Hunter had expected that everything would be fine that day, but things had gotten very complicated. His original plan was to simply sneak into the palace and kill the Inspector in her sleep, then escape with the body and return to his uncle who was no doubt already annoyed enough at his lateness. Unfortunately the security of the building had turned out to be better than he had expected and although he hadn't admitted it, if Willow hadn't warned him that arrow would probably have hit him and injured him seriously. Of all the things that could have happened to him, being helped by a cricket, a spider and a Palisman was certainly not among those he had imagined. And then, they had offered him a deal and Flapjack had secretly revealed to him that Vee was also a basilisk; Hunter had thought he might capture her instead of the Inspector, but when he arrived at the cell he changed his mind because of her... interesting companion.

Never in his life had he seen a puppet that acted and spoke like a real person. It didn't take Hunter long to realize that that was a very rare treasure, and he was sure that his uncle would have liked her quite a bit. Maybe she was even better than a basilisk. However, there were too many unknown factors still, so he had decided to play the game for now and pretend that he had no other interest than catching the Inspector, at least until he knew more about the puppet. Although that... Luz was a very annoying being, and it took all of Hunter's self-control and goodwill not to grab her and take her straight to his uncle's amusement park so she could have one last fun time before... okay, maybe he was beating around the bush too much. Best not to think about that last part.

The only pleasant thing about the whole affair was that he had met a very interesting person. Even though she was only a few centimeters tall cricket, Willow had a strong and determined character, and Hunter didn't regret meeting her at all. She had been the first person to ever try to stand up to him, or at least the first person who didn't possess magical abilities that did so. Hunter couldn't help but admire her courage. Maybe it wouldn't be bad to exchange a few more words with her before leaving on his own.

In any case, now the situation had become complicated again. That damned smartass Flapjack, the Palisman who had stuck to him like a mussel despite having expressly told him to go away in at least sixteen different ways (which at least twelve of those weren't very kind), had brought them to the Bat Queen's lair. Even though Hunter was confident he could defeat her, a fight against that giant bat and Vee, a basilisk able to absorb life force, at the same time would be very tough. But things had become even more complicated when the Bat Queen had called those three guys, who had taken them to a clearing not far away where there were many people who were arming themselves. Hunter could recognize the level of preparation of such individuals and it wasn't difficult for him to establish that none of them could stand up to him; but the number would have been problematic. A battle of him alone against all of them, with Vee sucking his life energy, the Bat Queen attacking him with all her strength, and the numerous Palismen following her lending a hand, could have ended badly for him. Therefore, Hunter at the moment had no choice but to continue to pretend to be compliant and put aside any intention to capture Vee and especially Luz: even after he had obtained all the information he needed, he would still have to wait until they were alone or at least with fewer people around before implementing his plan.

While Hunter was deep in thought, Luz, Vee, Gus and Willow looked around in amazement. They hadn't expected to find so many people camped in that corner of the woods. "So… you would be the resistance?"

"Exactly! Well... at least we try" Masha replied with a shrug. "We are all those who can no longer stand what is happening in this damned town, and who have the courage to fight for what is right. Unfortunately, most people are scared of the Inspector and so there are few of us, barely a hundred. That woman's guards outnumber us by at least five times"

"You still seem very prepared" Luz commented looking at the weapons and soldiers training throughout the clearing.

"The Bat Queen was kind enough to host us, and so we settled here. Sometimes some of us are even lucky enough to be chosen by a Palisman and thus become able to use magic, even if only partially" Masha explained leading them to a tent in the center of the camp. The group entered and discovered that inside was a table with numerous maps showing the layout of the city and the palace. "We know, however, that even with our current strength we are no match for the Inspector, so we hid here to prevent her from discovering us and destroying this city's last remaining hope. We spent months trying to come up with a plan without succeeding, but now that we have you on our side things could change". Her gaze fell on Vee: "Are you really a basilisk like the Bat Queen told us?"

Masha didn't ask with any hostility in her voice, in fact she seemed more curious than scared, but still Vee trembled slightly and swallowed; she wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but she abandoned her human form and returned to her original one. "Yes. As you can see I am..."

She hadn't even finished her sentence when Masha's face appeared a few centimeters from hers; the girl began to frantically touch her fins. "How cool! Is this slimy substance I feel mucus? And are these fins mobile or do they simply serve to reduce the friction of the water? And when you swim do you use your arms or do you flatten them against your body and move like an eel? And can you see underwater with those eyes or do you need to close the eyelids to prevent them from getting damaged? And can you see in color? And when you transform do you only change your skin or your entire bone structure? And can you transform into a creature bigger or smaller than you, or do you always have to use the same amount of body mass? And..."

Vee was starting to feel dizzy. But fortunately she was saved by Luz who without much mincing words pushed Masha away roughly. "Oh, stop now! Can't you see that you're putting her in difficulty?"

"Luz! Defending Vee is a good thing, but you could have done it verbally before pushing someone away!" Willow exclaimed. "Sorry, Masha, she doesn't know education and..."

"No, no need to apologize. You're right" Masha said, then she looked at Vee mortified. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to treat you like some sort of freak. It's just that I've always been fascinated by magical creatures and I couldn't control myself"

Vee didn't know what to think. Of course being treated in that investigative and invasive way was not pleasant, but it was certainly better than the fear and hatred that she was used to receiving normally and which had led her to avoid contact with people all her life. And also it was the first time someone apologized to her, someone human at least. "Uh... it's okay" she said. "And to answer your questions... yes, my skin is covered in a light layer of mucus. And I can partially move these fins, if only by a few centimeters, to change direction. And when I swim I don't use my arms, I move like a snake and use my fins to help me. And yes, I can see underwater and I also see in color. And when I transform I can modify any part of my body, but I cannot create new mass or remove more; the My biggest limit is that I can't modify my brain, since otherwise I would end up losing myself, so I can't transform into creatures with a smaller head than mine, and this limits me in other things too... I can't for example transforming myself into a bird, because to have a brain as big as mine such a bird would have to be huge since otherwise it wouldn't be able to fly, and since I can't create new mass I don't have enough for such a transformation... "

Masha's eyes were shining as if they were two lanterns. "Extraordinary... sorry for earlier, you are the most fascinating creature I have ever met"

Vee blushed. Maybe Masha wasn't so bad after all... sure, she was a little invasive and disrespectful of her personal space, but otherwise she didn't seem bad.

"Anyway, you two don't joke about quirks either" Masha said, walking towards Luz and Hunter. "You are truly a singular puppet... I have never heard of a puppet that could move and talk like a real person. And you..." and she drummed on Hunter's staff, "... clearly have quite a bit of magic here. You three are really an interesting trio... actually, you six since apparently there's also that cricket, that spider and that Palisman"

"Enough talk" Hunter stopped her. "I don't care what you're doing here. I only came because you" and he pointed to Vee with his staff, "have to tell me everything you know about the basilisk hiding in the palace, so that I can go and capture it. I don't care about your resistance or whatever you guys are doing here"

Masha raised an eyebrow. "The Bat Queen mentioned something like that to us. So is it true? Is the Inspector actually a basilisk?"

"A greater basilisk, to be precise" Vee answered. "She's... my aunt. And I'm sorry about..."

"Hey, you don't need to apologize" Masha stopped her immediately. "I don't know your story, but if the guy with the big staff here really got you out of prison, you certainly don't get along very well with your aunt, right? So at most I'm the one who should tell you that I'm sorry if you have a relative who's such an asshole that she throw her own blood in jail"

Vee had fallen silent. She continually looked for signs, any signs, that Masha was lying, but she found none. She couldn't believe it: did she really not care that she was related to the woman who had ruined all of their lives? Come on, what person in the world wouldn't be at least a little annoyed about it? Or better yet... how come she wasn't making any sounds of disgust when she looked at her? "Sorry to ask, but you seriously don't care that I... well... I am a..."

"Oh, come on, who did you take me for? One of those old bigots?" Masha laughed. "I may be young, but I'm smart enough to understand that every creature in this world has its own personality. There are good people and bad people, there are good dogs and bad dogs, there are good cats and cats that would do nothing but scratch you, there are good birds and birds that are just waiting for you to leave the house to shit on your head and have a laugh, and certainly there are good basilisks and bad basilisks. And even if your aunt is part of the last category, you don't seem like one of the bad guys at all. On the contrary, you strike me as a very polite and sweet person. Of course, I don't suggest you to reveal your identity to the whole world, since there are certainly a lot of idiots out there who would like to make you broken just because of who you are... but when you're with me don't worry about showing yourself like this"

If she could blush like humans did, Vee would have become more or less the color of a ripe tomato, but being a basilisk she instead became greener like a courgette. Luz had also said that she seemed sweet, but hearing Masha say that for some reason made her heart skip a beat. "Um... ergh... thank you... you're very kind..."

Luz scratched her head as if she was ruffling her hair, "See, sister? It's not that hard to make friends!"

"Sister?" Masha looked rather confused.

In response, Luz hugged Vee close: "Yes! I've decided that from today on she will live with me and my mom! I adopted her, let's say!"

Vee found herself smiling without even realizing it: the warmth that Luz gave off with every word she said was like that of a small sun. Seeing that scene, Masha also smiled tenderly. "You know, wooden girl, maybe you lack a little education, but you're not bad at all"

Luz wanted to answer her, but Hunter was quicker: "Stop wasting time! You, basilis... er, Vee, if the Inspector really is your aunt, then you surely know all her weaknesses. Tell me now and I'll take care of her. By tomorrow morning all your problems will be gone"

"You don't want to go alone. Maybe you can defeat a basilisk, but the palace security is not something to mess with. The Inspector has guards everywhere" Masha told him. "And in any case, her death wouldn't solve all our problems. Killing the Inspector would get rid of the tyrant, but the town would be plunged into total anarchy. People like the Warden Wrath or the other criminals who have luck alongside the Inspector don't wait anything else to continue to lord it over the lives of others even worse than before"

"I munch on those pathetic guards as an aperitif. And I don't care about how you'll handle the Inspector's death" Hunter replied. "I just want to capture that basilisk. Everything else is none of my business"

"How can you say things like that!?" Willow exclaimed jumping on his face. "We're talking about people's lives here! How can you be so careless?"

Hunter narrowed his eyes. "I have always expressed my goals very clearly from the moment we met. I helped you not out of altruism, but because you could be useful to me. We are not friends and I don't care anything about you or this town. What I want is my trophy. And now... get off my face immediately, or I'll force you to do so"

But Willow held his gaze. "Force me off? Good luck, insect legs have a strength you can't even imagine and end in hooks that penetrate the flesh, and I also have two particularly strong pincers. Maybe you'll be able to tear me off, but I'll leave very big marks on you" she said. "And anyway, wanting to have your trophy doesn't stop you from thinking about other people's lives too! You could achieve something even without making these people's situation worse, if only you tried to stop acting like an asshole!"

Hunter's gaze became more or less that of a ferocious wolf, and for a moment Willow thought he would grab her and crush her regardless of the consequences, but suddenly Vee's timid voice broke the mood. "Um... sorry... but..." the basilisk was trembling slightly, but then she tightened her face and said: "I... I don't want you to kill my aunt. I know she deserves it... but I would like to that her fate should be decided by a judge... and that no one should become a murderer because of her"

Hunter looked at her as if Vee had just said the sky was green. "Murderer?" he repeated. "What are you saying? I'm a hunter. When a person kills a beast, regardless of whether it's magical or not, he's just hunting and… OUCH!"

Hunter had certainly suffered worse injuries in his life, but the punch that Luz landed straight in his eye caused him quite a bit of pain, also because the puppet was made of very hard wood. "Don't you dare compare basilisks to beasts!" she exclaimed. "Vee is a person, do you understand? And like her, other magical creatures are! They are not animals to be hunted! They have feelings and thoughts like you!"

Hunter glared at her, and the orb on his staff glowed with a blood-like red light. But before he could make any move, Masha pulled out a knife and put it in front of his throat. "Get out of the tent" she ordered. "And don't come back here until we have calmed the hot spirits"

Hunter was tempted to hit her; it would have been easy, that girl had clearly never really fought in her life, she had left countless points uncovered. Eliminating her would have been as easy for him as drinking a glass of water. But doing so would surely start a fight, and others would also intervene, including the Bat Queen. Hunter knew that during a hunt there were times when it was best to swallow your pride and retreat to lick your wounds, so he turned and walked out of the tent as he had been ordered.

As soon as he was outside, Masha collapsed into a chair. "Pff! I can't believe it worked! I thought he was going to slice me up!"

The others in the tent seemed quite uncomfortable seeing the resistance leader behave like that, especially considering that up until two seconds ago she had seemed fearless. But after all, she was a human being too. "I don't think he's someone who likes killing people... well, the ones he thinks of as people at least. When he fought guards he always stunned them, never killed them" Willow said looking towards where Hunter had disappeared. She was rather disappointed by that guy's behavior: at first he had seemed like a good person, a little fanatic perhaps but still with moral principles, but now she was starting to change her mind.

"Tsk! If he comes back, I'll punch him again" Luz grumbled rubbing her wooden knuckles. "Vee, don't listen to that idiot. He's nothing but an imbecile with a cabbage for a brain"

Vee seemed a little comforted by Luz's words, though it was still clear that she was hurt by what Hunter had said. But after all she had lived her entire life knowing that most humans didn't see basilisks as people; indeed, she could already consider herself lucky to have met two people who had fought for her. "Look, now that he's gone... I think it's time to talk about something important" she said. "His staff... isn't powered by just any magic. I can sense it clearly. That... is dark magic"

I know that Hunter is acting like a bit of an asshole in these first chapters, but I remind you that during his first appearance in The Owl House he literally kidnapped King to blackmail Luz and Eda and make them kill an innocent creature.