one of the entrances to the Shortcuts room," Korn suggested.

"Hey, guys!"

The SSE heard a familiar voice and they turned around in surprise.

"Luz?!" Eve exclaimed.

"Over here!" Luz shouted as she waved her hand, walking over to them.

"Oh man, we're glad to see you here!" Patty shouted.

"Yes, but when did you get here?" Blondie asked her.

"I came here after I got a text from Willow about the scouts coming into Hexside," Luz explained. "I've been trying to get as many students to safety as possible. I know how to get out of here, so follow me," she said as she led the SSE away.

The SSE looked relieved as they began to follow Luz, who led them through several hallways.

"So, are we close?" Korn asked, but Luz stayed silent.

Suddenly, a magic circle engulfed the SSE, much to their shock. That circle also bound them in magic cuffs, while the Cerberus Sisters got muzzled and collared. Several scouts appeared, including Wolffe, Severine, Alburno, Kiki, and Pugsley.

"It was a trap!" Linkin exclaimed.

"Luz, why would you do this?!" Eve asked.

"Because that's not Luz," Sioux realized as Luz turned around and dropped the illusion. Appearing in Luz's place… was Emily.

"Emily?!" the SSE exclaimed in shock.

"After all we've been through, we teamed up!" Eve pointed out while Emily just stayed silent, her face unreadable behind her Silver Sentry mask.

"Excellent performance, my apprentice," Graye said as he revealed himself. "Unlike Severine, who would just shoddy up her performance."

"Hmm…" Severine groaned while looking down.

"And as for you, the Shadowy Secrets Expozers," Graye said as he turned around to look at them, giving them a scoff. "I am honestly quite disappointed, I was expecting… more from you." The SSE turned to look at each other before turning back to Graye, who gave an order. "Now then, take them to the gym."

While Severine, Kiki, Alburno, and Pugsley led the SSE to the gym, Emily walked up to Graye. "A word, Head Witch," she said, bringing Graye aside. "Listen, you know that I didn't want to come here because of…"

"The Fangs girl, right? She was your classmate at Glandus, I believe…" Graye said.

Emily nodded. "She hasn't been caught yet, but I am worried about her since when she saw me, she wasn't happy. Not after what I did to her." She looked down in guilt.

"Is she going to be an issue?" Graye asked her.

"My illusions are only so effective on her, but if she does show up, please just… promise me to not hurt her," Emily told Graye. "I don't want to see her get hurt, not again."

Graye looked down at Emily before giving her a reassured smile. "Do not worry, you won't see Nina Fangs get hurt. You have my word, Emily."

"Thank you, Head Witch Graye," Emily responded, relief in her voice.

"Please… call me Adrian," he told Emily while patting her shoulder. "Now go scout around for any more students."

"Okay, um… Adrian," Emily said awkwardly as she left.

Once Emily was out of sight, Adrian turned to Wolffe and whispered to her. "If you see that werecat from earlier… make it look like an accident," he ordered before heading to the gym, leaving Wolffe with a mission…

Emily, now by herself, was looking around for more students to lead to Graye when she heard a whisper.

"Emily."

She looked around, hearing her name getting called.

"Over here!"

She turned around, going to investigate. As she dispelled an illusion that showed a broom closet… Andrea popped up from the side.

"Emily!" she shouted.

"Gah!" Emily exclaimed, seeing Pinkjoy suddenly in front of her. "Andrea?! What… where did you come from?"

"The line-break above us," Andrea answered, pointing up the horizontal line above them.

"What…?" Emily asked, looking confused before hearing some scouts marching nearby. "Hide." Emily pushed Andrea into the broom closet before going inside as well. After closing the door, she covered Andrea's mouth, shushing her.

"Anybody hear something?"

"I think I saw some students go that way!"

"Hurry, let's move!"

As she heard the scouts march away, Emily sighed in relief.

Andrea moved Emily's hand away from her mouth so she could whisper. "Emily, why are you doing this? Why are you helping them trap and brand students?"

"I…" Emily wasn't sure to answer, but Andrea kept asking.

"Also, have you heard about Tabrella?"

"What? What happened?" Emily asked in confusion.

"Felicity Fox published an article about how Taberlla's 'baby sister' was actually her daughter," Andrea said, which surprised Emily. "I mean, I knew that, but what's worse is that Felicity Fox brought up that her ex, Duke Eadbeaton, was found dead. Indicating that there's a connection between Tabrella's family and the murder. But that's just ridiculous."

Hearing his name, Emily realized this was his fault. Her gaze lingered at the floor, remembering how she killed Duke. She thought she had gotten away with it, that they wouldn't be able to connect the murder to her. And she was right about that, but instead she had ended up getting Tabrella and her family into trouble. But despite her guilt, Emily knew that she shouldn't dwell on this. She looked up at Andrea, getting an idea.

"Andrea, do you know where some of the other students are? I can help them get out of the school unnoticed, I just have to do it secretly without Graye or the other scouts noticing," she claimed.

Andrea looked at Emily… and smiled, believing her easily. "Sure!"

Meanwhile, Willow's group was on the move. They traveled through the illusion of a red-leafed forest as Raptor led the way. Eventually, they left the illusion and found themselves in Hexside's hallway.

"Is this… real?" Willow asked as Nina walked over to a water fountain.

She touched it and felt gum on her hand. "Yuck!" she groaned in disgust, wiping it off from her. "Yup, this place is good old Hexside."

"Finally…" Skara said, looking relieved as they moved down the hallway.

"So what's the next course of action?" Felicia asked.

"Right now, we should find an exit," Amelia suggested before Nina suddenly stopped.

"Wait," she told them as she sniffed around. "We're not alone…"

A previously invisible scout suddenly appeared and tried to tackle Nina, who delivered a kick to the mask, knocking him back.

The group looked around, seeing more scouts appearing in the hallway. This prompted Willow to use her plant magic to send vines against them while the scouts countered with their Abominations and Construction magic. Skara had her Palisman, Jimmy, form into a cricket violin to send off musical blasts against them.

Amelia, Raptor, and Felicia backed away from the fight until a couple of scouts appeared behind them, cutting off their escape.

"Don't move!" one of the scouts shouted. "Wait, isn't that Felicity's kid?" he asked, pointing to Felicia.

"Yeah, grab her!" the other scout responded. Felicia's face paled and she turned to run, but the first scout managed to grab her.

"Felicia!" Raptor and Amelia shouted. They began to spell circles but were suddenly wrapped up in Abomi-goo by another scout.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Felicia cried out, struggling in the grip of the scout..

"We were told to keep an eye out for you, Felicia Fox," the scout said. "They told us to bring you in…"

Felicia's eyes widened as she struggled some more, starting to scream and shout. "NO! NO, DON'T KILL ME!" she shouted in sheer panic while headbutting the scout holding her.

"Ow!" the scout shouted. "Can you just put her-"

"Out of her misery? Got it," the other scout said, drawing a large spell circle while Felicia freaked out even more.

"NOOOO!" Felicia screamed. "HELP! THEY'RE GOING TO KILL ME!"

"Hang on, Felicia!" Nina shouted while punching one scout with her reptilian fist.

"To sleep, dude! Put her to sleep!" the scout holding Felicia clarified.

"Oh, yeah. Right, right," the other scout responded sheepishly before he summoned his flute, playing it and expelling a gas on Felicia, knocking her out.

As Willow, Skara, and Nina continued to fight the scouts, a shadow suddenly showed up above them. It began flying around before punching one scout to the face.

"What the hell?!" the scout shouted before getting knocked to the locker by the shadow.

The shadow flew over their heads, getting the scouts to fire their spells at it. The shadow swirled around to make them miss, then flew down to punch and kick them in their stomachs. It flew over to the two scouts that apprehended Felicia, punching them in the masks and knocking them away from her. It then unwrapped Amelia and Raptor's bonds, freeing them so they could go help Felicia.

"Gotcha, Felicia," Amelia said while picking up the knocked out fox girl.

"What just… happened?" Raptor asked.

"We got saved by a shadow," Skara answered as she, Willow, and Nina joined them while the shadow was keeping the scouts busy.

"I think it's Amity's shadow, Sam," Willow guessed.

Nina looked back at the shadow. "I don't know, this one looks different from Amity's…"

"But it's helping distract those scouts, so let's go!" Amelia shouted as the group wasted no more time, leaving the scouts behind to fight the shadow.

"Hey, wait!" one scout shouted as he spotted them and gave chase to Willow's group. However, before he could catch up to them, he got suddenly tased from behind, causing him to fall down. The one who tased him was none other… than Mai, who was holding a bee-shaped taser with an eyeball on it and a stinger that had shocked the scout..

"Hi, guys!" Mai waved to them, causing the group to look behind them.

"Mai?" Willow asked in surprise. "Kitsuni's little sister?"

"Yeah, and I'm not alone," Mai said as her tails spin, causing her to float up as she led the group down the hall. "We actually just captured some scouts who were in the area."

Much to their surprise, the group saw scouts tied up and contained by the baby class students. Scabrina, who had mentally scarred a scout into fetal position, spotted Skara and Nina coming over.

"Skara! Nina!" Scabrina shouted, running up to hug her sisters.

"Scabrina!" Skara and Nina shouted as they hugged the youngest Brooke.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Skara said.

"Did you and the baby class end up doing this?" Nina asked, looking at the scouts.

"Indeed," Moose said as he marched up to them, "We set up traps for those scouts while we're looking for more students to bring to the Healing Homeroom, which is where we'll be regrouping." He spoke in a militant manner.

"Gotta admit, these kids are more hardcore than any werekitten I've met," Nina said to Skara, impressed.

"This is good news," Amelia said while kneeling down in front of Moose. "Is your sister there, Moose?"

"Yes, my commanding officer is waiting for your arrival, soldier," Moose confirmed. "Let's move!"

"Aye!" the baby class kids declared as they led the group toward the Healing Homeroom.

As Nina went to follow them, she sensed someone nearby. She paused, which Amelia noticed.

"Hey, are you alright?" she asked her.

"You guys go ahead," Nina told them while turning her head in the direction. "There's something I need to do, I'll catch up later."

"Nina-" Before Amelia could finish, Nina had dashed off and she could only look in the direction the werecat had gone in, concern on her face.

Meanwhile, Emily and Andrea were walking down the hallway together, Andrea looking up to Emily.

"So… what type of music do you prefer? Pop? Jazz? Reggae?" Andrea asked her.

"I guess… something vintage," Emily mentioned.

"Ooh! Maybe that can be played for your-"

"EMILY!"

Emily's eyes widened when she turned to see Nina, who glared at her. Andrea also turned around, smiling when she saw Nina.

"Nina, hi!" Andrea shouted as she waved to her, while Emily panicked behind her mask. Andrea turned to her. "Oh! Since Nina's here, this could be a big opportunity for you two to talk through your problems and become friends again!"

"RAAAH!" Nina screamed while launching herself at Emily, tackling her away from Andrea. "I'm going to rip that green little face off and claw your heart out!" Nina snarled at Emily, while Andrea looked shocked at Nina attacking Emily.

Emily kicked Nina off from her before flipping over and landing on her feet. "Nina, wait-!" she shouted, only to have to dodge Nina trying to slash at her. Emily created some illusions to distract her, including summoning some duplicates of herself to fool Nina. But Nina ignored the duplicates while heading straight for Emily.

"Your tricks won't fool me anymore, Emily!" Nina shouted, Emily holding up her staff while Nina charged at her. Red smoke began to swirl around Emily and Nina charged through it… only for Emily to be gone, having teleported away. She looked around, dumfounded. "That's new…"

"Nina," Emily said as she appeared in a different part of the hallway. The werecat turned to look at her. "I don't want to fight you."

"Don't want to fight me either!" Nina growled as she charged at her.

"But I do want you to calm down!" Emily shouted while using her illusion spells to make herself disappear. Nina came to a stop, looking around for Emily. She stuck out her reptile tongue, picking up Emily's scent.

"Gah!" Nina growled as she jumped on top of the invisible Emily, knocking her down. As Emily turned visible, she swiped her staff at Nina, who summoned her own staff to draw a large spell circle. Nina sends out a light blast spell towards Emily, making her move out of the way.

"Nina, wait! Listen to me-" Emily was cut off by Nina punching her masked face.

"I don't want to hear anymore of your lies!" Nina shouted as she slashed at Emily's armor and mask. "You're going to know the pain I felt when you hurt me, Emily!"

Emily tried to back away, but Nina leapt over her and grabbed her head, pulling her down to the ground. Still holding Emily by the head, she began to slam it against the nearest wall. She did this repeatedly and hard enough that half of her mask broke, exposing her face. Emily gasped and elbowed Nina in the gut, knocking her back before teleporting out of that position and reappearing behind Nina.

"Nina, would you just-!" Emily was once again cut off when Nina kicked her in the stomach. Her arms had the skins of elephants, growing larger before punching Emily so hard that she flew into the lockers. Emily summoned more duplicates of herself, the duplicates running at Nina. But Nina ignored the duplicates and when Emily tried to hit Nina with her blue flames, Nina just ducked underneath them while pursuing her.

Andrea was horrified as she watched the fight play out. "N-Nina, Emily, please stop!" she begged, but neither of them were listening to her. "Stop fighting, you two!"

Emily cast more of her illusions, but Nina just went through them until she got close enough to punch Emily in her exposed face, causing her to back away. Emily then felt a kick to the stomach again, making her gasp. Nina then slashed at her silver armor and delivered another kick, sending Emily into the lockers. Emily tried to get up, but Nina kicked her again.

"Gah!" Emily cried out while Nina kept beating her. She tried to teleport, but Nina grabbed her and threw her down on the floor before kicking her down the hallway. Emily slid across the floor and before she could get up, Nina grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, lifting her up and slamming her against the locker. She saw Emily's sorry state, which included a cut above her right eye while blood dripped from her lip. "Nina, please stop…"

"Stop? You want me to stop?!" Nina shouted at her as she pinned her. "Do you have any idea what the fuck did you do to me?! Because of you, I'm infertile! You stabbed me in my womb, and now I can never have children!"

"I… I know," Emily replied shamefully, looking down in guilt. "I… I'm sorry, Nina. For everything…"

"SORRY ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH!" Nina screamed as she raised her claws, making Emily look at them. Nina snarled at the jaded witch and while she looked at her, for a moment Nina could no longer see Emily.

Instead she just saw shapes.

And then she slammed her claws forward, making Andrea gasp.

Emily closed her eyes, believing to have met her end. However, she opened her eyes and noticed Nina's claws had stabbed the locker next to her, deliberately missing her face. She looked back at Nina, who kept glaring at Emily while taking deep breaths, trying to control herself. Eventually, Nina let go of Emily, letting her slide to the floor while she backed away from her.

"Nina…" Emily said to her.

The werecat looked down at her. "Were we even really friends…?"

Emily looked up at the werecat, then down in shame. "Yes, we were… once."

Nina sniffed before shutting her eyes. "I'm letting you live, because I want you to know that you're only still alive because I decided to choose mercy."

Emily just sat there, leaning against the lockers in silence as Nina began to walk away. Nina glanced at Emily one last time, then decided to leave.

Nina turned to Andrea. "Yo, Pink, you should come with me."

"Um… what about…?" Andrea hesitated as she looked back at Emily, who just waved her off.

"Just go with her, Andrea," Emily told her. "Just go…"

"O-okay," Andrea said as she looked at Emily one more time before turning to follow Nina.

And so Emily sat there, her head low in defeat and disgrace while Pretty attempted to comfort her. But besides that, she was alone…

As they walked together, Andrea looked over at Nina, who was silent.

"Nina," Andrea said. "Can we… talk about what just happened?"

"I… we should focus on finding my group," Nina told her.

Andtea looked worried, but before she could say anything else, a sleepiness came over her and she suddenly fainted to the floor, which Nina noticed.

"Andrea?!" Nina exclaimed before realizing that someone else was there. Turning around, she saw Wolffe. "Hey!"

"Nothing personal, kid," Wolffe declared before hitting Nina with a spell and causing her body to go numb, falling to the floor. "But I got my orders…" she said while pulling out a knife.

Nina began to panic, realizing that Wolffe was seriously about to kill her… until she saw a shadow punch Wolffe away.

"Oof!" Wolffe cried out. "What… what's happening?!" As she looked around, the shadow punched her mask, making it spin around backwards. "He-hey!" she cried out while the shadow tripped her over.

As Nina watched, she felt herself about to pass out. However, before she did so, she saw the shadow standing over while taking a familiar cap-wearing outline…

The werecat groaned as she started to open her eyes, seeing Tugs in front of her vision.

"Hey, she's waking up!" Skara shouted.

Nina gasped as she stood up. "Huh? What-" She looked around before getting embraced by Skara.

"Nina! Thank goodness you're alright!" Skara declared.

"Where am I?" Nina asked as she spotted Andrea, who was also waking up.

"You're in the Healing Homeroom," Skara told her. "Dusty brought you both here, actually."

"He did?" Nina asked, turning to Dusty, who awkwardly looked away from Nina.

"Y-yeah, I found you both passed out in the hall," he claimed. "So I had you both brought back to the Healing Homeroom."

As Nina looked around, she saw Bump and Rachelle helping out students like Matt, Raptor, Amelia. and Willow. Morty and Summer were also there helping Angmar and Gavin while Emira healed Rupert with Edric and Viney's help, Tamme being on standby. Snope laid on his cot while Jerbo and Barcus were helping Porcus. Moose, Scabrina, and Mai were with Cat and Simon as they looked over a map of the school.

"This was a great idea gathering everyone here, Principal B," Nina commented. "This is a good place to regroup."

"Actually, it was Ms. Harwitch's idea," Bump said while pointing to Cat "She's the one who's in charge of this operation, not me."

Cat turned away from the map and walked over, revealing that she was wearing an army helmet and had war paint on her. "Glad to see you awake, private Fangs."

"She suggested using the Healing Homeroom as a place to bring students to," Bump explained.

"Admittedly, I was still asleep in my office when the Emperor's Coven came," Snope admitted.

"Wait, Felicia, where is she?" Nina realized as she looked around until she spotted Felicia on her cot, being healed and treated by Bo.

"Felicia?!" Andrea asked before she snarled at the fox. Felicia noticed her as Andrea jumped off her cot. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS!"

"GAAH!" Felicia exclaimed in fear.

"Andrea, stop! Stop!" Nina shouted as she rushed in front of Andrea while Willow used her vines, grabbing Andrea from behind to stop her from launching herself at Felicia. "Listen! That news article wasn't Felicia's fault! She had nothing to do with it! She didn't break your promise!"

"Whatchu talking about, Nina?" Andrea asked.

"Felicia actually heard that something bad was going to happen on the Day of Unity, and her mom tried to kill her for knowing too much," Willow explained. "Her mom also was the one who found out about Tabrella and published the article, falsely crediting Felicia as a source."

"What?!" Andrea asked in shock while turning to Felicia. "Oh… oh man, I'm so sorry, Felicia. I assumed the worst of you…"

"I won't hold it against you," Felicia responded while looking down sadly. "I know I'm a gossip fox, but I wouldn't post a story like this. My mom did that when I couldn't give her what she wanted…"

"It's alright, Felicia, you're safe here with us," Willow reassured her, walking over to pat her on the shoulder.

Over at the other cot, Edric was bringing Viney up to speed about Emira and Tamme.

"So… they're exes?" Viney asked him.

"Yeah, back when Em was in cheerleading," Edric confirmed. "Of course, she's dated others before, but back then she was not the kind to commit," he said while looking over at Emira and Tamme, who kept a fair distance between each other. "I'll admit, it was pretty mean for Em to flake out on Tamme. And yeah, there are definitely some unresolved issues between them that need to be worked out."

Viney looked over to Emira, who looked back at her. She walked over to her girlfriend. "Hey, how are things with… Tamme?"

"Jealous?" Emira asked before looking down. "Honestly, I don't know what to say to her at this point. I messed up real bad, and this is more than just cheerleading. I was a real bitch to her."

"Well, you have two options," Viney said. "Leave things as they are, which is unresolved, or try to give each other some semblance of closure. But doesn't Tamme deserve the latter?"

"Yeah… you're right," Emira said with a sigh as she reached over and squeezed Viney's hand. "Thank you," she said before getting up and walking over to confront Tamme.

Tamme was looking at the diagram of a witch's body when Emira walked up behind her. "What do you want, Blight?" she asked without turning around to look at Emira.

"I want to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I did you dirty like that," she told Tamme. "It was wrong of me to break off things like I did."

Tamme took a deep breath. "You made me feel like nothing."

"I know, and I screwed up. I did hurt you and I should've been more considerate of your feelings." Emira rubbed her own arm. "Even if I wasn't as invested in our relationship as you were, I could have ended things between us better than just walking away from everything. I'm… not proud of the witch I used to be. I was a bad girlfriend and a bad sister. I am trying to be better now, but that doesn't excuse what I did to you. So once again, I'm sorry."

Tamme lowered her head before taking her sunglasses off and turning to look at Em. "I'm not ready to forgive you, but… I do accept your apology. So… it's a start… Emira."

Emira gave a small smile. "Thanks, Tamms."

"Everyone, listen up!" Cat announced, getting everyone's attention. Surrounding her were some ghosts. "To start with, our ghost scouts are back with intel. They've reported that Graye and his scouts are keeping our classmates and teachers in the gym. They say they spotted Linkin, Korn, Eve, Sioux, the Cerberus Sisters, Celine, Louis, Scotty, Gina, Tyler, Pr. Redback and Jane, Dr. Sprott, Ms. Mantis, Puffer, Eileen, Gorgi, Maverick, and Morticia in there."

"That's about half of the cheer squad!" Tamme realized, looking just as alarmed as Andrea. Nina looked alarmed as well, not just about the cheersquad's capture, which included Tyler and Eve, but also about Redback, Jane, Puffer and Eileen as well.

"Not Maverick!" Andrea said in shock. "He was one of my best ones!"

"I should take charge of this rescue mission," Tamme declared, surprising everyone. "No soldiers of mine are going to be left behind!"

"I know, Cheer-Captain Wishbone," Cat acknowledged. "But right now, we need to take the whole school back. We didn't let it fall when it was being attacked by Glandus, and I'm not willing to let it fall now."

"And one of those coven goons killed Dr. Traveler," Nina pointed out. "So we can't let this stand."

"The Emperor's Coven has invaded our school, killed one of our teachers, and is now capturing our friends so they can be branded with sigils and forced into covens," Cat listed off while raising her fist. "Nina is right, there's no way we can let this stand much longer, so is anyone here willing to join me in this revolution?"

"We're in, commander!" Amelia declared, along with Bo, Matt, Skara, and Willow.

"We're with you too, Cat," Emira said while with her were Edric, Viney, Jerbo, Barcus, and Porcus in agreement.

"Those coven goons won't see us coming," Nina said while with Andrea, Tamme, Dusty and Raptor.

"Me and bro are with ya, Cat," Summer said while with Morty.

"Us too," Gavin and Angmar declared.

"Count me in, Cat," Simon said. "We're going to get our school back!"

"Revolution!" Moose, Scabrina, and Mai declared.

"Our students are quite the upstarts," Snope commented with a chuckle.

"I'm ready to crack some skulls on those coven scouts," Ms. Rachelle replied while cracking her knuckles.

"Luz would be proud of this, wouldn't she, Bump?" Rupert asked his old friend.

Bump sighed, knowing that he was right. "Yeah, Luz would be proud," he agreed. "But let's just come up with a plan."

Skara squeed. "Oh, this is my favorite part!"

Everyone gathered as Skara helped make the plan, deciding who would go and who would stay here to protect the injured.

Matt walked over to Bo. "So… do you plan on going out there as well?" he asked.

"I think I should stay here and help the injured," Bo admitted while patting Matt's hand. "But don't worry, I'm fine with you going out without me. After all, I know someone will watch your back for me." She turned to Gavin and Angmar, forming a small smile.

Gavin and Angmar gave Bo a nod of acknowledgement while everyone prepared to take back Hexside…

Back in the gym, Kikimora and Pugsley brought in a new prisoner: Coach Roach.

"I don't understand, I was in the bathroom for ten minutes and this happened!" Coach Roach shouted as he was thrown into the teacher's pile while tied up.

"There, another one taken in," Kiki said as she dusted her hands. "Now where's Head Witch Graye?"

"Um, I think he's talking to those mystery sleuths over there," Pugsley said as he pointed to Graye, who sat on a chair while interrogating the tied up SSE.

"So, we meet at last, Shadowy Secrets Expozers, with a Z," Graye spoke with a grin.

"We literally met earlier this week…" Eve pointed out.

"Up-up-up," Graye silenced her. "Do. Not. Interrupt. My. Monologue. You know, fooling children is usually a waste of my impressive talents, but I was hoping we would get this face-to-face," he said while looking at them. "After all, I must give my thanks to you all for your roles in stopping the Grim Goblin and exposing a traitorous member of BIG. I mean, I know Venoma is a chronic backstabber, but it does make BIG look bad with an evil teammate… that's something that shouldn't have happened for a few more missions at least…"

"What do we do? He'll brand us for sure," Korn whispered to his teammates.

"Relax, I think I got this," Sioux said as she cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Head Witch Graye, I am interested in… getting to know you. Illusionist to Illusionist and all."

"Oh, looks like I got a fan," Graye said while looking prideful. "Well, it all started when I was born, when I came from humble beginnings. Watching my parents' plays it changed my life forever…"

"Well, we are familiar that you went to Hexside alongside Raine Whispers, Darius Nightshade, and Eda and Lilith Clawthorne," Sioux pointed out. "In fact, we heard that you were a part of the previous Shadowy Secret Exposers, am I right… Wilde?"

Graye frowned at that. "You've all been talking to Vanessa, haven't you? How much did she tell you…"

"Like, you two were friends," Korn pointed out.

"We know that Stacy passed away some time ago, her son is a friend of mine," Eve revealed.

"Really? Oh that does explain things…" Graye commented.

"But what we want to know is what happened with Bobby Bones?" Linkin asked him. "Vanessa didn't go into too many details. Do you know if he's alive or…?"

"Bobby… oh, Bobby," Graye said with a sigh. "Some of my teammates were a fool… hunting down those planispheric disk parts." He shook his head. "I was there when they found the first piece. But after we lost that piece… I wanted nothing to do with it anymore. At least Vanessa knew to get out of the hunt before it was too late…"

"What do you know?" Eve asked him while Adrian looked down.

"Bobby, Stacy, and Cuddlebuns became obsessed with that disc and what it could lead them to," he explained while getting up and walking back and forth. "Despite what almost happened to me because we stuck our noses where they didn't belong, they insisted on looking for the other pieces and the one that was taken from us. They wasted years looking for them, even after we had officially split up! I remember Bobby coming to me, telling me that he believed the rest of the pieces were not on the Isles and were in other parts of the Demon Realm. But I refused to go with him, as I was determined to leave that part of my past behind me. So he turned to Stacy… and she was murdered by Cuddlebuns…"

This shocked the SSE. "Professor Cuddlebuns… killed Stacy?" Sioux asked.

"Vanessa didn't tell you that, did she?" Graye asked them before shaking his head. "I knew that Bobby and Stacy were going to leave the Isles together to look for more of the pieces, but then Stacy was found dead." He gave a saddened look, remembering when Vanessa told him about Stacy's death. "They never found Bobby. Dead or alive, either way he vanished. But I knew he couldn't have killed her. There was no way he could hurt her, he loved her too much, even if I couldn't forgive him for dragging her down that road while she had a husband and a son. All the evidence linked Cuddlebuns to Stacy's death and Bobby's disappearance. It's why he was thrown into the Conformatorium, but I managed to pull some strings and give him a life sentence, rather than an execution, although sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision…" He paused, looking reflective for a moment. "And all because of that planispheric disk. All because of their lust for treasure and mystery. It ruined their lives…"

"That… that sounds horrible," Eve said, looking down.

"It is only a matter of time before you find a mystery that ends up destroying you, just like what happened to your predecessors," Graye warned them, his voice sincere. "If you kids are smart, break up and swear off mystery solving forever. Because if you keep digging your noses where they don't belong… you're just going to get hurt."

"Gee, you sure have a point there," Korn said sarcastically. "After all, we don't want to end up like you."

"Mhmm!" the Cerberus Sisters agreed while muzzled.

This angered the Illusions Head as his felt his pride and ego attacked. "Really? You think being me is horrible?!" he snarled at Korn. "I am a Head Witch! Others look up to me! Others worship and revere me! I have won witch of the year three times! My former teammates have achieved nothing! Vanessa is a has-been, Cuddlebuns ended up rotting in prison, Bobby's missing, and Stacy's dead! I'm the one that came out top, I'm the one that succeeded! I am a Coven Head! I worked hard and sacrificed much to reach my current position and leave my old life, even my stage name, in the past!" he declared while facing them. "And let me share a little secret to all of you," he said while raising his hand up, revealing a branding glove. "I'm willing to do anything it takes to get ahead in life…"

The SSE began to panic as Graye held the branding glove over to Eve…

"Sir!" announced a scout, stopping Graye from branding Eve.

"What is it?" Grayed asked him, annoyed.

"The Green Scout and Silver Sentry have returned," the scout said as Graye turned around and saw Le'Belle helping Emily to walk over to the bleachers, letting her sit.

"Emily?!" Graye asked, seeing her with bruises and her armor banged up and clawed. Forgetting his objective, he rushed over to her. "Emily! What happened to you? Are you okay? Can you hear or see me? How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked while showing three fingers to her.

"Three, Adrian," she responded while the healers checked up on her.

"Tell me who did this to you, Emily?" Graye asked with a worried tone.

"I… I don't know," Emily claimed, turning around. "I didn't see who attacked me…"

"Then maybe my amplifier will help," he said while holding up the small mirror for Emily to see.

"What… what are you doing?!" Emily asked as she started to back away while Graye nodded to Le'Belle. The Green Scout grabbed Emily and helped to hold her still. "Let me go!"

"Don't worry, Emily," Graye said while drawing a spell circle. "I am just going to comb through your memories in order to learn who did this to you. I can promise you that it'll be harmless. And once we find out who did this to you, we'll make them pay…"

In the hallway, Wolffe walked over to Alburno and a group of scouts who were guarding the door to the gym. She was rubbing her head.

"Wolffe, where have you been?" Alburno asked.

"I, um, it's nothing," Wolffe responded.

"Ahem."

Alburno, Wolffe, and the other scouts turned to see Principal Bump walking toward them.

"Sorry, but the gym is off limits, sir," Wolffe told him. "Graye's orders."

"Graye may be a Head Witch, but I'm still principal," Bump told them. "It'd be wise to let me through."

Alburno chuckled. "Oh yeah? You and what army?" he asked while the other scouts held their spears up in front of him.

Bump just smiled. "This army," he said as Frewin came off of his head and became his staff, which he aimed at the scouts. Behind him, an illusion dropped, revealing a group consisting of Nina, Andrea, Skara, Dusty, Amelia, Willow, Morty, Summer, Rupert, Edric, Viney, Puddles, Emira, Tamme, Snope, Jerbo, Barcus, Mai, Cat, Simon, Matt, Angmar, and Gavin.

"…I'll admit, I should have seen this coming," Alburno said while Wolffe whistled, summoning some scouts from the gym into the hallway.

"Get them!" Wolffe ordered as the scouts charged the students and teachers.

"Revolution!" Cat declared as she, Bump, and the students charged.

Bump clashed with a scout that attacked first, blocking the attack with his own magic. Another scout appeared and attempted to attack Nina, who kicked the scout in the mask before spinning around to kick another. She spun her staff to shoot fire spells at the two scouts. Cat dodged an attack from a scout while pointing at his joints, instantly freezing him and making him numb. Jerbo's Abomination charged at another scout, who slashed it before he got stomped on by Puddles, Viney and Skara hiding on him.

"Yeah!" Skara yelled while swatting her staff at a scout below her. But then a vine grabbed Puddles by the talon, making him rear up and causing Viney and Skara to cry out as they fell back. Emira rushed over to heal Skara. When a coven scout tried to attack them, he was jumped by an Abomination summoned by Snope, protecting his students.

Edric and Barcus carried a handful of blue liquid potions that they threw at the scouts. Simon charged as he decked some scouts before doing a palm strike that sent a shockwave to knock some scouts all the way to the back of the hall. Jerbo was riding on his large plant-like Abomination as he chased some scouts, his Abomination eating them.

Matt was shown defending himself against some scouts trying to capture him, summoning walls that hit them. As he blew the smoke from his fingers with a smirk, a scout broke through his walls trying to grab him, but he was suddenly wrapped up in vines, while another scout got punched by Abomi-goo. Matt turned to see that Gavin and Angmar had his back and they gave each other nods of acknowledgement.

"YAAAH!" Andrea shouted while summoning an oversized hammer, which she swung at some unfortunate scouts. Tamme did some flips as she summoned wood blocks to knock the coven scouts on the chins. Nina fell back to meet up with the two, the trio of cheerleaders standing against a group of scouts. Nina noticed the hammer Andrea had.

"Where did you get that hammer?" Nina asked.

"Oh, you know…" Andrea said before they fought back against the scouts, Nina spinning a scout into the wall as Andrea hit some with her hammer.

Tamme saw Emira about to be tackled by some scouts and she summoned a brick that she threw at the scout, knocking her out. Emira saw this and turned to Tamme.

"You're welcome," Tamme said before she turned and kicked a scout between their legs, making them cry.

Rupert charged in as he decked some scouts, grabbing one and throwing them into another while laughing joyously. "Oh this is just like the old days, ain't it, Bump?" he asked Principal Bump, who summoned his Abominations to fight some scouts.

"Indeed it is, old friend," Bump responded while blocking another scout's attack.

Some scouts surrounded Mai. "You better give up, kid, there's no way a little kid like you can beat all of us," one scout declared.

"You may be right… until I bring out this baby!" Mai shouted as she brought out what appeared to be a hand cannon with eyes on each side and teeth on the barrel. She blasted something at those scouts, sending them back. "Don't worry, this is non-lethal. But you'll soon feel an itch…"

The scouts that were blasted got back up while suddenly feeling itchy. "What-what's crawling on me?!" one panicked as he and his fellow scouts felt tiny robots crawling around their uniforms.

Morty and Summer faced some scouts together, Morty holding up a crossbow to shoot potions at them. The potions exploded at some scouts, but some continued to charge at the Smith siblings. "Summer, summon him!"

Summer nodded as she held up her crystal ball and coming out of it… was Ghost Rick.

"It's Ghost Rick, bitches!" Ghost Rick declared as he punched and kicked the scouts away from his grandchildren. He then spotted Wolffe. "Well, well, if it isn't the bitch who used my family against me."

Wolffe stared at Ghost Rick. "I thought Belos was through with you…"

"Yeah, well he should've made sure to put me to rest completely. Of course, I was trapped in the Ghost World until I was summoned. But hey, you can't kill something that's already dead," Ghost Rick declared as he charged at Wolffe.

Snope had his Abomination use its arms to whip against some coven scouts. When another charged at him from behind, his Abomination knocked the scout out. He was then joined by Jerbo and Gavin, both using their Abominations to help him fight scouts, Snope smiling in pride when he saw his students by him.

"Go, my beasts! Protect the school!" Dusty declared while sending out Cutler, the squidrat, and a Hertrio to tackle some scouts. The scouts screamed as they got attacked by the animals.

"Enough!" Alburno shouted as he created a magic shock wave. The Red Scout sent a glare. "I will not be cowed by a group of students!" he declared before Willow and Simon appeared in front of him.

"Then how about the two of us?" Willow declared as she and Simon got in a fighting stance.

"If you think you can take us," Simon told the Red Scout, who tapped something in his pocket.

"Okay, I'll play," Alburno said as he smirked under his mask before charging towards them.

Meanwhile, Amelia summoned her own plants to push away the scouts with. She then noticed someone near her pointing their finger to draw a spell, aiming it at Nina, as if ready to strike at her. When she saw who it was, she gasped. Amelia immediately pushed him to stop him from making the shot at Nina, causing him to miss.

"What do you think you're doing… Jeremy?!" Amelia demanded.

"Get off of me, cousin," Jeremy said as he pushed her aside while he got up. "I've cut a deal with these scouts, since I realized what's the point in fighting them when I could just… join them?"

"Join them?" Amelia asked.

"They said that if I help them, they can get me a good position in the covens," he explained. "And you can too if you join me, cousin. If you allow me to take out that werecat…"

"Are you kidding me?! I'm not going to betray my friends!" Amelia told him off.

Jeremy glared at her while he drew his spell circles. "Then that makes us enemies," he said as he shot blue flames at her. Amelia dodged them as she summoned trees to block the attacks. He threw seeds that sprouted vines towards her, but Amelia dodged them. She saw him throwing more seeds in Nina's direction, but she quickly drew a fire spell and incinerated them.

"I'm not going to allow you to hurt Nina, Jeremy," she told him while drawing more spell circles. "You'll have to go through me first!"

Nina heard Amelia's declaration and she turned to see Amelia taking on Jeremy. This surprised the werecat, who had just knocked out another scout with a punch. Deciding to help out, she came to Amelia's aid.

"Need help?" Nina asked her as she stood next to Amelia.

"Just a family tussle," Amelia said while blocking Jeremy's attacks with her wood magic. "You don't have to-"

"Dude's attacking his own cousin, there's no way I'm letting that slide," Nina said while charging towards Jeremy.

"Oh, so the pussy wants to play?" Jeremy said with a smirk, summoning a vine that he used as a whip at Nina.

The werecat changed into reptilian to block the attack, her lizard tail striking against the vines. However, one vine wrapped around her tail and slammed her against a locker. Nina transformed back before she changed her arms into gorilla arms and grabbed the top of the ceiling. She jumped down while transforming her legs into kangaroo legs that she used to kick at the vines summoned by Jeremy. One plant summoned by Jeremy fired a bunch of seeds at Nina, who spun her staff to deflect them as she was forced back.

Amelia summoned wooden arms to try to grab Jeremy, but he just burned through the wooden arms while casting a fire spell at the two, Nina and Amelia dodging the fireballs by a hair. Amelia summoned more vines to try to trap Jeremy in, but he burned through them.

"You can't stop me!" Jeremy declared while summoning more vines and plants.

"He's usually not that good with plant magic," Amelia commented.

"Sounds like he had some tutoring before coming here," Nina indicated.

Amelia was struck with an idea.

"Nina, I need you to jump!" Amelia shouted while drawing a spell circle, summoning plants.

Nina nodded at Amelia and jumped from plant to plant, Amelia creating a path that led her to Jeremy. While Amelia kept him distracted, Nina jumped off one leaf and bounced off another as she prepared to deliver a kick. Jeremy saw her shadow and looked up to cast a spell… before he was met with her pawed foot against his face.

"Oof!" Jeremy cried out before he was knocked out.

"I could care less what you think of me," Nina said as she stood over him. "But I don't appreciate anyone attacking their own family like that."

During this, Willow and Simon faced off against Alburno. Willow aimed her large vines at Alburno, who dodged the vines as he delivered a swinging kick to them, burning through the vines with his fiery legs. Simon ran up and sent punches towards him, but Alburno easily dodged those punches before jumping up and placing his feet on Simon's chest, using it as a platform to push himself away from the Saltstar.

"You two may be tough, but I'm quicker," Alburno declared with a smirk.

"Oh yeah?" Willow asked as she formed her vines into green gauntlet-like fisticuffs while Simon drew a spell circle to outfit himself with rhino-like armor. Simon charged at Alburno with his armor while Willow summoned a large flower below her to bounce off of and launch herself at the Red Scout.

Simon tried to tackle him, but the Red Scout flipped over the rhino-armored Saltstar, kicking him in the back making him stumble. Alburno dodged Willow's punch towards him before grabbing her cowl and throwing her down. Willow summoned her vines to grab him and pull him away from her, but Alburno drew spell circles to burn the vines to ash again. He landed on the ground, dusting himself off before he faced the two again.

Alburno delivered kicks to Simon and then to Willow, the two blocking them. Willow summoned vines at him, but Alburno swiftly dodged them with his outstretched leg that stepped on the vine, burning it. Simon tried to tackle him, but he side-stepped and caused him to miss. Alburno then delivered a knee-kick to Simon's abdomen, breaking a part of his armor. Willow then shot a vine at Alburno's masked face and though Alburno moved his head, his mask was still cut by a thorn from the vine.

Alburno smirked underneath his mask before delivering a kick to Willow's face. She blocked the kick, then gave a smirk of her own as vines wrapped around his leg. Before he could react, Willow swung him around and slammed him into the floor. Alburno managed to burn the vine off and flip away from her, but as he stood, Simon swung his arm at him. Alburno grabbed the arm and used it to flip himself onto Simon's shoulders. He then jumped up while drawing spell circles to rain fire spells down around them.

Willow summoned large leaves to protect her and Simon from the fire blasts. When Alburno landed, he was tackled by Simon, who managed to slam him into the wall. Alburno groaned,but before Simon could knock him out, Alburno slid down and rolled away before getting back up.

"I think you're starting to get scared," Simon told him.

"Give it up, you should know when you're beat," Willow said while Alburno chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, little flower girl," Alburno said as they heard a rumbling sound. "I know that I can't beat you two by myself… but I don't have to."

The students and teachers turned to see something large coming down the hallway. When the large, lavender, and mechanical being came into view, Edric and Emira both groaned in annoyance.

It was an Abomaton.

"I've been dying to play with one of these…" Alburno said while holding the remote.

"We have got to talk to dad about these things…" Emira muttered while Edric nodded in agreement.

Outside of the school, some scouts were stationed to watch the exits and the airships. One of them had a crow.

"Back up! We need back up inside!" a scout shouted over the crow.

"You heard them, sounds like they need our help," the captain leading this group said.

"Over a bunch of kids?" a scout asked.

"Children these days are crazy, man, you don't know what they're capable of," one scout said as they were about to go inside.

"Stop where you are!"

The scouts paused and turned around. They were surprised to see a group of parents standing in front of them.

Athena and Samwitch were there with Tom, who used his flames to levitate himself down next to Ulka and Sheila. The Parks were with Slasher Brooke and Beth and Jerry Smith. Betty Potts and her boyfriend Atkin had shown up, along with Sandra Storms who was there with Suzy, Mark and Jason Row. Lois and Carl Jeepers also showed up alongside Barcus's parents, while Harlan and Mary Regal appeared alongside Swan Harwitch.

"What… what's going on here?!" the guard captain demanded to know.

"Hi, Mary Regal, representative of the Parent-Creatures Association, which you can see right here," Mary Regal said, waving to them. "We've been informed about how you witches from the Emperor's Coven are trying to brand our children without our consent. This violates Coven Age Consent Act."

"You scouts want to mess with our kids? You're messing with all of us!" Gilbert declared.

"So you better surrender now if you know what's good for you," Athena told the scouts as she shot them a glare while her brother cracked his knuckles.

The guard captain and the scouts looked uneasy, a scout turning to his captain. "What… what should we do?"

"I say… charge!" the guard captain ordered as the scouts charged at the parents.

"Death it is, then," Sandra said as she summoned a gush of sand at some scouts, burying them or blinding them. Betty rode on Atkin as he tackled into some scouts while she shot ice spells from his back. Barcus's parents rushed in to fight the scouts with their magic.

"Good aim, Barkowskis!" Carl Jeepers told them while he sent his Abominations to the scouts.

"Thanks, Carl," Mr. Barkowski responded before using water spells on the scouts.

Some scouts tried to use constructs to contain the parents, but Athena punched one of the constructs with her fists while her brother, Samwitch, stomped on the ground to topple the scouts over. Sheila snuck behind the captain and shivved him in the sides.

"AAH!" the captain cried as he fell, holding his bleeding sides.

"That's how we play in Latissa!" Sheila shouted before seeing Athena and Samwitch. "Hey Athena, is that your brother?"

"Yeah, this is Samwitch," Athena introduced. "Sam, this is Sheila, a mother of one of Boscha's friends, Gavin."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am," Samwitch said before casually swatting a scout so hard that he flew to the nearby forest.

"Hmm… is he single?" Sheila asked while Athena just shrugged.

Beth stepped forward as she drew a spell circle. "This is for my father, you dicks!" she shouted while summoning many unicorns and pegasi who stampeded over the scouts. Jerry just held up some kind of bug shaped device.

"I don't know how this works, but Rick made this for some reason," Jerry said before shooting a scout with it… and turning him inside out.

"AAAAH!" the scout screamed. "Help me….!"

"Titan's crack on a cracker?!" Jerry said before turning another scout inside out, followed by another. Horrified at what he had done, he dropped the gun. "Okay, I'm sticking to my magic," he declared while blasting water magic towards the scouts, splashing them away.

Gilbert and Sully charged in as they used their construct and plant magic against the scouts. Gilbert stomped and punched boulders to knock the scouts out, while Sully summoned cacti to sprout underneath the scouts, making them scream of the pain. "GAAAH!"

"None of you will hurt our children!" Sully declared as he and Gilbert struck a pose.

Swan moved in as she held her staff, which was a two-headed snake, as she twirled around and shot white blasts at the scout. Harlan and Mary fought alongside her while using their plant magic.

"Hey Swan, where's Zeb?" Harlan asked her.

"He went to get our son, Dog," Swan explained before delivering a kick to a scout while spinning her staff to block a magic attack.

"Well, I hope he's alright," Mary said before sending ferms to wrap around the scouts. "Good thing we brought a friend along…"

"Important lesson of the day!" declared a green-blue bird house demon as it came with a bird house. The birdhouse had spinning copter wings it used to fly. "Better learn your lesson… or I'll feast on your SOULS!" Duo the house demon declared as he flew down to open his mouth, showing his multiple rows of teeth at the scouts.

"WAAAH!" the scouts screamed as they ran away from the mobile house demon.

Suzy, Jason and Mark were using their ice abilities alongside Betty. They saw Sandra holding her arm, having been hit with a blast. Suzy walked over to her. "Are you alright?"

"Just a scratch," Sandra said while Suzy started healing her arm. "Say, your daughter is Bo Row, right?"

"Yes," Suzy responded. "You're Sandra, right? Nice to meet you. Glad to finally meet the mother of my daughter's boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you too," Sandra responded with a smile. "We should hit up, sometime."

Tom and Ulka flew up high where they saw some scouts aiming at Sheila, who shivved another scout. Tom flew down as he drew a fiery circle around the scouts, trapping them in. When the scouts tried to disperse the flames, Ulka drew a spell circle to summon stone constructs around them. Trapping them while Tom puts out the flames.

"That'll slow them down," Ulka said.

"Thanks, kids," Sheila said, waving to the two.

"No problem, Ms. Anidod!" Tom replied as he and Ulka went to take on more scouts.

Slasher stood before a group of scouts. They noticed his glare at them and heard him snarl. "You want to fight me? Go ahead and try. I can teach you all what happens when you mess with my daughters!"

"Shit, isn't that Head Witch Brooke's husband?!" a scout asked.

"Try not to provoke him…" another responded.

"I'm not trained to deal with a werewolf," one said as Slasher raised his arms up. "Gah! He's gonna transform!"

"You're not ready for what I'm about to do…" Slasher said as the scouts prepared for the worst… as he summoned a saxophone.

"Huh?" the scouts asked in confusion as Slasher began to play the sax. The sax sent out magical music notes at them, which exploded and sent powerful shock-waves. "GAAAH!"

Inside the school, the Abomaton was attacking students left and right. Bump tried to use his staff to strike at the Abomaton, but the mechanical abomination simply shot abomi-goo to have him stick to the wall. It shot abomi-goo to trap some students, such as Jerbo and Barcus, to the wall, followed by others like Snope and Angmar. Willow and Simon attempted to fight the Abomaton while dodging its attacks. Simon kept punching the mechanical being as he dodged its claw. He was hit by a blast, which didn't hurt him, but it did leave a hole in his shirt. Willow used her spells to push the Abomaton back to with her plants.

Emira, Edric, Viney, and Tamme joined in after fighting off some scouts. The Abomaton saw them dog piling on it, but the currently invisible Alburno just had it spin around and stick them with abomi-goo to the wall and ceiling.

"Okay… that may have not been the best plan ever," Edric admitted while stuck.

Nina grabbed Amelia and pulled her down as the abomi-goo flew over their heads while the Abomaton kept shooting around. "Skara, duck!"

Skara ducked, avoiding an abomi-blast. Andrea charged forward with her hammer up while shouting a battle cry. "YAAAAH!" she screamed… before she was shot and stuck to the wall. Matt summoned a wall that he, Skara, Cat, and Mai could hide behind for protection. They poked out to fire their spells at the Abomaton, ducking back behind when it fired back. Rupert charged at the Abomaton, attempting to tackle it.

"You're not going to hurt these kids!" Rupert told the machine before getting blasted up to the ceiling where he got stuck up there. Simon and Willow both used their spells to crash stones and plants into it, trying to hold it back. But the machine remained standing.

"That thing isn't giving up, not even Willow and Simon can take it out," Nina commented.

"Why does Amity's dad have to be so good at making these things?" Amelia asked.

"A change in strategy would be good about now," Cat said.

Gavin stepped up, sending his own Abomination to help Willow and Simon. The Abomaton shot out another blast, this time sending Simon back to where the others were. "At this rate, it's going to take out all of us," Gavin said, grimacing when he saw his Abomination smashed into bits.

"Just need to fight fire with fire," Matt suggested.

"Like another robot?" Mai asked.

"Or… a statue," Matt said as he turned to Simon. "I think I have an idea…"

Willow slid back, looking up to see the Abomaton in front of her as it formed its hand into a hammer. It swung down at her, but Willow side-jumped to avoid the hit. She then summoned a large vine to block another fist attack from the Abomaton, before summoning more vines to tangle up the arm. She stepped back as the Abomaton crashed through her defenses in an attempt to attack her. Willow kept summoning vines to deflect its attacks, then formed green-gauntlets to try to punch the Abomaton in the chest.

As Willow kept the Abomaton busy, she heard stomping noises. She saw a large shadow fall over her, causing her and the Abomaton to pause. She turned around, looked up… and gaped in shock.

Standing over her was a large statue. But not just any statue… the statue of Principal Bump with a skateboard, which he used to swat the Abomaton away from Willow.

"Whoa…" Willow said in awe before she noticed the one controlling it were Simon and Matt. "Simon? Matt?"

"Don't mind us," Matt responded while moving his arms.

"Don't hold back, Willow!" Simon declared.

Willow smiled and nodded before joining with the Bump statue that kept swatting against the Abomaton. The mechanical golem kept shooting blasts at the statue, which punched its head in response. The Bump statue delivered a kick to the Abomaton, while Willow uses her plant magic to bound its feet to the ground. The Bump Statue then punched the Abomaton with a left hook and uppercut. The Abomaton responded by punching the Bump statue back.

Alburno, watching this, glared as he shook the controller. "Sock'em!"

The Abomaton kept punching back against the Bump statue, attempting to use its jets to hover up in the air. The Bump statue grabbed it by the leg and slammed the Abomaton down on the floor. Willow then used her vines and roots to tangle around the Abomaton, making it difficult for the Abomaton to get up. The Bump statue then brought its fists together to slam at the Abomaton's chest plate a few times until it got busted. Some gears and springs flew out and despite being on its back, the Abomaton attempted to activate its jetpack again, only for the Bump statue to grab its again.

The Bump statue swung the Abomaton into a wall, then slammed it onto the floor hard enough to cause it to completely fall apart. The Abomaton's head fell as its body was smashed into pieces, which shocked Alburno.

Bump, seeing this, smiled. "Now that is a great use of statue magic," he said with pride. "Well done, Mr. Saltstar and Mr. Thollomule."

"Thanks, Prince B," Matt responded while wiping his sweat.

"Looks like you're getting some gains there, Matt," Simon pointed out as Matt saw the bit of muscle.

"Yeah? Can't wait to show Bo," he said with pride.

Willow heard the sound of a controller dropping and she turned. "Hey!"

An invisible Alburno tried to run, he was grabbed by a vine, becoming visible again as he was yanked towards Willow. His mask fell off. "Mommy…"

Willow raised her fist and punched the pretty-faced Red Scout. Alburno was knocked back, now with a black eye while loose teeth fell from his mouth. "That's for Skara," she declared as Alburno was left knocked out on the floor.

Back in the gym, Emily strained as Graye looked through her memories, her resistance making it more difficult for him. While he was busy, the SSE were not being watched, which Eve decided to use to their advantage.

"Guys… I got a plan. But it's going to be a bit… rough," she said.

"Like getting out of this situation rough?" Korn asked.

"Yeah," Eve said as she closed her eyes. "I may not have my crystal ball at the moment, but I could still try to summon one of my spirits… through other means. After all, a crystal ball or a pendant is just meant to be a tether for the ghost. And there are other tethers…"

Eve began to chant in silence, a purple aura glowing around her. "Through burning wood and the smell of pine, I allow the spirit to access my body and mind…"

Kikimora and Pugsley could hear Eve chanting. "What are you chanting about? Stop that!" Kiki told while she and Pugsley confronted her.

But then Eve's head bent backwards as a sickening crack was heard. This startled the two when they saw her eyes glowed blue. Followed by her hair turning flaming blue…

"I have awakened!" declared Eve, whose voice had changed… to Archibald Corduroy.

"What in the Titan's…?!" Kiki shouted as she and Pugsley backed away while Eve's bonds were burned in blue flames as she rose up in the air, her head twisting to normal as her body faced them.

"Hahahaha!" Archibald laughed through Eve's voice before raising her hands to shoot flames at the two and the other coven scouts.

"WAAAAAH!" Kiki and Pugsley screamed as they ran away from the possessed Eve, who started to set fire to the gym while her friends watched in shock.

It was at the moment Willow burst through the gym doors with Nina, Skara, Gavin, and Cat.

"Alright, let's-" Willow paused when she saw the possessed Eve flying around and chasing the scouts while shooting flames at them and the gym, laughing madly. "What the heck…?"

"It's official, Eve's gotten mad," Nina replied.

"Should we… do something?" Skara asked, seeing the chaos Archibald was causing. "I mean, this isn't the first time Eve set the gym on fire, but this is the first time it's on purpose…"

"I… don't think we should do anything," Willow said. "Let's just free everyone and get out of here."

They all agreed and went to free the students and teachers. Nina and Skara used their claws to rip the ropes, freeing Puffer, Eileen, Tyler, Maverick and Morticia. They then moved on to free Gina, Scotty, and Louis.

Willow, Cat, and Gavin helped free the rest of the SSE, Willow removing the muzzles of the Cerberus sisters. After they freed them, they moved on to save the rest of their bound classmates. Eventually, they went to help free the teachers: Ms. Mantis, Professor Redback, Jane, Coach Roach, and Mr. Sprott.

"Come on, out to the gym!" Cat shouted as she opened the gym door leading outside, gesturing for everyone to escape. All the while the possessed Eve kept the scouts busy.

The whole gym was on fire, the scouts using water and ice magic to put out the flames. Graye held Emily protectively, the chaos having interrupted his session with her. Le'Belle used her violin to keep the flames at bay.

"Hang on, I got this, sir!" Le'Belle said while performing her spell.

"Just keep those flames away from us!" Graye said while hugging Emily protectively. "And someone stop that girl!"

Archibald kept laughing and burning as he neared Graye and Emily. He turned to them, pausing.

"Tis I smell guilt all over the man with the tail?" Archibald asked while delivering a grin. "Yes… you reek of the stench of a crime you've tried to cover… guilt is written all over your pasty-looking face."

"Pasty?!" Graye was in shock by what Eve was inferring. "Who… who do you think you are?! I-I have nothing to feel guilty about!" He then felt his amplifier taken from him by a levitation spell. "Hey! Give that back!"

"I believe everyone should know about your guilt," Archibald declared as he aimed it at Graye while his eyes glowed brightly. "See what this man's darkest secrets hold!"

A wave of magical energy covered the gym. Willow's team along with the rescued students and teachers were caught in the wave, along with Emily, Le'Belle, Kiki, Pugsley, and the other scouts. They became witnesses to a vision. A vision from the past…

A younger-looking Adrian Graye looked at his Illusion Sigil medal. Back then, he had a goatee, which he commented on while looking in a mirror. "This goatee won't do…"

"Head Witch Graye!" a scout called out while appearing behind him. "We just arrested a couple who were caught stealing, but they claim that they know you and asked for you to see them…"

Graye looked curious and he nodded. "Show them to me…"

The scout brought Graye to a precinct. Inside Graye was shown a green skinned woman and blue skinned demon man. They were Margot and Hamilskin, the parents of Emily Tricks. Both now in the jail cells.

"Adrian?" Margot asked when she saw him. "Oh thank Titan you're here!"

"What business do you have with me?" Graye asked her. "I hear that you two are wild witches trying to steal medicine…"

"We were stealing them, but it's for our daughter," Margot explained while taking out a photo. "Listen, our daughter was cursed. She's sick and we needed the medicine to help her. This is her, right there!" She handed Graye a photo, which he took a look at.

It was a photo of a baby Emily Tricks, back when she still had her tail. A tail that looked similar to his… which caused Graye to immediately pocket the photo.

"Graye… what are you doing?" Margot asked him.

Graye turned to the scout. "I… have no idea who these witches are," he told him, shocking Margot and Hamilskin. "So they're obviously either lying or crazy."

"Um… really?" the scout asked in confusion.

"They're wild witches, and they should be petrified for their crimes," Graye declared.

"But… they look like they're in trouble-"

"May I remind you that I am a Head Witch?" Graye told the scout with a glare. "I will not be questioned. Especially if you don't want to be labeled a wild witch sympathizer. Do you understand me?"

"Y-Yes sir!" the scout responded. "But what about the child?"

"Oh there is no child!" Graye claimed. "That's just a lie they made up to get sympathy. You should have known better than to fall for their tricks and acting," he scolded the scout.

"S-Sorry, sir," the scout responded.

Graye smiled while patting the scout's shoulder. "And that's why I'm a Head Witch, and you're not," he said as he started to walk away while Margot cried out to him.

"Adrian! Adrian, come back!" she cried to him. "Come back for Emily!"

Later, Graye looked at the arrest records of Margot and Hamilskin Tricks, seeing the official statement. He quickly replaced it with a new, altered report to be put on record file, this report having no mention of a child.

"And this should do it," Graye said, smiling.

And so the vision ended.

Everyone gasped, all looking shocked by what they just saw. And Graye realized that they had all seen what he had seen as he saw everyone looking at him with a mixture of shock… and disgust.

"No way…" Willow said, livid.

"You… you had her parents petrified…" Nina looked disgusted before she realized something. "Wait… you're her dad?!"

"How could you, sir?!" Le'Belle demanded, shaken by what she just saw.

"I… I can explain…" Graye tried to speak up.

"Explain what?!" Kikimora shouted. She was just as appalled as Pugsley. "You petrified the parents of a sick child and covered up the fact they were stealing medicine for their kid while leaving her to fend for herself?! And I thought I was evil…"

"Looks like my job here is done. Farewell, mortals…" Archibald declared as his shut his eyes and left Eve's body. Eve then gasped as she passed out, having to be caught by Linkin and Korn.

Graye then looked over at Emily, who just stood there in shock. "Emily…" he said before Emily started to tear up.

"You… you murdered them… you left me to die…" Emily said as she started to bawl her eyes out. Graye tried to walk over to her… but Le'Belle pushed him away from her.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Le'Belle angrily shouted at him before grabbing Emily and trying to comfort her. "You have no right after what we all saw!" she told him off while patting Emily's back as she just cried into her shoulder.

Graye was taken aback by this. He looked around and saw the students, teachers, and scouts all staring at him. They looked at him as if he was a monster, a monster that was just as bad… as Terra.

"Don't… don't look at me like that!" Graye told them. "I… I-I had to do what I did. We all have to make sacrifices we don't like!" he gulped, trying to justify his actions. "I couldn't afford to let word get out that I fathered an illegitimate child. I just couldn't! I'm a Head Witch, I had a reputation to uphold. I… at the time, I figured that without the medicine, the child would die and that would be the end of that." This didn't make him look good, so he turned to Emily "But after meeting you, Emily, I had a change of heart."

Emily looked up at him, still in tears while Graye continued. "I saw that you have potential. I've seen how you inherited my talent and you've proven yourself time and time again." He slowly approached her, raising his hand up to her. "And now that I have spent time with you, I have grown to care for you, Emily. In fact, I am proud to call you my daughter…"

It was then Emily let go of Le'Belle as she walked towards Graye. Everyone looked at her in confusion, wondering what she was going to do… until her eyes glowed aquamarine… and she shot blue flames at Graye's eyes.

"Gah!" Graye cried as the flames 'hit' him. When he opened his eyes, they too were glowing aquamarine. "No… no, stand back!" he cried while under a trance as he began to experience her memories…

From the time she had to eat her own tail to the times she had to eat rats to everything the Tarot Guild had put her through to being chased and mauled by Lupe to being sent to the Underworld and being tortured there. Graye screamed as he saw all the pain and misery from Emily's point of view, seeing her go through the pain… up to when he looked at a mirror and saw a reflection of her covered in bruises.

"This is all the pain I had to go through because of you!" the illusion of Emily shouted at him. "And you're going to feel that pain!"

"AAAAAH!" Graye screamed as he knelt down, holding his head. "Make them stop! Make them stop!" He was then kicked to the floor as Emily jumped at him and brought her two fists down to his face.

"YOU BASTARD!" Emily shouted as she pinned Graye to the floor. She then started beating him, beating and clawing at his face while Graye screamed. "YOU KILLED THEM! YOU MOTHERFUCKING KILLED THEM!" she cried. while beating the living hell out of Graye as he spasmed and screamed.

Gavin flinched as he turned away, while Willow held Skara tightly to keep her from seeing this. Both girls and Nina were in tears, while Cat covered her mouth in shock. Puffer and Eileen stepped away from the scene, while the teachers tried to escort the students out to prevent them from watching this. But nobody went to stop Emily. Not even the scouts, Pugsley, Kiki, or Le'Belle. They just stood there while they listened to Emily's shouts and Graye's screams for help. She was beating him, hammering him down with her fists while tears fell from her eyes…

Nobody stepped in. Nobody tried to stop this. Either because they were too horrified or they thought it would be wrong to stop Emily. They just let Emily let out all of her rage towards her biological father…

"RAAAH!" Emily roared, just barely stopping herself from beating Graye to death. While he was not dead, he was left catatonic. She looked down on him, seeing him bloodied up and bruised with his face all swollen. She slowly got off of him and then looked at her bloodied hands. Everything was all in a blur at this point.

It was then Emily broke down completely, crying even harder while Le'Belle walked over to her. She comforted Emily, hugging her while she continued to break down into tears.

It was over.

Shortly afterward the scouts withdrew from the school and returned to their airships as Le'Belle took charge.

"Come on, let's retreat back to the castle," Le'Belle ordered while Alburno walked up to the airship ramp along with Kiki and Pugsley. She grew silent when she saw that over at one of the airships, one with the Healing Coven sigil, two scouts were dragging the unresponsive Graye aboard.

While the scouts retreated, the students and teachers came out to watch them leave, giving the kids a chance to reunite with their parents.

"Bo, are you alright?" Jason asked while hugging his daughter, Mark and Suzy joining the hug.

"I'm fine, mom and dads," Bo responded, hugging them back.

Matt received a pat on his back from his mom. "You're becoming more like me after taking on those scouts. Good job, Matt."

"Thanks, mom," Matt responded with a smile.

Jerbo and Porcus reunited with their parents.

"It's good that almost all the Jeepers came to your rescue," their father said.

"Thanks dad," Jerbo responded before they then saw Roden show up.

"Aw man, did I miss it?" he asked.

Willow received a hug from her dads. "We're so glad that you're okay, Willow," Sully said.

"I'm glad to see you guys too," Willow responded with a smile, hugging her dads.

Beth and Jerry hugged their kids while also seeing Ghost Rick. "Hey! I'm back, now as a ghost! So, uh, guess I'll be haunting the family for a while now."

"Yeah, I figured you'd be back…" Jerry commented.

An unmasked Captain Wolffe looked back at Bump along with the students, parents, and teachers who had gathered to watch them leave. She narrowed her eyes at them. "When Emperor Belos catches wind of this…"

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled to learn one of his captains and BIG members were defeated… by a bunch of teenagers," Principal Bump said while Snope snickered and Rupert and Ms. Rachelle smiled.

Wolffe groaned before she saw Severine walking away. "Severine! Get on that ship or you'll be walking back to the castle!"

But as Severine turned around, the scout decided that she had enough. "FUCK YOU!"

Wolffe was caught off guard by this. "What was…?!"

"Yeah! You heard me! I've had a very rough year, and my self-esteem can only take so much!" she declared while taking her mask off, revealing a vaguely cat-like face with brown skin, a blue tongue, fangs that are the exact same color as her skin, black eyes with yellow irises, tan horns on her neck, and two large tan horns on her head. She threw her mask down. "I quit! I'm going back to the Tiny Cat Coven…" she declared while walking off, leaving Wolffe shocked.

Amelia was hugging her parents when she noticed Jeremy walking with the scouts to the airship. She looked at him sadly while he turned back to look at her with a scowl as he stood with the scouts, choosing them over her.

After Le'Belle saw that everyone was on board and the door closed, she turned to see Slasher hugging his daughters while Skara, Scabrina and Nina hugged him back. She gave a sigh and sat next to a silent Emily, who hadn't said a word since leaving the gym. Le'Belle turned to Emily, looking concerned for her.

Emily just looked down, her Palisman laying in her lap. She then glanced at Hexside and saw the Brookes. She looked at Nina, who then looked at Emily. The two locked eyes and for a moment, Emily thought she could see pity in the werecat's eyes before the airship finally took off, leaving Hexside in defeat.

Everyone cheered and celebrated their victory as they watched the airships fly off. They had defeated the Emperor's Coven and a Head Witch was taken out. It was then that Cat stepped up to make an announcement.

"Attention, everyone!" she called out to them. "Today, we took back Hexside. But we have lost Ms. Traveler, who was killed by those coven pigs. They may deny it, but their actions speak otherwise," she declared. "I also have word that what happened here at Hexside wasn't an isolated incident. The other schools were visited by the Emperor's Coven as well. St. Epiderm, East Marrow Heights Middle, Hogwash, Merlin Meadows… while my older brother and some of his friends made it out, schools like Merlin Meadows have fallen," she told them while the students whispered to each other about this. "But do not fret. I want you all to take pride in what we've done today. Pride in the fact that we've made a blow to the Emperor's Coven today. We've shown them that we will not stand for their coven tyranny! We will not be bound to their shackles by letting them brand us like we're they're products!" she declared as she raised her fist up. "Not anymore will we allow them to take away our autonomy! Because today, we have drilled through the heavens and fought back against their dogma decree! And if they come by tomorrow, we will clap them back to their caves of depravity and show them just how bad we witches can be! Can I hear you Hexsidians shout?!"

"YEAH! Go Hexside!" declared the beaked oracle student and everyone else joined in the cheer after Cat's speech.

Nina clapped her hands at the speech before turning to Amelia who was near her.

"Hey," Nina spoke to her, drawing her attention. "You know, you did really good back there. Even if things got a little tough, you pulled through."

"Oh, um… really?" Amelia asked her. "Thanks, Nina."

"And I do want to thank you for standing up to your cousin for me," Nina told her. "Seriously. I know we don't always see eye-to-eye and we don't have to be friends or anything after this… but I appreciate it."

Amelia smiled. "You're welcome, Nina," she said. "And maybe we can try to be friends. I mean, a friend of Skara's is a friend of mine."

Nina nodded, smiling back at her. "By the way, that was really smart of you back there. Using your plants to create platforms for me to jump on to bring myself closer to your asshole cousin. That was some nice quick thinking on your part. You surprised me back there."

Amelia blushed a little at the compliment, taken aback. "I-It was nothing, really," she said. "I mean, I am no Willow, but you should see some of my wood magic. Like I can alter the density of wood to make it hit a lot harder."

"That… actually sounds pretty cool," Nina admitted. "Yeah, I think I would like to see that sometime."

Nina then spotted Felicia, who was being escorted outside by Ms. Rachelle, who was helping her out. Everyone turned to the fox girl as Nina walked over to her. "Felicia, you good?"

"Yes, I'm good," Felicia nodded.

"I think it's time for you to tell us what you've told me, Willow, Skara and Amelia to everyone else now," Nina said.

"Yeah, like what happened to you?" Emira asked her in concern.

"Did you really sleep here in the school?" Andrea asked, looking concerned.

"Ruff(The people crave the truth!)" Barcus barked.

Felicia looked hesitant at first before turning to Nina, who offered her a reassuring smile. Felicia smiled back, feeling safe.

"Okay," Felicia said while turning to Emira. "I got attacked… by my mom." This caused everyone to look shocked while she turned to Andrea. "And yes, I stayed over at the school cause I was in hiding. I was afraid, because… because something dastardly is going to happen on the Day of Unity. Sorry, there's a lot to explain…"

Everyone looked concerned as Bump stepped over to her. "Then you better get started."

Felicia gave him a nod and began to explain. "It all started when I came home last night, I overheard my mom's call…"

While Felicia explained to everyone about the Day of Unity, Nina's scroll went off. "Crap, I thought I had the birthday notifications off," she muttered while pulling out her scroll and looking at the screen. When she saw what the screen read, her eyes widened

"…and that's how I ended up here," Felicia finished explaining.

"A Draining Spell?!" Gavin shouted as he and Tom looked at each other in concern, while Ukla and Angmar looked shocked by the news.

"I thought Felicity was a stooge, but to think she'd beat her own kid…" Emira said in disgust, considering Felicity another example of worse witches than her own parents...

"And draining our magic…" Matt said while shaken by the news.

"There's no way we can allow this to happen," Samwitch declared. "We cannot allow the Emperor's Coven to brand our children and drain their magic."

"You're right, Saltstar," Bump agreed. "This will not stand…"

Willow and Skara nodded while everyone talked about what was going on at the Day of Unity. The two then noticed Nina, who had fallen to her knees. Alarmed, the two walked over to her.

"Nina, are you alright?" Skara asked, seeing her holding her scroll.

"What happened?" Willow asked as they both saw the tears leaking from her eyes. Something had shaken her to her core.

"T-T-The news." Nina's voice shook as she showed them her scroll, making their eyes widen in shock. "The Torsa Villa… my home… it's on fire!"

Breaking News: Torsa Villa Set Ablaze…

Earlier today…

In Julia Traveler's office, she had her back turned to the door while she was looking over her books. However, when she heard it open, she paused and let out a sigh. "I have been wondering when you would show up to pay a visit…" She turned around. "… Abel."

Abel Reissenger closed the door behind him. "Greetings, Julia."

"You know, I find it interesting that you've chosen that name for yourself out of all the names you could have chosen," Julia remarked.

Abel actually looked irritated by this remark, narrowing his eyes at Julia. "Of course you do. You know, Julia, I have been waiting a long time to do this…"

A few minutes later, Nina and Felicia would come into the room. Abel was already gone, while Julia Traveler was dead on the floor, killed by Abel Reissenger.

This chapter has brought to you by the letters 'WTF'.

This is the second part of the Labyrinth Runners mini-arc where it shows only Hexside completely. Hence forth, this chapter is the reason why Emily wasn't killed off at the end of the Glandus Arc like we originally planned. When we originally saw that episode, we got the idea of having Graye make Emily his apprentice and bringing her along with him to Hexside. So this is all of Emily's appearances have been building up to, even if a lot has changed along the way.

We've also planned to have Emily learn the truth that Graye killed her parents, although that was before we decided to make Graye into Emily's biological father. Something that we didn't come up with until the Underworld arc. This chapter also concludes Graye's arc with Emily... in Book Two. There's a reason why we haven't had Emily straight up kill him...

For Raptor, his appearance is a reference to Moringmark's "A Little Hint of Blue" comic when it has gone through it's own Labyrinth Runners chapter. Which is funny that we're adapting Labyrinth Runners at the same time as he is.

As for Felicia, she was always going to be the 'Hunter' of this chapter. However, when we first discussed adapting the episode, Gus was still involved since we hadn't decided to have him stay with his dad in Gravity Falls yet. I know most of y'all are worried but in the end, in spite of a nail, it is pretty interesting to see many of the characters can managed to pull off their own, including the OCs, since even if you take Gus out of the equation, Hexside would still be victorious.

Those of you who now learn Felicia's side of the story, well… if you guys thought Osran was terrible, Felicity is probably the worst. We've decided to make her as despicable as possible, giving her the canon-Odalia moment where she knew what the Emperor's planning. Hence why we've decided to make her a little extra despicable, and the reason for the Trigger Warning. We've also once considered Nicole slapped Boscha, but we decided that even she was above that. Felicity on the other hand… man, she's actually worse than Nicole now.

Now as for Lambi's dad, he is a reference to The Lamb from the "Cult of the Lamb" video game. Basing his appearance with more lamb-like features, and basing his personality from Hudson Abadeer from Adventure Time, especially with his relationship with his daughter. Originally, we were thinking of making him like, a cartoonish supervillain. But Cult of the Lamb gave us the idea of making him a cult leader, so that he and Awassi were religious figures. He'll reappear in Book Three, but we thought of teasing him here.

There's also a B-plot between Emira and Tamme, where when writing the chapter, we've come to conclude that… those two were exes. Something that wasn't a thing until we decided on when writing this chapter. Because it honestly makes too much sense.

As for Abel killing Julia, well we originally was going to show it. But given that this chapter is already filled with lots of fighting scenes, we decided that the reveal that Abel killed Julia was a better fit for the end of the chapter.

That's it for the notes. Stay tuned as we'll be working on the next Helluva Dad chapter next. We'll be taking a small break from LC because the next LC chapter… will be a heavy one…

Reviews:

Spantidem7: Heh, Danny Phantom. 1) I don't think chocolate is considered food. 2) My guess… Jill Bartlett(Maddie Flour from Amphibia) 3) We don't know. 4) They'd be best friends. 5) Um, okay, but why Hunter specifically?

Krypton Writes: That's too much…

Crash X Fusion: Glad that you've taken it well. We'll let you know what we've decided on a request.

Shuffollower: 1) Oh it's much worse. 5) The sigil wouldn't do that. If that were the case, why does she even need a shock collar for? She can still turn dragon.

Matteso585: 1) Just because a character is an expy, doesn't mean they're the same as the character they're based off of. 4) Well, one thing you're right is the ladder.

Franco Almiron: Technically speaking, Hunter doesn't have a sigil brand since his sigil arm was ripped off by Luz back in "The Hunting Witch".