It took Vee a while to get to the ground, or at least, onto Belos' skin, as she had to glide from one tentacle to the other. It was really complicated: she barely remembered how to fly, even though she had done it several times while under Belos' mind control. It was as if her brain remembered the movements on a motor level, but was unable to process them into actual thoughts.

Well, at least she had figured out how to turn her hands into wings. She'd never been able to do it before, but now it came almost naturally to her. Normally, something like this would have been impossible for a basilisk: flight needed certain requirements that were impossible for her to obtain, therefore even if she had grown wings she would never have been able to fly; these wings would in fact have been too small, because Vee didn't have enough body mass available to grow wings large enough while keeping the internal organs intact. But now, everything had changed.

Vee was sure that Belos had done something to her, even if she didn't remember very well; and perhaps it was definitely better not to remember it. But now, it was as if her ability to absorb magic had expanded; every time she tried to transform, her body passively absorbed magic from the surroundings and transformed it into new mass, allowing her to create fairly large wings; and when she returned to normal, her body did the same process but in reverse, converting matter into magical energy and expelling it, or using it to speed up the regeneration process in case of injuries. Vee was sure that if she tried to train a little, she would be able to store that magical energy inside herself instead of expelling it, or put it to other uses than simple transformation herself.

However, she didn't have time to experiment and study her new powers now: she was definitely not in the right situation to do so. She would think about it as soon as she was safe with her family, away from a giant sea monster that was quite eager to use them as a snack. Until then, she would try to make do with the powers she already knew how to use.

The problem was that even these powers presented problems. Vee remembered how to turn her hands into wings, but not how to fly; and it was certainly not enough to flap her wings in bursts to achieve that. Flying was a very complicated art that took into account many factors, such as the movement of wind and currents, the use of energy, breathing, and so on. After a couple of attempts Vee had completely given up on flying and had limited herself to gliding from one tentacle to another, but even so she risked crashing: these tentacles were not in fact immobile and static like tree trunks, but were constantly shaking and therefore they also moved. Luckily they were gigantic, as the diameter of each of them was more or less equivalent to that of a house with multiple rooms, so even if they moved a little Vee had always managed to hold on to them. That was how she finally made it to the ground, and as soon as she did she let out a sigh of both relief and exhaustion.

She looked up. It seemed to her that she was in a redwood forest, but whose trees were alive, uniform and continually agitated, twisting around them and then unraveling. It was truly a disgusting sight to see.

And now... what was she supposed to do?

Vee had no idea. She wanted to run to help her mother and sister, but she knew she would never reach them; even if she had decided to walk all the way, it would have taken her too long to get to Belos's head, and even longer to climb up one of those hideous arms; not to mention that the monster would have only needed to move a little to make her fall into the sea.

Vee gritted her teeth in fury. If only she could fly again... she transformed her arms back into wings and tried to take flight once, twice, three times, but it always ended with her, after having risen not even a meter, falling to the ground with a tumble. Eventually she was forced to give up and take a deep breath to calm her frustration.

What would Belos have done?

What would he do to her mother?

What would he do... to Luz?

She didn't want to lose her sister again. While she had been under Belos's mind control she hadn't exactly had a chance to think, but she had clearly felt the absence of that little sun that had warmed her more in those few weeks they had been together than the real sun in the whole his life. She had wanted to have that warmth again, that hug, that smile. She had wanted to have Luz back with her, because if she had been there, that hell would have been more bearable. And now... she had found her again, yet she had already been taken away from her. Belos had taken her away, again... although now the roles were reversed compared to the last time... more or less.

She shook her head vehemently. She was worried and scared, but by standing there feeling sorry for herself she wasn't going to achieve anything. She had to do something.

Gathering with others, that was what she should do. Maybe they would have had a solution to reach Luz and Camila.

And maybe, find Masha. Hoping she was okay.

She looked around. When she had fallen the situation had been too chaotic and she hadn't quite understood where everyone else had ended up; they could have been next to her or hundreds of meters away. But she remembered well that Captain Salty aimed to reach the port, since at least part of his crew was there. And Masha was probably there too. It was a good start.

She knew where the port was, or at least where it had been until a few minutes ago, before Belos flew into a rage and revealed himself in all his monstrosity. At least that was a starting point. Without wasting any more time, she started crawling in that direction.

"Ugh… Skara, are you okay?"

"Yes... more or less. And you?"

"I'm still intact. Cat, Amelia, how are you?"

"Nothing broken"

"Same"

Boscha, Skara, Cat, and Amelia had by a miracle managed to stay together while the entire island had come to life and cracked open, revealing Belos' true form. Fortunately, the area where they found themselves turned out to be a giant paw, and as it opened up they ran, remaining on the still flat part. When it finally stopped, they had climbed using the imperfections in the skin as if they were handholds on a wall, and in doing so they had managed to reach the ground... although they had still had to make quite a leap to finally reach the ground.

"Damn, I'll never go to an amusement park again in my life" Boscha commented as she looked around. The landscape was so disgusting and horrendous that it was making even her, who of all of them had the strongest and most resistant personality, want to vomit.

"For once, I think any person in this world would totally agree with you" Skara said. After such an experience she would never have the courage to go to an amusement park again in her entire life... or at least one that was sponsored by a kind old man in a wagon on the outskirts of town. She didn't dare touch her head because she knew she would feel her long donkey ears. "What do we do now?"

"Well, we certainly can't sit here passively" Boscha replied. "There must be something we can do..."

"Girls, this is Belos we're talking about" Cat reminded them. "I'm pretty sure we couldn't even make a dent in him"

Boscha clenched her teeth and fists, hating feeling so helpless, but denying that her friend was right would be like denying that the sky was blue. They had already tried to use their powers and hadn't even managed to make a scratch on the monster's body. They were nothing more than little fish trying to annoy a whale. The only reason they were still alive was that Belos was focused on Luz, otherwise it would have been enough for him to lower one of his tentacles to crush them in a split second. The disproportion of forces was on such a level that it doidn't even exist a good comparison in this regard.

Noticing the tension on her girlfriend's body, Skara placed a hand on her shoulder. "Boscha... calm down. If we panic or get angry, we won't get anywhere"

Boscha made an enormous effort, but she listened to her. Skara was right after all, letting herself be dominated by emotions was useless. "Ok... let's try to think of something. So, any idea is welcome: proposals?"

There was a moment of silence, then Amelia stepped forward: "We need to reunite with the others. The more we are, the better our chances of surviving. And maybe we can restart the airship... or we could get help from the Collector"

It was actually a good idea. "But how can we do it?" Cat rightly asked. "We have no points of reference and we don't know where the others are. We can't even climb a tree because... well... they aren't there" she said, not having the courage to try to suggest climbing one of the tentacles, also because they were too high and smooth to be able to reach the top.

"I could make a fire" Boscha offered. "The smoke may attract the attention of others..."

"But it might also attract someone else's attention. Belos may not be looking for us, but who's to say he doesn't have other minions like that arrogant gremlin who sealed our voices?" Amelia told her.

"Yeah. Besides, it's still night now" Cat pointed out. "No one would see the smoke"

Despite trying to stay calm, Boscha was having a hard time resisting his exasperation. "Aaaah, I hate it here!" she exclaimed, putting her hands in her hair, and becoming even more frustrated as she felt her donkey ears in the way. "What can we do? We can't start looking for them screaming their names..."

But just then Skara's eyes widened. "Wait a minute! Maybe...". She seemed to think carefully about something, and then a smile formed on her face: "Boscha, you're a genius! I figured out how to find everyone!"

"Um… what?" Boscha asked, not having understood anything, but Skara didn't answer her and instead whistled; as soon as she did, her magic seeped into it and seemed to reverberate through the sound. It traveled in every direction, and then came back towards them like a wave. "Yes, it works!" Skara exclaimed jovially. "Girls, I can use the same trick of the bats! By using my power to manipulate sounds, I can use it to orient ourselves!"

Boscha, Cat and Amelia widened their eyes in surprise. "Seriously? Skara, you're amazing!" the magenta-haired girl exclaimed. "Can you figure out where our friends are… or at least other humans… well, sort of?"

Skara repeated the whistle several times, each time in a different direction, and finally she pointed to a point: "There's someone that way! That's definitely a person, the sound hit something of medium height and... well, here everything else is gigantic, so it can't be much else!"

"Great! Oh, Skara, I love you! If we get out of here alive, I swear I'll lose my virginity to you!" Boscha told her, grabbing her arm and dragging her in the direction indicated, making her turn redder than a pepper in the process, followed by Cat and Amelia who despite the situation didn't stop themselves from giggling.

"Mph... Edric, are you still alive?"

"More or less... I see stars"

"Edric, it's night"

"Ah... right. Then I'm fine"

Emira sighed, trying to keep her brother's lack of sense of opportunity from ruining her already messed up mind. They were both alive, and that was enough... even if their younger sister was lost somewhere. "After this adventure, I think going to school and becoming a diligent and studious girl is not such a terrible prospect after all"

"I agree. At least there we won't risk becoming donkeys again" Edric commented. "Do you have any ideas on how to reach Mittens?"

Emira shook her head. "We don't even know where she is now" she murmured. "Belos could have taken her anywhere..."

Edric noticed that his sister was starting to tremble. He couldn't blame her for being so scared: that night had already been far too emotionally charged, and he was just as worried about Amity as she was. But he also knew that they had to stay clear if they wanted to have any chance of getting out of that situation in one piece... or at least getting out of it alive. "Don't despair" he told her encouragingly. "I'm sure she's fine, Mittens is very shrewd and intelligent... certainly more than us. She'll be okay"

Emira sniffed, but then with an extreme effort of will she said: "Yes... you're right. She'll be fine. She's good"

"Yeah" Edric murmured, giving her a few encouraging pats on her shoulders and neck. "Come on, let's go look for her"

The airship had not crashed: on the contrary, it had been literally crushed by the tentacle that had grabbed it and torn it to pieces. This time Belos had no qualms about destroying it. Fortunately, among the members there were also a djinn and a witch, thanks to which everyone was saved, even if it was more of a miracle than real magical ability. "This time we're really in trouble" King commented very worried.

Raine was still very affected by Belos' possession, and still he felt almost without energy, but still he tried to think positively: "We are still alive, that's what matters"

"Well done, Raine! That's why you're my best friend" Darius said flying above them. "So, let's get organized and..."

He didn't have time to say anything else because Odalia grabbed his lamp and rubbed it. "Stop wasting time, you idiot" she growled. "I want you to locate the kids immediately and tell me whether my children are in danger or not"

Darius was a little taken aback, but he couldn't resist. "Your wish is granted" he said, and then he did his magic; as soon as he finished, the position of all the kids present on Belos' body was printed in his mind, including obviously the three Blight children. "Edric and Emira are together over there, they are fine and are in no danger at the moment. Amity, on the other hand, is on that side, together with Lilith, and is locked in a sort of cage"

"Good" Odalia said as her eyes began to glow. "Alador, you go get Edric and Emira with help from this idiot djinn. I'll go get Amity out of trouble"

"Are you sure?" Alador asked her. "You could use some help"

"No, thank you. I have a lot of frustration in my heart and I urgently need to let loose a little" Odalia answered him with a hiss in her voice. "As I've told you plenty of times, it's best not to anger a witch!"

Her hair immediately broke the ties and flew back into the air, her body changed, becoming covered in green scales in multiple places, and an immense aura of magic exploded from her. She turned her head slightly and looked at Ghost: "I'm no longer your mistress, but I must ask you to lend me your speed again. Can you do that?"

Ghost let out a meow and nodded in response; Odalia didn't know what he had said, since she could no longer hear his voice now that she was no longer his mistress, but she still took it as an assent and grabbed him, and he transformed into a magical broom in her hands. She was already about to fly away, when Alador stopped her: "Wait... I'm coming with you"

"You'd only be in the way" Odalia pointed out. "You should worry about Edric and Emira"

"Edric and Emira are not in danger. Amity is" Alador answered her with determination.

Odalia raised an eyebrow; it was the first time in years that she had seen so much fire in her husband's eyes. In the end she waved to him and made him get on the broom, and then she zoomed away at full speed.

Darius smiled at that scene. "Finally he too decided to be useful to his daughter. I'm proud of him"

Raine looked at him doubtfully. "I can't figure out if you want that family back together or if you want to go out with that guy"

"Go out with him? Mmm... I wouldn't mind that much" Darius replied. "Anyway... I'm not interested in the family being reunited. I'm only interested that Alador tries, and shows that he tries. As long as he doesn't give up, there's a chance that his daughter's heart won't forget him"

The trick that Skara uses is practically the echolocation of bats, which she can use since the Collector had given her the power to manipulate sounds at will